#i'm harry potter trash

[the-phoenix-heart]

okay so I've been spending a lot of time thinking about Harry Potter recently and trolling the wiki for reasons and I have the weirdest observation about the series.

What is JKR's deal with Ravenclaw women?

I mean consider our main Ravenclaw girls: Luna Lovegood and Cho Chang (and Marietta Edgecombe). Luna in the movies is portrayed as whimsically queer, and that's not inaccurate to the books, but in the books she is more often a punchline than anything. She's a parody of the Ravenclaw ideals of creativity and openminded-ness to the point where she believes crazy conspiracy theories.

But she's our most positively portrayed Ravenclaw. Which is more than I can say for Cho and Marietta. Cho is portrayed as a pitiable character, someone so emotional and loyal that she is sympathetic, but the narrative portrays her overemotional nature and loyalty as bad traits. She's so emotional she'll blow up over perceived threats, and dwells on trauma, and it makes her a drag to talk to. And her loyalty is a bad thing because she chooses to be loyal to Marietta. Marietta is ESPECIALLY treated awfully. Marietta is scared for her mother's job that she rats out the DA and for her choice she is forever branded a traitor at 16, and this is completely justifiable. Like, if Hermione can jinx a paper to disfigure a person's face than couldn't she just jinx the paper to make it physically impossible to reveal the DA, except perhaps under the influence of veritaserum? Like the film did? But no, Hermione is instead more preoccupied with punishing than preventing (an insane thing for me to say, I'm sorry Hermione it's not your fault that your author is kinda insane about women).

(And just as a sidebar but Marietta is also given an illustration that makes it clear she was kinda ugly before the pimples which is so rude, but also so like JKR.)

Then you have very minor characters like Padma who are just generally portrayed as kinda bitchy. Padma gets off better than her sister in terms of being treated as bitchy, but it seems like Padma always carries the stigma of being disappointed by Ron at the Yule Ball.

But this goes back even FURTHER, to the oldest Ravenclaw student we are introduced to, Helena Ravenclaw.

In the films, again, Helena's scene with Harry is haunting. She's treated with respect and tragedy (almost all of the dialogue in the film is original). But in the books, yes we actually get her tragic backstory, but she is portrayed as haughty, vain, and prideful.

You can also add in Trelawney there as a Ravenclaw who is treated like a joke (crazy* and alcoholic).

And consider that the two women we know were almost in Ravenclaw, Hermione and McGonagall, end up going to Gryffindor and are portrayed as better off for it.

And like there is more to explore here. The four Ravenclaw men we really get to know are Filius, Ollivander, Xenophilius, and Lockhart. Xenpohilius is a conspiracy theorist (and a death eater sympathizer I just know it) and Lockhart is a buffoon who only really upholds the Ravenclaw wit and is skilled at memory charms.

(There's this crazy part of the Ravenclaw wiki page that actually compares Lockhart to Cho Chang because they both wanted to be popular. WHAT.)

Meanwhile you have Ollivander who is a positive Ravenclaw character, but is also barely in the books and Filius Flitwick. And Filius is a positive character but it is also canon that the Sorting Hat almost put him in Gryffindor, which seems like a pointed attempt to make it clear he's better than most Ravenclaws. Because he's got something of a Gryffindor edge to him.

I don't really know what the whole point of me going on this rant was about, other than just to point out that JKR is weird about Ravenclaws and the women in general. Almost all of them aren't allowed to actually uphold the actual values of their house: Wisdom, Intelligence, Learning. The only traits they ever really uphold is Wit if they are popular and Creativity, which seems to be a nice way of saying they're crazy conspiracy theorists. The only characters that really get anything good out of the house are Minerva and Hermione, and them being hatstalls is only meant to emphasize their intelligence in comparison to their Gryffindor peers. Otherwise Ravenclaw seems to just be JKR's go to bitchy/we need a villain who isn't Slytherin house.

*When I say "crazy" in this post I am referring to how JKR treats the characters. Babbling, loony, conspiratorial, and not in their right minds.

[kalainthecanoe]

“You have learned nothing.” Severus scoffed, turning his head away like he couldn’t bear the sight of him. “You don’t feel real remorse, you only want to placate me with platitudes.”

“I have learned a lot.” Remus disagreed softly. “But it’s not up to me to force that truth on you. If you would like to see me grovelling at your feet every day, then I gladly will, but I have the feeling that would only serve to make you angrier.” 

“Then why approach me at all!?” Severus demanded, voice raising for the first time in true unbridled anger. Remus wished he didn’t find it as breathtaking as he did, because even an angry Severus was at least some form of attention. It was why he’d started to join in on irritating him in the first place. 

“I told you.” Remus whispered, feet drawing him in like a moth to flame. “I am not a good person. A letter would have sufficed. A quick apology and a promise to never go near you.” He put his hand on the back of the same chair as Severus, leaning in and savouring the conflicted look on Severus’s face while he glared down at his own hands. Remus took a chance and put his hand over top of the potioneer’s, brushing his whitened knuckles with his thumb to try and stop them from clenching so tightly. 

“I just wanted an excuse to see you.”

[hussyknee]

People thinking they can poke holes in the quality of the media I hyperfixate on puzzle me. Dude, I know it's trash. I know it's mediocre-to-actively bad. I know it has the nutritional value of Fruit Loops. That's why I hyperfixate on it. If it was actually good it wouldn't produce the kind of under-the-skin irritation only scratchable by 738274 fics, fanedits and meta. I'm not gonna apologize for it.

Of course people who hyperfixate on this trash thinking it's good is a whole other class of animal. That probably belongs in a zoo.

[sodafrog13]

man the irony of trans inclusive spaces still supporting harry patter is beyond me

[too-cool-for-facebook]

Sentences that can and should co-exist:

"I really like the movie The Wizard of Oz" (book written by L. Frank Baum)

"L. Frank Baum was a fucking asshole racist" (advocated for the extermination of Native Americans)

Once a thing is created, it takes on a life of its own. A child, while influenced by those who bore and raised them, is not that parent/guardian. A work can stand independently of its creator

[emdotcom]

You. Nuance now.

You can like shit that has problematic shit in it, without being a bad person. You don't have to give me a list of EVERY bad thing a piece of media you enjoy does, & why it's bad, but it DOES help to be mindful of that shit. You're allowed to enjoy your bad thing. You don't have to explain it or qualify it to anyone -- you know it's bad, we all know it's bad.

That said, if you watch something with bad shit, people will indeed judge you, or want you to not talk about your thing, or may even avoid you/block you for posting about it. While I know that feels bad, it's just a fact, bud. Those people don't directly want to hurt you, they just feel real strongly, & I think they're allowed to feel that, & I think they're allowed to act on that, to a certain point.

FURTHERMORE, there is a fucking line that you do not, do not, do NOT cross! Where that is will be different for most people, & fuzzy for all. For me, I can tolerate a lot of shit, but another person may not. I also think there is a definitive line you don't cross, which is media that is actively hurting somebody. I find it helpful to ask, "Is consuming this thing harmful? Can I hurt somebody this way?" I.E. you buy the queen terf antisemitism & transphobia game, beaming money DIRECTLY into the queen terf 's bank account, which sh has publicly, VERBALLY said she treats as a person accepting her shit beliefs, & she will then use the money to lobby horrendous bills. You are not enjoying garbage, at this point. You are actively doing something wrong, & you fucking know it, & I don't have the time nor the desire to waste another single goddam breath on telling you that any further.

I am not saying that you are required to go invest in problematic things. I am not saying you need to see something you KNOW will upset you. I am saying you are allowed to keep a list of media that you will never, ever touch, that you hate enough that you will not even talk to somebody about it. I am saying you can block a person over liking a piece of shit media you fucking hate. I am saying you can have a list of things that bug you so badly, that you immediately drop something just for having it, & you don't have to qualify anything on that list to me, or explain why -- you can just avoid that thing -- that's just fine. I am saying you can like something with bad shit in it, & I promise you do NOT need to give me a 5k words essay on why it's bad -- this isn't school, you're not getting Oops I Like Something Bad 😞😔 homework.

I am saying you are human. You are meat & bone, with a bit of electricity running through it. You are fallable. You are allowed to like something that isn't good. You do not have to be forever pure, forever flawless marble, because you are not made of stone, & even if you were, marble is worn down & away, with time. Nothing is infallible or perfect, in this world, & that's nice, actually.

I'm also saying, what a fucking miserable way to go through life, seeing everything that is not perfectly pristine as a sin, as a crime, as something that even an association with makes you guilty. There's so many things to see, to read, to watch, to share, & you're being FUCKING CATHOLIC ABOUT IT??? DO I NEED TO REPENT?? FOR LIKING SOMETHING NOT 10000% CLEAN?? SHOULD I PAY MY FUCKING TITHES OR JUST GET THE LASHES. GRABS YOU. MAIMS.

[never-wake-up]

pov you boycott a bitch for being transphobic* but your referent has you analyse her literary work and your referent's husband gives you a transphobic text for your graded translation work but you can't afford to fail your year

*Not forgetting about the antisemitism, racism and other but the transphobia is really the thematic link here

[dabihawksluvr]

I half agree with this.

Though from my stance, I am queer and grew up on Harry Potter. So it holds some very dear memories for me, and I can see why some will be against doing this just for another person's general comfort.

BUT.

If you are friends with an ally, and you ask them to remove their Hogwarts/Ilvermorny house so you can just generally feel better...and they don't? Yeah, throw them in the trash.

Though I don't normally post what my houses are (Hufflepuff and Horned Serpant btw hehe), if I did I'd ask why the person wants me to not and if they react a certain way I will either just block them or take down my houses from whatever bios I put them in. Though the latter option would largely be if I know the person, for the former it's so they don't see my content if I happen to post about Harry Potter at any point and they end up seeing it.

Still gonna post about them tho, again Harry Potter is such a core memory in my life so I can't entirely discard it. And I ain't getting rid of my old merch either, that shit was expensive (especially the Time Turner necklace I got it for my 16th birthday). If anyone gets mad at me for still having merch/movies from back before all the JKR TERF stuff started, well it's a good thing I just keep it mostly to myself. Not like I'm gonna but any of her new stuff, or watch whatever re-makes or spin-offs she decides to pop out (seriously the last HP movie I bought was the first Fantastic Beasts movie and the second one I just pirated hehe).

[ichorkurt]

ficrecs masterlist ii.

welcome to my second ficrecs masterlist! find my main blog @ichorai. find my own fics here.

below the cut includes jujutsu kaisen, lord of the rings, saltburn, the halcyon, marvel, game of thrones, house of the dragon, prisoners, world on fire, dc, doctor who, scott pilgrim, succession, harry potter, the boys, interview with the vampire, and gangsta fics!

jujutsu kaisen.

jujutsu kaisen men in the world of work by @drak3n

ೃ⁀➷ naoya zenin.

only a fool for you by @mochimoshis

ೃ⁀➷ satoru gojo.

luxury & lingerie by @celestie0

ೃ⁀➷ suguru geto.

the guy i lost my virginity to is stalking me by @gorehsk

lord of the rings.

ೃ⁀➷ legolas.

watcher of wanderers by @entishramblings

saltburn.

ೃ⁀➷ michael gavey.

the golden ratio by @ewanmitchellcrumbs

midpoint by @asumofwords

mine all mine by @humanpurposes

the poetry of logical ideas by @sylasthegrim

stick it out to the end by @aemondsbabe

the halcyon.

ೃ⁀➷ billy taylor.

one more tomorrow by @tomhiddleston

marvel.

ೃ⁀➷ kurt wagner.

bamf babies by @bamfkeeper

for love, we sin the most by @larcenywrites

kurt's instincts are still flaring... you know just how to help by @/bamfkeeper

parents by @/bamfkeeper

untitled by @dinogoofymutated

untitled by @dreaming-tonite

untitled by @kayesfanfics

untitled by @sanguineterrain

ೃ⁀➷ logan howlett.

logan's reaction when you wear one of his shirts by @periprose

ೃ⁀➷ peter parker.

untitled by @forever-rogue

game of thrones / house of the dragon.

pregnancy headcanons by @princessbellecerise

ೃ⁀➷ gwayne hightower.

& now i'm covered in you by @swordgrace

ೃ⁀➷ jacaerys velaryon.

hunger games au by @maidragoste

lotus bloom by @hxtd

ೃ⁀➷ jaime lannister.

the best fit by @casterladyrock

war has changed by @villaingaze

prisoners.

ೃ⁀➷ david loki.

blood bond by @davidlcki

sfw alphabet by @charliehoennam

tall, dark, and handsome by @rebelliousstories

world on fire.

ೃ⁀➷ tom bennett.

best intentions by @/ewanmitchellcrumbs

rocking the boat by @ultraintrovertedgryffindor

dc.

attractive things they do ... without realizing by @ahqkas

ೃ⁀➷ adrian chase.

five times vigilante definitely does not have feelings (and one time he does) by @tropes-and-tales

helluva drug by @lysenfeu

hot venom by @jangofctts

never been kissed by @training4theapocalypse

thirsty by @/training4theapocalypse

ೃ⁀➷ bruce wayne.

clingy mornings by @kurogxrix

wife on repeat by @bat-mom-writer

ೃ⁀➷ dick grayson.

sunset anew by @/sanguineterrain

doctor who.

ೃ⁀➷ eleventh doctor.

cold feet by @undiscovered-horizon

dangerous habits by @social-mockingbird

a day in by @cloginthedrain

my john by @watchoutforthefanfics

safest place in the universe by @holly-the-trash-writer

set things right by @pastanest

ticking love bomb by @/watchoutforthefanfics

scott pilgrim.

ೃ⁀➷ kim pine.

right next door by @writersbarrierblock

ೃ⁀➷ wallace wells.

untitled by @twiixr4kidz

untitled by @/twiixr4kidz

succession.

their marriage proposal by @romeulusroy

ೃ⁀➷ lukas matsson.

normal people by @the-west-meadow

ೃ⁀➷ roman roy.

baby by @richeeduvie

being roman roy's personal assistant (and his obsession) would include... by @senselessviolets

gossamer by @/romeulusroy

i'm annoying by @bowieandqueen11

movie by @eeveebitches

right where you left me by @aurorag98

smile like you mean it by @cvrnelians

this hope is trecherous by @aprilthearcher

untitled by @/richeeduvie

untitled by @/richeeduvie

untitled by @/richeeduvie

untitled by @/richeeduvie

untitled by @/richeeduvie

wedding prep by @/richeeduvie

harry potter.

ೃ⁀➷ cormac mclaggen.

finders keepers by @/training4theapocalypse

ೃ⁀➷ fred weasley.

anything by @ibbythebee

beloved, besotted, betrothed by @emeritusemeritus

the boys.

ೃ⁀➷ black noir.

i want to f**k you like an animal by @dollerinna

interview with the vampire.

dating headcanons by @tomriddleslovergirl

untitled by @steph-speaks

ೃ⁀➷ lestat de lioncourt.

gold, and gold again by @theawfuledges

gangsta.

initiation by @imperatorkhaleesi

ೃ⁀➷ nicolas brown.

untitled by @dollwrites

[petite-madame]

just so you know, it’s very obvious to actual artists that you’re posting AI and then lying that you’ve done it all by hand. kind of embarrassing, and more than a little fucked up.

Hi anon

This kind of nonsense usually ends up in the trash with a laugh but as it's my first "your art is AI", let's go! (It was just a matter of time, as practically all my artist friends got this kind of messages at this point)

it’s very obvious to actual artists...

Actual artists ? You mean, like me, a professional illustrator in her 40s, who has started drawing at the age of 8 and who has been drawing with a consistant art style for the past 15 years (with some improvements, thank god 🤓) ? People like you have accused me of tracing using tracing paper when I was a kid, tracing in Photoshop 15 years ago when I started to post on the internet and now my art is "AI". I should be used to it by now: when I posted this one 14 YEARS AGO, people told me it was traced and that "I wasn't a real artist, actual artists could tell"

I've consistently posted step by step, WIPs, vids, reels, gifs, shown the number of layers I use by art (sometimes more than 100) but apparently, it's never enough. And my art is AI generated ? Which one ?

So much for the Loki one, I apologize for the 0,3%…

Which is also funny is that fans of Supernatural, Good Omens, Sherlock, etc…have been able to say exactly which reference pictures I used for each drawing, not only for faces but sometimes also for the pose and the clothing (because yes, omg, I use reference pictures, the horror 😲)

However if you want to talk about my technique, and I've never hidden it, I sometimes use photos or 3D models for backgrounds because I hate drawing backgrounds. For instance the background of the Superwholock one is composed of a couple of stock pictures (a pub).

Same for a "Sherlock Harry Potter AU" I'll post in a month or so: some parts oh Hogwarts are screenshots from the movie because I didn't feel like drawing a room full of students.

Also, is there sometimes mistakes in my art that don't make sense ? Yes, nothing new, I make mistakes, I've been doing it for years and I still do it, particularly when it comes to anatomy. I want to pull my hair out when I notice them weeks (sometimes months) later but here we are.

Anyway, people like you who throw "it's AI" accusations all over the Internet better think twice because the result is this.

Don't get me wrong, I get the AI paranoia but instead of sending messages to artists like this one, ask kindly about their process, their technique, etc…and also, have a look at their archive, it could help.

I'm leaving you now, I have AI art to generate (= spending 10 hours per drawing using reference pictures, finding inspiration from classical painting, using about 100 layers and stressing about the art not being good enough).

Have a great weekend!

[k-kizkhalifa]

"So life is good, Harry? Things working out as you want?" Skeeter asked, glancing over her glasses at the man, her Quick-Quotes Quill working away.

Harry, smiling, watched her take a drink of her tea and then opened his arms as if to say this was it, sitting in his studio, serving tea to Rita Skeeter.

"I'm surprised you finally decided to sit down with me," she grinned, a little wicked gleam in her eyes, "but as promised, I'll keep the quips to myself."

He shrugged a shoulder, and relaxed, "do your worst, Skeeter."

The interview went smoothly, even sharing a few laughs - ones from Harry in annoyance more often than not as she tried to pry more private information from him ("we've seen you around with Malfoy? Friends now?" "Whatever happened to that Weasley girl?"), but she knew as the hours dwindled time was running out and she wanted to ask. The readers would be dying to know, when they caught sight of the front page image of Harry Potter just in an apron and jeans, sweating as he worked at the pottery wheel in the morning sun.

"Thank you for the tea, Potter. I do suppose I have one more question, for everyone." Harry gave a nod, waiting. "Why this, after all the work and the accomplishments? Why did you invest here, in this?"

Harry grinned, looking around at everything he made, all of his hard work and quick earned sales that kept him happy, busy, and afloat. Though, he wouldn't tell her that. Instead, he stood and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, "made sense I suppose. Potter a potter."

hope this is okay.... but uh.

@slyssnakes shared this with us, and then I spent all morning thinking about it and wrote this trash. so... anyway. hey go check out their artwork, too much talent not to be admired!

[jenning-fcb]

There's something that really irritates me about the Marauders fandom, I don't know if it's an unpopular opinion or not, but I don't care.

It really bothers me the way y'all talk about fanfic. Sometimes I think some people here forget that fanfics aren't written by professional authors, it's something that someone is writing for fun and that you can read for free. you shouldn't be criticizing them as if they were published books written by professional authors.

You have every right in the world to be reading something and not like it, but do you know what is the right thing to do? Just close the tab and go look for something that you like more. Don't make videos on tik tok talking bad about the story. I'm really impressed by the number of videos talking bad about fanfics, trashing them. Have some shame… I always think that when I go into the comments of this type of video I will find people criticizing this type of stance in the comments, but I never do. The comments are always full of people criticizing other fanfics not mentioned in the video.

just imagine writing a fanfic and posting it for free for others to read, something you wrote just for entertainment, and then opening tik tok and having thousands of people talking bad about you and your writing. and I'm specifically talking about Tik Tok because that's where I see it happening the most and where these videos have the more reach, but I know it also happens on others social media. I don't know if it happens here, but for example on Twitter I know it does.

and I'm speaking as someone who has never experienced this, I've never published any Harry Potter fanfic. lol and I don't see that happening in other fandoms (and also my stories have very little reach, so I don't think it would happen to me).

and another thing that bothers me, which is still within the subject of how this fandom treats fanfic, is that y'all really seem to have lost track of what that word means. the way I see some people talking disdainfully about fanfics that aren't ''very realistic''. buddy, it's FANFIC. Fanfic doesn't have to be realistic. I see a lot of people saying ''Ah, finally a fanfic that treats the 70s in a realistic way'', it's okay if you PREFER the fanfic to be realistic, that's personal taste. But it's not okay to treat fanfics that aren't realistic with disdain. One is not better than the other, being more realistic does not give more merit. Because it's just the author's choice, how they wants the story to be.

I myself prefer fanfics that aren't realistic, because as a lesbian I'm already fed up with homophobia in real life, and this is dealt with in almost every story with LGBTQIA+ people in books, films, etc… at least in fanfic I can pretend it doesn't exist.

again, personal taste is one thing, but thinking that some fanfics are better written than others just because they suit your tastes better its not okay. and treating what you don't like as inferior, with disdain… that's the problem.

Anyway, this outburst ended up getting bigger than I thought it would. lol I don't know if anyone will read this but I just wanted to get it off my chest. and if some parts were confusing, well, im sorry, but english is not my first language. and sometimes it's difficult to express myself.

ah, I'm part of several fandoms, but I only refer to the marauders because it's something I only see happening here. Maybe because it's the biggest fandom I'm part of, as the others are much more niche. but if it happens in other fandoms, have shame too. lol It's not cool for this to happen in any fandom.

[kamaela]

Trash Tuesday

@yiiiiiiiikes25 told me to take out the trash, so I did. A snippet from an abandoned WIP that'll never see the light of day (NSFW)

Draco can't recall how it started. Honestly, he can't. And he can't think of a reason why it keeps happening. He'd like to have a reason; something to point at and say, this is why. But if he can't think of one even after being relentlessly interrogated by a very nosy Pansy Parkinson, then he really has no hope. 

“What does he want from you?” Pansy asks, bumping into him as they walk, side by side, down the cobbled streets of Diagon. 

“I don't know.”

“Well, do you talk?"

“Not really. A bit.”

“So he just comes to the shop, to fuck you?”

Draco shrugs. “Sometimes I fuck him.”

“Ha.” She throws her head back and laughs. The afternoon sun reflects off her shiny black hair. “What a time to be alive. My best friend is regularly dicking down the Saviour of the Wizarding World. In the back of a grimy shop, no less!”

“Could you keep it down?” Draco hisses.

“Oh, unclench. No one is listening to us.” 

“Yeah, well. Still. I don't think—I’m sure he wouldn't want anyone to know.”

She narrows her eyes. “Do you want people to know?”

“Absolutely not! Are you kidding? I’ve got enough heat on me without adding being Harry Potter’s secret fuck buddy to the list.”

“Okay, wait. I need to know more. What's he like after? Is he all broody and 'this doesn't mean I'm gay'?”

Draco hums, shakes his head. “Bit clingy actually. Always wants to cuddle.”

She squeals, and Draco actually clamps his hand over her mouth. “Gods, this is fantastic,” she continues, her voice all muffled. Draco rolls his eyes. His palm is smudged with lipstick when he pulls it away. “You better keep at it. Now I've got a pipeline for Potter gossip I'm not giving it up.”

“I think that's up to me, actually.” They stop in front of the Apothecary. He kisses her cheek. “Anyway, I've got to run.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself!" She calls as the door swings shut behind him.

tagging @phoenixortheflame @its-the-allure @tripably @mono-chromia @faiell @mintawasalreadytaken @dodgerkedavra , @edieblakewrites plus anyone else who reads this. Share your scraps, abandoned paragraphs, alternates that just didn't make the cut. I wanna knowww

[genericpuff]

Why is the art so unappealing in lore Olympus now Persephone looks like a highlighter and maybe it’s just me but the proportions like the fingers in arms are soul over the place I don’t think they used to be this bad. Am I just looking at it with nostalgia or am I crazy ?

Honestly, nostalgia does play a huge part in it, even to this day there are times I look back on old S1 panels and go-

Actually here's a great example that literally just happened yesterday in the ULO Discord that nearly had me on the floor LOL This is from Episode 70:

Like I didn't even believe that that was real until I was told what episode it was from and I was just. Astounded and flabbergasted. The over-shading of the blanket that just makes it look like a really bad edit. Insane.

And yeah, there are a lot of old panels that hit different now that the rose-colored glasses have been removed, crushed, and thrown into the trash compactor.

I think that's why it makes it all the more amusing when people come into my inbox and ask me "wait, why did you like LO to begin with?? It's always been ugly as shit, I think you're just romanticizing it" because like... there's something to be said about art and subjectivity, even if something is ugly to one person doesn't mean it isn't beautiful to someone else. It's why I try not to be too mean towards the fans of this comic for still enjoying it, because while I definitely have strong opinions about how "LO has gotten worse" and what kind of following Rachel has cultivated (cough cough), there are also just as equally valid arguments that LO has never begin good to begin with that I can't necessarily disagree with now that I'm looking back on it with a more critical eye.

That said, there's tons of media that I enjoy that is objectively awful. Like y'all, you don't need to take my opinions about a dumb pink x blue fantasy romance comic seriously, I like Starfox Adventures-

Like yeah it's a badly made rushed piece of shit that was developed right on the ass end of Rare's glory days and was really an original IP (Dinosaur Planet) that got Frankenstein'd into a Starfox game so it could "sell better" for Nintendo, but I don't give a fuck, I love Starfox Adventures and some day I wanna be in the top 10 speedrunner leaderboards for it, which I know doesn't mean much because no one is speedrunning Starfox, but I do and no one can take that away from me dammit-

Anyways. Lore Olympus has, in many regards, always had "bad art". But "bad art" can and should still be enjoyed by those who find joy in it.

And in LO's case, the world it existed in when it launched was a lot smaller than it is now - more specifically, the world of Webtoons. We can look back and see how 'bad' LO looks and reads now because there are genuinely way better comics surrounding it. It was unique and refreshing and experimental back then... now it's just "that stupid blue and pink comic for horny teenagers".

In most cases I would consider that "cringing in hindsight" feeling a good thing because normally it means something has grown and that it seeming "bad" in hindsight would mean that it's outgrown itself and moved onto bigger things. But LO has the more unique problem of "its current stuff is shit and it's making us want the old stuff more, even if the old stuff wasn't good either". In that regard, LO is closer to being like Harry Potter. Remember when The Cursed Child came out at the height of Rowling being exposed for being a TERF and even people who liked Harry Potter didn't like The Cursed Child because it was just objectively worse overall (with or without Rowling's bullshit attached)? It made a lot of people go back and re-read / rewatch Harry Potter with a more objective lens and go "wait a minute guys, I think we only adored these books so much because we were 12 when we read them". Often times it's the good memories we have surrounding certain things that make us have the opinion about them that we do.

Of course, LO is definitely not as politically weaponized as Harry Potter is, so that's where that comparison ends. But my point is that LO is definitely in a situation where it's been riding off the same privileges it had back in 2018 - having an 'experimental' art style while also utilizing tropes and characters that were VERY popular at the time (remember that 2017-18 was when Tumblr was at its height of H x P "Hades was a chill accountant guy who wore socks and sandals and didn't cheat on his wife like Zeus did" fantasizing) - and thinks that those same tricks and tropes will still work today.

Because of this, the art in LO really, really hasn't aged well, even the stuff that we look back on fondly. But I think it's the panels that we specifically think of when remembering "old LO" - the ones that stuck in our memories the most - that are the ones that make us miss or just not care about the panels that don't look good (the panels that make people question why we ever liked it to begin with).

We liked it because of how it made us feel to look at panels like these-

Those genuinely wonderful panels that we think back on the most don't exist separately from the bad panels, they exist in spite of them. Even if we can look back on panels like these and pick out problems in the lineart or the proportions or the color travelling outside of the lines, that can't and shouldn't change how those panels made us feel at some point or another. And that's why when people ask me "why were you even into LO in the first place" I don't have any one answer, because I can't fully explain how something made me feel to justify why it's good to someone who can see from the outside - without rose-colored glasses - that it evidently isn't. It's very much a "you had to be there" type of thing.

Unfortunately, nowadays even the 'best' LO panels in S3 still don't come close to what the S1 panels accomplished - because for many of us, the rose-colored glasses are gone, we can't appreciate the good among the bad because we know now how bad it truly is and so the good just feels like wasted attempts at trying to recreate something it can no longer be. It "came back wrong" so to speak.

LO came back just regular. But our journey to resurrecting it changed us to such a degree that even its closest intimacies are now foreign to us. Sorry dude.

This is still probably one of my favorite panels out of the entirety of S3 for being as close to "old LO" as I've seen since S2, and even it feels like a mistake, an accident, how could a panel like this exist in S3 when so much of it is a dumpster fire? It's like a flower growing in the ruins of an apocalyptic wasteland.

But wasn't that always the case? Isn't that 'always' what LO has been, since the very beginning? A poorly cobbled together mess of writing and panels that, every now and then, manages to leave an impression that makes you feel something? Did we ever truly know LO? Or have we just been relying entirely on an idea of it that we've built up in our heads that when it does do exactly what it's evidently always done (even if not made apparent until looking back on it in hindsight) we think it "came back wrong"?

[olderthannetfic]

I find it really sad when proshippers partake in "cringe culture" so to speak. you can't build your platform on anti-harassment and then make fun of people for being into something you deem stupid/trash/etc.

Like, I know in my mind that proshipping is more about anti-censorship and being pro "darker" stuff so to speak, and that it's not REALLY built on "we shouldn't make fun of people for reading/watching Stupid Stuff" but shouldn't the two be connected? I'd honestly argue that the latter argument is a stepping stool to the former?

Because how can you reblog "all ships are good ships" "ship and let ship" and then make fun of someone for being for an adult who still ships Steven Universe characters? How can you post "RPF is fine" but then make fun of that person on stan twitter who's a bit too into kpop rpf?

just makes me sad. The people who have made fun of me for the most for my MCU hyperfixation are my fellow proshippers. I've unfollowed people for posting book-tok screenshots that are clearly just mocking the OP for the fact that they read Colleen Hoover or whatever.

And I'm not talking about privately shittalking something, or just hating something in general; I'm not not even really talking about laughing at the *media/media creator itself* and criticizing it. I mean, I myself still laugh at the "read another book" Harry Potter meme (which, if i really need to add a disclaimer, i am DEFINITELY not talking about people who think it's weird and fucked up af that some people still like JKR as a person because. . .how can you at this point?). Moreso I mean people who claim to be SOOOO anti harassment and SOOOO pro-all-forms-of-art-even-'bad'-art (whether the art be bad in a moral way or in a creative way, whatever "art" "bad" "moral" and "creative" even MEAN because it changes with everyone.)

Obviously no one is going to like every single piece of art ever, and it's, imho, really human to be a "hater" to some degree! I just have a problem when someone genuinely makes fun of the FANS of something or thinks that someone is less intellectual just because the someone in general likes Disney/Twilight/Taylor Swift/Hamilton/whatever. No one gives af if you think a certain writing or acting style is cringe, but if you think the fans are cringe, that says more about you than it does about the fandom.

(also as a send off -- all the 'yous' i said here were general, def not directed at anyone on this blog. I'm just venting and this seems like the best place to do so where people will agree with my words.)

--

[maxknightley]

Can you tell me why Harry Potter is particularly bad and egregious?

well for one thing its creator uses her cultural clout to endlessly scaremonger about Transgenderism and then whenever anyone calls her out on it she's like "what nooooo I love trans people I'm just Asking Questions. just Raising Concerns. about the rights of Real Wombyn." or she threatens them into silence using the UK's insane libel laws

everything from supplemental setting information to character names in her flagship series betray a view of the world that is - if not virulently racist - at the very least embarrassingly provincial. (the writing in her cormoran strike novels is even worse in this regard.) the less said about the house elves, a funny slave race who like being slaves actually and advocating for their rights is silly and wrongheaded, the better.

from what I recall she's also a member of the same ghoulish """""labor""""" party undercurrent that actively crushes any hope of meaningful reform within UK parliamentary politics.

but on a more personal and less political level: it's a children's fantasy series that was never really designed to have more depth than a children's fantasy series, and the constant attempts to make it an Ongoing Franchise are embarrassing at best and actively frustrating at worst. it's like if Willy Wonka got six sequels plus a spinoff about veruca salt plus a spinoff about grandpa joe plus three years of increasingly bizarre supplemental material and literally none of it reckoned with the uncomfortable colonial overtones of the oompa-loompas. at some point you would end up being sick of the whole goddamn thing, even the parts that weren't trash in and of themselves.