#a pervasive part of the fanbase

[3416]

I distinctly remember last season even when Mitch lead the NHL in playoff points after round 1 there were STILL think pieces in the leafs reddit about how he needed to step it up for the next round and most of his points were inflated secondary assists so like. It truly will never end. He could win the Conn Smythe and he'll still never be enough, because that's the narrative we've decided on.

exactly... which is why i need him to win the conn smythe lFJDKLS. the whole mitch isn't a playoff performer is so bullshit, like yeah he's not fucking mcdavid or draisaitl but no one on our team has pulled off consistent performances like that. the willy is the best playoff performer thing is ALSO wild to me bc it's a lie... like yet another narrative everyone parrots without reasoning 90% of the time to make someone they hate look bad. everyone on the leafs is so comparable in that way. i'm pretty mo is the only one whose stats significantly improve. the devaluation of stats has also been wild to see bc like..... what else are we judging it on then. even hits are stats and mitch has more than some of the ppl i see praised for toughness. i just can't believee e e e

[ooblech]

so if you ever wonder why stays are like that as a group of fans you can pretty reliably trace it back to their roots of getting bullied by other teenagers on twitter

[neolxzr]

i really do believe that using character.ai isn't really any different from getting chatgpt to write fanfic for you or using midjourney to make fanart for you its all the same sort of thing, and not just because they're all working off of stolen internet content. its because theyre definitely contributing to a greater shift in fandom being more about "consuming content" rather than about engaging with other people and making art

when you can get an algorithm to generate new stuff for you its really demotivating as a creator since so many people would rather just do that and use the stolen shit than like. find a community and make friends and make their own works. and i can imagine it is also discouraging new artists and writers from even trying to start making fanworks, since its easier to get a computer to do it for you and it might even make you feel like shit because the program can draw and write better than you, much faster.

calling fanworks "content" and calling engaging with art "consuming media" is so unbelievably reductive of what fandom is and the communities that people create and i hate that that's become the pervasive language used to describe it recently. fandom is so, so much more than that.

i know that a lot of people who want to engage with fanbases are young and socially anxious and i know its hard but fandom is COMMUNITY and talking to other people is like. the biggest part of the experience. and i promise you its really cool when you actually try. i promise you other people who like the same stuff as you have more interesting things to say than an algorithm does.

[rathologic]

hi there, you run a great blog!! i was wondering if you have any advice or suggestions on how to responsibly/respectfully get into patho and patho2? as in, do you think there are any things a new fan should keep in mind while playing (i.e. with the grooming allegations, i have also seen racism and misogyny mentioned)

honestly i'm not entirely sure what i'm asking for help with here, but maybe just resources that further discuss the shitty views/opinions/actions of dyb that taint aspects of the game? thank you so much

hey! it really is going to depend on your personal tolerance for these aspects. racism is a major in-world topic discussed by the games, but also thoroughly present within the storytelling the franchise presents, so there's a fair amount of nuance; the elements of misogyny and pedophilia are just visible throughout. if you're at least passingly familiar with such topics, you'll be able to recognize and think critically about their presence as you get into the games (if you decide to at all)

baseline recommendation is always "don't pay for pathologic 2". Ice-Pick Lodge is not financially struggling, 2's racist and misogynistic elements are more pervasive and widespread than the first game's, and the mainstream praise it receives (unduly) goes straight to dyb's reputation as a writer. honestly I would not recommend paying for patho1 either but it usually sells for $1, so if that's justifiable to you... in no particular order here's some things to have in mind:

"tl;dr just respect the kin" is a Google doc outlining some ways that anti-Indigenous beliefs show up in the fanbase, and touches slightly on racist aspects of the games, like the p1 butcher models

look through the patho1 character ages, and keep the large age gaps in all of the m/f relationships in mind (patho2 just doesn't have canon ages)

this patho1 mod gets rid of a pedophilic dialogue exchange, and removes dybowski's face from the player screen; highly recommend that desktop users install it

my #p2crit tag is mostly very informal complaints about the writing and mechanics of pathologic 2, but there are a few decent critical points in it (though also many game spoilers, so don't look through this first!)

one of those points is that the herb bride (and Eva's) model textures in p2 include their genitals, as like. a baseline for how the game regards women

also new fans should Really be aware that rubin was being adopted into the burakh family in patho1. a lot of people, willfully or unknowingly, post pseudo-incest of him with the haruspex; it's a gray area in p2, but foul with the original designs

and some resources re: dybowski:

turaform's regarding nikolay dybowski is a video summarizing the grooming allegations, and describing the events by which they became known to the western fanbase- it was made in april 2021 soon after the news became widespread, but to my knowledge remains the most thorough explanation

this post links to the document of tweets referenced (the version with identifying information removed)

this post cites part of an interview with dybowski (at ~32:00 in the video), about how attractive he finds a young-looking naked girl model from the making of The Void, IPL's game about naked girls

in the society of dead poets is another interview not directly related, but I think it's worthwhile background that dyb's great-grandfather married his great-grandmother, a chinese woman, when he was >60 and she was 20 (page 57)

from all that you'll see patterns in the franchise, especially a tendency towards "beautiful woman gets killed young" (the Feverish Feeling ARG, in between games, is also fundamentally this), and be able to make your own judgements about its treatment of the Kin. maybe it just won't be acceptable to you! a lot of people have left the fanbase from discomfort or frustration, and that's completely understandable. I only hold that it's more valuable for people who are comfortable engaging at all to discuss and circulate discussion of patho's harmful aspects than to let them be only praised as profound & perfect narratives in the public eye :~)

[genericpuff]

Hello! As a previous fan of LO (back when there was actual effort in the art and I mistakenly thought certain themes and symbolism would be carried through the story) I’m really excited to see what you do with these characters! I was honestly pretty invested in the whole fertility/death goddess dissonance I initially thought was going on, so you can guess I was mega disappointed with where the story went. And I’m already way happier that you’ve begun to build off their relationship as something tangible and emotional, rather than insta love.

Honestly, when I first started reading I thought a major plot point was gonna be Persephone having to balance these two sides of her self that are in conflict, and come out to be a goddess of spring and new growth from decay and death. I thought it was gonna be clever, since that’s kinda what springs like, right? New life and growth from death and rotting matter of the previous seasons. That and the whole ‘red eyed wrath’ thing she had going seemed like a fun hint that she was suppressing her real emotions, and a lot (but not all) of her overly sweet personality was to cover that and be what she thought she was supposed to be. Kinda sad in retrospect, but that’s part of why I’m excited to see where your reimagining goes!

First off, been loving the asks I've been getting from y'all the last little bit, it's a great way to keep stuff updated here in between new Rekindled uploads and essay dumps LMAO so keep 'em coming!

Moving on-

I was really hoping to see that same kind of dissonance carry through the story as well, and it's proooobably one of the biggest things I'll be tackling in this rewrite because it was the one thing I was most disappointed to see fall through in LO.

Fun fact, a lot of my writing over the past decade has focused on dualities like this, alter egos, buried trauma, light vs. dark, host vs. parasite, etc. many of which were concepts you would find in stuff like Undertale, Omori, etc. but like... before those things even existed (I've been writng and making comics online for... a looong time.) I suppose it's the weeb in me that's drawn to these types of personifications of personal dark sides that are present in elements like Chara, Headspace/Black Space, etc. Needless to say, playing games like Undertale and Omori was like, super validating LMAO (if not a little oof because it also reminds me that my ideas aren't that original but that's not a bad thing, there's no such thing as an original idea anymore and that's what makes writing such a great process!)

So like... I weirdly feel that the plots and character dynamics/tropes I usually write and thought no one was interested in has prepared me for this one specific thing??? And it's for a fucking Lore Olympus rewrite comic jfc-

The universe has a funny way of preparing you for things you never expected to be guided to, I suppose. The only fallout is I'm not really eager to share my normal work on this blog due to how rabid/pervasive Rachel's fanbase is (and, y'know, Rachel herself) and I'd rather just protect my usual projects from that potential mess because my usual projects are the ones that are wholly my own, and I intend to still be working on long after Rekindled is done.

But trust me, it's out there and its heartbeat is in perfect sync with that of Rekindled's.

Maybe that'll be the essay I write at the end of all this.

[llycaons]

there's a really pervasive conception in the fanbase that wwx jokes about his time being dead or makes light of it and im wracking my brain because I don't actually think he ever does this in canon? iirc he mostly vaguely alludes to it or mentions he doesn't want to be dead again, he never actually makes light of it. he's a much more serious and grounded character than I think fans realize, in part because he makes efforts to appear not to be

[blue-ravens]

why do you dislike the M*A*S*H fanbase? sorry idk how to DM people on tumblr

ok i know that post was just me being overly dramatic and committing to the bit a little too much, and honestly trying to seriously justify something i said on this website without thinking is a little hard. but sadly the sentiment remains, if you follow, and i'm answering this truthfully under the assumption this is being asked in good faith.

i. hm. i've been here on this webbed site and in this fandom a while. and there has always been silly little drama floating around, because that's what fandoms do. but lately.... it's gotten to the point where simply blocking and unfollowing doesn't make my fandom experience any better. how do i tactfully say this. it's gotten very high school mean girls nasty. there's been a steady persistence of bitchy vagueposts and unnecessarily hostile and combative anons. the discourse always seems to revolve around a few big name fans that have a massive following and have incited some fucked up dogpiley behaviour towards others outside their echo chamber. i'm not tattling or pointing fingers or having a self-pitying whinge about it, but seeing my own friends become targets isn't an easy thing for me to watch. i dislike the fandom because bullying over headcanons seems to be accepted and pretty much encouraged. i don't want any part of that, yet it seems the discourse is far too pervasive to avoid. i still love the show, so very much, but i'm tired of the discourse existing simply for the sake of it existing.

[fmhiphop]

FM Spotlight: Dropping Knowledge Through Hip-Hop: Apollo Liberace's Album And Its Educational Value

Many sources of inspiration are available to aspiring rappers currently making their way in the industry, such as Apollo Liberace. His recent releases include the singles "Love For Rap" and "Love From You," as well as his self-titled album Apollo Liberace and music videos for both singles. Following the release of his latest album and singles, there has been a noticeable increase in his online engagement. Each of his singles, "Love For Rap" and "Love From You," generated over 30,000 views on YouTube, while his self-titled album Apollo Liberace gained over 560,000 streams on Spotify. These impressive numbers demonstrate the impact of Apollo Liberace's music on his audience and show the growing fanbase he is building through his hard work and dedication to his craft. The Benefits Of Running Your Own Independent Record Label Apollo was previously part of the hip-hop group Minus Gravity, which was signed to Capitol Records in 2019. However, he has since decided to embark on a solo career and has transformed Minus Gravity into an independent record label. As an independent label, Apollo will have more creative control over his music and the ability to release it on his own terms, without the restrictions and obligations of a major record label. This move also allows him to discover and promote other up-and-coming artists, giving them a platform to share their music with the world. Exploring The Themes Of Apollo Liberace's Latest Album Releasing his self-titled LP, Apollo Liberace, on his birthday, February 27, the Maryland native embarks on a new journey as a solo artist. Through singles like "Love For Rap" and "Love From You," listeners can gain insight into the album's overall sound and style. In his album, Apollo portrays his journey in the music industry, which includes his departure from a music group and his subsequent pursuit of a solo career. Additionally, he addresses the violence and hate often associated with rap music and expresses his views on this topic through his music. Apollo's decision to address hate and violence in rap music is commendable, as music significantly influences people's attitudes and behaviors. The messages conveyed through music can affect people's attitudes and beliefs regarding various topics, such as violence and hate. Through their platform, artists can facilitate positive change and challenge harmful attitudes and behaviors by addressing these issues. Bringing attention to hatred and violence in rap music can also combat negative stereotypes about the genre and demonstrate its ability for social commentary and change. Listen to the album Apollo Liberace below: Amazon Music |  Spotify | Apple Music The Artistry Of "Love For Rap": A Deeper Look At The Single Apollo shares in songs such as “Love For Rap” that “This song encompasses the moods and emotions felt in a very pivotal moment of my life after having been signed to a major record label, and the business models used to control young artists.” His goal is to avoid the pitfalls of music politics while staying true to his process and passion for creating music. As one of the tracks on his album, Apollo intends to highlight his distinctive talent for blending melodic sounds with socially conscious rap lyrics. Specifically, he addresses themes such as drug use and violence within the black community, the ongoing issue of gun violence and systemic racism, the impact of greed, and the urgent need to move away from a societal model that idolizes material possessions. One should definitely keep an eye on the "On Ice" rapper, as he has a unique style that sets him apart from the typical rapper. Despite his unconventional approach, Apollo possesses the lyrical cadence to rival some of this era's most prominent conscious and freestyle hip-hop artists. In a music industry where social media commercialization and clout chasing have become pervasive, Apollo defies these trends through his album. As a multifaceted artist, he can produce music that caters to the culture and progressive thinkers, challenging stereotypes and breaking new ground in the genre. The Evolution Of Apollo Liberace: A Tale Of Music And Growth Born on February 27 in Prince George's County, Maryland, Apollo Liberace started his music career in the South, drawing inspiration from various music genres, including Rock, R&B, and Hip-Hop, from all regions of the United States. From an early age, he showed promise as a musician, starting with his involvement in church choirs and youth camps before eventually transitioning to performing at nightclubs and larger venues. Initially, Apollo began his music career as a member of a trio based in San Antonio, TX, known as Minus Gravity. Since then, he decided to pursue a solo career and now performs under the name Apollo Liberace. Liberace is a standout in the music industry for his exceptional performances and unwavering commitment to his craft. He pours his heart and soul into his music, setting him apart from his peers. In addition to being a gifted performer, Apollo is a versatile artist, serving as a singer, songwriter, producer, hip-hop artist, and audio engineer. He takes complete control over the creative process in the studio, demonstrating his passion and expertise in all aspects of music production. His global fan base eagerly awaits each of his releases, eager to hear his distinctive fusion of high-energy rock, soulful R&B, and thought-provoking Hip Hop. As an artist, Apollo consistently pushes the boundaries of musical artistry, refusing to be limited by the constraints of any one genre. His creative approach results in a rich, multifaceted sound that sets him apart from his peers and positions him for great success. Written by Nikiya Biggs Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram Follow and like FMHipHop on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, and YouTube! Read the full article

[cbhesperis]

/puts on my “Talk Too Much” hat

Firstly, I’m assuming you mean “himbo” as-intended: strong/built, attractive, kind-hearted, and dumb as a brick. So let’s go with that, focusing specifically on people depicting him as kind of a pretty but head-empty goober. I will probably be repeating things you already know and making characterization commentary outside the himboing, but I gotta get the whole thought out or I’ll lose my direction. ADHD curse.

So partially, it’s likely due to what your commenter said earlier: people skewing depiction to suit their preferred dynamic with Voryn (since he’s really the popular one, and you see some different skews with different characters). A lot of mlm shipping dynamics in specifically western fandom borrow heavily from stereotypes, leftover from the 90s, and there’s a fairly pervasive one that is the division between Smart and Not Smart (with varying degrees of comedy). And hey! All well and good, folks gonna enjoy what they wanna. But I think part of it is also Vivec’s fault and the Sermons being treated by fanbase as like... the exact depiction of Who Nerevar Was.

Let’s be honest here: Vivec writes him out to be an idiot young adult learning how to do shit under Vivec’s divine guidance when, all things considered, that is very likely not who Nerevar was at all and probably not what their relationship was, even tossing out Vivec’s context in the Sermons. Vivec is writing a guide for the Nerevarine and a load of religious propaganda to support ALMSIVI’s apotheosis while maintaining Nerevar’s importance in the narrative of reality, not a history, but because it’s the only concrete description of Nerevar (”brb, fighting the moon”) in TES3 proper, a lot of people seem to lean on it to be the historical Nerevar while also taking the whole thing at face value (which is another babble). These are two very different figures! The historical Nerevar had steel to him and fire that Vivec-before-Vivec recognized and decided to take advantage of, if you want to consider “What My Beloved Taught Me” as canon and a basis for Nerevar’s character. He’s curious, frustrated by the world he sees, and there’s an undercurrent of rebellion—which the little thief-who-would-be-a-god seizes on. But even if you do consider that interview canon, there’s still wiggle room to make him into someone maybe a bit goofier since there’s this whole thing about him flinching from touching Vivec—which plenty of people might (validly) read as him being awkward or unsure, but which I would suggest speaks more to the ghartoki and is probably a learned response because they’re curses visible enough because of magic in the setting. No one wants to touch “hi my hands mean death”, Nerevar’s used to Negative Reactions (and Vivec sure has one initially), so he doesn’t want to touch Vivec with them either.

And then there’s the few bits and pieces we get about Nerevar in ESO and I’m not okay because ow, Seht, you had to pick those moments. But anyway.

A lot of his “goofy awkward silly not-very-bright” reads, which lead to the whole himbo thing, do likely come from the Sermons, though, and usually seem to be described or treated in such a way as to undermine the fact this dude united the Dwemer and the Chimer, organized a region into a (very nearly successful) unified nation, has the ferocity to murder when he deems it necessary (Chimer trait, there) if you trust the Sermon where it talks about him changing the canvasari guards’ route. And again: warlord!

Folks might point out that the fact that ceasefire/truce (I’m not entirely sure everyone was happy with it, so more one than the other for some folks) was essentially The Power of Friendship, and okay. Yeah, kinda, lol. I’m sure that him being the peacemaker between everyone lends to the image of kindness which can get distorted to himbo levels.

All that said, though: it’s important to note being a dominating force on the battlefield doesn’t mean too much outside it, necessarily. His personality could be just about anything. He could be sharp and cold and cruel, or he could be warm and sagely. He might play the fool to not deal with people. So, to route myself back to the original topic some and away from debating characterization as a whole:

It’s probably a matter of either not considering his historical role in-setting and how that would have shaped him and relying solely on the Sermons because that’s the bulk we’ve had to work with, shipping preference dictating the Expected Behaviour, or the choice to focus more on his off-field personality and set aside the violent part of him because it’s not what they want to create or play with.

I could be very easily missing something and there’s another reason for it, and I’m not saying people are by any means wrong to do what they want, how they want, with a fictional elf man. Just. Before someone comes at me with bad faith reaction because I have spent too long on the bird hellsite. Also I spent like half of this being a big ol’ fusspot because I have my own Opinions on characters like most folks do.

I am also not saying it is inherently and absolutely incorrect for him to be a brainless muscle man who is too kind for his own good. I think most handling of it like that doesn’t tend to acknowledge his capabilities (because himbos are trophies by definition), but hey! Based on what I’ve seen. And again: could be wrong. There’s very little in the way of absolutes in fiction because it’s... fiction, it’s malleable.

I am not going to rattle on about character analysis any more than I have, though, because that wasn’t the point and I am at work and have been poking at this between tasks, l-lol, and it would turn into a very different response. And I literally have a fic to do that for me based in frustration about characterization, ahaha.

Bonus possible: shorthand, though that’s only really applicable in out-of-narrative conversations, I think. Like I call Vivec an idiot/stupid constantly when that’s highly reductive.

What even is the reason people think Nerevar was a himbo??

[system-of-a-feather]

You know, its definitely all of it, but I was thinking a lot about Asian Brand Trauma TM (calling it this for my own comfort cause #MakesItEasier) because I think about that from time to time lately as part of the things I've been reflecting on, and I was watching Blackpinks "Pink Venom" challenge stuff being done on Youtube cause I WAS a KPop fan and still really enjoyed watching dancing (always have even before the fever dream of a KPop phase) and it really got me thinking.

A large aspect I'm noticing of Asian-brand trauma in America is that a lot of people in America look at the produce of some of the really largely complex and deep seeded miss uses and honest to god unsustainable and insane life styles that are normalized and just really REALLY either ignore it, or solely look at the results and romanticize (or worse, fetishize) it.

Like I'm not here to diss on KPop or anything, because I think its a complex issue that I know enough about to know I don't know enough to make a firm stance on it, but objectively the KPop industry is super super super fucked up as a large and that really isn't a secret to the KPop fanbase, its basically entry knowledge. Like a lot of the "idols" are recruited at a really young age and pretty much grilled and grinded into "good idols" - then as idols are often extremely restricted, pushed really hard, and loose a lot of autonomy while also being put into the spot light for something that they got into when they were really fucking young. And that is extremely fucked up.

But it also creates "kings" "queens" people that look, dance, talk, sing, and all in all to the public eye look SUPER amazing and iconic and hot and skilled and a triple threat and SO talented and so SO SO SO many people just shove the history and the knowledge of the thing to he back of the mind because these idols look, talk and act happy and the people love to watch them and go "YES QUEEN ROCK IT MY BIAS" and all that stuff and they really really just do not understand the exchange behind it

And it is really really really just my experience personally with my Asian Brand Trauma that it is so fucking easy for people to look at the result of some Asian Brand Trauma, even fully know and hear the shit that goes on in it, and then just simply ignore / mute it because the end result of a lot of that Asian Brand Trauma is a person that is VERY VERY VERY likable to the public eye, an amazing ICON, and total IDOL and INSPIRATION and - dare I say - A Model Minority

Like its really pervasive and something I can't really deal with at this point with a lot of white people when it comes to trauma talks cause far far far too many of them "struggle" to remember that just cause we look like an idol, look inspiration, look like an icon and a yass queen that a whole lot of traumatic, life stealing fuckery is what made it so we project to everyone like this.

And I'm not saying boycott KPop or that everyone in it is secretly miserable or anything like that, but I just really did have to click in this inherent lack of understanding and the seer ignorance of how much fucked up shit tends to back all those feelings of "wow look at the inspirational Asian" that just gets completely ignored cause they are "an idol" an "inspiration" and an "icon"

Also yes feel free to reblog cause honestly, I'm realizing this is more than a "our system thing" and it's really exhausting.

[mimiatmidnight]

If Taylor were to go on Archetypes (which would be great because I could definitely see her as a guest) what would you specifically want her and Meg to talk about?

That is such a great question! And very difficult haha. Their lives are both rich for discussion topics, but one shared experience they have that I think would be really great for Archetypes is something they could call "The Problem of Parasocialization," or perhaps even "The Ravage of Reputation" 😉

Both Taylor and Meg have had a huge part of their public attention tied to being the romantic partner of one or several extremely popular celebrity men. I was twelve years old when Taylor had the infamous whirlwind romance with Harry Styles, and it was the first time in my life I ever remember thinking, "My god . . . some people really, really, REALLY hate women." I wasn't even a particularly strong fan of hers at the time, but I was devastated. I had no idea this phenomenon was so pervasive. It was a level of absolutely deranged sense of ownership over a heartthrob I never saw surpassed until a different Harry had the same audacity to betray his fans and find love in an actual human woman.

This happens in fiction, too. There are many legendary stories in fandom of the horrific fan responses to female characters (and often their actors) who are perceived to stand in the way of the one true ship (especially if that ship is not between characters, but of the favorite character paired with the audience themselves lol).

The parasocial relationship that forms between the public and their object of obsession is dangerous for the man himself, to be sure, but it unearths a whole new layer of hysteria when their sights are set on his partner, now the delusional public's romantic rival. Taylor (who has historically had a preference for dating fellow celebrities) has been through this several times throughout her very public dating history, and Meghan (who has to deal with not just a scorned fanbase but an entire scorned COUNTRY and its media machine) has suffered this same phenomenon on a global scale that is almost unfathomable.

There also strangely comes a sense of ownership over the women themselves. The public feel entitled to every private aspect of their personal lives, from their children to their extended family and friends. Both devoted fans and hostile media pundits feed into this onslaught.

And worst of all, the way this all just utterly dehumanizes the woman in question. Her whole life, decades and decades of personhood, stripped down to being "His Girl." For Taylor, this includes the reduction of her artistry, her life's work, to mere celebrity gossip fodder; for Meghan, not just her character and work, but her LIFE is at stake.

Both women have had their reputation ;) dragged through the mud and lost their humanity along the way, yet both have been determined to pick themselves up and fight for the person they know themselves to be. Taylor's and Meg's experiences stem from very different places, but they overlap in really intriguing ways that I think would make for a fascinating and enlightening examination.

Thank you so much for this ask!

[newathens]

hi! i like your posts ab pjo, do you possibly know any other blog that posts ab luke castellan but actually understands his character? bc i just got into pjo and i’m on book 4 and it seems everyone hates him and i don’t get it but anyway

omg i was just thinking about him today anon are we telepathizing rn are we on the same wavelength

the luke girlies are so rare. . .cause half the fanbase hates him & throws around the buzzword labels for funsies and the other half loves him but only to fetishize his character so it’s a lose lose both ways. um i think the few of us who actually get it are #realreaders teehee twirls hair and such

luke castellan is a monumental character in literature. so often there are moments in books where readers are waiting for characters to break the rules or take necessary steps and the moral or personal quandries of the story prevent them which leaves pervasive feeling of frustration to the audience. luke is the character that takes the plunge, he satisfies that long-standing dilemma, which i believe stays with readers for a long time, considering all the backstory and detail that goes into his choice. but because himself and everything surrounding him is so intense the true magnificence of his character is easily lost and others latch onto the stereotypical parts which then to them become his whole character over time

anyway. i wrote a list awhile back of pjo bloggers/multi bloggers that i trust with the pjoverse in general. let me find it so i can link

welcome btw. kisses xx

[none-gender-left-man]

Let's talk LGBTQ+ erasure in the Marvel Fandom

Mischaracterization in fandom is a big problem, and it's something we see from every fanbase. A character gets boiled down into a few condensed traits and their nuance is washed out and forgotten. Fanonization isn't always inherently bad, and can lead to fandom solidarity and representation through headcanon, and this can sometimes eventually have influence on canon, which can be seen in the Homestuck fandom, where eventually slash pairings that received enough attention became endgame romantic pairings (Dave and Karkat, Rose and Kanaya, etc.). Of course I'm not here to discuss Homestuck today, I'm here to discuss the Marvel fandom and its toxic dudebro fans, as well as related topics that intersect with this issue. 

There's a common mischaracterization problem in the Marvel fandom, particularly in relation to queer relationships and characters. 

First example is Deadpool. Wade Wilson is described by his canon writers and creators to be omnisexual or pansexual, or of an otherwise fluctuating and open sexuality. The Deadpool video game wildly mischaracterized Wade and even made him behave in some homophobic ways, acting grossed out by men and homoerotic implications. This was jarring for me as someone who has read his comics and knows for a fact that Wade has multiple emphasized crushes on or at least attraction to other male characters, such as Spider-Man, Thor, Cable, and others. The game was very popular despite this mischaracterization and created a condensed fanonized Deadpool that is made into nothing more than an ultraviolent oversexualized joke, despite his character being the epitome of coping humor and having a very tender and compassionate side to him. It's known in the comics that Wade uses his humor to cope with his severe trauma, this doesn't mean he is just comic relief. This has gotten consistently worse since the Deadpool films. (I'm looking at you, shitty Wal-Mart DP t shirt that shows Wade holding a sign that says "oh I'm sorry did I offend you?" Which is really OOC imho)

Many of the more hypermasculine fans of Deadpool seem to have this false image of him being the epitome of "offensive humor" when in reality his trademark is Metahumor, not going out of his way to be a dick to people. These fans also often either ignore or aren't aware of Deadpool not being straight, portraying him as thirsting after buxom ladies but forgetting his openly admitted male attracted orientation which is just as obvious if you're not actively ignoring it. This is a grave mistake that takes so much from his character, especially in the case of the Deadpool/Spider-Man team up comics. 

In that span of issues Wade went through an entire moral transformation, molding himself and his moral compass to earn the respect of Spider-Man, while unable to go more than a few pages without flirting with him. The things Wade goes through in order to Do the Right Thing by Spider-Man in any other story would be considered romantic. If a man did this much for a woman in a narrative of course no one would question the romantic subtext, but because it's two men, half of the fanbase has a kneejerk reaction to this concept and swear that Deadpool flirting is a joke. (Or that it's just "Bromance")

Yes, because apparently a man being attracted to a man has to be a joke. /Sarc

Wade and Peter are even canonically shown to be "heartmates" and this still isn't enough for the erasure to end, and ultimately I think this is because the fans guilty of this either didn't read the Deadpool comics and only know the movie or game, or they chose to read the comics through a straight washed lense, assuming all "gayness" is a joke.

It's made prominently clear in Deadpool/Spider-Man that Wade is probably in love with Spidey based on his actions, and truly every single interaction with him leaves more evidence to support this idea, especially when you look at his relationship with Shiklah and how not-good it was in comparison to his much healthier dynamic with Peter. Even with the knowledge of the ridiculous Peter Parker Policy (that states Peter Parker must always be portrayed as a straight white man in canon despite him being the embodiment of the underdog), one cannot deny Wade is attracted to Peter canonically. The only thing in the way of them being a pair is that they're both men and Marvel is too cowardly to make one of their most famous and family oriented characters queer, and that fans who aren't queer actively ignore the obvious subtext and narrative value of the Wade/Peter dynamic in the comics. Marvel has doubled down on this with the MCU by making Peter Parker WAYYYYY younger than Wade than he actually is in the comics (don't ship MCU spideypool folks, that's gross. Comics only. MCU Spider-Man is far too young even at 18), making it now impossible for us to see this dynamic on screen, because they're only capable of giving queer representation when it comes with an R rating, apparently (and they really didn't do that w Deadpool either tbh they stated that he's pansexual in some trailers but never showed much queerness in the films at all, even with Ryan Reynolds wanting to focus on Wade having a boyfriend at some point, it hasn't come to fruition bc Marvel is too scared to lose their rabid straight fans).

The same erasure can be seen in Venom, in relation to Eddie Brock and his undeniably queer relationship with the genderless, masculine presenting alien living in his body. 

Eddie and Venom are portrayed and referred to as if they're married, Venom himself states that their bond is equivalent to a marriage, and Eddie calls Venom "love". Yet again, this is ignored by edgier straight fans who refuse to see the blatant truth about the characters. 

Venom drops everything to be with Eddie, his purpose in life itself. He chooses Eddie over his biological purpose and has repeatedly been shown to do ANYTHING to stay with him, never wanting to be apart from Eddie. 

After the release of Venom 2018 this relationship is receiving spotlight again, but not without pushback. Many fans seem to have the impression that this relationship is fan generated and accuse shippers of "hamfisting gay shit into everything" when in reality they're the ones hamfisting straightness where there is none, and erasing the canon in order to fit their personal interpretation, the very thing they accuse queer fans of doing. The same thing happens with Spideypool, with Stucky, with Symbrock, with Loki and Venom's nonbinary genders, with every LGBTQ+ hero or character in Marvel this can be seen as a pervasive problem. The elitist nerds who go out of their way to delegitimize other fans are often the least fluent in the source material they claim to defend.

This is both a result of toxic fandom, and of badly managed representation on the part of Marvel as a company. I'm by no means an authority on all things Marvel, but as a queer fan of Marvel properties, I feel this needs to be said.

[greywindys]

sorry youve probably been asked this before, but may i ask why do u dislike 2-d? im just curious about your opinions on him

Hello! I have, but it's okay. I can try to answer it again, though if you'd like to read more, I had a little bit of an ongoing discussion about this in October of last year (2021) which you can skim via my blog archive. Someday I'll figure out a way to make navigation on this blog easier...

Anyhow, I'll preface all of this by saying that I enjoy the 2D of P1 and P2. I also enjoy different fanon versions of 2D, as well as the 2D I imagine in my head. However, currently, I'm kind of over the image the Gorillaz franchise pushing for 2D now, and consequently what his character's fanbase brings to the fandom. Earlier phases did an adequate job of depicting 2D as someone who can be slow to catch on to things, but also extremely knowledgeable about music, keyboards and horror movies, and capable as a member of the band; good-natured, but also mean-spirited, immature and selfish at times. He was like, a well-rounded person for the most part. Fans still cinnamon roll-ified him back then, but at least the canon writing was sort of trying.

Today, the writing seems to be on the same page as most 2D fans (not all 2D fans, but many of them), to the point where people can't seem to fathom him having any flaw that would make him even a little bit unlikable. Idk if there's a opposite of "demonize" (deify?...doesn't sound right)...but whatever it is, it's been happening to 2D for most of his existence but definitely gotten more pervasive in recent years. It's wild to me how many people are resistant to seeing 2D as anything but cute and harmless, as someone who could never do anything wrong in his life. Or if he does do something wrong, "he didn't mean it" or "it was someone else's *coughMurdoccough* fault."

I understand doing this for self-indulgent reasons, that's valid etc etc, but speaking personally, it turns me off of his character. He's 1000% more interesting to me as a flawed, at times unlikable, man. He's capable of playing active roles in canon and in fanworks that aren't only being a victim, being "dumb" for comedic relief, or being incapable of doing anything without someone there to help him. I think that interpretation of him is very limiting and devoid of some of my favorite characteristics of his. Sometimes he's an asshole, sometimes he does things for the wrong reason. Obviously, this isn't 2D's fault, but I really find his current self unexciting and uninspired. I'm not interested in 100% good, flawless yet empty characters. Idk I just don't really want any part in his whole...scene or w/e at the moment...probably into the foreseeable future.

[strangestcase]

I think a lot of writers need to understand that, when writing a mentally ill character, the “mentally ill” part shouldn’t be tacked on as an explanation of their morally unsound actions but as an explanation of their behavior in general. In a respectful way that is.

Yes, I’m saying this because I’ve gotten back into Gotham Rogues, a fandom in which basically all of the characters are both mentally ill AND literal supervillains. And I get the feeling a lot of both the writers and the fan base for the Gotham Rogues must think either that mental illness alone is directly or indirectly affecting a lot of their actions regardless of context AT BEST, or that being neurodivergent makes you evil AT WORST. Fortunately this is more of a problem in the canon, but the fandom sometimes irks me a lot in this respect. Like. DC comics IS ableist. You can, amazing but true, write mentally ill villains as long as you don’t make the mental illness be the responsible and even then the mentally ill bad guy trope is so pervasive, sometimes it’s better to let go. It’s not a coincidence a lot of the gimmick-y one-shot villains don’t get much personality besides “oh they’re unhealthily obsessed with [insert inane shit here]”. GRANTED these villains were created in the 40s, and, true, erasing disabilities is wrong, but seriously, if the only way you can fathom writing an ND villain is by deliberately doing so that THE bad thing is them being “””””crazy””””” or “”””””weird”””””” and not the fact that they’ve turned to violent crime for one reason or another... then for the love of god erase their disability you’ll literally won’t fuck it up that way?????

The worst part is, BATMAN, THE HERO, IS NEURODIVERGENT TOO, LITERALLY HE HAS CANON PTSD AND DEPRESSION AND BELIEVES HES A BAT IN SOME MEDIA BUT APPARENTLY ITS ONLY BAD TO BE SAD AND WEIRD AS FUCK WHEN YOURE DOING CRIMES BECAUSE OF WHATEVER OR HAVE “UGLY” SYMPTOMS! So, this is not a case of DC deciding only the bad guys are mentally ill, or the only ND rep being bad. It is a case of them deciding Bruce Wayne reacting to his childhood trauma by pretending to be a vampire and disassociating and having flashbacks and being triggered is tragic, but Harvey Dent reacting to his childhood trauma by splitting is Extremely Fucked Up And Definitely The One Thing That Makes Him Kill People Totally in true evil alter trope fashion like. Ironically half of the time.

The same goes for pretty much every villain but The Riddler, the Mad Hatter, and Two-face are the most obvious examples I can think of rn because they’ve actually got like, a diagnosis (WHEN DC BOTHERS TO GIVE THEM ONE THAT IS LMAO) instead of a throwaway “oh they’re insane and WEiRd lmao imagine caring so much about [insert inane shit here] 🤪” . Because DC kinda likes to parade this fact around for angst points all like “SERIAL KILLER HAS OCD THATS WHY HE LEAVES EVIDENCE!!!!!” or “INCEL THINKS HES FICTIONAL CHARACTER ISNT THAT FUCKED UP AND SHOCKING?”. Probably not realizing saying what amounts to “HEY! THIS BAD GUY HAS A DEBILITATING MENTAL ILLNESS WHICH CONDITIONS A LOT OF THEIR CRIMES” is not the amazing bigbrained plot point they think it is.

TLDR: DC And part of its fanbase have an ableism problem in which mentally ill heroes get closure and a shred of respect but mentally ill villains, even when the writer doesn’t entirely blame their evil in their illness, get to be ogled at in a very voyeuristic fashion instead, as if the shocking part of their mentality was the one thing they have no control over. “Cointidentially”, and by that I mean It’s deliberate, villains, unlike heroes, usually show their illness in socially “unacceptable” ways- while Batman’s own self-destructive behavior, that would be treated as incoherent and ShOCKing if he were evil, is seen as sad.

[mid-nighttiger]

Hi! I was just wondering if you've ever stumbled across this video on YouTube? The title's pretty eye-catching: An Analysis of the Hidden Misogyny and Racism in Disney Star Wars | Video Essay, but it's not really misleading or clickbait. There's a LOT, and I'd say it feels like a conspiracy theory, but... it seems pretty well-researched (there's sources in the description box), and it has some really interesting points about the sequel trilogy... and I was wondering what you think?

this is the video in question

it's a very long video (almost 2 hours), and for me the part that holds the most water is in the final 2 minutes or so, where they say:

As a very ironic conclusion, I have to admit the possibility that all of this is a coincidence... [A] conspiracy theory... just doesn't make sense to [Disney's] overall financial strategy... It's far more likely that the writers and directors just didn't know how to properly write female or minority characters. It's far more likely that most of the writers are white men, that any subconscious biases against minorities leaked into their writing, that they're not even consciously aware that they have these racist tendencies. It's far, far more likely that these hidden biases against women are present in all men, and those biases just leaked through into the scripts. The most logical conclusion is that there is no agenda. There is no conspiracy.

with that part, i agree wholeheartedly

the breakdown of racism and misogyny in the st films itself is mostly fine. they are right that there are a lot of racist and sexist undertones in the st, even though disney tries to sell it as progressive. but i think they're a little too insistent that there must be a conspiracy. the video would be a lot stronger if they used their mountain of evidence to show how people's biases manifest in the work they create, and just how pervasive it is. it happens all the time, without conscious thought, in every little thing we do, and that's why we have to always be actively working to be conscious of our biases

most of the points they make i can attribute to one of these things:

subconscious biases. generally, racist media/actions don't happen because someone sat down and said, 'wow, let's make some racism today.' they happen because people carry biases that shape their work and actions, and because there was nobody in the writer's room to check those biases and say 'hey maybe we shouldn't do that'

capitalism. disney wants to make money. they want to capitalize on the star wars nostalgia, which is why so many things from the ot are still around. they want to make safe storytelling choices that won't alienate large parts of their fanbase, but they also want to seem progressive so they can market their films to women, gays, and poc, regardless of whether the message behind the façade is actually progressive

fan response. this ties into point 2. it's pretty well-known now that things like reylo, kylo ren redemption, finn and rose being sidelined etc happened because enough fans were loud enough about it that disney thought it would make an impact on their bottom line. it's why we know that fans can make a difference in what kind of media is created, and why discussions of racism and sexism in fan spaces is important

just plain bad writing. especially after abrams' recent 'maybe a plan would've been good,' confirming what we pretty much knew all along, that the writers had no idea what they were doing

imo, conspiracy theories only hurt the examination of racism, sexism, etc in media/community spaces. people think, 'well i'm not part of a racist conspiracy,' and then they stop there and don't self-reflect and realize that they too have biases that come out subconsciously