#totally don't have a shipping bias

[moominmanoneandonly]

My tutor cancelled our lessons because her mouse felt sick , so now I can draw Animated megop instead of doing exercises

I love this big lady

[comet-cola-lite]

Immigrants and those racially profiled as such (including indigenous Americans!?!?!!), detained without due process, denied appeal, deported or shipped off to the neo-concentration camp being erected at the already dispicable guantanamo bay. Trans people having passports confiscated and legal documents reverted, having threats of care being cut off, studies related to trans people forcibly retracted. Missing queer kids scrubbed from missing kids databases. Federal research being gutted in every sector, limited, censored, even down to words as innocuous as "bias", "gender", and "female" in some contexts. Federal departments destroyed at a whim, all communication from the FDA (including food safety recalls) frozen. Elon Musk in the national treasury just doing whatever the fuck he wants. National media not covering protests at all, and most anything else that they do cover rarely being met with the severity it warrants. The largest social media platforms being biased to push right-wing content by design and bending to the whims of whatever they think the GOP will like in their policy and censorship. The tik tok and tariff stunts being literally just straight up propaganda to make Trump look like a hero while actually doing nothing whatsoever. Project 2025 being the goal all along (obviously) as Trump actions continue to follow this plan laid out for him. Appointees of abusers and rapists and racists and bigots to major sectors of governments. A seeming end to separation of chruch and state with the establishment of the White House Faith Office. Efforts to remove federal employees to destabilize internal resistance or install loyalists in their place. Massive donations to the republican party that just blatantly break the law to a comically transparent degree, not even an attempt to hide it through loopholes. Nazi salute at the inauguration. The promise of further and total ethnic cleansing of Palestine (and the continuous underreported breaking of the current ceasefire by Israel, with impunity). Genuine threats to annex Canada and Greenland into the States. Canada's own polling for their upcoming federal election that's leaning conservative, which could throw Canada right into the same situation as the US, thanks to exported rhetoric from the huge swath of American-owned news and media in Canada. Far right-wing leaders voted into power, or polling trending that way, all across the globe.

This is only what I could think of off of the top of my head. Most of this stuff has been since the beginning of Trump's second term, some has been ongoing for a long time. And still this is only the tip of the iceberg.

We're not on the path to fascism. Fascism is here. We crossed the line ages ago.

But there's still hope. There is resistance. Don't give up. Don't stay quiet. Don't normalize any of this shit. Fight.

[perseidlion]

So there's this character in Dead Boy Detectives.

He's:

Attractive

Flirts shamelessly with Edwin

Makes physical advances toward Edwin

Makes Charles jealous and "gets in the way of the main ship"

Is of indeterminate age but is possibly decades or centuries old

Can transform into an animal.

And it's this guy:

AND YET I have never seen any discourse calling Monty a creep and a predator.

Unlike The Cat King, he even kissed Edwin suddenly and without explicit consent. He also lied, manipulated and betrayed all of them and nearly got them killed. Yes, he said he didn't know Esther was planning on destroying them. But c'mon, it's Esther.

Somehow though, the fandom vilifies The Cat King more than Monty. I think the reason why is worth a long, hard look in the mirror.

The biggest difference between the two is TCK's sexual nature and his in-your-face queerness. Those are two things that have been historically vilified and othered about gay/queer men.

Even these days, through the whole "no kink at pride" discourse, this argument continues through respectability politics.

Simply put, a short little twink with a crush is a non-threatening gay man, while TCK with his overt sensuality and gender non-conforming clothing represents a threat. Monty's advances are seen as cute, while TCK's are predatory, even though Monty propositioned Edwin with a kiss as surely as TCK overtly propositioned him.

If TCK's sexually-charged flirting bothered you in a way that Monty's advances didn't (despite the fact the audience knew that at least at first, Monty's advances were a big old lie) ask yourself why that is. The reason is probably that you were taught to fear and vilify overt displays of queer sexuality . Even queer people need to unlearn this particular bias.

And just to cover all the bases, I will shout again that The Cat King is a fae/trickster and that Edwin's punishment was proportionate in that context. Edwin used magic and confined a creature he knew to be as intelligent as a human and was punished for it with a very long leash and a (totally doable) task. It was a task designed to make Edwin see the cats as individuals instead of tools to help him close a case. The sort of fiction that DBD has its roots in (and the source material) is full of these sort of eye-for-an-eye type of punishments with magical creatures.

Just to be clear, I don't think we should be vilifying Monty, either. You can't 1:1 fictional scenarios onto real life and apply our standards of morality to them, especially not in a setting with man-eating mushrooms, ghosts, and transforming animals. All the conflict these two characters brought to the plot was necessary. If everyone acted with perfect morality all the time, fiction would be incredibly boring.

And IF you did apply RL standards to fiction, you would have to acknowledge that Edwin's crime of binding and forcing a fully sentient being to give him information violated just as much consent as TCK putting that bracelet on Edwin. And that Monty was just as "predatory" as The Cat King, if not more so. The Cat King, at least, never lied to Edwin, while everything about Monty was a lie from the start.

[welcomingdisaster]

halls of mandos dashboard simulator... part 2

Recommended for you!

🦊 fairfaefox Follow got a song on the tip of my tongue i haven't heard in like 400 years and it's driving me nuts. all i can remember about it is that it started with this really vivid image of burning ships & it had a drum beat that went sorta like dum deee dum ba beee crackle-crackle and got more intense as the song went on think it might have been in quenya? could be wrong

🌃wordsmithfoul Follow ........... ,,, op....... are you talking about the Ñoldolantë

🦊 fairfaefox Follow oh yeah that's it thanks! :)

🌧️ rainelf Follow SCREAMING LMAO OP???

👒 fllfrrur Follow

🦊 fairfaefox Follow HJKHJHKJ GIRL IM AVARI LEAF ME ALONE 😭😭😭😭😭

🏇 doriath_dude Follow Exhibit #4555 of the insane Noldor-centrism of this goddamn website. Most culturally important song of our age to fucking WHOM?? #ugh #curas fights the noldor AGAIN #discourse

( 3555 notes )

🌀positivitydaily Following positivity for elves that died in stupid and embarrassing ways! positivity for elves that don't have a cool and exciting death story! positivity for elves that fell off a cliff or drowned cave-diving or died of heartbreak over someone who was objectively speaking like a 6/10! no matter what posts get popular on here, it's totally OK not to have a cool death story nor does it make you any less worthy of reembodiment! lame death positivity!! #positivity #i'll go on record and say i died from mushroom poisoning

( 121 notes )

🧵broiderycreature Mutuals look i know it's just selection bias from my beloved mutuals but i think it's funny to imagine we're all gonna leave the halls having transed our gender & gotten radicalized. like yeah mom i'm not the daughter you thought you had but more importantly we must abolish the monarchy #lol. lmao even ( 45 notes )

🏰 Turgon_Of_Gondolin_1 Following Update: Minecraft server is back up, but I've disabled PvP and increased raiding protections. I will not name names, but please think before you act next time. ( 203 notes )

💠 LoveStruckLoaf Mutuals hey girl uhhh. sorry your boyfriend didn't come to the halls of mandos. yeah no one can say what his fate is because it isn't woven into the tapestries on of the world i'm really sorry about that haha. uhh i guess he did chose it for himself so there's that. we're still cool right? #lariel's copium

( 108 notes )

🔥Fëanáro_Official Follow

#If they are truly so loath to restrict us they ought not fear the voice of the people #Which I am sure shall be in my favor.

(12001 notes)

🐝 bee-leg Following anyone know whom I petition to learn the everlasting fate of my lemur (beloved companion)? thank you faithfully #personal

( 8 notes )

[kidneybones]

My thoughts on sonamy, shadamy, sonadow that No one asked for

I do like Sonamy when it's done with genuine respect and that deep feeling of love for each other. They've been through it all and stuck up for each other. I really like Amy's new outlook on spreading love to the world, by being herself and the most supportive friend you know. And having that replace the overbearing obsession personality they made her have for like, too long. And Sonic now shows and even voices how he respects and even admires her. No longer actively avoiding her when their paths cross. When I see them shipped that's what I like to see.

Ok anyway they wouldn't be my preferred ship anyway. In like a totally fandom/fanfiction way their ideals on relationships just don't match. Sonic is not going to slow down even for Amy, and I just don't like versions of her that will "wait for him". She deserves better!! 😭😭😭 She deserves the love and attention she yearns and I can only imagine neither of them betraying their ideals like that. So... Sonamy.... Very cute but not the best and wouldnt last.

Now when you have Shadow. Here's the thing. I see him as truly, undoubtedly, able to be in either situation.

With Sonic, Shadow is the only person that would ever be able to keep up with him. And have no need to "slow down". In the version where he loves Sonic I don't even think he'd have that thought . Why would he. They are perfectly able to be free together. The witty banter, the competitiveness, the one upping. Just their way of flirting and showing love.

And if it's Amy he's in love with, Shadow is 💯% able and willing to stay in place just for her. He can't believe someone has that genuine kindness, along with her fierceness when she's ready to bring it on! Amy could be her loving self, and Shadow would take it all in. Her ability to be compassionate and understanding, we know are traits Shadow admires the way we know he is able to stay by someone's side. I can see Amy so happy with someone she can spend time with, share her hobbies with, and gets along with so well. She already sees the side of Shadow many people don't, even when he's trying to hide it. But the way his walls can fall just around her I just know they could find love and happiness together.

I hope you can tell my bias and I absolutely have 0 expectations of any Shadamy and Sonadow actual cannon happening. This is like, specifically what these ships would be like in the stage play my brain makes up.

And of course, you can't leave out polycule shipping. Personally it's not a ship I have specific interests in, but the ensuing hijinks that come from it are so sweet/hilarious I openly welcome seeing.

[olderthannetfic]

Of course people are being defensive, Spotify Anon. You rolled into the Fandom Old corner of Tumblr to tell us to examine our biases based on a streaming platform that only half of us even use at all.

Someome compared it to the f/f wank and they're right. If you accuse people of bullshit based on completely ufounded speculation, half of them will block you and the other half will explain to you why you're wrong. And we can't block other people's anons, so you're just going to have to endure a barrage of "this is bullshit and here's why". You asked for this, this is us examining the racial bias in our spotify wrapped and going "huh, it can't show bias if it doesn't exist" or "how does the fact that I listen to weird non-American music you've never heard of say anything about my feelings about the personhood and rights of American popstars I've never heard of?"

--

Spotify wrapped season is really popular broadly (though not so much around here) to the point that I find it very annoying since you apparently have to download the app to see wrapped??? I hate this season every year.

I use spotify via a browser, grudgingly, because some friends' fun guess-the-song stuff is on there. I had to use it at the fertility clinic because that's what they use to play music while injecting you with eggs. (I picked Mono if anyone is curious, but given how insanely painful being inflated with saline was, I should probably have picked D-2. I just thought it wasn't available because Spotify used to NOT FUCKING HAVE most of BTS' side projects because Spotify sucks donkey balls. Have I mentioned lately how much I resent the ubiquity of this piece of garbage? Have I?)

The thing that gets me that I hadn't quite worked out until just now is that 100 songs is the precise right amount to feel huge and significant without actually being so. Top 100 albums or artists is still an illusion of knowing what someone listens to. (Spotify has been improving, but they still routinely don't have the stuff I want.) But at least there, by the time you get to my 100th most listened to artist for a year, you might have some kind of picture of what I listen to.

Now, if you only listen to prog rock on vinyl, maybe your top 100 songs represent about 50 albums. >:D But let's say you're listening to some modern albums with bonus tracks and shit on Spotify. Your top 100 might be March When I Broke Up And Listened To The Same Five Albums Day And Night. No matter how diverse and interesting the rest of your musical diet, your bland-ass breakup playlist is now ninety out of one hundred songs on your Spotify Wrapped for this year.

I think it's that previously not totally conscious thought about how many 100 songs really is that was annoying me until just now.

Sure, it's just one scenario, but I think this sense of what 100 songs means is what's really annoying me about how people go on about Wrapped. Not just here and about racism: All the mainstream blathering about Wrapped annoys the shit out of me too every damn year.

It's a little like kudos. The top 200-500 most kudosed things in a big fandom may well show some pattern I find interesting. The top 100 most kudosed things show that people like that daily updating omegaverse crossover ship epic with Tony Stark.

Okay, okay, with kudos, you could probably exclude the top 10-30 depending on fandom size, but you know what I mean. Your last 100 fics read mean little, IMO. Your last 100 fandoms read, which is likely to be significantly more than 100 fics, is interesting to me.

It's my usual Numbers Are Deceptive complaint about how people love stats but do not contextualize things well.

[inkedberries]

Hey! Prefacing this by saying that this isn't meant to be an attack (which generally isn't a great way to start a message but I'd rather be clear about intentions) and more so genuine curiosity. Apologizing in advance for this being long; I have a tendency to overthink and overexplain.

I don't typically interact with fandom outside of like... carefully curated little microbiomes. As such I haven't really encountered the whole proship/anti shit with any amount of seriousness since probably around 2018. I personally don't put much stock into either of the terms because there's far too much grey area and for the fact that (as per my understanding) exist as ethical frameworks, and I don't care much for subscribing purely to a single framework to the exclusion of anything else in terms of personal ethics and morality. At most with friends we tend to colloquially refer to incest + pedophile ships as proships, because that's just sort-of what the term has evolved to mean most strongly (again, at least in the circles I run in). I don't consider myself anti or proship or whatever the fuck else, because I generally don't care to involve myself with that kind of fandom drama. I'll involve myself over like, matters of being anti-bigotry but the rest is just something I haven't wanted to deal with for 5-6 years. Tagging + filtering + block functions exist for a reason, and I don't need to do anything more than prevent my feed from showing me those things. I generally just hit block and move on with that kind of stuff, especially because I'm anti-censorship for a variety of reasons.

Tl;dr on that: proship/anti aren't terms I really use or subscribe to, because I feel like they oversimplify everything and conflate "drama". From my understanding, I agree with proship ideology (????) in the sense that I believe censorship only fucks over everyone, and that you can just block + filter and move on. But at the same time I see this overall conception that 'proship' means you support/condone/etc incest and pedophilia and so on, which I really truly don't. But there is this really heavy perception that proship = this person ships (usually) pedophilic or incestuous relationships. A bit reinforced for me typically because when something like that comes across my feed and I go to block the person, they generally have 'proship' in their bio. That to acknowledge that I do have some bias in that, even if I know it's a correlation/not cause thing. That all being (over)said (and I'm SO sorry again about how fucking long this is, my twitter TL is having a meltdown and I've avoided all this stuff for so long I don't know if I'm missing something? Because ethically on my end there's no reason for me to block or whatever outside of just the word proship...? Two minutes for a quick search as as far as I can tell you don't participate in anything against my own comfort/moral beliefs. so) I guess I'm asking what your definition of proship is for yourself and why people are jumping to this conclusion of dislike so instantaneously? Obviously you're under no obligation to educate me on what I presume is fucking YEARS of fandom history, nor respond publicly or even at all. I'm only asking you specifically because this is the first time I've encountered 'being proship' ≠ shipping pedophilia etc etc. I think maybe I came across it way back when as a middle schooler, but I'm not about to trust any of my opinions/recollections from when I was that age lmao. But anyways. Just genuinely curious and wanting to understand because I'm wary of reacting too-quickly just because other people are, and especially so if it's actually a total non-issue for me. Sorry again for the insane rambling in this lol

hello!! i hope you don't mind me prefacing this response too by saying to please read this out fully, if you don't agree with the starting points i've provided, i hope you still continue on reading until the end💙 i think @/frownyalfred best words the defense i would most likely stumble on if i give it a go at answering your question with my own words

and this was a post made in 2016 (where a lot of ppl say is the year anti-shippers started sprouting up) and this is honestly what i mean when i say i hate antis

if anything, antis just started the propaganda that all proshippers are incest lovers and pedophiles and people ate it up like cats who haven't had wet food in three weeks. as proven by your friend group using the term as such? that's wild to me that ppl use the term proship like that, i hope the case i'm making will change that for you and your friend group.

no, proship literally is anti-censorship. ship and let ship. antis gatekeep, police shippers and harass anyone who doesn't ship their ship the RIGHT way. and it's not just the ships you say are 'harmful' or 'immoral'. i've shipped a rarepair before and the fandom at large did not like me shipping a rarepair so they started calling me a pedophile bc i aged up said characters???????? they'll find anything and i mean ANYTHING to twist everything i say and do to make it seem like it's "okay" for me to be harassed and bullied. "oh it's okay that i'm telling this person to die because they're gross," yeah no that behavior is So Much More Normal than a person shipping two fictional characters the "wrong" way. AND YOU KNOW WHAT'S FUCKED UP? ppl BELIEVED THEM LMAOOOO

and hey no sweat, i was like you once. i didn't define myself as proship or anti bc the real world exists but then in the one space i thought i'd be free from real life speculation and surveillance i get these anti policing assholes so yeah im a proshipper now lol just to get away from that bs. i honestly just want to have fun on here without judgement but i can't even have that lol that's why im all about blocking/muting.

you say your tl is having a meltdown? well shit, they're probably calling me names on there too. probably throwing out baseless accusations without fact checking bc i'm lowlife enough not be respected or given the decency of a fact check? or saying my art wasn't good anyway? bc gatekeeping their precious kudoichi is so much more righteous, top priority that they start slandering a real life person, right? no no no one disgusting should be touching or shipping our precious kudoichi lmao i hope you see how Not Right this is. kinda makes me feel sick for real lol

and i hope you understand how harmful this is not just to my mental state but my livelihood as an artist as these people would just start policing their fellow fans and just tell them not to support or view my art because im a 'proshipper' not even that, they'd probably just straight up say i support incest and pedophilia which are?????? such STRONG accusations to make????????? now they're just buzzwords. BUZZWORDS for antis to use to defame and cancel an artist! a real life person. over their precious fictional characters. over their precious kudoichi. oh man it makes it so much more stupid if i specify the ship, what is wrong with people sometimes😭

but hey im all about blocking and muting and unfollowing if you don't like my stuff i'm 100% for that but i hope they do it on their own terms. their own thinking. not because someone told them to.

and i dunno man that behavior of not even letting their 'friends' think for themselves, that they'd bash them too if they support me, my art, kinda seems like grooming don't it? or nah no im just looking into it. it might not be that deep. but i really yeah that's why i hate antis and why im more proship.

but hey i appreciate you even taking the time to come to me in the first place and uhhh idk i hope you found what you were looking for and that i answered your bit of curiousity there!

[mister-random]

No one asked for real but- I really can't seem to click with Mauga being with woman, at first I thought the bisexual label suited him well, but now I can't quite see him being with a women, idk, not beefing with people who ship him with girls, nor with the girlies who like him (That there's a lot of them and they are literaly the ones who make the most content of him so don't bite the hand that feeds u and all that, love u girls, never change) I firmly believe he flirts with anyone, but I only see him going further with men, that's my personal headcanon preference. Totally bias because I'm a man of course but, you know, wanted to put it out there jafKAFJl I'm gatekeeping bc I'm an asshole

And I believe he would have the most fine taste on men and also the most rotten, like, I don't know if unconsciously or consciously this guy would end up with men with some sort of issue, always, he loves conflict, and conflicted men apparently taste better.

[icaruskey]

I need DunMeshi fans to understand how you can use statistics to bias your audience in a specific way. For example, take a look at the gender pairings on AO3:

Oh no! This show about sapphic women has a lot more mlm fics! The entire fandom is missing the point!

But wait, let's actually break down the ships a bit to see what's what.

Oh! Farcille has over 100 more fics than the next top ship!

How many fics are there anyway; what's the pool size we're looking at?

24.8% of fics total are Farcille, who also makes up 88.7% of the wlw tag. Looking at the pairing statistics is a very small piece of the puzzle.

Okay now I have a new question for myself, and that's why is it the multiplicity of mlm ends up being more than wlw considering the powerhouse that Farcille is? So... let's look at a character list. Gonna use the fandom wiki for this, so there is a bias there, but hopefully it has gathered all the named characters from the anime and manga.

Women: 28 Men: 30

Oh how odd. I was expecting there to be more male characters overall than female, but here we are almost equal from that list. But... let's take something into consideration: a great chunk of our female characters are part of Toshiro's party or of the Canaries, both of which are either incredibly new or yet to be introduced. We've also included Chilchuck's family, which I'm 50/50 on if they should be included. And to be fair, we should also remove Senshi's mining party, so let's see what changes then.

Women: 15 (with Izutsumi and the Tims)/9 (without) Men: 22 (with Yaad's folks)/13 (without)

This isn't a perfect system since we're still including characters that haven't been seen in the anime yet and/or be someone to catch a writer's eye, but you can see with the "withouts" up there, where I tried to trim it to anime only and popular characters (ie Mithrun), we have a slight bias towards the male characters.

And when you look at the main roles

Women: Daya, Falin, Izutsumi, Kiki, Leed, Marcille, Namari, Rin, Tade Men: Holm, Kabru, Kaka, Kuro, Laios, Mickbell, Mithrun, Senshi, Toshiro, Thistle, Yaad

Orange means not properly introduced but still fairly popular Purple means has had gender confusion

Here we go, now we're seeing it.

There are simply more men in larger roles here than women.

There's still far more to unpack here, including yes, a bias towards mlm slash, but for the most part it's just.

Use your thinking caps guys. Don't just blindly believe a screenshot that says x.

[laura1633]

Fic writer interview thank you for the tag @481boxboxbaby and @souvenir116

Tagging @saviour-of-lord and @ilyarozanove (not sure if you have been tagged already and no pressure if you don't like tag games!) and anyone else who wants to do this feel free to use this as your invite.

How many works do you have on AO3? 155 - Wow okay I don’t know how I ended up writing so many.

What's your total AO3 word count? 1,076,320

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. Preloved  2. Good Boy 3. A million times over 4. Weak 5. My Pretty Princess

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to respond to comments and I have gotten a lot better at it. If I have ever not responded it's because I have left it too late and then panic over whether it's still appropriate to respond!! I read all comments though, it’s the biggest motivator so thank you to everyone who leaves comments on fics, I appreciate you all <3

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? Either ‘One last night’ or ‘Hitching a ride’ Both are open ended though. 

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?There are a lot that have happy endings but off the top of my head I will go with ‘A million times over’. It’s just an overall short cute one-shot.

Do you write crossovers? No

Have you ever received hate on a fic? If I have then I have forgotten about it because I can’t recall any hate coming in. I am sure there are plenty of people who hate my stories though, I’ve just been lucky they haven’t told me about it! 

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes I do and lots of it. Almost any kind. Dom/sub, pain play, tentacles, omegaverse, lots of kinks, nice soft sex, loss of virginity. I would definitely say varied!

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not stolen but hmmm I have seen something very close to what I have written. 

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, not that I have seen anyway. I have had people ask before but I am not sure if they ever actually translated them.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No but I have spoken about it with @481boxboxbaby unfortunately I am disastrously disorganised so I don’t know if I should really inflict that on other people 😂 I do think it would be fun to have a fic with a set up and then multiple authors taking a chapter each to write the scenario from various drivers points of view. That would take a lot of organising though.

What's your all-time favorite ship? Lestappen

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?There are so many of them, I have a folder full of random wips that will likely never be finished. At the moment I am fighting my way to try and finish a cowboy Max au one shot, I have started it and deleted it soooo many times, I will finish it though, it’s just not clicking right now! 

What are your writing strengths? I guess maybe just having a certain level of creativity when it comes to coming up with ideas. That can also be my downfall because there are too many ideas pinging around for me to concentrate on one! 

What are your writing weaknesses? I always say that my writing style is more about a general vibe rather than it being grammatically correct 😬

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I’ve personally never done it. I’d have to use google translate and I wouldn’t trust that it would read properly.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? F1

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?Charles/Oscar or Max/Rico Verhoeven. I will get around to writing them eventually

What's your favorite fic you've written? It’s probably recency bias but the fic I am writing and posting right now “Preloved” is probably my favourite. I think it's also super encouraging when people are commenting and enjoying the story so it has made the whole thing more enjoyable. I will definitely be writing some more multi chaptered fics going forward. Of the one shots maybe The Sweetest Deal because it plays into my love of babygirl Max.

[disventure-rewrite-takes]

As a Jake kinnie and supporter, an Aiden enjoyer, and Jakeden shipper- deadass the story would be more exciting if they dated.

Hear me out- Tom x Jake? It’s cute, but it honestly feels a little empty. If ONC wanted to focus on the Jam ship, they should’ve added more. The stupid “will they won’t they” should not be in my indie gay show!!

James x Aiden- nothing. No seasoning. No spice. No chemistry. Just fanservice. In my opinion, it doesn’t help that the first kiss they ever had was a little non-consensual. Aiden agreed to kiss him for like 2 seconds- not 10. Aiden was probably really uncomfortable considering that he didn’t like James at the time. Plus James’ entire personality is “Aiden” and “Social media” it feels like he’s an NPC.

So what if in DCAS Aiden used to love James, he really did. But recently, every kiss feels fake, every hug feels fabricated. James still loves Aiden, but Aiden doesn’t feel the same anymore. Getting back into the show was perfect! Maybe he could have the privacy to talk to Lake, maybe the spark between him and James would relight! But as soon as Aiden walks onto the plane, he spots Jake. Aiden LOVED Jake in season one- so he has a little fanboy crush as is. James gets voted off, and Aiden doesn’t really feel that upset, if anything he’s a little glad he won’t have to act super lovey dovey. He had a conversation with Lake before she gets voted off, and she basically tells him “It’s okay to not be in love anymore. Things happen, you should just be honest with him and break things off when the show is over.”

Jake on the other hand gets jealous of Tom and Aiden hanging out- but this time.. it’s not because of Tom. Jake is jealous that Tom is hanging out with this cute boy. Jake tells himself that he’s jealous of Aiden, as Jake has slowly begun to realize that him and Tom just might not be meant to be and he needs to move the fuck on. Eventually, Jake starts to realize that he’s thinking more and more about Aiden and tells this to Ashley- and she basically says “Well it sounds like you got a crush on Aiden, not Tom.” Jake understands this now- but because he’s bad with his feelings, he still acts kinda passive aggressive with Aiden. Yet he can’t help but joke around with him sometimes. When the merge happens and Connor gives everyone the speech, Jake realizes that he should be more honest with Aiden. So Jake and Aiden start to develop a friendship! Episode 13- the superhero one! At the end of the challenge! Make Aiden kiss Jake in the moment!! Because over the course of the show- Aiden was like “God Jake is so pretty” and then their friendship arc made him go “God Jake is so cool” then after the challenge- Jake and Aiden talk to each other- and become a couple.

This adds more to Jake’s character! He’s finally in a relationship that isn’t based off looks, they have chemistry, they have a genuine relationship arc and not that “will they won’t they” bullcrap. Then when Aiden gets voted off! Jake is like “I need to win this for me, AND Aiden!”

Also the moment when Jake finds out James is his helper in the final challenge? That “James.. oh g o d” is so much funnier because Jake and Aiden are dating now. And Jake has no idea about how James feels about that. (Don’t worry they establish that James and Aiden break up in the motel episode- James is sad but he understands)

hey hey hey as a big jakeden fan i am NODDINGGGGGGG

this is my own personal bias but i'd love to add james to their relationship anyways, jajames enemies to lovers is SO FUNNY - but i can totally get behind just jakeden. seriously they had so much chemistry.

i think i would change the kiss though, i'd let them get a kiss just maybe in the finale, granted that jake is in it. just so everything is consensual and sorted out, so we don't have to bear with 'cheating' drama with jaiden. they can still have those nice, awkward & romantic moments, like the hug in the lie detector episode (my god was that peak jakeden. that whole episode was spectacular for them)

i fw this hard

[mannatea]

I have finished reading every single one of my old FE fics (except that old FE7 college AU, but we don't talk about that). 🎉

Here are the numbers and some thoughts!

Standalone one-shots/chaptered fics: 139 yes || 68 no

FE100 stories: 51 yes || 3 no

Collections stories: 65 yes || 4 no

GRAND TOTAL: 255 to be rewritten || 75 fics that will never see the light of dawn again

Let's talk about the fics that will rot on my hard drive and die with me, or at least with everyone who knows how to use the wayback machine well enough to get them back again. :P

I didn't really have any specific criterion for determining what 'fics deserve saving vs. being buried alive. It was mostly a vibe check, though. Like, was the idea tolerable? Was it well-written? Was there anything about it worth the effort it would take to save?

Let's look at the collections stories first.

Lutte contre l'incendie #4 was "kind of cringe with some pairing bias." This is truly saying something, because this is a Kent/Lyn collection and, as all of you know already, my biggest and oldest OTP. I promise I am not being unfair to this story. It was cringe, and the story felt more like a shit-tier ship manifesto than it did an actual story. Could I save it? No. The point of the story was the issue.

Lutte contre l'incendie #10 was attempting to tackle the theme of jealousy, which I think is fine as a concept—and interesting to write about with regards to Kent specifically. It was poorly done in this story and I could 100% fix it and write something better using the same theme, but there are better stories I could be writing with that theme in mind, so I'm not going to invest myself in trying to fix a 500 word little thing.

Pour l'amour #1 was "boring" and felt unfinished. It was 117 words long, so the whole thing is pointless and I don't think worth the effort to re-do in any capacity.

Love is a Flower #1 was "kind of meh" but was attempting to tackle something with Brendan, Sonia, and Nino. It's 100% salvageable, but the last time I took the time to rewrite a story about Nino and Sonia, despite it being popular when it was first written, it was largely ignored as a rewrite. No thank you; I have better things to do with my time than rewrite something that not only do I not find terribly exciting, but that nobody else does, either.

--

Moving on to the FE100 stories...

#52: conquer, was a Kent/Lyn fic that would have been fun and maybe cute about ANY OTHER CHARACTER SET, but felt ooc and weird for the characters involved. Low-key this was a 'fic I have spent the last decade or more deeply ashamed of, so I was relieved to see that, even though the writing itself was solid, I was right to have spent so much time embarrassed by it. I'm sure I'll keep this as a Kent/Lyn prompt, but just write it about something else (if I ever get around to it). Like, when the premise is OOC it's not really salvageable in the way rewrites usually are.*

#62: unreachable thoughts, was a first-person fic from the perspective of...the Mani Katti. Yep. I literally can't with this.

#99: advent of peace, was ALSO a Kent/Lyn fic (sort of?) where they fall when Bern attacks Sacae, but it's not a very good story and is in Kent's POV after Lyn has already died and he's had a limb amputated to try to save his life (and he's in a terrible mental state). You might think I'm being too hard on this one, but I wrote a lot of shitty tragedy back in the day, and only a few were actually good or interesting; this wasn't one of them, and no part of me thinks this is worth the time to save. (Maybe if you remember this piece, you'll disagree.)

--

*I've had a few rewrites that I've had to truly rewrite, like, from the ground up:

If It Takes a Lifetime (what if the characters survived their canon deaths and then died in a more tragic manner?)

A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose (secret admirer leaves flowers and is found out at the end)

Luck of the Draw (Mark just got lucky/everyone died in his lifetime anyway + reverse chronology)

Making It Better (silly adventure to find out who is stealing from Caelin Castle's larder)

Waiting for the Rain (Lyn gives Kent one last chance to change his mind as they enter Sacae)

In all of these instances the plot/concept was fine. As a quick example, when I originally wrote "If It Takes a Lifetime", I lacked the skill necessary to showcase the vision I was trying to present. In rewriting it, I adopted the metaphorical tone of the manga, wrote emotional scenes naturally (rather than in a way where I was begging the reader to feel something), and fixed the ending to read as being more in character. But the core idea was still really good and particularly meaningful to me.

However when even the idea behind the story is bad, it can't really be rewritten or considered a rewrite; at that point, if I "redo it", I'm just writing an entirely new story.

--

For my generally large collection of fanfics, uhh...well. I'm not sure where to start with these.

68 stories flung into the dumpster feels like a lot, but I think some of you will just have to trust me that these stories should never see daylight again.

Let's talk about a chunk of them anyway.

Secrets: a fic about Soren's love for pie? No clue why I never posted this, but as you might expect, it was stupid and not that funny.

Indulgence: written for Indulgence Day 2010 and then never posted for some reason. It's a Kent/Lyn fic, it's 2,027 words long, and it's pretty stupid.

(Untitled): One-sided Innes/Eirika where I'm pretty sure he was going to tell her he loved her the day before or day of her wedding to someone else. What I have written of this is actually pretty good, but it's not enough to make me feel positive about finishing it.

Apples: A Serra/Lucius 50-sentences fic that I got 6 sentences into. Not bad but I've no faith in being able to finish this while making it as good as the other 50-sentences fics I did.

Always: a pegasus sisters + robot unicorn attack AU? I didn't actually reread this one, but I don't think the joke being made with it holds up well enough to make it worth my time.

To Have and To Hold: generally very cute modern AU Kent/Lyn fic where he's trying to figure out how to propose to her. This is from 2010, but I don't think it's worth the effort to fix and finish.

The Broken Road: I finished five chapters of this, none of which were posted. It wasn't the first novelization attempt I did, but it was the one I spent the most time on. I went balls-to-the-wall with this one, starting the story well before Lyn meets Mark and getting characters like Serra and Erk where they would need to be for the main story. I just don't have gas in the tank to take this monster of a project on again—and novelizations that don't do anything truly new or interesting bore me, anyway.

Shades of Grey: SHUT UP THIS IS FROM 2008!!! This is the Lyn-gets-poisoned-while-ruling-Caelin 'fic. The only reason this one won't be touched again is because I actually RP'd a FAR SUPERIOR version of this story out with someone and if I'm going to edit the shit out of something to post, it will be the thing we actually finished. :P

Lullaby: Modern AU that rotated first person POVs. Die die die.

Equine Intervention: Story told from the perspective of all of the army's animals. Cringgggeeee.

Deux Flèches: Florina plays cupid story that never went anywhere but was a very cute concept.

And Life Was Changed—Disassembled, Rearranged: Hector and Farina are fuckbuddies and she gets pregnant. Um. I cannot touch this story in our current social climate tbh.

Multiple parodies or stories-that-are-mimicking-jokes (but they suck for some reason) x10 or so. Also trollfics of which I did several. One of these was in VERY BAD TASTE. (iykyk)

Several fics that just aren't good but were trying to be Different and Unique and were only popular/well-reviewed because they seemed novel to readers. Like "Lift" a Serra + Rath fic, "Right vs Wrong" a Hector/Ninian ficlet, and "Erring on the Side of Caution", an Oswin/Fiora fic.

Unwavering Devotion: dogshit story that I'm pretty sure was supposed to be a longfic where Kent follows Lyn to Ostia when she marries Hector and some years later runs away with her or something? Terrible story.

Melodramatic garbage, including several Matthew/Leila fics, several Kent/Lyn fics, and several fics about Sain for some reason.

The World: a fic centering on Hector, Eliwood, and Lyn that's really bad and...maybe OOC? Hector's really mean in this, too, for some reason.

Looking for a Little Canon in D: the dreaded college AU fic. This was rewritten once already under "Improvisation" and it didn't get anywhere. I just hate that this ever existed. I'm sure it's trash but I can't bring myself to reread it.

Several boring/uninspired nothingsauce ideas, like a Zephiel + Guinivere fic called "Faux Fox", an Eliwood + Florina fic called "Blessed Quietness", and a Seth/Eirika called "Between the Lines."

All About Us: the infamous Lyn Marries Erik of Laus fic. Just like the Lyn-gets-poisoned fic, this one was RP'd almost to completion some years ago, so if I put effort into editing, it will be the RP, not my original attempt at the story.

Everyone Loves Soren: a humor/parody fic that I wrote that was going to be a Soren/Everyone But Ike fic, mostly to poke fun at the fans who seemed fine pairing Soren with literally anyone but Ike, despite the way the game treats the ship.

Shitty Valter Fic that I am embarrassed I ever wrote.

a 362-word-long 1950s AU drabble about Geoffrey, Elincia, Lucia, and Bastian as children. WTF? no

Friday. The summary reads as follows: Some people "got down" on Friday, but not Soren. He was too busy." And you might be thinking, that sounds kind of funny even if it is a dated joke—but no. It was boring.

And So It Goes: two part fic where Kent gets le sad being steward of Caelin and goes out to Sacae to find Lyn. Cool idea, but it's old so it needs a lot of work, and I'm going to steal the title for a different story I've outlined that I partially RP'd out some years ago that fits better (where Lyn leaves Caelin very suddenly and Kent becomes steward in the aftermath of that--and five years later she returns to Caelin).

There are others, of course, but that's most of them. I feel pretty confident that almost everything on this list isn't worth the time and effort it would take to save. But maybe you disagree!

--

i'll go over the good fics in another post lol. this is too long haha.

[tommarvoloriddlesdiary]

20 Questions (for fanfic writers)

i've been threatened via water gun if noncompliance is reached in regards to this post from @floatingdandelionseeds... so here we go!

how many works do you have on ao3? at least one... maybe eleven

what's your total ao3 word count? i have never once gone on the stats page, so this may put me into fight or flight... 45108

what fandoms do you write for? Harry Potter

top five fics by kudos: these questions were designed to hurt me. - like a parasite (kill my butterflies), - candle-lit garnet, - what's lost (what's gained), - Life Inside the Ministry of Magic, - flames and bricks of hearth

do you respond to comments? i try - i swear i try 😭 sometimes i get shy or never want to look at a fic again 😂 but i mostly try to!

what is the fic your wrote with the angstiest ending? ohh i don't write a lot of angst - but maybe it would be like a parasite (kill my butterflies) 🤔

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? this was a hard choice... if it's not my most recent, then it'll be flames and bricks of hearth

do you get hate on fics? i don't, really - i'm very grateful 🥹 the only time it's happened was via a bot

do you write smut? 😳 i also don't write smut... publically

craziest crossover? i've never done a crossover! could be fun 🤔

have you ever had a fic stolen? i also don't know... i hope not 😭

have you ever had a fic translated? no - i doubt anyone would feel compelled to - and i don't think i'd do a proper job 😂 too many half languages in my head

have you ever co-written a fic before? no - well... technically, no? the @exquisite-tomarrymort-telephone is my co-writer on the most recent fic, but that's more of a front 😂

all-time favorite ship? tomarrymort for me too! (but i also like some of the other ones dande listed 😂 we have similar tastes)

what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? oh wow great question - this one? but i want to 😭

what are your writing strengths? my what?

what are your writing weaknesses? i can't write to save my life 😂 i don't know how to end things or keep them going - i don't know how to plot things out - i'm a danger to the community - i get ideas that seem simple at first glance but are too complex so i get scared out of writing them

thoughts on dialogue in another language? dande brought up some good questions - i couldn't risk writing everything in another language without surely insulting an entire group of people - but if it's dialogue and there is a water gun to my head, then i guess i could probably do it? sorry to everyone who speaks.

favorite fic you've written? oh god - if it's not my most recent (recency bias 😂), then it would have to be Life Inside the Ministry of Magic - that fic doesn't take a lot out of me, even though i've got a really convoluted secret plot going on within it, which makes it wonderfully brainless fun 😂

is anyone else weirded out that there are only 19 questions?

i'm now supposed to tag some people but i'm scared - if you see this and i know you please assume i wanted to tag you

[millennialsarecoolkidz]

I'm sorry I've lost an ask and it was my first one 😳 so Anon if you recognize yourself you can send it again or comment? :/ basically that ask was about how Shondaland had pushed the pr too far and how you can see Nicola and Luke backtracking at the end of the wt.

First I wanna say that I totally agree with you about the backtracking at the end of the world tour. Nicola has addressed it a few times and you can see Luke's body language changing at the London stop. They can't help themselves so there are still a few WTF moments (you can ask Golda) but the vibes were different.

It's my first fandom and it's the first time I'm so invested in the love life of two celebrities (and please let it be my one and only, I can't handle more self awareness about my weirdness). So I've asked a few times to more experienced fans if that kind of pr is usual but I've never gotten a proper answer so if someone has an opinion or factual information let me know!

So what I'm gonna say is really just a barely informed opinion. The only time I've read criticism about shondaland being a toxic employer is when Ruby Barker has spoken about her experience. I won't talk too much about it, as speculating about someone's mental health doesn't feel right to me. But what I've felt about this story and about what I've witnessed is that Shondaland tries to not be toxic in itself, to provide a safe environment when they are shooting but they don't care about the outcomes when it's over. It's really just a guessing and a feeling.

Now about the wt and how the shipping has been fueled, I'm also really confused. I'm an assumed Lukola so I think that the bond and attraction between them are real, that's my biggest bias in what I'm gonna say. I think they have faced a lot of criticism before the wt, especially a lot of body shaming, and also at the time a lot of Bridgerton's fans, not the Polin ones oc, were pointing at their lack of chemistry (yes it sounds crazy now but you had to be there). So I can understand why they wanted to play into their unsettling chemistry at the beginning and showcase it and rub it in our faces. But between the valentine's day event, the live (on that giant and barely used couch) and the Australian stop, they had time to adjust their pr, as the reactions were already unhinged... they didn't. The only ones who tried to calm it down a bit were Luke and Nicola and it was at the end of the promo tour. Luke ended up to acknowledge a little Antonia, Nicola has said a few times that things were quoted out of context (or that the hair touch meant nothing and she was always doing it to everybody, yeah girl the problem is that his hair was fine and that it turned him into a purring kitten).

From Nicola and Luke's perspectives, I'm a Lukola so I think that they've hidden behind PR and polin to allow themselves to act as they would have wanted to act in their "real life" (yes call me delulu, I know what I've seen ;) ). If I'm really honest I'm not even sure they didn't behave that way of cam too and that it's the public reaction that made them aware of their behavior. I also think that when the shipping became unhinged, it was a little too late. First they seem to be people pleasers so I think they didn't want to disappoint the fans and oc they wanted to sell the show. Second, the Sweeney/Powell backlash had just happened and they probably didn't want to be perceived as dishonest. Especially as they were selling a narrative about themselves as being nice authentic people, as a gentleman and a sweet woman. And, again it's my Lukola heart that is speaking, I think they were a little confused about their relationship/feelings and I think they didn't have the envy to shut down the shipping.

Now from Shondaland, coworkers, teams, interviewers' perspectives, it's obvious that Lukola gives positive engagement. But sometimes it feels like an overkill. I mean look at the first release in the advent calendar, that cute video was enough, why liking and interacting with Lukola's comment? Why do some people from their team interact with Lukola content? They could stick to Polin, right? Plus I understand why they were doing it around the release but now? I guess it's to keep the engagement until they have benophie content. But I don't know it feels so weird that the public pages of Netflix and Shondaland imply that there is something between them or that they are shippers too. Don't take it the wrong way, I don't think they're implying that Nicola and Luke are in a relationship, but they're clearly implying that the feelings and the attraction are real. Of course my delulu would like that it is because they really think that but I think it's more about the engagement than about the truth. But I don't know, it's still really tasteless I think as we know that it leads to a lot of toxicity toward Nicola, Luke and their "loved ones". Honestly I thought that they would have let it dry quietly, that they would just have used the same content, letting shippers calm down by themselves as you can't say indefinitely how they stare at each other is crazy and how something happened in Brazil. But it seems like they want to release new content (they have hinted at bloopers and maybe BTS) and they keep interacting with Lukola's comments so I don't know anymore what their strategy is. Even Nicola and Luke keep fueling the shipping, obviously not as much as before, but it's still a part of their sm activity. Of course, again, the Lukola's content gives engagement but I don't know if the Lukolas are still so important. I know, we love to point out that part 1 of Nicola's dump has been liked a lot more than part 2, but let's be honest the first reel is probably the biggest part of the buzz. I think Polin content and Lukola content, but without implying anything, would do the job. Even if there were a difference, I feel like it wouldn't be a lot and that it would be a fair price for less toxicity on their sm.

So for now my guess is that Shondaland and other content creators are still acting this way because they're going to use polin and Lukola to boost s4 promo and because Nicola and Luke are ok with it (as they couldn't wait for intimacy scene in S4 when they were building that table, they can't wait to be sent to sell their chemistry and be allowed to pinch their butt in public again). Or it's a long term strategy and they will calm it down slowly because the fandom becomes more toxic when you don't provide positive content.

What do you think?

[roo-bastmoon]

With 17 versions to buy and 8 versions combined for 160 streams per Spotify account, plus Melon and FLO streams now counting, of course Jungkook’s Seven is charting high and sweeping awards. Firstly because it’s Jungkook of course, and secondly because it’s been given every possible advantage.

My (perhaps controversial) opinions about that are below the cut.

Honestly? I really can’t feel good about any “first” or “most” or “fastest” records achieved by this single—catchy as it is—which wasn’t written or conceived by Jungkook and has nothing much personal or deeply meaningful about it. It’s a fun feel-good summer pop song, for sure, but no more groundbreaking than, say, Bad Decisions (in my opinion… I have no musical expertise.)

But I can’t feel super great about all the records and awards because this many versions immediately restocked and shipped and auto play and promoted to radio and ads and leadership hyping only this while Jungkook says he wants to be the one and only artist to conquer kpop and pop for the next thousand years… it all just doesn’t really sit right with me.

When compared to the 10 months Jimin forewent sleep, food, and showers to have a hand in every aspect of his first (and deeply personal and symbolic) album, which was never sent to radio or restocked, got split tracks and delayed playlisting and shady articles, plus not one kudos or congratulations from leadership even after he made history for South Korea and stocks soared…

Forgive me, but it all leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It is ruining the song for me.

Some things like culled streams and sales are out of the company’s control. But the things I mentioned above were all possible for Jimin’s Hot 100 #1. Even if every Tannie has total say in their projects' sales and marketing, and everyone was on board with only Jungkook getting the Hybe America "red carpet" treatment, I can’t lie and say the stark difference feels fine. It doesn't, and I confess I leave the headphones in every time Seven comes up in the playlists now.

I’m not jealous. If anything, I have a warped sense of pride that Jimin has done so fantastically well despite so many, many obstacles stacked against him. I love to champion an underdog and I’m glad I never need to doubt his success was organic. I actually feel extra admiration for how humble and hardworking he continues to be—no resting on any laurels for the It Boy. I'm so glad he is my ult-bias.

*sigh*

Listen to me.

I know Jungkook and Jimin are both genuinely good people. I know they are sincerely talented and hard working. I know they truly love each other. I know all members are legitimately happy for each others' success.

I know what’s important to me may not be important to them, nor what they want for their careers. And even if I feel their company’s making shitty decisions, I know my place as a fan.

So I trust them. And I simply hang in. I hope lessons were learned for smoother, fairer future releases. Because neglecting assets makes zero business sense, and perceived favoritism can erode the group’s bonds and tear ARMY apart. It is, frankly, just plain stupid.

So I may dislike things about their solo era rollouts and I can't bring myself to sugar-coat it; but I mostly try to keep my negative thoughts to myself and find things I CAN celebrate with other fans on an open timeline.

I never want another Tannie to feel anguished and misunderstood the way Hobi did about JitB’s physicals.

Watching Jungkook’s face here on his London live when he talks about people hating him just haunts me. It guts me. I can't stand it. That kid was going through it and I don't believe he has a malicious bone in his body, so it just really upsets me seeing him like that.

There’s so, so much about this company, this industry, this culture that I just don’t understand. But I trust Park Jimin completely. As long as Park Jimin loves and supports his members, God knows, I will too.

So!! On that note...

We have Jungkook’s birthday to celebrate next week and Taehyung’s album to support the week after that. I’m going to do my best to rest up and gather some good energy for these things!

And of course, we must congratulate our Jimin, who made history again today, and no matter what, will always set the standard. I just know he's cooking up something else for us with all these weeks of silence, and I cannot wait to go BERSERK for it whenever it drops.

I’m not really sure I had a point to this post. It’s just that I have been mulling all this over for a long time, and finally felt well enough to sit up long enough to come online and type up my thoughts.

I guess what I mostly wanted to share with my friends here is that it’s okay to feel really disappointed and even enraged at the way some things play out over the (hopefully life-long) careers of BTS members. Don't let folks gaslight you. Call it like you see it. (Maybe keep sensitive things behind a cut or in the DMs--and of course, please change your mind if you get better insight. In the end, only the Tannies really know what's going on with the Tannies.)

But while I’m still side-eyeing the company so hard right now, I’ve decided to love and support the boys as people and artists. I'm trying to believe the best in everyone. I’m still an OT7 Jikooker.

You don’t have to agree with me, and if you need to unfollow, I understand. But I figured I should just tell you guys (especially the new followers) where I am at with all this.

Love, Roo

[olderthannetfic]

I think for me, one of the big stumbling blocks I had for a long time with understanding the problem with antis and how they act is that I came from the world of anime fandom, and I have seen all the time how the idea that you're expected to be tolerant and accepting to straight men who are really into lolicon or slavery isekai or whatever in the name of "sex positivity" does in fact lead into a lot of normalization of genuine creepy IRL behavior, and ignoring red flags for those. Because I've never met a man where doing a lot of apologetics for his interest in fictional 10-year-olds as a grown man or why you just need to understand that in this fictional culture sexual slavery is totally normal etc. didn't come along with some grosser attitudes about real women in girls - look at how a ton of the guys in the first group, for instance, are always trying to argue that "Japanese culture" is actually A-OK with relationships between young teens and grown adults and it's just your mean feminist American bias that's getting in your way. (None of that shit's true about Japan, btw.) Like if it were a purely fictional-preference thing, they wouldn't be saying that about real-world relationships as well.

But see, I have literally never seen those kinds of arguments from, say, women who write fanfiction about teen/adult relationships. To me the problem with a lot of anti behavior is not just that it's pro-censorship (which I oppose on principle, I don't think any of the stuff mentioned in the previous section should be censored, for instance, much as the prevalence of lolicon in anime squicks me out) and that it's puritanical and sex-negative, but also that it goes after the wrong people. There IS a huge creeper problem in fandom but it's largely not coming from the predominantly AFAB and queer world of fanfiction and shipping, most of whom are pretty good at separating fantasy from reality. Or their "fucked up" ship might not even be "their" fantasy but just thinking a particular character dynamic is really interesting and it happens to fit into some particular "problematic" broader dynamic. Sometimes it's specifically that it's fucked up that we like, that's what makes it interesting!

But I do get uncomfortable sometimes when people take the fact that censorship is wrong, harassing people for what they ship is wrong, what you like in fiction is not necessarily what you want in real relationships.... and take it to the extreme of "fiction has no impact on reality / there is never ANY connection between what gets you off in fiction vs. real life" (I do think it's rarely an exact 1:1, but for some people there is a connection), or feeling like you're never allowed to just privately judge people for what porn they're into or they talk about or post about when they go horny on main, or decide you don't particularly want to have, say, cis men who are super into loli as a part of your social circle.

Because I've seen cases where men use that, and other people being shamed for taking issue with how they talk about it because it's not "sex positive" or "you're just like an anti" etc., to raise the temperature on what kinds of creepy and red-flag behaviors are allowed. Or like, people start to get suspicious of things these guys are doing to real people, and question themselves because they worry they're just judging them for liking loli.

I mean, is it wrong to think that a guy who is really into underage girls AND talks a lot about how culture needs to "normalize" it AND makes people feel bad for being uncomfortable with that particular interest of his, is throwing up a lot of red flags for how he's likely to view real women and girls and IRL sexuality?

Once again, I've basically never seen cases where a fanfic writer (other than in some cis-man-heavy fandoms like MLP) who is into some "squicky" dynamic feels like they have to constantly talk about it even to people who are uncomfortable, or feels like they're not "accepted" in a space where they can't constantly bring it up. Maybe they exist. But then maybe it's fair to say that behavior is creepy in a way that just peacefully shipping [whatever "problematic" dynamic] and writing and reading fic for it is not.

But I've seen people be like "a lot of you act like 'well that behavior is only problematic when cis het white men do it' well no i think you're still sex-negative if you're against ANYBODY liking it" and like I'm sorry but power dynamics matter, and HOW you talk about this and to WHOM matters and I think it's just kind of ignorant to act like there isn't a huge difference between how a lot of cis men in anime fandom talk about this shit vs. other kinds of people in fanfic fandom, and that the former is very much informed by the fact that cis men and especially cis het men have cultural power that they are throwing around in the way they influence those spaces.

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