#it’s scary how similar it is

[imupsetaboutsomething]

If I had a penny for every time a grown ass man who played/plays racket ball left his wife and kids for a character who’s a slightly  stereotypical gay man played by Andrew Rannells, ended up in a toxic and unhealthy relationship where the character played by andrew didn’t want to commit fully and the other guy wants a full relationship, only to end up working things out at the end of the show,

I’d have 2 pennies, which isn’t a lot but its weird that it happened twice…

[chloesimaginationthings]

All FNAF protagonists are artists.. and traumatized..

[somegrumpynerd]

Killer's nightmare

He has many, but the one he has most often is of coming out of stage 3 and finding he's killed his new family too alone again. Or maybe worse, that he'll never quite be without someone from his past.

Luckily, it is just a nightmare, and he has a different Nightmare he can see to help him calm down.

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[OLD ART ALERT] A COLLECTION OF SCENES FROM THE GILLIONS CATSCRATCH ARC THAT BROUGHT ME GREAT JOY. i love fishy chips especially when its just gillion being delirious and violent and hostile

[uncanny-tranny]

Niche politics tip: If you start dissociating from politics so much it starts feeling like each side is akin to a football team or a game, you might need to take a step back in order to recuperate.

When you're so caught up in politics that you need to dissociate from the humanity of it in order to engage with politics, that's not a good sign. It's especially not a good sign when we are talking about human rights

[the-punforgiven]

Do y'all ever get nightmares that just like, aren't scary?

Like you can tell your brain is trying to make this scary, but you just feel nothing?

[sweetlullabyebye]

[getdarkerthandark]

Some Food for Thought

[mieowkoid09]

...imagine you were motivation, the REASON, for the other to stay alive. All because YOU were suffering, suffering eternally. And they swore that they'd find a way to stop your unending suffering... but of course, their mind corodes, mentally. And during all that, they forget about YOU, the main reason for THEM to keep living. And eventually, you become the instrument for the other's own tragedy. But... you're free now. That's all that matters. At least, to the other.

(Is crying in Utenanthy, Cinnaphos, and Joongdok)

[galaxynajma]

Wait LMAO wait why does Uraume look like the " nah I’d win " panel

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Bro I was reenacting the "Just So" clip while I was putting away the dishes and when Frank yelled at Barnaby I was gonna say "oi fuck you" y'know because I was being silly but what came out was an almost PERFECT imitation of Barnaby's voice- I couldn't even finish the "fuck you" because I broke down laughing

Btw the reason this is so funny is because I'm a 5'2" Latino AFAB with NO experience in voice acting whatsoever yet for some reason the spirit of Giant Blues Clues decided my vocal chords were the PERFECT place to set up real estate

Anyway peace and love

HAGHASBCAKJSCNAKLD I WHEEZED

[noperopesaredope]

I am a hardcore Collector apologist, and I will stand by them forever. I do believe that they aren’t truly malicious, they just don’t realize that what they’re doing is wrong. 

But I also kinda like it when fanfics portray them as both blissfully naive and straight up sadistic at the same time. It’s honestly one of the things that draws me to his character. Sure, I adore it when the Collector is just an easily manipulated little kid, but I also like seeing portrayals of them in which they describe how he will violently maim someone. I actually like seeing both portrayals at the exact same time.

One of the things that I like about the Collector is what I call “Terrifying Innocence.” The Collector is definitely a naive little kid and mentally quite innocent and impressionable, but here’s the thing about little kids: they can be really fucked up. Even the sweetest and most kindhearted children can be scary af.

Cognitive empathy is mostly a learned trait rather than an inherent one. Children do not come out of the womb with the knowledge that other beings have feelings and that their actions affect others, and this is clearly the case with the Collector. So they can commit different types of violence with no reaction, as they might not be aware that it is wrong. 

It’s like children who torture ants during recess. They are more fascinated by it than anything, and they don’t fully process how cruel they are actually being. When you don’t understand that other people experience pain, can’t properly empathize with it, or generally feel extremely removed from it, you become fascinated by it. It’s the same reason people like true crime or even slasher horror.

Honestly, as I said, I kinda like it when the Collector is shown to be weirdly playful upon seeing horrific things. It’s because he feels less like a sadistic ass like Belos, and more like someone who is really into slasher movies. Little kids are into violence a surprising amount. 

I have been told that I’m a very compassionate person (I don’t completely believe that I am, but a bizarre amount of people have told me this, so I guess it’s true), but as a kid, around the Collector’s age, I had multiple “disaster” phases

I had an obsession with the Titanic for a while, particularly the part where hundreds of people died. I had an even bigger obsession with Pompeii, and upon seeing a museum exhibit with some of the preserved bodies, I actually took a good few minutes imagining how each individual person died and what their last moments were like. Fucked up, I know, but it happened.

Children don’t typically go out of their way to hurt others once they realize that their actions can hurt others, but they will occasionally watch (from a distance). I imagine that the Collector is like this as well. Maybe they did watch Belos hurt the Grimwalkers and were still playful about it. 

I even brought up a small potential headcanon that they (slightly unintentionally) gave Belos ideas. Kinda like “what if you EXPLODED one of them? Ooh- ooh- or...you could THROW THEM IN LAVA!” Not an evil whisper-in-your-ear kinda way, more like asking a preschooler to describe what they think demons would do to people in hell or something. Kids get creative with it.

It wouldn’t be that he truly meant harm the way Belos did, they would do it because they found it interesting. They don’t understand other people’s pain, and therefore just experiment without realizing how bad their actions are. It’s interesting to me to read portrayals of the Collector where they are still show in a sympathetic light and he’s clearly just a little kid, but he also doesn’t really seem to care about others that much.

It’s realistic in a way that I like and captures the spirit of the messiness that is a child’s morality. They aren’t evil or completely sadistic, they just don’t see the severity of their actions and are mostly self-centered in terms of worldview.

So, in conclusion, we need more fics where the Collector is a blissfully innocent kid with a love for slasher films.

[small-karamboll]

guys.

[fauna-and-floraa]

this segment is still my favourite. like it actually makes me cry with laughter.

[angelmush]

i got a goose tattooed on the inside of my forearm today and it was a flash piece but it's my favorite tattoo already it means everything to me i could sob

[comikadraws]

Sorry, but there are some misinformations in your latest ask, which i would politely correct (I'm not attacking you).

Itachi in general is a more loved character than Sasuke, by the general public and naruto's fans. For example; on tiktok (a very popular app used by billions of people on daily basis) he is the only naruto's character that gets viral every week here with everybody loving him (hardly the otherwise happens) meanwhile Sasuke there is not that much popular or loved, in general he is very much slandered here and ignored unlike Itachi. For the daily accounts on Twitter you have to put in consideration that the daily Sasuke account has been active since 2022, meanwhile the Itachi's one since months ago and just in these recent months they started to blow up. For the Naruto's polls; Itachi was #1 in a poll in which japanese people's favorite character is and Itachi was #1 and in the 99 poll Itachi was #2 not because his fanbase mass voted, But because has too many stans and in general he is loved [ i should inform myself on more polls ].

And for tumblr.... Most naruto's fans on this site are frighteningly chronically online, Most of their takes are awful and almost every character suffer from getting horrible takes on their name.. and Sasuke stans found their way on this site. Also Tumblr is is not even remotely close to the popularity of Twitter and Tiktok and Itachi stans are not chronically online to do the shit Sasuke stans do on daily basis on this site. And Sasuke lost so many polls on this site, which i find it funny, They're always in every character's business and yet they can't even get their fav to win a poll.... That's hilarious.

Thank you for reaching out, though I actually have to disagree with you on a couple of points there. I hope you don't mind.

Purpose of the Statistics

First of all, I admit that my post was very Tumblr-centric and that experiences might vary a lot between platforms. Tumblr is currently my primary social media platform due to its versatility. This is also why most of my experiences relate to this platform, on which Itachi hate is rampant, and Sasuke endorsement is the standard.

My previous post was mostly focused on Sasuke being a beloved character (in opposition to fandom's perception that he is hated). This is especially true for fandom spaces (ie. Tumblr, Ao3, and Twitter to a degree - I explain why these spaces in a minute) and how his fans act like victims on this platform while, ironically, victimizing other characters and their fans. They seem to believe that hating on one character somehow uplifts the other and that they are "justified" because Itachi doesn't receive "enough hate".

And of course, of all the platforms to unload their frustrations on, they choose Tumblr. The one where they are the furthest thing from being a victim.

How to Measure Popularity?

But back on topic. Measuring popularity is a complicated thing. As you correctly pointed out, popularity varies in nature (ie. quantity and quality), and between platforms (influenced a lot by the platform's features and target audiences). This can also impact social media statistics, which is why character polls are probably the most reliable data to work with.

But not all polls are equal, are they? Look at that one popularity poll on Tumblr in which Sasuke lost to Ten-Ten or the one where Itachi lost to Yamato. It is not always the intention of respondents to measure popularity. Sometimes it is to troll. Sometimes it is to chase a reward.

Naruto 99

While it is an official poll in which Itachi managed to outrank Sasuke in terms of popularity, the Naruto 99 poll is also peculiar due to its voting conditions. Respondents were permitted to vote once EVERY DAY (giving fans both the ability to vote for multiple characters or pile votes on a singular character).

Additionally, fans were given an incentive to vote, which is the promise of a designated one-shot manga. This is what, in the end, caused minor characters like Sakumo and Shisui to show up in the top 10. It's because they are characters with grand reputations and/or importance to the plot but a severe lack of content.

However, Sasuke is the deuteragonist of Naruto and still a major character in Boruto, regularly receiving content. The blanks are 99% filled for Sasuke - with official manga content, even! With Itachi, content is so scarce that people are completely capable of distorting his intentions of being a Konoha bootlicker and a genocidal sociopath.

So it was most definitely not just popularity that influenced the poll results - It was curiosity.

Other Official Popularity Polls

It becomes more apparent that the Naruto 99 poll results likely don't reflect reality very well when looking at previous Naruto polls. In all previous polls, Sasuke has consistently gotten better results than Itachi.

Itachi's popularity usually improved alongside his plot involvement (most notably his debut in chapter 139, Sasuke's memories starting chapter 220, Itachi's battle with Sasuke starting chapter 383, and Itachi's reveal starting chapter 396). While there's been a sharp decrease during the Tenshi Bridge Arc (likely due to his lack of plot relevance), Itachi's popularity largely appears to be mostly stable during the latter half of the manga.

Aside from plot involvement, Itachi's popularity was also influenced by sympathy, as it managed to climb up the furthest (excluding chapter 107 because it was before his debut) after the truth reveal. Sasuke's popularity experienced a similar improvement after the Uchiha Massacre flashbacks.

But now, ever since that last poll (and especially since the manga's conclusion), Sasuke's character has only become more sympathetic with his return to Konoha and mentoring of Boruto. Itachi, meanwhile, didn't appear in the manga in the past 10 years. It is rather unlikely that, of all things, Itachi's popularity increased rather than decreased in comparison to other characters.

Fandom vs Fanbase

Now, even assuming that Itachi's general popularity is, indeed, higher than Sasuke's, this does not have to reflect the fandom experience on every site (which is what bothered me so much in my previous post). The reason is that there are multiple types of fans more common on different platforms - namely "fandom fans" and "fanbase fans".

Fandom members are those who interact with other fans regularly by contributing their creativity and/or expertise. But that requires space for discussions, writing, and posting pictures. Tumblr fulfills all of those criteria! Platforms like Ao3 and Twitter/X also allow for worthwhile fandom interactions. Ao3 allows for posting fanfic. Twitter/X allows for discussions and sharing fan art.

Additionally, neither Ao3 nor Tumblr are known for any form of algorithm, meaning that fans need to make a conscious effort to seek out content. It requires effort and involvement that not any fan has.

Then there are casuals and, how theheirofthesharingan likes to call them, "dudebros". They are mostly consumers. And even when they are creators, they take less of an interest in characters as "people" (ie. their personality, psychology, etc.) and therefore usually don't really interact with the fandom platforms to analyze and appreciate them. They are part of the greater "fanbase" but not the "fandom".

This often causes them to adopt the ideological standpoint of the source material. Characters who are not outright explained may end up misunderstood. Real-world parallels remain unnoticed. Ask a dudebro whether the Uchiha Massacre (a genocide) was justified and they might just answer "yes".

Like you said, Sasuke fans are way more active contributors to the fandom. Itachi fans are more active consumers. What I and other Itachi fans perceive is that, usually, Itachi has more "casual" and "dudebro" fans, likely due to his characterization as a "hero" or "martyr" by the narrative. Sasuke, meanwhile, suffers under the stigma of being an antagonist with complex trauma responses. To understand and appreciate him, a lot of effort is required, actually.

At the very least, this is the explanation that makes sense in my mind. It is a fact that the sites most known for fandom activity (ie. Tumblr and Ao3) have more Sasuke content than Itachi content, even if the general public might hold different opinions.

Itachi's Popularity on TikTok

TikTok is actually what I personally consider to be a space for "dudebro" or "casual" fans. The videos I see there are primarily song edits, focusing on vibes and aesthetics. They are cool but they are not deep or particularly big additions to the fandom. This is perfect for dudebros and casuals who are not looking for complex, in-depth content (or maybe not even fandom content at all but just canon content). Same dudebros and casuals who have a hard time getting to like Sasuke.

While this is just a hypothesis of mine, Itachi's popularity on TikTok might also be the result of "market saturation". Two types of market saturation, actually.

First, there is actually a great supply of Sasuke content already thanks to the manga and anime alone. In the case of Itachi, the manga ended 10 years ago. The anime 7 years ago. There has barely been any official content, hence the desperation for fan-created content.

And second, while I cannot confirm with 100% certainty (because TikTok's search feature sucks and always hides posts from me), Itachi content might go viral more often than Sasuke content, but Sasuke content might still get uploaded with greater frequency. Hence the #sasuke tag has 6.2M posts and the #itachi tag has 3.7M posts.

While this might also instead just be the result of Sasuke offering more source material to make edits with, the unequal amount of Itachi vs Sasuke content might create a certain "exclusivity". This might pile Itachi fans on just a few TikToks rather than spreading them out over multiple posts, causing disproportional view numbers.

There's a similar phenomenon on Ao3. Fandom content there does not rely on canon material for its generation. Its frequency mostly relies on popularity, not source material. Yet, the amount of Sasuke-centric fanfics stands in a 3:1 ratio with Itachi-centric fics.

However, the first couple of Itachi-centric fanfics still have more kudos than the Sasuke-centric ones. But that only applies to the first couple of fanfics. The obvious explanation here is that Itachi fanfics are scarce, hence fans don't get to be choosy (the other explanation is that people just really like crossover fanfics, because that's what the two most popular Itachi-centric fanfics happened to be, haha).

Itachi's Popularity on Twitter

It is absolutely true that the daily Sasuke account is older than the daily Itachi account. The claim that the daily Itachi account has only been around for a couple of months is incorrect, though, as it has been around since August 21st of last year. So more than a year, actually. Doesn't change that daily Sasuke has been active since March 2022 (2.5 years), but I felt like pointing it out.

Of course, follower counts might develop in either direction. Maybe the daily Itachi account will gain an additional 35k followers on top of its current 6k within the next 1.5 years. Regardless of which, I've actually got another source for comparison to offer, which is the daily Naruto account.

I looked at Sasuke and Itachi posts between August 1st and September 16th (today) and compared like counts. On average, Sasuke posts received 8488 likes, whereas Itachi posts received 5569.

Either way, the fact remains, namely that on Tumblr Sasuke content is more popular both in terms of consumption and contribution. And the disproportionate hate is what I am hoping to get rid of.

If not... blocking spree. I am no longer willing to deal with people who find that bullying and shit-talking is a fine behavior while also being hypocrites about it.