#but it’s not a general reason that would apply to the content creators unrelated to Techno

[sing-me-under]

When will the XD finale arrive so I can get a confirmation on the exact nature of Season Two because I’ve been running on the interpretation that c!Tommy and c!Dream are either straight up dead or totally reset and not memory loss because I fucking hate the amnesia narrative for disc duo.

I think it’s a stupid take because the whole point was for the CCs to not be burdened by their characters’ dynamic, so projecting the S1 characters onto the S2 versions isn’t fair to the CCs or their Cs.

I can see a total reset or straight up new characters for disc duo (and probably Tubbo and Jack), but I’m also curious as to how the other content creators (specifically the Eggpire group) will continue into S2 because we know that their lore will be continuing.

So far, what I understand is that The Incident (which isn’t the Nukes) will be causing memory loss of some kind but that The Incident will be referenced repeatedly in the future. An amnesia plot for many of the other content creators aside from disc duo isn’t surprising to me because they already had amnesia plots ingrained into their S1 lore.

[abschaumno1]

On fandom, shipping and boundaries

Since I have seen a lot of talk about boundaries and shipping over the last couple days, and because that has led to me doing a lot of thinking on it/ I just wanted to share my few cents on the topic.

For those who haven’t seen me talk about this before I should probably mention that I’ve been in fandom for over ten years and in RPF spaces for six years now. So that’s the background that informs my opinions.

So let’s get into this.

Most of the arguments I see center around the opinion that we as fans need consent from content creators to essentially do anything in fandom. Which is right where it starts for me to be honest.

Fandom is and has always been a subculture where fans of a thing meet and exchange their ideas and create art and fic and all sorts of other transformative works for each other. Emphasis on “for each other”.

As a fan I am in fandom spaces to talk to other people who like the same things I do, and I am in fandom spaces to share with other fans what I create based on the things we like (fanfic in my personal case).

Over the past ten years I have watched the increasing shift towards where fandom is more out in the open, and where fans apparently feel like they can and should approach creators with the things they used to share in fandom circles. Obviously some creators have made it clear that they don’t have a problem with that, have actively encouraged it, or admitted to seeking it out to some extend. I think the most famous example for this is probably Bryan Fuller and his enthusiasm about Hannibal fandom in general and Hannigram fanworks in particular, or Mads Mikkelsen, who to my knowledge has publicly admitted to reading (and liking) explicit Hannigram fic. They made that decision for themselves and I think that’s great for them.

Now here’s also the heart of the issue for me. Because I am a very strong believer in the fourth wall, meaning that there is fandom and then there is the spaces where we get to interact with the creators (cons, more recently social media accounts), and yes, sometimes those things intersect, but that does not mean the fourth wall is and should be disregarded.

Shipping especially (since that’s the reason I am writing this post) is a subset of fandom. Not everyone in fandom ships; not everyone in fandom wants to ship. And that’s completely fine. We’re all here to have fun and we all look for different things from what we do in fandom. But at no point does that entitle any of us to demand others to cater to what we personally want from fandom. And at no point does any of this mean we should feel like we have to ask for permission to do the things we do.

Fandom is not just transformative, it is transgressive. Modern fandom, especially modern slash fandom got popularised by women writing queer content about Star Trek in the 1970s (the first published slash story was published in a zine in 1974). And yes, there are cases where I would argue for being publicly transgressive, but I do not think that this should apply to fandom, and being transgressive means that I can and will do things without regard to what any creator wants me to do.

And this is where we go back to the fourth wall and the question of boundaries. I have seen a trend in Hermitcraft fandom specifically where people approach content creators to ask them what their boundaries are and compile lists of who is fine with what. And that in itself crosses a boundary for me.

See one of the most important things I learned in fandom in general, and in Hockey RPF specifically is that the fourth wall is one of the most important boundaries we have in fandom. Shipping is for us. Not for the creators or the professionals involved. And I will be honest with you, none of the shippers I know in Hermitcraft fandom actively share their shippy stuff with creators. In fact, a lot of them feel uncomfortable at the mere suggestion that any of the Hermits could read or see their shipping content.

Asking the Hermits (and other content creators) what they think about shipping and whether they are okay with it is crossing that boundary, and in my personal opinion it shows a disregard for the content creators these “fans” presumably care about. If you actually want to respect them, just keep that stuff away from them. They are adults, if they happen to find it they can decide to ignore it. And if they decide not to ignore it then that is their own decision. A decision they can make for themselves, because once again, they are adults.

But people will use even ambiguous statements or non-statements and twist them to mean what they think they should mean and then go and harass people who kept this content to their own circles and sharing it with others who want to see it and try to tell them what they can and cannot do. They will tell you “I don’t speak for them” and then tell you that the only way to read a statement is their way. The moment you take an ambiguous statement or a statement that has never been made and say "this means that" without letting the person in question clarify, you are attempting to speak for them. And no, this does not mean I want people to ask the Hermits for clarification. I want people to not bring this up with the Hermits at all

And I have seen the concept of consent being brought up in this context and I am just going to say it: The concept of consent does not apply here.

The concept of consent as used by anti-shippers and yes, also shippers insistent on respecting these boundaries, whether they are correctly interpreted or not, is the concept of consent we apply to s*xual encounters. And that concept does not apply here. At all.

Consent as applied to s*xual encounters is a legal tool used to determine whether an encounter was unconsensual and thus breaking the law, or not.

I have seen an analogy being thrown around where creating shipping content without being told by the person you create it about that they are okay with it is the same as walking up to a stranger and holding their hand without asking if they are okay with it.

This analogy is false.

A more fitting analogy would be this: You see a stranger and you would like to hold their hand. You walk up to them to ask if you can, potentially making them feel uncomfortable. This is what people asking Hermits about whether they are okay with shipping are doing.

Or you could quietly draw art of yourself holding the stranger's hands or write about it, and not show it to them, meaning they will never know, which has literally no effect on them whatsoever. This is what shippers are already doing.

We all have fantasies. It's human to have fantasies. There is nothing wrong with that. The moment this becomes an issue is when we ignore the boundaries of the objects of our fantasies and tell them about them unsolicited.

Another thing I want to make abundantly clear here is the following: The Hermits are not your friends.

They may be accessible online and they may even talk to fans online, but they are not our friends. We know as much as they are willing to share publicly. Nothing more and nothing less. What we know about and of them is a public persona. And yes, that persona may or may not include aspects of their real personalities, but at the end of the day they are effectively strangers.

Accessibility online does not mean we are entitled to cross boundaries we would not cross in real life either. And someone talking to you about something unrelated does not make you entitled to ask them frankly invasive questions about things they might not have encountered or put much thought into without you asking those questions.

Furthermore, I would like us all to remember what happened when ZombieCleo came out and told anti-shippers that they should stop harassing shippers. This fandom has a history and considering that history, I am not surprised when Hermits give ambiguous statements or try to avoid saying anything, even ignoring for a moment that it's invasive. If I had witnessed people bully my friend and that same community is now asking me to state my opinion on the same issue I would think twice about how to reply. Especially if I rely on that same community for part of my income.

This is a lot of text already and I could probably find more to say but I'll wrap it up here. If you have any concerns or want to discuss points further my ask box is open. Just don't be an asshole.

[mcmoth]

Dream SMP fandom etiquette

So. This post is probably too little, too late, considering the fandom and the issues I'm about to talk about have existed for so long now, and a lot of the people who need to hear this probably aren't on tumblr anyways, but I just wanted to dedicate a quick post to talk about fandom etiquette. Mostly pertaining to discourse, and interactions with people outside of our circle. These are just going to be my own personal thoughts, of course, but I felt it could be good to bring some of this to attention. So without further introduction:

Where to (not) talk about discourse:

Don't go into other streamer's vods to only focus about a different character. If you want to analyse, for example, c!Techno, do it in Techno's stream. Don't go into unrelated streams, like Tommy's, Tubbo's etc. to do it, even if they were a part of the event in question. This is, of course, with the exception if the character in question didn't stream their own pov. But otherwise, stay in your own space. This is to prevent cluttering a streamer's comments about unrelated discussion. To give further example: Tubbo's vod comments should primarily focus on Tubbo's character. Not Tommy's, Ranboo's, Techno's or whoever else's.

Don't start discourse in the comments of animatics. Seriously, stop that. Animatics aren't discussion boards. The comments are there to analyse and appreciate the video presented, not argue. It's especially rude if you pick a small detail, that wasn't even the focus of the animatic, or even a completely unrelated issue to rant out your frustrations about. To give examples: starting disc discourse in an animatic of Tommy talking to Wilbur, or rambling about how tragic Techno's character is in an animatic focused on clingy duo, etc.

This applies to fan songs as well.

Video essays are the exception to these rules. I think it's safe to say they're the place to bring your hot takes, if you really feel so inclined to argue in youtube comment sections (Though I'd personally advise to still keep the topic relevant).

Keep negativity out of fanfic comments. This isn't nearly as big of an issue as the last points, but I've seen it happen a couple times, so I'm deciding to mention it. Fanfics are written for fun. Even if you disagree with the characterisation or something else, unless the author is clear in accepting critique, keep criticism to yourself. And definitely don't rant about how you dislike a character unrelated to the fanfic. Sharing your thoughts on the fanfic itself is of course fine and welcomed, but when it turns from discussing the author's story to talking about how you dislike a character in canon, that's when it crosses a line. Example: comment talking about what you don't like about c!Tommy on a Bench Trio fanfiction.

When commenting on art, keep the feedback positive. Even if you dislike any presented character, keep that to yourself. Example: Don't say things like "I hate x character, but this art is good". You might think the author would feel honoured, but it's actually just hurtful.

How to deal with discourse:

This is gonna be a shorter section, because I think we all chose to do it in different ways, and that's valid. Also, it's just that I, myself, am still learning how to do this well, but I thought it could be good to try to lay it out anyways.

Try to scroll past takes you disagree with instead of arguing if you don't think you'd be able to keep your cool. Noone likes a random person yelling at them through a screen, and if you rant, you'll get an equally frustrated reply back, and noone will be happy. Either explain your point in a calm manner, or scroll past/ unfollow/block.

On the keeping cool thing, remember to just step away. Take a deep breath and calm yourself down before proceeding. To minimize the frustration you feel on a daily basis, filter tags, block people, avoid videos and youtube comment sections that you know will upset you, and leave certain internet spaces if you find yourself unable to escape negativity even with all those steps. Remember: in the end, it's all a game played by friends, a story, and your enjoyment of it lies in what you take from it. Abandon what makes you unhappy. Marie Kondo your fandom experience.

Also, here's your reminder, to whom this is relevant, to take care of yourself. Hydrate, eat, sleep, clean up, get fresh air, remember the things outside of all this. There's plenty to do outside of this fandom, and what you can do here can wait. There is no pressure, or obligation. Not for the content you create, not for the discussions you bring, not for responding to discourse, not for anything. Fandom is meant purely for fun, so take care <3

Interacting with people outside of the fandom:

This is something that I've seen a bit of talk about, and I thought I'd drop in my own thoughts on this as well. No matter the differences, we're all just trying to vibe, and I think these are important things to keep in mind to leave both sides better off:

Don't interact with hate posts. Just don't. You don't want to see them, they don't want to see you. Even if your response is lighthearted, their animosity is not. They will feel frustrated regardless, and the grudge will only grow. And if they're being agressive, calm discussion most likely won't happen even if you're being polite. Just leave it, please.

Correct misinformation calmly. I completely get how it can be frustrating to see blatant lies and all, but with our reputation, people will not listen if you're being antagonistic. Provide sources, explain, and leave it at that.

Don't be hateful, send death threats, or assume privilege or whatever else. That's stepping into the same shoes of the people you hate. Misunderstandings go both ways, and the fact of the matter is, I think most people who dislike DSMP, even the ones who are agressive about it, don't have their stance rooted in maliciousness. To expand on why the situation became what it is today, taken from a discussion on discord:

I think it's just a combination of Dream growing so insanely quickly + how internet spaces have changed over the years. When ccs like jackstepticeye or pewdiepie etc. grew popular, activism wasn't as prevalent and held to such importance. Now it's thankfully more talked about, but that also leads to Dream being more scrutinized in comparision. Add twitter trends and the general prevalence of the fandom, and you've got everyone feeling tired and frustrated and paranoid. People also tend not to fact check stuff, especially when it comes to celebrities and stuff they're not really interested in, so rumors spread fast.

And actually, I think there's absolutely valid reasons to be made uncomfortable by Dream SMP, either in it's creators, content or fandom, and there is, of course, stuff to criticise in general. The problem is the hate and misinformation and overexposure, but we are not going to solve any of that by being aggressive in return.

(This is, by the way, not talking about more serious cases. Like doxxing, or leaving gore images in hashtags, or similar instances. That's a whole different complicated issue that I don't feel qualified to tackle.)

And finally, don't overwhelm outsiders who merely mention the Dream SMP. Don't send asks asking them to watch it, don't write paragraphs explaining the lore, don't confuse them with inside jokes, just... Don't jump on people like that. Unless they're explicitly clear in wanting interaction and getting into the fandom, that kind of thing will just drive them away. This is in no way exclusive to the Dream SMP fandom, pretty much every fandom has people enthiastic to have more people involved, but since there are so unbelievably many of us, it's especially easy to go overboard with this stuff. Just... be polite, and don't pressure anyone. Be nice, please.

So.... ya! This would be it for this one, I think. Sorry that it's kinda long, thank you if you read it at all. Hope y'all have pleasant days ^^

[smolskye]

thinkin about personal branding

so i’m studying marketing now and just took an actual class on it last term and one of the things that got hammered in over and over is how to create long-term loyal customers because creating and fostering those relationships through various marketing channels and methods is ultimately much more profitable than, say, having an attractive sale/offer that brings in a thousand people who will never shop from you again. you want to associate a customer’s need or want and the relevant good or service with your brand so that when they need or want something you offer, they go to you instead of a competitor, even if they have a better price or some other bonus, because they are familiar with your brand and are more comfortable sticking with what they know than potentially discovering a better product through trying a different brand. for example, there are people who will automatically buy from apple when they need a new phone or computer because it’s familiar, even if their wants/needs could be met by a different phone or computer. 

how to market your brand overall is really important so that you get customers like that who will automatically come back to you over and over. you can do this through having the best quality products, great customer service, really attractive ads and/or promotions, emphasizing company values that matter to a group of consumers, etc.

also relevant, product breadth and width, and different ways to reach a new market. there are a few ways to expand your range of products - add to a product line, or add to the product mix. adding to a product line would mean creating a new product in a pre-existing category. ex. if you’re a yoghurt company, you could add to your product line by creating a fat-free version of your yoghurt. adding to your product mix means introducing a whole new, potentially unrelated product, like if you make/sell soup and you also start making/selling spices and spice blends. adding to a product line could appeal to current customers (customers who buy your soup and like it may buy your spice blends because they already like your brand) or new customers (a customer doesn’t necessarily eat soup, but they do need spices for cooking, so they try your spice blends). reaching a new market with a new product is the riskiest form of expansion because you aren’t familiar with the market or the product. if you want to expand safely, it’s much less risky to try a different spin on your marketing of the same product to appeal to the existing market.

so. where am i going with this.

under capitalism (just hear me out) everything is commodified or treated as a commodity. everything has its own market. things that are not products are treated like them because that is how we’ve learned to assess things. even if you’re a content creator providing people with content completely for free, you’re still engaging in marketing your content. if you draw Z stuff for fandom A, you’re involved in that market. continuing to draw Z stuff for fandom A but improving your art and coming up with good ideas is current market, current product. if you start drawing Y stuff for fandom A, you’ve got new product, current market. if you start drawing Z stuff for fandom B, you’ve got new market, current product. BUT, if you start drawing completely new stuff for a completely new fandom, you’re engaging in the riskiest form of expansion, because we are all our own brands. fandom B may not be receptive to Y stuff. you may not get any engagement. and the reasons for that are super super complicated and unable to really dig into bc it’s different for literally every group.

i guess i’m rambling about this stuff because i wonder if i should have tried to create a personal brand back when i was popular. i had a good product in a receptive market. ideally, i could have expanded into current product, new market - writing the same kinda stuff for a new fandom. but that didn’t happen. and it didn’t happen mostly because after my fic ended, nothing really grabbed me the way gf/bd had. and when i’m not fixating on something, i really don’t have a lot of motivation to create content for it. essentially, my brand failed because i failed to innovate - i couldn’t/wouldn’t create more products, and my current one’s category was on the decline, and i had entered it in its maturity phase anyway, where competition was way harder as opposed to entering it during the intro or growth phase. but that’s what happens when you get into things late.

do i regret not expanding while i still had an audience? a bit. but there was nothing that interested me or engaged me to the point that i genuinely wanted to create a lot of stuff for it. and that’s the problem with having a personal brand - it’s personal. it isn’t a company. it’s you, and work that you’re making because you wanted to make it. your hobby shouldn’t be something you do out of obligation. it should be fun. and making content that appealed to a new, growing market at that time just wasn’t part of my plan.

and now, like a fool, i’ve diversified into another declining market that probably peaked four years ago because it’s just.......good. it’s what interests me. i don’t plan on ever making any real money off of my art or writing, so i don’t really need to worry about personal branding. but i do want attention, and by creating metrics like likes, follows, subscriptions, etc., we’ve essentially commodified attention. we can measure it and compare it. and that’s really useful for companies, i used those things a lot when i was working at my old job to see how our emails, website, and individual products were doing. but i really really think it’s unhealthy for people. i know for me it’s only ever made me feel insecure, not good enough, angry, anxious, even paranoid, even to the point of self-harm in the past. and obviously not everybody has such extreme reactions to it, i’m very very mentally ill, but i think the commodification of attention just in general warps how we view personal relationships. you can buy instagram likes and followers. attention has a market that you can buy and sell in, and it’s just as competitive as any other market.

this isn’t a big “we live in a society” post, it’s mostly just me applying my marketing analysis to my own life to make sure it’s actually useful information and i didn’t waste my time on that class, and i’m genuinely surprised how applicable it is to entities that aren’t companies. it really does apply to my own life and creation and online presence. this blog, my online identity, this was a brand - and it failed. and that’s okay. most brands do.

[kyouminaine]

Frankly, this doesn’t even really belong on this blog, but it coincides with my decision to exclude any new plot from that reality into my portrayal. Yes, I’m talking about the Remake. Yes, I’m calling it a “reality.” Now before anyone starts hissing about me being a purist, I’m going to break down why I cannot and will not use material from the Remake (abbr. 7R) in my writing.

(Spoilers under the cut. Beware long post.)

And let me make this clear: 7R was a good game. It was not a good story.

What 7R did well was create a new system that combined SE’s past experiences from the KH series and previous FF games (I see a lot of influence from XIII). It provided a challenge --- whether good or bad is partly dependent on RNGesus favoring you or not --- and created an environment and interrelationship between characters that gave the gamer a chance to connect with the world and understand the repercussions of certain actions. It gave gamers a chance to develop feelings for certain characters that previously had no strong standing in the original. This was good. (I first played on Normal and got a decent challenge out of it during certain boss fights, particularly during endgame. Currently I’m running through Hard mode and utterly regretting my life choices, so the challenge is certainly there.)

As someone who played the original and delved into the rest of the Compilation over the years, it was enjoyable to see nods and easter eggs to those plotlines. A story I didn’t think would have any part in 7R somehow made its way in. People I thought would be skipped over were brought up. It was nice.

But here’s where it fell apart: all these nods and the expansion of the world (yes, we’re only experiencing Midgar, but I’ll still label it as a “world” since that is the extent that the gamers are exposed to) were haphazardly applied to the main plot, and not only that, when it came down to the endgame all those little nuggets ultimately didn’t mean anything.

Why? Because of the new plotline that was introduced. It’s been speculated and the general consensus is that 7R is a different reality. You can call it a sequel, AU, whatever. It’s a different plot altogether, particularly with how the ending unfolded. The Whispers / Watchers of Fate / Arbiters of Fate are what everyone has summed as being a physical manifestation of what fans expected to happen, or what the creators tried to preserve over the years through the many works that elaborated on the original VII storyline. Because the characters in 7R have destroyed the Whispers, this essentially has ripped apart the expectations that old (and new) fans had for the Remake series. We don’t know how many installments there are for 7R, but it’s pretty clear from the ending line that there’s going to be another part. (Hell, you still have to fight Sephiroth again... or something. Or maybe he becomes your ally. Who knows...)

Which makes a lot of mental gears grind, heads tilt, and plenty of frustrated fans raise their voices. The Deus Ex Machina concept is nothing new. A “do-over” plotline is not unique either. (Doubt me? Go look at all the fanfics that have been circling the internet since the day the original game came out.) Taking the original VII plotline and conjoining it with a “do-over” plotline is... well, it’s bad.

There are ways to make something like that work. Ways to rewrite history and attempt to make it right. There are people who speculate that 7R considers the original VII as the “bad ending” --- as if this is a dating sim and you picked the option where Lover C decides to murder you instead of marry you, so now you wipe your save file and change all of your choices so you get the happy ending with Lover C. The major plot events are the same, but now you’re alive and Lover C never goes apeshit on you.

I can understand the desire to get a “good ending.” This just isn’t the smartest way to go about it.

So with that in mind, we are now on that separate save file trying to make all the “right” choices. No one knows what will come of it, no one knows if it even is a “good” ending that awaits us. So what does that mean?

Quite plainly, it means everything we knew, every relationship that was built upon in the original, even all the work that was put into the other games and that particular reality, are all dumped in the trash. 7R is an AU scum save game file that tosses out the original values and lore that were taught to us and the characters too. In an ugly way of explaining it, 7R is spitting in the face of all the other pieces of the Compilation and what lessons came out of them.

These are lessons of the value of life, the value of relationships, the gravity of truth and the price of lies, struggling with flaws and shortcomings, change, love, and personal growth. These aren’t new or unfamiliar tropes, but their weight of worth still remains. (I won’t call VII to be the greatest game in existence, but it did create a strong connection with its audience through the story it told.)

What 7R does in face of these lessons is push them all aside for what is basically fanservice. Wish fulfillment. People who are dead in the original may/may not be alive in 7R. People who are alive in 7R are supposed to be dead in the original. 7R’s reality robs the audience of a chance to experience those values and struggles in a new yet familiar way. Fans who have no idea what happened in the original or only have a vague grasp of the plot will not have the same connection that old fans do. Yes, new fans can still understand that Aerith’s death was supposed to be a sad event. Yes, Sephiroth is a meteor summoning cockroach. (He has a bad habit of resurrecting.) However, they don’t have the firsthand experience. They did not personally go through the journey.

There are heavy hints of it in 7R, but the experience isn’t the same. And now considering that the Whispers are defeated, there probably isn’t even a reason to go through the original content anymore. Just open up a wikia and get the most basic summary, because what lays before us in the 7R series is uncharted territory.

The story of Cloud’s past and who Zack is will most likely still be introduced and explained, but how? Will it still hold the same meaning? Will fans be able to experience the same joy and pain, not knowing how big of an impact Zack had on the story particularly on Cloud’s, Aerith’s, and even Tifa’s lives? They made a whole game with him as the main protagonist; that was how big of an impact he made on those around him, and how much fans thought he deserved more screen time than what was given in the original VII.

Though the ending cutscenes of 7R implied that Zack may still be dead and his survival is probably in a completely different reality outside of both VII and 7R, the idea that it is possible for him to live takes away the meaning behind his death. It takes away how he made such an impact on those he met. Is it sad to always have him die? Certainly. But that’s the point. You, the gamer, and those in the game itself feel the weight of his presence and his loss. Him living diminishes it. Perhaps not completely, but it does stick a knife in the tapestry that wove together this important and surprisingly strong bond between even the most minor of characters.

The same can be said about Aerith’s death. I do enjoy that in 7R Cloud and Aerith got to interact and you could see more of how their personalities played off each other; I enjoyed Aerith’s portrayal in 7R. Yet, with the speculation of her possibly surviving and maybe being omnipotent (or dimension hopping, take your pick), we don’t see how strong of an impact she made on those around her. We don’t see how her death changed the cast, became a driving point of their mission. Particularly for Cloud, she became a pivotal part of his growth. Regardless if you consider their relationship to be friendship or love, it’s undeniable that she made a strong impression and her death hit Cloud like a sack of bricks to the face. The value of her life was so great in his heart, she became one of the major reasons he was so hell bent on fighting Sephiroth. She wasn’t the only reason, but she certainly was fighting to be at the top of the list. Even in the sequels that followed, she was always on their minds. She taught a priceless lesson that still sticks with gamers today. People still weep over her death.

So let me bring it up again: 7R spits at VII. Not just in the lessons it brought, but the lore as well. The introduction of Whispers, Aerith’s unexplained new powers, Sephiroth’s early appearance and his ability to cut through the veil of reality... It all brings about the question of Gaia and how she works as both a habitable place and sentient entity. Gaia had WEAPON --- colossal creatures that were meant to safeguard the planet. When Gaia perceives herself to be in danger, she brings out the giant no-no stick. (This is mainly in response to the threat of Jenova, but it is plausible that WEAPON will tear apart every major threat and hit the big reset button on everything. Otherwise, why did Ultimate attack Mideel? There’s no Jenova there, unless you count Cloud. But that’s a different topic for a different day.)

There is speculation that the Whispers that meld into the Harbinger of Fate / Whisper Harbinger is another WEAPON. This is a theory to take with a fat grain of salt, but the point is this: what did the Whispers uphold, and how does that alter the rest of the lore of the game? Do we consider the Whispers to be beings completely exempt from the rest of the lore? Are they some kind of god? Are they related or unrelated to WEAPON, and do they have their own agenda or do they also work to safeguard Gaia? No one knows, and there are a bunch of videos that try to tackle these questions.

I don’t have the answer. What I do have is a major side-eye at the whole concept of the Whispers existing and how they interact across the different realities, and how in turn they alter the overall lore of VII. Vague telling of the main plot points from the original are present, yet there is a giant question mark as to how much of said plot points will remain present in future game(s). Is there even a need for WEAPON anymore? Is Aerith not the last living Ancient/Cetra? Is Sephiroth blood kin to her? (Anyone remember that old concept?)

What about Holy? The lifestream? Hell, you can create summon materia now, not find godly creatures slumbering inside giant marbles scattered throughout the planet. Can Meteor be created too, or is it still hidden in the Temple of the Ancients and deemed too dangerous and the magic too great for anyone to handle? Do I even want to touch the subjects of Project G and Deepground??

That’s too many questions that don’t need to exist in the first place. What 7R created was a large stew of wtfery. I don’t just say this out of saltiness, it really is a giant “wtf” where almost every fan doesn’t even know where to start when they try to deeply analyze what happened in the game.

Personally, I believe the “do-over” plot that was introduced in 7R was a mistake. Not only did it mess with the lore of the world and open up a rotten can of worms that no one knows how to decipher, it took away from the value of certain actions from different characters, whether main cast or secondary. (I feel cheated. Tifa’s tears were practically wasted because Biggs is apparently alive, Jessie is probably just comatose somewhere, and Wedge probably survived too despite being tossed out a skyscraper.)

What I expected, and I believe what many frustrated fans expected, was not a “do-over” plotline/reality but a retelling of the same familiar story we have come to love over the last few decades. Whether some fans picked it up as soon as it was first published on 3 discs, or played it later down the line on PC, or even waited until it got ported to PS4, we came to enjoy that original plot. The original reality that has been told and retold, and adored even across different games with cameo appearances from the main cast. Flesh out the world, make it bigger, make it grander, show me Cloud in a fugly purple dress and Tifa in a miniskirt, show me Sephiroth’s Vidal Sassoon flowing silver locks, show me Jenova’s eye nipple... but keep the rest the same. By all means incorporate plotline from the other installments of the Compilation --- tell me more about the Turks, the original/main faction of AVALANCHE, Rufus and his relationship with his dad, other perverted projects Shinra had hiding under its mako skirt, the full story behind the failed rocket launch, the Wutai war, Nanaki’s youth, Zack’s early years in Shinra/SOLDIER, all that --- but don’t suddenly throw all that work, all those relationships and stories, all those valuable lessons out the window.

7R had plenty of potential and even if I take away the “purist” expectations I wanted from it, the game still managed to be disappointing.

Coming back to the topic of why I won’t use 7R in my portrayal, it is because of all this. Because it takes away too much from VII and warps it into something it shouldn’t be. My idea of Cloud sits strongly with the Compilation (namely the original game with some minor inspiration from the other materials). His hardships, his pain, his personal growth... I will hold onto those because they make Cloud who he is at the end of the game. They are why Cloud leaves such an impression on people. Yes, recent adjustments to his features have really ramped up how handsome he is (especially in 7R, though I’m salty about his hair being wrong) and that sticks with people. Everyone swoons over how he looks in that crisp HD. It’s his journey that is more worthy of noting though.

I expect that there will be people who are not/less bothered by these details. There are plenty of people who embrace 7R and what it introduces --- I’ve heard people say they’re tired of the same old formula and a “do-over” plot is fresh and exciting for them --- but I’ll stick to what I’ve come to learn to love throughout my life. Because there are plenty of people who favor 7R, the door is open for people to head that way. This isn’t me kicking anyone out. This is me firmly establishing where I stand and why.

TL;DR --- 7R is a high dollar AU fanfic and I don’t appreciate that. (But I’ll still snag icons and reblog gifsets of the cutscenes because I’m opportunistic that way.)

[1bea2ma4-blog]

Thumbnail Blaster Review and Bonus

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[ultimatestellar]

a pattern ive noticed on tiktok is creators being exposed for doing terrible fucked up things and then the general public making fun of them for completely unrelated reasons. like, reasons they would never make fun of the people they like for. this can range from an autistic person stimming to someone’s older content to the way someone looks physically. i genuinely dont understand why people think someone being exposed as a bad person automatically makes every part of them ever free reign. like the rules dont apply as long as theyve done something shitty!! i just dont understand. :(