#and sometimes this fandom is frustrating

[suffersinfandom]

Okay. OFMD discourse.

I see a lot of passive aggressive digs at "media literacy" and claims that we're watching different shows, and... I guess that's true? There's obviously a fundamental disagreement about what story OFMD is telling. Like, I feel like we need to sit down and do some kind of Story Analysis 101 just to make sure we all have the same foundational understanding of the show.

Like. What I was talking about in the first part of this post.

If you and everyone in your server are doing OFMD media analysis and you've all concluded that the show's main plot is the crew's storyline, you're going to come to very different conclusions than me. You're going to wonder why so much time in S2 was given to B plots and scenes that don't move the crew's story forward. You're going to be annoyed that so much of the season is devoted to Gentlebeard and not Izzy and his relationship with the crew. You might even conclude that the whole show is an example of "bury your gays" because the central queer character -- the character whose development is, in your eyes, the heart and soul of the show -- dies at the end.

The thing is? The "big cliffhanger" of S1 was not the crew's separation, and the first episodes of S2 aren't about the crew's reunion and Izzy's arc. Izzy and the crew are not the show's protagonists. Stede and Ed are the protagonists; their relationship is the main plotline. It's very silly to call S2E4 a "mistake" that "[shoves] the show's main plot and most of the characters into 1 minute scenes in between much longer gentlebeard scenes" because the Gentlebeard scenes are the main plot.

Prior to OFMD, my favorite characters were always secondary and a lot of my personal analysis focused on action that fell outside of the main story. Heck, one of my blorbos of choice takes an antagonistic role to the story's protagonists, and yeah, I sure do sympathize with him even though he's not positioned as the guy who's in the right. But I'm always aware of my blorbo's place in the narrative.

It's okay if your favorite character(s) aren't the protagonists of a story. It's okay if the plotline you're most interested in isn't the main one. It's okay if you hang out in the corners of fandom that focus on the parts of the story you care the most about. It's even okay if you're mad at OFMD for letting you down by not giving enough time and attention to the bits that are the most important to you.

Just.

Stede and Ed are the protagonists. OFMD is, first and foremost, about their relationship. When I see analysis that denies this, I feel like I'm completely losing my mind.

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

I am incredibly serious right now when I beg you all, please, and if you have Twitter or Tiktok or whatever to please spread the word: click on an author's profile on Ao3.

You want to know if an author has written more? Want to know if they're still writing? Want to see more from them? Want to know if they've written a trope or kink or sex scenario you enjoy?

Click on their name. And look at their profile.

I cannot tell you how many times in the last six months someone has read a new or newer fic of mine and said they (a new reader who has read nothing else I've done) "can't wait to see what you do next!" I've written 50+ fics and over a million words already.

"I don't know if you're still writing..." click on my profile. I am. I literally wrote a 128k+ fic for that ship last month.

"Would you ever do X?" "Please do Y!" I already did. Click on my name and look at my works.

Archive of our Own is a library. It's an archive. Not social media. It is your responsibility to fight back against the laziness that corporate algorithms have trained into you.

Click my author name. Just click it. Just click it.

Before you demand more, or ask if a writer will do XYZ, or wonder if the author still writing, or anything - click on their profile. Click on the author's profile.

I'm not trying to be mean or condescending or anything like that. I'm just exhausted. It's disheartening and frustrating to repeat myself ad nauseam, because someone couldn't take thirty seconds to do the tiniest bit of work to see if I've written lately, if I've written more for their ship, or scan my works to see if I've written what they're asking for. Please. Please. I'm begging.

Click the author's name, and explore before you ask.

[bizarrelittlemew]

i can't wait to be 30+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 40+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 50+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 60+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 70+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 80+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 90+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to look back on my life and know that i loved things deeply and passionately and was inspired to create and was part of communities with incredible people from all over the world brought together by the stories that touched us

[pirateshelly]

I think that "Armand as a character is an exercise in still caring and having empathy for people who aren't made kinder/wiser/gentler etc by the trauma and abuse they experience and if you have to pretend he didn't do the awful things he's done in order to still care about him you're missing the point" and "wanting to defend him because large chunks of the fan base are overly willing to wildly exaggerate his worst qualities (or invent entirely new bad qualities that aren't even a thing in canon!) in order to downplay Lestat's equally egregious crimes and make him look more heroic and romantic by comparison, in a way that is often subtly or overtly racist" are perspectives that can and should coexist

[official-lucifers-child]

you know when everyone hates your blorbo so going through the fanfics are just “not blorbo friendly” “blorbo bashing” and you aren’t SUPER into your blorbo so you’re not sad or angry necessarily but you are just wondering what you missed that made 3/4 of the fandom abhor your blorbo

[randomness-is-my-order]

okay, buckle up, this pjo rant-post will be a bit long! this is gonna sound a bit melodramatic but what genuinely saddens me about percy’s characterisations and portrayal by the narrative over the years since the last olympian was out is that... the very nuance that was written into this character in the original series is slowly being stripped away and moulded into the caricatures that percy has been flanderized into in popular fanon. i remember having debates over the whole “can’t function without annabeth”/“has one functional braincell”/“is constantly self-doubting himself into a pithole” characterisations and opposing these perceptions with canonical content. because the beauty of percy’s character is how his strengths have always balanced his weaknesses. he’s impulsive but battle-smart, he’s ignorant (about the greek ways) but has a tough as shit skin, he’s new to everything but he’s mindful enough to keep up with the new inlet of information. he’s loyal to a fault, but brave beyond measure. he’s a smart guy, a wisecracking guy, a loving, caring, wonderful person. the aspect of himself that doubts himself always read part-trauma, part-humility. his perception of himself was generally skewed, yes, but we had a counterbalance of it in terms of how people reacted to him, even in the original series! annabeth sure as hell didn’t fall for him for being a dumbknut who can’t tie his shoelaces without her assistance. their competence was implicitly and explicitly shown to be equal! percy had opinions that went against annabeth’s all the time, he had stances on matters that he remained so firm on he gave up immortality for them. he respected himself enough to respect his own views on different matters.

and towards the end of the series, i always got the impression that percy’s self-doubt had been improving and that is exactly how an upward progressive arc for a main character should be! and i did think that was rick’s idea too during the heroes of olympus, especially because the outsider perspectives were heavy on appreciating percy as a powerful, capable demigod. but i think, in hindsight, the seeds of what we now see in the new trilogy had already been planted. the constant pointed remarks about percy’s intelligence are irksome enough but the backpedaling of percy’s self-perception is probably the most egregious to me. because how do i argue my points from above anymore when the newest canon supports that fanon pov?

when the people surrounding percy have been reinforcing views that undermine him–primarily his intelligence and his competence–the very same people who you’d think would know better because they actually know percy the most intimately, it makes sense that percy himself is still stuck in the routine of undermining his ownself. but also... this should, from a writing-continuity perspective, make NO sense whatsoever. because this kind of superficial reading of percy from the other characters only made sense at the very start of the original series. by the end, i do not think annabeth was in the dark about percy’s “surprising intelligence”. that’s a laughable notion to have. and she’d be the first to shut down anyone implying that percy couldn’t function without her because again, so much of their original fascination and bonding with each other was about how well they could keep up with each other! they don’t need each other and that makes it all the more wonderful that they’re gonna help each other out regardless!

ugh, i just do not understand the logic behind having the protagonist revert back to self-esteem issues that he has already been shown to overcome to a noticeable difference by the conclusion of his original arc. i get regression in self perception is not some uncommon, unfathomable concept. but i cannot wrap my head around the fact that this view of percy of his ownself is not treated with enough gravity by the narrative, instead it’s just a part of his pov now. i do not think rick’s trying to paint annabeth or the friends as enablers of this self-perception and if he is, that’s bullshit. someone like sally would not allow her son to continue thinking of himself in such a manner anyway.

also, like, forget everything–the writing, the logic leaps, the plot holes. is it too much to ask for percy, a beloved main character, to have a confident outlook and have that reflected in the books explicitly meant for “fun”? if this series is how we send-off the golden trio and say goodbye to them, why do we need to see percy with a self-deprecating perception? why can’t we have banter that doesn’t horribly contradict established characterisations in the past? the fun of percabeth was, for me, that even if they were on some pedestal, they were on it together. but lately, it’s like rick is trying his best to throw percy off that pedestal from all directions possible and i think that’s such a disservice to this character we all have cherished for decades now. there are ways to go about writing, what is essentially, an “unserious” trilogy without compromising on character traits and interpersonal dynamics. it was never dumb vs smart, clumsy vs competent, grumpy vs sunshine, whipped vs unbothered when it came to percabeth. but slowly, so many of these black-and-white popular tropes have been bleeding into their canon dynamic and at the cost of sounding crude: fuck this, just fucking FUCK THISSSS.

[neodiekido]

*gritting teeth* it's really cool how the game itself extensively deconstructs maki's "cold ruthless killer" facade for you and has kaito look into the camera and explicitly tell you what her arc was about and the fandom still mostly portrays her as at best a girlboss and at worst a dumb evil bitch (who only exists to bully kokichi, the only character who's facade isn't meant to be taken at face value)

[doumekiss]

Lately I've seen a lot of complaining in the dungeon meshi tag about how now there is a lot more m/m works on ao3 than f/f but like farcille is still the most written pairing and by a lot :

And the reason why m/m is more popular is because there are more possible pairings like labru, kabumisu, chilshi, laishuro and others, while f/f ships with the main characters the only available options are farcille and marcille/izutsumi. And Kabru being the most shipped character with the male characters it's kinda cool because it is still rare to see characters with dark skin being shipped with the main character in anime fandoms (I literally can't think of any another example of a character with dark skin being part of the most popular slash ship in a anime fandom).

[unikhroma]

really sucks to see someone mention the 100% fanon thing that queen and/or swatch tried to kill spamton at some point as a bullet point in a broader analysis post about him and see it go unchallenged

[theskeletonprior]

Hopefully this take is uncontroversial, but if it amazes you that the fic you just read was posted online for fun and for free, you should tip the writer, if they're accepting them, and if you're able. Writers do an incredible amount of unpaid labor, especially those seeking publication. It can take years to write a book, and most have to do that writing while also holding down a day job (which often also underpays). All this to say, I think writers are worthy of the same support as any other kind of artist, and we should show up for them with the same energy.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

literally the easiest way to make someone care about a character and make them feel well-rounded beyond basic traits like personality, sexuality, ethnicity, etc, is to give them an actual character arc, and it’s shocking how many people do not seem to fully realize this

you cannot just cram a bunch of tropes. tropes are not the main event, they are tools to tell the story you wish to tell. emotional impact comes from the lead up, so you can’t just jump ahead and expect the payoff to work. “I want this character to just ___ already!” but they’re not there yet. that’s where the arc comes in - how do they get there?

and! most importantly, and this is something I really want people to think about when writing - the most important relationship your character should have, always, is with the world and society around them. defining your character purely through their interactions with other characters are, I find, how a lot of female characters end up feeling flat or not engaging with the themes as much as the male characters, and also how queer and non-white characters wind up as devices for other characters’ development instead of being more fleshed out

[undertale-fic-librarby]

U have any Errormare (Errorx Nightmare) fanfics that arent Nsfw? Thanks in advance!

Howdy, thanks for asking! Here are some fics that might fit what you're looking for!

Destructive Glitches - Echoes Of The Night by Laughing_Zombie (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

Nightmare and Error have fallen into the Void. The Gloom and Doom Boys have returned to their old homes since then. Error is greatly weakened by this event and needs magically aid, Nightmare lost his hold on the Multiverse and wants nothing more than to get revenge on his brother. The two friends vowed to be by each other' side no matter what. Together the ERROR and the Nightmare shall raise again.

The Forgotten Creator by 09Shell_sea09 (General Audiences, Incomplete)

Error always knew some things where off. He knew how to create things he had no memory of learning how to. He always felt off. It hadn't started off with a bang, in fact they had started with the whisper, and it had come over time. Over observation. Until he finally realized, exactly what had been done to him, and the full extent and reason of Fate's hate towards him.  Balanceverse - My new AU created with @gdesertsand, our new baby Inspired by Harrish6, Healing what has been broken.

The Betrayer {Card Edition} by Laughing_Zombie (Teen And Up, Complete)

Once upon a time, the four kingdoms were ruled by the Royals; the King, the Queen and the Jack. Loosely based on Cardverse. full summary and author's note inside (ch1)

Anomaly by Star_Struuk (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

The day Paperjam met their creators, it was decided that they stay with Ink. Three years later, Blue realizes that might not have been the best idea and situates them to stay with Error in Nightmare’s castle. Paperjam is reluctant. They had been fine how they were, all holed up at Ink’s. Really. (A.k.a. me not seeing enough non-shippy PJ fics and taking matters into my own hands.)

Runaway by WeirdLookingWolf (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

Nightmare gets chased out of the village leading him to end up in a new and much different village that seems much better. While he misses his brother, he just can't bring himself to go back so maybe he could make a new home here? (Runaway!Nightmare AU for the soul) (Slow updates)

[duckprintspress]

my understanding of the new information on the Hugos fiasco.

[cutely-inserts-my-opinion]

ahem. taps mic. I'd like to wade in during this and say that, honestly?? I'm not mad about Nexus's arc rn.

Like, it did defs needed to be executed better because the fact it took me this long to connect/come up with a reason for why we got to this point is... telling.

But I mean. I can imagine waking up one day and being forced to figure out how to be someone else (but only in the smart way, not the bad way) will undoubtedly wear you thin. Nexus wants to have their identity for themselves, making choices they would make rather than choices Moon would make.

Even if those choices include literally slowly killing themselves. Because at least its their own choice. yk???? like. the beginning of this arc felt like a mess but I am truly honestly into it now. I think it's a very fun exploration of identity and miscommunication and tragedy!

The biggest issue with this arc is how we got here and how its being treated

Because I would fucking LOVE a nexus villain arc that deals with identity and miscommunication and tragedy if it was done right

The issue is that it feels so forced. Just kind of a "im evil now woopsie doo". It feels like an eraser of everything he did for the family and the year he spent as New Moon, like they don't even care.

Between what monty did, what and who Nexus is, and Sun's conflicting this could have been done so well and been so interesting. But with how Old Moon is and stuff- it just feels like a way to show how cool old moon is and make us sympathize with him. Which is just- bullshit

[natsmagi]

adding onto my last rant from a while ago a little bit, it is fascinating how many people in this fandom completely miss the point of tsumugis character and misconstrue what hes actually about which, ironically, is just what eichi did. and its done in such a similar fashion too, such as making assumptions about his motives, his family relationship, and missing the point in why he chooses to look the way he does. and, time and time again, eichi has been proven to be WRONG about tsumugi. he misunderstood him deeply, and now its eichi whos stuck mourning the past while tsumugi has long since moved on, not the other way around, as tsumugi is on the path of getting his happy ending. and i dont get why people keep trying to take this positivity from him

(s. element epilogue 2)

[sukibenders]

"Penelope has insecurities!" As an excuse for her harming others because of those said insecurities falls very flat when it puts the character's, who live during a time of few options especially if you were a women, at risk. And even with her insecurities, her lashing out and hurting people should be held in the same regard as how some view Cressida, who didn't get the luxury of a view into her home life until s3, unlike Penelope, and while it still has people calling out this behavior, although rightfully so, it often still includes denying that Penelope needs to take accountability as well.