#people are entitled to their opinions but sometimes it is just character bashing

[serene-faerie]

I didn't want to post this kind of discourse, but it's something that I genuinely can't ignore anymore.

It's no secret that the Silm fandom has a lot of problems with its standards for female characters. I've noticed that a lot of heroic female characters like Lúthien, Elwing, and Idril tend to be criticized and bashed on quite a bit.

But I've also noticed that there are three female characters that hardly anyone bashes. In fact, some fans actively like to pit these characters against other female characters by making them the hype-men of the Fëanorians.

(I apologize to any mutuals who happen to be Fëanorian fans. And this isn't to say that these female characters are terrible because they're connected to the Fëanorians, but these are just my observations. I still think they're wonderful characters on their own.)

First is Nerdanel, the wife of Fëanor and the mother of his sons. And with the Fëanorians being so popular in the fandom, of course she would be an automatic favorite. It also helps that she doesn't play a huge role in the events of the First Age, which gives fans the freedom to interpret her character however they wish. And despite the fact that she and Fëanor are separated following the Darkening of Valinor, Nerdanel still remains a favorite among Fëanorian fans.

Next is Aredhel. She's not only besties with Celegorm, but she happens to be the mother of Maeglin, the creep that fandom loves to woobify. People also sympathize with her for her tragic death, understandably so. However, there are people who will claim that she would've wanted Celegorm to rape Lúthien as revenge for her abduction by Eöl, never mind that neither Aredhel nor Lúthien even knew each other. Some fans will also have her sympathize with Maeglin for causing the fall of Gondolin, ignoring the fact that Maeglin betrayed the city because he felt entitled to Idril, Aredhel's own niece, and that he actively tried to rape her during the city's fall.

The third one is Haleth. I've noticed that Fëanorian fans really like to ship her with Caranthir, mostly because he helped the Haladin fight off a bunch of attacking Orcs. This is despite the fact that Haleth wasn't interested in living on Caranthir's lands as a vassal. Instead, she took her people to Brethil and lived freely in the domain of Elu Thingol. Nevertheless, people like to compare her and Caranthir to Aegnor and Andreth, sometimes making fun of them for their tragic separation and claiming that neither Haleth nor Caranthir would be as "foolish" as them.

What do these three women have in common? They have a connection/interaction with the Fëanorians at some point in their lives. So these women are just used to uplift the Fëanorians to the detriment of other female characters- particularly the creeps like Celegorm and Maeglin.

Which, in my opinion, is a huge disservice to their characters.

All of this is to say that Aredhel, Nerdanel, and Haleth deserve better than to be reduced to Fëanorian hype-men. And Lúthien, Elwing, and Idril deserve a lot better than to be pitted against other female characters.

[countryrebel1995]

I didn't want to have to make this post, I've seen enough shipping drama on Tumblr over the years that I usually steer clear of it, but there’s been so much Nooshy bashing in the tags lately that I feel compelled to weigh in on it.

Why do people like Nooshy? Well, to put it simply, even though she’s never the center of attention in "Sing 2", Nooshy manages to be a girl with layers, and there's a lot to appreciate about her. When we're first introduced to her, she's a street performer so she can make the money that she needs to survive, but she’s also genuinely passionate about her craft - she loves to dance - and she enjoys getting a chance to share that passion with someone else whenever they come along.

While she can be snarky and prickly and slow to trust strangers, she’s also very nice once you get to know her. After a young turtle kid almost screws up her performance, she's still very playful and accommodating towards him. When she’s brought backstage to the Crystal theater, she compliments some dude's hat just to make him feel good about himself. While she initially agrees to help Johnny because he offers to pay her, she starts to stick up for him and genuinely support him, because the way Klaus treats him isn't right. She decides to help the Moon Theater troupe put on their big show, even though she's only known these people for about a week and their plan will surely be very dangerous, because the way Jimmy Crystal treats them isn't right either and she wants to help them stick it to the man. After Johnny tells her that he and his family used to be a gang of notorious criminals, Nooshy never judges them for their shady past, and is actually quite happy to see how close he and his father are now (especially since it's implied that she might not even have parents herself). And during "A Sky Full Of Stars", she encourages Johnny to never give up and follow his heart, because he's her friend and she wants to see him succeed.

Nooshy is snarky and mischievous, but underneath it all, she's actually a very kind girl, and very loyal towards the people who earn her respect. And by the end of "Sing 2", she gets her happy ending when she not only gets a new paying career doing what she loves, but also finds a place where she belongs among the Moon Theater troupe.

The reason why I just went off on that rather long tangent, dissecting her character, is to drive home the point that Nooshy has done nothing in the canon films to warrant the way people talk about her sometimes.

I've seen people insult everything about her and her fans for shipping reasons, because they see her as a threat to their preferred ships (even though she and Johnny are not even canonically a couple by the end of "Sing 2"). And there's a real double standard when it comes to this too, because no other character who's been shipped with Johnny over the years gets this kind of treatment. Meena doesn't, Ash doesn't, Ryan doesn't (even though the claim that Nooshy haters sometimes make - that people only like her as one half of a ship - could just as easily be said about him).

And this is really nothing new. Characters getting trash-talked over shipping wars is a tale as old as time when it comes to fandoms, and people are entitled to their opinions. The reason why I made this post is because lately, the Nooshy bashing is starting to cross a line.

Over the last few months, I've been seeing a growing number of comments complaining about people including Nooshy in their fanart. I've also been seeing a growing number of posts outright insulting people who like Nooshy or like to ship her with Johnny, saying that they're stupid and shallow and should just go away because they’re a blight on the fandom.

How about no.

In a fandom, people are allowed to like whatever character they like, or ship whatever couple they like, so long as they're not hurting anyone. If you hate Nooshy so much that you can't stand seeing any fanart of her or fanfics of her, because you don't want to be reminded that she exists, then I'm sorry but you're either just going to have to deal with that or stop engaging with the parts of the fandom where people want to appreciate her. Because quite frankly, your hatred for this character is no one else’s problem except your own and people are not going to stop liking her just for your benefit.

[vivithefolle]

Hey its me who left a comments on your Quora, and bc im a negative hater of Hermione that will make her worshippers cry, i wanna just copy and repeat my unpopular opinions here to yours in order to spread my negativity :p

I think its kinda funny how Rowling self inserted into Hermione but forgot herself is a adult woman, and Hermione is a teenager sometimes, but like only sometimes.

A lot of Hermiones rule bendings and actions just sounds like what an 20s or 30s something would want to do, and would have full conviction as well as planning ability to carry it out. Sorta like the way you cant file a lawsuit and WIN if you are 10 but can if you are 21. Rowling wishes she could do what Hermione can do but forgot she was writing a teenager, then went "oh its ok. She settled it all in the end off pages."

Rowling will be like "Hermione is me and so mature and i wanted to do that to people i hate all my life" when it comes to time traveling - to take more classes than her peers because its fair where? - and "punishing" a bad journalist who spread stupid rumors and "punishing" the students and teachers she hated, or erasing her parents out of her records. Because only adults could break big rules like that and maybe deal with consequences. But then in the same books same chapters she will be like "Hermione is forever 13 year old and hates defying rules" when it come to the characters emotional development. And worse, after that couldnt write all the messy logical backlashes and consequences that this teenagers actions left.

Coupling with Emma Watsons casting and all the Mary Sue script changes influencing later books, the result is the worse, most self entitled, inconsistent, sloppily written female character ever created among all the real, logical teenage characters. Some like Harry is Mary Sue-ish, but hes at least consistent and logical to a teenager. Hermione is a Sue and couldnt even be a decent one that makes a lick of sense.

we like to dunk on Movie Hermione, and her looks and the Ron bashing can make us dislike her because thats not book Hermione, but in terms of being a Mary Sue , movie Hermione is actually a much better written character than book Hermione. One is at least consistent and is a character despite "perfect". Movie Hermiones lines and moments are still things a , very perfect, schoolgirl can know and do. Book Hermione cant decide if shes a teenager character with emotional flaws or a 30 something 4th wall goddess with super meta powers that can solve every characters romance problems. Like you cant choose both of these, Rowling.

its so frustrating bc this is actually why its so hard to convince Hermione lovers and criticizers on points from either side on her personality and her relationships with others. Because a very blazen competent girl that could "punish" teachers and students and new reporters alike on the basis of very adult, very real LAW and ORDER can not act like an jealous, immature 15 year old that also cries all the time with no handle on her emotions, is "book smart" and stick for rules, and vice versa. Which is she?

i now dont really care for Hermione and Ron. She ruined the couple for me. its not that she could be an asshole to him, but because shes not a character. Shes a vessel.

_____

Vivi's commentary: Well darn that is a brutal assessment! I do believe that what the things that make Hermione feel so disconnected is the lack of consequences. I mean, the way she "punishes" Rita and Marietta is totally the way a teenager fantasizes about punishing the people who hurt them, but the fact that Hermione manages to do it without ever having it bite her in the ass is the part that's really making her a Mary Sue for me.

[deanscutiepiesam]

I think they're both fairly emotionally constipated, but out of the two of them, I think Sam is the more open one.

Getting Dean to admit how he's feeling is like pulling teeth, and the perfect example of that is their reactions to John's death. Sam admitted that he felt guilty about it while tearing up in like the following episode, while Dean insisted that he was okay when he wasn't (and proceeded to bash his car out of anger when Sam left the vicinity).

He jokes about everything to avoid admitting he's scared, sad, etc and it took him forever to admit he was scared of dying and going to hell in s3 when Sam called him out on it many times. Not saying Sam is the poster boy for healthy emotional expression, but he is usually the more vocal one about how he's feeling.

I do think Dean improves a bit over the course of the series, but he always has some walls up and doesn't often allow himself to be vulnerable (most likely because of how he was raised to look after Sam, putting his own feeling on the back burner).

Also, they're very complex (like real people instead of flat characters), so of course they switch dynamics sometimes and they're not perfect copies of the meme, but this is just what I noticed about them overall.

Anyways, I know we're entitled to our opinions, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on the silly little meme because I love yapping about Sam and Dean.

[ofnocturncs]

𝐃𝐀𝐒𝐇 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐄 : 𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍

name : sol pronouns :  she / they preference of communication : discord for sure. sometimes i open ims here and forget to respond, or sometimes i don't get the notif at all (speaking of, if you would like my disco, let me know !) most active muse :  aveira 100% experience / how many years : i've had veira for about two years now but this is my first time writing her publicly. overall in the rpc, i've been around for 8 years best experience : hands down all the wonderful people i've met. i've made so many close friends just from sharing the love for writing. since i was young, writing has always been a safe haven for me and having people i can share my stupid little worlds with means everything to me. you all mean so much to me rp pet peeves : this is a tough one for me, but i think i'm going to say that my biggest rp pet peeve is when people go on anon to bash a person and their writing or portrayal of their muse. who cares if hcs a person has for their muse doesn't match yours?? we're all here for a good time and if you don't like what you're reading, kindly unfollow and or block the person -- that's okay. you're entitled to your own opinions, but what's wrong is you being cruel to other people because you disagree with them over fictional characters

fluff, angst, or smut : fluff and angst. i do / have written smut, but i'm very selective with who i write it with plots or memes :   both! i love a good plot and i love an equally fun meme long or short replies :  long. i try so hard to keep things short, especially if my partner usually writes short replies, but sometimes the words keep comin and i can't help it time to write : any time. usually though, i have the most muse after 8pm  are you like your muses : as much as i would love to be a badass 500+ year old vampire with questionable morals. no, we're unalike in almost every aspect. she can be cold and callous and i'm... well, i'm a big softie who cries during jurassic world: fallen kingdom when the brachiosaurus gets left behind

Tagged by: @softersinned (technically) Tagging: anyone who would like to participate !!

[wewinbees]

“you only saw me as a weapon!” an in-depth analysis of tommy and techno’s relationship /rp

a mild focus on techno’s thoughts since it’s his speech, but not one or the other is in the right here. a lot of this might have been said, but this is a BIG collection from pogtopia to doomsday to address as many angles as possible. to preface, i don’t think tommy sees techno as a weapon and nothing else, but the point remains that techno feels like he does, and that’s important.

this is from like january btw lol

we’ll start with “the blade” tommy’s nickname for techno, which got adopted by a lot of the server (as tommy’s nicknames tend to be). most other people have the Big [X] format, but techno gets this specialised nickname. i think the reason he developed a negative association with it was because of when it was used; when they need him for fights. the most important would be the vault reveal, with wilbur getting everyone to victoriously chant “we have the blade!” to boister morale. this would have been fine in and of itself, if it weren’t for the events of the rest of the day and what that name would come to represent. it ends up becoming a taunt to him, because that’s what people get close to him for. his use to them as the blade rather than his friendship to them as technoblade

tommy’s always very happy to call in techno for help, and techno usualy sorts it out with... minimal effort required. i do see this more as a blend of tommy’s pride in knowing techno and smugness at having that kind of upperhand in a fight over him viewing techno solely as a weapon to use, but this still ends up being detrimental to their friendship because of how much it happens. remember, the entire reason techno joined the server was to help wilbur and techno form pogtopia. techno doesn’t mind helping tommy out, but at some point it’s going to be frustrating, being called in for any and all minor struggles. but in the end of the day, it’s fine, because they’re brothers under the same cause. destroying manberg. Oh Wait.

the main issue came after the festival, with that faith and trust tommy had in techno being shattered; rightfully so, because watching tubbo get murdered was traumatic for him, because for tommy the pit was no way to settle that conflict (which reminded, wasn’t techno’s suggestion, it was proposed and pushed onto them by wilbur). since tommy sees technoblade as unbeatable, he couldn’t understand why techno was so easily peer-pressured by manberg. he was threatened by how many people were against him, he was stressed dealing with the voices telling him to do it, he didn’t see any other way out, he wasn’t getting any support from his only other allies even though he was looking right at them and they still did nothing.

but tommy didn’t understand because he thought techno could have won. techno did try to stall as well, but without orders from his friends he ended up following schatt’s, and once he realised he had the power to kill everyone on stage, he just gave into that power. the miscommunication during the pogtopia arc was why techno felt as betrayed as he did, and why the victim complex argument annoys me so much, since he was kept in the dark for that long while grinding resources for the army. also, since techno wasn’t there for l’manberg’s peaceful days or the start of the disc saga he would never understand how important those attachments were to people, so he’d feel little remorse blowing them all up (especially since he knew that was the backup plan for pogtopia anyway, and just because people were unhappy about it didn’t change the fact that it was a plan)

a lot of people say that techno should have known that pogtopia’s goal was to form a new government, that at some point he should have overheard the real plan. everyone agreed to ‘destroy manberg’ (as in the government not the land) but somehow techno never found out about the ‘restoring l’manberg’ part of the plan. how that happened, who knows, but in the end of the day, the writers chose for that miscommunication to happen for the story. it’s not a how or a why, it’s just a fact that was written in. he didn’t find out until it was right in front of him, and he was bound to feel betrayed by that, enough that he was driven to do something irrational. my personal theory is that techno was mainly following wilbur’s orders, and because wilbur was the real traitor, chances are he never mentioned any forming of a new government since he knew that would lose techno’s support. wilbur was probably using techno as a weapon, that was his mentality for a lot of people back then, but since he was the leader of pogtopia then that negative transference carried on to the rest of the members for techno, most of all tommy as he was the other key founder, and not as underhanded about getting techno’s help. i’d say wilbur’s address of techno during the final speech was the a key reason as to why techno doesn’t feel as used by him than he is with tommy, solidifying the anarchy bros before dying, meaning anything else could be revealed.

after the war, the bedrock bros were completely alienated from eachother. tommy started to blame everything about l’manberg’s destruction on techno, since wilbur died and ghostbur isn’t really at fault for anything. techno distanced himself from everything, going into retirement for the unforeseeable future because he felt like his violent anarchist tactics were futile and grew tired of constant conflict. he talked to tommy a few times during retirement, and every single time, he asks tommy how the government was working out for him. when he was at risk of being exiled, just before being exiled and immediately after exile. he wanted tommy to see the government in the same light as he did, because when l’manberg sold him out he realised they were the same. they’d both been betrayed by the government and from that point on he fully believed tommy would be better off away from l’manberg. but every time tommy said no, because he believed in the original dream wilbur had for l’manberg and because he trusted tubbo’s leadership. techno was smug when he was proved right because of course he was he’s technoblade. plus, they did view eachother as enemies at this point, so it’s not unacceptable for them to argue with eachother right now.

that brings us to the execution. traumatising! the refusal to run a fair trial and the dehumanising treatment from his old allies in pogtopia hammer this home, but importantly they rope philza into the chaos this time. ALSO it’s important to mention that techno was killed; he just got an extra life from the totem. he was actually killed and his character experienced that pain as punishment. he was pushed out of retirement, which was unjust in his eyes, since he believed he had genuinely changed. it didn’t help that quackity explicitly told him it wasn’t actually punishment for the withers, but instead a move to consolidate power, furthering his view of the cabinet as corrupt. from that point on he left retirement. he’d been doing well without violence, building connections with new people like vikk and lazar and finding a fragile form of peace, but in the end this shattered it. he’s back to being the blade, speaking with violence, because l’manberg made it clear there was no other way for him to be heard at this point. so he’s going to destroy them, even if he has to do it alone.

enter stage raccooninnit.

tommy taking refuge in techno’s house because he knew techno was rich enough for him to steal his resources and strong enough to defend him from dream is... interesting. he couldn’t go back to l’manberg, but he took refuge with a man who he viewed as a villain. this probably doesn’t help techno’s opinion of him, since he is quite literally using him for his resources, but in the end of the day tommy was desperate and quite literally on the verge of death, so he seemed to take some kind of pity on him. the exile period of their relationship is definitely the most important part of this argument, because it was just the two of them: no wilbur or pogtopia as an external force (though the pressure of dream and l’manberg still affected things) but in the same way ultimately doomed to fail. they fight for a moment, but ultimately settle as ‘business partners’. which quickly evolves back into a friendship like the one they had before the festival.

my least favourite take is that either one of them never valued the other at this point because this is just.... violently not true. they started off working for mutual benefit; tommy explicitly agreed to do minor terrorism in l’manberg and to help techno get his weapons back in return for techno’s help getting the discs back and taking refuge in his house. from the start both of them stated their limits:

techno was always planning on getting revenge on l’manberg for what happened on the day of his execution

tommy never wanted to upset tubbo, and wanted to put getting his discs back first

should note that tommy changes his mind on the disc’s priority later on, but at the point of their alliance he does make it clear that’s what he wants out of the partnership. the issue is that from the start both of them went in with blind optimism. neither of them lied to eachother or forced them to change their viewpoints but in the end of the day they could never be on the same side as long as l’manberg was involved. (note, i think some people think he wasn’t but techno was actually planning on helping tommy getting the discs back, with him getting annoyed at tommy letting tubbo give dream the disc because that made both of their jobs so much harder, but it was more of a long term goal bc he knew dream was hard to beat. plus before his execution, he visited tommy and strongly implied he would be willing to help with the discs, and that he would be a better ally in those personal aims than NLM were)

i don’t understand the ‘techno was only using tommy’ accusation here because like... how? what would he have to gain by having tommy on his side? he could definitely have blown up l’manberg without his help, so why bring him in at all? it was a very mutual agreement of ‘we’re using eachother’ that developed into genuine friendship. i’ve always seen it as a teaching experience: techno knows tommy had been wronged by NLM, and by extension tubbo, and by taking him on these minor terrorism trips, he’s showing tommy the worst of l’manberg. look, look at this execution stand, look at what they’ve done. and in doing this, he’s trying to prove to tommy that what he’s going to do to l’manberg is right. and in showing him the worst of NLM, he’s neglecting all of its good parts, but again, techno cant see any positives in l’manberg, and is trying to show tommy that everyone, especially tommy, would be better off without it. and tommy had criticisms of l’manberg before he was exiled, especially in regards to tubbo. he told ranboo the reason he chose wilbur to be president instead of tubbo was because he was worried the presidency would ruin their friendship, and Look At Exactly What Happened. techno highlighting the flaws of the country to tommy was easy because it WAS flawed and it hurt both of them. and techno’s hope was that tommy would join him in the eventual destruction of it, because he wanted to share his revenge with tommy and for him to get his own justice against l’manberg. but it... didn’t quite work out that way.

they both tried to make it easier for the other; techno told tommy he didn’t need to fight against l’manberg if he didn’t want to, but tommy came with him to the festival anyway to confront dream, despite techno’s mission being against the government in that situation. tommy started to view tubbo’s cabinet as corrupt for the execution and neglecting him during exile, and ended up helping techno out around the base and even toning down the purposeful annoyance (per techno’s ooc request). and the day before the green festival, he told techno he would help to destroy l’manberg (not knowing how quickly things would escalate the next day, since doomsday was fairly spontaneous) but in the end they would never be able to find a full compromise: techno would always be an anarchist and tommy could never hurt tubbo.

people accuse techno of not caring for tommy, which really annoys me because it’s not?? true??? if anything he shows more outward affection than tommy did. he didn’t have any benefit from taking in tommy, but he still did it. it’s not really basic decency either, given that they were technically enemies beforehand. he picked up on tommy’s fragile state around dream and defended, hid him despite the fact that he owed dream, he kept him away from logsted and the final control room after realising how upsetting they were. he exchanged the christmas presents, he jumped in to defend him against the rest of the server and when tommy betrayed techno, he was genuinely hurt! he was wrecklessly impulsive in a way the calculated blade usually wasn’t, almost blowing up half his house (including almost killing his villagers) because of the negative association with dnret.

that’s not to say tommy doesn’t also get absolutely crucified for betraying techno because of all of techno did for him. again it was somewhat inevitable. tommy said it himself, he was turning into someone he didn’t want to be, he was hurting people, and it was somewhat because he was living with technoblade. he was so powerless under dream, and he liked the feeling of power he got from teaming with techno, so much so that it drove him to cruelty, with even techno telling him he went too far with fundy. in the end, it’s probably for the best that he set that boundary and left to go back to l’manberg, but ultimately it was upsetting to both of them. techno felt betrayed because he genuinely thought tommy was his friend, only to be turned on last minute once again, now surrounded alone by enemies he was trying to protect tommy from. to him, allying with dream was just as bad as tommy allying with l’manberg. a betrayal for a betrayal, absolute reciprocity.

we all know the doomsday speech, with techno’s arguments being consistently stronger than tommy’s and much easier to defend, but we can’t just dismiss him. tommy had a lot of emotional input that day, and was angry at techno for a Lot of reasons, so he was more focused on shouting than making sense. he was more accusatory, while techno had fairly focused rebuttals (which, fair, i’m pretty sure that was techno’s first big addressal of most of that with other characters). it ended with tommy calling techno selfish for destroying l’manberg and techno coldly shutting tommy out for the betrayal.

betrayal was the driving force for techno’s “weapon” speech. tommy used him in pogtopia, tried to use him to stop dream exiling him and terrorising NLM) which he laughed at when told in character) and used him for getting the discs back. tommy wasn’t just using him, he genuinely felt like they had built a relationship beyond that, but when techno acted under his own ideals that went against his, then it was over. because tommy doesn’t value techno’s ideals, because they’re ‘selfish’ to him since he’s one of the only ones who believes in them. in turn techno sees that as making tommy selfish and as such they’re unable to compromise.

living with techno was an important part of tommy’s recovery process, which is still ongoing now. he saw immediate changes from his time with dream, claiming he felt “more me-ey” around techno and genuinely valuing his company. but he viewed techno’s alliance with dream as a betrayal, and he viewed the nov 16th incident as a betrayal. because he see’s techno’s belief in anarchy as selfish. something i never hear people point out is that tommy ADMITS he betrayed techno. after doomsday*, he says “all this time, technoblade told me i was betraying him. and you know what? (whispered) i was.” he’s guilty about it, and he understands that techno’s hurt. but he still can’t see him as being in the right, because techno took l’manberg forcefully and violently, and because tommy was hurt by their separation too. techno was powered by revenge more than anarchy during doomsday, which i think is important to point out. tommy had focused in on the threat of dream, and forgotten all the trauma techno went through with l’manberg, and left techno to rejoin l’manberg.

BOTH of them have explicitly stated ��i viewed him as a friend but he never viewed me as one” and that’s just... devastating. at one point we can only hope that they have an in-canon conversation to actually settle all of this, but for now their storylines are separate and we’ll just have to live with that.

if anyone has anything they’d like to ask/clarify, or additions from any side i’d love to see it bc character analysis of dsmp characters is what’s keeping me going rn lmao. i said betrayal so many times here i am very sorry for clogging up the tag bc my readmore isn’t working yet (edit SAVED)

*i actually think this speech from tommy is very important, and not looked at as much as other stuff so im gonna link it here [55:52].

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Man, you had quite a day with the Adrien defense squad today (... and I pretty much joined them because I am just that fed up with Adrien salt).

I remembered I once told you to tone down the name calling around Adrien. At the time, it was over you calling him a dumbass for getting retconned to not know soccer and that one time you called him a manchild for having tantrums even though he is a maladjusted teen (the very same thing you would defend Chloe for). What set me off today was because you called Adrien a murderer and agreed with some rando who said he's worse than Chloe and Lila put together.

Like, dude. If you're gonna continue presenting yourself as a fair critic, going overboard with the salt is a major no-no. It'll make your critique less valid and people will call you out on it. I'd suggest getting a side blog to vent about Adrien all you want (you're entitled to your own opinion) but you gotta take the time to consider things from his perspective the way you would for characters like Marinette or Chloe.

Like how we debated over Sentibubbler. You would write him off as reckless and irresponsible even though there is a logical explanation for his behavior. He doesn't know Rena Rouge is a permanent hero, and it is suspicious she showed up while Ladybug is missing (Ladybug, the only one who can pass around the Miraculous). It wouldn't be the first time Shadowmoth tried to infiltrate their ranks with a fake hero such as sentinino or Volpina. So he wasn't unreasonable for demanding an explanation or ignoring her orders until Marinetre gave him an explanation.

And then there's the incident in the New York special, where you flat out called him a murderer over an accident. He didn't intend for it to happen. A true murderer would've intended it. And there's another side to it where Ladybug berating him in the middle of a fight tipped this situation over. It's not fair to place the blame on him alone. You can criticize him over ditching Paris all you want, but that's a different can of worms to murder. Him quitting may be seen as him running away from it, but from his perspective, relinquishing the Miraculous meant he no longer deserves to be a hero and he's willing to throw away his only ticket to freedom over his remorse for this.

In fact, this could be his mindset every time he relinquishes his Miraculous. As much as you criticize him for not being a worthy hero, no one in-universe is beating him up more over this than himself. He feels useless. His lack of attendance can be seen as negligence, but when Ladybug has over a dozen heroes to call on, some of which just stand in the sidelines doing nothing but waiting for her command, could you really blame him for thinking his absence is inconsequencial? I bet if he actually were to be present for everything and ended up doing nothing but standing next to Pigella, you'd still be salting on him.

You never give him the benefit of the doubt nor consider anything from his point of view. With Marinette, when she does something right, you can praise her straight up. When she fucks up, you're ready with a bunch of excuses like "she's under a lot of pressure guys, go easy on her". But when Adrien does something right, you can't help but throw in shade as to how he rarely does anything right. Heck, he might not even be in the scene but you're ready with a list of criticism against him at the slightest provocation. I was upset with your reviews for Ephemeral and Strikeback because of this. It's like the boy can't show up onscreen without you listing all of his shortcomings like one would sing the national anthem whenever the Adrien's flag rises.

It's not that you're wrong to criticize Adrien, it's just that you are going overboard. Sometimes it feels like you insert your beef against him even at instances where it doesn't belong.

I'm warning you. Ease up on the Adrien Salt before your valid critique devolves further into character bashing. You might find yourself someday with an unreasonable hatred towards Adrien the same way Astruc has this unreasonable hatred for Chloe.

I don't want you to apologize for your opinions. Just consider what I said. Your personal opinions are valid, but you must be conscious of where you put them in. I'm only telling you this because you seem to want to try to be as fair as you could.

You're pretty much right there, and you had every reason to call me out last night.

I went way too far with my criticisms of Adrien, and I'm pretty no much better than Astruc himself is with Chloe.

I'm going to make more of an effort to watch what I say regarding Adrien in the future and not devolve into blind hatred, I promise.

[scollacequeen]

Ever since Nina arrived to fill in for Maggie (and truthfully, even after her first appearance in “One Night Stand”), there have been numerous people practically begging for her to stay forever. While it’s not everyone, sometimes it seems like I can’t go through a single tweet from the official FBI CBS account without seeing at least one reply saying that Nina should become a permanent member of the cast. 

And I just have to ask...why? Why do people want her to stay so badly? 

Here’s the thing. If Nina could join the team permanently without disrupting it, I would be fine with this idea. But she can’t. We know for a fact that Missy will return from maternity leave sometime in season 5, and since we have no reason to believe that any of the other actors are leaving, when Maggie is back with the team, that would put us at five field agents if Nina were to stay as well. No matter how you switched up the partnerships, with five agents, someone would always be the odd one out. Since we have no reason to believe that they plan on adding another new cast member in addition to Shantel (and quite frankly, doing so would be an even worse decision), that means that in order for Nina to become a permanent member of the team, Maggie, OA, Scola, or Tiff would have to go. 

Of course, people are entitled to their own opinions, and I’ll freely admit that Nina is not the worst recurring character we’ve ever had. I’ll gladly take her over Nestor or Rina any day. But at the same time, at the risk of sounding mean, I genuinely do not see what about her makes it worth keeping her over anyone else on the team. Her entire characterization so far has been that she’s a badass agent with a good heart, which describes literally everyone else on the team. There’s nothing that sets her apart from anyone else that would make getting rid of another character in favor of her make sense. Even the fact that she slept with Scola once doesn’t make her unique because we just had practically the exact same storyline with Rina and Jubal. 

I’m going to be perfectly honest, it feels like the only reason people are going to such lengths to beg for Nina to stay forever is that she’s played by an attractive white woman. Before anyone dismisses this idea, let it be known that when Tiff, who is portrayed by an attractive black woman, arrived to replace Kristen, people on Twitter were trashing her character within five minutes of her first episode and saying that the writers needed to get rid of her. And Emily Ryder/Catherine Haena Kim didn’t exactly receive the warmest of welcomes either. 

The hypocrisy from Nina’s fans is really what turned me against her character. Ever since she showed up, her fans have been going to bat for her over every single little thing. Supposedly, people were hating on her character after 4x20. While I didn’t find any of this “hate” anywhere (I saw people saying that they wanted Maggie back instead of Nina, but there was nothing that seemed especially over the top), I did see several threads talking about how we shouldn’t be nasty about Nina because Shantel reads our tweets. 

Okay, sure, that’s great and all, but where was all this when Tiff was getting hated on for months after she joined the team? Where were all the threads about how we shouldn’t be nasty about her character because Katherine Renee Turner might be reading our tweets? Why is it that when someone bashes Tiff, it’s “to each their own”, but the second anyone says something even remotely negative about Nina, there are a whole bunch of people ready to jump down that person’s throat? Tiff had her share of fans even at the start, true, but there was nobody going to bat for her the way there is for Nina. Or at least if there was, it was only being done by small accounts and not by anyone with some actual influence within the fandom. 

Let’s be honest, we all know why this was. A lot of people won’t admit it or acknowledge it, but there’s a huge tendency within the fandom to criticize black characters or characters of color more so than white characters. Consider the fact that Scola was called a hero after he dragged an innocent kid into a basement and nearly got them both blown up, but when Tiff was a little mean to Nina in “Kayla” (and mind you, this is extremely out of character for her), fans were immediately ready to jump down her throat. And when Nina spent all of 4x17 being nasty to Scola (even after he saved her life, she practically made him grovel at her feet for her attention), these same fans treated her as if she’d done nothing wrong. 

I’ll admit that I’m pretty bitter about what they did to Tiff in “Kayla”, as anyone who follows me on Twitter will know. Tiff is my favorite character, and I hate that the writers essentially made her act out of character just so they could make Nina look good. 

Here’s the thing. Tiff’s behavior in that episode, as jarring as it was to see from her, made sense. She’d just found out that her close friend/mentor was murdered, she was grieving, and out of everyone on the team, she had to work with someone who was essentially a stranger to her. It isn’t anyone’s fault, but Tiff simply doesn’t have the same bond of trust with Nina that she has with Scola, OA, or anyone else. You can’t expect anyone to behave completely normally when they’re in pain. And I do believe that if Tiff had been partnered with anyone else, they would have seen that she wasn’t handling the case well and talked to her about stepping aside. The episode should have focused on her and her grief, but instead, the writers decided to give Nina this sad backstory, which only further encouraged people to bash Tiff.

And no offense or anything, but giving Nina a backstory when we know she’s only a temporary replacement and there are other permanent characters we know nothing about seems counterintuitive.

I’m not saying that people can’t like Nina. At the end of the day, people are free to enjoy her character, and again, she’s not the worst one we’ve ever had. She’s fine. But “fine” is a long way from great or amazing, and it would take a pretty incredible character for me to think they’re worth losing another character over. And as it is now, Nina doesn’t really fit that.

[camelotsheart]

Hey. I kind of need some guidance. Someone on Tumblr said that i was being misogynoirstic for believing that Arthur loved Merlin more than Gwen and Gwen loved Lance more than Arthur and saying that I liked Merthur and Gwencelot more than Arwen. They mentioned that Merthur had toxic dynamics and Arwen was healthier. Do you think my beliefs are bad? Sorry for the long post. Any advice would be helpful. :)

Hello anon, thank you for this ask! Initially, I was going to reply with a simple "everyone is entitled to their own opinions as long as they're not communicated in a disrespectful or harmful manner" but my emotions go the better of me. So. I'm digging a grave and putting my discussion underneath.

First of all, I need to prelude that these are my opinions only and is in no way meant to dictate what people in the fandom should or should not do.

Since I'm both a multi and polyshipper, I think we can bypass the "ship and let ship" discussion and go straight into the one about misogyny and toxicity.

I'm actually proud that the fandom has gotten to the point where this is not the norm - that people seek help when someone is calling them misogynistic or other terms on the basis of their shipping choices or takes on the show, because from the things I've heard about the fandom back when the show was still airing (and a few years after), terms like 'homophobic', 'racist', and ‘misogynist’ were thrown around way more than it is now in the ship wars that ensued.

And you know what? Some of the comments really did fit those terms, especially in regards to the hate on Angel for being cast in the role of Gwen, how Gwen didn't deserve to be with Arthur, or how people called Merthur shippers disgusting. But I think a great majority of takes we see on tumblr today (I can only speak for tumblr since I'm not on other platforms. I know twitter is more of a hellsite in regards to merlin shipping these days) are not misogynistic/racist/homophobic. Whether they be pro or anti Merthur/Arwen.

Do I get frustrated sometimes by the character bashing that ensues? Would I prefer that no hate on characters existed? Of course, but these takes do not have misogynistic, racist or homophobic undertones - they are merely subjective views people have on characters based on how they act in the show. And that is a natural part of fandom. We will always have clashing opinions caused by our different backgrounds and philosophies. I've seen Merthur being criticised based on their characterisations as much as I’ve seen Arwen criticised based on their characterisation. And I’ve seen posts addressing the toxic aspects of both Merthur and Arwen. There is never a one ‘correct’ reading in literature or media, and fandom needs to learn to accept that.

This is in no way saying that internalised misogyny/racism/homophobia doesn’t exist, and that you should always make a conscious effort to ensure that your dislike towards a certain ship or character is not based on these views. This is also in no way disregarding the concept of misogyny/racism/homophobia existing in a show and how that feeds into the misogyny/racism/homophobia of the fandom, nor disregarding people’s takes on what the writers may or may not have implied happened between Arthur, Gwen and Merlin in the show itself (writers who, again, will have their own biases that feed into the show). But what I’m trying to say is - terms like ‘misogynist’, ‘racist’ and ‘homophobic’ should not be ones that are casually thrown around just because of people’s takes on a show. Merlin tumblr has done a good job migrating away from that, and it shouldn’t be something that is brought back again.

So no, your beliefs are not bad, as long as you’ve evaluated that your position doesn’t come from a point of internalised misogyny and/or racism. And the person who called you misogynystic should evaluate whether they’re calling you that because they truly believe so, or they’re unnecessarily perpetuating hate because of your personal takes on the show.

I hope that answers your question, anon! I’m in no way a professional on these matters (no. seriously. i just scream and spiral about this show most of the time) so if anyone wants to contribute to this answer please feel free to do so!

[queenangst]

YOU COULD’VE JUST REPLIED ‘STOP’ TO MY COMMENTS INSTEAD OF FREEZING THEM I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN IT, PRICK

I was going to reply to one of your comments on AO3, but I suppose I'll do it here since you've sent me this. Whether you see it or not, read it or not, take it into consideration or not—that's up to you.

To respond to this ask specifically: what about freezing comments is me encouraging you to continue? To be clear, I chose to freeze those comments because I didn't want other people to respond to the threads, but I also froze your first comment—which didn't stop you from leaving two more on pick yourself up.

I hold no contempt for you. I have said it before, but I don't care if you (readers) dislike my works, aspects of my works, etc. That's fine. I understand not every fic is going to be everyone's cup of tea, and that's okay. But what I don't understand is how you failed to see how disrespectful you have been to me as a writer.

For a fic I wrote specifically about management Izuku and hero Shinsou, to focus on themes of heroism and failure and so on, the only thing you remarked was that I should write a version of this fic for Bakugou and Izuku. This story is not about them, you know that. But you shouldn't imply that a BKDK version would be better. You shouldn't demand, multiple times, for me to write another version of my fic. You could have shared this in a polite way. You could have said you loved the concept, and that you think it would also be interesting with management Izuku and Bakugou. Instead you spammed me, sounding entitled and demanding (not only to me, but to multiple writers who I spoke to initially). If I wanted to write a fic like the one you suggested, I probably would have. If you'd brought it up even a little more politely, as someone who enjoys Bakugou & Izuku, I might have thought about it. But multiple demands definitely did not endear me to the idea.

For that note, I also already do requests and commissions sometimes. If you had bothered you might have known that, and you could have asked when they're open, or even just asked me now in general what I thought of the idea. I write things I enjoy; but I also enjoy writing for ideas that other people share for me, that I may not think of. But those start with people respecting my work, my time, and me as a writer, with no expectations that I might actually write if I don't feel up to it.

After those comments, you then went through multiple fics and: critiqued my characterization because it doesn't fit your personal view of Bakugou, called that critique constructive, emphasized ships (Kiribaku, Bakubowl) at me, told me to write more, and bashed a character/s (All Might, and by implication, Izuku).

I understand that not everyone gets when they're being rude on the Internet. So I'll explain: my characterization is my choice, by my preference, and you were critiquing me because how I write Bakugou doesn't align with how you see him. Because he's not, to pull from your comment, harsh enough. (Does Bakugou have to be mean all the time? Doesn't he change, develop, and grow? And have more than one aspect to his personality?) And I didn't ask for constructive/criticism. If I wanted any, I would have stated so. You could have at least asked first if I did, if it wasn't clear. Following that, I think I make it very clear in my works and in the tags that I write about platonic relationships. Focusing on my work through ships (though yes, you ARE allowed to interpret something as romantic, I can't stop you and that's up to you) is disrespectful to me as a gen writer. Again, if I wanted to write ships, I would. And then you said All Might, a character I clearly like, sucks (character bashing, not criticism) and also implied Bakugou would be better with OFA. On a fic that is All Might & Izuku centric, where Bakugou isn't even there. On top of all of that, very, very little of your comments are about the fics themselves, and mostly about what you, the reader, wants. Which is, apparently, not what I write. Again, you don't have to like my work. You are welcome to have your own opinions. But if you don't like what I'm writing: don't read my fic, don't comment on my fic, ask me to write something else when I have requests or commissions, find an author you do like better, or even write it yourself. I encourage you to do so!

I don't know how else to explain the ways you have been rude to me as a writer. I shared (some of) your comments so people would see what not to do as a reader, and others because it was frankly a little ridiculous and I wanted to make light of a situation that while wasn't hurtful to me, was completely baffling. I blacked out your name and froze the comments for you—because I was worried other people might go looking, and regardless of what you said to me, I wouldn't like to encourage people to go after you for something that doesn't even offend me. Because yes—a lot of people agreed that you were being very rude. I stopped sharing them because I saw it was spreading, and I didn't want more people to get on your case. And once I saw they were picking up attention, I wrote a disclaimer that mentioned what I just said, and also states something I think is a good ending point: I'm not here to post hate about commenters. But if there is a comment that makes it off AO3 and onto my blog, then there is probably a reason why.

Addition: I dearly wish that you are kinder to other writers than you are to me. And I hope that whatever circumstances you are in that lead you to saying anything you have to me change, for your sake. And I hope everything is kinder to you, too. Continue reading my fic, continue commenting if you want. Hate me, be rude. That's okay. But I won't say anything more to you. I have said what I think you could listen to, and keep in mind that other writers might be hurt by what you comment and how you say it.

[minisoysquares]

As fun as the events and ideas you posted about 19days would be, wouldn’t it also just bring in more negative stuff - like fandom in general has become a field of land mines and I fear that something that’s supposed to fun will turn into some sort of battle. Like how some people get extremely heated over any other ships outside of their fave ship and they cannot possibly have other ships except theirs, etc. The last thing anyone wants is for content creators to be targeted simply for making something they thought would be fun

(This ask and answer is about this post.)

First of all thank you so much for addressing such a big and valid concern. I agree that that has indeed happened in certain fandoms - I can say I've been in the thick of it and witnessed quite the warfare - but in others it has also brought fans and readers and content creators together even closer and tighter in a wonderful thriving community.

I have the feeling this'll get quite long so please proceed under the cut with that in mind.

I believe all things are potential harbingers of both discord and harmony. There will always be people who feel entitled and who want - even demand! the audacity! - authors and artists to create for their ships and their ships alone. And there will also always be people who can appreciate the writing and the art without judgemental treatment regarding the pairings/characters depicted, no matter their preferences.

All of that happens and will continue to happen, whether we go forward with these events or not. And yet authors will still write what they want to write, artists will still draw what they want to draw, graphic designers will still make the edits they want to make as well. What we could do, in this small and close knit fandom, is take in our hands this powerful rich opportunity and try our best to make a model of positivity out of it.

In these events, there would be no bashing or shaming allowed. The content created would be to be enjoyed by those who are attracted to it, and those who do not have a taste for that fanwork in particular would be asked to remain respectful. (As it should always be.) There would be no ship wars in these spaces. Discourse, hate-speech or anti-behaviour would not be tolerated by the moderators of the event.

Creators who indulged in it would be immediately disqualified. Any unnecessary commentary or complaints from the audience would be deleted and reported as spam. Anyone instigating conflict would be only painting a target on their back, really. Because most of us - I dare say - are only here to appreciate the brilliant artwork and fanfiction woven and crafted by the talented people who share it with us.

If it came to it and it escalated, this hellsite has several tools that can be put to use to that regard. Accounts could be blocked and/or even reported. They wouldn't be able to interact with the blogs created to run these events from then on. We would be able to create a black list and post it publicly so everyone else who wished to could simply block those unruly pesky accounts and remain at peace and free to enjoy themselves to their utmost.

Let us not forget that this is all fiction and it's all for fun. Everyone's allowed to have their own opinion, likes and dislikes. There simply is no need to step on anyone else and their interests to elevate them.

Let's exemplify, for the sake of clarity:

Do I personally ship A with B? Imagine I do not. I do not search for it. If I come across it? I scroll past it. Once or twice, I may even like - and even reblog - if it happens to catch my attention and it's well written/drawn! (I have tags along the lines of 'I don't ship it but' and 'look at this beautiful art' or 'drown in the power of these words.')

It's so easy to interact amongst ourselves without coming with pitchforks at one another. Know what actually needs effort? Being a meanie and a party popper! Who in their right mind wastes their time on things they don't care for? Dum dums, that's who! Of course, we're all dummies at times... and that's okay! Let's just not harass people or crash their fun while we're at it!

If nothing else: you wouldn't like if others did this or that to you, therefore don't do it to others. It's a simple concept to grasp.

Very important: in these events, every single piece would be explicitly and properly tagged and warned for right at the very top of each post, so there would be absolutely no excuses for anyone being nasty.

We would just have to be open to the experience. Enjoy our ships and let other enjoy theirs. We do not have to all like the same thing. That would be just boring. But we can cohabitate devoid of trouble in fandom. Each one of us just has to be respectful. No need to even be nice. No one has to compliment something they don't like. They also don't have to step on what others do.

Don't like a ship/character/theme? Don't read stories focused on it. Don't put down authors who write it or readers who enjoy it. Same for art. No need to shout about how awful it is just for the simple reason that it does not fit into your personal shipping preferences. It can still be still be a tasty and wonderfully baked cake, it's just that you're not fond of vanilla or strawberries. It's okay. There are all kinds of cake for everyone's tastes!

Further examples: If a ship happens to be a NOTP for me or I don't care for the character(s)? I filter the tags. All of them. Any and every tag I can think of. It's very easy to protect ourselves on Tumblr from content we do not wish to see. (My own list is huge and just as effective.) Filtering is incredibly important.

So go ahead and filter out the ships you can do without! Filter out porte-manteaux like Tianshan, Zhanyi, Qiucheng, Tianxi, Tianyi, Lishan, Litian, Liyi, Shantou, Polydays, (...) Filter out any ship tag that doesn't strike your fancy like Q x MGS, HC x JY's mom, (...) Filter out characters that aren't your cuppa tea like HT, HT's dad, SL, JY's mom, XH, (...)

Make it safe for yourself and for others. That way you won't rage at the sight of your NOTP, won't feel the compulsive need to trash the people who ship it, no one is hurt and everyone is happy!

There are many steps we could follow to prevent rotten eggs in our coop. And many more actions we could take to throw them out if need be. I firmly believe, however, that if we're all of the same mind everything would go well and with very few bumps along the way.

If we only ever feared the possible negative consequences of our actions, never taking the risk for the possible positive ones, we'd never get anything done. I say let's not let our beloved fandom stagnate or dry out. Let's incentivate and motivate and inspire! Let's share! Let's have fun!

Think of it in these terms: it wouldn't be a competition at all but rather a charity event. Performers and spectators coming together for a common good, raising content and spreading joy! There would be no winners or losers or prizes. What would matter would be good old-fashioned participation, both by providing content and/or consuming it.

It could also a good way to get people to express themselves more. Many content consumers tend to lurk or keep to themselves even if they like the content posts. (I used to be one myself and only a couple months ago started to come out of my shell.) I myself advocate for reblogging instead of liking - if you have to choose one or the other, I mean, why not do both? - and leaving a word on every single post I like and/or reblog. Sometimes I go nuts commenting, sometimes I leave a small note in the tags.

It doesn't matter how. Even if you're shy or introverted (*raises hand*) or don't know what to say I guarantee a single emoticon or a string of disordered letters symbolising incoherence will make the creator's day all the same. Getting feedback is so important and motivational for creators and also a great way for fandom members to keep in touch and support each other.

Additionally, if a person would like more of a certain type of content here are some healthy actions they could take: a) commission a creator and pay for it if they can; b) politely make a suggestion to a creator with an open ask box; c) post a prompt publicly for possible interested creators to use; d) do it yourself and share it with others!

This turned out into more of a "behavioural guidelines" thing than I'd have liked. I am not in any way whatsoever telling anyone what to do. This is what I do, and it works wonders for me. I stay completely out of toxic arguments and in on all the goodies. I'm able to fully enjoy my fandoms. And isn't that what we all want?

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me. And I apologise for the long rant!

Of course, this is only my personal stance on the issue. I did go for a survey first exactly for this end, to get their opinions on the subject and see if it would be worth a shot. I shall hope many other people will think as I do, but I will wholly respect those who don't.

[dramionediscussion]

I have such mixed feelings about Molly Weasley, sometimes I just can't stand her but it also makes me kinda annoyed when people say stuff like "Molly is trash" (they're entitled to their opinions ofc, and I'm far from judging them for it, but for the sake of he argument). She took Harry, an abused orphan, in and let him spend nearly every holiday in her house. She fed him, shopped for him, sent him presents and chocolate, and she even gave him an old family watch for his seventeenth birthday; basically acting like an adopted mum. And I really, really admire that, and admire her for basically opening up her home and family to a scrawny child.

But she also rubs me the wrong way sometimes. Like the way she treated Hermione and Fleur, the way she belittled Ron, Fred, and George, her blatant favouritism towards her children. She's not that good of a mum, to be brutally honest--most of Ron's insecurities stem from her, Fred and George literally ran away because she wouldn't support them. But she also has loads of good qualities. I think that's she such a wonderfully written character, full of flaws and redeeming qualities, but just like every other "good side" character, her flaws go unacknowledged.

I think the fact that a lot of the fandom ignores Molly's flaws (and other Weasley flaws) plays a part in why people are very harsh on her.

When you try to say "hey she is a good mother but she also insulted Fleur several times", people respond with "well she only wants the best for her son, Bill, of course she won't like the girlfriend". Which okay, I get your point, but up until the wedding, she was still making comments. By that point, a wedding, don't you think the she would already know Fleur and like her and appreciate her and see that she is a good fit for her son?

It's okay to like a character but still acknowledge their bad side, their poor decisions, their questionable morals etc.

Another thing, is that those same people who staunchly defend members of the Order and refuse to listen to criticism of them; they are the ones who loudly bashes the negative characters, and they refuse to listen to someone try to defend or understand them.

- Lisa

[jinxpologist]

to be clear i am just ranting and this is just my opinion but i really wanted to make a post abt this? i hope this doesn’t seem too complain-y or accusatory because that’s not what i meant by it at all. i’m just talking about a trend in this fandom that makes it harder for me to enjoy my time here. putting under the cut because i’m a bit nervous about being taken wrong kdfghjdks

one of the things i genuinely actually am upset by with this fandom is the culture where character bashing is just so encouraged. i have never seen this level of acceptance for character bashing to the point where entire communities form around bashing/not bashing a character. it’s such a fucking buzzkill to me? in every fandom i’ve been in before, that just... was not a thing. it wasn’t a thing. long ass posts about hating a character and everything they stood for just wasn’t a thing????? people didn’t do that shit at nearly the rate the dream smp fandom does. crit posts were always tagged. people were respectful.

like i don’t wanna get on everyone’s case about it but i for real think we sometimes take this too seriously. i am definitely guilty of this too, and everyone is entitled to their opinions, i wouldn’t dream of trying to make someone enjoy something they don’t or dislike something they enjoy, that’s not what this is about. this just isn’t normal fandom etiquette? it’s actively going against normal fandom etiquette? fandom culture has a lot to be criticized about it, of course, but generally you’re just... not supposed to be overly negative without at least putting it under a read more or tagging. idk why it’s so normal in the dsmp fandom to air such vehement opinions about characters to the point where it becomes personal (for example, genuinely disliking fans/antis of a certain character, antis of characters existing in the first place) but i hate it lmao.

let’s be real, a lot of us are here because we’re autistic or have adhd and fixated on the dsmp. a lot of us are REALLY attached to the characters and arcs we like. a lot of us are just sensitive people, even hypersensitive people. this is normal in fandom. most fandoms are made up of more than their fair share of people like this. fuck, fandom culture was built by autistic people!! but in this fandom it’s a lot more difficult to avoid discourse and negativity. i have blocked every tag under the sun and i am STILL seeing a lot of negative or argumentative posts that actively stress me out.

i have to work on myself too, i know i’m not perfect and never will be, but please just be nice and consider other people’s feelings and tag stuff and consider focusing on what you like instead? i am getting very tired of coming on here to be happy and leaving with a headache. this fandom has legitimately caused me the most genuine distress out of all the others i’ve been in combined and i don’t want anyone else to feel like that. i’m genuinely tired

[ssa-sapphic-inactive]

‘lol i don’t attack people for who they ship’ actually makes me feel so much better because so many people here ship bash lol so lots of respect for you for that!

oh thank you! 🥺

yeah, i see a lot of hate on here for people who favor a certain ship or specific character over another, and it’s a shame. sure we’re all entitled to our own opinions, but don’t bash on someone else’s just because you don’t agree with it. keep it to yourself. i mean, i don’t ship hotchniss but i don’t publicly humiliate those who do. the characters we love and ship can sometimes stem from something in our lives so when someone attacks that ship it can feel personal you know? anyways, i���m rambling now lol, thanks again <3

[fonulyn]

Do you feel drained sometimes from being in RE fandom? I think I'm going through something like this at the moment. I stopped looking for RE content because all I would find was this weird negative energy. Like fans making the voice actors really uncomfortable on social media or streams with some nasty comments or questions or straight up bullying them. I know the vast majority of the fans on social media are very young people but man, there's only so much you can explain with their young age.

i'm not on any other social media than tumblr, personally, so i think i (thankfully) miss a lot of that. but honestly i don't understand how anyone would think it's alright to harass the voice actors (or anyone, really) just for their own amusement or because of their own opinions. you think a VA did a shitty job? yeah go complain to your friends. don't go bully them directly, ffs.

but i mean, even though i haven't seen all of what you mention, i have seen the weird negative energy and somehow it seems to be just getting worse? and it's so exhausting. i don't understand why people need to spend their time hating on the things they didn't like instead of actually focusing on the stuff they actually do like?? i mean. sure a good rant every now and then is nice and cleansing. but if you keep on trying to find things to hate for the sake of hating it can't be good for your own mental wellbeing either??

and of course bullying real actual people is a huge problem and it's on its own level, but i don't get the character bashing either? i don't understand this weird tendency to hate on every other character just bc they're not your own fave. how does it make character A better if you continuously shit on character B? or people acting like some questionable writing choices from the creators are somehow the fault of the characters themselves? they're not even real??

like, as a Leon fan I'm gonna use him as an example. the amount of sheer vile blind hatred i've seen towards him after ID has been absolutely staggering. why do people feel entitled going around telling people who love Leon as a character how he's the worst of the worst and telling them off for liking him? and then purposefully ignoring like 90% of his character development only because he said or did one thing they think is shitty? the whole cancel culture that demands perfection from everyone isn't only tiring it's actively harmful, even if it's directed to fictional characters.

and Leon doesn't even need to be in things to get hate! there was hate for him when there were rumors that he might be in re8, too. and even when those turned out to be false, people used that to hate on him. like??? what??? don't you have better things to do than spew that unfounded hatred?

and although I'm using Leon as an example here, he's not the only character getting hate, not by far. they're probably all getting shit on.

the majority of the interactions I've had in this fandom have been very positive. there are amazing people in this fandom! there are absolutely talented people, kind people, funny people, brilliant people, just.. all around good guys :'D and i do believe most of the fandom is good! but the thing is, those few rotten apples are just so goddamn loud about their hate that it gets really tiring trying to ignore it.

and you're right. age can't and doesn't explain or excuse all of this behavior. i've interacted with older adults in fandom who had zero respect for anyone, and young people who are absolutely awesome. but the overall tendency on the internet seems to be one of making your displeasure known, loudly so, and preferably to the voice actors or actors or animators or creators or whoever the hell else. if someone doesn't like something? they are going to make it everyone's problem. and i don't get it.

but like. the only advice i can give you is focus on the stuff you like. gush at people about your favorite character or favorite game or favorite pairing or favorite scene or favorite quote! look at only pretty pictures and gifs of them, read good fic of them, i don't know, whatever makes you happy!

and blacklist. block. curate your own experience. you don't owe anyone explanations. if seeing a certain blogger around always leaves you drained and sad because of their attitude, then don't engage, block them, forget they even exist. it doesn't mean that they're necessarily a bad person or anything, it just means they aren't what you need in your life right now. and you don't owe anyone explanations or justifications on doing what you need to do to make the fandom space a positive experience for yourself.

hang in there, anon 💖

[kirstinmaldonado]

CHAPTER TWELVE 2.0

I started the last two chapters, happy to have something of substance to talk about, me being at home, improvements I was seeing, maybe even some rightful disappointment at some people’s lack of care in their actions…but like clockwork the beginning of the week brought in new developments and my mind drifted focus. My fingers lost the spark to write about feel-good situations when the chaos in the world seemed to extinguish the flame.

I was in Texas just two weeks ago but it honestly feels like forever, as if time is confused on what pace its on. The USA seems to be confused as well.

Theme parks across the nation are opening up. Some flights are back to full capacity. The world seems caught on a pendulum of thought: “Are we good enough to pretend and pass like we can go back to normal?”

Meanwhile, people are still getting sick. People are still dying. Protests are still happening, although it apparently doesn’t serve the media to still be airing that. Justice has still not been served for those we’ve lost: Breonna Taylor, Vanessa Guillen, Elijah McClain, and so many more. The media and internet is ablaze with people ridiculing, attacking, or making fun of each other, on top of everything going on.

I wonder if I’m a part of that sometimes. While I still think protesting for “bar lives” is unfathomable and tone deaf, while it was so easy to ridicule because it was so insanely insensitive to compare to the BLM movement, did I help to further a narrative full of spite? Did I egg on anger and divisiveness, did I unintentionally help create arguments online? Did I give a platform that I don’t agree with more attention by calling attention to it?

I’m all for the hard but important conversations. I love them, to be honest. My family and I had many thought-provoking conversations when I was home, about what they’ve experienced with racism, about our opinions on all sides. It was wonderful to expand our ways of thinking using past and present! I think we all walked away with more rounded backing to our opinions, me included, and I’m thankful to have a family that can be so open and willing to discuss.

Yet, those conversations can’t be condensed into however many characters can fit in to a tweet. The art of negotiating is not all about winning, it’s also about empathizing. It’s about explaining and getting the opponent to understand your side and school of thinking; if you just tear them apart for their lack of understanding or different opinion, how can they ever fully understand or want to, especially if you are the one trying to teach them something not in their wheelhouse?

Racism, of course, is non-negotiable.

Everything else, and it’s a lot, that we have encountered in the last few weeks (mainly dealing with COVID) feels like it’s cumulatively driven us to a breaking point, to a point where I don’t really feel like I live in the “United” States of America. I feel like we are now all pitted against each other, immediate to defend our point, and jumping to 10 because honestly we are tired of the bullshit.

I get it. I do. But in the last few days while I’ve watched coronavirus cases develop, “Karens” making a fool of themselves in public places and endangering people’s lives with their sense of entitlement, while watching Hamilton for the first time and seeing good and bad critiques, Kanye running for president, while I’ve cried over Vanessa and what happened to her only to have someone try to belittle my reaction compared to others we’ve lost, I realized something.

Chaos. All chaos.

How can we make real change when we are all just screaming? How can we move mountains when we are pushing from two opposing sides? And while we have made progress, will we have the sensibility to keep with it or will our boiling frustrations overrule and distract us from our end goal, lasting and transformative change for the betterment of BIPOCs and everyone?

I’m not hating on our progress. And I’m not vilifying people’s reactions to things not in your school of thought, albeit insanely frustrating things. I’ve been there and am there. The amount of Facebook posts I’ve written novels for, the shock I feel on a daily basis for some people, is all still there. Yet, my sadness for this world and how to heal it has crept in and bated me.

What can “I” do to make a difference?

Hating and bashing things is our new normal, our humor has become intertwined with it so much that we ridicule and make jokes out of everything. Click-bait headlines only stoke the flames. Coronavirus is still surging every day, and you know what, some people can’t pretend to go back to “normal” amongst it all.

The entertainment business, for example, won’t be back up and running for… who knows? I wouldn’t be surprised if Broadway was closed for longer than a year. We rescheduled our tour in hopes that we would be able to go, but with the way things are looking I can’t help but feel distressed about the outlook for the entertainment industry/shows all around. So many people’s “normal” won’t come back at all until we get a headway on this virus, and it’s gonna take us all coming together for that to work as well. We have to truly be THE UNITED states of america.

As a side-note, Pentatonix has never been this stationary since we started…and that’s bittersweet too. Never take anything for granted, guys.

So while I dissolved into a puddle over Vanessa and how I don’t even know how to help mediate the world anymore, with people at each others throats literally and figuratively all the time, with good people and bad people on every side, I returned to a very old school of thought for myself. 

Be kind. 

What can “I” do every day? 

Yes, use my platform as a strong voice of advocacy, try to filter through everything to make sure I’m posting facts and not scare-mongering or leading anyone astray from what they should be seeing.

I’ve protested. Signed petitions. Written emails. I tried to raise awareness and bring everyone along with me on my journey as I learned, which I thought was helpful.

But I forgot about the most important thing, the thing that’s been ingrained in my head since I was a child for better for worse, the one thing that even though practiced vehemently, never always comes back guaranteed.

Be kind.

I lost that somewhere along the way, a bit. I could feel my soul hardening at how cruel some people can be, I felt how easy it was to smite and bash people’s names who have done far worse. I felt my eyes cloud with hate.

For a long time I thought the battle was human vs earth and I was always so sad to see how easily we destroyed such a precious gift. 

Now I know at its core that the real problem is human vs human: how to one up each other, how to be more successful, how to win, how to be MORE all the time. That feeling has been slowly poisoning us and our empathy and compassion towards others. That feeling is not about bettering oneself, it’s about greed and it spreads like cancer. 

For a long time, I didn’t want to “be kind” like a Disney princess anymore. I was tired of trying to use kindness as a shield as if people’s actions did not hurt me. I was mad at my kindness for blinding me and letting me get hurt. I thought the phrase “kill them with kindness” was stupid, because I was the one that kept getting hurt.

But my kindness did not do that to me. I did not do that to me.

People did. Hurt people. Confused people. People that had problems within themselves that were in no way a reflection of me. People with opposing views. Those people are not my fault. Those people don’t get to have their anger bleed in to my life, they don’t get to poison my disposition with their greed and animosity.

What can I do?

Every day, I can make a point to not be divisive. To not so easily make fun of things, belittle, call names, etc.

I can tone down my “complaining” online. I can not get so upset and rush to attack people that would be hard to get my point across to anyway online, so I don’t work myself up for hours about one internet troll when I could be doing other more important things. Why lose sanity over someone only wanting to argue? Why revert to the name bashing, why invite more stress and anger in to my life, even though there’s enough anyway with what’s going on in the world?

As I uncovered more history, had more awakenings and understandings, and dealt with my own personal stresses, I felt my strength oscillating and now I know why. I was so hardened with hate and disbelief, I felt like a fool living in a world that said it was something else. And...I left my best ally behind in my own rush for MORE.

Kindness. 

Empathy. Understanding. Patience.

So for July, I’ve decided to take care of myself a little more. Take care of others. Make sure that I am not contributing to anyone’s pain, and only being an ally to amplify voices that need to be heard. 

There’s a kinder way to say everything. There’s a kinder way to live. Amongst all this chaos, maybe if we were all a bit kinder, we could ease the waves of tension and calm the storm. Maybe if we could see past ourselves, we could make a lasting change for us all.

I changed my bio the other day. We must be like the sunflowers, pulling toxicity from the ground and air. Nature’s helper. I said I would be like that.

They don’t contribute anything negative, they just stand tall and strong, a mediating force in a world that needs purifying. 

So, I will armor myself with my strength, knowledge, and kindness. 

And see about tomorrow.