#It's really nice to be consuming a media where you can actually HEAR the characters say validating things to you

[gffa]

I made the mistake, after episode 7 of the acolyte, to look through the tags (I’ve given up on Reddit for sw discourse lol) and there are so many bad takes out there. It’s like people watched a different episode. I’m glad there are some good meta takes from people like you, or I’d be lost! I think nuance is dead in fandom and people just can’t see things as more than “Jedi Bad!” When there’s so much more nuance than that. Were the Jedi perfect? No! Of course not. That would be so boring. If all Jedi were always perfect, SW would be dull. It’s because they aren’t perfect that they are so compelling. That they try to do the right thing, even if it doesn’t always work out.

A quote that came to mind by Teddy Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Anyways, thanks for your continued good meta and cultivating a nice pro-Jedi space!

Hi! I hear you, it can be tough going into the tags sometimes (and I've given up on both Reddit and Twitter for any kind of discussion, I just do not have the time/energy for that when sometimes I still have to fight for my life on Tumblr) but I will say that the best remedy I have for that is to start posting the content you want to see! It's so satisfying to write down your thoughts just to have fun in your own space, I don't need other people nearly so much because I'm having a great time just making myself laugh or cry over my faves or nerding out over worldbuilding. It's a bonus that I've collected a bunch of really great people around me, both ones I vibe with and ones who are chill when our vibes don't match and we disagree on stuff. I've been having an absolute joy of a time after episode 7 of The Acolyte because I've seen some great posts, I've had some hilarious conversations, etc. And part of that is just. Letting go of a lot of fandom. I'm a lot more relaxed about the Star Wars media I consume because it's not Lucas' Star Wars, I can take or leave it as I will and, most importantly, I don't need the Jedi to be perfect to be good. So much of my need for the Jedi to be perfect once upon a time came from that any little mistake they made, ones that were completely reasonable, ones that were simply just "didn't solve everyone's problems instantly", ones that were present in other characters who were allowed to just be instead of being raked over the coals for it, and how fandom would use those as a bludgeon against the Jedi. And that wasn't fun! So, instead, yeah, the Jedi are flawed, because any character ever is allowed to be flawed. The most cinnamon roll character ever is flawed and that's okay. Luke Skywalker is flawed. Padme Amidala is flawed. Bail Organa is flawed. Yoda is flawed. Obi-Wan Kenobi is flawed. Mace Windu is flawed. Ahsoka Tano is flawed. Leia Organa is flawed. Han Solo is flawed. Lando Calrissian is flawed. Ezra Bridger is flawed. Kanan Jarrus is flawed. Hera Syndulla is flawed. And on and on and on. If those characters can have flaws and be seen as good, well, then that's how I'm going to proceed with my Jedi faves, too. Oh, Mace wasn't bending over backwards to smile and be soft when he was having the worst day ever? That's what you're bringing me to show that he was bad actually? Babe, please, Luke started out as whiny and annoying and he's amazing, so Mace is amazing, too. The Jedi were in a no-win situation, not fighting would mean people would die, fighting meant compromising themselves, they had to make a choice, there was no third way out, there was no secret magical answer in Star Wars, so they did what they could to the best of their ability. And it's not on them to fix everything in the galaxy, they're peace-keepers who were drafted into a war, they're not the whole of the government, they're not there to be social service agents, that's not who they are or what they're equipped for. And yet they still tried to help whenever they could. Everyone fucks up sometimes and that's okay, it doesn't suddenly mean they're the real villain all along, because otherwise they would have to be literally be perfect to be "good" and that's just bad writing imo. Ultimately, just take a break from scrolling through the tags if you can and join me in writing your own stuff, it's hard at first to get the words to come out the way you want them to, but with some time and energy put into it, I've found it to be so much more rewarding. <3

[mossy-green-aka-ferrythem]

Watched the recent episodes of Dungeon Meshi, 15 and 16 I believe. Man I love this story. First of all, episode 15, where you can really see how much each and every one of these characters care for one another! But then in 16, things get a bit... messy... first of all, everyone is here, which is quite nice! But then you see how the larger world works and how other people act, function, and think...

I really am actually feeling distressed at the position Laios finds himself in. It's like, he really does care a lot, but his care isn't quite reciprocated... Kabru notes that him not "exterminating" orcs is him failing his duties as an adventurer, Kabru puts on a front of delight when he hears about Laios and his monster eating habits... and just... god Laios resonates with me so much as a character and I just can't keep it in. In it's current state, Kabru represents something that I fear. The idea that every mistake I've made, every miscommunication, every dealing coming back to haunt me... and how he takes delight when he hears about the use of Black Magic, blushing with joy and thinking to himself "Oh wow! This is way worse then I thought!"... I'm sorry everyone... but someone like this awakens a visceral sense of distaste in me... I'm sure my thoughts will change as the narrative progresses... but the way Kabru, being a devout adventurer as he is, sort of in a way seems to represent that career, and what larger society represents... the sort of joy of a peasant, hearing that the town eccentric is being sent to the gallows... the idea that Laios and his party deserves to be locked up forever, with not even the corpses to return... after everything I've lived through... it sort of mirrors what I fear the most. The idea that every single mistake that I've made will come down on my throat like a Guillotine, and have my head rolling across the ground, to someone's feet, and they pick it up, look at my head, and say "serves him right".

Anyways, that got awfully personal, but it makes sense. It's an intensely personal narrative with intensely personal themes and characters. Time and time again Laios just resonates with me in such a special way. I myself, being autistic, just so viscerally feel and understand Laios. Being so passionate like that, having such intense difficulty interacting, but still wishing to do so out of love, the idea of wanting to share one's passions, only to be treated as a sort of freak... like, I'm sure if I were to share my interests in certain media and the philosophies they follow, and get into actual, sincere, media literacy, the average person would probably disparage me... it concerns me so... I would imagine Laios feels a certain way like that, with his passion for what it is to live, to consume, to be nourished by the flesh of monsters that he so cares about, and understands...

EDIT: Man I really have to bring my awful awful anxieties and insecurities into me posting my thoughts about Dungeon Meshi, huh?

[albaqae]

OH MY GOD I FINALLY WATCHED MUTANT MAYHEM AND DJJSAJJSNSNFHXJDJ

queue the ramble :) (also yes spoilers)

I’m so so happy being able to take off mutant mayhem filters NOW I CAN BASK IN THE FANART YES YESBEYYEYSYSYSYSA

Ok so like I pulled up right and I knew it was gon be GOOD, but IT WAS GOODER THAT GOOD???? After I watched rise I was like mkmk yea there’s NO WAY they can make them more teenager-y But they Did.

My friend my love told me that they told the VA to change the script if they wanted to and if they thought it was more relevant and honestly? BEST DECISION EVER

U can feel however u want abt the movie but I will Fight You about the relevancy of it so bad, like something that media tends to focus on capturing is the Present, the feeling of the very moment “insert thing” happens, and the relevancy of certain situations in certain times. It’s the very reason why nostalgia hits so hard, because it is capturing the feeling of being right there in that moment, and so effortlessly

That’s what I felt watching the movie, THEY LITERALLT SAID RIZZ AND SUS, and I never in my LIFE thought I’d hear that in an ACTUAL OFFICIAL MOVIE, I just KNOW history scholars are gonna psycho analyze every reference they make

ALSO I ADORE SPLINTER SO SO SO MUCHANJAJASJKEKNX, I love seeing just-became-a-father splinter it’s AKJSNDNX. I really really love the angle they took with him, and him seeing himself reflected in superfly and how being so strict hurts his kids because it doesn’t let them explore options or themselves fully, even if he really does think he’s right

ALSO HIM AND SCUMBAG AKAJNSNSNX IT WAS SO CUTEEEE IT KILLED MEEE

AND OH GOD near the end when superfly had the turtles and was abt to like snap them and I saw the broken shells I, no kidding, screamed. THE AMOUNT OF ANGST IVE CONSUMED THAT HAS HAD BROKEN SHELLS AS ONE OF ITS MAIN PLOTS AOQJJWNSNX, it was WILDDD having it canon ngl

Overall all the characters, like every single one, felt so fleshed out and real, it was genuinely so refreshing. I love how media now focuses on capturing raw human states instead of the heavily filtered beauty standard that our societies have for so long clung to. I think future generations being able to see that will really heal some of the damage being “chronically online” can cause

April had SUCH GOOD STYLE and I loved her :) because the plot was so heavy I almost expected a lot of the characters to not have an arc at all, so I was real surprised when splinter and April realized what they did was hurting ppl. The writers were REAL good at keep the plot semi-un-crowded despite how much was going on

Again, THE HUMOR WAS SO SO PRESENT DAY AKAJWJENNX

I loved Raph LIKE ALWAYS and how they made him an angry mf w/o making it against his brothers, and just making it as just how he is, I thought it was so nice to have an iteration where he keeps his spark without making it harmful to those he cares abt (his outfit at the end was so very fire it was my fav)

Mikey was so so sweet, I love whenever he’s both a goofy goober but also one of the most empathetic ones, the hope and kindness in his eyes <33

DONNIE WAS SO RADDDD, the VA did SUCH a good job, he has my fav voice and overall he was so cool in character too, freaking out abt the attack on titan doodle was so me and I love seeing a representation of what non-toxic fandom looks like that wasn’t seen as a problem or as meant to be looked down on, bro just loves k-pop and anime!!!

Leo was AMAZINFGGGT, they kept his leader persona and his want to take responsibility and decency without making him an ass !!! And for someone who grew up with 2012 Leo that’s something I was REALLY at awe at

It’s also the first turtle x human ship i don’t hate, they didn’t make Leo be CREEPY ASF LIKE W 2012 DONNIE, but he was still a hormonal teenager having a real crush and they were still friends

I also loved lizard dude

Superfly character was so rad too, the way he spoke and carried himself was really interesting to look at and I thought it was so cool, I love villains that have actual stories, AND BABY HIM WAS SO CUTEEEEE, wish we got more sibling content on him and his crew tho, but that’s very me nitpicking

Splinter cracking his back remind me of “BUMBUMBUM BUM BUM BUM!”

I love when tmnt doesn’t do orientalism :))) it’s very hard to avoid in iterations cause of the very foundation of tmnt, but I take it as a major W whenever we get a decent story(USUALLY AMAZING STORIES) that doesn’t rely on “oooohhhh mystery ninja stuff ooooooo” to make a compelling “aesthetic”

I also loved how Baxter stockman looked, and the turtle tots, the animation was OUT OF THIS WORLDDD, I rlly love how, as artists, we accept more diverse styles rather than just sticking to realism being the standard, because it allows for stuff like this to happen!!! And the scribbles added so much to the world ownqnnsndndjxjx I’ll rewatch it over and over again just for the art style

And also when Leo call himself leon IT MADE ME SO HAPPY BC LIKE LEO IN RISE LIKES LEON TOO IT FELT LIKE A WINK WINK SKSNSNWNMSND not sure if it was tho but it was me giggling and kicking my feet

The plot itself was so good too in the way that it applies to more than mutants, the seeking of acceptance is something really really relatable in so many contexts: neurodivergence, queerness, immigration, and so so so much more????? It’s one of my fav things of most tmnt iterations, its themes carry on to other contexts, not just to the specific story being told. This is what leads it to being so attractive to so many audiences

The music was very atsv and I thought it was so rad, it’s always nice to watch a movie that has that kinda soundtrack, especially in urban settings it’s a lot more fitting than an orchestra (sometimes, or at least I think)

By the time me movie was over with the BADASS SHREDDER APPEARANCE I lost control of my body and was just happy stimming violently and my friends just kinda 🧍‍♂️ at me, and they got the same rant u just read but even more messy, if that’s possible

I’m proud to have mutant mayhem as an official tmnt iteration, and I’m proud of the work that’s been done, and I hope to in the future maybe somehow contribute to a version too!!

I didn’t revise this, and it’s very messy, and I doubt I’ll go back and fix it, but it’s just beginning thoughts :D if you actually read this far thank you and I love you

[therhythmafterthesummer]

Hi darling 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻. I know this is off topic

If i remember correctly you said English isn't your mother tongue, could you tell us how you learned to write in such a wonderful English? It's really impressive how wide your vocabulary is and the way you convey your characters emotions.

I promise this is my last request for today, can I be 🌑 anon?

Hope you have a nice day 😚

i love this question, btw 🥺 i like talking about this.

the answer is kinda long, so i'll leave it under a cut, but the tl;dr is that english was the only way i could enjoy my special interests, so my autistic ass just... learnt it to indulge in these things. it all led me to reading and writing a lot in the language, which was how i started developing my own creative writing skills.

i always say English was my first love, which is kinda funny considering i used to hate English as a subject in school (bc i couldn't understand it when i was like... 9 years old. it was taught to us as a 'foreign language', but the level of education wasn't exactly.... good. i could barely count to twenty and i knew some colours, that's about it lol).

anyway, when i was around 14 years old i got really into harry potter*. we're talking obsessive levels of being into it... and very quickly i realised that the best spaces online surrounding the series were in english. i ended up joining tumblr back in 2010, when the only available language to use it was english. got really into doctor who and bbc merlin, as well as british youtubers (charlieissocoollike, my beloved...) and i just overall started consuming a lot of media in english. i eventually started reading books in english (percy jackson, the hunger games...), also fanfiction in english, and at some point i just... realised i could understand what i was watching/reading very well.

it was sort of a natural progression, tbh. when i was 17 i was fairly proficient (not fully, i still made basic grammar mistakes, but i think it was understandable for someone that wasn't learning through formal education). i ended up going to uni to study to become a translator (i dropped out lol but that's a story for another day, if you wanna hear it), and my english just got better there when i started to actually study grammar.

by 21 i'd say i was fully fluent... and now i'm here.

when it comes to actual creative writing, reading is what got me the vocabulary i have (which could be way better, i'm sure), and actually sitting down and writing was what got me to where i am right now with my writing. it's a practiced skill, pretty much.

thank you for this question, it got me remembering nice things about my past that make me happy and i often forget about💜

*(for transparency, i'm not into harry potter anymore. i can't stand jkr and her terf-ass, so the series is completely tainted for me. i can't consume anything HP related these days, because all i can think about is how it was written by such a hateful, disgusting person. it triggers only negative emotions in me these days, which is really, really sad tbh)

[wifiwuxians]

quick aside for my moment of befuddlement because ive always misunderstood the idiom "like a house on fire" LOL. i always thought it was a passive aggressive way of saying "dude, we would destroy each other lets not talk" so when i first read that I was like ??? context??? doesnt match??? did they misunderstand the idiom? DID I? then i googled it and you're right lol its a nice thing. (tho now i wanna put that in a fic bc i think that would be a delightful misunderstanding for characters to have). IM SO GLAD I MADE UR FUNK SLIGHTLY LESS FUNKY THO. you're great and you're super sweet ;w; if i had more self-confidence, i would definitely jump at the opportunity to befriend. maybe when i get more gutsy

BACK TO THE SONG LAN HATE THO. im sorry, im still in shock. just HOW. also..... how is my interpretation of them not the common one??? again, i stay so strictly to my lane i didnt know other lanes existed and i definitely dont want to hear about it bc i think song lan hate would hurt my heart. it already hurts my heart sometimes when i see xue yang hate and XUE YANG DESERVES IT. literally i despair at media literacy sometimes. i absolutely cannot understand how anyone consumed the same content as we did and decided to be mean to song lan.

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY A FAVORITE ARTIST, DUDE. have you fucking SEEN your stuff?!? like, are you as blind as xiao xingchen? (my sweetie, may he forever regain his sight). your art is GORGEOUS. absolutely worthy of being a fav artist and i am sure im not the only one. for starters, your pieces always have a depth to them that sets them in a scene so freaking beautifully EVEN WHEN THERES NO BG or even in your more simplified styles. when you come out with a "silly phone doodle of xue yang", i see the freaking SKILL needed to make THAT adorable lil gremlin as just a 'silly doodle'. like BRO, youre so skilled that i think youve lost depth of how good an artist you really are. i wish i was smarter with art words so i could tell you in color theory exactly why your colors are so beautiful but im dumb and all i know is "color pretty" BUT SINCE I CAN PORTRAY STUFF WITH WORDS SOMETIMES i'll try to just express how your colors alone can evoke emotion and tell a story, how you use the contrast to make your art pop off the page, the way that the colors caress a scene and show so much more inside. its beautiful, your art is beautiful, i can look at a piece for such a long time and still find interesting details that make me smile. oki i'll stop beng weird now but like NEVER DOUBT YOU'RE FREAKING SKILL BRO. (shit i didnt even get to how your animations just break my brain oeuihgo i love)

lolololol dw abt telling me about the cannibalisms piece, i look Specifically disrespectfully at that one. not big into cannibalism but damn dude, there is a Mood to that piece and frankly, something that messed up sort of suits them on their worst days euorhgioeurh i like me a fluff au or a fix-it fic but damn those two can get Dark.

My otps are often rarepairs ;A; i never do it on purpose, im normally jumping headfirst into a more popular ship but then i just See the potential in two other lil guys and im like.... holdup, wait is no one else seeing those two??? AM I THE ONLY ONE WITNESSING THIS? (yes, yes i am). And the hyperfixation begins and its just me alone at a bar with no bartenders so i make my own food. but im a weird lil guy so my cocktails are always strange and im alone at the bar lol. tbh songxue is one of my LESS rarepair rarepairs. like... theres actually fics that i didnt write for them LOL. (there was one fandom where there were 40 fics for a ship and i wrote all 40. i am a sad and lonely lil loser lol)

(scuse me one of my fav artists said they think i'd write my otp well, i can die happy oaierhgoeirh i actually do write ff for songxue but hahaha im still just a silly anon but its rlly good to know that the person i think characterizes them best in the fandom (that ive seen) thinks i would do a good job with them aoeghuihr thankyou for the high praise, i guarantee i dont deserve it)

(sometimes i've wondered if the reason you draw/write them so well is bc you dont ship them? weird take but like, shippers have shipping goggles right? we see what we wanna see a lot of the time. but since you just think they'd be neat standing next to each other (much agree), you actually put thought into their characterizations and personality instead of just "this is how they'd F*CK" or smth similar. and bc the personalities and stuff mean way more to me than sexy stuff (thats the whole reason i ship them! their personalities!) the fact that even your crack stuff has such a good basis in who they are as people makes your content just so good. whereas sometimes i see content by shippers (no disrespect meant, everyone ships in their own way), its very actively ooc, usually for a kink fill, and im just... but what abt their personalities? what abt the whole reason i think they'd be good together if given the chance?! WHAT ABOUT THEM? and then u come around drawing them like that and i just wish more people portrayed them the way you do. this isnt meant as like an anti-smut thing, i like smut, its just that sometimes pwp is just two strangers who happen to have the character names of my blorbos and literally nothing else in common and theyre my BLORBOS. more power to people who like that stuff, i will stay in my lane and bother this poor lovely person who doesnt even like the ship but is kind enough to see their potential to be pals cuz damn im in it for the emotions)

heh heh yeah it means we'd get along well but i like that interpretation too and think it would make a great story!! here's to you becoming more gutsy! (though again you're very free to use an alt or something!)

genuinely why i don't go looking lmao... song lan fans are so fucking strong to have to deal with the shit people have said BUT nowadays the climate seems to be a lot better :D i see lots of thirst for him at least KFHKDJ and my appreciation post of him has 800 notes so that's hopeful at least! but same i don't get it at all (though honestly i will say a lot of character hate stems from shipping. legit.) but yeah regarding xy hate for me it's gotta be for the "right" reasons LMAO

LJHLFHFD ALL THE COMPLIMENTS MY BRAIN CANT TAKE EM!!!! genuinely!!! THANK YOU!!!! i do often tell myself 'your stuff doesn't have to be perfect it just has to spark joy' to feel better about not rendering a piece to hell and back and mostly taking the lazy route, though this year i really wanna branch out and try more! but all of this has shot me in the heart... emotion to me is the most important part of art, and one of my favorite responses to get is laughter, and you don't need a 4K HD piece for that haha BUT LISTEN YOURE NOT WEIRD EVERY ARTIST I KNOW WOULD KILL TO HEAR THIS im gonna frame it. but after ive printed and eaten another copy like wow you think i set the scene ;_; will cry (agsjdhf sorry i really do read everything im just. PROCESSING!!!)

ahaha yeah for sure! i do love me some cannibalism (i am the cannibal friend) but absolutely that was just intended as a very dark place. song lan has Had it (the premise was xy thinking hey, he likes me, let me remove the nails i am sure everything will be fineOHNOOO)

oh dude i have chronic rarepair disease. most of what i ship is stuff i've come up with myself so any content is me + 2 souls maximum who i have managed to drag with me and make content KSGKFJ (case in point, xuechao) i just have this compulsion to do what nobody else has done

(you do deserve it! and dont go looking i wanna keep being the one who portrays them best :p)

and hey maybe because YES!!!! my work almost exclusively stems from personality oh my god thank you for acknowledging that i think that is the highest praise of all... how their personalities gel together is SUPER important for me, shipping or otherwise!! i'm telling you you and i would get along really well since we agree on the fundamentals i think! like yeah there's nothing wrong with some good old self indulgence but ooc takes me out of stuff a fair bit, and trust me i feel like most people would think MY stuff is ooc! but the thing about the strangers with blorbo names made me laugh so hard lhKDHJAfhsg i am so guilty of that in the past, i've read my old stuff and i'm just like damn. i just projected onto these dudes. NO MORE (it is bound to still happen privately but hey, ultimately, write what you want to read)

song lan and xue yang, in the 'if given the chance' realm, have exactly my favorite type of duo dynamism which is why i cannot stop drawing them lol like some funky spin on boke/tsukkomi... generally speaking ">:D -_-" is visually my favorite thing to draw haha and again! i wanna say it's not an all-out global dislike, i just a) understand most people are NOT coming at it from where i am so it doesn't interest me/makes me sad, and B) understand WHY people wouldn't be into it. because wow. um. ouch. that sure is some shit

i am gonna take a moment to plug an author i think you might really enjoy, pomegranites on ao3 (@pometogo on here!) ! i can't speak for Every flavor in there being to your tastes but there are definitely a fair few fics that made me bonkers, namely not easily let go, written for song lan love week :D

[rakuya-nikki]

A New Routine - Entry #1

I don't expect anyone to really see these, and that's not the purpose of doing this anyways. I just want a place to be able to jot down my thoughts or share my experiences, as a way to remember them all. Keeping it all locked in my head does nothing but guarantee they'll be forgotten eventually, after all

If anyone is actually reading along somehow, I hope you can find joy in whatever it is that this ends up turning into. As I imagine it right now, this'll be a mix of my ideas, my photos of certain foods/drinks I've tried, my progress on whatever thing it is I'm working on, or me sharing a certain piece of media I consumed and how I felt about it.

Honestly, it's in that sense that I feel overwhelmed right now. There's so many things I have that I'd like to talk about, but if I tried to cover all of my bases, this would quickly stop being a "journal" and just be a mess. Not to mention that would take so much time that it would essentially become a job in and of itself LOL I've honestly been struggling with the feeling of "being overwhelmed" quite a few times, and I think what I need to do in those cases is just take a moment to breathe, and just let things happen. So, in that spirit, this first journal is just going to be this — me going over my thoughts that led to me starting this up in the first place. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while now. A handful of months ago, I even started an actual, physical journal system to get some really heavy thoughts jotted down. It's like a form of venting, and I think it helped me get through those times well enough, but it's been over a month since I last touched that. To be honest, even though doing it by hand makes the process more intimate, it also makes it a pain in the ass to write more than a handful of paragraphs. I don't think I want this page to get as deep and serious as those journals were, but if it does at some points, so be it. Mostly, I just think it would be nice for me to get into the habit of taking the time to write down and save my thoughts on things. That way, sometime in the far future, I'll be able to look back to this and remember all of what I've been through, and all of the things I've thought, felt, and learned.

Not to mention, the current dilemma surrounding Twitter made this decision a lot easier to make. I've been meaning to move away from that site for a long time now, and I think this place will be better for me. Even if I don't hear good things about it. Though, I guess that's true no matter where you go. At the very least, I can write more than 240 characters per post on somewhere like here.

Plus, I'm going into this without a care in the world about viewership or likes or popularity or anything like that. I think I've had my full of that type of thing. So maybe this'll be a relaxing counterpart. Worst case scenario, I just don't use this site to browse other media, and it stays exclusively a place for me to blog.

I've still got things to figure out, but I'll just keep things one step at a time.

[stars-self-ships]

ISN'T THAT LAUGH BEAUTIFUL?! ❤️🧡❤️

[fyoggo]

I don't think you are consuming Hypnosis Mic properly

I have already had to tell someone else this here but it seems you need to hear it too. first off I dontlike how you use that square ended highlighter resembling brush when drawing them. They look like abstract Minecraft characters.

Seconsd off your jokes are not very funny or at least not in the context of Hypmic they do not seem relevant. You seem to have a very loose understanding of these characters and these stories, as if you were someone just pretending tney were in the fandom because they enjoy the characters on the surface, but do not bother to do digging or reaearch or someone who has only seen Rhyme animal and does not care about their full story and this is why you hyper focus on Dotsuire Hompo to try and mask in the community who know what they are doing

I have been called a troll for this and possibly a hater but I can't remember. The point is I am just saying, you snould take some time off. Take a break from Tumble or at least HypmicTumbler and then in your spare time;

I will organize a short list of what to research

Find Slugtranslations and ask for their link to their Discord where they will give you a password so you can go read the manga (it is private now due to their personal decisions). Please read all of the manga

Go to the wiki and Spotify and watxh the drama tracks and read alongside them then go to Sound cloud to find the manga drama tracks (special drama tracks that come with special manga issues these are harder to find because they are not on streaming services) Please read and listen to all of these they are the final step in canon

DNI with rhyme anima and the live action musicals they are not true to canon

I think when you come back after this you will feel very refreshed and have more relevant takes and funnier jokes. Thank you

When you are done can you please, with a normal brush draw some Saburo funny memes

I was thinking about whether or not I should answer this at all but I'll give it a shot.

First and foremost: I don't engage fandoms. I don't create story relevant content because I don't particularly feel like it... not that I should have to justify drawing what I like.

Second: humor is subjective. also the comics I draw are memes. again, I draw those to have fun to make some people chuckle. if it doesn't amuse you, that's totally fine!

I appreciate the art criticism, but unfortunately I only draw on my phone at the moment and I don't have a touch pen to do any better. sorry if this bothers you; not much I can do about it when I am pretty much finger painting digitally.

As for the story stuff... I have actually read all of the drama track translations while listening along, but none of that is really relevant to what I want to draw... I'm not sure I understand what kind of art it is that you want me to produce. like I said, the things I draw are meant to be (subjectively) funny, and I haven't gotten any anon asks like this before about any of the other games / media I created content for. is every piece of fan art you've come across 100% accurate, relevant and/or thought-provoking? I'm sure there are creators that you can follow for those things instead of sifting through my doodles. Sorry if they clutter your feed, I think I'll have to ask you to block me because I don't plan on stopping drawing things that I enjoy.

I appreciate the offer to help me open my eyes to the lore and whatnot, but I respectfully decline. it's nice of you to want to do all those things for me, but I don't like joining discord servers and I don't really think I need to do any of those things you listed either to be allowed to just draw, like thousands of other people on this website do.

thanks for this message, though! I hope if anyone else out there felt the same way they'll read this as a bit of a clarification. I doubt my sense of humor will change, and as for the takes, I haven't had a single one — I just drew characters I liked. I do suggest blocking me though, and I don't mean it in one of those "if you don't like it, block" ways, but just so you can get me out of your way. I think my blog isn't for you, and I hope you find another creator that'll check all your boxes! 😄

[olderthannetfic]

What do you think of writers of both fanfic and commercial fiction who focus on het relationships in the latter while relegating m/m ships /queer content in general to the former? I understand why this division exists (het is commercially viable and safer, i.e. avoids accusations of fetishization and misrepresentation) but I've seen backlash against it (mostly ignored by authors) and wanted to hear your take.

--

I don't read Naomi's pro work because it doesn't interest me. (What? What?)

If you were genuinely asking about authors broadly... I don't have that much of an opinion. As both a writer and a reader, I really only care about the rising genre of "m/m romance" and other burgeoning Western BL industry stuff. While that stuff may not make it into bookstores, bookstores are dead anyway.

I'm less annoyed at authors than at audience members. We're at a tipping point where we actually have the beginnings of an English-language BL industry, but people are still giving asspats to mainstream publishing for crumbs. With filmed content, I sort of understand because people want lengthy genre TV, not one-off art films, and a lot of the queer media out there isn't very fandomy.

But with novels and novel series, it's just a total failure on the reader's part to be chasing after these fic authors who go mainstream instead of the ones who write shit like Jordan L Hawk's SPECTR series. They're delightfully dumb urban fantasy about a possessed goth twink, the vampire demon thing in his head, and their boyfriend the federal agent/exorcist. Like... do you think Hawk isn't a fandom person?

My favorite shit is like... one of them is afraid of werewolves and the other is a secret werewolf and OH NO now they have to work together as buddy cop partners! (Yes, Charlie Adhara's Big Bad Wolf series is pretty good.) I read early Anita Blake but gayer type urban fantasy crime procedurals, cozy mystery, some high fantasy, etc.

There are gaps though. I wish there were more Asian-flavor historical fantasy and more nonwhite leads who aren't treated in the Good Representation bland-ass way. I'd like to see more varied settings, more OT3s, and waaaaay slower slowburn. That latter is largely an issue because of the format, which is long novellas/short novels marketed at least somewhat as "romance", so the leads need to at least kind of get together in the first book. Mainstream-published urban fantasy and series mystery with B-plot romance can string things out longer, which is sometimes nice.

It annoys me how hard it is to find comprehensive info on this kind of content in a way that would let us 1. call it what it is, which is BL, not the broader category of "queer fiction" or the only-sometimes accurate genre of "romance", and 2. build more of a culture and identity around the non-fanworks stuff, including not just textual novels but other types of media like indie games.

I have a lot of pent up rage over fic fans who claim to want this industry but do nothing to support it.

Weebs are doing a better job than Western fandoms types, tbh. There's something of a push from the sorts of people who go to Fujocon to publicize BL games, webnovels, etc. in English to each other. I just think that it would be good to link up that kind of community more closely with the sorts of people at GRL. (GayRomLit is the industry conference for "m/m romance" and is attended by a lot of the big names in... like... Kindle Unlimited selfpub m/m, basically.)

Authors who go pro in another sphere are irrelevant to what I care about. They may well be tired of only writing about men, or maybe it really is that the media they consume doesn't have female characters they like (but they can easily create them themselves), or maybe they're just old and still see selfpub as what it was 15 years ago instead of the vanguard of queer genre fiction that it is today. (Though, of course, people do go into het selfpub erotic romance all the time from fandom. But, again, who cares?)

[bi-leth-eisner]

what r ur thoughts on the 4 routes n cindered shadows?

where to start...

Silver Snow as a story works okay for Byleth, since it's basically their route. Edelgard's betrayal would've hit a lot more if the Eagles's routes weren't my last two. i like that this route doesn't have the Byleth + Lord combo, as much as i loved using Edelgard and Dimitri in part II, because it brings a nice little challenge to story battles. the final boss could've been something more... interesting...? but the boss theme is my favourite track in the entire game. i love Rhea with everything that i am.

Crimson Flower feels like something 13 year old me would've written in my goddamned Creepypasta phase. i understand that they're the conquering army so you don't need to recapture some of your own territory that was taken in the war like in Azure Moon, but it surprised me with how fast the pacing was. i don't like even a bit of the story. gameplay is nice. Edelgard's crush on Byleth creeps me the fuck out, and it's the most prominent here. Edelgard herself i really love. Raging Storm my beloved. Apex of the World is one of my favourite tracks and i think it fits well here. the final boss deserved better.

Azure Moon my true absolute fucking beloved. i say this a lot, but Dimitri's arc helped me cope with so much. i have major complaints with some of the story beats (Gronder, the Silver Maiden, the pace at which Dimitri starts to recover), but despite it all, i adore this story with my entire being. Dimitri is my favourite character in media, period. i just enjoy seeing someone who also struggles with self-worth learn to love themself slowly. again, Apex of the World is my second favourite track in this game, so it's nice to hear even in battle prep. the final boss hits a little harder after playing Crimson Flower. it's deliciously tragic.

Verdant Wind is. a thing that exists. i played this route before Silver Snow and enjoyed Silver Snow way more. Claude really deserved better than a big copy/paste. the Gronder rematch fits better here than on AM, and i can agree that God-Shattering Star is the *best* soundtrack even though it isn't one of my favourite favourites, i'll give it those. other than that, i wish VW focused more on Claude's character (the part of him i actually like) and this might've actually been tied with Azure Moon for my favourite route. but with what we got? i feel like it's forgettable, and it's my least favourite route. Nemesis should've been Silver Snow's final boss. as he is here, it's alright, i guess.

Cindered Shadows was really, really enjoyable. the map that drags on and on and the escape mission map were both time-consuming - almost unbearably so - but i love me some time-consuming tasks. the Ashen Wolves are amazing! the story of the four is really compelling and they are all great units. i liked having limited resources and pre-determined classes for everyone, it was a nice change from base game Three Houses. added a nice challenge, too.

[kidflashimpulse]

i just wanted to say that i really love how you analyze bart character (and others too). i mean i like your thoughts about bart response to trauma, because sometimes for me fans are... too "dramatic" about this? like i just feel that they don't see this too realistic and logic, and when i imagine bart in this way like many fans do i feel like "nah i don't think this is in bart character", some kind of that

sorry i don't know how i should put this, but i hope you get at least a little bit what i mean 😅

oh thank you for your sweet words 🥺💛

and yes, i totally understand what u mean!

personally and i guess similarly to u, i really enjoy stories and theories that expand on what we know/can assume/build on to be true and are a little grounded, because it gives it that sense of realism where the story is expanding on something “in world” to the media. Also, this makes any personal headcanons or AUs of the author/artist/whoever feel like it takes a life of its own but is still rooted in the source media which is such a great feeling cause it’s like u found another version of that media u want to consume!

like u mentioned, among some bart fan content there’s a lot of material that follows dramatised and somewhat “traditional” trauma discourse that feels a little disingenuous to what is actually known of his characterisation and plot involvement/relation as well as the general setting of Young Justice itself. Also I think as YJ itself attempts to be somewhat grounded (well as grounded as a superhero show can be) in reality, it makes the need/want for that in fan media also kinda prevalent.

that being said, of course, character interpretations and explorations are inherently subjective and people will ultimately always have different takes and spins on them and i am always interested to hear others thoughts, be it similar to mine or quite different.

It’s nice when ur own interpretation resonates with others and ik that even if i might not agree with stuff, well if it resonates with others and they enjoy it, then that’s great! I like to hope and try to also achieve the same :D Thats also a reason why I started this blog and publishing some writing, because whilst i can believe I have an understanding of a character, i can only really develop it by sharing it and see what others think of it. The fact that there is the fandom space to do all this in the first place, with other passionate ppl, is also pretty cool.

[lovely-necromancy]

A Cure for Insomnia CH 1.

This is a reader insert I originally started posting on AO3. I’m cross posting here because I know some of the fandom still lives here.

Quick Disclaimer:

This is a fic I'm writing for my own comfort.

I was inspired by RaeBees (you can check out their works over on Quotev and AO3), and how they characterize the "proxies". Having always seen the characters different than most of the fandom I've interacted with I never really shared my thoughts until now. This work is only placed in the Creepypasta tag so it reaches its demographic. However, I am fully aware of the fact that no main character is considered a Pasta.

It may also appear to lean more Toby X Protag in the beginning but end goal is protag with all three, and Brian and Tim already in a relationship. How I picture it now is a slowburn but Toby and Protag will be in a friends with benefits relationship before either has any feelings, so I think that counts. Some may be confused by the asexual protag tag but it'll be explained in story, as an Ace myself I get frustrated with media that only show one version and say it goes for us all. That being said I don't represent the whole Ace community but I hope to provide a bit more representation for some others out there.

Protag will be depicted as agender, and will have a few tics that stem from their Autism. Again I don't speak for any others with Autism but I hope to provide some representation for those in similar positions.

Tags will be updated as the story progresses. Canon-Typical violence and mental health issues are to be expected if you feel uncomfortable with those aspects I advise you to not engage. This story will also have a lot of NSFW themes and scenes so I highly discourage anyone under the age of 18 from viewing this work. You will get warnings on chapters with NSFW and I will make it skippable as well.

I'm also very nitpicky and gave the main characters birthdays just because it irritates me when it gets mentioned once and you have to do the math or imagine your own conversation when a birthday was too close to a character's.

Tim January 1st, home state Alabama

Toby April 28th, home state Virginia (saw this years ago no clue if it's accurate)

Protag May 13th, home state Virginia

Brian May 23rd, home state Alabama

Connor the service dog July 18th, home state Kentucky

I've referred to Protag as Protag here but in story they're referred to as YN.

Everything felt impossibly dull; your senses, the dark room you're currently in, the noise coming from the fan just to the left of the bed on which you laid. Turning to the window beside your head you stare out into that weird midnight summer sky. More of a gray than a true dark blue night, cast in an orange glow that made the night seem closer to day than it truly was. While the time was just half past twelve, you felt it may have been more accurate to say it was closer to four in the morning.

You're exhausted but that true sort of exhaustion where whatever energy you have left buzzes all around. It consumes your entire being, dances between being deafeningly loud in your ears to giving you twitches in your legs. You'd laid down hours ago thinking you'd be tired enough to sleep once your tics started to spasm in closer intervals, but to no avail were you able to rest. That buzzing preventing you from dreamland. Maybe the hum of your body was right, you didn't really need to sleep, you just wanted it to feel normal.

Knowing the battle had already been lost you push yourself off the bed and grab a pair of shorts off the floor. Slipping them on you contemplate your options for the night. Going into town was out since it was Sunday...well Monday now, but there would be nothing but bars open and you were never one for drinking. And as fun as a drive sounds right now, you feel the buzzing in your bones grow stronger, you need to move. A late night hike should keep you occupied, with it being so quiet and the middle of the night you wouldn't even have to take your headphones to cancel out the sounds of other people, you aren't likely to run into many people tonight.

Deciding on a hike you grab a mask and car keys and make your way to your yellow Kia Soul. A going away present from your parents that they gave you the moment you got your driver's license after your 24th birthday. Having anxiety throughout your life you'd never been in the head space to start driving till later on, and while you still don't enjoy driving you are pretty good at it even with your “late” start. Surfing through radio stations as you let the car warm up you find your latest obsession, it's a conspiracy theory podcast that someone in Kepler managed to blast through the limited air ways of the town. Impressive considering Kepler was in a radio quiet zone and even cell phones couldn't work in the small town, luckily you lived just outside of the zone so you could send texts and call your parents every weekend.

It seemed today's episode was a rerun, Mothman: Murderer, Man, or Myth. It was actually one of your favorites, the paranormal stories tended to be more entertaining than hearing about how a man could murder sixteen people while working as a cop ruining evidence to lead the others off his trail. Humans could be more vial and cruel than any little gray alien from the future or tall Fresno Nightcrawler could ever be. And they weren't as entertaining to hear about, nor were their exploits as impressive. You could always see patterns, either connecting clues first or finding connections no one else saw, it was never hard to tell where a certain case would lead so you'd always end up disappointed in humanity when they overlooked such obvious clues. Though that often led you down a path of deep diving for information to see just how obvious it was, more often than not you'd find that the most logical conclusion was shady public officers. After investigating so many cold cases you're sure if you're ever in trouble you'll never involve the police, in the end they'd probably just ignore you and rule your case closed if anything ever did happen to you.

'I'd haunt them if they did.' You decide and you shift gears and begin driving to the Monongahela National Forest, as the timeline of Mothman sightings and events play out before for your ears.

Instead of going through town and possibly loosing the signal of the show, you drive on the old dirt road that runs along the very edge of the town, partially covered in trees. This over grown road is the main reason Kepler doesn't see many visitors, the second someone makes their way onto it coming off the interstate they floor it until they see civilization. Over the few months you've been here you've nearly been run right off the road by spooked tourists, trying to escape whatever ghouls their wild imaginations created. The only real thing on this road was a mini mart gas station, and even though it was shady as hell the cashier didn't bug you too much when you came in in the dead of night. Plus they had a cat, how could you not stop in and say hi to little ole Magnolia?

Speaking of which you should probably get a drink for your hike, you could already feel your throat drying out. Turning into the parking lot you're happy to see no other cars around, putting your face mask on you make your way inside. As usual the store is dead at this time, and Ronnie is manning the desk. What's unusual is the man also behind the counter, he has dark brown hair that he's tied into a small and low ponytail, thick sideburns frame his face. You immediately take note of the slight imperfections of his face, most would see the slit in his eyebrow as following the current trend or even just a genetic thing, but you can see the slightly off color of a healed scar that starts just above his eyebrow and ends mid eyelid, he has a few smaller discolorations on his crooked nose, you'd guess he's had it broken at least twice.

Briefly taking a glance to his brown eyes before looking away, today is not an eye contact day. Nodding in their directions, the best acknowledgment you can give right now, you make your way to the freezers. From the freezer section you can hear Ronnie “explain” you.

“That's YN, a regular mainly at night though. A bit skittish and rarely ever says more than 'thanks have a nice day'” Even though she's whispering you can hear everything. Including the high octave her voice takes to mimic you, it feels more like mocking.

If being mocked hadn't already put you on edge the eyes boring into you have. The eyes may not be roaming over your body but the icky crawling of your skin sure makes it feel that way. The feeling of being put under a microscope has always made you sick, the stares, the leers and sneers, and the judgment just makes you want to implode on the spot. Cease existence, be swallowed into the abyss. You're about to set yourself into an anxiety attack with all these thoughts.

'Mask, mask, mask' you repeat over and over in your head, it's the only thing you can focus on. You are wearing a mask, there is one thing they can't perceive, the face is the most important for humans to perceive, your mask protects you.

Without looking you pull a water bottle from the cooler. You don't think you like this brand but the sports mouth makes up for it, and you can't focus enough to grab another. As the imaginary spiders crawl their way under your skin and your breath hitches you make your way over to the counter head down, never looking up at the employees beyond the counter. Your vision is blurring in time with the beating of your heart, you can't tell if it's due to nerves or from being up for five days in a row.

“Hey YN, how're you?” Ronnie asks, her tone is different from the past times you've been in. It's higher and has a lilt in it that you'd expect from a teasing friend. But Ronnie isn't a friend and has never spoken to you like this, you hate it. You nod to politely move on with the process, between the crawling of your skin and the buzzing underneath it you feel sick. And you're now very aware of the existence of your eyelids, you try to focus on ignoring that awareness. You need to move.

“Hmm, that's good. Anyway this is Tim! He's just started so go easy on him.” you hear the sound of a hand hitting fabric and assume she's patted Tim's shoulder as she introduced Tim to you. Why was she doing this, what purpose could introducing you two have? You nod again, was anyone going to ring you out?

“Hi, this all?” a deep voice asked, it isn't extremely deep more of a standard baritone that has a slight raspy quality, probably a reformed smoker. You don't smell cigarettes currently so he could've quit after years. Unfortunately despite your efforts to stave them off your blinking tics emerge. Making it difficult to keep your eyes open for longer than a nano second.

Startled and ticcing you look up and catch his eyes, you see pity in them, before casting your glance back to the counter. You can never tell what's worse people seeing you as weird or seeing you as something needing to be fixed. Nodding again, Tim tells you the total; a dollar fifty eight, and you hand him two dollars from your wallet.

Tim doesn't ask if you want the receipt or a bag, he prints out the receipt and hands you your change. The change goes immediately into the cat food fund for Magnolia. She got diagnosed with diabetes about a month ago and having worked in shelters and pet stores you know just how expensive her prescription food is. After folding the receipt into your wallet, Tim gently slides the water bottle over to you.

“Have a good night.” he says it so low and gentle, as if he thinks you'll shatter in front of him. As kind as the gesture seems, you aren't that fragile...or maybe you are if you have to keep repeating 'mask' over and over in your head to ground yourself. With a final nod you turn and make your way to the door, and just as you open it you hear Ronnie call out.

“Awwww, c'mon YN at least say 'Hi' to Tim.” You really don't like how she squeaked out 'hi'.

Taking a deep breath you prepare yourself, you'll show them both you can do this simple task. Even if you can't stop blinking long enough to see straight. Once you've steadied yourself you turn and look at Tim. He's sending you a look that says 'You don't have to' all that's missing is a slow head shake to complete his unease with this “peer pressure”.

But you can do this you can say 'Hi, Tim.' Two words super simple, nothing complex like 'Hi, Tim, nice to meet you.' and so much better than the option of your next meeting saying 'Hi, Tim. Sorry for spazzing out the other night.'. Yup you can do this just breathe, you open your mouth and...and you've forgotten what to say. Looking like a deer in headlights, well at least the tics stopped, you say the first thing that pops in.

“Mask.” You've said it loud and clear both cashiers heard you.

Tim stares with wide eyes and you see Ronnie failing to hide her laughter. Out of all the ways this could've gone this was probably the best outcome for her. The blinking has started up again, this time growing more frequent. You can't even hold your eyes open, to the two cashiers it must look like you're in pain or crying. And while you want to die of embarrassment, crying is a bit of an extreme for you.

So with red face and the inability to see you leave through the door, and try to make your way back to your car. Once in you lock the doors, switch the car on, and rest your head on the steering wheel. Out of every way this stop could've gone, being perceived by a new comer and Ronnie was not what you expected. While this hadn't been the worst five minutes or so of your life, it definitely would be another thing keeping you up at night for the next twenty years.

Calming down in the cool quiet dark of your car your slowly brought back to the world by the beginning of a new episode. This one talking about the Tailypo legend. A favorite story of yours from when you were a kid living on the coast of Virginia. So with yet another deep breath and the wave of nostalgia, you pull out of the parking lot and slowly coast down the old dirt road. Heading yet again for the Monongahela forest.

It's nearly two in the morning when you roll up to see an RV parked by the forgotten entrance of the park. It isn't surprising at all to find an RV out here since the Monongahela Forest is one of the most beautiful parks you've ever been to. You also don't think anything of them being parked by this unused entrance because you use it all the time since finding it accidentally. Figuring they just wanted to camp and be left to their own devices rather than use the RV sites and be bothered with other campers here for the summer.

Climbing out of your car you notice the RV isn't new by any means but it isn't a total rust bucket either, looks like it's been passed around throughout the years. There isn't anything to suggest it's been here a while, nothing left set up outside, must have just gotten into town then. You do happen to notice dog tracks around the sandy dirt you've parked in, good to know they have a dog before you slammed your car door. Closing the door gently behind you so you don't startle a pup and wake up it's owner or owners, you make your way through the woods. No real direction in mind, with no real thought in your head. Just the thought of moving and to keep on moving.

You could walk the same path every time you came through and always find something different. In fact that's exactly what happens, you're almost positive that you've deepened the imprint of the path just from walking through several times a week. Following the same winding path you usually do, climbing over the fallen tree, and through a scattering of blueberry thicket's you find yourself on the edge of one of the forest's many streams. It's your favorite spot in the forest so far, and about as far as you've gotten considering these hikes of yours take place during the dead of night.

The wind picks up and sends a chill through you, taking that as a sign you slide down to sit by the stream. Vans placed to your side as you sink your feet into the cool water. It's peaceful out here, so cool, and quiet, save for the slight noises the stream makes, various bubbling and drips. You try to think on things like your recent move, your job, the embarrassing 'mask' incident, just life in general. But you can't seem to form a single thought, this happens a lot, you've recently been conscious of the fact that you've been running on auto pilot for the past two months, hell a lot longer than that. You think everyone must get like this from time to time, but you think you've always been this way. Keen to dissociating and slipping in and out of existence.

It's quite nice really, except for the times like right now where you'd love to figure out why the silence in your head is so painfully loud. The more you think on it the louder it gets and the stronger the buzzing under your skin feels. And right now the static in your mind has been getting louder and louder for the past few minutes. You feel your head jerk to the right of it's own accord, moving back in place it happens for a second time, and then a third, then jerks up, before jerking a forth time to the right effectively cracking you neck.

“There we go.” you mumble, you can relax a bit as the verbal tic indicates the end of this round of tics.

Sighing you look at the sky...that can't be right. The sky has been painted it's fresh baby blues for the day, but again that can't be right. You just got to the stream, that path is a thirty minute walk meaning it should be just about two thirty in the morning, but the sky suggests it's five or six at the latest. Reaching for your water bottle you find it empty next to you. You didn't fall asleep you know that much, perhaps you did dissociate tonight. Well this hike was disappointing if you knew you were going to dissociate you'd have saved yourself that embarrassment and stayed home. Maybe done some painting or tidied up.

Sighing you push yourself off the ground, collecting you vans you're about to put them on when you notice a figure off in the distance. You freeze out of shock and stare at the figure, it stares back. The figure is about ten yards away, god your near sighted ass should really remember to not leave your glasses in the car when hiking. The figure starts to make it's way to you and after a few steps you realize it hasn't moved from it's spot. Rolling your eyes you ignore the hallucination.

You'd really needed to get sleep last night, today is day six of no sleep and though you haven't had many episodes these past few days, you have a feeling they'll start to get more prominent today. Hopefully tonight you can manage to get some rest, the longer you go without sleep the more realistic the hallucinations become. But for today you're content with the knowledge that it's just shadow like beings that you'll be seeing.

After putting on your shoes you start the thirty minute hike back to your car. You're thankful for the weather in Kepler, nothing like back on the coast. Here you can go for a morning hike through the forest while a gentle breeze passes by and the sun starts to give the area a pleasant warmth. Back on the coast you couldn't run and grab the mail without getting drenched in moisture from either sweat, humidity, or a mixture of both.  The coast sucks, hell Virginia sucks altogether, you're glad to be in Kepler.

“I want to go home, home.” you say out of nowhere.

Before you reach the entrance you hear barking, oh the RV campers must be up. Should you be careful not to scare them, or just walk normally and say 'Good morning' in passing, maybe just nod your head in greeting. Oh and you've stopped just beside the entrance as you got lost in your rambling. You didn't mean to come to a stop here, and as you try to move you notice how silent it's gotten. Did the dog go inside, maybe they've already passed...no it's too quiet for that. No the silence is oppressive like the one you deal with nightly, there's a reason for the silence. The situation's making you feel uneasy, but that could be the sleep deprivation talking.

You're about to brush it off and move when you hear a whispered, “Seriously man, I don't think anyone's out there. Let's get inside.”

There's a noise of agreement before you hear shuffling. Oh no, you zoned out and now you look like a weirdo stalker. Just perfect, maybe if you wait around a little more you'll seem more normal or at least feel normal. Not knowing how long to wait you walk along the tree line for a bit, looking at the ground as you do making sure you won't step on any snakes. In you quest to not step on any snakes you spot something suspiciously off white. It seems purposefully buried under a dead blueberry bush and some fallen branches.

Having listened to too many true crime shows, you know better than to implicate yourself in a murder. Grabbing a stick off the ground you gently brush the foliage away from the supposed corpse. No way, you can't believe your luck, it's an actual fucking skull. An intact skull of a deer! That is so cool, you've only seen taxidermists on TikTok getting so lucky and finding these dudes. Since the jaw bone is connected by tissue it of course isn't with the skull but maybe it's close by? Clearly this got planted or hidden by someone, maybe they were planning on pranking a friend by 'uncovering' a skull later. Oh well, finders keepers and all that, you have way better plans for this guy, hopefully you can find that jaw bone.

You set off searching through the foliage and near by bushes with the branch while holding the skull in your other arm. After searching about three feet around and finding no more bones you decide that this is the only part of the deer's skeleton in this area. A little disappointed but still thrilled with your find, you decide it must be a good time to go back to your car.

Surely you won't look weird now. You a little forager with their treasure in hand. Looks like you'll be busy cleaning, then bleaching, and cleaning these bones today. Is that the order to treat found bones? You aren't sure but you can look into that later. Placing the skull in the trunk so it doesn't roll about and get damaged you make sure it's secure before closing the trunk and getting into your car and locking the doors.

Not once did you notice the pairs of eyes that had been watching you. One watching as you found the deer skull, and the other set seeing you place bones into your car. They kept watching as you fiddled with the radio while the car was starting up. They watched as you pulled out of the sandy dirt lot and drove back down the old road a little faster than before now that you could clearly see.

[thepalestrose]

A Year and a Day of Incorrect Quotes

Today marks one year and one day since my first incorrect quote post, which effectively marked my entrance into the FNDM.

I'm grateful for everyone who's come to my blog and enjoyed the stuff I post. I love it here on tumblr, and it really is one of those places I wished I had discovered sooner.

Rambling self-reflection regarding my experience with RWBY below, a candid look at how and why it's impacted my life, and my best attempt at explaining why it means so much to me. Consider yourself warned.

I started this blog cause I wanted to get involved in the FNDM, to give something back to the show that has given me so much. Before watching RWBY I had never touched tumblr, or fandoms, or fanfiction or anything even remotely similar.

Now, I find myself feeling more at home here in the RWBY FNDM then anywhere else, I write RWBY fanfiction (insert shameless plug for my pollination endgame time-travel fix-it where the brother gods each send back one character and they have to fix everything while the world around them slowly becomes different then the one they remember - One Never Steps Foot In The Same River Twice), and I run this blog. It's kind of crazy, actually. Crazy, most of all, because if you had told me about any of it just a couple years ago, I wouldn't have believed you. More than that, if you had explained what RWBY was about, I probably wouldn't have even wanted to watch it.

I found RWBY through youtube recommending volume 1 as a "free movie with ads" (lol nice try but adblock exists) back in December 2020, while volume 8 was airing. I knew nothing about the show or RT, and just clicked it cause it was the end of the workday and I wanted something to unwind with. I'd seen anime before, but hadn't watched any in a while.

I laughed at the silly jokes, enjoyed the charm that the early animation had, and generally didn't think much about what I was watching. Volume 1 ended, and I figured, what the heck, I'll watch volume 2 tomorrow. So I did.

I distinctly remember Oobleck questioning the girls during their mission to Mountain Glenn being the first time I really stopped and realized this show had potential. Still, I laughed at the jokes and enjoyed the 2nd volume. When the breach happened, I kinda wondered if this was the type of show that wouldn't have "consequences."

Then volume 3 came.

Unfortunately I was spoiled regarding Pyrrha's fate by youtube comments, but Ruby's eyes still took me completely by surprise. The end of volume 3 was the point at which I knew I'd finish the series. I just had to know what happened next.

Volumes 4-8 are, frankly, a bit of a daze for me. I obsessively watched the show. I ended up going from starting the show to finishing up to where volume 8 had aired in like.. 5 weekdays (on top of working full time).

Usually when I watch something, I tend to be quite expressive. I laugh at its jokes (no matter how bad they are), I make jokes (even if they can't hear me), I poke fun at it, and all around just enjoy it. Not with RWBY. I progressively got quieter and quieter until I was watching the show in complete silence, utterly motionless as I stared at the screen with an intensity I hadn't known I could possess.

It was... an extremely unsettling experience. It was while watching volume 6 that it finally hit me that this wasn't going to go on forever. Eventually I would hit the end. The thought filled me with inexplicable dread. A day later, I did hit the end.

I remember just sitting there, so unsure of what had just happened. I already knew that this show was different, but I wasn't even close to being able to say why. It was an inexplicable feeling that would last for months. So, I did the only thing I could think of, and went right back to watching the first episode of volume 1 again.

Before I get into why RWBY connected with me so much, I have to take a step back. I build my identity around the media I consume. I can pretty accurately track my personality development from high school through college through six different works of media. Each taught me something essential about myself and how I view the world, whether it was how to love myself, or how I am absolutely terrible at handling grief, or how I believed that everyone is inherently selfish (and that's not a bad thing). Little did I realize that RWBY had just become the seventh work that would in time become more important than all the rest combined.

I'm confident that in 10 years, I will look back at the day that I watched RWBY as one of, if not the most, important day of my life. RWBY has touched every facet of my identity and become the dominant thread of my entire life. As I write this, I sit here listening to the RWBY volume 8 soundtrack, wearing a Team RWBY shirt, with a RWBY volume 6 poster on my wall, typing on my RWBY blog, looking at my 2nd monitor which has a RWBY background, with my youtube recommendations almost entirely RWBY (that, or obscure history videos), with several open tabs for RWBY fanfiction, the RWBY wiki, the RWBY page on the shipping wiki (I didn't even know shipping existed before watching RWBY), and of course RWBY itself on the RT website (because I am in a continual state of rewatching RWBY and started volume 2 again today).

And that's just what is within arm's reach.

Before watching RWBY, I couldn't have told you what it means to be non-binary, now I am non-binary. Same with ace, and panromantic. RWBY fanfiction was instrumental in introducing me into that world (and is also where I learned what transgender meant). RWBY's affected my political views, my outlook on life, the ideals and core values that I hold dear. It's changed how I want to live my life and what I think is most important in it.

This is by no means a complete list. A complete list would be twice the length of this entire post.

So, how on earth did it do all that???

For months I struggled with that question. I knew that RWBY was different, that it was important, but I couldn't even begin to put any words to why that was. I didn't have any answer to it. Now, I realize there are lots of answers.

I remember discussing the show a week after I watched it with my best friend. She asked what I liked about it, and all I could come up with is "I don't know." Was it the writing? No, the writing was just okay, I said (I was a fool, the writing is fucking PHENOMINAL and I was just too awestruck to see it yet). Was it this, was it that? No, no and no.

Eventually I was struck by (my first) revelation, but to explain why it was so revolutionary, I have to give more history.

People say that kids are pure and kind and if we could all just be like kids, the world would be a better place. That's bullshit. Tell me where the kindness is in telling an eight year old that everyone would throw a party the day I died. Or actively telling me that they wished I would die. Or forming the "I hate ThePalestRose club." Or chasing me around the playground throwing water bottles at me. Suffice to say, I wasn't well liked.

Eventually, I annoyed my way into joining a group of friends, and we spent the next nine years of school together, our own little clique. I learned to ignore those who didn't want me around them, and retreated into myself. You weren't a target if you didn't cry. So I didn't cry.

Then college rolled around. Most of our little group went to a local school all together, but I got into a good tech school that was far away. So, I went off. I met a couple of amazing people (my best friend!) there, and after the first semester I came home and hung out with my high school friends, nothing amiss. I remember we all watched Downfall on the last day of our breaks, before heading back to school. It would've been a pleasant memory if it wasn't the last one I had with any of them.

Come that first spring break, I come home expecting us to all get together, only to find out that none of them will speak to me. I remember finding out from my parents in the back of the car when we were driving home that something had happened. They knew before me, because our families had all been friends, and they wouldn't talk to them either.

And that was just the thing, it was just something. I have no idea what, but the only friends I had ever made in 12 years of mandatory schooling, some of which I had known for a majority of my life, just collectively stopped speaking to me without a word.

To say I was crushed would be an understatement. To say I was depressed would be more accurate. I contemplated the pros and cons of suicide daily. My ability to socialize with others, which had always been pretty poor, was completely shot. To this day, I really haven't ever made any new friends since this happened 5 years ago. My ability to form bonds of friendship just-- snapped.

I don't think I cried then either.

I had to know, why? Why did they abandon me? What did I do to them?? What did I do wrong??

Sleep was no respite, as I started to have persistent nightmares about the entire thing. They ranged from me begging for forgiveness for some unknown crime, to watching myself waste away in isolation forever, to teary-eyed reunions that I knew would never happen. I tried everything I could think of to stop them, but nothing ever did.

So, then you have to imagine my surprise when, two months after watching RWBY, I had an epiphany. I hadn't had a single nightmare since I watched the show. That might not sound like much, but the revelation hit me like a ton of bricks.

It was the fourth rewatch before I realized that Yang's story, especially her volume 4 story, had connected with me deeply. She had been abandoned by everyone and yet still found the strength to come out the other side whole. It was... inspiring. Which lead to my second revelation, that I looked up to these characters.

That doesn't sound like much of a revelation, but it really was to me. I don't look up to anyone. I considered myself cynical and jaded, and I really didn't have admiration for anyone. To find myself suddenly looking up to these characters-- these anime girls no less-- was shocking.

Then the volume 8 finale happened. I couldn't even listen to the ending credits song at first. I was just so shocked and numb. Eventually, my hunger for every last RWBY detail overrode my shock and I listened to it. I think that was the moment that everything really broke. I bawled my eyes out and spent most of that Saturday crying, unable to hold it all in any longer.

It was the start of a transformative process that saw me rearrange my entire identity, to truly heal from what had happened, and let me move forward. I tried to make a conscious choice to let myself be more emotionally open. I let myself feel things that I had been repressing for as long as I could remember. I changed who I was to a point where I feel like I'm entirely unrecognizable to my past self, and I love it.

I've never been happier, and I really do think that RWBY enabled me to make that transformation, and I don't think it would've been possible without it. There's still lots of problems, and my life's always going to be a work in progress. I still don't really know how to make friends, but I don't feel terrified of social rejection when I talk to strangers now.

This is just one tiny portion of all I could talk about with this show. Everywhere I turn to in it, it feels like it was written for me. Like someone understood me to an impossible degree, and wrote it with me in mind. It's crazy to think that anything like that could ever exist, much less that I've had the good fortune to watch it.

So what am I to make of all this? Well, this blog exists to try and give back just a tiny bit of what the show has given me. My fanfics are meant to be my love letter to the show. I'm looking into getting into other forms of content creation, because I just want to do as much as possible.

I don't think all of these realizations are the end for me. No, I think I'm still in the beginning of my RWBY journey. Maybe when the show ends, I'll consider that the end of the beginning. But I'm pretty confident that as long as I'm still breathing, I'll be wanting to consume and create RWBY content.

I still don't think I have a full answer for why RWBY means so much to me. Just today, driving home, I realized that it was what taught me that you have to choose happiness (or at least, choose not to be unhappy). These words are a poor expression, but they're the best I can do right now.

Maybe it's unhealthy to have so much of my identity wrapped up in this single all-encompassing idea. But as someone who felt no reason to live for so long, I'll take that risk to be able to feel the weight of these emotions for just one more day.

So that brings me to the end. Why did I post this in the first place? I guess it's an exercise in vulnerability.

I don't talk about myself, I'm convinced myself no one cares. One of my bosses at work (a really kind old man who has been way too good to me) asked me recently about what I do for fun. It was the last day he would be there before undergoing open heart surgery, which he wasn't sure he would survive.

I was extremely cagey. It was almost physically painful to say anything. My anxiety was awful. I told him I wrote stuff, and he was kind enough to say he would like to read it some time. I doubt he really would want to read RWBY fanfiction, but still.

He's still in the hospital, recovering, but in high spirits.

But the experience made me realize that vulnerability, like trust, is a risk, but it's a risk I need to take again.

[lucifer-kane]

I’m feeling so torn and messed up about kfam ending. The show and the characters meant so much to me, but I’m ashamed to say that when I first listened to it (years ago) I was much more naive than I am now, and didn’t understand the icky problematic parts of it like I do now. I’m also really bad at being involved in fandoms, so I didn’t really know the whole story about Kyle and the other writers. I don’t really know where I’m going with this, I guess I’m just trying to parse out my thoughts and figure out how I should feel. I’m really sad that we’re not going to get an end to the story, I’m disappointed in the writers and their behavior and the fans who continue to defend them. I’m going to try to be more conscious and careful about the media I consume, so if anyone has recommendations for other podcasts that have good representation I would love to hear them. I am so sorry this is such a mess, I just needed to say something somewhere. :)

No this is perfectly okay! And I felt the exact same way you did when I started finding out about the creator and wasn’t as naive, but In the end I’m very happy I learned about all the stuff that’s happened in the past, because it’s important stuff to know.

And listen, KFAM was (and to an extent is) a very important podcast to me, because I made some lovely friends through it, and I do love the good that’s there. If you look far enough back in my kfam tag you can see me gushing about how amazing I think the writing is and how they wrote Sammy as a gay man. I don’t agree with that anymore because I looked deeper than surface level.

But your feelings about it and such are totally understandable, you can still love the show as little or as much as you’d like, because at the end of the day you know the criticisms and recognize them as the bad things they are, which some in this fanbase REFUSE to even think twice on.

This would be a different situation if Kyle and others in the cast and crew realized that the people criticizing the show don’t outright DESPISE it (although some might), we’re did this because we wanted to see a show we enjoyed be BETTER. To not be filled with shitty tropes and actual harmful shit. But because if Kyle and his responses and his general ego issues, shit just went down hill.

And I think you’ve got a good way about it, this certainly also made me more critical on all media I consume, even if I don’t post here about it. I’m always looking into things if need be, especially in larger, more populated things. And I feel you, I’m sad we’ll never hear the end, because even though I have a feeling it would have been rocky. I wanted it

And for reccs, if you like horror and haven’t listened to my million reccs for it. Give Kane and Feels a listen, it’s my number 1 and the creators are genuine nice people who I’m sure listen to shit and hell. Change things before recording/making up a final draft. If anyone else has any reccs, throw them anons way.

[aegialia]

self-indulgent reflection on being on tumblr

so i recently hit 1000 followers on here and this blog has existed for almost exactly 8 years, so i wanted to ramble about tumblr and my experience of it for awhile. under the cut so definitely feel free to ignore this.

i started this blog right around when i was fourteen and had just started high school. at that point, i was out to my parents (and no one else) as bi, i had an inkling i was Struggling with something but i had no idea what and felt like i couldnt actually acknowledge it, and i had left leaning but very vague politics. tumblr definitely has shaped my journey around sexuality/gender/mental health/politics, both for good and for ill. 

for good: 

seeing other ppl talk about being lesbians helped me realize i could be a lesbian w/o being a traitor to the concept of bisexuality. hearing trans ppl talk about their experiences and explaining non-binary stuff and dysphoria helped me understand what i was going through 

i don’t like talking about my mental health stuff in detail on here, but suffice to say, i was Going Through it in high school. i’m still going through it now, but i am in a much better place (thank you medication and 7 years of therapy!). seeing ppl talk about the weird, dumb, awful parts of mental illness let me acknowledge that i was going through those things too, that i wasnt like evil for feeling like that, that i could change. people talking about adhd/autism was particularly helpful---being able to identify why i’d always felt like my brain just didn’t work right is the first step in the (ongoing) process of not hating myself for the way my brain works

politics is definitely the area where i think tumblr was the best for me. i got exposed to so many opinions i definitely wasn’t hearing in school, from intelligent, well-read people who could articulate theory in ways i could understand. tumblr didn’t give me my politics and i didn’t learn everything i know about theory from it, but the communities of people i was around pointed me in the right directions. tumblr was also a good place to learn how to react to criticism. this doesn’t seem to be most people’s experience, but getting called out over minor things on tumblr genuinely helped me learn how to take a step back, look at my behavior, apologize, and try to change, which, as it turns out, is a helpful skill irl as well

for ill:

wrt sexuality and gender, it’s probably pretty obvious someone who’s journey is ‘cis bi girl -> cis with a million different microlabels -> nb w a million different microlabels for both sexuality and gender -> nb butch lesbian who’s not super into romance’ would have some bad times on tumblr. the bi circles i was in made being a lesbian seem like an immoral choice, the ‘’’mogai’’’ (or whatever u wanna call them) circles made me feel like i had to divy up and perfectly label every aspect of myself in a way that really wasn’t helpful for me, the lesbian circles i was in made me feel like being a lesbian was about ending up in a monogamous butch/femme cottagecore relationship and that there was something wrong with me for not really wanting that. to be clear i think microlabels can be very helpful for people/a monogamous butch/femme relationship is a perfectly fine thing to want, they just didn’t work for me. im very very glad ive reached a point in my life where i dont feel the need to stay up to date on the latest discourse and am more focused on finding a way to exist that is comfortable for me and supporting my community irl. 10/10 would recommend to everyone

not going to get deep into it, but social media is. not good for my brain in general. i still enjoy using tumblr, but these days im pretty careful to step back from it frequently and treat it as an occasional hobby. 

the cons of political stuff on tumblr are probably also very obvious. there are some just awful discussions on here and the culture surrounding the way we handle bad behavior and justice and accountability and working to become a better person and make up for the harm you’ve caused has historically been fucking awful and trying to unlearn it and find new ways to engage with this stuff is exhausting. 

for all that i’ve changed over the course of having this blog, this blog has stayed pretty fucking static. i started out being super into diana wynne jones and the iliad and those are still two of my biggest interests and things i talk about the most on here. there are definitely specific things that have petered away (i started this blog almost entirely to keep up with good omens fan stuff and i pretty much haven’t touched it since the miniseries came out, i haven’t sought out pacific rim/supernatural/elementary/mcu content in years), but im still pretty much interested in the same things. i like relatively small fandoms, i like weird side characters, i like to be a grumpy child playing with my toys in the corner. when a fandom im in gets popular, i tend to stop engaging with it entirely (hello rqg/tma/good omens/enola holmes!). i dont think its a pretentious ‘i liked it before it was cool’ thing so much as a ‘people get Weird and awful when a fandom hits a certain level of popularity and there’s too much content and i really, really hate the bad faith arguments larger fandoms tend to spawn’ thing. i’ll consume content from big fandoms, but i pretty much refuse to actually engage with them at this point.

one of the stranger parts of my experience of tumblr is the social side. i’ve never really known how people make friends online---how do you go from liking each other’s posts and occasionally replying to them to actually being friends who communicate off social media? i’ve had conversations with ppl on tumblr and i’ve had sort-of friendships that are contained to tumblr where i’d like to get to know them better, but i’ve never figured out how to do that. my best friend’s job is pretty much to make friends/connections on the internet (she’s an activist and artist), my dad knows people everywhere in the world from twitter, and i’m just sitting here like a little old grandpa who doesn’t understand how you can have internet friends. 

at this point in my life, i’m fine with this, but this has made me feel real fucking bad in the past---like, if everyone online, even the ppl who say they’re weird and brainbad in a similar way to me, can make friends on the internet, what’s wrong with me? particularly in high school and my first year of college, when i was just horribly lonely all the time, it made me feel super disconnected and like there was something fundamentally bad about me. these days, i’m a lot chiller about it. i use social media to engage with stuff i enjoy and share my thoughts about it. it’s okay that my social difficulties extend to me not knowing how to use the internet to socialize.

on a somewhat related topic, it’s wild that i have 1000 followers. obviously, that’s not an actually super large number and a huge number of them are probably bots or inactive. if you post consistently for eight years and follow lots of people, like i do, it’s not a surprise to end up with this many followers. it is also, thankfully, the sort of followers that are not fans. probably most ppl following this blog dont remember why they followed and dont know anything about me or my interests. this sounds like its meant to be depressing but it’s not. i like that my way of engaging w the internet lets me do pretty much whatever i want and no one will care. the mere concept of being. like. tumblr famous in any capacity, even just in one community/fandom, is viscerally horrifying to me. 

i really enjoy the space i’ve created for myself on here. on one hand, going back through my blog is obviously embarrassing and full of hating my past self. on the other hand, i now have a very nice collection of things i enjoy in this blog. i like seeing what i’ve been interested in and (when i’m in a good mental health place) i like to be able to remember how i thought and talked about the things i loved when i was younger. im not at the place in my life where i can love a younger version of myself, but sometimes i can laugh at zir with a level of fondness. 

i’ve always been paranoid about sharing details about my life on here (and the fact that my parents have always been able to see it certainly contributed), so the version of jack on here is a carefully curated version, who’s super enthusiastic about the things they love, was very conscientious about apologizing and trying to do better when ze messed up, and tried to be polite to others. that’s a younger version of myself that i’m closer to being able to have compassion for than the version i find in essays and poems and memories. 

i’m starting grad school in ten days and i’m still using the blog i started when i began high school. tumblr has helped me in a lot of ways and hurt me in a lot of ways, but i still have to admit that it’s been a significant factor in shaping me. i’d be incredibly embarrassed to admit that irl, but it’s true. other than my family and like one friend, this blog is one of the only things that’s ‘known’ me since i started high school. i’ve changed so much in that time and im glad to have this weird little record of myself throughout those changes, even if i’d probably warn my younger self away from tumblr if i could go back in time.

tl;dr i have had a mixed experience on tumblr and i have mixed feelings about that experience. no idea if anyone read any of this very long, very rambling internet memoir

p.s. fun facts about this blog:

i’ve never changed my icon or blog title

i recently got a second version of the poster i got my blog title from. i chose my blog title by looking at what was hanging on the wall directly in front of me. 

my original url was gloomthkin. this was not, as you’d probably assume, an otherkin thing. i had literally no idea what otherkin was at that point. i’d just learned the word gloomth from a bill bryson book and thought it would be cool n edgy to be the child of the quality of gloom. i changed my url after i learned what otherkin was and realized everyone probably assumed something about me that wasn’t true which i hated (not bc i had an issue w otherkin, just bc i don’t like ppl thinking untrue things about me)

during my good omens days, i once sent a tumblr ask to nail guyman which, in retrospect, was kinda rude. i stand by the content but id never send an ask like that now. he replied to it privately in a way that so deeply embarrassed and shamed 15 year old me that i’ve never gotten over it. i still get nervous and embarrassed when i see anything about him or his books

[brawltogethernow]

How much can you tell about a fan from how much they like Raimi Spidey

Who you are based on your Raimi Spider-Man opinion:

1. The best Spider-Man adaptation! You don’t like new things and don’t adapt to change well. You’re probably an older Millennial or Gen X. You respect an iconic scene and cheesy drama and don’t retract your enjoyment of something when the pressure is on you to do so. You like adaptations of superheroes more than the comics.

2. The most comic-accurate Spider-Man adaptation! You have never read a comic these films were based on. You may have never read any comics. You read or heard this opinion somewhere and are parroting it, and may think you can verify it’s true because you read one Avengers issue from after 2002 where Peter Parker cameos. You have high potential to become a deep comic nerd someday who will be embarrassed you ever said this so watch out for that.

3. Revolutionary for its time, paved the way for later comic book films, pared down the source material out of necessity - respect without enthusiasm You’re a little jaded but you’re trying not to let it get you down. You’ve gained immunity to MCU hype. You were happier before you did, but you can never go back. Analyzing fiction is second nature to you.

4. I just hate them Toby McGuire is consciously on your list of celebrities who could not get it. You turn over interests fast and see disliking things as its own activity, a dark mirror of fandom. You have strong negative opinions of properties you have not personally checked out and you’re happy that way because dissing stuff with people makes for good conversation.

5. Must a movie be “good” to like it? Is it not enough to have colors moving on the screen very fast. I respect you. You’re the better timeline version of the first category. Self aware and witty, a little insecure.

6. They’re bad because [thirty minute list of flaws] Wow you’ve thought about these movies a lot. You like review and analysis series like CinemaSins. (You may have a flaw list for CinemaSins specifically: It’s just an example.) Possibly an aspiring writer. You’re very plugged into pop culture and it doesn’t really occur to you to avoid media just because you don’t think it’s good.

7. I liked the first two when they were newer but they didn’t age well. Your persona is very go with the flow, not very opinionated. You consume media casually. In school you liked whatever bands your classmates did.

8. I have a soft spot for them but the effects are bad. You like MCU Spidey. You overestimate how empathetic and discerning you are. You don’t judge quickly but you do judge heavily.

9. I can’t hear you there’s only room for one Spider-Man movie in my brain WHAT’S UP, DANGER?

10. The third one ruined the whole trilogy! THAT’S what ruined it for you? You’re not wrong but your taste is unreliable.

11. I love [ship]! You’re very resilient. The weird kid. You glom onto stuff you like and don’t let go. Natural resilience to acting because of peer pressure, though you can take emotional hits from it. Probably internet friends with the three other people as deeply invested in this version of this ship as you are. Excitable in both positive and negative senses. You still use ff.net a lot. Above average vintage and otherwise lesser known comic knowledge but your attention is divided. The rare media targeting you is the 2017 cartoon if you’re a Parksborn and the Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane comic series if you’re a PeterMJ.

12. Uh I saw one or two in theaters? I don’t really remember them. You only read this list this far down because you like seeing people discuss their pet topics regardless of whether you understand them. May have to hit up a search engine to be sure what “Raimi” is.

13. Directly responsible for a lot of bad 616 trends, weird storylines, and character assassination. You’re a dyed in the wool comics nerd. Don’t get so mad you forget why you even like superhero comics. Go drink some water. You pirate media because capitalism can’t sustain how much you read.

14. Directly responsible for a lot of great 616 storylines!!!! Also a dyed in the wool comics nerd but all your favorite storylines are in the early aughts (and maybe late nineties), which was a formative time of your life. You like dropping niche comic trivia as talking points, also from this era. You not only actually go to comic shops but also have a pull list. Pour one out for the Ultimateverse amirite?

15. Peter sure turned into a giant spider and gave birth to himself because of this movie lmfao. You embrace the humor and weirdness in situations to stay sane. You know weird history or science facts and like to pepper them into conversation. Your ideal history rant is arranged to be reminiscent of that meme with the guy knocking over a giant domino with a row of successively smaller dominos. You feel the most enjoyable parts of comic community are online. You might be on Twitter. You could beat the above category in a trivia-off but would probably flub the execution due to being put off by them. You vibe with nihilism memes but you care just under the surface.

16. My blurry half-remembered impression of them isn’t negative You’re nice. You like cute desserts. I feel like you had an anime phase and go to cons.

17. Garfield Spider-Man sucks!!!!!! That’s not actually a Raimi opinion but you think it is. Low humor is just humor to you and you don’t see that as a problem.

18. I’ve been waiting for you to PRAISE the Amazing movies actually? You like Taylor Swift and would be super down for it if Kindred turned out to be Gwen Stacy. You’ve been screaming for years. You don’t like the Raimi films but don’t have time to get down on them while defending your own maligned property. You know Fant4stic was objectively not great but you’ll defend it. Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield live in your head rent free. You like to curl up and watch some good looking people having a tragic romance okay.

19. Spider-Man 3 is a cinematic masterpiece. You like shock humor and stoke attention from internet trolls on purpose. You discern your own opinions and don’t give a damn about anybody else’s.

20. I’m very two cakes meme about Spider-Man content! Raimi good! MCU good! Webb good! All the cartoons are good! I see a red mask and a thwip and I riot. A pure soul. I don’t understand you, but that doesn’t reflect well on me.