#idc if it's not meta anymore i just think it's very fun!!

[kadoodles-on-ao3]

Quick Update: I've been busy with many things good and bad, but I've been working on updating the Xenoblade articles on The Cutting Room Floor with my findings! :)

So far I've done the main party members' unused battle lines, found a tonnn of unused cutscene lines, and added some bugs (everything from the Riki Gem Crafting section on!)

All that's left is to do the temporary party members' and the bosses' lines! I'll probably end up giving the bosses their own subpage... if I'm allowed to do that lol

I've also edited all the playable characters' dialogue articles as well as added info on the bosses' lines to their respective individual pages over on the Xenoseries wiki! :) Too many pages to link here so I'll give you Shulk's and then you can find the rest by searching!

[houliburns]

🌃 intro post! 🌃

(bit late but i didn’t want a cluttered bio anymore so here’s this)

hiii im shay! i fixated on mash back in november and i officially finished it on march 22nd 2023!! im gonna rewatch soon tho

about this blog

this is a side-blog!

tags: i tag pretty extensively for the sake of categorization; here’s hoping my character tags prove fun to scroll through!

queue: as of the day i’m writing this, i have a very full queue, because i have a habit of liking literally every post i see related to a fixation, and then spam-queuing it later to clean my likes out. so i hope you enjoy all the content! lots of funny scenes and textposts, well-made gifsets, wonderful fanart, and insightful meta, if i do say so myself. mashblr is a talented bunch!

original posts/content: i don’t contribute much on my own, but i love to ramble and i hope some of my lengthy tags prove an interesting or at least entertaining read :) i do dabble in fanfic writing and i’ve got a few mash works in my drafts, but i’m not sure if they’ll ever see the light of day. i’m also fond of meta and character analysis, so if i ever work up the courage maybe ill put out some moderately thought-provoking posts in that realm.

some of my opinions relating to mash characters & ships can be found under the read more!

these are all subjective and i completely respect anyone who disagrees :) we’re all here to have fun!

summarized thoughts on the characters (kinda sorted by fav to least fav)

mulcahy has been driving me bonkers for months (and my jewish ass has been putting far too much thought into catholicism lately bc of him😒)

frank,,,, listen. i’m sorry. but listen, as baffled and/or disgusted as you are, i’m the mf stuck being the only one in this entire fandom who flails over frank burns. so how do you think i feel. ik he’s absolutely awful, but he’s just so damn pathetic, i can’t help but like him and find him fascinating

radar is a bubby to me, i dont rlly have complex thoughts on him hes kinda just a comfort character to me n ilhsm

charles... he snuck up on me. i didnt expect to like him, much less relate to him (-_-) i just exposed myself as a charles winchester kinnie how will my reputation recover

i love hawkeye a lot, as we all do <3

i love trapper john mcintyre!!!!!!!!!!

i love margaret!!! i love klinger!!! i love henry!!! 

im pretty neutral on potter and bj

in short: i love them all a lot but mulcahy and frank have each driven me particularly mad in different ways and radar with his animals has made me cry and charles would probably drive me nuts if i let him but i am keeping him at arm’s length.

summarized thoughts on ships (again, strongest first)

(yes i have frank ships. no i am not proud of it)

my mash otp is hawkahy. it’s been slowly draining the remainder of my sanity. i havent slept in months. send help

i am a sucker for enemies/rivals to lovers and hawnk kinda makes me a little nuts.

i know he’s not good for her but i think margaret x frank have a rlly interesting relationship and they can be cute sometimes, and i think about them more than i’d like to admit. i am not immune to het ships consisting of badass women with control issues and their toxic pathetic purse-dog boyfriends.

henry x klinger is literally canon idc

pierceintyre... ;-; hh

i love semi-niche trapper ships. trapcahy is a little bit 👀 and i really like trapper x margaret

hawkeye x henry... shh...

bonus trios i think about sometimes😳: hawkeye x margaret x frank, margaret x frank x flagg (SHH), hawkeye x trapper x mulcahy. do u see my evil vision

aaand some platonic dynamics i particularly enjoy

mulcahy & klinger are besties :)

mulcahy & margaret have a sibling dynamic that i absolutely adore, esp in the potter seasons, particularly the later ones.

charles & margaret are a fun duo. the ship tease they did a little was... idk how to feel about it, but i like them as buddies.

margaret & klinger... the girlies

hawkeye & klinger!!! the el jibbities are flocking together..

hawkeye & margaret :)

i do very much enjoy hawkeye & bj’s friendship

not friendship but charles & mulcahy’s animosity is sooo funny i will never tire of it

notps: klinger x charles, and hunnihawk. do not doxx me.

i think thats all for now. enjoy my nonsense!

.mobile header credit.

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[rubys-domain]

so... a lil update. basically my opinion on all the characters i've listed above. cw for opinions ig lol

5-stars:

pyro

- i still want yoimiya. i like her decently enough. gonna try to get her next patch

geo

- still very much want albedo. even though he's not the most meta unit. i just think he's neat

- still want zhongli. although probably a little less now that i have layla and plan on building her at some point

anemo

- definitely still want venti. i don't give a single fuck whether he's meta or not; that tone-deaf bard will be MINE

- still want kazuha. as a character he's pretty alright. his cc will definitely come in handy at some point so preparing for that eventuality

cryo

- don't particularly want ayaka anymore tbh. even if i get to the point where i have a 5-star dps for every other element, i'm quite adamant on having chong be my cryo dps basically forever. yeah ik she's ridiculously strong and shit. i just don't care anymore tbh. also i used to like her a decent amount as a character, but for some reason i'm pretty meh on her nowadays. so yeah

- still want shenhe. still solely to buff chong. although a lot of these other characters i've listed will take priority over her

hydro

- still want kokomi. i really like her as a character. but even though she's the premier healer, other characters like kazuha will take priority.

4-stars:

pyro

- already got yanfei

geo

- still want yun jin. need her for my future mono geo team. probably gonna get her on the next banner

- not sure if i still want ningguang. i'll probably get her at some point anyway just from pulling for 5-stars. if i get her then ig she can go in my mono geo team. but idk. i know for sure i want albedo and gorou in there. and she'd be fighting with yun jin and noelle for the last two spots. but anyway, yeah. i'll cross that bridge when i get to it

update to characters i said i wouldn't mind getting:

diluc - i definitely wouldn't mind getting diluc. but i'll already have yoimiya as my pyro dps so he probably won't see much use unfortunately. i'd probably build him after i get my teams fully kitted out

tighnari - now the standard 5-star i want the most. i honestly hope he gets back on rate-up soon. not holding my breath though. i'm actually looking forward to losing my 50/50's in the hopes of getting tighnari

heizou - maybe when i do his hangout quest i'll change my mind. but right now he's been demoted to the 'idc that much' tier

qiqi - already have her. i like her a fair amount as a character. unfortunately she doesn't see that much use

ganyu - honestly not that interested in getting her anymore, for similar reasons to ayaka. also her playstyle just isn't for me. as a character, she's alright. pretty meh to me

nilou - i definitely plan on getting her in the future. i like her a lot, and her playstyle seems fun to me

childe - he's alright. strong, but if i wanted a traditional hydro dps i'd probably go for ayato. and i already plan on getting nilou so yeah

mona - she's pretty meh to me. idc that much about getting her anymore

fischl - already got her. she's pretty nifty. also at first i thought i wouldn't like her as a character, but her voice lines actually managed to make me like her

beidou - don't particularly want her anymore. i'm too much of a dummy for her parry gameplay

update to the characters i said i didn't particularly like:

nahida - i love her now. definitely getting her whenever she gets rerun again

scaramouche - i don't dislike him as much anymore. but that doesn't necessarily mean i like him now. okay, maybe a little bit. that being said, i wouldn't mind using him as my anemo main dps

raiden shogun - okay this is gonna sound like blasphemy. but. i already have fischl. so idk if i particularly want her. electro support? i have fischl and kuki. electro dps? i have cyno (ppl can shit on him all they want, but he's a perfectly serviceable dps). her gameplay does feel pretty good tho i'll give her that. but yeah. i'll still prioritize other units before considering pulling for her. as for how much i like her... well, i can't exactly ignore the atrocities that came out of sakoku and the vision hunt decree. but i don't dislike her as much anymore

some new additions:

yelan - gonna pull for her in the future. if only because it'd be in pretty nifty to have two xingqiu's. she's not exactly the type of character i vibe with, but she's alright. mostly pulling for utility tbh

ayato - my potential traditional hydro dps. (i say traditional because i consider nilou and her bloom teams to be different. don't ask; just funny brain things.) altho if focalors ends up being a fun hydro dps then i'd consider pulling for her instead

eula - aaaaaaaand i've joined the eula wanters club. rips. idk if i'd be desperate enough to whale for her during her fabled rerun. i probably would be, considering she may take another 84 years to get rerun again. i srsly have no business wanting eula. why do i want eula. maybe because i got to try her in her story quest and was mindblown at the damage she could do, especially for just having 4pc noblesse. and physical dps sounds interesting. i already have a couple early consts on mika too. i'm not entirely sure what her best gameplay is supposed to be like. is her physical damage purely from normal attacks? or does she do shatter and that's why she's paired with yelan and shenhe? i don't consider her a competitor for chong because i plan on using him in a reverse melt team for like, serious abyss stuff. and although shatter chong is so gosh darn fun and i still use that team to clear most content, i feel like eula just feels different. idk i have no explanation whatsoever lmao they're just different okay

sooooooooo yeah.

i'm gonna make a list of all the characters i want because i can:

5-stars:

pyro - yoimiya

geo - zhongli, albedo

anemo - venti, kazuha

cryo - ayaka, shenhe

hydro - kokomi

4-stars:

pyro - yanfei

geo - yun jin, ningguang

I also wouldn't mind getting these characters:

diluc, tighnari, heizou, qiqi (yeah i know i know lol but i honestly wouldn't mind using her), ganyu, nilou, childe, mona, fischl, beidou

I honestly don't like and/or care about these characters, but begrudgingly admit that they would be a benefit to my account:

nahida, scaramouche, raiden shogun

[knightzp]

HII miki!!! PLS tell me everything abt ur acc! i.e fave chars, which 5 stars u have (and want?) and fave teams? also, just to spice things up a bit! are there any chars u regret building/pulling for?? (or perhaps any accidental pulls? for instance, my itto was a complete accident.. i just wanted gorou lmao) also... ur fave 4 star : ) srry that was a lot of questions but i cant wait to read ur answers!! have a lovely day!

HIII TŪĪ!!! this was so fun to write thank you for asking!!

fave characters: i have a lot of characters that i love but my most favorites are kazuha, hu tao, xingqiu, chongyun, albedo, benny, ayaka, yoimiya aaand tighnari. there are a lot more that i like but if i had to select just some those would be it i think!

fave 4 star: def one of the three i mentioned before! either benny, xingqiu or chongyun, but its so hard to choose just one.... mmm i think im gonna say benny bc hes very dear to me and has been accompanying me since my very first days playing the game, he has never left my team and i dont know what i would have done without him (i do know, i would have died countless times for sure)

5 stars i have: ive been playing the game for like a year and a half so even being f2p im lucky that i finally have most of my faves! i have kazuha, ayaka, hu tao, albedo, kokomi, yoimiya, xiao, nahida and eula. and from the standard banner, can you believe i only have keqing and mona after that much time playing?? well thats bc i have keqing c1 and.... mona c4. apart from the first 50/50 that i lost, which was with keqing, ive lost ALL the rest with mona and at this rate im sure im gonna get her c6 :'))) hyv stop giving me monas and give one tighnari pls PLS

accidental pulls: i DID have one accidental pull very similar to your case with itto and it was with eula. it was right when i was starting playing genshin and she was actually my very first 5 star. i only did one (1) ten pull on her banner bc xingqiu was there too and i wanted him so bad, but instead i ended up with no xingqiu and one eula that came home at pity 15 and winning 50/50, the luckiest ive ever been and for what... (and the saddest thing is i also didnt get xingqiu until months later sighhh). okay actually it wasnt that bad back then bc i didnt have any more 5 stars at the time so i used her as my main dps until i got ayaka, but now i dont play with her anymore

5 stars i want: since i got kazuha, who i really really wanted and saved for him for more than a whole year bc i lost 50/50 on him the first time (and the second time too... but i was prepared and could get him regardless), now i dont have any other character that i very desperately want as it was with him. and its bc ive been lucky that ive been able to get the rest of my faves too! i mean sure, i do want MORE characters, the ones that id like to get are tighnari, scaramouche (hyv im begging let me win 50/50 this time), nilou, cyno and venti, but i dont have that level of obsession i had with kazuha alsjfdk but yeah when their banners come (back) ill def be pulling for them!

fave teams: and my fave teams!!! im not a meta player and i know there are probably better combinations than the ones i use but idc and im very happy with my teams. so im gonna put the names i have for each team and its members!

permafrost brrrr: kazuha, chongyun, kokomi, ayaka. i loveeee fighting and freezing all the enemies along the way, so this is one is probably my favorite from all these teams. before getting kazuha i used it with xingqiu (hence the name of the team, tho it still works) and i miss a bit playing with xingqiu and chongyun together in the same team but kazuha makes this team even more fun and i like a lot how these 4 work together!

pants on fire!: xingqiu, albedo, hu tao, benny. my team for hu tao! ive been using this one since i got albedo and hu tao last year and ive never thought of changing it ever since, im very attached to it

short kings: kazuha, albedo, xiao, benny. my team for xiao and yes i wanted a team where i could put all my bois together and this one was perfect. a friend that is very invested in meta told me that kazuha wasnt useful at all here but idc bc just playing with them together makes me very happy

papayas quemadas: xingqiu, nahida, kokomi, yoimiya. this team i created it very recently! i was struggling a bit to find the best team for yoimiya and when i got nahida i tried this one and its very fun im liking it a lot! (ajdflsk abt the name of the team it means burnt papayas in spanish, bc the flowers (?) you make with hydro and dendro i call them papayas and then with yoimiyas pyro they become burnt, so yeah :))

queens: kokomi, eula, fischl, beidou. this is a team i have meant for eula using electro and cryo to boost her phys dmg and kokomi too to create electrocharged. i tried it a bit and it was actually fun! but i still need to build the chars better and i dont like eula that much as a character, so i dont really use this one rn. but maybe one day ill finally build them properly and give it a try again!

this was a super long answer but anyway it was a lot of fun to write!!!

i really hope you have a great day/evening too!! 💜

[heyyylittlemo]

**Beware of Nintendo Switch Scam**

    Everybody is cooped up these days--Animal Crossing: New Horizons has got so many of us intrigued--and Nintendo Switch demands are piling up. Admittedly, we all like some good fun and what better way to spend it than testing out the new beautiful god-smacking Animal Crossing everybody has been raging about? From those beautiful lavish interior design shots, to the diva-divine clothing lines, to the peaceful tranquil music lashed across in screenshots and play-throughs. Who DOESN’T want to get their hands on a Nintendo Switch right now? 

     I really wanted my own switch for these reasons. I am a die-hard fan of animal crossing. You bet I was making my ways as a Tom Nook slave since the Gamecube days. Ever since I heard about the new game for the switch I knew I HAD TO HAVE IT. The thing is, the timing was never right. I didn’t have a switch. 

WHY WAS I SO DESPERATE? MAYBE IT WAS REVENGE? 

     When we did get it one Christmas, the game was set to launch MONTHS away. I had planned to call dibs on it during my birthday, or y’know Christmas. But no miracle happened. It was coming out in MARCH. 

     So, after deliberately DYING about the fact that I had no switch for my own and that I had no new Animal Crossing--my mother backstabbed me (perhaps unknowingly) and bought my 10 year old sister the game for her B-day. I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW, the BETRAYAL. This was a MAJOR loss for me being that now that meant she’d own the island. And we all know how we feel about this whole whose-is-what-it Island situation. There’s a whole lot of debates about it. 

I know it’s not the biggest deal, but the disappointment across my face was evident--more so than I would have wished. I gotta say it really upset me. It’s the feeling of hoping for something so dear to you being stripped out and patched into someone else’ grasp after passionately weaving it out in your pursuits. You know that it doesn’t stitch together as well as with the ones’ whose lap its been placed in, and yet it doesn’t necessarily belong to you either. And you’d think that it’d be obvious, and it hurts a lot, but you just have to accept that  sometimes you don’t get what you want even after talking about it like your life was depending on it. Yeah, I’m still salty about is, so what? That’s not even what matters! SHE owns the island. 

I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED, I NEEDED TO STEP MYSELF UP. 

I knew she’d grow tired and ditch ACNH after 1-2 weeks of playing. Still, that wouldn’t mean that i’d get to just re-vamp the island, or take it over, or *cough* *cough* destroy it. 

So I decided I’d get myself a Nintendo Switch and buy ACNH. Something about seeing someone HAVE what I wanted on their own terms just itched me to make it happen for myself, so I declared war. War on my wallet. 

SO WHAT WENT WRONG? 

      Now that I have bought a Nintendo Switch, I realize that along with God, the universe also doesn’t like me. 

Wanna know why? Well, when I first searched for the Nintendo Switch online the results for sights and their pricing was DRASTICALLY different to what I see now when I look it up. The website in which stole me of $99 of my hard-earned busting my ass off money, is NOWHERE to be seen anymore. It’s almost like it didn’t exist. The problem is: it does. You may be next. And you may be scammed. But damn, God, why did it have to be me? 

I know that my blog isn’t about this topic usually--but I just wanted to warn anyone out there who is trying to get a good deal on a Nintendo Switch. Because I just got scammed big time. Yes, now we’re finally getting into the actual exposé of this site after side-baring about how much of a Judas situation this manifesting Animal Crossing New Horizons into my life has been for me!!

     You see, prices on Nintendo Switches are CRAZY HIGH now that times arer hard. People want to overcharge for these things. It’s hard to run across a good deal near the original price of the Nintendo Switch. And when you’re desperate like me and you’ve had the raging hormones of i’ve just been et-tu-brutue’d by your mother you may just not hear the warning signs going off in your head and jump to the best sounding deal. 

But here’s the deal--there is no deal. 

     Yet just like flies, the lollipop caught mein google-eyed eyes and stuck me to its lies. When I saw this A-MAH-ZING $98.75 listing for the console from Solefiness.fun as the 1st website recommended to me from google--I freaked. 

Being offered right next to those sky high prices from websites like Ebay and Tecobuy(whose offers ranged from $350-450) Solefiness.fun was really bringing out the “I CAN DO THIS” in me. 

ALONG WITH BEING DESPERATE, RIDDLED WITH REVENGE, AND SLEEP-DEPRIVED, I WAS ALSO A THIRFTIE CHEAP CHAP

I love cheap thrills. I felt like a rat walking in to the cheese, who couldn’t see the trap. 

   I took no time into emptying my wallet. Which fair enough, I deserved it. If I’m stupid enough to jump right in the shark’s mouth CAN I really be mad that I got eaten? Who buys from a site which such low prices and no reviews and no sense of security? 

   Surprisingly, probably a lot of people(can’t confirm that)--maybe I’m the only one. Let’s say I’m not though. Well, who would be at risk? Other desperates, and of course those who like me, don’t know anything a dime about “finessing”. 

THE SCAM WAS HIDDEN IN PLAIN “SITE”. 

 And it kinda is my fault that I’m not “caught” up on all the latest terms since recently adulting into the world and having no chance to chase up to these new expressions, such as “finesse”. 

     If I knew a lick about what “finesse” meant then maybe I would’ve noped right out of that transaction. Hell, even dodged that site after it was recommended to me. How meta can this scam-site get? Cleverly naming itself “Solefiness.fun” as it slicks us away of our money. Maybe I should have listened to my brother and downloaded TikTok. I would’ve known what finessing was all about. 

AND YET, IT REALLY ISN’T MY FAULT. YOU CAN’T JUST STEAL MY MONEY. 

     But at the same time, NOBODY deserves to be scammed. After serving a bunch of Karens do you THINK I want to just hand my money over to some basement-boy Bobby whose “finessing” his way by breaking the hearts of little Animal Crossing lovers--Switch lovers--Playstation 4 lovers--and whatever else this crude prude “sells” on his/her site? 

     Bitch, you have a storm coming in wreaking my Nintendo dreams. I’m about to switch it up real quick! I don’t want non y’all to get finessed, so I’m about to spread the word about this baloney. 

If you’re wondering: how DID I not see the danger signs? Sure it might’ve been called finesse something something, but weren’t there others clues? OF COURSE.  I wanted to believe in this great deal, was all. It was the desperation--the spontaneous energy--and now the sober regret. I was so proud of cashing out for this purchase. So excited. But not for long. 

THE MOMENT I REALIZED IT WAS A SCAM, THEY’D ALREADY HAD MY MONEY. 

 Because I awoke the minute it charged my account and refused to complete my order. Why did it charge me AND still ask for a payment?  Why was my damn cart still full? Who the hell do you think you are charging my account under some new company name--which is now Chinese-and labeling my purchase under the category of “Construction”? 

Let’s not forget that USPS has not informed me of ANY packages and the tracking tells me you delivered it to me 10 DAYS before I even placed the order? What in the scam-oli?

Long story short, it wasn’t very hard to build a case against this site. Especially since the order # started with “idc” and followed with a bunch of randomized numbers and letters? Nice try finessing phineases and ferb fucker. 

I know order #s are VERY random but it had this randomness that just screamed imagined and randomized by a fucked up human scammer. It won’t bot-y or natural. It was orchestrated the house. 

So my dears, DO NOT BUY FROM: https://www.solefiness.fun/

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. AND YES THIS WAS AN EXCUSE TO RANT. BUT BE WARNED. 

[rawringryu]

tEn cHaRaCtErS

I was tagged in this meme by the awesomely rad @francisthegreat whom I’m lucky to have as my friend :) Also I’m sorry this is so late! I didn’t see you tag me until like yesterday, I had exams this week haha. This was very hard to make because I have a LOT of feelings.

Ten characters from ten fandoms:

This list is going in ascending order, meaning my very favorite faves will be last on the list.

10. Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls) First of all on this list is this asshole, gosh I have no idea why but there was a period of time where I absolutely loved Gravity Falls and I shipped with a human form with Dipper mostly because of the amazing art and some pretty complex fics written for the ship. It was a wild ride and honestly thinking about this phase of my life always makes me feel weird, like I liked him purely because I liked reading shippy fics starring him. 

9. Pearl (Steven Universe) This one is kinda weird too? Idk man I absolutely love Pearl’s design and the way her character is written. I’m not in loop with the SU fandom because ugh it’s not a happy place to be but I absolutely love browsing art of her. I love how she’s such a broken character for a kids show! I used to read SU meta and they’d go on and on about how she’s a shit character, an asshole towards Amethyst and toxic. But tbh, I feel like she’s just a complex character that made bad choices at times, she’s trying to get better, she’s trying to cope with the loss of Rose someone she probably loved in more ways than one and how she felt Rose chose Greg over her, and now she’s gone. I mean, she just can’t let go and I think that’s very human.

8. Pitch Black (Rise of the Guardians) Alright but this fandom was the first one I’d ever been in once I started out in tumblr. It was very cool and leaves bittersweet memories tbh, I absolutely adored the art and fics this fandom churned out, I used to ship Pitch and Jack Frost. The thing about Pitch is the fact that the fandom practically merged the movie with the lore from the original Guardians of Childhood the movie is based on. In the book, Pitch has such a tragic backstory, his name was Kozmotis Pitchinier and he was the best general of the Golden Army. After capturing all fearlings, he was designated to guard the prison of their imprisonment , he was haunted by their whispers and pleading and his only solace was his daughter, of whom he kept a photograph of in a locket. But one day, sensing his weakness, the prisoners imitated her voice and hypnotized Kozmotis to believe she was being held inside with them. Frantic, he opened the doors to release her, but was instead possessed by ten thousand Fearlings.

Sorry for the long summary but I just want people to know more abt his backstory haha.

7. Loki (MCU) I didn’t really know about Loki until I watched Thor: The Dark World in the cinema and I was instantly in love despite this movie being the absolutely worst of all the MCU movies, which looking back I’d have to agree. Loki is yet another tragic character whom I’m sure everyone already knows about. I think Loki is a vulnerable character who tries to be good, wants to be good but he just can’t, or he tries and other people just won’t accept him. He’s a frost giant and those people are considered monsters, how can he not be bitter that he’s the very thing ha’s been indoctrinated to hate and fear. He is a very complex character that the MCU practically does not do enough justice mostly because he’s portrayed as a villain in the movies. But I wouldn’t consider him a villain, more like an antihero, nobody trusts him and he doesn’t think anybody can love him either. I’ve only read a bit of his comics and I gotta say Loki deserves so much more than what he gets.

6. Dr Strange (MCU) (I’m breaking the one character per fandom rule idc) I know a shit ton of people absolutely HATE Dr Strange, and for a variety of reasons too. They hate him because Benedict Cumberbatch plays him and hating on BC is practically the new edgy on tumblr. People think Dr Strange should have been played by an american asian and all that yada plus the ancient one being whitewashed. While I agree some aspects of Dr Strange is problematic, I think people need to give it more credit, at least watch it for the cool effects that the stupidly huge amount of people worked on. Also as an asian, I can guarantee you most people outside of America doesn’t give two shits about these controversies and movies should be a source of pleasure instead of thinking about all the negative shit only. Dr Strange deserves so much more, he’s an interesting and while he does share some qualities with Tony Stark, he’s his own character with his own issues. Plus his comics are very fun to read, come on, magic in the Marvel is such an awesome concept. Fuck you haters, I just wanna have a good time with the magic man.

5. Sherlcok Holmes (BBC Sherlock) This is also one of my earliest fandoms on tumblr. Sherlock season 4 absolutely ruined it with all the queer baiting and the shitty plot. But Sherlock had always left bittersweet memories for me too. Mostly because of the absolutely amazing and complex fics written for it, I will never understand how fic authors do it but Sherlock fics were amazing and I would gladly choose these fics over canon any time. 

4. Asuka Langley Soryuu (Neon Genesis Evangelion) I have so many feelings about this bitch right here, honestly one of the most relate-able characters for me. Asuka is a very human character, she’s very proud and has emotional issues. She was considered the best of the best and was trained to be an Eva pilot since she was four because she’s a child genius. However she has a tragic backstory, her mother underwent some tests and became insane, believing that Asuka's doll was her daughter and refusing to acknowledge the real Asuka, referring to her as "that girl over there." She eventually commits suicide by hanging herself; Asuka found her body when she went to tell her the good news that she had been chosen to become an Eva pilot. She couldn’t let go that Shinji the main character was starting to become a better pilot than her despite training for months only. She suppresses a lot of her emotions and had unhealthy ways of coping. I just want her to be happy.

3. Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood) Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is what I would consider the holy grail of anime tbh. Edward is just about the most selfless person out there in the fictional world of anime. I love the fact that Ed and Al started their journey off with mildly selfish reasons that is to return their body parts whom they lost to in a deal with Truth to bring back their mom which ultimately failed. In the end, Edward is willing to lose his alchemy, the very things that defines him, that started this whole mess, that is the source of his joy and misery for the sake of gaining his brother’s body back instead of selfishly using the Philosopher’s stone that’s made using human souls. I just want this shorty to be happy and I’m glad he is with that satisfying end.

2. Hitsugaya Toshiro (Bleach) The reason this guy is ranked so high in my list is mostly because, he’s been there for me since I was a smol kid, I’ve had a crush on him ever since I was 10 and I could never let go. He’s the one fictional character whom I still fallback to every time things stagnant, I love reading fics about him, he’s just so cool! He’s a child genius with a sword that can shoot ice dragons. Plus he’s always written in such a complex way in fics, Kubo missed his fucking chance by not expanding more about his character in the manga, but clearly Kubo is incompetent when it comes to plot so whatever I guess.

1. Kylo Ren (Star Wars) The Star Wars fandom or specifically the Kylux subfandom is probably the happiest plave I’ve ever been in since forever. It’s the first time I’ve ever talked to anyone at all online, I only lurked around in other fandoms but Star Wars made me able to brave the fandom and talk to people in it, I’ve met so many amazing people and read amazing fics in it, it’s mostly due to the KRB discord chat that I’m still going strong with this fandom. I absolutely love Kylo Ren and can he please crush me between his thighs. The thing that attracted me to him besides his unconventionally attractive appearance is his emotional vulnerability. Kylo has been neglected by Leia and Han as a kid and sent away to jedi school with Luke, he’s been manipulated by Snoke as a kid and Leia and Han just don’t think they can take care of him properly, they’re afraid of him and always too busy with their work, Kylo wasn’t planned, the way their relationship worked just wasn’t ideal for child rearing, Kylo was left alone with Luke, unable to understand why his parents don’t want him anymore, how he was too emotional for the jedi way. While what Kylo did was not justifiable with all that murdering, it’s not a stretch to say that he was very mush a victim of circumstances too. I related to Kylo a lot as I’d been sort of neglected as a child too, both my parents were always busy with work and I only saw them during mealtimes and before bed.

Sorry for the long post ya’ll! I have so many emotions about fictional characters haha.

I’ll be tagging @magicandmalice , @omega-hux, @tezzypants, @darktenshi17, @comraderevelin, @kylocatastrophe, @dargason-under-the-fantasia, @oblioknowlton, @evilblubber, @plasticpill and @glass-oceans that is if ya’ll want to, I had fun and went super overboard.

[bookofmirth]

luv being elitist with you

What this all boils down to is people don't like being told that their analysis isn't very good, and it's objective fact that some analysis is better than others. Some analysis is more sound, has more support, is more rigorous. Some of us are better prepared to make that judgement. idc if that sounds elitist, I'm not about to sit here and pretend that my education means nothing lol.

The fandom is caught up in trying to use the text as a way to make accurate predictions about the future of the series rather than discuss the text's current meaning.

This is why I keep trying to emphasize the difference between meta, and theory. Meta is the fandom version of literary analysis. It deals with what we have now. Theory is.... just a fandom thing. I've said things about what I think is going to happen, but always with the caveat of IDFK!!! I like dealing with what we have, when it comes to analysis. Theory, to me, is often a messy bitch compared to the already difficult practice of analysis.

A lot of my posts in this fandom have been engaged in writing about the meaning of the text, rather than the future of the series, because a. that's what interests me more - what meaning do we have right now, currently, available to us? and b. the future of the series is a somewhat indefensible position when one is using the tools of close reading to make that position, because you can't make a textually based argument about a text that literally doesn't exist yet.

Remember when I mentioned this and an anon was like lol didn't you did emeriel headcanons

First off no, learn how to use the search function bestie.

Second, learn the difference between meta and theory. Learn that when someone uses particular words, they have meaning. When people keep throwing around "foreshadowing", we're going to call you out when you use it incorrectly. If you try to talk about a color having specific meaning, we're going to test your hypothesis and tell you when it's weak. I will do that to people who ship the same things I do, and people who ship things I dislike.

I recognize that fandom, like Lucia said, is a messy space where sometimes, people who are aware of critical theory and know how to use it mix with people who just want to talk about who is going to bang. Sometimes those are the same people. This is why I don't jump on other posts just to prove people wrong all the time. Could I? Yes. Am I aware that people are trying to have fun? Yes. If people bring something to my inbox, I'm going to comment!

people are constantly engaged in a process of trying to prove something that cannot be proven and also being upset and defensive when someone else does not agree

You will never go into a classroom and have a professor ask you to write a 5k word paper on who is going to end up in a relationship at the end of a book and why, before having you read the actual book. It doesn't happen. It's like asking you to go conduct an experiment in a lab with a blindfold on. Why the fuck would you be asked to make specific claims without evidence to support them? We might have good reasons to identify trends, obviously someone is going to be right about some of the things that will happen in the next books, but that's not the reason that these tools of analysis exist.

"This is a crack theory!" "Hm it doesn't make sense" "I'm just trying to HaVe FuN"

idek if I have a point anymore. This fandom has just taken a super weird turn where they do things like try to write a long, color-coded theory saying, "this is a crack idea, warning!" and then get pissed off if someone points out the idea's flaws. Or where literally everything has to be about who is going to bang who, rather than trying to just understand the characters. It's exhausting, but I also love doing this for fun. I've been pushed to make predictions more than I would usually feel comfortable doing so, because of what Lucia said about it being impossible to make claims about what doesn't even exist (hence my comment about foreshadowing, which must be identified with content that already exists).

The culture of the fandom annoys me more than anything else. People are so concerned with being right all the time, with adhering to canon that they don't even accurately remember. And the thing is that being right = canon, to these people. But the only thing - literally the only thing - that we can be sure about is what has already been published. We can play with headcanons and say "what if", but I can tell that people aren't actually playing around with ideas because they get butthurt when someone says "uhhhh, no?"

What's anti-intellectual is assuming anyone who doesn't say otherwise doesn't have a degree and assuming that degree = smart, which is very classist, not to mention very narrow-minded and eliteist. People who are also highly educated bring up your degree because you keep using it as a way to claim you're right and that your way is the only way, when this isn't true at all. All it takes is going to different professors' classes to realize there is no "right" way to analyze things. Also, if things are literally spelled out in text, there's no "two interpretations", there's a yes and a no. There literally are rights and wrongs sometimes, and just because you choose to ignore explicit canon doesn't make you right. Stop trying to claim people are anti-intellectual just because they don't agree with you/analyze things in a way you don't like lmao. It's incredibly telling that you assume people who don't agree with you aren't intellectuals/don't have degrees themselves, and that you are better at reading than people without degrees. Yikes, yikes, yikes.

Oh boy, okay, so I'm going to take this one bit at a time.

Anti-intellectualism isn't just some random phrase that I just made up. It doesn't mean what you just described it as. I didn't decide "hm, let's smush together 'intellectual' and 'anti' because I feel like it."

Anti-intellectualism is a whole phenomenon wherein people distrust authority or expertise or higher education. It is widely observable, currently very real problem considering issues like the pandemic and climate change. Here is a good description of anti-intellectualism:

Anti-intellectualism is "where people distrust and dislike experts and intellectuals because of a view that 'the plain sense of the common man….is an altogether adequate substitute for, if not actually much superior to, formal knowledge and expertise'" (Here is my source)

When I mentioned climate change deniers? Distrust in media? Not trusting scientists in general? Where do you think those examples came from, my asshole??? No, they were relevant to the discussion, to anti-intellectualism. I'm so curious what you think I was talking about, though 🤣

Here is another quote from that same source that explains another comment I made, about people not actually being anti-intellectual, but using its tenets because it's convenient for them to do so:

People tend to be persuaded by speakers they see as knowledgeable (that is, experts), but only when they perceive the existence of common interests. Some groups of citizens, such as ideological conservatives, populists, religious fundamentalists and the like, may see experts as threatening to their social identities.

I included the emphasis, because it proves what I was saying before, about it being an excuse to disagree with people because you just... don't want to agree with them.

So on to your next point!

What you are describing is something I have never done. I do not assume that people don't have education, or don't know things. In fact, that's why I didn't bother defining or describing "anti-intellectualism" before. I figure that my audience is either 1) smart enough to know what that means, or 2) smart enough to look it up if they don't. You'll notice that I rarely explain concepts like that, because I assume one of those two conditions to be true. That's the opposite of what you are accusing me of.

you keep using it as a way to claim you're right and that your way is the only way, when this isn't true at all.

Please point me to a place where I have done this. Ever. Literally, take a ss and show it to me. I have 14.8k posts as of me writing this response. Go for it. Search. I'll wait.

Actually I won't wait, here is what I said in the post you are responding to:

That doesn’t make those people more right[...] But it does give those people credibility.

Like, the fact that you just blatantly accused me of saying the opposite of what I literally just fucking said is so hilarious.

Next point - Are you just so far up your own bias that you can't even see when I'm saying something you agree with?

there is no "right" way to analyze things. Also, if things are literally spelled out in text, there's no "two interpretations", there's a yes and a no. There literally are rights and wrongs sometimes, and just because you choose to ignore explicit canon doesn't make you right

Here is what I said:

literature is open to interpretation and there are multiple factors that make different interpretations more or less likely to be accurate

So... yeah! There are canon facts that are indisputable. There are also things that are open to interpretation. Welcome to books!

You me

🤝

books having both fact and interpretation

you assume [...] you are better at reading than people without degrees

A doctor is better at understanding the human body. A plumber is better at understanding your pipes. A car mechanic knows how cars work better than I, an unlicensed bisexual. And I know how to read and analyze texts better than people who haven't gone through the years of training that I have. Someone who has more experience in analyzing texts than I do? They are better at it than I am! That's how it works. Sorry that's a fact. Feel free to block me if it makes you mad.

When I - or other people on this website - bring up our educations, it's to show expertise or credibility. Not to say we are right. The fact that you can't differentiate between someone saying "here is why I am credible" and someone saying "here is why I am right" is definitely a you problem. I can't help you if you don't understand the difference between those statements.

Ask yourself, anon (and the people inevitably stalking my blog 😘) if your bestie had a degree in literature, would you tell them to keep that quiet? In a book fandom? Are you going to trust your dentist to repair your tv? Or are you going to someone who knows what they're talking about?

The irony here is that anti-intellectualism does exactly what you did in your ask. Calling me elitist because I have an education that I worked my ass off for? As a way to be dismissive of my arguments? Saying that I use it as a way to say I'm right, when that is 1) untrue, and 2) when the irony is that no one is ever "right" when it comes to analyzing literature? Congrats! You're anti-intellectual. I hope you got the COVID vaccine anyway.