#anyone who comes to this post with 'but what about the creators? they're the authority on them' no. they don't get to have them either.

[daincrediblegg]

really funny when people get so possessive of fictional characters. like what are you going to do call your lawyer? you going to slap a restraining order on anyone who writes an opinion on sleepo bopkin that isn't you? did your fantasy make you feel entitled to an idea of control that no one ever has or ever will possess? try prozac and leave everyone alone

[olderthannetfic]

DISCLAIMER: I both know and support that no creator owes anyone anything at all. Don't come at me about this, I'm just having a whinge.

Right, with that out of the way....

When your fandom has that incredible person who has major skill in both artistic abilities and writing chops starts drifting away into their own OCs.

I have the OC ship tag blocked for my own peace. They exist in a..... very similar universe so it's close but makes me feel like a pressed bruise.

But forbid you ever utter disappointment it's not the fandom you were there for anymore. I'm not allowed to say I just don't care about these art or stories, or even just express my disinterest, without being lambasted. (DISCLAIMER 2: I'd never ever tell the artist/author.)

Even my friends post rants in our chats whenever said person is sad they don't have as much support overall now or some anon does cross that line into their inbox. They're so ready to die on the hill in that person's defense and rally us all and....

No thanks.

I was only there for the specific fandom.

But I can't say that since, according to everyone, that makes you bad, shallow, etc. Happy for those who enjoy the OCs too, but what's with it not being okay to say the content is no longer for you in return? What's with this expectation you have to be a fan4life of anyone you followed while into a specific thing?

--

[bluerose5]

I'm writing this because a) it's my blog, I can do whatever the hell I want and b) I've been seeing such an increase of these types of posts on my dash and for the website/app that preaches that they're about "community", some of y'all are pretentious as fuck when it comes to fandom.

Why am I seeing all these damn posts lowkey belittling people, whether it be in a "joking" sense or otherwise, about how they do fandom? Then the OPs wanna cry in the replies about how they didn't mean it that way when people address it, and some of these posts go completely unchallenged as well. And the fact that so many people are reblogging these posts is so discouraging! Y'all, I hate to tell you but just because you headcanon things for this reason over another, just because you stick to a certain amount of canon compared to others, or you characterize so and so character based off of these specific bits of canon, oooo it's so "in-character"... Say it with me now, THAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU A BETTER FAN IN ANY INHERENT SENSE.

These posts have been veiling these sentiments under joking tones or by specifically trying to make it a preference thing, but there is often an air of superiority to them that is so easy to see, especially as a writer. I cannot stress this enough. STOP ALIENATING YOUR FAN CREATORS BY SUGGESTING ONE METHOD OF FANDOM IS INFERIOR TO OTHERS. If it's not hurting anyone, then be supportive. Now, of all times, is not when we should be tearing others down with these slick ass remarks, thinking y'all actually did something with those posts. And if anyone reading this feels guilty or defensive about what I said for some reason or another, then evaluate why that is and how you can do better to support your fandom creators better.

To any creators who need to hear this, write that crackfic, write that ship with no interaction, write that crossover. Get silly with it, and just write it, no matter what the haters say! I remember when I was younger and just started reading fanfiction, some of my favorite indulgent fics were those where the cast of characters would read the book/watch the movie/interact with their chosen media they were from. Those fics got me through hard times, and I loved the author's notes where the writers spoke with the characters. Point is, don't let anyone take your fun, magic, and joy out of fandom. Don't let them convince you that what you do is somehow lesser or "cringe" because you're having a good time. Somewhere, someone out there is your target audience and they're more than grateful for what you do! 💙

[lizardsfromspace]

Okay, this is the conclusion to my posts about Sophia Stewart. I'll never do something like this again

Everything I've posted is from her own book or her web presence btw. That's all I'm drawing from and if anyone tells me any information about her they gained any other way I'll block them immediately so uh, don't

Towards the end she reveals some of her other pitches. By showing she copywrote sequels to the Matrix and Terminator

Lots of strange details here - she wrote The Matrix 4 in 2000? They didn't even start filming The Matrix 2 & 3 until 2001. Also, we can see in this book that her pitch has nothing to do with The Matrix or Terminator, but she claims she wrote direct sequels to both?

(Her explanation for how both very different films are ripping off her work - a 1:1 copy, she claims - is, hilariously, that The Terminator plagiarizes it front to back, while The Matrix plagiarizes it back to front. What?)

But also she didn't write it. She registered copyright on a synopsis for The Matrix 4. She has concepts of a plan for a Matrix 4.

The book ends with a pitch for another...she calls it a book, but it's a movie pitch? And this, too, is just a synopsis for some grand epic series, light on detail of character and plot and heavy with lore and rants (in this case, primarily about God and Adam & Eve). Of course her exhaustively long but barely sketched-out epic movie pitch has a prologue, which is also full of Christian-tinged Ancient Aliens pyramid power woo.

Sophia Stewart is unimportant, bc she represents a class of writer. Writers who have Ideas. Who have outlines and plot points but no real story, bc they never write it. But they think just having Really Good Ideas is enough - that you should get credit for coming up with a good idea for a story, regardless of if you make an actual story out of it. They're a "writer", but they never write. Despite this they often have a deep case of Dunning-Kruger, churning out outlines that leave out basic details like "what happens in the climactic battle" and the personalities of characters while insisting that an inability to author anything shouldn't keep you from being praised as a genius author

If that type of person is lucky enough to have money, they become a studio executive or tech guy, both professions awash in the uncreatively creative, or they hire ghostwriters. If they're not, they become the type of person to file spurious lawsuits under the misapprehension they own basic plot concepts. It's the "I coulda made the majors!" of writing, except, you know. Baseball players who didn't make the majors still actually played baseball at some point. I assume from now on all those types will just pump their outline into ChatGPT and try to sell the gunk it slops out and then claim they 'wrote' it so uh, uhhhhhhhhhhhh

The only reason I made these posts was discovering the conspiratorial angle to her work, bc who cares if a major studio has to deal with a spurious lawsuit? That was the part that actually sucks. But also, she does a lot of press: profiles on news websites, podcasts, that documentary was even made by other filmmakers, who actually make films. It's persisted from blogs and chain emails all the way to podcasts and TikToks. All of this uncritically spreads her story, but I also have to ask: how many actual African-American science fiction writers do those platforms profile? How many of them get documentaries made about their work? How much air is being sucked out of the room by the decades long misinformation about the "true" creator of The Matrix? And why is that misinformation so persistent when it takes a trivial amount of effort to find out it just isn't true? It feels good to support the underdog against the big studio, but in this case it just isn't true.

The sad truth is a lot more Hollywood plagiarism cases look like this than are real exposures of wrongdoing, but people tend to accept them at face value since they feel like a little guy taking on a corporation, though in reality it's just two writers suing each other. Take The Holdovers case, where people immediately turned on it, but if you look into it, the two scripts have very little in common, and the accusing writer makes odd claims like a human character in The Holdovers being a ripoff of a billboard in his script.

Or look at Groundhog Day, which was accused of plagiarism by Richard A. Lupoff, writer of the story "12:01 P.M.". The two stories have nothing in common besides a time loop; in Groundhog Day he's reliving a day, in 12:01 PM he's reliving an hour. Groundhog Day is a romcom, 12:01 P.M. plays it for horror. Groundhog Day never reveals the source of its lop but it's clearly fantastical in nature, 12:01 P.M. is explicitly science fiction. In Groundhog Day he escapes the loop, in 12:01 P.M. he never does. You can't deny Lupoff felt personally slighted, but at the end of the day, a world where a writer could own the concept of time loops would be a dystopia where creativity and art would die.

But even though they were wrong, The Holdovers & Groundhog Day cases were based on real works of writing that existed. They were based on a real, if misguided, sense of violation from the writers. But in this case, we have a mere outline of a story with not even basic similarities to the stories she's claiming are a 1:1 copy of her work, and decades of media appearances based on exploiting a community college media student's mistake in 2004. Anyway seems bad

[hms-no-fun]

i have an intense love/hate with godfeels because it is beautifully written but it also makes me viscerally uncomfortable. something something disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed probably. engaging with that discomfort teaches me more about myself and is definitely worth it for something like godfeels. any advice for constructively engaging with media that Pisses You Off, by no fault of the creator? what would you say to your haters in good-faith, if you could?

well, to be fair i have said plenty to my haters in good faith previously, but that was a very direct response. if you and i were having a polite conversation amongst the two of us, my first question would be "how far did you get?" godfeels has been going for six years now (!!!), and it's gone through many phases in that time. i'm at a point now in my life where if someone tells me gf2 didn't click with them, i'll probably nod and say "yeah it's rough around the edges, there's a lot of stuff i'd do differently today." the most vocal contingent of haters i've ever gotten were the handful of people who dipped at gf2.2 when june got superdrunk and accidentally murdered a bunch of people, assuming the story was going to be about how cool and based that decision was. anyone who's actually read gf2 to completion should find that misconception laughable. it also makes a difference if you finished gf2 and stopped there, or started 3.1 and fell off, or if you got through chapter 8 and fell off, or if you're currently reading Double Album. each of those is a slightly different conversation with its own pros and cons. whether or not i'd try to talk someone into continuing their read depends entirely on those questions (and also how self-confident i'm feeling in the moment).

i guess i would say to someone who is not enjoying godfeels that they should stop reading godfeels. it's an extremely heavy story that digs into a wide variety of traumatic subject matter. it is also deeply personal in a lot of ways, which is perhaps a weird fit for a Homestuck fanfiction. so i can understand someone from the wider fandom hearing about godfeels as "the June Egbert fic" being disappointed that it's not fluff. i've documented in the past how gf2 emerged out of my dissatisfaction with the image of "Hairclips June," whose transition exists off screen and whose acceptance by her friends is an obvious expectation. i kind of feel bad for how that shook out in the long term since, between the lengthy hiatus of hs2 and the broader strangulation of the post-canon movement during the pandemic, the canonical "Hairclips June" story (or at least "June Who Doesn't Suffer 100% Consequences" story) doesn't seem to exist. i don't mean literally canonical, i mean "seeped into the fandom's collective unconscious" canonical, like Detective Pony. there are plenty of fanworks that do a good or at least interesting job with June, but they're not *about* June in quite the same way godfeels is. it's entirely possible that such a thing DOES exist and IS popular (i freely admit to being out of touch with modern fanworks), but for better or worse godfeels still seems to be the thing that comes up most often-- and not always in a positive light.

for a while now i've been working on an "Author's Introduction" which on the surface is an attempt to contextualize the phases of godfeels for new readers, but in actuality is more of a history of/commentary on the post-2019 fandom and the so-called "Homestuck Renaissance." i see this as necessary because godfeels is an extension of that moment, in particular the loudly recuperative pro-Vriska boosters and their exquisitely galaxy-brained VrisRezi meta. then gf3.1 responded to the fandom backlash, chapter 8 responded to my experience watching every foundation of my post-transition life crumble during the pandemic, and then Double Album is an exploration of building yourself and community back up in the aftermath of tragedy.

it's not that this context is necessary to understand or appreciate godfeels, just that i think it helps put things in perspective. when i started gf1, i hadn't written fiction in nearly 7 years. today, the series is sitting just shy of the 500,000 word mark. at every step of the process, the quality and ambition of my writing has increased exponentially. there's a reason i've written Double Album as a jumping-on point for new readers-- besides being better in virtually every way that matters to me, it's also largely shorn free of the baggage that can make godfeels a hard sell for folks. whether or not it actually SUCCEEDS as a jumping on point is another conversation entirely.

so i guess all of that is to say, if we were having a private conversation just the two of us, i freely admit that godfeels is a wildly disjointed story on top of being extreme and often emotionally masochistic. i am proud of this work from start to finish, but it fundamentally is the process of its authorship in a way that a thoroughly drafted and edited novel simply isn't. i used to publish chapters the instant they felt done to me, with only minimal revisions. these days i let chapters bake a lot longer and put much more thought into how they fit into the larger whole. i kinda miss the old way but the new way results in much better work.

i'd be curious to hear what exactly it is that Pisses You Off about godfeels, and why you nevertheless feel it's a worthwhile reading experience. you ask me for advice on how to constructively engage with media that pisses you off, but i don't have any because in general i don't engage with media that pisses me off. i stopped reading fanworks after 2020 because everything that survived seemed to cater only to the sector of the fandom that harassed my friends out of their jobs and platforms. i found their interpretations/extensions of canon lacking, their tendency for straightforward fluff rather grating. i COULD have made that everyone else's problem, but what would be the point? i wasn't the target audience. i didn't enjoy the work, so i stopped reading it. i'd rather move on to media i enjoy than suffer through media i don't.

BUT. there's a fine line here, because it actually takes a lot to Piss Me Off. i don't really believe in rules or standards in art as Inviolable Laws Of Nature. my measure of whether something is good has a lot less to do with its inherent quality and a lot more to do with the balance between intention and execution. it rarely matters how amateur something is, if it meaningfully accomplishes the thing it set out to do then i'll probably like it (or at least respect it). i look for expressions of authenticity, moments where the artist and the medium are in perfect sync. there are plenty of critically praised pretty-looking movies and games with big production values that i don't particularly like. sometimes that's because they're a naked moneymaking enterprise disguised as art. sometimes it's a problem of too many cooks in the kitchen. and then sometimes an artist is just full of shit and doesn't really know what the hell they're talking about (i like to call these people "Californians"). mostly, i just embrace that art-making and art-viewing are inherently subjective experiences, and i find little value in numbered rating systems of any kind.

a lot of my favorite movies and albums underwhelmed me my first time through. they challenged me in a way that i at first interpreted as incompetence, but have come to see as brilliance. there's stuff i found alienating in high school and early 20s that i find deeply relatable in my 30s. as a film student i've had so many conversations with so many people who have wildly different takes on the same movie that i've completely given up on the idea that anyone is an objective arbiter of what's good and what isn't. the only real thing is if it works and if it works for you. i search for the best in everything, because at the end of the day i'm just here for the love of the game and i don't much enjoy hating things. for media to really Piss Me Off, to elicit a genuine I Hate You response, it has to be more than just, like, poorly edited or whatever. it has to embody a repulsive worldview, be a tool of jingoistic propaganda, or otherwise act as an extension of corporate greed and wealth extraction. these days i reserve my hatred for that which has connection to real Power and exerts a mass cultural Influence, or that otherwise blindly reproduces the same problems.

i think it's far easier to critically engage with work you don't like when you search for the things that work, rather than the things that don't. when it works, when it really clicks, you see what they were going for, and only with that perspective can you see why what doesn't work doesn't work. all i ever ask is for readers to take my stuff as it is, good and bad, and judge it on those terms. i find your use of "comforts the disturbed, disturbs the comfortable" funny and fitting. art that wants to be for everyone is art that cannot be for anyone. it is a perfectly round grey sphere that all who gaze upon it can agree "exists" and "succeeds at what it's trying to do." good art is imperfect, because it is the result of a perspective you may not share. i've never wanted to make art for the masses. i want to make the kinds of things that i wished existed when i was younger. there are a surprising number of people who feel that godfeels positively affected their lives, and i know that i have very little to do with that. godfeels is an object that exists in the world. i had ideas of what it was when i wrote it, but i can't control what anyone else sees no matter how much digital ink i spill trying to explain my original vision. if it truly comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable, then on some level i must have succeeded in what i was trying to do even if the path to getting there was spotty and rough.

i did the best i could at every stage of writing godfeels. i would do things differently today, but i also wouldn't be here at all if i'd done it differently back then. i try to extend this grace to other artists as much as possible, that we're all just figuring it out as we go along. but i also know that everyone goes to art for different things, and finds value in different aspects of its expression. really, all i ever want is to have a conversation about the object without the looming specter of Respectability Politics and Moral Hazards. it's when people start acting like godfeels is Dangerous, and that i'm dangerous by extension, that i start having opinions about where critics are fucking up. tell me what it does or fails to do. point at the text and show me you've read and comprehended it by citing your sources and arguing through the text instead of around it. absolutely fuck off with the moral hand-wringing about Transgender Representation and Glorifying Violence and Perpetuating Toxic Stereotypes. it's a fucking Homestuck fanfiction, for god's sake.

but anyway you're not doing that, so, good job! i'm glad you find the experience of reading godfeels illuminating even if it pisses you off. i hope you found this lengthy answer enlightening, and maybe a bit annoying also. consistency is key, or so they say

[aticklishpercivalwriter]

Some stuff about me that I've been meaning to get off my chest below the cut (sad stuff in the beginning and happier at the end. If you're worried about the blog, don't worry, I'll still be here but definitely going to be posting much slowly when school starts):

Hey all, so it’s taking me some courage to tell you all this, but I've been struggling for the past few months trying to stay positive. You might be thinking, "What? You always seem happy when you post." And most of the time I am, but sometimes that's just what I want you to think, so you think I have everything under control. More importantly, I didn't want to lose the community I have on here or to make anyone worry. I don't like to talk much about my life here and even irl with other people unless I have to. So, I keep these sad, negative thoughts to myself. Have been for a few years now, actually. But now... they're starting to catch up to me, and last semester was the lowest point of my life. Failure after failure and it hurt. The self-doubt about my abilities and the loneliness. It was painful. It felt like I had lost everything. The only thing keeping me together was texting my irl bestie and you all. That's why I never told any of you... or even my irl bestie. I was scared of losing you all and them. You have expectations from me to deliver great tickle fics. I see the number of notes on my fics, and I'm happy they're increasing as I post. But I get scared, too. As I get better, you will expect as good quality or better, that's what my thinking is. If I deliver something and it flops, I feel like you'll lose interest. I know I can't please everyone, but I feel like I need to. It's ingrained in me to worry about what others think of me. Even with my bestie. Even though we have so much history together, I feel like one screw up by me, and it's over. I'll lose them forever. I have presented the most perfect version of myself over the years, but nobody knew what suffering and fear I carried inside. Now it's affecting me into adulthood and the dream I had to become an engineer became dimmer last semester.

On another note, before I come to a happy ending to this post. Reblogs. I feel bad for not leaving any comments on a tickle work I like. And leaving something small like, "I love this :)" feels too short to me because I was always taught to elaborate on comments and I try to incorporate that online and it felt like a chore or I was trying to hard. I do want to leave a small comment, but I feel that you, as a creator, will think I'm lazy or something or don't mean it. As an author, I actually really like those short comments as much as the long ones. Heck, keyboard smash if you want. That tells me, one, you are flustered from the tickles, two, you’re jealous of the characters being the ler or lee, or three, it's funny to me to see your reactions. To me, that means I did my job right as the writer because I also feel similar emotions like that too from my writing 😅. I sidetracked, didn't I, oops. So, about me commenting on others' work, I feel awkward commenting but if I start reblogging a lot of stuff without commenting, I feel bad and kinda look like a weirdo to creators and to you all who follow me getting a bunch of notifications and not wanting to see the stuff I reblog. I also have self-doubt when reading other tickle fics, too, like they are better than mine, and I go into a spiral, and yeah. I know we all have unique styles, but I can't help compare myself to someone else's ruler. There I go worrying again, huh? It's just in my nature, and idk how to get rid of it.

Lastly, yes, there is some happiness and solace I found thanks to my irl bestie. To keep it short, I hung out with him a few days ago (we only see each other after every semester), got the courage to tell him everything that's been bothering me, we talked about it and I learned some stuff I didn't even now about him (he's always happy and joyful when I see him so it was a surprise), had a new goal for myself to work with him in the future (he's becoming an engineer too) it should keep me motivated to strive to be better in school, got tickled by his dogs (I've never been tickled before believe it or not and let me tell you, it's an amazing, giddy feeling trying to fruitlessly defend yourself from a dog's licks but failing miserably. And then catching your breath when you think the dogs had their fun only for them to just start licking you affectionately again. It's even worse if your best friend took a few pictures of you and you look absolutely lame and stupid 😭. But it was fun!), got to tickle him too and he tickled me back (looks like we're both shy lers 🙃, he's not in the tk community btw but he knows my love for tickling), and yeah I've never been happier in my entire life. I have a new goal and motivation and even got some inspiration and drive to write some tickles!

So, that's what's going on behind the scenes in my world and I really want to get back more into tickling and start reblogging and liking more stuff because there is a lot of good stuff I've been missing out just at a glance.

I still have to do my 2024 year in review and Scara's birthday fic along with some wip stuff that I might not finish in time. Plus, showcase to all of you Aether and his lovers house in my Serenitea Pot. Not to mention school starting again on the 21st 😩.

To close, I want to thank all of you who have supported me ever since I started this blog. I can't thank you enough for liking, reblogging, commenting, and appreciating my work. I'm going to be less active on here once school starts, as in I won't post my own fics, but I'll be reblogging and doing short posts whenever I'm on the app and feel like it. I'll still be here, and I'll do my best in school for myself and for all of you.

And special thanks:

@chibimochii You were the first one that liked my first fic/post [that post is gone though :( ] and I really love your art. Part of why I wanted to start this blog in the first place :) I'm proud to have earned your follow as well!

@kusuguricafe Thank you for booping me during that one event. It helped me get out of my shell a little and feel more comfortable posting here :)

@otomiyaa Thank you for being one of the first tickle blogs I saw when I signed up on Tumblr. You are a huge inspiration. I know I mentioned that already before, but another mention doesn't hurt ;)

@wertzunge Thank you for your comment on My Honey, My Bee. There was something with that interaction that just resonated with me and made me want to write more :)

@vaporized-dimsum Thank you for getting me into SethoScara! I wouldn't have been able to write for them without you :)

Thank you, everyone, for reading this far ❤️

-Perz

~Risus Amoris~

[epickiya722]

You know it really kind of rub me wrong way how a lot of the fandom talks about Gege. Like it doesn't really fell like lighthearted "hate" one display when an author write something tragic, but a lot of it fell like genuine contempt towards them because bad or sad things happened in the bad or sad things happen manga.

No, it doesn't feel like "lighthearted hate" at all.

Maybe I'm just sensitive, but it does in fact makes me uncomfortable when I see posts like "Gege should die" or any other harmful phrase.

Half of the time, I don't think anyone actually is saying this in a "Oh, I don't mean it" because people will go as far as sending threats to creators. Hell, they'll do it to fan creators.

Mind you, over fiction that creator owns.

I get not liking writing decisions, you don't hate to. Sometimes, I'm like "NNNNNNOOOO, WHY".

But at the end of the day, I don't wish bodily harm to Gege or any other creator whose work I engage in.

I don't see the point. It's ridiculous. Like, do you really wish harm on this creator for fiction? A story that you can just drop?

People in fandoms will go "how dare that mangaka mistreat their characters" but be the same ones who will write and draw fanart of characters IN WORSE SITUATIONS.

Look, I adore a lot of the JJK cast, Gojo and Yuta being two characters. And yes, this chapter has saddened me but I also saw it coming.

This is what I don't get. Some of these fans are mad at Gege for this chapter but I doubt any of them actually paid attention to Yuta or Gojo's stories. No, they're too busy wishing they were the MCs of the main storyline but when they do some MC shit, it's a problem. Too busy reducing the characters to "Oh, so powerful, oh so much rizz" but were blind to how truly tragic both them are.

Nah, y'all wanted Yuta and Gojo to do everything (WHICH IS A BAD THING, ARE WE NOT PAYING ATTENTION). Yuji wasn't enough! Y'all wanted Yuta and Gojo to come back so bad and look! Gege gave a 2-in-1 deal!

"I didn't want it like this!" I didn't either, but I don't wish Gege should choke over it. Not over some story that I knew was gonna go like this.

[kiwiana-writes]

I dont think anyone subscribes to you for t rated 5 +1s in your own au lol. Chop chop with those wip’s porn girl!

Well. Quite a bit to unpack here on an otherwise unassuming Friday!

#1:

#2: I actually track this stuff. Admittedly the E-rated percentage is a bit higher if you look at RWRB only, but overall...

#3: I think anyone who subscribes to me on AO3, or indeed anyone who follows the kiwiana-writes tag here on tumblr and sees all those fucking WIPs, knows that I like to write a bit of variety. That's not to say there aren't definite underpinnings of, like, themes and vibes that I return to over and over (which I can only assume are why people subscribe to me), but if someone only likes my college AUs, or only likes my post-canon stuff, or only likes my E-rated stuff, or only wants to listen to my podfics, they're probably going to have a much more successful time saving the tag search than subscribing to me at the author level. Or they've mastered the art of archiving and moving on without complaining about it, like I do when the authors I'm subscribed to write something that doesn't interest me. It's a useful skill! I highly recommend cultivating it.

#4: AO3 not giving series stats is and continues to be the bane of my life, but based on the number of people who subscribed to the OG actor AU, there's probably a significant chunk of people who aren't subscribed to me as an author and only want the actor AU verse stuff. And good for them! I LOVE that AO3 offers multiple ways to subscribe so you can get notified for the stuff you want (my kingdom for the ability to subscribe to individual pseuds, though.)

#5: This fandom is OVERFLOWING right now. Like, I can't keep up. You only want to read E-rated stuff? Awesome! Well over 100 E-rated fics have been posted in the RWRB bookverse tag just this week (it looks like most of the movieverse smut has also been tagged bookverse, but either way it's also very easy to find). Or go back to older fics and find some hidden gems—there's nothing an author loves more than for someone to come in and gush about a fic they wrote a year or two ago.

#6: You don't pay me, and I'm not subject to annual review. One of my favourite authors was talking this morning about how sometimes she thinks about taking a break from writing for RWRB because it's starting to feel a little rat racey, and that would suck for me personally because I love her stuff but god knows I couldn't blame her, because the (extreme minority but still exhausting) entitled comments and rudeness really do not help. Stop treating your favourite authors like content creators who owe you something new on a regular schedule, because that's a damn good way to ensure they don't want to create anything new ever again. Like... anon, you haven't even bothered to couch this in a compliment. The bar is ten feet underground and somehow you still managed to trip over it.

#7: Not to be all 'back in my day' but... well, back in my day, snippets and peeks into the universe of a remotely popular longfic were pretty much the standard lol. Nobody is forcing you to read them, I promise.

#8: I've posted two E-rated fics in the last two weeks.

#9: Honestly I just really want to reiterate #1 because what the hell lol. While pronouns don't equal gender, it's pretty reasonable to extrapolate from pronouns if you don't have any other info to go on—and of the three "main/standard" pronouns, the one most closely associated with 'girl' is the only one that ISN'T in my bio 🤦

[e-rated-beardo]

A happy post about comments and "book clubs" and reading fanfic

Just wanted to share this, because I periodically see these posts on my dash about leaving comments on AO3 (important; DO THAT) vs talking about fanfic "in secret" – ie where creators can't hear; in private fanfic "book clubs" or what have you – and my point is that this DM about essentially that happening made me very happy.

Because of course people will talk about what they're reading in private spaces where creators aren't present. I don't want anyone to go thinking the problem lies in conversing with your friends. The problem is only when the creator never hears about people loving their work, and ends up feeling isolated and unappreciated.

Getting this message meant four things to me:

A bunch of people really like my story. (😊)

They're talking about it where I can't hear (neutral fact of life) and it was theoretically possible that I would never know about it. (☹️)

But now I do know about it! (😊)

As a bonus result of their talk, I'm likely to get new readers! (😊) (I've actually noticed a bunch of new comments on the first few chapters lately, and this explains where some of that might come from. Knowing that is also very nice, tbh.)

I guess the moral of this lazy sleepy twixmas afternoon post from my dad's living room sofa is, that if you find yourself talking excitedly about a fic with your mates in your Discord, consider making a point of telling the author, either via DM or in a comment or wherever you can think of! Tag authors when you rec their stuff (if you know their handles)! And actually, if you find a fic through a rec and you like it, I recommend mentioning the rec in a comment, because "found this based on recs from xyz"-type comments give me a lovely fuzzy feeling, and I can only imagine the person who recced you the fic would be chuffed to know you liked it, too. (I'm shit at this by the way, because I'll click links and leave fics open in tabs for ages before I read and then I'll have forgotten how I found it. But if you're better at remembering than me, please mention.)

(Also, goddamn, the fact that my fic is so interesting that people want to talk to their friends about it? Are you kidding me? BEST compliment!)

Thanks @bellisima-writes for the messages btw ❤️

[godtier]

can we talk about the fandom term "word of god?"

i feel like this term has gotten incredibly muddied over the years and its definition seems to be considered as the following by the majority of people in fandom:

"word of god" means that anything that anyone who has worked on a given piece of media should be considered canon. e.g.: "the voice actor of my favorite character thinks he's asexual, therefore this is word of god information that should be considered canon!"

in actuality, the term is defined as such:

The creator(s) of a media franchise and/or their extradiegetic revelations about plot, characters, etc. A statement regarding some ambiguous or undefined aspect of a work, the Word of God comes from someone considered to be the ultimate authority, such as the creator, director or producer.

the important part is the fact that an "ultimate authority" is defined as someone who had a significant measure of creative pull in the production being questioned.

in large productions, this almost always excludes things such as actors or voice actors and can even extend to writers. while writers are obviously creating the granular details of the media, they still have to get approval for the scripts they write from the person in charge. note that this does not mean that actors/other staff and their input/feedback are always disregarded 100% of the time; there are plenty of cases where an actor speaks up about a line read, provides feedback during production, and makes a strong enough case to where the people in charge actually like the suggestion and go with it.

for example, an actor could suggest that they feel their character would feel more guilty during a scene due to events or actions from a past episode. the director might assess the situation, calculate how much a change like that would disrupt the writing of the rest of the episode, then approve or deny the suggestion accordingly.

but let's say the suggestion is approved. even though that suggestion originated from an actor, what makes it "word of god" is that the director or creator accepted it. that's the key.

actors make statements about their own characters a lot these days. they're much more free to speak about their own feelings and interpretations, what maybe inspired their performances, etc. and these thoughts are more accessible when those actors are either very active on the promotional circuit or they routinely post on places like twitter. this is not a bad thing, of course, as they should be able to do that and not be forced to shut their traps about how they feel about any given character or performance. it's a healthy thing overall.

but when it comes to the act of interpreting media, their statements and ideas are white noise at best. they're hired to perform a character as written by someone else. any statements they make that are not backed up either by the material itself or a producer/director on the material should always be interpreted as headcanon, not word of god. it doesn't help that there's a heavy conspiratorial attitude online anymore, where everyone tries to find the "hidden meanings" in otherwise innocuous personal posts by a staff member who has no decision-making ability. but that's another issue entirely.

now, this isn't to say that i condemn people for adopting those headcanons as their own because i've done that myself for fanfiction and rp purposes. my issue comes in when people parrot the headcanons of these actors and then label them as "word of god."

on its head, it might be difficult to see the issue. but where it gets dicey is when it leads to people bullying others for not following these headcanons as "word of god."

i'll use a very silly example to explain.

let's say that during an interview, an actor makes the statement that they think their character is afraid of snakes. let's also say that there is no evidence of this in the source material, nor is it corroborated by anyone else with authority on the project (remember: this means the creator, director, and/or producer of a project). it doesn't matter why they said it, just that they did.

but let's say someone in the fandom runs with this, saying it's "word of god" that this character is afraid of snakes.

then let's say someone else in the fandom, who has never seen this interview, draws this character petting a snake for whatever reason. again, it doesn't matter why.

what i have seen happen in these cases is that the person who drew the art will inevitably get people commenting saying things like "this is cute, but he's canonically afraid of snakes, just FYI :)"

now imagine instead of "afraid of snakes" it's something more charged. you can probably imagine how it could quickly devolve into bullying or claims of "fake fans" etc. this phenomenon has run creators out of fandoms or at the very least turned them off from creating fanworks of it or engaging with it publicly. this is, of course, not a "win" for the fandom.

i'm not saying all of this to imply it's "wrong" to adopt what an actor says and incorporate it into how you decide to create or interact with the fandom. i really don't care what people create for themselves or friends.

what i take umbrage with is the push to spread something an actor probably spent no more than two seconds thinking about as infallible evidence of their specific perspective being canon and therefore intrinsic to any further interpretation of that character in fandom works. you must acknowledge this throw-away idea the actor had about their character because it's lore, you see, and not doing so means you're either uninformed at best, or are actively disparaging the canon and a "fake fan" at worst.

it also of course interferes with the theory crafting side of things. someone can theory craft only to have someone bust in saying "BUT ACTOR SAID THIS AND YOUR THEORY CONTRADICTS IT." this is despite whatever the actor had said not being reflected in any manner whatsoever in the source material.

this behavior damages media literacy and disrupts the flow of analysis. to include every single thing an actor may say about their character is inherently untenable, because actors are (generally) not involved with the writing process and are not writers themselves. they may often say things that outright contradict canon material, multiple times. you can say "well those are mistakes" but if one is a mistake, what makes anything else they say more credible? it's best to simply discard what an actor might say as, again, white noise when you're analyzing media. you can infer certain things, at most, such as an actor saying about their process "i envisioned these two as reincarnated lovers to get the chemistry down correctly." that may inform the meta reasoning as to why two characters behave a certain way around each other. but that statement taken at face-value does not mean that the characters themselves are canonically reincarnated lovers.

of course, since this is tumblr, some may poke their heads in and point their fingers with "whataboutisms" with regards to things like small, indie productions. if your indie production is three people, then canon may be more malleable by design, sure. but even in the smallest of projects, if there are directors and creators working with actors, the directors and creators still have final say. and if the creator or director/producer agrees that what the actors says is valid, then see what i had mentioned above: it's the person with the most creative agency or authority in the hierarchy of the production that has the final say and are what makes any given fact "word of god."

there's, of course, the purist route where you disregard anything that anyone, creator included, may say outside of the media itself: if it's not in the book, then you don't take it into consideration. but that's "death of the author" and is yet another argument for another day.

bottom line when it comes to fanworks, though: do whatever the hell you want. it doesn't fucking matter. the important thing is that you're respectful to each other and not trying to strong-arm someone into changing what they're making to fit what you want canon to be based on the word of an actor in a 7 second interview clip. if someone draws something you don't like, writes something that goes against your interpretation of the characters, just... block them. it's not debate club.

the only space wherein browbeating debate should be anticipated is in the theory crafting and literary analysis space, where the point is to discuss the canon material itself. but if you come in hot, don't expect to always be received well with someone who has experience analyzing media. just be respectful, that's all i want.

[greenerteacups]

hey GT!

this is a somewhat silly question, but as i admire your writing a lot, i thought id give it a shot.

i’ve relatively new to dramione and ao3 and writing fics in general, so i wanted to ask your experience with gaining audience, and how long this process took for you. popularity is definitely subjective, but my question is defining ao3 popularity as a dedicated readership that regularly engages with content. what is your experience with this? do you think you would write fanfics even without an audience?

Ah, yes! My experience with building a readership is as follows:

Write whatever the hell you want, and make it as weird as possible.

Try to do it good.

Get insanely lucky.

Popularity is usually an accident. It comes from random collisions of audience and art at the right place at the right time, or from someone cross-posting on a thread that happens to get a lot of views, or from someone recomending your fic to their audience. Popular creators surf the changeable waves of random networks of influence. In general, consistency helps; posting regularly tells people when to look for your work, which reminds them to return to it; the more you post, the more people see, and the more likely they are to recommend one of your pieces to others; but these are just tips, not rules. The most effective way to get people to pay attention is to write good stuff, and do it often. This is a horrible thing to say, because it seems to imply that if you don't have people paying attention, you're not writing good stuff. That's absolutely not the case. If A -> B =/= if B -> A. Writing good stuff won't make you popular automatically, but like, nothing will. What makes you popular is accidents. And consistency makes it more likely that an accident will happen to you.

When I started writing, I was fully confident that I might just have like two or three people who were really into this weird concept I'd come up with (Gryffindor Draco is not the most popular trope in the fandom, and I knew that going in!). Sometimes I glance at the stats — usually on accident, when I'm posting a new chapter — but what I really care about are people in the comments, who not only donate their time to reading my (fucking ginormous) work, but donate more of it by sitting down and typing out something kind and intelligent for the benefit of me and other readers. The fact that anyone does that, literally anyone at all, is a reason enough to keep on.

But would I keep writing fanfics without an audience? Absolutely, yeah — and I do! There are a lot of fanfics on my Drive that I haven't published, either because they're in some way unfinished/unpolished/not up to standard, or because I just don't really want to share them with anybody. Those fics have an audience of 1, and that 1 is Future Me, who gets to forget about them, come back, and find (to her delight) that an author who shares her exact preferences and style has written a fic about something she finds fascinating. That person is your first and most important reader.

[jewishvitya]

CW - talking about antisemitic depictions and about the house elves and the depiction of slavery in the books.

I'm having a frustrating day with a lot of physical pain, so I'm not the best at judging currently if I should be posting all of these thoughts. It's a response to multiple arguments by rude anons that I blocked (not for being rude, for being transphobic), but the arguments themselves stay on my mind and I just. Need this out. Ignore this, it will be all over the place, I'm basically venting. Hoping it'll be the last bit of HP criticism I post.

I'll tag it for you to block, as usual.

I've been asked what I expect of Rowling, since my criticism of the goblins included the books. She already wrote the books, they're printed and they're out there. She can't just change them, criticism does nothing because she has no path to correct her mistake.

First of all, with her transphobia - as far as I'm concerned she has blood on her hands at this point. The way she emboldens transphobia endangers lives and erodes queer rights. Anyone who contributes to the current push against trans people is complicit in trans genocide - and she made herself a symbol of that movement. Even if she did a 180 on her issues with Jewish stereotypes, she wouldn't redeem herself.

But she isn't the only one who wrote a story and then realized that her story has deep issues. What does it look like, if an author doesn't want to perpetuate those?

From what I know of Tolkien (and I know nothing LOTR or anything, just heard this from other Jewish creators who discussed this issue, treat this paragraph like I'm repeating a rumor) - Tolkien did stumble on an antisemitic depiction while writing his dwarves. Then he course-corrected by creating a more complex and nuanced picture of the society in his future works. Basically, he leaned into the idea of his dwarves as a Jewish allegory and made it a better and more respectful allegory. They have wonderful cultural details, like having foreign-language names used outside of their community - and names in their own native language that they call each other. Half of my family comes from France, and my mom was born there. She had a Hebrew name and a legal French name. That's extremely common among Jews in some areas of the world.

This response is what I would have expected if an author cares about being respectful of Jewish people. Acknowledge the issue, and try to do better.

But what if the issue was brought to your attention after you completely finished your story? In that case: "Yes, I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was writing an antisemitic narrative with my depiction of this fantasy race." Support the voices criticizing your work, and apologize. Let it be an example of tropes to avoid, and encourage others to be careful of the same pitfalls.

What you don't do, is act horrified and say "Oh, how could you, I never intended to make the goblins an antisemitic allegory! Surely if I don't mean it, it can't be hurtful!"

Also, if you truly care, you don't then abuse the memory of the holocaust when you write spin-offs of your original story, including its imagery to support a bigoted villain's argument.

Marginalized people understand that not everyone knows what we do. The stereotypes and the harmful ideas that weaved themselves into popular culture are about us. We know that it's invisible to people who aren't the target, and as a result aren't forced to learn these things. To many people, it's just a trope they're used to seeing. Like villains have hooked noses - it's practically a shorthand for an evil character.

All the stories we tell are based in some measure on stories we heard. Narratives and tropes feed off each other between different pieces of media. It's easy to pull together a harmful narrative without realizing, when the tropes that make it up usually go together, and are so common they're everywhere. So we know a person who means no harm can create something really hurtful, without knowing it.

That's why we criticize media: we want you to see and be aware.

In addition to this, I've been accused multiple times of ignoring the fact that these books discuss bigotry and condemn it. I'm not ignoring it, I know they do - or they try to. But Rowling wrote a story against racism without understanding it and without interrogating it in herself. She only knew to condemn it when it's rude and violent and outright hateful. Not the foundations of it.

So, sure, say she didn't mean to write something harmful. What does she do when she learns she did? Nothing. And not just about the issue of the goblins - about everything. I detailed the problems with her depiction of lycanthropy, but she did the same thing with the house elves.

There's lore about creatures called brownies. They'll perform chores for you, but they'd rather not be seen while they do. If you try to pay them, they'll get offended. If you give them clothes, they'll leave. This is a very partial description, but you can see the inspiration here.

And then she turned them into a slave race. They're bound to their enslavers, possessing powerful magic but using it in their service, forced to punish themselves for disobedience and endure extreme abuse. Kreacher actively wishes to have his head put on display when he's too old and weak to be of use.

To show the reader the horrors of freedom for an elf, JKR turned poor Winky into a depressed drunk with no purpose in her life. Winky's story is horrifying.

Only Dobby takes care of Winky for that whole year. She never recovers during it. Then she's made to witness the interrogation of Barty Crouch Jr., which upsets her and causes her distress. As a result, she hears about Crouch's death through a toneless forced confession - and the interrogation continues around her. That same day, she watches the last member of the household she loved have his soul taken by a dementor, and then she's left alone with the body while Dumbledore argues with Fudge. Only after, he sends Madam Pomfrey to do what she can for Winky, and take her to the kitchens where Dobby will take care of her again.

And Rowling wrote all of this. Did she think this is an example that even compliant house elves suffer and get neglected, even by the sympathetic wizards? Was this a lesson that even those who don't seek freedom suffer and lack agency in this system?

No. Rowling turned it into a cautionary tale against freeing slaves. Unless they're "weird" like Dobby.

Maybe she didn't try to be racist, but this fits disturbingly well with the arguments against ending slavery in reality. That enslaved people will turn into aimless drunks. That they need to be enslaved to have purpose. That those who want freedom have something wrong with them.

And I know this was criticized. What was the response to the criticism? Nothing direct as far as I know, but after all of this - there was an article published on Pottermore to argue that Winky's story is a warning against freeing the elves. It was taken down fortunately, but after this article the arguments against freedom are no longer the opinion of characters within the world - it's a message given to us by real people.

She doubles down. Every time. People keep yelling that she had nothing to do with Hogwarts Legacy, she's not responsible for the way it builds on her original canon. Well, she seems to approve of it. It continues painting the same line with the same brush - just bolder.

She doesn't care about the racism, she doesn't care about antisemitism - she just wanted to use the nazis as her easy villains. She doesn't have the imagination for any other kind.

[olderthannetfic]

I remember you sometimes (on older posts, in my unfortunate quest on trying to find things with Tumblr's *definitely functional* in-blog search feature) mentioning something like a "writer-centric" or a "reader-centric" approach/view to fandom. I was wondering if you would have more in-depth definitions for what those are?

I think I have an idea of what the "writer-centric" view might be (basically 'people can write whatever they want'?), but I have zero ideas what the "reader-centric" view might be.

--

You see it in some of the media analysis about, e.g., "representation" in fanfic:

A lot of people will discuss fic as if it were mainstream media and talk about the needs of the reader for more stories of type X or Y. When X or Y doesn't exist, or isn't common enough, there's a strong sense of blame and that this is a big problem.

It's very BNF ~content creators~ in one box and ~the readers~ in another.

You'll also see this in discussions about tags and labeling where the focus is mostly on "staying safe" or even helping readers find what they want.

Now, yes, I do think that broad trends in what people like to write demonstrate broad societal forces, including bigotry. I essentially just said "Culture affects people". Such insight!

And tags do help readers find what they want...

But a writer-centric view is that labeling is more about aesthetic preference on the author's part. They may do different or more labeling because they want to more actively court readers, or they may pare things down because they find it more in line with their own ideas about how their fic should look.

And when it comes to subject matter, a writer-centric approach is to protect people's right to write whatever. Here, "representation" or justice or whatever is about letting the writer barf out the contents of their brain without getting their stuff deleted. If each writer has an equal shot at that, we're in good shape, ethically, regardless of what their output ends up being.

It's focusing on access to posting rather than access to a stream of media to consume.

--

It boils down to this:

Is fandom about a practice, a hobby that is available for anyone to do?

Or is it about the readers having another stream of media, perhaps a queer one that supplements the not-very-queer mainstream they have to put up with?

You can see why this comes up not only in fandom racism discussions but in every single wank about BL or femslash and how much of a duty we do or don't have to be "realistic", to represent queerness well, to represent specific queerness... There's often a big focus on "Well, but lots of people don't have access to any other queer media!" And... like... sorry? How is that my problem as a writer of fanfic?

--

It goes beyond just "write whatever" into questions of justice and access, but I think that the specific questions of justice and access some people have are disgusting perversions of what fandom is supposed to be and demonstrate that they're shitty leeches who should go find a hobby they actually enjoy practicing instead of shitting on other people's diary entries.

[lonelychicago]

wip wednesday! 📜🎥

thanks for the tags, loves! @panbuckley @the-likesofus @thewolvesof1998 @messyhairdiaz @shortsighted-owl @transbuck @transboybuckley @spotsandsocks @thosetwofirefighters @hippolotamus @honestlydarkprincess @prince-buck-diaz 💗

ofc this is for my author buck! actor eddie! au, bc it's the only thing on my mind. i think im close to finishing it and i might post very soon!!!

until then, have another moodboard and a snippet!

"And? What do you think of it so far? Is it mediocre at best or what?" Buck tries to come off as teasing and joking but Eddie can see the insecurity and the fear of rejection simmering underneath. 

Eddie stops and with him, Buck does as well. They're facing each other and Eddie feels a little overwhelmed by how much he feels for this man. "Buck— It's one of the best things I've ever read. You've outdone yourself with this one." 

A big, huge toothy smile spreads over Buck's face, lightning him from inside. "You're serious? You're not just saying that?" 

"I'm not just saying that." Eddie shakes his head and reaches out, one of his hands coming to rest on Buck's shoulder, his thumb caressing his pulse point and feeling Buck's heartbeat underneath his fingertip. "I feel honored that you're letting me read it so early on and I just— I really love the book. Like, I'm exhausted because I've barely slept but I don't regret staying up reading it and I wouldn't go back and make a different decision. It is that good. It's better than I can ever express." Eddie swallows hard. "It's a privilege that I will never take for granted that I get to bring Gabriel's character to life. I mean it." 

"Eddie," Buck is smiling so big and so bright and he's looking at Eddie like he's the creator of the universe, like he hung the sun, the moon and the stars in the sky. "Thank you. Thank you." He says and pulls Eddie into a tight hug, his arms wrapping around his waist and his head briefly burying itself against Eddie's neck. 

It lasts too little, it's not even nearly enough. Eddie has barely hugged Buck back when the man is already pulling away. 

The small silver lining is that his hands are still holding him close, his fingers resting against his waist in a way that makes Eddie lit from within, makes him feel a slow fire start to burn through his veins. 

"Thank you," Buck whispers and Eddie realizes how close they really are. His treacherous eyes flickering down and falling to Buck's eyes for the briefest of seconds and then gazing back up. 

"You don't have to thank me." He tries to smile but he feels off kilter, shaky, teetering on the edge of a preciple. He feels like he's about to break and Buck's hands are the only thing keeping him glued together. "I'm just telling the truth." 

They stay there, so close and almost locked in this little bubble, until Chimney yells at them. 

"Hey, lovebirds! This is a work environment, I'm calling HR!" Chimney is speaking so loud that they get the attention of most of the crew. 

Buck looks like he wants to kill his brother-in-law, as he steps away from Eddie, his hands falling to his sides and leaving him feeling cold when they used to rest. 

"Eddie, you need to go to make-up and get ready for shooting! C'mon!" 

"Chimney we got it, stop screaming!" Buck screams even louder. 

idk who to tag bc im posting this later than usual, so anyone else who wants to share something, consider this your tag!!!

[nekoannie-chan]

The end of the world part I

The end of the world part I

Work Name/Title: The end of the world part I.

Author/Artist/Creator: Annie/Nekoannie-chan/SharlotteMayfair

Fandom: Marvel, Captain America.

Ship: Brock Rumlow, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes & Reader.

Tags: Halloween Horror Bingo 2024

HHB2024

Any personal tags: Mention of injuries, zombies, surviving.

A/N: This is my entry to @halloweenhorrorbingo.

Links: Wattpad, Ao3, Spanish version.

@saiyanprincessswanie

My native language is Spanish, so I wanna improve my writing skills in English. If you notice any mistakes, please let me know, and I will correct them.

I don’t give any permission for my fics to be posted on other platforms or languages (I translate my work myself) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don't steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other people. The only exception is the ones I gifted 'cuz now belong to someone else. Please let me know if you find any of my works on a different platform and are not one of my accounts. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Marvel's characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

Add yourself to my taglist here.

My other media where I publish:  Ao3, Wattpad, ffnet, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. 

If you like it, please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog.

Tags: @sinceimetyou @unnuevosoltransformalarealidad @navybrat817 @angrythingstarlight @shield-agent78 @charmed-asylum @pandaxnienke @real-fbi @Smokeandnailz @white-wolf1940 @tenaciousperfectionunknown @xoxonotme @bluemusickid @leyannrae @Harrysthiccthighss @Marvelatthisone @caplanbuckybarnes @sapphire-rogers @lizzieolseniskinda @notyourtypicalrose @hallecarey1 @nana1000night @talia-rumlow @writingshae @alexxavicry @azulatodoryuga @daemonslittlebitch @chaoticcollectivenightmare @endlesstwanted @chemtrails-club  @marigoldreamer @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 @Here4thefanfics @theestorm @patzammit @kmc1989 @somegirlfromasgard @rogersbarber

Day 1: The beginning of the end

The world did not end in one fell swoop. Chaos spread slowly, like a disease that no one saw coming until it was too late.

It all started with rumors of a new viral strain. No one gave it much thought at first.

You were on a mission at a communications station with Steve, Brock, and Bucky. That night, the radio started flashing with emergency transmissions. The messages were short, garbled, and laden with desperation. Single phrases like “they don't die,” “they're running too fast,” and “there aren't enough of us” began to fill the airwaves.

Steve stood up quickly, while Brock and Bucky were arguing quietly, but when they saw the look on Steve's face, they both fell silent.

“This is not a drill,” Steve muttered. Something serious is going on.

You looked at the three men around you. You knew something terrible was about to happen. 

“What do we do?“ You asked, knowing that you would make the important decisions.

“First, we must secure the area,” said Steve. We don't know how much time we have before chaos overtakes us.

Day 3: The world falls apart

In a matter of days, everything fell apart. Reports of infections were no longer limited to distant cities; they began to come from everywhere. The authorities quickly lost control. 

It was no longer just a viral outbreak. Infected people were not only dying; they were coming back. And the worst thing was that they were not coming back like before. The infected were fast, strong, and, most frighteningly, tireless.

“They don't stop,” Brock said incredulously as you watched a small crowd of zombies crawling through the streets from the window. “They're not afraid; they don't feel pain.”

“They're not human,” Bucky replied.

You were no longer on a secret mission. It was a matter of survival.

“We have to move,” Steve said. We can't stay here. If we stand still, we'll die.

You had decided to leave the makeshift shelter you had been in, looking for a safer place. Supplies were running low, and the zombie hordes were increasing. Every time you looked outside the building; we saw more of them moving in groups.

“What scares me the most is not how long they last,” you observed, looking out the window. “It's that they seem to... learn. They're not like the zombies in the movies. They move faster. They coordinate.”

Brock let out a derisive laugh.

“Welcome to the new world. There are no rules here.

Day 7: The first confrontation

Getting out of the shelter was not as easy as you had planned. You were surrounded by infected, and although you tried to be stealthy, it wasn't long before you were detected. You ran through the deserted, ruined streets.

The sound of gunfire echoed in your ears as Bucky and Brock shot their way through the zombie hordes. Steve was covering the rear, taking out anything that got too close. You ran alongside them, fear consuming you, but you knew that stopping meant death.

You reached a small, ramshackle, cluttered tent, where you barricaded themselves in. Brock, his face covered in sweat and blood, slammed the door shut, blocking it with anything he could find.

“Is everyone all right?“ Steve asked, his gaze sweeping over them quickly to assess if anyone had been bitten.

You nodded breathlessly; you were alive for now.

“This isn't going to hold them off for long,” Bucky said, watching the door shake under the weight of the infected trying to get in.

“So, what do you propose?“ You replied in panic.

“Keep fighting until the last breath,” Brock interjected, reloading his gun.

Day 10: An impossible choice

You had managed to escape, narrowly, but not without losses. Some of the infected had managed to get into the tent, and although we had fought with everything we had, not all of us were unharmed. Bucky had been bitten on the arm, and unfortunately, it wasn't in the metal. You knew what it meant. You all knew.

“No,” you muttered in a broken voice as I looked at the dark bite on his skin.

“You know what you have to do,” Bucky said calmly, though fear flashed in his eyes. “I'm not going to become one of them.”

Steve looked away. He couldn't just let him die, but he couldn't let him become a monster either.

“There's another option,” you said suddenly, my eyes meeting Steve's.

“Which one? “he asked, not taking his eyes off Bucky.

“We can amputate the arm before the infection spreads,” you suggested. “If we do it quickly, we might be able to save him.”

“It's a long shot,” he said. “If we fail, not only will he die, but we'll have a zombie on our hands. But if you think it's worth a try?”

Steve nodded slowly.

“I'm not going to give it up.”

Brock drew his knife without another word, and the room filled with tense silence as you prepared to perform the most desperate surgery of your lives.

[thecoolerliauditore]

Hi I might sound a bit insane here and feel free to not answer this cause it might get a little controversial but I was thinking about the Jimmy solidarity hierarchy system you’ve been hinting at and how it seems to be some sort of life series form of the patriarchy.

Cause ok essentially I was thinking about your labour edit of Jimmy and then trying to like understand the fact that Jimmy is a social person right like his strength is his social skills and his likability. However within the life series (and similar) series) his biggest downside is the fact that people are mean to him, like if we think first episode of Sausages’s sossmp he talks about how no one’s died yet and they talk about how Jimmy isn’t there and would have died but then Pix specifically points out someone would have killed him (around 5:20ish). But then like everyone is obsessed with Jimmy people want to be in strange romantic relationships with him, people want to be around him and they want him to be like the centre of attention. They crowd around his streams a lot but specifically to be mean to him, one time in another sossmp video (sausage episode 11 around like 3-4 minutes in) they meet at his house for like no reason. But that doesn’t mean they’ll acknowledge his house is nice or respect him in anyway they just want his attention and to use him and his stuff for themselves and their own gain. Sort of in the same way men see women as like these mythical attractive creatures that they want the attention of without respecting

I’m not exactly sure how to put this into words but yeah people like Jimmy but not in the same way they like people, you know. They like him like an object or comparing it to our world they like him like men like women. (See a lot of this has also been on my mind since I read this one fanfic that accidentally projected their own experiences with misogyny onto Jimmy without even realising that’s what it was but I can’t talk about that cause it was so clearly written by some kid in a rough situation who hasn’t realised it yet but yeah overtime I’ve realised it makes sense why Jimmy was in the place he was in that fic)

Also if you ever want to expand on your idea of the Jimmy solidarity hierarchy I am very excited to listen

NOYEAH THIS IS AWESOME you pretty much put into words alot of stuff I have trouble saying outright but yeah The Ecosystem as I've come to call it is dripping heavily with gender (in a bad way). This is pretty much what I was lampshading with things like the labour edit and comparing jimmy to characters like anthy and kotoko

If I may say something that may one up the controversial aspect of this post I do believe a lot of it comes from the inherently somewhat homophobic style of humour a lot of the (real life. content creators. including jimmy himself) esmp crew tends to indulge in with jimmy where there are constantly bits that pretty much boil down to. hahaha a MAN taking on the social role of a WOMAN is that not FUNNY AND STRANGE hahaha that shouldn't be happening!! (don't want to get too into this because I don't think they're like. evil or anything I just think most of them are basic straight men who think gay = funny and that does weird things for the very queer fanbase's storyline they've made up)

On a certain level it's also very. Men can't be hurt in the ways women can so it's okay to laugh-ish. Like imagine if the maid poledance sequence in sos was being done to say. Pearl instead. I'd argue it'd affect Me in the same way but I don't think anyone would have the balls to suggest she do that in a video in the first place.

So what we end up with, character-wise, is Jimmy essentially being the victim of this. prison-like ecosystem where he's constantly humiliated through this taking away of his masculinity (whether that's through literally making him crossdress and poledance or denying his authority, such as during esmp2) as the "bottom of the food chain" so to speak.

Women are kind of an untouchable because it's not "funny" when these things happen to women (see: how sausage treats people like pearl and false vs how he treats jimmy) so Jimmy has to kinda. fit that slot. And I do think it's fun when people play with Jimmy having complicated feelings about this (especially through stuff like transfem headcanons and such) but yeah it is very much a position he is continously forced into.

Also I'd argue I've read. quite a lot of posts projecting frustrations with misogynistic life experiences onto jimmy. I think it's like. comforting a little bit? Like in the same way women like boys love because it's divided enough from you as a person physically to be confronting about your own feelings regarding sexuality or whatever but you can still enjoy relating to the characters.

Anyway I'd love to expand on the jimmy hierarchy thoughts. I haven't because I honestly don't trust myself to talk about creators I genuinely dislike as creators which is most of the people most responsible for that but I do have thoughts, albeit ones I wouldn't trust myself with. But pretty much no single one of them is like. a complete monster. they just all have very strange worldviews and accept jimmy's dehumanization because it benefits them in some way.