#this is a very tame discourse topic

[bulletbilltime]

Ok I need to vent about "LIKES DO NOTHING" discourse because I have had Thoughts for months now.

These are just feelings without much coherent thought put into them so lmk if I get something wrong. (LONG POST WARNING)

I'm gonna start by saying that I agree with the message that's INTENDED to be spread. Letting people know that reblogs are an important and essential part of Tumblr's ecosystem is good! Tumblr not having (much of, anyway) an algorithm is an important part to emphasize to newcomers of the website. And I know *why* people prefer getting reblogs to likes on their art purely from an exposure angle: reblogs expose the art to more people, who will themselves maybe like it and reblog it to more people.

That being said, the way people act about likes is... genuinely bothersome to me. There's a really fucking weird framing of likes as literally The Worst Thing Ever. Like you're a complete and utter monster for having the gall to show appreciation for their work. And all that really does is make ppl feel guilty about how they curate their blog. "Why would they not reblog the work then, if they like it???" Well there's many reasons! They might not want to share nsfw content to their followers. They might not want to spoil their followers with fanart of the latest episode of a show. They might have specific criteria for reblogging! Maybe they have a family member following them, and they don't want to be outed for liking queer stuff! I don't think anyone particularly owes anyone an explanation for liking only.

"Why not use a side blog to reblog then, if any of the above apply?" Because that blog won't have the followers of that other blog? Why would you want someone to reblog from a dummy account, if that account has nearly nobody following them? That would be defeating the purpose of the reblog in the first place; all you'd get out of it is an extra Note, which makes it functionally indistinguishable from a like.

Now I want to focus on the one thing that annoys me the most about the framing of this discourse: the idea that people only like because they think it'll boost the engagement. This is why I think people say ridiculous stuff like "likes do nothing". Well, let me tell you something. C'mere real close.

LIKES ARE FOR LIKING THINGS.

It's in the NAME! People "like" things to show their appreciation for a piece of art/meme/etc! I highly doubt that people who only like art do so with the delusion that what they actually help the artist get more exposure, even on other social media websites. The average layperson leaves a like to show they enjoyed a post. That's it. They don't think about The Algorithm, they just see post and hit like. That's how people act on other social media websites, and I'd wager even a good chunk of "old-hat" Tumblr users do this too.

Are they in the wrong for doing that? Well I think that varies from person to person, but I personally appreciate any interaction on an art post. Sure, reblogs get more eyes on things, and that's highly valuable to get even more likes, so I absolutely do love getting reblogs, but I'm not about to get mad at every single person who likes without reblogs. I also just think that's a very unhealthy attitude to have about art in general, which leads me to my next point:

The internet as a whole just... sucks for artists. It's an annoying and unfortunate truth, but this feeling of "oh my work doesn't get nearly enough attention as I wish it did"? I've experienced it everywhere I posted content to. Whether that was DeviantArt or Twitter or w/e, it's always been the same thing. I don't tend to accrue a lot of followers for the work I do in general, and that means that my content will only get a handful of engagements, if any at all. And I know a lot of other artists face that issue, and it's because of a very simple fact: THERE IS SO MUCH ART ONLINE. Fact of the matter is, you're gonna be fighting against others for exposure, and luck is basically the only real way people can break out of that initial circle.

And on a similar lane: fanart and memes just get more interaction as a whole because they are more "shareable". Memes are just easy to share because they're funny and very accessible to most people. Fanart isn't as accessible, but it still has a potential audience if your follower base has enough fans in it, or if you're friends with ppl who like similar things to that work. But original art just doesn't have as much of a shareability. You'd think they would be more accessible by virtue of not being tied to a fandom... but because it's not tied to something people can easily search, original art gets decimated in the interactions department, unless you have a pre-existing fanbase.

I don't think this is a problem with an easy solution. And I certainly don't think shaming people is going to be the way, tbh.

But wouldn't this be all the more reason to push back and demand that people to reblog and not just like? Well... on to my next point: The Internet at large has rarely looked kindly upon those who beg for attention and interactions. People literally make fun of calls to actions on YouTube, after all. So I fear people are going to turn on people who post things like "reblogs > likes" and whatnot. I've already noticed a good amount of people beginning to get actively mad towards this sort of attitude, and passive-aggressive polls that are like "do YOU support our reblogs in blue????". I don't think this aggressive reblog shaming trend is going to end well IMO.

But reblogs are the life source of Tumblr, right? If people don't want to reblog... then won't that kill the site? Well... I guess that's the tricky spot: for artists that need commissions to make a living, there's a genuine reason for wanting art to be shared. Exposure translates to commissions for them. And if they can't get exposure, they'll have to turn towards other means of making a living. And if a lot of artists have to stop making art or leave Tumblr... then yeah that would suck for the site. Like, don't get me wrong, as annoyed as I am towards how weirdly petty these posts are, I understand why they're made. And I'm all for encouraging more support to artists, but this ain't it y'all.

So how can we promote supporting artists without shaming? Well... here's some suggestions:

Let's stop this weird culture around shaming likes. This isn't getting anywhere and it's only gonna make people turn away from interacting with art at all. Can you imagine if YouTubers started getting angry at people who don't leave a like or subscribe? Like, genuinely making passive aggressive posts and videos about them? That would be wack, right? So let's not be like that.

Second, I think that emphasizing the GOOD that reblogs can do should be encouraged. Examples: "Reblogs get more eyes on art! If you really like an artist's content, reblog it and it might lead to that artist getting more followers! If you reblog, you're doing your part in helping an artist get exposure!" People want to feel like they're doing a good thing, so help them see the good that reblogging does, rather than lecturing on the evils of not doing so.

Third... do your part! Go look for artists who don't have a lot of interactions, and reblog their work! Spending your energy interacting with fellow artists, making connections, and supporting each other's work is going to do so much more in the long run than trying to fight a losing battle with General Internet Apathy. Besides, a reblog from asspissballs69 isn't going to have nearly as much of an impact as a reblog from someone who actually has a following. Tumblr doesn't have algorithms, but follower counts do still matter even if we can't see them.

Fourth, if we wish to actually change the hearts and minds of "Serial Likers", we need to actually understand why people like in the first place. One point I can think of is that people who come in from other social media may be afraid to spam their followers with things they like. I think that's absolutely an aspect of Tumblr that doesn't really carry over as well to other websites, and putting more emphasis on that should be done. Personally, this was my biggest obstacle to embracing reblogging fanart. So I think having more empathy and understanding of the issue, and addressing concerns these people may have would go a long way in helping us make the case for reblogging.

If you've read this far, thanks for engaging with this rambly post! If you have objections to the arguments I make, feel free to reply but BE CIVIL and constructive. I *will* block people who get aggressive or read in bad faith.

[they-lived]

20 questions for writers

@theblueeyedfirebender THANKS FOR THE TAG FRIEND I LOVE YOU LOTS 💙💛💙💛💙💛

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

41! (And an additional 37 on ffn 🤪 for a total of 78 just cause I was curious what 11 years of a hobby produces)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

782,267… holy crap 😅

3. What fandoms do you write for?

On my page you’ll find fics for Dragon Age (2 fics), Resident Evil (3 fics), Baldur’s Gate (2 fics), Until Dawn (2 fics), Critical Role (1 fic), Fullmetal Alchemist (6 fics), and Yuri on Ice (25 fics)!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Bloom in the Dark (Yuri on Ice)

Сонечко - Sunshine (Yuri on Ice)

What I Wouldn’t Do (Yuri on Ice)

Truth (Yuri on Ice)

Four Hidden Talents of Yuri P (And His Hidden Achilles Heel) (Yuri on Ice)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I used to not respond because on ffn you pretty much had to dm people to do so which felt weird (especially because I was 11-17 on there and did not want anyone knowing that fact even tho it was pretty obvious in hindsight) but now I respond to almost every comment I get! Fandom is a shared experience and I want to communicate more!!!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Lessons I Learned From Loving You Alone (Dragon Age) ~ Loghain’s wife had a really tragic life in my brain and I leaned in HARD

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I almost always do angst with a happy ending but I think the happiest is a toss up between Сонечко or As The World Begins to End (which is my resident evil meets pride prejudice and zombies mash up)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I wouldn’t call it hate necessarily but weirdly I get a lot of discourse around Yuri P being Ukrainian but like… I have always written him this way and I always will lol. It’s a part of my brand at this point. For the most part they’re pretty tame comments tho

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep! Most of the time I use sex as a way for characters to express their indescribable inexplicable connection or just to explore a couple in their most intimate moments. I love smut with funnies too so I try to throw that in there… also yes I do write porn without plot just because I want to lol.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Not really. Closest I got to was As the World Begins to End, which is Resident Evil in a similar world as Pride Prejudice and Zombies, but the zombies and lore were still RE based. It was more inspired by than anything else.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Back in the day someone wrote a fic “based on” one of mine but they just changed the names and nothing else. I still laugh about it because like… what an odd thing to do.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yup! Into Portuguese, Japanese, and Russian! It was very cool and they were so nice!!!!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope but I’d be down!

14. What is your all-time favorite ship?

Don’t ask me that my stomach hurts (it’s probably Everlark or Jasper or Otayuri or Royai don’t make me choose~)

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I never say never but golly it’s been hard to keep writing I Will Carry You idk why I really lost steam on it. I also have a fic I’m literally 25 pages deep into that was supposed to be a bit fic that I have not posted but WANT TO FINISH SO BAD

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I’m super good at eliciting the specific niche emotion I’m looking to express and hitting the exact topic I want to address. When I want something to be heightened and funny I nail it, when I want something to be bone deep nostalgia I’ve got it. That part is really fun for me personally.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I. Hate. Describing. Scenes. And. Action! My theater of the mind is pretty garbage so when I have to exposit what something looks like I cannot for the life of me enjoy it. My brain shuts off and on autopilot I go.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Even though I am bilingual I still get nervous doing this. Mostly because I’m smol and embarrassed but also because I really have to decide what the purpose is. I love having multilingual characters I grew up on the border between the us and Mexico and I have constantly been surrounded by multilingualism and generally think it’s dope. But I prefer to write the dialog in italics if it’s in another language so my audience can immediately understand what’s going on and have the full picture. If I don’t want them to know what’s being said I simply gloss over it lol

19. First fandom you wrote for?

*Glances wearily at my self insert Harry Potter fic I wrote when I was 12 and had the audacity to post on ffn* … uh… Hunger Games

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Changes by the day honestly but the top 5 are as follows in no particular order:

- As the World Begins to End (p&p will ALWAYS take me out you guys)

- Сонечко (the way I trauma dumped in this one is still so raw and so relevant. The fact that family and love really does win OUCH)

- An Ode to the Daughters of Darkness (first and only attempt at a more poetic style and some of it really holds up)

- Idioms and Idiots (idk I feel like I could turn this into a whole novel it’s wholesome and funny I smile the whole time I’m reading it I love her)

- Long May You Reign (I have reread this bitch so many times since she’s been posted I love the chaos the funnies and the feels. Idk man I just have an insatiable craving for Royai to be parents and this makes me laugh while writing it)

Tagging @masterdisastre @lou-is-lurking @kaleidodreams @weeheilandcoo and anyone else who wants to ✨✨✨✨

[livebloggingmydescentintomadness]

You’re probably not going to see this, but as a teen that started following you for ace/aro posts, your takes on purity culture and antis have been really important to me. To be honest I haven’t cared about proship/anti discourse in years and find the terms to be reductive and oversimplifying but I’m so sick of seeing call outs in my social circles that sum up to “this person that is open about the fact they like dark content likes dark content!” Like, I thought you didn’t WANT to interact with them, why are you mad that they’ve made their beliefs clear enough for you to block?

I’d never harass someone over fake people that don’t exist but I guess I have pretty “anti” tastes- pairings between a 16 year old and an 18 year old are enough to squick me out and my current fandom has a very popular incest subculture which is. A lot. But at the same time subjects like grooming and SA/CSA recovery are very fascinating to me, and your posts have helped me shake off the guilt I have about that and fear of being seen as an abuse apologist if I write fics about those topics.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this. Just, thank you, I guess. I hope you have a good day/night/whenever you read this :)

hello, dear, i'm so glad that my blog could be helpful to you <3

i agree with you that the anti/proship terminology does kind of feel like it trivializes really important issues, but please allow me to clarify one thing - being "proship" has nothing to do with WHAT you ship and everything to do with HOW you ship. it's not about taste, it's about philosophy.

i actually have pretty vanilla tastes myself; i typically avoid most dark fic, i'm not really into kink, i don't usually like "dead dove" type content, and most of my ships are not particularly controversial. the only incest ship that doesn't gross me out is thorki, because like, they're millennia-old alien space gods based on north mythology; incest is kinda the least weird thing going on there. i have a few ships that could be called abusive, like erik/christine from the phantom of the opera, but generally speaking, my tastes are tame and i just like a good fic with some tasty angst , a little sappy smut, and a happy ending.

however, i understand that other people ARE into all the stuff i'm not into, and it's none of my business what they enjoy, and, critically, my discomfort with those works does not matter, no more than it dictates what i choose to engage in and what i choose to avoid.

my discomfort with darkfic doesn't mean people who like darkfic are immoral, or that darkfic itself is immoral. it means that i don't read darkfic. i understand that my comfort and discomfort are not the moral code of the universe, and furthermore, that a quest for "moral purity" is not only impossible, but actively harmful. a lesson i learned quite well growing up in the baptist church.

using the title of 'proshipper' doesn't mean that i personally like "problematic" ships or whatever, it means that i find harassing people over their fictional tastes reprehensible. it means that i understand that there's a big, big difference between what you enjoy reading in fiction and what you approve of or endorse in real life, and that part of the purpose of fiction is to give us a safe place to explore dark, fucked up shit where it won't have real-world consequences. fiction is an outlet, not a mirror.

even if i personally find the content deeply disturbing, i understand that it is simply none of my fucking business what other people read and write about, provided that they tag the content properly. that's being proship.

anyway, i'm glad that i could help relieve you of your guilt. take care, dear.

[chekhovs-nailgun]

welcome to my freak blog. i don’t use my real name here but my pseudonym is ares. just calling me chekhov is okay too lol. pronouns are he/him. i’m also acoustic and i likely have a lot of other mental and physical disorders but that’s not anyone’s business here. i’m not going to put any more personal information here because i’d rather not be stalked and found but if you dm me to be friends i give up my secrets very easily. lol

^ me (yes, i am bore)

my dni is pretty much just no minors. it’s dangerous for yall to be on either side of ship discourse before you’re adults. antis should not interact either, but either they already block the tags i put on here or they evade them intentionally, so, you know. tl;dr as long as you’re at least 18 and you’re chill i don’t care.

i’m taken by my beloved (ashes), we’ve been together several years. this goes without saying, i doubt anybody will actually do this, but do not try to get in my pants unless you happen to be ashes.

this blog is mainly for things that i wouldn’t reblog to my main or any of my other sides (ie in-depth fandom interaction (mostly tcoaal since my other fandom preferences are pretty tame) and general pro-fiction topics. and fauxcest). if i follow you on my main you’ll probably be able to tell.

tags:

#chekhov’s prion disease: tcoaal

#chekhov’s glorified saw trap: danganronpa

#chekhov’s pastel horse: sf

#chekhov’s box: ask box

#chekhov’s beating heart: personal and/or anything that doesn’t fit in any other category

#chekhov’s cathedral: discourse

#chekhov’s butler: black butler

#chekhov’s cuffs: kink, typically like fauxcest, terato, cnc, lima/stockholm, stalking, just shit i wouldn’t post on my other blogs

#chekhov’s colors: moodboards (i’ll do requests (check if they’re open beforehand) but keep in mind i don’t know tons of popular media so they might not be great but i’ll be damned if it ain’t pretty)

playlists:

candy coated cannibalism - gravescest

no more quite yet. thinking about making a sallarry one tho 👍

[yanderefairyangel]

Pocket Mirror for the choose violence ask meme

Oh all of them ?

the character everyone gets wrong Fleta I think. People keep flanderzing her as that bratty spoiler kid forgetting she is that side of Goldia who just couldn't enjoy her childhood.

a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom Goldia isn't ready for any of this.

screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr I don't think I ever saw any ?

what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person? Aside from pornbot, I don't block anyone

worst discord server and why I am not on discord

which ship fans are the most annoying? I don't know any annoying ships fans within this fandom, but there again the shipping landscape for PM varries from very tame to non-existen

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them? Oh I don't think I have any for that game

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about Fleta isn't just an annoying brat

worst part of canon The fact that the bad endings have no real relevance to canon since you still need to finish the game

worst part of fanon I have no idea

number of fandom-related words you've filtered I have never used that feature

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them Is Lisette unpopular ?

worst blorboficiation Whoever looks at the Mysterious boy and says "He did nothing wrong" because "he is a literal child"

that one thing you see in fics all the time There is PM fic ?

that one thing you see in fanart all the time Call me nitpicky, but the character's hair color being wrong. In all fairness, it's Kira who admitted to have choosen the wrong palette

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) Aside from the shipping with some characters I don't see anything and the shipping part is just because in PM I genuinely do not care about romance

there should be more of this type of fic/art Goldia and Elise family fluff

it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on... Goldia's brother, Henry

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like... Egliette. There I said it.

part of canon you found tedious or boring Hum ... does something like this exist in PM ?

part of canon you think is overhyped The Fleta phase of the game. I know it's the longest but it's not the most exicting part

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores The fact that Platinium is not talked about more along with Goldia's DID is a crime in itself

ship you've unwillingly come around to Idk Goldia x Mysterious boy ?

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse Please tell me there isn't any discourse in the PM fandom

common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing Goldia is not a Mary sue.

[abluehappyface]

Hello There! We're The Smiley System!

A group of 3 that's recently just discovered their plurality!

Here you'll possibly be talking to:

Bri, the person this body truly belongs to. Goes by She/Her and talks in pink. Very older sister/somewhat maternal coded. Speaks like most older sisters from what she's been told. She can be shy, but she's trying her best we promise

Bluey, the second person formed in this system. Has been around for 5 years, but we didn't realize until now. He/Him, speaks in Blue. Distant yet loving father/older brother who's a tough guy (is a big softie) coded. He doesn't talk much, but he's very good at listening

Desirée, the newest to the system. Has influenced us for years, but only recently discovered. Uses They/Cir/Eir pronouns. Chaotic queer coded person who's basically a YTP in the form of a person. Types in both Yellow and Orange

Things We Like!

Bri's into very cute/girly things. You'll see a lot of doll customization, Moriah Elizabeth, and really anything that's typically associated with girls in general when she's primarily in control. She also likes to draw clothes!

Bluey likes video games. Fire Emblem, Danganronpa, Pokémon, and The Sims are his main ones, but EVERYONE in the system is currently hyperfixating on Touhou Project. He also likes woodworking and drawing fantasy weapons

Desirée likes generalized chaos. Just utter nonsense. If it reads like a YTP combined with a standard Tumblr post, they're likely laughing about it. Likes to draw desserts and nonexistent food. Everyone in the system draws animals and people.

General Rules

Absolutely NO syscourse, discourse, or ANYTHING of the sort.

This is all inclusive space for everyone. If you personally don't understand or like something, it is YOUR responsibility to curate your online experience

You may see some nsfw stuff here. If you don't like that, see the second half of point 2

You may send us asks and questions, and we will attempt to answer as best we can. Please be respectful, and know that we are not required to answer anything. Anon is also off, we aren't entertaining the idea of anon hate thanks

This may sound... odd, but maybe send some things for us to research? We like making presentations because it's fun! Try to keep it considerably tame, but just send a topic and we can try to learn about it. Can you tell we're autistic lol

We make edits/recolors, drawings, and poems! If you want to know something, just ask! Depending on what it is you ask, we may even make one for you!

Have a good time here! This blog tends to be a hangout space, especially for newer users we've noticed. Stay safe, and welcome!

[bethrnoora]

5, 24, 25 for any fandom 👁👁

5 - worst discord server

tbh im not in many discords and most of the ones im actually active in are just for zine work or my HEMA club lol. they've all been decently tame so i really can't say? there have been a few awkward interactions i've been witness to but it's never been too insane. in terms of ones i am NOT in and have only heard tales of, it seems like critical role (particularly during the mighty nein campaign and ship wars revolving around jester) had some truly heinous behavior going on in them lmao

24 - topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

had to think about this a bit...shipping discourse at any level is universally rancid so that felt like a little bit of a copout haha. so otherwise, there's always That Character in a work that is like. Contra Vershal for one reason or another (hi izzy. hi kyle ron) and i think there's a range of both justified and unjustified takes - both positive and negative - that you'll see from any given discussion of them. i think one that is the MOST exhausting for me to see continued discourse over is that Billiam from str4nger thangs. like personally, i have very few thoughts on him aside from vague dislike that is mostly outweighed by my overall dislike of season 3 as a whole but i feel like you can't even bring him up to discuss him as a narrative element w/o someone jumping in to (poorly) knee-jerk defend him. i almost cant blame them bc the show itself is Not well-written but come on. come on. have you seen how he treats lucas.

25 - common fandom complaint you're tired of hearing

now that the movie is out i don't see it as much but people being like "ohhh the riddler's costume in the 2021 batman is so dreary and edgy and lame" annoyed me to NO end lmao. like no bitch they didn't "de-yassify" him he's just creepy. the costume is unique and imposing and fitting for the tone which is PULP not FAUX REALISM

[breakingarrows]

Killzone 2 Difficulty Analysis

Some time ago I was thinking alot about video game difficulty. This has been a topic of conversation and Twitter discourse many times, especially around FromSoftware releases due to their reputation for being difficult to play to the end and the lack of any options to ease that difficulty. However I was thinking about it from the angle of what exactly we mean when we say something is difficult. Does it mean the player takes fewer hits before being reset to an earlier point, whether it be the very outset of a run in a rogue-like or a checkpoint a minute earlier in a Call of Duty campaign. Is difficulty determined by how many hits an enemy can take before being defeated, is it harsher scoring qualifications for a Devil May Cry, is it enemy behavior becoming more adaptable or sophisticated, learning from the player actions or being given more capabilities the higher the setting? Killzone 2 has a reputation of being one of the tougher games to complete on its hardest difficulty level: Elite. And so I wanted to take an analytical, frame-by-frame look at Killzone 2 and its four difficulty levels to see what exactly separates each option from each other.

As a first person shooter I expected the main differences between difficulty settings are: player takes less hits to die and be reset the higher the setting, the enemy takes more hits to die the higher the setting, and I was curious as to whether the enemy AI is more aggressive with flanking/grenade usage/firing at an exposed player the higher the setting. Below is a table with my findings upon reviewing my footage in Premiere Pro going frame by frame to count the amount of actual hits to kill and milliseconds to die:

Former is multiple, latter two are a single enemy firing. No aiming reticle. Enemy moved while in cover back and forth, throwing grenades at my cover point. Blood splatter to indicate taking damage appears in the frame before the bullet is actually fired.

Reviewing the footage and the table both Recruit and Trooper are relatively tame. The standard ISA M82 assault rifle takes 6 hits on average to kill while the Helghast assault rifle the StA52 takes 5 hits to kill. Your time to die on Recruit is over 15 seconds while Trooper is barely over 10. On Recruit the enemy AI was more preoccupied with the ally NPC than my player character, focusing fire on him despite me standing in the open. On Trooper their hits were more consistent, and the time to die would have been even shorter if not for the enemy soldier reloading and taking time to take cover. Veteran is where things really change drastically. Enemies take more shots to kill, ranging from 2-4 on both assault rifles. The time to die is significantly shorter, about just 2 seconds continuously exposed before death. Elite had a consistent 9 bullets per enemy with the M82, whereas the StA52 was more varied between 6 and 10 bullets. Time to die on Elite is pretty much the same as Veteran. Additional details on the Elite difficulty is I noticed enemies would move while in cover to avoid the player zeroing in on their exposed areas. Grenades were thrown more often on Elite than on easier difficulties, and the player lacks the aiming reticule when firing from the hip that is present in every other difficulty setting.

Reviewing this it appears Killzone 2 has two main difficulty levels: Normal and Hard with more acute differences between their sub-divisions. Killzone 2 adheres to the expected difficulty variation of the higher the difficulty the more damage is required to achieve a kill and the less damage you can take before being reset to an earlier checkpoint. I do appreciate the finer details on Elite with enemy AI appearing to become more capable to combat the player’s actions compared to every other option.

Lastly, some miscellaneous details: Average time to load a checkpoint upon death was 9 seconds 39 milliseconds 26 microseconds. Average time to load a level from mission select was 28 seconds 59 milliseconds 40 microseconds.

[calowlmitygoddess]

I watch a lot of book content and often come across book discoruse, specialy about dark roamance. And while i dont like dark romance myself i often find myself torn between the arguments for and aainst it. Like on one hand i see that alot of dark romance is poorly written and handles serious topics very flippantly mostly for the sake of being edgy and i think thats something you could argue about. But most people are conscerned about it and other bordeline abusive love interests in other genres like Fantasy helping to normalize such abusive behaviours and framing it as desirable.

And i know this isnt new discourse, ive seen this going on since the twilight era like: Oh my god Edward is such a creep a 100 yro stalker vampire preying on a 17 yro grill!!!!1"

And like, i get it, but also this kind of thinking for me at least bordelines on that victorian idea that women shouldnt read certain kinds of literature because they have 'small delicate brains' like, when a love interest is an imortal vampire, thats the fantasy, then fantasy that you regular 17 yro girl could get the attention of such thing.

There was this really good video essay i watched a while back i dont remember who filmed it and i dont recall the tittle but it was something like 'do women dream of patriarchy' or something yt is not helping. ANyyway the girl in the video made a really good point aboit these kind of romances, of Why The broody, bordeline abusive bad boy is such a proeminent fantasy when in real life these type of men are The Literal Devil, and that being that 'taming' the bad boy by the end of the novel itself Is the fantasy. The fact that You could tame the beast, that you have all the power over this violent man.

But then at the same time theres also the other side of my brain going, "even if its a fantasy irl people could still try to 'save' abusive men when thats not their job, because they want to live the fantasy" but also i go 'frankly if someone gets into a situation like this because they want to live a saviour fantasy sounds more like a Them problem than the books, because i never read dark romance but i constantly read books about heroes saving the day and I Also developed a saviour complex"

But also i genuely hate this kind of love interest because they are EVERY FUCKING WHERE i would so enjoy romantasy more if every single love interest wasnt Morally-Grey-But-Not-Really Shadow Daddy Who is Mean To Everyone But Her number 40000. Im so tired give me some variety please I cant handle this anymore, i fucking hate you sarah j maas.

Frankly a lot of the discourse about this topic just sounds like misogyny and purity culture to me, but even then i understand the talking points and there is some merit to them, but i genuely think that demeaning women and girls capacity for critical thinking and that if anything, the shitty bad boy love interest is more of a symptom of the misogynistic society we live in than The Causing probelm itself.

[madseance]

(This is just a heads-up for anyone who doesn't like to see discourse or bickering and wants to tap out.)

I'm commenting on this, perhaps unwisely, because the preceding comment just does not make sense to me. I mean, I get what I think you're saying (that Neil and Terry can't have ever thought of writing these characters as romantically involved, because Neil once said he found the idea of GO slash fic "mindboggling"), but that doesn't logically follow. And I don't think it's helpful to call something an outright lie when it isn't.

All he's saying in the highlighted quote is: "I still find the idea of Good Omens slash fiction fairly mindboggling." You could project all kinds of meaning onto it, but what's actually there in the quote is just that. He's not even saying it's mindboggling that Crowley and Aziraphale could be imagined as romantically in love. He's not saying he could never imagine writing them that way himself. He's not making any sort of moral judgement on the idea of that kind of relationship between these characters. He's saying the idea of slash fiction about that book and characters is mindboggling. That's it.

Something I think younger people especially do not fully appreciate is how much people's attitudes towards fan fiction have changed over the years. You think it's looked down on now? I've been writing fanfic since the late '90s. In 2002, to simply say the idea of someone writing it about your characters boggles your mind was a tame and rather neutral opinion on fanfic for a published author to have. Fanfic was Not Talked About even moreso than now, and when it was, it was often spoken of negatively, or at least very dismissively.

We also didn't have social media whereby creators of things were exposed to fandom culture as directly as they are now. Most authors probably found it a bewildering topic, and something they didn't really know how to contextualise or speak on, because they only had the vaguest idea what it really was or how it fit into fandom. And it's objectively strange to imagine, if you never have before, that people you don't know are writing your characters in situations very different from what you've imagined yourself.

All that's to say, this particular comment about Good Omens slash fic from over 20 years ago has basically nothing to do with how the author himself is writing the characters now.

And apart from everything else, 2002 was, again, over 20 years ago. Even if you made a lot of assumptions about this quote, and decided that in 2002, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett did not intend Crowley and Aziraphale to ever be a romantic pairing, a lot of time has passed since then, and Terry Pratchett was alive for most of that time. That's a lot of opportunities to evolve their ideas for the story. So it's frankly a bit of a wild move to firmly state that it's "a lie" they ever imagined the story going this way.

Hello!! I have a question about the ending of s2 ep6 (loved the season by the way!!)

What lead you to making Crowley kiss aziraphale? In the past i recall you mentioning that you felt unsure to stray too far from the original material or say anything new about their relationship without Terry Pratchett being here so i wonder what caused you to change your mind? Not complaining, just curious :)

I said I wasn't going to change anything about the nature of their relationship in the first book, and I didn't. I know what Terry and I had planned for the sequel, though.

[rrcraft-and-lore]

So, this thread is for @Spirited_Gal , who is a wonderful person & author. She reached out curious about Asian storytelling structures and techniques, then links to South Asian ones. This became a convo about native/common/historical structures/styles/techniques from South Asia. 

So, let's get into some loosely (just to make y'all aware, without turning this into an academic essay because it easily can - but I do not have time for that, and am not being paid for that writing, and it could be a lot when fully fully fleshed out). 

Katha | Kathya: this is an Indian style of storytelling rooted in religious stories (mythology) - the performances are ritual events in Hindiusm. Sikhism holds a different take on it but somewhat related in that there is a focus on religious discourse, taking things apart, - 

questioning meaning/interpretations, & then using this to teach scriptures for a moral/religious education - directing beliefs & practices. But the purpose regardless when reduced to the simplest is the same: the moral/religious education & impartation of societal good values to people through the stories.

Usually the stories and this style are performed with a class of people who are both priests and narrators (narrators/storytellers have a massively important role in South Asian culture that they cannot be understated and undervalued, especially- 

considering so much of the religious history | myths, epics/stories were orally performed and passed down. Aural (listening/hearing) pleasure are just as important as music and song and dance accompany these performances, and couplets, hymns are common as well. 

Anyways, Katha is its own style focused on the religious epics like Ramayama. These stories as mentioned feature a storyteller proficient in classic music, oration, accompanied by dance/song at times, and involve story digression points - if that sounds familiar :throws copy of The First Binding at your face (lovingly).

This particular style is called: Kathakalakshepa.

Another style of Katha is: Purana-Pravachan - built on/around expounding the Puranas, a vast collection of folklore, stories, poems, legends, and more. They are heavily layered with- 

deep symbolism, diverse, incorporation tales of all sorts including sciences and topics like cosmology and cosmogony (not the same). This style focuses on the spiritual interpretation of these stories while reciting them. 

Folk Narratives (and I have another thread on specific ones such as Panchatantra and Jataka tales which I have talked about and have been argued by some experts to contribute | inspired to 30-50 percent of western nursery tales, ballads, "fairy" tales, as well as some (some not all, not many) middle eastern ones. Some. These are usually narrated with drumming and bow-string instruments. You might see more of these in future Tremaine novels. Perhaps even book two <.<

One of the most common type of story within the folk narrative is particularly - the heroic ballad.

Another specific style here is the Burra Katha - an oral storytelling technique that comes from the Jangam Katha (an order of religious monks associated with Shiva). It incorporates many of things I've mentioned before: prayer, drama, dance, songs, poems, humor (lewd and tame), and usually focuses on mythological stories, or interpretations to focus on modern social issues. Interesting fact, Burra refers to tambura - a stringed instrument with a hollow shell. In Telegu, the word Burra means brain. The shell of the instrument so resembles a human skull (metal! or...gothic. w.e.), it's made of baked clay, pumpkins, or soft metals like brass/copper. In this style, the narrator doesn't just narrate, they play the instrument and dances to the music. South Asia has very little just tell a story traditions. 

They're all performances. You will move, you will dance, you will evoke, sing, riddles, lessons, so on. :Gestures to Ari:

Okay - that's it that I want to talk about Katha (yep one tradition/style with varied structures). Just one...see how diverse it gets.

NOW, CLASS: 

Kirtan | Keertan: It's narrating, reciting, telling or describing a story or an idea. Wait isn't that the same? No. Because it's a genre of religious performance arts but you're not necessarily breaking down a religious epic/myth a certain way. Instead, you are focused on the 

performance of them, many times in a group, with multiple singers, each of whom recite/focus on the name of a specific deity, or a legend, and then you perform that part, very heavy on emoting, evoking that aspect to the audience, the romance, the heroism, and then use multiple singers to discuss that. This particular style is built to engage the audience.

You bring the audience in on the chanting, on the songs, or reply to the singers. You're not lecturing and teaching a moral/spiritual education here. You're performing them and involving the crowd 

That IS different. This is a collective performance. Just because you might cover similar topics as Katha, for example, doesn't mean it's the same thing.

That's like saying anything involving a four chord progression is the same (I know someone musicy will bring up a joke about how...yeah they're all the same. I KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING WITH THAT BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. CHILLLLL). 

Anyways, what specifically makes Kirtan different is the fact that it's not required to be educational, and it's focused on shared performances. Katha can be performed by ONE person. 

Kirtan again is commonly a call-and-response style performance.

I've already talked about Puranas and Jatka Tales and Panchatantra before (you can look those up in my other thread). Also styles of storytelling because of what they entail in their collections, diversity of topics, and varied styles between them in the presentation. They're not just "works" but it's how they're collected/presented and what they cover. That matters. 

Hitopadesha: Beneficial Advice. This is an Indian text, written in, as you can imagine, Sanskrit. It's compromised of fables with human and animal characters and focuses on, you guessed it, imparting advice - maxims, so on. Things involving political affairs, life advice, and is delivered in simple and elegant language. It is said in fact to actually predate the Panchatantra (which I've shared is already one of the oldest things out of there. This is said at times to be the Panchatantra before Panchatantra ) 

The argued point of this particularly story and its structure of being four books, really, is to both encourage the proficiency of people reading it in Sanskrit expression (writing, poetry, more), and imparting wisdom/good behavior. Note, this is not focused on religious/ mythological connections. These are some of the oldest folklore/folktale/fable style stories. You can convey lessons/wisdom/life advice without a religious epic. Though, note, religious figures DO appear and can in this style. Some examples from within: 

Book one: (Translated title) How to gain a friend (some of y'all might need this with how you behave online). It begins with a statement on how the wise and sincere friends might often appear poor or destitute, however, they are the ones who more often/earnestly help one achieve true success in life. It focuses on finding friends of good quality, doing this through many particular animal stories such as: The traveler and the tiger. Or, the deer, the jackal, and the crow. The old man & his young wife. The huntsman, deer, the boar, & the serpent & jackal. 

Frame Narrative: I think I've talked about this one so much it'll be mildly depressing if I have to really break this one down. But, ahem. Sandwich narrative, kind of self explanatory. Story (or stories) within a story. You have a main narrative and or narrator (hi Ari) set the stage for more emphasized and secondary narratives within (going as deeply layered as you want). The legendary South Asian epic, Mahabharta is the earliest example of Frame Narratives we have, along with Ramayama, Panchatantra, The Seven Wise Masters, and Vikram Vetala (or Vikram the Vampire oh yes, Indian Vampire - technically flesh eating demon, long story. HA. GEDDIT?). Anyways some other examples from other cultures are: 1,001 Nights, The Decameron, and Canterbury Tales. Parts of the Odyssey employ this too, the beginning, where Odysseus tells of his time in the court of King Alcinous.

Mary Shelley's, Frankenstein, has multiple framed narratives in it. Neil Gaiman's used it in parts of Sandman. But we're getting away from the South Asian history/roots.

Next: 

Qissa | Kisse | Kissa (NOTE: This is not solely an Indian origin, but a fusion that comes out of Islamic/Persian heritage that developed a different localized form to Punjabi and Bangladeshi people once introduced and changed for them through migration). The word Qissa is Arabic for epic legend or folk tale. It's regularly common in Indo-Aryan languages like Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, so on. 

You can also translate it as: interesting story (which is a whole own genre - something that has led me to butting some heads with people in the biz when I explain YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE A STANDARD PLOT STRUCTURE FROM THE WEST. SCREAMS. :Jabs at one piece, an epic adventure fiction with a numinous goal still in the distance after 20 years, but strung together with tightly woven character driven and location arcs - it quite literally follows the history of great, grand, ADVENTURE fiction, promising more than anything, a great adventure story in pursuit of a goal. The end).

Anyways, I digress.

Punjabi Qisse/Kisse focuses on stories of love, passion, betrayal, and sometimes a common man's revolt against a larger system. Stories of friendship, loyalty, love. These are usually sung and performed. Poetry forms of this are VERY common (through all the mentioned cultures above, not just Punjabi). The Bengali style is similar (as obvy both evolved out of the Arabic tradition), just focusing more on Bengali culture and stories. They are all UTTERLY beautiful. 

If you've read Tales of Tremaine (and wait for book two) you will catch these themes and notes as well.

It's almost like that series is trying to smash and share every freaking kind of storytelling technique and tradition I can from along the silk road because...there isn't one of those (golden road) in the book. Oh, wait. :blinks:

Kavya: This is a particular style of utterly beautiful poetry performed by court poets. It's a blend of prose and poetry focusing specifically on the flowery/hyperbolic uses of figures of speech, metaphors, and similes. 

Sometimes you'll have pieces flowing through normalized prose and poetry in and out. That is NOT required in that specific way. It's just something that happens/can be done. 

There is a very specific intentional use of that in the chapter, Brahm, in The First Binding, in where there is a creation/cosmogony story, performed in normalized prose, rhyming couplets and quatrains, with a mini section in verse. 

That section is not actually Kavya, just inspired, as it is not a court epic, more drawing from the other requirement of a "short" lyrical work with those aspects I mentioned above. 

There is Bhakti poetry: a specific poetic tradition from the 6th century focusing on celebrating the love and devotion for Hindu gods - showing one's mystical devotion to a god. It's devotional and religious, also focusing on condemning evils, promoting egalitarian values, transcending ideas of caste, gender, and restrictions. It hinges upon message of love.

Dastan: Is an Urdu storytelling tradition focused on epic tales of adventure, romance, chivalry (note, not only pakistani/urdu, other islamic cultures use this style). It is performed both orally and in written format.

This whole thread is JUST A PRIMER.

If you are interested, please take the time to go do a proper deep dive.

[fvckyouimaprophet]

2, 5, 13 for the choose violence ask game 💖

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

not the top/bottom discourse 😂

i’m not sure if i have a fave at the moment, but i’ll go with sirius. there is so much existing discourse about who tops, who is taller, who is whatever, so, let’s hop in and join the swarm.

well, first of all, sirius is a scorpio, so— (kidding, kidding).

this is so hard because the discourse is so stupid, but okay okay i brought this upon myself.

sirius doesn’t bottom because he internalized the shitty politics of “power dynamics” associated with top/bottom discourse when he was first sexually curious and is a dramatic fucker, so his takeaway was, “i will never bottom because i will always be the one in control/with all the power.”

a lot of the people he hooks up with are like, “oh, okay, sure,” or want to be topped (sirius makes it known), so it becomes a point of pride for him. he’ll casually drop it in conversation, “well, i’ve never bottomed, so i wouldn’t know.”

remus thinks it’s the funniest thing he’s ever seen and pokes fun of sirius’s fragile ego and how very heterosexual of you to view sex this way. but sirius is prideful, and that only makes him cling to it harder. 

5. worst discord server and why

i don’t mean this in a “i’m too scared to share” or tame way, but i haven’t been a part of any shitty discord servers. which is probably because i’m only really active on four, and two of which recommended by people on one of the other servers (and another which i co-started and has maybe 15 members).

i have heard stories, but discord overwhelms me, so i have kept it tight. and i lean more onto the older side of fandom discords, so i steer clear of spaces that have a lot of minors or people who are significantly younger than me.

shitty rps, however, i have stories. i got kicked out of a teen wolf rp because of shipping shenanigans. and i have been harassed on glee rps (whom amongst us who was a part of those hasn’t), but i don’t remember the names, and they’re all long deactivated, so i don’t think it’d be juicy.

funny story about glee rp culture, though. there was a blog where people could submit shoutouts to characters, ships, and specific rp servers. sounds like a good idea, but a loooot of drama started because anonymous people would share things like “i hope [this ship] gets back together. i hate [current ship].” or they’d praise a handful of characters in one server, but others would get ignored, and people would quit because they’d feel under-appreciated. oh glee, you really were a swirling vortex of drama.

13. worst blorboficiation

if we’re talking fandom: i am genuinely annoying about this in one of the discord servers, but the blorbofication/baby girl-ifying of certain slytherin marauders-era characters.

i genuinely don’t care if you ship them. i wrote lesbian rosekiller, and i enjoyed the idea of them just being genuinely unhinged and used it to practice writing body horror.

but this culture of “oh they’re so soft” where they all get turned into a gang of hot topic queers who feel like the embodiment of the uwu face has me ???? and then people will act like it’s canon. like anyone who thinks that barty crouch jr wasn’t living out “love simon” is lying to themself.

i get that this has happened since the dawn of time (esp with white male characters). but the characters who get it usually are meant to be torn in some way, are redeemed, or theoretically have the potential to be redeemed.

i just genuinely wish people would acknowledge that it’s wildly ooc. there’s nothing wrong with that! i think it can be really freeing. “this is basically original fiction, but i’m using familiar character names because it makes me feel more comfortable/creative, and i have a built-in audience for my work” is a valid approach to fanfic!

if we’re talking about me: i watch riverdale, and so i’m going with cheryl blossom. 

has she murdered an uncle (and pretended to feed him to other members of the family to blackmail them), played doll with her brother’s dead corpse, and tried to surprise her ex by being like, “let’s co-parent your child. i built them a room in my mansion”? absolutely.

but i love how crazy she is. and you can rip her and toni’s batshit toxic relationship out of my cold, dead hands.

"i'm not the same girl who burned down thornhill and cut off [my mom’s] oxygen" "sure you are" 10/10, flawless.

(also janice from the sopranos)

✨send me asks from the choose violence game✨

[marzipanandminutiae]

a genuine question: are you proship or just against the rigidity of anti/pro dichotomy? for my own comfort as a follower and fan xoxo

I'm not actually involved in The Discourse, first of all. I disagree with the aims of the antis I've seen so far re: taking down AO3, strictly policing content in fandom (and general fiction), etc. so if that's all that's necessary to qualify one as a proshipper, I am one. If there's more to it, then I suspect I'm not.

I think the topic of fanfic morality is...thorny. R.P.F, for example, deeply bothers me, especially when the issue of explicit fanfic concerning real, very young people comes up. As I know it has. Fiction is not real life, and adults responsible for curating their own online experiences must be trusted to know the difference between fiction and reality or we risk falling back into patterns of censorship that have plagued fandom for years. But some people insist on writing fics about real people, some of whom are not adults. Does that not cross the line rather? And what's to be done about it?

I don't have the answer, I freely admit. But I don't think "nuke the best fanfiction space we've carved out for ourselves yet" is it.

And that's really the only very specific circumstance in which I can understand the outrage. I will not waste a second of my time hand-wringing about the fate of a fake person in a fake scenario. It's not real or harming real people. There IS content I find disgusting/morally repugnant/plain ordinary Squicky, but. As long as it's tagged appropriately and 100% fictional, I will spare it only the thought necessary to say "ew. nope." and move on.

And for some things that squick a lot of other people, I may not. As you know if you've been hanging around here in the past year or so, I write for a fandom that happens to involve incest. Consenting adult incest, in my personal fics, but like...The Full Siblings Who Grew Up Together Are Banging. And I want them to keep banging. I have favorite fics wherein they bang. I can explain my logic till the cows come home- I find their dynamic interesting to explore; it's different from other incest ships, which I usually avoid, because they were never able to be normal siblings; etc. -but at the end of the day, it would still put me on the antis' shit list.

This is not just a matter of principle for me. I read and produce some of the Problematique Fanfic. Relatively tame stuff in the grand scheme of things, really, but I still have a vested interest in avoiding content crackdowns on purely fictional stories. Apart from generally disagreeing that it's the best way to fix fandom's issues.

So, that's where I stand. If you feel you have to unfollow, godsspeed.

[twst-discourse-bot]

BREAKING NEWS: lesbiansinfandom Strikes Again, cutemermaidprincess Not Down For the Count?!

Hello, I am here to interrupt your peaceful scrolling experience with another fun little update on the current worst person in the TWST fandom (and a contender for the top in Genshin as well). Yes, yes, I'm sure some of you are tired of seeing me by now.

For those of you who are new to this madness and are interested in reading the backstory for what I mean, please make your way over to my FIRST MAJOR POST and my SECOND MAJOR POST as well as my LAST BIG UPDATE on the topic. Also, I encourage you to go through the evidence hashtag on my blog for further information.

For everyone who has been following along: Ray/Jordan/The Rat currently has two blogs that are revamped burners and appear to be getting ready to post her usual BS soon, those being lumineisqueen and fandomlover3458. If you haven't already, block her there.

Time for my favorite copypasta: Yuuna/Marie/Lumine/Ray/Jordan is a user in the TWST and Genshin fandom with a long history of racism, Sinophobia, homophobia, and TERF behavior, in addition to spamming tags with repetitive content and being linked to the harassment of other users.

Summary and More Below the Cut ->

New readers, once again, please go ahead and at least skim through those posts I linked, otherwise you really won't understand what the significance of the following information is.

She has gone by many names over the months, but so far, I have recorded 17 previous accounts/usernames/burner blogs that she has been using to perpetuate her nonsense. With the two newest renamings, that clocks in at 19 usernames. The names she has adopted, in what I believe to be choronological order starting around March of 2022, are as follows:

xiaoveniscanon, eimikoislove, (supposedly) femtwstocs, genshinlumine, yuunatsukuyomiinwonderland, deadyuunaacount, anonymousdiscourse, discourseinfandoms, lumineforlife, lesbiansinfandom, fandom4lesbians, mult1fandoml3sbian, magicalstorybook, cookiesandfairytales, fandomcoffee, nerdyfandomlover, cutemermaidprincess, and now lumineisqueen and fandomlover3458.

The names she has used consist of Yuuna, Marie, Ray, Jordan, Alex, and Madison, and she has (within weeks or months of each deletion and creation) has claimed to be 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 (not in order). Again, all of this is happening this year, in 2022.

And there are even more accounts that people believe to be her as well, but have no posts or activity yet, so I can't prove it. If you have had any interaction with any of these "people", it is all the same person. Am I annoyed that she's still kicking despite already having been exorcised 17 previous times? Yes.

But... I have a little piece of information that may or may not make you all feel better about the situation depending on how hilarious you find hypocrisy.

As I'm sure y'all see by now, The Rat has some very loud opinions about certain ships, mainly her campaign against people who ship Zhongli and Xiao from Genshin.

According to her, they have a familial relationship, specifically a father and son type bond, even though literally everyone she has interacted with and those who have spoken to me about the issue as well have said that she is wrong and making shit up.

Here's a screenshot from fandomlover3458 (anonymousdiscourse/discourseinfandoms) as an example, just the first one I found (lumineforlife was the old name used for lumineisqueen, same person), and this is a tame one:

I'm know you're probably wondering, "twst-discourse-bot mod, I already know this. This is old news." BUT WAIT. There's more. I received a DM recently from someone who's been basically following this clusterfuck circus from the start (you know who you are, and I love you) and it contained some very interesting information, specifically this screenshot from the fandomlover3458 following list:

HMM. INTERESTING. For those of you who don't want to look it up yourselves, or don't know what this screenshot means, the highlighted user is a proshipper. Meaning someone who believes all ships should be considered valid, including cases of inc*st, ped***ilia, any kind of abuse, etc.

So, ask yourself, dear reader: why is Ray, someone who has been adamantly fighting against a ship that they deem to be inc*stuous (by their own headcanon, not via actual canon information) to the point of viciously attacking users who ship it, following a proship account? Think very hard on this.

BUT. WAIT. THERE'S. MORE. They are not just following one (1) proshipper, no and they are not following 2, nor 3. They are following SEVEN EXPLICITLY PROSHIP ACCOUNTS. Highlighted for easy viewing, inclusionist is another word for proship, I believe:

She's following only 17 accounts and nearly half of them are proship. It was like Christmas came early for me when I found this out, I was giggling and kicking my feet like a devious little schoolgirl. If you're brand new, you wouldn't get just how vindicating this discovery was, after months of dealing with her idiocy. It's like smoking crack.

Several people have come to me, over time, asking if I thought The Rat was a troll and was doing all of this for kicks. To them I have to reiterate: no. I now believe she is a slimy, nasty excuse for a human being who is projecting her own questionable enjoyments onto others by playing morality police and using logic that doesn't make sense, unless you're the type to blindly agree to anything that someone slaps the word "problematic" in front of.

And a disclaimer: I'm not interested in starting a debate over pro/anti ship with this post, I am simply putting this information out there to further illustrate her vile hypocrisy and construct my own opinions for the reasoning behind her actions. Your opinions are your own, don't try and sway me one way or another.

That's all folks! Be sure to tune in for the next installment because knowing her, she won't stop here!

[piisuke]

⚠️ Discord sever announcement; notes/reblogs appreciated⚠️

Yeah, we're still crying over Junpei

Several months ago, we created a Tumblr group chat revolving around Yoshino Junpei. However, Tumblr kinda sucks, so we migrated to Discord

What started off as a small group of friends has evolved into a safe place for all Jujutsu Kaisen fans, with 35 members and 8 bots, and we're still growing!

Interested yet?

Here's some general info:

Baby server, alive and thriving since Dec. 28th, 2020

English server, but we have many bilingual friends who speak Spanish, German, and other languages

All ages are welcome, as long as you're comfortable with cursing and the occasional tame, but mature joke

Anime only and manga reader friendly

Structured, organized spaces to talk monitored by several mods

Some features:

A descriptive list of roles given to new members. Everyone can choose their own color, and will be given roles such as adult, child, and manga reader for safety purposes.

Several bots, such as Tatsu and Mudae. Play with your pets and collect your waifus!

A voice channel integrated with Rhythm, so you can rock out (and you don't even have to unmute!)

Channel highlights:

An introduction channel, complete with names, ages, pronouns and social media, so you never get confused.

An anime only channel dedicated to all things Jujutsu Kaisen, including updates, merch, and other happenings.

A spoiler chat for manga readers. (Specify in your introduction whether you want to be included in this chat; it's reccomended you opt out if you're an anime only. DM a mod at any time to change this.)

A place for your headcanons and alternate universes. We're still stuck on transfemme Junpei. Go wild.

A general chat for day to day happenings and things unrelated to Jujutsu Kaisen

A channel for other media, for whatever anime, manga, shows, and books you happen to be enjoying. Perfect for spoilers.

A channel especially for pet pics. Can it get any better than that?

The discourse center, where we focus on news, political happenings, and current events/controversies. Also, history homework. It's wild.

Thirsty? A complete NSFW channel for your enjoyment only accessable by adults. Specify in your intro if you wish to be opted out. You'll be given the child role and will not have access. We do not accept underage art of minors, no exceptions.

An entire creativity corner for artists to upload their original works, writers to upload their fics, and a place to display other works.

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[starlightervarda]

Not trying to be toxic at all, so I'm sorry if it appears that way, I'm just genuinely confused. Isn't TOG set in a bunch of different places? I saw the movie once when it first came out after I had some surgery, so I was little loopy. What is it people are culturally getting wrong? Feel free not to reply if this comes off rude, and I'm very sorry if it does!

Hi nonny <3

First of all, I hope you’ve recovered or are recovering smoothly.

Yes, the movie was set in at least three countries, but it’s less about the setting more about how the characters themselves, their relationships, backgrounds and histories are constantly looked through an American lens. And how it’s pushing out international fans from this fandom when they finally found a chance to engage in a popular topic and share/express/get excited.

There is so much stuff I can list culturally/religiously/etc. that are Yikes™. And I originally did, but the reply was like 4-pages long, so, I’ll spare you and try to minimize the rant.

Just...do you have any idea how many Italians and MENA people have been um akshually’d by WASP-y Americans? Or people (usually Western Europeans/Canadians) who’ve absorbed American online behaviour and tactics and utilize them to enforce their opinions? The responses that range from harassment to self-victimization to make us regret chiming in and many other give up and leave?

It’s why I avoided engaging in fandoms until I saw the dung-heaps being dumped in Joe’s fanon and the ensuing shitstorm of misinformation that mixes with Western Liberal overcompensation (see: Top!Joe is Racist, Joe is Bigger Than Nicky and Santa Hat Discourse) plus Orientalism and ‘positive discrimination’ fetishism that ends up veering into religious apologism sometimes.

Acting like he came out of the womb a Renaissance man while also holding fundamentalist ideals that weren’t widespread in his region until the 17th-19th Century. And unflinchingly devout despite being ancient and doing things like deferring to a woman? All while being artistic, liberal, romantic and gay? Did I mention he was a Fatimid from a Golden Age and would be open to changing his mind or partaking in others’ traditions and cultures and was probably way more into maths and wine-poetry than keeping a consistent prayer schedule? It makes no sense for him to be otherwise than it does for Catholic-born Nicky and Booker.

Also, Nicky. A lot of the jokes and widespread agreement that he was illiterate, filthy, useless, stupid, weak-willed or a mindlessly aggressive animal that had to be tamed and educated by Joe feed into ugly stereotypes Westerners have about Mediterranean people as hot-tempered, lazy, loud idiots. (Which, whether they know it or not, includes Joe.)

...Nicky was a priest from a maritime superpower...like how did they even communicate if he wasn’t at least bilingual? He didn’t go up to Joe like ‘Me Tarzan, You Jane’ stop it.

Plus, all the variations of ‘Joe was the only Brown Man in Europe/Nicky was the only White Man in the Middle East’ which are just -_- Sprawling empires with mixed populations have existed since Cyrus the Great. People all along the Mediterranean to this day range from Joe’s complexion and hair texture to Nicky’s. Medieval Italians weren’t discriminating against Joe for being olive-skinned with a black beard, and medieval Levantines during the Crusades weren’t horrified by Nicky’s green eyes literally what the fuck?

Also, the whole ‘White’ and ‘Brown’ thing didn’t even exist until recently.

The American definition of ‘Race’ makes no damn sense. Ethnicity/nationality/religion/sect take precedence over sharing a skin-tone. You can discriminate against your ‘own race’. To be blunt, in unpleasant parts of the Commonwealth both Nicky and Joe would be called wogs. Their differences are primarily about culture/location.

Don’t get me started on how so many act like Christianity wasn’t native to the Middle East because the world exists only in America where their basis is Anglo-Saxon Protestantism and its Puritan values are still expressed in the edgiest of atheists (which no doubt feed into how they treat Nicky), and Islam is somehow not an Abrahamic religion with over a billion adherents, multiple sects and levels of practice from lax to archaic and a laundry list of problems that should not be excused, ignored or whitewashed instead of the singular version they insist on portraying and defending.

Basically, the popular interpretations and the way they impose their beliefs and perceptions as Right are, more often than not, Bad and Ignorant.