#im not a huge fan of discourse but i needed to say this

[maigetheplatypus57]

I've already seen some people explain better why sally standing up to gabe doesn't negate her being a victim of abuse and I'm by no means an expert on abuse or abuse victims but I just felt the need to point out that what could've motivated sally to directly talk back to gabe like that was the fact that Percy was there.

Percy, the kid who she probably hadn't seen in a while because he was a boarding school. The kid who absolutely adores her and looks up to her, which would've motivated her to at least act (in her mind, we already know how strong she is) like the strong parental figure he needs in his life. The kid who has just been expelled and really needed her comfort, something that would've been significantly harder to give with Gabe in the same house. The kid who she's already decided at that point to send to Camp Halfblood for his own safety and wellbeing, and maybe she didn't want some of his last memories of her to be begging and pleading, instead turning it into a negotiation where she had just a little more power and be his cool strong mom (and isn't it bad enough that she had to negotiate just for gabe to not be mad for using a car that was mostly likely paid with her own god damn money?).

We don't know how Gabe and Sally act when Percy isn't home because we're seeing them from Percy's perspective. Hell, Percy only finds out that Gabe is physically abusive towards Sally near the end of the book, which means that Sally's been trying to shield him from that violence as much as possible. Maybe, if everything had gone to plan and Sally had successfully dropped off Percy at camp and returned home, maybe there would have been a worse fight with Gabe when she got back. Maybe she Is a cowering hapless victim when Percy's not there (which I don't necessarily believe but again, not an abuse expert).

But for just one night, Sally had her kid with her. A kid who needed love and reassurance and was in danger from forces he didn't even know about. A kid who she Needed to get out of the house to their cabin as soon as possible to protect him. A kid who she loved and adored, whose safety and wellbeing outweighed everything else, even her own safety. A kid that she would face down the god damn minotaur for.

So fuck man, is it really so hard to believe that she would risk one moment of defiance against her asshole husband for the son she loves?

[ranboolivesaysstuff]

IMPORTANT POST PLEASE READ

Im gonna be honest and open for a sec, and please do not take this as "oh I HATE my community or I dont like the people who watch me" but honestly as of late (and I did highlight this during the mcc bit), ive felt like I havent been able to really be in my own community simply because of the constant way that "discourse" is handled. Making vague posts and not really tackling issues in a good way, all that is going to do is just show people a big "THIS COMMUNITY BAD" sign and not actually help anything within the community, all its going to do is have the good and potentially good people leave or not join in the first place. The way that discourse is treated that ive seen has been the main reason why I have started to try to distance myself, which has been the most heartbreaking thing I have had to do. I want problems to be solved in a mature, civil way, with either a dm or a reply, not an entire vague thing that only says "bad things are happening" and doesnt elaborate on anything or barely elaboratesa and only gives people on both the inside and outside a bad sign of what the community is. Making posts whenever something happens being like "here we go again" is only going to highlight the wrong things, and actually DOESNT help the issue at all! The problems should be discussed directly with the people who are doing said problems FIRST! Bring attention to behaviors and things that arent good DIRECTLY! And also, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO!!! It is not your duty as a viewer or fan of me to be involved in any of this if you do not want to! Just enjoy the content and make silly posts! As someone who constantly tried to fix and get into every problem as it was happening, it took a huge toll on my mental health, and I want you guys to just be able to enjoy the content without having to worry about what you say about it! Be constructive! Dont make posts again just being like "wow this community is so bad" because that doesnt solve literally anything! If you have enough passion to make the posts saying "wow this community is bad" then only post about that, you are only spreading that negative message, and not uplifting anything of actual value! And if the person you are trying to help is not willing or not listening, BLOCK! MUTE! DONT BRING MORE ATTENTION TO THE PERSON IF THEY ARE NOT BEING A GOOD PART OF THE COMMUNITY!!!! I know I say that if I see problems I will call them out, but I shouldnt have to babysit every single time a thing happens within the community as that just isnt a healthy way for a creator or a community to be handled. This does not mean that I do not care about the issues or dont want them fixed, rather it shouldnt take me having to make some grand statement every single time something happens it should take only your own self reflection and self awareness. And to add onto this, make sure that every once in a while no matter who you are you think and have that self reflection, you should be open to being willing to learn and grow as a person! And again, I do NOT want anyone taking this as "Wow this community is terrible" but rather that we just have things that need to be fixed and changed and THAT IS OKAY! I do not hate the community, I care so much about it that I want it to be a silly place for my content again! I want it to be the reason why people get into what I do because of it again! And I want to be able to just have fun and relax without having to worry about how every single thing that I may say could have someone stirring things up that simply dont help or solve anything! Take care of yourselves. And this isnt coming from a place of "I hate the community as a whole" but rather again I want to be able to exist and make content that we can all enjoy without having to worry about walking on eggshells around me or around eachother! At the end of the day im just a fella that wants to make silly videos for you all, and you are people who enjoy said videos. Nothing more. Nothing less.

[tonydaddingham]

it's all well and good to have discourse regarding generalised theories and meta and such like, it's cool to discuss and (politely) debate stuff; maybe you can change other fans' minds by sharing your perspective/analysis, or maybe they can change yours.

what's not cool though? screenshotting actual posts (that can easily be found on a straightforward google boolean search, or hell - usually just by typing the contents into tumblr itself) of takes you don't agree with and subjecting them to focused ridicule. those are someone's thoughts and feelings. that is someone's time, their effort, and their dedication.

what's not cool is vagueing about people's posts in such a way that it is obvious that your post is about them, about that particular post, and not just the theory/theme in general. this fandom is huge but it's also incredibly small sometimes - we're all so often of the same mind that art and fic and meta pass through us like shockwaves. what im saying is that the person that that post is about? they'll probably see it. don't be bullies. a good portion of us have had enough of bullies to last us a lifetime, and it's not needed here.

reblog a post and disagree courteously, patiently, and with compassion, or make a separate post "ive seen discussion on this theme/thought, and whilst it was interesting, i personally don't agree and here's why...". send a polite ask to the op perhaps asking them to clarify some things, because you don't agree but at least want to understand and discuss, if they'd be amenable.

if the bad takes are becoming too much, or are upsetting you, or the person is doubling down despite polite debate and it's pissing you off? that's absolutely valid and you're allowed to feel like that - and if you don't want, or can't, address it politely, and it's too much... block them. block them so you don't have to keep seeing it. rant about it in the DMs to someone you trust if you really need to, but don't publicly make people - on what is (to my mind) the mostly inclusive and open-minded platform - feel like shit because they see media different than you.

don't make people feel like they're absolute scum just because you disagree. don't make them feel stupid, or close-minded. dont stick labels on them that they will likely internalise and make them feel like the worst human being to walk the earth. it's humiliating, it's alienating, and it's going make some people fear having any interest in something they used to enjoy, and that once brought them joy when they needed it most. you personally may not be bothered, but others might - have some respect for them.

god knows im not perfect and ive done it myself, im not pretending otherwise bc sometimes i catch myself being unkind, or feeding into this culture of "different thought = wrong thought", but by god im trying to do better. don't be like me, please please please just be fucking kind

[sethdomain]

want my shipping takes that ill still probably get hanged for??? here we go. theyre basically all "everyone chill out" ...it seems like most people are just submitting ships theyd get cancelled for, not takes on shipping. ill do that after in case i completely misread what you were asking for

if ccbeeduo didnt want to get shipped they shouldnt have made their characters get married and have a son and fall in love. natural byproduct, really shouldve expected it. i still think ppl should have chilled fr but like, they both had plenty of examples of what fans were like, they shouldve taken that into account before making those character decisions.

cdapduo discourse was absolutely batshit insane and everyone who posted with a banner saying either "slime is quackity's son and if you ship them you're weird DNI" OR "they keep flirting, if you call slime quackity's son you're weird DNI" pissed me off. how about no one's weird because actually its a roleplay with lots of different perspectives and you can do whatever you want forever . obvs i understood people who were like "i believe this thing, dont fucking yell at me for it" but it sucks that people had to make banners for that fr.

in the same vein, the discourse with emeraldduo. though that one i dont/didnt see as much, i did still see those same banners. even as a family sbi fan, i never saw someone shipping emduo and thought "yeah let me go yell at them and tell them not to interact with me because i personally think theyre family-coded." the devotion is ambiguous but powerful.

Heat Waves was the funniest fic ive ever read because idgaf about either of those guys so it was just like 20 chapters of some guy crying and jacking off and then getting rejected.

i think rarepairs are based as fuck and mischaracterizing guys to fit your ship is fine do whatever you want forever!!!!!!!! people complained to hell and back about fanfics tagging characters and ships and them being ooc . WHO GIVE A FUCK THEY WROTE THAT SHIT FOR FREEEEEEEEE!!!!!! ALSO MANGOBALL'S MONSTER/CHEATER CHEATER WAS A MASTERPIECE

karlnapity was not perfect polyamory i see people glossing over the fact that when they first talked about polyamory quackity started attacking and biting when karl and sapnap kissed and thats fucking FUNNY i want to see more of THAT.

sorry for writing so much i have a lot of opinions

JESUS ANON, honestly idgaf bro i take any spicy opinion as long as its not going straight to 'i love pedophilia/incest' territory that my only rule man

For beeduo, idk if u mean the cc ship or the c ship cause honest to god i was a huge inniter back then and dont follow their stuff closelt that much, but im just gonna assume u mean the rpf cc shipping. Honestly, I don't really agree with ur take, its a bit victim blamey, both ranboo and tubbo were like young and in their naivety expect their fans to uphold their boundary to just not ship them in a rpf way and i think you should've respected their wishes man. You sometimes gotta be reminded that dsmp was just them guys having fun and if they want to rp as a husband then whatev man :p

I agree bruh, i think people were just sscared of a little doomed faggot in action

phil and techno doesn't even act like father/son in the dsmp canon anyway, they act like old bestie

imma be fr idgaf abt heatwaves but that sound awesome

sometime the back of my mind say that, but the evil demon that wants everything to be perfect take over anon.. its hard... I need to get mad at people...

no cucking is allowed in karlnapity... #lame

[zukosdualdao]

Im glad to read the takes of a fellow zuko stan :)

Honestly, it feels like people just hate on him way too much lately. The posts ive seen on twitter, on tik tok, on tumblr... Do people just not like him anymore? Why did everyone turn against him so suddenly? I've been hoping it's something temporary, just a trend, but. I don't know anymore. People mock his disability, spit on his trauma, wish death on him and interpret everything he says or does in the worst possible way. I saw someone crying about how entitled he was because he took aang's seat when watching the play just the other day lmao. Another person wrote about how mysoginistic he was because he didn't remember katara's name when asking about kya's death to sokka? There are those who even call him a colonizer on the same level as iroh lmao. It seems their justifications for all the salt they throw his way are along the lines of "he's been loved for too long, aang stans have suffered way more, people just watched the show again and realized how bad he actually was, he's catching strays since his fans keep setting him up, his fans paint him as perfect and erase every bad thing he's done" etc etc. I'm all for criticism and deeper character analysis, but this is just said in bad faith. I also think it has a bit to do with how different engagement has become in fandom spaces recently (things people support in fiction need to be morally correct) and well, zuko was the perfect target. He's done bad things, sides with the villains for a good portion of the series, redeems himself but there are things he still has to work on... I don't know, it's been getting to me. There are many other harsh things ive read said about him (like implying how every single member of the gaang hates even after redeeming himself), but i honestly don't have the energy to delve into each and every one. His arc was poorly executed and his development was badly written now, apparently. I kind of just ranted here, i apologize. Im very happy to read the posts of someone who genuinely likes him and doesnt throw him under the bus to defend or elevate other characters...

hi! i'm glad you're enjoying my blog <3 and no need to apologize for the rant, i'm always happy to talk about zuko!

about to theorize a bit as to why it seems like maybe zuko has become a more contentious character, but it should be noted i have not been exceptionally, actively involved in the fandom very long. i loved atla as a kid, have retained fond memories, have witnessed some discourse from the fringes over the years, but only recently has it overtaken my brain to the point of making a whole blog about it. lol. so, like, grain of salt, etc.

i think a big part of it is what you said - in the last few years of fandom in particular, it feels like there has been a huge upswing in purity culture, moralizing liking/not liking certain ships or characters, and an overall increase in very black-and-white thinking. there's also an emphasis on "holding people accountable" (good in theory), often without specifying what, exactly, that looks like (less good). the idea then becomes that if you've done harmful things, there's no way you can ever make up for them and should just, like, hate yourself for all eternity and also die, probably, which is not actually helpful to anyone.

so, i think for those who ascribe to that mindset, zuko is a prime candidate for them to criticize. and while there's nothing wrong with criticizing a character or their arc or writing if you truly have a problem with it, as you've said, a lot of the time, criticisms against zuko don't seem to be made in very good faith. after all, a big part of zuko's arc is having to unlearn some very black-and-white thinking. also, zuko is not a real person. he is a character, and therefore a narrative tool, and if we want him to be 'held accountable', we need look no further than the story itself, in which he is probably the character the narrative holds the most accountable for his actions due to his prior status as a villain.

(it reminds me a bit, actually, of another favorite character of mine: alec in the tv series shadowhunters. he starts out the story already in a heroic role, unlike zuko, but a big part of his narrative is unlearning some prejudiced cultural mindsets and challenging not only his previous ideologies, but his conception of himself and the people in his life as well. as a result, alec can look sometimes more obviously flawed than the other main cast, but the point is that the narrative asks him to examine those flaws and change and introspect and grow in a way that it doesn't always ask of other characters when they are showcasing their own flaws. which does make me thing about zuko vs. aang in the atla narrative.)

the other thing i think is contributing to zuko's more contentious status in the fandom is how long atla's been in the cultural consciousness, and how common it is for things that used to be popular to cycle through to people starting to criticize or actively hate it to people saying "no, actually, it's still pretty good, you just don't want to like a popular thing" (this is me rn), to maybe eventually getting popular again/at least in certain subsects of the audience. zuko was probably one of the most talked-about aspects of atla for a long time, and while i can understand how that could get frustrating (because there are some other really great characters and aspects of the story!), that's not, like, for no reason. people connected with and admired his story for a reason, and many still do, and (in my humble opinion) that is because it is one of the most thought-out, intentional, and nuanced character arcs of the show.

the ableism, i think, really gets to me because like... even if every criticism from the people who hate him were 100% accurate and said in good faith (they're not, but let's pretend for a minute)... that still wouldn't be an excuse for ableism against a character with a prominent facial difference (or making fun of abuse survivors for the permanent injuries they sustain from abuse.) if zuko had never redeemed himself and stayed a villain, it would still be wrong to talk about his scar and abuse the way some of his detractors do. and the show agrees with me! you know how i know? the only two characters to ever make fun of zuko's scar are villains in the narrative: zhao and azula. ("make fun of" might not be quite right for zhao, since what he said - "you have the scar to prove it" - is far more matter-of-fact than azula imitating him by covering her eye or "make sure they get your good side", but he's absolutely being a huge jerk about it.) other characters react to zuko's scar in all sorts of different ways, even when he's still in a villain/antagonist/anti-hero role: zuko's crew is horrified to learn how he got the scar, song sees a point of connection and tries to reach out to him, but, while i think well-intentioned, she breaks a major boundary by trying to touch his scar when he hasn't conveyed he's okay with that, jet makes assumptions about his background because of it, lee, the kid from zuko alone, asks with curious, childish naivete how he got it, only for his father to reprimand him for asking, aang reacts with annoyance/boredom to azula's ableist joke, and katara trips over her words to correct him when zuko thinks she's essentially calling him "scary to look at". not all of these interactions are positive, but the characters (all of whom are written as pretty sympathetic, even if also flawed) aren't outright trying to make fun of him for it, and the narrative never implies he deserves to be treated as less than because of it, even before his redemption.

anyway. if people don't believe in characters' (and, hell, irl people's) capacity for growth and change and don't want to have nuanced discussions about how trauma can impact these things, i mean... that's their prerogative, but i don't understand why they enjoy the show, because those are big parts of it (and not just wrt zuko.)

i know it can be frustrating, anon— trust me, i get very frustrated. but i promise you, there are plenty of people out there who a) still love zuko and his story and b) are capable of and willing to talk about things with nuance and in good faith. i'm happy to be part of that corner of fandom, and i bet you can manage to carve out a space where more people like that exist, too! <3

[taegularities]

im a little late to the 3d discourse but id like to share my opinion on it

i personally liked it, the beat and the lyrics were great, the song is catchy and it gives justin timberlake vibes which i love. i love how jk is exploring himself as an artist and is comfortable showing different sides of him. i read the message of another anon saying that he'd been infantilized and sexualized for the majority of his career, and he's finally taking back the power and creating his own image rather than conforming to whatever box fans or the public want to trap him in. i think that's very empowering and i'm very proud of him for this.

what i had a problem with was jack harlows's verse. not only his part disrupted the flow of the song, the lyrics were also terrible and misogynistic. it's 2023, you can write a verse without degrading women, calling them thots, bashing on monogamy and lining up girls in the music video as if they were dolls to play with. if your artistry depends on all this, then you're not a great artist you're just a fucking misogynist (yes i'm insulting him as an artist, i don't care for his fans, yall can do better). it still surprises me how hybe let this pass this easily, the lyrics of jack's part could've been regulated a bit more. misogynistic lines aside, his rap and flow wasn't that great, he seemed bored and not trying hard enough for the song, and he didn't fit the vibe of the song. I agree that the song needed a rap verse to make it complete, but it could've been any other artist or the lyrics could've been less disgusting. some ppl might say i'm being sensitive or can't handle explicit stuff- there's a difference between singing explicitly and downright degrading women in a song. you can sing about sex and all that without objectifying women (take a look at seven, it was much more explicit and direct and it was very fun and respectful). even jk's parts in 3d were fun and respectful, so jack's part doesn't fit that vibe at all. even the music video was great, everyone's dancing and having fun, until jack's part came and they started lining up girls like toys.

yes everyone has the right to their own opinion, but we should use some critical thinking and basic empathy when it comes to matters like misogyny (which is a huge problem hello, we live in a patriarchy that's been stepping on women's necks since forever). whoever liked jack's part or that type of music in general, great i hope you enjoy the song, however i hope yall also reflect on it, bc subconsciously this type of media affects ppls thoughts and beliefs, and it feeds misogyny and even internalized misogyny. its 2023, we can do better than this, there's plenty of other artists and songs about sex and intimacy and fun times that don't contain misogynistic ideas (you can start with any women artists and go from there). now that i got this out of my chest, i'm gonna pretend the original version doesn't exist and continue listening to the alternate version without jack's part.

p.s. this comment wasn't directed to you or any specific person, just talking in general <3

nothing to add bc you honestly said it all, and i couldn't agree more 👍🏻

[sieglinde-freud]

6) Who's your favorite lord/protagonist?

10) A character you find underrated?

11) A character that deserved better?

12) A game that deserved better?

15) What are your favorite musical tracks?

16) What's your favorite world/setting?

30) Since horse abuse is currently popular on Tumblr, beat up a dead horse with your take on an oversaturated topic🐴

6. Favorite lord/protagonist?

answered already, but briefly its lucina and then the sacred stones twins tied :)

10. A character you find underrated?

i think kjelle flies under the radar a lot because she comes off as just one of those character who just trains all the time and like. im not gonna say thats wrong exactly? she can be annoying to read sometimes, thats true. but i dont know, i personally really like how they took her character. obviously, im biased, awakening second gen is my favorite cast in fire emblem and shes included in that, but the obvious backstory of coming from a ruined timeline already does a lot to elevate her higher up for me if you just. consider her thinking from that perspective. but i also really like her “strong vs weak” mentality she has going on. i dont agree with it, but i like that she has it. obviously shes lost a lot, so wanting to put up a strong front and act like she doesnt need anyone weaker than her as a way to protect herself from losing more is a really fun way to take a character from a backstory like that, and its fun to see how that manifests in her supports with the others. she spends a lot of time looking down on them, which can admittedly be boring to read, but if you dig into her a bit more, is it really because she thinks theyre pathetic? or does she want to cling onto what strength she has and push them away so they dont have to? does she really think theyre weak? or is she jealous of their strength to indulge in frivolity while they have it while shes too scared to do so?

also shes pretty and im not immune to women who could beat the shit out of me

11) A character that deserved better?

NYX…. NYX FIRE EMBLEM… GIRLLL IM GONNA GET YOU OUT OF THAT STUPID DARK MAGE OUTFIT! nyx is honestly one of fates’s best characters, and honestly probably one of fire emblems best characters, but people wont give her a chance because 1) her outfit sucks which is honestly a valid reason considering her gimmick and 2) shes a fates character. a much less valid reason. but its like!! guys please i SWEAR shes not the same as the other characters with the stupid “im older than i look” trope please please please im on my KNEES right now please please please please please please please PLEASE. anyways if nyx has 1000 fans im one of them if nyx as 1 fan i am that fan if nyx has no fans im DEAD and BURIED, probably still hyping her up from the grave.

12) A game that deserved better?

answersd previously, but i said echoes :)

15) What are your favorite musical tracks?

recollection and regret is my favorite support track by far. that is musical perfection right there. huge fan of twilight of the gods for final boss maps. bright sandstorm, dark wastes, and dont speak her name are my favorite map themes. and comrades is my favorite recruitment theme :) my favorite track is probably pulled from one of these

16) What’s your favorite world/setting?

you know worldbuilding is not something i really praise fire emblem for. but i think i’d pick ylisse/whatever world awakening is set (is it still called archanea?? i dont know) just because it feels really homey i think. not biased btw

30) Since horse abuse is currently popular on tumblr, beat up a dead horse with your take on an oversatured topic.

every single side of the edelgard/dimitri/rhea discourse is fucking annoying and i think if you start going after people simply because they have an opinion on one of them that you dont you’re the reason why we’ll never get an attempt at true nuance in fire emblem again. games been out for what, 3? 4 years?? and people still cant manage to say “i like [X character] and think [Y character] was in the wrong, but i respect that you dont and that you have different interpretations of them than i do.” its not that hard you guys. “ohh but edelgard started a war” “dimitri slaughtered people” “rheas corrupt” its not real. its not fucking real. you gonna start going after every fan of julius and ishtar because of their role in fe4? what about all of the villainfuckers in this fandom? you ever seen grima thirst??? (i love yall. btw. good taste) like its just so… stop basing your opinions on real people off a stupid anime game!! its not that deep! its never ever been that deep!!! if someone keeps posting a dumb take you dont like, you know what you can do? block them!!! its so easy!!!! its so fucking easy so how is this even a problem anymore!! godddddd

[tomboyyyaoi]

i love trigun, i love all things trigun, im loving trigun stampede so far

but i am SO worried that its gnna become impossible to talk about trigun online without some dipshit bringing up how much they hate trigun stampede

like man, im not a huge fan of the movie but i do not bring it up every damn time

every piece of trigun media is technically a separate canon, none of them really take place in the same timeline, they should all be recognised as seperate triguns, u do not need to enjoy all of them nor do u need to obsessively compare all of them (it can be fun but when its done to say one is "better" than the other its just lame)

basically im just worried the pointless, "fan" created, overly critical discourse surrounding stampede is gnna forever taint the topic

[raytorosaurus]

i get what you’re saying about the dunes crowds, but i wouldn’t say the size of the queues are solely due to frank’s involvement. thursday, coheed, and circa survive are all huge in their own rights, and i’ve seen a lot of coheed fans specifically at dunes shows. these kinds of crowds are pretty common for moderately sized pop rock bands, and while some people do get out of hand with it, i don’t think it makes sense to say people should be acting differently by comparing them to hardcore shows. a lot of people seem to be coming in with the wrong expectations and ending up disappointed, either by the crowd being too intense for them or not intense enough. i don’t really understand either side of all the beef that’s been going on, the shows are pretty fun if you just accept them for what they are

yah i get what you mean and i do think like having full discourse over it just isn't worth it bc it's not doing major harm and is more just irritating (so im gonna shut up after this KSDKFKF), but im not talking about the size of the shows, that's totally expected (also don't get me wrong i think it's a really great thing that people love this record and from there are getting into thursday/coheed/one of anthony's million projects!) again most of this 'discourse' defs comes down to the behaviour of a minority of people who feel entitled to frank's closeness or attention. the complaining about the shows being too rough was a reference to a specific twitter thread that @'ed the entire band, not directed at everyone - pit etiquette is a whole other conversation djdjfsjfj, but in fairness ls dunes isn't super heavy or anything. a little part of it is people with absolutely no ill intentions just not really reading the room or knowing what they're getting into. queues hours in advance happen at mcr shows in big venues, not thursday or circa survive or saosin. i'm sure the shows are a wonderful time for everyone, the videos on their insta story look fucking awesome! i just don't personally vibe with the mentality that you need to set a whole day aside to get there hours early to ensure your place as close to the front (lbr as close to frank) as possible in order to have a wonderful time sbdkhks. im not saying the shows are ruined or the tour is going badly or anything, mainly just voicing a personal irritation lol

[herelivesahobbit]

contemplating a 100% social media break, including Tumblr and all fanfictions I follow. lot of things going on in my personal life and the main couple of fandoms I am active on at the moment are not...reaaaaaly best suited to promoting the mental health of any person not willing to budge on the abuse-isn’t-romantic stance. 

the source material itself, which I am of course unabashedly a huge fan of (otherwise i wouldn’t spend so much time talking and thinking about it lol), has several problematic aspects, but not so much that i can’t process and analyze it for what it is, keep it aside, and continue loving the show as a whole. 

first of all, i have to say, a handful of beautiful people do elevate the fandom experience, using their creative skills and analytical abilities to bring out the best of canon WITHOUT glossing over the terrible aspects of it, and often creating wonderful tributes and fanfics that improve on the writing of the source material, bring out further nuances, make me understand it better. i will forever be glad to have encountered these people who made the fandom experience amazing for me. most of them are right here on tumblr. tumblr is an oasis of rationality in this fandom tbh lol.

but a lot of discourse surrounding these show/s reflects a general fan base even MORE problematic in their thinking than the OG material itself. its not just that they see no issues with the abusive/toxic aspects, but that they further glorify these via their writings, and take the time to even expand on these aspects in the fanfiction they write, read, and then defend to the death. many are also pretty toxic in the way they talk about the cast, crew, writers etc apparently forgetting that those are REAL ALIVE PEOPLE with feelings, families, and concerns of their own. the more i have gotten into some fandoms, the more I realize this type of thinking isn’t a tiny minority. might even be the majority. its really depressing to think there are so many real people in 2023 who truly think this way about traditional vs “modern” women, women’s role in marriage, abuse being justified, etc etc.

the thing is, i admit that this is fully a personal issue, its my problem more so than anybody else’s. i’ve gone through certain stressful patches in the last 1.5 years, and i always tend to latch on to a particular piece of media that happens to be totally opposite to my daily reality, as a coping mechanism. and that’s fine, except when the thing i use to escape stress itself causes even more stress then perhaps its no longer a harmless hobby. and that’s maybe starting to happen now. 

i’ve had this moment with a lot of fandoms in the past, being, as i said, an unabashed fan of many things, i have delved deep into discourse and fanfic and what not with different franchises and stories, and i always recognize a time comes when i need to take a step back, bc maybe hi, im the problem its me and therefore i need to develop a thicker skin and curate my fandom experience better for my own mental health.

a total social media break would probably help with detoxing a bit and then i’ll hopefully get back with a healthier state of mind 💜

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

after the first military announcement for maknae line + nj, i started distancing myself from jm and began to get into another group i used to stan (bc i am weak willed lmao i just always need something to obsess over but admittedly this has helped with softening the blow of jimin leaving, i feel like if he was the only person i stanned rn it would have hurt a lot more) but now i just feel so exhausted bc im noticing some of the same problems within this other fandom that also exist with armys, and ofc that's something to do with shippers lol.

there's this member who i bias in this bg who gets basically almost the same exact treatment as jimin gets from taekookers all because he supposedly threatens the status of the group's most popular ship; he gets accused of being an attention seeker, a bed hopper, of trying to insert himself into the ship, he gets slutshamed and treated like the other woman etc.

ofc this all isn't as big of a thing as it is with jm + taekook simply bc bts' fandom is so so much bigger and bc for the other boygroup, those comments are harder to see if you only speak english (their western fanbase isn't as big as their asian one). despite that, it's just sad to see. i didn't realise how much all the hate towards jimin affected me until i returned to stanning this other group and seeing that same kind of hate being thrown against another person that i love. idrk what the point of this ask is tbh sorry im just tired 😭 stanning these kpop boys shouldn't be this hard lmao

Yeah, but it's true... everyone's the same in all fandoms. There is a certain behavioral pattern in people who are part of fandoms, I mean the ones that are really really involved; and even more so with shippers.

The only other group that I ever liked was one direction, and though my time as a fan was short (like two years), all those things happened as well with larry and their girlfriends. The hate, the conspiracy theories, the "they're sending signals". It was all there.

The difference tho, was that everybody liked larry. It wasn't like the fandom itself hated one of them. It's ironic that BTS are closer friends all with each other than 1Dever was, yet in the 1D fandom there weren't people who hated another member. And the few that existed, they kept quiet mostly, it wasn't a huge thing and they didn't run hate/defamation campaigns against the member they didn't like.

The stans of different members only started fighting each other once they went solo.

Then, last year during November 2022 - January 2023 I watched Big Brother (Argentina) for the first time in my life, and there were a few ships (both straight and gay) that the public liked. The guys from the gay ship both had girlfriends inside the house, like they had sex with them and everything. And I kept seeing the same discourses I see in the fandom lmao. It really was a surreal experience to see people saying the same things the say about celebrities ships, but about real people this time.

I mean, people (shippers) getting angry at their girlfriends, and some even turned to "solo stans" (not with those words) because they thought A was hurting B, so they stopped supporting B. I'm not kidding.

It was even more surreal that the same thing was happening in Big Brother Italy, literally at the same time. They also had two male friends who like, flirted with each other and had a strong friendship and they even kissed too. Though in Italy one of them was actually a gay man out of the closet, and the other had a girlfriend.

It also kind of desensitized me a lot to jikook or BTS ships in general and the skinship. And it also made me realize that there's only so far "cultural lenses" go.. because millions of people were watching the same show everyday, but it was only a few thousands who were like "these two guys are totally gay and in love with each other".

Mind you, they even kissed each other on the mouth and yet nobody (except the shippers) were calling them a couple or saying that it was serious. More than anything because they both already had girlfriends inside of the house.

Well, and this year's season just started this week and I've watched a couple of hours but I'm still not hooked. I'll probably keep watching though because it was really distracting last year, so that'll be my drug of choice lol. There really isn't any other group I like, so I'll settle for watching movies and tv shows and maybe reading.

[piosplayhouse]

Hi pio are you willing to share any svss fic recs? also im curious what did you like before svss? huge fan of your "content" hehe

I have some here! The post is definitely out of date though, I have a lot more that I need to add sometime

Hmmm you can kind of see traces in this on my blog if you look hard enough but I'm also a big Touken Ranbu and Enstars fan! I'm also a proud member of the tiny remnants of the Bella Sara fandom, but it's sort of bittersweet because it's officially shut down now awa.

Probably my biggest fandom that I made stuff for before this was Deltarune, which you can definitely see if you dig around on my blog just a bit. I feel kind of bad that I've sort of abandoned it now even though I had a fairly popular sideblog about it, but college is kicking me in the balls more every day unfortunately.

Also I did some self reflection and realized I was projecting a lot of sv fan feelings onto dr which were a bit incompatible with some of the fandom because the age range for it is much much younger than sv, so less things fly I suppose lmfao . Like I admittedly treated swatchton as a moshang-lite which was a lot of fun for me but delty fans are much more like .. how do I say this without sounding bad. Like every few weeks the same discourse about spamton Deltarune goes around where people will be like "it's toxic to ship him with people that are theorized to have pushed him into acid" and it'll be treated with a lot of gravity and seriousness and it's a bit incongruous with the sv core "mfw I force my teacher to ingest blood parasites that give him period pains and he calls me a roundworm 🤣🤣" baseline LMFAOO. Like I'm not trying to be critical here at all, different comfort zones for different folks especially minors, it's just that I have a lot of shenanigans in my soul that I felt like sv would be a much better outlet for !!! So that's why my brainworms have pivoted awa

Sorry for dropping this block of text, I'm procrastinating an essay .. again!!! hehe hope you enjoy the recs and I'm glad you like my blog! ❤️

[akc-g]

i can't reply to the post but like huge agree abt sh scar rep in art/fan interpretations. i remember seeing so much discourse abt it in like 2016 over whether it was like glorifying self harm or whatever to just see it casually but like I feel like it def resulted in people not drawing it because they don't want the conversation abt their art to center on their inclusion OR the art is literally so honed in on/makes the scars the entire focal point of the piece. itd be so awesome it'd be so cool just to like see it there without ppl being insane about it bc like it actually would be comforting to just see included

oh man yeah it didnt help that was when guro artists on here were generally drawing it to glorify and sexualize it so the conversation didnt get to go anywhere. n again cant really blame ppl bc it made me nervous posting it + posting it untagged (bc imo tagging it feels like im drawing attention to it when uh. again They're Meant To Be Casual)

but yeah itd be really nice to see. even for ppl who dont personally relate it helps make it less of a taboo topic (n makes it so those ppl's only art exposure isnt like. characters being poorly comforted n having their scars touched tenderly or whatever the fuck)(not that that isnt comforting surely to some ppl but it is NOT for me lol i really need more art where nobody says anything abt them)

[tonydaddingham]

I'm going to preface this by saying this is not meant entirely an admonishment but more a reminder. It's also not aimed entirely at you specifically but rather people I've seen in notes on your posts, as well as Neil's. Neil is not lying about Crowley not being Lucifer and isn't going to surprise us with that suddenly being canon in the series. He quite literally can't do that now. He knows people are or will be making fanfic of it now. He now cannot ever use it. Same with the Raphael theory. Same with any other popular fan theory someone has taken to his inbox for confirmation, only to be denied. All that accomplishes is confirming he in no way will ever use any element of it in any of his writing going forward. So keep speculating! Keep having fun making theories! But stop taking them to Neil. All you do is ensure they will never be canon. As Neil always says, just wait and see.

hi anon✨

im going to take you at your word re: it not being entirely an admonishment or aimed at me. and choose to simply see this ask as a way of getting a general PSA out into the tumblr ether. that, i will gladly help with.

i respect your view and agree with it... i would however argue that personally i think the people that have been in my post notes in particular have been pretty respectful from what i recall, or at least have been very clearly joking.

there is, as far as im aware, a relatively small group of blogs that went generally full-ham on the theory (and perhaps im in that number, idk) but from what ive seen, following neil's ask, the majority have actually found the whole situation very funny...

maybe gone a bit ironic/sarcastic with "lmao imagine if he's lying" out of disappointment (me too!), but obviously joking and otherwise pretty respectful. honestly, i found the whole thing hysterical, i hammed up the Lucifer Theory Grief for an evening, and have since largely gotten over it. i think a lot of others have been the same.

however. i managed to read about 20 replies through That Neil Ask before i was starting to get pretty pissed off, by people on both sides of the lucifer argument:

i get why people were getting irritated by the pro-theoriers; the theory was debunked - move on, or take it off of the ask. i agree with that sentiment - other than rb'ing the ask twice and adding my tags, i left it alone and kept the dialogue on my own blog, and imo others should have done the same - just simply left the neil ask, and taken the discourse to their own blogs.

that being said, some of the anti-theoriers were coming across as outright rude, to the point for me of even being quite upsetting (and it wasn't even directed at me lmao). i get they were probably getting annoyed on behalf of neil, and that's admirable - but neil is a whole ass grown man. if he wanted people to stop commenting on his ask, i imagine he would have locked the post, posted a PSA, or just simply turned off his askbox. people do not need to police for him.

one thing i will point out, however, is that the lucifer theory came up on an rb, not directly in his inbox.

neil chose to respond to that rb (and the one after) entirely by his choice; it wasn't sprung on him in his inbox. noone should have to police their rbs or rb tags just in case he sees? direct inbox submission is a huge no-no (i agree with you, especially as he has actually asked for people to not do that), but this particular situation, ill be honest, does not fit that.

i also think the way both sides have reacted over the lucifer debunk has now unfortunately set a rather unsettling precedent for any other theory that might come out and people disagree with; ive been bracing myself for a potential shitstorm all day about my theory on the second coming for this very reason... and tbh i shouldn't have to feel like that.

everyone deserves to have fun in fandom-space, that's what makes it enjoyable and collaborative. if you (royal 'you') do not like a theory, or think it's a load of rubbish, either argue it back eloquently and with an open mind, instead of just being outright dismissive and making people feel stupid (as i felt after reading those replies, tbh), or leave that person/collective alone. it doesn't hurt you, it doesn't hurt anyone, and it's just people speculating and having fun with it.

now about the actual debunk of the theory itself - yes, i agree, it could be an IP nightmare potentially. i have further thoughts on this but i think im going to leave it there for now, my reply is already long enough✨

[single-malt-scotch]

thinking about the Process of building up to where i now have this blog i think it is easy to admit i had like, an era of distaste for present day mcyt, that obviously was built on nostalgia and annoyance for a growing and mostly young fandom-- i think many can say that with things they fall out of or watch grow while theyre away from it lol. tho some of that was built off the way tumblr/ppl in general shot down much of mcyt by declaring all facets of it as 'rpf' in a very strict and not fitting way which i wanted to agree with while hating my older self's joy for it, and it took a while to unlearn.

but more than anything im glad ive distanced myself from typical fandom interaction bc it allows me to enjoy this on my own so much easier. aside from not following much of any fandom blogs and thus not seeing constant discourse on my dash, i also just dont care about shipping in the slightest and its hardly bc of my own choice to not do it-- its just that overall with every kinda fandom thing i just.... couldnt care less if one thing is popular or the other. i dont follow the tags bc i know i dont care to see whats there, and maybe im not a huge fan of some duos but in the end? i just cant care enough to be mad about it even if i dont really seek it out. its just guys...just people... theres nothing i find inherently obnoxious there and bc i set my own boundaries theres hardly an instance where i feel the need to be annoyed by the ppl who do post about it.

if i was 14 year old me in mindcrack era, you wouldve have been hearing Opinions. but im too old to care that hard about people getting paired up for whatever reasons ya know. im not even strictly living in a bubble... i still post to the tags and draw but i just know im not gonna care about a majority of the fandom's general postings so i just sit back and let it go by in the background. ive learned to just let shit go on without needing to seek it all out bc i know i dont want to see it all anyways.

[ohmygoodnessgraciousgollygosh]

TLDR read or listen to "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Dr Robin Wall Kimmerer

This post is in response to some discourse in a pollinators fb group im in, so not to anyone specifically nor to anyone necessarily here. Unfortunately my brain just doesn't put stuff down until I can put my thoughts somewhere other than my brain

Ultimately it would be a bad thing if mosquitos were to go extinct. However, there is simply no chance of that happening anytime soon. Right now mosquito populations are exploding due to global warming. Mosquito swarms in the arctic summer are getting so bad that they can kill a caribou calf, as well as globally mosquitos pose as a serious predator to humans. All of the yard pesticide sprays being administered by companies and counties are bad, not bc they are killing too many mosquitos but because they kill so so many other native insects, and therefore affecting the ecosystem as a whole since plants and other animals rely on native insects as sources of pollination and food.

It's popular to say that Humans are the Pest and that we only kill everything we touch. However, that once again ignores the fact that we are part of the ecosystem. The continued belief that we are separate from it, whether one thinks we are above it or are only capable of hurting it, is how we got into this mess in the first place.

Humans are part of the ecosystem, we used play a big part to help maintain it so that it could thrive. When we killed indigenous people and their culture, knowledge, and practices of how we fit into the ecosystem and what part we play to help it thrive, that's when we got so lost. Also, since we are the ones who got the earth into this mess, we are the ones who have to fix it. Humans are so massively capable of affecting their surrounding environment; we are up there will beavers and elephants, so we have to use that capability to make things better at this point. Now, fixing it does still require knowledge of how we fit into the ecosystem, though. A brand new huge fan to pull carbon out of the atmosphere (while incidentally putting even more into it) will not save our ecosystems. Electric vehicles will not save our ecosystems. It takes knowing how we fit into the ecosystem and seeing what habits we have that significantly disrupt the natural patterns of others in the ecosystem and finding a way to live together. Sometimes that means stopping the habit, sometimes it's finding a way to best coexist. This better shows ways humans can coexist with animals while benefiting both species: https://youtu.be/frXGpmF1SEs?si=y3mU9w0mCQEMzZ6M&t=143 (Eg 2. there tend to be a lot more injured owls on the side of the road during day light savings time in the winter bc rush hour times have shifted, thus intersecting with the times that owls hunt. Owls don't know wtf daylight savings time is. They don't know traffic patterns. They don't have a survival mech for daylight savings time. This is a purely human habit, so we are the ones who need to do something)

Sometimes we can actively do things to help it heal, sometimes we need to take a more passive approach and listen to what it needs (eg. letting beavers do their thing is massively beneficial to ecosystems, and they do it for freeeee). Sometimes it needs space, but we still have to work to help it have enough space to heal.

For example, invasive species. We cannot just be like "humans are a disease, its better to let nature thrive on its own" and abandon certain fields, deserts, forests and waterways out of "respect for nature" so they can heal on their own because it's too late for that. If we were to leave nature be, at this point invasive species would take over. Invasive species are a problem because they naturally outcompete native species; they don't have any natural predators in these new areas. But you know who can be the best natural predator for invasives? Us! We need to do work to help give our native species a hand-up over invasives. That work requires intimate knowledge of how native ecosystems work and who is who. Native species will not outcompete invasives without our help to manage invasive populations, and that requires many approaches.