#anyway this is just one example but i'm just realising that this fandom is like.. not a good place for me really

[jakeperalta]

I literally think being in the taylor fandom is making me a worse person like I am so not a hater at heart and yet I just get so irritated by the fandom that it makes me feel like the most negative bitter person :/

[shitapril]

very often see posts about how the one direction fans grew up to be formula one fans, and the more I think of it, the more it makes sense. putting aside the fact that almost all my f1 friends were 1d fans (were ? are lol), it makes sense that a fandom who's fuel was hyperfixating on boys living out their dreams shifted from one form of it to another.

tha being said, it got me thinking - how do the girlies translate to f1 ? and by girlies i mean what your kpop fan would call a "bias". for example, if i was a niall girl - who's my favourite now ?

so here's a silly little non-sensical analysis and comparison that should not be taken seriously at all :

firstly, the zayn malik girlies are definitely lewis hamilton girlies. both zayn and lewis come from humble backgrounds, were subject to vile, inhumane racial discrimination and hate - all while being arguably the most talented in their respective fields (I mean, you've heard zayn's high note in you & I, and seen lewis' 7 world championships). they're hardworking, pet-loving, very fashionable men who stay out of unnecessary spotlight for the most part, and step out once in a while to remind the world they're drop-dead gorgeous. the zayn girls are safe with lewis.

next comes liam payne - and here on you'll have to hear me out with my comparison of every racer and bandmate. liam and george russell are both aggressively british, unapologetically goofy and true to themselves (and i'm talking about liam in 1d not the one on logan paul's podcast). they're both very talented, highly regarded in their boss' eyes (toto wolff and simon cowell - this post is going to be interesting wow) and still somehow not an immediate fan favourite. this comparison also goes wonderfully well with the whole ziam and britcedes parallels.

thirdly, louis tomlinson. easy peasy. max verstappen. both incredibly blunt, dry humour, pr nightmares, do not give two single hecks. people either love them, or hate them - no in between. both incredibly talented individuals (louis wrote majority of 1d's discography, max has 3 world championships under his belt) and yet are discredited ("louis is only famous cuz of his bandmates and the band itself" and "max just had a good car"). the zayn and louis fued also parallels abu dhabi 2021 quite well aye ? (i'm going insane)

harry styles, no debate. charles leclerc - regarded as the pretty boys (the prettiest, their fans would insist i'm sure) and the most popular, the well-liked. both extremely talented without a doubt, but a little bit overrated, and victimised to glorify and support fan narratives. i know i sound like a hater - forgive me, not my intention. i like them both as individuals - their fans on the other hand (and no, not all, i know) are so blind-sided, so insane and cause so much unpleasantness on the internet. almost ironic, how the most amicable ones have the least liked fans lol. that aside though, if you were a harry girl, chances are you went from one fan-favourite to the other. i also just realised - this supports the larry and lestappen narratives - am i genuinely, honestly onto something here ? (i absolutely am not)

lastly, niall horan. now this one i'm sure will divide you all, but here you go anyway. lando norris. both babied immensely by their fans and bandmates/teammates alike - churchboy persona. the moment they shed the insecurity, suddenly bam everyone hates them (niall's mofo t-shirts, lando's frat boy tendencies, and saying things that the internet will not find funny), promising at a young age, yet somehow grew up to be called overrated. their fans are stubbornly loyal to them, defending them through all their rights, and wrongs. it makes sense to me. one smiley boy to another.

this probably makes no sense - but feel free to add your own comparisons, theories, and notes ! there's 5 of them and 20 on the grid, obviosuly disparity for me to go on and on and on about (for example, I see a little zayn girls to carlos girls pipeline, louis to fernando - oldest boy syndrome and all that) so let me know ! let's yap :)

[lemonhemlock]

I think a thing that bothers me the most is how fragmented TG (the fandom) is now. After season one, many of us had issues with character writing, but it still felt like we were largely on the same page. Now, some people can accept Aegon got bad writing but not Aemond, Alicent, or Helaena. They are all “good” or “bad”characters depending on how much they hurt Aegon this season. I’m so glad he got the time to be well rounded, and that TGC delivered on all his scenes, but I think people forget Aegon has received some poor writing as well even this season. His whole outburst about Jaehaerys’s death is not about his son, but the impact on his legacy- I thought this very odd at the time, but realize it’s because they can’t have him mourn Jaehaerys for a long time either. Nobody on TG is allowed to focus on this dead child, least of all his mother! Aegon goes out drinking with his friends next episode 😭 seemingly unconcerned. But somehow only Alicent and Aemond are called out for this, when it is a clear problem that Daemon is more affected by this loss than the greens. It feels like such an uphill battle to even discuss the faction and family anymore.

This is such a good point!

I know I am so contrarian about this rn, but I have had some issues in connecting with Aegon's grief scenes over Jaehaerys this season. And it's such an opinion I DON'T want to have, bc I'm fully on the Aegon/TGC bandwagon and I do think TGC is a competent actor.

But it's something about the general clownery of the framing, how everything is gloomy and dark but at the same time no one gives that much of a shit over Jaehaerys? It's very weird to describe. I know Olivia also shows Alicent crying and swallowing sobs and trying to conceal her grief, but, if you think about it, Alicent is just Kind Of Like That in a lot of her scenes anyway. Big doe wet eyes, filled with regret and unspoken emotions etc so that her acting similarly after B&C kind of doesn't hit as much?

And, in that context, having Aegon rage over this event is rendered kind of.....hammy and, honestly, comical. I'm reminded of the scene of the small council where everyone is somber and quiet and he kind of looks like he's pretending to cry. In other moments it's fine but there are frames where I can't take it seriously and it registers in my brain like a parody.

I realise how I sound right now, like I'm not satisfied with the subdued performances, but I'm not satisfied with the expansive ones either. IDK. I have a huge problem with the framing and direction this season, I think it's a huge impediment in making me enjoy the supposedly emotional scenes.

All of this to say that I agree, Aegon has also received some bad writing this season, especially him ALSO being kind of over Jaehaerys the next episode. But people tend to overlook it, because when you draw the line, the writing for him is still so much better than what he got in S1.

And, yes, this is why I can't really join the choir in blaming Alicent and Aemond for how they act with him, because it's not a naturalistic and organic progression, it's shoehorned in with little buildup or motivation and not even drawn to its natural conclusion. For example, Aemond should have been toast the minute Aegon woke up, because Prince Regent or not, Aegon is still the King and has the power to remove Aemond if he fears him. He doesn't have to justify himself in front of anyone, just give the order to arrest his brother and name someone else as regent, then just go back to sleep.

[mistressoftherant-blog]

Fandom Whataboutism

Well, it's been a fair bit since I've written a rant, but this one has been growing inside of me for a while, so I'm going to get this off my chest. To flag, this is an issue I've mainly been seeing on TikTok, but it is starting to creep into other fandom spaces, and I'm more comfortable posting on Tumblr, so here we go.

For anyone unfamiliar with how the term 'whataboutism' is currently being used on TikTok, it essentially boils down to people in comments bringing up random things in regard to someone making content to either discredit them or to make the original post about themselves (e.g. the infamous bean soup idea where someone has a recipe for bean soup and someone in the comments says that they don't like beans so how can they make it, or someone saying that they like dogs and immediately get hit with a 'so you hate cats?').

From what I've seen, the phrase has essentially expanded to encompass a growing behavioural trend where people seem to think that everything they see should be specifically catered to their personal taste and that, if it isn't, they need to speak up about it instead of using critical thinking or realising that they can move past content that doesn't apply to them.

And that is something that has also been rife in multiple fandom spaces that I've been in.

One general issue I have seen is people commenting on art/vids/fics and demanding that people recreate them with their fave character, or make something of their fave character/ship/fandom. This just seems rude to me. People are not obligated to create content for your favourite things. If they've created something, it is usually because they wanted to put their passion into it and share it with people who also like the same things as them. They don't owe you anything, so if their content isn't of your fave, it's best too move along as you will.likely be able to find similar content that's more to your preference elsewhere or, if you want to see your own fave reflected in it, maybe reach out and ask if you can do a version with credit to the original.

Now on to some specifics.

I'm going to use some examples here to illustrate my point, but I already know that some people may get heated if they see this post so, general disclaimer, I am not bashing anyone for having any of these characters/ships as their favourites.

I just want to highlight a certain type of behaviour, and these are some of the examples I have personally been seeing lately.

First is the TMNT fandom, which will surprise absolutely no one familiar with this account. I may be going over old ground here but, if you see content for a version of the TMNT you don't like, you don't have to engage! And swooping in with a comment about how much better your preferred version is is annoying. Why would you feel the need to say something snide about one version to big up your fave? Rise fans are especially notable for doing this, but they definitely aren't the only culprits.

Last Ronin fans are another large example of this. When someone is comparing the strengths of the turtles in a particular version, jumping in to say that Mikey is the strongest because he is the Last Ronin is irritating as all hell. Last Ronin is an entirely separate thing (and Mikey living longest is more due to luck/coincidence than him being so much better than his brothers anyway, but that's a rant for another day). And making these comments on a post about a specific turtle is a whole spit in the face. There was a cool edit of Donnie in 2012 in some of his angry moments, and so many comments were about how either Mikey or Leo were so much better than him when angry. To be blunt, if you do this, you're an asshole. There is no need to be so incessantly vocal about your personal fave on a post that is entirely unrelated to them, except to be self centred and you come across as an antagonising prick.

And then there is the Bat-fam fans who are notorious for using fanon to try and make everything about their faves. I saw a post the other day that was an animation of Dick Grayson interacting with the JL, particularly Wonder Woman that had in the description that it was about Dick Grayson. The way it was drawn and the behaviour of everyone in the vid clearly pointed to it being Dick. Yet there were a flood of Jason fans saying that it must be him because of how much he loved Wonder Woman, which is fanon? It got to the point where the poster had to update the description to say they supposed it could be Jason because his fans were being so aggressive.

Or the amount of people who try to say that the Teen Titans cartoon Robin or first season Young Justice Robin are Tim rather than Dick, despite ample evidence otherwise? And then they say that they are characterised more like Tim, as if the two don't share traits? As if Dick can't be angry, or snarky, or good with tech, so if he is, then it must be Tim instead? I've also seen people saying Teen Titans Robin is Damian, even though Damian wasn't even properly in the comics then? It doesn't hurt to do a little research, yet I've seen people try and blatantly argue against canon facts, or the words of the people creating the fan content, to try and make everything about their fave.

Last up is Shadow the Hedgehog. This bit will discuss the wider fandom, but will have some spoilers for the third movie, so please skip to the conclusion or turn back here if you don't want to risk spoilers.

It is not hard to see that Shadow is a popular character, and I can understand why he is. He's cool and he has an interesting back story and interesting powers. But some (key word, some, definitely not all) of his fans take it too far. I watched a great edit of Knuckles from the SCU and, when I opened the comment section, one of the first comments I saw was someone typing in all caps asking why no one was talking about Shadow dying. This was an edit entirely of Knuckles, yet someone was still screaming about Shadow, as if A). the majority of the fandom aren't constantly talking about him, B). Shadow wasn't completely irrelevant to this post and C). Shadow wasn't actually dead.

Likewise, there was an edit of SCU Tails, Sonic and Knuckles to Brother by Kodaline, and people in the comments were asking why Shadow wasn't included. As if Shadow hadn't been an antagonist to them for most of the film. As if Shadow had had a genuine conversation with any of them bar Sonic. Honestly, how did they think he was going to be included in a sweet montage around brotherhood when the only current clips of him are of him fighting/scaring/being a dick to them, with the Robotniks and/or Stone, and then one nice scene with Sonic and a fight montage before he sacrifices himself? He's not their brother. Frankly, I don't think it would make much sense for him to be adopted by the Wachowskis as he's always been his own separate thing, and is more likely to end up with Team Dark if they are introduced rather than having another bed crammed into the attic like he would be crammed into the Team Sonic dynamic.

Or whenever someone talks about how strong Knuckles is, and you get the 'erm actually' bros out in force to talk about how Shadow is the most powerful as he is the Ultimate Lifeform and yadda yadda yadda. And it's just, like, give it a rest already. I'm on a Knuckles post to talk about Knuckles. If you want to hype up Shadow, you genuinely have no shortage of spaces to do so.

There's also the whole matter of shipping. I feel I need to reiterate this, but I don't mind people shipping whatever they like. But I also would like to see that same courtesy extended to others.

For example, there was a post talking about canon Sonic love interests, and half the comments were saying 'what about Sonadow?' I was genuinely concerned that these people didn't understand what the term 'canon' means.

It's the same with any Sonknux or Knuxouge posts, there is always an influx of comments under them saying that they prefer Rouge or Sonic with Shadow. And I'm stuck thinking, that's great, but why don't you use some of that love you have for them to interact with posts about them, rather than engaging with content you don't like, which will inevitably end up with you seeing more of this and upset the people who do like it, especially the creator who worked hard to make something that you feel the need to shit on because it's not exactly to your tastes?

Another issue that I've seen, that isn't related to a specific fandom, is the rise of 'oh, that's just like my OC!' (And this is done with canon characters as well tbh). Although OCs aren't usually my cup of tea, I have enjoyed many stories that have OCs, and I am obviously happy for people creating content about their own characters outside of fandom spaces as well. And I have no issue with people saying that songs/memes/character dynamics etc remind them of their OC.

It is when people jump on a post of someone talking about their personal issues, or an issue that is harming people, to associate it with their OC, that it becomes insensitive. I saw a post the other day about a person who had been affected negatively by a very real issue, and one of the comments was about how this reminded someone of their OC because their OC had experienced trauma in their past. Like, do you not see how this maybe isn't the right place to bring up your fictional character?

I get that some people project their own trauma onto characters, but a post where someone is describing something that is still having a massive effect on their life because of how horrible it was for them to live through is a terrible place to bring up a character, and shows a disturbing lack of empathy or understanding of etiquette. If someone posts about something traumatic and your first thought is about a character if any kind, that's fine, but if you then hop into the comments to type about a character, you need to understand that this is how you sound: 'oh, your horrific experience and daily struggles remind me of a very not real person. Sucks to be you, but my character got awesome powers out of this situation, and the thing that scarred you physically/mentally makes for a great tragic bakstory for them. Doesn't my character sound cool guys? Let's speak more about my character and not the very real person whose story I am completely talking over in order to make everything about things I like to talk about.'

There is a time and a place to talk about your OCs, and when people are trying to educate on a topic or find a community of people who understand them, that is not your place to interject. If you are giving your character these issues in order to raise awareness/education, make a separate post.

There is definitely more I could say on this topic, both in general and in fandom terms, but this is already a pretty long post, so I am going to call it here for now.

Thanks to anyone who stuck around until the end!

[harukamitsuki]

I realized that I don't hate Bakugou, I just think he's a boring character, besides being a complete Gary Stu. I don't understand how the fandom thinks he's the most complex character, like even Tokayami manages to be more interesting than him. Besides, his fandom treats anyone who doesn't like him as if they're committing a mortal sin. What's your opinion?

If his fandom didn't actively undermine everything he did, if they weren't trying to shove him down our throats, I wouldn't hate him as much. And if Horikoshi didn't try to shove him down our throats, I would probably even enjoy him to some extent.

I don't like him as he is now. Or was, considering it's over now. He was abusive as hell, loud and obnoxious, rude to anyone and everyone, didn't change at all, and most of all, the narrative bends around him.

Characters who would hate him somehow adore him. Characters who wouldn't take his shit from anyone else somehow adore him. Physics don't work the same way for him. His quirk has, like, four awakenings. Death literally doesn't stick around for him.

He's not allowed to work for anything - it's given to him, which makes it hilarious when Aizawa, aka Horikoshi's mouthpiece, justifies everything he does with 'he works harder than everyone'. Especially when Izuku is right there, who worked for ten months straight just to get a shot at placing high enough for U.A.

The world bends for him, because Horikoshi didn't want to put in the effort of, ahem... writing a good, compelling character.

And, no, I don't mean good as in morally good. Characters don't have to be good people to be good characters.

However, if the character is both a bad person and badly written, people are far less compelled to enjoy them.

Prime example: Doflamingo from One Piece. He's a bad person, but his writing is so good that people either love him or love to hate him.

Bakugou doesn't even work in the 'meant to be hated' spectrum, as he's not. Horikoshi genuinely wants people to love him, without realising that he makes it hard to do so with his terrible writing.

Look at Shou Tucker from FMA - 2003 and Mangahood. Everyone, and I mean everyone, hates this piece of shit. We would were all happy that Scar filled him, and we wish he was real just so we could disfigure his face. He is hated universally, because that's what he was supposed to be.

Ugh, I'm going off-subject.

Anyway! Back to the ask!

Bakugou is a very boring character. The only reason people think he isn't is because of his 'redemption arc' and his angry personality. Those two things are generally what people point to if you try to tell them that he's boring.

What they don't understand is that the 'redemption arc' doesn't work, because he never even reformed himself, nor did he work for it. It was all handed to him.

His anger is very generic, but it stands out due to everyone in 1-A either being very cheerful, very bland, or emotionally stunted. Not even Endeavour is eternally angry; most of the time, he feels very cold, ironically.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: he would have been more enjoyable if he was left behind post-Battle Trials, as was the original plan. It only changed because Horikoshi drew him crying.

As a minor antagonist, he would have been great. If his redemption happened in the background, I wouldn't have cared. Personally, I probably would have actually liked him if he stayed as an antagonist.

His fandom are so obsessed with making him seem like the best character ever. The irony is that most of them hate Endeavour, despite them being incredibly similar.

I know that it's not all Bakugou fans. There are a lot of them, but there are also a lot of them who just want to keep to themselves and just enjoy their fav without trying to make everyone adore him. To a lot of people, it doesn't matter if you hate or dislike Bakugou.

But, to a lot of them, it does. There are people who spend about 2k on bots to make sure B*kuD*ku wins the polls, or people who spend more to make sure Bakugou wins the popularity contests.

Heck, there are people who were crying over IzuOcha being canon, despite all the hints that it was canon since EPISODE FOUR. I thought it was obvious that IzuOcha were the canon ship when they first met and Izuku was flustered, despite him never getting that flustered over other girls.

But, nope. They're crying and blocking Horikoshi and harassing people over IzuOcha being canon. They claim that B*kuD*ku was canon and Horikoshi queerbaited them, when he really didn't. They convinced themselves that it was canon and blamed everyone else that it didn't happen.

Man, this is why Hiroshima didn't make NaLu canon in Fairy Tail.

Bakugou fans concern me, because they seem to not realise that things not being canon is the reason fandom exists. Fandom exists because people, (specifically white women watching Star Trek), asked themselves, 'what if'.

'What if' these two characters k-k-k-kissed!? 'What if' this character survived? 'What if' this happened?

Bakugou fans just don't seem to understand that.

Honestly, just writing him off as a boring character and nothing more is better for your mental health.

(Just don't tell the Bakugou stans. They'll gut you alive.)

[not-poignant]

Hi! Big fan of your work and writing blog :) I have a question re: fanfic reception. I like writing fanfics about villains on the receiving end of noncon, and I sometimes get feedback that makes me feel weird and I dunno how to respond to it? It’s along the lines of "thanks for giving [character] the pain they deserve" "it’s good that you aren’t nice to [character] like those other fanfic writers". (Part 1…)

(Part 2…)I kind of feel like they’re complimenting my morals instead of my writing, but I also could be overreacting, because I mean it’s fine to seek out fics where a character you hate gets tortured? No hurry answering this, and thanks in advance if you do. I hope you’re doing alright on your break from UtB. I am using the time to reread and am loving it!

~

Hi anon!

Oh this is an interesting quandary to be in, because I'm certain at least some of those people are very much being moralistic about it.

Tbh when it's 'thanks for giving (character) the pain they deserve' you can probably ignore that if you want, because yeah, they might have revenge fantasies and find that very satisfying.

But when you get people going 'thanks for being mean / not nice to this character like other writers' - if you're the kind of person who responds to comments and feels uncomfortable when someone is using your space to shame other authors (because that's exactly what's happening) you can choose - if you want - to take the time to say 'I have no problems when people enjoy this character being hurt, however, I do not tolerate when folks shame other authors and readers for what they enjoy in fiction. Please don't compliment my fic by putting down other people, that's not what a compliment is' or something similar.

As soon as a reader brings in other people and shames them, that's absolutely when you can take a stand and see a clear issue.

I see this a lot for two different things:

Writing realistic kink, and so many readers being like 'omg thanks for writing realistic kink there's so much unrealistic trash on here' and these days I always make a point of saying 'oh thanks! but I write and love unrealistic trash too. This is a fictional site and no one should be expected to write realistic kink here!' It shuts people down amazingly fast. But also makes them realise that perhaps they just shouldn't be throwing stones when we're all in a very glass castle on AO3 lmao

Writing realistic trauma recovery, so like 'thanks for showing how awful and evil rape can be unlike those people who write it for fun' - now how I end up with these readers with my actual writing history, I don't know, but I take the same approach of like 'thanks BUT I LOVE writing rape as titillation! I enjoy both!'

You don't have to be as blunt as me, and you don't have to address it at all, but any reader who shames other authors or readers in your comment section can be addressed directly because it's just a shitty thing to do. And people don't say shit like that in public if they don't secretly hope that one of those people will see the comment and feel bad about what they like.

So yeah, with your first example, they could be feeling moralistic, or they could just want a revenge fantasy and really enjoy noncon! The second example is a clear cut example of shaming, or stepping on other people to pass you a compliment, and you're never ever over-reacting when that makes you feel uncomfortable, or makes you feel like it's not really a compliment. Because all it really is, is a version of: 'you passed my moral standards, thanks' and that's not actually a compliment at all. (Or like you say, it's complimenting your morals, it's like having a weird fandom policeman come by and glare at you and be like '....okay you're committing no crimes, as you were' and moving on. It's just weird).

Anyway *shakes hands for weird comments that shame other readers/authors in the form of a compliment* - I do think you're right to feel uncomfortable at least sometimes when this happens. It's up to you how you choose to address or not address it, but I will say personally that if you aren't going to address it in comments, maaaaybe consider deleting the ones that shame other readers/authors, so that when those people read your fics they don't feel alienated. It's obviously your choice! But just something to consider if you want to be curating your space. And best of luck writing all the noncon-villain fics! They can be a lot of fun :D

[dragonsandphoenix]

Raising Your Husband in Danmei

So I've been in the danmei fandom for about 5 years at this point. During that time I've mostly hung around in international fandom spaces, since I'm not a native Mandarin speaker. But I do occasionally dabble in Chinese fandoms simply because the options for novels in English speaking danmei fandom are too limited. Once you've done that you familiarise yourself with many tropes and fandom slang that is so common in Chinese fandoms. They seem to be able to categorise any genre or trope with scientific precision. I'm by no means an expert so if I've gotten anything wrong feel free to correct me. I just wanted to talk about this one trope that I've come across on occasion but never really looked too deeply into. The idea came to me after reading this post, which features the AU idea of Xie Lian raising a little Hong'er. And it made me think of a few other danmei novels that also involve one of the main leads living together and raising the other, usually since they were young. If this concept makes you feel uncomfortable, then feel free to stop reading. TW's of every kind basically.

Raising your love interest or 养成

So while I've kind of seen this term used for danmei novels, I don't know where I first saw it. According to Baidu, the term's actual meaning is to "cultivate so that something can form or grow". 养成系 or "cultivation system", another internet slang term I see, is usually used to refer to "the development of idols" and in games to "cultivate a virtual character to become their ideal state". In the context of danmei novels, it means a story where the two leads have a significant age gap, and the plot revolves around the older one raising the younger and then they become lovers when they're older. Without mincing words, they're basically like grooming novels. Except where grooming in real life is a crime, in danmei fiction, the fantasy is seeing a male character having to be put in a nurturing position, and the other male character having to be dependent and become attached to his guardian not out of feelings of attraction at first. Just like most things in the genre, it's all about the moe factor. Also, a lot of it is unintentional grooming because usually the older character doesn't even realise the younger's budding romantic feelings until much much later. There may be time skips where they're separated and spend years apart, and incest or pseudo-incest may be involved.

Anyway, here are some popular examples listed under the trope that I know through going through lists of 养成 novels compiled by fans (basically I went on 小红书/red note and searched 养成系双男主文 or something):

Scum Villain's Self Saving System by MXTX

Yeah, quite a number of comments in XHS when discussing this trope will be like "oh you're talking about SVSSS right?" I guess any shizun fucker novel could qualify following that logic, but to be honest, we see so little of the "raising" in this one that I'd consider it light 养成.

大哥 or Older Brother aka Unknown by Priest

Another popular recent example that I keep seeing mentioned. It tracks, the MC adopted the ML and literally raised him. I haven't finished the drama actually (I'm sorry, I really should). Pseudo-incest too since they're adopted brothers.

落不下 or Can't Be Left Behind by Yousa

The incest danmei. Also maybe the only 年上 (top is older than the bottom) danmei with this trope that I like. Here the older brother actually intentionally grooms the MC. At least that's my reading. Theirs is a fucked up, intense and passionate relationship that compelled me nonetheless. I've seen this be described as gay Flowers In The Attic and while I haven't read the latter I'm definitely picking it up due to how much I loved this novel.

龙血 or Dragon Blood by Shui Qian Cheng

Adopted father/son. One of my faves from this author. Action thriller about a mercenary who finds a child in the middle of the jungle and trains him to be a mercenary, and the child turns out to be a secret government experiment who can turn into a mutant dragon hybrid. Good stuff. Hot smut too.

And that's it! There are a few more that I know of, but haven't read so I can't really vouch for them. Hopefully this reaches at least 5 of you filthy danmei fans out there.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Heeey Raven! Just for the Sillies and funsies, did you when you first started the game had a difficult time pronouncing some of the names in the game? :'D

I first started the game in late 2022, so i joined the fandom a bit late, but let me tell you, i had a hard time pronouncing some of the dorm names! Like some of the dorm names that I had a difficult time pronouncing were Pomefiore, Heartslabuyl, Diasomnia, and ESPECIALLY ignihyde and i'm going to be honest i still have problems pronouncing some the dorm names once in a while! 💀

Like i pronounce Pomefiore "Pom-fi-or" (Weirdly enough at the beginning, i pronounced Pomefiore automatically with an "r" as in "Porm-fi-or.) Another example would be with Octavinelle my brain keeps thinking that it's "octovinelle" with an "o" instead of an "a" because i think of OCTOpus when i pronounce Octavinelle! I've also seen some fans pronouncing Octavinelle "oct-tine-ville" or "Octaville," which i think is really funny cuz no one can pronounce it! It's chaotic. 😂

Some goes for Mostro Lounge, i mentally added “n” to Mostro Lounge at the beginning of the game. I used to say Monstro Lounge until I realised that's wrong! 😭

then there's Heartslabuyl! dear fricking god! What a tongue twist! 😭 I used to pronounce and still do heartslabyul "heartzabyul." I don't know how accurate that is, but it's such a mouthful. 🫠

AND The ONE dorm i had the MOST trouble pronouncing was Ignihyde! 💀 and still can't do it right! Again, I've seen some fans pronouncing it "Ichigyde", "igh-knee-hide" or "Igunihaide".

Also, i keep reading Diasomnia as in Diasmonia, I don't know why, but it's automatically DiasMONIA in my head.

This all some weird Mandela effect! 💀

anyway i was actually going to mention some other funny things i misspelt or mistook something in the game when i first started, but this got so long that i'll just end it here and send another ask another day til then See ya! ✌🏻

I've never really had an issue with the unique names that come up in TWST! Everyone's going to be biased to their own ways of pronouncing the words, but personally I find it helps to break things down into smaller bits. I think I didn't have trouble with the dorm names because of this. If you slow down and take your time with them, it's not so hard. For example, I guessed "Pomefiore" must be said as "Pom-eh-fee-or-ay" because "pomme" means apple in French and "fiore" means flower in Italian. Likewise, the "somn" in "Diasomnia" refers to "somnus" in Lain, which means sleep.

Some of the variations in pronunciation naturally occur because the way things are said in Japanese is different than in English. For example, "Ignihyde" is said "Igunihaide" in Japanese, whereas in conventional English is it said as "Igh-knee-hide". Some people will choose to say it the Japanese way, others will say it in the conventional English way, and some will do it another way entirely. (I also want to point out that some words just sound plain awkward to say in English due to differences in what is considered "normal" grammar and syntax from language to language. "Octavinelle" said out loud is such a mouthful in English because we usually don't see this combination of letters.)

I try to not get caught up on whether or not I'm saying the names of new terms (character names, dorm names, etc.) "correctly" or not, because there is sure to be differences anyway, whether between languages or between individual dialects. (I talk about that more in this post!)

P.S. The "Monstro"/"Mostro" Lounge confusion was probably the most common mistake! That comes from a lot of fans assuming that the lounge must be named "Monstro" after the whale in Pinocchio.

[bunglegaydogs]

skk dynamics!

I just want to talk about Soukoku so that is precisely what I'm going to do ^^

As per, this post has no specific or planned direction, I'm just gonna see where it takes me lol.

It genuinely irks me to see the rampant mischaracterisation within the fandom pertaining to not only just Soukoku, but several other characters as well. Ranpo, Akutagawa, Kunikida, etc. It might just be my dumb little screaming brain being scared of something that's not supposed to be in my head, or hell, something that's in the BACK of my mind, and I know that makes no sense but it does to me xoxo

I just really treasure the dynamic between Dazai and Chuuya and I get frightened that when I think somebody is mischaracterising them, I'm the only one that thinks that and that I'm just perceiving them wrong. Which genuinely is the one thing I never wish to do; when I write fics, my number one goal is to make the characters as true to life as possible. I try my damndest to do justice to their characters, and based off of the lovely people that read it and comment, I'm doing something right, surprisingly.

The characterisation of Dazai and Chuuya specifically is something so important to me because I relate to the both of them the most out of any of my interests. And I have a LOT of interests.

I don't know why or how, but they came to be my absolute favourite characters over all other fandoms and shows and games and films I enjoyed. (I'm excluding the Marauders fandom here, because I also love Remus and Sirius exactly like this). I piss myself off with it sometimes, because I accidentally base all of my creative outlets off of Soukoku, and lo and behold, I have about 30 unfinished ideas/fics after one night of ruminating over these motherfuckers.

Anyways. Like I said, this post has no point, it's just my incoherent, incessant rambling that if I don't write down, will slowly eat away at me until I die ^^

So, I guess, without further ado, I'm just gonna get going?

LMAO

Anyways,

Soukoku's dynamic has always been interesting. We were introduced to them first (as a pair) as enemies; ex-partners, rivals, loathing each other. But, when we slowly got to see more of their relationship, more of their past, more of their dynamic, quite a lot of us slowly came to realise; oh shit. There's more to them here.

The two of these together aren't just black-and-white characters. Dazai is not inherently good just because he works for the ADA. Chuuya is not inherently bad just because he works for the PM. They are morally grey characters. They've killed people, tortured people, stolen, beaten, attacked, hurt, all that good stuff that comes with being in the Mafia (nevermind fucking Mafia executives). Something that a lot of people seem to forget is where to draw the line between these two organisations; if the ADA is harbouring two fugitives that are ex-mafia, one of them being an executive, another fugitive that terrorised the streets of Japan as a man-eating tiger, and is run by an ex-assassin who was close with the current leader of the Port Mafia, who's to say that they're the good guys? Who is the one to define the evil and the light?

Nobody.

There are no sides.

The Port Mafia aren't the bad guys, and the Agency aren't the good guys. They're both doing their morally grey jobs with their morally grey cast of characters.

Yes, on a base level, the ADA are supposed to be the good guys, whereas the Mafia are the bad. It's a narrow-minded way of thinking and looking at the series, but on a surface level, yes, that seems to be the case.

However, we have layers to this. We know how morally grey these characters are, good or bad. Take Tanizaki, for example, and his way of going about it when Naomi is threatened. He knows he's morally grey. He knows he's not one of the good guys. None of them are! They save people, and that makes them good. But it doesn't make them the good guys. I'm not calling them bad people, of course not. I'm just saying, in the wise words of a post I once read months back, 'Maturing is realising that neither the Port Mafia or the ADA are the good or bad guys'. Something along those lines.

ANYWAYS, I've written this much already and still haven't spoken about SKK.

My point here was their good apple/bad apple dynamic. Dazai is from the same place Chuuya is at, the Mafia. So, by calling Dazai a 'bad guy' you're indirectly also calling Chuuya a bad guy. You're calling Hirotsu a bad guy. You're calling Akutagawa a bad guy. You're calling Higuchi a bad guy. You're calling all of these Mafia members the bad guys; when that's not strictly true. Morally grey characters, yet not monsters. Not bloodthirsty, demonic, evil motherfuckers. They're in the Mafia; not a good start, of course. But again, this does not make them bad people. Actions don't define the person you make yourself out to be, if that makes any sense. Just because a bad person did one good thing one time does not necessarily make them a good person. But if they strive to become a better one by constantly doing good and making active efforts to change their ways, then they're well on their way to earning that title, or coming close to it. Just because someone good did a bad thing one time does not automatically make them a bad person. They're not awful for making one bad choice, depending on the severity and their actions after the choice. Because it can go both ways; strive to be a better person, or fall to be a bad one.

ANYWAYS.

SOUKOKU.

I LOVE SOUKOKU.

So, I'm actually going to talk about them instead of fucking RABITTING ON FOR HOWEVER LONG.

Anyways.

Soukoku is special to me. I relate to the both of them the most. I recognise the flaws in each of them, and I recognise the good. I recognise the changes they're willing to put themselves through for the sake of the greater good, and I recognise the struggles they've been through to get there. I see myself in them, and so I can't help but latch onto them and want to keep them for myself. My subconscious wants to protect them and make them happy and becomes unhealthily attached to these fictional characters.

Anyways.

Soukoku dynamics. Right.

One of my favourite dynamics about Soukoku is the childlike behaviour they exhibit with one another. Even after seven years and they still bicker like they did at 15. I've said it a thousand times before and I'll fucking say it again; they let each other be the children that they never got to be. They let loose with one another. They unwind. They relax. They recognise their similarities (much to Chuuya's chagrin and unwavering denial) and each other's differences. Where there is hate, there is love and trust. It's buried deep. But it's there. The two of them have their walls put high up. They guard themselves well. They keep their shit inside. They let not another soul see what goes on in their hearts. So, with their crying children stuck inside of them and locked down, they let them out around each other. By simply being with each other at any given moment, they're healing their inner children, and allowing them to breathe.

Each moment with Soukoku is so delicate. It feels intrusive to watch their intimate scenes. It feels like such a beautiful moment, so precious to watch and so delicate to touch. The intimate scenes with the two of these are either emotionally charged, blazing, action-packed and full of chaos, or quiet and serene. Tranquil. It's never really neutral ground for them. It's either chaos or serenity, just a calm moment between the two of them, away from the rest of the world and taking (unknowing) comfort in each other's presence.

It's the small smiles from Dazai when Chuuya isn't looking. It's the words and actions with hidden meanings exchanged between them. It's the concern when one of them gets hurt, or is stuck in an unprecedented situation. It's the unfaltering trust and loyalty between each other that pushes them forward, even if it kills them, or seems fruitless. It's the determination that sits in the both of them to protect those that they care about, and put the world above all else for just a moment.

Small, knowing glances. Inside jokes. Petulant, playful bickering. Concerned thoughts. Constant thoughts.

I find it hard to believe that nobody else finds Dazai and Chuuya suspicious; they're hardly discreet about how much they think about each other. Example number one:

Chuuya is drunk with Hirotsu and Kajii. On a whim, he decides to go on a rant about Dazai. Hirotsu and Kajii are apparently sick of it; he does this a lot. He decides, impulsively, to ring Dazai's phone. Dazai picks up the fucking phone. Hirotsu answers, Dazai's like 'Oh, hey, yeah this is my old phone.' Blatantly lies to the motherfucker, because Dazai, honey, you're at home reading; what have you got your old phone from seven years ago next to you, working, and on for? Chuuya wants to speak with him. Gets angry when he can't talk to him to shout at him and complain. Keeps trying to call him back in anger.

Now, if I do say so myself, that's pretty suspicious of them.

Example two:

Dazai in fucking general. He does not shut the fuck up about Chuuya. He tells everyone he meets about how much he spends thinking about Chuuya (everyone except the Agency ahem). He's fucking gay.

That also brings me on to another point. Dazai rarely speaks about Chuuya with the ADA; I'm not too sure I've ever seen him say anything about him to them, except in Wan and the like. (I'm dumb tho tbf). However, upon Yosano figuring out Chuuya's identity, his first reaction is "Goddamn it, Dazai told them". Not that he's a widely known gravity manipulator and its not fucking hard to figure it out, plus the fact that he's a Mafia executive, PLUS the fact that they're a detective Agency? His first impulse is to blame Dazai lmao. Anyways.

You can ignore the first half of that paragraph I was just chatting mad wham.

Anyways.

I just enjoy how peaceful and serene the intimate moments between Soukoku can be. Even the world around them is falling apart, it still somehow feels so beautiful, real, raw, and personal. When Dazai is watching Chuuya fight in storm bringer, it feels so quiet. All hell is breaking loose, yet Dazai is so breathtaken by Chuuya that we feel as if we're interrupting. I don't know why but all I picture upon imagining that scene is a very quiet scene, just for a few seconds, of no music or anything, and white. Just the colour white in as many places as possible. A softness to the screen. I don't know. It just feels like that to me and I can't explain it.

Soukoku's dynamics are so important, because when people mischaracterise both Dazai and Chuuya and then smush that together it creates an abomination of what was supposed to be beautiful and ruins the relationship they really have, muddying their name. Their relationship is special. It's so much more than hate.

Hate is also a crucial part of their relationship, however. And a lot of us Soukoku shippers tend to forget that. We're so blinded by how much we want them to admire and adore each other that we forget how much they do despise one another. And I've mentioned this before in another post.

Their hate is real. It's not a ruse, it's the real deal. They genuinely do hate one another; but that hate is filled with so much more than downright disgust. That hate is filled with the trust of their bond, seven years of partnership, love, and so many unspoken things between the two of them.

Chuuya hates Dazai because he hates himself. He refuses to let himself see the similarities between him and Dazai, because he could never be like him. Chuuya often struggles with his identity and who he is and just how human he is. He didn't know until he was 16 whether he was a real human or not. And so, upon meeting this other human at 15 who craves death and wants to just throw away this human life that he's been given? That's a hard no for Chuuya. He resents Dazai for being so willing to give up his life so carelessly, so easily. He'd do anything at that point to realise just how human he was, to prove his humanity to others and to show his compassion and human qualities. And he stumbles across this stone-cold, suicidal kid who wants to let go of all of that, sees no point in trying to even be human, and who is lacking empathy for other human lives. Chuuya disgusts and loathes that. So, he wants nothing to do with him. Does not want to be attached to him in any way shape or form. Refuses to acknowledge their similarities. So, when he's being tortured, and the first thing he hallucinates is Dazai? It preys on his insecurities and deepest fears. He fears that he's not at all a human, and he fears that he is like Dazai, an unfeeling, indifferent, seemingly heartless boy who wishes to give up on the world, who wishes he was never born, who wishes nothing more than to be granted that sweet release of death.

I can't articulate very well, so for that I do apologise! But yeah, this has always been an important scene for me. In his moment of weakness, Chuuya hallucinated the person that he wanted to see the least, first. He hallucinated Dazai before his freshly dead friends, etc. And claims that, whilst he's being tortured, after Verlaine has killed the people closest to him, that he hates him the most out of anyone in the world. A lot of people said that this was an overreaction; respectfully, shut the fuck up ^^ My boy was being tortured, give him some leeway, yeah?

Anyway.

It just goes to show how deep those roots of self-hatred go within Chuuya; it seems him and Dazai have something more in common than originally thought.

Now, I don't actually have a complete grasp on the reason why Dazai hates Chuuya so much. Because, he doesn't hate him as much as Chuuya hates him, or as much as he makes it out to be. Dazai is an eccentric bastard, dramatising things for the sake of stirring up trouble. He overexaggerates for a variety of reasons, one of those being to conceal any emotion he IS feeling. He makes a big song and dance out of the little things to try and forget about the big things. To not think. Dazai is not numb by nature. He's numb by conditioning. He has conditioned himself to feel nothing, to be cold and logical and rational. Mori, of course, only exemplified these traits, making him colder and more calculated than ever/before. So, my blind guess is that he holds a sort of resentment to Chuuya for being able to be more normal than he is, for wanting to live and not seeing the world as a boring, pointless place. But, he also wants Chuuya to thrive as a human, to be able to live his life knowing and being sure of his humanity. And, when it's only him and Verlaine, he grows quite... emotional (trust me, it's not a lot but that's the only word I can think of) when talking about his humanity. That, Chuuya has to be a human. Because how could he hate someone so much? He has to be a human, because if he wasn't he would like Dazai more.

I think Dazais "issue" (I CAN'T THINK OF WORDS RIGHT NOW LMAO) is that he just wants Chuuya to like him. Maybe he wants a friend. Maybe there's something else to it. But, Dazai has always had strong... feelings, towards Chuuya. "Jokingly" telling him he loves him. Getting awfully close when he doesn't need to, and never does with anyone else. Yeah, you're not fooling anybody hun. Makes many romantic comments that could be passed off as something else entirely about him. Showing active concern for him. Caring for him. Thinking about him. He shows a lot more attention to Chuuya than he gets in return; by that I mean speaks about it more. Is a lot more verbal than Chuuya is.

GAHHHH sorry sorry I just have too much to say and don't know when to SHUT THE FUCK UP but I have SO MUCH more to say, but I'm going to be going off and writing my shitty little fics that should've been written yonks ago <3

have a lovely day/night! ^^

[ozzieslittlejester]

Continuing my quest of reading books, still stuck in the Oseman universe, no complaints there tho! This one did give me a harder time to get into. While the experience of being in a fandom is nothing new to me, I'm not someone who's particularly into the people behind something I enjoy. Enjoy as in, I enjoy cartoons or portrait characters and rarely get interested in the actors behind them, or at least not to this degree. Not that I don't appreciate their work, and I will get excited when I realise for example characters I love share the same voice actor, however I could never get that interested in their personal life like that. So anyway, once I got over that hurdle and just went with the flow and connected to the fandom aspects I can relate to, it was easier to get behind, tho I wonder if the two perspectives collide! I'm only at page 140 something so I will see! And honestly I would love more books like that, especially in this universe because I love to know more about the characters!

[multi-fandom-lunatic]

Fitz and Keefe: A Deep(ish) Dive

Sick of the toxic part of the fandom hating on Fitz and idolising Keefe.

Fitz has his flaws, sure, but saying that these flaws ruin his character, especially when he's working on these flaws, is just so devaluing. I honestly think that those Fitz hater extremists are more like Fitz than they realise.

I'm of the belief that Fitz hating started in Exile, when Fitz yelled at Sophie. I will reiterate the obvious: Fitz's dad practically DIED (actually, I'm pretty sure what happened to Alden is regarded worse than death by one of the characters), and Sophie was heavily involved in the situation. While she didn't cause the break, it was really a matter of wrong place wrong time, and Fitz lashed out, saying cruel things to Sophie. But Fitz has apologised. Multiple times, because he understands his lashing out as a mistake, which is what I find the toxic part of the fandom fail to understand. It is 1. a mistake that 2. he's trying to fix. That's more than the Keefster is doing.

Another key moment is with the whole matchmaking drama in Legacy. Sophie refuses to tell Fitz her bio mom and Fitz lashes out and Sophie breaks up with him. No denying that he was in the wrong here, but we also can't deny the nuance that comes with the situation. For one, the matchmaking system carries social consequences to those who don't abide by it. I bet money that Fitz wasn't trying to upset Sophie but rather try to help her not face the social injustices she would. Obviously, this backfires because he goes about it all wrong.

This isn't to say that Fitz didn't do anything wrong. Because that isn't what I'm saying, but rather to consider Fitz more than 'anger issues' (by the way, Fitz is not an embodiment of anger issues and it's upsetting that many use the term so carelessly), and Keefe more than 'perfect guy'. The point is that we shouldn't see things in black and white but rather shades of gray. Fitz has made mistakes, done some bad things, but this doesn't make him a monster, not in his case at least.

Then there's Keefe. Worshipped by the fandom, while his actions affect everyone around him negatively. Come on. You cannot be telling me that Fitz has anger issues and Keefe doesn't when he throws a bowl of stew because he was angry. That isn't anger issues either, by the way, but it's an example of Keefe's temper.

Also Keefe does not learn his lessons. He runs away TWICE, shatters a building but sure. Let's pretend he hasn't done wrong. And all of this is justified, both by Shannon and the toxic fandom, by his parental situation.

I'm not discrediting his mother as the leader of a terrorist organisation. But we shouldn't use this as a JUSTIFICATION but rather an EXPLANATION. To use it as a justification is to excuse his behaviour, which is unfair on those he inflicted harm to. But to use it as an explanation could help us draw conclusions on what is going on in his mind when he makes bad decisions.

Also, keep in mind that this isn't me evaluating who's better for Sophie, because honestly? None of them. I'm a massive believer of aro ace Sophie (as well as Keefitz). But this is more of a dive into their characters.

I really blame a lot of the hate toward Fitz on Shannon, because she insists on feeding in to a false notion that doesn't even make sense (Fitz literally broke in to exile in Neverseen. There is NO WAY he cares THAT much about matchmaking).

And honestly this is why I prefer books 1-3. They remind me why I loved these characters, and any book after feels like Shannon's trying to write them with her biases.

Conclusion: Fitz and Keefe are nuanced characters and their idolising/hating on either is evidence of not using critical thinking skills :P

PS: Give them both therapy.

Anyways I feel the need to ping you, @thesfromhms

[jiminsass-istant]

Dipping my feet into a pile of dogsh*t again: JM Tattoo discourse

Okay I absolutely hate bringing this up again, and I wish I could physically, gently hold jkkers hands when they type about this topic again. Maybe hold them hands and look into your eyes with a pleading look. Let's put an end to this, shall we?

One, if you are choosing to 100% believe JK's own words, you are doing the right thing and you can stop reading this as you have already made up your mind.

Now that they are gone, let's consider these facts:

1. JK is an artist. No, he's like a real proper painter and everything. A good one at that. Have you seen him digitally making letters with that cartoonish font? Yeah.

2. JK is a videographer, video editor, photographer, vlogger even. And he's good. You must have heard of GCFs right?

3. Before tattoos are made, your tattoo artist will give you a preview of how they would look. At least you yourself would think and visualise how it would look on your hands. A very visible part of your body. He knew how it would look and be perceived.

4. Crossword formation: JK has a crossword tattoo on his arm. Even primary school children can solve crosswords you know.

5. The JM: Jimin has used "#JM" and "#JMJK" on bts_twt posts since forever. JM in relation to BTS has always been short for Jimin. I don't think I need to bring up the fact the n number of times JK has referred to Jimin as JM.

6. JK is a man of few words. He doesn't churn out lyrics or words or life changing sentences like RM on the daily. His form of expression has mostly been art, music, videos, tattoos, outfits.

About the implications of the tattoo if it is indeed about Jimin:

1. Why would an idol ever reveal that he has his bandmate's name tattooed on his arm if he knows there are very serious shippers in the fandom who would definitely blow this up till the media puts out an article next day?

2. What's wrong with having a bandmate's name on your hand? Now this part is most important to me.

What's wrong with having the name of a man on your hands? The same man with whom he spent some of the worst and best times of his life over the past 10+ years. The same person who JK has repeatedly implied understands him, "we click", and spends a whole lot of time together for a fact. The same person JK goes to spend time with, to share silence and do nothing, after a gruelling day of rehearsals and photoshoots. The same person who he trusts enough to take care of his mental health for possibly the most difficult time of his life for 18 months. If I loved tattoos and had a friend like that, I wouldn't hesitate to tattoo their name on me either.

I heard that 2 members from Ateez, who consider themselves bffs and soulmates also have matching tattoos. There you go. It's not that weird now, is it?

"Then why didn't JK just admit it was for JM?"

Simply because he didn't want to. They are very very aware of the media. Not just k-media. Global media as well. Imagine how the fandom would react if he was that biased towards just 1 member. They'll be doing the usual SCT (screaming, crying, throwing up).

I'll put the JM tattoo issue on the same shelf as GCF tokyo. Something he did despite knowing the implications and how it would be perceived. But did it anyway. JK just does the stuff he wants to, guys. High time you all realise that.

I'm not the type of person who is easily swayed by theories. Either a theory makes sense or it does not. If there are no huge gaps in a theory, it makes sense to me. This is one of those.

Remember how people said JK was lying on Suchwita when he was asked the 'dream' question by Suga and replied he wasn't aware of this segment... because he watched the entire Jimin Suchwita? WRONG. He didn't watch the entire one. In the last segment of Suchwita, our JK was already distracted and went to the kitchen to do something. Then he came back for the ending scene. He actually didn't know about the last questions Suga asks his guests. This is one example of why you shouldn't go with everything the jkkers say.

Anyhoo...i digress.

Final thoughts:

The fandom and even shippers didn't react this strongly when people came up with the BS theory about how the tattoos represented all members. That theory became BS right when JK said that he wished the letters in 'army' tattoo weren't so minimal. The 'A' without the line in the middle was never 'V'. If JK had foresight, the 'A' would have had the line, maybe with a tail and horns on it and flames coming out. You know what I mean. The OT7 theory went out the window just like that.

Just because there's a possibility it means 'JM', doesn't prove or disprove they are 'real'. What it does prove is that they are the best and closest duo in Bangtan. They don't care how their actions towards each other are perceived because they are THAT secure about their friendship/bond. Jimin didn't care when he openly admitted multiple times in 2020 that he spent nights with JK, woke up and saw JK etc. Neither did JK care when he keeps saying they do nothing at night (once in the early years (2014-15), another time when he was asked about the most memorable time of the tokyo trip and it was jm playing all night on phone, and most recently - going to Jimin's room for no reason other than to do nothing (during PTD)).

PS: (fanfic alert)

Jimin notices the JM formation on JK's hands for the first time.

"JM!?.. you love me so much JK. "

"It's not what you think. J is for ...umm JK".

"Where's the K then?"

"......"

"It's okay bro, I'll write a song for you one day. That's how I'll repay this gesture, bro."

"Would you feature me in it?"

"So you admit it's JM??"

"NO!!!"

~~~

[welcometogrouchland]

i'm suffering under the curse rn BUT. i am 3 episodes in to The Magnus Protocol and so far my thoughts are that it seems pretty good! on the one hand i should probably do my best to separate tmagp from tma but at the same time, i mean, the only reason i'm listening to tmagp is bc of prior attachment to tma, so it's interesting to me to contrast and compare them (though in all fairness it's been a while since i listened to tma).

the new cases are definitely cool so far in terms of allowing for more formats, i wonder if we're gonna get any future explanation for their eloquent presentation like we did in tma since idk if there's any hints so far at what the whole worldbuilding deal is with that so far in tmagp.

i will say that- do to the different formatting and immediate bigger cast who gets more focus and whatnot- tmagp feels more 'TV' in a certain way. which isn't a pejorative statement and i actually really dislike it when ppl assume something being 'TV' means it's low quality or shallow, lol. tmagp is a good example of something feeling 'TV' but it's a notable difference and is casting my mind back to the discourse/discussion about a tma tv adaptation and what that would look like back when archive 81 got one. i imagine it'd feel a lot more tmagp inspired.

cast is cool so far! i admire alice's actress for being able to pull of the extremely tumblrific dialogue (which i know is on purpose but was also VERY off-putting to me at first- it's the kind of thing that i love when written but spoken aloud in a fictional setting sometimes raises my hairs for some reason). i already love gwen, she's defs gonna be the toxic woman i get attached to and then regret it (assuming i listen to more episodes which i hope i do? i'm not great at it but i do like finishing things, my brain is just pulled into all directions rn if that wasn't already apparent). Colin you're great, i can't wait to watch you break down. Sam you're great too in a way that your personality rn makes me very excited for your potential future corruption arc (obligatory reminder i'm only 3 eps in and just making educated guesses based on what jonny and co did for tma, though i do acknowledge that there's a lot more fingers in the proverbial protocol pie rn)

in general i'm curious about the direction of the show, namely how they're gonna make it tragic in a way that's different to tma? bc i always maintain that the beauty of tma is the slowburn, and how everything happens so slowly that by the time you realise what path we're on, it's too late to stop any of it, and the more you learn about these people and this world, the more you realise it was always going to end like this, even if it didn't have to.

it's a tough feat to pull off and the inherently different structure of tmagp makes me wonder if they're gonna have to pivot what kind of tragedy this is. it's probably apparent right now to anyone who's properly caught up but as for me? i'm curious and cautiously interested. idk if i'm ever really gonna get involved with the fandom like i did with tma (bc that was a mostly great but also wild and formative experience for me and in general i'm bad at being multifandom no matter how much i wish i could be bc it would make my life sooo much easier. but unfortunately the shape of my autism (title of my new movie and/or hit single /j) does not allow for it with any ease. only struggle)

anyway i have an essay on political cinema to write so i really need to close this window lmao. will perhaps consider some kind of liveblog or sequel post to this as my listening progresses

[justali-anne]

Thought Week: Toriel

Here it is! The last character in Thought Week! It's been a wild ride, huh? Anyway, onto Toriel!

(I don't think I need to say it at this point, but just in case, if you have any thoughts about Toriel, please leave it in the notes.)

First Impressions

Just like Flowey, I first found Toriel while I was in my MLP phase, back when I was about 10 or 11. It was a Fluttershy Plays video, specifically the Undertale one. To this day, I don't know if she ever did more than one episode, but I think you can still find it on YouTube somewhere. Anyway...

At first, I didn't really think much of her, since I was just a silly kid who wanted to watch Fluttershy play video games, but I did think, "Oh, she's nice. She saved her." And when I got into the Undertale fandom, I saw her a lot in Undertale fan comics. I guess I was under the impression that she was Sans' love interest... somehow. But I quickly realised it was just a ship. (I had no idea that Sans' promise in question was to her - I knew Sans made a promise, but other than that, I didn't know that she and Sans ever interacted.) Honestly, I just sort of dismissed her as the motherly character and left it at that. Nothing about her really interested me back then, she was just the nice, huggable mother character. But then I learned more about her and... Ooh, boy...

My Impressions Now

Toriel's not perfect, neither as a mother nor as a person. But she tries her best, and honestly, I don't really blame her for too much. She was a queen in a complicated and tragic situation. Imagine having your husband, the one person you thought you could trust more than anyone else, suddenly go, "All humans that fall down here will die!" And then you're just like, "Um, excuse me?! Bitch?! That's it, I'm leaving you!" And bada bing bada boom, she inflicted SELF-ISOLATION on herself! Fun for the whole family! (Oh, wait, she's all the family she's got left. Um... Looks like Asgore wasn't the only one who lost all their family, huh?)

Now, I still think she's overall a pretty good person. She's caring, she's sweet, she worries a lot about her loved ones, she saves you... twice... three times??? I think???

Does this count???? Probably not. Frisk could easily take this guy.

But here's the twist. She... is a massive hypocrite. Throughout her time as the tu-Toriel (low hanging fruit of a pun, I know), she preaches to you one thing - to show MERCY to your fellow monsters, to talk it out instead of fighting, just being a good kid overall, don't get in trouble, don't kill anyone, yadda yaddity yadda... and then when we try to ESCAPE, she turns around and does THIS.

Yeah, great! Way to practice what you preach, Toriel! You're DEFINITELY teaching your child how to show MERCY now, aren'tcha?! Did you forget that kids learn by EXAMPLE?!

Come to think of it, that would justify a neutral run from a story standpoint...

I'm sure that in her mind, it was fair. Maybe when she was teaching MERCY, she was only talking about the monsters in the Ruins, and NOT the monsters outside. After all, she could handle the Ruins monsters for Frisk, at least, that's what she thought, anyway. We already know Frisk is more than capable of handling them on their own. Besides, she was under the impression that we would be staying with her, or at least hoping we would. The monsters outside were dangerous in her eyes, after all. Unfortunately for her, things didn't turn out that way. I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, just because of that. Who knows? Maybe she's not as hypocritical as I said above.

Although what really confuses me is this.

That sounds like a solid plan and everything, but you do realise that still involves taking human souls, right? He would still need to at least kill one human. I thought you wanted to protect humans??? Like for the others, sure, you could rob their graves for their souls (still a crime, but I digress), but apparently taking one human life is fine? I don't get it.

But that's actually what I like about her the most. She has a kind heart, but she's not perfect. She can be slightly hypocritical sometimes. Stubborn, unforgiving, holds grudges... And she's not exactly the best mother in the world, either. She's overbearing, overprotective, but with an understandable reason. But that's okay! I like her better like that than if she was a picture perfect beacon of morality and a perfect mother. It gives her more depth, more character. Speaking of being a mother...

More Than A Mother

A lot of fan works I've seen seem to have delegated Toriel to just being a mother figure that's really worried and overprotective of everybody and treats everyone like her children. Apart from Asgore, of course. Either that or Soriel. Like, okay, you guys have your ships, I get it. I won't judge you for ship art. I'm just gonna talk about the motherly characterisation she's been given.

In the game, Toriel is overbearing and overprotective of you/Frisk, because Frisk... is a child. A human child, who is in DANGER, because they fell into a place where literally ANYONE could just go up to them, kill them, and snag their soul! Toriel's trying to prevent a war by protecting you, it's not just about preserving your life (even though that IS a big part of it). And for most of the game, you can only see this overprotective motherly side of her because her only interactions are with you, the other monsters in the Ruins (that she protects you from), Flowey (who she protects you from), and, offscreen, Sans (who she asked to make a promise to protect you). So I can understand where this flanderisation comes from. I don't fault anyone for portraying her this way, heck, even I fell into the same trap. I just think it's nice to go back to the roots of the game and figure out why she is this way.

So, how does she treat characters outside of Frisk? Well, we know what she's like with Asgore, both in the past and the present. In the past, they were a lovey dovey couple to an embarrassing degree, according to Gerson. Heck, they were the Nose Nuzzle Champs of (insert year here because I can't be bothered to try and find the actual dialogue that confirms the date)! And in the present... She calls him a pathetic whelp. So, she has a bit of a grudge...

She tends to be stern and queenly with the other monsters. Not in a motherly way, a QUEENLY way. She's a little bit strict. Seriously! She fired Alphys on the spot after she admitted an experiment went wrong. Granted, it worked out for the best, but still! Calm down, woman, it was an ACCIDENT! SHEESH!

And then there's her relationship with Sans. I've seen comics and fanfics where she treats him like a kid, just like everyone else, but in the game...

SHE TEASES HIM RELENTLESSLY. AND SANS MESSES WITH HER TOO.

THEY MESS WITH EACH OTHER SO MUCH. THEIR FRIENDSHIP WAS BASED ON JOKES AND MESSING AROUND, AND THEY DO THAT ALL THE TIME!

They're the friends that get away with saying mean things to each other because they know it's just a joke between them. And you can interpret them romantically if you so wish, I don't mind either way. Regardless, it still involves them pranking each other, joking around, pouring hot water on the other, putting their freezing cold hands on the other's face, throwing mini pizzas at the other, drawing on the other's head... They're goofballs. Toriel can be really wild sometimes. And a lot of that wildness could be attributed to/with Sans. She doesn't treat him like a child. She treats him like an equal.

So, yeah, I don't think Toriel should be relegated to "everyone's mother". Sure, her motherliness is a part of her, but it doesn't account for all of her relationships, or even her entire personality.

The Narrative

Toriel is both important from a gameplay standpoint and a story standpoint.

From a gameplay standpoint... Well, she's the first boss. She's also the tutorial character, or, well, a blatant parody of such. She's the one who introduces you to the puzzles and the battle system and how to spare monsters just in case you're confused... And since she's the first boss, she also introduces you to how bosses work and how they're different from regular encounters. Namely, the fact that they can't just be talked to and subdued as fast. You're either gonna have to wear them down (which is sort of what you do to Toriel) or run away (Undyne - also "Fight me or run away!") So, yeah, thanks, Toriel, for teaching us how to play!

From a story standpoint, she was the Queen of Monsters. I'm sure every Undertale fan knows this, though, so I don't have to explain it at all. Although I'm wondering... If she didn't leave, how would the underground change? How would the entire story change if Toriel didn't retreat to the Ruins? She's the reason Sans looked out for you too, so what would have happened if she didn't get Sans to make that promise? I think there's an AU about this, actually. Surely it must be around on Tumblr somewhere.

Conclusion

Toriel has a lot more going for her than I initially realised. A wonderfully complex character who isn't perfect, but still tries her best because she truly cares. Oh, and a goofball. I love kindhearted goofballs.

And that wraps up Thought Week! Remember, if you have thoughts about any of these characters (your own interpretations, your opinions, even headcanons or ships or anything like that), please leave it in the notes! Don't be shy! I would genuinely love to hear about them and even discuss it if you're up for it! No pressure, though. Also, there's a possibility I might do this again, because it's been really fun! I still have thoughts on Frisk, Chara, Mettaton and a couple of others that I missed out on this week, so if you want that, let me know! Anyway, that's all for now! Hopefully I get to hear from you soon! :)

[decepti-thots]

so I'm turning over a lot of thoughts atm about a thing I want to write regarding the way MTMTE is viewed in fandom through the lens of 'ascended fanon' and its perceived proximity to a nebulous idea of 'fanfiction', and where that comes from. how it impacts fandom reception. all that stuff. I've talked about this in scattershot ways before and I'm trying to nail down some coherent thoughts about it.

anyway, one thing I've mentioned before in passing is how the development of the CDRW relationship in the early comic highlights extremely well the limitations of understanding MTMTE through that lens. in the sense that the way official media is produced- the nitty gritty of it behind the scenes- inherently shapes how storytelling occurs in franchises like Transformers, even in situations that are superficially closer to a conventional 'auteur' model. you know, a single author who has relatively broad control over the content of a story. how CDRW is developed the way it is in part- in very large part- because of the tension between what is being written and what is permitted by the entities that have veto power over it. (hasbro, IDW, even individual editors acting as mediators working from their constructed ideas of what those entities 'want'.) to make blatant the subtext here: because it is influenced by The Gay Question, and ideas of 'permissable' content in a franchise like TF.

this dovetailed into thinking about how Shadowplay was an editorial demand. and I realised that one very obvious possibility to think of in terms of 'how does this bring canon alter the shape of the narrative' is that I don’t think an unrestrained MTMTE would have made prowl and chromedome exes.

obviously there's the fact Shadowplay would just not be in there, but even beyond that, the question of why that otherwise mostly unexplored interjection is present has confused some people over the years. in fact, it's literally been pointed to as an example of proximity to modes of storytelling associated with fanfic; the arbitrary inclusion of interpersonal (specifically romantic) relationships that do not seem to shoulder any broader narrative responsibilities.

but in the very specific context of MTMTE at the point in its publication Shadowplay sits at, it does carry a possible narrative responsibility. it facilitates CDRW pulling double duty as both canon and ambiguous. the scene that implies (but never states) chromedome and prowl were involved exists so rewind can act in a way that only makes sense if he is married to chromedome. (jealous, upset chromedome is seemingly talking fondly of a relationship with his ex.) but it never requires any actual statement that the relationships involved are monogamous romantic ones. it is a way to incorporate the dynamic in a way that is functionally undeniable if read in good faith but still unlikely to be shot down if The Gay Question receives a negative answer.

this is both interesting in how it shows that narrative elements can be influenced in unexpected ways by the nature of the comic as a pre-existing intellectual property, and also very funny because it means prowl's divorced energy really DOES just exist to reinforce rewind being married by comparison.

[uselessdancedata]

doing the leaderboard has made me realise how much btf placements vary in different weeks with different judges. i am NOT posting this as a criticism of btf; i am posting this as an observation that i think goes against the things some people say when certain dancers don't place as high or low as they expect.

from all the goddamn typing i have done i have learned that it is SO commonplace for placements to vary. dancers who consistently place top 3 are rarer than dancers who bounce around from 1st to 10th and back like yoyos.

dancers will go from 1st to 8th or vice versa in a matter of a few weeks. dancers who compete against each other will tie in one week and then be 7 places apart the next week. these are dancers who don't compete at TDA, who are completely unknown to the fandom, etc, so it's not as though you can cite political motives or whatever. it happens because judges are looking for different things, it's really as simple as that.

here are some examples of what i'm talking about:

(if you have never seen my leaderboard doc - each dancer is a row, each competition is a column. this screenshot shows two competitions, two weeks apart, and three different dancers' placements at these competitions. blue is 24/7 and purple is nuvo.)

Dancer A: 9th at 24/7, 4th at Nuvo

Dancer B: 3rd at 24/7, 7th at Nuvo

Dancer C: 8th at 24/7, 7th at Nuvo

so two dancers who were 3rd and 8th at one competition, 5 places apart, went on and tied just two weeks later with the same solos. and the dancer who lost to both of them at the first competition beat both of them at the second competition, with the same solo.

and this is so ordinary. also see:

(dancer going from 10th one week to 3rd the next - 10th was in pennsylvania, 3rd was in florida, so it's not even a matter of placing lower in a harder city)

(dancer jumping from 3rd in memphis to 10th in tulsa in one week, and a different dancer jumping from 10th in vegas to 5th in san diego in one week)

there are countless examples. seriously countless. when i was first typing all of this out (before sorting and filtering) and was really going week by week, competition by competition, it was so apparent that the same dancers would compete the same solos against each other, just a few weeks apart, and receive completely different results. you cannot use one dancer as a benchmark against another. it is not consistent. (and kind of a dick move anyway)

and i know this is "yea no shit" information for most people. no shit judges are looking for different things, everyone already knows that. but i remember what happened last tda vegas and thus i feel the need to write this post