#the fandom echo chamber is wild

[lostryu]

i love how people post about how “x characters aren’t conventionally attractive” and then list all their ethnic traits or being gnc as the reason. Like tell me you’re lowkey racist and homophobic and have a skewed perception based off American beauty standards.

[novadragoness]

Builder & Qi are the kind of power couple that would give Miguel heart attacks daily.

[queenlokibeth]

.

[y3tzirah]

born with fire emblem opinions forced to i am not posting that shit

[puzzledcretin]

Mystic Mojo

(written for @tmnt-write-fight for @eyesoftheholder)

Fandom: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Prompt: (Post ROTMNT movie) An exploration into Mikey’s mystic powers and the possibilities that come with it. Word Count: 2,376

Read On AO3

The sun was still high up in the sky, though it was angled toward the west. In an hour or two, it would be beyond the horizon and out of reach. For now, the golden glow cascaded among the blades of grass. 

It was warm here. Wherever here was. 

Among the tall blades of grass, some just as tall as the young turtle as he sat amongst them, were flowers. Sprinkled in clusters, wild flowers blotted the green all around him. An array of reds that faded into purples that faded into blues. Spread out as far as the eye could see. The flowers stood out, ranging from the smallest buds to the largest petals. None of them seemed to be particularly the same species, all unique, all different. 

Fox tail ferns disrupted the usual monotony around him, along with bushes and clusters of wheat. 

Despite the warmth radiating down on him, it smelled like rain. It smelled fresh, like life itself was bursting forth from the buried roots of the Earth. It flourished through the plants, dancing around in the wind. The wind itself sang a song, calling out to everything that was graced with its presence. Brushing against every surface as a reminder of  “I am here, I am here,”

So was he, wasn’t he? Here in this field. Away from everything that ever bothered him. 

He sucked a deep breath in, taking the wind into his heart. Nothing more than a brief detour, bringing life in just to breathe out a part of himself. It joins the wind, flying away into the sky and melding with the dust and leaves that tumbled along the breeze.

His gaze turns downwards, away from the unyielding rays of the sun. 

Stones and pebbles, clusters of dirt, maybe some bugs that were on their way home from a long day of.. Being bugs. But instead of your usual ground activity, there were glowing orange cracks in the Earth. They shined, almost as bright as the sun itself. And it wasn’t stagnant. It shimmered, it shifted. Much like the wind, it danced along to its own song.

His hands came down to touch it, but as he did, those glowing orange cracks suddenly burst up along his arms. They flared, angry and dangerous. The deep lines buried themselves deep into his flesh. Pain followed, sharp pains as his skin was ripped apart before his very eyes. Flakes broke off from the edges, burning up into ashes as they rose up into the air around him. 

The particles floated around him, they almost looked beautiful. Like thousands of fireflies, they circled his head. His eyes widened. With some effort, the turtle tried to pull his arms away from the ground. The urge to touch these small particles- pieces of himself- was just too much to ignore. But, his hands were gone. Merged into the same energy that burned the ground. 

The embers around him grew brighter and brighter, heat searing his skin. Then, before he could gather his bearings and figure out what was happening, the embers shot out in every direction. Their range was impressive, falling down into the blades of grass to hide from view.

Like sparks among dry brush, there was no way to stop the eruption of flames that occurred in that beautiful field. And the flames weren’t small, they towered up amongst the grass. It tore apart every blade, every petal, every leaf and threw them all up into the air to mix their ashes with the cascade of debris. Thick, dark gray clouds covered the sky. The warmth of the sun was blocked out, replacing everything with the cruel heat of the flames. Smoke filled his lungs in an instant, suffocated him with unrelenting plumes as the flames consumed the wildlife around him. 

“Wait- Wait, stop! Stop it!” 

His words echoed back to him, bouncing around his fiery chamber. They loomed over him, repeating over and over.

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

The cracks along his arms crawled higher and higher. He looked down, watching the trenches engulf more and more of his skin. It ate him, throwing up embers. The embers flew through the flames. He didn’t know where they were going. But beyond these walls, he wondered how much of the field survived. 

Tears streamed down his cheeks. Trails tracked along his face, innocent expressions of fear and remorse that stood contrast to the world around him. He choked on the smoke, his body bending forward as the golden glow attacked his shoulders. He coughed, trying to force it back out. 

Slowly, heat built up in his throat. A wretched burn worked its way up to his mouth, it settled on his tongue and ate away at the saliva that accumulated there. 

His lip trembled, the last barrier between him and whatever lies beneath. 

For the first time since he entered this hell, he wished he could go home. He craved the soft, pillowy feeling of being surrounded by his family. Lines ran deep into his body, searing him from the inside out. But he grit his teeth, clamps down.

Silently, he begged for forgiveness. 

The world wouldn’t know, and he believes they would never know, that this was his fault. He was going to burn up and disappear, destroying everything in his wake. 

And yet, and yet. All he could imagine was his brothers. His sister. His fathers. He hoped they were safe, far away from all of this. He could imagine them now, laughing in the lair. They were oblivious, they were having fun. He could imagine what they’d say. 

“I wonder where he is.”

“I wonder if he’s coming home soon.”“I wonder if he’ll bring home pizza.”

A grin cracked at his lips. The stretch of his lips split the flesh. Beneath it, the same orange glow that corrupted the rest of his body. He clamped down with his jaw, breathing through his nose as the cracks started to spread across his face. 

He couldn’t hold on, he wasn’t strong enough.

“I’m sorry..”

The cracks exploded across his body as he finally let go. Flames rushed along the dry grass in order to join their origin once again. He screamed as he gave in, his body pulling apart at the seams. 

Mikey woke up with a choked gasp. He coughed, rolling onto his side in his hammock in an attempt to clear his throat from the spit that attacked him. 

He pushed himself up. Trembles raked through his body, the aftershocks of the earthquake that rocked his very core. His hand moved up to lay against his plastron. With the hard plate between him and his heart, he couldn’t feel his heart racing with his hand. But he could hear the pounding in his ears. 

That dream felt too realistic, phantoms of all the burns prickled around his body. His eyes flickered down to his hands, expecting to see the eerie orange glow. But all he saw were the light colored scars that still haunted him. But that was it, he was safe. 

Mikey fell back into his hammock, looking up at the ceiling of his room. He tracked the bright colors that formed circles and spirals. He let out a slow breath, his lungs deflating in his body. 

He laid there for an hour. His mind was slowly reeling with the memories of a dream that were burned in. Usually, dreams would fade away. No shackles to hold you in a single place, no trap to keep you stuck in bed. But this was fresh and powerful. 

Eventually, Mikey pulled himself up to his feet. 

The young turtle had a lot he wanted to get done today, especially after Leo came back with some new canvases. They were unused, but not completely clean. Spatters and stains along the bright white fabric. It was imperfect, but Mikey could see the inspiration.

So, the teen was set about getting all his other tasks done. He buried himself in what he had to do. He had originally planned on making something small like cereal for breakfast, but it felt too fast. A full meal was in order then, pancakes and bacon and juice and toast and scrambled eggs. 

Then, he took his focus onto the dishes. Donnie had built a dishwasher, he could be using it, but instead he took to hand washing them. And well, it would be rude to just leave them drying on the counter, so he dried them too. Then, since the job was already two thirds of the way done, he put the dishes away too. 

Mikey was on his way back to his room when Raph pulled him aside and asked if he were interested in sparring at all. How could he say no to that? Clearly, he couldn’t. He focused on the fight intently, filling his head on which strike or duck he was going to do next. It was almost a blur, what happened. 

In fact, a lot of it was a blur. 

Yes, Mikey knew he did things. He knew he made breakfast, he knew he had washed and put away all the dishes, he knew he had sparred with Raph. 

And yet, if you had asked him any specifics, he would draw blanks. His mind was busy. 

So, despite his brother's calls to join him in the living room to play games, Mikey found himself walking to the small corridor where he kept most of his art supplies. It used to all be in his room, but when they were cleaning up the lair after the Kraang’s failed invasion, Mikey had moved a lot of it to what he called his studio. 

He had outgrown the space, he had claimed. He was a blossoming artist who needed to spread his wings. 

As he walked into his space, the familiar scent of disinfectant and paint filled his nostrils. The walls had been cleaned recently and his paints were all scattered about. His acrylics, his pastels, and his oils. Mikey moved to sit in the center of the room. He gathered up some nearby supplies and stared down at his blank canvas. 

With a deep breath, he got to work. Recently, he has been working with a lot of abstract concepts. Colors in broad strokes across a canvas, pushing expression into nothing and everything all at the same time. One of his last paintings was a real whirlwind of color. He chose greens, blues, reds, purples, and oranges. All sharp lines, all bouncing along the surface, but aimed down towards the cluster of pink and gray at the bottom. 

Mikey proudly hung that one up on the wall, he had named it To Rise Above. 

This painting, however, was proving to be rather difficult. Mikey let his heart guide his hands, reds and oranges and yellows force themselves onto the page. Sharp angles that erupt from soft curves, contradictions in forms. There was chaos erupting on this canvas, all surrounding a little black blob in the middle with two glowing orange eyes. 

Mikey paused as he took a step back to process what he saw. 

Just like his dream, he was surrounded by fire. 

His hearing tunneled, his eyes unfocused. He dropped his brush to the floor, the orange paint splattered lazily against the concrete. 

“I see,”

Mikey jerked himself back to reality, turning his gaze up behind him to catch Draxum standing behind him. The goat man had his hands tucked into the sleeves of his robe, eyebrows drawn tight together but his focus was on the canvas. 

“Tell me, Michelangelo, what does this depict.” Draxum asked, using his foot to lightly push Mikey’s paint palette out of the way before slowly sinking to sit criss cross beside him. 

“It..” Mikey’s expression tightened for a moment. His dream  had been a vision of terror, it felt too real to be just a dream. It almost felt like a calling, a promise of what was in store for him. 

A purple clawed hand came to rest on his shoulder, his thumb brushing against the tension that laid beneath the surface. 

“I had a dream last night.. That I did this..” Mikey spoke softly, letting the canvas drop to the ground. His head fell into his hands, smearing colors against his face. “I guess it’s just sticking with me… I remember how it felt and it.. That energy felt a lot like when I used my mystic mojo to open up that portal,”

He shook his head, laughing softly, “But that’s stupid, why would I feel like that? I can make portals, portals shouldn’t make fires like that,”

Draxum hummed in response, “No, they shouldn’t,” He responded, pulling his hands into his lap, “Meditate with me, Michelangelo,”

Mikey looked up at Draxum for a moment, watched as the elder closed his eyes and straightened his posture. The young turtle followed suit, folding his hands over his lap as he felt his eyes close. 

“You have very powerful abilities, Michelangelo. Very unpredictable abilities. I’m sure they scare you, do they not?” Draxum questioned. 

Mikey stayed silent for a long moment, before nodding stiffly, “It hurt.. A lot. Making that portal.” Mikey’s fingers brushed against one of the old scars, “I don’t want to hurt anyone else, not like that. But I don’t know how..” 

Silence grows between them. Mikey wonders if he’s said something wrong. Is there a chance he said something wrong? Surely so. He was a monster for even considering that he would have the ability to hurt someone. He was going to destroy the world-

“I know. Strong abilities are a blessing, but they can only become that with extensive training. With exercises that hone your energy into something productive, not destructive. You have nothing to fear, Michelangelo. You just need a helping hand.” Draxum responded, “I know, I had fears of my own once.”

Draxum’s hand fell back onto Mikey’s shoulder, lightly tugging the turtle to face him. Mikey opened his eyes to find his more recent father figure offering a reassuring smile that looked just.. So out of place. Mikey managed a smile of his own in response.

“You’re going to be extraordinary, Michelangelo. Just have confidence,”

[starlightseraph]

sighhhhh…

i saw a post claiming that being uncomfortable with some of the wild rpf blogs is homophobia (or rather, that we’re only so uncomfortable with the rabid david/michael shipping because they’re both men, and not by georgia/anna stuff because they’re women), and i find that very funny.

firstly, most of us are queer to begin with, and while being queer doesn’t mean you can’t be discriminatory to other queer people, it’s important to mention.

secondly, the reason no one’s weirded out over georgia and anna is because no one is actually, truly shipping them in the real, actually world. it is very clearly a joke, and some of it is fun stories on ao3. the whole making out thing (which i’ve now seen brought up as evidence that we’re not as uncomfortable with f/f rpf) is literally in response to neil gaiman’s tumblr joke about dottie and sadie, who are fake characters that he uses to deflect from people wanting spoilers. the fandom has imagined them as being played by georgia and anna. they won’t be, because dottie and sadie aren’t actual characters in any fictional work. no one’s saying that georgia and anna, the real people, should make out, we’re making a joke about a fake storyline that only exists in several posts on tumblr.

we’re not grossed out because the the david/michael shipping is m/m. we’re grossed out because these are real people that are being treated like puppets to serve some fantasy. not hypothetical characters created for the purpose of a gag that will never be in any official form of media. not characters in a show who don’t actually exist. actual fucking humans.

rpf stands for real person fiction. fiction. i’m not even sure this qualifies as rpf anymore; no one’s treating it as a fun, made-up story, they’re presenting it as an “investigation” into the real lives of real people. people who are strangers, people who we know almost nothing about.

rpf very often morphs into this, and i really think it’s in a class of its own.

it’s one thing to write silly little stories on ao3 using the names and personalities and likenesses of real people, it’s a completely different thing to dissect every single thing you see about someone and to come to a conclusion that just so happens to perfectly fit your ideal of their lives.

i find even the purely fictional rpf to be a bit strange and uncomfortable, but i don’t have any real moral objections to it. when it bleeds into reality, though, and the wishful thinking of fans presents as a vast, complex conspiracy, that’s straight up creepy. like i won’t even go into why it’s creepy, it should be obvious. celebrities are genuinely afraid of people like this. they’re afraid of the rumours, they’re afraid of stalkers, they feel like they can’t even have innocent fun without it being “proof” that their marriage is just for show. they hate it. i hope all these blogs know that david and michael would all but certainly be very unamused by all of this. they’d probably be a bit terrified, and also embarrassed that anything they did could possibly be interpreted in these ways. no celebrity ever signs up for this, the extent of the obsession some people have is impossible to comprehend until it’s in front of you. even if they’re used to it by now, why, in the name of god, would you pile on?

please, touch grass. smell the roses. leave the parasocial echo chamber. do something to reacquaint yourselves with the real world and how real people function. if you’re really fans, leave them and their loved ones alone.

[gifsbysimplysonia]

ORIGINAL TIKTOK SOURCE

What this so CLEARLY means ... to me ... is that he's seen or perhaps been shown the delulu side of his fandom and I am second hand mortified about that. To hear him CLEARLY CALL OUT a very specific delusion I've seen/read/heard myself regarding his relationships is W I L D. Like...I don't know how many times I've said it, but what you say on the internet is not something you shout into a void or echo chamber. You never know who is going to see it and what effect it may or may not have on your life or others' lives in real actual time.

I get that most folks in fandom are half my age and that's probably why this advice doesn't land. Y'all gotta grow up and go through it to learn for yourself. I had to with a lot of stuff. But MAN, is it wildly embarrassing to me to know that the people I have regard for as entertainers actually know about the sick, dark, wild parts of their own fandoms and have to actually safe guard AGAINST those parts now. How disheartening.

[hislittleraincloud]

dude can you just stop using the wenclair tag? like its annoying seeing these kind of posts. some of us are just here to see the fun dynamics, other’s interpretation, arts etc. and i get that you’re against it or whatever, so maybe like leave these tags alone? stop abusing the tags if you don’t like it

The last anon I just answered didn't even have the Wenclair tag even though the anon mentioned it. But thanks for reminding me to go back and remedy that. 🥹

Look, I get it, you don't read anything that goes against your little echo chamber, so you missed what I fucking said in the next to last one that WAS tagged Wenclair:

It's not my fault that you can't stand criticism of the novel or the ship within the constraints of the novel and fandom. I had never had a problem with any Wenclair fanon until y'all creamed yourselves over this novelization. I read it (slowly, for me, so I could catalog each instance of fuckery with canon in my brain that I could), and that is what I have a problem with.

I've always supported Wednesday and Enid the same way M&G support it, since accepting and building friendship was what Morticia had stated in the beginning in the limo she'd hoped for her daughter/what Wednesday had stated she was extremely resistant to throughout ("I like being an island...a well fortified one surrounded by sharks."). Seems like no one cares to comprehend how wild a jump from a strict antisocial loner who hates people to Spanish-spewing yandere "Willa" in the span of four weeks actually is, and that's how fanon can be*...only now Mejia's injected 100% fanon [see the defiling of "Woe What a Night" for the worst of it] into the canon that millions of people around the world saw and y'all are calling it canon (when it is not, despite being published through the studio). In my last real fandom I participated in there was a screenplay "tie up" in lieu of a fourth season published by Showtime and written by Neil Jordan himself that was roundly rejected by fans as canon because it was so out of character for our main characters from what we had seen for three seasons. Same goes for the Jack Thorne's Cursed Child nonsense in Potter (even Potter actors have called it fan fiction).

TLDR: It's not abusing a tag if the tag is relevant to the post's discussion. Grow some skin and learn how to deal ("cope" like you kids love to say) with reasonable criticisms.

[shearlin]

Word count: 7001

Four-centric; Possession

Hi :D

This is my honorary entry for this years Whumptober. Real life happened and prevented me from being able to write for the entirety of September and most of October so I was not able to participate this year. But! I was able to write a little something about one of my favourite whumpy tropes: possession!

I hope you enjoy! :D

(As of writing this I unfortunately didn't have a chance to play FS or FSA games, because I am very alone and have not enough friends to play Zelda with. So the portrayal of Colours is derived purely from the LU comic itself as well as fanon work. Fair warning.)

They stepped into the final chamber with swords drawn and on high alert. They were moving in loose circle formation listening for the giggles that haunted them their entire stay here. After all, they didn’t have the opportunity to kill the bastard yet. The chances they would meet that infected wizzrobe there was high.

They had spent long hours in this dungeon, more than any of them expected, being thwarted by living reflections and mirror puzzles for way longer than they should. A purple wizzrobe, who was stalking them and laughing at their misery, seemed to be the one in control, if its constant presence was any indicator. With a wave of its hands, reflections and shadows were coming to life, monsters pouring from dark corners and glass surfaces. It cloud touched a mirror and scrambled the image inside the glass in a nonsensical way, forcing them to find a way to fix them less the chaos would bleed to the normal world.

And they couldn’t catch the darn thing. Not only did it jump from paintings to mirrors, to shadows and back - something Time argued looked more like a poe behaviour than wizzrobe - but if they managed to cut off its escape routes, it would just disappear into thin air. No matter what it was, they were done with it and its dungeon, and wanted out .

After a long while, they finally found the boss room and slowly made their way towards the middle of it, where a mirror with some barely makeable letters carved in the stone frame stood on a raised platform. To say that all of them were reluctant to approach it was a gross understatement. If the theme of the dungeon would hold, they would have to face even stronger twisted reflections of themselves or a plethora of different monsters they had ever faced on their journeys so far. They were not crossing out the possibility of it being a boss rush formed from their own memories brought to life with the wizzrobe magic. Hooray!

Not like they had much choice. The door behind them was locked. There was only one way out: through whatever the mirror would spew at them.

When they came close enough Legend took out his lamp and, while others protected his back, he tried to make out the text around the mirror.

Shattered mind, shattered soul. Shattered mirage of control. For every shard - a puppet string, For every crack - a broken link.

As Legend finished reading, he rose up, putting away his lamp and redrawing his sword.

“I can’t be the only one who’s really unsettled by the phrasing here, right?”

He was met with tense silence as the heroes exchanged nervous looks. Before anyone could say anything though, the unfortunately familiar giggle echoed through the chamber and they all looked around trying to pinpoint it.

Behind them the mirror cracked.

They whipped around seeing the fading grin of a monster, before the glass fogged over, the small crack in the middle shining with bright light.

They scrambled away, positioning themselves at a relatively safe distance with Wild and Twilight already drawing their bows in the back, while Time, Warriors and Sky moved to the front.

The crack spread as they watched, four jagged lines splitting the glass with unnaturally loud sound drowning any other noise out.

The lines reached the frame. The light shone in multicolour.

And nothing happened.

The giggle sounded again somewhere near the ceiling, but with all the echo it was impossible to pin down.

“Don’t let yourself get distracted, keep your positions.” Time called his hands tightening around the Biggoron Sword. “Does anyone see that poe?”

“That wizzrobe is definitely here and that’s all I got.” Wild called from the back, suddenly turning to the right and firing an arrow. It clunked against the stone ceiling and harmlessly dropped down, but it did cause the creature to squawk in surprise and they briefly saw the sparkles it left behind while teleporting.

“It can’t hide well, when it crosses the lights, the air looks disturbed! Make it brighter here!” The champion yelled.

“And how do you propose we do that?” Legend snapped, but before anyone could answer him, Time yelled in pain and dropped to the floor with a loud thud, his sword almost cutting at Sky as he went down.

Twilight yelled in alarm and shoved the enemy away, standing protectively over his mentor, but didn’t raise his bow at the attacker.

Because with his sword still dripping with the blood of their leader and reading himself for the next attack was Four, pale and slightly shaken but standing in battle stance regardless, with fire in his eyes.

Wizzrobe’s laugh drilled itself through their skulls. 

The boss fight has started.

Read the rest on AO3!

[aleksanderscult]

Favorite Darkling fanarts

Since this fandom has such talented people, I thought to share with you my favorite Darkling fanarts! (for my favorite Darklina fanarts here) And maybe you too might discover some new drawings of him.

(I'll give credits of every drawing and picture to the respective artist of course 🖤)

(Credits to @nirusky)

The blueprint. The most iconic. The one which gives me the most book!Darkling vibes because there is a certain mystery and magic on it which I absolutely love. The way the pool of darkness comes out of his hands, the facial expression, are all 😚

(Credits to @morgana0anagrom. Go check her drawings by the way. She's talented af!)

Another famous one. The poise, his smirk, the glow in his eyes, the depiction of his power coiling around him. Sexy. Iconic.

(Credits to @morgana0anagrom)

This one reminds me of the Darkling the most. Thanks to his boyish look and how the artist made his features so perfect. Actually this is how I imagine him when he appears again and again through the tether on S&S (don't know why).

(Credits to @morgana0anagrom)

Isn't he the moment or what? 🫴

Takes you back on his attack on the final chapters of S&S:

“Stand down, Alina,” said the Darkling.

His cool voice echoed through the chapel, cutting through the noise and chaos.

“Stand down, and I will spare them.”

(Credits to @morgana0anagrom)

The Russian vibes that comes from it 😩🤌🏻

(Credits to @staciaches.art on Instagram)

“At the head of the table was an ornately carved, high-backed chair of blackest ebony, and upon it lounged a figure in a black kefta, his chin resting on one pale hand.”

If that drawing doesn't remind you this quote. That moment.

(Credits to zzombiecat)

(ALSO THE OUTFIT DESIGN AND CLOTHES!!)

Incredible and he's sooo accurate to the book.

(Credits to RinaMintaArt on DeviantArt)

The clothes! The poise! The smirk!

(Credits to RinaMintaArt on DeviantArt)

One of my most favorites. I just LOVE the vibes and colors from it. And he looks so accurate to the books again.

Also, can we acknowledge how the Darkling has the best aesthetic? The solar eclipse, the black and gold and gray colors that are always associated with him, the vines, flowers, trees and wild animals that are carved to his doors and chambers *chef's kiss*

(Credits to RinaMintaArt on DeviantArt)

The cold and ruthless look on his face. Again the colors!

[tsbs-ship-hate-confessions]

absolutely WILD that shippers in this fandom see the VA's saying "We don't wanna get involved in all the shipping stuff." as an excuse to ship anything and push their headcanons as canon. They hear what they want and then demand WE all live in their reality. And the worst part is they all live in such an echo chamber they're all convinced they're right. They're so blind to their own bias they're convinced they know what is canon and what's not, based on vague statements. Honestly I've always been iffy about shippers in all fandoms but these ones are just wretched. they've truly, truly ruined this fandom for everyone.

-

[velmashaircut]

Here is a list of subreddits I don't like because this week is my six year anniversary on reddit. I should say I don't mind the subreddit itself, but I don't like it's members. Also I would like to say I'm not adding subreddits to this list out of spite due to being banned or because I lost an argument to someone on there.

opmfolk: most people on this subreddit dislike the changes made in the manga, which is fine. I agree with a lot of things they say. I dislike the sub because of the awful attitude they have; they act like Murata killed their kids because of the changes to the plot that began to appear in the MA arc. I don't know if ONE is also behind the changes, but if he is, no one on that sub thinks he should be blamed for it.

It's ironic the people on that sub hate the long breaks in between the releases of the manga chapters because it delays the plot, but seldom complain about the lack of updates in the webcomic, how many years has it been since the current webcomic arc began? They say Murata has gotten lazy and checked out of the series, but by their own logic, they should be saying that about ONE (I don't think either of them have).

I think too many of the members of the sub are bias and throw around childish insults, so that's why they're on the list. The concept of the subreddit is fine. I bet a lot of them will change their minds when the chapters they talk about hating get animated.

ao3: I like to start off by saying I read and write fanfiction. I think people on this subreddit are hypocrites, they love to preach 'don't like, don't read' but cannot keep the same energy themselves. Many posts in this sub consist of users screenshotting sections of fanfictions or fanfic blurbs or whatever just to complain about how they hate how it was written or when authors do this particular thing in their writing and so on. Going out of your way to take a screenshot of someone else's work to go complain about it in an echo chamber doesn't sound like 'don't like, don't read' to me. The users would go batshit insane if someone did that to them.

The sub also have a prevalent us vs them mentality, mostly towards tiktok fanfiction readers. They say they're more cliquey and rude, but I don't think the subreddit is any better in that regard, they love to dogpile just as much as tiktok ff readers. The A03 subreddit love to say 'I'm too old for drama!' yet there are always posts about them being caught up in drama in their respective fandoms.

They are also easily offended or seem to assume the worst out of comments. It’s so bad, some users post the comments they want to send to the author so the people of the subreddit can approve if it’s suitable or not, and they are often told to bulk up the praise. And if the writers of the sub themselves do receive a hate comment or a comment that isn’t overly positive, they feel the need to make a post to discuss it too. You can just block and move on if you're that upset. If you're not grovelling, their whole world falls apart. A lot of writers don't want interaction, but endless praise. I feel like many of them forget that readers do not owe them kudos, comments/ save. Writers can choose whether or not they want to publish their works, but readers can also choose whether or not they want to comment or kudos their fanfic.

They also humble brag by asking questions like ‘my fic has been up an hour and has 200 kudos, is that good??’ Like come onnn.

BridgertonNetflix: This applies to the smaller subreddits are created for the main couples. The Para social relationships on these subs are outrageous. So many of these people don't realise acting is a job, the way people reacted to Simon's actor leaving the show was wild, the actor still gets flack for it years later. I don't see what the issue is - his season was over, and he wouldn't have had a prominent enough role in future seasons to stick around. Loads of fans were upset because they blamed him for the lack of Daphne's appearances in S2 and her no show in S3, but you should get more mad at the writers if anything for not being able to write scenes where Daphne makes appearances without Simon, it shouldn't be that hard to do since the Bridgerton's are her family, not his. The hatred towards Simons actor is so unnecessary, and the snarky comments fans make about Anthony's actor being able to still appear despite his various projects are stupid as well. Anthony is head of the family, and the show is about his siblings, its expected that he's in every season. The same does not apply to Simon, it's not hard to understand.

Other weird para social relationships include the protagonists of Queen Charlotte - like stop shipping real people who are in their own relationships together. Beyond disrespectful and the fans made it seem like it was appropriate?

However, what I hate most about this subreddit are the Kate and Kantony stans, which sadly, most people in the subreddit are. You can make a post about how, despite all the excuses the show throws at you, Kanthony were still in the wrong for having an affair under Edwina's nose, or god forbid, point out that Kate is not perfect, and people in the comments will call you racist, sexist, trying to create discourse, having a vendetta against the actress...and multiple posts pop up to defend Kate. I wish I was joking but I've seen this happen multiple times, it happened today actually. A line her stans love to use is 'here we go again' when someone makes a post about disliking Kate, but if someone said that about the endless Kate appreciation posts they would accuse of creating a hate brigade. There's a reason why only so many posts about Kanthony get locked...their fans are crazy.

Any UK subreddits: So xenophobic and racist. This could political UK subreddits or casual ones - all are influenced by politics in some way which is annoying. I dread reading the comments on these subreddits but I still end up doing it. These subreddits usually have articles attached to the posts, but everyone in comments they're dumbass opinions based on the rage bait title instead of reading the articles contents. The jokes are so unfunny too.

Unpopular opinions: I've said this before but they just hate women, so many posts are like 'women are superficial' 'women online are awful' but one post making the same generalisation towards men and suddenly its 'not all men are like this' and ''sexist'.

Most unpopular opinions are not unpopular either, or are just factually incorrect. People use the upvoting system wrong here too, you're meant to upvote unpopular opinions, but basic and tame popular opinions tend to mostly be the most upvoted.

Sixth form and uni subreddits: I find the people on these subs annoying because many of these people worship STEM and look down on humanities subjects. Many people on these subreddits also believe any uni which isn't Oxbridge or a Russel group uni is awful. And I'm saying that as someone who does stem at a Russel group. For the uni subreddit especially, everyday there's a post where someone is upset they failed a year of university or got caught cheating and want a way to get out of trouble, but upon reading the post, you realise its 100% their own fault they failed. Like come on bro. I don't like other uni students at my university so I think I project my hatred and insecurities onto the subreddit.

[presiding]

What is your favourite thing about Billie Lurk?

(Answers are obvious possibly but i love when people talk about her👍)

thanks for the ask!! YEAH ME TOO I love when people talk about Billie! I can't say I have a favourite thing specifically, but I can explain why she's my fav. apologies for not taking this qn literally, but -

short answer: she’s really cool

& you can stop reading there, or, for the maybe 2 mutuals who might have time to read this my thoughts on her as a character, her meta, and her character as raw potential...

long answer:

i considered making this entire thing a gush so you could read a gush about Billie. but, part of what draws me to her is that she’s not always well written, and in fandom she’s underrated for a literal protagonist.

since you ask...

billie is a cool character

when I played Dh2 (hadn't played Dh1), I was excited to see a black woman with disabilities who was captaining a massive ship by herself. wow.

then I discovered Billie’s backstory with Deirdre, the way she responded to that, then having to survive while living on the run, and her bisexuality. as well as her history with daud & delilah. fascinating!

she’s an outsider who has so much to lose, and knows what it's like to lose everything - having lost everything not once but three times - but nevertheless speaks truth to power. she's so brave! she went and helped Emily & Corvo and she must have known they might kill her! plus, she’s smart, she’s funny, she gets shit done, she’s gorgeous.

but... the meta

mild critique of fandom & arkane incoming.

skip this bit if you want - you've been warned twice now - jump to tired Hayao Miyazaki and read from there if you'd like my thoughts on writing her.

i thought Death of the Outsider was going to be amazing and then... well. *sad trombone* i've written about that before so i won't keep banging on. i figured others must be disappointed too, so I joined a few fandom spaces in hopes of finding camaraderie.

most people with complaints about DotO didn’t like how the Outsider and Daud were handled. which is valid & I agree. but it seemed like most paid no attention to Billie; when people talk about her it’s with respect to Daud, as opposed to in her own right. you could argue for fandom misogyny because people don’t talk about adult Emily Kaldwin that much either, but in Billie's case, it’s misogynoir (compare & contrast with the popularity of thomas, particularly the popularity of thomas portrayed as a white man for no particular reason that i've been able to discern - i keep asking around, is it in the books???).

i think this is a LOT better now than it used to be, which is fantastic. or perhaps i have found the correct echo-chamber? ha.

ultimately, The Fandom is a fraction of the entire picture, and not even the important bit since The Fandom is not who these games are made for. you can't make money relying on only your hardcore fans even if all of them spent a fortune on merch, this is true for any AAA game.

while it's true that Billie is underrated from a fandom perspective - but Billie as an underwritten protagonist is squarely Arkane’s fault.

it was reasonable when she was a side character - the lack of info in Dh2 makes perfect sense (if anything there was more lore in Dh2 which is kind of wild)-

- but as a protagonist in Death of the Outsider?

.... there’s lousy writing, and there’s whatever is going on with Billie Lurk, a black woman who mostly exists as a foil or saviour for light-skinned characters. In her own game there’s barely any of her own lore except where it's relevant to saving two dudes.

lore hints at, but barely touches on what race means in the Dh universe (xenophobia is stronger in Dh1; separate essay i guess), but Arkane has patted themselves on the back for portraying non-white characters, which feels like the same thing as the aesthetic of diversity we're seeing in advertising currently because it’s in marketing trend guides. it's self-congratulatory and it's a missed opportunity for deeper storytelling.

you can see an example of diversity at its most shallow in the way that Billie’s written: there’s little engagement with her as an entire person with history & wants & preferences, and the world she walks through in that game feels like it has nothing to do with her. you could make a case for alienation as a theme, but then, how do you handle the titular premise of 'Dishonored' without ever letting Billie make changes in an environment without a chaos system? it's disappointing from that angle too.

in my opinion, whatever it's worth, it was an accident Arkane created such an awesome character - they needed someone to betray daud. congrats billie.

all this said, it makes her an underdog as far as characters to enjoy & create art & stories for. it's nice to find so many like-minded, switched on people! <3

billie's character potential

she’s got a wealth of unexplored lore, being deeply intertwined with both Karnaca & Dunwall’s fates & criminal underbellies, as well as her connections to the witches & whalers, and three Empresses.

she’s lived a few distinct lifetimes and in the games we get to meet her at two peaks (KoD & DotO) & a low (Dh2 as Meagan).

her voice is very distinct, her dry & often dark humour is entertaining & fun to write. her perspective is really interesting - she’s had the widest variety of void-powers of anyone canonically, and she’s also lived through the highest highs and lowest lows.

she's got everything going for her :) i couldn't really pick a fav thing!

[waybeforeyourtime]

people have said it’s teens who create all the discourse with the cast and Netty on twt and ig but a lot of us have abandoned twt and ig and went to discord because of how the yrtwt and igyr fans attack every thing. there are people with many names making it look like its alot. i know someone with 6 names on twt and 4 or 5 on ig. they spend all day begging for more content. there are more who do this too. tjese are the same pople attacked nurbo and always attack omar and edvin for changing their appearance.

most yr teens are happy with the show and the cast. we dont attack or harass people. it makes me sad that people think we're all unhappy with the S3 promos. we're mature enough to understand this is the final episodes and promotion will be unique. some people follow along with the discourse to follow the crowd and to seem important. thats just my opinion.

Anon, I'm sorry you and others felt you had to leave a space because it was overrun by people creating discourse.

I know it's not all teen fans who behave this way. And I know that sometimes it's easier to just up and leave sometimes. I block people like it's my job. So, I'm glad you found a healthier fandom space for you. But I'm sad that people have to leave spaces because of this sort of behavior.

I wish adults who defend the behavior would understand this as well. That constant whining and complaining and entitlement pushes the reasonable fans out of the space, so then the space is filled with only the unreasonable; then when you're looking at the space, you think the majority of fans are unhappy. When in reality, those unhappy fans are a small slice of the whole.

It's like the 'the majority hated S2' mentality. No, they didn't. It's all due to being inside an echo chamber. You start to think you represent ALL fans. When you don't.

All of this makes me personally crazy because I'm a data/research analyst. But it also makes me really sad because I feel reasonable fans are being pushed out of spaces by the squeakiest wheels.

AND now I'm shutting off anon asks because some of you all are wild.

[alchemistc]

Help, I'm so confused. How can it be, that shippers and antis have such a wildly different perception of the 911 daddy issue szene? I don’t watch the show, just saw some gifs of it, but the discours my dash provides from both sides is astonishing. Wtf is happening? (And for context: even if I'm not in the fandom, I have read Buddie and BuckTommy fics and like both ships.)

Honestly I'm incredibly new to this fandom so I can't really do a deep dive, but from experience in fandom dating back to like, the late nineties, I can tell you there is always, always a section of fandom that wraps themselves in fanon and ties their entire identity into making their own preferences canon.

I have zero problems with the idea of b*ddie. I think it definitely has its merits, and through a certain lens it makes sense. It's not what drew me in and so far there hasn't been a particular fic or take that calls to me, but that's a me thing and there's nothing wrong with having preferences.

What it comes down to is a purposeful misunderstanding of the context given - Buck is into sex, Tommy is clearly into sex, they are into each other and they are exploring that with healthy communication ahead of time by having a flirt about it. That's it. That's all that scene was. It showed us that Buck and Tommy meet each other where they're at and enjoy each other's company and wanna fuck nasty.

But as it ALWAYS goes in the minds of shippers/antis who have wrapped their identities in 'this HAS to be canon or there is something intrinsically wrong with the world and I'm going to make it everyone's problem's (which is NOT ALL SHIPPERS, MIND YOU, THESE GUYS ARE JUST THE LOUD ONES) - they aren't making a genuine connection with either the source material or the character arc. I could tell you twenty different ways off the top of my head that that particular scene could make for EXCELLENT b*ddie content but that's absolutely not the way the antis are coming at it - it's a personal insult to them that they didn't get their way so instead of feeding that into beautiful fanon they've made some bonkers banana wild exclamations about moral superiority.

This is not new. This is exactly how the (small but loud) subsect of shippers/antis has always operated. It's failed media literacy and making it personal when the reality is that this is currently the story the writers want to tell. Antis operate in an echo chamber. It's a bad faith argument (I hesitate to use that word because it's more like proselytizing) based on personal preference.

If bucktommy ends up being a flash in the pan, I will still have enjoyed the dynamic it brought. If Bucks storyline continues on a different trajectory that I don't particularly care for, I can either fade from fandom or dig in with canon divergence and be happy with that.

To answer your actual question though, which is how the two ends of the spectrum have such wildly different readings on the Daddy scene: everyone is looking at this through their own lens of experience/understanding, so of course, of course people who ship Buck and Tommy are delighted, and of course (some) b*ddie shippers don't enjoy it.

There's an element of maturity levels to it that I don't really feel like digging too deep into, as well, but lets be real: the infantalizing of Buck is a big part of the 'ick' we're seeing, the kinning/stanning going too far.

It's the taking it personal bit that's causing all the discourse. It'll fade, it always does, until there's another thing to clutch pearls about. It's just noise. It sucks, but at the end of the day this is a fictional TV show about first responders that is for the most part very Unserious™️ and these are all fictional characters that people from different walks of life are seeing themselves in.

And at the end of the day, there are creative outlets that allow you to change whatever the hell you want about canon if you aren't jiving with it - fanon exists for a reason.

I'll just be over here in my corner enjoying two grown ass men being so down bad for each other they're a little stupid about it.

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

I love this tournament. In fandom, we so often fall into our own little "love my blorbo" chambers. I forgot how much we hate some characters that we're not actively fixating on (or actively discoursing lol).

+1 to this tournament for shining a light on annoying bastards, on mean people, on dudes with delusions of grandeur. on all those little flawed (or big flawed) weirdos in our favorite medias

Very much so. Even I sometimes forget how much of an echo chamber certain spaces can be and it’s a breath of fresh air to see more balanced opinions out in the wild