#just an observation of the very different ways people engage in fandom and watch this show

[sureuncertainty]

can't stop thinking about the duality of the HB fandom on reddit vs. tumblr in regards to the new short

like over on reddit you have people like "Yeah the new short was funny but there wasn't much depth or character development oh well, at least we got some good memes out of it"

and then you have tumblr posts that are like. 3000 word dissertations analyzing the psychology of blitz's sexual performance and what that means for his relationship with stolas, treating it as ESSENTIAL character info

[tea-with-evan-and-me]

Hi admin. I really don’t want this posted unless you think it’s for the best. I’m extremely anxious right now. I don’t even know what to say. I’m the one who took the pic yesterday at the airport. I bought the event tickets and booked flights a month ago. I didn’t expect to ever see him outside of a public event like at an airport. I didn’t know what to do. Should I bug him and try to talk to him? Or not bother him? I’m too shy and anxious to talk and I’ve seen so many pics of him at airports and coffee shops and I thought Evan fans would like another. I completely regret posting it let alone taking it or even going near him even though I planned on sitting in that area before I even recognized him. I feel terrible that I invaded his privacy and I never had any bad intentions and never would want to upset him. It kills me most that he might be upset right now. I never thought it would blow up like this since others have done the same, but it did. I guess it’s because all I ever posted on Twitter was Evan stuff and nothing personal. That’s because I’m terrified of criticism and too scared to post things. But Evan stuff made me happy so I’d risk any negativity. I went up to watch them film Tron. The outdoor filming locations were public knowledge posted on Twitter and I don’t live far from there. I am weird like you said (the good weird) but I promise I’m not a stalker. I’m sorry to Evan if I offended or hurt him. Hindsight is 20/20 and I would do it all differently if I could. The account is deleted. I will never post or talk about Evan again. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I love your blog. And again, Evan, if you ever read this, I’m sorry.

i am posting this just because i actually do believe it's important for some of our twitter friends who may be reading my blog to get a reality check about this situation. i can promise you, the very same fans who are acting aghast at your airport photo regularly reblog/retweet/post and save photos taken over the past 10+ years of evan at airports, at restaurants, in all sorts of public places.. without his knowledge or consent, including countless paparazzi photos, which seem far more intrusive and inappropriate than a single airport shot. they do it without a second thought or any sort of guilt, but because you had a face and name they could attach to that one particular shot, and it was easy for people to click on your profile and see you had met evan previously and are a big fan of his, unfortunately some people have created a narrative and ran with it. ironic but… doesn't that sound familiar?

i'm not going to let people do this on my blog. you did absolutely nothing wrong or anything that you should be feeling badly about. i know i get on here and unload PLENTY of criticism for the fans who cross boundaries, disrespect evan as a human, and display unstable behavior but this is not one of them. this is about people being ugly and judgmental over someone, you, who paid for tickets to events and behaved as a fan. going to meet & greets you paid for does not make you a stalker. going to a movie set like tons of other people do every day does not make you a stalker. observing an awards show does not make you a stalker. none of these things are indicative of someone who is acting inappropriately or has some sort of delusions they're going to capture evan peters or find a way to enter into his life. and if you're someone outside of fandom, i don't expect you to understand that these things i just named off are extremely common and not some sign that you're going to kidnap your favorite celebrity. but if you're on my blog, i do sort of expect you to understand that people who engage in fandom routinely do meet their favorite celebrities and go to events to see them, and that isn't automatically indicative of anything nefarious. for instance: you know i have been very vocal in my criticism of the weird behavior jackie has exhibited online, but i didn't post any of the numerous messages from people who were speaking about her at the M&G because she paid to be there, and i have not heard she did anything questionable in his presence.. so why should i give a fuck that she stood in line and took photos just like the other tons of fans who did the same? that's an appropriate way to meet a celebrity you admire.

this will make some of you mad, but you need to hear it regardless: evan peters is not our personal friend from missouri. evan peters is a multi-millionaire actor, celebrity and public figure who is not entitled to the same privacy you and i are. no celebrity is - the very concept is contradictory. if you want discretion and privacy, you're not going to get it as a celebrity. period. argue with your mother.

if you believe evan peters is somewhere trembling, deeply traumatized because the 12 millionth candid photo of him has been released to the internet, i'm going to need for you (not literally you) to come to reality with me. he is most certainly fine even if he finds the concept of being photographed in public bothersome. and even as someone who is deeply sensitive to the fact that social anxiety and discomfort can be crippling, please remember that the man is damn near 40 years old and been in this industry for the majority of his life. he knows how to deal with it. i've said this multiple times already, but anyone reading this who disagrees and thinks a celebrity shouldn't be photographed without their knowledge and consent: you're absolutely entitled to your opinion and i respect that. but i'd be a total and complete hypocrite to sit here and tell you, while i'm running an evan peters tea and discussion blog, that i'm just outraged that a fan took a photo in an airport. i am not. we regularly engage in conversation about the darkest, most painful aspects of evan's life while we are actually strangers. why do we even know any of the things that we know? because he is a celebrity, not a private citizen.

please don't beat yourself up over this. even if you are regretful, at the end of the day, it seems like you had absolutely zero ill intentions and did nothing to bother him, or attempt to cross boundaries to be close to him in an inappropriate fashion. i'm sorry that people have taken something that made you happy and hurt no one, and turned it into something ugly. that wasn't necessary. quite frankly, within the fandom i think there are some people who feel envy that you got ''lucky'' and met evan, and that you've met him multiple times, in legitimate ways. people need to save their outrage for the ''fans'' who are quite literally acting atrociously these days and largely going unchecked. this is the last message i'm posting about this incident.

[random-and-average]

Can you do yandere Miguel x gn reader who has sans ability? I'm talking about that reader that has sans ability. They can teleport, they can summon a gaster blaster and something else! If you don't know sans. U can search them in Google, "sans undertale ability". You can make the reader be okay with Miguel kidnapping them or something. The reader doesn't have to look like sans or anything. Ignore this if u don't take request

I kinda take requests? As of now, I don't have any clear and defined will do's and will not's (plus, I have to figure out what fandoms I can write for since I usually don't engage with the source material directly and instead watch videos and research about it), so I don't want to claim that I take requests and inadvertently upset some people. Any requests I take will have to be judged on a case-by-case basis. Though your request is fine!

Also, sorry if advance if this isn't exactly what you wanted. After writing this whole thing, I realized that the reader's powers weren't a big part of the "headcanon," but I didn't have the heart to delete all of it :')

Yandere Miguel O'Hara x G/N Sans-like!S/O

Content Warning(s): unwilling imprisonment, kidnapping, Miguel pushing his subordinates around, Miguel snapping, Google Translate Spanish, possibly OOC Miguel, cringe writing, cringe dialogue, bastardization of Sans's powers

Handy Background Info

In this situation, I'd imagine you possessing hyper-cosmic awareness (being aware of different timelines and universes beyond your own as well as what goes on in them, though your powers are stronger than Sans's in this regard 'cause I like a nigh omniscient reader), time stopping abilities (because I personally believe that Sans doesn't teleport but rather stops time), and determination construct creation powers (essentially, you can create whatever you please, such as gaster blasters, via your determination)

Everyone in your universe has the ability to construct things based on the determination they have; however, your other two abilities are unique to you due to... very, very interesting reasons ☺

(In fact, the Spider-Man of your universe utilizes his determination to create his webs)

Since it'd be such a shame to only take Sans's powers, you also possess some of his signature traits—his permanent smile, though in your case it's more out of choice rather than something you were born with, and his chill nature

"Headcanon" Territory

I

You were brought back to HQ after you were accidentally sent to another universe

However, you weren't scared; you didn't even bat an eye

You simply accepted it for what it was, even the pain that came with "glitching"

But this was the first time you've ever been in this situation, which was suspicious

Naturally, you get questioned, and unnaturally, you acquiesce with the demands of (basically) your kidnappers

Miguel... doesn't know how to react to you, really

One could even say that he's annoyed by you to a degree

You're unwaveringly calm in situations you shouldn't be; though, you just claim that you're tired

Based on the Spider-Man of your universe, you have the power to resist, yet you don't

You have knowledge of his universe as well as others beyond your own (which is concerning on its own), but you don't do anything with it

Ultimately, Miguel comes to the conclusion that you must stay at HQ for a while in order to observe you

"Have they just been napping the whole time?" Jess questions as she watches your serene, sleeping form from the other side of the one-way mirror. Contrary to the purposefully nerve-inducing nature of the interrogation room, you were comfortable enough to be fall into a vulnerable state on your own volition. Many had been in that same spot you were currently in, but none have reacted like you.

"It seems so," Lyla answered. "They were even found just napping on a park bench in Earth-445761."

"And there isn't anything unusual about them outside of their apparent apathy?"

"It'd be better to list how they weren't unusual."

"How lovely..."

»»-———¯\_(ツ)_/¯———-««

II

From that point onwards, Miguel interrogates (or, more accurately, intimidates) you almost every other day

Expectedly, he doesn't get much out of you, much to his chagrin

"Anomaly, you aren't ever going to be able to return home if you don't answer honestly."

"and i am. frankly, i don't know what you find so spin-teresting about me."

"You little..."

At some point, he changes his approach since intimidating you obviously gets him nowhere

You're given your own (heavily monitored) room on HQ to stay at indefinitely

You're also not allowed to leave said room unless he supervises you

That doesn't really stop you from seemingly teleporting out of your room

You give the man gray hairs anytime you suddenly appear in the canteen or recreational area

At one point, you're in your room playing an indie role-playing game about monsters

The next, you're enjoying a good ol' hamburger and fries with the other Spider-People

And then, you appear back in your room with a purple donut and cider

"Lyla! Hurry up! What if the anomaly escaped to another universe!?"

"Give me a second! And... aha! Found them! Wait a minute..."

"What? What did you find?!"

"They're in the canteen? From the looks of it, they're just eating some fries. Eugh, with too much ketchup at that."

"Te cae?" (Are you serious?)

"See for yourself if you don't believe me. Which you should, because when have I ever lied?"

It doesn't help that he knows you can give your determination physical form, yet you never do so

For the sake of his own sanity, he chalks it up to you lacking determination

It would make sense considering your apathy

Frequently, Miguel drops by, typically around breakfast or lunch, and engages in conversation with you

However, they're mostly focused on your abilities and what life was like at home in order for you to let some info slip

Initially, your conversations are just him asking you questions; this time, in a non-threatening and genuinely interested manner

And you do tell him details of your personal life, though nothing indicates that you're part of an organization that also harnessed the power of interdimensional travel and knowledge

It's noticeable that you steer away from any emotionally heavy topics, but Miguel doesn't pry in understanding

He, himself, has let some info slip as well

As ashamed as he is to admit it, the more he talks with you, the more his fondness for you grows

Poor Miguel

The man has no one to talk to on a personal level, so whether he knows it or not, he cherishes every conversation he has with you

You don't judge him, nor do you promise things that you can't guarantee; you simply listen

It takes a while, but you eventually become his only friend and confidant

Following the recollection of his daughter's final moments, soft, restrained sniffles came from Miguel—sniffles that sounded louder than they actually were due to the absolute silence of your living space. The towering man hunched over the small dining table, obscuring his face from your vision. His body trembled, and the tea on the table shook alongside him. Compared to how he usually looked, he looked smaller this way; the vast sorrow of his memories reduced this man into a helpless spider.

"Perdóname," the man sniffed. "This behavior is unbecoming of me."

"is it?"

"Yes. As the leader, it is my responsibility to not let emotions get the better of me. Emotions lead to a clouded judgement, and clouded judgement leads to sloppy work."

"but you aren't doing any work right now," you pointed out before taking another sip of tea. It was surprisingly sweet despite the lack of any added sugar or sweeteners. If you focused on it enough, you could swear it tasted a bit like chocolate. "you are just having a conversation with me. unless this counts as work for you?"

Miguel's eyes widen in disbelief at your rational response. He had never thought you were capable of being this logical, especially with how you were carefree you were the majority of the time.

"No. No, this doesn't count as work for me."

"that's good. i was going to leave if that was the case."

Neither of you said anything else and instead enjoyed your own tea. Even when Miguel finished his tea, he pretended that there was still some left in his cup in order to avoid saying anything potentially embarrassing. Meanwhile, you continued to drink a tea that never seemed to run out. How did you do that? He supposed it was another mystery of yours.

Eventually, Miguel knew he couldn't up the farce anymore, so he asked, "Did you not mind my... moment of weakness earlier?"

He didn't know if he was hyperfocused out of nervousness, but he observed every small detail of yours as you placed your tea cup back on the table. There wasn't a falter in your stoic expression, and your movements were relaxed and smooth. Your eyes parted from your drink and moved to look at Miguel's brown ones. It was then that he noticed that the beverage in your cup wasn't the red-orange color of the tea but a chocolate drink with a few small marshmallows in it.

(He didn't even see you move to change your drink. Was his memory failing him? Or do you have some power that allows you to do this?)

"not really. it's normal to experience some sadness when thinking about the loss of a loved one."

You brought the cup back up to your lips to blow on the steaming beverage before taking a sip. The rich sweetness of the hot chocolate got a soft, satisfied hum out of you.

"besides, what would come out of me judging you? it is what it is."

There it was, your carefree attitude. Usually, this aspect of you frustrated him, but in this situation, he couldn't help but feel relieved that it made an appearance. With a tranquil slowly growing on his face, Miguel's body relaxed and lost its tension.

"You have a point."

"do you finally tea my point of view?"

"That... was a really bad pun."

"don't be so chai. i know you love my quali-tea puns."

»»-———¯\_(ツ)_/¯———-««

III

After several interrogations and conversations, even Miguel has to admit that you're just an innocent civilian

Albeit an odd one

You're given more privileges now, such as being able to explore HQ and go outside (though you need an escort for the latter)

Like always, Miguel always seeks you out first

He still eats his lunch and breakfast with you while engaging in conversation; as of late, they're about random topics instead of being focused on your history

But now, he also brings you places to hang out during his free time

(He struggles with discerning what you like, so he totally goes to Lyla and Jess for help, discreetly)

There's also the added bonus of him opening up to you more

Outside of work, you're his emotional support friend

Once he does find out what you like, you can guarantee that he'll always bring you out to your favorite places

He may even bring you to your favorite universes if he has the time

Ensures your living space is your personal heaven, as a friend obviously

You have the best bed, blankets, pillows, etc.

Pleads with you to not disappear and reappear without telling him

Don't you see if gives him a heart attack?

Occasionally tests your character so that he has a better idea of what you're like

For instance, he'll "accidentally" give you the chance to cause chaos just to see how you'd react

He trusts you! Don't misunderstand him

You may just be an innocent civilian, but he has the need to know you extremely well

Blame your anomalously chill and laid-back personality

He would be more protective of you, had he not witnessed first hand that you could clearly take care of yourself

(The lack of remains from a rogue anomaly after they got vaporized by strange skull-shaped blasters is a testament to that)

"Y/N, what did you to the anomaly?"

"i gave them a bad time."

As a result, he lets you fight your own battles if need be

But that doesn't stop him from fretting over you before, during, and after each one

Doesn't need to watch over you 24/7 like he would if you were anyone else, considering you're pretty lazy

(He definitely humble brags about the fact that he knows the most about you compared to your other friends)

You're allowed to have other friends than him

Just know that he's your best friend

Jess is honestly happy for him

You're his first friend!

Be honored(?)

While quickly brushing his hair down in order to not give off the impression that he rushed straight from work, Miguel approached the restaurant you suggested you two could eat at for dinner. As expected, you were waiting at the entrance for him. Your eyes lit up in acknowledgement once you spotted the man's signature blue suit.

"ah, miguel, you made it. thought you'd be late."

"I would never be late for a meet up with a friend. Who do you take me for?"

It was a lighthearted question with no deeper meaning, but the way you stared at him and hummed in reply made it seem as if you knew something he didn't. For just a moment, you looked like someone wise beyond your years; your eyes held a knowledge that he couldn't discern for the life of him.

Miguel had a feeling that this wasn't going to be an ordinary dinner.

"we should head inside. i'm sure you're hungry."

The two of you headed inside the suspiciously empty restaurant and seated yourselves in the center of the dining area. A waiter appeared a few minutes later to provide glasses of water without asking what beverages the two of you preferred, and he left immediately after with a quick, nigh unnoticeable glance in your direction.

The entire restaurant was quiet with no words or actions being exchanged. After your stare earlier, Miguel was too uncomfortable to say anything, and you seemed content with not talking.

But to ease the awkward silence, you opened with a conversation starter, "so, how was work today?"

"Busy," Miguel replied tersely. The atmosphere felt too uneasy to talk in a casual manner. "The anomaly today put up a bit of a fight."

"makes sense." You paused for a minute, like you were considering and weighing your next words. However, based on the small minute changes of the ever-present smile on your face, you weren't considering them for your sake, but rather for his.

"any iteration of venom would be difficult to defeat."

His eyes widened. Last time he checked, you were in your room the entire day, and no one who knew of the mission talked to you yet. There was no way that you could've known that the anomaly was related to Venom. Suddenly, the mood became more serious than it already was.

"Yes."

"..."

"..."

"that's it? just 'yes?' no questions whatsoever."

Wary of your next actions, he waited for you to make the next move and didn't say a thing until you did. His obvious plan drew a sigh out of you.

How boring.

"i suppose i'll get to the point if you plan on being so guarded: if i am to stay with you without putting up a fight, then there's gonna have to be some changes. it's the least you could do for attempting to keep me away from my home dimension, as futile as that may be.

"and don't think that i am letting you get away with this behavior because i have a soft spot for you. i don't." The smile on your face faltered. (A rare sight to see, Miguel noted with dread. You always had a smile on your face, even if the meaning and authenticity behind it wasn't always the same.) "frankly, you don't deserve it. at best, you play the bystander while you watch your followers mourn over deaths that you could've prevented, and at worst, you actively sabotage their endeavors to stop these deaths."

Your eyes fixated on his, staring and scrutinizing his very soul. "doesn't that make you a murderer in your own right? a serial killer even, seeing as you have done this time and time again. it's also a bit unfair. you got the opportunity to live the future you never had, yet you refuse that same privilege to others?"

"If you truly know these things despite anyone telling you," Miguel shuddered, a phantom weight pressing down on his chest, "then you would know why I did it."

"i do. and i still find it ridiculous. how can you call yourself a fellow scientist if you don't even understand that correlation does not imply causation?

"regardless, i did not go through the effort of organizing this dinner to explain the causes of universes being destroyed. my single demand is that, for as long as i stay here, you become a neutral party when it comes to other spider-people interfering with these 'canon events;' you won't get in their way of changing them, but you won't help them either.

"if you do this one thing, i won't try to escape and will always return to hq. a win for all sides, really. you don't have to worry about me returning to my dimension; i don't have to go through the effort of escaping; and the spider-people unsatisfied with their canon events have the opportunity to overcome the odds."

Miguel mulled over your request. In comparison to him keeping you at HQ against your will and forcing you to comply with his demands, this one request of yours was a laughably small price. However, it would mean that he would have to contradict his own morals. At the same time though, it would spare him and everyone else the headache of any possible escape attempts.

Within several minutes, he made up his mind, but there was one single thing he had to know before he stated his decision.

"Why do you care whether these people are able to prevent their canon events?"

Your eyes flickered with some unexplainable sorrow before returning to their usual impassive state.

"you might have given up on pursuing a better life, but there are some people who don't. and i know from firsthand experience that there's nothing that these people wouldn't do to gain that future they were deprived of. i just don't want to see such a thing to happen again."

With his question answered and curiosity (somewhat) satisfied, Miguel gave you his answer.

Simultaneously, you were made aware of the different response of other Miguels in the timeline.

»»-———¯\_(ツ)_/¯———-««

IV

Not much changes if he does fall in love with you, to be honest

He kidnaps you from your room and asserts that you are to stay in his room from now on

But you don't care?

Actually, you're just sleeping on his bed (and he can't pry you off of it)

"Cariño?"

"zzzzzz"

"If Mayday can't get them to wake up, I doubt you can, Miguel. Why don't you just let them get some sleep for a bit?"

"If you aren't going to be helpful, I suggest you leave, Peter."

At first, Miguel struggles with the relationship

You're simply too laid-back for him

Yet at the same time, it's always as if he doesn't have a grasp on you

Do you even love him back?

This insecurity pushes him to go off the deep end

He locks you up in his room, which he installed several cameras and recording devices in

He (attempts to) emotionally manipulates you and, had you any dirt in your past, would've blackmailed you

"You're the only one who I can confide in, mi vida. You are the only one who cares about me. I would die without you in my life. Would you really abandon me like this?"

Forces all of his subordinates you return you back to him if they find you away from his room without him nearby

Interrogates you (again) about what you did that day as well as what you think of him

Would use his towering frame to intimidate you, but he knows that intimidating you would only give him a bad time

It all comes to a head when his insecurities about this relationship causes him to snap after months of bottling them up

"Why don't you ever love me?! I would do anything for you; I would even sacrifice the whole world for you, and you don't even care! Do I really mean anything to you? Answer me!"

(How he snaps out his rage is up to your interpretation)

After that incident, Miguel would become extremely clingy (for you only)

He wants you beside him always and will occasionally hug/cuddle with you without notice

Any moment away from you causes him to go into a frenzy and search for you

If you wanted to go somewhere, why didn't you just tell him?!

Day or night; rain or shine, he'll put aside what he's doing to go with you somewhere

"miguel."

"Yes, mi amor?"

"there's a cute pomeranian over there. it's been staring at me for a while now, so i'm going to go pet it."

"Hold on. Let me go with you."

"What? Miguel, we're kinda in the middle of a meeting right now. You can't just leave midway!"

"We can talk about this later."

"Where'd that dog even come from?"

Eventually, after you were pestered by many Spider-People begging you to tell Miguel to tone it down, you had a talk with him

(After some much needed communication, the poor man breaks into tears of relief and cuddles with you for the entire day)

(Miguel uses Cuddle! ... It's super effective! You are now inflicted with SLEEP!)

From that point on, he starts to get used to you and compromises with you

The majority of the cameras in your shared room has been removed, though there's still one at the door

Doesn't intentionally manipulate you anymore

You're allowed to go wherever you want without needing him around, but you have to text him wherever you're going

Still insists you tell him how your day went

Miguel takes the time and effort (or lack thereof) to enjoy your hobbies

Though, he does occasionally have you join him in his own, admittedly few, hobbies as well

He's just prefers doing things you like rather than things he likes since he has so few

With your influence, he starts to become noticeably more chill

He may even develop hobbies and interests of his own outside of you

(Intentionally or not, you actually somewhat succeeded in an "I can fix him" approach!)

"Hey, Miguel! Would you mind babysitting Mayday for a- Hold on, are you knitting?"

"What of it?"

Overall, he becomes more comfortable in your relationship

In fact, your relationship with him starts to resemble a normal one to an extent

At night, you're not allowed to go anywhere, no exceptions

Yes, after you two hugged it out, Miguel demands cuddles every night

He's so comfortable around you that he lets himself be needy for once

Whenever someone is hitting on you, he not so subtly glares at them and asks if you'd like to take a nap in his arms

Following that, he implements "training" sessions wherein he "spars" with anyone who wrongs you

He knows you can handle yourself

He just needs to discipline those who think they can go against you in your stead since you won't

Simply put, his yandere tendencies towards you are significantly dialed down, but as a result, they're more focused towards others

After all, Miguel knows you're too lazy (and he means that in an endearing way, really) to oppose his love

So that means any interference comes from outsiders

It was pure silent in the room. The only thing Miguel could feel was the hard floor against his back and the slight chill of the air. He was suddenly very aware of how still his body was as it had not moved even an inch for a while now. His eyes had nothing else to stare at except the white ceiling of your shared room.

Just a few minutes ago, Miguel asked if he could join you in one of your hobbies. It had been a busy day, and he wanted to destress with you. Of course, you obliged before laying down on the floor and asking you join him.

Initially, he thought this was a preparation step for what you two were going to do, but you had been on the floor for what seemed to be more than 5 minutes.

"Cariño, what are we doing?"

"..."

"Cariño?"

Miguel lifted his upper body to see if you were okay. To his relief, you were. Your eyes were closed, but it was clear that you weren't sleeping since your chest rose and fell at a normal rate. It looked as if you were in an untouchable state of tranquility.

With nothing else to do, he got back into position and continued laying there. Eventually, he got bored of the plain white ceiling and closed his eyes.

After a couple of minutes of more silence, Miguel started to feel his surroundings change. It was like he had drifted off into the cosmos with only you by his side. He could even see the multitude of galaxies and stars pass you by.

He could see why you liked doing this.

(And he hoped that he can do it again with you in the future.)

[gingerylangylang1979]

Male identity: Carmy and Richie

I’m finding that a certain demographic of fans have a much harder time relating to Carmy but very much relate to Richie. Granted, a lot of this has to do with what fandom platform you observe. I actually kind of hate The Bear subreddit but continue to browse it periodically because it’s super interesting to hear what “the others” are talking about. I rarely engage anymore because it’s mostly nonsense and a totally different vibe than Tumblr. The contingent is definitely very anti-Carmy x Sydney and seems to hate Sydney. I’ve also noticed that while there is a lot of love for Carmy there is even more love for Richie. I’m very intrigued by this perspective. 

This season Richie was definitely a standout. I think Ebon is an amazing actor and am glad he is finally getting nominated for his role. I thought he got robbed with the non-Emmy nominations. But even before S2 I noticed that Richie was the most favored character among the Reddit demo and perhaps a big part of the general audience. That’s fine, people can favor who they like. I know that doesn’t represent everyone but I do think that speaks for what I consider general audience and makes sense considering how society still views manhood despite social progress. This season even a lot of the reviews were kind of meh about Carmy. I get it, I initially was writing him off too, was pissed, and thought he had the worst arc. Then once thoughts settled he went back to being my hero. Deeply flawed, but I just relate to him so much and he’s fascinating to watch. I’m a woman, so maybe that helps my empathy. I also don’t think The Bear would work with Richie as the lead as some have suggested. 

The thing is Carmy is a more difficult character because he has multiple layers of trauma, his work is so specialized and niche, he is a sensitive soul, he’s artistic, and he doesn’t fit the mold of the working class male models he was surrounded by. Your typical man can’t relate to him. And most likely your typical conservative leaning woman can’t either. At the Christmas party he was appalled at how the other guys were talking about Claire. And this is a woman he had a crush on and is present day attracted to. He could have easily been superficial and macho and laughed at the jokes as expected. He didn’t let Richie get away with calling Syd sweetheart. Richie says he’s “woke”. He employs a woman in a leadership role. He’s built different. 

He is struggling in many ways that are hidden and he also lashes out. The hidden ways and the lashing out are interpreted as whiny and annoying by people that can’t relate. He’s been cited as not growing but people can’t acknowledge that his healing won’t be linear. But how can it be when his trauma was collected in overlapping seasons for most of his life? The pain didn’t develop in a linear path. He had a stutter when he was young. There are hints that there is a learning issue of some sort (I’m not going to try and diagnose). He was always the “different” one in the family. The other guys call him “weird”. His father was absent. His mom has mental health issues and is an alcoholic. He witnessed the traumatic incident at Christmas and I’m sure it wasn’t the only such incident. His brother was an addict that pushed him away, then killed himself. He went into a chaotic, highly demanding field that required him to isolate to excel. He is shy and has trouble forming close bonds. He had a mentally abusive boss. He was always super competitive. He comes back to own The Beef and it’s problem after problem. How are people expecting him to be “fun” and have an easy comeback like Richie? 

Richie has issues, too. Stagnant in mid-life, spent years devoted to an addict, failed marriage, feeling disillusioned and displaced, also an absent father. But when we meet Richie he’s not as wounded as Carmy. Carmy is literally sleep cooking, almost starting fires, dissociating, having panic attacks. Richie is sad but it mostly manifests as him being kind of nasty and grumpy. He’s like a sour old man with dated and offensive jokes. His behavior is dismissed because he’s grieving. Which yes, he deserves a pass. But why does he deserve a bigger pass than Carmy who is dealing with so much more or Sydney who seemed to bear the biggest brunt of his outrage and was also struggling? Carmy is literally on the verge of a breakdown and has the weight of trying to keep the staff, the business, and himself afloat. Despite all this Richie gets a lot of indulgences for his bad behavior that Carmy isn’t. 

Richie is easier for a lot of people to digest because he’s funny, he’s the working class representative, he’s tall (yes people have height bias, especially with men). Carmy is viewed as the pompous prodigal son that’s trying to ruin Richie’s delicate ecosystem by gentrifying and kicking out “the working man”. There are people posting in disgust that he dare change The Beef despite it being a hell hole money pit. 

It’s just so interesting that in reality we are dealing with an unprecedented numbers of men who report extreme loneliness, depression, hopelessness. Richie and Carmy both fit that profile. Yet, a man like Richie is broadly understood and accepted and a man like Carmy isn’t. It goes back IMO to the continual coding of masculine/good vs feminine/bad. Richie is the stereotypical red blooded American male. He wants the stripper’s panties. He has a gun. He needs to be alpha. He views anything outside the norm as a threat. He wants to preserve tradition at all costs. Carmy is his foil. Carmy is viewed as feminine. 

I see it even on Tumblr with the persistent identification of Carmy as somehow feminine. Like he can’t be soft and traumatized and just be a man. So what does that say when even people who would probably consider themselves progressive still classify a man in feminine terms if he isn’t a MAN? We accept all types of gender identities but still struggle with a man not fitting the correct paradigm. Society still has issues accepting that men can be vulnerable and struggling without being feminized. People also make assumptions about Carmy’s gender identity and sexuality based on his trauma. Like, of course he has to be XYZ because well, look at him, he’s sad an pathetic. What does that say about men’s sexuality and identity? Are only queer men accepted as sad? Carmy could be a queer character, cool, representation matters. But I just find the semi-automatic equation of queerness with an atypical male to be odd and a bit regressive. 

Edited to add on above: I hope what I’m saying doesn’t get interpreted as dismissing queer people who identify with Carmy. I get it, I support it. What I’m speaking to is the insistence that canon Carmy is queer because of his interests, aesthetic, and mental health as if that is the only identity option. Granted, he could be bi. I also think some people are insistent on this, just as they are on Syd not being into men, as a way to negate the possibility of them being romantic. Again, I’m saying some people. Also, proximity and shared struggle doesn’t equal identity. This makes me think of once when a white gay male bestie claimed we are the same because I’m a black women. I had to kindly correct. We share the same haters, we are both marginalized, but he will never know my experience just like I will never know his. We can bond on the commonalities but we aren’t exactly the same. IMO, it would be a disservice to both of us to claim different.

I’m really rambling, but just thought I would share my thoughts and open a conversation about this. 

[my-mt-heart]

How do you stay hopeful for Caryl after all these years? I definitely shipped it & while I like the characters it just feels like AMC is too cowardly to make it happen.

As an aside, how do you also deal with all the noise of the fandom? Not just anti-Caryl people but people who grow so protective of the ship that they throw other actors’ stories and work under the bus. The racism I’ve seen directed at Danai & the downplaying of her talent or her chemistry with Andy has soured me to so much of the fandom as a black woman.

Sorry, if it feels like I’m dumping randomly. I’m new(ish) to the fandom & what I’ve seen is almost enough to make me want to run away. I really enjoyed the main show (for a time), loved TOWL & I’m excited to see Carol back and to see how DD continues. Carol really grew on me & scared me a lot along the ways, just like Rick did. I think the two of them experience the greatest changes in the show. It just feels like the excitement is constantly at war with not wanting to interact with what sometimes feels like a hateful fandom across the board.

AMC isn’t the biggest hurdle. Almost all of the EPs on Caryl’s show are white men with the same limited perspective and that was the case on the flagship show for a number of years as well. I trusted the writing for S9 and S10 and I know there’s a real possibility of a pro-Caryl showrunner joining the spinoff, so that’s the hope I’m hanging onto. I can’t embrace the “just friends” narrative because it undermines the writing, the actors’ POV’s, and a large number of fans’ POV’s. It’s not a creative choice, you know? It’s rooted in misogyny and ageism and hate, which doesn’t sit well with me. Either they deliver the payoff that’s long overdue in TBOC or I can’t keep watching. That’s where I’m at unfortunately 😔

I’m sorry your experience in fandom has been so volatile. It isn’t okay for anyone to stoop to racism in order to win an arbitrary competition. That’s the underlying issue with TWD fandom. Andy, Norman, and JDM never have to “earn their place" on the show. They’re all leads, right? But Danai, Melissa, and LC—the women/woc—are constantly being pitted against each other. Why? I can go deeper into this later, but I’ll say now as a general observation that I think fans of these actresses and the characters they play speak from places of pain, albeit very different places, and some of them think they have to tear down, silence, and invalidate others in order to feel seen, heard, and validated themselves. They’re mistaken. I wish more fans could celebrate the women’s individual strengths without ranking them and without trying to justify racism or ageism or misogyny in order to position them as "less than," but more than that, I wish AMC/TWDU would encourage healthy interactions between fans of different talent/characters. They don’t. Michonne’s, Carol’s, and Maggie’s relationships with each other should have been developed and celebrated a lot more on the show. Seeing them root for each other would’ve encouraged their fans to do the same. The social media accounts promoting them as equals would allow their fans to view them that way and treat other fans as their equals as well. Danai, Melissa, and LC should also have more power/opportunities on their shows because more representation for women/woc behind the scenes means more impactful stories for women/woc onscreen that will resonate with more viewers.

You asked how I deal with the noise. It depends on the circumstances. If the official accounts do something problematic, which has been happening a lot lately, I’ll say my piece where they can see it in the hope that it leads to more thoughtful engagement with/thorough research of their audience(s). Otherwise, I have to put up safeguards because, as a human, I get overwhelmed if I’m surrounded by too many things I find hurtful. I don’t bother answering hostile anons because the arguments will just keep going in circles, I’ve changed my settings so that hateful voices can’t spam my comments, and I block fans who try to bully me. Those are just some examples. If you’re new(ish) to fandom and want to test the waters, Tumblr is probably a safer place to start than Twitter. Hopefully you can connect with other fans who respect your POV and vice versa. When the hate gets too loud, it really helps to have fandom friends to talk to about it.

Reach out anytime 😊

[thirddoctor]

Something I've observed in the responses to my posts about fandom and female characters is a lot of people have basically said the main appeal of a character is whether or not you find them hot (hence male characters being prioritised), and that kinda baffles me. I mean, it's a perfectly valid reason to like a character, but is it really the criterion everyone is using?

I feel like the characters we're drawn to usually fall into a few different categories. There are the hot ones, sure, but also the ones we identify with - part of the power of representation is feeling seen, feeling like other people have shared our experiences - and there are the wish-fulfillment characters we want to be like and can live vicariously through. Then there are the ones who may not be like us at all but who are fascinating to watch. Trying to see things from a completely different perspective and understanding why someone might make choices you wouldn't - even horrible choices - is really compelling and important imo.

Obviously those categories can overlap too, but I just think "people only like characters they think are hot" is very reductive and not actually accurate to the way most people engage with fiction. Find better excuses lol

[chrkrose]

Let’s talk about Racism and the House of The Dragon/Daemyra Fandom

So, a few days ago, while discussing a point concerning Daemon’s character in a Reddit thread, and bringing up Nettles because it was pertinent to the discussion in question, I was called a “desperate black woman with low self esteem”. I was also stalked through several threads in different subreddits related to House of The Dragon, and received DMs with Reddit Package Care (for those who don’t know, it’s very common on Reddit to send those to people you are harassing, since the Reddit Care Resources talks about suicide prevention and offers help to those who have Suicidal ideation or are self harming. Is a twisted way of at best tell someone to kill themselves or at worse, subtlety threaten them).

In another incident on the same day, on another thread about the Daemyra beach sex scene, the OP had brighten up said scene as we all know it was terribly shot in terms of lightening. A few people commented the actors lacked chemistry. I joked about this, commenting the same thing. Like stated, I wasn’t the only one to say so. I was then questioned by a few people on my comment, asking me why I was “obsessed” with the idea of Nettles and Daemon being a couple, since they had researched my profile, checking my posts and comments, and came to the conclusion that I talked too much about the two characters, and quote “have a penchant for calling people who dislike your ship insecure or racist”. When I explained my initial comment wasn’t to be taken so seriously, and that my support for the ship was loud because the racist against the character was loud, I was dismissed as “obsessed with the weird fantasy of those two as a couple. She posts about it all the time. It’s low key pathetic”.

I have some observations about these two unrelated but oh so correlated incidents. First, I have no problems shipping and being obsessed with a ship. I mean, I am obsessed with book!Jaime and book!Brienne to the point I’m hosting an exchange on them (btw, deadlines are approaching uhuu. Can’t wait). I was obsessed with Caryl for a loooong time. I shipped Stiles and Malia to the point of waking up in the early hours so I could watch a new episode drop. These are just a few of my long list of ships. Point is, if I was obsessed with Nettles and Daemon, oh everyone would know. I am not tho. Yet. Emphasis on that, because depending on how the show turns out, they might be a constant thing in my blog for years.

I am loud in my support of Nettles being adapted not only as one of the most motherfucker interesting female dragonriders to ever exist, but also as a romantic love interest that she might have been on the books though because, as a person of color myself, it’s exhausting to read over and over again horrible takes about a character who has always been sidelined and neglected and forgotten by the simple fact she’s not white, and disregarded as a possible contender for a romantic arc with fave ugly white boy of the month just because she’s possibly black. Because that’s the reason. I KNOW when the dislike for a character comes from their possible involvement in breaking your favorite ship vs when it comes from racism disguised as “I just don’t ship them”.

Nothing said about me when it comes to shipping gets on my nerves. I don’t give a fuck tbh. I love some good ship war. I love mess. I love engaging in discussions where both sides are screaming about how their ship is better than the other. Its fun. It’s interesting. Fandom experience for me wouldn’t be the same if those things didn’t exist. One of my best times on tumblr and Twitter was talking about pairings I rooted for, and ranting over it with friends on DMs. Some of the best people I’m friends with nowadays came from being petty together that our favorite couple was destroyed by showrunners in favor of another or gloating about having a ship going canon.

Now when it comes to racism… that’s where things take a turn. When it comes to racism disguised as shipping discourse, that’s where it stops being fun and becomes something of “if they think they are loud, oh I can be so much louder”.

I’m gonna finish this long ass post with a simple question tbh: HoTD fandom, or more specifically, Daemyra shippers, if to hear that your ship might be bland or that the actors have no chemistry makes you irrationally angry, if you guys throw meltdowns over jokes about a bad filmed scene or a well based opinions on why your ship isn’t the fairytale you think they are… how do you think y’all would react if these were aimed towards one of your favorite characters?

[jimin-bangtan]

My BTS Experience, Pt. 2

2-part series

The final straw that overcame my BTS reluctance was the category that most interests me in movies, books, TV shows, or life - relationships. My sister had mentioned the members were exceptionally close, but I hadn’t really seen much up to that point that struck me in any particular way. 

Up to this time, my sister and I had been watching BTS performances for a good while whenever we visited. One day she played the song Yet To Come, and I told her that it sounded like a good-bye song. I asked if they were taking a break or stopping their act any time soon. She didn’t think so and was rather adamant about denying the possibility. Soon after she pulled up the Festa 2022 dinner that had just occurred. (Yes, that one.😔) I had never seen a Festa event, so I watched with curiosity. My sister had to leave part way through, but I was very intrigued and invested in what I had seen up to that point. Not only did it seem I was right about the break, but the emotions and interactions displayed during the dinner were genuine and visceral. This dinner inspired me, for the first time, to pull up BTS content on my own, where I watched, then rewatched, the Festa dinner.  I then went down the infamous BTS rabbit hole.

In the rabbit hole, I discovered more about each of the 7 very interesting and talented young men.  They each bring unique personalities and skills to the group, both which work together to create great performances and music. In addition to being known for their successful musical products, another of the group’s greatest attractions is the relationships they have with one another. Each pairing displays different dynamics based on their varying characteristics, but as a whole, the synergy and camaraderie observed is heartwarming and inviting. They’ve been through a lot together. They have identified strengths and weaknesses over time and determined how to best operate as a team.  They created relationships that they describe as more than friends, but as family. We got to watch much of the development occur in real time by way of the amount of footage but also by the types of programs they chose to create (such as In The Soop, Bon Voyage, Run BTS, etc.)

Because of the quarantine, the overall pandemic, and my specific circumstances, I had time to catch up on a lot of BTS’s history and achievements in quick fashion. I became more and more impressed with their journey and their accomplishments. I also got to know each member better and became more aware of the relationships within the group. Although I haven’t been a fan for long, it sometimes seems like I have done more research and connecting of information than some people who have been in the fandom longer - based on many anon comments I read. With that said, I realize I do not know everything and still have a lot to learn. I also know that some thoughts I have now may change as I learn more information.

One reason I feel in tune with BTS’s journey is I tend to look at original footage and Lives as well as read articles and interviews in which the guys participated. I try to get more of my information from what BTS says and does rather than from 2nd hand sources (although I still have to rely on translations). Another reason I feel very entrenched is that I went back to the start of their career and investigated their journey to understand the context of the information I was seeing. I’m still researching and viewing new (to me) older content to this day. The hiatus for their military service has provided me more time to catch up before this journey continues forward after the guys return.  

Probably the greatest reason I feel like I have been around longer than I have is because Big Hits documented and showed so much of their thoughts and experiences. I don’t recall ever seeing a group talk to and engage with fans, or reveal so much information as it was happening as this group has. BTS exposed their excitement, happiness, sadness, struggles, successes, celebrations, and frustrations to the public. Anyone who cares to know and understand them can explore the journey at any time, straight from their own words and experiences. In my shortish time I have read their book, watched several documentaries, watched & read interviews, watched Lives, performances, concerts, etc. etc. etc. (Their journey has been such a rollercoaster ride that sometimes I’m glad I wasn’t there to survive through those turbulent, earlier years. However, it definitely still seems a bit hectic to me now.)

Final thoughts:   I am a Jimin bias, OT7 Lover, and JiKook observer. (OT7 = One True 7, 7=1; JiKook = Jimin and Jung Kook pairing) Everything my sister told me about BTS turned out to be true. One thing I learned by watching more non-performance BTS content is that the guys sincerely care about each other and are naturally very affectionate toward each other. They sometimes do mild ‘skinship’ for the fun of performances but mostly they are close anyway. Jimin has remarked, in essence, that he doesn’t like being fake and his interactions with others are genuine, and basically he would do the same affectionate actions with or without the cameras being there. I believe that is mostly true with BTS as a whole. They interact or don’t interact affectionately of their own moods or wills.  Due to the fact that BTS was originally ostracized from the KPop community, BTS ended up breaking away from many of the cringy, expected behaviors that other groups did & still do. I am so happy about that because some of the early stuff is hard to watch from before the change was made. 

Since I have been investigating BTS, I have seen many people say that when they first got into the fandom they were flooded with TaeKook material due to algorithms. (TaeKook = Taehyung and Jung Kook pairing) Somehow - perhaps because I came in from solely the music direction first - I missed that experience. My sister never mentioned specific friendships or pairings. She only said they were all very close, which is genuinely true. I wasn’t looking for anything to show itself. It didn’t even cross my mind to think about it.

As I began watching original footage that was not performances, Jimin and Jung Kook’s interactions stood out to me. By the time I saw TaeKook material, I already knew what was and what was not accurate compared to what I had seen or did not see in the original material. There was nothing that convinced me Taehyung and Jung Kook were anything other than close BTS members. I’m still stunned about how some undeniable events have been discarded with ridiculous explanations or about the efforts some go through to lie about what actually occurred. Even if we (me & anyone else) don’t reach the same conclusions, we should at least be able to agree on what we actually see within a whole event, without adding or erasing pieces and parts.  Step one.

In regard to the whole group, there have been questionable interactions I recall about almost every pair in BTS, sometimes due to cultural differences, sometimes due to playfulness or whatever.  However, Jimin and Jung Kook were always different, very different, so I began observing them more closely and continue to do so to this day. Joint military enlistment? Who’d have thought? They still fascinate me. 

I don’t declare to know for sure the extent of any BTS relationship, and I try not to define them until I hear it directly from the guys themselves. Based on what they have said and what I have seen, I do have my own thoughts and opinions about what I think is happening. We should remember that this is still the entertainment business, but it is also their real lives, and we only know as much as we can know and see as much as they allow us to see, but I’m certainly intrigued. Could my opinions be wrong? Absolutely. And I’d be okay with that - although I would really hope for some direct information to explain how I could have so badly misunderstood what I’ve observed.

By the way, my sister does not subscribe to any TaeKook or JiKook theories or theories about any other pairing at all. To her, it is impossible for there to be any conclusion other than the one she’s reached. She excitedly talks about how she can’t wait to see them find nice girls and settle down. They are all very close friends and brothers. She doesn’t talk negatively about any of the guys at all. Despite the fact that she is a Jung Kook bias and denies any specific JiKook bond, she loves Jimin and compliments his talent & celebrates his achievements as she does with all of the guys. She just refuses to acknowledge or discuss any interaction JM & JK have together that presents any intimacy that can be seen in footage, platonic or not. Before we got to our more peaceful place, we had frustrating conversations. To prevent further angry conflict, we ended up agreeing to disagree and let it go as a topic we could discuss together. However, we can still have enjoyable conversations about BTS as a whole, as individual artists, and about their music.

On the other side of my BTS world, I have another sister who is V-biased [We’re all maknae-biased.😊] and is a mild TaeKooker (no hating or posting). She is a person who likes to get much of her information from snips and clips, so she tends to believe some of the distorted or misleading things shown from that side. When I’d tried to show her the fuller context of some events from original content, she declined to hear or watch any of it, falling back on some commonly-heard excuses.  Still, she and I can also have pleasant conversations about the group in the same way. We also agreed to disagree and to leave that conversation off the table.  However, she has recently said she now sees that JK & JM are very close. Progress? 🤔  Step one at least.

The lack of ability to have these conversations with my sisters explains a big reason for how I ended up finding Tumblr.

So finally, the BTS fandom … Yes, that has been a surprise.  For the group who drew me in with their positive, inclusive message and encouraging, thoughtful lyrics, the fandom is somewhat disappointing. At least a loud, vicious part of it is. I don’t think it is the whole fandom, of course, and I don’t think it’s BTS’s fault. Their whole experience has been extreme, exhausting, new, and fast. They had little time to rest and figure out what was going on in their own careers and lives and even less time to manage the behavior and psyches of a quickly growing fandom.

I do wish BTS did, or would now, address some of the issues within the fandom, but they may need or have needed time to figure out what and how to do that. Hopefully, the fandom will self-correct, and free them from having to wield a corrective sword, but that seems unlikely.  It would be a shame if their tireless efforts were destroyed by the very fandom that they worked so hard to gather and connect with. I apologize because I can’t remember who said this, but I remember reading a commenter who said something like, “Let’s hope that BTS is not destroyed by Hybe and the government from the outside or by the fandom from the inside.”  For shame.  

Anyway, that’s my story. I enjoy reading people’s introduction and bias selection stories, so I figured I’d share my own.  I still have much to learn and my present thoughts are based on my knowledge and understanding up to this point. I still have pockets of content to view in completion, which I hope to get to during this year, like more In The Soop and Bon Voyage type things. My views are subject to change as I learn more information. I am just as intrigued, if not more, as I was after viewing that Festa 2022 dinner. I feel there are more interesting events and stories to come for these 7 fascinating men.  (Oh, and by the way, my sister was right, I now know that Jimin is, in fact, a giggle box. And I love it.🤭)

B T S ! !

[laf-outloud]

I know this has been discussed before, but it’s interesting enough to me to be worth repeating . . .

The recent photos of Jared and Gen posing with others at the stem cell treatment facility as well as the photo of Jared and Gen at the coffee house chatting with the two women, leads me to believe that 1) the Padaleckis are down-to-earth enough that they venture out-and-about into the masses to live their lives; 2) the Padaleckis are famous enough (at least in their hometown of Austin) that they are recognized by people that they don’t know personally; 3) the Padaleckis are welcoming enough in their demeanor that people feel comfortable approaching them; and 4) the Padaleckis are human enough that they will engage with the common folk and pose for photos. This tells me a lot about Jared and Gen and who they are as people.

I have watched SPN and been a non-participating (lurker) part of the fandom for years, including at SPN_Goss and Tumblr, so I have seen a lot. I am not on FB, Instagram or Twitter, and I don’t follow any of the cast. I only see what’s posted on fan sites on Tumblr (some of which are admittedly anti-Jensen), so someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there are often similar sitings and interactions with the Ackles. This leads me to think that 1) the Ackles are not out-and-about as often; 2) the Ackles are not recognizable when/if they are out; 3) the Ackles are not as approachable if they are recognized; and 4) if the Ackles are approachable and engage, they may not consent to a photo or they may ask the person not to post the photo on social media. The only other reason I can come up with is that maybe people just don’t care, but I know that won’t go over well with the AAs.

This is just something that occurs to me every time I see a photo with Jared (and Gen) and a fan out in the wild. I love that he isn’t afraid to engage with people and I love that people always post about how kind and friendly he is. It does make me wonder about the comparisons between the two men though. Perhaps Jensen just isn’t as recognizable and famous as his super-fans think he is and perhaps Jared, with his more mainstream TV and film career, is.

I think there's a lot of truth in your observations. Thanks for sharing! To your question, I do follow some people who post Jensen and Jared fan interactions, and you're right that there are certainly more fan photos with Jared. Jensen content tends to come more from people he's worked with as opposed to fans out on the street.

There are definitely some interesting comparisons into how each couple handles recognition/fan interactions. Of course, I'm not going to say one way is better than the other as every celebrity should be allowed to interact within their comfort level. (And frankly, seeing how obsessed some of Jensen's fans are, I don't blame him for staying under the radar.) I do appreciate Jared and Gen's willingness to interact with fans and I hope someday I can meet them!

"Perhaps Jensen just isn’t as recognizable and famous as his super-fans think he is and perhaps Jared, with his more mainstream TV and film career, is."

It's unsurprising how many comments I saw on photos from Jared's USO tour that mentioned different shows Jared's been on, including Gilmore Girls, SPN, Walker, Friday the 13th and House of Wax. It helps that GG and SPN frequently make the weekly top 20 of streaming shows. Jared is very recognizable despite looking nothing like his teenage self from GG!

(Surprised no one mentioned New York Minute. LOL!)

[deramin2]

I have so many thoughts about how the Our Flag Means Death Season 2 finale fits into classic queer media storytelling in a way that's very meaningful to the form. But is expressly against queer fandom storytelling in it's storytelling traditions historically built on queering and fixing straight media. And that feels like a big source of fandom conflict including calling it a betrayal.

I said it before but all the people who begged for mainstream queer shows don't actually watch the oddles of independent queer media out there and have not been prepared for our real cultural storytelling traditions. They want straight traditions or queer official fanfiction. Which, godspeed I hope y'all make that for yourselves, but people who become filmmakers are way more likely to engage in what's already out there. Plus there's a really stark generational divide. Neither is objectively better, they're just very different traditions with different storytelling goals and most people I've met have a preference they connect to better.

Unfortunately all my disabilities are flaring due to antibiotics and I can't actually sit up to write it or easily collect my thoughts. Mostly writing the tease to hold myself accountable to really do it. Most people haven't watched an average of 1 queer film per week for three years while observing storytelling traditions the entire time.

[hiding-under-the-willow]

Uh, hello.

I'm very new to tumblr, and i'm not exactly sure how it works.

i was wondering if you could give me some basic tumblr rules and etiquette?

like how reblogs and stuff work.

I'm just really worried i'm doing something wrong, and i don't want people to get mad at me for it.

I feel like the number one way I can suggest figuring out the social etiquette of tumblr is just to follow blogs you like and observe how they use the site and just like work from there, that's how I figured out the site when I joined at least. Back when I joined there weren't actually a lot of people joining so there wasn't a lot of guidance but the site's been seeing a lot of user migration the last year or two so there are plenty of posts circling around with like tips on how to use the site and the general culture and such if that's the kind of stuff you're looking for though.

Generally, reblogs are appreciated, especially by artists since it's the best way for their work to reach new people. People will try to claim likes do nothing and so you should always reblog, this is generally a lie. Reblogs do more for artists but its not like it's the end of the world if you don't reblog every post you like that's just some weird moral panic bullshit people get on every once in awhile. Usually if someone doesn't want a post reblogged they'll say it explicitly in the post or tags so that's not something you need to be paranoid about. People talk in the tags on reblogs and original posts. If you're reblogging a text post or art op is probably always gonna be chill with you talking about the post in the tag, in fact that's the more common way here to leave praise for art rather than leaving actual comments.

I keep my reblogs and most of my personal posts on a separate blog but that's like a personal organizational thing I like having my art all easily accessible in the same place. If you're a content creator of some kind it's totally chill to have all of your personal work and all of your reblogs on the same blog. Really how much you organize or split up stuff is up to you. Some people have different blogs for every fandom they're in, some people put everything in one place. Some people tag everything thoroughly some people don't tag anything. It's really just up to you what kind of organization you want to have and what stuff you want to keep track of on your blog.

Block people you don't want to interact with. Block tags you don't want to see. Unfollow people whenever where ever for whatever reason and don't feel bad about it. Curate your experience on this site as much as possible. It's one of the best social media sites in terms of personalizing your experience by far and that's something you should absolutely take advantage of. Don't force yourself to engage in discourse you don't care about, don't harass people for anything, don't get pressured into reblogging serious political posts if you don't want to, turn your gaze away from anything you don't want to see. It's the funny fandom site, don't make yourself miserable, curate your space so that it sparks joy.

This is more site function than etiquette but. Tumblr live is a really recent addition to the site, it's stupid, might be a data harvesting scheme, and everyone hates it. No one uses it. There's a place in settings you can turn it off for a week at a time. Everyone does that every week it's a collective in joke basically.

Anyways mostly my point is have fun, curate and organize your space as you see fit, and watch other people to pick up on site etiquette. If anyone else wants to leave tips on this post it's totally welcome. Good luck out there dude o7

[just-your-average-cryptid]

I feel like the reason some fandoms get so hostile and cannibalize each other over ship wars and callout chains is that they’ve stalled their “complex media analysis” growth.

I mean think about it. Most kid’s shows deal with pretty simple concepts like “sharing is good!” and “lying is wrong!”, very black and white takes on very easy-to-understand issues. There’s some notable exceptions, especially in more teen-focused media (ATLA being a prime example for genocide and the complex reality of war,) but generally speaking everything is surface-level escapism with easy morals.

Compare that to more “adult” media and the mindset is wildly different. The themes are way more complex, the morals are grayer and blurrier, there’s symbolism and metaphors and all that good deep-level stuff.

Crucially, though, the latter requires you to engage with it beyond observation.

If you’ve been in online fandom spaces, especially on (shudder) Twitter, you’ve seen the damage of “the curtains were just blue!” So many people just refuse to engage with media beyond the surface level. Everything is escapism, because what other purpose do stories serve? And in that mindset, anything complex or gray means you support those actions and ideas, because you’re escaping to a world where this happens. Media is supposed to turn your brain off for a bit, not force you to grapple with the horrors of our society and question the views you uphold. Analysis is to find the One True Interpretation and lord it over everyone else.

In case you couldn’t tell, that last bit was sarcastic.

So you have a bunch of people only looking at the surface level and only engaging with the material as entertainment, as something you watch for fun and nothing else.

This isn’t to say this is all of fandom - for my fellow good omens fans, please keep analyzing every second for more devastating fascinating details. But I’ve seen enough secondhand complaints from people I follow and screenshots to know this is a real issue for a lot of online fandoms.

No, a character doing a Bad Thing does not inherently mean the author/creator supports the bad thing. Yes, even if the protagonist does it.

Neither characters nor real people are purely good or evil. Stop trying to make that true, it never will be.

On that note, sometimes very nice-looking people do horrible things and still act nicely to others. Sometimes people who seem very cold are the kindest you’ll ever meet. First impressions are not the full picture, in fiction or reality.

(Abusers are very, very good at seeming like such nice people to everyone else.)

Yeah, some stories are just brainless entertainment. But you should still be critical - actually critical, not criticizing, there’s a huge difference - of what you see and what you think. Sometimes it IS that deep. And writers love when you notice the breadcrumbs! It means they did their jobs well :)

If you’re not sure where to start, try stuff like this:

What visuals or ideas are repeated? Could it be a symbol or motif?

Why does this action seem “out of character?” Is there anything from their past/background that might provide context to what they did? (Tbf, this one can just as easily be “we don’t care about continuity, this is a Marvel movie”)

What is the arc for this character? How do they change or evolve? Alternatively, why don’t they change?

What real-world issues could this be a proxy for? What does it say about the creator’s views?

[essayofthoughts]

🦋🕯️💌 for the emoji ask game!

🦋what are you most insecure about when you post a fic?

Not really insecure about anything these days? I've posted a truly absurd amount of fic and my previous fandoms include Harry Potter (TERF author can go rot) and MCU (... character roundabouts abound and the tonky stans refuse to admit it) so ... fandoms don't scare me much, I'm liberal with the block and delete buttons and I'm pretty confident in my own writing ability and general standing as a fanfic author.

I think the only thing I tend to worry about is my tags? I always either miss something, or tag something in a slightly weird way there's probably something better for. If you ever notice a fic of mine that could do with either tag pruning or an additional tag - please do let me know. I once managed to forget to add Whump to a fics tags and only remembered when a commenter mentioned it, I promise, I will not be mad.

🕯️how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you’re not a social person/experience social anxiety?

See, I am Bad At People. I had very few friends going up and whether or not I have any neurodivergency (unknown, not unlikely, Dad almost definitely is, but I also have trauma from bullying and a shitty ex to complicate matters) I don't always socialise so good. I tend to observe social interactions and write them well, but outside of my close friends I get very antsy about interacting with new people.

This is why, generally, I stay in my own lane on tumblr; I'll post my metas and analysis here or in response to asks and only occasionally add them to other posts - and then posts by either people I know or, for whatever reason, feel comfortable enough to add to. I used to be a lot more fighty but frankly that intersects with my social shit badly and I am trying to keep to things which spark joy, even if people being wrong on the internet regularly makes me want to fight them.

Anyway. Comments are also easy because like - an awful lot of people don't respond to your comments? And it's a massive load off my anxious back to know I can just leave a comment and probably won't get any response. And then, if there is a response, it's often delightful because I wasn't expecting it and it's to a comment I probably put way too much thought into which means there's often something fun to discuss. Likewise - I love when people comment on my work with clearly thought out considerations and I know, from my own experiences, that many don't expect a reply and it'll be a nice surprise for them.

And, like I said - I'm trying to keep to things which spark joy. Spreading that joy in fandom is one such. World sucks enough - lets not add to it.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

So uh.

I reblogged a meta from @exhaustedwerewolf a lil while back and it's because of that meta that Kash is now eating my brain apparently? I have gained a new blorbo. I will be resuming my other WIPs soonish - the intense rush of writing has definitely tapered off some - but uh. Now I have 2(.5) new WIPs, centring on Kash and Zahra.

Oops?

Look I just really like poking at characters and their trauma and Kash and Zahra are both fun and drastically different examples.

Anyway so uh.

From what we hear of Kash's backstory, that boy was raised in a cult? I'm so glad I've listened to the Gangster Capitalism series on Liberty University and read/watched/listened as much as I have to stuff about cults and cult-like entities and abuse within those structures because uh.

Boy has some shit to pick through!

(It's extremely engaging.)

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I was going to write about this in this post, but I got too bogged down in other things and thought I’d save it, so this is kind of a continuation. Continuation of me writing stuff as I listen to Stewart Lee things that are new to me, a person who had previously only seen his two TV shows and all his stand-up DVDs (I do use “DVD” to mean “any stand-up comedy show that was filmed to be released on a DVD, streaming platform, or TV channel", I generally don’t notice the difference, since they all look the same to me at the sources from which I get the video files).

The latest couple of things I’ve watched/listened to are his Bible fanfiction, so that’s been fun. I find it somewhat funny that Stewart Lee’s approach to fanfiction is the same as the approach of everyone I used to know in the Harry Potter fanfiction community, back when I was twelve years old and very active in that. All those people writing stories from the perspectives of Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape, saying “but what about the complicated misunderstood villain who was unfairly maligned by the narrative?” (I’m joking about this, but even as a joke I feel like this paragraph is sacrilegious, desecrating something that deserves better than being compared to the Harry Potter fandom, so I would like to apologize for defiling the sacred name of Stewart Lee.)

Some of Stewart Lee’s Bible fanfiction can be purchased here. It’s the story of Jesus’ crucifixion from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, which I find slightly funny to compare to Draco Malfoy-centric Harry Potter fanfiction (“What if he’s just misunderstood?”), but it is actually very good. He’s clearly not the first person to re-tell a story from the villain’s perspective, and he’s not even the first person to re-tell Bible stories from other perspectives (fuck Andrew Lloyd Webber but I do enjoy Jesus Christ Superstar), but I thought was a particularly good version of it. Certainly better than your average Draco Malfoy fanfiction.

One thing I like about it, which also came up a lot in the Bible-centric sketches on Fist of Fun and TMWRNJ, is that I like a parody of Christianity that’s done with some knowledge of Christianity. It’s not deep, Bible scholar-level stuff, but it does seem like Stewart Lee has read the Bible, or at least is familiar with what actually happened in the relevant parts of it, beyond the basics of the Christmas and Easter stories that everyone knows. Which makes his Bible parodies more fun than just someone saying “The stories in the Bible are bullshit because Jesus could have magicked himself off the cross.” I’m not offended by a joke like “Jesus could have magicked himself off the cross” (I’m really not, I have quite staunchly not been Christian since I was a teenager), I just spent enough time in church to know the Christian leaders have already thought of an answer to that one, so the joke doesn’t work.

It makes me think of some of Monty Python’s Christianity-based sketches, like this one from Meaning of Life. They’re so accurate. It was so clearly made by people who grew up attending church. As someone who grew up attending church and learning these Bible stories, I find it very funny when someone can make fun of them in a way that’s accurate. Point to specific passages and traditions that I was taught to never question, and show the absurdity in them. Observational comedy about how I spent most of my Sunday mornings until I was sixteen.

What Would Judas Do is all those things. I recognize a few of its observations, and its basic concept, from some of the Lee and Herring religion-based sketches, but it fleshes them out a lot more. It makes a point, and that point isn’t just “your religion is bullshit” (though that is a massive oversimplification of part of the point it makes, and that’s fine with me, the religion is bullshit and I’m all for people making that point with some intelligence behind it), the point is to engage seriously with the text and take stuff to its logical conclusion. “What if this really did happen? How would it actually go? If Jesus really was just a man, then the other people in the stories were also just men and women – well, mostly men – how would that have gone? Judas was just a man too. Does the Biblical canon leave us enough room to assume he was following his own logic? What if the villain was misunderstood?”

I thought it was very well done, is the point I’m trying to make. I enjoyed the questions he brought up and the answers he came up with for them. I enjoyed the jokes, the ones he hit hard and the ones he kind of threw away. And I enjoyed the story. It’s not a bad story, really. You just have to find the right angle for telling it.

The other piece of Stewart Lee’s Bible fanfiction I’ve seen recently is Jerry Springer: The Opera. I’d heard of that one before, because in one of his stand-up DVDs, he talks a lot about getting an incredibly large number of complaints about this thing he made. This musical that he toured live, and then filmed and it aired on the BBC. There were protests, and there were threats, people in the cast and crew advised to keep a low profile for their own safety from Christians who objected to the content. The venues were threatened and protested and complained at for staging it, and the BBC received the same treatment for airing it.

I knew all that going in, so I was curious to see what had caused such a stir. And, almost inevitably, I was surprised by how innocuous it was. I mean, I’m not saying there’s nothing in there that could offend people. There was a lot of swearing. There were some bleak and violent and rough themes. And there were some Christian concepts used in an irreverent way. But compared to lots of stuff that’s out there, and I think even stuff that out there by 2005, it wasn’t that offensive.

I guess profile makes a difference. This toured in big venues and got lots of attention, so it got more complaints than something smaller would. And maybe some of it just down to luck. The wrong person from the wrong religious organization happens to see it, or even just hear about it, they mobilize their people, and suddenly there’s a firestorm that might not have happened otherwise.

Watching it, I kept thinking I guess it’s a sign of changing times that this was seen as so very subversive at the time; the people who complained about this would absolutely lose their shit if they heard, like, one Tim Minchin song. Then I remembered that a number of religious people have lost their shit at Tim Minchin songs.

It also made me think of Monty Python, because that was done many years before this, and they fucked with religious concepts. But Jerry Springer: The Opera used the same sort of card for getting around accusations of blasphemy that Life of Brian did: they weren’t technically saying the actual Biblical figures were doing this. Jerry Springer: The Opera said those were just the figments of the imagination of a man who’d been shot and dreamed all this while he was dying, and Life of Brian showed the real Jesus being born and doing his preaching elsewhere, Brian was just some other guy. So it should be okay, right? Of course it isn’t. I thought of that, and then I briefly thought that Life of Brian was way more sacrilegious than this musical and it was done even earlier so why did people lose their shit about the musical and not about the Pythons? And then I remembered that many religious people did, in fact, lose their shit about Life of Brian.

Anyway, religious protests aside, I found the musical/opera good. It is quite bleak and fucked up, sometimes to the point of being hard to watch, but not because it goes too hard on criticizing religion. It barely even criticizes religion, the Christian stuff is just a framing device, it’s not the point. The point that was made hard and repeatedly and unflinchingly, is that talk shows like Jerry Springer are a horrifying blight on society and the fact that so many people watch them is a sign that humanity is fucked. It’s a damning indictment of Jerry Springer the people who made his show and the people who went on his show and the people who watched his show and everyone who’s like him. It doesn’t really say much one way or the other about Jesus, though. The Bible is the lesser fandom in this crossover fanfiction.

Anyway, it's good and worth watching, and would be even without the novelty of me wanting to know what every Christian in the world apparently complained about in 2005.

[mightbewriting]

hi mbw! how do you think the fandom changed over the past two years you've been posting your fics on ao3? the way people approach/expect of fics has changed? what ppl say in the comments?

hello anon! thanks for the interesting question! to preface, i think the nature of any internet community (and really any community, digital or not, regardless of scale) is that it's going to evolve over time. fandom is always changing and will always change based on the social context it exists within.

i rejoined fandom right before an incredibly unique (and hopefully isolated) time in history. I started posting my first fic in feb 2020 and finished just about two weeks after basically the entire world went on lockdown. during a very frightening event in most of our lives, people had a lot of free time. And many of them found fandom.

so the beginning of my fandom experience was pretty uniquely defined by the abundance of time a lot of folks suddenly had, and the way they fell in love with fic and fandom as a result. and then tiktok rolled in with its absolutely unbelievable power to introduce people to new things (fandom obviously included), bringing in a different wave of new enthusiasm. this, from my point of observation, looks like two enormous waves of folks participating in fandom for either the first time, or the first time in a very long time (like ya girl here). there's obviously a boatload of nuance involved, and what effectively amounts to turnover and replacement rates as people's engagement waxes and wanes, but very broadly speaking, A LOT of people have entered the dramione fandom in the last two and a half years.

relevant to this ask, i saw this tiktok recently that i think beautifully (and more articulately than i could ever manage) sums up the way this huge influx of newness in the fandom has resulted in some unique pressures. it hits on so many points (and so efficiently) that i've seen playing out in real time: confusion over language, misunderstandings about the intent of fanfiction, engagement with fic shifting away from the author and more towards social media platforms and influencers, capitalism in fandom, and an oil and water sort of failure by some newcomers to read the room, so to speak.

i would highly, highly suggest (might even go so far as to beg) folks to take three minutes out of their day and watch this tiktok. it's efficient, illuminating, and absolutely worth the time.

[eddiemunsongf]

hey just wanna say that as a casual eddissy shipper i've been really appreciating your recent posts on the latest discourse, explaining it all in a very mature and intelligent way. i find it pretty ridiculous, this age-gap faux-moral outrage thing, and it reminds me of a similar happening in the euphoria fandom concerning fezco and lexi's age-gap. the age-gap with them was actually less obvious than eddie and chrissy's at the time and it became clear that fez's age was more than likely retconned from 20/21 in s1 to 19 in s2 — which just speaks to sam levinson's on-the-fly attitude to writing tbh. but anyway, that's all water under the bridge now, thankfully. what's bonkers to me with this case with eddissy is the vibe i get that certain people are clearly pissed off by the ship, so like you mentioned are seeking a moral justification for that fair enough dislike... all towards a ship that unfortunately (unless chrissy is miraculously resurrected) is a canon non-starter! i see these posts saying please stop shipping chrissy and eddie!!! like bestie?? gain a couple years worth of maturity, critical understanding and a little perspective please! it's a very valid point you made that eddissy are in fact peers due to them both being high schoolers... there is no power imbalance there to speak of and that's suppported by their canon interaction. i think it does speak to maybe people's competitiveness and possessiveness of characters when it comes to shipping that these faux-moral wars crop up like they do... certainly with fez and lexi, the age-gap debate came about after they had already become a hugely popular pairing, taking up a large part of the twitter discourse from shippers and general viewers alike. even though eddissy is a smaller ship by comparison, their wood scene did capture the general audience on twitter more so than perhaps other scenes from involving other canon/fanon ships this season so far, plus their chemistry/the ship itself has the acknowledgement of the duffers, joeseph and grace... that's fairly significant and likely a point of jealousy for some, fueling the (faux-)moral outrage. anyway, i won't ramble on any more, those are just my observations as someone on the sidelines! keep fighting the good fight! <3

thank you! it can feel reaaaally silly parsing this kind of drama out in a serious way, so i appreciate knowing it's of value to someone.

"what's bonkers to me with this case with eddissy is the vibe i get that certain people are clearly pissed off by the ship" / "i think it does speak to maybe people's competitiveness and possessiveness of characters when it comes to shipping" i think you nailed it here. possessiveness is a great word for the problem.

it's interesting to hear about the fexi discourse. i watch the show but i'm not exposed to the fandom at all. i knew fexi was a thing but i was shocked when i went to the euphoria ao3 and it was the most popular pairing by like,,, a mile.

i think it’s a different situation because this is a very particular problem that arises when a popular ship feels, like you said, possessive. maybe a little threatened. i could be wrong, but my guess is that the fexi drama came from legitimate (if misguided) concern that got blown out of proportion to become a moral panic, which in turn escalated when it put hardcore shippers on the defensive. 

it’s similar, but the subtle difference is where we see that hostility you mentioned come into play, as well as a kind of relentlessness. i’m hoping this will just fizzle out when the age thing is put to bed, but i’m a little concerned we’ll see another wave (or waves) of another kind after that. 

until the antis can recognize that what they’re engaged in is a ship war and not a righteous crusade, the core problem remains. edssy will never be morally pure enough because it isn’t their ship.