#but it really applies to all fandoms

[musette22]

I know this has been said so many times in so many different ways, and I have nothing new to add, really. But I am going to say it anyway, because I am just so ridiculously grateful for fanfiction writers. There are innumerable fanfics out there - incredible, mind-blowing stories that are all shared with us for free. Written out of a pure, profound love for existing stories and characters, a need to know them better, explore them, add to them, do something with them the source material never dared. To make ourselves and others feel better, sometimes worse, but mostly just to make us feel.

And don't get me started on the quality of so much of the fanfiction out there. I know talent is an debatable term, but for want of a better one: the sheer talent and dedication of so many of these authors, most of whom have actual, real life jobs and families and other responsibilities, is just astounding. So many ideas, so many beautiful words, so much creativity. As a fanfiction writer myself, I know that it can sometimes be challenging to be creative, to find time and energy to write, when life is just. So much. And yet the love I have for these characters just leaves me desperately wanting to make time and energy to tell the stories I want to tell. Writing fanfiction is a hobby, yes, but for many people, it's also more than a hobby. It's a passion, a deeply rooted desire, even a community.

As a reader, too, I know how incredibly valuable and important these stories can be. I've spent the past few days doing nothing but devouring fic because I've been feeling too crummy to do anything else, and it's been an absolute blessing. Every fic I read was more amazing than the last. They all made me cry, laugh, think, yearn, and just feel so much better. So, I know this has been said many times before, but I just had to tell you again how much I love you, fanfiction writers. Love you with my whole entire, sappy, zero-chill heart.

Thank you for everything you do, all the hours, the blood, sweat and tears, the love you put into your stories, and thank you for sharing them. For just handing them over and releasing them into our custody once they're done, for all of us to read and enjoy, expecting nothing in return but some kudos and comments. That's incredible, ok? You're all incredible, whether your stories are 'popular' or not. So many people would be utterly bereft without you and your efforts, and I just needed to tell you again how appreciated you are ♥️

[thenobleprincex]

just want to take a moment to appreciate all the fabulous, brilliant, mind-blowing artists and writers in the good omens fandom. I'm constantly blown away by what you do and so thankful that you chose to share it with us 💛

[ganondoodle]

you know, you could argue that totk is just "one bad game" in a series that doesnt have to mean anything for the future, and i should jsut move on and wait for the next one, and generally id agree, but these days i cannot help but feel like its the beginning of the end, so to say

we are seeing it in every type of media, be it series, games, movies, that stories that say anything are too risky so they go for generic slop instead- the recent news about pixar wanting to focus "mass appeal" (despite their reasoning being completely hypocritical?) is just yet another proof of that being a trend that doesnt seem to stop any time soon

and one of the problems that brings with it, besides just being boring, is that "generic mass appeal" stuff ... ends up turning around to repeat tired old stereotypes that often leads to really problematic framing (like even childrens cartoons featuring war somewhere in the middle east against evil arabs .. just like, as a backdrop), bc "mass appeal" in general really means "average white person able to spend money", which isnt the majority of people but its the ones who this is targeted towards and more often than not made by, and, no matter how much some people want to pretend its possible, its impossible to make anything that doesnt say anything, theres nothing non political, if they think something is non political its bc its aimed at them and they agree with it

thats what makes me so anxious about the future of the zelda franchise, bc, while its always been a problem, totk especially.. is exactly that imo, its generic and a boring good vs evil with no nuance to be found if you are in the target "mass appeal" but as soon as you arent, or know about the most widely used ways of framing, its kinda scary how clearly it turns into a white god appointed savior against the evil arabs imperialism simulator, and it might not have been intended as such, its so normalized that its considered simple and standard.. (i know i go on alot about it, and i dont mean media has to be sanitized uwu perfect and not feature anything problematic- i mean this as a critique of how its presented, it expects and wants you to agree with it, its not like a cautionary tale about serious things like some movies ARE, its a fantasy game 'aimed at kids' ..)

and if its true that they outsourced the writing for the game .. for the sequel to breath of the wild, one of their most successful games ever, then what does that mean for the future? that doesnt sound good at all

with the trends of the dominating media, and how totk turned out, i feel like we are seeing the start of a downfall into 'generic slop' that makes them more money more safely than anything more unique or interesting for the franchise like its happening with everything else that isnt indie

if all that wasnt the case i might not be so focused on it, i might be able to move on much easier, but i cant, i care deeply about it and i feel like im clawing at sand slipping into a giant garbage disposal, im not thrilled and excited for the next game like i was just a few years ago, or direct for that matter, im afraid of what they will do next, and i dont think thats good, and i dont think im the only one either, hyperfixation (special interest?) or not

[aetsiv]

every time i see someone mischaracterize matthias as a dumb, blonde, malewife with no personality except being nina's (dead) boyfriend i want to fistfight god and cause the mass extinction of humanity

[fortheillithidbaddies]

[valentiinexo]

there’s a very real chance i take a long break from the fandom once the next book is out, i just don’t have the energy to see antis bitch and moan and tear the entire book apart all because they don’t like the ship. i just want to be able to actually enjoy it in peace and not see the thing that brings me joy be ripped to shreds

[telffiin]

words cannot describe how over i am the whole early days tim vs damian feud. i don't fucking care. I DON'T CARE!!! IT'S SO BORING!!! can we please move on. write something else. something more interesting maybe? something that doesn't cause tim to be woobified by fandom even more than he already is, perhaps? i mean. i really don't care about him as a charater, but come onnn!!! LET IT GO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

[limnsaber]

Limnnnn any thoughts on The Acolyte so far? Bc you have the best thoughts lol

Hi Ell! Thank you for the ask! The first thing that came to mind is something that's been bugging me recently- just enough to talk about it. The fandom of Star Wars, at large, seems very keen to ignore the Buddhist roots behind a lot of the ideals of Star Wars, attachment, and the Jedi.

Like. Recently I watched a SW YouTube video, which I highly advise against doing, and in it the video paraphrased a comment saying that the comment stated that Star Wars was inspired largely by "westerns, samurai films, WWII films, classic cars, and religious meditation practices." In ACTUALITY, what was quoted as "religious meditation practices" in paraphrase was written as "Zen Buddhism" in the original comment.

It's mind boggling to me why anyone (much less a YouTube channel about Star Wars, who would know about the roots of the themes and ideas of Star Wars) would reduce the real-world ideas that inspired the universe and all of the Jedi to "religious meditation practices". Like. Removing this context that George Lucas so strongly intended as a Buddhist himself is wishy washy at best and actively harmful at worst.

We can talk about Lucas's/SW's orientalism all we want, (and smarter people than me have said better things about that,) but I'd argue that this exclusion of real world religious and cultural ideas, by the fandom specifically, contributes to that. And maybe if we had greater intercultural understanding, we would have fewer arguments about what 'attachment' in SW really means.

In short, not great. Aside from that, I'm really enjoying the show itself so far!! I just finished the third episode! Like other people, I'm sure there's more to the story on Brendok, but I really appreciated the simple parable of Mae's actions. If you can't let go of your attachment, if you let your desire for control guide your actions, you will set yourself on fire. Also star wars is at its best when it has twins. I love Star Wars when Star Wars has themes! I'm excited to see what's coming next!!

[comtessacrowley]

LOVE being a multishipper it’s my favorite thing actually like why wouldn’t I love this guy with this dude and also sometimes this other one

[sluttylittlewaste]

Hilarious that the same people defending any and all questionable choices the Bad Kids make (namely Kristen lbr) by saying "They're just kids! They have all this trauma and it's fucked up to expect teens to be good and nice all the time!" are the same people insisting that Kipperlily is an evil bitch and the Ratgrinders deserve to die.

[ana-cantskywalker]

*clears throat*

Random internet people shipping the opposite to your ship does not have to affect how much you enjoy your ship.

You can see their posts, accept that you are different, and keep scrolling

That is all

[antimony-medusa]

Okay so inspired by nothing in particular (it's inspired by reading the notes on the ace swag final poll, fun stuff in there), I have been thinking about being Cringe. Cause like, you enter a fandom, and usually, you find out shortly that somebody else hates that fandom. There is no fandom niche enough that it's not Weird to somebody, and there's no fandom mainstream enough that it's not Annoying to somebody else. And given the fact that some people do hatred recreationally, there's often going to be somebody mad enough about your fandom that they're going to go on diatribes about how your fandom is bad and actually harmful and destroying the fabric of civilization, etc. They're gonna pull out anything negative and blow it up until it's the size of the skyline and attack you for liking this negative thing.

Fun times, we've all seen it.

And the thing is, there's an impulse to have this happen and immediately find somebody else to point to and say, yeah, well, I might be weird, but at least I'm not THAT guy. I might read YA, but at least I'm not a Furry— those guys are sexual deviants! I might be into actual play podcasts, but at least I'm not into mcyt— those guys are all harmful and my guy is fine. I might be into danmei, but at least I'm not into bandom— rpf is so gross. I might be a furry, but at least I'm not into mainstream romance novels— senseless drivel aimed at middle class white women. Y'know. Immediately find someone to punch down on.

And boy do I understand why you want to do that, when people are pointing at you, but I don't actually think that it's helpful.

Cause like, every fandom has a logical train of thought and reasonable human impulses behind it. You might not share those impulses— I'm not a furry I don't think, I don't really get true crime— but that doesn't mean I can't have it explained to me by a very patient person in in the writer's workshop common room and go "oh, yeah, kinda pretending to be an animal, but you're gay about it, yeah, makes sense", or "oh yeah, morbid curiosity from the safety of your headphones, it's like a horror movie but real" and nod. Like there isn't a fandom or group out there that doesn't look weird from the outside, and there isn't a fandom or group that can't be explained if someone has thought about the human psyche enough.

And that isn't to say that there isn't sometimes salient critiques for what fandoms are doing or not doing— to grab the two examples above, I have heard people talking about issues with true crime reinforcing the current fucked up justice system, or bigotry at furry cons. But a) most of the time, there is already somebody inside that community that's fighting against those issues, and you just threw them under the bus with the problem they're trying to fix b) you don't usually know the nuances of the actual conversation and problems, you saw a couple callout posts. You saying "Yeah I'm a board game nerd but at least I don't play competitive trading card cames, those guys are doing nothing but feeding the capitalist machine" is not usually helpful towards fixing the ctg scene. It's just a cheap way to score points.

Like, I assure you that the YA scene is aware of the calcification of the genre into a tighter and tighter romantic form and their dependence on going big on tik-tok to sell enough to keep publishing. They know.

You specifically saying that your fandom is better cause it's not [problems you heard about other fandom having] is not actually going to make the person who's hating on you stop hating. They already decided that you're the person they're better than and that they're punching down on, you passing the punching down on to another fandom just makes more people sad on the internet, and potentially starts yet another chain of someone punching down at someone else. The wheel grinds on, everybody gets punched.

I guess this is just kinda turning into a "why hate on the internet, what good does that do" post, which is broader than I meant it to be. But like, there's a difference between thoughtful critique of problems (complicated to do fairly but very necessary) and finding someone new to curbstomp to make yourself feel better/morally superior (look, I'm writing this on a mcyt blog, we've all seen this happen, it does not increase the joy in the world).

Like in MCYT, we all decide to punch down on [other server we hate], or RPF, or people who write kidfic, or people who write e-rated fic/art, or people doing the popular trope of the moment, and sure, it lets you feel morally superior for the moment, at the cost of slapping the guy next to you. Haven't we had enough slapping the guy next to you? There but for the grace of god (got a fun idea/watched the wrong stream/ended up in the wrong brainstorming circle/got fixated on the wrong funny guy) goes I. You're not better than another group just because you saw a couple more callout posts (usually from people inside the community trying to fix things) about them.

We are all Cringe. There is nobody who's not Cringe. Don't say that you're not Cringe because someone else is more Cringe. Stop that.

[spacedlexi]

Do you like Vi and Clem as best friends as well? Or just as lovers? (Also, I love your art)

im assuming youre asking if im fine with either friendship or romance route, which i am!! at the very base of their relationship they are best friends regardless, its just whether or not they kiss about it (and i just think they do 😏)

either way s4 is about building a home and a family. you get to choose what that looks like :) so while i definitely go to bat for romanced vi, i can understand some people not being interested in that element and choosing to be friends instead. either way theyre partners. and vi still makes clem a gay little button about it 😭💕

(and thank you!!)

[biracy]

I know this can be contentious (and even just mentioning this kind of analysis as a serious one makes a lot of people who don't understand what literary analysis is very angry) but I actually think it's pretty cool that people can draw both transfeminine and transmasculine reads of Jesse from hit TV show Jesse out of the text of the show. Something something shared experiences something something solidarity. You get the idea

[anneapocalypse]

Truth is you can make absolutely any DA companion sound like a villain if you only bring up their worst moments and you clip out their least flattering dialogue to be interpreted in the worst possible light, and you can make any one of them sound like a saint or a victim if you only bring up their good deeds or past trauma or the times when other characters treat them poorly and you interpret every action in the most selfless way possible. It's easy, because they are all such complicated, messy, multifaceted characters. And we're all prone to do this with our faves and least faves. I just think it's a good idea to be aware that we can all do it, and recognize when we're doing it because it makes it a lot easier engage positively or at least neutrally with people who have different faves.

[squidkidnerd]

oh my god what is wrong with this fandom sometimes. just bc we're in the second half of splatoon 3's update cycle now doesn't mean the game is dying and nintendo is horrible and all that... look, i get side order was kinda disappointing, but in all fairness i don't think people had the right expectations of it either. it was never going to be like oe because oe had way more building up to it and side order just... doesn't. and that's okay! okay, guys? okay. literally just chill out, step away from your phone, and take a walk. splatoon 3 is fine. the world is not ending. there will most certainly be a splatoon 4 because nintendo wants to make more money. relax. seriously, relax.