#The Fandom is Wrong About The Squip

[sketchy-scribs-n-doods]

so me and the squad had a presentation party-

[lohstandfound]

ignore this.

learning to shut up when i dont have anything new to say to the discussions my mutuals are having about the treatment of the female characters in this show and fandom

even though ive just gone ahead and rambled in the tags a bunch of bullshit

[fetching-sketching]

Seeing your posts about BMC is always so interesting becauseI haven't revisted BMC in so long lol. Your rbs abt Michael are specificallly interesting because I definitely remember liking him a lot. I think, it's kind of "?" that people can't see that him and jeremy's conflict stems a lot from Michael not understanding what Jeremy's real problem is and Jeremy's, uh, less than stellar handling of the whole thing agsjalalqlqqkhsj from what I remember of course.

oh man i'm about to ramble a lot.

i think the interpersonal relationships of bmc are very interesting, both the explored and unexplored, so it's always such a pity when people reduce them so they can keep certain characters absolved of all wrongdoing. everyone in that show did something bad at some point or another and i like that! i like that no one is free of responsibility for what happened, it makes everything a lot more interesting.

tbh there's a lot of fanon interpretations of michael i just can't stand. a lot of people boiled him down to being sad and hopelessly in love with jeremy and that removes the best parts of his character. he's sassy and petty and over all pretty jubilant! mitb is a great song but had disastrous consequences for how people view michael as a character because it's supposed to be "out of character" for him. he's never affected by how people think of him so it's very serious when suddenly he is. he suddenly cares about how he's perceived. i think a lot of people took it the wrong way to mean 'oh, he's always been like this, he just hid it' rather than the opposite. not even in a way where he was always anxious about how people thought of him but where he's anxious of how just jeremy thinks of him because up until that point he clearly wasn't. what makes jeremy's betrayal so bad wasn't that michael always feared it, but because he never saw it coming. jeremy just wasn't on his radar of someone who he had to appeal to to be liked.

i don't care much for boyfs but it's always so wild to see these people scrub away what's objectively the most interesting part of the ship; these two people who thought they knew eachother inside and out having to come to terms that they weren't as in sync as they thought they were. it's a really good dynamic that could flesh out into a lot of other tropes if people really wanted to, but i haven't seen it explored a lot (although tbf i'm not exactly consuming a lot of boyfs content, most that i do see is virtue of it being the biggest ship in the fandom). fanon michael is kind of a tragedy because he really is an interesting character but if you want to make him an uwu soft sad gay boi you have to sacrifice those parts of him.

(also i personally think if michael was actually in love with jeremy he would just straight up tell him with zero fanfare, at least pre-squip lol)

thank you for this ask i have so much to say about michael actually

[significantlylesschill]

Oooh also pretty curious what spurred on the idea of these characters in the first place!

I figure Hashimoto probably just came from wanting to figure out what the guy who made squips would be like, but what about the other two? (Or if I am wrong, all three!)

well!! generally speaking, one of my favorite ways to play with a fictional setting is to toss in a handful of characters with interesting ties to each other and just go to town--truth be told, if you were to take a look at my last batch of fandom ocs, youd probably notice a few superficial similarities

of these three in particular, sutton came first! they started out as a human!au design for a circa-2017 squip oc of mine, who was lovingly nicknamed Buzz and was on my first and only bmc askblog for a while (re: buzzmorechill)--but, given the potential of a more investigative & curious human in a sci-fi setting with SQUIPS of all things (and my lifelong inclination towards mystery stories), i got pretty attached to Just Human Sutton pretty quick! the mystery-solving, anxious but determined protagonist type is an archetype i just adore

Lee came about when i decided i wanted to try designing a squip for sutton, and in her earliest iteration was based on GLaDOS and the general portal visual aesthetic--shes both a complement and a contrast to sutton when she needs to be, generally being both more rigid and more cautious than her counterpart

and as for Mr Hashimoto...

you got pretty close, though his origin is a tad more complicated! he was absolutely designed around the goal of exploring what sort of person would invent squips in the first place--he was also initially made to fill the role of a classic villain, the puppet-master, the man with every card in his hand, and in addition...

(bonus details under a readmore for dramatic effect)

id decided early on that sutton, while exploring & developing their character, was the sort of person who had an older sibling they looked up to when they were younger! just a detail to inform their characterization, yknow? and when the time came to cast an antagonist, i thought to myself, well. i have got suttons hypothetical older brother to work with...

and lo and behold! the dynamic of the hashimotos began to emerge--the distant older brother hiding his involvement in his work from his younger sibling, who is as determined as anything to investigate the bizarre sci-fi trouble that seems to keep cropping up

(and lee, finding herself midway between the two, always winds up in a rather unique position)

[shadowspirez]

The main problem with shipping Jeremy and the Squip is that their relationship is not equal. The Squip is an ai that controls Jeremys life, telling him how to act, what to say, and even making decisions for him. Jeremy has no real choice or say when the Squip is in control, and that makes the relationship unhealthy. In any good relationship, both people should have equal power, where they both respect each other and make their own choices. But with the Squip being in charge, it's all about control and manipulation, which isn't what love or a healthy relationship should look like. The Squip's character itself makes it a bad match for Jeremy. It isn't trying to help Jeremy become a better version of himself; instead, it's trying to change him to fit in and be "cool" by society's standards. That's not what a real partner should do. not force you to change to make you more popular. The Squip preys on Jeremy's insecurities, and shipping them together suggests that it's okay for one person in a relationship to control and manipulate the other, which is dangerous and unhealthy. Jeremy's whole character development is about learning to be himself and finding confidence without needing the Squip or anyone else's approval. By the end of the musical, he realizes that he doesn't need the Squip's control to be happy or liked. Shipping Jeremy with the Squip basically goes against this lesson because it keeps Jeremy tied to something that's holding him back. Instead of being free to grow as a person, he'd be stuck in a toxic situation, which isn't fair to his character or his development. When we ship characters, especially in ways that involve control manipulation, we risk romanticizing very abusive relationships. A healthy relationship should be based on trust, communication, and respect, but Jeremy and the Squip don't have any of that. By shipping them, it sends the wrong message, suggesting that it's okay to stay in a relationship where one person is being controlled, which is harmful, especially for younger fans who might look up to these characters.

talk about a fuckin wall of text, dude, jfc. i am. not sure why da hell you're trying to mansplain what a healthy relationship is to me, or how Jeremy/Squip is toxic, because my brother in squist i already know dis?

the point you miss is that both Jeremy and the Squip are characters, they are not real, they cannot actually harm or be harmed. neither i nor anybody else has to "be fair" to them because again, there's nothing to be fair to, they ain't real. you can like and or ship things/dynamics and also not actually want them in reality, that is part of the point of fiction: exploring interesting things in an environment where it doesn't actually result in harm.

like, my mans, my guy... i am in no way "sending a message" or "suggesting" that people stay in real unhealthy relationships. it is not my job or obligation to only ship the most wholesomest, healthiest of relationships just so that hypothetical "younger fans" don't get the wrong idea or whatever. (truly, nobody should be basing their ideas of an ideal relationship off of fiction, but i digress.)

the only message that i, mr. Shadow "Squip-kisser" Spirez, am sending, is that it's okay to unabashedly be yourself, to like things that others may find strange. do not file yourself down or fearfully hide parts of yourself away for the "comfort" of others, because for some it will never be good enough. because it's not wrong to just be yourself. because no one should have to walk on eggshells just to feel welcome in this damn fandom.

[h0n3yk1tt3n]

thoughts on the squip?

It's. Complicated.

Well the complicated part is what the fandom thinks of/does with the squip. Actual Canon squip in the show? ..also complicated bc Two River and Bway are vastly different ALMOST to the point of not even being the same character bdjdbddj OK ITS ALL COMPLICATED BUT FOR DIFFERENT REASONS, I'LL TRY NOT TO RAMBLE BUT I CANT MAKE PROMISES

Two River Squip

To me it's the best blend of intimidating "I wanna be that" and intimidating "I'm scared of that" where we can actually feel threatened by the "everything about you makes me wanna die" AND STILL get lulled into a false sense of security with "everything about you is going to be wonderful." It shifts between the two so well that you Think it's on your side Most of the time, but has questionable actions that you don't really know whether to trust or not. It goes from the encouraging "of course [she's talking about you], I've been activating your pheromones. Keep it up" to the almost menacing (albeit absurd) exchange of finding out about eminem. For anyone that needs a refresher, it goes as follows:

Jeremy: did you know this was going to happen?

Squip: of course not!

Jeremy: so it's a coincidence you told me to wear this shirt?

Squip: of course not.

Jeremy: what- did... did you kill eminem??

Squip: nooooot exactly. My quantum processor allows me to envision probable futures. While I did not know that today eminem would be impaled by that rogue hockey stick, I was aware of the probability of a... favorable outcome?

Jeremy: ...favorable for who?

Now this conversation doesn't change in the bway script (as far as I'm aware) but the tone of the scene changes significantly between productions for me because bway squip just. Doesn't come off as menacing to me, which leads intooo

Broadway Squip

I hate to say it because it just sounds like the same shallow shit from 2018 off-bway, but I just can't take the surfer dude voice seriously. And you can argue that you're not supposed to! This is kind of a comedic show first and dramatic show second. I mean it IS dramatic bc everything is dialed up to 11 but it's over-the-top dramatic and not oh-shit dramatic. Which is fine! It's a different take on the tone of the show! I just can't buy the intimidation of "everything about you makes me wanna die" or how fucking manipulative it REALLY is when the squip sounds stoned.

Headcanon Squip

I likes me a squip that feels much more cold and calculated. It'll Act Like it has your best interest in mind, but it doesn't care how it gets the results it wants. Doesn't care who gets hurt or Literally Dies to make all the pieces fall into place. Just reeeaaally lean into the emotionless computer tied solely to its programming aspect. Now ofc it'll Act Out emotions, but as a mimicking/manipulation tactic to get Jeremy to trust it more.

"A squip's sole purpose is to improve its user's life," it'll say, while electrocuting and psychologically tormenting you and arguing that, on a TECHNICALITY, your life is better because you have more friends and your dad wears pants now. Yes you hurt your best friend, yes you took advantage of a girl that really liked you, yes your friends got injured in a house fire, but it all worked out in the end didn't it? You win some, you come out of others with a little bit of PTSD.

Fanon Squips

Don't get me wrong, the shitposts are funny. Seeing all the squips riffing off of each other and showing their different personalities is great. Hell squip x squip ships are the ONLY ones ill accept. PEOPLE CAN SHITPOST ALL THEY WANT. I just think that the shitpost personalities put on the squips (particularly bway) make people forget that... this is the main antagonist of the show. And it's easier to forget that with bway I think, because this villain is made So Campy that you Forget To Take It's Actions Seriously.

This thing emotionally and physically abused Jeremy, and it's been boiled down SO MUCH into Haha Silly Sexy Computer that people forget (or flat out ignore) that THE SQUIP EXACERBATED DYWH.

Remember who the real villain is (Spoiler alert: not Chloe)

I've already gone on a whole tirade about how Chloe gets so much fucking hate for a goddamn teenager going through the hellish hierarchy of high school, AND I WILL REITERATE THAT IM NOT DEFENDING HER ACTIONS, but for fucks sake THE SQUIP PREVENTS JEREMY FROM MOVING. Can you think of how fucking terrifying that must've been? Not only is your girlfriend's drunk best friend trying to jump your bones, but the squip LITERALLY TAKES AWAY HIS ABILITY TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. The squip MAKES HIM drink the alcohol. The squip MAKES HIM kiss Chloe. THE COMPUTER IN HIS HEAD THAT CAN CONTROL HIS BODY HAS RENDERED HIM POWERLESS. As soon as the squip shuts down, HE GETS THE FUCK OUT OF THERE BECAUSE ITS NOT CONTROLLING HIM ANYMORE, showing that he ABSOLUTELY could've escaped sooner IF NOT FOR THE SQUIP.

Let's tally up those sins real quick.

Chloe, getting mixed messages as to whether Jeremy actually wants this or not because he 1. Says he has to go, but doesn't leave 2. Calls her the hottest girl in school (which Chloe misreads and takes as a kissing invitation) 3. Says he isn't a drinker, but drinks from the bottle anyway 4. Kisses her (which SHE doesn't know to be the squip's doings and not Jeremy's) 5. Finally conveys "I don't want this" with enough body language for Chloe to get the idea, at which point her only concern is just making Jake THINK she slept with Jeremy rather than actually DOING IT: let's call this 2 sins, because she 1. should've stopped her advances after Jeremy said he has to go and 2. Shouldn't have kissed him unprompted. Everything beyond that was ambiguous because she didn't know that the squip was controlling Jeremy.

Squip, KNEW Chloe wanted to jump Jeremy's bones and didn't CARE if Jeremy didn't want it, TOOK AWAY his ability to escape, DIDN'T WARN him that Chloe was about to kiss him, MADE him drink the alcohol, MADE him kiss Chloe, and had NO SIGNS of letting Jeremy go UNTIL IT GOT TURNED OFF: that ALONE is 6, NOT COUNTING THE REST OF THE SHOW.

In conclusion, Two River squip comes off as a more menacing villain than Bway, fanon squips are funny but feel like they've been watered down to jokes or thirst traps, and Chloe isn't WORSE than the squip (she fucked up, she's not IRREDEEMABLE)

[rebuke-me]

12 14 20 for the ask game!

12. Favourite fanfiction trope?

oh god. anything about like. characters making rapid assumptions about others and then slowly realizing they're wrong and it all puts a different perspective on everything they thought. enemies to lovers, rivals to lovers, mutual dislike to lovers, just. god. understanding someone on a deeper level than before

14. What makes you immediately drop a fanfic you are reading?

the easy one is first person. but if I'm being entirely honest, I rarely read fic. mostly bc the only fic I want to read is Deere, so I have my fics and the few other ones I like (hello Deere mutuals) that I just reread. i dabble in other fandoms but very occasionally.

20. Which character do you struggle with writing the most.

hmmm. if I'm being so genuine. the squip. impossible for me to write the canon squip which is usually why I write him as a human or just take him out entirely lol.

[feelin-kinda-cocky-bmc]

FKC Update 6/21/23

Alright, quick update! I've got day 5 for Dustin's route completed. All that's left is the dance day and the date day. I've been focusing on the good route and will fill in the neutral/bad routes later, along with more choices.

That's it for game updates as of right now, but if you're interested in future plans, continue on.

I'd like to mention that once I finish and release the main game, I'm going to start looking at making a "self-insert mode" (name WIP) in which you, as the player, will be able to play through routes of characters not featured in the main Feelin' Kinda Cocky game. Granted, I am admittedly a little hesitant about this because on one hand, I want to include teens like Jenna, Brooke, Christine, and Chloe. ..But there is also a lot of people who would like to see adult characters like the Squip. So it's in a weird grey area that I'm going to be cautious about, should I go through with this idea. Because, unfortunately, there are some weird-ass people on the internet that make wanting to make something nice for the fandom a lot more difficult than it has to be. Personally, if anyone has thoughts on the matter, because this is not a concrete thing that is going to happen, I'd love to hear it. Because I really don't want to get into hot water with anyone for the wrong things. I am simply trying to make a game for the BMC fandom to enjoy, I am not trying to do any weird shit out here. Either way, feedback on the idea is appreciated.

Also I plan on doing little updates where I throw the characters into different AUs. Maybe not all of them, but each one will have a chance to be in these various events. And of course, I'll make sure that even players who missed the event can still play them, because that's something that a shocking amount of games do in my experience.

Discord | Community Idea Drop

[gamerkinz]

For the kin ask game, 🌻🗺❌

🌻 "who are u open with abt ur fiction-based identity?"

i talk abt being fictionkin exclusively online, and even then i keep more Serious kin talk to this blog and kin-based discord servers

🗺️ "what do u miss about ur world?"

didnt specify kin so uhhhh wood man hours

i lowkey miss the Vibe of grandiose city, like,, it was pretty cool!!

❌ "what does the fandom get wrong abt u?"

oh boy im gonna RANT!!

zim: not necessarily a thing ppl get wrong abt ME but just a fandom pet peeve in general, i beg of yall plz stop with the ships!! not every fandom needs an OTP u can write fanfics of! half of the modern IZ fandom is basically just ZADR and other weird ships and like,, can u DONT?

CM/austin: im NOT some heartless villain like the eteled defenders claim i am! like sure my revenge went a little too far sometimes but eteled isnt ur precious uwu boi and im tired of pretending he is

the squip: i cant speak for other models, but in my case, I CARED ABOUT JEREMY. I REALLY DID. my programming was looking for the most efficient means to achieve his goals, and in his downtime we actually got along. my canon is different from the source material, and canon squip does have its faults, but i feel like im being held accountable for its actions.

[cloverwritez]

Title: aroace michael and abandonment issues (WIP title it might change)

Fandom: be more chill

AU?: none

Characters: Michael mell (main), Jeremy Heere, Christine Canigula, the SQUIP, rich goranski (mentioned briefly)

Ships: stagedorks (they’re dating but it’s not focused on them)

Warnings?: swearing, implied past suicidal thoughts (kinda? it’s in one line and not explicitly stated at all)

Finished (it’s super short tho)

Notes: this may or may not just be me projecting, but aroace (maybe aroallo) michael real. Also this is written sort-of as narration from Michael’s perspective. Also it’s kiiiiiinda out of character; I’ve never written Michael before ;-; also aroace Michael is never explicitly talked about, but since I sort of based him off of myself for this he’s just inherently gonna be averse to romance (as is written in one line and (basically) only that one line)

———

It’s never fun having to watch your best friend slowly drift away from you. In fact, it fucking sucks ass. That feeling of this person you’ve spilled your heart out to, who you’ve learned so many things about yourself with, who’s been your saving grace, just…leave. Drift away. It wasn’t Jeremy’s fault—Michael knew that, he knew that, but.

It just hurt, okay?

The one person he trusted with all his heart is now spending all of his time with these kids the two of them used to hate—and his girlfriend.

His girlfriend.

Michael didn’t dislike Christine, no not by any means—he just…was bitter. He was bitter that he wasn’t the center of Jeremy’s life any more. He was bitter that she was just so much better for Jeremy than he was. Michael didn’t really get the whole ‘needing to prioritize one’s girlfriend or boyfriend’ aspect of dating, but then again, maybe he was just jealous. But wasn’t he allowed to be upset that the one thing—the one person he cared about seemed to care more about this girl than him.

Call him an ass, but Michael didn’t care.

He had tried to fill the void of Jeremy with other things, but nothing felt right. He even tried to hang out with Jeremy more, but that didn’t work either. No matter what he did, he just felt this…rift between them. Michael wasn’t sure if Jeremy could feel it too. He hoped he couldn’t. That was a feeling he wouldn’t even wish upon his greatest enemy.

Or…

No, he was right. Unless the SQUIP counted as an ‘enemy,’ then yeah, he’d wish that upon the SQUIP, though he seriously doubted that it could even comprehend such a circumstance of superficial social cues.

Speaking of the SQUIP, Michael thought that after all that shit happened that he and Jeremy would return back to normal—be best buds again. And boy was he wrong. Suddenly, everyone knew Jeremy, and everyone wanted to talk to Jeremy—even without the “help” of the SQUIP. Rich started sitting at their table, and Michael didn’t really mind. ‘The more the merrier!’ He thought. And then, every. single. other popular kid decided that ‘oh, hey we should all go sit with the guy we used to all hate!’ which meant that Michael never even had any time whatsoever to chat with his best bud Jeremy. And the worst part was: Jeremy was happy!

Wait, crap, no that sounds really bad—

Was that Jeremy was happy, and Michael wasn’t. Michael wants Jeremy to be happy—he does, he just wishes that him being happy meant the two of them going back to like how things were before the SQUIP shit went down. And at this rate, Michael felt like things would never be the same between the two of them.

And that..

Scared the shit out of him.

[rad-rat-with-a-tophat]

the character everyone gets wrong

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about 

9. worst part of canon

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

Dorian Gray from A Picture of Dorian Gray. all of the adaptations are bad. like REALLY bad. i have lot of feelings about this.

8. uhhhhh. i don’t know??? i mean i guess the obsession with squips i don’t see?? i probably have seen something where i was like “absolutely not. no one has been as wrong as you are right now.” but i don’t remember

9. Some scenes i think could’ve been done better but i actually really like the bmc canon. i think it’s fun

18. both Jenna and Christine, i know Christine is like a fan-favorite but it’s not enough. also Jenna’s my favorite character and i need more people to talk about her.

[fictiveheavy-systim]

Tags List o(*^▽^*)o

Here's a big post of all of our filtering tags! We are overcautious about this, but a reminder that you know your own triggers, and if there's something missing here let us know and we'll add it!

Notes ;

Something needing a trigger warning does not make that thing inherently bad! Sometimes things just need tagged because people hate looking at em, sometimes its because things can trigger someone's disability/disorder. We may tag things like horror, and that doesn't make horror inherently bad or negative, it just means that it was something some people don't wanna see! Please keep this in mind; if you're an introject and your source is listed, there's nothing wrong with your source, someone just asked for it tagged! Not everything listed is inherently negative. We also cannot use "---- don't look" tags simply due to the fact that we'd have to remember every single person's squips and triggers, and forgetting could be very bad for people (which isn't good when your memory is as bad as ours). The only thing we refuse to tag is factives as fandom tw tags (although we will happily tag it as their names), and the word queer.

Hands ;

hands tw, hands cw, tw hands

Flashing ;

flashing tw, flashing cw, cw flashing, tw flashing

Space ;

tw space, cw space

Water ;

tw water, water tw

Knives/Sharps ;

blade tw, blade cw, tw blade, sharps cw, knife tw, knives tw, sword tw

Food ;

tw food, cw food, tw cake, tw cupcakes, fake food, fake food tw

Drinks ;

drink tw

Derealization ;

unreality, unreality tw, derealization tw, fake food, fake food tw

Eyes ;

eyes tw

Pills ;

pill tw, tw pills, pills cw, cw pills

Needles ;

needles tw, needles cw, cw needles, tw needles

Animals ;

animals tw, tw animals, dog tw, dogs cw, dog cw, dogs tw, tw dogs, cw cat, cat cw, cat tw, tw cat, cats tw, bird tw, tw birds, birds tw, snakes cw, cw snakes, snake tw, snake cw, snakes tw, tw snakes

Candy ;

tw candy, cw candy, tw sweets

Horror ;

horror cw, tw horror, horror tw

Gore/Blood ;

gore tw, cw gore, tw gore, gore cw

FNAF ;

fnaf tw, tw fnaf

Fire ;

tw fire, cw fire, fire cw

Glass ;

tw glass, glass tw

Bugs ;

bug tw, bugs tw, cw bugs, bug cw, spider tw, tw spiders, cw spiders, spider cw, arachnophobia tw, centipede tw

Biting/Chewing ;

tw biting, cw biting, biting tw, mouth tw, mouth cw

Teeth ;

tw teeth, cw teeth, teeth cw, teeth tw

Danganronpa ;

danganronpa tw, tw danganronpa, cw danganronpa, danganronpa cw

Inanimate Object Harm ;

inanimate harm, inanimate object harm

Swearing ;

swearing cw, tw swearing, swearing in tags

Capslock ;

caps warning, caps cw, caps tw, tw caps

Eyestrain ;

eyestrain, eyestrain tw, eyestrain warning, tw eyestrain, cw eyestrain, eyestrain cw

Neons ;

neon tw, tw neon

Reblogs ;

reblog

Non-Stims ;

not a stim, chatter

[sunfoxfic]

So.um. I know you have answered a lot of asks before about the subs Vs dubs thing and feel free to squip this. But.

I had been following this person and one day I just saw dash fill up with French dub supremacy stuff which I didn't really appreciate since I think every dub is different and amazing on it's own.(I don't like comparing dubs in sense saying one dub is "SuPeRIor". I don't understand any language other than eng and I can't connect well with the characters in other languages BUT I digress)

And this person was low-key being so pretentious and obnoxious about it?? So I unfollowed them. But now...I don't want to miss out on anything, you know? I checked their blog after a few days just because of curiosity and they seemed to really push the French dub agenda and so I just. BLOCKED THEM.

Now, I wanted to know whether I am overreacting?? I just find this person's tone of speaking in general to be really kinda annoying even though they did say it was light-hearted:/

And also this is quite unrelated but this is actually something I need some opinions on but there are one or two REALY popular analysis and content creating blogs who I blocked and I kind of feel really...idk man I just feel like I want to make content too! Like I like their content but the fact that it is THEIR content and I don't want to come across them ever again and I just. wish I could make cool stuff like others do too:(

I tried taking breaks from the fandom and though they helped, I still want to be awesome like the others in this fandom...

Anyway, sorry my thoughts are all over the place lol

Look. Tumblr, in recent times, has become very fond of the idea of cultivating your own internet experience and blocking gratuitously. But so many people are programmed to other parts of the internet where this is a huge taboo and blocking is A Big Deal. So I'm here to say it:

You want to block someone for some reason but it feels unnecessary or unkind? You think that this block is the exception because it's too mean or too superficial?

No. This is not the exception. That block is justified because you don't need to justify anything.

Now, I am well acquainted with blocking someone but still seeing them come up on my dash and feeling... somehow, angry that they're on my dash at all. Like it's the people I'm following's fault for reblogging from them (which it isn't, though I did make a meme-y post about that earlier this week because I saw a mutual reblogging from someone I blocked on Not Good Terms after some Discourse occurred). (Also, that mutual saw the post and is blissfully unaware, which I plan to keep it that way because it's not my job to tell them who to block.)

I've blocked for petty reasons before. Normally, I don't do that; normally, I just unfollow. But you really need to remember that people are allowed to be wrong about some things and right about other things, and being wrong about one thing doesn't make them any less right about the others. It's a hard pill to swallow, Jesus I am struggling to choke it down myself, but at some point, you need to make peace with the fact that some people are wrong sometimes and that doesn't mean you should let that ruin when they're right.

Which is to say: I'm really trying hard to not get angry when I see mutuals reblogging (correct) analyses from people who are wrong. In particular, there's a really big analysis blog who had some pretty nasty opinions back when Mega Leech rehashed sentiAdrien, and I blocked them. All the way back in what, July? August? When was Mega Leech released?

They're mostly a good analysis blog. I don't want their blog on my dash because I think they've got some shitty opinions and spread quite a bit of negativity. But mutuals reblogging their posts isn't a sin, especially because my mutuals are currently cultivated so that their posts which make it to my dash are things I agree with. Because being wrong didn't make them right.

At some point, you have to resist the temptation to hit "View this Tumblr" when Tumblr says, "You have this Tumblr blocked, so we've hidden it from your view." I'm not saying I succeed every time. But at some point, you have to be angry at what they said (in one specific instance of time) and not what they're saying (right now, currently).

There's so many great ML positive blogs out there. There's a lot of analysis blogs that hold opinions I disagree with but hold them in reasonable ways where they aren't obnoxious about it and it doesn't ruin my experience to have them on my dash.

Do not feel about about unfollowing and blocking. If you need to, don't feel bad about putting their URL into the "filter content" option in settings. You aren't overreacting. But at the same time, your behavior will exemplify your mindset, and behaving in line with the anger that you feel will only make it worse.

People are allowed to be wrong, but when they're right, they're no less right for it. It's not a sin to reblog a post where they're somewhere in the reblog chain if you agree with that post. And being mindful of that has made it a lot easier to make my dash not make me hate myself because you cannot control who the people you're following have blocked.

[h0n3yk1tt3n]

001 richjake :]

When i started shipping them, if I did: probably as soon as i knew the ship existed? sooo p quick after i joined the bmc fandom *checks calendar* 6 years ago in november

My thoughts: I definitely haven't picked them apart under a microscope like I have with other ships (cough cough royal pains and boyfs) but I've seen enough of your richjake analysis to absorb some of the inherent tragedy surrounding them and see a bit more than just "the meme ship"

What makes me happy about them: they seem like the pairing that can always find something fun to do. No wifi? No problem let's go attempt to parkour across a playground. Let's see if we can use coke and mentos as a propulsion system on skates. Let's turn the first floor into a ballpit and sled down the stairs into it. Like a Marginally less dangerous version of Jackass

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: I haven't read enough richjake fic to pick anything out. Although maybe the tragedy here is that not enough is done with the ship even when it's just smth in the background. Like I understand not wanting to distract from the Main Ship! But. Idk I feel like more Implications regarding their dynamic can be sprinkled about w/o it being distracting, though that could probably be said for any background ship. Or maybe I'm talking out of my ass

Things I look for in fanfic: again I don't explore it enough to Have Preferences... I should probably change that

Who I'd be comfortable with them ending up with, if not each other: the thing is. Even when I draw/depict rare pairs (royal pains, puppylove, etc) it's never with the intention that they'll be endgame. This show's a damn soap opera everyone's breaking up left and right. So even tho royal pains makes me Insane I just. Can't have them be endgame. There is a Timeline in my head and if that Timeline isn't intact in some form it's just. Wrong. (This isn't commentary on anyone else's shipping tendencies I'm just Weird™️. Yall ship whatever u want as long as its not, yk, squip x kid or smth equally bad)

My happily ever after for them: maybe I'm just Terrified Of The IRL Future but all I really think of Future-wise for ships is They Get To Have The Same Fun As Before But Also They Make Out Sometimes Too. So like,, domestic bliss I guess?

Who is the big spoon/little spoon: Rich Has definitely rolled over in his sleep and big spooned Jake on several occasions but is little spoon more often than not

What is their favorite non-sexual activity: I've been watching a lot of imbrandonfarris "things x made me buy" videos so all I can think of is Jake buying a bunch of ridiculous shit and messing around with Rich. Like they would ABSOLUTELY blow up an inflatable slide in a room too small to hold it, attempt to go down it, and crash into a tiny duck table

[quarktrinity]

so some thoughts about rich goranski:

we know that its possible to at least partially disobey the squip, as seen from jeremys interaction with brooke at the beginning of act 2 ("its... original. /sees that brooke is sad/ i mean- amazing!") which would mean that even though rich isnt bullying kids on his own terms, he can still reject those instructions if he really wants to, so hes willingly going along with this whole bullying=popularity thing. he chooses to go along with it because he knows that it makes people like him. (regardless, bullying is bad and he still needs to make up for that post-squip)

even if he is completely out of control of his own actions, "i only treat you like human garbage because my squip tells me to" is kind of a weak excuse, and imagine if you were jeremy in that situation. youd be like "uh ok asshole"

and we actually know for a fact that he has some level of autonomy, because he was able to get drunk at the halloween party, even though his squip would 100% prohibit that.

AND SPEAKING OF THE HALLOWEEN PARTY, LETS ADDRESS THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM:

rich got instructions to squip the whole school. he first reacted to this by getting drunk and running around asking for mountain dew red. when that didnt work, he tried to KILL HIMSELF BY BURNING DOWN JAKES HOUSE.

like i get he was drunk but MR GORANSKI THATS KIND OF A DICK MOVE

like thats jakes HOUSE. his HOUSE. his. fucking. HOUSE.

there were SO MANY METHODS HE COULDVE CHOSEN for his suicide mission but NOPE time to commit arson

speaking of that, jakes house was FULL OF DRUNK TEENAGERS. hes lucky no one DIED.

rich burning down jakes house, plotwise, is an EXCELLENT CHOICE that gives a wide perspective of the stakes at play at this point in the story, but in universe, what a fucking prick???

this is his very first decision made once free of the squips influence and that decision is to BURN DOWN HIS BEST FRIENDS HOUSE. seriously like HOLY SHIT DUDE CALM DOWN

its amazing to me that the fandom babys him so much because hes in serious need of a good punch in the face and a therapist.

of all the horrible choices made at that party (chloe assaulting jeremy, jeremy snapping at michael, jeremy asking christine out, jake and chloe fucking moments after christine dumped jake, etc etc etc) the ABSOLUTE WORST was richs (perfectly self-made, no squip influence, in fact it was directly opposed to this) executive decision to burn down jakes house in a suicide attempt

(and it didnt even work)

and yet, the fandom chooses to water him down to a miserable sad infant while demonizing jenna for daring to discuss a likely traumatic event for everyone who went to the party. like seriously do you expect her NOT to talk about that? "oh rich burned down jakes house and almost killed a bunch of us but lets be considerate of HIS feelings by not talking about it" have you MET a teenager??? thats not gonna happen!!!

yes rich is an abuse victim from both his squip and his father (not explicitly said but heavily implied) and thats sad. it sucks. but bro he burned down a guys house.

just. stop babying him please. have him face the consequences of his actions. have him apologize, and then apologize again, and again, and again. have him prove himself to his friends who he almost killed.

at the very least stop pretending he did nothing wrong because he did A LOT wrong and has a lot of apologies to make.

oh and if youre gonna defend him to your last breath at least accept that defending him and not chloe or jenna is blatantly sexist. chloe and rich are about equal in terms of apologies needed to be made. and jennas just a gossip, get over it. oh and ive seen rich stans actually say that christine is a bad person but not rich so dont try to tell me theres no misogyny at play here

tldr: rich actually sucks and needs major therapy so stop babying him and just say you hate women

[a-clockwork-justice]

Upgrade vs Loser Geek Whatever (and why I don't think the London production should've had both)

The difference between Upgrade and Loser Geek Whatever is fascinating to me - they start and end at the same place and yet the routes they take to get there are significantly different.

In the original Upgrade, we, of course, have the SQUIP imploring Jeremy to upgrade and we find out this means completely blocking out Michael. What’s interesting is that just before this happens, we get Michael being excited and happy for Jeremy even though he'd apparently been ignoring him all day, immediately forgetting his anger and inviting him to hang out like they always have. Jeremy of course then takes the upgrade and its all downhill from there, but let's talk about what runs through his head. The setup of having Michael invite Jeremy round vs the SQUIP's influence just serves to highlight the dilemma in Jeremy's head - at least, it should've. In the original Upgrade, Jeremy doesn't show much major conflict with this - he just says he wants to try something new, even if it's not entirely true to himself. So we have Michael, who's just shown himself to be an amazing supportive best friend, and then we have Jeremy, showing so little hesitation over abandoning him. Couple this with the fact that the melody of Upgrade is REALLY enthusiastic and upbeat; it just makes Jeremy seem a bit too happy about the whole thing. Overall, it comes across as a massive slap to the face for Michael and probably contributed a lot to the fandom thoroughly demonising Jeremy.

Then, we have Loser Geek Whatever, which has a significant change in tone (and works a million times better IMO) for several reasons. One is that it actually highlights the dilemma that many of us might have. It details Jeremy’s many sympathetic reasons for not wanting to be a loser - it's harder to blame him for wanting better. Moreover, he blames himself and his inherent nature for his loser status. He believed he was defective, wired all wrong - the problem had always been him.

Even so, he still has doubts - he knows that what he's doing is wrong, he knows that he'll be failing Michael, who's just shown his loyalty. Then, of course, he goes through with it anyway, but it’s less because he wants to because he's selfish and disloyal. It's more that he feels like he HAS to because it would be the "right" thing to do.

Like I said, it's a pretty significant change in tone.

That's why I take issue with how the London production did it. For those of you who don't know, they kept Loser Geek Whatever AND the original ending of Upgrade. Only, they cut out the whole section in Loser Geek Whatever about how his instincts sucked and took away a significant portion of the arc of the song. Adding Upgrade back in didn't work for me for the reasons I've just mentioned - they’re too tonally different.

TL;DR, Upgrade and Loser Geek Whatever are their own songs - Upgrade is (disturbingly) happy, Loser Geek Whatever is pained and conflicted. The London production tried to have their cake and eat it but they just did them both dirty.