#people definitely don't come to this fandom for that sort of content which makes me less likely to write her for real

[jeonscatalyst]

https://www.tumblr.com/jeonscatalyst/760242773222883328/this-all-of-this-and-every-single-bit-of-this?source=share

I do agree with this person's analysis of Jimin and Jungkook personalities, and I also agree that to some extent Jungkook's affection being rarer than Jimin's does make it more special to some fans, but where I disagree is that I don't think that's the main reason why fans seem to put more weight in what Jungkook does than what Jimin does.

Because while some fans will put this much thought on the differences in jikook's personalities, I don't think it's the majority that does. It's kinda of a problem we have actually. If people realised that Jimin and Jungkook are two different people with different ways of showing affection, then we wouldn't have to keep seeing the same stupid takes on their relationship over and over again. It's people expecting jikook to always do to the other the exact same thing the other did to them that causes so much annoying discourse.

But you know what a lot of shipper do love doing? Competing with one another. Competition is one of the main things in every k-pop fandom and sub-fandom, shippers are no exception. And when it comes to jikookers we all know the competition is with taekookers. We're always at each other's throats, let's be honest. And some spend just as much time taking about the rival ship as they do talking about their own ship.

Which leads me to what I believe is the real main reason why both sides (not just jikookers) view Jungkook's actions as more important. It's because he's the in-common person to both ships. He's like the main character in a love triangle. He's the one that ultimately decides who gets together in the end, not the two love interests, so their actions don't matter as much.

The point of contention with shippers has never really been whether or not Jimin or Taehyung like Jungkook, that's already assumed to be the case. With solos it's definitely an argument, but jikookers and taekookers focus more on each other than in solos. No, the real question has always been who does Jungkook like more: Jimin or Taehyung?

If Jimin declares his love for Jungkook jikookers will of course love that, but if Jungkook is the one who does it it'll matter more because it can be used against taekookers. Taekookers don't care if Jimin loves Jungkook or not, what he feels doesn't matter to them. Nothing Jimin says can prove anything to them. The confirmation has to come from Jungkook, that's the only way they'll care about it. And jikookers do care about one-upping taekookers. If we didn't we wouldn't spend so much time trying to prove to them that we're right.

There's been plenty of times when I've seen something that used to not matter suddenly become important the moment people realize it could be used in the shipping competition. It's a sort of 'I didn't care that much about that thing I have until I realized it could make the other side jealous'. Or 'I didn't want that thing until the other side got it and now I want it too'.

Things naturally hold more importance to people when those things have not only their own inherent value but also when they have the added bonus of pissing off someone you don't like. Jimin's love for Jungkook is important by itself but Jungkook's love for Jimin is seen as more important because it will also piss off taekookers.

I'm pretty sure that if the two biggest ships were jikook and vmin instead, then the most important thing suddenly would be Jimin's affection, regardless of how affectionate he is with everyone.

Again, I do agree some fans do consider jikook's differences and that that does influence how they value their actions, it's just that I think there's a bigger reason here.

I hope this didn't come across as me being a contrarian for the sake of it, I just wanted to add a separate perspective on the subject because I've had this opinion for a while and it seemed relevant to the topic. I also hope I was not to harsh on my opinions of other jikookers, but no fandom is without it's flaws and I think it's important to acknowledge them.

Anon, I owe you a cold beer right now because it seems like you read my mind.

This is exactly what I think too. It’s just mostly about the competition, the shipwars, the fights and the need to “win”. That’s really why people think Jungkook’s actions hold more meaning that Vmins. It’s like Jungkook is the prize that Vmin are desperately trying to win and every action or word of his is used as an affirmation or debunking. “Jungkook did this with Tae but didn’t do that with Jimin so Tae is his boyfriend”….just an endless cycle of bullshit.

Anyone who is mature and experienced enough understands that Jimin and Jungkook don’t have to express themselves exactly the same for things to be mutual. Jimin could say “I love you” to Jungkook and Jungkook wouldn’t say it back but would prefer to make a video of Jimin. So many people would say Jungkook didn’t reciprocate just because he didn’t do things exactly the way Jimin did when the truth is that he did, just in his own way.

When I see people coming up with useless takes or comparisons about their bond it pisses me off to no end because it’s the little things that Jungkook does. People would get pissed at Jungkook and say that he doesn’t show love to Jimin as much as Jimin does just because Jimin would constantly touch him, ask him to eat alot and is very vocal about his affection but Jungkook remembering that Jimin likes his food spicy and trying to make it just how Jimin likes it apparently means nothing because Jungkook wasn’t shouting on a roof top or Jungkook thinking of what to cook in Jeju and knowing that Jimin would love it doesn’t matter because he didn’t stand on a podium and announce it or Jungkook quietly getting water for Jimin and giving him to drink without him asking doesn’t mean a thing because he didn’t carry Jimin on his head. Sometimes I don’t even have the energy to argue because if only people understood Jungkook they would know that Jungkook doesn’t treat anyone the same way he does Jimin.

I personally can see how someone might naturally value Jungkook’s actions more because Jimin is a natural caring, nurturing and loving person to everyone so sometimes it is hard to tell if his actions mean more or it is just him being himself but with Jungkook, he tries as much as possible to be impartial but he just cannot help it when it comes to Jimin. He is pretty kind and caring towards everyone he loves too but not the same way Jimin does it plus Jungkook tends to go big when he expresses his affection for Jimin. So with Jimin we get little bits of love and affection more frequently than we get from Jungkook but once we get one from Jungkook, it is usually news worthy and kinda exclusive to Jimin so it hits harder.

I dunno. I might have gone off topic but like I said, I 100% agree with you.

[cinnamonest]

With this whole 'rape fantasies are a result of misogyny as they allow women a guilt free sexuality cos they have no autonomy'

Surely that means your writing and fantasies are contributing to misogyny? Adding to it and normalising it?

Like isnt the answer to write and encourage fantasies of empowerment? Not abuse and rape?

Just seems crazy to me like 'we do this because of misogyny. And we'll keep doing it'

Obviously some behaviour come from misogyny and exist to combat it. This... really doesn't

I just don't think it's a feminist win when your writing is indistinguishable from that of a misogynistic man's.

This isnt an attack on you it just really seems like common sense that if something exists because of misogyny the last thing we should do is feed into those ideas

(I assume this is coming from this post, so I might reference that a bit here)

No worries, I fully understand how this can come across negative to those who do not have the same experiences and I appreciate you approaching the matter in a non-attacking way with genuine desire to have dialogue on the subject. I'll do my best to address these points individually.

>Surely that means your writing and fantasies are contributing to misogyny? Adding to it and normalising it?

In the past few years fandom culture has become a bit obsessed with the idea of "normalization" to the point that the definition of the term has been a bit skewed, which creates issues with these discussions.

There is no concept of which existence of content containing it alone constitutes normalization, by the actual definition of the word. Normalization is the process by which it is distributed and way in which it is presented, and intent of its creation.

Normalization via fiction is a process in which a creator, generally intentionally, creates content that presents a concept as, well, normal. That is, not reprehensible or problematic to replicate, and presents this to a population with the intent of them accepting the idea as something acceptable in reality. Generally it also necessitates that the creator will try to ensure the media is viewed by mainstream general audiences who would not normally seek the content out, since the purpose of normalization is to make an idea acceptable amongst a population.

That is the opposite of what I am doing, which is creating a private space filled with warnings. I am going out of my way to ensure that people who do not want to see this content, have the foreknowledge to opt to avoid it.

By definition, if you’re creating content and ensuring that it is heavily warned, and marketing it as such that only a niche group who likes such content seeks it out, that’s not normalization by any reasonable metric.

>Like isnt the answer to write and encourage fantasies of empowerment? Not abuse and rape?

For some people, I’m sure that would help them, and in that case, that is a great solution for them.

But people are different, and certain things that help some, don’t help others. The types of fantasies that would probably be called “empowering,” personally do nothing for me but make me uncomfortable, in the same way that the sort of content I write makes some people uncomfortable. It does not have the same positive effects on my mental health that this form of content does.

>Obviously some behaviour come from misogyny and exist to combat it. This... really doesn't

That's fair — but it doesn't have to.

It is not intended to directly combat misogyny in any way, there are other ways to do that, and this does not have to be one. It's primary purpose is catharsis and the ways in which it benefits me and, as is my hope, those who choose to consume it.

>I just don't think it's a feminist win when your writing is indistinguishable from that of a misogynistic man's.

Again, I never had any intention for it to be a "win" — misogyny is the reason for why I have these desires, but in making what I make, my purpose is to provide catharsis for myself and others.

But also, I would heavily contest that it is indistinguishable from male fantasies. As someone who has seen actual men's misogynist fetishization fantasies, they are very different.

Female disposability and the complete worthlessness of women’s very being — that is, women being non-human objects that are interchangeable, and made to be used temporarily and replaced — is the core defining characteristic of male fantasy/sexuality. Male fantasies almost always involve multiple women to one man, largely because he does not have any actual bond with women, they are items to be collected, no interpersonal relationship actually exists.

The lack of interpersonal connection and lack of personableness itself is fetishized by men, what men get off to is the power they feel from completely disregarding the woman as a person in any way. The very act of the woman being thrown away after being used is fetishized.

In male fantasy, there is no interpersonal connection or affection of any kind, whereas that is one of the defining themes of content like mine.

Tl;dr — while misogyny impacts all women, the severity and form of it in different upbringings, environments and cultures can create misunderstandings and strong reactions when different people react so differently to the same content and thus form misconceptions about each other's perceptions and intentions, but I believe both sides of this argument are usually coming from a place of good intent.

While I fully understand how it would be difficult for those who do not have the same experience to grasp mine, I just ask for mutual understanding that some forms of content help some people, in the same way entirely different forms of content help other people.

[needtobehisprettyboy]

Arcane Fandom Pet Peeve:

Trans Viktor and Cis Jayce

There's so many things wrong with fanon JayVik and one of those things is people's *take on* trans Viktor headcanons

Okay, okay hear me out—I don't fucking care that people have a right to headcanon whatever they want. I know some people have already pointed out that people can headcanon Viktor as trans if they please—which, yeah, I'm not gonna say "Hey, bitch! Viktor should be cis and Jayce should be trans!1!!1!", but I will say that I hate the reinforcement of hetero gender roles and the stereotypical trans man appearance.

*Trans men, especially trans men of color, have a hard enough time coming to terms with understanding they aren't cis. People center trans identity around small, white trans people giving out tips that don't work for everyone such as thinking loose clothes can successfully hide everyone's chest and not thinking of different black hair types that black trans teens can't recreate as easily as white trans teens. It was frustrating to try and find clothes that made me look masc, which is almost everyone's main tips to pass as a male, that I just quit and stayed fem. I can go on and on about how people center white people, not only in trans identity, but queer identity as a whole; however, other people have made posts, news articles, journals, books that will no doubt explain my points better.

Gay relationships are gay for a reason!! Some relationships will have the masc and fem role, but not all!!! Not even in straight relationships will the smaller partner be fem/female or the bigger partner be masc/male.

What's the stereotypical trans man appearance you may ask? If you don't already know, it's white and skinny. (Don't try to fucking deny it) People will generally think of white queers more so than they do queers of color. Not only that, but they'll usually think of small and skinny when they think of trans men.

"UwU omg smol (white) boy KYAAA"

Bleh.

Trans men aren't all small. Plenty of trans men can be chubby, bulky, tall (or at least average fucking height and not like 4'11 with a snatched waist), etc etc. Additionally, afab parents in gay relationships aren't all automatically assigned the "mommy" role. I'm definitely more of the "mommy" type; however, I'm not small nor white and a large portion of trans men who want to be parents don't want to be thought of as "mommies" much less the "girl" in the relationship.

Neither Jayce nor Viktor needs to be the "girl" in their relationship!!!

I get why people headcanon Viktor as trans. If you're white, you'll automatically align yourself more with white characters and sort of toss aside characters of color. (*That isn't to say everyone who hcs Viktor is white, it's just a reference to those who like Viktor in general, trans or not, and then hate/disregard Mel, Sky, & even Jayce though it's mostly anti-blackness when it comes to the JayVik/Viktor lover community*) I hate it, but whatev. My main issue comes with people making Viktor trans AND giving him more feminine personality traits.

*I don't have specific gender headcanons for Viktor (I'll interact with both cis and trans content of him though I've strayed away from JayVik in general due to people's racism/anti-blackness), but it's clear people are still thinking of stereotypical hetero dynamics whenever they make fem, damsel in distress Viktor content.

Not in the ironic sense where you make memes and laugh about pregnant Jayce, but in the unironic sense that you're making and liking scene redraws of male and female characters where Viktor takes the female character's place.

But if you're gonna assign a "girl" in the relationship, why not let it be Jayce?

I know why of course. . . Doesn't mean I'm not still getting ticked off.

*For those of you who haven't seen those pictures, it's edited/drawn pictures of JayVik with Viktor being Mary Jane and Jayce as Tarzan, Jayce being Hercules and Viktor as Megara

*Post edited for clarifications, I don't mind trans Viktor, but I hate people's take on fem trans Viktor and therefore stray away from the FANDOM, THE FANDOM AS THIS POST TITLE SAYS, because people are weird and ruined JayVik for me. I'd rather be in the MelJaySkyVik part of the fandom where there aren't so many weirdos and people are chill about different characters.

[copperbadge]

I was making breakfast and listening to an episode of Just King Things this morning, which is a podcast I do recommend -- two very smart English teachers are reading the books of Stephen King in publication order and discussing them. This could go extremely awry except they're both highly conscious of his failings as well as his skill, so they do really well handling a lot of his less salutatory content.

They've hit the point in King's ouvre (this episode was about Hearts In Atlantis) that follows his recovery from the car accident that very nearly killed him, where he was struck by a van while out walking. One of them pointed out that it seems as though he came back from nearly dying determined to write the wildest shit imaginable and only write what he wanted, which struck a chord in me this time despite having listened to this episode before. Perhaps because I was thinking about my own writing and where it's going in the short term (there are a couple of short stories I want to do that I don't quite have a way into yet). I generally don't think about the drift of my creativity in the long term because when I do I usually draw the wrong conclusions.

I don't really classify my life, the way some people who've had high-impact injuries do, as before-TBI and after-TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury -- the fairly severe concussion I had in January of 2020). For one thing, given I had to cancel a trip to NYC because of it, it may have saved my life; I almost certainly would have caught COVID as someone with known lung issues in New York at the time. For another, the TBI was way scarier to almost everyone else; for me it was just one more dumb injury I gave myself and I didn't even remember most of it so it hardly registered. I used to open the story of it with a joke about waking up not remembering going to bed the night before, but nobody ever found it funny.

It's true that there are changes it wrought in my life, though. Even practical stuff like making sure my living space doesn't have tripping hazards and continuing to wear a fitbit even though I don't really need to (the fitbit told us, the morning after, exactly when the concussion happened, because it registered a heart-rate spike when I fell). For weeks after, I had to move slowly and put off making important decisions because I couldn't trust my physical or intellectual judgement; I didn't even jaywalk in my own neighborhood because I couldn't be sure I was judging the cars' speeds properly. For about a year after I had periodic post-concussion syndrome which basically just slammed me back into concussion space, which wasn't painful or upsetting but was definitely inconvenient.

And it's also undeniable that my writing shifted after the injury. It's not necessarily because of the injury, since my initial recovery from the TBI and the declaration of quarantine happened at roughly the same time, and anyone who tells you that a years-long global pandemic didn't impact their artistic expression is selling you a line. But the last thing I wrote before the TBI was the first draft of Six Harvests, and aside from the Six Harvests publication draft, which had fairly minimal changes, almost all that I've written has been blue-sky, light-hearted, PG-rated romance. It's been on my mind that I've been writing different subject matter from what I used to, but the timing of it didn't strike me until just recently.

I don't mind, really. I love fandom and I support fanfic in whatever expression it comes, but I'm also happy writing my own stories. While I'm aware it's been years since I've meaningfully written fanfic, it doesn't bother me per se, as long as I'm writing. It bothered me much more when I could write fanfic but not original fic, especially in those last few awful months at my last job. I'm proud of the literary and non-genre fiction I've written in the past, but it's also much more trying and frustrating to write at times, so I'm enjoying having a different sort of challenge that feels more fulfilling in the process. I'm sure at some point I'll go back to literary fiction -- there are ways in which it's hard to avoid turning the later Shivadh novels into literary fiction, being honest -- but for now I like what I'm writing, and I'm writing primarily to please myself and without regard to what's necessarily rational or linear.

Just struck me, is all, that it's by far the most noticeable major shift in my work. I do sort of wonder what will be next.

[renaerys]

How are you so good at creating the chemistry between Sakura and Shisui... first A Quiet Thunder, now Lightning in a Bottle. You're so talented. I've also read your Sasosaku, you got me hooked up even when I'm not really into Sasosaku

How exactly did you create the chemistry between Shisui and Sakura though? They are two characters that never even met so it amazes me how you write their interaction. Also if you don't mind me asking, what makes you ship her with him?

My favorite crack/rare pair is Shisaku because while I'm also a Sasusaku shipper, somehow I just know Shisui would most definitely treat her better😞

ShiSaku is entirely @komorebi-rabbit 's fault. I'm really picky about Sakura ships in that I mostly dislike them with very narrow exceptions. I had never really cared about Shisui in my Tumblr/Naruto fandom heyday back in 2011-2016 because there was less than nothing about him in canon at the time and I've never been what you'd call an Uchiha fangirl. But then I started writing Naruto fics again in 2020, reread the whole manga, and eventually found my way to the filler anime episodes that featured Shisui leading up to the Uchiha Clan Massacre, and suddenly we had some cool and interesting backstory coloring within the lines the manga drew about him.

Bunny basically dared me to try writing ShiSaku after sharing her awesome headcanons regarding Shisui and Obito having crossed paths before Obito defected. It kind of spiraled from there. I got the idea for A Quiet Thunder like a shock to the system and it wrote itself. Lightning in a Bottle has been a natural and easy second installment that I feel even more confident about (I just wish I had a little more regular and reliable free time to work to it, but it's going).

This became a really long answer because I got super in to fleshing out how these two are complementary, and how they each have something that the other lacks but desperately craves in a lover. See under the cut for my Why ShiSaku psychosis analysis.

Sakura is hard for a lot of people to pin down and often gets OC SI-washed, which I find trite and boring and makes me intensely despise most multi-Sakura content, which I've written about here. But canon Sakura, while not the most fleshed out character ever, does have good bones. On the positive side, I love how she is portrayed as someone who is uncompromisingly loyal, she strives for excellence in all that she does, she doesn't compromise her convictions, and she has a burning desire to win when she sets her mind and fists to something. She's not as charismatic or confident as Ino, or as caustic and sharp-witted as Karin, but she has enough self-assurance in part 2 and strength of character to feel like she's got a backbone and isn't afraid to put her money where her mouth is. But I also appreciate that she is a deeply insecure and selfish person especially when it comes to decisions she makes that directly impact her teammates, her brand of love is obsessive and smothering, her civilian background gives her both privilege and excruciating naïveté vis-a-vis her teammates, and in part 1 she was shown to be a very lazy and unserious ninja. She grows and improves upon many of these negative traits in part 2, which is fantastic. That journey is fun to watch and explore more in depth in fic.

Shisui is trickier to nail down since we get most of his "personality" traits in the filler, non-canon episodes of the anime. But I'm fine with that, and I'm not per se opposed to how fandoms will sort of establish a non-canonical but widely accepted characterization. Sometimes that isn't good, but sometimes it is. Personally, I like to infer his personality by juxtaposing it with Itachi's personality, which is well-established in canon. He is the extrovert/people person compared to Itachi's weird, old man reticence (I say this with a lot of love for Itachi). It makes sense to make him the comedian to Itachi's straight man, which is a tried and true dynamic duo archetype. I don't necessarily mean he has to be hilarious or comic relief, just that compared to Itachi I think he'd lean a little more in that direction. Shisui is a scheming schemer who schemes, which we see from his deep political involvement in the events leading up to the Uchiha Massacre. From this, I'd infer that he knows how to manipulate people, is charismatic and magnetic, and also very shrewd and intelligent, possibly even ruthlessly so.

I like Shisui and Sakura together because (i) I think they would be attracted to each other's core positive traits, and (ii) the way they love would be complementary.

I'll start with being attracted to each other's traits. Sakura is fun to pair with a person who is more of a schemer than she is (which is not at all), someone who is more willing to see rules as guidelines than as written law. That keeps her on her toes because it's not a skill she has, and it leads to tension between them since she is pretty straight-laced and even kind of a boot-licker (complacency about the status quo). But she is intelligent enough and, crucially, compassionate enough see things from another person's starkly different worldview. If someone presents her with evidence that she is wrong about something, I think she is the type of person who will internalize that and make different decisions/be open to changing her mind. The Sasori fight is an excellent example of this. In this sense, I think she could empathize with Shisui, respect him even if she may not agree with all his decisions, and present herself as someone who he can reliably see as an ally both in the martial sense and in a more personal, human sense. There's a moment in part 1 of canon where Naruto transforms into Sasuke but still acts like Naruto, showering Sakura with love and affection, and she is super into it. I have always believed that scenes like that show that Sakura is someone who wants a partner who is not shy about their love for her, who is enthusiastic and happy to be around her and publicly expresses that enthusiasm, and who treats her with sincere appreciation. She needs that kind of validation and reassurance from a lover. I think she'd see all that in Shisui and be very drawn to that aspect of his personality. It would be easy for her to like him.

For Shisui's part, I think that being so closely associated with Itachi puts him in the position of being the river that has to bend and flow around the immovable rock that is Itachi's personality and standing. And he's good at that, and it makes him kind of a chameleon of a person, but it makes him hard for others to really relate to and get to know. He feels like the type who is flighty, hard to pin down, difficult to get truly close to. Sakura is very straightforward and a what you see is what you get type of person. She doesn't play the games he plays, and that's to her credit. She has a grounding effect that I think would anchor him, and he'd appreciate having another person who isn't Itachi, who isn't embroiled in all the politics of being Itachi, to act as a second and separate wayfinder in a storm. He doesn't have to scheme with her, doesn't have to be in battle mode around her because she is guileless and straight-laced in a way Itachi definitely is not. I think Shisui would find that appealing as something steady and sure in the midst of a life that has always been high speed, violent, chaotic, and full of people he can't fully trust and who don't really care about him beyond what he can do for them. Also, Sakura doesn't have the kind of trauma a lot of other characters do, the kind of trauma Shisui has, and I don't think she needs that. Her not having that, but also being the type of person who is willing and able to empathize with him once she gets a peek behind the curtain, is part of the appeal for him. I think they would genuinely get along in an opposites attract way.

They way they love is also complementary in my opinion. I think he is someone who, like Sakura, would love obsessively, ruinously, and selectively (which is similar to how Sasori loves, which probably tells you that there is a pattern here). I think this is how he loves Itachi (and also Obito in the aforementioned headcanon backstory). Sakura needs to smother the person she loves because that is how she understands love. Look in canon how she behaved with Sasuke. I know these words I'm using may seem like negative words, but I'm using them in a neutral sense. I don't think there is anything bad about her way of loving, but it's very polarizing and not something that resonates with everyone. It works with someone who, like her, sees love as the center of their universe, basks in the attention their lover gives them, and in turn gives their lover a lot of attention. Their love is not content to be casual, discreet, or polite. Rather, theirs is a love that is characterized by intensity, passion, shamelessness, look-at-me-and-let-me-see-you-looking-at-me levels of fixation. As much as Sakura wants someone to choose her above and before all others (she's been burned so hard by SNS whether you interpret them as platonic or romantic), Shisui I think would want someone to choose him first for a change when everyone else chooses Itachi. Itachi is the stronger of the two, the more politically important of the two, better breeding, more respected, etc. And on top of all that, even Itachi wouldn't choose Shisui first because he'll always choose Sasuke. But someone who chooses Shisui first when Itachi is right there? I think that would be so intoxicating to him.

I haven't spent nearly as much time obsessing over ShiSaku as I have SasoSaku, but the time I have spent has been as a mature, confident writer with better tools in my arsenal for this type of analysis. I really like this pairing, and I am really confident in how I've puzzled them together (with help from people like Bunny and others, of course!). I think to answer your original question, I can capture their chemistry because I'm really comfortable with what their chemistry even is (at least, my own version of it). Like knowing a recipe from memory and executing on it perfectly because you've done it a hundred times before, I know my version of ShiSaku up and down, forwards and backwards, head over heels. I think that's the most important part of the puzzle for how to make a pairing work. Passion speaks loudest, and you can really see when someone has studied their passion with the gunning hyper fixation of an uncaught serial killer.

(Thanks for your Ask and for reading my ShiSaku fics!)

[ailesswhumptober]

Hi. I definitely felt refreshed reading your hard stance and information on ai in your pinned, but irrelevant to that, I only found your blog today and I feel like I missed something with AI and whumptober. Can I learn about that? I hope my language makes sense.

In the late summer of 2023, an anonymous user asked the Whumptober blog if AI-generated content would be allowed for the event. This anon did not come from any of us, nor do we know who originally send this ask, but one of us did see Whumptober's response which kickstarted this entire thing.

Whumptober responded that they would not be disallowing AI because they "do not want to police how other people create things" and "didn't want to exclude anybody" but that they would "discourage" AI-generated content "because it feels like cheating" (all direct quotes).

Myself, the other mods, and several more people, were very disappointed in this stance. several of us started replying to the post and got into a back-and-forth with the Whumptober mods about why AI-generated content is harmful and bad. These posts and replies have since been mostly deleted by the Whumptober blog, nor do we want to rehash the entire thing, but some of the stances that Whumptober took that really rubbed us wrong were (again with direct quotes):

"AI-generated content is not art theft". When pointed out that these sorts of applications very much scrape content without consent, Whumptober claimed that it's the AI that steals then, not the person who uses the AI. They also claimed that since the AI already scraped the content, you "might as well use it", that defending against AI scraping is "going down on an already burning hill" and that "if you don't want your content scraped/stolen, just don't post it online". We found these very concerning statements from an event made by and for creators.

"AI-generated content is a fandom issue and nobody in the real world is harmed by it". This is, obviously, factually incorrect. When we pointed out real creators in many creative industries are being hit hard because of AI-generation, they said "that's capitalism's fault, not AI-generation" (???) and they also told us to "touch grass".

"These sort of AIs are an accessibility tool for the disabled, so disliking them is ableism". Again, this is incorrect. They tried to liken it to predictive text or spell check. We pointed out that there's a vast difference between those machine learning tools and actually generative AI that subsides on scraped content. We said disabled people (many of whom were involved in the back-and-forth) are sick of being used as a strawman by tech bros. They then said "real disabled people probably feel differently" which was a slap in the face, and honestly the thing that still is the most horrible to me about this whole thing.

This is the point where Whumptober started to block a bunch of us and delete asks/replies. They made a post that falsely made it seem like we were harassing and bullying them for saying that they "couldn't check every single entry for AI-generated content". We pointed out multiple times that we absolutely did not expect them to, since we're very aware that with the size of the Whumptober event, it would be impossible. We'd just like them to say 'AI-generated content is not allowed and it's art theft' but apparently they didn't want to.

After this one of the mods DMed me and asked me to send them some resources on why AI-generated content and scraping AI is bad, so they could educate themselves. We spent several minutes collecting sources (some linked in our pinned). They said the Whumptober mods would read them, and then come to a standpoint. But then within less than a minute of us sending the links, they deleted the remaining posts involved in the debate, and just told us they were sticking to their standpoint that "We will not police how people create things, we'll just discourage people by not reblogging it". They also added to their pinned that they won't ever respond to any asks about AI-generated content again. So that was that.

Somewhere during the argument, the Whumptober mods told us that if we disliked their stance so much, we should just make our own event. So we did.

(Edit to add: regardless on if whumptober does change their policy, we never received any sort of acknowledgement or apology of the above and we will keep running this event for whoever wants to.)

(Edit to add 2: as a cherry on the shitcake, we'd like the point out that Whumptober is now very much trying to hunker down and convince people that they never changed their stance and this has been their policy all along, after they quietly changed their FAQ to say that they won't reblog AI-generated content. While it's true that "we won't reblog AI-generated content" has always been part of the policy, 1) that doesn't change the fact that they did say it was allowed back then and 2) that doesn't change that the reason they don't reblog AI-generated content is because they 'feel it's cheating' and 'don't want to cause drama', and not because they're anti-ai. Them reblogging or not reblogging AI-generated content was never the issue.)

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I know that Malleus is a sensitive topic here. Even though, he has his weaknesses (which is made very apparent in the canon material); he also has his strengths. One of the things I could immediately think of revolves around his familial attitude towards his family (Lilia, Silver, Sebek). Malleus cherishes his family very much. After all, his fears of losing Lilia was so immense that it ultimately lead him to the overblot. At the core of his character, I see him as someone who is fundamentally familial at heart. Most of his actions in Book 7 are rooted in this aspect of his character. This contrasts his tendency towards self-isolation and enriches his story.

Hey, I want to clarify that Malleus is only a sensitive topic if an ask's tone is aggressive or pushy to begin with. For example, I've previously been spammed with demands to explain why I dislike him + reasons why I should change my mind, told I was "hate criming" him (gross misuse of the term, by the way) for expressing those opinions (I would link to the post, but I actually never publicly responded to this ask or really talked about this publicly), and accused of "[wanting and expecting]" the worst out of him". It's a loud minority that has made me wary when Malleus is brought up. I can't help it, it's sort of gut reflex at this point/j But I'm generally fine with people wanting to discuss him, gush about him, critique him, whatever, so long as things stay civil and open-minded.

I also want to make it clear that even if someone personally dislikes a character, that is not the same as them disregarding the character's positive traits or claiming that the character has no positive traits to begin with. Malleus is certainly no exception to this. (I have a post going over some of the things I enjoy about him, although please keep in mind that it's not meant to be an exhaustive list of his good points.) Personally disliking a character also doesn't mean that you're automatically flagging a character as flat or poorly written. A character could be the best written thing in the entire world or the most complex character ever and people could still dislike them for any reason. Design, vibes, whatever.

That being said, I don't think "familial" is an adjective I've ever personally associated with Malleus? I definitely get those vibes when I browse romantic Malleus fandom works (it's very common to see him being portrayed as a loving, protective father and husband), but not that much with canon content. That's not me claiming Malleus feels nothing toward his Diasomnia members (he definitely DOES care for them), but I don't get the sense that he views them as family or that he’s overtly warm towards them??? At best, I see him perhaps viewing Lilia as a guardian or father figure, especially since it was the fear of losing Lilia that kicked off the major conflict in book 7 + his grandmother seemed too busy with royal duties to raise him. Furthermore, we see that Malleus hatched because of Lilia's magic and how excited he is to see Lilia in multiple flashbacks to Malleus's childhood. He clearly respects Lilia a lot and associates him with the few genuinely happy parts of his childhood. However, I don't see him breaching professional boundaries with Sebek and Silver and skirting into familial territory. (I discuss this more in detail in an older post, so I'd suggest taking a look if you're interested!) Lilia does refer Diasomnia as “not related by blood [but] we are still family", and I believe even their VAs referred to Lilia as a father and Malleus and Silver as brothers. Problem is, I don’t see this reflected in Malleus himself and how he behaves.

It's obvious that Malleus seeks companionship, but that he doesn't realize this about himself without outside help (he couldn't even identify that he was lonely until Yuu pointed it out to him early in book 7). He's so enabled he has become used to the isolation that comes with being at the top and never really thought to question it. This comes through in many of his behaviors: he becomes upset at being left out or uninvited to ceremonies and meetings, when his grandmother (his only living relative) fails to spend time with him despite promising to, and constantly faces struggles connecting with his peers (he tries to, but usually fails in these attempts). And because he fears being left behind, he tries to stop everyone from leaving him. Malleus is also pretty emotionally stunted and awkward due to his growing up alone. This could be a matter of our individual POVs differing, but I think Malleus's loneliness and longing to be with others--despite being raised in relative isolation--is being conflated with being familial?? I genuinely do not recall any standout moments in which Malleus acts familial towards Silver or Sebek, or even towards other peers (though if you can think of any, please share). The only thing that comes to my mind is when Malleus helped Lilia with raising baby!Silver... but even then, I sort of wonder how much of that was intentionally arranged by Lilia to expose Malleus to humans + combat the bigoted worldview he might otherwise develop. Their current day relationship dynamics just don't read as familial to me.

But also 💦 “familial” is a pretty vague term and could mean different things to different people. I think it assumes that families have amicable dynamics within themselves, and I don’t think that’s always the case. Maybe our definitions are entirely different and that’s also contributing to our conclusions looking nothing alike.

[putschki1969]

hello can you please share us the pictures of keiko in Yodel ? thanks in advance :)

Hi there!

YES and NO. I will share them eventually, that's for sure. As you all probably know, I don't really believe in gate-keeping and I've already shared a bunch of Yodel content with you whenever I thought it was important. But I'm not planning to share the entire thing any time soon so you'll have to be patient a little while longer.

I myself haven't been a member for THAT long. I only joined in November last year so I missed out on more than a year worth of good content (a small blessing is that Keiko seems to not have been as active in the app back then as she is now). Side note: Unfortunately, you only get access to the last couple of posts and not the entire archive when you join Yodel. Anyways, this is one reason that has kept me from posting anything substantial yet. I always strive to have complete collections of my Kalafina stuff but it kills me that for Yodel, I'll probably never achieve that.

Also, the app makes it quite hard to get hold of all the content. For example, there's some sort of restriction that prevents screen recordings of videos so I have no way of saving those. Thankfully, screenshots are possible but you can't properly download high-res photos. Then there's the question of what to do with all of her messages. I do make screenshots of some of the more profound and/or interesting stuff but I don't know what to do with the rest.

Additionally, there's the whole matter of finding a good timing for a cut-off or figuring out WHEN to share WHAT. Since Keiko posts so frequently, sometimes with multiple updates per day, it's almost impossible for me to find a good schedule for my blog. I obviously wouldn't want to update whenever she does. I've even abandoned doing that for other stuff the girls do on social media because sometimes there's just too much happening and it's usually very generic and not really worthwhile. These days, I try to limit my blog posts to the essential content such as news or basically anything that's a little more exciting than the usual stuff.

When it comes to fan club content (that I consider to be rather insignificant - nice to have but no real substance to it), I tend to wait a while so a fair amount of content can accumulate. For example, I think I only made one post with Keiko's NikuChoco videos last year because there was no point in making a post for each individual upload throughout the year. Makes life so much easier for me and it keeps my blog "cleaner" if you know what I mean. I'll probably do a similar thing for Yodel. Once the year is done, I'll gather all the screenshots and upload them to Google Drive. it won't be a perfect cut of course since that folder will also contain the photos from November/December of 2024 but oh well, that's the best I can do. And then it will be a clean start for 2026.

Having said all that, there's no time like the present!!

❗SUPPORT KEIKO and JOIN her FAN CLUB. Detailed TUTORIAL❗

Why not use this opportunity to join Keiko's fan club and get a serial code for the Yodel app? I know there are many hurdles and it is very difficult for us overseas fans but those of us who are hardcore fans of Keiko and want to support her in any way possible should really consider making the effort. I've not always had the best opinion of apps like Yodel and I am still not the biggest fan but I honestly don't regret joining, especially now that Keiko has switched her social media activities almost entirely to the app. It seems like you are similarly eager to get access to as much Keiko-content as possible so I would say it's worth a shot. I am aware that many people in the overseas fandom rely very heavily on me (sometimes to a point where they are no longer willing to invest anything themselves which is very regretful) and as long as I love my girls, I will definitely continue to share everything on my blog but I always want to encourage people to take things into their own hands!! What happens in the unlikely event that I fall out of love with the girls? Or what if I die tomorrow? Or my blog gets reported and subsequently deleted by one of my haters? Things can change so quickly so it's best to build a foundation for yourself. You never know when your fan club membership will come in handy! You can do it! It's intimating but I've written a very detailed tutorial on how to become a "NikuChoco = Meat&Chocolate" member. Below is my most recent post about it (including some info on Yodel). I am happy to share more infos on the whole Yodel process but most of the stuff, you can look up online since it would be the same as getting any other Japan-only app from an app store.

[elainsgirl]

when companies predict/speculate elriel is next I am actually glad Elriels are a minority in the fandom. Because no one can say they are pandering to get click and views. If they wanted to pander for views, they'd write about GA/EL. But none of all these companies even acknowledge GA/EL. I mean look at TODAY, scrolling past GA commens with 1000s of likes, to like an unpopular comment about Elriel being endgame.

Also, if it was just one or two times, I'd kind fo just laugh it off as a good time for Elriels. But when it's so many and within a single year, close to the announcement... it does kind of feel like a soft launch... and I don't care if the Queens of delulu calls me delusional for simply considering the possibility it's a soft launch. We deserve some good times for staying in this cesspool of a fandom for so long because of our love for Elain and Elriel.

Hey anon 🫶

You’re so right. If E! Just wanted to create an article to get views, likes, engagement or whatever they would have mentioned all 3 ships and talked about how fans have been speculating that elriel or gwynriel could be next. What I find just sad is antis insulting the journalists and calling the article AI which btw - is a huge, disrespectful, claim to make especially if you have 0 proof. If any of that was true, and E! wanted to gain attraction from the acotar/book community- they would have also mentioned gwynriel, why? Because for the past 4 years since ACOSF’s release - fans have also heavily suspected acotar 5 will follow gwynriel as the next couple. Yet the journalist mentioned no other ship aside from Elriel. And if AI was used for this article -> A simple engine like chat gpt, would also bring up Gwynriel. In fact - according to chat: Gwynriel is the biggest, sensational ship coming from acosf that has a huge fan following. If E! Had mentioned gwynriel, then their article would have increased 10x in popularity.

Quite literally no one is taking this as confirmation that elriel is next, no one is daft enough to believe we’re going to get the acotar 5 announcement from a news outlet before the author herself.

But its when you combine everything together that it is very clear this is a soft launch. You have TIME - talking about elriel, spotify and audible which Sjm works with, now E! Which also referenced Time and then E! Also mentioning Sjm talking about rejected mates. Do antis think BB is unaware that this is happening? Ofc not. They know that these companies are talking about elriel. Its been made clear that an announcement is coming soon. It makes the most logical sense for it to be around spring - thats like 5/6 months from now. Its about this time, when soft launches occur to prepare the audience for the real deal. BB knows who the next couple is. At this point, Mass would’ve told them. How bad does it look that you have multiple, huge, credible sources talking about elriel only for gwynriel to be announced? BB & Sjm do not want that sort of confusion going on for such a huge release. Even these companies wouldn’t want to lose credibility by being wrong.

No one here is saying this is confirming elriel - but it is definitely a good, positive thing. I doubt whoever is writing/liking elriel content from these companies know who is endgame but they will have been aware the general directions the books are going in. Elriel make the most logical sense. Unbiased people easily come to that conclusion.

Thing is anon, if the roles were reversed, you and I + every elriel reading this, know that antis would have had a field day. They would have been just as happy as we are, rubbing in our faces that such credible sources are mentioning their ships. But thats not happened so they’re left with being bitter, petty, spiteful little haters. It is disheartening- not at all surprising- that antis are mocking elriels. I expected nothing less from such a mean group of people. The fact they’re going around claiming how unbothered they are but at the same time, have not stopped talking about elriel, “debunking” elriel or elriel stans goes to show how much they are panicking and trying to delude themselves that this doesn’t matter. But it does.

Honestly, celebrate. We deserve it after being mocked and insulted for believing in elriel. We deserve to be happy and in a good mood about this - block out the haters and do not listen to them. They’re just going to get more nasty as time goes on and even more news about elriel comes out.

[mixelation]

I would enjoy hearing your rant about how a/b/o reproductive/mating systems drive you batty if you're willing! As someone who is not well studied in that subject omegaverse has still made me furrow my brow and wonder how society has not collapsed

i got this a while ago and debated answering, but i do like rambling and have time tonight. i will not go into specifics because i do not intentionally seek out omegaverse content; my experiences with it are from being in fandom and spec bio spaces where someone just starts talking about it, or every once in a while i read it by accident (i am not actually good about reading tags). i am aware that not everyone follows the same rules and i don't need anyone coming into my askbox to explain how their personal version doesn't do the following things i'm about to say. one reason i know more about omegaverse than i want to is the strange phenomenon of people thinking that a person can be "converted" if only they understood it more....! so: yes, i support any hypothetical fans on my blog writing and enjoying whatever version of omegaverse they want, but no, i do not want you explaining it to me.

anyway, i guess we should first talk about the biological definitions of sex and gender.

sex can be defined multiple ways by biologists depending on what they're trying to study. the one i use for animals & plants is the evolutionary definition, which is based on gametes-- basically, are you set up to make small gametes (male) or big gametes (female)? this is called anisogamy (two different sized gametes within a species) and it's shockingly universal in plants and animals, which is why it's my preferred definition. (although note that gametes size and morphology can vary a ton between species and even between individuals-- the only constant is that within a species, sperm are smaller than ova.) the resulting traits that go along with sex (physical traits, chromosomes, etc) are NOT universal, but i'll talk about some patterns.

note that there ARE isogamous organisms-- such as fungi or algae-- which do not have differently sized gametes. usually instead of sorting them by "sex," they're sorted by "mating type"

also important to know-- lots and lots of plants and animals make both types of gametes. the technical biological term for this is hermaphroditism, but if you're reading this for spec bio reasons i highly urge you NOT to use this term for humans/near-humans. that is because it's unfortunately also a pejorative/dehumanizing term for intersex people (and biologically inaccurate to them). i've seen people use "dualsex" but another scientific term would be "monoecious" (although i have never seen this used outside of plant scientists lmao). technically "bisexual" also works but you can imagine this could be confusing and someone who's never read an old scientific paper might yell at you

okay. so now we've defined sex. what is gender? i am by no means an expert in this, but most people will define it as some sort of social role. for some people it is very personal and definitions are individual. i am only including this paragraph because there was briefly a trend amongst biologists to define "animal gender" as social roles animals play when interacting with each other. i don't personally like this because it often ends up tying the concept of gender to genetics or underlying biological traits. i prefer the more historical term alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs), which refers to when there's multiple strategies/phenotypes/"genders" within a single sex of a species. for example, side-blotched lizards have three different male phenotypes which all exhibit different behaviors with different advantages/disadvantages in terms of procreation.

so, biologically, omegaverse is a mating system where both sexes (that's male/female) experience ARTs (that's the alpha/omega/beta), and mating occurs in a disassortative way. Disassortative mating means that individuals are more likely to mate with (and are perhaps are more likely to successfully produce offspring with) other individuals that are "different" from them in some way. for example, white throated sparrows have two morphs per sex. both "tan" males and females invest energy into parental care, and "white" males and females invest energy into acquiring multiple mates, which white females even using brood parasitism (leaving eggs in a nest that's not hers). tan males mate with white females, and tan females mate with white males (i know there's been studies where two of the same mate with each other and the outcome is less good, but i forget what it is just now lol).

one puzzling part of the omegaverse is that by the definitions i see most often (where humans are born male/female and then develop "secondary dynamics" later), alpha males/omega males shouldn't be able to have children. Sperm do not have enough physical "stuff" to make a baby, even if you ignore genetic imprinting and other mechanisms that prevent people's own gametes from fusing. I don't like mpreg on the grounds that i just don't like stories about pregnancy in general, but I get confused when people go in depth about the biological set ups of their AU and then just don't go into what sex even is? Like, if it were just magic or completely handwaved, sure, fine. But why delve into biology and then get basic things wrong? Like, does your world just have mating types? Are some people dualsex? Are your males actually not males? If any of these things, why are the genital configurations they way they are? I will accept "because I think it's hot/fun/whatever" as an answer, but please be honest that that IS the answer. A lot of time people try harder and harder to explain biology and just get nonsensical. Which, again, that's fine for having fun, there's nothing wrong with it or enjoying reading it-- but it will bother me.

im sure someone is already opening their bookmarks to send me an example where one of my suggestions happens. don't do that. i know different people do different things and probably there's examples of at least a few of the above. i know this because people keep sending me things i don't want to see, and often times they're still wrong. don't be that guy

my biggest gripe re:biology in omegaverse, like many people, is with the bioessentialism in sex/ARTs/"gender" that omegaverse aus tend to hang on their invented mating system. like, obviously, the aspects where heats/ruts/whatever make people so horny they have to fuck or end up in extreme pain is already dubcon because it's basically just rebranded sex pollen, and it gets worse when writers choose to also include biological mechanisms where one individual can "force" or compel another one, especially when it occurs along sex-specific lines. and like, don't get me wrong-- i like some dubcon tropes. i do not have an issue with people enjoying what they enjoy in fictional scenarios. what bothers me is the shocking frequency with which i will run into people preaching their "moral omegaverse" and then they literally just describe slightly more complicated dubcon. this isn't just an omegaverse fan issue-- people do this with all sort of other tropes and AUs too-- but it is a pattern and it's annoying.

and! here's the thing that extra gets my goat. a reason why a lot of people (not everyone ofc) like sex pollen and other biology-compulsion based dubcon tropes is that the fact that it's "biology" feels like it should free the involved characters of responsibility for their actions. but this is not how human behavior works, and it's literally not how biology works. animals have coercive sex all the time, but evolution does not actually favor this. it is not evolutionarily advantageous to be at the whim of your alpha a male. female mate choice is incredibly important to evolution, and if coercive sex is happening, then something is simultaneously also evolving to re-establish mate choice. that's how you get things like weird shaped penises to match weird shaped vaginas, or females being able to selectively kick out sperm.

also the world is filled with interesting mating strategies and it makes me sad that people want to "explore" it and then just stick to made-up quasi-wolf dynamics. :( where are the anglerfish dynamics. the whiptail lizard dynamics. the dynamics based on whatever that frog is that can only mate with a different species of frog. why aren't so many people at least googling how seahorses work, and also why do so many people spend so long describing alt biology for how they're getting (insert man here) pregnant only to get the very definition of sex wrong. even if i were into omegaverse, i think i would leave the most unhinged mean comments............

[dearweirdme]

https://www.tumblr.com/dearweirdme/786726067695206400/wait-a-minute-let-me-ask-you-an-honest-question?source=share

What a non answer 🙄. Anon isn't wrong in what they said but since you have no idea how to respond to them, you choose the sarcastic response. You all are insecure of other ships, esp jikook and taennie but you try to show nonchalance. Idk why you all needed to respond with proofs for this. Jikkrs weren't being creepy or gross about the trip, and even if they were, trying your best to prove that they weren't together isn't going to deter such people is it? Atleast admit that you aren't happy with jikook interactions instead of showing that fake ahh kumbaya thing. All you are doing rn is hiding your insecurity by placing the blame on others. It's not jikookers' fault that they are getting more interactions than taekook

Sigh...

All of you wanting to think we're so insecure🙄. What about my blog makes you think I am insecure? Either you think I'm lying or playing an act or something (in which case I don't understand why you bother to come here) or my security bothers you. I never lie on here. I tell people when I'm unsure, or when I'm confused, or when I disagree, or when I'm overwhelmed... people have seen me upset, people have seen me be sarcastic, people have seen me in all sort's of states.... and in general there is very little I don't have a reply to.

You're mistaking my sarcasm for insecurity and pretty much showing your own lack of depth here. Anon was most definitely wrong, because when you actually look at the posts I made about Jk and Jm traveling there is no trying hard to debunk them being together at all. Just a trying to figure out what's going on.

There are many reasons for me to be sarcastic. I doubt you understand what it's like to get the kind of asks I get (unless you're also the owner of a well visited fandom blog.. hehe) because if you did you'd understand the tiredness that can come with some asks. I am generally patient, but I'm also very human and will have human reactions.

People like you (no clue what side you come from) feel some comfort in thinking we are secretly insecure. And sure, some Tkkrs are insecure about Jkk. I think that's mostly newer fans who haven't gone through a lot of content yet and who feel influenced by Jkkrs loud presence. Most Tkkrs aren't insecure though, we just know what to expect from that side of fandom whenever Jk and Jm are shown together. That's what we're annoyed about.. it truly has very little to do with insecurity.

[velnna]

Since you probably use more social media than most people, I was curious on what you think of the ones u use, especially now that blue sky is open to the public

Eh, I'm not super well versed on them these days because I mostly use them to respond to notifications, post and disappear, plus I have notifications filtered everywhere so I don't keep track of engagement. ESPECIALLY with bluesky, I've never even opened the general timeline there 😅

Twitter is still my favourite social media and the one I use more seamlessly. I think I see value in it because it's not primarily meant for visual posts and there's people from a bunch of different fields and industries engaging with whatever all at once, plus the line between commenting on a post and making a post yourself is blurred which gives for some funny interactions. It used to intimidate me but now I'm just chilling.

Bluesky I guess is supposed to be the same thing? But I can't bring myself to engage with it idk. Back when it started I could see that the most active people there were the ones actively hating twitter, while.. doing the exact same things on bluesky they did on twitter 🤷‍♂️ so I think Elon Musk aside it's basically the same thing with less users.

I used to be big on instagram but basically stopped using it when they introduced reels, now I just post and disappear. I hate that they couldn't just leave it simple and uncluttered and the fact that reels became so popular pissed me off lmao.

Tiktok is a tricky one for me because I go "viral" easily there and it's my biggest platform BUT it's very addicting and you sorta have to scroll through the main page to find content to make + a lot of the time you need to make content specifically for it. Which is a time sink for me in a lot of ways :') I tend to open it every other month to maybe post something then ghost again

Tumblr is... fine? Idk tumblr definitely feels like both the most useless and the easiest social media to use. Useless in the sense that I never expect anything that happens on tumblr to materialise into anything outside of it. Easiest in the sense that it's just chill for me to post and engage with what people send me without needing to think about it too hard. Trying to get original content to take off here was in vain but fanart does particularly well as expected.. which means it only started being fun for me when I got into BG3 as I'd never been in a fandom before lmao. I like that, just like twitter, it's not only for visual posts, but get overwhelmed at the idea of blogs and formatting and sorting posts, so I only use it barebones and tend to not engage with the main page/timeline either

Engagement-wise, I honestly couldn't tell ya. I think that comes down to you paying attention to each social media's trends and how people interact with it. Personally I'm (very luckily) at a stage where 99% of the time I don't care about whether a post makes numbers or flops, and my platforms are big enough that if I REALLY needed something to do well I could probably find a way to make it loud enough so yknow

Hope this answers your question :'D

[rosesradio]

My dark secret is that sometimes I wish part of the pjo fandom had whatever the fuck is in the water of the HP fandom. The side that loves dramione and is not scared to delve into toxic, downright radioactive stuff to tell a story and how sometimes love is the farthest thing from pure. And I wish they had a marauder-esque side — people who create entire universe about a character that was mentioned once — but about the Titan Army.

I do love and am very grateful for all the lovely art and great fanfics but i wish sometimes people were more willing to create and engage with the deepeer, more obscure possibilities canon offers

i see what you’re saying—tbh i don't fw hp at all due to the jkr of it all, plus i was obsessed for like 10 years and have been Over It for like 4 at least. i can’t help but feel a little annoyed by the maurader’s fandom because it’s like…sure, rep is hard to come by, but like…you could’ve done the whole “skittles squad gay wizards 🤪” with any one of the millions of other books on wizards, why that one?? but anyways

i also think that a fandom run that way can be a bit risky because you’re subjected to a fandom hierarchy. like if you think one thing about xyz character mentioned once, that can be contradicted by some sort of regarded Holy Text Fanfiction from the Most Popular Writer that is essentially the word of law (think…is it All The Young Dudes? i think is what it was called?). tldr is the discourse could be rancid, but it could under other circumstances as well, so it’s kinda a “pick your poison” situation

i definitely think one of the pjo fandom’s main problems is something i saw in sanders sides 🤢 for years—it’s kinda like purity culture, but it’s wholesomeness culture. aka the insistence that pjo is The Most accepting fandom, The Most diverse, The Best xyz—when it’s just not true. everyone has different ideas on how to make the fandom The Best and Most Pure, which can include harassing creators and attempting to only “allow” certain creations. (And, of course the most important: the racism is rampant. it’s a minority of the fandom from what i’ve seen, though i’ve also blocked a lot of people. it’s definitely still there)

i think what happened in the hp/marauders fandom was an attempted separation from the author (dont look at me dont talk to me 🚬). an entire rework of the content and characters (aka, i see what you’re saying about a potentially sympathetic villain, but draco’s canon “redemption” was too little too late, the guy is a one-dimensional asshole, He Would Not Fucking Say That)

what was i saying

oh yeah. i don’t think that could happen with pjo because part of its wholesomeness persona is the Uncle Rick of it all, in which the outer layers of the fandom praise him for his representation and Not being jkr. i’m willing to admit the guy has flaws, though supposedly not enough for an entire uproot separation.

but yeah that aside i definitely see what you’re saying—my hope is that fandom will change and get better. the puritans will either grow out of their restricting ideas or move on to another fandom, for the most part. perhaps it’s wishful thinking, though the only thing we can do is continue to make our works and make the fandom safer one step at a time 💌

[afurtivecake]

riko or jean for the ask game smile :)

hellloo thank you for the ask :3

been trying to finish a kevriko fic so...riko it is

First impression

i could not take riko seriously at all for the entirety of the original series. i had him mentally categorized as "tropey super-evil villain mwuahaha" from book one. i was rolling my eyes at riko in trk thinking, "of course you also enjoy torturing people for fun." that's just the sort of characteristic people give to their villains they want the reader to know is definitely super-evil. like, no "good guy" in fiction ever has the "torture people" hobby. at worst, i thought of riko as lazy writing of an antagonist, and at best, i thought he was written to be a cliche intentionally because he really wasn't meant to be the focus of neil and andrew's story.

Impression now

long-time followers of mine will have witnessed first-hand my descent into liking riko. it's kevin's fault. it really is. i was intrigued by kevin after tkm and i really wanted to know what makes him tick. and somewhere along the way, i got around to thinking about kevin's relationship with riko which led me to thinking more about what kind of person riko is. and. well. here we are. now i can appreciate riko as a character and not just as a narrative device. although in tgr i was starting to miss riko as a narrative device because jeremy's family/hook-ups all suck so much and aren't doing enough to advance the plot.

i have blorbos that i like to put on a shelf and just admire them as they are and then there are blorbos i like to put through the industrial blender of suffering. riko goes right into the blender :)

Favorite moment

gotta go with the infamous scene during neil's Christmas Torture Holiday at Evermore. because what the fuck. what even was that. you can always rely on riko to do something unhinged that raises the stakes. neil and riko are both really good at unhinged stake-raising actions. the two of them combined? unparalleled.

Idea for a story

every idea i have for a riko-centric story is fucked up and explicit and comes with probably many content warnings. like i know this fandom isn't big on that kind of story but... just to throw a couple ideas out there... perfect court omegaverse - omega riko, alpha everyone else, the nest has a flipped hierarchical structure. pre-canon jeremy/riko - somewhere along the way of trying to draw jeremy's attention away from kevin to make kevin jealous, riko accidentally ends up as one of jeremy's conquests. wymack/riko - brat-taming porn.

Unpopular opinion

not to get too serious but...liking riko is a morally neutral stance.

Favorite relationship

i'm going to say kevriko right now because that's what i'm writing

Favorite headcanon

ace!riko is near and dear to my heart. i think it would make a lot of sense if riko never thought or realized he was in love with kevin because of the lack of sexual attraction. riko being like, i don't like him, i just want to kill him and wear him like a warm coat - which could mean anything. i think it'd be funny.

[freddie-77-ao3]

sup yall we're vibing here

anyway. hey, my name's freddie, and i'm finally trying to write an actual intro/master post which... we'll see how this goes.

important stuff is highlighted in orange.

so, basic stuff:

as I said, my name's freddie. he/him pronouns. i'm a college student (majoring in accounting, might add a psych minor). not gonna say which college but i'm currently in california.

i've been on tumblr since 2019 i think? not under this account, this started as a fandom account and then spiralled out of control... really fast. um, my regular tumblr which i've not actually opened in ages is @chronicchthonic14 so. yeah.

not particularly relevant to this blog, but i might mention it at some point so, i have autism and adhd. and some other things but. like. that list is very long and those are the two most relevant because i promise if i come off wrong/mean, i didn't mean to, i just forget to make my words normal. but. those are the two most referenced. if for whatever reason someone wants to know more or has questions you can send an ask ig?

i'm scottish, born there. moved to US when I was four. finishing uni and moving back.

some quick warnings

this blog definitely contains cursing/vulgar language, whatever you want to call it, so if you're not comfortable with that, probably not the blog for you, as i don't tag cursing or anything for you to filter out.

if, for whatever reason, if i ever reblog something that contains a slur (against racial minorities, queer people, anything) i will ABSOLUTELY tag that though.

also if anyone has any trigger warnings they think any content needs, please let me know-- asks, dms, comments, reblogs

the cursing thing also applies for sort of dirty jokes? think that only applies to like. two posts and very not explicit. those aren't currently tagged but if they get any more explicit they certainly will be.

queer identity because the explicit reminded me, i'm asexual, and probably straight. maybe bi? dunno, don't particularly care. and i'm trans. ftm. this isn't the blog i talk about that on usually though, unless it relates to a specific ask or a fandom thing.

which, getting into what this blog is for because i can't think of anything else i need to add here (guys let me know if i forgot important stuff, please, i'm an idiot!!! i will forget the important stuff and write random shit instead!! i've already deleted three tangents from this!!)

sooooo

fandoms!! ones i write and/or post about or will potentially post about

percy jackson extending to hoo, toa, tkc (definitely post way less about this), mcga (again, way less). haven't read TSATS or COTG yet, but spoilers are fine. i post way more about minor characters. write fanfiction for and have some posted (both on here and ao3) and a bunch of snippets.

dcu-- films, comics, animated shows, all of it. personally, my favorites are young justice (the comics, not show version), new teen titans, and batman inc (batgirls, nightwing, and red robin esp). late 90s yj run is my favorite, and i loved the DCeased event. favorite batman comic is definitely court of owls run. no fanfics posted, but some on docs.

mcu-- way less so, but have a stucky oneshot. slowly making my way through in timeline order.

throne of glass. i'm an aedion and chaol apologizer because they do a bunch of dumb shit but then WHO DOESN'T in this series. fanfics in doc, not posted.

this would go on for ages if i listed everything so instead, here's an ask i answered on my fandoms/genres and everything. feel free to send me asks about anyone. if you send me something about radium girls i may cry though (tears of joy) so there's your advanced warning.

main things you'll see on my blog are incorrect quotes, snippets, and the occasional fic

this^^

my... idk, contact policy? seriously what do i word this

asks are always open, anon is on.

if you send hate... whatever. i'll probably delete it.

unless i find it funny. then I'll post it. there's really little you could say to me that would hurt.

when i say asks are always open, you can drop anything you want.

literally anything

you need to vent? want advice? want to request headcanons? request a fic? give me a prompt? ask random things about me? something else I've forgotten? go right ahead

if you want to ask me to update my fics? go right ahead. sometimes i forget i didn't post something.

send as many asks as you want, i don't care if it might be spam

i can't promise i'll respond to asks in a timely manner, sometimes i open my inbox and forget they exist for months, i'm sorry. if it's something you really want answered you can send another one

dm's are alright? if you want to be friends or something, go right ahead.

anyone can reblog any of my posts/comment/heart, i don't care. you want to heart 50 things in a row? i adore you. if i had kids, you would get my firstborn

if we're mutuals you can ask for my insta/give me yours.

now, other accounts:

anyway, i think that's it?

[moonstruckme]

Good day! This is pretty awkward to tell it to someone, but it's also suffocating to keep it bottled up all to myself. Plus, I can tell you're a wonderful and considerate person through the way you interact with us, so I think it's ok to share this with you. I'm sorry in advance as it sounds like venting 🥲

(Nsfw-related stuff ↓)

As I used to say, your fics are so lovely and wholesome that they make me feel loved, both fluff and smut. I'm so happy and grateful that they're soft, sweet, and healing.

There's a fic you wrote that is deeply relatable is the one where reader told the Marauders about things they disliked in bed such as bj, degradation, and whatnot. You have no idea how much I love and relate to such a situation. I, myself, hate those things as well, for they turn me off and sadden me, especially the degradation thing. Biggest emotional damage ever.

Idk why I read a fic (of a different fandom) that has certain TWs, one of which is degradation. Despite the warnings, I still read it as I'm in love with the character(s) in it as well as them x reader fics, filling me with hope that everything was gonna be alright. The writing was impeccable, but when I got to THAT part... it stung. What was spoken was downright cruel, leaving me shocked and speechless. After that, I was sad for several weeks. Then, I had to jump back to read fluff and comfort fics, specifically yours, as a way to heal, sort of.

Anyway, I'm sorry again for the long rant and tysm for taking your precious time to read this. I'm so happy to have found your page and I hope you have a great day 😊🙏

Babe you're always welcome to tell me whatever you're comfortable telling me (I mean not means stuff about other people ofc, but I'd never suspect that of you), I don't care if it's a vent! I'm sorry you got into that headspace, I've definitely done that before where a writer did everything they could to let me know there was upsetting content and I went ahead and upset myself anyway haha--but I'm glad you've been able to come out of it by reading happier stuff! It makes me really, unspeakably happy to think of my blog bringing you comfort or joy, so thank you for sharing that with me <33 Hope you have a great day too!