#if they have a LOT of them they're either a popular blog or their friends ganged up to buy them

[actualaster]

OH HEY, IMPORTANT NOTE FOR TUMBLR NEWBIES.

You see those colorful and/or blue checkmarks? Those don't mean anything special.

Tumblr literally introduced them as a gag item to mock Twitter's "pay for a special verified checkmark to make yourself look like you matter" change back when it happened. They're cheaper, a one-time purchase, come with either blue or rainbow color options, come as a pair, and multiple purchases stack so you can have an absolutely ridiculous number of them.

Also, crucially, you can buy them as a gift for others so people who have them may not have actually bought them (all) themselves.

So, like, don't assume checkmark blogs are anything other than a run of the mill account because they really don't mean anything besides "this person tossed a little money at the site for some silly flare/other people did that on their behalf"

[rotisseries]

actually now that the clique thing is a few days old, i didn't really get involved for a reason and I don't feel super strongly in either direction

but I will say that like. while there's certainly a problem of less interaction on the fanworks/posts from less popular blogs, this isn't really a byler exclusive issue? this happens in most fandoms these days, interaction is just on a decline in general which IS. a problem but not really a "byler tumblr is cliquey" problem. in regards to any actual cliques I wouldn't say they don't exist but I don't think it's "the popular kids" themselves doing this. I don't know if the rest of you have some other bloggers in mind that I don't know about, but as someone who is mutuals with a fair amount of who I thought were the popular blogs, they are always very nice and welcoming to me, and actually easy to talk to once you just. see them and talk to them as a normal human and not an omnipotent fandom god. so this is all to say that if there's a clique issue I think it's from the outside. I think maybe people are perceiving these bigger blogs who all happen to be friends as these untouchable idols in fandom and it's. making it cliquey from the outside. like are they a clique or have you just convinced yourself they wouldn't want anything to do with you and isolated this group from everyone else. this isn't to say that people can't be assholes of course just that I don't think any of this is intentional

[cripplecharacters]

hey! I recently realized that one of my stories has a serious lack of physically disabled characters (one secondary character has a facial difference) and I'd love advice on what physical differences and disabilities are in more intense need of representation. I know one of my characters is going to be missing a limb, but idk whether they should be an amputee or just born that way, and what limb/ where it should be missing/if it should be underdeveloped or just totally gone. I want to know what type of limb differences are most underrepresented so I can do some research and see if I could feasibly add it to my character. I'd also like to hear some other general physical disorders and disabilities that need more rep (all physical differences need more rep but yk what I mean)

Most if not all of my characters are autistic/adhd or both, although it isn't mentioned (they're just like that because I as a person can't write neurotypical people)

Hello!

As mod Rot has said before, every disability is currently underrepresented (and those that seem represented are often, well, not getting the best rep to say the least). With that said, I do know what you mean, and there are some that are less represented than others.

For a missing limb specifically it might seem like it's "overrepresented", but in reality there's a ton of limb differences that I have absolutely never seen represented in any way, shape, or form. There's simply way more options than creatives ever consider.

The most common cause of acquired amputation is actually not represented much at all - diabetes. Almost all amputations in media are traumatic, but that's not necessarily how it is.

In most cases, the smaller the amputation the more common it is. A lot of characters in media have a shoulder amputation (with a prosthetic, of course), but that's probably the rarest possible one in real life. It's also worth mentioning that the fewer joints you have, the harder it is to use a prosthetic. A knee can change everything.

If they're missing a leg, consider giving them a mobility aid - connecting to the previous point, the higher someone's amputation is the higher the chance they will use them over a prosthetic, but anyone can use them.

Or, they can use both a prosthetic and a wheelchair/crutches at different times. Or they can use prosthetics with mobility aids, like a cane, crutches, or a rollator to help with balance!

Losing a leg is also incredibly more common than an arm, but in media it's the other way around for some reason.

Congenital limb difference of the not-full-amputation variety isn't seen much either, and it has more types than I could possibly list here, but I'll try; phocomelia, symbrachydactyly, micromelia, radial aplasia, ectrodactyly, tetraamelia, polysyndactyly... The only character that I know of with any of these has been made by my friend. Certainly not a popular thing to represent.

To go with the above, think about syndromes that cause limb differences! Some examples could be Ellis–Van Creveld syndrome, Otopalatodigital syndrome spectrum disorders, Pfeiffer syndrome, Joubert syndrome, or the VACTERL association. Or a thousand other things!

Limb loss due to cancer is also a thing! It also relates to a very specific kind of amputation, called rotationplasty, and it's when a person has their knee replaced with their ankle, and their foot is well, rotated. That's how important having a joint is.

Also I know that you said limb and not limbs, but remember that multiple amputations are a thing as well! For example bilateral above knee (often called BAKA), or quadruple amputation are greatly underrepresented :-)

As for non-limb loss underrepresented physical disability ideas, well, all of them, but just for the sake of some new ideas I will try to list ones that AFAIK haven't even been mentioned on the blog at all before (at least as of writing this).

CHARGE syndrome

Hyperthyroidism

Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia

Hereditary trochlear nerve palsy

Harlequin-type Ichthyosis

Locked-in syndrome

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Primordial dwarfism

Addison's disease

Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Apert syndrome

Charcot Marie Tooth disease

Usher syndrome

Nager syndrome (also, causes limb differences)

Peripheral Artery Disease

[links lead to very basic information pages]

These are just some ideas for disabilities that are 1) physical and 2) very underrepresented, some visible, some not - I hope it gives you some ideas for what to research for your character(s)! I tried to list both very common and rare ones :-)

You can also take a look at our #disabled character ideas tag, or posts like this (there's a lot of facial differences listed, mostly at the end) :-)

I hope this helps!

mod Sasza

[cloudmancy]

which is worse: d20 tumblr or d20 twitter?

this is such a funny question. frankly I prefer talking with my existing friends over discord over either of them but here's a breakdown of my experience with them

d20 tumblr

feels like a more isolating experience because of the way tumblr is set up in general as a platform. I follow relatively few people here, so all my interactions are from people engaging with my art (love you mwah) or asking me questions. nearly every time I go into a d20 related tag I regret it

I think frankly I disagree with 90% of the opinions on d20 here but because I don't have to see it I can just post my art and go

feels relatively static like there's not a good way to get everyone talking about a specific transformative fandom thing instead of only what's happening in canon because it's a looser more disconnected community

allows for longer posts and the search system on my own blog is great though. I love directing people to go through my tags or archived art

d20 twitter

incredibly, astonishingly, bad at recognizing jokes for people who are fans of a comedy show

way easier to interact with people which means most of the friends I make are from d20twt...

very easy to get everyone talking about one specific thing (ie fhsonas) because of how interactive Twitter is as a platform and how quickly word spreads

downside of this^ is that every time I express an opinion someone disagrees with they tend to assume that this is a majority opinion rather than like, 3-4 popular gay asian artists speaking their mind? when I complained about fhjy 18 battle on here I got interesting and thoughtful reblogs and everyone kept it respectful meanwhile on twitter people started making vaguetweets about how people who hated the episode were morons. stuff like us joking that oisin's grandma's whole mahjong group got murked getting 200 likes VS people directly shitting on us getting 1.7k likes and people going "wait... people are mad about oisins grandma for REAL?! she was going to kill people !!" getting 2k likes. clearly there is some sort of strange authority people put on your words whether or not you're actually just trying to have fun with your friends

I did talk about this more on twitter but I am not a fan of the CRitterfication of d20twt either. feels like much of the fandom is now watching because they're megafans of the cast rather than for the story which leads to some really big toxic positivity bias and the implication that criticism of the show == direct attack on the crew and therefore on THEM because parasocial attachment. I don't think it helps that for a majority of them d20 is their first big fandom experience aside from like... kpop or tswift because they have not developed a lot of the detachment from canon + not being parasocial + ignoring opinions you don't like if they're not directly addressed at you mechanisms that people who've been around have. sorry I'm not trying to fandom elder or whatever here I'm 21 years old but I think it's incredibly hard for me to interact with people whose entire understanding of canon depend on siobhan thompson's opinions like this

tldr;

d20twt has way less reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. better for making friends. I interact almost entirely with 30-40 of my artist friends. (my) d20tumblr experience is more chill and feels like I'm doing a seminar and people come up to ask me questions afterward. more isolating but easier to do my own thing. I do recognize and am fond of a lot of you but I've made one (1) entire friend who I can talk to off platform and not just see on the dash/my notes and that's just the nature of how tumblr works as a platform (it's terrible for conversations)

[daughter-of-sapph0]

the reason this website works while others fail is because the main dash is in reverse chronological order and only shows posts by people you choose to follow.

algorithms never work. a computer will never know what someone wants to see more than the actual person. it might give you some content that people can turn off their brains and consume for a few hours. but tumblr doesn't have "content". it doesn't have family friendly short form tiktok videos for people to scroll through for hours. it doesn't have arguments about petty internet drama where people tell each other to kill themselves for disagreeing like twitter does. like, sure those things can exist on tumblr but they aren't the main point of tumblr.

tumblr isn't content. it's conversations and art and writing and music and pictures and movies and experiences and people's lives being shared with their close friends. the reason this website works is because of the fact that their is no algorithm.

algorithms do not work for a website like tumblr. I only want to see the posts and reblogs from people I follow. the people I follow share similar interests to me and share and create posts that I know I will enjoy. even if there's a blog that posts one thing I really like, if the rest of their blog is stuff I have no interest in, I won't follow them.

staff says that the current model unfairly rewards popular blogs.

first of all, rewards them with what? clogged notification? that hardly seems like a positive, and I should know.

secondly, so what? no one cares if anyone is popular or not. follower counts aren't public. blogs don't get popular. certain posts get popular.

also thirdly, their solution to the "popular blogs" issue is to introduce an algorithm which will either:

just promote the posts of blogs with lots of followers, therefore making the "problem" they're trying to fix bigger

recommend posts from smaller blogs who do not want the attention and will end up getting "ew why am I seeing this garbage" on their personal vent posts

completely ruin the whole reason people follow tags and tag their posts in the first place and will end up thinking that non-fandom posts that aren't tagged from fandom blogs should be shown to people in that whole fandom (see point 2)

show posts to people who have no interest in them, such as showing posts about photography to people who only use tumblr to talk about video games, or vice versa

will end up promoting posts by fascists and terfs that staff still will not ban

the whole idea of an algorithm is a fucking stupid idea to implement on tumblr, and I hope that all the executives who decided to push for the idea get fired.

@staff @wip @changes @support this as a warning. no one on tumblr wants an algorithm. you can check the notes on your recent post, and it's all unanimous. people will leave this site en mass if you implement it.

you will not gain more users with an algorithm. anyone who would ever use tumblr has already jumped ship from twitter and reddit and tiktok. all those websites are currently failing because of poor executive decisions, and trying to make tumblr like them will be a death sentence. the only reason people join tumblr is because it isn't like every single social media website.

if new users wanted something similar to twitter, they'd join one of the dozens of twitter clones that will be shut down in a few weeks, like threads or bluesky or whatever the fuck they're called. people don't come here because they want twitter. people come here because they want tumblr. and an algorithm will fundamentally change and ruin what tumblr is

you will not gain users from an algorithm. but you will certainly lose them. it is a terrible decision that no one will like.

[earlgraytay]

I'm going to say something Controversial But Brave about DNIs, because some of my mutuals have been really dickish about them.

I think long, hyper-specific DNIs can be a good thing, if you're clear-headed about what they're for. it's a way of asserting boundaries. and it can actually work... if what you're trying to avoid is specific kinds of fandom drama/niche community discourse. especially if the people who engage in that drama are generally decent and just Dicks About This One Thing.

like, I am friends with a lot of people with PTSD. thus, I'm tangentially aware of the kinds of drama that are going on in the DID/OSDD/plural/multiplicity community. I try not to get involved in that drama, because it's Not My Lane. I don't have DID and don't want to comment on subjects that are none of my business.

so I have a pretty standing policy on here: Please Don't Talk To Me About syscourse/Plural System Discourse. It's not in my DNI- I don't have one- but if I did, I'd put "syscourse-centric blogs please don't interact" in there.

And... so far? People have mostly been willing to respect that boundary. Even with a post I made that is, essentially, a piece of syscourse getting pretty popular- people don't message me about syscourse. Because most of the people who are really, really involved in the syscourse (TM) are also... generally decent. they're happy to respect my boundaries.

...a lot of the reason a lot of DNIs are so bad is that the people who make them don't know how to assert their boundaries in a clear, polite, or firm way. they're either assuming an overly defensive posture, refusing to accept the kinktomato as a fandom norm, or don't have a good idea of what their boundaries are and thus demand that anyone that makes them vaguely uncomfortable stay away.

a lot of DNIs are crappy and/or useless, because they're basically impossible to enforce. you can't just say "freaks don't interact" and expect anyone who follows you to magically intuit whether or not they're the wrong kind of freak. you can't just say "bigots don't interact" and expect them to respect your boundary; bigots wouldn't be bigots if they respected people like you.

but setting boundaries is a good thing, and making fun of people for having boundaries is a bad thing. it doesn't matter if they're ~weird~ or if there's a lot of them; people have the right to their boundaries.

"syscoursers don't interact", "ddlg kinksters don't interact", "fans of $ship/$character don't interact"? clear statements of who you don't want to talk to, with a clear understanding of why you're making them? you can actually set and enforce that kind of boundary, especially if you're polite but firm about it. (and, you know, you use the block button for the handful of assholes who don't care.)

most people don't want to get in the way of your boundaries. if you assert them clearly and politely, most people will respect them. and DNIs can be a good way to assert your boundaries... if you are aware of their limitations, and if you are willing to enforce them.

[antianakin]

So to start with, if you don't like this blog and the things I post on it, nobody's putting a gun to your head asking you to look at it. Feel free to block me, blacklist my username, block the anti and critical tags I try to use VERY frequently, etc. Nobody's asking you to look at the things I post and, quite honestly, the fact that you felt the need to leave me this message tells me that between the two of us, you're the one being unhealthy because you felt the need to tell someone innocently staying in their own lane that they're participating in fandom wrong rather than just... moving on and doing fandom in a way you enjoy more. If you want to see something else, go look at a different blog or make your own posts. Nobody's stopping you, least of all me.

But to actually answer the question you didn't ask, I made this blog because I wanted a place to make the kind of posts I wanted to see. Yes, it's a venting blog. That means sometimes I vent about the same thing more than once. Breaking news: people in fandom talk about the same hyperfixation more than once sometimes!

My best friend in the Star Wars fandom happens to be someone who really likes Anakin. So whenever I disliked something about Anakin, she was not the person I could go to in order to discuss it. Well, not always anyway. Not when I got particularly bitter about it. And at the time that I made this blog over a year ago, I didn't have anywhere else to go to vent those feelings, so I made one for myself. I made myself a tiny safe haven where I could simply write those feelings out that I never really saw anybody else making or discussing. This wasn't intended to be a popular blog. I expected it to get about two followers total maybe and a LOT of haters.

Instead, I've actually heard from a number of people that this blog let them feel seen. That the things I've written have felt really relatable to people who just can't connect to all of the Anakin love that tends to exist in the fandom. Because yes, Anakin's been the villain since the 1970s, but you must not have spent a lot of time in this fandom because that is NOT a thing that a lot of his fans tend to remember or even believe anymore. According to a good number of Anakin fans, the Jedi are the real villains and Anakin is just a tragic victim who didn't really do anything wrong. And even a lot of the people who DO recognize that Anakin is the villain of the story often still tend to like Anakin as this tragic character and will primarily post positive things about him. So for those of us who just... don't LIKE Anakin very much, there isn't as much content out there for us. You either accept all of the Anakin love along with the content for the other characters you like or you just... don't consume very much content within the fandom. Or you find a very specific niche to try to stay in that you like better, I guess. But Anakin's the main character of the main saga, he's hard to avoid entirely.

So this blog helps provide one little safe haven for others who just... don't like this character much.

And that's not even the entirety of this blog anyway. If you had scrolled through it much, you might've noticed the fic rec lists that have nothing to do with Anakin at all and are actually a lot more aimed at being Pro Jedi. Because this blog is just as much about loving the Jedi as it is about disliking Anakin. You might've also noticed the extensive AU concepts I've written a few times, one of the most recent of which actually ended up leading to Anakin surviving ROTJ and figuring out how to stop being a Sith and getting mentally healthy. And Anakin's not even the only character who's GOTTEN criticism on this blog, the pinned post on this blog lists a good 10 characters I've had to add to it because there IS going to be criticism for them here, too, from Satine and Bo-Katan Kryze, to Aleksander Kallus, to Crosshair and TBB as a show in general, to Padme Amidala herself. Not to mention some criticism of Ahsoka, as well, sometimes. I'm an all access kind of hater I guess, I like to have a varied diet of characters I complain about.

So yes, it's a blog named antianakin because the url wasn't taken, I thought it was funny, and it works as a WARNING for anybody who sees my posts or decides to come onto my blog. Obviously it doesn't keep EVERYBODY out who shouldn't be looking at them, look at yourself for a good example of that. But I like to think it's helpful. Yes, this is a venting blog where I allow myself to be negative and complain about characters I don't like in a space I have created for me to do that in. This does not mean that I am not EVER positive about Star Wars, it doesn't even mean that I'm never positive about Star Wars ON THIS BLOG. It just means that this is a place that I am allowed to be salty in, it is a place where I put my most bitter thoughts and feelings and throw them into the void that is Tumblr just to get them out of me.

This is MY safe space, MY little fandom haven. Nobody asked you to be here, so if it doesn't feel safe or even just entertaining for you, you're more than welcome to leave and go find somewhere else you like better or create your own little fandom space where you can create the kind of things YOU want to see. I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for saying I don't give a fuck about Red, White and Royal Blue?

Firstly, absolutely no hate to the show. I know that sounds contradictory to the title, but bear with me. I think the show is great in terms of concept and the fact that its an insanely popular mainstream piece of queer media.

However.

It bored me to tears and by the third episode I knew it wasn't for me. That's fine, it happens, I just stopped watching it and started another show instead.

Now here on Tumblr I run a pretty popular multi-fandom blog where I post ship content, meta, GIFs, fanfiction, fanart, ect. I have a lot of fandoms I create content for. I didn't want to make it seem like I was shitting all over the show, nor did I think anyone would notice/care that I wasn't engaging with it, so I didn't bother to make any sort of personal post to say I'd tried it but it wouldn't be part of my blog.

Wonder of wonders, I received an anon, one of my followers, asking if I'd watched it yet and when I'd be making 'stuff' for it. Presumably fanart or GIFs. I answered it and just cheerfully/politely said I'd given it a go but I was more interested in other stuff as of now.

Anon shot back with 'so you didn't like it?? Watch it again. Its really good. You need to stick with it, you'll like it.'

I just reiterated that, no, actually I'm pretty confident I won't, but I gave them a list of blogs I follow who've started posting about it so they could the content they want. They're just not getting it from me.

They were still pretty insistent, and after two more anons basically demanding I watch the show and insisting I'll love it and kind of vagueing that I'll be a steaming turd of a person if I don't, I snapped a little and said;

I've tried to be polite about it, but to be quite honest I don't give a single fuck about RWRB. Its not my thing. I tried it, I didn't like it. I will absolutely not be making any content for it and I've got the tags blocked so I don't see it on my dash. I will not be watching it or making content for it and that's final.

Apparently I'm now a raging homophobe and either they alone or they and some friends are now sending me a smattering of anons calling me homophobic and trashing me for 'shitting all over strong gay media.' Which is laughable because all the ship content on my blog is queer. But.

I do actually feel bad for losing my rag and because the post was reblogged a handful of times by people who are into RWRB with a few comments about it being awkward and saying its cool I don't like it, but I don't have to say it publicly and I don't have to trash the show.

So AITA for that? I did lose my rag admittedly and I know I should've been politer, but my god, I simply do not care about the show.

What are these acronyms?

[klainepornytourney]

Hi!

What the hell is going on here, you ask?

Simply put, we’re here for the fuck of it. That is to say, for the fun of our boys and their, er, polls. 😏

We want to show our love for all the smuttiest, most glorious, gratuitous fics that have entertained us since Kurt and Blaine first touched…lips. Fingertips? Let’s be real, soon as their eyes met, the eye fucking swiftly evolved into, well, fucking in the brains of fans around the globe. So, here we are!

The fic tournament will start late February, and run until we're all out of polls. In the mean time, we'll be posting a few fun polls per week about Kurt and Blaine, and their sex lives, so get your headcanons ready and start voting!

While we are supportive of all the ways Kurt and Blaine are DTF, we (unfortunately) DNF with certain kinks and tropes which you might notice the absence of in our posts/polls/tournaments.

You'll find the hows, whats and whatnots under the cut, along with the links to poll masterposts, and if your question isn't answered there, please send us an ask and we'll get back to you!

Which fics will qualify? Any completed E rated Klaine fic posted on ao3 between 2010 and 2023, that is under 10k words and written in English. (Sorry longer fics, you usually have too much plot between all the porny bits and we don't have time to read you all.)

How will the tournament run? We're still working out the exact details of it, so this answer will be updated with more info soon!

How will we keep things fun for everyone? If you want to be excluded, send us an ask and we'll take you off the list, no questions asked. We'll only be naming the fic titles and including fic links in our posts, so there won't be any blogs tagged or ao3 accounts linked. The different kinks and tropes categories will have their own tags so you can filter out anything you don't want to see, while still getting the rest of the polls. We'll provide you with a full list of categories and tags when we've finalized the tournament design.

What will we NOT include? Anything nobody in our group is willing to read. Currently, that list includes mpreg, bestiality, dub/noncon, b!p, adult/minor relationships (unless the 'adult' is 18/19), cheating, incest, watersports/scat, Karofsky, slavery, A/B/O, or fics where they're younger than 15.

We're aware that this may mean some of your fav fics won't be included, but we can only include fics that at least one of us will read due to the selection process.

How do we select fics? Scrolling. So much scrolling. We made lists of all the fics that meet the basic requirements, and then divided them up and started skimming them (okay fine, we ended up reading most of them) to be sure there were no hidden untagged triggers or unhappy endings. Fic quality or popularity was not a factor.

Are there any fics that will be polled differently from the rest? Yes! Some authors have been so particularly prolific, that there's just too much smutty goodness to choose from. Instead, they will have their own categories to narrow the options down before the winners join the general tournament. Again, if you're one of them and don't want to be included, let us know!

If there are a lot of fics in one category, then we'll seed (pun intended) some fics to the next rounds based on publish date.

Will it only be Klaine fics? Of course! They might have some (male) friends along for the ride, or a spectator or three, but they will always both be there, either in person or digitally.

How do I decide which fic to vote for? That's completely up to you! You can vote because you like the author, because it got your motor running, or just because the other one sucked in a not so fun way. Be as subjective or objective as you want, it's porn after all and my kink may not be yours! ;)

Are there any rules for reblogging or commenting on tournament polls? We ask that you don't name any authors or link to their blogs unless you have explicit permission from them. If you come across a fic or a kink you don't like, just filter it out and move on. This tournament is supposed to be fun and we will not tolerate any (kink) shaming or bullying.

As cliché as it sounds, everyone is a winner here. We chose the tournament style for this blog because polls are fun and we like to click things, but the real goal is to celebrate ALL the smut we as a fandom have been so lucky to receive.

Will you reveal yourselves? Nope.

We hope everyone will have just as much fun reading and voting as we had setting this up!

xoxo The KlainePornyTourney mods

Links to various masterposts:

Threesome Mini Tourney

Fuck, Marry, Kill

Non-fic polls masterlist

[jackdaw-kraai]

Hey, Jack? Do you have any advice for dealing with those who do nothing but demand updates for your fics? I'm pretty sure most writers have to deal with this crap, it's just… I have one reasonably popular fic that's been on hiatus for over a year, and it feels like almost every comment I receive is just another demand for an update. I'm starting to regret ever posting that damnable fic in the first place. I don't want to delete it, that would be cruel to the other readers, but I'm already stressed as hell, I already felt guilty for the long hiatus, and these constant demands just kept grinding me down to the point I can't stand to even look at this fic, much less continue writing it. So… any advice?

Oh I have different tactics for different platforms, so I'll give you some tips for all the ones I use and how they synergize. First of, on Ao3, I generally put something in the notes like "writing takes a long time and real life doesn't always cooperate, so be patient. I'm the one actually working on this, so you can deal waiting for me to pour my labor and passion and time into this. Cool? Cool. If you can't be cool, I'll block/mute/freeze you." Then, I put places in the notes where they can find me outside of Ao3 like my tumblr and discord and explain what they can find there, usually this will help redirect. Then, once in a while, I'll answer a comment if I'm feeling like it like "life is still busy, working on this is still fun but very labor intensive in order to make it, ect". If they get pushy, I block them.

On tumblr, if people get pushy about it in the asks, I block them. No question about it, I block them. Once in a while I'll publish one of them with either a compassionate, curt, or snarky explanation depending on my mood, but I don't give all of them the time of day because oh my gods, who has the time once you ask box hits the triple digits?? I also keep a pinned post on my blog with links where you can find my stuff, so people can easily locate it instead of pestering me about it.

On discord I'm most active, so there's a lot of info to find there, but also, there's a lot of friends there who can help intercept anyone asking questions like that and inform them "writing takes time, cool your heels." Having a good moderating structure also helps with this, as well as spoiler channels where you can rant about your progress to people who are willing to be spoilered, or point at to people who aren't down for spoilers but still want info like "them's the rules for the info, if you don't like it, tough tits." I also flat out have a rule amongst the server rules list (mostly stuff like "don't be a bigoted cunt," "don't air your dirty laundry in #general," "if I catch you being a creep to minors, I WILL call the cops on your ass") that says "don't harass the author" and enforce it by having the server closed to anyone who doesn't tick the little box at the top saying "I have read the rules and agree to them." You very quickly get a self-selecting audience that way that knows you won't take their shit.

Key to all of this is to assert yourself and be willing to step on toes to make people back off and give back your personal space. You can't be shy about setting your boundaries, and you don't have to be polite to people crossing them. Even the kindest celebrities often have bodyguards for this reason, and while we may not be celebrities, we can be our own bodyguards enforcing our boundaries. Try giving people a space they can go for information, but information that's given on your terms, not theirs. Pinned posts and A/Ns and the like are excellent for this. And finally, just block people. Literally just block people, even if they're fans. If people make you uncomfortable, remove them from your space, you can literally just do that. You don't owe them access to be able to harass you, and if they can't be polite about this, you can deny them access to you, period.

Fans are a lot of fun, and I love interacting with them! I met some of my best friends as fans first, and they're lovely folks! But you gotta stick to your boundaries in order to keep it fun for everyone, and make sure you state them loud and clear. And if people pretend to not have heard them, you can remind them this isn't a court of law, and even if it was, ignorance of the law is not defense of breaking it. Evict them from the premise without further notice if they won't comply.

[smackins]

Not to be THAT guy, but I really need to bare my soul here.

I don't know if I want to do Artfight anymore.

While I'm extremely grateful for the attacks I did receive this year (I still owe 2 revenge pieces, don't worry, I'm working on them ❤️) it's become less fun and more of a reminder of how isolated I feel as an artist. I got a total of five attacks this year. I have friends who were attacked right out of the gate, on the very first day, by a barrage folks who were chomping at the bit to draw their ocs.

It's not Artfight's fault, and not really other people's fault, either. I'm not like, "How dare you not attack me!!111!!" It's just it amplifies so many insecurities I've had for years and makes it hard to ignore them.

I get an overwhelming feeling like there's something wrong with me as an artist, not even that I'm medicocre skill wise (though I feel that, too), but that I'm just fundamentally uninteresting and forgettable. My characters and my stories aren't worth asking about. They aren't worth anyone's enthusiasm or curiosity, they're not worth the encouragement. I can share a piece that I spent 6 hours on and just get "cute" as a response, while others could share a non-serious doodle of their ocs that took 5 minutes tops and get responses like "AHHH I LOVE THEM THEYRE SO AMAZING YOURE SO FUNNY."

And I know it's not good to compare yourself to others, but sometimes it's hard not to when everywhere I go, it feels so blatantly obvious how I'm barely worth anyone's time.

At first I thought it was the fact I draw non-human characters, because those are hard for people, so I made a little note on Artfight that I'll accept humanized versions. But plenty of people draw nonhuman characters, all the time, and recieve lots of encouragement and feedback from other people. Then I thought, "maybe it's my original comic characters that intimidate people" you know, my weird scorpion aliens. But that's not it either, because they're admittedly a lot less "alien" than they could be, and I know people with some absolutely WILD speculative-biology-type character designs who, again, get loads of enthusiasm and feedback. Plus, that doesn't explain why my fan ocs go ignored- plenty of people like Digimon, Mass Effect, and DBZ.

I feel like I'm just weird and tainted and cursed somehow, which I KNOW is absurd, but that's the best way I can describe this frustration. And yeah, I know if I posted more art and more about my characters, I MIGHT get a little more traction, but when I get so little encouragement from so few people, it's so hard to feel motivated to share. And it's not like I'm looking for huge, detailed responses or specifics about why people like my technique or whatever, because God knows I struggle to form specific words as to why EXACTLY I like something, but I just want to feel like people give a damn and ACTUALLY want to know more. Very few people ask questions or get curious. I have a lore blog for my original comic that has been up for 7 whole years, yet the only questions or comments I get are from the same 2 or 3 (very lovely and appreciated) people. Most of those posts have zero notes, a ton of them have been reblogged to my personal blog over, and over, and over again and still get ignored.

This isn't about popularity, or notes, or anything like that. I just want to feel like what I put into the world matters. Yes, I do get satisfaction from drawing for myself, but that can only go so far when I feel like I'm the little kid in the corner playing alone because the other kids don't notice me.

[roro-the-sleepy-monster]

Rambling abt my Durge here because I don't want to clutter my writing blog.

For context, Aelune is my agender Drow Fighter Durge, with dual blades because I'm Edgy Like That. They're also the first playthrough I reached act 3 on, met Gortash, and went "fuck, they're still desperately in love with this asshole, hunh?"

I had romanced Astarion on the playthrough out of curiosity, and I still flip-flop on whether Aelune actually ended up romancing him or walked the path alone.

Regardless, they're my cold, reserved OC who hides a modicum of sweetness very far down in their heart. I've enjoyed playing someone who is true neutral (probably chaotic neutral before they lost their memory), and honestly truly morally grey.

Further rambling below!

Originally I built them out of curiosity. I wanted to explore durge, but was also interested in the context being a drow provides. Little did I know this seems to be a very popular combination.

Truthfully, Aelune's backstory, while determined with a set of dice rolls (blessed be Xanathar's Guide to Everything), eventually morphed into something that was meant to be complimentary/contrasting to Astarion. Our little Star is outwardly flamboyant and affectionate, while actually being cautious and reserved. Aelune is outwardly cold and vicious, while holding a tenderness that they carefully protect and rarely show.

This was all thrown out the fucking window when I reached Act 3. Gortash approaches Durge with a tenderness (that might be fake, he's a manipulator and a tyrant) that turned my entire writing brain on its head. Durge is not even REMOTELY a good person, regardless of how you play them post memory loss. They did a whole lot of fucked up shit. They're gonna have to deal with that eventually.

"But Loaf!" You cry, and I become bewildered as to how you know my online handle. "Durge doesn't remember anything, how does meeting Gortash change anything in Act 1 and 2?"

Well, your body remembers what your brain does not, and sometimes your brain remembers what you don't. Confusing? Follow me here.

Even after you've forgotten trauma and moved on, you still have a gut reaction to certain triggers. Now this isn't just a depressing thing, but sometimes you just "have a feeling" about one thing or another, and more often than not, it's proven right in the end.

I still think Aelune would have slept with Astarion. Because they're smart enough to clock what Astarion's trying to do, and doesn't care. Star might've still caught feelings, even. But Aelune would still feel something was weird, like a feeling they were committing a social faux pas, and probably would've very gently friendzoned Astarion after the Act 2 incident with our least favorite vampire-obsessed blood merchant.

Very much a "oh you need a friend, not a lover. And I don't think I've had friends before this either, so it works out in my favor."

Besides, if you've read any of my works, you'd know Aelune had a child with Gortash, not that he's aware of it. Probably pre Elder Brain capture, considering the "raid" is when it's approximated Orin got the jump on Durge. Aelune's smart enough to know it would be dangerous to let anyone in on that secret, even their lover, as Gortash's goals are focused on power and tyrant stuff. And while I think Gort and Aelune loved each other in their own weird intense ways, tenderness was still weakness.

And pregnancy and a baby is the greatest weakness of all, in that regard. Bhaal could steal and manipulate the baby, Orin would use it to manipulate Durge, Ketheric...I actually don't know, he's got a weird daughter complex. And of course Gortash, mentioned previously.

This is all to say realizing Gortash had some sort of thing for Durge and vice versa makes for a lot more context as to why Aelune is so careful and reserved. Even if they don't remember, they know there's something worth protecting, even from their first and only love.

Later on? After Gortash is taken care of and the Absolute is obliterated? Maybe Aelune could find comfort in someone else. Maybe a post-Cazador Astarion, once he's settled into himself and his freedom. Maybe Halsin, considering he's the only one close in age to Aelune (Aelune is around 200, which I guess so is Astarion, but there's a maturity difference there).

Besides, in the end, I love the idea of the silver-tongued tyrant meeting a cold and strangely skittish Bhaalspawn and coaxing them into some sort of alliance, only to fall in love. I think Gort enjoys the challenge of constantly wooing someone who's determined to keep their distance, and Aelune is very quietly pleased and amused by the strange courtship.

[p-redux]

I'm finally home from work. Let's dive into ALL the C.M. info I've been holding back on...

As promised, more on C.M. Soooo, Chloé, if you ever find my blog, please know that I'm not the one that posted your name--it was a known Sam Heughan hater blog. But now that SHE posted your full name publicly, I'll just clear up some things for people. I come in peace and fully support Sam Heughan and any woman he dates. As long as he's happy, that's all that matters. For those who have been waiting patiently for the C.M. info and the dots that connected her to Sam, here you go...

So, a few weeks back, I got this Anon below, stating that they had seen Sam and Chloé Montana at a hotel restaurant in Paris. It's a very popular restaurant and people go there to eat, even if they aren't staying at the hotel. Anyway, I wasn't sure the Anon was legit, but I requested to follow Chloé so I could see if anything connected her to Sam. (BTW, her account has always been private).

👇

Then, I got more info, and a different Anon, saying they'd also seen Sam in Paris with an "exotic looking blonde." Chloé definitely qualifies as an exotic looking blonde, in my opinion.👇 These were around the time Sam was filming The Couple Next Door in Belgium, so he definitely could have made a quick trip for a romantic rendezvous in Paris.

This is her on her public IMDB account. 👇 Her full name is Chloé Montana Rash, but she goes by Chloé Montana. She's from Toronto, Canada originally, but has lived in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris. She travels a lot all over.

This is her Instagram account, which, like I said, has always been private. I wish she would change this pic, she's way prettier than this. She posted it because heavy make up was done on her for a photoshoot, and I guess she thought it was cool. She is actually one of those rare women who look better without any make-up. 👇

This is her public professional Linkedin Account 👇As you can see, not only is she beautiful, but she's also very intelligent. You don't graduate Magna Cum Laude if you're stupid...you just don't. And from what I've seen on her IG posts, she also has a great sense of humor. She's cheeky and irreverent, more like a Brit, dare I say it, a Scot, than the stereotypical polite Canadian. The girl's funny.

Soooo, what links her to Sam besides the Anon pointing her out by name? Well, I kept watching her IG account, especially her stories. She doesn't always post in real time, and she does do regrams and later grams. BUT right when Sam showed up in Miami for his birthday, Chloé also posted from there. Sam was seen out with guy friends in Miami, but he later said in an interview that the guys had surprised him in Miami. So, my thinking is Chloé and Sam met in Miami for his birthday, and his dumbass friends "surprised him" so she called up her female friend, who lives in Miami, and hung out with her while Sam had dinner with his guy friends. Then Sam and Chloé met up later. Obviously this means they're just dating casually, and aren't exclusive.

Right after Miami, Sam was scheduled to go to New York to do promo for Love Again. Guess who also posted she was in New York after being in Miami? Yep, Ms. Chloé Coinky dink, after coinky dink, right? 👇

She ALSO posted these IG stories during the time she was in Miami and New York. Sam's an actor. She's a Virgo and Sam's a Taurus. 👇More things that make you go "hmm."

But so far, there was nothing indicating Sam and Chloé even knew each other, other than the Anon saying she saw them together at a romantic dinner together kissing. They don't mutually follow on social media. But, as we now know, this is the same thing that happened when Sam dated Anna Modler and Monika Clarke. He didn't mutually follow with them either. This seems to be his new dating M.O., so as to not tip off fans that he's dating someone.

Soooo, does anything directly link Sam and Chloé? Yep! Looky, WHO has liked some of Sam's IG pics! Now why would she be liking his IG pics when she's not even following him? She has to purposely go to his account to do so. If they weren't dating and she thought he was hot, she would simply follow him, and like his pics like the thousands of other women, including celebs, who do. But, nope. So, there you have it---she for sure has been liking his pics, but not following him. 👇

I didn't search far back enough maybe, I'm tired, but it seems the FIRST time she liked his pic was was 15 weeks ago. So, she's definitely new in his life. They've both mentioned being on Raya, the exclusive celeb dating app, so my bet is that is where they first connected.

C'est tout, mes chéries. I see people following her already with VERRA obvious Outlander related accounts I'm looking at you, grandma Jojo aka Randi. 😏 Please make your accounts private. But, I guess this is the point where I just give up, and throw in the towel. Que será, será. Let's hope Chloé is made of steel.

As always, and tongue-in-cheek, with nothing but good intentions, what should their celebrity couple name be? Samhloe? ChloSam? Heughtana? Let me know in the comments. 🤗

[familyromantic]

(Submission)

I'm devastated I can't ramble on forever about my number one incest OTP Klaus/Elijah because there are already a couple of gifsets of them on this blog, but after trying to think of what other ships I have that could fit the criteria, I remembered a pairing I haven't thought about in a while but wish was more popular.

Johnny and D'avin Jaqobis from Killjoys. 

gif source: @anissagraces on Tumblr

To sum up their dynamic - they have a complicated and somewhat rocky history, but their loyalty is unwavering no matter what. They bicker and mess with each other constantly but will go the ends of the galaxy to protect each other.

A quick intro to the show - The three main characters are Dutch, Johnny and D'avin. They work as bounty hunters, known as Killjoys. 

D'avin and John were estranged for 8 years before reuniting at the beginning of the series. They were very close as children, only having each other to rely on growing up in an abusive household. Until D'avin ran away and joined the army when he was 17 and disappeared out of John's life without a word, not to be seen or heard from again until the events of the pilot.

John harbours a lot of anger, resentment and distrust towards D'avin for abandoning him, but still doesn't hesitate to risk his career, his friendship with Dutch and his life to save him when he hears there's a kill warrant out on him. He steals Dutch's ID to take D'avin's warrant without official clearance and sneaks off to prevent him from being killed by another Killjoy. Dutch follows him and together they work to find out who put the kill warrant out on D'avin and get it lifted. Despite them going rogue, mysterious orders from high up clear John and Dutch and D'avin is recruited to their team. 

As the season goes on, the brothers work to slowly repair their relationship and rebuild trust as more is revealed about why D'avin left, why he didn't contact Johnny and what he's been involved in that made someone want him dead. 

On to why I ship them, headcanons etc. Aside from that I'm a simple bitch who'll ship just about any two (or more) pretty boys (and/or girls) especially ones who have fun banter and a slightly crazy level of devotion for each other - if you look at things through a shippy lens, there's a decent amount of fodder there to build off.

Firstly, sexuality is depicted as pretty fluid in the Killjoys verse. Though they're both ostensibly straight, they both have occasional moments that could be read as interest in guys or at least openness to the possibility. Bisexuality seems pretty common and casually accepted in their culture, so it's not too far-fetched to imagine that in the right circumstances either or both of them could develop an interest in a man, or at least be willing to seduce one for a mission if nothing else.

Their dynamic is complicated and layered - they have mutual feelings of admiration and almost hero worship, mixed with an oftentimes juvenile sibling rivalry. They each look up to and idolise the other in different ways. D'av envies that doing the moral thing seems to come naturally to John while he struggles with bad, impulsive choices. Johnny regards D'av as more like a father to him than their actual father.

I don't really have any strong shippy headcanons about them; generally I'm the sort of person that likes my headcanons to be somewhat realistic and plausible, and obviously it would take a fair bit of tweaking from canon to get them to a place of developing romantic feelings for each other that isn't totally OOC.

However, what else is fandom for? It's mentioned that Johnny's first kiss was with their cousin, and neither of them seem to have had many friends or been very close to anyone other than each other while growing up poor on a harsh and small, isolated planet with their abusive, alcoholic father. Perhaps in an AU where they never left Telen, it would be easier to imagine lines getting blurry.

Or perhaps pile some more trauma, loss, isolation (and booze) on them and a codependent, dysfunctional 'turn to each other for comfort because no one else could understand' situation could unfold. (my predicative text wanted unfold to be unfortunately, which is fair lmao) 

Then there's the 'not really canon but the Vibes are Vibing' pseudo-poly thing they have with Dutch. She and John have a platonic soulmate thing where he considers her a sister, albeit with the occasional hint, particularly in a flashback to how they met, that he might harbour some romantic feelings for her deep down. John is not happy at first when Dutch and D'av become romantically interested in each other.

John: Dutch is family too. Meaning, don't plow our sister. D'av: Remind me, was that on the Jaqobis family crest?

He claims he's not jealous, it just feels awkward that "it's like my brother is banging my sister" but it's easy to interpret a bit of jealousy and possessiveness from John towards both of them.

While it never truly goes there in canon, no matter how many times they claim they're not a throuple, they can't shake the reputation, so there's a lot of building blocks for shipping any combination of the three.

gif source: (99+) KILLJOYS 5.04 (2019) – @swallowedabug on Tumblr

The family dynamics only get more complicated in as the show progresses, when an enemy-turned-reluctant-ally, her girlfriend who Dutch was cloned from and D'avin find themselves the surprise parents of a rapidly aging child with enhanced abilities.

source: https://www.tumblr.com/booasaur/176364392675/killjoys-4x02?source=share

In 5x01 when their memories are altered and they believe they are strangers, they very quickly fall into their typical snarky bickering and roughhousing, with the addition of John commenting to Dutch after D'avin bests him in a fight with one stealth hit

John: Okay, yeah. I see what you see in him. That's straight-up sexy.

Granted, he doesn't remember D'av is his brother at this time but it's very funny when contrasted with Dutch, who starts to remember their real lives the moment John kisses her and it feels wrong. Whereas John, for all he calls her his sister, didn't have any problem believing the false memory that she was his wife, and immediately calls his brother 'sexy' and 'handsome' as soon as they meet.

There's another scene in season 5 where Dutch and D'av are trading innuendo-laden banter while trying to escape from zipties, and despite protesting that he doesn't want Dutch to talk about his brother while they're pressed against each other in handcuffs, he also quips "'Johnny' is my safeword." Hmm, D'av, I think most people wouldn't even joke about saying their brother's name during sex, but you do you.

There's probably at least a couple more examples of Totally Normal and Not At All Weird things to say to/about your brother that I'm forgetting since I've only watched the show once at the time it aired.

But now, on to the shippiest moment, the pièce de résistance, the holy grail of brocest ship fanservice, rivalling Supernatural for sheer 'wtf I can't believe the writers went there' energy.

I already low-key shipped them, both on their own and in an OT3 with Dutch, but mostly due to just being a huge slut for multi-shipping. Nothing had really inspired me to give them all that much thought as a ship, until an episode that I can only assume was the work of a dedicated incest shipper breaking into the writer's room and replacing the script with fanfic.

In 4x02 John gets badly injured and to save his life D'av has no choice but to infect him with Green Plasma - an alien parasite that gives people enhanced healing, strength and reflexes, but also erases their emotions and turns them into sociopathic killers called Hullen. 

source: https://www.tumblr.com/librathefangirl/759257136932028416/whumpgifathon-day-19-relationships-what-is?source=share

I was already feeling spoiled by all the D'avin worried sick and tenderly cradling an injured Johnny, and then it turns out the whumpy goodness was only scratching the surface of the ship fodder.

When John wakes up we get this... interesting scene.

 A newly Hullenized Johnny first attacks D'av, throwing him against a wall and choking him, then laughs and thanks him for the 'upgrade of awesome' with a kiss.

https://x.com/Killjoys/status/1023346674134147072

  On the lips.

Sure, closed mouth and like 1 second long, but there's a weird intensity that doesn't exactly give off wholesome familial vibes.

I have so many questions. 

Like, is Johnny still mostly himself and just acting a little manic with relief to be alive, exacerbated by the effect of the Green Plasma? Or is the real him already almost gone and he's simply intentionally acting weird and creepy to unnerve D'avin?

Presumably it is meant to be one of those interpretations and not that he's secretly always wanted to kiss his brother and the Green lowered his inhibitions enough to do it, but hey, the third option's much more fun! ;)

But seriously, even one of the writers (or directors? someone involved with the show anyway) pretty much said in a tweet that (paraphrasing) the kiss wasn't really necessary to the plot but they couldn't resist throwing it in as a jokey shiptease. Unfortunately I cannot for the life of me find the damn thing because twitter's search function is terrible, nor a screenshot anywhere because the fandom is pretty small. 

Oh, and that's not even all. I genuinely completely forgot about this bit (I guess because I still can't believe it actually happened) until I was trying to track down the half-remembered tweet and saw some comments reminding me that they continue the joke to an even more unhinged extreme in a later scene in the same episode.

D'avin says he'll find a way to cure Johnny after they escape the planet, and John smirks and cocks an eyebrow in what can only be described as a lascivious manner and asks "Like you cured Sabine?"

So, important information to know - D'avin is immune to the Green and his system repels it. This ability can be temporarily passed on to others via transfer of bodily fluids, which he inadvertently discovered the previous season while having sex with Hullen spy Sabine. To put it plainly - when he came inside her it made the Green expel itself from her body.

D'avin hastily protests that's not what he meant but Hullenized John continues to taunt him

...and despite his freakout, D'avin concedes he would fuck him to save him from being permanently Hullen if he had to.

And his choice of phrasing?

source: selecting a bagel (tumblr.com)

So. Many. Questions.

(Like were the writers on crack, for a start.)

Why, of all things Hullen Johnny could have done or said to mess with D'av and push his buttons, did he go with a kiss on the lips and sexually charged taunts, all the way up to pretty much straight-up propositioning him?

Now, he does knock him out and kidnap him a moment later, so the conversation did serve as a distraction technique, but again, there were surely less weird ways to distract him.

And D'av's response that he would if he had to - how serious was he being? Now, John's already drugged him at this point, which probably goes a long way towards explaining the flippant way he says it - but it's intriguing to wonder, could he really bring himself to do it if it really was the only possible cure? And how would they deal with the aftermath?

From the extreme fanfic-y end of the scale - where Hullen Johnny is exposing real hidden desires, to the less exciting and presumably intended option - that he's simply making the most shocking and abhorrent suggestion possible for the sadistic amusement of seeing D'av squirm - there's so many fascinating angles to consider and explore.

Headcanon-wise, I think my interpretation lies somewhere in the middle of the scale - that there's some genuine interest/curiosity/desire on John's part in that moment, but it wouldn't normally be there. With the Green rendering John unable to feel an emotional attachment to D'av as his brother and removing his capacity to have a moral objection to incest, all that's left is the objective potential for purely physical attraction and no reason not to express it if it's there. Given that he has commented on D'av's objective attractiveness a few times, that explanation makes sense. And it's hilarious to imagine them having to spend the rest of their lives in the quiet knowledge that he'd totally be down to bang if they weren't brothers and they both know it lol.

I've reminded myself of why I'm sad they're such a small/rare pairing, and already halfway convinced myself to start work on contributing the 9th fic to their pairing tag on Ao3, so I'll end it here. What else could top a canon scene of brothers actually pondering the question of what they'd do in a Fuck or Die scenario (well, a Fuck or Stay an Alien Slime-Controlled Emotionless Killer Forever scenario) and coming down on the side of 'welp, ya gotta do what ya gotta do'.

Actually, I'll chuck in one more gif that does a great job of summing them up - being the most stereotypical 'still have the mentality of 12 year olds when it comes to annoying each other' brothers ever, with an added dash of the occasional bit of slightly weird, almost flirt-adjacent dialogue.

source: dailykilljoys

Thanks for reading my ramble about two of my fave dumb boys, hope you enjoyed!

  Ok, one last thought - I'm going c r a z y trying to figure out what exactly he was even supposed to have meant by the exact word choice of "I'd wreck you." After seeing it again, I'm wondering if he was just saying with conviction that he'd do it without question (and do it thoroughly!) if he couldn't find any other way.

Because my first reaction was to interpret it as him suggesting he wouldn't do it, and was warning him to drop the subject, and he meant 'wreck' in a dumb, macho, bragging way like 'Oh, you think you could handle me but there's no way you could take it, so good thing this is only hypothetical because my dick's so big and/or I'm such a wild animal in the sack, I'd hurt you.'

Or could it have even been a dumb, macho bragging thing in the other direction, like 'I'd fuck you so good it'd blow your mind how much you'd love it and I'd ruin you for sex with anyone else'?

Or was it just the knockout gas making him delirious? A bit of all of the above? 

Who knows.

Who. Knows.

It was totally option three and you can't change my mind 😁

[stoopid-turtle]

Hey loving your blog so far , am a new turtle just recently watched the untamed with my best friend. I'm 100% convinced they were definitely a thing during filming even now I still believe they are still together. My bestie on the other hand doesn't think they were anything more than friends. I tried my best to convince her but she thinks I falling to separate the actor's from their roles they were playing. My question to you is that do you ever sometimes think us turtles overthink too much or misinterpret what was going on between them ? Forgive my grammar English isn't my first language

Hi there! (Your English is perfectly fine!)

Yeah, I do think turtles overthink some things. There's a lot on YouTube that falls into this category, tbh. I can see how it happens. With all the bts, it feels like its own show that we can pore over, slow down, watch from different angles, decipher the TRUTH from it to reveal that bjyxszd.

But the bts aren't scripted. While they're endlessly rewatched by us, they were one moment in time for the guys. One moment in a long, exhausting day of work. Stuff we may think of as being intentional and meaningful may just as easily be random, off-the-cuff, and ultimately meaningless. Think about jobs you've worked where you get bored and tired during a long day. If you're like me, you and a coworker/friend will start talking nonsense to each other to get through it.

One friend/coworker and I made dinosaur noises at each other between taking calls in a call center. Yeah, idgi either. And because I'm a flirty bisexual, we'd make lewd gestures and kissy faces at each other sometimes for fun. She's straight, so it wasn't serious. I am aware that this dynamic is different between guys than between girls (in the US. I can't speak to China.), so I'm not saying that what happened between gg and dd is like me and my friend. Just to show that...sometimes stuff just gets weird. I wasn't nursing a secret crush on my friend or anything. It was just random time-wasting.

So yeah, I do think some stuff is misinterpreted. As I've noted, we see very little of what was happening bts, and there was a lot going on outside of whatever was happening between gg and dd. It's inevitable that some stuff will be misinterpreted.

This is why it took a while for me to come around to bjyxszd. And I resisted HARD. I'm skeptical by nature and I'm double-skeptical of things that sound too good to be true (like that a popular BL couple was played by actors who actually fell in love and are now together).

But at the same time, I came around. It took me spending many hours reading, watching, trying to translate, etc. Even then, I had to write out a novel in tumblr posts to lay out my thoughts to establish to myself that I'm not crazy on this. Like you, I'm 100% convinced that they were an item during filming.

So I was able to get past the stuff I think is a bit of a stretch to believe in it anyway. Now, it just means I smile at the stuff that does seem meaningful to me, and leave the other stuff for those that enjoy it. I don't want to single out any particular thing that I think isn't as significant as some people think it is, bc I don't want to ruin anyone else's fun. We're all turtles so regardless of what path we took or what convinced us, we're in the same boat. There's no point squabbling over the details.

Especially with the bts, which happened years ago at this point. Odds are, even gg and dd don't remember the context of any one clip at this point. So the TRUTH is impossible to know completely. It can be frustrating if you're like me and dislike ambiguity and uncertainty, but we're all in this pit together. We just have to enjoy what we've gotten and what we continue to get.

I'll also just say, don't stress too much about convincing your friend. I know it's frustrating when you want to squee about something but your bf isn't into it, but people tend to dig in their heels when someone tries to convince them of anything. There's also no need to do so. BJYXSZD regardless of if people believe in it or not. Find some other turtles and do your squeeing with them and when with your bestie, focus on what things you do share with them.

[sophieinwonderland]

hi o/ jus wana start by saying dis is jus semi incoherent rambling of a sleeby oupy who didnt get to eat 5 borgars for dinner.

i find the anti endo point of “just doing it for attention” so weird

for one its really disconected from real life, like, attention is a basic need fir our body, its why solutary confinment is such good tourture. its like saying “theyre just doing it to get food” :l dumb argument, evyone needs and withholding food because someones starving is an evil thing to do, an so is ignoring someone who’s in need of social interaction.

and two, its blatantly wrong. like, we’ve told 0 people irl about being a system, we’ve only told like, 3 online friends, and we never talk about system stuff with them still cuz we’re scared of loosing those friends for being too weird. we pretty much never post about it on our blog an besides the blog description no one wud probably ever know. the one time someone guessed we’re a system in a discord servr i had a full anxiety attack an avoided any interaction for 2 weeks even tho they were accepting, an then when we finaly went back to talking there i made sure we had any trace of system stuff wiped from the servr profile an deleted the messages that made them ask and only just showed that all again after 2 months of keeping everything hidden. we’re terrified of people we know knowing we’re a system or getting attention cuz of tgat.

tho we’re definitly on the extreme end for that (mostly me tbh… the social isolation and abandonment issues exo-memories and the body’s trauma from similar irl stuff deff made me super scared about this) but its a pretty similar experience for a lot of systems from wut ive seen where telling ppl is pretty much an act of compleat trust an usualy very anxiety inducing.

besides, if someone really wus just after attention, they could just post a incorrect fact online or a really dumb take. thats much easier an will get a lot more attention than faking being a system ever could. like, saying something like “reading is bourgeoisie” on a semi popular post will be a thousand times better at getting u attention than being a system ever could.

theres so much more i wana say about this, like the ableism inherent to that argument point, or the way its linked to child abuse, but phone keyboard is stupid and terrible and im too hungy to think well enough to write out those points properly an do them justice.

anyways, i hope u have a great day/night depending on when u read this.

Right! And if they're claiming people are wanting positive attention, I don't see that as being that hard either.

Like, if someone wants to talk to people on the internet about stuff, there are spaces out there for literally anything and anyone. You're not going to get more attention for being a system than you would for being outspoken in a fandom or a religion or any other social group you're a part of.

People who want attention... don't need to pretend to have people in their head to get it. And the attention you would get for that is often going to be negative because a lot of people are sanist and pluralphobic. But as you mention, it's not even the best way to get negative attention when there are so many actual troll-y things you can do.

You can find hundreds of communities online with people who will support you and give you attention for your takes on various topics! Or you can find hundreds more who will hate you if you push the right buttons!

There's just... no logical reason to fake being plural for attention.

And isn't this, again, the very same claims that have always been made against the LGBTQ community?

It's actually kind of funny how that happens, isn't it?

The people who are getting attention are generally the ones who most conform to society. It's not plural or trans people. It's the ones who do their best to fit in and be like everyone else in their group. Meanwhile, people who have identities that diverge from the norm are often left outcasts and shunned by peers.

And yet it's the latter group that's accused of attention seeking?

It makes no sense. 🤷‍♀️