#all of those people who read/wrote them are predators?????

[omgshiftercat]

I have a friend whose ex, a minor celebrity in some circles, was abusive.

Shortly after she and some other women went public about it, there were some people who chimed in talking about other misdeeds of his.

Her ex was, and is, a loathsome waste of oxygen, and the words, "...who deserves every accusation leveled at him" would almost escape my lips...

...Except that some of the accusations people began throwing around because they (understandably) hated this guy weren't true.

This did not help my friend at all! It muddied the waters, and gave her awful ex ammunition for his claims that people were just out to get him, and were willing to make stuff up to smear him.

Switching gears: there's been a lot of discussion recently about how some brilliant and influential art has been created by objectively terrible people. Part of that discussion has been calling out people who say, "Their work always sucked," or "I never liked it." Not only are statements like this unhelpful, they provide cover for predators. If you insist that your tastes reflect your morality, you're giving yourself a huge blind spot, and making it easy to dismiss evidence of harm done by creators you happen to like.

This is one reason why I think exhibits like this one are important: they help teach that lesson.

Three notes on this: 1. by the time of that exhibition, Gill was long dead and therefore unable to profit from it.

2. This kind of thing isn't necessary for every artist, because not every creator does heinous things.

3. My friend's ex is nowhere near the artistic league of Eric Gill or any of the other creators I'll discuss.

Switching gears again...

If someone mentions a bespectacled British boy wizard with an owl familiar, in a modern setting with "secret world" magic, the name that springs to mind is most likely "Harry Potter", right?

But Timothy Hunter, from The Books of Magic, was published a full seven years before that. I was working in a bookstore when the novelizations for the BoM comics came out, and had to tell kids that no, this was not a HP rip-off.

I don't think the reverse was true, either: for one thing, The Books of Magic is set in the DC Universe, and I've never heard of JKR reading superhero comics. But also... sometimes completely separate creators will come up with strikingly similar ideas, utterly by coincidence. It's one reason why most authors tell fans NOT to send them ideas or fanfiction based on their work: there is rarely any good way to prove that you didn't steal a concept.

Now, obviously every creator is influenced by other people's works, and I completely agree that it's good to acknowledge that and to point fans towards your influences!

When Rowling began channeling her resources into making life worse for trans folk, I saw a lot of people saying, "Well, Harry Potter was just a mediocre rip-off of The Worst Witch anyway."

While I haven't read that series, I strongly doubt this claim. The idea of magic schools is older and more widespread than either of those series, and "British boarding school hijinks, but it's a magic school" was bound to be written more than once.

Now, some of you already know, and others have looked up, who originally wrote Tim Hunter. And... yeah, it's Neil Gaiman. *sigh*

In the last few days, I've seen some people saying, "The Sandman ripped off Tanith Lee's Tales from the Flat Earth." They cite a number of similarities: Azhrarn, the Lord of Darkness, is a pale-skinned, raven-haired Byronic figure with a sibling-like relationship to the Lord of Death and the Lord of Madness. Like the Endless, these beings are god-like, but specifically not gods. Apparently some people have mistaken fanart of Azhrarn for Morpheus. And Chuz, Prince Madness, has a bisected appearance, half his face horribly messed up, like the demoness Mazikeen.

But speaking as someone who was a fan of the late Tanith Lee years before I picked up an issue of The Sandman: I don't believe the latter was stolen from the former. Are there similarities? Yes, but they're superficial. If you've read both series, as I have, you'll know that the stories, settings, and characters are very different!

It's possible Gaiman was influenced by Lee's writing, and if so, I agree he should have acknowledged that. He did promote the work of other female creators, which is one reason why many of us thought he was "one of the good ones". But it's also entirely possible that these two authors independently came up with similar ideas.

When it comes right down to it, I think that statements like this -- "their best work was just a rip-off of something else" -- are just another variant of "their work always sucked".

It's often an easier accusation than "they've always been crap", because, as I said, writers come up with strikingly similar concepts all the time, and it's very hard to prove you didn't steal an idea. But it has the same problems, so -- barring the kind of case you could make with a college-level plagiarism-catching program -- I think it's best avoided.

Now, telling people, "Hey, are you sad about this creator turning out to be an awful person to whom you don't want to give any more money? Try this other person's work instead!" This is good! Let's have more of it!

Addendum 1: I think "separate the art from the artist" should mean, "you don't have to treat books already on your shelf as if they're suddenly coated in poison", not "I'm going to ignore this creator's actions and keep buying their products anyway."

Addendum 2: I just posted a version of this to Bluesky.

[aislebewithshu]

𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 loveit?

x gender neutral reader.

wc: 468

cw: yandere, mentions of cannibalism (in a metaphorical sense), character death, dismemberment (but not too graphic), vomit/throwing up, dark content basically. DIRECT references to the song loveit? and love eat and also based on the revenge theory bcs ppl have different interpretations towards this song lmao (and it made a dent in my brain forever. thank u to that one that came up w the theory).

dead dove, do not eat.

author notes: hi it's been a while since i last wrote anything.. i mean anything at all.. this (obviously) might not be the accurate representation to the songs HNFF pls i tried considering other theories... thank u for reading!! scroll away if uncomfy <3

red. It is the color he could only see.

how putrid, he thinks. seeing so many people surrounding you, it irks him. how could you talk to these… lowly creatures undeserving of your presence? he eyes you like a predator, watching your possible next move. oh, how he loves that horrified look you have for a second the moment you laid your eyes on him.

“come on, eat it, darling."

he urges you as you hesitantly look at the ‘food’ served to you, then back at the male. what could he put here that he insists that you eat the meal he prepared? you take a bite, and he smiles.

it was the meat of the person you last talked to, he whispered. the moment he said that to you, you immediately threw up, not letting said human meat inside your system. disgusting, vile, even uncanny.

he was pleased, after all, you wouldn't let anyone in your life except for him, would you? the first question in your mind was, why? why, would he go lengths, as to butcher one's body just because you talked with them? he hates that you're giving all your attention and affection to that insignificant pest.

he also has to stake claims to you - a mark that you are his. that's why he proceeded to gouge out your right eye. it was excruciating, but what mattered to him is that he put a mark on you forever, and he plans to do more.

after all, love makes everyone blind, even to those who think they've seen what true love looks like.

"i'm going to eat you, sexually unrestrained."

oh, why can't you say anything? you're not fighting him back, so you must like the pain he's inflicting from you? poor thing, but he loves you too much to let you go. he promises to eat you up, deep into the marrow, flesh and blood.

that is, until you snap.

cupping his cheeks with your stained hands, you gaze into his eyes. it is uncharacteristically loving, to the point that it freezes him on the spot. what are you going to do next? he thinks.

bringing your lips to his, he indulges in the sick, yet passionate kiss, as you bring your hand to take his knife. you wrap your arms around him as he does the same, tracing lines at his back with the knife you're holding, bringing your beloved to his beautiful demise.

"you're loveit in human form."

surely you haven't lost your mind? of course, love does make everyone blind, even him. your ultimate intentions— on why you had to indulge in his twisted whims, why you didn't fight back, it all made sense to him now. after all, he fell into the fake love you presented before him, a punishment you endowed on him for killing your actual beloved.

enstars - shiina niki, tenshouin eichi (hear me out), fushimi yuzuru, saegusa ibara, shino hajime, sakuma ritsu (honestly i cld put the whole niki's kitchen circle here)

twst - trey clover, jade leech, jamil viper

bllk - mikage reo, kaiser michael, bachira meguru (hear me out pt. 2)

hsr - jiaoqiu

+ your faves.

©AISLEBEWITHSHU on tumblr. do not repost / feed to AI.

[reelovesfictionalmen]

Just some comfort.

Cross posted from my ao3. Wrote this in bed at midnight. Probably straight up trash. Reader is supposed to be in their 30s even though not mentioned.

As the head of requisitions and the lead quatermaster for Kortac you interacted with the operators regularly. Making sure they got clothes, armor, toiletries, weapons and anything else they needed for daily life and the field.

You had gained an easy comradere with many of the members.

The one who's company you enjoyed most as were honestly surprised to have was Nikto.

It had started with you noticing he rarely took himself to medical, you had asked other operators if he had taken any hits and they would confirm if he had or not.

One evening when he was returning his gear for you to catalog you noticed swelling and redness around his left eye. His eternal eye black doing little to hide any of it.

Clearing your throat you asked if you could talk to him privately.

He bristled at your request, agreeing but clearly uncomfortable.

Once in your office you asked him why he has not gone to medical for the injury he is failing to hide.

"we do not like them, they stare too long and judge us" he ground toeing at a stain on the carpet, keeping his eyes on said spot.

"what about letting me look at it? I've already taken measurements for your masks and other tac gear. I promise not to look more than needed" you offered.

Nikto met your eyes, you weren't sure if he meant to stare you down but for a moment you felt pinned, like you were a predator being sized up by another predator. Like he was seeing if he could take you down.

But, his gaze softened and he agreed.

After that day after every mission Nikto would come to you and have you see any injuries he had. Any he could tend himself he would but those he shouldn't he would let you see to.

During one painful wound stitching on brow, the fool did not want numbing, he had grabbed onto your hips firmly to ground himself. Even once you had finished he kept his grip on you. Unsure what to do you stroked his shoulders offering soothing words.

From that moment on, he would seek you out during normal work days. You would be going over a new shipment of gear and he would be there to help you move heavy things even if you had people for that job.

During down time when you would be relaxing somewhere quiet reading he would come sit by you and read too

You truly enjoyed his quiet company. You had begun to be able to decern what alter was what judging by the tone in which they spoke.

One day he returned from a mission and went about returning his gear but you were not there. One of your assistants answered his unspoken question, telling him you were in the infirmary after some heavy shelving fell on you.

He deposited his gear swiftly and all but ran to the infirmary to see you in one of the beds with one of your legs in a cast up to the thigh. When you saw him in the doorway you gave him a dopey grin having been given some morphine. He came to your bedside, even with his balaclava on you could see the furrow of his brow as he look in your very broken leg.

"I'm okay" you slurred as you smiled up at him.

"you are not. we should have been here sooner" he lamented as he reached out and stroked your face.

Later you would bame the morphine for killing your inhibitions, you leaned into his hand, holding it to your cheek with your own hand with a contented hum coming from you.

You didn't see how his eyes widened in shock at your actions nor did you when you pulled him by the arm so he was close enough to throw your arms around his neck and place a kiss to his masked cheek telling him how you are glad he's here.

His mind was a buzz. You had no idea what you're doing to him. What you've always done to him since you first took his measurements for his gear the first time you met.

So he did what felt natural. He embraced you in return. Holding you close to him as he buried his face in your neck.

[nikethestatue]

I blame TikTok/BookTok for a lot of things, but one for the biggest disservices that it did to the general reading public was it popularized the idea of 'trope writing'. it's one of the worst things to ever happen in writing, and it's the low hanging fruit for those who have bastardized the whole romance genre. Grumpy and sunshine, age gap, single dad, enemies to lovers...The list is long and...boring.

Trope writing gives a blueprint to unimaginative stories and their proliferation in the romantasy and romance genre is what's making it a joke now. There are so many 'Court of' and any combo of the words of blood, roses', and stars and it's...well, it's this:

The problem with SJM's fandom and the shipwar as a whole is very kind of simple and sad at the same time.

A HUGE number of Gwynriels came from TikTok and learned about SJM on there, and they've been lied to this entire time. Because the thing is, SJM is NOT a trope writer. Sure, there are a few tropes in her books, but they don't drive her narrative. SJM is a STORYTELLER. That's what she is and those who found her before/outside of TikTok were drawn to the story and the characters, not ships.

We didn't read ACOTAR, and then ACOMAF for 'ships'. We read it for the story--we didn't know who'll end up with who and that wasn't the main reason why we read. We loved the actual world of Feyre and Rhys, of Tamlin of Prythian, of the IC and Hybern. It was interesting to read.

TikTok ushered in the 'trope revolution' where talentless and mediocre authors are churning out boring, unoriginal books that fit into these tropes.

SJM doesn't do that. And while I know it's way too late now, I wish Gwynriels understood that early on. I mean, they would've had to read the books actually, and not just look at IG and TikTok videos, but it would've saved them a lot of time and energy if they did. Because what they want is 'grumpy and sunshine' trope with Azriel and Gwyn. 'Friends to lovers'. 'Teacher and student'. That's why they've struggles SO HARD for 4 years to come up with an actual story for their 'Gwynriel book'. They vacillated between 'it's Azriel's book!' and 'it's about healing!' or 'they'll redeem Illyria', and then, when they couldn't really concoct much of anything, they decide to make Gwyn Starborn and they've been obsessing about her paternity.

The 'problem' with SJM is that she has a story FIRST, and then certain tropes fall into that story, but she doesn't start off with a trope and then build a story from there. Which is what GAs want and think she'll do. For Eluciens, the downfall is their belief that 'SJM is a fated mates writer'. They dug themselves into a hole, because 'fated mates' is a trope and it's pretty obvious that this is NOT where SJM is going with Elucien. They'd rather ignore every mention of the Cauldron being wrong, and falsely assume that none of it matters because well, but 'fated mates'!

What they all keep ignoring and dismissing is that Elain has a story of her own. Yes, there is a grumpy/sunshine vibe with Elriel, but that's not the driver of the narrative. The driver is that she is a Seer, and that she is Made, and that the Cauldron WAS WRONG, and that she doesn't like her mate but likes another guy altogether, and that Azriel is a mystery and a Shadowsinger, and we don't know what any of this means, and somehow, he is carrying a Made dagger and he gave it to Elain, and he is in love with her knowing that he shouldn't be, and he said 'i am getting her back' and he got her back....THAT'S the story that SJM is writing. And it's not your basic and boring 'grumpy and sunshine' trope.

I think when Elriels have doubts or see something on TikTok, they should remember this. SJM predates TikTok by over a decade and no matter how people try to spin it, she is NOT a TikTok writer. She is actually a talented and best-selling romantasy writer who wrote this:

“Fireheart. Fireheart, why do you cry?"

"Because I am lost. And I do not know the way." "You have been very brave. You have been very brave, for so very long. But you must be brave a little while longer, my Fireheart. You must be brave a little while longer, and remember..." Her mother placed a phantom hand over Aelins heart. "It is the strength of this that matters. No matter where you are, no matter how far, this will lead you home. It is the strength of this that matters, Aelin. The strength of this. You are my daughter. You were born of two mighty bloodlines. That strength flows through you. Lives in you. You do not yield. You do not yield.”

And she made us cry.

And then she wrote this:

“There you are. I've been looking for you.

His first words to me— not a lie at all, not a threat to keep those faeries away.

And she made us fall in love.

“Even when this world is a forgotten whisper of dust between the stars, I will always love you.”

[michanvalentine]

Hey

I wrote the following bellow ages ago on a Discord server I'm in

Wanted to get your thoughts on my observations around Cazador's demise, if possible

"For all their wealth, power, & influence, true vampires are incapable of any real happiness

Whether that's from the nature of their true Vampirism or from having been tortured as spawn themselves, or both even, they're clearly suffering

Which wouldn't in itself warrant what I'm about to say next

But, because true vampires tend to get off on hurting those beneath them, be they spawn or mortals (not accounting for blood drinking imo. As far as I'm concerned, I can't really fault a vampire, spawn or otherwise, for needing blood anymore than I can fault a lion for needing meat), I can't help but come to the conclusion that the kindest thing you can do for a true vampire, & for the people they're terrorising, is to basically eliminate them

Not a nice conclusion to come to, admittedly

But, the fact is, they won't stop hurting people until they are stopped

Sometimes the world is made a better place when certain people (especially dictators & tyrants) are no longer in it"

It's not a conclusion I'm comfortable with tbh, It's admittedly a very dark one to cone to

Especially knowing there was a time Cazador could have been saved, once upon a time, but that it's now passed

But, I wanted to get your thoughts on this

I believe it's a thought-provoking contribution. It’s a complex and painful reflection that touches on multiple themes and presents us with an ethical choice. It almost echoes the question the Withered One poses to Tav/Durge at the beginning of the adventure: “What is the worth of a single mortal life?” At first glance, it seems easy to answer—of course life matters, and all lives are equal and deserve to be lived. But what happens when we speak of a monster? And not a "monster" like a vampire spawn such as Astarion, who is, in many ways, still “innocent,” a mere instrument in the hands of a master who owns him body and soul.

It’s a question that challenges beliefs and morality, even the most steadfast ones, and yet demands a clear stance and a sense of responsibility.

The analogy between pureblood vampires and tyrants is powerful because it touches a universal theme: corrupted power and the systemic violence it breeds. Cazador, in particular, is not just a predator by biological necessity, but a sadist who takes pleasure in absolute control, in torture, in the erasure of another’s identity. He is an executioner, not by nature alone, but by repeated choice. As you said, he’s far beyond the lion that feeds out of hunger. And that’s precisely why Astarion’s ascension crosses that thin line between necessity and monstrosity—because that’s where the choice becomes heavy and leads to the suffering of thousands of souls through a deliberate, conscious act. An act that makes him, in every essential way, just like Cazador.

This is meant as a moral weighing of the scales, before anyone jumps in to say “but AA is different from Cazador, he loves Tav/Durge, he’d never torture them”—that’s not the point I’m making.

Saying that “eliminating him is the only truly kind act” isn’t a glorification of violence, nor an excuse—it’s an ethical stance against a structural, irremediable evil. It’s a reflection on the responsibility to end the cycle of abuse when the abuser not only shows no remorse but continues to inflict pain as an act of will.

Moreover, as you said, true vampires (as Astarion defines them) are incapable of real happiness. And here, I’ll take a small detour into the broader cultural imagination of the vampire—a figure that’s existed in global folklore for centuries. In virtually all interpretations, vampires are the dead who need the life essence of the living—blood—to “survive.” They’re parasites, in direct violation of the natural order. In some readings, especially through a Catholic lens, vampirism takes on the characteristics of a punishment. A divine one, even—meant to bring suffering to those afflicted.

Hence the widespread belief that vampires fear crucifixes, burn in holy water, are harmed by blessed weapons, and so on. But even if we step away from that perspective, we can still see how vampirism is understood in broader literature as a condition that inevitably leads to suffering. We can grasp this even through simple reasoning and common sense.

Eternity is a curse: the world changes, vampires don’t—or not easily. The people they care about die, one after the other, over time—if they ever manage to find someone to care about. Boredom, the stagnation of their condition—they’ve done, seen, and said everything. The absence of sunlight, of their own reflection, the constant hunger. They are stuck, forever, in a liminal state—neither living nor dead. Damned to wander the earth without ever being able to move on (and here we circle back, slightly, to the Catholic idea).

Anyway, all this is to say that vampirism can be seen as a true curse—a kind of hell on earth from which there is no escape... unless, of course, one is killed. So ending Cazador’s life could also be interpreted as an act of kindness—even from this angle.

And no, I don’t believe ascension can “fix” any of these aspects—except maybe the more material ones like reflection, sunlight, and hunger. But as for inner peace? I see little hope. In fact, realizing that even ascension can’t bring peace to a vampire must be a crushing blow. Just as money doesn’t bring happiness (nor fame or success), neither do “things.”

And in fact, Cazador—who has everything Astarion thinks matters: wealth, status, and power—says:

“These deathless dreams hold memories of a mortal life once-forgotten. Of the boy I was, the man I became, the monster that will not end. I sleep, but cannot rest. I live, but cannot die. I’m eternal, and I grieve.”

The message couldn’t be clearer.

But let’s take a closer look at what he says: deathless dreams—this means he keeps having them, over and over again, every time he closes his eyes. They’re deathless, after all; he can’t get rid of them. And what do they do? They hold. A beautiful word, one that somehow suggests care, even a certain gentleness. And what do they hold? The memories of his mortal life. It’s heartbreaking. He mourns the boy he was, the man he became… in favor of the monster. The one that will not end. He knows perfectly well that this last part is the strongest, the most pervasive, the one with no end—swallowing him whole.

That’s why he sleeps, but cannot rest—because the memories of who he once was torment him. He regrets who he used to be. He is "alive," but even if he wanted to end it all, he can’t die—he’s forced to drag himself through this non-existence. He’s eternal… and that’s why he grieves.

I’d say there’s little more to add… it perfectly conveys just how horrible his condition is, and how he’s willing to do anything to change it—without realizing that every attempt is futile and will only serve to feed the monster that will not end.

God, how much pity I feel for him…

This without even bringing in the D&D lore, which portrays vampires as distorted and sick in their perceptions, emotions, and feelings. But I believe that an eternity of suffering would slowly, inevitably, turn even the most virtuous, pious soul into something entirely different.

At the same time, recognizing that there was once a time when Cazador could have been saved is important. Because it shows that no one is born a monster, and that the system which produces violence—even in abusers—is real. And this applies to the real world as well. But when the chance of salvation becomes impossible even to imagine for someone who’s fallen that far, perhaps the most compassionate act is no longer forgiveness, but the liberation of those who suffer from their actions.

In this sense, your conclusion is harsh but deeply self-aware. It doesn’t romanticize or justify. It reckons with the moral weight of saying: “You cannot remain—because you continue to destroy those who still have a chance to live.”

It’s tragic. And it’s profoundly human.

Thank you for giving me the chance to reflect on these themes. <3 I hope I wrote in a way that's understandable! xD Sometimes my translations feel a bit messy to me…

[mmkin]

what a mindfuck

As a teenager, I was a huge fan of Neil Gaiman. I bought the entire Sandman graphic novel series as well as a bunch of various novels or borrowed them from other people. When MeToo started and all of these guys that we thought were wholesome were outed as sexual predators, I, like so many other Gaiman fans, were certain he'd never be one of those people.

When the news about Neil Gaiman came out, I hoped it wasn't real. I waited to say anything about it because I wanted to be sure. But after reading the various things, I am just so fucking heartbroken.

Me and my siblings and cousins watched the Cosby Show reruns when we were kids/teens so when the shit about Cosby being a rapist came out I was like FFS. Then other guys like Kevin Spacey that I admired, etc etc. But I was able to move on/deal with it/etc.

Still, I thought, not Neil Gaiman, not him. He's just too cool/nice. I thought, of all the guys out there, Gaiman would have to be at the bottom of the list. I was so fucking certain of it, so to have to accept that ugliness about a man I thought was beautiful was an especially bitter pill.

So many of his books/graphic novels were beautiful and got me through some really hard times, and there were times when i was just astounded by this brilliant line or paragraph or idea of Gaiman's and wishing I was more like him.

Definitely not the case anymore, and if someone like Neil Gaiman can be like that, then it honestly makes me wonder what sorts of ugliness lurk in people that I think are beautiful (I mean beautiful in a mental/emotional/artistic way, not physically) and it's left me shaken in my faith in people.

EDIT - I wrote the OP fresh, without any editing so I know it comes across as rambly but I just had to get it out, and I did. Now that I've had more time to think, I can articulate myself a little better.

No one is perfect. We're all flawed creatures, but a lot of men manage to not have 'assaults/coerces/disrespects women/is a creep' as one of their character flaws and I sincerely thought that Neil Gaiman would be one of those people. With other people I liked who were outed for shitty behavior, there's always a certain level of disappointment but with Gaiman it just feels more personal even though we never met one another. I sincerely, truly, honestly expected and thought better of him.

[zenkindoflove]

Fandom Shipping Terminology 101: ACOTAR edition

Hi! So I decided to put a little resource together for the ACOTAR fandom. Since many people join the SJM/ACOTAR fandom and have never been in fandom before, they encounter a lot of fandom terminology that they are not quite sure what it means or have seen others use it incorrectly so they get a false impression of the meaning of the word. So I put this together, including examples from the fandom, so that people can use it as a reference to learn more about what these terms mean and when they're appropriate to use. This list is focused on words related to shipping.

Tldr definitions (note: these are definitions that I wrote based on my own experiences/research on fanlore. These are always up for interpretation and meaning and nuance change over time and depend on fandom context)

Canon ship - a relationship where the characters have romantic interactions in canon

Fanon ship - a relationship where in canon the characters are platonic but the fandom has accepted as a ship with romantic undertones, canonical potential, or has become so popular within a fandom it's has surpassed the need/desire for canon

Crackship - a pairing of two characters where the idea of them together is strange or funny depending on the circumstances. Often in these ships, the characters have little or even no interactions in canon

Rare pair - agnostic to fanon or canon status. A rare pair simply means the fandom does not make a lot of fan content for it.

End-game - This is a canon ship that is together by the end of a series.

Slash ship - Fanon ships that feature queer relationships. M/M usually takes on the term slash and F/F has the term femslash.

OTP - Stands for One True Pair. This is a ship that a shipper considers to be the most important one that they love in a fandom.

NOTP - anti-OTP, or a ship that a shipper detests/is squicked out by

Multishipping - the act of shipping a character with multiple other characters.

For more context and thorough examples read more under the cut 

First, what the heck is a ship?

The origins of shipping and becoming obsessed with fictional relationships predate our modern understanding of fandom. Modern fandom roots can be traced as early as Star Trek: The Original Series. But the terminology of calling a couple you like a ship or the act of obsessing over fictional (and sometimes non fictional) couples "shipping" has its origins in the X-Files fandom. While ACOTAR is a romance, many fandoms do not have romance as a central element of its plot, and yet, shippers find a way. That's exactly what happened for the fans of Mulder/Scully. Those who wanted them to be in a romantic relationship were called "relationshippers" which then got shortened to "shippers". The verb "to ship" would appear later from this origin.

The way to think about "what is a ship" though is really based on do people think up romantic scenarios with these two characters? If yes, then you have a ship. And in ACOTAR, oh baby, are there MANY, MANY SHIPS.

Canon vs. Fanon ships

Where does a canon ship end and a fanon one begin? Now that, my friends, is not as clear cut as you might think.

I think this discussion is very important for the ACOTAR fandom because of the state of the ship war currently. Often, there is back and forth about which ship is canon or fanon (and *eye twitch* people throwing around crackship as a derogatory term to de-legitimize a ship which makes me wanna punch shit).

I'm gonna burst everyone's bubbles and say, I personally think Elriel, Elucien, and Gwynriel are all CANON ships.

Why? Well, that's the part that is up for interpretations my friends. What is deemed canonical romantic interactions? That is where a lot of lines can become blurry and if you have ever shipped a fanon ship before - you KNOW what I mean by that. Is it a charged glance? A caress of a hand that lingered too long? Is it a shared kiss? Or do the characters have to explicitly declare "I'm yours and you're mine"?

I've shipped a lot of kinds of ships. Canon. Fanon. Canon that had its end-game blown up. You name it, I've shipped it. And to me, a canon ship is anytime the writer of the canon is putting characters in a romantic situation, regardless if they end up together or not by the end of the series. If they wanted you to feel butterflies and think "could they?", and you felt butterflies, well my friends, you're responding to canon romance. And we've seen evidence of all three ships having those moments.

But, what does that mean for fanon ships? I have shipped a fanon couple where I got butterflies from their canonical scenes together. I've read into their moments and thought "wow, that was romantically charged". I think this is where the lines of canon and fanon are blurred. Because what this comes down to is, did the author intend this? Or am I seeing more into an interaction because I like it? Most fanon ships do hinge a lot of their interest in said ship because of what happens in canon. But, often times, the authors of said content are not necessarily wanting you to take away from their writing that these two characters are interested in each other romantically. You just can't help it. You see it. You see the potential, and you want it to go there so you see more of it the more you look.

Sometimes fanon ships are very clear that the canon is not even hinting at these two characters together romantically. And that is perfectly fine. To me, a fanon ship is a ship that has become so ingrained in the fandom community that the fandom thinks of these two together romantically. That it doesn't really matter anymore what the canon says or doesn't. The fandom has created this relationship and it lives and breathes within what the fandom builds for it. Azris is a perfect example of a fanon ship in ACOTAR. The canon interactions between Azriel and Eris are sparse and platonic in nature, yet the fandom itself has created a whole fanon around them with a large enough community that as soon as you enter the ACOTAR fandom, you immediately know this ship exists.

Rare pairs and Crackships

These two terms are often used interchangeably as if they are synonyms. Now, a rare pair can be a crackship but not all rare ships are crackships and vice versa.

Generally, a rare pair is devoid of canon or fanon connotations. A rare pair is a ship that receives little attention from fans and has few associated fanworks. So, a rare pair could be a fanon couple that few people think about romantically. For example, Emerie and Gwyn have a lot of interactions in canon. I would not think shipping them together to be a crackship because I mean, they're friends, they like each other, they read smut together. There are a lot of scenarios one could imagine them falling in love. But they have a whopping 12 fanfics under their tag in AO3. Therefore, they are a rare pair but not necessarily a crackship.

A rare pair can also be a canon ship. For example, Thesan and his unnamed lover are canon. However, when you look up their relationship tag on AO3, there are 23 works and most do not appear to be focused on them.

I also have seen people use rare pair for very popular ships (like Azris) when they mean fanon. Again, rare pair is really an indication of "how much fan content can you find for this" not necessarily are they canon.

Crackships really were birthed from the intention of putting two characters together "4 da lulz" to bring back early 2000s internet lingo. Crack shipping is usually a pairing that the idea of them together is a little absurd but also fun. Beron/Tamlin is a quintessential crackship example, especially why it came to be (but we will avoid getting into all the origins of that). There is no real reason to think Beron or Tamlin would ever have a romantic interaction and thinking about it makes you laugh. Crackships can sometimes turn into fanon ships. This is another example where the lines do get blurry. But really, crackshipping is about intention and the use of absurdism within fan creation.

I also want to say, often what I see in the Elucien v. Elriel and Elriel v. Gwynriel ships wars is the use of crackship in a derogatory way, and thinking that if one of these ships does not become end-game, therefore, it proves the other was a crackship. Simply put - no. That's not how it works.

End-game

Related to the above point, I think often where the ACOTAR ship wars really derail themselves, is conflating fanon/canon/endgame with each other. I don't see people often using the term end-game, when really, it would help so much with the judgmental and strange ship policing that this fandom loves to do. Specifically, this fandom has a hard time talking about the value within shipping fanon, or shipping the blurriness between fanon and canon for any characters that do not have end-game potential. ACOTAR is not a complete series. Therefore, in a strict definition, no couples are end-game. However, given the genre, there are several couples who are clearly going to be end-game. And really, what I think the ship war community needs in their discourse, is to start using the term end-game when they want to discuss the outcome of Elucien, Elriel, or Gwynriel having a canonical Happily Ever After. The reason being is that you can use end-game, and not insult another ship. End-game is simply a fact. There is no hierarchy involved in what ship is best or not. Because ships can be beloved whether they're canon or fanon or canon who did not end up together. And they all can have very valid reasons why people ship them despite not achieving end-game.

I also urge the ACOTAR fandom to realize that end-game is not the end of YOUR experience of your ship. Your ship lives on despite what the canon may or may not give you. Even if you ship a canon ship that does not achieve end-game, you can create those fanon end-games for yourself. Many popular ships end up being popular because of the effect of that ship not achieving end-game. And while I am using the prime-ship war as examples within this post, I've seen other microshipwars popping up within the fandom as well. So, I'm not trying to pick on this specific set of conflicts, it's just the one I see most prominently.

OTP vs NOTP

I think the ACOTAR fandom could also really benefit from adopting this terminology.

The point of declaring OTPs and NOTPs is a way for you to signal to others in your fandom, "This is how much I care about this ship. Whether I love it it or hate it. Tread carefully". These terms are not meant to say one ship is better than the other from a moral standpoint. Instead, it's to indicate to others that you have a strong preference. You're going to love your OTPs regardless of what arguments others throw at you to convince you to not love them. You will probably be very annoyed by your NOTPs regardless of what others try to do to convince you that they're actually cute/sexy/hot/perfect for each other. And what the ACOTAR fandom could benefit from, from readopting OTP/NOTP language, is having a common understanding where different shipping communities boundaries are and how they can better utilize those boundaries to prevent constant fighting. Now, ship wars are inevitable because of how people see their OTPs and NOTPs, but general rule of thumb is - don't engage with your NOTP's content for your own mental sanity.

Multishipping

Multishipping can be used in many ways. Some people use it to say, hey I'm in this fandom, and I ship a lot of couples. But the origins of multishipping as a term, comes from ship war discourse in other fandoms. Multishippers generally are people who ship one character with multiple other characters. For example, if you ship Elain/Lucien, Elain/Azriel, Elain/Gwyn, Elain/Tamlin, etc etc etc, you are a multishipper. I generally would not consider someone a multishipper if all of their ships do not cross streams. It just sort of means that you ship a lot of couples. Which tends to be normal for romance series with a lot of couples. Maybe not a single of those couples is your true OTP, and that's what you mean by saying you're a multishipper. And that's okay. I think though that multishipping generally in other fan spaces is a marker of you telling others that you don't draw harsh lines with who you see characters with. I often see multishippers not declaring NOTPs. It's kind of a state of how you go about shipping often. I, for one, identify as an OTP shipper. I've never really multishipped. But I also have a very strict standard of what I call my "ships". Anyways, this is to say, this term has a lot of uses. And sometimes it can be confusing which of these uses a person means when they say it.

Slash shipping 

I've seen over the years that slash as a terminology has fallen out of favor. In the past, slash shipping was the pinnacle of shipping in fandoms. The term slash comes from the first modern fanon ship, Kirk/Spock, where the / between their names, which we now all know and use to indicate a romantic pairing (note: & is used to indicate a platonic interaction between characters), exists because the Kirk/Spock shipping community really were the originators of shipping communities creating fan content and sharing it in with each other in a massive way. In general slash (and femslash) is an important modifier of shipping because it explicitly tells you that this is a queer ship which often were not mainstream and considered canon until more recently. With the rise of canonical queer ships, I think the subversiveness of shipping queer couples has lost it's edge, therefore slash is not needed as much anymore to directly state the nature of your ship.

I wanted to keep this in the post though, because I think it's incredibly important history for ALL ACOTAR fans to understand. Shipping queer couples, and especially shipping FANON queer couples, has always been the backbone of fandom. Kirk/Spock walked so Destiel could fly. These are all queer ships that have strong fanon roots (and that fanon has had impacts on their canon) and have shaped fandom and your concept of shipping and romance tropes in inextricable ways. You don't have / without Kirk/Spock. You don't have Omegaverse, without gay shipping within the Supernatural fandom. And I wanted to make this point because this fandom has a strong het (heterosexual) ship bias. Which is okay. It's a romance series with a lot of heterosexual canon couples. But, I think because of that, many people are not entering this fandom with an understanding that people shipping queer fanon couples have been the ones who were the originators of many fandom terms that we have come to know and use today.

Conclusion:

I hope you all found this informative and that you can take away something from this post that can help you have better interactions and ability to communicate with others in this fandom. Again, I want to stress, that this is heavily influenced by my own 25 years of experience being in fandoms. And I haven't seen it all. Others will have different interpretations of these terms and experiences using these terms. So, feel free to add on anything that you think would be helpful to those in the ACOTAR community to better understand how to "ship and let ship". I do think that ship war are inevitable and not necessarily a bad thing. But using the right terms can help you engage in a more respectful way within ship war discourse.

[mermaidsirennikita]

i hate how mainsteam fanfiction has gotten...why am i seeing acticles from vulture discussing fanfiction...why are people selling and buying fanfiction bound like books...why are people talking about and recommending fanfiction like they're books...why is more and more fanfiction getting published and those books getting turned into films...don't get me wrong i love fanfiction i still read it actively but there used to be a seperation of church and state as it were and now that seems to be gone

I think there's a real issue rising with regards to fanfic in which it is losing its main purpose, which is to entertain without serious criticism, because why would you apply serious critique to something that is simply made for fun and for (and this is important) NO. MONEY.

And a lot of it is written by! Minors!

I haven't written fanfic in 10+ years at this point, and I did write MOST of the fic I wrote (which isn't a lot) as a minor. It's far from my best work, and I wouldn't want to be judged on it the way I would want to be judged by work I publish as a professional author (and btw, I do hope to do that some day, and I do WRITE FOR MONEY RIGHT NOW, which means I am totally used to critique for things! I get paid! To do!).

I do have feelings about how we put fic on a pedestal, but I also genuinely think that we are fucking over fic authors (and to a lesser extent readers) when we're like "ooooh, look at this, so much better than anything published" and put some poor stranger's random lines on Twitter or Threads or whatever to be eaten up by the masses who do not read fic and don't know the etiquette. Because there are the people who uphold fic as Inherently Better, which I think is shitty, and there are people who would never admit that a beautifully written fic (and those exist) is beautifully written purely because it's fic, and will mock it to death. Which is also shitty.

The safe spaces are being destroyed and commodified, and sometimes the authors of the fic are complicit, and sometimes they're being used by people who commodify their fics without their permission through unauthorized book binds for sale, etc. A quick search on Etsy reveals dozens of Manacled binds, merch with fic quotes, etc. And while the author of that fic wouldn't be able to legally authorize that anyway because IT IS A FIC, I know for a fact that they wouldn't even have done this covertly because they have rewritten and sold Manacled as a book.

(And I also think that conversely, there is some gross dismissal of authors who begin with fic-to-books, because when that is done properly, there is a lot of work that goes into transforming the work. There is editing, there is critique, and I think you can see a lot of growth from authors who've been in the game for a while. Christina Lauren started out with a Twilight fic to book, and they've transformed their style MASSIVELY over time. Ali Hazelwood is really shifting in a big way. Do all authors put this work in? No. But to brush these uniformly off as if there isn't work and originality is... bleh.)

I'll be honest, I find it to be a real turn-off when Bookstagrammers recommend fics as books. Literally, I see them refer to them as "books". They're not. They're fics. There is nothing wrong with them being fics. That is still an art form. But it is a different art form, and it should be respected as that, and books should be respected for what they are.

I also want to add that for a lot of young fic authors especially, fic acts as training wheels. It was that for me. I wrote fic when I was a baby. Literally like, 12 and using a fake name online to avoid predators lol. And I wrote fic for historical shows when I was a bit older (but still quite young) because I was interested in writing historical fiction at that time (and I still am, but on the historical romance bent) and I was deliberately playing in a safe space where I felt I could experiment without having to do the heavy lifting that a historical fiction author often does. I could familiarize myself with the Vibe while playing in an existing world where readers knew the rules and I didn't have to sift through biographies and academic resources if I didn't want to. I didn't know how to do that! I hadn't been to college! I was a teenager!

It feels like that capacity for experimentation is being taken away as it's commodified. And frankly, we're also drifting into some pretty murky legal waters with some of this stuff, and like. I don't know. Ethics of marketing anything off the back of the monster that is JKR aside, is it really that *safe* for publishers to be using Dramione to market Dramione-fics-to-books when the author is an extremely wealthy loose cannon who could sniff the wrong mold and let loose some lawyers at any time? I don't know. Stephenie Meyer decided not to do anything (publicly) to address 50 Shades back in the day, but a lot of legit sources indicated that she considered it.

I just think that we're basically seeing fic fall into the world of capitalism, and while that's not something that NEVER HAPPENED before (again, Twifics were converted to books way before BookTok and Reylo books and Dramione books and so on) it's way bigger now, and I don't think it's good.

Also: This isn't even getting into the ethics of RPF, like the 1D fics, the Taylor Swift fics (I.... can't handle Taylor lyrics as book titles, and while I don't super care for her, I do think that's very much an invasion and not something I would intentionally do as a writer, sorry) and so on. I have read sapphic books that I'm fairly certain had TSwift inspo, and some of them were good books! And I actively try to promote sapphic books because they're underrepresented in the genre! But I won't lie, I feel kind of weird about those books sometimes because? Yeah, I see the blatant Taylor inspo, and I know that she's expressed discomfort with that, and specifically the Gaylor speculation.

Again, really don't want to sound anti-fic here. I think that fic, in its purest form, is great. (Okay, I do think RPF fic is weird, but I'm not gonna look at the 12-year-olds who wrote 1D imagines back in the day with a harsh eye because... we do things when we're 12.) But dude, it has GOT to be its own thing.

[weaselbeaselpants]

I never had a relationship with Neil Gaiman's work outside of Coraline being one of my favorite movies and the english dub for Princess Mononoke being the version of that movie dearest to me. Eng PM is probably ruined forever (I like the voices in it. I think everyone did a great job), so I'll just be sticking to Japanese with subtitles from here on out.

Coraline hurts in a different way. The og book never clicked with me. If I'm right, Henry Selick wrote a lot of the script; but Gaiman did do those great interviews which I used to love and quote all the time. Those are 100% ruined.

Monster. Vile monster. Amanda Palmer too. I was just getting into The Dresden Dolls and I find out it's not only her fault Neil's victim met him but she herself had a deeply toxic parasocial ''bond''. Disgusting.

All of this hurts so much to me-- a n00b who really liked what I heard and read and now have to contend with feeling sick whenever I see their names. I can't imagine how it must feel to the people who love Sandman or American Gods. That...that's gotta hurt. It may not be actual mourning, it may be a ''trivial'' trauma as opposed to something more serious in your life personally...but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

This is one of the reasons I try not to talk up any of my influences like I know them IRL or that they're the second coming. It's why I try not to simp for Spiegelman and Burton as much as possible. What you love is their work and the mindset they have that birthed that world you love. You don't know them. There is a side of them that they hide from you. Maybe not every racist or predator hides it completely from their work, but it is a side to them that you don't see.

In conclusion, love only dead artists. Dahl, Geisel and Lovecraft's work, words and influence DO still have influence, yes --but they themselves can not hurt anyone anymore. Geisel cheated on his first wife and married his mistress once said first life died. Well, that hurts to hear. Helen and Audrey deserved so much better than what they got- I hope Ted's going through purgatory for what he did. Thankfully, I don't have to hear him try and brush away, trivialize or DARVO what he did.

Dahl and Lovecraft's creations will forever stand true but fuuuk them as people. Their creations may be theirs but WE THE PEOPLE own them as we please. As we should.

You can be pessimistic and call that denial, you can be optimistic and call that "taking back"; I prefer to be realistic and call it for what it is which is disassociation.

" Sosandso was a person who made this thing which I love; they also said and did these things I REALLY DON'T love. Now they are dead and that leaves me time to think and collect all I can about them through the art they left behind made with others' help. "

is so much easier than

" Soandso is going on a talkshow to demand he let back into the thing I love which he helped made, clearly caring more about his reputation with me than the real people he hurt. "

" Soandso is on twitter AGAIN complaining about my own sexual identity this time and her chibi-tastic characters are staring me in the face while at work to remind me just how powerful she is over all the people she's hurt. "

It's not the worst pain in the world by far...but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when your favorite authors and artists do this.

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #8004:

Alright, I just wanna get many, many things off my chest because it was a drama that has ran rampant in the Resident Evil fandom, specifically in the Leon Kennedy tags and anything related to that tag. I am someone who avoids content like incest (pseudo incest in the case of step fantasies), mutilation in a sex scene, and underage, and I even filter those tags or block people that write that content or a keep scrolling. But to the antis in the tags that literally barely even know about Resident Evil lore and it shows, they can’t do that. They have t resort to invading the tags with their complaints and telling people who are using dead dove fics to cope with their own trauma to “keep it private.” You cannot be goddamn serious right now. We’re doing this whole ignoring the voices of actual victims and also calling them predators now? Are you kidding me?

It gets worse, because I came across another one who straight up said, “it’s ironic that these people have minors DNI when they write underage shit.” It is STILL MINORS DNI for a BIG FAT REASON. It’s still PORN that minors have no business interacting with. And also, the people that write or consume stuff like this doesn’t reflect their morality, but I guess none of them are ready for that conversation because they never were. And these are all grown ass adults too, by the way.

And the unnecessary call out posts of people who have said that they were SA victims or are just normal everyday people or are 18 or 19 just wanting to write whatever it is they want. One of the SA victims who wrote a bit of Leon dead dove fics was targeted for harassment, and it got really bad to the point where they had to defend themselves.

Some of the dead dove fanfics I saw while scrolling past them also had content warnings since Tumblr is ran by a staff that doesn’t care about their users, so there is literally no excuse.

The trivialization of the terms “pedophilia” and “CP” has gotten so bad that if there was someone being called out being a predator, some people will not react with reporting the person immediately, they will instead be skeptical and say, “is this for real or is this about the dead dove Leon Kennedy drama again?” Like this is what’s gonna happen and I won’t be surprised, I’m just going to be pissed off. Plus, there’s probably predators on here right now, in real time grooming a minor and it’s gonna be ignored because of this BS. So congratulations, Antis you are actively helping groomers that are on here hurting real life minors as we speak by trivializing the term CP to mean gross underage fanfiction and pedophilia to mean a writer who makes gross fanfiction.

Meanwhile I and many others who just wanted to read some good fanfics of Leon just wanted to chill in the tags but thanks to all of you antis doing this, I can’t even touch any of the Leon Kennedy tags. Also, Resident Evil has had a canonical serial killer and rapist, incest subtext, a man wanting to marry and have sex with a zombified female character after kidnapping her, and RE6 had sexual elements with the weird clone storyline and that Deborah Harper boss fight, but I guess none of you knew any of that because you guys either barely know anything about Resident Evil lore, or you guys did know that, but chose to target the dead dove writers because they write something you hate and are triggered by, and I don’t even know what’s worse.

To end this off, you guys are SO comfortable harassing people, calling out people and when someone reveals their trauma, you actively IGNORE IT. Or, you equate their real life pain and suffering to fiction. I have absolutely no hope for any of you and you have made the RE fandom a less safe place for people.

Sincerely, a Resident Evil fan so sick and tired of the drama.

[27dragons]

Countdown to 2025: Dec 18

You can consider this one an unofficial addition to tisfan's Also Prey story, since that's the 'verse I was thinking of while I wrote it. You don't need to have read it to read this, though.

Shapeshifters AU / Marvel - Winteriron / Ornament

Tony enjoyed the winter holidays, for the most part. More, since the team had moved in with him. There was always an enormous tree in the lobby of the tower, and smaller trees in the public areas of every floor, and a couple of them in his workshop. There were professional decorators who put up the decorations in most of the tower, but on the Avengers’ floors, Tony did the vast majority of it himself.

Sam theorized it was because all the shiny lights and sparkling baubles were irresistible to Tony’s cat. Steve thought it was because all the trees provided convenient hiding spots for the cat when it was feeling jumpy about being surrounded by so many larger predators.

Bucky didn’t really care why, as long as his boyfriend was happy. He went out and bought ornaments for the tree in the Avengers’ common space -- there were already several of the official ornaments on it, but the city was full of people selling bootleg varieties of varying quality that looked nothing like the staid, marketing-approved ones.

He hung them on the tree and watched as the others noticed them, one by one, exclaiming with delight or laughter.

The next day, Bucky stumbled over a shop that sold ornaments in animal shapes, and for a small extra fee, you could have them painted. Most people probably got paint jobs that matched their own natural markings, or those of their loved ones. But Bucky stood on the sidewalk for a good ten minutes, looking over all the examples, before finally giving up and yielding to the impulse.

A week or so later, he carefully hung ornaments on the tree that matched each of his teammates’ wyr forms -- and which had been painted to look like they were wearing versions of their hero costumes.

Those got even bigger reactions. Steve had done one of those whole-body laughs, his hand over his heart like he thought it was going to burst out of his chest with joy. Natasha had eyed hers from every angle before taking it down and re-hanging it in a different spot -- a little more shadowy, but, Bucky noticed, well-placed to be perfectly visible from her favorite spot on the couch. Sam had demanded to know where Bucky’d gotten them, and gone off to commission more for his family.

Tony, on the other hand... He walked all the way around the tree, several times, peering into the branches like he expected something to jump out at him. Then he’d blurred into his wyr and wriggled up under the lowest branches and started climbing the tree.

Bucky watched cautiously -- the trees were all well-braced against climbing creatures, but Tony frequently thought he could disobey the laws of physics in both of his forms.

Bucky was so careful watching for him that he almost missed it when Tony’s ornament fell off the tree to the floor, batted by one delicate paw.

“Hey,” he complained.

The branches rustled and Tony jumped to the floor, then delicately took the ornament’s hook in his mouth and padded off with it.

“Hey,” Bucky said again.

Tony ignored him, tail high and twitching, as he stalked out of the room.

Maybe Tony hadn’t found them quite as amusing as Bucky had.

The next day, Bucky came into the room to find Tony sitting on the couch, reading on his tablet. “Hey, babe,” he said.

Without looking up, Tony tossed something at him; Bucky fumbled a bit, catching it. It looked like a ball of bubble wrap and tissue paper. “This seems more your speed than mine,” Bucky said, grinning.

“Open it.”

Bucky turned the ball over and found a bit of tape holding the whole thing closed. He peeled it loose, then carefully unrolled everything to reveal... Tony’s Ironwyr ornament. Bucky blinked at it, then looked back up at Tony.

Tony turned off the tablet and dropped it onto the cushion beside him, then held up another ornament. A wolf, dark-furred, dressed to match Bucky’s black-and-silver costume. “You forgot one,” Tony said.

“Oh.” Bucky shrugged uncomfortably. “I’m not--”

“Don’t say whatever you’re about to say,” Tony advised. “Go on and hang it,” he added, gesturing to the tree.

Bucky looked at Tony, then at the tree, then at the ornament, and back to the tree. “Okay...” He stepped over to the tree and carefully hung the little Ironwyr on a central branch.

Tony stepped up and hung the Winter Wyr next to it, carefully twisting the cord until the two ornaments were lightly bumping, nose to nose. Almost like they were kissing.

“Much better,” Tony said, and threaded his arm through Bucky’s. “Mine was lonely without yours there.”

[captainclickycat]

So while we're on the subject, here are some other thoughts.

I found Neil Gaiman's online presence - and the more overzealous members of his fanbase - annoying. And please stay with me here, I promise this isn't me trying to be smug or claim I "knew all along" or anything. There's a huge gulf between finding someone a bit annoying and thinking that their behaviour online is less than stellar occasionally and suspecting them of being a sexual predator. I don't think there could have been any way of me "knowing all along" without reading everything in the worst possible faith, which I'm not willing to do and which I maintain is not a good or helpful approach in general. And to people who genuinely looked up to him and felt completely blindsided by the news, I'm really sorry. It wasn't your fault and I hope you can do something kind for yourself today.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I didn't like the way he handled criticism of his work, a lot of the time. I don't think creators are obligated to personally listen to and address every negative opinion of their work, or explain every individual aspect of it that someone disliked. But I felt like a lot of his responses to feedback tended to lean into and encourage praise, while being a little disingenuous and sometimes belittling towards criticism. (And really, why feel the need to respond to everything when you could just ignore it?)

I didn't like the way he always felt the need to weigh in on fandom debates or throw out "word of god" explanations for this or that thing, including when nobody even asked. (Want to know who inspired the "I don't care what the author said" comment in my bio? Take a guess.) Especially when some of them felt engineered to paint him and his work in the best possible light.

Again, I'm not drawing attention to all this in an attempt to claim any one thing was a blatant red flag or must have been down to some sinister motivation. That's not the point I'm trying to make.

But it is one of the reasons that I was always deeply uncomfortable by the culture of hero-worship and "touch not god's anointed" that always seemed to exist around him. Like regardless of whether or not you thought this or that criticism against him was warranted, the way people would treat him like some kind of messiah who deserved nothing but praise and lose their absolute shit whenever anyone said anything remotely negative about him was absurd. Nobody deserves that, regardless of what they've done.

But at the same time... you know, I liked his work. Not just "I liked the stuff he co-wrote with someone else" or "I liked the films and TV shows he worked on with a whole bunch of other people." I liked the books he wrote by himself. They had some parts worth criticising, sure, what doesn't. But overall I thought they were well-written and funny and thought-provoking and I enjoyed myself when I was reading them. Neverwhere is the first book I had a crack at re-reading in a different language, which should tell you how much I liked it. And I didn't even dislike everything he posted on the internet. I thought some comments were pretty funny and/or insightful. I even reblogged the odd post.

And I wasn't all that vocal about any negative feelings I had towards him, because... well, frankly because a lot of the negative feelings I'd seen expressed by other people about him tended to look like "he's the devil incarnate, his work sucks, he's the worst person alive and he secretly hates every marginalised group and people should feel ashamed for sincerely liking his stuff."

And I didn't agree with that either! I didn't want to be roped in with those people. I didn't feel comfortable around them, any more than I felt comfortable around the Neil Gaiman Defense Squad, Working Tirelessly Day And Night To Aggressively Stamp Out Any Criticism Of Our Lord And Saviour.

And honestly I'm not entirely sure what kind of broader point I'm trying to articulate here, or whether I'm just working through stuff in my head. But I will say that this kind of polarising, zero-sum-game approach to criticism is... bad. It's just bad. It makes it so people are reluctant to put forward any kind of nuanced stance, for fear that they'll end up getting pigeonholed into one oversimplified category or another, or it ends up pushing people towards one extreme stance or another out of sheer frustration or contrariness. And it makes it incredibly difficult to have any kind of actually productive debate when it comes to criticising media, or criticising creators. Inevitably people's hackles are going to be up whichever side they lean towards more, and a lot of people with valuable input will inevitably end up going "yeah, I can see how that's a good point, but also the last person who brought this topic up with me deemed it appropriate to send me a barrage of messages telling me to kill myself about it, so forgive me if I'm not interested in engaging any further."

Obviously a culture of hero worship inevitably makes it a lot easier for predators to operate, and I have no doubt that being inundated with messages about how wonderful you are and how everyone who's criticising you is in the wrong must make it a lot easier to rationalise your actions. But I feel like this tendency to paint everything in terms of "are they a pure uwu blameless smol bean angel OR the devil incarnate" is incredibly unhelpful regardless of what side you come down on. The "devil incarnate" crowd can be part of the problem too.

[aithusarosekiller]

Because somebody made a possibly targetted post misconstruing something I said in a reply and bc feeling dumb is my worst fear...

here is why some people may think that the wwdits finale was mocking shippers even if it wasn't.

(This isn't me saying it's 100% true or that I believe it was done with malicious intent, I do think it is most likely a coincidence! It's just an explanation as to why some people may have had their guard up. Especially because everyone in the replies to that post saying the ppl who felt insulted were just fucking dumb and never watched the show felt mean when 1) you don't know them, 2) shows like this have conditioned us to expect it by now so it feels like a betrayal that this one is the same. As a wise man once said (in much better words), the writers presented us with a thing and different people will merge it with their own experiences and opinions differently so you can't perfectly predict the reaction you want to receive. That doesn't mean they're dumb or sensitive or weren't paying attention, they just interpreted the facts provided differently)

There are two points that were mentioned in the mentioned post that can be either entirely innocent or echo past malicious intent towards an audience depending on the person watching:

Point 1: Nadja's language towards the audience

The first thing people say when they read this is that the people who think it was an attack on the fans clearly have never paid attention to her which just isn't true. It's actually impossible to watch the show and not notice her disdain for humans and our feeble minds unless you're actively skipping every scene with her in it! Most people saying that the direct address felt like an insult adore her, at least I do. People know that she's Just Like That™️ and most people probably laughed along with it because it is so authentically her to say that after spending the whole season trying to understand human psychology (she tried her best y'all 😭). Nobody is disputing that and nobody is saying it's mean of her to say that. She laughs at humans all the time, it's not our girl Nadja that people are wary of! It's the possibility that she was being used as a mouthpiece at that moment for the writers.

The trend of doing this isn't new. Often writers will pick a character who is Just Like That™️ as a way to give their opinion on the audience without having to stand up and say it on a stage. It's in character so they can get away with it more easily. This may not have been what they were doing but it does echo past examples so it makes sense if people connected those dots in their minds. Here are two pretty well known examples of it:

If you are unfamiliar with Sherlock and in9 (which are both shows I love despite this) I'll clarify: in the first one, the likeable, no-nonsense detective is used by the writers by remaining in-character while voicing their opinions on their audience theorising and making shit up for fics, which they later doubled down on in interviews and shit. The fan-club making silly pathetic gay theories is meant to be laughed at because it's ridiculous and they obviously don't get it the way the writes do. The second one is about a show-runner/script writer who just wants to mind his business, he is talking to a stupid crazy fan who clearly doesn't understand the text and intention and he dies and that makes him nerdy and pathetic. Simon liking the fanfic his friend wrote is stupid and framed as an insult to his intelligence, he's a loser for wanting to engage with the series beyond just watching it. The fan later turns out to be a creepy stalker who predates on the writer btw...so...there's that.

Ofc not saying this is what wwdits were definitely doing, but it's a technique that's been utilised by shows before, especially those in which the writers and directors have said similar things in interviews to Simms, so it's not surprising that people read it this way, it actually makes perfect sense. You can't hate them for being wary, even if you think they're taking it too far!

Point 2: the timing of one of the laugh tracks in the Newhart ending

This point is less stable because it is just a replica of Newhart but I also see it used to make hurt people seem pathetic and dumb which isn't fair at all. People know that laugh tracks exist, they know they're used in sitcoms, they likely know or can infer that it was used gratuitously in Newhart, even if they've never seen it or any previous parodies of the ending. The existence of the laugh track isn't the bit people are upset about, I think it's the implication that Guillermo being there is hilarious. Which, yes, is the exact timing of the laughter from the original, that's OBVIOUSLY what they were going for, but contextually it can feel a little different if you're somebody who has clung to the disappointed 'do you really want to see that?' we've heard before. The intention may be honest but people are always going to read it negatively given the context of wwdits and the crew's previous views.

Maybe they're reading 'too deep' into it in your opinion but maybe they shouldn't be called useless and stupid because of that. Instead of laughing at these people for feeling hurt by the thought that they're the ones being laughed at, maybe either leave them alone or try to NICELY say that you think they were just trying to be loyal to the original.

The bottom line is: don't be mean or dismissive to people who get hurt by the implications they take from the text! Be polite and inform them or just let them feel the way they feel. ❤️❤️ this was edited so if the reblogs look different that's why!

[true-blue-sonic]

1 and 3 for the ask game! 💙

3. how you feel about your current WIP

Putting this one first so I can put the other under a read-more ^-^ But I'm feeling really enthusiastic about it! There's many sweet people here on Tumblr that seem eager about my ideas for it as well, and that makes me very happy to see <3 Plus, it's been really fun to explore Sonic and how he would act in a relationship, since for Silver I have a more solid idea already. The only thing that makes me sad is that I've got quite little time to work on it, due to my internship :( But maybe I should be more proactive there myself, haha!

the last sentence you wrote

I actually wrote quite a bit for another WIP, though that was going to be a small surprise ^-^ But it's not at all finished yet, alas (wrote it in a rush this morning before going to my job XD). Still, I hope you like it!🍀

☆☆☆☆☆

One day, when Tails had been a few weeks shy of turning five, he’d didactically insisted to Sonic that foxes were Predators who Hunted, and he thusly was also Very Skilled at Hunting. Sonic had laughed and urged him to show off his best hunting tactics… and he’d promptly ended up with a fox cub flinging himself right at his face before getting two fluffy namesakes stuck in his quills.

Sonic doesn’t have any large tails to get snagged in Silver’s, but that is only beneficial for the cheeky idea forming in his mind at the sight of the psychic.

Silver’s eyes are trained on the horizon above, the psychic leaning against a tree trunk with a crossed leg and arms sprawled out next to his sides. Enjoying the sky and the warmth of the sun, Sonic knows. Silver is plenty focal about his enjoyment of little things like that.

But it does mean he’s distracted entirely too. And thus, Sonic crouches… presses his feet into the ground and shifts them minutely to check if it won’t make any sounds…

In one fell swoop he shoots over, and Silver’s quills spike right up as he gets bundled up in a snug bridal carry.

Sonic grins his most coy, suave smirk. “Heh. Gotcha⁓!”

Golden eyes blink. Then move up and down and up to regard Sonic all over, one of Silver’s eyebrow raising. The seconds stretch out between them as Sonic gets beheld, the speedster wriggling his own brow in turn all smugly…

Before a grin forms on Silver’s face as well.

And Sonic blinks, as his whole body gets enveloped in a liquid cool in the blink of an eye.

“Heh. Is this a joke?” Silver smirks back… and Sonic squeaks as he gets yoinked out from underneath Silver’s, off the ground and into the sky as well, and he’s left floundering his arms to get a grip on nothing.

“Awwww, Silver!” he protests at his companion, who is also floating; but where Sonic is forced into an undignified struggle Silver's one hand moves casually behind his head and the other twists its fingers to make Sonic spin slow, teasing circles. “That’s cheating.”

Silver leans back a bit into the air, looking altogether smug. “Why are you trying to get the jump on me?”

“Just testing out my hunting skills,” Sonic’s grinned response comes. It earns him a curious look and a shrug, those fingers curling back towards Silver and the speedster bobbing over to him anew.

“But I captured you now,” the psychic remarks. “So you failed."

With crossing arms Sonic huffs. “I did get you first.”

“Yeah, for like ten seconds.” Carefully Sonic gets lowered onto Silver’s chest, psychokinesis dissipating around him.

☆☆☆☆☆

I think you know what this is based on!💙🤍

[restrainedhungr]

im gonna be 100% with yall for a hot second, mind the tags

So tbh, i kind of have been avoiding the dash here because recently more and more themes that make me extremely uncomfortable i thought i wouldnt have to deal with here are showing up :')

i havent gone a single day on this dash without incest or some other shit come up on my dash and im. honestly kinda tired of it like :')

Trauma dump time

i was sexually abused by my brother, i was taught by him that being sexual means people love you I was effectively an underage prostitute for half of my childhood life.

Starting at 9 years old. And not having an out until i was 17/18 when i was finally given psychiatric help Even then i went through a lot of abuse and cycles as majority of my life was being sexually abused it was hard to break from that cycle or know how to function without it

Please for the love of fuck, DO NOT. PORTRAY THESE TOPICS AS GOOD AROUND ME

I will not police people wanting to write topics, but there are ways to approach topics like this in good and bad lights, and you have to make a clear boundary between that. You have to make it clear you, the writer, is not accepting and ok with these themes, or writing porn to rub one off to and enable predators

A major part of being abused was online, and people pointed to those who wrote underage and incestual fiction as "see? its ok because its pretend" until it broke down my defenses and they abused me IRL. This happens. I'm a result of it I'm really fucked up mentally because of it

i still have issues with sex and intimacy and arguably can go through periods of hypersexuality or shit because my brain is so hardfucking wired its taken years of lucifer damned therapy to get to a point i can be in a healthy relationship with my GF rn.

and im honestly so fucking tired. imi so tired of seeing this everywherre but i want to be here on tumblr and be silly but honestly im spiraling and just getting high to ignore everything lmao. I know it's not a good coping mechanism but that's why I've been so silent and only been on discord. I've been getting high and playing pokemon while reading fanfics of Vi and Caitlyn cuz they're cute and wonderful.

so yeah. please

for the love of fuck

keep it off public eyes at the very least, if not DONT FUCKING DO IT.

and yes, people can call out how "oh but you RP in greek gods and hades!!" yes. BECAUSE WE ALL. RECOGNIZE. THE INCEST AND SHITI THERE. ISNT OK. NO ONE IS PORTRAYING THE INCESTUAL RELAITONSHIPS (to my knowdge) AS A GOOD THTING. AND I STILL DONT APPROVE OF PPL WHO DO THERE EITHER.

There's something to say with Fauxincest, but I'm not going to touch that with a 10 foot fucking pole, especially with my brother having not been blood related (both adopted before 2 years old) and raised together. Not to mention i dont want to talk about the differences in Mommy and Daddy kinks vs incest because yes there is a difference and anyone in kink can tell you THERE IS A DIFFERERNCE.

I'm not here to give you a lecture on what kink is vs a paraphilia, look up what paraphilias are and educate yourself because it's a serious issue that you need addressed if you have one. as someone who ppl tried to groom into them, please for the love of fuck, understand how serious it is and how much of a difference kink can have with paraphilias

so if yall wondering why ive been gone, this is why. im just tired man. im so fucking tired of this BEING EVERYWHERE.

every single fucking fandom has this issue and i cant keep. coming back to this.

i cant be safe when "safe places" are safe for people who used the same tactics to abuse me as a child and throws me back there. I won't be part of the cycle again.

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

Azrael

I've had this bio in my drafts for a long time since September 26th 2024. But I'm posting it in a new post. This character I had developed for a story that hasn't really started (The new version that is I think) or finished yet. He was made for an AVP story where...I'd highly recommend reading his bio, so I don't spoil anything. Because this bio even includes a timeline and other things.

With the teaser of Predator Badlands being released today. And it strongly or well, confirming it takes place in the Alien universe as well and planting the seeds for a potential AVP. Or well, it seems like the perfect time to share Azrael to the Predator/Yautja fandom. If someone is bothered about this, please let me know. And I will gladly (And want to talk about some more stuff) reveal more information concerning that AVP story if anyone's interested after they read the bio.

For thousands of years, Kaail more commonly known as "The First Hunter" or, "The Alpha Predator" had left a mark in his species' history. He left an example of what his species could become. Even though after his brutal yet heroic rebellion against his people's slavers. Even though he was the one who wrote down the "Honor code". But as the years have gone by. That code seemed meaningless.

For a race of hunters that hunted other species for sport and supposedly "Honor". Most of the species became akin to the likes of General Zaroff from "The Most Dangerous Game". The honor code to the species was more so something to keep them in check. More so because break one of these rules, they would be killed. Yet the hunters would usually find a loophole for their amusement. Despite their origin, the Yautja would develop xenophobia against many other species. Looking down upon them as nothing more than game.

Particularly the human race. A species that the Yautja seem to respect. More so, seeing them as "Big Game" due to their unpredictable nature and violent history. And sadly, most of the species is like this. But even then, there are only a few who seem to look at everything...differently. While still having to obey the law of the hunt or prove they are worthy.

One of those was a young hunter who named himself Azrael. A Yautja seemingly taken in by the "Lost Tribe" led by Greyback at a young age. The name was given to him by his birth mother as he claims.

Azrael. The canonical name of Death of Islam. The only brave angel brave enough to go to Earth to face the hordes. The angel of death. Some of his brothers in the Lost Tribe simply laughed at his choosing of the name. It almost sounded like the young hunter wanted to sound serious. But what was interesting about him wasn't just his name...it was his bloodline. Something Greyback had kept hidden from others.

And when Greyback found Azrael. The young Yautja had a bio mask with him that had this mark on it. The warpaint symbolizing a skull. It had been Azreal's ever since.

Kaail had very few Descendents left. And they mostly kept to themselves. Not wanting to interact with their nomadic race, seeing how their species become quite different and selfish. Even with their species idolizing their long dead alpha. More so Kaail's violence and his actions. But Azrael was considered the youngest of the bloodline, the recent. Essentially making him a "Prince".

Wanting to prove himself to the most well-known of clans among his people. And having been taught by Greyback for the past few years. He was put in a rite of passage where if he were to survive, he would become Blooded. The Unblooded Youngblood was put into an arena with a beast unlike anything he's faced. All while Elders of the many clans watched him in safety.

*The best way to describe this is imagine the fight between Tarzan and Sabor. But replace Tarzan with the Predator and Sabor with a Thanator like creature from Avatar*

Armed with only wrist blades and a Combistick. Despite the creature almost taking his life. Azreal proved victorious by killing the creature and taking it as his first trophy. He had officially become blooded and considered a warrior among his people despite their doubts. The "Prince" wasn't a pushover.

Now taken seriously by the clans and viewed as an equal to them all. Azrael became more than what people expected him of be. A hunter and warrior unlike any other. Even for his young age. Considering he is 25 during his time of the incidents concerning Nirvana. He was 18 during the time of his first trophy. And under Greyback's watchful eye, he was given the title of "Elite".

But after all that. What was interesting about Azrael and his...hunting tours. Considering his status and being an Elite. He can go on hunts his own until Greyback demanded otherwise.

During all of his hunts and all of his prey. There was a pattern or...something the Elder had noticed. While some hunters would go for any conflict in the hottest seasons. Some love going to an even more intense conflict for more challenge and trophies. But Azrael's hunting tours seemed a little different. On Earth, he mostly went into areas where they were swarmed with what seemed to be death squads, the IDF, or even mafia's, particularly leaders. While most hunters would go for anyone that was considered fair game. It seemed like Azrael seemed to choose the "Worst" in humanity. And even not targeting armed prey who weren't hurting the innocent.

Greyback secretly watched his student as made trophies of men and women that he thought deserved it. And often times some of the kills didn't seem fair or Azrael would go in headfirst to reveal himself. Likely to terrify his enemies before killing them in a ruthless manner that seemed uncalled for. Such as one incident where Azrael was met face to face with a child predator and beating them to death with his own hands. Leaving only behind a destroyed head, and Azrael with the monster's blood on him. As if the monster wasn't deemed worthy to be a trophy. Not even the spine.

Greyback never questioned Azrael's reasoning or his trophies. In a way, he never broke any of the "Rules" per say. But Greyback saw something, and he didn't need an answer. Considering the Yautja's lack for care for human beings. They were game, there was no need to care about their feelings. These days, the Yautja was essentially greedy and arrogant, but not stupid. While some were considered equal to humanity, but that was rare. Such as Naru, Alan "Dutch" Schafer, Mike Harrigan and whoever else. All names within the list of worthy prey that gained the respect of the species. But alias, humanity means nothing to them.

There were also moments Greyback had seen his student look at what was the skull of a slain "StarBeast" a variant of the creature for many minutes. Azrael would simply stare at it for a long time. There is one piece of information that many seem to forget or are aware of. Even though it should be universal. But because of what happened during the final hours of Hadley's Hope.

On the moon of LV-426, rumors spread that the StarBeast returned. A hunting party led by a female clan member and her eldest daughter were in charge of the hunt. To prepare to hunt and kill all of the StarBeast there. They had read the stories of this creature, this...parasite and why they must be destroyed. Despite their efforts, they were shocked of how intelligent and strong the StarBeast was. There was so many of them. One by one, the clan was killed with the clan leader being killed trying to protect her eldest daughter.

But there was one more member in the clan. A young male who wasn't even trained yet and only ten years old. Making him born in 2169. But he knew how to operate some technology. He mostly lived on their ship. That ship was essentially his home for most of his life. That ship was overrun by the StarBeast.

The eldest sister of the family, known as Kaya, was the last survivor of her clan and protecting her youngest brother. To ensure her brother's safety and that their bloodline. Kaya gave her bio mask to him and had him run away as she was swarmed by the StarBeast. Only to be critically injured and brutally killed by one, with the young brother seeing the murder of his sister.

All of this at the time Ripley and the Marines were getting swarmed. The time Ripley was rescuing Newt from the hive, killing the StarBeast, angering what might've been the first queen of the species. The young Yautja had made it onto the dropship quickly after Ripley had left. That same one would witness Ripley take on the queen and win. And after the humans had gone into cyrosleep, the young creature had sent out a distress signal to any nearby ship of his species. But he had time to look at the human woman that defeated the queen.

That young Yautja was Azrael. The one who was found by the Lost Tribe and secretly took him away from the Sulaco while they didn't know. Who had lost everything that day and witnessed Ripley's actions. The story of Kaail wasn't the only thing that inspired Azrael. But it was also Ripley.

Azrael's tribe, the descendants of Kaail who are hunters. But not like the usual ones. Taking the tale of Kaail seriously to its core. While most of their species would hunt others in the name of sport or glory, being game game hunters. Their hunting tours would mostly revolve around hunting the ones they considered "Unworthy". Prey to them that deserved to be killed. Such as murderers, rapists, oppressors, and others like them. The ones that were deemed monsters as they studied humans carefully. The clan's symbol was recognized by what was a skull. In a way, they were essentially "Grim Reapers" or likely "Angels of death". And Azrael was the recent member of the clan. But their history, and nearly all of them were gone when the explosion on LV-426 happened. All that remained was Azrael and Kaya's bio mask.

Keeping his all-female family's early empathetic teachings with him and learning the harsher ways of hunting by an all-male pack of hunters with Greyback. Azreal had become a combination of ruthlessness Greyback had not seen with any of the hunters he had taught over the years. But something was inside that young prince that essentially said "Fuck you" to the cold and unflinchingly harshness of the cosmos. A spirit that seemed to rival the likes of Kaail during his legacy.

Compared to the likes of "Feral" in 1719, "El Diablo" in 1987, or "Ghost" in 1997. Who were considered game hunters who didn't care for humanity. Azrael is essentially an angel of death in a selfish society that doesn't seem to care about the lives of other creatures. Where idolization of violence is an answer even where females are considered equals. Azrael is among the few that tries to tie his ancestor's legacy and morals into the hunt. And being motivated by the thing that made him truly understand it even more. The loss of what was considered most important to him. To become a true hunter.

In a way, Azreal is essentially if Newt somehow escaped and maybe didn't meet Ripley or if she somehow lost her along the way. And Newt would grow up angry, using that anger to kill the ones she deemed "Unworthy". Or if you wanna make it more fucked up, if Hazel and Hilda survived but their parents and guardians didn't. But the Newt comparison is better. Or maybe if Ripley didn't have someone to help her through her trauma. And all Azrael had anger to help him along the way. Because he was raised by men who likely didn't consider the emotions of a traumatized child.

Because the day Ripley gained a new family. On that same day, Azreal lost everything.

So, when the time came when Nirvana had reports of the StarBeast returning. And that the "StarBeast Killer" Ellen Ripley was there. Azrael and another Elite, a heavyweight known as Abbam. A warrior who highly respected Azrael's skills but was the opposite of him, morally wise. They were put in charge of a pack of young males who were eager to makes trophies of the creature. But to Azrael, this wasn't just a hunt for ultimate game...but to him, revenge.

This StarBeast wasn't a stupid term that some humans would consider a "Bug" an "Ant". Or the scientific term they call "Xenomorph XX121". To him this, "Ultimate Prey" this creature that his species and the vast universe dubbed "The StarBeast" was a cancer that should be killed. Not to be idolized, not to be controlled, but to be fully exterminated.

But also, he would want to meet that human woman. The stories of her that were shared on Earth, her history and the recorded battle from his bio mask those 15 years ago on the Sulaco. His species dubbed her "The StarBeast Killer".

Yet to Azrael, he saw someone that reminded him of his eldest sister Kaya.