#unnecessary negativity is something entirely apart

[muirann]

all comic fans know how to do is: develop superiority complexes based on their personal perceptions of a character, eat hot chip, and lie

[apas-95]

Is there a story behind China's one child policy that makes it not as horrifying as western media claims?

The defining feature of China's development for the past 70 years has been the urban-rural divide. In order to develop a semi-feudal country with a very low industrial level into an industrialised, socialist nation, it was necessary to develop industrial centres. To 'organically' develop industrial centres would have taken many decades, if not centuries of continued impoverishment and starvation, so programs were put in place to accelerate the development of industry by preferentially supporting cities.

Programs like the 'urban-rural price scissors' placed price controls on agricultural products, which made food affordable for city-dwellers, at the direct expense of reducing the income of rural, agricultural areas. This hits on the heart of the issue - to preferentially develop industrial centres in order to support the rest of the country, the rest of the country must first take up the burden of supporting those centres. Either some get out of poverty *first*, or nobody gets out of poverty at all. The result being: a divide between urban and rural areas in their quality of life and prospects. In order to keep this system from falling apart, several other policies were needed to support it, such as the Hukou system, which controlled immigration within the country. The Hukou system differentiated between rural and urban residents, and restricted immigration to urban areas - because, given the urban-rural divide, everyone would rather just try to move to the cities, leaving the agricultural industry to collapse. The Hukou system (alongside being a piece in many other problems, like the 'one country two systems', etc) prevented this, and prevented the entire thing from collapsing. The 'one child policy' was another system supporting this mode of development. It applied principally to city-dwellers, to prevent the populations of cities expanding beyond the limited size the agricultural regions could support, and generally had no 'punishments' greater than a lack of government child-support, or even a fine, for those who still wanted additional children. Ethnic minorities, and rural residents, were granted additional children, with rural ethnic minorities getting double. It wasn't something anyone would love, but it served an important purpose.

I use the past-tense, here, because these systems have either already been phased out or are in the process of being phased out. The method of urban-rural price scissors as a method of development ran its course, and, ultimately, was exhausted - the negative aspects, of its underdevelopment of rural regions, began to overwhelm its positive aspects. So, it was replaced with the paradigm of 'Reform and Opening Up' around the 1980s. Urban-rural price scissors were removed (leading to protests by urban workers and intellectuals in the late '80s), and the Hukou system, along with the 'one child policy', were and are being slowly eased out as lessening inequality between the urban and rural areas make them unnecessary. Under the new system, the driver of development was no longer at the expense of rural regions, but was carried out through the internal market and external capital. The development paradigm of Reform and Opening Up worked to resolved some contradictions, in the form of the urban-rural divide, and created some of its own, in the form of internal wealth divisions within the cities. Through it, over 800 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty - almost all of them being in rural areas - and extreme poverty was completely abolished within China. 'Extreme poverty' can be a difficult thing for westerners to grasp, wherein poverty means not paying rent on time, but to illustrate - many of the last holdout regions of extreme poverty were originally guerrilla base areas, impassable regions of mountainside which were long hikes away from schools or hospitals, wherein entire villages were living in conditions not dissimilar to their feudal state a century before. These villages were, when possible, given infrastructure and a meaningful local industry accounting their environment and tradition (like growing a certain type of mountainous fruit), or entirely relocated to free government-built housing lower down the mountain that was theirs to own. These were the people the 'one child policy' was aiding, by reducing the urban population they had to support. Again, there were exemptions for rural and ethnic minority populations to the policy.

Even now, Reform and Opening Up is running its course. Its own negative aspects, such as urban wealth inequality, are beginning to overcome its positive aspects. So, the new paradigm is 'Common Prosperity', which will work to resolve the past system's contradictions, and surely introduce its own contradictions in the form of chafing against the national bourgeoisie, as it increases state control and ownership of industry, and furthers a reintroduced collectivisation. Organising a nation of well over a billion people is not simple. It is not done based on soundbytes and on picking apart policies in the abstract for how 'dystopian' they sound. It is an exceedingly complex and interconnected process based on a dialectical, material analysis of things; not a utopian, idealist one. What matters is this: those 800,000,000 people now freed from absolute poverty. The things necessary to achieve that were, unquestionably, good things - because they achieved that. They had their negative aspects, as does everything that exists, but they were unquestionably correct and progressive things.

[differenteagletragedy]

Hi, if you're willing, could I request some clingy Cove headcanons? Thanks

Clingy Cove is the best! Love him to bits.

-- When it comes to you, the boy just does not need personal space. It's not a requirement. Totally unnecessary.

-- If you do need it, that's fine! He'll absolutely give you as much as you need with zero complaints! Being clingy often has a negative connotation, but that's not what it is with Cove. He fully supports you doing whatever you need to do emotionally, having friends, being with your family, all of that OBVIOUSLY.

-- But if it was entirely up to him, he'd just rather be with you always. You are home to him, you have been for almost his whole life. With you he feels safe and comfortable, he feels like himself. He feels seen and accepted and loved, and it's the best feeling in the whole world.

-- So if you need some time to yourself, just tell him, ok? Because otherwise he's going to want to be right there.

-- You don't actually have to DO everything together, parallel play is wonderful! If you work from home, he'd just want to hang out in the same room if he's home too. If you're cooking dinner, then he can help, or at least sit on the counter looking pretty. If you need a nap and he's not sleepy, maybe he'll lie down with you anyway and read. And when he's older and more settled, why take two showers when you can just share one?

-- For real on that last one though especially, he's in ORCA, he's going to be about water conservation. Baths/showers together are very very important quality time.

-- It's like he just sort of doesn't understand the appeal of being alone if he could be with you. Again, if you do, that's great, he's more than willing to work with it.

-- I am going to be lazy and copy and paste something from another ask because it fits here too and I was thinking about this one when I wrote it lol

-- The whole thing about Cove is that to him, you are the best person in the world. And that's not just something to say, he literally thinks you are the best person in the entire world. He doesn't know most of the other people, sure, but he doesn't have to because how could anyone else be better than you? Remember, when he was little he thought you were actually made for him, and even though he's grown up and he's realized that's not how people work, the general belief is still there. You are the only person for him, and in that way, you were made for each other.

-- When you live together, if you like to sleep in or if you just sleep a little later than he does, every day is going to start with him trying to figure out if he should get his day started or just cuddle you for longer.

-- Sometimes if he really needs to get something done and decides to get up while you're still sleeping, he'll feel bad and try to sneak back in bed without waking you up. This, or if he really is just too busy, you have to get in bed earlier to make up for the lost time.

Cove: Come on, it's bedtime!

You: It's 8:30.

Cove: Yeah, and there's a cuddle deficit that we need to address.

-- He knows the exact math on this, don't try to argue with him.

-- I could genuinely do this all day.

-- What if after Step 3 you move away? Man is that gonna be hard.

-- I don't generally like the idea of taking Cove away from the beach, but I think if it's between the beach and you, he's going to pick you every single time.

-- So it may take him a little bit if plans are made more last minute, or if you don't confess right away, but if he knows you're going to college for FOUR YEARS far away, or if you get a job in another state? He's going to have a hard time just letting that be that.

-- When you are apart, he will text all the time. He's not expecting a conversation every time, he's fully aware of how clingy he is, but if he sees something that reminds him of you, he'll send you a photo, stuff like that.

You: *checking your phone on your lunch break to see several texts from Cove*

Cove: Do you remember when that bird stole dad's sandwich lol *sends video of bird*

Cove: I wish we were at the beach

Cove: Can we make fudge tonight

Cove: I miss you

-- This is obviously cannon, but when he gets settled he doesn't care that everyone knows how clingy he is.

-- Why would he? He is SO PROUD to be yours!

[fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic]

Good Omens Fic Rec: It Was Always You

A chance encounter during one of the worst times of Ezra Fell’s life reunites him with his once best friend and the one who got away. Though, that would imply he ever had him in the first place. Anthony Crowley and his son, Warlock, relocate to the quieter city of Tadfield from that of London. In the process, manages to find again that one person who always made him feel less alone, the one person he was pretty sure he was never going to speak to again. But the road to true love never did run smooth (something that’s been true from their very beginning). Despite the easy way they fall back into each other, their lives don't seem to follow suit, and if it's not one challenge its another. But despite everything they find themselves facing down, the ten years without each other taught them one thing: they’re better together than they are apart.

Length: 236,585 words

AO3 Rating: Teen and Up

Best for: Safe in Public, Taking Breaks, Human AU, Slow Burn, Romance, Fluff, Pick-me-up

Triggers: None

Read it here, fic by mltrefry

*Minor Spoilers* Strap in, because this is going to be a long rec post. This story hit pretty much all my personal buttons on the parent AU side, so I knew it would end up being a favorite of mine. But then, to combine it with such a rich and wonderful story of how Crowley and Ezra grew up together as best friends? It felt tailor-made for me.

Let's start with the present. Crowley is the father of five-year-old Warlock, owns a very successful flower shop, and has moved to Tadfield to be closer to that branch of the business. Ezra has just lost his sister Eliza and is now the guardian to his nephew Adam. Both men are content with their lives, but the memory of their fallout plagues them both. In the past, we follow their entire history—from their first meeting, to new boyfriends, supporting each other through hard times, and the unbearable pain of their unspoken mutual pining.

I loved everything about this story. As parents, they're both amazing. They love being dads, they never see their sons as a burden, and I'm so thankful that this story doesn't cause any unnecessary angst for them in this aspect. Their family is built on love, safety, and trust. I adored the boys, their new routines, and their entire extended family of side characters.

I was fascinated by their past relationships. Every person each of them dated was such a complex and interesting side character. I appreciated how even when a partner is flawed, they're not portrayed as evil—especially Gabriel. Yes, he's an asshole, and he can't take no for an answer, but he's not evil. He does nothing to purposely sabotage Ezra's happiness, which was something I was honestly expecting a bit. The character of Oscar here was a particular standout for me. I also loved how the red string of fate kept connecting them in ways I don't think they'll ever realize. Which is lovely, but also a little silly in that it almost feels like there's only like 8 queer men in all of Britain. But each relationship taught them more about life and themselves, and yes, maybe it would have been easier for them if they confessed their love earlier in their lives. However, that wasn't meant to be; they came together at exactly the right point in their lives. They were meant to have this wonderful family together.

And watching them grow up together? I was glued to every moment. Their family lives were unique and complex. Completely original to this story, which sometimes can feel too removed from canon. But it didn't feel that way to me ever. Or if it ever did, it wasn't a negative. I don't believe this is the kind of story you could scrub out the Good Omens and repackage it as any other couple. Even though technically it should be easy to do with this set up. There isn't that much Good Omens canon in it, but still, this just feels like Crowley and Aziraphale despite how much of an AU it is.

Ok, I gotta stop before this becomes even longer, there are SO MANY plot points I could talk about. But seriously, if you love parent stories or stories of them being friends as kids, this is a must-read. It's satisfyingly long, but also so effortless that you will spend hours in this world, and it'll feel like seconds. The writing is excellent, so detailed that you'll feel like you're actually there, but never gets bogged down in itself. This is now a forever favorite of mine!

Read it here, fic by mltrefry

[aiura-stan]

This panel never made sense to me, and I finally took some time to pick it apart after buying Saiki k vol 25 in physical form.

during the last PSIHOWDOWN panel where kusuke takes off his telepathic canceler, here’s what Kuusuke said in Japanese, transcribed from my physical copy of volume 25 because I couldn’t find it online:

first speech bubble

そんな者達の為に何で…

(sonna mono tachi no tame ni nani de…)

second speech bubble

かわいい弟が犠牲にならなきゃならないんだってね

(kawaii ototo ga gisei ni naranakya naranai ndatte ne)

which I broke down like this:

そんな者達の為に何で…

(such) (person) (counter) (possessive article) (word ‘for’/sake) (why)

translation: but for those other people’s well-being why…

かわいい弟が犠牲にならなきゃならないんだってね

(cute) (younger brother) (subject marker) (sacrifice) (for?*)(if it doesn’t**)(must not***)(I heard)(emphasis****)

* ni= particle indicating something about the word right before it

**gisei ni naranakya = won’t be sacrificed (if…)

***naranai = must not, should not, cannot resist, cannot help (doing)

****ね (ne) particle can also be asking for affirmation, like using the word ‘right?’ in English

the entire phrase naranai ndatte ne might just be “there’s no need to (it seems?), right?”

translation: should my cute younger brother be made a sacrifice (if it’s unnecessary)

^

really not sure how accurate this is.

originally I thought this part was saying that Kuusuke thought it was necessary for Kusuo to be a sacrifice but also he personally thought he shouldn’t. I was wrong; naranakya translates as “could not be sacrificed,” as in conditional negative, not “must be sacrificed” as google translate says.

The root verb is なる(naru), to become/attain/reach etc.

Idk here. someone who actually knows Japanese, please feel free to comment. I can only get so far for now.

Here’s what I put in the notes of my last fanfiction on the subject of this panel:

After years of being confused by the meaning of the panel where Kusuke admits the reason why he disabled the device that would broadcast kusuo’s powers globally, I finally get it.

It has nothing to do with Kuusuke being selfish/weird; it’s actually the opposite. He’s trying to tell Kusuo that his actual motives for making the right device were selfless (to benefit humanity) and be honest with him about the fact that he personally doesn’t want it to happen, but he thought it was best.

For whatever reason the original Japanese there seems to be pretty different than the English translation.

I’m not sure if I am translating it exactly right (probably not…) but Kuusuke’s wording makes the statement way more ambiguous in Japanese. There’s no emphasis on the word “strangers”; as a matter of fact, from what I can tell, what he says is just “people” or “those people.”

He doesn’t say “I” at all; it’s what would be considered passive tense in English. There’s no possessive “my” little brother either; it’s implied. So it comes across as a lot less controlling (it’s not about Kuusuke, instead it is about Kusuo.) And I still can’t quite figure out what he meant in the second half of the speech bubble (two conjugations of the same verb in succession) but i think he’s making the distinction between what he doesn’t want to happen (kusuo to be sacrificed) and what he feels is unavoidable (kusuo being sacrificed.) which is basically exactly what Kusuo said a few panels earlier; that it was unavoidable. And Kuusuke also said the previous panel that he still thought it would be best for humanity if his powers were globally known. So the conclusion here is that the original Japanese seems to make a lot more sense.

There’s a lot of instances in the manga where I was just confused by what was written because it doesn’t quite make sense in English. So I plan on revisiting the most bothersome ones when I can.

[bawkrya]

who are the dragons for the "Love is some kind of punishment" post? and why did you choose them for that autogenerate pic? /eyes emoji

EEEEEHEHEHE SO XANTHIA AND CAMIR! this is going to be so long

For Xanthia, she was previously Pentes' wife! The two were married in order to unite Pentes' kingdom with a country that would merge with his own, and she had been the firstborn daughter of this country's previous leader. Because Pentes himself is an immortal, and he LOVES himself some consistency, Xanthia was granted a shared immortality upon this marriage in order for her to be his wife for eternity. Which wasn't exactly something she had wanted at the time, but over the first couple of decades of their marriage she grew to genuinely love him as at the time Pentes was good to his people, and in turn good with her.

But. Pentes isn't a good man. He is the physical embodiment of mud, the Lord Alluvium specifically, and was given his sentience by pure exposure to King Norve, who was very pissed when he was digging underneath the Scarred Wasteland. He inherited this anger and the want for power that King Norve had wanted at the time. So, after their multi-decade-long honeymoon phase, Pentes began to try and gain more and more power by taking over the land around him. Much of this land is actually where the Quarantine Zones are in the Scarred Wasteland now, and if he could overpower someone, he would do it without hesitation; so the peak of his rule expanded for this entire area and then some. Xanthia didn't like this.

The Thing about Xanthia is that she's very straightforward and blunt about her opinions. She thought this drastic expansion was unnecessary and greedy, and would only hurt their people in the long run, which was NOT something Pentes wanted to hear. For most of these expansions, because she loved him so much, she kept her mouth shut and did what she could behind his back, but it wasn't much because (motions to the mud part) he quite literally had eyes everywhere there was dirt.

She would become more defiant though the more it started to affect their kingdom negatively. Pentes was solely concerned about gaining power, for what he never knew, but he knew he needed it and wanted it. He was becoming more and more aggressive, more arrogant, and while to the outsiders perspective his kingdom might have been thriving through this, the reality was that it was tearing apart the inner councils and that the kingdom was very near collapse. So Xanthia decided she had QUITE enough of it and finally, publicly, denounced what Pentes was doing.

Pentes to the public eye took the speech she made gracefully. He acknowledged what she had qualms with, and announced that he would make a formal speech in return, and address any problems his people might have as well. but well actually he was pissed as hell.

The Thing Is Though. he couldn't just kill her. she honest to god wanted to rest, so it wouldn't scare her to threaten to take her immortality. On top of that, it would ruin the image that his kingdom was Fine Actually for the Queen to suddenly die in some way, so soon after she made a speech against him. So he keeps her alive. but he doesn't keep his people alive, and that is what hits her the hardest. Before they married she was in schooling to become a doctor, and was notorious for helping those around her no matter their status/relevance.

The title of Bell is one held within King Norve's Council. The Bell is a warning signal, to take on the dress of the Bell is to announce that there imminent danger that is unavoidable, and no one will escape the incoming tragedy alive, and typically this dress is given by King Norve himself and the title holder will act as a messenger. Each Bell title holder usually has its own moniker, and Pentes' title would come to be the Blood-Ridden Bell. Six months after his response to Xanthia's claims and soothing his kingdom, he very suddenly has an "outburst of magic" after donning the Crown of Pins* that leads to a very violent slaughter of a GOOD portion of the inner kingdoms people. His end goal was to devastate Xanthia so horribly that she fell into a deep depression, and become something malleable for him to manipulate-- because she has power of her own! While she's wasn't a god like him, she was becoming one through exposure to him, and she could've very easily be turned into a living weapon just like King Norve himself.

But she doesn't devastate like he intended her to. After "coming back to his senses" and "realizing what he had done", Xanthia is already making moves to leave this kingdom. Of course she's in pain about what had just happened, but she knows Pentes after well over 200 years of being married to him, and knows that he is just Too Powerful to have an uncontrolled outburst like that. His power is well cultivated and precise, but he didn't account for the fact that Xanthia knew him so intimately as she did-- because while she loved him, he didn't love her fully. She was a prop for his kingdom, and he believed her to be just as knowledgeable about his power as his people. But she is insanely smart! And Again! Loved Him Deeply! so she would pay attention to these things!

So he scrambles. He's apologetic to his peoples and seems to be deeply ashamed of what he's done and immediately goes to repair what's been lost to the best of his abilities, even putting in significantly more work to rehabilitate everyone in the kingdom and bring back people to the inner kingdom. But Xanthia is missing. and people notice this quickly. But he never gives a proper statement as to what happened to her, because truthfully, for a very long time he genuinely didn't know-- only that she was definitely still alive.

This ofc pisses him the fuck off even after King Norves gives him the little Bell promotion in titling him the Blood-Ridden Bell, because while he has technically gained power, he could've had a LOT more power if he had kept Xanthia and turned her into the weapon he wanted her to become. But alas.

So, Xanthia is exiled from Pentes' rule, and in turn is exiled from the Vermin Court, which pins a very large target on her back if she is to be rediscovered by the wrong dragons of this court.

Right now, Xanthia is actually taking shelter under Anura's eye in the Clan of Phrauge, and has been since the Clan was first originated. Not many within the clan actually know who Xanthia is at length, just that she's an immortal doctor and was said to have known Anura when he was the Clans leader. Pentes, as of the present storyline, is actually aware of this and visits Xanthia VERYYYYY very downlow.

It's usually to taunt her. She is still sickeningly in love with who Pentes was before he become who he is now. She always seems to be in a state of mourning of this version of him, and it doesn't seem like she'll stop mourning him anytime soon, especially when he visits her. Some days he'll come to her and basically lovebomb her into confusion, other days he'll be cruel and accusatory, threatening to expose her to those who want her dead for abandoning him, etc etc etc. It's really bad. Anura unfortunately isn't in high of enough rank for his actions to sway Pentes any, and because he is still affiliated with the Vermin Court he can't completely keep Pentes out of his clans boundaries-- especially not without exposing the fact he is still alive to his own clan.

So. Xanthia is just very tired. She'll always love who Pentes was, and he will always dangle this over her head.

*- Crown of Pins: This was a crown made by some of the first organized Religions around the Plaguebringer, specifically when she was still known as Jhortanas to the common people. It was worn by religious leaders while performing rituals in order to communicate with her, and became a weapon of destruction after being imbued with ancient plague magic. King Norve stole this crown after running off on his own, and gave it to Pentes to form his physical body. Pentes only brings out this crown when he intends to do mass destruction, ie, the Blood-Ridden Bell Murder.

Now. 1. imagine if i had this in a bio. 2. Camir's situation is. significantly less convoluted. HELP.

Camir Moreno is the second husband of "Arianwyn" Craftwood aka Crafty, but the two divorced somewhat recently and on less than neutral terms. It's rumored that the two had children and that well he didn't get custody, but given that the Craftwoods are so vigilant about keeping their family members anonymous within reason, no one actually knows if there's actually any kids. But

Camir grew up with Crafty in the burrow market. For as long as he can remember he's been in love with her. He fell for her REALLY hard and continued to love her throughout a shit ton of Burrow Market Tragedies:tm: and even the War of Flies which VERY much fucked up things for them. but hes also a narcissist and has a shit ton of his own problems and while the love he has is genuine, he never actually got along with her that well?!?!?

They had conflicting interests for the Burrow as they both climbed in leadership. They had conflicting customers, ethics, literally everything, and it came to a point where he very legitimately questioned Why he loved her, but came down to like 'heh i just like women who stand their ground' which like. sure whatever.

he was very difficult to deal with in marriage, and the only reason why they even married was for political gain. The Morenos and Craftwoods on the surface are very influential families in the Gabbro (old city in phrauge) and having these families come together would only bring each other customers. The second this shit was proposed Camir agreed. But it took craftwood a LOOT of hefty talking into because she had actually, previously, been married to fucking Patriarch Feir (guy who made Bawkrya the Patriarch with no warning) which is A BIG DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!! and that marriage obviously led to divorce as well, and she just didnt want to waste her time with more political marriages (and also she was preoccupied banging women and sopping wet men (neither of which is camir))

but she would relent. and immediately regret.

They made the marriage work just long enough for her to get some important contracts that she wanted out of the marriage, but she very quickly handed him the divorce papers the second she knew she could safely break off the marriage w/o severing what she built Off of the marriage. and Camir found this really insulting. Because again, he really liked her! he's had a fascination with her since he was like fifteen! but he absolutely didn't have the words to express this, and didn't feel like it was necessary to do such because oh you're my wife now.

But, he perceives anything she does that he doesn't like as something to spite him and is generally very petty about the divorce, and Quite Literally has beaten the FUCK out of someone for bringing it up in a manner he didn't like. On the surface, he holds an amicable relationship with her, but its something he Has to do as they're both burrow masters.

anyways he was just in love with the idea of her that he made in his head that is absolutely nothing like what Crafty's actually like as a person, and she is very well aware of this. The marriage isnt the first time he's brought up his feelings for her. Hes just one of those guys that cant take no for an answer

to Craftwoods delight though, Xidorn aka her sopping wet man her little rabid ring dog her sweet cinnamon apple, ends up getting a hit on Camir and kills his ass after provoking him during a VERYYY large fighting tournament in the death rings. They both coordinate his assassination even getting vasyl in on it, and uhhh i havent planned anything beyond this but camir gets whats coming for him.

[palomahasenteredthechat]

https://www.tumblr.com/palomahasenteredthechat/760986163163037696/httpswwwtumblrcompalomahasenteredthechat7609?source=share

Sorry Paloma for making you read this but fandom is so genuinely exhausting to me lately and I feel you will understand.

Why does it bother some fans that other fans don't believe the relationship is real? Why does it bother some fans that other fans like one ship and not the other? Why does it bother some fans that other fans like an unproblematic show/movie/book/game/episode they don't? Why does it bother some fans that other fans have different opinions to them in general? The answer to all of these is that for the most part people are selfish and self-righteous. They believe that the thing they like or believe is right and therefore better than anyone else's opinion and they have to talk about it because that is fandom culture these days. Everyone online assumes the worst from other people at any given time. To not speak on something positive or good means you don't like it, agree or engage with it. But to not speak on something negative or bad, means you condone it and are part of the problem. Fandom has become a tit for tat battle where random fans on tumblr and X feel the need to release their own 'statements' about every little thing for fear of being lumped in with the wrong crowd. Then inevitably the people on the other side of the fence see the statement and can't help themselves but argue because they need to be correct. It's entirely fucked up and causes so much unnecessary discourse. People need to learn that like 90% of the time you are not going to change someone's mind by arguing in the comments of their post. Not everything is or needs to be a debate. When it comes to fandom especially, it really is not that deep. Being on the internet is so Goddamn tiring but I have nowhere else to go.

Social media has trained us to see relationships through an us/them lens. Look at politics. Most people identify more with who they are 'against' than what they stand for.

I'm old enough, kids, to remember that you used to have to deal with friends who thought differently, voted differently, had different beliefs than you. Sometimes you just had to put up with it or ignore it if you wanted to keep the friendship. Sometimes the friendship drifted apart because of it. But either way, it wasn't the only thing that defined the individual because you were with them in person and saw them as a human being. It's super hard to do that online. We need to remember that we all have more in common than we don't.

Now of course there is a big difference between what celebrities do with a platform vs someone who is a fan of a celebrity. But how we group and label fans and act accordingly is absolutely happening.

[barbatos-sama]

my review of fae farm that nobody asked for:

so, it's a cute game but it's very,, standard farm game. basically harvest moon with not much to set it apart. i was hoping there would be that whimsical feeling with unique magic mechanics but for the most part it's just standard farm game stuff retextured as magic stuff. the biggest example being that the magic staff is literally just a retextured sword. it can do spells sometimes that are useful, for example you have a whirlwind spell that can be used to easily harvest a bunch of crops at once, so i wish there was more of that kind of thing. it also kinda pushes the 'magic' mechanic onto standard farm game things that feels unnecessary. for example, like you have a mana bar like most magic-based games have. you can't do magic once your mana bar is depleted. the problem is that it counts things such as watering multiple crops at once as magic. meanwhile in stardew for example you can just do that with the only expense being stamina and water consumption. this takes both of these things And the mana cost, making it more annoying.

it has another big problem that i think most farm games have, that being that animals take way too long to take care of every day. it requires you to brush them all, pet them, sheer/milk them, and all of those things have animations that take Way too long, making the animal husbandry feel soooo annoying and time consuming. this problem isn't unique to this specific game but the fact that you even have to brush the cows is something i've never seen. it almost makes me want to just get rid of my animals and ignore that mechanic entirely. their products don't seem worth it even after putting it through artisan processing, so i find myself like 'what is even the point'. it also takes a lot of resources to process them into something usable, for example i think you need five wood you cut from a tree to make a single processed lumber, which you then need a lot of to make anything with. same with ore and artisan goods. it makes things take too long, like you could spend the whole day chopping wood and only get like five usable lumber out of it.

you also don't really get into the 'fae' part until like chapter four of the game which is too long in my opinion, i only Just got my wings like the day before yesterday. now i've opened the fae portal so im seeing more fairies around (and romancing one) but it took so long :I SPEAKING of the npcs, they REALLY lack dialogue or personality. i'm talking like maybe three lines of dialogue per friendship level. i've barely even talked to the guy im romancing and he already says he intends to court me (exact quote, i appreciate the bluntness ADGDJ) i think that's one of my biggest problems with the game, these characters have no substance to the point that i literally haven't bothered to learn any of their names because they're That nothing to me.

also there's a hybrid flowers mechanic in this game which would set it apart from other farming games But it takes SO long to breed the flowers it feels pointless to me, esp cause you need a lot of hybrids to get things like different colored wings for example and locking them behind something that takes so long is a big turnoff for me. like give me blue wings, this is Fae Farm, i shouldn't have to work so hard to be a fairy!!

the biggest money maker seems to be mining, processing your gems is what's made the most money for me (it's baffling how hard making money in this game is, i thought my usual strat of 'plant a fuck ton of crops' would work but it doesn't at all) and like, idk i think a Farming game should focus on farming yknow.

i've been talking a lot abt negatives, i suppose some positives are the aforementioned whirlwind spell making crops easy to harvest, and a big one is that there's a universal storage on your farm, so like you put everything in your one storage shed and you have access to that on every one of your processing machines without having to actually take the items out of your storage. so that's really helpful. the characters are quite cute and they give me kind of mysims vibe based in the style, but it doesn't have the charm that mysims had. mysims got away with simple characters with not much dialogue by making their animations very expressive as well as just having strong fun gameplay. only example i rly liked in this game was that my future boyfriend swings his little feet when he sits in chairs and i think it's really cute.

yeah uhhhh idk i was having fun with the game but am already feeling burnt out because this game just feels like a generic farming game that i've played a thousand times, kind of like copy of harvest moon with all the same problems as harvest moon. kind of makes me feel like i wasted 40 bucks ;-; i liked the demo but it felt like they kinda hid the parts that sucked outside of the demo AHDHHDHD like the very beginning of the game is fun but once you get into it more you realize how stupidly grindy it is

[elvenbeard]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you so much for the tag and reminder @kharonion! :D Gonna tag @pinkyjulien @humberg @chevvy-yates @theviridianbunny cause I haven't been keeping up with tumblr much lately and would love to know what you're all doing atm if you wanna share 👀

As always, I got way too much stuff at once I'm doing, and apartment hunting is awful and really robbing me of my motivation, so I'm doing a lot of low-brain-effort stuff that calms my nerves at the moment really. Let's see...

VP Stuff

Currently working my way through my "Vince through the years series" :D Two posts out (2067, 2069), one drafted and still needs some text, the others are still a work in progress XD While 2067 was a bit about Vince's home life, 2069 about his transition and time in Kabuki, 2071 is gonna have a focus on Jackie 👀

I should have it ready in a few days :3

Art Stuff

I actually had a little drive to draw something lately :DD working a bit on the comic I teased the other week, slowly chipping away at the lineart, but really enjoying it so far, even though my process is slow!

First page lineart done (for now xD I might go back and fiddle more with it). I am... very tempted to paint the background, but I think I will for once settle for the easy approach and fill in my backgrounds with modified screenshots for this. Cause why tf not xD If professional manga artists can do it, so can I for my silly fancomic!

Writing Stuff

I started chapter 8 of Love is Stored in the Olive Jar and I know it's gonna be a difficult one cause I've really been building up to it and now I got the "you gotta deliver now!!" anxiety XD But I'm still looking forward to finally getting to Mr. B's solution for V's Sun-Ending problem 👀

“So, she got any final words of wisdom?” Kerry asked, fingers gently drumming on the steering wheel. They had swapped cars at home, and with what Rogue had just said now V wondered if it might not have been better after all to use Kerry’s Aerondight to get here… But then again, if shit hit the fan in some way, he didn’t want any unnecessary negative attention drawn to Kerry. “Not really,” V shook his head, “Nothin’ I didn’t think of already at least.” “Told ya so,” Kerry shrugged, pulling out his cigarettes and only paused when he noticed V’s stern stare. “Ah, fuck,” he mumbled and then got out of the car. They had not only swapped cars but changed clothes quickly while they were home. As he slipped from the driver’s seat, Kerry’s wide black bomber jacket rode up briefly, revealing the gun kept in the waistband of his cargopants. “You shouldn’t do that,” V said as he got out himself, “Posers in action films keep their gun in their pants. In the real world that’s gonna get you shot in the ass faster than you think.” V closed the passenger side door with his elbow, flinching slightly at the pain shooting through his shoulder and chest. He took a deep breath, adjusted his own gun holster worn snugly under his coat. “Fiiine,” Kerry sighed, lit cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, and he put the gun into his jacket’s pockets. Not ideal still, but better. V smiled at him, and then slowly turned to look down the short, narrow side street they were parked in. They were close to the Santo Domingo district border, in the middle of the industrial area at the edges of the city. The location coordinates Mr. B had sent him lay not far ahead. A new, sleek white building, V guessed it around ten stories tall, rose at the center of what he remembered to be factory grounds formerly. It was far from imposing, a little bit lost on the large lot even, but it blended in well with the surrounding corpo complexes. The entire compound was fenced in, V spotted cameras and security turrets near the heavily secured entrance gate. No security staff though, not even mechs or drones, much to his surprise, at least not visibly out in the open.

Modding Stuff

I have a handful of things on the backburner... A very silly t-shirt (the replacer works already, but I wanna make it Archive XL!), band merch, and my custom hand holding poses... but with my anxiety-riddled brain wolvenkit is a bit too daunting at the moment, but I'm really looking forward to continuing all these projects :3

[tobiasdrake]

I think now, getting into the meat of 2-3, is a good time to talk about death. This is something Danganronpa does really well most of the time. Not always, but a lot. This is key to what makes most of its cases so interesting and engaging: Effective use of character death.

There are two ways to react negatively to a character's death.

The first is to be upset that the character died. From an in-universe perspective, you are mourning this character's loss. For writers, this is always desirable. This is how you want people to react; With shock, anguish, grief, maybe even outrage or a sense of bittersweet pride depending on how they died.

The key to this sort of reaction is that the death should convey a sense of narrative fulfillment. It needs to feel purposeful in some way. It can't just feel like you pulled a name out of a hat; it needs to feel, in some way, like a satisfying conclusion to the character's journey. It can be a tragic conclusion, but it still has to mean something that this character's journey would terminate here.

Their death should be a statement. And no, "It sucks when people you like die" isn't a statement. Their death is the final word on the story you've been telling with them, so it needs to say something meaningful about that story. Otherwise, it's just a waste of a character.

That means you need to be cognizant not just of why you're killing someone but of who you're killing. You want it to mean something that it was this character. Like it could never have been any other character but them.

It needs to feel like a meaningful step forward in the story that a character died and that it was this character specifically, and it needs to feel meaningful to the character's journey that this was the way their story would end. Like this was always the way their story was going to end.

This is exactly what sets Danganronpa apart from many other horror franchises. In most horror, nobody really cares about the will-be victims. They're just warm bodies waiting to die. The monsters are the stars. But Danganronpa takes a character-focused approach, putting more effort into weaving a satisfying narrative out of its characters instead, and puts in the effort to make nearly every death meaningful.

An impressive feat, given the sheer quantity of deaths in each game.

When a death is poorly handled, you get the other response. The second way is to be upset that the character was killed off. An unsatisfying death takes viewers out of the story.

There are a lot of things that a creator can do that will make the audience stop engaging with the story and start engaging negatively with the creative choices themselves. Stereotypical characterization, over-reliance on cliches or whole-hog ripping off of popular media, doing one of the things like Women in Refrigerators or Homicidal DID Alter that have been known to be obnoxious for years, etc.

But few things will take the audience out of your story faster than an unsatisfying death. When a death feels premature. Or like the wrong character died. Or entirely unnecessary, like someone was just killed for shock value. Or like the character was just picked at random and had no real involvement in their own death.

There's a lot of ways to screw up character death. And, unfortunately, the cost of a character death is, by definition, the presence of a character. When a character dies, they don't get to be in the story anymore. This is the final word on their character.

If the final word sucks? Unless you're willing to splurge on a whole-ass resurrection, you can't take that back.

There are a lot of contentious character choices that you can go back and revise later. You can tweak all kinds of mistakes to make them more palatable to your audience.

But unless you're doing one of those "everyone comes back to life all the time" stories, you only get to kill a given character once.

So you'd better make it good.

[mayomalice]

midnight sun • twilight

6/10

I'd like to start this review by saying this: i am not a knuckle cracker. but if i was, i would be cracking them before i begin my review.

lets get into it starting with the pros of this book before i rip into it with the cons.

for the most part i actually thoroughly enjoyed this book, there were several moments that made me giddy having been able to see it through Edward's perspective, such as being able to get brief glances into other peoples heads and know what they were thinking in that moment, because.. that's literally his power. it brought forth several short almost witty moments- some of them i believe to be unintentional, such as a descriptor for jasper in a moment to be 'and jasper was... suffering.'.

while i am aware of Edward and Bella's relationship being not all that healthy, that doesn't prevent me from loving them together. (because to be frank there are far worse pairings out there). For a lack of better words and words that make me cringe just at the thought of typing, once again, the movies really fail to show how much rizz Edward has. like he was seducing me to be honest, and i'm not even remotely attracted to men.

other than those pros that will conclude the positive section of this review, as i've listed in other book reviews for the series a lot of the same positives apply to this one. that being said, i don't wish to retype all of that once again.

lets move on to the negatives this book had for me.

firstly, Edward is extremely broody. to an eye rolling extent. while yes, i have been aware of that from reading the entire original series, and having watched the movies hundreds of times.. it still doesn't make it any less irritating when he's constantly saying things like 'Bella deserves someone better than me' 'Bella shouldn't be with someone who's killed people (COUGH, rapists).. etc.

secondly, from roughly page 568 until the final page, 658, i hated almost everything i was reading.

the entire scene where they're trying to get Bella out of danger is truly a frustrating read. Edward is a moron who refuses to listen to Alice who's trying to diffuse both him and the situation at hand, which in turn worries Bella further.. Emmet is unsure of what to do as he's sat in the backseat with a now even more stressed Bella.. Edward being no help at all like i said previously as he refuses to pull over so Alice can tell him what they should do for way longer than what should've been touched on within that chapter.

furthermore the car chase scene was torturous to read. why is it that with only a single apart am i being told that the car is driving at 150 m/ph? twice? why is it that you continue to tell me the car is going '160' '170' '180.'... that detail is entirely unnecessary when all that truly needed to be said was something like 'the car was continuing to increase in speed rapidly'.

my next massive complaint has to do with Carlisle and licence losing medical malpractice on his part. now, i love Carlisle. it's not so much about HIM, but mores about stephanie's idiocy regarding topics that she clearly did NOT research before including them in her novel. (something which is not new for her and her writing at all).

the complaints are as follows:

1. the 'she's lost some blood' comment. no shit. both you and Edward are actively kneeling in the pool of her blood which she's actively laying in. she's lost more than 'some blood'.

2. WHYYYY are you doing sutures outside of a hospital?? and how?? and where the fuck do you have to supplies- let alone sterile supplies to do so?? i understand that Carlisle is a doctor but that's not just something you have just chilling in your back pocket or in your car. so once again.. WHAT?

3. WHY do you have morphine on your person to treat Bella with.. morphine is an opioid, and there are legal restrictions that come with that.. as far as i'm aware you would not just have morphine on you, let alone a high enough dosage to treat Bella who has; 4 broken ribs, a broken leg, 2 open wounds on her head (which directly goes back to #2 of my complaints), and a body almost coated in bruising from head to toe. there is NO way.

4. Taping Bella's ribs. first of all, this is no longer a practice that is used as it makes it hard to take deep breaths, which bella was doing, because on top of everything she was also actively turning into a vampire.

5. i understand that they 'couldn't go to the hospital' because of the vampire turning on their hands, but they should've. if they truly had to keep Bella human, Edward should've sucked the venom out on the way to the hospital. in my opinion though, Bella should've just turned then and there. it would've saved everyone a world of trouble as well as once again, saving them the trip to the hospital entirely.

that's all for my medical malpractice complaints, now onto some more general complaints, i'll try to keep this short.

1. how did nobody in the small town of Forks notice the ballet studio having been lit on fire and burned to the ground? it's a small town, people are nosy, people would notice and come to see what's going on.

2. Bella was only kept in the hospital for 9 days despite her condition.

3. no obvious timeskip in the writing to show that Bella had recovered enough to be walking around and able to go to her school dance.

4. a lacklustre, disappointing ending. the final sentence literally being; 'as the night finally overcame the end of the day, i leaned forward again and kissed the warm skin of her throat.

with all that being said, up until the climax i did enjoy reading the book. it's not the best in the series at all, but at least it's not new moon.

[littlebosslady7]

Have you watched all 3 campaigns? Do you still plan to watch campaign 3 after last game? Do you ever have any negatives about the story? You're always focused on positive.

Yeah, I started with Campaign 1. I like them all for different aspects and reasons.

I don't agree with the character choices for Ashton right before they had to go to the moon. Their healers are now put in an even tougher position, but that doesn't mean I'll stop watching entirely.

By the way, at the start of CR3, I didn't like most of their characters except for Fearne and Orym, because we knew them from EXU. So my husband and I stopped watching for a bit until the early 20's in episode number. It's okay to take breaks, if you're not feeling something.

Negatives

Remember these are just my opinion.

-Apart from the bakery and Gilmore's, I feel like all of this, at times unnecessary god talk should've been done in a city like Vasselheim or Issylr. Whitestone doesn't entirely feel like Whitestone

-Where's Vex? I need her to know about Vax.

-In CR3, Percy is sometimes played as crotchety old guy, which is somewhat valid. It comes across as one note, But I wish Matt played the softer side, the dorky side, the comforting husband because I need Vex to know about her brother. Taliesin approves, so who am I to judge?

-Vox Machina seems disconnected from one another as a group. I know it makes sense in the state of magical disarray. but Pike and Percy would try to check on Keyleth when she's bedridden.

-The pacing of this campaign isn't my favorite, but I recognize that I can be very impatient.

[sarahthevampyrslayer]

TLDR; I’m just venting about my parents lol. I feel like a teenager again, but with more bills and a car, so at least I can leave when I’m too annoyed 😂😂

So my partner and I have been living with my parents again since mid February. We all got an apartment together and have been splitting rent, utilities, bills etc. 50/50. But we do get separate groceries, laundry stuff and, toiletries. It actually hasn’t been too bad living with them. It’s not nearly has bad as it was when I was a kid/teenager, but there are little things they do that just irk me.

The unnecessary comments about what I’m eating or drinking. Do you know how much sodium is in a danish? My mom does lol. Do you know how much caffeine is in ginger ale? The answer is none lol, but my dad will tell you there’s too much caffeine in ginger ale and that’s why you’ll nap in the middle of the day… obviously this is wrong lol.

Having my chronic illness (fibromyalgia) ignored and dismissed daily, kind of annoying. This is why I take frequent breaks throughout the day to avoid of flare up.

Being told repeatedly, by my father, that I need to get a job, despite the fact that I have a job, kind of annoying.

Every time my mother feels insecure about her body she projects that onto me and tells me I need to lose weight.

Whenever I cook, doesn’t matter what time of day it is, suddenly my parents need to be in the kitchen too (it is an extremely small space and there’s not enough room for more than 1 person to move around comfortably).

They’re just so go-go-go with their energy and I am… not lol. They’re inpatient and rushy.

They think because I’m home all day (I WFH) that means that I’m available to do things and when I tell them I can’t go anywhere because I’m working, I am called lazy and made to feel guilty that I’m not spending enough time with them.

They don’t have “inside voices” and my father slams every door and cabinet. He’s so aggressive with literally everything he does. I don’t understand it.

When their dog barks (she’s just a small little pompom) they think the appropriate response is to yell at her to stop. They don’t seem to realize that their yelling is louder and more annoying than the dog barking (she literally barks like 2-3 times and then stops, it ain’t like she’s going nonstop for 30 minutes or something lol).

I think the most annoying thing is all the comments about what I eat. I specifically avoid doing the counting calories and carbs and sugar bullshit because for 12 years I suffered with an ED. And part of recovery was to not focus so much on micromanaging my food. Of course I look at the nutritional information on the bag, but I’m not counting how many blueberries I can put in my pancakes. My mother is a counter. And she thinks not eating is a flex. “I only had 10 blueberries, 1 piece of toast, and 6 grapes for breakfast. But I couldn’t even finish it all. I threw away half of it.” And she tells me these things randomly. I don’t ask about it because I don’t care. My mom is an almond mom lol.

It’s become so hard to enjoy our meals because they always have something negative to say about it. Yesterday I made Indian food (butter chicken) and the entire time I’m cooking they’re sitting in the living room making comments about how it’s unhealthy. Pretty much any ethnic food, to them, is unhealthy. And most of my dishes lately have been Indian and Japanese food. And a lot of vegan stuff too (I’m not vegan, I just happen to make a lot of vegan dishes lol). I just want to cook and eat in peace lol.

[ofdusk]

WHAT MAKES A PERSONALITY

A template for analyzing features of a personality beyond listing adjectives.

SELF-CONCEPT

View of Self: perhaps naively, corrin holds herself no higher than she does anyone else. princess this, dragon child that -- to her those things that set her apart have never given her life any greater worth or entitled her to be any more capable than another. 

View of Others: a stranger is just a friend to be made, a story to be learned. people are kind until proven otherwise, and it takes a great deal of proving to be out of the realm of forgivable. corrin seeks to understand people, to learn from them. such is the fate of an avatar who can s support the entire cast.

View of World: seeing as she was sheltered for the years of her life that she can still remember, it’s only natural that corrin find the world nothing short of fascinating. there is an unshakable novelty to it, a childlike wonder in the way she approaches new places and things. that said, this leaves room for a great deal of surprise when introduced to harsher realities.

Motivations & Goals: as with most protagonists, corrin is motivated ultimately by a search for peace. her idea of peace is a pacifistic one, a world where unnecessary death is eliminated and its people can coexist with their differences. this is something that, following conquest, she has come to accept as a touch idealistic, but that does not mean it cannot be worked towards.

What they Value Most: relationships. her nature as an avatar is, by default, to act as the vehicle by which you learn about other characters. this has always interpreted to me as a genuine interest in being close to others, in filling those gaps in her own experiences with those of the people she cares about. down to her prf skill, it is made evident that the people corrin surrounds herself with are of the utmost importance to her. 

EMOTIONAL REACTIONS

Reaction to Stress: in terms of most emotions, corrin is... poorly equipped. a byproduct of being raised in captivity, probably, leaving negative emotions like stress to give her anything from panic attacks to bouts of insomnia or physical illness. that said, she has grown a thicker skin towards it since fighting a war, and is more than capable of acting under pressure. even if she does have a tendency to hesitate. 

Reaction to Fear: in a different vein from stress, corrin is far more susceptible to fear. stress is an over time sort of thing, fear and anger are adrenaline inducing and harder to control. these are the kind of moments that, pre-dragonstone, may have incited outbursts similar to the one that happened following mikoto’s death. age, war, and experience have obviously made these occurrences fewer and further between, but she is nowhere near immune to them.

Reaction to Success: disbelief initially, joy afterwards. though she doesn’t often (...ever?) attribute success solely to herself. there is always a dedications page, always a list of names and a dozen gratitudes. it’s always we did it, not i. 

Reaction to Failure: this one i had to actually go investigate for, and i think the answer is guilt and denial. in nearly every defeat quote there is an apology, and if not then there is some sort of disbelief. the former comes, naturally, from the value placed on other lives and her need to protect them. the latter is the more interesting, for i think it stems from her optimism. consciously, she does not think that she is unbeatable or that things cannot go wrong, but subconsciously is another matter. she doesn’t quite grasp that anything but the best can happen, not really.

DEVELOPMENT

Ideal Self: the self questions are admittedly really difficult :sob: but i think to corrin, the ideal self is a strong one. something to be proud of, to prove that the love she was given so liberally had not been for nothing. somebody who can protect instead of being protected, after so many years of the latter.

Areas of Growth: the obvious answer feels like it should regard her naivety and maturity, as throughout the events of canon, both improve drastically. they are still things that she struggles with, though there is a time and place. enough time has been spent in the position of a leader that she knows how to put on a brave face when it’s asked of her and can confine those weak moments to private ones.

Barriers to Growth: that said, there are exceptions. she is still often too trusting and debatably a little too forgiving, seeking always to look for the best in people. she is also still a little bit out of touch as well in terms of society, since very seldom has she ever been left to care completely for herself and... never once has she truly lived outside of the luxuries of nobility. 

[cethlyarlo]

Once, this user read a 50 chapter, 650,000 word fic I'd been working on for a year or two. They proceeded to then go back through and pull it apart from the inside out. I'm talking anything from character behavior, to plot, to grammar. If it was there, they had something to say about it and they did it for every single chapter. It wasn't even constructive criticism, that I can understand, but no, these were straight insults and jabs meant to demean and belittle.

That was beyond damaging to my seventeen year-old mind. I was already in quite the thickett when it came to my mental health, but to have something I'd poured my heart into torn to shreds by this one, disgusting person felt so unreal. It hurt me terribly and it destroyed so much of my drive and motivation. It was enough for me to take the entire fic down from the platform I had it on. I then either deleted my account or changed my username. I can't even remember what my old username used to be, but it doesn't matter now.

It took me two years to start writing fanfiction again, but it isn't the same as it used to be for me. I still try, but those comments and the conviction that one user had in them so many years ago still linger, and now I'm twenty-three.

For commenters, if you don't have anything nice or constructive to say, please don't say it at all, and for the love of anything you hold dear, if you don't like what you're reading, stop reading it and leave. It's free.

As everyone else here has already stated: fanfic writers are doing it for fun. We don't get paid for it and we don't owe anybody anything. Don't take the fun away by making demands and tossing insults our way. A lot of us struggle with mental health anyway; negativity is unnecessary and unwanted.

Please, for the love of god, please don’t be this person. No matter how long it’s been since an update, no matter how many unfinished stories are sitting on their account, no matter what - do not be this person.

Not only is it insanely rude, but you also do more damage than you think be being such a self-entitled ass about something someone created for free and for fun. “This author” can see what you say.

RIP decency indeed.

[fxirybun]

ur words are so true!

my problem is u know when u think u sus of something but u dont know if u mind just playing a trick in u and u like nahh cause it is kinda pointless to fret abt shit that isnt affecting u but i do think things on social media has got into the minds of some ppl and they kinda let it affect them to the point u kinda just have to laugh at some of the stuff that goes on and how ingrained ppl have become into whos doing or saying what thats wrong online.

yet at the same time they do end up taking the fun out of things for some people like whenu take hate trains for certain idols ive seen so many normalise it and act like bullying is an ok thing to do and someones reply to my comment gave me the ick bc they thought it did the idol some good. i just think online spaces have got worse over time instead of improving it for those who partake in everything to do with the internet. we r definitely in some weird times bruh cause even when idols try to do things for their audiences or fans it seem like no one hardly enjoying it anymore and everythings just about overdoing it on the negativity, that id rather not look at any of it but so much is online its hard not too? we dont have no kpop stores to go to for latest things or merch in general in my area its mad how so much nowadays is based entirely on the online realm.

some of its cool ngl i enjoy some things but the drama i dont care about lol. im done getting emotional abt shit these days but thats why the k in kpop stands for kids cause kids seem to be running these online spaces or grown adults who act like kids when they come online. its like everything is just pilkng up in terms of trying to neutrally enjoy what u want to enjoy and theres ppl who want to tear it apart and make dramas scandals and controversies 24/7. i do think readings are also useful though because some of it seems to be accurate and true but its also one of those things u should still take with a grain of salt cause ppl or armies i should say be mad obsessed with bts fs lmao

yeah i get what you mean about how socmed is getting these recent years. you saw the impact of cybercrime (idk what's the right word but let me use my knowledge from the major i take '_') , especially in how cyber defamation , cyberbullying , and drama seem to dominate the conversations. it must've been frustrating for you because whilst you're aware that not everything needs to be taken seriously , it’s hard to completely avoid it when so much of kpop content and its culture exists online.

it feels like you're questioning whether it's worth getting emotionally involved in these cyberspaces anymore , notably when what was once fun or lighthearted now seems overshadowed by negativity. you've also seen how people take things to extremes , like justifying harmful behaviors towards idols or stirring up drama , and how it creates an environment where enjoying something purely feels harder. that loss of casual enjoyment , as you put it , is real , and it’s understandable why you’d want to distance yourself from it.

the fact that everything is online now , including the access to merch or updates makes it even more complicated (?). it seems to me that you can't fully disengage without missing out on things you enjoy , but you're also aware that a lot of the drama or obsession , like you mentioned with bts or other kpop groups , feels more like an unnecessary layer that takes away from what should be enjoyable.

i can also see how you're grounding yourself well enough about not to get swept up in every lil thing especially in readings. it's like you're finding ways to stay connected to what you love whilst filtering out the noise. maybe perhaps that's the key for you ( ･᷄ὢ･᷅ )嗯 ? figuring out what brings you joy in this cyberspace whilst learning how to let the unnecessary drama roll off your back.

you've seen the absurdity of some behaviors online and all i could say is to laugh at it and keep your distance from the toxicity if it feels like you're mind is being clouded by it. don't let your happiness be ruined by what's going on online (◞‸◟ )