#I also read fanfiction but again I don’t really consider those as me *being* in the fandom

[bazzybelle]

Good Omens 2 and Wayward Son - A Fan's Commentary on Fandom Reactions

I’m going to start off by saying apologies for any obvious grammatical errors. I am writing purely from the heart here. 

Also, apologies to my Sandman friends. If you haven’t read The Simon Snow Trilogy, this will go over your heads. However, I have been going back and forth on writing this meta since the release of Good Omens 2, and I just finished reading a spectacular meta on queer ships becoming canon by @avelera, which you can find here (read it, it’s brilliant). Anyway, I feel now’s a good time to let out all of my feelings when it comes to Good Omens 2 and how similar it was to reading Wayward Son. 

Simon Snow friends, you all know that Wayward Son is my favourite book out of the trilogy. You also know that this can be considered a controversial take within the fandom. And I don’t mean that in a toxic way, this fandom is one of the more wholesome fandoms I’ve seen; But in the way of like… Wayward Son is itself a polarizing book. 

I say this, knowing full well what went down when Wayward Son was released. Perhaps I had the advantage of not being completely embroiled within the Simon Snow  fandom until after I’d finished reading the book, but I lived on the periphery. I followed Rainbow on Twitter (fuck you, I am not calling it X), I had saved some artwork on Pinterest (before I found out those were stolen, wherein I immediately unpinned them and deleted my fandom folders), and I was excited to get Wayward Son as soon as it came out. So much so that I asked my husband to go to the Indigo near his office and buy it because I wanted to read it right away. 

Friends, I demolished that book within a DAY. 

Then I read it again. And again. And again. 

Then I wrote my first fanfiction in eight years. 

This book changed me. But you all know that. I’ve talked about it often, and that’s not what this meta (Editorial? Opinion piece? Shouting into the void?) is about. 

What I am going to talk about is the amount of pure vitriol this book got once it was released. There was SO MUCH complaining about the book. It was too short! There was no point to it! Why aren’t Simon and Baz having sexy vampire sex? Why aren’t they living together (never mind that this was briefly discussed at the end of Carry On, but go off I guess)? 

And you know what’s even funnier? Within a couple of weeks (it might have even been days, I’m a little fuzzy on timelines) Rainbow announced the third book. We knew, right away, that Wayward Son was meant to be an in-between book! Rainbow, being a fandom person herself, has said time and time again that she had always considered Wayward Son as an in-between book, structured like The Empire Strikes Back within the Star Wars original trilogy. Like think of the in-between books of any series, they are ALWAYS the darkest ones. In order to fully appreciate the win in the end, you need to go through the tough shit. 

What I loved about Wayward Son was it took that idea and spun it. It went all “ok, yeah we dealt with the win, now let’s deal with the aftermath. Only then can we have the makeouts and sexy times these guys deserved.”  (and damn, did Any Way The Wind Blows deliver on that promise).

But I am getting away from myself again. Point is, it was always meant to be an in-between book. There was always meant to be a resolution at the end of the trilogy. But that sure as hell didn’t stop people from outright demanding Rainbow give them the happy ending NOW. Pestering her on Twitter, (not so much on Tumblr) demanding she do this, or do that, or “you better not kill Baz” (even though she has ALWAYS SAID SHE NEVER WOULD) or “they better not break up” (even though, narratively, it was heading in that direction). The closer the book got to release date, the more people complained about how awful Wayward Son was. 

It was really disheartening to see. 

Which is why I got really upset when the SAME THING happened after the release of Good Omens 2. 

(For clarification purposes, because several of my friends have spoken to me about their own personal issues with Good Omens 2. And you are all super fucking valid. I am strictly referring to the amount of anger I saw online because although Aziraphale and Crowley kissed, they didn’t have an immediate happily ever after. I am also speaking of the anger expressed because the season wasn’t wrapped up in a neat little bow.)

Like with the release of Wayward Son, people seemed to have forgotten that season 2 of Good Omens was meant to be an inbetween season. Neil Gaiman has not been shy to talk about that. He has said over and over again that Season 2 was always meant to be a bridge between the Good Omens he and Terry Pratchett wrote together, and the sequel they had been planning. 

What… did you all just forget about that? Do you not know how narrative writing works? 

It’s like people refused to take a step back and breathe for a second and appreciate the season for what it was. A beautiful romantic story (because, IT WAS! Just like Neil said it would be), as well as a lead up into what will be the epic, dramatic conclusion. No, instead people started demanding the happy ending NOW, and getting angry when Neil wouldn’t budge and offer more information (even though he never has before) (funny how people just… forgot that).

It was Wayward Son all over again.

Yeah, I’m not going to lie, I was crushed with the way Good Omens 2 left off. Just like I was so confused when Wayward Son ended out of the blue. You know what I did about that? I wrote fic, I read the book again, and I happily anticipated the upcoming final part that would tie up all the loose ends.

Know what I’m doing to heal after Good Omens 2? I’m looking at gifs, rewatching episodes, laughing at memes and crack, and hoping to all the gods of story writing that Amazon approves of a third season, so that Neil Gaiman can be allowed to finish the story he and Terry Pratchett built together.

It’s become sad to watch this feral hunger from fans demanding immediate gratification, and getting upset when it isn’t the ending or gratification they were expecting. Wayward Son came out after years of Carry On fans having nothing else but the one book. Like I said, I wasn’t part of the fandom then, so I don’t know how fans from 2015 felt upon learning they’d get more Simon and Baz. Same with Good Omens. I only really got into the fandom a few months before season 2 came out. So I don’t know how OG fans felt waiting and waiting and waiting. So maybe I have that going for me as an advantage, that my hunger wasn’t growing more and more feral. 

Then again, I’m now a part of The Sandman fandom, and we’re essentially waiting on Season 2 to start development. And while I’m hoping a few things are tweaked (like Dream and Hob’s relationship), I’d be more than fine if it stays the same as in the comics. And if they decide to go about that in an entirely different way, I’d be fine with that too. You know why? Because I’ve learned to trust the writers of the stories I love not to lead me astray. 

And if I’m unhappy with something –because nothing is ever 100% perfect, and even my favourite stories end up coming short– there are always fanfictions to write, gifs to laugh at, and fandom friends to discuss plots and meta with. 

I may have lost the point of this meta. I tend to do that, following a train of thought that doesn’t always make sense in the end. 

Fandom friends, can we all just agree to take a breath and be thankful of the stories given to us? Can we learn to appreciate the entire picture, and not just a tiny section of it? And for the love of all that is holy, can we learn to be patient and to listen when our story tellers remind us to wait and see? To trust them when they assure us that our characters will have a happy ending, even if they need to traverse a little in the dark to get there?

I sure as hell am, and I hope you will too. 

Gonna tag @carryonsimoncarryonbaz because she was instrumental in encouraging me to write this.

[chokohen]

ᯓᡣ𐭩 Hi! I’m Cho! I’ve been roleplaying and writing fanfiction for about eight years now! I took a two-year break from roleplay because I got busy, but now I intend to get back into the groove. I really miss roleplaying and hyper-fixating on original characters with others, so I hope to find that again making this post to scout partners ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹!

Cho ⁞ He/him ⁞ 18

All art by Takeshi Obata

Roleplay Status: Temporarily Closed

𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒

FYI: I will not roleplay with anyone who is a minor or under 18!

I⎯ HOW TO CONTACT ME: I roleplay exclusively on Discord, so please contact me @y2kkoko. My name is char on there, which you can also call me. You can also contact me here if you want to roleplay, however, we will take it to Discord after our initial introduction. So, you definitely need Discord to roleplay with me. If you have any further questions, you either ask under this post or click the “Ask me Anything!” on my profile!

II⎯ LITERACY LEVEL: I’ve always been literate throughout the years I’ve roleplayed. Though, as of recently, I’ve been an advanced-literate to novella roleplayer. I find it much more enjoyable being advanced-literate. I like writing detailed and lengthy replies with more than five paragraphs. Usually, my replies range from 1000-2000 words per response, so please be okay with that. I’m detail-oriented in my prose. I enjoy describing emotions and details of the environment/setting. I’ll be sure to leave an example of my writing style at the end of the post ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧!

III⎯ VOCABULARY & GRAMMAR: I don’t take this so seriously. I’m not a pro editor, but please keep your typos to a minimum. Sometimes if there are too many typos in one sentence it becomes very hard to read. As for grammar, I don’t notice any minor grammar mistakes—to this day I don’t know how a semicolon works. I’d also like to consider a lot of people on here don't have English as their first language, so I understand.

IV⎯OC CRITERIA: I’m not very picky when it comes to original characters, as long as they’re interesting and intriguing. I, myself, draw, so two out of the three of my original characters I drew. However, face claims are completely fine if they are real people, anime or art (that is credited and/or granted permission via the artist).

V⎯THEMES & GENRES: Like previously mentioned, I’m not a picky guy, so a lot of genres I’m open to roleplay. However, I do have a few I specifically love. I like romance, science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy *looks around awkwardly* and smut—ANYWAYS! When it comes to historical fiction, I’m not educate on every historical event or past-time in the world, so obviously there’s limits to what I can and can’t roleplay.

As for themes, I’m an avid enjoyer of angst, especially hurt/comfort. I’m fine with dark themes such as drug abuse and violence. However, I will not roleplay anything that’s under the umbrella of sexual assault, such as pedophelia and sexual coercion. I’m fine with sexual assault being mentioned in your character’s backstory, but that’s as far as it can go.

Though, for NSFW, I don’t know what I don’t and do like, so please communicate to me what you plan on doing if we ever roleplay smut.

VI⎯ PLOTTING: I never have plots in mind, but I do have an old stack of plots buried somewhere in my Google Docs. Though, I’m good at making them and being a helping hand according to my previous roleplay partners. With that being said, I don’t want to make a plot where I’m the only one constructing the storyline. Roleplay isn’t a one-sided effort, so, please, put mutual effort into creating and writing the scenes.

VII⎯ PAIRING CRITERIA: I don’t limit myself to any relationship dynamic, but most of and probably all of my roleplay experience is with lgbtq pairings. This includes mlm, wlw and anything under that umbrella. I don’t exclude those who are non-binary or gender non-conforming (e.g. gender fluid and two-spirit people). Since I’m a gay guy, I’ve mostly roleplayed mlm. However, even though I’ve barely roleplayed wlw, I’ve written a lot of wlw short stories and read and watched alot of wlw fiction so I’m not uneducated in that manner!

Further clarification of what I pairings I can do:

man loves man (mlm)

trans man/transmasc loves man (mlm)

non-binary/gender non-conforming loves man (nblm)

woman loves woman (wlw)

nonbinary/gender non-conforming loves nonbinary/gender non-conforming (nblnb)

trans woman/transfemme loves woman (wlw)

nonbinary/gender non-conforming loves w (nblw)

man loves woman (mlw; inexperienced)

pretty much anything.

𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐌𝐒

I⎯ JUJUTSU KAISEN: I’ve been a fan of Jujutsu Kaisen since 2021, so I know quite a lot about it. Unfortunately, I’m not completely caught up to the manga. From what I remember, I read up to chapter 210. However, I know all the spoilers and the current plot in the recent chapters either from leaks or from online gossip! I’m a huge SatoSugu shipper, and Geto is one of my all-time favourite characters! I also like Itadori and Choso ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹

II⎯ HELL’S PARADISE: JIGOKURAKU: I have only watched season one of Hell’s Paradise and only read some of the manga. However, I’m up to roleplaying any of the plot of season one (as of the time I’m posting this: May 7th, 2024). My favourite characters are the Tensen (I’m sorry, I have a love for villains), Sagiri and Yuzuriha!

III⎯ TOKYO REVENGERS: Oh, I love Tokyo Revengers so much ദ്ദി ꒦ິ꒳꒦ິ )✧! I’ve been a fan of TR since 2021, and despite the fact the manga is finished I still obsess over it to this day. My all-time favourite character is Koko, and I love him so much. I really love Inukoko, so if anyone sees this post and is both a Tokyo Revengers fan and loves Inupi x Koko, please hit me up. I’m begging to roleplay Koko in any situation possible.

IV⎯ GOKURAKUGAI/GOKURAKU DISTRICT: This manga is fairly new, but I’m in love with the plot right now, along with the art style and character designs. I’m free to play any character from this manga! My favourite from Gokurakugai is Yomi (the hot evil guy with white hair).

V⎯ CHAINSAW MAN: I’m caught up with Chainsaw Man, both part one and part two. However, I’m only like a chapter or two behind in part two. My favourites from this series is Reze, Denji, Quanxi, Makima and Aki. I love RezeDenji a lot. Lastly, I’m completely fine with playing any of the character’s I listed prior.

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐘

I⎯ TIME ZONE: My time zone is Easter Standard Time or EST/EDT. Please be at least an hour to three hours away from my time. I feel it’s really hard to roleplay with people who are five to six hours ahead of me, and let’s not even fathom how hard it would be to roleplay with someone 12 hours ahead of me. With that being said, my activity time during the week is much less than during the weekend. I am definitely active on the weekend unless I have a huge assignment or project due. I have to warn you that a few of those will come up, so I will go inactive for a few days.

II⎯ COMMUNICATION: With that being said, communication is key to keeping my future/our partnership together. I do like talking a lot out of the roleplay, discussing storyline ideas, making jokes and being compatible with my partners. Furthermore, I will tell you if I have a huge project or assignment due, or if exam season is coming up. Please do the same if you’re busy and tell me in case you can’t reply. As of now, I believe my replies will take 2-3 days, though when there’s a lot of homework I might not be able to reply until the weekend. However, I will try to talk to you OOC in the meantime!

WRITING EXAMPLE

Once again, please contact me if you read through these rules and think we are compatible! You can either DM me on here or DM me on discord @y2kkoko

[whattimeisitfic]

3, 16, 29, 30, 32

Ask game answers. I’ll put a below the cut thing because I don’t want to force anyone to read or scroll past my blocks of texts of they’re just scrolling for fun pictures in any of the tags. However if you ARE interested in Lucifer-centric angst fics PLEASE consider giving my Ao3 fanfiction “What Time Is It?” a shot! _______________________

3 - Tell me about one of your fics you think is underrated/underappreciated.

Okay, not a Hazbin Hotel or Luci fic (go figure I’ve only posted two and both are pretty well liked) but a Voltron one (again, go figure, the onky other thing I have publish. At least on Ao3). It’s one of the one-shots I have in my collection fic (probably why it’s under-appreciated). It’s called “Notice Me” and I won’t go into too much detail b/c this is definitely NOT the fanbase for it, but basically it’s just some yummy angst, pining, and just Lance feeling like shit after months of being ragged on. With a delicious little panic attack that I had lots of fun writing (there’s nothing wrong with me I swear—)

16 - Is there a type of fic you would never write?

Hmmm… that’s a good question. Definitely nothing that’s like… the really taboo shit like incest or non-LGBTQ related M!preg (sorry y’all I am NOT on the Lucifer birthed Charlie train). Also will probably not, as of right now, ever write a Lucifer ship fic with any canon characters (expect MAYBE Lilith, but even then it won’t be the focus). It’s just… NONE of his ships appeal to me (maybe b/c I just want him so bad but I didn’t say that). And obviously angst is where I live so I probably wouldn’t write anything super smutty. I’ll read it any day of the week, but I’ll stay in my little bubble of giving Lucifer a million mental breakdowns tyvm!

29 - What's your most popular fic?

Gee. I wonder:

30 - What do you struggle with most when writing?

Hmmm… this is a good question. I think there are a couple main things.

One, trying to fulfill the wishes of my ducklings while also not taking forever w/ certain plotlines. Obviously I’m not gonna please everyone all the time, but I try to include requests pretty soon after I read them if I don’t have a specific plan for them to show up in the future (B/c otherwise I WILL forget).

Two, sometimes motivation is a real bitch man. I’ll have all these ideas floating around, then open my fic and realize I can do ANY of that yet because I’ve gotta finish writing this specific part that I’m stuck on how to make it flow right. Also this is gonna sound weird but sometimes I think I straight up zone out while writing. Like if I’m bored, I’ll write and convince myself that everything I just put on the page was trash B/c I didn’t absorb any of it.

Three, proof-reading. I love it and hate it. I need to do it B/c if you’d SEEN some of the whack ass typos I’ve made you’d been pointing, laughing, stomping me into the dirt. But it also takes so much time. It’s much better in the tummy angsty chapters where I’m genuinely excited to read through it again. I’m always so worried about my lacing in certain scenes, whether it’s too fast, too slow, etc. Though, I have noticed, I am a LOT easier on myself when I proof-read in the morning or afternoon as opposed to at night. Which is a little strange but whatever.

32 - What's a fic you'd love to write, but probably never will?

Oooo… there are a LOT of like… ‘head fanfictions’ that have been kicking around up here for YEARS that I know I’ll never get around to B/c like… ugh. Here are a few that are Lucifer/Hazbin Hotel based:

Cast of HH reacts to the show fic. Okay, call me cringe but I actually eat those types of fics up and there is NONE out there. I just want people to react to how BAD Lucifer’s living and mental situation is right now and coddle him, is that so bad? But I know I never will because those kinds of fics take SO! MUCH! WORK!

When I’m not thinking of this fic, there’s this other general concept that gets rolled around with Lucifer basically like… sacrificing himself for both Heaven and Hell in front of like… everyone. He lives in the end b/c like they all cliché stand in a circle and sing and their ‘good’ energy comes together to help him. But like it basically gets heaven and everyone to see him in a new light and realize just how much he ISN’T the monster he’s been pained to be. And what rlly hurts is me imagining his ‘last words’ to be something like: “I didn’t fuck it up this time.” Because. You know. Angst.

OOOO and one where like… it’s set somewhere in the future where Heaven is actually being nice and giving the Hazbin Hotel a chance. Multiple sinners have been redeemed at this point and the angels are down in hell having like a celebration at how far things have come. Lucifer feels both jealous that HE will never get that chance, and just absolutely hates himself because like ALL THESE SINNERS got the chance to go back, but he’s too horrible of a person to be able to have that forgiveness. Lots of feels that I actually DON’T wanna say too much about B/c after WTiI is finished I may want to try and make this happen. I’m only putting it under THIS ask because… u know… I have no clue where my headspace will be if/when WTiI does reach its final chapter. ________________

Thank you for sending in the asks! These were so fun to respond to!

[marrfixated]

Pinned post/My info:

Last updated June 15, 2024

TL;DR: Marr, he/she/ze/they, neurodivergent, Total Drama/Dunmeshi, fanfiction, sideblog @priyemma

Hello! My name is Marr! I use He/She/Ze/They, whatever. I’m Omni, Bigender, and AroAcespec. I’m cool with any gendered terms, and I pretty much use them interchangeably myself. Gal, guy, neither, whatever!

I have ADHD and anxiety (both diagnosed) along with other things, but those are the ones I’ll probably talk about on here the most. I’m mixed White and Latina (plus Native) but mostly white (in that it’s a little more of my genetics than the others and I’m painfully whitewashed). I speak English and want to learn Spanish, but I’m definitely not fluent. American, and a lot more “country” than I realize lol (I’m a midwestern gal)… I do study a few other languages, but mostly in an etymological sense.

Right now im really into Total Drama. It’s one of my longest lasting hyperfixations so far! I also post about a few other things, like Dungeon Meshi and House M.D. (More likely reblogging those things though)

Specifically in Total Drama I mostly post about Priyemma or Alenoah. Recently been talking about the newest Reboot season (and my complaints with it). I talk the most about World Tour and TDI 2023 because those are the ones I remember the best. I plan to rewatch them all… someday. I haven’t even finished watching reboot s2 because it’s painful!

I love shipping! I can’t even list them all because there’s so many tbh. I am very much a multi shipper and I constantly am finding new things to ship! I try to not engage in ship hate ever, but sometimes I slip up lol. I post some less-than-positive content about Nemma on occasion or Juliayne… everything that could be considered ship hate is tagged as such and never tagged with the ship that is being slandered.

I can’t really draw, so if I ever post my beginner drawings please be nice lol 😭 I’m still developing a style and learning. I have many, many WIPs that I might share here and there. I do really want to be able to draw confidently and make art for the things I love!

I’ve started writing fanfiction again lately! It’s a struggle for a lot of reasons. Props to everyone who writes fics because it’s hard. It takes me hella long too… I have a lot I’m writing but few published lol. My user is Marrfixated on AO3, feel free to leave comments or kudos!

I’ve written four Alenoah oneshots so far. Most recently posted Contra Entendre, so go read that! I have 3 other oneshots that are somewhat written and I’ll post someday, but I’ve shifted my focus to planning some longer fics. I currently have an Alenoah AU and a Priyemma post-canon fic in the works! The latter is my main focus as I plan out the entire thing… kind of obsessed with it. My job and taking care of my little siblings takes up a lot of time over the summer, but now that I have a break from classes, my free time can be spent on writing instead.

I also have tiktok @Marrfixated. I post on tumblr more than TikTok because it’s easier, but I started off there. I mainly repost (reblog) things on TikTok. I don’t really use anything else yet (except ao3). I also have a Priyemma centric sideblog on here (@priyemma), where I’ll usually reblog content from and vice versa.

You’re on thin ice if you engage in ship discourse, constantly hate on ship I like (it makes me sad 💔), or are a dsmp fan/an enjoyer of any of Vivziepop’s works (I don’t like you).

Proshippers DNI. Zionists DNI. TERFs DNI. Vivziepop defenders DNI. Dream supporters DNI. Dsmp supporters also DNI. Do some damn research. Also general DNI… I can’t list everything that makes someone a terrible person.

I might post suggestive things here sometimes, but rarely and usually jokingly. Anything like that would be tagged accordingly, and let me know if there’s something for me to add. I don’t plan to EVER post nsfw or suggestive content related to td, it makes me uncomfortable as most of the characters are minors. I do curse a lot, and reclaim the f slur on occasion. Please don’t engage in ship discourse on my account for no reason! That’s no fun.

I usually take like 3 years to answer asks or dms or whatnot for various reasons… but I swear I don’t mean any offense! I get nervous, or I don’t know how to answer, or it goes missing, or I forget… whatnot. But basically… I’m not a passive aggressive person, and I mean no ill will if I don’t answer anything!

I reblog a lot, so I tag all my non-reblogs as #original post.

That’s it!

[fa-by]

Hiiii babies and dear Anons 👋🏼🤗. I'm back with a new Q&A post. Before I start tho, two things:

1) I was unable to do the analyses of those three songs. I apologize to the Anons who asked for them, but I really didn't have the time. It already took me so long to answer these asks and if I'd done those analyses as well, who knows how long before you would've had this post. So, sorry 😅. I hope to be able to do them for the next post 🤞🏼.

2) This long wait was due to the fact that I had various commitments and then I also got ill (for something different from the past) by ending up in the hospital for a day 😭. I'm not healed yet so arm yourselves with patience for future posts as well 😅🙏🏼.

Now without having to still bore you with my problems, let's move on to the answers. Enjoy 🙃.

Your answers are here in my Only Told the Moon analysis.

Hi to you too, dear Anon 👋🏼😄. The answer is no, and if you want to know more details, here is my Thinkin’ Bout One analysis (seventh ask).

Yeah, definitely. For years now and they'll continue to do that.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 pure invention from which they'll surely have taken their cue from fanfictions and which they've been trying to pass off as reality for years 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Ups and downs, Anon, I hope your year is going much better than mine 😊.

Don't we all need Camren in our lives? 🤭 And yep, I'm back, but as I explained in the introduction, I've had commitments and I'm not well again at the moment 😭.

They still are now. They are real. And yeah, they'll eventually admit it. It will depend on their careers 💁🏻‍♀️.

Hello to you, my dear @lindy123​ 👋🏼😄. I hope you don't mind that I'm replying here instead of in the comments, and thank you so much for the kind words 🥰. As for Lo's unreleased songs, I obviously loved them 😍! I'm just sorry all 5 are incomplete 🥺 but oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️ she didn't intend to do that and that's why we have them now 😜. As for your question instead, the answer can be found in this old post: Unreleased songs - ɟ.

My dear Anon, from your welcome back I understand that you've read my past posts, and therefore you know perfectly well what I think of the so-called ‘insiders’ 🙄. I think I've already talked about it enough, but for those who are new to my blog, this is an example: https://fa-by.tumblr.com/post/659001741145243648/if-you-think-el-was-a-fan-account-then-how-do-you.

The signs are still there. Not as often as in the past, but they're still being given to us.

Don't doubt and don't fall into the traps of the bullshit people say. You said you think they're still together, and there must be a reason if you think that. So my advice is to keep using the smart part of you that distinguishes you from the herd of sheep 💪🏼.

Oh and, by the way, hello to you too 👋🏼😄 and thanks for the welcome back 😊.

You're not considering many other people, Anon. Camila and Dinah shared it with Hoko (Dinah's cousin) and the band (Ashlee Juno, Lauren Fuller, and Michelle “Michel'Le” Baptiste) while Ally, Normani, and Lauren shared it with some members of the tour crew; four if I'm not mistaken because the rest was in another bus. And inside both of the girls’ buses were purposely left empty sleeping places for when their family members joined them and stayed for a few tour dates.

And I know what you're thinking right now: why couldn't the band and those 4 tour crew members be in one bus and 5H + Hoko in the other one? Simple, that was their last year as a group and the narrative dictated the division between the girls. It was one of the many things that served to create speculation, draw even more attention, and sneakily get fans used to already seeing Mila as a solo artist and LAND as a group. As simple as that 💁🏻‍♀️.

Hey to you, dear Anon 👋🏼😄. And yes, of course. When I wrote “contracts can provide that two people who have already had a PR in the past can have it again in the future”, I meant it. But, and yes, there is a but.

Lauren's independent now, so I'm pretty sure that unless Tymbark's team requests it, it won't happen. Same with Luckless. Even more with her if that's why 🤣 because she has no team or labels to answer to and, even though she’s tried so many times (especially with her PR with Laur), she's not famous. Plus, that PR was made for Laur and therefore it would be up to her to request it again. And it's never gonna happen because she's luckily out of her life (unlike Sasha who, although not a celebrity, has been and still is a part of her life). Rather than have it with her again, I think Laur would rather have PRs with 100 different girls, whether famous or non-famous 🤣.

Have a good day too, dear Anon 🙃.

Are you the same Anon of the “happy 2023”?

Anyway. There's no way to know for sure. There are several factors to consider. How much notoriety does the artist have? Are they an A-list singer?  How much notoriety does the magazine have? Is it just an interview, or an interview + photoshoot? Is there anything else included in the interview to promote other than the music? Products/brands, feuds, relationships, future projects? It all depends on this and much more.

Like, for example. Is it an interview with a full fashion shoot plus high-level clothes and photographers? It already means that it's an important magazine and that the artist is considered as such and that was most likely wanted. Very important magazines such as are for example Vogue, Elle, and Vanity Fair, are themselves paying the artists and not the other way around. If that's why, in addition to the $100,000-plus earned, the artists receive free clothing, accessories, samples, make-up, and beauty products that they can keep as part of the shoot.

If, on the other hand, we're talking about less important magazines then it depends. (It always depends on the notoriety of the artist, but still.) If the interview is simple enough and the focus is on the music to be promoted, then it's very likely that the artist's team contacted and paid the magazine. Ditto if it's just an article without an interview.

If, on the other hand, there's something else to promote besides music, things change. But even here, it depends. What is this other thing to promote and how important is it? If it's not something really important that can generate lots of clicks, then it doesn't matter. But if it does matter, whether it's a scoop from a new love interest, or a feud with another celebrity, then it's the artists who get paid to release it.

For other types of magazines, however, it doesn't work that way. The mere presence of the artist on their web pages benefits them because fans or readers in general generate clicks. It's a double exposure for both artist and the magazine and therefore a win-win situation. No one pays anyone in this case because it's precisely a free double cross-publicity.

Hello to you too, dear Anon 👋🏼😄.

To answer your questions, well, none of the above. I want you to seriously think about something: if you had a one-on-one business meeting with your supervisor or directly with your boss, would you show up there with your significant other? I really don't think so. You have your meeting and after work, you call or meet directly with your significant other to tell them how it went. Period. That's the reality. Work is work, and you must know how to separate their work and their relationship because it runs exactly as it does for all of us.

Besides, although at the time Maverick managed the group for things related to the group as a whole, Mila was already personally managed by Roger, and therefore LAND and in this specific case Laur, was personally managed by Maverick. Both Roger and Maverick obviously answered to the labels because all labels always have the final decision on everything, but still, the point is that for personal things not related to 5H, Camren were managed by different people.

So as in the example of not bringing your significant other to meetings I gave you earlier, Mila wasn't present during Laur's PRs signings and agreements and vice versa.

I hope you're super well too 🙃 and to know more about how PRs work, read my PR stunt relationships - ɟ post.

[Faby oh my god I almost dropped my phone when I seen u posted 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣🤣 anyway hi not sure if u remember me but it’s me K 😂 sorry to hear u had not been well and to hear u lost ur dog I too lost my cat last yr she was 13yr and like u I felt like a part of me died with her she was my shadow. Glad to hear u adopted another dog thats the best way is to adopt.]

🤭🤣🤣🤣🤣 hi K! Of course I remember you 🤗! I'm so sorry about your cat 🥺😭, I completely understand. I like to think they'll always stay with us no matter what ❤. Why don't you adopt another one too? Trust me, it would help you a lot and you'd fall in love immediately like I did with my new puppy girl 🥰. Let me know😍.

1) [So with my question is what do u make of so many loyal CS and L’s fans leaving her? A lot has left bc of L’s attitude,how she constantly contradicts herself where fans weren’t able to defend her anymore and how she keep attacking CS.]

As you also said yourself, many got tired of both her behaviors and the fact that she keeps attacking CS. I've also seen that many people got tired of the fact of her sexualizing herself most of the time she posts something, or not going on tour in certain places, etc.

Honestly, all bullshit to me. You know why? Because Lauren has always been this way to the public! The thing that people don't understand, and for years now, is that this is the public image she's always had since they started training them back in the X-Factor days. And for those who don't know, by training them I mean how they started teaching them how to behave in front of cameras, how to answer or avoid certain questions during an interview, etc.

We've always had two Laurens. What's new? They still can't tell them apart? 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Public imagine Lauren is the one who has to defend the PRs and attack Camren because she has contracts to comply with. She's the one who's been taught for years that sex sells, and she continues to use this tactic to publicize something simply because she's comfortable doing so. She's the one who has to act and say certain things because it's the only way to stay afloat in the industry, especially now more than ever because she's an independent artist.

The real Lauren, doesn't post much because she lives her life outside of social media. She's the one who started the first spontaneous and free Attunements during the pandemic. She's the one who can't go on world tours like she did when she was with 5H. How should she do it according to them? With what money? With the support of which major label? Do these people really have a hard time understanding the word independent? 🙄😒

Anyway, I still think that these so-called “fans”, which are anything but fans, drop out because things don't go the way they want. News flash, it never will! There's a person behind the artist who's constantly harassed every day and yes, even by those who don't deserve to be called CS. What do they expect her to do when the harassment on her body, her personality, and her life in general has been a daily occurrence for 11 years? For her to even thank them? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sure! And what does she actually do instead?: “Naturally inclined to love, but when the love ain't flowin' back, I pull away and reassess, gotta protect me. Push the negative to the side so it's not in front of my eyes, outta sight, outta mind. I need more than 50 feet”.

And in addition to 50 feet., there are songs like Inside, Colors, Scattered, Falling, Healing, EM(oceans), Wolves, Temporary and especially While I’m Alive that also talk about these situations. Hellooo??? No? Nothing? Don't they see i- 🤦🏻‍♀️okay...🤷🏻‍♀️

So, they don't wanna see the reality and go away? It's alright for me, and for her too honestly 🤣. Addio! Adiós! Au revoir! Sayonara! Adeus! Auf Wiedersehen! Do svidaniya! Go support someone who does what you want but that actually has so many faces that you won't even be able to recognize the real one 😉. *said in her voice like in that video when Trump lost the 2020 presidential election* Bah-bye, bitch 👋🏼!

2) [Another question is what do u except from C’s new label-]

I expect much more now 🤣. No jokes aside, I hope that with this new label she can return to the freedom and “glory” of 2017/2018. Unlike the past, I unfortunately still can't tell you what they'll do in my opinion or give you a theory simply because I don't know how they work yet. Ask me again after the first project 😏.

[-and now she changed pr firm?]

Mila didn't change PR firm/agency. She's still part of the WME Agency and you can also see it on Mila's official website itself. She simply also joined the BT PR Agency 😉.

3) [Why post that snippet of a new song with the line Coachella the. Deleted? I’m guessing it’s for the pr but that was desperate even for them. Is her new label the reason for the circus starting again or was it his team like last time or are they trying to make them as the new Justin and Selena?]

Yep, it was 100% just for the PR. And yes, desperate are the Sandalwood team 🥱. And yeah, they tried and tried to make them an important couple like Jelina, but in reality they only succeeded in making them the first fake couple to come up in Google image results when searching for pr relationships 🧐🙈🤣.

4) [What’s ur opinions on some fans claiming the Coachella stunt was nothing to do with their teams but C and L we’re arguing for awhile and C did it to get back at L? Personally I don’t believe that but still curious for ur thoughts]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Oh yeah? And who told them that? Lauren or Camila? Or both of them? Over text, call, or video call? 🤣. Do they really think people believe that? And above all, do they really think that (C&S) they’re free to do something like this without breaking the contract and without consequences from their teams and labels? I caaaan't! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

My thoughts on this? Well, besides these ☝🏼 🤣, I feel sorry for all these people who do everything they can to get 5 min of attention and for those who believe it. But specifically, I'm ashamed to be associated in the same category (CS) as these, to quote Lauren, delusional people. Sorry not sorry 💁🏻‍♀️🙃😁.

5) [What are u expecting C’s new music to sound like?]

She experimented a lot with her music over the years, so I don't know if she'll continue to do that or settle on a specific genre. As I told you in point 2, I still don't know how this new label works, so I can't give you any answers yet.

[From that snippet she shared and how she working with yet another friend of his 🙄-]

Forget that snippet 🤣. She deleted it herself faster than light after a short time because it had its purpose for the Shitmilashow 😴.

[-my expectations have gone down to where I think it’s gonna be a full pr album or at least there gonna make it out to be.]

I don't think complete, but yeah, of course there'll be songs with phrases explicitly changed to imply that they're references to him, unfortunately for my and your ears. But oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️ I've been used to both of them and their PRs for years now.

[Anyway I know that was a lot of questions so I’m gonna leave it there for now 😂 but I have no idea how happy I am to see ur back specially with other blogs who left. I’m glad ur well and still a CS 😏😂 - K]

Don't worry, my dear K, you can always ask me for as many as you like 😄. I don't mind. I'm glad you're happy that I’m back and yes, I'm gonna be a real CS forever 😉. I hope you're well too 😊. A virtual hug 🤗.

‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍🤸🏻‍♀‍

Aaand I'm done 👅. Thank you all for your asks and I hope I've been helpful this time too 🙃. As usual, I'm always available for those who have questions, so ask away 😄.

Remember to be nice. Always. Both with others and with yourselves. Be a good example. Be patient. Be safe and take care of yourselves. Don't let our ship sink. Keep shipping them, but please respectfully 🙏🏼. Sending you virtual love and hugs 🤗🤗🤗. I love you, babies. Always with love, F ❤️.

[eliashirsch]

I thought it’d be interesting to look back on how much my writing has improved in a year!

Top Gun is the only fandom I’ve ever fallen into a rabbit hole deep enough to want to write any serious fanfiction for. It’s actually why I approach my writing today in a ‘professional’ manner (actually revising and doing line edits etc) and for the first time in my life, I’m considering it as a viable career. So it’s safe to say Top Gun has changed my life in ways I never would’ve expected it. 

I knew of Top Gun from watching Maverick and was so impressed I decided to immediately go to Ao3 because I knew there were going to be some fics about Mav and Rooster (I remembered the exact moment I got home and opened my phone and was delighted to know I was right). Back then the tag wasn’t even official yet. It’s great to see it grow over a year! (I’m still refreshing the Top Gun Movies tag for any new fics. Does anyone do that still?)

So here’s the fic that I decided to write on a random day in June 2022, featuring Mav and the Dagger Squad after the mission, and Ice being exasperated over their antics. It’s a little silly, definitely in a time when team as family fics were popular. I actually wrote about 45k in two months, which was fast for me back then!

I think a canon event for a beginner fanfic writer is when a character ends up in the hospital, there’s a scene where their injuries are described in detail (which as a reader, I usually skim those). I think it’s to create a ‘realistic’ setting, but really, there are better ways to describe said character’s injuries. 

Looking back, there are a lot of scenes that feel very unnatural. Real people don’t really talk this way, it feels very like, cartoonish for them to reveal information this way. Again, just very fanfic-y. Not really good writing.

But I had a lot of fun writing these! The Daggers don’t exactly act like adults or have nuances and stuff. They’re mostly there for humor (or more like injecting my humor, which is kinda cringey when I read these back) but hey, at least I can look at these with nostalgia the same way a burnt-out artist looks back at their childhood drawing and remember the good times when life and pressure didn’t get in the way of creating.

Compare these with my more recent writings. I don’t know I just look at this and I’m proud of how far I’ve come. How better I am at pacing and characterization and making believable scenes and everything. It’s just asdkasjfhankakljk so proud of myself. (Excerpt from my fic.)

Another comparison, this one’s a first draft rather than a finished work. So it’s not super polished, but still infinitely better than how I started. I mean, you can even see the difference in format. I started out writing with Arial and a white background, and now I can't stand writing in anything other than a dark bg. Also, Calibri is the best font idc what anyone says.

That’s it! Thanks for reading to the end! A reminder that the more you practice and hone your work, you are going to improve! It’s possible, just keep going!

[theadoptedfandom]

Thoughts I’m having as I/We prepare for OFMD S2 inspired by Con’s quote in Vanity Fair saying ‘it “doesn’t follow the expected route”

What is the expected route?! (/gen and /j)

As someone whose watched WWDITS from Season 1 and decided to come back to tumblr after the S3 finale (a time when the first in-show hints of Nandermo happened in what I consider the shows best 2 ep season-opener outside I think this S5 2 ep opener), I have personally learned it’s best to expect nothing from these shows.

And I don’t mean that negatively, I mean as much as I love fanart, fanfiction, meta and fan theories, when I get too into or invested in the plot lines created in our online space I tend to find the actual show a bit duller(?) less concerned with consistent plot lines and character arcs. (Or maybe just less obsessed than we are as the audience vs them as the creator). [[An example for myself was being upset at a lack of any development in S4 from choosing to ship Guillermo and Nadjia of to London at the end of S3, & reading some really fabulous theories of what that would have looked like from other viewers/fans in the year between.]]

I think the main reason for that - to me - is because these shows - OFMD, Good Omens, WWDITS, even Ted Lasso - at the end of the day are comedies. And the meta and ways we analyze and breakdown and hope for what the next season(s) will be are written with so much more drama and seriousness (which I love) than the show actually ever presented itself to have. (Or may have the budget and time for tbh)

[again this is mostly my reading of WWDITS over the years to help me prepare for whatever happens with OFMD this Fall]

Granted I was not into ‘online fandom world’ when SPN or Sherlock were airing (I was a Marvel&Steven Universe teenager) so idk what experiencing SUPERWHOLOCK was like ‘live’/in real time w/ years between seasons. But those were also dramas doing different things (and being less gay) than OURFLAGMEANSGOODOMENSINTHESHADOWS (what a mouth full) so *shrug*

Idk that this ramble has a point, I just had thoughts about making sure to temper my expectations both for myself and for the sake of not “chastising the creators” ala Good Omens* when OFMD S2 starts airing.

I know most of us are just EXTREMELY grateful that another season of this show is real & probably will be happy with ~almost~ anything they decided to do.

*im very aware the folks who didn’t like GOS2 (the ending in particular) & are actively rude about it are a minority btw I’m just using it as an example of expectation vs reality

[fateandloveentwined]

Nirvana in Fire fic recs

Nirvana in fire fanfiction recommendations in the link below, mostly chinese; descriptions in english.

(full list on notion): https://lycorxian.notion.site/Lyke-NIF-fic-recs-fd3ae22b066040a9993650a744203daf

Some of the favourites below:

鱀歌/狼牙 by 九月将霜🏔️

https://yueshuangjiang.lofter.com/post/1f532d67_eeb0d415

https://yueshuangjiang.lofter.com/post/1f532d67_1c62c345a

Jingsu but rather slight. Medium length. Post-war fic where Changsu lives and assists Jingyan in the court. It starts with a few outsider POVs and Changsu is so soft in this and everything is rly sweet haha.

踏雪寻梅 by 十八🌊

[Saved]

A/B/O. Jingsu. Long fic. Aww I'm aware of my tendency to ramble on about the author's writing style, but this author's prose is stunningly intricate. This would be the one I would recommend if one is to read any A/B/O fics. Get ready for a "moderate" truckload canonical of angst and many happy returns in its eventual HE.  I don’t really know, this is just so – good? Lin Shu was initially an Alpha who turned into an Omega after the Chiyan incident, and he subconsciously rejects that part of himself, more or less. It is rare in the world the author built for Omegas to take up huge roles in society, and Changsu hides his status in light of that and appears to other people as a Beta (but then the author spends so much time describing how beautiful he is and those descriptions are beautiful indeed lmao). So here comes Jingyan, who, by accident, discovers Changsu’s status as an Omega and becomes infatuated with his being → and so begins the courting.  But Point is, I really enjoyed the way Changsu’s resilience is depicted – the mental fortitude? determination? Ehh anyway there’s a scene on that and it’s beautiful. Also! there’s an explicit scene halfway that is so. well. written? not in the hot smutty way but it’s exquisite really I’m weirding myself out I’ll stop hahaha don’t know if that plugging worked.

月盈‧有憾 / 此生一诺 by 浅夏Surlinca🌔

http://surlinca.lofter.com/post/1d318138_124192b0

https://surlinca.lofter.com/post/1d318138_12483efa

月盈之时，尔有憾乎？ 相濡以沫，不如相忘于江湖。 ——《月盈‧有憾》 When the moon grows round again, have you any regrets? Like two fish in a dried lake, instead of giving each other moisture with the little that is left, let us let life be and forget each other in rivers and lakes.    身侧再无知交，国君茕茕而立：画地为牢、许此生一诺。 ——《此生一诺》 The emperor stands, tall and alone, by his side his peers no longer: he carves a circle into the ground and holds himself hostage; he makes a vow and has it as his life’s work. //Okay these aren’t actually quotes lol. Let me have my fun.   Jingsu. Very slight/gen. Oneshot.   How would things end, had MCS not returned to Meiling in his final days? How would it go on, had MCS died after his encounter with Xia Jiang at the Xuan Jing Bureau?    These are two separate oneshots from the same author. While 此生一诺 is very popular, 月盈‧有憾 is instead my favourite oneshot among all. It is so beautifully written and the angst is real in this one. Could be considered a BE perhaps? There’s joy in this nonetheless.

关山契阔 (Ch24) by patient-no-117 仰望🌊

https://patient-no-117.lofter.com/view  https://archiveofourown.org/works/15734247/chapters/36582438

Pre-Sujing uh… slow burn? Long fic. The only WIP that I highlighted in red uwu. It goes without saying that I am totally smitten with this fic. Jingyan is sent to the Yan Kingdom by his father as hostage. Changsu, who is aiding a Yan Prince at their behest, approaches Jingyan in such circumstances and offers him ascension to the throne back at Da Liang. The prose is stunningly beautiful and classical and it’s hard to describe, the “aesthetic 澹泊 and 君子之交淡如水 vibes” this piece gives off – just – I’m very very in love with this fic please give it a go.   The author has kindly uploaded their chapters on ao3, so you can use that for convenient reading! The latest few chapters, however, are only on Lofter so you might have to move over for that.

一时双壁 by 琴煮鹤🏔️

http://cookacrane.lofter.com/post/1e6c791d_1044d4da  

Jingsu and Shuhuang. Long fic. Changsu and Lin Shu are two separate entities in this fic! Story starts with a younger Changsu entering Jinling to bring a warning to the Lin family upon intercepting Li Chongxin’s counterfeit. Changsu then schemes with Prince Qi and Lin Xie among others to preclude Chiyan’s demise and secure Prince Qi’s position as the crown prince. Changsu may not be Lin Shu in this fic, but he is still very proficient as the Chief of the Jiangzuo Alliance and has experienced much upon the passing away of his father, the former chief of the alliance. Jingyan slowly falls in love with him (slowburn I suppose?) and he with him. A very complete tale with flowing prose (the way the dialogue is written in particular is chef’s kiss) and a super sweet ending :D    (I don’t think a completed version of this fic has been circulated about as much? Feel free to hmu for a full version for convenient reading; that said the Lofter version is pretty complete on its own I think.)

书中愿 by 琴煮鹤🏔️

https://cookacrane.lofter.com/post/1e6c791d_103d6c97   

Jingsu very slight/gen. Oneshot, set in a world where Prince Qi has passed away but Lin Shu and the like are still alive. Scholar/teacher MCS (again, not Lin Shu!) stands in for Sir Zhou at the imperial palace and gets acquainted with Jingyan.    Have I mentioned how much I love this author? Yes, same author as above; their prose is elegant in a flowing way and I’m in love. I would say slight BE/angst based on how you interpret it? (Personally I’ve become immune and it is a happy ending ><) Though short, this fic well conveys the core character of MCS in which he contributes in his own way despite not being subject to the Chiyan case in the past. I like how it is written a lot ^^.

Some are lost to the internet but most have been saved in text files and word documents. Enjoy!

[goneahead]

I was tagged by @radiowrites and @stephmcx thank you♥️!!

Hi! I am @goneahead on tumblr. I am also goneahead on A03 and goneahead over on dreamwidth (see links in my pinned post - my internet has gone wonky again)

So, this was definitely not one of my better years. I have three WIPs and while I plodded away at all three, I was never happy enough to post new chapters.

What’s really sad is I finally hit 1 million words posted on dreamwidth—and then I pretty much struck out this year. I’m mostly posting this cuz I think its good for newer writers to realize that yes, even experienced writers have years where things just go all pear-shaped.

My grand total for fanfic was: 1,513😳

I don’t keep track of my poetry word count, but I started the year writing poem #926 and ended the year writing poem #947

Total Number of Fanfics: about 150

Total Number Of Completed Works: this year? 0

Total Number of WIPS worked on this year: 3

How Many WIPs do you still have: 4

Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? Much less. In fact, this year was pretty much a bust.

Did you take any writing risks this year? Well considering I spent all year writing three fics and wasnt happy enough to post anything….

Biggest Surprise: I would love to say I was surprised at how little I posted, but I am a disorganized idjit and—yeah. nobody is shocked.

Biggest Disappointment: see above😆

Do you have any writing goals for the new year? Finish Home verse. Let’s see how that goes….

Fanfiction Questions Below! (if you don’t write fanfiction feel free to skip or rework the questions for your original works.)

Fandoms I’ve written in this year? Hawaii Five-0

Your most popular story of the year? sadly, I didn’t post a new story, just a poem and a tiny addition to another verse.

The story that was easiest/or most fun to write? Still enjoying my MIB AU. Now if I could actually finish it…

Hardest story to write: Lead Me Through the Fire from 2022 was one of those fics where all the different pieces of the plot had to fit together just so. I spent more time than I’d like to admit second-guessing myself on how I arranged the chapters.

Your sweetest funniest story: I have a soft spot for Hawaii Five-0’s Eric Russo. The character is very funny and often wildly inappropriate. I wrote a scene in one of my WIPs where Eric is just soooo Eric

Your saddest scene: I didn’t write anything sad this year.

The sexiest moment you’ve written this year? again, nada.

Your favorite tag: diplomatic javelining😆

Most unintentionally telling story: hmmm. I can’t think of anything too revealing in my fic? Except a tendency to write too many AUs?

Are any of your fics named after/heavily inspired by music? Yes. A lot of my fics have their own playlists and that music definitely influenced those fics. I don’t usually share these songs—or name my fics after songs—because I listen to a lot of obscure stuff most people have never heard of.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? I continued to get a lot of interesting and thought-provoking comments on Care and Feeding of a Super SEAL this year. There are many amazing fix-it fics for S10xE22 written by insanely talented writers—so its crazy and humbling that people are continuing to read and comment on mine.

Fanfiction risks you took this year? sadly, none.

My favorite part of fandom this year: We had new people join our fandom!

You know, I really don’t get what has happened to fandoms these last few years. It used to be that fans just shrugged and continued to write, create, and have fun—even their fandom didn’t have any new content being made. Am I the only one who thinks its weird that most fans now book it for the nearest exit as soon as a show is canceled or a movie series is over?

letsee, tagging um, @cowandcalf @bennyokelly @itwoodbeprefect @stellagioia @redgoldblue

[fireblossumdraws]

For those interested in reading Emblem of the Siren

this is a psa, personal notes, and revisions to be seen in the new and revised chapters in the works. What has changed as far as characters, plot and the creator (me! )

As some of you have known as I have hinted multiple times, that the fanfiction has been up for years and has not received an update other than disclaimers. That's because my only use for it by this point has been as a crude outline for the rewritten version. Which I don’t want to hide either, even if I would like to because of it’s bad attempt at crass subject matter and traumatic concepts that could have been detailed more tastefully. I was an angry kid when I started writing. Thanks to receiving tons of therapy and life development, I feel that I can tackle those subjects from a more realistic standpoint rather than the sheltered worldview that I used to have.

With that being said, certain characters will not receive the significant changes, evil or not. And there will be a list designating who to expect that from and why.

Key characters that will receive no changes in the updates:

• Ostegoth (he deals, he smokes, we love ostegoth in this house and he does no wrong in his choices to pinch a coin/relic!)

• The Lord of Bones and subjects (He is an abusive monarch in cannon. I don’t think I could really rewrite it without sacrificing any personality traits and same goes for everyone else. I gotta keep the plot spicy somehow *shrugs* he keeps his satisfying end.

• Draven (the evil characterization does not suit him at all! For someone as neutral in the story, he’s a mentor and a bro, will remain that way in the update)

List of characters receiving drastic changes:

• Genevieve (Even if the basic layout will remain the same, [Which I will entail in a bio later on!] girl needs a confidence boost amongst other things. I wrote my oc without any experience in the industries that she were in on Earth and I unfairly wrote it out as something that she should be ashamed of. A similar backstory has been made with room to overcome and develop through. I am also adding certain flashbacks as well to highlight her character)

• Vulgrim (overly misogynistic, no chill, not cool. He will have more significance late story to demand changes in his character now)

• All Makers ( some changes of certain terms that could be considered misogynistic (in Thane’s case, thankfully they never made the final cut) but they are written as cinnamon rolls that need not a change other than their butchered dialect. Sorry for those, European readers.

• Death (he is emotionally ambiguous unless it concerns those he cares about. Though, he will be given the least amount of changes within the plot the way it is, but interactions are the main concern. I thought the intimate lines throughout the story were great work and somehow I was commended for them. However, the ones that are close without intimacy such as the first encounter and up to chapter 12, came across to me as far too cold and even the later scrapped chapters after that were the same. It was another situation of traumatic projection that I've long figured out how to handle. His personality is the same, a rude old one with a dark and mysterious emotional wall. One that's breakable with the proper writing and warmth. Y'know, like Fury. Only worse 🙃)

With all of that being said, the fanfiction will remain up to read. I cannot keep u from looking up the outdated version. But know this dude, How to write more ethically came along as well. I am willing to try again.

Doing that in writing this story in comic form in the meantime of the actual writing!

Have a variant for getting this far! 🥰

Thank u!

[rollercoasterwords]

ooh don’t even get me started on the riots people throw about “she’s got the best tits in the year” saying ‘sirius would never’… the man fully had a wall of women dressed in bikinis in his bedroom in canon, and atyd is meant to be canon compliant.

andddd they will at the same time salivate over regulus in fics where he has killed people?? like murder is an acceptable flaw but one throw away line from a teen in a fic tagged period typical attitudes isn’t? bugs me minority when people don’t read the tags and just read a fic because it’s popular and then get mad because it contains things that are tagged.

yeah i mean. this is another part of the whole thing that really interests me. and like--i'm sure that some of the people who lose their shit over the tits line aren't okay with murder either; i'm not trying to make sweeping generalizations that imply that like. everyone who complains abt sirius "best tits" atyd line are also totally fine with regulus murdering people or whatever, y'know? like i am trying 2 avoid being one of those people who goes "The Fandom complains abt this but is ok with this" as if The Fandom is in any way monolithic.

that disclaimer out of the way though, i do feel like there is. some general inconsistency amongst some portions of the fandom when it comes to what "flaws" get large amounts of complaints. and the thing is--it makes sense for a person to not like one flaw but be fine with another, y'know? everyone's gonna have their own personal boundaries + likes + dislikes, and i'm not saying that if u dislike one type of flaw ur not allowed 2 like any flawed characters. what i take issue with is when someone acts as though to portray a character with a certain flaw at all is somehow a Morally Bad thing to do.

again, still organizing my thoughts, but i have a few ideas right now for what might cause this sort of. perceived general inconsistency in what becomes popular/common to complain about re: flawed characterization. i wonder if it's almost more common to see people upset by things like the "best tits" line because it's so realisitc; because it hits so close to home. most people have probably encountered a teenage boy who has said something like that, and i think it's very easy to connect to the pain + anger that comes with navigating casual sexism, and because of that people get upset when they feel they're being like....forced to imagine their favorite character that way, because it's easy to vividly imagine a sexist teenage boy, y'know?

on the other hand, reading about like. ur favorite character as a criminal or a soldier in a war or a superhero or whatever who like. fights in a battle or kills random people who are nothing more than words on a page, nameless side characters, etc--i don't think that feels as realistic, or hits as close to home for most people. encountering a murderer is much less common than encountering casual sexism; especially considering the demographics of who's most likely to read fanfiction, far fewer readers have probably encountered violence of that sort in their lives. i also think many of us, especially those immersed in western media, are very desensitized to the sort of violence of an action hero like....tearing through a bunch of faceless bad guys and gunning them down, or whatever. as long as we know our guy is the good guy, and the other guys are bad guys, it's fine. and i think most fanfiction that does have the characters committing violent crimes tends to fall into that sort of category--even when it doesn't, it's still usually a story where you know your character is on the "right side." and it's easier to just sort of....overlook these sorts of flaws partially because they're so dramatic that it's like. easy to just go "omg yesss bloody violent characters i love them <3" bc u know that in real life you obviously would not just be ok with someone killing somebody else, y'know? but going "omg yessss casually sexist characters i love them <3" doesn't exactly have the same ring to it lol

but i do think u run into inconsistencies real fast if u start assigning moral weight to the potrayal of flaws--as in, saying "oh, this sort of flaw is ok to write about, but this one isn't." bc then it's like. unless u only read abt characters that have no flaws ever, ur gonna run into someone asking "well why are you okay with this flaw, but not this one?" and that's gonna lead 2 u back to some real shaky premises 4 ur own moral arguments imo

[fsbc-librarian]

How about H J and Y for the fanfic writer ask. In particular since you read such a wide variety of fic for the library, do you have a most or least favorite trope?

ooh this is really making me think (and it’s 4am for me in a new house/bed so apologies if none of this makes sense 😅

💜💜💜💜💜

H. How would you describe your writing style?

informal, and conversational probably. I try to focus on the POV of one character, and (since I switched to present tense instead of past tense) what they’re feeling in the moment, so it can lend itself to an unreliable narrator moment. I don’t like the idea of reading being hard work for anyone, so I try to keep it light.

That’s my “proper” answer. In reality, it feels like I’ve been strapped into a roller coaster that is being controlled by the characters and I’ve got no way of getting off it 😂

💜💜💜💜💜

J. What’s your favourite fanfiction trope? Have you written it?

My favourite trope changes all the time. Right now, it’s enemies to lovers, and no, I haven’t written it because I’ve been able to find what I’ve wanted to read. I have absolutely nothing against people who write the same trope over and over again - in fact, I encourage it - but I struggle to get the motivation to write something if there’s already heaps out there for it, unless it is an explicitly different starting point/prompt. I still say first and foremost that I am The Librarian, not The Author.

💜💜💜💜💜

Y. What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you’ve written vs the popularity of your stories? Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?

“The Things We Hide” is hands down my most popular fic (I’ve only got a handful, so not hard) and I’ve always seesawed between ‘this is amazing’ and ‘holy shit why do you think you’re good enough to post this?’.

I spent the most amount of time on it - nearly a year writing it, and six months posting weekly and editing as I went - so even purely at an effort vs result level, I’m over the moon with how popular it became, especially for someone who until then had only posted one other fic.

💜💜💜💜💜

Also, with regards to The Library, each category title is either something that I’ve been obsessed with, or someone close to me has asked for, which has then become a personal obsession. I don’t think I’ve got one overarching favourite trope, although AU in general would be the closest to it.

Least favourite trope is “Tragedy/No Happy Ending” (which isn’t really a trope I guess). I don’t have a lot of “Do Not Read” squicks, but I do struggle with some aspects of BDSM-lifestyle (petplay, bigs/littles) but I have read and enjoyed fics that have those aspects so there’s not much that I consider off-limits.

[mango-jpeg]

st elmo's fire and drop the knife notes

(i wasn't sure at first if i would make these posts again this year (like.. get a new bit bro) but ultimately i do think they're helpful for me so i'll stick w it for now)

i don’t remember much about persona 3 from playing it 15 years ago. basically all i remember is 1) being obsessed with akihiko 2) sobbing like a baby when i finished it @ 2 am 3) the crackly, fuzzy quality of my old tube tv

anyway i also don't remember writing much of st elmo's fire bc i was so inside it the whole time. i did think more about structure for both fics, i think that's something i'm going to focus on more this year

sidenote: i read chuck palahniuk's consider this in jan which was a great read on its own and also gave me lots to think about re: writing, and influenced me/my thinking for both of these fics

additional sidenote: coming to terms w the fact that the style of writing i enjoy most + would like to imitate works best in first person but i do not want to write or read first person fanfiction

for the first time i wrote drafts/outlines of almost every scene in my notes app then wrote them out fully in docs, which it turns out is a good way to do things

past tense? again?? who am i.

st elmo’s fire wrote from feb 6-7? to feb 25

this is maybe the most for me and only me thing i’ve written. i’ve wanted to write an awkward morning after pill scene for so long

looked up their personas bc i was curious about their mythology and obviously seized on the st elmo’s fire thing

(i thought it'd be cool to include a bit of magic in a fic that otherwise ignores all the canon magic)

this fic was my way of reaching back thru time to my horrible teenage self + saying you’re gonna be ok kid

reading:

I Have Some Questions for You, Rebecca Makkai

Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris

Heartburn, Nora Ephron

listening: st elmo’s fire (approx 40 times a day), hold it in

fav early bit i wrote: the whole paragraph about shinji’s boobs a fav late addition:

Inside the air was dry and charged; Akihiko was sure if he touched Shinji he’d spark. He felt the kind of calm certainty he usually felt only before matches, when he knew the result would be in his favour.

drop the knife wrote from feb 21 to mar 10

i have sequel disease. once i've written the long 'figuring out the characters' fic i neeeed to write another one. i think it's getting worse actually, i think i might have trilogy disease (write one long standalone and immediately want to write 2 related works)

the kind of cooking i do is soup. if i had things my way this is the only food we'd eat. this made writing the recipes a huge pain in the ass bc i do not think shinji is a 'throw everything into a pot and let it figure itself out' kind of cook

took the key lime pie recipe straight out of the last chapter of heartburn. idk if this is really the ‘right’ dessert but it’s the kind of food i’d actually make and i wanted to include one heartburn recipe

i thought writing aki instead of akihiko for the whole fic would be annoying and then switching between the two became a way of reflecting shinji's attempt at putting distance between them ie. thinks 'aki' in the abstract, and when his guard is low. idk how much that comes thru in reading but i made the attempt

reading:

Heartburn, Nora Ephron (i reread chapters for 3 weeks. i loved everything about this book. i’m codependent on it now.)

Wallflower at the Orgy, Nora Ephron

Tokyo Ueno Station, Yu Miri

Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut

listening: sore, knife, i got heaven

fav early bit:

Aki looked at him. He was within arm’s reach and his face was soft in a way it rarely was, his eyes large in the dark. Shinjiro wanted him in ways he’d given up on long ago, wanted him bloody and beneath him, wanted him laughing and leaning in to close the distance.

late addition:

Aki was like one of those dogs bred to rip prey out of their burrows or drag sleds across the tundra; being forced to stay inside was torturous, he needed something he could sink his teeth into.

took me ages to come up with a title, i didn’t even have a working one. found the poem oxygen when i went searching and i liked the phrase drop the knife bc knives are used in cooking (lol) + implies being disarmed + the poem has the sort of half of my soul vibe these guys have goin on

[moonshine-nightlight]

i don’t know if you’ve answered this before, but I absolutely love your writing style! how did you get into writing?

thank you!!

short version is i got really into reading cool books when i was a kid and then i wanted to read other cool books but they didn't exist so i started just imagining those books and eventually i started writing them down.

longer version below the cut, if ur interested

it's been awhile but pretty sure i got into writing because i got really into reading lol. 4th grade (10 yrs old) is when i started just consuming as many books as i could get (i think something put me off when i was even younger but then i rediscovered books i liked and nothing could stop me) and i always loved imagining cool books or stories in my head (wouldn't it be so cool if i could find a book about x or with a character like y or had z in it? etc).

8th grade (13 yrs old) i think is when i started writing my own stories in spiral ring notebooks, both original stories (something about finding a magical path in the forest that led to colorful dragons i think?) and fanfiction (both my own and with a group of friends--we'd pass around the notebook and each write different parts of the fic).

while i've always had files and scrawled notes of original stuff, aside from some "poetry" i submitted to my high school literary magazine, i mostly posted/finished fanfic because it was shorter, i could get less distracted by worldbuilding, and those got views/comments which was more motivational.

i had a brief writing drought after i graduated college and my Real Job started and i was just very very busy, but i finally started posting again, but still just fanfic. i had started developing more original ideas and trying to actually write and finish some of them during this time, but did not truly consider posting any of it nor was i really making a lot of progress anyway.

then through tumblr, i stumbled upon some of the monster romance original works (@snowkissedmonsters i think was the specific writer i can remember jump starting that) and it kinda kickstart-ed the part of my brain that comes up with story ideas. and with some time, encouragement, and being possessed by the idea for "Nothing's Wrong with Dale", i started posting original works and haven't really stopped since.

i've always been interested in fantasy, sci-fi, speculative fiction etc, but more of my older ideas were YA because i was a YA (my protagonists tend to age as i did lol) and less romance focused, although many had sort of, side character love interests. i had always struggled with writing shorter stories and so i was interested in trying to really write short things both as a challenge to myself but also so i could actually frickin' finish stories that weren't fanfic. that's worked pretty well, even if i'm still not able to write one-shot original stories like some others out there.

i think i've imporoved a lot over the years and am really grateful for all the practice writing via fanfic i was able to do and am continuing to do, jsut on my other tumblrs/AO3 accounts (because i dont think there's a lot of audience overlap with this writing)

that's probably a longer answer than u wanted, but i hope it wasn't to rambling!

thanks again for asking and the compliment on my writing :)

[ashlynniis-bracketeers]

Alrighty, have a remade Pinned Post

Decided to go ahead and remake my old pinned post. This should have all the info about me you need lmao. Will probably have some copy-pasted info, this is mostly for formatting, adding extra information, and the like. Also should be easier for me to edit.

I don't use "Carrd" or whatever you people are calling it nowadays. I grew up in the era of “don’t give out personal information dear god wtf are you doing”, so this is basically going to be the only info you’ll know about me, most likely for a long time. You are not obliged to give out your legal information (age, living location, etc.) to self-entitled randos on the internet. The internet honestly shouldn't know anything about you lmao.

Also no real specific DNI, if somebody doesn't like my content then there's no need to bitch at me, and if I block somebody, this is my space first and foremost for me to curate. My blog, my choice as to what I reblog. Closest thing is that I don't trust people who make aggressive dumbass discourse/stupid in-fighting discourse 99% of their identity lmao, people like that could be actually learning about nuances and doing actual activism instead... And I'm going to leave that at that.

Seriously, stop in-fighting, you're just making it easier for jackasses to legislate you out of existence because you're divide-and-conquering/eating yourselves instead of having proper solidarity and respect for people's personal choices/experiences/variance/identity. It's getting extremely annoying. I guarantee that 99% of people outside of the community/microcommunities don't even know about all of these arbitrary distinctions/arguments, let alone care. You're just cannibalizing yourselves while alienating potential allies/potential members of your community. This world isn't black-and-white, stop stressing yourself into grey hairs before the age of 16, what the fuck.

Shipping/fanfiction discourse is stupid. Don't come to me about shipping/fanfiction discourse. None of the terms used in the "greater" discourse mean anything, they're vague, ephemeral, and easy to rewrite. Both "sides" are ridiculous and filled with jackasses and fools, both have serious problems with using abuse survivors as "gotchas" against the other, being racist, queerphobic, xenophobic, and literally every other prejudice under the sky, and not having any discipline, tact, or the ability to mind their own damn business. Both sides need to learn some self-awareness, proper tagging (especially if being posted in a public forum), proper blacklisting, and that 90% of the shit they're fighting about doesn't matter in non-fanfic media spaces. I don't consider myself to be on either "side" because my experience with people who get so wrapped up in it has been overwhelmingly negative and with people on both sides accusing me of being on their opposite side. There's a lot more nuance here. Some people just read things in bad faith, whether it be through ignorance, being deliberately malicious, or the story just being really badly written. It's ridiculous.

If you have no unique icon+description+content when following me, I'm probably going to report you as a bot. I know about this place's bot problem (and the forms the bots can take) and don't really like taking chances on that.

I also do not share donation posts. Those are not my wheelhouse and I can never tell if it's a scam or not.

Other than that, if I think you're annoying and/or the like, I block. I've been getting more liberal with my blocking lately.

Name: [REDACTED]. I am not giving out real names, what the fuck? Just call me Brackets, though I still respond to Ashlynnii and sometimes to Frost/Ashes (i.e. my Steam username).

Just try to figure out my pronouns lmao. I don't really give any fucks, this is the internet and again, nobody is entitled to that information. I'm honestly fine with anything that isn't neos/xenos.

Also, Asexual (I think... I've don't really recall ever having sexual attraction to anyone, real-or-fake) and [still-figuring-it-out]romantic. 👍‍

I’m all over the damn place with my fandoms, honestly. That’s for you to figure out. I also feel gender envy for unhinged middle-aged/old men lmao.

I draw and write, though I only post my writings on DeviantArt due to their… strange content. Art tag(s) here are “Brackets Draws” and “Brackets's Art”. For original text posts I use "Brackets Talks", for posting original video game-related stuff that isn't art I use "Brackets Games", if I make a poll I use "Brackets Polls", and if I add something to a post in a reblog (and not just ramble in the tags) I use "Brackets Adds". If I tag something “lmao” it means I’m filing it under “funny”.

...Politics has been heating up more and more lately, so if you don't want to see when I reblog stuff like that, then watch out for the "politics" and "discourse" tags.

Misc. interests include memes, being a furry (just have a fursona, not really a fursuit-er or the like. Fursona’s name is Brackets.) and Transformation content. No, not bloody Transformers, Transformation! They’re different! That’s what my “strange content” that I write about on DA is about, and I also make memes of it on Reddit/YouTube. It’s commonly just called “TF”. If you look in my TF folder on DA… be warned! Weird shit! I post it to Reddit (on a specific subreddit), but I don’t post it on Tumblr! I've seen enough people brigading against TF content exclusively on this site way too much for me to risk drawing in those asses. If you post weirdo horny comments on them you're getting cursed out lmao.

Now to list off other places you can find my content:

DeviantArt - Newgrounds - Reddit - Youtube - Art Fight - Toyhou.se - Neocities (Still huge WIP)

[jyndor]

let’s talk about anxiety, excitement and negativity about andor:

(or cait has a slow day at the salon so now we get this discourse. read if you want, and if you think I’m being negative at the end of this essay I’m genuinely curious as to why, and I’d like to hear from you).

ANDOR SPOILERS behind the cut:

A good thing about Rogue One is that the fandom has very diverse, robust opinions on the characters. Undoubtedly some of those opinions I disagree with, but I like that we all have varying interpretations of canon. Fanfiction writers - even the ones like me who barely do any writing lmfao #rip - have done a lot to build fanon into what it is. And we’ve had YEARS to do it. So we’ve naturally got Pretty Strong Feelings about these characters and what they’ve been through before the film (and after for those of us in utter denial).

Cassian Andor is a character that I immediately liked - as was Jyn Erso, for very similar and different reasons all at once. He is a character that has a lot of the traits I most admire in people and that I value in myself - strong sense of right and wrong, good judgment, dedication, loyalty. And I liked that Rogue One allowed these characters to be unlikable at times, that they always stayed true to what a real person in their shoes might do, not what a character in a story might do. We get to explore what makes Cassian into the character we see in the film, how he grows into that man.

His growth is pretty dynamic just in the film alone, so the idea that we might see where he comes from - what shapes him into the Cassian we see in the film - has always appealed to me. When the Cassian show was announced I knew that it was going to change things for what we see as canon, that it was going to flesh things out about his character in ways I might not agree with. I was and am SO EXCITED to see one of my favorite characters on screen again.

When someone who is an authority on what canon is says something that doesn’t really fit our individual understandings of canon, that can feel weird. It’s different than when a fellow fan thinks differently on canon because lol none of us have any actual sway over canon - just our own interpretations of canon. I mean don’t get me wrong some of y’all annoy me with your hot takes too but it’s far more aggravating when it’s like one of those idiots on the Lucafilm Story Whatever Board spewing some shit. Even George Lucas sometimes annoys me with his literal own interpretation of his own content ... I mean that’s nothing new in this fandom.

For example, this is a silly one. Whenever Diego says (rightfully bc he is 10000% correct) that Cassian is dead, my dumbass is like WHERES THE BODY BITCH. I get kind of, idk, weird about it? Because in my headcanon, these characters are not dead. That is called a ~personal problem and I’m only sort of joking. I’m pro-the ending because it works so well, but I am also one of the weirdos who wouldn’t actually be mad if they retconned it. They shouldn’t, I know that it actually would take away from how hard the ending hits, but I wouldn’t be mad. I assume most of you disagree with that - and you’re right to disagree because I’m objectively wrong but I also just ~~~FEEL THAT WAY.

This is an example of my interpretation being non-canonical. But I’ve already seen the film so I can make that conclusion if I want to - it’s absurd and completely defenseless (NO BODY NO CRIME js) but it is what it is.

So it stands to reason that if we have feelings about how things would have gone had Cassian lived, we also all have feelings about how things went before Rogue One. And considering there is only a little bit of information canonically, our feelings are going to be WILDLY varied. I think we all know that.

I fully expect the show to deviate from some things in my headcanon - like for instance, I don’t expect Cassian to be a math/piloting genius just because I interpret the escaping Jedha scene as Cassian being exceptionally gifted at calculating jumps. That’s my interpretation and I recognize that it’s just that. An interpretation. I do expect him to be very good at piloting because he is one in canon. If the trailer showed 20-something Cassian sucking at piloting I’d be side-eyeing the shit out of it. I don’t expect Cassian to be someone who picks up strays everywhere he goes, but I do expect him to “have the face of a friend” no matter how superficially.

And in the same vein, and much more seriously, I expect that someone who argues with a literal former child soldier about how she only joined up when the fight impacted her personal life to have been in some sort of resistance in his teens at LEAST. I’m not saying the spoilers are conclusive in any way about any of this, but some of the quotes give me pause. I don’t think that’s negative, I don’t think that’s anything other than having a feeling about a thing that seems pretty much established fact: that Cassian Andor was a Separatist himself is kind of murky (he was a child lmfao) but that he was in the fight from an early age? Literally canon I’m sorry.

But also, spoilers don’t come with context and trailers misrepresent things all the time. That’s why I was waiting to firmly decide if I thought Adria was playing a love interest. Trailers lie: that scene could still be Bix showing Cassian something without like sexual tension lmfao, but it very likely is intended to be romantic. Okay, cool. I still don’t know how I’ll feel about their relationship because I haven’t seen the show yet. I have Concerns based on my interpretation of Tony Gilroy’s quote about their relationship being on again off again and Cassian burning bridges with Bix and everyone lmfao, but for all I know contextually it could work really well to me! But without that context, that sounds like a toxic relationship and I’d rather Cassian not have a toxic relationship, especially if my speculation about Bix not making it to the second season is correct. God, I’m so tired of women (in particular woc) dying for men’s stories to progress. I was worried about that when I thought Adria was playing his sister, and I’m worried about that now. I’m not being negative, I’m being realistic - this is a common trope for a reason.

I know that a lot of rebelcaptain shippers are uncomfortable with Cassian being in a relationship with someone else and I don’t agree in this context. It seems kind of odd to me to feel that way, but also I won’t lie that I wouldn’t like it if Cassian is in a committed relationship with another person when Rogue One begins. To me that would chip away at Cassian’s motivations in the film - he’s lost everything, so he throws everything into his service with the Alliance - and if we consider the novelization canon that would be... hard to square with his characterization in the book. But not impossible.

A lot of these spoilers are hard for me to square with my interpretation of what canon says. And my interpretation is pretty literal for the most part - except for the NO BODY NO CRIME ending lmfao - so that does worry me. It worries me that Gilroy said that what we read in Wookiepedia is not the truth about Cassian, but also we haven’t seen the show so for all we know he means that that’s not all there is to know about Cassian, or that the like idk supplemental materials (like the visual dictionary) are not going to remain canon. Which... alright, well then tell a better story.

I don't think it's out of bounds to be skeptical about things in interviews, there's a few choices that I personally not only wouldn't make but that don't seem to track with what literal canon says in the film, but also we have to remember that we haven't seen the context these things they're talking about are in, we haven't seen the show yet. So maybe they do make sense! I am reserving my judgment until I have watched the episodes twice because I know myself well - I have an initial reaction and then a more reasoned reaction after the adrenaline passes. Sometimes it’s the same (my feelings on Rogue One stayed VERY MUCH THE SAME LOL). Often I become a little more critical.

But I can't deny that it's disappointing to hear some spoilers that confuse me and make me nervous. I don't want to be nervous about fundamental things like Cassian's literal childhood not seeming to match what he says in the show - and anyone who says "well him being in the fight since he was a kid is your interpretation" lmfao no it is not. How he was in the fight is absolutely up to interpretation, and I hope that they stick the landing there. I definitely have my reservations from spoilers, but again there’s no context so it’s like... I can’t have an informed opinion.

I feel fairly confident that the show will be well-written and thoughtful, and definitely will have something to say. I think it's gonna be fantastic, but I'm also like, not all that trusting of Lucasfilm. For good reason - I was never a massive Obi Wan stan and even I can see that there were major issues with the show, even if I enjoyed a lot of it. And Boba Fett... yikes. But also the context is different: Diego is EXECUTIVE PRODUCER and has a lot of feelings on his character, and I’m speculating here but I think he has a lot to do with some details - Cassian’s dad is named Jeron in honor of Diego’s son Jeronimo, for example. I think the idea that Cassian is a refugee comes directly from Diego, and the fact that his (adopted) mother is a white woman almost certainly does too. I know Ewan McGregor was Exec Producer for his show but I’ve never gotten the idea that he’s as much of a fan as Diego is. It’s different.

Temeura Morrison also had a lot to do with fleshing out Boba and it still flopped imo but that show’s context is also different - it’s clearly supplemental to the Mandalorian, and also the showrunner wasn’t, idk, literally involved in creating Boba Fett at all. We’ll never know how much Tony Gilroy actually is responsible for - but he was a RO writer even before the reshoots. I wish Gary Whitta and especially Chris Weitz were involved, but who knows. Sometimes writers aren’t credited - Gilroy wasn’t going to be before the reshoots.

They've had years and years to develop the story and it's just got a different feel to the rest of the shows tbh - the fact that they’re not forcing Gilroy to use the Volume says a lot about how much effort they’re putting into the show and how much creative control Disney is relinquishing (maybe). I'm not saying that's a stopgap for bullshit choices, but it tells me they’re being purposeful. That this is a passion project.

But I guess the biggest question is this: what is negativity to you? Is negativity shitposting and making jokes about spoilers? If so, well then I guess I’m negative, in spite of literally all of my years of excitement about and defense of the show. I mean we all have different interpretations of negativity, so if you feel like I’m being negative, well okay then you don’t have to follow me. I’m a grown up, I can take it. I can see how some people might feel like I am being negative because I am reacting to spoilers and not loving what I’m hearing about some things. Personally for me negativity is a lot of things, but critique is not one of them. It is hard to critique something without having seen it though. Practically impossible tbh.

And it's been tiring for all of us Cassian fans to put up with idiots who have been relentless saying no one wanted this show (even though that is not true and also no one ‘wanted’ Rogue One but John Knoll originally, and it’s one of the most beloved SW films ever). So I can understand why some might feel like the anxiety some of us feel about the show’s version of Cassian would feel exhausting to deal with. I don't want to turn off people who are, like me, super excited for the show just because I have concerns. But I’m also not going to accept that having concerns, that being anxious, is being negative on its face. Because I’ve heard that all my life - being mentally ill is not usually a positive experience folks. I know when I’m being negative and when I’m being realistic.

For those of us who are anxious about the show, we should also touch some fuckin grass. It IS easy to get sucked into negativity when anxiety kicks in and ultimately we do not know much about the content of the show. We should try to be better about keeping perspective, not for our followers lmfao but for ourselves. Venting is one thing, but I do think it’s better to use venting to be constructive - find the Now What? of a thing that we’re reacting to. In other words, our immediate reactions will be what they will be, but what do we do when we pause and take the time to think them through?

An example: I think I was being negative in my initial reaction to Cassian’s birth name not being Cassian Andor. I almost immediate understood what they were going for - my last name is not what my ancestors’ last name was back in the old country lmfao. This is a common immigrant experience that transcends origin (thanks structural white supremacy and xenophobia <333) and is a very poignant addition to his story. But I was like EHHH FUCK THAT FUCK CHANGE for a good few minutes or so. Mainly because I’ve always called his Cass, and Kassa is close but honestly read more Greek to me ??? idk lmfao I just had to sit down and think for a moment.

Another example was when I said Gilroy wasn’t involved in writing Rogue One. Well it turns out that I was flat out wrong - he just wasn’t credited with writing he did for the script until the reshoots. So I was being unfair and reactive - it is very likely that he is responsible for why the movie is so good. I wasn’t joking about some dumbass spoilers, I was actually annoyed about the overarching picture these spoilers present of Cassian’s teen years - but of course how can I know what they mean without context?

Realistically I don’t trust Lucasfilm to stick the landing in every case. But I also know that they have before - and specifically THIS TEAM has stuck the landing before - so it’s not like I’m thinking it’s going to suck. I think it’s going to be great. I am worried about how these spoilers fit into what we are going to see but my expectations are still very high. And if they weren’t, well then idk maybe that would be a good thing! It’s easier to enjoy something if you don’t go in with super high expectations.

I think we as fans do need to keep in mind that the show is not going to match our personal interpretations of canon and our feelings on that are going to be what they are - but I also think that it is GREAT they are telling this story at all, and we should wait til we see the finished product to decide if we're actually happy with it or not.

And if we’re not happy with the finished product, well... then we can light them up for it lmfao.