#sorry for this negative post

[i-am-a-fish]

I'm very angry that fascism is possible in a world after the invention of the internet. communication has never been easier and hating fascists is supposed to be a commonly accepted and widespread belief. this is extremely frustrating

[bookcub]

Cozy Fantasy and Why It Doesn't Work

I think I am among many who feel like they should love cozy fantasy and have found it an incredibly lacking genre.

This newly branded "cozy fantasy" genre that has taken readers by storm since 2020 and while it is new that books are now marketed as cozy, the genre itself isn't new. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones is a great example of the genre before it was labeled and also how to make it work.

Cozy fantasy is defined by many as fantasy with low stakes. Fantasy aesthetic but less sword fights. On paper, it sounds great. But the execution has been less than stellar for readers like me. The lack of physical stakes has also impacted the emotional stakes of these books, creating forgettable characters with boring problems. As a romance reader, I find this frustrating. Romance is known for being a predictable and formulaic genre, the now defunct Romance Writers of America defined romances as needing happy endings, a term romances have continued to follow. Yet these romance texts manage to have low physical stakes (how to date your neighbor, how to confront your toxic friends, etc) while still maintaining high personal stakes that keep readers invested and begging for more. So I was initially confused why cozy fantasy authors struggle to write texts that connect to readers like me.

I think I have found the answer which is the genre is just here for vibes. It is all about aesthetic, not even worldbuilding that fantasy is known for as most cozy fantasy I read have so many problems as soon as you ask one question. It is hard to acknowledge that a genre that is pitched to work for readers like me doesn't work for many of us. Especially because occasionally there is one that works beautifully to my taste.

I often say my favorite cozy fantasies that are more contemporary are short and visual, which I plays into the idea of the genre being an aesthetic. The Bakery Dragon by Devin Elle Kurtz is a good example because it is a simple story that is given the perfect amount of pages and gorgeous visuals without dragging on when the message is very clear and easy to understand. Books like The Phoenix Keeper and Legends and Lattes have absolutely nothing for me, their very clear message hitting the reader over and over so the readers don't miss it and focusing on the aesthetic of worldbuilding rather than the reality of the fantastic elements within the world.

I guess my point is. . . I realize this genre isn't for me since I have realized it is more of an aesthetic than anything. .. .but I want it to be. Should I let it go and put my efforts elsewhere? Or should I keep exploring this new trend and find the hidden gems?

[yellowheartz]

Err, no offense. But I absolutely can not stand useless people in a classroom. No, no, don't get me wrong.

It's fine if you don't know what to do, as long as ur trying to understand and actually trying to do something.

But if ur the typa asshole to be smug and defend yourself for being none other than a piece of trash in a room, then maybe. Oh, idk. Keep your head down and be quiet?

[miraculouslumination]

Y'all realize that you can (and probably should) treat trans women and transfems as people right. Like you can acknowledge that they face a lot of awful shit and are targeted with layers and layers of bigotry without like. Putting every trans woman and transfem on a marble and gold gilded pedestal.

Trans women and transfems shouldn't be respected because they're goddesses with girlbulge or hot dommy mommies or divine feminine. You should respect them because they're people, which means they aren't perfect and will do things you won't like or think is weird/gross, but you should still respect them. You should always treat them as people first and foremost, rather than a mythical figure in your political fantasies.

[casscainmainly]

Before posting to the Duke Thomas tag, think:

Does the post actually include Duke Thomas?

Does Duke Thomas say more than one throwaway line/question?

Is Duke Thomas more than just a prop for another character?

Is Duke Thomas more than the timid/shy/normal one?

If you answered yes to all these questions, congratulations!!! You can post to the Duke tag. If your answer is no, maybe avoid the Duke tag!

[misternibbs]

look who's inside again

interpret this however you feel. originally planned/initially started on the release day of tiny uke, it just reminded me a lot of icimi and bo burnham's inside, so i did this.

also please ignore the fact that I spelt surrounded wrong I can't spell for shit

separate images/process/linework below!

hey I actually spelt it right in the previous versions tf. dang

[oneshotprincess]

i think the thing that annoys me most about 'bad dad' clark fics is the fact that they feel really mean-spirited about superman in general. almost like they're telling ppl 'seee! superman's not great after all! he's just as bad as you and me! in fact, he's worse! look at how he's treating this innocent child' and it's almost like lex luthor himself is running a smear campaign on ao3

[blueberryfruitbat]

AI and Tumblr

In the event of any kind of AI Art API is to be trained on this platform I do not give permission for my art to be sampled or used to train AI without financial compensation, artists hold the copyright to our art and any intentional mimicry or sampling of my art by an artificial intelligence is infringing on an artist's rights to their creations.

We as artists will not take this grim proposal between Tumblr and Midjourney laying down, this was the last safe heaven for a lot of us and you are now holding knives to us entirely to solve your financial woes instead of offering meaningful solutions. You are going to bleed your community of all trust and all revenue you still eek out of us. Your ways have changed from one of a community built around passion for fandom and the creative mind to one of greed and exclusion. You have been showing true colors and they are ugly, they are sickening, and they will kill your platform. If this deal goes through, may your platform die slow and painfully, may you watch your most loyal of whales walk away and leave you drying out in the hot pavement that is bankruptcy.

[mohntilyet]

actually sorry dav reads like a game that was written by people who think da2 is about found family. in every other game my ending feels earned and my choices are my own and then veilguard asks the bold question what if we could bring the hr mandatory team bonding experience into a video game?

[idwl]

sorry i keep posting about transandrophobia and ive made a post similar to this yesterday but oh my GOD youre all just going mask off lately arent you. do you guys just think its "fun" and "quirky" to make jokes about the bigotry of trans men.

[butchvamp]

we know EA interfered a lot with veilguard, i definitely do attribute the "sanitization" of the setting directly to EA's meddling, i even think to some extent taash's quest and the corporate representation feel of it all was influenced heavily by EA and not just weekes. and i think a lot of the companions being so shallow and their quests feeling half-baked is also mostly due to time constraints and rewrites/cut content-- the writers genuinely did do the best they could with what they had, and i feel for them and their frustrations. but. there are also just a lot of really bad decisions made elsewhere, too. like i said the racism has always been present in these games and it's always been a problem, it's literally baked into the worldbuilding, though i can definitely agree that some of it was potentially made worse specifically in veilguard due to constant rewrites and the loss of context and cohesion, but like... it was always there to begin with... and it's not "unfair" for players to point this out.

both things can be true-- EA absolutely fucked these people over, and we shouldn't be speculating conspiracy theory-type shit about the writers hating fans or whatever when we know. we know EA interfered, we know there were creative differences, we know they ruthlessly laid off a lot of the people that poured their blood, sweat, and tears into this game! EA is both stupid and actively malicious, they get no sympathy from me. veilguard absolutely is a casualty of the current state of the gaming industry. and i also think there were a lot of poor writing decisions made independently of that as well, that are fair to criticize and question. a lot of these problems are the same problems we've seen in every single DA game, and this consistency makes it clear this is not just an issue with corporate overreach.

but i really feel for everyone involved with making this game, this shit was clearly a very long and tiring fight, i can't even imagine the kind of constant corporate shitstorm they had to deal with for ten fucking years, and personally there is no NDA in the world that would keep me from talking shit. so these guys are stronger than me lol

[wickjump]

i really dont like cream because i think it literally messes up cross’ entire development as a character and would not be healthy for him. i am so sorry cream loving mutuals but this is on the MIND. a lot of cream neg ranting below cut

i just. primarily don’t like cream because cross always falls under power imbalances. he needs an equal in his life rather than someone he will deem as above him, someone whose aura canonically directly affects him and influences how he feels about dream. he would canonically struggle to dislike dream despite how he wants to because dream’s aura literally shoves comfort down his throat, even if dream doesn’t intend that. there is an old comic about exactly that. dream’s aura is not what ‘made’ cross love him, but it would influence how cross feels about him and would urge him to stay if he ever wanted to leave.

but honestly the thing that drives me crazy the most is how in SO MANY (as in, like, most nowadays) interpretations dream is shown as cross’ knight in shining armor, his angel, his savior. someone cross reveres. dream is his ethereal lover and cross is someone who cannot compare, in his mind.

but what cross needs is an equal, and characters like dream (or nightmare) have such a big power imbalance between them and him. dream is the guardian of positivity, he will outlive cross for likely hundreds of years and cross is aware of this, and the mindset that he’s only a temporary lover would mess him up a bit too. and again i really really hate seeing cross reduced to dream’s anything. dream’s soldier, especially dream’s dog (note that i love dogboy cross but combined with the power imbalance and how cross often is shown to view dream as someone above him it feels yucky to have cross be dream’s dog)

cross’ entire story is about him becoming his own separate person! being with equals and not surrendering to those with more power over him and instead fighting back!! this is also why i like ships like crepic and kross and recently whatever color x cross is called a lot better. because they’re equals to him. and he sees them as equals, too.

cream is. fine to ship. its just not my thing. crossmare also isnt because of the same reason. in a bad sanses setting he would view nightmare as his superior, hell, he even calls nightmare ‘boss’ in these kinds of settings a lot of the time when with a romantic relationship established between them. nightmare owns him. even in a fanon setting where nightmare doesn’t beat the shit out of everyone, nightmare still holds cross’ life in his hands. cross has nothing in return.

in aus where nightmare and dream are made to be equals (such as modern aus) i can see ships with them! the pet peeve isn’t as present. still don’t like cream thoguh im sorry as a cross obsessor it’s just not something i think he would be healthy in,, he’s gotta have an equal not someone he views as above him which he always will because that’s how he was raised and trained to be his whole life.

him fighting to be free from that cycle only to just fall back in the position of being under someone again, REGARDLESS of how comforting or good they make him feel while he is, isn’t healthy for him. they can be excused as fine because dream is loving and kind to him and cross is very receptive to it, and it does help him with some things, but cross can’t handle constantly being around that. i hate that this is always ignored. i hate that cross being reduced to something someone owns, dream’s dog, Dream’s soldier, Dream’s, is just constantly a thing that people are totally chill with. no matter how much Dream could insist they’re equal, Dream isn’t, case closed. he is immortal and cross isn’t. if Dream lives for thousands of years there’s a likely chance he’ll enter another relationship a while after cross dies. cross would be aware of this. cross would be aware that the multiverse reveres dream and would feel a duty to feel the same. dream is a guardian, and cross can’t even fully free himself from his father’s control.

idk i just think cross should not be in relationships with people who have power over him, at least not as much as dream/nm do. it makes me sad because i like cross a lot and him being in relationships with people above him, no matter how nice they are or how reassuring they are, is not something he would ever be able to healthily handle or accept. he was raised to have an inferiority complex about himself and he will continue to have that unless he is surrounded by equals who support him in fixing that and don’t fuel it, even without wanting to.

but honestly tho overall ship what u like. hell if i care these guys ain’t real. u do u man. plus a lot of cream art is cute. it’s just a pet peeve of mine :’)

[miracle-negative]

I was going to post it on Killer's birthday..(;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)

[l3irdl3rain]

which is more annoying. someone with a morbidly obese cat who insists it’s a Maine coon VS the person with a husky who insists it’s a wolf dog

[fancyfade]

Tim in Damian-centered comics: Either referred to as 'smart' and just is not the main character, or if he gets beat up there's still situations explaining why and he's portrayed as a generally concerned person (link)

Damian in Tim-centered comics: amoral, stupid, thoughtless, making the wrong decision and siding with supervillains, OOCly judgmental in situations he's previously been less judgmental in, gullible in situations he's been previously less gullible in -- (examples in link (link) that aren't zdarsky's batman, but like. all of zdarsky's batman)

fans: they're treated the same ^_^ Look Tim called Damian his baby bro ^_^ It's so cute

[karofsky]

while I'm doing my own interview skimming, this Harvey interview has a sweet quote as well