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lediableblancdotcom · 9 months

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It is long...but read it....

Future of LeDiableBlanc.com

Here is the lowdown on what is going to happen with LeDiableblanc.com. Over the last month or so I have been playing around with new ideas for the site. The reasoning behind this mucking about is nothing short of I am getting old and so is the site and it needs to slow down along with me. I have been running this website alone for almost 30 years now, and I am approaching the big 50 myself, and we are in need of a smaller workload. It has been a labor of love and still will remain one, just a little slimmer, just cutting the fat. Here are the changes that I know are going to happen moving forward in the streamlining of the site:

Appearance Database:

The Appearance Database is the heart and soul of the site, so it is going nowhere. It will change (hopefully for the good), but will remain housing the same idea of collecting all of Gambit’s comic appearances. I did a quick rehaul of the “A” section in the Appearance Database, that shows how the new database will be absorbing the other information from the site. The main page of the Appearance Database will stay the same, cover and basic stats of the comic for quick reference, but by clicking on the cover you will get not only the variant images as before, you will also get any other Gambit related information from the comic as well. The database will absorb the information normally found in: Friends & Foes, Family Tree, Uniforms, Charged Items, Stolen Items, Quotes, Crossovers, Major Reads, and even some sections that never made it to the site itself and these stand alone sections will be removed from the main menu. I feel this will be be an easier way to keep that information available, but less workload on getting this information up on the site. I will also keep the Printable Master List updated regularly and available.

Sections getting the Ax:

Some areas of the website will be getting the ax all together. Most of the these sections are now redundant or out of date. Getting the ax will be Bang your Dead, Fashion Police, Wolverine Gallery, Wallpaper, and Ads. I will also be taking down Fanart, due to art theft and the AI issues of today, it is not a mess I want to step into anymore. With artists having their own social medias and websites, I feel there will be no great loss to this area leaving from the my site. The merchandise database will be coming down too, it is out of date and impossible to keep updated. Disney is very loose with their licensing, so the amount of goods coming out is too large to keep housed. Also, most new merchandise is immediately posted on the Facebook Groups much faster. I will make sure to post some of the older, more unknown goods to the Tumblr “Obscure Gambit” page, so that older stuff doesn’t disappear completely.

Sections on the Fence:

I will be keeping the Non-Sport and Game Card databases. They are relative to Appearance, in my opinion, and will remain and updated as much as possible. Saying that, I am on the fence with the Sketch Card database. It is technically an appearance, but the cards are not available to everyone and the database can never be completed because the actual amount of cards are unknown and are constantly being made. I am also on the fence about keeping the media outside of comics, like movies, animated tv, and video games. They are technically not anything I have to update a lot, because the information is complete for now, but eventually new episodes/games will be made, and I am not really into the other media, so I usually am unaware. So I may leave them for now and decide later on those. I am really debating on taking the site back to it’s comic only roots and removing those sections.

I would really like any feedback, for or against these leaving the site. So please let me know your opinions.

Galleries: As I said above, the Fanart, Wallpaper, and Wolverine galleries are being axed. I am going to keep the Edits, Original Pages, and the Cover galleries on the site. They may not get as many updates as usual, but they are not time sensitive, so it should be fine. Those are highly used galleries, so I don’t want to take them away for now.

Social Media/Domains:

The LeDiableBlanc.com Facebook Group and the two Tumblr (lediableblanc.com and Obscure Gambit) pages will remain and operate as usual. I will not be using Reddit (why so much hate for Reddit?), Instagram never got used much anyway, and will be discontinued. I will never open a Twitter/X, so don’t ask. I am willing to take any suggestions on other social media, but no promises. I will not be renewing some of the domain names that mirror the site. I will always keep lediableblanc.com and remylebeau.com, but iheartgambit.com, xmengambit.com, xmenlebeau.com will most likely not be renewed as site mirrors. They are rarely used and the money spent on their renewal can go towards the annual server fees.

Patreon, I am going to remove at the end of the rehaul. I thank everyone who donated, it helped more than you know. If you want to donate one last time, I will be forever grateful, server fees are not cheap, but with the downgrade of the site I don’t expect anyone to do any kind of monthly support. I may go back to the annual begging, so prepare for that, but I don’t expect anything from anyone but enjoying the site.

If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback of any kind, PLEASE let me know. Reply to this message or email me at [email protected]. You can message me through the Facebook group or on Tumblr as well.

It will probably take me a few months to get the Appearance Database up to date and the other information added, so not many changes or updates may happen until that is completed. So the soon to be removed areas will remain until it is done and uploaded.

Thanks, everyone for your support and I hope it will continue through the mess to come.

#gambit #x-men #lediableblanc.com #remylebeau.com #obscure appearance #marvel #remy lebeau

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jinxed-sinner · 7 months

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Came For the Grumpy Cat Demon, Staying For the Critique of Christianity™️

Hi, I'm Jinx. I'm a 20 year old autistic furry artist who ended up hyperfixated on Hazbin Hotel after it jabbed me in the religious trauma lol (basically I watched the scene for Loser, Baby, got emotionally attached to Husk's design, decided to watch the show, and decided "wow, this is a really good criticism of something that traumatized me! Also giving Lucifer autism was a big brain idea!!" My brain has been nothing but Hazbin Hotel because autism so I'm hoping having a designated blog for me to post random Hazbin related stuff will help me focus on non-Hazbin stuff because I swear to god I've never been this hyperfixated on ANYTHING

My main blog (where I post regular furry art) is @jinxedshapeshifter. My Hazbin themed furry art (such as Hazbin characters drawn as anthro animals) will be posted here.

I use the same personal tags on all my blogs, since they relate to the "jinxed" part of my username; those tags include:

#jinxed chatter - random discussion posts. This can be pretty much anything tbh

#jinxed fanart - any fanart I've done for Hazbin Hotel. Basically my art tag.

#jinxed headcanons - personal headcanons I have.

#jinxed analysis - any analysis posts I make. This can be anything from analyzing details in a specific episode to character analysis.

#jinxed overanalysis - anything I deem as overanalysis. Usually this basically comes down to "I noticed this tiny detail in this one scene, here are my thoughts on that detail" and it ends up being an obscenely long post for how tiny the detail is.

#biblically accurate radioapple - not necessarily a personal tag (I'm probably not even the only person who uses it), but a tag I like to use for posts that feel like could be canon Alastor and Lucifer interactions. It doesn't necessarily mean I view the post as a romantic Radioapple post, or even a platonic Radioapple post, it's just a tag I like to use for silly Alastor and Lucifer posts that feel canon.

#i will never shut up about how people treat alastors asexuality - A tag I use for posts venting about asexual people acting like there's one right way to be asexual and anyone who ships Alastor is either not doing asexuality right or actively aphobic. As the tag suggests, this is a topic I refuse to shut up about, because I myself am aroace and sick of dealing with other aroace people acting like there's a right or wrong way to be aroace. Aroace people can be in relationships, sex- and romance-repulsion is not a universal aroace experience and it's weird to act like aroace people using Alastor to explore their boundaries are experiencing being aroace wrong.

I'm currently writing a multi-chapter Radioapple slowburn fanfic. You can read it here:

I'm also working on a Hazbin fancomic loosely based on how I headcanon Vox and Alastor's relationship and centered on how I think Lucifer would react to it if he ever got attached to Alastor. You can read it from the start here:

I really like designing characters! Here's a design I made for Juno, a character I created as basically a self-insert (don't yell at me about mistakes in art style, I'm not used to mimicking other artists' art styles lol):

I've also had people ask me what hypoxemia is after showing them this goober so here's the Wikipedia page on hypoxemia

#intro post #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel blog

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pankomako · 1 year

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ya lost? yeah me too

while you're here, why don't i introduce myself? you can call me panko or sharky, either's fine. im a transmasc gay dude whose gender is best described as a png of a shark - my preferred pronouns are he/they. also im 17 years old.

one of my big goals in life is to tell silly stories in cartoon format. for now, i just have these 3 oc worlds i play around with like plushies on my bed:

Boardwalk of Beasts - the big one which i want to turn into a tv show. i unfortunately haven't touched it in a while haha

Gang's Bay - SUPER self-indulgent, basically a weird sitcom in my head. you can read about it here

Give Me Vertigo - a fun genre-hopping story i plan to tell sooner rather than later. story is VERY much a WIP but it might be an interactive blog thing idk yet

you can find my posts about them in their respective tags; it's just their titles so it's easy (the gang's bay tag excludes the apostrophe)

stuff i post

fair warning, some of the things i post aren't very kid-friendly. if my blog were a tv show, i'd rate it TV-14 for strong language, sexual references, and depictions of drugs and alcohol. if you're not into that stuff, or under 14-16, i'd advise you to keep your distance.

i do indeed post a lot of art, though mostly just rough doodles or joke drawings. i make both oc art and fanart, and the occasional animatic.

i LOVE sharks, and marine bio in general, and just about anything to do with the water. definitely a huge non-media side interest of mine

also i will never be normal about the music i listen to. im an alt-rock junkie and my favorite bands as of now are incubus and pearl jam (i listen to one band's music exclusively for months at a time.)

some past fixations of mine are invader zim, corner gas and milo murphy's law. not in that order. im highly likely to post about those as well as splatoon. feel like i might be forgetting something but idk

you may find me hanging out in the live chat of failboat's streams as one of his chat mods. i've been in the community for about 6 years running (6 years too long if you ask anyone normal). i also draw him SO much in my funny cartoony way that looks a lot like him but also not at all.

when im not posting about any of the stuff listed above, i just ramble. it's probably annoying but hey if you're following me that's what you get lol

well this got long. i really cant make just a normal bullet list can i. well hey, if you like what you see, consider dropping a follow! feel free to interact with me too, i may be a shark guy but i dont bite :P

if you're not lookin' to follow just yet, go ahead and dive into the rest of my blog! yeah that one was forced. whatever you decide to do, i'll catch ya later :D

#NEW PINNED POST COMIN' ATCHA FOLKS #i think it may be longer than the old one. haha whoops

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italianpersonwithashippersheart · 7 months

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Shipper Tag Game!

I was tagged by @theflagscene thanks for the tag <3

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

Ron and Hermione. But I was basically offline for most of my teen years so it was a private obssession.

2 - Which ship would you consider your first one?

These two

From the anime Kodomo No Omocha, the anime was called Rossana In Italian, still the best theme song in the world, that song is basically instand magic nostalgia button for me, I was a child and basically the age of the characters when I watched it, maybe a year or two older, they bewitched me body and soul.

3 - Your first fanfic belonged to which couple?

Written, I have never written anything that could be consider fanfic. Maybe once I wrote a single scene fic for an Italian Show but that's it.

Read on AO3: Stranger Things post s1 fics and Still Star Crossed fics were the first fandoms. I don't have the old fanfiction.net account and my shitty memory doesn't let me remeber shit from that time so, I will go with that.

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

Not really, my memory is bad. Maybe Stydia, teen wolf was my first tumblr fandom along side GMW. Or Shameless.

5 - Did you ever get into ship discourse?

I have been aware of ship discourse. And I once pettily unfollowed someone because they shipped my NOTP at the time. But not really.

6 - Did you used to have a NOTP or have any currently?

I did used to consider ship NOTPs, but I don't currently use that term anymore, I am way into my ship and let ship era. I don't feel like any of the ship I dislike now are strong enough to be a notp. Even if there are a few that almost qualified.

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

Got curious because someone mention some Nick/Sand and some Nick/Sand/Ray stuff on my dash and looked up some Only Friend fics for the first time since the show ended.

8 - Currently do you have any OTPs?

Too many. I have been mostly watching BLs and QLs recently. Honestly shipping as become a little more low-key recently. I can love a ship and even read fanfic for them (although small confession I am becoming far more picky and It's super hard now to read a fic I enjoy especially in the BL sphere). And I am watching so many shows at the same time I don't think any of them could be called an OTP, in that omg I am so obsessed with them way. I feel like my attention is too split for that.

Not that I am not enjoying having so many ships and couples to choose from, I love it here in BL land.

If I had to pick a single ship that is consuming me body and soul like stuff used to I have to go with PheeNon from Dead Friend Forever, because this show put itself in my head and is going to stay there until it's over.

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

Does it have to be an old ship?? Because I only rember some recent stuff.

I WILL STAY MAD ABOUT TODDBLACK FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!

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

Not sure, I have come around a couple of BL ships I didn't initially like at first viewing. Nothing special though.

11 - Do you have a ship that in the past was considered ‘normal’ but now you would be cancelled over?

I am not sure, I used to be the kind of person that followed canon and didn't get the appeal of crackships at the time. Or shipping non canon ships.

I guess maybe some het ships that I know now either have a very obviously gay coding (both or just one) or it's more common to put in a gay ship. But I am not sure anything too controversial.

I kind of read some early Mame fanfics and enjoy some of the mame ships does count?

12 - What’s your favourite crack ship?

Taking crack fic too mean there is basically no evidence of this in canon and there is little to no fics about them.

Ming/Yo from 2Moons (the og) I will die on this hill, the actor that played these two had amazing chemestry.

Anwar and Maxxie from Skins Gen 1. There are 3 fics of them on ao3. 3!!!! I feel like the only person that see this.

13 - Who is the couple you’ve read the most fanfics of?

I think maybe it's either Hannigram or Buck and Eddie from 911 a show I am feeling very over right now. So that will definately change.

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

Not much. I enjoy different types of dynamics.

15 - What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

I have come to a point where if I can see the chemestry and I like the characters and I can get into the characters head and I think the relationship is interesting I can forgive bad or clunky writing. Or tropes like miscommunication and noble idiocity.

There is one trope that almost always kills a ship for me. Years long seperation in the final act. This is pretty much a bl only trope. But I have seen it in Het shows before I think.

I can understand a seperation for a couple of weeks or even months due to externel pressures and maybe some noble idiocity, or even something like I need to sort myself out a little first like Until We Meet Again. I don't love it. But it's fine. But YEARS!! That shit pisses me off. That is why even if I can understand the writing decision behind I hold a grudge over Ghost Host, Ghost House. I understand it was a good drama and the writing was good and the ship is cute. BUT I HATE THAT TROPE.

Not sure how did already so I will only tag @respectthepetty and @callipigio @benkaaoi

#tag game #ITA Original

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creepermilktea · 8 months

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I totally "love" what GO RUSH has to serve recently, especially in 96

<ALERT>negative and long content of GO RUSH rant ahead

Ah yes, another Manabu episode that Manabu will probably serve as the stepping stone for yUnA's character. Usually there's a high probability that the used-loser will win against the former winer, which means Manabu is very likely to lose to yUnA just to make yUnA the GREAT and POWERFUL Yuga simp that everyone totally loves. Manabu? Nah, who cares? He has acted terribly TWICE so no one is gonna support him. yUnA? EVERYONE LOVES HER! People totally enjoy her tragic love for Yuga, along with her violent behavior, shouting nonstop, bad mouth, self-centered mind and so on. She already has at least 5 episodes just for her to develop nothing but her LOVE FOR YUGA, so why not make more? Not to mention yUnA never felt bad for beating Sky's ass, yelling at Dudi Nissaw, calling UTS a wrecked house, literally robbing Yuga's deck to beat Yudias and consider herself a strong duelist then the list keeps going on. No one wants examine her wrongdoing while Manabu is reviewed with hypercritical standard by everyone, really? Both the worst of Manabu's episode(58 and 67) could have been written as Manabu broke down and went mad because of the constant and overwhelming stress of Phaser's surveillance and Myuda's bullying. At least that's more understandable. But no, they decided that making Manabu be "what he is supposed to be " and had him doing shit stuff around is more funny. Now Manabu's character is completely destroyed and basically everyone outside MIK just look down on him.

And 96 is here, with yUnA determined to fight Manabu just to demonstrate her love for Yuga. Sound similar? because that's basically what happened in 54, where yUnA dueled Manabu and lost. I can already guess how the duel is going to be like and I can say that I am not looking forward to it. I know I usually just post art or reblog cool stuff but I am really MAD at how GO RUSH has been going recently, which affects my motivation for making fanarts. I have been watching the story that is non-plot-relevant(Velgearian disappearing) and only serves for SEVENS references for episodes, now they have decided to serve this ultimate recipe they can think of. Good, the SEVENS invasion has been going for 6 episodes. if this keeps going for nearly a whole arc, I will dump this show soon.

#yugioh go rush #ygo go rush #yugioh go rush spoilers #go rush spoilers #Seriously I don't ask more from this episode #Just make Yuna change her terrible behavior and become less annoying #And please keep Manabu the last dignity he has though there's no much left #Is this really too much???#And please stop the overwhelming SEVENS fan service #I am sick of it and might be sick at the whole show soon

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jsdimensions · 7 months

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okay genuine question. why do people like reaper so much? What's the appeal? he's just Death. without any added traits/themes/inspirations to make him more interesting (as far as I know) (IN MY OPINION. i also don't know much about reaper so correct me if I'm wrong about that)

(oops I accidentally wrote a ranty essay(?)...it's under the cut. I elaborate on my opinions in a more organized manner there.)

You could argue that Reaper is important in the multiverse due to...well...his status as a god of death, leading on souls to the afterlife(???). But the other Sanses that are considered "god-like" have unique concepts that aren't seen in characters with their concepts elsewhere! They draw me in, even with a brief summary!

The artist that motivates creators is soulless (and, therefore, able to control how he feels with the vials), quirky, and very forgetful. He has his OWN DIMENSION where all of the AUs reside!!!! And a brush as a weapon!!!!!

The destroyer of AUs has absolutely awesome glitchy themes, uses STRINGS MADE BY TEAR MARKS as both a weapon and a source of entertainment, is a man-child that can switch from being the silliest, dorkiest boy alive to a genuinely intimidating character and back without warning, and he ALSO has his own dimension that he lives in!!!

The guardians of positivity and negativity aren't even Sanses, technically. They're both brothers. Their origin stories are both extremely tragic!!! They potentially fight each other eternally!!!

...and Reaper is just...every other interpretation of Death in Popular Media. Nothing too stand out to me. The same black cloak, the same scythe. He has wings, sure, but that doesn't really draw me in like...well...the others.

My point is, it doesn't feel like Reaper really has a defining trait besides "ohh, he's Death!" That's just not interesting enough for me. Not even his wiki page drew me in! I'd expect a wiki page to have REALLY cool and interesting lore facts that helps sell a character to the person browsing their page, but there's nothing!!! Nothing at all!!! Not even fanon can get me intrested!!!

I will admit. I do have a bias against Reaper. Geno, who is one of my biggest blorbos, up there with Error, ONLY seems to have content where he interacts with a character I never really cared for in the first place!!! Afterdeath feels like the only thing people do with Geno, and I DESPISE IT. Geno is a complex, excellently written character with so many interesting ideas to go off of. If there was more content, whether it be comics, fanfic, fanart, etc of Geno interacting with literally anybody else, I bet it would be absolutely excellent! There are way too many things one could do with Geno in the multiverse, and...nobody (besides Underverse, briefly) does it for some reason???

Here's some example ideas of non-Afterdeath geno content to further push my point!!! Take them!!! Consume them!!! Make something from them!!! I don't care!!! I want to see more Geno!!!

Geno interacting with Error.

Geno accepting Gaster's "deal" (from the original Aftertale comic) and what would happen afterwards.

After Aftertale (basically post-canon Aftertale shenanigans).

Geno interacting with...anybody, really.

Geno somehow finding himself in a different AU, and having to...deal with that.

Bitty Geno?

Nightmare somehow convincing Geno to join him?

Geno being combined with other, less common AU concepts. (xtale geno, dust geno, fresh geno...)

My point is, God, I'm salty about my blorbo only having shipping content. And not just the REGULAR shipping content, but SHIPPING CONTENT WITH ONLY ONE CHARACTER??? It makes me angry!!! Afterdeath shippers can still ship them, I don't have a problem with that, but I want to see other stuff when trying to find Geno content!! I've only found...what? 3 pieces of media that has a story to it, not counting the original Aftertale comic? Am I the only Geno fan that doesn't like Reaper that much?

In conclusion!!! I don't really like Reaper as much as the rest of the fandom seems to. And I think I have a decent set of reasons why. If anybody is able to make Reaper interesting to me, please do so! I want to like him more, but the aforementioned reasons prevents me from doing that.

#im not gonna maintag this #i dont want controversy because i shared my opinion. heard that horror story too many times before #long post #rant #screaming into the void

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beehindblueeyes · 2 years

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Fandomization: IT , a similar story

So I’ve talked about fandomization several times on this account, it’s still pretty prevalent and ive now seen some other people calling attention towards it…. In ways that miss the mark. They’re right there. Right on the issue. But then call it something other than what it really is. Blaming some other factor of fandom. Basically I’m here to ramble again so sit tight

Let me take you back to 2017-

The IT remake is at its absolute peak. Content is being pumped out every few minutes. Fanart, fics, little analytical pieces on clothing , scares etc! It’s great… but as months go on… it’s a very similar picture. Fandomization settles in. Characters are reduced to tropes and singular personality traits. Ideas and fears are gone in place of high school AUs set in the modern day. One ship rules them all and if you even dare to think you’d get content about anyone else? I pity you.

A similar thing happened with Stranger things. It was also brand spanking new at the time and set in the 80s the same way. I think it’d be season 2 or at least filming it. Same situation of deteriorating. there was not a singular ship to rule them all… there was two and they are still fuckinh fighting to this day. However with it also being set in the 80s there was crossovers with IT…. Without taking into account that It takes place in 1989 and season one and two of stranger things is 1983-84 …. Guys the IT kids are like Holly’s age.

What are we seeing with the black phone? Starts out same. Fanart, fanfics, analytical content, gifs, screaming and fanning over characters and background details, soon? Characters slowly Start getting reduced … content becomes a X reader only, one ship immerges on top. However Black phone is unique because it’s without a doubt the first time I saw it almost exclusively x reader and not have at least a few ships more popular than that.

Same with IT and stranger things there’s a LOT of sexualisation of the underage cast, either by adults are kids the same age… which, is different but not all the much better. Point is. Circle

Kids-

Here’s something… back in 2017 a good majority of us were kids! I know I was making wildly ooc stuff trying to keep up with my friends in the space no matter how frustrated I was with bad characterization (Richie is still fighting to this day rip fam). It’s understandable, and for me to judge a bunch of us when we were 13-16 wouldn’t be fair? I feel like the same is sort of similar with the black phone, it makes sense the kids are around the same age 13. I get it

As Much as I can understand it doesn’t mean I can’t be annoyed a bit. The issue is that’s all their is. Analysis, gif sets, background detail posts, none x reader fics are …. Almost non existant now. All the other content that I like to engage in now and did back then is just.. a drop in a huge sea. And if your like me and you complain a little bit but then don’t make the content you want to see? Cmon now….

Confronting bad criticism-

Going to keep this Anonymous and vauge as this is not a call out! It’s more a look at fandom cycles as a whole. But this is me looking at and addressing that criticism I was talking about at the beginning so close but so far. basically It was talking about the “It-ification” of the black phone fandom. Which, I agree with…. But then said “by making into a gay rom com” and compared Brance to reddie - sit down we have a lot to unpack.

1.) The problem was never Reddie as a ship in itself. It makes sense and it’s sort of backed by every version of IT.

The problem was the fandom wide characterization. It’s when they become so universally ooc that it might as well be ocs. This is the “owo softboy” and “edgy talkative bad boy” thing comes from. It’s the oocness AND the fact that was all there was. Soon there was nothing for anyone else in the movie- if there was they were in the background or a mouth to talk to in relation to Reddie. It was rare to just see something of all the kids hanging out and being kids.

2.) Brance is not remotely comparable

The number one criteria Is that it has to have taken over everything. It has to be all there is. It has to meet that certain level of almost fandom wide ooc characterization. Brance just… doesn’t. Hell it’s relatively popular but again it’s a small drop in the sea to X reader or Rinney. If we are going to compare anything it’s Rinney. I can already see hints of them doing the “Finn is a soft owo boy” robins the “bad boy” thing… but the black phone is a unique case that comes with a lot of modern horror in that most actual character content goes to the wayside for X reader.

3.)softer content not automatically bad

Now I hope you can see where I’m going with this If you sat here long enough. None of this stuff is automatically bad or a problem but it becomes so if that’s all there is. I can’t blame kids for writing something fluffy and more care free about characters they love, but at the same time… hey it won’t kill anyone to have some dark and more serious content about a movie that’s like 90% dark and serious. You know? Like I 100% get where the criticism is coming from… I didn’t enjoy fandom being 99% fluff piece for one ship either but “gay rom com”?? Idk something doesn’t fit right with me with that wording.

All there is-

So stated again before but back to my whole point. The problem isn’t x reader or ooc characters but that it’s the only thing out there! Kids and younger fans should be able to go as wild as they want, I or anyone else shouldn’t dictate how they relate to the movie or just have fun but it becomes annoying and a problem when there’s nothing else. When there’s not a lot of in character, non x reader , fics , art, analysis , rambling etc for there to be a balance.

There’s no balance! Is that I’m saying. This isn’t to say there’s not other stuff out there but there’s more people with the complaint then actually making that other content! I can’t work alone I’ve said this a million times, make what you want to see and we can have a wide array of content and stuff to engage with and everyone’s happy.

* brief note-

I have nothing against x reader fans or people who like x reader but I’ve just never been a fan. It’s awkward to me and I’ve never had a thing for a character in that way and when it’s the only content out there? Well I get really annoyed and sort of paint a broad brush/pin issues. I’m sorry, it’s nothing personal but I want to talk about horror movies every once and awhile and not just that? You know? Idk

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bugcatcherwill · 10 months

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Something I’m giggling about and feel like I must share: we have rice in hyrule, as well as fish, could sushi be a thing? Like sashimi could be but is there a Zelda version of nori the sea weed that is the key thing of a sushi roll.

I’m bringing this up do you you saying your headconing cranberries are a thing in hyrule which I like, so what about things like pasta or stuff like sushi. I seen so much fanart of Zelda characters eating foods not in canon game like ramen

As rito specialize in stuff with wheat like baked goods or stews which makes sense they live in a frosty area and their stores mostly have baking stuff

The zora specialize in fish due to being water dwellers they have some spices stuff but mostly fish is in their stores

Gorons specialize in mostly mining due to they eat rocks, but their store shows they have stuff like their goron spice, sugar basically stuff that can be grounded up and put on a meal

Then there is the geurdo who specialize in basically everything like their market place has: mushrooms, cooked meat, stuff to make meals with like rice and wheat and rock salt, fruit even a lady at the bazar has lizalfos tails (feel like she’ll feel guilty on that one in your headcons)

Now here’s why I was giggling imagine now what would the monster tribes villages specialize in making for their stores for people to buy? Or would they be like the gorons and specialize in their own seasonings? Or be like the gerudo and have basically a random selection on many ingredients or would they make a first thing product hyrule never had before? Like noodles, or nori, or recipes like tempura by frying stuff with oil coated with a breading of flour and goron spice (I was sad they didn’t have that as a meal recipe in totk)

This is just one of those things as I was giggling about how you plans on things post botw and totk for the malice free monsters as I can’t wait to see what happens

I always love worldbuilding exercises like this because, looking at our real world for influence, a lot of food that we take for granted has very rich and detailed origins.

It's interesting because Japan's invention of sushi came from the fact that they used rice vinegar to ferment fish and keep it fresh, but then starting eating the rice fermented with it they'd otherwise throw out.

While sushi in our current day is usually flash-frozen to kill any parasites, I've shown Lizalfos as one of the species that can just eat fish raw with little problems. Lizalfos, at least non-elemental ones, also seem to be native to more wetlands areas of Hyrule. Their big encampment in Lanayru being a good example.

This would create something of a perfect storm of circumstances where Lizalfos' main crop they would grow would be rice because the environment there lets rice thrive, and their diet mainly consists of fish. So I can absolutely see them "inventing" sushi through that.

Anyways this is just reminding me of how Uncle Iroh invented Boba Tea in the ATLA world, so I absolutely wanna try something like that LMAO

#ratc ask #ratc lore dump

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blockgamepirate · 3 years

Text

Technoblade’s purpose in the political narrative of the Dream SMP

I can’t sleep so I decided to finally write the post I’ve been struggling with for literal months, except way more casual because I can’t be bothered anymore and also I’m sleep deprived.

So the thing is: to me the DSMP storyline has always been primarily political, probably because I was introduced to it through Wilbur who was definitely going for political, and also because I’m just generally interested in political narratives right now. Obviously I appreciate the character work and the personal relationship stuff, that’s what makes it more interesting than just dry allegory, but when it comes down to it, this story is about politics to me. So that’s the angle I’m going to approach it from.

Also not to spoil the conclusions here, but I’m an anarchist, that’s my lens.

(Obviously all of this is about rp from here on out unless otherwise specified)

Basically the situation as Techno joins the server is this: L'Manburg exists as an autonomous nation and is de facto independent although not officially recognised by the Dream SMP. The self-appointed president Wilbur Soot decides to hold an election and rig it in order to consolidate his power over the nation he founded and he gets his VP Tommyinnit to join in on the plan. Their scheme fails and they end up voted out instead. The new president, Schlatt, immediately establishes himself as an authoritarian figure and exiles Wilbur and Tommy.

A couple of points on what the election arc demonstrates:

1: the appearance of democracy can be used for distinctly undemocratic purposes.

2: even if the elections aren’t rigged, the electoral system could be massively flawed and end up favouring a party that in fact didn’t have the popular vote

3: even if the winning government (the coalition in this case) has the majority vote, that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll actually act according to the popular will.

4: the supporters of the losing parties basically just have to let the majority overrule their wishes, espcially since apparently L’Manburg doesn’t have an established role for an opposition, yikes. That’s actually a MAJOR oversight in the system but I’m not gonna go into that too much.

5: frankly as an anarchist I am just deeply cynical towards representative democracy, and just because you have a token appearance of choice and consent doesn’t mean that it isn’t a hierarchical and authoritarian system. And to be fair, from my point of view this applies even to so-called liberal democracies and progressive parties. Full disclosure: even if L'Manburg was the ideal example of a representative democracy (which it very much isn’t) I would still be opposed to it because I fundamentally do not believe in top down systems, even electoral ones.

6: despite all these flaws, all the characters seem to implicitly accept the electoral system as legitimate. There’s criticism against the actions of individual characters acting within the system, such as Quackity calling out Wilbur for trying to rig the election, but nobody is questioning the system itself.

So at this point I’m sitting there, watching all this go down, and thinking “man, this would be so much more bearable if there was an anarchist point of view being represented in the story.”

And hey, look who IMMEDIATELY SHOWS UP.

Okay, I’m not gonna lie, early installation Technoblade is not the best representation of anarchism. I was mostly rooting for him out of sheer contrarianism initially. I didn’t really even care if it would be another Killmonger/Magneto/Zaheer situation because I’m used to reading against the authorial intent when it comes to these things. Sometimes any representation is better than no representation, even with political ideologies. That’s not to say that him just straight up spouting this hobbesian notion of a “dog-eat-dog world” didn’t grate on me, obviously it did.

That kind of worldview of humanity needing authority in order to prevent chaos and conflict is literally antithetical to anarchism and is the favourite talking point of authoritarians, the least anarchist people there are. It’s literally what people use to argue AGAINST anarchism. I think it’s mostly because cc!Techno obviously wasn’t particularly educated on anarchist thought and was just basically having fun roleplaying with his friends at this point. Which is frustrating but fair enough I guess.

Cynical ideas about human nature are pretty deeply rooted in the mainstream, unfortunately, most people just consider it common sense. And like I said, it’s a huge talking point in the propaganda against anarchism.

(… even though in fact these arguments were originally used against proponents of representative democracy. Hobbes himself was very much a monarchist, the idea of letting normal people vote for their representatives would have been terrifying to him. Like surely the world would descent into a free-for-all war, all against all. Imagine letting commoners have OPINIONS, the horror.)

So yeah, that stuff was pretty ehhhhh. It was basically what I’d expected though: cc!Techno isn’t an anarchist and we just don’t get accurate representation from non-anarchists, ever. What I dared to hope was that Techno’s character would at least stay consistent about his opposition to ALL governments. I was pretty sure that he would, even though it seemed like the majority of the fandom at the time was convinced that he would switch over to Schlatt’s side or something. It would have been a really shitty twist, I would have ragequit immediately. I mean what would have been the entire point of his character then? He might as well have been a random mercenary. Why even have his character be an anarchist if you were just going to make him work for a government?

(ftr this is kinda my biggest problem with the Hypixel Skyblock revolution event lol, honestly I think that was a worse depiction of anarchism than early DSMP Technoblade. I mean the speech was good, but… still became a government official, tho. booooooooo, cringe)

And yes, I was rooting against L'Manburg, obviously, and I would have even if it had meant having to deal with another badly written anarchist villain character. I never understood why people saw L'Manburg as the good guys, they were nationalist and exclusionary and their whole existence was based on trying to scam people for money.

I mean they were definitely funny, they were great entertainers. I have no problems with people rooting for them because they’re fun to watch; I did that for a bit too. But people were starting to get really into the story and talk about Wilbur and Tommy, the corrupt politicians, and the country that literally excluded people based on nationality as the heroes, unironically, which was wild to me. And when Wilbur started his “villain arc” well: people called it a villain arc, as if he hadn’t been pretty much a bad guy from the beginning, constantly just out for money and power and taking advantage of the people around him and then pretending to be the victim when challenged. I mean yes he got worse, but I wouldn’t call it a villain arc, more like just a mental breakdown arc.

More importantly, to me L'Manburg represented so many things I hate about the status quo in real life, and seeing the fandom mostly unquestioningly accept it as good just pissed me off. Still pisses me off tbh. I mean, to be diplomatic I could say that I understand the emotional attachment and the way L'Manburg was built up mirrors a lot of how real nations are built and how they create a sense of patriotism out of symbols and a sense of honour and loyalty, and it’s actually really fascinating how it even works in a Minecraft roleplay. Says something about the human mind I guess. Doesn’t mean I have to like it though.

Anyway, I just wanted to see literally any kind of opposition to power, even if it had to come from a character that was unquestionably a villain, which I fully assumed Techno would be. Because political narratives so often just leave us out, or at best barely mention us. And even from a narrative point of view, adding an anarchist perspective to a political story just objectively broadens its scope and actually challenges people who are used to only arguing along the lines of conservative or liberal, welfare state or privatization, nationalism or multiculturalism, etc. Even if the original work dealt with it poorly, at least it would give me the excuse to rant about it on Tumblr, which is kinda why I revived my old Minecraft sideblog for this. (That and pig!Techno fanart.)

Also how can you have a story so fundamentally about power without its counterpoint: the rejection of power?

(Yes, Dream SMP as a whole is definitely a narrative about power, it’s a huge theme for Wilbur, Quackity, Dream, Eret and the Badlanders at least, as well as obviously the anarchist characters from the opposite direction.)

So yeah, the build up to November 16th for me was mainly about the anticipation for what Techno would do, how would Techno’s character respond to the seemingly inevitable formation of a new government. THAT was the point of interest for me, that was what I was the most invested in. Would we get an actual anarchist opposition as a new side to the conflict or would they just awkwardly drop that whole angle? Or even have him team up with Schlatt like a complete sellout? There was so much potential but I worried they might just waste it.

And I was right to worry since apparently in the original script Techno wasn’t supposed to do anything, he was just there to help fight Schlatt and witness the explosion along with everyone else.

And WOW that would have been so incredibly boring

Not even just from the political perspective, just talking about the narrative in general terms here: imagine November 16th without Techno’s plot points. Not only would it have been boring for Techno’s character but it would have been equally boring for basically everybody but Wilbur and Philza. An anticlimactic fight followed by a big explosion that pretty much everybody had seen coming already. Yes, the button room scene is dramatic and heartbreaking… for Wilbur and Phil. But nobody else was there to see it. For everybody else, it was just a big explosion. It would have been such a huge disservice to anyone watching the other POVs.

Techno’s intervention gave everyone an ACTUAL climactic fight, it allowed characters other than Wil and Phil to witness some actual drama happening and to participate in it, rather than just waiting around for the explosion, while also foreshadowing the explosion. Even better, it provoked SO MUCH discussion in the fandom AND gave a perfect hook for future conflicts to arise. Wilbur’s end was tragic but it was, at the time, final. L'Manburg would have still suffered a catastrophe but it would have been left with just the same exact antagonist as before: Dream.

And at this point Dream’s core goals had barely changed, just his approach was now different. Yes, that makes a difference for the plot, but it doesn’t really change much in terms of ideological conflict. Especially since there really isn’t that big of an ideological difference between Dream and Tommy, because arguably neither of them are particularly big on ideology in the first place, they just have conflicting goals and use different tactics to achieve those goals (well, the tactics aren’t always even that different *cough Spirit cough*).

Techno’s conflict with Tubbo and especially Quackity (and honestly most of the other characters in general) brings in so much more depth to the story, just by introducing another angle, not to even mention how much it brings to focus questions about power and violence. These are themes that exist in other characters’s storylines too but nowhere in the same way or as central as with Techno.

I’m getting kind of ahead of myself here, though.

The real twist of November 16th was the fact that Techno WASN’T a straight up villain, actually. It was a twist to me anyway, because with all my cynicism I just didn’t see it coming, I didn’t expect him to actually start making reasonable criticisms. I didn’t expect him to drop the hobbesian arguments entirely and start making points that actually sounded like anarchism.

I have to assume that cc!Techno must have seen some of the criticisms of his character and been inspired to adjust because the difference is pretty notable.

(Sidenote: I’m just forever kinda sad that Techno’s “I may seem like the villain here” monologue was cut from the video and most people never heard it.)

And I felt SO validated by the way, because it works so well in the story! Everyone is mostly content with the restoration of a status quo of some sort, Schlatt is gone, this is supposed to be the good ending, and then Techno calls them all out and turns the narrative around completely: This was just a coup d'état. This was just the previous political leadership retaking power by force. Why is everyone celebrating the same exact system that lead to Schlatt’s authoritarian rule in the first place?

What he does there is force the audience to question the narrative they’ve been presented so far, that they’ve accepted without a thought. It might not convince them, but they can’t just ignore it either.

Whatever you wanna say about the discourse around Techno on that day, in the ideological narrative THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART. Not who betrayed who or when is political violence justified, that’s about personal relationships and morality and it’s mostly all more relevant to the aftermath than the event itself. In my opinion, the REAL point in the moment is that the characters and the audience were comfortable with the ending only to be presented with a completely new perspective on the events.

It also recontextualises the finale, including Wilbur’s actions! It’s a much more ambiguous end to the Pogtopia vs Manburg arc and to Wilbur’s original run as the head writer. Wilbur’s “even with Tubbo in charge I don’t think [that ‘special place’] can exist again” is vague enough to be dismissed as just part of his paranoia and internal conflict, but with Techno, there’s a concrete question: what if Tubbo, given the same powers as Schlatt, will turn out to be just a new Schlatt? And suddenly you have to wonder what Wilbur meant by his words too. And was all this foreshadowing something about L’Manburg’s future?

Okay I’ve only made it to November 16th and there’s so much more DSMP to talk about but the post is getting too long and I’m starting to lose my energy. Will I ever make a part two? No idea. But I’ll try.

Standard disclaimer: I’m not the spokesperson of anarchism, other anarchists might disagree with my reading

#technoblade #bladeblr #dream smp #dreamsmp #dsmp #l'manburg critical #c!wilbur soot critical #for courtesy tags #anarchy pog

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zire-in-space · 3 years

Text

Hyping Ships Needs to Stop when:

Hyping ships needs to stop when:

- it is not canonical

- it is between two real life people

- it enforces a sexuality on a character that is not their canonical sexuality, whatever it may be

- it has a toxic tie to it, and any real relationship like it is very abusive *bakudeku, bakuracka and most bully x bullied ships

- it enforces ANY lgbtqa+ stereotype onto a canonically straight character to "prove" they are not straight

- it enforces ANY straight stereotype onto a canonically lgbtqa+ character to "prove" they are not lgbtqa+

*reminder to the non-straights that do the two above: you are not helping to stop the stigma around fetishizing non-straight relationships if you actively participate in this shit. If you complain about sexual or dirty stereotypes between two people of the same gender having affection while being friends, and do this, you are not helping for shit and are a hypocrite.

- it makes western and/or non-western close or distant friendships seem "gay" because showing physical or emotional affection or a tragic backstory to a friend that is the same gender is now gay, apparently

- it is very forced onto the creator and studio of the franchise when shippers start doing these things:

1. Shippers creating petitions to make their ship canon *happening with most anime ships, unfortunately. Happened to the steven universe studio to the point that someone quit because of it*

2. Shippers sending death or rape threats to the creator and/or studio members *steven universe shippers, hi there*

3. Shippers bullying other people for shipping CANONICAL SHIPS

4. Shippers constantly dragging the idea that "the character's sexuality is not mentioned DIRECTLY BY GOD HIMSELF so they must be gay, bi, pan, or ace"

5. Shippers using typical bro and homie moments to say a ship is canon and "hyping it up" on social media, which is basically putting pressure on the creator to not "let the fandom down!"

6. Shippers using well-bonded friendships where both characters have epic respect for each other for being "gay"

7. Shippers using clothing style and aesthetic to "prove" a character is not straight

8. Shippers call anyone who explains this a "homophobe" despite having these same rules against straight people pushing the hetero onto a clearly gay character

9. The ship is basically really bad fanservice for the gays/straights or anyone in between *mostly for iNcLuSiVitY / r e p r e s e n t a t i o n

10. Shippers saying that even though the character is not canonically gay, they still might be a "shy" bi or pan - even though the character's respect for certain characters and style DOES NOT PROVE ANYTHING, and a character's sexuality is clearly shown with BLUSHING or CLEAR FLUSTERING with males/females whenever a canonical crush or attraction is shown and NOT when someone gives them a goddamn compliment or bullies them because people get EMBARRASSED or just feel nice and blush jesus christ

11. SHIPPERS DO ANY OF THESE BUT INSTEAD OF THEM PUSHING NON-HETERO ONTO THE CHARACTERS, SHIPPERS PUSH THE HETERO ONTO A CHARACTERS

- NOTHING ABOUT THE CHARACTERS YOU ARE SHIPPING IS FUCKING CANONICAL OR SLIGHTLY CONFIRMED

Now, reminder that "There is not enough representation for lgbtqa+ couples in the media" is not a fucking excuse to push being lgbtqa+ onto a clearly and/or canonically straight character. Nor on the goddamn creator or studio. Do not create a goddamn "hype" with a large part of the fandom for a ship that is. Not. Canon.

Reminder that healthy friendships are typically based on idolization, empathy and affection and this never means these two people are non-hetero.

And by the way, these "totally gay" or "totally cute" ships actually ruin the way well-bonded friendships are seen between two people of the same gender. And WIDENS THE FUCKING STIGMA for non-hetero and hetero people to be in a friendship, since it assumes they want things to happen for both straight or non-straight friendships - just stop. If your defense to this is "the heterosexuals have been doing this forever, though!", then i am sorry, but you lost this debate. Us straight people haven't done this on purpose, it's what society has nurtured us to do whenever we see a guy and girl friendship - we automatically assume one or both wants more than a friendship, and this is totally a misogynistic take so gender roles get reinforced. So using "straight people have done this forever" just proves that you do understand you are partaking in the reinforcement of queercoding and toxic gender stereotypes and roles of human beings. People should try to do the opposite, and enjoy a really good platonic relationship. Straight shipping culture literally is despised by most straight females for the lack of female inclusivity, misogyny, queercoding, and female plot devices that have furthered away from us the ability to have male friends. Males now use "friendzone" jokes or harrass girls who they manipulated into being their friend since everywhere it is shown that all it really takes is for a guy to like a girl and to be in a friendship and boom, relationship. Straight women have hated this forever.

And "heteronormativity" doesn't really exist in creator's works. It's what the creator imagined their characters and relationships to be. If its all hetero, let it be hetero. If its all homo, let it be homo. If its a straight creator who made a homo character let them! If an lgbtqa+ person made a straight character let them! And I know people will question the first part on this list, but fanfics and fanart are never bad! I mean like the pedophilia and lewd sexist imagery definitely needs to get yeeted but other than that there ain't no problem! It's obvious it's an alternate storyline than the main franchise. :D

So any haters of this need to shut up and eat the fact that you are not the creator of the franchise, and you will not "convince" or "petition" or just put pressure for any ship to be canon onto the creator. I know this post is kind of agressive but I'm so tired of trying to explain it to lgbtqa+ shippers and homophobic anti-gay shippers about this stuff. So here is a last note:

Let creators make stories - complex characters each with their own styles and aesthetics and relationships - without the pressure of changing anything in it to fit society's queercoding or gender-roles, my broskis.

Thank you :D

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ghosthan · 4 years

Note

what would you say are the differences between 616 Tony and MCU Tony? 🤔

Hi anon! Many people have talked about this and I'm certainly not the authority on the topic, but I’ll try my best to explain some of the major differences that I have noticed! Thank you for asking and I’m sorry it took me so long to answer you.

Important to note: neither version of Tony has had a totally consistent characterization. Depending on who you ask and which comics/movies they've consumed, they might give you a different answer here and not be wrong.

616 Tony is even harder to put into one box because his character has been around since Tales of Suspense in the 1950s. That’s a long time. Things have changed over time, under different writers, changing political atmospheres, and outside pop culture influence (including influence from the MCU, unfortunately, in recent years.) You get the picture. So I’ll be making some generalizations and try to be clear about which eras I’m speaking when I make these comparisons, but ultimately, if someone wanted to be contrarian, you could probably refute a lot of what I say here if you cherry pick canon. Which is fair enough! That’s sort of the fun of comics, there’s so much to choose from and something for everyone.

So here are some observations from me, under the ‘read more’.

1. Physical Appearance

This is sort of an easy one, but worth mentioning!

MCU Tony does not look like 616 Tony. RDJ is great, but he would not be most 616 fans’ casting choice on looks alone. MCU Tony is tan, a Malibu man, with brown hair and brown eyes, and RDJ has sort of round facial features (a funny sloped nose, big, round eyes, round forehead, not a particularly sharp or classically “superhero masculine” face.) As you may know, this lends well to certain fanworks and tropes, such as Tony having Bambi eyes.

Or Tiny Tony. He is not actually canonically small, but he's smaller in the MCU than in 616 and from what I can tell, a portion of fandom has latched onto that. He’s a grown man, but RDJ is pretty short, and of slighter build than 616 Tony. RDJ is 5′9, but they make him act in heels, and I believe his canon MCU height is 5′11. Another popular trope I’ve seen is shrinking Tony in fanfic/fanart for a dramatized height difference with Steve, making him weak or fragile; this is fine because everyone has their own taste, but for the official record, he’s a capable, strong guy! Especially in earlier stages of the MCU, in which he’s a bit younger. Tony isn’t just a brain; he carries out his plans with his own two hands! He builds his armor, he remodels his lab, he survives hand to hand combat when he doesn’t have the armor. Muscles!

616 Tony is 6′1 without armor and 6′6 in armor (making him taller than his 616 Steve counterpart in armor and very close to the same height out of armor!) 616 Tony is generally paler with black hair (sometimes the classic blue-black I love so much) and blue eyes, and it obviously depends on the artist, but he has a pretty typically ‘masculine’ face and build. Generally he is drawn with a squared jaw and a high bridged nose (such as in the Extremis storyline, or drawn by Marquez), but again, this varies from artist to artist! Here's some examples of 616 Tonys.

Wait, you might be saying, but I have seen comic panels where Tony has brown hair/brown eyes!

Yep. Due to a combination of forgetfulness, inconsistency, and the MCU bleeding into the general consciousness of the comics, sometimes Tony is randomly depicted in the image of RDJ, or if not in his image, at least visually inspired by the MCU-- hair color and style, eye color, dialogue, etc.

616 fans don’t typically love this; he’s very handsome when drawn this way, of course, (look at him!) But it isn’t really the same character.

Also, MCU Tony has (at least for some of his movies) a reactor built into his chest. While 616 Tony has, at times, been more or less physically connected/dependent to his tech, he doesn’t have the built in reactor (most generally speaking, there are times in comics when he temporarily has the tech built in, but this isn’t really the status quo.)

2. Relationship with parents/ family history

While it is definitely implied in the MCU that Howard was not a good father to Tony, (such as in Iron Man 2 when Tony says “You're talking about a man whose happiest day of his life was shipping me off to boarding school” and “He was cold, calculating, never told me he loved me, never even told me he liked me”), Tony has a different sort of attitude toward Howard in MCU than in 616. It’s kind of weird, and hard to discuss. To me, it seems implied that MCU Howard was emotionally abusive to Tony based on what Tony does say about his childhood, and yet, the films kind of randomly give Howard weird moments of “Well, he tried his best and deep down he loved me the whole time!” forgiveness. MCU has a Howard kink and I'm very cringe-face emoji about it.

For example, Iron Man 2 shows that old film reel of Howard talking about how Tony is the greatest thing he ever created, and in Endgame, when Tony goes back in time, he meets Howard and has a very weird interaction with him in which Howard declares he would do anything for his son, (to his deeply damaged son who is a new father himself.) Yet, for all his talk, it's his actions that speak, and his actions left Tony damaged, traumatized, and emotionally inept at forming healthy relationships. So.

Sorry. I’m a little bitter. I'm just uncomfortable with how they sort of set up an abuse history but then treated it kind of lightly and Howard gets off the hook as "well, he tried his best" without really acknowledging the hurt he caused.

Avengers: Endgame 2019

I won't go super in depth into the abuse stuff because it's a little touchy and could take up a lot of this post. But.

I’m not against any reconciliation and I do appreciate the fact that a lot of times, victims of abuse feel a desire to forgive and reconnect with their abuser-- my issue with the MCU depiction of Tony and Howard is that Tony never really gets the vindication of his abuse being recognized for what it was before he forgives Howard. To me, that’s not forgiveness as kind of... gaslighting himself that it wasn't as bad as he remembered his own experience being, because of a sense of nostalgia and grief. It’s not the same, and I have issues with it.

However, a lot of my opinion is based on subtext and it is just my opinion; with depictions of abuse, different people are going to react differently, and other people may have found these scenes touching and gotten something positive out of them, and that's totally fine too!

It’s also a bit difficult to talk about Tony’s relationship with Howard in 616, for a few reasons: shifting timelines, lots of canon that I have not read all of, and the fact that it really is difficult to sum up such a complicated relationship.

Right off the bat, I’ll address the basics. I used the same scene in another ask, and I think it's frequently cited in any meta regarding Howard, but in Iron Man Vol. 1, we see more into Tony’s childhood and see Howard verbally abusing his family, drunk, at the dinner table.

Iron Man Vol. 1 #285

We get this scene with adult Tony’s retrospective commentary on how his own issues that he blamed himself for were actually a cycle starting with his father, the insecurity and abuse and alcohol, and that he realizes how much this has influenced him. Both MCU Tony and 616 Tony have some form of “stop the cycle of shame” arcs, but I don’t really see how this works narratively in the MCU because Tony makes excuses for Howard and continues to blame himself for a lot of his own personal struggles, whereas I think there’s just a bit more nuance in 616.

But uh. This isn’t totally true, and in recent years, things got real weird. I choose to ignore this chapter of canon, but in the Dan Slott run, Tony Stark: Iron Man, Tony’s whole backstory gets imploded. For one thing, the little of Tony’s childhood it shows in a flashback is uh. Uh. Well, it’s certainly out of character compared with previous 616 material, depicting Tony as an overly confident poor sport.

Basically, Tony is adopted. Tony has an evil brother. Tony’s biological parents make an appearance, as do his ‘classic’ parents, Howard and Maria. It’s just weird. It’s kind of out there. I’m honestly not a huge fan of this and ignore a lot of it, but it is certainly a difference between MCU and 616.

3. Personality

I’m going to be very general. Both Tony’s have an outer self which they present to the public and an inner self, but they’re a bit different. Both Tony’s have struggled with self loathing, but I think MCU Tony’s actual self worth is a bit higher, even just at some points in time. Even if his ego is part of his facade, I think he does believe some amount of the “I’m awesome”, even if just when it applies to his own work/inventions/saving people. Not to say that these moments of fluctuating self esteem make him egotistical, but this combined with his egotistical act and snarky, non-stop sassy dialogue, he’s quite different in general personality from 616 Tony, who is much more reserved.

Some more recent iterations of 616 Tony have been adapted to reflect the snark of the MCU, but he’s not so snarky and he tends to approach things more seriously. This is not a dis on MCU Tony; I think MCU Tony uses false ego and excessive sassy jokes as a means to deflect and control, which I think is very interesting and it’s nice to see this explored more in depth in fic where you get to see the thought process behind the bravado. MCU Tony is a partier, a good times guy, especially during Iron Man 2, in which he really does disregard consequences to have fun (driving his race car, partying drunk in his suit, letting pretty girls play with the armor, shooting off repulsor blasts for fun in a crowded room); I’m not bashing MCU Tony-- I think he had psychologically understandable reasons for behaving this way, the man was dying-- but 616 Tony really doesn’t act this way generally, and I think it’s a personality difference more than a difference of one being “better.”

616 Tony handles his stress differently, and they just have different psychological patterns, I think. I’m coming up kind of blank trying to think of a good comparable 616 arc, (sorry, I’m brain dead) but a less-than-perfect example might be Tony’s brain delete arc; he’s “dying”, like in Iron Man 2 he knows his expiration date, (circumstances are quite a bit different), but he throws himself more into work, into a cause, and as he really fall apart, we see him spiral into self doubt, remorse, fear, and insecurity, sort of falling into himself with lots of manly tears and calling himself pathetic.

(Some things happen in this arc that a lot of people find Gross. I also find these events gross. But. I don’t count the sex in “World’s Most Wanted” as partying to cope with personal mortality, because I think both character involved are in “end of the world” mode, and it’s more seeking intimacy for comfort than partying to numb the hurt. Does this distinction make sense? No? Perfect, moving on.) 616 Tony is generally much more humble.

Whereas MCU Tony, I think, tries to outrun those feelings via parties or making dozens of new suits, or seeking comfort by comforting others! Gifting things to people, building things for people, highly personalized individual living quarters, teaching Nebula games and trying to show her a fun time when they were in peril together.

They have some traits in common, for sure! But canon being inconsistent both in the MCU and in 616, my observations aren’t the rule, because I’m kind of cherry picking and going based on limited memory. But off the top of my head, they’re both extravagant gift givers! Recall Tony gifting Pepper the giant bunny in Iron Man 3, and compare this with Tony carrying a mile high pile of Christmas gifts after shopping with Rumiko in Iron Man Vol. #3.

I would say that while both Tony Starks are considered humanitarians, this is much more fleshed out and supported by canon in 616. Some examples of his philanthropy in the MCU: Tony makes charitable donations of art and money, Tony has an organization which provides disaster relief/cleanup which is referenced in Spider-Man Homecoming, Tony has an MIT grant for students and staff members. But to be honest, a lot of his MCU philanthropy is only mentioned in passing, or is largely handled by other people on his behalf and on his dollar.

In 616, we see Tony using charity almost as a means of therapy: it’s something he does very privately, not in the public eye (at least, not always), and it’s something deeply personal to him. One example that immediately comes to mind is Tony’s home for disadvantaged girls in Iron Man Vol. 3, and we see scenes of Tony basically driving the streets at night, picking up underage prostitutes, feeding them and listening to their stories before bringing them to a home he’s established where he knows all the residents, and provides educational opportunities and protection.

Another more recent example in canon that the Tony fandom loves is that Tony canonically holds babies at an orphanage. Sorry I don’t have panels for all of this, this section got long and I have been working on answering this ask in a very scattered way for a very long time.

Both Tony’s are romantics, I literally could write a whole other post about their canon love life similarities and differences, but I will briefly say that while MCU Tony does the long on and off, and eventual ultimate commitment, to Pepper Potts, 616 Tony is a serial monogamist; he is always falling in love, and he’s definitely not a playboy, but the hero-ing, self loathing, and lifestyle make it very hard for him to keep anyone in his life, and most of his partners fuck his life up and betray him. Needless to say, 616 Tony is not married, and certainly not to Pepper Potts.

Oh, and I guess this is so obvious I almost forgot to include it, but a huge similarity between both iterations of Tony is that they both constantly use their own life as a bargaining chip, and will pretty much die for anything. Or be the bad guy for a good reason (at least, in his own mind... see Civil War, or Hickmanvengers; 616 Tony, especially, does not shy away from making the hard decisions, and this leads to a lot of guilt and tension in his relationships-- often with Steve because 616 Steve/Tony angst fans are well fed, I guess)

Remember that time Tony had Steve’s mind wiped because Tony felt that Steve’s inflexible morality might hinder the Illuminati’s ability to save the world? And it eats Tony up inside and erupts into a homicidal fight when Steve finally gets his memory back? Me too.

Tony Stark as a character is defined by sacrifice, both of his own life but also of his own happiness and reputation and conscience, I think, in a lot of ways, and we see this in many universes. I could go on about Tony’s propensity for sacrifice in the less obvious ways, because I think in terms of heroic sacrifice, Tony has done a lot that other heroes wouldn’t be able to do because of moral inflexibility and conflicting philosophical schools of thought; Tony really is the “whatever it takes” type, and often believes the ends justify the means if he deems a threat worse than the potential wrong that could be done in preventing the threat. We see this a little bit in the MCU in the creation of Ultron, and in Civil War with the Accords. But there’s a whole lot more going on there I don’t want to get into.

4. Alcohol

MCU Tony’s alcoholism is never really explicitly explored. He is shown drinking in Iron Man 1, and in Iron Man 2 he drinks a lot and makes a fool of himself publicly, but MCU Tony doesn’t get any specific narrative arc focused on his drinking, and if I recall correctly, I don’t think he ever refers to his drinking as alcoholism in the movies? Also, while his binge drinking and embarrassing behaviors ostensibly stop after the events of Iron Man 2, he is shown drinking on screen at least one other time after that which I can remember, and it wasn’t a “falling off the wagon” moment, and an alcoholic in recovery such as 616 Tony would not take a drink casually. This article sheds a little light on some decisions made about Tony and alcohol in the MCU.

Alcoholism is a huge part of 616 Tony’s personality, which I went a bit more into depth about in this post, so I won’t repeat myself too much.

5. Their relationships with the Iron Man armor

A few points here: MCU Tony is famous for the “I am Iron Man” line being repeated throughout the franchise after he blows his own secret in the end of the first movie. MCU Tony sees himself as one with Iron Man, and the suit is the tech that enables him to be this version of himself. He sees Tony Stark and Iron Man as inextricable: you cannot separate them, and his identity is public. He, as Tony Stark, is an Avenger.

You may remember MCU Tony’s induction into the Avengers; in Iron Man 2, Nick Fury is forming the Avengers and tasks the Black Widow with going undercover to assess Tony to be a part of a hypothetical initiative. “Iron Man yes, Tony Stark no” and the comments about Tony as a narcissist may be funny, but the fact is, the snark and erratic personality of MCU Tony at the time of the formation of the Avengers in the movies is not at all like the Tony of the comics, at the time of the Avengers being formed.

In 616, things are quite a bit different! Tony invents the Iron man armor to save himself (like in the MCU) and uses it for hero-ing, but in secret. He works very hard to protect his identity as Iron Man, and for a long time, as far as the world is concerned, Iron man is a mystery man piloting armor built by Tony, hired as Tony’s personal body guard, (hence the 616 Steve/Tony fandom’s proclivity for identity porn as a trope!) When the Avengers form, Iron Man is the Avenger, close friends with the Avengers, (particularly Steve!) and Tony Stark is just the benefactor of the Avengers, providing them with a place to live and finances with which to operate.

In the very early days, Tony did not have the “reactor” like in the MCU, but his chest plate did keep him alive, leading to some very dramatic shots of Tony charging up using a wall socket, lamenting the plight of a secret hero.

616 Tony, generally, and especially in some of these earlier comics, was quite reserved, rather serious, and very angsty, (in private of course.) He may be wealthy, but speaking generally, he’s much less ostentatious than MCU Tony, less of a show off, less into flashy things and grand gestures. Of course, this isn’t always true in the comics, and some iterations of Tony are more like this than others, but MCU Tony is showier, sillier, and more of a fun-times guy. Any MCU fan would find those panels quite contrary to the Tony Stark you know:

Iron Man 1

Iron Man 2

I think I would say that while MCU Tony sees himself and the Iron Man identity and the armor as all being inextricably connected, we see a bit more compartmentalization with 616 Tony, who pretends that the armor is a whole separate person for years when his identity was private, and we see instances in older and newer comics, in which Tony is uncomfortable with some aspect of himself as Iron Man (for instance, during the second drinking arc, Tony temporarily swears off being Iron Man entirely, or for another example, when Tony is in a comma and Tony AI exists during Secret Empire, Tony “lives” in the Iron Man suit, and I think this could be interpreted as a meta parallel to Steve during this arc; Steve has had some core aspect of his character inverted, Captain America becoming Captain Hydra, so Tony experiences a similar inversion-- Tony Stark and Iron Man are forcibly merged, in a way that Tony seems deeply uncomfortable with, if his digital drinking relapse is any indication. But I digress; sorry for the tangent.)

Okay this post is inexcusable long, and very, very tangential, and I don’t feel like I’ve really covered everything I wanted to. But it has been sitting in my inbox for too long and if I don’t post it now I never will, so I hope this long, rambling thing has been a little bit helpful to you! Thank you so much for asking, I had a lot of fun rambling about this.

If you want to read a similar post, but well written and organized, with other insights, this post by Sineala answers a similar question!

#Anonymous #han reads comics #han meta #meta #iron man #tony stark #616 tony stark #616 #mcu #long post #han speaks #ask #sorry this definitely gets more incomprehensible as it goes on but i have been writing and rewriting and editing and fretting about this #for so long that if i dont just post it i probably never will and i sunk too many hours into it #to throw it away now 😅#abuse tw #abuse #alcoholism tw #alcoholism

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sanderssidessims · 4 years

Photo

Hello Guys, Gals, & (of course) Nonbinary Pals!

This is the Tumblr for my simming/gaming Twitch SandersSidesSims!

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★ Who is SandersSidesSims?

SandersSidesSims is run by a dude named Finn. He is 32 years old, trans FTM, gay, and exhausted. He very much loves Sanders Sides and making people laugh, and so it is with that thought in mind that he created SandersSidesSims!

Also, as a fun note, I decided to use a unicorn as my mascot/logo. I am currently using a clip art unicorn (he’s dabbing so it fits) but I will be commissioning an official one soon, so if you are an artist and interested, please Submit or DM me your commission information.

★ What is the purpose of my Twitch Stream?

The main purpose of SandersSidesSims is to stream Sims 4 gameplay from creation of the sides/ships, to actual gameplay, to fun little challenges set by all of you.

I also have purchased Minecraft, a game I have never once played and am completely out of my element, so that I can can have something other than just Sims 4 to share with you guys. I did get skins for each of the Sides as well as Remy and Emile so when we do Minecraft, it’s like the Sides are playing. (You guys are totally allowed to laugh and poke fun as I learn since I am a total Minecraft newb!

★ What links can viewers/fans use to keep in touch/keep updated?

Okay here are the links that will get you everywhere that I currently have my Twitch identity connected to:

Twitch [ http://www.twitch.tv/sanderssidessims ] Discord [ https://discord.gg/NgwErbH ] (this is an invite link, if doesn’t work PM me) Patreon [ https://www.patreon.com/SandersSidesSims ] Tumblr [ https://sanderssidessims.tumblr.com ] Steam [ https://steamcommunity.com/id/SandersSidesSims/ ]

★ I am a minor. Can I still watch and support?

YES! ABSOLUTELY! In fact, I pretty much plan to be a non-adult oriented type streamer. That means anything that would be deemed inappropriate for minors is a complete non-issue. I do curse in reality, so there is a chance a word or two might slip through, but you guys are TOTALLY allowed to get onto me about it if, and when, it happens as I am here for everyone, regardless of age.

★ Is there anything we can do as viewers/fans to help support you?

Okay, so! As of right now I do not have any plans on doing this professionally. That may as of yet change, however, the main point of all of this is to HAVE FUN together while I’m playing something I have always loved and has brought me happiness.

That being said, streaming is a HUGE undertaking and I would love to be able to get all the Sims 4 games, which I do not yet have, as well as better equipment and things for streaming. If you guys are financially set and taken care of and want to help me grow in this, my Patreon exists for that purpose (though there will be more purposes for it in the future) and I have one single monthly Tier at $2 a month.

It’s basically there as like a “tip”. I will have more Tiers in the future once I have things I can award for them outside of just the base everything goes, which is what the Tip Tier is for. Also once I start drawing and using it for my art as well.

★ I can’t afford $2 a month. Is there anything else we can do to support?

Of course! The above is just if you can afford it! Please do not feel obligated. There are other ways that you can help:

Reblog this post. (Once is fine, but feel free to periodically do it as that would be so helpful to me! :D)

Tell your friends! (The more the merrier, am I right?)

Come to my streams! (This one is a no brainer.)

Join my channel’s Discord Server. (Interact and have fun with other viewers!)

★ What is the purpose of the Tumblr page in regards to your Twitch?

Great question! So, I will be a little different than other Twitch peeps in that I am a fanfiction writer/future author and that will come into effect in this blog. As I am playing a game we are playing through together, I will likely have times where I get muse for a fanfiction or fan art (once I actually have talent in fanart) and so I will post those here.

I will also answer questions about the characters in the games here that the game doesn’t really answer (i.e. headcanons and in-character answers for questions that are directed at the characters).

I will also likely reblog stories and art from other fanders. Help use this to signal boost fan stuff! So if you want to rec me stuff, send it in! :D

★ Anything else we should know?

Nope, this is a new journey for all of us! Let’s enjoy it together! Lastly, I just want to thank each and every one of you for your interest and support! Let’s do this!

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I want to thank everyone who reblogs, comments, and likes this post! I also want to super duper thank anyone and everyone who chooses to join me in this little (big?) passion project of mine!

Thank you!!

#ts logicality #ts prinxiety #ts roceit #ts moceit #twitch #gamer boy #sanders sides #thomas sanders #sanderssidessims

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iturbide · 3 years

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You know what? You forced me to start planning a huge post breaking down Faye, so for "revenge" I'm asking you to do one for Robin too! >:) (oh and Grima too if you want, it's always great hearing you talk about them)

MISSION: SUCCESS

but I will take this vengeance challenge starting with my boy

How do I feel about this character?

Look. Robin has been my Summoner Support character since the day the system launched. He’s maxed out on dragonflowers at 15. I sacrificed a 5-star exclusive dagger with a high-rarity and very potent A passive to him over any other possible unit I could have given it to. I have written just shy of 500k words of Awakening fanfiction in which Robin is a central figure in every story.

I kind of love Robin a lot. That may, in fact, be an understatement for my feelings.

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

Theoretically I could ship just about anyone with Robin (with a few exceptions *coughFrederickcough*) but my big ones are Chrom (naturally) and Sumia! Those two are the ones I most enjoy seeing Robin with since I think they play off one another in really enjoyable ways -- and it’s even better when it’s all three of them together!

Who is my brOTP for this character?

Lissa. I LOVE Robin and Lissa as best friends and confidantes who can tease each other but will always, always have each other’s backs. Robin and Henry being super tight as siblings is another favorite dynamic, Robin and Sully is right up there with Robin and Lissa, and when I’m not shipping them Robin and Sumia as best book buddies is near and dear to my heart. Also Gaius, Libra, Panne, and Kellam -- I love Robin and Kellam bonding so much it does my heart good (which is why so many of these relationships are, in fact, integral to Future Built).

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

oh boy I have a million of these haha but the biggest one that really is an unpopular opinion is that Robin is proud of their Plegian heritage and would never EVER forsake it. I’ve seen a not insignificant amount of fanart that puts Robin into clothing that’s clearly Ylissean in cut, style, and/or pattern, and this drives me up the wall because Robin is canonically one of our very few characters of Plegian heritage, someone who goes around throughout the entire game in a coat that bears the literal emblem of Grima in the eye-patterned sleeves -- something that’s preserved in their Grandmaster class, no less, rather than quietly done away with. That coat is clearly important to them, and deep down -- even with all their memories buried out of direct reach -- I think their cultural heritage as a Plegian is of the utmost importance to them, such that they would only go without some show or sign or it if they were forced to do so.

Basically, in my personal opinion, Robin should always have Plegian touches in whatever they wear but ESPECIALLY if it’s otherwise Ylissean in appearance. Erasing Robin’s Plegian heritage is really gross to me personally, and funny enough, even IntSys didn’t do that for once, so fandom should really have no excuse.

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

For Robin? Either meeting their mom should she still be alive, or at least getting back their memories. It does make sense that Robin started the game as an amnesiac because it let us learn through them, and made a lot of the revelations really pack a punch -- but after a certain point? I really, really wish that Robin’s memories would have come back to them so that we could find out more of who they were before and what their experiences had been. Even before a full return of those memories, they could have done simple things, stuff like reactions based on muscle memory or reflexive training that surprise them sometimes, or stated feelings of deja vu -- but later in the game (and supports) I really wish they would have give us something that tells us more about their life; what would be especially nice is if those returning memories involve Grimleal rituals or teachings, because I think it would have been really powerful to have someone we love and care for so much (as our player avatar) shining a better light on the much-maligned faith of Ylisse’s neighboring nation.

I’m very, very biased about that, though.

and BONUS: Grima time

How do I feel about this character?

I’m pretty sure that at one point, if you searched up the #grima tag, mine was one of the top blogs that came up (though I’ve been getting lazy and tagging less by character lately so I’ve fallen out of there). I’m also pretty sure that most of the people following me ended up here because of all the Grima content I started pouring out when the first one dropped in Heroes. Grima is one of those characters who I write about exhaustively and who subtly manages to play a role in most of my Awakening fic, including the ones where they don’t physically appear (I call those Grima Sightings and frankly I would love it if people tried to spot them).

...I think Grima has just taken over a part of my brain and to be perfectly honest I’m okay with that.

Who do I ship this character with romantically?

Emmeryn. That’s it. That’s the only character I have ever or frankly will ever ship Grima with because that was already something that came out of left field I literally cannot imagine anyone else managing to spark the same reaction a second time.

Who is my brOTP for this character?

Robin, honestly. I love the idea of Robin and Grima interactions where the two end up becoming close as friends and confidantes, regardless of the situation. Is it kind of heartbreaking when it’s the whole “Grima’s in control and Robin’s in the backseat” situation? Undoubtedly, but it’s also really moving to consider that they might learn how to work together and help each other and work toward a shared purpose.

And also Grima getting parenting advice from Robin in Heroes during the early days of the creche is A+++ in my opinion.

What’s my Unpopular Opinion™ about this character?

Aside from the idea that Grima is in fact the most parental of dragons and broods in the literal chicken sense or my giant conspiracy theory that Grima came to the past to do the same thing Lucina did (avert the ruined future)? It’s probably that Grima is not an instigator of conflict or chaos: they’re antisocial and would prefer to distance themselves for the sake of having some peace and quiet rather than getting dragged into yet more conflict based on human preconceptions or judgments based on appearance.

Fandom at large loves to play Grima as unrelenting evil and constantly in competition with the Awakening folks (especially the Exalted lineage) but...that doesn’t make any sense to me personally? Grima hasn’t really asked for anything that’s happened to them: they’ve been used and abused by humanity by their own admission, and Validar is just the latest in the line to do the same, causing unspeakable harm for the sole purpose of raising Grima to destroy the world at his own bidding. Yeah, maybe Grima doesn’t have the best feelings toward the Exalted Lineage, but also why would Grima be the one picking the fight? If you mess with Grima the Fell Dragon will step up (Vengeful Fighter is their innate B passive in Heroes, quite likely for a reason), but I really don’t see them going out of their way to cause trouble. They just want to be left in peace, but humans really don’t seem to get that. Yes, the fanart can be funny, but it also rings false to me, because I really think Grima would just flat-out ignore the Exalted lineage unless they make the confrontation, at which point Grima won’t hold back.

What’s one thing I wish would have happened with this character in canon?

First of all I really do wish we could have seen a peaceful resolution with Grima rather than having to destroy them, especially considering that the Fell Dragon really didn’t seem all that interested in hurting anybody even after raising the dragon form (see the aforementioned conspiracy theory). Grima has been hurt so many times throughout their life that I think it would have been deeply meaningful if we could have reached out in an attempt at understanding, to have come to a non-violent resolution, and found peace without someone needing to die for once. When Grima purposefully abstains from nuking the group that poses a threat to their life upon resurrecting their impossibly huge and powerful dragon form and instead flies out over the ocean -- so far they need Naga herself to teleport them -- it kind of says a lot about how much Grima really wants to fight (answer: they clearly don’t).

Other than that, though? Just...give us more of Grima in general. Tell us more about their history, especially the thousand years between their emergence from Thabes Labyrinth and their fall at the hands of the First Exalt. I want to know more of that history, I want to see how they treated the humans that flocked to them, even knowing that those same humans would eventually break Grima’s spirit. We just have so few crumbs about Grima, I want more than anything to get a meal instead.

Give Me a Character

#answered #unsuspecting-person #meme #fire emblem: awakening #robin #grima #i stand by both my ot3 and my crack ship okay #but wow these really got out of hand whoops #i could have written more no less #but i tried to rein it in at least a little bit

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hypocrisyofandrewdobson · 4 years

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Dobson's Patreon: An Addendum to His Monument of Sins

(The following is a submission from @soyouareandrewdobson, meant to be an addendum to the multi-post submission @ripsinfest made a while back. Ironically, this one also had issues when being submitted, so I’ll be copypasting it here with all the images and links originally intended.)

In 2018, user @ripsinfest wrote a multipart series of posts for THOAD, recounting Dobson’s attempt to establish a patreon in 2015 and how it resulted in failure on a massive scale, to the point that his patreon is arguably “a monument to all his sins”.

Personally I think the post series is extremely well researched, rather “neutral” in terms of tone (letting the posts provided as evidence speak more for themselves than the opinion of the writer) and gives a detailed but quick rundown on what went wrong. Primarily that Dobson overestimated his own “value” as an artist and did NOT attempt to give his few supporters what they wanted through his artwork posted around the time.

I do however want to use the opportunity to also point out at certain obvious things that in my opinion (and likely the opinions of others) added to the failure of the patreon account, that were not accounted for in detail and are primarily related to how the internet perceives popularity and Dobson’s inability to understand, how to “sell” and make himself look good to the public.

To begin with, let’s just point out a certain truth about making money via Patreon: To do so, depends a lot on your popularity as a content creator online. That is simply because the more popular you are, the bigger your fanbase is and as such the more likely a certain percentage of people may be willing to donate money to you and your work in hopes they get something out of it, even if it is just the altruistic feeling of having helped someone they “like”. It doesn’t take a genius to see, how e.g. internet reviewers such as Linkara or moviebob (around 2800 and 4400$ earnings via patreon each month respectively) can make quite some money, while other, more obscure content creator or artists barely make money to go by, earning essentially pocket money at best.

In addition, popularity is fleeting. A few years ago e.g. internet personality Noah Antweiler aka The SpoonyOne managed to earn 5000$ a month via patreon, just shortly after establishing his account. But his lack of content over the years AND his toxic behavior online resulted in a decline of popularity and with it people jumping off his Patreon. As such, Antweiler only earns nowadays around 290$ a month via Patreon and most of that money is likely form people who have forgotten they donate to him in the first place anyway.

And Noah is not the only one who over the course of the last couple of years lost earnings. Brianna Wu makes barely more than he does, despite having once been the “darling” of the internet when the Gamergate controversy was at its peak. Many Bronies who once made more than 2k via video reviews on a show about little horses at the peak of its popularity (2013-15) earn less than 300-800 on average nowadays because interest on the show as well as people talking about it has declined.

Heck, in preparation of writing this piece I found out, that one of the highest grossing patreons nowadays is “The last podcast on the left”, a podcast that earns more than 67k a month by making recordings on obscure and macabre subjects on a regular basis.

So there you have it folks: As the interests of the internet users change, so does the popularity of certain people online and -in case they have a patreon account or similar plattforms- their chances of making money via their content.

Which now brings us back to Dobson, who was not popular at all at that particular time and managed to become even less popular as the months and years passed by.

Sure, Dobson had his fans via deviantart, people knew who he was. But the later was more because of “infamy” than popularity and the number of fans he had accumulated online were representing people interested in him at least since 2005 and did not quite represent his actual present day numbers of supporters at the time.

And mind you, the number of supporters was less than 100k, most of them likely underaged deviantart users. And if my research indicates something, then that most content creators with a halfway decent patreon earning need at least 100k+ followers in total. Because of those fans, only around 1-3% will on average then spend money on you, if you actually create content they enjoy and on a regular basis.

Which brings up the next major problem: Dobson did not create content people enjoyed and that in more than one meaning of the word.

On one hand, as pointed out by ripsinfest, he barely released any content at all over 2015 after a few initial months, despite the fact that he was obviously active online a lot, as shown by his presence on twitter. On the other hand, the few things he did create were not the stuff people wanted.

As an example: If you go to a restaurant and pay for a pizza, you expect the cook to give you a pizza. If however for some reason he just gives you a soda, you get ripped off and never come back. In Dobson’s case, the thing people wanted was not pizza but comic pages. But what he delivered was mostly bland fanart, such as of Disney and Marvel characters crossing over or KorraSami. Sure, a few strips of “So…you are a cartoonist” were still released at the time, but not really many.

To give an overview: Taking the release dates on Dobson’s official SYAC site into account, he released around 16 strips of it between March and August of 2015, the last two being “No Leia” being titled “Zip line”

Afterwards, the next official strip released was “Anything at all” in October of 2016.

Now to be fair, there was at least one more strip at the time Dobson released via patreon, that is also save to see on kiwifarms and other plattforms, which has not been uploaded to his official SYAC page. Likely because he simply forgot about it.

But I think that in itself should tell you something about Dobson’s work ethics when it comes to his webcomics. He promoted his patreon in his own video as a way to ensure he can make comics in a timely fashion again for others to enjoy, but in an environment where certain artists are capable to create multiple strips per week at minimum, Dobson could overall not manage to produce more than 16 over a course of six months, which means an average production of 3 strips per month.

For comparison, Tatsuya Ishida of the infamous sinfest webcomic (a garbage fire of epic proportions from a TERF who I think should be put on a watch list) has produced on average 4 strips per week, including full page Sunday strips, for years and nowadays even releases stuff on a daily basis to pass the covid crisis. So a mad man who wants to see trnas people die, has better work ethics than Dobson.

In other words, people expected Dobson to actually get back into creating comics (with some even expecting a return of Alex ze Pirate), but he got in fact even lazier than before, releasing only SYAC strips and random fanart as a product. Which he then also tried to justify as his choice to make because a) he had mental health issues and b) no one can tell him what to do.

And sure, people do not need to tell you what to do. But when people pay/donate money to you expecting to get a certain product in return, they should get the product. Linkara e.g. by all means doesn’t NEED to review comics to have a fullfilling life, but he got famous for his reviews, people want to see his reviews and they pay him for those reviews. So obviously, he will continue those things.

Then there is also the fact that despite Dobson’s claims how he wants to create comics for everone to enjoy and that he aims to keep his artwork online for free so anyone can view it…(his exact words in his promotional video AND text on his patreon once upon a time)

youtube

…the reality was, that he wanted to use patreon as a paywall. Something I actually kinda pointed out at on my own account (shameless self promotion) once, but want now to elaborate a bit. Basically at the time Dobson opened up his patreon, he also was on the verge of leaving deviantart as a platform people could look at his work behind. Which he eventually did.

Meaning that the only major platforms for people to watch any “new” stuff by him were his patreon or art sites such as the SYAC homepage or andysartwork. Which granted, he did EVENTUALLY put his stuff on.

But unlike other content creators who would put “patreon exclusive” new content up on more public plattforms often within a few days, weeks or a month after making them “patreon only” at first, Dobson waited longer and did barely anything to promote his sites as places to look his stuff up for a public audience. In doing so creating a “bubble” for himself that hurt him more than it helped, as Dobson made himself essentially come off as a snob.

A snob who did not create content for everybody to enjoy, but ONLY for those willing to pay him at least one dollar per month. As evident e.g. by the fact that as time went by, certain content was never released outside of his patreon at all, such as a SYAC strip involving Dobbear screaming at the computer because he saw a piece of art that featured tumblr nose.

Lastly, there is the issue of his patreon perks and stretch goals.

See, his perks were essentially non existent. Aside of the beggars reward of “my eternal thank you if you donate 1 dollar”, two other perks that come to my mind were the following: If you donated up to 5$ at minimum, you got your name thrown into a lottery to potentially win buttons and postcards of his artwork. Unsold cheap merch from years prior he failed to sell at conventions basically. There was just a problem with that thing: That lottery thing, which he also was only going to initiate when he reached a stretch goal of 150 dollar a month? It was illegal!

Patreon itself has in their user agreement a rule that forbids people from offering perks that essentially boil down to “earning” something via gambling, which this lottery by Dobson was.

(THOAD chiming in here to add that, in addition to all this, he fully admitted he would be excluding Patrons that he “knew were clearly trolls” from the lottery. Which made the already illegal lottery also fixed, so...yeah.)

The next thing coming to mind was his “discount” on previous books of his he offered online, if you donated at least 10 bucks per month to him. Or to translate it: You would get a bare minimum discount at pdf files of books such as Alex ze Pirate and Formera (you know, the permanently cancelled Dobson comics) if you paid up 50-75% of their original price on Patreon already. And considering the quality of his early works, he should have given you at least a book per month for free if you dared to donate him that much.

As for the stretch goals… lets go through them, shall we:

100$: A wallpaper per month. Something he did provide with eventually, but barely. And after less than five of those he stopped to make them overall

150$: Monthly Gift basket Lottery, which as I stated, was illegal and almost got him into serious trouble with his account. Also not an initial stretch goal he made up but instead came up with a few months into his accounts existence. Finally it got temporarily replaced by Dobson playing with the idea to use 150$ per month to open up a server and art site where people could upload stuff for free similar to deviantart, but under his administration. Promising a “safe space” for other artists. Which considering Dobson’s ego and inability to accept criticism or delegate responsibilities would have likely ended like this:

175$: Establishing a Minecraft server for him and his fans to play on. Meaning Dobson would have just wasted time he could spend on creating comics to endulge in his Minecraft obsession.

200$: Writing a Skyrim children book. Aside of the legal nightmare that this could have been (I doubt Valve would have been happy of someone else profiting of their property) I have to ask, who was even interested in Skyrim by 2015 anymore? Sure, Skyrim was a popular game and it had its qualities, but it was also a trend that had passed by that time. So in other words, there was not a market to cater towards here.

300$: A strip per week guaranteed.

… are you fucking kidding me? 75$ per strip essentially? Something people expect you to produce anyway if you want to be considered a “prolific” creator worth supporting online? Imagine if certain internet reviewers would do that, telling you that if they do not earn at least a certain amount of money, they will not produce anything, period, or less than usual. And Dobson had already proven that he can release more than just one comic within a few days, if he is motivated by enough spite.

600$: Starting a podcast with his friends to talk about nerd culture. In my opinion could only work under the assumption that people even like the idea of listening to Dobson and his opinions. Which considering how very little people like talking to him sounds doubtful. Also, considering how Dobson tends to be late to the party when it comes to nerd culture, likely tending to be out of date faster than he could upload. Finally... what friends?

700$: Returning the love, as he says it, by donating some of the money patreon users gave him to other content creators. This in my opinion is the most self defeating cause possible. On one hand sure, being generous and all that. But essentially Dobson admits here he would blow the money people give him to support HIS art on others, essentially defeating the purpose of HIS own account. He also does not clarify how much of that money he would donate, meaning there was a high chance that he would spend less than 10% of it on other creators, only creating the illusion of support while putting the actual earnings/donations into his own pocket.

2000$: A massive jump ahead. 2000$ per month would result in him getting better equipment (as in a new computer e.g.) and as such “potentially” make more comics. Mind you, only potentially.

This goal in my opinion is also the most fucked up one. Primarily for the following reasons:

Lets say Dobson would have achieved the goal and actually earned over 2000$ per month for at least a year. His annual earning would have been 24k, minus whatever he had to pay as taxes and payment for using the patreon service. And what would he do with this money? Get himself a better computer and equipment by paying a minor fraction of it once. Then he could use that computer for years to come while still having over 10k in his account, plus his monthly earnings. And he may still just produce 3-4 comics a month of a series that has as much depth to it than Peppa Pig if not less.

Sure, many patreon users have 2k+ as a stretch goal on their accounts to signify that if they could make that much monthly, they could have the necessary financial security to focus their time primarily on their content instead of a regular job. And if the content they create is actually well made, many people would support that or be okay with it.

But 2000 dollars to buy ONE computer and not account for how this money will add up over time? And that in light of such profits people may actually expect you to create more than you barely do already? That is either a case of narcissism, plain stupidity because you can't look further than 5 feet or just shows how Dobson did not understand at all the tool he had at his disposal.

Bottom line: Dobson, like many times before, fucked it up. He overestimated the potential support and resulting profits he could make, he expected that his name alone would be enough to assure gainings instead of creating content to justify support and he was unwilling to really give his supporters anything worthwhile back.

And while I am sure that there were also many other factors guaranteeing his failure, those at least to me, were his "common" mistakes most other people familiar even with the basics of internet popularity would ahve avoided.

#long post #patreon #syac #submission #very long post #andrew dobson #adobsonartworks #tom preston #adobsonart #soyouareandrewdobson #ripsinfest

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stomp-that-ho-regard · 3 years

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I typically don’t do asks (I've only ever gotten a few), but a recent one got my gears turning and I wanted to reply.

(This is a secondary blog, so I can’t answer asks in the usual way.)

Your post about the retcon is so fucking good, I wish every critter saw it and actually thought about how shitty it was done, but then their belief in the cast and show would probably start cracking.

Thank you for liking the retcon post. I’ve seen various people in the tags thank me for making that post and have said that it’s helped them ‘feel less insane’. None of us are insane. We are not delusional. We didn’t experience a mass hallucination. These things happened, and they’ve been thoroughly documented. Hundreds of hours of material over the course of three years.

The people who should read that post won’t ever see it because I have all those assholes blocked lol. If they did manage to find it somehow, I know they would just mock it, as they’re wont to do with any of our criticisms. They’re so far up CR’s ass, they’ve convinced themselves that a retcon didn’t happen. Even shoving the literal definition of the word in their faces wouldn’t wake them up.

It's just so fucking weird to see how the group is acting now, and I'm pretty sure we're never gonna get a Laura&Marisha episode picture and a TM episode with those 2 for the rest of the campaign. It feels like when a non-canon wlw ship gets big on a TV show and suddenly the actresses can't be seen or interact with each other anymore🙄 it's the same fucking pattern and like you, I thought I wouldn't have to deal with this on a d&d show.

I specifically want to address the “It feels like when a non-canon wlw ship gets big on a TV show and suddenly the actresses can't be seen or interact with each other anymore” because I’ve thought about that pattern too. (Not so much with Marisha/Laura ‘cause them being on TM together is already a rare combo. If they don’t appear much or at all going forward, I don’t think it’s because of this, though it really wouldn’t surprise me. But, I have been thinking about that specific pattern in regard to their characters.)

I can make a comparison between this situation and what happened with the show A/gent Carter and the way the ship Cart/inelli was handled.

I know that might sound weird, but stay with me here lol...

I want to make it clear that I’m not comparing the relationships at all. Cart/inelli did not have nearly the same amount of build-up and depth as Beaujester, (or quite frankly, their level of possibility.) What I am comparing is the creators over-the-top reactions to these characters being shipped so hard and the extreme measures they went to in order to ‘remedy’ that.

The ship included P/eggy Carter and A/ngie Martinelli. The show was set in New York. Angie was a waitress (who wanted to be an actress/be on Broadway) at the diner that Peggy frequented. They ended up talking quite a bit and became fairly close. That ended up kind of becoming the core relationship in the entire first season, and LOTS of people started shipping it.

At the time, no one was calling us crazy or delusional. At most it was, “This is ABC! They’re not gonna pair her with a woman!” and of course the obligatory “But Peggy’s not gay!”. But no one was calling us names or being generally cruel. And anyone who tried it was ignored because everyone else drowned them out. The ship became extremely popular on Tumblr and Twitter. Both actresses were very positive and supportive. They regularly liked/retweeted romantic Cart/inelli fanart on Twitter. Even one of the female writers on the show got behind it too. It was asked about frequently at conventions and no one booed or rolled their eyes. The questions were never dismissed or made into a joke. (Honestly, this was one of the better overall fandom experiences I’ve had on here.)

And all of us were super excited for S2. Not just because of all the support, but because they had ended S1 with Peggy and Angie moving in together. Peggy had purchased, either it was a really fancy apartment or house (my memory is fuzzy on this), and she literally asked Angie to stay with her. Needless to say, that fueled the flames even more.

But despite the actresses and at least one writer being on board, between S1 and S2, something shifted.

Clearly, the showrunner and/or the execs, took a look at all of this and deemed it a ‘problem’. When S2 finally came around, suddenly everything was different. Instead of both of them living together in New York, instead of it being an organic (I’m beginning to hate that word) continuation from where they left off, Peggy decided to move to Los Angeles to do work for some agency out there or something, and Angie stayed in New York. It’s never explained why. It’s never explained why a woman who so badly wanted to be an actress would NOT want to go to LA, where Hollywood is. LA was never mentioned in S1. There were no hints that Peggy might want to fly out to the West Coast at some point. She seemed perfectly happy in NY, basically setting up house with Angie.

And they didn’t even ease into the change. They just got rid of the character. The actress was bummed about it and Cart/inelli fans tried to put pressure on the showrunner/writers to bring Angie back, which the actress completely supported, but even that fell on deaf ears. So, Angie was simply no longer an entity on that show. Conveniently removed. All the excitement we had was crushed. And of course, the second that Peggy got out to LA, she suddenly had a very obvious male love interest. What a surprise.

The showrunner/writers were not subtle about what they thought about our ship and us. They made the most extreme, nonsensical writing decision in order to permanently separate these two characters. Because, hey, that’s the only way to get the shippers to STOP, right?

This was what I was reminded of when I started seeing the turn that post-hiatus CR was taking. It ended up being a weird combination of kneejerk erasure (BJ) and heavy-handed overcompensation (BY).

But of course, CR is not a TV show, it’s D&D. And they can’t force one of their PCs to just disappear, so what do they have to resort to? Not interacting.

We all know how severely neutered Beau and Jester’s general relationship has become. It’s clear to me that both Marisha and Laura felt they had to do that. They had to suddenly have their characters stay away from each other as much as possible so they could prioritize Fjord and Yasha, and speed-run into romances with them. They started acting as if either of them giving the other one ounce of affectionate attention (like they had been doing so often and so naturally before), would be breaking some sort of hidden ‘relationship code’. Almost like if they ever hugged again, the studio would go down in flames.

The very obvious fact that they went to these lengths, to me, proves two things...

One, it proves the retcon even more, because you can tell that the way they behaved with each other DID in fact change. The frequency of interactions and the way those interactions would play out. Whenever they interact now, it seems like they’re trying to keep it as short, thin, and almost comedic (to the point of goofiness, and not in a good way) as possible. Their engagement seems half-assed and dull. The sounds of their voices, their facial expressions... completely sanitized. Even all the physicality they had is gone; the touches, the hugs, the cuddling. Every single aspect is different and they absolutely did that intentionally. This had to happen because they needed to dupe the viewers into believing that despite overall interest waning, their threadbare connections to Fjord and Yasha are more important, and were always more important then their connection to each other, that we all watched them steadily build. (And watched them pick up steam from about ep70 onwards.)

And two, that whole intentional decision to cut themselves off from each other, proves to me that their interactions pre-hiatus were indeed tinged with ‘something extra’, that was more than just friendship. They both recognized it and that’s why they pulled back so hard. That’s why soft touches and hugs and cuddling are no longer ‘allowed’. That’s why quiet, heartfelt conversations are no longer ‘allowed’. Because if there was absolutely nothing there, if they didn’t see/feel any romantic chemistry simmering underneath, and it was all just platonic BFF stuff, why would they suppress their behavior so drastically?

I think that all of this really does cement what I said in my retcon post: That there are disingenuous patterns being used here that I’ve seen far too often in media. In A/gent Carter, it was a character separation, in CR it was a character dynamic separation. Both done on purpose, to make the shippers shut up, and to push a different plot.

One is scripted, the other is unscripted, but the situations feel disgustingly similar, don’t they?

#op #ask #long post #i feel like i'm just retreading old ground here #still cathartic though

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