#fandom critical

[shyjusticewarrior]

At some point "fanfic can be as good as professional writing" became "fanfic should be as good as professional writing" and that's caused major damage to fandom spaces.

[thinkingofausername]

i really wish simple things weren't so complicated within fandoms. a character can be problematic but interesting. a character can make a mistake but not be evil. a character can hold a position of authority and still be a victim. a character doesn't have to be perfect and pure and innocent to be a victim. a character doesn't have to be perfectly pure for you to like them. liking a character who's fucked up doesn't mean you support their every action. why is this so complicated

[biggest-vi-defender]

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING, OH MY GOD. 💀

i genuinely wish everybody in the fandom could see & read this, because i know a LOT of people need to.

vi is more than just heartbroken over caitlyn. she is literally heartbroken about every traumatizing thing that has ever happened in her life, which is… basically, literally, her entire life. 😭

this is vi with nobody, not just without caitlyn.

FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT!!

Even if most people are just joking, it bothers me when other people actually think it's all due to a failed relationship when the problem is actually bigger than that. Vi getting to this point isn't because she broke up with Caitlyn. She has bigger, more difficult things going on than just a failed relationship. Adding to that the most painful factor for Vi is when she fights Jinx, which is one of the factors that really affects her. She went from being protective of her sister to "hurting" her sister. (Even though her sister Jinx brought this on herself, but anyway)

"Losing Caitlyn was the last straw, as they say"

Caitlyn was the one who got Vi out of prison, She got her out of the worst place Vi had ever been in. And Caitlyn was the last person Vi could trust and now she's gone.

I mean you can see she wasn't that miserable when she was in prison because she said herself, "The only thing that kept me going, was the thought of getting back to you." Now her sister is gone and Caitlyn is gone, the only two people left in her life. It's only natural that she would come to this point after literally losing everything.

Vi now has no hope no purpose and no one left after all the people she's lost along the way. It's really hard for Vi.

[themaybug]

if i see one more person argue that emmrich/f!rook is somehow less valid than emmrich/m!rook because he's 'clearly more into men' i will get violent. even if he somehow canonically prefers men, he still also canonically dated at least one woman so saying that he's 'gay, actually', is just straight up biphobia

this is like astarion all over again.... just because a man is more effeminate, takes care of his appearance, likes jewellery etc. doesn't automatically make them gay??? this is the kind of prejudice that makes men irl afraid to be anything other than masculine

[biggest-vi-defender]

“caitlyn seriously switched sides the moment she saw vi and heard ‘cupcake’?”

while i feel like that’s largely i joke in the fandom, i feel like a lot of ppl genuinely believe it, and i can’t help but see that as a mischaracterization and a too-simple generalization of caitlyn’s character and what actually caused her to betray ambessa and noxus as a whole.

yes, ofc it was partly that, but it was more than just vi.

it was caitlyn’s entire conversation and realization when it came to singed, that they had similarities. singed is doing all of these fucked up things for love, the way caitlyn is arguably turning into a darker, less moral person bc of her own love for her mother.

caitlyn had called him a “monster”, and now that she knows singed is doing this for his daughter, in her mind, what makes them so different?

not to mention, cait never completely believed in or trusted ambessa, and she is also someone who is naturally a better person than this, underneath all that pain and the anger. she just needed to realize that again.

[canichangemyblogname]

I actually think y’all are cruel and homophobic for making queer men fans feel like they need to apologize for or soften their attraction to men because they’ve been critical of the (queerphobic) rhetoric you 🫵 use to malign queer representation in media.

You’re so dedicated to positioning yourself on a moral high horse to paint your fanfic as descent, high-minded, and tasteful; not “fetishization,” that you’ve resorted shaming men for being SEXUALLY ATTRACTED to men. Your “really good best bros to couple who never had a single sexual thought or touched before marriage coffee stop bed ‘n breakfast AU” fanfic? Clean. Real-life faggotry? Base and obscene. Because queer men aren’t real people to you, we’re tropes and archetypes and entirely theoretical eroticized bodies that exist because of and for your fanfiction sandbox. And that’s it.

I really should not be seeing queer men in people’s inboxes and posting on here qualifying their attraction to men; “Yeah, I like kissing men and seeing men kiss, but it’s not like that—”

[lullabyes22-blog]

Reminder...

That whatever your reactions, takes and opinions on Arcane's finale, it is NOT OK to go on X/Twitter and bash the creative team responsible for its writing, to get personal with insults, to send threats, to stalk and harass, and to otherwise behave like a crap excuse for a human being.

Ditto for interacting poorly with the VA's and artists, who may have their own opinions, but who are under contract to promote the show, and who are, in the end, just doing their jobs.

Ditto DITTO for fellow fans with different opinions than your own. Fandom's gotten cute with a new buzzword - "media illiteracy!" - for simple takes that don't match their worldview at best, or at worst express liking for a character they don't care for.

Which, um.

That is not media illiteracy, folks. That is the literal experience of being part of a fandom.

Fandom in general will always be a bunch of self-cannibalizing schisms, and some of 'em will just straight up FAIL to pass the litmus test of 'live and let live' when it comes to fellow fans with opinions different than theirs. However it still bears reminding that there is a DIFFERENCE between being passionately engaged with a series - (and hey, critiquing stuff that you don't agree with, which, guess what, is a hallmark of engaging healthily with a piece of fiction, and should be encouraged so you aren't passively spoonfed more subliminal propoganda in both fantasy and real life) - versus seeing red and hurling epithets at someone you don't agree with because they think Oingo-Boingo's arc was sweet or thought DilbyTrillby's storyline could be better handled.

Arcane's ending is gonna be a wild one. Toes will be stepped on, ships will sink, and not everyone will get what they want. But it is still essential to remember this is a work of FICTION, which the writers are entitled to conclude in the manner they see fit, and which fans are entitled to interpret in whatever manner suits them.

All of which can be done without ragefrothing and spewing hate left, right and center.

I'm basically yelling into the Void and will be blocking the Arcane tag post-finale, as the interwebs will be loud and full of piss. However, if you'd like fun debate and want to share your feelings, or just bawl, you are welcome to drop by here, in my little sandbox lovingly curated for myself and my mutuals, and dig up worms/build sandcastles with us 💗

[triaelf9]

DA fandom really hearing the lords of fortune saying "we return items of CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE to their rightful owners for an acquisition FEE and keep everything else" and being like

DUR HUR THESE PIRATES (they're not pirates, they're treasure hunters & thrill seekers but that's for another day) DON'T STEAL ANYTHING DUR HUR WHERE ARE MY MORALLY GRAY SHIT

I'm sorry but are you kidding me??????

Are you actively trying to misread shit? Like ACTIVELY? Also I really hope ya'll aren't the same folks who got mad about cultural disrespect in the DA games & now are mad that they added in some sensitivity????? OOPS the grey wardens got the morally grey treatment in DAI & this game and we're all mad, but we want morally grey shit?

Look, if we're dunking jokingly that's fine, I'll chuckle along too, but like people are ACTUIVELY upset at this stuff and are wanting to "rewrite" the game to make it "better" and it's like okay calm down. Take a breath. If the game isn't clicking for you, you don't have to play it.

Or at least tag your mopey takes like good LORD. *insert game here* critical is RIGHT THERE.

ALSO equating "morally grey" to like "why aren't my favs racist, sexist, homophobic, and culturally insensitive like they USED TO BE" jesus christ think about what you're saying.

Again if the game isn't clicking for you THAT'S FINE, but stop giving ammo to the gaters that plays into their "this game sucks b/c it's woke" fascist dreamland.

[galedekarios]

the way i knew this would happen the second frosty worked for datv

[the-genius-az]

There are times when I read Azula fics where she tells of her suffering, but the characters always tell her that she doesn't feel sorry for herself, but... why shouldn't she? Her family is shit to her, she was trained from a young age, forced to be perfect, she went to war at fourteen (Or less), she was betrayed and left by everyone she loved, she had a mental breakdown, her own brother he took everything from her and put her in an asylum.

And there are even more things! So why? Why shouldn't he complain and kick? all the characters have done it, however Azula hasn't, they all cry and "feel sorry for themselves", but Azula isn't allowed to do it? that's not fair.

[thedissonantverses]

There are three types of Veilguard critics:

1. Bigots.

2. People who wrote this game in their head ten years ago and got surprised when BioWare didn’t cater to them or their ships. It’s not a dating sim.

3. People who say “The dialogue sounds like HR is in the room”, or this game is “sanitized” or “disneyfied” because they either didn’t play or weren’t paying attention. It sounds like an AI wrote it and it’s redundant, reductionist, and reactionary. Get new material please.

(Sincerity under the cut.)

I kid I kid there’s a fourth bonus type. The fans that wish EA would give Dragon Age the time and resources it deserves and have valid, nuanced critiques that I enjoy reading. Your disappointment is valid from one long-time fan to another I’m legitimately sorry the game didn’t resonate with you the way it did with me.

But y’all have got to recognize how many of the bigots pivoted away from saying stuff like “queer people bad” and “diversity bad” to saying “writing” bad. They didn’t go away and taking a second look reveals the homophobia and transphobia and racism lying under the surface. I promise you this is as much of a Dragon Age games as the others and there’s a ton of meta analysis to be had if you’re looking for it.

I’m absolutely not saying that everyone who uses the “HR is in the room” bullshit is a bigot but a LOT of people who do use it started because they were looking for any excuse to hate this game. Parroting it blindly does nothing for the discourse and just serves to further marginalize members of your own fandom.

[tuxedosaurus]

I’m gonna need alleged Tim Drake fans to actually read comics with other Robins, ‘cause I STILL see them act like Tim invented Robin being smart and having a civilian life.

Obviously Dick’s been smart the whole time, and his 1970s stories were all about his college civilian life. PLEASE read before speaking fellas.

[naranjapetrificada]

Y'all will be so much happier with your experiences on tumblr if you just block people who can't be normal about Izzy and/or Con. Do yourselves that solid!

(As for the argument at the crux of it all: I watched the linked performance several posts back and my entirely UNtrained interpretation is that it's some combination of the ravages of time, the respective styles of the songs in question, and the possibility that Con, as an actor who doesn't exclusively work in musicals, may not train/maintain his instrument the way a professional singer does. Hell, plenty of professional singers have to adapt. Mariah fucking Carey has an incredible (prete)natural instrument and even she's had to adapt over the years. It's okay to say Con's La Vie en Rose wasn't a good performance because even the best people give a bad performance sometimes, but also there are plenty of factors behind the quality of a given performance).

Okay I’m breaking my silence. Con’s voice is not good. His rendition of La Vie en Rose is bad. And grating. And his French pronunciation sucks. Sure he can hold a tune, but there’s so much more to singing than that that he doesn’t have, or isn’t trained in. Timbre. Intonation. Expression. Resonance. Breath control. Source: I’m a classically trained vocalist.

There. I said it. If I see one more fic talking about how beautiful/gorgeous/amazing/whatever Izzy’s singing is, I’m going to throw something. Surprising is fine. Because it was surprising (and out of left field) for Izzy to sing. But beautiful, it ain’t.

[biggest-vi-defender]

vi deserves way more empathy and understanding than she gets from this fandom.

it’s rly annoying how pretty much everyone can constantly empathize with and excuse jinx’s actions, no matter what she does or who she hurts, abuses, or kills, but vi can’t get the same appreciation or care for reasons that are usually very ignorant and stupid.

it makes no sense to me and i wish more people had media literacy and common sense when it comes to her.

edit: btw i hope everyone knows that this is NOT a diss against jinx. 😭

[shyjusticewarrior]

Two things can be and are true at once.

Robin Jason was a sweet, kind kid who cared about victims. He also had righteous rage and violent tendencies towards those he thought deserved it.

Being Robin gave him magic and as Robin he shattered a man's collarbone with no remorse.