#but i think SOME of the problematic shit in aftg is actually why it gets you in such a chokehold

[hella1975]

and im still gonna babygirlify him ☝️

happy minyard monday im back to my aftg reread let's go

[darlingbudsofrae]

Renee Walker Appreciation Post

Foxes Appreciation Series : 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10 ||

All together now, let us all hold hands and say: ”All hail, Queen Renee”

Those who refuse to join this worship will unfortunately hit their little toe on one of their chairs’ leg. I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules.

No, seriously- Renee is the least problematic fox and if you have a problem with her, then you need some serious help.

Like how I start my other appreciation posts- I would like to start this by saying that I think people forget how badass Renee Walker truly is.

Friendly reminder that Renee Natalie Walker is an SA victim and also killed her abuser. 

Like, the reason why she’s so good with knives is that the horrible man who did horrible things to her was good with knives and so she trained herself to best him in a fight.

And best him she did. Also, she killed him. He died. As he should. 

This is a single man with many victims and Renee Walker put a stop to it.

Yasss Queen. 

This is from the extra content (which I admittedly only read Allison’s) BUT when Allison was recruited and Renee and Dan was discussing her-

Dan was lowkey judging Allison and dismissing her trauma while I do get where she was coming from it was just uncalled for and Renee was defending her and I’m all for that.

I’m also lowkey happy that they all became friends in the end to stand against sexism cuz yes- we need women standing together against sexism (would highly prefer just women being friends without the sexism part but hey, we can’t have the best of both worlds)

I need more of the girls bonding, like seriously.

Also, no one in the foxes hate Renee and I think it’s because she’s easily able to empathize with the others.

Like, everyone was so quick to label Andrew as soulless or a monster but then there’s Renee befriending him and just understanding him.

Like, Andrew trusts her so much that she’s actually the first person in the foxes he came out to? The only person he willingly came out to?? We do not talk enough about this.

Also, the way she and Andrew are sparring partners? That rocks.

Renee just gets along with everyone and I think it’s because while Matt and Nicky are arguably the friendliest ones in the team, Renee just doesn’t let prejudiced notions and all that shit get the best of her.

Her sense of empathy is just on a god-tier level. 

Also, apparently Renee did drugs? And the fact that in the series she’s been clean (like she doesn’t drink and all), I’m just so proud like-

She resorted to exy and Christianity and her mother actually being the best mother in the book (like let’s just appreciate her mom for a second). 

Also, this is a personal take but I love how Renee is a positive Christian representation- and just a positive representation on religious people on general?

Like most of the books I read that has religious people makes religion as either a plot device or villainizes it, but with AFTG, it’s a contrast to the experiences Nicky had with it.

Like it’s probably not that deep but I love how there’s both a negative and positive representation to religion because most books really make religion as a negative for some reason?

But yes, I appreciate that she found her outlet in religion and no I’m not religious but I can appreciate that.  

She majors in Religious Studies in college and good for her!

Also, I feel like no one talks enough about how Renee basically saved Jean from abuse?

Like she just drove there straight to the nest and took him out and gave him to Abby for treatment and I-

Like that is so badass.

Also, she’s the only one in the fox that doesn’t get affected by Kevin’s blunt criticisms and I think that’s cool! Like how??

I also love how she bets on “lost” causes? Like imagine wishing for the positive things and not caring how much money you lose in the process? I stan.

Also, I lowkey can’t, I’m too frugal for that LMAO

Renee is generally just a calm and respecting person and while yes, she can probably kill me- she is an absolute sweetheart.

“I am a bad person trying very hard to be a good person.”

I’m dying with that quote engraved on my grave. There’s Renee lowkey proving that yes we cannot erase the things we did in the past but we can always try to be a better person.

Renee Natalie Walker is such a queen and we love her.

[professionalfangirl24601]

i hate the anti aftg tag especially because it shows up when I search up aftg on tumblr. idk why the anti aftg tag shows up under aftg but people are so mean there.

like we all know the books are problematic but it’s definitely not to the extent of trauma porn or being that bad that no one should read it

Yeah, you're 100% right.

I wish they'd think of a new tag because seeing these awful things being said about something you love is really hurtful. It's not even constructive criticism, they really are just agressively mean. Especially when they're talking about Nora, but I saw a couple of posts saying "aftg fans disgust me."

I talk about the takes I've seen there and my thoughts about them below the cut, so beware.

I don't think aftg is "objectively bad" because I don't care about the writing style, unrealistic plot, etc. For me, it's about if it makes me feel strong emotions even after a year of reading it, and if it has a good message. (Can a book even be "objectively bad"? It's an art piece and everyone has a different judging criteria. There's no right or wrong answer) But I can admit that some of the characters are based on negative stereotypes and people say it's Nora being racist/homophobic. I can actually understand that, or at least see where they're coming from. But people who say it fetishizes gay people really need ro look up the definition of the word. It's been thrown around so freely that it has a completely different meaning now. I won't go in too much details because everything I'd say would be the copy of this great post, which you should definitely read if you want more on the subject. People say it's trauma porn (and I've seen some say torture porn too) but when I read about the characters suffering, it was extremely painful. There's nothing in the books that suggests that the reader should be enjoying seeing the characters feeling pain. If someone did, that's their fault. I'm sure the people who actively enjoy it exist but does that mean no one should ever write about it? If the people who want to tell the stories of the abused and intend it to cause feeling sympathy in readers stop writing about it, then the ones who do it for their own pleasure will be left to do it. Another common thing that I saw "aftg critics" say is that they expected the books to be very light, and when they read it, it triggered them. Deciding to read a book blindly has it's consequences and risks. That's why summaries and trigger warnings exist. Here's the first paragraph of the foxhole court summary:

Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He's short, he's fast, he's got a ton of potential—and he's the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher. After reading it, I think no one should expect the book to be all sunshine and rainbows. I don't have the physical copy of the books but I've heard that it doesn't have trigger warnings at the beginning. I know some people prefer it that way, but if you know there's a possibility of you getting triggered why wouldn't you look it up? And if you get triggered why wouldn't you just stop reading it? I think the people who recommend it partially have the responsibility of warning them about the heavy subject. I've seen a lot of people asking the name of the series and every time, without a fail the reply warned them and often even linked the list of the trigger warnings. It's just my experience, though, but it stood out to me because it always left me pleasantly surprised. People also say that it's advertised as a YA book, and they're right. It's not and more people should say it. I personally read it at 16 and honestly I was fine, but it's really not YA. Of course the fandom focuses on the fluffy part of it! If all of us were constantly talking about the torture and rape, then I'd believe the trauma porn thing. Another thing is that, according to them, Nora is aphobic just because she wrote aphobic characters 🙄 (btw here's an amazing post about that subject) But yeah, lot of their reasoning is like that. Something bad happened in the book so Nora must be a supporter of that thing. I even saw someone say "yeah, the character didn't know about it but Nora did! How could she write that?" I don't think explaining why that's a... flawed logic is necessary. Many of them say that Andreil is toxic (one of them hilariously said that on their first meeting Andrew drugged Neil, beat him, tried to murder him... 😂) and "the romance is shit", just because they're unconventional and written by an aromantic author? Ok sure. Is aftg perfect? No. But it doesn't deserve this much of hate either. Instead of saying people shoupdn't read it, it would be more reasonable to warn them about the triggers and the heavy topics it deals with, and let them judge it for themselves.

[hella1975]

hella idk what to send to you for aftg im either bored or annoyed and I don't wanna just say bad things about it 😭 like that's just rude and yall obviously like it I DONT WANNA BE SOME DEBBY DOWNER MDMWKEM

I looked at the anti aftg tag too to see if I could intermingle there and last I checked it was a mix of fans obsessed with the series and haters being just a tad harsh imo, so i couldn't even do that RIP. I'm so lonesome in what is maybe a whole group of people gaslighting me 😔👊

honestly ive said this before and i always have to tread a very fine line with it because this isn't me saying it's OKAY or like. promotable. but i do think to an extent that aftg's problematicness is actually an aspect of what draws people in a lot. like the characters and their reactions to things feel real for who they are, what they've been through and the environments they were raised in if that makes sense? and then you go in the anti-aftg tag and it's just again and again 'they said THIS thing and acted THIS way in response to THIS scenario and it was PROBLEMATIC' and like. yeah. outside of the internet bubble you're in people do actually do that. like that behaviour exists. it IS problematic, well done. you pointed at a wall and called it a wall. but like? in real life people - PARTICULARLY deprived, traumatised people that typically don't ever get therapy or community or someone telling them why something is bad - DO act this way. ive said half of my love for andrew is literally just because he took an awful backstory and let it make him a complete cunt and ive NEVER seen a character do it as shamelessly as him before. and yeah there's the argument for how it's never resolved in the book where nora ties it with a bow and points at the bad behaviour so the readers can go 'see, this is wrong' and we all clap, but idk it just for me feels that when people point at the aftg characters and go problematic! problematic! problematic! it's like they're missing the point a bit.

the point being? that we need to be putting WAY more heat on the author. i really dislike her and a lot of her writing choices and her insistance of using slurs that aren't hers to reclaim and just because it happened to make the characters feel just that bit more authentic i can still acknowledge that she CLEARLY wrote it without characterisation in mind and just added all that problematic shit anyway. like i never get why there's so little focus on nora's writing decisions and thousands of posts just fucking CRUCIFYING the characters themselves and 'let's explain in detail why this behaviour is Morally Reprehensible and they should be Locked Up Forever'. like if u want to focus on the characters so bad and pretend they're the sole reason why aftg is Problematic and Bad then why is it so hard to acknowledge that someone raised the way they were might have some misinformed, ignorant beliefs. idk lol