#im sorry why is this so pervasive

[awsugar]

why the in-fighting? why the stan wars and hating on ppl who like different things? We Are All fans of someone who has held a koala.

[cptnbeefheart]

i think i gotta pl;ay fallout 4 ..

[mysterycitrus]

Hey there, Happy New Year! Sorry if this ask seems confusing.

I've really come to enjoy your blog as someone who is kind of new to navigating the world of comics and how to read them and you seem to be one of the people that's more vocal about all the fanon and canon differences and how that damages people's perception of characters. I'm just a bit confused in what you consider to be the difference of headcanons and fanon, I know fanon is a more of something that a big number of people believe, but if someone headcanons something that isn't covered in canon, would that be "bad" or fall on the fandom category?

Hope this doesn't sound mean or anything, I'm just a bit confused

hello!! welcome to batburger!!!!

wrt fanon vs canon my issue is this — parts of comic fandom are very vocal about not engaging with the source material. deciding what fanon is “good” vs “bad” isn’t the point because im not interested in policing peoples fandom experience. however there is a point where i don’t understand what exactly some people are fans of, because what they talk about is so disconnected from the original text.

imagine meeting a hunger games fan, and when u ask about their favourite movie or book, they instead tell u that they’ve never read or seen any part of the series, exclusively read fanfiction, and then inform u that they believe president snow is peeta’s grandfather and that actually haymitch was the authoritarian mastermind behind the hunger games. that doesn’t make any sense, and has no basis in canon. it’s a very extreme hypothetical, but i wouldn’t really take what they say about the hunger games seriously. it also reminds me a bit of the hp marauders fanworks that exist almost autonomously to the books (while still containing the same issues as said books).

most fanon enjoyers (and this is particularly pervasive with batfam fans) enjoy characters and relationships that simply do not exist. that alone isn’t a problem (crackships and headcanons have existed since ye olde star trek zine days) but the issue is that these fanon interpretations are loudly asserted as being the correct way to engage with the characters. i do not believe it should be controversial to prefer characters in their canonical text, or to ask why some fanon content is taken as gospel, especially when so much of it is racialised.

this lends into a wider trend where these headcanons are respected more than canon despite often being actively reductive, accidentally demeaning, or just plain bad faith interpretations. it’s much harder to combat the racism present in conversations about damian wayne when the people in question aren’t grant morrison or judd winick or scott snyder, but instead a nebulous group of people on twitter.

flatly, i encourage people to read the source material. there are a lot of comics, but googling ‘[literally any character] reading list’ has literally never been easier. start by consuming the movies or cartoons or films or shows or the one volume graphic novels, then pinpoint what u like and start from there. people are discouraged from reading comics — and they shouldn’t be!! especially for popular characters there are very accessible starting points!! u will find characters to love with rich history and lore!!!! support queer artists and artists of colour who are actively changing the industry!!! i guarantee that the fanon version of that male character u love is actually originally from a female character with a great miniseries written by greg rucka!!!!

[olderthannetfic]

Have been having such a time lately trying to commit to this fic im writing because it's. Incredibly cathartic and is the start of me finally starting to explore the concepts im ashamed of being fascinated by.

Mpreg jokes have become so ubiquitous that it feels like people just roll their eyes or look at me like im a weirdo for trying to take the idea seriously? not just as a physical reality for the m getting pregged in question, but also as an Emotional reality for the character. Pregnancy and pregnant characters are still treated So fucking weirdly in General, and. i understand people having a trigger related to it, thats not what im talking about ofc, but at the same time its like. Its Pregnancy. Its how Life happens. And men irl Can and DO get pregnant. Even men that dont "look like" they would enjoy it. It's always "dont pigeon hole effeminate men as bottoms/omegas/subs!!" Until someone comes out and actually wants to see and read about The Most Stereotypical Guy to ever Dude experiencing 1.) what it means to be a vessel for life, and 2.) How that changes the way people will treat him.

Bc! as soon as i bring it up, no matter how tactfully and Chaste i try to be about it, the atmosphere in the conversation always Shifts, and there's this feeling that everyone just wants me to shut up and stop being a pervert because the mere premise makes them uncomfortable. Like im sorry thinking about men in fiction undergoing women's lived reality gives me a way to articulated an understanding of what it means to be capable of having a child (all the good, bad, and ugly parts of it) that is still not otherwise allowed in Polite Discussion irl, even in the closest of relationships??

Ill keep writing it for sure but like. The shame is rearing its head and im trying to fight it my getting Mad at the pervasive (and probably just perceived) puritanical judgements dished out my the rest of the world, instead.

Why is the idea of pregnancy never taken seriously. Why is it always shoved in a corner to be ignored till it Happens and its Forced into relevance. And then why is it treated as pointless or worse just straight up Bad if it isn't "done right"/arousingly/humorously while being relevant, either on the character's part Or the author's?

It's getting better more and more with time but im just. Wracking my brain about it today. I cant stop thinking about it, its all i want to talk about, but even In my nicest and most opem circles i can feel people pulling away, and all i can think is its because im doing it to the Wrong character (major macho man villian with a Lot of daddydom themed xreaders...) or something. and its so hard not to let myself get discouraged 👽

--

A lot of my fandom circles act like that, and it's because all pregnancy is somewhere between a massive squick and massively boring to them.

I find pregnancy more interesting now that I've experienced it, but I was definitely like "Why would anyone ever talk to me about this?" before, and it wasn't about picking the wrong character.

Some things are just unpopular with some audiences. Try not to get too discouraged.

[mxtxfanatic]

so,,, does anyone else lose braincells when it comes to the mdzs fandom??? like there was this post that basically goes saying that forget about jiang cheng and lan wangji being jealous about each other when it comes to wei wuxian, the one that is winning is wen ning since wwx leaves everything to save and protect the wens, and then i see some tags talking about how wwx has his own weird moral code and wen ning is it's first victim... there is somethung about these sentences that just made me sick, it just felt so wrong?? am i the one who couldn't interpret anything in those books?? wasn't wangxian the ones that mxtx said to be morally perfect?? am i the one in the wrong?? it's been 10 minutes and i feel my brain has melted

why does wwx get painted as the villain even by his fans, when the whole plot was how he was prosecuted and villanized, judged by the the surface of his actions, when nothing about the situations and his actions itself was as simole as black and white. also calling wen ning his victim made me feel kinda of violated, like im a yiling siblings and yiling settlement supporter and truther and im kinda of suck of everyone disminishing and ignoring the relationship between them.

sorry for the dramatics, but none of my irl friends have read the books, we seem to have the same opinions on it, and i just needed a second opinion

also sorry for the english, it isn't my first language

Even when fans claim to like Wei Wuxian, the fandom perception of him is so pervasive and (has been since the original fandom BNFs became jc stans) that people will describe some of his most somber, thoughtful moments like they are crimes that we can joke about only because it’s fictional, as a irl!wwx would be “deserving of jail” (or some shit 🙄). It’s why I’m not afraid to say that some people are decidedly not fans/stans of his character, they are fans/stans of the memes involving his character. And everyone knows that the meaner and ruder you are about something in a meme, the funnier it is /sarcasm.

[devondespresso]

Find the Word Tag Game!!

tagged by @lingeringmirth and my words are: beloved, insipient, clever, diverse and pervasive

unfortunately, my vocabulary hasn't extended to any of these, outside of one joke use of "my beloved" in the planning notes of my doc, and since i see no rules I'm making my own and stealing (oh so evil) lingeringmirth's words (because i already know i use them all the time)

Tear, Frown, Skin, Heard, and Lean

Tear -

Steve shook his head, finally sitting up and breathing. “No, sorry I– hey, what’s wrong?” He leaned forward to get a better look at Dustin's face, and as his mind woke up he finally heard the shakiness of his breath and saw light reflecting off tears falling just below his eyes. Steve dropped his feet to the ground and gave Dustin the space to sit.

Frown -

The sound of scattered clinks came from behind them, stopping just as sudden as it started. Steve turned around and saw Mrs. Henderson paused after pouring cat food in a dish. She put the box down, opening the bag inside to put the food back. Steve turned back around quickly. He chanced a glance at Dustin, who was still looking back over his shoulder, eyes shiny and mouth hanging in a small frown. After a moment he turned back around, busying himself with spreading jelly but blinking too much to be really over it.

Skin - (the most painful one to just choose one from, so we picked my favouite from the Dustin pov chapter)

Dustin had to take another breath. At least he was getting it out of the way. Better now in the house with clean supplies than in the car, or the tunnels, where Upside Down stuff could get in and make him sick. He took the wet side again, trying to scrub the dried blood off while being gentle, using a different spot on the towel every time it got too dark. The dry blood was stubborn, sticking to the skin like a scab and he couldn’t be sure how hard he could scrub without hurting Steve more. Not that Steve could feel it right now.

Heard -

Steve huffed a laugh before pressing the button.  “Well right now I'm sitting in Dustin’s room talking to nerds on a walkie.” “You’re so funny, Harrington, now why are you at Dustin's?” Steve laughed again, this time letting it be heard, and leaned back against the dresser. “Hopper freaked when he heard my parents are out of town and can’t check to make sure I don't die in my sleep. Dustin volunteered his couch till they're back.”

Lean - (also difficult to choose, but mostly becuase it's apparently all i write with 84 appearances in my document, so heres the most recent one)

He turned back around to the house, looking just as he left it. He walked around to the back of the patio to grab the slipper that he dropped, but turning the corner he found the area empty. Steve tiptoed up to the sliding door, opening it just enough to slip inside. The house looked empty with one glance around. He slid the door shut behind him, intending to go upstairs, but a few steps into the room and he made eye-contact with his mom. Leaning against the kitchen wall, arms folded with the missing slipper in hand, watching and waiting for him to notice.

and im tagging @marvel-ous-m @eriquin @roguenancy @sharpbutsoft @itsthestrangestthings @findafight

and your words are: strange, shaking, smile, scratch, and still.

[bisolationist]

turns out that making sure the people im closest to r bi (and cutting off my biphobic frienfd) reduces my sexuality breakdowns to 0. now if i could bag a partner id truly have won

I'm always happy to hear this! Cultivating bi friendships is SO so important, and cutting out biphobia is definitely a must. Definitely with you on just needing to bag a partner lmao. I think you're the 5th or 6th ask that's explicitly said something along these lines that I've gotten through the iterations I've had of this blog, and I've heard it more casually I think probably a dozen times more. And like... yeah, of course it makes perfect sense to the point of being obvious. Of course doing something as simple as finding community and friendship + cutting out actively hateful people is very rewarding? But I want to take a moment to think about why so many bi people seem to just... not do this, or even think doing this would make them bad people. I think there's this pervasive sentiment that biphobia is categorically not serious - something deserved even - and thus we should be able to take it on the chin. IE that since we're privileged in a certain sense, we just shouldn't be affected by it at all. Thus, I think a lot of us end up thinking we just deserve disrespect, belittlement, and even harassment from people, even those close to us, as almost a form of penitence. I know I was definitely in that boat for years. It's not necessarily something that's always at the forefront, but often something subtle but pervasive and seemingly inescapable. Or at least that's what I've gotten from a lot of bi people I've talked to. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Genuinely asking. It's the same general thought as why say white people should be able to endure a bit of ribbing. But the fact is bisexual people are just not on the same level of privilege, cultural influence, or majority, and the things we're often ribbed about are not about our privilege but directly correspond to how we're oppressed too. Take how it plays out in GCblr - and how often it devolves into minimizing the experiences of bi women as just being "male worshipers", outright denials or belittlement of various statistics (poverty, SA, domestic violence, drug use, etc.), people throwing tantrums to say those statistics aren't unique so they don't mean anything (of course they're not unique. the results of oppression often look similar regardless of cause! but then why pretend bisexuals aren't oppressed?). Hell, people straight up that sexual harassment, rape jokes and SA-related mockery, being called dick worshipers, saying we're "playing the victim" if we talk about our abuse, and even nastier things. I think it happens much more obviously and without pretense online, but these things are happening online because the attitudes already exist IRL - people just dress it up and veil it a bit better. And I think we - bisexual people - are not stupid and do pick up on how people treat us or other bisexuals and their issues.

I'm really sorry for turning your short celebratory anon into an essay. I just think it's something that bears deeper thinking about because like... why are we as bisexuals so hesitant to do something that's so obvious to any other minority?

[fangwhoria]

again you don’t have to post if you don’t want but the yap definitely made sense I agree with what you’re saying!

when I said “in character” I wasn’t meaning exclusive to Buck and Eddie (though I agree I think there’d be a convo of some sort but that’s not important) I meant in the broader fandom sense bc I’ve seen it crop up in basically every fandom I’ve read fic for and it’s like. one of them is a werewolf rn why are we going through a Checklist Of Consent (generally speaking bc it sometimes feels like a checklist they need to tick off before they get to the porn otherwise people will accuse them of Writing Sex Wrong or something)

like if it’s in a much longer fic where there’s more going on than just the sex then it makes more sense to include something like that because there space for the characters to be working things out but when it’s in like a 5k PWP it’s like you wrote this you know what I’m here for which is fantasy/wish fulfilment/indulgent porn so why are doing this rn????

(idk it’s late im sorry if this doesn’t make sense!)

NO YOURE SO RIGHT. and i was using buddie as an example cuz thats where my heads at rn but its suchhhhh a pervasive issue like i remember reading hannibal fic where they were having really drawn out conversations about consent and safewords like WHY are the cannibal serial killers stopping while on top of each other to put hard limits on their sex life. like if it’s important to the plot i do understand i personally still dont love it but thats my preference and i am much more accepting of it. but yeah when its a short PWP fic its genuinely just like a waste of space and words??? and what you said about being accused of writing sex wrong is right on the money imo like i do really think theyre afraid of being called out for writing problematic sex. which is a dumb thing to worry about because mostly no one cares and anyone who does literally is annoying and doesnt matter so…

[the-diabolic-acid]

there was a post that showed up on my dash about mother gothel and antisemitism but the op blocked reblogs, and i would like to talk about it because the take was really bad and filled me with anger and this is my blog i make the rules. i have no clue how old it is. i dont care im upset and i wanna talk about it sjfkdgj

cw for discussions of antisemitism in tangled under the thing i got a lot of thoughts so read more my beloved

This is a bad take.

Whether or not it was intentional, Mother Gothel looks like a jewish woman. Her name is mother Gothel. making the protagonist of this story a blonde haired blue eyed girl who was kidnapped by a woman with dark curly hair and a hooked nose has implications whether you wanted to have them or not.

Not to mention! Blood libel! for anyone who is not aware, blood libel is a very old antisemitic trope that is found in Tons of pieces of media, where jews are accused of kidnapping and murdering goyim and using their blood in religious rituals. A lot of stories will use this trope without even realizing it, (Dracula is one that immediately comes to mind) which is why it is so important we talk about antisemitism and how pervasive it is.

A story about a woman with jewish features, named mother gothel, who kidnapped a blonde haired blue eyed girl and used her in a ritual to keep herself young has implications. Very bad implications. Passive antisemitism and active antisemitism are different, but getting defensive when someone (especially jewish people) tell you that a piece of media is harmful is in fact antisemitic and is very frustrating.

Yes! If you create a characters with stereotypically jewish features, especially in a medium that has a Very long history of jew coding its villains, that is a problem. You can say it wasn't intentional, but please tell that to all the kids in disney circles who compared me to mother gothel. (News flash, I don't look like the VA. I look like an ashkenazi jew.)

This isn't to say you can't still love Tangled. I'm in the fandom. I'd be a complete hypocrite. But ignoring the harmful parts only makes things worse.

By the way, a side note, I was not seething when I read this, but then I read the tags.

I'm sorry but. No? Respectfully can we not compare an antisemitic villain (she is antisemitic. I don't care if it wasn't intentional. Her design hurts jewish people.) to a genocidal maniac? Out of all the disney villains you could have picked to make that point you picked the one who explicitly wanted to commit genocide. I'm sorry but I really do not understand how you thought that was an OK and good point to make.

[mod2amaryllis]

ok not the same as a herbal remedy & im not totally sure if she still does this, but the carrots & cayenne pepper reminds me of my older sister feeding her dogs dry food & adding like yogurt & raw egg and I think even like (raw?) meat at one point just all in one bowl... and then being surprised when they're having bathroom issues

I have no idea where she got the idea to do that when we've had dogs and they just ate regular ass dog food 😒

anyways sorry people are weird

dude.

do NOT get me started on raw food dog people. it's like a cult, so pervasive and ill informed and weird. lmao I'm really not gonna get into it because it's such a massive annoying topic, but lemme just say one thing.

... JUST. COOK IT? JUST COOK THE FOOD. WHY NOT. SALMONELLA EXISTS. WHY DON'T YOU JUST COOK IT. THERE'S NOT A MAGICAL RAW NUTRIENT THAT GOES AWAY AFTER COOKING JUST COOK IT, I'LL KILL YOU

and if anyone tries to "well actually" in my inbox that's a block on sight!!!! i deal with that enough at work don't need it here!!!!!

[the-rest-is-silenc3]

I might have been the anon of the thing you were referring to? I sent the ask while I was triggered into dissociation because of syscourse and sent something stupid to a big syscourse blog, but I meant it more that people who aren't endogenic are about to participate in syscourse without their existence being questioned and have an advantage in that sense, not like societal privilege or anything like that.

Hi anon! im very sorry to hear that you were in a dissociative episode and a bad place when you sent that ask. To preface this, I hold no resentment or dislike toward you. I think you just had a little bit of a bad take. I have also said some stupid stuff in syscourse before, and in my opinion it's good for you to post a bad take and get your shit rocked every now and then. Also, you are completely anonymous now just as you were then. Don't worry about any repercussions or people thinking bad on you because literally nobody knows who you are. Now, onto the post. Here's what you said that alarmed me:

"Honestly I'd also say a lot of endogenic harassment might also boil down to a trauma response. Being constantly told you don't exist weighs heavily down on a person's psyche and it's reasonable to lash out. I feel like whenever I interact at the community I hit my limit so quickly. There's a bit of a level of privilege non-endogenic systems have because they aren't the ones who's literal personhood and existence aren't constantly being questioned. Syscourse is a demeaning, awful experience."

and don't get me wrong, I totally agree with almost everything you said here. It is demeaning to constantly be told your experiences aren't real, that you must be faking, or that you must have some secret trauma you just can't remember. However, I don't agree that non-endogenic systems are privileged over endogenic ones due to not being questioned as often.

First of all, I don't think non-endogenic systems are questioned less. CDD systems are questioned constantly in system spaces and in outside spaces for basically anything. Having too high an alter count. Having too low an alter count. Having fictives, being polyfragmented, etc. Of course, I do think that the questioning of endogenic existence is an especially severe and pervasive issue in system spaces, but I really don't think there is ANYBODY at all that is immune. Not traumagenic systems, not disordered systems, not CDD systems. And this isn't even mentioning the severe medical neglect and gaslighting many CDD systems face, where they DO get their personhood and existence denied.

Another thing is that syscourse really isn't everything. There is a disturbing trend of some endogenics saying that CDDs are privileged over them, and they do mean societally and medically. When you say CDD systems have a certain level of privilege over endogenic ones, I think it's easy to take that as the word "privileged" is usually used - social advantage. Even if it isn't what you meant, it did come across that way to me.

Another thing about your argument that I thought was interesting that I did not address in my original post was that you argued that it's reasonable for endogenic systems to lash out because we are constantly denied our existence. Which I also think is... not a good take. CDD systems are also denied their existence often, and they often blame and lash out at endogenic systems because of that. that definitely does not make it reasonable, so why would it be reasonable for endogenics to do it?

anyway rant over. I hope you have a good day, take care of yourself!

[creature-wizard]

i just went through your posts where these new agers harassed you and i want to say im sorry.

my mother got indoctrinated by those people (online, but that doesn't make it any better). she's so far gone, I'll never get her back. had she met someone like you back then, maybe she would be someone else today.

thank you for explaining to people why those beliefs are dangerous, instead of just saying "google it yourself". let's face it, none of them would actually*work* for an answer.

I'm so sorry you lost your mother to this. That kind of thing is so hard and so unfair.

And yeah, I try to provide (at least somewhat) detailed answers because I just haven't seen all that many people actually talking about this. Like there's a few, but IMO just not nearly enough given how pervasive this is.

[hydr9]

you guys dont understand how much im begging begging begging. begging on my hands and KNEES for a jyp to debut a genuinely self-produced girl group.

(rant below the readmore)

let me say this clearly from the start: there is nothing wrong with traditional idol groups. there is nothing wrong with being a (k)pop idol that does not write/produce their own music, and there is nothing wrong with having no desire to.

g-idle is right there yes yes of course they are--point is, there is not only them as female artists who have self-made music and performances they want to put into the world via the idol industry. and g-idle is CONSTANTLY being dragged down into hell by cube.

it doesn't need to be jyp, that's barely even my point here. g-idle are full of talented talented women who have achieved amazing success despite everything that coudlve held them back, but god, their biggest enemy is still clearly their company. constant stories of soyeon fighting for the songs and concepts she wants to be released, mild choreographies, generally terrible working conditions that CANNOT be working in their favor as artists/performers/idols.

purple kiss was marketed as that: a self-produced female idol group. but jesus, rbw, where is the self-producing? where are their writing credits on their titles? their own original ideas? and how can an idol group be self-produced if they're stuck to such a cemented concept for each comeback? is that what they want to be releasing? god knows i love purple kiss and i adore their concept, but that's besides the point here. i always check CCL, check their videos, to see their writing and production credits, and they ARE capable of making good music, *obviously* they are! why would they market them as such anyways? please. these girls have so much potential. i'm not even claiming they're being mistreated here, of course not every idol wants to make their own music, that's not what it's always about, but when it comes to marketing a group as such, how can they come in last as writing credits and have their self-written and self-produced songs be constantly nudged into bsides? their original choreographies like my heart skip a beat?

and jyp. oooooh jyp. you make me so mad. in that japanese skz + park jinyoung interview, JYP explained why stray kids formed the way it did, and let me just use exact quotes here (u can watch vid for everything, credit to STRAY K SUBS on yt for trans).

"we felt like the distance between fans and artists was gradually getting closer. so, it's hard to fool fans now. it's because we saw that it'd be hard to put out something that we planned and packaged nicely. [...] then, in order to show their real selves without any adjustments, we had to make a team that's actually tightly knit and like one body. we came to the conclusion that in order to do that, the company can't organize the members. so we ended up trying that kind of method for the first time."

and how come you went and debuted ITZY and NMIXX with absolutely no hint of these beliefs anywhere?

where is this trust for your female idols? where is this belief in authenticity in your female idols? where is this belief that you can't fool fans anymore?

is it somewhere in the self-love pop itzy sings that they have not even written about themselves?

is it somewhere in the colossal failure of "mixx-pop" that you plastered onto a group of young talented girls and risked their entire career on?

what did you not learn from the massive success of stray kids? what makes JYP think that a group of female artists is not capable of the same thing?

i'm sorry if i sound like i'm ever degrading to other girl groups about this, i promise i don't mean to be. but this subtle and extremely pervasive belief that women are not capable of technical proficiency makes my fucking blood boil. women can write their own lyrics. women can produce their own music. women can arrange their own music if they fucking want to. women are capable of understanding a market, having a message they want to spread, and using the idol industry as their medium.

if stray kids can do it, why the fuck can't any female idol group?

where is the huge amount of funding that goes to stray kids for their constant events, activities, concepts, comebacks, performances, and everything else, going for any other self-producing girl group?

im begging this industry to let women have that kind of freedom.

PS: because i know this wont get any notes but im scared of people missing the point: please god know i love stray kids. i love purple kiss. i love g-idle. and though im not a midzy i have MASSIVE respect for ITZY. and i have so much hope for NMIXX and the talent that those girls have--i only hope for jyp to take their heads out of their asses and truly believe in creativity and innovation, something i dont believe they are doing for NMIXX. i am not trying to bring these groups, or any other groups, down in any way.

PPS: if anything i said here is wrong or you have anything to add, pls do, im very open for discussion on this, it is an important topic to me

[transmutationisms]

idk if ur being genuine with the "how do people still think this" typs of comments (probs not lo) but as someone who has only recently begun to delve into this type of stuff, it's rlly just bc it's been the norm for years and years. the mindset of "but it's so commonplace, how could it have been this awful this whole time?" is one ive been guilty of. im sure none of this is new to you tho asdfhbfc

sorry the wording seems like im accusing u or smth but it's not i swear :(

also i appreciate the in depth breakdowns you do for other ppls arguments and even ur own arguments. i understand why people dont always do them bc it's tiring and a lot of effort but this tumblr blog has genuinely been so helpful so far wrt tracing the line of thinking thats been so pervasive w all aspects of our lives and even giving resources on how to unlearn them further

i am honestly not aware of this being a genre of comment i routinely make. it's not a sentiment i'm intending to convey because i generally don't think that like, attitudes change in this type of 'progressive' linear fashion.

i'm glad you (nevertheless) enjoy this blog

[malt-rants-and-stuff]

mew I'm copying your tags because you so get it:

#<- prev big mood#so much of what i love about the sasamiya verse is that it grapples with very real queer and coming of age problems?#how you contend with what you were taught--both in family and in pervasive social spaces with very specific signalling#how love can take on so many different meanings and forms; and how individual people get to decide their happiness#what looks like love to one person may seem like indifference to someone else--it's never going to be a 1:1 sort of thing#how people deserve the chance and space to grow#ik the good place talks about this but sincerely#how can we hold it against someone if they have no concept of what love means to them let alone everyone else?#with hirano especially i always thing about how--to someone other than kagiura--those persistent and heartfelt acts of service#could have meant nothing or in a darker world been taken advantage of#but kagiura cherishes the feelings that undergird those gestures; the silent warmth in that firm support#kagiura says: i see you--and I love you for everything you notice about me. how you pick up every little thing that matters and treasure it#that these consistent acts make him feel cherished even when hirano can't express it explicitly/consciously#that hirano is no less deserving of love and affection even if everything about it makes him bristle at the unfamiliarity/discomfort#how hirano will try to bluster but equally feels giddy about kagiura's reciprocation#god i just. can't get them out of my mind#they're so important to me#and that's not even broaching sasaki--which i've touched on briefly before--having similar issues but in different form#how his apathy is an extension of paralyzing dread; the idea that he will always lose something that matters to him in the end#that nobody cares--he will either be cussed out or met with indifference--so why should he bother?#anyway rattling the bars of my cage#sorry to spam tag im just. full of thoughts

i think its really funny when people say they don't like political media and just want something 'cozy' and 'discourse free' then the media theyre talking about is like. miyazaki movies. or the moomins

[quietwingsinthesky]

Okay this is like a week or so late but I've been thinking about your tags about how it's fucked up to claim a character you don't like/find boring is cishet because it hinges being queer as something you earn or have revoked, and you talking about how Dean is interesting Because of his flaws... This is like such a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things, but in another fandom there's this character I'll just call E who cheats on his spouse. Then there's another character from the same country, with the same appearance, that goes by a nickname that's E's name, just shorter. I'll call that character U. I met someone who mentioned in all their posts that they didn't think E and U were the same character. I thought maybe there was like, a detail or an interview that I missed, so I asked this person why they thought E and U were different characters. And they kinda danced around it for a while before basically admitting that they think U is hot and didn't want to like a character that cheated on his spouse. Now like obviously to each their own, people can have their opinions, I can't control how people go about fiction, no one is obligated to be super intellectual with fandom hobbies, etc etc. But I've always been really confused about this person's headcanon because isn't it more fun to actually interpret the worldbuilding and themes of fiction, than to essentially lie to yourself so you don't have to think about uncomfortable topics? I really don't think the author of this media setup the premise of 2 characters being almost identical, one explicitly a cheater & the other ambiguous, for no reason. And if you can't engage with the themes in a mature way... Why not just move onto something that's more your speed? I know the answer is hot fictional men, and that's fair, but... It's been a few years since this interaction and it's still mind boggling to me (Also sorry for putting such a big message in your inbox for vague fandom drama 💀 I'd say the name of the characters/media but it's a really small fandom so the person Would find out I was talking shit)

"I know the answer is hot fictional men" is such a good way to put fandom drama. cause, like, end of the day, i'm pretty sure a lot of dean vs sam debates also boil down to 'which one do you want to fuck'. (not all of them but like. sometimes. you can tell.)

so the thing is like. for me, whatever headcanons anyone wants to have? they're fine. I might think they are Very Bad and Weird To Have, as with people declaring they can only see sam as cishet because he's just. so boring. you know, the guy who drank blood on screen and caused the apocalypse a few times and- i digress. But what's starting to become a lot more pervasive in fandom culture and what I find extremely annoying is that people will insist that you have to conform to their headcanons, that if you don't, you're damaging the character or taking something away from them or something. And this gets especially fucked when they start insisting that the headcanon version of the characters overrides the actual characters, rather than engaging with what's happening on screen.

which was probably inevitable, given how people tend to headcanon things about characters that end up very personal. someone disagreeing with a headcanon that's built on projection (which, to be clear, projecting onto a character is not a bad thing, otherwise i'd be a huge hypocrite for saying sam is trans) can feel like a personal attack, and that's gonna put the headcanon-er on the defensive, and. well. it becomes a situation not fun for anyone.

also never apologize for coming into my inbox with vague fandom drama. i love vague fandom drama. i recognize that i am part of the fandom drama problem but im too nosy to stop askdjalkdjs