#the woobie

[izunias-meme-hole]

N Appreciation Post

[teeks6967]

Just finished the @infamous-if demo and got insanely attached to my wet cat MC so I made her into a PICREW. She is Polly Jenkins

Band name: Mirror in the creek

Genre: Country

Loves music. Truly sees it as an art form

People pleaser to the extreme

Ball of anxiety and constant stress

Loves to sing, doesn’t like the spotlight

Really not built for reality TV. Hates the cameras and the rumors and the drama

She’s slowly cracking from it all

Used to struggle very badly with stage fright. Still kinda does

She’s constantly this 👌close to dropping off the face of the earth

Didn’t really want to be on BOTB but her friends wanted to so she did

Cares deeply about the band. Terrified of losing them

Slowly falling for Sebastian. Sees him as someone she can actually talk to without worrying about it getting leaked or used against her

Likes Maya well enough but worries she’ll be a bad influence

Flashes back to doing drugs once and goes “Oh noooo I’m going to lead her down a path of addiction and she’s gonna dieeee”

If there’s an ending where the MC crashes and burns uhhhh o7s in the chat for Polly

In a better life, she has a degree in Music and teaches it at college. Has an small YouTube channel with less than 5K subscribers that she posts faceless recordings of her singing on

God she’d be so much happier

[izunias-meme-hole]

DCAU!Tim Drake/Joker II Appreciation Post

[izunias-meme-hole]

Miquella Appreciation Post

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

The Eleventh Inspector outright stated that he/she is the one whom he/she most fears.

After all, he/she has a history of decimating his/her enemies, accidentally destroying planets, killing his/her (so-called) mates, and otherwise making his/her life rather shitty. (On purpose!)

[izunias-meme-hole]

Rhea Appreciation Post

[izunias-meme-hole]

Sayo "Lion" Yasuda/The Golden Witch, Beatrice Appreciation Post

Bonus: Her grandma, her ma, and the two ghost stories that make up her "witch" self

[angelsdean]

everyone you admire, idolize, put on a pedestal is just a person. everyone you hate, demonize, find irritating / annoying, is also just a person.

[ruporas]

an unbelievable crime… sorry knives! (id in alt)

preorders end in 2 days! ⬅️🔗

[izunias-meme-hole]

BTAS!Harley Quinn Appreciation Post

Forever the best Harley.

[plum-pudding-everywhere]

:(

[samipekoe]

the woobies

[netatori]

[izunias-meme-hole]

Team Star Appreciation Post

Hey guys! It's the entirety of Tumblr!

[cryptcoop]

Still thinking about them

[untitledgoosegay]

re last reblog I do see fanfic culture pushing/replicating a certain model of "what trauma looks like," "how trauma works"

this is a problem across all areas of society obviously, but transformative works are, well, transformative. they're about crafting and modifying narratives where the fan-creator sees a flaw or a lack -- often for the better! don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of "I take a hammer and I fix the canon," it's the main thing that gets my creative gears spinning -- but what happens when that "flaw" is simply a narrative not conforming to popular expectations?

some people just don't get PTSD from events that sound obviously traumatic. they're not masking, and they're not coping; they just straight-up didn't get the permanently-locked stress-response that defines PTSD. they walk away from a horrible experience going "well, that sucked, but it's over now." some people do get PTSD from events most people wouldn't find traumatic. we don't really know why some people get PTSD and others don't. but fandom has an idea of events that must be traumatizing, of a "correct" way to portray trauma. you see the problems with this lack of understanding in e.g. fans pressuring the devs of Baldur's Gate 3 to add dialogue where the player character badgers Halsin about his own feelings on his abuse -- because he must be traumatized, and his trauma must fit a certain mold and presentation of sexual trauma, under the mistaken impression that anything outside that narrow window is somehow "wrong" and disrespectful or even harmful to survivors.

take, for another example, the very common trope of a traumatized character who hates touch or sex "learning" to like touch or sex as a part of their healing process. certainly that can be healing for some people; other people will never like, or want, touch or sex, because of trauma or because they just don't. the assumption that someone who doesn't want sex or doesn't like to be touched must be traumatized, must be suffering from this perceived lack, is seriously harmful -- to asexual people, to people with sensory issues around touch, and to people for whom healing from trauma means freedom to refuse sex or touch.

and there's a secondary trope, one that's slightly more thoughtful but ultimately repeats the problem -- that once someone has learned that their boundaries will be respected, they'll feel it's safe to soften those boundaries. once they feel safe refusing touch or sex, they'll feel comfortable allowing it on their own terms. but many people don't, and many people won't! many people will simply never want to be touched, and never want sex, and they are not suffering or broken or lacking because of it. the idea that proving you'll respect someone's boundaries entitles you to test those boundaries -- the paradox is obvious, and yet this is something i've seen hurt (re-traumatize) people i care for.

people are imperfect victims. people don't heal in the ways you expect. many people have positive memories of their abuse, of their abusers. many people hurt others in the course of their trauma, in ways that can't easily be unpacked in a 5k oneshot. very few narratives of trauma and recovery actually fit the ones put forward by popular children's media and romance novels -- which are the ones I most see replicated in fandom spaces, because they provide the clearest narrative and easiest catharsis, and so they're easy and soothing to reach for.

that's not necessarily a bad thing! i am not immune to goopy romance tropes. i am not immune to teary catharsis. not every fic has to grapple with ugly realities. but there's a problem when these narratives become predominant, when people think they're accurate and realistic depictions of trauma, when the truth of trauma is unpleasant and uncomfortable, and doesn't fit any single narrative, let alone one of comforting catharsis