#this fandom is kind problematic

[4ever2000lover]

This fandom is already so little diverse that, when we have a non-white MC, people comment on shit like this.

It infuriates me.

I came across a comment like this on one of my Sebastian × Sakurako works. It broke my heart.

I’ve always been proud of making Sakurako a fully Japanese character. But now I can’t help but think, “Maybe I shouldn’t have made her Japanese.”

There have also been other comments on my Seb×Sakurako pieces, like

“Where’s XXX (another artist’s very popular OC)?” or

“I thought XXX was Sebastian’s partner.”

They keep showing up.

I know it’s all because I wasn’t able to create an OC who feels worthy of standing beside Sebastian.

But lately, when I draw the character I love so much, Sebastian, I feel more pain than joy. I feel cornered.

Honestly, I’ve even thought about quitting creating altogether in this fandom.

(Though deep down I know I’ll keep going… because I still love Sebastian and Ominis so much, and there are so many things I still want to draw.)

[neon-tigre95]

finally finished cait's quest and fell in love with this absolute baddie all over again

[utilitycaster]

I really do dunk on villain stans a lot but the thing is like. I genuinely do not care on any sort of moral level if you love a villain, or villains generally. They are pretend. The murder and the war crimes aren't real. Do whatever.

The issue is that like, this is a person the narrative is telling you to root against, and that it's okay because they are pretend. That doesn't mean they can't have sympathetic qualities but it does mean that as a rule the story is telling you "hey, here are the heroes who oppose this person, cheer for them" and also "you should boo and hiss when this motherfucker comes on stage" and a lot of people who like villains will look at everyone else and go "why the FUCK are you booing and hissing don't you see they have TRAUMA" instead of acknowledging the big "TIME TO BOO AND HISS" signs being thrown out by the story and saying "bring it on."

And I suppose you can argue that this is an overly simplistic way of looking at it, but if we're dealing with a story with at least some reasonably clearly delineated heroes and villains you're not intelligent for trying to pretend it's more complicated than it is. I'm not talking about the gray areas of antagonist who could be persuaded otherwise, nor antihero but straight up "this is the bad guy, we all but have arrows pointing at them saying it". Like, really, a lot of people who stan villains don't seem to do it for the love of the game, which I would respect, but because of a sour grapes situation with the heroes, or because they're in their edgy "subversion automatically means you're the smarter one" phase.

Anyway my point is I don't care if you woobify a villain for any sort of moral reasons but I do think that if you do so, you're a coward and not terribly good at understanding stories. I also don't care from any sort of moral standpoint if you enthusiastically cheer on the villain, but if you act confused or mad that most people aren't with you on that, I think you're an idiot and not terribly good at understanding stories.

[daniclaytcn]

The most insane for me is when people who stan tommy uses what taylor did to bobby to hate on her. Like, okay that was absolutely fucked up, and I'm not a fan of her either, but i feel like if you still use this reason even though bobby was fine with her after (even inviting her in his house), then maybe there's something you should hold against tommy too (no matter if hen and chimney look friendly towards him) ??

the funny thing is that hen and chimney are...pretty lukewarm towards him, actually. you have chim who only contacted tommy like twice when he needed his help and didn't invite him to his wedding...you have hen who, in 3x16, was very emphatic about not being friends with any of the guys who used to work at the 118 when she joined; and even tommy makes a crack about not getting her christmas cards. not saying they hate him or anything! i think they're fine with him, honestly. but it's not some great friendship like people like to pretend, sorry 🤷🏽‍♀️ and yeah, i definitely think it's weird that all the female love interests, taylor included, have gotten so much shit for much less. i still remember that one person who tried to say that tommy being brought back was better than lucy, because lucy made "a terrible first impression" on the audience. worse than the guy who was introduced as being part of the white man status quo who was complicit in racism and misogyny? hm.

[girlpathetica]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐓 𝟏𝟏; 𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐘

hi! this post has been on my mind for a very long time, and with a possible hunger games resurgence underway, i want to address the not-so savoury and digestable bits about collin's writing, including her characterizations of black individuals within the trilogy.

first of all; district 11 is described as a large district, with its population mainly being black, or at least people of color. this is shown in the movie adaptations, and the several characters we meet throughout the series.

(rue, chaff and seeder's descriptions, but thresh, too.)

(depiction of district 11's population in the movie adaptation of catching fire.)

𝐬𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦?

genuinely? the characterization of these individuals, such as chaff and thresh (both black males specifically.) the portrayal of both characters being a threat in size and combat, which is also often a microaggressive stereotype tied to black men.

(effie's reaction to the 75th's reaping & her snide comment against chaff, catching fire + thresh killing clove/sparing katniss, the hunger games.)

of course, i won't downplay thresh's kindness in his sacrifice of sparing katniss, but the display of his brutality paired with his decent & race does not look good (considering that the hunger games is written by a white woman!) and to me, will always come across as uncomfortable. even his speech makes him seem uneducated, more brawn than any brain, and that's also a heavy misconception when it comes to black men/boys/etc. i can see where suzanne tried to balance it out, but it doesn't work well in the slightest.

furthermore, we have to talk about the state of district 11 as a whole.

agriculture/farming as the role for one of the largest districts if not THE largest, seems innocent by itself. but then you have the treatment of its citizens, the way the population is worked, and the overall uneasiness of it.

(rue's experience in 11, the hunger games + katniss’ description of the district, catching fire.)

public whippings, senseless cruelty towards again, a WIDELY black populated district and their continual work on fields/in harvests all speak to remnants of slavery and pastimes taken place within the era of slavery. if suzanne collins was trying to make a point, or mock the treatment of this minority through a portrayal in her book as a white woman, she missed the mark POORLY. having the BLACK citizens, including women, children and men all working out in the fields? disgusting. beyond incomprehensible.

hoarding a minority in one district is crazy work too, because we barely hear about any other black characters minus paylor, beetee, and potentially cinna. and the fact that in katniss' eyes, 11 is treated perhaps the worst? says a lot.

𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭?

truthfully, i'm bringing awareness to my discomfort as a black teen/general black individual because this isn't just something you should brush past. you should see the treatment of these characters and condemn it. i see next to no posts about the blatant racism towards black people/poc in the hunger games and also within the fandom. this has been swept under the rug over and over and blatantly, I'm tired.

collins perpetuates the suffering of district 11 in historical and supposedly educational ways, but that doesn't make it okay for her to do so. as a white woman, collins abuses the usage of racial stereotypes with examples of district 11 men, the culture, their work, but also a wider environment than just 11, such as district 12 too (with the perpetuation of gale.)

[edwinisms]

pro tip if you want a positive fandom experience: do not follow confession blogs. you’re just asking for a bad time if you do that just don’t

[lady-phasma]

no one is asking you to like all the characters in that piece of fiction. no one should be criticized for liking all the characters in that piece of fiction. no one has to hate anything real or fictional if they don't want to.

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

I don't even know what to call this AU, but... the one in which Amphibia times passes different from Earth time, and when they come back it's been 10 years, and the Wus are gone and Marcy ends up being fostered the Boonchuys... some more thoughts on it (original post here).

As you would expect, Marcy is the one doing worst here. She has PTSD and is working through it in therapy, but it's not easy. Anne's constant presence helps, though. Being alone with her thoughts isn't easy. When they first came back, she stayed with Anne in her room for a few months until the Boonchuys finished building another room for her (they expect her to stay for a very long time, sadly), but while having her own space was nice, nights quickly became very rough. She slipped into Anne's bed most times. Anne always made a point to always use the softest sheets these days, the ones she knew Marcy liked because they had a soothing texture.

Since Marcy and Sasha are still in middle school and Anne in highschool (their new age gap was a little weird at first but they got used to it after a few months), those two become incredibly close. Sasha could have very easily become one of the popular kids, what with her charm and beauty and cool scar with a cool fake backstory, but she'd rather hang out with the weird little nerd that likes C&C way too much. She still doesn't understand half of what Marcy says and most of it is kinda boring to her, but she tries to give it a chance and find interests in common. Gonna steal the headcanon from awiw that Sasha secretly likes anime, so they bond over that. They both try to get Anne into it now.

Likewise, Anne is sometimes questioned by her highschool friends how come she always wants to hang out with these two middle schoolers. Honestly, Anne doesn't see it as "hanging out with middle schoolers" because she doesn't really perceive much of a gap in maturity. They've all grown so much in Amphibia, and they grew together. Those two are frankly more mature than most of Anne's new classmates. Plus, the age gap isn't even that big, it's only a year and a half.

When people at school learn the Boonchuys are fostering Marcy, some start refering to her as Anne's little sister. Anne doesn't want to think about why that feels so weird and gross. It's an unexpected feeling - she and Marcy pretty much grew up together and were closer than most siblings, surely she'd be happy that people gave their bond such a huge importance, but the idea of Marcy as a sister... eeew (don't think about why, Boonchuy, just don't think about it).

New fear unlocked! Anne doubles down on her efforts to locate Marcy's parents, scared that, if they don't find them, her parents will end up adopting Marcy.

Marcy has read way too much weird manga to be phased by the implication until Anne spells it out for her, and she blushed red as a tomato. She doesn't sleep in Anne's bed that night, rolling the implications inside her head like a kaleidoscope.

Anne and Sasha are pretty shaken by the knowledge that their parents are 10 whole years older. Marcy still hasn't processed that her parents will also be 10 years older when she finds them but... one thing at a time. They make a promise to always be there for each other.

Marcy helping Anne with her high school homework. Sasha standing up to high school bullies.

Anne is so happy when those two finally get to highschool like oh god she missed them sm.

Anne and Sasha are devastated to find out all the music and boy bands they used to be into are no longer popular. Marcy is elated with how far videogames have come. Skyrim 24 year anniversary Ultra Delux Exclusive 4000k Return of the Dragonborn Special Edition looks soooo good!

Sasha's parents, in a surprising twist of events, are now friends. They get along fairly well and even take Sasha on little outings together. It feels suuuuuper weird to her but she missed them, and they clearly missed her and want to make up for lost times. It feels childish to go to the movies with her parents, but she'll accept it. It's kind of nice.

Marcy struggles a lot with being underwater, after the rejuvenation tank. Showers are fine, but baths are no-no. One very hot day of summer, though, they all go to the beach, and she tries to convince herself that it's fine, that she can get in the water, but as soon as it reaches her chest she's already scrambling to get out. She didn't want to make Anne and Sasha worry, but she just can't. Not even allowing herself to be distracted by the sight of Anne in her swimsuit helped. She's worried that she ruined a perfectly good day, but her friends quickly reassure her that she didn't. They all get cleaned and go to the mall for some ice cream instead.

Sasha hits one hell of a growth spurt two years after their return, now she has two inches on Anne, and teases her over it. That leaves Marcy like half a head shorter than them, which seems hilarious to those two for some reasons Marcy doesn't understand. Makes cuddling comfy though.

If Marcy was clingy before, she's even clingier now. She's always holding either Anne or Sasha's hand. She also becomes surprisingly affectionate with Anne's mom, after she found her crying or panicking several times. She's not scared to go for a hug whenever she's happy or excited, and they're always welcome. She's earned the privilege of being called "family", with scoldings and all. Anne's mom is very strict on "no gaming in the kitchen", and if she ever catches Marcy with her console while cooking, she'll take it away for the rest of the day. It's annoying, but for Marcy, it's oddly heartwarming to have an adult pay so much attention to you.

After they all came back, Anne's parents told her that, as the "oldest one" (yikes. It still sounds so weird), she had to be responsible for Marcy "as if she were her younger sister" (yikes yikes yikes yikes) and look out for her. She has no problem with the "looking out" part. It's what she's always done. But, seeing how poorly Marcy is doing during their first year back on Earth, she might exaggerate a little with the "responsability" bit, choosing to deal with a lot of things alone rather than burdering Marcy with them (or Sasha, who's now supposedly "younger" too). She's doing pretty well for some time, until one day she caves, and knocks on Marcy's door, teary-eyed, asking if she'd like to have an improptu sleepover. They watch a few movies, eat some snacks, play board games, read cringy wattpad stories to each other, gaze lovingly into each other's eyes while listening to romantic music, in a very no homo way. Anne curls into Marcy's chest and falls asleep like that. Maybe it IS better that her parents think they're more like sisters. They wouldn't be allowed to have sleepovers like this if they didn't.

[j0jorocity]

I NEED more sonic moots u guys don’t get it… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HMU IF YOU LIKE METAL SONIC, METAMY, KNUXOUGE, AND SONADOW….. please I beg sonic fandom accept me… bonus points if you like the APH ancients 🥺

[dizzying-waves]

Regarding that one ttcc post, I think personally my worst fear regarding the fandom is how people will police others regarding the cogs.

Don't get me wrong, I understand people criticisms regarding the fandom woobifying the cogs, but at the same time, I don't like the idea of people thinking someone liking or making soft content with them means that you must condone their actions or ignoring that their villains. And I also hate ones that act like the only way to enjoy them is if their 100% one-dimensional villains and anyone acknowledging their complexity or softer side means you're woobifying them.

People can like the cogs and still acknowledge their not great people and just because some don't talk about their villainy and wanna make soft content with them, doesn't mean we are ignoring that either.

This isn't to say you can't be critical about the way people woobify them and whatnot, but there's a difference to being critical and just being a dick to others liking villains.

[elizeshiro]

getting into fandom recently,,, by god is it scary!! lmao

(i don't mean this as hate to anyone/anything in particular i am just out n about exploring communities and By God it is terrifying someone come pick me up lmao)

[miumiumandoodz]

I don’t understand why, but maybe because I just play the game alone and mind my own business making silly things but every time I heard news about My Time At fandom, it’s always concerning like some of these people need to be sent to therapy to get checked for personality disorders and sent to correction facilities like idk

Like literally the game is wholesome with funny/cute looking people but the fans are like… Are you guys okay?? You’re seriously bullying and threatening people because idk, they don’t like your white haired bandit with a Foghorn Leghorn accent??? A FICTIONAL MAN??? WHO IS NOT EVEN REAL??? Are you guys okay???

Guys I can assure you just because people like a different bachelor/bachelorette than you, you’ll be fine. I swear you’ll be fine. No need to make a real person life’s hell because of it.

[shadelorde]

AtLA is a better show than LoK but the LoK fandom is infinitely more chill and way cooler than the AtLA fandom and I think it’s because being a fan of a show that’s screwed so much keeps us way more humble

[number1villainstan]

The two stories/series/media creations that make me want to gnaw on the drywall right now are Revolutionary Girl Utena, a masterful deconstruction of tropes rooted in sexism and queerphobia but with pervasive racist/imperialist elements* in the background, and Dune, a masterful deconstruction of tropes rooted in racism and imperialism but with pervasive sexist/queerphobic** elements in the background. it's hilarious it's like they're made to cancel each other out

[rose-tries-to-write]

Okay. You want me to be real with you? Lets get real.

Shipping characters does not mean that I want them to be together canonically. 

TL;DR: the opinions/actions of the fan base should never impact the decisions/creation behind the original media. Crossing that line has consequences. For everyone.

I do not want romance from a media that was good without it, I do not want romance from an author/artist who knows it doesn't make sense for (and could ruin) the world or characters. I do not want fanon tropes and headcanons to bleed into places it doesn't belong in.

No matter what and no matter the personal opinions or biases I have, I understand that the ideas curated and cultivated within the community of fan-made and fan-consumed content should ALWAYS remain entirely or partially separate from the decisions that directly impact the original media’s form.

I do not care if that means the main or only romance isn't a fan favorite. I do not care if that means no romance. I do not care if that means no happy ending or even an ending that the fanbase isn’t happy with. I do not care if “oh but I wanted–” or “oh but it would be nice to see–” or whatever other selfish nagging that always comes up when people don’t get what they want.

I do not care. If it was decided and made canon to the story or characters, then that's how it is and should be in its original form. ONLY in its original form. Feel free to have all your weird and silly fantasies, just keep it out of canon.

Look at it this way, canon is a basis, a blueprint, for the fandom to go fucking wild with. The blueprint tells us who the people are, what the world is, and allows us to freely take that shit and run with it. 

In a way, very similar to legos. Canon is our little booklet that says how to build the thing. And like legos, we can recycle those extra pieces or even the entire thing to have fun and experiment.

Now, if you wouldn’t tear up the instructions on how to build a new lego set, why are you trying to fuck up the only blueprint available to everyone? Cause when that Lego booklet is gone, all that’s left is a bunch of useless plastic and a whole lot of disappointment.

[unopenablebox]

honestly id believe alanna was aro and/or ace before kel. alanna spends all her time having various men tell her she's afraid of love and that's why it's ok for them to just start trying to fuck her until she understands that deep down she's into it! the books are pretty compatible with a read where she's actually just not that into men and is basically incapable of navigating it or noticing because it's so inextricable from her trying and being scared of living as a woman and that's already so shame-bound and potentially life-threatening that like, how would she even notice

but, you know, at the end she got married to the guy who forcibly kissed her when she was 14 and he was 22, so it must have been fine the whole time

by contrast kel is like actively On The Hunt and is thwarted only by circumstance! but she's kind of tall and unfeminine and she didn't get married at the end so yk. must not have wanted to after all