#now edited for the people who are actually personally invested in the fandom

[honeycreammilkshake]

Hi.... If you don't mind me asking, can I ask, what are your top 7 favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series) and your top 7 favorite ships (can be canon or non canon) from any media ? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this questions before......

omg i've been wanting to answer a question like this for such a long time, thank you so much for asking! (you can always ask me about anything <3)

it's hard to talk about why i love these without giving a few spoilers, so i hope you don't mind that.

1. Jujutsu Kaisen & Sukuita

I first got into JJK because of Sukuna edits, but I started reading it more seriously when I fell in love with Yuuji (one of the best protagonists ever!) and got really invested in more of the other characters (Nobara, Mai and Maki, Nanami, Shoko, Yuki, Hiromi, and Uraume being my favorites <3) as the story went on.

Although I'm generally not interested in a lot of action manga, I fell hard for JJK because there were just so many good things about it. An anime protagonist that actually cares about saving other people but is still kind of unhinged and comparatively weaker than a lot of his peers? Bodily possession and an ancient god of chaos obsessed with the unworthy brat he's trapped inside of?? Scary monsters and scarier humans who fight them off???

But if I'm being really honest, my main reason for loving JJK is almost completely Sukuita.

These two are my #1 otp and I'm rabidly obsessed with them (almost as much as they're obsessed with each other). I could go on forever about why I adore this ship, but to keep it simple, it's really because they're one of the most dynamic and overlooked protagonist/antagonist relationships I've ever seen.

As a ship, they really have it all: enemies to lovers, hero x villain, bound by fate, bodily possession, virtually soulmates, matching each other's freak, yin and yang, toxic divorced couple/possessive exes energy, incest (if you're into that), and even opposites attract.

I see them as an inseparable matched set that share basically the same soul and see through each other but they'll never fully understand or accept each other, and it's beautifully heartbreaking in every way.

I first started shipping them when I read a lot of different ship fics with Sukuna, but the only one I ever really got invested in was Sukuita. My favorite ship trope of all is enemies to lovers, so I couldn't really resist them, and overtime I just fell deeper and deeper. Now I personally can't ship them with anyone but each other, but there are still so many more amazing ships to be found in this fandom, though a lot of my JJK otps (Nobamai, Makimai, Nanahito, and Gojoken) aren't very popular.

2. BNHA & Togachako

I'm not going to lie... I'm really not very invested in BNHA as a series, but I'm totally devoted to some of the characters, mainly Himiko Toga. I love kawaii yandere villains so much, and Toga is my favorite autistic bi disaster girl. I also love Dabi (one of my very first anime crushes), Ochaco, Bakugo, Deku, Shoto, Mirko, Eri, Overhaul, Mina Ashido, Kuin Hachisuka, Beros, and Twice.

Some of the quirks are really cool so I always love when they explore the different kinds both heroes and villains can have, and I love all the amazing fight scenes where heroes and villains get to go all out using their quirks, but my #1 reason for watching BNHA is for these two.

My top otp in BNHA is Togachako, of course, because I adore doomed yuri, especially the hero x villain kind, and I will never stop crying over how these two deserved so much better.

I shipped them almost as soon as they first interacted. The chemistry between them was beautiful and I love how Toga went all out with her yandere-style flirting with Ochaco, saying she had the same scent as her, that she wanted to be like her, from the very start understanding so much of Ochaco's character, her need to be heroic and save as many lives as she could, like Deku wanted to. Toga sees a lot of similarities between Ochaco and herself, and I love a villain that obsessively connects to the hero they're always at odds with.

I especially went crazy during that scene from season 6 where Toga had Ochaco pinned down and started crying out "What are you going to do to me? Are you going to kill me, too?" There was so much feeling and pain inside of that scene, Toga coming to terms with how heroes kill villains (like they did to Twice) even though they're human too, and knowing she could be next.

Yet later on we see how Ochaco accepted Toga despite all the things Toga had done. Because she understands that Toga is more than just another monster. All her childhood, Toga had been forced to suppress her own nature, but there Ochaco is... loving her not even despite it, but because she finds Toga herself, as the person she is, the cutest girl in the world. Just what Toga always wanted to be to someone, loved for her real self.

That just... really got to me.

My second main BNHA ship is Toyasho, or Dabisho.

They hit all the good tropes: hero x villain, twisted family, reconnecting, and lots and lots of angst. It fascinated me how they went on two different paths after experiencing abuse from their father: Dabi craving vengeance and resenting the world around him while Shoto largely isolated himself from others and tried to be indifferent about things. Dabi indulged in being ruthless, depraved, and even sadistic while Shoto tried to be "frozen" both inside and outside, yet he was learning to slowly open up to others and have hope for forgiveness.

They share a lot in common - being arrogant, getting overly emotional, wanting to do things alone, their way. But overall they have two different perspectives and Shoto considers Dabi to be his "cross to bear" since Dabi is his brother.

They still try to reconnect with each other in their own ways, especially at the end, where Dabi does regret a lot of what he did to Shoto and Shoto forgives him by asking what his favorite food is.

Togachako and Dabisho are my main otps for this fandom, but I also really like Shigadeku, Bakudeku, Meilissa, Saimomo, Togatsuyu, Momokendo, and Miruhawks because they have amazing chemistry as well!

3. The Locked Tomb & Griddlehark + Harryanthe

I first read Gideon the Ninth about a year ago and fell in love with it. The series reminds me of those weird sci-fi fantasy paperbacks that I would find packing the shelves of thrift stores and old book stores, but even better because of all the toxic lesbian angst and unhinged necromantic freaks who are the most unreliable narrators.

I like the writing style, the worldbuilding, the scientific feel to all the different necromantic theorems, the House politics, the beautifully complex characters, and the strange humor.

I love Griddlehark for all the angst, the enemies to lovers, the sad "you're the only friend I ever had so don't forget me, I'll even sacrifice my own life for you" from Gideon's side and the desperate "don't leave me, I'll erase all my memories of you because I can't bear to let you die" from Harrow's side. When we're first introduced to Harrow, from Gideon's POV, we think she's a heartless monster only concerned with herself. But soon we learn Harrow is weighed down heavily by her burden to handle all Ninth House affairs largely on her own and also by the nature of her very birth. Harrow has a deeply romantic and tragic side that Gideon is the first to discover, proving all her previous assumptions about Harrow wrong, and Gideon also proves herself to be more loyal, dedicated, and caring than Harrow thought she was. And even though they started out hating each other, they become each other's first true friends and can never let go of each other.

I also adore Ianthe's (mostly) one-sided obsession with Harrow, the way she acts like she just wants to manipulate Harrow and break her heart but unintentionally caught feelings for her along the way. They can't stand each other but they're forced to rely on one another and it's perfect, especially when Harrow (reluctantly) starts to feel somewhat close to Ianthe overtime. They're opposites in many ways, but they are both driven by their overwhelming sense of ambition and by their deep love/obsession for the people closest to their hearts (Harrow for Gideon and Ianthe for Coronabeth).

Harrow is my favorite, and I love her dynamic with both Gideon and Ianthe, so I can't choose between either ship. They're my ot3 really, since I also enjoy Gideon/Kiriona's interactions with Ianthe and how they sort of warm up to each other because of how they first "connect" over Harrow.

I have a lot more ships in this series too, namely Alectostasia, Pyrrha x Wake, Jarpedon, Augustine/Mercymorn/God, John x Alecto, Halecto, Corona x Judith, and Corona x Ianthe.

4 . The Summer Hikaru Died & Yoshikaru

I am a BIG fan of eldritch monsters developing codependent and destructive relationships with the mortals they become fascinated by, and this manga delivered that amazingly.

I've been following this story obsessively for about a few months but it's quickly becoming one of my most favorite manga ever. The dynamic between "Hikaru" and Yoshiki is perfect — the way Yoshiki can't really reject "Hikaru" because he craves the closeness he used to have with his friend but overtime he starts caring deeply for whatever "Hikaru" actually is.... Everything about them is so beautiful and tragic, it hurts physically but I love it.

The art is gorgeous and fits wonderfully with the summery horror atmosphere, and I like that's it set in the rural country, since I don't see as much of that in manga or anime as I would like to.

It has some elements of mystery, some of horror, lots of the paranormal, and plenty of chemistry between the mcs, all of which makes it so interesting and unique.

Yoshikaru is my main otp but I also love Asako/Yuuki, because they're so cute together.

5. Alien Stage & Mizisua

This series ruins me. The music, the story, the emotion. All of it makes me feel way too much.

The character designs for the humans are so good but I particularly like the aliens because I want to know more about their cultures and how they ended up imprisoning humanity.

One of the most central themes of this story is longing: the longing for freedom, the longing for love and friendship, the longing for something to put all your faith in even during the darkest times. And for Mizi and Sua, they put all that longing, that faith and hope, into each other.

Despite the fact that they know only one of them can survive that first round, they still sing almost every verse together because they refuse to give the other one the edge. They want each other to survive, even if it comes at the loss of their own life, but they were also hopeful that both of them could have tied. But Sua understood that this was unlikely and she chose to sacrifice herself to keep Mizi alive.

During the song Mizi narrates how humanity has forgotten gods and religion, but Mizi still believes in something that transcends all her suffering and longing, and that is Sua — her god, her universe. Even in the final moments of their round, as their fates are being sealed, Mizi looks over to Sua and smiles at her, because despite everything she's still happy to be with Sua, to sing with her and not against her, to find comfort even at the end. But she's still shocked and horrified when Sua dies, especially because of the fact Sua died to protect her.

And Mizi was never able to get over Sua's death. It's why she lost composure during her round with Luka, who relentlessly used her undying feelings for Sua against her by singing far too romantically.

Mizisua is my main otp in this fandom but I also love Ivantill, Hyuluka, and Hyunamizi.

6. Kakegurui & Yumedari

Even though it's arguably not as intelligent or coherent in its matches as I first thought it would be, I love pretty much everything else about this series, both the live action and the anime. The craziness, the color schemes, the focus on exaggerated body movements, even how thrilling the gambling scenes can be. Not to mention so many amazing characters and shipping possibilities, and my personal favorite ship of this series is Yumeko and Midari.

They get a lot of hate for being a toxic ship, which they are, but what exactly in Kakegurui is safe or sane in any way?? These two have such an interesting and compelling dynamic and from the start Midari is impressed and obsessed with Yumeko. And despite Yumeko's intolerance for Midari, they have a lot in common.

They're both compulsive gamblers who don't care about winning money or social status when they play. They're both addicted to the thrill, really skilled, impulsive, and quite smart too.

What made me start shipping them was, of course, their match during episode 7. The way Yumeko so expertly predicts Midari's moves to prevent an outcome where either of them are actually shot, how Midari comes to understand more of who Yumeko is through their game, the fact that Yumeko knew that Midari wanted her to win and was angry enough about it to deny the other girl that outcome. Yumeko despises cheating to "win" instead of fully indulging in the thrill of the uncertainty, which is what she lives for, and if Midari had maybe not resorted to cheating, I think Yumeko would have more respect and even enjoyment for playing with Midari.

What also really interests me is how polar Yumeko's actions are with Midari. She screams that she hates Midari, she finds her pathetic, she can't stand to be around her. Yet she has this almost soft moment with Midari before they begin playing, if only to keep the other girl from harming Ryota.

Yumeko also grows more tolerant of Midari as the show goes on, but it's by no means warm or loving in any way. And I think that's what I like about them. They're so alike but will never fully "fit together" because of it. It will always end up with either Midari wanting Yumeko to be the one to cause her pain or death, while Yumeko hates any kind of predictable outcome or rigging of the game.

I also have a lot of other ships in this fandom, mainly Yumary, Kirisaya, Meariri, Ayadari, Riridari, Naodari, Ririsaya, and Yumemika.

7. Monster & Tenjoh

I don't even know where to start on this one, really.

I've known about the existence of this series for a while and even tried to start it, but all I could could get into initially was edits of Johan Liebert. I kept meaning to pick it up eventually, since I'd heard that it was one of the most popular seinen manga and that Johan was also one of the best manga/anime villains.

But only recently I have I started watching this series, and I don't know why I didn't sooner.

I cannot describe everything I love about this series without writing a whole other post, but to put it simply - it's extremely well-done and very thought-provoking. And as someone deeply interested in psychology and criminology, I found this to be a brilliant exploration of both. The characters are so well-developed, especially the twins and Tenma (who is honestly one of the most underrated protagonists I have seen) and though I was first off-put by the older animation style, I have actually come to like it a lot since it's very unique and suits the setting and atmosphere perfectly.

There are so many different layers and themes that I will never tire of trying to analyze them all, and there's especially a certain thrill to watching how all the pieces of the puzzle connect together, especially when we get an understanding of how Johan perfectly manipulates others so that they essentially follow the designs of their own downfall.

But one of the very few people to resist Johan's plots and to even come close to destroying him is Tenma.

Tenjoh is so fascinating, both as a ship and only as their canon interaction, because of how deeply personal and complex their relationship is.

Tenma saved Johan's life years ago, a choice that essentially ended his career for him and led to his life being significantly altered. When Johan returns, revealing himself to be the person responsible for so many deaths, Tenma feels guilty for "creating" the monster that Johan became. However, even though Johan kills everyone who knows about him, he spares Tenma as both a sign of respect for the doctor saving his life and because he wants to drive Tenma to kill him, therefore proving Tenma's ideals that every life has value wrong.

Not only is there something darkly poetic in Johan wanting the doctor who brought him back from the brink of death to be the one to kill him, it's also just as suiting that Tenma at first wants to be the one to kill Johan, feeling it was his burden to end the monster he'd "revived." But despite many opportunities given to him, even by Johan himself, to kill the evil mastermind, Tenma still couldn't do it.

I have so many thoughts on them and would love to write a meta about it someday, but all I can really say for now is they're quickly becoming one of my top ships ever.

[girlwithamissingpearl]

Here we go again. The criticism of SH’s Sassanach Gin tour is as expected. Not everyone has to like what he does. That’s fair. But that continuing narrative that he takes advantage of his fans? Sorry, but that’s a hard no for me.

Personally I don’t know how the actual fuck he does it. Ten years in and he is still gracious and accommodating to all his fans, even those that cross every line. How is unsolicited groping ever acceptable? I think he is far too affable. But the he’s taking advantage of his fans continues. If all he wanted to do was was an Outlander pump and dump cash grab, not only is he doing it all wrong, he’s working far to hard. Rather than invest his own money and produce a craft product, he could have purchased a house brand equivalent of whisky and gin, and concentrate on labels. Imagine limited edition pumpkin spice, thanksgiving, Christmas, new year’s, Valentine’s Day, shirtless-you get the idea- SH limited edition bottles. I think he’s looking beyond that and trying to build a brand.

There’s also been a lot written about the individual appearances and signings. I would never camp out at midnight to get a place in line, but a 6-8 hour wait? There are a small group of gals that I follow and Dm with, that I would gladly grab a lawn chair and sunscreen and happily take my place in line with. Not sure if they would be as keen, but @khccbc1745, @kiaora45, @harriethattie, @caldineens, @collectido, @ maryofboston, @ Stargazer74 , @andorra97 and many more, who take the time to not only comment, but call me out when I get things wrong(which I have been known to do) you know who you are- I’d wait in line, with any of these women, in a heartbeat. Even though we range in age-40-80- I don’t think we would have a single second of silence. With a group, you take turns getting coffee, snacks, lunch…quick SH selfie, hotel nap, dinner and drinks. I think that’s the part people don’t get when they see the long lines. It’s not for everyone, but it’s also for most a once in a lifetime thing. Go ahead and laugh, a couple of years ago I was the first to make fun of people like me, but scrolling through the fandom has become one of my favourite things to do, and something I don’t have to share with other family and friends that will never understand the joy of all things Outlander and SH😊. The other thing that most people don’t get is that, and I think I can speak not only for myself but the other amazing women in the fandom, we really don’t take each other that seriously. This is fun, and for me definitely a guilty pleasure bc🥸I’m so happy that I have these like minded people I can commiserate with because I just watched the last mid season episode of season 7. How dare they say…to be continued next year. Next year? Ffs.

On a final note, a fun fact. If we didn’t have tickets for tennis, I definitely would have gone to the Scottish festival in Fergus Ontario to see our very own hometown boy CV, and RR and for once be able to post some original pics. Not far from home, I’ve been to the festival in the past- definitely have Scots in the family tree including a competitive bagpiper- and its always fun. I’ve really enjoyed CV as WR in the first part of season 7 and really looking forward to watching his story unfold. But having to wait until next year to watch the second half of season 7, and who knows how long before season 8 airs. Don’t even get me started about DG, and the timeline for the release of book 10. Seriously considering a class action lawsuit for the cruel and unusual punishment inflicted by DG when she said Jamie’s ghost story would be revealed in the last page of book 10. Why DG? Why? On the other hand, I can take my time scrolling, commenting and posting about season 7. If I was a patient person, which I’m not. So for now I’ll make due with the ongoing commentary of how people around the world refer to the “pineapple swim trunks” SH sports in an upcoming episode of MIK 2. Something budgies….🦜🏊‍♂️🩲…

[mathlann]

9 People You Want to Know Better

Tagged by @undyingembers and @arendaes, thank you!

Three ships:

Casimira x Marazhai. My brain is so souped about them I started writing fanfic again after a 12 year hiatus. My drafts have a file/tag system now for subject of whatever 10pm shower thought I get about them. It's just over for me, I may never get better.

@poetikat's Tree Baby and Animal Man /Silfrun x Ulbrig. I'm so invested in their divorce drama like you wouldn't believe. Even in my own game, he's Silfrun's Problematic Ex-Husband first, man second.

Matilda/Rosario x Ambrosio, The Monk. Two horrible people who deserve each other. I don't know what to say except this book still has my head turned 'round backwards a year later and the scenes of Matilda seducing Ambrosio are 90% of the reason.

Last Song:

Miss Murder-AFI. Free nostalgia from the song guessing poll that was.

Last Movie:

Bad Boys: Ride or Die, for Father's Day. It was like, okay. A Dad Movie™.

Currently Reading:

Nothing. Currently on book burnout.

Currently Watching:

The Double, on Netflix! I love family revenge and court intrigue C-Dramas so it's right up my alley.

Currently Eating:

Pizza. Skipped on tennis tonight and its just me and my dad for the evening, which means tradition dictates we order trash pizza.

Currently Craving:

My brain juice coming back. In a write/stupid flow as is customary, so the start of my week was nothing but the former and now I must suffer a few days of the latter until my brain stops making static noises.

Favourite colour:

Blue, especially deep jewel toned blues.

Current obsession:

Rogue Trader. But also Pathfinder 2e. I have a love-hate relationship with Paizo because I dont find their game design in either edition to be very fun (for me personally) and I spend enough time on the subreddit reading design discourse to have parasocial enemies there, but at the same time it's also where I learned the art of the Character Build and Paizo's flavor/concepts are top notch even if the concept doesn't always get expressed as well in the actual mechanics. So with another Remaster book coming up I am once again drawn to Pathbuilder+Archives of Nethys to make little guys.

Last thing I googled:

Pathfinder 2e subreddit. See above.

Favourite season:

Fall! Birthday season, cooler weather, and most importantly its the end of the cicadas' tyranny over the outdoors.

Skill I’d like to learn:

Oil Pastels. I foolishly bought some for my birthday while entirely forgetting i hate oil based art products and don't have the temperament for them. But they're so pretty! I wish I did.

Best Advice:

Writing specific, but having a talk buddy works! I get really stuck in my head about a lot of things because of perfectionism/anxiety means I never really know if I'm making sense but genuinely one of my de-stress rules I adopted in college is just talk it out, and for voice conversations keep the pepe silvia sticky note board updated while I do it. Works for my academic shit and my fandom writing stuff, because if nothing else, the time it takes for me to explain whatever im thinking to someone not-me helps cross the first anxiety hurdle of "this is dumb and incoherent."

No pressure tagging:

@poetikat, @bladesmitten, @molochka-koshka, @moosifers, @hellishhurricane, @spidercatenthusiast and whoever else wants to do it!

[sapphire-weapon]

A little outsider's rant to the EagleOne fandom... particularly you younger fans.

Y'all are really getting upset about your ship because Leon and Ashley possibly never being shown together again? After all that wonderful material you got in re4 remake? Guys, most ship survive on crumbs... and y'all had a pretty decent meal there!

Like!! At least she's fucking alive! Look at how strong Serrenedy is... and Luis is fucking dead! Doesn't stop them from writing a ton of fix it fics and AUs and what if scenarios.

You guys aren't Aeon! You don't need the fucking "kiss make canon and valid" mentality. YOUR SHIP IS FUCKING VALID AND GOOD!

"But... I wanna see them together..."

WRITE THE FIC THEN! DRAW THE FANART! MAKE THE EDITS!

"Oh, but I'm not very creative."

SHUT UP AND DO IT ANYWAY!

Flood the world with it! Show everyone what the ship means to you! You'll get better at it the more you practice!

And you know what? Maybe Leon and Ashley don't ever see each other again in canon... but maybe some of you get real good at writing and maybe someday, more original stories starring characters with their archetypes start showing up... and being together. All because y'all knew a good thing when you saw it.

So don't roll over and die so damn soon. Yes it fucking sucks possibly not seeing Ashley in the games again.

So keep her alive and present outside of them.

you know @godtier and i were actually talking about this earlier today, and it's this whole thing that's like

kind of like what leon is going through in my fic, where he thinks that it's worse to have had it and lost it, because he now knows how good it was for him and how good it made him feel and that he can't have it anymore -- so now, he wishes he'd never had it at all, because then he wouldn't have to mourn it.

like, serennedy fandom operates under no illusions. they know exactly how that connection started, progressed, and ended. same thing with metaltango fandom. and, being slash ships, they never expect to become canon anyway, because that's unfortunately not the world that we currently live in.

and then you have something like jilleon fandom, who never anticipates their ship becoming canon, so there's no reason for them to get super invested in how the canon portrays them, because the heart of that fandom has always been fanfiction to begin with.

but with eagleone fandom, it's like...

people feel like something is being taken away from them. especially the eagleone people who came into RE through RE4make. because they did have it. for that one game, they had this ship that meant so much to them and was clearly written to be taken as romantic...

... and then to learn, no actually, you don't get to have that?

that sucks. it feels like a breakup.

like, there's a big difference between old guard like me, who looks at it as: "holy fuck i can't believe we actually got this, are you kidding me????" because i understand just how shocking and unexpected it is, considering how the rest of the series goes -- and new fans who are going "wait, what do you mean she gets written out of the series?"

i went into RE4make already knowing that leon's character progresses into the future without ashley. and so i'm just delighted that they got to have what they had for the time that they had it.

new fans are coming in and seeing a canon romance and not understanding why someone would say that it won't be followed through with, because that runs antithetical to their personal experiences with the game.

and that's why i don't fucking feud with aeon fandom, man. i mean, other than the fact that i'm a 34 year old adult who has better things to do with my time than argue with teenagers about fictional relationships.

they're dicks, but i feel bad for them, because they're going through a breakup, too. and theirs is way harder than eagleone's is because the relationship lasted a lot longer. they've had this for so long, but now it's like "fuck you, pack your shit, we're over."

now, with that all being said

there's no excuse for either side of this to be fucking toxic the way that they've been, either. i get that you're disappointed and you need some time to mourn and it feels even shittier to have someone from the other team go "YOU NEVER ACTUALLY HAD THAT THING YOU'RE MOURNING IN THE FIRST PLACE" but like

basically just this

[stormblessed95]

Has your interest in BTS / jikook / Jimin / Jungkook declined since solo era has started? Have you noticed any trend like that in the fandom?

My tl gets unusually quiet nowadays which makes me wonder if everyone's kind of ia nowadays, or if twitter is just bugging out, or if it just means it's time to find new accounts to follow.

For me overall, I feel like the number of casual BTS fans has greatly increased and is still doing so despite their hiatus because of their solo works but I do feel like the core fandom that used to be so involved in organised fan events, voting, edits etc has actually shrunk recently. I'm also unsure if people are just on a temporary hiatus themselves as they're more invested in group activities only or if they've permanently left. People leaving is normal of course, but when the number who leave >> new people who join, that's a sign of the fandom weakening.

For me personally, I've just got a lot going on, so I'm not participating vocally in fandom spaces as much as I used to. I have a bookstagram account on insta that had quite a bit of a following that I haven't posted on in MONTHS. I just haven't had the time! Lol so it's not just tumblr/bts/jikook. I promise. I talked about what I've got going on briefly here:

So as for fandom trends in chapter 2, I haven't been keeping up with it unfortunately, so im probably not the best person to ask. I HAVE been keeping up with BTS, their debuts, their solos, their interviews, voting, etc. Just not so much with ARMY/what ARMY has been thinking outside my very carefully curated feed as much as I used to right now.

So has my interest in BTS/jikook faded? Not at all. Has my interest in WRITING about it on here faded? A bit. I had some not so great experiences on here this year that soured my joy of this hobby just a bit. As well as just how incredibly busy and exhausting my life is right now, its just not a priority for me and I'm leaning more into my fantasy escapism of books and fanfic more than I am writing in general and writing here about jikook at the moment. But I like to think that once my life chills out a bit more again, I will find more joy in this space again. And my interest hasn't gone away either, I still like being here and engaging with yall when I have the time and energy to do so!

I do think chapter 2 is bringing forth a fandom explosion in the way of solos and BTS doing more to insist on breaking the bubbles fans like to seem to put them in, but otherwise, idk what else to say. I don't think the fandom is weakening either. Jikook both just hit number 1 on billboard recently and all of BTS have been breaking records left snd right with their solo work! That's impressive stuff as always and the sign of a still very active and involved fanbase

[zenkindoflove]

I'm so late for the ask game!! I wanna ask you what hasn't been asked already yet:

🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing

🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing

I write sentences that are too complicated and sound confusing and often the biggest thing I cringe about when I re-read my edited work is "hey, when you were editing, why did you think THAT was a good sentence?" I should take more time to sit with my fics and edit them over several iterations and put time from the first draft to posting so that I can actually catch things.

🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them

I'm actually intending on making a huge big post thanking everyone when PMID is done so I'm gonna save this one for then. It'll be happening soon (like by the end of the week)! I have so many nice things to say about so many of the people who have been supporting me. ❤️

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

Before I say anything, I want people to understand that just because someone expresses a particular preference or taste in fanfic, and the things they dislike are things that you do, it is NOT a reason to feel insecure or that your writing and fanfic is not amazing and worthy. Fanfic is escapism primarily. It's all subjective.

I've been reading fanfic since I was 11 and I'm 35 years old now which means I've had almost 25 years of experience figuring out what it is that I like and don't like. I've read things that have truly made me feel ill and ruined my day, so I know now to avoid those topics. I have read fanfic that was extraordinary and profound and others that were juvenile and silly - both of which I've gotten immense enjoyment from reading.

Mostly when I read fanfic, I'm looking for a dynamic that I'm interested in reading about my ship. I think, as an OTP shipper, the dynamic and chemistry between the characters I love the most is what I'm most invested in. I'm not really looking for scenarios or tropes or certain kinks persay (and in fact, I'm mostly a very vanilla person so a lot of kinks I stay away from). When I'm reading, if I feel like "yes, this feels like my OTP" (fits the vision I have of them in my head) then usually I am interested in exploring with the writer as long as it isn't something that falls into a squick for me. If I encounter a squick that I know from the past will not sit well with me, or if I am growing annoyed or frustrated by how my OTP is interacting with each other, I click away. Because at the end of the day, I'm reading to get the feels. To explore how my ship could potentially fall in love for the 1000000000th time. If one of my NOTPs shows up, I'm probably going to have a bad time and click away too.

These aren't criticisms of the way that person writes THEIR story. That is just me being honest about what I know I will or won't have a good time with. Every fanfic and interpretation of a ship is valid and someone is going to be like "YES, THIS IS MY EXACT THING". Just because it's not my exact thing, doesn't mean it isn't good. Nor am I under any delusion that how I write my ships in my fics are going to be everyone else's exact thing. In fact, I welcome it not being everyone's thing. As nice of an idea that it is to be universally loved, it is not in any means realistic when it comes to art and fandom.

Writer Truth or Dare Ask Game

[lastontheboat]

Fandom creators self rec game! Choose five favourites from your own creations (and tell me why, if you like!), then pass on to at least five other people. I'd love to hear what you're proudest of.

Thank you @tackytigerfic for providing me an opportunity for navel-gazing! I enjoyed reading about your own favourites; I find it super interesting to see what other creators value about their works.

Per my last letter (I hope you choke on it)

This is my favourite completed fic for a number of reasons:

1. I had always wanted to try writing an epistolary

2. I had always wanted to try collaborating on a fic with a friend

3. The writing process was an absolute joy

It feels like a distillation of many of my favourite things, but unlike many fics the creation process didn't involve tearing my hair out trying to make it do what I wanted. Whenever I'd get stuck, I'd just close the document and go to bed, then when I woke up the next morning @fluxweeed would have added several new scenes that set my brain on fire. It was an absolutely magical experience for me, and I'm extremely fond of the end result. This is probably the fic of mine that I've re-read the most, and it delights me every time!

Podfic of Stop All The Clocks, by firethesound

I've got a lot of podfics to choose from, but this is one that I'm particularly proud of. The original fic is imprinted on my soul, but the thing that sticks with me more than the actual plot is the sensation of reading it and feeling my heart break over and over.

Making podfics is a very personal craft for me. It's an investment of my time, and I generally choose ones to record that I strongly associate with a particular first-time reading experience. This was my sixth large podfic project, and I really wanted my reading to amplify the heartbreak that's already present in the text. It was a much more emotional recording and editing process than most of my podfics, but it's also the only one I've listened to entirely after releasing it.

I'm extremely fond of every listener who has taken the plunge and commented about their experience of it, and completely understand everyone who has been like "I don't fuck with that fic. You couldn't pay me to listen it."

body electric

This is the first fic I can recall writing that was entirely driven by a feeling. I remember being consumed by the idea of that spark between Harry and Draco, of them needing to feed it and hold it but being unable to act upon it. I was between jobs and had a lot of time to myself, and I wrote this fic in a fugue state over the space of two days. I had never experienced a writing process so feverish before, and I don't know if I will again.

I also need to shout out the beta feedback I got from @zaharya on this one, whose very insightful comments about the passage of time in the second chapter led to me adding a bunch of my favourite lines to it:

“I want to bend you over this table,” he says, panting now. “I want you under me, here in my workshop. You’ll leave here and every time you smell wood shavings you’ll think of me.” “I already do,” Malfoy says, his voice cracking.

Podfic of If The Fates Allow, by saras_girl

I spend a lot of time listening to audiobooks these days, and I really appreciate being able to consume so many stories while driving or cooking. For me, recording a podfic is about giving others the opportunity to experience some of my favourite fics, and trying to capture some of what they mean to me in my voicing.

saras_girls fics hold a very special place in my heart, and this one is my absolute favourite of hers. As a podfic, the biggest challenge here was dealing with the ensemble cast—it stretched the limits of unique voices I could do without them sounding forced, but it was also exciting trying to keep the voices consistent across 25 chapters.

the spirit is willing (the flesh is weak)

This is the newest fic that I finished (the only one so far in 2023), but I haven't made too much noise about it on here because it's attached to my alt account. This one started out as a concept that wouldn't leave me alone (Bill/Ginny fuck or die), but it's also another data point in my exploration of what it's like to write smut.

I still don't think it comes naturally to me, whatever that means—I'm much more comfortable keeping my writing to Teen, but I'm very satisfied with how this fic achieves what I set out to do with it. It was a stretch, but a good stretch!

[scribeofred]

Hello!

I just finished watching The Expanse. I remember how you used to rave about it (and the books), so I'm here to say:

OMG! It was amazing! You were so right, and tbh I should have watched it sooner.

Chrisjen Avasarala and Bobby Draper are such brilliant characters (and Holden himself, ofc, but I feel as Main Character that's to be expected).

As you've read the books, do they end in the same manner as the TV show, or is there more story there?

Now I've finished, there is an Expanse-shaped hole in my life. Since you are a person of impeccable taste, do you have any fanfic recommendations so I can keep flying with the crew of the Roci?

HI HELLO I AM UNREASONABLY EXCITED BY THIS MESSAGE!! The show is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, ditto the books, so it's always delightful to hear one of my friends has fallen down into this hole with me :D

<3 it's an investment! starting new shows is hard! I get it! but also yes everyone should watch the show ASAP because it's great and people are missing out

AREN'T THEY THE BEST. the women of the Expanse, both books and show, are genuinely some of the best characters I've ever encountered. season four was a bit rough on Bobbie imo, but that's kind of what happens when your cast is so far flung, quite literally. Avasarala is just a queen with no equal, and let me tell you, she's just as brilliant in the novels

the books do NOT end where the show ends! the show covers the first six books' worth of story, but there are three more novels that take the story through to its conclusion, and hooooooo boy WHAT a conclusion. I shan't say a word of spoilers, but there's a reason they stopped the show at six seasons, and I think they made the right decision tbh. I absolutely recommend starting the series from the beginning and not just jumping in at book seven because the show doesn't quite hit all the same points at the books do. also there's an anthology of short stories that also pad out the world and characters' backstories, very good stuff therein

oh man, I know that hole far, far too well 😂 although for me, the fanfic craving–shaped hole doesn't exist for the Expanse because the novels actually fill that specific craving perfectly! so I've actually never read any Expanse fanfics??? thus I have no quality recommendations. (it's also just really really hard to top a ballparked 1.5 million words' worth of canonical Expanse story that have been professionally edited ^^:) that said, I will point you toward @rocicrew, who both writes fics and creates some of the most stunning gifsets in the fandom (<3), as a place to start. sorry I can't be more help in this area! at a glance, it looks like there's less than 1.2K works on AO3 between the show and the book series, so it probably won't take you terribly long to dredge it for gold and then possibly you'll find yourself contributing to the number of works yourself >:)

that said, mmmmmmmmaybe start with the actual novels first? because the fics are undoubtedly going to contain spoilers, if that's a thing you're worried about. if not, go wild!

[merge-conflict]

💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕

Ty for the ask! :3 <333 I also just want to say I love your work and how welcoming and uplifting you are to so many folks. Honestly, I've been feeling kind of good lately about what I've made, which is a nice change of pace. And I'm most invested in my longfic the damn things overlap. Posting the first few chapters is what got me to really commit to writing again, and then to actually stop lurking and join fandom, which has been a blast! This fic is especially near and dear because creating and writing Valentine has been... so self-indulgent. An enby character who is just a total mess, and particularly one who has so many conflicting traits and is always at war with herself. She loves being a corpo, even though it requires her to put so much effort into playing her role. She defaults to being friendly and pleasant and is entirely ruthless. She's mean but not evil, so sometimes she helps people out just because. She's morally flexible and all she really wants out of life is to embed herself so totally in someone else's that they can't or won't function without her. She continuously chases things that she knows are bad for her and will continue to do this with a surprising amount of self-awareness until she finally blunders into trouble she can't blunder out of. She's the kind of absolute mess of gender and addictive personality that I desperately wanted to see and I got to make her!!

For the fic itself, I'm really pleased that I've managed to consistently write scenes that make me laugh, which before this I didn't know was possible? It makes writing such a blast, and now I purposefully try to weave in humor and a little bit of mundane ridiculousness throughout, particularly to offset the darker or more distressing scenes. I'll share one of my favorites:

Though conceptually V knew her apartment was a bit of a mess, it wasn’t until she saw Takemura looking it over that she really remembered. Jackie and T-bug would have loved it. Saburo Arasaka’s bodyguard performing a security sweep on the perpetual sprawl of electronics that covered her desk. The stack of screens and speakers she’d scavenged from an old job. A pile of clean clothing dumped in front of her half-empty closet.

“You are sure this place has not been searched?” His tone was deadpan, expression grave.

V pretended to be offended. “Here I am, granting you shelter. You should be nicer to me.”

“Perhaps I am not very nice.”

“To think Wakako called you a gentleman.”

He laughed – it was definitely a laugh, tugging at the corners of his eyes – and drifted towards the window and the sight of the city in twilight.

I just– I'm imagining being in Takemura's shoes: he's had the worst few weeks of his entire life, he's on the run, hasn't had a decent shower or meal or rest, finally found an ally who's offered him a place to crash, and her home is just filled with junk and a total sty. He can't be totally rude about it, but like, come on. Give the poor man a break.

[xplrvibes]

hey so what do you think is the fandom’s general consensus on M and K? I feel like there’s a loud minority, and then ppl didn’t know M existed until that photoshoot of him hugging him or NYE depending if ppl actually looked through the tagged at the time (or were chronically online).

Because I don’t see hate comments on the girls’ posts, or their numbers skyrocket or plummet. Just a bit of an increase (at least on instagram)

Saying this all because I’d love to see a collab with everyone! I have a feeling the girls were in the room with the guys with that weird react video (and based off of the black background the gals have used on insta and tiktok)

To be completely honest, most of the outer rings of the fandom probably don't know or care one iota about these girls and all the drama the stan side of the fandom are drumming up because of all this.

Stans of any fandom, while generally being the loudest, are not the majority stakeholders in a fandom the size of snc's. snc have fans from all walks of life across all platforms; the majority of those fans just want to watch these idiot boys fumble their way through ghost hunting and then keep it moving lol.

That's why when shit happens and the stans threaten to stop watching snc videos in protest - like, ok. Have fun. A few thousand less views in a sea of 10 million is like pulling one grain of sand away from a beach and expecting the whole thing to suddenly disappear.

The only thing that is going to make the fanbase at large and the casual viewers walk away is if the content itself goes to shit or isn't interesting. Some casual viewers might not tune in if they had unknown people (like M and K) in their videos, but overall, more people than not would tune in and give it a watch because why not?

Anyway, let me get this train that I just derailed back on the tracks - I think the stans themselves are, as usual, divided on the subject of M and K.

You've got the stans that would make shipping edits with Colby/Sam and a paper bag if they felt it necessary, just to get the almighty notice and to prove that they are the good and supportive stans.

You've got the stans that were so heavily invested in the dream of Katrina/Sam getting married and repopulating the earth with a bunch of little singing philosophers that their whole being is now consumed with revenge and hate for K because she got in the way of their endgame, and we all hate the interloper, right?

You've got the stans who do not ever want Colby to be let out of the gilded cage the fans put him in, so him dating M without clearing it with them first (and M very emphatically not being {insert girl they shipped him with here} adds fuel to this particular fire) is a personal insult against them so of course, M is now manipulating Colby and must be stopped.

And then you've got the stans that just don't like change. They don't like that things are changing and snc are growing and aren't as accessible anymore, and they have to have someone besides the obvious culprit (THEMSELVES) to blame, so hey - those girls are mighty good targets.

Mind you, very few of the haters will actually hate to these girls' faces - in fact, most of them pretend to be fans of the girls' to their faces to avoid getting blocked, so they can continue to hate stalk them in perpetuity. So, the girls will see an uptick in views and followers, but on the surface, only a slight uptick in hate comments on their actual pages - cause the haters are engaging just as much (if not more) than the overly obsessed lovers are.

Anywho, mix all these dissenting opinions together in the hellish-hate-vacuum that is social media, and we get what we are getting today, which is a really loud few drowning out or acting like they speak for the vocal majority who do not care one way or another.

All this to say - I think the girls are very polarizing for certain sections of the fandom, and a non-factor for others. And I would be surprised if snc have them in a main channel video anytime soon...maybe a react, definitely a person channel video (if they ever brought those back), and there is almost a 100% certainty that we will eventually get tiktoks (just a hunch!)...but snc probably don't want to deal with the hassle of getting screamed out and called degrading names on twitter for a video that probably wouldn't break youtube anyway lol.

[ilistentogirlinred]

ramblings

because i watched too many kpop music videos and dance practices and now youtube thinks i want to know about lee know's cats

i think a lot more people would hate kpop less if the fans weren't generally a bit less insane.

a lot of the music is actually rather good, but if you want to watch the music videos then youtube will forcibly send you down a spiral of fan edits and other off putting frightening things. the music videos are good, though, and the dance practices.

people do tend to be put off by the fans because even the average fan is a LOT. quite a few of them treat being a [insert group] stan like it's a sport, but not in the sense that they're a highly invested LA lakers fan. being a kpop stan seems to be a sport in the sense that the stan is the player. streaming, voting, spamming hate comments, that is the sport, although i don't think you can actually win.

kpop stans are frighteningly dedicated, i feel like they could probably take down and reform an entire government if they felt like it. although there is a lot of infighting between fans of different groups. that being said if they teamed up they could do quite a bit. i stand by the fact that if they unified they could easily overthrow the australian government. not the USA government but definitely the australian government.

did you know the greater kpop fandom has a word for people who stan multiple groups? the fact that there are so many people who are aggressively fans of one group that they need a word for people who like multiple groups is astounding (and furthers my point that being a kpop stan is a sport). MULTISTANS. as in stans of multiple groups. aka people who listen to music like a normal person.

i do feel like another turn off for people who might like some of the music is the industry itself, which is deeply fucked up. the training is dreadful, the culture is cruel and the idol-fan stuff is just off putting. (oshi no ko does a great job at showing this and its so funny to me that all these kpop idols were doing dance challenges to the oshi no ko theme song is so funny cause like... that song was written from the perspective of an idol. like you. who gets fucking stabbed by a fan. which is a thing that has happened in real life.)

ooh you know what else might push people away? the SHIPPING. those are REAL PEOPLE. yeah they could be dating but you realise they're probably a) acting a fake/exaggerated dynamic BECAUSE the shipping draws views and b) probably only like that on camera. idols are pretty much acting when on camera or in public. they are playing a character that is palatable, likeable and appealing to the general public. some of them might be more like western celebrities and be more like themselves on camera (generally the idols who were born/raised/spent at least 5 years of their childhood in the USA/canada/australia/new zealand usually) but they're still acting. they've done a fair bit of media training. when they're on camera they aren't people. they're idols, celebrities, characters, personas. BUT THE SHIPPING. fuck i hate the shipping. sometimes the idols might have a good friendship and then they'll stop interacting because of the shipping. it makes them uncomfortable sometimes! probably generally, it makes them at least mildly uncomfortable. and the odds are, they probably aren't dating. there is like a 1 in 1000 chance that two idols from the same group are dating, in that 0.1%, there's a like 1 in 10000 chance that they'd ever go public with it. AND STOP THEORIZING ABOUT REAL PEOPLE'S SEXUALITIES! it's invasive, it's gross, it's rude and it does absolutely nothing good.

another thing that might turn people off music they could like is the generally poor vocals. there are very few kpop vocalists (not korean vocalists, just kpop idol vocalists) that are on par with western singers. solar (mamamoo), lily and haewon (nmixx), wendy (red velvet) and belle (kiss of life) are the few i consider to be as good as your average western vocalist. lots of idols generally mediocre vocals are overhyped because, usually, they have good control over their higher vocal range (cough cough han from stray kids). the thing is, lots of the idols in this category could easily be good vocalists with more formal training! THE IDOLS DON'T GET ENOUGH VOCAL TRAINING BECAUSE THE INDUSTRY VALUES LOOKS OVER SKILLS!

the industry is basically: looks > dance > personality > sense of rhythm > vocals > rap > actual skills pertaining to creating music and performance i.e writing, producing, composing, choreography, etc (don't yell at me ik there are self producing groups and those are usually my favourites but my point still stands)

if you read all of this, i do highly recommend watching some music videos and dance practices because they are honestly phenomenal. the editing in the MV's is top tier and the dances are usually just so fun to watch.

[starriva]

Tag Game To Better Know You! Send this to people you’d like to know better!

Tagged by @modernday-jay , thank you!

What book are you currently reading?

For pleasure I'm currently on book seven out of a ten on an alien romance series. It's a 7/10, score elevated for world building. I might of started this series a week and a half ago. Now I'm just invested to finish.

If we're talking actual books on my TBR at the moment it's wuthering heights, catch-22, Mormons and the Swastika, your country and my country And I want to re-read cinder from the lunar chronically again.

For school I just finished reading, class of ‘74 and two presidents Fords bibliographies. Wouldn't recommend very boring and honestly the man was out of touch but hey being out of touch makes for very good minority house speakers who accidentally end up president.

Needless to say I read a lot, a lot for school, a lot of newspapers, a lot of trashy romance books and every so often I get an actual good non romance book in the mix. But it is those romance books that resparked my love of reading so credit where credits is due they are very good at emotional investment.

What’s your favorite movie that you saw in theatres this year?

Hands down everything everywhere all at once, that shit made me cry and I bought a second ticket to take my partner to it. Other good movies I saw this year, the new Netflix Pinocchio, the glass onion, Vengeance, and Bullet Train. Some of those are deep, others are just high quality and amusing stories.

What do you usually wear?

If the weather permits I like to wear skirts. Everyone thinks you're dolled up and nice but in reality I'm just lazy.

How tall are you?

On a good day, 5’5.

What’s your Star Sign? Do you share a birthday with a celebrity or a historical event?

I'm a Libra and to my knowledge no but I do have a birthday week with one of my parents though. It's nice.

Do you go by your name or a nick-name?

Just my name, my irl freinds do not refer to me as starriva, just online ones.

Did you grow up to become what you wanted to be when you were a child?

In high school I thought being a history teacher would be cool, not anymore. Bless those brave underpaid soldiers.

Are you in a relationship? If not, who is your crush if you have one?

Way past the six year threshold for this one, I love him a lot. He keeps me sane, I adore him.

What’s something you’re good at vs. something you’re bad at?

I'm very good at understanding the American news/politics lol often times family and freinds ask me to update them and explain why the information I included is important to them.

I'm bad at balancing at yoga. Also emotional regulation, fuck ADD.

Dogs or cats?

I'll probably always have a dog until I die but I'm a cat person though and though.

What’s something you would like to create content for?

Creating content for hetalia wether I post it or not has always made me happy. No other fandom really does it for me…..and it's been years I've tried and accepted my fate.

What’s something you’re currently obsessed with?

Shitty alien romance. Can't get enough of them, my whole seven week reading streak on KU is because of them.

Edit one week later: finished that series and am now 3/4 on a new one.

What’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

Trumps inevitable downfall sue either to Desantias or the courts. I'm pacient I can wait more, also same BOTW 2. Hoping for skyward sword references. Pls pls pls.

What’s a hidden talent of yours?

I don't think I've revealed that I oil paint to anyone online. Also I'm a cat whisper, I haven't met one that hates me yet.

Are you religious?

No, raised Mormon picked up one middle school history book and lost the faith. I can understand the values that it can bring into a person's life but I did not find any value in it for me.

What’s something you wish to have at this moment?

Time to oil paint.

Thank you for the request! I would like to get to know people in the fandom but perhaps at a more opportune time.

[aquamour]

after thinking about it for 0.2 more seconds here are my thoughts

so I grew up on star wars, it was something I was into on and off until I (re)Discovered it when I was 12. I got, like, really into it. I had an fyeah sw blog, made fan edits, watched fan edits, rewatched the movies over and over, read a bunch of books and played a bunch of the video games. even got a sw tattoo for my 18th birthday.

and it just makes me so sad that it doesn’t bring me the same joy that it used to. it was such a big aspect of my identity. and now I feel more or less indifferent to it. I really don’t have any interest in delving into anything beyond the main movies.

but I think that comes down to two major factors. I didn’t like what disney did with the sequels (or a number of the spin offs, for that matter) and it’s frankly insulting that the people in charge of the story have just shit all over it and are so clearly using the franchise as a cash grab, banking on nostalgia instead of actually investing in a good fucking story. it is painful to see something I love perpetually given unsatisfying and unfulfilling plot lines and endings. he would not fucking say that -> the story would not fucking go that way. perhaps falling out of love with it is a means of self protection from disappointment.

secondly, since the media has become so overtly saturated with the franchise, it’s no longer become My Thing. it used to feel personal to me, and now it feels like a Trend. in no way am I saying that other people can’t enjoy media I enjoy. but before, it felt like when I met other fans it was something we could mutually appreciate and resonate with. it was special and specific to me and the other person. whereas now it feels like other people I talk to have a superficial relationship with it. but then again, with how divided the fandom is to begin with, that’s probably the better option anyway. but like, the person who made the fan video of anakin and obi-wan to the “you who I call brother/let my people go” song from prince of egypt DEFINITELY has a different level of investment than the person who bought the baby yoda tissue box.

so basically, it’s the longing for heartfelt art, a sense of individuality and community

how do you fall in love with something again

[mittensmorgul]

For anyone interested in long-term residence in the supernatural fandom, please have some observations I’ve made over the decade I’ve been here. Take it or leave it as you will, but I’ve found all of this info useful over the years I’ve been here.

I wrote this yesterday, and it achieved its mission of identifying the sort of folks who would react negatively to it (i.e. a lot of block lists have been updated), so now that it’s been edited for content, it’s going under a cut (because that is how we do things on tumblr in general, unless we have a deliberate purpose for annoying readers with excessively long text posts) for the sake of people who actually do care about the fandom and its history. If that’s not you or your reason for being here, then keep on keeping on with your own thing, I guess. For those who are interested, there’s a lot of fandom resources some of us have been building for years that you might enjoy knowing about.

First off, I’ve been informed by a few friends who’ve read through this for coherency’s sake that it sort of reads like a *shakes cane from porch* fandom grandma complaint, but honestly... I earned this rocking chair and goshdangit imma rock now. So apologies for any “back in my day” vibes or faint aroma of tiger balm this post might give off. Then again, it’s loosely based on a similar post from 2012 so like... time is a flat circle anyway I guess.

1. There is no such thing as “tumblr famous,” unless you’re referring to the hilarious and delightful fic of the same name (please go read it, you will cackle). Posting Hot Takes for imaginary Clout™ on this site is kind of pointless in the long run. Sure you can post solely for the sake of stirring shit and getting notes, but the majority of the folks who do aren’t long term residents of the fandom. They’re just tourists moving through our little beach town for spring break. If you’re actually intent on moving to this corner of the fandom for an extended stay, please bother to really feel out the permanent residents and understand the culture and general mood of the neighborhood. It bears no resemblance to whatever’s going on across town where all the bars and beach parities are happening, and those loud, drunken revelers are, again, gonna disappear back to their regular lives or on to the next party eventually. That doesn’t mean the fandom is dying, it’s just evolving.

(funny how I had several comments implying that I’m just trying to keep the fandom from evolving with this post, because I sincerely do want the fandom to continue on for years to come, and that is impossible without evolution. We can evolve without self-immolating, though. mostly i included point 1 for an excuse to push ancient but hilarious fanfic on you.)

2. Once you post something here, it’s been unleashed to the fandom winds. You never know where it will end up, or who will comment on it or add to it. Remember that time Misha tweeted the link to the Epic Cockles Love Story post? No? It was wild. That was 2012. They all know we’re here, and how to find us if they want to. Please don’t take it to their doorsteps.

Obviously if someone is being a dick on your posts, please feel free to block them, but the whole entire point of this site is to engage people with your posts. Being big mad that someone reblogged your post with comments or supporting evidence, or happy headcanons or “HECK THIS IS GREAT BECAUSE (insert personal story about their experience or whatever else made them Feel Things about your post)” is frankly ridiculous. If your goal is to avoid any sort of engagement with your posts, then maybe try instagram instead. From what I understand, there is a SPN fandom presence there, and nobody can tarnish your original posts with unwanted commentary. But the ability to reblog with additional commentary is a FEATURE of tumblr that builds community through conversation. Otherwise we’re all just talking to ourselves in a vacuum, and that’s what actually kills fandoms.

(and for the folks who just want to blog how they want to blog and don’t want people to engage on their posts at all, please feel free to block anyone you want, as well... nobody wants to step on your toes, but most of us also don’t want to walk on eggshells wondering if this post is one of the “do not add comments for any reason” sorts of posts, either. This is a huge fandom and most people can’t even begin to keep track of every creator and their url du jour, and what their personal rules might be regarding interaction with their content. Including a “please don’t add comments” note at the bottom of your posts-- and not in your tags that won’t even show up on reblogs, but in the actual body of the post-- would sincerely help avoid any awkward or unwanted interactions, too. At the end of the day, you are in control of your own fandom experience and the block button exists.

For the record, I block zero fandom blogs (which is why I posted this, I wanted it to reach a wide scope... refer to the opening paragraphs as to why).

3. Since this post was partly inspired by a tag I left on that post going around about how “previous tags” mean fuckall on this site (which you can read here), just a reminder that if you like someone’s tags or feel they add value to the post, part of the Peer Review structure of tumblr encourages you to PASTE THEM INTO A REBLOG. If you do this, then at least credit the person who actually wrote the tags! Don’t just copy someone else’s tags into your tags on your reblog of the post without credit either. They were not YOUR tags. (I have had this happen to tag rambles I wrote and someone else got credited with them on a subsequent reblog and it is FRUSTRATING). Just... don’t even bother to write “previous tags” because WHAT PREVIOUS TAGS?! Nobody is gonna bother to chase back the chain of reblogs trying to find where the mystery tags came from, friendos. That way lies madness.

(for the record, since some folks seemed to focus on this point solely, writing “previous tags” on a post isn’t inherently a BAD thing, but for anyone who actually is here for more than one-off shitposting, then it’s sort of a pointless thing in the long run. This wasn’t intended to suggest people who ARE here for one-off shitposting are bad or “doing it wrong,” but for people who might actually want to preserve that hilarious joke or insightful comment. People delete posts and entire blogs all the time around here. Links break. I get that the upcoming generation just shrugs at that and moves on with their lives, but heck... you don’t have to accept that all entertainment is disposable if you don’t want to. There’s a bizarre sort of nihilism plaguing us all about the impermanence of pretty much everything that feels like something we should be fighting against rather than buying into wholesale, even in our escapist entertainment. I’m just exhausted by the complete loss of joy in community.

*shouts from the peanut gallery* IT AIN’T THAT DEEP, JUST GET SOME FRESH AIR AND LOOK AT A PUPPY OR SOMETHING

Yes... yes it isn’t really that deep, but bigger picture in the state of reality we’re all entirely disillusioned with, are we supposed to just give up on everything, including the things we cling to because they bring us a tiny spark of hope that we’re not all just trapped in this dystopian nightmare and things might actually be worth living for?

*peanut gallery clinging to burnt husks of peanuts in a barren peanut field* but this is how we have chosen to cope

Okay... you do you... I feel bad for you but if that’s the case then this post is NOT FOR YOU. AND THAT’S FINE. I honestly do not care if you don’t care! I mean, I’m sorry anyone has to live in a world that drives them to that mindset, but I understand. This post is for anyone who might look at their lives and their choices and think “no wait, I unironically enjoy this and want more from the experience of that enjoyment than I’m currently feeling.” Everyone else can continue with their lives as usual.)

4. CONTENT THEFT IS NEVER OKAY. PERIOD. Things like “credit to the artist” or tagging gifs or images you found on pinterest as “not mine” isn’t actually credit. If you can’t source an image or gif set, DO NOT POST IT! We don’t REPOST (i.e. save an image and then create a new post with it as if it was our own creation). We REBLOG (click the little square arrows and reblog from the actual creator). That goes for gif sets, fanvids, screencaps, meta, fic... everything.

(hopefully everyone here already understands this one, but I felt compelled to include some “these are stupidly obvious” reminders anyway, since this is ostensibly some sort of advice column. This is the equivalent of the warning label on your toaster reminding you not to use it in the bath. Like... duh...)

5. Close kin of item 4 is SOURCE YOUR SHIT. 

(for 100% disclosure purposes, I specifically discussed this one in this specific way because of an influx of anon ask messages I received in the wake of the finale. Literally the inciting incident for creating this entire post was what I can only assume was a joking ask about a comment Misha made at a con years ago. Someone actually bothered to take the time to type out those sentences to me. I have no idea what they were expecting in reply, or what could possibly motivate them to send this comment about something so entirely random from, again, several years ago. Just a joke? No idea, but whatever... it got me thinking that there might actually be people who are new to the fandom who MIGHT actually care about the fandom history, and maybe they just don’t know where to go for that info, or how to even begin searching through 16 years of history for things they might actually find enjoyment in, rather than just hauling random out of context garbage out on main and pointing and laughing about it now. People are actually allowed to care about things. It’s not cringeworthy to actually care about things, and you are not alone in actually caring, and there’s this whole big room over here full of people who are thrilled to share in that with you. This post is intended FOR THOSE PEOPLE SPECIFICALLY, so if that is not you, please just continue walking by.)

Yes, I know lots of y’all are new around here right now, but dredging up stuff from years ago that fandom has completely debunked and presenting it as TRU FAX again is just exhausting. We’re not trying to be party poopers, but seriously, we have seen it all and are mostly done with extinguishing bags of flaming dog poop on our front porches for the umpteenth year in a row. I’ve seen a lot of posts that have the same tone as “I saw Goody Proctor dancing with the devil” or “I heard kylo ren has an eight pack” and just... the information is there for anyone who cares enough to find it.

This goes double for “why is nobody talking about this thing I just discovered while watching the show for the first time?!” And, oh hon, we have talked it all into the ground over the last fifteen years. We’re happy you’re discovering it again, but I promise we talked about it plenty when the episodes originally aired. We have such a rich meta history that lots of us have worked really hard to preserve. I encourage you to seek it out, if nothing else than as historical artifacts. The way we have discussed the show has been a 16-year evolution. People have written literal doctoral dissertations on this show. Your shitposts are fun! We love reliving our own experience through fresh eyes, and seeing your wonder at experiencing it all again for the first time! But y’all didn’t invent this fandom in the last six months, either.

Meta Sources and Minerals provided by our friendly neighborhood fandom archivist, @lets-steal-an-archive

Academic books and articles about SPN 

A collection of Meta Essays going back to s1 and organized by topic (all of this has happened before, all of it will happen again)

SPN Heavy Meta Archive (s1-3)

Mel’s Dreamwidth archive of meta (s1-12)

Oranges8hands Dreamwidth archive of meta (s1-15, with many similar entries to Mel’s... though ymmv on viewpoint in a lot of these too)

Anyone remember Fandom Wank? Not the concept but the actual LJ... No? Okay have a link to SPN topics that ended up there. Through 2013. We have seen so much... including several fandom containment breaches.

for all your art sourcing needs, please see @theroadsofararchive, the repository for so much fandom art.

need to find a gif of something? canonspngifs is a vast repository of gifsets of the entire series. If the gif you want to use in your post happens to be the first gif in the gifset, in the tumblr gif finder thingy just paste the permalink to that post from canonspngifs (which is easily searchable by episode, character, location, situation, quotes, and sometimes even color and clothing items the actors are wearing... it’s really well organized, especially for tumblr >.>) and the first gif will be automatically linked with credit to the gif creator attached. It makes life easy that way. It’s also convenient when trying to remember something specific but can’t remember what episode it’s from. I’ve used the site to jog my memory before going to the superwiki armed with more specific search results to find episode quotes and references. Or sometimes I just scroll through all the nice gifs for fun, too.

Need a screencap of something and know exactly which episode it’s from? Try Home of the Nutty. You might not find the exact screencap you’re looking for, but they have a complete set of caps of every episode, and it’s an incredibly useful resource for quick reference checks and the like. Just give pages a chance to fully load before clicking on the next one. The site is easily overloaded, but it’s still free to use (and again, with credit... Pretty much every screencap on my entire blog is from HotN unless otherwise credited).

As you can see, this is a fandom built on preserving our history. You absolutely are not required to engage with any of this if that’s not of interest to you, but I can only assume that there are people who would be interested in it if only they knew it existed and how to find it. Well, now they do.

6. A few more notes on tags, and how they work on tumblr. The first 20 tags on your ORIGINAL posts are searchable sitewide, so if you want to be able to find something again, tag that thing first before going on general tag rambles. The only place tags on reblogs are searchable is on your own blog. So you don’t have to put 50 tags trying to get a post seen if it’s a reblog. You’re just spitting into the wind at that point. If you have a filing system for finding things again, then by all means add those tags (again, in the first 20, so they’re searchable), but you don’t need to tag a reblog “destiel” and “deancas” and “dean” and “cas” and “dean x cas” or whatever. Pick one for your personal blog’s filing system, that’s all you need.

(this was only added because tagging and searching on this site is so very broken... I get that a lot of folks don’t care about ever searching their own blogs again for anything, so this one only really applies if you do often find yourself trying to find old posts. If not, then it’s not really relevant.  It took me years to work out a decent tagging system, and at the beginning of my time here I never thought I’d end up camping out here for a decade and falling this deep into the fandom, and I regretted my lack of consistent tags only years later when I realized I actually wanted to be able to go back and find specific old posts again. So... for anyone who wants to err on the side of caution, working out a sensible tagging system really helps if you’re here for the long term. I personally tag content by episode, because some of my other general tags are so large as to be practically useless as a search term. But whatever system you choose to file stuff on your own blog, it really only has to make sense to you. And again, if this is pointless advice for someone who has no intention of settling here for the long term. Please feel free to ignore it. I just wish someone had explained it this way to me ten years ago and saved me the hassle of retroactively tagging something like 30k posts... especially now that using the mass tag replacer is the fastest way to get your entire blog deleted... oops? so yeah, don’t use the mass tag replacer either >.>)

7. Tags on Tumblr DO NOT WORK LIKE TAGS ON TWITTER. If you @ someone in the body of the post, it will show up in their notifications (if they’re the sort of person who even checks their notifications... not all of us do. For the record, I generally don’t...), but putting actor or ship names in the tags on a tumblr post does absolutely nothing. It’s not the same as tagging the actor’s twitter account in a tweet. Nobody’s getting notifications about you tagging a post about Jensen here as “Jensen Ackles.” There is a difference. Please learn it. (and don’t take headcanons and ESPECIALLY RPF or otherwise explicit art or fic from tumblr to twitter and tag the actors in it. That’s just... not okay.)

(I have seen the pearl clutchers getting all in a huff about the mere existence of RPF or even explicit content of fictional characters if it doesn’t meet their purity standards, but tagging those things allows people who don’t want to see it to actively avoid that content here. Nobody has a right to tell people their fictional content shouldn’t exist at all, or that creators of that fictional content somehow deserve harassment or threats for having dared to create such “immoral” content, won’t somebody PLEASE think of the children... and no... you do not do that here. Don’t be the problematic behavior you wish to ban from the world. Learn to use tags to protect yourself from, as i have attempted to emphasize here, fictional content you are personally upset by. That’s a you problem, not a problem for the creators of potentially upsetting content that they tag appropriately for.)

8. General formatting stuff: If you’re writing long text posts, visually break them up so people aren’t faced with one long wall of text. The enter key is your friend. Also, if you put long text posts under a Read More break and send people to your blog to finish reading, please ensure that your blog is actually visually accessible (tiny text, or light grey text on a dark grey background, or a visually busy background might be aesthetically pleasing to you but nobody can actually read it. Loads of folks won’t even try. Which is great if you don’t actually care whether people are able to appreciate your content or not, but something to at least consider if you *do* actively want to encourage engagement with your work. Confirm how your blog looks on both mobile and desktop and make sure it’s actually functional in both, too).

And since I mentioned that most of my experience on fandom tumblr has been in the SPN fandom, here’s a bit of a reminder for folks who are new around here. With the reminder that I have been here more than a decade and still feel like a newbie myself sometimes...

This is an OLD FANDOM. There are many, many people who have been at this longer than some of you have been alive. The average age for creators in this fandom is older than you think (I think of my friends in their 30′s as young’ins okay? okay). With that understood, you are responsible for the content you consume and are exposed to. Curate your experience. Ship and let ship. YKINMKATOK. Don’t deliberately expose yourself to content you find upsetting for whatever reason. Tags and warnings are your friends, not targets for you to attack in some sort of purity war. People will ship things you do not like (or in specific ways you do not like), will say things you do not agree with, and will find their happiness in things you abhor. That is not your concern. Find what you do like, and support and engage with it, and ignore (or block, or unfollow) the rest. Tumblr has a feature that lets you blacklist tags so the content you’re trying to avoid won’t appear on your dash.

Remember the paradox of tolerance.

It is not your job in fandom to police how other people enjoy the fandom. It’s not *my* job to police how *you* enjoy the fandom, UNLESS your enjoyment is in actively harming other real human beings in the fandom. If you don’t like their take on the character or the show or the plotlines or their ships or anything else, you don’t need to engage with their posts at all! The necessary corollary to this is that clarifying misunderstandings or correcting factual misinformation is not “policing.” 

(this is where the peanut gallery reminds me it ain’t that deep, and I plead with them to put down the social media and find just one (1) thing to actually believe in in this godforsaken life, find something other than disdain and cynicism and spite to live for. If those things motivate you to find a larger cause for yourself, then great, use them to your advantage, but use them to find something that makes you a better person or brings you a modicum of joy and connection to your fellow human beings despite living in a dystopian hellscape of a world)

I have seen a lot of posts lately that are founded on the sort of authority that comes with “I watched through tumblr for a few months and then watched the last three episodes of the series” and as such are just... missing the larger context of the entire show, and are unfounded entirely in canon. I 100% appreciate the new enthusiasm for the fandom that we’ve been living in here for years, and it’s wonderful to see new people enjoying the thing we love. Your headcanons are valid, you are valid, but recognize that your headcanons aren’t canon. All of us finale denialists have accepted this in some measure, so we feel you. We truly, truly feel you. But regarding actual canon, we have a resource for that: the Superwiki. Learn it, live it, love it, as Metatron would say.

(which you could discover he said in 10.17 Inside Man, thanks to the superwiki! accept no substitutes!)

(and again, there have been people who have been involved in fandom for years who haven’t engaged with canon in years, either! You can play in this universe however you choose, BUT FOR PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT CANON AT ALL, WHICH I AM AGAIN POINTEDLY SAYING MIGHT NOT BE YOU, READER, AND I’M NOT SUGGESTING YOU ARE WRONG FOR NOT WANTING TO ACTUALLY ENGAGE WITH CANON, but if you DO want to engage with canon, please have some useful resources. Why do people feel personally attacked by being presented a list of helpful resources? Absolutely baffling.)

(also: words have definitions. “Canon” is a specific thing, meaning in this case “the finished media product that aired on television.” Anything beyond those limits is secondary canon (think: john’s journal, which is not canon but canon adjacent at best...), word of god (i.e stuff said by the writers and showrunners), or headcanon (which includes actor commentary-- they may have helped create the show with their acting choices and whatever, but they are not in control of the story overall). If there’s something you dislike about actual canon, you can reject it and supplement it with your own theories or preferred outcomes-- that’s basically what fanfic is-- but that doesn’t make your theories canon (much to all our dismay, that’s just not how any of this works. This is not to invalidate how anyone engages with the show or the fandom, just trying to clarify what seems to have been a source of unintentional misunderstandings. Your theories do not have to be “canon” to be legitimate interpretations.)

***I am setting this section apart, and did make a separate post of just this following information, because this is where we go from being relatively chill about different parts of fandom choosing to interact in different ways and you do you and blog however you want, to “hey can everybody please understand that the way you are interacting with this specific material might be harmful for specific legal reasons, and stating that you do not care about the consequences of your actions does actively make you the asshole here...” Okay, now that we have that understood:

The spnscripthunt collective has been steadily acquiring new scripts (which are posted in full on the superwiki for everyone to enjoy, for free). The language around how some folks are talking about these scripts is... concerning. For very real legal reasons, actually, and not because we’re feeling precious about the collection and don’t wike it when meanies use them in shitposts.

-First off, these scripts are not “leaks.” They are all verified and legally purchased (or gifted, in some cases, but still acquired entirely above board. we didn’t whack anyone over the head in a back alley for these scripts, or swipe them out of someone’s trailer on set).

(in case anyone was unaware, these scripts are the copywritten protected property of Warner Brothers. So yes, how we use them and share them with the fandom could have legal repercussions. We present them as a collected resource of fandom history which SHOULD fall under Fair Use doctrine, but this is untested legal water. Insinuating that the scripts are somehow not entirely legally obtained, or that posting them for public access involved less than 100% transparent and entirely legal transactions is incredibly concerning.

Once again for the peanut gallery, if you don’t care about any of that and are just having a good time with it, at least be mindful of the work and expense a large group of people have gone through to acquire and present the content you’re all too eager to exploit for cheap thrills. Some of us do actually care and are not exactly comfortable with the fact that others don’t seem to care about burning it all to the ground. We can’t force you to listen or behave as we’d hope you might, but at least be aware of the potential consequences of your actions. All we’re asking is for you to not be the douchebag who sets the whole neighborhood on fire with your illegal fireworks display. Is that too much to ask for? more on that in a second, first... a psa)

-If you see a script for sale and are unsure if it’s legit (or believe it might already be freely available in our collection), please feel free to ask us for advice. Our goal is to make as much of our fandom history available to the entire fandom, and we absolutely do not want anyone shelling out money for stuff you can already find for free.

(seriously, we’ve seen a bunch of resellers cropping up selling printed versions of the scripts we bought and uploaded for everyone to enjoy free of charge, or scripts that are otherwise of dubious origin. We’ve been at this for years now and know what’s actually out there. We don’t want anyone to fall for a scam if we can help it)

-Also, the usual reminder that the scripts we acquire ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE FINAL SHOOTING DRAFTS. In fact, the majority of scripts in our collection are NOT. Changes are made daily to scripts, even during filming. Comparing a Production Draft (white pages, effectively the first “final draft” of what usually becomes a series of drafts before filming wraps) to a much later revision (say... green or goldenrod revisions, several of which we DO have in our collection for comparison) and how those earlier drafts often differ wildly from the aired version versus how similar a much later green draft is to the aired version, for example, can teach you a lot about the television writing process. The link above to the superwiki scripts page has a nice little explainer about how this process works.

Differences between our posted scripts (many of which are white drafts, aka FIRST complete drafts, which will likely go through multiple rounds of revisions before filming even begins) and the aired version of the show are not all “acting choices” or a director or editor just cutting whole scenes on a whim. It’s insulting to everyone involved in production to suggest that’s the case.

(and yeah, fine... whatever, make any sort of posts you like regarding how those changes came about, but at the very least understand that it’s not actually the truth about how any of this works. Don’t care that that’s not the truth and want to make the posts anyway because shitposting is fun and that’s the extent of your sense of humor? FINE! You’re entitled to do that! But at least you DO know the truth now, and hopefully so do the people who engage with your posts. Deliberate ignorance isn’t cute, smooth lions notwithstanding)

There’s probably a whole other post to be made on fandom tagging etiquette, but again I don’t really use the tags enough to know what’s going on with that whole situation. I’ve also probably left a lot of stuff out, so please feel free to add things I’ve overlooked.

Thanks also to @trisscar368 and @thayerkerbasy for help compiling this, too. They were kind enough to escort me through the park to feed these pigeons. Now I need to take them out for ice cream. :’D

So I guess welcome to the neighborhood. Make yourself at home, but like... try not to trash the place while you’re here. Some of us live here by choice, lol.

[pitynostars]

what are the main reasons the chibnall era doesn’t work for you? (not a hater btw, just curious)

Hi anon 🥰 to be honest, I’m still trying to pinpoint it all myself ! While I was thinking about this and writing it out I’ve realised it mainly boils down to:

I think a lot of the writing is boring and inconsistent, from characters to big arcs to individual episodes.

Too many important character/relationship moments happening offscreen, or just told to us rather than shown to us.

So much wasted potential (I think this is the worst part for me because if it was just Bad I wouldn’t be so frustrated by it you know?) I feel like I’ve had more fun in the fandom reading people’s speculations and headcanons all era than watching the actual show itself

Sort of in line with that, rehashing of old ideas (+ not doing anything new/interesting with them).

I don’t know what it is specifically, whether it’s the writing, acting, or directing, editing, something else, but the whole era has such a patronising vibe to me? All the characters act like stereotypical primary school teachers at their most annoying and it drives me INSANE

So to elaborate:

The writing style of the era seems to be “drop something interesting and then forget about it until maybe we remember it and decide to do something with it” but the something they do with it is often boring as shit and I’m left after every episode/season with an overwhelming “... ok so what was the point of any of that?” feeling. From big things like the whole Timeless Child arc, to Ryan vlogging, to Yaz’s MH/queerness, Graham’s cancer, Dan’s “take the soup, will you?” moment, The Eternals in CYHM?, Ruth/Martin!Doctor etc. etc. 

I KNOW Chibnall can write nuanced plots, characters and relationships, but in his era of DW it just doesn’t work for me. Take the Timeless Child arc, beat for beat it’s just like name drop the Timeless Child in 11x02, monologue exposit about it in 12x10, don’t really deal with the fallout/emotional development the Doctor gets from it at all apart from one scene out of the blue in NY. Repeat through Flux (the watch is brought in to remind her it exists and she makes the exact same choice she does in TTC to Choose to be the Doctor, independent of whatever might have happened in her past). Her changing her mind about how she feels about it all in prison? Happens off screen. Her chasing after Karvanista so obsessively? Off screen. We’re just told afterward that she’s back to caring about it. 

Same with thasmin, there’s a couple of random comments in Arachnids, Villa etc until Flux, but then it skips over actually letting Yaz and the Doctor interact so it’s like ok like. Do they have a laugh together? Does the Doctor care for Yaz when she's scared/upset (seeing 13's interactions with Graham I'd say No. Also the only time I can remember we've seen Yaz upset and comforted is Spyfall and that's by Ryan). What’s in their dynamic that I’m supposed to be invested in, all we get from them 99% of the time is Yaz asking a question so the Doctor can exposit about it (which again ties back into my oh my god everyone feels like a patronising primary school teacher problem). Their dynamic in Flux is just the Doctor being a dick and Yaz taking it (with gooey eyes half the time lol). Then we get to second half of flux + the specials and honestly I don’t think one person pining for the other can be considered a whole relationship dynamic in itself (or again, if it can be, it’s… very boring lol).

-

I feel like the characters are all pretty badly defined in general, but the characterisations we do get are boring or rehashes of previous characters. We know now Chibnall specifically wanted to bring on a woman to play the Doctor, but also wrote her as so passive (people point to episodes like Rosa and are like “well she couldn’t step in!! It would change history!!” okay who keeps writing her into these situations!! It’s okay to have those sorts of plots/resolutions as long as there’s some episodes where the Doctor has to make a choice and have a win), and when she’s NOT written super passive, she makes a crazy ass decision which doesn’t really add up at all with the rest of her character - e.g., taking the cyberium, blowing up the Master (and then letting Ko Sharmus do it), (ditto with the Sea Devils and Ji Hun). 

Which then goes with the fact she’s written with her morals all over the place (the spider in Arachnids, to being an absolute ARSE to Yaz in Flux to abandoning Dan in LotSD but she’s still got this damn high horse about using violence (except when its HER bombing people (: uwu) – I know this hypocrisy is present in other Doctor’s too but it’s exactly why I find Ten so annoying, like why repeat this for her !!!! At least with Ten we got Waters of Mars!!!!!!!!!! 12’s dying wish was for them as the Doctor to continue to be KIND but 13 falls immediately back into 10’s self centred arsehole persona of ESPECIALLY being an arsehole to your friends which I just hate watching. 

Another point I find frustrating about 13 is literally why cast a woman if you’re not going to do a gender identity arc. Like perfect opportunity, Yaz or Ryan or Graham could have been trans if you didn’t want to give the Doctor that arc specifically because they’re an alien yada yada but why do it. The only thing that’s done with it is have her be confused (even tho the Doctor’s been interacting with humans for literally centuries and knows how gender works for us), and make patronising “I’ve had an upgrade” “life’s so hard for women back then” jokes. I’m tearing my hair out.  For so long in the beginning of her era I was just screaming at the TV for the writing to let her do something ANYTHING that let her show an emotion other than like. Preppy/patronising highschool teacher. When she’s actually allowed to expression emotion, it’s usually just so many scenes that make her look stupid/silly (I’m thinking of the scene in Spyfall when she’s like “snap!! … is that not what we’re playing?” there’s a difference between making her funny and weird and alien and just making her into a clown), which works when balanced with darker/more serious/more calculating moments but we don’t really get to see a lot of that from her, and when we do it’s usually quite isolated from the rest of the characters, so doesn’t really feel like it’s got an actual impact.  

Of the (assumedly) complete character arcs we’ve got they’re both quite boring in my opinion. Obviously not every companion has to Become God and Fall For Their Hubris but like. “Guy decides he’d rather stay home actually” and “other guy decides he wants to stay with him too actually” is just sooo boring. Their arcs are literally just like they go along for the ride, get tired of it and go home. Revolutionary. As I said before, 13’s is just the realisation her past doesn’t define her (on LOOP) with a dash of Ten’s arrogance/hypocrisy thrown in (which like… he’s my least fave Doctor of the ones I’ve seen!!! I don’t want a rehash of his era!!! Even if it was written well!!!).

RE: Yaz, she was introduced like “can’t you give me something that’ll challenge me?” and to be honest I don’t think we’ve really seen her challenged yet. I feel like they’ve tried to do a rehash of Clara’s becoming the Doctor arc in Flux, but the whole reason Clara’s arc hit is because we saw 1. WHY it came about (losing Danny and everything else through s8), and 2. THE FALLOUT, of both HER going too far and the Doctor’s grief. With Yaz, they just brought it up and have done nothing with it. She got so little characterisation through s11/12 and then when she finally gets Something they do nothing with it AND it’s more about someone else and her feelings for them than it’s about HER. 

-

I think the relationships in the show also suffer due to the messy/lack of characterisation. None of (either of) the main team have any tension or disagreement apart from Ryan & Graham’s will they won’t they grandparent/son dynamic and Yaz/13’s communication problems in Flux. I also just genuinely don’t think Thirteen cares much for any of her companions. Obviously most recently abandoning Dan in the past, but also take the example from Spyfall: the Doctor wasn’t worried about Yaz, Graham & Ryan when she was stuck in the past, and we know she hadn’t already hatched the plane save so. She thought they were dead? She assumed they’d found a way out? There was no thought of ‘oh my friends were on a crashing plane, I should get back and check they got out okay’, she goes straight back in to stopping the Master, and it comes across as it’s only when they bring up the plane by asking how she did it that she realises they actually managed to escape? If she doesn’t care why should the audience? They’re all just along for the ride and it’s so goddamn boring.

They had such a good opportunity with Yaz & 13 in the beginning – Yaz is introduced as a kind of bored police officer with something to prove, it would have been so interesting for them to grapple with a bit of a power struggle in the beginning as Yaz tries to assume the Authority position and the Doctor grapples with whether she wants to be like “my ship my rules” vibe or to sit back and let Yaz go ham. Instead they just sort of. Are in scenes together I guess.  

Like, even Ryan & Graham’s relationship, which is one of my favourite parts of the era feels quite forced and formulaic, like they’ve sat down and said “right, in this episode we need a Ryan & Graham scene where he refuses to call him granddad, so later it’s satisfying when he does” rather than letting the characters naturally grow closer/develop. This sort of shorthand character/relationship building is so present through the era too, the whole speech Graham gives about Yaz being the best person he’s ever met: “You said to the Doc that you thought she was the best person you'd ever met. But you know what, Yaz? I think you are. You ain't got a time machine or a sonic... but you're never afraid and you're never beaten. I'm going to sound like a... like a proper old man, but you're doing your family proud, Yaz, you really are. In fact, you're doing the whole human race proud.” is really sweet and nice and I do enjoy their dynamic sometimes I just don’t understand where his POV of Yaz is from because the scripts up to this point haven’t really given Yaz the opportunity to be any of those things (unafraid, unbeaten etc). I’d say maybe in the year where the Doctor’s in prison/Flux but 1. that hasn’t happened yet when he gives that speech and 2. that was all off screen?  

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Which leads me on to my next point, which is, why DOES so much important/interesting character stuff happen off screen?? The Doctor’s time alone in prison and the fam’s reactions to it, Yaz & Dan’s 3 years in the past, Yaz growing/realising her feelings for the Doctor, all happen mainly off screen, the Doctor obsessively hunting down Karvanista at the beginning of Flux. I’ve seen people speculating that Yaz & Doctor had the conversation about the Master & the Timeless Child and all the Flux shenanigans sometimes between EotD and LotSD, and that was their MAIN tension all through last series but I wouldn’t even be SURPRISED if it happened off screen at this point. 

I’m still so frustrated there’s no timeline given for when this Dhawan!Master is at. We are left to assume he’s post Missy, but there’s no mention/interrogation of her arc whatsoever. Any development he had to get him back to his “”evil schemes”” is, again, left off screen. It just feels like such a disservice to Gomez and her Master and the arc she had with 12 to not even MENTION it. Just a mention from 13 of like “oh I thought they’d changed…” to Ryan/Yaz/Graham. ANYTHING. I thought the Master coming back was gonna be the trigger for 13 to finally snap because she’s finally got someone to bounce off of and then she gets him taken off by Nazis (I don’t think the point of like. Why that is so awful needs relabouring lol). 

Ruth/Martin!Doctor could have been so interesting to dive into (holding out for that spin off 🤞) but instead she gets forgotten until like Once Upon Time which mainly overwrites her with Thirteen and then she’s forgotten about again.

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It’s also really annoying in my opinion how the era does so much lipservice to being progressive, especially more so than before, when for 3 seasons the only queer characters were introduced and killed like 2 minutes apart, and Ryan and Yaz were constantly sidelined for Graham’s development, sometimes it even feeling like the Doctor was also playing second fiddle to him, and Grace was introduced only to be fridged (and then like. AGAIN in ITYA) for Graham's (and to a lesser extent Ryan's) development, which they don't even really do anything with except for a few Grief scenes. You'd think a guy his age who's just watched his wife die and who's had longterm health issues might look at his grandson wanting to hop off into danger and have more to say than "yeah guess I'll come along too".

A lot of times it feels like they only bring up things like race, sexuality, gender, disabilities etc as a Theme of the Week rather than being part of these characters/worlds (e.g., Yaz’s MH is only really present in CYHM, Ryan’s dyspraxia gets forgotten about all the time and is written super inconsistently, Rosa and DotP have Ryan and Yaz discussing racism but then in the Witchfinders it’s not a problem (because that’s The Sexism(™) episode). They have episodes like Orphan 55 and Praxeus with the same span they have FUCKING Kerblam!.

I’ve already talked about how disappointing I feel the era is at handling the Doctor being played by a woman, but it also bugs me RE Yaz being queer, is that we have no idea how that impacts literally anything about her or her character (I know it’s a last minute addition so maybe felt like they didn’t have time), we don’t know how she came to the realisation or how she feels about it, how she feels about Dan essentially outing her, whether the bullying/MH they touched on are affected by it. It’s just like ok Yaz is queer! Onto the next bulletpoint for the ep. There’s no depth given to it at all. They randomly drop Yaz is a muslim at one point but again we have no idea what her relationship with that is at ALL?

And obviously having representation for representation's sake can be fine, your whole personality isn’t your identity, but when it’s so often the case that it’s not addressed at all outside of establishing it, it feels so lazy, like they want the kudos for having a diverse cast without having to do any consistent legwork with it.

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Ultimately I think for me this whole era just feels like “oh this idea is cool, hope this pays off later” then being bored/irritated then being like “... was that it?”. It feels like it’s lacking a lot of heart, it all just feels so weak and dull and lifeless and misses every opportunity to do something interesting with the good ideas it DOES have ?? Or what they DO do is just rehashing old stuff, but not as well (Clara/Yaz WWTDD arc, 13’s 10-like traits) or completely ignoring what came before (the memory wipes after what 12 learned with Bill/Clara, Missy/the Master’s development). Even episodes I really liked like FoTJ just don’t work as well on rewatch because you know they’re not going anywhere interesting. 

Sorry if I’ve repeated myself anywhere, been scrapping my thoughts together when I had a couple minutes free but I tried to proof it best I could!

[bbodysnatchers]

Tbh if you actually like answering early fandom questions I have like a million (btw it’s me again from the last 2)

You mentioned before that you were kind of out of the fandom by Danger Days but do you remember what the reaction was when Gerard talked about drinking again?

Did many og fans stick around or did they really turn on the band? Like I know you said bullets ppl hated revenge but did it grow on them eventually?

What did ppl think when Gerard and Lynz married???? That one I really want to know bc when I was newer in the fandom everyone kissed her ass like crazy and it seems like ppl have only recently realized she and msi aren’t the greatest.

Ok! Hey!!!! I kind of love you for all of these btw. this is gonna be LONG. SO yes, I was totally out of fandom at that point. However, I do follow a few blogs and I remember when the article was posted where he talked about his struggle with an ED and starting to drink again during DD. Personally, I was kind of. In shock? I didn't realize how much he was struggling at the end of it tbh. I think it also took a lot of older fans out a little bit too. It kind of made him a tangible human being rather than this formative icon we idolized. Saying that sounds awful. But at the beginning, because there was no social media, we had NO idea what the guys were actually like irl. They were human, obviously, but they were people we had put on a pedestal and we could project onto them, y'know? We had interviews and such, but the first glimpse we got into ~the real them~ was LOTMS, which was a highly edited version of the truth that fell into the stereotypes we kind of built. It glossed over Gerards addiction pretty rapidly. Reading his struggle at the end of MCR and DD broke my heart. This band did SO much for me, and a lot of us, but we never took into account how much it was taking from them or Gerard. That's all I can really say about it? Like I said, I wasn't in the fandom. So this was mostly my perspective. No one turned on the band. I think we just kind of grew up and started experiencing new things. Our interests change and merge as we get older. Some things I got from being an MCR fan stuck with me forever - i.e, my love of horror films and graphic novels, as well as my forever love of the guys. But the music wasn't what I needed anymore, yknow? I have diagnosed avoidant personality disorder, and severe depression as a result. My Chem helped me feel seen when I felt totally fucking invisible. It helped me form lasting friendships. I'm still friends with people I met in line to their shows in 2005, and on myspace. As I turned 19-20, my sadness started feeling more melancholy rather than anger. I listened to a lot of The National around then, and started getting seriously invested in film as a way of escapism. In regards to people hating revenge - I think a lot of people either left or stuck around for good. You can go back on old lj entries on the chemicalromance comm and read peoples reaction to Revenge songs. They hated how manufactured it sounded, hated how clean Gerards vocals were, HATED I'm Not Ok - thought it was too commercial for what they were prior. As someone who got into the via Revenge, it actually took some time to get used to the sound of Bullets! ALRIGHT. Ok. GERARD MARRYING LINDSEY. I wish I could figure out how to add a cut to tumblr now but IDK OK.  SOOO. Some background that y’all know but is needed for context. Gerard was in a LONG TERM relationship for YEARS with someone named Kat. No one has ever EVER seen her. Gerard only talked about having a girlfriend, thanked her in notes, and she is mentioned by some reporters sometimes (as goth looking). They break up. Gerard is ~technically~ single for like. a fuckin MONTH. then Eliza shit starts up (even tho she was alluding to being with him for fukin EVER). She fakes a pregnancy, they get engaged (around I Don’t Love You), shit was WILD. like BALLS TO THE WALL INSANE. I can go way way way more into this if y’all are interested just lemme know. THEY BREAK UP around the beginning of Pro Rev. Ok. OK. Within like. another fukin MONTH Gerard is seen MAKING OUT WITH LYNZ FROM FUCKIN MSI. They go to each others shows, seen holding hands ETC ETC. LIKE. THIS DUDE. This dude who had a LONG TERM GIRLFRIEND WE NEVER EVER SAW suddenly has had TWO PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS IN THE SPAN OF NOT EVEN A YEAR.  also btw. We ALL thought he was gay, no fukin joke. Like I was saying earlier about not having any social media. We had an idea of what the guys were like from their stage personas and LOTMS. And like. Gerards Stage Persona is Loud. We thought Eliza mightve been a beard? Idk it was a weird time tbh.  BUT THEN THEN T H E N G AND L GET MARRIED????>>????? THEY HAD BEEN DATING A M ON TH. a MONTH. and they got fuckin MARRIED. The conspiracy theories, y’all, I can’t. IT WAS INSANE.  SO DUDE GETS ENGAGED TO SOMEONE, BREAKS UP, MAKES OUT WITH BASS PLAYER FROM MSI AND GETS MARRIED TO HER. ALL WITHIN T H R E E MONTHS.  goddamn.  So, ok. Last bit. Unfortunately the attitude towards language and WAS different back then. I know a lot of younger fans shit on older fans for saying so, but it WAS. It was totally different. MSI were seen as ~too cool, and their fans were pissed they went on tour with My Chem, etc. I wasn’t a fan, but I had seen them live a few times with a friend who was (not on Pro Rev). They just weren’t my thing and I hated Urines face. My friend who was actually a huge fan of BOTH msi and my chem separately was SHOCKED that G and Lindsey got together because their band and their vibes were so different. People mostly thought Lindsey was hot at the time but didn’t know anything about her, cuz again, no social media. Like, I cannot stress enough how much about these people we did not know. No one cared about their social lives or what they were like irl so we DIDN’T know how gross Urine and crew were. Like. A Huge factor as to why people were pissed and mad at Eliza was because she was making something Gerard obviously wanted to keep private into a public thing for attention and clout. Also, when he was being SO public with Lindsey it was shocking. Anyway I h8 msi.