#it feels weird to get involved in the discourse as a fellow

[rolandkaros]

.

[wordstome]

Thanks for everything, but it’s time to close up shop.

Hello, everybody. Sorry for this post being a portent of doom, but I feel like you all deserve better than radio silence. Originally, I went on hiatus because I got busy with school and work. This is still true—real life is getting in the way of me being able to write creatively, which I haven’t done in a while.

However, I think it would only be fair for me to admit that I’m just not as into COD anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been into the games and always have been a fan of the little fandom of writers here, but I have to admit that part of my difficulty writing is just not being as into the content anymore. Most of it is just naturally moving on from something you used to like, but I also feel uninspired and weird about the idea of writing fanfiction about the military nowadays.

TO BE CLEAR: I don’t suddenly think that all my fellow writers are doing something problematic and amoral, and I vehemently do not want my departure from creating fan works to be used as some sort of gotcha to attack other writers. I don’t think any of us respect the military or US imperialism (I hope not) and I think the tumblr subsection of fandom is especially aware that COD is military propaganda. What we do here is writing about characters, not the institution they operate in. A lot of cod fanfiction doesn’t even take place in the military. I also haven’t drifted away because some writers make heavier/darker content, so I’m squashing that discourse before it has a chance to start.

It would also be disingenuous to say that I drifted away solely because of fandom discourse, but it certainly didn’t help. Thankfully, I only caught the tail end of a recent…controversy? Discourse? Involving other creators. It’s exhausting and disheartening to see this sort of thing happen, but I also realize it’s kind of inevitable that feathers will be ruffled when subjects like racism against Gaz are addressed, and that doesn’t mean we should just stop talking about those subjects. I don’t have a good solution to this and I don’t mean to complain about something that’s just a part of human nature. I just can’t pretend that it isn’t really demoralizing to see people acting poorly and the internet slapfights that result from it. I hope those involved in the recent incident are taking care of themselves. ❤️

Anyway, if you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading. I have a lot of love left for this fandom, and especially my fellow creators who I have come to consider genuine friends. I feel a deep obligation to everyone who reads and interacts with my work, and I can’t continue to leave people waiting when I know it is, most likely, over. So, to be clear: this is the end of my COD writing journey. I won’t be writing any more or continuing any of my fics.

All of my works, both here and on AO3, will remain up, so you don’t have to worry about anything being deleted. I’m still grateful to cod for bringing my zest for writing back, even if it was only for a handful of months. And if you guys want to see unpublished drafts (like for kingdom come), have questions, or simply want to know my plans for fics that won’t be finished/want to know how they end, please send me asks or reach out! I would love to talk about it. Mutuals are, as always, extremely welcome in my DMs, and it means the world to me that people have been checking in on me during my hiatus.

TLDR:

I’m leaving for good. None of my fics will be deleted, but they won’t be updated anymore. I won’t be active on this blog, but I’ll still check in once in a while to answer any asks or questions about my fics.

I don’t think this will happen, but it’s worth saying: please don’t use my departure to make sweeping generalizations about the fandom or start more discourse. I just drifted away and lost interest. Take care of yourselves.

[rey-jake-therapist]

Sorry, I have to get this off my chest because I'm starting to see trend on x.

One thing that kind of baffles me is when I see Haladriel shippers who like to ship Halbrand and Galadriel like they were together in S1, which is perfectly fine... except, the part that I'm raising my eyebrow at is when they turn around and condemn the fellow shippers who accept that Sauron and Halbrand are the same person, and enjoy the added layer of complexity and darkness to their relationship. Like, ok you like extra vanilla and cream in your coffee while I like mine to have more expresso. No issue with that... except they often like to make it an issue when they come across anyone/thing that explores Saurondriel or fangirls over it. It's rly weird and smells too familiar to those puritans who preach that Haladriel (Sauron included) shouldn't be shipped because they take Sauron as a black and white villain.

Essentially, they treat Halbrand like he was never Sauron in disguise, and I'm like, okay sis, you do you. Whatever floats your boat. But please don't act morally superior over it because that makes you no different than the same purists that sht on anything that's doesn't align to traditional Chris/tian values, and nor does it make you better than the lorebros who insist that Galadriel cannot ever love/marry anyone else after Celeborn because she's an elf. But you know, I don't like to engage with discourse so I just stay in my lane and am humbly grateful we're still on the same coin, just different sides I guess. Until they start to side with the puritans and/lorebros as a copout and/or to feel better about themselves. Very peculiar.

I never came across those shippers so far, but I agree it's very... strange? And a denial of canon I'd say even, because the fact is wether they want it or not, Halbrand = Sauron.

Maybe there are people who used to ship Halbrand and Galadriel before it was revealed that Halbrand was Sauron, and were very disappointed at the end? It's a pity if that's the reason, but doing some mental gymnastics to separate Halbrand from Sauron entirely is... certainly a choice.

I mean, as Halbrand was probably the closest we saw Sauron to be what he used to be before Morgoth corrupted him, aka Mairon, but even then, Sauron was never far away. It's not as if Sauron had parasited Halbrand or something. They're literally the same person, and at no point did the show tell us otherwise.

It kinda reminds me of other ships involving a villain, where shippers seem to feel bad about shipping the protagonist with the bad guy who does all these terrible things, so they turn the narrative upside down and literally invent non canon "facts" that make the villain a anti hero, a victim who's not responsible for his actions, and yell at those who choose to see him as he really is, aka... a complex character, who still has a glimpse of goodness in him but still chooses evil anyway.

As much as I'm annoyed when people strip of a villain of what makes them complex to reduce them to a two-dimensional carboard cut-out villain (like I often see Sauron reduced to on Tumblr), it's equally annoying when the contrary happens. What makes characters such as Sauron, Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, the Darkling etc. interesting, fascinating even, IS that they're complex, and thus sometimes sympathetic. And shipping a protagonist with such a character is way more fun, imho, than shipping said character only with the best version of themselves.

[moondane-lovers]

✍️🤪🥰😡🌦️🏷️❤️💞☕️🛌🪐💘🙈💌👀 4 the canonical ask game since u said you wanted it ~ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆Generous Anon⋆˚｡⁺⋆

youre a madman. you are. everything i have ever wanted. i'm doing this for both my s/i's because i just. i can. you are my hero.

SPANDAM

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom trait you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

Definitely more of a side character. There's a lot of uh. weird dudebros in the fandom that despise LQBTQIA+ characters so I feel like that group would hate them, while the fellow queers would probably find them pretty neat. Definitely more of a side character, all things considered.

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

The autism. DEFINITELY the autism. Also, Pluto is genuinely devoted to her work as a cleaner, but I imagine that would be misinterpreted as “i love to clean!” Instead of “this is what I do, i’m just good at it.” If glossed over.

🥰: How would someone who loved you portray you?

I don't really know. People in the fandom use a lot of words for their faves. Great autistic rep? They/She icon? Tough ass underdog who deserves the world? I just... don't know. Very positively I imagine, with heavy emphasis on the less obvious bits of symbolism and story hints that are present? Probably loved by the over analyzers.

😡: How would someone who hated you portray you?

Annoying, failed tradwife material that was turned into a “stupid gay" who got written in to make Spandam less hateable, or getting in the way of other ships (this is incorrect)

🌦️: Would you be accompanied by mostly fluff or angst fanfics? Both? Explain why.

I feel like a mix of both? There's a lot of brutality and pain that can be grabbed from their backstory and youth, so it could go a number of ways depending on what's focused on.

🏷️: What is you and your f/o’s ship name?

I haven’t thought of this, myself! Pluspan? Spando? Coffeemops? Who knows. I imagine there would be a bunch.

❤️: How popular is you x your f/o? Are you a rarepair?

Considering Spandam isn’t a very popular character and there is already at least one minor fandom ship with him, not a rarepair since canon but probably not like, popular. A niche ship. Definitely a few specific superfans who churn out fanworks.

💞: Aside from with your f/o, who else would you commonly be shipped with? Why?

Probably Jabra, Kumadori or Fukurou, since there would be canonical flashbacks of them interacting with the three during her time in Enies Lobby, and she was friendly with them and able to handle their antics. Especially among the “they deserve better!” crowd.

☕️: What are the most common plots of shipping fics between you and your f/o?

I imagine a lot of fics would involve their time at Enies lobby and the happenings then. That and timeskips/post-ending fics, since there’s not a lot to work with between what would be given.

🛌: What tropes show up in fics involving your ship?

Definitely forbidden love, one sided pining and a lot of slow burn. I haven’t thought about this one much. OH, hurt-comfort and whump.

🪐: What would be your most popular AU and why?

Hear me out. Arranged marriage or royalty aus. I just feel it. I don’t know why, but it feels like those would be all over the place. Also! Aus where they stayed at Enies lobby during the actual arc and buster call, for maximum angst.

💘: Why would people love your ship? Why would people dislike your ship? How might it start debates?

People would love it for its nuance and deeper story that is hidden in the “show don’t tell” sort of presentation, as well as it being an unexpectedly healthy outcome. People would hate it because 1: spandam, 2: you gave the queer rep to spandam? 3: They deserve better

Debate wise oh my GOD I feel like somehow discourse would start from some dumb reason to call it problematic or the really weird new “two grown adults have an age gap” argument. (And no, I’m not referring to the very much questionable the middle aged man/woman creeping on a freshly 18 year old thing, that weird me out too.)

I think overall, they would have an older fanbase.

🙈: Why would your ship be thought of as cute/fluffy? Why would your ship be considered problematic?

I mean, this is Spandam. There will be people who will automatically see it as “he doesn’t deserve them” or with critically low media literacy, “him having a love interest is problematic”. Outside of that, I feel like the people who like it would see it as pretty wholesome and hopeful with the dynamics.

💌: How would your dynamic be portrayed? What might people focus on most? Any misconceptions?

I feel like the dynamics would be very easily misconstrued due to how... you know, shitty Spandam is in canon. Their relationship is strange and complex but healthy and structured, just contains a long winding road to get there. Mischaracterization of either would definitely lead to assumptions about the relationship. As for focuses, I feel like power dynamics would hold a big part.

👀: How does your ship with your f/o influence both of your characterisations and the world? Would there be any interesting metas written about your dynamic?

Spandam would definitely have more apologists thanks to their interactions, his overall characterization is definitely less brutal as his actions would have some more lore behind them and be less harsh due to the positive influence of Pluto, but he's still a huge shit. Meta wise, I feel like people would absolutely tear into Pluto's willingness to accommodate him and how that changes him as time goes on. On pluto's side, autism in relationships would be a big thing to analyze with the way they act.

OUGHHHH ITS DONE I'LL DO GULDO LATER

[vampiremeerkat]

I kinda need some advice (if you're comfortable giving), how does one keep their cool/sanity in the hellish atmosphere that is fandom nowadays? I really wanna get back to fanart and stuff as purely a hobby (and it was a huge part of my childhood) but considering how much of a warzone it is nowadays, I dunno if I can. Got anything?

Don't think I'm the right person to ask, I've not had that many entanglements with fellow fans throughout my online career. It's easy to assume that's because my overall viewership/online presence is low, but I've had the occasional semi-viral success and always enjoyed more praise than "criticism". I'd say fandoms in general are lenient and supportive, but every and any kind of community in the world has an insufferable minority. They shout and have alot of time on their hands, making it seem like you're dealing with a crowd, but that's never the case. Even if hundreds of people jump you, billions walk the Earth; it's not even a fraction of a percent you've displeased. But here's an actual answer to your question: In short:

Choose your fandoms wisely.

Don't overstay your welcome by sticking with one.

Don't join any online communities or participate in ongoing discourse. You're only here to draw.

Train yourself to understand that nothing in life fucking matters anyway. :(

In ｌｏｎｇ: I switch my focus alot. If I attract fans of a particular fandom, but the next thing I show off is less likely to tickle their interest, most will leave again, and it's kinda protecting me from growing an unsettlingly invested fanbase. Praise and attention never motivated me to stick around with one series for long, because I know what's waiting around the corner and don't want to be known as "the <insert this one piece of media here> artist", anyway. Look at my nonsense and go away, I just want to die alone! I'm also not active at any online forums and rarely look up and comment on other people's work. Spares you alot of "who asked you"-styled responses. I might've not when I was younger, but agree with the sentiment now. Unless you come across something criminal, why intrude on someone else's fun. Grumble about it on your account if you must, but don't take it to theirs.. even though it's valid to argue that posting something online is an automatic invitation for others to critique it, especially when you don't apply any form of visibility restrictions. I don't really care to discuss ideas with fellow fans. Weird claim, since my Tumblr exists, but I started this account to post Deviantart stuff. People showed up one day and started asking questions about the fandoms I've been involved in (or haven't), but it's not my hobby to get deep about a fictional property. Without getting instigated, anyway. I think about a question's subject as I read the words, do my best to dissect the whole thing and not throw around one-sentence replies, but seldom have the answer ready in my head. The3Eds was the only forum I enjoyed myself at, and the things I talked about over there barely had anything to do with Ed, Edd n Eddy. In the end, no one will be able to offer you one foolproof strategy on this matter. There've been many artists in the past who minded their business and were slaughtered by strangers. You need to be the kind of person who doesn't take online verbal abuse to bed. That's hard to do if you're looking for validation. You could avoid large fandoms that are known to attract the overly defensive and offensive, but if you have to tiptoe through life for others, what's even the point. Know that the internet is a luxury you don't have to participate in. Log off for a week or so if you're feeling down, or alternatively, delete all comment notifications indiscriminately as you keep on doing your thing.. unless you insist on deleting negative comments, but I don't think you should. Why stop people from embarrassing themselves in public. I don't think I've ever deleted comments, unless it's copy-pasted stuff/spam, because what often happens is that the poster regrets and deletes it themselves. I suppose that has value too. Allow that shit to stay alive, so the poster may one day return to it and potentially realise they're better than that. It's easier to keep your calm when you humanize your critics, if you can. The way a person expresses themselves may be trash, but what is it they're saying, and can the reason be empathized with? Sometimes you're dealing with someone who's obviously a child. I struggle to get angry at people under the age of 20. But really -and more importantly- no one should waste their time on fighting fellow fans when it concerns an issue that's objectively not important, you have better things to do. Try to close your eyes for it, it's seldom personal, even if the attacks try to be. People can pretend, but they don't know you and never will.

[firespirited]

Here are my lines in the sand at least for now.

My biggest concern is accidentally causing pain which is why I wanted to mull stuff over and why I'd rather dip my toe in very slowly. You might have read that as judgement but it really is about me not wanting to use the wrong name or pronouns, say something distressing or upset people who have strong stances while also getting over old fears of walking on eggshells and shame spiralling.

Here goes:

1/ Companions and voices in your head exist, and who am I to question how you make sense of being weird as a fellow weirdo? Endogenic systems are not role-play but if you have any control I'd much prefer to only interact with the primary. Why? Because we don't know each other that well.

2/ Traumagenic systems from childhood when you don't control your personality shifts are legit. In this case I would totally be willing to put in the work to accommodate alters. In the same way that meeting new people involves learning what to warn for and what pronouns to use: DM me, let's get to know each other. - DID in CPTSD and BPD is real but if at all possible I'd like to interact with the primary or be given a heads-up (the way my other friends do about grumpy days, pain days, etc) so I don't put my foot in it.

Like all friendships, we start out with good faith and you see how much you can trust me with and if it works out you can trust me with more. In the same way, I don't owe disclosure about my life events and painful feelings to people I've just met. We're cool, we'll build on that, then build some more.

3/ I'm not willing to take any stances on what is and isn't harmful, healthy, valid or be part of the syscourse or writing, art and sex work discourse. There are too many grey areas and special cases to make blanket statements. People are complicated: books-full of nuance are required.

If you ask me about whether writing about X is bad or claiming to be Y is bad: I'm going to write a whole thesis about the medical/social models of disability, the carceral mindset and rehabilitative justice because we can't do one without considering the others.

4/ This blog isn't safe for children and won't be split into sideblogs: I work on toys while i'm processing political events and watching grown up media and these things all go together. I'm an adult collector who will point out sexual references and political failings in manufacture. I can tag for triggers of course, but the toy industry is dirty and there are plenty of child safe options for doll opinions and creation.

5/ I can't stop people from taking my work or tagging it with things they project onto it but I do have the right to block or message you if it's out there in the open and disturbing: No it's not flattering that you've chosen someone's work as your sexy role-play avatar, your eating disorder inspiration or that someone's collection makes you feel like you're five.

In the case of age regression: we have a conflict of needs. Tumblr is full of people who are judged for embracing small joys like colourful clothes, fandom, crafts and toys. Choices that are acts of adult rebellion in a painful world.

Someone who says "you're so childish I don't think you can make adult decisions" and someone labelling your grown up, tax paying, hard-earned collection as [insert child based aesthetic] feels very similar and it's also going against the message: the point is that you can be a grown up and enjoy things, in fact that's what's being a grown up is for: you get to choose to do nice things for yourself, surround yourself with nice stuff in whatever space and time you can carve out from surviving. Please don't, not because agere is wrong but because it's projecting something about the OP that's counter to what they're trying to put out to the world. 

6/ I’m open to conversation and learning. However, it’s ok to have boundaries and set boundaries for things your friends are sensitive to: it’s a delicate balance. Please assume good faith. Not taking a hard stance is not outright rejection/embrace of stuff: it’s saying I don’t know enough to have an educated opinion or I think there’s too much nuance to fit into a single sentence.

[riddlerosehearts]

little vent about a silly b*ldur's gate 3 fandom thing below the cut

ever since i finished my first playthrough i have been DYING to get a new graphics card that isn't an ancient thing from 2014 so i could make decent gifs of gale and my tav but now today i'm seeing drama going on between gifmakers in the fandom, particularly ones who i've felt inspired by and who have made me want to make b/g/3 gifs because the ones they make of their own OCs are all so beautiful, that genuinely feels kind of overblown in a way that's also confusing to me like... i can't recall seeing fellow gifmakers treat each other like this in any other fandom i've ever been in?? and it's making me wonder if i should even bother at all even though i love gale and elenion so so so much and want to make gifs of them so bad. but idk maybe this isn't a community i want to get involved in if this is what it's like 😭 just makes me worried that posting the kinds of things i want to post would ultimately not be fun and that i would have to pick one side of this discourse and have everyone on the other side hate me. and tbh i'm also worried people would be weird about me having a very gender non-conforming transmasc tav romancing the one companion who certain parts of the fandom love to call "straight-coded".

[torushawty]

thank u emmie for posting this, hi so ! first v sorry for the never ending annoying discourse, i’m like not on here anymore but this is needed to add my side of the story especially since i play a part, i had to take my blog of seven months @/kazushawty down for some petty accusations i didn’t start. as well as since i’ve dealt w the same sub post issue/bullying not that long ago this month + similar drama kind of by this creator.

i was mentioned here by another fellow writer (won’t mention to protect their peace) so, i’m gonna speak up because i know i previously said, i have a life and i don’t care about this high school type drama, but what i’m not gonna do is stay quiet and keep my mouth closed while i was being mocked and talked about from the side lines for no reason when i didn’t even do anything

that being said, i have every right to defend myself and i’d like to also speak for any other fellow deactivated writers who lost their hobby or passion of writing just to this unnecessary childish discourse

also this isn’t a post to by any means be hateful i’m just simply sharing my experience

i remember around sometime the beginning of this october right before the discourse started i got two anons on the same day that involved this writer, and me being confused, i answered it because i figured people were being genuine. one was like “is this saetoru’s second account? /gen” and then another was like “i hope this doesn’t come off as weird but you remind me so much of saetoru you guys have the same humor” and i guess they figured i sent those to myself? because it was mentioned (i obviously didn’t, it’s even weird i got not one but two anons that revolved that blog on the same day hm) i honestly didn’t think much of it really, so i answered both and went along with my day.

but then come to find out a day or two the drama started, someone shows me this screenshot from said writer’s main and it revolves around this ask which was revealed of being my @

while i appreciate it a lot, i can see how it would have caused things between writers— however for the anon, there’s no need to pin writers against each other and consider one’s skill better than the other, but i feel like this entire situation was a simple misunderstanding (?) i think it was unintentional but reacted in the wrong way, also i got randomly accused of sending this ask, which again i did not. i’ll say this right now, if you have something you wanna talk about just dm. the only “proof” it was apparently me doing everything was all because of the backwards apostrophe and i do that in my writing sometimes only because (1) …. not everyone has an american keyboard, and also, (2) it could be anyone sending that anon. literally. anyone. so blaming it on one person without solid proof anyway is nuts

my thing is, i was literally never contacted in private to deal with this, only to find out i get blocked not even hours later and talked about after i find out this even happened. i completely understand blocking someone, i am not mad in the slightest about being blocked, you’re utilizing the button, that’s in your right. but to hard block and proceed to bash them behind closed doors is entirely childish in every shape or form.

some might say “no one asked you to deactivate” i left on my own choice and accord, mainly being this discourse shit is not worth it. reason why i’m not on here at all after everything happened. all this for some anime porn about pixels. this is tumblr dot com, this app doesn’t pay my bills or any of my necessities and i know when to not take things serious and this entire thing has been so so so so drawn out. literally i write for fictional characters for fun then out of nowhere i get accused of things with no proof only to then get talked about as if i won’t see it, as if i won’t respond. don’t get me wrong, i hate any types of drama, i don’t care for it but if my name is getting dragged out i’m gonna say something because i have every right to defend myself. if you’re gonna talk about me, at least message me so we can have an adult conversation? 😭 all this ‘hard block and sub post all types of bullshit about this person’ is really.. this is so unneeded. no confrontation happened at all and it’s just so

strange how all this evidence is now all deleted, but i wanna talk about this too, because firstly i didn’t befriend anyone. if anyone knows me, i don’t ask people to be mutuals anymore due to my own comfort reasons. and about my anons on my main being off days before, i never said i got those anons sent from her, i’ve been getting hate silently way before this discourse even happened, i only then decided to speak about it on oct. 9 on my call out post + plus this thing coming out of nowhere on top of the constant racism and hate was just really again, not needed in the slightest.

and again, idk why i kept getting accused of sending anons to this blog when NO PROOF IS BEING SHOWN. how are you gonna accuse someone then not show evidence of what’s being spoken of, let alone confront the person directly. at that point you’re just going off your own word. it makes no sense. like i said, if i have an issue, i’m gonna be an adult and say what i need to say to your face instead of just blocking to only then continue to bring a person’s name up while they clearly can’t speak for themselves

instead of accusing someone, maybe i don’t know, get proof first. because at that point you’re just spreading erroneous false claims. i have no types of time to be living in anyone’s inbox, let alone anonymously. it’s the way this could have easily been prevented and cleared up if i was contacted about the matter, but i literally never was. i got hard blocked for an issue i only found out about many hours later, then i start getting mocked and blamed for doing all types of untrue things—

i’m not gonna immediately assume they’re talking about me in this post like they immediately assumed i was dogpiling them wtv anons but i recall this post that’s now deleted was perhaps sneak dissing me judging from the shawty in my url, also this was right after i deactivated. if i can remember in the asks that was answered about me, i thought you said you didn’t know i existed, so you miss my posts on the dash now? weird

if this ain’t about me, my bad. it is kinda odd.. this is deleted now but just something to think about

this is ridiculous, and really immature. if you have a problem with me you wanna talk about, just spare the energy and @ me or dm. bc all this lame sub posting shit towards people and not confronting them in private is so kiddy, we’re supposed to be adults and stuff like this is happening. what is this, high school? the constant mocking, bashing, and belittling other writers is just really . . i cant depict a word for it, but it’s really concerning.

this is supposed to be a fun place, not a toxic competitive place— this is an app, to write, create or do whatever. and why yes it is sad i was one of the many writers leaving due to this, at the end of the day it’s not the end of the world because i don’t take it serious like most do. tumblr is a hobby, and i won’t get worked up over it. i can always start over again

without tumblr, you’re literally.. just an average person behind a screen lol. no one is a celebrity on here regardless if you’re a big known blog or not. we all do the same thing at the end of the day, and that’s to write about fictional made up characters. i agree, i feel like people weaponize their high following count to do or say whatever they want and not get held accountable.

sadly after reading everyone else’s shared experiences, i’m sure even this won’t do anything. this will pass and then more writers are gonna get ran off. it’s truly not fun to spend time on a platform where such discourse is never ending, but it’s important to know your worth, there’s no shame in deactivating. there aren’t any hard feelings because again, i don’t take this entire thing serious, i wish all parties nothing but the best regardless. logging out and later deleting this acc like i said to move on but that’s all i had to say. it is quite sad to abandon your passion or hobby because of dumb drama, but what’s really important is to protect your peace.

saetoru is talking abt you on her private blog (@/clorindes) yuckkkkk

CW BULLYING, LITERALLY IMMATURE HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA, SUB POSTING.

hi nonnie, thank you for letting me know! since i’m leaving this blog & this platform for the foreseeable future i figured i might aswell get a few things off of my chest before i go. i apologise in advance for the vibes this post will probably bring, the discourse & the posts that will ofcourse follow, but i honestly i am not the first person to be targeted by this creator and i’m sure i won’t be the last considering the amount of creators that have been bullied off of this app by them.

first off i’ve had multiple blogs that would be considered bigger blogs such as @/hvnlydmn, @/atsymu + now this blog which is the biggest of all 3. i think there’s a sort of unspoken responsibility that comes with being a bigger blog which i know is no fun but it’s also because it can be super harmful on a site like this, when people weaponise their following.

on that note i’ll start this post by saying that i’ve known tee for probably around 3/4 years, maybe? we were mutuals on hvnlydmn & atsymu and we continued to talk on discord even when i was off of tumblr. i will honestly admit to this day i have never had a negative interaction with tee to my face and she was genuinely supportive of me during any discourse i was involved in. i am not some angel, i’ve had my fair share of crap on this app (of my own doing) but this post is not meant to come across like “oh she doesn’t like me so i’m calling her out” no. im sorry if this doesn’t line up with my brand and my ‘victim complex’ but i’m not gonna lie down and let someone on a power trip on a hobby app drag me through the mud.

first off i had began to get some off vibes from tee when i had started writing on garoujo, notably when i’d just hit my first milestone which was probably around 1k. during this i had decided to move my instagram theme from my main blog to my writing blog.

i’d noticed tee subposting (on main and on her personal blog which i followed at the time) about someone basically using the same theme as her, which after then clicking onto her blog i realised was an instagram theme. i didn’t think much of it, again me & tee were friends and she hadn’t came to me directly so ignored it. i was still a new blog and trying to solidly an aesthetic (before the beige lol) so i changed my theme / masterlists / layouts a lot.

a few more sub posts later i decided to message tee about it because with every thing i’d change / post on my blog, there always seemed to be another post. so i messaged her and got this response in: (i’ve blurred out my irl name btw) open up pics for convo!

so i let it slide, kept posting & that was that. probably a few days / a week later, tee had soft blocked me which then eventually led to me being hard blocked. i was upset ofcourse because i genuinely considered tee a good friend but i’ve always been a big advocate in controlling your space.

this was when, one of our mutuals in common (the first of many may i add) approached me on discord to say that just like now, i was being ripped to shreds on tee’s personal blog:

again i was notably upset about this because i was being accused of not only copying her theme but also her writing & masterlists, we did have a lot of mutuals in common so it was also upsetting knowing they would all be seeing these posts aswell. i allowed myself one sub post about “creating a narrative” because i was particularly frustrated but tee then also subposted about this, even though she had me blocked?

i would also like to say regarding our mutuals in common that this was not the first or last mutual to approach me regarding tee. i’ve had multiple people tell me that “they’re only mutuals with her because it would be more damaging not to be” “it’s easier to be on her side”. also i am not saying this is okay but i’ve had multiple of her current mutuals send me not only her posts, but screenshots of her private, personal instagram & also tell me about how all of them and their friends had a running joke / theory that tee made up her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend?) for attention.

regarding the accusations from tee i’d like to first comment on the instagram themes, again i had done an instagram theme on my main blog but it seemed to only be an issue when it was on my writing blog that was gaining traction. if the timing was off and it seemed like i copied her, i genuinely have nothing to say except it’s not the case— it’s instagram (which tee already admits she doesn’t own above) also the hanma writing? i’m still not 100% sure which drabbles she was referring to but i can only assume that 1. is when i posted a drabble about hanma fucking you outside of his subordinates house — this was a almost completely word by word rewrite of a suna drabble i done on my old blog @/atsymu i literally just changed the concept to fit tokyo revengers themes. i can post screenshots of this suna drabble also from my google docs dated February when i deactivated. the other one may have been some basic concept about him fucking you against the window.

she also mentions in the very first recent screenshot at the beginning of this post that i have apparently stolen concepts of fics / posts from her mutuals. what i want to say regarding this is, do you believe that i would have made it this far on stolen work? i don’t know any of the mutuals she’s referring to apart from 1 which i’ll get into. but every single accusation i’ve ever received has always come from someone associated or in contact with tee, she has always been at the root of it all but i have yet to receive a single anon or ask about me copying or taking inspiration from anyone’s work.

i know there was apparently a blog and an ex mutual of mine, who i had a lot of respect & time for who was under the impression i’d stolen their concept for this gojo fic. the whole premise of this fic is honestly not uncommon considering how many times people losing control of their techniques / powers / quirks during orgasm has been done in fanfiction. this concept was completely my own, i had originally posted shitposts about him losing control of his technique & also him putting you into a mating press / breeding before i’d decided to smoosh them together into a fic. we all read from the same workbook, we all have the same material to work off of — two people in a fanbase of THOUSANDS having a similar idea is not unheard of.

now onto the masterlist banners. the screenshot on the far left are the comparison photos that tee made herself— i’m sure you’ll be able to see them in better quality when she makes her own post about it; because obviously that’s going to come. first off i will say, i will admit i took inspiration from her official art masterlist banners — i thought hers looked good and i needed a masterlist so i used official art. fair game there although i only kept them for a few days before i changed again.

but onto the grey masterlist banners, i can honestly say i did not even know tee had this masterlist, also the only comparison i myself see is the colour. the only reason i chose grey was because i had started to use a grey / white overlay on my manga panels for my layout (as you can see far right), and as you know— i’ve always kept my colour scheme pretty consistent. on that note, regarding the actual layout of the masterlists— i’ve added screenshots from atsymu (that i could find due to it being deactivated) that shows the layout of my old masterlists, which was what i took inspiration from for my current. although the title font for each heading like headcanons is different, i had used the sort of old style, basic font that everyone uses before i had deactivated so it would match my fic headers i just don’t have photos obviously.

anyway on the back of this there was then discourse over me apparently copying tee’s kinktober masterlist, which again was not the case. but again due to tee’s following i had received multiple death threats into my asks the morning after i posted mine. as far as i was aware, the only similarities were the fact we both used gifs in our headers & the layout listing thirsts, hcs & fics (which is very common during kinktober but i admitted below i could see that similarity). unfortunately during all of this discourse was when ffflowers, my hate blog also came into the mix which then lead to tee reaching out to me in dm’s from her old blog.

the interaction between me & tee was pretty good, again she was nothing but nice to me directly despite the way she obviously spoke about me in private above. but as you can see below, tee herself told me that basically most of the similarities all made above were brushed off as basic. we spoke about the ig themes & i apologised, saying i could understand where she was coming from and that was that. i unblocked her & she unblocked me so i could reblog her post, it’s been that way since.

it is not my place to comment on other people’s experiences on this app but i would need more than 2 hands to list the amount of people that i’m sure have had similar if not worse experiences with tee. i know i have had multiple mutuals who have been bullied off of this platform & had their safe space ripped from them for little things such as: liking a character that this group selfship with, tee and her friends not liking their characterisation. they’ve even went as far as to go through other larger creators notes to check for minors so they can make excuses as to why they’re thriving.

i also know of a blog who was ‘blacklisted’ from tee & her mutuals as they self shipped with arataki itto at the time, one of tee’s friends also did, so they blacklisted this creator and had all of their mutuals block them for this which then in turn drove this creator off the app. there has been other notably bitchy things that i’ve heard but i have no receipts for therefore i don’t see any relevance in starting rumours.

i would also like to say i know plagiarism is a horrible thing, we have all been through it— myself included but it’s got to the point where being accused of copying tee has become a canon event. notably, bigger platforms have been ruined and driven off of this app for little things such as mdni dividers, similar colours schemes etc. and it’s the reason i’m also leaving.

i will say i have met some amazing people through my discourse with tee, notably people who have been in similar situations and i also apologise to any mutuals who we still have in common who are now sort of stuck inbetween. no hard feelings. although to tee: id be careful of the people you trust because it seems the loyalties they have to you are not as sincere as you may believe. you can also go to her personal & read the other things she was saying about me like how she was always so ? at how many people seemed to like me.

so that’s all i have to say, i’m sure dash will get a few responses from this but i’ll be logging out & turning off asks because honestly? couldnt care less. the only thing i’d change about my experience on this app would be i wish i’d blocked tee sooner.

i’d say have a nice day, but instead, have the day you deserve.

— emmie :)

[hashtagloveloses]

so are you back on tumblr after a while or you're new? welcome! it's a lot nicer here lately, and, shockingly enough, the website actually works a lot better too, thanks to the hard work of a bunch of very talented people. the mobile app is constantly improving, but if you're on desktop and used to use things like missing e or xkit, the latest helpful extension is XKIT REWRITTEN, which you can go download and read about at @addons that was created by @april, who worked on new xkit back in the day and now works at tumblr itself!

here's some other helpful tips to know:

PLEASE REBLOG THINGS. it's the main form of engagement here. there is no penalizing for spam interaction, most people are not looking at your blog directly, and it is the main way people find you and you find good content to follow. for original content like fanart and fanfic, it also REALLY helps people out. likes are better for like, personal posts, and for storing things for later. also, it doesn't matter if you blog is a jumble of things - it's yours, nobody cares, and that's kind of the purpose of the site

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PROFILE PHOTO, BANNER PHOTO, AND UNIQUE URL (that isnt like a bunch of numbers or something), or else people will think you are a bot and block you. you don't have to do anything fancy, you can use the default tumblr theme on your blog itself, but just make sure you look like a real account PLEASE

DO NOT CENSOR WORDS. much like on twitter, if you censor a word for a trigger, it will do the opposite of what you want - people's blacklist and mute functions won't work if the word isn't spelled out in the tags or the text of the post. also there isn't post suppression here.

Don't like your dashboard? Getting bored? Feel like your community is getting annoying? JUST FOLLOW MORE PEOPLE (and maybe unfollow some. a block and an unfollow are always ok). nobody cares, or can see about your follow ratio, and it'll help your dashboard feel more lively (you'll also not give as much of a shit about petty dramas). the follow limit is 5000 last i checked

keep your comments to the tags (unless it's like....really funny or adding something good? use your best judgement). the tags are helpful for subject matter, but you should also use them to talk as like side commentary!

Close your ask box to anons and don't share personal information if you don't want to. You are under no obligation to share your name, age, diagnoses, history, location, face, and you SHOULDN'T. and the ask box is great but if it gets overwhelming just close it. If you're a minor, maybe say somewhere that you're a minor, but that's it. (that goes for any social media site)

MAKE YOUR LIKES AND FOLLOWS PRIVATE. for the love of god. just protect yourself.

just like any social media site - be critical about the things people claim are true on here. screenshots, takes, facts, can be skewed and you should do extra research before believing anything just because somebody said it on tumblr dot com

DON'T GET INTO QUEER OR NEURODIVERGENT LABEL IDENTITY DISCOURSE. whether you are young or old, on tumblr or another site, things will just get confusing and weird. if you learn something here that makes you feel affirmed, great! but also please make sure your interaction with fellow queers (or other neurodivergent people) is not limited to just this site. get involved with a local or school lgbtq center if you can, get to know queer people in your life or queer spaces if you can. (and if you can't - go read about queer history somewhere other than tumblr. do research, watch movies and documentaries. look into disability organizing and history outside this hellsite). Label discourse is also how many unknowing queers and others get recruited to T*RFy shit unknowingly so....be careful out there.

Don't get guilted into things on your dashboard. You should definitely care about the things people are talking about, but you don't have to know about every ill happening in the world at once to be a good person. If you're feeling lost, or hopeless and endlessly scrolling or feel guilted by people online, pick ONE thing you can do, for people in your local community, and then just make a reasonable effort to stay informed otherwise.

create an original tag for your "original" posts, aka the posts you make that aren't reblogs, so you can look at them later

explore the QUEUE FUNCTION! you don't have to use it, nobody cares if you reblog spam, but sometimes it's fun!

Don't know who to follow? Go follow the tags of things you like (TV shows, movies, musicians, aesthetics, whatever!), and suggested posts will pop up on your feed, or you can go through the tag and follow some people who look interesting

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 328: Pandora’s Box of Discourse

Previously on BnHA: DEKU TOOK A BATH.

Today on BnHA: 

Also Naomasa grew a beard. Goddamn. 

please let this be a cool chapter that plays nice with my ADHD lol

(ETA: lol I feel guilty because a lot of people hated this chapter, but I’m just happy there was a lot of stuff to make fun of, and also that I have another week to work on my backlog of meta posts since the kids were MIA.)

around one month ago?? ah, okay, so we’re gonna find out what was in that Tartarus security file huh

I love that they just randomly set the place on fire

was it necessary to do this in order to escape? no. was it a good idea to set the island they were occupying on fire while they were in the midst of still occupying it? uh. was it cinematic as fuck? fuck yeah

wow it’s a pervert!!

that’s so great that the villains set loose this fine fellow who I’m sure is definitely not a serial rapist. truly the LoV is so noble and misunderstood. they’re just trying to free society from its chains people

oh my god??!

SHANKED!!! oh my god I cheered for Stain before I realized what I was doing. time to have an identity crisis I guess

so he’s all “hey what’s going on.” which, while a respectable question, is something I personally would have waited to ask until I had put a bit of distance between myself and the fiery murder island. but that’s just my personal preference

Stain you really are tenacious I’ll give you that

“what’s the point of escaping prison if you’re not gonna be smart about it” well shit. anyways yeah you’re dead right, society is in the process of collapsing and the outside world is in total chaos, good call there

oh shit

I mean it’s not like we really expecting anything otherwise, but still. fucking brutal. I feel like these guys’ fates were decided the minute that one guy called AFO “scum” back in chapter 94. AFO is unmatched at getting long-term revenge

??

ahh, was it the security footage??

fdsdfk he’s still alive??

and he’s immediately launching into an inappropriately theatrical monologue even as the darkness closes in on him fdlfksjdlk. you know, was it ever confirmed that the other guy back in chapter 297 was Seiji’s dad? I’m just saying

very impressed that he’s still coherent enough to weigh the pros and cons before making the decision to gamble on giving this info to Stain, who at the very least has his own moral code and isn’t allied with AFO. it was definitely still a risk, but as we now know it was also the right call

what a weird alliance. so Stain tells him that he’ll give it to a just person, and the guy is all,

okay for real though I’m gonna need someone to run a DNA test on this guy. maybe it was some kind of cuckold situation?? the other guy had the family resemblance, but this guy absolutely 100% raised Shishikura Seiji and you are not going to convince me otherwise

anyway, so Stain is all,

PRISON GUARD: “???? ??????? what the hell. what the fuck does that fucking mean. I’m dying here, jesus christ, whatever man fuck you”

(ETA: I kind of feel like this might have been Stain’s last appearance in the manga, given all the fanfare. there’s not really much else he can do for the story at this point, and he seems to have gotten all the character development Horikoshi was planning on giving him. so if this really is it, hasta la vista and good riddance I guess.)

DWLFDKSLDK MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE

(ETA: I feel like this is meant to be evocative of that Sermon on the Mount painting, but in a really fucked up way lol.)

if it were me stumbling upon this scene I would just shake my head and walk right back into the flaming building. not getting involved in that mess. sorry not sorry. I’ll take my chances with the fire, especially given that it’s half-assed neutered BnHA fire lol

blah blah blah and so he decided to pass the info on to All Might -- HOT DAMN, HOLY SHIT

NAOMASA HOLY SHIT. THE APOCALYPSE LOOKS GOOD ON YOU, BOY

“I really like that facial scruff thing Aizawa’s got going on, I think I’m gonna get in on that” yes sir. “also thinking of ditching the tie in favor of the bulletproof vest look. also thinking of getting totally fucking jacked.” good lord. except I’m pretty sure that’s just body armor, but also I don’t care. anyway I should probably stop staring and actually read the fucking speech bubbles here lol

“All Might first handed this information over to Nao, and then went to see Deku, and then came back to Nao” thanks for that tidy little summary Horikoshi. we are capable of piecing events together in sequential order, I just want you to know that. but thank you

“so has Deku finally gotten a bath? also, sucks that Stain saved the day, but what are you gonna do” Nao I missed you so fucking much and didn’t even realize. how am I just now realizing that you are the perfect man

for a second I was gonna ask why Tartarus’s security systems would be cut off from the outside world, and then I remembered that’s a basic security control, and then I actually got impressed by how sensible that is. like, it’s been a while since I could genuinely say that the good guys (excluding class 1-A) did something smart. not that it helped them much in the end, but still

anyway so they’re talking about how AFO was able to coordinate the attack by communicating between his horcrux self on the outside and his ugly peanut-faced self on the inside

huh

okay you have my attention. I am taking notes here lol please continue

ah okay so he says that prior to Jakku, the transfer of information between him and his Vestige self was only one-way. but post-Jakku when Deku was in the hospital, he was able to tell what was happening inside the OFA Radical Lisa Frank Dead People Book Club Realm when he touched him. I feel like we established that before, actually. but he didn’t talk about how it actually felt, though

boy we already know this lol. yes AFO can talk with his horcrux self. and he can also communicate with his little bro in OFA too, let’s talk about that sometime why don’t we. what exactly does that imply, based on the rules we’ve established here

my god I cannot get over Naomasa and his fucking facial hair

no wonder All Might was in such a hurry to leave Deku and get back here

like I have no idea what this radio waves nonsense is but my god, people

that jawline. also so it’s a quirk, I see. except last I checked Deku didn’t have a radio waves quirk, so that doesn’t really explain his connection to AFO. but whatever, hopefully we’re at least getting closer to some kind of reveal here

(ETA: since I sometimes forget that other people’s lives don’t revolve around my theory posts, here are the two relevant links if you by chance want to know my thoughts about this.

Hagakure is still The U.A. Traitor™ regardless of whether Deku is passing information on to AFO through his psychic link, which he almost certainly is.

speaking of said psychic link, Deku is a horcrux.

just posting these now, because whenever trippy OFA stuff happens I tend to get an influx of theory asks. so hopefully this will be a bit of a time saver lol.)

-- wait, what

THAT’S what the recording was??!? holy SHIT. I genuinely was not expecting that. y’all wiretapped his fucking telepathy. fucking quirks, man. wild

AND THEY USED THAT POWER TO DETERMINE WHAT WE ALREADY KNEW, HUZZAH. GOOD SHOW

-- oh shit wait lol, except I forgot we’re not talking about 38 days from the present, we’re talking about 38 days from the date the conversation was recorded. heh. um

yeah that’s the face I would make too if All Fucking Might just casually told me we had eight days left until the end times

oh, pardon me. three fucking days

r.i.p. anyone who thought we were going to have another band arc sob. I sure hope Deku is enjoying that nap

(ETA: I realize people were hoping for a longer rest period here, but given that the man warned us all the way back in chapter 306 that we were entering the final act, you can’t really blame him too much when that turns out to be true. anyway but I do recognize that we’ve reached the point in the story where this kind of discourse is going to become a weekly occurrence, simply because there’s no possible way for Horikoshi’s actual endgame to line up perfectly with the variable headcanons of millions of fans, all of whom have wildly differing and in many cases contradictory expectations which can’t possibly all be fulfilled. anyway, so I’m already bracing myself for that lol. this coming year is going to be a wild ride.)

damn, U.A. out here looking like the motherfucking United Nations

-- is this U.A.?? I actually just realized, U.A. is four interconnected buildings, not two. wait holy shit is this Shiketsu?

wait holy SHIT

based on the overwhelmingly powerful vibes of bureaucratic incompetence, I’m thinking this really is the (future) U.N., or whatever organization it is that deals with international hero stuff

“just let them handle it themselves I’m sure they’ll be fine” yeah okay, thanks guys. appreciate it

wait oh shit did he say that it’s not just Japan?

soooo, what you’re telling me is that AFO is this close to bringing about the end of not just Japan, but the entire world, and you guys don’t think it’s a good idea to help the Japanese heroes stop him? so, genuine follow-up question: are you guys already planning your rich people exodus into space a la Wall-E, and that’s why you don’t give a fuck?? like, what??

omg international heroes

these guys are from World Hoodie Mission, right? is this Horikoshi’s way of reminding me to buy tickets

(ETA: and it worked too lol.)

WHO??? WHAT???

don’t tell me you’re introducing yet another badass new female character for me to fall in love with only to watch as you dismember them and/or blow them up, Horikoshi. I’m getting tired of playing this game my dude. don’t lie and tell me this time will be different. we’re not doing this again goddammit

noooooooooooooooooooo

god fucking dammit lmao. [sighs and rips the previous paragraph into shreds]

on behalf of Americans I apologize for our superheroes always being Like This

I also apologize because I love her already and I’m gonna be shameless about it. so fucking shameless you guys

is her fucking hair red white and blue. it is, isn’t it

this is the volume cliffhanger, 100% lol. it will take every ounce of Horikoshi’s willpower not to put her on the volume cover. he’ll have to settle for the spine or the inner cover this time because Deku VS his class 1-a superpals takes precedence. but it will be a close thing let me tell you

tbh it’s that smile that does it for me. she’s definitely All Might’s protege. get out there and show them how it’s done girl. and maybe call Salaam and BRD and see if you can’t convince them to play hooky from their governments as well. why not. world’s ending in three days you guys. “sorry, I’m busy this weekend” ain’t gonna cut it lol

so while I am not fully caught up with Vigilantes, I have read far enough to know that there’s an American hero named Captain Celebrity whose superpower from what I recall is being a humongous douchebag. and while I haven’t read far enough to know what happens to this guy, I can’t say I’m very disappointed to learn that he’s no longer the number one hero in the U.S. (actually, didn’t they kick him out and that’s why he moved to Japan to begin with?). anyway, so my thanks to Horikoshi for having a marginally higher opinion of Americans than Furuhashi, even though we have definitely not done anything to warrant said opinion lately, and you may have inadvertently opened the door to a pandora’s box of discourse lmao

(ETA: lol I went into the tags and they don’t disappoint. “why is she dressed like a flag” because she’s an homage to Captain America and Major Victory and literally every other character on this list. again, I apologize for fictional American superheroes being Like This. “oh boy another thicc waifu to make the fanboys happy” look, tumblr fandom never seems to have a problem thirsting over Dabi or Tomura or Aizawa or Nao, lol, I’m just saying. “where is Captain Celebrity” idk, probably murdered by the exploding bee cartel, let’s just be grateful for our good fortune and try not to Beetlejuice the man.)

anyway, so let’s see if Horikoshi’s recent character development with regards to making Mineta not terrible anymore will apply to other aspects of his writing as well. I know I was making light of discourse just now, but I do think the complaints about him introducing yet another new character at the 11th hour to be cannon fodder in the final battle are absolutely valid. and again, it wouldn’t be a problem if he didn’t keep maiming/killing off his female characters one by one instead of developing them and letting them kick ass long-term. but that said, I will never complain about Horikoshi adding another female character to the series, regardless of how clumsy the attempt may be. go ahead and pander away, just give us more girl power lol

anyway so we’ll see how it goes, but I think I’m gonna be optimistic and let myself hope once again, even though I’m probably gonna regret it lol. it is what it is. she is standing on an airplane just chilling for fuck’s sake. I’m only human. anyway fingers crossed

[roleplayerconfessions]

🌴 psa: there is no gray area in the proship/anti debate.

there is proship which, if you use that label or not, means you're against harassing people for what they write even if something grosses you out! live and let live, ship and let ship, against harassment (and if something is actually illegal to write about, you just report it.) it has been the fandom default for decades. there is no excuse or reason to harass someone. if the ideology in the end involves harassment you are not proship or anti-harassment.

then, there is anti. if you use that label or not, it means you condone harassing people for what they write, because people who write weird, gross, or illegal-to-do-irl things deserve to be shamed for it, because they must be normalizing it, and they must be self inserting because they want to be and do those things! (which is sad and paranoid to assume of people but you do you lmao..)

if you throw the words anti and proship way into the corner and don't look at them because a lot of people dont like labels, at the end of the day, people are still either for harassment, or against it, that's what this comes down to. don't trust anyone who says 'i'm neutral' because that doesn't even make sense. what is neutral? what is the gray area? how do these people even define it? does it mean they condone harassment.. sometime? but that still means they DO condone harassment, just not always! so they still took a side, they are pro-harassment. or does it mean they just sit back and don't feel bad when people get harassed for fiction? but people should feel bad about seeing fellow human beings being harassed over fiction! if they don't feel a twinge of upset when they see people get harassed over fiction, they're still pro-harassment! not everyone can stand up to a playground bully when they see the bully beating a classmate, but good people at least feel bad that it's happening at all. it does't matter what your reason or excuse is to condone harassment, your ideology is still condoning harassment! take it from me, avoid muns who say they're neutral. they try to act high and mighty and 'this is above me hurhur', but by doing it they take sides without even intending it. and if you try to tell them this, they just ignore you, delete your comments, or block you because they just can't stand to lose that moral high ground they think they have! they don't have a moral high ground, they're the same as everybody else whether they get into discourse or not.

and no, i'm not talking about people who use 'neutral' as another way of saying 'i avoid discourse and drama', because it's understandable to want to avoid drama! but people don't use 'neutral' like that. i'm talking about people who use neutral as a stance. i'm talking about people who think there's a compromise between between condoning and not condoning bullying, and who call that neutral. that 'neutral' doesn't exist.

[anarchy2021]

PSA Day! (Rp etiquette)

{ID: A person standing next to a flipchart. They're thin, and have medium-length brown hair, pale skin, and dark brown ears. The ears are angled horizontally. They're wearing thin-rimmed glasses, and their expression reads as confident. Their hair is partially tied up in a bun. They also have a long tail the same brown as their ears, with brown fur the same color as their hair on the end. They're wearing black trousers, a black waistcoat with a white shirt underneath. Additionally, a black overcoat with gold edges is draped over their shoulders. The inner lining of the overcoat is red, and partially visible behind the person. They have their right hand on their hip, and with their left hand, they're holding a stick up to the flipchart, which reads "RP 101 :)". The 101 is underlined. END ID.}

Greetings! You may not recognize me (unless you were watching the debate perhaps, then, sup) as I admit I’ve been a bit…. Behind the scenes as it were (as secretary of VOID there is a lot of looking at the void, usual routine for me mhm mhm). Regardless, I’m Days (or Nights, either or) and for today’s PSA I’m here (along with some words from our recently freed from totally-not-prison president, Graphite, at a later date) to talk to you about roleplay! More specifically, rp etiquette and terms and how that relates to the DSMP and how it should be talked about. 

Now now, you might be wondering “oh but what is your experience?” Glad you asked! I’m a long term text rper with over 5 years of experience- and my main avenues of rp are rps similar in structure to that of the DSMP- long term improv driven sandboxes that also have important events planned ahead of time in some regard but are often player driven most of the time. Now, let’s get into it!

Head writers/admins

Let’s start off with a pretty hot topic regarding the server, which is the existence of a ‘head writer’ (usually in reference to Mr. Soot). Now, mainy take this as meaning quite literally a writer- like in a show, but, with what information we have I think it’s safe to say he’s not really that and more along the lines of an rp admin/head. The admin’s main purpose is to keep things structured and organized, as well as putting together the events they’re in charge of. This is pretty much how everyone treats the man anyways, BUT, while an admin is in charge of a lot they do NOT have the final say over everything, particularly in regards to the characters and their players. 

Players in an rp for the most part have full control over their characters (within reason and the confines of the rp setting) and an admin enforcing their will onto a character (such as enforcing certain backstory choices that don’t seem particularly wanted. For example, the fridge with c!Phil) is often frowned upon unless there is a good reason for it and discussed with the rper. 

It is also notable that just because there is an admin, that doesn’t mean they’re the sole writer/organizer/etc. It is not at all uncommon for specific subplots and or other important events to be headed by players involved in it in this type of rp. This can be seen in practice with how the Eggpire plotline was headed by BBH and the prison plotline was mainly written by Dream and Tommy. 

Summary:

- head writer/admins do not and should not control everything

- organise and structure events

- players might admin their own smaller plots within a rp

Narrative consequences

Now, another hot topic- especially in regards to character discourse (my abhorred personally). Narrative consequences. These are generally referred to when someone thinks a character is not getting the consequences for their actions in the story that they should, or (more rarely in my experience) when they feel a character is being punished too hard for their actions. While this is an understandable feeling to have, at the end of the day narrative consequences just aren’t much of a thing in roleplay, at least not to the same extent as a book or tv show. 

This is for one simple reason, consequences rely on the character’s actions and how they respond to others around them, if a character does not feel like it’s fit to react or if it angers their character- it is 100% within their right to respond accordingly. 

However, there is also an argument that can be made if a character responds to something in a way that doesn’t align with a character’s usual actions. For a personal example, one time in a rp I was playing a character who was intervening when another character was being hurt, however, my character was met with scorn from being somewhat aggressive regarding it- I felt that this was unfair as none of these character showed the same scrutiny to characters who did worse things, and none of these characters had been established as hypocrites. 

This grudge lasted the entire rp until my character died. This is a point where believing that the consequences to a character are unjust is more or less fair, but, a character simply not getting immediately smited or a character getting scorn is not automatically a point against the character, especially since an rper cannot reasonably make their fellow rpers react a certain way.  

Summary:

- narrative consequences are not the same in RP as in other mediums

- can't force characters to react, or force players to react in a way they don't feel is fit

- but can critique RP if things feel unfairly ooc/inconsistent

Retcons

Next up, retcons. What is a retcon? It’s short for retroactive continuity, in essence it’s when in a piece of media something is changed retroactively- such as a character’s personality, how an event occurred, etc. for an outsider audience perspective retcons are often looked upon unfavorably, as it’s changing something already established which can cause friction among those attached to certain ideas, but in reality retcons are both a neutral concept and fairly normal to occur in rps. 

Rps are (generally) not professional writing, they’re things made up on the fly with perhaps a base to work off of (and depending on the rp, not even that. However in the rps I’ve done we generally had character sheets and the like for backstories and all) and thus sometimes mistakes happen. One of the main causes for minor retcons is when details are confused or left out that would have realistically affected the situation or how characters would have responded to it, unless in severe cases these usually happen on the spot and don’t cause much of a fuss. 

Major retcons often fall along the lines of players and how they choose to present their character. This is especially common when a player is using a character for the first time or even if they’re just new to an rp in general, sometimes as we rp we simply decide to take things in a new direction and sometimes that direction may cause things already established to be retconned, even if not outright stated. 

A good example of this is the enderwalk with c!Ranboo, the enderwalk as it was first introduced is very different than it is portrayed now, likely as a result of Ranboo taking a new direction with his character since then. More widespread retcons may happen if people are unhappy with a certain plot thread, in this case an example would be the canon status of SBI, Wilbur used to push it but Techno (and later Phil) didn’t want it to be canon, so anything about it previously said has been soundly retconned. 

In my own case character retcons very often happen to me when I first use an oc, as the character takes a different shape than what I put on the paper in practice, even sometimes within the same rp (one of my first ocs was practically unrecognizable as the same character in the beginning of an rp as compared to even just a few weeks later).

So, retcons are fine and normal to occur, but, like I said- they’re neutral. A retcon can very well be done poorly and cause problems. This is mainly in issue with retcons made that affect highly established and built upon aspects without discussion with all those who’d be effected, this can cause confusion, plot holes and cause characters to be in a weird limbo if they don’t know how to have their character act without whatever was retconned. Major retcons need to be discussed in order to prevent these problems, and in some cases should be avoided entirely- instead it being better to work for a compromise and rework events rather than removing them. 

Summary:

- retcons are normal and neutral

- small retcons happened frequently in RP to help keep things going in an improv heavy medium. Usually unnoticeable

- large retcons tend to have with new players, or if the story is taking a new direction.

- large retcons require a lot of communication, and sometimes whould be avoided, instead working to compromise and rework the direction of the RP

Metagaming and godmodding

Metagaming and godmodding are two very important terms to know for rp etiquette and if you’ve done any rping you’ve probably seen these words thrown around in rules lists and such already. These are both ultimately negative things that should be avoided at all costs. What are they? Metagaming is when you use information that you know OOC and use it IC even though your character should not have that information. Godmodding is when a character is taken over by another person for one reason or another against the player’s will- such as having a character react to something without letting the actual rper do it. 

The former is a big issue when it comes to discussion of the DSMP and how people interact with it, mainly in the chat and donos. When you are trying to get a character to react to information that they shouldn’t have you are trying to get them to metagame, which is heavily frowned upon in an RP. This is also important to note in discussion, a character not responding to certain important events is not a mark against them if the character has no way of even knowing what was going on, or would not reasonably respond to it with the information they have. 

Summary:

- both frowned upon

- god modding is taking over someone elses character

- metagaming is using out of character information to do in character acting

- Meta gaming is relevant to DSMP particular in how it relates to donos and chats. Don't encourage meta-gaming

All of these factors are important to consider when discussing the DSMP and it’s narrative, it’s not going to function the same as other forms of media nor should it- as once you go in that direction you’re competing with the big boys over at tv and at that point things would fall apart. Improv and it’s unique variables is what makes the DSMP, and anything else like it, special and interesting to follow!

[exuberantocean]

There seems to be this black and white thinking in the Nate discourse in the Ted Lasso fandom right now. And I think it is more complex that "if you really hate Nathan right now you are racist because Rebecca was just as bad."

Arguably Rebecca wasn't just as bad, she was worse. Her plans at getting back at Rupert involved destroying the lives and careers of well over 20 completely innocent people. People focus in on the damage she was attempting to do to Ted, but her plans were hurtful to everyone on the team. And while yes, maybe for some people the ability to sympathize with her comes from her whiteness, she also had a few things narratively going for her that made it easier to understand and like her.

1. She had sympathetic motivation but a Scooby Doo scheme. Everyone can, on some level understand the hurt she was feeling. The show made it clear early on that her ex husband was ana abusive bastard who continued to manipulate and abuse her even after the divorce. Even if you have never been abused, nearly everyone has experience with at least a toxic individual. At the same time her plan was less relatable. I mean, person A is upset with person B and so takes control of an organization and tries to run it to the ground is not something many people experience in real life. Finally, we start with Rebecca at her worst and she is steadily improves as a person.

2. Meanwhile the damage Nathan is doing is more targeted, more personal, but above all something many more people have real life experience with. You are unlikely to have experienced someone buying your company and try and run it to the ground as an elaborate revenge plot against your former boss's but you are much more likely to have had personal information about your health or mental health used against you. If you haven't, it is a much more realistic threat in your life than someone doing what Rebecca did. Add to that, we didn't really see Rebecca's journey down to her darkest moments-we started there. For Nate, we are watching him go down that morally wrong path. Add to that Nathan weaponizing Ted's mental health is abilist.

And, at this point, narratively speaking, we are meant to have a certain level of disgust for him and his actions. They are not pretty. Also, as a fellow victim of bullying, I find the victim becomes the the abuser narratives featuring. If you know that pain the way I do, how could you turn it around and inflict it on others? It feels reprehensible.

Now the fact that he is the highest billed character of color on this show makes things fairly problematic. Ted Lasso is a very diverse show in that it's team is diverse but most of those characters don't have much screen time thankfully Sam and Dani has become more prominent this season, but still we the audience tend to follow the struggles of it's white characters more than the others.

And that is my two cents really. We are meant to hate Nathan right now, bit they have also already planted the seeds needed so that, as the story unfolds we will also be able to forgive him in time. The fact that this storyline was given to a nonwhite character is a problem. Hate toward an actor for their character is never right. There is a weird intersection of paratext racism and in-text abilism. It is complicated.

[ladyonfire28]

Adèle Haenel: "And the fight against racism, is that a black thing?" (March 1, 2016)

Her raw talent and her unique personality are shaking up French cinema. With two Césars in her pocket, the actress from Les Combattants became an icon of auteur cinema in Les Ogres and soon with the Dardenne brothers. Interview with a thoughtful and shady feminist.

The first vision we have of Adèle Haenel when we enter the hotel room, where she has just been photographed, is that of a tall girl in denim and worn-out suede boots looking for cotton to remove her make-up. She says that it's too much, that it's not her, that we have to take it all away - this sticky femininity - and right away.

She announces her color: strong, fierce, temperamental, a little prickly, when, during the interview, she frowns and throws your questions back to you - always with great relevance. She is beautiful and abrupt, her adolescent brusqueness (even though she is 27 years old), gives the impression of robustness: a sportswoman with the shoulders of a swimmer but the face of a femme fatale from the inter-war period, green eyes and a pulpy mouth. This is an unprecedented combination in French cinema, which tends to be dominated by young first-time coquettes looking for contracts with luxury brands. We have never seen Adèle H. at the front row of fashion shows, her appearances on the red carpet - the playground of her fellow female cast members - did not stick in our memories, and that's good.

We've been keeping an eye on her since Water Lilies (2007), by Céline Sciamma, to whom she declared her love at a César Award ceremony. She won two of them, hands down: for Suzanne, and then, last year, for Les Combattants, an emblematic film that created a new image of a virile heroine in French cinema. Adèle Haenel, an icon of auteur cinema, was thrown at the heart of the system: she is the most coveted actress of the moment and has just finished in Liège The Unknown Girl, by the Dardenne brothers, who will inevitably be screened again at the next Cannes Film Festival.

You have to hear her talk about cinema, with her eyes fixed and uninterrupted flow, to understand how incandescent this girl is. In Les Ogres, a choral film by Léa Fehner that talks about the daily life of an itinerant theater that performs Chekhov, she plays Mona, actress and pregnant. The diary of this tribe that travels from city to city, a tent on their back, also draws a universal portrait of actors, truculent monsters full of love and violence.

Madame Figaro - Since the success of Les Combattants, you intrigue people...

Adèle Haenel. - I can see that the demand is stronger, but I'm not chasing after advertising and I don't intend to invade the public space. I think we have to remain discreet. Notoriety hasn't changed anything in my life and it certainly won't change my desire to make films following the same line.

What is that line ?

I make a film to carry a message. I can feel when a director has something to say. I feel something, a desire, a vibration. There is a thread, an intuition, a truth that imposes itself on me. I know what I have to do, I can feel it. It is both mystical and very rational. What is interesting is to come out of a navel-gazing, to rise up, to talk about people, to talk about the world. I like the idea that everything fits together collectively: feelings, economics, politics. A film is a common story, and I want to be part of that dialogue. A film must be in direct resonance with its time: cinema is today. I do things for now, and it's not up to me, to us, to decide whether a film is going to stay, whether it's made for eternity. I feel extremely responsible.

You feel very inhabited when you talk about cinema...

I have many other reasons to live, but, yes, I am deeply interested in the representation of things. How does cinema fit into society? Who is it for? Cinema is obviously a political act. For example, even the latest Star Wars is political. I was really relieved to see so many women and different skin colors: it means that everyone can be a hero and that feels good.

It is said that in the movies women are taking over...

It's an evergreen content. They make a big deal out of it, but if you look at the numbers, it's not so true: women are still in the minority. I can't be satisfied with that.

Do you feel the prevailing machismo that is associated with cinema?

I'm not going to waste my time and energy educating these people.

Is it easier to succeed in this job when you are a man?

Your question is a strange one. Either we point out superficial phenomena - the decision-makers are men, they have the money and therefore the power - or we debate a broader question: in what world are we evolving? And there, it's always the same thing.  The world is cut in two: on the one hand, there is the man, the virile, all linked to superior qualities, and on the other hand, the lower part, the woman, the secret, the moods. Of course, all our representation is linked to this division. I often ask myself the following question: in a fair world, without discrimination, what is art? Art today is in dialogue with its time, so it does not abolish anything but is involved in the fight.

As we can't classify you, you have been labeled as virile...

I'd like someone to explain to me why people should always be defined. To be a woman, you would have to be a feminine woman, right? For me, it's redundant. I don't maintain any posture, I am myself. But the way people look at me doesn't bother me: make up your mind, there's no problem.

However, you embody a renewal at the antipodes of actresses on their first red carpets...

I don't know which ones you are talking about, but I will never be against other propositions from women. After all, they also are undoubtedly dealing with their inner truth. But then again, I don't want to comment on something that escapes me completely: the gaze of others. I realize that everything is complicated for actresses who are so solicited that they end up participating, willingly or unwillingly, in a kind of general cacophony.

Are you one of those ogresses that Léa Fehner describes in her film?

I've just eaten about twenty-five croissants, isn't that a clue? In Léa's film, there is an energy close to the one in Les Combattants: action as a solution to an era in crisis. Here, it's laughter and gluttony facing a personal anxiety and an era that values suffering. I think we need to wake people up, to make them understand that fatality is a terrible and disarming discourse. We are told that the planet is warming up, that people are being massacred, that entire populations are on the move. I am not saying that we are not powerless against this, but feeling concerned and responsible is already a first step towards action.

Are actors monsters?

I don't know and I don't care. I'm not here to tell people: I'm like this, I'm like that, I'm better than you. I don't have to deal with that. Why me? I don't know.

Yes, why you and not someone else? Actor, it's an elective profession...

What is an actor? Their hypersensitivity should not be overestimated. The key is courage. That's the most difficult thing, courage and sincerity: not hiding, committing yourself with what you have, with your face and your body, with everything, with no escape. We often say: "To be an actor is to be someone else" but above all, you have to accept being yourself. It's not the most well-balanced job on earth, but a healthy actor would be weird, wouldn't it?

Precisely, you are sometimes compared to... Depardieu.

There are worse critics. What I like about him is his poetic sensitivity, which is not fake at all. You can sense his love of texts. And then, come on, what an incredible freedom of acting!

Can you play everything?

I don't know. What I do know is that the feeling of comfort is dangerous. It would turn us into a small factory. As soon as I start a film, I don't sleep anymore. The first scenes are hell.

Is shooting naked a problem?

It annoys me. In all films, there's this double injunction from society or the audience: we actresses are asked to get naked but to feel guilty about it! But no guys, I'm not going to feel guilty so you can be fully satisfied that I hold this assigned place of the whore and the well-bred girl! The commitment I make when I make a movie is much bigger than that.

Your feminist side...

I don't have a feminist side, I'm a feminist simply because I want to exist.

Today, not all women are feminists…

So feminism is a girl thing, then? And the fight against racism is a black thing? It's not a power struggle or lobbying, it's not Pepsi against Coke. No, it's a fundamental question about humanity.

[bonesandthebees]

random late night thoughts but I kinda was curious to hear some takes on the mcyt fandom in general

so obviously the general consensus with mcyt fandom controversy, more specifically regarding dream stans, is that some of them are extremely toxic and it poisons the image of the entire fanbase. and I definitely agree with the idea that there is a lot of toxicity here, especially on twitter

however, while I try to stay out of the discourse, from what I do see... it's not toxicity to a level we've never seen before in fan behavior?? Like, I see so much discourse online about how this needs to be addressed and that it's horrible and stan culture is very unhealthy, which, like, I don't disagree with. But like I said, it doesn't seem like a level of obsession we haven't encountered before. I mean, doxxing and death threats? yeah okay we saw that all the time in the v*ltron fandom. Very weird levels of real person shipping?? Look at the phandom circa 2014-2015. Extremely unhealthy obsessions with real people?? the one direction fandom once literally hacked a cctv to get more footage of the band

like. I understand the criticism of the fanbase and I have my own opinions on how things should be handled and how stuff could improve, but this post isn't about that. I'm just confused why there are so many outside people now actively involved in the criticism of mcyt stan culture when this isn't that much worse than other fandoms I've witnessed

is it because in the past these dark parts of fandom culture were mostly seen on tumblr, which wasn't actively used by many people not involved in fandom culture, compared to most of this current discourse occurring on twitter which is an app almost anyone with a smart phone has?? so more people are witnessing it for the first time?? or has there been some really extreme stuff I just haven't heard about since I actively try to stay away from that stuff??

i'm like, genuinely curious here so if anyone has thoughts feel free to add on (I'd really love to hear some takes from fellow tumblr veterans like myself since we've all seen a lot of shit over the years)

[dwter]

sometimes I think about how cc circles view the stan's opinions and if they think they're crazy or right or stupid or funny....because truly what's they're thought process when they see thousands of people calling their colleagues/friends gay on the internet constantly and in such a blatant and in your face way?? like the gee nelly bowling situation has just made me even more aware of how many cc's run in the same circles and know each other...even random ccs with a few thousand followers on twitter were tweeting out things in defense of the party and had seemingly gone to it....what do all these people think about the perception stans have of their creators....does it embarass people like dream and george who obviously lurk when they see cc's they know or associate with witnessing threads like the burner one?? so many questions?? like how does gnf feel about so many fellow cc's he knows witnessing thousands and thousands of people call him gay?? (it's kinda funny but also beyond weird to think that cc's he doesn't even know have some perception that he's in the closet even before meeting him)

does any of this make sense

ANON I GET U SO COMPLETELY. i was think about this so much. like whenever i see ccs hangout together i think “wow that person couldve been having a mental breakdown bc of thousands of people targeting them and their entire autonomy online” or “that person mightve seen people truth them as lgbt the other day” but bc its all online …. how does it translate to their actual lives? their cc circles? how they interact irl? like i think about my own friends and think about how far away my “online life” feels after spending time in real life. and like being a cc is a rly interesting mesh of both online persona and real person, esp in streamers, bc its both a mix of a persona for entertainment but also reality in the longevity. like streamers have a significant less of a persona than like youtubers who might put up a fromt for an hour before going back to normal. for twitch streamers their personas are a mix of a persona/exaggeration and their actual selves bc of the interesting medium that it is. i can go on a rant about this but ill shut up. i think for a lot of these guys they arent invested into the internet like we are. like the way cishet men perceive stuff on here is very different than how a lot of us who have been on here, involved with discourse and conditioned to feel certain things perceive stuff. like i imagine myself in george’s shoes and shake and cry but i know george does not care bc he probably feels more secure in his identity/doesnt hold the perception a massive audience has of him the same way we probably would, bc we’re online all the time and have been in these circles longer and life here probably feels “equal” to real life in a specific sense. it probably has to do with us making the internet a large part of our identities/creating profiles for ourselves here that we lives through/just exist under, whereas they created PERSONAS to create content and anything “real” is specific to their friends. although obviously they are heavily linked to their online personas and a lot of it is still real and them, but in terms of the way they are perceived, theres a bigger disconnect between online and real life. but for some ccs or in some issues that i might talk about later, the perception of themselves, online or not, becomes a lot more raw and actually genuinely stressful and embarrassing bc it affects specifically how certain ccs view of them, whose opinions hit a lot closer to themselves. does any of that make sense? sorry i derailed a lot but this is something ive thought about a bunch 😭