#the wrong one i built in my most popular post ever

[aceofstars121]

They’re coming….

[firstkanaphans]

I know this post is only for like two people, but I’m going to make it anyway. So, my obsession with Dead Friend Forever finally reached critical levels and I resorted to binge-watching The Hidden Character just to get more content. For those that don’t know, The Hidden Character (which they literally call “THC”) was the reality show Be On Cloud used to cast DFF. It is bad. Like really bad. And not in a it’s-so-bad-it’s-good-type way. It’s one of the most exploitative pieces of media I have ever watched. I walked into it with a favorable view of BOC, Mile, Apo, and Pond (the CEO), and walked out of it hating all of them.

A small collection of things that happened over the 11-episode run:

Everyone was told that they had to share every single aspect of their life with the viewers or they would be eliminated. And, in fact, the first person eliminated was told that it was because he wasn’t being open enough with the audience. They filmed these boys—one of whom was only seventeen at the time—talking explicitly about their sex lives. Which is, of course, fine to talk about. It’s not fine to air it on television! Even some of the games themselves contained sexually suggestive content (i.e. Which do you prefer "eating" with—your hands or your mouth? If you were to cheat on your significant other, would it be just sex or a full-blown affair?)

During the first part of the show, everyone had a secret that the other players were supposed to guess. One of the player’s secret was that he used to be homophobic. (Questionable casting for a company that only hires men, but I digress). He was praised for having changed his mind. In contrast, JJay’s secret was that he was raised in an abusive household and had once hit his father. Pond crucified the poor guy for this. He made him sit there in front of the whole cast sobbing and apologize for hitting his dad who was an abusive asshole.

After the first half of the show—which served absolutely no purpose at all—we finally move onto the acting portion. This is, after all, supposed to be a talent competition. The judges were so mean. Especially Apo. He was like the Simon Cowell of BOC. There was no constructive component to their criticism. The fact that any of these people are still acting is honestly unbelievable. I would have gone home and cried myself to sleep and then never stepped foot on a stage again.

At one point, each of the groups was assigned a scene from KinnPorsche to act out (because BOC very clearly owns no other IP). One of the pairs was given the scene where Porsche gives Kinn a handjob in the bathroom. I wish I was kidding. 

The judges constantly told the contestants to make their scenes feel new and different but any time the actors actually tried to change anything, they complained it was “too” different and the original script was already perfect so who were they to think they could create something better. Once again, Apo and Mile, the original actors of these scenes, are the ones judging them! Like of course they like their version better. What is even happening??

And finally, the whole fucking thing was rigged for Ta to win. Like don’t get me wrong, I love Ta and I think he did a great job, but he was the only one who came into that competition with a built-in fanbase and the winner was chosen by popular vote.

It was all just…baffling. Especially from a company that claims to be trying to change the industry. Like if you want the industry to stop being so exploitative to its actors, maybe start with yourself? It also makes those condescending “how dare you watch our shows just for the NC scenes” press releases they do every week even more annoying.

I have no clue what the reaction to this show was while it was airing but god I hope they never do it again. It literally makes me feel so weird watching DFF now. I feel like those poor kids are being held hostage. Maybe CEO Pond’s been the one under the mask the whole time 🔪

[valworth]

I do think that Wrightworth's popularity makes the AA fandom slightly uninhabitable. I'm by no means the first person to say this, but it sure is on my mind. This isn't to say I don't understand the appeal. I do. They have some incredibly strong moments and are an interesting, compelling couple. They are also both massive bitches, which is tremendously fun. My issue lies more so in how inescapable it is.

I think both Phoenix and Edgeworth deserve the grace to be interpreted apart from each other. They are individuals, with massive lives outside of the other. I think it's really insulting when some can't bear to think of the two apart, god forbid in other relationships, for more than five seconds before they have to make a joke about how they're the most important couple. We get it. Can people talk about something else, though?

Not only that, but I yearn for more varied and nuanced depictions of their relationship, if we're using them at all. My request will always be to make it fail. They're so compelling as a failed couple. I mean, god. You, on an obsessive whim, shape your life around chasing this guy. This guy you knew for a year in elementary school. You have other reasons, but always in your mind, there he is. This thing that's just out of reach, a goal to pursue. Then it happens. You get him, and you win, and it's everything you dreamed. And then it isn't. It just doesn't work. Plain and simple, cruel and real. You're not a good couple, and it crumbles, and every time you see him from that point forward, you have this pang of anger. This feeling of betrayal. You were not what I wanted you to be.

Then there's the inverse of that. The feelings that come from being a trophy, a conquest, an item. They both lack the emotional intelligence to talk about and navigate their own feelings, with Phoenix running head-on into everything with reckless abandon, refusing to question his own motives, and Miles having a tendency to detach himself from his issues as hard as he possibly can. It's such an interesting, flawed basis for a relationship. That's just my take, though. It's how I like them, and no one else will ever be beholden to my interpretations!

I get AA is escapism for a lot of people, and if that's how it works for you, total respect. But I crave variety, god I do. It's not about being right, it's not about being wrong, I just think there are so many ways to play with these characters and the fandom is stuck in a rut of samey-same content, both happy and sad. I'm not here to shame you for liking what you like, either. I'm pretty esoteric. I mean, Jesus. There's nothing less welcome in the AA fandom than a self shipper getting between Wrightworth. I don't mind doing my own thing, and I'm happier with fewer eyes on me anyway. If my stuff upsets you, that's okay.

That being said, I think I'd have a much easier time being around the fandom if people treated it less like there was a way to interpret the games correctly. The general fandom consensus is suffocating at times. Escapism can be dangerous if you don't know how to handle threats to your perception of a made-up world. I don't mean that to be condescending, I've just been there.

It was a breath of fresh air to leave the AA fandom for a while and focus on something built upon 18 years of fan-interpretations, with no right answers. Where every artist's version of them feels drastically different. It made me realize how silly this all is. It also made me remember how sad it was that when I joined the fandom and started trying to share my opinions on certain Phoen-ish ships, a popular AA blogger publicly ridiculed me and let their followers harass me. I just don't understand why the AA fandom compels people to feel like they have to be correct about everything. I've had to be very careful not to let feelings like that sour the whole franchise for me.

I myself have veered into that territory, and it's why I don't like writing this post. I don't want to be that person. I think everyone should be able to give each other space to do what makes them happy. If common fandom interpretations are what you like, then go with those. If you're like me, though, and you've ever been nervous to share headcanons and analyses that are unpopular, this is me telling you I think you're great. Say what you want, make what you want. It doesn't have to make sense. It doesn't have to be right. People might be mean about it, but you still deserve the right to self-actualization, even if no one else likes the things you do.

It's more important for you to post what you want than for others not to see it. If you're not hurting anyone, you can always rest assured that you've no reason to entertain their ire. From the bottom of my heart, just get silly with it.

[mrs-monaghan]

I was looking through tkk blogs to see what they were saying about Jimin’s death threats and their role in it—unsurprisingly nothing, and I saw you in the replies and just wanted to say, they don’t have receipts because they don’t exist. Their entire ship is built on slow-mo edits and conspiracy theories.

I do wish some jkkrs would realize they’re starting to think and move like the cult. That blog seemed more rational and reasonable than I’ve seen a tkkr be before, and harassing them isn’t doing anyone any favors. No jkkr is ever going to convince a tkkr of anything in the same way that a tkkr can’t convert a jkkr. That blog at least thinks jk and jm are friends… and wow the bar is on the floor isn’t it? I am surprised that blog is so popular though because they don’t seem to say much of anything. They agree when tkkrs send them asks and then give vague non answers with no receipts for any other ask, but I guess they’re used to that sort of thing. The one time I saw them trying to show receipts it was from an account named KookV FANTASY FICTION 😂

I did not harrass them. I do not harass people. I just made a statement. Like u said, this person seemed pretty level headed so yeah, I replied. You don't come across a sane tkkr everyday so that's why I was confused by their post. Because all I have to do is swap Taekook for Jikook and I can find all the moments they described.... with receipts! 😅

There is something you said thou that stands out to me.

No jkkr is ever going to convince a tkkr of anything in the same way that a tkkr can't convert a jkkr.

Anon, I disagree. If a tkkr showed me legit questionable moments I would listen. If we didn't have HD photos of the Taennie Paris drama I would listen. But as it stands everything they say makes tkk real can be found with V and the wooga squad, can be found with V and other members, with JK and other members. There is not one single "sus" tkk thing that applies to only them.

So yeah, a tkkr would never make me stop believing in Jikook... but Jikook would make me stop believing in Jikook. What happened with V is NEVER going to happen with Jikook. There is not leaked photos or videos (legit ones) that exist of Jimin and JK with other men or women. I personally don't think they have ever broken up so I believe this to be fact. From 2013 when we met them till now November 2023, there is nothing of substance out there that suggests Jimin or JK are or have ever been with other people.

Idk about the future but now, in this moment, I can confidently say this.

But,

If in future they broke up and stopped... well Jikooking, I guarantee you Jikookers would stop "shipping" them. Me included. We don't support Jikook to be stubborn. We believe in them because they remind us of our own rlships or rlships of people we know about.

I discovered BTS and then gravitated towards the two members who screamed "we suck each other's dicks!" to me. This is the story of 90% of Jokers. If it was RM and Jin who acted the way Jikook do, this would be a Namjin blog. If it was Jhope and V doing and saying the things Jikook do, this would be a Vhope blog. Because I am an Army and I watched alot of content with all 7 and Jikook just happened to be the sus ones.

Heck, if Tkk were any bit suspicious to me, i would be a tkkr too!

But alas! That's not the case.

Anon I disagree because majority of Jikookers have reason. We are smart, we did the math. When we get debunked we accept. When we get corrected by the Koreans, we accept. We admit when we are wrong and the survival of our ship doesn't depend on getting rid of V. Most importantly we don't make up anything just so our ship can keep sailing.

GCF Saipan who???

We are here because among all 7 members it was Jikook who looked like they had something going on. You will find Suga biased Jkkrs, Jhope biased Jkkrs, Jin biased Jkkrs, etc. If I thought tkk were real, I would support them despite Jimin being my bias. THAT, anon is the difference between us and them. Not what you think.

Oh. This is the post anon and I are talking about. Please no hate to the blog. He/she seems like good people.

Like @magicshop-pjm1 likes to say; thanks for attending my TED talk

[streaminn]

Hmm.. Have you guys ever heard of the word bitching in an omegaverse context?

I was thinking of my scent blind au where enid so desperately wished she could've been an alpha so she would be right for wednesday during heaven and back

Content warning for straight up Addams obsession, delusional thoughts and Wednesday lowkey going to the deep end to make sure her and Enid get together even if it meant biologically changing herself

Bc yknow how Addams don't do things in halves, right? It's a whole fanon thing and I'm pretty sure there's signs of it in the show.

It starts like this, Enid is an alpha and Wednesday is a beta.

Simple facts, so very chill. They're still roommates, theyre older now and everything is OK

Except ever since Enid presented, having been a late bloomer like the show, she's been.. Different.

Wednesday isn't stupid, sure she may not have the safe rabid instincts as an omega or an alpha but she can smell well for a beta and she can see the way Enid's face will soften at any distressed omega nearby

It's irritatingly sweet, the way Enid would try to calm them down with her own scent. Except, since she's so new, she forgets how easily safety could equal something else

After the third time Enid has gotten accosted in the way to the dorm room, Wednesday quite frankly was irritated. She would love to stab those pesky students and go on her day but that meant showing that she was bothered

And Wednesday Addams wasn't bothered by anything, why should she? So what, her roommate is simply popular, it happens

Except, there's a part of her that feels wrong whenever she sees yoko drape herself over Divina. She eyes the way the omega would purr and how Divina would roll her eyes yet nose at her hair.

It's sickenly sweet

It's what her parents have it's what she wants with Enid

Being a beta in this au meant three things. One, you don't have an intoxicating scent and thus getting a mate is a tons more harder. Two, you're not built to take an alpha, it's a biological thing and three, the chances of getting a kid is all the more lower

Which is what most alphas would want

It's what Enid would want

So practically everything is against Wednesday. She can't entice Enid like most can do, she is literally not built for her and she knows of how Enid wishes for a family

Wednesday quite frankly isn't the type to wish for a family, quite aware of how troublesome it is but she's willing to change that for Enid

Anything for Enid, for the woman with nothing yet still tried to give her everything

Anything for her.

So, once again, it starts with the internet

Wednesday is ashamed, how far has she fallen to seek for reassurance that beta and alpha relationships could happen? Pretty badly, because when she scrolls and ignores the sobbing cries of beta's feeling inadequate in random blogs, she finds a reply to a rather sad post

It was a question of "pls guys, my alpha keeps looking at others instead of me. I know that I cant entice him like they can but surely there's smth I can do!?"

There were assurances in the replies, others saying that it's not the OP's fault that their alpha couldn't keep their nose to themself until one catches her eyes

It was a reply from a deleted user.

"have you ever thought of being bitched? You wouldn't fully be an omega but you'll pass as one to him and isn't that what matters in the end?"

The thoughts of other users below that were outraged. Whatever this bitching is, it's clearly taboo.

But those words.. "pass as one"

It's not the answer she wanted, but it's close enough.

It's enough to make Wednesday stay up and scour the internet all the more. She delved deeper into chat rooms, posing as an alpha with a kink because the more she went, the more she noted that whatever this is isn't normal at all. She couldn't come in regularly, else she risk losing actual good information

Bitching, from what she's seen, is the process of changing ones second status to an omega. Usually done against someone's will because who would want to willingly bitch themselves? Who would dare degrade themself into smth they weren't born too?

Me, Wednesday thinks as she notes it down. I would.

This is all she did for the next few days, staring at the pc and noting down as much as she could.

She got dragged out once or twice by a concerned Enid because ofcourse she did. The alpha has always been so caring, making sure to knock before cracking it open to ask if they'd like to eat together at the diner that just opened up

Wednesday agrees, she always does and so Wenclair set out. It's times like these where everything else fades away to nothing, status doesn't matter and it's imply just the two of them

Until the waiter comes in, all sly smiles and neck bared. Enid sniffs and Wednesday stops herself from stabbing her fork into the omega's throat when she sees those gorgeous blue eyes of enid's dilate

Don't look at anyone else, Wednesday wants to scream. You don't need them, I'm right here- But she can't do that, so she digs her nails into her palms as she slips into her thoughts

What happens in the diner is enough of a reminder that she needs to do this.

In the end of the weekend, Wednesday has finally concluded her research. The deleted user was right, she wouldn't be an omega but she sure will pass as one.

Her fertility will be the same but she can start producing the same addicting aroma and slick that entices all alpha's once she's done with the process

It sounds all well and dandy except it takes months to a whole year or two of constant dedication to get these results. It irates Wednesday but luckily, if the beta is reciprocating, the outcome is said to be all the more simpler, effective and overall efficient.

Wednesday couldn't stop a smile from growing as she eyes the last few words of her research.

if the beta in question was being bitched to the scent of one alpha in particular, then once the bitching was complete, both parties would become biologically attracted to one another’s scents and be driven to mate.

That was the confirmation wednesday needed, she would literally be made for Enid and Enid would have no choice but to realize it too once it was all over.

And finally, the best part:

all of the required steps could actually be accomplished without the alpha's participation or awareness

Good.

Anyways, degenerate Wednesday..? Love that, she can be such a creep and id like to build on it. If you wanna see more do send an ask! Aight thanks peace

Here's the continuation to this post where Wednesday gets what she wants

[candyriku]

Working on my ice skating AU, here's a lil preview (this is like the start of chapter 2). I know it's sacrilege to have Sora and Riku be estranged in any way, but in this AU they ARE, okay. I felt like writing about them being messy and emotionally damaged people so here is Riku being messy (and plenty of Sora being messy will follow) :-)

“Are you serious?” Riku demands, his voice coming across more aggressively than he means it. “Skate with him?”

Aqua looks from Riku to Sora and frowns. “Do you know him? Is there some kind of issue?”

Does he know Sora? Of course he does. They were childhood friends, then something more, then nothing at all. But he can’t tell Aqua that, nor does he want to relive the last time he saw Sora, his trembling hands in his hair, their lips brushing together before Sora made a hasty retreat and disappeared from his life entirely. 

Sora’s eyes haven’t left his shoes. “It’s okay if you don’t want to…” he ventures, and somehow this makes Riku feel even worse. Sora is giving him an out, and he can't stand it. He wants to hate Sora for it, but it feels more and more like he hates himself. He should have never kissed Sora in the first place. He deserves the two years of silence he’s endured ever since.

“Look, Riku, I’ll say it one last time in case it’s not getting through that thick skull of yours. Either skate pairs, ice dance - which also requires a partner, or drop the sport entirely. If you want to do anything outside of those three options, I won’t coach you. And although it’s your decision, if you keep skating solo, I hope you know you're digging your own grave.”

“Fine,” Riku snaps, looking away from Sora. “I’ll try skating with him. But we both know he’ll only slow me down. This will end my career and yours.” He’s being unfair and he knows it, but the idea of Aqua deciding his future for him feels unbearable. Shouldn’t it be up to him? Yes, he’s injured, but injuries heal. He shouldn’t have to adjust his entire life because of one tiny stress fracture. 

“Sora won’t slow you down. He’s just as skilled as you are.” Aqua says firmly, crossing her arms.

Riku wants to argue, but he’s spent most of his life in the same rink as Sora and knows it’s true. Still, skating solo is something Riku doesn’t want taken from him. It’s his escape, his time for himself, his form of self-expression. Having another person - even if it’s Sora - encroach on that feels wrong. Figure skating is a sport about the performer and the performer alone. It’s his own personal artform. To share it is to lose his identity as a skater altogether. 

“I don’t skate with social media showboats” he spits. This, too, is unfair, and he only knows of Sora’s popularity online because he’s pathetically kept up with him after Sora moved away, forever watching videos of him skate with a mixture of longing and nausea. Sora skates expressively, beautifully, in a way Riku himself can’t quite replicate, because Sora has always been the better of the two of them when it comes to self-expression. Riku is just a miserable person pretending to be something he’s not. At least Sora is authentically himself all the time, even online. 

Everything in Riku’s brain tells him to stop making such a scene and just accept this new paradigm. But his heart aches with loss - loss of his solo career, loss of his dignity, loss of his autonomy, loss of this world he’s built for himself where he can pretend he never fell disastrously in love with his childhood best friend. He freezes when he sees the expression on Sora’s face. 

“I just post for fun,” Sora says softly, biting his lip. “I’ll stop posting while we're training, if that'll make you feel-”

“It’s fine,” Riku says. “Do what you want. It doesn’t concern me.”

[pinksilvace]

Fern guides their mutuals and followers through Cats 1998 as if we're all sitting on the same couch watching it and I'm shouting out stuff (4/?)

MASTERPOST

Character Wiki Pages

On to Bustopher!

8: Bustopher Jones

Everybody is SO MEAN about Bustopher Jones (joking). I love him so much but nowadays when numbers are cut his is usually one of them since he usually shows up once and disappears 🥲

The actor for Bustopher sometimes dons a chorus costume for the opening number, often named Peter. They're also usually the actor who plays Gus later, as both Bustopher and Gus traditionally had operatic moments in the show.

Tom Hooper clearly did not know how to interpret media because could you IMAGINE 2019 Bustopher cleaning up his appearance as a first impression???

When I was little, I was under the impression that Bombalurina, Jenny, and Jellylorum all liked Bustopher Jones in similar ways; it wasn't until I started interacting with the fandom on here that I learned how some people interpret Bombalurina as being completely sarcastic in this song. Art's always up to interpretation, of course, and that's the fun of it, but I never really got that impression, even with Rosemarie Ford's eye rolls. To me, this moment shows Bombalurina as a character that can show others respect. It also cements her as being at the older end of the "not-old" adults.

This is YET ANOTHER song that is PERFECT for examining whatever Pouncival is getting up to at a given moment. I am once again saying that the Pouncival cut in this show is the most fun

Subsequently, this is also the "Skimbleshanks is three wrong moves away from a panic attack" song, which to me means that he respects Bustopher just as much as Jenny does. I like to think that they grew up together.

(For an incredibly anxious Skimble, here's Boston 2007; skip to 28:30):

(While I'm at it, there's this part in Moscow 2005 when the boys are all lined up like they're going to take a family photo, and I think it's very silly and cute; skip to 27:45)

Have you ever watched Cats (1998) and wondered who that cat that's really excited to see Bustopher is? That's George. The George Cut (TM) is probably my second favorite version of '98, after The Pouncival Cut (TM).

No doubt, you'll notice the number of Mistoffelees & Bustopher moments in this number. This is probably where the most popular headcanon about Bustopher originates: lots of us like to think he's an uncle, usually in conjunction with monochromatic siblings (Misto & Victoria & sometimes Alonzo)(Alonzo is like. Y as a vowel). I've also seen some folks frame him as Misto's dad, and in those cases, Misto is usually an only child.

Slightly off-topic, but my friend @thepineconelord likes to think of Mistoffelees as butler-core, and I think they're especially correct in this number.

(Yet another side note: the monochromatic siblings staging is a bit stronger in post-US Revival choreography, especially between Alonzo and Misto. Head to 30:00)(<- pretending to see things that supports the tunnel vision)

(Is it obvious yet that I've watched this number, specifically, many times?)

Okay I only just noticed this one but WHAT is up with Plato in this part. This picture doesn't do nearly enough justice to his posing but. My dude are you okay??? He was built to have an arm slung over the back of a park bench and instead he's here and forced to harmonize

The rare moment when Mistoffelees is peeved by Pouncival (and the altogether common moment where Munkustrap is also peeved by Pouncival)

One incredibly interesting thing about this number is that it's one of the most gendered numbers in the whole show, speaking from a choreography standpoint. When I was younger, I thought it came from a position of "all of the girls have crushes so they're all fangirling together," but that's not true. Only Jenny is shown to have a crush, and Coricopat, George, and Skimbleshanks could all very easily start fanboy-ing with them.

What is it, then? Is it because Bustopher presents as a much more "traditional" character than the rest? Do the things they're describing about him ascribe to him a certain level of masculinity that he can only share with the boys? Are these formations all part of some sort of militaristic protocol? Leading from that, is his appearance at the Ball (and approval) a right of passage thing for the boys? It's not something I've really seen anybody touch on, which is odd to me, because Cats in general tends to have interesting messages re: gender roles, especially with Mistoffelees, who obviously shares some sort of close connection with Bustopher! GILLIAN LYNNE REVEAL YOUR SECRETS

The cats know what golf is. Either that, or Bustopher saw a rich person play it, decided to copy them, and everybody else is amazed for his benefit.

[cloverque]

up on tokio hill (msby bj)

masterlist, prologue

1256 words

People will believe in whatever they want. Human minds are fickle– they will take your words as truth then turn against you the moment they please. Naturally, their beliefs and biases fuel their actions. If they hold you dearly, they are likely to side with you, even if you’re wrong. And if they hate you… Well, they will go out of their way to destroy everything you have.

Night’s gentle beams failed to penetrate the thick binds that lined along your window. Wrapped in blankets, you sat at the foot of your bed. You hid in its welcoming shadows, clutching yourself. Just like Eve after she had consumed the fruit of knowledge, you shook like a leaf with grief. Your body shivered as you sobbed into your phone.

“I tried everything, Uncle Tai… Hic… I-I swear!” You blew your nose into a tissue. The thin sheet of fiber was clearly overused; it was soaked through. You clenched it in your fist nevertheless and shook it. “My manager said there was n-nothing she could do…”

The line was mostly silent besides episodic sighs. On the other side of the phone, your uncle was seated in a bubbling jacuzzi under a blanket of stars. He swirled his sparkling glass of mojito. His phone was sandwiched between his ear and shoulder.

“So let me get this straight. Your agency fired you over a scandal involving a series of explicit content… That was anonymously posted by someone impersonating you?"

You nodded and clenched your teeth, “It’s ridiculous right? It’s so stupid–"

“And even without concrete proof, they decided to terminate your contract anyway…? Man, saying this sucks just doesn’t cut it.”

Shoulders drooping, you sniffled. Your relative hummed, deep in thought as he sipped on his drink. Meanwhile, you hugged your knees tighter to your chest.

You’d been given a week’s notice before your company fired you. Today was the day when they’d announced your leave. It didn’t matter that you were their highest earning Vtuber or most popular member. Didn’t matter that most of Japan recognised you. The countless billboards of your virtual model and merchandise posters in the cities meant nothing anymore.

All that mattered to this damned company was money, and in their eyes, you had tarnished their reputation.

A memory of your first livestream as your character flashed in your mind. You remembered the giddiness and jitters on your first day. The smiles and laughter filled on that day. Awkward rambles, elated cheers and the promises you’d made with your fans that you’d do your best.

The memory made you queasy and you resisted the urge to throw up. You squeezed your phone tightly.

“Curse it all… It wasn’t even me in the video to begin with,” You tossed the soggy tissue into a bin by the bed. It missed and you groaned. Falling back onto the bed, you bounced on the mattress for a few seconds. Your phone was warm in your cold, weak grasp.

The scandal was a hot one, the hottest you’d ever been involved with. So far it had been minor incidents, such as claims of your identity, real-life leaks such as college photos (FYI, not yours). Even non-existing drama with other famous Vtubers. Tabloid presses worked hard to tarnish your reputation since day one.

You knew it would never be this easy being a public figure, or virtual one, but still, for someone to go so far to taint your name? Whoever the devious rat was– and boy, would you love to give them a piece of your mind– they had leaked an adult tape tagged under your character’s name. It wouldn’t have been such a big day if it weren’t for the fact that the lady in it was built just like the girls from the leaked real-life photos and sounded exactly like you. It only cemented the delusions of the anti fans, supporting their deranged theories.

What was most disappointing was the fact that many of your fans had turned against you. Meanwhile, the sensible ones had questioned the film’s authenticity, but their empathy was drowned out by a tsunami of sea of hate, disgust and confusion.

Well, I guess I can’t really blame them… The bastard hacked into my Twitter account and posted it there too.

You had addressed it with your company and tried to prove your innocence. Unfortunately your promises and tears were just empty words to them. The board said that they wanted to believe you, but they couldn’t when the digital footprint of the uploader was pinpointed to you. So instead of investigating further, they chose to let you go. It was truly disappointing AND humiliating.

Uncle Tai frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “So what will you do now? I know the media doesn’t know your true identity but you shouldn’t bring any attention to yourself, (y/n).”

You stared up at the ceiling blankly. The fan spun languidly overhead, undisturbed by your chokes and snot. A frown crossed your tear stricken face.

“I’m so lost right now, Uncle Tai. I have no clue what to do–“ A beep alerted you to your screen. You checked it and groaned. “ Shit . I totally forgot that my contract ends in two months too."

“You mean the tiny place you’re renting in Tokyo?”

“Yeah. And it’s not that small.” You rolled your eyes and managed a chuckle. Though it was pretty strained and you hiccuped halfway.

“Bah! Come live here in Osaka, girl. You will love it. It’s a lot better than that blasted concrete jungle. We have far better hot springs too!” He practically shouted and you pulled your phone away from your ear.

“Don’t act like you’re not chilling in Shanghai, Uncle!” You yelled back, and the man belted out a chorus of laughter.

He began his list of excuses and you drowned them out in your thoughts. You grimaced. This was too sudden (and really spontaneous) but maybe this was good timing? You could get away from the city, away from this place with your memories as the Vtuber Cheri and live a quiet life in Osaka. It was a big step moving to another city. But maybe this was a blessing in disguise..?

“If I move there, do you have any units available?”

“I do have one in a pretty lovely location. It’s in a classy suburb, ain’t not too far from the city either. Called Tokio Hill. If you move there you’d have plenty of quiet. You up for it?”

You blinked and shut your eyes. Finally, the tears had dried up and your sobs had been reduced to croaky mumbles.

“I’ll… think about it,” you answered tentatively. “You won’t overcharge me because I’m your niece, right?”

“Now what kind of uncle would I be if I did that?” He chuckled. You smiled back.

After exchanging a few lighthearted jokes, you ended the call. You snuck one more glance at the tweet that plagued you for days.

Ah, whatever. It’s no use crying anymore.

You tossed your phone somewhere on the bed. Lethargy had finally caught up to you and your eyelids began drooping close. As you crossed an arm over your eyes, thoughts floated over your head.

Maybe this was the break you deserved after years of slaving away for a company that deserted you. You managed an empty laugh and drifted off to sleep. As you descended into the plane of dreams, your uncle began texting a chain of messages in a group chat.

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 07/04/2024

Mt. Dedede (extended)

Season 1 Featured on: GilvaSunner's Highest Quality Video Game Rips: Volume 7: Part mm2wood

Ripped by JJokerDude

Requested by mobbsz02! (Tumblr Askbox)

The topic of the bait-and-switch is one that comes up a lot with Season 1 posts in particular, you might've noticed. The reason, of course, is obvious - it was the foundation the channel was built on, to make bait-and-switches, yet ones that didn't leave the viewer feeling cheated or dismayed. Something like Live and Ooooooooooooooh is pretty much the perfect example of the Season 1 bait and switch, a classic video game song that many will search up for childhood nostalgia only to realize just a bit of a way in that something isn't quite right - and get a huge grin on their face when they realize just what the edit is doing. And as Season 1 developed, the metagame grew more nuanced, and we started seeing different ways to play this same game. Some like RNR (Rip No Riffs) tried to play it subtle until a very long ways into the rip, some like Be Cool, Be Wild, and Be My Girl pioneered the legendary double-switch-up to catch even seasoned viewers off guard, and some (quite controversially) just went straight for the throat and had the joke be at the viewers' expense. Yet there's one more path to the bait-and-switch that's yet to be discussed, the sneakiest of them all, and the one that Mt. Dedede (extended) employs - to have the switch be so natural, so subtle, so expected, to where the viewer may never even realize that something is wrong.

If you're, say, a casual Kirby fan seeing this post, and you put the rip on in the background while you're reading, you may not even have registered what the joke of the rip is meant to be. "It's just Mt. Dedede, it's King Dedede's theme from Kirby's Dream Land which has stayed a constant in the series since - what's so special about it here? Sure, there's four seconds of The Nutshack as the rip fades, but that's not the entire joke, right?". At least, that was what I first thought when I gave the rip a listen upon entering my submission box - I chose not to check the wiki first, and was left scratching my head just listening to the rip on its own. That's because I'd made a fatal mistake in my above-described thought process: Because although Mt. Dedede absolutely laid the *foundation* for King Dedede's theme for the series going forward, the original version of the theme is actually - and quite literally - only half the story.

Yes! Akin to something like Collision Chaos Good Future JP [CD Beta Mix], this rip is in reality a "downscaled" arrangement of King Dedede's Theme from Kirby Super Star, one that begins the same as in Mt. Dedede, yet has an entire second half to it never present in the original. The original theme was only ever present for two games with Kirby's Dream Land and Kirby's Dream Land 2, wheras the extended version from Kirby Super Star - already one of the most popular Kirby games - feels as if its appeared in just about every Kirby game since in some form, and has completely eclipsed the original as a result. I, and likely many others, weren't even aware that the theme ever WAS as short as it was in those first two Dream Land games, a notion that JJokerDude just helps to sell with how inexplicably seamless his edit is with Mt. Dedede (extended).

The Mt. Dedede rip has racked up a ton of views, and I wonder how many of those genuinely aren't aware that they technically got tricked, "technically", because really nothing about the joke here betrays what your expectations would be going in. Unlike almost everything else on the channel, this is the kind of rip that its entirely possible to walk away from without ever realizing something is wrong - fuel for a fake Mandela effect, in a way! Rips of this kind are obviously far less common to see than the more explosive or blatant kind, mainly because its required scenario is a lot more specific (to have a theme that got extended in later iterations to begin with), but they do still show up from time to time! That lack of explosiveness means that they often get buried quite a lot of the time, yet that shouldn't take away from how genuinely neat they are to listen to, like getting to finally complete a puzzle left sitting in your mind - the answer to a question you hadn't really asked yet were always passively wondering about. Mt. Dedede (extended) is EXACTLY what it says on the tin, likely tricked a lot of people without even realizing it, and is part of perhaps the least explored avenue for bait-and-switching, and I think that's just pretty cool.

[catt-nuevenor]

I have to be completely honest, I haven't decided how I feel about the changes yet. I do not think I can say I feel good or bad about them until I actually play and experience the game with said changes included. The problem is that your IF was one of the first IFs I ever came across after discovering twc (twc was what introduced me to and made me love IFs). So naturally, I feel somewhat protective (if that makes any sense?) about this amazing story you have created even though I know I have no claim over it whatsoever. I just love it so much and I have played it so many times, and it is what made me try even more IFs. It is one of my absolute favourite IFs!

Having said that, I can't wait to play your new game! If I don't like the new changes, first of all there will be absolutely no hate coming from me, I will just stop playing it and let the people who like it enjoy it to the fullest! (and I really hope the same goes for anyone who might not like the new game because you surely do NOT deserve any kind of hate over doing whatever you want with your piece of art-and yes it is art!-).

But whether I like the new game or not, I will continue to support both you and your work! If not through your IF, then through your book, patreon, and other future projects! 😊

First off, thank you, both for your thoughts and long term support of my writing. It means so much to have others this invested in my work.

However, I am starting to get the impression folks might have got something of the wrong end of the proverbial stick here. Yes, there will be big changes to the Myrk Mire story, most of which will be plot beyond the public consumption point that was never released.

The line, "Are you staking a claim?" has no reason to be cut from the story. Heck, I'm going to recycle as much as I can from what already exists. Workaholic I might be, but I'm not so far gone as to use nothing from the previous iteration. A lot of the language, setting, and characters present will change, but I'm not going to throw out those little moments that have proven so popular.

Please take this as reassurance, not reproach.

Perhaps it is right to call the new iteration a new game, but it won't be in the truest sense, it will be a polish up, a refining, a shoring of foundations to create a stronger structure for what's to come in the future.

Finally, and thankfully, this little community built around Myrk Mire has been hate free so far, even folks who've sent me messages about unfollowing the project from here on out. Long may that continue.

I do not respond to hate messages. We do not feed the worst parts of the internet with the attention or time it craves.

---

So readers coming along later to this discussion know what we're all talking about, here are links to the posts that started it all off:

Changes to the Main Character - Myrk Mire

Location Change

[nullamirrors]

finally an opportunity to write out my side order theories post and stop thinking about writing a side order theories post… here is my side order rambles

main theory: octo expansion was about envy, return of the mammalians was about nostalgia, so side order will be about ambition or something along those lines. it makes sense: you've escaped. you're climbing a tower over and over again trying to reach the top. maybe this is it. maybe after octo you were only ever out of the frying pan and into the fire.

plus, we had a storyline about forgetting the past, then a storyline about rebuilding the past, so it would make sense that this one would be about the future. (is this the future we dreamed of when we stuck in hell?) the trailer shows what might be a factory producing mem cakes - a machine creating memories. now THAT'S an interesting concept. what kind of future do we want to build, and who is selling us our visions of utopia and why? if people can be made to long for a memory they never even had, what might be the extreme outcome of that?

(if it is a simulated world this time, that means anything can happen. I'm not sure they need to up the spectacle again, but they have a track record of succeeding, so… hopefully this gets wacky.)

probably they will not do this since the splatoon series has made a point of only critiquing the status quo indirectly… but if they are committed to completing this story then it should be about the sea creature society having to reckon with their own failings. the fundamental "joke" of the splatoon series is that everything that exists in it only exists because of the extinction of humanity from climate catastrophe, and yet the new dominant lifeforms have built their own hypercapitalist hellscape with presumably no self-awareness of its shortcomings. it's established in mammalians that the new culture is explicitly modelled on human culture, so logically this is what the whole thing has been building to: an environmental crisis that isn't an external threat that can be quashed through violence but something that requires societal change in order to be averted.

of course, they won't do this. (it's good that they don't. it would feel unconvincing from nintendo.) so here is my list of potential villains for side order:

• Marina: this is a popular suggestion given her general absence from the gameplay that's been shown, and while I wouldn't be totally surprised I think it's more likely that marina is kidnapped or something. maybe the spire of order was her project but something went wrong. I'm just not sure what the storyline would be if marina is the villain (unless she is the revolutionary leader from my other idea) also pearl and marina will kiss when they reunite you heard it here first

• A Mark Zuckerberg Type: there's a lot of implication that side order takes place in some sort of virtual world, so it makes sense that this would be splatoon taking on the "metaverse". (were the levels in previous games all meant to be physical spaces?) it's probably most likely that the villain would be a new company and new character, but maybe this will be the director of ancho-v games or something.

• A Revolutionary Group: this would make sense with the idea of the splatoon series always - in its surface text - being about preserving the status quo. I'm not sure how that would connect with the design of the world, though, given that it seems to be very much about ostentatious with an aesthetic that mixes neomodern instagram bland white rigidity with pastelly makeup/fashion styles and old-school gilded art-deco (or is it nouveau) temples of wealth. it basically looks like if a bank was designed for tiktok? that doesn't scream revolutionary to me, but then this could be a case where the skeleton fish things are attacking the tower rather than them being the tower attacking the characters. maybe the bad guys are trying to corrupt the virtual world before the resources required to run it destroys the planet again. maybe they were right all along…

• Acht: well, the skeleton fish do seem like their kind of style. they could easily be a revolutionary as above. I suspect their role will be more limited though - it's not like Harmony is a main character, and even the idols in octo/mammalians have pretty limited story roles in the grand scheme of things. plus, why would they ally with agent 8 while also trying to kill them? for… test data? (well, we don't know the full implications of acht's sanitisation…)

• Commander Tartar He's Back: as great as a villain as Tartar is, I don't think there'd be any value to come from a rematch. just please not a character from the past this time

• A Different AI (ORCA?): would fit with the "metaverse" idea, but like. we already had an AI villain. I guess ORCA is basically the only loose end from mammalians - a lot of focus on a character who essentially has to role in the plot - but I wouldn't be surprised if that's just because they reused so much of octo expansion's structure in mammalians, needed a new character to fill the cq cumber role, and didn't have any greater plans. but there is that ominous gladosy chamber in the main trailer, so..? maybe agent 8 is being tested, in order to simulate their behaviour. maybe agent 8 is the villain - or a virtual clone… (no that will 100% be a boss fight)

• Toni Kensa: this is probably my favourite idea. it's a character who's been around since the first game but afaik has never been visually depicted. there is an interview in the octo expansion artbook that reveals basically nothing? while the white-and-gold aesthetic of the spire of order isn't an exact match for kensa's iconic black-white-red colour scheme, it's still monochrome, and 100% looks like the kind of thing an evil fashion emperor would build. this would also fit with the idea of a threat coming from within the squid society—although kensa could turn out to be a killer whale, which would be visually interesting but a bit annoying to have another mammal villain.

• Agent 4: another loose end, but could just as easily be dealt with in a throwaway line or cutesy reunion. if it is them, hopefully they are not brainwashed and actually have motivations. (kid icarus: uprising 🤝 splatoon 2 octo expansion - ruining an interesting twist with mind control) I don't know what those motivations would be, but they could be involved with any of these other possible groups.

• There Is No Villain: all the bad stuff is just a manifestation of human cephalopod intolerance! I mean maybe, but this is the splatoon series. they like to have you shoot a big thing with paint until it dies. it would be nice to have the conflict be more nuanced (outside of subtext) but I suspect that doesn't really suit the gameplay style of Kill Things

• Craig Cuttlefish: it SHOULD be him. but it won't

like, at the very least I hope it isn't another villain from the past. they just about managed to keep it interesting in return of the mammalians, and I do love that this is basically the only time i can think of where a sci-fi/fantasy story has outright cast humanity as the villain, but it's getting repetitive.

anyway as you can tell I think a lot about splatoon and am very excited for whatever this is going to be although it would be funny if it turns out to be bad

[mxoleander]

On Palworld using AI art;

short answer, I can find zero evidence of this (but feel free to prove me wrong) but it's not impossible

long answer, this seems to be a mix of misunderstanding and their past history. (read more so I don't clog feeds with my wall of text)

The CEO of PocketPair has made posts on Twitter saying how impressed he is with AI art generation, that is true, but the post most people point at he credits in the same thread. It was made by a Buzzfeed employee that was using ruDall-E (minimaxir on twitter) he created a series of fakemon and the CEO commented how it could fool him.

The company of PocketPair is also pro-AI use, and they most certainly have made a game using AI art before, but it does not appear Palworld is one of them. I feel like explaining the game adds context and then you can come to your own conclusions as to if it's ethical use or not. AI: Art Imposter is a game based around AI art generation, each player is given a theme and must give the built-in image generator a prompt that matches that theme, however one of you is an imposter who does not know the theme and must feed the generator a prompt either vauge enough or by pure luck matches the theme and try not to get voted out. This game is similar to the popular game Suck Up! which involves the use of an AI text generator, to the point where the website makes it extremely clear you are purchasing cryptocurrency to make the game work. My only gripe is we do not know where the art is coming from, it could be from the public domain or their own office sure, or it could be stolen which is honestly more likely.

The CEO did state once in 2022 "In about 30 years, the general public’s perception of copyright may have changed considerably.” in reference to AI art generation. I think it's entirely possible due to his past statements AI was used in the design process, not the direct assets. This is again a subject of heavy debate and a matter of opinion regarding ethics, as to whether or not you consider inspiration from AI art to also be a form of stealing. If you've ever "stole" or "fixed" AI art adopts this process is more than likely what was done here. I think this is what he meant in regards to copyright, as the original question was if you feed the same image into a generator enough times is it then considered an original idea, I could be wrong however.

I get the game with my game pass subscription either way, but I understand the need to have this sort of information before making a purchase. I personally do not like the use of AI and tried to remain as neutral as I could by providing other similar examples even if I do not personally agree with them, but I'm sure my bias will shine somewhere. As an artist AI is definitely something I worry about but I can see how it can be used as a proper tool once more laws are put into place regarding proper credit and payment to the artists used.

[wydstepcat]

Me venting a bit. (My personal experiences with Chiaki, and the fandom's perception of her.)

(Posted on Reddit as well, so my bad if some wording is a bit off.)

Hi everyone.

I wanted to make this post to let out some steam and to sort out my mind, and maybe some people here can relate/feel the same.

I want to start off by saying that in no way am i directly targeting someone with this post, or people who have some sort of differing opinion on her, you are allowed to dislike Chiaki, i just feel that the fandom is really downplaying her character.

Anyway, let's start with my initial reactions to Chiaki in both DR2 and DR3. My very first impressions of her was very... Eh. On the very surface to me she looked like a "waifubait" type character, really just made to make specific anime fans happy. I was wrong. I was SO wrong. Those feelings began to change around 2-4, when she became a lot more active and made her presence a lot more well known. The moment where i was like "Please don't die" was during the moment Chiaki convinced Hajime NOT to go in the final dead room. 

It was also during those chapters where i started with her FTE's (although i was kinda late, and i never had the time to finish it). 2-5 was THE moment i shed my first tear in the series, the way they built it up, how the survivors reacted to it, Usami's last words, Sonia's Rebuttal Showdown. it became the most memorable moment in the series for me. And after finishing it a day later, 2-6 extended that.

So, great right? That alone gave me a pretty damn good reason to make her my favorite character just for memorability alone. a few days later i started watching DR3. I was already semi-spoiled by her fate thanks to youtube, but i never watched the full execution to keep that a surprise for me still, good lord, somehow DR3 EXPANDED everything i love about Chiaki and more. Her sense of acting more "human". her friendship with Hajime, and Chisa, just. All of it. And I KNEW the writers knew, which is why they gave her such a cruel fate.

So, those where my initial reactions of Chiaki, and after finishing V3 i was finally unshackled from the horror called spoilers. It was also around this time i started becoming an actual fan of the entire series in general. I made my DR oriented Twitter account, i joined r/danganronpa, and began reading fics (Extra Life is one of the best DR related fan projects i've ever read, seriously.)

But, something was off. It seems to me that a lot of people didn't share a lot of the same things i felt. Now of course, i'm fine with that you know? People have differing opinions so i don't expect everyone to feel the same as me, but some where like, outright hostile or completely slandering the character, like "Chiaki was meant for fans to masturbate over" or "DR3 Chiaki is a character that shouldn't even exist in concept", and even in appreciation posts she gets shit on in the comments. Which is like, so weird to me, a lot of attention was put into making Chiaki such a subtle character, from the way she was written in both DR2 and DR3.

I felt completely and utterly alone in this for a while, and it made me feel really sad. It was not too long after where i met some people on tumblr chat, i prefer to keep their names anonymous, but they as well felt very similar to the things i was feeling, and we started to talk more. I learned they had their own server to vent about stuff like this, and we've been talking a lot more since. One of them told me that around 2017, they outright ditched the entire fandom altogether, and really only talk DR with the people they know. The other has pretty much ditched reddit and moved on to other social media websites, deemed a lot safer to communicate Danganronpa with. I've talked with some artists as well, who weren't even aware this was "still" happening.

So, that begs the question. I've seen a LOT of people straight up hating her, even outside reddit. Why does she keep being so popular? If i'm right, r/ultimategamer has THE most members out of ANY DR Character, she was placed #2 at the official character poll, and probably even more that i forgot to mention. 

Am i wrong about this? Do people really praise her for the character she is? It can't just be because of her looks right? There has to be more than that, right?

I left that subreddit yesterday. I decided that it does not offer any value to me other than the fact that Danganronpa Kirigiri got fully translated. And really, it feels like constant negativity and "unpopular opinions/tierlist" posts.

...That's all i wanted to say. I also want to make it clear that aside from SOME characters, I really like almost every single one lf them, flaws and all. I've become a lot more cynical on the franchise lately, like the negatives of DR3 overpowering the positives, and becoming a lot more hostile and negative as well. I hope that stepping away for a bit will improve it. I hope that anyone reading this felt some sort of relatability in regards to this, it would make me pretty happy to know I'm not alone in this.

[itslucyhenley]

ted lasso finale thoughts that i needed to type out for myself

did i hate the finale: no

did i love the finale: no, but i liked it and series finales are rarely going to be your favorite episode of your favorite tv show in my opinion. but also, i’m 39 years old and i’ve been through the wars in fandom and shipping and i can’t bring myself to hate the things i mostly love.

do i think that ted going back to kansas was wrong: no. the combination of all that made ted ted throughout and the fact that he was away from his son was a cognitive dissonance with his character from the start imo.

that being said, do i think ted’s story would have been more interesting if he made some big discovery about himself before leaving: yes. if they built off of his total football hallucination and made him discover his bisexuality at the end, yeah i think that would have been much more interesting and i’m not just saying that as a tedtrent girlie from the start. did they do what a lot of endings do which is to cover the camera lens with vaseline blurring the edges of the story and make a lot of the final emotional moments happen in montage, yeah they did that and i can’t be mad at them for wearing their rose-colored glasses to create the ending of a project they all loved and invested themselves in so much.

but in conclusion: idk we got what we got, and i’m ok with it and i really love what the show was striving to do overall for the run of it and i think they achieved that in an imperfect way. they swapped sports-story tropes for rom-com tropes and they never, ever let up on that the whole way — and i think showing that’s possible in a popular show is going to be one of its biggest legacies. there were episodes and sometimes just moments that i felt were so perfect and will live inside my soul forever, regardless of how the show ended or if i felt just ok about some parts of the ending or if my opinion of it shifts over time.

on a personal note: this show coincided with pandemic depression and uncertainty as well as a few very personal life things for me and i’m a little sad to let go of my tv comfort blanket and navigate through an abundance of negativity in my internet spaces — so i might take myself out of this particular fandom space just for a bit to preserve my sanity, cuz that’s the most important thing, so if you’ve made it this far down in the post, take this as a sign to take a break if you feel like you need to. and if you, my TL/tedtrent friends, ever need to talk about anything at all just reach out. i’m here to talk or listen or whatever ♥️

anyway i will be on the lookout for trent gifs and the beautiful fan art you all create and fan fics where tedtrent happens over and over again in every different way because that was always the best of my experience on here anyway —

and lastly: jimmy lance you have changed my brain chemistry in a way i wasn’t expecting from the portrayal of a tertiary character and i will be here for your career forever and a day.

[rollercoasterwords]

hey! I'm sorry if you've answered this/spoken about this before, and if so please just point me in the direction of your previous answer. but I recently had a trans friend who asked me to stop interacting with the wolfstar/marauders fandom. liking/reblogging posts and reading fanfics within the marauders fandom are the only way I interact with jkr/hp. I would not do anything to directly give her money, but my friend's argument is that every like and interaction with the fandom makes it more influential, which translates to more money. as well as not boycotting hp entirely is a slap in the face to trans people. so, I've stopped reblogging content because I don't want to negatively impact my friend or any other trans people, but I don't personally think I'm doing any harm through engaging with fanart/fanfic.

obviously you're engaged in the fandom, so I'm kinda looking to have my opinion validated... but I think you're very smart and that we share similar values, so I respect your thoughts and any advice you have for this situation. thank you <3

honestly anon if ur looking for like a nicely-wrapped post of "here's why it's okay to interact with harry potter fanfiction" then u have probably come to the wrong place, as this is a topic that i still have conflicted feelings about myself! but. if u want a little essay of my thoughts on the matter then here u go xx

so, first of all - yes, obviously i still interact with hp fandom. however, i'm not going to pretend that i don't understand your friend's point. i get the logic behind the argument that giving any attention to any sort of harry potter media in this day and age helps keep harry potter relevant, which contributes to jkr's influence, which is an influence she actively uses to hurt trans people. i understand why ur trans friend would feel hurt or ask u to stop interacting w hp media altogether.

however, trans people are not a monolith, and there are many trans people who continue to interact with hp in a variety of ways. for me, the space i've carved out in fandom over the past year or so has been a little online haven since i have to remain closeted irl for the most part. hp fanfic has been an important outlet for me to explore + express things abt my own trans identity. but i am also very aware that within the broader trans community, i am not one of those who is most vulnerable to jkr's rhetoric + politics. at the end of the day, there are trans people who don't care if you spend money on hp, there are trans people who don't care if u interact with fandom as long as u aren't spending money, there are trans people who think u shouldn't touch hp with a five-foot pole, and all manner of perspectives in between.

for me personally, there are caveats to my interaction with hp + the way i navigate the ethical minefield of jkr. i don't think there is any reason to ever financially contribute to hp, whether that's buying merch or games or going to hp themeparks or whatever, and i discourage people from interacting w hp within the context of any sort of profit economy. i try not to interact with hp in a way that will grow the popularity of the franchise in any way - i post fanfiction on ao3, where the people reading it are gonna be people who are already part of this space that are seeking it out, and i have this tumblr blog which is, essentially, the same deal. i'm not trying to advertise my fic or get people to suddenly develop a new interest in harry potter, if that makes sense. this is part of why tiktok remains a bit of an ethical quagmire for me, because i feel that the way people interact w fic on there often blurs the lines between being inside or outside of a profit economy.

i also think it's important, when interacting with hp in any way, to acknowledge jkr's influence and the inherent shittiness of the source material. i don't think it's enough to go "dobby wrote the books haha!" and act like we can just ignore jkr, bc her shitty politics are built into the book. i think it's important to engage critically and to consider how you're building off the source material and whether ur unintentionally perpetuating the biases in the text by copying and pasting them without further examination. i talk abt this more in this post

and, of course, i think it's important to vocally stand against jkr + her politics, and to support trans people within + outside of fandom spaces in whatever ways you can. i think it's important to stay educated + engage with theory + politics in a way that goes beyond retweeting posts or watching tiktok clips. jkr isn't just transphobic; her sexism, racism, classism, fatphobia, homophobia, ableism, antisemitism, and overall horrible neoliberal politics are very much built into the text of hp, and if u are not actively educating urself on these issues it's gonna be easier to just internalize them without realizing it.

for me, these are all considerations that affect the way i interact with hp + the extent to which i interact with hp. however, there are people out there who would probably tell me to get off my high horse + stop acting like there are more or less ~morally pure~ ways to interact with hp, bc at the end of the day there's no ethical consumption under capitalism and people writing hp fanfiction isn't really harmful in the grand scheme of things. there are other people who would tell me that it doesn't matter what mitigating factors i'm using to justify my hobby; any contribution that keeps people talking about hp keeps jkr relevant, and i should be able to find other shit to write about. and like....i understand the perspectives of both those people, y'know?

i honestly just think this is a decision where every individual needs to weigh the scales themselves and decide what they're okay with. it's not my job to police or justify the ways people do or don't interact w hp media; if someone's interacting with it in a way i don't like, then i block that person or just don't interact with them. if someone sees me interacting w hp fanfic + thinks that makes me a shitty person, then they can think that and we can go on living our separate lives. some trans people continue to find comfort + community in hp fandom spaces, other trans people feel deeply hurt by the continued existence of these spaces. there is no single answer to What Supports Everybody. your relationship with your friend is something specific to your situation that you'll need to take into account when weighing your own feelings about interacting with hp; the only advice i can really offer is that i think it's better to critically consider the various perspectives people have on this issue without reducing it to a black and white case of two sides where one must be right and one must be wrong.

[dykeomania]

arguably unnecessary, but obligatory sappy new years post. i sound like i'm accepting a fucking oscar, or something

girl, i'm not fucking reading all that: hey, thanks for literally everything. cannot wait to make more stuff. you helped to make 2022 a good year for me.

contrary to popular belief this is the most pretentious post i'll ever make:

i've had a really interesting year.

2022 welcomed me with open arms, and then proceeded to throw a lot of punches at me, really quickly. i felt really uncertain and uncomfortable in the first half of my year. but for the second half of it, i remember mostly feeling really relaxed and appreciative of the things that i do have and have gained, while appropriately mourning everything that i've lost. i had a couple of big, positive milestones. i started regularly attending therapy, and look to attend al-anon meetings in the future. i had an excellent semester. i experienced what it felt like to be genuinely, truly, happy for the first time in 3 years, on several different occasions. and i experienced/experience that.. regularly, now.

but i wanted to take some time and express an expected and somewhat redundant modicum of gratitude towards this tag and everyone who follows me because i am quite thankful for all of the people that i have met on here / the community that i have built. i started writing on here for shits and giggles and my works are some of the most -- correct me, please, if i'm wrong -- most .. decorated? works? in the ellie williams x reader tag? i would've never expected that. there are so many talented, underrated fic writers on here and i feel like, so privileged, and like, it always makes me feel so weird everytime i see my things blow up they way do. people here are so crazy talented. i'm so glad that you think that i'm one of them.

i've gained a lot of confidence from this community, had a lot of funny moments, and met a lot of people who truly do mean .. a lot to me. and it wouldn't have happened if people never had took the time to read the things that i wrote.

thank you to literally every person who has read something of mine this year. thank you to every person who has reached out to me, saying they like my stuff. thank you to everyone in my likes, and reblogs, and replies, thank you to everyone who just goes through my page and reblogs/likes all my shit -- i see literally all of it, and i love it, so much. and thank you for your patience. truly. i know i'm like, hella irritating, i'm Trying to work on it, i really am.

although i have not been around a lot, you have helped to make this year more memorable for me in some way. this has been a really nice little beam of light. i can't wait to see you guys in 2023 and i can't wait to make more stuff for you.