#fannish friends make the best friends

[cassiesinsanity]

My new indigenous tea mug courtesy of @alphaflyer and in honor of @crazy4orcas

[sarahreesbrennan]

Quick Evil Note

To all my wicked darlings, I have now received rather a lot of messages asking me about the influences of Long Live Evil. And I wish to get messages about LLE and truly appreciate the ones I do get! And I wish to answer them. But answers about influences are tricky.

The book has been out in the US for a little over two weeks, and it’s going so well so far, I couldn’t be more delighted and appreciative about its reception.

But also I’ve been informed (not asked) that two of my characters are obviously somehow both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy of Harry Potter, and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. (Very puzzling as I don’t think these pairings - and one isn’t a pair - have much in common with each other or with mine. Vague hostility against a vaguely academic backdrop for a bit? For the record… in the book everyone is an adult and I don’t even have any academic backdrops to be vaguely hostile in front of…) This hasn’t happened to me in a long time, because I haven’t had an original novel out in a long time due to illness, and it is upsetting to always be discussed differently than writers who didn’t openly link their real names to their fan identity.

I have very different feelings and new appreciation for fandom than I once had. It’s been amazing to see and meet people who have stuck with me for decades. People are generally way more open and affectionate to and within fandom than they once were. Love matters to me a good deal more than hate. But getting death threats in your early 20s for excitedly telling your Internet friends you were going to publish a book does mark the psyche, and so does having your characters dismissed as other people’s characters.

And we can say there is nothing wrong with fanfiction or writing fanfiction and there isn’t! Fanfiction is great and can be genius. Terry Pratchett wrote Jane Austen fanfiction, and didn’t (and shouldn’t) have people saying Captain Wentworth = Captain Vimes. Still, when a TV show is discussed as ‘like fanfiction’ or when Diana Gabaldon said she didn’t like fanfiction and many said ‘YOU write fanfiction’ it isn’t intended in any kind spirit, even when it’s fannish folk saying it. And it’s just generally odd to have everyone call your apple a tomato, and has had professional consequences for me in the past.

However! All the asks I’ve received have been very kind, and I do want to answer them. I do want to talk about my influences because they are manifold and because I actually think it’s important to always talk about influences. I don’t believe stories exist in isolation - we tell tales in a rich tradition, and also a story doesn’t come alive to me all the way until it’s heard or read.

Long Live Evil is a love letter to fandom: it’s chock full of references to many many stories I’ve loved, to fairytales, myths and legend and Internet memes and epic fantasy and meta. My acknowledgements are endless partly for this reason. I do owe a great debt to many portal fantasies and archetypes and musicals and jokes about genre and plays through the ages, though I do think of my characters as themselves and nobody else.

I was frankly tempted to go ‘Yes I stole EVERYTHING! Bwhahaha!’ But while I am thoroughly enjoying and finding great freedom in my villain era, I do want to talk sincerely to you all as well, especially when asked sincerely interested questions.

But I’m a little scared to do so and have people say ‘AHA! Now we know what it’s fanfiction of’ (it’s happened before) or ignore me and go ‘we know the truth!’ (it’s happened before) and to feel like I’ve injured my book. Long Live Evil means more to me than any other and I really want to get talking about it right, and make sure it has the best reception I can give it.

So. Questions on all Evil topics very very welcome but answers to influence questions may come slowly. Bear with me. I am working on this!

[hopetorun]

matthew asking keith not to talk to the media about him isn't new information (the athletic, 5/10/2023), and as the lede of that story makes clear, keith honored that request:

Matthew Tkachuk put his father in “timeout.” That’s why Keith Tkachuk, an 18-year veteran of the NHL and one of the league’s best American-born players, wasn’t available to talk about his son’s remarkable run that has taken the Panthers from “biggest disappointment” to one win from the Eastern Conference finals. [...] Now, there’s no time for distractions, and Matthew wants to keep a lid on his pops, who informed The Athletic of his “timeout” via text.

that article goes on to quote matthew's mother, sister, family friends, teammates, and coaches and mentors at various levels, so it's safe to say that keith's exclusion is a notable one.

as far as i can recall, the interview last night is the first keith has talked about matthew publicly since, and it wasn't a comment on matthew's performance or his team's play. should keith have said on the broadcast that matthew gave him the silent treatment? hard to say from the outside! i don't think "he didn't talk to me for a bit" gives us any meaningful new information* since we could already infer that he was mad, but i can understand why someone else might want to keep that particular detail private.

i don't bring this up a lot in my fannish posts and comments on tumblr because it's a little bit peeking behind the veil, but the tkachuks have very clearly made being a family the brand. now, that was a low hanging fruit for sure, because the nhl loves father-son narratives and fraternal narratives, but they absolutely lean into it. as a consequence, we know a lot about the family, and can often infer even more. (think brady not quite saying it but boy was it clear that he didn't appreciate matthew interfering with his contract stuff.) they can't just not talk about each other at all, because the story they've woven about themselves requires it. there's no version of this where keith never gets asked about matthew again. i think it's quite impressive how long he's managed to go without commenting on matthew's play. did he even say anything during the conference final?

look, i think there's plenty of things to point to if you want to construct a narrative about matthew and keith not always getting along (especially since no one gets along with each other all the time, perhaps especially not their parents). and there's plenty to dislike or find grating about keith! i also have my own beliefs about where in their relationship there's most likely to be tension, which i'm happy to get into on request but aren't the point of what i'm saying here. and if you're just here to play around with the idea of really contentious father-son relationship and have picked matthew and keith as your paper dolls for this purpose, then who am i to stop you? as one of my dear friends always says, all rpf characterization is fake.

but for me at least, the leap from the information we have to "keith hates and/or disrespects matthew" is a big one.

[lurkingshan]

Helloooo, Shan! This is a bit out of left field but it’s something I’ve been wondering for a while. BL has developed more as a genre and shown itself to be increasingly sociopolitically aware (whether or not it effectively engages with that awareness beyond marketing is another thing), do you have thoughts on any sort of progression of how women and girls have been portrayed? Or observations on the general state of women and girls in BL? It seems to me their roles have become meatier, not just one-dimensional femme fatales or fujoshi. Or am I projecting a false narrative of genre evolution? 🤔

Hey Megan, thanks for sending! I love an out of left field ask. And I agree with you, I do think there has been a clear evolution in the way women characters are portrayed in BL, and I have been making note of it where I see it.

It used to be that female characters in BL were mostly just there to be antagonists, either as villainous femme fatales trying to break up the couple (like Plern Pleng in TWM) or fujoshis inserting themselves into the main couple's relationship in really inappropriate and fetishizing ways (like Pang in Love Sick). Even the precious few decent women characters from early BL (like Manow from UWMA) are still really only there as side characters who provide support to the boys and/or a bit of comic relief. Women in early BL were either problematic or kind of an afterthought in the narrative.

But more recently there have been BL dramas featuring women who are more fully fleshed out and actually a crucial part of the story. This is not linear and consistent, of course--there are BLs airing as we speak, like Knock Knock Boys and Blue Boys, that are still relying on women as primary antagonists--but there has been some growth. Here are some of the characters I find particularly notable in regards to the role they play in the narrative:

Ae Ri, The Eighth Sense

Ae Ri was a notable character because the narrative set us up to think she was going to be a typical femme fatale. She seemed to like Ji Hyun and we were naturally inclined to assume she would be an obstacle to him pursuing Jae Won, until the show completely turned that on its head and made her a knowing ally instead. It was a delightful surprise and she remained an important support and get a grip friend for Ji Hyun throughout the story.

Nara, La Pluie

Nara is another in the category of the subverted femme fatale trope, but this show took that much further by writing her with so much empathy and making her a fully fleshed out character with her own arc and even the start of a new romance by the end. It is still the best treatment of an ex-girlfriend character I have ever seen in a BL.

Fujisaki/Pai, Cherry Magic

Speaking of trope subversion, let's give a shoutout to these two corrective takes on the fujoshi archetype. Each version of this story did it a bit differently, but the common thread was that Fujisaki and Pai only wanted the best for their friends, and kept a firm line on how much to interfere in their relationship. Fujisaki is gentle and kind, offering small encouragements and nice gestures. Pai is much more of an enthusiastic fangirl so I was a bit weary at the start of her story, but the show used her fannish interests as an opportunity to model respectful fan behavior and I was quite pleased in the end.

Yiwa, Wedding Plan

And of course, I have to mention the current title holder for best female character in a BL, Wedding Plan's Yiwa. She is not only a great character in terms of having a fully formed personality, clear motivations, and a great set of relationships, she is also the engine that drives the entire narrative. I am still kinda amazed she exists.

This is separate but related to the recent increase in GL content and GL side couples in BLs, which is also getting steadily better. And I want both! I want solid GL dramas where the girls own the narrative, and I want BLs to write women better when they choose to include them in the story. I'm encouraged by the progress we've already seen.

[saphire-dance]

Welcome to the Transformers Fandom

Did you just see Transformers One? It was good, wasn't it? Do you want to be fannish about it? This post is for you.

First thing to know is we use the tag maccadam. This practice dates back to when the live action movies would flood the Transformers tag with actor pics. Maccadam is where you will find the robots. It is a reference to Maccadam's Old Oil House. A bar found in some continuities. You can still use the Transformers tag

Speaking of references. Let me introduce you to your new best friend: TFWiki. The Transformers Wiki is the place to go if you want to know anything about Transformers. Shows, Movies, Comics, Books, Toys. It's all there. We're spoiled with how good this wiki is. Thanks, guys.

Now you don't have to watch more Transfomers to be a fan. If you loved the movie you're already a fan. You don't have to ever watch another thing and you are still a fan and welcome here. But I'm betting you want to see more Transfomers. Here are some other continuities and where to find them. This is not an extensive list. This is a starter pack.

The Transformers (1984) AKA Generation 1 AKA G1. The original that started it all. Dubious 80s animation and some of the greatest voice actors of all time. Available on Tubi for free.

Beast Wars AKA TFBW. If G1 started everything Beast Wars is what kept it from dying out. Absolutely bleeding edge computer animation in the 90s. It's, uh, very dated, but the story and voice acting still hold up and I recommend giving it a chance. Available on Tubi for free.

Transformers Animated AKA TFA (yes we fought the Star Wars folks over that tag) Debuted the same year as the first Live Action Movie. It is very anime influenced and shows a very different side to our favorite characters. One of the more popular shows in the fandom. Available on Tubi for free. Also on Pluto

Transformers Prime AKA TFP AKA Prime. Another very popular show with the fandom. Part of the Aligned continuity which featured books, games, and other shows. This is probably closest to Transformers One in characterization and I would recommend making this your next watch if you can. The First season is on Netflix with the rest available on Tubi. Yeah I don't know what is up with that.

Rescue Bots AKA TFRB This is a Show for Preschoolers, but don't let that scare you away. It is one of the best Transformers shows. Somehow also part of the Aligned continuity. Season one is on Netflix and it is also available on Pluto

Transformers Cyberverse AKA Cyberverse AKA TFCV. A fun Bumblebee focused show. Very few humans. Season 1 is on Hasbro's YouTube channel, Season 3 (????) is on Netflix, Also on Pluto.

Transformers EarthSpark AKA TFES. The most recent show. Lots of new characters and a new side to Megatron that I love. On Paramount+ and YouTube premium.

Live Action Movies. There are 7 live action movies the first 5 are directed by Micheal Bay and are collectively known as the Bayverse The other two movies Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts, are also sometimes lumped in with Bayverse. It is debated if they are reboots or prequels. Personally Bumblebee is my favorite. They are all available on Paramount+

Comics. Comics have been part of Transformers from the very beginning. First with Marvel and later with other publishers. Marvel Dreamwave and IDW are the best known publishers. IDW is still very popular in fandom. Currently comics are being published by Skybound. Unfortunately finding out of print comics can be very difficult/expensive and I recommend checking TFWIKI for summaries if you can't find them.

[mixelation]

wait hold on. i figured out the best* way to deal with jiraiya subconsciously writing his teammates fucking in reborn au

*best, as always, means funniest

okay, so. tori is trying very hard to go back to her old fannish ways wrt icha icha. the PROBLEM is that she's "too young" for it. kushina sees no problem with a young girl exploring her sexuality via dumb novels and loans her copies, but basically everyone else gets super fucking weird when she tries talking about it to them.

tori: hey did you see the new fan comic strip in-- (KAKASHI SLAMS HIS HAND OVER HER MOUTH)

kakashi: (nervous laughter) why does a kid know about that???

the konoha fanclub won't let her in. she's tried a henge a few times but there's enough ninja in the club she gets caught. she has to do a lot of convincing and sweet talk to buy fanzines or her own copies of the books. she meets jiraiya and even he is like ".....why don't you look me up again when you turn 18" and then kushina attempts to murder him

so she turns to OTHER franchises to look at. rpf. bad tv. itachi's library of completely stupid paperbacks. in fact, i realized this Solution because i was looking through old posts and one was talking about a book series about a kunoichi turned into a cat and then adopted by the missing-nin she was assigned to murder, which for some reason i named "kitty girl stabby ninja." it's PG-13 rather than E, so tori reads the first book of what is allegedly itachi's favorite series and then attempt to talk to him about it, and he's............ bad at it. like he's just bad. at conversation??

not to be deterred, tori is like "okay, fine, THIS is my fandom now and i'm going to start a book club" and itachi is just of like "okay?" and she goes to deidara first and then kakashi and then some random icha icha fan club people she barely knows because she doesn't have real friends. all of them are like "that sounds completely stupid" and she's like THAT'S THE POINT. then the whole idea gets completely out of her control because kushina finds out and wants to join as a team thing and tori is like NO, NO COMMANDING OFFICERS AT THE FUN SOCIAL EVENT-- but somehow they end up at kushina's house and so the goddamn hokage is also there. smiling. with snacks. the two normal people tori tried to pull from her failed forays into the icha icha fandom bail because would you willingly go talk to your hokage about a stupid as fuck romance novel for teenagers? while other famous ninja like kakashi and itachi* are there, judging???

*don't try to explain to them uchiha itachi is the source of the club or that kakashi likes icha icha for the romance and not the raunchy parts and barely needed convincing to read the catgirl romance book, it will confuse them

toward the end of the inaugural meeting deidara asks tori if people still hate her fics and minato is like "if you want writing tips, i can invite jiraiya to the next one :)" and tori is going to kill both of them. yes, even the hokage. maybe ESPECIALLY the hokage. she doesn't even really LIKE stupid kitty girl stabby ninja she just wants to do fun fandom stuff okay!!!!

jiraiya shows up at the next meeting anyway because he wants to "scope out the competition" and he makes a very dramatic speech analyzing why ninja romances appeal to civilians and how he's very cleverly using his spy skills to infiltrate civilian spaces and figure them out psychologically--

itachi, sounding genuinely confused: i thought all your plots and characterizations were just projections of your complicated relationship with Tsunade-hime and Orochimaru

Jiraiya: (SHOT DEAD)

jiraiya has to leave immediately to go rethink his entire life and maybe drink himself to death, but tori is touched itachi apparently listened to her at some point u_u

[sitp-recs]

Happy birthday to the one and only @writcraft! I know you probably feel this year hasn’t been as productive as you’d like fandom-wise, so this is both a reminder and a token of appreciation, a short rec list that hopes to highlight a little bit of your immense contribution to fandom. This is ofc 100% self-indulgent and my picks might be a bit too obvious - I doubt that anyone who’s been around for a while hasn’t heard of these classics before, but those who are new to the fandom (or just new to Writ’s works - I’m so jealous!) might enjoy this “starter pack” with my personal selection of must-reads.

There’s a little bit of everything: Drarry, Snarry, femslash, dark fic, kinky fic, angst with a happy ending, romcom, hurt/comfort. No matter the tone or trope, they’re not only perfectly thought out and executed but they also deliver profound human experiences that resonates within, and thought-provoking explorations of romance, queerness and hope. I have often wondered how Writ could be so prolific over the years, always impressing me with such flawless depth of characterization across different ships. Now I realize this comes from the amount of passion and research they pour into their work. Writ commits to fandom - and to writing - both intellectually and emotionally, bringing together their creative, fannish, militant and intellectual sides like nobody else can do. This combination breathes life and heart into every love story they create, making them all bright and unique, inspiring universal emotions while remaining deeply personal.

Writ, I cannot thank you enough for being such a kind, witty and welcoming friend, always up to discuss fandom meta, gritty fic plots, old and new ship obsessions, dog parenting, queer & pop culture references! I learn so much from you and it’s a privilege (and a delight) to have someone to share both silly and deep, insightful convos with. Becoming friends with you - an author I’ve been admiring and looking up to for so many years now - still feels a bit surreal but it’s easily one of the best parts of 2022/2023 for me. I hope you enjoy your day to the fullest, and have an amazing time celebrating with yours. Happy birthday my friend! 💜

🎵 True Colors (E, 6k) - Harry/Teddy

Teddy spent the last year running away from his feelings for Harry. Now it’s time to come home.

🧵 Independent Love Song (E, 6k) - Ginny/Millie

Millicent Bulstrode is a tailor and Ginny is losing her mind over a woman in a tweed blazer and burgundy brogues.

🪞 Doppelganger (M, 7k) - Drarry, Romione

It was just a silly dare, but one ill-advised trip into the Forbidden Forest changes Harry’s life forever.

🎼 Hopelessly Devoted To You (E, 10k) - Harry/George

Harry and George watch a lot of musicals and accidentally fall in love.

🗞️ Potterzine (E, 11k) - Snarry

When Severus Snape finds a fanzine with a picture of Professor Potter in a compromising position with Draco Malfoy on the cover, he confronts Potter about the offending literature.

🪩 An Aching Soul (M, 14k) - Drarry

Draco Malfoy escapes to the Muggle world to avoid his parents, memories of the war and Harry Potter. However, some things prove harder to escape than others as Draco realises when his favourite Muggle haunt is rudely invaded by a post-war Harry who is struggling to cope with grief, growing up and the battle with his inner demons.

⛓️ Dirty Little Secret (E, 22k) - Drarry

When someone threatens Harry’s life, Kingsley decides to send him to a safe house with only Draco Malfoy for company. As the two men are forced together, memories of the past resurface and secrets are discovered.

🥐 A Life Worth Remembering (E, 23k) - Drarry + Snape

Severus Snape wakes in St Mungo’s, to discover that a potions accident has wiped the last forty years from his body and mind. Just twenty-five years old, Severus is reliant on Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, now both in their forties, to help him fill in the missing decades.

🚘 Harry Potter and The Bisexual Awakening (E, 23k) - Drarry

Harry is perfectly content being single, heterosexual and living in Godric's Hollow with his very clingy rescue dog, Snitch. When Draco Malfoy turns up on Harry's doorstep demanding that Harry teach him how to drive, things quickly become a lot more complicated.

⌛️ Collapse Amongst the Dying Stars (M, 26k) - Drarry

After the final battle nothing is quite as Harry expected. Death Eaters remain unaccounted for, Malfoy is in prison and there is something rotten in Azkaban.

💋 The Beating of This Fragile Heart (E, 33k) - Snarry

After the war, the last thing Severus Snape needs is the memory of a fleeting wartime kiss and a very persistent Harry Potter thwarting his plans to live a peaceful and solitary life.

📸 Expecto Patronum (E, 35k) - Drarry

As Draco Malfoy negotiates his feelings for the wizarding world's brightest star, he becomes increasingly attached to Harry and unravels the secrets he keeps hidden from the rest of the world.

🗽How We Were Warriors (E, 51k) - Snarry

A homophobic attack in London’s Soho brings Harry to New York City to discover more about the past. Still haunted by love and loss in the eighties, Severus just wants to forget.

🥃 The Beauty of Thestrals and Other Unseen Things (E, 63k) - Drarry

Harry has terrific friends, an amazing girlfriend and his job as Head Auror enables him to work on challenging cases and Ministry reform. He just wishes he could work out why he’s been so out of sorts.

🏳️‍🌈 Little Compton Street verse (E, 150k) - Drarry, Sirius/James, Minerva/Will

Draco is lonely, Harry hates the press and it won’t stop raining in London. Harry discovers a magical street that’s close to disappearing forever and Draco realises he’s one rainy night in Soho away from finding everything he’s been searching for.

[olderthannetfic]

I’m always sad when people say that they feel like their friend group changes every time they change fandoms. I think it’s a good idea to treat making friends in fandom like you would anywhere else: you’ll have “work friends” or “book club friends” or whomever who you’ll only really want to hang out with in that specific space and have no real reason to reach out to outside of that, you like them and find them pleasant but don’t really have a deeper “connection” than that; and then you’ll have the people who you do have other things in common with and connect with on a deeper level and want to see outside of that situation. I think a key thing is if you want to get closer to someone in fandom, ask about their lives outside of it and their non-fannish interests, as that’s where I’ve built the lasting bonds that go beyond our membership in a particular fandom. My best friend I met in fandom a decade ago and I rarely share fandoms anymore and even less often ships, but we have lots of other stuff in common that we can talk about — including the war stories of “being in fandom” which often are more fun to discuss with someone who is not ensconced within that specific fandom and its discourse! It can be really helpful to hear an outside perspective from someone who is familiar with the dynamics of fandom, but not deeply wrapped up in whatever specific fight people are having, to reinforce that yeah that IS fucked up and you’re not crazy for thinking this discourse is rancid or whatever. Especially when I’ve had people spread rumors about me or accuse me of things: it was really good to hear from those friends that I wasn’t wrong about the way I was looking at this or for saying what I said, the other people were who was being unreasonable

--

I think some people are trying to avoid revealing too much identifying RL info, but mostly, yes, people are treating temporary Yell about #thing with partners as real friends without building any of the long-term emotional intimacy that makes friendships stick.

[menlove]

1 2 3 4 😈

unpopular john opinion? hmmmm lord i guess it depends on what circles i'm in bc there's smth unpopular about every john opinion i have depending on who i'm around. i guess just the one that would be most unpopular to the widest audience imaginable is that his relationship w yoko was a lot more complicated than anyone wants to talk about. like she was neither the diabolical scheming witch that hypnotized him and tortured him... but she was also not the cool girlboss wife that did no wrong. i think the truth is somewhere in the middle and falls more along the lines of that they were both Not Good to or for each other, but ofc where men like john & paul are given grace to fuck up in relationships, yoko is not bc she is a woman and a japanese woman at that. i guess that's more of a Yoko Opinion but. i mean it's john as well. their relationship was very odd and sometimes incredibly unhealthy but i don't necessarily think he was either The Victim or The Abuser. they just kind of sucked together.

unpopular paul opinion? i really really do not think he is as oblivious as people make him out to be re his sexuality/john. like obviously i'm not in his mind i can't outright make that call but the idea that he's just a straight man emotionally in love w john who Can't Understand It is so... does not ring true to me. To Me i think it more likely that if he has realized anything, there's a lot of shit he's up against. he's 1/4th of the most popular band that has ever existed and 1/2 of the remaining members. the most famous of those two members at that. he was born in the 1940s and homosexuality was still illegal for the first 25 years of his life. not only that but if he Did ever mention anything about him and john, it's not just his legacy he has to protect, but his dead best friend's whose widow is still alive & would only catch more backlash than she already has. like. it's just not a simple situation and it bothers me when people act like the Only possible reason he could be saying weird contradictory things abt his sexuality & feelings for john are bc he's straight and stupid. like sure that COULD be! but idk! i'm just not convinced.

unpopular ringo opinion? fadfasdfasf the other two are so long and these next two are gonna be so much shorter rip. but idk i'm gonna be real i avoid thinking about ringo bc i think out of the 4 of them he's the one i'm most uncomfortable interacting with in a fannish way. especially bc he is still alive and (at least according to people i know that've met him) still kind of an asshole. ofc as a john girlie i have 0 room for judgment here i really don't care one way or another how people interact w him and his legacy i just, myself, tend to avoid it. which i guess is an unpopular opinion in of itself. just will never forget about him beating his first wife so badly she couldn't walk. like. that's so fucked. and like i said ik it's hypocritical but that's why i just Avoid The Ringo Discussion.

unpopular george opinion? idek that i HAVE an unpopular george opinion tbh....... he was the coolest one out of all of them though, bar none. he could walk circles around john & paul when it came to his guitar playing and while my guitar gently weeps is one of the best guitar songs of all time. UH i guess the only unpopular one i have is all things must pass is not a favorite album of mine like it's got some gold on it but overall i'm not listening to it on repeat

controversial beatles asks

[kuwdora]

Interview with a Vampire. I'm so glad I caught up on season 2 before the finale and was able to watch the finale with fannish friends. This show makes me lose my mind in all the best ways. In fact I think I got a vid idea that's going to give me a stroke. And allow me to try to do something with a vid that I've never done before. Which is terrifying and exciting (but I don't think the idea will jump my vid queue since I still have to make my season 3 Yennefer vid. I'm almost done clipping, then Yen's faaaace.)

but omg. The way they play with narrative and memory in this second season, holy fucking fuck. I'm in fucking love.

my brain is still glitching on how the entire season in the background was the discussion about selling that triptych painting. and then when they finally get it off the wall and Louis and Armand are standing there, staring at that blank wall debating what to put there. cut to the finale and we see the wall broken in where Louis threw Armand against it. I'm not okay. I mean I love it but mmmmmm I am going to looooooove rewatching and vidding this show a fucking lot. also I will need all the post-season 2 daniel and louis fic please.

[cassiesinsanity]

It was Trix's birthday the other day. I know because its still in my yahoo calendar (along with so many other long ago names) and I got a reminder that I don't need or really want, but I don't have the heart to take the entry out of my calendar.

Which got me to thinking that she was Aster's age when she handed Donna over to me in Beyond the Oval and she must be, GOD. She must be in her mid-to-late 30s now and that's just insane. (Maybe older? Time is tricky and blurs sometimes.) (BTO!!! Omg that's the Abbie connection! She's been there so long as a friend but its BTO where I officially "met" her. Was she Sam? Danny? Someone else? I can't remember. Is it even the SAME Abbie???)

(Which of course got me thinking about Tori, which always makes me wistful. Her memory IS a blessing.)

Is Trix still in fandom? Does she have the same name? A new one? Does it matter? Everyone changes their names constantly and I can't keep up. (I mean, look at daughterofrohan who laughed her head off at me because she disappeared and came roaring back and I did not put all the puzzle pieces together.)

How many other people are out there who I haven't connected to old personas? I know smutqueen poked me a while ago. (A while! Ha! More than 5 years ago. Maybe more than 10?) I know who a handful are (hello readsrandomly) but how many more?

Strange. How past and present blur and blend. And still I can't delete a stupid calendar entry.

[yvesdot]

🎇 Year-End Asks 🎇

Send an emoji and a number!

🎊 GENERAL

What emotion sums up this year for you?

What were your goals for this year?

What do you hope to do by the end of the year?

What did you most improve at this year?

What did you learn about yourself this year?

How have you grown this year?

What is one kind thing someone did for you this year?

What's a lifestyle or routine change you made this year?

How would you describe your fashion sense this year?

What’s a place you went to for the first time this year?

What's one new thing you learned this year?

What achievement are you proudest of this year?

What was your best purchase of the year?

Shout out a friend (IRL or online) you made this year!

What's one way the world (and/or your country specifically) improved this year?

What were you posting about a year before today?

What would you tell the you from the beginning of this year?

How did you spend, or will you spend, New Year's Eve?

🎉 SUMMARIZE THE YEAR / BEST OF THE YEAR IN...

(all can either be examples which sum up the year to you, or are your favorite—or pick one for each!)

One book.

One book quote.

One movie.

One movie quote.

One TV show.

One TV show quote.

One album.

One song.

One song lyric.

One (some other kind of art—game, sculpture, painting...)

One news story.

One of your posts.

🍾 MEDIA

What's something you just watched/read/played/listened to for the first time this year that you loved?

What's something you RE-watched/read/played/listened to this year that you loved?

What have you been telling everyone this year to watch/read/play/listen to?

What did you read/watch/play/listen to this year that surprised you?

What book/film/show/game/album/song changed your worldview?

What’s your favorite book/film/show/game/album/song of all time, and has that changed this year?

What are you looking forward to seeing in art in years to come?

What’s one recommendation you got this year that you really enjoyed?

Name an indie creator you just discovered whose work you love, in any medium. (If you get this multiple times, name new ones!)

Did you get into any new fandoms this year? Did you do any art/fic/fannish things for them?

What's something coming out next year that you're excited for?

Do you have any watching/reading/listening goals?

🎆 ART

Did you do any challenges this year (Hourly Comic Day, NaNoWriMo, game jams, etc.) and, if so, how did they go?

Describe your experience making art this year in one word.

Do you see yourself trending in any direction with your art this year, and into the future?

What's something you'd like to see in your art moving forward?

How many projects are you in the middle of right now?

What project most surprised you this year?

What project did you work the hardest on this year?

What's your personal Project of the Year?

🧨 FOR POSTERITY

What are you reading right now?

What are you watching right now?

What are you playing right now?

What are you listening to right now?

Where are you answering this ask from?

How are you feeling right now?

What are you thinking about right now?

🕛 LOOKING FORWARD

What are your goals for next year?

What are you looking forward to next year?

What changes do you hope to see in the world next year?

What are you hopeful for next year?

How are you preparing for next year?

What will you be taking with you from this year into the next?

What would you like to tell or ask your future self one year from now?

Share a positive message for everyone reading this to take into the new year ^__^

[skaruresonic]

"I won't forget the time another games fan admitted on my old Twitter account that the current fannish climate was such that they were going to limit their Sonic discussion to private channels."

Funnily enough, something similar happened to me on Twitter. Someone contacted me in private because they wanted to talk about CV with me, but "I didn't want to message you so publicly because there are some people who don't like you that follow me"

And my reaction was... cool? Thanks for telling me? I'm not even super active on Twitter and I can count on one hand the amount of times I complained and attracted discussions. I just felt sad that this person treated me like a clandestine. It reminded me back when I was in high school and my friend back then was like "don't help these people, they talk shit about you" - what am I supposed to think, other than "oh :("?

And the CV fandom is all but dead, even the NFCV fandom is certainly more active but currently resting. The Sonic fandom, especially on Twitter, is an absolute nightmare. People really do pounce you for any reason they deem justified, and all sorts of petty discourse is pushed in front of your face for the sole reason of making you angry.

Anyway, I say already what I said: for a fandom who will call you all sorts of names if you don't have the right wholesome opinions on minor characters, they sure have zero mercy for real life minors whose crime is complaining in their corner of the internet. Silly you, daring to have an opinion!

Funnily enough, something similar happened to me on Twitter. Someone contacted me in private because they wanted to talk about CV with me, but "I didn't want to message you so publicly because there are some people who don't like you that follow me"

It reminded me back when I was in high school and my friend back then was like "don't help these people, they talk shit about you" - what am I supposed to think, other than "oh :("?

Might be missing some context here, but honestly, that sounds a little backhanded. Best case scenario, they're worried about inadvertently shining a spotlight on you, which just raises questions of why they're hanging around folks who'd dogpile people to begin with.

Like bruh, this is video games fandom, not an illegal gambling ring lmao. Saying "I can't reblog from you because you have cooties" would be more emotionally honest.

To some extent, though, I do have to wonder how much of this is a modern-day fandom culture thing and isn't confined to just Sonic, because patterns seem to repeat across fandoms. Half-Life has settled down AFAIK, but that was after virulent tourists literally called the cops on fic writers for shipping a ship and caused the old guard to disperse. The Silent Hill Reddit, likewise, refuses to hear any criticism of the SH2 remake because you're harshing their buzz. And hey, anything Konami offers us must surely be better than nothing. "Technical limitations" is similar misinformation that gets passed around via games of telephone a la Shadow mandates. I don't need to tell you how Sonic fandom treats unpopular opinions. Don't know what to call it. Toxic positivity? Consumerism? Anti mindset? Clout chasing? Social media-fuelled outrage? All of the above? Whatever it is, it's becoming more prevalent in fannish spaces. Maybe it's because I'm more invested in Sonic fandom than the others, but there I've noticed that there's definitely this added layer of superciliousness to Sonic that just makes the usual fandom wank even more obnoxious. Yes, the HLVRAI stans might lie and say your ship is pedophilia, which is incredibly unfortunate, but nobody was giving them the microphone and saying they ought to be taken as an authority on all things Half-Life. In fact, the old guard pushed for AO3 to separate HLVRAI and Half-Life in the tags for years for this very reason. We weren't all suddenly like "hmm yes, maybe Gordon really was a ~secret pedo~ who thinks of grown-ass Alyx as a child when she flirts with him in-game" because we knew that was fucking ridiculous. But for some reason, we're all supposed to think "IDW!Sonic is Games!Sonic" lest we bu run out of town with torches and pitchforks, I guess.

The worst part is it's hard to tell what people want anymore. You can't say things they don't want to hear even in your own space. You can't say it politely, you can't say it rudely, you can't say it to your friends or to people you're arguing with, you just cannot say it at all without risking a ton of fans going "well you said it, therefore you deserve what you get." And, frankly, fuck that lol.

[magpiefngrl]

2, 5, 25 for the fandom asks thing!

Hello! Thanks for the fun questions!

2. a headcanon you weren't sure about at first but have come to like!

I can't think of a headcanon right now but I can tell you about some tropes that I used to avoid reading when I first joined drarry, which I love now.

I remember joining fests in my first months of being in drarry and most people's sign-ups would read "no first person, no creature fics". There were other No-Nos but these two came up a lot and I also listed them as a Do Not Want.

Except I don't know why I did it. I was swept with the current, I suppose, and I'd never given it proper thought. Until I read a few creature fics and was like "this is good? Omg this is good!" I've been a convert since. I even wrote one myself (Draco as Incubus).

Same with first person. For some reason, first person in fic can feel odd, but I've read many amazing fics in 1st POV and I've totally changed my mind.

5. something you see in fics a lot and love

One thing I love in fics is an ensemble cast. Although a fic with a tight focus on H/D (or any ship) is fab and I'll read it avidly, I have a special fondness for stories which feature several characters as friends or coworkers or something. Interactions between all these characters are totally my jam and I'm at my happiest when these interactions aren't always pleasant :D

25. a piece of advice for taking care of yourself in fandom spaces

What an interesting question. My main advice would be to ensure that fandom isn't your be-all and end-all. For a long time, fandom was the only thing in my life, which made every interaction far more magnified than it should have been. I'd be ecstatic at the tiniest praise or kindness, which also meant that a trivial slight (e.g. I wasn't mentioned in a rec list) felt devastating. I believe that a healthy balance between life and fandom is crucial in order to enjoy it.

My other piece of advice would be to approach fandom with joy and a feeling of generosity. Fandom works best when you enter it because you want to share the love for these characters and this world rather than because, idk, you want people to admire your prose or because your fannish posts will get you more followers. Not that the latter can't happen (and it's an awesome side effect), but someone's primary motivation should be, imo, a desire to share their love for a ship or a world and to find like-minded weirdos (affectionate) who share that feeling. Being generous with one's praise and time and effort, being willing to give, and appreciating what's offered without entitlement is the best way to make friends and to thrive in this community.

love your fandom asks

[msmargaretmurry]

any advice on someone who’s new to the hockey/hockey rpf fandom on trying to make friends? I miss having people to bounce ideas off of

hi anon! welcome to hockey fandom! i hope you're having fun so far ❤

in all honestly, i'm probably not the best person to answer this question. the majority of the friends i made in hockey fandom i met 7–10 business years ago in a locked hockey twitter environment that just doesn't really exist anymore in the way it did back then. i've made a handful more recently (whom i adore!!) but i'm such an introvert that most of the time it's them deciding we should be friends and me being like "sure sounds great!" 😅 however. i will try to give some advice anyway.

i assume since you're here you're on tumblr in general, so if you haven't yet, definitely start following people who are into the same teams/players/pairings as you! don't be shy about reblogging from them and putting your fannish feelings in the tags, or prev tagging them if you like what they added, or sending them an ask if they blog about something you'd love to hear more about. except, and this is key, i'm sorry: you gotta send your asks non-anonymously. anons can be super fun but you can't really make friends with them.

it really depends on the level of outgoing-ness you're comfortable with, but if you've had a couple of interactions with someone and you want to see if they'd like to be friends, honestly, just shoot them a message. say something like, hey, i'm pretty new to hockey fandom and trying to make friends, and you seem cool, so i wanted to say hi! like, unfortunate because it can be scary, but in my experience reaching out intentionally to people to start a dialogue has a way higher success rate than just interacting from afar and hoping they make a friendship move.

if you post fic on ao3, link your tumblr in your author's notes or ao3 bio. that way people who like your fic can find you! (actually do this even if you just comment on ao3. if you leave a really nice comment on someone else's fic they might want to find you, too!) and, if you find fic writers on here whose stuff you like, don't be afraid to message them about it! we live for that shit, and you might make a new writer friend.

i feel like this is all very basic advice that is not specific to hockey fandom at all, so i'm sorry if it's nothing new. if i had an idea of what in hrpf you were into maybe i could point you in some more specific directions. i know there are some discord servers out there for hrpf in general and for more specific teams/pairings/etc within hrpf, but i don't discord so i can't help with that :(

hockey fandom, i think, can be a little intimidating because there is so much information and history and so many players and teams you could be into. i really do think being honest with people — hey, i'm new, i'm excited to learn and geek out about this stuff, i wanna be friends — is the best way to be. and if you have questions, you can always dm me! i'm nice, i promise!!

[multiplicity-positivity]

Hey, so I'm not asking for a diagnosis. More of a "does this sound like a possiblity" thing.

I've been (knowingly/"intentionally") plural since I was about 15/16, but I always thought I was exclusively endogenic/spiritual. I've formed soulbonds and tulpas with people I was friends with during my past fictionkin lives and with people who are comfort characters. I've been a maladaptive daydreamer for as long as I can remember, so the whole act of "interact with your CCs like they're really there until they do indeed actually show up" was pretty easy for me. And that's all I ever saw it as, just a spiritual/fannish thing that I did to make me feel less lonely, because I missed my past lives, and who doesn't want their fave character with them every day?

Well, guess what, nothing is ever that simple for me i guess, bc I've now realized I think I very likely have c-ptsd. That in itself isn't the main "issue" here as i'm getting help for that, but I'm now questioning my system's origins. I think we might be mixed origin now. There's no way we're exclusively traumagenic imo, but for the longest time i thought we were all JUST religious/spiritual and nothing else. but the more that i think about it, i spent SO MUCH TIME of my high school years focused on my past lives, or the fictional lives i wanted to live. i was so obsessed with forming soulbonds/tulpas of people from my kintype lives,whether they be my reincarnation-kins or my comfort-kins. because i couldnt fucking cope. bc i had no one. i wanted my kin-friends to be with me and even "take over for me" often.

and now, i barely remember anything from those years. whoever/whatever i was then, i am different now. i do not mean this in the typical "I transitioned/I changed/I realized new things about me" way that every adult goes through. I literally mean that the person i was then does not exist. but all of my kintypes and headmates still do exist. and i'm thinking, wow, are we traumagenic in addition to endogenic?

i'm not asking for a specific label/dx, but more so of a. . .does this sound traumagenic to you, possibly? or is correlation not causation, and just bc i happened to form a system while i was in a traumatizing environment, does NOT necessarily MAKE ME traumagenic?

Hi! It sounds to us like you could very well be mixed origins, or you could be solely traumagenic! In the end, this will be up to you and your system to decide. There’s no rush in figuring out what labels to use, though. And if you use one label, then find out later that you were wrong, that’s okay too! We’d encourage y’all to take your time and sit with these labels for a while before deciding which fits best.

Someone very well may create thoughtforms or paros (t*lpas) to help them cope with a traumatic memory or a traumatizing time in their life. In our opinion, those new headmates may indeed choose to call themselves traumagenic - their origins were indeed impacted by trauma! However, if they do not want to identify that way, they don’t have to. Origin labels shouldn’t ever be forced on anyone, and you are welcome to use the labels which seem to fit best for your system!

If you think that it is simply not possible for your system to be 100% trauma-formed, then mixed origins is fine! Whatever labels suit your system best are the right labels for you all to identify with. Best of luck to you all with pinpointing your origins in the future!