#i missed at least 10 years of fandom discussions

[mars-ia]

i have spent so much time rethinking my thoughts about death note without interacting with the fandom that i somehow managed to forget L and now my brain is convinced that the natural narrative foil of light yagami is matsuda and the natural narrative foil of kira is mikami and that is why the warehouse scene was so excellent

[luckthebard]

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about storytelling vs. gameplay in Actual Play and finally had some solid thoughts coalesce around it when looking at Worlds Beyond Number and Thresher.

Thoughts after the cut:

This is going to be a hot take but I think, increasingly, Worlds Beyond Number is not an Actual Play but a collaborative audio novel/drama. While the margins between those things might seem on some level semantic, I think they’re really key for thinking about how Actual Play is different from other kinds of storytelling media. WBN was originally conceived of and advertised as “like the games you run in your living room” but as it has gone on the podcast has moved so far away from that that it is no longer delivering on that original conceit. This does not mean it is bad! I think WBN is actually succeeding more on a storytelling level as it sheds more of its obvious gameplay. But it’s gotten to a point where the game mechanics are either edited out and therefore not central to what is heard by the audience, or incidental to the story being told, which is driven far more by Brennan as the main worldbuilding storyteller than by game mechanics or player action. When a supposed Actual Play has a key narrative episode that finishes with almost 10 minutes of story narrated solely by the GM with no gameplay rolls or mechanics mentioned, of an epic, hugely narratively important combat, in my mind gameplay has taken enough of a backseat to the storytelling process that the podcast is no longer an Actual Play.

And I think we’ve seen an evolution over time of a lot of Actual Plays de-centering game mechanics or the conceit of gameplay in favor of more crafted narrative beats, to both the benefit and detriment of the stories themselves. In Critical Role for example, C1 and C2 in many ways felt more like a D&D game than C3, if only because of the presence of incidental, seemingly narratively insignificant combat moments. As late as late C2 with the Mighty Nein in Aeor, the players were rolling random encounters that had no relation to the larger endgame plot. This led some viewers to complain about pacing, but made other Actual Play enjoyers happy to the extent it showcased game mechanics and allowed character moments to emerge from the combat mechanics themselves, the core gameplay element of D&D. Contrast that to C3, which very early in the episode count did away with “meaningless” incidental combat and pushed forward with a very clear endgame narrative. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that fan engagement with mechanics really fell off in C3, with less meta about what spell or feat choices meant for character development. Similarly, the sunsetting of the CritRoleStats project, while certainly because founders were just busy and had put years into it already and were ready to move on, also was at least somewhat influenced by having less to work with as gameplay mechanics were emphasized less and less at the table in C3.

If you were to look at a lot of the more professional and academic study and critique of Actual Play, you might be convinced that a move away from centering gameplay and above table mechanics discussions was universally good for the medium, as an emphasis on storytelling over gaming would make it more universally accessible. I would posit though that at least some of this comes from the loudest, most professionally credentialed commentators on Actual Play coming from literature backgrounds, and therefore valuing storytelling and narrative over gaming for audience appeal. But I think that misses the gaming audience of Actual Play, who are less and less catered to as the medium becomes more mainstream.

There’s often not a lot of understanding of the appeal of gaming itself as an object of, especially curative, fan obsession, even as sports fandom exists as a huge example of the wide appeal. I am, pretty loudly, a baseball fan as well as a ttrpg and Actual Play fan. In many ways, these things hold similar appeal to me. I am interested in thinking about the game mechanics and action economy of certain character builds and how they fit into party composition in the same way I might obsess over a pitcher’s ERA and arsenal, as well as what his role is in the starting pitcher rotation or the bullpen. I find the prospect of a matchup between, say, Shohei Ohtani and Zack Wheeler appealing in the same way I’m excited about a mechanically strong D&D party fighting a Beholder. Gaming has long been interesting to people not only as something to participate in, but something to study and analyze. Win scenarios, optimal builds, and gameplay tactics are engaging to viewers as well as players. And I think, increasingly, Actual Play productions either forget this or, if the prevalence of editing gameplay out of edited AP is any indication, do not think the gameplay itself is of value or interest to the audience. Published Actual Play scholarship, in my opinion, continues to make this mistake as well. This has led to an increase of productions which are labeled as Actual Play and ostensibly have a gameplay component but are so far removed from watching/listening to people play a game that it is hard to argue that they are still Actual Play.

Which brings me to Thresher. Thresher was brilliant at threading that needle between production, radio drama vibes, and centered and narratively driving gameplay. I am someone who often complains about Actual Play production and editing doing Too Much but I actually loved the costumes and some of the editing gimmicks on Thresher because all of the storytelling and narrative was still so clearly grounded in the gameplay mechanics. Uses of drive mechanics and character abilities were clearly defined even as the audience could hold their breath in a tense horror atmosphere. Mechanics like Turn the Tide and Jasper’s move as the GM to allow the players to pass him secret notes were fantastic ideas to center player choice in crafting the narrative, and let the players surprise each other, leading to big and exciting moments a the table. The storytelling was enhanced by Abubakar’s above table exclamation of “what the fuck is this??” at the end, because it wasn’t just about the story that had unfolded but that his fellow players had surprised both him and the GM by using their game mechanic options to change the direction of the narrative and the condition of the story. I would love for more Actual Play to remember the value of the audience seeing that or being in on the extra-narrative elements of gameplay that shape story. Not all Actual Play needs to be the same, but I think we’ve lost something in the medium as a whole recently with a shift away from visible mechanics and toward streamlined, almost audio drama style story that just happens to have scaffolding from a tabletop roleplaying game.

[destinationtoast]

Hello! I keep hearing that fandom culture has changed, and there are less comments now than there were years ago. Have you noticed this in your analysis? Is the percentage of comments being left today lower than before?

Hey! Thanks for the question -- it prompted me to start collecting data about comments (after procrastinating on it for a while, because I had to write new code to gather comment data). I've also seen other discussions from folks also thinking about how to do this kind of analysis (like in the fandom data projects community) -- hopefully we'll end up with multiple people attacking this from different angles and getting a variety of data about comments!

I'll give a sneak preview that partially addresses your question and contains some good news. If we look at the fraction of AO3 works that get at least one comment (focusing just on one-shots for now), I think things have gotten better over the past decade on AO3*:

In other words, it tentatively looks like more works were getting at least one comment in 2024 than in 2014 (for a variety of time periods). One caveat, though -- if a bunch of works with no comments got deleted in the interim, there will be survivor bias here. I'll try to look into that possibility later. Another caveat: this is based on only like ~100 randomly selected works from each year -- this may all change with more data!

Another interesting tidbit: I still see some of the 2014 works getting comments. In fact, ~30% of works have gotten new comments over 5 years after they were posted, and it looks like ~10% of one-shots posted back in Mar 2014 got a new comment in 10 years later, in 2024.

I'm still doing other analyses; there may be other factors that better match with the discourse around how comment culture has changed. It could be that comment activity peters out faster now than it did back then, for instance. Or the total number of comments left on the popular works is less now than it was back then (though my current methods may not be able to capture that). Edit thanks to quick eagle-eyed readers: it's likely that some of what people are thinking about is ratio of comments to hits -- that is hard to compare in 2014 to 2024, because we don't know which hits came from which years. But I am working on some analyses along those lines. :)

If you have other hypotheses about what's changed in commenting culture, feel free to share! I'll look into what I can.

Some methodology notes:

*I've been tackling this by comparing AO3 one-shots posted in early 2014 to one-shots posted in 2024, and comparing activity in the days/weeks/months immediately after the works were posted. (To start with, I'm only scraping the first page of comments for each work -- meaning the first 20 comment threads -- so there are lots of comments I'm potentially missing for the really popular works. But for many works, this captures all the comments, and I think it may be sufficient for a lot of the analyses I am interested in.)

I'm choosing to focus on 2014 vs. 2024 because 2024 is close to now (but it's been long enough for comments to have settled down a bit), and 2014 was well after AO3 was established (thus it was already a pretty lively time on AO3). I don't want to collect data about every single year because it's too time intensive/too hard on AO3's servers. But if people think that I should be looking at different years, I'm interested in feedback.

Because it's only been ~10 months since March 2024, I am limiting a lot of my analyses to only look at commenting activity the first ~10 months after works were posted in both cases.

[joansjusticiar]

I’ve been a dog | Lin Beifong x f!reader

Images do not belong to me.

Summary: Young!Lin

You and your former girlfriend (Lin) separated years ago due to her unresolved feelings for Tenzin. Ten years later your presence is requested at a Gala held in her honour. What will happen when you see one another after a decade of separation.

Word count: 1,531

A/N: dipping my toes (back) into the avatar fandom with this.

The gala was in full swing, Republic City’s elite all gathered in their respective ceremonial garbs to celebrate Lin Beifong’s rise to chief of police. Your presence was necessary, alongside the other council members, but you would much rather be at home than spending your evening speaking to the serpent tongued bourgeoise. Wolves seeking out any slither of power they could grasp onto with their dirty paws.

No, you weren’t fond of these events at all. Yet this one was different. This one was held in Lin’s honour and you would do anything to see her, if only for a moment. After your break up, you hadn’t seen nor spoken to Lin in person. It was too difficult; too fresh even after all of these years.

You were still bitter about it, to be very honest. She had stated that she still had feelings for Tenzin despite being with you. Despite him leaving her for another woman. Despite you giving her everything in hopes that she would be happy, happy with you. But everything wasn’t enough.

And here you were, 10 years later, still in love with the woman that had taken your heart and shattered it without second thought. Not that you had tried to reach out to her either. Would she have answered if you had written?

Kya’s swift movements as she weaved through the sea of bodies caught your attention. Excusing yourself from the dull conversation you found yourself in, you set off to follow her. Lin’s eyes seemed to follow you wherever you went, glaring down at you from the multiple tapestries that hung from the ceiling rafters. It was unsettling to say the least, yet you pushed onwards.

“Kya!” You exclaimed as you got closer, loud enough for her to hear but quiet enough to still be a respectable volume.

“Hey! I wasn’t sure if you would show up.”

She turned to you and embraced you in a long overdue hug. You hadn’t been able to spend much time together recently, with your council duties ramping up and Kya’s chaotic work load as a healer. Apparently, in the time that you hadn’t spoken, Kya’s girlfriend- now ex- cheated on her with another woman.

Somehow Kya venting about her ex turned into your being pulled into an elaborate scheme to make said woman jealous. Kya wanted to show her that she was desirable and she could do just fine without her. You figured it couldn’t hurt to comply with Kya’s wishes for the night.

That’s how you found yourself discussing city matters over dinner with Kya seated on your right, playing the part of lovesick girlfriend for all to see. You couldn’t fault her plan as you could see it working, if her ex’s explosive reaction and swift exit were anything to go by.

What you weren’t expecting, however, was the seat to your left to be pulled out and a gravelly voice to ask if it was taken.

“Chief Beifong!” You gasped, surprised at her sudden presence as you hadn’t seen her all night. “Of course not. Congratulations on your promotion. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the pleasure of conversing with you yet.”

“Thank you, councillor.” To anybody else she would’ve come off as disinterested, but you knew Lin well enough to know that she was pleased with your acknowledgment of her hard work.

You took your time to admire her as she sat beside you. She spoke with confidence and pride whilst addressing the other members of the table, a subdued excitement glinting in her eyes when recounting her favourite tales from her earlier working years. It was bittersweet seeing Lin again; seeing her older and wiser, recounting everything you had missed.

You were glad she had achieved everything she wanted.

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

Lin swirled the burnt umber liquid around her glass, ice cubes clinking against the side, threatening to spill over the edge. She watched you from afar. Jaw clenched as Kya flung herself all over you like a common whore. She shouldn’t care. She wasn’t allowed to care. You weren’t hers anymore, she made sure of it by letting you walk away all of those years ago.

She was yours though. She dreamt of you every night; of what could have been. Did you dream of her?

“She isn’t going to know how you feel unless you say something.”

Lin jumped, turning to look at who dared interrupt her brooding. “Tenzin… and Pema, how lovely to see you too.” She drawled with narrowed eyes.

“All I’m saying is, you should take your shot before someone else does. We all know you two are hopelessly in love with each other. Even after all of these years.” Tenzin spoke in a soft voice, not wanting to spook Lin in hopes that she would act on her feelings.

“Someone like your sister.” She grumbled.

“Just think about it okay?”

“Mhm.”

Without meaning to, Lin found herself walking to your table and asking you if she could sit next to you. She begged to the spirits for the strength to converse with you. If only for a moment.

༶•┈┈୨♡୧┈┈•༶

“So, councillor. Whatever happened to your admirer?” One of your coworkers asked.

“Oh god,” you groaned. “He wouldn’t leave me alone until I finally had to tell him I was married. Apparently, men only respect other ‘men’.” Your eyes flicked to Lin then but her gaze was fixed on her soup.

“Wait, you’re married?” They asked.

“Something like that, yes.” You nudged Kya in hopes that she would play along with your lie. It would reflect terribly on you as a council woman if you were caught out in it.

Thankfully she played along, just as you had with her earlier. Lin pushed back from the table abruptly. Her eyes avoided yours despite you asking her what was wrong. In fact, she ignored you completely as she said her goodbyes to the people around you.

Unhappy with the way she stormed off, you set off to follow her.

“Lin!” You called, desperate for her to turn and come back to you. She didn’t.

“Lin!” You repeated.

After the third shout you knew she wasn’t going to speak to you on her own accord. No, you would have to corner her like you would a scared wild animal. She had never reacted well to being cornered but you knew it was what you must do.

You caught her just before she left, grabbing hold of her arm to stop her from fleeing. She didn’t turn to face you though. Just stood there, still as a statue, as you grasped her elbow.

“Unhand me.” She demanded. “Please,”

“Lin, talk to me!” You begged. “I haven’t seen you in years. Please, don’t go just yet.”

You felt like a fool begging for scraps on the street corner. Scraps you wouldn’t get.

She pulled her arm away from you. “Don’t you have a wife to be getting back to? I don’t think she’d want you speaking with your ex.” She spat.

“What? Why would you even care about that!”

You were confused to say the least. She was the one who loved another whilst in a relationship with you. She didn’t love you. Why was she acting like she did?

She merely scoffed at you before turning to walk away.

“Lin please! Please don’t walk away.”

“What do you want me to do?!” She exclaimed. “How can you expect me to go in there and act like I’m okay with you marrying another? How can I go back in there and watch you with Kya when I waited for you for over a decade,”

“Lin,” you grabbed her again, gentler this time but she shrugged you off.

“And you didn’t wait for me.” She whispered.

“I’m not married.”

“What?”

“I haven’t been with anybody since we split. No dates, no relationships. Nothing.” You admitted. “I waited for you too.”

“You.. no, I. You never wrote to me.” She choked out.

“I didn’t know you wanted me to. Lin, my heart and soul, all of these years I thought you loved Tenzin.”

“How could I love anyone other than you?” She urged, reaching up to cusp your face between her rough palms. She drew even closer, breath ghosting over your lips. You froze, eyes darting frantically between her lips and eyes, back and forth, waiting to see what she was about to do.

Her lips brushed yours tentatively as she tested the waters. There was no need for her shyness though. You had needed this, much like you needed air to breathe and sustenance to live. Hands tangled into locks of hair, soft sighs puffed out between kiss swollen lips.

Yes. This was everything you needed and more.

You barely had the chance to enjoy it before she was pulling away, just enough so that she could look into your eyes. The whimper you let out at the loss would’ve been embarrassing if not for the look of pure adoration Lin was sending your way.

“How about I treat you to a long overdue dinner?” She rasped, a pink tongue darting out to anxiously lick over her lips.

“I would love nothing more.”

[somuchwatersoclosetohome]

ok so in another departure from scheduled programming, i'm going to do my big sappy post first before recounting yesterday's 2 final london shows!! and also have a soundtrack to this post bc as i said i was hURT by thinking about plodding on and now you all have to hurt with me

also HAHA you thought my last posts were long posts well you thought WRONG

✨ firstly, thank you 😊 i know i arrived out of nowhere on this fandom scene like, what... 6 weeks ago?! despite having been a fan of R&S for ages, i've only ever appreciated on my own and not been in 'fandom'... so although i have way fewer stories of interactions and i've never been to the BFI 😭, i've never been made to feel like a lesser fan or unworthy somehow, and it's not felt like anything is gatekept. it's only been finding lovely people who appreciate other lovely people making lovely things and everyone has been immediately so open and welcoming 🤗

🚪 when we were stood outside the number 9 door last night just feeling the weight of the last few months now being over, it really was like finding your people 🌟

🙏 i'm scared i'll miss people but i'll try - @vagueeyes for spending the best part of 24h with me and traipsing around covent garden before the show where we discussed CAT bag discourse at length, @donotbelasagne for being a viewing partner technically twice now, @silverview for bringing us all together as our stage door lucky charm, @spcvarney and @varneysfangs for letting me live your previous r experiences vicariously and for being generally lovely , @misskite for sharing your unfathomable amount of R&S content, and @wintersoulwitch for inspiring me to write anything on tumblr at all without immediately dismissing it in my head as garbage. i hope i made up for the Great Twickets War of 2025 through my official ticket dealership 🙇‍♀️

but also EVERYONE that has ever interacted with any of my posts and made me feel less insane and more understood... this goes for you all as well ❤️

🌸 i actually wrote R&S an enormously soppy letter earlier in the run which i gave to them on my second viewing (and yep you guessed it, it was steve that took my gift bag)... who knows if they actually read it, but in any case it was very cathartic to write!!

i included a quote from a raymond carver short story in it (i know at least steve knows carver, because he mentions So Much Water So Close To Home (oh wow, where else have i heard that.....) in the commentary for la couchette). i included it only because i thought it captured the experience of stage/fright, and so much else of what they've created, much better than i could - the suspension of everyone in the worlds that they've created, and especially for stage/fright, the magic of live theatre...

I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark. - What We Talk about When We Talk about Love

(it also gave me a thrill that about five lines before this, there's a line of dialogue in the story that is word for word - "I'll put out some cheese and crackers". 🤯)

💖 all to say that everything that we love or appreciate is often the passion project of a single person or couple of people. i am genuinely feeling a bit sad today but there is the tour to look forward to even though it feels AGES away..., but i've got a play/episode/screenplay that's sat in my writer's bottom drawer for nearly 10 years that maybe i can use the next 5 months to do something with. there's also a ton more posts i want to make about in9 and stage/fright and the experience of live theatre and fandom in general so hopefully they'll get written at some point too!! so thank you to R&S for getting me to the point of picking up a pen again 💜

9️⃣ what an era!! i feel so happy and lucky and privileged to have been a part of it 💕

[etaindelaserna]

So I went to the Munich ritual (1st ritual ever) and to the one in Prague because I`m hopelessly obsessed with Ghost and needed to see them again after the album dropped. Here are some of the things I noticed:

Prague Ritual

(I had a seat right next to the stage, maybe around 10 meters away and high enough to be able to watch what was going on)

Papa V isn´t as scary as the Lachryma video made him out be. I´ve seen a lot of discussions in the fandom whether he is shy/awkwardish (and if so if it’s because he is new) or the greatest horny slut ever and tbh I can´t say he is either with certainty. At least neither in Prague nor in Munich we were gifted with overly explicit movements (Berlin, you lucky bastards). The only thing he did was sliding down his hand over his body once (both in Munich and Prague). Idk Papa´s scary, kind of sexy-goth-romance vibe from Lachryma is not present in the live performance and it didn´t feel as if that was even his intention.

If anything Papa V has a lot of orange cat energy, meaning: strolling around and vibing and causing just enough mischief to be an annoyance but never with ill intent (e.g. playing around with Mountain’s cymbals during a song, walking up to the Ghouls and watching them play and nodding along approvingly. One time it even looked like as if he tried to reach for the guitar strings but then didn’t)

He´s also being silly, almost flamboyant, a lot of the times. During the start of Umbra, when he was lifted on the stage, he looked around and seemed to have forgotten what he was supposed to do with the cow bell until the ghoulette gestured him towards her. V seemed a little bit embarrassed by that

After Future is a Foreign Land Papa just dropped a random "Jepp" after the song had ended

the Ghouls still sometimes hush him away from the center stage and Papa then walks off sulkily (Year Zero)

Papa V is also still encouraging the crowd to make noise for the Ghouls during their solos but also seems to act kind of jealous when they get all the attention (he does a lot of "Yeah, of course, they are cool but what about me?" gestures)

Phantom jumped down from one of the platforms during Square Hammer

I am not sure if it was Phantom or Dewdrop (forgot to pay attention) but one of them often threw his hand up in a challenge at the crowd and idk what I was supposed to do but I felt chastised -.-

Dewdrop´s leg is a lot better now. He is just as active around the stage as the rest. A fan threw a plushy at him and he watched it collide with him and drop to the ground as if he had never seen one before. Later he thanked the fan with a hand over his heart.

Phantom danced with one of the ghoulettes (Cirrus?) after she finished her battle part in Umbra (I hope I`m not mixing it up with the part in Mummy Dust, sry it´s been a long day)

Papa is cowering down during the Latin parts in Satanized

No explicit hip thrusts during Mummy Dust. Papa V implied it faintly (like, he raised his hands for a few seconds as if was going to do it and then didnt -.-)

Papa made a comment to Dewdrop about his leg which sounded a lot like "that´s what you get with a broken bonER" (please, stop, omg)

During Umbra Papa was running from one edge of the stage to the other and still didn´t sound breathless

He crouched down in Cirice and stretched his hand towards a fan but blew no kiss afterwards. Cirice slaps so hard live, oh my God.

during He is people took their lighters out and honestly, it was such an 80s/90s vibe. I don`t miss phones during a concert AT ALL.

it was great to see that the crowd now is loudly singing along to Peacefield, Lachryma, Satanized and Umbra -- totally different vibes than in Munich

I caught one of the 666 Dollars^^ and almost one of the guitar plecs

Munich vs Prague Ritual

the sound mix was better in Prague. In Munich during the first 4 songs I had a hard time hearing Tobias´ voice over the instruments. Totally different in Prague and I´m glad because his vocal work and placement during the concert is amazing. Very tight and clear.

since I hadn´t listened to any of the pre-released songs before the album dropped, I went into the Munich ritual blank. Still, after just one chorus I was able to sing along to Peacefield and Lachryma because Tobias is a god damn genius when it comes down to a catchy chorus BUT those songs did hit harder the second time around

the crowd in Munich was much more reserved. The crowd in Prague sang so loud that Papa let them sing longer sections of the songs multiple times. In Munich he even commented something a long the lines of "Aw, don´t worry. Let´s try again". Prague was just a different energy compared to Munich and not only because I had far better seats.

In conclusion:

if you have the chance to see Ghost live, do it. It`s SUCH A BLAST. I drove 3 hours to Prague to see them a second time and I'm glad I did. If you have the means, going a 2nd time might even give you a slightly different experience. Totally worth it! (I´ve heard that people are complaining that the tickets have gotten so expensive and while it´s not cheap, I think it´s still reasonable: ticket in Munich was 95€ and in Prague, with the better seats, 85€). And if you like some interactions with the ghouls or Papa , a seat next to the stage is a good alternative to fighting over a place in front of the stage. They definitely hang around the edges of the stage a lot and engage with you.

[tubborucho]

A LOVE LETTER TO QSMPBLR

I saw my mutuals write those and decided that I also want to say a few words.

My whole life I loved being part of the communities. I’ve been heavily into fandoms since I was 10, and now 12 years later I can firmly state that QSMPblr community is definitely in my personal top 3 of all the fandoms I have been in.

It’s been such a fun and emotional and thrilling journey with so many ups and downs and I would never refuse to repeat it all over again. I met so many wonderful and incredible people because of this server that I can’t thank the universe enough.

All of my mutuals and followers made most of my 2023 so happy, and continue to do so in 2024, and I really need this joy with everything that happens outside the community itself.

(I am sorry this text is all over the place, I am struggling with concentration atm)

And I am so elated and a bit surprised for how many of you I became one of the favorites blogs here. I mean, I jumped from barely 150 followers to around 820 since september, and it’s all thanks to having so much fun liveblogging and theorizing with all of you.

Despite everything, I think Purgatory 1 was my favorite ever time period here. Yes, there was a lot of frustration and negativity but I don’t think I’ve ever felt such a comradery as back then, with my fellow Soulfire mains. I was in the post limit jail every single day, because I just could not stop chatting with all of you and reblogging incredible posts.

I also hold very dearly the moment, where Bad showed Tubbo the Soulfire Base Recreation. But the main reason is not even that this happened, but the fact that so many people on tumblr, in dms and even in Bad’s chat were LOOKING FOR ME, because they knew how much I’ve waited for that to happen. It was just so heartwarming to wake up to dozens of messages and mentions. I struggle with ‘nobody really cares if i am here or not’ syndrome a lot, so it made my day to see that people do.

I also want to say special thanks to some of you (even though each and single one of you deserve a separate paragraph). Under the cut:

@qtubbo and @mikaikaika. I love both of you so much, our 247 crew maybe on a kinda hiatus, but every moment we spent together is so special to me. We had so much fun, and I couldn’t ask for the batter gang to gash about the lore and cool posts together.

@lionheartedmusings. I am pretty sure you do not open tumblr these days, but if or when you see this: I am so glad that I got a chance to be your friend. We held so many incredible discussions together, and I am so proud to see your success and happy to be at least a small part of it.

@ultra-raging-ghost @dappersautismcreature @born-in-hell @comradeboyhalo @bigboobyhalo @mangofanarts @haloberry @halo-chainsaw @kadextra @skullhalo @aesthetic-gem and all the other ghosties here. Man, ghosties and tubblings alliance is honestly the best thing that ever happened to this community, and I loved all of your posts and liveblogging of Bad’s lore even when I didn’t have a clue what’s happening. You are all so smart and so great, ghosties never deserved all the hate them and the streamer got, I will fight for you always.

@terezicaptor you always match my freak. and that’s everything anyone in the fandom can ever ask for.

@itsbebebrainrotting @cheese-water @soulfireblue @galatoma @phatcatphergus @angelpaperclip @an0nfr0mth3d3n @flojouno @dozyrogue @charliecuntcicle @sweetmoons @kqluckity @h3xt0r @wackytheorist thank you for everything, i see you in my notes very often and most of you posted a lot about soulfire (which are always bonus points from me ahaha), and i am very glad you are here💛

@sweetie-peaches @routeriver @snopiah @thepenguisalive7 @piecanl @shumistar @diornies @flowerquib YOUR ART MY GOD YOUR ART OH GOD OH MAN OH GOD OH MYGOD SO GOOD SO INCREDIBLE OH MY GOD

@etoilesbienne and @pommunist i think both of you have the most based takes, and i almost feel smarter when i read your serious posts.

I definitely missed some people I would love to thank, but honestly, as I said, all of you deserve a special thank you. So if you read this, you are awesome and I love you.

I am not leaving the fandom. But it’s always nice to appreciate people around you.

💛💛💛

[tackytigerfic]

read alan’s our evenings on your recc and loved it. started and finished the whole thing on a 15hr flight and felt so winded by the end ohmygod

Dearest ratty, I meant to reply to this with one of those "top 10 books of 2024" posts but then i realised I'd have to download cover pics and the whole shebang so i said I'd just write it all down.

So glad you loved Our Evenings - Hollinghurst is absolutely categorically one of my favourite authors of all time. I read The Folding Star at 14 and it informed my adolescence so strongly, and eventually brought me to huge introspection and an interrogation of my sexual and gender identity etc. (Fun fact, i met him and told him about reading it and he said, looking concerned, "weren't you a little young to be reading that" lol). Our Evenings, I think, is very different in tone to some of his earlier work - I love the focus on the female characters, the way he writes older women, the way he writes queer identities. It feels almost nostalgic even during the reading, which is odd and unsettling imo, and different to the immediacy of his other work.

It would have been my book of the year if it weren't for the fact that I read Henry Henry by Allen Bratton in 2024 and was FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED so if you're looking for a rec then jot that down.

And to round out discussion of 2024 with my top 3, I think I'd have to go for Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. May be a cheat as it was a reread for me but i genuinely did not remember a single thing so it was as though I was reading it for the first time. Absolutely compulsively readable, epically whimsical, deeply disturbing, funny as fuck and poignant as hell. Loved it.

Others I read in 2024 (non-exhaustive list, i'm forgetting lots i'm sure): Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (this was great, much better than her first imo), Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee (i think fandom pals would love this, it was a great read - v funny and dark), Stranger's Child by Hollinghurst (reread, unreal), Pity by Andrew McMillan (really liked though felt it was a little flat - v poignant and delicate and lovely though), 2 x KJ Charles Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (eh, I'm hit and miss on this author), Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (i thought this was objectionably bad tbh - this doesn't always stop me reading and I did get to the end or v near, but it was def a hate read), Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon (SUPERB, one of those books that's just as good if not better via audio), River Man by RB Croft (not sure what this was tbh i have no memory of it), The Mark and the Void by Paul Murray (my least fave of his but still a banger), Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan (i wanted to love this so badly but I found it muddled and the pacing a bit patchy unforch - when it's good it's good though), Wild Houses by Colin Barrett (this was a DNF though I do hope to go back to it, i think he's a great writer but this didn't quite hit for me at the time), Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna (same), The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (ummm i thought this was really good in many ways - one of those books i like a lot when i look back on it, the overall tone of the book wasn't what i was expecting but it was really interesting and clever and feelsy, def one i'd rec despite it not being a favourite of me personally, if that makes sense?), She's Always Hungry by Eliza Clark (absolutely magnificent, again i would recommend listening to the audiobook for this one), Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (DNF, deeply tedious and uninspired imo), Matrix by Lauren Groff (this one was just fine imo), then i did rereads of Maurice by EM Forster, Filthy Animals and Real Life by Brandon Taylor (my beloved, what i would not GIVE to be able to write like him), oh and I read The Pairing by Casey McQuiston (i thought this was fine? liked it more than the other ones, a bit heavy-handed but hey) and Broken Light by Joanne Harris which i thought was rubbish. I can't remember if last year was the year i also reread all the Sally Rooney books too but it might have been. Oh and Sword-Crossed by Freya Marske which alas was a DNF too iirc - this was a miss for me, it felt a tad clumsy and laboured in the world-building imo. But i'm not a romance reader so it's probably me and not the book, her fics are really excellent and she is a good writer.

I did start a goodreads to track my 2025 reading😬 so if anyone's on there and wants to be friends that would be lovely. i can offer a variety of three star reviews and lukewarm takes, none of which hold up to any scrutiny.

Current reads: in book-books I've just started The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa. On audible I'm just about to start Deviants by Santanu Bhattacharya (deeply excited). Libby has just offered me Onyx Flame or whatever it's called by Rebecca Yarros, which is weird because i would have thought it would be all booked up. But I might not end up reading it (see above for thoughts on book 1, and i haven't read book 2).

[aeternallis]

Haven’t dabbled in VK in many many years now, but looking back at that fandom in retrospect through the likes of LJ, Community forums, then on here, I lament the fact that it was always so difficult to find people to discuss that manga/anime without the conversation descending into “it was so weird and icky that there’s incest involved.”

Like, hardly anyone—at least within the English speaking sphere of the fandom—appreciated that Hino was working with complex, morally grey themes in her work, yknow? It was hard to find people who were mature and thoughtful enough to discuss WHY Hino chose to incorporate themes such as incest, social hierarchy, Nurture vs Nature, etc etc, and to talk about how those themes contributed to the story, without all the pointless pearl clutching.

Hell, even now, you still find that sort of attitude in the tags.

I’m not sure if it was because the fandom was younger back then, but I will say that there was definitely a bit of…I would say, a conservative push to dismiss VK as just some fetishy, off shoot manga/anime whose lasting legacy was its odd reputation. When in reality, I would argue that VK is actually a hallmark of its genre, especially considering that even now, 10+ years later after the OG run of the manga had ended, we haven’t really seen anything like it since, not in terms of storytelling, art style, etc etc.

I guess what I’m saying is, at the end of the day—it was a missed opportunity back then (and even now, I’d argue) to truly create something transformative in the fandom, because of all the pearl clutching that went on, and by that point, VK’s legacy as that “weird manga/anime that has incest in it” had been thoroughly cemented.

[curator-on-ao3]

20 Questions for (Fanfiction) Writers

Big thanks to @deadheaddaisy for tagging me! ❤️

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

140

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

777,796

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Tuvok’s Secret: Tuvok has a secret — and he trusts only one person onboard to keep it. (Kathryn Janeway & Tuvok friendship, G)

Feet on the Ground: Something solid slams into Kathryn’s back. She stumbles forward, bumping Mark, who in turn careens into someone else. Kathryn turns to glare at the probably inebriated party-goer who didn’t watch where they were going.

But, instead, she looks up to achingly familiar dark eyes and the curves and lines of a tattoo that Kathryn spent the last eighteen months telling herself she didn’t miss. (Chakotay/Kathryn Janeway, G)

The Halo Effect: Tom Paris and Kathryn Janeway didn’t intend to fall in love. (Kathryn Janeway/Tom Paris, M)

Fly Me to the Moon: Kathryn Janeway and Tom Paris never met each other years before Voyager.

Never served on a covert mission together.

Never fell in love.

Never planned a future together.

Nope, never happened.

Because a secret like that could lead to some … complex dichotomies. (Kathryn Janeway/Tom Paris, E)

Bad Ensign: Harry Kim finds out he missed out on an important part of the Starfleet Academy experience. Hilarity and dirty jokes ensue. (T, Voyager ensemble and the story that launched the Bad Ensign universe other writers have been absolutely lovely to carry far and wide)

4. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Star Treks — Voyager, Strange New Worlds, and Picard, with smatterings of Lower Decks, TOS, Disco, and The Next Generation. Every so often, I write for a non-Trek or Trek-adjacent show. I’d like to do more of that.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes. A comment is a form of appreciation. The least I can do is recognize that appreciation and appreciate it right back. Fandom is a community.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I’m not sure, but possibly:

A Waning Note Lifts A Love Song: Tom Paris has loved Harry Kim for a long time.

Or has he? (Harry Kim/Tom Paris, T)

This ficlet takes place in the “Course: Oblivion” (goo crew) universe, so I feel like some angst is implicit.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I write lots of fics with happy endings, but the comments for one story in particular often tilt toward, “I got really nervous for a minute there, but you promised a 100% happy ending and, wow, you delivered.” And that fic would be:

Youthful Exuberance (Some Kind of Love): He gave a speech to her class at Starfleet Academy.

But why did he give that speech and how would it change both their lives? (Number One | Una Chin-Riley/Christopher Pike, E)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I mean, I got a mean comment once on a P/T fic, but I feel like a lot of people who write/wrote for that pairing have had that experience. (And, though there’s no excuse for rudeness, that fic was one I didn’t want to write and, though I tried my best, the concept maybe wasn’t clear enough.) I also once had someone vagueblog disparaging remarks that I think were directed toward one of my fics, so I blocked her (because even if the remarks weren’t toward my story, publicly hating on any fic is poor form, imo).

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. Vanilla.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Within the Trekverse, yes. I like to delve into possibilities … like Tom Paris giving Cris Rios La Sirena, and Tuvok and Geordi LaForge having tea together to discuss the warp-damages-subspace technobabble from TNG’s “Force of Nature” … and the effect that had on the entire Voyager crew, especially Tom Paris and Kathryn Janeway.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes. In the Doorway (Tom Paris chimes at the door of Kathryn Janeway’s apartment. Kathryn Janeway/Tom Paris, T) has been translated into Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! I co-wrote Long Nights on La Sirena with @cnroth and @gijane-7702 (offscreen Saffi fun in the La Sirena universe) and I co-wrote both 99 Pegasi (timey-wimey, angst-with-a-happy-ending, post-canon Pikeuna) and A Seat at the Table (Kirk and Pike’s friendship, Pikeone, and La’an/Kirk in the Kelvinverse) with @fiadorable.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

NCC 1701

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

None.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Brevity. Grammar. Character interiority.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I’m shit at snappy dialogue (trying to get better) and I overthink … everything.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

If dialogue in another language is needed, a beta reader who knows the language can ensure dialogue is correct … or at least plausible.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

On AO3? Voyager.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

In most ways, Youthful Exuberance (Some Kind of Love), as mentioned before. But a “favorite” depends on my mood.

No pressure tags: @cnroth, @gijane-7702, @fiadorable, @enterprise-come-in, @pc-corner, @elephant-in-the-pride-parade, @emilie786, @grissomesque, @lorcaswhisky, @coffee-in-that-nebula, @caladeniablue, @the-lady-general, @procrastinatorproject, @regionalpancake, @starrybouquet, @theredheadedcaptain, and anyone else who wants to play.

[dyslexicandakeyboard]

Do you have any more anti-Talia thoughts/ criticisms? I’m getting into the fandom side of things and most of it is just people claiming that she’s perfect and that absolutely any bad things she’s done or any character flaws she has are just due to racist writing. Her fans love to complain about how Morrison took a morally grey 3D character and made her into a no-nuance monster (mostly a fair critique ) but then basically just turned her into girl-boss (ironically she’s simultaneously portrayed as having no agency) who’s personality traits are that she’s the most perfect woman/mother ever and all the men in her life are obsessed with her (and Jason even though at best she was just using him) (they’ve unconsciously made her into one of those weird boy moms). The only women her fans bother to mention are her dead mom and Selina (but that’s just to prove that Talia’s way better than her or that they should all be in a throuple with Bruce and Selina both being obsessed with Talia.) They also seem to buy into the elitism that comes with her character and the emphasis on blood connections and heredity. They write her as a classist, unpleasant and so so arrogant person and they don’t think her mindset is problem in fact they genuinely believe that everyone should bow down to her and that some people are just inferior to others. I’ve even read the pre Morrison comics the person they post about and the one in the panels are not the same.

Also these people just straight up hate canon Bruce (they post moments from the comics to prove their “grand love” but most of it is so tone deaf.) and even Damian (and I actually do hate that it played out this way but even with the retcon Talia can’t have been a good mother in the current canon the kid’s whole storyline kind of rests on it because if she was actually good that means he’s was just an inherently evil 10 year old and that only serves to play into different racist trope.) to an extent they just serve as props.

This is already getting too long but it would be amiss to not mention the glorification of the LOA and Ra’s. They take what’s supposed to be the most interesting part of her character which is that she’s split between her love for her dad and Bruce and just get rid of it. I’ve seen him described as an environmentalist girl dad whose worst trait is sexism and not the fact that he actively wants to genocide most of humanity. And considering how long he’s been alive I’m sure he’s at least destroyed some cultures.

Even with all that being said I truly don’t want her to be portrayed as the devil incarnate or as a female Ra’s I just want to see the actually complex character they claim to love.

I get that this behavior from her fans is mostly just them being tired of the racism in her writing but the seem to be missing that root problem which is that the league itself is basically a 70’s orientalist wet dream and the static nature of comics just makes that worse since problematic tropes become permanently apart of the lore. But I don’t think pretending they’re actually amazing people is better.

I understand her characterization was different but it’s annoying when they just point to sotd which was written over 40 years ago claiming that’s what’s she’s really and expect people to ignore the last 20 ish years of her character. Like it shouldn’t even be discussed even if people do acknowledge the racism in the writing, people aren’t going to forget the portrayal just because it was retconned.

Also before anyone comes at me I’m literally a South Asian woman.

To start, I'm personally on the camp that to have a good and intelligent conversation on the racism that befalls the characters of Ra's and Talia Al Ghul, we must understand that they were created to be orientalist stereotypes and, in my opinion, the writing in the 70's/80's will always be more racist than the comics that come after it. While I'm not of the opinion we must retire these characters (though I do believe the option must be considered), I believe that there must be a good change in how they're presented. I do believe that with the modern comics writing, there is a big effort to fix the issues with the original interpretations.

I understand the want for representation and looking to these character but I feel that people are barking up the wrong tree. It's not like Black Lighting and his original interpretation, as he was created by a Black man specifically to represent Black people, Talia and Ra's were created by White men who misrepresented and fetishized Asian and Arab people. We need to look towards characters that were created out of honest love and appreciation (Cass is a good example) and boost POC writers (Black Lighting comes to mind) first and formost.

Most fans/defenders of Talia are antis of all the characters she interacts with, whether they have a good relationship in canon. Every character's role in their mind is to prop up and praise Talia, a good example is the mother son relationship people concocted between her and Jason but they will still throw Jason under the bus at any opportunity. They don't like Bruce as a separate character and in fact they really hate him, he's only good to them as her love interest.

Selina is a special case for Talia defenders. Selina's, in many cases, a minority character, she's canonically bisexual, she's an abuse survior, she's from the lower class. Even with her background, she's been redeemed multiple times and has a successful relationship with Bruce all things considering(their original characters are married and their relationship since the 90's has been taken very seriously) all the while being a completely separate and complex character in her own right with her own solo runs. Which in their minds, is everything Talia should be. And to honestly, Talia can be that character but in many cases they won't let Talia progress because they just want a 2d love interest from the 70's back.

To touch more on Talia fans, it's important for me to state that first and formost I hate of her fans more than Talia as a character. It's like IDW tf fans or toxic tlou2 fans and toxic steggy/peggy fans to me, they misrepresent and moralize every fandom action you take ever (You dislike xyz! What are you sexist!). They (seem to) invade and take over spaces, make pro-Talia the main stance of fandom instead of just being neutral towards her character.

And it's sad because they have a fair criticism of Grant Morrison(I share the criticism), however this goes out of the window when you both read her older comics (she wasn't that good of a person by any means and Death and Maidens happened) and look at what they want from her character. As I've said, the best time for her character was when she wasn't written by Dennis O'Neil (other than the above issues, I feel he's slightly overrated as a writer) and was allowed to breathe. No more "will she go with Bruce or Ra's?", just Talia being a messy person with morals the match her upbringing but still trying. Honest to god, no one lets her character breathe and become someone outside of being a love interest.

And to be a slight broken clock, it's cause they don't want to address they're own regressive beliefs. It's like when people were saying it was Islamophobic to basically hate on the LoA or Talia and Ra's--Why was it Islamophobic, the character's aren't canonically Muslim. Oh! It's cause they think every Arab character is Muslim and cannot be some type of Christian or have a non-abrahamic religon or atheist. So progressive! *blank stare*

The reason most of her fans rave about Son of the Bat is cause it's some of the few League of Assassins comics that have the characterization and story they crave. And it's so funny because it's not canon! All of their base arguments are from a non-canonical story that isn't even that good (I've read it, it's a very long Batman story from the 80s that should have been around 18 pages long).

My other thoughts on Talia(these range from negative to neurtal)

Brutalia gets in the way of Talia progressing as a character. Not saying they can have a hint of something, but you'll have to really put your back into writing the relationship for it to make sense narratively as Talia rejecting both her Ra's and Bruce is her basically rejecting the idea of men controling and limiting her agency in favor of being independent.

Doing bad things doesn't equal bad monstrous person. Most people in fandom have a very black and white look on morality. I believe Talia, whatever crime she commited, can be redeemed. She can form new relationships with people she victimized. Or not.

Talia has always had a bad understanding of consent. There are many examples, I'm not gonna post them again.

Jason isn't her kid, stop that. It's weird for many reasons.

It's actually weird that people can easily say that the rapes Talia committed were retconned and don't matter anymore to fans of Bruce and Jason. You can believe that, other don't.

Talia is a very interesting character but her fans do not act like it.

The fans don't care that you are a minority in real life. They care more about a fictional character.

[muse-write]

Hi, mutuals old and new!

I was missing the fandom tradition of themed asks, and wanted to send some of my own, tailored specifically after ASDMC.

Needless to say, the fandom shitshow is ongoing, and I am doing this for my and hopefully your enjoyment. Feel free to answer this or just read others' replies, there is absolutely no judgement or pressure to participate!

Anyway, for this ask I was wanted to cast a wide net, so could you tell if you had some predictions for the show that turned up in some interesting way? Maybe a personal wishlist point of yours was fulfilled, or a twist you didn't expect hooked you into the show? Perhaps you're a new fan and now feel the urge to look up the game series, or a veteran who decided to go for that next-difficulty run? Did a track from the OST make you obsessed with a particular band?

These are just the examples, feel free to spin this question however you like

This is so fun! I love themed asks!

I basically only had one prediction, and that was that the show would feature Dante the wacky wahoo pizza man, and would have cool action scenes. It delivered on both of those. For the most part I kept an open mind about it, didn’t really follow discussions surrounding it for months, and decided it would probably be fun no matter what the director decided to do as long as it followed those two precepts.

(I have to admit I had hopes that it would be more like a post-DMC5 exploration but those were quickly dashed lol)

Watching the show has also made me want to go back to playing the games, which I actually only discovered last year! I bought the special edition and DMC5 on sale and became obsessed with it last summer, so at least I didn’t have to wait too long for new material! I STILL haven’t finished either DMC1 or DMC3 even on human mode (though it only took me around 10 hours to finish DMC5 the first time around) so I’ve gone back to those and I’m trying to actually complete them (curse you Beowulf and Nightmare).

[fanby-fckry]

📌 Welcome, friends, foes, and passersby, to my personal piece of fandom Hell.

Have you made your daily clicks yet, today?

If you have money to donate, please take a look at these vetted fundraisers.

Feel free to send me an ask from my latest ask game here.

18+ Blog

No minors. No bigots. No blank blogs/default icons.

No Minors: I’m an adult posting adult content on my adult blog; I will block you on sight.

No Bigots: “Bigots” includes rad fems, exclusionists, and zionists. Trans people need feminism, too, gatekeeping helps no one, and zionism does not equate to Judaism (implying that genocide is a Jewish value is antisemitism).

No Blank Blogs: For context on why I block default icons, see this post.

I intend to use my block button liberally, but I’m hoping the big text will help at least a little bit.

I also edit this post/my blog theme to include a comical amount of 18+ disclaimers whenever I get fed up with the amount of minors trying to follow me. Idk if it works, but it’s cathartic.

Fandom is meant to be fun, so if you’re here to spread hate, don’t. <3 I’ll just block you, and neither of us will gain anything from it.

This Blog Contains:

Adult content

Kink

Problematic media

Fictional depictions of violence and gore

Discussion of potentially triggering content

Please see this post for a list of tags you may want to block.

As a rule of thumb, I tend to tag things #[trigger] cw and use the keep reading feature in extreme cases. Please ask if you need me to tag something.

Viewer discretion is advised; be safe, bloggers.

Fandoms:

The Amazing Devil (Band)

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🖤 Hazbin Hotel

🖤 Helluva Boss

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The Witcher

I tend to cycle through them based on the whims of my wretched gremlin brain. When and why the cycle changes is unknown even to me.

Current main fandoms are marked with a ‘🖤’

About Me:

You can call me Fanby. I’m over 25 years old and use an assortment of pronouns, but mainly they/them, xe/xem, and it/its.

I’m queer in just about every sense of the word and fucked in the head, not in my bed. I have freed myself from the shackles of amatonormativity (10/10, highly recommend) and am living my best life as a polyamorous, (a)sexual deviant.

I don’t owe anyone my exact labels or diagnoses, but I do share them When I Feel Like It™️.

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The haiku bot reblogged my post – And then another one

Unintentionally Popular Aroace Alastor Post – And someone drew it!!

I added onto a Helluva Boss post and for some reason it became incredibly popular, to the point of showing up in my top posts for a good amount of time

Unbiased Hall of Fame (Top 10 Posts by Year):

2023

2024

Requests:

Fanfiction requests are open to mutuals only.

Please read this post before requesting.

[inchidentally]

Ngl little bit sad that you're becoming kinda negative on here. I miss when you used to post those super cool thoughtful discussions and analyses, without the need to trash talk or bash on other ships.

(just to say, I'd normally post something like this behind a cut and I promise I always will in future. it just feels like today in particular is a good moment to state a few of these points. I'm not normally this serious lol I just want to kind of mitigate any more drama.)

I've always posted about wanting rpf to be kept out of the drivers' and teams' public spaces and I've always said it's stupid/unnecessary drama when fans of certain fictional ships get genuinely loudly "competitive" over other fictional ships and I've really always been against people hating on the girlfriends who get caught in the crossfire of the fans who truly believe their two drivers are in a secret gay relationship. it's how I've always personally felt and apart from it being my opinion (which is fair for my blog) I also feel like having even a smidgen of traction on my posts means I can potentially prevent landoscar going down the road of certain ships that have fans who've fully crossed over into aggressive/publicly disturbing territory. and who've been doing so for years and only gotten worse.

hell, I've even always openly hated when Lando's individual content gets taken over by people bringing up Carlos or Daniel or even sometimes Oscar or Max F. the man has a life beyond all of those friendships and he very much deserves for his content to sometimes stay just about him. only people like his family or Jon/Lando's team of 10+ years deserve any significant share of credit for Lando's successes but no one's bothering to bring them up in the comments etc.

also, it's still very early days for landoscar as a ship and we have at least two more years of Lando and Oscar as teammates (fairly likely more) so if we can keep out the element of fans who take rpf into widely public spaces/directly to the people involved, then I'm going to continue to occasionally post about it. those types of fans absolutely hate reality intruding and they hate real life partners even more so I'm absolutely going to post about reality and girlfriends regularly. even apart from the fact that I'd feel weird excluding girlfriends, there's a solid reason to do so.

especially when even apart from rpf, the girlfriends always get shit from people who want the guy for themselves or who have decided they get a say in who he dates. I'm not going to pretend like all of that doesn't happen just to avoid all negativity.

as far as the tricky/controversial asks I get, I always put them fully under a cut and tag appropriately so they're incredibly easy to skip. I also batch them up so one of those posts happens maybe once every couple weeks - if that. my content has always been massively on the side of fun content vs anything drama/wank related.

the one thing I will say is that I'm getting a lot of repeat anons about ship drama that I would otherwise not hear about (I rarely look at twitter and my tumblr dash is lovely and tidy with just a few things blacklisted) so I'm going to write one sort of roundup post to cover any more of those and not answer any more. I'm just repeating myself atp.

I also went on my first ever blocking spree in this fandom today when a post I'd rb had a bunch of ragey hardcore rpf people jump onto it and I also blacklisted a few more things. so that's the last I'm personally ever going to see of that drama myself. I still casually ship carland0 and dand0 as well and a whole lot of us are nothing to do with the people publicly pushing shippy shit or doing the whole - god I cannot believe this still happens - 'my rpf ship is real and yours isn't'. they're also the people who call all girlfriends "escorts" and "beards" so they're easy to identify.

one last thing anon is that I hear you but I've got to mention I delete a LOT of borderline hate asks and I leave a fair amount of trolls frothing by refusing to respond to their asks. so I'm very much always trying to keep the content on my blog free of useless drama or negativity.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Sunday, February 23rd

BUFFY: I've been looking for you. FAITH: I've been standing still for eight months, B. How hard did you look? BUFFY: Are you alright? FAITH: Five-by-five. It's that thing about a coma. Wake up all rested and rejuvenated. And ready for payback.

~~This Year's Girl~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Les petits-amis de ma sœur by Miss Kitty (Buffy/Spike, français, PG)

Scenes of True Love in Capeside by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, R)

Scenes of True Love in Capeside by CheekyKitten (Buffy/Spike, R)

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Chaos Bleeds: An Alternate Season 5? by burrunjor

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i DO think it would be [funny if] post-canon buffy and spike got married by xaeyrnofnbe

[Buffy and Spike] are the two characters most willing and even desperate to get married by the-crooked-library

u, drusilla, see the tragedy of spike. ms edith tells u. pixies scream at u. by kpchrs

I just don't understand how people can say that Angel truly loved Buffy? [anti Angel, anti Bangel] by probablytenderjourneys

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[leovoid]

No one understands Attack on Titan

Been struggling with getting my thoughts on paper with how busy this new job is making me. Looking for another job and got a 2nd interview today that is remote so I can have more time to dedicate to these videos But anyway... I wanted to share what I have so far to see if what everyones thoughts were? Anything I should add? Missing any points? I'd love to see your thoughts ^^

************THE VIDEO STARTS HERE*******************

More than a decade has passed since the release of Attack on Titan, a manga and eventual adapted anime that epically impacted anime culture globally by and large.

For just as much as an intense and emotionally stirring series Attack on Titan was and continues to be, that same inspiration reverberated into the many hearts of its fandom.

Spawning cosplay free of racial or ethnic limitations, A story in which its setting takes place in what most considered at the time a post apocalyptic world similar to the popular series “The Walking Dead” which landed Attack on Titan and in turn anime as a whole into the western lime light and in even more countries around the world, with characters and ideologies so meaningful and captivating that fans globally could not help but take the very same stance as our heroes, dedicating their very hearts to the Scouts cause and for 10 years heavily anticipated what the story would bring next.

Unfortunately however, it is within those 10 years where Attack on Titans characters, themes, and its very creator has always been and continues to be heavily misunderstood for reasons in which I can only define as misguided, projecting, and entirely foolish

Whether that is due to the possibility that I have surrounded myself in a conundrum of echo chambers of the naive, and ignorant is up for debate, (Show a faded icon of Twitter) but the fact that these misunderstandings happens by and large by both side lined spectators and fans of the show inexorably reinforces the topic this video discusses.

Despite being a story which expresses a tragically beautiful message meant to juxtapose itself within reality, no one TRULY understands Attack on Titan, or at least very few people do and with good reason.

What started as a young boys endeavor for the freedom of his species would eventually find himself caught in the complex webs of the machinations of human corruption.

Peeling layer by layer the extensive history of humanities cruelty, and the horrifying realization of the commentary Attack on Titan has tried to impose from the very beginning. Creating a rift within the fandom from the drastic change of how easily relatable its story used to be into how difficult of a question the story imposes towards its conclusions.

Leading people to accuse Attack on Titan for being anti-semetic and harboring fascist and imperialist subtext, that Eren Jeagar is a useless cry baby, a totalitarian tyrant and most importantly a god damn simp with the story's conclusion being heavily criticized as ruined, clumsy and just straight up bad.

But all of these statements couldn’t be any more wrong, most of their arguments set on such a fragile foundation that all it takes is a simple thought to topple it to the ground, which is exactly what this video sets out to do.

For those that the fandom has labeled as “Yeagerists” “Zekists” or even “AOE speculators” I ask this of you…

Instead of pondering what could’ve been, what your idealistic perceptions of how Eren should’ve acted in his final moments, or what was the right choice in the end, I ask of you, what do you think Isayama is trying to say with Attack on Titans story? Is it hopelessness and futility or is it something much more behind the futility?

Put your theories and ships aside and ask yourself, what is Attack on Titan asking us?

Attack on Titans asks of us a horrifying question, a question that remains integral and consistent within the story through out. But due to its uncomfortable nature, most people can’t help but shy away from it and instead criticize it narrow mindedly.

After all, how can most people empathize with acts of cruelty and oppression? How can most people not be upset at the social stratification the series presents? Its barbarous, its inhumane, but its horrifyingly real.

As the story begins with a hopelessly naive young boys idealistic perception of the world caught in the apex of mans cruelty eventually warped into a desperate man crushed by the viciousness of the world.

From the casts original objective to preserve mans existence, a fight for species survival eventually flipped on its head to something much more complex, rooted in self interest and strikingly real to events in our real lives.

Attack on Titan was never a story that avoided imposing a difficult question, an unavoidable question with no escape or unrealistic solutions that our main characters would have to face, where no hope or dream would survive as Isayama gives us an answer that we could never see coming.

Play: and on that day humanity received a grim reminder, that we lived in fear of the titans…

Oppression

A common complaint I often hear in regards to Attack on Titan is that it promotes anti-semitic and fascist ideals. 

Antisemitism is the act of hostility or prejudice against a specific race, while Facism is a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and cannot be disobeyed without severe consequences.

And while these descriptions are extremely apparent within the story, the detail that most are missing is if Isayama himself promotes such principles.

From a power hungry tyrannical king whose only goal is territorial conquest, to a corrupt nation which promotes anti semitic propaganda to succeed in the very same ambitions as the evil king before them, to the once prominent king hailed by many stands alone in his passivity as he traps his subjects in multi layered ignorance condemning them to an inevitable death, to the world which fervently yearns for your death simply for what you are.

What we can draw from this is that the setting in which Attack on Titan takes place in clearly represents anti-semetism and fascist principles, but just because it does should not mean that Isayama himself supports it which can clearly be seen when you look at the ramifications the story presents to us of said principles

To the lone man who walks the path of a devil implanted with the wanten desire of freedom bred from the oppression that surrounded him at a young age, to the many Eldians who were ignorantly held captive beyond their understanding as they lay helpless only to die, to a nation who reclaimed their land and liberty from their oppressors and to a lone fragile young woman who constantly finds herself in awe at the sight of what a slave can never have.

Eren Jeagar and the Scouts are the antithesis to the very principles that people accuse Attack on Titan of supporting, with their symbol representing wings soaring towards freedom; they fight for liberty against the monsters that condemn them within the confines of the walls, seeking to eliminate that which prevents them from their birthright, even going as far as dismantling the oppressive government power that had systematically oppressed the nation for over a century until eventually with their backs against the walls, they are forced to fight against the world.

Attack on Titan while again being a story surrounded around the idea of anti semitism and facism was never a story that supported it but instead adamantly opposed it.

Eren Jeagar personifies this ideal, from his early youth Eren came to the realization that freedom was a given right to all people who are born into the world, and slowly began to realize that everything that surrounded him, the walls, the titans and even his own people prevented that and this knowledge enraged him.

Throughout the story, Eren continues to fight towards this ideal until he eventually came to realize the significant amount of sacrifice it would take to see his dream a reality.

And yet in spite of that, people often misconstrue Erens intentions, the foundation of his motivations, and the very contents of his dreams.

Eren Jeagar is the sole character who encompasses a majority of the themes and messages Attack on Titans demonstrates, however, its partly due to how heavily misunderstood Eren is that leads most people to fall short when it comes to recognizing what it is that Attack on Titan is trying to say…

Erens actions towards the end of the story is highly controversial, polarizing the fanbase into those who empathize with his decisions vs those who simply can not.

And all the while, people who are stuck on the topic of whether Eren was right or wrong is simply irrelevant The Rumbling, while undoubtedly able to stir a moral dilemma to the viewers, is but a rather large piece to an even larger picture.

Attack on Titan does not focus on the idea of what is right or what is wrong, at least not on an individual level, but instead offers us layers of dark gray circumstances that shows us who the true enemies are.

*Play Erwin: “That was a weird question” scene*

The enemy of Oppression: Dreams

When one is completely surrounded by sorrow and strife, what lays dormant inside of us all is the constant struggle to persevere towards attaining a state of being which provides us the greatest feeling of contentment.

However, most of us if not all of us fall into the trap of completely romanticizing our dreams to the point where we become blindsided to the effects in which our endeavors may bring as a result.

And the more dogmatically we substantiate our dreams, the heavier the weight becomes when reality plunders what we had desperately hoped for.

Mention how the cruelty of the world twists those dreams into malicious ambitions to persevere

*Play the scene between Erwin and Levi “Is this more important than the fate of humanity? Yes.”