#'but that character they like is problematic!!'

[scarletfasinera]

Like no, it isn't problematic to like Magneto, and no, most writers actually don't write Magneto with intent of him being a Zionist or based on a Zionist, and no I don't think Magneto is a Zionist in the present day. But it's impossible to separate Claremont's intentions from that era of the character's history, when he EXPLICITLY STATED that he based his characterization of Magneto on Menachem Begin and was inspired to do so while he himself was living in Israel, especially when that particular era was what popularized Magneto as a character and is the most well-known version of the character. You can like a character and examine the problematic aspects of a character's history. And we all know Claremont has shitty politics that he incorporated into his writing all the time, I don't understand why it's beyond the realm of belief that this would also apply to his writing of Magneto...

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

one of the things I see the most in any fandom space is pearl clutching people saying how “shocked” they are when it turns out a “problematic” ship or a “problematic” character is loved a lot in said fandom.

the most recent example for me would be from this poll where it asks people to vote which ship they like the most, thousands of fans have voted, and the results happen to show the ship that is — according to these people — most problematic has won. needless to say, hundreds of these “noble people who usually harass real people, who just want to ship their little ship in peace, over fictional characters in the name of being morally superior” are so shocked that such a “harmful and problematic” ship is the one that is most liked within the fandom they’re in.

I mean… I don’t know what to tell you, but just because you’re “loud” and you like to “witch hunt” people who enjoy fictional things that you think is Bad, doesn’t mean the ship or the character you deemed Problematic is actually hated by the majority of the fandom you’re in.

sure, you are allowed to hate these ships and these characters for any reason, but other people are allowed to like them. and surprise surprise, the world doesn’t revolve around you and your mindset that Liking Bad Fictional Things Equals Condoning Bad Things in Real Life.

shocking, I know. but most sane people can actually distinguish the differences between fiction and reality. and that’s why people who like fictional villains aren’t actually serial killer in real life.

fandom is and has always supposed to be a safe and fun space in which anyone can like and enjoy whatever they want. it never is, and it’s never supposed to be a courtroom where someone’s moral compass is judged based on how they enjoy Fictional Things. because the whole point of enjoying a ship or liking a fictional character is that it’s fictitious, it’s not real. no one in real life is getting killed because a hot fictional villain is loved by hundreds and thousands of fans.

I hope you feel better soon though 🤍

[bumblydumbly]

if i see one more post about letting dunmeshi characters be “problematic” when its LITERALLY just cultural differences colliding im gonna SNAP

[yannaryartside]

Marcus is selling his house

At the beginning I thought syd was in his new apartment here, but is says for sale and I don't think she will be buying anything.

Also I love to see Marcus, he is like a safe boat in this tempest of a show. Pete and Marcus are one of the 5 non problematic male characters in this show.

[nitewrighter]

Re: Lois in episode 2, I don’t think Clark ever *told* Lois that all the Kryptonians are dead???? And the only experience she’s ever had with opening Kryptonian portals was immediate invasion. And if she doesn’t know that there aren’t really any left *to* invade? Her fear seems incredibly reasonable for the information she has.

This version of Clark can not communicate to save his life. And I think a big part of why Lois is constantly putting her foot in her mouth is because she’s going off half the information at any given time.

They both mean well, but their character flaws are bumping against each other in REALLY interesting ways and I’m excited to see where it goes.

Yeah no exactly! Like, we, as viewers, have had months to pore over details and imagine all the therapyspeak-riddled hurt/comfort conversations Clark should have with his friends (*cough* my closing Clois conversation in 'Scoops!', for example), but in the actual show, IT'S ONLY BEEN THREE MONTHS SINCE THANKSGIVING AND EVERYONE IS SO CAUGHT UP IN OVERWHELMING SHIT THAT THEY BARELY HAVE TIME TO ARTICULATE THEIR OWN FEELINGS TO THEMSELVES, LET ALONE EACH OTHER. And also because Superman is such a big pop icon of course we as the viewers are more inclined to be like "Noooo Krypton's not eeeeevil! Clark, Lois, it's not eeeeeevil!"

And honestly--while I'm talking about Krypton--I've read enough Byrne and Bronze age comics where I'm in the space that I'm not completely opposed to a more messy and morally complex Krypton--I don't mind a Krypton that's as flawed as we are, and we're pretty fucking flawed! I feel like everyone's so inclined to view a problematic Krypton as like, "See! This writer is saying that Krypton had X, Y, Z problems, so this writer is arguing that it deserved to be blown up!" And it's like... no??? No one deserves to be blown up just because their society is flawed??? Have we not been paying attention to Superman, the "I do literally everything I can to protect Life regardless of how shitty and cruel it can be" superhero??? Do you not see Krypton's flaws as a natural exploration of sci-fi concepts because it's "a world of tomorrow?"

This is also why the YA House of El graphic novel duology is good, because it's basically two teens going, "Oh shit, Krypton's kind of Bene Gesserit'd itself into a corner--we got so caught up in creating a perfect society that we've actually created massive inequities" and it only makes them want to save their world more because they're made aware of how much they have to live for even outside the confines of societal expectations. Like--flaws in a person or in a society shouldn't instantly activate your "Kill it with fire" instincts--which I'm realizing probably has pretty heavy implications regarding the fact that Superman has heat vision--He can perceive and destroy in an instant, he can destroy through perception, but he makes the constant choice not to.

...this got off-track from your ask. Yeah I'm simultaneously looking forward to and bracing myself for the inevitable Clois drama this season.

[clockworkspider]

The funniest thing that comes out of the obsession with media representation is you get all these people criticizing a work for portrayal of problematic queer character or abuse survivor or mentally ill character being like "THIS DOES NOT REPRESENT ME!" even when the writer is clearly writing from THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE.

Like. Yeah, clearly not! Since you're so eager to cut yourself off from freaks in your own community. Have you considered that not every fictional character is suppose to represent you specifically??

[andrewblur]

the thing about the 911 fandom that annoys me so bad is that you guys cant be normal about anything ever. just say you don’t like a character. its okay. ur allowed to find characters/relationships annoying without it being some weird problematic predatory thing.

[thevampiresiiren]

There needs to be a deeper discussion about the racism in the Interview With The Vampire fandom, how so many of those fans seem to idolize Anne Rice while ignoring how awful of a person she was, how some of those fans talk about and treat the poc characters and how some of the very problematic themes of those books have seemed to have bled into the AMC show. Like it is really wild to see how black fans are treated by white Anne Rice stans. There are people in 2024 who are still defending Anne Rice like she's a relative to them. The way they talk about show Louis, Armand and Claudia. How some of them view Lestat as some sort of savior.

Obviously I like IWTV but I'm not a fan of Anne Rice and the way she spoke in her books. So many people try to give her pass by ignoring her racism, how she framed Claudia's situation, etc. but she doesn’t deserve a pass, she's the reason why so many racists feel comfortable in the fanbase in the first place. Feel free to use this post as a way to give your thoughts and opinions on the conversation.

[writers-potion]

hey friend, do you think an age gap between the ages of 28-35 is weird? an idea popped in my mind but i don’t wanna feel creep by writing it 😭😭😭

Writing Relationships with a Large Age Gap

To answer your question: no, I don't think it's weird. I don't think 28-35 is really that large of an age gap, honestly.

I might be overthinking, but if you feel uncomfortable writing that relationship, think about the following:

Is there a large power/status gap between the characters that makes the relationship less than equal?

Are either of your characters trying to take advantage of their age? (Like the older one trying to control the other)

Given the cultural/periodic background of your novel, was such a thing very uncommon? If yes, is their backstory strong enough?

Is one of your character not acting their age to make the relationship work?

Additional notes:

A 7-year age gap between adults with enough life experience (a person of 28 is considered as having enough experience for me) is different from an adult dating a minor (that's just...problematic) or even someone in their early twenties.

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[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Not really an ask, but I just wanted to thank you and all the other critics that speak about how much of an actual shitshow SPOP was when dealing with C*tra.

For the longest time, I shipped C*tr*dora because I was an impressionable kid who saw them kiss and didn't realize that Canon ships can suck and still be Canon. I didn't Stan C*tra or anything, but I did try defending her one time to my irl friends and my only arguments were that:

A) She's Adora's girlfriend so there has to be good in her (yeah no)

And B) She was "redeemed".

But what actually got me second-guessing C*tra and her fans was when I saw a post about the S4 Glimmadora argument and saw hundreds of comments going; "Glimmer is so selfish!" "Glimmer is a horrible person!" "This is why C*tra is better than Glimmer."

And I was and still am the biggest Glimmer fan, and it made me upset. I mean, Glimmer literally lost her mom and was given basically no time to grieve. It didn't excuse her actions, but everyone kept talking about her like she was a villain trying to destroy the world. And then I thought;

'Didn't C*tra actually destroy the world?' And that got me in this deep rabbit hole of realizing C*tra and C*tr*dora is abusive in so many ways and telling myself I was crazy because so many people were defending her. But then I saw one of your posts, scrolled through your blog and realized; 'Oh, I'm not crazy. C*tra is a horrible person and her stans are just delusional.' It even made me realize how fucked up the show was in so many other aspects; The incest, the leash, the fact that the only enby character was a lizard, and so much more.

So thank you and all the other critics out there that might help give people validation or help people open their eyes.

Thank you. 💙

i'm glad you found my blog and other critic blogs helpful! i know that anti blogs generally have a reputation for nitpicking on unnecessary details and ruining the fun, but that was never what i wanted to do with mine. i didn't expect all of c//a stans to immediately understand my point and stop shipping c//a (most of them don't even pay attention to what we're saying, let alone try to understand) but getting asks like yours really renews my faith in humanity.

i try not to judge what other people ship or to project my moral compass too much into fiction but the problem with c//a isn't that it's toxic, it's the fact that it's heavily romanticized. if they merely wanted to explore an abusive relationship in fiction, that's not a problem. it's quite healthy, actually. but the fact that they imply that this is a healthy relationship and a lot of the fans defend this ship to hell and back is really concerning.

and yes, like you said, it's really hypocritical of fans to villanize glimmer so much for two mistakes that the narrative held her accountable for, while coddling catra who had to face exactly zero consequences for her actions.

i completely understand how you felt, it can often be daunting to be the only one to actually see things as they are, instead of blindly believing what the writers say because the rest of the fandom does. i didn't ship c//a at all but i felt the same way you did, seeing everyone praise the ship and wondering if i'm just being overdramatic.

it's only after i found an anti c//a account on instagram (@anticatradora ; they go into detail with a lot of the scenes in the show, if you want to check out their account!) that i realized that i was right, and this is actually a really weird and problematic ship that people are worshipping just because they're starved of queer representation. i understand wanting to see people like you represented in media, but there are a lot of characters and ships who are much better written and better developed than c//a.

anyway all of this to say, i'm proud of you for realizing the nuance of this situation in this hivemind of a fandom. it's always better to be open to criticism than to blindly defend a show just because you like it. thank you for this ask, it made my day! 💙

[olderthannetfic]

This isn't really a criticism, more something I realized recently and find kind amusing: there seems to always be a trend in fandoms for newer things to believe that they are way more progressive and "better" in a way than what came before.

In a way, this makes some sense, obviously things that are newer won't have some of the "problematic" elements of things made in like, the 80s or something, but not gonna lie, it's always annoying when people try to shame other fandoms for not being as "good" as their, or try to create useless fandom wars over it

Which is why it is funny when they turn out to just be wrong as time moves on. One example is with the Jujutsu Kaisen manga, i never read or watched it, but early on people would boast about how it was a super feminist anime because the ladies weren't sexualized, there were articles about how "it was revolutionizing the shonen genre with it's most feminist take" (even though there were good female characters in shonen before it)... and now most of it's female characters are fucking dead and the people saying stuff like that are really quiet

--

I'll listen to this kind of drivel when someone actually manages to pick Q.E.D. or something, and not the most bog standard weekly jump fare.

[wc-confessions]

Funny things about age gaps is that the reason FireSand is not problematic (in that aspect) is specifically thanks to bad misogynistic writing. Firepaw comes to the clan and there is a single female character conveniently his age who falls in love with him. If gaps in ages were more like post-TPB or Fireheart and Sandstorm didn't like each other, Fireheart would likely end up dating someone significantly older or younger than him

.

[reyl0ct]

I was called problematic, a red flag, and should stay in my corner and never evolve because I ship the Cat King and Edwin :3

You ppl that hate on the CatWin ship got some real problems 😂 like I can't help but laugh. Do you all not realize the Cat King was like Edwin's gay awakening?

Listen, I respect everyone's ships, but I do not understand the attacking when someone else has a different opinion than yours.

There are way more important things to fight over like fight against the ppl who wanna take rights away from women. Fight against the hate crimes that are constant against LGBTQA+ and People of color. Fight against the horrible things taking place in Gaza and Palestine 🇵🇸 But DON'T fight over stupid things like what relationships ppl like in a TV show....

And jokes on you because I literally ship all the main characters:

Edwin x Cat King? Top tier. Charles x Edwin? Fucking love it! Charles x Crystal? Fucking cuties. Edwin x Monty? Precious! Niko x Crystal? Yessssss. Charles x Monty? Pretty sure I was like the first person to start shipping them because my mind is unhinged but still 100% behind it

Point is I just don't get the absolute hate ppl recieve based on who they ship together ✨️

[beanghostprincess]

I have seen a wild amount of people complaining about the context of Wind Breaker and how "unrealistic" it is for the characters to go to school but without any teachers or adults being shown or protecting them and... First of all, realism is not what you're going to find reading a Shonen and if you want a full-on high school experience, read another manga. It is very common to skip those details as a writer because they are not interesting in the slightest and they have confirmed multiple times that all of their grades are awful, so you won't get a silly little arc about them studying, because they directly don't. To say it is "unrealistic" is to ask for boring, pointless, plotless occurrences in a Shonen manga about fighting. Are people even hearing themselves when they complain?

But it's not only from a writer's perspective skipping what's unimportant that justifies the lack of teachers and responsible adults, but the plot itself. At first, it is confusing, but I think you only have to look a bit deeper into the cultural context of the story to understand why there aren't teachers/adults shown.

I'm around chapter 100, so I am not sure this gets explained further in the manga, but my theory as to why they behave this way is pretty simple, honestly: They are poor and in ruins, and adults with the power to change things do not care about them. Easy as that.

Whether it is real or just an exaggeration of what's actually going on, it has been shown countless times (especially in Umemiya's backstory, explaining directly how authorities don't care about the kids or anybody, really) that the whole city is made for outcasts and left to rot by the government. It is not some apocalyptic bullshit, it is stuff that happens every goddamn day in real life. They go to school but they aren't shown studying and the place itself is a mess. We only see Umemiya running the school but it is confirmed that there's staff and somebody grading them somehow, despite never being shown studying or doing anything other than patrolling. But they have shown us that the city used to be extremely problematic and chaotic and only recently have things started to change for the better. Most villains and even main characters are orphans and live on their own. There's a whole arc about a group of kids being left to rot in poverty without any means to study or live a normal life. Even our main character lives on his own in a horrendous apartment. Like--

I believe you have to be blind to not see that, if this isn't just literally some people turning their backs against poor kids in a place in ruins, it is at least an exaggeration of these things happening in real life. Because they could have classes and teachers and everything you want in the manga to make it more realistic, but this is, after all, from the perspective of teenagers who can't rely on anybody but themselves. There's only so much a teacher can do, and we know most of them do nothing for these kids. So if it is "unrealistic" perhaps you aren't aware of what damn hyperboles and metaphors are, but this is from the students' points of view, and when you live in a place like this, it doesn't matter how many teachers there are or police, because they won't help. So they are directly erased from the story to be replaced with Sakura's point of view of Umemiya running the whole place.

So I think that instead of looking for realistic interpretations of their high school experience, perhaps you should empathize a little with the actual real high school experiences of people like them.

[halenhusky309]

Funny things about transformers fandom is that I notice the Western side of the fandom tends to make Optimus Prime look buff and masc while the Eastern side (specifically East Asia) of the fandom tends to make Optimus Prime look slim and fem..... Honestly, I think both ways of viewing the characters are valid to me and I enjoy seeing different interpretations of Optimus Prime...

However, I notice one side of the fandom (even the queer TF folks) tends to bash the portrayal of Optimus Prime that is too feminine, twink and submissive from the other. While there are some portrayals of feminine OP can be quite problematic and outright fetishized, not all of them are like that, and sometimes, some folks very negatively any feminine qualities attached to Optimus as if they are insulting and degrading to his character...(And I'm nothing about cis dudebros of TF fandom).

I mean I get it that TF fandom has seriously misogynistic issues, and the way folks handle anything feminine-related can be outright offensive, sexualized and fetishized. But not all twink, feminine (or even submissive) OP portrayals are bad, in fanfics and fanarts alike. There are some portrayals of fem!OP that make him very confident and comfortable with his fem sides and showcase his strengths differently. I enjoy those portrayals immensely and for me, they kinda validate the strength and beauty of femininity that is not poisoned by the male-gaze.

So in conclusion of my long-ass and incoherent rambling, do what you want with OP and let the folks enjoy making OP feminine in peace.

[bicayaya]

ana’s bday + (almost) 100 followers celebration 🍰

hiii~ june is my birthday month and i’m really close to 100 followers, so i decided to do a little event to celebrate! (this was supposed to be posted on june 1st but i’m ✨anxious✨ lol)

i’m taking thematic chibi requests in my colored sketch style 🤍

౨ৎ requests: OPEN!

to request is simple: send me an ask with 🍰 (cake emoji) + the character(s) + one of the themes below

themes:

౨ৎ afternoon tea

౨ৎ aquarium

౨ৎ beach

౨ৎ bento

౨ৎ cat cafe (in this theme exclusively, you can ask for another animal-themed cafe)

౨ৎ garden

౨ৎ ice cream

౨ৎ makeup case

౨ৎ music box

౨ৎ pond

౨ৎ snow globe

rules + important info:

౨ৎ maximum two characters per person (two requests with one character each [pls send it in different asks] or one request for a pair)

౨ৎ you can request any ikemen (ikesen, ikerev, ikevamp, ikepri or ikevil) suitor, mc and/or oc

౨ৎ if you ask for an oc, please send me references via dms

౨ৎ pairing requests can be either for suitor x suitor, suitor x mc or suitor x oc /!\ i can and will ignore ship requests if i consider the ship inappropriate or problematic /!\

౨ৎ you can also request platonic pairings, but please specify it in your ask, as default i will assume the pairings are romantic

౨ৎ the theme MUST be from my list, but feel free to send extra details you would like me to include (e.g. if you choose the theme “garden” you can send me a specific flower you would like to see in the drawing)

౨ৎ the requests are open until june 10th

౨ৎ i might take a while to finish all the drawings, so please keep that in mind when requesting

i would also like to say a thank you for everyone that supported me and my drawings ever since i started posting here! you’re all very special to me and your kind words mean the world to me 🤍