#esp in corporations but in fandoms too!

[jiabeewrites]

i'm sorry but where the fuck was my silk cameo??? like??? hello there's a whole fucking spiderverse and YOU DONT HAVE A SILK????

WHERE IS THE CINDY MOON APPEARANCE I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR. WHERE THE FUCK. WHERE.

ATSV WHERE DID YOU HIDE THE KOREAN SPIDERWOMAN PLS RETURN HER TYTY

[taldigi]

If you can save the pre-canon characters and Kagami, then you can definitely save Ikuto Tsukiyomi.

Also, which do you think is worse, Miraculous or Shugo Chara?

rrrgh ok like

tldr: ML by a long shot.

So like, preface: I watched the anime like, 10-ish years ago and only read the first.. 2 books.

Shugo has Amu/Ikuto have the age diff thing (OBJECTIVELY why? This was an author choice when they absolutely could have been the same age or at least closer in age. Ikuto could have still been taller than Amu-- but 11 is WAY too young for ANY romance arc in general and SEVERAL characters fall into it. They literally didn't have to, as nothing story-wise is impacted by this) and also the incest thing with Utau was BAD (but sadly I've seen worse & she does eventually get over it and at LEAST Ikuto IS outwardly uncomfortable with it vs more modern takes on it where the bother is either clueless or lowkey into it. Not justification BUT still credit where it's due.).

There is a lot I like about SC in terms of how the Magical Girl/Magic system works. I like the Charas & what they represent and the Character Changes & the narrative of finding yourself and becoming the person you want to be and being happy. I like it being magical girls vs a giant corporation that is using the charas to obtain ultimate power. Also theming like said organization being called Easter and how Amu & Ikuto's power artifacts are two items that are like.. so intertwined with each other (a lock and key respectively)

That kinda stuff appeals to me. Good idea, not a great execution. I'd love to see a "Shugo Chara Remix" of sorts where a lot of the weird stuff worked out of it and maybe a better focus on story and character building.

That being said, the overall story and supporting cast never appealed to me and I fell off it when the story wasn't about Amu or Ikuto or Easter. I never grew to like the side characters and I felt it wasn't adventurous enough. But otherwise it was.. inoffensive? It's very average shoujo for it's time. I know it's one of the earlier takes & a pre-madoka magica magical girl story.. so it's not as influenced by it- which is somethin' I appreciate.

but ML has a lot of outright terrible writing, design, and people behind it. While, again, ML has ideas i like- where SC simply failed, ML tried to reinvent it and went the extra mile to infuse as much french hatred as possible into it.

ML has a lot of sexism, racism, and nationalistic issues. A big point is the appropriation of Chinese mysticism- and it's not even in a fun way like Xaolin Showdown (and iirc Omi was literally yellow) Sabine is a literal caricature, "ideal chinese wife" for TA's self-insert, Marinette needs to be taught her family's language by a rich white boy, and all of her asian traits have been washed out for blue eyes and a whitewashed design ( and don't character design me when other asian characters in the show are explicitly designed differently). and ddddd ont get me STARTED on the native american bullshit that shit was SO fucked and NOBODY talks about it anymore.

The Kwami are great and I think they're a naturally better take on the Charas from SC- at least, initially. Later development and shit like "true forms" and them being their own separate creatures that are subjugated on the regular by everyone (including the mains) is not a great take.. esp when a huge point the show AND THE FANDOM is obsessed with is this idea that "Adrien is trapped and hates it" and then turns around and is like "Well, the Kwami are happy with marinette or their holders so they're okay with being trapped and unable to say no to their owners". It is a huge yikes for me.

I think the precanon take- where they are born from wishes someone makes and has an innate connection to that person & their personality is way more intimate and interesting rather than the "miraculous" iteration. If there is one thing i HATE is when the magical companions are treated like accessories or tools by the heroes (t's an issue i have with pokemon as of late, as the series seems to be putting a backseat on pokemon to focus on the human characters) and Miraculous does that a LOT. Kuro Neko was a huge deciding factor in terms of how I feel about ML, since they not only demolished Plagg's character, but Adrien's as well- by establishing that Adrien does not give a fuck about Plagg and would gladly use him as an emotional "fuck you" to LB- a huge blow considering that Plagg has been consistently the only person to give a consistent fuck about Adrien, despite how often Adrien pushes him around.

Characters in ML are genuinely unlikable, too. I elaborated on it before with Adrien- but Alya is bad too. She's terrible to Marinette. Nino is bad, because of how he acted in Rocketear and the episode where he Akumatizes someone on purpose & targets Gabriel. Marinette is bad too, she's a mix Mary-Sue and Anti-Sue in all the worst ways. The worst part is that they could be better, they are close to being good. Their bases as characters are good. But their writing destroys them.

...and it all boils down to writing. You can have the most interesting characters and the most amazing worldbuilding and the most lovely art style and animaiton- but if the story is bad, then it's not going to be fun to watch. And while SC does stumble in that direction, ML goes full tilt, yelling "HOW MANY EPISODES CAN WE HAVE JIGGLE PHYSICS ON MARINETTES BOOBS BEFORE ANYONE NOTICES" the entire way while the camera slowly zooms in on Ladybug's inflating ass. (and I wish I was joking, but it's true. Ladybug's butt is bigger than Marinette's and one of these characters is wearing a skintight suit.)

Oh yeah, and ML's character design sucks. Objectively. Literally everyone is worse off than precanon. Marinette looks worse- the flats and pink pants look terrible! Adrien looks Worse, his model is weirdly contrasted to his kinda baby-face and his color scheme is frustrating and childish. Chloe looks worse, both in comparison to Melody and her white outfit. Alya looks worse, as she lost a lot of her charm and cuteness to some.. weird hipster vibe. The Kwami lost a TON of cuteness and look way more alien then they need to be-- All of the characters are abrasive to my design sensibilities... Except maybe Alix I like the snake thing going on. A shame they made her a fuckin' Alice in wonderland reference instead of something interesting.

so yeah, ML by a long shot.

[areiphilos]

2, 3, 11, 15, 16, 21, 31, and 32 for the ask game :3 (these are very carefully chosen asks lol, i’m very nosy)

2. least favorite character but a moment where you liked them — louis de point du lac is a character i really don't like. however, in the amc series for interview with a vampire, i really enjoyed him going after the white men who'd ground him down and i liked when he actually was pretty determined to resist lestat. first time that character has ever had a backbone.

for the outsiders, johnny stabbing bob is an all time fave and i like his moments with ponyboy.

3. favorite character moment where they did something you wouldn’t have done — ponyboy finding it in him to forgive or at least consider bob as a person was deeply moving to me and something I Would Not Do.

11. advice for anything — when you outline for writing, try not to put too many details in your outline. for some people, if you're over detailed, it feels like the fic is "written." just put in just enough to get what you need and then keep moving. also if you want good stationery and pens, jetpens.com is the best way to get it.

15. hot fandom take? — dallas winston is a human being, with multiple facets of personality. he is not wholly dependant on johnny cade's existence, and the reason he's nice to johnny is because dallas knows that hitting or being too cruel to an abused kid is not, in fact, okay. it's not romance.

16. dream job as a child? — i wanted to be so many things, including an author. i would never step foot into the literary world as a professional now, it doesn't seem worth it.

21. been in any fandom drama? — LMFAO. not in public! the one time someone tried it, they got suspended on ao3.

31. something your mutuals/followers didn’t know about you — i shaved my tongue with my mom's razor when i was three, i work a boring corporate job, and i have a mohawk.

32. do you want/need a beta reader? — @monstrology is my main beta reader but i would never say no to more, esp for batpony and greekverse stuff.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Army are upset cause Hybe is investing marketing $$ on New Jeans and Txt while apparently not doing so much for Bts solos.

But that's how Hybe would move right? They need the 2 groups to ramp up quick to help make profits in the absence of bts.

Hybe didn't have to do that with Bts cause armys were doing free marketing. But it's different with NJ and Txt. Those groups are yet to build a strong fb that'll carry on their own without Hybe doing much.

Did the armys think Hybe would wait until BTS finished military, to earn money for them? They are heavily promoting the other 2 groups cause they need to show investors they are functioning fine without Bts members (military or disband, they need a back up plan, esp after they saw how stocks dropped after festa).

Yes, I love for them to give some energy towards the members' solo work too.

But promoting NJ and txt now, is a business move too. And we shouldn't be surprised it's happening.

Army are angry at a corporation that does exactly what a corporation would do. BTS, TXT or NewJeans, they are making money from all of them. Why are the fans so disilusioned right now? They thought that BigHit was like a family and they will only ever care about BTS because if it weren't for them, they wouldn't be where they are? It would be stupid from a business perspective to not invest at least equally as much into other groups and to basically show that your business model works. You don't put all your eggs in one basket. They did that during a time when they basically had only BTS, but once the company went public and made several acquisitions and turned into Hybe, with BH as a separate company, the game changed because they play for the big league now. And as much as they continue with their rhetoric of "we are what we are because of BTS, they're special", money will always come first.

I'm not surprised they are heavily promoting TXT and NewJeans and by also mentioning BTS in the same headline. The point is not to shade BTS (why would they do that, the group is still on their payroll and that group still brings revenue), but to show how well the company is doing, that all their efforts and investment proves to be even more succesful because of the resources and power they have now, ergo these new groups are capable of achieving more in less time than BTS did. And it's logical. They didn't have the same resources back when BTS was in the same position. Basically, this is the result of BTS paving the way and they are doing it for the other groups in the company. Except army only likes to say that line but doesn't want anyone to ever have a similar success and opportunities. Which is once again a waste of energy because they have this nonsense fear that BTS will become irrelevant. And that happens because they fight their little battles daily. All of the members could retire tomorrow and be out of the spotlight and never do anything music related and in 40 years people would still know about BTS and who these people are. That's the level they reached.

Streaming like crazy for BTS now just because Ditto is on top shows how out of touch army will become. NewJeans is really successful and not just with their loyal fanbase. And it shows. People are actually listening to Ditto and OMG, including the GP and it actually reflects how their songs are being received. And it's visible, it just depends what spaces each one observes. For those living in some bubble thinking that Vibe is the hottest song right now, they are wrong. But Army are streaming it like crazy when they find out NJ are on top. Not because they are obsessed with the song and it's so good. It's only a pride and numbers game.

I can understand army wanting the members' solo albums to be shipped in the appropriate time frame because they need that for charting. I understand it because that's what every fandom focuses on and if they have to play the game, then at least all of them can have an equal start. I can also understand the confusion because the company has no issue keeping it on schedule with the albums for TXT while the situation for the BTS/solo albums was sort of chaotic for each of the three of them who already released something. Do I think the hashtags and the the campaign will work? I don't know. I lean towards the company not giving a shit, but who knows? Shipping it on time or later, the fans still make the purchase and the money will still reach Hybe/BH. So ultimately, will they care? An option would be for fans to boycott but it will also hurt the artist who doesn't deserve any of that.

I also think that the company has the resources to equally promote all their groups and their solo artists, but it seems that it's not their priority. I think they're not doing a very good job with the solo albums, but compared to the opportunities other solo idols have in the industry, the BTS members are doing more than fine. The doors will open for them and a delay in shipping of their album will not cast such a big shadow that it will ruin the artist's chance of his music doing good.

[chicknparm]

I think there’s such a thing as healthy cynicism but it’s a shame social media doesn’t really allow for such a thing. Either you’re for something or you’re against it. You’re cool and safe or you’re problematic. You’re hopepunk or you’re an edgelord.

I’ve not yet seen the Barbie movie (and am not in a rush to do so) but I believe when people say it’s extremely fun and well-made and enjoyable. Greta and that cast and crew are far too talented for it to be a bad movie. But it’s still an advertisement, and is still image laundering for a massive corporation, that everyone involved in the production, marketing, and consumption is complicit in. It’s okay, and a good thing even, to be skeptical and cynical about that. It is possible for good art to exist for nefarious reasons. That’s like, the entire Thing with all of gundam lmao.

It’s really cool that one of the biggest music acts right now is a trio of hugely talented queer women who succeeded on the strength of their songwriting, and that their music and performances are responsible for so much joy among lgbt women right now, myself included. It’s also okay to point out that this kind of thing never happens by accident, and is absolutely the latest step in a years-long marketing push by one of said group’s members for whom TS-level superstardom is obviously the goal. TS also found success through her songwriting, but it can’t be overstated that she never could’ve taken the swings that she’s taken in her career without building a massive fanbase with an absolutely deranged level of loyalty. What TS did through connecting to children through vivid, youthful, romantic songwriting and fairytale imagery, PB is doing by first making herself the ultimate Relatable pop star (esp in the earlier fake_nudes era) and now by fully embracing the Queer Joy/Kiss Your Friends vibe. That’s all cool, good for her, but it’s also okay to be cynical about the fact that these types of performances are just not possible for women who aren’t cis/white/attractive! Cool that PB and LD get to kiss each other and perform with their titties out, but 1: they are doing so while charging crazy prices to come watch them do it, 2: I would be arrested for doing that! Ditto for them making a show of performing in “Drag” in TN. I don’t doubt for a second any of their Allyship to the trans community, but the gesture itself isn’t that radical; women presenting a cartoonishly exaggerated performance of femininity surely ruffles conservative feathers, but it’s not under legal threat, there was no risk involved. It was much for effective as publicity, which was the primary intention.

It’s also very cool that the biggest video game in the world right now (and the presumptive GOTY) is an independent, (primarily) single player story driven CRPG that offers the truest role playing experience that a AAA game has offered in a decade. It is okay to be cynical about the fact that the very same people tearing into it for being Woke Propaganda also use it as a weapon to harass games journalists and developers. When a handful of devs speak with frustration about how the conditions for BG3 were impossibly perfect, and that basically no other AAA dev would be allowed the scope, freedom, time, and resources to make something like that, it of course gets twisted into “lazy game devs and journalists HATE this game because it doesn’t feed Globalist Greed.” It’s also okay to be cynical about Fandom As Identity as it pertains to this game, as we see more and more people make it to the endgame which is comparatively unpolished, unfinished, and at times genuinely broken. This has caused some blemishes on its sterling reputation, and of course people freak out. “There’s no way that anyone who isn’t trolling gives this game anything less than a 10. Maybe a 9.5 if you encountered bugs.” Something connected with people in a huge way, but that connection and widespread praise isn’t enough. It must be universal. Dissent is tantamount to violence. There’s an extra layer of cynicism I feel here too, and that’s centered around the miraculous timing of this game for WOTC. When trust in that company is at an all-time low, and there’s finally (finally!!) some momentum in getting people to try other tabletop games, in swoops BG3 reminding people “noooo don’t leave D&D behind, tieflings are so sexy haha.” Absolutely disastrous timing for indie ttrpgs!

Anyway tl;dr I wish people were more skeptical/cynical/aware of when they’re being manipulated by media and marketing, and had the cognitive capacity to recognize that something can be both a well-crafted and affecting piece of art, as well as an attempt to separate you from your money.

[inchidentally]

Seems to be a lot of you joining fandom for some reason so here's a helpful education to pass around and learn from:

don't put this 1D fandom rpf throwback garbage in the main tags, esp Oscar's tag :)

it's not "some of F1 Fandom" who know Lando and Oscar are friends and are actually what Lando refers to as the strongest teammates - and Oscar as his own strongest teammate - it's everyone except weirdos who take rpf and bromances too seriously.

I actually ship carlando and even I am icked by every carlando interaction this past weekend being created for advertising for F1TV and a carlando "breakfast" being for Lando's ad for his dad's scooter company. Caco has been cornering Lando every chance he's gotten and hustling to get Carlos' popularity up bc they're trying to get him the RB seat. it's incredibly transparent. (it's also funny bc Carlos himself made the win and podiums all about him and Charles since y'know, teammates and friends)

Melbourne was a working weekend for Lando and a trip home to see family for Oscar. Lando, Max and Oscar were in the same hotel and hung out away from fans because weirdly enough, sometimes friends choose to hang out and not put it online*

Carlos and Lando forget the other exists for months at a time and their friend groups don't interact or overlap. yes, Lando is absolutely friends with Carlos and some of his family and it's very sweet<3 no, they're not even close to being considered close friends as they've both said. (Carlos specifically says Lando is not "a close friend who give everything to each other" because they're rivals but maybe when they've retired they can be, and Lando said the bromance angle is mainly for the cameras)

Daniel and Lando are absolutely buddies<3 but Lando himself said that he and Martin only made the 48h detour to Daniel's this past winter because they wanted to get out of Bali and their trip to Finland wasn't due to start yet. other than that, Lando and Daniel live entirely separate lives with Martin is their only common friend outside F1 and don't rank anywhere near close friends.

*Oscar is intensely private and doesn't allow any of his down time to be put online anymore after the Alpine fiasco made him wary of social media (he even limits how much he posts his own gf to keep certain fans away from her) which is why we only hear after the fact about him and Lando hanging out and talking outside of F1 commitments - like spending the evening in Vegas together, sharing private flights, eating dinner together, mutual friends etc. hell, they don't even post when they hang out before and after race commitments despite being seen on other people's cameras. everyone who cares already knows this about them. would we like more content? yes. is it actually quite sweet that they choose to class each other with the stuff in their lives that isn't for fan consumption? yes<3

Oscar is the only one of Lando's teammates to be friends with - or I think even know beyond basic greetings? - Max F, who says he has a solid relationship with Oscar. if you're not good with Max F then you're not very deep into Lando's life.

Lando, Carlos and Daniel do the exact same James Corden fake gay for laughs shtick bromance with every single teammate they've ever had in exactly the same way. lots of rough housing, lots of playing gay chicken, lots of fangirl-targeted bromance talk. funnily enough, actual queer ppl like myself kinda get the ick over men in bromances pretending to be gay and then laughing as if acting gay is a wildly hysterical joke :) I'll enjoy it too for the most part and it's not necessarily ill-intentioned. but yes, the reason they laugh is because playing gay with each other is considered a joke.

Oscar and Lando happen to not do any of that PR/bromance/gay chicken stuff which ironically, considering your standards, means the friendship we actually see is more reliably honest than ones that are specifically used for social media engagement and corporate advertising by F1 and team sponsors.

I'm assuming you skip literally all landoscar content but skafgksjafg imagine watching even just this or this and getting the "ick" like what a weird gross way to think!

in summary for you and the influx of 1D-kpop-whatever rpf-carlando/dando pipeline people: Lando and Oscar are not intended for you specifically because they don't do the same repeated bromance that Carlos did with Nico, Max, Lando and now with Charles - and of course Daniel with well, half the grid and men in his life. Carlos and Lando have only twice done anything with each other outside the F1 season in 5 years of friendship and Lando and Daniel have only spent roughly 48hours together outside the F1 season in 3 years of friendship. so considering how much they mutually already have in common and how relaxed Lando is with him, Oscar is already off to a great start after just 1 year with Lando!

side note that "ranking" friendships of people you don't know if you're over the age of like 12 is not something to be doing publicly unless you love humiliation ig ??

and the greatest irony of all in the weird way you rank friendships is that, of the grid, Lando is more of an intimate friend with Max V than he's ever been with Carlos or Daniel. they're in and out of each other's houses and the families know each other and they have mutual non-F1 friends and Max V is even in on the gaming stuff too. but shocker, they choose not to do a big bromance or act gay for laughs or constantly post their time together for engagement. they mention it offhand or someone else does but they never blow it up into a bromance ship name or try to capitalize on it. Max famously values his privacy and only allows Kelly to post private content of his life. and Lando has a whole set of friends he's known since his karting days who he no longer posts and who don't post him for privacy reasons <3

so if all that gives you the ick and you assess friendships and intimacy based on how much they're played up for cameras and social media then stay out of the main tags and stop talking to everyone else in fandom bc you're weird and we don't want you :)

posting this just bc again imagine being icked by this

I wish I would understand why some of the F1 Fandom think there’s ANYTHING between Lando and Oscar. They give me the icks together and from all I have seen they don’t even spend time together. He’s the only McLaren teammate Lando had/has I can’t wrap my head around. Lando spends his free time and off time with both Dan and Carlos and yeah, whatever people try to see here, it’s just icks for me.. wish that ship would never left the harbour to begin with. But live and let live right?

[orange-plum]

As a fellow artist who is also enduring the shift from art as a fun creative medium in fandom spaces, to specific daily content TM.

Do you think it will ever shift back? Or do you think it is going to get worse from here on out? Do you have any thoughts on how artists can feasibly push against this?

Or is it a thing where you think that any real art engagement, is going to have to once again fall back into more traditional normie spheres (?) I don’t know if I explained this properly, but I would love to hear your thoughts if you have any.

Boof. Some of y'all came out swinging with the big art questions lol

Personally, and take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I've been in art/fandom spaces for almost 20 years now. Today's art/fandom climate is drastically different than even 6 years ago, if you can believe it (obv there are consistencies, but I'm esp speaking on how I interacted in both fandom and webcomics),

And I hate to be the glass half empty guy, but unless something monumental changes in the internet climate, with multiple variables, I see it getting worse, not better. But that's partially on how corporations influence/run the apps we all utilize. Right now, I'd even go so far as to say an entire generation is being brought up with fast consumerism which is unfortunately resulting in some sense of entitlement. And it's not just gen-z getting influenced, don't get me wrong. I don't buy into that stupid generational war crap, so I’m not meaning to single anyone out. But I think younger gen-z have been raised on an internet vastly different than what I was. Hell, the entitlement in general on the internet is kind of disheartening.

But to get back to the core route, there has been this weird expectation from multiple apps and companies that art needs to be frequent to be relevant. Comics need fast updates, and even still engagement on virtually any form of art, unless you have a huge following, is so little. For example, back before webcomics became such a bloated industry, so let's say 2016 as an example of this, Satan and Me would get hundreds of comments per episode, and on tumblr it would get even upwards of thousands of notes/reblogs. Nowadays, tumblr SaM gets a few hundred notes, and the updates get anywhere between 20-50 comments. The view count has been axed tremendously.

A lot of these sites have an algorithm set up too, and restrictions. Sites like twitter and instagram feel like they actively work against art promotion. I do think the situation could get better, but it would take a loooot of unified artist pushback, as well as some of these apps changing to accommodate their artists who use them. These are big ifs.

With quick consumerism, less engagement, app dissatisfaction of "slow updates" building that expectation of pumping out art faster for audience consumption, and an overall unwillingness to accommodate artists to promote their work, I can't see the internet art environment getting better any time soon.

My best advice would be: unless you're basing income off of the art you produce, try to get more into self-enjoyment rather than outside sources providing you fulfilment in your art. I'm lucky that I've been able to build a pretty hefty following over the last almost decade, but, god forbid (knock on wood), if that were to all fall away and I had to go back to school for a different career path, I assure you I'd never stop drawing. You simply cannot create good art solely for engagement. I don't believe that's possible; there's no heart in completely corporate art.

I do pray for the art community, tho. I hope someday to see some wins in our corners, cuz it's been so bleak the last IDK 5 or so years.

[nereb-and-dungalef]

Oml I hate Amazon as much as anyone but "fake fans joining from Amazon is the reason people ship Silvergifting" is just so wrong on so many levels

Firstly, on this blog we ship Sauron with anyone we want please and thank you 👍

Even with the Amazon series, which doesn't even adapt the Silm, I highly doubt there even are any fake Silmarillion fans on Tumblr, esp with the fandom (at least as it was when I first joined it) being barely comprehensible even for people who read the damn book

If people are actually joining the fandom for the TV show, good on them. Hopefully they'll realize that the Silmarillion is much richer and more full of meaning than a serialized tv show designed to make an exploitative corporation look good. (I welcome new fans but will always be a Jeff Bezos anti.)

I too was a cringe teenager when I first read the Silmarillion even if it was for more "pure" reasons like uhhhh, impressing my crush who was really into LotR. The Russingon fanfic I wrote was hilariously incompliant with canon, I really didn't know shit, and even having been in the fandom for going on six years, there are still characters whose names I have to look up. I don't think you could find anyone who actually knows Everything About Tolkien's Universe, literally even Christopher Tolkien got a ton of flack for mistakes in the published Silmarillion. So yeah, imo the only thing required to be a True Silmarillion Fan is to just, y'know, enjoy the Silmarillion.

And that includes shipping problematic ships for whatever reason, because it's fun and juicy, because it's angsty and sad, because you're interested in the implications, because you wanna fuck Sauron personally, whatever, you are literally allowed to imagine toxic relationships existing lmao?? Pretty off the wall that anyone would try to call Silvergifting shippers fake fans, people have been shipping that at least for longer than I've been in the fandom.

TL;DR Amazon is bad, new fans are good, ship whoever you want with Sauron, gatekeeping is stupid, uh, go watch the Finrod and Lay of Leithian rock operas they're really good, yeah

[sugar-petals]

What do you think makes baby armys lean more to hyung line or maknae line when picking a bias ?

in bts’ early days, the maknae line was uproarious: jimin being all upfront, jk hardcore rebellious (he still is, but less so), taehyung was wilding. on the other hand, the hyungs were concerned and serious as fuck about bts’ path. people who joined army back then would have similar topics in their life. maknae stans were looking for breaking-free moments and an idea of unrestricted fun and friendship, while hyung stans wanted to get their head in the game, looking for busy role models and lifestyle validation. that dual appeal of that made the group take off only 3 years later once their music hit a collective nerve.

these days, said dynamics are flipped. the hyungs are going more and more buckwild with every year, and the maknaes are truly changed men with strongly developed philosophies. the mature-too-early hyungs aged backwards under intense pressure, the maknaes quickly forwards because of well, also pressure. veteran armys have gone through that 180-maneuvre themselves. the hyung stans from back then like myself are insane now, and the veteran maknae stans are all 1000% focused on getting it right instead of acting up lmao! 

meanwhile, baby armys will orient themselves accordingly. the maknae folk will gravitate towards jimin’s quest for identity and boundary, like jk for his hard work and developed aesthetic, look towards tae to find out how life is worth living in earnesty with a good heart. on the other hand, new armys leaning more to the hyungs do it because of their energy. they like the courage and sass that jin stands for leaving his mom image behind, are inspired by hoseok being so bright and powerful, feel heard by yoongi who has a raging inner turmoil and charismatic meme man behind the domestic surface, and also admire RM for juggling everything corporate trying to retrieve a carefree self while at the same time wanting to change the world. 

the makaes sure are still playful and the hyungs (esp rap line) work-oriented, but the type of people drawn to them are entirely different than older gen armys. if you would’ve stanned the maknaes in debut days, the same person would be drawn to the older hyungs now. they loosened up, and the maknaes are the wise ones with a big message now, and they carry responsibility for the bulk of fans to aid namjoon. interesting exchange inside the group and in the fandom. who knows, the cycle might flip back sooner or later.

[cannibal-wings]

Ok Outlast fandom, esp Trager, Eddie and Variant fans... I require your input.

I'm writing a Camerashipping wing au (have been for a while) and I'm jumping back into working on it. Without spoiling too much, the basic plot is that instead of Project Walrider Murkoff is working on a gene splicing project to make human/animal crosses for both utility and cosmetics.

I'm heavily debating having Trager still get punished by Murkoff despite spearheading the program himself. Or maybe something goes wrong and he splices himself.

Anyways, I have a lot of characters to do splices with and while I have ideas for everyone, only Miles, Way and David are set in stone. With Chris being a very, very, high possibility of a utility type boar or bear.

But I need suggestions! Esp for minor characters like Pyro, Silky, Frank, Dennis, etc. If you got a fave Variant go ahead and suggest. Also open to suggestions for Eddie and Trager. I was thinking utility big cats for both but I'm unsure.

Definition explanations:

Utility types have a function, think utilizing dog noses, bear strength and claws, functional bird wings. Things Murkoff could sell to the military or other corporations as tools. Anything that could serve a function to enhance humans for work.

Cosmetic types are for selling to average people. Think pretty peacock tails, cat ears and tails, dog ears, etc. These are less focused on use and more as permanent accessories.

No characters are going to be full anthro furry types. Maybe like... really early in the lines, but by this point in the story everyone stays roughly human shaped, the most that'll happen will be digitigrade legs or hands with claws and slight pads.

I'd love to hear what you have to say!

[dreamhot]

Sometimes fans say and write things that make more sense and are more coherent to the plot and characters that the actual writers/creators. >< I think the problem is a fan theory/a headcanon becomes too popular and everyone wants that to be the canon and then it doesn't happen in that way. I'm saying this based on my fandom experience. I read fan things that I like but I don't expect it to be the canon. Some people can do that so they harass those who don't like their headcanon.

okay sorry to scapegoat your message for this but i want to address the first part of what you said, cos it's something we hear often (esp on tumblr), but i think it bears discussing

it's true that we sometimes see fan concepts that seem more thoughtful or sensible than what actually happens in the source media. however, i think the claim (as a general statement) does a disservice to the creators for several reasons

for one - and this is particularly relevant when talking about larger scale productions with more people involved - there is probably so much going on behind the scenes that controls the plots/characters/etc. i have sympathy for writers (or producers or directors) whose visions got snubbed in order to serve corporate & shareholder interests. in these situations, it's hard to say whether or not the fans have 'better' ideas for the media, cos we don't know what all went into shaping the final product, and it's possible that what we see as viewers is a far cry from what the creators wanted to share with the world

second, i think we're also dealing with some degree of selection bias. for every incredible fan concept that has you saying 'oh my GOD, how could the creators not have thought of this ??', you'll have scads of other fanon ideas that are . well . not good lmao. if we take the dsmp as an example, there are a handful of writers and then the rest of the team executing their ideas through improv or what have you. we're looking at a couple dozen individuals loosely working together to make a story - not the thousands (if not millions) of fans who are all teeming to share their own thoughts. of course when your source pool is that big, you're gonna find some great ideas that the writers might not have come up with! but that doesn't discredit the writers themselves - they're only human & working with their own thoughts & experiences. some amount of feedback is helpful for developing ideas ofc, but just cos they didn't come up with the same innovative concept that a fan did, it doesn't mean that the cc is less savvy

all /nm jsyk !! not trying to come after what you said specifically anon (esp cos i know you just said 'sometimes', not all the time hehe) - i just think this is an angle worth considering when making broad statements about fans knowing better than ccs. i hope this makes sense! :]

[fiovske]

liamo: m/f ships are just better, more important, more genuine, more worth pursuing, absolutely my top priority and m/m relationships are second place don't you dare criticize me bc i hinted that my character is bisexual and my fans will come after you in a second for biphobia

my sg shipping ass: )':

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and if u point that out that the same player (twice in a row now), doesn't treat mlm w the same kind of committment/depth or authenticity as they treat m/f ships, that there is a pattern that exists that makes ppl weary—

like, dude didn't even acknowledge wulf that much during dinner; spent it the whole time staring at Astrid and then after wulf left, caling her his favourite. it's not the same. I mean. look how forthright he is w jes and astrid in terms of being 'in love w them'. and how... evasive he is w wulf (nice arms is the only comment. also ppl just. assume blumentrio is canon and give him more credit than he has worked for.) and essek (mostly subtext. and forehead kiss was self-admittedly what hepulled from his scourger training, what he needed to do to keep Essek still within grasp.) there can be nuance to this but.. I'm not sure I trust liamo w that kind of narrative. I'll believe it when he follows thru in game is all. word of God-ing isn't my thing.

and if u point out that not all bi rep is good bi rep, esp w there's this tendency of repetition in how mlm is treated vs how m/f is treated, the same patterns as before and you caution urself against falling for it..... then you are the one labelled biphoic. word-of-god-ing ur character as bi and using it as a shield against any kind of criticism esp from bi ppl and their weary concerns. esp when there is no higher up corporation like Disney or DreamWorks that you can ONLY sneak in subtext so the higher ups don't double down. that is simply not an issue here. yall have full creative freedom. and yet.

hilarious to me as a bi person, that critiquing this pattern of mlm treated as somehow... inferior to m/f, teasing mlm in terms of playing w it but never following thru... if I critique this then this toxic fandom w no reading comprehension will label me as biphobic. and wanting some ace rep, some mlm/mlnb or wlw/wlnb rep, in mainstream media like CR....is asking too much I guess.

[dearly]

It's too bad fandom is so uninteresting if you're not in it because there could be a killer book about the psychology and group dynamics, esp when you throw in a meddling billion dollar corporation, soulless moguls and profitable conspiracies.

[dionaearps]

ok i’m back with an updated wishlist (that’s a little better formatting i think?? who knows). so if ur interested in anything below, send me a mesage or like the post and i’ll reach out to you! 

anyway i’m joey, a 24 y o enby (they/she), looking for some f/f, m/m or any/nb plots preferably. i prefer writing on either tumblr or discord, and plotting on discord bc tumblr ims are,,, messy. can’t link bc tumblr butchered the tags but the rest of my rp info can be found on my blog.

plots.

werewolves -  i have this idea where one muse is a werewolf who lives with their mum or dad in a cabin in the woods and second muse is a newly turned wolf who has no idea what’s going on so A has to adopt them and help them through their first shifts and introduce them to the world of wolves and what not. bonus points if its nordic/scandinavian with big norse mythology vibes

period vampires! i don’t have much to say for this one bc there’s lots of directions we could go, i would rly love to play a jodie comer fc for this perhaps..., kind of like interview with a vampire/anne rice style vampires maybe? 

i love anything to do with fae lore, esp the rly traditional stuff. also love anything from holly blacks’ fae verses. changeling plots are particuarly *chef’s kiss*. i also have a fae bard (indya moore fc) that i app’d a group with and then said group died before it started so let me live the dream.

i have a faulty android muse that i’d love to plot with in a setting based off cypberpunk 2077 (or the original 2020 ttrpg). based on this super old comic from tumblr where the android escapes half-broken from the corp that made them and breaks into a techies’ shop to fix themselves up

fantasy mumus in settings like the elder scrolls or dragon age or a generic ass fantasy settings where we could just make a bunch of ocs and stick ‘em together in a guild like in ur standard dungeons and dragons set up. i have a lot of dnd ocs. and a lot of them will never be used in games so??

something rly cutesy and farmcore with like stardew valley/animal crossing/harvest moon vibes plot where its all whimsical and rural and fervently anti-capitalist but has maybe some soft fantasy vibes (look i just rewatched the animal crossing film and im,, in love once again, bonus for older muses looking for a city escape). i also saw this post that mentioned a witch running a cat shelter like that it;s thats the ship. cat shelter witch x former corporate wage slave turned farm girl. i’m a genious.

okay so my thing with fandoms like hp is that all the rps out there are canon or semi-canon and i just want all ocs, burn everything jkr loves and remake hp into something less racist and transphobic.

girl’s. boarding. schools. enough said. could either have a dark academia vibe with a murder mystery OR ghosts/cults/general spooky stuff (or both??). 

have any of y’alll read angelology? nun and a cute academic team up to stop nephilim from destroying the world with gabriel’s lyre and then it turns out nun is a nephilim and academic is like actually, nope and suddenly they’re enemies? Love that

fandoms.

so i’ll rp anything in these verses. preferably oc but there are some canons i rly want to do as well.

the elder scrolls, fallout, dragon age, the witcher, borderlands, stardew valley, dishonored, life is strange, cyberpunk 2020, animal crossing, pokemon, adventure time, she-ra and the princesses of power, the raven cycle, any holly black book, percy jackson, the magnus archives, welcome to the nightvale

particularly looking for a bubbleline or catradora plot right now!!

faceclaims.

i usually pick the fc to match the muse rather than start with fcs, but these are the ones i’m particularly interested in using! they’re not extensive lists and i’m generally open to anyone that isn’t too problematic

female - hunter schafer, zendaya coleman, barbie feirrera, natasha liu bordizzo, moon gayoung, krystal jung, neve campbell, rachel weisz, tati gabrielle, kiernan shipka, alisha wainwright, lalisa manoban, kimiko glenn, sophie skelton, naomi scott, anya chalotra, maya hawke, emmy rossum, shay mitchell, ryan destiny, lyrica okao, tessa thompson, jodie comer, arden cho, bruna marquezine, maisie williams, danielle mcdonald, aisha dee, natalie dyer, doona bae, malese jow, sofia byrant, alisha boe, medalian rahimi, hayley kiyoko, jessica parker kennedy, vanessa morgan, lana condor, summer bishil, zoe love smith, erinn westbrook, candice patton, danielle pineda, madelyn cline, madison bailey, brianne tju, park chae wo

male - rome flynn, reece king, gabriel darku, nick robinson, gavin leatherwood, aubrey joseph, keiynan lonsdale, seo kang joon, aron piper, ryan potter, michael cimino, rudy pankow, jonathon daviss, jordan fisher, avan jogia, taron egerton,

non-binary - indya moore, liv hewson, theo germaine, chella man

(look im a lesbian who only fouses on pretty girls don’t @ me)

[oodlyenough]

aight... here’s a pretty long yet tip-of-the-iceberg collection on my overall thoughts on bl3 now that i’ve finished the damn thing, every main mission & every sidequest (dynasty dash don’t interact). 

obviously mega spoilers

the good

aside from that one infuriating difficulty spike when i arrived on promethea, i had a lot of fun playing. i found the gameplay a lot smoother than the others in the series (as it should be), i liked being able to climb stuff, i liked having an easy mode tbh!!

i really liked playing amara and i like the flexibility of action skills and being able to swap on the go without having to respec. the brawl tree ended up being very well suited to my type of play, it hindered me only during boss fights and even then at least i could switch to phasecast y’know

i had a lot of big fears about what this game would do and it managed to not do anything that makes me want to, like, burn and salt the earth, so that’s a win

i thought it was pretty funny! or at least on par with the other main games, which always kind of ride the line between funny and obnoxious and sometimes misstep

i enjoyed a lot of the cast, both new characters and characters who were returning but who i had no particular feelings about before, hammerlock, zer0 and ellie as particular examples

hammerlock and wainwright were cute af and it’s nice to see a gay couple in a triple-a game 

thought the twins were fun and funny af i liked them. because fandom is Like That i was a little exhausted by troy before he even showed up but even then, like, idk i liked them as a duo and i liked the break from jack honestly 

a lot of the new gun quirks were fun. i’m not like a big... gun person... but i found some cool ones i enjoyed playing with. 

loved getting to see different planets, it was a nice break from pandora all the time. and skywell was super fun! love the low-grav playfulness from TPS without the infuriating oz kit nonsense

the little quality of life improvements from previous games were great, like fast travel from anywhere, auto-refilling ammo, etc

some of the side quests were really fun. i liked the ratch quest for rhys, the birthday party quest for mordecai, the claptrap dancing quest was sweet, the buff movie buff quest was fun, the quest where i killed grandpappy 2 seconds in and got a reward was funny as hell esp because i drove off a cliff by accident, etc

lots of people had really bad glitches and stuff but... honestly can’t relate the game ran very well for me. advantages to not marathoning it before they’ve released their first couple patches, i guess, lol 

the less good

i played a solo amara and there are some bosses that seem like they would’ve been pure hell to do alone... i was lucky and able to phone a friend for a lifeline in those scenarios (shoutout to @heavybreathingcatt and @valoscope) but if i couldn’t do that idk i would’ve just broken my controller in rage i guess lmao 

why is resurrecting each other so hard? i don’t think i’ve ever done it successfully, because it takes too long and more importantly bc while i’m doing it some enemy will just toss a grenade or punch me and i get knocked away from the ally, rendering it useless

rest in peace maya, the best res AI in the whole damn game, got me through the rampager fight her damn self

there were a lot of characters and themes and ideas that i liked in theory more than in practice... because in practice they felt like a first draft. very often i felt like i liked a thing, and then on reflection thought about nine hundred ways it could’ve been better, deeper, more emotionally resonant, more developed, whatever. 

the angel stuff was kinda nice but... also... my longest deepest sigh ever @ Poor Sad Jack Some People Terrorize Entire Planets And Abuse Their Daughters To Cope With Their Fridged Wife

like the siren lore... wish i coulda heard it without having to backtrack across every map post-game

while i found the game generally pretty funny,  almost all the emotional scenes fell completely flat for me and there were a number of scenes that SHOULD have been emotional that just were not 

for eg i am actually not upset about maya or lilith dying (or turning into the moon as it were) -- i am ok with those beats for those characters, especially lilith getting a heroic sendoff. however... both of those scenes could’ve been more impactful than they were. maya’s i think was better than lilith’s, but both of them felt flatter, either in the moment or in the aftermath, than those characters deserved. 

related: NPCs reacting to major events is fun. i liked to do the tour and check in with all my buds to get their couple custom lines after a big plot thing happened. HOWEVER... those lines are obviously timed which is *mostly* fine but in some cases really, really weird? the lines about maya should stay in rotation for a lot longer. ava shouldn’t go back to LOL LET’S STEAL two seconds after maya’s gone. i missed zer0′s maya lines entirely bc i didn’t track down zer0 on time lol. stuff like that 

the bad

i miss my girls :( we really did keep only the white men huh

the last act felt severely underbaked. i have to wonder how many rewrites this game went through, and how much the back end was slapped together last minute, or cobbled together from various drafts. a lot of this felt very first or second draft, where the characters and themes are *there* but not refined at all, or they contradict each other. the family theme that goes basically nowhere and says nothing. the way the story handles atlas vs the way the story handles jakobs vs the way the story handles corporations writ large. 

for the twins -- lack of proper emotional resonance or development for them is one of the biggest failures imo, because i think they WERE very enjoyable villains and the core concept of like... evil video game streamers is honestly on-brand and funny af for the franchise... but as soon as troy died everything went downhill? tyreen’s non-reaction to her brother dying isn’t even a reaction, it’s not even “tyreen doesn’t care she’s evil lol” which would’ve been a boring direction to take anyway) it’s just.... “we barely wrote a response don’t worry about it”. her endgame is to be a big monster because... she’s ... fame hungry? huh? her motivation fell apart.w whether they went with “troy and tyreen are shitty people who get caught up in a power struggle but ultimately love each other” OR “troy and tyreen are shitty people who turn against each other in individual bids for power” could both have been interesting stories but they did neither. 

i’m def missing some echos on the twins which brings me to another thing i hate although it’s endemic to the series and not to bl3 specifically -- hiding important lore and characterization in random echos in random places on the map without even an indication of how many there are total, how many you’ve collected, where to find them... frustrating as hell. a lot of those echos are some of my favourite material in the game! at LEAST tell me “1 of 5 echos on this map” if you don’t wanna tell me where they are! why is major lore like the twins’ backstories hidden?????? 

and bc i haven’t heard them i don’t know if it’s fandom doing what fandom always does, or if it really is the game implying tyreen is The Evil Mastermind and troy is poor manipulated brother, but either way fuck that entire noise lmao of course the women of colour in the series are just Born Evil but jack and troy and whoever else are just Sad :( fuck off actually 

typhon... sucks... what an irritating character. irritating to retcon him in as The First Vault Hunter, irritating to have him talk about shit and sex all the time, irritating to have every established NPC be like oh wow my HERO typhon deleon what a HERO i LOVE him, irritating that we skate over his parenting failures, irritating that he has a fridged beloved wife, ESPECIALLY irritating he gets a memorial sidequest and maya didn’t . just. bad.

aurelia is evil now cause reasons... bad... 

vaughn also bad lmao i can’t believe they made amara yell “blood feud”... disgusting... 

the playable had no role in the story. they’re just a fly on the wall in every cut scene. this is whack in general, and a crit i can apply to all of the main borderlands games, however it is extremely jarring to play amara in a siren-heavy game and have no one acknowledge it. 

OVERALL... I guess like a B-? Maybe a B. I had fun playing it and I’m still having fun running around in Mayhem Mode and I am def looking forward to the DLCs. Gameplay is great. But while I had hoped this installment would take the storytelling of the main games a step further, it actually felt like a step back in virtually every respect. 

[yaz-the-spaz]

I've had this question on my mind for a while but I don't know how to properly phrase it. So it's no secret that the music industry is BRUTAL (Sony in particular). And we've had music artists with far less fame and success than the boys describe it as "signing a deal with the devil" and many people say that the artists are pretty much slaves to the corporation. And we obviously know that the boys don't have it easy in the slightest, especially because they had to make a decision as big as (1/?)

as the one they did at such a young age. And it honestly terrifies me what they must go through. Like people really act shocked when these huge stars have struggles with drug addiction, mental health, etc. So we know that you basically get screwed over in the industry. I just wonder how people like Liam can still put on such a happy facade for the media, like in the fandom he’s the “sunshine” and he’s always smiling and happy even though we know the BS he’s put through. Why do you think (2/?)

Liam can still be portrayed that way. Like such a happy, cheery dude. Yet for Zayn it’s the total opposite? We obviously don’t know how they are privately, but the official narrative for Zayn in the media is that he’s down in the dumps, doesn’t leave his house, mostly silent on SM, just generally not happy. Which is why everyone’s always more concerned for him than they are the other boys. Wouldn’t they all be feeling the exact same about the shit situations they’re put in? Yet, why is it (3/?)

only Zayn who gets that somewhat dark rep. That sort of depressed, sickly perception (which I can’t help but presume is also racialized to an extent). It’s truly concerning how these boys are portrayed. And it’s even more concerning that people are so blind to the absolute hell these boys (and their own freaking families) are put through by the industry, by the higher-ups. It terrifies me. And there’s nothing we can do as fans but just sit and watch it unravel.

hey nonnie! i don’t wanna make this long so i’ll try to keep it short and say this, you make some very good points and i wholly agree with you that it is very problematic the different ways they’re portrayed and likely very much racialized to some degree, but the short answer here i think just largely comes down to two things: 1) personality differences, and 2) the fact that we just don’t see zayn as much as we see the other boys. liam’s able to present this happy, bubbly image because we see him doing that. we see him smiling and laughing and talking in ig stories and performing and doing interviews/promo, etc. on the contrary, we see zayn’s actual face like 5 times out of the year (i’m exaggerating ofc but you get what i mean) and even then it’s mostly for stunts or promo so ofc he doesn’t look particularly happy. i think if we saw more of him, even if it was just little snippets on social media here and there and not necessarily out in real time, he’d have more of a chance to combat that public image/narrative and wouldn’t be seen so much as a recluse who constantly radiates darkness and depression. we don’t even really see him hanging out with other people outside of gigi or people who work for him, or mayyybeee the occasional relative, so that unfortunately also contributes this idea of him as someone who’s lonely and depressed and has no friends and never goes anywhere/has any fun. all of that could easily be combated by just a few pics here and there of him just outside hanging out with people or even if he’s alone at least looking mildly happy and not like he has rbf to balance out all the times we see him stunting or looking unhappy, but we don’t get that ofc (though whether that’s by his choice or not who’s to say cause he does have every right to privacy) and so the narrative gets continued. butttt, all that aside, there’s also personality differences to take into account and i don’t mean that to say that zayn’s not just as bubbly and goofy as liam is cause we all know he can be, but he’s also not quite as outgoing as liam is and tends to be a bit more on the quiet/reserved side and i think that difference also plays into the different ways they’re seen and regarded (by both the fandom and gp) as well, esp b/c that reservedness often comes off to people (those who don’t understand it/aren’t introverts themselves) as standoffish which ofc only contributes further to that negative image/narrative of him as the unhappy lonely recluse 

to the question of how liam’s able to keep that facade up i think the answer is he just does his best. i think it’s pretty clear that some of that cheeriness may be, or has been, played up/put on for our benefit and we can even see quite clearly sometimes when he’s faking it, but he pushes through b/c he knows he has to and b/c he wants to succeed in this industry. it sucks but that’s what it is, that’s what you sign up for with any kind of performative field. i think zayn is less willing to do that (to put up that facade i mean), and again, i think that comes down to personality differences. liam’s always come off to me very much as a people-pleaser and someone who works extremely hard to try and satisfy everyone and make everyone happy, even (sadly) at detriment to himself sometimes. zayn (imho) seems to care a lot less about that lol. not saying he doesn’t care about it all, cause i mean he’s human (and an artist to boot) and we all care what ppl think of us to some degree, esp those of us in the arts/creative fields, just saying he seems to me to care a lot less about it than liam and not be so concerned about pleasing everyone as long as he’s doing something makes him happy and that he can be proud or that makes those close to him/those he cares (and that includes the fans too) happy and proud.

andddd of course this got long anyway…sorry…but anyway hope this answered your question well enough nonnie!