#for the tag blocking thing. Any ship can be annoying. I already know that.

[arcanegifs]

This is the last time I'm going to be annoying about this, I swear.

A few examples of that I, a gifmaker, personally love seeing under the tags:

Analysis of said scene, show, or character, especially the long ones going in depth that span like 1000 words

People saying how crisp the GIFs look and how nice the coloring is THANK YOU. ILY GUYS. That's always huge praise for me.

Reacting with how emotional you got with the scene. How painful and emotional or how touching a scene is.

People making funny jokes, memes, comments, etc.

Literally ppl horny posting LMAO. It's super funny to read and I love seeing all the unhinged comments.

Seeing how much you loved the show and its characters

Things I don't like seeing under the tags. And these are just two very specific things:

How much you hate the show, how much you think a scene is bad, how much you hate a character, the ship, the creators, etc. or how much you dont like this ship anymore, calling a ship horrible because ____ reasons. OKAY! I get it! But I don't want to see that. Make your own hate post on your own blog! You're free to have an opinion on how much you hate something. Just do it on your own blog.

Asking why I leave out certain scenes out, why I decided to gif this scene, or not gif more of these characters. Sometimes, I'm just exhausted. I can overlook things. You guys don't know how draining making gifs can get to me, especially the scenes that are really long. But I do it because I LOVE Arcane, the story, and the characters, and the particular scenes that I make gifs of. I have my own biases too. Of course I’m making them first. Please, just make them yourself instead of complaining under the tags of my edits. Yes, I can see them.

Don’t get me wrong, I wholeheartedly appreciate everyone who supports and follows the blog. I want to make a million more HQ gifs of this amazing show, but sometimes, the very rare negativity can still get overwhelming, to the point where it demotivates you.

Arcane is extremely special to me because it's such a fantastic show, and that alone motivates me in trying to create more GIFs. Honestly, if it was any other fandom or show? I would've probably left already. Arcane is THAT great.

I know the block button is there. I use it too, but sometimes, the amount of effort and time you exert to create FOR FREE just isn’t worth it. And that’s why gifmakers and creators stop making things for fandom. It’s not fun anymore. It’s not worth it.

Some people think that making my style of GIFs is easy. Then great! Since you think so, then do it yourself and help create for the fandom too! I wholeheartedly encourage you to do it!

TLDR: Don't be rude on people's fanwork, especially when they are created FOR FREE. If you don’t like their fanwork, you can make them yourself.

[queermania]

I don't want to start drama and I don't expect you to respond to this but I think you deserve to know what's being said about you. tumblr. com/transfagbenny/738678589192552448/and-id-appreciate-if-we-stopped-using-the-terms

i actually am going to address this because this person has been lying about what's been going on for months and they've apparently been harassing other people for months if not years, so. it's time to put an end to this.

before i start though i want to make it abundantly clear that if you take this as an opportunity to do anything other than block this person, then you are trash. do not send him messages. do not tag him in things. do not harass him in any way. leave him alone. if you need to block, do so and then move on. hate mail and harassment is disgusting behavior and i don't want to be surrounded by anybody who engages in it. and if you do it on my behalf, i think you are worthless and i want nothing to do with you.

so, this is what happened: back in february of 2023, an anon asked me if i had any opinions that would get me canceled with the dean girlies. i replied, "oh now we’re talking!! hmmmm let’s see. i don’t care about benny at all. deanbenny does nothing for me. deanbenny is dust. it is dust. drowley rights forever" and i did not tag it because i'm not an asshole. bear then sent me a message that at the time i thought was funny/cute because his url reflected that he was obviously a huge benny fan. we had a very cordial exchange. everything was good. we chatted a little bit about how neat it would've been if benny had been played by a black actor and how the racism problem with gordon would've been fixed if gordon had been played by a white actor. not all of our conversation is visible anymore (and i also don't think all of it was on this post anyway) because i've since blocked him so his replies no longer show up on my posts. the point is: everything was fine. it was a good tumblr exchange. he continued to follow me. i did not follow him then or at any point.

the problem is that he kept coming onto my posts and into my inbox to try to make things about benny. that is not okay. i had already said that benny was a character (and deanbenny a ship) that i was not interested in. to me, this is an obvious boundary i've established that he repeatedly crossed. it's not an egregious violation, obviously. more than anything it's annoying. what he should've done, if benny was that important to him, was unfollow me and move on. but he didn't and i indulged him for awhile but at a certain point i thought, "okay maybe if i stop indulging him, he'll take the hint." so i stopped responding. he did not take the hint. he got worse and he even started commenting on things that he couldn't make about benny, just to willfully misinterpret things i said and taking them completely out of context. unfortunately, i don't have receipts for any of this because at the time i didn't know it was going to become an actual problem (however I have since learned that this is an established pattern of behavior he engages in, so you can probably find examples on other people's blogs).

it got so annoying, though, that i very carefully broached the subject in a private server with people i trusted. without naming any names or using any incriminating language (i.e. not specifically referencing benny), i basically said that there was someone being annoying about a specific character on my posts and i wasn't sure what to do about it. immediately, a handful of people replied with some variation of "the benny stan? he's been doing that to me too." i do have receipts of this (and an entire server to back me up) but i hope you can all understand why i'm not going to provide those or name names (or ask anyone to get involved publicly). the point is, it became apparent that i wasn't the only one and this was a pattern of behavior. i also learned during that conversation that bear has a history of harassing people and calling someone racist or a transphobe if they block him.

at that point, i decided not to rock the boat. i would just continue to ignore him and maybe he would get bored and move on. well that obviously didn't happen. he kept doing it and as a fun added bonus, he started to make vague posts about me. the thing is i don't actually care if he vagueblogs about me. it's his blog. he can do whatever he wants. it's none of my business. i mean i personally think he should've just unfollowed but, again, his blog, his choice. it is annoying that every single time he would do it, someone would send me a link or a screenshot of him doing it, but that's not really his fault. so, again, i just ignored it.

this is where we get to the incident in question. after a private discussion among a small group of friends, i posted this obviously joke poll at the insistence of @letterstothedevil, a tumblr user who has given me permission to include her in this.

the original message about the poll:

the permission:

now EYE think it's abundantly clear that the poll was a joke amongst friends, but maybe it wasn't, and i'm not going to fault anyone for not magically knowing that. i am, however, totally willing to fault someone for being a gigantic asshole. bear commented on the post and i, admittedly, gave a somewhat dismissive response because at that point i was so tired of him being willfully obtuse and twisting every little thing i said that i just didn't want to bother. he then went and made a series of not-at-all-vague posts calling me racist and claiming that i simply do not care about the racism in the show and it's obvious because i've never ever discussed it on my blog (which is a hilarious lie given that i'd specifically discussed it on my blog with him). at that point, there was no reason not to block him. he was already doing the thing that i didn't want to deal with. so i did. and i thought that would be the end of it.

again, i was wrong.

i then started to get anon messages daily about benny and deanbenny and how i'm racist for not liking benny, etc. this was harassment that EYE was on the receiving end of. nobody else was a victim of the messages i was being sent. they were sent to me and it is not my job to make sure other people are protected from the harassment that i am experiencing. i'm pointing this out for two reasons: 1. because i did try to protect bear from it for awhile anyway. i knew that people would assume it was him and at the time i was still giving him the benefit of the doubt, if for no other reason than the fact that i didn't think he could send me messages since i blocked him. and 2. because when i did finally start to respond to some of the messages, bear acted like he was somehow the victim in all of this (and continues to act that way to this day).

i don't know if bear had (or currently has) anything to do with any of the messages i get (which, thankfully, have slowed considerably). what i do know is that at no point during any of this happening did he stop looking at my blog and vagueblogging about me.

when i finally did answer a few of the messages, bear had a bit of a meltdown about it. i know this because he used a separate account that i hadn't know existed to message me and because he talked to one of my friends about it. (i'm not going to name that person but if they want to get involved publicly of their own accord, that's up to them lol). i'm also not going to share screenshots of what bear said to me because he explicitly asked me not to (it's also the reason i'm not sharing screenshots of the numerous receipts i have of the things he's said and lied about on his blog but, unless he's deleted any of them, you can go and find the posts yourselves.) what i am going to share is that in the message he sent to me, he flat out lied about his behavior. he told me he hadn't been vague-blogging about me, that he would never ever do that about anyone, and that he would certainly never harass someone (all things that i have receipts of him doing).

it took me awhile to respond to this message because i was still trying to be gracious about the whole situation. i recognize that he is much younger than i am and i think it's important for me, as a full blown adult, to take that into account. i had a private discussion with a few trusted friends about how to handle this because it was important to me to not let him off the hook for his behavior and for lying just because he's young. this is what i ended up saying:

his response was to double-down on his lies (while, hilariously, vague-blogging about me and the whole thing) and then go into victim mode about something so completely unrelated and far-fetched that i decided i simply wanted nothing to do with him ever. (this is when he asked me not to share screenshots, so i won't, but this is me saying that i have ALL of the receipts, bear, so if you continue to lie, you will not like what happens.) i blocked his alternate account and tried to ignore him.

the harassment continued. again, i have no idea if he was actually part of it. the vagueblogging continued. he started to do it to other people he associated with me. many of them blocked him because of his behavior. i continued to answer some of the hate i received, continued to ignore and/or block most of it. it got so bad that i was sent seizure bait on more than one occasion, one time bad enough that i actually ended up going to the ER. there are receipts of all of this, too. you can see on my blog the messages i've been sent. i think at one point i even shared a snapshot of what my inbox looked like. i've shared privately with friends (who can confirm if they want to, but no pressure) screenshots of the kinds of messages i get that i don't respond to. the point is, that for a period of months, i was relentlessly harassed. and at no point during this time did i say anything to or about bear (or anyone else). the most i've done is respond to messages that have been sent to me. i've largely sat quietly while this thing happened to me and bear continued to make posts about me and act like he is somehow a victim in this. he's assumed things about me and my identity. he's violated boundaries i've set. he will not let this go. and i'm not the only one he's doing it to.

i'm so fucking tired of it. leave me alone. leave my blog alone. leave my friends alone. leave any and all of the people who have blocked you for your own inappropriate and obnoxious behavior alone. that's it. that's the end. none of this would be happening if you would just respect other people's boundaries. i don't want you on my blog. i do not want to interact with you. i don't want anything to do with you. that's it. the end.

[tohwitchesduels]

SEMI-FINALS OF WITCHES DUELS - Battle 42: Luz Noceda vs Hunter The Golden Guard

Disclaimer: This is not a popularity contest or which character you prefer, in this tournament, you decide who is stronger/better/smarter/etc. opponent.

A longer disclaimer because I don't trust this fan base: please do not use your headcanons on what their relationship is like to you to determine the winner of this battle. I don't care if you see them as siblings or lovers or whatever, canonically they're just good/close friends, so when taking into consideration who wins don't go with the route of "because she's an annoying little sister she will win" or "he's too much in love with her to not fold because of her" none of that please, both of them have already their attitude explained in propaganda and both take this battle seriously so I'm asking for you when voting to do the same.

Also none of the racist white boy favoritism either (adding this because it's a serious issue and frankly the only thing I have on Hunter's side as usually people ridicule and infantilize Hunter so much to make Luz seem like a superior sibling or lover). Make your choices as objective as possible taking into account what happened in the show, not what you told yourself inside your head or once again your preferences and internal biases. This is a witch's duel, not sibling shenanigans or Romeo and Juliet, I specifically didn't include any of those headcanons here (Except for the tag of Hunter Noceda) so they wouldn't be taken into account as I don't care what you like or prefer, none of this has a place here, so also no discourses in the tags about whether or not it's a ship post or sibling post as it's neither. If I catch anyone not following this extra-long disclaimer you're blocked and not allowed to ever vote in this tournament again.

But I will forgive potential misclicks as long as you come forward with it being an actual misclick.

information for both opponents under the cut to those who don't know what they can do in their battle:

Because both of their profiles are large, I will just explain their motivations while the specifics of their moves will be linked in their names.

Luz Noceda

Luz Noceda, the protagonist of our story, is one and only. Unlike other competitors, Luz is a rare example of a jack of all trades who does not specialize in one specific magical track and studies all of them. Normally, Luz specializes in glyphs but according to the lore of my own tournament which happens after the final battle with Belos, Luz no longer has access to glyphs. However, she now does have a magical staff that allows her to still be able to cast spells just fine as proven by Owlbert in Young Blood, Old Souls. Now, since my rules specify how at times you're not allowed to use palismen in the battle, Luz is capable of avoiding this rule thanks to String Bean's shape-shifting nature, as String Bean possibly could transform into an accessory that would allow Luz to cast a spell like everyone is none the wiser, or maybe even shape-shift into an instrument to mimic bard magic (even though Luz has no vibration based spells). Outside of that Luz would also have access to some other supporting artifacts.

The number of spells she has will be right here, so here you go

Luz has never won against Hunter every time they battled, but you know what they say, the third time's a charm right? Luz knows that Hunter is not going to be easy to take down, especially now that he could potentially take her as a serious threat so now she's more determined than ever to put everything on the line and give it her all because she knows that if she won't, then there's no chance of winning against Hunter.

When it comes to Luz's fighting style, she in general prefers to outsmart and outpower her opponents with the raw strength of her magic. Luz has come far ever since she started to learn magic, currently with String Bean by her side she certainly is now more accustomed to spell-casting. Luz is quite proficient with magic now coming up with new creative ways to utilise her magic. She also now has more experience in combat meaning she's more willing to take down her opponents head-on. Luz can however be pretty reckless and impulsive when approaching her opponents, biting more than she can chew and sometimes jumping without thinking. Luz can however be quick on her feet and easily recover and come up with new ways to get an upper hand during battles.

Luz now possesses her own palisman as we all know it which happens to be none other than String Bean. String Bean showed that with her presence, Luz could be even stronger than she used to be, and Luz had plenty of experience with Owlbert beforehand to know how to use a witch's staff. Luz is a true aerial ace as Eda's Requiem episode proves as she could've won the race if it wasn't for King. She of course also knows how to correctly cast spells with staff alone and can use it in combat. String Bean also has a unique shape-shifting ability, allowing her to take on features of other creatures and use them to her advantage. Granted she can't change size with the ability so all animals will be miniature, but it can come in handy nonetheless, and she could change String Bean into other objects (like jewelry or instruments) in case she can't use witch's staff.

Luz shall be allowed a multitude of tools to help her out during battles. One of them happens to be a crystal ball from her oracle class. Luz can use it to conjure up a single ghost that can be used to help Luz aid in the battle and also predict Luz's future. The ghost is usually chill but rather helpful. It's intangible meaning it's immune to physical attacks for the most part (but can be dispelled with special attacks) and can phase through solid objects to get to its opponents and be capable of touching them to inflict harm.

Another tool Luz would be allowed to use is tea leaves from oracle class which would also help her learn about her opponents, what they're capable of, and what they're going to do.

Luz is also equipped with a training wand in case she needs another source of magic to cast spells from. It's like a hidden dagger if someone would take her sword (as in her staff, I'm clearly alluding to Sasha Waybright's example) away.

Another tool Luz is free to use is her iconic bat which Luz can use for offensive purposes. Luz is allowed to have and use other weapons like a mace and a sword to aid her in the time of her need.

And of course, how could I not forget that Luz also has fireworks to help her in a fight to add more to her firepower.

While Luz doesn't have beast-keeping magic at all, she does seem to have an affinity to be able to tame most of the wild beasts as presented throughout the entire show with her knowledge and attitude. This means Luz is not really affected much by beast-keepers sending animals in her direction unless they're directly under the command of their masters (as in like pets. Sometimes some beasts are untamed and would not follow even the beast-keeper).

Luz also has brought snakes to her battle as she managed to tame them just enough so they would not attack her but certainly would attack her opponents. They're not venomous though considering now pressed any charges when Luz brought them to school. She will bring a few of them.

Another animal that Luz would bring with her to the battlefield are spiders. They're mostly used to just scare people during the fight by pouring them all over her opponents. Can be used as a great distraction. She has quite a large number of them and she can even naturally attract them as seen in TtT. The spiders are also not harmful and Luz is not phased by them either.

Smoke Potion - Another tool Luz would be granted to use is a smoke potion she could brew as seen in the First Day. Luz could potentially utilize it as a smokescreen or suffocation attempt.

Hunter The Golden Guard:

Hunter "Insert your preferred surname/s for him", also known as a former and the youngest Golden Guard in history, head of the Emperor's Coven, Emperor Belos's right-hand man. One must know that unlike other contestants (aside from Luz) he's not constricted to specific covens and tracks since as a former leader of the coven that allows all kinds of magic, Hunter will have expertise in all types of coven magic as well, and he's also very dedicated to studying wild magic.

Hunter himself was also known as a genius teen prodigy and is undeniably a child soldier who was raised by both hell and the library to get to the very top. While he was born magicless, it did not stop him from earning his title as the right-hand man of the most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles. Hunter spends days and nights both training and learning everything about magic both as a duty and as fun. He's incredibly knowledgeable regarding all kinds of magic, meaning it's hard to actually surprise him with anything. And since he's a child soldier raised in a magical military with no magic by himself, Hunter had to survive hell even worse than some of the adults that also were part of this coven went through, and he survived it all. Hunter has already been to countless witches' duels beforehand, he made it several times through a maze full of traps, and judging by how he calls getting from the top to the bottom of the mountain alive "a classic", this might as well suggest that this Hunter's version of "summer camp", as he did that numerous times and he considers it "fond memories". Hunter without a doubt has the most experience among all participants when it comes to battling, because you know Belos never gave him a break or easy time and for Hunter to be where he is today is all thanks to his own strength, intelligence, and resilience.

Hunter has defeated Luz with no effort every time they battled, and after getting to know Luz long enough he now knows all of her potential tricks and tactics even more so. Hunter recognizes both strengths and weaknesses of Luz, he knows how reckless yet talented she can be, what are her spells and tricks and how they work and since he was a trained soldier, he knows how to exploit her weaknesses and what's the best way to counter her strengths. On one hand, Hunter knows Luz takes this seriously and she shouldn't be taken too lightly, but he can't help it considering how effortlessly he managed to fight her off previously and how Luz still makes at times similar mistakes. Nonetheless, he is willing to give her the fight of her life.

Hunter certainly has one of the strongest wills among all characters in TOH, as despite going through a ridiculous amount of pain, he is capable of brushing it off and pushing forward, with his only weakness being Belos. Hunter's willpower was even able to withstand Gus's trauma bubble which specifically puts you through your worst memories and even renders you useless, but Hunter resisted its effect and calmed Gus down instead, despite his pain being very fresh and severe and Hunter in fact not being ok with it, but Hunter keeps on going anyway. One must know it's very hard to break him, trust Belos, he tried but didn't succeed. Hunter even managed to resist Belos's possession for some time, which is a lot considering Belos was his abuser and had power over him metaphorically and physically in that moment.

Hunter displayed throughout the series to have some great athletic skills and agility, being able to keep up pace with running Luz without breaking a sweat while proving he has experience in parkour and acrobatics as seen in him flying on staff. Certainly, he can use his skills to evade incoming attacks with his reflexes while keeping up with his opponents and close distance between him and his enemies. He also has plenty of brute strength at his disposal as well, considering he managed to shatter falling debris by just swinging his staff in one hand.

Hand-To-Hand Combat - Hunter has proven to be efficient in hand-to-hand combat throughout the series. While Hunter overall plays more on defense as a protector rather than offense, he is not afraid to throw a punch. This post goes more in-depth about Hunter's proficiency in staff-wielding, but I will explain some of it here too. Hunter as a trained soldier and experienced martial artist has his body be his weapon. He knows how the body works and has great control over it. He defeated both Luz and Eda in his debut with a quick kick while evading their attack, straight-up toyed with Kikimora, and had to be put to sleep to be restrained by coven scouts as he was still fighting and kicking. This also gives him a huge advantage against other competitors who are used to fighting across distance, whereas Hunter fights at a close range.

Back in EC Hunter learned how to be smart, resourceful, and strong, and as I've mentioned before multiple times, he's a child soldier. His opponents usually underestimate him, but he's not the one to be crossed. His victories compromise of defeating Eda and Luz on 2v1 in his debut; immediately defeating Luz in HP once he's recovered; defeating Kikimora in HP; and Tying with Amity in EL after being physically and mentally exhausted, in 2v1 with King (who was rather defeated by Hunter in this duel), while wielding a completely new staff and restraining himself to not kill her but just getting the key; winning flyer derby game on his first try; catching Darius off-guard (which is a feat with Darius's great reflexes); making a strong glyph combo on his very first try; resisting Gus's trauma bubble; kicking ass during Hexside against EC battle; he was defeated twice by coven scouts, which while fair, was also due to his poor condition and the second time he had to be put to sleep to be restrained; handling abomatons and scouts with rest of the Hexsquad during S2 finale; standing his ground and protecting Hexsquad from Belos while being severely weakened in KT; breaking through Willow's vines in FtF with his freshly awakened powers.

Hunter now is sub-merged with Flapjack meaning he does not require staff anymore to cast spells as magic now comes from within. What's more, I allow Hunter to also levitate/fly without the help of any staff. This is more of a fanon ability, but it's supposed to connect him to having the powers of a palisman (but no, he can't turn into a staff, nor is wooden) and abilities of a palisman are usually just enhanced abilities of the holder, meaning flight is in capacity of any witch, but all of them utilise staff since flight on its own is probably hard spell to pull off, but Hunter should do just fine for the sake of this tournament.

It's worth mentioning that Hunter will not be affected by Sleeping Smoke effects as he knows how such a spell works and would not be fooled by it.

And now finally, let's talk about his staff. For the purposes of this tournament, I will give Hunter Waffles. You know Hunter is the best staff wielder in the entire tournament only rivaled by Luz. I already mentioned how Hunter is absolutely proficient with his staff, utilizing it for both offensive and very effective strikes and flawless defense. Hunter is also a real aerial ace capable of flying at high speeds with agility to dodge attacks and is capable of even surfing on his staff as demonstrated when he showed off in ASIAS. His flying skills were also decisive in both forming EE and winning their very first game together.

Return to Masterpost

[lovemyromance]

I don't know why people think the troll is elriel, it clearly is not, not just yours but many other account's post were copy/pasted and it clear it one of them, why will any of us do it?

On top of that i saw one gwynriel post how the "negativity" and "hatred" we post on our tags regarding them is why the troll hates them? are the for serious rn?

Let's just collectively all block every single gwynriel account so they can't come in our spaces to spew shit

Again - I don't know which side it is, could be either side trying to start drama but that's not the point. No side should be acting all high and mighty when there's bad people on every side.

"We don't have hate in our tags" -> pretty sure the anti-Elriel tag exists for a reason. Let's not pretend like their side doesn't shit on elriel as much as we shit on EL/GA

We are not going to sit here and act like every side of this fandom doesn't have bad apples. I've seen heinous things people have said about every single character, ship be damned. I've seen disgusting behavior from BOTH sides.

And I get it - you see a rude anon in your inbox and you automatically assume it's from "the other side". You're allowed to be upset and angry to receive such hate.

What you shouldn't then be doing - is condemning an entire group of people and accusing them of not instantly coming to your aid and defending you with their swords.

Pretty sure we've all blocked each other. Even if I sat here and made 30 posts condemning troll accounts - you wouldn't see a single one. Pretty sure you won't even see this one.

Don't sit here and act like elriels aren't equally as annoyed about the troll account situation. Don't act like we haven't made multiple posts already condemning these accounts. Just because you didn't see them - doesn't mean they don't exist.

We are sympathetic that you received hate, but that sympathy doesn't last long when you turn around and claim we support or encourage or purposefully incite this behavior.

We don't.

And I don't speak for all Elriel as obviously, but i can say most of them do not have the time to start this kind of drama. We have jobs, families, and kids. We're not out here making death threats and trying to dox someone online.

Sure there are a few bad people out there, agents of chaos, if you will. But they don't represent the group.

We also receive these kinds of messages on the daily, you know. We ignore them. We don't make a spectacle out of them and then proceed to shit on every gwynriel in existence for not personally condemning this behavior.

The person stealing troll posts and starting drama isn't going to stop. It's been weeks and they have stolen mine and several other creators' posts and posted them everywhere, even platforms where we're not active on. The solution isn't to sit here and speculate about whether it's a Gwynriel or Elucien or Elriel. They want attention, and you're all giving it to them. They want more drama - and you're giving it to them with every post you make that points fingers at someone else.

Stop giving them any attention, and I'm confident these posts WILL stop.

We're not responsible for other people actions. We are only responsible for our own.

If you're going to sit here and claim Elriels are behind all these troll accounts instead of blocking and ignoring them, if you're going to claim all Elriels don't do anything to condemn this kind of behavior, if you're going to act like you guys don't ALSO make a ton of "anti-Elriel" posts ....

That's hypocritical. And you wonder why we're not rushing to your immediate defense.

[mazzystar24]

Hi, a 'BT' here! (Although I also happily ship buddie too because multishipping is so valid!) I come in peace and just looking for some discourse if that's okay? I saw the ask in regard to apparently BTs are saying that all the focus on rg means he's leaving? I haven't seen anyone say that on either side so a strange one huh!

But it was more your comments in terms of pushing for Tommy to replace Eddie as lead when Ravi is right there and I just wanna say I agree! And I have seen many bucktommy shippers including myself pushing for Ravi to be main cast. He absolutely should be and deserves it and is an absolute darling angel and I love what he brings to the whole dynamic!

My biggest hope for Tommy is for his to be recurring much like Karen! Speaking of, there's another character I'd love to be main cast and who I think is ahead of the queue in front of Tommy to be main cast. Heck I'd love if all of them got to be main cast but, as much as I love bucktommy, I definitely can see there's an order to who should be main cast and don't want any 'queue jumping'

One other thing I want to out out there as food for thought, is that on both sides I see a lot of discourse thrown out through anonymous asks of 'oh the bts are saying this' or 'the buddies said this ridiculous thing!' And something I would love both sides to seriously consider is... did they really? Or are there just a few people out there who feed on the chaos that it all brings and will send out anon asks that they know will increase this 'fandom war'and pretend they are kn the other side when doing so just to get a reaction and give ammunition to 'their' side to make it seem like one side is delusional and the other side isn't?

Tldr I just wish we all got along and stopped taking messages intended to stir up hate as gospel.

Peace and love

Glad you agree on the Ravi/ main thing front!

As you know I want tommy out already so no recurring hopes from me sorry 😔💔 ngl at first I was like hmm it can be interesting and I’m not opposed to exploring bt and their potential dynamic and maybe they can redeem him and make him likeable it’d be perfect (like my comparison was if they wrote him like Hannah from bones) but like buddie endgame but as eps went on both he and a section of the fandom became so insufferable to me that I’m like I don’t care about the potential juicy storylines I just want this man off my screen - but it’s totally cool if you like him and ship them it’s just not my cup of tea

For the other part I totally get what you mean and that may be the case like I totally agree that that is possible but I hear like so many things that happen in the bt fandom secondhand cos I’ve got so many of the toxic/annoying ones blocked (my block list is a mile long genuinely) and so many have me blocked too but usually stuff that my anons mention will be talked abt by more people in the fandom (like this is) or like there have been times where if I ask my anons for elaboration links ss etc and they are able to do so

That’s why half the time when I reply it’s more so like “damn didn’t know that if that is the case then xyz” you know? Or if I saw something I’ll mention it and be like oh yeah I saw xyz and this is my opinion on it or answer

Also like I’ve first hand seen things that are like 10x worse or more delusional than the “rg must be leaving and s8 lfj main” thing like no lie some of this stuff makes that seem tame in comparison so it’s like the chances they’ve said this are like HIGH

Genuinely I agree with you on that last point I do wish that this fandom was how it used to be and more peaceful but certain things I follow this kinda mental rule I’ve always had which is that I won’t respect a disrespectful opinion

Like from the very start of the discourse I’ve been very oh let ppl ship what they want and enjoy their fandom space and from the start I’ve encouraged proper tagging to help people do that and like even if you’re fully delusional abt your ship I fully respect that (not saying YOU are but I’m saying like let’s say one side is like yesss they are getting married in s8 and having a baby on the first episode I would genuinely just mentally be like woah that’s a bit delulu but love that for you and move on)

My only issue really has been where people from the bt fandom (not saying they are the only ones who do this but I’m saying personally speaking it’s what I see and what I experience also not saying it’s all the bt fans and I do try to say that as much as possible) being disrespectful whether this be through being racist, being ableist or rude to the buddie fans just to boost their ship

Like I’m so not against hating stuff like seriously idc hate whatever you want rant about it and make twenty posts and make so many jokes but when you’re being disrespectful or when it crosses certain bounds it’s like you’re a piece of shit

Anyways I got carried away but thanks for being so nice and respectful in your ask 🫶

[baejax-the-great]

ao3 exists, plus it doesnt even matter what terms i search for on tumblr 100% of the time theres fanfiction. literally you can search any words on this website and some kpop guy/ reader fanfics flood the results every single fucking time. plus some of us are not here for fandoms??? your circus/clown analogy is stupid

So I'm incredibly allergic to shrimp-- to the point where if I ate a single shrimp I would die, to the point where I don't really consider shrimp food anymore--and it's the weirdest thing, yesterday i went to Target to buy hair conditioner, and they were selling shrimp. Don't they know it wasn't what I was looking for and I can't eat it anyway? Why would they do this? Totally fucked up of those shrimp catchers to try to poison me like that.

But analogies clearly aren't your thing, so let me break this down for you.

AO3 does indeed exist, but your suggestion that fanfic live there and ONLY there is akin to saying that imgur exists, so nobody should be posting images, whether they be photos or art, on any other website. Twitter exists (sort of), so really nobody should be posting shit posts or hot takes that are fewer than 140 characters or whatever.

Not everyone uses AO3. There is no law saying that if you write fanfic, you must post it on AO3 and nowhere else. There will never be a law that says that, because that's not how the internet works. Tumblr, one of the few social media sites that allows longform blogging, is in fact a great alternative to AO3 for one-shots. It's a little trickier for multi-chapter posts, but I've seen people make it work.

AO3 is not social media. People can't DM there, send asks, make friends, bump their post to the top of the feed (unless they are an asshole who is about to get blocked by half of fandom for pulling that move). Do you like social media? I mean you're here, on tumblr, bothering a total stranger, so you must see some value to it. Guess what--fanfic authors also enjoy being on social media and sharing what they've been up to, including their WIPs.

Things you aren't looking for being part of your searches is literally just life on the internet at all times forever. Earlier this month I was looking for a reference of draped fabric for drawing purposes. I googled 'chiton drawing' (chitons like the ancient Greeks used to wear), and all I got were drawings of molluscs of the genus 'chiton.' Alright, I did a google search for "toga drawing" and learned that there is an anime girl named Toga and people very much enjoy drawing her. Were the artists of the molluscs or the anime girl to blame for me having to slog through a bunch of irrelevant pictures to find one that could help me with my drawing? No. They correctly labeled what they were doing. That's just life.

Seeing fanfic in the tag doesn't harm you. At all. It doesn't matter if you find it cringe, or it's a ship you don't like, or it's xReader. For like ten seconds you looked at words you didn't particularly like, and then you moved on. How is that different from literally any other post on tumblr? I see bad takes and essays I don't care about on this site all the time. It's called scrolling. Again, this will be the case for every website on the internet forever. Are you telling me you read every tweet in your feed? Every reddit post? Sometimes you see irrelevant stuff. I guarantee some of my mutuals have already deemed this long ass post irrelevant and are scrolling on by. What makes fiction that much more abhorrent to you than the rest of the nonsense?

If you really hate seeing fanfic, tumblr has content blocking and tag blocking. You can block the phrase "x Reader." You can block the tag "fanfic." You can block all sorts of things, and if that doesn't work, you can just block the writers whose existence annoys you.

Sorry man, you personally not liking fandom and not using tumblr for it has really no bearing on what everyone else is doing. Like it or not, tumblr is a hub of fandom, and fanfic authors are going to be a part of every fandom on this green earth. Just because you came to the circus in order to admire the pretty fabric used on the tents doesn't mean the performers are in the wrong for doing their thing.

[canonicallyobserving911]

I saw that nasty bt reblog and tags on your post before you blocked them 👏 It's funny to me that they repeatedly parrot this pathetic "bommy are having lots of nasty sex we win" as if a) it's true and b) it's some kind of devastating gotcha???

8x05 is the most bommy content they've gotten since last season, and the "loving couple" who are supposedly endgame soulmates and wildly attracted to each other barely even touched lol

No matter how much they say it, bommy's nasty sex only exists in their fanons and fics. Which, i can read E-rated buddie fics too! Even if they're not canon! Amazing! And the fact they keep falling back on it just shows they're aware that (presumed, offscreen) sex is all their ship has over buddie, it has an expiry date, and it's just another of buck's hamster wheel relationships.

The other thing i can remember about that bt bitching about how buddies just can't realise that "people grow and change" - yeah and bommies can't realise that a) temu is a fictional character. He doesn't "grow and change" he's a side character plot device and only does what the script tells him to. He has not been thus far portrayed as someone perfectly compatible with buck or buck's endgame, or even as a particularly nice empathetic virtuous good-hearted person, and b) 911 regularly makes bad and unsatisfying writing choices and gives characters offscreen redemptions or assumed redemption. Do bommies think that Gerrard has "grown and changed"?? It seems like he's not racist and sexist anymore, he's just a comedic old hardass. Do bommies defend Gerrard and say he's not so bad now??

Also it annoys me how nobody seems to remember how temu was still acting like a snide asshole to Hen in 7x03 and making her uncomfortable and pretending he was helping her to be a good guy, when really buddie and chim had already gotten him to agree to help. And if he's such good friends with hen and chim now, as bommies kept insisting, why hasn't he been shown to interact or connect with them in a friendly way?? Seems like he's not interested in reconnecting with them and vice versa. How interesting!

Hello @blutterlie and thank you for the ask.

I'll start by saying I didn't read all of that mess the BT Stan added to the reblog because all I had to see was the part about Buddie shippers needing to understand that people change 🙄 and I knew then to block them.

This is going to be lengthy because I wanted to address each of your points.

Buck

I'll start with Buck and Tinsel Town because it's always amazed me how the BT's only care that Buck and Temu are having sex (which if 8x5 is any indication, if they are then that’s all it is beause Toy Story wouldn’t lovingly or romantically touch Buck like someone he even LIKES and that was before the boils appeared) it's all they have. Furthermore, if they knew anything about Buck, they would know that Buck uses sex to feel things and not once has he had an emotionally intimate relationship with any of the women he's dated. He was Abby's boy toy (just like he's Tonka Toy's). Ali was barely there and they were shown kissing but IIRC, they weren't shown in bed. All him and Taylor had was sex and the longer they stayed together the more clothes they wore because they didn't know each other beyond the physical. Buck went straight to the physical with Natalia too and since their relationship happened off screen, it appears outside of his death, that’s all they had. Now for Trombone, based on everything that’s been shown even starting with 7x4, he was so into Eddie that he actually spent money on him and courted him but he hasn’t done that with Buck. They've only been shown hanging out in the loft which proves Tom doesn't want anything serious. He laughed at Buck with his coworkers which means he doesn't respect him and he wasn't bothered by the fact that Buck was the butt of the joke. Buck was literally injured and Temu wouldn't even kiss him on the cheek or his forehead. That's not a loving relationship, it's just sex and nothing more.

Buck has always used his body parts so if they are having sex, then Tombstone is NOT special since Buck’s done that with everyone else. Therefore if all the BT Stan's want to see is two dudes getting it on, they should just watch p0rn.

Buck deserves better than someone who just wants to use his body as a playground and that's been his whole arc from the first episode 1x1. He was born for parts, he used his body for sex and now he acts like that’s all he has to offer.

But Eddie has always been there for Buck to remind him that he's not EXPENDABLE. Tom Thumb thinks he is so it wouldn’t surprise me if his confession is they aren't serious and Buck thinks they are and he spirals about it. Hopefully, he'll breakup with him because if he tries to stick it out, then he'll still be on the hamster wheel and it won't be a good look for Buck.

Timbuktu

I don't think he’s changed at all but I do think the writers gave him a personality transplant so that he could fit the narrative they want to tell. It's a bad look for 9-1-1 not to address it especially after everything that just happened here in the states and if they weren't planning to do it, then they shouldn't have brought his problematic ass back. They should have gotten a no name actor and let him work B-Shift or something so he wouldn't have had a background. The issue is TM is big on names and since LFJr. is a nepo baby, TM is using the name recognition so people who watched his dad be "The Hulk" in the 1980s will see his name and watch the show. However, there are two problems, Jr. can't act and he doesn't work well with others. So there's that.

Also, Gerrard didn't change just like you said but they sure gave him a happy ending and turned him into a captain who was cringey instead of addressing his past.

Hen and Chimney

I wanted them to tell Tombstone off but the show won't let them. If they would it would certainly be more realistic than the BS they're doing. He was being trifling and antagonistic with Hen in 7x2 and I posted about how she doesn't trust him but BT Stans keep acting like they’re all good friends when the narrative is showing otherwise. In 8x5, Chimney was sitting across from Tonka Toy but he didn't look at or address him. Trombone was and still is the outsider who will never be invited to the cookout but Hen and Chimney tolerated him because they were coworkers.

I can't wait for Buck to breakup with Triscuit so he can finally understand he doesn't need to be in a relationship to be whole. At this point and IMO, Buck needs to work on that before he enters a relationship with Eddie because the way that it stands, he gets everything he emotionally needs from Eddie but he gets sex from whoever he's dating and that's not sustainable. He needs to choose what and who he wants or he'll end up like Trombone.

Thanks again for the ask and have a great day.

[infernothechaosgod]

you know it truly amazes me how you can't do practicly anything on tiktok or search the thing you like without getting absolutley shat on

Like I'm feeling a little in the mood for rottmnt angst A lil bit of that kick in the gut, and I can't go 3 minutes without one of those made in 5 minutes max videos that's just background video and text over it Saying shit like "Yall need to stop with the rottmnt angst it's getting annoying" or "the rottmnt angst artist need to chill out" or even better "The rottmnt fandom needs to stop the angst it's just a show for kids"

First off, if angst isn't your thing, you can block it or just scroll pass it OR you know what if youre feeling like a little shit you can hate read it or whatever but keep the comments TO YOURSELF

Second off I checked what the content of most of these people is And it's always goddamn always those 10 second background videos with text over it

nothing more

I dare these people to even try to draw the shape of leo's head, or write out something more than 40 words I accualy dare them. do it.

Also the same goes for shipping over there

Let's say you see a legal completly normal ship you don't like Example let's say leo x usagi or raph x mona

What you wanna do is scroll or block it

NOT make up info to make others stop shipping it, I'm sick and tired of people non stop saying that usagi or mona are adults or that their entire characters are being love intrest in the fandom's eyes Because if you look at any of the fanfic's or fan content of those Yeah it's easy to find content where there love intrest's but it is hard to find content where there ONLY love intrest

People love mona so much for the fact that she's a badass warrior who loves her planet and people they often give her more backstory focused stories that explore how she would feel depending on where the writers story will go or already went, I have never seen anyone maker her just a typical love intrest (witch honestly suprised me)

Usagi? People have more free will with his interpretation's so he has many many diffrent faces backstories, personalities but often people make him focused on something in their stories, examples being, getting back home, protecting others, getting over something, fighting in battle nexus and exploring how it would be Etc. Etc. That mixed with being a love intrest

The only times when these two can be seen as just love intrest and nothing more is in

Edit's/tiktok content where everything is short af (and even then sometimes people give em backstories and their own lore it really amazes me sometimes lmao)

short (usualy) tagged as fluff without plot fics on ao3 (witch you can litellary tag out SO easily)

Little comics/some art pices That HAVE VERY STORT LIMITS

also this might suprise you it really might but DRAWING IS HARD AND TAKES ALOT OF TIME SAME GOES FOR MAKING THE IDEA UP

And when it comes to their ages we all know there not adults, littelary where did anyone mention mona being an aduly ever, and the only times when usagi and leo accualy interact is when there in similiar if not the same ages

(in 2003 usagi and leo are close friends and Both teens, in the early comics there both adults when they first meet, even in 1987 version there both shown to be close if not the same age, the ONLY TIME where leo and usagi have very diffrent ages is in 2012 and honestly i have a little theory on why specificly that version had them be you know that but that's for another post)

Seriously what the fuck is tiktok's problem with any form of fanon content? You want the fandom to die? It aint gonna happen, you either get used to some bad stuff existing there and there and ignoring it (reporting then ignoring it if it's really bad) OR you keep quiet OR you will get banned by alot of creators after crying in their comments, then cry when you can't find something they made anymore

Tiktok man, good for daydreaming to the sounds, looking at edits and for some art trends but litellary can't let anything else exist on there or else you'll explode

(Also I bet if some of the fanon angst made it to the accual show they would deepthroat that shit right up and call it writing of ceuntry)

[regallibellbright]

Okay so that post about tragedies in video games bounced off some neurons and my thinking yesterday about Dragon Quest Builders 2, and a thought finally cohered there, so let’s talk about Dragon Quest Builders 2 and dramatic irony with our BFF, the God of Destruction!

Okay. So Dragon Quest Builders 2 works off the setup of Dragon Quest 2, where a cult of monsters called the Children of Hargon (named for their high priest) are menacing humanity. It’s mentioned, literally once or twice before the final battle, that Hargon is specifically trying to bring about the coming of his evil god Malroth, who he summons as the final boss of the game. This is about all the characterization and build-up Malroth gets, and his design is an evil six-legged dragon with a big skull necklace. He’s not very memorable. But, since he’s a god of DESTRUCTION specifically, it fits really nicely into the idea of Dragon Quest Builders. Builders in this series are tied to any act of crafting and creation - making a house is building, but so is making medicine or cooking. Farming is an aspect of building, outlawed under monster rule along with the rest, because these acts are tied specifically to humanity. The premise of the game is bringing hope back to the world by reintroducing humans to the art of making things. So Builders 2 establishes that destruction is therefore something heavily associated with monsters and monster culture, and as a builder, you represent their opposite. The game starts with Hargon already defeated and a straggling ship of monsters kidnapping you (an apprentice Builder) and some other villagers to execute you in revenge for the cult, Hargon, and the Master of Destruction’s demise.

And then, this is not a spoiler, it makes that Master of Destruction your best friend.

The tutorial of the game has you trying to fix the ship before it sinks in a storm (because good, devout monsters can’t build, but if the ship sinks, they drown too.) It fails, and you wake up on a desert island with a strange young man named Malroth. He has amnesia and likes breaking things and fighting. He tags along after you for almost the entire game. If you destroy a certain kind of block so you can use it, he’ll break more just like it. If you attack a monster that’s not inherently hostile for their item drops, he’ll go out and fight more slimes. He’s stronger and tougher than you as the PC, and most importantly, he draws aggro for the hostile monsters. Mechanically, a lot of the weaknesses of the first game are addressed just by giving you this buddy NPC to help with combat and resource gathering. Since the actual player character is silent, Malroth also fills the traditional role of “companion character who reacts and repeats your presumed reactions so the developers don’t write dialogue for the Player Insert”. When you achieve something, like leveling up or completing a significant build, the two of you high-five. He’s always there, and the player is happy for it rather than annoyed.

And, at least in the English version (the Japanese version apparently uses an alternate kana reading of his name for NPC Malroth that could, conceivably, be an actual person’s name rather than the one used for the boss, but since the game establishes pretty quickly that Malroth has ominous dreams and sometimes hears a voice no one else can who talks about how he’ll awaken soon - and I think even calls him by his title outright, at least in English - I don’t think it’s left much of a mystery in the original, either, especially as the game makes sure to drop the evil god’s name early for anyone who didn’t play DQ2,) the mystery is not “Who is Malroth.” We all know he’s clearly the Master of Destruction reborn. Maybe the English localization could have nicknamed him “Mal”, but frankly I doubt it would have been convincing. They got saddled with one of the most Transparently A Fantasy Villain names imaginable, but honestly even if there WAS supposed to be a genuine mystery around Malroth, I think they lucked out here because I think it works better this way.

The characters don’t know what we do. The game establishes that only the higher-ups of Hargon’s cult know the True Name of the Master of Destruction. It’s dramatic irony, and it’s great. We know that eventually the truth will come out and the Master of Destruction part will almost certainly be reborn, because this is a video game, but we’ve gotten attached to our Destruction God BFF. Again, he makes the game better mechanically just by existing. When there’s inevitably a section where the two of you get separated, shortly before the internal reveal, you REALLY miss his presence. We don’t want to fight him, and we don’t want him to be subsumed by his evil god alterego. But as we get more skilled at building, he gets more skilled at destroying. We know we’re tied onto this log that’s about to go over a waterfall, and we are powerless to stop it, and knowing that he’s the final boss does nothing to stop us from getting attached. I love this. It’s great.

It also helps that the game has an actual mystery, one that it doesn’t start dropping heavy hints about early on. You know that the Children of Hargon were defeated and their leaders are dead, so how have you ended up in an archipelago where they still have control over the land and have subjugated humans? The answer here is genuinely a cool reveal, and plays into a neat little sequence from DQ2. I like it. THAT mystery is framed as a mystery, given just enough hints it still makes sense on replay while not being telegraphed. But I really do think it’s better in this case that we know who Malroth is, because it lets us feel that dread as the game progresses and we’re still getting attached to him anyway.

In conclusion: Dragon Quest Builders 2. I love it. It was my game of the year in 2019 and it was what finally got me to start writing a little again when there were a few lingering plot threads I wanted addressed, and then the game gave a free update that addressed them! I am happy.

[catgirl-catboy]

Tumblr life tips:

(please imagine these as like, tumblr loading screens. Thank you!)

You make mutuals faster when you change your name/icon less. The easier it is to remember + spell your username, the better people will remember you.

If you block the tag for something, (say, #dogs) do yourself a favor and block the same word in filtered post content. There are plenty of posts about dogs not tagged with anything, and the posts that mention dogs that you'd actually like are slim to none.

Send the people on your dash asks when you can. If you see an ask meme during your daily scroll, send something in! Its the tumblr version of small talk.

If you want to have a slightly more serious conversation with a mutual, you can't go wrong asking about their headcanons. 99% of people will jump at the chance to geek out, and the 1% that really aren't in the mood today can simply delay or delete the ask.

If you are already having a bad day, you should take the time to go in #anti your ship and block the people that bash the ship. You probably won't want to encounter any of those people in the wild, unless they are the rare breed thats civil about things.

Don't wait until tumblr becomes unfun to block the current discourse. The moment you see figurative clouds on the horizon that you don't like, get tag blocking!

https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/crushes is a thing where you only see posts from the dudes you RB from the most often! I set it as my tumblr bookmark so I'll see the posts I'm the most interested in first.

Block annoying people, even if you agree with them on the current issue. You'll find something else to disagree on later, and you already know they aren't a fun person to disagree with.

If you see a shitty ass take, only reblog with a "WTF" if they are the first person in the reblog chain. Else, the guy you dislike won't see it but the first person in the RB chain will. That helps nobody.

If the person you just blocked is still everywhere, filter their username in filtered post content.

Tumblr Savior is basically a tumblr modpack. Look into downloading it as soon as possible if you have not already.

Also theres a firefox extension (idk if its on chrome, switch to firefox anyway it eats less ram) called Palettes for tumblr where you can make tumblr any colors you like! Mine is a nice warm sepia! :)

Please add your own tips I need to get better at tumbling.

[cassidy273]

Stuff I dislike in fanfic:

Note: I am not saying that you CAN'T write this stuff. There will always be tropes and other things that some people just don't like, and these are just some of mine. If you do any of the things listed here, PLEASE don't take this list as an insult.

When the fic is marked as complete, but when you eventually get to the end, it's obvious that it's not actually complete. This just pisses me off so much.

2. In x reader fics, when the character meant to be the reader runs away crying at the most random shit. Even when I was in my cringe Wattpad phase, when I read a fic where Y/N ran away from a neighbourhood barbeque in tears because a woman who mentioned that the love interest was attractive ONE TIME was there, I immediately clicked out.

3. Bad grammar. It's just been one of my massive pet peeves ever since I learned how to read and write.

4. When it's literally just a giant block of text. Like, no paragraph breaks whatsoever. I have trouble staying focused on one thing at a time already, this just annoys me.

5. Characters being forgiven WAY too easily. I read a fic with a part where Character A finds out Character B cheated on them with two different women at the same time (Character B told them all he was single), and all it took was a 'Darling, no, they meant nothing to me I swear' for them to be forgiven. I was gobsmacked.

6. No summaries. No offence meant if you don't write summaries, I just don't read fics without them.

7. Fics written specifically to bash certain ships. Like, I know Clay Puppington/Danielle Stopframe is toxic and unhealthy as fuck, leave me alone and let me read fanfic of them.

8. Sex positions that make me have to pause and just wonder how the actual hell a person can do that.

9. Not tagging something like Major Character Death because the author wanted to surprise the readers. I hate this because sometimes I wanna read fluffy and happy fics with absolutely no angst, and then this happens.

10. Bi erasure. As a bisexual person, it really annoys me when characters who have dated/been involved with (romantically or sexually) characters of the opposite gender in the past get called gay/lesbian for being involved with characters of the same gender. The same goes for characters who have been involved with characters of the same gender in the past getting called straight for being involved with characters of the opposite gender.

Once again, this is NOT meant to be offensive to anybody and if you were offended, I'm sorry.

[mirajane-strauss]

Three things to say after seeing at least ten pro gruvia posts in the anti gruvia tag after weeks of not being on tumblr.

1-and most important. Why did you, specific graylu shipper, go and piss off the gruvian shippers? I mean seriously, I'm also annoyed by Gruvia and I think it's a terrible ship, but I don't have to convince anyone, least of all people who I already know won't change their mind - and honestly, who the fuck cares what they ship, that's enough for me to have a little corner on the internet where I can vent about things I don't like when I'm particularly annoyed. Also, it bothers me terribly to be compared to people like you so please stop.

2-to pros who post in the wrong tag on purpose. Although I understand your frustration and I know it's not your fault, it's not even our fault. Most of antis stay in their corner - at least here on tumblr, I don't use Twitter so I don't know – so just block that user.

3-in any case, if you publish in the anti tag, know that you are more likely to receive responses from the anti that you might not want to read (I myself responded to a post, not out of malice but to explain my point of view, before realizing that you started posting in the wrong tag not because you all suddenly went crazy but because of an aggressive anti).

[binalakai-archive]

hey im kai! you can also call me roach, if you already know a kai in your life because i know how many noncis mfs are named that

im a genderfluid filipino dyke (born 2002, figure it out) with she/he/it pronouns, i occasionally post my art on @binalakarchive , where all my OCs (at least as much as i show publicly) and fandom art/cleaned up discussions go there. i also do commissions sometimes, best to contact me through that blog!! my current OC blog currently resides at @huemanonearth, it's a project i've had for a while and i hope to one day make a personal-use pitch bible with it! i treat this blog like a neverending journal. i've grown up with it, and on god am i going to use it as such.

in a perfect world where i wouldn't need to establish boundaries, i would not even bother with a post like this, but the more people i follow/that follow me come across it's somewhat necessary soooo

DNI or like. BYF if you're not gonna listen to me anyway: (warning: it's long and text heavy. tldr; don't be weird to me, communicate with me like you would with a real life person because that's what i am, and we'll get along fine)

-basic dni huge bigot (racist, TERF/transphobic, homophobic, etc etc) stuff but if i catch that onto your blog anyway when you follow me i'll block you.

-if you believe in crab-bucket-mentality/are against mental health care in general, you best keep distance, honestly. its taken a long time for me to not open my wounds and delusions constantly towards the internet if it meant being valid in my mental illnesses. i'd rather not enter that era again.

-i dont get the whole "proship and antis" culture that happens, but for both sakes of people, if you identify with any of those things you might not like my blog too much. i love being critical and analytical of "problematic things", but i'll still discuss them openly n freely. dni if you'll be offended if i diss on ships/approaches to subjects that make me uncomfortable n find comfort in being critical abt it, and dni if you'll be offended if i diss on the idea that media with triggering topics should not have an outlet period.

-if you'll be offended if i block you out of the blue, doesn't apply to close friends/mutuals i just mean with randos who post takes i dont like or cause too much stress in tags i browse.

-if you're gonna get in huge trouble over seeing dirty jokes and crass humor in public you best not follow me. i try best to tag my stuff, but last thing i wanna do is have a stern talk about it.....which is why i also am wary about people under 18 following and will be a lot more liberal on blocking younger minors for their sake or people i assume won't vibe with me period

-if your parents have access to your social media and there's a chance i'll be DM'd by any of them. i dont wanna talk to any of your parents. if you have an issue with me, i'm more than happy to talk about things directly. (ESPECIALLY FOR BUSINESS RELATED REASONS LIKE COMMISSIONS. IT'S HAPPENED A LOT ALREADY DUE TO OTHER PARTY'S FAMILY CIRCUMSTANCES I CANNOT FUCKING CONTROL. STOP IT. ITS ANNOYING AND A PAIN TO HANDLE.)

-if you get too involved with online drama/disputes. i'm not going to reblog a callout for you. if you get even slightly bothered by that statement, do not get close to me period for the sake of boosting callouts.

-if you have specific niche triggers that need to be tagged. i try to do catch alls or basic ones, but i genuinely CANNOT keep track of all my mutual's blacklists. my mind will slip and id rather not put someone in danger/i wanna keep that risk very very low

okay thankies <3 sorry these are so specific, i just wanna be insane on the internet in the safest way possible

[sparatus]

4 & 7 for that one ask game and then 12 so you can rant about grandpa I already know that’s the answer

you know me so well

choose violence🔥

4. what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

genderbending saren to make kryterius m/f like a fucking coward*. tagged me in wip games featuring her sharterius work when i am very openly and vocally an aggressive hater of that ship and also wrote saren horrifically ooc. other annoying crimes. finally rbed a post from me and tagged it as being about "milf saren" and i lost it and blocked goodbye

*note: i enjoy a good gb fic myself, there's a few from ye olde kmeme that i still like, but she ONLY wrote kryterius as gb m/f and didn't ever interact with my stuff for them that was m/m which reeks of bad implications to me. go away straight

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

kaidan. kaidan kaidan kaidan. the ONLY way i managed to save him for myself was retreating from fandom and finding a few sane shenko mutuals (they know who they are). he's a good fun character! i enjoy writing him! he's my friend! but my god shenkos (and frankly ESPECIALLY mshenkos) make me hate him so much.

garrus also started to suffer this fate but tragically there are no sane shakarians only ex-shakarians who migrated to the niche corner (mwah) so instead i had to just ship him in a rarepair nobody likes but me, quite literally i'm making the fucking tag, that's the only thing that's saved him and tbh i still kinda worry im not writing him in character

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

i mean really. is there any other character i COULD talk about. look at my entire brand here.

the councilors in general have WAY more character than they're given credit for, especially the original three who have 3 games of dialogue to work with instead of just 1 for the replacement three, and i could honestly do an entire essay for each of them, but let's stick to grandpa for now. putting this under a cut i went insane

this man is the ONLY councilor who's actually DOING HIS FUCKING JOB CORRECTLY. he's the one who's always trying to stick to the law and uphold it, tevos's hand-wringing about diplomacy be damned, especially in the first game. he's a representative of the people and he CARES about the people, every SINGLE time he scolds you in the first game and when he makes his dramatic entrance in udina's office in the third he's specifically concerned with the public at large:

after feros he's concerned that you only intervened because it's a human colony, and wants to be certain you aren't going to just ignore non-humans and will protect the galaxy at large, not just humans

after therum he's reasonably worried that liara is working with her mother and you've just helped a huge threat to the galaxy walk free

after noveria, if you killed the rachni queen he's reasonably concerned about why you just acted without any sort of "yo heads up" call or advice, whereas if you saved her. YEAH NO SHIT HE'S WORRIED ABOUT THAT ACTUALLY did you hear all the reasons the rachni returning should be a much bigger deal than the game treats it of course he's like "that's extremely fucked up why would you do that"

at the start of me3 he is the ONLY one of all 4 councilors to actively, directly state that people are scared and it's their duty as galactic leaders to stay calm and protect their people, indirectly calling out udina for calling him a coward because udina demanding help for earth and ignoring the alien worlds is doing the exact same thing he's complaining about them doing in turn

keep in mind that from his perspective in me1 YOU ARE LITERALLY A POLITICAL POWER PLAY. you literally get the job because udina wants a human spectre and it's convenient to send you after saren, you didn't actually go through the proper process to be vetted and confirmed, for all they know you're every inch as human-centric and unconcerned with aliens as every other alliance twat they've met at this point. and the alliance, via hackett and anderson's attitudes, REGULARLY prove that all they care about is having somebody who can ignore the law! and depending on how you play the game you can in fact confirm that you shouldn't have been given this authority and are just doing shady shit for hackett that he can't do on the level! you can in fact PROVE SPARKY RIGHT! high-renegade shepard actually fucking proves why sparky was right to vote no on you i will die on this hill

he's also the only one to actually fucking help you in the third game right away. literally goes behind the others' backs to do it. they just voted "nah we have to worry about our own people first" and he swooces right around with a solid first step for you to take and a clear understanding that everyone has to work together regardless of udina being a lil bitch. everyone who likes those mods/edits of doing air quotes and "ah yes, reapers"-ing him back to mock him in this scene is my enemy and also a fucking idiot you don't mock the person who is 1) actively trying to help you and 2) YOUR LITERAL BOSS SHUT UPPPPP

speaking of ah yes reapers. he's justified in saying that. i dont care what whiny little princesses your shepards are. he's been dealing with anderson for TWO FUCKING YEARS who has literally not shut the fuck up about it, when inciting galactic panic is the LAST thing they should be doing. of course he's tired. of course he's annoyed this is coming up again. the man has been putting up with this for two fucking years he wants to go back to bed.

ALSO in the opening scroll in 2 it's in fact strongly implied they DO believe you but are keeping quiet to avoid a panic ("the official story") and then the archives in citadel dlc confirm it with the secret spectres-only edition of sovereign's entry. they're not fucking ignoring you or dismissing the threat they're trying to avoid GALAXY-WIDE PANIC YOU FUCKING MORONS

also he has some BITCHING quotes, these two are my favorites they're burned into my brain:

[in response to udina saying he and the council are scared and trying to save their own asses] "Our people are scared, and we're looking out for them the best we know how."

[if you save the rachni queen on noveria] "I hope you're right, Shepard. Our children's children will pay the price if you're not."

also his facial scarring is badass and implies there's so much more to him than just "consummate politician" like bioware's little bio of him implies, and his "children's children" line strongly implies he actually has children's children which lines up with him being visibly older and more aged than the turians we're usually running into in the games and im sure ill think of more stuff later on but that's my unhinged rant for the day

also if you ship him with shepard i am loading my shotgun

[charmsandtealeaves]

How do you get people to read your fics?

Hi anon! 

Good question, which requires a little interpretation on my part to answer but I’ll give it my best shot from my personal experience. 

So first I’m gonna make some assumptions that may be right or wrong:

You’ve started writing in your fandom space.

You’ve got a figure in mind for comments/kudos/interactions of some sort

Those numbers aren’t adding up with your expectations and you’re feeling a bit disheartened by it.

Does that sound about right? Well, in my experience there are a lot of things that play into those factors:

People these days tend to give likes/kudos rather than comments/reblogs

If you’re using Tumblr: when you post compared to the timezone of most of your followers/readers can influence how quickly things get picked up.

Some people prefer reading complete fics over WIPs (when in my opinion reading along with WIPs is half the fun)

People have TBR lists a mile long because life gets in the way (hello that’s me) and so maybe your fic is sitting in one of those.

Anyway, let’s try and answer your original question: how to get people to read your fics. 

I’m assuming you have Tumblr? which is a good place to start. The AO3 filtering system can be a little counterintuitive so I know a lot of people get their fics here rather than the search function.

Firstly, are you personally also reading and engaging with other peoples works? Because otherwise you’re probably just shouting to the void and not getting any sort of echo. Fandom is a community space, and we help and feed each other. If you’re only ever expecting stuff for your own work but never doing the same for the content you enjoy… you’re not gonna be having a fun time.

Secondly, timezone reblogs are your friend. Admittedly I’ve never really worked this one out properly. But my timezone is whack and a lot of my followers are in the States/Europe. The point is don’t be afraid to reblog your own post at different times. It increases the chance of someone seeing it.

Personally, I like adding banners to fic posts. A.) because they’re fun to make (and procrastinate writing) and B.) they draw the eye better than a solid wall of text if someone is just having a little scroll.

And now here’s a big one: tag your posts with what’s actually in your story/post. Don’t use every ship and character tag under the sun. That’s not how the tag system works on Tumblr, and by doing that you’re more likely to hide your work rather than elevate it. People block tags to cultivate their online space, and you will annoy people tagging things not actually present.

Okay now I’m gonna offer you a little advice that is probably gonna have you frustrated and rolling your eyes at me but it’s kinda important so hear me out for a second:

Stop comparing yourself to others so much (especially the ones who’ve been around in fandom for decades) and just have fun with it for yourself. <- easier said than done.

I’m guessing you came and gave me this ask because you perceive me as someone who already gets a lot of attention for fics. But the thing is… I still feel quite new to this even though I’ve been doing it for a couple of years now. And I do compare myself… to my past self. You might have noticed the post currently pinned to my blog is a year-in-review post that contains AO3 stats. I started doing it for myself to see how far I’ve come in the space of a year, but also it helpfully offers the ability for others to do the same. 

So let’s focus on one thing: all of those stats increased (quite significantly) from last year to the previous. But let’s break down what else happened over the course of that year that might explain WHY:

I was also starting to read a lot more.

I’d started to make some good friends in fandom. Which also meant I trusted people enough to start beta/cheer-reading my works before posting.

I started the whole jilymicros setup (the blog, prompts lists, discord, events etc.)

I did a whole heap of challenges and events.

I was starting to feel more comfortable and welcome in fandom space in general. 

Those things all heavily influenced the quality of my writing and the size of my audience. A lot of my followers are because I admin those spaces according to a few ‘why are you following me’ ask games. Taking part in events (like those run by jilychallenge, jilytoberfest, or Ladies of HP, to name a few I do) allows you to get out of your comfort zone, try new things, and get your work out there to a wider audience following those spaces. I honestly can’t recommend doing them more. So my advice to you anon really is this:

If you're gonna compare to anybody, compare yourself to yourself.

Engage with others and their works.

Challenge yourself, try new things.

Have fun with it and find out what style works best for you - if you’re not having fun there’s no point doing it. Some of the best fics are the ridiculously self-indulgent.

[lucientelrunya]

Shipper tag game

I was tagged by the wonderful @forerussake, thank you!!

What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care about anymore?

Um.... There are so many pairings I don't really care about anymore because it's been so long and I have been in so many fandoms since. I think my first pairing as a teen was Taito from Digimon, at least that's the biggest thing I can remember. There are also pairings I cared very deeply about even after my teenage years that I chose to let go of because of the author...

2. Which ship would you consider your first one?

The first one I can really remember was Taito from Digimon, but it's been so long, there might have been ones before that?

3. Your first fanfic was about which couple?

Uhhhh... I feel so old right now, I don't really remember what my actual first fanfic was? But I remember working on a Sailor Moon + Stargate kinda AU which had some pairings but really it was about friendship between the girls.

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw fanart of?

There probably was digimon fanart, too, other than that Sailor Moon fanart of Usagi and Mamoru.

5. Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?

No, I never really interacted with fandom like that.

6. Did you use to have any NOTP or have one currently?

I always have pairings I don't care about or pairings that I avoid for different reasons, maybe I don't care about the one character or I think the paired people would be better as just platonic friends or whatever. But, like any responsible adult I block and just don't read what I don't like.

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

Fuba my love <3

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs?

Well, Fuba again, definitely my current OTP :)

9. Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

Hmmm I don't think? Rather the other way around, I can get annoyed that so many movies and dramas push pairings that are just annoying and needless and would be better left as friendship.

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

Hmm no, I don't think so.

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, would've been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

Um... I don't know? I don't care about the purity police. I guess nowadays any Digimon fanfic could be problematic because they are young teens? Oh, and definitely some pairings from the fandom we don't want to support anymore.

12. What is your favorite crack ship?

What even is a crack ship? Crack is not really my genre...

13. What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?

I honestly have no idea. I have read so so so many fanfics in my life and so many times there weren't many for a pairing I wanted and I would have read so many more...

14. What do most of your ships usually have in common?

Hmmm that is something I have never thought about. I don't know what makes me latch onto a character or a pairing. But I guess what almost all of my ships have in common is that they are not canon.

15. What you absolutely hate in a ship?

Hmmmm talking about canon ships, unneccessary drama to prolong a drama series. In fanfic I do love missunderstandings that initially prevent them from getting together. I guess I do hate missunderstandings that cause trouble in a relationship that is already there? I like the drama to come from the outside, not from the ship, I guess.

Thank you again @forerussake this was fun!!

I am tagging @sunriseverse, @daydreamorama, @kholran, @elletromil, @s1utspeare and whoever else wants to do this!