#if the fandom doesn’t revive

[sharkorganz]

You won’t believe what I got into recently. Anyways, Gi hun my dimmed sun

[emi-the-gremlin]

Controversial take (maybe?)

I think we need more of mr. Payne being the good parent, like don’t get me wrong I adore all the good Mrs. Payne fics (definitely check out that tag) but she’s the only one who’s actually been described negatively, parenting wise.

Not to mention it also just balances out the group, Charles has daddy issues, Crystal has parental issues, so therefore it stands to reason that Edwin has mommy issues, right?

[turning-the-frigging-frogs-gay]

Wait, four years? If my maths is right, does that mean we've been mutuals for the whle time you've been on tumblr?

(Your first url was like something Patton/Sanders Sides related...I think?)

yeah pretty much!! I remember you were one of my first mutuals back in 2020 when we were both mostly ts blogs. Think we shared a lot of fandom opinions I remember swapping headcanons with you and you wrote a fic I loved

and it’s all come full circle with my current url being about frogs…

I was active on here pretty consistently for the first 2 years, not so much over the past 2 years but I’ve accepted that I cannot be dragged away from this site, I’ll always come back bc the sense of humour is just too good

(It was the gravity falls resurgence that brought me back this time lmao) 

rlly good to hear from u again!!

[no1ryomafan]

Casshern once again in a weird ass fucking purgatory of popularity because the fandom is literally so dead, any posts you make about it nowadays gets zero likes unless it’s art but I was talking to a moot in a mega man server and they have heard of it, because anytime stuff that was likely a inspo of mega man is brought up if it’s not Astro boy it’s people bringing up casshern, especially saying how sins is like mega man zero.

It’s really one of those things where people have heard of it depending on the circles they are around, but don’t actually watch it huh?

[thenameisgul]

I’m convinced Jensen is a firm believer in the ‘Cas is a gay angel who fell in love with his straight best friend’ interpretation of the confession scene because technically that’s what the narrative said as well

doesn’t mean he’s a homophobe or anything. Also doesn’t mean he’s anti-destiel or that he doesn’t want to play a bisexual character. thats just what was written in the script and he doesn’t want to stray from that.

QUESTION ABOUT THE CONFESSION SCENE AT THE JENSEN PANEL (how Jensen wants the confession scene to be resolved and Cas coming back)

Jensen: 'I don't necessarily think that there needs to be some resolution to that. I think Dean took that in and Dean lost some of his closest allies and friends and he understands that Cas loves him. It doesn't need to be said or talked about. Well, it's not subtext. It's clear text. And the accepting of that happened when Dean was sitting on the floor and Dean not only lost a brother in arms but also one of the closest people to him. They found each other and whenever Cas comes back or there is a reunion it's just understood.'

[oleryn]

These Are Not Micker Mouse: A breakdown of the Mangoball characters through the lens of Commedia Dell’Arte (by a dramaturg wannabe with too much time on their hands)

In the wake of the Dream SMP’s recent revival brought on by Dream’s latest and greatest tomfoolery, one of the most iconic, unifying, yet hitherto unknown figures of the fandom has finally made themselves known – Mangoball ( @girl-hemingway ), creator of the viral semi-eponymous SocMed AU that took the fandom by storm in 2021-2022. With its cartoonishly zany characters and hilarious one-liners, Mangoball quickly rose the ranks of popular DSMP fanfictions and remains to this day a pleasant, hilarious read that is enjoyable even if you hate the controversial content creators therein. Obligatory fuck the Dteam and Wilbur Soot. Anything good I say about their characters is a positive reflection of Mangoball’s talent and not the content creators themselves. 

In this tumblr post, the author mentions Commedia Dell’arte (16-18th century Italian theatre) as a resource for writing crack fanfiction. That lit my theatre kid neurons up like Tubbo on October 16th, 2020 and so this essay was born. Enjoy my in-depth breakdown of the Mangoball characters through the lens of some of theatre’s most iconic archetypes. however im not a professional and im also not sober so if anything is wrong please just send a bomb to my house or somethingg

NOTE: While some characters or pairings are likened to specific archetypes, most of Mangoball’s characters are a mix of several. 

GLI INNAMORATI - THE LOVERS

This one is obvious. No one in Mangoball’s Cheater Cheater (henceforth known as MB because I’m lazy) embodies the archetype of The Lovers more than its main pairing, Dreamnotfound.

In classic Commedia, the relationship between the Innamorati is the driving force of the entire story. They are often of high status and speak in flamboyant, flowery language; at times, they recite long poetry at length from memory and tend to sing quite often. Brought to foolishness by their hopeless infatuation for one another, the lovers often have no other personality traits besides being in love.

In MB, Dream and George are the hapless romantic leads fraught with drama and miscommunication that threatens to tear them apart. Their dialogue to and about each other borders on incomprehensibly romantic (e.g. goopsie skaboingy, boinky splurge, weeble wobble, skrunkly scribblydoinky bipsy tootsy badointy tiepnsy bip bop boppie goggiy dinty scruggly duggly big bampidointy dougly goopsie scaboinky pipupsy datootsit) and both characters associate themselves with poetry, song and dance, and other lofty forms of prose throughout the work (Dream singing the entire Mama Mia soundtrack after sleeping with George for the first time, reciting Romeo and Juliet sonnets to George despite having never read the play, George texting Quackity the La La Land script line by line by memory). They have little other personality besides the infatuation they hold for each other, but that doesn’t stop them from being enjoyable and hilarious leads that we as readers can’t help but root for.

VECCHI - THE VILLAINS

Though the Italian word Vecchi translates literally to ‘old men’, the Vecchi class of Commedia Dell’Arte characters serve as villains or opponents to the Innamorati. They are usually older characters that use their positions of power for selfish or immoral reasons. This doesn’t translate as clearly to MB as the Innamorati do, but that doesn’t mean that the story is free of Vecchi influences. Sapnap and Tommy are the story’s primary villains – Sapnap for his status as romantic rival to DNF; Tommy for his single-minded hatred of Dream that leads him to create increasingly popular Twitter spaces for the sole purpose of insulting him. Sapnap’s character is marked by his jealousy, his dishonesty, and the continued schemes he pulls to get between the main lovers. He is also the butt of several ratios and is generally regarded as a nuisance. Some of these traits are found in the Pantaleone character – although Sapnap does not possess the miserly money-hungriness that Pantaleone is known for. Anselmo is a lesser-known stock character characterized as a veccho-innamorati, or a romantic rival, but that is the extent of Sapnap’s relation to him. Il Dottore is also sometimes characterized as an adulterer, but like with Pantaleone, Sapnap lacks Dottore’s iconic traits (in his case, being a parody of the educated elite who regularly talks confidently about stuff he knows nothing about and bores the other characters offstage.)

I don’t think any Commedia character possesses such intense hatred for another character as Tommy does for Dream. He’s less of a Vecchi and moreso of a complete foil to the Innamorati – a total and utter hater, largely a flat character beyond his negative feelings for his former Compsci tutor. An Innaodio? That kid will stop at nothing to destroy Dream. I don’t think it’s even explained why Tommy hates him so much beyond his annoyance for Dream’s affections for George. 

Honestly, maybe that’s enough to warrant some hatred.

ZANNI — THE ROOMMATES

Karl, Quackity, Corpse, Wilbur, and the elusive Badboyhalo are all part of the Zanni class of Commedia characters. The Zanni characters are traditionally the low-class servants of the higher-status Vecchi or Innamorati. Usually found in pairs, they are often separated into the silly and buffoonish and then into the cunning, quarrelsome, and conniving. In Mangoball, they’re the roommates/sidekicks of our main leads… apart from Badboyhalo. We’ll get back to him. 

Karl and Quackity are George’s roommates; Corpse is Dream’s. Corpse is a somewhat judgemental watcher of Dream’s antics, not afraid to stir up drama or join Tommy’s hateful lives, and yet remains supportive of him overall. He is also the subject of Wilbur's odd romantic advances. Quackity regularly acts like he wants to actually kill himself over George’s romantic endeavours and regularly threatens the trio with violence or piss-related crimes (e.g. okay but im peeing on the couch!). Karl, as arguably the most rational character of the entire work, is often kinder to George than Quackity is, though his normalcy often leads to him being ridiculed (e.g. the entire group unanimously agreeing that he is the craziest among them for doing such things as eating an orange). Quackity and Karl are also the only ones to break the fourth wall and call out the story for its texting-only medium. In all honesty, they’re too smart (and not horny enough) to fit most of the Zanni archetypes. I would consider them the straight men of the work. Most of their comedy comes from their reactions to what’s going on around them.

Nothing sums up their characters more than this iconic bit:

SPECIAL MENTIONS - WILBUR

The Arlecchino, or Harlequin, archetype is the base for most fool/clown characters that have risen to prominence over the course of history and is a comedic bastion in any Commedia production. Colourful and acrobatic, Arlecchino oscillates between legendary dim-wittedness and a single-minded dedication to achieving his goals. He is often abused by smarter characters, easily distracted by lust and food, and will foray into the complicated, the absurd, and the illegal to get what he wants without a second thought. While what usually sets Arlecchino apart from other Commedia archetypes is his acrobatic prowess, that doesn’t exactly translate well into written prose. 

Mangoball’s Wilbur is a proven criminal, a buffoon, and also implied to be a literal alien. While hardly tolerated by the rest of the crew, he's also responsible for several of Mangoball’s iconic lines. His character is always one step behind the joke (e.g. ‘These are not micker mouse?’ – his inability to understand well-known Disney characters, which he blames on being British) and, at random intervals, acts romantically or sexually towards Corpse without any prompting. His advances go largely rejected or ignored. The other crew members frequently bully him for his antics (e.g. them letting him starve for 20 hours during the road trip) and yet make use of his complete disregard for the law when is beneficial for the plot (e.g. him breaking into a Miami villa and loaning it to two groups simultaneously without realizing). Overall, Mangoball’s Wilbur is integral to highlighting the comedic contrast between the more rational characters and the insane situations they find themselves in. He proves himself as a driving comedic force with the final tweet of the original work.

SPECIAL MENTIONS - BADBOYHALO

fuck if i know genuinely. no one in the history of ever is doing it like him im beign so serious what the ffuck is wrong with him geniunely

he;s fuckign everyones mother. hes eeveryones dad. hes your dad. hes my dad too i thjink. guys i hve to go call my mother rightnow im sorryyyy

[cozwalt]

POV the SU fandom doing its yearly crawl-back on tiktok where people remember the show exists and storm the fyp with edits

[junkdrawerfan]

So I’m catching up on Batman lore and comics.

I NEED A FANFIC WHERE SOMEONE SITS DOWN AND TELLS JASON THAT BATMAN TRIED TO KILL THE JOKER, ALMOST STARTED A WAR, AND WAS STOPPED BY SUPERMAN.

It drives me insane that the only reason Joker is not in a lead box at the bottom of Gotham Harbor is he somehow magically became the Iranian ambassador (how?!) and the UN hired Superman to stop Batman from causing WW3.

AND NO ONE TELLS JASON!

Oh! I hear you cry, But he saved Joker’s life after Dick beat him to death! Jason deserves to be angry.

OH BULLSHIT!

Dick wasn’t trying to avenging Jason! He almost kills Joker by mistake in a moment of grief and Joker egging him on! Dick literally mourns after he realizes what he’s done, claiming by killing the Joker “Joker won.”

So why would Batman save the Joker? I’ll tell you why. Batman didn’t save the Joker for Joker! Batman saved the Joker to save Dick!

Dick is acting on revenge for the near death of Tim and despite it being Killer Croc who had captured and presumably killed Tim, Dick blames the Joker and goes on a poorly thought out vengeance quest that haunts him even when it doesn’t work. He’s spiraling the minute Tim points out Joker is dead. You really think Bruce couldn’t see the writing on the wall that actually killing someone would destroy Dick and try to minimize the guilt Dick would feel by not letting the Joker die.

His second son is dead. The third was just thought to be dead. Batman isn’t going to sit back and let his oldest kill himself!

(Now you could argue all that I’m saying is fandom rationalizations of weird character choices made by multiple writers over at DC (Disregard Canon). Batman does let Dick walk away in shame after reviving Joker. But if I chose to forget that Bruce PUNCHES Dick after Dick rightfully demands to know why Bruce didn’t try to tell him his brother died before the funeral, I can damn well recontextualize a stupid panel and scrape together a consistent character profile based on the versions of Batman that I like! Fuck you!)

So yes! SOMEONE PLEASE JUST TELL JASON WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED AFTER HE DIED SO HE CAN MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION FOR ONCE!

[mockicry]

Macaques feelings towards wukong

-disclaimer this is just me rambling about something I feel is under utilised in the fandom but I am NOT putting anything else down or saying it’s bad please this just something I’ve had stuck in my head 😭.

In the shadowpeach fandom or the LMK fandom in general I often see wukong being the jealous one or the one who’s awkward and obsessed (or yandere but that’s a whole can of worms on its own) which is fine, but like even canonically in the show? Macaque is OBSESSED with wukong. (Not generally in a “positive”way.

Something happened in there friendship (probably around joining the brotherhood) where macaque stopped seeing wukong as a person and instead an IDOL and HE placed himself behind wukong (his shadow) because of it, no one else put him there and yeah there relationship in general was very much both there fault in some degree. But when you stop viewing someone as a person and instead an idea or fantasy any relationship with them is destined to fail.

When macaque revives he has neutral feelings to everyone maybe fear towards LBD at best, but realistically I don’t even think HE thinks about anyone else except wukong and even back in the brotherhood it’s just wukong not even the others call him brother because he’s not. He’s not there for them he’s there for wukong. When he revives wukong is all he thinks about, when he targets mk he doesn’t even see mk as anything but an extension of wukong just something he can use to get to WUKONG.

Am I saying macaque is a bad unfeeling guy? Well not quite (I’m not up to touching morals and good and bad with 60ft pole rn) unfeeling towards others isn’t true though. In macaques natural state of being (without wukong involved) he’s morally neutral at worst and seems to lean towards neutral good mostly but when wukong enters the picture? Nothing else matters NO ONE else matters and that’s scary.

Wukong in the show (I think this is just a narrative oversight but maybe not) doesn’t really show ANY feelings towards macaque till the later seasons, wukong fights him but only when MK is in danger he seems annoyed at macaque at best but otherwise doesn’t really seem to think about him at all, even when he “teams” up with LBD wukong pays him anymind but only because LBD is involved

[my personal head cannon is that until the defeat of LBD wukong hasn’t processed that macaque is alive and still believes it’s not really him (like he knows it’s macaque on a logical level but hasn’t processed it emotionally) (or he’s also processing that macaque is back AFTER he KILLED him if you believe he did)and that’s why he holds no emotion to him]

In conclusion macaque can be taken to ways with this like in the show he can learn to have healthy relationships and grow OR he can become so much WORSE and I think that’s what’s so fun about fandoms and shipping like yes my old gay monkeys can start to heal and move forward together healthy or they can get worse >:3

[Also wukongs lack of emotionals towards him could be explored to 🤭]

[emi-the-gremlin]

For @majorlb

[kataang-week]

Special thanks to our mod @penguinsledder for making this year's banner!

What is Kataang Week?

Kataang Week is when we, as a corner of the fandom, celebrate the ship Kataang on Tumblr! The prompts for Kataang Week 2024 were selected through five rounds of voting over the last few weeks and all prompts were submitted by Kataangers.

Cool, when is it?

Summer Kataang Week 2024 starts on Monday, July 29th - a little over seven weeks from today - and ends on Monday, August 5th.  

Who is the founder of Tumblr's Kataang Week?

@secretsecrettunnel revived Kataang Week in the summer of 2013 a few years after Avatar: The Last Airbender ended and when the fandom was itching for more Kataang during The Legend of Korra’s run.

Who are the mods?

@airbender-dacyon AKA Mod Dan: A Kataang fanfic writer who prefers fluff, but also loves some drama and angst. Mod Dan started writing Kataang stories in 2013 and has helped organize Kataang Week since 2016.

@penguinsledder AKA Mod Atarah: A writer, gif maker, and musician–she enjoys fluffy young adult Kataang and all the ways they complement and parallel each other. She first joined Tumblr for Kataang Week 10 years ago, and started helping out with writing posts and making banners as a mod since 2016!

@itsmoonpeaches AKA Mod Belle: An avid Kataanger with a penchant for angst and mild violence who likes writing. Mod Belle has been a mod since 2021 and helps write posts and social media.

@chocomd AKA Mod Celes: Fanfic writer who adores Kataang for their fun and flirty side but also their bond forged through grief and loss. Mod Celes joined in 2023 and helps with a little bit of everything - whatever needs to be done!

How do I participate?

The most common ways to participate are by creating art or writing a fic and posting it online. Some people try and create something for every day while others only fill one or two prompts.  

As always, we want to reassure you that it’s perfectly okay not to do every prompt! We just hope to have lovely pieces to share on each day.

But I can’t draw or write!

That’s totally fine - there are more ways to participate! You can sing a song, create a graphic, write a poem - just about anything really. You can also show your support by reblogging and liking other people’s contributions.

What are the prompts?

The following will be the running order for Kataang Week 2024:

Cultural Exchange/Culture Sharing/Revival of Traditions - Monday, July 29th

Protectiveness/Bodyguard - Tuesday, July 30th

Parenting/First-Time Parents - Wednesday, July 31st

Post-Battle Reunion - Thursday, August 1st

Disguise - Friday, August 2nd

Jealousy - Saturday, August 3rd

Proposal - Sunday, August 4th

Free Day - Monday, August 5th

* As a reminder, Cultural Exchange/Culture Sharing/Revival of Traditions, Protectiveness/Bodyguard, and Parenting/First-Time Parents were combined during voting as they were very similar prompts. You can interpret them as singular or separate prompts and incorporate one or both for each day.

** And as always, there is a Free Day at the end of the week. You can use this day to post anything you’d like! It can be a prompt that didn’t receive enough votes or something you’ve been wanting to work on, anything goes!

*** Kataang Week is also being hosted by @dailykataang on Twitter this year! In addition, @dailykataang will be extending Kataang Week by another week, exclusively on Twitter. Please see this post for more details on how to participate on Twitter.

How should I tag my work?

The easiest way for us to find your work so we can reblog it to this blog is by using the tag “kataang week”. Using “kataang” and “kataangtag” also help. You must tag one of the three in your first five tags otherwise it doesn’t appear in the search. It is also helpful to tag us directly with @kataang-week.

Sometimes even properly tagged posts may not appear when we search the tags, so if you do not see your content reblogged, please let us know.

Once we’ve reblogged it to this blog we add our own tags (a prompt tag and a user tag) for easy organization. This means we can find all the work for one prompt or all the work from one user in one easy click (this also means that if you have changed your username since participating last year you need to let us know so we can update your tag!).

Can I post my stuff other places online too?

Of course you can!

For those of you who will be posting your works on AO3, feel free to add your fic to our AO3 collection.

Why seven weeks? Is that enough time?

Traditionally, we like to provide our content creators seven to eight weeks to create quality content. Kataang Week is also traditionally held in the last week of July.  

If you are unable to complete a prompt in time, please do not fret. You can alert this blog by mentioning it in your post (ex. @kataang-week​) or messaging one of the mods and your content will still be shared even if it is a week (or a month - or sometimes more!) late.

We also like to post WIP for Kataang Week and encourage everyone else to do so as well - we reblog it here for motivation!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, don’t hesitate to send an ask. Don’t forget to reblog this as well to help spread the word!

Good luck, Kataangers, and happy content creating! 😊

- The Mods

[eskawrites]

I’m reblogging this again because while I think the whole “don’t comment don’t reblog only lurk in fandom spaces” mindset is relatively new (something-something current fandom etiquette stemming from fandom populations consisting of people being online during covid bc there’s nowhere else to go rather than people who are seeking meaningful connection and interaction online bc they tend to be on the fringes of society), I know that the fear of being annoying/thinking you’re bothering people by interacting with them is NOT new (again with traditional fandom populations looking for connections through fandom—we have anxiety yo, it’s part of why we turned to online spaces).

ANYWAY all this to say that it’s okay to feel awkward commenting on things, but that shouldn’t keep you from reaching out and interacting with fandom creators! There’s not a single person in st fandom that I’ve interacted with without me first going “oh am I gonna be annoying? They’re so cool I hope I say the right thing to them.” And I know that most if not all of those people have felt the same way about their own mutuals and fandom friends. But when you comment (or reply or message or send asks) anyway, you get to have a little moment of connection with them! And you prevent anxiety or awkwardness or whatever it is that holds you back from taking those moments away from you and from the other people who are all here hanging out and enjoying the same thing together

Do you like comments? Do you always read them? Sometimes if people don't reply to comments I wonder if I'm annoying them!

I have yet to meet a fanfic writer, or any kind of creator ever, who doesn’t like comments. I always always read comments, usually as soon as I get the little ao3 email. And then I reread them every time I look at that fic. When I was writing the Nancy pov of my cfdau I reread comments from the original fic every time I struggled with motivation. Whenever I’m feeling nostalgic or getting in my head about my writing or just want to look at something nice I go look at comments on old stories. My roommate is also a fic writer and we send each other the nicest comments we get. Back in one of my older fandoms I once got a comment from a reader that said my fic helped them come to terms with their own sexuality, and it completely changed the way I view myself and my art and the stories I create. I love when people talk to me on my fics, I love when people talk to each other on my fics, i even love when people reply to their own comments to talk to themselves on my fics. Comments are such a seemingly small thing but i truly cannot emphasize enough how much they mean to writers

As for authors not replying to them, I obviously can’t speak for everyone out there but I highly doubt it’s because they’re annoyed. I know for me sometimes I don’t answer comments for a long old time because answering comments feels important enough that I want to do it on my laptop instead of my phone, and it takes a while to find the time to sit down and give it the weight it deserves! And sometimes I also hold on to comments because I don’t know what to say, and I want to say the right thing in response because, again, the things readers say to me are so unbelievably meaningful they deserve my full attention and care when I reply!

I’m not the first person to say it but fandom is a community—talking to each other is a huge part of the experience! And without interaction—through comments, yes, but also through reblogs and replies on posts and asks and everything else, for fic and art and headcanons and analysis and whatever else you enjoy in fandom spaces—there’s really no point in being here? If I wanted to enjoy my media on my own I wouldn’t be sitting here sharing my thoughts and ideas with strangers on the internet, y’know?

[leporellian]

i genuinely really think that, besides my “musicals are what you get if you make operas not autistic” theorem (another thing for another day), there is One massive thing that stands in the way of me liking (modern) musicals and it’s the relationship they have to their texts vs operas.

with an opera, it’s kind of established that part of the big game is that every production is a negotiation and not a reproduction. it’s a conversation. there is no one “canon” version of an opera and it’s the audience expectation that every production will differ somehow. this especially kicks in when we’re dealing with operas that have harmful ideas either explicitly (madama butterfly) or implicitly (die meistersinger von nurnberg) because you can turn those works into ruminations on themselves. you’re dissecting the animal but the animal is conscious and fully consenting and marvels at your work as you go.

with a musical, meanwhile, there is usually a dedicated version you are looking at and an insistence on a CANONICAL way things are Meant to be interpreted. there is One Accepted Concept and branching into reinterpretations counts as “headcanons” or another modern fan term. a musical is not seen as “sociological/anthropological record of multiple time periods” but as “Content”

musicals have two problems. 1) they don’t have the gap in time that allows for that kind of retrospective look (which is fair that’s not a them issue), and 2) they have a fandom cultivated around them and are seen as Content. they also are so “concurrent” with our time (and also very fast) that they don’t have a sense of Allowing for reinterpretation. sure, you’ll have your regional/student productions that’ll do some minor detail like a character acting slightly differently or a silent interaction included- but you aren’t going to have your deconstructed heathers that pulls apart how it’s kind of immediately fallen apart in a post-2018 world, or a lion king performed as if it was a brand new text without any regard for the details of either the original film or julie taymor’s stage treatment. god forbid you start deconstructing your musical! that’ll make the fans sad!

and until we get to the de-fandomization of musicals and acknowledge them as sociological texts and not Content(TM), we aren’t going to get there. but alas that culture is baked into musicals, especially as the shows see shorter and shorter long-term visions as the machine of broadway grows hungrier for money and so brand identity and imposition of ‘fandom culture’ grow stronger with it.

(this is also why i’m so fascinated with chess the musical, which is a musical that doesn’t work So Much that nearly every new production is some extensive revision or another (usually making it somehow more incomprehensible in the process). the idea of “musicals can be reinterpreted” is there! we’re getting there! but it’s Not Quite. and i find that Fascinating from a dramaturgical context.)

Anyway if i had my way every new musical revival would be like the daniel fish oklahoma over and over and over FOREVER!!!! YOUR BRAND IS DEAD AND BOW TO THE NEBULOUS CONCEPT OF REGIETHEATRE AS YOUR NEW KINGGGGG

[morphean42]

Falsettos unpopular opinions because two people asked for this and honestly I don’t give a fuck anymore. I want to state this isn’t in response to anyone in particular, though, and if you get offended by any of these think about why. For a good reason? Please tell me and I’d love to debate it, truly. For a petty reason? You’re simply part of the problem.

1. They are Jewish. End of story. If I see anything related to Christianity or Christmas or whatever the fuck with them… shut up. Yes Whizzer is half-Jewish, yes in the revival Cordelia isn’t Jewish (WHICH BRINGS ME TO ANOTHER POINT ILL GET INTO LATER), yes they are most likely secular as evidenced by Mendel’s “religions just a trap” and ‘Days Like This’, no this does not give you the right to ignore their ETHNICITY AND CULTURE.

2. It’s okay to like the revival more. It’s not okay to ignore the original just because you get blinded by conventionally attractive men. Going to my Cordelia point, she’s Jewish in the original, her line ‘Shiksa caterer’ is ‘Kosher caterer’. Again it’s fine if your headcanons and fanfics and fanarts are based on the revival, I love it too, but stop acting like it’s the only version.

3. Whizzer’s entire personality does not revolve around being gay. He’s not a sassy twink. He’s a full grown man with issues that need to be addressed. Again, I reiterate, he is not a twink. Stop. Drawing. Him. Skinny. And. Hairless. I don’t care if ‘ oh but but that’s just my art style!’ Shut up.

4. Correlated to the above point, here are things Whizzer is not: a prostitute, a drug addict, relying on Marvin for everything, a twink (saying that again to get it through peoples fucking skulls), innocent. I’m 100% positive if the people who had these headcanons watched the OBC version of the show they’d never continue to advocate for them… once more I’m begging you guys to look past Andy Randy’s beautiful face and actually use critical thinking skills when it comes to Whizzer.

5. Short but (not) sweet: don’t claim to understand Marvin if you haven’t watched In Trousers. Just don’t.

6. If you flat out hate any character in the show, you’re wrong. Yes I’m still mad about the Mendel thing; if you think any one character is worse than the rest and isn’t just a fully human person with flaws and nuance, you don’t understand the musical as well as you claim.

7. It’s not the ‘gay’ musical. If you like falsettos for Whizzvin and nothing else, please, just… I don’t even know. There’s so much more to it than ‘ooo boys kissing.’ Please grow up, this leads into a whole other point but fetishisation is never okay, no matter who does it.

8. So many people treat Trina as either a perfect angel or just the side character in the way of the gay people. She’s an entire person, an entire character with flaws and hardship and terrible actions done by her and to her. Treat my homophobic queen with the respect she deserves, and acknowledge her faults too. It’s more misogynistic to treat her as perfect when she has issues too than just saying ‘she’s never done anything wrong’.

9. Stop making AIDS jokes.

10. This next one is probably the most iffy on the list. I will never be one to police fandom and creation, you can engage with material in any fucking way you like it literally doesn’t matter to me… but I dislike AUs. Now, I’ll always enjoy a little fun, adding in a twist like lesbian Whizzvin, or enjoying a feel good college AU. But. Especially for Falsettos the canon events are so fucking important and cannot be disregarded as casually as some do. AIDS is an extremely important part of the story, as well as the fact that both Marvin and Whizzer are men. I’m trans myself, but I dislike making them so simply because everything about their characters, all the characters, are so highly specific and important to take these aspects away is to disrespect the message of the musical.

11. It’s very important Mendel is straight. I see some people headcanon him as bisexual or trans or so on, and this just feels so wrong to me. Trina and Mendel are straight and that’s why their acceptance and love for the others in the Tight Knit Family is so important, especially Trina struggles with moving away from the idea that these ‘homosexual tendencies’ are wrong. They are straight but they love Whizzvin and the lesbians just as much as anyone else.

12. This one is so petty and I accept that, but… HIS NAME IS NOT MARVIN GARDENS. GARDEN IS A JOKE CHRISTIAN BORLE MADE BASED ON MONOPOLY. Jesus guys please just stop it it’s so stupid, William Finn didn’t have a last name for Marvin on purpose, and though I can’t do more than theorise what that purpose was, Gardens is so stupid. It’s not even funny. Same goes for Cohen, which just is odd. The only name I could begin to accept is Falsetto, and even then… just work around the last name in your fics.

12 1/2. SIDE TANGENT Jason would never take Weisenbachfeld as his last name. As a child of divorce… no. He’ll never view Mendel as a true father over his own dad, especially after Falsettoland, and he wouldn’t take that name. Hell, I’d known my ex step-father since I was two and I’d never have taken his last name. So, please, I never want to see Jason Weisenbachfeld again. That’s just not how it works.

At the end of the day this is just me alone in my room bitching… I just hope these points resonate with others.

[milkcookiekin]

how ray shows affection for his s/o (i must revive the tpn x reader fandom)

- subtle physical shows of affection are his favorites, hand holding, leaning his head on your shoulder, stroking your hair, he’s very touch-starved, he just refuses to show it around others.

- you’re his first relationship, (and probably his last), so naturally he’s going to be very shy with too much physical affection, don’t let him implode please.

- he pretends to not like it whenever you kiss his cheeks or his lips, but the blush on his face says it all.

- he probably has a whole section of a photo book dedicated to just you, he likes admiring you, even if he, of course, doesn’t admit it out loud.

- he’ll leave you encouraging little notes in the books you read, letting you know he’d proud of you and he loves you. it’s easier for him to express his love when it’s not exactly direct.

- isn’t the type to give nicknames, because he personally thinks they’re unnecessary. when he does call you anything affectionate, he’ll give you some pretty basic nicknames.

- he likes cuddling with you when nobody’s around, believe it or not, especially when it’s raining or during nighttime, it’s very comforting for him.

[olderthannetfic]

Sorry to revive the hp wank on your blog but, yk, it was pissing me off. I’m so sick of “grow up children the lore isn’t even good.” Should I pick up some sci-fi fantasy brick instead? Some TikTok romantasy shit? As if the solid magic system is why I or anyone is into hp fandom, as opposed to the gaping holes authors and artists use as planters. The volume of work and history of fandom, and yes, history as a cultural phenomenon. It sucks that jkr used her wealth and prominence as a springboard to be hateful, but done is done on that. Jkr doesn’t, for me , atp, come into it, not since she published DH, and I know I’m not alone. The majority of book character slash fic enjoyers w fuck terfs in bio are not the same people w hp jansport and herbology t shirt. They are not hitting retweet. Email warner brothers abt their new theme park, or better yet, the media that legitimizes and platforms her, or better yet, actually pivot to activism /for/ trans people.

Like, it’s not my fault that jeffree star made good music in 2009, and all the racism, transphobia, and sex crimes he’s done before and since don’t actually make my eBay copy of beauty killer slay less. it’s not like he’s getting proceeds. Those are perfectly valid reasons to not be able enjoy something you might otherwise, but like. What we like and dislike is more to do with the gut than ppl act like it is, when it comes to stuff they can’t personally see the appeal of.

I don’t like fascism or mark wahlburg, but that doesn’t mean I think those things being bad is an actually compelling reason for someone to deny their extant enjoyment of Attack on Titan or The Italian Job, even though it /is/ the reason I personally can’t stand these things.

On the other hand I still like Home Alone 2 AND Two Weeks Notice, and Friz Frelings non-overtly-racist ouvre.

This is just another case of moralizing a personal squick, an iteration of which a broad chunk of self proclaimed proshippers seem perfectly happy to engage in.

I have a bunch of new and comfort fics queued up for my top surgery recovery. If one more person tells me to just decide to like earthsea instead I will metaphorically kms in front of them. There’s exactly one earthsea fic on ao3 with gay sex. And, yk, my blorbos aren’t there. Joy you can’t personally relate to is not less important or more immature for being unrelatable to you.

And ngl it wasn’t gonna work on me anyways, but telling people to discard something they enjoy and care about bc otherwise they’re bad evil cringe immature babies with shit taste who only read one book is like, not the winning argument people seem to think it will be.

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