#fandom discussion

[creelarke]

shaming and making fun of people for still engaging in fandom activities once they reach a certain age is so embarrassing because why are you giving yourself an expiration date of time you have fun? why are you not-so-indirectly saying you will stop having fun once you reach a certain age? or do you really believe you have to stop engaging in fandom activities and having fun once you turn (x)? do you not think you will, what, live that long and turn that age too? do you think fun will suddenly stop for you and life will all of a sudden lose its meaning once you reach a certain age? how sad to be giving yourself an hourglass and just waiting for your time of having fun to run out.

adults can and should engage in fandom activities if it's what makes them happy.

adults can and should continue doing whatever they like doing as teenagers if it's what makes them happy.

age is just... part of life. it's a part of me and it's a part of you. shaming people for something you will have to go through (unless you don't think you will live that long) is such a loser behavior. indirectly saying you will stop having fun once you reach a certain age isn't the flex you think it is. it doesn't make you look "cool and edgy", it makes you look miserable.

[squisim]

THIS!! YES, SO MUCH THIS!!!

I've been saying this for the last 15 years!!!

Please enjoy what you love with all your fangirling heart and don't give a damn about the negative views of people who in the end don't matter at all. Let the haters hate in their dark corner, they'll get tired eventually.

If you've been part of a long list of fandoms, you know well the pattern of (for the most part) reaching a finale with the content you're a fan of, criticism of said content being at its peak at that finale, and the slow dwindling of hatred fading until all that's left are the people who have loved that content always, and still speak of it fondly for years to come.

The prequel Star Wars films come to mind. The Legend of Korra. The same will happen for Arcane.

If you're someone who sees the beauty that Arcane brought to the world, don't be discouraged by the criticism. Your love for this piece of art will always last longer than it. And soon that love will be all you hear reciprocated back to you.

[srslylini]

ok let me turn this shipping discourse stuff on its head. We always see the "shipping is getting destroyed," notion. "By people saying you can't ship those people because this and that"

Yeah but did we pause and think that it's also getting destroyed because people, who ship certain characters, seemingly can't do shipping without acting like it just has to be canon anymore? To the point where they viciously attack anyone who says "uhm actually cool that you ship it, it isn't canon, though"

I promise you, you don't have to find ten thousand unrelated reasons and ways to ship people and you also don't need to make up some weird shit for it to happen. Ship your ship and let others not ship it. Stop fighting over how "canon" it actually is. Especially when it isn't and turns out to not be canon by the end of the media you consume and ship it in.

It just isn't canon, you are also destroying the fandom experience by being a weird little shit about that. That also translates in how the canon relationship then gets hated on/treated. I beg you to ship your ship in peace and leave the other stuff alone.

There is absolutely no need to hate another (canon) ship and act like it sucks (which happens I know ships can suck, but not always, be so for real) or even be misogynistic as a result of this. Just ship your non canon ship in peace and let others do the same.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

"guys I do not condone any of this in real life" "this is fiction" "consent is key. this is only fiction" "murder is bad irl" — I wish fanfic authors didn't feel like they had to clarify this in author's notes or else they might be accused of being abusers or worse (I admit that such disclaimers are also something I personally use for my own stuff because I feel like I had to make it clear). like... people used to not care if an author wrote dead dove fics because people used to understand that ao3 fics are not a reflection of someone's in real life views or morality in any way. people used to understand that fanfics mean what they mean; fan fiction. none of it is real. maybe it's purity culture that normalizes witch hunt and censorship in the past couple years, and therefore authors feel like they have to clarify that just because they write about violence or noncon stuff doesn't mean they're murderers or sex offenders in real life. and I think it sucks that these things (purity and cancel culture?) have made authors feel like they have to apologize for the art they created instead of being proud of their hard work and all the dedication they put into creating these art. artists should not have to feel like they have to apologize for creating art that isn't all rainbow and sunshine. artists should not have to be made to feel ashamed of their own art if it's not all rainbow and sunshine.

I don’t agree with the “you can write noncon and dark fics as long as you make sure your readers get the message that these things are bad” or “you can write noncon and dark fics if it’s your way of coping with your trauma” take either. because writers do not owe you anything. the message writers want to send to their readers — whatever that message may be, if there’s any message or moral of the story for readers to take from the stories at all — is none of your business. why writers write what they write is none of your business. remember “don’t like don’t read”. no one forces you to read anything you don’t like. dark and noncon fics are a form of creative writing and creative writing is a form of art. you can’t pressure artists into creating art that “fit your moral compass” nor can you apply your own moral compass to artists to determine if they can create dark art or not, if their reasoning behind creating dark art passes your moral compass. like… what artists create and why artists create are none of your business. and you don’t get to shame artists for creating art that you hate / art that disgusts you. what you can do is ignore the art because it clearly was not made for you and that’s okay. what isn’t okay is you harassing artists because you don’t like the things they created.

writers, embrace and be proud of your works. as long as all the trigger warnings are tagged properly, you have nothing to apologize for.

[communistkenobi]

in the discourse landscape of gay shipping I think a crucial element is the underdog effect. official approval of your ship from showrunners (ie ship going canon) compromises your marginal status as a fandom shipper on tumblr, and in the long run produces a sore winner subjectivity where you must constantly insist that your ship is still good and subversive. destiel is a good edge case as it went canon in the most homophobic way possible, thus maintaining something of an underdog status despite it being explicitly addressed in the text of supernatural, while still ultimately losing its fandom dominance as evidenced by it constantly losing in shipping polls. ofmd shippers in this respect occupy a conflict of class interests in which their gay canonicity confers a level of comfort and stability that gay shippers who have to work in the posting mines doing web weaves will never experience. therefore, we can consider ofmd shippers to be the petit bourgeoisie of the fandom ecosystem, caught between the big bourgeoisie (tv writers) and the proletariat (stuckys), predictably choosing to engage in downwards class conflict to maintain their narrowly privileged status

[questions-about-blorbos]

people who ship a ship that's unhealthy, toxic and fucked up and do not shy away from the fact their ship is unhealthy, toxic and fucked up by making them act all "lovey dovey" toward each other, or watering down the severity of the things that canonically make their ship a fucked up ship, in fanfics — and so they embrace the fact that their ship is fucked up, but that's the thing that makes their ship so hot, sexy, complex and fascinating — I am declaring my undying love and loyalty to you

[bunnis-monsters]

People who hate on reader inserts will not survive the winter.

Fanfiction writers keep your fandoms alive, and that includes reader inserts writers.

[bebx]

“enemies to lovers as a fictional trope is harmful because it normalizes and romanticizes abuse and toxicity” my brother in Christ, touch. grass. they fuck while trying to murder each other and also they use each other’s blood as lube and yeah they look hot as fuck. what are you going to do about it?

[magiccharmss]

i was doing some ao3 research (don’t ask) and i have never seen supernatural but i don’t understand how destiel has such a chokehold on fandom. this is genuinely insane.

LOOK AT THEM. everyone else is so close in numbers of works and destiel is 40,629 works ahead is crazy. and it just keeps growing as well. in 2023 they had only 102,783 and were 39,397 works ahead. nobody is ever catching up to them. no ship will ever compare to the chokehold destiel has on ao3

[inkwyvern]

I know we've seen the moment Blitzø decided to adopt Loona, but I want to see the moment Loona found out she was getting adopted. The moment she met Blitzø.

The first few agonising months where Blitzø didn't know how to be a dad, and Loona didn't know how to have a dad.

The awkward days of her avoiding him in the apartment, trying to figure out what exactly his goal was. Because why would he possibly want to adopt her?

And Blitzø avoiding her too, wanting to be the dad he never had growing up but having no idea how to start.

I want to see the moment Loona realises that Blitzø has been sleeping on the couch ever since she met him. She'd never noticed, because he's usually passed out on the couch before he can get to a bed most nights, but Blitzø doesn't have a bedroom. And her room's walls suddenly seem so freshly painted.

And then, I want to see the moment Loona fucks up. And when she completely expects him to send her back to the pound, Blitzø comforts her. In his awkward, doesn't-know-how-to-talk-about-emotions way, but still.

And after that, things get better. They find their own, strange rhythm. And slowly, together, they begin to heal.

[xx-slug-xx]

HEY!

If y’all didn’t think censorship would come for shit you like

SESAC just censored over 1 million songs on yourtube and they are no longer able to be listened to :)

This includes songs by Green Day, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Mumford and Sons, and Kanye West just to name some that I have seen thus far

This means that on YouTube, if a song is detected in a video that is included in this new SESAC agreement on YouTube, the entire video is not viewable if you are in the US

This also means that Warrior Cats maps and other fandom related things up on YouTube that have songs included in this new deal on YouTube are now blocked in the USA. Speedpaints, Maps, and animatics for your favorite fandoms are now blocked if they include these songs.

Censorship comes for everything, including the things you like. It’s not a pick and choose ordeal, and it’s a bad thing no matter what is being censored and by whom

I implore people to protest against this, because this doesn’t slide. Send emails, complain online, use vpns, anything to fuck with YouTube at this point. This won’t stop with just music. No matter what SESAC tries to say about “protecting artists and their work”, this is censorship. The reason doesn’t matter. Censorship is still censorship at the end of the day. You don’t protect Jack shit by blocking songs from an entire country. Belive it or not, less traction and less people viewing their work actually harms these artists!

[creelarke]

"On AO3 there are about 6,400,000 fics as of now that are M/M and only about 1,200,000 fics for F/F. Fans should stop excluding female characters for the sake of male characters" Hold the fuck on???? People don't "exclude female characters for the sake of male characters". The ratio between M/M fics and F/F fics is literally because more people like M/M fics more than they do F/F and that's actually fine, it's not that deep. Because people can write whatever they like.

Yes, misogyny is a very real thing. But you're erasing the creditability of that word and are the ones doing harm to women if you scream misogyny every time you see something that slightly upsets you. Writers ONLY writing M/M doesn't automatically mean they're misogynists, without any other factors present that may or may not make them misogynists, the only fact that 'some writers ONLY write M/M' literally just means they like writing romance between two male characters and that's it.

This is fanfiction we're talking about, not a political debate or social justice protest. If the majority of people want to write about two male characters falling in love, then let them.

You don't get to shame a writer for "ONLY writing about M/M" because everybody has the rights to write whatever they like.

If you want more works for F/F, then write F/F yourself. No one's stopping you.

As a feminist myself, shaming writers for only writing M/M doesn't make you a feminist, it makes you an entitled dick.

(from this poll by @curiositysavesthecat nothing against the mods of the poll blog btw, they just run polls that were sent to them.)

[okkos-ferrum]

The fandom's disregard of Till's emotions

SPOILERS FOR ROUND 7 ALNST

As a Till fan since day 1 (round 2) I feel like some of the fanbase is so willing to ignore till's emotions for the sake of ivantill, especially after this round (and I'm saying this as someone who loves the tragedy of Ivantill and would love to see a world where they could get together)

It almost feels like this strange entitlement where because Ivan sacrificed himself for Till that somehow till must be in love with Ivan now, when his entire guiding light was Mizi. Ofc he doesn't change his mind overnight, and no, Ivan's sacrifice wasn't "wasted". Till was deeply affected by Ivan's death (why else was he fighting to stay alive in r7) and it's clear throughout r7 how much Ivan weighs on him. But his actions when seeing Mizi are totally align with his character, like u can't just drop his deep rooted feelings for Mizi SINCE CHILDHOOD just due for the convinence of the ship "becoming canon"

I see some people despairing that somehow mizitill is confirmed now (do u guys not know WHO VIVINOS AND QMENG are????) and it just shows that lack of nuance in Till's emotions. He isn't this rag doll that is only capable of simple mindedly liking ONE person at a time. He's a character with different layers to himself and complicated relationships with the cast

Fandom seems so overinvolved with shipping discourse that to me it feels like they have stopped viewing till as a seperate character but rather an award for Ivan's sacrifice. But I feel like the whole point of Ivan's sacrifice was his momentary selfishness in kissing Till when really all he had to do was fake an attack on Till to sacrifice himself. It is the culmination and a final acceptance in how his love will never be requieted by till, so if he must die, he will be selfish one last time and that's it. At the end of the day, Ivan was a tragedy of his unrequited love. Till was close to death in round 6 and he was running on borrowed time ("tik tok tik tok blink gone") in round 7, as his own distressed emotional state made in inevitable he couldn't hold himself against the emotional manipulator that is luka when he barely coped with mizi's "death" and even less so with Ivan's

Again no hate to Ivantill fans (eyes mizitill a bit suspiciously but I'm not the fandom fun police lol) and I pretty sure this a vocal minority but putting it out there

Also quick PSA for people feeling underwhelmed for this being a "final round", VIVINOS confirmed on patreon a while back there are like 2(?) more episodes left to wrap up the series dwww

[srslylini]

oh I saw that too. I used to work with and am currently studying to work with children. The amount of hate they get is astounding. Like that sounds ridiculous but a lot of people do actually mean their "I hate kids". Listen I myself am NEVER ever going to get kids and that's for a VERY good reason (it doesnt need a reason) but this movement has grown so much that people who want kids are now hated on for... no reason? why am I seeing the weirdest comments under people *happily* announcing their pregnancy?

I also saw the people saying there should be restaurants/facilities where kids are banned and I'm just... do these people listen to the stuff that leaves their mouths? I do get that kids can get annoying, god I DO, kids overwhelm you but that's life? I'm sorry but literally that's it. And making it so that even in FANDOM you can't talk about it is just nuts, Idc

is it just me who finds this anti pregnant shit a lot of people carry in fandom spaces weird?

Do not get me wrong I get it to an extend. Making a person end up pregnant in media who has, throughout the entire time, expressed the want to not get pregnant is weird and there is definetly a lot of media that... does it wrong. I'm not dumb. I see it, too.

but a character getting pregnant in general is... not bad? It doesn't take away from a character (especially not if written right) and why shouldn't it happen?

This is mostly in general but I'm also again thinking about when a lot of people thought Mel will be pregnant. At first I was also like "no way, no way are they doing that trope".

but the more I think about it the more I'm like

"Why ever not?"

Mel never expressed NOT wanting to be pregnant, getting pregnant wouldn't go against her character and it would've been sweet had it happened. At times a lot of people take this stuff so far that they bite themselves into their asses and hurt the cause they try to stand up for. A person being pregnant does not destroy them, it doesn't have to take away from their character if done right, it can even ADD a lot of things to them as a person. And it makes for a good, engaging story, (again if done right) do not even try to say it doesn't.

I also do not wish to become pregnant and that's fine. Just as it is for people to want that. At this point it is just getting weird. You are not advocating for a strong character anymore you are advocating for a lonely shell of one.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

writers, this is a sign for you to say fuck censorship and write a disgusting fic that will sicken your readers