#but i'm very glad that this phenomenon still exists

[ceaselessims]

my favorite thing about doorkaey as a ship is that it continues the honored fandom tradition of shipping characters that likely never met

[thebreakfastgenie]

The social and cultural sacrifices were enough to have continued ruining my life five years later, but I'm glad to know I needed to materially sacrifice myself too, to be a really virtuous person. And I didn't even order delivery!

Suffering is not a virtue. I'm not Catholic. I'm sorry you're struggling so much. You're not the only one. It's hard! It's harder because we haven't been able to go through this together as a people.

I mentioned the social and cultural sacrifices because I think they're significant and should be taken seriously. Too often they're not, honestly. A lot of people suffered and are still struggling. That is a very real consequence of the pandemic and I wish we could talk about that without getting bogged down in arguments about whether lockdowns were a good idea because half this country still thinks the other half was just being dramatic. I'm speaking from an American perspective because I'm American and my post was about America and the effects of the pandemic on specifically American society. I do not mean to ignore that COVID is a global issue.

I wasn't calling anyone virtuous or not. When I talked about material sacrifices, I was thinking about WWII rationing. It was sold to the public as virtue by the propaganda, Do Your Part For The War Effort, but the reality was that there was simply not enough material to continue supplying civilians with what they were used to having available during peacetime and wage the war. If we could have avoided those sacrifices we would have. In 2020, the nature of the crisis as well as the sheer wealth of the United States, meant that material sacrifices were very limited, which made it possible for some people to have a fairly sheltered and privileged experience of the pandemic. It's a good thing, for Americans anyway, that we were able to get through COVID with minimal material sacrifices! I just think it contributed to the collective amnesia about the recent crisis we weathered.

Of course, in order to maintain the supply chain, a lot of people have to continue working under harrowing conditions. That's why they were called essential workers. A lot of Americans are fairly willfully oblivious to how much they benefitted from this labor. These are the people who post about how much they miss staying home and baking bread all day. I've been commenting on this because I think there is a connection between this phenomenon and voting patterns in 2024.

There's also nothing inherently wrong with ordering delivery. My issue is with the very recent expectation of cheap, frequent delivery. You can press a button on your phone and have a hot meal of your choice arrive at your door within an hour. That's a science fiction concept. It simply doesn't exist at low prices without an underpaid labor force and that labor force is wholly invisible to a lot of people. The role of the pandemic in this is that the pandemic helped normalize that expectation because we were dependent on delivery and curbside pickup, not just for restaurant meals but even for essentials. We were also encouraged to order delivery from restaurants as an alternative to eating out, partly because people were throwing a fit about it, partly to encourage some level of social interaction and joy under stressful conditions, and partly to help small businesses stay open. I'm not even morally judging people for spending too much money on delivery, your budgeting decisions are yours, as long as they're honest and clear-eyed about it. It's the entitlement that's the problem because cheap delivery doesn't exist without underpaid labor. And also because people are mad about prices being high and willing to vote for fascists about it.

[stylesclarified]

Can you debunk the wellington video please? That's the only Larry video that still convinces me to this day

I'm not sure what you want me to debunk about it because nothing happens in it.

One thing you need to realize is that all of the "Larry proof" that exists is either:

Taken out of context

Examining normal things and twisting them to mean something else

Ignoring known information

Straight up fake

Nobody that wasn't a Larrie would look at that video and think "oh my god, these two people have a secret relationship and fake girlfriends." They see two drunk young men in a bar full of people, hanging out with other friends. They're not doing anything even remotely interesting in the video.

Essentially, they were inside a bar in Wellington, New Zealand, and the song Glad You Came by The Wanted started playing on the radio. To which Louis started to yell/sing "oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-ooooh". Skip to 20 seconds in the official video:

The Wanted were a British boyband that was formed in 2009, the year before 1D (which came out of the X Factor in late 2010). In fact, The Wanted performed at The X Factor during 1D's season, and both bands met and filmed this video.

The Wanted released this single, Glad You Came, in the summer of 2011, and they were battling in the charts with JLS, another boyband that came out of The X Factor in 2008. In fact, JLS's single (She Makes Me Wanna) was #1 and Glad You Came was #2 on the same week (first week of August 2011). At this point, 1D hadn't released their own music yet, and had been recording their album and doing promotional stuff to get their name out there. What Makes You Beautiful would be released in mid August 2011.

In this context, The Wanted did an interview with the shitty tabloid The Daily Star, where they shit-talked JLS and crowned it by saying that that they were glad they weren't "an X Factor boyband" specifically name-dropping 1D with, in hidnsight, a hilarious comment:

"We are glad we are not an X Factor band. One Direction, where are they now?" he said. "It's nice that we are a band who started with nothing. The X Factor is just for that moment and we did not want to be trapped."

Ooof. Anyway, the 1D guys were asked about this statement and they brushed it off, saying it was probably taken out of context. But that was too gracious. A little bit later, when WMYB started to become massive, The Wanted was asked about 1D's success, to which they condescendingly replied that they didn't feel threatened because 1D were more of a "Bieber-mania" phenomenon and they were very different from The Wanted (you know, because The Wanted were so mature).

WMYB came out in America in January 2012 and Up All Night (1D's debut album) in March. The Wanted's song was covered by Glee around this time, so their song became a hit there too. So both bands were hitting America at around the same time. Of course, the mania for 1D was much bigger, and they also got a hit album and sold out shows out of this.

The Wanted was bitter, so they did a bunch of interviews repeating the sentiment about 1D being a band for kids, and also putting down 1D's success. "Are they really that successful? I don't know" type of comments. Then they would get backlash, and they would take to Twitter to say that they were being misconstrued or taken out of context. Then they'd give another interview essentially saying the same thing. This happened multiple times. Remember, January-March 2012.

So in THAT context, Harry, Louis, Niall, and Liam go to a bar in Wellington, New Zealand, and get drunk. And inside the bar, Glad You Came starts playing. Louis starts yelling the melody, and afterwards yells "WANKERS!" as in, The Wanted are wankers. Because they were.

Of course, Larries decide that Louis instead yelled "boyfriends"...

Who the FUCK just screams the word "boyfriends"? Even if they indeed were gay and drunk at a bar? Like, what on earth would prompt someone to scream that? And WHY? Do people just randomly scream different types of nouns describing relationships for literally no reason? Have you EVER seen anyone do that? Just screaming "COUSINS!" or SISTERS!" or whatever? Larries could, at the very least, TRY to make it make a modicum of sense.

Anyway, Niall and Liam were outside and Harry was inside with Louis, presumably getting drinks. There are a bunch of other people around as well, as they were standing standing in the middle of the bar. After Louis screamed, Harry put his arm around Louis and whispered something in his ear. If I had to guess, he said, "Shut the fuck up there's a ton of people here."

Larries decided that Harry was, instead, kissing Louis' neck. In a bar full of people. And that nobody around them batted an eye at it, for some reason.

A bunch of fans across the street from the bar were filming them (and filmed a lot more). After this interaction, one of the girls there whispered something that we can't really make out. Larries decided that she'd whispered, "Oh my god they're kissing." even though the whisper happened after Harry has already started to walked away from Louis.

Take away the subtitles from this video (the "boyfriends" and the "oh my god they're kissing") and you have... absolutely nothing:

In fact, the people that filmed the video denied that they were kissing or that they said they were kissing. To which, of course, Larries claimed that "management had gotten to them." Instead of "we just created something out of thin air." In fact, the people from this video even asked Louis about Eleanor and if he missed her right after this interaction.

One would think that if they'd just witnessed the ultimate Larry interaction (cringe), they... wouldn't ask Louis about his girlfriend.

Just so we're clear, this is Harry whispering something to Zayn in a similar position:

Explain to me how this is any different than "the Wellington video." It is, quite literally, exactly the same:

Here's another version that's worse quality but a little longer, where you can see that, still, literally nothing else happens. Once again, compare it to Harry interacting with Zayn:

Both are in very public settings, both are with bandmates.

I've been trying to understand for almost 15 years what the hell is so special about this video and why Larries freak out over it. I've seen Harry have more chemistry with a puppet than what we see in that video... quite literally, too:

Is that enough debunking?

[m0thlegs]

Y'know, for a short while I thought that my Arcane s2 crashout was irrational and embarrassing and I was humiliating myself on the internet with my 15-year-old emotional nature, but, looking back on it now? I think surprisingly enough, I actually learned a lot about media analysis that I didn't know before.

I mean, yeah, my arguments were very much emotionally charged most of the time, and at times it felt like I was so caught up in it that I may have clung to arguments that weren't in the best faith or that I'd personally disagree with now, because it made me feel sane and grounded in my logic. However, my emotions managed to breed out some genuinely valid points and lessons that I still keep in mind today when interacting with fandom and media.

Like, for example, I now know to keep in mind the fine line between reading and acknowledging the existence of subtext and straight up just making shit up to supplement canon. I now know to keep a balance between being media literate and not taking everything at face value and thinking that "doesn't explicitly state it = not canon !!!", and letting your intense positive biases towards something completely warp a media to be better than it actually is in your head via headcanons and emotional biases. I'm now more aware of the political biases and levels of bigotry that may be rooted in both canon works and fandom discussions, and what to watch out for when engaging with both. I know how media can be viewed through multiple lenses at a time, but to not let those lenses become glued to your irises of literacy. I now know to be more aware of the biases and beliefs I may be projecting when I analyse media overall and how that can majorly affect how we view works as a whole.

Overall, I know far more about media analysis and the phenomenon of fandom than I used to, and while it did feel kind of rough and uncertain to get through at times, I think it was REALLY valuable for my learning and knowledge on these topics. Am I completely there yet? No, obviously not, I'm still a teenager on the internet and I'm still bound to make mistakes and embarrass myself here and there, that's just an integral part of the human experience and I'm aware that I still have much to learn.

I think we have a certain tendency to equate strong emotions with a lack of logic or soundness (Which... might be why they're seen as cringe in our current society, and why nonchalance is held above all else as some kind of social currency, because we've falsely equated apathy with intelligence. That's another discussion though.), but I think my emotions here actually may have improved my logic and beliefs MORE than they would've been had I been more apathetic to these discussions. While it's important to take care of yourself and not let your emotions be the sole driving factor behind your actions or logic, it's also important to know that these emotions sometimes CAN be very informative, and you shouldn't shut something down just because it's emotionally charged.

Honestly, I don't know how to end this post, this is kind of just a retrospective sappy post yapping my head off about my arcane s2 era and what I've learned from it.😭 Erm. Yeah I still think season 2 is ass and I'm glad I don't have to interact with the larger fandom anymore I'M FREE FROM HYPERFIXATION HELL THANK GOD !!!!!!!!!!!

[sysmedsaresexist]

I sent this ask to a different blog but I don't think they're going to post it... I'm so sad, I'm screaming into the void. I'm scared. I'm sending to you because you're where I learned so much of this

Did i say anything wrong? I put so much work into this ask, I grabbed a screenshot partway through, so this isn't EXACTLY the same ask, but it's very close, I had to rewrite some.

from one DID system to another, please, hear me out, I'm desperate to be heard

Literally NO endos claim to have DID

There's like two, and they still say it's caused by trauma but they were systems first and later trauma made their system unstable

If endos want to demedicalize CDDs, why would they claim to have it? It's a roundabout way to achieve the same goal, it's just extra steps

Endos are literally fighting to get away from CDD spaces, do you actually see endos in the DID tag? The cdd tag? NO

They're in the plural tag, a word they choose to separate from the more clinically associated "multiple" of MPD, they're in the syscourse tags because they're allowed to participate, syspunk is less than a month old and it should be a meme at this point because they already had anti endo as a tag

They are literally saying they are systems that are UNRELATED to CDDs, not that they want to demedicalize being a system System doesn't belong to DID, look at IFS, psychological anthropology, or multiple theory of self, jungian archetypes, or does that mean we should be angry about "computer system" because it dehumanizes us?

And stolen terms? We know who came up with system hopping, it has never been used in RAMCOA. Do any of you actually know where tulpa came from? Like the actual word? Do you know who Alexandra David Neel is? The white woman who invented an imaginary practice that didn't actually exist (What she wrote about is not the same as Buddhist emanation), and created the word tulpa based on another white guy's mistranslation to entertain more white people during the Vietnam War?

So they have new words, they're trying to create more new words, there's so much real, actual research by real doctors into this phenomenon of nonpathological multiplicity in ways that exist outside of clinical psychopathology

The only overlapping word is "system

Plurals tend to get really upset when you use words like alter for them, they don't want to be medicalized at all, they understand what DID is and say, "| don't fit that description", and they're allowed to say that

If I, a DID system, feel I'm healed and integrated and choose to drop the DID label, no one can stop me, and we can't stop people from not picking it up to start with

Why can't anyone have actual conversations about this stuff, I'm so anxious because it seems like people are purposefully trying to misunderstand and lying about how bad the problem is

"Existing" isn't enough to qualify as misinformation, and it seems the only incorrect and unverifiable facts are coming out of the anti endo community.

I'm just so scared and sad.

I just want to know it's going to be okay

First -- I'm glad we can post this for you. I highly recommend screenshotting asks you send to people! It's helped me a lot with my paranoia in the past (did I send that on anon? Did I send that at all??) and it's a good record of your words for later.

Second.

I agree with you, I really do. This is so frustrating, and the self-described anti-endos who have recently flooded system spaces on tumblr are completely unwilling to look at the facts. They're obstinate and stubborn as mules, and unfortunately, that is not going to change. Most of them, if not all of them, are either children or caught in a current cycle of abuse with no way out. Most if not all are currently fighting for survival. They are not in a place to accept others; they can barely accept themselves.

People are purposefully ignoring information. People are purposefully avoiding it.

And it is not, and never has been, your job to fix their issues.

These are people who have always been unwilling to listen. They are children who cannot, for their own reasons, listen at the moment. For whatever reason, they are not in a position to accept endogenic plurality exists, and the more they are pushed, the more they will spit up their vitriol on the puke towel that is syscourse (or, worse, "syspunk").

It is sad. It can be scary. But it's not on your shoulders to fix them.

At the end of the day, you have to ask: what is most beneficial for me in this moment? Next, what is most beneficial for my family in this moment? Then, what is most beneficial for my followers in this moment? Then, and only then, are you getting to "beneficial for the tag to see," if you get there at all. The ask you sent them is lovely, and needed, but they are not ready to see this sort of thing, I can guarantee it.

That's why I'm glad it's here: so others can see it.

The last point I'll make is... Please make sure that you are valuing the correct things in your life, anyone reading this. If syscourse is stressing you out, please make sure to take appropriate breaks and check your brain. Remember that this is largely an online issue; the real world is quickly progressing to be more plural accepting and more accepting in general, and there are far bigger issues than an idiot crosstagging misinformation in a niche online discourse. I'm not trying to say this isn't an issue, and it should absolutely be spoken out about, but make sure to take care of yourself while you do. Anti-endos and pro-endos who are idiots online are not the end all be all of system activism. In fact, they rarely fit that definition.

Please do not let these places completely wreck you emotionally. You deserve so much better than that.

Sending love to all our followers; good luck staying afloat out there. <3

[xoxoemynn]

8, 14, and 64!! (If any of these have been picked then pick the ones you want to be asked :) )

YAY thank you, friend!! I've answered a couple of these so I'll pick some fun ones for you. 💕

10. Cltr+f "blinks" on your WIP & copy paste the first sentence/paragraph that comes up Ed blinks and rapidly scrolls up and down the page. That can’t be it. A studio doesn’t just fucking cancel someone that successful. Ed had reviewed all the film grosses, both domestic and international; the numbers were there. And Ed saw the way the man danced; Stede was a phenomenon on his feet. And HB Low just let him fucking get away? Were they absolutely insane?

14. how do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences? I rely a lot on music to get me in the right headspace. My go-to song, because I feel it gets into ALL the big Ed/Stede emotions for nearly every situation, is The Story. I will literally listen to every version I have on it on loop for however long it takes while thinking about whatever situation the characters are in and then go. I do sometimes draw from personal experience, but alas, I haven't had a Great Big Love like Ed and Stede, so when it calls for that, it's mostly just the power of imagination.

11. Link your three five favorite fics right now I haven't had as much time as I'd like to be reading, but a few that are lingering on my brain right now!

2 Fluff 2 Furrious by @monksofthescrew: the sequel to the PHENOMENAL Fluff. Summary: In which Ed and Stede and their (!) ten (!!) dogs take an unhinged and perhaps ill-advised roadtrip in a dog bus. It's cute. It's emotional. It's Ed and Stede stupidly in love with SO MANY CUTE DOGS. And it's an absolutely impeccable Ed voice. WIP, just one chapter for now, but I've read the next and it's SO GOOD.

Moment of Truth by @trans-top-stede and karawrites: It's the most gloriously frustrating time loop; set during 2x06, Ed and Stede can't come until they learn how to fucking TALK TO EACH OTHER!!!!! I'm a few chapters behind and I am very excited to catch up this weekend, but oh my god, the EMOTIONS and the SEX it's all so good.

The Incident at Direfold Manor by @helloimjennsco: GOOD SPOOKY HORROR. It's the kind of uncomfortable feeling, something lurking in the shadows watching you vibe and it's SO UNSETTLING I LOVE IT AND AM SO CURIOUS TO SEE WHERE IT GOES. Still a WIP, and this is one I'm REALLY glad to be reading as it posts because the twisty turnies are so tasty.

The Tolling Bells by @edsbacktattoo: Recently completed, absolutely gorgeous fic with a unique premise that feels all the more poignant after the cancellation. I just keep thinking about how there is NO POSSIBLE UNIVERSE THAT EXISTS, real or fictional, where Ed and Stede DON'T find each other and fall in love, and how lucky we are to get to witness that. Good shit.

I Spit on Your Grave by @epersonae: A complete one shot! I have accepted this fic as canon now. The conversation Ed and Stede have is one I was really craving in S2, and this version of it scratches that itch perfectly. And because it's epersonae, you know it's some really beautiful, emotional, evocative writing.

Get to know the fic writer ask game!

[donnerpartyofone]

Several years ago when I was consistently finding myself awake between 2 and 5am and wondering what I should do about this, I literally stumbled upon a book in the street that blended research into the cultural history of this sleep pattern with a treatise on the phenomenon of the Black Madonna. This drew me into a series of synchronistic experiences that had begun before the discovery of the book and continued to unfurl, and I would probably sound pretty insane if I described the whole thing in detail, which I will not do. But I think that the nature of existence is so unavoidably subjective that there is nothing inherently wrong with conscientiously developing and indulging your own belief system, so long as it isn't causing you to abuse others or "fly" off the top of a building or anything else that interferes with your ability to function. Besides which I'm such a deeply agnostic person that I don't think "belief system" totally applies to my process. I'm not really interested in religion as dogma, but I am interested in it as a record of how human beings grapple with chaos and mystery.

I try to be super aware of my attraction to synchronicity though, I think that it is not usually a good idea to project that the Universe or whatever is trying to communicate something specific to you personally. Mytholigizing is OK if the results are healthy and you're still assuming responsibility for your choices, we all to do a little narrativizing from time to time to give things meaning and to establish a sense of progress. This all came up for me yesterday because I know that the folks at church are starting to wonder if I'll convert, and of course I can never ever explain to them what I'm really doing there. Sometimes I imagine myself converting and just keeping my esoteric reasons to myself, but I just don't think I can promise anybody that I believe in the literal, historical reality of the New Testament. I also feel like the history of the Catholic Church is so vast and complicated that I could never gain a responsible understanding of what I was actually subscribing to. So I was walking around my neighborhood, thinking about all the reasons that wouldn't work for me, when once again I stumbled upon a book in the street. The book was a memoir chronicling an academic atheist's journey to embracing the Catholic Church. I thought, Oh goddammit I can't deal with this. I mean I COULD ignore it, but then I'll just be like WONDERING about it...so I took it home and snuck it out of my bag after I went off to bed. And to my great relief, it was the most annoying thing imaginable, I couldn't get through more than a couple of pages of it. It wasn't well-written despite the author's bragged-about credentials, and it also wasn't written for a general audience (or if it was meant to be, it failed instantly); it was really by and for smug religious people, if it had anything to offer the unconverted I couldn't detect it at all. It only seemed to underline that as per the horseshoe theory of ideology, staunch atheists have more in common with religious zealots than they do with the rest of us. The arrogant, condescending, self-righteous unbeliever is really not that different from the arrogant, condescending, self-righteous fanatic, and when you realize this it comes as absolutely no surprise at all that one could transform into the other. People who are absolutely convinced that they have a complete and perfect grasp of the whole of reality are just, like, not very good in my opinion. I'm so glad it turned out that I am not controlled by synchronicities and I can't wait to put that book back out on the street.

But then, just to fuck with me, today turned out to be the feast day of the Apostle Thomas, the doubting one who sticks his fingers in Jesus's VIDEODROME hole. The monseigneur gave a very impressive homily that seemed to be about me personally and everybody knew it. I'm the only person there who is under 50 and/or who did not grow up in this (or any) religious community, and so when he began to speak about the craving for empirical proof among "young people in their 20s, or their 30s, or their 40s..." I'm sure it was quite impossible not to think about my bizarre presence among them for the last year and a half. He talked about how Saint Thomas is one of his favorites because only doubt can produce the kinds of questions that, if pursued, can produced a faith that is totally personal and not just passively absorbed from one's society. Then a big point was made of praying for, among the usual suspects, "the seekers" who are searching for God in their own way, perhaps without fully realizing it. I'm glad I forgot my glasses since it meant that I had to keep my eyes closed to keep from straining and squinting, because sustained eye contact with the priest would have made me shrivel up like a mummy.

In the middle he quoted Saint Anselm saying (approx) "Belief seeks understanding," which is something I don't fully grock. It has something to do with taking a leap of faith, maybe, in assuming the truth of a principle so that you can penetrate deeply enough to fully comprehend its meaning. That sounds pretty hard to me, but I guess people do it all the time with all sorts of different things that seem--but may not be--objectively real.

After the service one of the parishioners came up behind me and made a point of saying how good the homily was, and then someone else ran up on me about volunteer opportunities. Actually I wouldn't mind volunteering. They do a regular thing where they make sandwiches for the poor, and the only reason I don't do it is that I'm clumsier than anyone could possibly imagine. Like I'm 100% sure I would make such a big mess that it would do more harm than good. But I could probably handle the thing where they give out clothing to migrants, that sounds really hard to fuck up and like a positive thing regardless of what organization it's attached to. I'd probably rather join the Cathode Ray Mission, but I'll take what I can get.

[carrie-tate]

OMG you're into good omens?!? I feel like there's a serious lack of tword content for this fandom :(

Do you think Crowley or Aziraphale would be a ler or a lee? or maybe they're both switches? Or maybe they just don't do twords...?

btw I really really like your drawings! You're one of the first people I followed

Yes, I'm VERY into good omens! Even though I'm still not in a position to watch anything, including Season 2 of Good Omens, I still consider myself part of the fandom!

(Like, I'm the kind of person who first read the book and then watched the first season. These things complement each other well in the narrative, by the way!)

And you asked a very interesting question! Where do I start with the thought that most likely neither angels nor demons initially know about such a phenomenon as 'tickle'. Like, I think they don't need the details of the physiology of mankind?

BUT, you and I know that Crowley and Aziraphale are not an ordinary demon and angel, they are gone native and know and understand more about the earthly facts of existence. It seems to me that at a certain moment, back in the time not far from Eden, these two had a dialogue between them:

*tickle happens between people in the background*

Aziraphale: (In my head, he was less aware of the details. Angelic chastity, don't go where they don't ask, etc.) What are they doing?

Crowley: (In my head he was more knowledgeable about the details. Actually for asking too many questions, he's a demon, you know) Oh, it's a tickle... *sees a slight, polite misunderstanding on the face of an angel of God* Er, how can I explain this... It's like another joke from Them, like when the shoulder blade itches, but you can't reach the place... *He sees even more misunderstanding* Okeey, just forget it.

And this topic will really be hushed up for the next two centuries for sure. They will most likely just... literally forget about it, lol

But sooner or later, Crowley will explain to Aziraphale for this phenomenon. And here the question pops up, can they do it? I think yes. Like, despite their supernatural origin, their bodies are quite human-like, so why not? As for what "roles" in tword each of them have... I'll stick with the fact that they're both switches because it's their style not to stick to one side of something, you know?

In general, something like this ^^

Thanks for the question! I'm glad that you like my drawings, and it's also really nice to know that I'm one of the first people you subscribed to, thanks again!

[gren-writes-stuff]

Not a request, just an expression of gratitude for your existence and creativity. I fell into Pokémon HARD after watching the franchise from afar for years, and my absolute favourite aspect has to be the exploration of the bond between the trainer and their Pokémon (what's the point if I can't make up 48393 scenarios of my best buddy and myself just hanging out?) And your writing scratches that itch beautifully.

Also hey, as a fellow Greninja enjoyer*, I applaud your taste.

(*read: I've been a lowkey Froakie stan since 2013 and now that I have my lil froggy buddy in XY and Ash-Gren in Sun/Moon, I'm being swarmed by ideas for a novelisation of my self insert's Pokémon journey through Kalos and Alola with her Pokémon pals. Character designs and personalities and fleshed out bond phenomenon and all. This goddamn blue frog has my creativity in an IRON GRIP.)

So, once again, great writing, great taste in favourite Pokémon, great niche you've found for yourself in the fandom. Thanks for posting!

Oh my! Is that so?

It's quite an honour! If I'm being honest, l did not expect to see this after waking up just now, it's a pleasant surprise.

I can absolutely relate to the ninja frog taking brainrot! Mine has been like that for two years actually, it never goes away! But l suppose Greninja has been a part of my creativity expanding a little more.

I'm glad to hear that my work was able to satisfy that itch of yours! I hope the rest of your day goes very well! ⭐ (Apologies if my wording is a little off, I'm still not fully awake)

-Mod Gren★

[fadebolt]

The tags here are hidden, cus Tumblr doesn't exactly work in the best of ways, but this, as well as many other comments from many other people, are some really interesting and good takes that I enjoyed reading.

Though one thing I feel like you're kind of forgetting are the Pearls that contain iterator chatlogs, where we get a clear display of how these supercomputers act when talking to each other. And I feel like those are the things that ignited this whole "angsty teenager FP" thing, thanks to his conversation with SRS where he's struggling to come to terms with his own existence, and his aggressive response to LttM pleading for him to stop a process that's literally destroying her.

The seeds were already there. And then Downpour's Spearmaster campaign shows up, and all hell breaks loose.

This post has oddly reminded me of Sorbet Cafe's somewhat recent video on Downpour, and it has sort of made me get a more clear understanding on why he's so displeased with the 'fanfic' type of characterisations that we see in Downpour, because the consequences of it are full on display within the fandom.

Granted, people dismissing Five Pebbles as a pure evil character is not a fully new phenomenon, and the memes have always been very prevalent. (But frankly I have no issues with the funny stuff. I also love all the Downfall memes and parodies, despite them completely disregarding the serious and nuanced approach towards the handling of the characters in the source material)

And so, I don't wanna turn this discussion into a "Downpour ruined the fandom!" rant, because there's a lot more to these topics than just that. People trying to come to oversimplified conclusions off of complex stories has always, and will always be a pretty big issue.

This is why I love people that do detailed analyses on stories, and this is why I think that's something a lot more of us should try and do. Folks that might have come to oversimplified conclusions can see those and think "huh, maybe there was a lot more to this character than I thought", and if they disagree, then that might open the room for some interesting discussions. (As long as both sides are open, that is. I can't stress just how important open-ness is in these discussions)

Either way, I'm glad this post was made, because Five Pebbles is a very well crafted character, and it makes me happy to see that there's still plenty of people out there who appreciate him, and don't just dismiss him as " just an angsty villainous arrogant asshole".

Just because some characters show some unpleasant traits, it doesn't mean that there isn't more that's going on with them. After all, not every non-pure-good character is an irredeemably evil uncaring jerk.

Bitches will be like "I want more morally gray characters!" then they cant handle Five Pebbles and either write him off as an irreemable monsterous villian or as a baby whos dumb and doesn't know anything and thus cant do anything wrong because he was a kid

[musicalhell]

Paul McCartney’s what?

Oh, I'm so glad you asked. Buckle up, my children...

So in the late 1960s, a conspiracy theory began to circulate that Paul McCartney had died in an auto accident and the remaining Beatles (possibly with the help of MI5) hired a double to replace him. As with all conspiracy theories, the "proof" existed in secret clues that only the initiated could decipher: coded lyrics, backmasked tracks, and images in album covers (for example, the band crossing the street on Abbey Road supposedly symbolizes a funeral procession, with Paul as the deceased). Many of these were invented out of whole cloth for a satirical article written by a University of Michigan student, but if there's one thing The Onion has taught us its that a lot of people don't know satire when it's staring them in the face.

The Beatles, of course, adamantly and repeatedly refuted the rumors, but since conspiracy theories as a rule involve distrust of official sources it did no good. Radio deejays discussed the "evidence," songs were written referencing the phenomenon, sales of albums skyrocketed. A 1969 interview of McCartney by Life magazine and his subsequent solo career took the air out of the theory, and of course John Lennon's very real and public murder in 1980 made the whole thing a lot less fun (though references still pop up occasionally; McCartney himself alludes to the phenomenon in the Simpsons episode "Lisa the Vegetarian").

But why did anyone believe it in the first place? Several factors were at play here:

The Beatles had recently taken a year-long hiatus from music and had retired entirely from live performances;

McCartney, in addition to increasingly strained relations with his bandmates, had largely withdrawn from public life to spend time with girlfriend (and eventual wife) Linda Eastman and her daughter;

Widespread distrust of established social and cultural institutions; the Vietnam War, Civil Rights protests, etc. pretty much primed people for conspiratorial thinking;

The Beatles were writing some really weird shit at this time. This was the era of "I am the Walrus," "Revolution 9," and "Glass Onion." The lyrics range from deliberate allusions to the sociopolitical climate to nods to other Beatles' songs to absolute gibberish, and trying to figure it all out has led people down some weird alleyways;

The Beatles' target demographic was really, REALLY into psychedelic substances.

I don't do conspiracy theories in general but the British Royal Family is so colossally out there and has been for so long that I'd buy almost any explanation for the "Where is Kate?" thing. Started chemo and doesn't want to be photographed bald? Sure, it's possible. Locked up in the Tower of London? It's happened before. Died on the operating table and everyone's stalling until they can get her replacement from the same firm that did Paul McCartney's doppleganger back in the sixties? Yeah why not, sounds like something they'd do.

[the1975attheirverybest]

Commenting on that tweet as non American fan of Taylor I tell you I was baffled at all the attention she and Travis get. Now I'm used to it, but before DM started talking about them I had no clue who he was and what the Chiefs were. Like I do know the super bowl exists of course but to me the hype was (still is) incomprehensible. I've nothing against the man but to me he's literally Mr. Nobody. Glad she's happy but it truly is the American dream bc as an European I'm not getting the dream here (of course I'm generalising americans, I know not everyone will like football or whatever he plays)

Yeah, it’s a very specific, very American trope/ ideal. Like, I get that any fan of hers can see her going to the games and supporting him and looking cute in red clothes/ interacting with his family etc. and be endeared by it or find it cute. Cuz those things are objectively cute. And it’s my understanding that she didn’t get to do stuff like that with Joe (idk though I never followed the details). BUT that’s not the extent of it that I’m commenting on. I’m saying the level of obsession that Americans have with this specific relationship and how it epitomizes so much about our culture and what we value, what we think men and women should be, how we understand wealth and all that shit. It’s literally a fascinating phenomenon.

And I don’t care if this offends anyone I’m not saying anything hurtful if you disagree, scroll on.

[vergess]

Re: The "Fandom teaches people to analyse media a specific way" Thread, fucking thank you!! I've come across that thread multiple times now, and every time I see it, always with all these brand new, nuanced additions to boot, I can never get through it without being majorly frustrated despite how fascinating the topic actually is, because nobody points out the elephant in the room of, hey, actually, fandom is very huge and very diverse, to the point that the phrase "fandom culture" is highly inaccurate. There are fandom *cultures*. Multiple cultures, not just for every fandom, but also, if the fandom in question is big enough, multiple cultures in a *single* fandom. This goes double for practically any and all international works. 

I mean, come on, as a single example, the Japanese Pokémon fandom and the USAmerican Pokémon fandom are absolutely *not* the same, and in many ways aren't comparable. I speak from personal experience. But also, the USAmerican Pokémon fanartist community and the USAmerican Pokémon fanfic writer community are very different as well. Again, from personal experience. And while the Japanese and USAmerican Poké fandoms, and the USAmerican Poké artist and fanficcer communities can and regularly do intersect, they are still their own different sects of the same fandom(s), not to mention all the sub-communities within them all as well. *And* I am only referencing online communities, specifically, here. (Not even going to get into the cluster-fuck that is the Pokémon Anime Fandom vs the *Other* Pokémon Anime Fandom vs the Pokémon Main Games Fandom vs the Pokémon Side Games *Fandoms* vs the Pokéspe Fandom vs the *Other* Pokémon Manga Fandom lol)

What you wrote about this point-of-view coming from encounters with a select few mostly young, mostly monolingual native English speaking USAmericans in (some) online transformative fandoms, and then this being pushed onto the entirety of fandom, as an international phenomenon, hit really close to home. Like, I don't know, as a young non-native English speaking non-USAmerican who is in both transformative and archival fandoms, and who first got into fandom not online but offline, together with a close friend who is currently studying English Language and Literature on a university level, no actually, I don't think this flat, monolithic idea of fandom "taught" me this specific type of analysis and *only* this type of analysis. Personally, I already knew this type of analysis and many others way before I joined fandom spaces, and then when I did I was and am able to use my prior knowledge to develop transformative works, and to also socialise with other fandomgoers, including ones more knowledgeable than me such as my friend, through meta. Your Experiences Are Not Universal, and all that.

Anyways, as you can probably tell from the username, I (mostly) use this account to lurk, so I'd never go and write all of this down in the actual thread. So, again, thank you for expressing my own grievances with your addition.

Yeah, I'm glad I could help!

Your comment on pokeani actually reminds me of a more... robust culture gap.

One that happened when fans of Korean and American cinema tried to analyze the other school of film.

A gap that has unfortunately persisted academically for decades, in spite of the efforts of pretty much anyone familiar with both.

Oh yeah, and in spite of S Korea's government spending the largest percent of their GDP of any country on earth, for decades, doing cultural outreach that is broadly recognized as the most advanced in the world.

A gap which was, unironically, closed in the last years by everyone's "most hated" fandom. The very essence of ~self-obsessed fandoms that go too far.~

Teenage American K-pop fans.

Because the willingness to enjoy Korean cinema on its own terms by that group created a body of tools and vocabulary for explaining it to other Americans that had never and could never exist without them.

How? Why??

Two factors.

First, Korean cinema is relatively younger than American and thus is intimately influenced by it, leading to the use of similar body direction, set design, and camera language.

And second, Korean literary traditions are far older and culturally completely different.

This led, inevitably, to the same circle of American and Korean publics seeing very technically adept films with writing that was unavoidably alienating and directing that seemed to completely disagree with the rest of the film.

For YEARS we were stuck with Americans calling Korean film beautiful, evocative, and boring. Koreans calling American film visually stunning, fast paced... and boring. Imports of S Korean film and TV to the US, when they existed at all, tended to have weak receptions by US audiences.

Enter: K-pop girlies.

Their motives ranged from "learn the language" to "watch the hotties" and all manner of other things.

But their actual ACTIONS were to ravenously consume Korean film and TV across every genre and era.

And then to talk about it. Constantly. To play with the cinematic language until they were so fluent they created a new genre of micro film. To make friendships with S Korean music and film fans, artists, and writers and learn from them.

To network and rework with a scale and passion never before seen from US citizens over Korean art.

Until they developed a whole suite of easily understood English vocabulary for studying Korean art and literary history that did not exist in English before then.

Let me be clear: all the shitty things you've heard about US kpop fans are true and probably even worse IRL.

But, even so?

K-pop fans created an entire system of film translation and localization between the US and Korea that not only didn't exist, but that academics, studios, and entire governments had been trying to make for decades.

Once the framework was there, American film studios, writers, etc had the tools and data to actually determine which Korean films would be INTERESTING to American audiences. Which ones would land correctly. How to translate important lines or scenes into film language US audience's understand.

And now, US cinema is a foreign film renaissance. I mean holy shit, Americans are going to see subtitled Korean films in theaters.

But, of course, the fact that an only somewhat related fandom managed to thrust international film criticism and as a result international cinematic cooperation forward by DECADES?

Doesn't matter. Not when one American woman so proud of her ignorance calls fandom a closed audience of calvinists.

And that was done by the exact type of young, American fan she was actively mocking as ~incapable of critical interpretation due to closed minds and ignorance.~

The irony abounds.

[spaghett-onaplate]

I'm so sick of booktok books. Tropes sticky-taped together to make a semi-comprehensible and mildly enjoyable at best story. 2D characters that have no real defining personalities beyond banter and witty one-liners, that have no clear motivations or goals, that are inconsistent in their actions and thoughts. A lack of description that has you rereading passages over and over in a lackluster attempt to understand wtf is going on.

I'm reviewing this book for a bookstore magazine, and that fucking thing is the inspiration behind this. I mean, it has "TikTok" on the front cover, so I was a little sceptical at first, but now I'm just pissed off. Apart from what I've already mentioned, there are severe plot holes - the entire plot of the book is centred around a journey to recover a magical item of legends. Both of the main characters are sceptical of its existence, but they decide to try and find it anyway. Personally, I think it could have been executed much better if one of the characters believed in it fully and wholeheartedly, and was dead set on his goal to get it. Then, that would have allowed leeway for some scepticism in other characters while still moving the plot ahead, and added more depth to the otherwise bland characters. It also would have tied in very well with the backstory and just made so much more sense plot-wise.

I don't know, it's just really pissing me off. I probably wouldn't be able to finish this book if it weren't for the fact I'm writing a review, but it pains me to think of the fact I'll have to write a mostly positive review - so I'll do what I'm best at, and compliment the (few) enjoyable aspects while backhandedly complimenting the rest. I'll keep it honest, but if I didn't have a word limit/positive theme I would write a scathing review of 5k words, at bare minimum. There are so many points where I have to flip a few pages back and ask myself if I missed something - not that there's much to miss.

The two main characters are both cardboard cutouts with inconsistent goals and thoughts. One of the central conflicts between them makes next to no sense. The other two side characters are yawn-inducing and essentially useless, and I often forget they're even there. The lore of the world is bleak and two-dimensional. The writing style reminds me of The Hunger Games with its short and direct sentences, but is executed so poorly that I hesitate to compare it to, you know, The Hunger Games. It works in that series with Katniss' thought process and character, but here it just makes me cringe. It gives off the effect of trying to put emphasis on sentences that really don't deserve it. I think some books can pull that writing style off really well, when paired with other sentence structures, but in this book it just comes across as lazy and, well, badly written.

Writing a book is still an impressive feat, and the author could have done much worse. So I'll still write a kind review, but I'll keep it honest and I won't be happy about it.

Anyway, just needed to get that out of my system so that I can write a mostly positive review. But I'm just sick of what is essentially the Marvel-ification of a lot of recent YA books. I've seen other posts discussing this so I'm glad I'm not alone. And either way, bad books have always existed - it's not a recent phenomenon. Good books exist, bad books exist, and unfortunately it's a lot easier to find the latter.

[tomsawyee]

The t/lou tv show is probably a pretty good tv show. I'm sure it's at least Decent and I'm genuinely glad people who like the games have enjoyed it so far.

But! I'm never going to be able to feel anything but deep dislike for the series and its lifelong undercurrent of self-hatred for its own source medium.

Tangent that goes somewhere, I promise: I have several close friends who are all very into horror films. I'm not. I watch with them from time to time, but I'm A Casual. They watch free student films on youtube, niche 50's works that you either pirate or get for a weird stream subscription, schlocky 80's slashers. Through them, I'm aware of this critical concept penned by people who would never make time for any of the above, called "elevated horror." I'll spare you their definition, because it's insultingly reductive of the genre. Elevated Horror is A24 films that are kind of spooky. Heartwarming! Prestige cinema that is still Great despite being from the Bad Genre for Bad Movies!

[x] for people who don't like [x] isn't a unique phenomenon in the mainstream. What was the wild popularity of GoT if not "ok but THIS genre fiction is Good, Actually, because it has (you can fill in the blanks I'm not talking about this series any more than I have to)."

I could go on way longer than one tumblr post about why I think the mushroom zombie game fails as a video game, but that isn't really my point, right now. T/LOU is the endstage of western AAA game development's desperation to be taken seriously. To elevate games, generally seen as low art at best and products at worst, to "real" artistic achievements worthy of critical discussion and enormous mainstream success.

(Aside plug: Jacob Geller's Bad Graphics, and his discussion of the gaming market's willingness to accept mediocrity in every other technical element as long as they Look Really Good)

If the t/lou show is good, it isn't good despite being a video game adaptation. It's good because t/lou always existed to chase the specific ways that cinema can be impactful and successful while being forced into a box labeled "video game." In a game where the player has about as much input as a train conductor on a one-way track, what is there to adapt? What is gained in the jump to television? Very little. What is lost in the jump from game? Even less.

So like. Congrats, Druckmann, you got your Big Prestige Drama. We probably could have skipped the "spend millions of dollars and crunch hours on digitally recreating reality two three times over" step altogether, tho.

[lang-rangler-enjoyer]

FOR THE VIV ANON IM SO SORRY I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED YOUR ASK😬

Here’s my answers:

•First Impression:

•I felt really bad for him during his fight :( he was just an average guy who got dragged into Pucci’s conflict without his consent. I was just really glad Araki never outright confirmed his death (even if his body did mysteriously disappear from the stairs during the Dragon's Dream fight).

•Impression Now:

• Baby boy. Baby. I love him so much. I love how weird and extreme all the other Stone Ocean characters are, and then Viv is just. aggressively plain-looking. He’s still super duper duper hot tho, like holy shit, but just LOOK AT THIS FUCKING LINEUP

POV you asked your straight brother to pick you up at the gay bar

Araki doesn't always make good writing choices, but having one of his villains just be Some Guy who has a regular 9-5 job and isn't a part of this conflict at all was great. Sad for Viviano that he got dragged into all this, but conceptually a very fun arc.

•Favourite Moment:

•I just find it so funny that one of the ONLY things we know about Viv is that he's into some degree of CBT. I love the vague implications of this, like what other situation Mr. Westwood? Is he referring to a normal, out-of-work CBT session....or does he just legit get off to prisoners attempting to crush his genitals to escape being detained??

•Idea for a Story:

•Post-Survivor, "holy shit I have a magical ghost now and other people do as well". Not only is he recovering from being supernaturally forced to kill his coworker and friend :( he also has to deal with now having a stand, which must be absolutely terrifying for any adult who's gone their whole life without knowledge of this phenomenon. Especially considering his first experience with other stand users was so awful. Like, once he realizes he wasn't just hallucinating the whole thing, where do you start? He doesn't even know they're called "stands", how do you find information on them? IDK maybe I just like the worldbuilding aspect of this, but I wanna see stand user culture, how do new adult stand users (which aren't unheard of, like Tonio and Aya) find out about how stand stuff works?

• Unpopular Opinion:

•Hmmmmm once again with the minor villains not a lot of people really have serious opinions on him. Just APPRECIATE HIM MORE HOLY SHIT. HE'S HOT. HE'S GOT A STRONGMAN BOD. REAL MEAT ON THOSE BONES. HE'S NOT DEHYDRATED-LOOKING LIKE SO MANY OTHER "MUSCULAR" JOJO CHARACTERS LIKE HE ACTUALLY HAS A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF FAT. HE'D BE SO GOOD TO CUDDLE WITH. HE CANONICALLY LIKES COCK AND BALL TORTURE. I MEAN COME ON WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT WHY DON'T MORE PEOPLE LIKE HIM???

•Favourite Relationship:

•The brief period where he was just hanging out with Sonny Likir was nice. I wish Stone Ocean showed us more antagonists interacting! That’s like, one of the best parts of jojo, when you have a villain duo or squad like Cioccolatta and Secco, La Squadra, Oingo and Boingo, or Sale and Zucchero, seeing how these characters act with the people they love/respect/tolerate before we see them trying to kill the protagonists adds so much depth and sympathy and investment. Seeing Sonny and Viviano just have some regular coworker banter before the fight was really fun and makes me wish we could see more of that in Stone Ocean.

•Favourite Headcanon:

•He's bisexual and literally the most closeted man to ever exist. He's the type to laugh at the homophobic comments his friends and coworkers make, and even make some of those comments himself, it's a learned defensive habit. I'm not trying to make him super angsty or anything, he just gives me mega bi energy. I don’t think he grew up in a particularly abusive or neglectful household, just the kind of environment where people in his family/community would make gay jokes because they honestly didn’t think anyone around them was gay. And I can’t see a prison in the early 2010’s as being the most accepting place either, so he’s just learned to keep certain things to himself, and hope those feelings he has about men sometimes just go away on their own.