#Something something… romanticising anxiety in fandoms as well

[endbie]

My fandom pet peeve

[merlyn-bane]

#3 and #16 for the AO3 wrapped? ❤ -- smoosey

Thanks for playing, @smoosey 🥰🥰🥰

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

That's a really hard one. Hmm. I think I'm gonna go with Bag A Jedi, Spending All Our Time, and Foelu.

Bag A Jedi is one of the more...idk, unique things I've done, I think. I'm a huge believer in Two Cakes, but there's very little truly Cody-centric stuff in fandom just comparatively. It was a lot of fun and kind of challenging to write the whole thing from Cody's POV and surrounding his experience pretty exclusively, and it was the first time I'd written Cody as the bottom or as the submissive partner. It was nice to shake it up, and it was the most I've really felt like I added something to the fandom.

Spending All Our Time is a Star Trek: AOS fic that I wrote that didn't perform very well, but I was (and am) very proud of how I wrote Jim and the issues he was struggling with. It's one of the more serious things I've written, and the hurt/comfort I thought was really nice. Also, the title came from an Elton John song.

Foelu is BY FAR the longest and the best received thing I've ever written. It feels genuinely surreal. I cannot BELIEVE I'm going to break 100,000 words before this last chapter's done. Every time I look at the word count or the stats on AO3 I swear almost have a stroke. This is the one that makes me feel the most like a 'real boy' when the imposter syndrome tries to kick me in the teeth. Plus I'm happy with how realistic and un-romanticised Obi-Wan’s pregnancy was done--as someone who is childfree and a lot of anxiety around just the concept of pregnancy, sometimes it's nice when it's presented more grounded and a little less rosey.

16. What's your most common "Additional Tags" tag?

My works have actually been pretty varied this year, so apparently I've managed to end up in a place where "anal sex" was the most common denominator 🤣🤣

[smilingformoney]

MAJOR trigger warnings below for rape/sexual abuse.

My response to @idioticconsultingdetective’s post.

When I was 15, I was raped. It has, naturally, left me with a lot of trauma. I still get intrusive memories sometimes, when my brain pushes traumatic moments to the forefront of my thoughts for no apparent reason.

It doesn’t happen much. Once or twice a year maybe. And yes, it has been happening today.

Every victim of trauma has their own coping mechanism. Earlier this year I found a fic on ao3 that I found actually helped. It was gross, disgusting (NOT romanticising anything as @potionsev has suggested) and I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Somehow - I’m sure a psychologist could tell me why - it helped me to compartmentalise my intrusive memories. I’m now more able to make myself believe the memories are just scenes from a story. Now, on the odd occasion it happens, I can go to that fic and convince myself I’m just reading a story.

I have never actively promoted that fic to anyone. The only reason it was discovered, someone looked at my ao3 bookmarks and found it. I should have made it a private bookmark, but to be quite honest I didn’t even consider something like this would happen.

When Twitter user ols7en asked me why, what was I to say? Was I to tell a 15 year old stranger, in 140 characters or less, that I was raped and the fic helped me process my trauma? Perhaps I should have not responded at all. I made a mistake in trying to brush it off as if it was nothing. I hoped they would move on, but perhaps I put too much stock in my irrelevance.

But at the end of the day, none of what I just said should matter. It shouldn’t matter why I read something. Policing what people read in fiction is policing thoughts, and as we hopefully all know, that’s a very, very slippery slope.

I don’t owe anyone this explanation. I’m giving it anyway because I know communicating my feelings helps me calm down from the near on 12-hour anxiety attack I’ve been having today.

Now, why did I delete my twitter account? Well, I’ve been close to it for a while now and this triggered my final decision. I’ve tried hard, for months, to fit in with the twitter fandom. It’s never worked. I’m not sure why - is it the generational gap? Is it the character limit restricting nuance? I’m not really sure. I’m the same person here and there, and here I seem to be vaguely popular. So there’s got to be something different between the two platforms restricting me from bridging the gap.

Pandora pointed out two things.

1. Sexualising Snape and Alan Rickman. We all do it here (mostly). Not so much on twitter - why? Again, who knows. Maybe in hindsight I should have restricted minors from following me.

2. ‘Attacking’ other users for developing minor characters. Not at all what happened, again perhaps this is due to the character limit restricting nuance. I tweeted in response to someone else that I found it confusing to log on and see people talking about characters I’ve never heard of. It certainly wasn’t an attack. Some people took issue with my describing them as ‘original’ - as if this is something I, with my 200k-word OC fanfic, would ever use in a derogatory sense.

What has really saddened me is the way Pandora has made this a personal goal to… whatever her goal is here. It’s sad because I liked her. I thought we were getting on. Then to be told I was never liked - that hurt. Why follow someone and interact positively while harbouring resentment? Why not simply not follow, not interact? I feel silly being personally hurt by a stranger on the internet, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.

Finally, to end on a positive note, I want to say a great big THANK YOU to everyone who has been kind to me today. I have told my side of the story to friends and they’ve comforted me, but more than that, people I don’t interact with have come to my defence. People who don’t follow me, who don’t know me or my side of the story. They’ve seen Pandora’s post and defended me. That, to me, is the true nature of the Snape fandom. 💚🐍

[leejungchans]

facts about juliet.

trigger warning: mentions of depression, anxiety and disordered eating

(a/n: please let me make it very clear that i do not support the glorification or romanticisation of mental illnesses. the reason why i write characters who deal with mental illnesses/disordered eating is because i struggle with them too, i know how real and scary they are to live with, and writing these characters helps me cope as well as to express some aspects of my real life. more importantly, if you are going through something, please talk to someone you trust, or send in an ask to vent if you want to. i promise you that help is out there, and things will get better. please stay safe, take care, and i love you.)

#INTERESTS AND HABITS;

She likes jogging, jumping rope and doing Pilates.

She enjoys horror movies but still gets scared.

She has a lot of interest in fashion and makeup, and likes to dress stylishly.

Juliet also likes Harry Potter.

She likes her food very spicy, but she tries not to have really spicy food during comebacks and promotions to avoid affecting her voice.

One of Juliet’s hobbies is photography. She also likes to take photos with her film camera as she loves the aesthetic of it.

She likes memes a lot, and enjoys seeing those of herself, her members and her friends in the industry. She also has a secret account on Twitter, so she is quite up-to-date on jokes within the fandom.

#MISC.;

She was born on June 6, 2001 at 23:28 in Sydney, making her big three Gemini (sun sign), Sagittarius (moon sign), and Pisces (rising sign).

When she is embarrassed, her ears turn red very quickly.

According to the others, Juliet can be clumsy sometimes, but she is also viewed as one of the smartest and wittiest members, and is known as the “language expert” in ATEEZ.

Like the boys, Juliet is very competitive.

Part of ATEEZ’s “demon line” 😼

Juliet falls asleep easily and is a heavy sleeper; she can sleep through loud noises and fall asleep anywhere.

She tears up and cries very easily.

She is quite introverted but also likes to make new friends. Like Yeosang, her MBTI is ISFJ.

Juliet is said to be extremely scary when angry, though she very rarely loses her temper and has a lot of patience.

When she’s frustrated, she usually subconsciously pokes the inside of her cheek with her tongue (ATINYs find this habit very attractive)

Though she tries not to show it, Juliet gets frightened easily. She jumps whenever fireworks or confetti cannons at shows go off, so she has to cover her ears before they happen.

She has a fear of butterflies (lepidopterophobia).

She has been suffering from depression, anxiety and disordered eating since her trainee days at SM. Aside from her family, only the boys and KQ know.

She is ambidextrous. She writes with her right hand but usually holds utensils with her left.

According to the members and fans, Juliet eats like a hamster/chipmunk and stores food in her cheeks as she eats. The boys sometimes call her “chipmunk” as a result. Her other nickname, “koala”, comes from the boys claiming she looks like one when she sleeps.

When Juliet doesn’t have schedules, she prefers wearing her glasses instead of contacts.

To support the Polished Man campaign, she asks the nail artists to paint one of her nails a different colour from the rest, and tries to coordinate nail polish colours with Hongjoong.

Her voice is deeper when she speaks in English, French and Spanish, and quieter and higher-pitched in Korean.

Like Wooyoung, Juliet attended Hanlim Multi Art School. She was in the department of Applied Music with Somi, the two are thus very close.

The other members baby her a lot and are very protective of her.

If she didn’t become an idol, she would’ve studied to become a veterinarian.

She helps with the lyrics and choreographies in some of ATEEZ’s songs. She wants to learn to compose and produce songs.

She gets emotional every time she sings “THANK U”.

Her custom mic is hot pink.

In the dorm, she has her own room.

She cooks a lot in the dorm.

When ATEEZ is on breaks, she spends her time exercising, learn other groups’ choreographies, watching YouTube videos, dramas or Netflix, drawing and painting, reading, and playing on her Switch.

On ATEEZ’s official YouTube channel, her series is called “JULIET’S ARCHIVE”, where she makes crafts, cooks and does song or dance covers.

She is part of K-pop’s “Aussie line”.

She is still close with Yeri from Red Velvet and many members of NCT as she trained with them when she was a trainee at SM. She is also close to Somi, the members from ITZY and Stray Kids.

She is a fan of artists such as TWICE, Stray Kids, SEVENTEEN, EXO, The Boyz, TXT, ITZY, NCT, BTS, Red Velvet, MAMAMOO, BLACKPINK, LOONA, Eric Nam, IU, HyunA, Chungha and Sunmi. awjkshwis the multi life 😔

Her role models are Rosé and Lisa from BLACKPINK, Seulgi from Red Velvet, Taeyeon, Hani from EXID, Sunmi and Chungha.

[blackbirdpaw]

We all know that there isn't that much representation in Warriors. There are few lgbt+ cats, none have been explicitly written, the disability representation is selective and poor, and there is very little mental illness representation. So the characters who are neurodivergent/lgbt+/disabled need to be celebrated! But unfortunately, this isn't the case with this fandom. I'm specifically talking about mentally ill cats because there's a frightening theme in this fandom. That's right, folks. I'm calling bullshit.

There are three mentally ill cats I'm going to talk about. There are many characters who can be headcanoned with a mental illness but these three characters, in particular, are criticised or celebrated for their mentally ill symptoms. Let's talk about Alderheart. Alderheart hasn't been confirmed to have generalised anxiety or any kind of anxiety disorder but he clearly suffers from high levels of anxiety and him having G.A.D is generally accepted throughout the fandom. People love this guy! People love the fact that he's anxious. They can relate, and it "makes him cute." It's endearing! But two other characters have not been met with that same reception.

Palebird is the only character confirmed to have a mental illness. Kate Cary stated on her blog that Palebird suffered from postnatal depression which was furthered by her grief for Finchkit's death. This is clearly shown in canon. Though it wasn't in focus, Palebird seemed tired and sad all the time. Tallkit had to be careful not to exhaust her or upset her. It showed her healing over time with the help of Woollytail and her new kits and finally being happy. Now, I'd think this could be something relatable for readers. Depression is incredibly common, and while readers wouldn't have Postnatal Depression and most likely have Major Depression or Persistent Depressive Disorder, they are both depressive disorders and therefore share a lot of the same symptoms. I also thought readers would be happy that there's actually some canon mental illness representation - but I was very wrong. Readers disliked Palebird because she was emotionally distant to Tallkit, a symptom of her disorder, calling her a horrible parent and even abusive. She gets more hate than Sandgorse, which I find absolutely absurd. I completely and utterly disagree with all this hate.

The last character I want to mention is Bluestar. Bluestar is the most blatant mentally ill cat in this series. She undergoes a significant change in personality and behaviour. Vicky Holmes stated on Facebook that Bluestar had dementia, which I disagree with one hundred percent. Bluestar had some of the symptoms, yes, but those symptoms fit the diagnosis criteria of ptsd much better. I could give you a full analysis, I've done it before. Because I'm a nerd. But it really comes down to a few things. Bluestar's actual memory was fine. Dementia affects memory. Graypool showed a much better representation of dementia and she had pretty much one scene! She had wandered away from her Clan and was extremely confused and seemed lost in the past. Bluestar, on the other hand, was paranoid. That paranoia distorted her perception. That paranoia stemmed from a trauma she went through - Tigerclaw's treachery and attempted murder of herself. Dementia has links with trauma but nothing concrete has been discovered yet. But enough about that. Bluestar has ptsd and clearly displays ptsd symptoms. It's obvious she's suffering greatly. But does Bluestar get given with sympathy? No. Fucking Scourge gets more kindness then she does. The fandom hated this change in Bluestar. "I loved Bluestar until she went crazy," "Bluestar got so annoying omg." "Bluestar was selfish" "Bluestar was such a drama queen!" This change in character elicited no positive response but rather an outcry of hate.

Yeah, but what's the problem here? They're different characters and they act differently. Two of them hurt others and their actions are harmful, irrational, and, well, bad. The other doesn't. Bluestar and Palebird portray ugly symptoms! Alderheart doesn't, he's cute, he's a little softboi.

Here's the thing though: mental illness is ugly. It isn't pretty, it isn't cute, and it sure as hell isn't uwu softboi. It isn't "my poor smol bean." Praising one character for their mental illness while condemning others is hypocritical. You are not being an advocate for preaching about how Alderheart is a great character because of his anxiety whole simultaneously shitting on Bluestar and Palebird for exhibiting negative symptoms. In doing so you are actively harming mentally ill people by supporting only a romanticised narrative of mental illness. By only accepting the mental illnesses that you deem "socially acceptable," you are being horribly ableist. Hey, it's like in real life, when people preach about how they support people with depression and anxiety but turn around and call people with borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia abusive demons. Mental illness isn't fucking cute. It isn't a good thing. It should be portrayed as a negative thing because that's what it is, generalised anxiety included. Mental illnesses are ugly. They're hurting other people with paranoid accusations. They're being so disconnected from others that you're being neglectful to their needs. They're being irrational. They're frightening.

I'm not saying we should praise mentally ill behaviours. But we should have sympathy for characters like Bluestar and Palebird. We should say, "hey, this behaviour isn't right and it's hurting others! But I understand it's rooted in mental illness and while that doesn't excuse the behaviour, I recognise it's a symptom of a mental health issue and I hope this character recovers and gets help. I'm really happy the authors gave us mental illness representation because that's important!" I'm also not saying that we shouldn't have likable mentally ill characters. Positive representation is a good thing! There are plenty of mentally ill people who exhibit symptoms and are still good people. All I'm saying is that we shouldn't treat mental illness in characters like a desirable thing to have or an adorable personality trait. You cannot say "I like this character because they give us mental illness rep," and then say: "not this one because they're a meanie." Mental illnesses can be scary. We shouldn't pretend they're not. We can't demand something and then reject it because it doesn't fit our idealised version of that said thing. that we should be happy with what representation we get and acknowledge this!

There is a difference between a negative portrayal and an actively dangerous and stigmatizing portrayal. A negative portrayal of mental illness, in this case, would be a character who hurts others because of their mental illness but is still shown to be human, have likable traits, and is an accurate portrayal, like Palebird. A stigmatizing and inaccurate portrayal is what we should be condemning, like the awful attempt at portraying Dissociative Identity Disorder in the movie Split.

At the end of the day, I just think it's so hypocritical the way the fandom treats the mentally ill characters written into the books. All of them deserve acknowledgement and all of them should be received with sympathy, especially because all of them recover, which shows that while they were negative portrayals of mental illness and were hurtful to others, they were capable of getting better and righting their wrongs, which is such an important message and so accurate to those suffering from mental health issues. Bluestar's recovery was... inaccurate but at least it happened. Palebird's was pretty well executed! Romanticising mental illness isn't at all okay and you're not a mental health advocate by doing so. You're not helping the community, you're harming it. You don't have to like Bluestar and Palebird. But give those lovely ladies the props they deserve!

(I'd also like to mention that Alderheart being a romanticisation of G.A.D is not a fault of the authors as they didn't write him to have clinical anxiety! It was just a widespread headcanon that proved my point. Another point to note is that this isn't about younger fandom members who can't grasp the complexity of Bluestar's character and instead just sees her as a drama queen or annoying. This is about readers who can identify mental illness in characters and praise Alderheart while not treating Bluestar and Palebird equally.)

[amberandmetal]

៚Get to know the author

So I thought this could be a good idea? Maybe?

Okay, so I identify as a non binary female which yeah yeah I am aware sounds completely contradictory but it’s the only term that fits with how I feel so just roll with it, yeah? Any pronouns are cool with me, I honestly don’t care about that; she/they/he whatever works. Honestly my gender identity might just be Chaos.

I’m pansexual, living with my boyfriend of 9 years in Stockholm, Sweden and I’m (mildly) autistic. And before you start getting all of these images in your head about rain man etc let me just tell you that that’s not the case; I have what in the past was called Aspergers, which is and is now called mild autism/level 1 autism/highfunctioning autism. So I’m high functioning, I just have a disability which shows itself in, among other ways, my complete lack in social skills (this is why I have basically zero tumblr friends so please consider adopting me as your online friend, I promise to send you porn and memes.)

I’m into a lot of fandoms but mainly Marvel Cinematic Universe. The others are: Sherlock (which I might even take a swing at writing for in the future), Supernatural (writing for), Teen wolf (writing for), Harry Potter, Riverdale (It’s like a trainwreck, I can’t look away), Buffy the vampire slayer, The umbrella academy (haven’t written for but wouldn’t be opposed).

Besides autism I have Generalised anxiety disorder and (not diagnosed but my shrink is pretty convinced) Body dysmorphic disorder. And yeah I know I sound like a one woman dumpster fire but I’m pretty together- I mean I have my shit but I have worked on it for a long time and I manage to function. I am medication free and I am currently graduating from three years of community college to get my high school diploma (dropped out of school at 14 because I was too mentally ill to keep up). So yeah, I’m doing alright; some days are better than others and some are downright brutal but that’s life.

What you should know is that I am kind; I value kindness above all else but I am not good at communicating via text so sometimes I fuck up and can sound mean or just a bit not good. If I ever do, and you feel offended or hurt please send me a dm and tell me because I can promise you, unless you’re a genuinely bad person with opinions that put some people above others, it probably is a misunderstanding or just my aspie showing.

When it comes to ships I am pretty much here for it all. I love all the ships! .. except Stucky. I love Stuckony, but Steve and Bucky alone just doesn’t make sense in my head. They’re just the ultimate brotp so yeah. Also there is no shiphate here, if you want to send me an ask to gush about something Stucky: feel free. I can appreciate talking about it even if I don’t ship it myself. And on the note of no ship hate: I do enjoy both wincest and thorki. If you don’t like that sorta thing I totally respect that, and I hope you respect me and my choice too. I have come to some conclusions when it comes to the world of fanart and fanfiction and I’m just very open. Ship what you want to ship, we all have our reasons, right? If you want to know why I ship thorki and/or wincest or my thoughts about sibling ships you can message me or send me an ask and I will gladly answer any questions as long as you’re respectful about it.

The only things I don’t like are gore, watersports (or the like), non con (unless romanticised or roleplayed), bestiality, necrophilia etc. And yeah this is my Nono-list in fanfiction and fanart; in real life the list is very much longer. Fanfiction and fanart are fantasies, and not every fantasy wants or should become reality. They’re two very different things.

Well that’s that, I think? I am a kind, flawed, good hearted, scarred, slightly crazy, thirsty mess of a fangirl and I hope you like my blog and the content I put out there. Oh, and that reminds me: I have childhood trauma and serious issues that I am dealing with. A part of this is huge insecurities and a major fear of failure. So do me a solid? Help me dare keep writing and posting by reblogging with a comment, replying with a comment or (please I will love you forever and everytime I get one my heart does a somersault) send me an ask. Every little word of encouragement and/or appreciation does wonders for my self doubt. It only takes a minute and helps so much.

P.S I absolutely take requests. I can’t promise to do every single one- if inspiration doesn’t strike it doesn’t strike. But if I can’t I will post your request and tag a few people I know that write and see if they want to take it. Also I write in a variety of different styles as fanfiction is mainly a way of practising my writing. So some things I write very poetic and some are more straightforward or focused more on dialogue etc, so if you have a preference about that let me know when/if you send in a request.

Much love/ Vala

[roomfullofcunts]

I love you're writing, btw. You are a blessing upon the fandom. I have a bit of a dumb question though as someone who has only been lurking around the D:BH fandom for a few weeks... is there a reason why fans seem to universally hate David Cage? I feel like I missed all the good drama and am now trying to piece together the story based on numerous angry authors notes. (You're not obligated to answer if you dont want to you just seemed approachable) :)

Thank you anon :3

I don’t mind. Someone can probably word this better than poor sleep-deprived me, but I think with Cage there was already some history regarding his writing or behaviour. As someone who’s only been exposed to half of Heavy Rain, I wouldn’t really know, but that’s the impression I get; meaning that what people criticise about DBH is not an isolated event. As for DBH itself… My biggest issue with it was how ham-fistedly the race allegory was handled. It was clumsy and cringey at best, and ignorant and offensive at worst. I don’t really have the energy to go into it in-depth, but this is a pretty good write up.

There’s also the problem of how the women in the game were handled. Compared to Markus and Connor’s relatively complex, existentialism and ethics-driven character arcs, Kara was a “maid-bot” who wanted to be a mother. That was the extent of her humanity. Oh, and the sex bots. Even North’s whole personality seems based on the fact that she was a sex-bot, and the trauma she suffered because of it.

The force-fed straight romance rubbed a lot of people the wrong way too, not least because many people felt Simon should’ve been open for romancing as well, but also simply because it was just such a prime example of a shoe-horned straight romance where none was needed.

I’ve seen more criticism that has to do with world building or narrative, but these are the main points I usually see when the topic comes across; i.e race, gender & heteronormativity.

The problem I think is that DC built a plot revolving around something incredibly loaded in terms of race politics, but didn’t actually want to make a political game. He romanticises civil rights movements but doesn’t actually truly address the issues why those movements were necessary. Not to mention the awkwardness of essentially equating *objects* created to be subservient with black people. Yikes.

I’m sure much of this was unintended, stemming from ignorance and tone-deafness. But that doesn’t change the fact that many people (and especially Americans, who are closer to the topic than I as a European am) found it incredibly… well, shitty. Add to that the dissatisfaction with some of the narrative aspects, and you end up with a lot of fanfic authors denouncing DC as too incompetent to be paid any attention to, and embrace Death of the Author

Having said all that… Look, fandom keeps reiterating this -

it’s okay to like things that are problematic.

I greatly enjoyed DBH. I’ve sat through two playthroughs on my own console, and plan on doing more. I think the game is visually gorgeous, it’s one of the few “walking simulator”/QTE-heavy games I’ve actually enjoyed mechanics wise, and I thought the plot, when separated from it’s political ineptitude, was actually very captivating. I enjoyed the characters themselves, I cared about them and I cared about the relationships you could build. I think it’s a good game. I also think it’s an incredily badly handled game.

I also want to say this: A lot of us already spend a lot of time dealing with upsetting politics in real life. I’m a half-asian queer woman living in a country where right-wing politics are constantly trying to gain more foothold. And you don’t have to participate in the oppression olympics to feel anxiety about whichever country’s current political climate. Not to mention the personal problems most of us deal with, even the most well-adjusted of us. The real world is draining, so-

It’s absolutely fine to participate in fandom and not want to involve yourself in political discourse about the source material.

You don’t need to excuse yourself, you don’t need to apologise for your enjoyment of the product. You’re allowed to scroll past, blacklist, mute. It’s good to be aware of the nuances in the material, and it’s good to be open to the criticism people have about it, to be an educated consumer. But if it starts giving you anxiety or feelings of guilt about liking it - whether it’s a book or a game or a tv show - you’re allowed to take a step back and idk, go read some one-shot fluff-fics or that five-part smut series of your favourite gross ship.

[getinthefunvee]

mobile-friendly rules

GENERAL INFO

❔ #getinthefunvee

❔ semi-private:  will generally only write with mutuals, but very happy to meet new people.

❔ exclusivity:  is pre-pubescent and used as a cliquey gatekeeping & ostracising mechanism 99% of the time. I do not practice character or ship exclusivity; I will side-eye you if you do, and I will not tolerate it on my dash, and I will lay the verbal smack-down if I see you using it to bully someone else. I've been playing with some muns for nearly 5 years, and at least one for more than a decade; if anyone was going to be an exclusive, it would be those friends, but exclusivity = possessiveness and it's really, really not the way to roll your adult relationships. Note: if you choose to make me your exclusive Tony for any reason (ie, if you generally hate Tony interaction and want to avoid it, emotional safety reasons, whatever) please give me a heads up. Please be aware that, as stated above, I will not do exclusivity in return.

❔ basic etiquette:  human decency is expected. Do not attempt to god-mod (it's so 90s), force-ship, engage in pass-aggro nastiness, harassment, or any other asshattery. Thanks.

❔  Personals et al are very welcome to follow and 'like' RP posts and to reblog non-RP content. Please don't reblog RP threads you aren't participating in; it's creepy, and I will call you out on it.

❔ multi-muse, side & personal journals:  I will not follow you back if you run a multi-muse blog or RP from your persona that heavily features muses from fandoms I’m not familiar withl; I really need to limit dash clutter in order to be able to focus. (ADD & autism are gr8 that way.) That doesn't mean I won't RP with you on your multi-muse blog, and I'm very happy to RP with side blogs, but I will not RP with personals.

❔ OCs, female characters, obscure canon characters:  This shouldn’t need to be said, but: Yes please! I look for fully-formed characters whose creation you've put thought into; this goes for 'popular' canon characters in equal measure.

❔ crossovers:  Please check with me first to make sure I'm familiar with your fandom.

❔ cut your replies:  Please cut your replies & repost asks as new posts when replying. (note: this is not the same as 'read mores'; I'm happy to explain the difference.) I will not follow you if you never cut your replies.

❔  You must have rules or, at the very least, your age stated somewhere on your blog. I will always read your rules before interacting, and I ask that you please do the same.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

❕  est Dec 2012

❕  21 or over for intermittent content which may not always be tagged; I will generally not play with you if you are under 21 as I may not be comfortable writing certain content [because I'll feel like a dinosaur]. I will not RP with anyone under 18 years old, regardless of thread content or your geographical location's 'legal age.' This is not up for discussion, though I'm happy to explain the legal ramifications (for you and your RP partners around the world) of lying about your age. tl;dr I'm not going to jail so you can have smut. Thanks.

❕ safe space:  This blog is fiercely inclusive. I make a point of avoiding ableist or bigoted language and terminology. Please come talk to me in chat or send an ask and tell me if I screw up. note: If you ever need to talk about anything, or if you're having a really bad day, I'm here for you & wouldn't want you to feel alone. Seriously. Come talk to me. I do have chat set to mutuals only thanks to the huge influx of spam messages I was getting, but you can always unfollow me after we’re done talking (I won’t be upset) or send me an ask if that's easier.

❕ triggers:  I will tag genuine triggers when asked (please don't conflate squicks with triggers). I don't have any triggers, but I prefer not to see child abuse, domestic violence, incest, or pregnancy on my dash; if you regularly include that content, I will generally unfollow. Please see below for a comprehensive list. Triggers will be tagged 'triggery thing tw' and added to the tag dump post.

❕ formatting:  usually no fancier than small text +/- 66x66 or 100x100 icon (depending on the size you use), but I will try to match your style. If you need any special formatting to make it easier for you to read, please tell me. I'm very happy to comply.

❕ pre-established relationships:  I'm happy to discuss these.

❕ readmores:  used rarely, but will always use for explicit dubcon/noncon content & graphic stuff.

❕ memes:  generally mutuals only but will always be tagged as 'mutuals only', so if you don't see that, feel free to interact. I do my best to observe reblog karma but don't expect you to; it's all good.

❕ open posts:  will be tagged clearly; generally open only to mutuals, sometimes character-specific (will specify in tags).

❕ shipping:  multiship; not ship exclusive. Shipping is dependent wholly on muse interaction and never guaranteed. Tony is demiromantic and pansexual; he may or may not be open to poly setups depending on verse. He's experimental, inclusive, and flexible. Got a kink? Bring it. BDSM? He'll want to know your safeword. Three/four/eightway? He's probably into it. That in mind, I'm on the ace spectrum (see below) so mature-content threads aren't going to be that common and will generally, though not always, fade to black.

YES PLEASE

✅  duplicates, multiple 'canon' realities, AUs, cross-fandom, What Ifs

✅  crossovers, especially within Marvel & DC

✅  AUs: love, love, love. Give me your tropey coffee shop AU; better yet, give me your research-worthy Mesopotamian AU, time-travel AU, etc. I'm utter trash for Sentinel!verse (and if you don't know what that is, come at me).

✅  plot-development, complex characterization

✅  conscious, intentional, creative abuse of grammar/syntax

✅  any gender identity/lack thereof; sexual orientation/lack thereof; neurodivergent characters; disabled characters

✅  LGBT, non-cis/het, POC, or other minority versions of canonically white cis straight Christian etc characters

✅  female versions of canonically (cis)male characters

✅  dark, edgy, angsty themes up to and including psychological & physical torture, abuse, and character death

✅  complex and conscientious portrayals of trauma and mental health issues

NO THANKS

❎  self-insertion (omnipotent manic pixie Gary-Stu/Mary-Stu characters make me cringe)

❎  pages of ooc

❎  pages of graphic porn

❎  you RP nothing but smut of a variety that squicks me, such as (below) and don't put it behind readmores: - A/B/O, especially if it involves 'mating'/'breeding', pregnancy (esp cis male or cis female pregnancy), etc. Really major squick; - BDSM that uses an abundance of misogynistic language like 'slut'; 'daddy/mommy' themes; pet play; romanticising unhealthy abusive relationships ('50 Shades of Nope' comes to mind) by framing them as consensual BDSM.

❎  consistent grammar/spelling errors (note: ignore if English isn't your primary language; I’m happy to help if that’s something you want, and I speak a few languages so I might be able to RP in your language)

❎  lots of family/baby/child content

❎  'child of'/'sibling of' & non-canon family member/friend characters

❎  anthropomorphic, furry, or 'real people' characters

❎  SuperWhoLock, anime

❎  gatekeeping, canon-snobbery, constant negativity

❎ erasure of any minority group (ie male versions of canonically female characters; suspiciously white FCs for canonically POC characters, etc)

❎ messianic anything; proselytizing

ABOUT THE MUN

✩  ari (aka kai), 30s, London (GMT)

✩  working in medicine, re-qualifying for med school entry; usually not around much Tue-Fri due to work (replies are sometimes queued & I'm usually happy to do short stuff like texts during the week)

✩  thoroughly spoken for; married to cap.co.vu (but thanks for asking *fingerguns*)

✩  introvert:  very social at times (I tend to 'read' as an extrovert), but I need more distance when out of social energy. Feel free to ask me about this. I will love you forever if you respect the need for space, and will not like you very much if you insta-pounce 10x daily when I've gone quiet.

✩  jewitchy = unrepentantly jewish + low-key hedge witch (observant Reform/Conservative Jew; dash of pagan)

✩  grey-a + demi, greyromantic, as impossibly flirty as Tony Stark

✩  ADD, autism (psa: you can be super direct with me), major depressive disorder, EBS (epidermolysis bullosa), mild anxiety (when out of social energy)

✩  sharp-spoken, sharply-dressed, stickler for punctuation, polyglot, menace to society, method RPer, (mostly) good human being, guaranteed at least 80% carbon-based lifeform, will use elbows on the Tube, well-travelled, great ass (thanks, yoga!), hearts horseback riding, BDSM, dismantling the patriarchy

✩  ask box is always open, Discord available by request, IM/chat is gr8

If you feel like it, send me your favourite trope as a way of letting me know you've read these. I'm not going to ask for any sort of specific symbol, codeword, etc to prove it, but I will presume you have and act accordingly. If you feel compelled to acknowledge any specific parts that jump out at you or query something that doesn't sit right with you, we'll probably be bffs.

[imaginexmeintheuniverse]

The Death Cure [Deleted Scene]

Okay so I may get hate for this or a lot of people who disagree with me so allow me to start with a disclaimer that this is NOT a personal attack on anyone and if you have any issues with my opinion or may have misunderstood the way I’ve expressed it please message me privately so we can clear things up because I’d like to keep my blog a safe space.

WARNINGS: I will be mentioning the topics of anxiety, depression, and suicide which why this post is tagged with the appropriate trigger warnings for those whom it may bring discomfort and unwanted thoughts/feelings.

So it’s rare that I post my strong opinions about controversial topics like this but as a fan of the Maze Runner trilogy (and I have yet to see the Death Cure), I have seen too many posts about people attacking director Wes Ball for removing a scene between Newt and Thomas whereby Newt explains how he got his limp.

Now, I haven’t done much research on Wes Ball or his reasons for removing it, but he certainly is NOT deserving of all this hate for removing a triggering scene. If he’s done other problematic things, then by all means hate on him for those, but to hate him for removing a scene that would otherwise prevent a lot of fans from enjoying the last of the movie-adapted instalment of The Maze Runner series is plain wrong.

I do understand why some people think this scene was important (which it is) because it addresses topics and feeling that many young teens and adults face and this gave them some form of representation and/or relatability to Newt’s character and it is in fact a major part of his character.

HOWEVER, what a lot of you need to understand is that there are a lot of viewers who also struggle with these feelings except for this particular scene can be very triggering for them, and as someone who also struggles with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts on a daily basis for longer than I can remember (although I have made a lot of progress) I feel that it was a good decision to remove the scene for the movie, taking into consideration those who will be triggered by it.

The director, Wes Ball, has still released the scene and kept it as a deleted scene, which I personally believe is the better choice because that way those who were looking forward to the scene still get to enjoy it. Keeping it in the movie would be preventing a lot of fans who struggle with these triggering topics from watching the movie and I know first-hand how terrible and fucking terrifying it is to experience an anxiety attacks or feel like you’re going out of your goddamn mind in a public place (not that it’s much better in private).

That being said, I know this next part doesn’t apply to all of you who disagree with Wes Ball for removing the scene, but the vast majority of tumblr posts I’ve seen that express outrage towards this decision is because it messes with your ship (N*wtmas) which is completely fucking ridiculous. Newt is my favorite character from both the books and movies, and is a well developed character who is loved by many because he is relatable and an overall great guy. He has his flaws and struggled with depression in the maze because who wouldn’t when you’ve been placed somewhere against your will and left with no memories except your fucking name and he couldn’t stand being there any longer to the point where he tried to take his own life and instead ended up breaking his leg and left with a permanent limp. I can understand wanting the scene in the movie because it addresses topics that are still unfortunately considered taboo and demonstrates that it’s important to talk about such things, but for someone to romanticise such an important scene like this just because it helps satisfy some of their thirst for their ship is completely repugnant.

Romanticizing such topics is already all too common in popular media and if you can’t see why that’s problematic, then you are part of the problem. If you part of the problem and no longer wish to be please read this next bit. I could talk about this for hours so I’ll keep this short. Romanticizing mental health issues is beyond damaging. It’s damaging to those who experience it. It’s damaging to those who consume the media (especially impressionable youth). It’s damaging  because romanticizing mental health issues further perpetuates mental health stigma. So just don’t do it and certainly do not encourage it.

This is something that it far too common in so many fandoms and it needs to stop because it is so incredibly toxic. So that’s why I couldn’t keep my opinion to myself this time after all the hate I saw towards the director for omitting a triggering scene because people can’t handle not getting the ’ship moments’ they wanted.

I shall reiterate: for those of you who have read this far and are outraged by my opinion or may have misunderstood the way I’ve expressed it please message me privately because I’d like to keep my blog a safe space for people to express their opinions in a civil way. If you are an avid N*wtmas shipper, please acknowledge that this post is not against the ship, just those who perpetuate negativity and problematic behavior concerning it (which has become far too common with too many fandoms).

For anyone who has similar experiences with this type of thing and wants to talk about it, or to talk about anything really, my inbox is always open for you