#also sorry but i'm just not gonna address the jp question in the post or in depth

[puraiuddo]

So, to begin, I thoroughly agree with people doing some amount of research into topics they're unfamiliar with before they slap something on a page, call it a day, and then get offended when they're corrected.

This bit, however, was sorta what I meant in terms of helpful tips on how to write topics properly instead of avoid them:

"Also, if the things I describe don't sound interesting enough to explore to fans who want to create content about Jazz, well, maybe he isn't the character they ought to be interested in?"

Because while I agree that some people unequivocally twist characters unrecognizably to fit more neatly into certain plot lines (and I loathe it, and I've made a more than a few posts myself about it and actually about Jazz specifically) I guess I'm trying to dial in on where it crosses from "something that bothers me personally" to "something I would definitely consider racist."

Because as wildly infuriating as mischaracterization is, it's also not something specific to Jazz? After all, the essence of fanfic/fandom usually is to place characters in unusual (oftentimes skeevy) circumstances and convey how they would react—and some people just don't do it well as a general principle.

Though I do agree wholeheartedly that if you don’t much look at canon and to alternative character interpretations then you have no chance of avoiding being a (progressively more inaccurate) echo chamber. So I suppose to clarify, is it more the fact that you feel people are relying on ingrained stereotypes already established in place of canon characterization? Or that some concepts/tropes are almost impossible to avoid being racist with as a general principle? Both?

Because I guess I'm just a little concerned about running the risk of "diverting from this specific interpretation is problematic", because I don't think there's any way for anyone to win in that scenario.

Because while I definitely agree with your general/core evaluation of Jazz's character, I do disagree with just the one portion of it. A portion which seems to be something that you were uncomfortable with? I don't think that the fandom's fascination with Jazz having a ~dark side~ or experiencing some type of ideological crisis is actually unwarranted from a canon perspective (e.g. Robots in Disguise #31-32 (2012) and All Hail Megatron).

Unfortunately, I think our difference in opinion is in large part due to the nature of long running comics with various authors: the characterization is not consistent.

In other words, I guess my main area of concern (outside of avoiding core mischaracterization) is how to avoid falling into the trap of perhaps relying on stereotypes in order to accommodate tropes* that themselves are not the problem (and will honestly never go away) and could be handled respectfully. (*I mean like Fantasy AU, Decepticon AU, No War AU, etc...)

So are there any (edgy or not) topics you feel could be written about if only handled properly?

ex. (1) Jazz being a lazy, work-shirker is obviously a no-go, but do you consider him being playful and the "morale officer" (as I've seen it put sometimes given his always-cool-under-pressure personality) to be racist, just personally dislike it, or think it's fine?

(2) Do you have a problem with Jazz having a "dark side" at all, or does it just bother you if it's portrayed in a "ignorant until shown the error of his ways and reformed" way? Same with a "dark past"? More nuanced?

(3) Unintelligible dialogue unique to Jazz is obv racist, but do you also feel as though (if that proper research is done) incorporating some AAVE is appropriate?

(3) Are there other general things that you think just can't be handled appropriately regardless of circumstances? Or maybe that just shouldn't be handled by a non-black writer?

And fyi these questions are open to anyone who wants to chime in as well!

Thank you again for taking the time to make this post and chat!

I think I've reached my last nerve with how TF fans treat Jazz on here and on AO3, and I feel the need to rant about it. Obligatory "not all Jazz fans" and "not all JazzProwl fans" disclaimer here... if this doesn't sound like it's describing the content you make or enjoy, then it's not. Honestly, I don't think this angry rant is going to convince anybody of anything, but I'm posting it because I want to make it clear that people see this and are aware it's racist.

Never let it be said that racism isn't thriving in the TF fandom on Tumblr and AO3, because so much Jazz fan content is the most blatantly racist shit. And it's nowhere near as bad on other sites that people here usually claim are more racist—I've never seen what I'm about to describe on r/transformers, for example. TF fans on here often claim to love Jazz so much and say he's one of the best, most unhateable TF characters along with Soundwave, but do they ACTUALLY love Jazz?

Tumblr and AO3 users when they see this great, heavily Black-coded hero: We love Jazz! Ooh, what if he was a slave? What if he was hyper-violent? What if he was a disruptive chaos gremlin? What if he was hypersexual? What if he was lazy and never did his work? What if he was a drug addict? What if he was a prostitute? What if he had an evil alter? What if he used to be/was secretly a Decepticon? What if he was a notorious criminal? What if he was literally some kind of bestial monster?

I've actually seen people on Tumblr asking if Jazz being a Decepticon or having an evil alter was ever canon. Well, let this be a PSA: none of this shit is fucking real! I've seen almost all the media Jazz is in, and none of this reflects how he's been portrayed, ever! Apparently people posting links and screenshots and GIFs showing what Jazz has actually been like in canon hasn't caused people to self-reflect, because this shit is still somehow super popular and even filtering doesn't screen even close to all of it! And I've seen in real-time people who are newer to the fandom getting tricked by all this racist fanon and then being drawn into it, thinking it reflects something when it doesn't! That's one of the things that bothers me most!

And then there's the other half of this, which is the immense popularity of JazzProwl. Putting aside how ridiculous it is that a ship between characters who haven't had a positive interaction in fifteen years is somehow the most popular ship in this fandom, half of all the Jazz content I see on sites like Tumblr also stars Prowl, as if Jazz isn't an arguably more prominent character with tons of unexplored stuff of his own going on. But that's the least of it. How the hell do I constantly see people uncritically post shit with this ship like Prowl trying to arrest or pull over a chaotic criminal Jazz? Or shooting at him? Or white savior, copaganda, anti-sex work garbage like Prowl as a cop rescuing prostitute/stripper Jazz from exploitative working conditions (I'm not making this shit up)? (Also, @ people who make content in which Prowl is Jazz's slave—I see you too, and you're not woke. You are still linking Black people to slavery as your first thought and then assuming it's subversive to flip the dynamic you'd expect to see. You're getting off on slavery and still including a Black-coded hero in your shit.)

Even the majority of the much milder content I see is still ridiculously OOC and plays into racist tropes in its own ways. Like how 90% of JazzProwl content shows a lazy, distractible Jazz endlessly trying to get Prowl to relax by disrupting his work or playing pranks or some shit. What media does that come from? Oh yeah, it comes from nowhere, because it's just old fanon that's been endlessly regurgitated by people who aren't realizing how making this up plays into offensive stereotypes about Black men and boys. Hey, if you people love this boring dynamic so much, maybe look at the canon relationships that are similar to it instead of forcing characters who don't fit it whatsoever into these roles without thinking about the implications!

And guess what? I've repeatedly seen literal proof that basically everyone who thinks they like this ship hasn't ever seen the characters interact in canon, too—every so often somebody on here will ask why JazzProwl is popular and ask for fans to share the canon media that made them ship it... and inevitably nobody can share anything, which is hilarious every time. Sometimes people will admit it's all fanon. In fact, the other day I saw a link to a fic from the very early 2000s that claims to be the super-influential, first JazzProwl fic ever making the rounds on Tumblr, and guess what? I looked at it and it was already super fucking racist, with Jazz being described as chaotic and not a hard worker and it had Prowl angrily shooting at him!!!

Jazz is one of my favorite characters and I'm so sick of this shit! Normally I love transformative works and new interpretations of characters, but in this case the fanon is so horrid and has always been horrid, so either try to examine Jazz in canon and portray him based on it, or be a fan of a different character! And fucking REMEMBER that this is a Black-coded hero, damn it! I saw a fic the other day that made me literally choke on my drink because it had Blaster (also a Black-coded hero) describing Jazz as a "spook!" THAT DOES NOT JUST MEAN SPY, THAT'S A RACIST, ANTI-BLACK SLUR!!! And this isn't even getting into how people in fic have Jazz talk! Jazz in all the media I've seen speaks very clearly and rarely has any kind of accent, but I constantly see white people attempting to write his dialogue phonetically in a way that feels straight out of Uncle Tom's Cabin. What the fuck is this?!

Also, petty, but the fans who make and consume this kind of content in my opinion don't then get to relentlessly criticize something like Earthspark, which has a cast and crew of people of color, by claiming it undermined its themes and is racist!