#and all this while a lot of fans are debating bias in the support

[verussy]

maybe the fia can use all those undisclosed fines to pay for some professional stewards next year

[turboacek-blog]

HP: Soulmate or Partner

Written 2/15/25

The general idea is that for Hermione: Harry is her soulmate while Ron is her partner/lover/husband

Which creates the ship war/debate of Harmione/Harmony (HarryxHermione) and Ronmione (RonxHermione)

The crux of it is who should Hermione (and in general a person) be with between the two

I think the best summary (if soulmate vs lover isn’t enough) I can probably make for them is this:

Harry is more of her partner/ride or die, they align on a lot of things and support each other through everything, etc He is her best friend

Where Ron is her balance, opposites attract, they’re two halves of a whole, etc he is the man she fell in love with

They do have their negatives/what makes them not perfect (granted no one could truly be perfect)

Harry is more withdrawn emotionally so it has led to him and Hermione having difficulty in those areas together

Ron and she argue a ton, I think (at least in the movies would have to fact-check me on the books) no one has made Hermione cry more than Ron

So funnily enough one she can’t talk to when things are emotionally high/low and one she gets in fights with when things are emotionally high/low almost exact opposites

The debate has many aspects to it that I can’t go into

You can go from the literal book to see what makes more sense or what is actually presented

You can go from the meta-perspective as the author herself has said she should have changed the pairings

You can just put your personal feelings and thoughts on them such as if you think Ron&Hermione are toxic or Harry&Hermione are sibling coded

I can’t go into it all, I tried and I see both sides

Edit: 2/24/25

So initially had the whole post going over the dynamics of Ron&Hermione and Harry&Hermione. With some Harry&Ginny

But I honestly see both (all three?) sides of it, Harmione probably my fav of the three if it wasn’t obvious above, I do like Ronmione a lot and I really do like Hinny

I do think a better written/handled Ginny could truly be the ideal partner for Harry and a better handled Ronmione to lean away from some of their more toxic aspects I might like it more as well

I do think that since she didn't write Harry and Hermione to be obviously romantic they avoided the pitfalls the romance writing had imo and instead had such a strong friendship to the point fans consider them soulmates

I'm completely for platonic male/female friendships, in this situation I do think that they are just a better match so to speak and the male/female friendship could have just been Ron&Hermione if we have to have one

Plus I've always been a sucker for the best friends-to-lovers trope in nearly everything that has a cast and a romantic plot/subplot so that's probably my bias

I already regret posting this as Harry Potter isn't my wheelhouse lol

Edit: 2/25/25

Also side note the whole bonded for life part is one of the most absurd moments I think for a pair that didn’t end up together lol

[kwiyoshi]

彡✎ When Fandom Turns Toxic

(Do toxic fans in some online spaces (e.g. Twitter) make it difficult to become or identify as a fan?)

It honestly baffles me how people in the same fandoms can be so alike yet so disconnected from each other. Aren't we supposed to be on the same page? What happened?

I've got a lot to say about fandoms in general, but being in the K-pop fandom for a while now, I've developed my own take on what goes on there. When you're in a fandom, you run into all sorts of people – most of them are nice, but there's that bunch we call 'toxic.' So, having been through the fan trenches, it makes me wonder: do these toxic fans in some online platforms like Twitter make it tricky for newbies to comfortably join in and be fans? Let's find out!

All for One and One for... My Bias

Most people usually have that one favorite individual they adore within a group, while still supporting the group as a whole. However, there are individuals who exclusively support that single person rather than the entire group. In the K-pop fandom, this is referred to as being a 'solo stan.'

For those that do not know what a solo stan is, it is essentially when someone in the fanbase of an idol group goes all-in for just one member, they call themselves a solo stan or get tagged as one by fellow fans. Solo stans tend to shower their chosen idol with love while not feeling so friendly towards the other group members, giving this term a bit of a negative vibe within the fan community. On a side note, 'solo stan' can also refer to people who are fans of individual idols who aren't part of a group (Evans 2022).

Experienced members of the K-pop community often have a knack for automatically filtering out toxic individuals. However, these toxic fans can create unfavorable first impressions for newcomers interested in joining.

Here is an example of a solo stan's Twitter profile:

Fandom Feuds

In the K-pop community, comparisons between different groups are inevitable, often initiated by passionate fans of those groups. During the early days of K-pop, when the internet was not as prevalent as it is today, fan wars were more than just exchanges of differing opinions. They often escalated into physical confrontations. This phenomenon is what the K-pop community commonly refers to as a 'fan war' (Dhan, 2021). While there is no universally accepted definition of a fan war, it's generally described as a conflict between two fan communities vying for superiority (Urban Dictionary, 2018).

One of the earliest and most well-known instances of fan wars can be traced back to the first generation of K-pop boy groups, specifically H.O.T and Sechskies. These two groups were among the most prominent in their era, boasting substantial and dedicated fan bases. The coveted Daesang, the top prize at year-end awards events, often became a point of contention between the supporters of both groups. At times, fans from these rival factions even gathered, engaging in heated debates, and occasionally leading to physical altercations just before the award ceremonies. In some cases, it was reported that the police had to intervene to de-escalate the situation (Dhan, 2021).

From Admirer to Addict

In the K-pop fandom, fans can be categorized into different levels of dedication. Firstly, there are casual listeners. Next, some wholeheartedly support everything their idols do. Lastly, there are the diehard fans of the group who go to great lengths to express their unwavering devotion to their beloved idols.

These fans within the K-pop community are referred to as 'sasaengs.' The term directly translates to 'personal life' in Korean, and these intruders excel at prying into the private lives of their idols. They engage in such behavior with the ultimate goal of gaining recognition, considering it a point of pride when a celebrity remembers them (Tamondong, 2021).

How do these 'sasaengs' manage to avoid consequences for their actions, even though their identity as sasaengs is widely known? Well, it's often reported that many sasaengs come from privileged backgrounds, affording them the financial resources to relentlessly pursue their idols. It's not unusual to observe them lingering near a K-pop star's agency, their residence, or at restaurants where the idol is dining with family and friends (Tamandong, 2021).

Final Thoughts and Prayers

In a nutshell, when it comes to the question of whether toxic fans in certain online spaces make it tough to embrace and proudly declare your fan status, my answer is a solid 'yes.' Honestly, even I sometimes struggle to casually admit that I'm a K-pop fan because of the stuff I mentioned earlier. While being part of a fandom has its highs and lows, it's clear that these toxic fans can put a damper on the fan experience for others.

References

Dhan 2021, Look back at the “legendary” fanwars between 1st generation Kpop fandoms, KBIZoom, viewed 9 November 2023, <https://kbizoom.com/look-back-at-the-legendary-fanwars-between-1st-generation-kpop-fandoms/>.

Evans, C 2022, From Trainee To Bias: The Big 16 K-Pop Slang Terms To Know, Dictionary, viewed 9 November 2023, <https://www.dictionary.com/e/k-pop-slang/>.

Tamondong, H 2021, What Is A 'Sasaeng'? A Guide To South Korea's Toxic Fan Culture, Cosmopolitan, viewed 9 November 2023, <https://www.cosmo.ph/kloka/kpop/south-korea-sasaeng-fan-toxic-culture-a4575-20210115-lfrm>.

Urban Dictionary 2016, fanwar, Urban Dictionary, viewed 9 November 2023, <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fanwar>.

[dandelionflowery-reblogs]

Ok so i may have gone down a rabbithole about this a while ago so here's what I remember

(note: i found the articles again and they seems to lean more towards the ship and let ship [SALS, it's long to write out lol] aspect of everything; it's written to be more or less neutral, but there does seem to be a bit of a proshipper bias so take this with a grain of salt)

(also i'll put a tldr at the end dw)

Proship originally meant people who are like "whatever, ship what you want to ship"

And antishipping was more like "hmm maybe don't. ship children with adults? It leads to irl consequences"

No one's really clear on what the definitions mean from what I found.

Proshipper was created to mean "for" shipping (SALS basically) to contrast with the anti from antishipper; however some people (usually those putting proshippers dni in their bio) assume pro is short for problematic.

People also aren't clear on whether or not the term proshipper applies only to people who engage in discourse or if it's everyone who agrees with the SALS idea.

Antis and prroshippers have alwayss disagreed about what the terms mean. According to antis, proshippers are people who support abuse; according to proshippers, they're people advocating for SALS, and not necessarily the people doing the shipping.

"In general, proshippers believe that fans should not be harassed or threatened for their shipping preferences, exploring dark themes in fanworks does not reveal anything about a fan's morality or ethical beliefs, and that shipping fictional characters does not cause harm."

"A common catchphrase used in proshipper arguments is "fiction is not reality". Antishippers believe that depicting or "romanticizing" problematic or abusive relationships (including age gaps, rape or non-con, incest, and underage) in fanfiction or fanart can cause real-world harm; they think they are protecting children by harassing shippers who create fanworks (or who like other people's fanworks) that depict "problematic" relationships. Proshippers respond by arguing that harassment is never acceptable and that in addition the antis' justification for harassment is misinformed; fanworks cannot cause abuse in the real world."

"Though all anti-shippers hold their own variable beliefs, in general anti-shippers from this context believe that "fiction does affect reality," and want to see certain types of content removed from website(s) or at least heavily hidden. This is in direct opposition with anti-antis, who believe fiction does not directly affect reality and that all ships are equally valid."

"Judging whether a ship is problematic usually involves assessing whether the canon facts about the characters and their relationship to each other would be indicative of an unhealthy romantic relationship if the characters were real people. "

https://fanlore.org/wiki/Pro-shipper

https://fanlore.org/wiki/Anti-shipper

Tldr:

No one really agrees on the terms and there's been a lot of debate

Proshippers say they're in favor of Ship and Let Ship, and that what a person chooses to have a fictional character do/be into does not reflect real life

Antishippers say that there are some ships that are morally wrong (usual examples are incest, pedophilia, rape)

However, most people don't bother to be neurodivergent about look into this, so in general from what I've seen on tumblr is that people will use proshippers dni as a shorthand for pedophiles/anyone who engages in the problematic stuff irl.

Also this next bit is unrelated i just found it hilarious

There were also groups founded against certain types of ships in general rather than specific pairings. One group founded September 15, 2010 is titled Anti-Incest and has the motto: "Family is family, nothing more." This group was affiliated with a now-defunct group called Hetero-Pairings, which may or may not have been anti-yaoi. There were many anti-yaoi groups on DeviantArt. Many were fandom-specific, but others were more general, such as AntiYaoiFangirls, Down With Yaoi, or YaoiHatersFC, group "For artists above and against stereotyped art such as - yaoi, yuri, slash, hentai, mpreg, lolicon, and similar genres".

Against yaoi and yuri??? Lmao HOW??

wtf is proship am i dumb

Ive been at work all day so i am tired please excuse me

[sepublic]

            Tbh not a fan of how some people are so obsessed with framing Belos as some sympathetic, tragic character on account of his parallels with Luz, that they basically rob him of any and all agency to reduce Philip to some mindless follower of his puritan community, even in their explicit absence while having the support of Caleb, whose opinion he should prioritize if it was truly about what others have told him. This woobified take of some superstitious dingus/helpless child who can’t make any decisions for himself feels infantilizing and at odds with how Belos is actually portrayed in the show.

         Plus, the whole argument of “That’s how it was back then” in order to justify or at least explain Philip’s bigotry feels rather hollow, because like. Not only does Caleb (who was also a child not much older) exist, but this rationale was used to justify a lot of historical people’s pro-slavery attitudes, because “it was just normal” back then, so surely we can’t judge these people by modern standards, right? Especially not to replace a Confederate statue, right?

         (For the record, I highly doubt people who use this logic in regards to Belos are intentional about this comparison, I don’t think they made this connection and still went with it anyway.)

         Except people back in the day DID call this behavior out, there were always people opposing it, hence the existence of a character like Caleb. And this is a point that’s being raised a lot in regards to this subject about judging people of the past with contemporary values. Abolitionists existed just plenty in the past, and it’s their work that led to this social change over time.

         Plus, the framing of Philip as some superstitious Puritan who genuinely believed in his church’s teachings about sin, and is legitimately concerned for people’s souls, indirectly presents him as only needing a good argument and evidence to change his mind. Except we see how Philip is a highly intelligent, calculating individual who can figure people out like it’s nothing, extremely observant and approaching his analysis of the Demon Realm with a professionalism bordering on the scientific method.

         That scene in For the Future, where he’s confronted by alleged ghosts? I think it’s meant to support what the Titan clarifies in the next episode; That Belos KNOWS he’s wrong, that he’s just lying about it. The problem isn’t that he needs to realize this, it’s that he already has, but won’t admit this to himself to change his behavior in response. I doubt Philip truly believes there’s a God expecting something of everyone. And remember Grom, when Luz says “You’re not coming from a place of intellectual honesty, so debating you would be pointless!”

         Jacob Hopkins strays close to the Dudebro image that Luz directs this line at; And we see how he’s not actually driven by reasoning, but by a delusional need to be the hero. And Jacob’s comparisons to Belos need not be stated; A lot of fascists AREN’T approaching from a place of actual logic that can thus be reasoned with, hence why punching them is a necessity.

         It’s not as if they’re just working with faulty evidence that they’ve drawn a misguided conclusion from; They come in with a predisposed ‘conclusion’ they’ve already decided on, and then look only for the evidence to support it. Which is ironic, given what I said about Philip appearing to be someone who would use the scientific method in his studies, but bias is bias. It’s like how other races being inferior was made up to justify slavery as an economic boon; Rather than people naturally assuming other races to be inferior, and THEN making slavery as a result of that conclusion.

         The bigotry is all an intentional excuse made to justify an ulterior, power-hungry motive; Why else does Thanks to Them frame other witch hunters as just making things up about their neighbors to seize their property? And remember when I compared King James I of historical infamy to Philip, speculating that his real-life book on witchcraft may have influenced Philip’s diary from a writing perspective, if not an in-universe one as well? A lot of people speculate James didn’t necessarily believe in witches as a threat to humanity; He just latched onto them as a scapegoat to legitimize his power. Because if the agents of Hell see you as a threat, doesn’t that suggest you as divinely ordained?

         And I think that ties into Philip’s shallow understanding of the Demon Realm; These people are inherently evil, so if they do anything to hate or oppose him, it’s because Philip is actually an agent of Good, a divine hero, and all of these demons are some magical hivemind that uniformly collaborate to prioritize opposing Good. He’s every bully who needles and harasses a minority, and acts vindicated when they DO lash out, as the creator of a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

        And while there’s a lot to be said about not feeding the beast, sometimes you just HAVE to defend yourself, and not care about proving your worth to someone who isn’t approaching from a place of good faith, whose approval is meaningless, especially if it comes at the risk or even cost of your own safety. Hence all this real life discussion of queers and other minorities not having to be palatable to deserve rights.

         In the end, I see Philip Wittebane as akin to Walter White, of Breaking Bad fame; I’m sure he DID legitimately care about his family, to an extent. But if it really was just about them, and not the cheap thrill of some power fantasy, he’d have accepted the help given to him, instead of going on this ridiculous quest to accumulate strength so he can become the Biggest, Baddest person who can crush his enemies.

        And in his constant pursuit of that high, what concern for his family and others he might’ve had withers away into nothing; Until the Titan’s summation of Philip as someone who only believes in his delusional need to be the hero doesn’t just make sense from her in-universe perspective, but as a description with implied authorial backing. Family? That was just an excuse, but at least Walter White had the guts to admit this aloud to someone else.

[yostresswritinggirl]

My goodness, I- I did not expect this one to blow up like this. Then again you guys are so goddamn unpredictable, be glad I love you all hhhhh- this will be the last installation of Universe Reversal and it has been a nice yet wild ride for this mini-series pfft. Thank you to the anon with the brilliant mind who started this, I didn't include Kaeya here since he's already fleshed out in the asks convos we had.

Universe Reversal 3

Genshin Impact Character Reader and Modern Players with Venti and Diluc (how they simp for you) (event masterlist / Part 1 / Part 2 / Extras)

Venti the Multi-Account User

This unhinged boyo has made multiple accounts for different servers, and no one really knows how many he uses or how many he's active on (it's 2), nor the reason why he even did this strategy in the first place.

How he pulled you: This little gremlin was messing around with his alt account and saw that he still had some leftover primogems in it, enough for ten pulls. And he was like, why not? He's already ran out of chances in his main account, he wasn't hoping much— so when that glorious golden meteor appear, he froze.

And then he freaked out, both in triumph and anger, because OMG you came home!!! In the WRONG account!!! ¡¡! ¡¡!

Bragging about it to his friends, and when he gets his congratulations, he's gonna come out and say it was on his alt account. And all hell breaks loose.

He's gonna spend most of his days trying to debate over his head what's he gonna do about his predicament, while farming materials not just for you but for the other characters as well. He doesn't have a well-bred team in that account so...

He'll be spending most of his time in that account during the hype, of course, and he's gonna be the gamer that would be staying up so late just to get everything geared up and maxed out.

Venti usually used you in co-op to flex on his pull, and dons your character as his profile. His grinding has raised you to at least C1 with the second best weapon for you, and a decent set of artifacts. He built you as sub dps tho, unlike the other players here.

This is obvious but he likes using you for gliding, because your character reacts so happily when doing so and he finds it really cute. He also ends up idling a lot and watches your idle animation, gif'd and all.

One of the very few characters who would actually cosplay as you, if it's possible. Shameless and proud for it too.

May or may not have attracted some specific fans.

You coming home has sparked the vigor of gaming for him once again, and became more engaged to the community and- holy shit, you have so many fan materials.

Venti may or may not have participated in the ship wars and best character wars alongside Childe and Kaeya.

One of the remixers and character theme/fan-made songs type of fan in the community, very prestigious too. He aims to offers his works to the devs too, even if it's just for small promotional materials.

"The game just become so much more enjoyable and pleasing to play when I got them! Even if I had to switch accounts, it's was sooo worth it." sad neglected account noises

Favorite Voicelines: Feelings About Ascension, All your trailers (What do you mean this is not a voiceline?)

Diluc the Beta Tester

One of the lucky people to be able to play the beta version of the game, as he had been very critical in checking for bugs and suggestions even if he has his own work.

How he pulled you: Mentioned this before, he wasn't meant to pull for you really, he was there for the other characters in your banner, but you ended up coming home to him instead.

It's not that he doesn't LIKE you, it's nothing personal, it's just that his team/playstyle doesn't really let you fit in to his game? But hey, at least he knows you're good, so instead of neglecting you he decided to build you up as well just to see.

Diluc now has the strongest (Y/N) build in the whole game.

Was forced by his brother to make a video/tutorial for your character, and he found it quite enjoyable. So many people thanked him and supported his video for it, dedicated fans to your character and building.

Diluc warms up to your character soon after and sees you in a better light. Starts reading more about you and sees how nice your story was well made, and admires the beauty of your ult animation a tad bit too much.

His reputation suddenly became connected to you, like speedrunning, soloing and powerful builds with/for your character.

If there were any bugs or fixes regarding your character, he's the first to notice and report in full detail to Mihoyo. Because of this your release had been unusually flawless and well-liked by the community, but he wouldn't know much since he's not that engaged to the fandom.

He doesn't notice his bias to you and if he gets called out, he's gonna vehemently deny the fuck outta it. He's a beta player, he needs to analyze all characters equally, damn it.

He may or maaaaay not be one of the cause of your character getting leaked before your actual release; Kaeya may or maaaay not be related to this. Don't worry tho, he's not under any danger, yet.

He has a big chance of being a new character's VA that's closely tied to you and he's unsure yet on how to deal about the offer.

If a casual criticizes your character, especially when they insult that you're too overrated, he's there to pull out the right facts and rants to shit the fucker up.

Silently helped with the popularity poll and made you the most liked character for a very long time.

One of the people obsessed with your idle animation and voicelines, and had listened to all of your lines in ALL languages. For uh, for work purposes, of course. Will fight that your English VA is the best and suiting voice for you.

He's kinda tsun on liking your character in a simping kind of sense? So it's like subtle in which he silently buys one merch of yours, total opposite of Kaeya with his Dakimakura-

"One of the best characters Mihoyo has released so far. I'm guilty I almost didn't try getting them, but now I'm on the shi- train for vouching as best player."

Favorite Voicelines: Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night, Attack Dialogues

@ellitx @moaa @zelos-simp @legionqueensav @dandelion-dreams @snackgod @rxsalinee @cala-ran @wind-wheel

[dream-critical]

I watched nickisnotgreen’s video on Streamer controversies and,,, I would like to confront a stance of yours. I don’t watch much gaming outside of mcyt, and seeing how toxic, sexist, and hostile the wider gaming community seems, I don’t think Dream has done more harm than good with his platform as you said.

The Minecraft community has become one of the more welcoming and diverse internet communities since it’s resurgence and a fair amount of people have attributed that to Dream, as he’s, even if he doesn’t want to be, a head figure, who has openly supported the LGBTQ+ community (donating to charities, only selling pride merch bc his LGBTQ+ fans asked for it and he didn’t want to exploit them, etc). Hell, not that I want to get into this, him being openly affection and flirty towards his friends, and a bunch of mcyters being flirty towards their friends, helps because it normalizes that type of affection. It’s become such a big thing that people outside of the community comment on just how gay minecrafters are.

He has not spread hate on his platform. He’s badly addressed allegations, I agree with that, but actions speak louder than words and he has not used his platform to promote racism, sexism, or (ig this is debatable but idk) homophobia. He has not repeated mistakes of using questionable language (I.e. the tommy thing, the use of the word “lynching”, his previously uneducated opinion on the r slur) once called out for it.

While he does have things to work on, I don’t think he should be deplatformed unless he starts promoting a community that doesn’t support acceptance. There’s a reason gaming platforms had the reputation they did for being hostile to women and minorities, and I think Dream has only helped in separating the minecraft community from that reputation.

If you mean he’s done more harm with his platform because he responds to smaller accounts, then i guess I agree to a point? Its known now that the people he responds to are never doxxed or seriously harmed, but I agree he should keep that in check or find different ways to address it, as it’s a possibility in the future. A lot of mass harassment and doxxing that occurs by so called “Dream Stans” just happens without his involvement at all, and there’s really nothing he can do about that anymore since denouncing it won’t do anything.

This is just one persons observation though, and, if he has done indefensible harm with his platform that I’m unaware of, then I’ll reconsider.

I watched that video as well and tbh I feel like you made the wrong conclusion here.

Yeah when you look at all the other people nick discussed in the video there's a stark contrast with other ccs in the gaming community.

But you also need to factor in that 1) people can be harmful in different ways and just bc dream isn't calling women slurs and belittling them doesn't mean he does no harm ever and 2) nick did not mention anything except the gay joke. He was constantly stating how he didn't want dream stans to attack him and how he was scared of it. The fact that he couldn't even properly express himself without having to say "please don't kill me for this" should say a lot anon.

This isn't the first time that happened either, a lot of bigger content creators have to be careful when talking about dream or completely avoid it bc the second anything they say can be taken as negative they'll get mass hate.

Nick got told he had to "avoid misinformation" but where lmao. The only misinfo you could say is there is the discourse about his sexuality bc there should be no discourse. Like I've already said before, He's unlabeled. He's not gay he's not straight he has never called himself queer and that's where the conversation should end.

So stans were trying to push him towards a bias by trying to discredit what happened and the people talking about it. Which, are we suprised? Not really they keep doing this every single time anything happens. This is what they call holding dream accountable. Making shit up and discrediting anyone who disagrees with them.

Anyway to actually talk about the harm dream has done, i feel like you're missing the point.

Dream flirting with his friends was and is to get more views. He literally openly talked about it mid 2020. It's a marketing strategy. Even if he isn't straight that doesn't change that fact. It's not a way to "make the community more accepting" it's a way to get more cash. On top of that the way he normalizes and encourages RPF is extremely harmful bc rn the second a cc is added to the dsmp people start writing stuff about them. Gone is the norm of idk. Actually fucking respecting creators and being a decent person and not doing that. Ccs now have to actively say they're uncomfortable with it before people will actually think about doing it twice but even then it doesn't stop the RPF shippers and truthers.

Their whole existence gets sexualised and the fandom gets away with it bc dream said it's ok.

Rpf is a fact in most fandoms but when creators condemn it, it's kept to a minimum. In the dsmp fandom, people keep very close attention to boundaries so they can break them by using loopholes. Do you know how fucking weird and fucked up that is? Dream actively encourages this as well like????

On top of that a lot of people attributing that to dream doesn't mean it's true lmao. It's bc a lot of mcyters came out as queer in the last couple of years, a lot more creators of colour started getting big and all white cishet creators on the dsmp are very accepting etc.

Did dream have a part in it? Sure. It's not all his work though, saying that is just untrue and he couldn't possibly have gotten this big without other creators like Tommy, Wilbur, joining the smp.

Also since you mentioned the r slur stuff, he never apologized for that and instead went on a twitter rant bc of it. He did the same thing with the war cry controversy. He did the same thing with kkk edit as well. There's a pattern here anon and it's obvious to see. He doubles down on his harmful actions and even if he doesn't repeat them, the Twitter rants do leave an impression on his fans that defend him so I would say that the shit he did there was harmful.

No matter if he apologized or if you and me disagree on how acceptable and genuine those apologies were, his tantrums and debate bro outburst have a lot more impact than his short "sorry, love you guys ♥️💖♥️💖" bullshit.

On top of that, there are a lot of ways he could grow as a person and as a content creator yet he refuses all of them. You mention he should work on stuff instead of getting deplatformed but when is that going to happen anon? He refuses to get a pr team, he refuses to listen to other ccs critisizing him, and if he can't handle having this big of a platform why the fuck should he have that platform.

His refusal to change is one of the most harmful things he does. He can't keep going like this and we both know it.

Also and I've literally made this point like three times before, it doesn't fucking matter if the people who got doxxed bc of his stans actually get harmed he shouldn't fucking put them in harm's way.

Also "not seriously harmed"??? Are you fucking hearing yourself. Doxxing is serious and you trying to play it down to defend your fave is not appreciated like at all just saying.

Dream needs to grow the fuck up and the people defending him need to stop being in denial.

[sugar-petals]

how come the hyung line stans seem to be more affected by their bias in their life decisions than maknae line stans? like wanting a partner to resemble their bias while maknae line stans seem to have lots of people around them and seem to not get as affected in their life decisions? like ex u said Namjoon stans are single

alright then. let’s dig a little deeper. as i see the matter, it does boil down to age: hyung line stans are either in more crucial phases of their lives themselves or sort of turn to a hyung’s outlook on things, consciously or not. because, they’re more verbal about these types of bigger questions due to their experience and characters. 

joon does this the most prominently and made it his task to guide others, so he’s even more prone to mentor the fandom and affect someone. if you have a lot of concerns, he’ll build you up inside out as he makes himself available for that. korean social hierarchy and how they adhere to it further intensifies how we see the hyungs as much heavier emotional anchors. that also results in people taking them very seriously, incorporating their views.

maknae stans are not necessarily always younger fans, but their circumstances are more open, youthful, things are bustling. you’d not become attracted to yoongi if you valued being outgoing. not happening. he’d feel remote and frozen. vice versa, your disposition will already be social or wanting to be (you could be reserved yourself, mind you, it’s your preference i’m talking about) if you stan e.g. jimin. otherwise, you won’t vibe and understand him, or enjoy his antics. so, he won’t be your singular point of relating someone online. and the maknaes generally aren’t personalities that offer a “rely on me” or “hear my message” pattern, they’re carefree and complex in other ways.

meanwhile, you turn to say yoongi if you want to know about purpose and dreams in life since he talks about that all the time. and he encourages people to count on him in a more serious manner. that strikes a different chord.

which naturally has a way bigger scale of impact and the bonding feels (≠ is) more intense psychologically. you typically don’t stan him for thirst and nothing else the longer you follow up with bts. you can’t, his personality is too profound. someone could easily short-term bias jimin, tae or jk in a casual hard stan way since they’re not out there talking about society, they direct the focus elsewhere. they don’t have a habit of wanting to change lives (mind you, that doesn’t mean maknae line stans or the maknaes themselves are superficial, e.g. look at taehyung’s way of speaking). compared to joon’s motivation and role? that’s worlds apart. he embraces being a reformer and that’s what people sign up for.

the hyungs aren’t as body-based either way. only hobi is in the dance line. less hormones here, more discussions about problems, more existential questions, more concern with status and skill and standing one’s ground, making up for a lost youth, earning money, finding the right way, the right thing to do, finding a deep connection, battling illusions. yoongi will be preoccupied by what he can contribute and work on rather than how he can strut at the airport. he’d rather lock himself in his studio. output over input. very different needs.

you have to be more of a loner type or rejected by your environment to turn to idols for complex insights paired with digital pseudo-intimacy. let that sink in. if you’ve got lord knows how much social support, you don’t have these types of questions and answers left open. you’d be tagging along, things play out, you converse a lot, aren’t always online, you’re typically not in a quarter life crisis or something. biasing e.g. jk fits into that, complements your lifestyle. he consoles you, but he doesn’t come in with a big philosophy that you use as a substitute for not having guidance in real life.

meanwhile, jin’s struggle with esteem and independence would not be relatable. the principle: if you’re lonely like namjoon, you can relate to namjoon and consider his takes. he’s lonely himself, so he goes the extra mile towards us. connecting to him as a netizen comes as a rescue that way. he becomes the one famous, high-value guy that gets you from afar, and he is responsive. we are in desperation, and the hyungs are, too. people will very well turn to celebs online for relief and advice, and living by proxy. as in, namjoon is like me, but he managed to make it, and i wish i had that remaining the way i am, and that is possible. how healthy this dynamic is, that’s another debate, and maknae line stans also find an identification in that way sometimes, just in other ways.

what i wanna say is: the idea they send out is totally different: the maknaes are entertainers, the hyungs are role models. hobi/jin and tae sometimes blur the lines, but overall — if you like the maknaes, you’re often in it for the fun and fandom culture. on the other hand, hyung line stans are not classic fans, they’re advisees. hence the majority of the fandom and bts’ popularity revolves around the maknaes and maknae stans frequently have more involved lives offline.

[ponreviews]

The Circle US Season 3: Alliances Run Deep

Category: Reality TV, Competition

Overall Rating: 5/10

Synopsis:

The Circle is back with new faces (real or otherwise)!! Watch these lovable (debatable) characters compete for $100k by building relationships, forming alliances and taking each other down all while being locked in their apartment. From an MIT techie to a 52 year old southern belle, this group of Circle contestants really know how to bring the heat in competition.

[SPOILERS FROM SEASON 3 AHEAD]

Review:

WOO This is a long one! I needed some time to get my thoughts in order, and as you can tell by my rating, I have very mixed feelings about this season. First impressions are always important, especially in this literal popularity contest. It was really easy to pick out who I liked and disliked from the start, much more so than the previous two seasons. Kai, Ruksana, and Michelle were my top 3 hopefuls from the first batch of players. They are genuine souls who really wanted nothing other than to be themselves in the game. The one player that left the worst impression on me from Day 1 was Nick... I know. People are going to be mad at me for that. Nick is probably the most popular player this season among fans, but I have my reasons.

To start off, he was a computer science major from MIT. Before everyone gets mad at me for pointing that out first, I also graduated college majoring in computer science. My experience with men who are computer science majors is not great. Many I worked with (not all of course) came off as arrogant and look down at people who might not get the concepts as fast as they do. I also was a fan of Shubham who didn't need to hide the fact that he's a tech nerd. There are exceptions to what I experienced, but Nick's introduction fit that description to the T. He does a good job at hiding that level of arrogance in the Circle, but that doesn't make me want to root for him. I also wasn't a fan of his hyper fixation on the girls in the game. First there was Ashley, then Ava, then Isabella, and even when Jacki came in he was thirsting so hard.

I could go on about how I don't like Nick, but that doesn't mean I don't respect his game. He did well to focus on his strong bonds and he definitely deserved to be in the top 5 because of that. He solidified a strong alliance and kept close tabs on strong players he wasn't as close to. That being said, it's the same for my girl Kai. Nick and Kai were two sides of the same coin this season. Both had strong alliances and overall great relationships with the other players. Their overwhelming popularity ended up costing them in the final rankings, as Nick and Kai ranked 5th and 4th respectively.

Before we get into the Top 3, I should probably talk about how the events led up to the dramatic finale. This season really knew how to piss me off by doing Michelle dirty like that. Granted it was Ava and Chanel who chose to be Michelle, but you can't blame them either since it was their only way to stay in the game. Unfortunately, I did find Ava and Chanel kind of annoying, so insult to injury when the real Michelle got blocked. There had been a lot of criticism against Michelle for choosing to go see the fake Michelle, but how would seeing anyone else benefit her? She lost and just wanted answers. The viewers want things to be interesting, but she just wanted to leave knowing who was behind fake Michelle. I know if I was in her position I would want to do the same thing.

Ava and Chanel didn't make it far after Michelle, just as she predicted. Honestly, they weren't all that interesting aside from the whole Michelle situation anyway. It makes sense for them to be the ones out fast. The surprising player to me was Calvin. He didn't give me a good first impression. He gave me a similar vibe as Nick, but the difference between him and Nick is that Calvin wasn't as strategic as Nick. As his relationship with Kai grew, we really see how vulnerable he really let himself be at this point in the game. He took more things to heart than a lot of people in the game, but he stayed loyal to the ones he kept close. Yes he had strategy, but all he really wanted was to make it far with his friends. I was disappointed that he chose Nick for the burner profile but I was more upset that he was gone so soon.

Calvin was the one link between the alliances with Nick and with Kai. With him gone, the divide was clear as day. Nick, Ashley (Matthew), Isabella (Sophia), and Jackson (Rachel) against Kai, Ruksana, Daniel and James. The next blocking would be one that no one is happy with. Jackson/Rachel getting blocked made the most sense to me. Even with James having less time with the other players, Rachel couldn't really solidify her bond with the others, and the most crucial player she needed was Daniel. Ruksana getting blocked also made sense (much to my dismay...). Nick's biggest threat is Kai, but if he got rid of Kai, Ruksana can raise hell in the Circle. His alliance is unified against Ruksana but only because of Kai. If Kai went out this time around, Ashley and Isabella could potentially be swayed towards Ruksana. The double blocking kept the alliances balanced, but introducing Jacki tipped the balances.

Jacki had the biggest disadvantage being the last person in the game. Being new was the only thing keeping her from getting blocked as soon as she moved in. The only real advantage of keeping Jacki strategically is that she is malleable. James was the first one to get a good impression on Jacki, so even if she wasn't exempt, I'm pretty sure James would've saved her. It's easy to criticize James for not fighting for Daniel since the alliances were so clear, but in the end he did have a deeper connection with Ashley/Matthew. Daniel's choice to visit Isabella/Sophia was an interesting choice. If the pattern was gonna be the same I would've assumed he would've went to James and demanded answers, but because of the attention towards Isabella being a catfish, who could blame him for wanting to find out? Their meeting ended up being really wholesome anyway. They were on opposing sides, but in the end it's every player for themselves. He got along with Sophia when they actually met and he chose to give her support (and tea).

After that blocking, Jacki's blocking doesn't seem worth mentioning because it's so obvious with James and Nick as the secret influencers and the fact that she had so little time, so let's talk about the top 5! I was honestly worried about Nick winning the whole thing until everyone gave their thoughts in the final rating. In the end, everyone's ratings were strategic because I was surprised to see Kai and Nick rated the absolute lowest out of the 5. By the final ratings, I was honestly hoping Ashley/Matthew would win. Don't get me wrong! I was still hoping that Kai would win, but the way that everyone was talking......... That win for Kai was gone.

Now the most controversial part of the season: James won. Throughout his time in the Circle, he was the funny one, the one with no filter, and he genuinely left a great first impression on the other players (through to the end). However, him giving up Daniel and Jacki brought him a lot of hate from viewers, and initially I felt the same. Does him winning piss me off? No. It makes sense. I'd like to think this is my Libra moon coming out because I can understand why he made those decisions and why the other players would rate James so high. Literally, Isabella/Sophia is the only one I would imagine rating James low due to the persistent catfish suspicion and the betrayal for Daniel. Kai, Nick, and Ashley/Matthew all had positive experiences with James.

I do give this season a 5 though because it's not as wholesome as Season 1 nor is it as dramatic as Season 2. James winning was a disappointing one to many. He folded to Nick so fast and that angered a lot of viewers. It definitely wasn't what I hoped for considering I was rooting for Kai and Matthew at this point, but at the same time, I was really just hoping that Nick didn't win because of my own bias against him. Because of that, I'm fine with the end result. I wasn't excited about his win like I was about Joey in Season 1 or Deleesa in Season 2. You could feel how much love the other contestants had for the winners for their respective seasons, but with James it felt more obligatory from the others. This may be because he wasn't there in the beginning. Players like Michelle and sisters Ava and Chanel didn't even know him since they were eliminated before he came in. The season may have been too polarizing in the sense that the eliminations became predictable and disappointing. The only really satisfying thing to me was seeing Nick disappointed in the finale. Again, my bias against him is speaking here, but I could not help but laugh my ass off when he saw Sophia.

To sum it all up, it was very easy to pick favorites at the start, but once Calvin left, it gets muddy from there. I still have strong opinions about certain players, but they all played a strategic game. If you say even one person wasn't strategic (with the exception of Michelle) you are lying!!!! The players that made it to the end had very understandable reasons for playing the way that they did, but doing that doesn't make everyone happy. The finale kind of proved that. In no way did I feel as excited for James to win as I did Deleesa or Joey. Honestly, the only person I would be excited for in that top 5 would be Kai. I did however find it sweet that James could finally propose to his girlfriend of 12 years. I'm not mad at how things ended, but it's definitely not my favorite.

[jaehyunspeachparty]

daddy jaehyun

iii.xvii. (m)

"Is that you?" Eunbi held out her smartphone and showed you an article from a Korean celebrity magazine. She was a fellow student and you hadn't talked to her very much yet. She was always nice and polite and you once exchanged transcripts. She was very young, maybe 20 years old, like your little sister Mia. "Uhm yes." It was an article about Jaehyun on Return of the Superman and a picture of you was also posted. You try to read about it for a moment, but Eunbi is too excited about it. "Oh my god, I can't believe it. I was wondering all the time why you got a Korean last name. I've always been a fan of NCT. Ahhh Jaehyun and Haechan are ... were .. are my bias." She didn't quite know how to express herself so as not to look disrespectful. "To be honest, I was a little bit sad when I found out that Jaehyun had married you. But ... wow ...you look so beautiful!" She talked and talked and could hardly breathe with excitement. You had never experienced anything like this before. "Hey Eunbi, could you maybe not tell anyone? Almost nobody in the university knows that and I would love it if it stays that way. Can it remain our secret?" At some point it had to come out anyway, but you wanted to have your privacy for as long as possible. "Yes, of course, I promise. I swear!!!!" She smiled and put her books on the table. "Thanks, that's really important to me." You smile kindly and turn a little to her. "I just can't believe it. I'm studying with Miga and Sunoh's mother. I love Return of the Superman. They're both so cute." Now she sat next to you and you found it all very exciting, because you never met someone like that yourself. It was always Jaehyun who gets the reaction. You have deliberately moved away from the media, especially since your miscarriage. "Thank you, yes they are both angels." The thought of your children made your heart warm. "Jaehyun seems to be such a good dad. I'm looking forward to a new episode of Return of the Superman coming out tomorrow." She was delighted, but at that moment Matthew came to you with a female colleague. "Are you talking about Return of the Superman?" You didn't really know her, she was in a higher semester, but she may be a good friend of Matthew's. "Yes. Do you watch the series too?" Eunbi smiled kindly and she was just cute in her way. But the other student laughed contemptuously. "What? No. I'm not looking at how parents sell their children to subordinate themselves to capitalist social structures." You had to cough after this statement and hope that you don't react too obviously. "Oh no, it's cute." Eunbin looked at the other woman in shock and tried to defend you also a little. "What is sweet about it? Let us now congratulate the men that they are finally get to know their children? In reality, women are still forced to stay at home in our society. In addition, how should the children lead a normal life? Especially those of former idols. They are already being put in the spotlight and what will become of them later. Like their parents idols? Are they also sexualized? When does that start? " You don't know what to say, you were simply shocked and couldn't say a word. But you didn't have to say anything because Mathew spoke. "In our pluralistic value system, it goes without saying that such things develop. But I am shocked that such industries still sell women and men, portray them as sex objects. Politics only want to keep us from the real problems with such conversations and everyone who supports this supports capitalism and the restriction of democracy." Eunbi looked at the two in shock. "Why do you put that on a political level? Can't someone just enjoy the music and the entertainment without losing social values?" This sweet soul was not only lovely but also super intelligent. "If you consume and support everything, you promote sexism and political secrecy. Who benefits from all of this?" Slowly this debate was too much for you and you feel more and more uncomfortable. "But that's normal business. I still enjoy their music and admire the work of the groups." Eunbin not only defended you and your husband, but also yourself. "Nevertheless, you support sexism and slavery. We have been fighting for women's rights for years and there we see girls jumping on stage in short skirts. They correspond to an ideal that we are not all. For example, I could not be tattooed." She pulled her sleeve up and she could see that her arm was completely tattooed, but then she pointed to you. "Or it would not be okay to be a bit fatter liker her...” She points to you. “...because a flat stomach and a very thin figure are required." You then had to cough. Apparently no one really noticed that you were pregnant, they just think you have just gained some weight. "Hey, that's going too far." Eubin was really angry now and at this moment you get a message from Jaehyun that he was in front of the university. "I'm sorry, I have to go now, unfortunately." You get up and smile. "Yes me too, I still have to learn." Eubin also got up and you leave the cafe together.

"I hope you don't take what they say seriously." Eunbi looked at you with concern and you both slowly left the campus. "No, I can't take things seriously from people who don't know what they're talking about." You smile and Eunbi seems calm. "And you're not fatter. If then it is me." She looks down at her sadly. Eunbi was a bit firmer and she took it all to heart. "That shouldn't be important. She should never have said a comment anyway." You smile and notice how angry Eunbi is. That's why you're trying to calm her down. When you were in the parking lot, you can already see the car, with darkened glasses, that had your license plate. "Jaehyun is already there, should we take you somewhere?" She was so nice all the time and you wanted to reciprocate. "What? No, no. I live here in a student dorm, that's only a bus station away." She smiled and you see the car door open and Jaehyun get out. "Shall we really not take you home." You wanted to offer it to her, but her eyes suddenly grew big and you feel Jaehyun's hand around your waist. Eunbi squeaked softly, turned stiffly and quickly ran away without saying anything. You had to laugh and turn to Jaehyun. "How are you? How are the two?" He kissed you gently and his hands stroked your stomach. "We're fine. Are you ready to see our babies?" You smile and put your hands over his neck. "I can’t wait any longer." He kissed you again and then you set off.

It was your next big check-up at the gynecologist. It was the next important appointment in which you will now find out whether everything is going according to plan. Since you can feel the little ones, you are now less worried than before. Jaehyun was almost more excited than you. When you were talking to the doctor, he held your hand all the time and you notice how restless he got. When the doctor started the ultrasound examination, he only looked at the screen. And when the gynecologist put the device on your stomach and you could see the two of them moving, you were completely fascinated. "I will now check the umbilical cord, the cervix, the amount of amniotic fluid, the placenta and the organs." She tried to explain everything to you, but you were only focused on the screen. You can feel the babies moving, but seeing it at the same time made you so happy. "I would now start with the 3D / 4D ultrasound. I have to know beforehand whether you want to know the gender or not." She replaced the device and you feel Jaehyun stroking your head. "We don't want to know it." You smile and the doctor immediately noted this in her files. "Okay, I'm starting now." You look at the screen again and you could hardly believe it. First, you could see their little feet. They were so tiny and while one baby was kicking, the other had crossed the little legs. Then the doctor zoomed in on their face. You could already see so much, there were just two little people in you. "Oh is that a dimple?" The calmer baby was now sucking on his thumb and it looked as if there was dimple on the cheek. "Maybe, but it doesn't have to be." The doctor examined everything further, but you don't really get any of it because it felt like a dream. "Imagine they would get your dimples as well as Sunoh." You smile and feel Jaehyun kiss your forehead. When the doctor zoomed out further, you could now see the whole stomach and you can see how close the two were. They lay side by side, head to head. It was incredibly cute. "Mr. and Mrs. Jung, the babies are in perfect condition. Everything seems to be perfect. There are no abnormalities. The babies have a perfect size and weight for twins. We are still waiting for your blood test, but I will only check your Blood sugar and iron level. But the babies are really fine." You were incredibly relieved to hear that. The gynecologist sent you the videos and photos by email and you head back to the car. "I am so relieved that everything is fine." You smile and buckle up. "Me too. I can't wait to show the kids." He looked at you and kissed you. At that moment you just feel happiness.

It was late now, but Johnny had managed to get all the children ready for bed. You were really excited that he had all three under control so well. "And they're in there?" Miga looks at the 3D ultrasound and cannot believe it. She taps your stomach and you can feel how one of the babies reacted to their sister. It's so sad for you that nobody else could feel it. Sunoh also had his hands on your stomach and giggled.  "Yeah, they're in Mummie's stomach." Jaehyun stroked his daughter's back and smiled. "Where are you?" She leaned forward and palpated you. "One is here and one is here." You draw along your stomach and Miga was totally thrilled. Her reaction was very different now than it was with Sunoh. But at that time she was still an only child and now she had developed into such a great big sister. "When can they get out?" She continued to ask curiously while Sunoh was already falling asleep in your arms. "It takes a little while, they have to grow a little bit. Now they are too small." This time Jaehyun explained it to her and slowly put her in bed. "Tell them to grow faster. I want to play with them." She giggled and you kiss her. After Miga had also fallen asleep, you two put Sunoh in bed and then goes down to the living room. "Would you like to watch another movie?" You ask your husband, he nodded and you make yourself comfortable on the couch together. You sit in front of him, your shoulder lies on his stomach, so he could stroke your belly. You pull a blanket over yourself because you have already gotten cold and you go through the films that are available. "Hey, can I join too?" Johnny came to you and Jaehyun waved him on the couch. You keep looking and in the end, you agree on a film that Johnny and you thought was good but Jaehyun found a little boring. 

Halfway through the movie, you hear a sigh and you know Jaehyun didn't think the movie was great. But you keep watching it when you suddenly feel Jaehyun's fingers a little further down and suddenly under your panties. You press your lips together when he starts massaging your clit under the blanket and you look briefly at Johnny, who was almost asleep. Jaehyun didn't respond at all, just kept looking at the TV. If the feeling gets too intense, you clear your throat to suppress your moaning. But Jaehyun didn't massage you too hard, so you won't get to orgasm right away. In between, he stopped and left you behind. But then he kept starting teasing you again. He then put a finger in you and you feel how needy you already are because your muscles around him contract tightly. You look up at him, but he keeps staring at the television, but at the same time you feel how he put his second finger in you and slowly you can't stand it any longer. "Jaehyun ..." You whisper while he only gives you a kiss on the head in response. He slowly pulled his fingers out of you and starts massaging your clit again. You went crazy, your whole body reacted. It felt like your whole panties were already completely wet. But then suddenly you hear Johnny and you startle for a moment. "Hmm, I think I should go to bed. Good night." He got up, yawned, and then left the living room. You wait until you hear the door that locked. Then you turn around very quickly and sit on Jaehyun's lap. "How can you tease me like this?" You put your hands on his chest and he just grinned. "It's your own fault if you choose such a boring film." He put his hands on the upper side of your thigh and pushed your sweater dress up so that your ass is free. "What if Johnny had noticed?" You start to grind on his middle and you can hardly stand the tension anymore. "That never bothered you in the dorm before." He winked and grabbed your ass. He was right, at that time he had done it often and you both had found it exciting to test limits. "Shit Jaehyun, I need your dick. Now. Inside me." He immediately took off his shirt as you pull his sweatpants down further. His length immediately jumped out and you don't hesitate a second and raise your hips to place it in front of you. Jaehyun put his hand on your ass again and pulled your panties aside with his fingers so that they weren't in the way. You sit down and feel full lust when you have completely absorbed his dick. "Fuck, you make me so hard." Jaehyun groaned and threw his head back. You put your hands on his chest to support yourself and start riding him. The feeling was incredible and you feel how you got closer to your climax. Jaehyun was louder this time too, his moans made it more intense. At some point, he wants more from you. While riding him but throwing your head back. He pushed your dress up so far that your breasts were free. He was playing with your swollen nipples and you feel that your orgasm would come soon. You wanted to lean forward to ride him faster, but when you lean your head forward again, you see someone standing in the room. "JAINA!" You cried out and quickly pulled your dress down. Jaehyun also turned and looked at the little girl who was staring at you with wide eyes. "Shit." Jaehyun swore as you climb down from him. You straighten your dress and walk towards the girl. Then suddenly she started to cry. "Mummy." She was looking for her mother because she missed her and you were so sorry for all of this. "Come on my little one, we're going to your daddy." She rubbed her eyes and nodded. 

Slowly you go back to the guest room with her and wake up Johnny, who then takes care of Jaina again. You go up and see Jaehyun waiting for you. "It can't go on like this. We can't do anything in our house anymore. We should enjoy the time before the twins come." You go up to him and kiss him. "It won't be long anymore." You try to calm him down, but Jaehyun was already pissed off. "But it's enough for me now.”

daddy jaehyun masterlist

[subzerobts]

Thoughts on the Eighth Member of BTS

A/N: No pairings or warnings for this, except that it may throw you into a sudden 8th member fanfic spiral. When I tell you I was reading 8th member fanfic for the majority of my day, I mean like a good six hours. It wasn’t good.

Okay, so I feel like a lot of people have talked about an eighth member and it being a girl and stuff so I figure I should add some stuff to the ever growing cache of things about the eighth member.

This was like 2300 words and I have no regrets.

~So if there was I feel like she would be slightly younger than most of them and would have come in after their first few albums

~Maybe she was raised in New York with her immediate family being mostly Korean and hella feminist and she’d have older brothers and be super chill

~So like maybe the company would be worried about the lack of fast growing traction with the group and have a girl added in

~First things first: it would be awkward as heck for the guys to suddenly have a girl there and would make living situations even more difficult, with having to share rooms and such. So, they’d probs alternate who rooms with who and who gets the couch, especially for her rooming with a guy

~Not to mention if she catches them talking about some sort of issue with the sleeping situation and then being nervous about it

~Eventually, I feel like she’d kind of get tired of all of the tiptoeing around her and be like

~‘Guys! I don’t even care! Unless you guys have some sort of creepy thing you’re trying to avoid, just treat me like one of you guys’

~Things would chill out basically immediately. Like the next few days, the boys were super relaxed and that was a problem because they just started walking around in just underwear and she would be like:

👀😒 um ew?? Put a shirt on?

~They’d clean it up a lil bit and walk around in like boxers and t shirts, which was fine she had older brothers, she could deal with that

~She’d respectfully bow out of the choreographed hip thrusts and things of that nature at first, like maybe they’d thrust and she’d like make a gagging motion or something(only rarely because the company would be like no) at some point she’d get extremely comfortable with just doing the hip thrusts herself

~The company even found that during interactions with fans she got just as much, sometimes more, attention and screaming as the boys

~Eventually she’d get used to dressing androgynous, like the stylist unnies would put her in skirts and she’d get kinda pissed and the guys would all agree that she’d be better in just what they’re wearing(i.e. pants)

~(Also, just a quick side note, before they even realized what was happening, they’d be super protective. Like unwarranted protection.

~Especially during interviews and talk shows any heavily toxic feminine questions related to her would be met with complete headassery(is that a word?) Just any kind of bullshit the guys could come up with.

~Like it wouldn’t happen immediately, but like after a few interviews and them seeing how uncomfortable it made her to answer the weird questions(coming from female OR male interviewers) they’d kind of come up with an unspoken agreement to answer any and every sexist comment or question with an answer just as shitty)

~ Into specific dynamics now:

~I feel like she’d be evenly split to each other member’s interests because in the first few months, that’s how she bonded with them, busy finding somethings she had in common with each of them and building on it

[we’ll go youngest to oldest]

~She is close with all of the boys, but each get her undivided attention when the moment serves.

~ With Jungkook she’d notice his quiet side during the beginning and willingness to please. So she’d always assure him, in a not so obvious way, that he was accepted. Just quiet validation from her court to his.

~So she’d set up gaming nights with Jungkook when they didn’t have strict schedules or just sit around on their phones

~ The fandom would eventually come to know them as the meme lords of the group.

~Their inside jokes are way too many to count and don’t even come close to being forgotten.

~Can’t forget GCF cause she would be in every single one of them that she could. She’s endlessly supportive of the videos and wants to be in all of them, she even suggests music and things(sometimes before he’s even thinking of doing another one)

~She disapproves when he pushes himself too hard. When she knows it’s happening, she’ll involve on of the hyungs( probably Jin) or they’ll talk to a manager if things get super serious.

~That being said, if he doesn’t have the dance down, or they’re both struggling, she’s the first to volunteer to run the dance with him multiple times and is always the voice of reason.

~When he says ‘one more time’ she says ‘food first’ or like ‘how about a water chugging contest really quick?!’ (bc we all know his competitive nature) ‘Jin probably has some left overs in the fridge that we can reheat, late night snack time!’

~They definitely argue a bit about being the “Golden Maknae.” She’s a bit competitive in that aspect. Because they’re both so talented and she’s just a half of a year older than he is.

~For Taehyung, I feel like she’d grow to love art with him. His quiet adoration for things of beauty, conventional or not.

~(They have a joke,mostly his own that he refuses to let die, that she’s his favorite piece of artwork, eventually she retaliates with him being her favorite piece of artwork and it just sticks.)

~They’d be the classy duo, but with matching boxy smiles. Elegant and poised, their visuals are basically unmatched and during photo shoots, they’re always the ones finished way before the others.

~There are no bad sides for the classy duo. (I’m basically imagining model material for both of them, like just ethereal. Visual god and goddessssssss)

~Also his need to fall asleep holding something, I feel like she’d match that with just being okay with anything when she’s asleep or almost asleep(like she’d fall asleep in the car with the boys or something and be difficult to wake up, so they’d just carry her and she wouldn’t even stir)

~So Tae would lay beside her and they’d be chilling and eventually fall asleep and then later wake up holding onto each other.

~Both of them are shameless damn flirts. They’re attractive and they know it and they will absolutely use it to (not literally) kill ARMY

~Jimin is a bit harder to think about(idek why) but I feel like she’d be his buddy in quiet studying. Like he’d come find her if he wanted to do some reading, but not be alone and she’d be totally down( same with Joon but hold on)

~and either she’d read her own book or she’d do some sketching(mostly because she’d want to have her own unique thing that the others weren’t too interested in)

~Jimin would be her ideal model in these moments. She never gets tired of sketching any of the boys, but in those moments, Jimin is the least likely to change face or position and thus be the perfect study.

~she’d also ask him for homework help in the earlier days with like mathematics and he’d always be more than happy to help

~Jimin is a brat and I feel like when the two of them spend a bit too much time together, the rest of the group can only expect the worst.

~(Low key the Lil-Shit Duo™️)

~Joon is next and here’s where her position in the group comes in. Since she was raised in New York, she’d be fluent in both Korean and English and, as such, would help with the interviews and translating.

~It’s a huge load for Namjoon to carry and with her, being by his side and helping with rephrasing things to the boys during interviews really eases him.

~Along with that, he always makes sure that she knows how much he appreciates her after difficult interviews or just every good while he’s just endlessly doting and complimenting her and things. She always tells him that it’s unnecessary, but he never stops thanking her.

~So they’re like the Leader Duo™️ and are consistently doing damage control between the boys(almost like group therapy) or rephrasing the boys’ answers(in those moments where the boys give weird answers to questions in interviews)

~When not in the public eye, they are coming up with ways to better interact with ARMY or they’re expanding their horizons by reading and stuff.

~Her favorite thing with Joon is working on learning a new language or just English with Joon and making up little tongue twisters and sayings and debating proper ways to phrase things. Which brings us to:

~Being a part of the rapline. So Joon, Hobi, and Yoongi are her peeps. When she’s not entertaining the maknae line, she’s with the Hyung line.

~Hobi and her have a cute dynamic. He babies her a little bit and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t love it at least a little.

~they like coming up with dances together, even when they are supposed to be taking the day off, just goofing around and coming up with dances for little snippets of songs is fun

~they’re like the sunshines of the group. So he’s J-hope and she’s his ‘little hope’. How cute.

~She’s constantly encouraging his little quirks and things that he does(the sound effects and just being him) and being right there with him in being the lights of the group.

~I feel like her and Jungkook get the same bit of his attention. Like the cuddly bits of it

(and my heart skips for cuddly JungHope so like imagining the three of them being cozy and mellow together and just watching the rest of the group do whatever. Agh my heart)

~My boy Yoongles is next and let me tell you I’ve been excited as hell for this one.(trying real hard not to let bias love seep through)

~When moving to a more spacious apartment, they decided to give her her own room. (She’s grateful.)

~And so when she wants to tamp down the wildness in the apartment, get a moment's peace, she retreats to her room.

~While she’s endlessly supportive of all six of the others, encouraging their wild quirks, her room is the quietest. Her room has a ‘no noise’ rule.

~Yoongi shares a room with Jin still at this point and not that Jin is a bad roommate, or particularly noisy, it’s just that the maknae line patronizes him a lot. And Yoongi has very little patience for that.

~So her room is where they’ll often find him. She has a comfy couch that she took Yoongi with to pick it out(because it was basically for him.)

~Point is, she’s mellow when she wants and needs to be and Yoongi is drawn to that chill side of her.

~When the rest are wild and he wants mellowness, he seeks her out and when she wants to be a bit rowdy, she leaves and closes the door.

~He has a gigantic soft spot for her. Not even kidding.

~The boys will always pull her into the situation if they think Yoongi might get too angry or a prank goes south and does more harm than fun amusement.

~They mention that she was involved and she goes with it because she doesn’t want the boys in too much trouble and Yoongi won’t hurt her like he would the boys(not actually hurt but you know like “beat them up”) or scold her too harshly.

~As soon as he finds out she’s involved the anger either dissipates or he removes himself from the situation so as not to hurt anything(but you bet your ass she scolds the maknaes from time to time on Yoongi’s behalf)

~And he definitely helps with her mixtape which the fandom is waiting for. Basically, chomping at the bit. She gives Yoongi and Joon so much credit tbh

~They definitely nap together. Mostly because they’re up at ungodly hours during the night, either working on songs or just talking because that’s definitely a thing that happens.

~They have similar views of the world(I’m mostly thinking of Interlude: Shadow here) but being lonely while being famous is definitely a view they share and are drawn together from that. Despite all of their wants to be on the top of the world, they want to not be lonely.

~Along with her keeping up well with the rowdy bits of the group, she’s definitely introverted like Yoongi. She does what she has to to further the group, but she does get drained and just kind of shuts everyone out some times.

~This is where Jin comes in. (Not to be that cliché bitch who’s always like Jin’s the mom of the group omg) but in this case, he makes sure she’s eating and taking care of herself when she does this.

~They all have locks on their doors and she keeps hers locked a majority of the time, but Jin and Yoongi are the only people she absolutely trusts with coming in unannounced.

~Despite always laughing at his dad jokes and being totally supportive of that, he knows when to turn on being serious and not taking her bullshit about “being fine” if she’s not.

~He forces(more like needles annoyingly) her to eat even when she says she’s not hungry during those times

~Makes sure she’s taking care of herself like showering and brushing her teeth and things.

~During the earlier years when she mostly stayed with the boys, very little contact to her mother in New York, Jin absolutely made sure he had cramp medication on hand and feminine products stashed in spots around the house. Well hidden obvi so the boys wouldn’t just stumble across them, but still there. (She does these things on her own now, but she’ll never forget the thought he put into making sure she was cared for)

~She’s definitely requested a majority of the time on EatJin. ARMY just likes to make sure that she’s eating(just like all of them) and they want to see the two of them talk.

~All in all, the boys are her family and she wouldn’t trade them for the world.

[radramblog]

Linkin Park Retrospective, Part 1.

Sup I’m still a Linkin Park fan in 2021 and if you judge me for it then yeah that’s probably fair

Linkin Park is one of those bands where the eternal debate rages about when exactly they stopped being good. As someone who got into them late, in 2009ish, when the days of Nu-Metal were long-dead and most people had dropped off the LP train, I tend to put this a fair bit later than most people, but unfortunately, they did eventually get bad. Join me on this series, then, where I’m going to go through their 7 albums individually and discuss the merits of each in turn.

Hybrid Theory

The original, and to some, the best. I’ll never truly be able to understand what it was like when this album dropped and changed a genre completely, seeing as I was about a year and a half old when it happened. Listening through it now, I can kinda see why, as I think it still holds up even 20 odd years later. From the beginning it’s clear why Linkin Park exploded the way they did, as they had a few factors that made them stand out from the crowd of Nu-Metal- a few bands I’ve seen mistakenly (imo) labelled as a part of the genre, such as System of a Down, do compare, but nothing I can think of that is actually in there really does.

The first is a bit basic and probably biased, but the songs on Hybrid Theory are just better written than most others in the genre. Both lyrically and sonically- the hooks are great, the guitarwork is solid, and the percussion is punchy, especially on songs like Points of Authority and By Myself. I think this ties in with the second point- the DJ work by Joe Hahn does a lot of work to carry some of this early work, with the record-scratching never being noticeable but never overbearing, save of course for the track Cure for the Itch, which is pretty much just Hahn showing off for 2 and a half minutes.

I am, of course, beating around the bush a little, seeing as I’m leaving the most salient point to last. What Linkin Park really had that no one else did is the combination of the two vocalists- the call and response of Mike’s rapping and Chester’s singing/yelling is the magic formula that makes these songs work. It’s to the point where tunes where the formula is broken, such as Runaway, where Chester handles both lyrics and chorus, leaving Mike to the backing vocals, feel notable for that alone, although the trend they would set would eventually dominate some of the band’s later work.

If I had to rank it, though, I’d probably put Hybrid Theory lower than most people would relative to the band’s later work. Most of that is bias towards said later work, but there’s a little more there, and it’s not all Linkin Park’s fault. To me, Runaway sounds like what someone who’s not a fan of the band assumes all their music sounds like, being the dullest variation on the themes of the album, and a bridge that just feels like a waste of time. And I genuinely have a hard time listening to Crawling these days, considering how the track was memed into oblivion back in the day- In the End is similar, but gets a better rap seeing as its just a better song. (In the End is actually kind of genius, in my opinion, and that piano line and all the little distortions to Mike’s verses are burned into my brain.) I kind of wish some of the B-sides/Rough cuts from that era were on the album instead- while My December is pretty wank, High Voltage and Step Up absolutely deserve premiere status.

 Meteora

Meteora is not my favourite Linkin Park album, and again, we’ll get to that, but I might be tempted to argue it’s the best one. It takes everything that made Hybrid Theory good and refines it, producing a stock that does what the first album did better and doing experimentation that would later be characteristic of the band. The raw emotion from Hybrid Theory’s lyrics still remains, but the variation in instrumentation lets it be explored a little better than that album manages to.

Track-by-track on Meteora is probably an actual worthwhile endeavour, unlike with Hybrid Theory. While HT is a great album, there’s only so much you can say about With You into Points of Authority into Crawling into Runaway into…. You get the point. Meteora doesn’t spend as long on the same theme- while the first few tracks (excluding the Foreword) superficially resemble that, the tracks feel more different, from Somewhere I Belong’s softer verses that really struck a chord with a younger more awkward Raderph to the downright sinister opening to Lying from You. I actively adore the chorus to Hit the Floor, over the top screaming and all. With all that said, I think it takes until Faint for the album to really hit its stride.

Faint comes in out of nowhere with that bizarre strings/electronic line that carries through the verses and sounds like nothing I’ve heard before or since. The rest of the song is largely just a very solid example of everything else the band has been doing up until that point, but the verses, between the aforementioned line and Mike pretty clearly giving his all on this one, are just excellent. After Faint comes Figure.09, and while it certainly has an interesting name it doesn’t get to stand out seeing as its surrounded by Faint and the best song on the album.

Breaking the Habit was my favourite song for a long time, and it genuinely still might be. A more electronic song on the album, cutting back on the intensity of the instrumentation and letting Chester’s vocals shine through- but he’s not doing any screaming until the bridge, with the more tragic and self-loathing vocals making a song that apparently was real enough for him that he actually broke down at live shows about it. Even when we get to the bridge, the screaming is more pared down than the rest of the album, clearer, more representative of the clarity and self-acceptance of the end of the song. I could go on, but I probably won’t have time, so I’ll leave Breaking the Habit there, but I recommend watching the music video because that is some anime shit right there.

Much like Figure.09, From the Inside suffers from its placement, but I think the build of the song is worth a mention. After it, though, comes Nobody’s Listening, with some of the grittiest instrumentation the album has in its chorus, but given an airy vibe by the flute (?) running through it and the verses. The verses are actually probably my favourite of Mike’s on the record, complemented excellently by the more sparse instrumentation- he’s doing a lot on his own there, supported by only a basic drum machine line, that flute going off, and Hahn fucking around with some effects and shit (wait was that a cowbell). It sounds almost dirty, grimy, and I love it for it.

Beyond that we have again, a track sandwiched between two great songs, but in this case Session doesn’t suffer as much, being an instrumental interlude, followed by the album’s closer, Numb. Numb is, according to Spotify, Linkin Park’s second most popular song, behind In the End but followed by Numb/Encore from the Jay-Z collab album (its better than it sounds), and it’s a well-earned title. I think it’s probably better than any of the singles on Hybrid Theory, In the End included, and while it is a fair bit Mike-Light (in bottleshops near you now), I think it serves as the perfect closer to this album and this era of the band.Numb was the last song that would sound like this, as the band moved onto bigger (ehhh..?) and better (haha no) things with the third album, Minutes to Midnight.

Next time whenever I continue this series: Minutes to Midnight and maybe A Thousand Suns, but I kinda want to spend more time on the latter, so we’ll see.

[amelia-pinches]

a very long rant about Patricia Williamson

I also have something written about the overall thematic themes for each season and their significance that I was gonna post first, but I can’t finish it because my mind keeps going back to this.

Before I begin with all the negatives I have to say about what the writers did to her, I would like to state that she is my favorite character. Patricia was the first character that I truly resonated with as a kid, and I still do to this day. However, I can’t ignore how her character development was cut for plots sake, and how so much of her personal story is so incomplete. I feel like the writers used her as a leg to lean on whenever they needed drama, or a simple fix. Granted, she has more backstory than other characters like Fabian or Amber. Nonetheless, for Patricia, something about her personal story feels off to me. Maybe it's because I see myself so much in her that I have a personal bias for her closure, but I like to think I am so invested because I feel as if she had so much unused potential. 

Starting off with S3, we see a new Patricia compared to the previous seasons. Her hair has changed, and her style seemingly has matured  HOA has used a style change to symbolize a personality shift. In S2, Alfie acknowledged his style change representing a personality change, as he stated it was a new year for a new Alfie. Granted, he said he changed his style for Amber, but I think he changed it to feel better about himself. Getting Amber gave him the confidence he didn’t necessarily have before, and in S2 we see him standing up for himself more often than he did in S1, and he was more assertive in S2 compared to S1. In season 3, Joy said the reason for her style change was for the same reason: to find a new Joy. In fact, Joy’s style change was an important part of her arc in S3. She was letting go of her old self, and really letting go of the past she desperately tried to recreate in S2. She updated her style -”its Joy, but a new Joy”- and her style was a reflection of her personality shift; Joy, but matured. 

Yet, with Patricia, we didn’t see that change that should have happened. If anything, her personality regressed to S1. I personally don’t think that Patricia at the end of S2 would have treated KT with such cruelty that she did; I definitely think that she would have not liked her and her jealousy could have caused some rude comments. It is S1 Patricia that would have had no issue treating KT how she did, but S2 Patricia would have held back. S1 Patricia was angry, and in S2, we see her less angry and more reserved. I like to think that after the events of S1 and throughout S2, she rethought her beliefs and morals. In S3, we should have seen her act on these new found morals, but instead she resorted back to that anger from S1. I remember watching S3 and waiting for that moment where everything clicks, yet that never happened.  We never got an explanation to her any of her behavior in S3. We know she is extremely jealous, but why? Jealousy has its roots with deep seated issues. I don’t believe her jealousy is caused by not trusting Eddie, but rather something internal. I’m pretty sure that its been accepted due to her feeling inadequate in her family life which transfers to every other part in her life. Only problem is we never get any actual confirmation to this. We don’t get much confirmation about her character in the show actually. We know what we can assume, but it's still up for debate. Patricia’s character fluctuates so greatly that it's so hard to pinpoint who she is, or what she wants. 

Throughout the show, Patricia is disconnected from everyone else around her. Even when she does connect, it's not really a full connection. The only time where I think where she had a true vulnerable connection with someone is Alfie in S1. Other than that, all of the other instants where she is supposedly connecting with someone, she is still holding back. There is always a wall between her and everyone else. While Eddie does break a majority of those walls, he still hasn’t broken all of them. They never have a point where they talk about all of their problems and resolve them. I would like to note that I am a huge Peddie fan, and it is my OTP, however it does a lot of issues that I can’t ignore. Communication is Peddie’s weakest area, but there was no shown effort in resolving it. They don’t sit down and try to listen to each other or just say what's wrong, despite how hard it is. They have a couple of cute one-liners, but that still doesn’t fix the root of the problem. Then with Joy, their relationship starts to slowly drift apart in S2. Joy is trying to overcompensate for the previous year, and Patricia doesn’t know how to comfort her in a way that was needed. Consequently, red flags were ignored, and their friendship began to dissolve. Thus in S3, it is so obvious that they are no longer best friends, and they are just friends. Nevertheless, I have the feeling that even before the start of the show, Patricia didn’t 100% connect with Joy. Yes, they had great chemistry (and probably were gay for each other on some level), but Patricia held back. After all, Joy didn’t know Eddie was Patricia’s first kiss, which tells me that Patricia never talked about personal things like relationships. Joy knows Patricia very well, but that wall is still there. 

We also never really get to see Patricia shine, per se. Yes, she had some important moments, but those were all in support of the plot. Even with Eddie, her part felt more like aid to his character development than hers. I really wish we got to see a moment where she was the main focus, even if it was a small moment. The show has all this buildup for her own moment, and it never happens. With the moments that are supposed to be “hers”, they fall flat or are so lackluster that they are barely anything.  All of her moments are for support of other characters. She mainly stays in the back, hidden unless she is needed. I think the best example of this is her relationship with Piper. It was resolved so quickly without going into detail about anything. (I’ll go into how the Piper-Patricia story-line was so undeserving and unimpressive later.) I feel like the drama with Piper was merely there so it could transition to Eddie’s secret being exposed. Basically, the parts where it should be about her and her character are misused in order to fulfill a plot line, rather than to fulfill herself.

I want to address the whole Patricia-Piper thing. I don’t know what to call it to be honest.. Aside from the fact how their relationship dynamic would have been great for Patricia’s character, their relationship dynamic should have been in the show simply because it would have been something people could have looked up or related to. I don’t have siblings, so sibling relationships confuse me to death. Still, they intrigue me tremendously. Youtuber, Ladyknightthebrave, talked about Hollywood's depiction of siblings in her video essay about Fleabag (I strongly recommend watching this if you have seen Fleabag because honestly it's so great). In it she describes how Hollywood loves brother-brother or brother-sister relationships, but sister-sister relationships are rarely shown in a light that is meaningful. I can’t help but agree with her, even though I don’t have siblings of my own. There are plenty of examples of brother-brother or brother-sister relationships in the media that are done so well and are so familiar to people, despite having a brother or not. I personally feel like that sister-sister relationships are done in a manner that's so simplified. With that said, Poppy-Jerome’s relationship goes into great detail; we can really see the dynamic and issues of their relationship. We see how they need each other as brother and sister and how they support each other. Yet, Patricia and Piper’s relationship was so downplayed. Their “big moment” where they try to connect with one another and try to understand each other was  “‘I’m jealous of you because ___.’ ‘Well I’m jealous of you because___.’”, and that's it. It was abrupt and crude. There was no depth to their conversation, and if given the necessary depth, I truly think almost everyone could have related to their relationship. I just feel the audience, as well as Patricia, deserved that connection. Like, Patricia didn’t evolve from this. She remained the same as before. It didn’t affect her facade at all. After it was over, it was like it barely happened.

In the entirety of the show, we see Patricia through her facade. Sometimes, we can see cracks in it, but in the end, we never see her drop her act completely. When she seemingly does, it is practically nulled later on. Patricia’s words go against all of her actions constantly. Despite the fact that she has all the ideals of rebellion, unless you count Joy’s search as an act of rebellion, we never see her actually rebel for her own purpose. When she rebels or speaks out, it's for sibuna’s agenda, not her own. She told Piper to “dare to fail” even though we have never seen her do this. In fact, we have never seen her succeed either. We see what she wants us to see. HOA really should have had at least one point where her facade breaks, and the audience gets see what she is really thinking and what she really wants. It is not like they couldn’t fit it in because I could think of plenty of times where that moment would have fit in perfectly or even better than what was given.

I really don’t think the HOA writers and producers put much thought into the overall effect and really used her a way to make the plot continue in an easy way. I do understand why they did it - to a certain extent. The show is made for kids, and kids usually don’t really care about character development or arc. However, I think Patricia’s character could have been such a significant character for kids. Like I said, I relate to Patricia a lot, and I think others do as well. I also think if she had some sort of defining character arc, her character could have spoken to many people, young and old. There’s something so relatable about her, even with the lack of a defining arc. I feel like her character had so much potential, and HOA really missed a chance at creating a character so iconic. But in the end, there was no fluent character development. This leads her to feel like a more relatable side character at times viruses a main character.

[cwu21ahsgov]

Media Assessment of Issue

BLOG POST #2: MEDIA ASSESSMENT OF ISSUE

LIBERAL LEANING SOURCE:

Source: BuzzFeed

Article : The Racism of White Women

Link: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/shannonkeating/amy-cooper-white-women-racism-george-floyd-racial-justice 

Subject:

“It's past time for us to ditch the damsel narrative, admit our power, and stand up for racial justice.”

Women need to stop taking advantage of the rights and recognize that their actions have consequences (stop thinking about the now in the interests of themselves and think about how their actions affect someone's life )

Author:

Shannon Keating

Senior Culture Writer and Editor for Buzzfeed

Deputy LGBT editor

Based in New York

Being part of the LGBT community, it is a known fact that this community is largely unjust with stereotypes and implicit bias. Because of this, I feel that those in this community have a better understanding of the racial injustices of POC because they are able to relate on the level of harsh judgments from others. (This does not mean that all people in the LGBT community are not racist)

Context:

Posted May 28, 2020, 3:28 P.M. ET

As COVID-19 hit the fan, there was no denying that some people turned the blame on to POC. Along with being based in New York, where COVID hit the hardest, a sense of racism raced out of the shadows and into the lights. May 25, 2020 was the day George Floyd took his final breathes, and a hard fight for racial justice continued on a stronger note. Posted three days later, it is by no surprise that Keating is talking about racial injustice.

Audience:

Buzzfeed published this source (a fairly liberal site)

Ment to educate other on the racial injustice by the majority (ethnicity)

To call out “haters” with no reasons and hopefully continue to light the fire that will hopefully lead to a better end.

Perspective:

This article is fairly subjective. The author is trying to reinstate the idea that the white Community, specifically white women, need to use their advantage of not being the minority, for the rights of POC. Just as they had done before as they protest for their own rights as women, it is necessary to do the same for POC.

I do have to agree with  Keating's perspective on the matter at hand. I believe that while some people do not take advantage of the rights given to them, some do take advantage and ultimately use their powers to bring others that they deem less down

Significance:

Using real-time current events, Keating displays the harsh treatments of POC. She highlights the damage done to those people and how white people use their power unjustly. She provides evidence of videos as well as photographs to support her claim. 

CONSERVATIVE MEDIA BIAS:

Source: Fox News

Article: De Blasio says Black Lives Matter marches can continue despite ban on mass gatherings

Link: https://video.foxnews.com/v/6170765370001#sp=show-clips

Subject: 

Video claims that Mayor De Blasio is very biased towards his actions in allowing certain things. He desires to win the hearts of everyone but in the end, he gets nothing done.

Author: 

Fox News Reporters (multiple)

Fairly conservative news station -> views may be skewed

Context: 

Released July 10, 2020 in the midst of COVID and the fights for racial justice

Covering the actions of a democrat, Fox News knowing to be quite liberal may be trying to skew the actions of Mayor De Blasio, and hopefully skew any praises that the Mayor did receive.

As the Mayor of New York, and former public advocate, it is De Blasio’s job to make sure the needs of his constituents are met. New York being such a large area, Fox News is trying to entail that he is being biased when it comes to the people's needs.

Audience: 

Caters to the public and anyone who views that there are other important gatherings than just protests.

With the median age of Fox news watcher are 68, this video is to relate to the older generation and their values

Perspective: 

I feel that this article is fairly subjective because it only focuses on what De Blasio is doing wrong rather than the things he is trying to improve. He recognizes that there are multiple problems to be dealt with but in the midst of COVID, a lot of things can’t happen. Fox News in turn views that only allowing protests to gather is wrong and that other gatherings need to be held.

I have mixed feelings about this video. While I see the point Fox News is trying to make, it is also important to understand the difference between a protest for racial justice in a time where many people are being suppressed, and holding a party.

Significance: 

The video uses photo evidence to back up their claim and show the world of Mayor De Blasio

OBJECTIVE/IMPARTIAL SOURCE:

Source: USA Today

Article: 'We do have two systems of justice in America': Kamala Harris says Barr, Trump in 'different reality' on race

Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/09/06/kamala-harris-disputes-barr-on-race-justice-america/5734810002/

Subject:  

highlights how different parties in America handle/explain the problems the United States face in regards to racial justice.

“Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said Sunday that when it comes to racial disparities in the criminal justice system, President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr are "’spending full-time in a different reality.’" 

We are living with two justice systems

Author: 

William Cummings

Political Reporter

Knows his stuff on both sides of the parties to gain the ability to write unbiased

Lives in Suburban Maryland with wife and three children

Context: 

Published 3:42 PM ET on September 6, 2020

As the election continues to move forward, it is important to know both sides of the story/party and how they handle certain situations (as they will handle them for the next 4 years)

Shows how the democratic and republican party are addressing the issues of racial justice and the freedoms of the mass.

Audience: 

Pertains to both parties and the view on how their democratic leader is controlling/managing issues of today

Perspective: 

This article is fair neutral as it allows the audience to see both sides of the point/actions

Harris states that Trump is running on two systems of justice in America

In comparison, Trump denies that there is any systemic racism today

“During his visit to Kenosha last week, Trump disparaged the idea that Blake's shooting or other recent incidents of police killing or injuring Black Americans were rooted in systemic racism.”

Significance: 

The author uses directly cited quotes from interviews and videos to support his claim on each party.

They take quotes from past events and articles to support their issue

“When he came to Kenosha two days later, Biden said, ‘Underlying racism that is institutionalized in the United States still exists, has existed for 400 years.’"

Shows the views of the deomcratic party in debate alongside Trump

What are the similarities and differences between these three accounts of your issue?

With the main difference being the political views of each article and how they interpret events, the main similarity between all three articles is that they use factual evidence from different sources to support their claim. All three articles recognize that there is a problem with racial justice, but they differ in ways on how to improve this problem and bring justice to those who need it.

 Finally, which source do identify with most and why?

I think I identify most with the first article. While this mostly talks about racism towards black people, this kind of problem happens with all POC. This is a never ending problem and until people recognize that their actions have consequences to the receiving party, than the matter will only continue. It sucks because I don’t think people will fully understand until they witness/experience it themselves, but that may never happen, as white people are less susceptible to racism.

[bluerosesburnblue]

Hi blue! ❤️ I've been in a lot of discords where alot of the KH fandom confirms their belief in the SRT. I have a pretty decent understanding of lore so far. I got into some nice debates where fans defended the SRT soley off an existence of a different wordline. I'd ask "So if Sora was able to pull all the guardians into a different worldline... Xehanort could've just targeted the princesses of heart - why would he follow them.. if this theory was Canon??" And I'd just watch then hit silence.

To add context to my previous, I don’t understand how Riku being Sora’s light has any reason to even be included in this theory. To me, this theory should’ve had the focal point only on the idea of multiple world-lines, but having looked at all your blogging in that regard, the clear and excessive inconsistencies in their theory shows that the sleeping realm wasn’t the focal point. I follow some of the writers of the theory… And after sharing the doc they only celebrated Riku and nothing else             

Honestly, thank you for your effort in breaking it down. I knew I wasn’t crazy when I thought that something didn’t really seem right with the theory. I watch a lot of KH theory videos on YouTube from small creators with no shipping bias and they’re honestly very creative and genuine with their work. I understand how they feel about their ship, I love Kairi so much and would cry if she got her own game. I just think they should’ve left the Riku thing on its own and kept it away from this theory.             

Hey there! And thank you! I’m gonna talk a lot so to keep this from clogging up everyone’s dashboard, it’s going under the cut

I think I may have touched on it a little bit when I was explaining why even if the writers say this isn’t an “it’s all a dream” theory, I still feel like it has enough similarities to be considered one and… you’re absolutely correct. There is no reason for Xehanort to follow the Guardians into a new worldline. We don’t even know if he’s capable of it. We also don’t know if his planned universal reset just works in the worldline he’s in, or if it would erase all of them. We don’t know anything about worldlines other than that it’s a term Luxu used, like, twice

If Sora and Co. hopped worldlines, Xehanort would just grab the Princesses and win. If Sora and Co. hopped into the Sleeping Worlds… then Xehanort would also just grab the Princesses because the heroes still aren’t around to stop him if they’re in the Sleeping Worlds. It might take a little extra time, especially if we go on their assumption that Kairi is dead since now he’s gotta go find Princess #7 again. Because let’s not forget that this theory also claims that Kairi did not hop worldlines and that the Kairi we see is a Chirithy she’s piloting from the other world. That she died in

(Personally, I think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding of Xehanort’s character throughout the whole theory. He’s not a master planner. If he was, none of his plans would have ever failed, and he makes very clear in DDD that the plan to use TAV was intended to succeed. He is a master opportunist who’s excellent at making sure he has just enough irons in the fire that if one plan fails, another’s already going. The issue is most prevalent in the part of the theory where they try to claim that he planned the paopu scene. And uhh… any part where they make it sound like Xehanort has big plans involving Sora. He doesn’t.

His plan in DDD was opportunistic. He never planned for Sora. Sora was this thorn in his side who was constantly messing up his plans. If you know that no matter what you do this boy is going to mess you up, then how do you remove that threat? Either kill him, which is unlikely as Sora also makes for a decent Light if need be, or bring that power onto your side. He also didn’t like… give YMX time travel powers just to get Sora. That was another opportunistic iron to add to the fire. Like, if I knew that I was going to do something that would give me time travel powers and that I could pass that on to other versions of myself, why the hell wouldn’t I go back to the earliest version of me that could make use of that? That way I have the power… literally from a very young age and continue to have it my entire life. It’s a paradox, sure, but a damn effective one. He would’ve had Ansem go back to give YMX the power regardless. Knowing where Sora was at the time was just a byproduct, and one that he later found a use for

But after the plan to force Sora to join the Darknesses fails… Xehanort doesn’t really have to do anything. He knows that Sora’s a meddler who will fight for the light and is easy to goad into emotional actions. That’s one less Light that you have to worry about getting to the battlefield, because the kid will do it himself. There’s no need to have Kairi involved at all in terms of the paopu fruit thing? There’s no need to plan literally since flinging child Kairi into the abyss out of curiosity for her to make Sora fall in love with her. Like, again... he doesn’t really have a grand plan that he’s been implementing from the start so much as he has several plans that all require roughly the same or similar pieces. Xehanort only makes extra effort for himself if he feels like it could serve multiple purposes. He doesn’t see Sora as worthy, so he’s going to expend the most minimal effort on him. That’s one of the things that I think this theory fails to understand most; Xehanort doesn’t really care about or have grand plans for Sora. So long as the boy fights for one side or another, Xehanort’s already got what he wants

So with Xehanort being such an opportunist with so many contingencies... why would he pass up the chance to do things the easy, if more time-consuming, way by just... staying in the world without the heroes and succeeding with Plan B while knowing that there’s no one around to stop you?)

But, rambling about Xehanort’s characterization aside, you bring up something that I was planning to talk about once I finished going through the theory. My plan at the end was to go over what I felt that it did right or wrong writing-wise. And one of the things it does wrong is that it’s actually several mini-theories very loosely tied together that don’t prove each other

Making a theory about what you think a worldline is is its own thing. Making a theory on KH3′s connection to the Sleeping World lore is its own thing. Making a theory that Riku is really Sora’s light is its own thing. Making a theory that Kairi’s been controlled by Xehanort this whole time is its own thing. None of them correlate

The only reason to include all of them together, and this is going to sound really jaded, is if you intend to trick people into believing that your interpretation of Riku’s and Kairi’s contributions is canon. Because if they’re presented together, then it comes with the implication that if you accept that part of their theory is true (the definition of worldlines, the connection to Sleeping Worlds), then you have to accept that all of it is (Riku is the one whose act of true love saved Sora, Kairi’s contributions were all planned by someone else and therefore less legitimate than Riku’s, etc.).

And I don’t think I’m wrong to read that intent into it. From what I’ve read of the theory so far, they’ve made their shipping bias outright clear (calling the video files soriku_sleuthers as though they’re looking for evidence supporting their ship, spending an entire section on proving that Riku’s “most important person” is Sora and that the feelings are romantic...). Spending about .2 seconds on any of the creators’ Twitter accounts also makes the fact that really all they care about KH-wise is Riku’s part in the SoRiku ship (not even Riku as a character, because they get his character so totally wrong in the theory, but just what Riku contributes to the ship)

I don’t know if it was intentionally done by them or not. It’s possible that the natural ship bias clouded how they interpreted events in the game, too, to the point where they legitimately think that their interpretation is just obviously correct because the content that they interact with most and longest leads to that idea. I’ve already talked about how confirmation bias clouds the entire theory so thickly that they unintentionally discredited everything in it by that alone. But the point remains that the only reason that I can see for having an entire section on how perfect Riku is and how pure his love for Sora is, and another on how Kairi is Xehanort’s pawn trapped in another worldline, is because the easiest way to legitimize those as “canon” is to attach them to something that you think you can prove is canon

Except there’s so many holes, so much misinterpretation, and so much... I almost want to say forged evidence because that’s the only way I can describe what they did to Xigbar’s speech on Olympus, that there’s a mountain of things that can be logically and soundly proved to be incorrect and absolutely no decisive evidence so far proving that any part of what they’re saying is true

I’ll give them some credit, though. The SoRiku stuff doesn’t take up the bulk of the theory and is apparently subtle enough that even quite a few SoRiku shippers don’t think it’s even really a part of the theory. But that ignores the fact that while they have a ton of “evidence” unrelated to the ship, the inciting incident that the whole theory revolves around is the idea that Riku’s act of true love in sacrificing himself to save Sora (attributing Kairi’s sole salvation of Sora to both Riku and all of the other Princesses of Heart) allowed Sora to transfer everyone (except Kairi) over to a new worldline and also the Sleeping Worlds. It may not harp on it, but the theory absolutely pushes SoRiku as the canon ship if you want to believe that the theory is canon because they wrote it so that the events they’re describing cannot happen if it isn’t

It’s why they couldn’t keep the Riku stuff out of this theory even if they wanted to. Even if it would’ve made for a more believable theory. He’s the only part of this damn thing that they really care about

Again, I’m going to go into everything I think this theory does wrong at some point. And I’m sorry that this got so long and ranty! Seeing old followers go in and reblog the debunk stuff right now, which is attracting new followers like you is actually really fun and heartening to watch and I’m so glad that you liked the content enough to tell me! I wish the theory hadn’t become what it is. I wish this debunk wasn’t something that was even necessary. But I am grateful that it’s given me the opportunity to chat with a lot of people, yourself included, about this fandom! Up until I started this project I was relatively unknown in the KH fandom. I really hope that the upcoming debunk stuff meets everyone’s expectations!

[piprocrastinator]

A P9 Anon ask~

I had someone ask me about my thoughts on P9 and they gave me some examples of their point of view on the matter.

And just so it’s clear everyone is allowed their opinion and as long as they are not forcing others to agree to! Meaning that if you tell me your opinion nicely I will probably approve because I love hearing opinions and see other people's points of view, it’s a great way to broaden your horizon. Just because I support something that might be opposite to what your support doesn’t mean I don’t welcome your opinion.

If that makes any sense, so thank you Anon!

First, off I’d like to say thank you for one your point of view and the examples, it’s always nice to back up opinions with examples. :D

Second, this is also my opinion but I’m going to try and make it non-bias.

That being said, I think it’s very important to point out a few things. As fans, we only see what they want us to see and even during times where we think that we are seeing something secret or something we’re not supposed to see. You know those videos from events where the person touches the other person and everyone is like ‘ah a secret moment’ and whatnot. It probably is just a random touch that we’ve taken out of context or it’s a purposefully touch to promote them via fanservice. The K-pop industry and the Bl industry (Thai, Taiwanese, and the like) utilize their fans using fanservice to promote themselves. What we think is a secret touch could very well be carefully planned out action.

I’m not going to go any deeper into that right now but it’s something we need to keep in mind as we look at our idols or actors in general. It's something I try to keep in mind while I delusionally ship my ships.

That being said, Pavel is VERY into fanservice. He’s loud brash and the one who really knows what’s up and doesn’t mind hinting at it because he’s a troll and a tease. (And he’s wonderful for all of those reasons so don’t take that the wrong way). Pavel is a man that loves to tease but he also teases each member (of OXQ or 6moons whichever) differently and that’s because each person takes to it differently. Meaning he knows what each person will take as a joke and what they won’t and that’s on friendship.

I think Nine and Pavel have an interesting relationship because much like Ben when they first met they all had English in common so they could communicate secretly without the others knowing and I think now even when most the others members can speak it alright enough to where it’s not really like a secret language anymore it created a different sort of bond between them during filming and then subsequently, their friendship.

NOW FOR SOME ANALYSIS! Because I love this part soooooooo (even if it's not really analysis as much as it is opinion.)

I think Pavel like most people fall for cute things and Nine is cute and small (and very handsome) and like everyone in the world when we see cute things we want to treat those things with kind and gentle hands. Which means his touches toward Nine might be different than let’s say Dome because Dome is cute but he also has bulk and works out with Pavel so he perceives him different and therefore Pavel’s touches towards Dome will be different. This has nothing to do with masculinity or femininity! And everything to do with the types of friendships he has between them. Nine and Pavel and a distinctly softer friendship about them at least from what we can see of them.

Anon mentioned that Pavel makes over the top jokes like that day he went onto the live and was like talking about fertilization and stuff and I can’t find that picture but it’s great but I’m pretty sure that was done with like Dome (or Ben… maybe it was Ben, Yeah I think was... idk) I can’t find the source and I don’t remember…. Sorry. But anyways He doesn’t do that with Nine, most of his crude jokes are for the others. And I think that has to do with the type of friendship that he has with Nine. Whereas the others he’s all for like daddy jokes, and fertilization and moaning and such he really doesn’t do that with Nine and that could be because he jokes differently with Nine because Nine takes jokes differently or has a different sense of humor when it comes to those things or it could be (and this is my J9 dulu sneaking out) It could have to do with Joong.

Actually, Everyone in the fandom knows that Joong gets sulky easy and he’s sensitive to things so regardless for J9 relationship Joong might get sulk depending on how the others joke with Nine because they monitor each other’s amount of skin shown and cursing so it wouldn’t be a far stretch to say that maybe Pavel jokes differently with Nine as to not upset Joong, and that’s about friendship and understanding not about dating and whatnot, to be clear.

Then there was that event where Pavel and Nine body rolled against each other which I don’t have the video of that either and I can’t find either. But that felt like fanservice.

And that time that Nine got angry because Joong and Pavel (and Ben I guess) were snuggling which is a moment that I’m still not really sure how to decipher because you could see it whichever way you like because there is very little context to go with it besides we know that Nine was sulking that day and later didn’t want to include Joong in his Ig story thing with Ben. Buuuuut if you wanted to you could say that Nine was mad at both Pavel and Joong, which would add a moment to the P9 debate.

There was the really scandalous picture Pavel posted of Nine, I mean just look at that thigh.

Which honestly same. If I had an attractive friend and I knew people liked to see pictures of them AND I was Pavel who knows how to stir things up, I would have totally done the same thing. This might be one of the leading things in the P9 argument and it’s valid. There’s a lot of thigh happening. Also if this was some sort of like secret ‘we’re dating’ type of pictures, it’s a good one. It’s like enough to be like they could have totally done something with each other but also vague enough that many people would wave it off like nothing.

I just wanted to put it out there for reasons.

Moving on I think that it’s a bit important to mention the OXQ ship that’s been going around.

There is a VERY VERY high possibility that their company might be trying to push some fanservice in the form of P9 because that’s how they want to be. It could also be some secret thing they have going on. If one were to look at these interacts as like aP9 situation then sure maybe they are just showing more of that side of their relationship. Or maybe it’s just because of placement and based on kpop which I have a feeling is a major influence in this group for many reasons, it is a very common trend for everyone in a group to be shipped with everyone. Regardless if you ship that ship or not. Many companies (I dare say, all of them) promote ships because it sells. So this might be P9 using their proximity in their formation to promote a ship thinking that it will sell….. but I think it’s the companies choice as far as these go.

If nothing else form this I think that Pavel and Nine have a very different relationship than Pavel and Dome do and thus comparing their relationship is really productive in terms of trying to figure out ‘who Pavel may or may not be in a secret relationship with’. I think that Pavel treats Nine differently because their friendship is different. Pavel and Dome are aggressive with each other because that’s how they’re relationship works. They go to the gym together, talk dirty jokes together, call each other daddy, they put of shirtless pictures of each other, and show off each other’s boxers. They just are.

Pavel and Nine's relationship is softer probably to do with the amount of time they spend with each other and from how Pavel views Nine. Nine is smaller than the rest of them and maybe that opens some innate feelings in Pavel to protect because honestly same. But also

Maybe Nine's looks are making him feel the gay feelings. Who knows.

I was thinking when I first saw this that maybe it’s Nine's personality because Nine is moody and gets angry easily. When I saw this I immediately thought that Nine just pics fights with everyone but like accidentally and that’s what he meant. But everyone was taking the unstable as like the gay way.

This was a terrible rant that did nothing and I’m sorry :D but I think that all the boys of the 2moons2 cast have a good relationship with each other and to say that we, the fans, only know a fraction of the details of those relationships would be accurate. We know exactly what they want us to know and nothing else. We can speculate all day about it and we do and I think that’s the great things about ships and idols is that fanservice is a big part of their industry and as long as we know that they are still humans and support them regardless of their ship (and wither they date the person you ship them with or not) then we can ship them with whoever for whatever reason.

IN CONCLUSION, I write too much and get nowhere in life. But I think Pavel and Nine are friends and Pavel likes to tease and flirt and their company might be trying to push out every ship they can to try and attract everyone they can because of money. But I do think there is a very distinct type of love in Pavel's heart for Nine and all the 2moons2 boys.

TLDR; Pavel and Nine are soft together, they probably have a secret bond that may or may not have been formed when they meet and related over English. They are good friends and Pavel likes to tease and he's good at it. I doubt there's anything past that mostly because of this