#but that should not mean that fans of the ''less popular'' members don't deserve to get content of them?????

[94erz]

Every single music show TXT have been on all week only Music Bank uploaded 1 full set of fancams. Everyone else excluded Taehyun and Kai, and one time they also excluded Beomgyu.

So when I used to complain about there being a Tyunning black hole I did not just mean within the fandom.

I only think it's because of their Endless Rain performance that they've gotten an influx of opportunities to do more stuff but as you can see it's always as a duo now, whereas the Choi line continue to get almost exclusively solo highlight and opportunities.

It thoroughly pisses me off how k-pop functions as having groups of members and then treating some of them like glorified back-ups. Taehyun is quite literally the group's main fucking vocalist, I know that's not an official title he's been given but line distribution, adlibs, backing vocals all tell the same story, and hell he's also now the most credited writer of the 5, and he's treated like none of that even matters. Kai too is way too fucking talented to treat him like an afterthought.

I just hope that these extra opportunities are eventually going to lead to something more for them, I have faith that all the talk of Taehyun's solo project will finally give him some much needed focus. And Kai should follow not too long after honestly. I also can't wait until they hopefully open their individual social accounts on IG, which will also help highlight them individually.

[saneijeijei]

Fanbases and artists

Not so long ago, I found out (many years later, I went to Twitter account and decided to look at the posts from other users that interested me, and to put it mildly, I was shocked) about a very unpleasant situation with the artist Yonyon (if anyone does not know, this is a popular artist on PureLily ship and you probably saw her work on internet), who was subjected to haight by the Cacaolily and Elderlily fanbase. To say that I am shocked by what some fans are doing is to say nothing.

What are you guys doing? Hacking into someone else's account? Offend? What were you thinking doing that?

It's disgusting that in our fan community, which has a huge variety of ships, ideas and alternative events of the canon, there are people who consider it normal to offend other ship fans just because it upsets them / because a couple has more time in the game / and so on. No one has the right to insult, offend or humiliate another person.

Someone else's fanbase should not concern you at all. There is no need to insult, offend or discredit them. The fan community was not created to offend another community.

If you like this ship, find a fan like you and create content and space for fans like you.

I am truly sorry that this happened to Yonyon. She didn't deserve to be treated like this. I categorically do not support what these people have done. Please, let's respect each other.

Let's love and respect each other fanbases and take care of them without harming. I'm asking you.

I'm sorry, but I couldn't ignore this situation due to the fact that I am a member of CacaoLily fanbase myself. I love this couple, but that doesn't mean I'm going to hate PureLily or ElderLily fans or write insults to the artists who paint them. Damn it, this is so wrong, we all deserve a normal attitude and respect for our interests in the fandom.

Don't like the ship? Add the tag to the blacklist and that's it. Stop mocking yourself.

"What if one of these couples becomes canon instead of CacaoLily"? - So what? Will I love this couple less? Will I stop drawing fanart on this pair? No. From the fact that will not be a canon, I will not love this they couple less.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Sorry pls ignore my last ask BPP. Your point about Seven being the 'Dynamite' equivalent in solo era is a good one and explains the treatment it got. After the BB article I also now understand why BH dropped LC. If BB believed the LC record was 'tainted' with Chinese cash and BH never had that 'Dynamite' promotion plan for it, everything that's happened makes sense. But it still leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. I can't wash it out. Are we now at the mercy of BB's whims? Also don't you find the support for Seven excessive? Is the elimination of direct to consumer sales enough to explain that kind of support to keep it number 1? I'm just trying to understand how the company is thinking about things without victimizing the members. They all seem to be still working with purpose so I feel they don't feel shortchanged, but from the outside looking inside it doesn't feel fair.

*

Ask 2:

Hi BPP,

Re: bb article

1. Do you think there will be additional changes coming, making sales even less relevant for bb charts?

2. I absolutely hate that it is again Jimin that takes the brunt of all this bulshit, I really do. He doesnt deserve this at all. But he is strong, he will be OK. That being said, its making me really upset IRL, so I will have to do some me time.

3. I would be interested to know your outlook on BB as a whole when it comes to BTS and their future in US market (if you have talked about this pls refer me to the post)

My opinion is, that while BB is paramount when it comes to big awards season, eventually BB and the awards themselves serve as a kind of promotion, to validate the artist to their (potential) fanbase, keep them invested etc. BTS guys do all of that on their own, with their music, personalities and lyrics. So going forward, if they dont chart as much, dont win as much... It will not matter in the long run. Their fan base is so solid that I trully believe they will have no problem selling multiple stadium stops 25 years from now. Easily.

There will be a significant fandom fall off, when all the people who are here for bragging rights lose their interest. And that is a good thing... But the people who will stay, who love the guys for who they are and for their art, those whose love does not depend on how many grammy noms or BB H100 they recieve... These people will stay and buy the tickets. And their numbers will still be enourmous. Enviable. More than the majority of the western industry plants can only dream of.

Rant over. Have a good weekend

*

Ask 3:

The latest Billboard discussion is disheartening, but the NYT article description of U.S. conservatives aping the tactics of Swifties and BTS fans to get their nefarious messaging across is even more so. Have we opened the gate for the Trumpsters of the world?

I was struck by this partvof the original question to you"

'... figure out a way to truly determine which songs are most popular (whatever that even means anymore)....'

So, how can we ever know what is truly popular? Are fervent fans willing to devote time and resources to get their fave to the top really the best arbiters? Even if they number in the millions, we are still looking at support that is far deeper than it is wide.

I mean, better than the suits deciding, I guess? Or is it just another group--this one outside of the target country--imposing their agenda on the population? One has the goal of making money; the other of winning a fan war.

So, how do we ascertain what is truly popular with the much-vaunted GP? Or doesn't it matter?

***

I've said many times on this blog that I'm not a writer, and that English isn't my first language, so I suppose it's unsurprising that despite my efforts putting my thoughts to paper/Tumblr, I'm still unable to fully communicate it in a way people understand right away, to eliminate/answer a lot of questions that I believe should be clear to infer from what I've written before. So rather than write a massive post like before where my key points could get lost, I'll pick out key questions from your asks and give fairly brief answers to each one. I'll work my way from the top, down.

Hi Anon(s),

Select answers below:

"Also don't you find the support for Seven excessive? Is the elimination of direct to consumer sales enough to explain that kind of support to keep it number 1?"

I think the results speak for itself. Dynamite and the PET got what is easily the biggest support any BTS release had gotten to date at the time - all of it tailored to mirror how American labels promoted their tracks, *and* the fandom had D2C sales buttressing it as the primary support mechanism. Like, please read that sentence again and think about what it means. Sales are the easiest and most transparent way for the fandom to influence charts, and so was always preferred for ARMY. Even if you weren't in the fandom then, understand it's impossible to overstate how much D2C sales mattered. With that now out of the question, everything we're seeing for Seven for me feels like a given, especially after the Billboard article.

"Do you think there will be additional changes coming, making sales even less relevant for bb charts?"

Yes. But not 'less relevant' in a sense, more like differentiated and treated as its own thing, perhaps in a separate chart.

"I would be interested to know your outlook on BB as a whole when it comes to BTS and their future in US market (if you have talked about this pls refer me to the post)"

This probably requires its own post but the long-short of it is: just like Ticketmaster, Billboard is only one arm of one of the largest private monopolies in the US entertainment market - PMC, and as such they serve as gatekeepers of sorts. Their interest in BTS (and k-pop by extension) lies primarily in how they can profit off the group/fandom, which so far BigHit and ARMY have created very limited avenues for. BigHit's strategy until now has been to expand BTS's reach without relying on the PMC apparatus, using it only for select releases that are explicitly tailored for it e.g. Seven and PET. While I don't think this strategy will change dramatically, every change from BB is to force more compliance with their apparatus. BTS will continue facing handicaps from PMC so long as BigHit continues limiting how PMC can profit from BTS for each release. (This sentence makes sense in my head but if it's not clear, please let me know.)

*

"Have we opened the gate for the Trumpsters of the world?"

Well, yeah. But ARMYs can't take all the credit. After all, ARMYs are only doing what the Bey Hive and Swifties have been doing for almost a decade with none of the scrutiny. BTS, more than any other group, actually has the absolute numbers in demand and grassroots support to justify it as they're comparable to the afore-mentioned artists, proven by their concert showings not just in the US but worldwide, as far back as 2018. People only started paying attention to ARMYs' movements because BTS didn't look like the sorts of people they expected to see at the top of the charts. Everybody took notice, including a political faction in the US that in recent years has moved more aggressively into the entertainment sphere to influence culture, such as Ben Shapiro's entertainment empire, movies like Sound of Freedom topping box office charts, and conservative country singers pushing Reagan-esque talking points to the top of music charts. So it's basically the result of timing and opportunity.

"So, how can we ever know what is truly popular? Are fervent fans willing to devote time and resources to get their fave to the top really the best arbiters? ... how do we ascertain what is truly popular with the much-vaunted GP?"

I've talked about this before I think. You can find my views on it in my Masterlist, and I've linked the post here.

*

People sent in more asks on BB but I've since lost interest in this topic and will post my responses when I feel like it, much later, using the same format I've used to answer the asks above. The truth is that while I understand why many people feel like everything that's happened so far with Seven and Jimin is unfair, I think a lot of the discourse is awfully reductive, actually does a disservice to Jimin and BTS, and that there's a much bigger picture here that's more consistent with how BTS has operated for the last 10 years.

This is probably not the best analogy, but one way I think of BTS is like a Swiss army knife, with each member being a separate tool. And that at different points, in various markets, BigHit and BTS are testing various approaches to expand their reach while aiming to maintain the market share they've gotten so far. The group has always had projects they release that have more artistic merit and cache, versus projects made by all appearances to be purely for commercial purposes to expand the reach of the group. For example, consider how BigHit promoted Butter/Permission to Dance, compared to the BE album, or how Seven was created and promoted relative to Indigo. To go back in even further in previous years, I remember how BTS appeared to center Jimin in Blood, Sweat & Tears era to build out his and their presence in Korea, and Taehyung in DNA era where his and BTS's presence in China ballooned in 2017.

While in the solo era some people feel like every accomplishment remains solely with individual members, I feel everything serves only one purpose: to further establish the group. Because by BTS's own words, they all have their individual ambitions, they've always had that and each member is aggressively competitive on that note, but they've each all said that their priority remains the group. Not everybody likes that, not everybody believes them when they say it, but the good thing with BTS is that they plan in multi-year stints and time always reveals what the facts of the matter are. We're only one year into Chapter 2, and while certain parts of the fandom are treating their solo debut albums as the be all and end all, I don't think there's anything to suggest this perspective lines up with the reality of how BTS has behaved for the last 10 years. I could be wrong, but either way we're just going to have to wait and see. In the meantime, I believe there's significant artistic merit in what the guys are putting out in Chapter 2, that I hope isn't lost in the noise. The fandom should do a better job of bringing the attention back to this, rather than a tunnel-vision on performance metrics that only tell half of the story.

[oraclekleo]

[Idols After Dark] The Darks Side of Byun Baek Hyun (EXO)

You can see this as a reversed version of usual appreciation posts where fans describe all the good and positive sites of their favourite idols. However, nobody in the world is perfect, am I right? And according to famous psychologist Carl Gustav Jung we should accept, embrace and bring to light all our negative and dark sites as well because they only become dangerous for us if they stay hidden within our souls. And to honour this great man I decided to bring to the light some of the more negative aspects of an idol's personality to appreciate them in a way.  

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Are you excited? Are you curious? Are you outraged because idols have no flaws at all? Let's see!

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Disclaimer: I have never met any of the idols or celebrities in person, I don't know them in any other way than what is publicly known about them and probably even less because I'm constantly busy and I didn't read everything about them. This whole post is based on my pure speculation, it was made for entertainment purposes and I have to put it clear it has nothing to do with real people. It's all just a mere fiction, please don't take any of it seriously. You have every right to disagree with anything written in this text and I welcome all kinds of constructive and respectful criticism, please feel free to express your opinions in the comments or request inbox. All I ask is to keep it civil and decent. I thank  all of you in advance! 

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Byun Baekhyun is a very talented and popular artist. He’s celebrated success as a member and vocal of EXO, same as in his solo career. He’s well respected and deserves to be admired by all means. However, nobody is perfect and the same applies to Baekhyun.

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Many fans know about Baekhyun’s playfulness and high energy with which he approaches his life. Taken to extreme, he might become inconsistent and unpredictable which can be problematic when dealing with serious issues. Sometimes he can become irresponsible when the matter at hand doesn’t seem exciting enough for him. He can easily grow impatient and drop projects simply because he loses interest. Baekhyun is a positive person but he might have tendencies to carelessness and treating things lightly.

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Baekhyun is known for being a ray of sunshine but sometimes he might slip into laziness when his tasks seem dull. He will avoid them and ignore them because he’s not interested and he will hope somebody else will take care of them. Even when initially enthusiastic and eager about something, he can lose the drive quickly sometimes when the project loses its charm to him. Anything that’s predictable and dull makes Baekhyun bored and uninterested. He doesn’t like to be part of the crowd when it comes to his style but at the same time he wants to be popular and loved by others which pushes him towards following the common taste. This disbalance and friction might make him feel guilty or ashamed whenever he gives in to the common taste. The fact he has tendencies towards materialism, wanting beautiful and trendy things, living a luxurious life, only make it more difficult for him to resist the temptation of following the crowd.

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While Baekhyun can easily pick up on the moods of others and become a mood maker, his own feelings and emotions are way harder for him to read. He might have problems understanding himself which inevitably transfers into his impression that he’s actually misunderstood by others, that nobody can truly get what he thinks and feels. While he might not like to admit it, Baekhyun is very emotional and sometimes he might get blinded by his feelings and make haste decisions in the heat of the moment which he might regret later on. Sometimes he doesn’t think things through properly and get disappointed and frustrated when the outcome is not as he imagined. In general, Baekhyun has tendencies to fire up easily. He’s got quite a temper and can get infuriated when things are not going the way he wanted them to do. The fact he’s slightly confused by his own emotions and feelings can lead to struggling making decisions. If he’s not rushing into something due to his fiery mood, he can get stuck on one pesky issue for ages.

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It’s no surprise that keeping up with Baekhyun can be difficult. He can act erratically and unpredictably, you never know what will catch his interest or upset him. Honestly, he doesn’t really know either most of the time. Baekhyun is living fast and he can get really irritated by people who take a long time to act or beat around the bush in discussion. He’s likely to prefer direct and plainly speaking people around him. It’s also safer that way because Baekhyun can suffer from fear of betrayal and honest people are less likely to lie to him or manipulate him. He might sometimes get an impression he’s got bad luck, slipping into gloominess when he believes nothing goes well in his life but only until the moment when something new excites him. However dealing with his bad mood can be a lot to handle for the people around him.

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Talking about his relationships, Baekhyun can fall in love easily. However, he truly dislikes being pushed in love or towards commitment. It’s not recommended to rush Baekhyun when it comes to romance. He’s a carefree person and will enjoy all the fun and sweetness of dating but can truly struggle to commit to a serious relationship due to his previously mentioned fear of betrayal. While Baekhyun loves a good heated dispute with his lover (or in general, really), sometimes he can slip into domestic strife and arguments which are way less fun. It can create a tense atmosphere, which is hard to get over for many days to come, especially because it feels uncomfortable and Baekhyun will prefer to ignore it rather than work on a solution.

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All in all, Baekhyun is a fantastic man to have around… as long as he’s in a good mood. The best of artists are, however, often sensitive and emotional people, it’s a part of their greatness.

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[thefutureduchessmarie]

there's a part in all or nothing that really stayed with me: when mourinho mentioned that some players have enough talent to rise to the top but sometimes they don't commit enough with their talent and don't go forward in their careers. this is dele summarized. i don't think he's exceptional but he's better than average. sadly he hasn't done anything in the past two seasons to deserve a place in the starting line up or a better european club.

Oh boy, when and how did my blog become the place to be to discuss Dele?  Nothing against you, my dear, I know Im the one who reblogged a post about this yesterday. But I just wanna state that Im really not that invested or feel like I have much to add to the discussion. I didn't even finish watching All or Nothing (I should, tho because that was hilarious and highly entertaining). 

Obviously once upon a time I followed Dele and Spurs really closely, so I still see a lot of him on my dash and have been more os less following his situation through my mutuals. When I saw that post yesterday, it was the first time I actually agreed with something on that matter, hence why I reblogged. Im also one of those bitches who’s incapable of not having an opinion on everything AND I do still have some leftover takes from when I did follow the guy, so... 

Im just gonna say everything I think about this and then exclude myself from this narrative, ok? I agree with you, I think Dele is kind of stuck. He started out as this really talented teenager, but as he got older he failed to deliver the consistency and reliability that top clubs look for. If they want a player that has some explosions of talent and creativity and then drops, they’ll 100% go with a teenager and not a 24yo. And that might explain why top clubs aren't lining up to sign him, even tho it’s clear that he’s not a part of Spurs plan. 

I also think that the doubts about his professionalism are not unfounded or a result of racism. On my last days of following Dele last year, I saw him get away with being drunk at a house party around the New Years/Boxing Day fixtures, where he failed to perform well and Spurs dropped a lot of important points (they could have risen to 2nd place, I think, if they had won all those matches). At some point he even brought Troy Parrot along. Now, as a more senior member of the squad, he should act as a good role model for the younger ones, not the other way around. Somehow the media didn’t catch on it, but to me that always felt very unprofessional and disrespectful towards the team. Also, if I saw it, who’s to say that someone at Spurs didnt see it too? Maybe that’s the beginning of his downfall with José. And Poch (who’s now seen by the fandom as the Dele Savior) questioned his lifestyle too, implying that maybe his constant injuries were a result of his choices...

Also, generally speaking, no player is universal. With the exception of maybe Messi and R*naldo, there’s no player that every single manager would want in their teams. So maybe Mourinho just doesn’t want Dele and that’s that. Like him or not, that’s his right as manager. Eric was all but finished with Poch and now he’s José’s darling, for example. It’s the most normal thing in football, and happens to hundreds of players every day. Maybe Dele will turn things around and live up to his potential if/when he changes clubs, maybe he wont. Ultimately I don’t really care, since Im not invested in his career. And broadly speaking I don’t think people outside of the fandom care that much either. The press tries to push a feud narrative from time to time, because Dele is still popular and it sells. But most pundits, commentators and fans I follow outside of tumblr aren’t too concerned tbh. 

However, I understand why his fans would care. Seeing your fave go through something like this can be really frustrating. And obviously none of this means that people can’t like him. Ive loved my fair share of “problematic” players and will probably continue to do so. I just don’t think Dele is this poor victim who never did anything wrong and is now being punished by an evil man, that’s all. 

Sorry this got so long. I just wanted to get it all off my chest so that I can drop this subject for good 

[crystalelemental]

I know it's way too early for this kind of speculation, but what do you think FE17 will be? the Genealogy remake would be interesting, but that'd possibly damn FE18 into a Thracia remake, much like Shadow Dragon/New Mystery. unless they decide to make it into 1 game, which doesn't sound probable to me. maybe they'll make a new story, with less, uh, questionable morals to keep the new 3H fans interested into the franchise? will they keep the calendar, the instruction stuff, or go back to the laid back way of Awakening/Fates/Echoes? you don't have to give a long answer if you don't want, I'm just musing a bit here

“You don’t have to give a long answer,” as if that’s ever stopped me.

What do I think it will be?  I have no idea.  But given its popularity, they could be considering it like a Tellius situation, with a prequel game.  I don't think they can go sequel (more on that in the other response), but prequel with Seiros as the focus, going from the Red Canyon Massacre to the end of the War of Heroes?  Sign me up.  I would love more on that.  And I adore games that focus on side stories (Thracia, Blazing Blade), so I'm super on board for a fleshed-out side story about that period in Fodlan.

I can't say what they'd try to do with gameplay, but I do think they'd keep a sort of "home base" kinda thing at a minimum.�� The instruction aspect of Three Houses was very specific to that game, and truthfully, I don't know if it will maintain.  Not to be how I am constantly, but I hope it doesn't.  I really feel like the monastery exploration and having to fine-tune instruction for students was more tedious than anything, and ultimately didn't add much to the gameplay experience.  I also feel like the calendar was kind of a bad call too.  A lot of events, as they're laid out, feel like they should be happening back to back.  But because of the calendar focus, you have situations where it implies you traveled far off to engage in a big battle, but then just walked back to the monastery for a whole month before marching out the same direction.  I don't think it blends events together all that nicely.  Frankly I think Fates' decision to have a pocket dimension where you can take care of your bullshit was a better way to hand-waive the question of how you're able to backpedal and stock up in the midst of a campaign.

That said, any non-remake game, and possibly even the remake game, will take inspiration from Three Houses in the same way Fates and Echoes did from Awakening.  The massive success of Three Houses is guaranteed to be an anomaly to them.  They still don't know why Awakening worked, I doubt they'll know why this one worked.  So I anticipate a lot of character tropes and storytelling angles will be reused in future games.  They'll try to mess with perspective and the idea of hidden history muddying the morality of things for sure.  I don't think there's any benefit for them to go back to more clear-cut morality.  Even if there's a lot of fan argument about it (Edelgard and Dimitri fans), that's never a bad thing.  That's still attention being drawn to your game.  That's still discussion around it.  No press is bad press, and this game is still more popular than the rest of the series ever had been.  So they'll keep characters like Lysithea, and Bernadetta, and have that attempt at a complex plot, and a bunch of mysteries that never get answered, and oh god every MU is going to be like Byleth now oh god oh fuck.

But personally, I want the next game to be a Genealogy remake.  I have issues with Genealogy as a whole, both gameplay and story-wise, and a remake could salvage at least some of that.  Support conversations definitely could, and a changing of certain story elements would be nice, although Fallen Julia's already in FEH so like...there goes my greatest hope.

That said, I don't really want them to do too much?  Like, Echoes added a few characters, and while those are some of the best in the game, a lot of that I feel like was to add any sort of significance to Alm's journey beyond the end goal.  Alm's route would be boring as all hell without Berkut, so his inclusion was a massive benefit to the game.  But I can't think of a situation where my qualms with Genealogy is "This just isn't engaging enough, we don't have enough people."  Genealogy almost has too many characters.  If anything their bigger problem is that characters and themes they set up are never utilized.  So it's more about reworking the narrative a bit rather than needing to include things to make a blander game stand out, you know?

I definitely don't think they'd combine Genealogy and Thracia.  I mean they could, but I don't think it's a good idea.  Genealogy, again, has too many characters already.  Combining the games leads to the question of where the hell Leif's army is, and that's adding like 50 characters to the roster.  Since you deploy every unit you have in Genealogy, that's...way too much.  They'd have to completely rebalance the game.  Not to mention Thracia doesn't play at all like Genealogy, and is way too long to be a brief side-story or DLC exclusive.  There's just no effective way to integrate the two.  I think it would be better to just make the game after that the Thracia remake, which...honestly is the best possible outcome as far as I'm concerned.

Binding Blade may not have come to the west, but people know Roy, and this series started over here with Blazing Blade.  We know a lot of Binding Blade information, by virtue of dedicated fans being upset the logical continuation of their starting point never got translated.  Comparatively, Genealogy and Thracia are pretty damn isolated, and it shows in their CYL placements.   They're not well known games at all, and gameplay-wise, they're really awkward and (in my humble opinion), not actually fun to play at all.  A remake is ideal for those games, because it gives them a chance to gain more attention and popularity in the general public's eyes.  Which is good!  Genealogy does have a worthwhile story to tell despite my gripes about its problems, and I honest to god thing Thracia's one of the best stories in the series, with one of the best protagonists in the series.  These games deserve more recognition than they get, and they're not gonna get it until they get remade to be more accessible.

It also dawns on me that the "less questionable morals" may have been about Genealogy's whole incest thing.  Listen, I get it, but they can't take it out.  I don't say this lightly, but that is like...the central point of Genealogy.  The awakening of Loptous is a matter of converging its bloodline, which had only one surviving member.  You really cannot work around this one, without making things either too confusing or too stupid.  If they really felt the need for that, they might back off of the remake entirely, which would be to their detriment.  But considering the Byleth/Rhea situation, I don't think they'll have much trouble.  And besides, it's pretty clear that an act of incest was the catalyst for almost destroying the continent, so I think it's safe to say the game doesn't agree with the practice.

[ithinkilikeit-reactions]

I honestly don't think blackpink should be AS popular as they are. They are talented,don't get me wrong,but I just don't understand how so many people like them when they have like 1 comeback a year. How do you keep being interested? I'm not blaming the girls by any means,but when I look at them and then groups like Red Velvet,Dreamcatcher, Mamamoo,Momoland,and Twice,the latter groups will always hold my interest more. And most of their songs are so underwhelming to listen to. 1/2(screw tumblr)

If a group I follow (not just ggs) takes more than 6 months to have a comeback I expect it to be amazing.(unless the members went on hiatus for some or another reason). I was a blink when bp debuted,but I just lost interest in them so early on. Some of their songs are genuinly good,but most(at least personally) just miss the mark. Why do so many people stan them so hard? It just doesn't make sense to me 2/2

Okay, I can see your point. 

I guess us kpop fans are just spoiled that groups we enjoy tend to pump out about 4 albums a year on average. But in the western music industry it’s very normal for albums to take longer. I have a slight feeling YG is trying to break into the western market more and that the company is trying this with Blackpink and that, that’s why the comebacks aren’t frequent. I think it’s to build up hype. 

But anyways just because the company fucks things up doesn’t mean the girls deserve less stans/attention just because they don’t come back frequently and in your opinion tend to have less good songs. 

Everyone has different taste, if we didn’t it would be bad thing. I personally don’t think that Blackpink have any bad songs really (aside from As if it’s your last and that’s only because I’ve heard it wayyyy too many times now) but that’s my opinion and I guess the opinion of a lot of Blinks. 

But that’s just my two cents on this. Like I said, people have different tastes and opinions and I respect that. So I hope this doesn’t come across mean or irrational because that’s not what I want. 

[epitome-of-an-openbook]

unpopular opinion, but this anon thinks that people should stop focusing on webcomics in fandoms and focus on ao3 fanfics? anon saw a big webcomic series that lasted for a long time end... but knows that the fans will just expect another high quality web comic for quality content, and not read fanfics on ao3?? smaller level stuff isn't bad...

That sure is an interesting take. I'd like to know what your reason for believing that web-based fancomics will take away from AO3 is?

Fancomics, even high quality ones, have been around longer than the internet has, they were parts of fan zines just as often as written fanfiction back when the only way you could get fanfic/fan content was through mailing lists and underground subscriptions to zines. There were fancomics for Star Trek only a year or two after color TV sets had become the household standard. Even then, webcomics have been around since Witches and Stitches which had started coming out in 1985, 25 years before AO3 was created.

Personally, I think it's extremely limiting to focus on just one type of fancontent - webcomics/fancomics take longer to produce than the purely written works that are most popular on websites like AO3, FF.Net, and Wattpad because the creator has to not only outline and write their story, but they also have to illustrate it. A high quality webcomic is likely to take twice to three times as long as most fanfics to update, so I feel like even if someone is more invested in a webcomic than the fanfics they're reading it takes very minimal time away from them reading fics.

Also, people have media preferences - some people in fan spaces prefer webseries and fan videos over fanfics, some people only look at fan art, some people struggle with reading and only consume fanfic through podfics.

Accessibility in fan spaces is weird as well and should also be considered, especially for young fans and people with disabilities. Say a fan is blind or visually impaired, their preferred fancontent might be podfics, podcasts, or video essays. Say a young member of a fandom, around 12-13 years old, uses a computer or phone that has parental security on it which has most social media and websites like DeviantArt and Ao3 blocked because their parents don't want them exposed to anything too explicit - a lot of younger kids first social media exposure comes through Pinterest - there's not gonna be a lot (if any) written fanworks that they have access to, but web comics and fanart are the staples of Fandom on Pinterest. Say a fan is dyslexic, there have also been studies that show that text in comics is better suited for people with dyslexia - so accessibility in fan spaces for them means that its going to be easier for them to consume fancomics than longform fanfic. Also some people just don't like comics that much, and some people don't like reading that much, so whenever someone has a preference they will look for their fancontent somewhere where their needs and preferences are met.

Personally my preferred form of fan content to consume is written fanfiction, but I will still read a fancomic if it catches my interest, especially if I'm in some kind of reading slump.

I don't know for sure what your reasoning is behind advocating for less fancomics in comparison to fanfics, but just try to remember that fandom and fancontent have been around for a long time in all shapes and forms and we should respect the various mediums that fancontent comes in because all of those creators work hard and that deserves to be recognized.

[stateofirrelevancy]

How do you feel about the posts going around that say the boys (specifically Mikey and Calum) don't look happy to see fans anymore and have "lost the light in their eyes (when with fans)"

OOH MY GOD I have so much to say on this and I’m so thankful you came to me for this question.

I haven’t been very active in the fandom lately just because I moved into my dorm this week and have been busy af every day, so I didn’t know people were saying that stuff about Michael and Calum. That being said though, I’ve seen this exact thing happen before, and I was even part of the problem at one point, so I have a lot to say on this subject.

First of all, I’m gonna be talking about mid sophomore year me and my thoughts on sos “not looking happy” in pics at the time. I’m going to be as brutally honest as I can on my past toxicity because I know those thoughts don’t in any way reflect who I am as a person today. I learned from my mistakes, and hopefully the people spouting this negativity today will learn soon as well.

My past with this problem

In about December 2014, my friend pointed out to me that Calum never smiled in pictures he took with fans. I’d never noticed this before, but when I looked back at all the recent pictures that had been posted with him, I too noticed the pattern there. And upon learning this, I felt a mix of embarrassment and anger. It was as if I felt injusticed on behalf of the fans that met him. And, me being 2014 me, I thought I’d do something about it.

So I made this edit with an accompanying hashtag like #calumsmileproject or something (it’s not that tho lol I forgot what it was). In it, I explained how Calum was being unfair to fans and how everyone reading it needed to repost the picture so it could eventually get to Calum. What goal was I hoping to accomplish? I don’t know. Maybe I wanted him to feel bad. Maybe I thought that for some reason my poorly made edit would inspire some sort of revelation within him that would suddenly transform him into what I considered to be a better man. Or maybe I just wanted the ability to say I started a movement. I just don’t know.

This is honestly so embarrassing to talk about. I want to delete all of this and just say that I disprove of fans like this. Only the friends that followed me on my old insta page know about this because I’ve always been too grossed out with myself to share what I was like not even three years ago. But I want to share this with everyone now because it provides context on why I have such a strong opinion on this topic.

The picture did get a bit of attention. While I didn’t have a huge page or anything, I had a lot of popular mutuals who reposted it, which boosted it a lot. I was also fuming about this “problem” until probably March 2015 when I sort of let it go and forgot about it.

Why I was mad and why I think others are mad today

I personally did this because I relied on 5sos for too much of my happiness. I think everyone practices escapism to some degree, but with sos, they were (and honestly still are) a big part of my identity. So when the slightest of thing went wrong, I channeled all of the anger from my actual life into my fandom life. I took all my frustrations from the real world out on 5sos because I had a lot of pent up anger that I needed to get out and I thought of them as easy targets.

While that’s not the exact same reason others are complaining, nor am I trying to say me attempting to start a movement on Calum not smiling is the same as someone offhandedly saying they’re sad Malum don’t smile in pics with fans, I do think a lot of problems in this fandom arrive from the same roots. I think people subconsciously view 5sos as easy targets to vent about because it’s easy to feel like they’ll never see what you say. Plus, when you engage in rage culture, you’ll likely get responses from people agreeing with you which only serves to make those feelings of frustration validated.

Whether purposely or not, it’s easy to find yourself almost expecting your faves to provide constant happiness for you when you’re in a fandom. And I think that’s what ends up happening when 5sos fans participate in what is ultimately pointless drama.

Why late 2014/early 2015 me was wrong and why others are wrong today

Well let’s get what’s obvious out of the way: no, 5sos don’t secretly hate their fans. That should go without saying.

I think an easy misconception to fall into is that “it’s not that hard to smile in pictures!!” because that’s what I used to think. But we as fans don’t know that the boys have to go through every day. We don’t know what it’s like to be stopped everywhere we go every few minutes with people demanding to take a picture with you. We don’t know what it’s like to come off of a 8+ hour flight only to be mobbed at the airport and to feel obligated to talk to every fan there. We don’t know what it’s like to never feel like you have any true privacy.

Smiling isn’t the only indicative way to sense how someone is feeling. Plus, smiling takes mf effort!! And let’s not forget that often times when they get stopped, it’s with a group of fans, so their minds are likely more focused on getting through everyone than on making each picture perfect. As long as the boys are being kind to the fans they meet, then it shouldn’t matter what kind of arbitrary rules, like them needing to look how we want them to look, they need to be following.

I would be lying if I said I never notice it anymore. If I see back to back fan pics, it’s hard to not think to myself “oh [5sos member] isn’t really smiling in this pic :(” But I have to actively remind myself that just because they’re not smiling doesn’t mean they have some sort of vendetta against fans. 

It’s easy as fans to fall into the trap of wanting to analyze everything 5sos do and think we know what’s going on with them, as if we’re watching a movie and picking out the symbolism purposely written into the script. But the boys aren’t move characters. They’re real, complex humans who don’t deserve to be judged based on inconsequential actions that make up a fraction of their life and even less so reflect their true perception of fans.

Even the people hating on Michael and Calum hopefully know deep down that they love what they do and they love their fans for helping them achieve them. Look at 5sos while they’re on stage. Listen to them talk about us in interviews. Don’t get caught up in searching for secret toxic behavior that isn’t even there.

[suhyunggeun]

Hey this is the same anon who asked the question about Taewoong getting hit at the busking, and yes I wanted to know your opinion on it if you don't mind :3

Of course I don’t mind, I just really wasn’t sure whether you wanted to hear my opinion or a rendition of what exactly happened, sorry. ^^’

There are two main things that I’d like to mention.

1. Let’s start with what I’ve already talked about a little in the previous ask. You probably know that because of the strong Chinese influence (and the belief that basically everything Chinese is the highest form of perfection) up until the 18th century confucianism had HUGE power over all aspects of life in Korea. Since then it’s become less prominent and a lot of other things - science, globalization, various philosophies and religions etc - have found their way into Korean customs but confucianism is just so deeply rooted in Korean society that people still act on it subconsciously. One of the most basic rule of confucianism is: respect your elders. Which sounds nice. Really. Carrying heavy bags or giving up seats for them is common everywhere. But that’s not what Koreans mean by respecting your elders. Sure you have to do those, plus you’re also expected to use a different level of speech, receive things with two hands and bow deeper to them. Ok, fine, sure. Oh, and you also can’t smoke or drink in front of them or make direct eye contact during conversations or basically do anything they disapprove of in their presence. You especially can’t complain or start an argument with them. That’s just unheard of. In the Far East you are taught to be servile, while in the West you are taught to fight for your justice (unfortunately people often take it as you have to fight whether or not you’re right and completely disrespect others while doing so so no, it’s not an ultimately better system if you wanted to take that away from this). In Korea if you have colliding opinions with an elder, they’re automatically right and you’re wrong. End of story. People in higher social status just do not lose to those in lower ones. And the real problem with this system is that elders often abuse their authority. They know that they can practically get away with anything. Some young boys in their twenties are doing something unusual near my shop? There is a group of girls standing around them and they look like they’re about to be really loud! What do I, the old shop owner lady do? I don’t exactly know what they are doing but it’s just not appealing to me so because I’m older, I’m perfectly entitled to stop them - however I want. Pushing one of them would definitely deliver the message! So she does. And everyone just stands there, not sure what to do, how to react. Someone eventually asks her to leave and they continue the event but the old lady gets away with it like nothing happened.

2. And that ties into the second thing I want to mention. This honestly didn’t occur to me till I read that ‘unpopular kpop opinions’ post. What if this happened to another, more popular group? The international fans would be indignant for sure but if I don’t count the online rage, they could actually do next to nothing for the member of said group. How about the Koreans present, you ask? Well, honestly? I don’t think things would be that different. Seriously, what would the fans/staff/members do? Gang up on the lady and idk push her back or what? Because I’m absolutely certain that they would never take legal actions against an old lady pushing some youngster on the street. Talk to her themselves and explain what and why they are doing and why she shouldn’t push them over? Sounds like the best solution but this kind of lecturing is just as unlikely in Korea as calling the police. So no, I don’t think it would’ve played out that differently even with a more popular group  - not to mention that big groups don’t really go busking on the streets to promote themselves.

Finally, let me just say: we don’t exactly know what happened and even though I’d like to believe that after the whole thing the old lady realised that she shouldn’t have done that and apologised, let’s be real, that never happened and I’m sure Taewoong has thought more about what he might have done wrong to deserve that than the lady has thought about apologizing.

So let me summarize this wall of text. My opinion? Elders should learn some manners to deserve the amount of respect they receive in Korea.

I haven’t talked about it with anyone yet so I’m very curious what you guys think. Anyone reading this (props to you, it’s more than 800 words oops), I’d love to read your opinion so tag me/send an ask/message me or idk what else please~

[egregiousmeme]

The reason we don't want a green or white taako is because we want representation, and we don't want anti-semitic characters. They Mcelroys want poc to speak up if they think they are doing something wrong. So they did and we are working for a better result. White and green taakos arent good because the character is coded otherwise and green is awfully horrible against what taako is coded as: jewish. And mexican.

(Sorry for the super late reply, I just needed to make sure I did my homework on this one, and I a few other things to attend to. But if you don’t believe me I implore you to do your research and tell me your findings. I would love to have an intellectual discussion on this matter! Thanks for the wait!)

Okay so I will say this: representation is important. It is very important.Undoubtedly so.

But there already is such great representation of poc with Lucretia,Kravitz, and Angus (as well as many others!) all being smart and intellectualpeople who are adored by nearly everyone in terms of popularity. It warms myheart to see this. So representation is there (at the very least more so thanother not so great places I’ve seen in other fandoms) and poc are not invisible.

People of color are people through and through and deserve their time toshine. Period.

I am all for supporting poc and I honestly like the sun taako design. I’vesaid it and you read it (I’m pretty sure). One reason I am held back by thewhole proposal is this quote in the mcelroy’s post talking about the problem:

“ Yesterday, we heard from folks who said it was problematic that we madeMerle brown, considering that he has a backstory where he was, more or less, adeadbeat dad. That’s a harsh boiling down of the character, but the criticismabsolutely has merit. We didn’t think of that when we decided on Merle’s newdesign. But it’s kind of exactly what I’m talking about here: If the Taako inthis graphic novel had dark skin, how many similar criticisms could be laid athis feet? If we gave Magnus dark skin, and then he spent the campaign being themore physical, more aggressive, less intellectual member of his team, there areissues there, too. Is any of that good representation? ”

I’m not sure if Taako is good representation. Because, despite hischarming attitude and character quirks, he’s not a great person moral-wise. Theway to fix this? Just promote the idea that Taako specifically will not bebutchered and shaped into a stereotypical thieving dark skinned dude. Get people to accept that those character traits are not because of his dark skin tone, but because of the character by itself. Because stuff like that happened to Merle (which I just flat-out don’t agree with at all, he’sthe very definition of a peacemaker and should not be boiled own to “blackdeadbeat dad” but, okay.) will also happen to Taako. I don’t want that to happen. I don’twant people to twist it even more to harm those that are trying to findrepresentation in characters they relate to. That’s just fucked, I think we can agree on that much.

While I do not prefer to have a white Taako for the non-canonical comic (more aesthetically than anything),I don’t hunt down people that draw him as such or put hastily slapped on labels for people who are just drawing something that they love. Just as I don’t hunt down people for any other design they desire to draw. That’s just pathetic to harass people like that. Let people draw him how they want to draw him, and if you don’t like it then you don’t have to reblog or spread it to others, it’s just that simple.

But let’s hop onto the far hotter topic of the green and blue skin colors, shall we?

Green skin is anti-semitic, right? Well not by itself, no.

Unlike some of the more prominent racial propaganda depicting races throughout history (such as yellow peril, blackface, and red skin, ect.), green skin was not a widely-known by many, and is not nearly as present in other anti-semitic racial caricature elements as black hair with a beard, hats with a rounded top and/or kippah caps, hooked noses, dark clothing, and are typically depicted in negative light. Here’s a quick google search. The green skin isn’t really found anywhere in these depictions, as they were mostly in black and white to be used in newspapers. The only photo I have found is this image for an anti-semitic nazi propaganda flim, which by the way, was originally in yellow. So the “green skin is anti-semitic” argument is weak at best, and completely unstable at worst when looking at that by itself.  In any case, I do not think the people that draw green Taako are racist, but rather they merely draw inspiration off of other artists that draw him with that skin tone, or draw upon the typical skin color to depict a witch, you know, cuz’ he’s a wizard (I got some more research if you want to argue the witch claim, just hit me up). Heck even some Jewish people like to draw Taako green, that’s when you know the whole thing is rocky.Finally, Taako was never said to be Jewish, not sure what episode you got that from, but if you know, again, please hit me up with the timestamp and everything.

Finally blue.

Blue is ehh. It’s not green, it has no racial connotations, and is a cannon DnD 5e skin tone forthe sub-race of the High Elf– The Moon Elf, just the same as people arguing for the Sun Elf, it has equal ground in that regard to cannon. But all Taako fan designs are cannon, as stated by the fucking guy who plays Taako soooo “cannon” DnD skin tones may mean nothing in the grander scheme of things. But I think blue specifically, wasn’t the point.

The point that the Mcelroys were trying to do by using a fantasy skin coloris the same thing they were doing for their podcast: Not tie Taako down to onerace. No group of people can claim to be a blue race and “have” Taako (just the idea of being possessive over him for racial reasons is a weird just typing it out). Anyway, no one “gets” him. But they didn’t do too great of a job since it stillseemed to be tied too closely to lighter skinned people with the brightness of the blue hue and the fact that the Moon elf is typically depicted as “pale or fair-skinned.” Ruh roh. Okay idea, not great execution.

Personally? I’d change around with the blue hues to make them darker and make up a new sub-race so it isn’t closely related to “white” and is more on the middle of the spectrum. Or just make him Mexican and everyone will have to deal with it. //Shrug

But I guess that it matters very little when you consider people that are protesting for a change in the skin tone actually may be too late. It is conceivable that it is too late in the development process to change the designs. For all we know they have already printed out hundreds of pages when they posted the previews of the new designs. We just don’t know. I certainly hope not, but I can accept it with a grain of salt. I’m not sure others can swallow such a big pill though.

The whole fandom (white and poc both) are trying to come to terms with this situation that we’ve been given. We are all trying to discuss it and see what we can improve upon so there is a better and more diverse representation without harming the ones we are trying to support.

But Justin Mcelroy said that all Taakos are equal, and I am merely following the wishes of a guy that doesn’t want people to bully each other over drawing something they love. Sue me.