#see I'm tagging it

[shinysoroka]

I'm rewatching OFMD with some friends and it's hitting me like a truck how awful Izzy is, how much his actions are whitewashed by a lot of fans and how capital F fandom keeps tripping over the same stone with the depiction of abuse.

The same scenario happens constantly where an abusive character played by a conventionally attractive guy, usually with dark hair and a British accent can commit the most horrific acts and fandom will treat the character as a poor little meow meow. The kicker is that a lot of the time, the abuse they inflict is upon people who are in some way bucking against fascism/toxic masculinity/gender norms/imperialism, etc. Those people are also overwhelmingly women, people of color or just vulnerable in one way or another.

Some notable examples include:

Kylo Ren: Wannabe fascist who brutally tortures the female lead in a scene that heavily echoes sexual assault. Brutalizes the Black male lead so badly he's in a coma by the end of the 1st movie. Fandomized as a PLMM immediately, treated like nothing is his fault and the real bad guy has twisted his mind. Also has Finn's every good trait slapped onto him, including the love interest role.

Izzy Hands: Emotionally and physically abuses the Maori co-protagonist. His actions include selling him out to the English, telling him he should have let the English kill him and threatening him with violence if he doesn't behave the way he wants him to. Extends the same treatment to the gender nonconforming white male lead. Fandomized as a PLMM since the 1st season and treated as a suicidal abuse victim, basically putting all of Edward's traits onto him.

Loki from the MCU. Manipulates and undermines his brother's actions out of pure jealousy. When said brother starts to break away from the imperialistic mindset he was raised into, he straight up kills him and then continues his family's streak of colonialism, despite being from a colonized world himself. Proceeds to never take responsibility for his actions all while treating every female character (who isn't his gender flipped self) like dirt. Fandomized as a PLMM immediately, treated like the read villain has twisted his mind, has all of Thor's traits and experiences slapped onto him. Are we seeing a pattern yet?

Snape and Draco Malfoy from YouKnowWhere: Relentlessly bully children and their peers, are openly bigoted against non magic users and poor people even if they meet all other criteria for blood purity and never express regret or shame in the entire franchise. Fandomized as PLMMs eventually (once the characters playing them were hot).

Do notice, those are all either media for kids/teens or media for adults that isn't exactly subtle in its message. The abuse is not hidden in between the layers. The characters act openly. And yet, there's this insistence to rewrite villains that are actively fighting to preserve the abusive status quo as noble heroes. Are we sure fandom is always progressive and righting the wrongs of canon. Are we really sure?

I don't have a solution here. I'm just describing a phenomenon. And it's driving me a bit insane, ngl.

[pouletpourri]

giving myself pomni/gangle interactions since idk when we'll have more of that again

[captainbee66]

I miss the era of the internet where everyone had an evil alter ego/character that would show up on their channel, just to be silly, that eventually got a lot of lore from the fandom for no reason. It was a simpler time.

[kottkrig]

People liking your personal OCs is still such a crazy feeling, I've been doing this for years and ppl asking about them still fills my entire heart with warmth and idk how to handle it

You enjoy this fictional guy I made up for fun?? Whose only content is random artwork or writing made by me and a handful of other artists at most? They have no show/book/game with a large fandom, it's just one person with an art blog?? I love u

[emberfaye]

You know what?

I love you, fics that take months to update. I click on the newest chapter and have no memory of this place and get to go back some chapters and rediscover how much i love everything about this story.

I love you, fics that take years to update. I think of you fondly, and know your names, go search for you and see an update from this year and scream, diving in uncaring of any missed details (i will finish the update and read you in reverse because this is a treat you have bestowed)

I love you, fics that probably will never update again. Thank you for being a roman empire for my mind, thank you for teaching me about the ephemeral fandom experience, for inspiring a thousand million what if-s, for being a comfort read and a nostalgia read and a reread.

I love you fic writers, who jump into projects and stories with enthusiasm. I love you when you succeed in pumping out those chapters and that love doesn't go away when you stop.

I love you fic writers who post and then get in your own head and never feel confident enough to update, whether it's at all or whether it's just that one story.

I love you fic writers, who have a fandom or media hurt you to the point of abandoning or having a hard time with their WIPs.

I love you fic writers, who lose interest or have life changes or illness or bad memory. Thank you for being part of the fandom, a core part of the fandom. Thank you for the time spent in the fandom.

I love you, fic writers who try out something new and then stop. You're so valid.

I love you, WIP fics that may or may not ever get finished. Thank you for brightening my day in the way only you could have.

[midnight-coffee94]

No single line has ever wrecked me as hard as this one from the Good Place and I think about it constantly

[chimchiri]

gideon & harrow OR rd and sf as cowboys please please please

It's the cowgirl necro and her gunslinger cav! Who is so damn extra she's got three guns: one left, one right, and one in pole position! (She swears the ladies love it!)

[gatorgrumbles]

For all my fellow Mr Gap simps

[artist-rat]

some epilogue vibes (an excuse to draw some hugs. and my durge so many times)

[xxhyposisxx]

i lovvveee them crazy

W/out the filter

[cirrus-grey]

[mumblers-lobby]

💍❤️‍🔥✨ hair-over-flames in love!

thanks to @thatskindarough for the idea ily buddy<3

[jaytalking]

At this point his hair being on fire is just a sign that his ultimate is ready. Anyways here's some scenes from the AU in my brain.

[cj-the-random-artist]

Ok hear me out: Narilamb but they're both aroace and in a qpr.

I've been rolling around in my head for like a long long time this idea that Narinder and Lambert could both be aroace and (after like. A couple of centuries or so) end up in this like very comfortable very close relationship that neither of them define as anything specific other than calling it a "companionship". But on the other hand most of the cult thinks that they're dating in secret or something despite the fact that both of them have said they don't take lovers, because they are clearly very tight but maybe not super openly so, so maybe the cultists thing they're being secretive and hiding something or something like that. Idk but my aroace brain loves thinking about extremely close (mostly) platonic relationships and for some reason my brain decided hmm. I'm going to take this and throw it at Narilamb and see how I like it.

So then I decided to make a ridiculous joke comic about Narinder asking Lambert's hand in marriage specifically because he wants to get out of paying taxes. Because like, I know that spouse followers do actually still have to pay taxes in the actual game but. Hey Narinder and Lambert have presumably never married so they probably don't know that...? Honestly the only reason I made this was because the concept tickled me and I spent too much time on this for no one to see it, so. This comic and all it's absolute ridiculousness be upon ye.

While there's a tiny part of me that's been thinking about making this into an AU (which I'd probably call something like the "Strictly Platonic AU" or something), I know for a fact that I would blatantly not do anything legitimate with it so. It's an unofficial AU I guess?? But. Anyways. I thought this would be funny. Enjoy my ramblings and I hope you enjoy this thing that I spent. Actual time on. Lol

[1alchemistart]

some dunmeshis bc i love them

[saltlickmp3]

version of this picture for the target audience of me and me only