#i really hate this man with a passion

[junespriince]

Last post for now I have attacks to finish up and start, winged heart au, Slade bullying because if that man has no haters I died.

Wally, kidnapped: once again, I am regretting leaving Central at this point. At least Dr. Zoom just wanted to rip my heart out.

Slade: shut up, god he really like the talkative ones.

Wally: excuse you, some people just have better taste. And that's talkative doctor to you, Didn't waste my time getting my doctrine for Dr. Not to be used, god damnit.

Slade: ain't you scared? You are kidnapped, by me,,, I can kill you, you know. I'm going to use you to get Nightwing to join me, have something!

Wally: you think you're the only person who kidnapped me before? To harm that feral bird of a man? Been there, done that, got the scars and T-shirts.

Slade: well, I'm much —

Wally: more cruel, and will make you regret this calm attitude, blah, blah, blah. I've seen more scarier toddler in the pediatric office during vaccine time than this.

Slade: I'm much more threatening than a toddler!

Wally: says the deadbeat dad who never seen his toddlers, really something there.

Slade: I don't need this!

Wally: a moment of silence for the one intelligent thing he said today, because there's not gonna be a repeat.

Slade: ugh one more word and I'll forget the plan and gut you now.

Wally, stubborn, glare: make my day, sunshine.

A few hours, Nightwing came in and saw Slade weeping in the corner and Wally untying himself.

Dick: are you hurt!?

Wally: rope burns but that's it, he'll probably need therapy for the tongue lashing I gave him.

Slade, sobbing: just take him! Get him away from me! I'm not stupid, you are!

Wally: if your wits were as sharp as you said you'd be welding a butter knife.

Slade, crying: stop it!!

Wally, poke Dick in the chest: you owe me a dinner, I'm starving, do what you need to do though first I'll be waiting outside. *Left*

Dick, jaw drop: I'm going to marry him so hard!

Slade: no! Don't! He's a monster!

Dick: shut up, you grown ass man.

[nachosncheezies]

In defense of late-canon x files (including the revivals)

I was thinking about this poll after I commented on it, and I kinda want to be brave and say more.

Short answer to the poll's question before I go any further: If you're a new fan and a sensitive sort who thinks you'll struggle with your blorbos Really Going Through It and you really need a happy ending, I suggest you stop at the end of season 8. Do not pass go, do not look at spoilers. Disregard this post entirely, close the internet, and go look at something that makes you happy. (Also fuck every part of society that characterizes sensitivity as inherently weak and bad and some kind of personal failing, you are valid.)

That said, "quality" as a concept is entirely subjective, and the question of whether or not there's a decline in quality for any story is wholly subjective, too. In the case of x files? I'm not convinced there is a decline. I am going to be upfront that I haven't yet watched past season 8, though I am almost completely spoiled on events after that - and the reason I haven't watched yet is not because of how I know events are going to unfold, but simply because I don't want it to end!!! Ohh, the tension between "I CAN'T WAIT!!!" and "Nooo don't be over D:"

When I first came to txf fandom on tumblr and gradually became spoiled about what happens in late canon though, I was often left uncomfortable and tbh kinda queasy about it. As I said in my comment on the poll, the hate for especially the revival and IWTB, or to a lesser extent even seasons 8 & 9, is very well documented. But! There are other takes to be found here on tumblr if you figure out where to look, and my feelings have changed!

The thing is, I have yet to find myself in any fandom where there isn't a vocal subset of fans who dislike the story after a certain point. I am not joking when I say that no one hates the things they love as passionately as sci-fi and fantasy fans. In my experience, it often hinges on the extent to which a viewer has strong notions on where they would like the characters to end up. In particular with series where shipping is a dominant component for the bulk of a fandom, I have almost universally found that there comes some turning point in the story where "let them be happy you cowards" is the dominant view, and things that compromise the attainment of a degree of romantic stability and/or domesticity are, to many fans, annoying at best and despicable at worst. But! As one tagset on the linked poll said:

and I think for any fandom, that last tag especially is so so so important. (I think that's harder for people watching a weekly series live, bc you have so much time to analyze and speculate and dream before the next breadcrumb drops, but I digress.)

So why am I saying this and how do I apply it to x files? Well, I eventually found that there are also a subset of fans who find redeeming things right up to the very end and actually quite like the whole thing! The things that I had seen people rage and ventpost so much about honestly never quite sounded to me as "out of character" or "untrue to the story" etc as those same ventposts made them sound. And I've discovered I'm not the only one who felt that way. Do I love that the spooky squad had to go through all of those things? No, those poor guys D: Life is hard and they have been through so much trauma. But do those events and their choices make sense to me in light of everything that came before? Yes! And I honestly can't wait to see them fight to overcome those things, breaking, healing, always learning, always growing, always getting better.

So if you're wondering "where does it go wrong"... well, I'm a completionist, as many people who've answered that post are, but also my personal opinion is that I don't think it does go wrong. If you're new and interested in exploring why I've gone from "vaguely queasy" to "excited" about the whole thing, or want to maybe balance out the impressions you're getting about the later seasons before deciding whether or not you want to see the whole thing, I'll put a few blog names in the comments.

Final admission: even once I started feeling a little more confident in the possibility that "actually ok maybe I'm not crazy, maybe this all kind of is in character and does make sense", there was one big plot point that I was NOT looking forward to and I thought I would never be comfortable about. In hindsight, I think my discomfort came from the negative responses being SO seemingly universal that I hadn't stopped to let myself truly consider other possible interpretations on that point. (I mean my initial instinct when I first read about it was, why are we mad about this?? CSM is literally the most unreliable narrator in history???? it's obviously fake news?????? this must be either a fever dream someone's having or it's a misdirection ploy against whatever shadowy forces might still be lurking?????????????? but for whatever reason I guess I had halfway written that off.) Happily, just last month there's a new post-s11 novel out, and although reviews for the book as a whole are mixed, it seems to have laid the groundwork for resolving that plot issue in a way I think most fans would be broadly happy with. If you're interested in being spoiled about that and seeing how, I recommend searching #perihelion on @agent-troi who liveblogged reading it with receipts, scroll back chronological-style to the first post on the subject and see how it unfolded. (And never forget that Dana Katherine Scully is the queen of denial as a coping mechanism lol)

Everyone's mileage will vary. Each person can feel however they want! But for anyone new, I wanted you to know that the very many ventposts you might be seeing are not all there is to this show or its fandom. Some of us love it despite - or even because of - all the things that went "wrong". I think we just don't talk about it as much.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[bonefall]

And not all DC fans are mad! I was happy when Leafpool beat Starfire, and I was pleased with Bumble winning too. (Epilepsy dad here, who is a comics fan, and has 4 kids who love reading the warrior cat books and have the Minifig warriors become superheroes In the Gotham city I hot as a kid) im digressing here: What keeps the warrior cats fandom strong is how you all form up around the cats that were mistreated by the writers, how you bring them into your homes and hearts and make better features for them. My Amuma always used to say if enough people believed in something, then maybe their will can change the world.

Always good to see you around!

This vitriol has been super disappointing, y'know? I feel like I have to keep stressing that DC fans are valid, their frustrations with the comics are well-founded, and Bumble's opponents should also be acknowledged as victims of misogyny

And then we don't get that grace back! Doesn't matter that Warriors is a best-selling kids' series with REALLY harmful messages in it read by millions across the globe. Bumble's "just a cat" and we're "reading too much into it." As if that's not the same shit that gets said about misogyny in media broadly; "They're not real, comics are just for fun, you're reading too much into it"

Now people are like "Oh it was a mistake for WARRIOR CATS to be in this poll" because they're mad our "just a cat" is winning. Like it's not a tournament and that's the whole point. We've got people trying to say that Bumble can't even have misogyny happen to her because the human writers superficially made her a cat, as if she's not a fantasy character like every other fantasy character she's been up against.

But, ugh. I won't let it stop me, y'know? StarClan gives its hardest battles to its strongest warriors ✨✨I will never shut up about the "justa cats," this fandom rocks exactly because of the fact we're so passionate about these issues and how to address and fix them, Bumblesweep FOREVER!

[lilowoof]

ngl gamers, I think I'm gonna inevitably lose to the hormones and depression in the near future XD

Can't bring myself to be active cause I'm using a lot of energy to not vent post all the time. But fuck it, into the tags I go!

[whiskeyswifty]

.

[rabbithaver]

god it really sucks that sega is so dead set on Shadow's current characterization because like... Ian hates it too. like, he's always the target of criticism when it comes to Shadow in IDW and the TailsTube, but i really wish people would consider:

he also hates that this is the direction they're dragging the character. he wants Shadow to experience emotions again. like, fuck, dude, he writes a damn good Shadow when he's allowed some freedom, but Sega will not give him that anymore. you cannot read preboot Archie and then tell me he's not invested in giving Shadow depth and nuance.

and it's so frustrating because like, we've seen what Shadow can be when he's allowed to be a character. we've seen what he can be when he's written by people who care about the story and not just a cardboard cutout. we have seen what he can be when there's not a fucking crayon lodged in his prefrontal cortex

i get why people are upset, i really do. but for the love of fuck, Ian Flynn is not the problem here, and he never has been. hell, he's on your side. he's not happy about it, either

[wingedarchivist]

w4rframe jade pros:

angel frame omggggggggggggg!!!!!!! ANGEL IM AN ANGEL I LOVE PLAYABLE ANGELS

w4rframe jade cons: (j4de sh4dows spoilers under the cut and in tags)

the fucking. pregnant belly. wtf. eugh. *retches* (disclaimer before anyone tries to come at me: I have tokophobia!!!! I lowkey hate the quest and what they made of jade ngl)

[miodiodavinci]

the burnout is real lads . . . . .

[poisonedapples]

Super heavy vent ahead in the tags

[cozage]

I feel like I'm going to be cancelled for this but I have to say it:

I do not like Gol D. Roger.

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

Radfems and Alt-right'ers aligning with each other is one of the most incredible things to come out of the 21st century lmao

[silverselfshippingchaos]

man.. shipping with characters from movies is so hard..

[liliallowed]

me when I actually find the gay:

woah holy shit out kind is not extinct!?

[fexicoded]

.

[pyrriax]

ANYWHO goodnight tumblr i'll be back on the art grind tomorrow i think 🙏