#like it’s the very fandom brained projects way too hard onto a character to the point where it’s not the same guy

[apotelesmaa]

Eternal curse of liking characters who are genuinely so bastardized by the fanbase that you’re left wondering if you’re talking about the same character.

[funnywormz]

I think this shitshow with Toshiro stems from the trend of people INSISTING that interpersonal conflict must be a moral failing. Like I think there's something to be said about how people afford so much less patience to people who are autistic in the "wrong" ways, but also Laios and Toshiro just clash on a fundamental level that has nothing to do with that. Hell, you could read Toshiro as autistic as well. People related to Laios' side of the argument but instead of getting any nuance out of it they started projecting their experiences with ableist people onto Toshiro.

AGREE AGREE AGREE. i think that Fandom Brain gets people very used to thinking of conflicts in terms of "who is the bad guy and who is the good guy", so when they encounter a more nuanced conflict they don't really know what to do. i don't think toshiro is a bad person at all, in his conflict with laios he's just exhausted and starving and has been pushed to the limit and from his perspective, laios doesn't even seem that emotionally affected by the situation. i don't think what he said was right and it was pretty cruel, but i don't think he's a villain or deserves to be permanently hated as a character just bc he fucked up this time lol

also yeah you could definitely read him as autistic, and i think that highlights an issue in the autistic community in general bc like....... a lot of autistic people have conflicting needs which can lead to conflict between them/make them unable to stand being around each other. and it's not because either of them are neurotypical or bad people, they're just incompatible. like autistic people who loudly stim vocally and autistic people who meltdown when they have to be around loud noises, for example. it doesn't mean either of them is bad or not autistic, just that they have conflicting needs

i 100% agree with the last part too. i disliked toshiro at first myself bc i had been (and still do ngl) projecting onto laios hard and the conflict they had reminded me of times when people have been mean or angry at me irl for social blunders i've made unintentionally, or when someone i thought liked me/was my friend turned out to actually hate me. it's a common experience for autistic people and that scene resonates with that! but i think it also helps to take a step back from projecting our own traumatic experiences onto the scene and just look at it objectively. laios isn't perfect either and he's the one who actually starts the physical fight by slapping toshiro (i feel like i don't see many people mention this lol). i feel super bad for him in that scene but he's not a perfect victim and has done things wrong himself too

as an autistic person i've also been in situations where i can relate to toshiro too lol, like where someone is overly physically and emotionally familiar with me when we don't know each other well and i've wanted them to back off but haven't been sure how to say it without hurting their feelings. this kind of conflict is far from just being a "neurotypical vs neurodivergent" thing as a lot of people portray it in the fandom

idk i just wish people would think a little more deeply about the scene and put their own emotions and experiences aside to instead consider the conflict with the added context of the individual characters and their respective cultures + the situation they're in. people don't have to like toshiro but i wish they wouldn't paint him as a villain or make up awful shit about him just to justify their feelings when he isn't even that bad of a dude in canon yknow 😑. also we literally see him at rock bottom struggling and freaking out and i think that's important to remember. in a different context i doubt he would have ever said those things to laios

[eisforeidolon]

I feel fans should be able to interpret shows and characters any way they want but it really bothers me that shippers die on the hill of Dean is such a closeted bi sexual and Sam is the biggest heterosexual out there. I love these characters because they are extremely toxic and codependent on each other. The story would not be the same with out that. Why would anyone look to Supernatural to be their all time gay representation love story when it most obviously is not. it just blows my mind how out there Destiel shippers are and how much they truly hate this show and hate Dean without even realizing it. I need someone to figure out how we can get rid of them from this fandom...LOL

Yeah, IDGI either. Fandom is supposed to be about just having fun however you want with the building blocks from the canon + your imagination. It's not even the main point that they're hilariously bad at interpretation, project too hard onto the characters to even see them, can't understand context to save their lives, pointedly ignore a million things that directly contradict their agenda, and too much of their so-called proof is actually gross backwards stereotypes about sexuality and masculinity (neither of which they seem to understand very well at all). If they were just having fun with it, who the fuck cares? Sure, it's annoying, but a lot of fandom is annoying because it is so specifically tailored to things not everyone is gonna like. There are other canons with fans who are fine admitting they just like playing in the canon world but not the canon itself that much.

No, the problem is hellers are not content to just enjoy their non-canon interpretations in fandom. They feel entitled to flood any and every tag associated with the show, trying to demand their interpretations be considered indisputably canon fact because ... reasons ... and anyone who doesn't agree with them is A Bad Person because ... they say so. Their ship is the greatest love story (n)ever told, the best representation evar in media! It's the only important thing about SPN - and if they couldn't change the canon, they can change the fandom narrative! The fact there's actually no there there under their overblown thousands upon thousands of words of inept meta is why the very suggestion it's not canon, that someone doesn't see it as the greatest thing ever, that maybe Dean is actually just a heterosexual instead of putting on an elaborate performance of one or even that Sam might not be the straightest character ever written? Is taken as an attack upon their self-declared status as the real main audience. Which makes sense, because they never were. SPN was anything but subtle as to what its actual focal relationship was.

To some extent I get how they echo-chambered each other into believing their ship was/would be a thing in canon. If you just look at the size of the piles on piles of cherry-picked nonsense they accumulated over the years without actually engaging your brain to see how variously flimsy, out of context, or how many other more sensible interpretations there were for any of them? If you wanted to believe and surrounded yourself with others who did, too, and kept talking each other up, spending way more time doing that than watching the show? It's no wonder some of them ended up with really skewed expectations.

What I don't get is how they're still going this long after the show ended. SPN is over and there's no more 'Well, next season for sure!' to promise themselves. There are increasingly more stories out there now in a variety of media which are centering deliberately, openly LGBT+ characters and relationships they could invest in championing! Hell, just saying screw canon and burying themselves in writing their idea of "better" fanfic is a perfectly reasonable way to deal with disappointment, no matter how self-inflicted. Instead, they're still here making up elaborate conspiracies about how SPN was something other than what it blatantly obviously always was - because admitting they were wrong and the only thing they ever liked about it was their own OOC fanfic very, very loosely based off of it? Well, that's more than a bit embarrassing in light of how long they spent campaigning and how vehement they were about it totally being not just A Thing but The Most Important Thing Ever. So I don't know what would actually get them to move on, they clearly love being miserable and wrong and pretending to be martyrs over it far too much for me to comprehend.

[bl-bracket]

4, 8, 16, 24 for ask game

4. Favorite Side Character

Okay this is so hard cause I love side characters so much. I think in terms of who has given me the most brain rot, I gotta go with my son Sound from My School President. Like angsty lonely gay teenager being adopted against his will by a group of weirdos (affectionate)? It's like they made a character specifically for me to project onto. I'm constantly torn between wanting to shake him around in my teeth and wanting to give him every good thing in the world. He's just so!!!!

8. First BL

So way back when (like 2017), I somehow discovered 2 Moons (the original one). Now I had never seen or heard of bls before beyond like yaoi manga, so like a full length live action tv show was so revolutionary to me and I could watch the whole thing on youtube? wow! I was obsessed (especially the ming/kit story line). Now, I wouldn't rec the drama nowadays but like little old me was shook and told all of my friends at school about it. BUT somehow I never watched another bl or show from Thailand until 2022 when I saw people posting about Not Me on the dash/trending tab and decided to watch and then from there I got into the BL fandom proper. Anyways when I saw people posting about Triage I was like so shook because I knew those guys!!!! I, for the record, have not seen 2 Moons 2 nor rewatched the original in so many years.

16. Favorite Trope

Ok so there are many tropes that I love a lot, but nothing gets me more excited then some good ol classic identity porn (side note: I really wish that it was called something else because telling my irl friends that I'm into identity porn is the worst). But yes I love it when characters have a secret identity and then when they interact with the same person in both identities? ooo that's the stuff. Guardian is my favorite example of this. Like all the work Shen Wei put into keeping Yunlan from realizing he was the Black Cloak Envoy? The quick identity switches? Zhao Yunlan putting the pieces together slowly? Ugh it's just so good, especially in romance stuff where like the character is falling for both identities and doesn't know what to do. I also love a good character reveal, particularly when they're revealing that the character who seemed very ordinary and normal is actually very powerful and cool. (another reason why I love it in Guardian). It can definitely be dragged out too long (I have not watched Miraculous Ladybug other than a couple episodes in my French class when I was younger but I have heard much about the infamous love square that is two people), but like it's definitely something that needs to last for a considerable amount of time in order to really scratch that itch in me. 23.5 kinda did this with the Earth/Ongsa thing, but while I did love that, I wouldn't label it was being the same as Shen Wei/Black Cloak Envoy. Like with Ongsa it was more of a mistaken identity/miscommunication thing while I like it when the character already has an established alter ego thing that they don't intend the LI to get close to, if that makes sense? Anyways this is a quite long of saying I like when characters are revealed to be more than they seem.

24. Dream Actor Pairing

Look I'm not breaking new ground here when I say that I want Jeff and Bible to do a drama together. It's so evil that Kim and Vegas didn't have any interactions. I think they would kill it (no pun intended) playing a couple in a drama. Other than that, I'm not too sure? There's a lot of actors I really like and want to see more of or think could act well with another, but I don't have many other I need these two to play lovers that haven't already? Like I would absolutely love to get Gawin/First again (Danyok was not enough for me) or for Tor and Gun to actually get to play lovers some time.

[katyspersonal]

11, 17, and 21 for Micolash!

(Asks from this ( x ) meme)

11) How did you “fall in love” with this character?

Although I liked him from the start, the "falling in love" did not happen instantly! Especially because my primal Bloodborne exposure was within an extremely small and secluded group, in which a snobbish near-Redditor friend would condemn "cringey Tumblr girls crushes" XD I was a little nervous upon realising that my attraction and curiosity to Micolash was only growing with every day, that I kept checking the same fanarts of him every day. I was not thrilled to feel judged so I was in denial and forged exclusively lorediggey interest. And then I just took my confidence back with this meme that started it all:

Basically, there was no particular trigger, but instead, everything I've learned about this character became planted seeds, and yet they sprouted and kept growing. My own wild, unhinged imagination and daydreaming was the water, good fanart and headcanons were the sunlight. Ironically though, this same friend helped to nourish it; he is very good at making impressions of characters and I asked him to write as Micolash in my starvation for more dialogue. It was so in-character that it did feel like getting extra script of Mico's lines.

17) Have you ever felt physical pain over this character? (ex: physical heartache).

Yeah... I am a little ashamed of it, but ey. No need to beat myself up for how my brain is wired? I've had two times of unexplainable nausea (as it, I was not sick or poisoned) because of this man! Both times happened after a particularly striking dream revolving around him. I also sometimes got strong headaches because of him, when I was spiralling into thinking about him too much!

21) Are your feelings about this character platonic, romantic, or familial? All of these feelings at once maybe?

All of these in this order of development, and currently all of these at once. Like I said, I was instantly fascinated by him, then it grew into a strong crush.. And, strangely enough, whereas I instantly latched onto Rom, kinned her even, and shipped Romicolash, my brain involuntarily imagined an OC that I could project onto more than onto Rom, yet that'd be his sister. So, I had a chance to imagine myself being with him, and yet threw it away for familial relationship instead? This is a part of the many years long string of strange self-sabotages, in which whenever I fell hard for a fictional character I'd "ruin my chances" by making their sexuality exclude me, or inventing any other way why we could not be together even in my dreams. What scares me so? But hey, at least I had Rom, right? .....right?

Wrong. Meet the description I've glossed over at first, but that changed everything when @val-of-the-north convinced me to really peer into it all like 'ohhhh whooo could they beeee?'. Given the context, the description could be referring to Micolash and Rom, and my lore brain instantly picked up 500+ canon-fitting clues and explanations for why it absolutely made sense. I was delighted by it. I was frustrated by it. I felt like a genius that deciprehered a mystery that fandom did not see for 6-7 years. I knew Romicolash shippers would shy away from me for that one and I felt lonely. I felt proud because on the other side I started a "trend" that ricocheted across the fandom so much that now headcanon of Rom and Micolash as siblings is the norm, not exception. I hated myself for sabotaging my only means to "be" with Micolash in my dreams.

But in the end, I just... accepted it? I've found peace in knowing that different parts of my identity feel differently towards this man, and I can't sacrifice either. And I was able to internalise the differences between my Rom, other people's Rom and Rom as 'general character concept'. So I can like teacher-student, I can like friendship, I can like familial, I can like ship, I can like them as enemies. But this applies to me-me too! It is easier to name what feelings I do not have towards him hahah;

[saint-starflicker]

About Jason McConnell being a bad boyfriend and a bad person, that probably is something that people will still be saying...even though we're all so much more progressive and enlightened than audiences 20 years ago... right?

Right, fandom? Right?

[ screenshot of excerpt from this interview

JENNA LEIGH GREEN: The focal point of Bare is the relationship between Peter and Jason, but a lot of the fans have taken a very personal stance to the characters. On the message boards, I read things like, “I don’t understand Ivy; she’s just there to break the two boys up!” Some of the fans who’ve come to the show numerous times have never spoken to me. Not a word!

JOHN HILL: On the other hand, there are people who see Ivy as the focal character and think that Jason is the villain.

MICHAEL ARDEN: I think the writers have done a wonderful job in making sure that all of the characters have good intentions. That’s why it’s easy to identify with them. Even the priest is doing what he believes to be best. It’s hard to cast blame on any of these people. ]

I didn't understand Jason as a character (and that showed up when I was inspired to try to write fanfiction after watching the show, but then when I got to trying to write Jason part of my brain went "nope" because I didn't know what to do with him, I don't understand what goes on in there) but I definitely understood why he's like that for the story, because sometimes characters are vehicles to get a story told. Obviously: when the community around young queer people is accepting and emotionally supportive, then they're less likely to be miserable and so less likely to suicide. When the community isn't accepting and emotionally supportive, lacks proper guidance and is homophobic instead, then that can lead to a tragedy. If the take-away message after the show instead is, yeah we should have more homophobic religions and schools, so that then it weeds out the jerkfaces like Jason Jerkface McConnell...then I think we have a problem, and it's not the story that the show was telling. Sure people can project their unresolved personal issues with their ex or the patriarchy or whatever onto him, but if we drop the anchor there at hating on him, or blaming the creators for not writing somebody more sympathetic to our standards before framing his death as some tragedy (as though it can't work as a tragedy unless he's beyond Simon Spier or Charlie Spring levels of saintly)...I think that's missing out on a meaningful part of the story.

I keep saying that each person should have their feelings about a thing and a space to voice it, especially when it's about interpretations of a fiction, because it's (usually) more interesting why a person has the interpretation that they do, instead of prejudging their character based on their interpretation...but also some interpretations are flat-out wrong and I'm actually not interested in why when it's this egregiously wrong that Jason McConnell is nothing more than a jerkface whose face is a jerk.

I didn't "get" Jason as a character at first, but when I tried to understand then it turned out everything he did made sense for the way he was in the situation that he was in. People can do that with fictional characters too sometimes. We can try.

[sapphire-weapon]

Woah, I inironically never thought that people actually create ship-related works as a way of self-inserting??? Like, I knew it's a subconscious thing, but I didn't know that's how people actively and knowingly engage with fan works. You learn something new every day, I guess. Huh. See, I'm a multishipper, and a self-insert guy at the same time. I write all kinds of things, from reader format to ship fics and oc/canon. Like... Idk, I enjoy ships because they give you new sides of characters to explore? Isn't using ship works as a way of self-inserting... kind of takes away from a character you are projecting onto? I have a hard time understanding how that works, honestly. When I'm creating something with, say, Ashley and Leon, or Leon and Krauser in mind, I think of Krauser and Ashley. I think of their characterizations and their potential actions. Because I am writing a relationship between two established characters, it's a two-way street. It would feel weird if I started putting myself in Ashley's place, and especially Krauser's, lmao. If I'm feeling self-indulgent, I'll just go and write a story in either reader format, or, if I'm feeling very self-indulgent, a full on self-insert. Don't you guys differentiate the two? Idk, I just wanna figure out how this works, because my brain is very confused

Oh dude, that's a trick as old as time. I know for a FACT that that's why the LTD in FF7 fandom is as bad as it is. FF7 fandom is so naked about it because they don't just attack the other ship -- they specifically attack the woman in the other ship. It's very much a "she's not good enough for him" situation.

RE fandom is more subtle about it, but yeah dude. People totally self-insert through ships. When I was talking to reader anon last night about the boundary between author and character, that's not at all a reader-only problem. It's a ship problem, too, and has been for years.

[pompurumi]

What's your opinion on proshipping?

uuuuhhh idk really. So i'm gonna ramble for a second!

I'm aware of what proshipping actually means, something like ship and let other people ship, but things like tiktok and twt has kind of skewed my view on what proshippers are — which are weird noncon loving weirdos who like brothers kissing — but ik the rational side of my brain is telling me that what I just said is a fat generalisation. ofc some proshippers are like that, but ik most proshippers aren't and just dont care what other people do in fiction.

i do kiiiinnndddaaa believe that what you like in fiction does reflect your person in some way, since it does with me. for example, I consider myself to be very gentle and a hopeless romantic, and I project that onto the media I consume and create. but I have also written about some very harsh and dark topics in the past, just never in a way that glorifies or sexualises them.

I do believe that fiction does affect reality in certain scenarios... but I also know that some things are purely fantasy and it's fun to let go of morals and be gross and freaky (in a FICTIONAL SPACE!!!). but I don't think you're free from judgement from other people purely because what you do is fictional. If I found out that someone i followed on social media/or knew irl had a thing for noncon then I don't think I'd be able to look at them the same.

I wouldn't consider myself an anti (anymore) bcs they've grown a bit of a harsh name for themselves, but I certainly wouldn't consider myself a proshipper mostly because they have ALSO grown a harsh name for themselves and I've had very rough and weird experiences with them. I feel very strongly for fictional characters and their experiences, even if its a random oc that I see on my dash, and that in turn means that i cant really view fictional characters as little puppets in which we use to tell stories or project onto. idk whether it's because my imagination is vivid or something to do with autism, but it's hard for me to move on with my day after reading something abt my fav character being attracted to a child (even if it is technically canon... salad fingers...)

there have been times where I come across a darkfic, skim through it due to morbid fascination, and just regret it to the point that I feel myself physically restrain the need to type out my strong opinion furiously in the comments. but I know that no one forced me at gunpoint to read it and it was all my doing. I believe heavily in curating your own online experience, but have a hard time following that advice myself lololol.

and I think that's the problem with antis. they don't curate their online spaces enough and end up looking at the things that make them feel mad and weird. that was definitely my issue not too long ago and it just made my mental health terrible and life all dull and sad. but now that I've kinda realised that searching for the content that makes you upset and doomscrolling through it to the point it makes you seethe, and then venting about it isn't doing anyone good, I've instead channelled all that energy into finding people who share the same views as me and like what i like !!!! trust me, that is SOOO much more better.

but at the end of the day, I dont think I'll ever feel neutral about proshippers. If i see any terms like "proshipper" or "comshipper" or "anti-anti" I would feel that little ick in me, a hint of disgust... but I'll do my best to move on with my day !! people have the right to feel disgusted, grossed out, even sad about what proshippers do, they have the right to think of them as weird and strange because of proshippers liking what they like, and proshippers should expect that not everyone will feel how they feel. Especially since people who aren't in fandom spaces are sure to side eye you if they find out you post about twincest or dad x daughter relatiobships. but they do not have the right to go out of their way to bully and harass proshippers who are in their own little bubble with their own little audience, posting what they like. ofc you can vent about the things you don't like to people and on your socials, as long as you're not actively searching for it.

I have no idea if this sounds hypocritical or weird, I've read over it a few dozen times and I think I sound decently coherent. idk maybe someone wants to fill me in on some things, but I stand by my opinion.

[tired-reader-writer]

Thought ramble about both canon and AU:

It's really hard to feel anything for Father as an antagonist and villain, he always felt more like an inanimate object and plot tool (technically all characters are plot tools for the author to utilize as they wish or need, they serve a purpose they're not human people who are alive but that's not the point here, 99% of the characters hold up the illusion of being people because it's part of their job to emulate and invoke humanity and... it's just fucking lacking in Father, imo) who has no meaningful dynamic, bond, link, anything with any other character, or even the world at all. Very insular, isolated, inhuman. And maybe that's the point! The dwarf in the flask was never human, and one of the points of the story is how being human is an amazing thing actually, and the ones who abandon their humanity and their bonds to pursue stuff like immortality or god are missing the point entirely. So I guess it's a function not a bug that Father is Like That™.

Doesn't mean I have to like that.

Especially when he is used as the convenient culprit for all the atrocities the Amestrian government had committed against... everyone, really, but especially Ishvalans, by both canon and the fandom. It doesn't, shouldn't, mean that every soldier who took part in the genocide should not be blamed because Father was the root cause of it all. So what if he was? It still doesn't mean the soldiers were innocent. Father can still be the root cause of things and the soldiers can still be guilty of genocide. Both things can be true at the same time. Father makes a convenient scapegoat to heap the blame onto so that more likeable and popular characters who actively murdered Ishvalans can be washed free of the sin. (There's something about how the scapegoats are by principle dehumanized and Father is also Inhuman™ and it's interesting but that's neither here nor there)

Anyways, it's just that... whenever I try to think about Father, mostly for AU purposes like “how can I make this character contribute to what I feel is one of the main Points of the AU I'm making?” kinda deal, my brain just displays an error popup. Due to the way he lacks everything, like how does he feel about what he did to all those people? Nothing! He feels nothing! How about the “children” he made? Also nothing! There's just... nothing I can extract for extra AU juice. He's just a plot point to me, a villain because the narrative needed a villain, he doesn't do anything else outside of this role. Again, probably by design, but doesn't mean I have to like it.

That's why he's just... not gonna be much of a prominent figure in Sunburst Sandstorm.

I mean, he still exists and does the stuff he does in canon but he's not important to the POV characters. Scar doesn't care, Petunia doesn't, the rest of the Ishvalans are too busy to care, overall he's just not very present. Also the Ishvalans are gunning for Independence. So, more to do with the human side of stuff like the government and the Amestrian public and everything.

At first I tried for a fatherhood parallel thing between him, Bradley, Scar (who gained a gaggle of kids and now must Parent them), and Miles (because my OC Petunia is his daughter) but as I said before Father has nothing I can extract from him and Scar doesn't even interact with him, so... bye-bye, that idea. Maybe if or when I finally figure that shit out I'll find a way but, not in the foreseeable future, lmao.

Also, the version of Scar I'll be having in this AU is the depiction of Scar from the fic “even the nameless” by Nonymos:

Please go read it, it's very good, if you see IdiotWriterEgg in the comments that's me, this is the version of Scar I take as absolute, also somebody please tell me if the author has a tumblr blog so I can @ them—

So that's it for that one particular train of thought, hope y'all enjoyed it, not many people are gonna see it though and eh.

I still have Thoughts™ about both canon and AU, this time involving the Philosopher's Stone(s) made of Ishvalan souls, Roy Mustang, Yao Ling, and Chang Mei. Quite a soup of a thought that one is, but I don't want to ramble for too long so I'll leave that to another post.

[drawnaghht]

hmm so last week i was trying to think of why it might be that ppl suddenly started shipping Rise Leo and Yuichi Usagi (a "never met" crossover ship) when the Usagi Chronicles series was teased in 2021* and I think it might just be because it's so easy to change this iteration of both the ship and characters - a lot of the appeal of fanworks these days is full bespoke fan AUs and redesigns.

so I think this Usagi was just easier to sorta project new ideas onto, since he doesn't come with 35+ years of comics history. He's like a clean slate. especially if folks don't watch/don't care to look into the series.

which I kinda get, from an artistic perspective, creative endevours are always more fun if they're new and something you can make your own, right? or at least that's one possible aspect (of both this and fanworks in general)

but from a fannish perspective, my brain is also going like, "oh noo, my blorbo..." xD

and it's also a bit sad that folks ignore the og comic completely in some cases or just, don't look into it out of interest at all lol. I guess I kinda get that too, sometimes in some areas of the world, comics are really hard to get by and maybe some are like me, who want to read them on paper. It might also just be that older comics are unappealing to younger fans (?) but that would wholly be an assumption, since we don't really know all the reasons other people don't get interested in things like comics. I doubt many Rise fans have read the og TMNT comics either (it's fine, cuz again, younger audience + that's sorta the point various animated series sometimes - to get the new audience into the old comics - and sometimes it doesn't go like that)

the other thing is also that technically, Yuichi Usagi seems to be like the Gaumont/Netflix crew's way of making like a fun fanwork in the form of Samurai Rabbit: the Usagi Chronicles. Many of the project leads were fans of Usagi Yojimbo and even some of the voice actors had read the comics as kids or had seen Usagi in the old TMNT series (from the SDCC interview with Stan and crew). Boy even has the Stan Sakai signature under his shoes, lol x3 So he is in some way already a fan-character and has a lot of those "new character" features that might be appealing to some (the hair and clothes are very "generic modern boy") and appealing to change drastically as well.

but anyway, yeah like... I've been around fandoms for a long while so I don't mind much that people are gonna have different tastes abt fanworks and how to write characters, etc. Everybody ships their niche ships differently. it's just interesting to think about, cuz there's so many ways to make fanworks in general and so many ways to define fandom or fandom ships and so on. like it's just something interesting I realized while having a bus ride.

*you can correct me on when the leochi/leochi ship became popular and when people started properly watching the SRTUC series, at least going by tumblr tags (more reliable than twitter, for tags at least) and I'll make any corrections about the timeline of tags here on tumblr xD Going back through the tumblr tag for "leosagi" and "leoichi" you can see a sort of a sharp drop in old leosagi "content" (fanart, fic, posts etc) and then the new stuff, mixed in with various fan designs for a Rise!version of Miyamoto Usagi and other designs and ideas. but I think there needs to be some sorta archive blog for this cuz honestly, going through the tumblr tags without a pages system is... so annoying xD Like I am not in university anymore so I don't feel like doing this sorta stuff (archiving by screenshots or by reblogs) but dang.... sorta feels like this would be nice to have lol

[stranger-rants]

Do you ever feel like some people take their projections onto characters too far sometimes, particularly when it comes to campaigning and activism within the fandom? I've recently had to unfollow one blog because they're posting multiple vent posts a day where their core issue about whatever they're ranting about is actually, at its base, just their own personal issues/interpretations. To the point where they're trying to stifle the voices of other queer fans by saying that their discussions are triggering them as a queer person. They've also began to take their own personal headcanons and argue about them/present them as fact in their posts, which just takes away from their points because they're presenting an argument based on something that isn't actually part of the character, and most of their points and examples aren't actually about the character but about themselves. It just feels iffy to me, and I feel like if you're at a point where you can't approach something objectively, even something like basic discussions or other people sharing their individual perspectives, then you need to take a refresher break and come back when you can stop absorbing so much of what's being said as being aimed personally. The way they post is just starting to sound like the victim antis who try to dictate that how they experienced or responded to abuse is the absolute, and how because its their experience its the experience.

Eh, I think this is an issue across fandoms. When something about a character, either canon or fanon, becomes so deeply rooted in your brain it can be hard to understand other people’s perspectives on them. I definitely have strong feelings about certain characters and how they’re interpreted, and I’ve been in the position where it’s hard to accept a different interpretation. I also have close friends who feel very strongly about certain characters and ships in a way that I simply do not and/or totally disagree with.

I think as long as this doesn’t totally destroy your relationship with them or cause frequent breakdowns in communication, then it’s really not a big deal to have these strong feelings. However, you might just need to reevaluate if it’s interfering greatly with your interactions in fandom. For example, I feel pretty strongly about Billy as an abuse survivor (canon) and as a chronically ill person (fanon) based on my experiences as both. Yet, if another chronically ill abuse survivor sees him differently then I have to accept that.

I don’t have to like other interpretations of a character, but I can understand why they exist. I don’t think liking or disliking other interpretations makes me a bad person or a good person. It’s pretty neutral to me. I also have some pretty negative thoughts and feelings about certain characters, but I know that I can’t possibly know all the reasons why someone likes them. So, I try to stay in my lane unless someone makes it my problem.

Fandom is about curating your own experiences, though, so if people insisting on a particular interpretation bothers you then it’s completely fair to avoid that person and/or content. If someone is having trouble coping with this kind of thing, it’s something they’ve got to work through and not something you need to fix. It can suck. There’s certain topics I have to avoid with friends because of it, but ultimately their issues with something or someone don’t have to be my issues.

[mdhwrites]

So I know you adore Amphibia, have flaws with Owl House, and only saw the first episode and three parter series finale for Gravity Falls, but ever see the other two of the big 5 story driven Disney cartoons with DuckTales 2017 and Star vs the Forces of Evil? Thoughts on them?

I don't think I've EVER seen an episode of Ducktales. It looks like a lot of fun from the clips I've seen, just never have happened into watching any or getting sat down to watch it. Also in general, I'm slow about watching television, even if I'm trying to get better about trying new media.

Star Vs. I believe went that I saw the first season with my brother, enjoyed it, was REALLY rooting for Marco and Jackie because I think their relationship was honestly really cute and I thought they had way better chemistry than Star and Marco, watched a little of S2 and then my busy life and depression made me drop off. Then my brother told me about the clusterfuck that show becomes and the BS ending to Marco and Jackie's relationship and any interest in picking it back up died there.

I don't really have any critical thoughts about Star Vs. It's a very good concept for what many would perceive as a reverse isekai, an other worldly being coming to us, with lots of charm and fun in the time I spent with it. I think the biggest issue I had with it was that while it was fun, I didn't ever really grab onto anyone besides Marco. Star is a little too brain dead at times, a lot of the side characters are either underutilized or kind of boring/annoying to me (I straight up did not like Pony Head because she's just not the sort of character I usually like as an example.) None of it was actually bad, a lot of it came down to personal taste and that's okay, kind of like how personal taste made me bounce off of Steven Universe pretty hard when I tried an episode of it.

I think, and this might not be comprehensive, that if you want a full list of shows I've seen in the past seven years, since there were a few years where I didn't watch anything, it would be: One Punch Man S1

My Hero Academia S1-3

Wednesday

The Owl House

Amphibia

The Ghost and Molly McGee S1

A good chunk of Komi Can't Communicate, at least S1

...And that might be it? When I moved out of my parent's place, I kind of just stopped watching most stuff. Part of that was being busy, part of that is that I tend to overthink stuff when I watch professionally scripted content so I prefer streams and Youtube. There's also stuff I've probably seen an episode or two of here and there, especially when I last lived with my parents for half a year, but nothing I stuck with too well. It's kind of why I want some recommendations for what to watch now that I've finished Amphibia, or what might be coming out soon because honestly I'd LOVE to join at the start of a fandom and hope that helps motivate me to get more writing done.

Sorry for the potentially disappointing answer admittedly. I'm trying to do more, get my brain to be okay with sitting for 20 minutes like that and chill, but it'll be a process after so long.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[punch-love]

🌿 🍉 💎 🧿

🌿how does creating make you feel?

Alive and very present. I usually lose track of time because I am just so in the moment of whatever I'm working on. I also love when I've been struggling with a project and I figure out how to resolve the problem. It's like figuring out how to tug the thread just right to make the entire tapestry shine.

🍉in what ways has writing helped you process trauma and/or navigate through your own life?

I think in particular, writing for this fandom has given me a chance to talk about mental health issues very frankly and honestly in a way that touches a lot on my own experiences in life. I think seeing people relate to my characters going through very human, complicated experiences with (varying) levels of empathy and understanding has been a very healing experience. I've said this before, but love-punch is an immensely personal work, and each chapter is influenced by events and emotional experiences that I was going through while writing the chapter. I can re-read each one and remember where I was in life, what I was struggling with, and what I wanted to distract myself from with writing. I think by the end of it, it'll effectively be like an unofficial diary of my mid-to-late twenties whether I like it or not.

💎why is writing important to you?

I think I'm good at it, and I really like doing things that I'm good at. Life is full of humbling, often embarrassing situations where you are either out of your element or just not naturally inclined to do something well, and writing is such an easy escape because I don't have to think too hard about whether I'm doing it the "right" way. I also think that I have stories to tell and that whenever I exorcise one of those stories out of my brain and onto the page, it makes my inner landscape a little less cluttered. I also love it, so.

🧿what steps do you take to not take things personally if a fic doesn't do well, or if your writing/posting/sharing experience isn't going how you'd like it to?

I do take things very personally, but I try not to take it out on people because how my audience reacts vs. how I feel are two seperate experiences. I've said this before but my main coping skill is just talking a lot with my friends (especially other writers in this fandom) about the negative and frustrating experiences I have creating content. I don't think I take a fic not doing well personally because as I've said, I feel like everything I've written has found its audience in some way and there's nothing I've written that I feel was "passed" over so to speak. I'm a control freak so putting content out and not having it read in the way I intended or having people see things in my story I didn't put in (or not seeing things I intentionally tried to highlight) used to really get me twisted up in knots. I think fandom is a really great place to learn to not give a fuck, to accept that people will ingest your work in their own personal lens and interests and will say things that make your skin crawl regardless of anything you do. You cannot control someone's reception to your work, and I think that by accepting that, I've learned to take it all a lot less personally. I've matured a lot in the almost two years I've been writing for public consumption.

[larrydoinglaundry]

2022 writing self-evaluation✍️

Thank you @greenblueish for tagging me 💜

1. Number of stories posted to AO3 this year: 4

2. Word count posted for the year: 189 907 (woah)

3. Fandoms I wrote for: One Direction

4. Pairings: Larry

5. Story with the most:

Kudos: love is a word, you gave it a name

Bookmarks: love is a word, you gave it a name

Comments: love is a word, you gave it a name

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why):

I mean it has to be love is a word you gave it a name because that was a journey and somehow I finished it😭 and obviously because I took a biiig bite with that. The whole gender aspect, internalized homophobia, mental health issues, falling in love... there was a lot going on and three chapters in I wanted to give up so bad. But I didn't !

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why):

this does in no mean I am not proud of this work, I just wish I would have been able to write more for it. so it has to be I'm insatiable it's all your fault

8. Share or describe a favourite review you received:

I love every single comment on ao3, I am beyond grateful for every single person who reached out in dms on twitter, and everyone who keeps hyping my fic up.

I can't share a favorite, I have so many.

9. A time when writing was really, really hard:

Chapter 3 in love is a word. It was constant writing, deleting, crying, writing, deleting, crying... 💀 there wasn't even anything particularly difficult to write in that chapter ! It just didn't seem to flow at all. I had never wanted to give up so bad.

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

Didn't really surprise me per se, but I finally dared to put cunningulus and vaginal sex in my abo 😂 I had been hesitant to be very descriptive about it before, being too worried it turns my readers off. But I loved every second of it ! Pussy, folds, lips... 🤭 and judging by the comments and kudos, people didn't hate it.

11. A favourite excerpt of your writing:

"I won’t forget you. And that you were, will always be, my first love, and my baby. My sweetest dove," Louis murmurs, fingers softly digging onto Harry's jaw. With a soft smile, he whispers, "Will always be my bumblebee."

Harry should be able to say something equally sweet, something just as beautiful, but he can’t, because his brain is short circuiting, and his throat is burning again with the sobs that will probably never end.

Much to his relief, Louis sees it all, and chooses to kiss him to spare him from having to come up with something to say.

12. How did you grow as a writer this year:

hmmm. I think my general skills as a storyteller developed a lot. I feel like on some parts IIIAYF is written way better than LIAW. And while I haven't published my wip yet, I think for the most part it's a lot better than anything I put out this year.

13. How do you hope to grow next year:

I hope, again, that I could stop being so hard on myself but that will probably never happen.

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

@stylesthebrave my beloved, and everyone I met on twitter this year.

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

hehehehe. Always. Yes. Something. One shall never know what.

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

Don't worry about cliches, stories that have already been written, authors that are getting more attention... The story that's planned in your head is unique, and no one else can write it the way you do. Your mind is beautiful.

And most importantly, your worth is not measured by statistics.

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

Finish the sequel to LIAW ! Hallelujah ! And starting my cliche fic heheh.

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read.

I feel like everyone has already done this so I don't know :(

[askyourwritergrandma]

Hi! I wanted to ask for advice about a very specific problem I have when writing. I tend to create really big stories in my mind, which means I need to write down notes to not forget crucial details, or significant small moments. Thing is, once I do this and have a sort of outline written down, it's like my brain suddenly considers the outline as the whole story and goes "Yup, we did it!". And then it's so hard for me to actually write the story. Which I really want to do and when I do manage to write something complete it feels incredibly satisfying! I just don't know how to not unhype the motivation I need without risking leaving behind scenes I like because I didn't write them down. Any advice?

Hi there Cyber-flow!

This reminds me so much of myself that I can't help but feel trapped in my own personal flashback. It's absolutely knowing what's about to happen that kills my enthusiasm for a project. It's like suddenly instead of joy when I sit to write, I'm slogging through a book report in the fourth grade and I hate it.

Unfortunately, the thing that I've always done to fix it may not suit your personal style. Fortunately, this is not a unique problem and there may very well be folks who reblog this post with their own advice about how to proceed.

My advice is under the cut:

As I see it you have two options and I have some personal experience with both: you either grit your teeth and get through it or you change how you write outlines.

1. Grit your teeth and get through it!

The main issue is that a little sparkle of light has gone out of your eye in regards to your story. Suddenly what you were excited to explore has already been mapped and you're left to follow in the footsteps that have already been made. (Even if they were made by you.) In this case, (if we stick to the analogy) you have to shift your focus away from "I wonder about all the possible ways I could go" to "I would love to take in the scenery along the way!"

Meaning, you focus on character interactions, scenery, emotional situations and etc. Even the best outline cannot properly account for how the characters are going to react in the moment so putting your effort into that character instead of the plot can give you back some of that wonder and joy.

But mostly, you just do it. You just grit your teeth and do it. I can count on one hand the number of stories that I wrote this way, with a well-developed, written down plot that I had to follow. Every single time it was a Struggle because I adore the freedom of not knowing where I'm going to go.

The end result though? A well-crafted, solid, tight-knit story that stuck to the plot and delivered exactly the message I wanted? That's beautiful. It became worth the effort that it took to get there. Even without any kind of magical cheat or shortcut, it was still worth it.

Trouble is, I (personally) still would rather have freedom over that beautiful story.

2. Stop writing detailed outlines

There was a time I was rather infamous for a specific, incredibly long story that I wrote in the Assassin's Creed fandom. The plotline to this behemoth (it was 600k+ long) was half of a journal page. This is how my particular brain works and if I try to do anything else with it, it fights back.

It sounds like you are holding onto the notion that if you don't write it down you'll miss out on something that you really want to happen. I understand that kind of impulse too because it happens to me all the time. I talk with my writing buddy when I'm starting or writing a story and we come up with countless scenes that feel like if they do not happen the story will be less for it.

That's a lie though.

Stories evolve. Stories change. What we know before we start writing is very rarely applicable once we begin. So you thought Character A and B would meet for picnic in chapter 7 and it would be a defining moment in the plot because they'd finally be setting aside their differences. Problem is chapter 7 rolls around and they absolutely detest one another. No amount of tea sandwiches and lemon cookies is going to solve that.

But stories do need some kind of structure to them otherwise you'll find yourself wandering for a solid year writing an fanfic epic you didn't intend to write. (Cough, not me.) May I suggest what I call 'scaffolding'.

Scaffolding is like a plotline but it's the absolutely least amount of work you can do in an outline without not doing one at all. Something like this:

Albert hates his job because he hates his life

Meets the most attractive idiot he's ever seen

Idiot lives too far away but don't let that stop you

SUCCESS in the bedroom, life still sucks

IDK, something happens at work that's awful

Idiot peptalk leads to bad work choices

Suddenly distance issue is resolved

Happily Ever After

(I'm not advising you to use the sarcasm that I do in my plotnotes. Past and Present me are in a long-term fight to the death over who can be the worst version of themselves. All my plot notes are like this.)

Summarize each of the plot points you want to incorporate into a single bullet point, one sentence or less, and put them in the order you think they're going to go in. If you have a specific line you want used, you can put that too as long as it's only a single line. This forces you to write less in your outline which lets your brain have the freedom it craves to wildly create. It also allows you to move around your plot points or get rid of them because you've put less work into them and you're less emotionally attached to them.

Writing is 95% making hard choices that suck. You love these characters, your scene ideas, your dialogue snippets but sometimes they just don't work. Sometimes they don't work in the story you're writing but they will work somewhere.

Once you write anything down its out of your head and you aren't working on perfecting it anymore. Horde your ideas in your subconscious, let them stew a bit longer, when the time is right they will reappear. Same with your outline vs writing issue. Put less time into the outline for the first draft and more on unbridled, fearless creativity.

The second draft's for tightening plot, so leave that for the second draft.

[tedturneriscrazy]

Another Saturday, another episode! Let's take a look at Keeping Up A-fear-ances!

(Good lord I'm starting to make myself sound like some sort of content creator)

Oh, okay, we're just starting at that level of intensity, huh?

Chest gem origins

Gwendolyn not being satisfied with managing the curse and determined to cure it? I'm sure this won't be a real world allegory in the slightest.

Oh, so Eda literally just stumbles upon the portal? I could call that contrived, but honestly it's not dissimilar to how Dipper found Journal 3. For that matter, the entirety of Lord of the Rings is predicated on an accidental discovery like this and nobody gave Tolkien shit about it.

Was the eye on the portal cracked in previous episodes? I don't remember.

Seems like Gwen is the "well-meaning but ultimately misguided" flavor of mom.

As an aside, I am now quite curious about how Eda's first trip to the human realm went. Maybe a future episode will cover it? At any rate, I smell a new favorite fic prompt.

The screaming alarms in the Demon Realm will never not be funny to me.

Also, that is a worrying number of hearts. Eda is straight up murdering these poor creatures.

For some reason the gold fang being removable never occurred to me as a possibility, and now I feel like a kid who's discovered that Santa isn't real.

Oh hey, the new outfit! I'm also impressed how close to symmetrical that tearing was.

I need to get a screencap of Luz sleeping on that stack of books because she is adorable.

Also, staying up all night researching? This season seems determined to completely eradicate the notion of Luz being dumb, and I am here for it.

I have a feeling the Hexside mug will be making its way to The Mystery Shack in the near future.

Lilith's first experience with transformation and she seems understandably horrified.

The curse acting stronger when stressed? That seems...important.

Ah, so the dismemberment is from the curse! A surprisingly useful side effect from what we've seen so far.

Can I just say that I appreciate how Eda's reaction to Lilith's first taste of transformation is immediate remedy, explanation, and reassurance? And doesn't make any snarky comments along the lines of "now you know what it's like?" Whatever happened in that week and a half must have been cathartic as hell.

"Always. Always curious." Luz is the TOH fandom.

(Also, Eda, you know she is, considering how much she went on about your "mysterious past" at the Covention)

"Magic bird tornado?!" Luz has a way with words that's just *chef's kiss*.

"Gwendolyn." Eda is already just fucking done.

"MOM?!?!" Jeez, Lilith, you're just now hearing all this?

I was charmed by how motherly Gwen was acting toward Eda, but then she kinda just...dismissed Lilith, and now I'm somehwat less charmed.

(Sweet flea as a term of endearment is kinda cute, though might have some unfortunate implications depending on how you want to interpret it)

"Who knows what they put in those nasty concoctions?" OH WE GOING FOR THE ANTI-VAXXERS NOW YESSSS

Luz and Lilith's reaction to that whole exchange is priceless.

Everyone's perspective here makes perfect sense for who they are and what they've been through.

Poor Lilith. Her cursing Eda is beginning to make more sense.

Ah, thus begins the collaboration.

"We'll be consulting someone very special." Why does that seem so...ominous?

Is there anyone who watched this episode for the first time whose bullshit detector didn't go off immediately when Gwen mentioned finding someone who promised a cure?

Heh, Palm Stings.

Nonbelievers will be blinded by the power of the tome? I'm sure they will be, Wartlop.

I must say, as something of a scientist myself (okay that's not true, I'm a QA tech for a food manufacturer, but I do have a chemistry degree), I am 100% here for the swings being taken at faith healing/"miracle" cures/anti-vaxxers in this episode

Oh, we Wile E. Coyote now, huh?

Also, interesting how much apple blood is being played up in this episode.

Lilith please you're projecting your mommy issues on a literal child

OH WE REALLY JUST WILE E. COYOTE HUH?

You're right, Luz, Gwen's bicep game is goals.

(Somewhat disappointed the scars are from questing and not beastkeeping, but eh)

Why do I get the feeling there's gonna be a future episode where everybody stages an intervention for Eda's apple blood problem?

"Those feathers mean we're driving the beast out" Gwen no

Hooty is holding the brain cell? Oh no...

If that ice cream came from the Night Market it would explain why Lilith sounds drunk.

(Side note: I can't be the only one getting flashbacks to Mermista's ice cream binge, right? Different context, but still)

"Abomi-berry" "Franken fruit" "Key slime pie" These are A+ flavor names.

Oh, there's the transformation...

I must say that whole segment kinda rubbed me the wrong way. The way King's opinion on his dad was changed seemed...I don't know how to describe it. I get that they needed a trigger for Lilith's transformation, but honestly if any part of the episode is contrived it's this.

"¡It really is that good!" So that's what an accent slip in written form looks like. (The upside down exclamation point is used in Spanish, in case anyone didn't know)

I keep half expecting Eda to say "Beep! Beep!" at this point.

Luz is finally asking questions. Took long enough.

Ah, the classic "moving the goal posts to extract more money from a desparate family member" technique.

Luz channeling Scorpion, we love to see it.

There is an exquisite irony in Eda's mom being scammed, I must say.

Ah, so that's where the elixirs went. Dammit, Gwen.

Luz is definitely thinking "Are you fucking kidding me right now?!"

Beast!Lilith is massive.

"Sweet flea?" Gwen just realized she done goofed.

"I can see you still need a little time." God Luz is so fucking smart.

The con revealed.

OH DAMN SCARY MAMA

(Also I am terrified of bees/wasps, so extra scary mama in my book)

The scam is revealed, goblins, getting back into the Wartlop disguise is kinda pointless.

She joined the Beast Keeping coven entirely to cure the curse? That's dedication. A shame you couldn't have spared some of that for Lilith.

Still, I do like badass scary mama Gwen. I'd be down to see more of that.

Owl Beast fight!

I am slayed by the fact that the portraits are now officially a recurring gag 😂

Aw, here's The Moment™️

"My turn to drive" Does this imply cars are a thing on the Boiling Isles after all?

Lilith crying almost immediately💔 She was holding onto a lot of pain.

Yes, King, she was trying to do her best. I mean, road to hell or whatever, but at least Gwen got there in the end.

WHAT?! YOU'RE BREAKING UP LULU AND HOOTCIFER?!?!?!?

Terrace, that's just cruel. (Worthless brownie points for whoever understands that reference)

No, seriously, you can't just give me my favorite inter-character relationship in the series after Lumity and just...take it away like that, come on! 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I know I should remark on how Lilith told Gwen about the circumstances of the curse, how Gwen rightfully accepted responsibility for the whole situation, and how Luz finds the big hair aspirational, but...NOOOO DON'T END THE ADVENTURES OF LULU AND HOOTCIFER WHYYYYYYYYY💔😭💔😭💔😭

"BUT I CAN'T HOLD A PEN!"

I will never emotionally recover from this.

Okay, I think I got that out of my system. Anyway...

Not the only human, huh? Cue the "Belos is a human" theorists going into maximum overdrive.

That said, a tantalizing lore dump.

We certainly do have a lot of garbage. Some of it even holds office. HEY-O!

Setting up the next episode, too. Continuity!

Camp's over, huh? That means it's been three months.

Way to misdirect with Camila, guys. That said, we have now seen Camila cry and I HATE it. (In the right way, I think)

WHAT THE FUCK

HOLY SHIT

CREEPY LUZ IS REAL WHAT

OWJEIWHQGIWWOPQ

(It's hard to keysmash on a phone, even with autocorrect off)

That wraps it up! The flaws in this episode seem more pronounced than any others in the season so far, but the good stuff was really good! Overall a solid episode! I know everybody's looking forward to library Lumity in the next one (so am I), but I'm personally eager to see what they do with Gus. His part is the A plot, after all.

Anyway, I'll be back at this next week! Still hard to believe this is a thing, but that's life, I guess.