#but yeah some of the engagement i was getting in my inbox was def a downer for a bit

[cordeliawhohung]

i can’t believe how you’re getting hate/rude anon messages, i came across your blog because of in limbo and i’m in awe of how talented of a writer you are. i think people need to appreciate how much it takes to write at the level you do. i will spend time going through your other work. thank u.

i've honestly been very lucky to not receive explicit hate as much as i receive more misguided rudeness, more often than not, but that kind of comes with the whole... being on tumblr thing lmao. i have some very lovely anons (who i hope are all doing well!) so it's not all bad!

but eek, thank you so much! In Limbo is quickly becoming my favorite series to write, and i'm so glad you're enjoying it (: hope you have a lovely day/night

[tuiyla]

naya & dianna were electric together; i could go down a nostalgic rabbit hole all abt that but i’ll save us both the time and sanity LOL.

re: anger, will def wait until u publish ur thoughts to pinpoint mine more, but i’ll start w how i headcanon a future QS relationship (that could also work platonically!): i’m with the idea that both of their tempers mellow out over time while still they still maintain that no-nonsense, call-it-like-it-is mentality they reserve just for each other. when they’re past the point in their lives of needing to one-up each other, it’s less of serious fights like 2x01 and 4x08 and more harmless bickering.

when they do get into fights, i think they’re still guilty of throwing in some low blows in the heat of the moment, but they both know when to call it and just give each other space to cool down before trying to resolve anything. they both learn that not everything needs to be fixed right away; they just need time to gather their thoughts and firmly explain where they’re coming from, and they move on together.

i’ve already rambled, but again i’ll wait till you share some thoughts to go even deeper into it hahaha.

in the meantime, here’s a question for ya: if you could add in a QS heart-to-heart scene anywhere in the series, where would it be/what would it look like? (i.e. after Q gets kicked out of her house, after S gets outed, after the I Do hookup, etc)

-Quinntana anon

Hey Quinntana anon! Sorry this sat in the inbox for a while.

Any time you want to go on about Naya and Dianna please feel free to do so lol. I rewatched New York today and the UHT scene's intensity from both of them was so good, and then transitioning into that soft understanding. I especially liked Santana telling her to get over it because she would, and then Quinn screaming at her.

Adult Quinntana having quite bickering fights is so amusing to me lol. That's why they're so great because it's like, a different wavelength to everyone else. Brittany gets it but doesn't engage because she knows it's best not to. She just leaves them be like when you check the kids into a playhouse while shopping or something.

I for sure agree that low blows are still resent even as they grow and mature. Because that's just the kind of connection they have, you know? They can come back from anything. So yeah they do get carried away sometimes but I think they're also well aware of the hard lines. So it's calling each other out and dragging just a little outside the comfort zone but it isn't malicious. I think they're already good at just bouncing back as teens but maybe as adults they'd learn to actually talk about these things afterward.

All of what you said for an extra Quinntana scene are good options. I think it would have been most realistic and is most sorely lacking at any point after I Do. It's still bonkers to me that they never again share a meaningful scene. As much as I would love one either in season 1 after Quinn gets kicked out or season 3 after The Outing, the former simply didn't have Santana as a substantial character so it'd need other rewrites. The latter, it was an overall shitshow so again more rewrites would be needed. But I would have loved a Quinntana scene post-outing that could maybe be both about Q reassuring Santana and in return Santana once again attempting to talk to Quinn about what's been going on with her. They deal with a lot in a few short episodes. And hey, their lowest points might just open up their hearts to a good convo.

All that said, I'd most likely choose one for 2x15 Sexy. Season 2's Quinntana crumbs are great but they're just that, crumbs, so in my headcanon there's a Quinntana scene following Santana's love confession and subsequent heartbreak. She sees Santana storm off and finds her under the bleachers. Santana tells her to piss off at first but then just, breaks down, too tired to try and hold it together. And despite their ongoing rivalry that season, despite Cheerios and Sam everything, Quinn just holds her because they know when it's time for tough love and when it's time for just plain love. Then again I guess in my mind this isn't so much a heart-to-heart, just this wordless scene of comfort followed by Quinn trying to get her to talk about it but Santana shuts it all out and pretends it never happened. She's going into denial, see, and there's only so much Quinn can do about that. She's disappointed, to say the least, when Santana announces she's dating Karofsky a few weeks later. But as always, Quinn has her own shit going on.

Now, that said, what would your scene be?

[promethes]

(this isn't relevant to anything really but) that outline snippet made me have the thought "omg i really want to read the full essay" for like the 4th time ever in my life, it looked really good

okay below this is just a really long ramble of thoughts i had that seemed related to the outline but i can't 100% promise they are, feel free to stop reading here and just delete lmao.

and yeah i hate that the specific "looks" (which are. mostly purchased objects? and expensive shit at that) of young skinny white american gay ppl with money are the only things that people clock as looking/being gay. it's so dumb like i literally AM a young white american gay person and none of the "relatable" posts/videos online are even approaching relatable? like years ago i saw a tiktok compilation and it was like "how you know your whole friend group is gay" and it was just this video of a house party and they all had. the same. expensive pair of shoes. in the same color and everything.

i hate the concept of equating the things you buy with your identity in the first place but gay culture (online at least, since i haven't had much of that in person in the past few years & can't speak to it) being Only That just seems even worse because it's alienating to so many people who are literally. already alienated at least somewhat from their surroundings/communities just bc they're gay (using gay as an umbrella here).

that video is the one that creeped me out the most but there are so many like it that just make me want to ask so many questions. why is almost everything they call "gay culture" actually something that has nothing to do with being gay and everything to do with their nationality, their specific culture, the amount of money they have? do they literally just go out of their way to befriend people who act/look/talk/dress the exact same way they do, because how does sth like that shoe situation even happen?? and finally, can they seriously not realize they're making up this exclusive culture up where everyone talks/dresses/etc the same?

i know people can be stupid and oblivious all the time, but it's almost unbelievable to me that these people don't realize they're emulating the exact behavior of literally the popular cliques or whatever from high schools. like there are max 2 or 3 acceptable ways to have that identity. it's really hard to believe sometimes that they genuinely don't realize they're... what, responding to some culture that alienated them by making up a new exclusive culture to alienate everyone else in the same boat, instead of a community? like i don't want to believe it's intentional, but it seems so pervasive online that it's like. i don't even like seeing or engaging with "relatable" posts about gay culture or discourse.

anyway sorry for rambling at you, i think i had this rant bottled up for like years with no one to really say it to and now it's. in your inbox.

also i'm not gonna be offended if you didn't read this and/or don't reply, it's long as fuck and also i feel like every time you say something even approaching controversial, even though you're literally right, you get some kind of angry horde after you, so you def have good reason not to post this

yeah exactly the consumerism is out of controool. also i actually posted the essay a while back here if you still wanna read it

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Hello, I am sorry if I am sending this to the wrong blog but I am not sure you are still using the one dedicated to hellsing. I wanted to know your opinion on a possible scenario if you don’t mind. How would Alucard (and Seras for that matter) react if, when he finally reaches London, Integra has been killed by Iscariot or by Millenium? (sorry i have these worst scenario ideas that come sometimes and thought you might have an interesting perspective on it)

This is the right blog! I closed my inbox on blood-and-cigars and don’t really update it anymore.

And oooh good question. So, I think it depends a lot on circumstance, who killed her, how, etc. But yeah let’s say during that dramatic moment when Walter exits the Rolls Royce and goes to see the Captain (and the whole things framed as a self sacrifice lol) Integra refused to go and this somehow escalated and resulted in her death. I don’t think Walter would personally kill her, but the Captain would have no such qualms. So she’s dead. Now what?

IMO Alucard would definitely just Know. There is no Hellsing heir so he’s free. I can’t see that not being something he’s immediately aware of, no matter how far away he is. And he’d likely go fucking berserk tbh. All four stages of grief at once (bc lol acceptance? no.)

Seras... I’m not sure would have the same ability. But she does have a telepathic bond with Alucard. And she’d def feel the mess of emotions coming from him, probably attempt to ask him what’s wrong and be hit with a wave of incomprehensible grief and rage instead. But from what we’ve seen of her, she doesn’t really seem to lose composure under pressure. And honestly she’s not that close with Integra, so she probably keeps chugging for the moment.

But yeah, so for Alucard, accessing his full power is no longer an issue. I personally think it could be a fun and horrifying image if he just summons all his familiars into a...corpse bridge... to cross running water more quickly than the ship can carry him. I don’t know what effect coming into contact with running water would actually have on his familiars but uh excellent opportunity for some fun gore and body horror there.

Anyway yeah he’d make it back to England just 500% more of an angry raging mess. Would still go berserk at the millennium soldiers but not even bother with a dramatic stand off with Anderson and the Captain.

I think he’d honestly go for Major first because alllll of this shit is his fault, and by virtue of grief he’s actually taking it seriously for the first time. I really like how in canon he initially just... ignores Walter when he’s trying to bait him. So yeah to mirror that, I could def see Walter try to do his goth vampire reveal and Alucard just Does Not Care, he is here for the Major.

For the sake of her power up, let’s just say the hellsing manor sequence goes as per canon. The lowered morale could mean it’s a much quicker loss though, until Pip dies, and she levels up.

Anyway back to Alucard, the obligatory murderous rampages aside. The Anderson battle would definitely take place. And Alucard would probably just... give up and die tbh? His main goal is to be defeated by a human, well there’s a human ready to kill him. He wouldn’t really have a sense of purpose anymore to keep him going, and I think his grief might mean that even if Seras tried to intervene like in canon, that he wouldn’t really respond to it. I kind of doubt Anderson would even need to use the Nail of Helena on himself.

Lollll idk so super dramatic set up where he went and killed the Major, then still ignoring Walter, circled back around to go find Integra’s body. He’d probably have a breakdown and full existential crisis by her side. Anderson could show up ready to fight. And Alucard would probably need to be coaxed into engaging lmao. And yeah he’d probably put up a vague fight just to say he did, and then let himself be killed tbh. I could also see him losing interest altogether and just... going to sit by Integra’s corpse tbh and wait to be killed.

That could honestly lead to a VERY interesting Seras and Anderson fight though. And while I don’t think she’d necessarily be at a place where she could defeat him, I could see her buying enough time to drag Alucard away and escape.

And that’s when you can get all the grief and suicidal ideation out lmao. (He’d probably ask her to kill him ngl) What they do after that? IDK! Walter still needs to be dealt with, so something something about that, probably? Regardless, Alucard would just be completely out of commission. So whatever happens next, it’s really just on Seras.

[crownjevvel]

by the way, dani told me he's 11, so maybe you can see why he's being so childish and rude

yeah he told me in my inbox he was 12 and whats worse is he sent pictures of his actual real face so i can confirm that hes def not an adult. hes lucky he didnt send it to some weirdo. but when it comes 2 annoying kids like this i try not 2 engage bc thats what they want. if they dont get a response they have 2 sit there and think about why n are forced to get over it

[cupcakemolotov]

6/? Wow the Sagredos have successfully married into money for like three centuries and not one eep of them being broke has leaked. Truly impressive. Man, I just want like an outside POV, an Herald forum, something about House Baylor. Because how does this look from the outside? One sister married into House Rogan, House Baylor looks like a vassal House but isn't officially. And the new Head of House Baylor got Alessandro Sagredo to leave his blue blood family.

I mean, the Sagredos are fairly scary.

But yes, I find this bit of information to be interesting. You gotta wonder what blackmail is going on behind the scenes. Alessandro obviousy scared the pants off the women he was previously engaged to because he shut the one down hard at the opera. very hard. and she shut up.

7/? Lol tumblr has decided I’ve spammed your inbox with too many asks so I’ll have to continue later. Hopefully you’re received them all. I haven’t even started waxing lyrical about how much I love Catalina. Catalina and Elara are def my fav IA heroines. (I’m so sad that iron covenant #2 is probably years away, although I completely understand why no one would want to write a dark book in 2020).

Catalina and Elara are a great deal of fun. Though I absolute adore the Nevada books. This family is insane, and I hope we keep getting books! (And god, give me Hugh. But yeah. Illona an Gordon have had a particularly rough few years personally, and Hugh is just not an easy book. I can wait.)

8/? i think that's what number I'm up to. I just love Catalina so much. It's just so refreshing to have an Urban Fantasy lead who isn't a gut-reactionary archetype (which don't get me wrong, I also enjoy). I enjoy her methodical planning. I really like her and Nevada's chat. I agree with your comment to the other anon, I think it answered some of the things that fell flat in SF, enough so that it felt planned and plotted.

I honestly think Sapphire Flames is a much better book now that I have Emerald Blaze. I went back and re-read it and it bothered me way less now that I have more information to work with. Which. Is always a good sign about a book in general and how a series is going I think. Its baby-catalina and baby-alessandro and then not!

9/9 Now that I've completely vomited all my EB initial feelings at you... in a hopefully somewhat coherent manner... how did you find EB? What did you love/hate? What do you want to see in Book 6? What gem do you think will be used for Book 6's title? It looks like popular opinion is Ruby in the IA FB group but I kinda want to see them stick to blue/greens/purples) coloured gems. Did you manage to catch any of the Zoom panels with IA? Have a wonderful day! And thank you so much for listening!!!

Over all, I really enjoyed Catalina and Alessandro in his book. I thought they did a good job of working in a bunch of big plot points and smoothing out threads from the previous one that bothered me. As I have said, they clearly went into this book with an understanding of what fell a little flat and made a point to fix it. I so greatly appreciate that about them.

I think in general though, Alessandro was good in this book but also a little off for me. I liked that he answered here questions, I like that he threatened Victoria, I liked that he backed Catalina up. But I felt we could have gotten a little more from in places that would have made things just a little more seamless. They didn’t do a bad job with him, but there was a lot of reflection that happened elsewhere that we got told about. I can’t even tell you where it could have been worked it, it just felt a tiny bit off point. Not a lot, just a little. My favorite scene for them in the book was in the van when he was patching her up! That was a delight. And the scene on the balcony cleared up a lot of things, but I feel like Alessandro in the third will need to grow a bit more. Or to show us the ways he has grown. He needs something to make him just a little more of a real character, though right now I am still struggling to find the words to explain what I even mean with that.

I really do enjoy Catalina. I like how they have done a good job of showing the similarities between the sisters and all their differences. Shes a lot of run while not being Nevada, and I appreciate that. Being the middle child and suddenly the boss I think is a difficult thing for someone and the family dynamics are spot on. I am really looking forward to seeing how she chooses to deal with her problems in the future.

I fucking love Leon. Give me his book. Please.

Also. WHERE IS MY MOMMA BAYLOR AND HEART ROMANCE? WHERE? *GRABBY  HANDS* GIVE IT TO ME.

Grandmother Tremaine is my favorite not-bad guy in this series. And I maintain my suspicions about Linus, and who he is but they haven’t really give us many bread crumbs about who Ceaser is either. And I want to punch Xavier in the face and cannot wait until Catalina takes his smug ass down. The dick.

I dunno, there has been a lot of thought about this and we shall see what happens! I probably would have to read it again to give you more thoughts (which I will be doing probably shortly!) But Illona and Gordon always manages to surprise me with their plot twists, and I do so enjoy that about them.

10/10. Oh wait- I completely forgot to mention- can't wait to see what powers Catalina's dark wings develop. Also super interesting that both Catalina and Alessandro have speedy healing talents (not connected, but attributable to both their respective powers). I wonder if Catalina's green/gold wings have been her passive field this whole time. The making people love her part. Using her wings/song to control/guide people's memories is probably active field?

I think Catalina’s power are going to be very interesting because she is not in a magical  bubble. She also has her other family magic and there is no telling what she got from Tremaine. I think your guess is very solid, but I don’t think her love me bits are entirely passive. But I do think the black wings are potentially a House Secret and something that is going to be very unexpected. But the opposite side of love is fear, right? So yeah. its going to be So Interesting.

[crimsondomingo]

I agree that it would be amazing to have an older plus-size carol danvers 10/10 yes. but i'm not sure where you're getting that impression from the comics? every comics photo i find of her is thin or skinny + busty. her earth616 wiki bmi means she's defs underweight. average age of air force captains is 25-34 but isnt she a major? if so then 33+. i agree she should 38-40 if we count comics canon but they're going with her origin so its kinda fuzzy. still would kill for plus size tho

You’re right, my mind still thinks in terms of the Carol I loved when she was Miss Marvel, and A LOT has changed over the years. 

The Carol I remember was still her 5′10/5′11″ self but more like 165-185 pounds, not (HOLY CRAP, MARVEL 616!) 125 lbs?! Yikes. 

I think a lot of my anger comes from what Carol has become in the comics, and to be fair, this depiction of her in the movie is looking to be a lot like that. 

And yeah, I was thinking more of Major Carol at 40, so as a Captain, it’s not horrible, I just would have liked her at least in her thirties.

All of that can be hand-waved though if the performance just knocks all our socks off, and I do really want that, I want to be proven wrong, I’m just missing THIS Carol:

She’s a comic hero, so they still show her svelt, but I remember an issue where she talked about hey, I actually have thighs thanks (I wish I could remember which one). 

I know I’m too hard on Brie, @kcsplace. She was fuller in the face and more average shaped before, but that may because she was well, younger, had some babyfat still, and obviously doing a bunch of action is going to thin you out, I don’t want to make this all about appearance. 

It just isn’t exciting me, but I hope come opening day, my inbox is flooded with people telling me how it amazing it was, and that when I see it, I am pleasantly surprised. 

You know what’s silly about her sounding flat (and I totally believe there is a reason for her being emotionless plotwise, I’m just not engaged by her) I think it’s partially because I also wanted someone with a deeper voice. 

All petty, silly things, and all from a couple trailers, so...we’ll see.  

[imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch]

January Book: Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda (A Review)

In which I attempt to condense the complicated emotional roller coaster this book sent me on into a rational and non-screaming-in-anger review.

I think I did okay.  

Some spoilers so I’ve given my general opinion below and the actual review is below the cut. 

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda: 1/5 Stars

Yeah I didn’t like it. I’m surprised too. 

I guess what frustrates me most about this book is some kind of internal insistence that I had to read it because it was LGBT and everyone else loved it. But it was making me miserable. But it was LGBT and everyone else loved it. But it wasn't fun. But it was…etc.

Anyway I guess shout out to Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda for reminding me there's no point reading something I hate just because other people like it or because it’s a particular genre. 

(Going to use this pretty obvious revelation to happily quit the Scarlet Witch comics I started just before Christmas. Marvel says she's no longer Magneto's daughter? Interesting opinion. I accept it's canon but I sure as hell aren't accepting it as my headcanon).

Anyway proper review below as promised. 

So I feel like I am going to be in a minority here but I really wasn't into this book. I wanted to like it because I heard a lot of good things about the film and so, being one of those book before film people, I picked this up expecting good things. Maybe the hype was part of what made it a bit of a let-down for me. I tend not to do well with things that have been hyped up; maybe because I end up with unrealistic expectations, maybe because I'm a special snowflake who has super special tastes different to the norm. I don't know.

So as I was starting to read this I was pretty scathing. I nearly gave up at page 21. Now? Honestly I'm just exhausted by it. I skim read through the whole thing in about an hour and a half just so I could say I sort of finished it. I'll be the first to admit that because of that perhaps I missed a lot of things that could have made the book a better experience for me. But honestly though, it infuriated me so much at the beginning that I couldn't read it any other way.

One of the biggest problems is that I don't really like books that use copious amounts of pop culture reference, especially when these can easily be dated. As a general rule I tend to prefer fictional universes that feel a little more timeless - Harry Potter, the Bartimaeus Trilogy, Lockwood and Co. Even my current favourite series - The Rivers of London - makes me grimace when it references to Brooklyn 99 or similar. This really is just a personal preference thing and I can understand why others would want to read a book about a clearly modern high school experience.

If you are like me however, Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens is probably not for you on this front. There are endless references to pop culture including some that, given the nature of internet culture, already feel a little dated. As an example of the many many pop culture references, some I can remember off the top of my head without even glancing at the book are: Tegan and Sarah, Tumblr, Yaoi, slash fiction, Harry/Draco fanfiction & Harry Potter in general, Def Leppard, Yoda, Katniss,  etc etc.

I guess the writing was fine. It was written as though in a way someone young might talk. It's a distinctive voice that most of the time I just kind of shrugged off as neither working for me, or irritating me. Occasionally however there were stylistic choices that were just odd. The extra half a second it took me to try and figure out the meaning of the sentence/phrase took me out of the story slightly - a minor nit-pick I know, but one I'll make anyway. An example from page 33: "If I were straight. The Abby thing. I do think I get it. " I re-read those sentences three times trying to figure out whether he meant "If I were straight I'd get people liking Abby" (as in, I struggle to objectively tell if someone of the opposite gender is attractive) or whether he meant "If I were straight I'd like Abby too" (as in, Abby is attractive but not really my thing being gay). I suppose maybe in the grand scheme it doesn't make too much difference. But little things like that interrupting my reading flow was not something I needed when I was already supremely uninvested in this story.

Another example is from later on when Simon makes a comical autocorrect error via email. Essentially the premise is his phone corrected "such" to "dick" but it took me such a long time to work this out because of the format of the emails. The second email sent - the correction - is above the first email because if you were looking in an inbox that is how they'd appear. But because you read down the page and because most of the other emails were naturally chronological reading in this fashion this really threw me. Again: minor nit-pick - the emails are timestamped so like the confusion was definitely me being a moron. But it's another instance of being taken from the book for a moment too long.

Another problem that impacted my ability to engage with this book is that I really didn't like Simon. Some of the things he said and the views he held made me a little uncomfortable. I don't expect every character to hold views exactly like mine and I accept someone doesn't have to be a likeable person to be a likeable character. There are some fantastic characters who aren't really very nice people, or who hold views that are dissimilar to society as a whole or to an individual reader. I guess an example of this might be the Lannister family from Game of Thrones - I wouldn't want to be friends with them or emulate like 95% of what they do. But they sure are fun to watch/read about.

Simon though, I think I was done with him by page 21 - my original quit point. At this point he mentions that he thinks it's different for girls when they come out because a lot of guys think lesbians are hot. This is kind of a case where I guess you don't have to agree with a characters view or observations, but these sort of things just pile up. Another early on moment that really bugged me was this comment when describing their friend group: "Leah's two friends, Morgan and Anna, who read manga and wear black eyeliner, and are basically interchangeable. Anna and I actually dated freshman year, and I still think she and Morgan are interchangeable. "

Perhaps this is meant to demonstrate he's very gay because he's not hyper-aware of girls appearances? But it just read like Simon lacking basic human decency of bothering to tell two people who are friends of a friend apart. And maybe he was trying to be funny? If he was, it definitely falls flat for me. There are mentions in the book of Simon being oblivious to what other people might want or think, forgetting to offer his sister food when he makes sandwiches for him and his friend for example, and maybe this is an extension of that. This still feels odd to me however.

In the light of fairness I will say there were moments when I did feel for Simon - when Martin attempts to apologise for example, and some of his pre-coming-out thoughts, worries and dilemmas did feel authentic. But they weren't enough to encourage me to read on or to root for him.

Final thought because this is really long and more attention than I intended to give this book in the end: I'm confused as to how this school tumblr is supposed to work. Is it one page and everyone has a log in? Is it a tag? I'm assuming it's a tag based system? Anyway I guess that's another minor nitpick that doesn't matter in the scheme of things.  I just struggled to picture how it would work.

So in conclusion, this book sent me through the five stages of grief -

Denial: well everyone else liked it so I must like it too I guess.

Anger: I can't believe I spent money on this book. Let me write down all the bits I hate for the review I'll write. Oh my goodness I can't believe Simon said/thought that.

Bargaining: okay well Simon is kind of annoying me but I'll skim read it - it'll probably get good in a bit.

Depression: I can't believe I'm still reading this book, I can't believe I'm the only one who doesn't like this book, I feel like I've been trapped reading this book forever, time is meaningless.

And, finally, acceptance: it is what it is, and I'm too tired to do much but admit this just wasn't for me.

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda: 1/5 stars

[ripplestitchskein]

What I'm worried for if Killian does have a new LI in his cursed persona is that it will be yet ANOTHER instance of rape and then it will probably become a) a joke or b) something he feels he has to atone for. Or worse, both

With this show def a possibility. They don’t seem to make that crucial “agency is important” connection.

But oh well, that’s other people’s thing to deal with if it happens *shrug*.

I don’t care either way about specifics, I made the choice to not watch until I see that they for sure aren’t going to take the show down the path of worst case scenarios: Dead Emma, New KJ Love Interest, Drunken Joke Killian Jones, Limited Screen Time For KJ in favor of pointless new characters, etc.

My issue was more with this ultra aggressive answering of anonymous nervous nellies that only serve the purpose of being an asshole for the sake of snarky “savagery” where the anonymous person isn’t the one being “educated” more it’s a way to put down other bloggers who might feel that way without calling them out specifically.

Answering anonymous messages in that manner is just a way for people to put down other views via an anonymous third party and remove and separate themselves from the fact that they are kinda being a jerk to a section of the fandom they disagree with by putting it under the guise of “I’m merely giving my opinion because some stranger asked me!”

If they truly were annoyed by these messages to the point that aggressive and snarky replies were necessary they would simply delete them or turn off Anon. Instead they opt to create discord and drama by answering them and creating a divide in the fandom where people are either “YAS! THIS! Being upset about this thing is stupid! And they are sexist/racist/bigoted dummies” Or if someone shares the worries of the Nonnie: “Oh. Well now I feel stupid/alienated/shamed for feeling the same way and that makes me feel like crap.”

It’s just perpetuating a negative fandom experience to either be known by a certain reputation or encourage notes/popularity with the faction you have sided with rather than taking the tact of “I don’t feel that way, here’s why, maybe that will help you feel better. Sorry you are worried.” And actually participating in the discussion in a positive way that doesn’t alienate the other side.

Instead they go for “Omg how dumb are you to think that way, worry about that? What is wrong with you? You are obviously racist/sexist/whatever other thing I can pin this on.”

And then other people take a side and post their agreement and people have to posts their opposing view (like meself) and then we are constantly just arguing back and forth about dumb bullshit ALL THE TIME. Everything becomes a debate. The wedding dress. The ring. Whether Killian was getting the shaft in the Wish Verse. Whether they would blow through the second proposal.Etc etc etc.

It goes round and round about every little thing when it could all be avoided if the nervous nelly messages or differing opinions were either ignored or explained in a supportive and non-condescending way.

Like no it’s not your job to soothe the fears of anonymous people in your inbox, but at the same time by handling them with condescension or outright rudeness it just makes others feel bad and prompts people to take their positions and bring out their own weapons.

For example: before we knew if JMo was staying, it was all “No way they wouldn’t renew JMo she’s the lead, she’s the main character, CS is the main couple on the show they wouldn’t break them up that’s stupid, JMo loves Emma, how could anyone possibly think for a second she’s leaving? How dumb are you for thinking that?”

And she left, just like the Nonnie’s worried about. And the people who were ultra aggressive and mean about it weren’t contrite or like “Yeah miscalled that one.” They just move on to the next thing to be a dick about.

It sucks, it makes fandom suck, and it’s a huge reason why I turned of Anon, unfollowed a lot of otherwise decent people, and kinda stopped engaging beyond fic. I did my part to feed that aggressive discourse and I got tired of it and it just made me sad and guilty and kind of ruined the entire experience for me.

It’s possible to enjoy the thing without making others feel bad for not enjoying it. It’s possible to feel confident and free of worry about something others are concerned about without making them feel bad for worrying.

I dunno. Just what I’ve been thinking about.