#so its not a big deal to me that fandom On Tumblr Specifically has a tendency to miss the point

[sha-brytols]

its really weird that i keep bringing steven universe up like at this rate i'm gonna make people believe i used to be a steven universe superfan but i swear i'm not i actually mostly only knew of it through osmosis its just. steven universe and dragon age exist on eerily similar planes both on a writer's and consumer's scale so it just tends to come up a lot when i think about the state of fandom and death of the author and whatever you get it .

anyways remember when the fanbase for steven universe (primarily on tumblr) became inundated with discourse and was littered with teenagers overreacting to character flaws and using them to apply malicious intent to the creators and branding it as a form of sociopolitical propaganda against themselves. and then the showrunners seeing this very small pocket of fans demanding complete ideological purity from a cartoon actually for some very odd reason took their demands seriously and tried to rewrite the show's core narrative and characters to fit this impossible standard until the later seasons became so messy and narratively incoherent that it became obvious even to that same small pocket of fans that they were being pandered to

so anyways dragon age veilguard right

[asmogorna]

Okay so there’s this ww artist on ig called like tooth lilys or something and he’s always causing drama in the ww fandom and he mouthed off about your art and now heaps of insta ww fans are like talking about you :| free publicity?

ahhhh so thats whats happening .. lmao thats crazy

i checked out their story, and i sure doooo love how they leave some things out when talking about both situations that they mentioned to make me look worse ..

ok so

warning, yap session incoming

the "will wood in a (miku) binder" thing happened back in fall 2023 when i was still semi new to the fandom and didnt know a lot of things. so tho i to this day i dont think it was that big of a deal, i wouldnt do it today

it was an artwork made for shits and giggles, the context of which i have explained here before. i never meant to imply that will wood is trans and i certainly dont "headcanon" him as that. my curse is that even when joking around i tend to try and make my art look good, so i get why people thought it was unironic. and i know that it sounds like a lame ass excuse, but it legit didnt cross my mind that people would think i drew will wood as a trans guy or smth. legit my only thought process was "funny haha internet thing" + "my favorite thing" = "good idea"

now the usage of his real name is something i am genuinely sorry for, but it was an accident and a genuine mistake on my part. i remember seeing someone mention it casually in some comment section, and assuming that it was ok, since i didnt know he was in any way against it. (i also thought that it was the same name that he used in "the real will wood" in that one section cus it sounded a bit similar).

when i was informed about the fact that he doesnt want it spread around i deleted the post right away and apologized, so bringing it up like something i did on purpose and out of malicious intent is a tad bit .. misfitting, if you can use that word

now the hot topic of the day: my waywood art

i have said this before and i will say this again, how i feel about rpf is solely based off how the people involved feel about it

to clarify: i never drew anything inappropriate or even suggestive with them, the "worst" thing is 2 simple sketches of them smoochin. or. this.

idk if this is what they were referring to when talking about me drawing will wood and gerard way "making out" (specifically. because i think "making out" implies to be more sexual stuff than small kisses). and if so, then it once again feels like blowing things out of proportion

and now the point i want you to get: will wood wouldnt give a flying fuck

like i said earlier, i never drew anything inappropriate, because that would actually cross will's existent and real boundaries. you know, the ones that he stated

im not making some conspiracy theories about him being gay, like some people seem to imply in their inbox messages to me

im not sending a whole ass smut fanfiction to litwtc gmail or something, i dont bother him in instagram dms asking if he wants to fuck gerard way, im not shipping him with people who he actually knows personally and has to look in the eyes of from time to time

im not doing anything that he would actually care about

him and chris have joked about him being attracted to gerard before, and though im not saying that you can joke about everything theyve ever joked about, i feel like in our case its clear that will clearly doesnt care about the implications ? (i generally believe that ww fans would get their panties twisted about less things if more of them listened to what these 2 talk about so calmly on litwtc but i digress)

if he saw that some random teenager on tumblr is drawing him and gerard way (gasp of horror) holding hands, he'd laugh at it max and then move on with his day

people are treating the whole situation like i posted pictures of him from when he was a kid or leaked patreon content or drew him fully naked or anything else that, you know, would actually affect him in one way or another

what im doing is innocent fun which isnt even likely to reach either of them. will wood very rarely checks tumblr and, once again, i genuinely dont believe he would care. and gerard way aint got no internet + he doesnt care x 2

it is weird but rn this is what brings me the most joy, even if its silly to say. both will wood and gerard way mean a lot to me and putting them in situations together makes me happy. i am but a child full of fun whimsy

i wont be posting any more explicitly romantic art to avoid more drama, and i also wont be responding to all the anon messages i received because there are like .. too many of them. an overwhelming amount i'd say. sorry about that

i really didnt mean to cause such a fuss, and i understand why some people might be uncomfortable with what i do

i fully understand why you would dislike my waywood hyperfixation shenanigans, and i dont have a problem w you over that, but treating me like pure evil because of a thing so insignificant is just.. overdoing it

once again, i will be toning it down, but it really isnt the end of the world if i dare to draw will wood and gerard way being a tad bit gay (which is, i apparently need to mention, not me actually saying that will wood the alternative musician is a homosexual gay who is in a genuine for real actual real gay homosexual relationship with gerard fucking way the lead singer of my chemical romance. i think speculating on other people's sexuality and gender identity is boooo tomato tomato tomato)

sorry for the rant and sorry to all who were disappointed by my lack of remorse. come back in a couple years when i turn 18 and stop having fun and artistic freedom

thank you for your attention and i hope i at least cleared some things up to those who werent w me throughout every event where i get involved in fandom drama

bye bye

[sarasa-cat]

I recently reblogged an article from Rolling Stone about fandom's concerns regarding the use of generative AI and how proliferation of generative AI on AO3 weakens the sense of community in fandom which (at least for fanfic) works under the notion of a gift economy. It's a good read.

Things it made me think about:

AO3 is, on the whole, a good thing for fandom and a lot of ink has already been spilled on this topic, spelling out why AO3 is good for fandom. But, given that AO3 is a gigantic corpus of fiction that is, with small exceptions, nothing but fiction, it is also a perfect target for generative AI training sets. We know that is precisely what happened. *cough* omegaverse. ;)

Ever since AO3 first started --- and I was there on LJ when a series of shitful things happened that made fans need an archive OF OUR OWN --- I have also been a bit critical of AO3. Yes, I support AO3 and am thankful for its existence and yes, I think it is a good thing as a whole for fandom, but as AO3 became more entrenched in fandom I noticed something not so good: I felt less of a sense of community around the act of writing, with other writers, together in a gift economy of words and ideas.

A big part of that has to do with the technology itself. AO3 is designed as an ARCHIVE and a good one at that. But, in making itself into an archive, it very purposefully lacked certain features that popular fannish platforms of that time had. For instance, LiveJournal's (and, later, Dreamwidth's) features for creating interest-specific communities, hosting blog-style discussions, and creating spaces that people inhabited.

I have never felt like AO3 is a place that is inhabited in a lively manner. It always felt more like a library or, these days, more like a bookstore. AO3's feature set has grown a good deal from its earlier years, allowing it to partially support community events. But, overall, AO3 has always felt a bit clunky to me because it needs information&library sciences style features because it *is* an archive.

Don't get me wrong. I really do appreciate AO3 and how easily it lets me find fanfic.

But therein lies the problem. It is far too easy to visit AO3 and be nothing but a reader. It is a massive library full of stories of varying length. Just keep clicking on tags of interest or use the search tools and see what the archive returns to you. More stories. Lots and lots of stories. You can read forever.

This is very different from what happened in the fanfic communities on LiveJournal where prompts and challenges were hosted and people signed up as writers while also being readers. Stories tended to be shorter (but not always) and participation in the GIFT economy was the name of the game: Post prompts. Write stories other people's prompts. Read stories for the prompts you posted plus other prompts of interest. It was all about gifting and sharing and having fun. There was a lot of discussion, a lot of meta, quite a few in jokes, and it had the feeling of an after hours writing workshop. It was the opposite of "sssshhhhhh! This is a library."

To me, AO3 always felt like a place that you archived your stories *after* you were done writing them, discussing them, squeeing, finding all of the typos. Whoops. More typos. and DONE. Off to the Archive it goes. AO3 wasn't about gathering together with 30 or 50 or a 300 people in a specific fandom event on a specific LiveJournal community. Instead, at least for me, AO3 it was more about writing longer fanfic, often but not necessarily multi-chapter fanfic structured more like a traditional novel. Meanwhile, all of those more experimental fanfics, freeform fics, drabbles (100 word stories), and "lots of short fic later stitched together in one big timeline" that worked well on LiveJournal felt a bit awkward on AO3. (This is why I haven't bothered to archive a lot of my fic on AO3).

Just before generative AI became an issue in fandom, for a number of years I noticed people on tumblr complaining that they weren't getting an interaction on their AO3 fanfic. They would see the hit counter go up plus a bunch of kudos but no comments. No interaction. No sense of their fanfic strike up discussions.

I also saw people complaining about readers who were impatient and just wanted more fanfic. At least one person said that they felt like readers saw them as a vending machine that produced fanfic for free.

That is the kind of thing that happens when fanfic is filed away into this gigantic wonderful archive that is a reader's paradise.

The author becomes invisible.

The author is just there to supply more words, more stories, more chapters.

.

That isn't why I joined fandom and, to be honest, most of my fanfic is not on AO3 (for a variety of reasons). I never found it a fulfilling platform *for me* as a writer. YMMV. But it doesn't provide writer-me what I want in fandom --- a sense of community and shared headcanon and events and interaction in a space that is inhabited and full of activity. A place where fanfic can be off-the-cuff and quick and short and written in response to other community members' ideas and thoughts. A place where writing is a little more ephemeral but a hell of a lot of fun.

But, as a reader, I love AO3. Where else can I find so many 350,000 word novels of the exact pairings/themes I'm interested in?

.

Much like in the Rolling Stone article, I wonder how fandom will evolve in response to generative AI.

Mostly, I wonder how to create a sense of community once again.

[marimayscarlett]

Sorry to jump in on all the Till stuff that’s happening—I’m sure you’re probably getting your fair share of asks about it, but I think a lot of non-Americans (and Americans alike) don’t actually understand that Mar-A-Lago is, yes, a pay-for-membership type place, but it doesn’t look like Till actually…stayed there. Not only was the visit seemingly kinda last minute (I’m inferring here based on the caption of one pic/vid literally being ‘impromptu’) but it also wouldn’t necessarily be his decision where to perform, and Mar-A-Lago rents out spaces for private events. More than likely, whoever was running his event booked the place because of its proximity to larger areas of Florida (like artists booking in cities like Buffalo or Hoboken to allow for people from NYC and surrounding larger areas to come without the issues that a big city may impose onto a touring artist).

Anyway, just my thoughts as a USAmerican Till fan. Am I disappointed? Sure; his newest mv hit a bit weird and it’s not super cool to see the guy who wrote “Amerika” and “Links 2 3 4” at Mar-A-Lago. But even so, I don’t think he intends to actually hurt anybody or stir up controversy—not in this case, anyway. I think any provocative thing he does is specifically in the name of artistry just like it seems to be with the rest of the band (ehem. Pussy, the onstage dildo antics, etc).

I think he’s aging and trying to figure out what he as a 62 year old icon wants to do and where he wants to be. But I don’t think it’s fair to scrutinize every single thing he does—if we did that for every metal musician, we would be hard pressed by some pretty superfluous stuff. Not to discount anybody’s anger, but some of the stuff the fandom has been getting upset about seems pretty silly, in my opinion. He isn’t the first musician to use AI nor is he the first to use a mv to vent his personal frustrations—we can say it could’ve been done better (because it could have!) but what’s done is done, and here’s hoping he learns from this.

Basically, all this to say: as a very anti-Trump, leftist American, I really don’t fault him for the Mar-A-Lago thing. I went to school next to one of the Trump hotels, and it was never a big deal when people like Ariana Grande or the Kardashians stayed there or rented out the private rooms (this is actually anecdotal, this happened a LOT). I think we have more important things to deal with than why one of our faves happened to step foot within a specific part of Florida when he’s been outspoken about anti-fascism and his own personal dislike of the current administration. Sorry that this ended up as more of a vent than a short ask, your blog is one of my faves and I feel comfortable getting it all out here <3

Hi 👋🏻

I had this ask in my inbox five times - either you really wanted me to answer it, or Tumblr had a glitch 😄

I'll go through your message step by step and add my thoughts as bullet points:

- I do understand that Mar-a-Lago is essentially a resort or a hotel or something in that direction (I wasn’t assuming Till was staying there permanently in the sense of sleeping there or anything like that). Until 2017, even the Red Cross held an annual charity ball there. However, my main association with the estate was the FBI’s 2022 search, which was also covered in German media.

- Whether Till actually has a choice in selecting where he sings/performs is a valid point. Especially when abroad, one often has to rely on locals who know the area.

- Personally, I also don’t believe he intentionally wants to offend people with his actions. However, I do think that sometimes a little more mindfulness or willingness to inform oneself before making decisions would be appropriate.

- As I mentioned previously, I see it similarly: one shouldn’t lose their mind over every little thing - that’s unhealthy for one’s mental well-being. And, as I said in the past few days, if we applied the highest moral standards to everything, we wouldn’t be able to consume a lot of music, films, art, and books.

- I can’t comment on his new music video because I’ve only seen snippets. I understand that the use of artificial intelligence doesn’t sit well with many people, but not everything has to be to one’s liking.

- I appreciate getting an American perspective. As a European, I mostly hear about Trump through the news, where he comes across as a rather pleasant unperson and politician, bulldozing his way through global politics. Honestly, that’s quite off-putting and makes anything associated with him seem very fishy.

So, thank you for taking the time to write out your opinion in such detail! In discussions like these, it's important to engage in a structured and respectful exchange of thoughts 🤲🏻

[our-ensemble]

Making An Extensive Look At Discrimination in Ensemble Stars.

Due to recent events in Ensemble Stars (Enstars), there has been an extensive look into how the franchise deals with racism and other forms of discrimination. However, this is a long effort that requires looking at 9 years of content to fully understand how Enstars has approached multiple social issues across time, and how this has culminated in the event "Uncertain Skies＊The Legend of KAGETSU's Illuminating Attire of Ascension", along with some very necessary cultural context.

In response to this, I have created this blog with the hopes of being able to receive other people's input as I try to put together a full overview of how Enstars deals with discrimination. I am a lurker in the fandom, so unfortunately I am not familiar with how most social media works; however, I find that Tumblr is pretty easy to access compared to most places, and I prefer sticking to one platform rather than managing multiple accounts, which I hope everyone will understand.

A Google Form and a Google Docs will be provided soon.

As it currently stands, I feel that I will make a video on the situation, but I do not have a channel at the moment. Once things have been set up on my end, I would like to share more information.

In the read more below, I'll elaborate more on what I hope to do with this blog.

So, how is this going to work?

As I have stated before, I want to be able to have input from various places due to my own limited perspective. Again, it is not feasible for one person to look at the entirety of Enstars to find every instance of discrimination (and I do very much want to cover as much as possible - both the big and the small). Additionally, I do not speak Japanese, which means that I have very limited access to information compared to people who do. I'm not asking for extensive analysis, but just for people to mention things that they have noticed in general. Examples of this include: colourism + racism in card art, usage of slurs and other demeaning labels, and handling of specific issues within stories.

Not all incidents have to be negative, though. There are instances where Enstars can be progressive, and these are also important to note since they help with comparing Enstars at its best with Enstars at its worst.

For submissions...

I would like as much evidence as possible- so screenshots wherever possible. Since I understand that HappyElement's social media policy have made doing so risky, I will not publish these publicly unless the individual explicitly confirms that they are comfortable with it. If you do not wish to/cannot submit a screenshot, you can give the Event name + Chapter number/ Idol Story Chapter/ However other way the story is called.

For translations specifically I would prefer it if the person who made the translation recommend themselves to me, or is tagged in the ask so that they can reply easily. I will give full credit to the translator(s) however they desire. Because of HappyElement's policy, I understand that translators may not want to put their names out, so if they want to be referred to by some other manner, such as a nickname, it is totally acceptable. Multiple translations for one section are perfectly acceptable.

Cultural context is very important! That's why, even if you don't have information for Enstars specifically, I would appreciate any information on other contextual cues that are important when discussing these social issues. Although I am familiar with a number of issues addressed in Enstars, it is safer for you to assume that I am not. Unfortunately, I am using classroom rules and will not accept Wikipedia links. Information that may seem obvious to one person may be new to someone else - providing additional information will be more useful than you think.

What are you looking for? Anything. Although there will be a great mention of racism and anti-Indigenous sentiments, I want to also address other concerns like disability and gender, which have been dealt with in various degrees in Enstars. Characters like Adonis, Hiiro, Rinne, Aira, and Ibuki are understandably at the forefront, but please do not feel afraid to submit anything related to other characters.

That being said, lets keep personal interpretation to a minimum. For example, there has been a great debate on whether or not Aira's racism is in-character or out-of-character. This is prone to personal beliefs that detract from the focus, which should be how Aira's racism - irrespective of its canonicality - is dealt with in-text.

Is there a Discord?

I understand that a Discord server would be easy to collaborate on however, simply put: no. I know for a fact that I would not be able to host one, and feel that the lack of professionality might result in conflicts between members as has often been the case with my personal experience.

Will we get updates?

Yes! If not posted here, information should be added to the Google Docs added above.

Are there other ways to help?

At this time, not really. I would like to manage this blog on my own, and I do not feel a need to look for editors, screenwriters, proofreaders, or any other role. This can be set to change, but for now, I just need submissions.

If you have any other concerns, please send them my way!

[enzymedevice]

Long pinned post because I got excited about the idea of embedding a lot of hyperlinks

Greetings! I’m Enzyme or Q, and I’m an asexual transneutral person who uses he/him pronouns. The primary word I use to describe myself is "goth" and I like comics, robots, weird films, visual kei and fashionable gay people ✨

Other equalities data that may be helpful for some people to know:

I have autism, Tourette's and an intersex variation; I identify as disabled, am mostly white-passing and have a mixed-religion upbringing that has led me to identify as agnostic. I don’t live in the US.

With regards to what you’ll find on this blog, I work in sex ed and aim to work in funeralcare so there’ll be some heavy or sexual content here - often in the form of stupid jokes - that I don’t tag for. I do tag for gore, however, under gore cw. If you notice me posting things you’re uncomfortable with under a certain tag, please block that tag.

My visual art can be found under the tag my art.

My poetry (a hit on my DeviantArt but a cringe footnote in my Tumblr history) can be found under the tag my poetry.

If you’d like to see only my art relating to my favourite subject matter, I can present you with gay people grimacing, which is exactly what it says on the tin.

I also have a tag for appreciating other people's art! Most of my blog is this.

I try to tag fandoms/subjects appropriately! These don’t represent my favourite things in general, but my most oft-used fandom tags are probably for Doctor Who, JoJo, Dracula, Castlevania (games and TV series), the Eternal Champion cycle, Interview with the Vampire (TV series mostly), Cats the musical, DC Comics (more specifically Legion of Super-Heroes), the Crow franchise, The Case Study of Vanitas and Homestuck. Pokémon sideblog @mareaniewife. Additionally, I like a bunch of horror/gore/weird antiquated media that crops up from time to time. In terms of subject matter, I currently also use the tags goth stuff, trans stuff, undertaker stuff, robots tag and placeholder cannibalism tag, the cannibalism tag I wanted a delicious name for but nothing bit :(

My icon and header are Dracula from the manga #DRCL midnight children by Shin'ichi Sakamoto.

I know that writing a DNI won’t actually act as a preventative measure since anyone can just go on the internet and lie but considering I’m in my 20s I would prefer that anyone under 18 interacting with me proceed with caution since the content I share is not for you. This isn’t a slight on you, merely a personal boundary I choose to set.

Likewise, visible TERFs, trans/homophobes, racists/Islamophobes/antisemites, ableists, people arguing about shipping in a way that annoys me, people with a DNI criterion that resembles me or anyone else that just rubs me the wrong way for no discernible reason will be blocked on sight. It’s no big deal, I just prefer to look at things on here that don’t make me sad.

If I express enjoying some problematic media, please assume that I’m aware of all the things wrong with it and have, offline in my own time, unpacked its nuances, cherrypicking the things I like about it to uplift online.

… That's all I can think of to write! No one will read this ever.

[burinazar]

(idk who will care about this post but i think long schpiels on extremely specific Thoughts About Media is a major use case for tumblr so you’re getting it anyway) i think i wouldn’t at all have my feeling of disconnect re the rest of fandom’s* interest in Bondord if he had been a woman. this isnt a bizarre critique of some sort its just a funny thought about me and what i like. twisted inversion of motherhood with a mad scientist character feels like, the concept has More For Me than the same with fatherhood and would create more intrinsic interest in the character

*especially ‘my cohort’ — the contingent who seems to have similar predilections like fic/shipping activity and also much of the portion of the fandom that’s, like, adult women — largely those folks are big Bondrode fans and enjoy Guebon and i’m like, i relate to your habits guys but have very little interest in your man. (for those who haven’t heard me bitch about this before: i dont hate him but i have littlr interest in seeking out art or fic of him or anything and I’m kinda sad that he’s the only adult character who ever got like figures and nendo and stuff.)

hopefully no one takes this personally lol. hell, i don’t care if Bon fans think Belaf is boring! that is in fact vastly preferable to people who are randomly mean about my ships. please feel free to just ignore my favorite characters’ existence instead.

anyway like

if he’d shown up as A Horrible Science Woman and then the movie recast her into Also A Loving (But Still Horrible) Mother i’d probably like this chara much more. it’s not like because Ooh Evil Woman Hot or something. actually i think i still wouldn’t find her hot the way most of the aforementioned Bondord Enjoyers do. i pick up a new ‘character i think is actually hot’ very rarely and then they stay forever. i have very limited slots for that tbh. (also this is just me complaining now and no longer relevant but such characters tend to be pretty unpopular lol and have very little r18 content/fic available and generally this drives me to despair. i drew a picture about the top offenders once.)

it’s more..i think the fucked up inversion of motherhood is more intrinsically interesting to me than with fatherhood. it’s just a personal interest thing. i think that sort of thing is neat. if i ever bother to go watch chainsaw man it’ll be because i know that’s a thing that it gets into and many people like what it does there. also there’s how much i dig mapping parts of this show onto other parts (in fact this is already the context in which i do manage to find him interesting sometimes — the Riko Waz Bondird sliding scale of what lines you’ll cross is the one context in which i have a brain cell to focus on this guy lol.) and in that regard motherhood is part of the premise of the show and all and ways it can be inverted and fucked up is a big deal in my favorite arc even if this isn’t *why* it’s my favorite arc. so i think i’d also enjoy being able to make more parallels with it. even though the general parallel of ‘versions of parenthood’ is still available, i think bad mad scientist fathers are just a less intrinsically Oh Cool concept to me than ‘bad mad scientist mother.’ (Yes I Do Like Prospera Btw)

related: even though I love love love Waz and you guys know this, it also took a while for that to click into place after meeting him. but one time I saw Oriole’s girlWaz tenderly cradling one of the Irukos and i instantly realized that if he had been a woman and the visual of him with the baby and a knife had thus inevitably channeled inverted motherhood and dovetailed with the existing examinations of motherhood in the arc and in abyss as a whole, i would have loved him instantly instead of having to let my thoughts on him percolate.

[flow2024]

C, I, W? 🥺🤲

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

generally i am not a fan of the marwan kenzari / luca marinelli character crossover ships because some of them do have me sideeyeing them VERY hard but i should stress. we're all here for a good time you know if you like em no big deal. also i cant exactly criticise theres 1 specific character combination i do enjoy

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

tumblr? not particularly because i am in all of uhhhhh 3 fandoms here . i've blocked half of one i barely interact with another and the last one is diabolik 2021 which doesnt have enough people to be annoying to me. its MY job to be annoying about that

but instagram? yeah

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

i dont know if this counts as a trope but i dont like when fics or stories in general end with pregnancy as the main goal. in real life i really dont care but due to Personal Reasons its a major ick for me. generally i can come around to a lot of tropes i dont like when written well enough by a writer i generally trust but like. that one? unlikely

[mneiai]

i apologise, i didn't mean to come off as rude. i'm on anon because my following is far smaller than yours and i am admittedly scared of getting harassed (not that i think you'd condone/encourage it, but only that it tends to happen with smaller blogs as a side effect of tumblr being tumblr).

i ask from a place of genuine ignorance; i don't understand how propaganda or direct lobbying would be more effective than a legal fund, nor why you'd choose to use a platform like ao3 if you disagree with their management of funding. it's not like posting to ao3 is mandatory for engaging with fandom, although i do acknowledge that it's likely where as a fic writer you'd have the largest reach.

feel free to ignore me though, i'm not trying to start anything. regardless, i wish you the best, and have a nice day.

lol you have zero clue how many followers I have and I barely have any interactions so you're not even inferring from that, come up with a better excuse next time.

The legal fund is, as I in the post you saw and many, many others have said, useless in its current state. It could not fund any real legal battle against a challenge to fanfiction. Those are expensive. Going directly for authors, directors, etc. to have better opinions of fanworks would be significantly cheaper and make them less likely to support an anti-fanwork suit or more likely to support OTW/fanworks if one happened.

OTW are a non-profit. They should not have excess money, they should always be finding a way to spend it if they get extra. This is the way non-profits work, this is not an opinion, this is the norm that they are going against for no good reason. There are multiple projects that they've said for years they're considering, as well as features people have been asking for since the very beginning, that they could be funding with their excess funds.

AO3 is the only real platform for fanfic for most of my fandoms. I have spoken about this before. Multiple times. I created fanfic tumblrs on here specifically because I wanted to move off of AO3 and have complained many times about how useless they have been.

Many of us use AO3 not because we like it, but because we want to reach more readers who would otherwise not see my fanfic. Look at my fucking fanfic blogs on here if you don't believe me, the amount of likes/reblogs compared to the amount of kudos/bookmarks for the same fic is vastly different. The amount of subscribers on most of my ongoing fic is far more than the number of followers I have on any of them or even on this blog (despite your attempts to act like I'm some big account).

AO3 created a monopoly, a large portion of older fanfic sites that may have continued on shut down because AO3 made a big deal about handling importing fanfic onto their site (there are fics on there that the writer didn't ever consent to have on there because the archive was absorbed into AO3). There have also been no real competitors because people refuse to accept that AO3 is a highly flawed site for the actual fanfic community and support the early stage projects that have popped up over the years the way people once supported AO3.

Point me to a usable competitor for my fandom and topics I write about and I'll show you a massive amount of issues they have, too.

Anyway, just block me if you're too far up AO3's ass to realize it has issues. I have no interest in people who think the status quo for the fanfic community is a good thing.

[rasp-passion-tea]

A small (big) update/catch-up post for anyone curious on where I've been and where I'll be:

*rides in on a skateboard with sunglasses and a mocktail in hand* yo

The past couple of years, I've been pretty M.I.A. I'd feel bad if I'd have any remaining folks who cared about me are left in the dark (as much as that anxious part of me will try to convince myself otherwise, I did build genuine connections on here 🥰). There also just might happen to be old inactive friends of mine who might randomly wonder where that random raspberry girl on tumblr ended up only to come back to see that she might've disappeared,,, or been sold on the dark web 🧐. There could also be any eventual new people to our small community to wonder that. So y’know what 🤔 I'll keep a little post up top so people can know (also, it'd be nice to give a speech once more to my imaginary audience c:)

With that said, I'll ramble about sum up under the cut:

So, where ya been, Rasp?

Well, to start things off, I'm doing really good :D looking back, I might've given people the vibe I was majorly depressed and that might've woried some people 🥲 it was never anything major, but I was still dealing with some teenage girl stuff, and this blog and ship and the fanbase I joined because of it became my mini safe spot. Simply put, I didn't have any sources to be able to properly word that to. I have that now and feel much more grounded and capable, and that's all I could've wanted years ago :)

You might've already guessed, but I've been busy lately, with adult stuff specifically. Yup, the fandoms resident little sister is grown now. She's working!! And she's in college!!! Wow!!1! I HAVE BASICALLY NO MORE FREE TIME!!!!!!!11! :DDD That, and a bunch of other reasons have made it harder to focus on one thing at a time, which is why I've been pretty scarce on this app, and online on general.

Soooo how ya been then, Rasp?

Uhhh... good question. Fine, I suppose 😗 kinda just existing right now. I have a feeling a lot of that has to do with me being unmediacted at the moment, so I haven't been able to do a lot of the things I love the past few years. Sooo... if you're wondering why I never posted those fics I teased in the past, that's why 🥲 I have a feeling I will one day, though. Just a matter of time. Speaking of, let's go into my last point:

Does that mean you're abandoning this account, Rasp?? ☹️

Mmm not quite. I've been popping in every couple of months, and I might keep doing that. But I definitely won't be as active as I used to. Couple reasons:

I mentioned a lot of reasons why, but I've been. Very busy 🥲 being online hasn't been at the forefront of my mind lately, so I've decided to not stress about it right now. Like I mentioned before, I'd like to come back to all this one day, but that's not now. Speaking of:

As much as I feel bad saying this, once the show ended, the ship and its fandom got really quiet. For me that makes it harder to participate in things if there's not a large community. I've joined other fandoms cuz of that, but not like this one... this fandom was special...... *looks off into the distance*

Bonus reason that ties into the last one: a lot of my friends are inactive with me not having any way to reach out, and that makes meeee very sadddd 😔 So if anyone I've met happens to see this:

...heyyy 🤪 I hope you got something out of this post,,,, like I said before, I'm unmedicated and have been very scatterbrained recently, but I tried to make this as cohesive as possible 😭 guess to end this off I'll link some other socials:

My side blog: rasp-passion-two

(Also pretty inactive on there, but if you wanna see what I've been into lately, that's the spot (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I'm pretty sure I never ended up sharing it fsr lol)

My discord: rasp-passion tea#5877

(I'm not active in servers anymore cuz I think I grew out of using discord, but if you wanna chat? Let's chat (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ we could also do it on here but vsiwjsisvqisgwu)

...that's it lol. I think I'm kind of an enigma on here now, but thats alright. Uhhhh not sure how to "close" this off, so I guess I'll just say: if you read this whole thing?

🤍🖤🩶

^me rn

I'll see you all when I see you, but I'll always be here!!

~Tayah, AKA Rasp (and yes, it's pronounced "Razz" 😤👋🏽)

[kooldewd123]

Why and how’d you come to tumblr in the first place? I’m a Reddit refugee! So far I like it, it’s an interesting site.

I've been around the Tumblr block for a while, actually. All the way back in the zeitgeist of Gravity Falls S1, I lurked around a bunch of GF blogs without an actual Tumblr account, and I only made an account around the same time I started getting into Steven Universe and MLP:FiM once I realized how big the fandom spaces on here are. That said, the actual specific reason I pulled the trigger on making an account is pretty embarrassing. I was an edgy white teenage kid when the whole "Feminists OWNED by FACTS and LOGIC" deal was at its peak, so I joined Tumblr to... uh... "see those stupid SJWs for myself." Yeah, I hate my younger self, too. There's probably a lot of stuff you can dredge up here that I regret, and I disavow a lot of the stuff I did and said back then. I ended up getting burned out with it once the 2016 election came and went with all its... everything and I just stopped using Tumblr for a while.

I always meant to return at some point, since the fandom stuff here is super fun and this site has my favorite sense of humor on the internet. I'm older, more mature, and much wiser about how to curate my online experience, so I thought it was about time to give Tumblr a second try a few years ago, but in the meantime I had ended up switching to Reddit as my main online time-waster. I popped into Tumblr occasionally, but I couldn't break the Reddit habit and come back here with any semblance of consistency. Now that spez has finally managed to kill my desire to use his hellsite (derogatory), I can finally properly return back home to my real hellsite (affectionate) like I always wanted to.

I suppose I'm technically a Reddit refugee, but I don't really feel right calling myself that since it's not like I'm a Tumblr newbie, either. Even when I haven't regularly been on Tumblr itself, I've still done my best to keep my finger on the pulse of what's going on here. It's more of a homecoming than an immigration for me. And a super fun one, too! Having all these new people coming in at once to follow and follow back has made my personal experience feel so much more alive in the past month than it ever did back when I was mainly just lurking.

Sorry, you probably didn't expect such a long answer to such a simple question, but I really do love this site and I'm glad to be back, and to be coming back a better person on top of it.

[staringdownabarrel]

My conspiracy theory--a conspiracy theory that I'll never be able to prove--is that corporate advertising firms probably are way more active on Tumblr than most people would like to believe. Like yeah sure, maybe not every single movie is getting its own ad on the sidebar or anything, but I'd be shocked if there aren't people being paid to spread memes of whatever new movie is coming out or whatever.

It's not like this would be a particularly unusual thing to happen. On Reddit--don't hate me; I migrated here before it was cool--it isn't so unusual for companies to try and do marketing disguised as regular comments. It's common enough that r/hailcorporate was once dedicated to posts that looked like they could have been made by a company's PR department. (It's since been watered down to just being posts that mention a brand on the site, though a lot of them could still be attempts at soft advertising.)

The other thing that happens on Reddit is that people will occasionally sell their accounts. How much they'll get varies, but for a year-old account with average karma, they might get between $5 and $50 for it. Sometimes people will just buy an account because they don't want to fuck around for a few weeks trying to get enough karma on their accounts to post on the subreddits they're actually interested in, but a lot of the time it's probably also just so they can go straight to marketing mode.

Plus, y'know, it's been a bit of a meme for a while that half the people on subs like r/selfie are people who are trying to advertise their OnlyFans content. (No shame if that's a thing for you, by the way; but this is a real thing a lot of people on Reddit actively try to do.) Basically, the entire site is filled with soft advertisements that are trying to pretend to not be that.

My other piece of evidence stems from something that came up in a Swell Entertainment video a couple of years ago. I don't have an exact time stamp for this because, like any good conspiracy theorist and true to my brand overall, I haven't proofread this post at all before I posted it. Anyway, at one point in that linked video, she shows a screenshot of a sponsorship deal that basically amounted to the company asking that she have a poster in the background for a certain number of videos and not mention that it's meant as an advert. Basically, just sell it off as a background decoration she was trying out for a bit.

I wouldn't be too surprised if this kind of thing also happens on Tumblr. The major companies are clearly of the opinion that user-generated content can work as an advertisement. I think it'd also be a lot easier on Tumblr in some ways because people are kinda used to Tumblr being the fandom website, so seeing posts for an upcoming movie or show isn't going to trip any alarms the same way they might on some other website.

I think also, on Reddit people were generally much more aware of this being a thing, so they were a bit more vigilant for it. There were definitely a couple of times when I got a reply to one of my comments where I wondered if it wasn't a celebrity's PR team trying to counteract negative opinions, for example.

There's definitely a few things that have come out somewhat recently that have made me wonder if there hasn't been an active effort to do some grassroots-style advertising for the movie on Tumblr. (Yes, I'm thinking of Barbie specifically.) Sure, it's not unusual for a big budget movie to get a lot of hype, especially if it's part of an ongoing franchise, but usually that level of hype doesn't start until the movie's already out.

I feel like the hard part of this style of advertising on Tumblr is that this site isn't really as easily monetised as some other social media sites. Some of this is because Tumblr has traditionally been pretty resistant to any kind of social media-fication of the site in general, so there isn't really an algorithm that can be gamed the same way you can game the algorithm on Reddit, YouTube, or Instagram.

Because of that, a lot of the ways you'd advertise on Tumblr are very dependent on you being able to "breach containment". Maybe you'd have to buy an account with x number of followers to get the chance of a certain gifset reaching a larger audience, or find a way of convincing some larger accounts to follow you.

This is really the area where I feel like I'm not ever going to be able to prove it definitively. On other sites, especially ones with a fairly well developed influencer culture, you'd just have to pay off a few people to start the trend. Even on Reddit, where there isn't really an influencer culture the same way there is on Instagram or YouTube, you just have to know how to work the site's algorithms a little bit.

I don't really know what the beginning stages of doing that kind of soft advertising on Tumblr would look like. At least in my corner of the site, there's an active rejection of that kind of culture, so someone who'd try that would probably get rightfully shunned. Maybe a newer account could follow however many other people who are posting about a certain thing, show off some gifsets based on a trailer, and that'd be the starting point, but it'd be a slow start; not the kind of thing you'd necessarily want for an advertisement where you want as many eyeballs as possible.

Still, in some ways, that might actually make it work even better. Because it's coming from some nobody from a very specific corner of the site, nobody would be expecting it to be a corporate account.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Anon Advice Asks - February 15

Red anon, Lemon anon, 3d anon (new), driving anon (new), midnights anon, 24 anon, kneecap anon (new)

Red Anon

Dear Cas,

It's been a while but I'm back! Not much of note has happened while I was gone. I've had my ups and downs but actually I have a very specific problem I want help with.

As you might know valentines day is in a few days. Well me and a three other friends (all 15-16f) decided to bring each other chocolates to school as a fun gift. The past week has been good. I've been pretty excited about getting them all the perfect chocolates based on what they like and they're the same. We talked about it daily even though we supposedly shouldn't let the others know.

A couple of days back I let my parents in the know. My mother and I had a conversation about what id choose and everything. The problem was my father. While he didn't try to stop me or anything he DID make some snide comments about how people might take it wrong and whatnot*. It was more teasing than anything and I brushed him off ta first but the closer the date comes the more anxious I get.

I guess my question is is it okay? Will people that see us think its weird? Can you confirm to me that the little voice in my head saying my friends will suddenly be weirded out by me and my sexuality besides being pretty supportive is straight up dumb?

*my father is homophobic but not exactly? He thinks there are bad gays and good gays and what not and he's pretty biphobic. Pretty against Trans people as well. Except it's not the type of homophobic that involves getting into fights and banning that stuff and yelling at people etc. like when I came out as a lesbian he didn't care/make a big deal about it and he doesn't like ban me from talking about girls or stop me from getting pride related things just makes like teasing remarks? Idk its really hard to explain sorry.

Hi!

I don't think there's anything wrong with getting your friends Valentine's gifts. Plenty of people do that and it's not a big deal at all. It's sweet and if anyone says anything, fuck them. I know I'm a day late with this but I saw so many people doing this yesterday so you definitely are not the only one

Also just because your dad doesn't get into fights doesn't mean his homophobia isn't harmful. I'm so sorry you have to deal with that.

___________

Lemon Anon

Hi Cas a.k.a my favourite person on tumblr !

It's 🍋 anon again. Thank you for helping me out. I'm too scared to post again. I'm trying to change my entire artstyle. And my username as well. I feel I've let down a lot of marauders friends I made online by just ghosting them so I don't think I want to come back here with my old username.

I feel its for the better especially for my mental health. But I'm feeling super guilty. Also is there maybe a way I can share art with you alone? Or I wish I had a community where I could just post marauders fanart without anyone knowing it's me. I'm honestly overthinking this and you're probably annoyed by now but I feel I'm just going in circles. I don't know what to do. I mean my irl friends ruined it !!! And some aprts of the toxic fandom as well.... Its just fanart I know... but I feel like I big part of me was taken away. It was my happy place. Honestly if you tell me to start posting again I will. Just because I think you've been part of this fandom for so long. And you get how it is.

I don't want any pity but life has been super hard lately. I had to come live with my parents again, my mental health is not so great, and they're not letting me go back to the country I want to go to. And I'm honestly scared. Scared because I thought I could be independent but I feel I've messed it all up. I can barely even draw anymore. How am I supposed to make a living out of it?????

Sorry Cas for the rambling. I just needed to tell this to someone. Thank you so so so much. You're the kindest ever !!!

Hi!

You're more than welcome to dm me with art you've made! But if you post under a new username, is your art distinct enough for people to know it's you? If not, maybe you could post under a new user and be anonymous?

I'm definitely not annoyed <3 I understand that you're overwhelmed and sad and those feelings can really affect the way you function. Whatever you choose to do about your art is your choice, but I'd love it if you dm me your work!

Also as far as moving in with your parents- remember this isn't permanent. It's a setback, but not a forever thing. I believe in you!

________________

3d anon

You know how people have different ways of thinking? Sometimes a few people talking in your head, some people have text in their head, some see 2d, some 3d? Etc.

Well I do all. Like I do see text, I have 4-5 people arguing in my head, sometimes just one voice, sometimes 3d, sometimes 2d, and as a kid I couldn't understand how people don't.

Like my classmates found it hard to think how the 3d objects open or how to draw it etc. or when I say something about a voice they usually made fun of it. It was kids being kids, I learned all those and now I am older, I understand everyone has different ways of learning.

But apparently my teacher doesn't understand. They were sweet at first, telling we should learn how we do, prepared voice recordings for those people who understands with hearing, prepared notes, and 3d models for vision etc. we have a public studying room, like, some sort of a library but it has sources of different things and it's free use.

day 1, I read the lesson

Day 2, I looked at graphics and models.

Day 3, I wanted to listen it so I asked professor if he can give me the recordings.

And he said no

But it was public use like all the other students could use.

And he accused me selling his teaching and books recordings etc.

Because apperantly I can't use more than one studying way.

And then I tried to explain I use all of them for myself (I am not taking anyone's place and already have limited time)

Then he failed me.

That's it.

Okay this shocks me a lot. Like...the fact that a teacher would do this? please know that I'm not accusing you of anything but is there any more to the story? because he's a total asshole if he just failed you for no reason other than you using multiple study tools.

___________________

Driving anon

HELP CAS I JUSR HAD MY FIRST DRIVING LESSON AND IM NOT GOOD AT DRIVING AT FUCKING ALL HOW DOES THIS BECOME INSTINCT TO PWOPLE I WANT TO QUIT ITS WAYYY TO EASY TO NEARLY FUCKING HIT SOMEONE WITH THE VAR OR HIT WNOTHER CAR WITH THE CAR AND THATS RHE END OF THE WORLD AND IM NOT WVEN DRIVING MANUAL IM DRIVING AUTOMATIC SO THIS WOULDVE BEEN EVEN HARDER BUT THANK GOD ITS NOT BUT ALSO ITS SO NERVEWRACKIJG I MEVER WANT TO DO IT AGAIN I WANT TO QUIT AO BAD AND IF I WASNT ME WHO HAS THIS HABIT OF JUST DOING SHIR ANYWAY EVENWHEN IT AUCKS THEN I PROB WOHLD HOW DOES EVERYONE ESLE DO THIS AND I ALSO HAVE TO PASS MY THEORY TEST I CANT 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

anyway thx 😭 have a nice week ur awesome :)

Hi!

Driving is definitely scary and overwhelming when you first start to learn but I promise it gets easier the more you practice. It helps to practice with someone who can stay calm and to practice in a quiet area to start. Are you able to do those things? It makes a huge difference.

I know you can do it!

______

Midnights anon

hi <3

you absolutely are MORE than tolerable and you are NOT stupid. Unfortunately, people can just be really mean and unsympathetic and it fucking sucks. People can be horrible at showing that they care. They can be drowning in their own stuff. But I promise you there are people who care, and you are worthy of love <3

As far as regulating your moods and your thoughts, I really think that therapy could be helpful for that. SOmetimes you need an outside person to help, you know? That's not bad or shameful, it just is.

I'm sending you love <3

________

24 anon

i wasn't sure if i wanted to name myself w this one but hi its 24 anon again (sorry i didnt dm u. im afraid) 😅 this one is a little different, but the usual theme stays the same. a few days ago my friend (ill start calling her p bc im tired of writing out my friend every time lol), p, apparently had a 'gal-intines day' party night w her usually group of people and i only know that because i saw the other people that were there posting about it on facebook. she's been sending me the odd snapchat of her out doing things with people and im just. i got so messed up about it that i spiralled myself into a panic attack AT WORK that was so obvious to literally everyone around me that my boss was checking in on me every time he saw me that day and the next. ive had a shit week, honestly. thinking about her makes me uncomfortable. i dont like talking to her anymore. i cant stomach the idea of going to hang out with her. i dont know if thats an in the moment revulsion but its worth noting that these aren't entirely new feeling at all. ive been singing this song and doing this dance with her since we were 16 and this isn't the first time ive thought about full stop not being friends anymore. i will never want to truly rid her from my life, id literally actually rather die, but i dont think i want to remain actively friends with her or go out of my way to maintain a friendship with her. the effort i give isn't and hasn't been reciprocated in a really, really long time. i feel god awful that im only starting to feel sure of this while she has a two month old son. this is literally the hardest time of her entire life and im only inevitably going to make it worse and i hate that even though i know ill feel better for it. im just so tired of giving so much of myself to somebody who can't be bothered to give even a sliver back even though ive all but begged and cried for it. anyways what actually prompted me to start feeling good about this choice was because i logged into my discord account for the first time in a while and it made me so incompressibly sad for the same exact reason im sad over p. i made a lot of really close friends on various different discord servers for various fandoms over the years (my own and others) and it was the same situation with every single one of them to some degree. i was SO close with them. i have some of their personal phone numbers, address', ive MET some of them irl!!!!! i dont talk to a single one of them. at most we like each others posts on whatever socials we have for each other, and thats even a stretch. it makes me sick to remember that i do not and have not ever had a solid, steady, lasting relationship in my life between friends, family, romantic partners, anything. every relationship i have ever had with anyone has been the same wishy washy non-committal while im giving so much of myself away to each of them that i dont have anything left for myself. i dont know whats so wrong with me or whats so off putting about me thats people not give one single genuine fuck about me but im tired of it. im tired of being whatever person ive let myself become. im trying so hard but it never feels like it matters because it always keeps happening. anyways. i know this is really irrational and im a mess of distorted thinking right now bc i dont have access to my therapist so i feel a little insane lol i dont know how to start this conversation with p, im actually dreading it so much for so many reasons it makes me sick. im sorry this is so long.

Hi <3

I know you said that pulling back from your relationship with p would make you feel guilty for her, but what if it's right for YOU? At some point, you need to put yourself first, you know? YOU deserve respect and love.

Also...is it something you need to talk to her about? Like what would happen if you just start doing less? I'm genuinely asking. Because yes, usually the conversation is best, but sometimes it can just make things hurt more. What's best for YOU in this situation? Because you keep thinking about her.

_____________

Kneecap anon

Hey Cas! I hope you're doing well <3

I've just been having a really bad week and kinda needed to vent so feel free to ignore this if you're busy.

A few days ago I dislocated my kneecap and I now have a splint and crutches.

I now have to get around my school including a hill with them and it hurts like hell all the time.

A week ago I got my ears pierced and I chose a smaller size of earring and yesterday I woke up and it was under the skin of my ear. It's nout now but it was still really annoying.

I also got my period yesterday and felt really sick becuase I didn't have time to eat at recess and had to go home early.

I'm supposed to have learned my lines for my drama production but I haven't and I also have a poster due tomorrow that I haven't even started (It's currently 8.30pm for me)

So in conclusion I'm really stressed and feel really bad becasue everyone has to do everything for me becuase I can't carry anything or walk very much.

___________

Hi <3

this does sound like an awful week. I'm sorry you're having to deal with all of this. Remember though, you didn't ASK to get hurt, so you don't need to feel guilty about needing help. It's okay to rely on the people who care about you to help you when you need it.

I hope you feel better soon and you were able to get your poster done and work on your lines! I;m sending you productive energy!

[nazali]

Hannibal

my favourite female character: chiyoh!!!! my beautiful gorgeous girl who had both the ability and the audacity to shove will graham off of a moving train my favourite male character: will graham, again i will get into this further down three other favourite characters: hannibal lecter (unfortunately he is both funny and fascinating), reba mcclane (she is so good!! so good! she deserves better than all these morally bankrupt men), molly foster-graham (i would not shut up about her if i let myself ramble she is so kind and such a good mom and wife and she Also deserves so much better than these men. i love will to death but FUCK him fr leave molly alone. she was so cool in the scene with dolarhyde she did not need strength and superintelligence to get away from him she used everyday shit that anyone could do and it WORKED) my least favourite character: incidentally francis dolarhyde, when i first watched hannibal i was still very squicked out by nudity and seeing this fuckin guy grunting and flexing his nakedass body every five mins on my screen was A TEST OF MY RESILIENCE that i never got over my otp: hannibal/will. do people ever answer anything else for hannibal. they were my ride or die for what like 4-5 years?? i am devastated that i lost all my ao3 bookmarks for them because when i tell you i read THOUSANDS of hannigram fics. these two going canon was absolutely mind-blowing to me like i could not believe they had the balls to actually go there in this show that at the time was popular enough to be all over tumblr all the time i genuinely can't think of much i'd change about their relationship aside from Maybe being a little more overt at the end, but bryan fuller knows better than i do my notp: i was gonna say will/alana or hannibal/alana because i wasn't vibing with those storylines but then i remember people out there ship abigail with hannibal or will and that feels SO father/daughter to me that it makes me feel Discosting the character i'm most like: will graham. i will not get into the Nitty Gritty about my mental health here because that feels lowkey embarrassing to me but when i got into hannibal i was also struggling with things that had me experiencing chunks of lost time, dissociation, hallucinations, etc. this was partly a downside because hannibal-related hallucinations started to worm their way into my catalog of Shit To See BUT it was also the first time i'd ever connected with a character to the level of feeling almost like i was seeing my own brain broadcasted back to me on a screen, especially with my autism and avpd coming with hyperempathy, social avoidance, struggles with eye contact, etc. i was also, like, 16 at the time, so i hadn't yet learned how to deal with intrusive thoughts and was labouring under the illusion that i was Secretly Evil as a result of them, so will's struggle with his impulses & nature vs. him wanting so badly to be a good person were very relatable to me back then too favourite episode/season: this is cheating but specifically the latter halves of seasons 2 & 3. i'm not so big on the first halves bc they're mostly dealing with will in prison & hannibal/bedelia in italy which aren't the most interesting plotlines to me, but 2b (when will is trying to seduce hannibal & has everything with freddie lounds' 'death' and randall tier) & 3b (where hannibal is locked up and it's working its way to will getting him out) are MWAH chef's kiss to me. favourite episode specifically is the wrath of the lamb because how could it not be saddest character death: beverly katz :( i'm still sore about that every time most attractive character: chiyoh & reba from the women, rrrrghghgh probably will from the men but Specifically that fit he was rockin in the chiyoh episodes with the long black coat and popped collar and gloves that was so evil pirate looking

send me a fandom !

[bastet55]

What are you headcanons about Gondolin society & government?

Hello, Nonnie! And thank you for this question. Apologies for the delay in my reply. Uni has restarted, so I've been busy, and I had to think about the answer to this a bit more than to other questions.

My general outlook on what Gondolin was like has definitely been influenced by these two Tumblr posts especially:

A lot of things about Gondolin, I'm only starting to get into, because I started my series with the Fall of Gondolin, so I needed less specific detail about many aspects of life there because Gloredhel is just reflecting on things in retrospective. I can cherry-pick the details I need to figure out and deal with the rest later. But as I am starting to write occasionally (as my brain cooperates ... when it's not jumping ship to other fandoms) about the beginning of her relationship with Rog and about Maeglin and all that, I am really only now starting to think about some of these issues and hammer out my opinions on them.

Tbh, not all of my ideas about Gondolin are popular. I'm pretty critical of Turgon and sympathetic to Maeglin and Eol (with the big caveat that I think their portrayals in the Silmarillion are rubbish, based on it being an in-universe document by a definitely biased source). It doesn't bother me if people don't agree with me on that. This is fanfiction. We can have our own opinions on Tolkien, and that's that.

A few headcanon snippets to give you at least something concrete:

Gondolin is a gilded-cage. The city does know peace and does get the benefit of many developments that don't happen elsewhere because of the necessity often of just fighting for survival, but Gondolin is still a cage. Unless you are like 3 people, you just cannot leave.

Gondolin has ... questionable maps, especially of anything further east. Turgon finds the vale where Gondolin will be built in FA 53. His people are occupied with building it for the next 75-ish years, and then they don't leave afterwards except for the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. We know that Turgon did send out messengers to the Valar by ship following the move to Gondolin, but I don't recall anything about scouts being sent out. Gondolin is bascially disconnected from everything else happening in Beleriand, and they basically get their news from the eagles. So there was a lot of dependence on any maps the Sindar there had, but ... mapmaking is hard, and maps are only as good as the places you have been. (This becomes relevant ... very dangerously so ... in an AU story that I have written like 1 chapter of so far.)

The Lord of the Houses of Gondolin (plus Gloredhel, of course) serve as a council under Turgon, who of course has the final say on things.

Thanks again for the ask.

Sorry I don't have more to tell you right now.

[voidlitmoon]

Not just being in the fandom, but full on having hyperfixions in the Dream SMP and the Sanders Sides fandoms is probably not good for my school grades this week