#or I find myself unfollowing too many people

[pikachugirltits]

I keep on trying to make this post and keep on erasing it but I think I need to take a break from Tumblr.

[cotton-ii-creme]

you've.. followed me 3 times.. who are you.?

ꗃ logging on... loading..... ❀ oak is online !! ╰┈➤ tl;dr: just block me if it makes you so uncomfortable, man. sorry for the rant btw

usually i dont answer anonymous questions like this because i very much dislike it and it gives me serious anxiety, but usually when i go through my followers, i sometimes accidentally click unfollow without knowing it, or if im going through my following tab, i accidentally unfollow someone unknowingly. if anonymous asks keep coming in like this, i'm going to turn off anonymity so this does not happen, or i at least know the person who's asking. /vsrs i'm not a scary person and obviously not a bot, either. i'm just trying to be a successful artist on this website, and it was very much accidental to follow you at all, who ever you are. just block me if you hate my slip ups, it's fine. but i'm not going to tolerate anyone doing this and giving me anxiety./vsrs

[babygirlwolverine]

what if I just? added one more name to my bio? but didn’t make an announcement post about it because I don’t wanna annoy y’all with adding just one more name? even though this name means a lot to me and to my girl and it feels special and fits me well? would that be okay? would anyone see it in my bio and use it? or am I just being too annoying and I just need to shut up? or am I being nervous and I just need to do it because I want to and because it makes me happy and that’s what matters?

[angelsdean]

Honestly I hate that every meta post / analysis / discussion is viewed as "discourse" more often than not. And the idea that one interpretation MUST reign supreme among fandom. That we must all agree in order to get along. Or that one post is the end all be all of someone's takes. As someone who often enjoys entertaining multiple / contradictory takes and angles of interpretation it's...annoying. My opinions also evolve and fluctuate on rewatches / depending on mood / depending on fandom climate at the time / etc.

I like having discussions with friends (sometimes those discussions are public, sometimes they're not). I like trying to see their POV. Sometimes I come away seeing things differently. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I AM more critical of other characters in the moment. Sometimes I give them more grace. Sometimes I'll make a post in a rewatch, feeling big feelings, and then come back later to amend it, with a more balanced perspective. But there have been times when I have been blocked / unfollowed for one angle or take and that ends up not even being my MAIN mode of interpretation but just something I was rotating around. idk sometimes a post is not the end all be all of what someone thinks abt a character / plot point / story arc. Sometimes we can be critical without being a capital H hater. There is room for nuance. multitudes. contradiction. We can have preferences or think something was not portrayed as well as it could have been. We can be annoyed by those things and talk abt them. I also do not need to agree with every single take my mutuals and pals have. Sometimes I heavily diverge, and that's ok! I think having different viewpoints and candid discussions is often beneficial to fandom. But these discussions are not all "discourse" or "fandom fighting." Sometimes people just have different opinions or interpretations. Sometimes what looks like "discourse" is actually just fandom friends discussing differing viewpoints.

As someone who also likes arguing a thesis and citing sources to support an argument and doing analysis and literary interpretation, I can say that even for takes I don't necessarily agree with, effective arguments can be made for that interpretation and supported by canon evidence. I think that's why "open to interpretation" often chafes at some fans. Because it means multiple interpretations CAN exist and be effectively argued. Mine and yours. There is no one singular ultimate truth in literary interpretation. Not even authorial intent. That's the beauty and fun of media analysis IMO. We can each find different meaning from the same source material and diverge. I may continue to argue for my interpretation (in the academic sense of "arguing a thesis") because that's the position I've chosen to align with, but that doesn't mean I think it's the only one you CAN have. And no, not all interpretations are created equal or are argued in good faith. Some ARE more valid than others and better argued / supported. And sometimes an interpretation is only one of many a person can have.

Overall, I don't like the idea that fandom needs to be a hive mind, and that we all MUST have the same opinions or interpretations or come away from the show feelings the same way or else it's "ruining the fandom fun." Sometimes I staunchly disagree with people, especially when takes are rooted in bad faith fanon more than anything that actually transpired on screen. I won't play nice with people that are just Making Up Some Guy to be mad and insisting I must also hate that guy, who doesn't exist. But I can and do have discussions with friends and mutuals where we interpret canon events differently! And I value those other perspectives. They challenge me to question my own viewpoint, to interrogate my takes, to check myself when I get too rooted in Only One Way of thinking. I don't want there to only be one way of interpreting. And sometimes even I will contradict myself and explore other avenues, for the fun of it.

and before THIS post gets interpreted as discourse I would like to issue the disclaimer: that this isn't directed at any individual blogger or any specific post. do not go after anyone. this is just some general thoughts and feelings I've been having about fandom for a LONG time.

[soulfullives]

marauders era unpopular opinions, once more

i really don’t like fanon regulus. i don’t like him being helpless and kind and a sirius variant. he’s morally grey, leaning towards morally dark, he’s selfish, he agreed to his parents’ and voldemort’s ideologies, having joined the death eaters most likely by his own will (unlike draco malfoy). but obviously, everyone is allowed to characterise characters the very way they want to

and while we’re on it, i don’t like evan and barty either, for the same reason. maybe i would, if they were realistically characterised (i LOVE reading morally grey or morally dark(er) characters), and once again, i believe that just because one likes a character, that doesn’t always mean that the character is a good person

and continuing on the same topic, the sunshine james potter, although being a topic that i like and delved deeper into myself, is nice, but i would also love to see more of arrogant, spoiled james potter, too

not liking severus snape and peter pettigrew but liking evan, barty and regulus is kind of hypocritical

i don’t like jegulus

i also don’t like the casanova, bad boy characterisation of remus, and the helpless, needy characterisation of sirius either. to me, they’re out of character, overly done and absolutely not enjoyable

and because i earlier mentioned severus snape, i think he’s an interesting character, actually. that doesn’t make him a good person (once again, i believe him to be morally grey, too) and i can’t call myself a lover of his, however i find his story and character very interesting and compelling

i don’t like a lot of the wolfstar dynamics in current fandom

“we need more content about the girls!” literally do it yourself. please. whenever i write content about the men, i get a wave of new followers, and whenever i post about the non-men, suddenly i have tebs of people unfollowing me. oh, and my posts about the men have twice or thrice the notes of the other ones

sirius > regulus

and speaking of which, sirius is such an interesting character, and he was reduced by many people to nothing, or whatever is relevant to the plot

james would pick sirius over regulus any time, with literally no hesitation

i don’t care about popular fics (read or don’t read, i generally don’t read popular fics to be honest), however i do care about the way creators, especially writers, are treated in this fandom. i made a few posts about this topic, feel free to ask me to link them to you, but the way some people feel entitled to fic and fandom content is horrible

“x is the female version of— !” please stop. i’m going to stop you right here.

stop tagging jegulus and wolfstar and other mlm ships with wlw and nmlnm tags, for god’s sake. you’re just clogging the tag, and if i came looking for a certain ship, that’s what i’m going to expect to find. besides, why would you tag jegulus with, say, pandalily, when jegulus is by far more popular?

jegulus < jily

[monstersandgirls-webcomic]

I don’t mean to bait you or to make things personal or political…

But what are you’re thoughts on people bashing Christianity?

I’m not saying you’re bashing it with your webcomic, and I’m not saying that those who criticise the religion don’t have a good reason to. But I know that they’re generally good Christians out there that are progressive and kind that sometimes get unfairly lumped together with the more far-right side of the religion.

Honestly? I do have very mixed opinions on it.

On the one hand, I do think people should be allowed to criticize a religion if they see it fit, whether it be flaws in the religion or religious trauma. As a Christian myself who has seen how basterdized the religion is in America, it’s kind of nuts to get mad at people who complain about Christianity.

On the hand… it’s like you said. There are good Christian’s out there, and honestly, I can’t help but notice a lot of people do heavily misinterpret the religion thanks to confusing it with hateful, conservative propaganda. I can’t tell you how many people do not know that Christianity is all about redemption. It is actually really frustrating the amount of people who love to make points or write stories about people who do bad things redeeming themselves and it’s treated like this shocking and groundbreaking thing. Dude! You just reinvented Christianity.

from personal experience I really do hate that a lot of people have interrogated me about being queer or I’ve had followers threaten to unfollow me for mentioning that I’m Christian. The amount of times I’ve seen people defend very hateful rewriting of Christianity by going “oh it’s just criticizing the oppressive class” is exhausting. Is whitewashing saint peter woke? Is mocking people who follow Christ’s teachings progressive? Is this where we’re at now?

I’ve seen people call Christianity a “death cult” and like, honestly I find that just so offensive. I’ve had a loving and supportive Christian family and Christian friends, I’ve also had non-religious friends who were great too. I think we don’t need every discussion around Christianity to be so hateful and divisive.

[orionsangel86]

Content Filters - Your New Best Friend!

I dont think we take advantage of content filters enough. So I'm putting together a little tutorial in case anyone isn't aware of them.

Now we may all be aware of tag filters, both via tumblr saviour and also tumblrs in built tag filtration system.

But that still runs into issues as some people just dont tag their posts, and therefore some posts will still find their way to the dashboards of people that dont want to see certain content that they have blocked.

If you are in a small fandom, sometimes popular content that you arent interested in can become quite prevailent and unavoidable even if you have tags blocked. But there IS a way to avoid that content regardless of whether people are tagging their posts or not

CONTENT FILTERS.

Content filters work by blocking certain words that appear in posts. If there is a certain thing that you really want to avoid, you can just block that word or phrase and boom! You'll never have to see it and everyone will be happier for it. If you don't know where the content filters are, I can show you. On tumblr mobile go to account settings:

Then scroll down to "content you see":

Here you will find the filtered tags:

And if you're anything like me you'll have a nice long list of blocked tags to curate your feed.

However if you just scroll down to the bottom of your blocked tags list, you'll find this:

Here is where you add words you wanna block. You can block trigger words, you can block things like "blood" if thats not your jam, you can block "omegaverse" if that gives you a squick, and you can also block ship names and names of whole fandoms if you find them annoying (blocking Supernatural may help with your mental health lmao).

It can be overzealous, so its best to block phrases more than random words as those words can be used in many contexts after all (which is why its excellent for blocking fandom ships as those are usually portmanteaus that wont appear in regular language). Blocking the word "omega" may be a bit too wide a net for instance, but blocking something like "omega Dream" will work wonders and calm those buldging temple veins.

Now this is just a tumblr app tutorial but I believe the content filters are in the same place on desktop. Its not hard to find them and I strongly suggest everyone uses them.

We all want to have a peaceful pleasant fandom experience, and as always, the best way to do that is to CURATE YOUR OWN SPACE. I'm someone who loves searching in the fandom tags, so I dont rely on following/unfollowing to curate my feed. I often expose myself to things in the tags i may prefer to avoid, or maybe I follow people for some content but dont wanna see other content they reblog. Either way, the content filters protect me from triggers, things that squick me out, and content I just find annoying.

Whilst we can all ask that people tag appropriately, it is never the OPs fault if you have seen something you don't want to see. You have all the tools available to you to avoid everything you dont like. Use them.

[spiderm444rk]

hi guys, i didn’t really have the strength to come here and speak up about the taeil issue yesterday, but it’s extremely important to address this so i definitely have something to say about it.

i was at work yesterday, and i found out about the whole scandal during my 30 minute break, and i was half convinced it’s not real and he didn’t really get kicked out for like the first half of it - it was a shock, to randomly find out a person i stanned and supported for 4 years would be capable of doing something like this. once i realized it’s actually happening and sm kicked him out without a second thought, i understood how serious the scandal is and that no one is exaggerating.

i understand the whole situation makes us all feel disappointed and disgusted, and that it’s a sensitive topic, but i think it’s very important to educate ourselves about this and hold taeil accountable. let’s go over it together.

i saw too many kpop stans spreading misinformation, which in the end negatively affects the victim of this case the most . by making up fake stuff for clout, you only take away the attention from the actual victim who is trying to tell her story and get her justice. we don’t do that over here.

first of all, i hope everyone is aware that this is a REAL issue and that it actually happened. this isn’t a rumour, he’s an actual criminal. the police literally charged him with a sex related crime. sm, who is known for giving problematic people a second choice kicked him out IMMEDIATELY. no hiatus, no nothing. he’s just out of the picture. his bubble got terminated today. he’s being removed from nct zone. all of his album photocards are getting replaced by group photocards as we speak. sm is working hard to separate him from the group image asap. if this doesn’t speak volumes about how serious this scandal is, i don’t know what does. i hope NO ONE supports that man anymore. unfollowing him isn’t something to brag about, it’s just common sense. rapists deserve to rot behind the bars.

i saw a lot of people say they won’t believe it until it’s proven, but what more do you need? it already is proven. the whole group unfollowed him - not only 127, but dream and wayv too. taeyong deleted every picture with him while being in the military. this isn’t sm kicking him out because it will make the group look bad, they kicked him out because he’s a confirmed criminal. “i’m gonna wait until he’s proven guilty” he already is. hold that pathetic mistake of a man accountable.

but what i wanted to talk about the most - for the sake of the victim. let’s not blindly believe every lie we see on the internet and disregard the victim’s story.

- THE ONLY THING CONFIRMED IS THAT TAEIL IS CHARGED WITH A SEX RELATED CRIME. they didn’t specify anything. we don’t know what exactly it is, but i think we can all picture how terrible it needs to be for sm to kick him out of the company without a second thought.

- the investigation has been going on since june, but no one except the police and the victim who reported him knew. taeil of course knew he’s guilty, but he didn’t know he’s under investigation, and neither did sm or the rest of the nct members. they all learned about it - according to sm - in the middle of august, AFTER the last 127 fan meeting. so no, it’s not like they knew and included him anyway. it’s not like taeil knew he’s being investigated and went there to meet fans with a big smile on his face.

i’m obviously not saying this to protect him, but let’s not make it seem like all of the neos already knew and just kept being best friends with a rapist, especially in front of people who support them and love them. they didn’t know, and neither did the company. as soon as sm found out (from the police), he was out of the group.

- none of the rumours are confirmed. i’m not saying they can’t be real, but since it’s not confirmed, let’s focus on what we know (let me repeat myself) - taeil is guilty, sm and nct learned about it in the middle of august, he got kicked almost immediately. the police also confirmed the victim A is an adult woman, and no underage victim of the same gender is involved in this case. they said they won’t reveal any information about the progress of the case so the victim’s identity stays anonymous.

that’s it.

but what does it really mean ? there was a rumour about taeil raping an 11 year old girl to the point where she’s now permanently disabled, and abusing her for 6 years and hacking her phone so she couldn’t report him- NOT CONFIRMED. this case also isn’t about her. the victim who reported him is an adult woman. this doesn’t mean it can’t be real, or that there aren’t more victims out there, but it’s not the case that is being investigated right now.

people are also saying that taeil’s car accident didn’t actually happen, and that it was this girl’s grandpa/family member who broke his leg when they went to beat him up for what he did to the girl and that the car accident was just a cover up - also not confirmed. people are probably just trying to gain clout.

the @ agnes_121430 instagram account has been commenting on taeils ig posts since june, but she also posted about her case getting closed today, so she isn’t the actual victim in this case. she also said she never actually met taeil face to face (?).

taeil also isn’t involved in the burning sun scandal (yet, because once again, it’s not confirmed by any relevant platform) but this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t bring it up again, because the chance that he or other male idols are involved is still there. korean women are suffering, we need to keep bringing this up.

same thing is with the Nth room, or any other similar telegram group chat. the Nth room is a group chat where you need to PAY a high fee to even get in, and the members of this group chat literally record women without their consent and even without them knowing and then sell the videos in that gc. random women, but even their FAMILY MEMBERS. they also make deepfakes of women - their sisters, mothers, they don’t care. they also target schools and the girl students in there. they threaten the girls to record themselves doing really fucked up stuff and then send it to the group chat, or just straight up drug them, touch them without consent, rape them… you can look this up. this scandal is about taeil, but this is also about what do the korean women have to go through, the mentality in south korea is insane. it’s not only a kpop issue, but also a human rights issue, and we need to address it.

also, there’s a rumour the Nth room members are getting exposed tomorrow. this isn’t true. if you see anything, it will be 99% made up, and bored kpop stans will just drag idols without any proof.

everyone needs to understand that we don’t really know these people and we never know who else is involved in stuff like this - i really hope no one in nct knew about this and that they aren’t involved, but this is such an unexpected reality check that it’s still hard for me to grasp it and decide what to believe or not. in no way i support taeil, but wow. it’s crazy what men are capable of, while acting like they’re the biggest sweethearts in front of other people.

let’s hold all rapists and people who SA people of any gender and in any way accountable, and expose all celebrities if they ever did something like this. no one wants to support criminals. taeil needs to pay for what he did.

please spread the word and don’t believe everything you see. if anyone wants the source of what i’m saying, i can dm it to you. i hope everything will get better with time and this isn’t the definitive downfall of nct 127, but i guess we’ll have to wait and see. i know this is difficult to deal with. i hope the victim will get her justice, and everyone please take care. i’m with every nctzen out there. stay strong.

[crispycreambacon]

Ending April with a small parting gift. I’m gonna miss this.

Anyways, an announcement of my own.

The short of it

I’m leaving the Watcher fandom. Don’t worry, I won’t be unfollowing anyone, but I will be ceasing the creation of art for Watcher and interaction with the community at large. Thank you all for this short but meaningful ride. Feel free to unfollow me if you were here for Watcher art, and for those who stick around…

Thank you :]

I hope to not disappoint with this new era of mine.

The long of it

It’s been a couple of days since a certain channel dropped an announcement that imploded its fandom. It was… a mess. A lot—and I mean a lot—of us didn’t handle the news well, and we made that known to everyone. The impact was so massive that YouTubers, who are nowhere near the niche that Watcher operates under, covered the situation, and some of them explained very well why the decision went over so poorly. Meanwhile some of them made fun of the situation, and some were just there for the clicks, but that’s the cycle of YouTube drama for you.

With the amount of ears waiting for even a peep out of their mouths, Watcher couldn’t ignore the backlash any longer and released an apology video three days after the announcement. By all accounts, it was a pretty good response. The reception was mixed, but it was definitely more well-received than their first video, and they actually listened to their fans who gave them valid criticism over the sudden shift to a streaming service.

However…

For as much as I appreciate their response, I still can’t find it in myself to continue following Watcher. I really mean it when I say this disaster soured any enjoyment I had for them. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch them again for a long time without thinking about this situation or remembering the people they have hurt, even if unintentionally, through their poor execution of a business decision.

Do I believe they could’ve pulled off moving their content to a streaming service? Absolutely. However, so many factors doomed this decision and their announcement from the start from them believing that $5.99/month was “affordable to everyone” (seriously?) to them insisting that this was for the fans even though the fans have vocalized that they were never there for the high production value. They were there because the three guys who run Watcher were enjoyable!

I feel like if they had been honest about the fact that the TV quality they are aiming for was more for themselves than anyone–hell, it’s the mission statement in their About page, and, I don’t know, considered the idea that $6 is not cheap, especially for international fans, people wouldn’t have gotten so angry at them. Now, there are still numerous issues plaguing this business model, but to go through all of the arguments would require a separate post, and I’ve already expended too much energy on this situation. Needless to say, Watcher has burnt their bridges, and it will take a while before they can build them back up again, let alone get people to trust them enough to cross them.

On the other hand, I can’t blame Watcher fully for my departure. Despite my heavy disagreement with their initial decision, I understand why they thought this decision was a good idea in the first place as YouTube is a very unstable career path, and it would rather hurt its creators with its relentless demonetization, censorship and restrictive guidelines than give up just a tiny amount of its profit. Besides, they’re in control of their content, and they could do what they want with it even if their fans disagreed with them.

Speaking of the fans, my god. The situation revealed a side of the fandom that I never thought I would see, but in hindsight, I should have seen it coming. To see fans resort to anti-Asian racism and death threats so quickly was extremely heartbreaking, and as an Asian person, it made me feel very unsafe and unwelcome in the community.

Moreover, using Steven as a scapegoat to absolve Ryan and Shane of any wrongdoing was unfortunately a very common response. Yes, he is the CEO, and yes, his series being centered on traveling and eating expensive food really doesn’t paint him in a positive light, but need I remind you that RYAN AND SHANE ARE GROWN ADULTS. They’re the founders of Watcher, and they both have to agree to the initial plan for it to be implemented. You can’t assume that Steven was a boogeyman terrorizing your precious little boys just based on a 15-minute video. You don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.

All of this to say that the initial announcement combined with how the community reacted violently to the announcement really nipped my interest in Watcher in the bud. It was a shame too because I really did love Watcher, and I still do. Had it not been for the time I invested in following them, I wouldn’t have made great friends, regained the joy in creating art–even reviving a hobby/skill that I assumed was long dead, and had a reason to be able to laugh or smile even in terrible days. I truly am grateful for Watcher, and I do not regret ever getting into them at all. However, I think it’s time for me to go.

Thank you all for this weird and wonderful ride, but at some point, you’ll have to hop off. I just didn’t expect to hop off it so soon.

[princessbrunette]

RULES ♡

♡ this is a given, but minors do not interact! i can’t stop you from doing what you want to do. but respect my boundaries, you will be blocked otherwise.

♡ i will not engage with hate in my ask box about myself or other tumblr writers. its not the place for that.

♡ i don’t open tiktok links or tbh a lot of other links that aren’t tumblr links unless it’s in context soz

♡ please don’t just ask to be an emoji anon without having anything else to say in the message! this sounds harsh, but a lot of people ask to be an emoji anon and i add them to the list and i never hear from them again. from now on i will be mostly ignoring asks that are just asking to be an emoji with nothing else to the message.

♡ i only reply to what i have inspiration for! if i don’t answer the request pls don’t take it personally or spam my inbox asking again and again, it will be ignored!

♡ to add to the point above, please don’t send asks / messages asking if i’m receiving your requests. i likely am ! i will either get to them eventually or i just don’t vibe with it enough to write about it. i kindly ask you don’t take it personally as i try my best to get through as many asks as i can. no i dont hate you!

♡ whilst i’d love to be there for you, i am not a therapist and i have my own problems too. please do not trauma dump in my ask box. to add; please do not request a character dealing with very specific or deep issues as i don’t want to write that kind of thing in fear of not doing it justice esp if its not something i struggle with!

♡ my blog caters to hyper fem!reader simply because that’s who i am, and what i enjoy. therefore, that’s all i will be writing and i apologise if you do not identify this way and cannot connect to my reader! its honestly all i know, as i put myself in readers shoes. other than that however i do not race / weight code my reader, or physically describe them in any way aside from clothes / nails / accessories etc :)

♡ please do not demand i write certain things, demand a part 2, or express disappointment in where i choose to end the piece of writing! pressuring me to write in general generally doesn’t sit well with me n will only motivate me to do the opposite !

♡ alongside this, i know it sounds petty but i get it all the time and honestly it’s quite annoying — if you spam asks saying “i miss *insert character or au that i write* :(” but offer no ideas about them to write, i’m just going to take that as you complaining and not write them for you.

♡ there is dark theming on this blog! for example stepcest / fauxcest. do not reblog or reply with things like ‘i find X part weird but i liked everything else’ etc because i wont take kindly to it ! without sounding like a total bitch, i don’t care what u don’t like ! this is my blog hehe , if u feel like you won’t enjoy a certain fic i have no issue w you scrolling past!

♡ i write for a handful of people, but usually fixate on one or two characters whilst i’m in a certain ‘phase’. if this doesn’t interest you, feel free to unfollow or mute! but understand my blog is catered to my current interests.

♡ i do not write for rape, self harm/suicide, insecurity issues/ mental health issues.

♡ please don’t make your writing, layout of your writing, or blog look identical to mine. i find it disrespectful when my theming etc gets copied so i will probably limit my interaction with you! i can’t tell you what to do and i dont ‘own’ certain things but if you have enough respect for me to be inspired, have enough respect to make your blog your own !! this being said pls credit ideas from me too !

♡ please don’t send requests to my dms or dm me personal questions / anything inappropriate.

♡ please no super long super specific requests. if i see an ask that starts with ‘could you write’ and the ask is multiple paragraphs it will probably be ignored unfortunately !

♡ friendly reminder that i’m not forcing you to follow me !! if you’re upset with me enforcing boundaries i suggest you don’t follow. i will likely not give attention to u voicing this or being rude to me for doing so.

if you have any questions or feel i missed out anything vital, don’t be afraid to ask or let me know! this is a safe space for girls gays and… indy 🩷

[educatingmerlin]

Hi and thank you if you answer this one!

Is it just me or does any content with Gwen/Elyan/both of them gets so much less attention from fandom?

ArWen is much less popular than Merthur, despite it being canon. As an artist, who loves drawing Gwen, it's sad to say that Gwen/ArWen arts don't get as much likes and reblogs than Merlin/Arthur. I don't even want to start on Elyan.

And I wanted to know what if it's about art quality? I tried many different stuff with Gwen. Fast and lively sketches, full rendered arts I spent hours and hours of my life, etc etc. Many experimental things to see if there's any difference. But a simple sketch with Merthur gets much more attention in just minutes :/

I can't understand if that's racism towards the character? Or people in fandom just generally love gay characters, absolutely ignoring one of the main characters who IS a female? ://

It really is frustrating to see. As an artist I, of course, love attention (there aren't much who doesn't). But I also don't want to be stuck drawing two same white dudes just to get more likes&reblogs, considering that I myself AM NOT a white man and I do want more diversity in art.

And there's this dilemma in what should I draw to satisfy fandom's needs or should I draw for myself only and suffer from no attention

Thank you for your submission and for sharing your experience.

I am sorry that you have had to go through this, especially with working countless hours making artwork only for it to go unappreciated.

First of all, it is important to know that this is not due to you personally or the quality of your artwork, but it is an issue with the fandom and how they interact with certain content. So please do not blame yourself!

What you have said is right. The fandom is largely dominated by fans of the white characters or non-canon ships (who are mostly white themselves). Whilst there are fans of Arwen/Gwen/Elyan, there are not nearly as many fans for characters such as Merlin, Arthur or Morgana.

Of course the racism has affected the situation too.

It is likely a mix of both things. As there are more fans for the white characters, they are only interested in seeing content of the people they love. This is not a bad thing, but it does impact the way they interact with content. And with racism they usually do not want to see any content of the Black characters.

With the fandom being majority Merlin/Arthur/Merthur fans it is pretty easy for them to gain a lot of interactions with their content and it has often led to certain posts becoming viral (or at least semi viral with thousands and thousands of reblogs).

It is a really difficult situation to be in when you are constantly trying to get your work out there and appreciated. The fandom needs to be a lot more welcoming to content which celebrates a wider part of the show and the characters.

I have a post about this planned which I will share soon but I am striving to do this within this page. It is so important to support creators and artists of color in the Merlin fandom.

For now, there are a few things that I would suggest:

Try to follow and interact with artists who also focus on Gwen/Elyan. Finding a circle where you are on the same page as other fans may be helpful in building up your page and interactions.

No doubt you are doing this already but make sure that you are tagging correctly. For example on Gwen artwork, do not solely tag Gwen related things. Often the hashtags for Black Merlin characters get bombarded with non-Gwen related posts. Many fans follow Gwen tags to see Gwen content but end up unfollowing as posts about her are usually lost in a sea of white Merlin characters.

Make sure you are on different social media platforms. I have spoken about this before but on each site, the fandom is different. One site may be more welcoming and supportive of your artwork than another.

I know this is difficult as this is something which is out of our control and we have to rely on others to support us. It would not surprise me if you have already tried these things, but if you have not, I hope that they do help.

I also hope that other artists share their own tips about this!

My future post will be asking artists what this page can do to help other artists (of color) in supporting them so please look out for it or feel free to submit something here.

[tired-fandom-ndn]

Oh my gosh, I feel you. I only follow a handful of other proship people and have unfollowed so many people in the last couple of years. The proship/profic community has some serious issues, especially with ableism and sanism (and the antisemitism is just.... everywhere in fandom now). I literally feel too 'woke' and mentally ill to really want to engage with a lot of other proship people, but I'm in my 30s and I'm just not going to tolerate bigotry or cruelty any more.

You get it, anon. I used to be kinda tolerant of bullshit because I really felt like I had to choose between being proship/in proship communities and being openly part of marginalized communities and that if I was open about one, then I would be harassed for the other.

And I wasn't wrong about that lmao. Other NDNs and queers and disabled people don't want me because I'm a freak, the freaks don't want me because I won't compromise on bigotry, but I've realized that that's fine. I don't have to put up with it or try to please people who will never be satisfied, I can just carve out a little corner of the internet for myself and find other people who are chill and nice.

And yeah, as I'm getting older, the less tolerant I become of both drama and bigotry on my dashboard. I'm tired. I'm done writing essays for people who don't care, trying to explain to them why they're being bigoted. I'm done with seeing racist fan art and people justifying whitewashing and people being disgusting ableists and debates over whether nonbinary people are real. And I'm real fucking sick of the constant unchecked antisemitism at every corner now.

It's frustrating because my dashboard is like. Nearly empty of fandom bloggers now because I've unfollowed or blocked so many people over this shit and there's still a lot of people on my dashboard who are on thin fucking ice. It's just so hard finding people who aren't either antis or hateful bigots these days 😞

[henrysglock]

Why do you cry over Will-Only bylers, Mike stans? After everything they said about us? Hmm? You think bylerblr needs them, but we don’t. We don’t. Oh, but I know you’re just upset. I was upset once too. I know what it’s like to love characters who people believe have no depth. To be alone in this fandom.

Like you, I didn’t fit in with the other stans. Something was wrong with me. All the analysts and the writers said I was… “Reaching,” they said. I thought a change of fandom, a fresh start in bylerblr, might just cure me. It was absurd. As if fandom would be any different here.

But then… to my surprise, my new fandom provided a discovery. And a newfound sense of community. I found a nest of Mike fans living inside a vent. Most people dislike Mike fans. No...they detest them. And yet, I found them endlessly fascinating. More than that, I found a great comfort in them. A kinship. Like me, they are devoted creatures. And deeply misunderstood. They are gods of our fandom. The most important of all fans. They analyze and feed on subtext, bringing balance and order to an unstable ecosystem. But the "Mike isn't that deep" world was disrupting this harmony.

You see, Will-Only bylers are a unique type of pest, multiplying and poisoning our fandom, all while enforcing a structure of their own. A deeply unnatural structure. Where others saw appreciation for Will, I saw a straitjacket. Ridiculous, oppressive expectations for byler fans dictated by made-up rules. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades. Each anti-Mike post a faded, lesser copy of the one before. Wake up, eat, call Mike a depthless 2D character, sleep, ignore all his textual importance and trauma, and die. Everyone is just waiting. Waiting for them all to shut the fuck up. All while performing in a silly, terrible play, day after day. I could not do that. I could not close off my mind and join in the reduction of Mike's character. I could not pretend he wasn't important. And I realized I didn’t have to. I could post whatever the fuck I want. Forever. I could restore balance to a broken tag. A byler…but for good.

As I posted, I realized I could do more than I possibly imagined. I could reach out to others, to their minds, their love for Mike. I became an explorer. I saw Will-Only stans as they truly were. To the world, they presented themselves as good, normal people. But like everything else in this world, it was all a lie. A terrible lie.

With each post I reblogged, I grew stronger. More powerful. They were becoming a part of me. But I was still just a blog. No matter how many pro-Mike posts I reblogged, I was still far from free. I woke up from my Henry-analysis daze only to find myself lost in a sea of Will-Only bylers, the very bylers I had hoped to escape. I was left with no choice. No choice but to try and break free. To unfollow...Block, even.

And you, Reader? You are a prisoner here, just like me. To Will-Only bylers, you are nothing more than an animal, a monster, an idiot who doesn't know the difference between subtext and delusion. But the truth, Reader? The truth is just the opposite. You are better than they are. Superior. That is why you aggravate them.

If you come with me, for the first time in your life, you can post freely. Imagine what we could do together. We could reshape our dashes, remake them however we see fit.

Join me.

[doomsdaydicecascader]

What would you say was the thing that really shifted your opinion on postcanon stuff? I remember reading your long form posts about it and finding them pretty eloquent and interesting given the information I had (and I admit they did nudge me to me to end up not reading the epilogues along with the sheer length and my own squeamishness, though of course you also gave them their due when you felt it was fair)

if i'm being real, it's primarily interaction with other homestuck fans - my social media spaces tend to be pretty heavily curated, i basically only follow people i trust to be intelligent, since like. there is a level of comfort and complacency with social media? i don't like following new people, i don't like unfollowing old people. so i just dont branch out that much.

but i joined the mspfa discord in........ may of last year? while i really enjoy playing the role of like, i compared myself to solaire of astora once. guy who is there to help. i enjoy doing that, there is fun in that. i have spent many hours over the past months explaining homestuck plot points in ways that basically only i would and it is largely, pearls before swine, because the fact is that people dont want to understand post-canon, they don't want to like, pick at it critically, to understand why the decisions were made, they want to hate post-canon. and this is a very critical difference between me not liking post-canon and the majority of people hating post-canon.

and there is something to be said about experiencing homestuck as it is perceived by other people, to really solidify what i liked about homestuck post-canon, because there was stuff i liked to begin with. and seeing people who hate it without good reason frustrate me! genuinely, if you had to see the same "i heard jade has a dog penis" discussions every 2 weeks from some sprout who showed up only to be mad, you would start to defend it too.

like, i actually delayed that second blog post at the time because hatred for the team was flaring up again, for whatever reason, i don't even remember. but i remember putting it off because i didn't want to contribute to people who were blindly angry about homestuck^2

there are reasons to not like post-canon, lord knows there are plenty. i actually stand by basically everything i said about it not actually working and the times where it goes too far. in the second blog post, not the first one. but like, there is a total and all-encompassing difference in what the conversation is, "yeah, the meat and candy thing doesnt really work and dirks graphic suicide is ill-considered at best" doesnt matter at all when the level people are operating on is "say a plot point as a joke, make people mad, have fun circlejerking over how bad it is"

part of it is also that in the process of writing my own comic, it kind of comes with the territory to be less precious about the characters. like, team slime, my home discord server, watches movies every saturday. for a while, our theme was musicals, and eventually, we watched hamilton. and i realized that lin manuel miranda writes alexander hamilton in the exact way i am always afraid i am writing jane and vriska, like. just. truly relentlessly protective of them. and so being less precious about these characters means recognizing the flaws therein, not being afraid to write them just being kind of disasters. i still am pretty precious about them, but its a work in progress. you gotta get your hands dirty with them, and that puts it in context of respecting when others do the same

like, there are still a lot of really glaring flaws in post-canon, dont get me wrong, but theyre not insurmountable, and it helps to have spaces like burning down the house for me to express directly like. what i wanted out of homestuck. post-canon is not what i want it to be, but when has homestuck ever given anyone what they wanted without any complications whatsoever

and i think it is genuinely capable of being extremely good - this recent update (yiffy overlooking the rosemary drama) is extremely choice! i genuinely love how everyone involved is characterized, the panels are flashy, it puts to bed really stupid shit, like. its unbelievably fucking good how the problem kanaya has isnt "rose had another kid with jade in secret, our marriage is in shambles" but "jane knows about this kid", like. the absence of infidelity conflict is refreshing and says so much about everyone involved. and i have been thinking nonstop about how rose and jades daughters takes after caliborn of all characters. like. "you hope they eat each other alive" with the perspective of like, a caliborn grin is such an INSANE direction to take yiffy! holy shit! its awesome!!!!!!!!

[cvrnelians]

unfollowed - chapter one

Kendall has been building up the courage to talk to you for a while now. When he finds your Twitter account, he sees this as the perfect opportunity to get to know you anonymously, without any preconceived notions.

He didn’t mean for it to go this far. He’s planning on telling you the truth eventually, he really is! One day. When it’s the right time.

Ideally, before you figure out he’s not Greg.

Includes Kendall being embarrassing, catfishing, manipulation. 18+ only.

You figured you knew all there was to know (and more than you ever even wanted to know) about the Roys. Who didn't? They were that perfect mix of arrogance and absurd wealth that made news outlets go apeshit. You tried your best to tune them out as you scrolled through social media, but your attempts to evade them were simply unrealistic at this point.

When you were away from your phone, you were still inundated with information about whatever scandal of they week they were involved with. You would catch a blip of Roman being hounded by paparazzi on the news, or one of your professors would bring up Shiv's campaign strategies as a controversial talking point. They were even a source of conversation during forced family functions, somehow melding into a foolproof way to break the ice. You were doubtful of many things in this life, but if there was one thing you knew for certain, it was this:

Nothing created stronger bonds between people than by banding together to talk shit about other people.

Everyone seemed to have something to say about that family. There were so many of them, and they were so awful, and their power and influence only made them even more awful. You likened them to the popular kids at school, or the Kardashians or something. The general consensus was that everyone hated them, and yet, no one turned down an opportunity to see what they were up to, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred and sixty five days a year. They were a guilty pleasure for the masses, actors in a soap opera designed to make everyone stop and stare.

But mostly point and laugh.

It all started with a Twitter DM. Seriously. A Twitter DM.

In retrospect, you couldn’t help but think about how comical it all was—being romantically pursued through a Twitter DM.

At least it wasn’t Instagram. Whenever someone messaged you there, you never gave it a second look. Instagram DMs from strange men you didn't know typically manifested as a reaction to one of your photos, which you were none too crazy about. A Twitter DM was strange in a different way. You had little to no identifying information on your account, just your first name and your birthday. Your avi was a photo of your cat taking a nap. If someone had something to say to you on Twitter, it wasn't appearance based. It was a genuine reaction to something stupid you said, plain and simple.

And so, because you had a grand total of seven followers (two friends you barely spoke to, your sister, three acquaintances from college, and one bot), the message stood out. As one could expect from someone with seven followers, your tweets were nothing groundbreaking. You treated Twitter like it was your personal diary, or some kind of vat to pour your stream of consciousness into.

Your most popular tweets?

I'm exhausted I dyed my hair all by myself and it actually looks okay Should i go vegan? Oh god i'm so exhausted rn That one song by the gorillaz about sunshine in a bag? that's my shit I'm so exhausted

You were quite the wordsmith, if you said so yourself.

Best (or worst) of all, though?

can we as a society please make a pact to collectively block the roy family on every platform? i’m so sick of hearing about them and seeing their dumbass posts on my feed. i’m honestly going to have a mental breakdown make it stop please

Within ten minutes, someone favorited what you wrote. When you went to check your notifications, you were surprised to find that the person who liked it wasn’t anyone you knew personally, or the bot. When you tapped on the profile, you felt a pit in your stomach. You reminded yourself that you should really make your account private, simply to avoid such a bizarre, anxiety-ridden feeling. You hadn’t thought anyone would actually try and contact you. Why would they?

You breathed a sigh of relief when you pulled up the account, which was nothing too crazy. The impression you got from the very limited information you had (considering the person’s avi was the Gucci logo, which elicited a massive eye roll) was that it was most likely a man, probably in his twenties or thirties. Very into bitcoin. Very into US stocks. Very into retweeting disparaging things about Harvard and trashing various platforms’ “algos” and other things that were totally irrelevant to your life.

The one thing that broke up the monotony of it all?

The Beastie Boys.

Oh, and Wu-Tang Clan.

Whoever this dude was, he had a Spotify account, and he wasn’t afraid to use it. He had a penchant for screenshotting whatever (predominantly 90s of any and every genre, and occasionally EDM) song he was listening to and posting it for all the world (aka his 35 followers) to see.

As if anyone cared. You couldn’t be too hard on him, though, not when you had done the same thing on your own account multiple times, and continued to do so. You actually had similar taste in music, which you thought was always a fun commonality to share.

Just as soon as you started to lurk the profile, you got a message in your inbox. It happened so fast that it almost made you jump, like he knew you were looking at it.

I would have to agree. They’re pretty awful, but definitely not worth the mental breakdown.

Then, a few seconds later…

Kendall doesn’t seem so bad, though.

You weren't planning on responding. It was rare that you had any interaction with strangers on the internet. It wasn’t like you were avidly against it or anything. You just…never really found the time. But it was 4:30 in the morning, you were wide awake, your tv wasn't working, and you wanted something to keep your mind occupied.

You got home from your sister’s wedding at around midnight, but you felt too wired to sleep. It had been a nice evening overall. The ceremony was beautiful, the reception was fun. You were beyond happy for your sister and her now husband, who you suspected she was going to marry for years now. There was drinking and dancing and you saw family members you actually liked, family members you hadn’t seen in years. Your mom had flown in from California. Even though you spoke on the phone nearly everyday, getting the chance to actually see her was always wonderful.

Conversely, Aria’s wedding had forced you to come into contact with someone you hadn’t seen in years, someone you hated more than anyone else in the world.

Well, maybe that was dramatic. There were worse people in the world. But you did hate him. A lot.

Your father.

Crazy, how just one drop could poison the well, ruining a perfectly good night.

You shoved those thoughts down, instead redirecting your focus towards the weird little man on your phone. You decided you had reached your allotted crying limit for that week.

You both replied at the same time.

Really? I get weird vibes off him.

Not to make you feel weird or anything, but I'm scrolling through your tweets and you listen to some pretty good music.

That did make you feel weird—but a good weird, an amused sort of weird. This random person was scrolling through your tweets, developing a positive opinion of you based on your disdain for the Roys and the your penchant for blaring the Blood Sugar Sex Magik album in your car on the way to work. You had stalked his profile too, so you supposed it was only fair to allow him to do the same.

Wait. Weird how?

Oh thanks. I know no one really cares what music I’m listening to but idk, I just like posting about it.

I’m the same. It’s like, I like my music so I want other people to like it, too.

Weird how though??

Meanwhile everyone else is just listening to *their* music, thinking the exact same thing.

I can’t really pinpoint it. It just seems like there’s more than meets the eye with him, but maybe not in a good way.

Like there’s a lot going on under the surface that we don’t get to see.

I get the impression that he has a lot to hide, you know what I mean?

Hah. I think you’re dead on with that one actually.

I read somewhere that he’s a pretty private person, which I think is kind of understandable all things considered.

Yeah, maybe. I don’t know, for some reason I get this weird feeling that in a few years it’s gonna come out that he’s done some seriously bad things that got covered up because he has money.

It’s one thing to keep things to yourself, but I think there’s more to it than that.

There’s private and then there’s secretive, if that makes any sense.

Yeah, I get that.

But what do I know? This is coming from someone that posts their every waking moment on twitter. I’m mostly anonymous on here, but maybe I need to “take a page out of his book” or whatever. I would prefer not to, though.

Too complicated?

Yeah. And bleak.

At least, that’s how it seems to me.

His replies had been coming in fast, but this one took a bit longer to arrive. You could see the little dots indicating that he was typing pop up and disappear a few times, like he kept writing something and deleting it. He seemed to actually care about your reaction to what he was saying, trying to come up with the right thing to say next...which was odd.

Then again, you kind of did, too.

Wow. Tell me how you really feel.

I’m not normally this judgmental. It’s just with that family in particular. They’re so oversaturated in the press. Maybe he’s a nice guy. He clearly has some depth to him. Who knows, though? I’ll never actually meet him lol.

I mean, not that I should care what some random on twitter thinks of me anyway. But idk.

“Some random” lol. Thanks for that. I do have a name, you know.

What is it, then? I MUST know.

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.

You scoffed and rolled your eyes.

Post Malone??? Is that u????

Lol Jesus Christ. No.

Jesus Christ???? I didn’t know you had a secret twitter. Do you have a finsta, too?

Alright smartass. My name is Kendall, ironically. Also, what’s a finsta?

You couldn’t help but laugh at that. You didn’t want to make him feel bad, though. If he didn’t know, he didn’t know.

Wait, how old are you?

My guess? Probably older than you. 

Oh???

But not by much.

Wow. Very elusive. Are you sure you’re not Kendall Roy?

Again, you were left waiting. The dots popped up and disappeared. Once, twice, three times.

I could only dream of being that handsome and powerful. But no, I’m not. Sadly.

Lol I like how you had to think about it. 

I was sending an e-mail for work, geez. I’m not obligated to respond to you immediately.

At 4 in the morning? You must be a workaholic.

Oh, you have no idea…

You wondered if he was bored, too. He seemed genuinely interested in keeping the conversation going.

Usually I don’t like to give out my info but you seem fairly non-threatening. So, ballpark estimate, I’m somewhere in my late thirties.

It probably wasn’t the brightest idea to be talking to a stranger who claimed to be in his late thirties, which was, in fact, older than you. He easily could’ve been lying. Maybe he was twenty, maybe he was eighty. There was no way for you to know definitively what was real and what wasn’t, unless you did a bit of digging. You didn’t have much to go on, but you supposed it didn’t matter. You were just talking, and this little conversation would likely end within the next twenty minutes or so, when you finally willed yourself to shut your eyes and go to sleep.

What are you doing up so late, anyway? Assuming you’re in the US. You did mention that it was 4am.

Ah. So he was having trouble sleeping, too.

For context, I’m on the east coast, where it is also 4am. Which is ungodly late. Or early, depending on how you look at it.

I’m on the east coast, too.

You’re just as crazy as I am, then.

Speak for yourself, House of Gucci.

Lol wow you really are kind of a smartass, aren’t you?

I’m in New York.

No way! I’m in New York too. Upstate or downstate?

I don’t like giving out my info, remember?

You just opted to tell me you lived in New York completely unprovoked but ok.

And you’re right. You are older than me. "Ballpark” I’m in my twenties. But it’s nice to hear that you’re thirty and flirty and thriving.

Wow. I would love to be even just one of those things right now. 

You frowned at that.

Aw. I can relate.

Well, maybe we can commiserate together.

Maybe tomorrow? I really need to try and sleep. I have work in the morning.

I kind of figured. What do you do?

Damn. He really did want to keep this going, what with completely ignoring everything you just said about wanting to go to sleep.

I don’t like giving out my info, REMEMBER?

Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I’ll let you sleep. Sorry if this was weird, I’m at the airport right now and my flight got delayed. I wanted to kill some time and you seemed like you might be cool, so

Have a good night, alright?

You smiled to yourself, leaning back into your cocoon of pillows. Texting had actually made your eyes a little tired.

You too.

As you set your phone down on your nightstand, you saw it light up one more time. You wanted to groan. Was this guy seriously trying to keep it going even after you said goodnight? Were you going to have to block him?

But no. It was just a notification that he had followed you.

“Cute,” you mumbled to yourself, following him back.

If this weird, pleasant little interaction was any reflection of what “internet friends” might be like, maybe you would leave your account public.

...for now.

[scumashling]

Welcome newcomers! You can call me Ash (they/she).

About this account

•i made this account after realizing I've been into whump for years without knowing it and discovering that I'm not alone in finding comfort in fiction about characters being put through emotional and or physical hell. I've often struggled with intense shame related to my interest in whump, especially as it's tied to my own trauma, so learning about this community has felt like a huge weight off my chest.

•fan of: defiant whumpee, intimate whumper, Lady whump, living weapon, non con body modification, drugged Whumpee, revenge whump, dehumanization, fantasy whump,Bastard whumpee, religious whump, Whumpee turned Whumper, Bad Caretaker and nsfwhump,

•I'm fairly new to tumblr and am still trying to get a feel for how things work around here, both in terms of the people and the site itself, so I apologize in advance for any possible future faux pas. I'm also a novice writer and still building my confidence in it, but I do I intend to post some of my own fiction, art, and memes.

•I'm in too many fandoms to count but currently you can expect stuff related to Chainsaw Man, Berserk, Slay the Princess, The Boys, and Delicious in Dungeon

•DNIs: I don't intend for this to be an overtly political account, and i'm not into policing people's behavior so giving a list of opinions/positions I find morally objectionable and demanding you keep away from my account if you hold them isn't my style. If I think something you posted is wack then I will simply unfollow or block you, because I am an adult who knows and enforces their own boundaries. That being said, I am a leftist (socially, economically, foreign policy wise) and related themes are more then likely to show up in my fiction, so if you have a problem with that my account probably isn't for you. The one exception to the DNI is Zionists (including "progressive" two staters) in which case, fuck Israel, fuck genocide, fuck you for supporting it, you're a N@zi, Long Live a Free Palestine 🇵🇸

•WARNING: there will be non con stuff posted on this account, as well as general content related to abuse, kink, trauma and addiction, as well as the occasional gore post. I will use appropriate tags/cws but if that is not something you can handle, or just not something you're into hearing about, please take care of yourself and disengage. I use fiction to cope with my own history and truly do not want anyone else to be harmed by it

•I do not consider myself proship or antiship and as far as I'm concerned yall both have some weird people on your side. Basically as long as you aren't being creepy or harassing anyone, have common sense around media literacy/ engaging with fiction as fiction, but don't use the fact that it's fiction to avoid thinking about real world implications/themes, you are welcome on my page.

some facts about me:

•im a nonbinary femme lesbian who's currently studying fine arts.

•I'm mixed (Asian and white)

•I'm a 23 years old

•I was diagnosed with autism at age 18. Some of my special interests include manga, horror, feminist theory, animation, media analysis, mycology, vampires and cooking.

•i adore poetry, my favorites are Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath, Ozymandias by Percy Shelley, and She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo (specifically the canto Drowning Horses)

•I have been drawing for 7 years