#also i wasn’t sure whether to tag you bc you haven’t posted in a while and you mentioned not being in the fandom as much so

[spopsalt]

https://www.tumblr.com/zhanael/737323861598748672

This person missed the point of the criticisms SPOP has been receiving completely. I haven’t seen one person complain that the world was saved with the power of friendship bc it WASN’T. It was saved by a poorly written rushed abusive romance. In fact, the critics actually wanted to see Adora’s friendships save the day instead of her awful romance with Catra since the show is called She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, despite the princesses barely getting a role. And if there HAD to be a romance, it could’ve been with Glimmer, which would’ve made more narrative sense and sent a better message to kids.

Next, I’m not sure why OP described SPOP as a show with a “pastel color palette about friendship and love and unity” as if these things detract from the bad writing, plus these themes weren’t even handled well. I have no issue with Catra being redeemed and I liked her in seasons 3 and 4. That’s not why the show is being accused of abuse apologism and this isn’t comparable to when Sugar was accused of being a nazi apologist over the SU finale. SPOP was rushed as well (I’m not sure if it got canceled like SU) but Catra’s redemption either should’ve started sooner or the romance should’ve been ditched. SU at least had a much better writing, representation, and messages for kids. It’s funny since imo SU and SPOP are not two sides of the same coin as OP claims. If OP wants shows that are ACTUALLY comparable to SU with “pastel colors, nuanced yet positive and relatable messages about love, fun for kids,” then they should watch MLP and Amphibia instead. Also I haven’t seen one SPOP critic who’s “appalled by anything that is remotely challenging to toxic masculinity” so that’s a load of BS. As for the remaining claims, those may pertain to the SU critics for all I know, but I have yet to see any SPOP critics express such sentiments or behave in such a way. The “hate blogs” for SPOP are really just critical blogs like yours that make valid points rather than “a shit ton of bad faith misinterpretations” and aren’t “tearing [the show] to shreds,” plus the only harassment I’ve seen towards teens over a kid’s show has been from SPOP fans themselves.

This post also included a bunch of nonsense in the tags which I can no longer see since OP recently deactivated their account (in fact the only reason I’m able to share a link to the post is bc someone reblogged it), but they contained more misinterpretations of the criticisms along with slander towards the critics. I’m so sick of SPOP fans continuing to have no critical thinking skills while blindly defending the show and demonizing anyone who dares criticize it. It’s pathetic.

Thanks for the ask! Yeah, the show was saved because of a rushed abusive relationship. The thing is, I wouldn't be half as mad if it wasn't directed towards kids. I don't believe it's intentional, but kids are getting the thought that the way Catra treated Adora is ok because she loved her. Basically the "He bullies you because he likes you!" thing. Instead of actually considering if they have a valid point, they just assume that the critical blogs are just angry homophobic white straight men when a lot of the blogs are queer women like me. Also, yes a pastel color palette makes up for us having to watch a rushed toxic relationship in season 5. It's like spop stans don't realize that their perfect little show can have flaws and anyone who calls them out are homophobic racist. Also from my experience, nobody said the creator romantizes abuse, they are complaining that the show itself does whether it realizes it or not. This show is being marketed to kids and kids will believe that this is ok. That's probably my biggest gripe with the show.

[quibbs126]

So I talked about making a Theobromine Cookie a bit back, and I decided “eh why not” and just drew him out

For those without context, I mentioned him in my “things about Dark Cacao that point to him having weird origins” post, specifically in the tags, saying that I sort of went into a spiral that led me to make that post

So my first gut instinct with making Theobromine, at least after reading a bit about it, was to make him a chill guy who also doesn’t entirely understand what’s going on, or at least he seems that way, but in reality he’s even stronger than Dark Cacao without really trying and is far more competent than he seems. He just doesn’t really care most of the time. Sort of like what I’ve seen of Ao Lie in Monkie Kid (I haven’t watched Season 4 yet, but I have seen clips with him)

Eventually that sort of devolved into making him a more serious character, but I decided to keep part of that, specifically the more idiot part, and change it to him being an amnesiac, meaning that he can be a chill dude, despite the fact that he wasn’t originally and was more of a badass

I realize I haven’t actually explained much about Theobromine, other than original ideas for him. So basically, Theobromine here is actually the father of Dark Cacao, hence Dark Cacao’s shocked reaction to him in one of the pictures. However, due to him having amnesia, Theobromine doesn’t know that, and while Dark Cacao does, he wants to wait a bit before telling him, since telling this guy he’s the father of the current ruler of this kingdom that also looks older than him is gonna be a bit too much for him to handle. He’s planning on waiting until Theobromine has a better grasp on himself and the world around him before telling him of the past.

Also he’s a Super Epic, like I stated in those tags. Just thought I’d put that in now

As for what happened to him and how he’s still alive, so Theobromine isn’t immortal (at least not anymore), thousands of years ago, when Dark Cacao was still young (but only like a little bit before he met the other Ancients), Theobromine was subjected to some curse that caused him to go into a magically induced coma, and/or be sealed in a block of ice? I dunno, I haven’t worked out a lot of the details with him. But anyways, Dark Cacao didn’t know how to reverse it, and thought the curse was unbreakable, so he ended up leaving him to rest, assuming that he’d eventually crumble of old age in his sleep. In current day, someone (I think some Watchers) ended up finding where he was, and due to some mishap, he ended up actually awakening from his slumber, and so they took him back to the Citadel to recover. Dark Cacao is informed and meets the stranger, only to be shocked with who it is, though he’s vague about what their connection is. Eventually Dark Cacao realizes that Theobromine has amnesia and decides it’d be best to just let him try and figure out himself on his own, before overwhelming him with his past, though he is tempted to just tell him

So I’m sure you noticed the white hair one, and probably also the fact I said he isn’t immortal anymore. Well I thought with his name basically meaning “food of the gods” (which made more sense for a cookie the more I thought about it), as well as me pointing out the things about Dark Cacao that are a bit odd, and the fact that I was going to make him a Super Epic, I thought, “hey why not have him be like a supernatural Cookie?” So I’ll be honest, I don’t have all the details down, but basically Theobromine’s where Dark Cacao gets the slit eyes and abnormal strength, because Theobromine used to be a Legendary Cookie, or something equating to that. I haven’t exactly figured out what he was, just that he had immense power and is where Dark Cacao gets his abnormalities. But I know his hair used to be white back then. And it glowed. But eventually, he did something that angered other higher beings (I just refer to them in my head as “the gods” bc of the name, but I’m not sure whether they’re other Legendaries or witches or other humans or something), and as punishment, he was stripped of his power and forced to live as a normal Cookie, with one of the things being his hair turning black. He still retained some of his power, so he didn’t really listen at first, but he eventually went through a character arc that made him recognize his mortality and come to appreciate the mortal life. Which I realized after making that originally is just he plot of the first Thor movie, but whatever. And later on, he eventually had his own mortal child, Dark Cacao, who inherited streaks of his original white hair, as well as some of his abilities

I said he kept some of his abilities, and he learned to tap into some of his original power, with his hair turning white like it used to, but he can only use it for a certain amount of time, as it puts massive strain on his body the longer he uses it. In current times, he isn’t aware he has those powers, though as shown his hair does occasionally flash white when he’s surprised, though nobody really knows why

Okay, if it isn’t clear, I have not fleshed out a lot of the ideas here, they’re just here. I haven’t really had the time to flesh him out, nor am I even sure I’m gonna stick with him

So as for his design, I’m aware it’s pretty basic, but that was how I originally envisioned him, so I just kept it for his amnesiac state. I gave him silver eyes because theobromine is apparently a white powder, so it was to incorporate that. Originally I was also going to make his hair have more white streaks, but then I made it so his hair was originally white to keep with that. Also you may notice in the lower corner another picture of him, that was just me trying to figure out what his past design looked like. I wanted to give him Dark Cacao’s beta shoulder pads as a reference to him, but I’m not sure I like it.

Oh yeah, another thing I forgot to mention, he’s not supposed to be that skinny. In reality he’s like the same size as Dark Cacao, maybe even slightly taller than him. I just don’t think I got that across

So I’m not sure if I’m keeping him, since he kind of directly contradicts Ruby Cacao. Ruby Cacao was made with the basis that Dark Cacao didn’t know the dragons and that he grew up in poverty. Also she was made with the idea that they don’t have parents. Having Theobromine and them living with him contradicts that, and it greatly diminishes her importance in his life, and could even mean that she never died in the first place, since I doubt Theobromine would let that happen to his kid. Plus, I feel like giving Dark Cacao a dad and a sister is overdoing it, one or the other is fine but not both. And I like Ruby Cacao, so I’m just not sure what to do. He was just a “what if” character that now I’ve grown attached to

But yeah, that’s Theobromine. Hope you like him, or what little I have of him

[himynameis4]

Okay, imma elaborate on my madwheeler roleswap bullshit.

For those who have no idea what i’m talking about (probably most of you, i imagine 😅), the basic premise is this: what would Stranger Things/Hawkins look like if Max had lived in Hawkins from the beginning, and Mike & the Wheelers moved to Hawkins in season 2?

My previous posts on this are linked here (initial premise, basically breaking down how canon deviated to allow for the role swap) here (elaborating on potential implications of swapping Mike & Max’s roles for El & her relationships) and here (this talks vaguely about how removing Mike might change season one/party dynamics). All previous posts are gonna be elaborated on as i get further in my rewatch/plot this out more tho, lol. If anyone has any thoughts, other takes, or wants to bounce ideas around or offer their own opinions on how the season could potentially deviate based on this premise, i’d seriously love to hear about it (talking ab this stuff is my catnip ngl).

(Speaking of! @faithfulcat111 hiiiiiiii! I figured i might as well tag you on this post, since this focuses a lot on how season 1 might be different—specifically, differences caused by the fact that Nancy Wheeler isn’t in Hawkins, since I haven’t gotten to posts specifically describing how season 1 could/would go down yet (…in part bc i haven’t decided how i think it should go down, & also bc i rlly have to do that rewatch 😅). I haven’t decided whether Will was biking home from Max’s the night he was taken, or if he was just… at home, y’know? Because if will was targeted by vecna, (& i think he was lol), whether he was biking home or just at his house wouldn’t matter, except for the fact that one option creates waaaaay more angst for our characters than the other, especially if the Mayfield’s trailer was the last place will was seen 😬🤷.)

Now, can we talk ab the potential implications of No Nancy Wheeler?

Like. Wherever Nancy Wheeler grew up, it sure as hell wasn’t Hawkins, and that has all kinds of impacts on the people who ARE still in Hawkins.

In Rebel Robin, Robin basically all but says that Barb chose Nancy over her. No Nancy… are Barb & Robin still friends?

Steve isn’t pursuing Nancy, which means Nancy doesn’t drag Barb along to Steve’s party, which means Barb doesn’t get taken—at least, not because of the party. Was Steve pursuing someone else? Maybe Heather Holloway, or Chrissy Cunningham? Maybe one of them is invited to the party. Maybe she dies earlier, in this universe.

Or maybe she survives the monster attacks. Become part of the action, part of the force against the Upsidedown.

Without Nancy there… does Jonathan Byers take the pictures? [We need to have a brief sidebar about Jonathan. First and foremost, I love this character. Second, taking noncon pictures of someone, especially when they’re in a vulnerable position, is never okay. What Jonathan did was badly handled in canon and, frankly, out of character.]. Perhaps, rather than taking the photos, Jonathan trips, falls, cuts himself while wandering the woods looking for Will. His blood draws a monster (that perhaps gets caught on jonathan’s camera?), which causes Jonathan to either scream, burst through the bushes into the pool party rambling about a faceless monster like a madman, or both.

Now, having witnessed Jonathan Byers’ incident, Steve’s involved. Maybe he gets suspicious of the woods around his house, catches a glimpse of the monster too. Potential slowburn Stonathan friendship bc it’s clear, from the fact that Steve goes to apologize & pays for a new camera & talks ab hanging out with Jonathan in season 4, that steve genuinely wants to be friends with this guy.

In this au, Steve likely wouldn’t break Jonathan’s camera, bc Jonathan hasn’t given him a (frankly, completely justified) reason to. Steve & Jonathan’s fistfight probably wouldn’t happen. But unless Jonathan sees the monster… without Nancy & the photos Jonathan took of Barb getting taken, Jonathan has no reason to believe his mother, and no reason to try & fight the demogorgon (which probs wouldn’t be called a demogorgon here, given that the party isn’t as into dnd w/out Mike, RIP).

You know what else No Nancy means? Nobody to make the connection about demogorgons & blood. & later, in season 2, No Nancy back in season 1 means Alive Barb, which means no exposing Owens/the lab, which means the lab is still up & running in season 3, & ALSO means no Murray until season 3 at Least (through Hopper), AND given Nancy’s wildly different relationships in this au could mean there’ll be nobody to stab Will with a hot poker & free him from the mindflayer at the end of season 2, and depending on how we resolve that & season 3—

Basically, Nancy Wheeler is insanely important, and her absence is gonna have a lot of implications. (Thankfully, given that the Wheelers move to Hawkins pre-season 2, she’ll be around for season 4. 🙏)

[fandom-star]

Writer’s Tag

@its-all-ineffable tagged me to do this, but it’s a long one so I’m doing it in a different post! Thank you very much! I love doing these so much!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How many works do you have on AO3?

164 (possibly 165 by the weekend if I post the Witcher one I finished the other day)

What's your total AO3 word count?

181468

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

It’s Okay (Merlin: Merthur) - 569 Kudos Pulchra (Night At The Museum: Jedtavius) [NSFW] - 286 Kudos A Father’s Wisdom (Merlin: Merthur: Uther-centric) - 270 Kudos Crush (MCU Spider-Man: PeterNed) - 262 Kudos Comfort Blankets For Sleepy Gods (MCU Loki Series: Lokius) - 245

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Sometimes. I try to if I’m not in a non-social mood. Mostly, if I start off on my page before reading any fic and see that I have something in my inbox and it turns out to be a comment on my fic, then I’m more likely to reply to it. Idk why it works like that. Otherwise, it’s kinda touch and go whether or not I’ll reply to something, you’ve got a 50/50 chance, but I always read and appreciate every one that I get.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

*Looks at my abundance of angst fics* There’s... a surprising amount of angst without happy endings in my repertoire. Um. I’ll give you three that I vividly remember. (All of these are Star Trek and Spones) Written In The Stars - This is one of my really early works, and was gonna have a sequel that made it have a less angsty ending, but I could never get into the rhythm of writing it. I won’t spoil it, but this is probably the only fic I’ve written where Sarek is a straight-up dick. Battlefield - As the title suggests, there’s war with no real context. And major character death. It’s sad. I genuinely made people cry with this. I am both proud and apologetic of that. Unreal - This is probably one of my more complex concepts, and I’m really proud of it. Features ooc Spock with contextual reasons I won’t spoil, defensive/protective McCoy and major character death of a sort.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending

This is kind of difficult, bc while I have excessively written angsty endings (see: above answer) I do usually write happy endings, and I can’t remember all 160 fic endings left over, and even then it’s difficult to rank them by happiest. I like Nutcase {Murdoch Mysteries: Watts-centric) a lot, oh and also Blame It On Me (Star Trek Pricard: Hughnor) which is angst with a happy ending (and has amazing art accompanying it). There are many others with happy endings, but like I said I have no idea how to rank them by “happiest”.

Do you write crossovers? If so, What is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

I don’t really, but I have written one as a request that I really really enjoyed. A Good Day is ThorBruce and is set in the DS9 era of Star Trek, in which Thor is a captain and Bruce is his chief science officer. It’s really adorable and features sleepy, over-worked Bruce and a very characteristically happy Thor.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, I don’t think so, unless you count unsolicited advice I felt I couldn’t turn down on ff.net when I was struggling to write Uhura. I’m kind of surprised I haven’t tbh (not that I’m complaining) since I do write for some very popular fandoms and ships (although, conversely, also some very niche fandoms and ships).

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I write it but have only ever posted it thee, four times if you count the exploratory one I posted under a pseudonym that wasn’t really that smutty. I’m hoping to get the confidence up to post some of what I’ve written tho, bc I do really like hat I’ve managed to do with some of it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I’m aware.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, I have! A lovely person found my fic 1967, which is probably one of my favourite Spones fics I’ve written, based around the UK’s decriminalisation (well, partial) of homosexuality, and traslated it into Hungarian here. I’ve not been able to check it out, due to not knowing a thing in the language (tho I could probably ask my friend to) but the translator seemed really lovely, so I trust them to have done a good job.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not something I posted, but before I even started posting fanfic, me and my best friend really randomly started writing a Star Trek TNG x Star Wars crossover whenever they were at my house. We gave up on it after about a year and never wrote much for it, but it was... it was something.

What’s your all-time favourite ship?

This changes all the time with my hyperfixations! One that will always be in my heart is obviously Spones, my og ship and within my special interest. Currently I’m obsessed with The Witcher so I’ve got Geraskier on the mind but who knows when that might change!

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

In terms of fanfic I don’t really have any that I don’t think I’ll ever finish. I have an original script that I started writing months ago but only got about three scenes into and haven’t touched since bc I don’t actually have a plot for it.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue; Is situations one? That sounds like a good and fancy way of saying AUs; Finding synonyms should be one, that’s like half my search history

What are your writing weaknesses?

Description; Despite my talent of finding synonyms I feel like I do repeat words a lot; Planning and outlining, I just don’t do it - it works for me tho.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’m pretty sure the only times I’ve really done it is for Jedtavius (having Oct speak in Latin occasionally) and I might have done it once or twice with Spock speaking Vulcan, both times it’s mostly terms of endearment or Oct wanting to be romantic. Idk, I don’t really care about reading dialogue in other languages as long as there’s a translation somewhere in the work or I can easily pick it up or search it. Just do whatever, it’s your writing. As long as you do it well and it makes contextual sense, I don’t really care.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Unposted: Star Trek: The Next Gen Posted: Sherlock (I actually recently reread my first ever posted fic, it’s a long haul (just over 45k), but if anyone ever wants to see a work where my writing visibly improves lemme know and I’ll email the pdf to you)

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Why would you do this to me??? I love most of my fics!!! I’m just gonna link a few here cause I’ve been doing this for an hour now and it would definitely take me an hour to choose just one! The Relationship Series - modern AU, autistic Spock (written by a self-projecting autistic writer), there’s angst spattered about but is especially prominent in part 6, I just really love this series Promises You Can’t Keep - Loki spoilers, I love this bc it’s based on “what if my finale theory was right instead of being debunked three minutes into the episode”, definitely angst with a hopeful ending I love all of my Charite At War fics, but I’m gonna link my 20 years post-canon fic Grow Old With Me and my modern AU You Give Me Your Light - both have some heavy topics (post-canon is set in 1960s East Germany, modern AU topics are tagged) but I adore both with my entire heart You’ll Never Burn - Merlin/Merthur, again kinda heavy (not as heavy as the Charite ones in my opinion) but short and everything is tagged I love all of my Babylon 5 fics but Secret Rendezvous will always have a special place in my heart. It’s very sweet and essentially follows Vir and Lennier trying to navigate coming out about their relationship to their ambassadors I also recommend all the of the fics I’ve already linked in the post ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now for the hard part - tagging!

@esperata @tallysgreatestfan @iwritesometimes @marlinspirkhall and any other writer mutuals I’ve likely forgotten but I’ve already spent WAY too long writing this post asfdhdskjdgha So I apologise, but if you wanna do it, absolutely go for it, this was so much fun and really made me realise how much I’ve achieved in 4.5 years.

[narumi-gens]

hi!! so i just started writing fanfics, and i was just wondering -- how do you deal w/ numbers and the whole posting online thing? while i know that i should be writing for fun and stuff (bc it is!) and that im literally JUST starting out, BUT i just.. im someone who really heavily relies on validation, and when people don't really respond to my works well (or at all), i kinda just.. feel bad ): idk.. do u have any tips?

🥺 You came to me for advice on this, anon? 🥺 Thank you so much! I’m more than happy to pass on what I’ve learned and help out a new writer. I’ve been reading/writing fanfics on-and-off in some form or another for like ten years, but especially over the last four and am happy to share some tips. There are five main things that I think can help grow your follower count and the amount of feedback you get:

Don’t feel bad about wanting validation.

Consider the platforms where you post.

Write for active fandoms and popular characters.

Post frequently.

Interact with other authors.

This got rather long so I have more info under the cut about each of these. 

1. Don’t feel bad about wanting validation.

There’s this dumb trap that we all fall into as writers that tells us that validation isn’t important and that what matters most is our love of writing. While I enjoy writing, if my stuff got no notes and no feedback then I would definitely have gotten discouraged and quit writing awhile ago. Why would I put all that effort into something if no one seems to appreciate it? There’s nothing bad about wanting people to let you know they like your writing! I get so happy when I see someone left a comment on one of my fics or went crazy in the tags or sent me an ask. And when something doesn’t get any feedback, I get depressed about it and second guess whether I should have bothered writing it. So, definitely try not to get caught up feeling bad because you want people to tell you that they liked your work. 💕

2. Consider the platforms where you post.

I only use AO3 and Tumblr, so I can’t speak to any other platforms, but posting my writing on both of these are widely different experiences. Part of the culture of AO3 is giving kudos and leaving comments, so you’re more likely to get feedback there than anywhere else. I slowly built a following on Tumblr because of my AO3, even when I wasn’t posting anything on Tumblr itself. I would really recommend checking out AO3 if you’re not already on there! You do need to request an invitation, but it only took me a couple of days to receive one. I also have 8 invitations that I haven’t sent out, so DM me if you want one and I can give you one! 

I’m sure you’ve already seen posts about this, but the unfortunate thing about writing on Tumblr is that the feedback is absolutely minuscule and I’m not sure why. There’s this awful culture on this platform of people only liking content and not reblogging it to make sure it gets shared with other users. So, you end up really reliant on your own followers and the tagging system for your works to reach people. And the tagging system is a mixed bag. Sometimes your posts don’t show up in the tags or they will but only after a couple of days. If your post gets enough notes then it might go to the top of the search feed but then only for a few days at most. 

As a sidenote to readers, this is why reblogging is so important! Even if you only have five followers or don’t leave a comment, just reblogging it means a lot to content creators!

Here are some of the tips I have for the mechanics of Tumblr:

Use the tagging system, as imperfect as it is. I think Tumblr now reads the first 20 tags in your post, so use that to your benefit. I usually always tag at least: [character name]; [character name x reader]; [fandom]; [fandom x reader]. You can always also try things like: [character name genre], [fandom genre], [fandom fanfic], [character fanfic] as well.

Make sure your blog is easy to navigate and have a masterlist that’s easy to find. If a reader sees your content on their dash and decides to check out your other works, if they can’t find them on your blog then they’ll probably just leave.

Self-reblog as much as you feel you need to for your followers who may have missed your post. I self-reblog a lot for new content over the first couple of days and then even will do a few icymi self-reblogs later as well. It also helps to have a list in your profile somewhere of your recent updates so people can easily see if they’ve missed something. 

3. Write for active fandoms and for popular characters.

This might seem like common sense, but I think it’s something to keep in mind if you want to grow your follower count and your chances of getting feedback. And there’s nothing wrong with prioritizing a fic over another just because you want more feedback. I actually really want to write something for Chainsaw Man but the fandom is so small compared to the other fandoms I write for that I’m putting it on hold until the anime comes out. 

That’s not to discourage you from writing for characters or fandoms that are less popular -- I have a bad habit of writing for niche characters and fandoms. But I always see my activity spike when I write for more popular characters. Another tip is to try and figure out which characters people are thirsting over but where there’s a lack of fics for them. You’ll also find that some characters or fandoms just have louder fans than others. The stuff I’ve written for Gojo has gotten a lot of likes and notes, but not so many comments or much feedback. But the amount of asks and thirsts I’ve gotten for Naoya is wild. This is something you’ll learn over time as you keep writing!

4. Post frequently. 

This one is annoying because writers have lives and real-world responsibilities and we can’t just write 24/7. But when you’re trying to build a following, even if you can do a couple of short drabbles a week, you’ll really start to see your follower count and feedback grow. I’m not sure if people tend to like longer or shorter fics more, but overall people are just hungry for content and if you can give it to them on a frequent or at least regular basis then they’re more likely to interact, especially if you’re taking requests. 

But don’t prioritize writing and posting content at the cost of your own well-being. As authors we’re all guilty of this at one time or another, but your followers will understand if you have writer’s block or you need to take a step back! Taking care of yourself is more important than getting feedback or interaction. ❤️

5. Interact with other authors. 

Building relationships with other authors is a big one, but it’s also probably the hardest because a lot of us (me included!) are just so shy about reaching out! It’s like asking someone on a date or trying to be friends with someone you really admire. I know it’s scary to come off of anon (I still sometimes send asks on anon!), but authors recognize the names we see often in our notes and in our inboxes and we’re all really nice, I promise! 🥰 And I’m much more likely to read the fics of my mutuals and the people I follow than I am to be searching through the tags.

And I think there’s nothing wrong with reaching out to an author you love and politely asking if they’ll read your work. I think it’s totally okay to send something like, “I really love your writing and wanted to know if it’s alright if I share this fic I just posted with you? I’ve seen you thirsting over [character] and think you might like it if you have the time to read it!” The worst they can do is turn you down. I would never be upset over getting an ask like that as long as it was polite and the person was understanding that I might not have time to read their fic. But, I know that this is really scary to ask of someone. I’ve only done it once or twice, so maybe I don’t have any ground to stand on here, but I really think you should try it even if you need to send the ask on anon first.

Please just be mindful of an author’s rules before reaching out.

Another added bonus is that authors are more likely to reblog and give you feedback on the stuff you write because we’re in the exact same boat as you! We’re the perfect audience. 

And don’t forget...

Growing your follower count and reaching the level of feedback you want takes time. If you’re just starting out, don’t get discouraged. The more you write, the better you get so even if you’re not getting the feedback you want now, that doesn’t meant that you never will! 

And of course, pay it back in kind. Just how you want people to interact with your fics, we want the same. I always try to leave comments on the fics I read on AO3 and always reblog the fics I like on Tumblr and try to go wild in the tags so that the author knows that I loved their works. 

I hope you found all of this useful, anon! Best of luck with your writing! 💕

[firelxdykatara]

agghh that anon okay so are there zutara shippers who don't like aang? sure, just like there are people who don't like toph or katara or sokka or zuko or any other character because people have preferences. but most of us A) love aang and B) criticize his writing in some episodes BECAUSE we love him and wanted better treatment for him and for katara. I mean obviously anon can disagree with zk headcanons, fuck i mean not every zk shipper has the same headcanon bc we are a diverse, massive fandom, and maybe anon could, idk, read some of our meta instead of reacting to things ppl say we think.

and maybe anon could, idk, read some of our meta instead of reacting to things ppl say we think.

THIS THOUGH!!!!!

Like I 100% think a huge part of the problem is that some douches w bugs up their asses about zutara being more popular than their ships will talk shit about how we suck and our HCs suck and w/e and that spreads and then you get ppl who haven’t even read a single zutara meta jumping on us for existing bc they take that shit at face value instead of doing their own fandom research

which really isn’t even that hard??? like man, just cruise the zutara tag a bit and actually read our headcanons and maybe keep an open mind and read some of our criticisms and see where our arguments come from before automatically assuming that a bunch of bitter ppl w axes to grind are completely right abt us

and it’s also funny bc it’s like, so easy to tell that we, by and large, aren’t being attacked for our show opinions (except the opinion that zuko and katara would have a great relationship), because 99% of the time it isn’t even about what we think abt aang or mai or w/e, it’s about us shipping zutara where other ppl have to see it

like i’ve lost count of the blogs i’ve had to block bc they said something like ‘if i have to see another post abt zutara ill shoot myself’ and stuck it in our tag, and we get flak for not kissing bryke’s asses by some corners of the fandom -cough-, and then there are the ppl who interpret salty posts as personal attacks but at that point it’s like, why is it ok for ppl to criticize zuko, or sokka, or katara, but not aang??? it’s literally almost solely aang stans who actually get offended at the mere implication that a) aang did anything wrong ever, b) the writing for aang’s arc wasn’t perfect, and/or c) aang is not someone’s favorite character.

and he doesn’t have to be. im sorry, but being the main character doesn’t mean everyone’s gonna like him, and it doesn’t mean everyone has to like him. i watched six seasons of bones before i couldn’t take anymore despite absolutely hating the titular character. it can be done! usually if the story and the other characters are good enough to make up for whatever someone doesn’t like in the main character. even ppl who genuinely dislike aang, whether bc the writing soured them on his character overall or his character archetype is just not one they like, are entitled to their opinions and to expressing them--and as long as those opinions are properly tagged, no one really has any reason to bitch about it.

but they do. and they have somehow linked aang hate w zutara in their minds so the assumption became ‘if u ship zutara it means u hate aang’ even though that’s not remotely true as a universal constant!!! some zutara shippers dont like aang, but many do! because we are a diverse group of ppl w diverse interests and opinions, and that’s a GOOD thing and should be celebrated, but bc our existence is grounds for attacking and belittling us (like that lovely little campaign a while back by those anons harassing the poc minors in our ship), we wind up feeling like we all have to agree on everything bc if we don’t present a united front, we’re easier to attack. and it’s just exhausting tbh.

ldkjghkjdfgh ty for coming to my impromptu tedtalk lmfao

[thedreadvampy]

glancing over the Discourse tag, as is my wont while having the Bad Mental Healths

and I have seen no less than three parts about how my fucking Martin post is full of ~aphobic dogwhistles~ about how being ace is infantilising and I simply wish to scream. is all.

we can and will talk about whether a) I have a history of inadvertent aphobia (got that ask waiting for me to have the spoons to go through it, and shout out to that anon for being the first person to follow through on asking me specific answerable questions about My Stance On Asexuality) and b) whether that post was written in a way that left it carrying a lot of implications

but I can say 100% confidently that I wasn't trying to nefariously hide my desire to say that ace hcs are infantilising, because I DID have ace/aro people in mind while writing that post. as an exception. like I literally explicitly Was Not Talking About Ace Headcanons, I was very specifically talking about writing Martin as someone who wants sex and/or romance but has never had it. (I also wasn't calling it infantilising, per se, I was talking about how it feeds into the minimisation of individual agency, desire and capability for fat queer characters)

now. we can talk about the validity of that take. we can talk about the assumptions going into that. and whether I expressed it clearly. but like. man I can very entirely promise you that this was not coming from a place of Man I Hate Ace People. like. I recognise that this doesn't hold much weight but I did, in fact, try to make it clear Within The Post Itself that I wasn't talking about aro/ace hcs so it's wild af that the narrative around this out there on the Discourse Tag appears to be 'this whole post is a malicious attempt to sneak aphobia under the radar' like lol! nah! I just Apparently wasn't explicit enough in contextualising my thoughts but I'm pretty sure I said that this Wasn't To Say that aro/ace Martin was a bad take but to criticise the ways that Martin is written in the context of a romantic/sexual relationship. and I simply cannot wrap my head around this one bc people prefer to believe that me throwing in a line in a reblog saying "Martin Fucks" is proof that my Whole Post is a Malicious Aphobic Dogwhistle and I'm lying in the OP when I said "this isn't about ace/aro Martin", than to believe that I am telling the truth when I say it's not about ace/aro hcs but chucking in a single poorly thought-out line in a reblog that I haven't adequately contextualised. Like I'm prepared to meet people where they are on how they experienced the post, what harmful implications it has, and what I can do better, but I'm pretty unimpressed by the degree to which people are applying this Knowing Attempts To Mask Vicious Aphobia narrative. like fuck man I simply cannot be arsed.

(this is not to say I cannot be arsed with the entire thing. I'm in a pretty euch headspace atm but I do want to work through the criticisms people have. but this absolute bad-faith reading I simply cannot be bothered with. I'm not gonna change anyone's mind and they're not gonna somehow convince me that I was being Consciously Malicious because. I was there in my brain when I wrote this. I may be aphobic, selfish, bigoted, whatever, I don't know, but I do know I'm not doing it On Purpose With Malice Aforethought)

[5sosbitchfest]

Alrighty, Nonsters.  We currently have 290 Asks in our box!  As much as we might try, I know there is NO WAY we’re going to be able to get through all of them.  Everything exploded this weekend when MessyGate went down!   I don’t want to ignore any asks just because I already answered a similar one.  So, I’ve tried to gather as many similar Asks as possible to let your your voices be heard.  Y’all are definitely NOT alone in your feelings.  Get ready for a lot of opinions on Messy’s Twitter Drama.  

Also, if you sent in an Ask and we haven’t answered it yet, please feel free to resubmit it!  I do try to scroll through all of them but it is a daunting task and personal stuff and work make it difficult for me to get through everything in a timely manner!

********************************

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I’m really disappointed in Luke and this band in general, the way they deal with things. “honest policy” with messy? So he knew all of this and it was okay? Or he confronted her on this and he is okay with what she has done? I’m not sure this whole thing would be a deal breaker for me, but it certainly would make me real mad at my SO and some whiny excuses wouldn’t be enough to make things alright. Radio silence would’ve been much better than that story he posted, made himself look like a fool.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: These girls will sooner or later become their downfall if their management or them does not realise they should rely on other things than bringing relationship up front to sell their music. I find it extremely bad that they are behaving as if nothing happened, I hope there will be changes once touring will be possible again and we won’t see these girls tagging along everywhere or being brought up in interviews all the time but somehow I’m not counting too much on that.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I wonder if Luke knows everything that Messy got exposed for or just the parts Messy wanted to show him. Bc Luke said in his Story that he wasn't online lately so maybe he wasn't on Twitter too and Messy just showed him the parts that make her look good and he still doesn't know that she spoke bad about Ashton or how she stalked the fans also after she knew that they didn't hack his email adress cause he wasn't on Twitter so he couldn't see the screenshots.🤷‍♀️

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I'm just waiting for the day one of them date someone who isn't a part of their circle. tired of them passing around the same toxic girls.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: These girls are just digging a whole for these guys and they want be able to get out of it soon

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: It was a chicken move for Sierra to do it as a reply and no one has talked on twitter that she deleted it because they probably think her deleting it is saying it wasn’t true

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: Am I the only one who thinks that guys really only heavily interact with us when they want to promote something or say something about the music? I do understand they have lives so being on Twitter isn't number one priority and with all the drama that surrounds this fandom its very easy to not want to be online a lot, I just can't help but feel that way

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I'm talking about this messy situation (no pun intended) with my friend and she said to me that Messy should consider changing her career if she can't handle that not all people are going to like her. (that ofc doesn't include any form of harassment bc that's not cool)

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I really don't know how to feel about the Luke situation. At first I was upset and disappointed of Luke but now I almost pity him bc real or not either the management would want Luke to defend her or Messy. And I think Luke isn't the kind of person who would stand up against the management or Messy (even though it would probably be better for him if he would). And most people don't realise when they're in a toxic relationship so I can't really blame him. I just hope this ends asap.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I literally was so angry and frustrated with Luke and this whole situation yesterday that I couldn’t even look at him on my home screen, I had to change it. It’s really a disappointing thing to witness. Whether management put him up to this or he genuinely believes this toxicity is okay, I’m just very grumpy with him at the moment. He deserves better and WE (the fans) deserve better.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I think Luke really needs to be in a relationship with sb who either isn't famous and doesn't want to be or with someone who is famous bc they have a successful career too and who doesn't need Like to be famous.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I’ve only seen a few accounts on Twitter who are attacking Messy and Crusty to the core and exposing every bad thing they’ve done with receipts for the sossies defending them! I’m happy that karma is finally getting to those con artist who think they can get away with anything

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: that recent lierra picture is photoshoped lmao. if you look at Sierra's hand you can see color coming off from it and her arm looks hella weird.her forehead looks hella weird and look couldn't have taken the picture because I doubt that he could stretch his arm that far and make a perfect picture. also we haven't even seen Sierra's face so I still don't believe they're together

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: The Lemon pic was like a punch in the face (even though Petunia and Luke are looking cute there). But I've been asking myself lately if Luke has seen the whole drama going around on Twitter or just the posts Messy wanted him to know so the ones who make her look like the victim (and not the ones where she insulted Ashton or she made it clear that she stalked his fans). Cause Luke said he hasn't been online lately.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I mean we dont know how much of the story he truly is aware of and how much s changed to fit her narrative and get L to feel bad for her. Plus he was under pressure from management to do damage control and not standing up for his gf is a very bad look for outsiders who dont understand why she's at fault. It was a pretty neutral statement and he was obviously told to make the post so I dont blame him and just blame her more for putting him in the situation in the 1st place

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I wonder how much toxicity happens behind the scenes, we know S is very manipulative and L is very much a people pleaser so.. and with how much they have to sell their "love" and "happiness" in the relationship. Minipulation is a powerful thing and it could explain why hes out of touch with reality, especially lately since he's isolated with her and doesnt have the voices of the band to raise any concerns and he's been getting skinny again and seems very "meh" rather than happy, idk

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I feel so disconnected with this fandom rn. I feel like no one is streaming CALM and that makes me sad bc it's such an amazing album. The boys aren't even online anymore, everyone is mad at each other and now Luke comes up with this shit... tbh I wish I would wake up tomorrow and see him tweeting something like yeah I'm sorry about my ig story I still love y'all lmao

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: Wait wait wait wait ive been gone from the fandom for a little while now and what the fuck is going on with Luke and S? What did S do that she made a fake ass apology for?? I’m so lost please help me! 😂

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I'm seeing a lot of my mutuals unstanning and I'm just so mad bc Sierra started this drama and got Luke into it and I'm sad that people are leaving bc of this, it's just too much toxicity and it shouldn't affect the band and their connection with the fans but with Luke saying this he makes it seem like he supports the ugly things she does

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I am a Luke stan and I've always loved him bc he has inspired me so much through the years but when he does this things it's like...damn. I feel like he's invalidating the fans' feelings by being like "if you don't like my girlfriend, ur fake" like he has never noticed me on Twitter or anything but my biggest fear is to be blocked by him or just ignored bc I don't like her (although I never expressed it publicly) n yeah anyways :// It feels weird

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: Going back and re-reading the DM’s messy literally confirms that she accesses Luke’s account by saying “we couldn’t get in” or some shit like that

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I hate being a luke stan, sometimes it just seems like he doesn't care? he always puts these toxic gfs before the ones who adore him and pay his bills. might just move into Cashton's lane. unproblematic kings.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: He literally posted a picture of him cuddling her and petunia within the hour

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: The saddest part of this situation is it’s like a repeat of Arzaylea. Luke has no idea what a respectful, mature relationship is. We saw it with Arz and were seeing it again it’s just a little bit different. He stays being controlled and manipulated by toxic partners. I really think homeboy needs to be single for a WHILE and focus on himself. He needs to unlearn the things his past and current relationships have taught him about love because if I know anything, it’s that this ain’t real love.

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: Is it bad that I just want the larzaylea drama back?? Like everyone could at least agree on their feelings then...

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: Just checked messy’s insta and of course, everyone that still supports her filled her tagged with just the single picture

Anonymous said to 5sosbitchfest: I feel like the reason Sierra is getting away with what she’s done is because she isn’t that known. Like yeah she’s associated with 5sos, but they’re also like not that big which is probably why it’s getting swept under the rug. I’ve only seen the 5SOS fandom calling her out for her actions. If this had happened with a well known celebrity, they probably would’ve been dragged and been trending on Twitter. I might be wrong but I feel like this is what’s happening which is just unfair.

[isafms]

tag dump is coming soon and all that, just wanted to churn this out before i go out for the day FDLGJSD

hey y’all, i’m lia and i’m excited to be here ! ngl i only found the group yesterday but i Had to join since i’ve got a slight obsession with obx, not to mention i’ve been boring myself with bold, no nonsense muses and isabella seemed like the ideal switch-up. i’ll get straight to the point and give y’all a brief summary of isa since.. i haven’t fully fleshed her bg out and i typically let musing posts explain the little things i can’t put into words sdflgkjds so without further ado:

[ jang yeeun , cis female , she/her ] do you hear [ EVEN IF IT HURTS BY TEI SHI AND BLOOD ORANGE ] coming from the beach ? oh, that has to be [ ISABELLA “ISA” KWON ] . they are a [ TWENTY-THREE ] year old [ COLLEGE STUDENT ] from the outer banks, and they’ve been living there for [ EIGHT YEARS ] . they were chosen to be on the show because they are a [ KOOK ] , but really , i heard it��s because they can be [ CONFORMIST & INSECURE ] . if you get to know them though , they’re pretty [ BENEVOLENT & FAITHFUL ] . they might become a quick audience favorite due to their [ COLLECTION OF WHITE BLOUSES, EASY SMILES ON GLOSSY LIPS, HER TREASURE TROVE OF VINTAGE ACCESSORIES ] . ooc – lia, 23, ast, she/her.

tw: alcohol and drug mentions

the basics

isa’s the only child of first ( papa kwon ) and second ( mama fka kwon, mama nka greene ) gen korean-american citizens and spent her early years in charlotte, where her dad worked as an orthopedic surgeon and her mom an event planner

she didn’t have to ask for much between her mom naturally spoiling her only daughter and her dad’s income, though she was pretty content with the little things like a dainty necklace or the newest, inexpensive fashion fad that swept through her grade

anyone else remember silly bandz being a big thing ?? bc yeah, she had TONS, i’d imagine GDSKFLJ

at fifteen, her parents decided to move to the outer banks after years of it solely being their vacation hub when family friends wanted to get together — well, her mom decided to move there while her dad dragged his feet at the prospect of leaving his practice, so a compromise was reached so he could stay in charlotte whenever an operation was taking place

though i think from their jobs alone y’all know where this is heading, and considering isa’s the step-sister of the greenes so i mean ??

they divorced when isa was seventeen and it was a hard pill to swallow for the poor thing; her dad stayed in charlotte while her mom stayed in obx and going back and forth while on the cusp of adulthood and college was a tiring but necessary endeavour for the daddy’s girl herself

not to mention she had a slight issue with assimilating to the more scrutinizing behaviours of kook territory, going with the flow that her friends had established before her arrival, but i’ll expand on that a little later lgfsdjk

let’s just flash forward to the present — isa’s got a step-family, she’s wrapped up her post-secondary and is just waiting to officially graduate ( honestly.. major is also tba fgsldkg ) and she’s among the newest cast members of outer banks.. suffice to say the poor girl’s overwhelmed !

tbh i’m losing steam bc it’s BOILING hot and it’s noon, i’ve gotta head out soon, so lemme insert what i put in my app to explain a few things that might have a gap or two in them

i view isabella as a bit of a sheep in the kook world based on the traits she’s been given; she has a good heart, however she follows many of the standards set by the longtime, affluent residents of the island. it makes her appear naive or held hostage by a feeling of inadequacy as her own person, something she’s sure that others have felt at times but believes she feels it far too often in comparison. that doesn’t mean that she hides facets of her personality so readily as she doesn’t feel nearly as confined when away from the island or with her trusted loved ones, rather it has to do with keeping up appearances for her parents’ sake — gossip among the country club boomers can cut DEEP, after all

i’m sure isa believes the rivalry is unnecessary as adults — not to mention that she doesn’t see someone’s socioeconomic standing as the most divisive factor one could consider — however she plays into it in her own way. whether it’s by dodging some pogues at parties because her kook friends are doing the same or because she doesn’t want to be caught in the brunt of the crossfire of tension, she keeps a distance and only hopes that it doesn’t come across as cold to everyone else

the show opens her up to the criticism she tries to avoid in her day-to-day life, being under the microscope ultimately making her anxious, however she tries to pull through; any publicity is good publicity, she supposes her friends would say, though that doesn’t keep her from dwelling on what certain subsets of people might think about the raw sides of herself. on the other hand, it’s an opportunity for her to branch out and eventually explore new avenues beyond what kildare county can offer her, let alone the outer banks. nonetheless, isa’s motivated to put her best foot forward and follow the script that she always has, albeit with slack on her leash as her televised coexistence with the pogues means leaving her past approach and her friends’ influence to the wayside

ok back to the current!me typing this intro, that last bit wasn’t to say she’d have no pogue pals, but more that she doesn’t branch out so easily and stays on the straight and narrow of what she’s done over the years. now onto her as a person GFDLK

personality and such

she’s baby

a given with yeeun as her fc especially, but i see her as a very tender and thoughtful person

y’know, ignoring her anxieties over public image and all

the type to pay it forward for purchases both big and small, is a shoulder to cry on for her friends and tries to be courteous with a smile per her dad’s advice when she was younger

sentimental and in some ways free-spirited, so again..... baby SLGJLKSDF

however, she’s a follower a lot of the time, doesn’t break rules or promises unless they’re totally out of line and even then, she either handles the matter gently or tries to shrug off her discomfort and go along with the rest

and with that, she doesn’t think her authentic self is all that special, hiding away certain traits or hobbies because they don’t reflect when she’s SUPPOSED to represent nor what those around her represent

she LOVES dressing up, opting for flowy or lightweight clothes during the summer months that are either crisp and white or whimsical and vibrant

she has vintage and thrifted pieces that she cherishes, locally made jewelry that she pairs with dainty gold bracelets and such that her parents have given her over the years.. she’s just a chill little fashionista jgfdlsk

isa isn’t the heaviest drinker, though that’s partially due to her being a lightweight as it is; doesn’t drink beer or straight liquor, one due to personal preference in taste and the other bc she can’t deal with much of the burning sensation GSDFJL

has had edibles a couple of times and doesn’t write them off as a one and done kind of thing, but she only touches them when offered in a social setting with her friends

so i mean.. she’s far from what some would consider a buzzkill for someone who’s as in her head as she can be

uhhhhh lemme jump to wcs bc i’m really pushing the time here but that comment about musing posts a while back ?? they’ll come into full effect later on so y’all have a better idea of her personality dgfslkg

plot ideas

people in her main friend group, but not necessarily a part of the kook conversations that mess with isa’s head that i’ve mentioned earlier. i’m sure there are a couple of people who she trusts most in that bunch and i’d love for her to have that kind of support and assurance that she needs for.. well, anything fsldgj

college friends/potentially a roommate ?? i’m gonna assume she attended college within nc, haven’t narrowed down where just yet so i’m flexible for this one unc to be specific ! they may or may not have been close before post-secondary started ( assuming they’re a long-time obx resident ) but they stuck together for the first week of their first semester and have been good friends since ! ( 1/? )

give her a pogue friend or two who tries to get her to get her head out of her ass and ignore the few things the rivalry’s instilled in her so she can ease up, and so they can hang out more

ex-friends, ex-fwbs, just give me some drama ! that’s all i ask !

crush(es) from years back or recently, pogue or kook, doesn’t matter bc this chick would hesitate on making a move on ANYONE 90% of the time so this is super flexible slfdkjgdf

also she’s bi, so have at it y’all !

maybe a secret relationship in the past ?? we love a good opposites attract love story with unresolved feelings, shove these two together in front of the cameras and watch them squirm to keep it all private SLGKFDJS

[kuriboo]

so. yugioh vrains is over. the last episode has aired.and with that in mind, with three seasons of this show, i’ve still got a lot of feelings about this show. especially that last episode. so i guess this is sort of the final thoughts and feelings post about yugioh vrains. not the last post in general about yugioh vrains. just the big opinions post, i guess, because there’s a lot.

yugioh vrains was good

yugioh vrains was very good. i liked it a lot. and me liking it a lot is the only criteria here for whether i’ll say it’s good or bad. i liked it! so it’s good.

i’m also very thankful that vrains has broken a curse yugioh has been suffering for awhile now. we’re talking about the dub. and no, i don’t really care that much that the dub censored some bullets, i think it’s funny, but i don’t care otherwise. this is just about general dub quality. zexal’s dub was bad. written bad quite a bit of the time, and a lot of the voice acting was just, not good. arc v, i can’t speak for the writing, because i only have seen like ten episodes of it, which is to be fair more than most people on this website, but the voice acting in arc v is atrocious, it’s worse than zexal. i’ve seen 20 episodes of the vrains dub, and look, i know. i know arc v’s main villain sounded like iago from fucking aladdin, i know that dub yusaku is voiced by someone who did voicework in zexal. but in 20 episodes of vrains, there wasn’t a single voice i didn’t like. the voice acting in vrains is good. and the dub is written well! it’s actually funny! i think i actually laughed more with the vrains dub than the sub for those 20 episodes. you know how the zexal dub tried to be funny every episode but it was just obnoxious? vrains was actually funny. the jokes are actually good. it’s been awhile since yugioh’s been dubbed well, and it was refreshing. the only thing i don’t like about the dub is that it only airs in canada and it’s impossible to watch in like any way online. i’m not done watching the dub btw eventually i’ll be able to watch more and i will watch more and i’ll be back here in this tag. if nothing else, i’m hoping it joins the other yugiohs on hulu or something when the dub’s done in like, two years. and if there’s a vrains manga i’ll definitely read it but like. shrugs on that.

the show’s got big megaman battle network, code lyoko, and the world ends with you vibes. i’m not saying this to knock vrains or anything. i love vrains. but if you like any of those games/shows, and you haven’t given vrains a chance, even if you haven’t watched any other yugioh series, i highly recommend it. the card games in vrains were very secondary to the story itself, and i think that went a long ways here, it worked well. 

so like, how was vrains, how did i feel about it

season one...season one was really good. in hindsight, season one had some good foreshadowing for season three. season one was probably my favorite season, though, but not by much. season one showed yusaku in school the most and i actually loved all the school scenes. revolver’s a really cool and interesting character, and while i’m glad he stopped being a villain after season one and went the sort of anti-hero route, revolver did make a really good villain. uncovering the mystery of the lost incident was fun. a lot of people guessed early on that revolver was both the person yusaku was trying to take down and the person he was trying to save, way before yusaku himself figured it out, but that wasn’t a bad thing at all. i’m pretty sure the show wanted the audience to figure it out before our protagonist, and the reward itself felt pretty rewarding. revolver has cool dragons, yusaku got a cool dragon, ai got insulted a lot, kusanagi was there, definitely a solid season.

season two was easily my least favorite season. bohman and blood shepherd kinda ruined it for me. thoguh, to be fair, blood shepherd didn’t do much. he gave us an excuse to get some takeru flashback, which we could’ve gotten through other means, and he sort of revealed judgement arrows and helped everyone be able to prepare for it, but like, anyone could do that. i hate blood shepherd a lot, but he’s easy for me to forget. i forgot him between episodes a lot, actually, and when he’d show up i’d have to be like, oh that asshole exists. bohman was worse because he was the main antagonist of season two. and he shouldn’t have been. bohman wasn’t a good villain imo! i feel like he wasn’t written super well. i can sort of make him work out in my head, but i don’t like him, and he kept just pulling ideas out that seemingly came from nowhere. he’d make these leaps that were hard for me to follow, and this was after lightning stopped messing with his memories. and since bohman was the main antagonist and because i really didn’t like him, it made it hard for me to enjoy season two. there were other good things in season two. takeru joined the scene in this season, and i love takeru a lot. i require apologies from everyone who didn’t trust my man takeru. lightning was a really good villain (lightning should’ve been the main antagonist imo), was very interesting, and i liked lightning a lot. and hell, haru was alright! i kinda wish they did more with haru. season two wasn’t bad by any means. we also saw the story of how kusanagi and yusaku met in season 2, and those were some of my favorite episodes of the season, along with the yusaku vs kusanagi duel. the story and message was good (though that doesn’t boost it up a ton given season 3 had the same messages) but honestly i just really don’t like bohman.

season 3 is very close to being my favorite season. this is the season of the protagonist having to face against their partner. it happens in like, any yugioh where the protagonist has a partner. vrains didn’t disappoint on that front. this season felt short! season two felt like it dragged on forever and season three felt short. it didn’t necessarily feel like it needed to be longer, when it ended, though. i just wish the show wasn’t over lmao. everyone got baited super hard like episode 1 when everyone thought queen would be the next antagonist after lightning + bohman and then she super wasn’t, which was kinda funny. most of hte time this season i was just yelling at ai to tell me the truth. i loved roboppy and ai this season. and im SO sad about what happened to them!! ai and roboppy were written really well, they made really good villains. i’ll definitely be making more posts about ai in the future. and also, that epilogue though!!! i didn’t get into it when i watched bc i was in a hurry, but!!! jin looks really happy, i love his haircut! and kusanagi is keeping the hot dog truck open so that yusaku still has a place to come home to! im gonna cry!!!! the knights of hanoi are all super good now and i love them. akira’s the ceo of sol!!! it’s what he deserves!!!!! and the whole takeru + kiku scene was really nice. everyone was screaming about that ship being canon now, which i guess it is? i didn’t read it as romantic, i read it as “kiku is a little scared about everything with vrains and takeru is helping her feel safe and secure, like, making sure she doesn’t fall off his hoverboard and shit”. i honestly read it more as takeru still being gay for yusaku while thinking about how cool yusaku is lmao. but i know yusaku + takeru will never be canon, i never thought it would be, and knowing yugioh, takeru + kiku im sure is supposed to be canon so like. it’s not a bad ship. i’m surprised how many people i see like that ship? but it’s just not for me i guess. im happy for yall who wanted this though. and that last scene!!!! we saw ai!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i’ll save thoughts on that another time i guess, including yusaku post that time skip.

i liked shima a lot this series. i honestly wish there was more of him lmao. i mostly wanted more yusaku + shima interaction, not in terms of shima finding out yusaku was playmaker, i just wanted the two of them to bond more. i wanted to see more of them being friends (read: shima forcing his friendship on yusaku and yusaku reluctantly goes along with it but actually likes it more as time goes on). and i wish we got to see takeru in the duel club at least once. takeru and yusaku both going to one meeting and yusaku sleeps through it and takeru is pumped and like taking notes and shit and shima is just like how can yusaku sleep through it this is the best!!!

aoi....i have mixed feelings on. i liked her a lot in season one, and i liked her a lot in half of season two. i really don’t like the blue maiden avatar (i did like blue girl!), and i preferred the trickstars over marincesses. i did enjoy her figuring out yusaku was playmaker though, that was a fun scene. i like aoi a lot still, love that girl, but after a point i stopped liking what they were doing with her.

they did ghost gal dirty. ghost gal was GREAT in season one. i loved her. and then they gave her a brother, her brother was shit, and everything about ghost gal got thrown out the window so that her character could revolve only around her shit brother. i feel so bad for her. i mean, i kinda get it? this whole thing’s about bonds, a lot of the bonds focused on were familial bonds (either in the blood family or found family sense, there was both). but ghost gal was already developing a sort of family-ish bond with akira and aoi by that point. i never felt like she needed anything else. she still could’ve done cool things in seasons two and three without having a shitstain forced into her life.

im madly in love with kusanagi and if anyone says a single bad thing about him i will stomp you to death with my hooves

i’m running out of people to talk about here i can’t avoid it anymore i’ll talk about blood shepherd now. i hate him. i hate him. he’s an idiot. i’ve yelled about this before and i’ll do it again. some shit happened to him because of malfunctioning ai or whatever. cool. great. now he has a grudge against all ai. that makes no sense. if im playing basketball and i get hit in the head by a basketball (by accident) am i gonna blame the basketball? no, i’ll either blame the person who threw it or myself for not noticing it and letting myself get hit. if i sprain my wrist playing volleyball am i gonna get mad at the volleyball? no, i’m mad at myself for messing up and playing in a way that caused that injury. if i get in a car accident because my car brake stops working, am i going to blame the car itself? maybe a little, but not as much as either the manufacturer or, if i recently had work done on the brake, the mechanic i visited. see, these things are all inanimate objects with no malicious intent or free will. since vrains is one of those shows, it may sound cruel comparing an AI to a car or a basketball. but the ignis (all generations, we’ll include pandor and bohman and haru in here for simplicitiy’s sake) are a special case. the ignis specifically stand out because they were made with free will. other artificial intelligence does not have that. it cannot have malicious intent. artificial intelligence cannot do anything it is not programmed to be able to do. it cannot hurt or kill someone, unless it is either programmed to have that function, or you’re looking at an ignis. and blood shepherd KNOWS THIS, because he became a hacker, and even REPROGRAMMED AN AI THAT WASNT SUPPOSED TO LIE TO LIE FOR HIM. along the way, he would’ve had to learn that somewhere. an ai malfunctioned and caused blood shepherd and his mom to get in a car accident. the ai itself isn’t to blame for that! that’s the fault of whoever made it!! or if the car was hacked to cause that problem, it’s the car manufacturer’s fault! you blame those people!!! and if blood shepherd went after those groups it’d be fine! instead he goes after artificial intelligences because he’s the biggest fucking idiot the world has ever seen. this does not make sense, even in the vrains universe, because again, the ignis are the only ai with free will and who can make their own decisions. any other ai cannot do something like this on purpose. the solution is to make ai better, not get rid of them. the solution is to improve security. not get rid of ai. at this point ai is so ingrained in society that you’re not gonna accomplish that anyway. oh, and i hate blood shepherd for what he did to ghost gal’s character. other than that, he was cool for two episodes before we learned his bullshit backstory, and he hasn’t done a single thing i liked since except he died twice, and i liked those parts. i fucking HATE blood shepherd. easily one of the worst yugioh characters ever. i could rant on about bohman, too, but im tired.

i don’t have bad things to say about a lot of characters. yusaku, kusanagi, jin, ai, roboppy, revolver, lightning, aqua, akira, earth, go onizuka, windy, i don’t really have bad things to say about them now that the series is over. i liked them a lot!!! they were really good. 

i guess the bottom line of this is, i wish yugioh treated its girls and its “joke characters” or “comic relief characters” better. and i wish bohman and blood shepherd didn’t exist, or were executed better. other than that, very solid.

if you were curious about my preferred ships here, yusaku + takeru is the best ship this show has to offer and it’s a shame more people don’t like it, and miyu + aoi is really good. anything else is like, okay, but i don’t love it. the show’s most popular ships are fine but not for me. yusaku + ryoken is okay but doesn’t really work in universe for me, i don’t love it but it’s fine, and it’s aight in a like real au setting. i don’t think there’s any ships i don’t really like, not like, other than the obvious. but these two are the best. 

all in all, vrains was really good. this show helped me through some real bad times, and will continue to do so as bad times continue. i love it lots, it holds a special place in my heart, and im glad i was able to watch it. im excited for whatever yugioh has to offer next, especially following this, because vrains is definitely one of my favorite yugioh series over all. it was a lot of fun and made me suffer and cry a lot and it was just...a good time. please watch it if you haven’t. thanks for going on this journey with me. i’ll probably end up talking more about bigger characters like yusaku and ryoken and takeru and kusanagi and ai more in different posts. ive talked enough here already

[waterfalls-of-lemonade]

so i finally made something with my omo alignment chart

(well, only one of my fandoms and only a few of the characters but i might do the rest someday)

@ the other person who knows them idk if you’re still active/a fan of this show but i made something for the sg fandom’s main 6; lmk if you want to see anyone else’s place on this

[famedroleplayarchive]

Hello! I’m coming to everyone with a few different updates today! This is a bit of a long post under the cut and there will be some more updates and announcements soon, but I wanted to split them up to avoid one super long post. Keep an eye out for another admin post in the near future, but this post still covers a variety of topics that are important for members to read!

Firstly, I want to ask anyone with an opinion on the matter to contribute it to this poll. I’ve been considering adding some of Brown Eyed Girls’ music (namely their three 2011-2015 albums and the rumored upcoming comeback if it happens) to Silhouette’s future model discography. Since Miss A and Fiestar are disbanded and EXID has only one guaranteed Korean comeback left with Hani and Jeonghwa confirmed to be leaving Banana Culture, it feels like a good time to start picking an additional group to give room for more songs to be released by them. Brown Eyed Girls is the standout above any other choices that fit Silhouette’s intended direction to me, but if members have a problem with this addition, I’ll reconsider. I’ll take the opinions of those with muses in Silhouette into special consideration, so if that applies to you, you’re free to message me directly if you have opposition to the addition! Should this addition happen, it is planned to play into a “renewal of Silhouette” plot line eventually (more towards the end of this year), with Gold Star’s creative directors trying to pull them out of what Gold Star perceives as a rut and keep them competitive by pushing the boundaries with more provocative, badass bu still sexy concepts like they were once known for. It will also contrast with the stricter creative and conceptual boundaries Gold Star’s younger girl groups like Fuse and Femme Fatale are kept within.

Secondly, the two previously unavailable BC Soloist spots have been removed. For BC Soloist 1, with Hyuna signing under P Nation, it’s unclear how often she’ll comeback once she starts releasing music again and the spot has been unavailable for so long now it only feels right to reopen it instead of continuing to wait. In character, this will be handled as a situation where an NPC soloist’s contract (someone who had a similar concept/sound to Hyuna, but not specifically Hyuna’s music anymore) simply ended and the soloist chose not to re-sign with BC Entertainment. This would publicly cause BC Entertainment to take a small hit in stocks, but there’s no major drama to it like there was with Goeun’s departure from Lipstick. BC Soloist 2 is being removed since, in the two years since the roleplay opened, I’ve learned it’s hard to tie soloists who fall further outside of the traditional idol bubble into the world of the roleplay, and BC Soloist 2 is the furthest outside still remaining. In character, for him, his existence as a soloist will be erased entirely from BC’s past instead of having left in-character. Hyuna’s and Dean’s discographies are now available as points claims. This means BC currently has no soloist spots for the time being. If your muse had a claim to a past feature or MV claim to one of those two soloists and you’d like to discuss replacing it, please message me! I may be willing to bend certain aspects of past claims rules to find a replacement if we need to since I’m inconveniencing you!

I’d also like to give a quick reminder to anyone who hasn’t done so lately (and maybe even if you have!) to please remind yourself of the in-character contract guidelines and make sure you (and your muses) are keeping those in mind! They’re important and do apply to everyone unless otherwise stated. Please take some time to refresh your memory of the rules elsewhere within the roleplay if you haven’t lately as well! 

On the subject of the rules, I have a few reminders about the general roleplay rules.

Please remember that while the rules are flexible about OOC posts on the dash to avoid the problems that can arise with a group chat, there are still rules to follow with OOC posts. Make sure to trigger tag OOC posts just as you would a piece of in-character writing (including tags for NSFW content) and don’t make posts about serious out of character conflict or disagreements on the dash, whether they’re direct or indirect.

Tag all NSFW posts as NSFW and put them under a readmore. It’s one little tag and if you aren’t sure whether something is NSFW, do it anyway to be safe. Muses and faceclaims who are minors in South Korea (under 19 international age) shouldn’t be involved in sexual content on the dash in any manner. Likewise, do not use gif icons or photo resources of a faceclaim when they were underage to accompany sexual content and discussions either. Smut is banned for faceclaims and muses who are not yet adults in Korea, and with that comes other discussions and threads of a NSFW context. This includes any flashback threads where a muse would have been under the age of majority at the time. Again, same thing applies for muns under 18. Don’t lie about your age to be able to write explicit sexual content with your muse, as that will result in a permanent ban from the group. In general, just be mindful and use common sense about what’s appropriate and what’s not when it comes to NSFW content.

Do not god mod or meta game. Don’t assume the actions, thoughts, or relationship to your muse of another muse or an established NPC/executive without getting approval first. Don’t assume your muse knows something about another muse that isn’t explicitly public knowledge just because you as a mun have read something about the muse. Just like NSFW tagging, if you aren’t sure, it’s better to be safe than sorry and ask the mun instead of ending up godmodding or metagaming.

Almost lastly, I’d also like to clear up some questions, address some details, and maybe even tackle some natural changes regarding the Exclusive blog. As the roleplay gets bigger, it gets harder to fit in every possible article someone may want for their muse in a timely manner, so please try to keep article requests and submission to major things like claims (if you’re writing your own claim article) or scandals and major plot progression articles (if they’ve been approved). A lot of occurrences that fall outside of that (though not all!) are going to need a viral moment claim to garner an article and be considered newsworthy. I don’t want to bring in super tight, strict limits to what can be used for an article, but please try to consider what might benefit from an official article and what might work better as a headcanon or detail in a self-para. Submitting an article earns a point because those articles are supposed to develop character/career or showcase a development of character/career, so keep that in mind. This reminder wasn’t brought around by any particular occurrence and it’s not been a problem yet, but I did want to put this out there. Since the Exclusive blog has been putting out more posts lately than it had before, now seems like a good time to mention this in passing! Exclusive is intended to be a news source in a similar vein to Dispatch, meaning they may have a reputation for being invasive and having under-the-table deals with companies, but are still a news source as opposed to a fansite or an idol-only outlet. If you’re ever on the fence about whether something might make a good article in that context, feel free to ask and I’ll be happy to answer!

Lastly, though it’s over a month late, I’d like to give every muse who’s currently in the roleplay (and all muns who have read this whole post) a free 5 points on their trackers in honor of our second anniversary that passed at the beginning of April. You can link to this post on your points tracker as the source of the points.

As always, I’m here for any questions, comments or concerns you may have, and thank you to everyone for your continued activity!

[freckliedan]

(for context, i made a post asking if this anon would b comfy telling me if she was a part of the lgbt community because i would be able to answer more quickly & with more nuance if i knew! my response would’ve been very different for the first ask if it had come from a cis/het person)

hi b!!!!!!!! ty so much for sending me this ask! this is a conversation i’ve had with friends a number of times & i think it’s really good to talk about so i’m really glad to have the chance to talk about it on my blog!

(under the cut because this got long)

i really feel you on this entire situation, tbh- i really hate to assume people’s sexualities, especially people who i don't actually know, bc doing that enforces gender roles & stereotypes so much of the time. especially when it's straight people doing the assuming? like, straight people talking about having good "gaydar" for me feels like them talking about being good at stereotyping people based on mannerisms etc and it makes me so fucking uncomfortable!

i'm 100% of the opinion that unless someone has the agency in telling people they're lgbt (like, they get to come out on their own terms, or they're so comfortably out that you'd maybe hear them referred to with pronouns besides he/she or hear about a same-gender partner when hearing about them in conversation)? nobody should be making a definitive assumption or trying to find proof or support of any perspective on their sexuality. people should get to be as closeted or as out as they're comfortable being, bc more than anything all lgbt people deserve to feel safe.

that said? i feel like lgbt ppl have actual "gaydar" but that it's not the same thing straight people say "gaydar" is. i think that for lgbt people, it has as much to do with being able to identify homophobic or transphobic straight or cis people (bc there are transphobic lgb folx, why do people. DO that) and being able to identify what straight/cis people are safe to be around as it does being able to find other lgbt people. it's more of a survival mechanism than a way of identifying people who are different, the way it functions for straight people.

so like? idk. over the past few years my concept of whether it's okay to speculate about a celebrity's sexuality has shifted a little? when i was in high school & recently out of it, i was more firmly against the idea that someone could tell if xyz celebrity wasn't straight, and super firmly believed that the only way you could know was if they said as much in words.

so what changed?

i experienced the world more, and i've learned so much about the lgbt community and about myself.

one of the big turning points for me was kristen stewart; i was never a super huge fan of hers, but i saw posts fairly often speculating that she and alicia cargile were together. not posts by like, news outlets or anything, posts by other wlw who were saying 'i see the way that kstew is dressing and acting and what she & alicia cargile are sharing of their relationship with the public and news articles keep calling them live-in gal-pals etc but that's exactly how i dress and behave and how my relationship with my girlfriend looks and how people treat our relationship when they're refusing to acknowledge the fact that we're lgbt."

also at the time i started seeing a lot of posts that were saying that the speculation was shitty, and for a hot minute i felt awful for seeing and reblogging posts & hoping/believing that they were girlfriends. the next wave of discourse tho was about how it was okay to speculate and hope if you were just an individual who was also lgbt, and how it was only shitty when it was invasive paparazzi and tabloids who had a platform that could actually disrupt her life and put pressure on her to come out. it was about power; one lesbian or bi or pan girl who was hoping a celebrity they looked up to was like them vs a business that doesn't have any investment in this besides to gain money/readership off of a celebrity's potential identity that had every right to keep their silence and privacy? it's two entirely different things.

i also went back to college in 2016, and realized that like. yeah it's shitty when straight people stereotype and assume things about people, but a lot of lgbt people don't want to be perceived as straight and intentionally dress and behave in ways that signal the fact that the're lgbt. i'm not a scholar on any of this; this is all from my lived experience. but i think it might be called flagging? i've seen the word a few times & just googled it & it seems right, even though i haven't read any of the articles for sure.

essentially it's a way of signaling to other lgbt people "hey i'm here and i'm also lgbt" without really having to disclose that info to all the straight people around you as well. and like, heteronormativity is a hell of a drug, you know? a lot of straight people are almost unwilling to pick up on the signals that someone's lgbt.

an example i can think of is like, lgbt people using non-gendered terms to refer to their significant other or any exes around straight people; it's not lying, and it leaves the opportunity for any other lgbt people present to maybe connect with the person who's doing the pronouns dance at a later point in time in a one on one setting.

another example would be like, butch and gender nonconforming wlw making their identity clear in the way they dress and behave? the song ring of keys from the musical fun home is about a young girl seeing a butch lesbian for the first time and going !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! same!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! even without having the words. it's lgbt people broadcasting their identity for other lgbt people, not for straight people. it doesn't get seen or talked about as much because of that, but that doesn't make it any less real.

so how does this relate back to dnp?

i'm firmly of the opinion that the're like, doing this. they're living their lives without the complete self-censorship they used to have and because of that openness a lot of lgbt ppl see them, we see the ways in which dan and phil are quietly sharing the fact that they're not straight with us, and i think it's okay to accept that for what it is.

like? i genuinely am willing to argue that dan came out in his diss track. you look at that, and you look at him talk about labels in a liveshow (this video genuinely helped me a lot while i was going through the process of finding the right labels for myself) and you look at all of trying to live my truth or the fact that in dan's rebranding video part of the old branding that was going up in flames was gender rolls (i still have a screenshot of that on my phone). it's also in the countless ways he alludes to being attracted to men, and the ways he rejects a lot of the tenants of masculinity that society prescribes in the ways he dresses and presents himself to the world; that's not an inherently lgbt thing to do, but i think it's true that a majority of lgbt ppl experience gender more consciously than straight people do.​

i'm not going to lie and say i'm aware of as many specific details in regards to phil that indicate his sexuality-i do know less off the top of my head, but not because i don't love phil, just because dan means more to me personally in regards to my queerness and the ways i navigate my identities. phil also tends to share way less of himself with the internet than dan does? like, we know a lot of specifics about who dan is and who dan has been but despite knowing a lot of fluff about phil, we know less substantial information and that's super fucking valid and i love his double aquarius sagittarius rising enigmatic ass exactly as is. and i know i have things in my he likes boys tag about both of them, including (i think) at least one masterpost about phil.

which like, doesn't even bring us to the fact that i'm so sure they're together, too? it's not even like. things like the vd*y v*d, though that was still findable on tumblr when i joined the phandom in 2012.

i'm sure because i can look at dan and phil in the present, and the ways in which they function in eachother's lives, and the things they've said about their future together-the concept of a forever home, of getting a dog together,  the way that when either of them talks about a very old version of themself they talk about having kids & when you combine that with the idea of a forever home you kind of are left with only one implication- i look at all of those things and the ways they compare to my life, as a queer person in a long term committed relationship. and i know. i’m sure about them.

and i could go on. the thing that really gets me is how dan and phil, by all intents and purposes, hit all three sides of sternberg's triangle in his triangular theory of love; they've got the commitment of a shared life and they've talked about their shared future, they've got the intimacy of knowing and supporting each other for nine years and the close knowledge they have of each other is so great in volume that it's been the focus of what, two videos (the friendship test ones) and (spoilers, minorly) a section of ii? and in the way they look at each other, and in a lot of implications we've picked up on over the years, the passion is there, too.

they've fuckin got that good good consummate love, babeY.

they also constantly answer all of each other's bids, as per gottman's research/theories on successful relationships. i'm not gonna get too far into that, but it's what my like a sunflower tag is for.

and gosh, i've gotten rather off topic again. my apologies, b.

i guess the point is that like. as a queer person in a long term relationship, it's really easy for me to look at dan and phil and be sure that they're together. and i don't feel bad, anymore, thinking about that and speculating about it; i think it's ok for lgbt individuals to hope that the people they look up to are like them, and to talk about that hope.

and it would be nice, if dan and phil came out someday. stressful because of the fan reaction, i'm expecting a full meltdown if/when it happens (i'm leaning towards when, i think they want to get married someday).

but for me, i'm already sure. they've already given us so much and they don't owe us anything, we aren't entitled to them disclosing their identities, but i think they've already told us in subtle ways, a hundred times over. so my conscience is clear and my heart is sure, b. i hope yours can be too.

[blue-shaded]

Hi Dolphin anon! It’s me again. Thanks for reading the whole long message, I did not realize how long it was while I was typing it out LMAO. Yeah I’ll concede a lot of your points as well, when I spoke on the reputation of the MC speedrunning community, I was more so speaking about it in terms of just the Minecraft community itself, I hadn’t really considered the perspective of those in other speedrunning categories, so fair enough! As for the moderating team, yeah, their legitimacy and fairness did get called into question but like I said in my last submission, I think this questioning was a little deserved. Geosquare was the one who was heading (or seemed to be taking the lead) on the Dream situation so most looked to him as the figurehead of the mod team, and I think by allowing his bias to affect how he handled the situation initially, I think he shot himself as well as the other moderators in the foot. So on that end, I think the bias deserved to be called out, but you’re, as always, welcome to disagree!

I also agree that he needs to say it more publicly on his twitter. He has a tendency to say it on his private account and in replies because he tends to be very reactionary. Usually if he makes a separate tweet on his alt or main twitter account, it’s after he’s already seriously replied to people or made a serious thread on his private, so he just starts making lighthearted jokes about the situation to try to get both sides to stop taking it seriously in hopes that they’ll stop sending hate and move on.

To his credit, I think he likes to more explicitly say that stuff on livestream. I don’t know how closely you saw or if you saw the Kaceytron situation at all, but when he went on her stream to discuss with her, he explicitly states “I do not condone any death threats or doxxing or any sort of hate” and I know he’s shared similar sentiments on other livestreams. But he definitely needs to have it somewhere on his main Twitter accounts where it’s easily accessible.

And yes I agree that things get trended way too easily, but I think people are too focused on the wrong thing (not you, just people with this argument in general). There have been multiple instances where POC fans try to get people to shut up or to stop livetweeting or to go private (so that their tweets don’t add to trending phrases) whenever important things are happening and while there are many people who listen, it’s unfortunately just not possible to stop it from trending. Because of how fans recieve the content (typically live, all reactions are immediate, whether it be in response to a content creator’s tweet or talking about a stream), there’s a tendency for a word or name or phrase to get repeated amongst several tweets. The Twitter trending algorithm tends to favor sudden influx of tweets over longevity. This is why you’ll sometimes see something MCYT-related at the top of the trending page despite the fact that it says it only has around 1,000-2,000 tweets, whereas other phrases and trends will have tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of tweets and still sit lower on the trending tab because those tweets slowly came in over throughout the course of the whole day rather than all at once.

If we’re focusing specifically on Dream and not MCYTs as a whole, he himself can average around a good 130K watchers, if not more, while streaming. Say that an important real world issue is being talked about on Twitter, and most people who are watching, aren’t tweeting about the livestream (either because they don’t use Twitter or they’re someone who knows of the situation and is being conscious and respectful to the community being affected by that situation) and that only 1% of the people watching that stream are still tweeting (whether bc they’re ignorant or bigoted or just don’t know of the situation. regardless, definitely a low-balled percentage). That’s still a sudden influx of 1.3K tweets and is still enough to put it near the top and if not the very top of the trending page. And it sucks and it’s dumb and people have tried to find ways around it. Many people in the community censor names if they’re livetweeting while something else is going on, the last time this happened, people censored karl as “k4rl” and k4rl got tweeted so much that it ended up trending anyways. So 100% get what you’re saying and I get the criticisms of the fanbase surrounding that, but I think it’s just a thing of Twitter needing to fix its algorithm because it should not favor sudden influxes over longevity like that.

If you want an upcoming example of this problem, I’d suggest for you to keep an eye on the trending tab on the 19th! Many black people within the community have been speaking up about Juneteenth and it’s importance to them as a community and that fans should try not to trend anything that day. Specifically they’ve asked Karl Jacob’s community (known as honktwt) to not post for honktwtselfieday, which happens every month on the 19th. These tweets have gained a lot of traction and have been seen by Karl Jacobs himself and he replied and said that he wouldn’t be posting for his selfie day and that he discouraged all of his fans from posting for this month’s selfie day either. Despite this, I’m almost entirely sure that a few people are going to be posting for the selfie day anyway (whether it be bc they’re ignorant n don’t care or they somehow don’t know), though it’s going to be much much less than the amount of people who would usually be postijgnfornthebselfiebday, but I’m sure you’ll see honktwtselfieday trending at some point on the 19th regardless.

Also! as for the shooters4dream tag, yeah, as an Asian, that was disgusting to see. I will say that it wasn’t the antis, though antis did boost it further by posting on it later on and saying to not use the tag (very. counterintuitive, but I digress). That tag came from inside the community as a joke (an incredibly poorly timed one). It’s a borrowed joke from the kpop community to say that you’re a shooter for ___, as in a defender of them, and some people were just being senseless when making the joke and it was really disheartening to see that people weren’t really thinking before using it. I think it’s since been widely addressed that shooters4___ probably isn’t a good joke to make at any time, so I think a lot of people have taken to saying shields for ___ instead.

I also don’t get the hate around the merch. I personally haven’t gotten any, but I don’t think it should come as a surprise to anyone that it’s just a smiley face when that’s his whole brand— the dream smile blob. People are obviously allowed to have their own tastes in clothes but the hate on that front seemed excessive. I think there are plenty of valid criticisms towards Dream, but I don’t think the topic of merch design is one of them.

As for your friend! Yeah I get that, and it’s sucks that she’s not practicing what she preaches. I think it’s very easy to get caught up on the toxicity of social media and it’s sounds like that’s what’s happened to her. Hope you do what’s best for you and your mental health! Like last time, this isn’t any hate towards you (in case any of it seemed like it was) and thank you to Blue for putting up with the longass submissions and for being a conduit for the conversation 💀

sdlkfjslkd don't worry about the long posts Passing on to dolphin anon.

[prodigalborn-blog]

So  I  reached  ²⁰⁰  followers  like  a  few  months  ago     & &    I’m  sure  I  have  some  kind  of  excuse  here  for  not  doing  one  of  these  sooner  ,  but  we  both  know  it’s  bullshit  so  here’s  to  me  feeling  particularly  mushy  this  morning  .

SPECIAL  THANK-YOU’S

@dionadaiir

Listen  ,  I  know  we  haven’t  spoken  or  interacted  in  a  while  because  I’m  still  scrambling  to  find  all  of  my  latent  threads     & &    to  actually  motivate  myself  (  not  just  on  this  blog  but  in  life  )  ,  but  I  want  you  to  know  that  your  blog  is  still  one  of  my  all-time  faves  ,     & &    I  absolutely  adore  Eden  with  all  of  my  terrible  ,  sinning  heart  .  To  be  honest  ,  I  really  miss  our  interactions  ,     & &    I  hope  we  can  do  something  again  really  soon  because  Ludger  also  misses  his  favorite  Skyhold  bartender  /  Musical  cohort  .

@holykniight

LISTEN  ,  you  are  a  fucking  GEM  ok  ?  If  u  n  Eli  were  a  stack  of  pancakes  I  wouldn’t  even  need  to  use  syrup  bc  you’re  both  already  so  fuckin  sweet  I  could  D  I    E  .  Honestly  ,  everytime  I  see  the  two  of  you  on  my  dash  I  s2g  I  shed  a  fucking  tear  bc  I’m  witnessing  something  so  breathtaking  in  the  making  .  Honestly  ,  I  am  so  psyched  to  get  off  my  ass     & &    make  something  happen  between  these  two  bc  Ludger  n  Eli  would  make  such  good  brothers  it’s  insane  ???  they’re  both  such  big  babies  who  don’t  want  to  get  attached     & &    i’m  LI  VIN  G  .  FOLLOW  FOR  LIFE  .

@honeycut​

I  MISS  YOU  ,  YOU  HOE  .  LUDGER  NEEDS  YOUR  HAWKE     & &    HER  DUMB  CUTE  FACE     & &    HER  DUMB  CUTE  HAIR     & &    HER  DUMB  CUTE  THIGHS     & &    HER  DUMB  CUTE  LETHAL  ATTITUDE  .  But  in  all  seriousness  ,  I  just  needed  to  put  you  here  bc  I  love  you  n  your  blog  .  Your  hawke  is  a  gem  honestly  I’m  super  gay  for  her  .  She  deserves  way  better  than  Ludger    ❝  I  talk  straight  from  my  ass  hole  ❞    Trevelyan  .

@praesiidio

*  rubs  my  little  gay  hands  together  *  Alright  sweetheart  ,  get  ready  for  this  .  Your  muses  are  the  actual  definition  of  my  sexuality  .  If  I  wasn’t  already  GAY  AS  FUCK  ,  these  girls  would  be  keeping  me  up  at  night  .  I  don’t  think  there’s  a  single  muse  you’ve  made  that  I  haven’t  absolutely  adored  ,     & &    Junko  specifically  got  me  fucked  up  holy  shit  .  I  want  her  to  crush  my  head  like  a  watermelon  ??  ?  But  I  also  want  her  to  stroke  my  hair     & &    lay  my  head  on  her  lap  until  I  fall  asleep  like  I’m  a  good  boy     & &    I  deserve  love  (  This  may  coincidentally  be  also  what  Ludger  wants  but  I’ll  get  to  that  later  )  .  I  utterly  ADORE  her  character  ,     & &    her  mun  is  one  of  the  most  creative  people  I’ve  met  here  honestly  .  Ilu  so  much  babe  

@psiithuros

GOD  .  Okay  so  I  fucking  love  you  already  darling  .  Every  goddamn  conversation  we  have  makes  me  laugh  my  ass  off  for  some  reason  ,     & &    every  time  I  go  on  discord  whether  it’s  to  reply  to  you  or  not  I  smile  when  I  see  your  dumb  ass  tag  /  icon  .  By  the  ancients  ,  we  need  to  do  more  plotting  because  you’re  an  absolute  deity     & &    a  treasure  to  have  around  tbh  .  Need  me  more  of  this  .

@theyarewistful

(     & &    your  many  amazing  blogs  )  Alright  ,  get  your  tissues  ready  bc  I’m  about  to  make  it  rain  .  I  recently  had  one  of  my  worst  moments  on  here  a  while  back  ,  I’m  not  sure  because  I  think  I  blocked  some  of  it  out  of  my  memory  .  Anyway  ,  you  were  one  of  the  first  people  to  come  to  me  privately     & &    you  were  so  generous     & &    kind     & &    just  completely     & &    utterly  understanding  of  my  situation  .  I  was  honestly  ready  to  delete  my  blog  ,  for  reasons  that  I’m  not  even  sure  of  anymore  because  it’s  all  so  foggy     & &    I  don’t  care  to  remember  ,  but  you  managed  to  talk  me  down     & &    for  that  I’m  exceedingly  grateful  .  I  owe  you  things  I  don’t  think  I  can  repay  at  the  moment  but  I  hope  to  in  the  future  .  You’re  an  incredible  roleplay  partner  ,     & &    an  even  more  incredible  friend  .  I’ll  always  be  here  for  anything  you  need  ,  you  just  have  to  name  it  .

@valorcorrupt

Okay  so  I  know  we  haven’t  interacted  ,  but  I’ve  been  trying  to  work  up  the  courage  recently  to  thank  you  for  that  incredibly  kind  message  you  sent  during  a  particularly  trying  time  I  was  having  .  I  recall  deleting  the  post  because  I  didn’t  want  to  clog  my  blog  with  negativity  ,  but  I  could  never  seem  to  find  the  words  to  thank  you  .  So  ,  naturally  ,  this  is  the  opportune  time  .  You’re  an  amazingly  kind  person  ,     & &    it  shows  .  Also  quality  blog  . 👌

@virassxn

Okay,  wow,  listen  ….  I  must  have  stared  at  a  blank  google  document  for  about  a  solid  eight  minutes  before  I  started  typing  this  because  I  couldn’t  find  the  words  ,  honestly  .  You  were  one  of  the  first  people  I  started  interacting  with  on  here     & &    consequently  you  were  one  of  the  few  people  still  active  that  had  a  hand  in  helping  me  with  Ludger’s  character  development  which  means  more  than  I  can  actually  say  .     & &    then  there’s  Cyrran  of  course  ,  who  I  can  honestly  say  on  my  own  is  Ludger’s  greatest  love  ,  because  he’s  always  there  every  time  I’m  listening  to  a  song  or  a  movie  or  anything  that  has  even  slightest  romantic  context  .  Every  single  interaction  between  them  has  chemistry  bursting  from  the  seams     & &    it’s  fucking  incredible  to  me     & &    every  single  time  I’m  grinning  like  an  idiot  .  It  feels  incredible  to  be  playing  something  so  impossibly  pure  despite  having  a  muse  who’s  so  ….  Not  .  I’m  just  incredibly  thankful  for  all  of  our  interactions  ,  ic     & &    ooc  .  I  hope  if  you’re  still  in  England  you’re  having  the  time  of  your  life  honestly  ,  you’re  a  doll  ,     & &    thank  you  so  much  for  being  apart  of  this  .

@xrbitrium

HELLO  YOU  HOE  YOU  BETTER  NOT  BE  SURPRISED  YOU’RE  HERE  .  GOD  okay  I  fucking  love  you     & &    harellan  .  I  want  both  of  you  to  adopt  me     & &    Ludger  tbh  .  I  NEED  MORE  OF  THESE  TWO  .  IN  .  MY  .      L  I  F  E  .      GOD  BLESS  EVERYBODY  SAY  AMEN  . 🙏

PEOPLE  I’M  SCHOOLYARD  CRUSHING  ON 

@arsuledin  ,  @asomniari  ,  @compassionsblade  ,  @couldntbcloved  ,  @hemorrhaging  ,  @muteblade​  ,  @youriinquisitorialness

​​       

FOLLOW  FOREVER

Honestly  ???  ?  If  you  weren’t  mentioned  specifically  ,  I  probably  want  to  plot  or  interact  with  you  .  Some  of  the  people  mentioned  above  I  haven’t   even  interacted  with  .  So  come  @  me  .  This  is  just  so  you  all  know  that  you’re  appreciated  .

[lemonyandbeatrice]

okay. I’ve been going back and forth for six months about whether I should make this post or not. but I really want to be upfront so I can stop letting this impact me the way it does.

so. let me talk about my “ex friend”, Gabrielle formerly known as attoseconds.

prefacing this with the fact that I really don’t give a fuck if you’re friends with her or not. but I also am not here to talk about the pettiest of bullshit & listen to the like... insignificant reasons why someone might hate her. also apologies in advance to anyone on mobile because this is long.

we became friends April 2015 but didn’t really get close until the fall. part of what made us seriously talk was the incident around the IW/DS (whom I have nothing to do with and have never wanted anything to do with). I talked to her for hours that night and became friends with two girls related to the incident.

I’ll get back to that later.

I realized January 2016 that I liked her, at the most unfortunate time to be honest, as she was dealing with a major personal tragedy and I was dealing with some other life tragedies at the same time. so I made a tag. I made a tag, I told her how I felt, I made it clear that I didn’t expect anything, and I asked her which phrasing for a tag she liked better, with the option of two lyrics. so she chose the lyric which ended up becoming the tag “person: we are a desert island.” when we met for the first time in March I didn’t expect anything, nor did I make a move on her or anything. we shared a hotel room. we hung out all day and she helped me get through a panic attack because she was a good friend and that’s what friends do.

June 2016 I asked her out and she said she needed to think about it. over the course of a week we rabbit-ted several times, and after a full week I had to ask what was going on, because we had started kind of acting like girlfriends and we needed to be clear with each other. this was the night before I came out and she said that she was in a rough place and that I was about to be in a rough place. “so this isn’t a no, or a yes, it’s a maybe. let’s wait to see.”

so we were still friends. she was one of my best friends. she supported me, I supported her, we had disagreements and petty fights like friends do, but we really tried to be there despite everything going on in our own lives. I saw her again in July and again, we hung out all day and I met Chewie and her sister and while I flirted, like I always do, I double checked with her.

one thing you can ask basically any of my friends about is the fact that as flirtatious as I am, I try to make sure that I’m not making them uncomfortable. I asked her this multiple times and she’d laugh and promise she was okay.

things progressed in the same way. I’d joke about breaking up with her, she’d joke about breaking up with me. we’d “end our friendship” over sad headcanons and bad opinions and ridiculousness and the fucking disaster crown. I continued to use my tag - and I tagged everything without using her name a single time. I had friends think the tag was about someone I went to school with because I wanted to protect her identity.

November 2016 I realized we’d fallen into the pattern that I’d fallen into with other people: we were basically in a ldr but we weren’t officially girlfriends. so I asked her again what we were doing because I was starting to get really upset. and when I got the same answer - she needed to focus on friendships and it was still a maybe - I distanced myself from her. I told her I needed distance to get over her. we didn’t talk for two weeks until I felt ready to talk to her, bringing us into December.

and here’s the thing: she did the right thing. she told me exactly where she was and that was the 100% right thing to do. I stepped back so it wouldn’t ruin our friendship. I have never pretended that she was wrong and even though I was angry and hurt and every single feeling you feel when things like that happen, she did the right thing. I continued posting things under the tag.

my birthday is February 10th. all of my close friends know that I hate my birthday for multiple reasons. I’ve cried on my birthday the last six years straight and have been triggered on my birthday for the last three years. I don’t wanna get older, I don’t want to be alive, and this isn’t new information.

everything was fine. everything was fine and on February 9th me and Gabrielle talked. the last conversation we had consisted of me telling her to do her homework (which was a v normal convo, us yelling @ each other to be good students).

so. my birthday. woke up crying, went to school miserable, had a nonstop awful day. I visited my sister the next day and I still hadn’t heard anything at all from Gabrielle. I sent her Potential Breakup Song because I was angry and bitter and petty.

was that the right thing to do? who knows. was I wrong to want a close friend to remember my birthday, especially when I’d been talking about it to her all week? no. I wasn’t. it had nothing to do with the feelings I’d previously had for her, it was all about my friend hurting me.

the last message I sent her was three weeks after she ghosted. at this point she still followed me and she’d attempted to send me a text but it didn’t go through. I talked to my therapist to make sure I wasn’t being as bitchy as I wanted to be.

Okay. So. It’s been twenty days since we’ve spoken, and I’m really upset that you haven’t responded to anything I’ve sent you. Actually, I’m sad and angry. That fact that you texted me two days ago and then didn’t respond when I pointed out that I couldn’t see your text made me more upset because I’ve been going the last two weeks trying to figure out what I did wrong. Because this isn’t like you, Brielle. And this isn’t like our friendship. I was trying to be emotionally honest and upfront about my feelings because I care about you and I’ve tried to give you space because obviously you didn’t want to talk to me. But I’m hurt that I got radio silence instead of even a “I can’t handle this right now” or “I can’t respond to this right now.” Something other than total silence.

before we get to What Went Wrong After This, I want to be clear that I would have been more okay with her telling me to fuck off. I tried to fight for the friendship, and if she didn’t want to be friends with me? fine. she didn’t need to justify herself.

so. I’d soft blocked her because she was still following me, blacklisted the shit out of her, used a new tag completely as I tried to deal with all of this. I didn’t go on her blog. I didn’t use her name. I eventually called her my ex girlfriend because honestly? what we had was in the inbetween and what I was feeling was specific to what I’d experienced in my other relationships.

April 2017. I made some post in the personal tag and came back from work the next day to two mean messages. an anon (one of the only people who figured out who I was talking about) warned me that I shouldn’t give her the benefit of the doubt, but I did. April 2017. I made a post abt how a co-tutor went by Gabbi but was named Gabrielle and how it threw me off bc I hadn’t heard that name outloud. I got another mean message.

I got a heads up that she made a post calling me gross, leading to that particular message. and it killed me, it really did, because all three anons made it out that I was simply mad that I liked a girl who didn’t like me back. I am open about having bpd - I don’t pretend that I don’t exhibit the behaviors or that I’m not terrified of abandonment - and while again, she was allowed to end our friendship, the way it happened really fucked me up. I stopped talking about it on here. I couldn’t function that entire day. I’ve never hated someone who didn’t abuse me more than I’ve come to hate her.

remember how I mentioned the IW/DS incident? and how I said we’d get back to it? yeah. here’s the thing abt that incident and what’s happening now.

during that incident, two teenage girls showed Gabrielle what was going on. which is fine - they made that choice (as she reiterated several times). but she was 27 as this happened. they were 15. I became friends with both of these girls who were really fucked up over this and I firmly argue that while it was not okay what IW/DS individuals said abt them in connection to Gabrielle, but it also was not okay for her to leave them out to take the fall. it doesn’t matter that they chose to come forward - the responsible thing, as an adult, is to watch out for our younger friends when bad things happen.

as I became closer to them, there were nights when the four of us would rabbit. they joked that me and Gabrielle were K/rrasami and Gabrielle never said anything to stop them. we joked that me and Gabrielle had adopted them as our daughters. this was common and I’m glad that one of the girls reminded me of this because I felt like i was losing my mind. because here are two options:

Gabrielle liked me back and has been lying about it. 

Gabrielle didn’t like me at all and just liked the attention I gave her. so instead of rejecting me when I gave her the chance to, she feigned any potential attraction and strung me along instead of being a fucking adult and just telling me she wasn’t interested.

I have gone onto Gabrielle’s blog exactly twice since we blocked each other. both times were to read the specific posts that gave me the hate.

first post

It’s really fucked and damaging to realize a friendship was conditional and based on someone’s romantic interest in you and you become a bad person by rejecting them.

Absolutely positively dead the friend zone attitude.

there has never been a situation like that since I was in like... fucking high school. I did things because we were friends. that’s what friends do. immediately after that post she reblogged a post abt how people with bpd need to make sure what they’re doing isn’t manipulative and blah blah blah, which is a good post but a pretty shitty portrayal of me right next to her saying that I was mad abt being friendzoned. friendzone? I’ve had lots of crushes on friends. the only other one that went badly was with a girl who was lowkey homophobic & emotionally abused me until dropping me.

a lot of posts in ‘x: let’s call it what it is not what we were’ deal with me having bad anxiety over the entire situation and being overall sad and confused. people were free to blacklist it - and once again, one of my best friends didn’t even know who I was talking abt until everything fell to shit.

I had a vague idea of the second post but no one let me read it because they were scared that it’d take me over the edge. I finally read the second today.

You know what’s really uncomfortable?

Someone you turned down continuously referring to you as their “ex” when you never fucking dated and suddenly acting as if you’re some monster because a) you didn’t have an interest in them like that b) entirely petty and childish reasons. Especially when you have publicly left this person alone and not said a fucking word about the BS they’re spreading.

I’m nobody’s ex and am not a bad person leave me the fuck out of your narrative.

here’s the thing. here is The Thing.

Potential Breakup Song was petty. but why the fuck did it take me blocking her for her to not follow me anymore? why didn’t she unfollow me in the three weeks it took for me to send that final message?

she’s gonna call me petty and childish when she get mads that people interpret her favorite characters differently? and that was a reoccuring thing that happened in our friendship so I stopped bringing it up?

me being fucked over by Gabrielle and being angry and expressing that anger over that while also reiterating that no one should stop being her friends over this is me, what? what? we still have mutual friends. we had friends that stopped being her friends over this goddamn post and friends who think I’m a bitch over this but I never told my friends not to talk to her. I have one friend who follows my private who I met through her.

I call her my ex because the “we’re dating but not” is bullshit. the only difference between what we did and being girlfriends is the fact that we never used the words. I need labels I am someone who needs to work through things 

my narrative. what was my narrative? she forgot my birthday, I was hurt, I was mad, I saw every flaw in our friendship on her end and mine, I started hating her.

don’t for a goddamn second believe that I’m mad about being friendzoned. don’t for a goddamn second think that I was creepy for needing to deal with my shit on my blog (as I have done since 2010 lmao) because that’s not even what was fucking happening. and don’t for a goddamn second let her convince you that she wasn’t either lying to y’all or lying to me.

I tried, I really tried to avoid it coming to this. but the only way for me to heal and move on is for me to be honest. and since this all was started on this fucking site anyways, here we go.

I will not pretend to be perfect. our friendship was never perfect. and you’re right, she doesn’t owe me anything. but I respected her enough at a point to keep her name off her blog. this is the only time I’ve called her by name in either tag. the power imbalance in our relationship was never the age difference - that’s an imbalance in some of her other relationships but okay - it’s about the fact that she was a big blogger and her reactions to me led to me getting hate. as if she didn’t know that could fucking happen.

so yes, I hate Gabrielle. I think she’s a lying cunt. I think she has a lot more in common with people that she hates than she realizes. I think people 10+ years younger than her should be careful because people that young should be treated as younger siblings, not close friends. I think she needs attention that she can’t fully give other people and there’s nothing wrong with needing attention (hi there) but there is something wrong with lying in the process.

but I’m doing this so I can move on.

I love girls. I’m not letting this make me feel bad anymore. I wanted to be friends with her forever. I truly cared about her as a person.

I wish she’d done the same for me.