#reblogging this for its cultural impact tbh

[dropthedemiurge]

2023 Year Results

I have lost my ranking of favorite Thai BL/QLs that I made during half of the year, so I'm just going to write it anew^^

My Top BLs by the end of 2023:

1. Be My Favorite

2. Moonlight Chicken

3. Not Me

4. The Eclipse

5. Semantic Error (or if we talk only Thai series, then Bad Buddy!)

Honorable mentions: Only Friends, SOTUS, Laws of Attraction, Kieta Hatsukoi, My Ride...

I keep changing the places and Moonlight Chicken held such a strong place in my heart but now I'm also taking into account whether I liked all pairings and characters, so BMF finally took over. But I still can't decide whether The Eclipse is higher than Not Me, I might rewatch it endlessly but Not Me was a cultural reset :D As well as Semantic Error who's done so good and finally broke through the typical Korean BL setting and public's favor.

Bad Buddy has done amazingly as well but there are only 5 places in Top 5 ranking 🥲 I guess, the Our Skyy just dimmed my good memories about it a little bit x)

I love how this year we got shows that have expanded beyond the borders of usual BLs, they added mystery and mystic, action, time travelling, sitcom etc, mixed gentes, kept speaking out about many important things - from marriage legalisation to equal rights - that definitely had its own impact on real life, actors went on many fanmeetings overseas, from West to East, and overall... This was a good year, story and fandom wise.

My Fanfic Statistics

I stopped writing metas and somewhat distanced myself from the fandom when I felt that my views often didn't align with majority (and also got shadowbanned by tumblr?), but I wrote ~ 80k words on AO3 and drew >10-15 arts that I really enjoyed. I still have many wips so look forward to them!

I wrote way too many Only Friends fics whole I watched the show xD This was definitely a show that gave out ideas (and sometimes outrage) and lots of angst.

But Not Me fics are still my number one (though mostly because of all the crossovers with other series I keep writing about)

Also somehow Bad Buddy OT4 fic is now the longest fanfic I've ever written (both in Neglish and my native language). And it's still not finished but tbh even I don't know exactly how it will end, that's how self-indulgent this is but I'm so happy rhat many people were excited about this idea with me!

My Fandom

I also had a blast having various discussions in my own small community and people who wanted to share opinions and watch series together. You guys keep inspiring and supporting me in exploring many ideas, drawing art and writing many fics, I truly admire and adore you all, especially my fam @springkitten @xagan and also @thepancakelady @wereflamingo (I'm surprised how often we agreed with each other on somethjng but that's what makes discussions interesting xD).

Also I want to hug bad buddy server was a joyful discover this year too that inspired me to start learning Thai, our not me server that keeps being my safe comfort space and many hugs to some tumblr folks who I talk in replies and reblogs (I am truly bad at remembering usernames but if I ever chatted with you here, I am definitely thinking about you and your profile picture <3)

Here's to 2024 and more projects

I also started my FirstKhao AU visual novel, and though I thought I would be able to make it in a month or two and then got struck by Health Doing Bad for a long time, I'm definitely determined to finish it next year.

And we keep talking about making Poetry Zines with @springkitten inspired by lakorns/bls we watched and I'd like to try and make it happen 👀

I also want to return to commissions in a better way, because of political situation I haven't been able to continue drawing for my foreign friends but thanks to my other friends who are generous to help me with handling finances for me, I might be able to start drawing requests again! I also spent like 5 months fixing my health that kept me from creating I want to finish old ones and I'm really itching to return to drawings and other projects :D

And I have in my mind mastering pixel and 3d art as a part of my Changing Profession and Career Path in 2024 so let's hope I can lighten up everyone's mood with cooler art and animations 👀

Happy New Year and Happy holidays, everyone!

[c-kiddo]

@planteeth​ idk what genshin impact is and stuff or like personal stuff about xiran tbh, so i cant speak on that really at all.. but also the video series isnt their opinions, theyre east asian so they are platforming information and critiques from SEA people who they hosted a big discord server for, since people were requesting their takes on Raya and they obviously couldnt rly give critique of exact cultural things on their own. (idk if thats explained well, its explained in the video if u want to know)

EDIT: please look at my reblog to xiran’s , this was part of talking about their raya videos a few weeks back and wasnt meant as a callout at all, because there was  no evidence and it wasnt what i was talking about i just ignored it and talked about th actual videos 

[eyesanddragons]

The best way to describe my thoughts on canon wof (based on your reblog about liking the concept of wof)

Arc 1- fine enough, just add or remove minor things, make starflight not just a background character after he becomes blind, also no Sunnyflight crush stuff cause that is weird, give a bit more sympathy/focus to false dragonet’s of Destiny. (Or save that for arc 2 tbh), most changes I’d make are more preferential.

Arc 2- If Darkstalker is made big bad do not have our heroes enchant Darkstalker into a different dragon as the way to defeat him unless it is set up as something Darkstalker is willing to do. Do not treat Darkstalker as born evil (not counting stories Nightwings and icewings have of him cause those make sense) give more rules to animus magic,

Anything else in arc 2 is mostly character stuff with focus more on the war trauma most of the Dragonets have, give more focus to healing from the Pyrite spell and how traumatizing that spell would be.

Arc 3- Queen Wasp is evil full evil dictator. No plant actually controlling her and no scavenger/human plot (none at all, I really hate humans being major characters in wof and not just a weird little cryptic species in the background at most)

No throwing out animus magic because it is very cheap and dumb.

Give more focus to Silkwing resistance and what it does.

No bumblebee or if there is any bumblebee have her appear rarely and be given to the more involved Silkwing Resistance to protect.

I’d argue that involving Pyrrhia would not be necessary to give more time to focus on the state of Pantala.

This arc would probably be the best arc to kill off a main character/POV character/ former POV character. I don’t have any specific ideas because of how much is thrown out. But I think a main character death could be really impactful to show how strong the regime is.

Don’t make the story say “not all hivewings” you can have some nice hivewings if you want but don’t excuse all of them.

A neat subversion could be a belief that all Hivewings are innocent which leads to our main characters (Cricket POV would work best) to getting ‘help’ from some (maybe high ranking) hivewings while they are not mind controlled. Then it is revealed they set a trap and plan to kill/capture the resistance.

So in a nutshell- arc 1 is okay, arc 2 is on thin ice, and arc 3 is dead to me.

(I haven’t read any of the books since dragonslayer and I feel like I dodged a bullet from all the stuff I’ve heard about it)

(It feels weird to see how non canon (past book 12) all my wof work really is, I basically made my own sandbox with the concept and ran away lol)

Arc 1 is definitely the most solid of the three arcs, it has a lot of issue still (like what you've said about the false dragonets and Starflight) I think the way the Rainwings are handled SUCKS so I'd like to change that if I could (I know they were trying a subversion of the "hero finds there long lost people and there powerful" thing but on the flipside they made it so that the stereotypes that Rainwings are lazy and spoiled are actually right and they have to teach this entire kingdom that there lifestyle and culture is wrong and it just rubs me the wrong way, also like, the rainforest is an incredibly dangerous place, oh and also somehow they were lazy for...eating fruit and doing agriculture and not fighting in a war and its like???? and like the Rainwing government had its Issues but the idea that they have to...change a good portion of there culture and lifestyle is just...really off-putting) plus Wings Of Fire's Good Victim/Bad Victim Dichotomy is...still really prevalent in Arc 1 and I'd rather that not be there, I really dislike the way WoF as a whole handles Trauma.

But yeah Arc 1 is the most solid out of the three.

Arc 2 my beloved/beloathed, is weird, cause I really do love a lot of the character writing in Arc 2 specifically, I think it was the best in Arc 2 when it came to characterization, at least for the Jade Winglet (until the last Book RUINED EVERYTHING) but I feel like this Arc just, did not need a big bad at all, the issues the characters were facing were so much more personal it just wasn't necessary, The DoD's main problem was the war, they had smaller, more personal issues but they had the set goal of stopping the war, The Jade Winglet on the other hand don't have that kind of goal, there plotlines are more about dealing with the issues that come from having to fit societal expectations, growing up, trauma, lacking control of your life, being deprived of your choices and just generally things that are more personal, they don't need to stop a big bad, and even then, I personally think there emotional issues were way more interesting than Arc 1's "Stop the War" but that's cause I like character driven stories.

Hard Agree on the Darkstalker stuff, honestly the worst thing about the Darkstalker plotline for me is that, Darkstalker could of worked Thematically, he could of been So Good, but all his elements just mess everything up, if he didn't do genocide they'd you would have an abused child who doesn't want anyone to go through what he did and thus asserts control and takes away people's choices out of a feeling of necessity, that this is the only way to make sure people (including him) will be happy, which makes him parallel The Jade Winglet and has some interesting symbolism, if he was just a genocidal villain who wanted to control the world and wasn't portrayed sympathetically at all (so no abuse plotline and Darkstalker Legends and yadadada) then he could just be a kaiju representing the larger conflict without having any bad implications attatched to him. And him being inherently evil was such a bad move on multiple levels, Turtle in the last book just had to wrestle with the idea that no, he wasn't going to turn evil just because he was an animus dragon, and really the idea that someone is "Inherently" blank is one of the things The Jade Winglet are dealing and coping with, it wouldn't of been so bad if Darkstalker was just a pure evil villain but he's not, so it doesn't work, not to mention the problems with depicting your traumatized character as being inherently evil and always going to do bad thigs even though we know they grew up in a abusive household, framing him as inherently evil, the thing his dad was so insistent he was, is just a bad idea.

And that's not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Arc 2! I could talk at length about how I think the way animus dragons are treated is bad, I have talked at length before, because I think the "soul becomes evil" animus magic thing is nonsense and I think Darkstalker's magic soul reader is also complete nonsense, and also goes against the themes of the arc-

God I've rambled a lot and these are very unorganized thoughts but I really wish Arc 2 was better cause there's so many things I like about it which just makes me more angry about how many bad things are in it.

On Arc 3...*aims BIG GUN at all the genocide, colonialist, and slavery apologism and fires 100000 bullets*

Arc 3 is dead to me, I hate it so much.

Sorry this is a bit rambly I have a lot of feelings about this series.

[anupalya]

(this used to be a reblogged addition to another post, but I decided to move it to its own post because it kind of veered off from the original topic)

I love reading GNC Luke, it's awesome and I adore exploring that interpretation. I also love reading Luke who has anxiety and PTSD, Luke who is vulnerable etc. because so many people relate to different aspects of him and write him to explore that, put him in various situations and with various backgrounds and see what impact that has had on his character, etc, just like I and a bunch of other ace people immediately headcanoned Din as ace-spec. I also have enjoyed reading Luke as more timid than in OT, due to different circumstances in the story and how he was brought up and his experiences in that fic. Reading these interpretations and other characterizations can be fun separately or in combination. And as individual fics, feminine-coding can be awesome, as can technically OOC interpretations of personality -- timid/shy/blushy Luke is one example of that, but so is Sith Luke/Dark Luke.

There is also an unfortunate tendency in our broader society to go "this body type = this sex position = this personality" which is big time stereotyping of mlm in a heteronormative and very reductive way, which can also become fetishizing of mlm people and characters. And while I firmly believe that most people mean no harm, it's an easy trap to fall into, given our broader culture, and one we should be aware of. It's not just about individual fics, it's the broader pattern (just like any individual can choose to be a certain way and it's authentic to them, but when it's a blanket expectation for the entire group, that's when we've got to examine things). We can and do have fic that characterizes Luke as feminine-coded or as vulnerable and timid without it being part of the Stereotype (and I've read many fics that do this successfully, and they're awesome, no matter who took what sex position because that has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING personality or body-type related), but we also can examine why we never see Din feminine-coded (that I've ever seen) or why the "bottom Luke" tag on AO3 outstrips the "bottom Din" tag by miiiiiiles.

So 100%, "Luke can wear Padme's dresses and kick absolute ass in them and/or be feminine-coded in a fic," "Luke can be vulnerable and uncertain and even timid, depending on the characterization in that story," (which btw I do not mean as synonymous to feminine-coding) and "stereotyping/fetishizing of gay men Of A Body Type is something that is widespread in our culture and we as a fandom have the opportunity to subvert that, and should be cautious not to fall into it just for the Stereotype's sake" are all statements that can and should coexist.

And apparently things have really come to a boiling point around all of this and recent episodes (and tbh I'm also not fond of various aspects of Disney's execution of some things)

Also, I wanna see some feminine-coded Din, that would be AWESOME

At the end of the day, find and read/write the fics with the characterizations and explorations YOU want to read/write because what you like doesn't have to be everyone's cup of tea or canon-sanctioned necessarily (canon is just the headcanon of the person with the biggest budget, in my book), encourage diversity of characterization in the wide pool of DinLuke fic overall because there's SO many more possibilities to explore than the "societal default" (like I said, let's get some feminine-coded Din too! Don't reduce what's "allowed," try more things!) and considering seeking out those different characterizations to get a broader view of interpretations and experiences, and let's not bash.

[sideprince]

Not to keep hopping on this post every time it's on my dash, but I can't get behind the "Christmas is older than the Statute of Secrecy" argument and I've seen it a couple times now. Christmas wasn't a significant holiday in Britain (and most places) until the Victorian period. During various periods in British and American history, it was even banned (by the Puritans, surprise surprise).

In Medieval England holidays and feast days were pretty much a monthly occurrence, based around the needs of the harvest schedule, and of varying cultural significance. Advent calendars, sending cards, and gift giving didn't become a widespread part of Christmas observance until the mid-late 19th century. There's also a connection between the rise of the cultural significance of Christmas happening in the Victorian Era, the rise of industrialization before labor laws and regulations were passed, and the extent of British colonialization during that period. Christmas was an opportunity for those who worked 7 days a week to take a short break; it was also a way for a global colonial power to homogenize the culture of countries they had colonized (obviously not the only way, but it was a convenient part of that cultural mechanism and thus played up in significance). Plus, in a time when mass production was a new and boundless horizon of financial possibilities (for those who stood to profit off it, at least), there was a great benefit in a holiday that could be centered around gift-giving.

So the idea that the Statute of Secrecy had a great impact on whether or not wizards celebrate Christmas to the extent they do doesn't make a lot of sense. It would have been interesting if, instead, another holiday had remained more significant in the wizarding world while it became less so in the muggle world, like Michaelmas or the Carnival before Lent, or Good Friday, or Midsummer's Eve. I say these ones specifically because there's a lot of medieval imagery in Harry Potter and these were significant festivals in medieval England. Michaelmas in particular would have been a interesting choice, because it was abolished in the 18th century, after the Statute of Secrecy was passed, and so it would be a statement on Wizards retaining their own culture and the ways the muggle world both affected wizarding culture and had limited influence over it. (And obviously the most relevant choice would have been Yule, which, while celebrated by medieval Christians, is more overt about its pagan roots than Christmas.) If anything, the significance of Christmas implies a closer tie with the muggle world, as the elevation of the holiday to a culturally significant one is so historically recent. We could therefore infer that wizarding cultural trends follow muggle cultural trends, at least when it comes to larger cultural shifts, which would also imply a relatively close relationship between the two cultures.

I also feel I have to point out, re: the reblog before this one, that we don't know if Harry was baptized, only that he has godparents. It's not specified what the practice around naming godparents is in the wizarding world, but the words "baptism" and "baptised" don't occur in the HP books whatsoever - I checked to be sure. In the same vein I disagree with the idea that "christian wizards migth see Jesus' story as 'knowledge' more than 'beliefs', in other words, be more devote than christian muggles." These points assume a personal interpretation of both the HP and Christian canon to be a universal one, and with no textual proof either cited, or, tbh, any that I could even infer given knowledge of the text.

Although Harry Potter as a story has strong Christian undertones, such as the whole thing being a Christ allegory, that imagery doesn't have the same role in-universe. The Christ allegory is a Doylist element, but the Watsonian elements don't even acknowledge the existence of Jesus or even of any kind of significant religious body. We don't even see muggle characters like the Durlseys ever go to church, which could imply a deliberate choice on the author's part not to contrast a pagan wizarding world with a Christian muggle one.

So the idea that wizards might have any opinion on Jesus, let alone one that might lead them to consider themselves more knowledgable or devout that muggles, has absolutely no basis in the books. It also is a perspective I find somewhat problematic in the way it takes for granted the presence of Christianity and a cultural perspective on Christ as a figurehead in the wizarding community of HP in a way that excludes other religions and beliefs. While the story is clearly written from the perspective of its white British author, it also includes characters (albeit minor ones) from diverse backgrounds, such as the Patil twins who might be Hindi, Anthony Goldstein who we can presume is Jewish, etc. Even so, it seems to be a significant point that these characters' (and others') religion isn't mentioned, because religion itself isn't mentioned at all. There's a conversation to be had (and it's been talked about a lot) that from a Doylist perspective a lot of the author's personal religious influence worked its way into the text and is projected onto it, but from a Watsonian perspective religion isn't mentioned in the HP universe, let alone specific religious figures like Christ.

question to the void: what watsonian explanation is there for wizards celebrating christmas?

[inmyarmswrappedin]

Hi, you are one of the few blogs who write really intelligent well thoughtout metas for Skam. Can you suggest more such blogs I could follow. Suggest anyone, really. I trust you. Vapid fangirling has its benefits, but I need to balance it with some quality analysis and opinion pieces. I'm sadly not able to find many such. I do not mean to sound condescending to other members. Each fan has equal worth in fandom but I am just not able to easily find what I want, could be looking in wrong places.

Hi anon 💞💖✨ This is SUCH a flattering ask gvhvh, it’s honestly so gratifying to think that I’m not just rambling into the void and people out there care. Thank you so much. (You didn’t mention it but I’m going to pretend that you’re also talking about the Amira M posts, because I want to think people are liking those. 😂)

As for recs!

(DISCLAIMER: when it comes to these blogs, I don’t necessarily agree with everything they post or on every single topic. We’re all different people coming at these shows from different perspectives. Recommendation isn’t necessarily 100% endorsement!)

@lightsandlostbells is inactive these days, but posted some of the best and most comprehensive posts comparing the remakes to Skam. And by doing so, pinpointing what made Skam so special and where the remakes were failing. I made an easy list of all her reaction posts. I still eagerly await her wtfock s3 post which will probably murder it.

@norgestan has written some really good meta for Skam España, and is making her way through the other remakes as well. In her posts, she has pointed out things that had escaped my notice or I hadn’t seen as harmful. Super worth it, particularly if you’re interested in Noora seasons.

@norwaydumpsterfireremakes should be listed in any such rec post tbh. Her interpretation of the remakes from a (US) postcolonial POV should be required reading for any Skams fan, just to get people to watch these shows more critically. If you’re interested in any Skams character of color, then follow asap.

 @floraflorenzi doesn’t post meta all that often, but when she does, it’s well-written, concise and decisive. Flora was one of the people whose posts I would keep reading before I made my own tumblr. I also consider her gifsets to be meta in animated form, because she makes her points by highlighting certain scenes and dialogue.

 @naybetamira has posted a bunch of Skam España meta. Her writing style is more warm and loving, for a change of pace. 💛

@cfgc I started following recently, specifically because I was interested in her analysis of Lola Lecomte’s sexuality. I don’t even like Skam France or watched Lola’s season, so that should tell you how interesting I find her posts to be. 😛 I would also recommend her tags to the gifsets she reblogs. (As I would with pretty much everyone else on this list.)

With Amira Naybet’s season coming up, I would also check @rumaan (white hijabi), @nolabballgirl (hijabi of color) and @overthemoonwithme to get the perspectives of Muslims and/or women of color. I can’t remember if Overthemoonwithme is Muslim (sorry 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♂️). 

If you for some reason feel like venturing out to twitter, @procrastinatingbisexual is there at @zoskazu, and her understanding of her own generation (Gen Z) and female characters have influenced and impacted the way I think about these characters, particularly for Druck and lovleg. (She’s currently into The Umbrella Academy but I’m hoping the upcoming seasons bring her back to the fold gvvhvh.) 

@skamenglishsubs posted a commentary series going over cultural and subtext elements in Skam, which I recommend if you want to have a better understanding of the motifs Julie Andem used for each season. 

And finally, though you asked for meta, I do want to recommend a couple of gifmakers, because their gifsets have often made me notice a detail I overlooked or a microexpression that informs a character: @matteoflrnzi, @kikimachwitz, @katyazhuravlik, @naslostcontrol.

Honorary mention to my friends with whom I discuss these shows privately, but don’t post meta on their blogs or very rarely: @thescorpioracer, @wodrueckts, @feingeister, @dusuessekartoffel, @hachibe

[theharellan]

101 DRAGON AGE QUESTIONS | not accepting

for the sake of reducing the number of ooc posts i’m answering these all in one and just @ing the people who asked the questions! thank you for them all!

if you sent me one of these btw and rbed this meme yourself and i didn’t send you something, please let me know! i want to send you things back and must have missed you reblogging the meme. this includes non-mutuals.

1. How did you get into Dragon Age? | asked by @kaaras-adaar & @dreamerlavellan​

Sort of by accident, actually. It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in university (2011) and summertime is generally a time of inactivity and depression because I cannot tolerate the weather here. My dad happened to own Origins and I picked it up because??? Fantasy? RPG?

Starting the game I saw you could play as a dwarf, who have been my favourites in fantasy since a child as The Hobbit is among my favourite books. Then after that I fell in love with the worldbuilding for dwarves and Gorim, my first actual Dragon Age love. I was more or less hooked after that. DA was actually not my first Bioware game, I was obsessed with Jade Empire as a kid so like Origins appealed to me immediately despite being far less fun to play than literally any other Bioware game I’ve ever played. The characters and world more than made up for it.

I beat it relatively quickly and my dad bought Dragon Age II which had come out earlier that day, actually against my suggestion because I’d heard it wasn’t good. And in this instance my dad forgetting something I said turned out for the best because I ended up enjoying DAII more in some respects. While it took me a while to join the fandom as a content producer I was a consumer and certified DA trash from then on.

2. Have you finished all three games? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

Kskjdfs yes. I’ve beaten each at least 4 times, but probably more like 8. The only thing I haven’t played are some of the Origins DLC because as much as I enjoy my replays I am so ready to be out by the end of the game (and I have the worst luck with Awakening bugs) and I also don’t have Sebastians DLC b/c his never goes on sale individually and I refuse to spend more than like $4 on him.

3. How long did it take you to finish the series? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

I honestly don’t know. I think it took me like a week to beat Inquisition without 100%ing it, I’d say my first playthroughs all probably took about that long. I tend not to do everything in my first playthrough. Like shard collecting didn’t happen until round two, etc.

7. Favorite DA:O backstory? | asked by @dreamerlavellan & @fatefaulted

I’ve played through all of them and I enjoy them all except Cousland, but my favourite is Aeducan. I enjoy the politics, the culture, the aesthetic of Orzammar. I love Gorim Saelac and the surprising amount of depth to this character who is designed to be thrown away after the prologue. I love how it ties you to the Darkspawn threat in a bigger way than any of the origins accomplish. I love how it ties you to the Orzammar plot later in the game, and playing Aeducan first is probably one reason why I adore that branch of the game. It’s a good origin that establishes its world really well and has great characters to boot.

11. Share a pic of your favorite OC from any DA game. | asked by @dreamerlavellan

I just want to share pics of my girl and Solas’ future husband.

Ian Lavellan, non-Inquisitor written by @theshirallen

Thora Cadash, dwarven Inquisitor and default Inquisitor for this blog written by... me lmao.

22. Favorite DA2 party combo? | asked by @fatefaulted

My main Hawke is a mage Hawke, so this party is horrendously imbalanced, but: Varric, Merrill, Isabela. They all just like each other and I think that’s neat. Although in act one my favourite is probably Carver, Merrill, Isabela / Varric. Unfortunately the game doesn’t want me to have a warrior in my party.

24. Favorite main-story quest from DA:I? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

It’s hard to pick between In Hushed Whispers and In Your Heart Shall Burn. I love seeing the red lyrium’d companions and the dark future of Thedas, and speculating on what happened in the intervening year. I love reflecting on what it must do for the Inquisitor to see that and have it be undone. I think it sets up the rest of the game really well, and in ways Champions of the Just doesn’t do quite as well.

In Your Heart Shall burn is a simpler quest but I think the power and emotions in the quest are so raw. Playing this the first time was riveting and I was on the edge of my seat. The triumph of closing the Breach, the strangeness of your first encounter with Cole (whose appearance at the gates is another reason I prefer IHW tbh, I think it’s more tension building than Dorian’s), Corypheus, crawling through the snow. Capping it off with The Dawn Will Come and the journey to Skyhold idk, it’s just such an emotional high point in the series that every time I replay I get goosebumps.

25. Favorite DA:I place? | asked by @fatefaulted

It’s a tie between the Frostback Basin and the Emerald Graves. I love the lore in both, as elf trash I prefer the lore in the graves especially if I can include the Din’an Hanin into that category. But the Avvar lore and Ameridan is also Very Good, and while I adore the giant trees of the graves the Frostback Basin clearly was able to have more resources poured into its design, and as a result the different sections of the map have so much more character.

A close runner-up is the Hinterlands, as I think the quests there are fun and it feels like home. I enjoy returning to it. Which is good, b/c I’ve played through it... a lot... I think loving it might be a coping mechanism, but also I love the vibe of the early game that’s best captured in the Hinterlands.

32. Favorite DLC mission overall? | asked by @fatefaulted

Trespasser is up there with Shivering Isles as my favourite DLC ever produced. Its hits every emotional beat I think it needed to hit, set up the next game with greater detail and intrigue than the initial epilogue, and I’m honestly dying to get to replay it again on Thora despite what it does to my nerves. The first time I played it I could feel my heart beating faster like wtf me.

37. Blood magic: yes or no? | asked by @hopewrought​

Would I use it myself? No. Morally I think it can be reprehensible but also neutral, much like any other magic in the game. In certain characters I think even if used for good it may encourage unhealthy habits, but I think it can be learned to be engaged with in better ways.

59. Who was written really poorly? | asked by @theshirallen you can’t hide behind anon I know it was you

Oghren fucking Kondrat. When I think about the reasons Origins is my least favourite game he is among them. With Oghren there was a really good chance to portray an alcoholic abuse victim, suffering from severe mental health issues, and still mourning his wife, with the respect it deserves. Instead he just... is a gross sexist dwarf and his alcoholism is mostly played for jokes. And then he comes back in Awakening and... continues to be a gross sexist dwarf whose alcoholism is mostly played for jokes.

There could have been some really interesting stuff with Oghren, the Warrior caste of dwarves I think would suffer from issues similar to qunari warriors, where when they can no longer fill the purpose society has dictated they must serve, what then? They can’t do anything but fight. There could be comradery with Sten, or perhaps Zevran or Alistair, or any of the companions who have had the path their lives took dictated to them by societal forces they had no say in (even if they are happy with that direction). There are snippets of good stuff in here, the line “let us show them our hearts, Warden, and then show them theirs” is one of the best of the good-byes the game offers us imo. It’s a shame about what came before.

Like there are other characters, such as Sera, who I think were done dirty by their writers, but Sera at least got some growth in the DLC and there were attempts to address criticism of her character. Oghren in Awakening was just kind of a take two of an already poorly-done arc.

60. Who do you wish had been given more story? | asked by @hopewrought​

I wish Briala had more, like that she had some impact on the story in universes where Gaspard isn’t crowned with her as his puppetmaster. She and the elves reappears in that but not if you reunite her with Celene or exile her, and I think it would’ve been neat. I also wish she’d had a chance to interact with Solas in some small way given how many parallels were drawn by one of his own agents during Masked Empire.

I also wish we had more about dwarves in general in 2 and Inquisition. We get some great lore in Inquisition that was set up in 2, but with our only dwarf companion being Varric, who honestly has a relationship with his race that at times is comparable to Sera’s, it pulls a few of its punches. I really think they have dwarves set up to be important players in the next game, with their architecture featuring heavily in the dev diary, buuut no dwarves to be seen. So who knows. Just give me dwarves in the next game who aren’t Varric Bioware pls. Let me kiss one maybe.

61. Favorite NPC? | asked by @kaaras-adaar​

I’m not going to count advisors even though they kinda are NPCs and I’m going to answer one for each game so uhh...

Origins - Anora

DA2 - Feynriel

DA:I - Krem

Bonus - Lord Woolsley, the only unproblematic DA character

63. Best story moment? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

It’s a tie between the journey to Skyhold and the talk with Solas at the end of Trespasser and the resulting disbanding of the Inquisition (if you so choose). I really can’t separate them because I think the reason Trespasser works so well is how it calls back to the very beginning of Inquisition and that moment with Solas in the snow. It’s triumphant and sad, something’s ending, the fellowship is breaking, but you know all of you will continue to work towards a better world apart.

In DA:O I think it’d be saying good-bye before the final battle and in DA2 I think the moment where you can tell the Arishok he was right to take in the elves who killed that guardmen is good. Probably one of the reasons why I think Hawke-Arishok work so well as a protagonist-antagonist combination.

81. Favorite fanfic? | asked by @ghilannainguideme​

I don’t read a lot of fanfic, actually. Save what I read on here, which I do count, but idk if other people do.

My favourite writers to read are @theshirallen​, obviously. Joly wants to tweakIan’s personal quest but I think the version they have written now is still very good and you can find it here. I love reading Peace’s stuff and find their smut especially spicy in the best possible way, you can find a Merrill/f!Mahariel piece here! Gaia doesn’t write on Tumblr much these days, but she wrote a wonderful Tug/Sketch (the companions from Leliana’s Song) that you can find here.

I follow so many talented writers and I can’t list them all but here are a few I can fire off real fast: @theshirallen / @ghilannainguideme / @seahaloed / @sabraelin / @valorcorrupt / @mercysought / @hopewrought / @ofrevas / @skyheld have all moved me with their words at some point, be it in fic or rp.

82. Favorite fanart/fanartist? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

Again I just can’t choose jsdfks.

The easiest way is to just link my Solas fanart tag. Obviously this favours Solas artists, however, so also here’s a link to thedaswlw where there’s a boatload of amazing fanart all of wlw.

Of people I’m mutuals with I know @abracafockyou, @kaaras-adaar, @dalathin (currently inactive but I gotta link them), and @syntharts​ are all very talented artists.  I’m also a big fan of destinyapostacy, nipuni, elbenherzart, starscollected (on twitter), and many more.

97. What’s your favorite DA mod? | asked by @ghilannainguideme​ & @hopewrought​

I’ll chose one as many as I want to apparently from each game again, b/c why not?

DA:O - I have to admit I find this game hard to mod because nothing can really salvage the gameplay or look of the game. I need Better Dwarf Model so I don’t have to look at the odd dwarf proportions in the game (the women have arms for days). Mostly I have armour mods. I like Grey Wardens of Ferelden so I can match Alistair in the final batte and have everyone in uniforms in Awakening. I do like Kirkwall Exports because I can put Zevran in the robes of the notorious pirate tho. I haven’t used this mod yet but I also love this mod I retweeted this morning.

DA2 - Again, I don’t mod 2 very much. You could probably make some kind of chart for correlating my enjoyment of a game versus my urge to mod it, with the more I love a game means I want to mod it more. With 2 I enjoy the combat and overall design of the characters more so I mostly use a couple of tweaks, my favourite is Ishs Scarf for Merrill which just adds a cute blue scarf to Merrill and hides the fact that elves in this game have weirdly long necks. Oh and a mod to fix the weird hand dirt.

DA:I - Equal Opportunity Solas mod, I bought the game again on PC just to use it. Being able to play Solas/Ian for screencaps was everything tbh. Other mods I enjoy are More Banter, which while I have better luck with banter it is nice to be able to count on it. I installed it this latest pt and I have heard location comments that have never triggered before. Black Hair for Everyone has changed my life because finally Thora doesn’t have grey hair. No Dirt Buildup is also amazing, as the dirt can cause some really weird blotting on PCs that’s especially noticeable on dark-skinned Inquisitors.

99. Where would you live (Ferelden, Orlais, Free Marches etc?) | asked by @heysales​​

Probably Ferelden. It is fantasy England and hey if I make it past Inquisition maybe nothing will ever happen there again. Somewhere in the Free Marches might also be chill. Not Kirkwall. Maybe Starkhaven? Honestly tho I just want to live in the Frostback Basin. Have a spirit friend. Shake hands with nugs.

101. If you could meet your Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor, what would you say? | asked by @dreamerlavellan​

If I met Thora I’d tell her I’m proud of her. She’d be confused, but that’s ok.

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: I Am Proud Of My Fanfiction

The other day, I met with an aspiring creative who wanted to pick my brain about my experiences as a writer. I told her about the plays I worked on in school, the shows I helped bring to life in the Disney Parks, and my novel-in-progress, Tali’s Flowers.

“I haven’t worked on it in a while,” I said. “I love that story, but I keep working on other things instead.”

“Do you not love the other things you’re working on?” she asked me.

The question caught me by surprise, and I laughed a bit – partly because I laugh when I’m surprised, but mostly because the “other things” I keep working on instead of my novel are fanfiction.

You are currently reading this post on my professional writing blog. If you’ve been following me for a while, then you know that I often post links to my fanfiction here. When I first created this blog, I was hesitant to do so. Fanfiction has a reputation of being unprofessional. It’s considered a “lesser” art form to original fiction. I have another Tumblr account for reblogging gifsets and videos and other nerdy, less-than-professional social media things. I considered keeping my fanfiction over there, if I posted it at all.

Ultimately, I decided that this blog is for my writing – all of my writing that I love, that I am proud of, and that I want to share with the world. And that writing includes fanfiction.

Why?

I could say that writing and posting fanfiction is a vital part of my professional development. I spent five incredible months as the Disney Parks Live Entertainment Show Writer Intern, and all the shows I helped bring to life as a part of that internship were, arguably, “official” fanfiction. I was not only assigned but also paid to write new adventures for characters from movies I fell in love with as a child. I put words into the mouths of the Toy Story gang and explored the fan club culture of the world of The Incredibles. Being able to do that again, to make a living writing new stories for characters the world already loves, is one of my career goals.

But that isn’t the whole story. Not everyone who writes fanfiction will ever do so for money, or even wants to. And even if I knew without a doubt that I would never have the chance to write for Disney or any entertainment company ever again, I would still write and post fanfiction.

Because not only do I love writing fanfiction, but I am also proud of my fanfiction.

I am proud of the quality of my fanfiction.

I’m afflicted by the same curse that many writers have: once a story of mine is out in the world, I usually can’t read it again without cringing.

It is a rare delight to write something, return to it a month later, and still like it. This is a natural consequence of improving my craft as a writer, combined with dubiously-healthy doses of anxiety and imposter syndrome.

But there are times, blessed times, when I enjoy rereading my own writing, when I know without a doubt that what I penned was good. I’ve had a lot of those moments while writing fanfiction. Sure, humility is a virtue and putting yourself down is “cool” these days, but I’ve spent years working and learning and improving my craft – I have a Bachelor’s Degree in this, for crying out loud – and it shows!

Lena closed her fingers around the keys, and she put the closed fist to her chest. And all at once it hit her that she was here to stay, and she began to cry. And then Webby was back in front of her, kissing her first on the forehead and then on the beak, and then she threw her arms around Lena’s neck, and Scrooge had a hand on each of their shoulders, and their limbs were good, strong roots that reached so deep into the earth that nothing could ever pull them away, and Lena knew that she was home at last.

The previous paragraph is the final lines of The Sunchaser Grill, a crossover fanfic of Disney’s DuckTales TV show, the 1996 film The Spitfire Grill, and the 2001 Off-Broadway musical adaptation of the same name. And yes, I know how bizarre that sounds. Bizarre stuff happens in this story. But that paragraph is one of my favorite things that I’ve ever written. I am proud to say that whenever I reread it, it makes me smile.

I am proud that my fanfiction comes from a spirit of joy and fun.

There’s a place in the world for sad stories. Sometimes I even write them. But overwhelmingly, my writing steers towards the positive. I write the fics that I write because I know I’ll have a good time writing them.

I wrote Sunchaser Grill because it delighted me how well the characters from one work fit the character roles of the other. I wrote Hang In There because I wanted to imagine the Thirteenth Doctor going back to give a young River Song a bit of hope, in a moment that Doctor Who canon might never give us. I wrote so, so many fics for this last Weblena Month because that little lesbian couple makes me so, so happy. And once, way back in high school, I wrote a 600-word fic about Shere Khan from The Jungle Book meeting Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, just because I thought it would be funny.

I’m proud of the spirit of joy that powers my writing, and I’m proud of the stories that have grown from that joy.

It’s not just about me, though.

I am proud that my fanfiction brings joy to and has meaning for other people.

During my internship with Disney Parks Live Entertainment, I saw children laugh, dance, and play along with the shows I wrote. As that internship neared its end, I naturally felt sad at the thought of not making children laugh with my stories anymore.

Almost on cue, I received an email notification from one of my old accounts. Someone had just left a comment on that “Shere Khan meets Tigger” story I mentioned before. This was in 2018. I wrote that story in 2011.

This is such a perfect crossover! And both tigers are completely in character. Shere Khan is trying to hunt, but gets interrupted by an excited, bouncy Tigger. As a result, Shere Khan is annoyed and Tigger doesn’t let anything bother him.

P.S. My eight-year-old daughter liked it, too.

It hit me then that I had already been creating stories that made children laugh even before Disney hired me, and there was no reason why I had to stop.

I want to tell stories that mean something to other people. Fanfiction has given me the opportunity for that desire to be not just a dream for someday, but something that I can do right here, right now. It’s allowed me to see the impact my writing can have, the impact that I want it to have, on other people’s lives.

Here are a few of the comments that people have left on my fanfiction over the years:

thank you. Just - thank you. And good night; I will finally go to bed, now. – on a Hunger Games fanfic in 2011

An adorable ending to a magical story. I got tears in my eyes, you know, and I almost never cry. :) – on one of my Alice in Wonderland fanfics in 2012

Thank you for giving more depth to an already-amazing character. – on one of my Rune Factory 3 fanfics in 2016

I've been wanting to comment since Chapter One but I couldn't think of something to say. Seeing this story updated just makes my day better and it's so well written and I'm invested in the plot. Just...good job <3. – on that Spitfire Grill fic in 2018

I really love this, it's amazing how you showed the piano and music as something that makes sense in the middle of all confusion and it's amazing to see it as something that can help so much. To me personally piano has been incredibly important so reading this fic just... I have tears in my eyes right now and I don't know how to express how amazing this fic is for me to read. – on one of my Ducktales fics in 2018

This part hit me tbh, this is something I’ve said nearly verbatim when talking about my own fear that no one would ever want to be in a relationship with me… I just want to say how much I love this entire series. – on one of my 2019 Weblena Week fics

People read fanfiction because they want to spend more time with the characters they love, because they want to laugh or cry, because they want to see themselves and their experiences reflected in media. I am proud to create those experiences for other people.

Of course I love the “other things” I keep working on. Of course I love my fanfiction. Someday I’ll finish Tali’s Flowers, or a different novel, or a movie, or a play, and people will call it my “debut” and ask me how it feels to have finally “made it.” And I’ll be proud, of course I’ll be proud. But I’m already proud. I have every reason to be.

[pollackpatrol]

sorry, i didnt mean to add to a bad situation i did genuinely mean that in a helpful way. being in an anxiety spiral sometimes makes me take people's actions as actions against me so it helps me to hear people give a different explanation for their actions (ie that theyre reblogging to spread word that the person should be blocked, not to spread your personal posts).

a lot of people share really personal things on tumblr so some people dont think twice about it.

again I'm sorry, really didnt mean to come across the way i did

thats fair, and its alright tbh. like, i get where you were coming from. 

for me i usually know, logically, why people are doing a thing, but then that doesnt really impact my emotions. like w RSD im like “dude my friends dont hate me, theyre just busy”, but then i still Feel like they do

and then there is like. a culture on tumblr of reblogging intensely personal posts just because they don’t explicitly say not to reblog them, but i dont super wanna get into that. 

tldr its chill

[fromthedeskofelizabeththird]

Your recent reblog made me realise how mistreated artists are. I've seen many people simply reposting arts and not complying with the wishes of the artist. Far too many people just find a pretty picture on the Internet and either illegally use it or claim as their own. As an artist myself, I know how much effort goes into each piece. Especially digital art because I've seen many people saying that it's not real art. Far too many people don't care and they won't stop reposting no matter what.

Hi Nonny!

Firstly, I want to thank you for messaging me because I actually feel really strongly about this topic and I have a lot to say about it so. 

I’m going to sound old and crotchety when I say this (and I’m 28, which I know for a fact IS old and crotchety to some of ya’ll), but when I read about how badly the internet has damaged the music industry, the anime industry, the publishing industry or the movie industry, it always makes me think about fandom. Internet and social media have done us dirty too in a lot of ways.

The same exact arguments for why the movie, anime and other industries are struggling so much at present can be made for fandom creators. Too many advances and changes in too short a period of time. The fandom landscape changed so much in so few years that we are still dealing with the fallout. 

Fanzines, as just ONE example, date back to the 30s, but they are something of a rarity now in their original form and one big reason for that is the internet’s impact on the availability of content. The internet has encouraged the consumer culture we’ve developed, where it’s easy to right click and save a picture and save a fic as a pdf to your kindle without ever acknowledging the creators.

I’ve been lurking around internet forums since 2004/2005, though I first got involved properly in fandom in 2007 and I want to make it very clear that reposting and the general mistreatment of content creators is not new. When I first skirted on the edges of the Naruto fandom, reposts of fanart to catchy tunes on YT was a very big part of the fandom community in ways the Vine repost culture kind of is now. 

And obviously in retrospect, I personally didn’t know a thing about reposting at the time. I wasn’t the one uploading them, so I don’t even know if the artists gave permission (though…I doubt it). 

But reposters often claim one of three of the above as a reason that they should not be judged for their actions when the reality is that they didn’t know and should learn better.

The judgement for reposting doesn’t come from a place of being angry at ignorance. It’s from the unwillingness to learn. From deliberation and the actions of individuals refusing to not only read disclaimers but to ask questions of those who would be only too happy to answer their questions.

And I’ll be honest, it’s CRUCIAL that fandoms (not only Mysme) learn better.

It’s crucial that we as a generation move on from this.

I’ve been on tumblr specifically since 2011 and I’ve watched so many fandoms come and go. A significant weight for a fandom’s lifespan rests on the shoulders of content creators and when those same content creators are disrespected in a multitude of different ways, exactly why should we (I am including myself, by the way, as a writer) stick around?

If the fanbase reposts art often enough without credits, questions commission prices all while begging for free art etc etc, doesn’t it make sense to leave?

This is a problem that goes beyond Mysme Fandom. It stretches as far as Pixiv, where Japanese speaking artists place English disclaimers for Western fans asking that they do not steal, having had their galleries picked clean.

I’m not going into the BS writers face because that’s a whole other topic tbh

Content creators work for free and are usually not professionals. All they ask is respect. It is an enormous disrespect to take something of theirs and claim it as your own. Reposters lose the right to victimhood when they are inherently in the wrong. A lot of times I see people confronting reposters and it makes me uncomfortable, since the reposter flips the blame on the artist so quickly that it verges on gaslighting, which is-by the way- an abuse tactic.

Time for a game of reposter bingo:

“It’s online, it’s your fault!”

“I just wanted to have fun!”

“I just wanted to give X artist exposure!”

I think every fandom forgets that its content creators are fans too. They create from a place of love, but they share because they want their work to be seen and they are not in the least bit obligated to do so.

Sourcing that art properly is an obligation though and it is not difficult. 

I will also argue that it is our obligation to educate reposting etiquette in the same manner that we do tag etiquette. There is something very wrong with the shape of a fandom where every artist I know has had their work stolen at least once and has to literally beg and plead in the face of people who -by and large- ignore them. I want to say that it should go unsaid that stealing art is wrong and people should not NEED to be taught otherwise, but it is becoming so ingrained in fandom dna that at this point it feels I’m being condescending by saying otherwise.

Here are some sourcing tools:

Google Reverse Image Search

SauceNao

IQDB

These do not count as sources:

-Pinterest

-WeHeartit

-CREDIT TO THE ARTIST

Here is a tool to disable right click

It’s important that we move past this and get our collective shit together, because this is not only a fandom exclusive problem, but it is for damn sure one that arrived with social media and it’s impacted everyone in a lot of unforeseen, harmful ways. 

If we fandom bloggers don’t protect one another and learn from our mistakes, then who is to stop the bigger corporations from taking advantage of us.

Elly out

[shipeo]

question meme, again! c: tagged by @gvenevera. hahaha hey vera, thanks so much for tagging me ♥

Rules: 1. Post the rules 2. Answer the questions given to you by the tagger 3. Write 11 questions of your own 4. Tag 11 people

1. What’s your childhood anime?

when i was a kid, we had a big screen television set up in the living room and my brother would binge watch full metal alchemist, fruits basket, one piece, and naruto there whenever he had free time. i always somehow ended up joining him for those little screenings, the unsuspecting sufferer to his passionate spiels about the characters, his speculations on plot, and the splendour of the story worlds.

out of all those, the one i’d really call my childhood anime is probably full metal alchemist. like, omfg. i had... this... hopeless crush on edward elric. /headdesks he was just. he was cute. i remember myself being so darn happy knowing he was a total shortie, just like i was, and i’d mouth his name quietly to myself as i watched him on tv because i liked the way it rolled off my tongue. THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING.

2. Social media? Which one’s your favorite?

hm, up till a while ago it was twitter - it’s sort of a handy depository of my thoughts (fangirly, and then not.) now, it’s probably tumblr. i’m fucking addicted. there are so many amazing people here??

3. Does your name (real or penname) have any meaning?

jamie doesn’t - my mum just chose it because all my siblings have a name that starts with ‘J’. it’s just a neat little commonality lmao.

shipeo, on the other hand, is the korean word for ‘want/desire’. i chose it because of its inherent meaning, and how it seems to describe my fascination with fandom. like, you see, when i love things, reblog things, interact – there’s some void within me that i’m trying to fill, even though i mightn’t realise it at the time. there’s a want inside of me that keeps me coming back to this strange endless cycle of consuming and creating content, whether it’s a desire for companionship, for romance, for excitement... and for me, shipeo encapsulates my own descent into self-indulgence, into falling so deep into my desires for no reason other than the fact that i want to.

also, i hear this word all the time in korean music and i like the way it sounds. c:

4. How many meals do you eat in a day?

um, around two. my sleep schedule has been pretty messed up lately, and that’s affected my appetite, so...

5. Are you afraid of ghosts? Or horror movies?

if ghosts exist, and if they look anything like they do in horror movies (they probably don’t) – then yes. ;__; i’m getting the fuck out of there.

i’m alright with horror movies, and i enjoy them to a great degree, but i do have to watch between the cracks in my fingers sometimes. HAHAHA. i’m definitely game to be scared shitless though LET’S DO IT. lol can you tell how contradictory i am??

6. What kind of phone do you use? iOS vs Android?

iPhone 5! c: i’m an apple nerd. ugh, it’s their branding, i’m tellin’ ya. i’m a fool for their philosophy.

7. How many languages can you speak?

English, Chinese, Conversational Japanese.

8. Which fic would you rather read: Major character death OR Non-consensual?

MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH HANDS DOWN. non-con makes me kind of queasy c’: and um, a major character death would be the opportune chance to do a character study and to flesh out what the surviving character really felt for the deceased. there’s that delicious turmoil and hurt, of course, especially if there’s unfinished business between the two characters. but more than anything, i appreciate how MCDs often unearth some deeply fundamental truths as to what it is for us to truly love someone. through everything that happens post-death, it gives some shape and form to the abstract impact that another soul can make on our lives. physical things, now laden with more meaning than ever before: an extra toothbrush left fraying in its holder. old strands of their hair on the floor and in the dusty corners. their online profile, pristine and untouched, like the owner had only disappeared for a little while.

there’s always a prevailing theme of inevitability and of regret, of our smallness as human beings. it’s a bitter reminder of what little power we truly have when faced with our own mortality. these are experiences that are intimately connected to our experience as creatures who love things and fear to lose them. stories like that? they remind us of our humanity. i mean, these are things we should celebrate. god, it hurts, but i think it’s worth it for that moment of self-reflection.

9. How do you feel about spoilers, especially for manga/anime?

i don’t mind it. fam, i’m a really chill person. i’m not going to freak out just because someone reblogged/tweeted/posted something they got excited about. hahaha. i tend to find more fault with myself than with others tbh.

besides, sometimes knowing what’s coming can get you more hyped for a series. c;

10. Favorite travel destination?

japan. that place is beautiful, steeped with culture, and unlike any place i’d ever been. kyoto was downright mystical and I WANT TO GO BACK SO BADLY.

11. Describe your OTPs – what do you think they have in common?

friend, i have too many OTPs.

bsd: akutagawa/atsushi, bnha; todoroki/midoriya, bakugou/kirishima, opm: saitama/genos, no. 6: nezumi/shion, pmmm: homura/madoka, nno: yoite/miharu... just to name a few.

i think i tend to like... the interplay between past hurts and healing.

one of the characters (A) normally has a near-unattainable goal, something that occupies them almost every minute of every day, makes them miserable without them even realising. enter B, who shows A a side of them they had never before thought of as valuable/important – usually a side of them that’s more tender/caring. more often than not, this leads to A becoming a better person because... well, love makes you want to be better. that’s definitely what atsushi does for aku (i mean, he could,) what midoriya does for todoroki, what kirishima does for bakugou, and what saitama does for genos. i also tend to like banter, undeniable chemistry, and any pairing with a deep canonical bond. i love relationships where the characters fulfil each other, in a way that is unique to them alone. give me all that heartwarming shit, ya’ll.

;___; j-just... anything to fill the void in my heart.

i’m not gonna come up with questions or tag anyone since i already did on the previous question meme! c’: fuuuck it’s 3am and i have a meeting in the morning fml GOOD NIGHT WORLD

[cyclone5000]

I was inspired to ask you this question because of the ccs content you've been reblogging (love that show btw). So as far as I know Japan is not a very gay friendly country, certainly not as friendly as some people believe. The MalexMale and FemalexFemale content is marketed to specific groups and usually shows them in ways that are kind of demeaning, like having one of the males being touched against his will (like full blown raped in some cases) by his future lover. (to be continued)

So my question is, how come Sailor Moon and Card Captor Sakura were able to get away with showing Gay couples in their shows (and well developed, healthy gay couples at that) back in the 90s? It was censored in America but Japan didn’t seem to have a problem with it, and as far as I know both shows were mainstream shows in Japan and marketed to large groups, not like Yuri and Yaoi normally are. Is it just cause they were side characters? Any chance you know the answer to this question?

uhhhh tbh I don’t know if there is a right answer to this…I’m unsure if I’m the one who can provide one at least. 

I’m not that well versed in this kind of stuff. And I’ll be honest, I’m little confused by this ask…I’ll answer it as best as I can. But, I’m just gonna tell you right off the bat that  this is 100% my speculation. Don’t take this as a serious answer :x 

With the way this kind of question is worded…it sounds like you’re comparing the same sex couples in SM and CCS to yaoi and yuri genres? And if that’s the case…well…your answer is right there… you’re basically comparing magical girl anime to pornography….

I mean, don’t get me wrong. Japan is definitely not an LGBT friendly place. But, the adult industry is all about fantasizing to the point of fetish-sizing. It is purposely formulaic. Why? Because a kink is marginally easier to sell than a person. And this is something that can be applied to international adult markets. Ever notice how there are several categories on porn sites, but no real variety within the category’s content?  Yeah that’s no coincidence. Adult entertainment is not about reinventing the wheel, they follow the patterns that are known to work.

Yaoi and Yuri definitely are applied this notion. I think the fact that it’s animanga further allows readers to detach it from reality. Like in the case with the yaoi genre, a huge premise behind it’s creation is ‘forbidden romance’ and its after effects. Caste systems, falling in ‘love’ with someone who you can’t have, power dynamics, the whole ‘i’m not gay but you did this one thing to me and now i can’t forget how incredible it made me feel and so i’m confused until this story reaches a conclusion’–all of this and more get cranked out to the extreme because it sells this romanticized POV of Taboo. 

It’s kind of a no brainer to see how incredibly inaccurate these genres are at depicting actual same sex relationships. But the whole point of the genre is…well not to. I’m not saying that it’s a good thing or anything. (I think a major issue within the adult industry and pornographic material is how unregulated it is in favor of it turning out a profit. Studies have show that people wind up believing what porn shows because of their lack of sex education…but adult industries don’t feel pressured to cared about that really…which does have a negative impact…lol i wrote a paper about this once).

I know bc of the nature of the Internet and stuff, Yaoi/Yuri is often lumped together with regular mlm and wlw love stories. Yes, you’ll find some sense of similarities on how sexual these stories can be. But I think there there is a major difference in yaoi vs shonen ai or yuri vs shoujo ai. And that difference boils down what kind of story the author wants to tell. And what kind of impression the author wants to leave in their reader’s minds. 

Which I’ll transition to SM and CCS now. These series had a specific story in mind, and in order to tell that story; the author(s) made conscious decisions to have characters and couples to display it. I don’t think that they ‘got away’ with anything. In the case with these two shows, in order to display themes and other elements of their fictional verse, they created gay characters to illustrate them in ways the other cast members couldn’t.  The gay and lesbian characters/moments weren’t just added in without consideration. They were an integral part to the plot. They had purpose. And with that in mind, they were created.  The reason why they are good and healthy depictions of relationships is because of the actual format of the genre. These are magical girl stories. The priority is telling a good story. I don’t think they were just token characters, they were woven into the plot extremely well. And if you have a well written character, that’s gonna have a way better impact than a ill written one. 

There was a lot of effort and care put into both of these series. That’s why they left a strong impact that’s still prevalent today. I don’t know too much about Japanese culture and stuff. Under my assumption, I don’t think they are focused on LGBT representation. It was the 90′s. It was rare to find anyone that pushed for proper representation right, hell it’s still rare in present day!  But even if it’s not a primary acceptance for the culture as a whole, for one reason or another, it was impertinent  to the authors. That’s why they made them, that’s why they were weaved into the story. Japan is known for its subtlety. These characters were homosexual, but it was quiet. No one was blunt about it at least. These could be factors of why it was broadcasted as widely as it was. idk for sure, but my gut does tell me that it was a  positive if anyone did oppose of it. 

Like, with SM, I couldn’t tell you what Takeuchi had in mind while conceiving the story…If I’m not mistaken. I believed she made the first ark and was pretty okay with it. But when she gained popularity she was asked to create more, and thus made four more SM series. If the publishing company is asking her to continue her story…chances are they’re gonna let her draw/write what she wants. SM was already a running series by the time Haruka and Michiru came about. That whole ark was specifically about the talismans they held. Takeuchi might have had her own reasons for writing a romance between them, but I personally don’t know what they are. If that’s what she wanted though, that’s what she was gonna do. If the story is good enough to pull in sales and readers, then it’s okay. I can’t remember if there was a big uproar about it. I don’t think there was at least. 

CCS is a little different seeing as it was created by CLAMP and a different publisher. CLAMP in of itself have always been kinda progressive. I mean, within this series alone…one of the big themes is love and memory. Specifically how those two things are so different person to person. I know that tumblr and other social media likes to comment about the gay couples in the show (I don’t blame them lol), but sometimes it’s easy to forget some of the…not so easy to accept romances in the show. There were a lot of romantic feelings between students and teachers. Most of them having a large age difference between them. There were some things that crossed over family lines too. Their push for risky romance, did not stop at just same-sex couples. It was all across the board. CLAMP has always been one of those authors teams that pushed ‘there are many versions of love and just bc you don’t like it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist’ mindset. Even if people didn’t agree with the message, it didn’t stop or deter them from their success. And again…I feel like if I was a publisher…and I had a material for long running success…I’d take it lol. CCS had a lot of promise. 

Hell, look at YO/I rn. The author was always straightforward about Victor and Yuuri being a couple. And they got it through to completion. Why? Because the story was good enough to win people over. I know that sounds like a simple answer to such a complicated issue (it’s really hard getting variety and representation in animanga) but if the team believes in a project, and there is promise in its creation…there is history of studios caving in and allowing it to get created. And this isn’t just for gay love stories. It goes for a bunch of different things…like, look up how Cowboy Bebop’s concept got created! It makes me laugh every time i think about it XD That is like a prime example of someone getting to make what they want and the result being outstanding. all bc the publisher didn’t care so long as they got one thing correct.

BUT I don’t know for sure. It’s not like I’m able to find direct interviews with the authors of SM and CCS. I don’t know what they were actually thinking when creating their stories. Or why they specifically designed the characters the way they did. 

But the same sex couples in these series will almost always be better than say other stories in the yaoi/yuri genres. And that’s just simply due to writing. The authors made characters to fit within their worlds. They didn’t just create characters that had slight variations of the same exaggerated animanga tropes. 

It’s kinda sad when I think about it. mlm stories are being catered to the female gaze while wlw stories are being created for men….why? bc according to publisher, those are the demographics that will purchase these works…I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I think that a lot of people have their preferences and types–but no one is gonna reject a truly good story! lol, even if there are gems within the same sex genres, make so mistake. They can be really hard to find.

I’m not Japanese. Hell I’m Indian-American. That’s like the double opposite of Japanese LOL. For SM and CCS, I don’t know what are the priorities for these publishing studios were. I’m just guessing that it’s success/numbers and thus they allowed for the story to take flow naturally. I don’t know for sure though. I could be completely wrong here. I’d urge you to try and find the answer elsewhere, I’m actually not like a super-fan about these kinds of shows :x hell I don’t really read yaoi or yuri anymore…

but I hope this at least created some kind of stepping stone for you to seek out the proper answer to your question. ^^’ sorry I wasn’t more help. 

[wagyubeefy]

mawdrey replied to your post: sam-keeper: sam-keeper: Controversial opinion...

all these things were made by ppl in priveledged groups tho…. no one should get a free pass bc ‘oooh its progressive ooh’ people are allowed to criticize media tf

Well yeah, we should criticise media! to clarify how i feel about this post bc its a post that probs warrants that, it was Not Smart of me to not do so initially: I don’t agree with the statement that those medias are made by good people. From what I remember about Hussie hes kind of a dick (i dont know that much about him tho) and i don’t know shit about SU’s crew. The McElroys seem fine enough. I also think the wording in the second part of the post is hyperbolic but thats what Almost Every post on this site is like

I reblogged it bc I agree that these shows are held to a higher standard than a lot of the other media that are/have been very popular on tumblr (like Star Wars and Avengers and a Huge List of very queerbaity tv shows like Supergirl ect.) People crit these things all the time, but they’re less likely to drop them and it rarely gets as personal? That’s what I’ve noticed. And I’m not surprised that’s the case, because when something is considered progressive (though HS was like .. not that progressive tbh, it just appealed to a lot of social justice types) it feels like more of a betrayal when it fucks up.

That said tho... Maybe it just feels like that because there are fewer ‘progressive’ shows and they just aren’t as big. Maybe they all get equal crit but its more noticeable bc there’s a world of difference in the cultural impact of SU and Star Wars idk

[elvesofnoldor]

Last year, the uni LGBT+ pride board I’m part of tried to organize a series of screenings that feature LGBT films with poc protagonists, and only 2-3 people showed up to each of them. We advertised the screenings as much as we could, and for as long as I could, but people just didnt come to the screenings, even though all of the films are quite critically acclaimed and reasonably popular. Tonight, I just came back from a screening of “Moonlight” and I was pleasantly surprised that roughly 20 people came to the screening, and quite a few of them are people of colour. Someone (a fellow poc acquaintance) actually told me that there is a international students’ formal tonight and they worried that not a lot of people are going to turn up, so I prepared for the worst. We put up a facebook page for the screening for only two days, literally, and 20 might not sound like much but it was way more than i or any of my board members expected. 

Honestly a major reason behind the good turn out has to do with good timing. “Moonlight” just won the best picture it damn well deserved and a lot of people didn’t hear about it before its oscar win. Now that it did win, people actually wanna watch it, and the local theatre that used to show it only started to show the film again on next Monday. I watched “Moonlight” for the first time right before it was nominated for Oscar, mainly because a Chinese film critic said that watching the film made him feel like watching a Wong Kar Wai picture. At first I thought he was just imagining things, but turns out European and Asian art cinemas did in fact influence Barry Jenkins’s directing, and it’s just not that one critic that see Wong Kar Wai in “Moonlight”. That’s how i got interested, but that’s not exactly why I loved the film so much i’d say it’s my favourite LGBT film thus far. “Moonlight” bears reminiscences of Wong Kar Wai’s pictures, but it’s not a Wong Kar Wai picture and that’s a good thing. 

Watching "Moonlight” with 20 something people in a campus lecture hall tonight was the 2nd time viewing the film for me. Interestingly enough, I reacted to this film similar to who I reacted to Wong Kar Wai’s films that feature Leslie Cheung. The first time I watched them, I usually thought, “it was a good film. I liked it. I think?”. The second time I watched them--that’s the time when all the details came together and the emotions hit me, raw and hard. I couldn’t stop crying the 2nd time I watched “Moonlight”, and it was weird that the movie emotionally impacted me this hard since the subject matter really isn’t something I can relate to as a non black person. Whatever the reasons are, I know that they were different reasons why I cried watching some of the Wong Kar Wai pictures the second time. 

The poetic and lyrical style Wong had does not give moviegoers the kind of instant gratifications they are usually looking for, and I could see a bit of disappointment in some of the audience members because of it (they did smile politely and said they liked the film though). Before I was a film student, I was just a regular moviegoer too, and I looked for that kind of fast food instant gratification as well when I went to watch a movie. So, really, I don’t have some sort of moral high ground when it comes to appreciating art films, in fact, I haven’t watched some French new wave artists’ films till this year. 

The first time I watched “Happy Together”, a pretty iconic gay film (I actually screened the film last year, but really, I should have done that this year because of “Moonlight”), I almost didn’t make it through because how much I hated the dysfunctional and fucked up relationship between Leslie Cheung’s character Ho Po Wing and Tony Leung’s character Lai Yiu Fai. I didn’t really like “Days of Being Wild” because how much I could not get past my dislike for the volatile and self-destructive dandy Leslie Cheung plays in the movie. But the 2nd time I heard his character’s theme music from “Days of Being Wild” in “2046″, I couldn’t stop crying. Watching Leslie Cheung and hearing Leslie Cheung in these two movies, feel like watching and hearing his ghost on screen. And let me tell you, feeling a dead person’s emotions can really fuck you up. I can see his ghost, hear his ghost and feel his ghost--forever preserved in films. The emotions that’s inaccessible to me in the first screening and the sense of lost and despair that I couldn’t feel all suddenly hit me during the 2nd viewing. It’s been almost 14 years since he jumped down from a hotel’s balcony, it had only been 12 years when I watched Wong Kar Wai’s movies for the first times. I only started to miss him over a year ago, but I know that I will continue to miss him years into the future.  

Obviously I dug Wong Kar Wai’s overall style, but the feeling and emotions in his films only made such an impact in me because they were the emotions and feelings of a family member that never existed. Not to get mushy here (well, I already am pretty mushy and emo am i), but the memories Leslie Cheung left on and off screen makes him seem like a family member to me. He was queer, he was bisexual (maybe gay tbh), and he was Chinese. I grew up to love woman as a woman, and before I was that, I was Chinese--I am Chinese and I will always be Chinese. I really could have used someone like him to look up to. However, Leslie wasn’t just a family member, he was a unreachable and untouchable family member. You don’t romanticize family members, but you do that if you never get to know them or see them. Wong’s films can be deeply personal to me, but his films’ subject matters are never socially or culturally or politically radical (although they can be interpreted to something of that effect). Oftentimes Wong Kar Wai’s films felt devoid of substance because of that. On the other hand, Barry’s “Moonlight” doesn’t have that problem. In fact, the substance enriched the film and made the film oscar worthy. 

I didn’t talk about this before, since I was searching in moonlight tag for a post that says similar things. If any of you saw a black folk talked about similar thing, I’d like to reblog that post because It’s better that commentaries about “Moonlight” comes from black folks, more importantly, black gay folks. After all, the movie was about them and made for them. I see a lot of people talking about how beautiful the “you are the only man who ever touched me” line is, but I don’t see people talking about just how important the line that say something like “black boys look blue under moonlight” is, or how important the imagery of a young chiron standing at the beach and under the moon is. That line combined with that important imagery, almost...romanticize black skin and dark skins. Now, art cinemas don’t do that shit. Art cinemas feature white people and light skin people, and it always romanticize whiter and paler skins. Art cinemas is blond hair white woman with blue veins in Godard’s films, art cinemas is Maggie Cheung’s paper white skin in Wong Kar Wai’s “Ashes of Time”, art cinemas is women that look like porcelain dolls in “Neon Demon”. Art cinemas is never for and about black people, black men or dark skin people, and it sure as hell never portrayed dark skin as beautiful the way it portrayed white skins. White skin is beautiful and humanized, while dark skin is consumable at best, dirty and sinful at worst. But with that line, with the movie’s beautiful cinematography that features dark skin colours, “Moonlight” subverts that harmful norm of portraying skin colours in films. And it’s so SO important. I talked about how important that it features black gay sexuality, black identity and black subjectivity before, but I didn’t talk about this before. 

I still can’t really explain why “Moonlight” impacted me so much. I mean, I could pull some shenanigans about how universal the pain and loss Chiron felt are, but I hate the word “universal” and how problematic it is. When it’s applied to films that features white subjects, labelling white subjects’ feelings and emotions as “universal” only perpetuate the harmful notion that white experiences are the default and are supposed to be ALWAYS relatable to everyone. However, when you label a black subject’s feelings and emotions as universal--especially when a lot of these emotions stemmed from experiences and struggles unique to black people--you eradicate the blackness that’s inherent to the subjects the films feature. Chiron is black before he was introduced to have a gay/queer sexuality. To me, Chiron’s father figure Juan’s speech about how black folks are everywhere and the first ones on earth as well as his recounting about how a black woman says black boys look blue under moonlight are establishing Chiron’s identity as a black person. Mind you, that process happened before we even suspected he was a young gay boy trying to figure out his sexuality. 

I guess what i could say is that I could better appreciate what Barry was trying to do the 2nd time watching his film. He was humanizing his subjects, making them sympathetic and relatable in an art cinema language, and that effort finally made the full impact on me when I watched “Moonlight” the 2nd time. I don’t think it made the same kind of impact on the 20 people i watched the movie with today. it will take time, and hopefully they get to watch the film 2nd time, 3rd time or even 4th time, and then maybe they will truly understand what Barry Jenkins was trying to accomplished.