#it’s lonely in this corner of the bs fandom

[howlerbat]

I’m glad that you enjoyed my tags! I very much enjoyed yours as well. As far as the Breaking Point goes, I acknowledge what you’re saying about 3x05 and I agree with it, but also (from my recollection anyway, it’s been a while since I rewatched) 3x05 was more of Billy attempting to make a (for lack of a better term) professional connection with Flint. Going like “hey, can we talk strategy? because I’m not sure about this…” and obviously there’s not NOTHING personal in that request or in Flint shutting it down, and I think that was also a very pivotal moment, but Billy tried the professional connection thing again with Flint in 4x01, so he hadn’t completely lost hope in that department yet. What makes me view 3x03 as The Moment is that it was the last time that Billy tried to connect with Flint in a very personal and vulnerable way - attempting to check in on him emotionally - and to have THAT shut down, I think, destroyed the potential for true reconciliation irreparably.

Haven’t really looked at it that way but you’re right, after 3x03 Billy very much tries to maintain a professional distance through all their interactions (even if he does it through gritted teeth). I singled out 3x05 to myself as more of a ‘last opportunity for Flint to get Billy on his side’ because he starts promoting Silver pretty quickly after this. And even though Billy still wants to use Flint’s talents and reputation to their advantage and goes along with him, he starts to separate himself from his Goal aka the Fall of the British Empire. So if 3x03 is him giving up on understanding Flint as a person, 3x05 is him doubting him as a leader because there’s a fundamental difference in how they see this War (for Billy it ends with liberating Nassau, for Flint it STARTS with liberating Nassau).

It’s hard to point to a single moment as the breaking point of this relationship because it’s THEM and because it was never really that good to begin with. It was less of a break and more of a gradual tear of a rope that was sprung up too tight. Chances are Flint could still reach an agreement with him even in s4 but that would require him to be very… un-Flint.

[supercalime]

i heard about the whole jatp drama, and i totally get your worries in that regard 😭 sooo often a show has something great going for itself, just for the creators to fuck up so badly that it's almost unfathomable sksksk (also looking at the umbrella academy season 4 disaster). gotta say that at this point, i think i will leave 911 behind fr if bucktommy aren't together anymore. i am out with one foot simply because i only watch certain storylines while skipping others, some characters haven't interested or excited me in literal years. but i love buck. after so many years of watching him try to find real happiness, and with the show slowly reaching a point where imo it's seriously time to wrap it up very soon, i cannot imagine that they will manage to strike gold the way they did with bucktommy ever again. tommy is the first love interest of buck that they actually tried to integrate into the world and the firefam. tommy got the seal of approval, we see buck seemingly finally reach that point in life he was searching for. making him go through ANOTHER breakup just to introduce ANOTHER love interest, nullifying all that bucktommy has established? there is a limit for how often you can press the reset button, and we have reached it with buck a long time ago. let the man finally have something else to work towards. we need a breath of fresh air in here. i am optimistic about s8, and i will live no matter what happenes, but i think that would be my final straw to disconnect from 911 amd canon buck ngl 🤔 fingers crossed that bucktommy is alive and well because it's got sm potential!! 🙌

Couldn’t agree more bestie!

Tbf my reaction to the jatp bs is on me haha. Everything was more intense in 2020/2021 for obvious reasons so it wasn’t surprising for me to have latched on to a tv show and relying on it for my mental well being. But all that bullshit made me learn to change my mindset and behavior on how to interact with media and fandom, which is to have the bar so low it’s in hell.

Anyway, back to 911. I wouldn’t blame you for stopping to watch the show at any point if it’s not interesting any more. I’m not even a fan of this one. I saw bits and pieces throughout the years as one tends to do with procedurals and didn’t want to have my experience tainted with the fanon ship that shall not be named. In fact, I’ve followed lone star from the beginning and I think I still prefer it over the og.

Now onto buck and his relationships. I completely agree with what you said about hitting the reset button over and over. Procedurals tend to stall instead of committing to a solid change unless they get repetitive and/or write themselves into a corner (which both apply to buck here). So yeah, it would be a disservice to bucks character if he yet again goes through another breakup and the cycle keeps going, specially since tommy was pretty well received as his LI unlike all the other ones that weren’t meant to last from the beginning (Abby, Ali), were the wrong person for him (Taylor) or were forced down our throats (Natalia - there was so much telling and not showing how “right” their relationship was, it’s embarrassing).

So, unless there’s outside factors preventing tommy to come back and stay for good (contracts, conflicting schedules, etc), it makes no sense for bucktommy to not continue on the path they are going.

I want bucktommy to thrive, but I won’t hold my breath waiting just yet. If they are broken up or eventually will break up (which I must emphasize I do not want cause I ship them with all my heart) I might quit the show as well. Buck and Tommy were a breath of fresh air and I would love to see what could happen to them if we are lucky enough to see their romance continue

[azrielgreen]

Hi Az! Hope you’re doing good 💗

After the most recent steddie twitter BS I’ve been really debating leaving that place for good. The vibes are completely off and I feel like I have to walk on egg shells all the time in order to fit in. I almost feel like I’m back at church again?? People are constantly shaming others to feel good with themselves and fighting for a pedestal of righteousness. But at the same time I’ve got some lovely mutuals there and I don’t wanna loose touch with the community. Tumblr is a much more comfortable place to be around people, but at the same time it feels a bit more lonely, at least for me. Maybe because I’m still not used to it.

In short, I was wondering if you have any tips on how to navigate inside online fandom spaces and avoid that type of toxicity while still standing your ground and keeping in touch with those who matter the most.

Hello lovely.

I've had a bunch of asks like this after this past week and it's sad to see the fandom splitting and cannibalising itself, even though this is usually what happens to some degree at least. I think it's always especially painful when communities and friendships were formed. I'm really sorry it's not so enjoyable anymore.

Navigating fandom space, especially within the social side of things, requires, IMO, a healthy understanding that a) this is all temporary and b) to take breaks often. To not let it become your whole life because it can be addictive and consuming. That's not to say you can't enjoy the content, the media, the people, but the construct of fandom as it exists within social media is, in my honest opinion, deeply toxic. I really don't think fanfic was ever made to be aired and shared like it is and fandom visibility is a breeding ground for insecure people to clique up and light torches rather than remain open minded and remember this is all fiction and it's all completely temporary.

That's beside the point, however.

Tumblr is a much quieter space which I personally enjoy way more than Twitter, but it's lacking the high volume of Twitter and the constant interactions, the scroll feed. I think getting away from this mindset of having everything we want and more shoved in our faces is good. We went searching for content once, we can go searching for content again.

Unfortunately, when it comes to friendships, stuff like this tends to show you who your friends really were in the first place. I've seen people absolutely ripping into each other this last week, turning on each other, it's foul. It's so sad, but i've seen it happen many times before and it is, for me, the canary down the mine in terms of when to pull back from the social side of fandom and focus on the writing again. For me, it's always been that anyway, so it takes very little to draw a boundary on Twitter but for many, it's a painful loss of something that was once encouraging, kind and vibrant.

Nothing lasts forever and good things are always coming around the corner if we can let go of what doesn't serve us.

You'll find your balance and your joy again, I just know it.

All my love, Az.

💜💜💜

[ca-suffit]

Sam-reid the tumblr user once again ranting and raving on their blog about "puritanical bs" when it comes to favorite problematic characters i.e. David Talbot or Marius. I swear she is worse than visforv or nalyra or maybe not (same circles she does reblog from those racists) There isn't a single more tone deaf blog in the vc fandom. We know she reads your blog now at least. What I can't make sense of is her not understanding simple logic when it comes to trauma. How grossly insensitive, callous, and victim blaming of her to suggest no one should have issues with problematic characters. That is a whole other level of negligence and dehumanizing victims of grooming, rape, and abuse. The only reason she gets away with so much mothering in the fandom is because she makes gifs and props up sam reid. I was shocked when she used the term puritanical bs. Tell that to rape victims sam-reid. Tell that to kids who were violated from an early age. Why does she force her asinine beliefs on the rest of the fandom? She's rallying against who, victims of abuse? Why can't she enjoy her precious Marius in peace and on her blog, instead of enticing drama? She has no right to tell the rest of the fandom what to think, how to think, who we should be fans of.

I'll understand if you don't want to post this ca, I just needed to rant because she gives me so much rage. Blogs like hers are one of the main reasons I don't involve myself in fandom. Her "fun" is being ruined by anyone who disagrees with her insistence that she is the utmost authority in every bs corner of the fandom.

dw, I'm posting this bcuz I already had a direct response queued up to that post of theirs and also told her to expect this one too (side point but sam-reid uses she/they pronouns, so please everyone alternate using those when speaking about them).

I haven't yet seen anyone from this side of the fandom ever make any meaningful changes when it comes to these attitudes, they tend to only build a larger echo chamber and keep going. bcuz guess what happens when u don't act like this?? all ur "friends" stop promoting u and including u in things. these privileges of being included in a friend group, of closeness to the actors and the show now are always used as a threat to keep ppl aligned to supporting the same perspectives and not turning on each other. otherwise, u get to exist in the part of the fandom that I'm on, where ur a constant "enemy" to ppl and the harassment is nonstop. change is always possible tho, for anyone willing to do any real self-reflection instead of constant doubling down. conditional friendship is not real friendship. fandoms tend to feed on lonely ppl and that's why these cliques exist and do what they do. ppl would rather fit in and bully others to feel smthing (especially if u come from trauma, needing to feel in constant conflict is a common byproduct of childhood abuse bcuz of how ur brain shaped around ur environment) than examine their motivations for this, do some healing, and just be fucking nicer ppl.

[isagrimorie]

I think what helps Keyleth out in TLOVM other than the overly reactive stream audience BS is that Keyleth isn’t the lone voice of morality in the group now.

I haven’t seen C1 except for a few moments— and everytime I try the chatbox in the corner and the comments make me want to nuke everything but my impression was Keyleth was the only one carrying the burden of being the one to bring up things like morality, etc.,

This would be things Pike would have supported Keyleth with, unfortunately, Ashley wasn’t around to mitigate things. I mean, fandom will still be toxic but about things because fandom be fandom.

But maybe it would be less? Or maybe I’m giving people far too much credit and they would find ways to be toxic no matter what, and there was a reason why I stayed away from Critical Role before LOVM.

(But also I haven’t found my hook into it. LOVM season 1 and C3 made it an easy entry for me and by this time, people were less toxic about Marisha).

[lazybakerart]

Not harringrove related but have you ever had fandom turn you off a ship? Not in a toxic behavior kind of way rather, fandom’s interpretation of a ship is so misaligned with mine? Not that you can have correct/incorrect takes in fandom but just so wildly different to your own?

i haven't! If the majority of a fandom has a certain POV for a relationship/character, i generally just. plop myself down in a corner and do my own thing while ignoring what i don't like and occasionally bump into other people who like what i like. it can be pretty lonely, but if i'm into a pairing, i'm INTO it.

i HAVE been put off pairings because of toxic fandom bs though.

[nerv0usm3chanic]

(viviskull) 💐 = my favorite part about the fandom 🌸 = my roleplay petpeeve 🌹 = my opinion on your character

Send me a symbol and I will tell you…

@viviskull

💐 = my favorite part about the fandom

((ALL THE FRIENDS I HAVE MADE. Seriously, I was a lonely and depressed college student when MSA popped into existence with only a handful of friends before then. Now? I have SO MANY companions I have met and loved over the years. The fact that we can still BS ideas about the Mystery Skulls gang and whatever else we can think of with such ease is glorious!))

🌸 = my roleplay petpeeve

((Godmodding. Flat out, the WORST thing. If you write your character doing something and either forcing my muse into a corner or forcing my muse into a certain action, it sucks. It REALLY sucks.))

🌹 = my opinion on your character

((I will ALWAYS have a soft spot for Vivi. She actually was my first rp muse for MSA and actually was my first public roleplay character! So every Vivi is special to me for sentimental reasons and because every person writes her just a little different.

Yours, in particular, is always fun to read. And of course, she has a GIANT of a horse. Horses are also a special heart skip-beat for me and I am always eager to see when you write a new response to my boys or to anyone else.))