#please don't take this a me complaining about people disliking the story

[supremechancellorrex]

Okay, then, it's online space, we can go back and forth forever as it's all public discourse and there's no such thing as trespassing. Please give me examples of Mai saying fascist rhetoric or looking down on other nations racially. Aside from her just existing as a FN character born on the wrong side of the border. "Zuko did x" is actually a good measure when there's a double standard. Funny enough, I've met even people who call Zuko fascist and dislike Zuko's redemption story as it ends up with him as an absolute monarch, who mishandles the Fire Nation colony problem and puts FN citizen interests above Earth Kingdom interest for much of the Promise. The word is hardly stirring in this fandom now. Others have called him an abuser for how controlling he was in the Beach in who Mai could talk to. And they tell me all of that is so apparent. It seems in some opinions Zuko is badly written, despite the feels and "kindness" conclusions.

Also with Sokka and Suki it is not a "false equivalence" because Sokka and Suki were friends and then lovers who meet up again and kissed in the Serpent's Pass after spending days together and that whole spiel about Yue, his first girlfriend. He rebuffs Ty Lee in the Crossroads of Destiny by saying he's "with Suki now". Sokka went into a fit of rage and cried in Day of Black Sun over Suki, yet he didn't think of her missing until Azula mentions it despite it being weeks. Then as soon as they meet up again Sokka tries to smooch her immediately. They are in a relationship, it goes without saying. This is the nature of Avatar. You could complain the relationship between Suki and Sokka is fast, it could also be complained that Sokka forgets about Suki for a long time despite being committed to her. Arguably makes Sokka seem rather callous if one is to ignore this is an episodic kid's show, same with Zuko.

As for your conjecture of "We're supposed to think", that's just your interpretation, a rather absolutist one, but the context, voice acting, body language/smiles and structuring of those scenes, including the quotes I have shared but you're free to watch them yourself, make it unlikely for quite a number of others, myself included. Since you've talked about what you hate, I'll tell you what I dislike in the fandom. Absolutist takes where everyone in the audience is told "We're supposed to" with no evidence provided. This is what Azula stans say, they say "We're supposed to sympathise with Azula", "We're supposed to see that she's an abuse victim child and not judge her at all", despite it just being their interpretation. Mai does not dismiss everything Zuko says, there are many times she tries to understand and comfort him in Book 3, and Zuko's actual reasons for leaving are stated in the show.

Zuko: "Everyone in the Fire Nation thinks I'm a traitor... I couldn't drag her into it."

This is a protective measure for her, not "anti-war rhetoric" fears.

I think it's quite clear he didn't think she was going to do anything to him. He expresses no actual fear towards Mai at all. Even when he runs into her in the Boiling Rock, still no fear. It's because Mai and Zuko actually have a level of trust, because Mai has been often supportive of him despite a couple mistakes here and there. The more Zuko and Mai got to know each other in the show, the more time goes the more they ironed out problems like how most relationships work.

I also disagree with your accusations of how I allegedly "misconstrued" your argument when I actually think you misunderstand and misconstrue mine. You don't have to say someone doesn't need to be as bad as Ozai or Azula to be an abuser, although it's rather irrelevant, and I never said Mai's difficulty emoting was a good thing. Just like I would never say Zuko taking out his anger on others is a good thing, if we're talking about the relationship and responsibility. The funny thing is, Mai learns how to emote more and express herself. She even smiles more as the series progresses, she confronts Azula, she chooses Zuko over fear and bitterness. As for 'just "being human" and a teenage girl", think you restructured my sentence there, but regardless I never said Mai was perfect, there are reasons why, and I just don't believe it takes her out the running from having a relationship with Zuko just because they both have baggage or aren't perfect at communicating in every interaction. If you don't think Mai is "nasty", then why would Katara be supposedly justified in punching her in the throat and never liking her? I think the word is actually a good summary of your view of her, since you claim she's an "abuser" and "mean" to everyone, demanding a relationship with Zuko as if this is an entrapment case (despite Zuko clearly wanting the relationship as well and making his own decisions).

Zuko [surprised, happy]: 'Mai! You're okay! They let you out of prison?"

Mai : "My uncle pulled some strings. And it doesn't hurt when the new Fire Lord is your boyfriend."

Zuko: [happy, smiling] "So does this mean you don't hate me anymore?"

Look at Zuko's response, look at the context. Think we can take it that Mai isn't demanding anything here if they both know each other and what each other wants. Zuko is receptacle because he wants to be back with her, and she knows it, which is the context of the dialogue. It feels like you're forcing Mai into an aggressor/abuser role that doesn't fit her character. Mai herself is critiqued in the narrative for suppressing her emotions, and as the narrative continues we see her learn to express them more to the point she not only yells in the Beach but later goes against Azula. But Mai is never an abuser. Whether you appreciate this or not, these are canon scenes. You can argue bad writing, but it doesn't change that the writing is geared to Mai being a certain character, and that is likely not the one you're accusing her of, even with her earlier villain rep that felt rather mild in the narrative ultimately. She didn't even want to chase Katara and Sokka through slurry.

As for Ukano, guy hardly seems like a threat, Mai handled him and everyone easily while holding a toddler. Perhaps Mai didn't think Ukano would achieve much, or join with Azula, who was supposed to be in asylum. Do I think it's bad writing? Sure. Entire New Ozai Society is. Same with how I think Zuko regressing his character arc and getting advice from a genocidal maniac like Ozai is bad. At worst, they're just both muddled about their bad fathers and manipulated at times, Ukano plants doubts in Mai's mind in Smoke and Shadow (that undermine Maiko), Ozai plants doubts in Zuko in the Promise (that consequently undermine Maiko). Not sure how this adds to your Mai is an abuser narrative, Ukano and Ozai are a better fit for the blame by messing with their kids' feelings and relationship.

"I think Katara would get along with Azula/Mai because female solidarity!"

Cool. I think Katara would punch fascists in the throat.

[athena5898]

Given the nature of my blog at this point, i tend to shy away from posting about media stuff. Buuuuut I think there are a lot of younger people experience this slightly "political" dude bro phenomenon so I kind of want to walk them through it. So Dawntrail the most recent ff14 expansion. Is actually pretty good. Now if you listen to some aspect of the community you are going to get some other........."perspectives" on that. Dawntrail is flawed, of course it is. This is the expansion that would have been in development during mid to post 2020 AND it's the expansion that needed to come around after Enwalker to build up the new story. Endwalker that spent YEARS building up to a climatic finish. What does this have to do with the first paragraph? Well, I'll tell you.

Dawntrail focuses on the story of a coming of age of a nontraditionally feminine woman lead Wuk Lamat (who is voiced by a trans voice actor) and we, the heroes of the world, are now going to help and take a back seat to this person. Who she and the entire expansion is based on Indigenous people from various parts of "America" so you know, they should be front a center and our out-of-town asses *should* take a seat in the back (some of you will read this and immediately go "oh that's why it's getting extra hate") If you do not know and was lucky enough to not be a woman or non cis het white male in the 90s trying to play video games or enjoy nerd culture....All of what I just stated is a big problem. Dude bros as I like to call them, (aka someone who you will always be curious if they were or would be part of Gamer Gate. Also please note a dude bro doesn't have to be a man...trust me on that) hate this kind of shit. They naturally feel threatened when the media's focus is not about them. So what do they do? They take legitimate criticism of something and BLOW IT THE FUCK UP. Suddenly that thing that was kinda annoying, is now just the fucking worst. A story beat drags on a little long? Worst media ever. A character has a minor plot hole? Worst media ever. dialogue a little blah at one point? Worst media ever. etc etc etc These are the same kinda people mind you who will write a 8 page essay how (insert average mid action movie here) is the most amazing masterpiece of a film. (which I don't really care about, but it shows that these people are not exactly the most objective purveyors of media arts as they like to claim to be when it's suddenly about their misogyny and white supremacy) I'm bringing this up cause I'll notice some well meaning people being confused saving things "well...I kinda get *this* part of the criticism but...not this other stuff. Why is it a big deal" or some version of this. They don't actually care that much, they just care that an Indegenous GNC cat woman is getting more screen time then their precious gods gift to Eorza WoL. If they had made this expansion about a white guy or our WoL and it wouldn't of gotten nearly the same level of backlash. People will disagree with me, but I'm sorry this is just a fact. And because this is the reading comprehension website, no it's not bad to dislike Dawntrail. No it isn't bad to think a character is annoying. But the patterns are there and the chances of this JUST being about the real issues is just fucking zero. You dont' spend that much time complaining about ONE character as the focus if it isn't about the bullshit dude bro gamer pride. Honestly given how fucking gay this game is I have no idea how these people play this game without burning up like a vampire touching sunlight ALSO...I'm a ex wow player who played that game for the story (I was 14, give me a break) from BC all the way up to 7.2. So I kinda know what i'm talking about when it comes to toxic dipshit gamer behavior *looks back at that last paragraph* god that's so fucking sad. Oh fun fact, according to Wuk Lamat's voice actor Sena Bryer, all voice acting for the new area in Dawntrail was given to Latino/Indigenous voice actors for every single character. (from this area of course) *edit* lol yeah anyone saying i'm wrong is just a fucking grifter or liar. Found this while looking something else up. You know it's bad when the god damn director has to step in and say "yo you little assholes cut it out" https://www.pcgamesn.com/final-fantasy-xiv-a-realm-reborn/naoki-yoshida-wuk-lamat

[satanicsanity]

Please take the time to read this, because I feel this is something that needs to be addressed.

None of the information I include in my videos, is cannon. Wally and frank fighting isn't cannon, home hurting wally isn't cannon, yandere wally isn't cannon, NONE of the audios i make where wally is one thing or another Is cannon. These are specifically fan-Made based on peoples requests.

I have received a hurtful message saying that they hate how home is being made out to be a bad guy, and how they're starting to hate wally because of specific things I have said or done in my videos, that were requested by someone else.

These are FAN made, they're not MEANT to be cannon information. I'm NOT the creator, I don't work with the creator, i don't work with the voice actors of the characters. Nothing I do or say is accurate to the actual story of welcome home, it's NOT supposed to be. I'm not trying to induce theories, I make these for fun. They're alternative universe ideas, or simply audios of things people want to hear me say or do in wally's voice.

This message upset me deeply, as I have asked just yesterday not to message me personally and get snippy with me, or complain. And receiving those hurtful words, made me feel sick.

I know this may seem harsh.. But I truly do not care if you dislike wally, the welcome home fanbase, or if you love home to the core of your being. That is you, I personally do not hate home AT ALL, I'm simply making an audio based on Someone's REQUEST. None of that information is TRUE.

Now if I make a mistake, I will absolutely 100% try and correct it to the best I can. But it is NOT my fault if you hate wally, and NOT my fault if you hate my videos. If you are so genuinely disgusted by my work, block me. You can Block me. You do not have to come messaging me telling how much you hate my work, and blame me for you forming your own negative opinion on something.

I am so genuinely tired, I hate when people get mad at me, typing this out right now I am genuinely shaking. This is why I put trigger warnings in my videos, because if you hate the kind of stuff that will be in that specific video.. I ENCOURAGE You to NOT watch it. If you do, that is NOT my fault.

I'm not the only person who's made videos of alternate universes, where home IS the bad guy. It's not cannon, WE KNOW that nothing like that has been confirmed. My videos are not theories, they are fanmade material. I'm not trying to encourage people to hate home, I'm simply fulfilling a REQUEST I was GIVEN, by somebody else. There are people who want to see content where home is the bad guy, that doesn't make it cannon.

I understand this is alot of repeating information, and I'm sorry if this comes across as harsh or insensitive.. But I'm tired of having people cross over my boundaries, just to tell me how much they hate something or hate me for simply doing impressions of a character. If i make a mistake I will fix it, But i haven't because NOWHERE in my videos is there meant to be anything saying "oh this is cannon! This actually happened!" or "this might be the story behind welcome home!" that is not my intention of these videos. I'm doing them for fun, I'm doing them for the peeps who want to see specific things that I can provide to them.

Please just.. Read my boundaries, do NOT cross them, and do not message me personally saying hurtful things. There is a REASON the block button exists, pal. I am ONE person doing everything on this blog. If I make a mistake, I'm sorry. If you don't like something I do, I'm sorry. I'm one person, I can't do everything, I can't make everyone happy.

Furthermore, Do not message me to vent to me about how much you hate or dislike something I'm doing. I'm happy to do a comfort audio or something like that, but I'm not a therapist. I'm some random guy on the internet making voice impression videos, if you're so pressed about my content talk to someone else. I'm not going to to stop doing something that isn't a problem, just because you don't like it. That's called being selfish.

[zolica-ao3]

Okay, so slightly weird question but I'd like to know 😊

How do you deal with writers block? If you have it, at least, because very few people update weekly.

Thanks in advance!

🧡

Wait, it's rare to update weekly? I thought that was like... The norm...

I haven't experienced writers block (yet) luckily. But I do experience something I like to call "writers annoyance", where you're stuck and don't know how to go further.

Like, you wrote a sentence that takes you somewhere you don't know how to get out of. Or a part in the story that stops interesting you after a while.

For me it was the shopping trip... At the end of it I was SO DONE with it. I wanted them to go home and be all domestic again. But noooo they had to go grocery shopping as well.

So I decided to write the shopping trip with less detail, only highlighting the parts I wanted the readers to know: Oscar not being allowed to buy fish, Lando complaining about which veggies to buy, and Luka apparently having no dislikes except broccoli.

Compared to the other stores they went to, I glanced over the shopping trip quickly to keep myself engaged.

But sometimes I can get so stuck on a part I can't get any further. I tend to set a mental timer for myself. 15 minutes. If nothing comes out of my hands during that time I stop writing for a bit and go play video games for a while or something.

I just stare at my word document for 15 minutes, reread the sentences before then, try new sentences to get out of it... If nothing happens I accept my fate and exit the word document for a bit. This usually helps.

Oh! And if I get really stuck, I sometimes just write out very shortly (and in a different color) what I want to happen in that chapter. I then have more of an overview of where I want to go next.

How do I get from A to B? What do I need them to do or say? Is there something else that needs to happen?

And sometimes I just throw away the sentence(s) that made me get stuck in the first place and start over.

The most important thing is to keep having fun and remember that your readers will love your story anyway. Don't get discouraged by possibly bad sentences. Highlight them for later scrutiny and move on. Like when you're taking an exam and one of the questions is so confusing you're like "aight, I will try again later".

Also, if you're not having fun writing at that moment, please stop. Don't force yourself. Try again later when you're more in the writing mindset.

You can't pressure creativity!

Thanks for your question ☺️🧡🤗 A bit of a ramble! Hope it helps!

[veloelo]

oh my god this is such a mood. I need to get off of reddit because such a large portion of the audience, even the self-proclaimed vorthos, seem to fucking hate the basic structure of a story. Like, they seem ideologically opposed to the very idea of a main character. The endless complaining about the derogatorily named "jace-tice league"* and wanting to see new characters, but the second we get a new main character, the complaining starts ad nauseam. I'd say they just want to see their favorite characters in every story but I think they'd complain about that too

I remember seeing these "hot takes" from people a while ago that phyrexia should have won or jace should've destroyed the multiverse and I really wonder how people think that would've gone down. Like can you imagine if WotC came out and said "sorry Jace destroyed the multiverse, all your favorite planes are gone. We're only making universe beyond sets from now on." There's this obsession with "stakes", but it seems so divorced from reality. For what it is Magic kills off way more characters than other things like it but three recurring characters dying during the end of an arc doesn't sound like a lot on a plot summary on reddit so I guess it doesn't count

In less than 24 hours after getting a new cute character, we have someone on MaRo's blog saying just how much they want to go to town on this baby. It honestly feels so performative that it loops back around to being sad. Honestly this type of stuff reeks of insecurity that anything they enjoy could bee seen as immature or cringe.**

Also I think we're all forgetting a year ago a guy in the story had his brain and body fused with that of a mindless creature. the story is still very mature. Also what the the fuck was that?

*I'm sorry but if you can't see a piece of media without immediately correlating it to a plotline in a marvel movie, that says more about you than it does the piece of media

**This is also my theory on why people hate Universes Beyond, but that's an unhinged rant post for another day

Sometimes you see such a dedication to being opposed to whimsy or being so obsessed with what something isn’t that I think they lost the plot about what the thing they say they love even is.

[tentenpropaganda]

the main problem with naruto fandom is just that like 98% of characters have done something very objectionable at some point, and people (myself included tbh) just tend to have a bias against whichever character just... caught them at the wrong moment, or did something that they find particularly objectionable. but, in the name of "critical analysis", people in fandom tend to really focus on, like, grading the morality of every character and action in the story (which is not really what critical analysis means imo. that can be a PART of critical analysis but it's not the end-all-be-all; there's a time and a place, yknow?).

so it just causes a lot of unnecessary vitriol because people feel entitled to be like "how could you like [x character] from this nationalistic manga about morally fucked up ninjas who murder people bc they're indoctrinated by a morally fucked up system??? don't you know [x character] is morally fucked up and has literally murdered people????" and often this is closely followed by "you should instead appreciate MY favorite character, [character who has ALSO done some seriously fucked up shit which went unquestioned by the narrative]"

and like, it should be obvious from glancing at my blog that i can be a bit of a hater towards characters i don't like. i have my own biases! but just bc i dont like j*raiya, for instance, doesn't mean i'm gonna make a post implying that liking him means you, yourself, are sexist, or don't care about the real-life misogyny and SA.

idk. this is a really common problem in fandom in general, but it feels particularly bad in naruto sometimes, and i think that's probably partially because it's such a huge series with so many fucked up things about its writing (see: treating genuine SA from j*raiya as a hilarious joke, or treating hyuga clan slavery as something that can just be papered over by ~treating the branch family nicer~, or going to Great Lengths to establish that the shinobi system is deeply fucked up and immoral and needs to be changed only for naruto to become hokage and change Literally Nothing). so like, you're hard pressed to find characters who haven't done something fucked up which the narrative condones. which can feel very frustrating!!!

that frustration is valid!!! and ranting about specific moments or characters that bug you most of all is very valid!!!! but please don't feel the need to take that out directly on other fans. whether that be by, again, implying that ppl who like the characters are stupid or immoral, or by getting personally offended when you see other ppl who like characters you hate/dislike characters you love

(be like me instead and make your own rant post complaining about this phenomenon rather than replying to annoying rant posts in your fav's tags lmao)

[todomitoukei]

I don't usually dislike endings to things. I am very easy to please. Usually when I see a movie it's my favorite movie immediately until I watch another movie.

But like. It really hurts to see that every character I related to has been screwed over or killed in some way. I understand that it's my fault for being a villain fan, for relating to Dabi's and Tomura's and Himiko's backstories despite them having killed people and thinking that the series would extend them a modicum of kindness that it had been saying it could, that I am now hurt like this. I understand not all series are like DBZ in which they spare most of their villains like Vegeta or 18 or Majin Buu. Not every protagonist is Goku, not every antagonist is Frieza. I get it.

It'd be fine if there were just us villain fans complaining into the void. Even if I were the only one upset, it'd be fine. I've had unpopular opinions before, I just wrote AU fanfiction for it then. I'm familiar with death to canon, I am in the FNAF and Danny Phantom fandoms, my favorite characters are William Afton and freaking Pariah Dark. What hurts most is the posts claiming that there's something wrong with my reading comprehension for not liking how things ended. That I should've known it was coming and agreed with them being killed off like that and that I'm stupid for expecting otherwise, that it was the only realistic option. Realistic, when there are characters who survived far worse, such as Nagant who exploded twice and Toshinori who had his intestines ripped out. Realistic when there's a boy who can literally explode his own sweat and a girl who is a frog.

Why do we immediately jump to question someone's reading comprehension and intelligence when they have a different opinion? And why is it my fault if I misunderstood a work, and not the author's for making things unclear? Isn't the point of reading to make your own understanding and discuss it with others, isn't that what's supposed to be fun about this? I'm hesitant to really talk about my opinions on MHA because of this, that's why I am sending this on anon and with a pseudonym. I don't like being called stupid, even if someone doesn't say it to my face. It makes me want to leave the fandom and go watch something else.

I hope I'm not just reading antagonism into people's posts, my family says I tend to read antagonism into people's actions where there isn't any. But it really feels like they are upset with us when I see it over and over again and see people saying "LOV stans DNI" and stuff.

Sorry for the huge wall of text, I guess I'm more upset about the fandom than the ending itself. I tried to format this in a way that is understandable, but it is very hard to type on mobile.

I hope you have a good day and thank you for your time. I appreciate the chance to vent anonymously. It's been eating at me since Shigaraki's end.

Feel free to delete this if you change your mind about hosting the vents, and if you start feeling badly do please take care of yourself. Don't forget to drink a water and eat a food.

- Doppio

First of all, no worries, your feelings are absolutely valid so don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

It's interesting people say us being upset about the villains' endings is due to a lack of reading comprehension when, like you said, it's inconsistent when taking into account the fact that the hero characters simply all get better off, surviving the craziest things while the villains die if someone just looks at them funny.

If I could be bothered and had the time or energy I could dissect the entire trainwreck that is this story and talk about how bad the writing is. This is not me being subjective, it's simply objectively not a well-written story. It's fine if people enjoy it and even like the ending, but objectively speaking, it is full of inconsistency, retconning and even if we take the technicalities out of it, the messages the story sends in the end are just awful.

The fact the story starts and ends by verbally telling us it's about reaching out to and helping people, only for anyone that is part of an oppressed group (queer people, physically and mentally disabled people, abuse victims etc) and is somehow different cannot and will not be saved, while the perpetrators, those in privileged positions of power, will continue to live life without any actual consequences is rather questionable.

If the story had always had that black and white tone, if it had always suggested to us that people that suffer and stand up for themselves will be left behind and rot in jail or die, fine. But the story suggested on multiple occasions that they could be saved and that they also had a point.

So don't let anyone tell you that you're wrong or don't have reading comprehension when the opposite is true. We have every right to feel frustrated when the ending doesn't line up with the messages it used to send and replaced them with the worst messages a hero story (or any story for that matter) could send.

Also, anyone that feels seen and represented by the lov, please know that you're valid and that you do deserve the best and that it's never too late for anyone to be saved and get better.

I wish the story and fandom understood that fiction is never completely separate from reality and that when we talk about certain topics or people we also indirectly talk about real people that relate to these topics or people (which is why removing Touya's scars in fanart or edits for example or making fun of his or Tenko's skin is highly problematic).

I hope you have a good day too despite everything!

[thousand-winters]

I really don't understand this fandom. You want grace to go through more pain? We know from chain of iron that Tatiana beat her repeatedly, that she was pimped out to young and old men, and she was used as a mere doll by Belial, besides all the grooming and psychological abuse she suffered from Tatiana. She goes through a horrible interrogation, gets her power taken out in the most painful and horrific way, her brother completely forgets about her and her only friend dies. And you people want her to get her marks stripped? She explicitly says she didn't want to do what she did to James, that it was wrong, that she didn't enjoyed any of it. And as soon as she's free from Tatiana's grasp she takes the bracelet off him, bc Tatiana wouldn't be able to hurt her anymore (are we forgetting Tatiana hit her when her power didn't work on James?).

What she did was wrong, period. But it seems to me all the pain and abuse she's a suffered, plus all the things she did to help should free her from any extra punishment. Like, people act as if her life with Tatiana was fun when she actually says: the only thing that gave my life some meaning was Jesse.

People are so quick to forgive male characters, who do some shitty horrible things (obviously different from this particular situation) but then you have a girl, with one of the saddest back stories from tsc, who was used and actually regrets her actions and is changing for the better, and you treat her like a monster? Why is it so difficult to offer her the same sympathy you do to the white men from these books?

She's all alone, her mind is completely fucked up, and it's gonna take years for her to be in a good place mentally. Isn't that enough? After all of this, shouldn't they offer her some kindness? The books make it very clear that if she wouldn't have been under Tatiana's roof she would have never done something like this, she would have lived a normal life, been a normal person.

This fandom always complains about the Clave's treatment towards children and their lack of accountability and understanding, but then go and act the same way towards Grace. Why can't you understand that this is a complex situation? Not something you can reduce to black and white (like the book does). I've seen people have more sympathy towards Sebastian (you know the biggest villain of these books) than to Grace.

If you hate her so much just stop talking about her. Please.

Oh, the callout about the white men 🤭

It is truly heinous how people act towards Grace, isn't it? I don't have much to add to this because you have summed it up really nicely and I agree with everything you have pointed out here.

Frankly? Half of the people I saw hating on her pre-COT did so because of her "interfering with Jordelia" which was very ridiculous already, because if you're gonna dislike her, better be it for something that actually makes sense instead of shippy reasons, but oh, well. Fandoms are like that sometimes.

Would love if they didn't talk about her in worse ways than how actual evil characters are talked about, but it is what it is.

There are people with some sense at least, like you, dear anon 🙏

[fayesdiary]

7, 8, 12, 15, 18, and 25 for Micaiah?

Ooh, I never get to talk about her! Micaiah Fire Emblem you will always be famous ^^

7) What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I definitely appreciate the fact the fandom has eventually mellowed out to her over the years. More people are starting to appreciate her and I'm all for it! Especially those who acknowledge she did some reprehensible shit ^^

8) What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I don't know if people still do it but man, I remember years ago most hated Micaiah. As in, whole threads dedicated to calling her names as well as the dreaded Mary Sue.

That was for a number of reasons, but most of all that she dared to dislike and take the spotlight away from Ike. Nevermind she has legitimate reasons not to like the man (and she still comes around him) and Ike hoards like 80% of the screentime from characters who desperately need it while he stays pretty much the same from the end of PoR. FE fandom be normal about women challenge

As for a more recent example... Look, I also hate Micaiah/Sothe and think it's gross because she practically raised him, but can everyone please quit it with the groomer jokes? They're not funny and most importantly you shouldn't throw such a serious word around like you're a far-right politician complaining about queer people to the point it loses all meaning.

12) What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I imagine her relationship with Sanaki is pretty... Rocky at first.

Sure, they're happy they found out they're sisters, but also Micaiah kinda tried to burn her alive in Part 3 so, you know. At the very least an apology is due.

15) What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

I don't have any strong ships for her... So I'd probably go with Yunaka! I feel her dynamic with the real Micaiah especially would be so interesting given both of them have quite a number of skeletons in their closet🤔

Also they cute 💕

18) How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

As I mentioned before I think her relationship with Ike is so interesting because you spent all of PoR knowing him as the hero and yet she dislikes him because from her point of view, he's the one who conquered Daein and forced it under Begnion's foot, so of course she can't help but roll her eyes whenever Sothe speaks highly of him.

(I'm also realizing it's kind of a callback to that base convo in PoR after Talrega where its citizen tell Ike where he can shove the food he gave them after being the reason their homeplace got flooded and Shiharam died)

And sure, eventually she re-evaluates her opinion of him (although admittedly in a very easy-to-miss boss convo), but to me it's their initial dynamic that's so intriguing.

25) What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I played Radiant Dawn blind after watching a playthrough of Path of Radiance, so my first reaction to her was the very common "No Ike, who this?"

Now it's almost the opposite, I still enjoy Ike but I love Micaiah so much more!

She is so interesting, I love her sass and overall personality, her original design is PEAK and her overall story is so good!

She's constantly put on the backfoot and forced to do some reprehensible stuff that goes against her very nature (doubly so because she's part heron) because her whole country is being held hostage, but unlike, uh, another FE lord with similar hair, no one tries to bend over backwards to excuse her actions. Her enemies know she's wrong, her allies know she's wrong, SHE knows she's wrong but is still determined to do what it takes to keep her people safe, no matter what happens to her. (And yet, the moment Sothe is threatened, she finds out she can't do it.)

She's also constantly trying to find a way out in the meantime, and the moment she does? She never looks back.

Also in general playing as the enemy army is so cool because not only are you horribly weak compared to the Liberation Army and they're pretty much steamrolling you (which is what makes Micaiah's Part 3 chapters so scary), but they can also recruit people away from you (Jill, Zihark). And that is literally one of the coolest things this franchise has done!

[beecreeper]

22, 91, 93! for all three >:3

Oooh this was a long one. I already answered 91 in a previous ask, but here's the other two under the cut.

22.) What is your Tav's first impression of the other companions (Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Wyll ...)

Briar's reactions:

Shadowheart -- "I'm so glad that she's sensible and isn't taking the whole "leaving her to die on the nautiloid" thing personally. She also doesn't do annoying things like "talk to me" or "ask about my past". Respectable."

Astarion -- thinks his charming schtick is a bit annoying and that he's a bit too much of a dandy, but DOES get a kick out of him threatening her with a knife straight out the gate. REALLY gets a kick out him trying to bite her, ESPECIALLY when he goes all puppy dog eyes "please" about it. She's like "oh he's kinda pathetic. I kinda wanna treat him like a pet."

Gale -- Haaaaaaates Gale immediately. Thinks he is the most annoying, pretentious, obnoxious man on the planet and the only reason he isn't dead is because other people were around and she didn't want to lose allies yet.

Lae'zel -- glad to have someone competent and ruthless around. Thinks that her bossing around Zorru is REALLY funny. But also finds her constantly preaching about the githyanki really grating.

Wyll -- tbh Briar feels kinda nothing about Wyll at first. She doesn't actively *dislike* how gallant and do-goody he is quite yet because it's like "fine do what you want as long as you don't get in *my* way", which he hasn't yet. Is a bit exacerbated when Mizora shows up because at that point it's like "we have to deal with ANOTHER devil are you serious. This is a pain".

Karlach -- her immediate reaction to Karlach was "oh this will be useful". Vibes with the part of Karlach that is boisterous and impulsive.

Molli's reactions:

Shadowheart -- WHY is she being so rude all the time.

Astarion -- is very caught off guard by him and falls for all his manipulation stuff really easily. Unfortunately for her she IS down bad right away and starts making excuses for him. Him being smug and arrogant and morally dubious but also doing things like flirting with her makes her head kinda spin.

Gale -- autism to autism connectivity. Doesn't vibe with him as strongly as some of the other companions but they definitely understand each other.

Lae'zel -- bossy competent scary lady I will not argue with her on anything yes ma'am anything you say ma'am

Wyll -- likes Wyll immediately. Loves his charm and his fairy tale hero demeanor and his stories and his wit and how he's also just a bit of a dork. When it comes to Mizora and the Karlach thing she can see that he's clearly been tricked and trapped and she feels kinda protective of him because of that. Like, you know that feeling like "I know that I struggle with this same problem and don't address it when it's happening to me, but as soon as it's happening to a friend I suddenly have the determination of a thousand suns"? It's that.

Karlach -- had a crush on Karlach pretty much immediately. LOVES how enthusiastic she is for everything. Look how much she loves life! Look at her smile and laugh and dance!!

Ferox's reactions:

Shadowheart -- "Hm. I don't like how cagey you're being about that artifact but I'm not gonna push it. Not my business but I AM watching you."

Astarion -- oh does not like Astarion pretty much at all. Thinks he's shifty and untrustworthy and disingenuous and also just annoying. Can you stop complaining for TWO seconds, Astarion.

Gale -- "you keep saying a lot of words that I don't know but you seem to know what you're doing with magic so I trust you." Low-key likes when Gale talks at him even though a lot of it goes over his head. I also imagine, out of all the companions, Gale is the one most likely to ask for help in camp and lean into the teamwork part of things, so Gale is good for giving Ferox tasks to do, like asking for help setting up his tent or cutting things for dinner, and Ferox is grateful for something to do. He likes to feel productive and useful and Gale facilitates that.

Lae'zel -- he immediately defers to Lae'zel as being in charge because she acts like it and also seems to know the most about mindflayers. He sees her as efficient and capable, if maybe a touch too abrasive but who is he to judge if it's getting the job done.

Wyll -- admires Wyll a lot and is very jealous of how he can just *be* like that. Like wow that guy is actually a noble hero

Karlach -- feels a lot of sympathy for Karlach's situation and is low-key jealous of just how upbeat she is in spite of it.

93. What do you think happens to the party, afterwards? Do they go for drinks? Do they go their separate ways?

Obviously it all depends on which ending they get so I'll try to summarize without getting too convoluted lol

Briar is easy because in both of her endings she doesn't talk to any of these people ever again. Either she uses them at thralls in her takeover or she just makes an active effort to never be found. She would have one last conversation with Sunflower before leaving for the wilderness forever. In that version, I'm sure Sunflower would be making deliberate efforts to keep the party in touch with each other, but Briar absolutely opts out.

In Molli's good ending, she, Karlach, and Wyll (because you KNOW Wyll is coming with us) all have to leave for Avernus really abruptly which interrupts any celebratory drinks they absolutely would have had if given the chance. They definitely all reconnect after they get back, though it takes a bit of doing to track everyone down. Everyone gets their good ending in this timeline though, so it all works out in the end.

In Molli's bad ending, I'm a little less solid about where all the companions will wind up, which will definitely change the post-brain vibe. In general, I think a lot of the companions will get the endings that take them all their separate ways. Molli would really want to try to kinda stay in touch, but Astarion would try to discourage it and keep her isolated.

In Ferox's good ending he's probably going with Lae'zel to fight Vlaakith BUT I would want to insist that they don't fly off on a dragon immediately like happens in game. They need a fucking breather, you know? And he wants to check in with all their other allies after the battle as well, check on the city and help with any immediate relief efforts. Then they can go to the astral plane and would probably lose touch with the rest of the party. I'd imagine communication between planes would be difficult and they'd only manage it pretty rarely, but he'd always be glad whenever he does hear from them.

In Ferox's bad ending everyone else goes out for drinks but he has to excuse himself and get the FUCK out of town because he feels Bhaal taking over his body (because he gets THAT ending. The "accept Bhaal + destroy the brain" ending)

[dizzycoffee]

hiii ! First, english is not my first language so I can make some mistakes. I would like to request a romantic hazbin hotel matchup please :)

My pronouns are she/they and im a demi-girl, im pansexual and don't have any preferences.

I tend to be shy when I first meet someone but when I feel more comfortable and safe around them Im louder and make a lot of jokes. Im very creative and love to draw and write stories. I love helping people and im a great listener for them to talk about their interests or their problems. I love watching kids shows and reading. I also love horror in general especially on internet. I really likes animales too and I do horse riding. On a more negative tone I tend to have self destructive thoughts and acts because of depression even if I try my best to get better. I dislike when people don't understand me or at least don't try.

I don't have a specific aesthetic but I think its would be a mix of indie and dark academia.

I hope this will be enough for you to make something, its my first time requesting something hehe ^^

Thanks in avance !!

hiii !! hope you’re having a lovely day <33

You’ve been paired with …

Husk !

At first when you two first met, you didn't think you'd be close with him

little did you know

His bluntness and your quietness clashed a lot at the start, to the point that you two would rather avoid one another

That was until the day Husk sort of just called everybody out on who they were and when he got to you, you were surprised that he read you pretty well

From that day forward, you both tried to put in a little more effort into each other's relationship

You were pleasantly surprised how well he understood you, and he was pleasantly surprised that you didn't take offense to it!

Whenever your self-destructiveness seemed to weight heavier than usual, he stuck by your side and helped you through it

"We're in this together, so don't hide it and make it worse."

He also loves your company!!

Loves to clean the bar while you go and tell your silly jokes, it makes his day go by smoother <3

The relationship you two have is one of pure understanding

You can tell the most batshit crazy joke and everyone would just go "???" but Husk would still laugh at it

Everyone's like "how'd you get Husk of all people to understand your jokes??" and his only reply to that is "They're the only one who understands my humor."

When it comes to dates, it doesn't matter what you end up doing, he just wants to be close to you

You two could be running from a turf war or something and while he will totally complain about the circumstances the two of you are in, you can always catch glimpses of him smiling whenever he grabs your hand to run off somewhere else.

[invinciblerodent]

I'm rambling cause I'm bothered and saw you mentioned it once so lol, feel free to ignore this is you want hun xoxo I genuinely did not want to believe that people were complaining about the lack of consent/the fearful/uncomfortable expression and body language on tav in the ascended astarion kiss scenes, like I straight up couldn't believe it, but i just looked at the patch notes for a hotfix in patch 6 and saw three separate people commenting to complain about it being "traumatizing" and wanting it to be more consensual and for him to be more dominant rather than cruel.... losing my mind i hate it here, gg on missing the point to those ppl. Rather than asking for maybe like a pop up saying "hey you chose the evil route, he's going to be evil and manipulative TW" they want it completely changed to fit their narrative and ideas. He isnt dominant hes meant to be bad, I feel so defeated they got what they wanted... Larian literally giving in and changing the point of that route is so frustrating wtf, that completely alters the whole thing...

No yeah, I totally agree with you on that.

I think I'm not even frowny about it being the way it is-- I'm obviously okay with people misunderstanding the whole route (I'd be having a really bad time if I wasn't okay with people misinterpreting media on the misinterpreting media website lol), it's not a big deal, if they want to entertain their whole "sexy dommy vampire daddy" fantasy (which, lol, this guy? really? this sopping wet rat whom I love?) it doesn't bother me-- usually I just block the people whose takes I find obnoxious or tone-deaf, and I don't even mind the expression being more ambiguous than straight-up fearful, because it allows for it to fit with a wider variety of characters.

What I dislike, upon further reflection, is how much this now comes off as if the changes are being made because of the complaints.

Even if the expressions were always intended to be more ambiguous and they just took it a slight bit too far on accident, even if it was always meant to be the way it is going to be now (which I agree, is a better way for it to be, just from a character customization point of view- i can imagine a number of characters who wouldn't look at A!Astarion like a scared bunny even if they're not "into" his cruelty), just because there was such a vocal minority responding so loudly to it and it's being changed the way they want it, it kind of makes it seem like it's setting a precedent I really don't like. Which is a precedent that says "instead of examining the actual story being told and examining the choices we made that lead to the outcome we dislike, we should just complain and yell loudly enough until all the uncomfortable aspects of it are edited out of existence". I really don't like that. (Have these people never played an oldschool otome game, with actual bad endings? Have they never had a handsome anime boy sneer into their face about how much he hates them because they didn't give him enough gifts on day 5???? Have yall never gotten friendzoned by anime boys???????????)

I already don't make much of a secret out of how much I'm not a fan of the kind of access fandom has now to the creators of the piece of media they enjoy-- how uncomfortable I am with people, like, referring to actors and game developers by their first names as if they were trusted friends, how prone people are to going through someone's twitter likes with a fine-tooth comb, and how much insight (even if we don't want it) we are given to people's completely innocuous comings and goings. I already don't like how much control people feel like they have over art created by other people.

Idk. I know Larian is trying to be a "cool game studio", and they're trying to please fans to retain their darling status, and I think it's to their detriment. I love the game they made (of course I do, I've been talking about it non-stop for the past year lol), but I genuinely hope the chunk of change they got from its success will allow them to just take a breath, and put out their next game with the confidence, and the finality it deserves.

please let's just go back to releasing a game fully and not futzing with it beyond bug fixes a year after release still, please let things just be finished and done and jfc please let's all just collectively grow some media literacy, we can't keep pissing on the poor like this they're already soaked to the bone, please

[fictionkinfessions]

[《 Fandom(s) this post is about : «“Persona ５”» (kinda I guess?) ｜ «“General”» 》]

[ Type of post : motivational message..?? + reply at the end ]

❂——✧——✧——✧——✧——✧——❂

♤ – « “Yahoo!! Amamiya Ren / Kurusu Akira here to give a little message for EVERYONE!!” »

✪ – « “If you feel as though you shouldn't talk to other people from your source due to feelings of shame, guilt, or anything like that, try to think what you would think about someone from your source coming up to you to talk!” »

✸ – « “Would you feel neutral about it? Would you not mind? Would you be ecstatic? If it's anything like this, then why wouldn't other people think about YOU coming up to THEM that way aswell??” »

々– « “Worry not, I'm sure that even if you did awful stuff in source, they'll appreciate something coming from you. Although.. if this is true.. maybe like.. a little apology for everything could be nice before anything? I think that might be a good headstart, and after that, that's WHEN you try to talk to them if they're okay with it!” »

❀ – « “That being said.. pls don't be sad if they do NOT want anything to do with you, people have boundaries, and that's okay, I'm sure you wouldn't really want certain people from your source trying to talk to you after everything they did to you or other people, even with a much needed apology, so don't feel sad if that's the case, some people WILL l want to talk to you, others simply won't.” »

♧ – « “That's something you will (very sadly) need to accept if what you're afraid of is not being accepted or loved by all.” »

❅ – « “I heard a saying once, ‘even if you were the best strawberry of all, there will still be people that dislike them’. Moral of the story? It's fine if some people don't like you nor want you around, you're still the bestest strawberry of them all!!11!1!1” »

✧ – « “So don't think ‘oh, but what if they hate me ｡⁠:ﾟ⁠(⁠;⁠´⁠∩⁠`⁠;⁠)ﾟ⁠:⁠｡’, instead, do your best to keep your head straight and look ahead until it's the ONLY (maybe not exactly like that but have healthy optimism) thing you'll be able to do!! (oh, but remember to sometimes look behind, too, you don't want to entirely forget that part 😕)” »

✮ – « “sin miedo al exito amikos!! (Translation from Spanish to English: do not fear success, friends!!)” »

❂ – « “And hey, if you're still afraid of talking to others even after trying your best? That's fine, do things at your own pace, don't get out of your comfort zone entirely if you don't feel ready, and don't be too harsh on yourself if you can't!!” »

♡ – « “Lots of love, from — #❂🥞🐈‍⬛✮ !!” »

❂——✧——✧——✧——✧——✧——❂

[ Side notes : ]

(《 ✮«“Ren Amamiya”» ✮ ｜❂ « Akira Kurusu » ❂｜♤ «“Joker”» fictive + fictionkin♧》)

(I have cursed myself with decorations :3)

(hits everyone who is reading this with a super strong «“love yourself”» spell!!)

(if I was somebody else reading this I'd mentally cry ngl)

( Psst psst.. to the Akechi that made that post saying they felt like a coward due to not talking to sourcemates.. [ a.k.a the one that made this post :

https://www.tumblr.com/fictionkinfessions/758442583462658048/i-feel-as-if-im-a-coward-for-not-allowing-myself?source=share ] )

(You are NOT a coward for not doing so!! It's fine to feel this way, but please don't believe everyone on sight will hate you just for existing, because I don't, and I believe that there's MANYYY people out there apart from me that would LOVE to speak with you!! Take care, XOXO!!!!)

[ Post number : 9 ]

(DID I FORGET TO NUMBER THE LAST POST?? the one about Sumi.. oh GOD.. if it's not the custom tag it's something else 💔)

(I ALMOST FORGOT TO PUT MY NAME IN??? 😭)

(Morgana.. mona mona.. where r you.. I'm recognizing I forget everything without you..)

(sorry for complaining in the side notes I WILL do it again actually)

x

[kingflups]

FOR THE ASK GAME!! :DD

🐚 ⇢ do you like or dislike surprises?

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

🐚 ⇢ do you like or dislike surprises?

I like surprises! I don't get them often, but I think they're a blast. I usually complain if somebody springs something big on me I have to travel for, but I usually enjoy whatever it is-- I mostly just like the talk. But yeah! I like surprises

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

Make enough food for leftovers!! I'm grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking, you HAVE to make enough for leftovers. Make food for your friends. Surprise people with food. I am such a firm believer that food is a sign of love, for yourself, for others.... make food that you love! Love yourself!! Make enough to bring to work and to have when your sad! Get really into sandwiches! Just. love food? In every way you can. It's good for your brain, good for your heart, good for stomach.

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

I really don't like Lady D. She annoys the fuck out of me actually. She clogs up the resident evil tag, I don't like a lot of her fans energy... She's just fine, and she gets too much hype for being big, evil and hot. Listen. I'm a lesbian. I love women. She's hot. But I think she gets too much energy from the fanbase considering she's a essentially a miniboss, and frankly, a pretty flat one. Beyond her relationship with her daughters, there's not a lot to her. I don't care for RE8 anyway (I think it tries to do too much, and in having so many antagonists, doesn't give any of them time to properly shine. Having a beef between the siblings is a fun dynamic, Mother Miranda is aesthetically incredible... none of it changes the fact a lot of them would have benefited from being in different games)

I would so much rather that energy goes to any of the other resident evil woman. It's insane that when I try to find and saphic content for the fandom, an insane amount of it is self-insert ship art with Lady D! Not to hate on anyone who selfships, that's fun as hell, but with ANYONE ELSE, please.

Also. Might do a post about Mia later because I'm thinking about themes of motherhood again. Honestly, the only reason Lady D works in RE8 for me and why I don't completely hate her is because her theme of motherhood and taking work so well with Ethan's story, it's a shame she's not in RE8 for longer, and that the deaths of her Daughters weren't more impactful to her is a downright SHAME.

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

I won't say rewriting RE8 because I'm thinking about it now, but know I want to. I have two fics I would love to work on personally? This might be cheating, but... I don't think I care. I want to work on them. As much as I don't like RE8, I *do* have kind of a silly fic I've been slowly working on that very indulgently combines my two favorite things: Rewriting stories I don't like and turning people into monsters.

It's a bad-end fic where after the end of RE4, Leon, Ashley and Luis are re-infected with a strain of Plagas that just makes them buggy, so they go into hiding. Slash cut to RE8, they're hiding out in the same village Miranda's shit is happening, and being kinda pissy towards Chris for """killing"""" Mia, Ethan teams up with Ashley while Luis and Leon just fully have baby Rose with them. It's fully just an excuse to act out like. 3 silly scenes I have in my head, but one day I hope to put that out into the world.

This was so much fun, thank you so much for the ask!!! <3

[jellybuttons]

Honestly I don't understand the tension talking about the movie on here??? We knew it was going to be a seperate, non-canon imagining of the original origin story, and considering the time limit on it and the fact that it's made for new audiences, I think it was a very sweet story that really captured the heart of the original concept that made everyone so wild about the show. It was a different interpretation and it obviously changed a lot because of that, but I don't think some of the reactions I've seen on here are thinking about this the right way.

I've seen a lot of discourse on whether the movie or show was better, and I'm not sure the quality is even comparable. The movie is objectively higher budget and knew it was getting an ending, but it only had about an hour and a half. The show was very much going season by season for a while, and had a much more limited budget and ability to create a continuous story, but also had 5 full seasons to build everything up and help us know the characters and the lore.

I personally loved the movie, because it's what I thought Miraculous was going to be when I finished season 1 in 2016 and I loved that idea. But the show IS Miraculous, and it's given us so much more universe to expand on and so much more character that the movie didn't even touch.

Honestly? As someone who's been here since 2015, with all the hiatuses and uncertainty, how crazy is it that we got 2 DIFFERENT Gabriel arc endings within a month or so? Ladynoir and Adrienette? The chance to see how things would've been different over a different timeline (without a memory erasure)? The movie was a gift, with beautiful animation and music, and I am SO grateful to have that AS A COMPANION to the season 5 ending that handled things so differently. It makes me wonder what the show would've looked like if Jeremy Zag had handled the whole thing. But it doesn't make me love the show less, or be more critical of it than I already would've been.

Like idk about you guys but I loved this movie for the same reason I love the show and a really good fanfic; I'm just so feral about these 2 and their double life and love for each other. Are we really going to sit here and complain about another version of the same love story we've been retelling on AO3 for 8 years now?

This isn't salty, I just want to drive home the point that people have had valid complaints about Miraculous for years, but that at the end of the day it's exciting that we're getting new content with these kids. I think sometimes we fixate on being critical instead of enjoying the same story that captured our hearts so long ago because it was just SUCH a good idea, regardless of how it actually played out. Especially considering this movie isn't canon and has no effect on the ongoing plot of the show, it simply isn't that serious.

This isn't saying you can't dislike the movie. Of course you can dislike the movie. I'm more commenting on the people that are tearing the movie to shreds BECAUSE it's not the show, or who are pitting them against each other. They're different and that's okay. Please feel free to complain about both, because god knows they've given us plenty to complain about over the years, but you can make those complaints while keeping in mind that it's a seperate piece of media than the show that just happens to share characters.

Idk, if it really bothers you that much, just think of the movie as a hella high budget AU origins fanfic and call it a day. But me personally? I'll take every yearning look between these stupid kids that I can get.

[aipilosse]

always love your takes plz keep them going♡

(I'm sorry about those who are like *that*)

oh I will, anon! It will take more than people being mildly annoying about a post to make me shut up. Thank you!

I generally don't even touch discourse that really bothers me. If it's something that makes me really angry, I avoid it at all costs -- I don't enjoy getting into real internet fights.

Some blathering introspection under the cut

There's definitely such a thing as too many too hot takes and I don't want to cross over into that territory. I firmly believe you need to spend more time talking about, reblogging, writing about, drawing, WHATEVER the things you love more than the things you dislike. I really try to do that -- boost what I love, write what I love, try to put out what I want to see in the world.

HOWEVER. I think 'no complaining or negativity ever' is toxic af. First because what's complaining and negativity is kind of subjective, and I've found trying to police that actually means that the unpopular viewpoints are suppressed and the popular ones get to be whined about on main (aka people jumping all over you if you just say Maedhros was not literally the most beautiful elf to ever elf but you can make up the worst shit about Thingol and no one says anything).

Honestly I've seen people complain about 'hate in character tags' in regards to characters like Maeglin and when you look at said hate its..... a discussion of his actions in canon with no exaggeration. If you like characters who do bad things you gotta be able to handle people talking about the bad things they did. And handle people not vibing with what you like. I personally am thrilled when I see people who don't like Celebrimbor/Sauron or think Celebrimbor is overrated -- PLEASE some backlash is good and necessary for fandom balance!

Though I get it, I really do, because frequently these conversations go too far into vilifying the fans of the characters. For instance, there's a ton of takes out there that I find deeply misogynistic. It's really truly amazing how people are able to take a canon that has hardly any female characters at all and somehow manage to sideline them even further, make every single action about a man, or just straight up erase them. But. I actually don't think most of the people who do this are actually misogynists. They might be doing more for women in the real world than I ever will. They just have bad opinions about the Silmarillion. That's it. The widespread nature of these bad takes is indicative of society's values at large but doesn't say much about individuals. If you can truly establish a trend I think it's fair to write about it generally or to respond (with minimum vitriol) to specific posts, but I think it's easy to get into a trap of talking about 'THOSE misogynistic fans' when what you really mean is 'fans with takes I find annoying'. But you can feel superior if you bucket everyone who has a take you disagree with as some sort of moral inferior.

And yeah, I'm comfortable saying this happens with conversations about race and colonialism and other thornier topics too, though I have a different bar for what I consider discourse-y considering the large contingent of white nationalists who revere Tolkien's works as their ideal fantasy and the absolute ostrich behavior of many 'liberal' fans on spaces like tumblr towards racist elements in Tolkien's work.

But but but there's a long and storied history of people in these tumblr adjacent spaces of going on and on about 'Arafinwean colonialism' and 'Sindar colonialism' when what they're really doing is engaging in character smears and lashing out because other people were being annoying about how their favorites are murderers. Their clever comeback is 'well YOU like a colonizer.' This discourse is the absolute pits and hence why I try to avoid too much of 'THEY'RE BAD PEOPLE DON'T YOU GET IT' about particular characters unless strongly provoked.

I understand why people find a lot of different takes compelling. There's this potent mix of elements from the text like christian theology, pre-christian mythology, and humanism that conservative fans, liberal fans, Tolkien scholars, Tolkien 'scholars', canon purists, movie fans, movie fans who would rather die than admit that all of their inspiration for elves is directly PJ inspired, shippers, non-shippers, etc etc etc that has been shaping all these disparate threads of fandom. Fans encounter any or all of these wildly conflicting and deeply entrenched factions and form opinions based off it. One person's universally hated character is another's universal fave depending on the ecosystem.

Anyway. tl;dr yes, there's a lot I find annoying, yes, I have reasons for why I don't like the things I don't like, no, I won't stop sometimes mentioning the things I don't like but also I'll try not to be too obnoxious about it.