#and there's still a lot of fan entitlement going around these days that i'm also leery of creators taking on too much feedback... idk

[lazzarella]

Oh, I started a very similar post recently but couldn't be bothered posting it. (Read: was too chicken)

“it’s important to be critical of the media we consume” doesn’t mean I have to do so in a public forum

This! This is exactly why I often have a kneejerk "NO!" response when I see 'we have to be critical of the media we consume' because SO many people I've seen express that sentiment mean we have to do it in the public eye (and not an insignificant number of them want you to be critical in the same way they are, and if you're not then it doesn't seem to count) and preface any praise of media with a long disclaimer on its flaws. And it's not everyone, but it's enough people that I'm leery of posts like that now. I just have zero interest in always having to list every single flaw before I can dig into what I like!

Anyway, I personally try to meet media on its own terms, these days, as in I prefer to look at what it's trying to do, instead of what I think it *should* do, and I'm able to enjoy a lot more things that way! Sometimes I don't think it's successful, and sometimes I end up realising it's just not for me. And I'm also trying to keep in mind that a LOT of media critique comes down to subjective preference. Pls, I could very easily tear even some things I love to shreds, and while it can be fun while I’m yelling at my television, I personally find it more gratifying and challenging to dig into what’s working and why, I guess?

It's certainly interesting to read other people's thoughts on different shows and movies and books, but yeah, I follow people on Letterboxd and Goodreads and see people in the tags here who never seem to enjoy anything! I'm sure they do, but their reviews are always heavily skewed toward negative criticism and it must be exhausting. It seems exhausting to me, anyway!

There are so many ways to engage with art and media and focussing on the positives does not display a lack of intellectual curiosity imho

(Sorry, I don’t usually add anything to posts, but this has been on my mind a lot lately)

The thing is, I do have negative thoughts and criticisms of the things that I watch or read, but I don’t often feel compelled to share them, and I don’t think this makes me intellectually inferior or vapid.

I think it’s quite easy, in fact, to recognize the flaws in a piece of media. And I don’t owe it to the public or to strangers to make sure that they know that I know that something that happened in a show was poorly executed or that an actor had weak delivery.

If I really feel like talking about something I disliked, then I will, but “it’s important to be critical of the media we consume” doesn’t mean I have to do so in a public forum, and I don’t get why some people act like doing so makes them smarter than the rest of fandom. Frankly, I think what bothers me more than the negativity is the pretentiousness around it.

[sergle]

Every time YouTube nonsense happens I'm always like "I can't wait to see what Sergle says about this" because you're the only person I follow that talks about YouTube nonsense.

Please take this is an invitation for you to talk about the Watcher's apology video lol

I am a filthy youtube enjoyer so you can absolutely count on me and GODDDDDDDDDDD... I mean the apology is not NEARLY as funny as the blunder, so it hasn't kept my attention as much but like the obligatory upfront thing is that, like, it is good that they posted it, they apologized for being insensitive and whatever, they're not scraping their channel clean or going forward with their old plan to only post their shows on their own platform, and these are technically good and correct things, because they could have pretended not to notice all the negative feedback. So like, responding is good. BUT LIKE I HAVE QUESTIONS NOW... Because they took SO LONG to film and upload a video that basically is just "we fucked up, we're sorry, we're not gonna do that anymore", which doesn't exactly take a writer's room several days to cook, but I DIGRESS... They were quiet for long enough for everyone to LOOK REALLY CLOSE. After the initial reaction, people had time to do some pretty comprehensive cost breakdowns for their stuff, and for what they have to be pulling in from adsense, sponsored segments, patreon, merch, and touring Like, they'd need to be really mismanaging their finances, because they're doing very well for themselves, making good, stable money, and the vids they make are super duper advertiser friendly. SO... you take long enough without putting out a holder statement or a quick heel-turn apology or anything, it gives people more time to get comfortable with not liking you, and also to dig around and google things about you, or scrape up info/trivia about you to corroborate their new opinion of you. It gets personal, is what I mean. So pulling this move has still, at BEST, caused some permanent damage to their relationships with fans, in both directions. They all got a huge flood of negative feedback, and even a perfect, emotionally mature, non-entitled person would have a negative reaction to people being upset with them at such a high volume. But now they're gonna remember the things that people have said about them, and there's no way that at the very least, Steven isn't gonna feel spiteful about this. People TOTALLY unloaded on him (funny) (valid) about his evangelical christian conservative leaning tesla privileged out of touch boy gold flaked ice cream eating ways. He definitely is going to remember that ppl said they never liked him in the first place. As for Ryan and Shane, people didn't have any dirt on them, but they definitely still received a lot of angry messages from people, most of which will have been reasonable, but they're gonna remember the really really mean and intense ones. Anyway, they made a booboo dumb enough for jack to want to make a skit about it, so for that I'm very grateful, because I thought it was really really fucking funny

[voxofthevoid]

Would you do a fic without any tags? Like "CNTW" and "caveat lector" - and nothing else?

Destroy the weak, cull the herd, etc.

Y'know, my first, unthinking reaction was "I'm sure fucking tempted sometimes," but upon further consideration—no, I wouldn't. Not because I can't see the appeal of that tactic but because if I'm ever driven to that point, I'm far better off ditching that ship, fandom, or even Ao3 itself. There are always greener pastures; plus, there's a point where the spite starts to hurt me rather than fuel me, and I'm very invested in avoiding that.

I loathe how a vocal subset of Ao3 users wield its tag system as a cudgel against anyone they deem as not conforming to their arbitrary ideas of tagging etiquette, but I love the tag system itself. I love the freedom it offers authors first and foremost, which is why the aforementioned vocal subset pisses me off.

The process of tagging is something I enjoy a lot. Finding the right tags, inventing new ones, arranging them in all in a way I find both accurate and aesthetic—I love all of it. If people piss me off to the point that I decide to ditch the whole thing, what's the point in staying on the website?

This April 01 marked the 11th anniversary of my Ao3 account, and in that time, there have been three major alterations to my tagging behavior, all prompted by outside factors—namely, people being obnoxious.

I stopped tagging who tops and who bottoms. This happened sometime around 2017, when I got active in the Yuri on Ice fandom. I can't remember if I started out tagging top/bottom and later axed those tags or if I'd developed a distaste for it by the time I started posting for YoI at all. Regardless, the reason was hypocrisy: Fans expected one specific dynamic to be the default, while the other was considered a deviation to be warned for. If an untagged fic had top!Victor, no one would bat an eye, but if it was top!Yuuri, people would be up in arms. Noticing that double standard made it impossible to ignore, not just in YoI but across fandoms. Sure enough, it's still very much there—I have more comments than I can count from JJK and especially goyuu readers doing precisely this. Even discourse around it shows how so many people seem fundamentally incapable of grasping their own hypocrisy.

Sometime in the early 2020s, I permanently switched to using Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings. I also went the extra mile and changed the main archive warnings on my old fics to this. There are still a few No Archive Warnings Apply fics on my profile, but I'll mass edit those too one of these days. This was prompted by seeing one too many aggressive dumbasses argue that using CNTW is anti-social and anti-accessibility and other such nonsense. The arguments essentially dismiss CNTW as a valid warning because of its broadness—when that broadness is very much the point. And the more people elaborated on why they think CNTW is a "bad" warning, the clearer it became that it was about entitlement. They don't want to filter out CNTW because it may cost them fics they may like, and they don't want to go to the trouble of manually doing more extensive vetting to see if a CNTW-tagged fic is safe for them to read.

I stopped accepting tagging suggestions, period. There are exceptions, like my backlog clearance where I tell people I have no clue what's in the fic and they can suggest tags if they'd like, but on the whole, whatever I slap on a fic is all that's going to be there. I tag carefully and accurately, but exhaustive tagging isn't something I offer or aspire to. And I've found that being too accommodating will backfire more often that not—been there, done that, no thanks. That said, I don't expect people to read my profile, so it's cool if anyone asks for tags via jokes, idle suggestions, or even polite requests. But the moment it crosses the line to become a demand or an accusation of negligent tagging (my least favorite flavor, especially in relation to top/bottom tagging), I'm biting off a head or three.

These are all already major changes, and none of them were made out of warm and fuzzy feelings. I don't regret them though, especially because these are all aimed at selecting for more responsible readers. Assholes and idiots still pop up, especially in conflict-prone fandoms, but overall, I'm happy with my current tagging practices and their results.

...This got way too long 😂

[hils79]

Hils Watches Imitation - Ep 3

I know I'm only a couple of episodes in but I'm actually enjoying this a lot more than I expected. And not even because of Ateez because they're not really in it that much.

I'm enjoying how much Jongho gets to dance in this. I don't think I've heard him sing at all yet. I could ramble on for hours about what a talented dancer he is when he isn't conserving his energy for singing

Of course the sasaengs are following them everywhere. He's probably going to have to apologise now for daring to talk a woman.

I just looked up the actor because I was amused that he was supposed to be playing a 22 year old when he looks about 40. He actually was only 24 when they made this so he must have had a hard life damn.

He is so damn funny in this. Look at his little face he's loving all the drama

This drama has all the classic tropes. The mean and jealous popular girl, the girl's best friend pining over her, the boy having a comedy sidekick. It's silly, but fun.

I love that Yunho's role in Ateez is boyfriend, and his role in this is also boyfriend. Except he's not going to make it to boyfriend status, so sorry Yuyu. Born to be a boyfriend, doomed to be the best friend.

Oh nooooooo he gave a gift from the fans to a random girl. They are going to destroy him for this. Except because this is a drama they'll probably just destroy her. We'll see how this plays out.

Hyuk always there with a savage one liner. I love him.

This is hitting particularly hard right now given what's happening to Haknyeon from The Boyz at the moment

Aww he thinks Yunho is her boyfriend. Only in Yunho's dreams, don't worry.

I have really got to stop calling him Yunho.

I thought he looked familiar! He's from SF9! Did they just hire a bunch of idols from the set of Kingdom?

I love that Hyuk is rooting for her and is annoyed that her dance got cut

This would be funny if it wasn't exactly how so called fans act when they see something they don't like. I am kind of relieved that he's getting into bother too instead of them just blaming Ma Ha

Oh they haven't even named her which is kind of surprising

Yes, lending someone a coat shows he looks down on the fandom. And the sad thing is, like I just said, this sort of nonense happens irl all the time. Why can't people just be normal? God I miss the days when fandom was just about being around other fans and it was kept far away from the people involved unless you went to a convention or something.

God he's so hot when he gets angry. But come on ffs you're an idol too. Why are you jealous because she danced with someone on a variety show. That's work!

I could go on a whole rant about how companies give fans too much power, and how those fans wield that power like a weapon. I still haven't forgotten the hundreds of funeral wreaths so called fans sent to the SM offices to protest one of the members being brought back after a hiatus for the crime of having a girlfriend before he debuted.

God, these poor girls are clearly still traumatised after what happened to their former member.

Yeah, he should quit because he loaned someone a coat. Again, though, this is the closest I've seen to what actual idols and fans are like though. It's bloody awful.

Girl, don't do it

Ah, time for the traditional apology letter for doing literally nothing wrong

Wait how does he have that CD? Didn't he say he only realised who she was quite recently

God she's even threatening them to their faces after they came out as a group to apologise in person. And all this does is send the message that if you act entitled enough you get face to face contact with the group. I hate all of this.

Is he practicing out of spite because he wants to become a star so Ma Ha will notice him? Come on, dude. She's your best friend you know she's not like that.

Of course one of Shax's producers wrote the song that Omega 3 was supposed to debut with, and that they want to redo for their new debut as Tea Party. Everyone is connected in kdrama land

Congrats, girls, you have two dads now

It's not a true kdrama if they don't dislike each other at first

I love them

Oh my god is that Shax's slogan? I feel like I would stan them if they were a real group. Love me some dark/goth concepts

I love that this group is three members of Ateez plus Yunho's rival. Well, his group rival not his romance rival.

[galvanizedfriend]

hi! so i’ve read pretty much all of your works and loved them so much. your writing is amazing and some of the best fan fiction i’ve read.

the only ones i haven read from you are the wolf series but i keep hearing so many good things about it.

i know it’s a TO rewrite with caroline instead of hayley (and i could look past the baby plot if it means klaroline) but i’ve tried watching the show a few times and hated hayley’s personality and some other nuances to the show and o was wondering if The Wolf is Caroline in place of Hayley but her personality and the way she acts in situations is how Hayley does in the show, or if it’s very much so Caroline if she were put in the position Hayley is in? if that makes sense

First of all, thank you very much, nonnie! ❤️ Glad you enjoy my little fics 🥰 Your question makes perfect sense, yes.

The short answer is: no, Caroline is not just Hayley in a wig 😂 If you're asking me, I'm obviously going to say it's completely different! I'm biased, but I also know how much work I put into it, so I know all the ways TW deviates from the show. I think Caroline is very IC in this, if I may say so myself, so obviously not Hayley, and every time I've gone back to re-read parts of this fic I have had a great time 😂 So personally, I think this is a very entertaining story, but again, it's my story lol Other people might be able to give you less biased opinions.

If you hate hate The Originals, there is still a chance you won't like this anyway, but I do think it's very different, and I have a longer answer if you're interested.

Under the cut because I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! Be careful what you guys ask me, you might get a freaking bible as a reply.

I have become deffensive of this fic over the years because I have received some very nasty comments in the past (not saying your question is offensive in any way, nonnie, this is a very valid question!). I can respect people not liking it, I can respect this isn't everybody's cup of tea, and that's totally fine. What I can't stand is when people tell me I haven't done anything to the show, or that Klaus and Caroline are exactly the same as Klaus and Hayley. I did not spend the amount of time I have spent overthinking and overwriting this shit into something that makes much more sense and is way more fleshed out than the show ever was to hear from people that I've done nothing. I can't even list all the ways TW deviates from the show, or Caroline from Hayley, because I'd be here for the rest of the day.

As the person writing the story, I know exactly how much thought I have put into it, how many original scenes and dialogues and shit I write each chapter, and how much of what I've taken from the show I have cracked my brain to twist and change in a way that fits. I have spent more time of my life overthinking the crappy writing on this show in order to add context and find correlations and make connections and rationalize characters' behaviors and add depth to their actions and their thoughts, and let me tell you, nonnie, it was not easy. It's unbelievable how weak the writing for TO is, the actors do a lot of the work all by themselves. My friends who were with me during this time know how fucking annoying I was lol

This was me sending messages to @definedareasofuncertainty in the middle of the night to explain an idea:

I realize I can't expect readers to feel the same way, everyone is entitled to their opinions and I can only be responsible for what I write, not for how people are going to understand it, but I can't help the way I feel because, to me, it's insane when someone reads this and thinks it's the same. The entire premise of The Wolf is different. It's never about the baby, the baby is almost background noise. The Originals starts and ends around Hope, but The Wolf is not about baby Eve (that's the baby's name), it's about Caroline. Everything is about Caroline, and about Klaus' feelings for her.

A lot of what I think is wrong with TO is that it just doesn't make sense. The things they do, the choices they make, the way they relate to each other just doesn't work, and what I tried to do was rewrite it in a way that it did make sense, not only moving the story forward, but also, and especially, the characters, their motivations and their relationships. I feel like TO was always going to be a better show if they'd focused more on characters than on plot, because that's what I was there for from the start, the family and their bonds, not undercover werewolf packs or baby-stealing aunts. But the writers sacrificed the characters so much for the sake of some arguably very silly plots (don't even get me started here…). While I do keep the plot points, what I tried to do (and hopefully succeeded, at least to a certain degree) was to bring the characters to the front and push the action and enemies and wars and such to the background. So instead of having the characters reacting to the plot, I have the plot serving the characters, if that makes sense. I kept the parts that interested me and that I felt I could use to serve my purposes and threw out everything I could dispense with.

And what I was aiming for first and foremost was to get Caroline the center stage I always felt she deserved, and the love story she could've had with Klaus. So the whole thing is really about that. S1 is the two of them sorting through their differences and understanding their feelings for each other, S2 is the two of them negotiating an actual relationship, S3 is them being married. That's it. I had the best time writing about the two of them through the eyes of the other characters, to have Elijah and Rebekah and Kol and Marcel witnessing and monologuing about Klaroline, all these different points of view on them. And my actual favorite part of the entire story is the part that isn't The Originals at the end of TW2.

So anyway, my point with my TO rewriting was never to fix everything that is wrong with the show. I wasn't writing the version of TO I wish it had been, my ideal spin off. I could've done that, but I didn't, because it's not what the project was ever about when I started. I wanted to keep the show as close to what it is as possible, whilst trying to prove a point (to myself, but also, hopefully, to some other people) that there was a way that this show could've still kept me invested. I'm an easy girl, just give me faves on their journey towards endgame and I'm satisfied, you know.

If you made it to the end of this, congratulations, nonnie 😂 You wanted a yes or no answer and you got a STATEMENT. I'm very sorry for my dumbass response, I've just become *protective* of this fic. If you do read it, I hope you'll find it enjoyable. If not, that's ok too! There are many amazing fics out there for you to be wasting your time on something that won't spark joy for you ❤️ And thanks again for reading my other fics, that's very lovely of you!

[crowtrobotx]

Keep scrolling unless you want a wall of emotional word vomit of me waxing poetic about my favorite fic being deleted

Disclaimer first off: the most important thing is that the author is okay. Obviously a piece of fanfiction is nothing compared to their life, and as a writer myself I know that audiences do not own the work nor do authors owe them anything. It is and was always her right to do whatever she wanted with her writing whenever she desired, and she may have had very valid reasons for going scorched earth. I just see a lot of people immediately dismiss readers' sorrow when a fic is lost as "entitlement" or some kind of emotional manipulation and... well, this is a "two things can be true at the same time" situation, yeah? Anyway. I have questioned myself the last few days and my reaction to discovering akumaalert deleted her tumblr along with her AO3 account and all her works. Fortunately, I had a very weird anxiety feeling in January of this year and downloaded the two most important to me (HML and the anon fic that I always suspected was also her) and saved them before this happened so... silver lining, I suppose. Still, I am... devastated. Especially considering her last update was so hopeful sounding and really seemed to imply her life was taking a positive turn and that she really wanted/needed to come back to HML. There are a million reasons why people destroy their own work - I myself very nearly nuked Chrysalis after a few chapters until a friend stopped me - or at least take it out of the public eye. But I'm... fearful that the reason might not be any of the more benign ones. I have wondered why I had such a strong emotional reaction. Yes, it was my favorite fic, yes, the author seemed like a cool person in our extremely brief Tumblr interactions, but my ass cried all weekend, y'all. I do not cry. And yet there I was, literally mourning something that on the surface seems completely ridiculous. But "favorite fic" doesn't really do it justice, I guess. Let me explain. In 2021, exactly a year to the date that my dad died, RE8 came out. I had at that point reconnected with my less palatable (read: artistic and fandom-oriented) side that I'd tried to bury for the prior ten years in order to deal with the fear of imminent mortality that his passing instilled in me. I wish I could tell you what it was about this dumb game and this dumb hobo Magneto that made me so insane, but. Well. If you're reading this you probably all saw what happened and continues to happen lol. I got back into fic because of it - only as a reader until around 2023 - and of course HML was one of the most popular fics in the fandom in the early days. And with good reason - it was incredibly well written, funny, authentic, touching, grounded. I know people have a lot of preconceived notions of what fic can be and let's be frank.... yes, most of it is amateur. And to some people that might mean bad, but in spite of that there are some genuine gems out there and this was one of them imho. Plus, and of course this wasn't intentional on the author's part, it really just hit me in the right places at the right time, y'know? I won't bore you with details but suffice it to say that in addition to trying to be more ~myself~ I was also coming to terms with a lot of things regarding my sexuality, my preferences, things that had happened in my past. And maybe it sounds dramatic - and once again this is not me guilt tripping I am just extremely sad - but like... this fucking piece of goddamned Resident Evil fan fiction really helped me. It was comforting, it was affirming. I was too shy to leave chapter by chapter comments at the time but I did end up finally leaving one overall 'this fic changed my life I promise I'm not insane' comment I think in 2023 after I'd started my own work so... at least I didn't just say nothing, I guess. And it was my adoration for what she was able to do with these characters and this frankly goofy ass canon that made me think, finally, "yeah, I wanna do that too."

And like, let me be clear: I have made a lot of friends in this fandom (I've also lost a few but that's a rant for another day.) All of their work has truly inspired me and I cherish all of it with my whole heart. Chrysalis doesn't exist without HML but it also doesn't exist without Sound of Snow and Microcosm and others that I am too lazy to type out rn because I'm in a mood. I think it's just that my Karl - the way I write him in Chrysalis, in Check Engine, in all the private little things I've made and only shared in Discord - is so very heavily inspired by HML's Karl and it's impossible not to think of it every time I write. Chrysalis is going to end relatively soon and it's really, really painful to think there's just... a void in the place of a thing that really sparked it to life in the first place. I dunno. I'm glad for the weirdly premonitory anxiety that made me save a copy that I've been able to share with a few folks who are similarly heartbroken. I'm scared for her as a person, given what little she shared. I know fics get deleted all the time - there's a reason that "save your faves" is a mantra in most discussions - and I'm not like suffering anything unique here. I also know that "just be happy all of it existed and was shared even temporarily" is probably the correct train of thought but it's juuuuust fuckin' hard. And sad. Because I always knew this was a possibility, ever since the initial hiatus, but I guess I always assumed/hoped that it would just become like all the other thousands of unfinished but still present fics on AO3 and other sites. I really didn't think it would all just... vanish. And right after we were all so excited for her and maybe even for an update after years. First I mourned an ending I felt we'd never get, but I was okay with that because it meant we could all kinda make up our own. And now I'm mourning someone I didn't know, and what they might be going through, and I'm mourning the loss of some truly wonderful and inspiring pieces of art (and I don't use that word lightly.) Perhaps this is presumptuous but I always thought to myself that I had to finish Chrysalis even when I was feeling really bad about it for HML/akuma, for the work that inspired it that seemingly through uncontrollable forces couldn't be finished. Now I kinda feel like I'm doing it in memory of it, and all the people who shared that love for it and commented on it and her other work, and for myself. Idk. It's not like she's going to read this. I'm sure I sound like a parasocial lunatic. I just genuinely hope above all else that she's okay, and if I could say something I'd tell her that I'm always rooting for her and that I'm thankful she shared some time with us, however brief. I hope more people understand that what they make really does matter; you never know who you've touched.

[apollxnian]

hey everyone it's mars here again with a third muse! you may know me from previous hits @andxnte and @timbxrs and now i'm back with a new kid who hopefully rounds out my muse lineup nicely :)

anyway, you can get a lot from his profile and bio but i'll put a few more facts under the cut! and of course if you'd like to plot with luke, shoot me a message or like this post and we're ready to get involved!

alright so i kinda realized i accidentally wrote his bio more from the pov of his parents than including his own thoughts and feelings, so i'll try to give some more insight into that... basically luke was lowkey parentified, his mother in particular because she had to lean on him to translate for her in canada and his dad was spending long hours at work. this kinda forced him to grow up too fast, and he accepted this until he started to become a teenager and realized how unfair his situation was. it sounds kinda insane to use the idol industry as an "escape" to freedom, but that's exactly what he did. it gave him an excuse to leave his parents' home for an extended time and he doesn't hate it tbh, so he's soaking up this experience while he tries to decide what comes next.

that said he loves his family! he really does! he has his grandparents and probably aunts/uncles/cousins in south korea so he's not exactly alone here (and i am so open to plotting out extended family relationships too just saying...). he does struggle with some guilt at likely leaving his younger siblings in the same situation he left, and he misses them, but he had to do this for himself.

a lot of his community growing up was through church btw. his parents attended a korean community church in toronto where some services were held entirely in their native language. they became very involved as it was a way to connect with the culture they moved away from for luke's dad's job. another reason he wanted to get away is because of his bisexuality, which he knew he could never admit to his very conservative parents, and y'know still acknowledges that south korea isn't exactly the place one would go to in order to explore that but it is what it is. he's not totally sure of his own religious beliefs at this point in his life but kinda appreciates the fact that it doesn't have to be a priority right now either.

all this said, he still very much has caretaker tendencies despite being one of the youngest members of his group (and in the company?)!! that's sort of how he adopted the "mood maker" role for himself; he can't exactly take care of his members or anyone else like he would his younger siblings, but he can try to make them laugh or brighten their day a little bit. he's kinda good at it too since he's not really afraid to make a fool of himself. it's why he keeps going viral for dumb shit too and he's probably the guy hosting the party in the fanfic since he comes across as super extroverted and friends with everyone.

he's actually way more chill than his image would imply though. he's not actually full of boundless energy and is perfectly happy to sit in silence and just relax when he has the opportunity. but he does put pressure on himself to be the funny guy, to make everyone around him happy, and ALSO that "chronically online" image means that he's VERY active on social media and hi-u. social media, unfortunately, is a 24/7 job and fans are becoming increasingly entitled to his time and attention and a touch of people pleasing tendencies make it hard for him to establish boundaries. luke's doing his best, but this is definitely a theme i want to keep exploring and how it'll affect him longterm!

i don't have any particular plot ideas right now and kinda prefer to work things out on a case by case basis, so if luke sounds like fun to you then please hmu with a like or a message or a nudge on discord and we can get something going!! i think this is all i have to say for now <3

[idolish7imagines]

can i request tamaki with a reader who’s a trigger fan and some new limited edition trigger merch comes out and reader is determined to get the whole collection and drags tamaki along (we’re running the trigger new merch drop like the army telling him what to get when we get there how were gonna split the store up etc etc) (cute and fluffy and hes supportive and tries his hardest but also maybe some jealously hehehe)

Yotsuba Tamaki x Reader :: Merch Sweep

A/N: these drabbles are getting longer and longer so if yall read it all i love you

He's pouting and you haven't the faintest clue why. Again.

"Tama, what's with that face? Perk up! We're almost at the store and we have to be on our toes as soon as we get in there." You explain, nudging his shoulder as the two of you walked through the sidewalks and streets bustling with life already even though it was fairly early.

"I hate waking up this earlyy.." He rubs his eyes, there were clearly still crust and tiredness in them since he barely got up despite you shaking him so much to the point you nearly considered body slamming him.

"I'm still sorry but we've been planning this for almost a week so its not like you didn't have time to mentally prepare yourself." Letting out a sigh, you wrap your arm around his lest he think about wandering off to go buy king pudding or something else of interest.

A gasp escapes you, seeing there was already a line wrapped around the corner of devoted TRIGGER fans waiting to get their hands on a limited edition signed CD at a vendor that was outside.

You grunt, but still have a look of determination, counting the amount of people in line in comparison to how many CDs they said they were going to sell on social media a few days ago.

Tamaki just stares. "Couldn't you have gotten So-chan to do this instead.."

"Sogo needs his rest he's got a lot of work this afternoon."

"But he wakes up earlier than I do anyway!" Tamaki retorts, lifting his hands in the air before you shush him.

After a moment of tapping your foot and thinking throughly, you turn to him. "So you remember the plan right? We can come back to this line later when its calmed down, maybe in about 6 to 7 minutes. But other than that its likely gonna go down how I predicted. So I'll take the stores on the left and you take the ones a little farther down on the right. I know you'd hate waiting in line so I'm gonna come back here while you keep shopping, and when thats done we're meeting in the food court."

'Food court' is probably the most reassuring thing Tamaki has heard all morning.

"kaaay." He lazily drapes his arms behind his neck. By now he knows its pretty useless to complain, and that you are gonna turn into a whole animal if he doesn't get all the stuff you want.

-----------

Tamaki understands that you and Sogo are entitled to your opinions. What he doesn't understand is that sometimes you treat TRIGGER like a bigger deal than IDOLiSH7, he's working hard too you know?

Thinking over this for a while has left him with a pout, hand on his cheek while dipping a fry in some ketchup after you bought him food as reward for putting up with your demands.

You on the other hand, was deeply satifisied with the amazing haul you had gotten from both you and his splitting up to buy all your new TRIGGER CDs and merch. Looking over everything, from Tshirts to perfume, a content sigh escapes you, paired with a giddy smile.

"Thank you Tama, you're the best!" You jovially compliment.

He mumbles in response, shoving another fry in his mouth.

"Oh come on, you can't still be mad about being sleepy, are you?"

Another grumble. "(Y/N)-chan doesnt get it at all.." The teen mutters.

You lean in, a sign to inquire on what he meant.

"I don't hate shopping with you, but you always talk about TRIGGER." His cheeks puff a little. "Why not talk about I7 or King Pudding?"

You pause for a moment, blinking a few times in the silence.

Deep down you know what this is about; he wants some praise. And well, you figure you might as well give it to him.

His turquoise eyes widen, suddenly feeling the weight of your hand on his head.

"You're a good boy, Tama." You ruffle his hair. "You're a talented dancer, singer, and a goof, and I love spending time with you."

Tamaki's lip slightly pokes out, not entirely an embarrassed pout, but he does take your hand off of his head.

"Its weird to pet my head when you're shorter than me." He says like an objective fact rather than to put you down. Despite that, he's still holding your hand.

"Okay, I'll stand up while you're sitting down and then i'll be taller." A grin spread across your face.

"Ehh? It doesnt work like that! If you do that I'll stand up too and still be taller!" He says as if its becoming some sort of competition.

You shush him a little so no attention is drawn towards your way.

"No seriously, I really do appreciate you Tamaki. I don't know if it means much from me, but IDOLiSH7 is a great group and you're part of why it is."

The idol seems calmer, smiling at you.

"TRIGGER is good too, but we'll have to pass Tenn Tenn, Gakkun and Ryu-aniki one day."

"Shshsh not while I'm still in hardcore fan mode for them." You shush him again but for your own personal reason.

He gives an offended exclaim. "But you just said-"

Before he could finish, you burst out into laughter, covering your mouth with your hand, but it was hardly masking anything.

Tamaki pouts, but your laugh always had the ability to make him join in, so he did.

[thefrogdalorian]

How can you still ship Dinbo when shippers have been so disrespectful to Katee AND she said it wasn’t going to be romantic?

Hello! I'm going to put most of this answer under the cut because it contains a lot of fandom discourse for one fine Sunday afternoon. But I wanted to give your question a full answer so I can direct any future questions I may receive of a similar nature to this answer because honestly, I am not a blog that revolves around shipping and I really do not want to be one! But thank you for asking a question without being aggressive, I am more than happy to answer :)

TL;DR: I hope the disrespectful idiots step on a lot of Lego. As much as I may share a ship with them, they do not speak for me and I cannot control their behaviour. I certainly do not condone it. Also, I ship Dinbo because I personally enjoy the idea of it and as much as I respect an actor’s opinion on their character, I do not necessarily have to share it. An actor should never be harassed for an opinion, that crosses an awful lot of lines that should never be crossed. I hate that that happened just as much as you do.

Ultimately I believe in ship and let ship. I stand against harassing real life people over fiction and more than anything: always always ALWAYS treat others with kindness!

Firstly, want to start off this answer by saying that I absolutely love Katee, she’s great and she brought SO MUCH to the character of Bo. I am thrilled she was able to portray her in all her forms, we're so lucky. To make such a successful leap from animation to live action is testament to how talented she is as an actress and I feel like she deserves so much more praise than she gets. It’s sad because in all of her comment sections after Mando S3 there were endless disgusting 2% jokes after ONE tiny comment she made on a much longer podcast appearance where she shared much more interesting stories. I think that was maybe the same one as she spoke a little about Dinbo but tbh, I haven't actually watched it because I can't stand podcasts... they make me cringe 😭

Anyway, those basement-dwellers focused on borderline sexually harassing her because of how attractive she is to them, rather than appreciating her talent. That just… absolutely sucks for her. I feel terrible for her. It was so widespread too and lasted for months… really hard to watch, tbh. But as far as I’m aware, it wasn’t Dinbo shippers that were leaving those comments.

Now, that’s not to deny that Dinbo shippers have taken things too far at some point, I’m sure they have! It wouldn't be the first time shippers in a fandom have crossed a line and sadly, it won't be the last. But I personally didn’t see it because I try and stay out of fandom discourse as much as I can. I really only have the energy and appetite to interact with the chill, respectful people on my little corner of the internet. If I ever saw anything that disrespected her, I would 100% call it out.

However, I do know there was that one panel appearance where people booed her or something? Ngl, I never watched the clip because just hearing about it made me cringe too much… (wow I really have a low tolerance for these things). I think, though, that it is a case of entitled assholes being entitled assholes, regardless of what they ship. It isn't a ship that makes them behave that way, that's the excuse, but really it's their idiotic, selfish nature. I think it would be a shame, then, to tarnish entire groups of people who might be enjoying a ship in a perfectly respectful way with that same brush, I don’t think that helps keep fandom spaces kind places to be. Absolutely screw all the people who have been disrespectful to Katee, I don’t condone that AT ALL. But equally, I am not responsible for actions of everyone who happens to ship the same thing as I do.

As much as I admire Katee and she absolutely DOES NOT DESERVE ANY NEGATIVITY FROM FANS, she is an actor at the end of the day. An actor’s opinion on a character is exactly that... their opinion. They portray them as their personal interpretation of the character and how they’re directed to, of course. I'm not arrogant or deluded enough to believe I know more about Bo-Katan Kryze than the person who portrayed her. I don't at all think that, but I think I can still disagree with Katee's opinion because, y'know, I'm human and humans don't always agree on everything.

The great thing about media is that audience can come away with a totally different view of the same character. Once the work is out there in the world, it takes on a life of its own, for better or worse. Sometimes beyond what even the creator intended originally. It’s like, for example, after you finish reading a book and you discover that other readers interpreted the exact same words in a completely different way. Some of those opinions you might agree with or entertain, some you completely disagree with and wonder how the hell they can even think such a thing. A portion of such interpretations probably aren’t even what the author intended, like this golden piece of tumblr history: the curtains were fucking blue.

This kind of thing has happened to me with my own writing before! People thinking a plot will go in a completely different way to what I intended. It's always a strange feeling, but as long as you don’t berate the author/fellow readers with different opinions, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to draw your own conclusions about it. After all, art is meant to be interpreted in many different ways. That’s the beauty of engaging with and creating art, to me.

At the end of the day, we're all bony sacks of meat with our own individual lizard brains and it would be boring if we all thought the same! Of course I still respect Katee’s opinion. If she says she wasn’t playing Bo to have romantic feelings towards Din then I’m not going to say she’s lying or get frustrated at her! That’s genuinely how she played it. Equally, it won’t really change my opinion because I know what I, personally, believe I saw in their interactions! Katee is more than welcome to share her thoughts, I would never think that she should stay quiet because I disagree with what she said… but equally I don’t have to let her words stop me from shipping something I enjoy! Plus I don’t think any of the cast know how Mando will end. Maybe they have some general plot ideas set out but nothing is final yet.

Ultimately, I’m equally happy for Din to end up with Bo or another love interest, if it makes sense for his character and feels right for the story, as I am for it just to be him and Grogu. The love he has for Grogu will always be the most important thing in his life. Loving a child like that changes you as a person and I love that we got to see how he evolved into a much better man because of it. Not to be a simp or anything but he truly is the best man in the world and I love him so much my chest aches.

A final point: I think if we just took actors and creators’ words as gospel then fandom would ultimately become a much duller place to be. Speculation and shipping are FUN (when done respectfully, of course). There’s so long to wait between seasons that if I just watched Mando repeatedly and never considered a different way to view the story… I just think it would be boring for me, personally. Enjoy the show however you want, watch it and interpret it however you want...but equally I will do the same! If you don’t share my ships and headcanons then that’s totally fine, as long as we can both respect each other and not lose our humanity.

Like I’ve said before, I welcome ALL Din ships and headcanons for Din or indeed for any characters. We may disagree on some of them, but ultimately, I am not right and you are not wrong… we’re all just nerds on the internet. And I’ll always try to make my blog a friendly, welcoming place to be for anyone who stops by, I really take that vow to you and anyone reading this very seriously.

I hope that answers your question and you can see where I’m coming from. I'm glad to have said my piece and I think any future questions I get like this, I'll just direct to this answer because it really sums up how I feel.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far. I just wanted to end this with what I said at the beginning: ship and let ship, don’t harass real life people over fiction and treat others with kindness… that’s my philosophy and it’s one that I’ll always stick by :)

[uncloseted]

but that's the thing!! she implied that a fan saying hello to her or asking for a picture is ALWAYS weird and creepy and that it shouldn't even cross our minds yet she has pictures with so many celebrities, and tries to become friends with them, like aren't they all supposed to be random people? it's hypocritical. that's why people including myself are mad at her

Anonymous asked:

I’m not the original anon but I think I agree with what she’s saying about Chappell. I also get what you’re saying about how hard it is to be famous and how harmful parasocial relationships are. I would never want to be famous and honestly I don’t think I could handle it for a week lol. I feel bad that Chappell has had to deal with stalkers and harassment. That’s never ok and shouldn’t be brushed off just because she’s a celeb. That is creepy and weird behavior. What I don’t like is how she’s labeling asking for a picture as creepy and weird. Celebs absolutely have a right to say no to a picture and I get it would be exhausting to constantly be asked that but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with asking as long as it’s done politely/you respect their answer. In the example she gives in the video she responds to a fan asking for a picture with “no what the fuck” and then says they shouldn’t get mad. If I nicely asked a celeb for a picture and they started swearing at me instead of just politely saying no I would be angry too. Boundaries can be communicated in a polite way. I think respect works both ways. I see a lot of people asking for empathy for Chappell (which I agree with) but I don’t see anyone asking her to have empathy for her fans.

Is that what she said, or is that what you heard? In the first video, she calls out people who yell at her from their car window, who harass her in public, who ask her for photos and then get mad when she says no, who get offended when she says she doesn't have time for an interaction, who stalk her family, who follow her around, who dissect her life, who bully her online, and who make assumptions about her. In the second one, she says that she doesn't care that abuse and harassment and stalking are considered normal things to do to famous people, those actions still aren't okay. Then she says that it's weird when people think that they know her just because they see her online and listen to the art that she makes, and that she's allowed to say no to creepy behavior. If to you, Chappell Roan saying "please don't harass me, stalk me, or get angry at me when I don't have time to interact with you. I need to be able to say no when people are being creepy" translates to "fans should never talk to me in public", I think you need to take a step back and think about what you're considering a normal fan interaction. I also think that it's important to remember the scale of this problem. While Chappell might be the first celebrity a person has ever seen, the person asking her for a picture is likely the fifth or tenth or thirtieth person she's talked to that day. It becomes impossible to exist as a person when you have that many people putting demands on you whenever you leave the house.

But also, even if Chappell had said, "please never approach me in public. When I'm Chappell, I'm Chappell, but when I'm Kayleigh, I'm Kayleigh, and I need to be able to keep those two parts of my life separate," which, to be clear, she didn't, I don't see what the problem is. The job of an artist is not to be a public figure who's accessible 24/7. It's to make art. Chappell Roan makes records, tours, and makes merch. Her fans buy the records, go to the tours, and buy merch. In return, they have a record, an experience of going to a show, or a piece of merch. That is the extent of what her job is. It's really weird to me that people feel that because they bought her record, they're also entitled to do whatever they want to her if they see her in public. There is no other job where that's just normalized, and it's weird that we normalize it for artists. Can you imagine if you sold someone a cup of coffee and from then on, that person decided it was acceptable to touch you in public and demand photos with you and stalk you? That would be weird, right? But because Chappell is a musician, that somehow makes it okay?

I also need you to understand that Chappell Roan taking a picture with a celebrity is very different than you approaching her in public to ask for a picture. Other celebrities are essentially her co-workers, and she's taking pictures with them at work events. Chappell Roan didn't just see Olivia Rodrigo in public and demand a photo with her - Chappell did background vocals for Olivia's GUTS album, then opened for her, then took a picture with her at the tour. That's basically the equivalent of going to a work event and taking a picture with your coworker. That's really, profoundly different than going up to someone you don't know on their day off and asking them for a picture and then getting mad when they say no.

Again, I think if she had been media-trained or written out a script before posting the video, her point probably would have been taken better than it has been. Her example of a hypothetical random lady who says, "no, what the fuck" when approached for a picture seems to have gone over particularly badly by people who aren't willing to accept that that's totally how a random person might react if they were asked that in public. But she's not wrong. She has the right to exist in public without having to be performing all the time. She has the right to take off her Chappell costume and just be Kayleigh. All celebrities should have that right, because they're just people.

We're putting these celebrities in gilded cages and expecting them to dance on command, as if they're objects instead of people. As Khadija Mbowe said in their video, there's a real way in which that's abusive. And the whole "well if she didn't want to be approached in public, she shouldn't have become famous" and "she should be more polite when communicating her boundaries" thing just reeks of victim blaming to me. It feels very "well why were you wearing that outfit if you didn't want me to hit on you" or "you're such a bitch for telling me you're not interested in fucking me". Chappell should have the right to be an artist without being harassed, and she should have the right to set her boundaries the way she thinks they'll be heard, even if that's in a way that's less than polite.

At the end of the day, just like... leave celebrities alone unless you're interacting with them in a professional context (like a meet and greet, con, show, etc) or if you're going to interact with them like you would an actual stranger. Write them a fan letter or a DM to tell them how much you love their work instead. Your desire to interact with them doesn't supersede their need for privacy and to be treated as a person instead of as an object. It just can't.

[frazzledsoul]

I found an interesting poll on Buzzfeed from a few years ago.

Let's see how this stacked up.

These results are SHOCKING! Luke and Lorelai win by a mile. RIP, Team Dean.

Again, SHOCKING! Mostly because that many people were willing to vote for Christopher, but otherwise the Diner Man wins.

Again, I am BLOWN AWAY by these results! Mostly because how on Earth do people rationalize a Rory/Dean ship working out? Even Marty makes more sense.

But who cares? It's a Team Jess world.

Rory comes in fourth behind Lorelai, Sookie, and Luke and barely outranks Jess. That's weird. I was told I wasn't allowed to prefer other characters to her or criticize any of her decisions. Huh. Funny how that goes.

Huh. I think the whole "stealing a boat because I received a bad performance review" aspect of her behavior is far more concerning than taking a break from college (and no, receiving criticism from someone she admired was not a justifiable reason for her actions, Rory doesn't have the right to break laws every time she's upset).

Ultimately, I'm not sure that fancy degree meant a lot in the long run since Lorelai is basically indifferent to Rory choosing to have other people support her and coast on her trust fund/wealthy lover's money twelve years later. But Rory is a grown adult, Lorelai can't make her go back to college, maybe she should have just...dealt with it? IDK. Just talking sense here.

Affairgate takes the prize here, as it should. No, sneaking around with your married ex and eventually fucking him (and then running off to Europe to cavort around on your grandmother's dime so no one finds out) isn't justified because Rory was bored, lonely, and thought she should be with Dean instead of Lindsey. You don't have a right to another woman's husband just because you want to feel better about yourself. And yes, a summer with a single if financially struggling Jess was a more moral and practical choice in every aspect. Rory isn't entitled to use Dean and Lindsey as her playthings when she's not as good at adapting to upper-class life as she used to be. After all, she has an ability to escape to that life to outrun her bad decisions. They don't. She had an ability to avoid the affair for weeks before it happened and she didn't. So yeah. Stupid, selfish, shallow behavior that helped ruin a marriage, hurt a completely innocent person, and it should not have taken her two years to say she regretted it.

Anyway, got off track there for a minute. We already know how I feel about Yale (not that big of a deal by itself).

Blurting out she was pregnant on her mother's long-awaited wedding day. Yes, that was really, really selfish. Was it the worst thing she even did in AYITL, though? Really, there's so many other options. There's also cheating on her own boyfriend with an engaged Logan, slacking on or quitting all her projects, moving home without asking and refusing to get a job, throwing an unholy tantrum because Lorelai didn't want her to exploit her private life in the exact way Rory wanted and shutting her out for weeks, having unprotected sex with her still-engaged ex even though she knows he's committed to getting married and getting pregnant....okay, other than the affair, the pregnancy reveal is probably the worst thing that she does, but there are so many other options.

I feel the fourth option shouldn't count here because not wanting to become homeless because of termite infestation is completely reasonable. There were really...so many other terrible decisions.

Affairgate is still the worst, though.

I know Luke/Lorelai fans who were very upset about their story because it ruined the endgame they had in their heads, but that's the problem with trusting ASP. I liked it, personally. My expectations were not high.

Rory's storyline was awful and if it's true that Alexis has shot down revival plans because she refuses to participate, I don't blame her.

I think the story has a perfectly nice ending that didn't require a lot of work for fans to dream up the exact ending they wanted and it should have stayed that way.

[boredwritergirl]

Day 4 - Duel Spirits

Hey everyone, a weird one for you today. I just did a writing sprint with @sapphicdesiress and I somehow accidentally made a fanfic of Yu-Gi-Oh GX. I've never made a fanfic before and idk if I'll ever do it again, but as with all the previous stories, I'm open to make a follow up if there's a desire for it. Also, while this is technically a fanfic, i must stress that it doesn't take much show knowledge to follow and honestly, I don't believe I properly represented the show nor the Character Alexis Rhodes. I imagine many of you would claim somethings are out of character and kind of mean spirited and I completely agree with that. But It's still something I wrote, and I think it works as a standalone story, so it's likely that people with only a vague knowledge of the show would like it more than die hard fans. Maybe I will make a more faithful fanfic sometime, But I'm perfectly ok if this is the only one I ever make. Also, I did take the time to edit this since I was in a writer's sprint, making shit up off the top of my head, typing fast on a phone, so yeah, It needed A LOT of editing, but it's in a decent state to share with you all now. Thanks for reading and hope you catch tomorrow's story.

Duel Spirits

The school was never pretty, but it looked especially daunting at night time. It felt wrong, like I was doing something against nature. But as I rummaged through the principal's office, I knew I needed to find it. I couldn't leave one stone unturned. I needed to see what he was hiding.

I made a complete mess of that buffoon's office. I just know he was hiding something. I just know that he knows what happened to my brother.

I took a deep breath before taking a look out the door, making sure no one's lurking in the hallway.

It has to have something to do with the abandoned building on the edge of the campus, the one place on this island that's forbidden to attend.

That must be where I go next, into the forest, into the abandoned dorm where my brother and 5 other obelisk blue students disappeared. I'll never give up on finding Atticus, even if I do get caught.

As I began to step out, I immediately closed the door as I heard footsteps in the distance. As I listened out, I could tell who it was. It was unmistakably the footsteps of the flamboyant Dr Crowler, I almost didn't recognize it without the accompanying sounds of his entitled gloating from earning a doctorate in playing Duel Monsters.

He was likely on his way to find some other way to mess with Jaiden, but I couldn't worry about that now. Atticus could still be out there, needing my help at this very instant. 

It's a shame I have to operate in the dark like this. As the highest ranking woman duelist in the academy, a lot of eyes are on me. Not as many as are on Zane, but I can't afford to slip up, because any mistake caught will be campus gossip before I could know it.

Then I heard the sounds of Dr Crowler coming back, this time his hand trying to turn the knob on the door. 

I made my escape through The giant window behind the Principal's chair and slowly climbed my way down from the building and onto the ground beneath me.

I immediately booked it, running to the abandoned dorm, through the dark forest of the night. 

But then I got lost. I looked and looked all around, not being able to see anything other than trees, endless trees!

I had no choice but to keep running and running, until I saw something strange… winged kuriboh.

Winged Kuriboh was one of Jaidens cards, but what was it doing here? And how was it physically in front of me? I didn't see a duel disk lying around, so it couldn't have been from that. Perhaps there was an old Industrial Illusions hologram generator around but those were outdated anyways, besides there's no chance Kaiba Corp would allow another company's tech at their campus.

The little furry winged beast beckoned to me, not able to speak, but gently cooing and pointing behind it. It wanted me to follow it.

I did so, going deeper into the woods following a duel monsters card come alive.

But then I stood shocked, dead in my tracks as I saw them… my deck. All of the monsters of my deck had come alive, and there was something wrong with them. Their eyes were blood red, their skin was rotten and foul. The cute and feminine deck I used to have became perverted into this monstrosity… I immediately ran away for my life, being chased by them. Their howls echoed through the night.

Blade skater and cyber gymnast zipped through the trees effortlessly, Cyber tutu and Etoile Cyber jumping from tree branch to tree branch trying to take me down while Cyber prima and cyber petite angel chased me in mid air.

I kept running, my legs not stopping for an instant. My face was soaked with sweat and my breaths were short and rapid, my heartbeat going at the pace of an F1 formula racer.

This couldn't be real, this can't be happening. Duel Monsters aren't real, it's just a children's card game! This makes no sense.

Of all the monsters, oddly enough, it was Cyber Petite angel that managed to get the jump on me. grabbing the duel disk on my arm and smashing it into the tree, completely shattering both the duel disk and my bones.

I let out a scream of terror and pain as I came to a collision, my arm now out of its socket. 

I tried to crawl away with the one arm I had left. All of the monsters I won my duels with smashing the duel disk until it was nothing but miscellaneous scraps of metal and wires.

But I didn't stop moving… I couldn't stop moving. I crawled as much as I could, but it was fruitless. 

My most powerful monster, Cyber Angel Dakini stood before me. He held his javelin to my face, lightly scraping my cheek to make me bleed.

It was obvious what was to come, what was to happen, that I'd never find Atticus again, that this was the end of Alexis Rhodes

But then suddenly, Jaiden Yuki Showed up. He's a great duelist from the Slyfer dorms. And of course. He did what he does best, say a bunch of heroic crap, tell the spirits to “get your game on!” And starts dueling my deck to save my life.

I couldn't pay attention at all to the fight, my eyes were focused on my arm. Knowing Jaiden, he probably just used his Elemental Heroes so he can fusion summon Elemental hero flame wingman, set up his skyscraper card to boost it by one thousand attack points and win with his special effect just like always.

When he won, he took me to the nurse. They did all they could for me, but nothing was ever the same after that. 

I tried to go back to classes, But everyone looked at me differently. Before I was Alexis, the girl everyone wanted or wanted to be… but now, I'm just a victim. Status never mattered to me before, but it hits differently when you have nothing left.

Maybe I'll never find my brother, but I figured I could make another deck and go back to my dueling studies, but no… every time I saw a card from my old deck, I'd just freeze in terror. I'd lose over and over again until I was demoted from obelisk blue, all the way down to Slyfer red. 

I finally got kicked out after a couple Of years. I just couldn't go back. No matter how hard I fought, I'd just lose, lose, lose.

I felt so pathetic. I couldn't save Atticus anymore than I could save myself. I finally admitted to myself that I'd never find him, and that my career was just as lost as he was.

Atticus deserved better and I used to think I deserved better too, but now I'll settle for just a single night where I don't have to relive all of that in my dreams.

I'm sorry, Atticus Rhodes… but you deserved A better sister. It should have been me who vanished in that abandoned dorm instead of you…

[twinsoftriumph]

(You do not need to answer this ask if you're not comfortable with it)

I am someone who followed you before you went on that huge hiatus back in 2020, I was a huge fan of your art because I loved the twins A Lot (still do to an extent), and your art style and interpretation of them was quite literally perfect. However, said hiatus started right as some individuals in skyblr were called out for holding some shitty opinions about queer discourse (Panphobia and aspec-exclusionism in specific) and these individuals were people you also associated it.

I do not want to seem entitled to know about this information, and I absolutely do not want to cause drama (which is why I'm sending an ask instead of making a post). It's just that finding out that you associated with these people and kept silent about it as they were called out for their harmful views was just...dissappointing.

I reiterate you do not need to answer this ask if you dont want to — I just want to know if you do not hold these same views or associate with people who do? At least as an aspec person I do not feel comfortable with following or interacting with someone who does, but also I am just a stranger on the internet 👍

Regardless of anything, I hope you have a good day/night

hope you don't mind me putting this under a read more since i wanted to give a decently thorough answer to this!

hello! i appreciate you sending an ask about this, and i don't have a problem with answering it. (also, thank you for enjoying my art!)

i will say up front that no, i am not any sort of exclusionist. i want to make this extremely clear right off the bat. i myself am actually on the ace spectrum, if it's any sort of comfort! but i've literally only ever explicitly stated this to like. two people. so i wouldn't fault you for not knowing (also i genuinely don't remember anything about ace exclusion stuff being part of the discourse?)

if you're asking for clarification on why my inactivity started around the same time as the discourse, it was for mental health reasons unrelated to the blog. i won't get into specifics but it involved stuff like dropping out and having to go to therapy (doing better now though). this was something that was building up for a while and i genuinely have no idea how i managed the amount of activity i did when first starting the blog LMAO. i was also fed up with some sky-specific problems.

i know the point of your ask is to ask about my own views, but if it's of any interest to you, in 2021, the main person involved publicly and privately apologized and said she doesn't hold her old views. thus, OP of the blocklist deleted it.

i do understand that at the very least, some affirmation for my mutuals, followers, friends and general audience at the time would have been valued; i do apologize for not saying anything at the time! i hope my words now can at least ease any feelings of uncertainty anyone may have toward me, but it's very much up to the individual.

ultimately, i do not find value in making assumptions about one's label, including the circumstances in which it was chosen, an individual's feelings toward their own label, that sort of thing! so again, i am not an exclusionist, and i want my blog to be a safe space. i've been hoping to clarify this but wasn't sure when or how i should do it, so i hope this suffices. you have a good one as well :)

[mayasdeluca]

Sometimes I'm guilty of the thing I'm gonna 'complain' because I love to see my faves interacting on social media, I know it's not everything but I'm just a noisy girl and I wanna see. However it's been really annoying in the fandom how people are acting like a comment or like is an "approval" and the lack of it is "ignoring" or something bad.

Not being specific about just a post or person but in general it takes away from what really matters. Like even since D's directing posts people would do a checklist of likes and comments (and then we saw how people were supporting her even if they never interacted on insta) or lately treating likes to other actors as "indirects" or "fights" when we could just be enjoying their posts or what they're sharing.

I have been here since late 2020 and I don't know in what world some people were because since at least 2021/early 2022 we saw a big shift on everyone as the fandom grew and they changed their ways to interact in public and with the fans but besides early seasons where everyone was hanging out and interacting (as always is in the beginning lol) we only had the lives, takeovers and some random little "treats" for years.

Sorry for ranting here and I know everyone can feel how they want to but I saw so much little tales on how "it used to be" and a lot of poison that gets everyone spiriling and looking for stuff in every detail and I wish they were looking forward to Spampi episode to see her work and not so get anyone's else reaction to it.

Yeah I totally get that...honestly I see both sides of it and have been on both sides at different times. Like theres times when I feel one way and will miss seeing Danielle and Stefania interacting on social media and doing all the lives they used to and getting the BTS and all that but I also am aware that Covid made most of that happen and it gave us a false sense that it was going to continue being like that and it just so happened to be around the time that Marina was getting popular so the timing was just right for everything but even still of course people want to see the actresses of their favorite ships interacting. We know they're close, we know they spend time together on set and hang out and all of those things but it's different than actually getting to see it and this is not me trying to sound entitled, it's just part of the fun in being in fandom.

But then I also get the side of people putting way too much into it and thinking it means all these different things and to go as far as making checklists like you said and comparing who said what and who didn't do this for this person is just crazy. Like obviously there's things that are going to happen that are going to make people wonder stuff but at the end of the day we truly don't know these people or how they really interact with each other because they are always in control of how they interact in public and what they choose to share on social media with us. It's a shame that a lot of it ends up being about the drama of it all and what someone did for this person and not that person as opposed to actually to just enjoying the content that is actually being shared.

It's just the unfortunate part of a fandom I suppose because it happens in pretty much all of them. Instead of just getting to enjoy the ride and soaking in what does get shared with us there's a ton of speculation and drama especially once boundaries are crossed and people have to start pulling away because of it and then things start to shift.

[elderemorune]

Dad of Light/My Dad

So I just found out about Dad of Light.

For those unfamiliar, let me set a baseline for you. I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy 14, as mentioned previously. I get really into being a part of a community, and love playing the role of tank. Carrying my party through a dungeon and taking the hits as we fight back the forces of darkness suits me perfectly.

The game's been around a long time. The first version came out in 2010 with A Realm Reborn relaunching the game in 2013.

You may have heard some stories, about how fans of Kentaro Miura all dressed up as Dark Knights and formed a line in the major cities in the game to mourn his tragic passing.

And that's but a single facet of this lovely game.

Dad of Light is a Netflix project that came out in 2017, following the tale of a young man (Akio) who bonded with his dad (Hirotaro) over Final Fantasy when he was a kid.

Years down the line, Hirotaro suddenly quits his job without telling his family. Akio is concerned and decides to try to reconnect with his father by purchasing a PlayStation 4 and Final Fantasy XIV for him. With the help of his Free Company and friends, Aru and Kirin, Akio plans to use his character Maidy to befriend his father and discover why he quit his job.

Now, I haven't watched this yet. I literally just started, and it got me thinking about how much I love Eorzea, and how much I love MY dad.

See, stories about fathers and sons ALWAYS fuck me up. For a lot of reasons, but I think chiefly because I wish my dad was like any of these dramatized men. That he could apologize, mean it, and change his behaviour.

He's done part of the work. He apologized for being a rage monster when I was a child. For holding me to impossible standards that even he would have struggled to meet. He meant it when he took me aside in June of 2021 and told me he was sorry.

And the behaviour DID change, for awhile. We worked together at his tech startup (which is still just he and I), and we were doing amazing work. I was learning web design and constantly improving my own skills, because I wanted to be able to help him more.

Then his therapist retired, and he stopped doing the work to be better.

Then he put my wife and I in an incredibly uncomfortable living situation with my sister and her husband that mostly entailed her being entitled to everything, and when we'd put boundaries in place she'd just lose her shit. Then dad would step in, say something like "Don't make me choose between my kids" and fuck off like that would fix a damn thing when she was breaking the lease, up to and including bringing her then boyfriend in without even asking us if he could move in.

Then when we left that situation, he said he couldn't afford to pay Seattle wages.

So I left the company (under the impression that I had been let go), and I lived off savings for a few months after we got here. I scrounged for work, and had recruiters telling me I was worth way more than I was looking for, but that they couldn't find me work that paid the figures they were telling me I deserved.

It took awhile for us to even get things sorted here. We'd moved across the state to escape from my sister, and so that my wife could finally go to college. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find a job that fit me. I worked for a temp agency for a bit, did a job for a big company answering emails. I figured it'd be fine, it's just emails. Turns out the customer service culture at the company was something along the lines of "All of our customers are literally the worst, we wish they'd just go away, but also we have to pay attention to super fine details when doing our emails so..."

I lasted ten days. Then I asked for my job back with Dad. Things have been better between us since he no longer owns our home or our car. But the condescension is still there. The frustration when I don't get topics he sees as simple.

He may have meant the apology, but a lot of the behaviour didn't change.

It makes me wonder what it would be like, if it started snowing in hell and I convinced the man to take up the mantle of Warrior of Light with me. Would he even let me tank for him? Or would he just run ahead and get mad when he died? Would he make fun of me for playing cross-gender? (Slicks M'Harbeck is the coolest, fucking fight me.) Or would he let me take the center stage and just let me help him for once?

I dunno.

I often say I love my dad, but I wouldn't wish him on anyone. None of my friends like him. My wife doesn't like him. But I love him. I know who he is, how he can be. He raised me, after all. It's hard to care for him because of his judgmental perspective, the way he was raised, all of it. I know some of his trauma, and it's not like I blame him for it.

But if I can be better, why can't he?

And stay that way?

I miss my dad.

Update: Just finished the first episode. I spent the entire time crying. I'm so incredibly jealous of the relationship that Akio and Hirotaro had. And so happy they could have it.

[alarrytale]

I’m watching all these photos of Louis with fans after shows come in on twitter (X whatever) and something about it feels different from last tour… like he has a more lad type boisterous attitude he’s trying to portray, swearing even more than usual, calling fans ‘my girl’ which I know everyone freaked out about but I thought was kinda icky… you don’t know this person why are you calling them that if they weren’t a fan I doubt they’d swoon so much… anyway I’m just feeling like the connection we had with Louis that he loves to go on about is not there anymore, as much at least. I’m starting to see a more commercial side of him (I know I’m alone here) but it started with AOTV how he had a special screening where fans had to repurchase tickets if they wanted to watch extra scenes and the tickets were barely cheaper than Taylor’s who is in a league of her own… and as proud of him as I am for the 28 line I just don’t feel like it’s him? Before this I have never considered him as a fashion boy past looking good on a red carpet and now he has his own line?? And the prices aren’t exactly for the working class lad he goes on about all the time.

Maybe I’ve just grown tired and need a break but this is not the ‘faith in the future’ I imagined.

Putting every anons who's got feelings about Louis tour, and my answers, under the cut.

Hi, anon(s)!

I see the commercialisation of him too. But i think he's still got a good connection to fandom. Him going out to greet fans after the show is fan service and i appreciate that. I think the way he addresses his fans is sweet. There is no harm there as i see it. He's always been generous with pet names.

Not to be a larry defender but yall are unreasonable with criticising the tours here. "It's repetitive" NO SHIT??? It's a concert tour??? An artists gets on the stage, sings and leaves and it's been like that for decades and everyone was happy. Now when you watch concerts on instagram lives or can afford to go to 5 in the same tour yeah it gets boring. But that's not their fault??? Fans are too entitled, the only criticism I get is about sound/security but everything else is...yall have too much. Of course the speeches are same in every country. You aren't supposed to know them. Every artists, every band has more or less the same speech. Thanks for having me, good night, how are you, I love this country blah blah. I'm wondering how many concerts you've been to and what is a good concert to you. Imagine going to the cinema every day to see the same film and then saying it's repetitive and boring cuz that's what yall are doing. You need a reality check

Yes, social media has made it more difficult to entertain people. Attention span is shorter. People are more demanding and the entertainment industy is fighting for our attention. The competion is rife. There is so many artists, movies and shows to grab our attention. So to keep our attention and stop us from getting bored they need to make more of an effort than artists before them needed to. There are simple ways to do that, but they are not doing it. If you are not bored, or are happy with the way things are, then good for you.

The whole conga dancing thing originated at LOT and it works fine there but it just isn't suitable for Louis' indie music concerts. He'll never attract the male audience he wants with that kind of thing going on.

I love the conga line. I also don't want to attract a male audience if it's at the expense of existing fans and women...

About Louis not giving the fans everything they want and not playing to his pop/boyband strengths, we have to keep in mind that he might not enjoy those things as much as we do. I know a lot of us got on board with 1D, but he’s his own person with his own tastes and i don’t think it’s a slight against older fans that he wants to explore in a different direction. It happens all the time with artists who are around long enough.

Hi,

Both us and Louis knows it's give and take. He's happy we are allowing him to make the music he wants. He can't pull the rope towards him too much though, or else we let go. He needs his fans, but we also have a need for him to act a certain way and give us music we like. So it's give and take.

Do not compare them if you don’t know what you are comparing. They are not comparable at all. I happen to think Louis is a better songwriter and work out melodies better than Harry but each to their own.

But i guess that's the difference between Louis and Harry. Harry is an entertainer and Louis is a musician.///

And yet Louis has had no recognition at all for his musicianship whereas Harry has been given the top accolades in the industry, from many different countries. Harry can also play guitar competently and work out melodies whereas Louis admits he can only write lyrics.

“Louis claims to have a closeness and a bond to his fans unparallelled to other artists.” Every other artist claims some version of this. It’s just marketing.

I agree there is a marketing aspect to it. But i do believe that he's got a more special relationship with his fans than other artists. We are larries and he's closeted. He'd never be where he is now if we didn’t see through the bullshit. He wouldn't have a career and he knows that. So he gives us fan greetings after shows and signings to meet us and make a personal impact on us, and we on him.

@lenkagainstcity said:

"He is funny, got good banter, is charming, handsome, sexy, cheeky and loving towards his fans. He's the perfect pop star or boyband member."

*Anon who defended Louis first is back haha*

I totally agree that he has a huge potentional to give and oh god, I fell in love with him after my cousin invited me to see AOTV in the cinema with her because I´m a sucker for british accent, loved his vibe, charm and humour....so yes, there´s a lot he can give us and when I see his off stage presentance like how he interacts with fans, smiles, makes faces, the way he tells stories or how he dance, he can totally do this on stage but my first point in the previous ask was that this is his 2nd tour, 2nd year (comparing with H who basically has 4 years experience of solo touring) he´s touring SOLO and he´s just need to get more comfortable that noone is standing behind him to support him but it´s all on his chest - imo you can´t compare his solo tour with years of touring he´s done with 1D because 1D tours weren´t all about him. And we already saw a glimpse when he was more comfortable few shows in US when he danced a bit or talked a bit more than his common speech he says every show.

He has his own pace in finding this comfort to talk to thousands of people and to be more open. It feels to me like he already had to work a lot to even find his lost confidence - which he´s found. So now it´s all about to embrace his huge potentional to make every show special in his own way (not copying his former bandmates with ready signs or weird gender reveals). I can see the future in more unique shows that he´ll interact more with his band and tell some weird funny stories like Lewis Capaldi.

I think he will improve too, i'm just impatient as i said. I'm not sure the shows will change that much if he wants to continue being indie. It also depends on the size of his fandom. He can't use lots of money on huge stage shows if his fandom dosn't grow. I don't think he's a comedian like Lewis. I think things will change with his confidence if bg ends. I think that's holding him back.