#of course anyone can love any character but these are the trends i have seen

[lala-blahblah]

Princess Peach is for the bi girls, Princess Daisy is for the lesbians, Rosalina is for the aros and aces. Thank you and good night

[marzipanandminutiae]

You talk a lot about the (tragic) lack of love for female characters we typically see in fandom spaces. Did it always come easily to you to prioritize/be super interested in female characters or did you have a journey to reach that at some point when you were younger?

When I was about 3 years old, my father took me to the book store (mostly to look at the pictures, of course) as was our usual habit. apparently, after wandering around a bit, I said to him very seriously, "Daddy. There's a problem."

"What is it?" he asked.

"Not enough books about girls."

He took me to look around the kids' section again and see. Afterwards, he turned to me and said, "Marzi, you know what? You're right. What are you going to do about that?"

To which I'm told I responded, "Write some."

So yeah, it goes back pretty far.

And to be clear, I don't think focusing on female characters is some kind of moral imperative or sign of superiority or anything else more than just...really liking female characters. Some people do, some people tend to have a more balanced array of faves gender-wise, and some seem to end up gravitating more toward male characters. Which I do get! For me, female characters just have this...undefinable Shine about them. They're almost always the most interesting and compelling to me. Maybe it's because I'm a woman; maybe it's because I'm a lesbian. I don't know. It's just always been like that, and no other gender of character can compare (though I can of course find them interesting to some degree as well).

And of course :) this includes trans female characters :) because those are also Women :) just in case anyone gets any ideas that they absolutely fucking should not :)

It's more the widespread attitudes and trends one sees writ large in fandom that can irritate me at times. there's a difference between "yeah a lot of my faves are male" and "I just think femslash is only good when it's a genderbend of two male characters" (which is a real hot take I've really seen) or all the shows I've seen clogging up my dash with GIFs of pretty male couples and learned exactly nothing about the female main characters in the process.

[jamies-latex-lust]

Euphoric Grasp

[I hope it’s okay if I make a little request with this submission. I had been planning on submitting a different story this month, but I was talking to a friend of mine about a Japanese animation movie he watched as a teenager in the 2000’s. It was an adult movie he found at a hobby shop, and though he watched it a couple times, his parents found it and threw it out. He’s been trying to find it for a long time, but hasn’t had any luck. The title might’ve been similar to the title I used for this story. The VHS case had the title in Japanese, so it’s a rough guess by my friend. The plot gave me the idea for this story, and I included a summary of the movie as my friend explained it within the story. The name of the main character and the images I use for her obviously aren’t from the movie, but if the plot sounds similar to anyone out there, could you please reblog and let me know?] - Everywhere he looked, Alan saw the same thing. Women wearing what looked like white shirts with bows, underneath black blazer jackets, with a matching skirt. Working in a tailor shop, he saw plenty of fashion trends come and go, usually based off what some celeb wore. Yet every celebrity he looked into hadn’t worn this outfit. At least, not until after it had taken off. He finally got his answer one evening as he was settling down for his day off the next day. That plan was complicated when he got an unexpected knock at his door. When he answered it, his close friend, Tiffany, was outside waiting for him. It seemed even Tiffany had started wearing this outfit. “I’m not interrupting, am I?” Tiffany asked. “Not at all,” Alan said. “What’s up?” “I know tomorrow’s your day off, but I’m having an emergency,” Tiffany said, before pulling out two outfits that nearly matched her current outfit. “I ripped my jackets.” “Oh, these,” Alan said. “Well, I can take care of it as a personal favor, but you have to do something for me.” “Of course,” Tiffany said. “What do you want?” “I have seen so many girls wearing this look,” Alan said, taking the outfits from Tiffany. “Where this trend come from?” “You haven’t heard?” Tiffany asked, before reaching into her bag. “I brought this just in case, but I really would have thought you’d seen it by now.” Tiffany pulled a DVD out of her pocketbook and placed it on the clothes. “It’s from an anime movie,” Tiffany said. “That’s where it’s from!?” Alan asked incredulously. “I thought you said these shows were for freaks.” “This one’s different,” Tiffany said excitedly. “I think you’ll love it. If nothing else, you can use it as a reference for the clothes.” “I’ll get to it as soon as I get up tomorrow,” Alan said. “Thanks, Alan,” Tiffany said, batting her eyes. “I can always count on you. And if you’d like to see how you wear the look, feel free to try them on.” Tiffany shot Alan a flirtatious smile before leaving. Just as he said, Alan got to work on the clothes over he’d woken up the next morning.

Since there had only been small tears, Alan finished mending the clothes quickly. He hadn’t even needed to watch the movie to properly fix them. Still, it didn’t seem like it was a bad idea, in case something has been broken off that he didn’t know about. Alan grabbed the DVD and popped it in his player. The movie was about a student at an all girl’s school named Anzu, the character he kept seeing women dress up as. She was the standard school girl you would see in a work like this. She began investigating a new student who transfered into another class. The new girl was quiet and seemingly anti-social. Anzu’s friends tried to talk sense into her that the new girl was just that, a new student who had yet to open up. Anzu, however, kept investigating, even on her own. After several hijinks with her trying to discover the new girl’s secrets, Anzu is cornered in the other classroom by the new girl. As she’s trying to talk her way out of this, the other students fill the classroom. This is odd, because classes are supposed to be over for the day, and the other students should be at their clubs. The new student reveals she knew Anzu has been spying on her, and this was part of her plan. The new student was actually an alien, sent to study Earth, as the human lifeforms were of interest to her species. She converted her classmates into drones to serve her, and had some sort of beacon that exceptional people could pick up on. Anzu happened to be one of those exceptional people. The entire classroom was transported to the alien’s spaceship, where the other students, at the alien’s command, loaded Anzu into some container. The alien then revealed that she used these individuals who were attracted to her beacon as an eternal energy source. Within the container, multiple humanoid arms reached out, grabbing Anzu and absorbing something from her. Instead of being painful, however, this seemed euphoric, as Anzu kept crying out in ecstasy. The alien explained how this was all Anzu would experience for the rest of her life, never needing to sleep or eat or any other “foolish human need”. The pleasure Anzu was experiencing was all she would require. As the alien went to seal Anzu with the rest of her captives, something was going wrong. The alien tried to fix it, having more hands grab Anzu, until all that could be seen was her face, but while that increased the ecstasy Anzu felt, whatever happened still wasn’t fixed. The ship shut down, and Anzu exited the container. From there, the movie showed Anzu leading the alien and the drone students throughout the city. Anyone Anzu spotted would fall under her sway and start to change to look like her, including the men. Their clothes would change into her school uniform and their bodies would morph to look more and more like her with every scene. Anytime anyone fell under Anzu’s thrall, they would let out a squeal just like Anzu did when the hands grabbed her on the ship. Even her friends weren’t exempt from this, as she seemed to take an almost sadist joy in changing them, since they had left her to investigate alone. Her personality had done a 180. Finally, in the last scene, Anzu was surrounded by the entire town, all having been transformed into her slaves and doppelgangers. It was clear she was planning to take over the planet. Anzu then turned to the viewer and said, “You will be converted next”. It wasn’t what Alan had been expecting, but he couldn’t say he didn’t like it. Anzu was likable enough, and the scene of her screaming in pleasure would stay in his head for a long time. He had rewound the movie to the final shot of Anzu staring at the viewer and paused as he double checked his work. It definitely looked like the character’s outfit, or close enough. But as he stared at Anzu, Alan couldn’t shake the thought of how he looked in her uniform. Tiffany had told him he could try it on if he wanted. So, after locking the door and covering all his windows, Alan took off his shirt and nervously stood before the uniforms. While he was building up the courage to put them on, a voice said to him, “You must wear it.” Alan turned to the origin of the voice, his television. Anzu was on the screen, glaring at him. That was odd. He had paused the movie, and just before the credits.

“Go on,” Anzu said. “You want to be like me.” “Y-yes…” Alan said, nodding his head. Alan took one of the shirts and slid it over his arms. Instantly, a sense of pleasure spread through his body. Without even thinking, he let out a cry of ecstasy, much like Anzu did in the movie. As Alan buttoned up the shirt, the euphoria flowing through him grew more and more powerful. With each button, his cries got louder, and his voice grew more feminine. On the screen, Anzu nodded, a victorious smile on her lips. “More,” Alan said, pulling the jacket on. When he was buttoning up the jacket, more pleasure spread through Alan’s body, which was slowly starting to look like Anzu’s. By the time Alan had put the skirt on, his hair had grown long, his chest had expanded, his waist had shrunken and his legs had become smooth. “One last piece to go,” Anzu said. Alan nodded as he took the bowtie and began tying it around his neck. As he finished dressing, his body had become exactly like a real life version of Anzu. With his transformation complete, he let out a few more cries, before falling to his knees in front of the television, exhausted. “Good,” Anzu said. “You look perfect. You are in a state of bliss now, aren’t you?” Bliss was putting it mildly. Alan’s mind was experiencing something he couldn’t even put into words, although he’d never talk back to Anzu. It was indescribable. The closest would be to say it was a mix of blissful ecstasy and euphoric pleasure. “You know what you must do,” Anzu ordered. “Yes, ma'am,” Alan said, his voice now that of a young woman’s. Alan walked over to the phone and dialed a number. After several seconds, Tiffany answered. “Who may I ask is calling?” Tiffany said. “Tiffany?” Alan said. “It’s me, Alan. I watched the movie and tried on Anzu’s uniform like you said.” “Wonderful!” Tiffany said. “And I can tell from your voice you’ve been converted, Alan. Oh, but I suppose we should call you Alana now.” “I like that,” Alana said. “I knew having a seamstress like you would please Queen Anzu,” Tiffany said. “We can make more uniforms for all the people we convert.” Alana looked over at Anzu, who nodded. “That’s perfect!” Alana cried. “Everyone needs to know what this is like.” “Then come by my place,” Tiffany said. “We can get started spreading Anzu to the whole world.” “Gladly,” Alana said. “I’ll be over soon!” As Alana rushed out of the room to go get everything she’d need, Anzu smiled. Another fool had been converted into the cult of Anzu. The more who saw her story, the more would be under her control, until the world belonged to her.

[half-up-half-super-depressed]

Spy x Family and Symbols of Allegiance (MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD!)

So during my most recent re-read of Spy x Family, I began noticing a trend in Endo's character designs, specifically when it came to accessories.

There are, of course, the obvious ones, like Twilight's pin that connect him to WISE:

And Yor's earrings which connect her to Garden:

We know for sure these are both symbols of WISE and Garden respectively, and not just specific to Loid and Yor as we see other members of their organisations sporting them as well:

However, what ended up tipping me off was (and spoilers for anyone who hasn't read the manga from Chapter 89 onwards or anime-only's) Chloe's design from her most recent appearance:

HER EARRINGS ARE HANDCUFFS!! (Awesome, I know.)

At first, I thought that this was just a charming little detail Endo gave her design to show off that she was Secret Police without her wearing the official SSS symbol (as that would be a bit counterintuitive to the whole Secret bit of Secret Police).

But then I started wondering if there were hidden details in other characters' earring/accessory choices, and lo and behold, look what I found:

Melinda Desmond also sports a lovely pair of earrings, though of a symbol we've yet to see (at least to the extent of my knowledge, if someone can find a match for it somewhere in the manga hit me up).

Even though it's clear Melinda is going to be a massively important character moving forward in the plot, the fact she has her own symbol that (again to the best of my knowledge) is yet to be seen on or associated with any organisation to which we've been introduced is really interesting going forward.

Spy x Family in general is just so good with all of these little details! I'm sure lots of people have already noticed this, but I've yet to see anyone really point it out. I might follow this post up with some more in-depth looks at these different symbols and their associations, as well as characters that lack these kinds of accessories - if that's something people are interested in, or if there's anything anyone might want me to point out, let me know!

[marley-manson]

Out of curiosity, how would you describe ways people are misogynistic about female characters they like? I can probably guess, ("she's a perfect angel", "she's two dimensional now because everything she does is excusable", "she's the mother", etc.) but I would like to hear your take on it

Yeah that's definitely one of the categories of commentary I was thinking of. Reducing her down to a badass lady with the sole braincell, ignoring flaws and complexities and completely smoothing out her personality, mom friend lol, you nailed that. Also the classic awesome lady and her silly boys style threesome stuff, or the canon love interest in m/m who is totally understanding and supportive and steps aside or welcomes an open relationship happily. It's super annoying and tbqh I'd by far rather see people completely ignore a fictional woman's existence than frame her like that. Honestly, I'd rather see genuine character bashing of a love interest lol, because at least in those fics she usually has a personality, and sometimes even gets to do interesting things.

On the het fan side of things I'd also include a loooooooot of the ways people write and talk about het romance. I see a lot of female character fans, usually the kind who are resentful of m/m and call gay shippers misogynist a lot, who act like their favourite fictional woman can only attain personal fulfillment if she gets together with the dude they ship her with and see anyone who doesn't ship her with a dude (often including f/f fans) as like, maliciously depriving her of happiness lol.

But also all those little heteronormative things that add up - the woman is 'spunky' or 'sassy' (because the man has the power), she falls very neatly into the small weak feminine category to contrast with the manly dude with rough calloused hands (no matter how effeminate the dude actually is lol), she's nurturing and comforting and reads the dude's mind to provide him exactly what he needs and is tolerant and indulgent of his shittiness, her good looks are pointed out a lot, she's a great mom no matter what her canon personality is, etc etc.

And then there's the ship wars lol. Being a fan of a fictional woman absolutely does not mean you love all fictional women, and a lot of the absolute nastiest most misogynist statements I've seen in fandom have come from rival hetshippers wanking. You want to see a woman called a screeching harpy or a fugly slut or a manipulative whore or whatever else lol dive into a fandom with rival het ship wars. My favourite woman is practically perfect in every way and deserves the dude, your favourite woman is a wanton hussy.

This also holds true for the very few f/f fandoms that have rival f/f ships ime. Even Xena fandom regularly had plenty of misogynist things to say about any woman who makes eyes at Gabrielle who isn't Xena lol.

Also I would argue that wider f/f fandom's really fucking annoying compulsion to smooth away all relationship and character flaws and write two perfect women braiding each others' hair and maybe delicately finger-fucking at best in fear of problematic dynamics and kinks is also misogynist at its core, at least as an inescapable trend if not on an individual basis. Though, on that individual basis, the rhetoric around policing problematic f/f is absolutely misogynist (and homophobic). Good women don't get off on power and abuse, we can only like totally egalitarian sex, you're probably a predator if you're into dark fiction, that kind of shit.

And of course that also goes for the rhetoric around fic in general and how much misogyny is aimed at women writing kinky shit or m/m etc, but that's a bit of a digression since it's aimed at real women rather than fictional characters, so I'll stop there.

Thanks for asking and giving me a chance to complain more lol <3

[vellichorom]

hey!! That Anon that’s new to the TSP & Narratorverse - thank you so much for explaining things! I’ve gone through the threads you’ve linked and looked at some of the creators connected to them. Also, I have another question (I hope I’m not intruding on your time, and you have no obligation to answer this), but what is the Lovebug sickness thing? I’ve also seen that around.

ok admittedly I actually don't think I'm as knowledgeable with the Lovebug Virus concept as I would be with Paraverse, but as I've actually been engaged with it a LOT as of late & at least understand the base concept ( I think? ), I'll try to relay ALL that I know to you, dear non! & i thoroughly encourage anyone who may know more to add onto my post!

TDLR; in essence an AU / trend begun by user @things1do that stems from the idea of The Stanley Parable, particularly Stan/Nar, getting infected by a particular love-virus! that's pretty much it I think. lovecore parable, baby!

SO - the " Lovebug AU, " also known as " the Love Virus " is a concept originated from the user mentioned above ( Bubo ) in which, if we're to take the tags from this original post to heart, the/their Narrator opened an email with a virus attached ( implied to be the infamous IRL computer worm ILOVEYOU / LOVE_LETTER_FOR_YOU.TXT.vbs or some variation of it? ) & ended up getting the game bugged.

rather than your standard computer bug effects though, said worm corrupts the parable & simply injects a lovecoric aesthetic into everything, which includes - of course, Stanley & the Narrator; shown through individual outfit, aesthetic, & personality shifts to befit. given their popularity as characters & as a couple, they're most often the characters you'll find if you search the AU anywhere, though I believe any character IN the parable can be lovebugged!

MORE INTERPRETIVE LOVEBUG DISCUSSION BELOW;

& beyond this concept, I don't think there's been much other story added to it? at least, not from Bubo, from what I can tell. truth be told, i think the concept of the Lovebug Virus is just a good, canonically appropriate excuse to draw Parablites in lovecoric outfits & doing shippy/affectionate things with one another!

...but that's not stopped some people.

given the rather open concept with no apparent set story beyond a simple shtick, people have taken it in NUMEROUS different directions with their respective Parable renditions & interpretations.

some stick with the simplicity of the original concept; some others decide to take it a bit further & really harp on the " virus " side of things, either turning it into a literal sickness on cold with a flu or some kind of unfavorable phenomenon in terms of bodily health or the game's code; some others make it a one-sided thing from either Stanley or the Narrator's POV, with the other trying to avoid or cure them- & on that note, I've even seen it translated as a sort of lovecoric zombie virus ( hi @blackkatdraws ); some take it in a more Visceral or thought-provokingly disturbing direction with the virus enhancing the affected's feelings to an obsessive / destructive degree; & then you've got some that take it as an excuse to depict stan/nar as more Lustful, with befitting, revealing / promiscuous clothes to boot. ( you know who you are & i know WHAT you are )

etc etc -- & to each their own, i suppose! it's a very loose, interpretation-based concept that you can really push & play & have fun with, so long as you stick to the main " hearts, pink & red, lovey " theme!

ALSO HI-

I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR ACTUALLY TAKING YOUR VALUABLE TIME TO LOOK THROUGH THE LAST POST & MAYBE EVEN THIS ONE; it makes me so very happy to know you took the time to look into my ( maybe needless ) ramble esp when i tried putting a lot of dedication in it, & i LOOOOVE to talk to excess & i love to be thorough about WHATEVER it is i'm explaining, so thank you forever & i'm so VERY VERY happy that hopefully it'll lead you to finding some TSP creators you may want to get into! this is going to be us if you keep that up

[gaytventhusiast]

Labels, Asexuality, Aromanticism and Headcanon.

I need to just get this off my chest because it's a common trend I've noticed in a couple fandoms I'm in and I think it needs to be discussed. Of course I'm open to discussion on this. There's a chance I'm wrong.

Something about the way fandom treats s/x repulsed characters in media just sits with me bad. In multiple fandoms I've been in now, I've witnessed a clearly stated canonically s/x repulsed asexual character be put into 'intimate' situations under guise of a 's/x positive' interpretation. What bothers me, personally, is that these characters don't and would never. One example is with Jonathan Sims from The Magnus Archives. I have accidentally stumbled across explicit fics involving him before that are tagged 's/x positive asexual Jonathan Sims'. But the thing about him is that at no point in the podcast is he even mentioned to be asexual. In fact, the information you get about him is actually that he simply doesn't. That is all you know, that he doesn't, ever. And yet, due to the nuances of the asexual label and the fact that that description of Jon technically puts him under it, folks have been using those technicalities to put him into scenarios he never would enter into. As much as I hate to say it, it almost feels like there's a sort of s/x repulsed asexual erasure going on within the aspec community. And for context, this is coming from an aspec who is positive about that kind of intimacy. This is not just limited to asexuality either. I've also witnessed this happening to aromantic characters with fandom putting them in 'queer platonic relationships' that read as romantic ones. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a platonic pairing, in fact, I'm all for it. But time and time again I see sappy art with blushing or otherwise romantic undertones and I feel... just sort of weird about it. I understand where this all comes from. People have a desire to see themselves in characters and I respect that. But you can do that without the erasure of both asexuals and aromatics that simply do not. When it comes to being aro and/or ace, I recognise that, I, as someone who, although aspec, is still is open to relationships and 'intimacy', am far less scrutinised for it by society than those who aren't. And although sadly there is barely any representation in media for the kind of aspec I am, it doesn't mean that it feels okay to erase other asexual identities and their representation in the process. Summary: So this is all to say. It personally makes me uncomfortable when I see Repulsed Asexual and Aromatic characters turned pseudo-s/xual and romantic by the fans through the use of Label Nuances and Technicalities. (Note: This is not intended to be an attack on anyone personally. I simply think it's a much needed to be discussed topic that I've noticed happening more and more recently) On a more positive note: For anyone looking for aspec representation that involves a character who loves the idea of romance and has experienced giddy feelings in the past but comes to the realisation they might be aromantic through the help of an aroace friend, go listen to The Penumbra Podcast season 4 episode 'Rita Minute 4: 4Ever Love'. I've never felt so seen in terms of my sexuality before. It's an underrated gem of an aspec central minisode.

[py-dreamer]

U'know that one trend of drawing flowers over a character's scars? Well I haven't seen any yet with our favourite lego Bois so here we are!

Tried to use a more painterly style, pretty proud with how it came out honestly!

Also anyone getting flowerfell flashbacks?

That's honestly one of the main reasons I chose buttercups and I thankfully had MANY references to choose from

Like this is literally flowerfell frisk with monkey. I had a lot of fun with it of course but still-

So the flowers around the head would kinda be expected right? Circlet scars and all

But why the eyes?

Well, as we know Wukong's eyes weren't always blood red. They were made that way via the trigram furnace. Permanently.

And idk bout you but since its a part of him which was permanently changed via something which damaged him, I consider that a scar!

There would most definitely be scars and flowers on other parts of him but I just got bit lazy and didn't know where to specifically put them. 😅

And on that note:

I feel like Wukong gets put through a lot of smack in the fandom.

Like A LOT.

Some of its deserved but then I see all he's been through and...yikes

But that's a rant for another day...

I do have some sketches for some other characters ie Nezha & Macaque (obviously) but actually don't have one for mk cause idk what scars he has exactly...

So if anyone has any ideas pls let me know! I'd love to hear about more ways I can decorate our favourite legos in flowers!

And what do you think what flower corresponds with what character

Reblogs > likes

[jasmine24715]

BNHA Actor AU

I’ve seen the bnha actor AU...I’m so late to the party...but I needed to come back cuz I got invested again.

So here it is, bnha actor au / reader insert headcanons

✧ You play a character in the LOV who is in a little “love triangle’ between Dabi and Shigiraki (Ironically enough it plays into your real life on set everyday lol)

✧ Endeavor played Thanos in the Avengers and you were Gamora so of course any chance you get on set with him you both reenact scenes-

"did you do it"?

"...yes..."

"what did it cost..."

"... honestly not much-" "DADDY NO!"

✧ now that you both play on Boku no Hero (but unrelated characters) you guys barely see each other

✧ but when you do he always makes sure to give you a hug and a pat on the head because he sees you as an actual daughter 🥺

✧ Everyone on set loves you and you always wonder why because you barely do anything but stay in your trailer all-day 

✧ Toga always tries to drag you out of your trailer to hang out and go eat with everyone tho so :P

✧ you and the LOV cast did an interview altogether and it was purely chaotic because everyone is a menace both on and off screen. 

✧One time you were paired to do an interview with both Dabi and Shigaraki and safe to say, there are now memes and compilations of you three being THE WORST to interview. Either one of you answers the questions normally and the other two are making jokes OR all three are answering questions in the most chaotic way possible.

✧Dabi sometimes asks you to stay and talk in his trailer as he’s getting HOURS of makeup on and you oblige cuz you feel bad lol. So you both have a bunch of Instagram photos/videos of you two “behind the scenes”. You barely post tho so everyone’s still waiting for the U.S.J. Arc photo dump.

✧Since finding out you and Dabi hang out when he’s getting his prosthetics and makeup done, Shigiraki decided it was his place to drag you out of your trailer and force you to sit through his makeup hours. His still a little weirdo in real life but he’s not AS weird and just jealous lol

✧You and Dabi jokingly ship your castmate's characters together and make fun of them for it, but when both Todoroki and Inasa became a couple in real life, it shook you both. #inatodo trended on Twitter for days.

✧ while you’re usually in your trailer the one time you decide to go out and watch your fellow castmates work, you walked in when they were filming young Shigiraki murking his whole fam.  

✧safe to say you never go out of your trailer to watch anyone doing their scenes (unless it involves you) ever again. (you cried...hard) ps. the actor who plays young Shigaraki also has a baby crush on you and it is adorable when he tries to follow you to your trailer. A real-life gremlin just like his character. 

✧after a while since everyone knows you just stay in your trailer they decided if you’re not going to come to them, then they’re going to come to you. :D

✧ and yes that includes the 1-A actors, all of the LOV cast, and sometimes even the pro-heroes. Your trailer just now unanimously became the hang-out spot and while you act annoyed, you secretly love the company. 

✧the pro-heroes who are basically just veteran actors (except for Present Mic, who’s only been acting for a year) like to ask how you’re doing and settling into the industry/business since it can be a rough/demanding one. 

✧They really care and want to share their wisdom with everyone because they’re just the best.  

✧It’s ALWAYS hilarious when someone messes up their lines because the whole cast will literally DRAG them for it, so now everyone's afraid to fuck up.

“Master...”

“So, you fail once more Todo-...Tog...Tomura? God, there’s too many of you.” 

“CUT”

 “Master how could you have betrayed me like this...”

“Damn even All For One can’t remember your irrelevant ass”

“HE’S THE ONE THAT MESSED UP!?? NOT ME?!”

✧you and Twice like to play small pranks on your respective castmates and come back together to give each other ideas.

✧sometimes Dabi ends up finding out about the prank early and joins you to prank the rest of the gang.

✧red carpets....a WHOLE DIFFERENT can of works to open that i don't have time to get into. Let's just say as chaotic as you all are behind the scenes on set/interviews is 10x worse at red carpet events. like why can’t y’all chill?!?!

Anyway, that’s all I have for this, sorry if it sucked but it’s been a while lol. Watch BNHA and drink your water, k bye.

[clarebear-0925]

Flowers, Fight Scenes and Isolation: My Prediction for the Future (And Possible Ending) of Jujutsu Kaisen

Hi. So seeing this extra for volume 26 finally spurred me to articulate all of my thoughts on this subject in one place. Sorry for the length, but let me cook.

Here's the big idea: I believe that Gojo is in fact going to come back— but with a major catch.

Lets review the (mostly theme-based) evidence, shall we?

Firstly, throughout the entire series, we know that Gojo has been incredibly lonely, isolated at the top by Jujutsu society,

As summed up by this iconic panel, with just him, vast empty white space, and his title, the only thing that most people know him for/define him by, aka “the strongest.”

We also know that isolation played a big role in his mental state and thinking until his death, and is something that Gege made sure to reemphasize during his last moments in chapter 236.

In this conversation, Gojo expresses the gap he felt and also sets up the connected imagery of him and flowers.

(In addition, I feel as though it is also significant that the person he finally opens up to about his feelings on this isolation is Geto- more on that later).

Next, JJK is commonly nicknamed “jumpkaisen” as a joke by fans due to how often the characters team up against the villains. However, I think this pattern actually has more significance in the overall narrative than being a funny quirk.

Over the course of the series, we have seen all sorts of teamups between a wide variety of characters- like the widespread jumpkaisen nickname suggests, they are an iconic part of JJK's combat.

However, one character in particular is exempt from this trend- Gojo. (and also Sukuna but we’ll get into that later too.)

He is always fighting alone- as an adult, we never see him fight alongside anyone else the way that other characters do. Even the villains note this when planning their battle strategy:

This is is made especially clear in the final battle (especially with the contrast between the mostly solo Gojo v Sukuna fight and the absolute dogpile that is going on in the manga right now).

The only times we ever saw Gojo fighting alongside another person is with Geto in his youth. Geto is also the only person who didn’t him as “the strongest.” Instead, they were the strongest together, and that is reflected in how they fought together.

But then after everything in Hidden Inventory, Geto too starts to see that gap between him and Gojo.

This results in him leaving Gojo, thus permanently isolating him as “the strongest.” (See also the change from "we're the strongest" in the Hidden Inventory Arc to "I'm the Strongest" in JJK episode 2).

We never see him fight with another person after that.

Ok, so now let’s put these two points (Gojo's isolation and its connection to the fight scenes) to serve up a prediction.

I believe that Gojo is going to come back severely weakened to the point that he will finally have to (or be able to) fight WITH others- in particular, the students who he has made it his express mission to protect and nurture so they can go on to improve Jujutsu society.

This would be in sharp contrast to Sukuna, who has continually refused any chance or notion of love and connection, likely due to his belief that it is unattainable due to his strength.

(Serena on TikTok has an amazing and concise video on this topic- go watch it if you're interested in a better understanding)

I also think that this development would be a great way to show that Gojo HAS been successful in his goal to nurture a better future of Jujutsu- rather than the society isolating and systematically breaking students like it did Geto, the students are now all working together to defeat this insurmountable evil.

So, in conclusion, yes, Sukuna will in fact be defeated by the power of love and friendship (and a couple dozen or so black flashes), and it is NOT Gojover.

Also, here is some vital supplemental information (again from the amazing Serena) regarding the flower depicted on Gojo’s cover and the volume 26 extra.

I think the fact that Gojo compared himself to a flower in Chapter 236 as he died, and the fact that the flower in the supplemental (who he is clearly connected to via the cover art) hasn’t hit the ground yet is a very good (and more concrete) sign for his chances of returning.

Thank you for reading and sorry for the length! I would love to know your guys' thoughts on this theory and what you think will happen in the future of JJK! :)

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Hey, so I saw your post about some fics demonizing Neytiri. That has actually been one of my major fears as a fic writer, attempting to balance Neytiri's extremely valid trauma and the POV I'm writing from (that is typically flawed in some way). I was wondering, since you seem very well-versed on the topic, what do you define as "demonizing" for Neytiri? Is it ok to write from a perspective where a character doesn't really like or trust her, as long as the trauma is noted? Do you have any resources so I can educate myself to properly write this kind of character?

I really want to make sure I'm doing right by Neytiri and improve as a fic writer overall, so any advice you could offer would be very much appreciated!

Whoa, what a complicated and nuanced question. A great one! And I'm super flattered you came to me! Just one I'm going to try to answer to the best of my ability. I'm assuming you're referring to Norm's pov in your fic?

First of all, I do not want to at all proclaim to be an expert on generational trauma; I am not a person of color, and I have been lucky enough to have a very normal and healthy family. I just had a best friend growing up in an abusive household and took steps to educate myself best I could to understand the situation, which I believe anyone would do. So I'm just gonna try to word vomit out my thoughts for you, please ask questions or challenge any of what I say if any of you see anything you think is incorrect. Buckle in, this will be long.

What do you define as "demonizing" for Neytiri?

Demonizing means portraying someone as wicked or threatening, as evil or worthy of contempt and blame.

For me, demonizing for Neytiri is the trend I've seen lately of portraying her as this unyielding, animalistic type character who's hatred of humans, Spider specifically, goes so far that she gets physically violent with Spider and eventually ends up tearing apart her family. In these fics, Jake is always a sad sack loser bystander, loving his wife too much to step in but of course shamefully knowing how wrong what she's doing is. Infantilizing poor white savior Jake Sully, being brow beaten by his mean indigenous wife into neglecting a child is a weirdly strong take in this fandom. Often Mo'at is a wise elder chiding Neytiri for being unable to get over her prejudice. Mo'at and Jake understand Neytiri as much as anyone would, they wouldn't shame her. To me, it's an extremely reductive and frankly borderline racist characterization. When paired with a sympathetic view of Quaritch, it is at best irresponsible and at worst knowingly dangerous.

Neytiri is representative of an indigenous woman. I feel like I don't have to explain why making her violent, volatile, and completely unreasonable is a little bit of a harmful caricature. In these fics, for me, Neytiri ceases to be a person. She looses autonomy to sort of represent this monolith of hatred and prejudice that has hurt our little baby boy Spider. It's crazy to me that people can't apply the exact same empathy they have towards Spider (saving Quaritch) to Neytiri (not being able to trust Spider). They are the most foil of foil characters. Their storylines are extremely similar, if I'm being honest. Essentially, ignoring the fact that Neytiri is a member of a minority community being actively genocided by Spider's people is intentionally reductive. If you can empathize with Spider, and ESPECIALLY if you find Quaritch sympathetic, finding Neytiri's actions unforgivable is racism, plain and simple.

Also, side note, the lengths people go to where Neytiri just literally will not budge under any circumstances at all is INSANE.

(I read a fic the other day where she gave Spider to child protective services behind everyone's back. That's LUNACY. She only came around after she almost lost Tuk when Tuk was suddenly born prematurely and Mo'at came in and was like "Eywa made it so you can never have kids again because of what you did, have you learned your lesson yet?" Like?? I do not understand the HATRED some of ya'll have for her, the suffering you all think she deserves. She's having an EXTREMELY NORMAL trauma reaction to surviving GENOCIDE? Examine yourselves greatly).

But where I was going was Neytiri is the same character who pushed her parents to let them go to human school, fell in love with human Jake, defended him and trusted him despite her family, mated with him and lost her religious position because of it, and then had a bunch of part human kids with him, and adopted a fully freak of nature kid born of a human she loved and respected. She has human friends, she wears and uses human tech, and she forgave Jake after he had betrayed them. Basically what I'm saying is Neytiri, despite her continuous trauma, is the most open and curious and non traditional Na'vi of all time. Girl is READY to meet new people and learn new shit, and to be open to everyone. Sometimes I think about a no trauma Neytiri and I get emotional. I think it's crazy to say she would never budge on Spider, if it wasn't for his dad I'm pretty sure she would've softened lonnnnng ago, if not having liked him from the get go.

Um, that got way too long I have too many thoughts. Second half of your question.

Is it ok to write from a perspective where a character doesn't really like or trust her, as long as the trauma is noted?

This is a tricky question, because technically there is nothing you can't do as a writer. Of course, it also means there is nothing anyone can't criticize you for writing. Like, Colleen Hoover can say she's writing realistic depictions of domestic abuse until the cows come home, I'm still going to say she's romanticizing and normalizing it in a super callous way. Neither of us can stop the other. So yeah, of course you're okay to write from the perspective of a character that doesn't like Neytiri. I just think the point will be what your prerogative is. One of my MFA professors says it in a way I like and I'm sure I've referenced before, if you aren't trying to make a point about something that might have to have a trigger warning then don't include it. I always say I would take it a step further; if your point is to defend that thing, don't do it. So for me, my big points would be try not to project my own feelings onto the character either way; if the character is wrong about something and the narrative intends to show that they will either learn, or we the reader will grow past them. But to be sure what you feel the takeway of the piece is is what you wanted it to be, I guess.

Do you have any resources so I can educate myself to properly write this kind of character?

Well, I have a few on white writers writing BIPOC characters and the ethics of that if you're interested in that. But I don't have any on specifically writing generational trauma. I guess I'd say reading and absorbing are my biggest tools; so reading books/watching movies or TV that use the speculative to translate generational trauma, and learning about and taking in the real life examples the character is based on. Read up on some genocides, and indigenous people today and how their lives are still affected. Even just watch the news; we're witnessing a very public genocide being pushed right to our attention right now. And of course, that is not the only genocide happening rn, it's just the only one we're talking about, so there's plenty of real world case studies unfortunately right in front of us.

[dansconcepts]

Genshinronpa - HCs 1

As a segway into me flip-flopping through my various drabbles and fandoms, consider some Genshin Impact characters in the Danganronpa Killing Game (I'm so sorry to do this to you beloved characters). Will say anything past Inazuma-lore I'm completely lost in and I'm just pulling from my archives.

Barbara is so 100% dead I can't see her surviving a killing game. She would be targetted. She's also the Ultimate Idol. Now, to subvert expectations, consider a Barbara who is so overwhelmed by the prospect of a Killing Game and learning about a Jean who's been captured as a motive and thinking "Jean would do anything to save me, wouldn't she? But she'd never hurt anybody... But how can I sit here when she's in danger? I don't want to let her down!" And that facilitates her to work with others in trying to end the Killing Game but after exhausting all options she's thinking about the only viable way to get out so far. It'd be very rough :'>.

Similarly if Jean was in the situation she would swear never to kill but she probably would to protect someone. Someone would attempt to go after her sister and she would fight with her all to protect her. She would be the Ultimate!Knight.

May be biased but Xingqiu seems like he'd be a great detective, at least in terms of helping out with the case than actually being a detective. He strikes me as the Ultimate Writer. Also I can totally see him annoying "Monokuma" by reading during his lectures of how everything works. Xingqiu is also heavily inclined to maintain fighting for the weak and being a hero.

Following the Dangan trend of killing off bulky characters (which Itto s h o u l d be, character model why!!!!!) Itto would be a victim, but there would be a whole impactful scene. He is the Ultimate Deliquent. He's a loveable guy (despite being easy to rag on) and he'd be good at keeping up morale and holding on to a firm stance of preventing deaths and finding an alternative way out.

I love Xiangling but for some reason I think she'd probably be a blackened. She's very creative, it'd definitely be in her wheelhouse to successfully pull it off and win a trial. I can also see her being framed. Of course, she'd be the Ultimate!Chef.

...In my notes, I wrote down "Bennett's like the less unhinged Nagito" which is a CRAZY concept and 100% only in referral to the whole luck thing rather than sharing the same ideals or intelligence as Nagito (not to say Bennett's not smart, but Nagito thinks on a diff level that I also cannot comprehend). It would be ironic for Bennett to be the Ultimate Luck, although he's usually met with misfortune so... Ultimate Bad Luck? Just from that title, most would avoid him even though his luck mostly impacts himself. He'd face alienation but try his best to be welcoming and attentive whenever anyone talks to him. He'd get disheartened, but in the killing game he'd totally get friends. I think he'd make a great survivor with a character arc related to struggles in trusting others.

If any of the archons (and adepti + Yae + fully powered Traveller twins) were involved, the whole Game is doomed like Zhongli would just say "I WILL HAVE ORDER!" and the whole game-stage is crushed, like, don't know what to tell you. Being trapped? All Zhongli's got to do is break through everything ez. Venti may have a harder time admittedly, but being the wind I'm sure he can slip out although whether he intervenes or not is yet to be seen (he would). Ei would be having NONE of it like she'd totally go after the mastermind purely out of spite for wasting her time. To be fair, forcing the archons into such a game would probably never happen whatsoever but if they WERE, it'd be really funny.

[thesomewhatliterateaxolotl]

001 dungeon meshi or 002 susahao :3

i sense a long post so this goes under a cut

| dunmeshi |

Favorite character: I can't choose for my mental health. sorry. I love them all too much

Least Favorite character: ughgh Toshiro. next question

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): ooh...5? Okay so Farcille, Labru (it's not a must-have for me but I like it romantically or platonically), Laios x monsters, Chilchuck's messy relationship with his (ex)-wife, and lastly. Cithis x me

Character I find most attractive: goddd there are so many hot people in this manga and I'm aroace. it depends on the day but top contenders in no particular order are Kabru, Marcille, Laios, Cithis (see above), and Falin. and we can't not love Kui sensei for giving us the Senshi fanservice the world needed.

Character I would marry: I would marry no one but...objectively speaking? OF COURSE Senshi

Character I would be best friends with: Chilchuck !!

A random thought: The moment where Mithrun cries because "even vegetable scraps have their uses" made me feel like I'd been revived from the dead. dunmeshi is so good.

An unpopular opinion: hmm I don't really know?

My canon OTP: canonically no one like. "ends up together" in the super official sense and I'm happy with that! however farcille can count...i think anyways. it's not even coding it's plain as day

Non-canon OTP: like i said, any ship qualifies !

Most badass character: Senshi, because truly what is more badass than caring for the dungeon ecosystem and your friends' health and wellbeing by cooking them a balanced diet out of monsters. all with a single cooking pot too

Pairing I am not a fan of: Izutsumi x anyone. that girl doesn't want a romantic interest nor does she need one <3

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): ...no one? I'm gonna finish my reread soon but I highly doubt I'll find one that I'll think was screwed up

Favourite friendship: The whole party warmed my heart. that hug healed me. ALSO honorary mention to Mithrun and Kabru because again the feeling of being restored and learning to feel again is so real. honorary honorary mention to Izutsumi and the rest of the party because that is the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life

--

|susahao|

when or if I started shipping it: "when I fall under your intense gaze..." I very nearly pointed at the screen and went "YOU'RE BISEXUAL!!"

my thoughts: they invented sapphism actually

What makes me happy about them: I love how Haori does not fucking hesitate to keep flirting with Ryutaro upon finding out that he is in fact Susato. what a queen

What makes me sad about them: the fact that their reunion in-game occurs when Susato is coming back, rushed, on what she assumes to be a family tragedy; and what she finds instead is Haori having been through a horrifically traumatizing event in her absence. both of these girls trying their best to study and have careers in Meiji Japan. the world makes it so fucking difficult for them.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: it's not so much a specific thing done in fanfic as like, an overarching trend that people tend to fluffify them a ton. i get it they're cute and lighthearted but they're also sixteen-year-olds in a world that is unfair to them. that being said, i also don't like the idea of making them 'tragic' for the drama of it all. let them be happy, but also give them depth basically!

Things I look for in fanfic: i don't read a ton of dgs fic these days but i look for good Haori background and characterization

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Gina, Maria...and that applies to either of them lol

My happily ever after for them: marriage marriage fraud (I can't take credit for this idea, since I first heard it from Seven ofc! but it's so real to me)

[ask game]

[artdecosupernova-writing]

OC in Fifteen

Thanks to both @drabbleitout and @pertinax--loculos for tagging me, this is neat! Because I was tagged twice, I will participate with two characters (Ben and Reagan across the Partners "series"*), totaling in thirty quotes.

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!

Tagging @drippingmoon, @sleepy-night-child, @ashen-crest, @zmwrites, @sleepyowlwrites, @druidx, and anyone else who wants to do this 👍🏽

Reagan—

"Alright, who's the boy? Is he too young to knock out? Doesn't matter—either way I'm gonna have words."

"Give me some credit; my head's not that big."

"I haven't seen you in two days. If I don't see you today I may actually die of neglect."

"We're here now, and we'll be here for the next three hours, so relax and don't hit my partner when he's trying to be nice."

"Your little guys could get through a brick wall. I'm not sure if I should be proud, but I kind of am, Ben."

"You still kiss your mommy? What a baby."

"You realize how monumentally full of shit you are, yes?"

"If I used one of those [bathrooms], I wouldn't have been able to enjoy this wonderful bonding moment between us."

"Oh, kid, don't ask, okay? My rapport with married women is nothing I want you to imitate."

"If you ever run your fuckin' mouth to a man pointin' a gun at your face again, I will yank your teeth out one by one. Am I clear?"

"Right, I'd forgotten the newest trend is to go spend money to see the performances of people you hate."

"Being standoffish with me is one thing, but when she hurts our kids, I get mad."

"Reality continues to elude you, doesn't it?"

"God dammit, I'm starting to wish Wise shot you in the face."

"You very well could be [my daughter]. Who knows how many kids I really have?"

Ben—

"Well, you ain't German, though you sho' can drink like you is."

"Drunken wrestling always ends well for the skinny kid."

"What gives? You tryin' to move the car with your mind now?"

"You kiddin'? I'm a continual source of pride for you."

"Oh, god, you're gonna kill me in the middle of fuckin' nowhere..."

"Ain't this what broke us up in the first place? How the hell d'you keep managin' to rope me into things?

"I've been sober for about two minutes since that night in '42."

"'Course you're doin' the right thing. But keep in mind, I ain't gonna someday shuffle off this mortal coil without you right there to watch me do it."

"Alright, your highness, where do you keep your crown so I can polish it with what'll be left of my brains when we're finished up there?!"

"The love I have for you cannot be contained in this tiny room, so I'm choosing to expand and unfurl it elsewhere."

"You've been hiding your worry from me since we were kids. I'd barely recognize it on you."

"What? He's the only person on Earth you won't let get a glimpse of you without pants? That doesn't make any sense. He wants it more than anybody else."

"No, sir, you threw produce at my head. I am telling my mother."

"What is this, 'Ben Gets Nothing' Week?"

"I'm gonna break his ribs. I'm gonna snap a piano in two halves, take one of them, and hit him in the ribs."

[super-who-locked-me-in-here]

I'm so tired of dealing with people who can't acknowledge that an adaptation of one piece of media can be a bad adaptation and still a great piece of media.

I'm gonna start this off by saying, I have not read The Vampire Chronicles so I don't have all the context for the Interview with the Vampire tv show, and I also am aware that I exist in the tumblr echo chamber where iwtv has been trending nearly nonstop for like 2 or 3 weeks with thousands of adoring fans.

But I think the show is a good piece of media, regardless of how good an adaptation it is.

I was talking to my boss about the show because she loves the book series, and she says she won't touch the show with a ten foot pole because every adaptation of The Vampire Chronicles up to this point has been horrible. She complained that all the actors in the show are too old because characters like Armand and Claudia were turned at a much younger age than Assad or Delainey are. She complained that Armand shouldn't be Indian (I'm aware Assad is Bangledeshi, not Indian but Armand was born in Delhi, India in the show) too. She was super concerned with the character accuracy.

And I showed my mom (who has also read the books) the Vampire Lestat s3 trailer, and at the end of it she just kinda awkwardly smiled and said "Oh... They went the Dr. Frank-n-furter route, huh?" in a disappointed voice which I totally don't understand because my mom loves Rocky Horror.

And of course people are allowed their opinions. People are allowed to not like a piece of media. But it just annoys me to no end when people won't give adaptations a chance or just automatically judge them as bad whether they've seen them or not because it doesn't live up to the source material.

The live action Avatar: the Last Airbender show was still a beautiful and gripping show, even if it didn't live up to the animated series. I love the Red, White, and Royal Blue movie so much and think it's a great and fun movie, despite the fact that I've gone on so many angry rants about everything they changed or left out from the book that I can't even count them anymore. There are so many Marvel movies that I enjoy greatly even though it pisses me off from time to time how much they stray from and mix and match the comic storylines. I've read countless reviews about the 2023 romcom Anyone But You that said it's one of the worst Shakespeare adaptations some people have ever seen (it was supposed to be based loosely on Much Ado About Nothing) and I don't even care if it was a bad adaptation of that play because it's such a fun movie regardless!!!

I don't know, I guess I'm rambling at this point, but what I'm trying to say is, there's gray areas when it comes to liking and judging media just like there are in any other area of life. Just because you don't like something or it doesn't live up to your standards doesn't mean it's a bad piece of media. Give it a chance. Be respectful of the ships or scenarios or tropes or genres that your friends and neighbors and coworkers and mutuals like, even if they aren't your cup of tea. No one's gonna like everything, and not everyone can always like one thing, but you can choose to be openminded 💗

[ciaossu-imagines]

to be honest rhe "choose violence" asks are all compelling! I can not pick one soooo

just pick which you would like to answer! I would love to hear your thoughts on all of it but I want you to decide how much you can and want go answer

Okay, but thank you so much for wanting to hear my thoughts on these and for giving me the freedom to decide which I felt comfortable chatting about. Since no particular fandom was requested, I did just kind of general fandom answers and hope that my answers amuse, cause some thinking, or at least don’t piss off people too much!

The character everyone gets wrong

Honestly, I live and die by the thought that everyone has the right to interpret a canon character however they wish. They’re not hurting anyone, viewing the character differently or even completely opposite to how they’re written in canon. No matter how OOC I think their portrayal of the character is, I don’t think it’s any of my business, as long as they’re having fun. I say this but…there’s one minor exception and it comes back to my days in the Harry Potter fandom. I have seen so many excuses made for Severus Snape, so many rewrites of him as this tragic heroic character, the paragon of knowing what it is to love truly and deeply. Nah, my dudes. Snape was a racist sad sack incel who felt entitled to Lily’s love and called her slurs when she didn’t return it. Having a bad past, being bullied? That’s no excuse for him literally not caring if this chick’s husband and child died, as long as he could have his shot with her. That’s no excuse for him literally joining what was basically magical KKK. That’s no excuse for him growing up to become such a huge bully towards literal children that one of his students literally had him as their greatest fear. Tragic hero my ass. The man wasn’t fully evil and he did do good, in the end. But he wasn’t such things of myths and legends and he can exist as both a horrible person and as someone who did good things.

Screenshot or description of the worst take you’ve seen on tumblr

I really do hate just the recent trend in fandom of not interacting. I don’t just mean that people have stopped interacting with posts and with artists and writers, though that is most definitely true and it’s incredibly frustrating to see. I mean it in a larger sense than that. Going from what fandom was back then to what fandom is now, I really do feel like overall, there’s less interaction between fans. I don’t even know how to explain it but I remember how easy it used to be make fandom friends. There were super active Discord servers, yeah, but even before that, you’d make friends commenting on people’s fics or through writing fics on ff.net. There were active writer’s groups for fan writers where you’d get to talk to people, both about writing fics and fandom in general. There were lots of rp boards. You’d get interaction just making fandom-centric music mixes. You’d get lots of interaction hosting a blog like mine. No matter how introverted you were, you could always find a safe place and friends in fandom. But it feels more and more like it’s hard to find any of those things now. It feels like somewhere along the way, fandom became almost commercialized and now it’s consume this thing, move on. Put out this thing that takes hours of your time for a handful of likes and be grateful for that because you’re only supposed to create for the simple joy of creation (which yes, creating fandom stuff should be fun, but if it was only ever done for the reason of enjoyment, there’s really no reason to share it – people generally share fandom stuff because they’re excited to share it with fellow fans, they’re looking for that interaction and that feedback and for other people to be excited with them) and then move on. It feels like it takes a shit-ton more time and energy now to find those fandom spaces to meet people and make friends in and it’s just not a trend that I’m really the biggest fan of, though this is, of course, just my view and perception of things and maybe I’m wrong.

What was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

People can be rude and mean to me all they want, but being mean or rude towards any of my friends or readers? Instant block from this particular blog. Stealing work also earns you an instant block. On my personal blog, just being ignorant towards people will make me pre-emptively block you, even if we’ve never interacted. I figure if people are that comfortable using this platform to hate, then they’re probably not people I’m ever going to want interacting with me or my art.

Common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Characters do not have to be rewritten so that they’ve never done anything bad, excuses don’t need to be made wildly to excuse every bad thing they’ve done, they don’t need to be rewritten to be perfect – always doing the right thing, communicating so healthily and with proper therapeutic terms to the point you have to wonder when this character went through extensive therapy, super strong mentally and emotionally but still able to be vulnerable, no flaws besides a few superficial ones that everyone easily forgives except for those bad guys to be interesting and ‘good’. Characters can and should be flawed, characters can and should make mistakes and do the wrong thing every now and then. Writing a character who isn’t universally loved and right and good, writing a character who does horrible things or has views that aren’t kosher – none of those things make the character OR ESPECIALLY THE WRITER a bad person. Writing a character with not-so-great views doesn’t mean the writer holds those views. Basically, be able to separate the writer and the character and know that it’s okay for characters to be well…human. To mess up or be massively unhealthy and to still like them despite that. I hate washing down of a character to sanitize them, I really, really do, both in canon characters and OC’s because it just makes them feel flat to me, and I’m really sorry to anyone whom that offends.

Worst part of canon

I completely understand, as a writer, that it’s almost impossible to fully explore every character in your work, to delve into all their backstories and to give them all their days in the spotlight. That’s the worst part of any canon work to me – there’s never enough space and time in a properly done story for us to really get to know all the characters and because of that, there’s always going to be at least one or two characters who remain forever flat and unloved, despite how interesting they look and seem. Thankfully, that’s what fanfiction is for and I’ve often found fics for these characters that really endear me to them and shape how I view them.

Worst part of fanon

You guys all know how I’m going to answer this. You guys all have heard me rant and rave about this a million times – it’s the tendency of fandom to prioritize and make only romantic relationships important. Two characters can’t have a meaningful relationship and bond without secretly wanting to fuck, or so some parts of fandom would have you believe. Two characters can’t be just close friends without secretly wanting to date each other. It completely disregards how important platonic bonds are, how much familial relationships shape us, how strong a bond hatred towards another person can forge, how much we rely on co-worker relationships, on student/teacher relationships, how literally important relationships of all kinds and shapes are. It also kind of erases the existence of aromantic people and characters. Some people are just generally not interested in romance in any sort of way, and they deserve to find plenty in fandom to latch onto just as much as people who love romance do. I am not saying romantic relationships are bad and should be stopped when it comes to fandom stuff. Go ahead, ship, fill your boots, as long as you’re respectful about it of course. Tell me all the fluff and cute things about these relationships. Fine. But I firmly believe that other types of relationships should be more loudly explored in fandom as well, without people automatically taking that discussion and turning it into an automatic ‘well, yeah, that’s because they’re in love with each other, duh?’

Worst blorboficiation

Okay, I’m not answering this one so much as I’m admitting to be an old fuddy-duddy. Leaning on a cane, shooing people off my yard, and grumbling about the new-fangled fancy speech. In other words, I don’t know what this word means, please someone explain it??

That one thing you see in fanart all the time

I will say this plain and clear and take any harsh feedback on this. If you’re only using AI to create ‘fan art’, you’re not an artist and you’re using a tool created through theft of artist’s actual hard work. I see AI art more and more frequently and it vaguely pisses me off every time.

You can’t understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc.)

I really don’t see the appeal of romanticized yandere or of the A/B/O trope, but that’s just me. I ask that people don’t share things along those lines with me and as long as those boundaries are respected, other people can fill their boots with those tropes and enjoy because people are allowed to like things I don’t really get!

You’re mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like…

NOTHING. Repeat with me – cringe culture is dead. I am allowed to like any and everything I like without having to worry about whether it’s ‘cool’. Cool is a social construct that is perpetually changing and feeling guilt or shame because you enjoy something that other people are telling you is wrong to enjoy is a waste of your time and mental energy. Don’t buy into that – enjoy what you enjoy! Talk about it, create for it, let it live in your head and let it make you happy.

Topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

Sorry, not sorry, but it’s shipping. I’d say about 80-90% of fanwank and fandom arguments and drama and fights in fandom boil down to ‘I don’t like what they ship/they ship something different from me/they ship the character I love with themselves and that pisses me off/they’re shipping the wrong way wah wah wah’. Honestly guys, it’s a large part of why I don’t really ship. I mean, growing up in early aughts fandom that 80-90% was 95-99% of fandom wank, since I grew up in the days of Ichigo/Rukia or Ichigo/Orihime and Sakura in the Naruto scene and whether she belonged with Naruto or Sasuke or whether she belonged dead because she was standing in the way of the boys being together and what do you mean, you ship with an OC? And that OC? They’re trash and mary-sue and you’re dumb for making them, especially shipping them with my fave character and after living through all that wank and drama, I just can’t really find it in me to want to ship outside of just shipping all my friend’s OC/self-inserts with their respective fictional others. There’s much less wank when you’re just supporting friend’s ships and getting into them and when there is, I can easily be like ‘I ship it because you see that character there? My friend made that gorgeous beast. Do you not have eyes, Susan? Can you not see how wonderful that character and ship is? No? Go see the fucking optometrist then.”

Common fandom complaint that you’re sick of hearing

Okay, I know the KHR fandom will tear me apart on this one and I sort of apologize in advance. But honestly guys…I want it as much as the next person, since the anime was nowhere near what the manga deserved, but we’re never going to get a reboot. I mean, it’s been 14 years since the anime ended. God, do I feel old typing that out. I do think the best we can hope for at the moment is really just a good English dub, hopefully a full one, that will revitalize the fandom a bit and maybe a couple small one-shot manga’s or spin-offs for other media.