#Then I Find Someone who Makes Things That Intruige Me. And They're Intruiged about My Art? (and before i know it. we're now mutuals??)

[permettez-moi]

Okay. So. I typically prefer to keep fandom things lighthearted and silly, but this one struck a chord for me. I will try to keep the rambles minimal and make a properly formulated response (I think I succeeded) to the point that I wrote my thoughts out on paper first. (4 A4 pages, I am so sorry. Long post.)

Your first point, I must say, I believe to be quite personal. Not everyone thinks the same way, so some things you find boring or redundant, someone else never thought of, and finds it very creative or unique.

Furthermore, creativity isn't easy. Some days it runs at you, arms wide open. Other days it hides away and you need to learn how to find it. You can't force people to be 'more creative'

Secondly, 'the godawful out of character headcanons'. A headcanon is just that. From the head. We make them to relate to a character, find comfort in them, or to hate on them. The whole point of headcanons, fanon etc. Is to tweak your little guy (literally for the RA fandom) until he is just right for you. Once again, personally, I find book Halt a fun and intruiging character, who spoke to me. I have come across fanon versions of Halt, such as autistic! Halt , that made me cry because I felt seen and understood. It healed a small part of me, simply because this was a character I was already connected to, simply because I liked him. Now a version of him was made that struck me to my very core. I have watched many pieces of media with original autistic characters, but none moved me the same way, because that initial connection was missing.

I understand that not all fanon is your cup of tea, it shouldn't be. There are a lot of takes I don't enjoy, but it's the internet. All you have to do is scroll once, and it's gone. We're on tumblr.com, if you truly don't like what someone comes up with, simply block them. Curate your own experience.

'Long essays about incredibly obvious things, which read as if they were written by younger fans and could have been summarised in a small post'

Much like my previous point, you don't have to read the long essays. Just scroll on past them. And I don't think it's right to discard them as obvious. Not everyone thinks the same things. I have read quite some posts about things I had never even considered that put my mind in motion and made me come up with new fresh things. I don't think you can discard the newer or younger audience and complain about the lack of creativity in one post. Creativity is something that grows from interaction. A fresh pair of eyes goes a long way.

Sometimes you might read something and think 'this is obvious' but there might be a new apprentice out there who now looks at the series in a new way. Great perception and comprehension doesn't just spawn. It's a skill you learn by engaging in it. I am sure that you too, once discovered obvious things as something wholly new. They are growing the foundation of their thoughts and interactions, please don't bash and degrade them for a matter completely out of their hands. They didn’t pick when they were born, and can't force their learning curve. You don't condemn a flowerbud for not jumping straight into growing petals.

Now, I don't know if I am counted as either a fan artist, nor a 'settled' one at that. I still feel fairly new to active fandom (not sure if that's a shared opinion or a me-thing) and I definitively don't pump put fanart like crazy, but I've made some things. So I am not sure if I can respond to this properly, as I am not sure I am the intended audience. All I can say is that when I draw or make a piece, it's for me. Not the likes or the reblogs. They're fun, sure, but ultimately, fanart I draw, I draw for me. This is not instagram.

And then, the very last bit (I promise) about fanartists interacting less and less, and moving to other fandoms: it happens! This is not unique to RA, we are just a small fandom so you notice it a lot more. We can't all be obsessed all the time. Interests fluctuate. Some artists might come back, others might not. Fandom is a sea filled with waves. Why do you think there are more youngin's? It's the tide. I don't think it has to do with fandom as much as personal life. Because, to be honest, if a whole bunch of people shared your opinions, they would not leave the fandom. They would pull a Moses and split the fandom in two. A part that remains as it was, and a part that's new.

And if you want fanartists to stay and keep drawing stuff, maybe don't tell the younger ones that they are worthless because then they will never want to draw for RA again, and that's how fanart dies down.

So please, I kindly ask you to tone down your anger toward the younger apprentices. It's okay not to like all the changes and new things, but don't blame the people that do.

You can't dislike how little 'quality' and new things are being posted while simultane being mad at the younger ones posting new things with qualities the older ones might’ve already discovered.

Hating on fandom, that is the best way to kill discourse.

i genuinely hate going onto the rangersapprentice tag. no shade to anyone but ninety percent of the posts right now are completely empty of any creativity whatsoever. you have people posting the most godawful out-of-character headcanons, writing these looong essays on something that was incredibly obvious in the first place and didn't need an entire post dedicated to it or some mixture of the two. its so annoying. i get younger fans joined this year but some of these read like they were written by middle schoolers, come on.

this fandom used to be full of artists but most of them migrated away since their high effort posts would get the same amount of attention as someone saying some crap like "Headcanon: Halt is a total softie :) He likes pigeons" i dare people to go onto the profiles of well known RA artists and ask their opinions and you will see that i'm right.

x

[m--rtyr]

im a horror trash fan, i love horror to the extent that you could put one jumpscare in a 3 hour long clip of paint drying and i would talk about the art of it, its my everything.

so i very much cling to werewolves in media, especially when they hold a metaphorical weight. For years they've been used as a kind of conduit for queer people to represent their own feelings of identity, and this kind of lack of acceptance and being viewed as a monster for something so primal and part of you, yet not something that defines your entire being. And other minorities also have used werewolves, and so i generally find them very intruiging.

I'm the cannibalism guy, of course i'm weak for werewolves.

but i do have to admit that MyStreet really fails with the werewolf inclusion.

In minecraft diaries, werewolves served a specific plot purpose that was unique and interesting if severely underutilised. We saw Aph have to navigate being a political figure and having personal biases at the same time (with the issue of Logan being a werewolf), and we got a more rounded idea of the world because we saw that there are groups that are not only disliked for bad reputation, but literally killed just for what they are, and we saw Aph allying herself with both the oppressed and the oppressors in this scenario. And if we had a werewolf main character in MCD, especially if it was Aaron, who is someone who is so tied to hiding himself away, and to loss at the hands of figures of power, it could have been very interesting. Poorly done, in Jesson's hands, but there was something that could have been done because there was such good set-up.

I'm unsure why this never became a thing, the overlap of MCD s2 (october 2015 to June 2016), MyS s1 (november 2015 to March 2016) and PDH s1 (March 2016 to June 2016) was pretty close... And if you watch PDH s1, it's very clear that they were already planning on Aaron being a werewolf then. However, most of PDH did come out post-Aaron Death, so maybe this was only something they considered after they killed him off.

Still, Aaron being a werewolf in MCD could have been intriguing. Maybe not the ultima stuff, but the werewolf stuff in general could have been... something. Especially with the association of relics and curses in season one, and his close affiliation with relics, there could be fun lore about how lycanthropy was the spawn of one of Shad's relics, or something.

However Mystreet werewolves are an incredibly shallow concept. They exist so Aaron can be one. So he can be special, without doing anything to earn it. There isn't actually anything making them werewolves, they are closer to meif'wa than any kind of werewolf. Even the ultima lore (even the eyes do not look like wolf eyes) doesn't feel very... wolfy. Sure, my relic concept doesn't either, but it loops into the pre-established lore of the world, it doesn't apply to existing real world werewolf mythos because it applies to the in-world mythos.

So i agree with anon wholeheartedly, as the biggest fan of werewolves you'll ever meet, because Mystreet werewolves ARENT EVEN WEREWOLVES. they're literally just anthros. they're furries. and that's okay... just give me actual werewolves.

i hate werewolves im sorry but the ultima was the lamest plot ever. turning characters into werewolves for no reason makes no sense.

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