#aftg discourse

[g0dhood]

noooo please let’s not have jean be bought from ichirou by jeremy he needs to stop seeing himself (and being seen) as property!!!!!! not the other way around 🙏🏻

[yourleftpinkytoe-blog]

You know what’s crazy to me? When some people act like Kevin is this tragic figure who will never form a meaningful connection because he haven’t (so far) ended up in a romantic relationship with “someone better” then Thea.

I’ve seen so many posts where is just lamenting how Kevin is never going to be happy or heal because he doesn’t have the support of a partner.

…BRO HAS THIS FUCKING FANDOM JUST FORGOT THAT THE FOXES EXIST?! THAT AT THE END OF THE FIRST SERIES HES FORMING A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS DAD!!

Like come on ik people don’t like Thea let me say this now, and repeat after me… “Someone doesn’t need a romantic relationship to be happy. Kevin can be happy and heal with the help of his FAMILY”

[stick-ball]

"I'm so tired with the discourse" "why can't this fandom be normal" friendly reminder discourse and fuck-up starts when someone comes onto another person's post and starts throwing shit. Not when the post is made. I think that's an important addition to make to the current conversation, since multiple people are talking about the discourse, which, I guess we could stop calling discourse at this point bcs it's just dead dove purging. You know you should not eat the dead dove, you look inside anyway. That's on you, nobody else, so take your pitchfork and go home.

[ultimate-marysue]

A part of the AFTG fandom acts awfully entitled when it comes to Nora. I would assume it's because they're not used to interacting so casually with their fav authors, but I don't see people talking like that to fanfic writers either (for the most part).

Reviews are for the readers goes both ways and I don't understand why you tag and @/ her on Twitter just to bitch about the things you dislike. For starters, If you're a fan of the books it means you must like them. So why on earth would you choose to complain about the "bad things" when faced with the opportunity to talk to the author? I would ask her questions, fangirl about my fav moments, share my fanworks... Not talk about the specific singular thing I didn't vibe with. Because, guess what? I didn't write the book

I really don't understand it. I've criticized some elements of the books but I don't tag Nora. I'm not commissioning her for a story. She wrote the books, we bought the books. We got what we paid for, she doesn't owe us anything else. If you want more, write it yourself or commission a writer. Especially the Thea shit. My problem with that character is that she exists for less than one page, you could easily ignore it. I don't get the need to @/ the author saying "you should have edited this two paragraphs out because given the near non-existing info we get on her I think she's a bad person" (as if aftg isn't full of bad and questionable people, as if characters can only be good instead of interesting, as if we know anything about her).

I hate the way people talk about art and creative works as if they are, not only something to consume, but something that is owed to you. Like the author's owe you making all your headcanons canon. You people have lost your minds, that's not how it works. You're allowed to have your headcanons and share them with the fandom, but so is the author??? Only the books are canon, and not even the author can prevent you from skipping over the Thea parts if you want to pretend they're not there.

I'm hoping this is just kids getting into the books now, because I cringe at the thought of adult people seriously expecting their fav author to make their whims canon. Canon divergence is the beauty of fandom! Taking something you already like and giving your own two cents. Creating something out of love for the source material even if it's flawed. Harassing the author because you dislike a character that's barely there sucks the joy out of fandom. We don't deserve Nora, and she definitely doesn't deserve having to deal with this shit.

[crimeronan]

basically my standards for gay/trans media these days are that it has to be something i'd still enjoy even if none of the characters were gay or trans. bc otherwise the whole thing is a waste of my fucking time. in 2012 i was so starved for gay representation that i'd consume anything that so much as mentioned queerness just to feel less alone but that's not the world we live in anymore and i don't want to go back to that world and i would be miserable continuing to pretend that gayness is the pinnacle of good writing in 2023 it feels so.... gross. i like being spoiled with a rapturous amount of gay content to choose from and plenty of the gay content i DON'T like is beloved by other queer people and i don't have to love every gay narrative or pretend to. so i'm no longer touching any shit that doesn't do the kind of cool storytelling that compels me. i did my years in the trenches.

[joejhang]

the way the aftg fandom babies and uwufies jean is insane. like they see a man with so much trauma and their first instinct is to infantilise him. like "oh no jean can't see jeremy get angry or break down!" girl he is a grown-ass adult. stop treating him like he's fragile or a child just because he's deeply hurt. god.

[doesephs]

aftg fandom too toxic time to return home, my children (arcane, TMA, EPIC, percy jackson, TRC) are waiting for me

[rekikiri]

hi I’m possibly about to offend some people here so if you have a problem then maybe skip bc I’m discussing thea and roland.

I’ve seen people who talk negatively about kevin and thea’s relationship because of the age gap (which yes, same for me as well). BUT some of those people don’t have that same energy towards andrew and roland

andrew and roland are so much worse than kevthea. andrew was 17 when they began hooking up, had to tie his hands so he wouldn’t push against his boundaries. thea was (presumably) the same age as roland (22-23). so the age gap is bigger AND we have confirmation that roland wasn’t respecting andrew’s boundaries??? and yet there are people who are against kevthea but not the other?

idk. maybe it’s me projecting how much I personally hate roland here but if you condemn kevthea but not andrew/roland that’s a big yikes to me

[joanofexys]

pssst friendly reminder that the only canon label we have for Neil's sexuality is demi (aspec) and that he's otherwise unlabeled. hc what you want but stop trying to push it as canon or putting it over his only canon label.

i'm tired of seeing y'all erase aspecness as a valid sexuality and always feeling the need to pair it with another identity as if aspec people aren't valid just identifying as aspec and also erasing us from the conversation entirely

[baunshees]

The AFTG fandom is always fighting over something. I think we should all just hold hands and admit that it's okay to have different opinions. And then kiss a little, maybe.

[skyddish]

it's crazy i've been on tumblr a year and i've haven't yet seen an aftg take worthy enough to block. likeee my mutuals r so unproblematic, and i hear ur stories guys— it sounds like ur at war. wdym ppl think everything is kevins fault?! that's my shayla

[sunriseabram]

Yes. Riko was an abuser. Nobody can deny that he hurt, sexually abused and tormented people physically and emotionally.

Yes. Riko was abused. He was hit by Tetsuji when he got things wrong, conditioned to believe that he had to be the best or his life wasn't worth living. He was abandoned by his father because he was second born, ignored by his big brother, and not even congratulated after he tried everything to gain their approval.

Yes. He hurt Jean out of anger. He used Jean as an object because that is all he had ever been to his father and family. He was a way to make money, but his father never saw him as anything more than that. It allowed him to feel powerful and in control of someone when everything else in his life was out of his control.

Yes. He flips after his father dies. Of course, he does. When you've worked your entire life to be acknowledged, spending thousands upon thousands of hours training to win, winning trophies, doing sponsorships, raising great chunks of money for the family, only for your father to die before even showing an ounce of pride for you? Of course, he flips. Jean just happens to be there, someone he knows he can hurt and get away with. Someone less than him at the bottom of the food chain. Perhaps the only person who sees the anger for what it truly is: failure. And Riko doesn't like that.

Yes. He hurt Kevin out of jealousy. Riko grew up in a world where failure was unacceptable. Failure meant pain, death and suffering. Exy was all Riko had and all he ever had. He couldn't stand to be second best because second best is all he had ever been. He would not be second in the one thing he was meant to be the king of. He hurt Kevin out of jealousy, and was beaten to an inch of his life for it.

Yes. He grew up sheltered. Riko was groomed to be a star by Tetsuji. He was groomed and exploited for money by the only person who had ever looked at him and seen something. He lost his mother. His father didn't care about him. He had nobody. He lived underground in the nest for most of his life and played exy every single day for most of his childhood. He probably had no friends his own age until Kevin came along. There was nobody who understood what Riko was going through.

Yes. Riko hurt Andrew. He had Andrew hurt as another power trip. It was to show he had great power and could do what he wanted with it. He had no boundaries. Throughout the series, Riko is shown to be insecure. He craves power and acknowledgement and wants to prove he has a place in the mafia family next to his brother.

Yes. Riko is more complex than a simple villain. He is self-destructive and works to the bone to try and be worth something. He uses anger to cover up his blatant abandonment issues. He is never and will never be enough. And if he can't be enough, then nobody else can. Nobody can take his place.

He is scared of Kevin, frightened of Neil, terrified of Andrew. He is constantly trying to stop his precarious tower from tumbling in the only way he knows how.

If all his mistakes were punished with pain, disappointment and anger, how can he know any different? He doesn't know the world really and hasn't experienced it outside his little box of stardom. He doesn't know what is 'normal.' For him, failing means getting beaten. Failure means losing his status. Failing means falling from power. It always has.

No. Just because Riko was abused and groomed does not mean that his abusive behaviours were justified. He chose to become an abuser, despite everything he had suffered.

No. He wasn't born evil. He is horrible - don't get me wrong - but he shouldn't just be cast off as coming out of the womb with horns and a tail. He was shaped by his experiences, negative and positive. We all are.

Riko thought beating people into submission would show his power and prove his worth to his family. In the end, it resulted in his downfall.

[saywhatyouwillbut]

i love all of you wonderful aftg creators making social media aus and in-universe memes, choosing to completely ignore the fact that exy rpf would 100% exist

[walkingcorpse03]

i hate you aftg tiktok and twitter

[youdontknowhowtodiequietly]

neil josten is demisexual, and, i argue, demiromantic too. he said he didn't swing because he was never allowed to form any meaningful contact with anyone outside of his mom. but he was aware he was capable of attraction. that is why he is demi. i love Nora, she gave demi people recognition in a time where everyone was very hostile to asexual people in general (tbf they still are hostile because people are fucking idiots) and i think it's beautiful

[chilledstrawberrysoda]

My ultimate aftg pet peeve is when someone from booktube or booktok reads the books one time and thinks they can make a video explaining it like no get out of here, I have read these books 10+ times over the last 9 years and listened to the audiobooks 5 times and this morning I still noticed something that I misinterpreted upon the first 15 read throughs. I think the only person that would be genuinely qualified to do a full plot analysis and breakdown would be Nora because these books have so much nuance and complex characters and world building that reading it once is not enough to explain it to other people.