#its fanbase. because like when i do actually watch i get it and can see it and understand why people like it. but its fans. are so shit.

[thedevotionaltour]

i wish i could like garak more than i do when im not seeing him on my television screen because i do think he is actually an interesting and compelling character however i hate his fanbase actually no more than anything i hate gar.as.hir fanbase where then all he becomes is ship fodder and is just. the way they talk about him is so annoying and boring and stupid and shippy that i'm truly convinced i just hate garak until i see him on my screen and go fuuuuuuck he's really neat and i'm fascinated by who he is. but his fans especially those who are like mostly his fan only for shipping and refuse to separate him from julian (i also hate the julian fan side of this too and i think it definitely turned me away from loving julian as much as i did initially which is very sad because he was one of my favorites on the show and now i barely think about him ever when or feel little when i see him on screen) are just so. infuriating. anyways the reason i wrote this out was because i was going to say it is with a heavy heart i must say i think matt would be quite compelled by garak (due to his enjoyment of spy stories as has been mentioned before). and then i got sad about going why do i have to lead up to that with a heavy heart. because see im not doing it with the annoying fondness im doing it with a disappointed shame. which isnt fair bc garak is funny as fuck. anyways

[descendant-of-truth]

While I'm of the opinion that the Re:Coded movie that's in all the collections generally does a better job at giving you all the relevant cutscenes than the Days movie, after playing through the DS game myself, I still think it's a shame how much they left out. Notably, the Castle Oblivion section is... extremely nerfed in the movie.

See, when Roxas tells Sora that he can do whatever he wants when talking to the illusions from his past, he means it. You, the player, are presented with different tasks that come with multiple dialogue options, and there are three possible endings for every "world" you enter. You get a different Ending Card depending on how you act; a Normal Card, an Alternate Card, and an Extra Card.

In the movie, instead of providing you with any kind of choose-your-own-adventure routes that lead to different cutscenes, they just. vaguely animate everyone talking silently to each other, and then have the illusions fade away. Which I think loses a lot of the intrigue, but it also means that relatively few people in the fanbase have even seen any of these routes.

I won't go over every single one because that can easily be done by looking them up on YouTube, but I do want to bring up one route in specific because it's really stuck with me ever since - Wonderland's Extra Ending.

So, in Wonderland, you're presented with a series of dilemmas:

Alice can't remember her name

The White Rabbit drops his pocket watch

The Cheshire cat gives you a riddle that requires you to choose the correct box or else fight a Heartless waiting in the wrong ones

One card soldier asks you to deliver a potion to a second card soldier for him

A third card soldier is weakened and woozy

You get the Normal Ending by doing at least one of these tasks correctly, the Alternate Ending by doing all of them correctly, and the Extra Ending by doing everything wrong.

In order to get the Extra Ending, you must:

Tell Alice that she's the Queen of Hearts

Pick up the White Rabbit's watch (causing Sora to lose sight of him, unable to return it; you're supposed to just tell him where it is)

Give up on the Cheshire Cat's riddle

Give the potion to the third, weakened card soldier, instead of its intended recipient (it turns out he was just hungry, not injured, so you didn't help him. the second card soldier would have given you a sandwich)

No matter what you do, at the end of each route, the Queen of Hearts will grab your attention and accuse you of being the thief who stole her memory. She'll try to back it up with proof, and even when you've done everything right (which she acknowledges), she still concludes with an "off with your head!" which Sora implicitly runs away from, ending the world's story.

Except for in the Extra Ending.

After she recaps everything you've done wrong up to that point, she drops this dialogue that I haven't been able to stop thinking about:

Queen of Hearts: "Don't tell me you were trying to be NICE? Cheering that girl up by telling her she was important? Giving things away because you thought someone else needed them more? Trying to... to own up to your failures!? Bah! Go on! Off with you!" Data Sora: "Not 'off with my head'?" Queen of Hearts: The punishment must match the crime! See how YOU like having something NICE done to you!"

It's hard to describe what it was about this that's still so striking to me months later, but it's just... kind of off-putting, in a way?

Having the Queen of Hearts choose to spare you as a "more fitting punishment" is out of character enough already, but the fact that it's the consequence to you actually doing everything wrong makes it feel all the more pointed. This is somehow supposed to be worse than being beheaded, and it kind of works, because it feels so much more personal than her usual schtick.

And it exists in such an isolated incident, too. The level is completed immediately after this dialogue, and nothing else is changed by getting it, it's just. there.

At the same time, everything about it feels so deliberate that I can't help but feel like it either is or will be relevant elsewhere somehow. It could just be overanalyzing on my part, but the first thing that comes to mind is actually that the Queen's final line could parallel the consequence of Sora misusing the Power of Waking?

He did so for a good cause, after all, but it wasn't what he was supposed to do. He broke a taboo of nature in the process. But his punishment isn't a straightforward death; he's just put somewhere else, somewhere he can't see his friends. "Off with you," the universe says, "see how you like having something nice done to you!"

...but that doesn't really feel like it's getting to the heart of the matter, which is that Data Sora did not need to do any of this. He could have told Alice her real name, on account of it being the default dialogue option, and he could have tried to figure out what was wrong with that card soldier before giving away stuff that wasn't his. He could have tried a little harder at the riddle. These were all fairly low-stakes situations - in particular, he really didn't need to lie to Alice.

The original Sora didn't have much of a choice in what he did. It was either lose his powers and vanish, or leave Kairi shattered and functionally dead. You can't really say he made the wrong decision, or did something immoral for a superficial reason.

So then... will this line remain an isolated slap in the face to completionist DS players, or will there be more to it? Is there already more to it that I'm missing? Where's our parallel to Data Sora "cheering that girl up by telling her she was important"? What are we supposed to make of "see how you like having something nice done to you"?

What does it all mean???

(In conclusion: go check out the DS versions of these cutscenes, they're great)

[communistkenobi]

I’m watching FD Signifier’s new video about edgelord white guy movies. He spends a decent amount of time talking about how creators have responded to their edgelord fanbases, using The Joker and The Boys as two examples, where these creators feel uncomfortable with how their art has been received and taken up by “angry white men,” and that in response to this, they have followed up these artistic products with sequels or new seasons of television that are incredibly blunt and obvious about how you shouldn’t think of Homelander as a based chad or Arthur Fleck as a motivational figure in your life. And like he ends the video saying this is insufficient because these audiences won’t care about the messages in these follow-ups (largely bc these are downstream of larger social issues), but his framing of it in terms of “the death of media literacy” is still really frustrating and annoying because it’s buying into the idea that the main problem with people “not getting” art is literacy/education. And its not just his video, this framing is a popular memetic phrase across social media, and he does a better job than most people in talking about it

But like I just straight up do not accept that the audience of these edgelord movies “didn’t get” that they are portraying bad people, that audiences of mass media are “taking the wrong message” of “very obvious” pieces of art. Not because I think they do secretly get what these films are ‘actually saying,’ I don’t care about what’s in their hearts, but because this concern with people ‘not getting it’ feels wildly off-topic. I think it has been demonstrated over and over again that mass media is not an educational tool where people go to “learn lessons” or “take away a particular message.” I think the very fact that we have a consumptive marketised relationship to these artistic products structures and produces a specific set of responses, which is, above all else, “getting my money’s worth.” Who gives a shit what the movie is ‘really’ trying to say! That’s unimportant when faced with the question of did I get what I paid for? And I don’t mean this in an annoying lib “consumerism is making us all stupider” way I mean the economic structure of artistic production is the primary determinant of how commodities on a market are received. The idea that, under these conditions, we can purchase a piece of art that will “teach us” something about the world is laughable, that art-by-itself contains the authority to impart political knowledge. The idea that we can purchase our way into good values, good politics, that we can buy a movie ticket and see the error of our ways is buying into this same exact consumptive framing.

“The death of media literacy” implies a point in recent history where this economic relationship to art was unimportant, that we used to be able to participate in mass standardised artistic production and be unaffected by this arrangement. I think about Adorno & Horkheimer’s argument in The Culture Industry, that the profit motive is itself an object of consumption under capitalism, that advertisements are themselves products & as a result, all mass standardised artistic products are advertisements for their own capitalist production processes and logics. 

I think when people “don’t get” that Starship Troopers is depicting a fascist society, when people “don’t get” that Travis Bickle is a bad, un-admirable person, they aren’t stricken by a sudden deficit of education or literacy, they are responding to the conditions under which these things get made. Being able to get art’s “true message,” no matter how supposedly clear or compellingly-articulated, is to argue that ‘message’ and ‘meaning’ can be made independent of the conditions under which those things are created and presented to people. The industrial capitalist machinery outputting standardised artistic products is itself an authority telling you how to interpret its own products, much the same way a cathedral is presented as evidence of god. There is a material & physical authority in their presence and social arrangement that are themselves arguments. Adorno talks about this with the radio - that this vast industrial infrastructure of radio towers, broadcast stations, systems of wires and cables, and the production of standardised radio receivers (available for purchase, of course) is utterly incomprehensible to most people and amounts to hearing the voice of god when you turn on the radio. The arrangement of artistic production & presentation is itself the structure through which you experience art, and that structure is an authority you can neither comprehend nor alter. And again as A&H say in The Culture Industry, the techniques, narratives, and genres of the culture industry become standardised themselves, cookie-cutters on a production line, and therefore dictate meaning above and beyond any particular semantic meaning injected into an individual film or story. “Romcoms” are a cultural authority above and beyond the sum total of every romcom film ever made, and it is these genres and techniques that transmit the justification for their own continued reproduction. Under this arrangement, the meaning of this film or that television show are rendered marginal - not unnoticeable or irrelevant, certainly, but secondary to the cookie-cutters they were produced from 

Now does this lead to a widespread ignorant, impoverished, reactionary view of art? Of course, but that is not because the guy who likes wearing V for Vendetta masks is illiterate. To place the blame on individual education, discipline, or literacy is to take Hollywood for granted as a natural eternal entity, to take it as just another church. It’s a goofy fucking argument! 

[rigginsstreet]

It feels like Billy's whole character is viewed through unreliable narrators. From the fans and writers. There's so much stuff that is said that just doesn't match up to what we actually see

i think it does a HUGE disservice to billy as a character that we really only see him through max's perspective, and of course she's gonna think the worst of him because she's getting the brunt of his anger and vitriol. especially when you add on the fact she more likely than not has zero clue about neils abuse or at least the extent of it. given that neil so freely hits billy in front of susan and forces him to apologize to her i can definitely see a world where he does the same in front of max but to her its just billy being punished and she doesnt know the history of neil abusing billys mom or how violent he gets with billy. i can also imagine neil plays them against each other and treats max far better than he treats billy. i dont think hes by any means step father of the year to max but like... he's not smacking her around so.

even when we get billy scenes without max its all so performative. he's not treated as an actual person he's just used as a show pony. we get very few glimpses into a billy who isnt putting on an act and when we do he's either completely disinterested and checked out emotionally, or hes overcome with emotion and its all spilling out of him.

billy fans understand this. the wider fanbase does not because well as soon as billy comes on screen they check out or skip ahead idk what theyre doing but theyre clearly not watching his scenes because they never know what the hell theyre talking about when it comes to him and its made abundantly clear

and its also clear the writers have no idea who the hell theyre writing for either. the duffer brothers going from billys interaction with karen in season 2 to season 3 told me everything i needed to know. they dont care about that man. billy was a means to an end. which like... fine? but maybe dont try and create a whole emotional season long arc and redemption for a character you clearly dont give two shits about? and have made zero effort to actually flesh out. its weird.

like listen i understand why billy is so misunderstood amongst fans because the show really gives you crumbs. but also like... there IS a semblance of a story there to pick from like im gonna need people to be a little smarter its not THAT hard

[hottubanchor]

DDBA

Ive been holding off making a judgement but gotta be honest, this is not a good show. Im not even comparing it to the original when I say that, on its own DDBA isnt a good show. Which when actually compared to the og show, its just disappointing. Its entertaining at times and tbh I could watch Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock in anything, hes phenomenal. But the writing for born again is bad.

I think theres one basic rule of writing that everyone knows: show dont tell. Yet, every episode we get scene after scene of characters telling us about stuff that happened instead of watching it.

Now im actually gonna compare BA and the OG. Take muse - all over the promos and dead in 2 eps.

We're told he does taikwondo, we never see him use it as far as I could tell. Unlike in DD where characters who are skilled fighters get to show off their skills in well choreographed fights (Nobu) or were shown their training (electra)

We are told he killed his instructor and he didnt like his family. Unlike in DD where we are shown Fisks childhood and the murder of his father by his own hand.

Muse tells us hes been to some therapy sessions with Heather, and this unlocked something in him. Unlike in DD where we are SHOWN Dex's therapy sessions and the impact it had on him (That sounds very hard). In between the overwhelmingly skippable marital drama therapy sessions they couldn't have squeezed in one session with Muse? They couldn't have shown him sketching her? Maybe after he kidnapped someone?

In one of my favourite scenes in the show (Karen come back the kids miss you) Karen tells us about Matt withdrawing for weeks leading to her running away to san fran. In DD after Electras death (2), we watch Matt do this for half a season, we see Karen debating leaving. If they didn't wanna rehash old plot points they shouldn't have rehashed old plots! (The death of an important figure in Matts life, foggy/electra) Because if thats what happened they needed to SHOW IT.

We are told cherry came to Matt for help. Unlike in DD where we WATCH Brett and Matts relationship develop. They couldn't have included a flashback or two???

Theres more examples but honestly if I think about it anymore Ill get annoyed. Ugh. I get that there were rewrites but honestly for a show with a fanbase this large and the kinda budget disney has theres just no excuse. They can afford good writers. What happened??? Where did the creative team for the original go? This particular gripe aside the story feels sp disconnected, even less that DD s2 which lets be real is the weakest of the og but blows the reboot out of the water.

And dont even talk to me about the colour grading.

Or the hand painting thing, as someone who has a degree in fine art I can confidently say: Not possible. Not even with magic fingers. Matt essentially 'see's' in 3D he wouldn't be able to recognise a flattened version of his gf's face, not even if the paint had a bit more texture to it. Plus he cant tell which paints are dark or light, even if he could tell how would he - omg no I need to stop.

TLDR: I wasnt a fan of this weeks episode bc I think it highlighted the issue BA has been having where the audience is told and not shown key info

[pinecipitation]

I am once again up at your ass and asking for smiling friends hcs,,,, can I get fucking uhhhh Charlie and Alan with a crush who can't help but infodump their interests?? Talking about sitting then down and forcing them to watch their favorite movie and just rambling. (This is totally not me projecting in the slightest, nuh uh) THANK YOU WIFE I HOPE THIS IS OKAY TO ASK MWAH

SMILING FRIENDS X GN!READER

HELLO WIFE YES THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!! LEAN IN I HAVE A KISS READY FOR YOU

word count: 800+

warnings: none!!

CHARLIE:

- my guy doesn’t know about shit honestly, I feel like just how in the president election episodes he’d be like “idk idc” but in the end he gets an opinion with the more info you talk about

- of course because it’s YOU, he’d listen though

- you’re more into movies and shows and games than he is, so if the moment is ever dull he’d immediately hit you with the “….soooo,, any new recommendations?”

- boy do you have them

- he honestly enjoys the way you light up talking about the media you’re into, even if he isn’t quite retaining the information

- he doesn’t mind asking about it again just to hear your piece

- he thinks it’s sort of sweet that you get so heavy into a piece of media that you’d defend it to the ground, especially if its media that isn’t too widely liked or known or have much of a fanbase. he thinks it’s cool that he’s that person for you, like he’s getting insider information from a reliable source

- he finds himself seeing the media in the wild and immediately thinking about your thoughts on it, if he sees a figure of a character you don’t like or a poster of an arc you loved he’d be sure to point it out to himself

- will find himself going “man, fuck this character” to himself because of you, immediately shaking his head and wondering what was wrong with him. He didn’t even know the character, but he subconsciously has an opinion on them because of you

- back to you though, he would have a hard time physically sitting down to watch or read what you’re into, or try out a hobby you like, but when the moment comes where you offer watching the series with him he will jump on it without a second thought

- you do talk and pause to rewind certain parts in it, which he usually wouldn’t like people doing, but it doesn’t matter to him. it’s not like he’s watching the show anyways, he’s too fixated on you and how close you two are on his couch

ALAN:

- now he would ACTUALLY know what you’re talking about and pay attention to the movies and series

- usually he would just state he’s seen it or doesn’t care for it, but he’s breaking habits if it’s something you’re visibly excited about

- of course he’s happy to rewatch it though

- “no, I don’t know about it, is it good?” he’s seen the movie four times

- alan the type of man to stare at you blankly and resist the urge to add his own opinions and facts, but stays quiet for the plot

- he does genuinely enjoy having you so vocal about a subject you’re so passionate about, you’re somehow one of the only people he doesn’t get too overstimulated around, plus this way he doesn’t have to talk as much

- the day you offered a movie marathon at his place was a turning point, him taking the day off before just so he can clean and make the place acceptable, going the lengths to get usual movie snacks and blankets and such. this, and him hiding his books and dvds so that you wouldn’t stumble on them and find out he’s been pretending this entire time

- for the sake of the plot we’re ignoring alan being a morning person, in this universe he’s a night owl hence the eye bags

- the marathon goes on for later in the night than you both anticipated, after the first several hours and rambles of explaining you find yourself more and more tired and you pause the movies less and less

- it doesn’t take Alan long to notice that you fell asleep just like that, the blanket around the two of you and the bowl of chips discarded beside you

- he doesn’t care about that though, what he does care about is your head centimeters away from his shoulder

- not feeling even a little tired, he pauses the movie and carefully grabs his phone, sure not to move himself or you and writes down the time and place he paused, sure that you’d want to continue in the morning or another day. he’s also sure to write a small summary of where you two left off, now that you both “watched it together” he can talk back in infodump conversations and not give away that he knows the parts you two didn’t watch

- he’s quick to move when you shift in your sleep, him carefully but rapidly moving his hand from between you two and scooping his shoulder right under your head. you didn’t seem to wake or notice, a small lazy smile of success on his face as the two of you spend the rest of the night on the couch, him on his phone and you resting peacefully on his shoulder.

[genericpuff]

Do you have any entry level recommendations for someone looking to learn a bit more about Greek mythology? I’d love to read up on it but I’m not sure how to find reputable sources and avoid Americanisation.

I mean, at the risk of sounding crass, you're likely going to run into Americanization no matter what you do because America itself was built on many cultures, especially that of Greek philosophy and storytelling.

Buuut if you mean you wanna read some actual Greek myth content that AREN'T modern American spins on classic tales, Emily Wilson is a popular choice for many people dipping their toes into translated mythology as her translations are both simplistic and concise in their language choices as well as fun in their structure to read both internally and orally (iirc her translations are done in iambic pentameter which is very familiar to anyone who's ever read Shakespeare). I've been working through her translation of The Odyssey, it's been pretty enjoyable :)

I've also heard great things about both Lattimore and Fitzgerald, the latter of whom I will be reading next after I finish Wilson's translation. That said, I haven't read either of their works yet, so take my recommendation of them with grains of salt! (I hope you enjoy them though if you check 'em out! If you beat me to it, let me know how they went!)

OH also, I know it's sorta the opposite of what you're likely looking for as it's VERY influenced by modern contexts, but thanks to another anon I recently got into Destripando la Historia which is a super fun animated Youtube series that retells the stories of various different gods from different mythologies. If you're into stuff of the goofy anime variety, you might enjoy them, it's a Spanish series but you can turn on captions to read the translations! It's super beginner-friendly, it covers a lot of different stories and myths without getting into so much detail that it's overwhelming (but gives you a good kickoff point to start with!) and the songs and animations slap, Afrodita is one of my favorites haha

Overall the biggest advice I can give you if you're trying to avoid fanfiction-y / "Americanized" retellings is just to cross-reference. If you find a retelling you really like but aren't completely sure of its legitimacy as a functional retelling, keep reading, watching, and learning more. It's a skill like any other, and the more you read, the more you'll be able to pick out what's a legitimate retelling from studied scholars vs. what's fanfiction that you don't need to take too accurately or seriously LMAO

And honestly, nothing wrong with the fanfiction stuff! Mythology, in its very nature, changes over time, it's an inevitability and many of the myths we still draw from today are often derivative in and of themselves from even older versions that pre-existed them (see: Ovid).

it's okay if your introduction to Greek myth is through derivative fanfic, stuff like Disney's Hercules and even Lore Olympus ARE fun to consume for a lot of people and make for a good entry point into learning more about the myths!

What's frustrating - and what I tend to criticize the most here - is when the fanfiction gets advertised / sold as legitimate retellings; when the fanfiction grossly misrepresents the actual mythology and yet tries to claim it as legitimate anyways which results in fanbases that are running around with completely false information claiming it as fact. If you can give the team behind Hercules credit for one thing, their rendition may not be completely accurate, BUT the folks who made it never bragged about how much smarter they were than other people about Greek myth or call themselves "folklorists" when they didn't even have any formal education/training/etc. in it cough like another creator we know cough 💀 If we want to make a comparison between LO and a Disney film in terms of how it grossly misrepresents the themes and cultural contexts of the original stories it was drawing from... Disney's Pocahontas does exactly that 💅

So if you want to avoid any "grossly" Americanized versions of Greek myth that are borderline disrespectful to the stories they're drawing from... yeah, that's usually a pretty indicative red flag LMAO

But outside of those very specific scenarios, just have fun with it, there really is no "right or wrong" way to engage with the mythology if you're simply just wanting to learn more, the beauty of it being mythology is that it's very diverse in its mediums and thus you don't have to be restricted to learning about it exclusively through academic translations or lectures. Of course, there are cultural intersections with these myths that shouldn't be ignored, we always have to treat it with care when engaging with it so that we aren't overwriting another culture's traditions or beliefs - but if you're simply wanting to learn about and entertain yourself with some amazing stories that have quite literally stood the test of time, do so however you see fit :)

[hannahlovesluca]

Hihihihihi K Anon here :DD

Feel free to do this last or put this one as the last in the row !!

Can i request Luxiem boys(+ Ver cause he's my pathetic boyfailure)'s reactions to finding out that their s/o has a naturally cold body temperature?Like you'd think they'd be warm from their personality but when you touch them it's just freezing cold and they just go (:

Anyways please take care of yourself,drink and eat enough and rest enough !! Your health is important pookie

-K Anon

Luxiem + Ver with S/O Who has a Cold Body Temperature

• before you guys had actually met up irl (met through NIJI) and you told him how cold your hands always were, he lowkey didnt believe you because you just have such a warm personality

• however, when you guys first get together irl, first thing he’s doing is holding your hand because he’s so smitten

• and then his eyes go wide and hes just like??

• even though you don’t actually feel cold, he’ll take both of your hands in his and try to warm them up

• he also lowkey likes it too because he definitely prefers to be cold when sleeping and when you guys are cuddling hes just 🥰🥰

• our boyfailure just loves u sm!!!

• i love ver but i’ll be honest idk too much about him so writing for him is xtra hard 😭😭

• lets say you guys knew each other before niji

• maybe you went to the same high school and started dating then?

• anyway he genuinely worries for you, he does his research and its a pretty big sign for low iron so he’ll probably always ask if theres anything thats bothering you and you have to reassure him that its okay

• im sorry but he DEFINITELY blows on your hands softly to warm them up :((

• hes such a horndog but he can be so so soft and sweet

• and he knows how soft he is with you and isnt afraid to admit that he is!!

• he will NOT hide the fact that he loves you!!

• even if you’re not actually cold your skin just is, he’ll still tuck you in with extra blankets and make sure to cuddle the coldest parts of your body!!

• im sorry but he cracks a few jokes about you being elsa or some shit

• he probably flinches the first time he feels how cold your hand is :((

• he prefers being cozy and warm so it’s a big adjustment for him but he’ll do ANYTHING for you!!!

• definitely teases you about it as long as he knows your comfortable with it, otherwise he wouldnt

• i watch mysta, but again, not one of my oshi’s so its somewhat hard to think of things to add but i swear im trying

• even after knowing about your body temperature, he still probably flinches sometimes :((

• poor baby loves you so much and he wants you to know that and he feels so fucking bad because he doesn’t think hes showing it enough

• apologizes to you repeatedly about it :(

• much like vox, he’ll definitely make sure you’re always covered up even if you’re not actually cold

• “mysta, im having a heat stroke..”

• “too bad.” *sticks tongue out at you*

• GOLDEN RETRIEVER GIVES YOU HIS GLOVES

• “y/n, baby, are you okay? 🥺”

• looks at you exactly like that emoji

• holds your hands in his and probably presses them up against his chest for extra warmth 💟💟

• is the type to make you hot chocolate not only because it tastes good and you like it but because it’ll warm up your body

• hes so thorough with everything he does and remembers everything about you :((

• much like vox, he looks it up and once he sees that it could be something like low iron hes just like :0

• he hadnt even thought about that!!! what kind of a boyfriend was he!!!!

• ^ the best one ever

• HE LOVES TAKING WARM SHOWERS/BATHS WITH YOU

• im brain rotting i want to shower with him

• pls he deserves so much love how has he never had a gf anyone would be so lucky shouldve been me shouldve been me oh my god

• no parasocial

• anyways probably tells the lucubs and your fanbase about how cold you are just naturally and how hes worried, and when the clip gets shown to you youre just like 🥹🥹🥹

• “yeah, chat! Y/N is so cold, it kinda worries me. Apparently it can mean a lot of things and im scared they might have low iron or something..” *with a pout*

• and that was when they realized something was going on between you two

• THE MAN OF SEX HIMSELF

• anyways, much like vox, he definitely blows softly on your hands with warm breath to warm them up im so :(

• he also, like luca, will probably get you gloves (he would lend you his but they wouldn’t fo much)

• he probably reads to you while holding your hand and will look at you now and then just to make sure you’re ACTUALLY not cold

• he worries so much about you and being an overthinker doesnt help his case

• i imagine he’ll probably breathe on your hands whilst singing to you softly and just cradling you in his arms

• the man wants nothing more than for you to be happy and healthy and and and and

• ugh he just wants you to have everything good in life because you deserve it and

• i could rant about this man for ages plz restrain me

• anyway if he catches you wearing the gloves he bought you his heart will explode because he got you those and its just so :))))))))

• yk that Harry Styles song “Falling” thats literally him with you thats him in a relationship i cant explain it i just

• he also has a naturally cold body temp

• so the first time he holds your hands hes just :D

• much like ver, he prefers sleeping somewhat cold so when he cuddles you hes practically in heaven 🥰🥰

• his head buried in your chest while cuddling i cant

• brain is not functioning

• shu is just such a chill guy he wouldnt really have that much of a reaction 😭😭

[momaphobic]

Random thoughts about Aphmaus Fanbase circa 2015-2018ish, MCD & Mystreet,internet culture around that time

Like most people on the internet I want to share my thoughts on something I am very passionate about

My thoughts on MCD

When it comes to MCD I truly love the story and was upset when she ended it in 2017 but know that i look back on it i understand why people were upset with the aph x garroth or aph x laurance because it did seemed very rushed thru/incomplete and due to aphmau recieveing mass amounts of hate im sure that didnt help either ,which i understand why someone would be upset about a ship they very much enjoy and it not being canon but what i dont understand is why people were saying horrible things to aphmau for their ship not being canon ( i mean srsly was it ever that big of a deal?) , but i feel like people got so focused on the ships in MCD it completely overshadowed the main story

Aphmau Fanbase 2015-2018ish

i always see tons of people online saying they were huge fans of mcd and mystreet and dont understand why she cancelled it/huge change of content and I have a theory about this kind of. I feel like the fandom at this point was split really into two main age groups 8-12 and 15-18, I know that doesnt seem like a huge age differnce in groups but I was around 7-10 When i first started watching aphmau and was not really aware of the situation going on (probably due to the fact that most of it was address on platforms like insta,twitter and a maybe few live streams on yt and i didnt rly know how to have a social media like back then) so when all the rumors that aphmau had dealt with in the past had resurfaced recently this was my first time hearing about them despite being in the fandom since 2014-15. Hearing about how Aphmau had to deal with all that unnecessary hate absolutely broke me knowing how a few people probably ruined a fandom and how we might never actually get a finished story is very sad but also Aphmau’s content now is very targeted towards children and understanding why she changed her content is her way of still being able to do what she loved and while avoiding hate

Internet culture around this time

I know internet culture sounds weird but i would say 2010-2019/20 i feel like the internet was still kind of like a town in the middle of the midwest like slightly deserted but enough human life to have small communities around ( most the time communities involving alt fashion,video games, just “nerdy” hobbies, also,unfortunately,a bunch of very triggering stuff being highlighted and glamorized(this was probably more around 2007-10 tho)) the most recent example i can think of is tiktok when tiktok first got put in place i very much remeber furry,gamers and cosplayers getting along and their being a social consequences when someone was outed for being a not so good person or just being a bully. Nowadays I cant imagine someone saying those things to aphmau and getting away with it considering how people will dig thru a influencers past internet history and find things from 10yrs ago im sure people would be able to find some random leaving hateful messages towards her and telling them to stop or sending a bunch of comments n messages to them

This is totally a rant post lol Ive just been thinking alot abt the whole situation since they have announced mystreet season 7 and im very excited for the future of mystreet and aphmaus roleplays and im hoping for a little bit more accountability in the fandom so we dont repeat the past. if u made it this far sorry if nothing makes sense its 4am 😭 and i needed to write out my thoughts or i was gunna go crazy. Goodnight yall 🤩🤩😛😛

[luniviravosshipper]

I genuinely hate the TDP subreddit.

“It’s not hate, it’s constructive criticism”.

“The fandom isn’t toxic, no one is attacking anyone”.

Uh, yes you are. You are attacking the creators, you are attacking people who are being even mildly positive towards the show. Literally every post I have seen on there getting any sort of traction can show that. Calling yourselves “fans” but then going on about how much you hate and have always hated this show, it’s purely ironic. There’s nothing constructive about actively tearing down the show, its creators, and fanbase just because you don’t personally like something about the show or its finale. It is not constructive when you are giving the creators nothing to work with from those types of complaints. It’s not constructive when the purpose behind those complaints isn’t to actually help or allow the creators to improve upon the show but to give them reason to stop working on it entirely. You are not being critical, you are being hateful.

I mean, even being someone as critical of the show myself, I cannot fathom being this borderline, no, straight up resentful towards it. The only reason why I’m so critical of this series is because ultimately I love it. I think it is phenomenal yet imperfect and so I’d like to see it live up to its potential. How are the people on there even remotely considering themselves fans? They so clearly aren’t. If you’ve “lost interest in the series”, which is something I saw multiple people say, then just say you’re simply no longer a fan. Don’t feign being one still just to give your unhelpful critiques of the series merit.

Please, do not go on harassing not only the creators but other fans for wanting a third arc just because you no longer have interest in watching a continuation of the show. If you feel the need to prove to other fans who are telling you that you are going too far that you aren’t, I don’t know. Maybe that should encourage you to actually reflect on why other people who are just as critical of the show as you are calling your outrage towards the creators out as inappropriate instead of immediately trying to come up with a retort to justify how it’s really appropriate.

[dokidokitsuna]

Felt like showing off the "redesigns" of the Grand Festival outfits that I did for my most recent Today's Work video. I just wanted to see how they'd look with some colors on 'em...and they are nice. ^^ Of course, if/when I do actual redesigns, they'll be a lot more effortful than this...

I've been enjoying the Grand Festival so far, I think. Walking around the grounds and listening to the concerts is surprisingly mesmerizing; they really nailed the ambiance. ^^ It was fun scrolling Twitter during my lunch break yesterday and watching everyone scream about the merch (that they can't have) and the idols (that they've already seen performing a million times before). ^^;;; If there's one defining feature of Splatoon's fanbase, I'd say it's unbridled joy and enthusiasm~.

I think it also goes to show that building an intricate, believable 3D environment can do a lot to make players feel immersed and included, even if they can't really interact with anything. The "Cheer" and "Bounce" etc. options are also great examples of 'a little goes a long way'; they're extremely cute. ^^ I wish we had them for earlier Splatfests...

There's just one little detail of this celebration that nags at me though, to be honest...Splatoon composers, blink twice if you need help. (⊙_⊙;;;)

When I realized that they did new arrangements for the concert performances, AND some of the in-game music, AND the victory and loss music...I began to feel something I call 'consumer's guilt'. :/

Like, of course we should get lots of special music for the Special final Splatfest, but it's been like this for the whole 2 years...special music for every holiday Splatfest, special music from the splatbands for the new seasons, random single drops from the idols throughout the year, dozens of tracks just for Side Order...considering the amount of time and effort that goes into composing and producing just one song it's hard for me to believe that they've had any time to rest, or even to just work at a reasonable pace.

It's only natural for this constant demand for content to take a toll on the quality of their work, and I feel that it has...interestingly, though, I feel the lowest-quality tracks are the earliest ones. '_' Like, splatoonwiki.org has a music page, where the music for each game is separated into sections...and the Multiplayer section for Splatoon 3 is the only one that I have no interest in opening. That is to say, the music we hear most often, while playing the main attraction of the game itself, is in my opinion 90% forgettable slop.

Back when the unofficial soundtrack first came out and I listened to the first 2 hours during a long commute, I remember being really disappointed that not even one C-Side song resonated with me...and the rest to follow weren't much better. To this day, every time some Splatoon battle music gets stuck in my head, it's always something from 1 or 2 (i.e. the games I never played ^^;) I can't even recall what 3's battle music sounds like on command...I hear it every day, and yet it all just slides right off my brain. Even the tracks from established splatbands...none of their 'new' stuff hits the same.

If I had to guess, the composers knew very far ahead of time all the stuff they would have to do, and decided to rush through the generic squid-rock to focus on the interesting stuff. If I had both Deep Cut's and C-Side's music on my schedule, I know which one I would want to devote the most time to. And if I had to develop a totally new sound for Free Association (the entity responsible for the music in Side Order, reflecting its surreal techno-industrial vibes) and H2Whoa (a random new splatband that only exists to ring in Drizzle Season 2023) I know which project would be more interesting to me, and inspire more creative choices.

...In a perfect world, though, ALL the music could be of similar quality and creativity, because they wouldn't have to make so much so often! >_< I mean, I know music is central to Splatoon's identity (it's what got me into the series in the first place) but I feel like things are getting out of hand...something about this constant deluge of new music doesn't feel sustainable. I've seen composer burnout before, and because music is so important to this franchise, I'd hate to see it happen here...

[pleasantspark]

True Critical Post

Why do we have to rely on Fan Theories as our main source of content? Why do we have to have talented people waste all their energy explaining away the plotholes that SHOULD be solved as we go?

Why do we as respective people have to lower our respect to a bunch of preteens and teens that will probably get criticized themselves if they do decide to pursue what VivziePop is doing?

Why do WE as part as the marginalized people who are portrayed in this show as completely wrong have to explain WHY it's wrong only to get ableism, racism and lgbtqphobic shit at us?

Why do WE have to explain what is criticism and what is not when it's clear as day we felt like this isn't what we stand for?

You want a real true critical post? Well you got it.

Hellaverse is trying to tell a story but it can't find out which identity it wants to be, one minute its Steven Universe, the next minute its South Park.

"But South Park is edgy and has ser-"

It's because it's handled in a respectful manner, South Park handled toxic relationships better than Hazbin, who refuses to let go of a toxic ship.

Cartman and Heidi's relationship was truly the toxicity of that day.

"It's not serious!"

Okay, so by that logic, that means Angel Dust and whatever shit we see is also not serious, good to know SA and depression isn't serious because it's for a show in Hell. You think we critics sit here all day and fluff shit out just because we hate Viv?

You know I don't hate her that's too strong of a word, I LOATHE HER and the fanbase for speaking over victims and actual members of the LGBTQ+ and POC!

Our problems are not taken seriously at all, it's some major spectacle for you all to fetishize and laugh at, wow, I thought SuperMarioLogan's fanbase was toxic, but damn. I was wrong.

If you can't see what the fucks wrong with your opinions, when the people who they are affecting speaks up. Then I pray that whenever you feel the pain we felt, you can change your mind.

It's always the picrew profiles that aren't even POC or victims that speak over us.

STOP

NORMALIZING

THIS.

I shouldn't have to tell you why Lucifer's character is harmful.

or why Angel Dust's is harmful.

You should at least have half a brain to understand.

BUT NO, THE FUCKING TEAM CONDONES CHILDREN TO WATCH THIS WITH THEIR PARENTS.

I can never find a adult space that I can share without children infiltrating it.

This post is far more aggressive because the handwaving and constant dismissive behavior, so MAYBE if we were more aggressive you'll get it. I am trying to be nice but I can't when all I am is a joke for the writers to exploit.

[dr-spectre]

So brainwashed Callie in official content is cringe. Do you feel the same about it in Fanfiction? Have there been any takes on Hypno Callie that you enjoyed?

Honestly? I don't feel the same way about it in fanfiction. There's a lot of information and different takes floating around about certain things in the franchise so I dont necessarily blame people for using the word "brainwashed" for Callie in their fanfiction. The English localisation of Splatoon has said she was brainwashed despite other languages and the original Japanese version not using the word. At least from my own knowledge. So I get why most fans would take that information and immediately believe it's true.

Plus there's more people talking about what actually happened to Callie on twitter and tumblr which is really incredible to see!!! Im so happy to see Callie being treated with more respect!!!!! It is a night and day difference compared to the treatment in 2017 to 2020.

Surprisingly enough I don't actually consume a lot of fanfiction. I can read my own writing easily but I can't read others that well and... I feel really bad about it... but I have read a bit of this one fanfiction that got Hypno Callie 99% right. I fucking forgot the name but i was recommended it by someone in the past, it had "dome" in the name? It was about DJ Octavio and the Octarian domes.

The way they explained the shades was actually really interesting and unique! It's basically shades that play catchy music and that's how Callie got hypnotised. It fits in line with DJ Octavio too as he's well... a DJ. Plus daydreaming and listening to music goes hand in hand so it has some basis in reality too. Everyone at some point has been put into a daydream state when vibing out to music.

Although I say 99% because there's this one line that Callie says, "Are these shades brainwashing me?" And it was so clunky I'm sorry LOL. And there's this implication that its also doing something further to Callie's brain but it's not that explained well, which i really dont like. Other than that, my Hypno Callie content is mainly fanart and 99% of that has been phenomenonal and powerful stuff.

However.... my biggest fucking gripe in "fan content" if you wanna call it that is... timeline videos and people going over plot details and stuff like that.

These people actually do RESEARCH and spend a lot of time analysing the story of Splatoon and trying to put the pieces together. Yet for Callie it feels like they just do a quick read through of Inkipedia and that's it because they dont give a flying fuck about her character. It drives me fucking psychotic and i cant be safe watching Splatoon videos anymore. How hard is it to say hypnotised? HOW HARD IS IT?!?!?! JUST USE THAT WORD!!! THATS ALL YOU HAVE TO DO!!! GOD DAMN!!!! DO YOU EVEN KNOW THE MEANING OF THE WORD BRAINWASHED AT ALL?!?!?!

It's really disappointing to me that this outdated timeline video is the ONLY VIDEO to say Callie was hypnotised and not "brainwashed." And that... makes me kinda pissed off.

YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE CHOSEN ONE!!!!

YOU TOO!!!!

I can't even watch these videos anymore man. I'm sad. I'm not even trying to send hate over to them, they put in a lot of work... except for a character I really care about....

Imagine you like a particular character and you feel really strongly about them. Now Imagine people saying wrong or yucky things about that character and treating it as fact despite you knowing "Hey something is not right here. I think there's more here than people realise." And all the most popular and well liked content is spreading that kind of information around about your favourite character. It would drive you crazy yeah? I'm sure everyone has that one character in every fanbase.

Anyways, thanks for the ask! Sorry if it was long... I tend to ramble about Hypno Callie LOL! (Autism)

[cacw]

what don't you like about frostpaw/dawn? no hate, just curious :)

thanks ive been waiting for someone to ask

theres a lot i could say about her because shes been around for long enough and now that this arc is 100% done i can safely voice my opinions which will never have any future opportunity to change. this is 3 years (and particularly the last 3 months) worth of angry impassioned and disillusioned thoughts but its still not everything. and maybe someday ill better describe what i actually wanted from her

i dont like frostpaw because everything about her and her story was pathetic and horrible. frostpaw had every chance to be a great character but unfortunately she was born into a corrupt fictional world and raised under a broken system and she never stood a chance to bring about any real change (i knew this all along and i hate to whinge but really i did. nothing ever changes! meditating isnt going to solve anyones problems no matter how nice and agreeable a concept it sounds). frostpaws story is one full of couldves shouldves and wouldves

everything about this arc bothered me and there wasnt a single chapter i couldnt find something to complain about. i know this makes me sound like a total bitch. but somehow she still managed to be the better protagonist even when the bar was set incredibly low which is a feat in and of itself

i could be pedantic here and bring up smaller scale things about her story that bother me like the way she would have made more sense as an only child (for the exact same reasons as shadowsight), or the age retcon at the beginning of the arc and how she should have just trained as a warrior first, or i could rave about the way her friendship with splashtail hardly had any spotlight which ultimately made the dynamic difficult to enjoy for anyone who isnt named cheyeh. maybe im just sick of light-haired girls with blue eyes. but those are for another day. they add up quick though. my biggest gripe is probably her relationship with her mother (and by extension starclan) and the way both of them were treated over the last three years. i wouldnt feel so negatively toward frostpaw if she hadnt been so quick to turn on the one who raised her and kissed her skinned knees and made her hot chocolate after school. she agonizes over the realization of what her mother has done, but she is incredibly quick to toss out all sentimentality and claim that curlfeather deserved her fate and worse. theres not much heart here (and thank god that wasnt her suffix). its poor writing, its incredibly angering boring and disappointing and its something ive been meaning to write about for a long time

actually i might as well bring up the splashtail problem now because i know im never going to get around to making a big post about them

frostpaw and splashtail were supposed to be important to each other at some point early on in their lives, but we are never properly shown this and so the general fanbase was put off by her sudden crush on him. and i undersand that. i know were all sick of the same thing over and over. but frostpaws feelings for him were completely reasonable, and if either of them were written even a little better i know it would have made a lot more sense. and yet instead of the writers trying for anything remotely interesting, frostpaw becomes obsessed with marrying him and having his children. she says shed like to name one after her mother. because this is what all women are meant to do with their lives and this is what being a warrior is all about. she cannot just have a best friend and be done with it; she needs to want this and he needs to give it to her because its what they do. this is all very fucking stupid and it almost ruined both of them for me

we dont see inside splashtails head at all so we have no idea why hes doing all this or why he cant bring himself to care about her as a person anymore, and we are left to watch frostpaw mourn the relationship with her best friend that never came to be. and once again, although she didnt want to admit it for a while, she simply accepts the fact that, like curlfeather, he is just evil and theres nothing to be done but get rid of him. that sounds like a major oversimplification but it really isnt. she doesnt examine this in any way that matters and neither does anyone else. and no one else was ever going to! that should have been her job as the protagonist! she is supposed to think differently. its not so much a frostpaw problem as it is just flawed writing overall. curlfeather and splashtail were just a few bad apples and we dont need to think about the rest of the bunch because now that theyre both dead and in hell well never have to consider the possibility that something like this could ever happen again or think about why it even happened in the first place. thanks for getting rid of the problem for us frostpaw. no one will ever know just how much this hurt you because they never knew him like you did but since they didnt you can just spend the rest of your life pretending those feelings arent there

im also very put off by the fanon interpretations of her character, and while this doesnt affect her canon characterization its still something that drives me completely insane. theres a pattern ive noticed over the years where people try to paint every medicine cat protagonist as wimpier than they actually are and will act like they need to be protected by the other two (and most recently, inferior) protagonists. i shouldnt have to explain why this is annoying and sort of ruins any enjoyment i could ever possibly get from fanart. i dont want to sound mean but i dont find anything sweet or cathartic about her ending and i think art celebrating it is lame and makes me feel absolutely nothing

ive said it before but frostpaw can be very angry and defensive and i wish people utilized this aspect of her personality without making her look like some naive idiotic crybaby! (and without having her direct ALL OF IT toward her mother. she has more to be angry about) its one of my favorite things about her. i love how ugly she can get. i wish she had been angrier about a lot more. another common occurrence over the years involves characters getting angry at starclan for using them or lying to them or refusing to leave them alone, but in the end the protagonist always ends up forgiving and accepting their ways because they are holy and righteous and good. starclans overwhelming significance to the story isnt the problem here; its the way no one ever seems to learn anything of value and instead come out of their arcs wearing the same black and white colored glasses. frostpaw fought the whole way until she couldnt anymore. her arc went nowhere and she drowned in a deep dark puddle of erin hunters pen ink

i will say i do genuinely enjoy frostpaw for what she could have been, and i always have. unfortunately this version doesnt fully exist. but she was still the best protagonist and her chapters were all i ever cared about. ive enjoyed her more than any other protagonist in the last 10+ years (aside from shadowsight, but even his ending disappointed me). she was fun and fresh for a while but at her core shes just another soldier and she was always going to end up exactly like everyone else in the end. which of course i mean dull and indistinguishable and a stickler to the status quo (which is ironic considering the themes of the last two arcs, let alone her own story and personal goals). i care about her a lot. i would even go as far as to say i love her truly and deeply, but she is terrible. im not joking when i say that she sucks. but shes better than most and somehow thats what matters here. she isnt my favorite. but she probably is in her own special way

i do not dislike frostpaw for the reasons other people have bashed her for over the years; she got a lot of hate when this arc was just beginning, and i never agreed with any of it. she was never just a camera, she was never a whiny bitch, and she wasnt just a lovestruck schoolgirl down on her luck. frostpaw is smart. frostpaw is kind and brave. frostpaw is not a child and she hasnt been one for a long time. its not frostpaws fault she exists in an arc from a series so overtaken with a deep-running hatred for women spanning 20+ years with a fanbase that has never known how to act right, but she also isnt real. so whatever. i hope she enjoys her future of irrelevancy and lack of any real and true relationships and the occasional outlandish and/or ooc remark shell spit out that makes the next medicine cat protagonist look sympathetic in comparison. i hope she enjoys knowing shell never see her two favorite people again. thats what she wanted all along!

and her name is stupid

[mhevarujta]

"The fandom is simply woobifying Sauron and they like the idea of the hot bad boy being with Galadriel. I DO agree about the parallel you're drawing with the reactions in the Dracula fandom."

I come with peace! I just want you and others like youre anon who might not have seen the show know, that neither the show nor most of it fandom here (or anywhere except X as far as I know) is doing this or agreeing with this behaviour.

It just a very small and vocal set of people who keep pushing Celeborn hatred, Celeborn fan hatred, extreme Sauron woobification, erasure of all faults Sauron & trying to make him seem like a more feminist/better ship, like shipping is competitive and canon is trophy. Infact most of show famdom has been constantly pushing against this behaviour here for months.

The actual showrunners have never implied that any fanon ship is there goal or favourite, neither do they actually talk about ships much. There ultimate endgame is what Tolkien actually wrote.

I come because this vocal segment of our fandom with its loud hate is adding fuel to the fire of hate this show been unnecessarily getting since 2022 and I want to try best to make people know the actual truth.

And to youre last anon and people like them out here who haven't watched the show but know about it from online, I'd like to say please watch the show guys & judge yourself. If you hate it still no problem but don't just fall for loud voices of any side because most of what gets highlighted about this show online is either fanon discussions taken seriously or misinformation

That's why I said that it's not the show's fault per se. Personally I'm watching and loving TROP. I don't think that what I've described is inherent in the show. But I HAVE personally seen it in fandom, even though I've interacted more with the TROP twitter fandom than with the tumblr fandom, and you pointed out already that you've seen this behaviour there too, so I'm open to reevaluating my opinion of the fanbase.

And I agree about this obnoxdiously vocal part of the fandom affecting the way the show is perceived in a negative manner.

To me TROP may be taking liberties, but I genuinely believe that the writers (despite their inexperience) LOVE Tolkien and his writings. They've done a rather good job at using the heart of his work to enhance a story told with the limited rights they have and the more they're given, the better they explore the story. I hope they keep getting more case-by-case rights. Their writing of Annatar proved what they can do when that happens. They fleshed him out and his dynamic with Celebrimbor in such a lovely way.

I've seen most Ha!adriel fans loving season 1 more and criticizing season 2 while most fans of the books love season 2 more. Personally, I'm right in the middle. I think that season 2 could not have been what it is without the build-up of season 1 and I have favourite moments and episodes throughout both seasons.

Overall, the show is one of my favorites. It's not that I don't see its flaws, but they are by far exceeded by its merits. I would recommend it to anyone who loves Tolkien, fantasy in general or both.

[upward-centrifuge]

the seadweller post, aka the first and last time i will give this much of a shit about homestuck fish.

No clue how to introduce this, so I'm just going to tell you what is true about seadwellers canonically. Seadwellers are completely distinct from everyone else on the hemospectrum, including other highbloods, in a way that isn't dissimilar to the aristocracy. Only the fuschias are actually rulers, but the violets are still royalty. Like, explicitly they are royalty. The seadwellers live in their own little world that is separate from everyone else, and they are ALL royalty. They don't have to worry about culling, they don't have to worry about money, and yet they are still people in an unjust system and this does have consequences.

In fragments, for this reason, I portray seadweller society very blatantly as an aristocracy. And the thing about an aristocracy is that it is its own tiny society where the stakes are different, the rules are different, and there are countless eyes on you at all times.

Don't get me wrong, these people are immensely privileged. They experience almost none of the risks and dangers the average Alternian faces. However, they are locked constantly in a risky social game. One in which other people are often the pawns.

They live in a world of constant power struggle, turmoil, and subterfuge, where every single action means something. This is what compels people about period dramas that focus on royalty and rich people. The aristocracy suffers no real threats, so they play convoluted power games that can be much more fun to watch.

Now, I don't focus on all this much in fragments, because one, that's a lot of screen time to spend on something ultimately more or less irrelevant to the story; and two, I don't actually find this kind of subtle power play all that compelling. It's nice sometimes, as a little treat, but you're not gonna find me watching Downton Abbey. lol.

Why I bring this all up is again, to reiterate: the seadweller aristocracy is Like That because they are at the very top. They suffer no real threats, so they have to create their own hostile little society. This goes for the hemospectrum, too. When everyone in your little society-within-a-society is at the very top of the food chain, you can't use normal hierarchy as a quick way of controlling people. So you create your own heirarcies. Seadweller society in fragments is hyper-aware of physical differences. Ethnic and regional features that are just considered "people look different depending on where they're from, big surprise" by other castes become distinct ethnic groups in the eyes of seadwellers, and it's how they form their pecking order.

In the eyes of your average Alternian, if you put a member of their caste from somewhere cold and a member of their caste from somewhere hot next to each other and then asked them to tell you the difference, they might identify ethnic traits, like one of them being fatter, but they're just as likely to point out those traits as any other traits, like the two being different genders. They're also most likely not going to attribute those physical differences to anything other than random chance.

Meanwhile, if you asked your average seadweller to do the same, they'd immediately be able to identify one as a larger-than-life, brightly colored tropic-dweller, and the other as a hardy, blubbery icefish. This shit is a big deal to them, and they're pretty racist about it.

This is why I mentioned my seadweller hierarchy as something I think a larger fanbase would love to misinterpet. I fear that the collective tumblr fandom hivemind would see that and decide that rich people are oppressed on my version of Alternia. In fact, what I am actually trying to portray is the subtle power dynamics that the obscenely rich and powerful create amongst themselves, and those dynamics do frequently involve race and ethnicity. Turn away from the British/European upper class, look at Robber Barons in America or the games that politicians play amongst themselves. Hell, look at the American middle class. There's a lot to observe.