#this isn't a post to spark discourse

[buckleyreid]

I wanna talk about Byler and some of the reasons why I think they'll be endgame. I didn't mean for this to be so long but the only way for me to organize my thoughts is to write them down so alas. I was also gonna leave this in the drafts since I'm not active in the ST fandom but what the hell, here it is anyway.

For context, I’ve always been a casual watcher and, until 3 months ago, I didn’t even ship it because I wasn’t paying attention to the california storyline when I first watched S4 so I kinda thought they were one of those mlm ships that don’t have much canon to back them up.

Then I actually payed attention to their scenes in S4 and like ?? it’s so obvious ??

When I started rooting for Byler, before coming into fandom spaces, it felt so clear that they were working towards them getting together in S5, there was no doubt in my mind. Will could very well just have been gay without having Mike as the object of his affection and yet here we are. We finished S4 with them promising to stick together.

I think things only start getting a little murky and doubt perhaps creeps in because people start overthinking things, and queerbait has been such a problem in entertainment.

I was never a fan of Mike and El as a couple, I thought they were usually at their weakest character wise when they were paired up, Mike in particular kinda loses his purpose imo and he’s just kinda… there? Also, they mostly get separate arcs during the seasons so we don't see them grow and learn things together like we do for other couples (Lucas and Max, Joyce and Hopper, Nancy and Jonathan). S1 they're together but they're not a couple until the end, S2 they were apart, S3 they were in the same group but broken up, S4 mostly apart again.

The stronger argument for Mike and El being the endgame is that they have spent most of the show being a couple. I even think the question of why they’d spend time building them up just to separate them in the last season is a valid one, but how I see it is that they have actually been spending S4 tearing them down, showing us why they don't work and how they simply don't understand each other.

Mike's "I love you" to El should have been a major defining moment for their relationship, it should've eased the tension and yet, their end of the season is her pretty much closing a door in his and Will's faces. If they were going to fix their relationship they would’ve given that last Byler scene to Mike and El and we would’ve seen her confide in him about how much it hurt to lose a battle for the first time. Instead, we have Mike comforting and reassuring Will that they'll succeed together.

All of this is a long winded way to say that, as someone who doesn't care to try and pick up on the little hints and "proof" that Byler will get together (or even believes in someone of that), I totally think they'll be endgame simply due to Will being in love with Mike, since that would be absolutely unnecessary if it's not the groundwork for something else.

[glitchinginthegarden]

fun fact: creatives don't owe you shit

this extends beyond just artists and writers btw this includes modders, virtual photographers, resource/tutorial compilers and creators, web builders, the list goes on

anyone who makes something available to the internet FOR FREE with their own time, skills, and energy does not owe you that thing ever EVER

don't like it? learn the skill you need in order to create what you want trust me, you can it takes work that's how the rest of got where we are to make the things you "consume"

[alchemicaladarna]

Alright! Hello and Welcome to QSMPblr twt refugees!! First of all, I don't have twitter, but I read through a lot of stuff, and I can't imagine how hellish the experience has been the past few days:((

Remember that you guys are valid, and are welcome here!

Of course, this community isn't without its flaws, but I think you'll find that overall, it will be a much better experience than the old bird app. First of all, there are no CC's here, so I guess it's kind of a safe space in that sense? You can post the most batshit insane thing and not have to worry if a cc will see it or not XD

Ok, so here's how Tumblr kinda works:

Tags. Tag your posts appropriately, but don't spam (in other words, don't use unecessary tags- like tagging a character even though they're not even mentioned in the post)

Make sure to change your pfp. If you keep the little shape guys, people will probably think you're bots or smth.

You can actually BLOCK tags and people here! Remember, if you don't want to see any discourse, the block button is your friend. No one's going to come after your throat if you just simply want to filter the posts you see.

Some examples of tags you might want to filter out are: #discourse #neg #crit #qsmp neg #qsmp discourse #qsmp crit etc.

Be kind, respectful, courteous, and considerate of everyone in the community! If you have a certain opinion, or you want to talk about certain topics that could spark discourse, then use the appropriate tags I've listed above!

Also, literally number one internet rule: It's not that hard to show kindness and compassion towards others. It's really what we need the most in this community right now as well, so just keep that in mind, please and thank you!

[velvetvexations]

God day one of pride month and I've already had to see a stupid "pride is for the TMEs" post that ended with the op using guilt trippy language to insist TEMs should give her money. Is this really the energy we're gonna take into pride this year?? Also feels MAD disrespectful to take Pride month, a celebration sparked by a riot that was explicitly about queer people protecting each other from the cops, including tons of trans women, and talk about how it isn't for trans women. Like fucking apologize to Marsha P. Johnson and Miss Major and everyone else who was there right now. Genuinely feels like these types couldn't give a shit about queer history, all they care about is making it clear they are the most oppressed ever and that everyone hates them even when it means disrespecting our queer elders, including the transfem ones.

Then again I could see TRFs argue that because the riot was started over protecting a butch cis lesbian that the history of pride is really just transfems laying their lives down for ungrateful transmisogynistic TMEs with no support offered in return despite that being untrue. It's sicking to see people taint the celebration of our history by making a profound moment of queer unity about how much everyone who isn't a trans woman sucks paired with fun quips like "TMEs all claim the cops hate us equally but it's not true" despite the fact that again, the cops were arresting a CIS BUTCH LESBIAN kinda proving they hate all queer people, not just transfems. Real stupid "I am uncomfortable when we're not about me" shit. How fucking dare other queer people celebrate our collective community, pride month should really just be transfem history month! It's not like the current new pride flag literally has the trans flag included on it specifically to honor the trans people who have given to the community, if the flag isn't just a big sign that says "transfems are the only queer people who matter" it's basically a worthless rag!!

Sorry this just makes me SO angry. Back in the early days bi communuty groups had their applications to march in pride parades DECLINED because they didn't "count as real queer people" and got severely excluded from queer spaces and denied support (and still are treated as fucking straight invaders by a uncomfortably large portion of the queer community to this day) but you don't see me going around saying "pride is really for the monosexuals" even though honestly I think bi people out of everyone have the most right to make that kind of claim, because to say that would deny that this is a moment of unity that is about all of us equally on purpose. There are giant murals of queer transfem historical figures, a transfem went to the Met fucking Gala in an outfit honoring Marsha P. Johnson, hell most people think Marsha started it all even though she was repeatedly quoted saying when she showed up the riot was in full swing, but sure. Whatever. Pride is for the TMEs. Nothing matters, words aren't real, and if we aren't all making each other feel like shit all the time we aren't doing it right.

I cannot wait for this fucking discourse to be over. I keep getting flashbacks to having to deal with countless "ace and aro people don't belong at pride" posts in June, I'm tired of our unifying event being used as a bludgeoning tool against whatever group of queer people is on the chopping block this time. Pride is about ALL of us because we were and still are all being targeted. Sharing the spotlight is supposed to be joyful, you really have to have fallen into some deeply hateful ideologies and groups to be upset by a month literally all about queer unity and joy just because it isn't all about you.

God, yeah, that is so fucking infuriating.

[necroswitch]

yknow i think at this point it's clear playing nice isn't working and im getting really tired of how the community is ignoring that. i don't consider myself to be trans so maybe im being insane but considering trans women were just declared to be incapable of using "women's spaces" in the uk you have more to worry about than the oppression olympics

when you have transphobes so actively out to get you that they end up harassing random cis people, that's a problem. not because they're harassing cis people (though that too is an issue), but because they're so dead set on hating you that they're willing to attack completely random people who they perceive as being like you. doesn't matter what political side they're on, so long as they're seen as similar to you they're in danger — that should be sparking alarm bells in your brain that things have escalated far past 2017 transmed discourse

not saying you have to go around actively taking action against every single possible bigot you see, but i think maybe things that are happening in the real world are more important than the 50th "well transfems are seen as predators and transmascs are seen as smol bois" post of the month. doesn't matter who's suffering more you're all gonna be suffering an equal amount when they eventually manage to outlaw your existence

[violet-catsarelife]

red hood Tim aus get me so bad bc in why on earth does this privileged dead guy care about crime alley? what weight does it hold to him???? it only makes sense to have steph be the second robin realistically.

It kinda feels like I'm inviting discourse by replying to this, so lemme just do an obligatory disclaimer: people are free to create what they want, and they're allowed to have different tastes and interpretations. That's what fandom is. Okay? Okay.

That said.

Personally? Red Hood Tim is... yeah. Does not spark joy. Aside from the Rich Boy in Crime Alley aspect, I guess I'm just not a fan of people making up trauma for Tim so he can be the Saddest Boy, especially when they're taking traits from Jason (which, actually this might be a gripe that spilled over from other fic tropes and not something I have against rr aus, specifically.)

In my opinion, reverse robins is a great setup for us to explore not only the differences but also parallels between the Robins. In that sense, Steph, with her background similarities to Jason, has so much more potential for a Red Hood story.

I wanna know how her morals would play out, how they'd differ from Batgirl!Steph's or RH!Jason's. What are her views on criminals and crime? Does RH!Steph hold the same contempt against her dad like Spoiler!Steph did? What ties her to the city and its community? I wanna see what her dynamic with Batman is like, when she isn't pushed into the shadow of another 'failed' robin, but is instead the First Robin Who Died. How would the effects of her death differ from Jason's, given that she's neither an orphan nor adopted by Bruce? I'm also curious about her relationship with Damian, if it mirrors the mentor-sibling style Batgirl!Steph had with baby Dami. Do they bond over being the few people who knew Batdad before the Tragedy, as opposed to canon where they only ever got to know the post-robindeath version?

So much story potential!

In short, Red Hood Steph is an awesome concept and I wish there are more fics with her. Thanks for coming to my ted talk I guess

[jubijumbo]

Girl I don't even care about this fandom or the overblown """"discourse"""" but Burnt Bread is such a shitty ship name please just use aranjoe or some shit (edit) lmao @ the fact that the one post that sparked it was made less than a day ago like please get a hold of yourselves, one person's opinion isn't a 'cancellation'

[hackedmotionsensors]

lol okay so on twitter there's that dunmeshi post of "anime only are in the WTF area" and then a qrt explaining how "Oh but its so good bc its not the problematic kind of wtf"

like I'm so sick of that narrative that you can only like something because its not "problematic"

Like it really is a matter of perspective with dunmeshi which arguably isn't like....raunchy or crass or torture porn. But its appropriately violent for something dealing with magic similar to how you read a fairy tail in its original source and its like...wow this shit is dark and violent. But its not JUSt that.

But even if it WERE "problematic" should you not watch something because of that?? Stop being such fucking cowards when it comes to media. Just enjoy something because YOU enjoy it not because you got the Moral Police Seal of Approval from a bunch of teenagers who are still figuring THEMSELVES out. Or from weird adult people on the internet who feel like its their duty to police what everyone else does because of some misguided responsibility to make sure "The kiddos are okay"

Enjoy fucked up media. OR DON'T. But stop letting people on the internet tell you whats okay to watch and whats not. Imagine if for whatever reason a bunch of people decided that DunMeshi was BAD because of what happens to Senshi (I'm trying not to spoil the story lol). OH ITS SO BAD AND PROBLEMATIC YOU SHOULDN'T WATCH IT BECAUSE OF THAT.

What a waste that would be.

The reason these horrible censorship laws get traction is because they ALLOW this narrative to play out online and spark a bunch of discourse over who can woohoo who or what kind of media is OKAY or BOOKS SHOULD HAVE TAGS or shit like that. And all of that gets turned into keeping stories form being told that aren't fucking BORING or vapid or tasteless because we've blocked all forms of "problematic" content.

anyway watch Dungeon Meshi its a lot of fun but watch it because you want a fun fantasy anime(read the manga too!) and not because it gets a gold star from the morality police

[thecircularsystem]

Take 2: Take on Sysmed

I wrote up an entire post (well, half of a post, but it was already over 1k words) on this topic, but that isn't going to be seeing the light of day. Off to the private blog it goes.

Take two. Sorry if my words are a bit disorganized; this is a really... really personal topic for me, and to see it brought up as it is has been hard. I need to get some sort of words out there or I think I'll go insane.

Genuine TL;DR: I used to go by the label pro-endo sysmed. It was stupid, but there were a lot of reasons -- the biggest because I needed to claim some sort of control over the fact that everyone hated me, and at least if I was a bigot, it gave them a reason to hate me. I discuss my experience with kink at pride discourse and how gentle teaching changed my perspectives, but "treating the bigot like the bigot they were" was just triggering and didn't help at all. Lastly, I talk about shame and how the term "sysmed" is largely (if it's ever really used for "activism" at all) attempting to teach through shame, which isn't effective. There's also a bonus screenshot at the end of the spark of this discussion from discord.

Not very long ago, though it feels like eons now, I identified "proudly" as a pro-endo sysmed. I recall saying some bullshit about how it was "reclaiming an insult that was used against me," but I was in denial. Hardcore, heavily traumatized denial.

I was just trying to claim the ostracization as something that was my choice, instead of everyone else's.

It was prideful, foolish, and hurtful, and I still stay up at night thinking about how fucking stupid I was. I've had to do a lot of therapy to look at my younger self and not hate him for who I am now, but moreso, who I was then.

Because with everything in my life, it was what I needed. It was all I had.

...

When I first returned to the pro-endo community, I was met completely with scorn, hatred, and distrust. It's hard to sort out the memories now -- more and more signs that it was heavily traumatic for me -- but I remember a little. "The Respectability Politics Syscourser" who sucked anti-endo dick and licked their boots, apparently. I'm sorry that the first person who validated my struggles -- who treated me like a disordered system in need of medical help -- was an anti-endo. I didn't agree with his beliefs. Not at all! I fucking hated him, honestly, I felt disgusted at having to "play along with the enemy."

I even joined a server, which I later called home and formed an (unhealthy) attachment to, just to "speedrun getting banned" from an anti-endo server. I did this more than once.

I was pro-endo, through and through. And yet...

I was frequently met with the term sysmed, online, despite my pro-endo beliefs. I was harassed for being friends with anti-endos, because "they're the bad guys." I was told that I needed to "look to myself for why I was being harassed" when I explained to a user, with screenshots, exactly who was harassing me and what had been said (slurs and suicide bait, 17 times in a row iirc, across a single day). I was told repeatedly that it was what would happen, since I allowed anti-endos to interact with me, because once an anti-endo, always an anti-endo.

Once a bigot, always a bigot.

...

Each time it happened, I was brought back to my middle and high school years. Literally -- flashbacks are a bitch.

I was raised a Republican. I finally, finally changed my voter registration this year, after being forced into selecting R as a child. I was raised racist, homophobic, transphobic -- any form of bigotry, and I probably was raised with it. I went into detail in my first draft, but genuinely... I don't even know how worth it it is to try to explain to you all how absolutely alienating it is to be everything you were raised to despise, fear, and pray for salvation for.

And the online community didn't fucking make that easier. (In all honesty, neither did the offline communities I was in, but again, the trauma dumping needs to be held back with a goddamn knife at this point).

When I first started saying my opinions online, I received harassment for my bigotry. "STFU Terf." "Christians DNI get the fuck off my post." Nothing as horrific as what I've experienced in my time as a syscourser, but I witnessed far, far worse from far more outspoken individuals. I didn't say much about my bigotry online, as I had already learned, by that point, that every single word out of my mouth was clearly the wrong words, and that I was just a stupid, horrible person for ever believing anything.

And online spaces reinforced these disordered beliefs.

I think the example that stands out the most (and forgive the 18+ content here, but this goes on the main blog for once, I just need this out-) was when I got into Kink at Pride discourse. I was horrified by the idea of kink at pride, as someone who experienced absolutely horrific abuse from kink shit. I couldn't imagine someone in a leather mask at pride because of my trauma. I couldn't... Ah, knife point again, trauma dumping.

Anyways. I went on an entire rant online about it. About how people have triggers, etc etc.

I was met with slurs, harassment, and people spamming my DMs so much with explicit BDSM that I still, to this day, struggle to DM over tumblr with anyone other than my now spouse.

So I went to my friends, complaining about it. Because this just reinforced my beliefs. This reinforced for me that KAP was a bad idea, because all the people who believed it insulted me, harassed me, and triggered me. Clearly, they're the bad guys, right?

I am still so, so grateful for the friend I had at the time who (incredibly gently, incredibly carefully, understanding before I even did just how traumatized I was) explained how kink belonged at pride, and the historical precedent for it, and everything. And I think the most important thing out of that conversation was where they said it's okay that I was wrong.

IT'S OKAY THAT I WAS WRONG.

Just thinking about that moment makes me cry again. It was okay to be wrong. It was safe to be -- yes -- the bigot in the situation. Because I was! I can recognize that now! But at the time, all I could realize by the end of the conversation was that I had been wrong, and it was absolutely fucking shit-myself-levels of terrifying.

Being wrong isn't safe. Being wrong means I deserved it.

I deserved the harassment. I deserved the hatred. I deserved the pain, and misery, and I deserved the triggers that fed on my SA, and I deserved to be punished.

Because I was a bigot.

But they showed me I didn't deserve pain and insults and hatred just because I didn't know. Just because I couldn't know, until someone taught me the way I needed to be taught.

They took the time to figure out how to tell me the information -- which strangers online had not done -- and they gave me what I needed. They didn't insult me. They didn't fucking crucify me for what I had said.

They weren't polite or sugarcoating, either. They were gentle, but blunt. Firm and kind.

And, because of that, overnight I became less homophobic and less transphobic. I made public posts about it. I was thrilled, at the time, when even a single ounce of praise came down the anonymous inbox.

"I'm glad you're not a stupid bigot anymore."

...

I look at syscourse in the tags.

"I'm not here to make bigots comfortable."

Cool. They'll keep being bigots then.

"I shouldn't have to be polite to people who don't believe in my existence!"

Cool. They'll keep being bigots then.

"If you support sysmeds, you're supporting sysmed rhetoric. If you let one Nazi at the bar, it's a Nazi bar."

Cool antisemitism. They'll keep being bigots then.

If all of your activism for plural rights begins and ends at the word sysmed, you aren't doing anything to combat sysmedical beliefs. You're just keeping the bigots angry.

...

Not long ago, I used the term sysmed for myself. I still look back with disgust at my prior self, and force myself to love him for what he survived, how he did it, even if it was "wrong." Even if we're still "the bad guy" because we love our past self, because we fought to survive and change. Because we had once been bigoted, but we didn't hold that against us.

I still look back at messages sent in a plural server I'm in about how "I honestly both wanna try to figure out what makes them tick and also wanna run in the opposite direction of them" and how they would like to preemptively kick me from their server since I was "so confusing." I doubt that individual remembers saying it, and I don't hold it against them. I would be uncomfortable around me too.

I just also have my own shoes to wear, and my own perspective to see, and looking back now, I know why I used that term. It wasn't... fucking reclaiming, or whatever I said to myself to live in mental health hell denial for a little bit longer.

It was so that, since nobody gave a single fucking shit about me, at least I knew the reason why.

Because I was a bigot. And I deserved every ounce of hate I got.

Right?

...

So, my thoughts on sysmed, and hopefully this'll be the last time I mention this.

The term, as it is used currently in the community, forces those with bigoted mentalities -- mentalities they may or may not even be aware of being bigoted -- to remain bigoted. It slots people into The Bad Guy role effortlessly, allowing people to dehumanize bigotry when the source of bigotry is how people treat others. Dehumanizing bigotry only encourages the spread of it.

I think there are times in discussions where it's used properly. I've seen sysmed used to genuinely discuss an individual's beliefs and how they were, specifically, medicalizing all of the varied forms of systemhood/plurality/multiplicity, and how that was wrong. It's so, so rarely, but I've seen it. I've even used the term in discussion before, though sparingly, as I rarely find use for it in discussion.

But 99.99 times out of 100, it is used to insult someone else.

...

I'm a teacher. I don't know about you, but I never learned -- and I absolutely do not fucking teach -- through shame.

And the term sysmed only shames people into doing what you want them to.

If you want people to learn -- to grow -- then you have to fucking work for it. Not rely on a catchy term.

...

(Below, I'm going to include a screenshot from a discussion I had about this in another server. For context, I had just said that I also feel a lot of discomfort for the terms TERF and transmed. I couldn't find a good way to squeeze in this part of the discussion, so have a bonus.)

[yueyehua]

Hey I'm doing some fanlore edits (https://fanlore.org/wiki/Daomu_Biji) and do you have any sources for popular ships in Chinese fandom? I basically just cut it down to pingxie and heihua because those were the ones showing up in 2021 lofter data (https://hardwareabstractionlayer.tumblr.com/post/649989752761810944/the-top-100-ships-in-chinese-fandom-according-to) and like basically ONLY pingxie is on ao3 in any numbers but I'm pretty sure HuaXie was a whole big thing I just can't find a source for it... Thanks in advance!

hi! i don't know if i'm necessarily the best person to answer this question because my incursions into the chinese DMBJ fandom are very curated and basically mostly limited to pingxie spaces, so my knowledge of other ships and their hubs is pretty sparse

that being said, finding centralized hubs to get full numbers and stats from for dmbj ships historically in the chinese fandom is complicated for a number of reasons, one of them being that DMBJ is an older fandom, which means a number of fics were hosted on websites and forums that no longer exist. another is that due to the state of chinese internet, fans also host fics and fan art of ships in closed access forums that are sometimes more or less difficult to gain entry to so as to create safe spaces. that being said, there are still ways to somewhat measure the current popularity of a ship. since this is an ask, i figured i'd turn this into a small informative post if anyone is interested in a surface level overview of what's popular in the chinese fandom by comparison to the english-speaking one. just keep in mind that because of all the above reasons, this is only ever going to be an overview of what's currently popular in general and not everything that exists, because arguably probably everything exists in some capacity, and of course this is all very surface level, so i'm sure someone else could do a more in-depth deep dive, especially if they get around more

disclaimer: because i know some might take this the wrong way, to be clear this is NOT meant to spark any kind of discourse surrounding ships, nor is it here to say that some ships are "better" than others. it's purely numbers i've tried to present as objectively as possible, mostly to provide comparison between two different sides of the fandom that behave differently and have sometimes vastly differing preferences

Chinese DMBJ Fandom Ship Popularity

to start off, i think it's relevant to point out that ao3 isn't the best way to measure a ship's popularity in chinese fandoms even if it can give you a rough idea. it can get you rankings to some extent (and even then it really depends), but the numbers aren't going to be at all accurate considering ao3 isn't the platform of choice for chinese fan fiction for several reasons i won't get into here, but that i'm sure people who've been in cdrama/novel fandoms are probably aware of

so your best bet to get any sort of idea of what ships are most popular is by looking at how they rank on big public platforms, namely lofter and weibo

lofter has yearly rankings like the one OP mentioned that people talk about, and it's a fairly good way to get an idea since it's a pretty popular blogging website for fan fics and fan art. lofter isn't cooperating with me right now, but i'll be using the data compiled for end of 2023 (or as of february 2024) by this bilibili video for the 200 most popular ships on lofter. among those 200 most popular ships, 3 of them are DMBJ ships, and are ranked as follows:

XiePing (not to be confused with PingXie, because yes, chinese fandom differentiates ships by top/bottom dynamic) at #120

HeiHua at #25

PingXie at #2

no other DMBJ ships make an appearance on this list, and if nothing else, it tells you not only that both PingXie and HeiHua are by far the most popular DMBJ ships in general, but also gives you an idea of just how insanely popular DMBJ is in china overall to have three ships in the top of a general fandoms ranking

next we have weibo where getting an idea of a ship's popularity is a bit different, and there are multiple ways to do it, but one of the easiest ones to get an idea is by looking at how high a ship's super topic ranks on both the real time and weekly popularity rankings. super topics function similarly to how communities work on X and aren't tags, so not everything tagged with a ship is necessarily going to reflect what's posted in the super topic and vice-versa, but it still gives something of an idea of overall popularity. looking at the today's super topic ranking in the fictional characters category, again the same two ships show up in the rankings:

HeiHua at #23

PingXie at #5

for the sake of comparison, because it's easier to actually see figures with weibo super topics, i also looked up both other ships that do get some traction in the chinese fandom despite being less popular, as well as ships that the english-speaking fandom tends to talk more actively about (in tumblr spaces anyway)

HuaXie at #174, which has an audience, but the numbers are already very different and speak to the fact it's generally speaking a smaller ship as of now (for reference, 万 that you see on these pictures is a unit for ten thousand, so here 1.1 万= 11,000)

HeiPing (unranked), which is in somewhat of a similar situation as HuaXie, but considering HuaXie is ranked, it's safe to say that's probably the only other ship that's even remotely popular by comparison to the two giants that are PingXie and HeiHua

allXie at #160, which is less a ship and more of a bottom!wu xie enjoyers cocktail that has a little bit of everything under the sun, though is mostly a mix of wu xie being shipped with some of the main male characters (i.e. xiaoge, hei xiazi, xiao hua) as well as other more minor characters such as zhang haike notably. it's not really a thing in the english-speaking fandom, but it's worth mentioning because it does exist enough to be represented

PangXie (unranked), which is quite honestly one of the bigger contrasts between the chinese fandom and the english-speaking one in that this ship is pretty much non-existant, or at least i've never seen fan fiction for it. again, my view of things is biased because my experience is deliberately curated so it's entirely possible there are things i just don't see, but the numbers don't seem to contradict that impression

PangYun (unranked), which i'm providing here mostly because pangzi is most often shipped with yuncai (and usually as a sideship that i can tell), though these numbers aren't necessarily representative of what content exists for this ship, since most things tagged as PangYun are posted to the general DMBJ super topic. if anything this mostly gives the impression the ship doesn't have much of a dedicated following, especially given it's part of the other category rather than the fictional characters category

PingSang (unranked), which is one of the only two ships that have any kind of following that involve liu sang, is also in the other category, and along with PangXie and his other most notable ship, is most definitely a rarepair, which is another notable difference with part of the english-speaking fandom where liu sang ships tend to be both fairly popular and have active communities

CanSang (unranked), which is in yet another category (CP as in couple as in ship), though this one's rarepair status might be explained by the fact that, if you couldn't already tell, the chinese fandom has little to zero interest in secondary or minor characters, and beyond that, the core of the chinese DMBJ fandom doesn't care much for the dramas/live action adaptations and is largely centered around the books, so given the premise of this ship is based in the adaptations, it's not surprising

Iron Triangle at #65 is getting a special mention, not only because it is ranked, but also because it's not necessarily what you think. the 角色 or fictional characters category for super topics isn't limited to ships, so you also have super topics for characters on their own in it. what chinese fandom considers to be the six main DMBJ characters, aka wu xie, xiaoge, pangzi, xiao hua, hei xiazi, and huo xiuxiu, each have their own super topics that are in the top 200. the iron triangle topic is ranked, but it's more in the same vein as those, that is to say it's a gen super topic, not a ship super topic. the chinese fandom doesn't seem to be into polyships in general, so that might explain it

i'm not sure how informative this post is, since i get the feeling some of this information is either obvious or things that people already know more or less, and i'm also not sure it really answers OP's question about finding reliable sources for numbers, but it's a surface level attempt. if anyone has more in-dept knowledge or would like to add onto this with different sources or data feel free to!

[rwpolls]

hello rain world enjoyers :) i created this blog to post solely rain world related polls because i get a little curious sometimes! feel free to suggest poll ideas if you want! my activity may be sporadic at times, i apologize for any inconveniences.

regarding requests, please be as clear as possible in your ask. i can't post a poll if i don't know what the question or options are supposed to be.

i won't post requests that i think are too likely to spark discourse or arguments. this isn't the kind of blog for that.

on that note, don't post inflammatory comments aimed towards other voters on my polls. i welcome negative opinions on aspects of the game itself as some of my polls are specifically asking for those kinds of responses, but don't be an asshole to other people. it's fine if someone else has different preferences or a different way of playing the game than you.

[wanderersrest]

A Spoilery Rant About Iron-Blooded Orphans

I came across a take on Reddit today pertaining to one of my favorite Gundam series in the franchise, Iron-Blooded Orphans. It's a fairly common take, and one that is, in my mind, just flat out wrong.

Spoilers below, and also content warning for pedophilia, genocide, and media literacy.

Also, fun fact: Tumblr's gif keyboard has a lot of Ein Dalton gifs. So that's cool.

ORGA AND McGILLIS ARE NOT THE BAD GUYS

If you can somehow look at Orga Itsuka, a character who leads a group of child soldiers that are struggling to make a living for themselves, and McGillis Fareed, a character who fights to change the world due to being a victim of child sexual assault by his own adopted father, I can't. I can kind of understand saying that about McGillis, especially since he's a classic Char Clone (backstabbing for self-gain included), but to be fair, McGillis really needs therapy. And IBO wouldn't be interesting if he solved his issues by being rational.

Orga's only crime, on the other hand, is being a dumbass. And this isn't an issue that only arises in season 2. It's present in season 1 as well, it's just that for the majority of season 1 he has Biscuit to play the voice of reason. Even then, Orga's goals are pretty noble if misguided, as all he really wants to do is guide the other kids of Tekkadan to a future where they have a place they belong. Because, you know, they're all expendable child soldiers. The first episode of the series has a moment where their previous employers use them as fodder while they escape with all of their money and capital.

And this is really what gets my goat with this take. People will talk about how Orga and McGillis are the real bad guys, but it's almost as if one person is kind of a well-meaning if hotheaded kid who only knows how to solve problems by using brute force and luck, and the other is an insane man who believes that having the original Gundam (this being the ASW-G-01 Bael, not the RX-78-2 Gundam) will be the key to solving all of the world's problems. This isn't even touching on the fact that this take whitewashes the actions of the actual antagonists of the show, Rustal Elion and Nobliss Gordon. Reminder that Rustal is a war criminal who commits multiple false flag operations to incriminate Tekkadan, and Nobliss is a war profiteer who benefits from all of this conflict no matter what.

I get not liking the ending of this series. It's bleak as all spark, and it's the culmination of a series of episodes that's basically the viewer getting kicked in the crotch repeatedly like they're Aki from Chainsaw Man. I get that people are probably sick of the whole "media literacy is dead" discourse. I am too. I especially hate when people use media literacy as a cudgel to bash people for making takes that others don't agree with. But I'm *this* close to turning into Ein Dalton and screaming "KUDELIA AINA BURNSTEIN" Isao Ota because of this take. Because the idea that "Orga and McGillis are the bad guys, ackshually" ignores both character's backstories while absolving actual evil characters like Rustal, Nobliss, and everyone's favorite failson Iok Kujan of their wrongdoing. One day, I'll talk about Iron-Blooded Orphans in earnest. I just needed to get this off of my chest because of how often this take turns up in online discussion. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going finish my transformation into Isao Ota post about Patlabor.

[tortured-demigods-department]

an unhinged (and unofficial) dissertation on the pjo fandom

so i don't usually post anything that isn't my-works-related, but i had a...mildly heated discussion with a fellow film student tonight about the pjo show and it's got me thinking. bear with me, we'll be here awhile.

as we all know, the first season of pjo has ended. i've stayed relatively OFF tumblr and other social media during this time, but i know there are a lot of OG fans who are (in their words) "massively disappointed" in the show. most of the complaints i've heard have been during in person conversations though, so this post is mostly going to be referencing real complaints i've heard.

i've been a part of this fandom since i was thirteen. that's nearly eight fucking years of my life that i've devoted to the pjo universe. i have written and consumed YEARS' worth of fanfiction, i have read and reread every book so many times i can quote them forwards and backwards, and i went to the bookstore every single year on the new books' release dates to pick up my copies in-person. this fandom, these characters and this world have brought so much joy to my life, and i don't think i could ever fully articulate that in words. when i think of this series, i genuinely feel nothing but happiness.

but a few years ago—around the time i started college—i started distancing myself from the fandom for one glaring reason. this fandom can be such an...angry place? like, genuinely, i don't know how far it goes back—maybe all the way to the release of HoA, honestly—but i wasn't here pre-HoA, so all i know is that i very much remember how much people hated ToA when it came out.

here i was, having the TIME of my life with apollo and his silly little haikus, and people are going to war over how the series' writing quality has gone to shit and how everything was better before, blah, blah, blah. IN SPITE of everything that series gave us—discussion of the repercussions of child abuse and ptsd, representation of lgbtqa+ characters, and deep psychological messages that really teach young readers, i think, how to better understand themselves and their emotions and deal with them in healthy ways. and it just wasn't fun to be in a fandom where, as soon as you go "hey, did you read the new book?" they scoff and roll their eyes and only want to talk about how terrible it is. (i also missed all the discourse on the sun and the star when it came out—PHENOMENAL read, btw—but i've read some things that lead me to believe that it wasn't well received either, in spite of how lovely it was.)

so...it's dramatic to say i "left" the fandom, but i certainly withdrew from it. deleted my pjo ao3 and tumblr, started over with a different fandom. but the love has always been there, and the show starting really helped spark it fully back to life.

but now, the same thing is happening again, i'm noticing. remember back in the day, when we only had the shitty fucking movies, and we were like "man, ANYTHING would be better than this garbage. literally just give us actors who are the right age and we'll be happy." well, now we have PHENOMENAL kid actors who genuinely are having a good time playing our beloved characters, and instead of supporting them, we're STILL complaining about them not being "portrayed correctly"?

i've talked to so many people who complain that percy is "too smart," which is kind of a bullshit insult to percy's canon character. in the books (at least the first five) we're seeing things ONLY from percy's pov. he's a kid who's struggled with learning disabilities and been told he's an idiot all his life by everyone except his mom—but as others have pointed out way more eloquently than i could, percy is a very intelligent and powerful individual while maintaining his goofy fun personality, which is WHY so many people love him so much. he's complex, and i think they managed to capture that really well in the show even amidst all the changes.

don't get me started on the fucking racism towards leah sava jeffries—i'm honest to gods ashamed that there are racists who call themselves pjo fans. she is so talented, and everything we ever could have hoped for in an on-screen annabeth. ALL of the kids are—there's literally no argument to be had there.

and then, if people aren't complaining about the casting, it's the series' writing. or there's too much exposition. rick is changing too many things. the directors don't know what they're doing. it's not a TRUE book adaptation. (someone said that to me, and i genuinely laughed because i thought they were joking. when the MOVIES exist, they wanted to make that comment about the show.)

are there some things i would change about the show, given the opportunity? god, yes. the set design for the underworld was horrendous. (in my opinion, of course.) but here's the thing. i have spent eight years of my life waiting for this show to happen, and in that time, i've learned a lot about how much goes into successfully producing such a complex series. how much money and time is spent, and how many people have to be on board to make it happen. it's genuinely kind of miraculous that we're even getting this show at all, considering all the ways it could have failed before it even made it out of pre-production.

and i think we, as fans, sometimes forget that we aren't owed this. we don't own the percy jackson franchise. it makes me so sick and tired when authors or artists in any capacity feel like they have to cater their works to the masses, because they know they'll get thrown into the fucking fire if they don't. rick and becky riordan didn't have to got to the trouble of producing this show for us. they chose to—everyone involved chose to—because they wanted to make something fun and enjoyable not only for the fans, but everyone who chose to be a part of it.

do you know how insane it is that, when you read pretty much any interview of pjo bts, everyone talks about how fun the production was? i've been on film sets. they can be ABSOLUTELY miserable when they're not done right. but eight months into production, the kids were still laughing and having a good time, everyone's still giving 100%, they're excited, it's fun. walker was willing to go into a diving tank for a full fucking day in order to get one scene—i know i would never have that kind of dedication, and i bet 99% of you wouldn't either.

i know this has gotten really long-winded, but i've said all of that to say that...i'm kind of tired of fans trying to bring down the show, and more than that, trying to bring down each other for having a good time. as i've said before (many times, i'm sure), i waited eight years for this, and i have had SUCH a fun time watching it. assuming we get a season 2 renewal, there are going to be even more new fans coming in than we've already gotten from season 1, and i want this fandom to be a fun and positive place for them. for all of us. we don't have to miserable and angry all time. we can critique the show, sure—it's not perfect, and it was never going to be—but we have to remember that television is an art form, and that art is subjective even when it involves our favorite characters. and we can accept that and still have a good time, because it's just more fun to have fun, you know?

this fandom has always had so much potential to be the BIGGEST, most supportive and kind and loving fandom. with how much representation this series has, with how much content we've been given, with the SHEER massive number of us...i've always thought we could be a really, really great community. maybe it's impossible to hope that we could be the best fandom on earth, but if nothing else...could we all try to just be a little bit kinder? genuinely, as cheesy as it may sound...it's just nicer when we're nice to each other. and when there's so many real things in the world to be mad about...i would much rather this be a place where we can come to at the end of a long day and just...feel at home. personally, i just think that would be really, really nice.

[whompthatsucker1981]

been thinking abt the gay sex cats post again. while the original point of the post is something for shits and giggles i would say to my art classmates after class, in extreme summary it still kinda stands, popular post making me wanna bash my head against the wall notwisthstanding. even if i hadn't put out a wall of text that was fueled by 1. being a few days out of the surgery table and still on various medications, 2. having read billy bat in two days and therefore having a fuck ton of thoughts about art, and 3. being immensely frustrated that people unironically used human soul of art spark of creativity etc as a talking point wrt generative art; the gist of my point is that you can't win any discussion about what gets to be art by appealing to idealist ideas of soul, creativity, or genius. it's been settled for more or less a century now. a tool is a tool, art can be made out of anything, and the medium is part of the message. end of that post.

of course the regret of anyone that has put out a popular post in whatever Discourse there is is that you can't leave a post scriptum disclaimer that yeah. of course this isn't the entirety of the subject. because everyone that has ever written a post never made a second post because the first covered everything. lol. that's why it continued in my askbox. as in, the issue with quote unquote ai art isnt philosophical or metaphysical, but of labor, and that it is as in marxist division of labor, not whatever people with small business owner brain make it out to be centered on copyright and potentially owed royalties that gets called an issue of labor. ai art is a threat as long as it is a tool in the hands of capitalists to hold working artists hostage. it's not the first tool to be used like that against laborers in art (and obviously other laborers too, but since people have bad idealist views on art it's what gets seen as more of an issue and an outrage lol) and it certainly won't be the last. tighter copyright laws wouldn't have saved any individual artist to ever upload works publically online, if anything abolishing copyright, even if just in regards to generative art would make it so the tool loses its leverage against the worker. also copyright as an argument misses the point because it's not a problem of any person uploading images missing out on royalties they could have earned with use of their images, if there's anything we were supposed to have learned from the nft shitshow is that right click saving isn't fucking stealing. art exists in The Age Of Mechanical And Digital Reproduction. what's more damning is that we take for granted that publically avaliable images and data online are able to be bought and sold from third parties to other parties for fun and profit in the first place, data privacy is more of an issue to machine learning than supposedly lax copyright law could ever be

and the things unsaid are the most frustrating; i did hammer home the point that you can't win an argument on art and meaning by appealing to creativity, soul and genius, but it was at the cost of having things unsaid, and that having a post become popular sucks ass in an unbelievable way. i also have regrets with regards to my tone but i was a bit silly from having read all of billy bat in two days, so even if i cringed afterwards i understand why. and with that is also the unsaid matter of taste. unlike the actual political arguments, i'm not mad that it got passed on, and i think it's better to say my two cents now with some hindsight. the gimmick of ai art is getting old now, people without art education are realizing that a program that can output pretty pictures doesn't mean you can get instant clout and a career out of it, especially with public opinion on the subject ranging from people cringing at it or being actively hostile. in the end artisanal artstation/instagram slop is gonna prevail over ai generated artstation/instagram slop in the content machine, especially since the idealistic views on art also include upholding the grindset. i think the only people left that are gonna keep relying on generative art are people with an insatiable fetish, people who think there aren't enough thomas kinkade paintings to use in their facebook posts, people who understand the comedic value of slop, and people with enough patience to mess with with image processing softwares as to get something satisfactory out of it, which is to say, artists.

[saturns-rings-sys]

Octocons recent statement on privacy and their stance on non traumagenic systems posted to discord:

Hi, I'd like to do a bit of clarification here. There's word going around (especially on platforms such as Tumblr and TikTok) that we're "anti-endo" and are going to go on "user crusades" to ban non-traumagenics like certain other SP/PK alternatives did.

**This has not happened and will never happen.**

We consider our community to be *traumacentric*, in the sense that our platform was designed specifically for people with traumagenic/medical DID/OSDD in mind. We explicitly develop our platform to accommodate symptoms such as dissociative amnesia. We are **not** going to stop anyone from using the app or bot, we just ask that our *Discord community* sticks to that theme so we can form a proper support group around that demographic. Going on "endogenic crusades" would be uncouth, childish, against our values, and quite frankly absurd.

**We have a neutral stance on systems not caused by trauma. Our platform just isn't designed for them nor around them.** If you came here with the intention of sparking discourse regarding this subject, please leave.

A part that bothers me in particular is that this also implies that we would violate user privacy (or have *already* violated it, which is even worse). As stated in our [privacy policy](https://octocon.app/docs/platform/privacy), this is also **not** the case. We will **never** look into someone's account unless we are legally forced to do so under U.S. law, or that person volunteers to share some information to help us fix a bug, at which point we will **consensually** collect as little information as possible.

I ask that anyone who notices this kind of rhetoric going around on external platforms help us to clarify any misinformation. It would help lessen our workload immensely so we can focus on developing features, fixing bugs, and stabilizing our community. For those of you I've seen who have already helped with this, **I thank you** from the bottom of my heart.

\- Atlas

(This is copied directly from the discord server, I do not have any claim to this information, I am just sharing it)

Apologies for spreading misinformation about them being anti endo, I had seen it posted everywhere and so believed it, I should have done more in depth research sorry.

[absolutehomosexuals]

We're delighted to announce that we received more indirect backlash!

While it's satisfying to see that our most insignificant opinion is still sparking so much outrage, it's sad to see people who quote our posts verbatim and still won't debate with us -about the things they care so deeply about-, and instead prefer to indirect us after inhibiting us from answering.

But since we aren't the part that's afraid of confrontation, we're very happy to address all your concerns -because we're clearly not talking about arguments here-.

Let's start with @kingtycoon13 ; we're happy you enjoy Gale's romance with a male Tav so much, to each their own.

We hope that the fact that two people, the two admins of this blog, reading his character as straight doesn't ruin the kind of story you enjoy playing and fantasizing about.

Because if this were the case, we wouldn't be the ones who are limiting you and your imagination, but the fact you can't enjoy something unless everyone in your space wholeheartedly supports it. Judging by the outrage that pervades your post, our concern isn't far from the truth.

About the old but gold parroting of "Larian said every character is pansexual", we actually have a really good post that addresses this argument, quoting the very interview that is so dear to every one of you, so we invite you and every one who is concerned about the sacred canon to check it out: https://www.tumblr.com/absolutehomosexuals/752166291461292032/after-all-the-backlash-we-received-we-decided-to?source=share

The second half of your post is what worries us the most. As we already stated, you claim you can't just enjoy your favourite romance because the whole fandom doesn't agree with you.

You realize it isn't the supposed biphobia that is making you shake, it's the fact that your personal interpretation of a character, something that depends on your personal taste, isn't what every single person who's ever played BG3 shares.

We're the ones that made a blog specifically about the sexual orientation of a particular character, and yet we aren't the most pressed ones about the matter. That's ironic to say the least.

But let's talk about the other user who answered your prayer now.

So @onlyancunin is convinced that we lack imagination -because that's the only reason why you'd interpret a character as straight. Or gay and lesbian I guess, since the "problem" you're pointing out is specifically about not seeing a character as bi or pan.

What you're saying is that reading any character as not attracted to both sexes is a lacking approach. You're stating that thinking Gale isn't attracted to men is limiting, and following that same argument you could say that reading Astarion as gay or Lae'zel as a lesbian is the same: it's boring.

That's the thing we despise the most about this fandom: the fact that it's widely accepted to say that any sexual orientation that isn't bi/pansexuality is boring, less imaginative or limiting.

And as two lesbians, this approach pisses us off to an immense degree: trust us, we hate sounding like those people who throw their sexual orientation in the discussion just to gain sympathy points, but specifying this is crucial to the argument.

Because why is interpreting every single companion as the same exact thing more interesting than recognising some of them as lesbians, some as bi, some as gay and some as straight? Why don't you think every sexuality is equally enriching for each character's personal story?

We're not here to convince anyone, to instil pity in you crying out about any kind of -phobia and oppression, to guilt trip you into caring about headcanons that simply aren't your cup of tea.

We're just pointing out how ridiculous the approach to this discourse is getting.