#anyway I support people having fun because isn't that what fandom is for

[self-destructinganimal]

The only thing I will say on the "Elrond was actually Sauron in the tent" discourse is that you cannot say Elrond is acting out of character by using manipulation here:

When THIS scene from S1 exists:

[vamphorica]

i saw your wonderful post about the parallels between Mello & Light, in which you mentioned that there are parallels between light & near as well (wich I agree w/ 1000%). Could you by any chance expand on that more bc I love near and lights dynamic. Thank u!!

oh, i absolutely can.

When talking to people about Death Note outside of fandom spaces, I am almost always met with the confession that after L's death, these casual readers and watchers tend to lose interest. This is frustrating on several levels (even though I admit the Second Arc has plenty of flaws), but one reason in particular is that Near and Light's dynamic is so complex that it feels like such a shame to not give it a chance.

Think about it this way. If L and Light mirrored each other in a standard manner of speaking, Near and Light mirror each other like some distorted fairground mirrors, fun but slightly horrifying.

As I said in my Mello and Light Parallel analysis, Near falls into the same category as a gifted child dealt with immense pressure from an early age nonetheless (although he is not prone to violence as the other two are) . Like Light, Near is a high achiever whose intelligence appears to come naturally, and there may even be room to speculate whether he felt a degree of boredom himself in much the same way Light did at the start of the series. We can't really know this for certain, the only indication we have is that Near was content playing on his own. Without Mello's drive, and indeed the isolation from others at the House, it is not far-fetched to suggest Near was not exactly feeling stimulated by his current environment. Light was given an opportunity to alleviate his boredom, whereas for Near, it was an obligation. Both characters are given their break from unfulfilled monotony because of the Death Note.

Another thing I think is interesting is their emotional reactions to both success and failures. This is more apparent in the manga, where Near is shown to express himself more through visual cues, but neither hold back in claiming victory, or disdain in the case of their losses. Arguably, Light is more conscious of how his manner of expression can be interpreted by others, but that doesn't negate the fact that he has very strong reactions to progressions within the case. I also do think Light isn't quite as adept at concealing these emotive responses as many often suggest – personally, I believe there is a good degree of willful ignorance by those he surrounds himself with that allows for his more questionable behaviours to go unchallenged. Especially by the time he and Near 'meet' (or, at least, are in communication with one another), Near immediately calls bullshit on Light, which is particularly funny given that L had been doing the exact same thing, but it is only with Near that the Task Force begin to grow suspicious of Light.

Obligatory tangent - the expressions used for Near in the Shōnen Jump version of this scene far better support my point, and God do I wish they hadn't been discarded, they're so fun!

They took away my boy's whimsy, and for what reason?

Anyway.

Near is less concerned about expressing himself because he has no reason to manipulate those around him, and as such, the best part of the series to talk about the dynamic between these two is of course the final scene at the Yellow Box Warehouse. Although for a first time reader, the conclusion of the series might not be reaching a point of clarity, it is apparent that Near has had the upper hand, with Light having little more on Near than an outdated sketch and an awareness of his relationship to L. Meanwhile, through his own impressive efforts, Near has restructured the care around Light and has far more understanding of the man he is dealing with. Therefore, when they finally do meet, Near is already in the dominant position.

The comparisons between the two is extremely explicit. Unlike with L and Light, which played out like an alternate cat-and-mouse game until L's death, Near and Light arrive at the Warehouse under the impression they will both walk out alive. The reasons for this are clarified once Near's victory is ultimately achieved, but after Near takes off his L mask, both he and Light so evidently confident in their positions that it makes for an incredibly tense moment. Again, it also speaks to their shared reactions.

Light is shown to both claim victory and contend with defeat within a matter of pages, to revel in his success before pathetically scrambling as he attempts to rectify the circumstances in his favour. His monologue, now infamous, is mirrored by Near's closing statement, which is equally provocative. It is easy to interpret his words as nothing more than stating the facts, explaining exactly how he caught Light towards the end and that he despises the man behind the dominion of Kira's reign. Yet his invocation of Mello and L, I think, speaks to his own sense of strong feelings pertaining to the confrontation. When Light disavows Mikami, realises Misa is not present alongside him, there is a reality both he and Near have come to realise – Light is completely isolated, while Near has not just the SPK and the Task Force only his side, but two lives sacrificed to pursue Light to the end.

thank you for sending this ask! ♡

[azaharinflames]

Okay but like-

The wildest takes I've seen in this episode—negative takes at that—are so laughable, I'm sorry.

Of course, these criticisms come from that side of the fandom, which we had been expecting anyway, so it's not like it surprises me. I fully expected them to hate this episode once they saw GayEddie wasn't happening, and neither was Buddie.

But the criticisms are getting to me, to the point where I find them funny.

-'Why are Tommy and Eddie acting like they're friends?' / 'Why were they 'teaming up'?'- because they are, babes. That was established as early as 704, pre-BuckTommy going canon. They get along. They have a sort of similar humor and the same skepticism. And this is good, because for the first time we have a romantic partner of Buck's getting along with his best friend and seamlessly fitting into his world. But you hate that idea, sorry, I forgot.

-'For a moment I thought it was gonna be revealed Tommy was cheating on Buck with Eddie' / 'This is foreshadowing on Buck finding out Tommy first fell for Eddie'- based on what, exactly? I'm sorry, do you think your partner getting along with your friends means they are cheating on you? My God what an insanely toxic mindset. Imagine your boyfriend teasing you with your best friend, what a crime. And also, again with the whole 'Tommy couldn't get Eddie, so he settled for Buck' - dude. dude. Tommy slept on a couch to be close to Buck in case he needed it. He listened to him and took him as seriously as possible without enabling him when Eddie couldn't have cared less. Hell, Tommy dressed up for a mummy's funeral. You don't do that for someone you're 'settling for'. Wtf.

-'Tommy and Eddie were getting along better than Tommy and Buck' - I am sensing a pattern, and it is already exhausting. But also- no. They were not 'getting better'. They were the realists opposite Buck's more dreamer personality. They are skeptical people who were trying to find the logical explanation for what was happening to him - to make him feel better and not as worried. But to say they have a better relationship than Buck and Tommy based on that is wild. Especially after the end monologue.

-'Episode was overhyped and not all that' - well, I'm sorry you hate fun (sans Denny's accident, because 911 will not let the Wilsons breathe, it seems). 805 was a genuinely great episode, and honestly, the kind of episode 911 had been missing for a long time, yet exactly what they needed.

And last, and my favorite I gotta say:

-'The characters felt ooc' - they did not. They were very much themselves in canon. But this is what happens when you watch the show through shipper-goggles and refuse to see it for what it is. But this is our canon Eddie, not the eternal savior fanon version of him that you created. This is our canon Buck, not the dumb fanon version of him. And this is our canon Tommy, not the monster fanon that you've grossly created. It's so funny to me because in this ep everyone felt so much like themself, yet they claim that isn't the case just because Eddie wasn't defending Buck (against Tommy, apparently, but for no real reason), Buck was involving Tommy in his spiraling rather than Eddie, and Tommy was being the supportive partner Buck has deserved all along.

Long story short: the episode fucking slapped. And it's a shame that some people won't let themselves enjoy it for what it is.

[lemotmo]

People are once again going off about Ryan being homophobic. Even when Buddie gets together, I know this unfounded claim will continue 🙄

Yeah, I have seen a couple of people posting about it and the discourse around it. It seems to be mostly contained over on Twitter though. Or I have really curated my Tumblr well, because I haven't seen anything like it yet. I'm not sure which one it is.

It's a laughable accusation really when you think of it. Ryan is the one who coined the Buddie name for the ship. How many times does he have to say in an interview that he wouldn't mind the story going into the Buddie direction? How many times does he have to say that it's important to support your loved ones when they come out to you, like Eddie supported Buck when he came out? The man talked about reading Buddie fanfiction and watching Buddie edits for crying out loud. He even reposted some Buddie stuff on his Instagram.

Anyway, I have accepted that some people will never give up making the guy into some kind of villian. Mind you, he isn't a saint, but neither are any of the other actors. They're all just people, like us. We've all made some dumb mistakes in life we wish we hadn't. But that's all a part of the journey of life.

Obviously I don't know the guy. None of us do. What we know about him is all very superficial stuff, but that's okay. I like Ryan and I'd love to get the chance to chat with him one day, but I admit that I'm mostly here for Eddie Diaz and what he has going on in his life. So I'm mainly invested in Ryan's bts or 911 interviews. I'm not as invested in anything he does outside of 911.

Look, it comes down to this: if people can't look past other people's mistakes after they have done everything in their power to apologize and show them they are trying to do better? If they can't move on after they have clearly been forgiven by the people that actually know them and love them best in life? Then that's on them.

So I don't care anymore. I just block the instigators that spread nonsense like that and move on. There is nothing to be gained by engaging these people. They already have their mind made up and nothing I or anyone can say will change their opinion of Ryan. I refuse to add fuel to the discourse. It only makes the discourse more widespread and problematic.

So let's all agree to do just that: ignore, block and move on. It will make everyone's fandom experience a lot more fun, I can guarantee you that.

I'm pretty sure that is exactly what Ryan does as well by the way. Him and Oliver are very similar in that regard. They just do what makes them happy, don't share too much about themselves and live their lives, ignoring all the social media shit. Combine that with a job they both seem to love? Yeah--

Good for them.

[takemebacktowheniwassane]

i've been seeing a lot of falsettos posts recently deconstructing the fandoms beliefs and firstly

holy fuck thank you, i try to steer clear of fandom (and fandom-izing thereof) drama but this is getting a lot more visible recently so here's some little tidbits for you

whizzer brown is not an unflawed character!

okay so i haven't seen enough dissecting this but!!! in the chess game!

the whole point of marvin using that game to determine the ending of their relationship is because he suspects whizzer is constantly deceiving him and wants to prove it.

whizzer LITERALLY proves him right!

he asks marvin to help him along (yes i know he says he doesn't want help, hear me out, it's a little more complex than that) and takes advantage of the fact that marvin is- like- infatuated with him.

he draws him into a sense of false security then starts throwing accusations at him ("since you need a man!" "what?" "who's 'brainy'," "or witty, move.") until hes able to win, which he does with ease because he's been using marvin having this idea that he isn't smart against him.

of course, marvin's side of this isn't the best either but honestly, for once the fandom should focus on a different character when they think 'insane asshole'. typically we should also probably change our perspectives a little to be more unbiased cuz fr guys, this is getting really.. annoying.

i understand he's the most visibly flawed but that doesn't excuse constantly picking the worst parts of this musical (without other context, btw) to use against him.

and this post certainly isn't here to excuse anyone either i've just got a lot of opinions that i wanted to share while falsettos is.. trending? right?

2. marvin's (headcanoned but still somewhat researched) autism

this one isn't brought up as much but when i do see it around, it's kind of a skewed viewpoint.

while rewatching bits of the proshot i realized a lot of different neurodivergent traits that he shows-

he's helpless during I Never Wanted to Love You and is childish and regressive when he's upset (not every autistic person is like this either, i know this is a bit of a touchy subject so i just wanted to add that).

usually when people depict it i see it either toned down or joked about which is fine when all in good fun, and when its done respectfully.

not here to attack anyone, just here to point it out and say that yes :) he most likely is neurodivergent, but despite that his actions aren't condoned. he's still kinda a dick who needs to get his shit together

3. ..the lesbians also have shit going on?

just putting this out there- I DON'T SEE ENOUGH FOR THE LESBIANS! OR TRINA!

the girls in this musical are like thoroughly neglected and i think that's kind of shitty just assuming the fact that william finn put them in to demonstrate how gender roles put people in degrading positions (and he even makes it more prevalent by showing marvin as something like a misogynistic character who forces whizzer into more feminine roles to show the audience what woman have to/had to go through in society).

anyways, the lesbians aren't just there guys. they have a plotline too. in Something Bad is Happening, you derive a lot from charlotte singing about the outbreak of HIV/AIDS and realize how she operates on a daily basis (she's passionate about her work and takes every bad day as a hit to her life and career, explaining in a way that as a black, jewish, lesbian, FEMALE doctor in this time, everything that goes wrong is immediately brought down on her so much more than it would as any straight white male pharmacist-).

cordelia on the other hand has to handle the fact that her girlfriend is so adamant about her work ethic that she can't actually be super present in their relationship at times like that.

but either way she still sticks by her and is constantly trying to be supportive and endearing despite feeling like she's not amounting to her gf who's basically a hero in her eyes.

i kinda just wanted to bring that up because they mean a lot to me and they don't get enough love from the fanbase, thank you for listening to my TED talk <3

[autumn-foxfire]

Like, I get why the shippers are upset at the news. But it is not lazy writing; most of his stories have been built over time and stretched. Just because an uncanon ship is incest does not imply he is lazy. There are other situations in the manga that imply that they have been related for years, and Gosho even stated in 2013 that there is more to unveil between these two.

Like just keep shipping them, many people sleep with their cousins.

Do you think I'm mad because of my ship? Yeah it sucks but I'll still ship them as cousins because they were never going to be canon anyway!

No, I'm mad because it was bad writing. He ruined a relationship that was fun for me, not Shinichi and Kaito but rather Toichi and Kaito a Yuusuke and Toichi. I'll get into Toichi and Yuusaku first but he's had YEARS to imply a familial relationship, it could have been implied in canon when Shinichi encountered Toichi as a child! It could have been included in past movies if he wanted to go the movie route! The first Kaito KID focused movie was based on FAMILY. It could have set up properly a long time ago! But it wasn't and I'm tried of people pretending it was. Him saying he'll explain it is NOT him setting this plot point up.

So you're telling me for no good reason (and no Toichi fighting a criminal organization is not a good excuse considering he didn't mind having a son meanwhile) Toichi and Yuusaku did not introduce their families? That Toichi, who is supposed to be important to Yuusaku, is never even mentioned?! That they didn't think it would be a good idea for Kaito to have support from someone his own age and family while he was grieving his father?! Do you really want him to be such a selfish man because I don't.

And a more personal note, I enjoy the plot of two rivals of matching intellectual prowess actually facing against one another but he's taken all that away with this reveal. He's ruined Toichi and Yuusaku's relationship for me.

And this isn't me even getting into the implications of what it means for Kaito. He idolised his father! He risks his life to bring him justice! And his father is alive and letting him! What. The. Fuck. I always knew Gosho wanted him to be alive but I had hoped that he would recognize the bad decision it would be. I'm afraid not.

And do you want to know why I think its lazy? THE SERIES IS FULL OF LOOKALIKES. Okita for example is right there! Is he a cousin too? Are Ran and Aoko cousins now? They look alike! It's even commented in the manga! Shinichi and Ran look alike.

Gosho has never been very creative with his character designs, it's a fact acknowledged by fandom, so that's why we know this him making Shinichi and Kaito cousins is a cheap excuse to disguise that.

You won't change my mind about his writing being terrible, Anon, and I'm not the only one who thinks so.

[lordfreg]

Hello all,

TW for p3d0ph!l!a, z00ph!l!a

Today, I have gotten some allegations against myself for being a pedo + zoophile. This is not true.

As many of you know who are in the TMNT fandom and enjoy the spicy side of these turtles, you often get accused of this. It is unfortunate but true. I knew this was coming, but I feel like I must explain myself further.

As you know, I have a patron. This was actually made prematurely, and is sort of bad, so that will be closing shortly (I apologize). And on this patron, is the option to see "sexy turtles", but nobody has signed up for this and I have no patron exclusive content (yet).

Apparently, this is pedophilia and zoophilia.

(They have conveniently left out the "mutant" part)

This is not true. All the turtles are aged up, which I thought would be implied in the fact that I only (really) draw for the EPA au, and they are visibly, mentally and emotionally older than their cannon counterparts. I.e. wrinkles, more pronounced features, bulkier.

This may be my mistake for wording this poorly, or not taking the proper measures, but you would think the implication, and my two different art styles, would be a major difference.

Anyway, the zoophilia claim is also ridiculous because... seriously? My explanation for this is that they are not only canonically human, they also have been confirmed human DNA. Enough to make them stand on two legs, walk, talk, read, cry, enough human to make them, well.. human.

Another reason is that (rise) Donnie has autism; which is a brain malformation. This means his brain is big enough to not only be malformed, but still functioning. A real turtles brain isn't big enough to be deformed in that way, and if it was, the turtles would unfortunately die.

Continuing, I had the claim that I was "15" because I had put a 18+ only warning on my content. I am not.

AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT; I have put the 18+ warning not because of the sex, but because it contains extreme violence and triggering topics. Sex is NOT the main focus of this AU, or any of my works unless stated "this is for fun/this is because I wanted to/this is explicit" etc. My au is to delve into trauma, war, violence, sexual trauma (to both male and female), and generally bring awareness to things and help support people. It is NOT just smut.

This, again, could have been my sever lack of forethought and under-explaining my au, simply because I didn't actually know what my au would be about/contain. Again, I take responsibility for my poor wording and lack of (more) warnings.

Also, this person is actually just bullying me with my old self ship art (which i still love and adore), so... pity points?

More on myself; I'm coming to the realization (after years of being hypersexual), that sex is not a priority to me, nor is it something that I feel a strong compulsion to make/indulge in. I am not a sexual deviant, meaning I do NOT support harmful sexual behaviors. Zoophilia is actively taking advantage of animals, which I am not, and will never do.

It is unfortunate that some people genuinely cannot control themselves, but I am not one of those people.

I honestly have no idea what I've done to this person to make them put me on blast, and whatever it is, I'm sorry. I will, again, be taking down my patron page to start over, and I apologize to my patrons already, but it's sucky.

Again, sorry about this and for everyone who goes through this. I am sorry, dear friend, that you're writhing with jealousy. And I am sorry, patrons, that I have to close my patron. I love all my followers, and I try my best to send the "Thanks for the follow" to show my appreciation.

Myself and @lexiechr will continue to work on the EPA au, and that will be posted when ready.

(Also, my Instagram is now private because I don't want harassment nor people thinking I'm a bad person. I am just being bullied and bring a socially awkward idiot about it.)

Again, much love, Jorjie :3

[houserautha]

i just wanted to drop into your inbox to give you a standing ovation. not only are your fics freaking AMAZING, but i have so much respect for you, because you are such an integral part of keeping this fandom alive.

it just blows my mind that you keep writing feyd stuff long after the movie was released (almost a year now, can you believe it). nowadays, it really sucks to see fandoms springing up but then disappearing a few months later because there's no new content coming out, or it's finished, or the 'hype is gone'.

so yeah, i just wanted to say big ups to you. thank you for carrying on writing, and thank you for showing tumblr that the fandom isn't dead. you're an amazing author, and whether you carry on writing feyd stuff for the rest of your life or if you branch out, you have my support and respect <33

(hiding on anon even tho u might be able to figure out who i am anyway)

Oh my gosh, I don’t know what to say.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

You don’t know how much this means to me. It’s been hard because, like you said, the fandom is dropping off and interactions are dwindling. But how do I move on from Feyd so fast?

And as much as I want to write for myself, it’s always fun to see how people react and to get their comments about what’s happening in the story. What I’m getting at is this — thank you for sending me this today, it really lifted my heart and my spirit💞 I’m so grateful that people like you (I think I know who you are, my friend😉) exist and still love Feyd-Rautha as much as I do.

My time at Giedi Prime is not yet over.

Thank you for your love and support💗

[m3r1m4r5u333]

I'm getting a bit tired of the fandom's overwhelming consensus that Eddie is surely gay even thought there are plenty reasons why his relationships with women would not have worked out.

Personally bisexuality makes more sense to me, and I feel like that's what the show is trying to show, too. And since the show already had "closeted gay man in a "straight" marriage, I think it would make more sense to go for Bi Eddie.

Because Eddie is different from Buck even if he's also bi. Religion. His family's expectations. Marriage. Parenthood. And I also think - earlier realization of sexuality even though he remains closeted. Fun fact: that's what bisexuals do! Even in supportive environments, we stay in the closet the most and the longest.

I'd really like for Eddie to be bi.

Eddie's the type of bi in disguise that the world is full of and nobody notices because the marriage with a woman would be a true one.

This matters because it seems like there's this odd idea that these bisexuals are doing fine in the closet. Why talk about them?

The reality is actually that according to just about every study, bisexuals are distinctly not fine.

The biphobia and erasure comes from all directions. People expect and understand the concept of heterosexuality and homosexuality well enough. Bisexuals...?

It's called the Double Closet. Expectation to either be straight, or gay, and if you're anything else you're just confused.

Also, bisexuals may not just have shitty parents. They also end up falling in love and marrying people who are biphobic. Fun times.

Anyway, I'm listing my reasons why Eddie being into women and men would make the most sense to me:

He agreed with Shannon that sex was never the issue for them.

His marriage to Shannon failing? He was young, the pregnancy was unplanned, he was pushed to marry a high-school sweetheart at young age and then facing the stress of trying to figure out how to raise a special needs child with her.

He went to a war, and returned traumatized. Trauma tends to make everything even harder.

Their mutual lack of trust and communication.

Meddling parents.

Perhaps... Being a closeted bisexual dating a woman who does not know.

Because that's one way to keep a partner at a distance - by hiding a part of yourself.

Losing a loved one, being afraid to love again.

Being pushed to date too soon after grief and trauma.

Falling for a male friend who he thinks is straight.

Being pushed to date someone else.

Oh and the panic attacks - Learning that his friends have died,

being shot by a sniper and thinking Buck was hurt,

ending up in a rapidly developing relationship with someone who is falling in love with him...

When he just likes her... but feels pressured to keep the relationship going anyway.

Because his son loves that person, and Eddie is programmed to go for marriage in every relationship he ends up in. Catholic guilt... They love marriage.

Family expecting him to be straight. Family pushing him to date despite him saying he isn't ready.

Being totally new in the dating world. No wonder he talks about performance anxiety and feeling like he needs to perform - his heart isn't in it.

Also he's probably never even been on dates. How to act on dates? He's not a teenager anymore, it's embarrassing and awkward to fumble and not know the dating culture.

Also when we first meet Eddie he's only been with one woman. Women aren't carbon copies. Sex can be intimate and awkward with someone new. Of course he'd be nervous.

Then finding out that his girlfriend was almost a nun... and being closeted bisexual!

And so on. Nothing actually says the man MUST be gay, and I feel weirded out by the insistence that he surely is gay.

I feel like... Maybe the show expected this, that people would dismiss his interest towards women, and wanted to make the queer community check their prejudice?

Because that episode which focuses on Eddie's fight club and has that super queer coded ice skating scene??

It's Hansel pushing Gretel away... How gay! Expect then we find out that Hansel was only scared that she would miss out an huge opportunity by staying with her. A role in the big leagues.

And that joke about Bobby being a hockey player and a figure skater??? And saying

"Who says you can't do both?" while a piece composed by Paganini - also famous for mastering both guitar and violin, plays.

The shot shows Buck AND Eddie, and Hen with Chimney looking and pointing at them in amazement.

Saying "We'll google for photos later!"

Maybe the implication of

"Who says you can't do both" being referred to isn't just

"Who says you can't do both women and men?"

.... but ALSO "Who says you can't write both of these characters to be bi?".

[bluestjayy]

fck stop begging for comments on here all the damn time. i did like u as a writer but its getting so pathetic and annoying now jus begging constantly. Ur writing isn't that good for getting tonnes of comments anyway half the time Ur dragging plots and characters r so uninteresting probs coz Ur on here begging instead of writing properly. every update feels rushed lately it shows u don't even care anymore. just stop begging and focus on updating instead that's all pppl want

Hey anon, I normally don't respond to rude asks like these because I think what you want is the attention.

I especially don't usually respond to asks that have, in any way, anything to do with begging or demanding I update my fics (and I have seen an uptick in those in recent months) but I'm gonna respond to this one, and by proxy, all the others currently sitting unread in my inbox, and any future asks of this nature that may come my way.

Buckle in, this is a long one.

First, I'm going to assume by 'begging for comments' you mean the few posts I have been reblogging over the past couple of days that encourage readers on AO3 to engage with authors by leaving positive and thoughtful comments, and discouraging them from making unreasonable and impersonal demands. If this is the case then I would like to clarify that I am not 'begging for comments', rather I am supporting a community of writers like myself who are actual human beings who take several hours, days, even weeks, out of our very real lives in order to make something and share it with the world and for some reason are beginning to see a trend of entitlement slowly growing across our comment sections. A trend we wish to nip in the bud because, as I previously pointed out, fanfiction authors are real life human beings, taking time out of their days to make something, not machines on a factory line that churn out content at the behest of someone's demands. We want our fandoms and communities to be safe, supportive spaces where we can have fun. We don't want them to become workloads that begin to feel like full time jobs.

Secondly, to say my writing isn't all that good but in the same message tell me to update? Wild my guy. Truly. But let's keep breaking down AO3 comments/kudos/general feedback (such as this delightful ask you sent my way, I guess hoping it would make me want to update??) from readers and how this can affect an authors updates, this time using one of my favourite metaphors for this type of thing and see if it helps:

AO3 is a potluck. It's a backyard party. There is a veritable buffet at this party. My fic is the cake I baked myself to bring for all my friends to eat. One of my other friends brought potato salad. Another friend brought the punch. Everyone who is at this fun get-together brought something to offer at the buffet table.

Now, I might not like potato salad, but you know what I'm not going to do? Tell my friend to her face that her potato salad sucks and she never should have brought it. I'm going to politely pass on eating it, and be glad that all the people at the party who do like potato salad have something to eat. In the same vein, not everyone is going to like my cake, maybe the flavour is wrong, maybe I used too much icing, maybe they just don't like cake. But that's fine, they don't have to eat my cake. But if you choose to eat my cake, and find you don't like the flavour after taking a bite, then the polite thing to do is quietly stop eating the cake, and go and find something else to eat.

Do not seek me out and tell me to my face everything that was wrong with my cake, and why you don't enjoy it. Do not tell me to my face, that my cake sucks and you wish I'd never brought it.

Do you think telling someone that you hate the way they made a cake is a good and productive way to get them to keep making cakes for you? Or perhaps, is the way to keep an amateur baker wanting to bake, to tell them what you enjoyed about their cake. Even a simple, 'I really liked this cake' goes a long way.

And if you do like my cake, if you love my cake actually, do not then follow me home from the party and start demanding I make you cake all the time. I don't always have time to make cakes.

And just to cover all of my bases, because I am also seeing a trend of folk who think that sharing fanfiction online is the same as submitting manuscripts to publishers and that therefore criticism is allowed. It's not.

To continue to beat this cake metaphor. This is the difference between taking my cake to a party with friends (AO3) and taking my cake onto the Great British Bake off (A professional publishing environment).

If I wanted constructive criticism on my cake, I'd seek it out from expert bakers who know what they're talking about.

No one goes to a friend's party with a cake they made and wants to hear what they're doing wrong. Unless explicitly asked, keep your criticisms to yourself and put the cake down if you don't like it. It's so very easy to not eat a cake if you hate how it tastes.

Finally, a combination of both the points above, really, but I cannot stress this enough. These usernames you're sending anonymous asks to? The handles on AO3 you're writing comments for? They're people. They are human fucking beings that deserve respect and kindness. I am a human being. And sending what you sent up there to another person over fanfiction?? That's just mean, friend. That's just out and out cruelty. I have no other words to describe that.

I could give a flying fuck if you think I'm begging for comments. I could care less you wanna say my writing is terrible. At the end of the day, my writing is mine and I'm going to keep doing it because I find writing fun. It's a hobby that helps me de-stress from the horrors of my real life situations. Frankly, you should be begging me to stop because I have no plans to do anything but keep inflicting my drawn out plots and bad character writing on the world for as long as it keeps making me happy.

But I beg you to take a second off of social media today and think over what makes fandom- something that should be a hobby, a safe place to escape from the world- this serious for you. Because the kicker in all this? My friend, if you think what I post is annoying and my writing is bad, you can not see it. You can block me. You can click away from my stories. Your online space is yours to curate and no one, literally not a single person, is making you engage with things you don't want to engage with. Curate your space, fill it with people who aren't 'begging for comments', fill it with fics you think are really good and deserve to be told how good they are through wonderful comments. Please, I am begging you, because at the end of the day to live in such negativity must be so exhausting for you.

I've no idea if you, the original sender of this message will even read through all of this, but if you did, please, if not me, then any other fandom creators you come across going forward. Please treat them with kindness. Please respect that sometimes fandoms are spaces people hide in when their real lives are scary and frustrating and negative enough and all you do with messages like these is drive people away.

TL;DR: this is not the way you get more updates from fic authors, and further from that, it's not the way you treat anyone. Ever. Do better. Do much better.

[rozeliyawashereyall]

Guys I'm back (not really)!!! I missed you all so much and- oh wow I missed too much, huh.

I'll start with saying that I'm doing okay now! My mental health has improved a lot and I'm very proud of myself :) however! I'm still on break, I just came here to address a few things.

Now to what's happening in the bug army—and lemme just say jeez. I did not expect to come back to drama, especially with how small this sub fandom is.

English isn't my best language so hopefully I'm not being rude saying these-

Most of my information came from @audioroleplayconfessions and a few friends of mine

-Now~ about the discord server. A lot has happened and I won't be getting into too much detail about it. One or two of our members weren't in the best place and sought out help from me and a few others, they're both okay now and are getting proper help ^^

None of us are exactly okay in the head in the army, I don't mean "insane" I mean "just need a safe environment to vent". And that's exactly why the discord was made! But unfortunately it went past an after school comfort club and more of a therapy session.

Thankfully! Me and the mods are being especially stricter on the rules and are actively enforcing them better!

This is still our first time making a server so of course we aren't the best at it, but we're all trying! I do hope that anon can feel safe there again.

that's all I'll say about it, so let's close this topic already.

-The favoritism! Now sure what to say on this one tbh, just that no one owes you anything! If you're so insecure that you have to seek validation from strangers online—and having panic attacks that you aren't being noticed, maybe the problem is with you. Most of our amazing artists that get slightly more recognition is because they're one of the first batch of bugs to appear in this fandom!

It honestly just feels like you're putting the creators on a special pedestal, above everyone—while they're all very talented and incredible people, they're still human. Just like you, just like me. They try to interact with everyone they can and it's clear every person helping with the gator boys series is trying their damn best.

I genuinely do hope you're doing okay now though :(

I'm always here to help and support you if you need it! But now, it's best if you take some time off to focus on yourself! Take a mental health break, it'll do wonders to you, I would know! I'm taking one now ^^

-that one anon ask that was very clearly about me but they didn't say it.

I'm not too fussed up about it, just a little sad I made someone feel that way

I'm not sure what I did that gave you the impression of "annoying" and "pretentious" of me, but I'm really sorry that I did anyways. I do hope you'll still consider joining our little army, and so we too can be friends! I'm sure you're a great person!

Do know I'll always greet you and new members with open arms! <3

Oh and thank you so much to the people in the reblogs that defended me—giving you all the biggest digital hug ever

-and lastly~ I really, really hope none of us gave you a bad impression of us or the VAs! Everyone here is a wonderful person! From talented to kind to fun! Gator boys is an awesome series and we all just wanted to create a small group to fangirl and boy about it X3 I'll admit things have gotten a bit too far, but me and the founders are trying our best to keep everything under control.

Now, I'm not too good with words—but, I'm very sorry about everything that happened these few days, but I promise everything will be okay from now on! We'll all make sure of it!

Gonna be putting this post in my pinned for a week just in case-

[jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear]

Hey, I just wanted to thank you for supporting Scarecrow x OC/self-insert. I'm tired of people who hate on creators who try to have fun or tell they own stories. As much as I like comics characters I'm sucker for OC's and what they bring to the table, because each is unique and brings different dynamic to the table! I Recently found two blogs with Oc I observe with interest. One being @mask-knife-is-scarecrows-girl, I find they Oc Meg Crane cute and I have great fun reading they posts. There is also @amor-god-of-love, of which I saw the picture of "I'll cut your throat..." from Princess Mononoke involving Jonathan and they OC and I fallen in love with it. Seems they Oc is love based and I'm sucker for good love Vs fear dynamic. Anyway sorry for rambling, but could you give your opinion on why people hate OC x Scarecrow so much? We should encourage such creativity not put creators down because of it.

Love your blog <3

-Anon

Hi! I love this ask! OCs are frequently disliked or at the vesy least, ignored in the fandom. The best advice I could give anyone with a self insert or OC is to never stop creating. Your audience will come. I did not start out with nearly 7k followers, it took me nine years to get to these numbers.

Fandom loves regular posts. Case and point, I watch game grumps every day and have made it part of my daily routine to watch new episodes at lunch time. Becoming part of a persons routine is a VERY high complement and I'm sure there's people who are checking my blog in the same manor. (I mean, I know there are, I see the notifs)

It's not that people HATE Scarecrow/selfship/OCs it's that people don't want to jump into something that they can't relate to, for whatever reason. If could be their sexuality, gender, etc..or simply that they don't know this OC and the creator has not pushed them enough.

I had an OC in the past, and I always got questions about her. One, because I made a lot of posts about her, and two because I had followers who luckily enough, wanted to know more. Give them some breadcrumbs! I don't really talk about this character anymore, but maybe one day I will bring her back.

Also! Mask Knife is great btw! I adore reading her posts!!

I absolutely agree we should support creators but OCs are like original art, you gotta post frequently, until your audience finds you. And they WILL find you, but you can't give up. If I stopped posting in 2016, I imagine the fandom-scape for Scarecrow would be different.

OCs and Self inserts are nothing to be ashamed of, we've been self inserting since the beginning of fandom way back into the star trek days. Also, I don't know ANY OC who isn't at least A LITTLE bit of a self insert. OH! And if that one weird artist can self insert himself into the freaking PPG reboot, then y'all shouldn't feel shame making fanfic and fanart

[dorkynerd23]

Okay. So, this has mostly been going on over on the toxic dumpster fire shithole that's known as Twitter, (including TikTok as well from what I've heard and seen from others pointing it out) but I think this DEFINITELY needs to be said here as well. Although, the fandom isn't as horrible here as it is on Twitter, but you get the idea. Anyways, this situation has gotten even more horrible and awful and the way the fanbase has gotten is just saddening to me and this needs to be discussed and talked about because it's gotten too far and it's just an upsetting situation.

But to any of you out there that harassed and attacked the VA's over on Twitter when it comes to the shipping and if you harassed Michael for saying he's in support and doesn't mind Nuzi, you guys are disgusting and just straight up awful. You guys just suck and you really need to stay off the internet if you're going to the point of harassing people, please get some help and just fucking stop. Please don't attack or harass any of the Voice Actors, Liam or any of the crew who work at Glitch Productions, these are REAL people with actual feelings and boundaries and they don't have the time for this bullshit, none of them deserve to be dragged into these toxic shipping wars and arguments some of you fans keep on getting yourselves into, they have lives and things to do and they don't deserve to be mistreated and harassed like this or at all. The people who are doing this aren't real fans and they don't care about the show or the talented people behind it, they don't care about the passion, love, effort and all the things to appreciate and love about MD as a whole.

These "so-called fans" don't care about the actual show, they just care about the characters ages and the shipping aspects and wonder which characters will get together and who'll be a couple, they just care about shipping. That's all they care about and that's just so damn disheartening and very unfair, Dude. :( As I've mentioned and said before, there's SO MUCH MORE to appreciate and love about Murder Drones, MD as a show has more to offer and things to love about it. There's clearly so much love and passion that goes into the show and Liam has a very fun and unique way of storytelling when it comes to Murder Drones!

SHIPPING ISN'T EVERYTHING, PEOPLE!! STOP MAKING IT A BIG OF A DEAL, BECAUSE IT'S NOT! It doesn't matter whether you're a fan or don't care about Envy, Nuzi, or any of the ship pairings in the show, whether you're a fan or not, it is NEVER OKAY to bully and harass anybody. It's especially NOT okay and doesn't give any of you the right to harass anybody that's working on the show, that is disgusting and unacceptable behavior and any of you who have/do this is disgusting and you should know better, especially when some of you are grown adults doing this mess, please set a better example and just stop. Any of you who are doing this JUST STOP IT, PLEASE. These are real actual people and they have actual feelings and lives and they don't have the time for this, they're just actors on the show and they have nothing to do with this and don't have time for it either. Everything planned out for the show and the ones who know what's gonna happen and can say what is/isn't canon are Liam Vickers himself and Glitch.

I've said this before and I'll say it again because it seriously needs to be said, honestly. Shipping shouldn't even be something you go into for a show, you should watch and go into a show for more than just that, that shouldn't be the only thing to look forward to, there's more to shows than just ships, it's just childish and straight up unfair if you're only watching shows for the romance and wondering who'll get with who in the end, and not appreciating the other great things and aspects about the shows you watch. Shows like Murder Drones have so much more to them, so much more to offer, be loved, adored, enjoyed and appreciated for! 💙

[olderthannetfic]

I was an undiagnosed autistic until after I graduated, so for a long time I had a lot of difficulty making friends, particularly in IRL spaces. By the time I was 16 literally every friend I had was online, and since the adults in my life weren't ideal, this online group was really the only support group I had. Unfortunately they were all antis, but they were never the aggressive kind, and I wasn't very well versed in anti/pro discourse at the time anyways, so I just dealt with it. I'd have fun with "problematic" stuff quietly and in private, and everything was alright.

At some point I came across a group of more aggressive antis, and the way that they treated artists in our shared fandom that they didn't like was so jarring to me. I ended up getting into it with them and they held a grudge against me for a long time after that, following and harassing me even after I cut ties and went on with my life with my original friend group. They just would not leave me alone no matter how much time had passed. I'd never seen that before and just tried to ignore them, but fuck were they persistent.

I'd been dealing with a lot more stress after this started, from a wide variety of IRL issues, and aside from not knowing I was autistic, I was also dealing with a lot of other random mental problems that I still don't really fully understand. I think all the stress in my life, from a lot of horrible things that I honestly think I might have PTSD from now, put me into some kind of paranoid mental break. I started behaving really erratically, very publicly. I know it was obvious because I'd constantly get concerned messages asking if I'm okay. People knew I was going through a lot and that I wasn't mentally stable.

With all that being said, this group of antis LOVED seeing me like this. It didn't matter what I was dealing with, that it was destroying my mental health. They had a grudge over some petty fiction stuff, were still upset that I told them off for harassing random people, and they used this fragile period of time for me to amp up their harassment and stalking. I started losing friends I'd trusted for reasons I couldn't understand, and it turned out they'd been telling them I wasn't trustworthy and that they should cut contact. They thought it was so much fun to feed into my pre-existing issues and make things worse.

I don't mean to trauma-dump or anything, so sorry if this is too heavy, but my point is that antis do not and will never care about how much they hurt someone, and that it's likely the entire point to begin with. Even the friends that supported me at the start ended up turning against me once I became too much of a social hazard to associate with. Even the ones who seemed like more "rational" antis, who never went out of their way to hurt anybody. They all turned out to be the same and it never made any difference what our history was or how important they knew they were to me.

It's not worth it to stay. It's never worth it to stay with people like that. Even to this day I'm amazed at how horribly these experiences affected me in the long-term. I go to therapy and end up talking about this period of time more than anything that happened during my childhood. Lots of people I trusted decided I wasn't worth the risk, not even because of anything I did, but just because I said harassment wasn't okay, and because I wasn't in a healthy state of mind. They saw my stress and paranoia and thought "Well, this isn't someone worth helping. People already don't like them. I don't want to throw away my social life for that." All over fiction. I still can't make friends anymore, this destroyed my ability to trust people. The isolation isn't worth the short-term friendships.

Everyone deserves better than that. If somebody is friends with antis... just leave. Trust me. Just get out.

--

What bullies want most is for you to cry in public.

We might not like to admit it, but deep in the core of many people is a seed of sadistic delight in public humiliation, and not the fun kind you do with consenting partners. When people feel small, when they lack control, when their real enemies are faceless or unreachable, they want something soft and defenseless and small to hurt.

Re your "friends", most people are cowards when it comes down to it.

The ones that aren't are 1. going to get harassed too and 2. are the sort of people who walk into that on purpose, which often means they're pretty confrontational and aggressive the rest of the time. Look at the life of any great activist whom we all thank from afar for what they did for our community... and you will often find a person who's not an easy or calm friend day to day. Not always, but not infrequently.

My actual friend friends that I can rely on are not only older but also usually out of the reach of the sort of people who send me death threats. I don't generally reveal their fandom names on here because it would bring a lot of nuisance down on their heads. (And, tbh, a lot of them are quasi-lurkers anyway.) The Fandom Olds you'll see openly associating with me on Tumblr generally have a cast iron stomach for wank and either like fighting or just find all the combatants so pathetically irrelevant that nothing's going to get through to them emotionally.

Antis do suck, but if you look at any sort of big fandom drama or even offline bullying, you'll see that many people will quietly slither away when the public ostracism of their "friend" gets too much. It's sadly not a property unique to antis.

Most would like to think of themselves as that fictional hero they love who stands up for the downtrodden no matter what the cost. Most are lying to themselves.

It doesn't stop me from being friendly to new people, but yes, I absolutely assume they will fold like wet tissue at the first sign of trouble, especially if I only know them online. They're not all mean people, just weak.

But yes, avoiding people such as antis who've openly told you they're hypocritical cowards with bad values is a step in the right direction.

[sleepyangelkami]

hello my lovely angels, this may come as a little shock but i just thought i'd hop on by saying i'm leaving the tlou fandom for a little bit. don't get me wrong i love ellie and i love writing for her however i've been receiving extreme hate to the point of death threats just for writing her. i feel as though the fandom has become a little toxic. this isn't to do with posting about gaza, you should keep doing it and spreading the word if that's what you wish, however i believe diminishing other people's hobbies and calling them "stupid" and "pathetic" for not reblogging palestine posts is sort of insane. i have supported palestine a whole bunch in my personal life, boycotting as many systems as i can, spreading the word to people i know, donating almost everything that i have. with that being said, tumblr is my only social media right now and i'd like to keep my blog full of writing so that nobody has a hard time finding my fics. however, even so i did still post about palestine. this is not to say that i don't support palestine, of course i do. although, i think sending girls death threats and posting about how people's hobbies and their writing being pathetic is just too far. for a while, i was holding off on this but i think it's come to the time where i don't feel right in the fandom as of now. as stated before, tumblr is my only social media so when you open it and see something as graphic as a dead child, it's disgusting. i believe in spreading the word, what is happening in palestine is downright tragic however sharing images like these without so much as a warning can be very triggering for people who have experienced something like that in their own past, myself included. i'm really sorry if this offends anyone and i am well aware that i will get hate from this, however staying will only have the same outcome and my inbox filled with hate anyway that i choose not to post because like i said, this account is purely for writing and for fun. keep spreading the word, keep boycotting systems but keep spreading kindness to people too. i hope to write ellie again in the near future but as of now, this is my goodbye my little loves. i will continue to write other shows and characters if anyone is interested but for now, this is me officially going on a tlou break 💞

[hikarielizabethbloom]

Hey, I just wanted to tell you that in my opinion, you have nothing to apologize for because you did nothing wrong but expressing your POV. I'm sorry I do it anonymously, it feels wrong because until now I was never afraid of voicing my opinions... but these days it feels like saying anything in relation with this subject could be taken as "taking a side", which is weird. It feels like, you know... cold war lol !

I've recently noticed a tendency to, instead of directly commenting an opinion x user disagrees with, opening another post to criticize the opinion in question. Is it fear to confront the person who said the 'controversial' opinion ? Is it a way to say "I have a different opinion but I won't discuss it ?" (which is fair, sometimes I want to say things I feel without having someone arguing with me over it). It's very passive agressive, and it makes a certain number of fellow fans very uncomfortable. That's what I gathered from the recent discussions I had in private, anyway.

It's just not within the Haladriel fandom, it's in the entire TROP fandom ! Some people don't dare to speak about Celeborn because they're scared that someone will react by posting an agressive take on him. Recently, there was a fight about Adar being a good guy or a bad guy, fans were mocked (again, never in the face but in parallel posts) because they thought that maybe Sauron could be healed with Nenya, etc. Myself I used to post quite frequently, now I just reblog stuff because I think that if I say something that will sound controversial, maybe my opinion will be attacked in another post ! even if my name is not mentioned I'll know it's about what I said. That's not what I call a safe environment.

I don't want to see Tumblr turn into Twitter and Reddit where people will fight and throw insults at each other over fiction, but I'm a bit worried regarding where this passive agressive attitude will lead the Haladriel fandom and even the TROP fandom at large, to be honest.

There's not a day where I don't dread to open the Haladriel/Saurondriel tags and find post opened by shippers who criticize how other shippers see their ships. We don't need the antis anymore, it seems, we seem to become very good at destroying ourselves. It makes me very sad because pre 2x08 and even a couple of weeks post 2x08, the Haladriel tags were filled mostly with positivity, good fun and awesome metas. Now I only see dick contests : "my opinion is better than yours." "No, mine is better than yours and you have no media literacy if you think differently !".

I'm sorry for weighing down with this, but it had to come out of my chest and I don't feel safe anymore saying all this on my blog.

Feel free to ignore this message if you just want to put it behind you, by the way, or if you feel it will make things worse... It's really not my intention to do more damages. Or if you want, just leave a post on your blog saying "I got your message" and anything you want to add, I'll be okay with that...

Thank you for reading me <3

I'm sorry anon you feel this way and I'm sorry you felt the need to stay anonymous to protect yourself. This isn't the inquisition. This is fandom space and you should feel safe enough to express your opinions without fear of taking side. Again, this isn't a war. There are no sides and no wrong takes, no matter what some fans believe.

And yes, I decided to speak up because after a couple of posts I've made, I started to notice posts from other Tumblr users that alluded to things I said. Even from a blog I had blocked. And it got me thinking. And it pissed me off a little.

I'm usually chill. Even when I don't agree with some takes, I don't feel the need to write a long ass essay on how the other's interpretation is bad while mine is progressive, feminist, smart, supported by canon, text, my best friend, my butcher... I just read the post, think 'meh, that's bs', scroll and go on with my life.

I know that for some people that's impossible. I know that some have this need for validation. But really, I can understand (sometimes, not always) this crave for queer relationships. But when the ship involves a hot white man (villain) and hot white woman (heroine), there's really not need for validation, right? History of television validates you.

And yes, things changed by the end of season 2. New waves of fans sadly always mean more assholes. And sometimes those assholes are popular. That's it. The only thing I can do is to call out this anti-fun/fan behavior and try to create a safer space.

So, I'm glad for your message. And if you are afraid to speak up I can do it for you. I've got broad shoulders and no desire to be popular 😂