#fuck this fandom sometimes

[xhanisai]

every time i (a mixed race girl) come across a post that’s basically saying that Marinette, a mixed race girl, isn’t Chinese enough, my urge to set hellfire on this world increases by 100000000%.

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

I am incredibly serious right now when I beg you all, please, and if you have Twitter or Tiktok or whatever to please spread the word: click on an author's profile on Ao3.

You want to know if an author has written more? Want to know if they're still writing? Want to see more from them? Want to know if they've written a trope or kink or sex scenario you enjoy?

Click on their name. And look at their profile.

I cannot tell you how many times in the last six months someone has read a new or newer fic of mine and said they (a new reader who has read nothing else I've done) "can't wait to see what you do next!" I've written 50+ fics and over a million words already.

"I don't know if you're still writing..." click on my profile. I am. I literally wrote a 128k+ fic for that ship last month.

"Would you ever do X?" "Please do Y!" I already did. Click on my name and look at my works.

Archive of our Own is a library. It's an archive. Not social media. It is your responsibility to fight back against the laziness that corporate algorithms have trained into you.

Click my author name. Just click it. Just click it.

Before you demand more, or ask if a writer will do XYZ, or wonder if the author still writing, or anything - click on their profile. Click on the author's profile.

I'm not trying to be mean or condescending or anything like that. I'm just exhausted. It's disheartening and frustrating to repeat myself ad nauseam, because someone couldn't take thirty seconds to do the tiniest bit of work to see if I've written lately, if I've written more for their ship, or scan my works to see if I've written what they're asking for. Please. Please. I'm begging.

Click the author's name, and explore before you ask.

[tossawary]

This is petty fandom salt, BUT... I've been chewing on this phenomenon that I've been calling "Fandom's Darling". It is related to things like "Author's Darling" and "Mary Sue / Gary Stu" and "Protagonist Halo" and all that jazz, where one character gains a peculiar narrative weight in a story.

"Author's Darling" is when a writer has a favorite character, and the world and all other characters sort of get... warped to put the Darling in the spotlight. It's most noticeable in TV shows with multiple writers, when a character you personally like suddenly has their previous characterization destroyed to make another character look good somehow. Every other character might become weirdly incompetent. The Darling's feelings are treated as The Most Important Feelings in any given situation. The logic of the fictional world seems broken past suspension of disbelief in order to validate this one character's beliefs or skillset or some other fantasy. And so on.

"Fandom's Darling" is what I've been calling the pattern where a fandom essentially crowns a New Protagonist for their fanfiction stories (it's often a side character rather than the original protagonist, but it can also happen to protagonists). This character becomes the self-insert for all sorts of indulgent fantasies, gaining special powers or backstories, and/or becoming the focus of extreme whump, and/or hooking up with all the various hotties, starring in all sorts of tropey AUs, and so on. They're not always an obvious Mary Sue version of themselves, but the character's original personality and interpersonal relationships tend to get warped or dropped completely, and other characters tend to become a little flat around them. I call it "Fandom's Darling" because it's not just one self-indulgent fantasy fic (you do you! Have fun!) with characterization choices that I don't vibe with (I have neither the time nor the desire nor the authority to police anything, I am just venting), but rather a prolific mini-fandom of sorts revolving around this empty doll / fanon version of the chosen vessel character, so it becomes a little unavoidable.

I am salty about this (mildly frustrated) (imagine a soft sigh of disappointment before I just go do something else) because you are FUCKED if you actually liked the canonical version of this character and their interpersonal relationships. It's almost worse than liking an obscure character that no one cares about. There's about a thousand fics starring your fave, but maybe only about a dozen of them are actually rooted in any kind of recognisable canon.

[r0seart]

Yes, I agree with all of this. I try to not complain too much because I have the thinnest skin known to man and can break easily. What I’d like to say is that I have been on both sides of the drama and both are equally exhausting. I use to be scared to do the slightest feminine things to Sirius because I was still caught up in the whole mindset that if you make one of the characters in your mlm ship feminine you are fetishizing gay men. I got out of that funk and eventually found a design of Sirius I was comfortable with. Then people started to make him full on genderqueer, and I was originally fine with it. But then people claimed that if I stuck with the canon depiction or didn’t vibe with transfemme Sirius I was a transphobe and jkr dick rider.

It made no fucking sense to me. I’m the one who headcanoned Sirius as Demisexual, Latino, and an amputee, so it wasn’t like I was against headcanons to begin with. I’ve wanted to talk about how exhausting being in the marauders fandom is because of these characterization and headcanon wars going on. Part of me thinks that it’s due to the fact that the lgbt community from the outside see us as traitors to our own community and so we compensate by becoming a little more aggressive when jumping to conclusions on queerphobia. Apparently somebody on Twitter made a joke about how marauders fans where claiming that giving Remus and Sirius a large height gap is “heteronormative”, shit like that will never make sense to me.

The only way I can possibly talk about the other side of this is that I’ve been in fandoms where people think that there are good headcanons and there are bad headcanons. I think if you where to accuse someone of being transphobic for not liking the headcanon then you’d have to look at their intentions and reasons. I don’t vibe with transfemme Sirius, but it’s not because I think headcanoning a Cis male character as a trans woman is bad or weird, I just like Sirius being an effeminate male where nothing can compromise his masculinity, not even skirts or dresses. People just quickly assume if you don’t support the headcanon you have a personal grudge against it, it doesn’t matter if that’s just simply how you don’t see the character, to some there’s always evil intentions behind not headcanoning a character a minority.

PSA to The Maruaders fandom

Not liking a headcanon, popular or not, does not make a person a bigot. Surprising, I know! But it really doesn't.

There's been TONS of discourse lately over transfem sirius and I would like to give my opinion on it. If you like the headcanon, that's fine, good for you!! If you do not like the headcanon, that is also fine. Not liking the headcanon does NOT make someone transphobic and if you think it does you need to rethink your views on life because what the actual fuck. Apparently people also claim that not liking transfem sirius is misogynistic and if you genuinely think that BOY do you need a wake up call. If one person can genuinely argue how either of those points makes even vague sense, I will consider changing my mind, however, as I actually have a fucking clue of what bigotry really is, I dont see that happening in the near future.

In the same way, this applies to almost every headcanon, including not hc james as queer or even as desi (no, that does not make you racist, please fucking get over yourselves) or hc-ing remus as disabled.

I would like to point out, however, that if you do enjoy any of these headcanons, its absolutely fine!! I even enjoy quite a few of them myself including pan, desi james and genderfluid sirius!! You should also post about them on your own platforms as much as you like and engage in media with the same headcanons!! You should NOT, however, argue and hate on people who post about not liking them, because just as it is your prerogative to like something, its their prerogative to like something else and neither of those times is it hurting anyone. It is also your prerogative to post about stuff you don't like!! Just do it on your OWN platform and not one someone elses.

At the end of the day, they're all fictional, let's have a little decorum, okay?

[imsodishy]

the question isn't 'is con crit okay?' that's a terrible way to frame the issue.

the question is 'do fan creators want your con crit?' and the answer is clearly overwhelmingly No!

like, are hugs okay? theoretically, sure. but if you're going around hugging strangers who don't want you to, and they have fucking told you so, then you are in fact an asshole and should knock it off.

[bruciemilf]

I’m actually really sad I have to communicate this, but yall should REALLY consume fandom media created by actual, human people, not AI.

[ratboyy-withtheexistentialdread]

[florallylly]

less steve harrington "i try to be a good guy despite my past" and more steve harrington "i've always been a good person (albeit probs annoying asf), you just stereotyped me based on my interest in sports"

[blluespirit]

back on my 'zuko is aroace' agenda. if i have to see one more post arguing about shipping i am going to start biting people. he's actually a single dad and never marries thanks bye.

[atqh16]

Anyone who agrees with Yu Ziyuan that it was Wei Wuxians 'fault' that Lotus Pier was attacked either have the media literacy of an ant or are just that stupid. It's made clear repeatedly that Yu Ziyuan will blame Wei Wuxian for anything under the sun. She has zero sense of accountability and constantly uses her own kids in her war against her husband which isn't just an absolutely shitty thing to do but also incredibly traumatic for them. Regardless of your issues with your spouse you don't drag your kids into it.

Wei Wuxian did nothing wrong. Finding faults in the action of a child in order to incite conflict is pretty much the tactic of every dictator ever. Which is what Wen Ruohan is. If it wasn't for Wei Wuxian most if not all the other teenagers in the Xuanwu cave would've died. It's made pretty obvious that Wen Ruohan is more than willing and ready to start a fight against the other clans. He'd already attacked and burned down the Cloud Recesses. Yunmeng was ALWAYS going to be next. Wang Lingjiao 'blaming' Wei Wuxian wasn't about making an excuse, it was about baiting Yu Ziyuan into striking first. Which she did cause she has the diplomacy skills of a rabid dog.

Also it does not matter if Wei Wuxian says her whipping wasn't that bad. You don't ever whip a fucking child. The cultural and historical context might make it understandable but it doesn't make it justifiable. You don't get to condemn Jiang Fengmian for being a bad parent then bend over backwards to defend Yu Ziyuan.

[kelocitta]

I'll say that I have been in some fandom with extremely impressive and dedicated artists but consistently some of my favorite artists are ones who technically make 'unimpressive' art to outright loving posting 'low effort' doodles. I love skilled work thats beautiful, but I also deeply admire a freedom from perfectionism and ambition. Sometimes those are just non-complicated but still clearly skilled works, and sometimes thats loving the wobbly simplicity of crude lines vs. rendered beauty. One of my favorite artists back when I was big into Hollow Knight was a korean artist who could absolutely make some extremely beautiful stuff, but many of the pieces I remember most and loved the most looked like this

Even here I know I mentally worked harder to make this imitation than they did for the OG. I can't draw fast and loose, and I like work that is clearly faster and looser than I can do. I envy people who can do things imperfect and carefree. Sometimes thats still very obviously skilled work, sometimes its very stupid doodles that were blatantly done in 30 seconds in mspaint. I don't think its say, disrespectful to love the doodles more than the rendered stuff said artist makes- but my love for it comes from a place that a lot of people wouldn't guess. That is to say, its hard to tell who, why, or when something you make might click with people- and it doesn't take a masterwork for someone to see something in your art as inspiration.

[outletcrash]

shakes her around like a beetle in a jar

[locusfandomtime]

you can really tell the different audience demographics of Lifesteal vs Hermitcraft by the comment sections because the average spokeishere or whatever comment is like “LIKE THIS if you are a real Spoke fan!!! ❤️👊😎 if this comment gets 100 LIKES ill tell my mom to subscribe 🤪 who else is watching in 2028❓❓😂” whilst the average ethoslab comment is like “my wife is giving birth but this is more important”

[jestroer]

I love being a part of hermitcraft fandom, not a single normal person in sight, I think sometimes am i being too weird and then i see my mutual being absolutely fucking insane on dash and think ah no im fine actually 

[yardsards]

anyway i just find it Interesting how saying "i prefer these two as a platonic pairing" is often considered to be hating on a romantic interpretation of the pair. but saying "i prefer these two as a romantic pairing" is not seen as hating on a platonic interpretation of the pair. almost like fandom as a whole still sees platonic relationships as lesser than romantic relationships. almost like too many fans still think that platonic relationships can't be worth caring about in their own right. almost like fandom tends to be full of amatonormativity.

[redbowkid-27]

Yuh fnf doodle for tonight literally 2 in the morning