#for reasons/drama/media I haven’t seen

[macadam]

I miss your posts and tags a lil sometimes, but I hope you being a bit more absent here means you've got some really cool stuff going on in RL :)

Aw thank you anon T-T

I’ve been getting into sewing recently and picking up a bunch of projects that have been piling up in the scary corner of my room. Some of it’s very exciting like this bear I’m finishing turning into a bag today:

But a lot of it is fixing torn clothes or tailoring stuff I’ve thrifted (went to a church rummage sail recently and got soooo many things. They had a big clear out sail the last hour). Not as fun. Still necessary

It’s been very nice to finally get around to some of this stuff but has also meant that I’m not consuming any tf media rn (or media in general) and thus have no commentary to make lol.

I really do miss making posts and chatting with people on tumblr and discord, but I don’t really have anything to say about transformers right now. I suppose I could sit and brainstorm possible things to talk about. I am very good at that and used to do that a lot just to make conversation on here, but I dunno. School has also been crazy

[physalian]

In Defense of Fanfiction (Or the perfect starting point for your original novel)

Fanfic gets a bad rap pretty much everywhere except Tumblr. It’s misunderstood and misrepresented by its average works, seen as juvenile and cringey, or a banal point of contention between a famous person or piece of media and its fans.

Outside of fanfic that writes about real people, especially smut fics of real people, I support the art wholeheartedly. Fictional characters are one thing, but personally, caricaturing a celebrity’s life for public consumption and writing or drawing them in compromising content without their consent is a little weird. You do you. Don’t like, don’t read, as they say.

Fanfic is the perfect starting point for a few reasons:

It places you in a creative box and forces you to work within those constraints

It does all the worldbuilding and character concepts for you

It lets you write way outside your comfort zone

When published and receiving feedback, it boosts your self-confidence

It's incredibly flexible

It’s practice. All practice is good practice

—

Behold your creative box

When I was little I had no idea the majority of fanfic was shipping fics. I always pictured and looked for canon-divergent alternate universes. Like, what if X happened in this episode instead of Y? What if this character never died?

Fanfic demands you work within someone else’s canon, whether it’s an OC in the canonical world, or the canonical characters in an AU. These are like little bowling bumpers saving you from the gutter, but also keeping you on a straight-ish path toward the pins.

The indecisiveness of too many choices can be too intimidating when you’re first starting out. You want to be a writer but you have no idea where to begin, what genre to pick, what characters you want to chronicle, what themes you want to explore.

Even if it sits on your computer never to see the light of day, you still got those creative juices flowing.

Pre-packaged worldbuilding

Sometimes all we want is to get to the good stuff. Maybe I want to write a story about elemental magicians but Last Airbender already exists and I just want to play in a pre-existing sandbox. So I write some OCs into that world and have a free-for-all.

I don’t have to come up with my own lore, world history, magic system rules and mechanics, politics, geography—any of it. I get to just focus on the characters.

Even if you’re writing an AU, like say a coffee shop AU, you don’t have to think about brand new characters, you can just think “What would M do?” and go from there. The trade-off is your readers will expect canonical characters to behave in-character, but I think it’s worth it.

Stretch beyond your comfort zone!

Do you hate writing action scenes? Go practice with a shonen anime fic. Need work on dialogue? Write some high-fantasy fic, or a courtroom drama. Practice a fistfight by watching fistfights and writing what you see, and do it over and over again until what you read makes you feel like you're watching what’s on screen.

But beyond that—practice genres that you aren’t super familiar with. If you’re new to fantasy, write fantasy fic. Or a mystery novel/show, thriller, comedy, satire, adventure, what have you. The nature of fanfic still gives you those “guardrails” and you can get some brutally honest feedback on how you’re doing.

And, of course, the realm of M-rated romance and smut fics. I haven’t because I think I would die of embarrassment if I tried and I never intend to include sex scenes in my works anyway, but if you do want to, use the internet as your test audience. Post it on a throwaway account if you’re nervous.

Build that self-confidence!

The fandoms I used to write for are super dead, so it’s insane how I still get email notifications that so-and-so liked my fic to this day. Comments are as elusive as ever, but random strangers on the internet telling me they liked my work is a magical reassurance that my writing isn’t actually awful.

Random strangers on the internet are, as we all know, beholden to no moral obligation to be kind to your little avatar face, or be kind to be polite. So a rando taking the time to like my work or even leave a positive comment can feel more honest than one of my friends telling me what they think I want to hear.

I tend to avoid the more present aspects of fandom like online communities, forums, social media, what have you, so I get a delayed and diluted aspect of any given fandom through completed works. Which means, in general, I get to avoid the worst and most toxic aspects of fandom and get to sift through positive feedback and critique.

Even if your fanfic isn’t written with stellar prose, it’s fanfic. We don’t expect Pulitzer-prize winning content. And if your work isn’t up to snuff, people are more likely to just ignore it than put you on blast (at least in my experience, I never got a bad comment or a “flame” in the old FFN days).

Fanfic doesn’t care about the rules of published literature

On the one hand, try not to practice bad habits, but with this point I mean that your layout, punctuation, formatting, paragraph styles, chapter length–all of it is beholden to no rules. I get as annoyed as the next reader with giant blocks of paragraphs, or the double-spacing between pages of single-sentence paragraphs, but if the story’s good enough I might ignore it.

There’s more than just straight narrative fics, though. People write “chat” fics, or long streams of text and group chat conversations. The scene breaks can come super rapidly–I’ve seen fics with a single sentence in between line breaks to show the passage of time. And without the polish of a traditionally published novel, I’ve never seen a purer distillation of author voice in any medium more than fanfic.

All practice is good practice

Even if it’s crack fiction, or a one-off one-shot, or something meant to be lighthearted and straightforward and free from complex worldbuilding and intricate plots. It really helps break writer’s block when you can shift gears and headspaces entirely and you can get relatively instant feedback to keep you motivated.

Beyond that, the “guardrails” help you stay consistent as far as character growth and personality if you struggle with designing rich characters.

The most recent fanfic I wrote was just a couple years ago, for a dead fandom I didn’t think would get any traffic whatsoever. It wasn’t my original works, but the feedback on that fic gave me the kick in the butt I needed to get back into writing more seriously.

—

In short, I support fanfic. I may not be proud of my earliest fics' prose now, but I am proud that they walked so I can now run.

[thebandghostofficial]

[MESSAGE FROM THE CLERGY]

An important (and overwinded) announcement regarding this blog below the cut.

Hello everyone! This is Rawkin Ghoul/ Tumblr Ghoul/ Tumblrina/ Soda/ etc etc.

First thing’s first: no, this blog is not an official Ghost social media account.

I started this blog in late 2022 when ghost-official started blowing up (I do not believe this one to be real either, and honestly I won’t believe they have a Tumblr until it is linked on their official website) and thought, “wow, I could make a better Ghost blog than that. One that’s way better organized and actually advertises properly for them, and posts regularly!” So I did.

Originally it was meant as just that, a little joke between some friends, and wasn’t meant to really get farther than that. But then I thought, Ghost does have a lot of fans on Tumblr- a lot of exquisitely talented and devoted fans. Maybe I can kinda “roleplay” it for a while, build almost a bit of a portfolio, and then either offer the blog to management or offer to run it for them officially, for fun, if they were interested.

More time passes and more people followed. I thought “xofficial” as a username was a common enough joke/ gimmick that people would realize it wasn’t for real (and in fact, when I first searched the URL, I found that this username was once in use years ago! Sorry, previous owner), especially after posting that April Fools joke post- this was wrong of me to assume. There are a lot of roleplay/ joke “official” Ghost accounts all over the web but I failed to really properly disclaim that I was one of them.

I of course don’t plan to reach out to Ghost anymore and haven’t for some time, for multiple reasons including Tumblr just not being a good website for advertising. But another one is I got pretty loose on here. Tumblr is so different from Twitter and Insta and all that- you guys (and myself! I go here too) don’t want to have someone sell something to you- but you do love interaction and jokes and solving things together.

I think we can all admit it- when Ghost is dormant, the fans can get bored and even agitated, and can start to have a go at eachother. I’m certainly not guiltless there either. I wouldn’t say I’m notorious or even particularly well known in general but I’ve gotten into drama here and there. I figured the blog would be a fun way not just to distract the community, but really engage with it. The blog passed 5k a month or so ago and I started thinking, we could do something really cool with it. Smaller events like fanart contests and zines. But what if we did more? Organizing pre-ritual meetups. Larger community projects like fan-made music videos. ARG. Maybe even a short video game- there are so many incredibly skilled and hard-working Ghost fans and I wanted to try to bring them together because I think our love for Ghost, for whatever reason we love them, screams so loud and everyone deserves recognition (also a reason I started Fanart Friday as a regular thing).

You guys know I do my best to keep up with your tagging and what you’re saying and everything and I’ve seen the people pointing out the blog isn’t real from the beginning- I didn’t want to address it directly at first because I thought if nothing else people enjoyed the mystery.

But, more lately there’s been more and more people who are agitated, disappointed, and even a little scared to hear that this blog is not official.

I want to offer my very sincere apologies to people who I made feel that way. I should have made it obvious sooner- I know so well that there are a lot of very young Ghost fans especially who wouldn’t necessarily surmise that this isn’t real. I’m really sorry to those of you I disappointed.

I will never ask you for money here, or any personal information, or send asks anonymous or otherwise from here or my main personal blog as “Tumblr Ghoul”. I have had one person ask to message me so I messaged them to allow them to do that. If somebody contacts you claiming to be the person running this blog, they are lying. Please block them. My interactions here I aim to keep as public as possible, hence being increasingly liberal with replies and reblogs as the number of people interacting grew.

My only goal with this blog is to advertise for a band that I love and to entertain/ help the fandom when and where I can. I love and appreciate all the fanart and interest in the character of Tumblr Ghoul but I don’t want anybody to feel obligated to me and I especially don’t want to hurt anybody. I started this blog for fun and that how I want it to remain- fun for everyone.

People pointed out when I didn’t post for some time a few months back and it was because I had lost interest in the blog and was going through a rough time- and then one particularly bad day I got on to check it by chance and just seeing your guy’s tags and comments made me feel so much better. I tell people that I found Ghost when I really needed a friend and they fulfilled that for me, but the past few months you guys have done just the same for me. I am so sorry to have betrayed that and made you feel unsafe and lied to in return.

As of posting I do intend to still run the blog as I have been (with a disclaimer added to the bio regarding the legitimacy of this account)- posting about tours, chapters, merch, etc, as well as Fanart Friday. I 100% understand if anybody doesn’t want to be involved in that, so anybody who has tagged me in something and don’t want it on the blog now, I can open messages and you can let me know. I will probably close them again after a week or so if I get a large flood of unrelated messages.

Please do not message me asking me who I am, who knows about the blog, etc. Gaining popularity was never something I wanted from this so I will stay anonymous, for the time being at the very least. A very small number of people know who is behind the blog and to my knowledge only one of them is even on Tumblr and in the fandom.

Thank you for all the support you’ve shown me, Ghost, and eachother. It can be easy to see the bad parts of a community and roll your eyes electing to keep your distance, but since starting this blog I’ve been reminded what good community is even when it’s frustrating sometimes.

Thank you for reading, I won’t hold it against anybody who wants to separate themselves from this blog at this point, and please don’t let my oversight and general dummyness sour your experience with Ghost or its other fans. Enjoy the rest of this tour and whether it’s with or without me, please keep rawking 🤘 Be good to eachother.

Thank you.

[winged-self-indulgence]

This is so rushed and spun off from a truly unhinged discussion but I needed to write something for this AU while I have timeeee @tiffykins-yeah I hope this is at least semi entertaining lmao

The day Binary Star Hero turned against the heroes; the skies went dark.

Metaphorically of course. Strictly speaking, very little changed in the grand scheme of things. Although the NAHA, reporters, and anyone with a media presence certainly behaved as though the world itself had come to an end. Herschel was on the news lamenting the loss of the earth’s brightest star to the forces of darkness, news anchors would not shut up about the catastrophic consequences of losing the greatest hero mankind had ever known, and drama youtubers milked the controversy of the NAHA’s ignominious fall from grace as Binary Star Hero – real name Ray – exited the hero headquarters followed by a bevy of interns, office workers, and bottom-rung employees. Employees who, with vicious innocence, detailed the NAHA’s horrendous working conditions.

“We didn’t even have dental,” one sighed despondently. “My friend’s teeth haven’t been the same since that rock hero went on a rampage in the office.”

When asked the reason they had chosen to follow the new villain – was it blind worship? Stockholm syndrome? Were they being threatened in any way? – the gathering just scoffed.

“He’s paying my medical bills,” one replied. “The NAHA didn’t even want to pay for my insulin. I had to argue with like 5 different people to get it added to my benefits package.”

“Wait, you were getting benefits? I’ve been working on minimum wage for years!”

“You guys were getting paid?!”

At that point, the hero formerly known as Binary Star Hero attempted to fly away from the commotion, causing one of the former NAHA employees to yell something to the effect of “quick, follow that tacky sweater!” Which caused the crowd to peal off after the rapidly shrinking red dot in the sky, leading to several traffic obstructions, and signaling the start to a villainous career change.

Ray stared at clothing rack in front of him, at the five mannequins arranged in various dramatic poses, and finally at the group of expectantly waiting…what to call them? Underlings? Sure, that worked. The underlings stared back at him, some carrying more fabric while others held sewing kits, needles, thread, and baskets of accessories.

There was no need to read their minds to understand what they all wanted, but he still felt the need to ask. “What is this?”

“For your villain rebranding, the team decided on an aesthetic overhaul,” the one at the front announced brightly, gesturing to the steel rack that had been crammed with outfits in a range of dark colours – purples, indigoes, heavy shades of grey and even denser blacks. Some had capes, most did not. “Of course, this would all be easier if you would simply decide on a new name, but I suppose we can whittle down the choices later.”

Ray flashed back to the moment he’d walked past the conference room – a massive underground addition to his lair (he didn’t call it that, but the PR team were very Committed To The Bit) – and seen a horde of them gathered around the whiteboard and shouting suggestions at the person at the front. On the interactive surface were at least 50 names, though Ray only got through Lunar Eclipse and Superordinate Gravitational Collapse before he’d decided to leave that problem for Future Ray to sort out.

Unfortunately, the future had come. “This is completely unnecessary,” Ray plucked at the sleeve of one of the outfits and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was in fact not made of impossibly tight spandex. “I haven’t even had coffee yet.”

Another employee stepped up, swiping the screen of the iPad with a finger. “Sir, [MC] will be clocking into the afternoon shift in approximately one hour. Would you like to pick up your coffee then?”

“Hm,” Ray rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What’s on my schedule before that?”

“Uh, there’s a senator you hate giving a bigoted speech about drag queens, then you wanted me to remind you to rob that bank on 6th Avenue,” another swipe across the screen, “oh, and you’re out of ice cream.”

“The speech should be happening in the park across from the coffeeshop where [MC] works,” one of the team piped up. “We can reschedule the bank robbery and take some casual photos of you at the coffeeshop. The mid-afternoon sun would be great for the Total Eclipse social media page!”

“Dude, we discussed this! The team hasn’t decided on a villain name yet!”

“For the last time, we’re not choosing your idea!”

“Fuck you, Dark Star is a great evil name!”

“We are not linking him to a shitty 90s movie!”

“You take that back!”

Taking advantage of their distraction, Ray turned his attention to one of his favourite groups in the team. “Any updates?”

The employee saluted – Ray had given up on making them stop doing that – and pulled out her own iPad. “Sir–” (“Don’t call me that.”) “–they liked the post of you singing while playing the guitar and left a sweating emoji on the latest shirtless pic.”

“What about the one of me saving a kitten at the shelter?”

“Unfortunately, it was flagged for violence after one of the team forgot to edit out the part where you tossed someone through the walls for having an unsolicited picture of [MC] as their phone-screen background.”

“Ah, right,” Ray nodded reminiscently. “That did happen, huh. Upload it again, and monitor. If that’s all…”

He took off through the window, off to do various evil deeds and visit his favourite barista, while ignoring the screeching below as the two feuding members of the team finally stopped fighting long enough to notice his departure.

“FUCK, HE DIDN’T PICK A COSTUME!”

“SIR, AT LEAST CHANGE THE SWEATER!”

[highlordofkrypton]

ACOTAR FANDOM ANALYSIS

…because apparently I miss academics?

PART 1 - CONTEXT & FACTORS TO CONSIDER

This was originally supposed to be an addition to @praetorqueenreyna’s post, but it started to get long and I didn’t wanna clutter your post. If you haven’t seen her essay on ACOTAR fandom culture, please do check it out because she made amazing and very valid points that I’m just gonna ramble on top of.

OKAY, APPARENTLY, THIS IS GONNA HAVE MULTIPLE PARTS. AFTER I WROTE THIS I REALIZE THERE’S SO MUCH.

I do want to disclaim that this isn’t targeted to any one part of the fandom, merely observations from someone who is relatively new to the ACOTAR fandom (around April-ish). I’m also way too lazy to get sources and stuff. I’m also missing a lot of fandom history.

ABOUT FANDOM CULTURE

At its core, fandom culture is niche. It’s strange, it’s not cool in a popular way, it’s geeky, it’s awkward, it’s community-oriented and a place detached from the mainstream. Hobbies, interests and discussions that you couldn’t really have these conversations with anyone in your day to day because they needed to engage with the piece of media and even then, they needed to care about it enough to create, deconstruct, reconstruct, and contribute to the fandom.

Fandom comes with a sense of belonging. It’s about liking the media, yes, but it’s about liking the media enough that you want to immerse yourself in it. You want more than just the book, the show, the song, etc.

With fandom, especially on Tumblr, there are subcultures within fandom, based on a character, a ship, a spinoff, etc. Fans can find (or create) a community to connect with on specific parts of a media, and that’s a beautiful thing. While fandom is not perfect, and it has its dark, embarrassing, painful moments, over the years it’s developed its own unspoken rules. Most of the ‘subcultures’ stay among them, and even with drama, the overlap isn’t as constant as ACOTAR. Usually, it comes in waves, and evens out eventually.

Most importantly, fandom is a place where you can just be yourself. You can shake off the weight of the outside world, and just do your thing! There are so many politics at play and rules in your day-to-day life, why not get a little weird? Fandom is a place where you find your other weirdos, and the judgmental people are usually a minority.  It can also be really small and you know everyone in the fandom—shoutout to my other 4 Orm Marius homies!!

POST-PANDEMIC CONTEXT AND THIRD PLACES

When the pandemic hit, in places that were locked down, habits needed to change and there was nowhere to go. You couldn’t really escape, so online was the best place. You had people returning to old hobbies, such as crafts, gaming, reading, etc. You also had people searching for new things to partake in. Either boredom, coping with the new way of the world or just finding people to talk to, those are valid reasons.

I’d like to introduce the notion of third places. Third place is considered to be a place that is not home, work or school. It is a place where you can get out of your routine and decompress. Libraries, coffee shops, going to the bar, or anywhere else where you can just step away from the grind and the routine. These are social spots that help alleviate the weight of your daily pressures. For some, their third place was strictly an in-person event.

With the arrival of the pandemic, these third places became inaccessible and even after lockdown was lifted, some of these places were irrevocably changed—either they closed permanently or the hours changed in such a way that they were not accessible. For example, I used to spend a lot of time in my favourite bookstore because it would open at 8AM and close at 10PM. After the pandemic, it opens at 10AM and closes at 5PM. For someone who works, I can no longer use this as my ‘third place’.

For many fandom members, their third place was online. They already know the rules of etiquette from observing, and joining out of their own curiosity. Time spent in fandom teaches you the unspoken tenets of interaction. ‘Don’t like, don’t read,’ is one example. Additionally, being part of a small fandom, but loving something so much that you want to connect with someone, anyone, teaches you to be a lot more respectful of the space you’re entering. You may not like everyone all the time, but ultimately, your enjoyment of your fandom should precede everything else.

Joining a fandom on your own, or with a small group, is completely different from joining en masse. Now, you have many people seeking a place to ‘connect’ coming in with their preconceived notions learned from other places. Maybe a different subculture that isn’t fandom. Maybe an assumption of how fandom should be. 

BOOKTOK VS. FANDOM - CLIQUES VS. COMMUNITIES

I’ve heard the argument that the ‘popular kids’ joining fandom is ruining fandom. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, trying to look at the demographics of BookTok and the patterns of behaviour that are associated with BookTok vs. fandom. I’m on BookTok, but I look for smaller communities, but I see all the drama, all the time.

Here are a few of my assessments:

All social media platforms allow you to cater your page and feed to what YOU want, but not all social media is community based. It is geared for content to consume, and feeds the algorithm to keep you on the platform, so that companies can pay the platform for advertising.

Most other social media encourage you to use parts if not your entire identity (photos, video, name, etc.) and I believe that creates a direct correlation to a person’s sense of validation when receiving likes, comments, engagement. Tumblr, on the other hand, rarely focuses on the identity of the person behind the screen, but rather you build your identity through what you share, the posts you make or reblog. It has shifted to be more similar to other social media (for moniessssss) but it wasn’t like this years ago. Over a decade ago, Tumblr used to be the only place where I could get fandom stuff and Deviantart.

Other social media platforms emphasize that you are the product. With the success of influencers, many people try to replicate the same success by using themselves, their talent and most importantly, their opinions on social media. BookTok is essentially an online book club, which means that it’s mostly sharing thoughts, and less about creation.

Content on social media, put out by influencers is created not with the intention for interaction, but rather, reach. People aren't used to the pushback and continuous discourse that happens on Tumblr where many people can chime in at once.

The desire to belong compounded with the impact of influencers on social media naturally sets people into two categories: creators and consumers. Content creators who have achieved success are placed on the same pedestal our modern society places celebrities on. Due to their following, some people might believe their opinions are more valid because there is a large number of people following them. Some people might be influenced by the ‘majority’ they see following an influencer, which is part of the course. That’s why they’re called influencers.

As a former marketing specialist, I’d like to assert that there are so many more factors in play than a valid take. Aesthetics are a big part of it, and charisma. Both of which fall under the same attributes as the ‘popular’ kids in school. As someone with a lot of charisma in person, I know for a fact that if you package something prettily enough, you can get away with anything.

The problem is: fandom doesn’t work like that.

Fandom is a place where unpopular opinions and niche things thrive. It’s the place where no one cares if you’re cool, and the pretty things come in forms of art (crafts, visual art, writing, etc.). It’s also a place for discourse for those who enjoy that, digging deeper into themes and what not.

The problem is: you have a subculture that is largely an echo chamber and largely one-sided 'community' entering a space with an established dynamic with a lot of back and forth. Sometimes, the rule in fandom is that the rules don’t apply. 

I believe that this isn’t the root of the toxicity, but elements to consider when speaking of the ACOTAR fandom which, like Reyna said, feels like an amplification of the worst elements of fandom.

It's super late here, so I'll come back to actually start saying something LMAO CAUSE THIS FEELS LIKE A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING.

[girl4music]

At its core, Xena is an action/fantasy so it is neither a drama or a comedy. That’s why it can do both so well.

Because it’s not restricted to being one or the other:

Its core is an action show in a fantasy environment so it can do both drama and comedy with no restrictions.

A lot of TV shows were just like Xena was in the 90’s.

Buffy was like this. Charmed was like this. X Files… Sliders… Even Star Trek. Like… it’s not uncommon.

It’s just not what TV art/entertainment is now sadly.

The major cult classics are mostly genre TV shows for a reason. People preferred the versatility back then. The experimentation. The campiness. The focus on the characters over the plot. The well-written themes. And the lessons and morals embedded in the scenes.

It was just… a different time and place for TV media back in the 90’s/early 2000’s and not everyone prefers it like this. Clearly, I do, but it’s not everyone’s thing. Some people prefer the keeping to one tone or one genre and the characters wrapping around that. That’s not me. It’s never been me and what I watch.

I’ve always been into supernatural/fantasy/action shows most of all because they’re really the only ones where they’re willing to be versatile enough in do both drama and comedy in one sitting of an episode. I call it “half an half”. I haven’t seen like reality shows, soap operas or sitcoms do this so I’ve never been into them.

Xena’s always been my “go to” example for a show thsts so versatile that it’s all over the map. Literally. Like…. Xena’s map is so historically inaccurate that it’s practically drawn by a 2 year old. That’s being nice. ����

But that’s the fun and charm of it really. Nobody wants an historically accurate or a more “realistic” Xena. Everybody wants props like multi-coloured strobe lights and wired bras in an Ancient Greek mythology setting with absolutely no explanation for it at all because it’s a lot of fun and everybody wants fun.

As I said. You either get it or you don’t.

[annebonnydyke]

So you’ve had fun Goncharov posting and now you actually want it to be real

(Disclaimer that this is my own opinion based on the vibes I get from Goncharov and you might not necessarily agree with me. Also blanket content warning most of these work deal heavily with domestic abuse, violence, racism, and sexual assualt)

1. The Godfather Part 1 and 2- as far as I can tell this is where most of the Goncharov gifsets come from. This is one of those movies people constantly tell you is amazing and when you finally sit down and watch you get upset bc they were right. They’re regarded as some of the best and most important movies in the film canon for a reason. Mafia movies about the corruption of the soul, inescapable cycles, being doomed by The Narrative™ and of course young hot and sexy Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

2. House of Leaves- for people who enjoy the interpretation of a nonexistent work part of Goncharov, House of Leaves is partly a horror story about a house that bigger on the inside, partly an academic analysis of the nonexistent record of that horror, partly the story of a man’s psychological unraveling, partly a critique of cold academic analysis, and partly a love story. If your favorite part of Goncharov was the metanalysis of a work that doesn’t exist and trying to fit all the pieces together this ones for you.

3. The Handmaiden- for all the people who love Katya and Sofia, two women stuck in their place in the world, who love each other but end up betraying each other. The Handmaiden is psychological thriller about a Korean pickpocket who is sent to con a Japanese noblewoman out of her fortune. Deals heavily with themes of deceit, betrayal, queer love, imperialism, and a woman’s place in a world controlled by men. My favorite movie of all time, highly recommend.

4. Black Sails- truthfully only tangentially similar vibe-wise to Goncharov but as a black sails blog the mutuals would have my head if I didn’t include it on this list and trust me the Goncharov to Black Sails pipeline is very real. Fans of clock symbolism and being being trapped by The Narrative™ will greatly enjoy this one. also that Katya/Sofia and Eleanor/Max/Anne parallels are real and I can prove it and don’t get me started on the Silver and Andrey parallels.

5. Bound (1996)- another one for the Katya/Sofia girlies out there. Two women hatch a plot to steal millions from the mafia, but will they make it out alive? Great style and cinematography and much more punchy and action heavy than the the rest of these. Its a very good modern film noir and the first feature film directed by the Wachowski sisters. Also a much shorter movie (1 hour and 48 minutes) if longer runtimes aren’t your thing.

Honorable Mentions

1. Goodfellas- I personally haven’t seen Goodfellas yet so can’t really give my opinion on it however if you actually want a mafia movie directed by Martin Scorsese starring Robert De Niro here’s one you can actually watch. My friend Angel says this ones really good and I trust their opinion

2. War and Peace 1966-67- again I haven’t seen this one but my friend Bianca really liked this one and tells me whenever she pictures Goncharov she imagines this. From what I gather people who are interested in how soviet history affected the art of the time and enjoy complicated relationship drama will enjoy this one. Also if you’re into very long media this one is split into 4 parts and clocks in at a crisp 7 hours.

If anyone has other suggestions let me know! I love getting recommendations :)

[supercalime]

I can’t believe I found people who think about this the exact same way as I do. I don’t get these hardcore buddie stans who suddenly try to make it look like buckTommy shipper are the toxic ones. I haven’t seen a single BuckTommy shipper who was rude without a reason (maybe a bit defensive about their CANON ship). Whereas I’ve seen plenty of incredibly toxic buddie stans who insult everyone who doesn’t ship their ship or share their opinions.

Another thing and don’t get me wrong Im not defending anyone. But I’ve seen many people heavily bullying the marisol actress because she’s apparently homophobic (not saying she isn’t or is) and wanting her to be gone beacause of this reason but totally ignore the alleged racism of ryan (again not saying he is racist or not, i dont know them personally) just because he is part of their beloved ship. By their logic Ryan should leave the show too.

Hey anon, it took me some time to answer your ask (chaotic life stuff lol) but I’m glad to finally have time to talk about this first part with you.

I’ll preface by saying I won’t get involved in actor drama, no matter how true or toxic it is because I don’t have enough information nor am I qualified to talk about the issues they mishandled. I’ll just say that, no matter who does bad things, they should be held accountable.

Okay, back to the main point: yes, it’s very strange how b*ddie st*ns are behaving towards the canon bi!buck thing. Both with people who ship bucktommy but also with the creators and actors on the show. Regardless if they are right or not about b*ddie being canon, this is not how you act with entertainment, specially with the people giving the content.

I hate to bash but it looks and sounds a lot like a toddler throwing a tantrum because they didn’t get a specific toy.

And toddlers only throw tantrums because they are brand new humans who are learning how to behave. They don’t know any better so they react with outbursts and repeated demands because it’s the only way they know to get the attention of the person taking care of them.

If I’m not mistaken, the main audience for the show is 18-45. NO ONE here should be yelling in comment sections “we want buddie! we want buddie! we want buddie!” as if they would immediately get it. It’s not how it works and it’s frankly embarrassing to see a bunch of adults acting like that for everyone to see.

And I can’t stress it enough, I’m not putting myself on a high ground here and saying I’m a better person by shipping bucktommy, as I’m sure there might be a percentage of fans out there being rude and annoying as well. But at least I’m keeping my conscience clear by not acting like me shipping two characters is something big enough in my life to ruin my enjoyment of a whole show in case my favorite ship doesn’t become canon.

I hate how fandoms behave as if they can have control over the content they are consuming. We aren’t entitled to anything and if there is supposed to be ANY discourse about which character was supposed to end with, that should happen AFTER the show ended! The story isn’t over yet! So why are b*ddie st*ns so stressed? If a show is making you this angry and demanding, please step aside a little, give it some distance because that’s not how consuming content is supposed to make you feel.

And I say that last part with sincerity because I too got way too involved with fandom discourse in the past, to the point that I had to distance myself from certain shows because being that involved made me upset.

Im just tired at this point you know. Im trying to protect myself as much as possible. Im not in the bird app, I don’t follow the show or the actors on social media, im avoiding interviews like the plague. All I want from this experience is to watch the show, gather my thoughts, form my opinions, log onto tumblr and reblog the cute stuff I see about my favorite ship without having to worry about whatever the hell is going on outside my pretty little bubble

[zhansww]

Most of the political and economical stuff in War of Faith kinda goes over my head. I’m generally not a fan of politics in my media but at the same time, it’s easier to watch this than having to endure a drama that is full of political bs and an obnoxious romance (side-eyes gg). So yeah, whatever, I’m okay with it even tho the only thing I get is that communists were apparently seen as super evil in 1930. I assume this drama is all about how communism won over then. Wei Ruolai gets established right away as very smart, capable and talented when it comes to his work. But outside of it, he seems too gullible. Or so I thought, but today’s episodes proved how smart and cunning he can be at any time. And he’s also still such a humble, polite sweetheart. Impossible not to like imo. His relationship with his boss makes me a little feral ngl. For reasons that are too unholy to put into words here xD We’re only like a quarter of the way in, who knows how their dynamic will still change. But the way it is now, with Shen Tunan’s strict protectiveness and Ruolai’s deference and adoration and single-minded focus on Shen Tunan... bruh. It’s so f-cking good. Quality fic inspiration. I also like Ruolai’s relationship with Wen. And I’m quite glad there haven’t been many scenes with the fl (yet). The romantic music that played when Ruolai saw her again in episode 2 made me gag, tho. But it’s fine, it’s fine. As long as there’s no kissing, it’ll be fine. There haven’t been many particularly emotional scenes so far but in the few that we’ve gotten, dd’s acting has been really good. What else is new, tho. There’s also just... well, you can say this for any of dd’s characters but just Ruolai’s composure is already different, entirely his. The only time dd will maybe sort of break character is when/if he has to be part of any romantic scenes but then again, that’s not new either. I’m very amazed and proud of his performance so far.

[dandelionjack]

watching torchwood i’m finding clear as day evidence that chibbers IS capable of writing captivating sexual/romantic tension, mutual toxicity and complex character dynamics yet for some reason just… chose not to when he became doctor who showrunner? just because something’s a family series doesn’t mean you need to compromise the drama, jesus christ. actually i bet the reason s11 was so cbbc-core was because he got so afraid of toeing the line from previously writing more adult content that he swung like a pendulum in the opposite direction to escape any controversy at all. obviously it picked up later with the master and yaz and everything but still jesus christ what a letdown

from what i’ve heard broadchurch is good too, though i haven’t seen it yet. some people just don’t have the knack to avoid the pitfall of believing that a family show equates to a show that only kids will watch. some people don’t. he should have stuck to adult tv because even if that was the case with doctor who (which it isn’t) kids deserve quality media

[vintagegeekculture]

I was actually just thinking of a variation on the Escaped Nazi plot thanks to rereading a few different series’ TVTropes pages and that is the “Escaped Nazi specifically hiding out in the guise of a Holocaust survivor” and while I’m sure that specific variation predates the Magnum P.I. episode “Never Again, Never Again” which is I think the earliest I’ve personally seen that variation, I am 99% certain that the CSI: NY episode “Yahrzeit” has got to be one of the last instances that was a then-contemporary set piece of media. Curious if anyone knows how common or uncommon of a variant that is, cuz it honestly feels like a really misguided plot idea so I kind of hope the reason I haven’t seen it as often is because it’s genuinely not common.

That specific plot comes from a great stage play called "The Man in the Glass Booth" from 1971, which was widely seen and influential. It's about a Nazi prisoner who is captured and sent to Israel, awaiting the death penalty for war crimes. The longest serving actor in this play was none other than Leonard Nimoy.

When he is a prisoner, instead of being conciliatory, he is defiant, gloating over his crimes and genocide and taunting his captors. He refuses to apologize and dares his captors to execute him, not particularly caring about his own life. Nearly everyone sent to interact with him is convinced he is the very incarnation of evil and without any redeeming qualities. It must have been a shock to see a man best known as the ethical and stoic Mr. Spock as a sneering, taunting, haranguing villain.

But in the third act, there's a twist. An old woman identifies him. She says that while he was at a death camp, he was actually a Jew. You see, he hoped that in their heated frenzy to condemn him right away, they would eventually realize they were executing an innocent man. it was also implied, particularly by Nimoy's performance, that he had survivor's guilt, and wanted to die at some level with everyone else and was ashamed to be alive when others were not.

To understand TV of the 50s-80s, you have to look at theater. Even more so than cinema, and this play is a great example of this. Theater and early TV had similar limitations in terms of sets and action and camera flexibility, and which TV imitated far more than movies. With the fixed camera, TV in the beginning was more of an actor's medium than it presently is, (cinema of course is a director's medium). "The Man in the Glass Booth" was not only the inspiration for a number of TV episodes, since like many plays, it had minimal sets and so could be duplicated cheaply for drama.

In fact, it specifically inspired a Star Trek episode, "Duet," which is generally considered the best episode of Deep Space 9 (or at least among them).

[emopirates]

I’ve been looking for other media that will resonate like ofmd does for me

I was thinking about what other media has hit me in such personal specific ways as ofmd. So maybe I can crack the code and find even more???

Predictably I’m not having a lot of luck but I DID come up with 1 example: Severance on apple tv.

If you haven’t watched both shows, it may seem like an odd pairing, because OFMD is (mostly) a comedy (wth dramatic bits) and Severance is (mostly) a drama/thriller (with comedic bits). But what can I say my brain sparked to them both in a similar way! And I think there are reasons.

~ the mildest spoilers for seasons 1 of severance and ofmd ~

Both shows have:

10/10 ensemble comedy gold. Original, weird, character-based, funny joke-ass jokes and flawless comedic performances and amazing riffing. (OK so OFMD is a comedy and has much more of this? But even though Severance is NOT a comedy, its comic relief pops up in every ep and is extremely well done.)

a similar … editorial lushness? That thing of, every frame has something juicy to notice, fun little details, little nuances in facial expressions, inside jokes, meaningful uses of color or light or whatever. Also maybe: that thing where every scene is tightly edited to be ~just the good parts~ so by the end of the ep you’re like, that was v satisfying but also I need to apply another coat of it to my consciousness immediately because I’m sure I missed something.

awakenings. ok this is going to be a nebulous half-baked description but. There is this similar theme of characters unmasking / awakening / discovering and trusting themselves / going for things that society doesn’t expect for them. This thing of realizing the truth is within. IMO this is such a healing and important trope and I want to see so much more of it. You could argue this is more blatant in the pirate show? but I think it’s an important part of severance too.

By the way! Those first two bullets just make these things “good,” and plenty of things are good. I think it’s the third one that really makes the difference.

A few more thoughts:

If you are a pirates fan but haven’t seen Severance:

You would like these goofballs riffing in their cubicles for sure.

If you love Black Pete, you will love Dylan.

A character writes a self-help book you will like a lot.

There’s a tooth-achingly sweet gentle delicate romance tucked away within this fairly dark show and it is SO GOOD.

Severance is a lot darker than ofmd but idk, there’s enough sunshine streaming in. it’s joyful too.

If you are a severance fan but haven’t seen Our Flag Means Death:

Underdogs. Underdogs who are pirates. Because lawful society does not welcome them. And they find their chosen family and. Sorry I need to cry I’ll brb.

If you love Ricken (and even if you don’t) (but who doesn’t?????), you will also love Stede.

If you love The You You Are, you will love talking it through as a crew.

If you love the plant room, you will love this one little well cared for plant?

If you love queer romance watch this show.

In summary my brain liked these things a similar amount thank you for coming to my seminar. 

[touyubesposts]

Can I ask for your opinion on people comparing sanders sides to iris/Jacksepticeye’s egos when it comes to the wait time and how the stories have been handled? I’ve seen some discussion on people comparing both from that angle, and would be curious to know if you have any thoughts on that.

Btw I understand if you choose to ignore this ask since it does involve criticism stuff. Just would like to get perspective on this from someone who knows both a lot better (I am not super familiar with jse myself but I have been in the tss fandom for a while).

Hope you have a good day regardless!

Thank you, I hope you have a good day as well!

And yeah, I’ll talk about this a bit. As long as this is coming from a view to discuss and think reasonably and rationally and not a view of pure, burning, blind rage just cause. (Also, this is going to be long because I have a lot to say)

Personally, I have no problem with the wait from either creator. I can consume other forms of media for the time being. I enjoy their content greatly, and I dabble in artworks and fanfictions while I wait, but I’m not reliant. And it's not like these people are creating nothing. They still have other stuff for us to enjoy. Like Jack’s gaming content or Thomas’s shorts or videos with Sleep or the star signs or the planets. Hell, Thomas is working on a video for Picani right now!

Also, people don’t realize that these things take a long time. They both have to go to places, set up equipment, record multiple takes, and repeat since both of them deal with multiple characters. And then the whole thing has to be spliced together and edited to make a coherent story. And of course, Thomas is going to take longer because he’s doing more. Yes, Jack has to add glitchy effects to his editing, but Thomas is literally making music for us to consume and enjoy. Do you know how long it takes to make music? That adds more writing, more editing, background music production, and more recording on top of the stuff he already has to do.

And both come from small teams of people with a lot of things to do, so it's going to be expected when things take a while to come out.

The stories, on the other hand, I find a weird thing to compare (if they are being compared, I haven’t seen anything since I blocked the tag.) They are completely different genres after all. Thomas’s series is supposed to be more feel-good mental health help, with a hint of drama. (That, naturally, is gonna take more research.) Jack is making an analog horror. Things are going to be different. Also, Jack is just starting his series! He had to pause production because of COVID and just finished his video with Chase that he wanted to finish in 2019! We shouldn’t compare apples to oranges, but we definitely shouldn’t compare when one of the fruit isn’t even ripe yet.

Lastly, I find it weird to compare these people at all. Why? Because they’re people. It's like not going to college and then your mom going “Your brother went to college, you know.” We shouldn’t compare Thomas to Sean because Thomas isn’t Sean. People go at things at their own pace. People have their own personal struggles to deal with. And these people are people, not a content farm for you to throw your rotten tomatoes at whenever you feel.

And I’m not saying you have to like these people, I just think other factors go into both series that people don’t consider. Like personal struggles or where they live. (Not to get political, but Florida is kinda a shithole right now. Stay safe if you live in that part ❤️)

But yeah, sorry if this was long, these are my feelings on the matter.

(Also, if you want to compare, Markiplier made a movie, so 🤷 /j)

[m1ckeyb3rry]

No because Karasu just has it all no one compares to him like Aoyama stressing for good reason LMAOO

Fr no in between….Mira once again serving the community with realistic dynamic representations….

LMAOOO EXACTLY that was my exact vision for Otoya!! I think it works esp well because we know he’s such a good with the flow dude…so he’d be like ok welp boxers are swag

FR im so excited for Karasu content because I’d imagine we’d get at least like two more chapters worth of Karasu panels soooo (please let him appear more in the main series too omg) another visual added to the manifestation circle

He’s so gorgeous in the epinagi series!!! I think it’s also because the artist has more time to like thoughtfully draw everything out so there’s not as many low quality npc type panels or moments LOL

LMAO good luck coming up with the au theme!! In Mira we trust part 15 but omg a title already…is this top secret….if not…..I’d love to hear it….

SHSHSH stop this has me kicking my feet we’re like y/n and tullia in the Miraverse but on tumblr LMAOOO but SAME sometimes crack is refreshing like I’ll never saw no to a goofy moment where no one’s dying but instead they’re just involved in crazy stupid shenanigans

HSJSHSJS you’re about to collect the entire bllk cast with that thinking /j it’s ok we steer you away and back to the tabietiaken side character agenda….but yeah something about ness just doesn’t do it for me LOL but FRR I remember following along with the chameleon/Charizard rebellious phase I ate up that drama

LMFAOOOOOO BRO BROCK I can’t that’s so funny….im ngl I always lowk made fun of Brock because he’d always go for all the nurse joys and office jennys and any adult female…maybe this was the first sign to your Otoya conversion HAHA ok but you are onto something….bro knows first aid and can cook well it fr is Otoya x Barou love child……kinda a player but I’d like to think he wouldn’t cheat and also husband material without all the yelling LMAOOO

Im ngl whenever I think of Brock I think of his croagunk coming to reign him in in the Sinnoh season and also his iconic line “I’ll use this frying pan as a drying pan” when they were running in the rain….so many good memories….

Ok responding to the other response here too so I don’t keep piling on asks

TULLIA >>>>> I’ll never get over her death in pi though…I was so invested I thought she’d end up happy with toge but no??? Anyways….but I see what you mean!! I think like a lot of the insert fics I’ve seen where the mc actually enters bllk it ends up just kinda following the plot of bllk but with the addition of the mc into the main character group and that setting makes it a bit hard to add canon divergent scenes that show character growth etc…..honestly the smau was perfect because we get to see the character interactions in the realm of “girls in bllk” while not having to worry about the logistical details of plot and whatnot LOL

LMAOO Otoya and Shidou a menace to everyone in bllk im crying Karasu getting constantly targeted and attacked was hilarious and it was honestly how I envisioned their characters to be like too sooooo (the head nod emojis crack me up in general they’re so goofy but SHIDOU using them just amplified the effect by like ten times)

I snorted at that part like bro really tweeted onto social media “please take me in as your child pls I need parents get married and hurry up”

THE GRAMMAR GUARDIAN + THE ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION OF TBE WORDS BEING A POINT OF TEASING ISAGI WAS GOLD like I read that part and really thought “this is so big brained omg this is hilarious”

PLS DO!! These were so entertaining to read LOLLL

ALSO apparently there’s some live/talk show going on in the next day or so with some of the vas where they’re gonna release new info on s2….will keep you posted if I see anything…..

- Karasu anon

words cannot describe how perf karasu is 😔 truly i feel like i haven’t liked a character this much in AGESSSS (besides nagi) like bllk really reignited smth in me!! and YES for sure there’s def a time constraint thing but also idk if you compare otoya or barou in epinagi with karasu specifically it’s just like damn…not even trying to hide who the fav is 😭 although maybe i’m just biased because he’s MY fav

i have a few titles floating around so ofc it’s subject to change especially based on what i actually end up writing abt but atm my fav is “dragonfly dance” 🤔 haven’t picked an au yet but i’m getting a very sad feel based on what’s brewing in my mind ☝🏻 not angry sad the way hollyhock is but like regretful sad if that makes sense 😰 smth abt fighting an inevitable destiny but knowing deep down you can’t really change it…we will see though maybe it’ll end up being smth more lighthearted!!

i think brock would be so happy to have a girl be into him that the thought of cheating would NOT cross his mind he’s like peak malewife material 🤩 PLS the frying pan like is so good 😭 he’s so iconic tbh the first few seasons of pokémon looking back were SO funny on a level that i as a child could not comprehend

LMAOOO i fr pulled up w a spin move there her death in pi was so brutal honestly 😓 but yk me letting my readers be happy is a new development and a bllkverse exclusive normally i’m much meaner!! and i will say that in this version in my mind mc is actually in a different wing altogether during the first selection…she was on the same first selection team as other characters we know (maybe like hiori and aryu??) and she was def on team z but not THE team z ☝🏻 meanwhile tullia was in yet another wing (maybe with shidou) so definitely opportunities to branch away from the main plot!! but then mc and tullia do end up as 2 and 3 during second selection (replacing aryu and tokimitsu) because they’re professional players so they can score 100 goals much faster than the others which means we do circle back to being alongside the manga storyline 😔💔 i don’t even have an issue with following canon because idm messing with that — it’s more so that there isn’t necessarily a CONFLICT for the mc besides being a girl?? but she’s a way better player than most of the bllk guys so it’s not a huge issue which means she doesn’t really need to develop much as a character 😬 plus my vision for her in the NEL is literally that she stays benched for the most part because loki thinks she’ll inhibit charles’s growth too much….so honestly i’m afraid a fully fledged story might not be too entertaining (although it certainly would have its moments…karasu x mc partnership plus a deconstruction/subversion of the “i can fix him” trope with nagi plus the tullia and isagi drama going on in the background) 😵‍💫 BUT smaus are perfect!!

THE HEAD NOD EMOJIS ARE SOO FUNNY and shidou would be the one to use them unironically 😭 pls karasu getting bullied was so good LMAOAOAO when he was like “it’s just one thing after another with you today” to otoya i think that was his best line he was so done 😔💔

can’t even blame hiori for that one because his only other options for a mother and father duo in this au are tullia + isagi which would be too friendly for him, tullia + barou which is just scary (mostly because of barou), anri + ego which is even scarier because they’re BOTH crazy, and mc + nagi which would actually be a worse situation than the one he’s in…nagi is NOT cut out to be the father that stepped up 😭💔 in a world of nagiy/n shippers (aka tullia and chigiri) hiori stands alone as the sole tabiy/n shipper 😓 besides maybe otoya but tbh otoya just roots for whatever he finds the funniest at the moment

LMAOOO i think my fav parts of smaus is making random characters interact when they hardly ever do in canon…like grammar guardian isagi and womanizer otoya hardly have any scenes together in the manga but they are beefing HEAVILY over twitter!! NOT TO MENTION OTOYA AND SHIDOU GANGING UP TO BULLY KARASU AND RIN 😭 like those two genuinely do not even interact but yet they just came together so naturally in the smau and i think half of the humor is just those random unexpected relationships that end up occurring HAHAHA

ooh definitely do keep me posted!! i’m always ready for more s2 info…because it means we’re just that much closer to tabieitaken on screen + the returns of nagi and barou (and the other characters ig 😩 preparing myself for the influx of aiku and sae content that’s abt to FLOOD my dash i’m sure)

[separatist-apologist]

Hi babes, please ignore this if you don’t want to get involved in the drama, but I was curious if you had any takes on the drama with It Ends With Us? I haven’t read it or seen the movie, but for some reason it’s all over my dash now. Was just curious what you thought as a professional in the field.

Idk if people are being weird about this though so of course steer clear if it’s gonna get you aggressive anons ❤️

I have been vaguely following the drama- I don't really have a lot of thoughts on it. I think this was the book I read of hers? But I don't remember anything about it, so I'm not gonna weigh in on if it was done well or not given I just don't remember.

A friend asked if I wanted to see the movie and I really don't. I might go see it but like...my whole professional life is centered around DV and sometimes watching media about DV just feels like a job, ESPECIALLY if its done badly.

However- the organizations in my area are all predicting a spike in folks reaching out, and we've all been preparing accordingly. I think that, regardless on the drama and whatever else, if seeing it prompts even one person to reach out for help, I'm overall satisfied. Usually, when DV becomes national news, organizations across the country see a spike in activity. I think thats a good thing- people feel empowered, they feel less alone, they realize there might be help out there. I know the actors have been sharing the national hotline on instagram, too. The nice thing about the national hotline is they'll bounce you into a local organization based on the zip code you call with, and the organization I work for is part of that network.

[rachelbachelcos]

Let’s Talk About Fairy Tail!

Before you start reading this just know that this does contain spoilers up to the end of the show. Also. YES. I will go on for hours about this show if you let me.

Recently I finished my third? fourth? rewatch of the Fairy Tail anime and was once again reminded how much I love it. Now I’m not one who likes to rank my favorite shows or have “Top 5’s” and the like, but Fairy Tail would definitely be at the top of mine if I did. It has definitely become one of my top comfort shows. 

I started watching anime sometime around 2018, so I haven’t been in the anime community for long, nor was I around when Fairy Tail started and when all of the opinions on the series were being voiced. Not long after I got into Fairy Tail, I learned that there was a lot of hate around it that I never really understood. Is it perfect? No, it definitely has its flaws. But many fan favorites aren’t.

I think what most people don’t understand, and need to, is that everybody consumes different media for different reasons. What I might be looking for in a show is not the same as what you are looking for in a show. One of the biggest tropes that Fairy Tail has and plays into is “found family”. This is the main reason that I keep coming back to watch this series. For individuals like me, who have always struggled to fit in and connect with their family, this is huge! This series makes you feel like a part of the guild, and like you are part of their created family. The guild accepts and embraces all of the differences and personalities of its members, something that people like me wished our families could do. They will do whatever they can to help each other. It is mentioned all the time how the guild is like a family, with Makarov always referring to its members as his “children”. I have never wished to crawl into my screen and be part of a fictional world more than this one.

Fairy Tail is a series that is bright, colorful, and full of hope and joy. It also is full of action and adventure. I’ve seen the argument that one of its problems is that nobody ever dies and there is too much “power of friendship”, but is that really such a bad thing? Sometimes we need the lightheartedness and comfort knowing that our favorite characters are going to be ok, and make it out alive. To put it into fanfic terms: sometimes we need a little more fluff, and less angst. There are plenty of other series that specialize in tackling more serious topics and dramatics. If I wanted to watch a bunch of people get killed, I’d go watch Attack on Titan. I’m certainly not watching that for its wholesome vibes. Reality already has so much intensity and drama. If I’m trying to escape from it for a bit, am I really escaping if the media I’m consuming is also full of it?

When it comes to pulling at your heartstrings, Fairy Tail actually does a pretty good job at that without anybody dying. For starters, the Tartaros arc as a whole is emotional. Between fanfics and edits that I had seen prior, I was aware of Aquarius’s key getting broken and her leaving before I even watched that episode. However when I did watch it, even knowing it was going to happen, it tore me up. I cried so hard. Don’t even get me started on the dragons at the end of the arc. Another emotional moment for me was during the Tenrou arc when Cana told Gildarts that she was his daughter. That moment made me tear up, but with happy tears. It’s especially endearing to see how they changed and adapted to that new relationship over the course of the rest of the series, especially Gildarts.

Speaking of character development, Fairy Tail actually does this well for some of the characters. Let’s start with Lucy. Yes. Lucy Heartfilia (I will not tolerate any Lucy hate)  has some great development. At the start of the series, she is shown to be scared and hesitant during missions and fights, and relying on the others to take care of business. Gradually she becomes stronger, both with her magic and mentality. Her growth feels like a natural and realistic progression. Come the end of the series Lucy has unlocked new and powerful sides to her magic, and fights alongside the others. Honestly, considering her background as a socialite, her development is even more impressive. I could write a whole ass essay about her character if I’m honest. It’s tempting.

Ok. Here’s my hot take: I don’t think that the fanservice in Fairy Tail is as bad as people make it out to be. Yes it is there, I'm not trying to say that it isn't, but for me, I don’t think it ever really took away from the story. Off the top of my head, there is mainly one instance that sticks out to me where I felt that it was excessive and unnecessary, and that was during the Grand Magic Games arc during Mirajane and Jenny’s battle. I also want to point out that it is the same characters who have the most fanservice that are deemed the strongest, while being simultaneously feared and looked up to for that strength. The fanservice is not their only character defining trait. I think if it were, then it would be a problem.

Some time after I started writing this (which I have been doing on and off for awhile now) I came across this video on TikTok that talked about one of Fairy Tail’s best factors is its enjoyability, and I loved that simplistic explanation of the series. 

I have so many more thoughts about this series, but I’ll stop here. My other thoughts might eventually get their own posts. Especially if I feel like spending time focusing on specific characters or moments (that Lucy character analysis is itching for me to write it). On that note, I am always down to scream about Fairy Tail if you are!

Other places to find me: Instagram, TikTok