#it's not canon i guess but there's fanart so its fanon?

[olderthannetfic]

Pet peeve: I'm tired of this trend in fanart, especially with anime, which is just drawing characters with way darker skin colour than they have in canon. Just because they might be a shade darker than paper white in canon. Especially when the difference is so egregious there's no way it was just a fanartist accidentally picking the wrong colour/shade. Yet at the same time nothing else is changed about the characters. If they actually made a raceswap or something, but no, no effort on that level. Presented as if these were 'canon', sometimes so ubiquitous you get surprised when you open the source material and everybody is ~white~ (I say ~white~ bc with anime its usually/never actually white ppl being drawn that way) instead of brown.

It's just so lazy--as if going: look, darker skin = progressive but dear god don't actually make it a race swap or acknowledge that's what you're doing!

I guess I'm annoyed with it due to how over-present it is (I practically never enjoy fanon anyway) and how uninspired. Is it a reaction to whitewashing? At least put some effort in please??

--

[highoncatfood]

SHIP BINGO TIME

Gonna ask for three cuz I can't pick... teehee

Kokogami, Makoyomi, and umm Dirkuu (my friend talks to me about dirkuu a lot it seems fun)

answering these finally hiiii i went to bed and then had work today so uh yeah

kokogami - now let me explain a few things here.. i checked both 'grew on me' and the big bad 'IDCCC' cuz truthfully i couldnt care less abt it esp in canon idgaf and the 1st few times i rewatched raincode they jst frustrated me sm as a pairing. like at first it was jst me being a shini hater but even after i started to like her more i jst canntttt get myself to like them in any romantic scenerio. but i do love how ppl in the fandom portray them a lot and all the fanart is very cute so i guess wht i mean when i say it grew on me is that ive come to like it more cuz of fanon :thumbsupemoji:

makoyomi - ok so like. when i first watched raincode and saw them interact for the 1st time i was like ok yeah. i see why this is one of the biggest ships in the fandom. and normally i would ship it right away but for some reason i consciously decided to do everything in my power to not let myself ship it. i dont rememeber whyyyy?? i did that?? i think i jst thought that would be rlly funny to like. me and no one else

but anyway with each rewatch i grew to like them more + fandom influenced me. but like i still wouldnt say i ship them.. i like their dynamic but i dont care for it as any kind of romantic/whtever ship neccessairly.. its mostly jst very funny to me. i rlly like yomi having a weird complicated hate crush on makoto and having no idea how to deal with it . like it doesnt even cross his mind to rlly consider it anything possibly romantic or sexual even tho it lowkey might be. who knows. hes jst mad abt it

and i like makoto acting oblivious as shit to it on purpose jst to mess with him even further, i like makoto teasing and bugging him and jst being so fucking annoying. they both r

this tweet is exactly how im tryna be abt them but like. on purpose. idk why its liek the funniest thing ever to me

dirkuu - havent thought abt them for a while but i mean. theyre hilarious i love caliborn and i love dirk . theyre jst stupid as fuck and i love all the fanart of them its like some of my fav pieces of hs fancontent probably.. yeah not much else to say abt it lol

[orionsangel86]

Does Morpheus canonically wear black nail polish?

Its a question I have seen a few times, and whilst not canonical to the show (though Tom Sturridge's perfectly manicured nails would look extremely good in black nail polish) I was convinced it WAS comic book canon.

The majority of fanart ive seen puts him in black nail polish, and I'm sure its more than just a fanon preference, so I once again poured through the comics to find where I was certain it appeared.

I was of course correct. He does have black nails in certain comic stories, though never in any of the main story arcs. You won't find his nails black in Preludes, Dolls House, Season of Mists, Game of You, Brief Lives, or the Kindly Ones, BUT he does have black nails in certain one off stories such as Soft Places:

Btw is it just me or is Morpheus drawn particularly gorgeous here? I think its the stubble, square jaw line and long hair but whatever it is its doing it for me 👀

Funnily enough this is supposed to be the same Morpheus who had just escaped the fish bowl, so maybe we are just seeing him how Marco Polo sees him - perhaps Marco Polo imagines Dream as a particularly gorgeous rugged man with black painted nails?

He also appears with black nails in Worlds End, in the story The Golden Boy:

And again in the one off story The Castle - which is a really fun story where the reader takes the POV of a dreamer who wonders into Dream's castle to be shown around by the palace staff. I'm guessing the Dreamcast takes a lot of inspiration from this comic:

The only other time he appears with black nails is inconsistently throughout Overture:

It seems to be on the whim of the artist as to whether they remembered to paint his nails or not in various panels!

There is no other point to this post except to say to fanartists to go forth and give your Morpheus painted nails like the true goth/emo boy he is and do it confident that you have canon backing! (Not that you ever need it but I find it is nice to have in case any naysayers spring up in your mentions...)

Also perhaps this is reason enough to get Tom Sturridge down the nail salon before filming season 2 lol

[aveline-amelia]

This might get me cancelled, but idc, so...

Fanfiction is supposed to be transgressive. It is supposed to be about looking at something and saying "I could go somewhere interesting with that", "That was stupid, I could fix that", "I can make that better", "I can make that happen", "I can make them fall in love", "I can make them happy".

It's why one of my fandoms had about 30% more works shipping the main character with her (male) best friend as opposed to the guy she marries in the show. People looked at it and said "That isn't right. This is better". So they made it themselves.

But guess what? Shipping her or just liking her more with her love interest was still more popular amongst more casual audiences. And the fanon shippers were surprised by this!

It's why I am baffled by the things I see stated online.

People thinking that there being more fanfiction about a particular ship means more people ship it, as if one fan writes a fic each and then leaves and as if there are no people who ship it and just don't write fic? Because they are not writers?

People being surprised that main characters are shipped with other main characters more as opposed to a character that appears in one episode.

People being surprised that people can believe a character is straight in canon and still enjoy fanon slash ships where he's shipped with other men.

Of course there will always be more M/M works than M/F works. We have enough heterosexuality in media already and as for F/F, while queer women do write F/F fanfic, there aren't that many queer women in the world statistically as opposed to straight women and even if fandom has a larger number of queer women than average, queer women write M/M works too.

You can believe this is Problematic, but guess what, back then, we were all freaks and weirdos. People would share links on obscure websites because they were scared of being sued. Professional writers would purge all their fanfiction and pray to god no one ever finds out. And if you wrote gay fanfiction? Good luck being taken seriously anywhere.

We went from "ship and let ship" and "don't like don't read" to "supporting this platonic surrogate father-son bond makes you a bigot because the father figure once made an ignorant comment" and "it's problematic to ship the hero with the villain because the hero is scared of him".

Fandom stopped being about Liking and Enjoying things and started being about Fighting People and Proving You're Right and Your Ship is Better. Because if you don't become canon, if you don't Win, what is even the point?

Of course it will be like that, when you tell people shipping something is Activism and not shipping something makes them a Bad Person and shipping something you morally disagree with makes them a Bad Person and more importantly makes you a Good Person for fighting the important battle of stopping people from imagining two imaginary people kissing in their heads.

Shipping is a feeling. Sometimes it's "I ship this, hehehe." Sometimes its "Oh no, I ship this and I wish I didn't." Sometimes it's "I wish I shipped this but I can't." It's supposed to be fun and not a form of mental torture.

It's not a choice. It's not writing fanfiction or making fanart, that comes later, but it's not even a requirement. You can write fanfiction for something you don't even ship! You can write fanfiction for shows you didn't even watch!

And shipping something doesn't make you Better or Worse.

Ship shaming doesn't stop people from shipping something, it only has the potential to make them feel worse for something they, for the most part, can't control. And when the person in question is a literal teenager who also self-harms, it certainly has no potential to do anyone any good.

And it's why when the proshippers see a person like that, a person like them, they welcome them in. "You're with us now. It's your ship. Own it. Come join us." Because they have experienced the same thing and they know they would want someone to stand up for them, too. They won't let you feel as if you're alone. Because you're not and you never will be. You have a community, you just need to look for it and find it.

It's what made me realize that the antis were the bullies. Also, the antis were a bunch of teenagers too, who thought they were doing important activism by yelling at people in caps lock.

So get off your high horse. It's not that serious. Stop talking about it like it's life or death and maybe you will feel better.

It worked for me.

I want the same for you.

And I swear, if someone here starts with "But what about-" No. Let me stop you right there.

[cheesy-poofs]

Pls gush about Kyman (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

I feel better now lol. This post in particular won't be detailed because I feel like I've already said everything about Kyman (at least, most things, or others have already covered them sufficiently).

But yeah Kyman! As I've said plenty of times, I find them very entertaining, and it was the ship to get me to appreciate...well, the yaoi side of the fandom lol. When I got into this show I went into it without any ships in mind (spare I guess Creek, since I heard a lot about the Creek episode prior and obviously there's a lot of fanart and fanfics for it...I actually expected Creek to be my OTP and while I still enjoy Creek I wouldn't say it is). So there wasn't anything shipping-wise I was really looking for while watching the show, and I didn't interact with the fandom until I had watched every single episode/special/ect. up to that point.

I just love how I shipped Kyman ironically before actually shipping it. I love how much fun it was for me to rewatch episodes that focus around them and to really indulge myself in this ship...I haven't really had that experience with any of the other ships of South Park despite wishing I could feel similarly about others. I kind of did with Stendy but it left me wishing M/F couples were better in the show, and the women in general. (I still love Stendy though lol, but mostly in fanon I guess because canon doesn't really show their full potential).

There was a bit of time where I didn't really give Kyle as much attention as the other main four boys and considered him my least favorite, but Kyman actually helped a little bit in appreciating him more, since his rivalry with Cartman is a notable part of his character and the show overall. Y'know when I was first getting really, disastrously deep into this ship, I had a dream that basically told me "Cartman and Kyle are South Park" and I think my subconscious had a point lol...to an extent. It helps knowing that Trey likes playing around with characters that are opposites, such as Kyman and Buttman.

Is Kyman perfect? No. Do I like all their episodes and moments unequivocally? No. This is kind of a show that's easy to pick and choose from. I'll admit I do it sometimes. Shipping Kyman isn't a matter of looking at them as characters realistically (in regards to all of their actions/traits). If you really want to interpret Kyman as "abusive" then sure, you can, you have a right to that interpretation as I have a right to my own. I disagree with it though, at least the way I like to go about the ship...which yes, does kinda involve Cartman improving (especially in regards to his bigotry) but not to the extent that he's an entirely different character.

Anyway, I guess the way I see Kyman is that couple that enjoy bickering and its usually entertaining for others to watch...or completely unbearable if you're anyone other than Kyle and Cartman. This also applies to other aspects of their relationships like how PDA they are, which they absolutely do not hold back on lmao...this is truly why you see so much fanart where Stan and Kenny are just there to witness the absurdity of Kyman, because that's really just how it is, all of us are just watching the insanity of their relationship unfold.

I think I've gushed enough for now, if you want good analysis this is definitely not the place for it. Kyman is still very special to me though, in a way that will probably always transcend other South Park ships to me. Ultimately they make me laugh a lot and I love them.

[puhpandas]

You can provide an explanation or not, it's your call! :) FNAF EDITION!

1. Favorite game character(s)

2. Least favorite game character(s)

3. Favorite game(s)

4. Least favorite game(s)

5. Favorite book character(s)

6. Least favorite book character(s)

7. Favorite book(s)

8. Least favorite book(s)

9. Things you hope to see in future media

10. Things you never wanted to exist

(That is all. I love your content! Brings me so much serotonin. :))

1: gregory and evan EASY. evan is a little higher but on like a different level I think. when fnaf 4 came out he was actually like the first human character and I loved him as a kid. chris or the crying child was intriguing to me and I remember loving fnaf 4 soo much and looking at fanart of foxybro crying at crying childs hospital bed loll

gregory is just. I like him as a character so much. his story is so cool and just the game universe hes in is so easy to get into. I LOVE SECURITY BREACH AND SW ERA‼. it's so fun theorizing about him and waiting to see what's in store for him story wise. I could go on but that's enough lol

2: both animatronic and humans count?? if so I've always hated the guts of the trash pals. I feel bad they're just little guys but they bring me so much rage. idk why.

3: ...fnaf 4 and security breach. basically the exact same reasons for flashlight duo being my faves that I said up top. fnaf 4 has been my favorite for a long time and is the home of one of my top characters ever. I have memories with it and still enjoy it to this day. and security breach is just.... like its so full of love and you can tell and it has such a good world and characters. the passion is oozing out of ever crevice and it just got so unlucky. but it's all there in spirit if you know where to look and it makes the fanon incredible. just very easy to love

4: never been too much of a fan of ucn or pizza sim. sl as well for that matter 😭 sorry I just dont like them too much. I think there 100% should have been a buffer between sl and pizza sim and Henry was just so out of nowhere at the exact same time as the ending. it's just weird. they're not bad just not my favorites

5: OH BOY. Tony becker number 1. my beloved. second and third are greg fetch and oscar out of stock. oscar is genuinely one of the best written characters out of all the books and oos is just like. probably the best book in general. but Tony Becker takes my number 1 spot for being so so interesting alongside Gregory and being silly

6: dont really have one. I guess someone like Greg's dad

7: GGY!!!!! I just love GGY because its about Gregory but books on their own I love fetch and out of stock. I already have talked about why oos is so good but fetch is just a personal fave of mine as well. love u greg and oscar

8: DITTOPHOBIA.💥💥💥

9: definitely more Gregory backstory!! I'm hoping for GGY but I wont be too upset if its confirmed not canon. I'm just so excited to see where they take him. also would love to get more 3 star fam insight because we NEED some. also bring back Gregory and Freddy duo in gameplay I miss them every day

10: dittophobia💥💥💥

thank you so much dude!! I'm so glad my stuff makes you happy :))

[neonscandal]

Just see this in twitter by someone : "I'm starting to think maybe people should read actual BL manga. perhaps considering manga written with actual gay characters in it in addition to shipping m x m from whatever battle shounen you're into."

Like because of those subtext, there can be fanfics and fanarts, right? And then I decided to come here, your blog is really one of my comfort place....

Comfort place!? This makes me want to carve out time to post infinitely more. 🥹 Even though it feels a bit aimless, I’m glad I could cultivate that for you and hope I can continue to do so.

RE: twitter, without context, it's hard to tell whether this person is earnestly recommending people to expand their interests into BL or if they're dumping on people who tend to support and identify queer shipping across other genres.

On the one hand, heavy agree that if you appreciate queer pairings of any kind to absolutely find media and stories that shows healthy (and authentic, if possible!) representation of whatever you're into. I feel like sometimes in BL, specifically, there’s a lot of toxicity or violence passed off as romance which is why I recommend being discerning. Here are some green flag recommendations and I kind of touch on the importance of identity through engaging with queer content by way of BL's featuring fudanshi's there. Isn't always the case, but it's a storyline I appreciate.

If the poster was side eyeing queer ships in "mainstream" or shonen stories... they should grow up. I've been in and out of fandom for like.. 20 years. There have always been people who recognize and popularize queer ships. Back in the day? Characters didn't even have to share the same show, universe or genre to end up in a crossover slash fic on Fanfiction.Net.

Don't get me wrong, I've definitely needlessly explored several crack theories or made off-base assumptions about a story for the sake of trying to guess at where it’s going. But I sometimes question people's competency for reading/watching comprehension when a particularly shitty hottake is making its rounds on social media. Like are we not watching the same thing?

Subtext does exist. I don't know that all authors are as elegant or intentional in its execution but if you're not bothering to consider the possibility, you're potentially missing out on critical pieces of a story you're choosing to invest hours/years of your life into! This isn't simply as it pertains to shipping but also picking up on critical exposition (Attack. On. Titan.) or even questioning whether the information we're getting as the reader or viewer is conveyed with any sort of narrator bias. Yes, this is absolutely a My Hero Academia call out. ✨

Queer coding does exist. Tons of reasons why queer characters aren't always explicitly identified as such. More often than not, there's some form of censorship. Whether at the editing level during manga production or when it comes time for manga/shows to be approved for international distribution (re: information that's lost in translation vs outright decisions to alter the flow of the story). Most glaring example of this that comes to mind is Haruka Tenou or "Sailor Uranus"/Michiru Kaiou or "Sailor Neptune. In addition to gratuitous name changes when Sailor Moon was pushed abroad, several countries would rather portray the two as unusually close relatives despite the clear romantic undertones exhibited whenever they were on screen together. Also, IDK why, but pretty sure I'd seen somewhere that, initially the creator of Naruto did want to canonize Sasuke/Naruto but, truth be told, I've never watched the series and that could have been a fanon theory I'd seen.

Overarching messages exist. Similar to the first point, a story is seldom just a story. More often than not, you're looking at some sort of social critique or opinion that's being expressed or explored through the story. To not bother thinking critically about what you choose to spend time in enjoying is a pretty bland way to miss the point of it.

When all else fails, it's not our fault that the only relationships most shonen mangaka focus on developing is the one between "rivals". That's it. If there were more dynamic characters or literally any consideration toward the depth of intimacy between the main character and whatever tritagonist female lead the male lead inexplicably ends up with (aside from the simple rationale that "she is the girl 🎀"), then maybe fans won't have to hone in on how the only agency, equality and intimacy is between the only two characters of substance. That was a mouthful but so are the overly poetic soliloquies shonen rivals inevitably share about one another.. ✨

I'm guessing this question might be related to the last anon ask about fanfics? I agree regarding the fact that subtext allows for a richer selection of fan art and fics. I think, depending on content, the motivation for reading fics will subsequently differ. For instance, I'm less likely to read fanfics for a romance series even if I sometimes write for them because the source material generally satisfies what I wanted from them. But fix it fics, angst and romance fics for shonen/seinen series'?? I'll definitely pick them up because, 1) there are usually unexplored relationship dynamics in the source material, 2) there are alternative domestic/fluff storylines you'd never see because the genre doesn't allow for it, 3) the canon plot is usually so devastating *cough, JJK, cough* that I need a respite, and/or, 4) the developing plot tends to have a lot of holes that writers can explore to craft uniquely compelling AU's and alternative plotlines that I wouldn't imagine.

Man, it's been a while since I nerded out and really took the time to bang out a rant. I've had so many thoughts bouncing around but just zero time. Thank you for your ask and the reminder that there's someone else out there in the shipping trenches. Stay safe out there, anon!

[doubledyke]

3, 7, 9, 14, 15, 17, 22 >:3

hey thanks!

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr:

i def don't have a screenshot of anything related to eene. i can't even really think of any on tumblr but the goddamn eene subreddit can be soooo cancerous. i don't follow it but it shows up in my feed bc i visited it once, but then i'll come across some goofy ass shit that compels me to click and the cycle starts again. but generally ONE of the worst takes on any site is that eddy would grow up to be a schlubby bozo in a trench coat selling Stiff Rox behind a middle school or similar takes. he would be very well dressed while peddling his wares, thank you very much.

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?:

the only character i really dislike for any reason is jonny. he's so goddamn annoying to me. i know that's the point, so kudos to david avalon lol. if anything, an interesting fandom interpretation could probably change my view of him. but yeah i definitely think he has some really funny lines and gags, but overall he's pretty boring and obnoxious. with basically everyone else, i can see the appeal or at least the potential for something interesting. back in the dark ages (2014) i feel like i had a moment where i got pretty tired of the way edd was made out to be such a mary sue that i might have gotten annoyed by him or that idea of him at the very least. i admittedly take my own liberties when "analyzing" him, but as with all the eds, he's a complex character. the edd fan girls who'd have him pickin' daisies while eddy murders innocents drove me crazy.

9. worst part of canon:

i've never given it much thought, but i'd probably say it would be kanker related. i really love the kankers, even with the limited info we have on them. i just love unhinged girls/women. i would have loved to have seen them get some sort of arc and have a purpose outside of their roles as boy crazy "trailer trash". if there were ever a spin off, i'd hope it would be about them and their insane home life.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time:

i'm a terrible fan; i haven't read a fic in a long time for whatever reason. they're all in my "rainy day" stash since eene related content is a limited resource. i don't know that there's any one thing or a pattern i've noticed in multiple fics from different people. however, one thing i LOVE is seeing people write slapstick into their fics. i think it's so fucking cool and interesting. everyone in this fandom is so damn multi-talented i could scream.

15. that one thing you see in fanart all the time:

i guess probably giving eddy blue hair, or giving edd long hair, which i love! edd doesn't seem like the type to have long hair, but somehow it's so damn fitting. idk where blue haired eddy started but its fanon at this point and i'm down. but i love his 3 strange antennae as well.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art:

unfortunately again, i'm the worst person to answer this bc i have no idea what all is out there in regards to fics. but i'd love to see some good stories about the eds in high school dealing with their new found and fleeting "acceptance" from the other kids.

i'd also love to see more stories that have all three eds living under one roof as adults and all the insanity that would ensue. i want to write about this one in particular, so hopefully i'll be able to come up with a cohesive plot at some point.

would also love some eddeddy drama like them breaking up 👀 they get back together of course because they're the only two idiots who will deal with each other's bullshit

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores:

edd's giant chin

[broomsticks]

today's hp fandom excavation fun: the hp_essays livejournal comm

1) When will the fandom end? posted by (ljuser)vegetasbubble on 07 December 2007

As much as we (any of us) hate to admit it, the Harry Potter fandom will one day (hopefully not one day soon) come to an end. Authors will write thier last ever fanfiction, draw thier last ever fanart, and put down the pencil and say "Thats it." Its a stage of life that no one, (I am one of those people), wants to see. The end of a generation, so to speak.

i was especially amused by this given the recent stats by destinationtoast that had HP as THE fastest growing fandom (and second largest to MCU overall) on AO3 in 2022.

anyway, virtually all the comments disagreed, pointing out the longevity of many many many other literary and movie/TV fandoms.

interestingly, though, i don't think i saw much note of how specifically groundbreaking HP was. aside from this:

Aside from the complete falsity of this claim, I'd rather pursue a new line of thought. In the past few years we seen the HP fanfiction exponentially grow being one of the hugest on general fanfiction websites, spawning huge websites in general for one specific IP and even within the fanfictiondom having different sub-sections, (such as slash, a particular ship or adult) of fanfiction having moderately large collections of works on their own. This is basically a testatment to HP being on of the biggest franchises of this generation to be able to generate such an incredible amount fandom, not to mention an almost serendipitously bring together the forces capitalism, luck, forture, marketing, publishing and talent to make it such a huge hit. The question I pose is to what degree will this fandom die down if at all? Obviously some people will hand up their brushes, mice and pens to abandon contributions to the monster than is HP fandom; but just as the longevity of slash Star Trek fics and LOTR fan art; to what extent will HP fandom survive? Does the content of being a youth fantasy or children's coming of age story have a bearing on how long it will last, when it will last and how slowly (or quickly) the fandom will die down?

this observation on the cyclical nature of fandom was fascinating too:

Hah. I used to ask myself the same question the first time that I was in a fandom. (Tolkien´s Silmarillion) People were writing everything off and exhausting all the good ideas by doing them over and over. Eventually, the people I knew grew tired, and I grew tired too, so most of us left. Years later, however, I suddenly had an impulse to go back and write some more… and guess what I found. New people had taken the place of the old, and the old fic ideas, the old controversies were coming up again as if they were new. Because for those people, they were new. They had not been there back when we wrote and discussed, and most of them had none or little knowledge of what had been done. Fandom repeats itself just like history, because new generations come, and they do not know what has been done before. And, as is the case with history, research about the past is a minoritary hobby. Do you read all the posts in a forum when you join? Or the mails in a mailing list that has been going for seven years? Well, it´s the same with the people who suddenly read Harry Potter and decide that they like it… they will start from zero, and probably read some classics that a friend reccomends to them, but they will not spend their first fannish months reading everything that has been already done, yelled, discussed, squeed and kept saved in Potter sites years before. They will spend them writing feverishly, noticing things, squeeing, yelling and discussing on their own- just as the others once did.

other Very Good essays:

2) Participatory Interpretation; Or, How Fanon Showed Me My Canon by gjules, posted 10 Sep 2004

Partly because of the size and complexity of its universe and partly because of its large and varied cast, the Harry Potter fandom has one of the widest spreads of potential interpretation… So how are we to take the author's intentions into this? As interesting as auctorial intent is in extra-textual interpretation, it still can be misleading. Authors are aware of their creation on many levels, and not all of those levels are consciously accessible. That's one of the strengths of the beta reader: they're not telling you what to do-- they're telling you what you've done.

For me, for example, rereading the books after finding HG/SS was an exercise in reinterpretation. Incorrect reinterpretation, reinterpretation informed and created by my hopeless enjoyment of Sevmione, I have no doubt, at least in light of the probability of that particular OTP occurring in future canon-- but still an interesting perspective on a given text which I might otherwise never have considered. Naturally, this leads to accusations of fanon muddying the waters of the original canon, making things confusing, blinding the fanfic reader and writer to what's really going on. I don't buy this. I would argue that instead, the reader who takes diverse perspectives from fanfic back to the original canon is instead more likely to see all of the possibilities, is less likely to be blinded by the initial assumptions anyone draws when encountering a text.

I've found that reading fanfiction often shows me the assumptions I've unconsciously held about canon. In my view of canon, Snape is more often the tormented hero, and Harry often closer to being in the wrong-- but the different views I have read of fanon Snape show me the other ways other readers see him.

This discussion eventually leads to a disturbing question, however: can all views of canon be considered equally privileged?

a response:

Short answer: no. Why? Because not all views of canon can be equally supported. If your view of canon can be demonstrably shown to contradict something like a significant point of the text, it is weakened. If you have an analysis of canon that fails to account for some major features of the text, or is contradicted by them, it is less priviledged than an analysis which is able to comphrend more things. The completeness criterion is one that I've found is applied across a lot of topics of analysis, from literature to hard-core music theory (yep, there is such a thing).

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3) a lovely (if slightly ranty!) tonks character study meta:

The Deconstruction of a Miss Nymphadora Tonks by theregoesyamum on 09 Apr 2006:

1. She's direct. 2. She's intelligent. 3. She has a sense of humour. 4. She hasn't got a rotten bone in her body. 5. She's irreverent and unconventional. 6. She's a Black by blood, if not by name.

go read it in full! keeping in mind the fandom post-HBP was full of massive tonks-related wank (alluded to in the (mostly good! worth reading!) discussion here).

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4) i'm sad this post (Fanfiction Writing Style and Stylistic Trends by ignipes, posted 04 September 2005) doesn't seem to exist on the internet anymore (yes, i did try wayback machine)

---

5) no shortage of peter pettigrew meta -- though a lot of these were written pre-DH, some even pre-OOTP and pre-HBP. interesting reads, but none i felt were especially notable.

[cowardlybean]

your ask button is so tiny it’s so funny

anywho ask game mob psycho fucking all the questions. all of them. i didn’t even read it just answer them all i wanna know

This is gonna be a long ass post :3

the character everyone gets wrong: Tome is a speculative biology enjoyer. thats it thats the post! I also feel like Teruki is more violent than people portray him

a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom: I’mmmm not answering this (cannot decide a fav and most characters are minors lmaooo)

screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr : the worst take ever is shipping Reigen and Mob. Gross! Die.

what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?: I haven’t been here long enough to have any annoying people

worst discord server and why: not in any

which ship fans are the most annoying?: if you ship rei//mob. DIE!

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?: i already hated Mogami (not from a narrative standpoint, i LOVE the Mogami arc its gutwrenching) but aBoT fic made me hate him even more. KILL HIM!!!

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about: Tome is aroace i don’t make the rules (is projecting) but in all seriousness I Really prefer Mob being aroace because his relationship with Tsubomi really reflects my aromantic experience of making up a crush because that’s what I assume it’s supposed to be

worst part of canon: i love the entire show. sooo. i mean i guess its hard for me to watch Reigen on the psychic tv show bc of secondhand embarrassment kicking my ASS

worst part of fanon: sexualizing middle schoolers

number of fandom-related words you've filtered: idk but they’re all gross ships

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them: not unpopular in the “people hate her” sense but Tome needs more attention, shes so autism and i love her role in the Reigen manga

worst blorboficiation: I haven’t been here long but I haven’t seen a lot of Dimple character study content, usually he's just there because he's always there

that one thing you see in fics all the time: autistic Mob and trans Reigen (positive)

that one thing you see in fanart all the time: older Mob being taller than Reigen which I think is silly <3

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc): idk how popular it is but mob sympathizing with Mogami just. is not my thing

there should be more of this type of fic/art: Reigen in mogamiland, its so interesting to me

it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...: BROCCOLI ARC BODY HORROR!!!!!!!!!!! Honestly its fucking terrifying already when Mobs friends slowly convert to Dimple-ism but can you imagine. The roots creeping beneath. :3 AND ALSO Reigen having a fear of being on live tv is underrated 

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...: not genuinely ashamed but my guilty pleasure is bashing Reigen over the head with angst

part of canon you found tedious or boring: cant think of any

part of canon you think is overhyped: also cant think of any rn

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores: the fact that spirits have the power to brainwash without possessing people?? like Dimples two cults are. terrifying!! bc Mob couldn’t sense a spirit changing their minds bc Dimple was chilling in the broccoli

ship you've unwillingly come around to: not genuinely upset about it but I was so surprised I ended up liking yoshieku (Dimple x security guard) the bond between an evil spirit and the man he randomly possessed is incredible

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse: dunno any

common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing: also dunno any

[macbethz]

1, 10, and 15 for the choose violence ask game :)

THIS IS A LONG ONE SORRY. I guess I had violence in my heart.

1. The character everyone gets wrong

Ok im aware this is like the most predictable answer for me but its true. CLARA!!! People don't get her at all and it absolutely infuriates me, because she's pretty much the only companion in nuwho who is hated to this extent (ie, people saying mean shit about her on my posts ABOUT HER) Oh does she annoy you by having the exact same traits as the doctor? Do you not like her egotistical and controlling behavior? I wonder why. Perhaps there is a point there.

Sidenote - it annoys me when people will call her a mary sue and simultaneously get mad at her being an asshole and yk, having character flaws, as if those terms aren't mutually exclusive & her hyper-competence that gets read as "mary sue" isn't an intentional choice by the narrative and a result of her being DEEPLY unwell in other aspects of her life.

I feel like a lot of people judge her based on the second half of s7 which, to be fair, is awful and I don't think they knew what they were doing with her yet. But in the context of her whole run she is genuinely one of the most evocative characters to come out of doctor who for me, especially in the way she serves as a kind of commentary and subversion of companions as a whole. I genuinely could talk about clara forever but yeah I do feel like a lot of the hate comes from the fact that people Don't Get Her.

And then among fans who do there's always a risk that they see her as this blank slate twee girl to self-project onto which again, to be fair, is how she was written in season 7. But so many things from supposed fans of her as well that I'll read and be like she would not fucking say that. she does not have the emotional awareness to say that. and/or she is not like a uwu quirky shy girl she would fucking speak her mind about that. She is deranged and I love her. I have to shut up abt clara or this will be the whole post.

10. Worst part of fanon

I honestly cant get TOO annoyed with doctor who fanon because i am a comics fan AND a danny phantom fan and its surprisingly common practice for people in both those fandoms to be a "fan" of something they have not consumed the media for in any form, resulting in this horrible mess of fanon with no connection to what makes the original compelling. + doctor who is such a mess of canon anyway basically everything has been canon at some point even if its shit.

But I think in the end the worst part of DW fanon is, like all fanon, the flattening of really compelling characters to fit trope archetypes. I see this especially with tenrose, where they're just turned into this kind of generic ship that you can plug n play into any situation with little connection to the interesting ways they actually behave in canon.

As a kind of interesting reversal, though, fanon will often expand out dw's most generic characters (ie most chibnal companions. sorry), but only for the purposes of shipping and not in ways I myself find particularly interesting. Like imo Yaz is probably the least developed chibnal companion but pretty much the only one I see expanded on in this way because of the shipping potential.

15. that one thing you see in fanart all the time

im probably gonna get slaughtered for this but i think maybe weve had enough crowley in doctor who outfits or 10 meeting crowley fanart. maybe im bitter because i dont really care about the GO show and I feel like it fills up the dw tag to the brim these days

[koolkat9]

5,12, 2

Hey babe, Hetalia ask game dropped!

2. Who are your favorite Hetalia artists? Why?

Teethhoarder. Not only are they an amazing writer but they are also an amazing artist. Their art style is so soft and their asking-gereng blog is a treasure trove for GerEng!

Sunnylolli: The best thing to ever happen to us dad Arthur fans. Their art is so expressive and I love their focus on familial dynamics though the occasional ship gets thrown in every now and then. Like Teeth, they are also an amazing fic writer.

@Idc8whatever (twitter): I just recently found this artist on twitter. Again, love how expressive their art style is and this time they primarily make content for my fav ship!

@enderwasended (I can't access their blog for some reason, but I still want to include them): They have such a cute style but their comics often tug at my heart strings too. I especially love their GerEng DBH AU.

Rozenne Knight: They make such good Arthur art. And they ship GerEng which is always a bonus in my book.

Redd: I just love how they draw hair. And they're so kind too. Their WIP they've been sharing with us in the GerEng discord server is mindblowing.

Roszabell: They way they draw Mattie is perfect.

Thathetaliablog: One of, if not, my absolute favourite Arthur artist. They draw him exactly how I picture him and its glorious.

ashafox: They come up with amazing aus and I also love how they draw Mattie.

5. Opinions on how accurately your country is depicted?

Considering almost every Canadian fan I've talked to relates to him deeply in some way (including myself) I guess I have to say its accurate. But I feel he's too pathetic sometimes, specifically in the anime. And I hate the joke that he's always forgotten keeps coming up in the anime. Okay maybe I have more issue with the anime depiction compared to the manga because the latest chapters he's in I loved!

Now fandom depictions...that's a whole other can of worms. Sometimes I like fanon way better than canon because they expand on his character more than the show/manga does. Other times fanon completely ruins his character making his only character traits uwu must protect uke stereotype with depression (and usually suicidal thoughts). Don't get me wrong, I love giving these characters issues, but to make that his whole personality annoys me. Luckily most of those characterizations have been left in the past. Also Mattie should be taller than Gil. There was so much fanart with Mattie being the smaller one and it was one of my petty pet peeves. Still is tbh.

12. What film gets you daydreaming about Hetalia?

answered here

[orionsangel86]

About the twinklify the twink? That's why I don't go full Dreamling. I have nothing against it, but they way they get twisted 90% of the times is just "uhh that not my Dream" for me. And same with all the Dark Morpheus x f/m reader. "That's not my Morpheus" and it's ok, because a) fanfiction keeps the media alive until the next piece we can get and b) fanfiction keeps people alive too, no matter what they picture. So, it's ok to feel like this, I guess.

I think that's the main takeaway from this. YKINMK after all. I'm a firm believer of "do what you want always" though of course, that doesn't mean you should be free from criticism, it just means maybe don't take criticism to heart ya know? This doesn't mean people should go onto others posts and fanfics and complain! God no! But people should be allowed to complain in their own posts - so long as anything particularly harsh isn't put in the main tags or is tagged accordingly. Like of course people aren't always gonna love everything you do, and sometimes when certain headcanons and ideas get bastardised by fanon echo chambers they become so far removed from canon that you are basically writing an OC with your fave characters face, but that's okay if it brings you joy. Just don't expect everyone to love and adore it ya know?

The problem I have with the extra twinkification of characters in ship dynamics is that I have a problem with m/m ships being twisted so far away from their canon counterparts that one party becomes obviously "feminine" and the other obviously "masculine". By which I mean one character is made extra skinny frail and delicate, submissive, virginal, pure, and always ALWAYS the bottom. The other character becomes huge and muscular and hairy and masculine, and take the role of protector and dominating and experienced and is ALWAYS the top.

Do you see what I mean? This has been prevailent in fandom culture since day 1 of course, and its a huge pet peeve of mine. I do view it as somewhat problematic because it feels like trying to fit a mlm ship into a heternormative box. Its a layered mess of misogyny and homophobia wrapped up in a fandom bow. It was worse years ago, during the SuperWhoLock days, and I will forever be grateful to Misha Collins for beefing up so much he enabled Cas to beat the effeminate twink allegations (knowing Mollins he probably came across a particularly bad fanfic or fanart and then spent several hours staring at himself in a mirror before throwing himself into an intensive gym routine).

I don't think its too prevailent in Dreamling fics, though I guess when you have a whole episode devoted to showing how Dream is pale, thin, beautiful, ethereal, completely hairless, and trapped, its easy to see why fandoms minds went to "twink" and then to "we need to find him a saviour". But I do wish the power dynamic would be a bit more balanced. Dream is no wilting flower. He is all pure lean muscle. He is no frail delicate thing. He has the body of a long distance marathon runner. He is power and self righteousness and fury and control. Yeah, he may be submissive with his lovers, but he's hardly inexperienced.

Hob is also in no way a macho man. He's hairy sure, but that's basically it. He actually isn't all that more muscular than Dream, he's only slightly broader, and he's not taller - I think they are the same height? Again, to stress, people can do what they want always. But please do take time to branch outside of the fandom echo chambers and refamiliarise yourself with canon once in a while. Especially when those echo chambers are leaning towards problematic dynamics like those mentioned above.

This is by no means a dig at any individuals, at any creative works I have come across or anything else of the sort. I just sometimes find the fanon echo chambers and widely accepted headcanons a bit irritating, especially when they don't fit with canon. It's fine on a small scale. I am not the person who is gonna comment "he would not fucking say that" because its mean and those posts are mean. It's when the whole fandom seems to adopt certain ideas, and suddenly any deviation from those ideas seems wrong to fandom at large. It becomes difficult to counter those ideas without suddenly being labelled a hater. Look at all the ridiculous discourse in Good Omens fandom because of how deeply far removed from the original source material the fandom took the characters over the 4 year gap between seasons? They were literally going into Neil Gaimans inbox complaining when season 2 deviated from widely accepted fanon headcanons! To the point that Neil had to clarify that what they were complaining about was never canon to begin with!!

Anyway, this post is probably controversial enough without me prattling on any further. Let me stress one last time that you can do what you want always, and everyone should be able to play in the sandbox however they want - just please check yourselves and your prejudices and do consider if the tropes you are encouraging have any harmful implications before throwing yourself into them.

[hp-shameblog]

Love that you got into the fandom without consuming any of the source material. I'm so curious about how you perceive the story versus those of us who have been involved with it since the days that only the canon material existed.

Very excited to see you around!

thank you so much!

I'm gonna be honest with you, this is not my first rodeo. I got into a good third of my fandoms I'd guess without having consumed any source material first, although in most cases I did eventually consume it after getting into the fandom. that will not be the case here lol. in my experience it works like this: I see posts about a show/movie/book/etc on tumblr, I get curious about it, I read a fic on ao3 that really catches my eye, and if I like it I'll just continue reading fics. I'll sort by the fandom's most popular works and read a dozen before I start getting a hang of the characters, and then as I keep reading I start to understand the story and what happend in canon.

this was the case when I got into Harry Potter: I have never watched the movies or read the books and I was never particularly interested. all the knowledge I had was absorbed through cultural osmosis through the decades, but other than a few character names I knew basically nothing. "Harry is the main character, he's a magic orphan and lives in a cupboard, his friends are Ron and Hermione" "Voldemort is the bad guy and he looks hilarious (snake faced)" "I always get Dumbledore confused with Gandalf" "Snape and McGonagall are teachers" and that was about it. I didn't know pretty much anything about any of the characters beyond their names. I had previously read a few (and by few I do mean like six at most) fussion fics with other fandom's characters going to Hogwarts but I tended to avoid those and crossovers (with HP) tbh.

anyways, I got into HP bc I was in my era of binging time travel fics and I came across one and decided, why not, let's give it a chance. that was fun, so I went and found more fics. on the shorter side to start with, to try and get a feel for the characters, and the world building was quite interesting. so I kept at it and then I came across one fic where the first time Harry goes to Diagon Alley he takes a detour to talk to a lawyer and it really showed me what worldbuilding would look like in this universe and I knew that was it, I was definitely interested now.

I continued my way through reading time travel fics and fix-its and slowly a picture started forming in my mind of the story: the things that were repeated time and time again across multiple fics had to be canon events, although the details varied and not everything was always present in every fic. as I started reading more and more fix it's that would rewrite the entire timeline I started getting a clear picture of what happend year by year, although I was still very fuzzy on the details. I believed Umbridge was a squib for a while, from a fic I read. but like I said, the more I read the more I noticed the patterns repeating and from what was and wasn't said I eventually got a very clear picture of the timeline of canon events. I admit I'm a bit more fuzzy on stuff like the Marauders era; because there's much less canon about them and their era there is a lot more fanon, therefore it makes it harder to pin down actual canon fact versus everything else, (and besides I don't tend to seek out marauders era fic as much,) but I think I've got a pretty accurate picture of at least the Marauders and Lily and Snape. I'm a lot less clear on pretty much all their friends and everyone else from their era (maybe because afaik most of them are only ever mentioned by name and they have like, basically no canon at all?), and I admit I don't know much about post-Voldemort's resurrection Wormtail, but I don't think there is much to know.

and well, after a while, when I had a bit of a clear picture about the more general stuff I came back to tumblr in search of content. mostly fanart and fic recs, as you can probably tell from my blog, but I obviously came across a lot of really interesting meta that expanded my understanding of some canon stuff.

beyond that, if you're interesting in my perspective on stuff I can only say this: I have now probably read accurate and inaccurate portrayals of most characters. I have probably read flattering and very unflattering (critical, unfriendly, straight up hostile) portrayals of most characters too. this exists in every fandom and, where I have consumed the canon material I generally have my own opinion formed but I don't tend to mind, from time to time, reading fic that expresses opinions about characters that are in complete opposition to my own. but u do have very clear preferences. because I have not consumed the canon material here my preferences are not based so much on the characters themselves but rather on how I like to read them. which tends to vary from time to time.

like, say for example (and this may be a controversial opinion? if there's something I'm not at all knowledgeable in is fandom drama lol), the manipulative Dumbledore trope. do I like and agree with all that Dumbledore has done in canon? no. do I think canon Dumbledore was an evil bastard who didn't care about Harry at all and simply wanted a pawn? also no. but it is very fun to read those stories most of the time. but then I can also read stories where he has funky old grampa vibes, or when he's a funny troll with the teachers, or a million more characterizations, and I have fun, I don't care. I'm not attached to one Dumbledore portrayal. I did chose Dumbledore for this example because I thought it'd be less controversial but the same thing can be said of most everyone else: I can read Molly as having adopting Harry as an honourary Weasley and being his mother and loving him so so much, and I can read her as having been in cahoots with Dumbledore and stealing from Harry's vault, and I don't mind either.

the thing I probably enjoy the most is that I'm not burdened by canon, if that makes sense? like, controversial opinion time but I think that Snape is a really cool character. that said, canon Snape is an abusive bastard and if I'd read/watched canon I'd hate him. and sometimes it's great to read him as a villain, but sometimes it's also great to read him acting as a guardian to Harry and taking care of the Slytherin kids, and when I do that I don't have to make myself forget what a bastard he is in canon, does that make sense? because I haven't read the canon so him being an abusive bastard is like. just a thing I know. a fact I know about him, like the fact that his robes bellow behind him. I haven't read that, I haven't seen that, so its just a data point I have in my Snape characterization checklist (not literally), if that makes sense. so when I read some fics I don't think "this is so out of character, canon Snape would never, I'll chose to ignore canon Snape for now" I just think "cool, nice fic".

Snape (and Dumbledore and Molly above) are easy examples of this, but it applies to pretty much everyone. reading dark!Harry fics is so much fun and not once do I think "he wouldn't actually do that" as I bet lots of people do. to be fair, I am very flexible about reading fic in all my fandoms, even canons I have consumed and characterizations I am attached to, I don't mind from time to time reading something completely different and going "they would never do this" but then I just go "cool tho, I love it" because I'm that kind of person.

I have been writing forever but I guess I do like talking about it and my experience getting into fandoms without consuming the source material.

thank you so much for the ask and the warm welcome to the fandom 💖

[wormsslime]

supernatural violence 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25 (if that's too many i can narrow it down ajdlfkj)

this aint just natural violence this is supernatural violence

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about low hanging fruit but many people read dean as, like, straightforwardly straight and a man. like you believe him?? him??

9. worst part of canon hoo boy i havent watched all the seasons and there is some bonkers stuff in there. im gonna have to go with the eye-bleedingly direct-and-yet-somehow-unaware anti-native racism that is the focus of a whole episode every so often. wendigo is the second ep of the show and it just Keeps Happening.

10. worst part of fanon john. dean defending john and fans taking it at face value. john winchester. sam and dean's father, john. dad winchester. this is not a situation where the show is subtle or im reading into things!! its really upfront about this!!

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them unfortunately, also john, i think. like i hate him dont get me wrong but i think a lot of people dont appreciate what he brings to the narrative, as a character, because they attribute so much of it just to The Life instead.

13. worst blorboficiation either sam or cas imo. i considered crowley but i dont think it counts when the show is doing the blorbofication lol

15. that one thing you see in fanart all the time i dont see very much spn fanart

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) womanizer!dean

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on... sams eating disorder

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring most of the metaplot after... idk the first few seasons? even the lucifer one didnt really grab me except in how it affected sam.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores isnt this just the same question as 18?

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse either john or people who think that dean only has one hand

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing none! i only talk about fandom stuff im invested in with people i like and i when i like someone i like hearing them complain about a show just as much as i like hearing them agree with me. that said ive seen people complain about john being read as an abuser, like, two times? and i was sick of it the first time. so i guess theres that lol.

choose violence!!

[proton-selfships]

✍️📝🤪, if you're still doing the ask game?

‘Imagine Your S/I Was Canon…’ Self-Ship Asks

Thank you, Jenni! I answered 📝 here! ...And I may have forgotten this was in my drafts so long. Oops

✍️: 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?

I think I'd be... Not popular, per se, since this is a fandom aimed at teens that tends to focus on its primarily teen cast and I don't know how yuri that starts out this toxic would go over with that demographic, but the adults who like the series would definitely love me! Primarily for my relationship with Laurel and how it evolves over the story, but also for my cool powers that get put on explosive display at key points in my arc. My fellow milf-loving sapphics would definitely think my S/I is living the dream, and might even project onto said S/I when writing ship fic.

And hey, on the younger side of things, maybe I'd even start a trend where a bunch of teen viewers discover 90s alternative rock and grunge thanks to my music taste! (My S/I definitely wears an AiC shirt at some point.)

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

I'd say my catgirl tendencies, but honestly? I meow and knead and stuff to stim pretty often in real life, too, so I don't think it'd even be far off to focus on those. Fandom might exaggerate the pointiness of my teeth or give me cat eyes in fanart when neither of those are canon traits, I guess? It'd also be inaccurate if they claimed I'm a furry. (I technically have a fursona if you count my Sonic AU and I like cartoony art with animal characters, I just don't consider myself part of the overall fandom. They're cool in my book, though!)

I feel like they'd also exaggerate how much of a doormat I am for Laurel. And I mean, yeah, I do spend our early relationship getting manipulated and controlled, but I do very much put my foot down and go "hey what the fuck" once I realize what's going on. That misconception would drive the meta-writing fandom nuts, too, since that's actually one of the key factors motivating Laurel to change: the fact that I now see her for who she really is, and still hold onto the belief that she can be better, but don't take any bullshit from her in the meantime. That's the push she needs from someone she (secretly) cares about to reevaluate everything.

(And also my reason why Larissa's attempt to reason with her failed: not only did Laurel not have the same soft spot for her, but she still said "please don't make this more difficult than it already is, Marilyn" and not her real name. So she was still denying the real Laurel, unlike my S/I when my first line after learning her identity is "...Laurel?")