#fanwanking

[fantastic-nonsense]

reylos crying on twitter because Adam Driver explicitly confirmed that Bendemption was never originally in the plans for Kylo....this is justice for the last 8 years, actually

[anghraine]

It's interesting (if often frustrating) to see the renewed Orc Discourse after the last few episodes of ROP. I've seen arguments that orcs have to be personifications of evil rather than people as such or else the ethics of our heroes' approach to them becomes much more fraught. Tolkien's work, as written, seems an odd choice to me for not wrangling with difficult questions, and of course, more diehard fans are going to immediately bring up Shagrat and Gorbag.

If you haven't read LOTR recently, Shagrat and Gorbag are two orcs who briefly have a conversation about how they're being screwed over by Sauron but have no other real options, about their opinions of mistakes that have been made, that they think Sauron himself has made one, but it's not safe to discuss because Sauron has spies in their own ranks. They reminisce about better times when they had more freedom and fantasize about a future when they can go elsewhere and set up a small-scale banditry operation rather than being involved in this huge-scale war. Eventually, however, they end up turning on each other.

Basically any time that someone brings up the "humanity" of this conversation, someone else will point out that they're still bad people. They're not at all guilty about what they're part of. They just resent the dangers to themselves, the pressure from above, failures of competence, the surveillance they're under, and their lack of realistic alternative options. The dream of another life mentioned in the conversation is still one of preying on innocent people, just on a much smaller and more immediate scale, etc.

I think this misses the reason it keeps getting brought up, though. The point is not that Shagrat and Gorbag are good people. The point is that they are people.

There's something very normal and recognizable about their resentment of their superiors, their fears of reprisal and betrayal that ultimately are realized, their dislike of this kind of industrial war machine that erases their individual work and contributions, the tinge of wistfulness in their hope of escape into a different kind of life. Their dialect is deliberately "common"—and there's a lot more to say about that and the fact that it's another commoner, Sam, who outwits them—but one of the main effects is to make them sound familiar and ordinary. And it's interesting that one of the points they specifically raise is that they're not going to get better treatment from "the good guys" so they can't defect, either.

This is self-interested, yes, but it's not the self-interest of some mystical being or spirit or whatnot, but of people.

Tolkien's later remarks tend to back this up. He said that female orcs do exist, but are rarely seen in the story because the characters only interact with the all-male warrior class of orcs. Whatever female orcs "do," it isn't going to war. Maybe they do a lot of the agricultural work that is apparently happening in distant parts of Mordor, maybe they are chiefly responsible for young orcs, maybe both and/or something else, we don't know. But we know they're out there and we know that they reproduce sexually and we know that they're not part of the orcish warrior class.

Regardless of all the problems with this, the idea that orcs have a gender-restricted warrior class at all and we're just not seeing any of their other classes because of where the story is set doesn't sound like automatons of evil. It sounds like an actual culture of people that we only see along the fringes.

And this whole matter of "but if they're people, we have to think about ethics, so they can't be people" is a weird circular argument that cannot account for what's in LOTR or for much of what Tolkien said afterwards. Yes, he struggled with The Problem of Orcs and how to reconcile it with his world building and his ethical system, but "maybe they're not people" is ultimately not a workable solution as far as LOTR goes and can't even account for much of the later evolution of his ideas, including explicit statements in his letters.

And in the end, the real response that comes to mind to that circular argument is "maybe you should think about ethics more."

[thereallovebug]

It makes me sad that it’s been a month since Michael Sheen has interacted with fans on Twitter (I don’t count the tweets for causes or charities). Except for the time some ten years ago when he got off twitter all together, I think this is the longest “hiatus” he’s taken. I’ve heard, “maybe he’s just too busy” and I’m sure that’s partly true but he’s been busy before and generally doesn’t stay away more than a few days at a time.

I think we all know the real reason he’s currently gone is because he was dogpiled over his statements not being pure enough about the current situation in Palestine according to the Twitter Foreign Policy Experts who thought they’d take it upon themselves to school a 54-year-old activist who’s been watching the shifting struggles of the world for decades. Anyone who’s been following him for the past few years should have noticed by now that he doesn’t take kindly to condescention or insults and he’ll readily block those who try. In their parasocial fantasies they forget that friendliness ≠ friendship and shit you can get away with saying to RL friends may not go down well with someone they don’t really know outside of their public persona.

I hope if he finally decides to start interacting with fans again they remember to show some goddam respect. He’s NOT your buddy. He’s a friendly stranger on the internet.

Addendum: if anyone tries to make this political I will block you, no exceptions. I don’t take kindly to condescension or insults, either.

[firedragon1321]

Hey Digimon (Fans)

Guys.

Guys.

GUYS.

GUYS!

THE DIGITAL WORLD RUNS ON LINUX!

[deancasforcutie]

still chasing the high of that halcyon age where Supernatural was my healthy safe escape from the horrors of US politics, and then

[fecklesheckleshacklesschmeckles]

this happened in my brain, so now it has to happen on your dash

[yesterdayiwrote]

I think this is supposed to be an insult but it just sounds like the greatest motorsports villain to never exist…

[kuroshipsujidiscord]

Notice: Server Inactive

This server is now inactive. If there is another space that ends up being made I'm happy to share it here. As promised in the announcement, here is a copy of the post I made in the discord with the explainer for those who may have missed it:

I'm truly sorry to all of you who enjoyed being a part of this space </3

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

the worst part of doctor who fandom is how easy it latches onto a "consensus" opinion that then everyone assumes this is "obviously" the only way to interpret an episode, and also they also latch onto painting with a negative brush literally everything about an episode, questioning things that "don't make sense!!!" when like, they do actually. just because 1 part of the plot may be flimsy doesn't mean automatically all 300 creative decisions are too, by osmosis. this is not how stories work, karen.

[matt0044]

Thomas Astruc did not have a "vendetta" against Chloe. Period.

Here are the facts from those I have asked and official sources: https://old.reddit.com/r/miraculousladybug/comments/1e8vsit/could_i_just_have_the_facts/

She isn't based on his former bully or girlfriend who dumped him. That sort of accusation is petty at best.

2. He wrote and directed most episodes of each season, alongside ten other writers and directors. No specific staff member (creative or executive, including Zag) had specific involvement in specific episodes which portray Chloé positively or negatively. At least as far as what has been official stated.

3. The scripts were written years before the episodes were aired (i.e. things weren't changed due to the viewers' reaction). For example, The Battle of the Miraculous was locked before Season 2 had even premiered, and Sole Crusher and Queen Banana around the time Season 2 was ending.

That last part is essential because animation takes TIME people. There are few opportunities for "fan service" or taking pot shots at the fandom.

Also... who writes a character that they hate, seemingly redeem them and then have them backslide. It feels more like Thomas loves the sh*t out of Chloe as a villain and wanted to explore the idea of not all mean girls getting over themselves before it's too late.

You can criticize the execution but can we just... take a step back and not make it all about us?

[redjennies]

I made this while fully aware that I have probably caused this exact same feeling in countless others.

[fantastic-nonsense]

the deliberate erasure of Padme Amidala and Satine Kryze from every piece of Star Wars media where it would be narratively and thematically relevant to mention them is absolutely insane

because how did we get to a place where we can have two separate shows that collectively co-star three of Padme's best friends and her child and only get one (1) oblique mention? How did we get two whole shows focused on Mandalorians and post-Imperial Mandalore, one of which co-stars Satine's sister, and not mention the Last Free Ruler of Mandalore? How did we get a show focused on Obi-Wan Kenobi and not mention one of his best friends or the love of his life? How did we get a show focused entirely on politics and spying and the true birth of the Rebellion and not mention the fact that Padme helped build that? How did we visit Sundari and not mention Satine? How did we get an episode where Ahsoka literally attends Padme's funeral and never once says her name?

The fact that Satine is essentially confined to The Clone Wars despite her sister being the current co-protagonist of Disney's flagship Star Wars show while Padme has been basically erased from every single piece of Star Wars media that isn't the Darth Vader comics is baffling. It would be like Leia being completely non-existent and never mentioned in the sequel trilogy despite it co-starring her son, brother, and husband. It makes no sense, it's clearly deliberate, and it's extremely irritating.

[anghraine]

I know I've ranted about it a million times, but every time someone brings up Roman, Byzantine, and Egyptian inspirations/influences on Gondor in more mainstream Tolkien fandom spaces (not me, because I don't even talk about it off Tumblr/DW), it seems like there's always someone who gets super weird and defensive about it. I've seen so many "well actually there's no need to consider any influences outside of England, mythology for England blah blah" responses.

And it's like! Oh, you want to play the decontextualized Tolkien quotes game? How about this one:

“But this [the setting of LOTR] is not a purely 'Nordic' area in any sense. If Hobbiton and Rivendell are taken (as intended) to be at about the latitude of Oxford, then Minas Tirith, 600 miles south, is at about the latitude of Florence [in Italy]. The Mouths of Anduin and the ancient [Gondorian] city of Pelargir are at about the latitude of ancient Troy [in Turkey]. Auden has asserted that for me 'the North is a sacred direction.' That is not true. The North-west part of Europe, where I (and most of my ancestors) have lived, has my affection, as a man’s home should. I love its atmosphere, and know more of its histories and languages than I do of other parts; but it is not ‘sacred’, nor does it exhaust my affections. I have, for instance, a particular love for the Latin language, and among its descendants for Spanish ... The progress of the tale ends in what is far more like the re-establishment of an effective Holy Roman Empire with its seat in Rome than anything that would be devised by a 'Nordic.'”

Or this one:

we come [in ROTK] to the half-ruinous Byzantine City of Minas Tirith

Or:

In the south Gondor rises to a peak of power, almost reflecting Númenor, and then fades slowly to decayed Middle Age, a kind of proud, venerable, but increasingly impotent Byzantium.

Or:

The Númenóreans of Gondor were proud, peculiar, and archaic, and I think are best pictured in (say) Egyptian terms. In many ways they resembled ‘Egyptians’ - the love of, and power to construct, the gigantic and massive. And in their great interest in ancestry and in tombs. […] I think the crown of Gondor (the S. Kingdom) was very tall, like that of Egypt, but with wings attached, not set straight back but at an angle. The N. Kingdom had only a diadem (III 323). Cf. the difference between the N. and S. kingdoms of Egypt.

Or:

Thank you very much for your letter. … It came while I was away, in Gondor (sc. Venice), as a change from the North Kingdom

Middle-earth is not equivalent to England, or northern Europe in general, and Gondor especially is not northern at all!

[benbamboozled]

Something something—meta character analysis of Jason Todd as a child of addicts.

Mumble mumble—his total lack of self-worth stemming from the deep, intrinsic knowledge that his parents will choose their own demons over him every time.

Something something.

[dying-suffering-french-stalkers]

[deancasforcutie]

John:

every spn fan: