#very lacking demographic in my life tbh

[justanotherfanartist]

I don’t want to. but the PARASITES in me want to do WW2 re-enactments as a male US soldier. (5’2”)(out of shape)(teenage girl)

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/733514062320779264/httpsolderthannetfictumblrcompost73323520332

I agree that Oseman's lack of desire to write about sex is not the problem, it's how she talks about it, and there should be room for teen content without sex (though I also think it's weird when people talk about it like that's not common) or where the characters even explicitly state they're not having sex - at the very least to make room in media for the numerous teens who don't have it.

That said, I didn't have sex as a teenager and I was only ever interested in media that did have it. I think it was a way of sating my curiosity about it. Like you, I also was primarily not reading stuff for teens by especially the later years of high school, but even when I was reading more YA I wanted the sexy stuff. Like I devoured those Gossip Girl books, even knowing they were trashy, because it was a fantasy of a type of life I didn't have.

And I think that also gets to something that's a bigger issue with a lot of how people talk about media for teens and media in general: this emphasis on "relatability." Why does media have to be about experiences you can relate to? When I was a teenager, i wanted to read about lives that were nothing like mine. The Gossip Girl books weren't "relatable" to me as a middle-class suburban teen in the Upper Midwest, but that was part of the fun: they were a fantasy of this aspirational wealthy New York life. Even besides the fun of escapism, books that get you in a character's head can be a really good tool for building empathy, and I think it's better for teens' like, moral? development to be encouraged to read books by people who aren't like them so they can more easily empathize with different experiences. This is obviously less the case with something like Gossip Girl and more with something about someone from a marginalized group or who is poor or who is otherwise going through some type of hardship, where it makes sense for teens to have to grapple with that in their literature classes. But I've seen people on this site argue against including certain books that have very "adult" experiences in them in high school literature classrooms because "teens won't find that relatable" and I'm like.... do you maybe think that's the point? So much of how I understood things that I would have never experienced, from the Congo Crisis and the post-colonial struggle in Africa, to what it's like to be a soldier living through World War II or the Vietnam War, came from reading books.

--

TBH, plenty of teen books are full of "relatable" things like jealousy, grief, insecurity...

People are way too focused on quasi-didactic literature and cloak it as wanting realistic non-genre fiction about characters from a similar demographic to the reader.

[bg-brainrot]

To start, I’m a huge fan of your writing! Seriously, I’ve been reading your stuff since maybe October or November? I always look forward to updates, and I genuinely think your writing is of top-notch quality. Thank you for sharing your stories with us on the internet. ❤️

I saw your post saying you were in game development, and I wanted to ask what are some good ways to network and work with game studios? I’m actually an artist working in the animation industry now (this is an alt account to save posts for my brainrot lmao), but would love to transition into games sooner or later, just not sure how to find good info or leads? There’s only so many animation studios producing major work so it’s easier to scout info, but the world of games is daunting to say the least, even if I’ve been a gamer my whole life.

Any insight helps, but totally understand if you don’t have a straightforward answer to this question lol. You rock, and hope you’re having a good day!

Ahhh first off, thank you so much for reading my fic <33 You best believe I recognize your username when you like my posts and I appreciate it every single time. C: Second, thank you for asking a question!!! I am unreasonably excited to answer it!

To answer your question, I have a few tips, but I will say it will definitely depend on where you live what resources are available to you (it sucks, and it's honestly a huge downside to this industry :') ). Some tips below, sorted by, like availability ~

Networking from anywhere:

Join Discords! There are a ton for general game developers, a ton for people in specific fields, a ton for specific demographics within gaming, a ton for recruiting or for connecting with mentors-- and honestly, it can seem like a lot, there are a ton of people, a lot of them might already know each other, etc. but everyone is super friendly and super willing to help.

Join GameJams! I cannot stress this enough, but one of the biggest things that will help someone transition into games from another field is experience making games (I know it sounds counterintuitive, but bear with me haha)-- but making games, even if they're small games you make with a group over a weekend, shows directly applicable experience and looks great on a portfolio! GameJams are an easy way to find a group, set aside time, and make a game before you even join a studio. Bonus note: animators are *always* in high demand for those.

Reach out to people whose work you like directly! This is by far the most nerve-wrecking (to me at least), but reaching out to people, like cold-emailing, cold-LinkedIn messaging, is just such a good way to get to know people. As awkward as it is for you, people who like what they do will always be excited to answer questions and help set you on a path forward (like me! I receive messages myself and each time I get excited that someone even bothered to reach out tbh). If you're super lucky, you may even get a mentor out of it!

From in-person locations:

Join local indie dev meetups! I've done this in my area, and each and every time everyone is so willing to talk, to connect, and to give each other advice. The best part of these meetups is that they tend to be very informal, and you may even find teams looking to expand.

(Disclaimer, this one is expensive and genuine connections can be difficult given the sheer number of participants, but it's not impossible) Attend conventions/game dev events! Even at GDC, people from all types of industries attend to try to get their foot in the door, speak with recruiters, get portfolio advice, and learn a bit more about how the industry works. A quick word of warning for this one: be wary of the type of convention! For example, GDC is great for growth and connections, but attend something more press-oriented like PAX or more creator-oriented like TwitchCon and you may be disappointed at the lack of opportunities to just sit and talk. Smaller conventions can sometimes be more helpful to actually network as well.

Attend any local universities/incubator programs game showcases! Again, hyper-specific to this being in your area, but often people will take time to show off their game, host in-person game jams, and more-- usually you'll find these around major universities, major companies, and even places like video game museums. All great places to meet and get to know some mentors or even recruiters.

and some general tips for animation specifically that you probably already know as an animator in another field but are always worth mentioning:

Make sure that you know what type(s) of animation you want to get into (Technical animator, rig specialist, gameplay animator, etc.), which studios rely on which animation types (some studios have one generalist, some split up their animation pipeline very thoroughly, some have only 2D animators, some 3D, some a mixture of both), and which game engines they use-- the more programs you know, the better, of course. I've seen 2D animators spend many a personal hour learning 3D animation for the sake of getting on a game they want to work on, so the sooner you learn the better :')

Again I want to stress the gamejam, but if you don't want to talk to other people or it's difficult to find one, I would recommend at least trying to make your own small game. The reason being that, while animators in general are super highly sought after in the industry, the more you know about game development itself the more sought after you will be! A good animator is fantastic, an animator who knows why their animation breaks as soon as it's in engine is even better (and the best way to figure that kind of debugging is really from trying, failing, iterating!)

Beyond just reaching out to people, find animators you like in the industry and see if they're involved in any mentorship programs, are giving any talks, maybe already have some talks online (old GDC talks end up on YouTube sometimes), or even have guides on how they got their start in the industry. It's definitely not a clear cut journey for anyone into gaming, so there's no one-size-fits-all, but it can give you a gauge for how others in your position got there!

PHEW, I think that's it! I hope some of this is helpful, feel free to like, ask for clarification as I know I can ramble, and thank you again for asking! You rock and hope your day is excellent :D

[soraka-in-warhammer40k]

Sometimes I wonder if old people are that way because they don't realize how utterly fragile they are. You know how kids do some stupidly risky stuff that could end with broken bones or worse because due to a lack fo experience and boundless optimism they don't even register to potential harm that might befall them? Old people apparently have a similiar problem.

Some 65+ old fart tries to actively start beef with me and internally I'm like "I could literally kill you in five different ways without even intending to". Note here I am not a fighter, I don't know MMA, boxing, or any skill like that, and my street-brawl history in inexistent because that's not something that happens around here - and yet despite all this lack of experience I most certainly do know what I can lift and pull and push in terms of weights and I see this brittle walking twig that maybe once was a man and just know I could break him in two by just bumping into him by accident in the same way that one is instantly very careful around small children or other "fragile" members of society.

This is a sort of information that directly gets beamed onto my brain from a more primal department of my subconscious. Maybe it's got something to do with being a social animal, but it is absurd how some old people apparently have completly forgotten that sort of thing.

Maybe do not randomly scream at someone are allegedly parking in "your" spot for 5 minutes to unload some stuff when said someone could EASILY END YOUR LIFE BY MERE ACCIDENT?! Do you have a death wish? Tbh, going by the macroeconomic and demographic situation I'd happily oblige and rid us of this rotting petulence and make the world a better place; but seriously what the fuck is wrong with these old people?!

[goingrampant]

The Boys Marketing

Similar to issues surrounding The Hunger Games as a profitable franchise, the Amazon series The Boys critiques the excesses of modern capitalism and then Amazon reproduces them in marketing The Boys merchandise. There are numerous toys, T-shirts, and costumes paying homage to the various characters as well as general series logos stamped on whatever they can sell. In some cases, the satirical nature of a framework glorifying these awful figures is retained, but some are more ambiguous. The use of the character Stormfront as a Nazi antagonist serves to clarify the satirical nature of some of these products, but there also appears to be an active effort to obscure her nature as a Nazi to make her more marketable.

When it comes to depictions of The Boys, the protagonists, the merchandise accurately captures the sentiment of rebellion against Vought as an evil capitalist organization. We can critique this at a meta level--Amazon selling "fight capitalism" merch to make money from a "fight capitalism" show subverts the point of a "fight capitalism" show--but it is, at least, consistent with the message of the show.

Things get rockier when it comes to depictions of bad guys who act as part of the evil capitalist organization.

The most overt satirical product they have, in my opinion, is the "Brave Maeve" critique of rainbow washing:

The use of the rainbow-washed Claddagh makes it clear to any queer people what's being invoked here, and it has a very sneering tone at the whole concept--true to the show's satirical nature.

The Homelander merchandise presentation is largely ambiguous in nature, marketing both to people who appreciate him as a villain and conservatives who like him as a character they can relate to: a conservative American patriot just trying to stumble his way through life.

This Homelander costume is completely neutral. Someone might buy it because they like villains and want to portray a horrible person. Or, maybe a MAGA type would buy it because they identify with the figure as a beleaguered hard-right American just trying to keep America great, like the fellow who wore this costume at the Million MAGA March (2020-11-14 demonstration by conspiracy theorists claiming Trump won the election and Biden stole it).

In this Homelander and Stormfront shirt, the use of Stormfront as an obviously evil Nazi antagonist clarifies the satirical nature of the image:

You'd be hard-pressed to find any actual American fascists who like the vibe of this shirt. It is overtly about the show's villains and reads like it should be worn by people who like villains and/or the critique of American nationalism as equivalent to Nazism. I think even actual Nazis would be turned off by how obviously evil the Nazi character looks. (TBH, they were already alienated by the casting of Jewish actress Aya Cash, in the tradition of Colonel Klink.)

On the other hand, this shirt just looks like edgy patriotic fashion favored by conservatives. Even the metallic text lacks the hammy villain tone of the "Homelander & Stormfront" shirt and just looks vaguely intimidating in-line with such fashion. It would be really easy for a hard-right Homelander fanboy to wear this shirt unironically, in full support of Homelander as a patriotic figure. It could be said that this shirt was perhaps designed with satirical intent, but this is not clear at all from its presentation. In context, it looks like Amazon wanted to market to some of its known consumer demographic: hard-right unironic Homelander fans.

Meanwhile, on the official Gen V merchandise page, the lead actors simultaneously act as satirical figures hawking merchandise like the wacky capitalist institution the show criticizes and are the lead actors hawking merchandise for the capitalist institution producing the show:

Self-aware irony only goes so far.

In the show, Dawn of the Seven (a spoof of Justice League with elements of The Avengers) is used to criticize superhero movies in our universe (e.g. they're tropey, can be sexist, have questionable themes, etc.). In Amazon's merchandise, it's used to unironically market the superhero figures as these cool characters.

Is this a critique of Homelander or marketing at all? I'd argue no. It is unironic pro-Homelander, pro-marketing, pro-consumerism, and pro-superhero-fandom theming to appeal to the lowest common denominator of fan, likely to be a conservative fan of Homelander.

The worst part of this is with the use of season two's Girls Get It Done, a critique of superhero movies (particularly Avengers: Endgame) pandering to women with an all-woman team-up that purports to be feminist but doesn't back it up with any actual feminist writing surrounding it or understanding what women want past a simplistic disingenuous argument that women are better than men. The three female superheroes of the Seven--Starlight, Queen Maeve, and Stormfront--are arbitrarily teamed up and paraded around as a faux-feminist marketing gimmick. This is a clear satirical element in the show. However, the Amazon merchandise uses it unironically as a woman-targeted gimmick for the show's female fans.

It is weird as hell that someone thought this piece of satire depicting a literal Nazi antagonist would make a good "girl power" piece marketed to women. Again, possible satirical intent is nerfed by unironic capitalistic greed.

Let's talk about Stormfront. She's a likable villain, and it's fairly reasonable to sell merchandise representing the figure as a villain. Her only T-shirts are the ones I've posted above. "Homelander & Stormfront" effectively depicts her as a villain in a critique of American fascism. However, "Girls Get It Done" is ambiguous in the manner of the Homelander shirt that seemingly panders to conservative unironic Homelander fans. Stormfront is just there, alongside two heroic figures, looking cool alongside them. You'd have to watch the show to know she's a villain.

And here's another thing: her Nazi signifiers are all obscured. Her arm bands are seen from a weird angle and somewhat blocked by Queen Maeve; her imperial eagle belt buckle is hidden in artificially generated shadow, and she's not printed in a high-enough resolution to see her swastika fabric pattern. All that's left is her skinhead-evocative Skrillex hair, which is far from overt. Skrillex isn't a Nazi, after all. Amazon essentially did the same sort of thing they did with the Billy Butcher merchandise in censoring the swear words to make them friendlier wear around in public and removed hate symbols from a character who is innately a political figure as a means of critiquing racial hatred in America. In the process, they made a Nazi more palatable without the corresponding political critique.

The one other way they marketed Stormfront merchandise was with a limited-edition collection of themed Nike sneakers, available only through sweepstakes. Several of the main heroes and villains in season two got their own sneaker color theme, including Stormfront (top right).

Here, Stormfront's Nazi crap is retained with an allusion to her belt buckle--the Nazi imperial eagle--printed on the side under the swoosh. Other characters get their own symbols in the same general area, so it's in theme with the others but also questionable given its authentic Nazi imagery in absent of a context of critiquing modern America. People are expected to just don Nazi imagery as fans of the show. The Homelander, A-Train, Black Noir, and Kimiko sneakers are decorated with blood imagery, at least signalling "edgy show", but Stormfront's are without even that limited context. (Please do not take this as endorsement of people harassing Aya Cash for playing a Nazi. It's okay to portray a Nazi as an actor on a television show, just not out of context in the real world like this.)

The grey portion at the toe resembles Stormfront's arm bands and may, like the arm bands, depict a desaturated American flag like that worn by American conservatives. In the context of the show, this is used to critique American conservatives as fascist and embracing Nazism. Removed from context, it would suffer the same problem as the Homelander shirt aping conservative fashion.

The decision to make Stormfront's sneakers dark with white laces is another interesting choice. Neo-Nazis often signal to each other by wearing black boots with contrasting white laces. It's unclear if this was intentional.

I'm honestly unsure which is worse, merchandise obscuring that she's a Nazi to make her more palatable or merchandise retaining her Nazi characterization in a context completely absent of framing her as a deplorable villain.

All these bad marketing decisions come together in a weird capitalist kerfuffle aping at being a satire of capitalism while being outrageous in itself. It unironically showcases why the kind of stuff the show parodies is bad.

[theomnicode]

im curious- do you think saitama has romantic love on the mind at all? is romantic love a high priority for him(after all, he's only human) or do you think that personal connections is all he needs to create fulfillment and meaning in his life? i personally dont know if he could even be in a relationship, he's so depressed. i think his deep relationship with genos(whether platonic or romantic) is what makes him want to move forward and live and grow... i dont think that their relationship being platonic would make it any less deep tbh.

anyway i ask this because a lot of people, especially reddit, is so focused on who saitama wants to date when im not really sure if thats in the cards for him. i also dont think the only alternative to the silly psychic sisters/saitama ships is saigenos, as much as i enjoy it. what do you think as someone who is a lot more involved in this fandom? i think your analysis is always very interesting to read and would love to hear your thoughts, sorry for rambling so much lol x

Oh do I think Saitama has romance in mind?

Yes, yes I do in fact, I have made bunch of meta centered around Saitama and romance and it has been asked of me in the past and I cannot even recall every single one, you'd probably have a to dig a lot. But most notable hints are ofc the media Saitama consumes, which center strictly around both romance and battle shounen and shoujo specifically. One doesn't really consume media on their free time if it holds no interest to them.

Saitama being romantic at heart

Love is in the air

Saitama's journey in self-confidence

And literally pertaining this:

Me when people say Saitama doesn't seem like the romantic type

But it's not just limited to that, but also the amount of shoujo elements and romantic elements in seinen, like sunsets, sparkles, late night dinners, cozy slice of life, romantic outros (ending anime songs), references, you name it.

Reason why it's so appealing to the female demographic in japan I bet when most of OPM fans are ladies instead of guys in there, or so I've heard haha.

Also, Saitama is depressed yes, but he's finding a lot of help to his depression from the people around him, the lack of connections being one of the biggest reasons for his depression after all as he says in the King chapter. Not having relatability with others causes him to feel Othered by the society itself and not know how to live in it.

Tbh, I'd personally want him to find more happiness in life like he wants in the audiobooks. :)

I'd be kinda sad if he didn't find that kind of fullfillment eventually. That and it would definitely break my heart if Genos found nothing but platonic response from Saitama, after all and everything he has done so far. But such is life sometimes. It doesn't make their relationship less deeper even if they did nothing, but still. :/

(Tbh Genos hasn't been very platonic in a long while lol, he even borrowed Saitama's underwear in hotpot as Murata-sensei said. It's hard to not notice and I think Saitama has.)

I just think Sai is very subtle lol. But we'll see if he actually gets physically affectionate with Genos, then you know for sure hah.

Genos already armless glomped him, we need a glomp back to get even.

But yea, if I saw a good dynamic for Saitama specifically, I might also check out that avenue in terms of shipping. I just don't personally think romantic SaiBuki or SaiTats are my thing. Some people ship SaiKing which is wholesome but again, I tend to personally think them as great friends. SaiAmai would be...interesting. I'd like to see more of Amai-mask in general, their chemistry and how their character dynamic evolves. One fling man? Genos would disagree.

One of my friends ships Sonsai (zombieman x saitama) which I think is a fun dynamic because they're both quite funny characters. But again, I need to see more of their chemistry to get into it myself.

I have something else in mind though, but I kinda wanna see more of this character first. No it's not Suiko or anybody you'd be able to guess.

I'll give that person a cookie if they can guess who I am refering to without outside assistance lol.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Hello Dani , this is a response to the ask about TNLD Alec .

I am so glad that we are now talking about it .

The hate toward Magnus really made me uneasy because I felt like the people defending Alec where acting as if Alec’s emotions had more value than Magnus’ LIFE. It gave me major « online mirroring real life «  type vibe where the white man’s feelings are all that matters

i didn’t say anything because I did not want to make the situation more unpleasant for you and did not think that the people critiquing would have been able to have a real conversation about the topic.

I had a really hard time with TlND Alex . I could not understand why Magnus got back with him and stayed all these years . He gave me huge toxic WHITE man vibes and I read the story for Magnus and Max (and also your amazing writing and treatment of mental health as a topic)

I never understood why there where so much hate towards Magnus because he was the one who suffered and sacrificed the most for this angry, oblivious white man -like bro could have done so much better.

Like asking your boyfriend to tolerate your racist parents and getting mad because he refused ?? Automatic breake up. He actually carried that lack of consideration when it came to race after he was married to a certain extent too 😤

Let’s not even talk about his jealousy problem, and tendency to »say hurtful things he doesn’t mean « like this excuses the fact that u are willfully hurting someone u claim to love .

Annnnnywwwwways , I could write an essay ..

I am very curious about the demographic of the TLND Alec stans

I myself is a Caribbean woman not raised in the US in their late thirties.

Love this.

Let's discuss further.

Because I can't just mind my business and write fics, I not only analyse my characters, but I also analyse my readers. TLND - in that case - is very special.

BECAUSE, if you followed the discourse around the fic, you might notice that some of that discourse also made it into the fic. I've even directly quoted some people because it was SO interesting how people started to take sides (expected!) but the way in which they started to defend their fave and attack someone else was basically what was happening in the fic itself.

This fic started to mirror reality and vice versa and for a minute it got a little surreal for me tbh.

But in my analysis and observations, I noticed four kinds of Alec stans in TLND.

Please note these are merely my observations and don't mean anything beyond that so don't take it personally y'all 😇

People who liked Alec and Magnus and believed 'they were both wrong' - The concept of 'both sides are wrong' is a paradox. It doesn't exist. Yes, two people can be wrong. But in the event of a conflict, because of the power dynamics involved, one side becomes the aggressor.

In TLND, this changed from time to time, but it was very clear that Alec had the upper hand in the relationship. It's how I wanted it to be (for plot reasons) which is why Alec is significantly older than Magnus and richer (in the beginning) and many other things.

I firmly believe that neutrality doesn't exist. So, the "both Magnus and Alec were wrong" gang took the easy way out. Sometimes, one person is more wrong than the other, and we need to learn to admit that.

People who liked Alec even when they knew he was a bad guy but didn't hold him accountable - Well, at least they are self-aware. But not holding people you like accountable is a dangerous habit. Did you know (fun fact) that marginalized gender identities are more likely to face violence and intimidation by people they know than people they don't know? In many cases (as that initial ask that started this conversation pointed out), Alec was one of the people who hurt Magnus too. It's just hard to see that (for many) because Alec was also one of the few people who loved Magnus a lot. I will not go on a rant about how emotional violence in intimate relationships is completely normalized (and statistically proven) but it is.

Also, this bit reminded me of this quote from rwrb because it's one of my favourite quotes ever.

 “God, I want to fight everyone who's ever hurt you, but it was me too, wasn't it? All that time. I'm so sorry.” - ACD

ALSO - I've encountered so many "Alec should've moved on and Alec should've dated someone else" readers. They also fall into this category. One of the reasons I never let Alec date anyone else was Alec wasn't ready to date anyone else. That relationship, even simply sexual, would've been extremely toxic. Alec didn't need another boyfriend. Alec needed to learn how to be a better boyfriend. I said what i said. I would've never let Alec date someone else without working on himself (and guess what, I think he knew that too. One of his better qualities).

People who liked Alec, knew he was a bad guy, but wanted him to get better and were rooting for him - Totally valid people. I like these people. I'd fall into this category if I was a reader. I think, these were also people who felt it wouldn't be the end of the world if they didn't end up together. I think people who were in the category would've enjoyed the fic the most.

People who liked Alec, and because of that, started to hate on Magnus - Wish they hadn't found the fic 🫠

But here's the deal though. Not all readers fit into one of these categories. It just doesn't work that way. If I had been younger and you said you hated TLND Alec, I would have been hurt and offended. But I'm not now. At all. Because I'm old enough to know that the way we perceive characters depends on our own values, experiences and identities. So, it's impossible for the readers to like all the characters and like the fic the same way.

While I didn't mind that TLND got all these different kinds of stans, what I did mind was when people started to get abusive and hurtful - to the characters, to me, and to the people who didn't agree with them.

That was just juvenile, and unnecessary and made me realize they were simply reading the fic without understanding the themes because if they did, they would've realized their mistakes by now.

I'll stop now though.

Thanks, always, for engaging critically with my writing. I love it and appreciate it a lot.

PS - if it helps for context, I'm a south asian woman in her late twenties :)

[kiddosaurus]

(hi im so sorry i wanted to just agree with a point you made and then wrote a full rant feel free to ignore me/delete this ask)

I definitely agree about the average age feeling like it's dropping (I also think that's just the Internet as a whole, coming from someone who literally got their first tumblr account at 11. also think it's because kids don't lie about their ages as much anymore, like I was lying until I was at least 15 and still vague about it until I turned 18) and part of me gets a little concerned by it? like yeah, I definitely showed interest in things like agere once I hit puberty age but most of my actual age regressing/dreaming I've only done since I was 16 when I had gotten past the initial wave of that

maybe it's the old age (I'm literally 18 lol) but I do worry when I see super young people in this community about the effects that regressing may have on them and their future development? or at least when I see 13-14 year olds post saying they're looking for cgs like I get so scared some weirdo is going to see it and use it as an opportunity to gain some power over them or gain their trust because the kid is too young to be able to realise what's happening

i hope it's alright for me to respond to this, just lmk if you want me to delete this reply

i feel a lot of what you're saying tbh. i still try to be understanding towards the super young folks, as i myself was super young when i first discovered the agere community, but idk. i was 12 at the time, but my situation was fairly odd compared to most folks (at that point i was already well into puberty, and there were times where i was involuntarily regressing from stress and trauma long before i knew what agere was, and finding the community helped me put a name to my experiences), so even then it's still hard to understand a lot of the youngest people in the community now, as the reasons for them getting into it are VASTLY different than any of my own. im only a couple months short of 18, and it never fails to shock me how old this stuff makes me feel :')

i DEFINITELY agree on the whole thing about worrying over possible issues with development and safety, though. i do feel like there's a (for lack of a better way to describe it) "honeymoon phase" for a lot of young teens discovering something like this that makes them happy and helps them cope, where they put a huge focus on it in a ton of aspects of their life, and that's something they just gotta get outta their system before they start to even things out. however, i definitely worry about development for kids who don't seem to learn how to balance agere with the rest of their life; any coping mechanism (including the healthy ones) can become unhealthy if it takes over your life in ways that cause repeated stress or harm, which seems to be the case for a lot of young folks discovering agere.

the whole cg safety thing is valid too. seeing so many 13-14 year olds giving out tons of personal info to strangers in hopes that they'll find a cg that they've never even talked to always makes me anxious. i don't think there's anything wrong with them wanting someone like that in their lives, and i think there are ways to kind of explore that while still staying safe, but the way people actually go about it is worrying. like... when i was young and discovering agere, at least there were plenty of adults in the community who made an effort to teach younger folks how to stay safe with stuff like this, but that doesn't seem to be as much of a thing anymore since the demographic has shifted to be so young as a whole and there are way more teens than adults. 2017-2018 was a very different time compared to 2023.

im sorry that this reply got so long, this whole thing has just been on my mind and it's nice hearing someone who at least understands part of what im saying

[protectclaypigeons]

Apparently “we don’t talk about Bruno” is topping the charts and gaining crazy popularity and people (adults) can’t figure out why. Which I think is so funny because to me, and probably a lot of other Very Online People, it’s pretty obvious: queer teenagers, a huge and important demographic when it comes to virality, have imprinted on this character harder than a swarm of orphaned ducklings.

Like the film Luca, queer people find a LOT to relate to in this character (although I think in Luca’s case it may have been more intentional? hard to say). His gift can do wondrous things, but others ostracize him for it and see it as scary and dangerous. Feeling unwanted, he wants to cut himself off from his unloving family: but can’t bear to fully distance himself because, as he says, “I still love them, you know?” And every single queer person in the audience was like “YES. GOD YES I KNOW.” His character quirks, odd charm, and just all-around good writing also just make him a very likable character (though who isn’t in this movie tbh).

Now, like I mentioned before, queer people are extremely important when it comes to online virality, because unlike in the past and in other spaces (i.e., “real life” vs online), people feel more comfortable being out. For many, there’s been a vacuum in real life for so long when it comes to a queer community, and so there’s a huge surge of vocal queer people online now, trying to find each other and build community there instead. This is especially true for YOUNG queer people, who have probably realized their identities only in the past few years, and may not have a community in real life. So, platforms fueled by young users — like tiktok, tumblr, instagram, and well, most platforms honestly — have this huge and very active population of queer users just dying for any crumb of representation they can find.

Now obviously, Bruno isn’t canonically queer, but he strikes such a chord with queer (and neurodivergent but that’s another thing) viewers that we now adore him anyway. And it’s important to note that Bruno isn’t even in this song — he doesn’t even HAVE his own song, he has like 3 lyrical lines in the entire movie. And so the popularity of this random plot-centric, ensemble song just speaks to the popularity of this character: it’s the closest thing these representation-starved people can get to a Bruno Song, a symbol for a character they see themselves in so strongly.

So, now I see all these articles likely published by out-of-the-loop, older and/or cishet folks scratching their heads at why this particular song is so popular, especially on tiktok and spotify. Most of them attribute it to it being a catchy villain song and children wanting to listen to it over and over — which, fair, but that doesn’t explain its booming popularity on tiktok, or why Bruno as a character is also hugely popular himself. Plus, it’s not a simple song like most Disney hits among kids: there’s like 5 different melodies, a lot of them really fast-paced and lyrically complicated, and the climax of the song is an insane round where they all come together. It’s utterly impossible for a little kid to memorize and sing along to. So there’s clearly another audience other than small children that’s eating this song up. But because the queer portion of Disney’s audience has been pointedly ignored by the company for so long, they don’t see the importance of this demographic when it comes to this song’s popularity.

Now don’t get my wrong, “we don’t talk about Bruno” is an amazing song and I’d love it regardless of who it was about, but this factor in its popularity is an important one to note. And Disney is going to have to note it: someday soon, they’re going to have to admit that “we’d lose money” isn’t just a poor excuse for lacking queer representation anymore — it’s an untrue one. And it’s only going to get further from the truth. I hope that soon, Disney’s homophobic side succumbs to its hunger for money, so we can finally get an actual queer song to make absurdly popular.

[fettl3]

would love to hear abt art school camp if you’d wanna share

Ummmmm yah. This will be long.

I have a LOT of thoughts & feelings that I’m still processing. And a lot of it feels unsafe to share tbh. Like I’m confined to not go against this system that I’m participating in… this is my “community” (aka access to success as an artist) so I do feel restricted in what I can share honestly about this particular school…. But also whatever lol this is tumblr after all

I can say that I spent 2 weeks at an art summer camp as a TA for a ceramics class. The class was 9am to 5pm every day (no days off). And my position was unpaid. So there’s a lot there. I did it mostly because I love my friend very much (she was the teacher of the class) and she really needed my help. Also because I wouldn’t ever have access to this school by route of paying for a class bc they’re like $6k. But still, an 8 hour work day for 14 consecutive days unpaid is… fucking insane.

Additionally, I have long term friends that were on staff, so my stay was complicated by insight into the inner workings of this organization. To say the least it’s a shit show. Completely dysfunctional at the level of handling conflict. Pay disparity was also a big issue. It’s definitely not an org I would ever consider working for in a serious way, regardless of the access & resources it offers…

These are all things I knew going into it. The camp itself is kind of constructed to be an “experience” for students. A “site of experimental behavior,” as my friend put it. I can see why people fall in love with it. It’s really cool and unique to be isolated with a group of invested artists, to be submerged into craft and also to be “free” within the parameters of the land. There are healthy meals served 3 times a day. No locks on doors, no need. There was programming every night: artist talks, performances, karaoke & 2 huge dance parties. There is lots of sites for conversation & so many good convos to have. Each specialized studio has unique & impressive facilities in addition to hang out zones (fire pits patios etc). The land is beautiful, left rustic, and located on a lagoon you can kayak out in. Some of my students called it utopia. I think that’s what we (staff) were attempting to facilitate for them. & honestly I do feel good that it seemed most of my students had this experience. Makes me feel like I did my job well :)

However, my experience does not reflect the experience of the students… AT ALL. I found being there to be like… like being eaten alive maybe.

The work felt like it was 24/7. Living in community with my students is something I would never like to do again. Also I learned that I hate teaching this demographic. My students ranged from 20-36 years old. The ones in their early 20s latched on to me so fucking intensely. I understand why of course: they were trying to peak into their future, into what the world might hold for them, how to make it as an artist etc. But also the fucking relentless flirting, the attention, the lack of privacy or alone time, it seriously felt like I was being ripped apart to be eaten. On the nights where we all got wasted dancing I found myself as a caretaker for these kids (who are only a couple years younger than me) and just honestly like I couldn’t fully relax ever. They were coming to me for answers, they wanted me to tell them who they are supposed to be. It was A Lot.

It was also pretty triggering for me to be immersed again in community that was heavily affiliated with the university I use to go to. I was forced to drop out and although I have moved past this & moved on & up in my life… I’m still hurt. It was hard to be working (for free!!) for people who ultimately are more privileged than me. It was hard to contend again with the fact that privileged people are still whole people, that whiteness & wealth is just as harmful & confusing to them as it is to us. These last few years I’ve really been intentional about who I keep around me, who I work for, what I’m doing in the world. I align myself with very specific communities. I live firmly & uncompromisingly by my principals. Participating again in this type of community felt for me like a major spiritual step backwards, while also being a major step up in a career & artistic way. It was just fucking intense dude!!!! It was complicated as fuck!!!!

I won’t get too into it rn but there are like deeper connecting thoughts I have that I’m still sifting through. Very present on my mind while I was there were concepts I learned in The Delectable Negro by Vincent Woodard. I couldn’t stop thinking about Nat Turner, about his head being passed down like an heirloom. I had bad dreams & panic attacks every night, with visions of this abstract bone/clam like shape. Every day there somebody new connected with me, we showed each other our soul & then moved on to do it with another person. I thought about what it means to be in a community where there is no police, but where certain behaviors mean immediate banishment. What it means to have a community that refuses to acknowledge basic forms of human interaction, like violence. What it means to set strict, rigid expectations of how each person aught to act, or believe in, then profess diversity & free thought. What it means to omit the true, sometimes ugly, diversity of reality.

Paired with a well researched & lived-in understanding of class/race struggle… idk. Being there felt ummmm horrible lol. Absolutely relentlessly horrible. & I held the weight of that feeling for so many people: for each of my students, for my friends on staff. But nobody was able to hold me. My support network back in the city couldn’t see beyond the privilege & fun of me being there. Or they were just dealing with their own shit. When I came back into the city I felt empty totally empty & i had 2 massive breakdowns. It was very much like past experiences right after a trauma. The response I’m experiencing in my body does not logically match the conditions of being at that school, so it feels like I can’t ask anybody for support. But. Idk that’s just the truth of it. Thanks for reading.

[allypacino]

I always log off when I see discourse about parasocial relationships because I feel a lot of the discussion on here lacks nuance and it quickly divulges into people mud slinging and getting onto their high horses. Also no offense to others on here but as a black woman in fandom (particularly this one), racism (both in show and in fandom) has always been more concerning to me and it does hurt that it rarely gets addressed (like I hear about parasocial relationships every other week but I'm lucky if people here ever discuss racism even once a month). It's like wow white people can post essays and link videos about parasocial relationships but can barely put together a sentence about racism

I agree with what you say so much, as a poc I think that the spn fandom more than anything has made me realise how racist the fandom environment is and always has been. like for example when the cw campaign happened most people were talking about destiel not going canon as homophobic? ignoring castiel is erasure for sure but the cw had so much more concerning behaviour, like when the Black writer for superman and lois was fired after calling out racism and sexism in the writers’ room. I think that the show itself centers whiteness with such thoughtless ease that it makes it easy for the audience to not even concern themselves with any race issues at all.  

I don’t know about the current spn demographic but I’m going to assume that while the fandom has more poc than before, it’s still predominantly white. and the post-nov 5 makeup of the fandom in particular are especially like, very young and the internet has changed so that media consumption is less about self-indulgence but interrogating the meaning and context (which is fantastic). this means that parasocial relationships are easier for white people to talk about because it affects them, and it’s exacerbated by the fact that internet communities favour the memetic type of content that’s repeated and repackaged again and again. parasocial relationships are very common experiences in everyone’s life, and is mostly benign. racism is also experienced by many people but not everyone, and it’s always deeply traumatic and harmful. i think a lot of white people are uncomfortable to talk about race. i would love to see more discussions around racism in the fandom beyond a glib remark or two when backing up statements about spn’s homophobia, bc racism is the most severe issue in spn without a doubt. 

i will say that part of my wariness when talking about parasocial relationships (and in particular, the nature of spn conventions) comes from the fact that as a poc i do not believe that these are safe spaces for us. there’s a specific tone in these environments which i find hard to describe - it’s like, in order to levy criticism and/or adoration we must offer up personal trauma, expose the abjection we experience etc. and i think it’s a much more validating experience for people who’re seen as “normal” by society who can come in here and be like no i actually experience so-and-so!!! like to be queer or neurodivergent, to a certain extent, means that there’s erasure and invalidation and the internet is built in a way to let people validate themselves by having that be their visible identity in bios and usernames etc. meanwhile it’s far less validating for poc whose identity is already 100% visible just from our faces and skin colour in real life, and it’s a different kind of discrimination, and i think that’s why some poc don't like doing it as much. 

(i love talking about race with my irls or on twitter but i always feel like i cannot do it on tumblr bc i always feel like spn tumblr is such a distinctly vulnerable place for white queer people and I'm infringing on their property lmao. which is a wild belief i have but i can't shake it away)

in the end i think it’s a very smart choice to disengage with unnecessary discourse, and thanks for this very good ask <3. sorry for using it to ramble for so long lol. to summarise i do think that the spn fandom has racism problems and i do understand people’s different reactions to it. i’d like more discussions about race. as for parasocial relationships - nothing wrong with it inherently unless it’s affecting your life negatively tbh. i’d like to see more nuance and more well thought out discussions about this though, i’m not very well versed in it. 

[bigskydreaming]

What’s your opinion on Dick as a lawyer?

Don’t really have one, tbh its not a career for him that I’ve ever really put any thought into before now, lol. I mean, I think you could make it work, particularly with him as a public defender or as someone who uses his name power and Wayne connections in order to build a pro bono career targeting corporations for crimes and social injustices. There are definitely more possibilities there than him as a cop, I think. 

As I’ve stated in the past, my own personal preference for him is to have a day job that lets him unwind and just do low-stakes things he enjoys, like teaching gymnastics or acrobatics to kids, something to balance the stress of his superhero life and stakes he juggles as a team leader and member of the Batfam.

But that said, I’ve always felt that fandom and canon both vastly undervalue the way Dick’s people skills and strategic mind come together as one of the DC Earth’s most notable team leaders....and how that can be translated to other areas of his life. Such as the business world. He’s not interested in running Wayne Enterprises by CHOICE, not because he lacks the intelligence to do so, and any actual education he needed to be adept at it, he could easily pick up very quickly if he wanted to, IMO.

Now, I don’t see him ever really having any interest in running a corporation like WE or any other.....BUT I’ve often thought that many of those oft-overlooked skillsets, like his abilities with managing teams and outstrategizing supervillain masterminds, like....could still easily make him a force to be reckoned with in his civilian life when it comes to other careers as well.

Something like a legal career where he gained a reputation for championing ‘the underdog’ because of his own background and experiences being taken advantage of by the system....that could highlight a lot of those same skillsets and make perfect sense as a direction for him in the eyes of the public, who would only see a bright kid who grew up utilizing the resources afforded by his adoption to help other disenfranchised individuals and demographics.

*mulls it over and shrugs* I don’t hate it, tbh.

[incarnateirony]

as an emerging lgbtq+ (i'm 'BT') guy i am so glad you're making the point you made in your last post. I've always gravitated towards Dean because he is so 'imperfect' in his queerness, like me. but he's not a uwu soft queer so apparently that bothers a lot of ppl on here? Especially younger queer women, I've noticed. But a lot of guys, cis and trans, struggle with being attracted to men so much in a way that is simply different (not better or worse) than (1/2)

being wlw, especially depending on one’s generation and region, etc. basically what i’m saying is a lot of the few queer men that there are in the fandom stay quieter as it is almost completely queer women dictating what is and what isnt, and not quite empathizing with the unique struggle many queer men have with internalized homophobia/being Unmanly for being attracted to men. hope this wasn’t too all over the place, ive had this on my mind for a Long time and i’m glad you brought it up. (2/2)

ps: I’m not trying to put down queer women for being a significant part of the fandom. I just really wish the environment of the fandom felt more like somewhere queer men’s voices can be heard better, considering the largest pairing is, needless to say, mlm

Well, first of all, welcome Nonnie. I take it you’re addressing this untitled post addressing intersectionality, representation vs tokenization, represented demographics and just general motivations of those in discussion, yes? (x)

You’ll find this is a longstanding topic of my blog, be it excavating creator commentary people have buried for their own motivations and talked down and around, or dual faceted issues. 

(If you haven’t read the crosslinks on the post you’re addressing, you may want to read The Problem With Dreamhunter (x) It discusses exactly this issue, even if it was written over a year ago at that point, showing just how cyclic this issue is. It talks about MLM/WLW intersectional issues, migrating goalposts, a bunch of show stuff and some of Bobo’s sociopolitical commentary from 2003 about advancing LGBT representation through moderate incremental methods being proven effective at expanding the media presence/platform exponentially above liberal, or more severe/extreme styles)

But when it comes down to it, basically: Yeah, you right.

I didn’t just arbitrarily develop this opinion. I didn’t… just magically tune in to what the LGBT men that literally dodge fandom, for exactly the reasons you say, and know it’s because of the reasons you say – like that didn’t manifest. It came from leaving fandom (un)”safe” spaces. It came from engaging a great variety of LGBT males in real life, many of which engage the content. From observing how they spoke of the content in multifandom servers, or even *why* they chose to avoid speaking up.

And no, I personally didn’t get a read of you, like, insulting LGBT women for their part in fandom. Women engage social media for primetime TV fandoms at an exponential rate above men, so it’s almost unavoidable and it’s nobody’s fault really, but that says nothing for the perpetual habit of drowning out their voices to the fact that– well, they literally abandon engaging.

I’ve seen it enough times it *hurts* me. I shouldn’t *have* to pull my gay writing buddy out of holes to face this, and him still hide silently. I shouldn’t *have* to be the vein of news and information on the show to the bi male friend I have that refuses to touch this fandom. I shouldn’t *have* to even speak up about this. I really do want *you all* to speak up about this, because I can only speak so far, because you’re right: OUR JOURNEYS ARE DIFFERENT.

Hell, even a cis lgbt male vs a trans lgb(t obvious) male have entirely different journeys even though they’re both validly men. These battles are not the same. One community can speak up to defend another, and help hold them up and amplify them if there’s just not enough of them to project the way they need to, and this is something *greatly under respected* in this fandom. Nobody’s holding up the LGBT male voices when actually talking about representation. And you’re right, it’s mostly women, and you’re right, our path is different and our struggles and needs and wants and lives are different. But unless you take a considerable amount of time talking and sharing and learning personally the perspective of the LGBT male community, you’re not… really… helping them speak.

And let it be said, “holding up LGBT male voices” does not and should never equate to “despite having multiple LGBT men saying one thing, I found the one LGBT male saying the thing that matches what I want, who may or may not even actually be in the targeted demographic set of the character we’re discussing representation about, because it’s more than just being bi, it’s entire lives, paths and challenges– but you know, I found the ONE, so fuck the others.” That’s using your friends as tokens and cards. If you want to genuinely add to the conversation, what you do is you introduce your male LGBT friend to the other male LGBT friends and let them have a long conversation to talk out the sources of their disagreements before engaging in conversation.

But drawing a pretty base line collective from all people in the represented demographic, respectfully learning the majority wants and needs and struggles, and helping voice those is pretty key.

Women can sit here all day, and pass around things they’ve been told by other women are woke points, or things that sound progressive and good, and often sort of decontextualized from their purpose (be that the dresswear mentioned shortly hereafter, or what LGBT want/expect/SHOULD want or expect – but in the end, if you’re not sitting down and having dialogues – not just with one, or two, or even three LGBT men – but large handfuls and subsets, able to actually critically examine the differences in LGBT males of gen X, Y, or Z and their lives and stories – if you’re not doing that… If *that* isn’t the core of your discussion values, rather than pass-along buzz vibes– then you’re really not talking representation. You think you are. But you’re not.

There’s the uh. Thing. You noticed. About how women expect the men to engage.

When it comes to young queer women, I’m going to risk pissing some people off, but the long and short of it is (I could probably dig up the link but it’s been an eternity) a while ago they ran a psychological study to figure out why young women were attracted to yaoi, and gay porn, especially what is essentially stereotypical force-role type gay porn. It has to do with blooming attraction, primal fear, and trying to make the men more appealing in a way that does not intimidate them. 

This later manifests into feminizing them, setting twink/bear roles that go beyond into top/bottom, and conflating it with penetration, position, power, dom/sub, fork/spoon, sometimes served with a dose of internalized misogyny being projected into the vessel of whatever twink/sub is positioned, and generally— like, kink culture. Often this is passed with narrowly progressive-masked arguments of “Men should be allowed to be feminine if they want!” rather than a genuine answer to, “Why do you perpetually heterosexually resize, or reframe, and enforce heterosexual structure onto characters that do not meet this mold, and why is that a personal gain to you?” because in the end– it’s a personal gain. And again, at that point it’s not about representation.

Now again, I’m not… shaming anyone for having a kink. But kink/fetish needs/wants have blurred themselves in as if to hedge on equal territory to discussing canon content. Or sprinkling the quite literal fetishized art (power to you if that’s your thing, I guess, even if I do bear discomfort over fetishization of any LGBT demographic, even by another LGBT demographic) and reasoning with dialogue that implies it as being representative, and inserting that into the representation discussion, which *literally* just makes the entire bog muddier, makes the LGBT men trying to speak more easily dismissed in a vat of “just women/fetishists”, it just– it’s Not a Good. I’m… personally not a fan of it. Like at all. A lot of it makes me angry tbh. So I don’t engage. I don’t browse fanfiction. I look at very little art. 

Hell most of the people around here don’t even realize it’s actually a *minority* of LGBT men that choose to engage in penetrative sex, but it’s become a topic of outright obsession around here. There is so much simple… lack of awareness and discussion of the lives LGBT men lead, even by LGBT women because again – we don’t have your path. We can only listen to you. (And BOY have I gotten earfuls from my LGBT male friends absolutely going apeshit banana bonkers over fandom’s obsession with penetration culture, gender role enforcement while feigning it as liberation, and all kinds of other stuff. And that’s what I base most of my talking points on.)

Because if I’m going to talk representation, I’m going to talk about representing the demographic the character is supposed to represent, not molding him into a tokenized wash-over of every single person’s wants. If you’re an LGBT woman that can resonate with Dean Winchester, that’s great. Sometimes representation can be shared. But a character’s origin determines what demo he represents and not all of any given representative’s character’s attributes, methods, functions, anything – not all of it is going to meet any one person’s goals collectively, but the target demographic is inevitably closer to it.

Another point to raise is that it feels like people have lost track of *what* the representation battle is about. It isn’t just about any one person attaching to any one character. It’s about developing a TVscape that looks more representative of the real world, with a fair presence of PoC, of women, of LGBT people of all types, of the disabled community, of people that are even more than one of these, of people with different stories: people. About, well, normalizing it, because it should be normal. About saturating television enough that one day, and that day will not just be tomorrow per convenience, that people won’t be desperate for representation even vaguely in their wheelhouse, that they can turn on and see people of any intersectional type and go– wow, the world finally realizes we’re real. And that in that wide, realistic menu, yes, being able to turn a channel and eventually see someone *just like you*. A day when any show turned on has at least *someone* in your wheelhouse because every show eventually should have some sort of realistic spread, but if you find the *right* show, *there you are.*

That’s how it’s built. We don’t start by footstomping and tokenizing everyone to be vaguely representative of everyone or it doesn’t count because it didn’t work for *them*. We start by sharing truly diverse narratives, each unique to their own, just as diverse as straight stories are, maybe even more. That’s the only way you’re actually going to end up with a TVscape full of The Gays, and full enough to find *explicitly yourself* in there.

Deleting normalized, non-sensationalist text for lacking either visibility or flavor, even if you weren’t the intended demographic for it to speak to, is quite literally contrary to the entire fight.

and tbh?

This shit is why I hate shipping culture.

And I say that as someone who presumably “ships” Dean and Cas, if it’s shipping to address canon bullshit happening in front of you and just watch the show as it folds out without going into denial for *whatever* personal reason. 

There’s a lot of well intended people, most shipping fandom is full of good beans, but as a collective group – skewed by sociopathically manipulated dialogues we can literally track the origins of – have been driven into much of the above while genuinely believing they were doing the right thing, in a long chain of being told this was what and how to fight for, without really stopping and critically examining the nuance of the conversation. Because why would you? Seems to be the popular gay thing to do – while a lot of bisexual people currently hide their commentary via reblog hashtags or hedge awkwardly into an anon box sideways.

That all said, it continues to be my focus. It will never change on this blog. I will never surrender to being pressured, be it by antis or bitters or people just wanting to argue, into pretending things that were text are subtext. I will not move that goalpost. You are real, and you are valid, and you are welcome in my inbox any time, Nonnie, confidentiality guaranteed. Like, DM too.

but lmao like shit, dawg. There’s a reason the LGBT guys I’ve had as writing partners as Dean literally refuse to play with another Cas. That’s not just because I’m a *super aweSOME auTHOr*, it’s because they recognize I do not come from the wing lost to fanfiction, to troll wars, or even to shipping culture, love of a ship be damned. I don’t try to force gender roles on them. I listen when they speak, and often, surprise many with the angle I ever enter discussion or listening from to begin with, because of spending so many years listening to begin with. It’s an intrinsic understanding of why they resonate with the content, not what I can pull some transformative art stuff on or wanting to *make* it into anything else to fit *my* molds. It’s because of being someone engaged to the male perspective, without the need to twist or change a character to be content with it, and being WILLING to hold those challenging conversations.

Listen first. Talk later. But never in front of or over the people you claim to be talking for.

[kakuzhu]

well, here it is: my entire meta on both the land of monsoons, the country takigakure is in, including its general demographics and environment. I considered putting all takigakure-related stuff into a separate meta post but there was some interwoven cultural aspects related to the topography that I chose to keep here. however, I’ll be putting more detailed cultural stuff on takigakure on a separate post. 

the country takigakure resides in is canonically unnamed and there’s basically almost no details about it, except for a few anime episodes featuring some characters from it. therefore, since I don’t give a fuck about science and canon when there’s moon people and manic tailed beasts running around, I have unilaterally decided that the small country takigakure is in will now have a tropical rainforest environment. the initial idea of this came from this fic, although tbh I don’t actually remember any details from what the fic said other than it described a tropical region. in any case, you can find the work here. the rest of the actual details of the country and takigakure itself are below the cut. 

so, with all that said: takigakure’s country is named the land of monsoons, or monsoon country, and is aptly known for its persistent rainfall and lack of dry season. monsoon country is always warm, if not very hot, and always very humid. there’s an abundance of plant and animal life in the land of monsoons, with great, large trees supporting canopy habitats high up in their branches and dense undergrowth populating the ground level habitats. monsoon country has some of the most diverse set of medicines and poisons both because of the sheer amount of fauna and animal life around them. any child is taught early on the plants and animals to stay away from, whether its because they cause rashes to seizures, as well as those that cure sore throats and most poisons. 

that said, monsoon country is very small, especially compared to the other major countries. takigakure is the only major village in the entire country, with the rest of the land inhabited by very small settlements or nomadic tribes (the latter of which grew especially less popular as time went on). however, according to the anime, the country has never been successfully invaded. in fact, canonically, takigakure is the only hidden village outside the major 5 to receive a tailed beast. 

all these facts combined imply that, presumably, takigakure produces shinobi comparably strong to the other major villages despite its comparative lack of resources and space. however, another major reason takigakure has never been successfully invaded is because the environment is deadly to foreigners. the brightest colored, innocent looking plant life in monsoon country is likely to be the most poisonous, and the reptiles or bugs that catch your eye the most are the ones that are the most toxic. anyone who gets something even slightly wrong may end up dead because of a lapse in memory. 

further, the topography itself is usually difficult to navigate for those that aren’t used to it. the trees are densely packed together, teeming with potentially deadly animals that make homes in their high branches, are almost always wet and hard to get good grips on, and the persistent rainfall makes any travel cumbersome. other drawbacks to the rain are the simple, but very significant inconveniences: it’s easier to slip on water, getting soaked makes gear heavier, and if your hands are wet, you can’t hold your weapons as easily. 

anyone that is training to be a shinobi within the takigakure (which is most, frankly) learn to navigate through these conditions from even their academy days. one of the most basic lessons for chakra control that is imparted on young students is to use chakra to repel the rain around the body. with this technique, the rain is repelled all around the surface of the body, keeping the user dry. this is similar to the more commonly known lessons to use chakra to walk on water or walk on trees. while these are also taught to takigakure students, most cannot graduate until they can consistently keep themselves dry even in the pouring rain for a short period of time. this level of chakra control would typically be taught to genin teams in konohagakure, as a general comparison, but as I will elaborate later on, education and training in takigakure is emphasized much harder there. this is why this is an expectation for all academy graduates. 

finally, another reason that takigakure has never been invaded is because it sits behind natural fortifications and is hard to find. the village itself sits at the base of a giant tree, similar to as seen in the anime. atypically, this tree sits at the bottom of a valley, and the walls of the valley circle around its top. therefore, from above, the canopy of this giant tree hides the bottom of the valley it sits in while blending into the forestry around it, making it look like it is a continuous stretch of forest. the only opening in the valley is covered by a large, torrential waterfall for which takigakure gets its name. it is the only major way in or out (although, of course, natives are aware of secret exits and entryways should they be necessary). the waterfall itself comes down incredibly hard and falls into a very rapid river at the bottom. to enter the hidden village, shinobi must know the exact area of the waterfall to approach such that they enter through the valley entrance rather than run into solid rock, as well as use laudable amounts of chakra to repel against the torrential downpour of the waterfall. most chūnin-level individuals and all jōnin-level individuals and above in takigakure are expected to be able to do this individually. and while there’s never a strict criteria on how the leader of takigakure is measured, it is typically accepted that they should be able to split the entirety of their waterfall with their chakra---similar to how we see naruto training with his wind-release jutsu in front of the giant waterfall with his shadow clones. 

most natives to monsoon country have dark to light brown skin and dark hair, although there are exceptions, of course; there’s at least one clan that’s naturally fair skinned. most monsoon country natives also have dark eyes, although it is not uncommon for some to have eyes similar to kakuzu and fū, where there seems to be no pupil and the iris is unusually colored (in the case of the two of them, green and orange respectively). this is not specific to any one clan. there’s a popular folktale in the region that implies those with such eyes are more likely to be very strong warriors, and the more outlandish the color, the greater the strength. in actuality, there’s not much evidence to support the story. it is simply more likely that these are the last vestiges of the region’s first natives, who presumably split into the clans we see today. 

the most major settlement in the land of monsoons is takigakure. there were almost no other established communities in monsoon country during kakuzu’s time there. most other residents, if they were not part of the takigakure, were nomadic tribes. they would occasionally stop by the major village, however, for trading and exchanging of stories, battle styles, and other culture. this changed by the time of modern naruto, where there were multiple other smaller villages in monsoon country as takigakure continued to emphasize militarization and border defense. while there are still nomadic tribes today keeping the original culture of monsoon country alive, their numbers are significantly lower than when kakuzu was still a takigakure shinobi. 

[noscorpsaladerive]

Flo in Bordeaux!!!!

I wrote up mine and Emily’s experiences seeing Flo yesterday but the verb tenses are all over the place and this is REALLY LONG so it’s going under the cut I hope y’all enjoy :)

So Emily and I got to Bordeaux around noon but we couldn’t check in until 14h so we were walking around trying to find food that didn’t cost 20€ per person and we accidentally came across the theatre!!!  They had a couple posters with Flo’s face on them and I nearly died omg.  We saw a couple of vans outside and I’m guessing it was all of their equipment.

Skip forward a few hours and one mild freak out session that resulted in breathing exercises later, and Emily and I FINALLY head over to the theatre about an hour before showtime.  There are already quite a few people outside, which surprised me a little bit, but the age demographic was very strange.  Like there were a lot of women who were at least in their 40s and 50s and even a gaggle of preteen girls not that enjoying Flo’s music is limited to a certain age group but it was just an unexpected demographic (as Erin said it’s the same one as 50 Shades of Grey lol).  But anyway while we were standing outside I heard some music playing AND IT WAS FLO’S SOUNDCHECK.  I think he was playing J’attends encore but they just played part of it but it was still enough to cause a heart attack dear goodness

So we finally get into the theatre (and there was this whole drama about the staff holding onto my fancy camera during the concert because apparently photos weren’t allowed ugh but ANYWAY) and it like still hasn’t quite hit that I’m actually seeing Flo again??? I think part of it might’ve been the fact that we had to get up at like 4:45 in the morning to go to the train station but I was like scarily calm considering this is Flo we’re talking about.

The opening act was a band from Bordeaux called MO and they were actually really good!! I’d looked them up beforehand and their music seemed like French country and considering that I don’t like American country I wasn’t too excited but it was a little bit more soft pop than country and it almost reminded me of Diane’s music??  It was a very similar genre regardless.  They got the audience to do this like percussive song thing with them and it was really fun I’d definitely be happy to see them perform again.

Then after a good while where the crew moved instruments around and they adjusted the lighting one last time the band walked on stage and started playing some music then FLO WALKED ON STAGE AND I COULDN’T STOP GRINNING LIKE AN IDIOT and they keep playing then he gets interrupted by his mom calling and he finally turns around and I see his stupid face and I’m gonna die just writing about this omg and he’s so damn cute and he’s now wearing a hoop earring (we were on Flo’s left so we had great views of the earring haha) and omg I’m still dying

Anyways after the fake phone call with his mom they start playing Se serrer la main which is one of my fave songs on that album but like i wanted to like stand up and jam along but no one else was standing??? Concerts that take place in real theatres stress me out idk if we’re supposed to stand or sit or what but ANYWAY

after that song ended he asked « Y’a des drôles de filles ici ce soir?? »/« Are there any drôles de filles here tonight? » (sorry I can’t think of how to translate drôles de filles rn) but I FLIPPED MY SHIT QUELLE DRÔLE DE FILLE IS SUCH A JAM (plus it’s my blog title lol) uhhhh idk which songs were next and I’m too lazy to pull up my recording rn to check but he sang a new song and damn it was such a jam and he was like noodling and dancing across the stage and i was struck by two things:  1) he seemed SO COMFORTABLE in his own skin and in his own body and i know he’s struggled with body issues before so it warmed my heart to see him so comfortable with himself and 2) he leaned backwards at one point (a mini-Rosenberggggg lean if you will) and I noticed his abs through his shirt???  And I was like wtf????  Are his abs just THAT well defined or is his shirt kinda see through??? Later on after I saw his nipples I was like YEP that shirt’s see through oops.  I knew his outfit seemed too normal I was getting suspicious. He also dabbed at the end of that song and you could feel half the audience groaning hahaha.

Uh I’m forgetting the song order but for Les Blessures qui ne se voient pas he started out a cappella and people were kinda singing along at first but everyone stopped and it was literally a silent theatre full of people listening to nothing but Flo’s voice and it was so beautiful and powerful I almost cried.  Oh I also almost cried when he did Te Ressembler because I wasn’t expecting him to do that song and it reminds me so much of the relationship I have with my mother and it just gets to me man.

After maybe like half an hour he started the whole bit where he tells us his life story starting with Canada which is a shame that he doesn’t start earlier because I would literally die to hear him perform some Lost Smile.  So he starts out the bit at a bar and he orders a rum and coke from the bartender (aka the guitarist who was wiping down his guitar with a towel as if it was a bar countertop lol) so the guitarist pours him a glass of wine and calls it rum and coke and Flo says « What kind of rum is this? » and the bartender/guitarist says « It’s Bordeaux rum! » and everyone screams since we’re in Bordeaux and Flo says that the best rum is from Bordeaux and everyone screams some more.

He talked about the friend he wrote « Alone » for then he performed said song and I nearly died I never in a million years thought I would ever hear him perform Canada songs live but also I feel like Emily and I were the only ones who knew the song???  The general feeling I got from the audience was confusion while I was jamming along having the time of my life.  The only other Canada song he performed was Mrs Mary which I don’t know as well as Alone but oh well.  

Next he did the getting a call to come audition for MOR and the fake audition and he was acting all cute and when the casting director aka the keyboardist asked how old he was he said 27 and like half of the audience squealed he was acting so cute then this motherfucker went and sang Bohemian Rhapsody which is ANOTHER song I thought I’d never hear him perform live and I just about died and cried I was a roller coaster of emotions last night okay?

Then he sang « L’Assasymphonie » and we all stood up and jammed and I’m pretty sure there was eye contact happening between us and I was living for it seeing Flo perform that song gives me life I have a video too but I’ll be uploading all my videos, pics, and recordings later.

Then he got a fake call from Dove (and I squealed really loudly when Flo mentioned Dove) and Dove said he’d had a dream about Flo with a big sword (ahem) and that’s how he introduced Quelque chose de magique and I died all over again it was like this really awesome rock arrangement and I was living for it @Dove why don’t you get Flo to do the arrangements for your musicals from now on at least that way you can’t tell him to chop all his hair off but I digress.  Tbh I’m really glad Flo did Quelque chose de magique because Mon combat is awkwardly just out of his lower range and Auprès d’un autre is just...yeah.  But it was so great to hear him sing LRA live again I was so pumped.

At some point during the musicals or just after Flo took another sip of the wine (which the guitarist had been drinking lol) and he said « Fuck that’s good I’m gonna need three or four more glasses » and tbh same but after the musicals they brought out a drum and let Flo drum for a bit and they did Sur mon nuage then he did Arrête somewhere in there???  Oh and the slow version of Je ne sais pas (which is the better version imo) which he apparently wrote about the girl who dumped him in Canada which I totally didn’t realize.

Then he was winding down the show and did that sped up version of Quoi de neuf which stresses me out because it’s so damn fast and he also kept switching up the lyrics in the chorus???? Like dude wtf I can’t sing along if you keep changing it!!!!

He left the stage afterwards but came back to do another new song whose name I forgot and he tried to teach us the chorus and was like « it’s really easy!! » but I couldn’t understand the words he was singing???? Oh well maybe he’ll release it on his next album whenever that’s happening (which he hasn’t even mentioned another album so I’m not holding my breath lol) then he ended with Qu’est-ce qu’un homme which is such a good song y’all it’s SO GOOD. But y’all when he had his arms around his band members to bow the Floobs were out they were really out there and idk how to process this information.

We headed outside to see about stagedooring and there ended up being two groups of fans at two different exits and we were kind of eying each other trying to figure out who was going to be right and if we needed to rush to the other side but all of the sudden everyone rushed to one of the theatre’s main doors??? So Emily and I rushed along and we were all penguin huddled together and no one really knew what was happening but we were all just waiting while the theatre staff opened the door and let a few fans in at a time.  We finally figured out that we were meeting Flo inside which I thought was nice since that way he wasn’t being crowded by a bunch of fans at the same time.

So Emily and I finally get inside except I’m getting loopy because of lack of sleep and we really hadn’t eaten that much that day either and I was SO CLOSE to deciding I was going to tell Flo I was disappointed he didn’t do any Lost Smile lol.  So the line of fans goes around a corner so we can’t really see what’s happening until we get up close and we can see the dudes that opened the show and we thought Flo would be after them but no you greet Flo first and that’s when my heart started beating real fast I wasn’t fucking ready y’all but we were doing it.

So I finally get up to Flo and he and a staff member are talking about how many people are still waiting and he didn’t quite see me at first when I handed him my ticket to sign and when they’re done talking I quietly say « hi » and Flo finally sees me and y’all he got so fucking excited I was so worried he wouldn’t recognize us but he did!!!!!!!! Even though it’s been almost two years!!!!! He asks us how we’ve been and he seemed so sincere and genuine and so interested like he really did want to know how we had been doing and as he’s signing Emily’s ticket I asked what his cat’s name was and he said he wasn’t saying right now but that he was going to announce it later.  But he did tell us his cat was super sweet and that he didn’t make too much noise in the morning and that he will play fetch like a dog and I was like omg my cat too!!! I’m also 95% sure at some point during this convo I straight up told Flo I love his cat but idk if he heard but he didn’t seem weirded out lol so that was good.  Flo took selfies with me then while he was taking selfies with Emily I said, « The concert was better than Harry Potter » (a reference to the classic « Song For A Lunatic ») and he was trying so hard not to lose it mid-selfie and I’m pretty sure it was the cause of the blep in Emily’s selfies it was so fucking great hahaha then the theatre staff fussed at all of us because we were taking so long but it was so worth it. He thanked us for coming and seemed really sincere about it like it wasn’t in just a « I need something to close this convo with fans » way it was like really genuine and this man and his sincerity will be the death of me.

Emily and I stayed calm until we got outside the theatre then we fucking lost it and screamed at Emily’s mom on the phone while she was at work because FLORENT MOTHE RECOGNIZED US and he had like a substantial conversation with us and he didn’t with the people ahead of us and he smiled SO MUCH in our selfies it was so amazing I feel so validated as a fan like one of my all time fave singers actually knows who I am and I’m dying.

I recorded most of the concert so I’ll post that recording and some pictures and videos later on!!  Damn this turned out wayyy longer than expected lol.

[mbolism1]

Missing a huge demographic? 🤔 I've been doing make-up since before most of y'all born 😂 1982: first make-up 1991: cos academy I spent the 90's in a salon doing corrective color, make-up and skincare. I fell off the wagon, feeling sorry for myself for aging. I was so brutally judgmental every time I looked in a mirror. Tbh I still catch myself harshly criticizing the person looking back at me. Lately I've found my lifelong passion reignited by all these beautiful products that have come out. Ya' little whippersnappers have no idea the LACK of fun make-up there was in the days when I hiked to school for 5 miles, uphill, BOTH WAYS! 🤣😂🤣 These do tend to be marketed at a certain demographic. What kills me-as a business minded gal, is how yours truly can easily AFFORD to go crazy and buy like one of every color in everything if I feel like it. (I'm looking at you JS! Lol! I got like 6 different concealers last Friday. Oopsie 😜) Yeah, I know. Not everyone can do that. As a "trophy wife" (shhhh, I do actually work) I'm grateful & blessed to have a very let's say, a comfortable life. Yet I don't see anyone like me showing how these products can really be great to use. Most people MY age (ok, mentally I'm 25 but let's not veer off topic) never appear in ads, on tutorials or anywhere else. Personally I love all of them and in no way think "oh those are for 'young' people.". Bitch, I'M a young people! I'm an ultramarathon runnin', yoga teachin' kid that most people can't keep up with. I want people over 50, hell- over 40 to know that numbers don't matter. I stopped hating my age when I realized I have something that lasts, that the young me never had: life experience. Maturity. Lessons. Oh how I wish I could go back and tell "young me" some things. 🤨 Going forward at 50, I really decided my mission is this: Inspire. Support. Teach. Love. Don't judge. All those pretty faces are gonna age. But what's inside glows with beauty no one can take away. And you can look glowier with some fun make-up. ;) #50andfabulous #nofilter #inspire #havefun #ageisjustanumber #kkwbeauty #kyliecosmetics #cocokindskincare #jeffreestar #magicstar #glow #imavailablefortutorials #makeup #mua https://www.instagram.com/p/BwunjwdhWLw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1nsy5ehe3umap