#absolutely love the whole wave of fanart because of this btw

[starsiex]

HAPPY 3 YEARS 3RD LIFE ANNIVERSARY !!!!!!!

[protectwoc]

why all reylos are racist

y’all can go ahead and cancel me now because some of you are not going to like what i have to say and i am completely okay with that.

this recent gq interview with john boyega has incensed me. hearing all the things he went through, from disney and from “fans” and with no support from anyone… i’m livid. sometimes when i think about it for too long i start shaking, i’m so furious. and the response from the reylo fandom has infuriated me to a degree i honestly didn’t know was possible.

some of you may have seen my recent tumblr rampage. it’s reylo bullying hours here on my blog, and i’m not sorry either. one person threatened to post screenshots of my comments, which like… okay? i know what the fuck i said, it wasn’t that long ago. in fact i was going to include the screenshots in this post right here, but they blocked me before i had the chance. sorry. i’m sure somebody has them. anyway…

over the past two days in the star wars fandom we have seen something unprecedented: an outpouring of support for john boyega. both reylos and anti-reylos have joined forces to voice support for john in the wake of the gq interview (and the blm protests, let’s be real, some of y’all would not have given half a fuck if it wasn’t suddenly cool to be antiracist). and this showing of unity is one of the most rage-inducing things i’ve ever seen in a fandom (which is saying something; i have seen some shit).

reylo fandom, full offense intended, but where the fuck do you get off? you’re supporting john now? where was this support when tfa came out and you couldn’t stand the thought of him next to your white-girl-self-insert? where was it when tlj came out and your boy ryan completely sidelined him? where was it earlier this fucking year when y’all twisted a harmless joke (like yall haven’t spent years writing reylo-throne-room-sex-meta BULLSHIT) and ignored the vile racist shit coming from your own fav’s mouth? but you’re supporting him now? now that being antiracist is trendy? fuck outta here with that bullshit.

your fandom is the reason for the vast majority of the absolutely subhuman treatment john has endured over the last few years. your fandom influenced ryan (yes i know what his name is) to write tlj the way he did, you have behaved indefensibly here on tumblr.hell writing and drawing and fantasizing about all sorts of racist bullshit, and y’all have STAYED in his twitter mentions spewing hatred seven ways to sunday. but NOW, without a shred of self-reflection, you’re supporting him? now his experiences are valid?

the way that your fandom refuses to take accountability for its actions makes me see red. y’all stay on some “not all reylos” nonsense and i am SICK OF IT. i’m only gonna say this once, and i want you to hear me: you cannot be a reylo and be “antiracist”. you cannot participate in a fandom that has behaved the way yours has and say “blm, uwu acab.” you can’t. like do you think black people are dumb? that we can’t see right through you? we can.

“but rae,” i hear you whining. “you’re gonna say just because i like two characters together i’m a racist?” and of course not. that would be ludicrous. i think just because you knowingly engage and participate in a fandom that has racism encoded in its dna, you’re a racist. i think because y’all are in bed with racist harassers, racist trolls, and racist content creators, you’re a racist. that’s what the fuck i think. y’all lost the right to “it’s just a ship” me the instant you dragged john boyega into this.

here’s an example: i watched tfa about three days after it came out. i watched the first half, saw the obvious relationship set up between finn and rey, and thought, “aw, cute.” then i watched kylo and rey fight, watch him offer to teach her, and thought, “... interesting.”

when i got home i checked tumblr for finnrey content, saw the outpouring of love from black fans, all the cute fanart and fics blooming, and smiled. then, slowly, guiltily, i searched “reylo.”

BOOM. racism. the things i saw in the tag that night are tattooed on my brain. reylos rejoicing about the obvious rey/kyle pairing because “sw would never put her with that monkey finn”. calling him an “oaf”, “useless”, “bumbling”, “stupid”. reylos joking about how “when they talked about the Dark side, [they] didn’t think they meant that kind of dark.” “woke” reylos pretending to ship stormpilot in an obvious ploy to get finn away from kylo. and in between all of that, cute ship art. fun fics. talented gif makers. and nobody saying shit about the reprehensible behavior going on in their tag.

reylo is built on a foundation of racism. from that first week, racism has been woven into the fabric of your fandom, and it’s been going unchecked. and i don’t mean calling out other reylos. that’s not enough. i mean taking actual steps. y’all have been sitting in a cesspool of racism for five years, and its time for you to get the fuck out or shut the fuck up about being an “ally”. y’all need to leave this fandom.

don’t agree? here’s another story. in 2017, when i still watched supergirl (before i grew taste) i shipped karamel. for those of you who don’t know, karamel is the ship of kara zor-el (supergirl) and mon-el, her second love interest. when supergirl was moved to the cw for its second season, the decision was made to abruptly end her romance with jimmy olsen, played by mecahd brooks (a black man) and replace him with mon-el, played by chris wood, a white man, who was revealed to be, among other things, an alien slaveowner, as well as a playboy and all-around terrible person. and i shipped them. look, i’m not defending myself, but i never really bought the chemistry between jimmy and kara. even though mon-el’s introduction and the way that they carelessly disregarded kara’s feelings for jimmy made me uncomfortable, i thought the way melissa played her attraction to chris wood was more believable (and again, i’m not defending myself, but they are now married so it’s not like i was wrong). so i shipped them. simple as that, right?

well, no. not really. because the inherent racism in the way the writers wrote out her admittedly sweet romance with a black man in favor of a white slaveowner jerk kept bothering me. and finally i decided that it made me too uncomfortable to participate in. i never really reblogged any karamel fandom stuff, but i completely divorced myself from the fandom. i stopped reading karamel fic, and i switched to reblogging exclusively jimmy/kara content until the fandom died out/i stopped watching. i made a choice that real life racism is more important to me than a fucking fandom or a ship, and then i acted accordingly. simple as that.

and i’m not saying you have to stop liking the reylo dynamic. i still like the chemistry between kara and mon-el. i’ve shipped problematic ships before (bamon comes to mind) and i don’t think there’s anything wrong with that (to a point). but there’s a difference between liking a ship dynamic and engaging and contributing to a fan culture of racism. you have to stop participating in the fandom. y’all are in bed with people indistinguishable from confederate-flag-waving-all-lives-matter-touting racists and you don’t feel the need to get out of that environment? there comes a certain point where you have to decide if fandom bullshit is more important to you than fighting racism, and unfortunately, reylos have chosen wrong. that, ladies and gentlemen, is why all reylos are racist, regardless of what they say. roll credits.

except i have more to say, so i’m gonna say it. first of all, i’m not trying to hold myself up as some kind of paragon of virtue. i’m not holier-than-thou because all my ships are “woke” or whatever. chemistry is subjective, and we’re all going to be attracted to different ship dynamics, and there’s nothing wrong with that in theory. what matters is the execution. i finally had to say one day, “you know, this ship and the racist baggage it carries is actually less important to me than battling systemic racism on every level, including the fandom level”. y’all thought being antiracist was gonna be easy? that you wouldn’t have to make some actual changes, to make some actual sacrifices? sorry not sorry to disappoint. and if i, a normal-ass person with flaws and problematic thinking that i’m still dealing with and the whole ine yards, can make that decision, then other people should be required to as well.

(what really irks me is that the karamel fandom wasn’t even really that bad! i definitely could have gotten away with being a karamel stan in 2017. thankfully the supercat and supercorp shippers were doing the lord’s work and bullying them into submission (don’t think i’m letting y’all off the hook either, y’all have got some racism to deal with as well but that’s an essay for another day) but like most of the racism happened at the writing level; the fandom itself wasn’t engaging in racist clownery on the regular. but like the reylos are. y’all see racist bullshit coming from your neighbor, fav fic writer, artist, gif maker, whatever, and don’t say shit? don’t feel the need to distance yourself from them? gtfoh.)

i made this argument earlier when i was on my rampage (which i’m still on btw so don’t clown in my inbox, you will get your shit rocked) but i’m going to make it again because i feel like its important to note. when i pointed out that existing in the reylo fandom while you are aware of its racism makes you complicit in that racism, a white reylo told me earlier that (paraphrasing, my memory’s not as good as it used to be and i did mention that they’d blocked me) “you don’t solve a problem like systemic racism by ignoring it. leaving the fandom would be allowing it to happen.” when i pointed out that that’s police officer rhetoric almost verbatim, she (a white reylo) admonished me (a black woman) not to compare police brutality to a “ship war.” lmao.

look, clearly y’all need a refresher on what “systemic” means. it means, quite simply, that there are systems, large and small, allow for racism to exist, and it also means that allowing for racism to exist on the small scale means expecting it on a large one. like you think police officers spring fully formed from the head with racist ideals already ingrained? no! they learn it and learn to justify it with “well just because my friend made a racist joke doesn’t make me a racist” and “just because i laughed at my friend’s using a racist term in my video game doesn’t make me a racist” and “just because my friend is a racist doesn’t mean i’m a racist” and then we have people watching their coworkers kneel on a man’s back for 8 minutes with no remorse. i’m not gonna solve police brutality by fighting reylos on tumblr, but fandom racism is real racism with consequences on our world, and i don’t tolerate ANY type of racism. and the fact that you are so willing to not just tolerate it but justify it should say something to you.

and not all reylos are like this. similar to cops, good reylos don’t last. i have seen people grow so disgusted by the racism in the reylo fandom that they publicly turned their backs on it, and those reylos i respect. you’ve heard of “the only good cop is an ex-cop” well get ready for “the only good reylo is an ex-reylo”.

(and also like far be it from me to justify a cop but one could at least say they have their livelihoods to think about (not like they couldn’t just pick a nonmurderous profession but i digress) but you reylos can’t even choose between taking a stance against the hateful and unjustified bullying of a man who had the audacity to… get a job (?)... over a ship? come on now.)

the point of all this is, for all their posturing about “being antiracist” and “fuck 12” and “support john boyega”, reylos have decided that a relationship between two fictional people is more important than all the black and brown people who are hurt by that decision and the consequences of that decision. and before y’all pull some “b-but there are POC reylos!” (stop fucking using poc as an adjective, its a noun, it stands for person of color, please use it as such) internalized racism is a thing. busting out your token “reylo of color” (see how easy that was?) is not going to change my mind. all reylos are complicit in the racism of their peers, and being complicit makes you culpable. full stop.

and that is why the public support of john boyega from the reylo fandom has me seeing red. renounce your fandom or keep that man’s name out of your mouth. anyway, this was long and ranty and entirely stream-of-consciousness and i’m refusing to edit it so it’s probably completely incomprehensible to anyone besides me but if you made it this far thanks for reading ig. all reylos are racist, blm, fuck 12, acab, stan john boyega, don’t clown in my inbox unless you’re coming to bully me for being a karamel shipper, which i deserve (or do, i couldn’t give less of a fuck). good night.

[still-heta-trash]

What Hetalia Means to Me

Howdy folks, Lady here.

Hetalia was the first fandom I was actively in and the fifth or sixth anime I'd ever watched and from the very first episode I knew it would consume my life for a very long time.

Suddenly, it was my everything.

My room at the time had several posters and scrolls adorning the walls but I had two very large ones that combined would've taken up a whole one: The Great Wave of Kanagawa and that god damned Paint it, White! poster I bought at my first Comic Con for a criminal price, but to me it had been completely worth every cent. I did so many things to earn good girl points to get my parents to take me to Hot Topic to buy more Hetalia shirts than I really needed (and most of those I still have!) I had a Hetalia wallet (it's pretty busted now and I'm saddened to say they stopped making them) and had even worked on my own casual cosplays. Needless to say, I was very heavily invested.

While it most certainly made an impact on my wallet, Hetalia affected my life in many other ways as well. Drawing fanart and even creating my own Nyo! America AU ask blog (if I remember correctly she was a fallen angel, and although my art was absolute crap at the time she'd gotten pretty popular) led me to discover art, which was something I had zero interest prior to and is now a big part of my life. Writing self insert Hetalia fics pushed me to get better and better at writing and has led me to realize my passion and dream to become a publisher author. It gave me drive when I had none.

But the biggest way Hetalia impacted me was definitely socially.

I had a really, really, really difficult time maintaining let alone gaining friends. Still do, to be honest, but I made so many friends throughout the years because of Hetalia.

The people I want to talk about most are Ton and Tay.

I was a new student at a school in a different area than what I was used to and living with my mom and her new boyfriend and his son (neither of which I really got along with) and was really nervous. I had given up all of the few friends I had had for years at my old school and was so scared that I would be alone for the rest of the school year.

Then Ton, who was basically class representative, took me on a tour of the school.

"Hey, um, I don't know if you knew this, but that's a Soul Eater necklace you're wearing. Would you by chance be an anime fan?"

You bet your ass my face widened in to the biggest grin.

I had confirmed that I was then brought up my all time favorite at the time, which, I really don't think you need me to say again.

And like that we were best friends.

I went over to her house all the time after school and even dated her older sister for a bit (my first lady friend btw, who was also a Hetalia freak) and most of our conversations were centered around the show. Of course, that wasn't all we had in common, but it was a big one.

Skip ahead maybe a month or two in and Bam there's another transfer student. A boy this time. With pale blond hair, soft blue eyes, dark blue rectangular glasses, great with computers, kinda serious but laid back at the same time- yeah we thought he was just really in to Estonia and was playing the part but the closest thing this kid had ever experienced with anime was seeing a DBZ poster in his cousin's room and maaaaybe an episode or two of Pokémon. This dude even had the haircut down and for a while I was convinced he was a mega fan and was just screwing with us, but nope. Was just a really weird coincidence.

And of course, we never left the poor guy alone and only ever referred to Tay by his actual name when in reference to him to other people. Surprisingly he was cool with being called Estonia all the god damned time, especially after we showed him a couple clips of him. As far as I know he never got in to Hetalia, but he thought it was kinda funny how close in nature and appearance they were so he let it slide.

Of course, that didn't mean we didn't annoy the crap out of him in general, but every single time he'd attempted to hang out with another boy in our grade and/or below, he just came back to us after a bit. I think he secretly found us rather endearing but was way too embarrassed to admit it (he was a tad bit "tsundere-ish", as Ton had put it) I mean, as much as he complained about Ton and I, he always made sure to stick around and defend us if someone said anything. Not gonna lie, I had a tiny crush on him. Looking back he most likely had one on me too but at the time I thought he just didn't like me as much as Ton.

So he was our Estonia and Ton and I had decided that I was Lithuania (since I had always worn my hair in a long side braid and looked relatively similar to his Nyo counter part) and she was Latvia because she was ridiculously short and sweet and also because he was the only one left. Unlike poor Tay, we were still Ton and Lady, but we made lot of weird fanfics with the concept.

For the rest of the year this would be my gang. We did pretty much everything together and we'd all helped each other grow academically. We loved each other more than any other non family member any of us had ever known at the time.

Unfortunately after the school year endee we all split up and never heard from each other again.

My mom dumped her boyfriend and I went back to my old school district. Ton lost the password to her Paigeeworld and Wattpad (both of which I was forced to delete because of a rather unpleasant grounding) so after a week or so in to summer. Last time we would ever talk was the second week of school via my mother's phone. As for Estonia...

Ton and I honestly had no clue what happened to him. He was supposed to attend the same school as her, but he just disappeared without a trace. Ton had his address but he wasn't there. He was just... Gone. No note. No final goodbye. Just... nothing. And like that, nearly a year of friendship had vanished with him.

It still saddens me to this day about what happened, but I don't regret a single thing (well, except maybe finding out Tay's email) but I can say I owe it to Hetalia.

Hetalia gave me passion. Hetalia gave me skills. Hetalia gave me friends. That's why even though I hadn't really given it a second thought until recently, it will always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you, Hetalia.

You're more than just a silly little webcomic or anime to me.

And thank you, the one who read this stranger's story till the end.

Stay frosty, folks.

[munchiezxx]

do you have any kleinsen fic recs please my kleinsen crops need wa ter

 i’ve been waiting for this ask for my whole life I’ve sort of read uhhhh every kleinsen fic on ao3 (except for 1 that made me uncomfortable) 

Multichapter:

I’m sure everyone knows what my first recommendation is and I’m sure most of the people reading this have already read it too but just in case…. My number one recommendation:

“You Know They’re Gonna Think You’re Lovers, Right?” by neglectedrainbow

One of the tags on here is “that jansen fic” and that’s exactly what it is, it’s /the/ kleinsen fic. It’s my #1 favorite kleinsen fic as well as my #1 favorite fic of all time & if it were sold as a book I would buy it in a heartbeat. There’s lots of angst but it has a happy ending! There’s sweet moments too but lots of angst. Extremely well-written angst. I can’t even tell you how amazing of a writer Rousseau is. I love this fic SO MUCH that I cried the entire last chapter and then cried for like 20 minutes after that. and i’ve also done 2 pieces of fanart for it. It’s completed with 30 chapters and 66,029 WORDS!

You’re My Muse by dying_is_easy_living_is_harder

This is one of my current favorites! It’s still in progress with 13 chapters so far & I’ve really enjoyed it! It’s a college fic with pining and fluff and angst, what more could you ask for?

The Mess That We Made by lost_in_the_in_between

I’M AN ABSOLUTE SUCKER FOR FAKE DATING FICS so when I saw the fake relationship tag I was like !!!!!!!!!! It’s angsty but it has a very sweet ending! This one is completed with 13 chapters!

Oneshots:

I’m not gonna write out descriptions for these but I’m just gonna link some of my favorite oneshots!

Way To A Ranger’s Heart by pajama_cats

Your Smile Could Make Flowers Bloom by pajama_cats

Radio Waves by pajama_cats

(you know just read everything by pajama_cats i adore everything they’ve written)

there’s nothing to fear (stay right here) by bimrambles (a very cool person btw)

Dear Evan Hansen Drabbles by neglectedrainbow (there’s some not-kleinsen here but I had to include it because I really love the kleinsen ones!!)

Jared/Evan Drabbles by gelphie & neglectedrainbow

That Guy From School, Jared Kleinman by rantaboutbees (this one is so underrated but i adore it go read it)

And here’s a few more multichaps that I don’t feel like writing a description for but are very good:

_____ has joined the chat series by ididntsignupforthisshit (oliver_ravenwood)

Trade Streetlights For Fireflies by pajama_cats

There’s a TON more that I love but I’m unfortunately very bad at bookmarking things so I’m probably missing a bunch that I loved D: