#and a lot of the fandom's weirdness (/neg) stems from that. and i think i reserve the right to say it.

[kalpalatas]

ok see the thing. that thing about sasamiya/hirakagi. harusono knows her tropes. she's a fujoshi and a writer and she knows her way around bl/yaoi. so she takes these tropes and kicks them in the nuts for her own joy and amusement. and that's the fun of the ride

[anniflamma]

AnniFlamma, we all love your fanart and animatics of Epic: The Musical, please don't let a few shitty people demotivate when 100x those people love and adore the stuff you make, along with all other animators!

Stay safe and take care, we will always be here and I can't seem to repeat this enough but we love your art

Thank you and everyone for reaching out to me. I will be honest with you all that what happened did upset me a lot, but I am very lucky to have people to go to for support. I will even blame some of them for making me cry, my friends, I mean, because if I am upset and if someone asks me if I am okay, I just break down. 😅 But I used our little server as a ground to vent, and right now I feel much better now.

But I will still be honest that I meant what I said that my interest in making Epic fan content has reduced a lot. I still love Epic, and I still really want to do the whole Ithaca saga, but I have also realized that posting content about it has caused me to feel anxious.

An example is when I finished The Challenge animatic, I felt an extreme wave of anxiety when I was going to press the upload button. And the worst thing? My anxiety confirmed the fears. I have gotten tiktok comments saying that I am a freak for drawing Penelope nude despite it being in a non-sexual way. Apparently, I have to be constantly reminded that female bodies are icky and the world hates women. Aaaaaaand then to get hit by that TikTok video of thousands of people shitting on me, Duvetbox, Gigi, Mircy, Neal, and so many more…

If you have noticed, I have posted less, all types of content for Epic. I don’t do my headcanons anymore, I never wrote that full review of Epic, I feel less keen on drawing fanart, let alone joking about shipping here online. I remember when I made a joke about shipping Aphrodite and Athea because they were the only female characters interacting with each other (ignoring Hera), and then I took it as a critique that Epic failed the Bechdel test. After that, I got plenty of anonymous messages about how I am an evil person for shipping those two goddesses… Just say that you don’t know what the Bechdel test is and block me... 😑

I also hate how my first negative experience with the Epic fandom was pure homophobia toward my Bible animatics. Like, they used negative language toward gay people to tell me to make Epic content instead. There is this weird obsession where people expect me and other artists to only do one thing, which is Epic, and if we dare to do something else, we get punished or infantilized, like we didn’t have any say when Casper commissioned us for Stories of Styx. Don’t get me started on how fucking awful people were to Casper and Teagan….

I hate how people easily tell others things, only for them to unquestionably believe everything said about me. Like the amount of "Anni made Ody/Circe porn, uwaaaa!!" And then, the moment someone questions them and forces them to realize I never made such a thing, they double down and say that I shouldn't have made Circe nude in the original animatic "cuz female bodies are icky" or the classic "Well, I haven’t seen the porn video, but someone told me it existed, so I’m going to believe it exsits." Like, you could tell these people that the sky is green, and they would believe you.

Then there’s that whole "Anni supports rape" or "Anni felt bad for the suitors and wanted Penelope to get raped" insanity. Those quotes stems from ppl was crashing out when I made a post criticizing Epic’s way of addressing the topic of rape. In that post, I was suggesting that I would like the story better if Odysseus were actually morally ambiguous when killing the suitors. How could anyone even think Ody was in the wrong for killing the suitors because he wanted to protect Penelope? How can he be a monster after that? I don’t know, I support a husband protecting his wife from gang rapists, but I guess that was the worst thing for me to ever say, huh? Like, how dare I criticize their almighty Jorge…

It’s insane that I have an easier time handling hateful Christians compared to TikTok Epic fans. 😅

Oh well... I’ve had so many bad experiences with the TikTok Epic fandom over the past two years. And eventually, you just want to log off.

I’m thinking of stopping posting Epic content at all on TikTok as a first step. If TikTok Epic fans hate my fanart that much, then I’ll do them the favor of never seeing it from my account. I will, however, continue posting my Bible animatics there. And if I continue working on my Hold Them Down animatic and if I ever finish it… I will only be active here on Tumblr and on YouTube.

And so, at this moment, I will take a pause from Epic. It probably won’t be that long because, despite everything, I love that musical. But I also have to remind myself that, despite there being so many negative remarks toward not only me but the other artists, there is a lot of love from you actual fans. I have about 138K subscribers on YouTube. That’s 138K individuals who love my work so much that they want to see more of it. THAT IS TOTALY INSANE! And I will never forget that! And I am so thankful for all of you and your support. Thank you and I love you guys! 💕

I’m also planning on making a better-formulated post about this another day. All of this is just me ranting and want to take a short break, focusing on something else.... Maybe... Venice the musical? 😅

[toskarin]

Can you remind me of what denpa means? I used to know what it meant but I've lost the plot at some point. I've read Saya no Uta if that helps.

kind of a long explanation, so I'm tossing it below a readmore. it probably won't answer your question if you're starting from zero, but since you're not, it should help you catch back up!

denpa is hard to define. if you're using it to refer to music, it usually refers to a specific style of "annoying" (that's not quite it because it comes off as negative, but it's the best way I can think of to describe it in one word) often-electronic pop rock with a focus on energetic vocals

when I was talking about Full Metal Wristcut being a denpa band, I was using it to refer to music, but not to refer to the genre described above, which I knew made things kind of confusing

denpa (denpa-kei) isn't really well-defined when it's defined at all, but you can kind of think of it as describing an isolated and often paranoid style of thinking. a genre/aesthetic/vibe/etcetcetc that stems from the kind of feelings and delusions that crop up from feeling isolated and alienated. the sort of stuff really obsessive otaku get up to

you know that weird obsession with staring at powerlines on lonely walks that certain anime has? specifically how that gets kind of distilled down in western weeb fandom into a very superficial "wow powerlines are cool" and not much else?

that's kind of an extension of this broader genre, even if the trope is often stripped of context

denpa stories are generally some form of paranoid fiction, often (and the term gets memed a lot but I swear I'm using it earnestly here) kafkaesque. the entire world has shifted slightly off its logical axis and if you're lucky, maybe someone else noticed, too

there's an unfortunate shorthand I've seen used that kind of does get the point across even though I'm not a fan (because people immediately know what you're referring to when you mention it), but denpa vns, for example, get called "schizophrenia simulators"

[a-secret-bolton-vampire]

Something has been bugging me lately; why is it that so much of the ASOIAF fandom hates romance? Like, this is a problem I've noticed and it's honestly kind of weird. To be sure, George's view on what is romantic is, uh, dubious at best, but to outright be so against it the way I've seen some people be against it is quite bizarre, to say the least.

Rhaegar and Lyanna? Of course there's no romance there! Rhaegar clearly was just using Lyanna as a baby factory to produce a super prophecy child because that's all there is to his character!

Jon and Daenerys? They won't be getting together like that dumb show! And if they are, it will be purely a political marriage! No lovey dovey stuff there!. After all Dany likes "bad boys" (which somehow translates to "evil men") so why would she like a strong, assertive man like Jon? And why would Jon like her? Not like he likes strong fiery tempered women!

Those are the two biggest examples but there is more. Daemon Blackfyre and Daenerys Targaryen are more ambiguous since they are historical characters, but a lot of people are convinced it was 100% unrequited love.

I've even seen fans complain about the line from Barristan where he thinks about how Bittersteel and Bloodraven's rivalry over the affections of Shiera Seastar caused the Blackfyre Rebellions. Like sure it wasn't the only reason, but to think that jealousy and romance didn't have an effect on those rebellions is a bit weird.

Yes, I am aware these are some problematic pairings, not least of which because most of these are pretty incestuous. However, the complaints about these romances do not stem from a moral quandary. In the case of R+L, you see people calling Rhaegar a groomer and pedophile (see my post on him on my full thoughts there), but the majority of it is simply "well it's stupid because they told no one and caused a whole war, the selfish brats" (bonus points if someone specifically targets Lyanna).

Okay, setting aside the fact that, like with the Blackfyre Rebellions, Robert's Rebellion was caused by far more factors than their elopement, why does making it an abduction Rhaegar did simply for a magic messiah baby make it a better story than the fact these two were in love and desperate to escape situations they felt trapped in, leading to shortsighted decisions that had an unexpected affect on many people?

With Jon and Dany, the backlash is "but that's so cliche! George wouldn't do something as cliche as two of the biggest protagonists falling in love." As if George doesn't constantly engage with cliche storybeats as often or even more than he subverts them. Even when the evidence for the two getting together is literally so overwhelming that you'd need to be willfully ignorant to ignore the foreshadowing (plus the fact George literally said that their union is "the point of the series").

And again, I must ask; why is Jon and Dany marrying to secure a political alliance without any real love between them a better story than an epic, doomed romance between two people who have gone through such similar struggles and have such similar personalities? What does R+L=J even exist for if they are just a couple of convenience using each other?

I'm not saying you have to love and ship all these people together. Because we sometimes forget our little fandom bubble, most people are not okay with even fictional incest ships. That's okay. Sometimes it's not even incest ships, but again, that's okay! We are all different and have our preferences! Some might not even care much for romance.

But the way a lot of this is criticized doesn't read like that. It's always focusing on the negative aspects. Especially with Dany's love interests. I'm not a fan of Daario and Dany, personally, but it is a bit uncomfortable how she is targeted so heavily for thinking and getting horny about him. Like... let a girl be horny and infatuated? Lol, I don't know!

With Rhaegar and Lyanna, Prince Duncan the Small and Jenny of Oldstones, the "problem" is that their disregard for political betrothals and following their hearts makes them stupid monsters who are directly responsible for the deaths of thousands. That is absolutely not the way we should take these romances.

These doomed, tragic affairs aren't about how people are selfish. It's about the power of love. The way love makes people act rashly. The way love consumes someones thoughts and feelings. Love is powerful, it is transformative, transcending. That is the point. Even in spite of the death and chaos occurring around it, the love these people have for each other is something that cannot be broken.

I feel like the fandom has taken the wrong approach to this series tone and themes. I'm not George's biggest personal fan, to be quite honest, but he is a self described romantic. Turning Rhaegar from a lovestruck prince to a selfish crazed maniac is not romantic. Turning romance or potential romance into cold political maneuvers is not romantic.

The point of all this is that, yes, the world is dark. It's scary, it's cruel, unforgiving, and cold. But in that darkness, there are pockets of light that shine and make you feel safe, and warm, and happy. It makes you forget all the troubles around you. That light, that warmth, that love, is worth fighting for, even if it's all that is left, even if it doesn't last.

I am of course, slightly biased in my assessment, lmao. You could say that me, being a bisexual polyamorous transfemme, is maybe a bit of a big fan of romance and love! Yet, it still saddens me that people try to keep romances from just being romances, and try to make the story and world more bleak as a result. We already have Ramsay, Joffrey, Gregor, Euron, Randyll Tarly. We have people who use love against others for their own gain or outright reject it violently. We don't need more of that.

[blazehedgehog]

a negative question (those aren't fun i know) but what would you think of as some awful moments in gaming or gaming history?

I mean top of the list is Gamer Gate. Gamer Gate was, by the admission of the person who started it, his way of getting back at his ex-girlfriend. That's all it was. And it spiraled out of control into an entire hate movement that's still leaving ripples to this very day.

I am also of the opinion that most people who believed Gamer Gate was about game journalists were mislead and ultimately don't understand a lot about what they were campaigning against. The whole "ethics and lying in game journalism" largely stems from a growing series of misunderstandings and ignorance, which was largely exploited by bad actors to target women and minorities.

You cannot and will not convince me otherwise. Never ever.

That's because, in my 12 year stint writing for TSSZ, I took the job very seriously. It may not have paid much, but it did pay, and I did get a lot of valuable experience. And I watched friends in similar boats actually elevate their careers and become big, well-respected names in the games media/journalism space. Which gives me a better perspective than some folks have on what really goes on in that space.

I've talked about this at length many times over the years. About the weird adversarial relationship the press has with their fandom. And it's too big of a topic to contain in one single tumblr post, because it's many subjects, spanning decades. I cannot sum up why journalists used to (and still do) dunk on their fanbases, and why readers continue to value their opinions even in spite of that.

But I will say this: real, genuine corruption is a lot less common than you think. A lot of people get very twisted up in imaginary scenarios that simply do not exist. Most people in the press are simply trying to survive by whatever means the system allows them to. And I'd argue a lot of them are spiteful of their readers because some of you are genuinely insane and jump to these outrageous conclusions over literally nothing. Some folks don't know what an opinion means, or understand subjectivity, and treat it as a declaration of war.

Do conflicts of interest happen? Yes, absolutely. But with the way the market currently is, a lot of those things are necessary to keep media companies afloat. That's unfortunate, but it's not corruption. Not at the level you think it is.

When you see a website covered in ads for WAR OF DUTY 8: REDACTED OPS 4 and there's a prominent review for that same game, I can guarantee the person writing that review does not benefit from those ads and did not choose to put them there. All that money and all that blame goes to the corporation that owns the site. To the marketing managers and the CEO sitting at the end of the board room. That corporation may even go as far as to suggest edits to what probably starts out as a very honest review. But it is not the writer's fault. The writer has bills to pay. The writer needs to buy groceries. The writer needs to keep this job. The writer had real feelings and it was the corporation that changed the text.

And even then? The scenario I just described is rare.

You want to know what's even more rare? An indie developer sleeping with a writer for coverage of their game. A game, that, might I add, didn't even cost money. What was to gain there? Clout? You're out of your mind if you think that actually mattered.

Also? It's entertainment criticism. It is literally "Does this person like this piece of media yes or no?" This is not Watergate. It is not 9/11. Does honesty matter? Sure. But if you don't like a writer, go find a different one. There's a lot of us! But don't circle the wagons and prepare for battle, because that makes you a psychopath.

(Better yet: if you don't like a writer, start writing your own stuff! Be the change you want to see in the world and then understand how you're treated for that)

Which again just feeds into the idea that people who still believe that gamer gate was legitimate were tricked. It was a smoke screen. You were part of a hate movement. And how you react to that says a lot about you as a person and your values in this world.

[yuriwarriork]

4. How much of the discourse around BL can be attributed to moral panic around female sexuality as compared to gay panic, especially compared to yuri/lesbian media? I put it below the read-more because I had too much to say, whoops!

Honestly, I see both homophobia and misogynistic shaming of women's sexual desire as contributing factors towards the negative connotations of BL in different ways. In my opinion, there's absolutely no denying that society at large, both in the US and in Japan, is still deeply uncomfortable with women's sexuality and sexual content made for women, evident in the continued enforced silence about this topic and the shaming of media that focuses on it, including BL. A prominent example I see a lot of in US media currently is the discussion surrounding the increased popularity of romance novels with sexual content (especially in online spaces like "booktok"), particularly people, especially men, reacting with abject horror to the fact that women are reading books with explicit scenes. While I do not enjoy reading romance myself and think it is reasonable to critique (in good faith) all works of art in terms of their quality and implications, this is simply not what most of the content around booktok is doing. Instead of actually analyzing the books themselves or engaging meaningfully with, for example, the issues with racism and some frankly deeply conservative ideals in a lot of these texts, so much of this discussion is just making fun of women for expressing their sexualities in the first place. I think part of the larger reaction to BL is very similar in terms of reacting with disgust towards sexual content aimed at women, to the point of ignoring any nuance.

However, I think that ignoring the role of homophobia in this disdain does the conversation a disservice. At least in the American discourse that I am more familiar with, many people's instinctive negative reaction towards gay media or even the implication that a character is not straight leads to a lot of backlash in addition to their discomfort with women's sexuality. Many, many people still see any queer media at all as shoving an "agenda" in their faces or being unnecessarily political, no matter the actual content. Furthermore, any post so much as implying that a fictional character might be gay will be met by endless comments telling the creators that they "ruin everything," "make it weird," or "can't just let two men (or sometimes two women) be friends," no matter how completely sexless and kid-friendly the original post is. The fact that tons of people take the idea of their favorite character being gay as a personal insult, and the implicit bias behind it that heterosexuality is the default and only normal way of being, definitely stems from garden-variety homophobia in addition to a disdain for the way women are engaging with this media.

When comparing the above discussion of BL media and M/M ships to media focused on relationships between two women, I think it is important to point out that, while this media does not get the same backlash as BL, I actually think that this is still the result of homophobia, just that this homophobia interacts with misogyny/lesbophobia in unique ways. To begin with, fetishization itself is not a privilege because of the way it is dehumanizing, even if it makes a genre more socially acceptable--I personally feel deeply alienated by lesbian content that is made for straight men, rather than represented in any way. I do think that yuri gets less backlash in part because it is less associated with women's sexuality in particular, but I also think part of this is simply because it is way less popular in both manga and fandom spaces and therefore simply attracts less attention. Furthermore, the fact that relationships between women are often not seen as "real" or as a threat to heterosexuality because there is, at least in cisnormative thinking, not a risk of pregnancy or a direct prevention of joining the role of wife and mother, also contributes to this idea of yuri as more acceptable while itself being homophobic.

Because of the way that some lesbian media has been designed for the male gaze, I also think that works that deviates from these expectations and which represent women's relationships to each other through the female gaze gets heavily critiqued as well. For example, the 2024 film Love Lies Bleeding portrays a relationship between a butch lesbian and a bisexual body builder (say that three times fast), neither of whom fit conventional definitions of femininity either in appearance or in the way that they both get to be messy, complicated, violent women. At least in online spaces, many people complained about these main characters being "gross" or "too muscular," indicating to me the ways in which people still react negatively to media about queer women made outside of the male gaze, and especially to honest depictions of gender nonconformity even when they chose to sit down and watch the lesbian body builder-thriller. That's not to say that the backlash against BL and women's sexual exploration therein is not more prominent in a lot of ways, simply that I think homophobia, misogyny, and a simple lack of enthusiasm are still very much at play with GL media at large.

Over all, I think that both misogyny around sexual desire and homophobia contribute to the larger societal disdain for media aimed at women on whole, especially media that focuses on women's sexual desires such as BL.

[hxhhasmysoul]

As a writer, can you see the appeal of self-shipping? I don't mean to be negative, but I just don't understand that concept. Like, I just got block because I wrote fics about Endeavor/Hakws and Sukuna/Yuuji by my group of fics writers.

Before I was blocked some member criticize me by saying "how could you ship age gap like that, that is wrong in so many way". And I answered, "at least better like me than wrote self shipping like some of you guys. Gojo/reader and Sukuna/reader is just weird in so many ways". Then I was blocked.

Do you think I'm wrong?

Idk if this will answer your question, anon. I hope it's not too rambly and at least a bit helpful.

I have never considered self-shipping from the perspective of being a writer, but that makes sense to me, I only write things that I want to read and can't find, or not find enough of.

And self-shipping doesn't appeal to me as a reader. The second person makes me uncomfortable as a pov, possibly due to my history of abuse. My abuser very often assumed what I must've thought in a given situation and berated me for it and didn't accept me telling her what I actually thought. The second person pov feels too much to me like a stranger trying to tell me what I'm thinking.

This is also why I hate people policing ships in any way, because it’s always assuming what is in a stranger’s head based on confusing discomfort and lack of understanding with morality, and often based on some strange inability to separate fiction from reality. It's very far right fundie coded.

As much as a lot of stuff doesn't appeal to me, including self-shipping and several other things, some of them generally uncontroversial, it doesn't have to appeal to me because people enjoy whatever they enjoy and I can't care less about it. If it makes me uncomfortable like the second person pov or abo or real person shipping, I just avoid reading it. And I also don't have to understand why it appeals to people, it's their thing. 

Nowadays I try not to tell people that they are weird or wrong for doing stuff that is a personal preference. Shipping or most other fandom activity isn't activism or a reflection of someone's character but a personal preference. It only turns into a mark of character when people use fandom to express or try to hide their bigotry. Or use it as an excuse for actual harassment. 

Basically it's okay to find things weird, or react with discomfort. But I've learned to interrogate my repulsion or discomfort. And often it stems from internalised societal or cultural bull shit, that is about policing people and trying to fit everyone into some artificial norm. It doesn’t mean that understanding the roots of your reaction must lead you to liking the thing, but it might help you remove the value judgement. One of the best skills to have is: thinking “this is not for me” and moving on to things you actually like. I’m working really hard on honing this skill. 

For me it’s very freeing to just accept that everyone experiences the world differently and has different needs and as long as their need isn’t to harm others then it’s okay not to understand them and just say okay and move on. You can’t have all the experiences, a lot of stuff people will talk about will never be relatable because their life experience is so incomparable to yours. It’s best to accept that understanding everything and everyone is impossible but also unnecessary.  You don’t need to give everything your mental energy.

As to the person blocking you. Good riddance, they will thankfully not expose you to their shitty opinions anymore. They acted in a shitty way towards you and then couldn’t take a strong reply from you. I’m of the opinion that one should only start shit if they are ready to get the same kind of energy back. I feel no sympathy for them.

Also I’m a huge supporter of blocking people, I block at least one person every time I go into the JJK tags. Either for tag spamming or not tagging so my tag blocking doesn’t work, or just for shitty opinions so I don’t have to see them and sigh.

And their opinion is shit because shipping isn’t wrong or problematic, it’s just people imagining things. What's problematic in the JJK fandom is the racism, the misogyny, the transphobia, the harassment, the graphic vitriol towards the author and so on.

[nonbinarygamzee]

i think it is very interesting how people pick and choose which characters to sympathize with on the basis of being reduced to plot devices or being in general captives to their narratives. and obviously you dont have to like or give a shit about every character to exist especially not in a work so simultaniously dense and flat as homestuck, but i have both an intense interest in sociology and too much experience with how this fandom treats people for liking the "wrong" fictional children not to be eternally preoccupied with what makes these distinctions. when the character is liked, they are allowed the grace of being kind of poorly written; its the fault of the author, or theres some significant nudging about of their story beats to recontextualize them into something more nuanced and whole. by contrast, if the character is generally agreed upon to be uncharismatic, their personality flaws are inflated and the flatness of their writing is either erased in preference of integrating those authorial decisions into the characters personality (regardless of how glaringly contradictory) or more concerningly becomes a means of shutting down criticism on the basis nobody should care about the unserious/unwritten ones anyways.

interestingly, with gamzee in particular, ive found that people tend to do one or the other moreso than both; dont get me wrong, theres still a plethora of moralizing over peoples sympathy for This particular fictional child going on, obviously, thats basically the reason i am trapped here. but because gamzee is accepted as not a character but a plot device or an obstacle, a lot of people arent invested enough in her potential personhood to insist that the (antithetical) ways that she behaves are proof of her being "iredeemable". but they still have a negative emotional response to people having investment in her character. it isnt relevant whether or not shes a bad person, or whether she is being puppeteered, because her functionality in the world she exists in is to propagate the story and stand in opposition to its protagonists.

however as interesting as i think that is and for all i do think it says about an individual persons approach to homestucks presentation, i also cant ignore that that dichotomy only really started to Exist once it became less in vogue to harrass people for their character allegiences. in the same way, it seems like we as a fandom cannot escape the trap of being really, really weird about tavros every couple of years. skirting around some of the more blatantly ridiculous stuff because i do actually value my sanity a little bit, he is definitely one of the characters i first noticed people using critique as a pretense for passing judgement on people who liked or cared about him. again basically coinciding wiyh when it stopped being generally socially acceptable to just openly laugh about what a pathetic loser the disabled kid being humorously abused onscreen was. when ableism started to become a topic people cared about and disabled people and fans who related to tavros began to provide more in depth critique of the writing choices, and of fans, namely fans who made very light of his disability or who had a general refusal to talk about vriska's(and others but you know why its about her here) ableism, there was a massive uptick in people feeling the need to talk unprompted about how boring and shitty tavros is, questioning how anybody could like him when hes so badly written, etc. all in ways that did not try very hard to hide the fact that the concern about character writing was disingenuous and only really served the purpose of shutting down critiques of ableism in the fandom and comic. obviously this all seems to stem from investment in canonicity but i do notice it informs even the choices of people who approach their engagement in a "my city now" type of way. because the presentation of these characters impacts the wider perception, which impacts the ways people will deconstruct them. and this is why the idea that "homestuck doesnt have a canon" is a lie being sold to you for the sake of shutting down investigations od authorial motivation. was not intended to be epilogue snark but thatd as good a way to end this nonsense as anything else.

[rise-my-angel]

One pattern I've noticed in this fandom is that people have a tendency to imply, or on rare occasion outright say, that the North needs to get along with the South better.

Sure, political relationships are important and it isn't good for two peoples to despise each other - But phrasing is very important here. It's always "The North needs to get along with the South better." but never the vice versa.

That is a statement that implies they think the North is the perpetrator here, the one in the wrong and needs to be corrected. It's asking a minority to learn to make friends with the majority and accomodate for the isolation they face because of... the majority marginalising them in the first place.

Why is it never the South who needs to learn to get along with the North, for example? Why are these people so allergic to acknowledging that the North's 'isolation' is caused by Southerners othering them to no end?

It was the South who made moral panics about Old Gods worshippers 'reverting' their cities back to their 'savage' gods, it was the South who looked down on the North and repeatedly called them barbarians, it was the South who dehumanised the Northmen, derogatorily refering to them as 'armored bears' among other things - and if we look farther back in history, it was the Andals who cut weirwoods and burnt Godswoods down, making their religion and culture the dominant one in Westeros and leaving the North as the last bastion of Old Gods worship in the entire continent (Which directly lead to them being politically isolated from southern Westeros, as they are the only region left that worships the Old Gods while all the others keep faith with one (Or ones, the Drowned God exists too) that looks down on them.)

So why does the minority have a duty to 'learn to get along' with the majority, but the majority absolutely doesn't need to stop othering them as we have seen them do time and time again? Why not ask the South to let go of its prejudice against Northerners, their religion, and culture instead, for example? That's something that would also help improve the relationships between the North and South, right?

What infuriates me to no end is that the fandom genuinely buys into this. There are a lot of people, some of them semi prominent fanbloggers, who clearly have an outlook that looks down on the North - even if they won't say it out loud. They misinterpret this line, demonise that action, completely ignore this other line, etc. They do whatever it takes to create an interpretation of the books that would make their negative perception of the North true, valid, and understandable.

And this is yet another thing that I wish was done only by Targ fans. But no, I have seen Sansa fans, Dorne fans, and many others - This could be the only topic that more than a half of this fandom agrees on. No one will admit it out loud, because they fear it'll make them lose the leverage they have in the 'Who Is More Progressive: A Song of Ice and Fire Fandom Wars, Part 2' but they sure as hell will imply it a whole lot.

There is a weird trend in this fandom now, that has a very anti North mentality and I’m never quite sure where it came from, or why it became so popular. A lot of it relies on a lack of understanding of the source material, and a seeming willingness to ignore the actual implications being given in the story of that this is a minority culture stemmed from a now minority ethnic group.

The people that became the Northerners came first. They were here first, they warred with the children of the forest, they made peace with the children of the forest and made a sacred pact with them on the Isle of Faces to commemorate their peace agreement that also likely caused the destruction of the Arm of Dorne. They established a society in Westeros with the Children. They lived and propsered, they grew settlements and build grand castles that still stand today like the tower of House Hightower in what became Oldtown, or the castle in Starfall of House Dyane. They were the ones who endured and survived the long night, they worked with the Children to build the Wall that protects them, they are the ones to still guard the Wall, they were the ones who were pushed OUT of there homes when the Andals invaded.

The North came from the First Men, who were the ones who suffered at the hands of the Andals. They came, and cut down almost every Weirwood tree south of White Harbour, something we know the Northerners consider to be an insult to the old gods. The very fact that Harrenhal was built so close to the Gods Eye Lake is considered an abomination in their eyes, because it is a sacred place to them. Now while it was build by Harren the Black who wasn’t a Southerner, when Aegon the Conqeuerer burned it down with Balerion, they kept the ruins standing as a symbol of their power and every family whose ever occupied it has fallen upon bad luck or died out. Almost as if there is a curse on anyone who occupies the haunted castle because its an insult to have such a structure so close to the Isle of Faces.

The Blackwoods are one of the ONLY houses to still worship the Old Gods in the South, but thats because they were oringinally from the North before the Starks pushed them south after a feud. Other Northern originated hosues as far as we can tell, didnt keep to the old gods, or that we know of. There’s reason to beleive House Royce stems from the First Men as their bronzed sigil contains runic symbols likely from the lost language of the First Men, but its unknown if they worship the old gods or if they converted. House Strong came from the First Men, but it is unknown if they worshipped the Old Gods, most likely they worshipped the Seven, at least only publicly, considering what became their strong connection to the Crown. It says something that there are many houses south of the Neck that stem from the first men, but the only ones we know still hold faith to the Old Gods are the Blackwoods.

It tells me that a lot of these other houses that came from the First Men, i.e The Hightowers, The Daynes, The Strongs, The Royce’s, ect. They all at some point, converted to the Faith of the Seven during or after the Andal invasion as they gained ground and pushed the First Men back more North and became the dominating population. They assimilated, and thus they fit in with the rest of the Southerners. But, then you have what we know now as the North and also The Iron Islands, (we’re sticking with the North for now, I could go on and on about the Iron Islands but they are a totally different conversation).

The Northerners were the First Men pushed out of their lands in into the North as the Andals made Westeros their new home, and their culture, customs, laws, traditions, and religion became the dominating force through the lands. They dominated so much that the First Men converted their writing system to the Andals phonetics, (again see House Royce’s sigil with runes indicating that a runic system was the First Mens system of writing), and its also very likely that the First Men spoke a language of their own. I imagine it makes sense they spoke what we know in the story as common tongue, but they probably had their own langauge too and that seems to be all forgotten as well. The one thing they’ve held onto, is their loyalty and their religion.

The reason it was so interesting to the people in the Red Keep when Ned Stark agreed to be Hand of the King, is that its so rare for a Northerner to have any significant role in the south. They rarely leave, and why would they? The south is a constant reminder everywhere that they were pushed from their homes and somewhat stripped of their identities to make room for their dominant power. Now, this was many thousands of years before the start of the story, so I’m not actively judging them for this.

This is how power struggles work, and sometimes it doesn’t end as peacefully as it did with the First Men and the Children of the Forest. I know it isn’t fair to the North that the Andal ancestors are the reason their culture is so stripped away and mocked, but this was so long ago, that I wont condemn the Andals for whats long since said and done. The two cultures made relative peace a long time ago.

But, I think there is a subset of the fandom that struggles with this. The way I just analyzed the wrongdoings of the Andals, is what they do towards the First Men. They look at the First Men, and they judge the modern day Northerners for what their ancestors did thousands of years ago. They also see the descriptions given of the First Men from the Andals, which is they were dumb barbarians who only knew war and weren’t advanced like they were. When really, the First Men survived the Long Night and prospered afterwards for thousands of years, I’d say they were fairly advanced to survive that.

The people in universe looking at the North that way makes sense, but the audience should know better then to buy into that just because its the popular opinion, in universe or not. For any evidence they give that the North is the problem, I can point to 10 things the South does just as wrong but they don’t point out. It’s a weird thing that happens.

I can only imagine that because some circles paint the North out to be this oppressive, or toxic place, it means that you have to denounce everything about it in order to seem like you’re on the right side of the fandom. When, thats not having an opinion, thats just moral grandstanding, and also, it’s them completely ignoring the fact that they are saying “We want to force the minority culture of the realm to assimilate to being just like us and give up the way of life we call barbaric.”

And its like, whats more worth it? Painting the North out to be this barbaric, bad place that it really isn’t just to look as if you’re morally progressive? Or just admitting that you’re wrong, and maybe you’re harshly judging a minority ethnic group to live up to modern day standards that you aren’t even holding the Southerners or Valyrians to?

[golbrocklovely]

these asks are very oddly similar. almost like the same person wrote both. but maybe i'm wrong about that lol

imma keep it a buck fifty with you, we're just gonna have to agree to disagree. and that's totally fine.

you have every right to never indulge in conversations you don't want to partake in, and that includes ones about colby's love life. if that is not your cup of tea: totally gucci, anon. feel free to ignore when i get asks about it or talk about it in general.

that being said, there are a couple things, in both asks, i want to discuss.

first, i wasn't defending myself in the previous ask you were mentioning. i was explaining my thought process, which i guess came cross as defensive.

second, i need to express that while i agree with you there are fans that do take it too far and go above and beyond when it comes colby's love life, realistically - even if i were to say "hey, stop talking about his love life. it's weird" to every anon i get, that wouldn't stop anything. just basing it off the numbers on youtube, they have ~11 mil + ppl watching them at any given time. that is ~11 mil + ppl paying attention to their every move. that's more than the population of nyc looking at them rn. do you know what would happen if i ignored an anon or if i told them they're weird for wanting to know something they think i know? they would go to someone else. and the longest game of telephone plays on.

(and of course, not every ~11 mil + ppl talk about his love life. obviously i know that. however, if you genuinely think a good majority don't partake in some way... you're wrong. before i even knew anything about snc, i knew about colby's love life. and this was back when they barely had over 2 mil subs.)

they'll go to twitter or tiktok, even worse, to see what ppl know. and there, they'll be told lies or hearsay or rumors. at least with me, when i get an ask saying "hey is colby dating X" i can tell them directly "no he's single", and hopefully that ends the search. i know in most instances it won't, but i'm not here to police what ppl do in their free time. i'm not the snc police. it's not my job to do that. and if i were to ignore asks that i get about his love life, which i do often, ppl would just find someone else that knows. so again, the cycle doesn't end.

but i agree that some fans go extremely far in their search to know about colby and who he's with. i've seen how fans befriends girls that were seen with colby and act like they are their biggest fans, only to drop them when colby does bc they no longer have a connection to him. i've seen the hate his girl friends get. i've been in this fandom for a long time. i've seen the lowest lows. i've seen the stalker-adjacent fans, and actual stalkers. it is gross. which is why i do my best to call out ppl when they are freaking out too much about him being seen with a girl. or i try to calm ppl down or straight up hide the identity of the girls he's apparently seeing bc i don't want them to get hate.

reality is, i'm not the only one who talks about his love life. hell, i'm not the only one that talks about his love life on here. if it wasn't getting talked about on here, it would be happening somewhere else. and it already does. does it make it right? i'm not here to argue that. if colby had a deep issue with it, he's a big boy. he can tell the fandom to fuck off. and he hasn't. the most he's ever said is "i don't like being shipped with my girl friends bc it makes it weird".

i do my best to defend colby bc there are plenty of ppl in this fandom that see him negatively bc of his love life. but i can't exactly defend him if i can't mention the thing that has caused the problem, aka his love life. it's a catch 22 of a situation. and i do know about the contracts you've mentioned. it's a shame that that occurs. and it's a shame that fans feel the need to hate on anyone that they're a fan of or that their idol is seen with. i don't get it personally. i think a lot of it stems from jealousy and believing you own your idol. and of course that applies to colby. but i think in an odd way, him having a love life shows others that they don't control him or own him, which is why i wish him to go and do whatever the hell he wants. it humanizes him in a way, especially when so many ppl see him as this untouchable "person".

also if you genuinely believe that "human curiosity" does not play a major role in why ppl seek out anyone's love life and info about it; gossiping - which is essentially what ppl do on here and other social media sites, has existed in its modern definition since the 1500s. the first ever printed newspaper, circa 59 BCE, is believed to have HAD gossip in it, along with other social related things. we are social creatures, who seek to learn about ppl. part of that includes love and romance, and the gossiping nature around secretive ppl. sorry, but this type of shit existed long before fandoms were ever a thing. granted, it's definitely evolved in both a good and bad way since then bc of the internet, but let's just be honest here.

again, you don't gotta listen to what i say or do. if you don't like these topics, feel free to go ahead and move about your day in other ways and ignore me. when i'm not on here, i don't really think about snc or what colby does with his free time. and i imagine a lot of other fans are the same way.

[anissapierce]

Oh also the sex scene in my butt n other big round things or whtvr its called also had a more descriptive than i was used to sex scene n tht did make me uncomfortable. But then idk man i hit twenty n after Years of thinking on the shit i realized where the discomfort came from. Trying to shut down even the Feeling of discomfort n talk about how the feeling is dumb n wrong n uneducated... Youre not helping shit.

Self prescribed fandom elders r annoying as shit abt this stuff. If someone whos 17 is surprised even directly at you abt ur writing shipping fic, you shake it off n move on.

Bc also tht discomfort stems from extremely negative experiences too. Lot of adults being weird as shit abt teenage characters on the internet. N those teenagers got a front seat to tht as children preteens. And are all middle aged folks writing fic predators no, but that sense of discomfort didnt come from nowhere. If youve ever been walking to a bathroom at night n seen sth out of the corner of yr eye n jumped.... Then you should be able to somewhat empathize.

Idk im inarticulate as shit n this topic does get heated up to the point of pre anxiety attack symptoms so tht makes me even more articulate

[sharonisthebettercarter]

I can never take that drbat clown person seriously. All they do is complain about anonymous confessions while being a hypocrite spamming confession blogs. They sound so bitter at the world honestly.

i think everyone's got issues, and i mean, i can't lie, i've clearly got issues.

don't get me wrong, i get what you mean, some a the shit physician batsy says or even likes while knowing how disingenuous it is does rub the wrong way and deeply concerns me, and i have noticed that (not limited to batsy or even this blog in general) some of the frequenters and responders to confessions have a bit of a problem where the anon's opinion is taken personally despite it not really being negative towards them or saying anything about the "other side" so to speak that they i guess consider themselves a part of. or even and there's a LOT of this, when the confession points out a genuine but general problem in fandom, instead of being open to discussing the problem and acknowledging it, they try to shut down the conversation by being nasty to the confessor or denying the problem happens (ex: pretty privilege)

i've seen a lot of fairly neutral confessions get commenters fighting with the confession and even sometimes trying to disagree with a confession that is agreeing with them. it's a weird and sometimes hilarious phenomena i've noticed (and again not limited here) that i think mostly stems from bad reading comprehension and assumed intent (and assumed identity of confessors/trying to figure out who the confessors are/straight up insulting or bullying the confessors because... idk, i guess people feel better about bullying when they can hide behind a screen and not connect a human being to the otherside)

i have gotten mad a few times and let that get the better of me, and i'll admit that. there are some pretty shitty confessions sometimes that are hurtful or insulting to fans, there's nonsensical trolling shit which is less harmful but can be annoying, and then there's people trying to cause harm (the valkyrie antis remind me a lot of the sharon antis, except they actually have a legitimate point to make about the character's writing, but they take it too far a lot of times over something fictional and are willing to bully and insult the fans themselves for not agreeing, that's the problem)

i try to ignore most confessions that don't address or attack me (or people like me/fans of certain characters) in any way, especially if just a positive confession on a character. even if i die hard disagree with it. (strictly positive peggy confessions that don't attack sharon or insult fans of sharon/non-fans of peggy as an example, i try not to reply to them cause i'm not just aiming to be that random asshole, i'm trying to educate where appropriate, maybe live and laugh a little too), and reblog the stuff i do like (i need to catch up on lots of shit, way behind on that but been distracted and dealing with life...)

but i do know what you're talkin' about. i wanna hope that people will grow out of the behavior, but i also know that some people thrive on conflict and are addicted to it. i don't get how, but i know it happens. i have half a mind to believe mcfuzzshizzjizzshizzizzface is one of them, cause probably one of the biggest confessor bullies i've seen and of the one interaction i had with the dude, it was weird enough to make me think mcfuzzishizz started a whole new account just to argue with the self when i didn't satisfy the need for it (could be totally wrong here, but i don't think the person that responded has used the account since and i'm just sayin' it's a little weird)

anywho, to a degree, i feel you anon, thanks for the ask sorry for the essay lol, and i do wish people would stop resorting to bullying confessors and others in fandom... hot take i guess, fandom is catty as shit over the pettiest fuckin' bullshit i swears.

[cheesydelphox]

I feel like so many of mashima's characters are filled with problems that stem from him as a person

As a few examples:

- Natsu and Lucy (as was mentioned in someone's previous ask)

- Adding to this, Cana's constant groping of Lucy (and other women) which someone mentioned comes from Mashima's fetish for lesbians (I can't remember who said it though, it might have been you?)

- another point about "queer" characters is how not only Freed's sexuality obviously being portrayed as a joke to how weird it is to be gay, but also Master Bob of blue Pegasus

- Nearly every romance plot

- this one is less about Mashima's personality and more about his writing but how nearly every character that's introduced gets powered down to a laughable level, or has stagnant progression despite the fact we've been told they're getting more powerful (with a few main-character exceptions of mainly Natsu and Lucy)

Don't get me wrong I love Fairy Tail and the characters but the way it's written just tired me sometimes tbh

Sorry for the long ask btw!

I do appreciate the ask, no worries! Yes, I agree with a lot of the problems you just presented. The biggest writing flaw (imo) is the romance thing. (also i wasn't the one who said mashima has a lesbian fetish... if that's true, ew.)

Mashima just isn't good at writing romantic relationships (in the context of fairy tail! this could be totally different in edens zero, i haven't read it) and I will stand by that opinion. The only good (CANON) one is elfman and evergreen in my opinion. They're unobtrusive, didn't take a painfully long time to get together, and their relationship doesn't negatively impact their characterization. (Yes, This includes gajevy. i love them but I have problems that you might be able to extrapolate from my comments on gruvia)

Liking fairy tail for me doesn't mean "shipping characters" or "being completely okay with 100% of the canon content." Far from it. some of my FAVORITE characters got destroyed by not the narrative, but a running joke. (*COUGH* MEST *COUGH*)

But I watched this REALLY good video today that has a really good argument in it about how society has forced people's enjoyment of works of fiction to only ever line up with their moral values. I don't agree with a lot of the morality of the "queer" representation. I don't like Natsu and Juvia being a bit creepy towards the people they like. And I really don't like the dishragification of characters like Mira or the thunder legion. But saying that I don't like fairy tail because of all that shit would be wrong of me, because that would be lying!

my opinion is this: if these "problematic" aspects bother you (not you specifically, anon. i am addressing the variety of people that might possibly read this post) enough that you don't want to watch/read fairy tail, that's fine! i understand and respect that. but it's also fine to enjoy it even if you acknowledge those things exist.

this is not opening up discussion about "pro" and "anti" by the way. i think those terms are stupid as hell and don't define how i interact with fandom spaces, especially when talking about shounen anime.

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

Writing smut without cringing the whole time? How do you do it.

Writing Smut 101: Overcoming Smut Shame

CONTENT WARNING: NSFW RELATED CONTENT BELOW.

The short answer, nonnie, is: you don’t. 

That is to say, writing smut is always kind of cringe—especially if you’re new to it, or simply “not in the mood” to write. 

But rest assured, feeling embarrassed is completely natural. The trick is learning how to overcome the cringe when it does happen, instead of letting it deter you.

I’m going to break this up into a few sections: 1) Why you might be feeling this way, 2) How I, personally, combat the issue, and 3) Some more tips that might help you get the ball rolling.

1. Why You “Cringe”

It’s important to find the root cause of any form of writer’s block so you can pull the weed out instead of just trimming it back. Smut writer’s block is its own special brand, and generally, the main issue writers have when it comes to smut is stigma.

Speaking openly and honestly about sex, in Western society, is still very much a taboo.

No matter how “progressive” we like to think we are, the inherent shame surrounding pleasure-seeking experiences, and the detailing/consumption of them, has been ground into us since we learned how to understand the concept of gratification.

And I’m not just talking about sexual gratification. This applies to everyday things, as well. Eating, shopping, relaxing (or doing virtually anything in capitalist society that does not directly contribute to capitalism).

So it makes sense that you would feel any amount of embarrassment, awkwardness, or “cringe” when writing smut. It’s something our society teaches us is wrong to want. Unfortunately, that shame translates to writer’s block when we sit down in front of the computer.

A lot of this blockage might stem from not giving ourselves permission to write the thing.

We’re staring at the blank document, knowing we want to write smut, and suddenly the thoughts start streaming in: This feels wrong, is this wrong? What if someone comes in and looks over my shoulder while I’m writing? Am I describing this right? Is this too unrealistic? I have NO idea what I’m doing, and everyone is going to know it.

These are all perfectly normal thoughts, and definitely ones I still have from time to time. But they’re also probably the direct cause of why you feel so blocked. Luckily, I have some bits of advice to give you on how to unblock yourself.

2. How I Combat Smut Block

✦ First, when the intrusive thoughts occur, instead of ruminating on them, think of each one as an impermanent object. You can use any metaphor, but I like to use the imagery of leaves:

Each negative thought is a leaf floating down the river of your mind. If you focus only on the leaf, you’ll exert a lot of energy running to try and keep up with it, consequently miss everything else around you. But if you acknowledge that leaf as a temporary part of the scenery, and let is pass, you can process and appreciate the beauty of your surroundings a whole lot better.

Remember: you are separate from your thoughts. You are not defined by them. The things you think sound stupid might be incredibly exciting to someone else. 

If you can string a sentence together, you can write smut. This is all part of giving yourself permission to write the thing that makes you feel uncomfortable.

✦ Second, I’d suggest giving good thought to how you personally experience embarrassment, how you experience excitement (of the sexual variety), and how those two might sometimes commingle or feel similar.

For me, they are very comparable, like different shades of the same emotion—but there are differences which are important to note. 

If I’m making myself blush from excitement, this is a very good thing for writing smut. It means that what I’m writing feels real enough to evoke something in the reader, even if the reader, like me, knows what’s going to happen.

If I’m making myself cringe, however, it may be time to take a step back and readjust my perspective.

✦ Third, ease yourself into it! Don’t jump straight in the deep end and expect to know how to keep your head above water if you’ve never swum before.

The way I eased myself into smut was first by writing “Steam”—a category of fic I made up because the current vocabulary lacked an efficient term for fics that straddled emotional romance and explicit content. 

Essentially, steam is smut-adjacent but not explicit, and here’s a step-by-step example of how I transitioned myself smoothly from one genre to the next:

I first wrote my fics Wicked Game and You Are (both of which feature either a heavy make out session or teasing + lots of sexual tension) with this “steam” concept in mind.

I wrote the first chapter of Fine Line, which has brief but explicit descriptions of fantasies, framed by a very sexually charged scene.

I released my fic Crashing, which is probably more of a bridge between Steam and Smut, and features soft-focus fingering. Nothing in it is explicit—it focuses more on the emotions than explicit detail—but it’s very clear what is happening.

After I wrote those, I felt just confident enough to make that final stride over the threshold into smut. I wrote my fics Holy, King, and the second chapter of Fine Line all within weeks of each other.

And trust me when I say, once you get the momentum going and receive that validation from people who’ve read your work, it becomes SO much easier to sit down and start writing. 

You just have to finish that first piece.

✦ Finally (and I know I’m going to sound cliche when I say this), just like any other skill, the more you practice the more confident you will feel and the better you will get. 

So practice, practice, practice! 

If you’re nervous about posting smut for the first time, have a trusted friend/mutual Beta read it for you. It’s the online equivalent to someone holding your hand before jumping off the cliff, and works wonders for the nerves.

3. Keep The Smut Rolling

Now that you have some tools to help get you past the blockage of writing smut, here’s how to keep the inspiration flowing.

✦ Start by incorporating smutty fanfiction/erotic fiction into your regular reading rotation- 

Of course AO3 is a fantastic resource for smutty fanfiction. 

If you’re a fan of TFOTA or ACOTAR and want some of my personal fic recs, visit my fic rec masterlist.

In terms of erotic fiction, my personal favourites are anything Anais Nin (specifically Henry & June and Delta of Venus), The Thornchapel series by Sierra Simone, The Godwicks series by Tiffany Reisz, and The Original Sinners series by Tiffany Reisz.

There are also sites like Literotica and sexstories.com, which play host to explicit short fiction (not fandom based).

✦ Next, I’d recommend having a designated digital space for smutspiration- 

This can be a list of “smutty” words/phrases kept on a separate document on your computer, for those days when you just can’t think of the right way to describe something. 

Or you can create a private side-blog or Pinterest board for your favourite smutty fanart or other kinds of visual smutspiration.

✦ For that matter, try following some smutty/18+ blogs (ONLY IF YOU’RE 18+) here on Tumblr-

Many of them have a plethora of what I like to call “lemony snippets”, a.k.a. short text posts that describe (usually in conversational language) explicit scenarios. 

This is useful because it will normalise the concept of sexual fantasies in your brain, making it less weird for you when you try to come up with ones of your own to write into smut. 

Not to mention, your dash will be rife with inspiration.

✦ I would also suggest checking out 18+ ASMR on YouTube (AGAIN, ONLY IF YOU’RE 18+). 

My favourite account is Professor Cal Official, but Auralescent also has some good content. 

Headphones are highly advisable for this, as their stuff is very dangerous for work.

So, nonnie, I hope this has provided you with at least one helpful tip. Whether you took anything away from this or not, just know that the feelings of embarrassment when it comes to writing smut are entirely normal. And the best way to keep those feelings at bay is to confront them head on. 

-Em 🖤🗡

Writing Advice Masterlist

Writing Masterlist

2K Celebration!

[twilightguardian]

Xel went whining to his friends that you blocked him. Figured you deserved to know that they were shit-talking you over on a forum called Nyanarchy where he and Fairen come together to bemoan the persecution that comes with being a RWBY fan or some self-serving crap. His exact words are that you're "fucking weird and obsessive."

Thank you for the information, Anon.

I didn't want to have to block him, but once he reiterated that he refused to take Raymond at his word, I felt there was no reasoning with him. He wanted to be malicious toward Raymond and Fixing RWBY and I felt that was dishonest. He can compare this or that to politics all he wants, but that doesn't make the justification reasonable.

This isn't politics.

This is a cartoon fandom on the internet and someone is taking a significant portion of their time and energy to create something they have passion for. Whether you like Fixing RWBY or not, at the end of the day, one has to be a fan of something in order to spend multiple months on such a project. And to see someone refuse to be understanding of that because it's not an artistic venture they personally enjoy, but to also spread lies about them and their project makes me sad.

I'm a deeply creative person. A lot of the things I do stem from the passion I have for something, even if my conclusions have a negative bend. I did not like Digimon Adventure 02. It famously split the fandom back in the day. I have seen plenty of people post rewrites of it on fanfiction.net and other websites. I liked Adventure tri. and I know a lot of people didn't, and know of at least two rewrites of that. I don't get mad at people who want to rewrite tri. because I happened to enjoy it. They're allowed to express their discontent as much as I'm allowed to talk positively about it, and I'm happy they're doing it creatively. Dissatisfaction, unhappiness, sadness, pain, all stem creativity just as much as positive emotions do.

I'd like to think of myself as a reasonable person, and one that tries to see the best in people if I can see something there. That's why I reached out to Lilith as a fellow creative despite some nasty words exchanged. That's why I engaged with Xelian despite having lurked and seen previous discourse in rwde and the Rwby fandom and how he acted and who he engaged with. If he acknowledged that mindset is incredibly twisted and allowed for no one to defend themselves, then I'd unblock him and try discourse again. But that cannot happen when he effectively calls Raymond a fake fan and my friends in the SH gullible idiots who don't know they're being used. That's incredibly rude and ignores their own words and agency on the matter.

If he wants his dissatisfaction with the accusation with porn forums to be acknowledged, he has to acknowledge the strife he's causing with his own words and have some basic human decency.

I asked him for proof that the anon was lying. He said he couldn't prove a negative. But he could easily prove where he has an account on a site that he's not banned from in prominent RWBY circles. That would be enough for me. While it wouldn't prove that he has no account on porn forums, it would mean he doesn't have to engage only there. But I still stand by that it's not a big deal if he did. Assuming he's an adult, of course.

But how can I take him at his word when he lies about not being friends with Lilith? We have it on record he says he doesn't talk to Lilith, only reblogs a few things when he happens to agree with her, but apparently is a stool pigeon and goes onto this forum to have an old hen party with Lilith and co. Gotta be friends with someone to do that. As far as I'm aware, that's a rather small community.

I wouldn't have even cared if he said he was friends with Lilith because he was at least willing to talk to me and not block me practically on sight like Lilith did. But ultimately I felt I had to block him because it felt like he was being malicious, and I didn't have the energy for that and his mental gymnastics attempting to justify why he's not a massive hypocrite.

[agerefandom]

i think your view of what proshipping is is kind of skewed like sorry if i sound mean but like, "engaging with problematic" media is very vague and can stem from like, reading a story where a character has certain trauma portrayed in a negative light to where the trauma is portrayed in a Romanticized light. antis arent the devils spawn and i feel weird liking a post that says antis dni in the banner

You don't sound mean! And I certainly don't believe that people who identify as antis are evil or 'the devil's spawn.'

I agree, 'problematic media' is a massive range, and so are the reasons why people might be bothered or triggered by media. It's a very complicated discussion and everyone has their own limits.

I take issue with the groups who feel like their limits need to be everyone's limits. My parents were cautious with media growing up, and there were a lot of enforced discussions about the media that I consumed. For example, we had a lot of talks about the dynamics in Twilight and why that might be unhealthy in real life. But my parents almost never banned books entirely: they just wanted to make sure that I thought about them critically.

There were a few things that were banned from the house: for example, Eminem was not allowed under my parents' roof, nor was Kanye West. And I think those were fair for my parents to set, but as an adult I think it would be my decision if I wanted to override them. (Which I don't, because I agree with their reasoning, but I don't automatically hate people who don't avoid those same artists)

Because, again, everyone's lines are different, and should be respected.

I would identify 'antis' as people who get mad when people's lines are different than theirs. And I don't think that's fair. And especially when people gang up on fancreators to try and push them out of their fandoms, I think that's really terrible bully behavior.

I hope that helps you to understand a little more where I'm coming from, but at the end of the day, your comfort is important, and I do encourage you to unfollow or even block this blog if you find my DNI to be a dealbreaker.