#don’t harass CC The Actual Person btw!!!

[rosetheocto]

Hey Rose, what’s your opinion on CC from Eeveelution Squad?

of all OCs for him to include.. why her? Her backstory doesn’t make sense at all, she has a romance with Gai, is a barely disguised self insert with a lot of Flare and Speed’s overpowered abilities, and barely serves a purpose in the grand scheme of things! I know EV wanted his fans to feel included, but this unfortunately wasn’t the right way to go

[pommunist]

Thoughts on Quackity’s stream

Q saying that he’s doing the stream in english instead of spanish and saying it’s because people were upset that the previous statements were in spanish. Obviously I’d like for him to speak about these important things in the language of his choice, but I feel like he misunderstood that the issue most people had was actually not the language but the lack of subtitles + official translation. And this issue still stands when he speaks english btw.

Now, and I believe that’s all that need to be said about this : Anyone who goes out of their way to spread Q’s personal information and/or uses it to threaten and harass him are proper freaks and I will never stand for that. I’m sorry that he is fearing for his safety, no one deserves to go through that.

I know that there are many people who perceived him stepping down from his position as a way to avoid his responsibilities and I can definitely see where they’re coming from but I personally see it as a good thing. Obviously because safety comes first and if taking a step back can stop him from being put in harm’s way, absolutely a great decision. And also because this may allow people who are more capable of handling this position to be put in charge.

I’m also glad that he’s taking actions against the people who were misusing his funds and who enforced a toxic work environment. We don’t know anything about these people so I won’t talk much about it but I hope they face the consequences of their actions.

Also good that it was clarified that that one problematic person has not been involved with the project, I think everyone is relieved to know that someone unsafe was not a part of it. Although, while he was right to warn people not to spread misinformation (this is true for everything btw do your research !), I don’t like how he said to be mindful about the intentions of people who raised the question, because a lot of them had genuine concern about it being a possibility and this could have been a very serious and dangerous thing if it had been true.

It’s good that he acknowledged that he didn’t properly address the issue of xenophobia against brazilians the first time and apologised for it. However I don’t like how he took the time to address that it was specifically brazilians who were being targeted, but didn’t address that it was mostly his own community who was responsible for it, which led to another wave of hate and bigotry towards brazilian fans on twitter. However I’m not brazilian myself and it’s only up to them wether they choose to accept his apology or not.

He talked about how he is usually a private person regarding these situations and to be honest I’ve always admired the fact that he doesn’t engage publicly with drama. Drama, except this isn’t drama, it goes way beyond what this word means.

Him saying he was ready to handle it privately but that it was made public before that is just so hypocritical to me, because we know from the many admins statements that they had tried to bring attention internally to some of the problems but it was either ignored, or actually impossible from them to have communication with the higher hierarchy. So saying what he said just puts the blame on the admins who came out with their stories for this whole situation taking the proportions it has taken.

And great that he’s saying that there has been some restructuring made within the team, and hopefully these changes will only leave the studios with competent people who are good intentioned towards everyone involved. I won’t like though, I fail to see how asking for everyone’s feedback and taking it into account to make these changes wasn’t an option. Also the fact that this restructuring ended up causing them to massively letting go of all the twitter teams as well as some other admins is still an issue.

Like he can deny that he purposefully put his stories above those of other ccs, say that he does have passion for the project and was involved in its creative development, which I’m not trying to imply he’s lying about btw, but not address the main issue of the admins situation ? Not a word about or for them ? But instead you use your plateform to talk about your role in the lore knowing these are talking points discussed by the admins and community. What good does that do except for your own image ? What do you think your fans are going to do if not go and harass the people who have made these claims ? Meanwhile people will discuss these topics that are so far removed from the main issue and focus less on what the admins went through.

I’m not saying this was intentional, I’m not saying he’s directly guilty of any disgusting behaviour that some of his fans are guilty of, but as an influencer with an audience as large as his is, you have a certain responsibility to try your best to prevent these things happening.

If you think I’m exaggerating, that it couldn’t be that bad, just know that since the stream :

Admins who spoke up are receiving hate again and Léa is getting the worst of it as you can imagine. Like I mentioned before, there has been a resurgence of xenophobic tweets against the brazilian community. French qsmptwt accounts and others who took a stance for the admins are also being insulted/harassed again. Léa, Lumi (Pomme admin) and Shade (Dapper admin) have all had some of their private info leaked. There has even been a call to mass report Nat_Ali’s, the streamer who conducted Lea’s interview, twitch channel.

—————

And because still he didn’t do it and I want to end on a positive note, some thanks are in order

Twitter admins, thank you for making every stream accessible to everyone, allowing us to follow what went on when we could watch and to rewatch the best moments. Thank you for adding your own comments to the clips, and for making all the funny memes, you gave a heart to these accounts. Thank you as well for being the ones to collect fanarts for the museum, for giving many people an opportunity to appreciate the wonderful talent of the community.

Writers, thank you for coming up with such amazing and intriguing stories, and making us pull our hair out theorising about them ! I wish you were given the space and creative freedom to develop them more and make them flourish.

Roleplayers, thank you for having done such a wonderful job giving life to all these characters I hope you know how deeply they are loved by us the viewers. Mentions spéciales : Lumi, merci pour Pomme, merci pour avoir représenté notre pays, notre langue et notre culture pendant tout ce temps, on aurait pas pu rêver d���une meilleure ambassadrice 🍎♥️. Léa merci pour tout ton travail, tes illustrations, tes personnages, et aussi toutes tes refs purement fr ahah. Merci et bravo d’avoir osé parler surtout, on est avec toi 🐰💓.

Thanks to all the builders, devs, artists, translators, sound designers, everyone who has been a star in the qsmp constellation and has worked to make it such a great time for us viewers.

[irrealisms]

btw I know I’ve been repeatedly (& pointedly) reblogging void’s post abt ppl hating kab today so. um. here’s some actual take. I know i said i would listen to bacon and complain less but im gonna try to keep this constructive.

it’s not about any individual person who doesn’t like kab or her style of lore. an individual not liking a character or storytelling style is normal and fine and demanding that someone SHOULD like this character and swallow down their emotional reactions or dislike bc shes a WOMAN is also very uncomfortable to me tbh! kab is not in fact one of my favorite characters by any means. in an ideal world life steal would have more women and i’d post about them more but like … there aren’t in fact many women in life.steal & not every character is for everyone & no one is obligated to like a character solely bc she’s a woman, yk? it’s not misogynist to dislike or even complain about female characters (although if you Never like female characters and find a reason to dislike all of them you, uh, should maybe be considering that!)

what makes me uncomfortable is the Pattern. and the Pattern is that women get hit harder & more universally by fandom criticism and hate than men do, without the corresponding positivity and appreciation their male counterparts get. what makes me uncomfortable is when ppl are getting intense abt how much she sucks in the twitch chats of ppl who, ultimately, are her friends ooc. this is all uncomfortable bc it is familiar, i have seen this pattern play out across different fandoms and different characters. it’s not just “this specific person doesn’t like this specific character”. it’s “fandom in general disproportionately dislikes female characters & has a tendency to harass the irl women playing those characters”. esp in spaces as sexist and male-dominated as mc.yt, that makes people justifiably sensitive.

I don’t really have a solution to this; like i said, I’m not interested in forcing people who don’t like a character to like her. (Especially since that doesn’t actually, you know, work.) But… I dunno, be a little nicer, especially places CCs can see (twitch chats especially; also twitter; to a lesser extent tumblr, esp if you’re maintagging or know they follow you)? Tag your neg/crit on tumblr so that ppl who don’t want to see it can just filter it out? (Honestly, this would go a long way for me—part of why I’m so bothered is just how inescapable the negativity is rn!) Think of how you’d feel if people regularly responded this way to lore you really like of your male fave, think about how you’d want them to handle their dislike or frustration, and then just … try to be considerate and fair.

[anonymous-dentist]

I'm sorry there are people using anon to be dicks :( like yeah, maybe you were a bit harsh in getting your point across, but I wasn't at all offended even though I like myself a bolas (Charlie, Jayden, Carre, Etoiles, Mouse and Roier included) family headcanon. People, if you get offended by AD's point of view it only means that you're in the wrong here :P

Tbh I’m only harsh because I’ve been getting threats and insults in my inbox since Purgatory started over this stuff and I’ve seen others get harassed over on Twitter about it and like. It’s frustrating, yk? Especially when they’re going around changing the wiki and harassing ccs like Baghera for not doing “found family” the way they want, like it’s not funny or cute to act like this over a headcanon you like.

I don’t mind headcanons! I have SO MANY, including relationships. Like I fully see Cellbit and Baghera as found family, and I’ve been on the Morning Crew Found Family train since September-ish.

The difference here is that I’m not a dick about it, and I’m not trying to force my headcanon to become canon by changing wikis or harassing ccs or spreading hate against people who disagree with my headcanon.

Sure, me saying that the Bolas Family isn’t canon has been called “spreading hate” by Bolas Fans in my own inbox (the audacity of that btw), but there’s a difference between me pointing out the questionable choices those fans are making in relation to a headcanoned family dynamic and them, say, harassing Baghera over her little ‘tunnel into Phil’s house’ rp moment to the point of her questioning her own rp and abandoning it in favor of going to hang out with other characters on the server.

It has been MONTHS of almost non-stop harassment from that part of the fandom- and this doesn’t even include me getting upset over a certain subset of fans butchering canon to try and make new versions of Wilbur and Tommy for Phil to adopt.

I think that there are ways to do Bolas Found Family that actually make sense, like in a cult-y way or just. Without making everyone Phil’s kids, including characters who never really interacted with Phil before Purgatory like Mousey or Carre or Roier. You can be family with people without calling them by a familial title. I personally see my former neighbor as family without thinking of her as an aunt or a grandma, she’s just Samantha (name changed for her own privacy.) It’s possible, and it’s really common, and it could work with Bolas.

But overzealous fans’ actions have solidified themselves as Annoying, and they refuse to listen to anyone with other points of view. They bully fans and creators and they act like total children and I refuse to treat them like adults until they start proving that they are adults.

Rant over, I’m just tired of getting told to kill myself over goddamn headcanons.

[mariaiscrafting]

ahhhh ty ty ty <3

ok, so I think that what makes Dream act this way (iykyk) is how dreamwastaken became so big so quickly. and by quick I mean fucking lightning speed.

he didn't have enough time to learn enough about cc etiquette, especially in these three aspects: influence, boundaries and fanbase/stans/whatever you call it. I'll try to explain it:

• Influence: Does he know the influence he has? Like, when he hears that he is the myct with the largest fanbase, does he really process that? I remember he talked about not being able to control all of his fanbase and there's bad apples everywhere -- which is true, and that only like 1% of his fanbase breaks his boundaries (that include sending hate for him, harassing, doxing, etc. yk, basic twitter culture lol) but, honey, with your big ass fanbase, 1% is still a lot of people. As a content creator you *have* to be aware of that.

let's take the hbomb situation. First off, as a streamer, it's you that set the mood of the stream. Even if he was only messing around with his pals, even if they did say to do not send hate to hbomb, dt dunking on him created a toxic environment, which caused his fans being toxic towards hbomb and you know what happens next. Hell, when this happened, I was watching Tapl and he was watching them and he was crying laughing over them screaming bc they were just. so loud and so aggressive that it was kinda ??? Sirs, this is literally a Minecraft Stream lmaooo

my point is, that was not the road that dreamwastaken, 21M fans, should've taken. he don't condone his fans actions but he knows his fans are diehard and will always be on his side, he should be more careful before stating negative opinions, especially if its towards another person.

• Boundaries and Fanbase: He posted a list of his boundaries a while ago, idk if you know or seen it (btw please george copy your bestie for the love of god <3) but I'm not talking about those boundaries, I'm talking about the basic boundaries between cc and viewer. boundaries that, in my opinion, should exist between cc and viewer. I get that Dream is an open person, an oversharing type of open person if I may add, but I think he should take a step back regardless. When I heard that he was taking a time from twitter, I genuinely got so glad, not because he couldn't start any drama then, but because it would do so so good for his mental health. I'm not even that fond of him, it's just that for me, any cc taking a break or outright leaving twitter is a win for me. I know how RSD is hard to deal and honestly letting shit out it's better but dream you have dt you have bbh so please don't make things worse online 😭 I know how good can be to feel validation from millions of people but. it's not a good idea, especially in the state that his fanbase is on rn (this topic is kinda sensitive to talk abt for me bc people be outright ableist and hide it as criticism like. say that shit's not helping his reputation and whatever without acting like he's fucking. manipulating his fanbase for being affected by his rsd💀 or, on the other hand, don't say that hes just being adhd🤪 when he's just being an asshole like damn that's a Him thing bro lol)

(omg it's so big I'm so sorry and theres a part two I'm so sorry tumblr user messed-up-gal ToT) - morango 1/2

pt. 2:

Dream is the proof that the people who loves you can be your downfall. istg. Have you noticed that every drama that Dream enters, people usually get more mad abt how his fanbase reacts (85% they'll react in a bad way) than Dream himself? it's not always, but its definitely more likely. I'm not saying Dream is saint, he Is petty and his ego does him dirty and made him choke multiple times before,, But! i dont think hes a bad guy. he's literally just a dude. ok, he's a 21yr old white gamer man that has a trumpie past (maybe?? idk. I think hes cured now ig lol) so he's bound to do some shitty things but he still tries to get better and hopefully he'll mature. 21 is old enough but it's still so young, yk? I kind of lost my mind during the end and my eyes are literally begging to be closed so tl;dr: Its gonna be hard for him to become a better cc bc his fans don't let him be criticized (by infantilizing his adhd symptoms or the mob mentality as soon as someone says anything abt him), the honest criticism get lost between lies from antis that don't know shit, he still has a lot of growing up to do and overall he became famous too fast and he needs to learn things even faster bc as soon as there's not a single one dream hater on sight they'll turn their back and attack him instead lmao I hate twitter i definitely have more to say but I'm tired and my memory is shit. just-- hate dream if you want, love dream if you want, nobody is obligated to have an opinion but I wanted to express mine. have a lovely day! -morango 2/2

Aight, there's a lot to unpack here, so Imma try to only go into the points I have something to add to (here's what I talk about in each paragraph, if you want to jump to a specific point):

Speed of Dream's rise to fame

The "bad apples" in the Dream fanbase

Post-MCC HBomb stream

Not condoning versus actually condemning his fans

Manipulation & RSD

Criticism of Dream, his fanbase, and his brand

The “just a dude” argument, flipped

First, I agree that one of the many factors that has resulted in the current image Dream has set up for himself, the way his fanbase functions, the ways people hate on him, and the way the Dream brand functions, is the speed of his rise to fame. It's unique, and there are probably a hundred social/psychological angles that could be used to examine the exact effects of that speed upon all of these facets of the Dream Name; did rapid fame beget the rapid rise of unrighteous hatred, did those waves of hatred then instigate the rise of a surprisingly overdefensive fanbase, did that rapid fame get to his head and/or result in an inability to appropriately handle all the after-effects of rapid fame, etc.? That point you bring up, about how the speed of his rise to fame requires him to learn even more quickly, is so interesting to me. I think that maybe Dream expected to get pretty famous pretty quickly, hence the preparedness in regards to some mechanics of influencer fame- merchandise, business-building, networking, knowing how to manage his fanbase to best benefit him. But I don't think he expected to get this famous this quickly. This is all speculation of course, as are this entire post and your ask, but I think that he just couldn't anticipate having to learn how to handle enmasse controversy, waves of antis, or every Youtuber speculating/knowing about him; and yeah, that results in him having to learn all of these things very quickly, lest he allow his whole brand and fandom to fall apart.

Second, I disagree with the frequent argument that Dream's fanbase is only marginally toxic. Personally, I think that the circumstances of Dream's fame, his personality and management of his fanbase, and his brand of content have resulted in the very specific kind of stan that Dream stans are. I don't think this is simply a case of "all fandoms have a small percentage of assholes who take it too far;" rather, the nature of the community itself breeds the kind of mentality of "an asshole who takes it too far." I only even know this because I was a Dream fan (kinda a stan, I'm ngl). At one time, I watched every single Dreamwastaken & Dream Team video multiple times; I listened to the Manhunts on repeat, as though they were podcasts; I followed mostly smiletwt and dttwt accounts on mcyttwt; I had upwards of 10 tabs for AO3 DNF fics open on my phone at a time; I watched DNF and Dream Team Being A Family-esque compilations on repeat; I watched every George and Sapnap alt stream I possibly could; I went out of my way to defend Dream against Redditors and Twitter antis regarding the cheating scandal. For the latter half of 2020, and a couple months of 2021, I lived and breathed this part of the fandom; so when I say that Dream stans are a whole other breed than any other kind of mcyttwt stan, I say that because I used to be like that, too. I usually use parasocial very loosely or ironically, but Dream stans are genuinely one of the most parasocial fanbases I have ever seen or been a part of. The level of investment Dream stans have in this man's life, the lengths they will go to to defend him, the amount of psychonalysis and digging they do on his life and character, the amount of emotion he can evoke in them- it's taken to another level, man. This isn't just characteristic of a fraction of his fanbase; this is what the fanbase is like as a whole.

Third, I partially disagree with your take on the HBomb thing, but not in the way one might think? I actually empathize with the way they reacted much more than I thought I would, simply because I suspect I have RSD (also suspect I have ADHD, have for several months now) and I can see myself getting insanely frustrated because of something like that. Like yeah, it was "just a MC stream" or "just an MC game," but that's kinda disregarding the fact that something that might seem like "just a [insert inconsequential thing]" to a rational mind might have a major emotional consequence/take a major emotional toll on someone with RSD, or really anyone who gets easily impatient/angry about video games (Sapnap reminds me of many of my friends, in that way). The issues I, personally, had with the way they handled the HBomb situation is that these are simply explanations and reasons for my empathy; they are not excuses. I have no excuse when I get irrationally angry about something inconsequential in my own life, for a couple of reasons. One, because I am an adult and I need to learn how to handle my reactions and manage my own anger. Two, because as someone with many mental problems, it is my responsibility to learn coping mechanisms to ensure my own emotional stability and livelihood; this includes learning whatever I need to handle RSD- whether that be isolating myself from others when I know I will become violently/passionately angry about something, creating and sustaining a support system that can get me through bouts of extreme emotion, finding healthy emotional outlets for my negative emotions that won't harm myself or others, or a combination thereof. I don't think what they said about HBomb post-MCC was an irreversibly horrible thing, or anything. I think there were errors committed by two men who should be fully capable of foreseeing and preventing those errors, but I don't unconditionally hate Dream or Sapnap for the post-MCC stream or comments. I just wish they had made amends quickly, publicly, and sufficiently, because the greatest consequences from the whole thing weren't even from those two criticizing HBomb themselves; they were from the waves of backlash because of their immense influence on the MCYT fandom, which could've been prevented, if they had acted maturedly and responsibly after the stream.

Fourth, you’re right, that he doesn’t seem to condone his fans’ behavior. I detest the frequent anti argument that one of the reasons Dream should be criticized is because he explicitly uses his fanbase to attack others, or something of the sort. Personally, I think he created his fanbase in a very specific way and interacts with them in such a way so as to benefit him as much as possible, yes, but he never actually tells his fanbase to go and yell at or harrass anyone. Still, there is a significant difference between not condoning something and condemning something. It might seem unfair, and it might be annoying of me to say this, but I truly think that someone with this large a fanbase, especially one as overzealous as Dream’s, needs to be condemned every single time it goes on some kind of rampage/harrassment campaign. Either that, or Dream needs to make a definitive, permanent statement against any kind of harrassment of others on his behalf. I know he’ll occassionally make the odd tweet or serious stream addressing something his fanbase did, but one of the many reasons his fanbase keeps doing the same damn thing is because he’s so lukewarm and spotty about this condemnation. A fanbase like his needs to be given explicit guidance and boundaries for the numerous things they do in his defense- harrassing/doxing antis, harrassing people who criticize him who aren’t antis (respectful criticism, other CCs, other MCYT stans, etc.), harrassing the people he critcizes (i.e., HBomb), speculating about his personal life (his relationship with his gf, his mental health/ADHD, his romantic life, his childhood, etc.), and speculating about his relationships with his friends and colleagues.  My personal ideology is that, if you have significant influence over someone or a group of people, you are at least somewhat responsible for the things those people do or don’t do, if it at all relates back to you. I’m so fucking tired of the argument that CCs aren’t responsible for what their fans do. Obviously they aren’t responsible for every single one of their fans, and obviously they can’t fully control their fans at the end of the day. But I think there are certain things that reach such a level of extremity that does make those CCs responsible. This can be measured by either scale or intensity; that is to say, if a CC’s fanbase does things on an extremely large scale, or one person from/a fraction of the fanbase does something really extreme, then the CC is made all the more responsible. Another CC I’ve always had trouble discussing with other people on this subject is Pewdiepie, in particular, about the extremists in his fanbase. Because the things a small handful of his fans have done in reference to him and/or in his name were so fucking extreme, I thought Pewdiepie had to take at least some responsibilty. Along a similar vein, because the things Dream’s general fanbase does are so widespread and on such a massive scale, Dream has to take at least some responsibility.

Fifth, okay. Hmmm. I want to tackle this point you made about the ableism he faces in some criticism of him carefully and with empathy, but not coddling. One, I do think a lot of the criticism he receives for the ways he handles criticism (post-cheating Tweets, reactions to John Swan, post-MCC HBomb stream, etc.), disregard his RSD and can be oftentimes ableist. I’ve actually encountered people irl who criticize this aspect of Dream’s character, and have had to explain to them their disregard for how ADHD/RSD affect neurodivergent people’s reactions to criticism. But - and this is a big, and very controversial but - I think mentally ill/disordered people can 100% leverage their mental illness/disorders for the sake of manipulation. This is actually something I’ve learned from a psychiatrist, regarding the ways people I know and I handle our anxiety and depression. This manipulation can be unwitting or intentional, but it is entirely possible, and the possibility shouldn’t be entirely dismissed as ableist. Living with a mental illness or disorder that others know about/that you are very public about puts you in an interesting position to receive frequent sympathy, empathy, and/or pity. I’m not saying that empathy for Dream having ADHD/RSD is entirely unjustified; on the contrary, I have frequently expressed how I can relate to his ADHD symptoms and have defended him for expressing those symptoms, both on mcytblr and in real life. I am saying that Dream fans tend to use his ADHD as a kind of shield for a lot of criticism levied against him, including the supposition that he could be manipulating his fanbase to defend him because of his public expressions of RSD. So yes, my theory is that Dream knows how to levy every aspect of his life for his personal gain and for the growth of his brand, and that includes his ADHD. I think he has courage for his openess about his ADHD, I think his openness has contributed to the rise in awareness of mental health and empathy for neurodivergent people within Gen Z, and I think at least some of his expressions of RSD publicly/online weren’t intentionally made public. All that being said, I also think he has to know just how much his fanbase cares about defending him for his ADHD, and I think he has to know that some of the things he does related to his neurodivergence endear him to his audience, in a coddling, baby-ing, mildly ableist sorta way.  Maybe this is all incredibly presumptuous of me. Of course, I can never know the real intentions behind any Dream video, Tweet, or stream. Maybe I’m just projecting, because I can see myself doing just this, if I had the maturity I had circa 2018-2019. Idfk know, man.

Sixth, I actually agree with you here, people probably do get more mad at his fanbase than him. Dream puts out content pretty seldomly, considering the frequency of content output for other Youtubers/streamers in his field/at his brand size. And yet, he has received masses of criticism. Considering that the things Dream himself does/says do not entirely correlate with the amount of criticism he receives, I think it’s a logical assumption that a lot of that criticism actually goes back to the size of his presence online, rather than the man himself. That is to say, because of the massive community he’s amassed, the exponential growth of his fanbase, their presence on every single social media site and in virtually every single Internet space/fandom, and the size of his metaphysical presence in his fields, Dream is much bigger than the man himself, so the criticism he receives will, at least in part, be a direct or indirect result of all these other aspects of the Dream brand.  Something I don’t think many Dream fans/stans, or even most MCYT fans in general, understand, is that Dream isn’t just “one guy” in the eyes of the Internet- at least, not anymore. He hasn’t been for nearly a year. Like Pewdiepie, Mr. Beast, and other CCs who have amassed similar levels of fame and wealth via Internet content creation, Dream is a brand now, and most people will treat him as such. He isn’t just some uwu soft boy playing Minecraft anymore. He is on a whole other level from any other MCYT in his friend circle or colleague interaction bubble. His words will never again live in a vaccum or private bubble, his friend circle will never again be under anything less than intense scrutiny, his past actions will never again be simple mistakes or silly errors, his words will never again be casual tweets or streams for laughs among a couple thousand followers. Dream’s name represents something much bigger than just the one man. As such, all aspects of his brand, including his fanbase, will tie back to him and, ultimately, to any general criticism of him.

I’m not saying I like any of this, and I actually think the evolution of influencers from people to a marketable brand with similar mechanisms, responsibilities, and liabilities as a corporation is some kind of late capitalism nightmare fuel; I’m just stating my own observations and theories as to why so much anti-Dream criticism seems to be directed at his fanbase, rather than him.

Seventh, he’s just a guy, you’re right, but I think a lot of the antis on Tumblr understand this more than you know. As I’ve seen it, the sentiment among much of the “DSMP stans DNI” crowd seems to be that of “Dream/other MCYTs are such ‘bad’ people, so why do their fans stick to these mediocre, racist men, when there are so many better people to watch/better content to consume?” We know this argument is flawed for many of the obvious reasons - the conflation of all MCYTs’ actions regardless of individual identity, the equating of a CC’s fanbase’s morality to that of the CC they enjoy watching, the exxageration of any error MCYT CCs have committed as bigotry/racism, the fundamental misunderstanding and misinformation that led antis to believe this exxageration of the facts, etc. But I want to focus on the general, underlying sentiment of, “why not watch someone better, when your creator is problematic?” Sometimes, I ask this of Dream stans. Yes, being mildly ignorant, getting involved in the scandals Dream has, and being a right-leaning/libertarian centrist in the recent past all seem like harmless things, all things considered. One could say Dream isn’t nearly as bad as many antis who are misinformed seem to believe, and that there are much worse CCs Dream stans could be watching and creating fan content for. But I think what Tumblr antis wonder is, aren’t there also much better MCYTs/CCs people could be watching and stanning? Because he’s just some guy, right? Is his content truly so exceptional or is he really so exceptional a person, that people have to stick by him, despite the things that spike up regarding his current or past actions? I think that’s what made me finally decide to stop watching Dream. I realized he was just Some Guy. The Dream Team was a comforting dynamic to indulge in, DNF was a cute ship to read and speculate about, and Manhunts were fun videos to watch; however, once the Reddit posts came out and I read them in-depth, the cost-benefit analysis tipped over to the “not worth it” side for me. I realized Dream’s content, while fun and comforting, was not entirely unique, and wasn’t worth sticking around for, given what I then knew about his past political leanings. If he is just Some Guy, then there are a hundred more like him out there. There a hundred more ships, a hundred more found family dynamics, a hundred more entertaining and skilled Minecraft players. So while I agree with you on the point of people being allowed to love him regardless because he is just a guy, at the end of the day, I think that, if we are to believe that sentiment or use that argument in such a manner, we should also understand the flip side- that, if he is just some guy, why is it worth sticking around? To that I say, maybe because people just enjoy the simple things they enjoy.

Anyways, I wholly agree with your tl;dr. Thanks for that insanely long ask, this was a fun thing to keep me occupied while I’ve been at work, facilitating Zoom sessions this whole morning.

[krinsbez]

GI Joe: Remixed, the Sex Lives of Cobra High Command

Yeah, this is a somewhat awkward topic; our discussions can get pretty wide-ranging. I blame the combination of the Baroness and my desire to be egalitarian.

COBRA COMMANDER

CC is celibate, firstly because he's too paranoid to allow anyone be physically intimate with him, and secondly because (to quote @rk-striker-jk-5) "in his head, he's still married to Billy's mother...In his own twisted head, they're still married. And he will not break those vows. He's even still got his wedding ring tucked away somewhere."

THE CRIMSON TWINS

Tomax and Xamot are straight, and thus, rumors to the contrary, are not having sex with each other. That said, they do make a point of sharing any woman they have sex with. (They’re not comfortable being vulnerable when they don’t have each other around for backup) That quirk aside, they have a fairly conventional sex life for billionaire playboy businessmen; they date models and starlets, have affairs with other men's wives, enjoy the company of high-class escorts and strippers, and routinely flirt with and/or seduce various female subordinates. Note that their idea of flirtation often segues into sexual harassment, and their idea of seduction often involves coercion, but again, that's fairly conventional for what they pretend to be. The main departure, again asides from the sharing, is that, when they feel a need to re-assure themselves that they haven't gotten soft, they will commit some act of heinous violence, which sometimes will be rape. Though that's not really a sex thing. Additional note: -Interestingly, their sexual fantasies tend to involve female Joes, and to a lesser extent, high-ranking Cobras; in particular Lady Jaye and the Baroness.

DESTRO

Destro will only sleep with a woman if A: she is willing to make a commitment, B: that he can imagine her as the mother of the next Laird of Castle Destro*. That's not to say he expects every relationship with a woman to go to that far, but he isn't going to take any chances. Needless to say, he was smitten by the Baroness early on, but it took awhile before she was willing to accept criterion A. *Yes, that includes Zarana. She is beautiful, intelligent, ambitious, ruthless, witty, deadly, has the strength of will to keep the Dreadnoks in line, all of her relatives are also badass, and she understands the importance of family. True, while she lacks class and social graces, those can be taught; in fact the possibility of playing Henry Higgins was part of the appeal. Of course, since he was carrying a torch for the Baroness, and her primary interests in the relationship, asides from the obvious, were twitting the Baroness and trying to convince herself she wasn't in love with a Joe, things didn't work out. Additional notes: -Despite being picky about the women he sleeps with, Destro isn't always as careful as he should be; in his youth he fathered an illegitimate child, Alexander. Their relationship is...complicated (the character was introduced in Devil's Due Publishing's comics, so I'm not familiar with him, and we haven't had much discussion about him). -The persistent rumors that Destro has been with Zarana and the Baroness at the same time are false, since Zarana can't stand the Baroness, and the feeling is mostly mutual. Of three of them, it's the Baroness who finds said rumor least offensive; Zarana is offended at the idea that she needs help to please her man, while Destro is outraged that the minions are discussing his personal life. Meanwhile the Baroness A: believes that monogamy is an obsolete bourgeois concept and B: is European.

THE BARONESS

The Baroness is about 80-90% hetero; she'll sleep with another woman if she's particularly attractive, but in general she prefers men. As one would expect from someone as passionate as the Baroness, she's got a pretty healthy, uh, appetite, and is not shy about satisfying it, which means that yes, she's usually the seducer rather than the seduced. She also, as stated above, considers monogamy to be obsolete bourgeoisie nonsense and love a weakness, so she uh, has gotten around a bit. That said, she's basically a romantic at heart, so she's more of a "has lots of short-lived but really intense relationships" kinda gal than a love-em-and-leave-em type. Granted, if a man doesn't meet her expectations she will drop 'em quick; CF the Crimson Twins, whom she got with because they're hot, fit, identical twin acrobats, but found them to be low-class, egotistical, boorish weirdoes. And so, despite the sex being pretty amazing, that didn't last long. WRT said expectations, this is where it gets complicated, because they're kinda contradictory. First and foremost, her ideal man is as strong and dangerous as she is, if not more so....BUUUT she also wants a man whom she can control. You can perhaps see the problem. Now, the Baroness is, of course, arrogant and prideful, so she generally assumes that there is no one as badass as herself of either gender, and is willing to settle for man who approach her level; hence, for example Major Bludd. BTW, note that, in that case, the fact that he was both married and famously devoted to his wife made him particularly attractive; she likes a challenge. But eventually she got bored with him and he became increasingly guilty about the whole "adultery" thing, so yeah. It was, at least, a relatively amicable break-up, and they retain a good working relationship with a great deal of mutual respect. Anyways, she was, of course, smitten with Destro almost immediately. This loss of emotional control terrified her, and she spent an extensive period of time denying her feelings, though she insisted that the issue was Destro's insistence on commitment. She also genuinely couldn't make up her mind whether his being able to resist her charms sufficiently to insist on conditions was a turn-off or turn-on, owing to the aforementioned "wants a man who's as strong as her, but weak enough she can control" thing. Eventually, she got to the point that she realized that A: what she really wanted was less a man she could control and more a man who wouldn't try to control her, and B: Destro loved her enough to be that, and they're relationship has been fairly blissful ever since, the occasional backstab aside. Additional notes: -When she was in college, the Baroness briefly dated a young American from a blue-collar background, partially as an expression of her Marxism, partially due to a desire to annoy her parents; when he realized she was interested in him only as an American of blue-collar origins, he broke up with her. She has entirely forgotten his name and face, and has no idea that he's now the Joe codenamed Steeler. -At one point, the Baroness did make a token attempt at trying to get along with Zarana, mostly because she wanted to sleep with her. Since Zarana is 100% straight, this did not work out, and is an additional reason for the Baroness' hatred of the Dreadnok.

KRAKE

Krake may be gay, I haven't decided. Regardless, despite what the rumors say, he isn't sleeping with Savane. Actually, he doesn't sleep with anyone. He gets his rocks off and then either leaves or makes who ever he just had sex with leave, depending. He may not be as paranoid as CC, but he's still pretty paranoid. Obviously, he doesn't do relationships. He also doesn't feel like wasting time and energy on seduction; when he needs some, ah, relief, he uses prostitutes. Or comfort women or whatever the male equivalent would be if we go with him being gay. He's not picky. Just as long as he remains in control and there are no emotions involved whatsoever.

DR. MINDBENDER

Despite the common rumor, Dr. Mindbender isn't asexual, although it's true he isn't attracted to humans. Despite the other common rumor, he isn't a sadist, even though he has been known to get aroused performing horrific medical experiments on unwilling subjects. No, what Dr. Mindbender is into is simply this: doing science. Or, perhaps more accurately, SCIENCE!!

SERPENTOR

Unsurprisingly given what he is, the Cobra Emperor is bisexual (his gene donors being a wide mix of sexualities), albeit with a slight preference for women. Given the kind of people he’s made from, it should also not be surprising that his sexual appetite is quite voracious, and rather...omnivorous; it’s not that he doesn’t have standards, but that his ideas of what’s sexy are very broad. He’s not above rape, but he prefers his conquests to be willing, if only for ego purposes, and is an exceptionally skillful seducer.

He is primarily interested purely in satisfying said appetite, though he’s not averse to the idea of something more serious were he to find the right woman. Which happens to be Pythona.

VENOMOUS MAXIMUS

Like all V-Troops, VM was specifically designed to have no interest in or ability to engage in sex; Dr. Mindbender didn’t want them breeding. That said, his ideas of what is and is not sexy is more-or-less the same as those of his genetic progenitor, Gen. Hawk.

Cobra-Lan sexuality does not work the same way human sexuality does, and therefore is beyond the scope of this article; it will be discussed when I get around to collating an article about Cobra-La.

[nostalgicphile]

You know what bothers me in this whole situation? The hypocrisy. if CC had named Frank or Vince showrunner & he kept the producer title, the same room of writers wouldn't cause any article to be written. This is simply an act against CC (the articles I mean, not Gillian) & it started 2 years ago. I didn't see anyone blaming Lynch for not hiring women because Twin Peaks rocks. So, I'm 100% certain that if CC had gave the journalist what they wanted no one would care about feminism.

I’m sorry, anon, I really don’t agree.

Listen, I’ve been accused of being a CC apologist (even though I STRONGLY DISLIKE his writing and approach to running The X-Files) simply because I’ve stated I don’t believe he hates women (that opinion actually led to its own little witchhunt, let me tell ya). But in this case, I don’t think Chris is being unfairly picked on. It’s just sad that no women are on the writing staff for Season 11 and I believe it’s legitimate to point that out and write about it. I believe it’s also legitimate that Gillian felt it was sad too, and said so.

But if you believe this is a personal attack on Chris consider these questions:

- Were David Lynch and/or Vince Gilligan ever accused by several women of sexual harassment on the set? (Yes, Chris was…look it up.)

- Were female leads working on a show run by Frank, Vince or David Lynch ever vocal about being offered half the salary of their equally famous male counterpart?

- Are Twin Peaks or Breaking Bad celebrated for creating a strong female role that inspired more women to go into the sciences and law enforcement?

- Are these other programs in desperate need of help in terms of the way their storytelling unfolded and the way in which women are portrayed in them?

Here is what also makes me so very sad: The X-Files could be so much more. It could be a better TV show, sure; but it could also be a game changer offscreen, as well as onscreen. It is well positioned and high-profile enough to lead by example and put a few women firmly in writers’ chairs and behind the camera as directors. It could inspire young women. I could turn to my teenaged girl in S11 - who loves this damn show too - and say, “You know what? A woman wrote this. You could write a show someday too, if you want.”

But I can’t do that now. So maybe you think people are just bitching about Chris and Gillian is just whining and biting the hand that feeds her; but if you do, you really don’t get it all. The X-Files is not the only show that doesn’t properly represent women behind the scenes; but being one of many doesn’t give it a free pass, either. Things need to change and I, for one, am really glad the press is picking up on the story. I’m glad Gillian commented on it - which took courage to do, btw. I’m proud of her and proud to be her fan. At the very least, I can say to my kid, “Here is someone who speaks up for equality even when it’s hard. You can do that too.”

[saviorownsoul]

My Thoughts on Nerfs/Buffs for OW Heroes

For the most part I think Blizzard has done a great job of balancing the game with its diverse set of heroes and unique abilities. Yes the dive meta is very annoying and feels much more luck-based than the other seasons but I think once people begin to optimize their synergies with diverse team comps, dive comp will have less value. That being said, here are my proposed buffs/nerfs/reworks for each hero as they stand now (btw this is from the perspective of a Master rank support/tank player):

Doomfist - Really hard to say how he’ll pan out in the grand meta of the game, but he seems like a potent bruiser who can peel for his backline or get a cheeky flank initiation for his team. His 4-sec instakill seems a bit much…maybe extend it to 6 seconds and give him slightly more health.

Genji - Seems alright atm, though his ult feels like one of the few dps ults that practically guarantees at least one kill everytime he uses it due to having the best initiation tool in the game (swift strike) along with cleave damage that ignores shields and matrix. Perhaps a slight nerf to it, but I wouldn’t mind if he stays the way he is.

McCree - Decrease flashbang timer, a slight buff to his damage falloff and he’ll be good.

Pharah - Honestly pretty balanced atm, a lot of ppl just don’t know how to deal with her optimally so it tends to be frustrating to fight against.

Reaper - After his life steal buff he’s super viable but I still think his teleport is booty other than for setup purposes. Just decrease the time it takes to actually teleport and I think he’ll be perfect.

Soldier 76 - Very solid right now but not broken, maybe a very small damage nerf. I wouldn’t mind if Blizz just left him alone for now.

Sombra - Honestly, I think she may need some nerfing. Yes she’s hard to play, but her ult has very little counter play except for Widow’s ult to alert you to her EMP positioning. I think once people begin to optimize her she’ll get an ult charge nerf but we’ll see.

Tracer - At the highest levels of play she is godlike. Insane mobility coupled with great damage makes her a huge asset. A good Tracer has no true counters, so I propose that she gets a slight damage nerf but her ult charge rate is increased so that she’ll have more reliable burst damage. If that’s not enough to mitigate the damage decrease they could decrease the time between her blinks so that she’s more harass-oriented.

Bastion - Honestly, he’s fine right now especially after his rework.

Hanzo - Strong and viable but scatter arrow will probably get changed sooner or later. It’s the next one-shot ability that people will call out once Hanzo makes his way further into the meta. They’ll probably just nerf its raw damage output.

Junkrat - The hero most in need of buffs/rework imo. Grenades need to be faster because they are impossible to hit anyone with that isn’t within Symmetra beam range. Also I think he should have access to two traps instead of just one, at least 50 hp buff to his tire ult, and his martyrdom passive should have more of an impact like a direct explosion upon death instead of just a bunch of grenades that never hit anyone.

Mei - Fine atm, maybe her freeze could proc slightly faster?

Torbjorn - Super underrated, I really don’t think he needs any buffing/nerfing but perhaps a quality of life change for his armor packs so that teammates know where they’re laying on the ground.

Widowmaker - Pretty good atm, I think venom mine should do a little more damage because it’s one of the least impactful skills in the game other than for calling out flankers.

D.VA - The hero most complained about atm for her unrivaled ability to completely shutdown 90% of heroes due to her matrix. Put her total health back to 500 (keep the hp:armor ratio tho) and let her matrix for 3 seconds continuously instead of 4. I think that’ll do the trick.

Orisa - Pretty solid atm, only reason she’s not played more is because dive is such a mess. Wishful thinking wants me to have her original damage output back, but as it stands now she’s fine.

Reinhardt - Once his 10% swing speed buff, charge hitbox changes, shatter debugs, and general jankness reversal hit live he will be awesome. A great change to charge that I think would make it the ultimate high risk high reward ability would be to give it a “shishkebab” effect where he can pin more than one person in one charge. Just imagine the plays… Also quality of life change that allows his teammates to see through Reinhardt while his shield is up so there's more incentive to stay behind it.

Roadhog - After careful thought I don’t think they really needed to change Roadhog the way they did even though the one shot hook combo was frustrating to play against. If Blizzard intends on keeping Roadhog like this, they should lower his hook cooldown back to 6 seconds and give him even more hp so that he could have more of a presence in the thick of a team fight. At the very least, they should just give him back the 6 second hook cooldown.

Winston - Super strong atm but I think that’s mainly from the meta rather than Winston himself. I think he’s pretty balanced but if they have to nerf him, they should just lower his damage output a bit since his value comes from the ridiculous amount of space he grants his team rather than his killing ability.

Zarya - Once her graviton’s true root capabilities go through to live she’ll be right as rain. A CC ult that takes almost 3 minutes to build shouldn’t be countered by a hero movement ability with a 2 second cooldown.

Ana - Fine.

Lucio - Also fine.

Mercy - Rework her rez to be lower risk lower reward but give her an extra ability that gives her staying power in team fights.

Symmetra - Pretty balanced but I think she should have a “continuing ult” capability where she is rewarded for continuously damaging the enemy team while her tele/shield gen are active. It’s a bit awkward when she relies on spamming chokes with her orbs and cheeky flanks to build ult…and then you get ult and have it out for extended periods of time…

Zenyatta - Is fine the way he is.