#possibly this ask is about

[oldshrewsburyian]

Whats your personal opinion on originals and fics that center Nazis? Even if they keep the horrible people that they are, do you think its... ethical? For the lack of the better word. Because it seems like a very hard topic to navigate, even if all characters are fictional therfore not responsible for actual atrocities.

My short answer is: yes (and there is nothing that could make me say otherwise.) But I can tell, Anon, that this is a question made thoughtfully and in good faith, one that exists in implicit conversation with Simone Weil's exhortation about not reacting to evil in a way that would increase it. So! I will provide a longer answer as well, and it's one I've spent some time meditating on.

Whatever you mean by "it" (Nazis, fascism, genocide), yes, it is a hard topic to navigate, intellectually and emotionally. In my view, this is an argument for approaching hard topics in fiction, not an argument against it. There are a number of factors influencing my position. For one thing, I'm against censorship. Living through the rise (again) of fascism in our own historical moment has strengthened my views on this. Moreover, the argument that maybe it would be better not to present "horrible" things/people or "hard topics" in fiction has been successfully used against queer fiction (and, not incidentally, public libraries) in the region where I live. As a queer woman, I find this both enraging and frightening.

Also, there's precedent for this. People asked themselves this question about Nazis in the time of Nazis. Charlie Chaplin made the controversial comedy The Great Dictator because he wanted to show the absurdity of Hitler's self-delusion, and represent the grandiose plans of Europe's dictators (plural) as, quite literally, ridiculous. Conrad Veidt, having fled the Nazis, drew a personal boundary: he said he would play as many Nazis as Hollywood wanted him (6'2", German accent, cheekbones that could cut glass) to play, as long as their ideology was always represented as absolutely, irredeemably hollow/evil. Obviously (Casablanca) this did not prevent him from playing Nazis as chillingly plausible, complex human beings.

There's also the complex question of what counts as "centering," to say nothing of the question of who counts as a Nazi. (Briefly on the latter: anyone who ever had an NSDAP card? anyone conscripted into the army? If the answer to the former question is "yes," this would include Hans Fallada's novel Jeder stirbt für sich allein, where a couple who voted for Hitler become anti-Nazi activists after their only son is killed on the front. If the answer to the latter is "yes," it would group together men with wildly differing, even diametrically opposed political and moral convictions.) Paul Verhoven's Zwartboek has central characters who are Nazis, and confronts the grotesque, abusive violence of the regime unflinchingly. Schindler's List forces its audiences to confront the reality of a damaged sensualist who will shoot other human beings and like it. More recently, Timur Vermes' novel Er ist wieder da imagined (presciently, alas) how the news cycle and celebrity culture of the 21st century would react to an outrageous dictator. I think that fiction, including films and, yes, including fanfic, can do the work of teaching what Hannah Arendt, in Eichmann in Jerusalem, called "the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil."

[oobbbear]

I want to post this here too because I’ve seen it happen a few times

Please understand that there are cultural differences and language differences, if you see this happening let the person clarify what they meant, that person might just not be familiar with words the western side of the internet use

[fanaticalthings]

Jason being the easiest kid is super funny. Bruce looking at Jason and remembering Dick at 18: “we can work through this. He’ll come around if I don’t give up on.”

Bruce, watching over a freshly street-snatched Jason: Why is he so calm

Having Dick as the rambunctious, feral, and unhinged first child must've given him SO much whiplash once Jason entered the picture. Lil guy just vibed in his own world. Just reading books and doing schoolwork. Baby Jason hurt nobody.

Bruce will just be going over the ground rules of the manor, remembering all the chaos Dick brought upon the household.

Bruce: No swinging from the chandelier.

Jason: ?? I wasn't planning to?

Bruce: No murder.

Jason: What? That never even crossed my mind-

Bruce: And please, for the love of God, don't sneak out and try to beat up the nearest criminal on our block

Jason:

Jason: WHO is responsible for these rules being created??

Bruce will just come home from a long day of work. He's tired and just wants a nice, quiet evening, but he's subconsciously psyching himself up to prepare himself for the chaos he'll witness once he enters the manor

but then Jason's just quietly doing his own thing, maybe even helping Alfred with some chores, reading, or just lounging about in the manor. In general, just causing no trouble and Bruce just turns to Alfred, all worried like, "Is he sick? I don't think children are supposed to behave this way."

[starry-bi-sky]

danyal al ghul memes because i don't think i've done those yet for this au.

(the jason one is in reference to the fanon headcanon/au that Jason and Damian potentially knew each other and interacted while jason was in the league. I've thought about it before in context of this au, but haven't thought about it enough to feel inspired or motivated to make a post exploring the idea)

(diablito means, as you can guess, 'little devil'. while i'm neutral to latino jason, i think the nickname is cute as fuck and was danny's main nickname from Jason. i don't wanna touch that timeline so im not gonna decide how old they were when Jason was there.)

Skulker: i am the ghost zone's greatest hunter! i capture and hunt creatures both rare and dangerous. Danyal: a poacher?? you're a poacher?? you poach animals??Skulker:...i sense i've made a mistake of some kind.

anyways that was the day that Skulker cemented himself as Danny's no.1 opp, and still remains there to this day even if he and Vlad are both viciously fighting for second. Out of everyone in the the AP rogues gallery, Skulker will be the first to be thrown under the bus in terms of 'o shit here comes phantom fucking RUN'.

[ao3commentoftheday]

why does ao3 has hit counts?

i feel like it's a little irrelevant metric to keep track of for an archive and on top of that i see sadly a lot of readers taking it too seriously and not reading fics with too many hits but not proportionally high kudos count.

i know there skins exist that hide it and personally i don't have issues with them, it's just sad to see something so small weaponized by readers and use it as indication of fics quality.

I wasn't around in fandom during AO3's inception, but according to the news post when hit counters were released, it was by popular suggestion at the time. I'm old enough to remember a time when people thought hit counts were a cool thing to track. Maybe that was it? 🤷‍♀️

At least, that might be why it's displayed to users. Site administrators have other reasons for tracking web traffic, but I do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins*.

Readers are people and people need to find some way to sort through information. Is hits the best way to find a fic you'll love? No. But then, neither are kudos and lots of people sort by those too. They tend to do that more when they're new to a fandom and new to AO3, though rather than as a standard method of searching.

No matter which stat a reader decides to organize their search by, it won't actually contribute to their enjoyment of the work. It's the story that determines that. Finding a story that you're actually going to like means reading tags and summaries instead of numbers. Give them enough time, and they'll figure that out.

[dootznbootz]

Sometimes I think about Old Man Laertes learning that Odysseus DID get to see his mother one last time.

[zoe-oneesama]

Just want to say that I've loved reading your Scarlet Lady AU. It's been amazing to see your story grow and unfold in real time. It's the highlight of my day whenever I see that you've posted.

Just because it's been a while and I can't remember, did Adrien find out that his father didn't make his scarf or did Marinette just out Gabriel in a moment of righteous rage.

This is pretty much her accidental confession, but Adrien's opinion of Gabriel is at it's worst anyway, so, why not throw that on top?

[bamsara]

trying to figure out if the continued nausea is related to intense stress and travel schedule or something simple like food poisoning or an infection

[pocketramblr]

Please!

AU where both Izuku and Bakugou are rejected from UA Hero Course.

And to make it juicy. The reason for the rejections is the suicide baiting incident being known by UA. While Bakugou is rejected for obvious reasons. Izuku is rejected for his ‘own safety’ and because they won’t trust his psyche went unscathed.

1- The thing about Bakugou is that he was not particularly well liked by his classmates at Aldera. Oh, he had friends, and no one was willing to stand up to him, but plenty of students had grudges about how he acted. They rolled their eyes when Bakugou went on a rant about being the only one who could make it to UA, or his lackeys hyped him up, but then they'd look away without a word when he caught them and glared. No one was going to say he wasn't powerful and couldn't do it, just like they weren't going to say Deku had any chance. Sometimes, capable people are also very annoying, and you just have to deal with that, so the kids did. And if a few were in a small group chat that would sneak pictures or videos to show the kids not in their class and complain, well, that's what the kids did. And then one day, one filmed the conversation after school, after Bakugou threw out the notebook, and posted it publicly, as well as in the chat.

2- nothing came of this. Izuku had either blocked or been blocked by a lot of his classmates online, and hadn't really bothered to look for most of them anyway, so neither he nor Bakugou are aware of the video. The sludge villain sort of happened an hour later, and that's what got the big media buzz- the news couldn't publish the names of the teens involved if they ever even had them, but locally, people at Aldera knew who the kids on tv were.

3- the next year, UA has its recommendation exams. Every student is meticulously background checked before even being accepted as an potential for the exam and interview. A couple weeks later, they have the standard exam. The background checks will happen after this- UA after all has a very prestigious image. Bakugou wasn't wrong that if he took his lackey's cigarette and UA found out, his chances would be gone. Unfortunately for him, the video was still online. Mostly forgotten about... Until it contained not one but two potential UA students.

4- Nedzu and the six hero course homeroom teachers are on the board of student admissions, but so are two others each from administration, public relations, the school board, and the heroics commission. The top fifty scorers are ruthlessly picked through. The video is watched. Some want to exclude Izuku, some Bakugou, some both. Nedzu would prefer to have them both enrolled in separate classes, but is outvoted. He doesn't warn the board this will mean All Might will not be staying on to teach - he really can't, without telling secrets, but he does warn All Might the next night, and gracefully accepts his resignation.

5- a week after the exams, acceptance and rejection letters are sent. These are simply written on paper. Apparently neither of them are a good fit for the school. No further reason is given. Bakugou spends one day in his room, quieter than ever, then rush applies to other schools. Shiketsu is supposed to be UA's equal. Perhaps their admissions process will be less rigid. Or perhaps his rise to number one is "supposed" to come from humble starts, and Aldera Middle School wasn't that, but some mid rank hero school is. Meanwhile, on the beach, All Might tells Izuku that he actually ended up with the most rescue points in the exam, and his score was high enough to place him in top ten... It was just the screenings afterwards that did it. Perhaps the school was concerned about his health, with him breaking nearly every limb. Or perhaps his incorrect quirk registration was a red flag- either way, it's things All Might blames himself for, Izuku is the one who passed the test, and with only a few hours of having OfA too. So All Might asks Izuku what he wants to do- try for another hero school nearby? Toshinori probably can't get a job there on short notice without being suspicious, but he'll work to train him every day after, and come up with some other excuse for why he's in the field less. Or, should he reach out to I-island? Toshinori's even willing to see about setting up a personal internship with himself or Gran Torino, though he really kinda hopes Izuku doesn't pick that one. Izuku bursts into tears and apologies, having only held them back this long out of shame, they hug, and Toshi tells Izuku to take his time deciding, it'll be all right, because Izuku is here and he has full faith in him, regardless of what UA admissions thinks.

[sculkshrieking]

A short introduction comic to a Last Life AU i've been rotating in my mind where Scar is a ghost only Grian can see :)

Part 2

[luminarai]

Attempting to get the beast used to a dental hygiene routine is… well, it’s going.

(She stayed that way for a solid 8 seconds despite hating being held belly up so I think it’s safe to say that Mim is not beating the ‘tiny speaker playing elevator music instead of a brain’ allegations any time soon.)

[bl0rbohandbag]

Malleus on his way to tell his grandmother the next queen of Briar Valley is going to be a magicless human from another world that just showed up at NRC one day and if he doesn't marry them there will be NO EGG and the Draconia bloodline ends with him

[glassedplanets]

a few months ago giffy was like "haha hear me out, what if tattoo au" and then we blacked out and talked about nothing else for like three weeks

[bearotonin-international]

Apex predator, my ass. I’m going to pet the dog 🐻🐻‍❄️🐼

perhaps now is a good time for some responsible bear programming to remind everyone that as cute and cuddly as they may seem, bears are lethal apex predators and should absolutely be treated accordingly if ever encountered.

DO

NOT

PET

[sensitiveheartless]

Though I just realised after the whole skk FINALLY mutually confess, but uhh how did Dazai knew Chuuya was at the supermarket??? Did he have Chuuya's schedule memorized???

I’m so glad you noticed this, because I couldn’t figure out how to work it into their dialogue in the comic, but YUP—

My thoughts for this particular comic series were that Chuuya is a creature of habit, and Dazai is a weirdo(affectionate) who memorized all Chuuya’s weekly scheduling habits back when they were in the mafia (for strategic purposes, he will insist) and Chuuya hasn’t really deviated from those habits since, so Dazai will periodically have moments like this throughout his day:

…so yeah, after Ranpo convinced Dazai to go clear things up with Chuuya, Dazai ran across the city while doing intense internal calculations to take all known variables into account, and finally decided that Chuuya had to be shopping at that particular grocery store :0

[chaosgenasi]

It's recently occurred to me that I should probably ask people about this. I don't want people to get hurt in there, so I'm... It's very strange. The best I can describe is whatever magic resides in that crystal feels very new, yet very old.