#just the vibes yaknow

[sharpiedoodleee]

let the man nap

[enigmaticagentalice]

please Bioware just give me any indication in Veilguard that Varric and Cassandra are still friends and in regular contact, I am on my knees, one single crumb is all I need to sustain me

[nachosncheezies]

In defense of late-canon x files (including the revivals)

I was thinking about this poll after I commented on it, and I kinda want to be brave and say more.

Short answer to the poll's question before I go any further: If you're a new fan and a sensitive sort who thinks you'll struggle with your blorbos Really Going Through It and you really need a happy ending, I suggest you stop at the end of season 8. Do not pass go, do not look at spoilers. Disregard this post entirely, close the internet, and go look at something that makes you happy. (Also fuck every part of society that characterizes sensitivity as inherently weak and bad and some kind of personal failing, you are valid.)

That said, "quality" as a concept is entirely subjective, and the question of whether or not there's a decline in quality for any story is wholly subjective, too. In the case of x files? I'm not convinced there is a decline. I am going to be upfront that I haven't yet watched past season 8, though I am almost completely spoiled on events after that - and the reason I haven't watched yet is not because of how I know events are going to unfold, but simply because I don't want it to end!!! Ohh, the tension between "I CAN'T WAIT!!!" and "Nooo don't be over D:"

When I first came to txf fandom on tumblr and gradually became spoiled about what happens in late canon though, I was often left uncomfortable and tbh kinda queasy about it. As I said in my comment on the poll, the hate for especially the revival and IWTB, or to a lesser extent even seasons 8 & 9, is very well documented. But! There are other takes to be found here on tumblr if you figure out where to look, and my feelings have changed!

The thing is, I have yet to find myself in any fandom where there isn't a vocal subset of fans who dislike the story after a certain point. I am not joking when I say that no one hates the things they love as passionately as sci-fi and fantasy fans. In my experience, it often hinges on the extent to which a viewer has strong notions on where they would like the characters to end up. In particular with series where shipping is a dominant component for the bulk of a fandom, I have almost universally found that there comes some turning point in the story where "let them be happy you cowards" is the dominant view, and things that compromise the attainment of a degree of romantic stability and/or domesticity are, to many fans, annoying at best and despicable at worst. But! As one tagset on the linked poll said:

and I think for any fandom, that last tag especially is so so so important. (I think that's harder for people watching a weekly series live, bc you have so much time to analyze and speculate and dream before the next breadcrumb drops, but I digress.)

So why am I saying this and how do I apply it to x files? Well, I eventually found that there are also a subset of fans who find redeeming things right up to the very end and actually quite like the whole thing! The things that I had seen people rage and ventpost so much about honestly never quite sounded to me as "out of character" or "untrue to the story" etc as those same ventposts made them sound. And I've discovered I'm not the only one who felt that way. Do I love that the spooky squad had to go through all of those things? No, those poor guys D: Life is hard and they have been through so much trauma. But do those events and their choices make sense to me in light of everything that came before? Yes! And I honestly can't wait to see them fight to overcome those things, breaking, healing, always learning, always growing, always getting better.

So if you're wondering "where does it go wrong"... well, I'm a completionist, as many people who've answered that post are, but also my personal opinion is that I don't think it does go wrong. If you're new and interested in exploring why I've gone from "vaguely queasy" to "excited" about the whole thing, or want to maybe balance out the impressions you're getting about the later seasons before deciding whether or not you want to see the whole thing, I'll put a few blog names in the comments.

Final admission: even once I started feeling a little more confident in the possibility that "actually ok maybe I'm not crazy, maybe this all kind of is in character and does make sense", there was one big plot point that I was NOT looking forward to and I thought I would never be comfortable about. In hindsight, I think my discomfort came from the negative responses being SO seemingly universal that I hadn't stopped to let myself truly consider other possible interpretations on that point. (I mean my initial instinct when I first read about it was, why are we mad about this?? CSM is literally the most unreliable narrator in history???? it's obviously fake news?????? this must be either a fever dream someone's having or it's a misdirection ploy against whatever shadowy forces might still be lurking?????????????? but for whatever reason I guess I had halfway written that off.) Happily, just last month there's a new post-s11 novel out, and although reviews for the book as a whole are mixed, it seems to have laid the groundwork for resolving that plot issue in a way I think most fans would be broadly happy with. If you're interested in being spoiled about that and seeing how, I recommend searching #perihelion on @agent-troi who liveblogged reading it with receipts, scroll back chronological-style to the first post on the subject and see how it unfolded. (And never forget that Dana Katherine Scully is the queen of denial as a coping mechanism lol)

Everyone's mileage will vary. Each person can feel however they want! But for anyone new, I wanted you to know that the very many ventposts you might be seeing are not all there is to this show or its fandom. Some of us love it despite - or even because of - all the things that went "wrong". I think we just don't talk about it as much.

[quirkle2]

so what if . slime rancher au

[i-carry-many]

if i won the lottery i wouldn't tell anyone, but there would be signs (roadtrip to every marble hornets location)

[blood-mocha-latte]

excerpts

[artist-rat]

grabbing my da ocs to give them an og story in an og setting. testing some new looks. barbie meme is the first thing i draw

this has been my announcement

[kai-the-first]

I feel like Fig and the Cig Figs sounds like Paramore (despite there already being a fan band for them)

[hyperfixation-symposium]

"How long were we separated for?" BBH....

BBH and Forever are adorable. This line in particular just made me very happy.

I don't even SHIP 4Halo WHAT

[anarchy-and-piglins]

OKAY NO WAIT we can have one discourse post as a treat because I just realized something:

I love people who like c!Techno/are c!Techno sympathizers

I respect people who dislike c!Techno for the right reasons (because he’s certainly not a flawless character and has made mistakes that I understand can subjectively make him unlikable to people)

BUT as soon as somebody dislikes c!Techno because ‘he has no character development’/‘he never learned from his mistakes’/’he never faces narrative consequences for his actions’ I will automatically distrust them for showing a fundamental misunderstanding of c!Techno’s entire character that betrays they either haven’t watched his pov at all (most likely) or they have watched but their narrative analysis is just a new low

[fearsomefairytailfan]

Writing mostly gajevy and especially a lot of Levy centric stuff has given me a really silly phenomenon where i kind of just forget... about the main cast of Fairy Tail. Like I'll be writing a scene in the guild hall and im like well obviously Bisca would do this and Cana would tell her this. And then i need a rowdy character to interrupt them i know I'll have Jet and Droy get into an argument! And then im finishing up the scene and im like... oh i could've thrown Natsu in there somewhere he is also usually at the guild hall.

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

dc brain rot anon here just to recommend @thepandaredd on tiktok for their batfamily content because I think you’ll appreciate the chaotic energy 😂

Nooooo omg I LOVE panda his batfam content got me through campaigning for REAL. My fave is the Batman who laughs meeting the batbros. Truly a piece of cinematic excellence. The timing, the angles. "Joker's wet dream?" Glorious.

[bugpoasting]

feels like such a slamdunk fic concept/prompt but. beatles-monkees 4 for 4 fucking at some random party in the 2 or so years when the monkees were relevant. there's soo much that can be done here

[asheoninactive]

i need to like . make a post that like properly constructs my opinion on modern vocaloid music but like i swear they dont make music like they used to nowadays and it kind of blows

[mistsofavalon13]

bill and frank would’ve been friends with henry and pike from big eden :/

[zuble]

I WAS LEGIT JUST JOKING ABOUT DESUHIKO BEING A COSPLAYER. MY DANGANRONPA JOKE PREDICTIONS COMING TRUE IS BACK BABY.