#actually I’m the target audience of this post and so are people that feel the same

[writerfae]

Actually some of us don’t have the time or energy to write thousands (or hundreds or whatever) of words a day and that’s okay and that’s fine. Don’t beat yourself up about it. There will be better times. Save your energy for those instead of beating yourself up about not writing recently. In your heart you’re still a writer.

[renthony]

In Defense of Shitty Queer Art

Queer art has a long history of being censored and sidelined. In 1895, Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray was used as evidence in the author’s sodomy trials. From the 1930s to the 1960s, the American Hays Code prohibited depictions of queerness in film, defining it as “sex perversion.” In 2020, the book Steven Universe: End of an Era by Chris McDonnell confirmed that Rebecca Sugar’s insistence on including a sapphic wedding in the show is what triggered its cancellation by Cartoon Network. According to the American Library Association, of the top ten most challenged books in 2023, seven were targeted for their queer content. Across time, place, and medium, queer art has been ruthlessly targeted by censors and protesters, and at times it seems there might be no end in sight.

So why, then, are queer spaces so viciously critical of queer art?

Name any piece of moderately-well-known queer media, and you can find immense, vitriolic discourse surrounding it. Audiences debate whether queer media is good representation, bad representation, or whether it’s otherwise too problematic to engage with. Artists are picked apart under a microscope to make sure their morals are pure enough and their identities queer enough. Every minor fault—real or perceived—is compiled in discourse dossiers and spread around online. Lines are drawn, and callout posts are made against those who get too close to “problematic art.”

Modern examples abound, such as the TV show Steven Universe, the video game Dream Daddy, or the webcomic Boyfriends, but it’s far from a new phenomenon. In his book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, queer pop culture analyst Matt Baume writes about an example from the 1970s, where the ABC sitcom titled Soap was protested by homophobes and queer audiences alike—before a single episode of the show ever aired. Audiences didn’t wait to actually watch the show before passing judgment and writing protest letters.

After so many years starved for positive representation, it’s understandable for queer audiences to crave depictions where we’re treated well. It’s exhausting to only ever see the same tired gay tropes and subtext, and queer audiences deserve more. Yet the way to more, better, varied representation is not to insist on perfection. The pursuit of perfection is poison in art, and it’s no different when that art happens to be queer.

When the pool of queer art is so limited, it feels horrible when a piece of queer art doesn’t live up to expectations. Even if the representation is technically good, it’s disappointing to get excited for a queer story only for that story to underwhelm and frustrate you.

But the world needs that disappointing art. It needs mediocre art. It even needs the bad art. The world needs to reach a point where queer artists can fearlessly make a mess, because if queer artists can only strive for perfection, the less art they can make. They may eventually produce a masterpiece, but a single masterpiece is still a drop in the bucket compared to the oceans of censorship. The only way to drown out bigotry and offensive stereotypes created by bigots is to allow queer artists the ability to experiment, learn through making mistakes, and represent their queer truth even if it clashes with someone else’s.

If queer artists aren’t allowed to make garbage, we can never make those masterpieces everyone craves. If queer artists are terrified at all times that their art will be targeted both by bigots and their own queer communities, queer art cannot thrive.

Let queer artists make shitty art. Let allies to queer people try their hand at representation, even if they miss the mark. Let queer art be messy, and let the artists screw up without fear of overblown retribution.

It’s the only way we’ll ever get more queer art.

_

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[dancermk]

I’m a little disappointed to see so much discourse, fandom competitiveness, and plain arguing going around at the moment in regards to queer film/TV. People complaining about too much sex, not enough sex, too cheesy, made for the hets, too happy, too sad, too realistic, too unrealistic, and a million other petty issues. I, for one, am a queer person in my 50s and I grew up with practically zero representation! Yes, we want to continue onwards and upwards with quality and varied shows BUT let’s be HAPPY we now have representation! Like, actual shows where the central characters are queer, not just a side character who gets f*cking murdered! There is room for all different types of representation - so enjoy the types you like, and let others enjoy what they like.

And on a side note: progress is progress and film/tv is a business that has to turn a profit! If some queer content is made to appeal to the straight community, and will also act as a means of reducing homophobia and increasing understanding, then that’s a good thing. That means in the future more and more content will include queer stories and representation. If only 10% (ish) of the population is the maximum target audience then shows won’t keep getting made!

There is a huge backlash all over the world right now - a “push back” by conservatives and religious groups that want to wind back the clock, and specifically the last decade of advances.

So stick together queers and LGBTQIA+ allies.

I’m super happy knowing I don’t have to wait years between content anymore. And I’ve loved all different types of shows over the last 5 years, for lots of different reasons!

Interview with the Vampire - is giving me the toxic, passionate gothic love affair I’ve always wanted. And addressing interracial relationships.

Heartstopper - is filling me up with pure joy and hopefulness for the future.

Shameless - gave me Ian and Mickey - unique, anti stereotypical gays with a tragic yet ultimately beautiful love story spanning 11 years

Lone Star 911 - is giving me TK and Carlos whose sexuality barely factors into the storyline! Yay!

Looking - gave me an authentic queer experience and an intoxicating love triangle.

Red, white and Royal Blue - gave me a sweet, cute romcom that allowed reality to be sidelined. Fun escapism!

Young Royals - had me captivated by first love and intense angst.

Fire Island - an underrated romcom that made me laugh so hard I cried.

Sex education - shoved the realities of sex in our faces and provided me with laughter and drama and a range of queer identities.

Gentlemen Jack -gave me historical lesbians with spectacular wit, and feminine power.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg- because there’s SO SO SO many more shows I could mention! Don’t at me because I didn’t mention YOUR favourite. This is my point! There is SO much great content it would take all day for me to include everything. This is just a sample - and that’s f*cking brilliant!!

So maybe we could all start posting/tweeting etc about what WE DO LIKE / LOVE / MAKES US FEEL LOVED AND SEEN and put down the device if we’ve got nothing nice to say.

Sending everyone a love filled week! 💜

[total-drama-raptor]

I didn’t think this was something I’d have to post but due to the dogshit takes I’ve seen on twitter I’m posting it here now that the episode’s out.

Jake hinting that he had suicidal thoughts is not something done “to get sympathy points from the audience”. He’s been through a ton of traumatic events in the last few years in-universe, and it’s not a stretch to say that he’d go there.

If my parents disowned me for being gay, my only supportive family member died while I was away, spent months getting mistreated by cruel tv hosts and betrayed by those I held as friends, went through an abusive relationship, and got ghosted by one of the only people I had left to trust, I’d consider killing myself too.

But that’s not the point of this. Ever since people leaked the episode on twitter, I’ve seen people saying that it was just done to make people feel bad for Jake, and a few even saying he should’ve finished the job. Now, I’ve seen tumblr as a less hateful place than there, and I’m hoping we don’t get into any discourse like that. Plus saying shit like that hurts people who have had similar thoughts in the past, even if it’s targeted at a fictional character.

So, for the sake of everyone in this fandom, please refrain from using words that could hurt the actual people in it. I know we’re better than the hellhole that is twitter.

[thorniest-rose]

Hi everyone,

A lot’s happened over the last few days and I know that I’ve been under a lot of scrutiny and the subject of conversation, so I wanted to take a moment to talk about it with you. I didn't address it last week when I was told that people in the fandom were posting about me and sharing screenshots of my blog. This was to protect my mental health, but now I want to share my own thoughts.

It's really hard not to lash out in situations like this because of how much it hurts. To go through something like this is shocking and humiliating, it rips the ground up from under your feet. But I didn't want to go on the attack because I knew how much worse that would make things. No matter how opinionated I am, conflict makes me feel sick and makes me want to hide. So instead of lashing out, I've done a lot of thinking over the past few days, not just about what's happened to me, but about things I've done and what could have led to this.

Firstly, I want to apologise to everyone whose feelings I may have hurt when I posted certain things in the past. I want any space that I cultivate to be a happy, positive one for the people who spend time here and at times I think I’ve unintentionally created an atmosphere that has felt combative or alienating. I honestly never consider myself to be a well-known writer or someone whose voice has reach in the wider fandom. No matter how many followers I have or how many people read my fics, I always see myself as a girl just spending time on her tumblr, but that's naive and I should have recognised that in a shared space, all opinions are seen and have an impact. 

Discourse is my least favourite thing about interacting in fandom and there have been times where I’ve let myself be drawn into it. That doesn’t mean it’s ever okay to look down on what other people enjoy and I really regret posting those things now because that’s not who I am as a person. Expressing displeasure and other negative feelings isn’t what I want to engage in and I should remember how easy it is for flippant, spur of the moment comments to be taken out of context. Saying things like “I don’t like this” even on my own blog is immature and beneath me and I’m genuinely sorry.  

I am also in no way any sort of authority on how these characters are written, no one is. A fandom is for everyone. I’m passionate and vocal in my own space because I treat my tumblr as a slumber party with my friends, but in my enthusiasm, there have been times where it seems like I’m saying my characterisations are the only valid ones. I don’t think that’s the case at all, and I genuinely love and admire the creativity in this fandom. I’ve said this before, but just because I have preferences doesn’t mean I want every characterisation to be the same as mine because that would become extremely dull. I believe that any and all interpretations should have an audience.

However, while I take responsibility for the things I've said on my blog, the things that have been said about me in response have been extremely spiteful and damaging. I never wanted a war with anyone. I should know better than to court discourse in such a volatile fandom, even inadvertently. To take issue with me and what I said is fine, I accept the criticism and apologise; at times my comments have been juvenile and mean-spirited. But a group of people targeting me, screenshotting my posts, calling me names and attacking what I write isn’t proportionate at all and encourages a wider pack mentality. I think we should all remember that there is an actual person behind the screen reading the things that we post and that our words can cause real harm. It’s easy to dehumanise an avatar and a username. And I think it speaks to a rot at the heart of fandoms that so many people find pleasure in fighting and where feelings can fester into hatred and vitriol.

I am outspoken and passionate about what I love. I sometimes bristle at things I see that don’t gel with my ideas or at a misjudged tone, and I post about them instead of seeing the bigger picture and moving on. It’s a flaw and something I’m working on, to be more open and less reactive. I don’t want fighting or tension, and I don’t want rivalries. I also don’t ever want to make people feel like their characterisations are wrong/invalid/unworthy or that they themselves don’t belong and that I’m some kind of fandom queen bee trying to ice them out. While that’s genuinely never been my intention, I can see how things have been taken that way and I’m sorry for that too.

Again, I’m sorry to everyone I’ve hurt or alienated with comments that I’ve made. I always want to be kind and compassionate. And while I don’t think what’s happened over the past few days is OK, I can see the bigger picture and why things I’ve said, or the atmosphere I’ve cultivated, has planted seeds of resentment. I've also unblocked the person who's been posting about me, if they want to reach out to talk privately.

I know there are people reading this who have been following me for the past four years, and in that time have seen me struggle, and fall down, and make mistakes, but hopefully grow and learn from those mistakes too. I’m so grateful to you all.

I’m going to take a break from tumblr for a week or so, to spend time away from socials, to connect with friends and other passions and focus on self-care. And to write, of course, because I’ll always be writing, whether it’s here or elsewhere.

See you all soon,

Brooke 💕

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Midsommar vs SPOP: Cults and Religious Trauma

i watched Midsommar recently and was struck by how subtle and nuanced the Hårga were, in comparison to the Intergalactic Horde. of course, i don’t expect SPOP to show the kind of brutal gore that Midsommar did, but what i’m talking about is the way these cults indoctrinated members.

Horde Prime just mind controlled everyone to follow his orders and praise him, and it just felt so immature, especially compared to the way SPOP handled some of the other deeper topics. you’re telling me they wrote an actually good manipulator in the form of Shadow Weaver, but couldn’t do the same for Horde Prime? cult leaders are supposed to be manipulative. they don’t just force you to join their cults because it’s so much easier to break out of it. no, what they do is they convince you that this is for your own good. they promise you support, community, happiness, peace. they especially target emotionally vulnerable individuals, because they are a lot likely to accept help from a large community who is seemingly just looking out for them and trying to help them out.

and this is what happens in Midsommar. Dani recently lost her entire family to a murder-suicide, and her boyfriend had fallen out of love with her at this point and he often manipulates and guilt-trips her whenever she points out his mistakes. she was overall extremely lonely and depressed, trying hard to repress her emotions for everyone else’s sake. this is the kind of person the Hårga were looking for. a lot of the audience didn’t even realize that Dani was being indoctrinated into a cult or that joining said cult was going to be very unhealthy for her. that’s how convincing the Hårga were.

Pelle especially seems like the warm, comforting figure that Dani needed, letting her open up about her feelings and listening to her, in contrast to Christian, Dani’s boyfriend, who was often preoccupied with other things, and didn’t even bother to remember Dani’s birthday. you almost root for Pelle and Dani to end up together, until you realize that he is also part of the cult and all of his empathy and compassion is just a clever way to manipulate Dani into trusting the Hårga.

the scariest thing about the Hårga is that they weren’t large, imposing figures with a god complex. they didn’t have a leader who ruled them with an iron fist. they were just a seemingly normal community with seemingly normal people who had fun rituals and celebrations, and seemingly supported and cared for one another. even after seeing two people die brutally, Dani was still manipulated into joining the Hårga because they took advantage of her trauma and her loneliness. she desperately needed actual support and a shoulder to lean on, something her boyfriend didn’t provide. so when the Hårga offered her that support, it was easy for her to believe that this community was exactly what she needed.

and i think SPOP could have pulled something like this off, especially with Catra. if they really wanted us to believe that Catra felt guilty about her actions, they could have gone a more interesting route. i mentioned this in a previous post but instead of Horde Prime chipping Catra, they could have shown him manipulate her and promise her that she can be absolved of all her sins if she joined him. instead of being all like “teehee i know you have a crush on adora, you gay kitty”, they could have shown him feed on her insecurities and loneliness, and promise her a happier future of she joined him, playing on her need for validation and affection.

and in a moment of desperation, Catra believes him. she has lost everyone at this point, so she accepts what little comfort is offered to her. and then it’s the writers’ choice whether to redeem Catra by having her come to the realization that worshipping a genocidal tyrant with a god complex is actually not going to help her become a better person, and that she was just repressing her guilt and convincing herself that this is the best option; or to have her stay and face a tragic ending of sorts. either way, i think it would have been better than what we got.

i know that Nate apparently struggled with religious trauma and guilt (according to a few posts i saw, at least) and i’m not trying to say that i know his experience better than he does. i just think the execution with Horde Prime was really off, and he was almost like a funny caricature of a cult leader, rather than a representation of an actual cult leader.

[minas27]

HotD - S2E2: Aemond Thought

I want to discuss the scene where Aemond is in the brothel with the madam. So, of course, somewhat of a content warning and spoilers below the cut. I’ll also make a separate post on the topic of grief because I think there’s a lot to talk about. Also it goes without saying this will be a long post so bear with me.

I want to talk about Aemond actually being in the brothel in the first place. We know based on the conversation he has with the madam that this is at least the second time he was there with her. Timeline wise I think this is right because the death of Viserys takes place maybe a week or two max before the events of the beginning of season two. So, Aemond must have started to visit the brothel and the madam shortly after he saw her again for the first time after their initial meeting when he was about thirteen.

We see Aemond put on the facade of a stoic and competent swordsman and display the epitome of what a royal Targaryen prince should be. However, here in the brothel he’s so vulnerable. Not only because he is fully naked and in the arms of a woman in a kind of cradle position, but also because he’s removed his eye patch. I struggle sometimes to understand Aemond’s relationship with said eyepatch. Part of me thinks he might be embarrassed by it and would prefer to keep it on at all times. But another part of me thinks he is somewhat proud of it. For example, when Aemond was at Storm’s End and he removes his eyepatch in front of Luke, the Baratheon family, and their guard this tells the audience a few things. The most important thing, to me at least, is that he doesn’t care who sees him without the eyepatch. He doesn’t care that people can see the sapphire he placed in his eye socket. He doesn’t know the people in the hall aside from Luke. And yet he’s willing to remove the one thing that covered a part of him that brought him and his mother such pain. And then, to remove it in the brothel where servants and perhaps other patrons might see him also tells me he doesn’t care.

Aemond, like the rest of his family, does not grieve in a healthy way. After not only discovering that his nephew was murdered in such a gruesome way but also learning that he was the initial target, Aemond seeks solace in a very toxic way. He returns to the woman who took his virginity at such a young age. To me, Aemond never received much comfort from his mother because I think she viewed him as the most ‘mature’ and ‘well-adjusted’ of her children. Even after Aemond had lost his eye and his mother attacked and cut Rhaenyra, it was Aemond who was comforting her. A child who just lost his eye and has become somewhat disabled has to comfort his mother and reassure that he’s alright. “Do not mourn me, mother. I may have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon” are his exact words to her. It’s no wonder that Aemond would rather seek the comfort of someone else rather than his own mother, even if that someone is paid because at least she does a good job at pretending she cares about him. It’s incredibly tragic and heartbreaking that Aemond feels more comfortable seeking solace in a prostitute than any member of his immediate family. He’s able to tell the madam things that he wouldn’t dare tell anyone else. For example, he tells her that he regrets what he did to Luke and that he’s sorry for it. He’s sorry. And he would rather let people like his mother believe he did it on purpose. I’m reminded of what Ewan said once during a podcast that Aemond believes he can achieve more if people hate and fear him.

I want to discuss the madam in this post as well. I understand the sentiment that many people in the fandom hold regarding this woman’s incredibly inappropriate relationship with Aemond. A lot of people think that she is a predator/groomer and that she took advantage of Aemond when he was thirteen. And while I understand why some would think that, I believe you guys are looking at this the wrong way. Yes, Aemond was too young to be engaging in sexual relations with a woman who was most likely old enough to be his own mother. That I think we can all agree upon. However, there are a few things to keep in mind. The first is that it was Aegon that brought his younger brother to the brothel and paid for the madam to have sex with him. She did not go seeking out Aemond in order to sleep with him. Second, she is a prostitute and this is her job. As uncomfortable as that might make many people, we have to understand that this woman likely grew up in Flea Bottom to parents that couldn’t offer her anything and so, like many women in her position, she did what she had to do to survive. Third, can any of you explain to me how on earth she would have been able to refuse the request of a prince? I highly doubt it. She is expected to bring in recurring clients and she can’t really do that if she’s refusing the services of someone like Aegon. And when Aemond grew up, it was him that sought her out. It is Aemond that is paying for her services. This isn’t to say that it makes any of what is happening here okay. Let me make that perfectly clear. There’s just a lot more nuance to this dynamic that we need to dissect. Aemond seeks out the madam and pays her to tell him things he wants to hear. Things like Daemon should be afraid of him, that he has grown from a boy into a man worthy of holding the name Targaryen, and that he is good to feel sorry about the business with Luke. 

There’s so much more that can be said about this scene and I might make another shorter post but this is what I thought was most important to discuss. Let me know what your guys’ thoughts are because I’d love to discuss this topic further. I’d also like to remind everyone that my blog is not a safe space for body shaming. I will block the fuck out of you if you bring that bullshit here. I don’t know where some of you get off making comments on another person’s body. Seek psychiatric help immediately.

[herejusttosufferalong]

I know there is speculation that we’ll be getting new “leaks” or photos this week after DM mentioned L & A again - twice is a coincidence but a 3 for 3 will be an obvious pattern. With that said, can I say that I’m beyond shocked that this is still going

I don’t think DM is getting much out of this anymore - the last post about L & A didn’t do well for her. People are getting bored with the story, plus DM has blocked so many fans that she's literally eliminated her target audience for this content. GA doesn't GAF.

What is A getting out of this? Sure her name is out there more to GA but if anything people continue to feel indifferent towards her or hate her even more; her name being out there doesn’t translate to much. Her follower count has increased that much on either platforms. We haven’t seen her book any additional work that we know of and I think she would promote work if she did have it bc a big part of being a professional dancer is promoting yourself. None of these things translate into career successes. 

It’s not like this is helping Luke in any way either - I’m not seeing any positive traction for him either

All in all, seems silly to continue to promote this relationship in the media this way as I don’t see any actual “winners’ in the scenario as is. The only thing I could see is if DM flips the narrative and starts throwing A under the bus to draw attention back to her page.

.

[wolsalwastaken]

Friendly reminder that reblogging my posts with hate for what I’m doing not only gives me free engagement but promotes me. Whatever irks you so much about me hosting a fun community event, I’m not sure, especially since I’m working within canon limitations! If you’re the type of person who feels the need to personally share my content to make fun of it or tell me to stop, thanks for the sentiment, but I’ll pass.

While I’m sorry your stellar sense of humor didn’t appreciate a funny joke, it wasn’t targeting your audience! Anyways, wanna be clear on the fact that I am not upset or angry or hurt or whatever by these replies. They just give me something to laugh at, and free engagement. Keep it up if you want, because I don’t care, but I really think you should take a moment to reflect on yourself on why you feel personally attacked at someone drawing the cat devil in short shorts. Here, accept my YouTube apology video!

Regardless of whether you despise or love my work, any engagement helps me in the algorithm and spreads my art. So, I give my thanks to all of those supporting my art, intentional or not.

…

Ok ok, jokes aside, seriously thank you guys for all the support on the FHN event! Really didn’t actually think anyone would participate, but lo and behold, here we are! I’ve genuinely really enjoyed looking at all of your amazing art (you guys are so talented btw wtf???). Wanted to acknowledge all the talented participants, and I hope to see more! Thank you all for your artwork, I’ve gotten lots of giggles, because you guys are as funny as you are talented artists.

Now, wanna clarify, my above statement on haters isn’t vague posting any 1 person, I’ve had a few people do this, but wanted to mention it because it’s honestly hilarious. If you see anyone doing it don’t harass them obviously, but don’t harass or shame others for drawing this stuff either! Kindness goes both ways.

I also wanna say, just in general, wow you guys are so nice. Like genuinely. The amount of amazingly kind people I’ve had reblog + comment on my art who genuinely enjoyed it is like… crazy. I’m not used to getting much positive feedback on my art, and like I wanna sincerely say I really appreciate it. It makes my day, like really. You guys are so accepting and nice to newcomers and it’s just really nice to see! Ending the sappiness here, I hope you continue to enjoy my art!

Leaving on that note, here’s a compilation of the wonderful people who have submitted their art thus far (in order of submission time), be sure to give them some love because they deserve it! (Imo the posts aren’t getting even half the attention they deserve- really there are some incredibly artists)

More to come soon, as this challenge is never ending!

1. @tectonicatomic

2. @eckodrawsgoobers

3. @rataartista

4. @donutfloats

5. @abyssal-enby

6. @ciaosonounapersonalol

7. @/Shadow (certified gay)

8. @a-peachie

9. @multifandommadnessblog

10. @theskeleton117

11. @calamaricollie

12. @adairtrashart

13. @woodlandwildfolk

14. @itsartlee

15. @of-fallen-gods-cotl

16. @rainy-intel

Edit: just realized all the hate is literally slut shaming Narinder omg…

[unomi-well]

To people who are complaining about the recent movie adaptation of Dune I would like to point out a few things and share some opinions:

Any novel no matter how descriptively it is written cannot be hundred percent adapted exactly as is because when you read a book every single person has a unique understanding and imagination and interpretation. So it’s impossible for any filmmaker to capture everything on the page to the screen as is and satisfy everyone.

The things that were changed make so much sense and yes as fans of the books we might have wanted to see some of our favourite scenes or arcs but the movie has stayed so truthful to the soul of source and the amount of detail and hardwork that has gone into the making justified all of those changes.

If you think that the actors did a bad job you might as well start calling the 80s adaptation as the best film adaptation ever made. You don’t have to like their performance entirely but to totally disregard it is just ignorance.

Think about how much believable the movies looked like, I’m talking specifically about the setting, the world where it’s all taking place. For comparison take any other contemporary scifi movie made and think how much you feel is believable (I don’t want to slander Star Wars here because I love them too but then Dune has completely changed my view on how a sci-fi film should be made). Like yes a desert planet where people recycle their own bodily fluids seems like something actually a human would do for survival

If you didn’t like the changes made to Chani’s character you are a straight up misogynist. I won’t explain this point because this whole post is targeted at the books fans and if you have read the book you should understand why I said it.

Denis’s dedication to this movie is literally oozing out of the screen, each frame, the dialogues. The whole cast and crew has given their all and you can obviously tell. If you can’t well you didn’t pay attention.

The biggest reason I keep talking about the dedication that went into making the film is because it is a big budget movie with larger than life characters and settings and this easily could have gone wrong in every way possible but the massive scale was used as a tool like a cog in a machine that it just made sure that it was just enough to keep the machine working smoothly and not overwhelming anyone. Like for example the exotic locations and CGI were just enough to make the audience understand the setting of the story rather than show off how advanced the technology used was.

So these are just a few thoughts I have wanted to share for sometime especially after reading the book and getting a more deeper understanding of the story. Feel free to add more. Whenever I come across a blatantly biased criticism of the movie vs book thing I get irritated especially with a movie made with such heart and soul. And I absolutely admire the effort that went into this particular adaptation. I highly recommend watching the interviews of Rebecca, Timothee and Denis because the way they are passionate about the project is unlike anything I have seen from movie stars in the last few years.

[samd1o1]

Hey I don’t want to comment for real bc I’m sick of arguing with people on tumblr

I just wanted to say that in that post about deadpool and wolverine’s queerness, you are like 1000% in the right. Normally I don’t feel this strongly about stuff but anyone who thinks that Disney seriously and earnestly “delivered” on deadpool (and wolverine?) being queer is delusional

I mean, I love the movie. I’ve seen it twice and giggled my way through it both times. Obviously I enjoy the queer aspect of their relationship. But what you said about being able to be critical of your favorite media is important. The fact that people are arguing that there are no issues with the gay jokes in d&w but ACTUALLY it’s all indicative of a genuinely made film about two queer men is like actually SO crazy

Thank you, yes! The movie is absolutely amazing in the fact it's funny and well written. And yes I like the gay jokes, they're cheeky and enjoyable. But I think they'd be more enjoyable if any amount of Wade's (and also Logan's) queerness was taken seriously. Even just a little seriously.

I think the part that annoyed me about the movie most was Wade breaking up with Vanessa. Yeah it works for the movie and his character development. But at the same time I can't help but assume the reasoning for it was so queer people could go "hey they're both single, maybe just maybe Deadpool and Wolverine will get together?" No they won't this is Disney. He'll probably be back together with Vanessa eventually (even if it's not immediately).

Like I said on the comments of the post you're referring to; saying this is good queer rep is just an excuse so Disney (and Marvel) doesn't have to actually try to make good representation. The MCU has had many issues like this before. The single Loki bisexual conversation only for them to chicken out on the mlm ship they were hinting at in S2 promotions. Loki also being labeled as genderfluid in promo stuff just for him to be referred to as a male Loki and such. Characters who are canonically bisexual in the comics like Starlord showing absolutely zero hints to their queerness. Eternals is the only real representation I can think of, but it felt very one note and boring. Like that whole movie.

In conclusion Deadpool is a great movie but my biggest gripe is just that the queer aspect is not taking seriously. As much as I love the Honda Odyssey scene, it would be cool if it wasn't just a weird mix of coding/bait. Queer coding is still a great writing tool. Using metaphors for queerness in fantasy can be fun. But the reason queer coding existed in the first place is because you weren't allowed to show any queer people on screen. But times have changed! You can show it, but Disney are cowards. The movie is also queerbaity as they set up things like Vanessa's break up only to start them almost back up again with Logan himself telling Wade to go for the girl. Not to mention all the promotional posters like Deadpool and Wolverine as Beauty And The Beast. Disneyland Deadpool is also being VERY heavy on the gay jokes, which makes me feel like they KNOW who their main target audience was gonna be with this movie, but they still need to cater to the movie dudebros as well. Maybe one day guys, maybe.

It's important to be critical of even your favorite media. If you weren't then it could never improve. Let your voices be heard! And to the people who think movies don't deserve such debate; why do you think that? So many people say that so they don't have to discuss representation in media but then turn around and rant about the comic accuracy. Also what do you think happens in a writers room? Criticism is important in media even to professionals. A movie is a group effort, many people had different ideas that eventually came together and made Deadpool 3. They also probably had many ideas that were shut down and not put in Deadpool 3 for various reasons. Some most likely being criticisms.

Ok I'm done ranting now. Deadpool 3, great movie, one of my favorites. But it would have benefited not only itself by being true to Wade and Logan letting them be their authentic queer selves; But it also would have benefited the queer community.

[sapphia]

Hey friend, I hope I can ask a favour from you. I’m a black non-binary lesbian going through a tough phase as Both of my parents are openly homophobic and transphobic. I've organised a crowdfunding to solicit for support to evacuate my home, it's been help for me. Please consider to donate to my pinned link on my profile if you can Reblog and share my pin post to reach a large audience with support . Anything helps at the moment.🙏❤️

Alright everyone, time for an impromptu lesson on how to spot scam asks!

The first sign that this message is a scam is honestly that someone is sending me this message at all, especially since I don't interact with the person enough to recognise their name. I'm sure that 99.9% of donation messages will be spam messages set up by accounts specifically designed to get money out of people, enough that I will delete these by default. I don't think I've ever had a genuine one. But if messages like this tug on your heartstrings enough to want to find out, let me show you how to do that.

The first warning sign is that I'm not following them. Maybe they're a longtime follower of my account though, and I might want to help them in that case, so to check that, I go to my account page, scroll down to the blog that was sent the message, and click on followers.

There I can type in alicesgarcia's blog name in the search, to see if she's following me. But I don't have to because I can see that she's right at the top of my follower list. This is a bad sign--it means she's followed me recently. To check this, I go to my notes and filter for followers only.

I left my ask notifications on too, and from this, I can see they actually sent me the ask BEFORE they followed me. Definitely a scam.

But let's say I want to go deeper. Maybe they're not my follower, but perhaps they are a genuine long-time tumblr user in a hard time--after all, they're a black non-binary lesbian with bigoted parents. That's all of my weak spots in one! I really want to support someone in that situation (Which, of course, I do, I'm on tumblr. This scam is highly targeted, and they s know what will get my sympathy).

So let's check out her blog. She's got a lot of posts, but they're all photo posts, which is another red flag. Though I'm scrolling and scrolling, most of the posts were made 1 day ago, with another big dump 5 days ago. There's a LOT of posts, too much to scroll through. This is deliberate, to make her look legit and discourage people from seeing the date of her first post. But by offsetting posts hundreds at a time (see address bar), I can find her first post.

And there we go--their first post was made five days ago. Definite scam. These are all huge red flags, but you don't need every one of them to tell you it's a scam. Any single one of these should have given me enough doubt that I would just click the block button. New follower? Scam. New blog? Scam. Blog all one type of post? Scam. No interaction with other blogs? Scam. Even the fact that she was so vulnerable and marginalised is a huge warning sign (you're being targeted), as is the fact that her blog just doesn't make her feel like a real person.

Look for ALL of these things. A good scam might set up a blog a month in advance and make personalised posts to gain your trust, or get the login of an old blog and use their age to make them look legit. Keep digging, and keep making sure that what you're seeing tracks with this being a real person in genuine need.

And if you're going to signal boost, even if you're not donating your own money, PLEASE do these basic steps before you post or reblog. Let's protect each other from this.

[spiceynoodls]

Long, long post. Mostly me rambling. Have a lovely day :)

I watched 2012 tmnt when I was little so I got used to the vibe that one has, like the darker colors and stuff. So the first time I saw Rottmnt I was like

woah

It’s super colorful, there’s a lot of hyper activity, a lot more jokes, and it’s pretty obvious that it was made for the attention of little kids

so I didn’t watch it. It just didn’t really grab my attention, and I didn’t watch it until I saw a clip of the opening scene in the movie. And then I was like

woah

major character death

so I went ahead and watched the show. And it was amazing, and I loved it, and I’m a huge fan of Rottmnt. Not to mention the fandom (at least here on tumblr) is actually awesome to interact with, everyone is really excited to talk about the show and share headcanons and art and it’s amazing.

I’ve gotten into other fandoms and content through the Rottmnt original content creators too. I’m sure that a lot of people know the Cass apocalyptic series, which was incredibly written and drawn and had me coming back to read it over numerous times. And the comic also led me to read Casserole’s original content, Marble Sky, which is amazing as well by the way.

And the au comics are amazing, too. I read the Mutation Situation, I read Jacob’s Ladder, Two Arms Left, TizSepAu, Villan Leo, Kid Leo, Redline, Swanatello, Gemini Twins, Bloodbath au and a lot more I’m not mentioning.

Rottmnt is a kids show. Same as the Powerpuff Girls, or Paw Patrol, or any other kids show out there. It’s not for everyone. It’s catered to a target audience, which happens to be little kids who’s attention is caught by the bright colors, and hyper activity, and the 2D artstyle. It’s not for everyone, same as every other tmnt iteration, same as all content everywhere. I don’t expect anyone to go out of their way to watch Rottmnt, especially if it doesn’t interest them, and you don’t have to watch the show to interact with the community either. You can enjoy the community without enjoying the show.

You do you. Do whatever makes you feel good. I just hope that everyone’s experience with tmnt, and the tmnt community is as positive as mine is. I saw a post talking about all the reasons the blogger did not enjoy Rottmnt. I read the whole thing. It made sense, I understand why they didn’t like it, and I just disagree. I didn’t pick a fight. I just liked the post and moved on.

Recently I’ve seen a lot of people picking fights over disagreements a tv show made for kids. Not a lot are actually engaged in, which is good, but we really shouldn’t be picking fights at all. Basically, all this to say, you do you. Do what makes you happy. And if you disagree with people, just do that. Disagree. You don’t have to fight, or be rude, or anything. I’m all for debating, as long as it remains respectful.

I’m very aware that I can’t control other people and dictate how they interact with others, but I can suggest that we’re just nice to each other. Please.

Anyways if you read this far, thanks, and I hope you have a wonderful day.

[anthonyzoxide]

Rating and Reviewing the Mean Gills team name options

(This is unfinished but it’s been in my drafts for 3 months so I’m just going to impulse-post it now)

-Mean Gills: The best name, naturally, being the one that they went with and all. So much potential for reference humour, rolls off the tongue... If you wanted to analyze it story-wise 'gills' could foreshadow the ocean mutations that both of the gills (Another plus: 'Mean Gills' allowing me to use 'gills' as a replacement for 'girls') start to get throughout the series. And the 'Mean' part could foreshadow all those times they murder people in cold blood on purpose? It does bother me how little they actually reference Mean Girls across Limited Life, if at all, with how much potential there was- But that's a complaint unrelated from the name itself, so I won't count it as effecting the rating. 10/10

-Coral Kids: Sounds cute, and I like (or rather prefer) how it was worked into their area being called the Coral Isles. Though in the lore monologues, this would probably be even harder to take seriously when referenced than 'Mean Gills'. 7/10

-H2-Bros: When pronouncing this name out loud, it either has an awkward pause or is automatically said too quickly to process the joke- And, additionally, in retrospect I quite understand how one of the deciding factors between this and Mean Gills was not perpetuating the same masculine energy of the Bad Boys. Not a fan, but wouldn't have been particularly upset if they went with this. 4/10

-Santa's Little Kelpers: For how summer-coded Limited Life comes across as, this totally feels like the wrong kind of seasonal. In particular, the Mean Gills always felt tropical to me- Would've been a ton of tonal whiplash if they were named this. Also brings to mind a certain song, which I'm not convinced is a positive. Also, introducing Santa's Little Kelpers to the Life Series means adding Santa to the Life Series, and I don't want to know where the pipeline of lore additions would go from there. 2/10

-Sons of Beaches: I feel as though this is either a reference to a band that I haven't heard of, or there for the soundalike to a certain curse word. Assuming that it's the latter, I don't believe that joke would've had much staying power- It's catchy, however. 3/10

-Big Buoys: Had to look up what a buoy was after mispelling it in 3 different ways when making the list of Mean Gills names. I now hold a vendetta against this name. Also sounds quite a lot like the Bad Boys, and I'm not sure I could've taken whatever kind of feud would arise there if the two groups were name-destined rivals. 1/10

-LGB-sea: Not a bad name, but I've got quite extensive nitpicks. The use of an acronym makes you think of BEST and TIES, but neither gill has a name that starts with L, G, or B, so it feels peculiar if you don't recognize the pun at first (Which I did not). Even if you dissasociate it from the prior context of those other acronym team names, it feels as though it would be a trio name so that there can be a person for each letter (and then tying them all together with the shared theme of 'sea'), and out of the Life Series players there aren't any lesbians to be the L, so that'd be tricky to work around. Also, I feel like it should be 'LGB-sea Community' instead of just LGB-sea, but I'm assuming this would be thought of quickly if it was what they went with, so I won't count it as a complaint. With all of that nitpicking out of the way, I do think the pun is quite funny. I dunno. A rather mixed 5/10

-The Shell-dons(?): I'm not even sure I heard this one right despite rewinding it many times. 1/10

-Beauty and the Beach: This name implies that only one of the Mean Gills is 'the beauty', and I do not believe in pitting two beautiful gills against each other in such a manner. I am also definitely not the target audience for Disney references- Though this would have potential as the name of someone's royal AU Mean Gills fanfiction. That'd be pretty cool. Though the writer must specify which one of them is the beauty, to the other's dismay. And where the beach is in relations to their castle or whatever. 2/10

-Damp Dudes: No. No. This is very unpleasant. Reading it feels like stepping in a large puddle and getting water into your sock. I don't wish to dwell on this one. 0/10. Maybe even -1/10 on a bad day.

-Puddle Pals: This, however, is quite cute! The Puddle Pals sound like a group of silly whimsical fellas from a cartoon, and the Mean Gills would work quite well as that kind of dynamic if they were in a series where they did not have to withstand The Horrors (as is the way of the Life Series). While the 'D' illiteration in Damp Dudes made it sound more uncomfortable, the 'P' illiteration makes Puddle Pals sound catchy and rhythmic. I approve. 7/10

-Mean Shells: ...I'm glad, at least, that this got reworked into the final name of Mean Gills. It sounds awkward, and the reference isn't apparent upon reading it.

-Sal-men: I forgot to review the Sal men🙁 Post over. Go home

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

since people have been commenting in the tags on the poll for The Silmarillion to the effect that they’re “skewing the results”, I wanted to elaborate on my feelings on the “methodology” (as it were) of this blog.

in particular, taking this comment by sesamenom as a starting point:

the reblogs (even the early ones) do indicate the post reached multiple medium-to-large silm blogs, plus the original post is tagged w silmarillion. so this probably is less of a survey of general silm readership and more of an indicator that 32% (47% now) of this post's audience is the greater silm fandom.

this is obviously one of the core “problems” of running polls like this through the medium of tumblr: it will be impossible to get “accurate” / “scientific” results, because who sees the post is entirely determined by (1) who follows the specific blog (a self-selecting audience) and (2) who reblogs it and into which communities / networks. in this case (and others), it is clear from the notes that the post is circulating heavily within Tolkien fan networks on tumblr, and this is, indeed, likely to be “skewing” the results relative to the general population (whatever we take that to mean in this context).

however!

this blog and @haveyoureadthisscifibook are not intended to find information about a general population. rather, I’m interested specifically in the much narrower group of people who are habitual fantasy and/or science fiction readers. my goal is not to determine “what percentage of people have read The Lord of the Rings”, but “what percentage of fantasy readers have read The Lord of the Rings”.

for these purposes, the self-selecting nature of tumblr is actually an advantage! I can safely assume that anyone who’s choosing to follow a specialized poll blog for fantasy books identifies as a fantasy reader at least to some extent, and if they reblog a post they’re doing so because they anticipate that the book in question is or could (or should) be of interest to their followers — in other words, they do so because they expect their followers to also be fantasy readers, or at least fantasy-adjacent.

given that the poll for The Silmarillion appears to be circulating in specifically Tolkien-oriented fan networks here, it’s probably still true that the result is going to be disproportionate, but the disproportion relative to the target larger group of fantasy readers is also likely much less dramatic or significant than the disproportion relative to any general population. we’ve certainly had some amusingly misleading results in the past (notably (to me): a random recent Warhammer 40k novel getting >25% yes on the sci-fi blog; In the Hands of the Goddess getting only 40% yes vs. the rest of Song of the Lioness hovering around the 50% mark), but since I’m interested first and foremost in averages, a few individual disproportions will even out in the long run.

so. reblog away!

[helluva-dump]

At this point, the hazbin/helluva critical community has fallen flat. And when I say that, I mean that it lacks potential. Like, I thought we were criticizing about the characters and the show itself. I thought we were talking about it's issues and what Viv could approve on it. But now, these people are just targeting fans of Viv's show who are just going on about their day, taking screenshots of harmful posts and posting it on the critical blog just to shit on them. You can't even consider that "critical" now when you're just being an asshole. They wonder why Viv and her fans think the critics are so bad. On top of that, these people love to make assumptions about Viv harassing Gooseworx all because she's a "terrible person" like please stfu. "She probably did this" and they don't even have any proof. Maybe consider that Viv actually enjoys tadc and it's success? What is all of this "viv is mad because the amazing digital circus is more successful than her shitty shows"? I dunno, man. That critical community is just so fucking dumb and stupid. They're not even talking about the shows anymore. They just bitch and fuss about everything.

For real, I had never seen such a critical community this much of a train wreck as the fandom is.

I mean hell, I engaged with the SVTFOE community before (and that show has the EXACT same problems as Helluva boss) and the critical blogs were very chill.

I feel like what didn’t help is how immature and unprofessional Vivziepop acts publicly. But at the same time…. I can’t really blame her for getting defensive when these antis dogpile her on everything.

And yes, the screenshots making fun of harmless posts of fans were red flags to me. Like dude, we have rabid fans and Stans do that to us, why the hell are you stopping to their level??? (I’m not gonna include the voodoo controversy because that to me needed to be talked about. A lot of POC fans and criticals had every right to discuss that and Viv should had given an apology or explanation over that. With closed religions that always got stereotypes due to colonizers, you need to be careful when writing about them. )

Oh God don’t get me started on the whole Vivziepop and Gooseworks relationship assumptions… that actually annoyed me too and I’m sure there’s no bad blood with them. I get she had bad blood with Tracey and possibly Ashley, but I don’t think it’s fair to assume she’s like this with every indie creator.

Honestly, its both of their fandoms that are acting unhinged. But I even seen hardcore fans of Viv like Dani praising TADC and Gooseworks, so I doubt the whole fandom are planning to sabotage them. TADC isn’t a rain full of sunshine either, they too have so much bad apples there.

Also my big issue with this community I’ve noted some critical blogs that claim they wanna make an original series (well one already made a webcomic) but they NEVER stop bitching about Viv and go on and on how they never do this to their project… unmmm dude? If you constantly compare your project to Viv’s, your gonna lose your audience this way. This can make you come off as an a logger and a very petty person to others. Trust me, this is NOT going to make people want to be interested in your original projects.

It’s also very unprofessional to do this publicly. I get looking at bad writing motivates you how to not to things… but the constant comparing is going to make you look like a very petty person to your outside audience. And they feel like your project won’t have agency on its own without being “better than Helluva/Hazbin.” I say this because I too am working on an indie project I want to make to a webcomic. And I REALLY don’t wanna ruin my reputation that way.

That’s what Zeartist did when he made his shitty ass books and would constantly hitch and whine about twilight on his life journals. And he would always bring up his original series and how it’s “better” and how he wouldn’t write such garbage like Stephanie Meyer.

And guess what???? His books are just twilight 2.0 but even worse 😂😂😂 he ended up doing the exact same thing stephanie did, bitches out over criticism, and yeah a huge hypocritical asshat.

That’s why constantly comparing your project to another person’s to seen as better is NOT a smart idea. Please have some self awareness there if your actually planning to make a webcomic or an original series.

Also… I’ve noticed people that have beautiful startled would waste it on blind hatred. Like that “I HAtE VIVZIEPOP” blog. Like godamn, their art is beautiful but they had an unhealthy hate obsession with Viv… why waste your energy on that when you can make something better?

I’m not talking about rewrites, AUs, or redesigns because to me those are like fanfics and for fun. The stuff I do is mainly just for fanfic fun and a writing/world building exercise for me. But also a little bit of self indulgence since I sitll admire Viv’s characters. You can enjoy something without giving your support to the actual creator. I’m trying to show my support to the team behind it.

(I’m even planning to buy fan merch from one of the clean up artists on their shop. To me it’s the ethical way of getting Hazbin/Helluva merch without directly giving it to Viv but to her artists instead. )