#really niche ship of really niche characters | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

skitskatdacat63 · 1 year ago

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super obsessed with your art, seb looks soooooooooooo stunning!!! I am now very curious however, only if you feel like going into it, as to which other historical figures you align with which drivers?👀👀

AAAAAA tysm Grace!!!! Though I am so so so sorry for how rambly and long this post is gonna be, but you just asked me abt one of my brainrots!! I will answer your question but also talk about my history alignments and AUs in general LOL

But if I'm making comparisons of F1 drivers and historical figures, my brain kinda forces me to make it an AU because I'm like "this needs to make absolute sense historically and contextually.)

So, tbh of the four historical AUs that float around my brain, only two of them are really specifically about certain historical figures. The four are: Nandopoleon(About how Fernando reminds me of Napoleon), War of Spanish Succession(mostly about that era, but Seb and Nando are supposed to be paralleling Charles VI and Philip V), Napoleonic Hussars(which is about how , in general, Hussars = F1 drivers), and Rennaissance Muse(this just happens to take place in a different era.)

Explaining my AUs and the historical contexts(proceed with caution, its a lot)

Nandopoleon:

Okay so I'm really really am so deranged about Napoleon = Fernando, but I’ve not posted about it too much because I wanna make a well thought out post about it. But basically I think they’re similar people with similar characteristics and motivations. There was this period of time over the summer where I was only brain rotting about how well any of Napoleon’s quotes fit Fernando(with my fellow nandopoleon confidant @/sweatyflytrap haha.) Here’s some quotes as example:

“Victory belongs to the most persevering.”

“It is not necessary to bury the truth. It is sufficient merely to delay it until no one cares.”(Piasco era lol)

“Victory is not always winning the battle…but rising every time you fall.”

“From triumph to failure is only one step.”

"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon."(trophies y'know)

"Always carry champagne! In victory you deserve it, and in defeat you need it!"

Tell me Fernando wouldn't use these as instagram captions! TELL ME!!! But the other thing that was driving me crazy is how well excerpts from the personality/image section of Napoleone's wiki line up with testimonials from Fernando's doc. Examples:

"He cheated at cards, but repaid the losses; he had to win at everything he attempted."(Napoleon) "Whatever activity I take part in, I have this compulsion to find the compeititon in it."(Fernando)

"He could rapidly dictate a series of complex commands to his subordinates, keeping in mind where major units were expected to be at each future point, and like a chess master, 'seeing' the best plays moves ahead"(Napoleon) "When you talk to him, his mental capacity is so strong. He's talking to you, but his brain is thinking ahead"(Fernando)

Like c'mon tell me they aren't at least a bit similar??? There's a lot else I find similar about them but I cannot list my whole manifesto here skdjlsd

Anyways this AU would be Fernando as Napoleon and would be Webbonso -> Strollonso. Basically, Napoleon had two wives: his first wife, who was older than him and who he was super in love with, but had to divorce because they couldn't have kids, but he still loved her deeply. And then his second wife , who was much younger thanhim and from the Austrian royal family, and this was a politically motivated marriage but they still got on pretty well!!(also it's funny, before she married him she didn't want to be with him because the public perception of him made him out to be not the best guy, but then she wrote to her father about how loving and kind he was. very Strollonso, no?)

War of Spanish Succession:

Mostly explained it here and here. I'm not too interested in either Philip V nor Charles VI themselevs as individuals, but rather the roles they fufill in the "story." Though I will say, I got hit with a brick while reading Charles VI's wiki when finding out that he apparently had several male lovers! So I guess my AU having an arranged m/m marriage isn't even that far off the mark hahaha. Why did they have a 13 year war, they should have just arranged a marriage between the two canidates sigh sigh. But yeah, mostly Austria vs. Spain, I think it fits well with the Vettonso rivalry!! They would end up being: Fernando I King of Spain and Sebastian I Holy Roman Emperor hehe. Also I sketched some more:

Napoleonic Hussars:

Explained here as well as with art, and more art here. I'm really still proud of the points I made, I just feel very ardently about it!!! Not about any specific figure, but rather a historical group that I think lines up extremely well with F1 drivers. But this one is fun cause I can kinda insert any driver into it and they'll work pretty well. It's fun to figure out what kingdom what driver would be, either based off their nationality or the nationality of their team. I remember vividly staring at a map from this era trying to figure out where Maranello would be....But like Renault = Kingdom of France and RBR = Kingdom of Austria, and stuff like that

Rennaisance Muse:

Mostly just this post, I've not thought about this one incredibly deeply. Mostly just brainrot about how I think Seb looks like The David with his curly hair

#catie answer an ask without making it a soliloquy challenge: failed #hope this is at least sort of interesting to people other than me!#basically: I like reading about F1. I like reading about history. why not mix them :DDD #also sorry Grace that this ended up being more about my AUs rather than which historical figures align with who #if im gonna compare a driver to a figure then my brain is like 'this needs to make absolute sense historically' so it becomes its own AU #though i think fernando is a much easier driver than any others to make historical comparisons about #and thats really only bcs hes very specific with how he portrays himself and how the public eye is supposed to view him #hes much more of a 'character' and is easier to compare bcs historical figures also end up becoming chararictured bcs of the passage of tim #having a lot of fun with this most recent one!!! the idea of arranged marriage vettonso(with boy king seb) is brainrotting me #all of these have ships as well that theyre kinda focused around #hussars is the most general but Ive already drawn martian for it sooooo #and the rennaisance is also martian #nandopoleon I already said what it would be(god the irl age gaps align so well to each other)#and then obv spanish succession is vettonso arranged marriage #anyways aaaahhhhh fun side projects which I like to research and draw!!!#and ik ive said it a lot but thank you guys for showing interest!! its pretty niche i think....#catie.asks.#catie.rambling.txt #boy king au #hussar au #nandopoleon alonsoparte

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skrunksthatwunk · 4 months ago

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very surprised when i learned multishipping was not the default way to be btw. still surprised by it actually

#why don't monoshippers say that they're monoshippers bc i feel like that's a more niche way to be. (multishipper in bio is OUT #monoshipper in bio is IN). but ig im maybe wrong about that #i get that some people get Really attached to a ship/dynamic such that it really bothers them to see anything w/ those characters x others #like some ppl see fanart of smth they don't prefer and go why are you forcing my blorbo to cheat on my other blorbo :((#but i think i just get stuck on like. 'theyre not real + im here to consider a lotta possibilities' so that's never really been my thing #actually. im making a poll

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fadefromthelight · 1 year ago

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It’s that time of the year again! Mermay!

This year my Initial D boys get to be my subjects lol

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queer-book-character-tournament · 2 years ago

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Hi! I was wondering- how big of a bracket do you plan on having for the queer ships competition? Like, how many ships will you be accepting?

Well I’m not doing a bracket I do want to clarify that. I think it limits a bit cause size of image vs visibility of names. I’m gonna run it the same way I did the character tournament just randomize the matchups from a big list (that I will publish before tournament goes live so you guys can tell me if something’s messed up). As for how many … idk I don’t have a specific number 🤔 I just kinda vibe checked it last time and ended up with 208 characters and that was a lot of work 😅 so probably not like more than that. Once the numbers start making me nervous for how much time it’ll take I’ll shut down the form is the current plan 😂. First round will be larger to cut down the numbers to something more manageable, but also should be easier to make round one since I remembered to make you guys tell me the authors this time and won’t spend half my poll making time looking them up

#op speaks #to further clarify I only really plan to reject ships #if they don’t meet criteria #like comics aren’t allowed so that’s a few out #author said but it’s not in the book doesn’t count (altho I love the ship to for the person who just submitted that)#but if it’s not something disqualifying I plan to let anyone in if they make it before the form closes #part of the fun of the characters tournament #was people finding new books through it #so I don’t love the idea of cutting out niche ships just cause they didn’t get a bunch of submissions #when this could be a way for them to find some love #tho granted if no one knows your ship it’ll probably be voted out quickly 😅#but people will see it!

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fagoutboy · 1 year ago

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sorry hold on. are people valorizing the past so strongly these days that now ppl think old fandoms were BETTER? like im sorry i really think the problem is just that you arent 12 anymore

#being a kid and not thinking abt the deeper implications of strange things ppl were doing at the time definitely makes it so #that you view that era as different from how you look at fandom spaces now when you DO think about those things #like. you do just have more fun as a kid thats just true. the reason youre not having fun is because u pay rent and have to use your brain #old tumblr fandom didnt care about incest or otherwise gross things to include in their ships. fucks sake when i was into spn in 2014 #one of the most popular ships was michael/lucifer. and i mean POPULAR like im not exaggerating even a little it was huge #and obviously we all know about The Other One but ppl seem to think it was niche/just weirdos doing it. No it was normal too #i mean i didnt partake but like. no one really said anything about it. and when ppl were definitely treating certain characters badly #(black people/women usually) that was always ignored and went completely uncriticized. like fandom spaces WERE BAD #and also were SO FUCKING STUPID. Like ppl doing the vapid shipping shit nowadays are not new even a little #those 'x reacts to you being pregnant' joke posts everyone makes now? Those used to be real and genuine. and there were A LOT.#Like im sorry guys fandom has just always sucked we need to just accept that. fandom is always stupid and always bad #txt

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mister13eyond · 2 years ago

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i love writing bc my brain is like "what, finish your multiple wips based around a ship you love and care for that you have clearly thought out continuations for? no. you're going to write about your oc being a surrogate parent to giorno giovanna"

#yes this is about #vesuvio #vesuvio bruciato #tbh i think its fun coming up with ocs to have other dynamics than ship dynamics with canon characters #not to disparage shipping or ocxcanon ships because i love love and i'm a big gooey sappy person who likes writing romance and relationship #but because like #idk one of the things that makes a character feel real is that they exist outside of a romantic partnership #they have other relationships that anchor them to the world around them #family and friends and acquaintances and coworkers #and i LOVE digging into those niches #especially for a character like giorno for whom this is a Central part of his backstory #his whole backstory hinges on the fact that he was neglected and abused and then one (1) person showed him kindness #and he dedicated his life to living in that person's image #and i'm really interested in that through the lens of like #what do you do when you meet your heroes and they're painfully human #what happens when the person giorno has looked up to his whole life #is just as messy and human and has his own struggles #but also the two of them Still to some degree have that drive to look after each other #because you never forget someone who changed your life #so now they have to see each other as people #i think the experience of learning the adults around you dont actually have it all figured out either #is an underrated part of a coming of age narrative #like seeing that 'oh we just get older but there's no sudden Moment when you cross a threshold and just Get It all at once'#i dont know why i needed to write this all in the tags #anyways if anyone wants to send me asks about vesuvio and/or giorno i would love that #help me flesh out their relationship & interactions

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rerae · 12 hours ago

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slowly but surely letting myself interact with a work the way I want to and not what's safest for me in context of any given fandom as a whole

To explain: I'm trying to stop forcing myself to find a ship I tolerate enough to dive into transformative works for. And I mainly write ship fic or implied ship despite not actually caring about shipping as a whole. Sure, I have quite a few ships that break the rule, but for the most part? Yeah, I force myself. It's like when I was in the 1st grade and a girl told me to have a crush on someone and I went, "Okay, sure!"

It took me until my early 20s to realize and break the "must find a crush" habit. So I doubt this will resolve itself easily either. But at least I'm aware of it, so it's definitely a start! I'm going to focus on Gen work moving forward, too, as well as aspec stuff! Gonna slowly but surely work to break the bad habits heteronormativity instilled 😤

#rae speaks into the void #like I can't tell u how many times I've had like the equivalent to a post-nut clarity moment when it comes to shipping something #chosen not actually out of choice but out of desperation #I was meant to explore worlds and dynamics not just making two established characters kiss #I'm a 'create a whole cast of ocs separate from established characters and explore what multiple iterations of canon failed to do' type of #a 'I love to explore familiar and platonic relationships and even antagonistc ones outside of a romantic lense' person #there's no place for my niche interests in fandom really but fuck it I'm done forcing myself

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midnight-scugs · 3 days ago

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Having a boring ass night rn, forget me nots hurt/comfort save me forget me nots hurt/comfort...

#^ yes this is a ship thing but it's a really silly/stupid one #nothing like Weird or Bad just embarrassinnnng. think ship between characters from a niche piece of media who never interact in canon.#my partner made up the ship name and everything I'm so cooked guys #mim post

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no1ryomafan · 11 days ago

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I love how despite not rewatching kikaider ive rotated it in my head enough that i went to twitter-im to lazy to write reviews here and blue sky im strictly trying to keep as a art account now but also idgaf to use it much I just have it incase-so I threw out the sloppy thread but I’m laughing how I talked about two of my gripes were “idk if I like Jiro and Mitsukos relationship” and “I don’t like the flute mind control plot point at all” and not specify those two are connected for how the flute was USED to cause harm towards mitsuko three fucking times because I just know someone would get mad at me if I tried to say “um yeah women getting harmed for no reason other then drama is bad” 💀

#meg text #I’m not tagging fandom cause legit I still love this show despite the issues and it’s okay to like stuff with weird aspects #I like stuff with racist depictions and unnecessary fanservice this is nothing new to add to the pile #if anything it makes more sense when it’s older anime even if age doesn’t justify it #but also man- this aspect still is so fucked even if I don’t think they were TRYING to make it bad #but the implications that like this flute is a justifiable way for jiro to cause harm especially to her cause he’s controlled is umm #and I also hate how mitsuko willingly rationalized it and the third time let it happened like GIRL NO GET AWAY #It’s not jiros fault but they really tried to push “he’s at conflict with himself” but then write him as baby who gets brain washed #and I don’t hate the ship between these two but this is one of the factors next to others where idk if I like it #I don’t mind if other people ship it and it doesn’t ruin them but man idfkkk even if I want them to reunite #their still good characters but maybe they’re better as friends #also any of my followers seeing this without knowing this show IM SORRY I PROMISE ITS GOOD DESPITE SHIT LIKE THIS #I hate criticizing something old and niche because you just can paint it as bad even when you like it and it’s still good #but old stuff isn’t safe from criticism especially if it’s stuff that can be interpreted as harmful

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gu6chan · 1 month ago

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drakengard fanbase is truly insane because aside from the one time a dude called me classist bc i said watching a playthrough isn't the same as actually playing the game (crazy, but a one time thing, every fanbase has it) like. ive been in fanbases where ive been harassed over liking a ship but this is the first ive ever been in where ive been harassed over liking a character. what is up with that

#gu6chan's musings #drakengard #drag on dragoon #the more i recall my time at accords library the more im like 'how the FUCK didn't i realise that sooner that shit wasn't a joke' bc it was #genuinely so fucking awful #but luckily i havent gotten as much harassment since starting this account!!! honestly though #ppl always like to rag on large fanbases for being toxic but I don't think ppl really recognise just how BAD smaller fandoms can get with #the 'us vs them' mentality where it becomes 10x easier to establish 'norms' and spread news and groups etc etc #like if you like an unpopular character; ship etc. in a larger fanbase you can ALWAYS find a small niche dedicated to that particular thing #but in a small/medium sized fanbase its like congrats now everyone hates your guts and knows it too djdjfjdj #that said I know ill get control of my works back eventually bc if I dont catch up to them i at least know they cant keep going forever lmao

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world0fmadness · 5 months ago

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⋆ ˚｡⋆ ✩ ˚ BOTH? BOTH!

oscar piastri x silent hill / horror game obsessed! reader x lando norris

featuring: daniel being very much like a big brother in the comments and * gasp * a picture of my OWN silent hill collection

faceclaim: assorted

୨୧ some people asked for a part two of this smau due the ending really hinting at a throuple so here it is! it can be read separately or as a continuation as they’re an established throuple here <3 and i know the silent hill 2 remake was announced ages ago but it’s fanfic, let me pretend

reading music recommendations: i want love by akira yamaoka - float up from a dream by akira yamaoka - you’re not here by akira yamaoka

oscarpiastri: this is what happens when i take both of them shopping at the same time…

ynlovesthehorror: we’re peaceful beings :)

> oscarpiastri ✔️: you threw a cucumber at my head…

> landonorris ✔️: can’t handle a little fun osc?

> oscarpiastri ✔️: and you’re no better, you shoved me into the boot of the car!

oscarpastrylover: are… are they all dating now? i feel like this is a little too couple-y…

> landoscaryn: there is no fucking way they’re not all dating… i’ll swear on my hamsters life they HAVE to be dating

> iluvf1: leave the hamster OUT OF THIS LMAO 😭

oldf1lvr: lando and yn be serious for five minutes challenge ( IMPOSSIBLE )

danielricciardo ✔️: cute!

❤️ liked by ynlovesthehorror, landonorris and oscarpiastri

> landoscaryn: mr man, what do you know? do tell…

landonorris: not too shabby if i do say so myself…

danielricciardo ✔️: happy for you three ❤️

❤️ liked by ynlovesthehorror, oscarpiastri and landonorris

loveuyn: he really said “you guys still aren’t sure if we’re dating? just have this and leave”

ynlovesthehorror: i kind of look good in these pictures 🤔

> landonorris ✔️: nah, you look like a tramp to be honest

> ynlovesthehorror: die ❤️

landoscaryn: I FUCKING TOLD YOU PEOPLE

> iluvf1: thank god, for your hamsters sake 😭

oscarpiastri ✔️: love you both so much ❤️

> landonorris ✔️: love you more ❤️

> ynlovesthehorror: lol, gay ( i love both of you more, now come home so we can make out )

❤️ liked by oscarpiastri and landonorris

oscyn: praying these three never have a kid because you just know yn would FIGHT to name it after a silent hill character…

> landonorris ✔️: fucking hell, don’t give her any ideas…

> ynlovesthehorror: 👩‍🍼 < me and the god i birthed ( we will now build an eternal paradise )

> loveuyn: i don’t think yn realises how niche her references are when it comes to f1 fans 😭

> oscarpastrylover: literally, i think most of them just think she’s clinically insane or something so they leave her be

❤️ liked by ynlovesthehorror

landoscaryn: not gonna shut up about this for MONTHS, my throuple ship is REAL

ynlovesthehorror: just spent hours explaining some of the silent hill lore to lando and every explanation lead to another question from him, i want him DEAD ( also a very good representation of what i want to do to people that say “ it’s ash not snow ” if you ever come into my comment section with that “ lore ” i’ll get lando and oscar to put a brick through your window )

landonorris ✔️: IM TRYING

> ynlovesthehorror: the information is going in one ear and right out the other, honestly, you just need to play them yourself now because i’m DONE

> landonorris ✔️: i’ll play them on stream then, muppet

> ynlovesthehorror: GOOD

> oscarpiastri ✔️: stop arguing you two

> ynlovesthehorror: sorry babe

> landonorris ✔️: sorry love

> oscarpiastri ✔️: ❤️

> landoscaryn: all three of them have each other wrapped all the way around each others finger lmao 😭

maxverstappen ✔️: it’s ash not snow

> ynlovesthehorror: gonna get lando to crash into you

> maxverstappen ✔️: if he can catch up

> ynlovesthehorror: omg??? maxi pad you are a horrible man 💔

> landonorris ✔️: come kiss me to make me feel better 😔

> ynlovesthehorror: on it <3

> oscarpiastri ✔️: me too please

> ynlovesthehorror: nothing happened to you???

> oscarpiastri ✔️: lando whacked me over the head with a lead pipe

> landonorris ✔️: what is it with you two and making up the most unbelievable lies about me 😭

ynlovesthehorror: look at my husband you guys 😩 i cannot believe it, the transmission was actually something fucking good, after years of drought

oscarpiastri ✔️: the most inhuman noise came out of you…

> ynlovesthehorror: I WAS EXCITED

> landonorris ✔️: still, that noise was mental… and i thought we were your husbands?

> ynlovesthehorror: you are! but james was my 1st husband <3

> landonorris ✔️: and was this before or after he killed his wife?

> ynlovesthehorror: ☹️

loveuyn: i feel bad for everyone on the grid and in the paddock because she will not shut the fuck up about this until it releases and when it does release it’ll be even worse 😭

> landoscaryn: right? i’m keeping the engineers in my prayers lmao

danielricciardo ✔️: excited for you yn! i know how much the game means to you ❤️

> ynlovesthehorror: thank you daniel, finally someone that likes me for ME

> landonorris ✔️: ?

> oscarpiastri ✔️: ?

ynlovesthehorror: we finally did it! me and oscar dressed up as james and maria, here are the pictures <3 and a sneak peak of me and lando dressed as james and mary hehe

oscarpastrylover: they need to stop being so hot IMMEDIATELY

landonorris ✔️: you looked amazing love, oscar too i guess… ours is better though 😗

> oscarpiastri ✔️: oi!

> ynlovesthehorror: we all looked amazing :) but especially you two

❤️ liked by landonorris and oscarpiastri

> landoscaryn: the way they’re always either bullying and mocking each other or being so sweet and loving on each other kills me, it’s literally just three best friends that kiss

> landonorris ✔️: we do more than kiss, my friend

❤️ liked by ynlovesthehorror

> landoscaryn: oh-

> oscarpiastri ✔️: for fuck sake lando!

oscyn: okay… yeah… i’m so normal about this! SO NORMAL

iluvf1: i have no idea who these characters are but this is the hottest thing i’ve ever seen an f1 driver do i think…

> oldf1lvr: literally 😩 hot in so many ways, hot because lando and oscar LOOK hot and hot because they actually do this stuff with yn instead of not participating in her interests! we love men who do things with their gf

❤️ liked by ynlovesthehorror

loveuyn: that 4th picture… hideo kojima approves

> ynlovesthehorror: what could’ve been 💔 biggest heartbreak of my life

> landonorris ✔️: me and oscar could die in a fire and that still wouldn’t beat the heartbreak that P.T. caused you…

> ynlovesthehorror: well at least you know!

> oscarpiastri ✔️: 😔

landonorris: was on a walk with my boyfriend when we came across this strange creature on the side of the road 😟 took it to get some food and we’re not too fond of it, anyone else want it? selling for 10 quid

ynlovesthehorror: honestly hope you get hit by a bus or something

> landonorris ✔️: no you don’t ❤️

❤️ liked by ynlovesthehorror

danielricciardo ✔️: fucking hell, that second picture is amazing

❤️ liked by landonorris and oscarpiastri

> ynlovesthehorror: :(

> danielricciardo ✔️: sorry yn!

oscarpiastri ✔️: i think it’s sort of cute, in its own weird way ❤️ definitely worth more than £10

> ynlovesthehorror: 🥹

> landonorris ✔️: £11?

> oscarpiastri ✔️: yeah i reckon that’s enough

> ynlovesthehorror: ☹️

landoscaryn: seeing and hearing lando refer to oscar as his boyfriend literally makes my heart explode 💔 i love these three so much

> oscarpastrylover: yep, this relationship is literally a bisexual f1 fan’s dream, just three hot best friends in a relationship

ynlovesthehorror: my boys <3 ( i love thinking about things they’d go to silent hill for )

landonorris ✔️: you ALMOST made a sweet post but then you just had to go and bring up that game, BE NORMAL ( don’t be normal, i love you weirdo )

> oscarpiastri ✔️: just be happy she made a post about us at all, it’s a once in a blue moon occurrence, 99% of her feed is silent hill ❤️ love you both

❤️ liked by ynlovesthehorror

> ynlovesthehorror: at least SOMEONE knows how to be grateful, love you osc ( and lando, i guess 🙄 )

danielricciardo ✔️: you’ve 100% gotten over lando pointing a gun at you and threatening you then yeah?

> ynlovesthehorror: oh that, yeah, totally! he bought me mcdonald’s and more silent hill stuff and toys for heather so we’re all good now <3

> landonorris ✔️: we’re literally DATING, you muppet 😭

⋆ ˚｡⋆ ୨୧ ˚ NEW ADDED BONUS ˚ ୨୧ ⋆｡˚ ⋆

yn ln being horny on main

#oscar piastri x reader #lando norris x reader #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #f1 x reader #f1 smau

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samglyph · 1 year ago

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Kinda random question that popped into my head

Ie. A show you haven’t watched, a game you havent played, etc etc.

*someone you know includes like. Tumblr mutuals/people you follow that you’ve never spoken to but respect and trust in some way.

*high kudo/bookmark counts for example, or a lot of people are talking about it.

*seeing art of a non canon couple that looks cool, knowing that canon doesn’t reflect that and going to read about them instead of consuming the source material

#polls #fanfiction

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thankskenpenders · 1 year ago

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Help me out here: Why is there so much Ian Flynn hate going around lately? I thought everyone loved that he was contributing to the games. Now suddenly they aren't. I guess that's par for the course for this series but I don't get it. He isn't perfect but I like what he's done. Am I a weirdo?

Ian Flynn has always had a lot of fans, but any creator putting their work out there is going to have detractors as well. That's just the nature of being an artist. To some extent, it's no big deal. He's not a perfect writer. Nobody is! I consider myself a fan of his work, but I've criticized plenty of individual writing decisions from him on here.

But Ian doesn't just have critics. He has his own obsessive hatedom. And the specific nature of Ian's hatedom is... interesting.

A decade ago, Ian was only the guy writing for Archie Sonic, meaning any debates over his work were quarantined within that tiny niche of the larger Sonic fandom. Only people who kept up with the comics month to month had any real reason to have an opinion on the guy, which means we're talking about merely thousands of fans as opposed to millions.

Within that group, he had some haters. You had the people who were mad about story changes made during his run, particularly things like ancillary characters getting killed off (although over the years we've learned that most of those were editorial mandates from Mike Pellerito). You had the people mad that Ian didn't push their favorite ship, with feuding SonAmy and Sonally fans claiming that he was CLEARLY biased towards one or the other. You had the people who just really, really liked one of the previous writers way more - usually Penders, as hard as that may be to believe today. That sort of thing. Pretty normal comic fandom type stuff. Again, it comes with the territory.

Unfortunately, many of those haters only got worse over time, morphing into reactionaries who constantly try to incite Comicsgate type culture war bullshit.

There are people still mad at Ian for making Sally bi and pairing her with Nicole instead of Sonic in the later Archie comics. There have been elaborate MS Paint red string conspiracy boards explaining how people like Ian and Jon Gray have apparently been destroying the franchise from the inside for years by Making Sonic Woke. (Jon gets dragged into this because people are still mad about him drawing The Slap 20 years later. Yes, really!!) There was an unhinged change.org petition trying to get Ian fired, specifically from people who were mad that the Freedom Fighters aren't in the IDW comics. There was even a very sad little fan campaign from these people trying to get Sega to move the Sonic comic license away from IDW and over to Udon, because they thought Udon would bring Sally and Bunnie back and also make them sexy again. There's a lot of this.

(Unfortunately, Penders has also exacerbated this by gossiping about Ian on Twitter and giving these fans ammo, but that's a whole 'nother discussion.)

The thing is, for years, people who only played the games or watched the cartoons had no reason to pay attention to any of this. Now, though, Ian isn't just writing for some weird spinoff comics that only the super nerds read. Now he's writing comics that are canon to the games, and ALSO some of the games themselves, and ALSO consulting on other tie-in media like Sonic Prime, and ALSO writing the official Sonic encyclopedia, and ALSO serving as part of the new Sonic Lore Team at Sega. And on top of all this, he's got an increasingly popular podcast where he fields questions about his work on all of these things, which serves as one of the fandom's main windows into creative decisions being made behind the scenes.

As a fan of Ian's work, it's been really cool to see him rise in prominence. But the dark side of this is that his obsessive haters from the Archie days now have WAY more of a potential audience of their own. Now, every Sonic fan has to have an opinion on Ian. What this frequently means is that you'll have the Comicsgate types taking things Ian writes or says out of context, attempting to get more of the general fandom to yell at the guy.

Unfortunately, there are a wide variety of Sonic fans who take the bait:

You've got hardcore fans who disliked basically any recent piece of Sonic media and are looking for someone to blame.

You've got the people who are concerned about the sanctity of Sonic's canon, who shoot the messenger any time Ian mentions a new retcon from Sonic Team on the podcast - or any time he even mentions the THOUGHT of changing anything about the canon, as we saw recently with the Sol Dimension nonsense.

You've got people who romanticize some sort of mythical artistic vision that Sega of Japan supposedly has (or had) for the franchise. To many of these fans, American contributors like Ian just don't "get" the heart of the series and are trying to turn Sonic into something different. (This "heart of the series" tends to be some mix of Japanese instruction manual lore, the cinematics from Sonic CD, the OVA, and/or the games written by Shiro Maekawa, depending on what Sonic media the fan in question grew up with.)

You've got fans of specific characters or ships who pin the blame for how their faves are depicted entirely on Ian - most vocally fans of Shadow, even though the root problem is that Sonic Team hasn't known what to do with Shadow since 2006. At best this stops at regular old criticism, but at its worst this devolves into claims that Ian has an agenda against certain characters.

You've got fans annoyed by a perceived over-emphasis on comic-original characters in the IDW comics, ignoring the obvious facts that these characters exist because the game cast is so tightly controlled by Sega, and also, you know, that people just like the IDW characters and want more stories about them.

You've got a LOT of discourse over IDW's Sonic being a hero who tries to give his enemies second chances, as if half of Sonic's closest friends aren't already former villains and rivals. Honestly this is very transparently just reheated Steven Universe discourse lmao

You'll also see people who just think they could do Ian's job better. They can't believe that THIS GUY is the American fan working on all these Sonic projects, when clearly THEY understand the characters and lore and themes SO much better than this charlatan.

All it takes is for someone in one of these categories to be unhappy about some recent piece of Sonic media, and for them to come across an out of context quote or comic panel that rubs them the wrong way, and suddenly the leftist Zoomer Sonic fans will join the latest dogpile on Ian alongside the reactionary Comicsgate types who are mad at him for Making Sonic Woke.

In general, when fandoms get upset, they tend to want a scapegoat. A person or two to point a finger at and go "THAT's who ruined the thing I love!" This tends to be based less on reality and more on which contributors are the most visible online. You'll sometimes see teenage and adult fans of children's cartoons single out a storyboarder who's particularly vocal on Twitter, blame them for every story decision they don't like, and harass them off the platform out of a sense of retribution for their favorite ship or whatever. Failing that, fans might choose to blame every nitpick, down to individual lines of dialogue and frames of animation, on a showrunner, just because that's the name they associate with the show. And unfortunately, when it comes to Sonic, Ian is now arguably the most prolific and outspoken contributor on the English speaking internet, and therefore a common scapegoat.

Some of the things I've seen Ian blamed for are truly wild. A lot of people have claimed for YEARS that he's just lying about the existence of creative guidelines and restrictions from Sega - or, as fans call them, The Mandates - even though they're just an inherent aspect of working on a licensed property. Others claim that The Mandates are real, but somehow Ian's fault. A vocal minority of fans have convinced themselves that Ian is the sole reason the Freedom Fighters don't exist in the IDW comics, even though Ian says he's been pushing to bring them back since day one.

Sometimes you'll see people say he ruined shit he didn't even work on. A few weeks ago on Twitter I saw someone claim that Ian had written a rejected script for Sonic Forces in which Tails died. I could not find a source for this for the life of me. As far as I can tell, the rumor seems to have been born from an alleged leaked script for Forces with margin notes from Aaron Webber that criticized the way Tails was written, and also an old tweet where Aaron joked that Tails would die in an upcoming episode of Sonic Mania Adventures. These merged into "Aaron Webber criticized a draft of the Forces script in which Tails died." How'd Ian get dragged into this? Who fucking knows!

It's all just a big game of telephone. All it takes is some asshole to make something up about Ian on Twitter or YouTube or a DeviantArt journal or some forum, and at least a couple people will believe it, and then it gets repeated as fact. Again, this used to be contained by the niche nature of the Archie Sonic fandom, but now there are WAY more people who are receptive to this shit.

It's just sad to me that Ian tries to be so open and honest about his work, to try to explain the rationale for certain things, to keep fans looped in on the direction the franchise is headed, and this just gives the Flynnspiracy types more quotes to take out of context and try to paint him as the devil. If it sounds like I'm being overly defensive and dismissing his critics, man... some of the things I've seen people say directly to him are just unbelievable. People will send paragraphs-long angry screeds in to his podcast that completely tear him apart, and he has to sit there and be like "Well, that's your opinion, and you're entitled to it." People literally pay for special guest interview episodes where they just rapid fire complaints about his writing at him directly to his face. I don't know how he does it. I would snap.

All of this over Sonic the fucking Hedgehog of all things.

I don't know how to wrap this up. Engaging with fandoms online is very tiring, which is why I tend not to do it. Things like this are too common. I guess, just... remember that making art collaboratively is a complicated thing. The people involved are generally trying their best given the circumstances, but they're only human. They make mistakes. But please treat them like humans. Criticism and dogpiling are not the same thing.

#anon #ask #tkp asks #tkp post

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