#it was written in response to the fandom

[dreadfuldevotee]

I'd like to discuss the elephant in the room. Why did we get zero Loumand sex scenes? We got hints and implications, but season 1 was pretty explicit. Do we think that that's a creative choice or something else is happening?

I'm glad I ended up ruminating on this for about a week because episode 7 & 8 really solidified my opinion on it.

I do wanna start by saying that it's very clear to me that there was supposed to be more explicit scenes between them. There has been some thoughts tossed around that censorship happened with the 9 pm timeslot (as opposed to the 10 pm timeslot of S1). I believed this hearing Assad and Jacob talk about the BDSM dynamic between Louis and Armand, but what really sold me on this was Production Designer Mara LePere-Schloop talking about the bedroom set and more specifically about their beautifully carved custom headboard. (If you're a production nerd like me or just want to know more about the design philosophy of IWTV I recommend giving the entire thing a listen!).

I think there are several reasons I think as to why they decided to leave any more explicit scenes on the cutting room floor but above them all is: you cannot separate Armand's sexuality from his abuse. I am really against pulling a "well if you read the books" card but reading just the first couple chapters of "The Vampire Armand" makes me understand so much about not only Armand as a character, but the care being taken to his adaptation. It's clear to me that alongside Rolin & Co.'s commitment to not watering him down to a one-dimensional villain they are also trying to not fall into Anne Rice's tendency to romanticize his trauma.

Sex and sexuality is not the same pillar of Louis and Armand's relationship it was in Louis and Lestat's and so I don't believe their story suffers from the lack of on-screen sex. But I also firmly believe that maybe we don't need to be slutting out the character who we literally just watched talk about how he doesn't remember his life before being sex trafficked. And even when he was "freed" he was still being repeatedly assaulted at the hands of, and under the eye Marius de Romanus. Like it is extremely important to remember that Armand's craving for dominion in his relationships is a manifestation of trauma that deserves the same level of care and depth given to every other trauma portrayed in this show.

I think people have gotten too comfortable calling IWTV a romance when it has always been Gothic Horror. Romance and sex are pivotal to the story but I have found the demands for sex scenes this season a bit absurd and also? unfounded? Loustat share more kisses on screen but there are two sex scenes and both are very plot relevant. I truly figured we were all in agreement that the eroticism of this show is found in the various displays of power, and the dynamics it creates and not the actual clapping of ass-cheeks...which also wasn't happening in S1 either. S2 does not suffer because of the lack of sex-scenes, but the likelihood if it suffering trying to make one work is

[ciceroprofacto]

A General's Staff

Adjutant, Staff Secretary, and Aide-de-Camp are NOT the same thing!

Adjutant- primarily manages personnel administration throughout the organization (duty rosters, reenlistments, unit assignments, etc); chief officer in charge of finances; final processing on awards, recommendations, and other correspondence; leads the staff in unit ceremonies; performs other administrative tasks as required.

Staff Secretary- primarily manages personnel tasking within the Commanding Officer's direct staff (including function areas); manages the schedule; coordinates travel plans for members of the staff and unit; conducts financial oversight with Adjutant; assists in correspondence

Aide-de-Camp- primarily a personal assistant to the Commander; acts as a liaison between the commander and subordinates; manages the Commander's personal schedule and travel; assists in correspondence; has a role in ceremonies; performs other tasks as required.

Other Staff: Modern staffs include officers and senior enlisted planners in "functional areas": Logistics, Operations, Intelligence, and Administration (Adj, Staff Sec, and ADC fall under the Administration function). Historically, the distinction between these functions was more murky than it is today.

[fire-in-my-woods]

So often in media, when abuse is talked about, the little boys in the household are shown to be combative - the "protector" of the family (an utterly depraved and insane idea). What makes Simon's younger self portrayal so special to me is that he's none of these things as a child. He was scared, timid, because he was just a kid in a horrifying situation. Being a male should not strip you of the right to involuntary responses that come with being abused.

This is not to say that the former example does not exist in the real world, because it very much does - it's just usually the only example of a young boy in an abusive household. Though the themes itself are not pleasant, I am incredibly happy to see representation of the quote-on-quote "softer" side of men who faced abuse growing up.

[bayetea]

only fake lost trio fans downplay piper's significance to BOTH leo and jason and the overall group 🙄 you don't have to take every lost trio moment that involves piper and cut her out of the photo so that you can more cleanly have a picture of valgrace only. I swear it's like a running gag in the valgrace tag to see a quote or a book screenshot of a lost trio moment out of context (i.e. the "I like us" quote) and have the poster reframe it like "look! valgrace!" and piper is literally there in the scene being spoken to as well but no one cares. leo and jason have other moments to themselves you guys 😭 like WHY. I'm not even saying you need to include piper in every little valgrace discussion/fic/etc because that's totally unnecessary (and frankly I already find it distasteful to reduce her existence to a valgrace cheerleader). but the act of specifically removing her from scenes that she's a big part of or acting like she doesn't matter to leo or jason (especially jason) is just wild sorry

and I'm not gonna call everyone who does this a horrible misogynist because that's just not true but if you find yourself chronically shoving women out of the way in favor of men I fear you may have some internal biases to reevaluate that's all

[loumandaniel]

tbh while louis reaffirming his companionship with armand in san francisco is clearly a parallel to him agreeing to stay with lestat for claudia's turning, i'm more mixed on whether that applies to the paris bench scene based on what's shown and other interpretations of it. in that same evening before claudia confronted him, louis was still upset that armand's display of power with the coven reminded him of lestat's grand gestures followed by groveling. before louis didn't say anything in claudia's defense while she was scolded onstage, instead shooting her a look and going back to reading. he only chose to speak up for her later when he himself felt disrespected by armand. however when he learns about armand's history, there's a troubled and sympathetic expression on his face and dreamstat becomes noticeably more quiet. by the time claudia met up with him to complain that she was threatened, louis didn't take her concerns seriously, told her they could trust armand and reminded her that she left louis for the coven.

that being said, i don't doubt that claudia was still on his mind even as he made his choice. when advised to leave paris, he turned down that option, probably assuming he could have his new companionship while still being close to claudia and in his words 'everyone's gonna be happy'. of course we all know how loumand turned out in the years that followed and the fragile state of their relationship that led to daniel being spared as a testament. however the notion that louis' primary reason for entering another companionship at the end of 2x04 was to, according to some fans, 'martyr himself for claudia'? isn't that convincing imo and it doesn't really align with cast and crew commentary on what happened either.

i don't like the idea that louis was martyring for claudia on the bench either. louis wanted armand - simple as that. i think multiple things can be true for the bench scene though. louis' relationships in paris are the most complicated ones to me, and i think there's layers rather than one singular answer. he wants claudia, he wants armand, he wants everyone happy. i think that him embracing armand's companionship was him believing everybody could win here. armand and louis could have each other, and he could help settle the tension claudia (and armand) were experiencing in the coven. again, santiago, a white man, was lording his status over them, and louis' offer to help armand with the coven came from his own familiarity with navigating around white men who seek power. the bench scene has so much going on in it.

the example you give of the time louis doesn't defend her is part of claudia's and louis' complicated relationship to me. claudia isn't a child and she resents being treated as such; that's a core part of her character. the extent of what claudia was suffering from, louis was ignorant about while caught up in the whirlwind that was paris and his new freedom. claudia is almost fifty years old by this time and louis was trying to respect that. but, louis cannot stop thinking of her as his daughter, even after she's tried to instill herself as his sistercoven. i think he thought they were both experiencing a happy, new chance, away from their past, until claudia brought him back to reality. i mean, isn't that what claudia is always doing for him?

it's really important to point out that he DOES have claudia on his mind when he lets lestat go, when he has armand come to him. their fight about armand is what leads to him calling out to him in the first place. it isn't a coincidence that scene happens right before. that doesn’t mean that the biggest reason for it isn’t an inherently selfish need to have both armand and claudia at the same time. unfortunately, i think the events that come after were already in motion and louis finally embraced what he'd wanted the entire time too late.

[zukosdualdao]

on the whole “atla is a good show but sometimes fandom acts like it’s perfect and entirely unproblematic and it’s not” note, are we ready to talk about the fatphobia that is, at times, present in it it? like. Are We. i, as a fat person, would like to be able to talk about it, but not if people are gonna get up in arms about it and ironically use fatphobic rhetoric in order to argue how it isn’t. lol.

[somewhereincairparavel]

I like how Jason's reputation amongst the gods kind of cements his character as a dutiful leader. I know most ppl don't like the fact that he's all goody goody, but it really fits his arc well, and i like reading about it. it's one of the things about Jason that Rick didn't fumble. He was consistent with his character being dutiful and noble till the very end and makes it a point to show that through others perception.

Zeus- Okay he's a horrible dad, but he did initially respect his son (before jason opposed him in front of the gods, that kinda warped his ego) even going as far as to saying that he was proud to have him as a son and stuff. Which was a pretty ooc thing for Zeus to do especially to his sons. Too bad it only lasted for a few seconds before he went back to being bitchy.

Hera- Jason changed her perception of demigods, we know Hera hated all demigods bc half of them are sired by her husband, she wanted to use jason as a pawn to Gaia's defeat. But all those times she treated jason as her champion, she ended up actually caring about him and considered him a son. She mourned and cried about Jason MONTHS after he died, even going as far as to yell at her husband for not caring or grieving about the child that HE sired.

Apollo- self explanatory, Jason stood up for Apollo from the very beginning, and ended up dying for his sake, even when didn't have to do that. Jason made Apollo understand to have empathy for humans ("Remember what it's like to be human") and made Apollo stop being so full of himself with his selfless sacrifice. So apollo is the Olympian who has the most amount of respect for Jason. And made sure that Jason's sacrifice would not be in vain.

Artemis- if you go to the official Riordan wiki fanpage for Artemis, it's mentioned that Percy and Jason were two of the only male demigods that she had immense respect for. She mentally thanked Jason for standing up to Zeus for Apollo. Of course, being Thalia's brother could also give jason browny points aswell lol.

Athena- She seemed to respect Jason's wisdom in blood of Olympus, when he told his dad that it was unwise to punish apollo for Gaia's waking. Well know Athena respects anyone who has shown wisdom. She shot Jason a very approving look. So it's nice that Athena, who is very critical and picky, observed that Jason is a well thought out and insightful individual.

Aphrodite- kind of self explanatory too, she called jason a lovely boy in piper's dream, even alluding that jason needed absolutely no physical improvement in his looks aswell. I know this has nothing to do with Jason's dutifulness but Aphrodite can sense a person's heart and nature, and she immediately thought jason was perfect for her daughter even before they started dating. We know how picky Aphrodite is when it comes to who people date lol

Bacchus/Dionysus- We know that Bacchus had somewhat remembered Jason (calling him John green and all lol) because jason had done services for him (something about a leopard, iforgot lol). And annabeth pointed out that it was a good thing that jason and Bacchus were on fairly good terms. So there's that.

[rking200]

It's Sunday, and Chapter 14 of The Red Room has been posted! A lot has lead up to this moment, so follow Hank's perspective of the evening and enjoy <3

Featuring a beautifully intimate render by @connor-sent-by-cyberlife! This chapter also officially pushes this fic past 100k words!

The Red Room (111850 words) by rking200 Chapters: 14/? Fandom: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hank Anderson/Connor Characters: Hank Anderson, Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Original Chloe | RT600, Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Elijah Kamski Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Human, Stalking, Vomiting, Suicidal Thoughts, Top Hank Anderson, Bottom Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Connor is a Mess (Detroit: Become Human), Hank Anderson is Bad at Feelings, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Missing Persons, Abduction, Manipulation, Death Threats, Mental Health Issues, Zlatko didn't do it, POV Alternating, Slow Burn, Sex at some point Summary: Connor Stern is a law school dropout who dreams of making it big in the music industry. He manages to get into a special apprenticeship program with the musical genius Elijah Kamski and, despite working two jobs and struggling to stay afloat, feels like his dream is finally within his grasp. When Hank Anderson stumbles into the lounge Connor performs at, The Red Room, he becomes entranced with him. As Hank falls in love with Connor's voice, he ends up entangled with conflicting emotions and delicate situations. Slowly, his nights are filled with Connor's songs and his closeness, even if he feels he doesn't deserve it. They reach several roadblocks along the way of getting closer, some more dangerous than others. A collaboration written alongside Connor-sent-by-Cyberlife for the Reverse Big Bang 2024, told with a POV alternating between Hank and Connor. Chapters added weekly.

[mxhirus]

oh my god nobody understands how terribly i loathe hazbin hotel im going to actually kill myself in front of someone GUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

no cause why is this the 7 deadly sins of writing. and dont get me started on vivenne fucking medrano rn

i need this show to get set on fire and then combust

can this even be called a show when its so piss poor written and executed

perchance

[qcomicsy]

Lately I've only been wishing to grab a comic about my favorite character and just have a genuinely good time reading it.

[gingaswag]

tbh i feel like shipping is quite overrated though this may be the depressed single person in me talking lol.

[blighted-lights]

I feel like your approach to criticizing a certain fandom was the wrong way of doing it. Don't get me wrong, you are a hundred percent right about the lack of representation for certain characters. But you had to have known that you would've gotten backlash for insinuating that the only reason that content is being made is because people are... misogynistic? The characters are well-written; that's why they get attention. The women are also well-written, you're right! But instead of getting mad at the people who enjoy specific characters, you could contribute to what you want to see in the fandom. Make fanfiction, make art, talk about your favorite ships, talk about your favorite characters, talk about the head-canons you have for them, connect with other fans of those characters, make AUs with them, make the fandom you want to see! But I don't know what you were expecting when you come out and say in the tags "you must be misogynists for liking these characters and you must be awful people for playing around with AUs" even though every fandom on this website does that. That was hostile and was only going to get a hostile response in return especially when you specifically put it in the tags for fans of those characters to see. Because it reads as you insinuating that fans of these characters existing is why you don't get any representation of your favorite characters. Or, alternatively, that everyone only likes certain characters because they're misogynists who hate women characters. People make content of them because they like them and because they want to make content of them.

Want more content of the things you want to see? Pay or support the artists and writers who make that content or start making it yourself. Its not helpful to complain that some characters get more attention than others but then make no attempt to contribute to it in any meaningful way. You cannot just get mad at people for liking characters and expect the fandom to magically decide its going to give you the content you want.

This is a long-winded way of saying you are correct in that the fandom seems to hyper-focus on some characters over others. But the way you approached that discussion was combative, hostile, and unhelpful, and you're not going to motivate a community into making content by being passive-aggressive to the people making the content they want to make. Be the change you want to see in the fandom, or support the artists and writers who make the content you want to see.

Its like... You can't complain your garden isn't growing if you're not watering it and not adding seeds, and instead are blaming everyone else for having plants in their gardens that you don't like.

anon i dont know how to tell you this but if you felt the need to write a five-paragraph essay talking about how i need to be nicer to other people when i am pointing out misogyny in a fandom space then, well... actually, i dont know what to tell you other than the fact that i was trying to be aggressive and im not going to be civil about misogyny. my post wasn't made in the hopes of getting people to make more content of the women in borderlands because that would never in ten fucking million years work. it was not a constructive post. you are assuming i have some sort of goodwill about this and i don't. i wanted to be an asshole because, surprise, i am an asshole. funny how that works.

you are also pulling so much of this out of nowhere and putting so many words in my mouth that i dont even know where to begin with it?? i mean this in the kindest way possible nonnie but. this is a wild response to make when all i said was essentially "wow it sure is weird that the majority of content made for bl is focused on only three men when there's a full cast of amazing women to look at" and then "its also weird that people are making aus to erase the canon abuse and exploitation of a CHILD in order to make jack a good father". but thanks for the essay, nonnie. i guess.

[luvbug724]

36 days.

i think we as a fandom don't talk about dan and renee enough aftg hitlist anon. i understand that renison and mattdan (?) prevail but we need to look at the sheer potential in that one short story about dan's recruitment alone. the sports rivalry turned hatred. dan only getting recruited because wymack came to watch renee. the strip club. having to unite in the face of misogynists. do you see the vision. do u see the vision aftg hitlist anon.

[arttsuka]

with the tagging posts, sometimes people don't know the difference between the & and the / and use both because they're like. oh it's the same right??

I used to do that when I was younger. and then got comments like. ew you ship them?? and I was confused.

sometimes the ship name/ duo name stuff going around confuses me too. some people use it platonically but some people use it romantically?? confusing.

Yes, I've been there too when I was younger. Took me a few years to understand how tagging works.

[sunmontuewrites]

Man my brain works in very weird ways... getting a comment like "please write more" make me immediately want to do the complete opposite (like dig in my heels and cross my arms type reaction).

Yet in a post on a side blog I ask people to tell me which fics they want me to bang out >250 words on... (And I also run a poll on which WIP I should focus on next) and I am managing days of 3-5k words EASY...

WHY THE DIFFERENCE BRAIN? WHY?

[acewizardinspace]

The truth is, sometimes there is no watsonian answer.

Lets say for a moment a character is established to hate the color green. Then in one scene we see them wearing a green scarf. This is never mentioned or explained. It can be fun to come up with watsonian (in universe) explanations for this behavior. Maybe he got it from this other character who loves green, or maybe he changed his mind. But when those explanations actually directly contradict what happens on screen, then there is a problem. Lets say it is impossible for him to have met this other character and gotten a gift, or he mentions his hatred for green again two episodes later meaning it is impossible for him to have changed his mind.

Now your fun watsonian headcanon instead of adding meaning actively detracts meaning. Now it makes the story worse not better. Now the story stops making any amount of sense because you insist on calling attention to something the creators never wanted you to. This can be fun for AUs and headcanons, please keep with it! But it is a shit basis for shit literary analysis.

The truth is, sometimes his scarf is green because that is what the costumer designers had on hand. The truth is, sometimes there is no watsonian answer.