#also I have in fact not left the klaine fandom at all

[justgleekout]

welp, seems like we have lost another klaine creator to a different fandom... you havent posted anything new in a while anyway so i guess we should've seen it coming. it was nice knowing ya. enjoy the straight couple I guess

Excuse me? Are we not allowed to have multiple interests anymore? I post about Bridgerton for 1 (one) day and this is what I get?

News flash! This is tumblr. The place for hyperfixations. I do not suddenly stop enjoying one thing simply because I also enjoy something else as well. But please just let me like what I like when I like it on my own personal blog, please?

Also, I know I haven’t been posting much art lately and I’m sorry, but have you considered there might be other reasons for me to not drop new fanart art on a daily basis? I am extremely busy with three jobs and mental health struggles so, fuck you, actually.

And btw, I don’t owe you anything?? So maybe just mind your own business and make your own content instead of sending hostile messages to strangers on the internet who are doing their damn best?

Be better. Have a nice day.

[daltonblaine]

'ur insane girl. as if it's a completely black & white situation and not a messy ass high school relationship with two fucked up people' !!!! THIS. i hate it when people either 100% blame blaine or 100% blame kurt in their messy situations (and 99% of the time, i see people blame blaine which pisses me off lol) bc they're both dumb and they both make mistakes and they're both just MESSY TEENS

Exactly 😭 apparently this is a hair trigger for me LOL um. some thoughts on this whole situation that no one asked for:

either type of stan/anti makes no sense to me because the fact of the matter is that blaine didn't cheat out of nowhere. was it a warranted/excusable response? absolutely not, but at least it's narratively understandable (which i value more than my fave being constantly morally pure LOL)

people say that cheating was an exceptionally nefarious & extreme response because from "what we've seen" kurt's only ignored 1 call from blaine and even "wasted his time skyping with blaine" (bitterly quoting an anti's post here LOL)

BUT i reject the idea of downplaying what both blaine & we as the audience were clearly meant to feel: a character with established abandonment issues, with no close friends around him anymore, started feeling truly abandoned

we're MEANT to feel conflicted about it because it's not a black and white situation. singularly taking the side of either kurt or blaine in this conflict makes you look ridiculous

i can understand why blaine might've cheated, but i mean. i think everyone agrees it was probably the worst choice he could've made. which, obviously, makes it impossible to take blaine's "side" in this conflict because at the end of the day cheating is cheating

but to immediately one-sidedly villainize blaine and claim kurt was completely guiltless also makes me tilt my head? it's not so cut and dry from here because some people will undoubtedly disagree with me on this, but from how i see it, klaine had already gone through this whole "what if you leave me behind" issue in s3. blaine had admitted his insecurities to kurt, who had acknowledged them and told him that they'd figure it out no matter what. and then what blaine was afraid of in s3 exactly happened once kurt left, with no proper communication from kurt's end

not so simple as "he cheated" on kurt's end, but kurt was unconsciously? doing something that was stretching thin the already-fragile balance they had on the account of blaine's established issues (and kurt faced no narrative consequences for this, i.e. we barely saw any kind of introspective kurt pov of the break up the same way we did with blaine, which i think is one of the biggest reasons why engagement era klaine didn't work out as they planned - that communication issue wasn't resolved even after they got back together)

honestly it's less of a finger-pointing blame game for me than thinking that miscommunication is klaine's biggest demon. i've talked about this before but the dichotomy of kurt & blaine's general reactions to conflict (kurt tending to pull away vs blaine tending to cling) makes communication EXTREMELY important in their relationship ... which i don't know if they really accomplish but hopefully now that they're going to therapy by s6 they got that figured out 😭

final note though - some of the standards people have for ships in fandom feel a bit shallow like if i wanted an unproblematic, conflict-free, safe ship i wouldn't be watching glee ... the morality cat fights people get into esp in regards to ships (but more often characters) have always been something i've never understood LOL i always have things to say about klaine because they're imperfect and complex. glee is an equal opportunity bad romance writer (makes all relationships fucked up on some level) LMAOO #GayRights

[spaceorphan18]

Alright.

So. I'm sure to all of your delight - I have finally caught up with my in box. I have about 40 messages in my drafts that require a little more time to work with, but I suppose that'll be another beast for another day.

I am a little sad that my in box no longer has any hidden treasures -- just left over conversations from way back when and a lot of fic prompts I may or may not get to.

Still - I'm glad you guys are coming to chat with me, even if I take forever to get back to you. It's been fun!

Also, for fun, the top ten things you guys come to talk to me about...

What songs would you put in the show/use for Klaine (I'm always terrible at these ones.)

Fic recommendations (Also terrible at this, sorry)

Gossip about Chris, and whether or not he was checked out during the show. (I suppose my salty opinions bring this on.)

Corrections about facts (fair)

Can you analyze this Blaine scene (or - why do people hate Blaine so much during this one scene?)

How do you feel about *newest fandom trend* (Meh)

What was it like back in the Glee heyday (very stressful)

Someone is wrong on the internet (of course they are ;))

That one person who asks about a non-related Glee thing (hi! Thank you for indulging my other interests <3)

@ckerouac asking me what I listened to as a teen (love ya RB <3 <3)

<3 <3 <3

Love ya guys - thanks for coming to chat with me. :)

[tuiyla]

This isn’t meant to be offensive, so don’t read it that way. You are so amazingly good at analysis of the girl characters in glee, (irrespective of shipping,) that I don’t understand why anyone wants you to post about Klaine or the main male ships. There are plenty of people still in the fandom that can analyze or post about Kurt/Blaine/Klaine, and are more invested in their story than you? You should be left alone to write what you want to write about and enjoy what you prefer. Can the Klaine demander not understand that?

It's not offensive at all, don't worry. This is a note to all anons/peeps: I know tone can be hard to get across online but I actually take most things in good faith and give people the benefit of the doubt. This whole misery with shitty anons started when I assumed the best of them despite some red flags about tone and it escalated haha. So that's to say, don't worry, when I complain about tone it's really just because I've become wary of a certain type of ask and do not tolerate entitlement. Anons like yourself and others who made sure to point out they mean no offense are all good.

What's funny to me is that I never actually proclaimed myself a girls blog but rather embraced it when others assigned the label to me. The shoe more or less fits, after all, but I do think certain bad faith people have misinterpreted that to be so far from what it actually means. I still like most Glee characters and other anons have found in the past that when I get asked genuine questions about the boys I'm more than happy to engage and even be a platform for conversation, to an extent. The Klaine drama started, iirc, exactly because I was willing to engage but I guess not in the way some wanted, and they felt entitled to the contents of my blog.

But that said, you're right that my niche tends to be with the girls (if we must have a girls vs boys divide, I suppose) and I'm happy if people find what I have to say about them of interest. I love talking about them and that's why I write so much, and I suppose that genuine care is what makes it engaging. I've never denied my own biases while also welcoming basically all aspects of the fandom because I think all can be interesting to talk about. I got another anon a while back, who I never published but agreed with and they said this sense of entitlement might come from that fact, that I have indeed been known to be willing to talk about all aspects of the show. I just think certain bad apples have twisted that into something unrecognizable, to the point that I no longer feel like talking about The Boys is worth it for me if I don't have strong feelings anyway and it comes with so much baggage.

Ultimately, you're right, there are so many other blogs. I never have and never will understand where this entitlement came from, this borderline obsession with policing my blog when all they've achieved with their harassment is make me think twice before replying to any and all Klaine asks, as said above. And like you say, it's not like there isn't content out there. There are so many wonderful people so invested in their story and so ready to provide content. I suppose the anon harassment came from people thinking it was hypocritical of me that I say I like Klaine yet prefer the girls. As if I couldn't like them while having others as favourites ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As if people can only like one thing at a time, as if I'm obligated to prove I like something via daily reblogs or something. The argument is obviously flawed but that's the thing, they never really had a good point, they were just looking to be nasty for the sake of it. Imo. Sad thing to be so angry at the world, when you think of it. I cannot make it clear enough that I mean this genuinely, but I hope they heal.

So this reply kind of turned into a therapy session lol but yes, I see what you mean and I thank you for being reasonable. Unfortunately, no they cannot seem to understand that because they do not want to. I shall try my best to stop wasting time and energy on trolls and instead focus on stuff I do wanna do, like write so many things about Santana and Kitty and Brittana and Pezberry and gif and just, you know, whatever I want. Which does tend to be Glee girls stuff, but I'm hoping one day this blog and its ~audience~ can bounce back to being open to all civil discussions. If and when I get questions about The Boys, I'll be open to that, but my "unprompted" energy will stay with what I personally feel drawn to and therefore am best equipped to write about, analyse, gif, etc.

[todaydreambelieversfic]

Author Spotlight: Esperantoauthor Day 1

Author: @esperantoauthor​

How did you get into Glee and Glee fandom?

I only got into Glee a few years ago. I think what finally got me to try it was the musical crossover episode of The Flash and Supergirl, actually. A couple of my friends were all really excited and talking about how everyone in it was from Glee. I enjoyed Melissa and Grant a lot in those roles so it made me want to check it out...of course those characters didn't end up being important to me but it got me in the door! I did nearly stop watching a few episodes in. I'm pretty sure I texted my partner, "If this show says the word 'cripple' one more time, I quit!" but then they did an all wheelchair musical number and I decided to keep going. Once I finished the show, I got the itch to read fanfiction (which I hadn't done in YEARS) which of course eventually lead to writing fanfiction and now here I am, fully enmeshed in Glee fandom.

In general, what drew you into writing (and/or creating)?

It's probably in my blood, to be honest! My grandmother was a published author and my mother is a visual artist. I was drawn to storytelling from a very young age. After my best friend moved away in second grade, we used to play that collaborative storytelling game through the mail (the one where you write a little bit and then pass it to the next person to continue). These days I see it as a natural extension of my love of language and words; finding just the right word or turn of phrase is something I love.

What was it about Glee that made you decide to write fanfic for it?

I was captivated by the characters and relationships while at the same time frustrated and confounded by the plot holes and inconsistent characterizations...so many unanswered questions..so much to explore! Also, Glee deals so much with identity and with being an outsider...those themes really resonate with me. I was drawn to the Klaine relationship and when I started thinking about writing, I knew I wanted to write something related to my field. When the parallels between "coming out" as gay and "coming out" as someone who stutters clicked, I knew I had to write this story and that this fandom was the right place for it.

Have you been a part of other fandoms before? Have you written fanfiction pre-glee?

Yes! Harry Potter was my first encounter with fanfiction as a teenager and I did end up writing (and eventually abandoning) a fic for it. I was also involved in Twilight fandom for a bit and wrote a fic (that I abandoned but at a point that works as an ending so I'm calling it completed). I was working on both of those stories for a while but I left for college and got way too busy to keep them going. Then I was basically on a ten year hiatus from fandom participation until I ended up here in the Gleeverse and it's the only fandom I'm involved in.

Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

So many! Some of the more ambitious tropes I'd love to write are: dystopian AU, soulmate AU, and supernatural AU.  

Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

Teacher/Student. As someone who works in education, this one is just too personal to me and creeps me out so much that I can neither read nor write it.

How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

Define "nurturing"? I keep a running list of story ideas and the current count is 23! If I limit it to stories I have actually written a scene of, then I would say 4 (not including the one I just started posting.) 

One of the story ideas I'm nurturing is called "A Very Special Glee Club" (or at least that's the working title.) It was inspired by the fact that the school where I work partners with a local theater company to offer an after school program where someone from the theater works with our students. In this story, Blaine is the special education teacher who is put in charge of running an after school Glee Club for students with special needs and Kurt is the actor from a local theater company who is (begrudgingly) brought in to co-lead.

***

Check out Esperantoauthor’s Fics

Express Yourself - When he was 4, he didn’t notice it. When he was 6, he hoped he could outgrow it. When he was 14 he thought he could ignore it. When he was 16, he tried hide it.When Blaine is attacked for being different, he transfers to a new school where he meets a cadre of misfits called The New Directions, who seem very impressed with his singing and very curious about his past. Blaine just wanted to fit in but maybe he will find something better: his voice.

Love Yourself -  In this sequel to 'Express Yourself,' Blaine and Kurt continue their journey as they are faced with new obstacles and challenges. The members of the New Directions will be pushed to take sides in the most dramatic upset yet, old and new friends will stir up jealousy in his relationship, and the ghosts from his attack will come back to haunt him. All Blaine can do is hope that he really is on the right track.

[thescribblerqueen]

Need to mildly vent on the plot of one of my glee/flash crossovers, I’ll put up a read more so you can scroll past if you follow me but aren’t in those fandoms.

So I have this plot for a Barry is Sebastian fic where a bunch of the glee cast moves to central and Barry has never come out to his family, anyway, I’ve been debating ships for it for a while but I eliminated my usual go to ships for plot reasons and I’m struggling.

Early on I considered Blaine or Kurt but the opted for Klaine to be in the fic, so they were scrapped

I also considered Thallen but then remembered I couldn’t bc Westhawne plays a good plot point for me

So alternative ideas as follows:

Cisco or Oliver (but then I feel like them suddenly being gay/bi undermines the whole Barry struggling to come out)

One of the Warblers? (But I have zero feel for the characterization of any of them also)

Maybe Hunter Clarington (But then I have to bring up the doping incident)

Leonard Snart which inspired some good Santana banter/lines (but Joe would literally have an aneurysm & as much as I love enemies to lovers I don’t know how to make the whole criminal & csi thing work.)

comic characters like Hal Jordan

Harley Rathaway would be funny bc cisco

Thoughts that are sort of foul ball left field with little to go on:

Artie Abrams, only a suggestion bc of that one bts pic and the fact that Kevin McHale came out as gay after glee.

Mike Chang, he had one line in the show that gave off bisexual vibes and also Harry Shum Jr. followed up glee by playing a bisexual immortal wizard. I also feel like Mike’s personality is very Barry like but idk

anyway that’s all

[lady-divine-writes]

Yeah... cool story. Half of what you say, uh... must have been a different person because I sure as heck have no memory or reference of it. And if someone I know online bullied you, then I'm sorry but... not on me. I unfollowed you because your defense of Klaine and, quite honestly, some of your views on BDSM made me uncomfortable. Could I have been more, heh, gracious about it? Sure, I can admit that. I'm not perfect. That being said I'm gonna remove a stressor from my life now. Have a good one

Here’s the latest message. I haven’t read this one, but it’s in response to something I sent telling this person how I used to consider them a friend, and how I felt betrayed that they sort of defended someone who was not being nice to me and yet cut me out of their life. I just only read the last line, which is about cutting a stressor out of their life, which I assume is me? But ... but ... I haven’t talked to them in YEARS! I don’t follow them, don’t interact with them! How am I causing them stress!? Like I’ve said before, I am very easy to block! Tumblr is made for blocking posts and blogs. They interacted with my post, my blog, but I’m the cause of their stress!? I don’t get it!

EDIT*** I actually did just read this right now and now I’m pissed! Sorry for leaving a personal issue up on my feed but I am for two very important reasons - one that has to do with fandom and one that has to do with real life. This person doesn’t like my ‘defense of Klaine’. My defense of Klaine is I write Klaine fanfiction. Highly AU Klaine fanfiction to the point that people have accused me of writing Blaine OOC. If you go through my blog, you’ll find posts I’ve made talking about how I don’t stand fully behind Klaine or Blaine as written in canon, and that a great deal of what I write goes towards fixing what I perceive as mistakes in canon fandom. This person ships Kurtbastian and Coldflash, as do I, but you can’t tell me for one second that those two ships are unproblematic. Because they aren’t. They’re full of problems, and sins, and moments that can be perceived as abusive. But as fanfiction writers, we tweak those things, play with them, give them backstories or eliminate them altogether. But writing for Klaine is unforgivable apparently, enough so that any bullying of you if you do write for Klaine is acceptable. smdh. When you want to hate something so much, it doesn’t matter what people have to say about it, rational or no. It’s all very black and white, and you can’t win for losing. 

Also - my views on BDSM? Lets talk about that because this one I find very interesting as it is the problem I have with many people in fandom who write BDSM. This person writes BDSM. In fact, they wrote a whole fic based off of 50 Shades of Grey for a fandom that I’m in (oh, but if I remember correctly, they were ‘fixing’ things that were bad in 50 Shades. Because that can be fixed, Klaine can’t. Gotcha). But also, BDSM is my business? Has been for over three decades. IT’S HOW I MAKE A FUCKING LIVING!! This person’s views on BDSM come from where? Because they’re not a professional Dominant. I don’t think they’re even one in their personal life. Their views come from movies and fanfic like mine, probably blogs here on tumblr. I’m all for researching responsible BDSM and writing about it, but that doesn’t give you the right to judge me! You can’t sit your ass outside of my community with a pen and a pad of paper, biting off what we do, and claim it as your own! And if there are things I write that you have issue with, it may just be that you’re a tiny bit ignorant maybe? We (in my community - I don’t know who the fuck you talk to) talk about BDSM left and right being something with nuance and layers. I write about many different layers, not just the fan fave tying up and spanking. Because, again, it’s what I do. I can’t tell you the amount of times people object to something I write that they have no first hand or practical experience doing. You object to it? Great. That’s fantastic. You really think that gives you the right to be self-righteous about it? Do ya do that with everyone who has more experience in a field than you do?

Regardless, this is what you get when you’re so very very determined in your own rightness that you can’t see the forest for the trees. Again - I haven’t spoke to this person in FOUR YEARS! Whatever stress you have in your life, it’s not on me. It’s on you! Go read a book or something!

[todaydreambelievers]

TDB’s Final Bow

Every journey has an end... 

There’s a joke out there that reads - Bilbo Baggins was abruptly awoken to his alarm clock playing Don’t Stop Believin’.  It was an Unexpected Journey.  :D  I especially appreciate that joke because Bilbo has always been one of my fictional character kindred spirits.  :D :D 

Four years ago, Glee ended, and I was a little at a loss for what I was going to do with my life.  I knew that I had more Glee thoughts, and things I wanted to say, and I had just met so many great people in fandom, that I feared that without Glee to hold us together, I’d be left alone in the wastelands that are the internet.  So, after talking it through with a good friend (@multsicorn​ - this is a shoutout to you) I decided to start To Daydream Believers.  (And in case you’re wondering - no I didn’t spell ‘to’ wrong, it was meant to be a celebration - a toast! but also a pun.)  

My intention was to give a safe space for people who enjoyed both Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson - because way back when, there wasn’t one.  Either you liked one or the other, but if you claimed you liked ‘Klaine’ then you were a 12yo who counted kisses and whose opinion didn’t deserve recognition.  I tried to make this space as welcoming and positive as I could - and today, it amazes me that I ever had to give such stipulations because this community has grown and learned from each other, and we have become a place where you can enjoy Kurt and Blaine equally.  I am incredibly proud of that.  And I’m grateful that I’ve had a small part in trying to heal a very splintered and angry fandom.  

Amazingly, TDB started as just a fic prompt blog.  It was meant to keep the creative spirits going and the fic flowing.  But over the years it blossomed into so much more.  We began to add in Author Spotlights and Tournaments and Polls and meta discussions (all of which you can find on the main blog site, btw).  And then - I’m not sure how it happened but I decided I’d try a podcast and then - y’all talked me into doing the rewatch.  And here we are! 

I was advised early on to only keep going as long as I was having fun, and I did! But projects aren’t meant to last forever.  I knew the podcast would have a finite date - Glee is, after all, a closed canon, and there is only so much one can bring to the table of a story that had long finished.  I purposely timed the end of the podcast to go along with the end of the rewatch.  I knew when the end would be a long, long time ago.  

In truth, running this blog and doing a podcast is almost like a second job.  And while I’m grateful for the experience, I was beginning to get a little worn down.  I knew that it was time for me to move on with other endeavors - but I’m incredibly proud that I was able to see the project to its end.  We discussed and watched every episode of the show, looked deeply into every subject, talked about every aspect of Kurt and Blaine and Glee that I could come up with.  I feel like this is an extensive look at a show and characters who’ve touched so many of our hearts.  And the fact that it’s now complete is amazing to me.  

They say go out on a high note - and I really feel that I am.  

I don’t really know how to express how much this blog, this podcast, this community has meant to me.  You guys have taken me through some dark times, through some hard personal things, and brought me through us living in what is probably not the best time line (lol).  But you’ve also helped me grow as a person and expand my horizons.  I’ve met so many wonderful people whom I’m grateful to now call friends.  

I’m no longer scared that once I wrap up my own chapter on Glee, that I’ll lose the community we’ve built.  Sure, we’ll be in new, different places in our lives, talking about new obsessions and exploring new things and god I’ll say it - going into new directions.  But sharing Glee will always be a bond that connects us.  And that is special.  

I want people to know that even though TDB is coming to its natural conclusion - fandom doesn’t have to end here.  

There are still parts that will always be going.  @todaydreambelieversfic​ will always be active as long as someone has a new fic to share.  There’s the Discord Channel that will continue to be up as long as someone wants to talk about anything.  And of course, you can always find me on my personal blog @spaceorphan18​ to chat about anything you like! You know I’m always up for a conversation.  As long as Kurt and Blaine remain in our hearts - fandom is always alive.  

TDB’s end is here, but know that I’m never saying goodbye to any of you.    

Glee is about opening yourself up to joy.  And all of you have given me so much joy throughout the years.  Thank you for being on this journey with me.  <3

Much love always,

~SpaceOrphan18 xoxo

[migleefulmoments]

CrissColfer Strategy #2

This piece was posted on 2/19/20 but it is originally from 2018 prior to LM/DC. It’s always amusing to read their theories about big upcoming changes in Darren’s love life in light of the fact that Mia has been a steady force in Darren’s life for 10 years.

Here they are debating whether Lea will be Darren’s new beard- a theory that required them to ignore both Mia and Zandy. In this post we see justcantgetenoughcc using the “trust me I know more than you do but I can’t share it” strategy. Honestly, this is the one that baffles me the most. While I can see the slow-motion gifs for what they are- pure manipulation, I know that TLOS isn’t the Klaine bible they want it to be and I can understand how other’s can be conned with that evidence. What I can’t understand is why anyone would trust someone who continues to say “I know more than you do but I can’t share it with you...just trust me”.  Those very words are literally the exact words that should raise one’s caution flag. Mommas, the one thing you should teach your children is to never trust someone who claims to know the truth but can’t share any evidence. Especially if that story goes on for 5 or 10 years.

***********************************

ilikesomedistance There was a discussion many years ago, that they (PR and F/ox) wanted to bring Lea and Darren together. But it never worked out for many reasons.

Guess it’s happening now.

stopandimaginelove  But whyyyyyyyyyyyyy 🤐

justcantgetenoughcc Interesting question.

The primary reason was always to break Chris and Darren up.

RM/Ricky all playing together. AB imo not that invested but to a degree (at least initially). Even beard (she realized what she can have by getting rid of Chris and why she too is very much part of the game now). Each had their own reason for being invested, as Chris and Darren in love and united as a team, made it difficult to manipulate Darren. In a way, that - Darren and Chris in love - was also their Achilles heel. Each put the other ones’ interest first - and got manipulated in giving up their autonomy. Chris had nothing to hide as he was already out. Why would he even need a beard? They were so young and so naïve to Hollywood’s manipulation tactics. I don’t think they had anyone with industry experience, with their interests at heart, to advise them or look out for them. It was too late and they were in too deep, by the time they realized what they had agreed to. They still tried to back out of some of their worst mistakes. Some day… they will tell those stories or it will turn up in Chris’s books.

Initially people assumed that all that proximity and playing boyfriends onscreen - and no doubt their amazing chemistry - must be why they were together. I am sure they thought it will never last or they will get over it or get tired of it and move on to others once the itch was scratched. Like most young guys (as young gay guys - not my opinion at all - but a lot of people believe that).

But it didn’t happen that way. They didn’t break up. Instead they went and got engaged over Dec 2012/NYE 2013 (that was from when we have the pic of Chris looking at his ring standing next to his suitcase at an airport). They were serious from the get-go. They were ‘IT’ for each other.  They were even living together (even before Glee Live 2011 - in Chris’s first rented apartment in LA). I think it was Joey who once commented that he saw Darren only when he needed more clothes (Don’t quote me on it though. Ha). When Chris bought his first home in Laurel Canyon, guess who moved in there with him? It wasn’t W as most of the fandom was led to believe. There’s enough proof in their own words and since this is going to be a long post, I am going to leave some of those details out of this. And some I can’t reveal.

Why do you think LU Tour happened? It was another attempt to break them up and also to get Darren to declare his longtime gf of a hundred years. There was no way Darren would agree to it when Chris and Darren are together. And so his team came up with the clever “DIVIDE and CONQUER” tactic. Get Darren away from Chris and break him down.

Nothing ELSE came out of LU tour and so I am right in my assumption here.

A Darren who missed Chris on the road, who was mentally and physically exhausted from his days on the tour… gave in… WITH TEARS… a heartbroken Darren was FORCED to declare a gf - reading from a script, answering questions from a script, at the Toronto Radio Interview - WHILE he was already ENGAGED to CHRIS.  There are many ways I can cement the claims I am making. But they are NOT mine to share.

If you doubt me, that the intent ALWAYS was to break them up (come on guys! connect the dots!), so much has been exposed in the last two years, especially in the last six months.

Why were they forced to have beards? It wasn’t FOX (in fact there's a story not known to many that FOX was going to let Chris and Darren come out (heck they even knew of their engagement - again stories that I cannot reveal) but others disagreed/disapproved of that move and stopped it). Some of the old fandom crowd know of this. Why were their beards ALONE always allowed access to the glee set? Why were M and W paraded so much on the sets? Why was the beard woman given a job at FSO (where she did nothing really but was given free credit for work others did). Chris was already OUT. He was a grown up guy who always took care of himself even when he was much younger.

During 5.14 filming in NYC, it was clear that the film crew took care of Chris and Darren. All their needs on the set was met along with the rest of the cast present (Amber, Chord, Kevin, Lea and Darren). Even holding up their winter coats for them to slip their arms through. W didn’t do anything other than obstruct the filming (and there were a lot of complaints about W and he had to be told many times to move out of the crews way). Do you think Chris paid for W to accompany him to NYC where he wasn’t needed at all? Who had the most to gain from that decision to have W there?

The beards were ALWAYS meant to WEAR THE GUYS DOWN. To create discord between them. To grate on their nerves. To be a thorn in their side. You get the drift.  It still didn’t work. Those two guys still stayed strong.  

Yes, there was an attempt to END KLAINE early in S6 and use Darren/Blaine as Lea/Rachel’s LI and have them be the prime couple who got married to each other (instead of a Finchel wedding that RM always talked about) at the SERIES Finale. That didn’t work either. That story is known to many in the fandom. But is not mine to tell.

Look at all the attempts made to prevent Darren and Chris coming out. Since 2015.

I have repeated this so many times since 2015 and am going to repeat it ONE LAST TIME for the people who have joined the fandom since 2015.

Glee was filming the last season. Beards were barely on the set even with all the heavy make-out scenes (heavier Kliss scenes, emotional scenes, the elevator scene, the wedding, future Klaine etc). Guess everyone felt bearding was ending too as Glee only had a few more months left. We got the NOW FAMOUS BTS interview from the ranch - the day the Klaine wedding was being filmed - where Chris and Darren were interviewed by Leanne Aguilera (and not M). Where they admitted so much and looked radiant and vibrant. Best of all they admitted to being good friends in real life.

Then we got the Ellen Show where Darren and Chris interacted and wrote each others names (not to mention the incident where Chord slipped up and mentioned meeting Chris and Darren. Nothing dramatic happened by way of reaction or retaliation from PR).  Then came the Paleyfest and the Mario Lopez radio Interview - where Chris was present with Darren and Mario in the recording room. We counted Chris’s laughter interspersed  - at least five times. It wasn’t edited out. We rioted over all of those events repeatedly. It was like the CC drought was finally over. They were allowed to breathe free. And acknowledge each other. Say they were good friends with each other.

[We have proof on several claims I make here and are known to a lot of people but we can’t share them yet].

We knew they went on a European vacation that ended in Paris where Darren had to attend the CON with a few other Glee cast. Darren alone didn’t stay at the hotel where the CON was held, where the rest of the cast stayed. Ask yourself why. Darren returns to NYC and starts rehearsing for Hedwig Broadway that starts mid-April. Everyone was happy and there were several SM follows of both Darren and Chris back to back by Hedwig Crew and BTS crowd. Lot of happy tweets and fun stuff.

It felt like Darren had a few more months left to freedom. Chris plans his TLOS4 book tour around Darren’s closing show at Belasco - so that he can sit in the audience and not watch from the shadows as he did during the first 119 days of the run. Alla Plotkin, Chris’s publicist, allowed it and supported it (if there were any known contracts or clauses that prohibited Chris’s presence at the closing show, Alla wouldn’t have /couldn’t have allowed it) and planned the whole tour accordingly with Chris.  

So close to freedom and to coming out… and then out of the blue, Darren’s perfectly written Broadway BIO was edited to a mess of a BIO and  ‘xos to mia’ was included. Overnight Darren’s personal life got hijacked by a scheming woman and Darren’s manager. Eleni who was a longtime good friend of Jeff Jernigan, was appointed as Darren’s assistant (watchdog) at Belasco. Darren who hadn’t even seen or heard from the beard for many months, and Darren who had never displayed any real closeness to the woman - posts a dressing room kiss (long story about that too. (Read mleigh69’s post on how the Belasco kiss was staged).

From there on, everything went to hell in a hand basket. All their hopes and plans were dashed.

From that time to the present, how closely Darren is monitored and watched and babysat…is ridiculous. Darren has more people on his secret service detail,  sometimes more than even the President himself (it feels like). He sang 4 songs in Utah recently and he had Ricky, AB, Jeff Jernigan, Eleni, beard and Ken Sunshine (the boss of Sunshine Sachs) with him in Utah.

All their attempts to coming out was thwarted. Chris wasn’t allowed to attend the Hedwig closing show even though he had timed it to end the day before, giving him time enough to fly to NYC from LA. Chris who had never made a career misstep, chose to put his reputation as a children’s book author on the line by acting drunk - just so he could get on a plane to NYC. He had to watch the closing show from the shadows but am sure that was preferable to being beaten or giving in to two conniving people.

Even the ENCAGE was partially to stop CrissColfer from coming out. See what the encage did. All of Darren’s commitments and obligations were OVER AND DONE with by then… except for the NOOSE called the encage now. That was pretty timely, wasn’t it?

Why is Darren going on a tour with Lea Michele when Lea’s album was poorly received and didn’t do well at all? All her shows failed. She really has nothing much going on.  Hmmmm…

If am guessing, let me be wrong for one last time… WHAT IF IT IS TO KEEP CHRIS AND DARREN APART? As all their attempts and excuses to prevent Chris and Darren FROM COMING OUT ARE EXHAUSTED?

So now there are tours and MORE TOURS… where Darren's TEAM THINKS he has to remain NO HOMO for the tours to sell. They quickly got him committed to a LONDON concert while ACS was still airing.

Now ACS is over.

And sure enough, just as the ENCAGE IS COMING APART AT THE SEAMS… we have THE LM/DC TOUR!!!!

tahtah678

[blurglesmurfklaine]

Opinions on Brittana??

*long sigh*

Okay so. I’m not anti-brittana per se but I’m still tagging this as anti brittana bc I don’t wanna fuckin deal lmao

I love them but also I hate them but also they’re adorable but also what the FUCK??? Do you feel???

Fanon brittana is 100% THE CUTEST SHIT EVER!! Like I’m about that life! I love writing side brittana in shit, and the whole “I hate LITERALLY EVERYONE (except you 💞)” dynamic is probably one of my favorites. They also definitely have some adorable moments on the show and their chemistry is amazing so like yes I want to love them (and I think I do??)

THAT BEING SAID

There’s some shady shit that is really hard to overlook! Like yeah they’re cute they’re adorable but are we gonna just ignore the fact that the start of their relationship was Santana manipulating Brittany into cheating on Artie????? I remember rewatching that when k was a little older and being like 👁👄👁 aight we really just brushed past that???

And I’m not saying other characters haven’t done fucked it shit, but it always felt like, from a narrative standpoint, Brittany and Santana got a free pass for doing awful shit and although i know it’s just a TV show, my Klaine shipping ass took that personally lmaoooo. Like Santana never had to apologize for playing a hand in breaking up Brittany and Artie, or her horrendous rant at Kurt in season six, and Brittany never apologized for cheating on Artie, or outing Santana (somehow the blame gets pinned on Finn for that one but again… Brittany outing Santana in season two (intentional or not) kind of gets overlooked and the writers just. act like it didn’t happen??)

I’m sure it’s different now, but there also used to be a huuuge chunk of fandom that insisted brittana was the pinnacle of relationships and would come into my inbox and be like “why do you ship Klaine they’re toxic” and me being a literal child would be like EXCUSE ME???? and whatever i don’t need to tell y’all about the Klaine vs brittana feud we all know our fandom history BUT IT LEFT A BAD TASTE IN MY MOUTH YA KNOW???

Final answer: I love what they COULD be. I chalk a lot of their flaws up to shitty writing, as I do with most characters on this show, but like… I just can’t love them the way I love Klaine 🤷🏽‍♀️ I still enjoy brittana content when I come across it though!

[too-many-kpop-hubands]

30 Day Fandom Challenge

I'm going with a musical fandom this time, one of my favorites and I still watch reruns from time to time.

As always tagging @domsberto

Day 8- Glee

1 & 2) Favorite Character & Most Relatable Character: Sam Evans [Close Call Honorable Mentions: Kurt Hummel, Blaine Anderson, Santana Lopez, Sebastian Smythe, Jesse St James....yes I have alot of favorites]

Reason: You guys should know first of all that this was a really freaking hard decision but I had always planned to put Sam as my most relatable character. The more I went back through my rewatch of Glee not to long ago the more I realized that the Southern Dork had my heart more than I realized. Sam can be a bit of a himbo most of the time but he has a heart of gold that got trampled on time and time again. He was willing to do whatever he could to be there for his friends and sometimes came up with insane conspiracy theories that were sometimes true, like when he theorized that the Warblers were juicing and it turned out he was right. He was a talented guy, able to sing and play guitar, and always managed to brighten up anyone's day no matter how shitty it was with one of his jokes and impressions. Sam got the short end of the stick in terms of an endgame ship, everyone he had ever been in a relationship with either cheated on him or left him. He literally stood right next to two of his ex girlfriends when they married *each other* and was still happy for them. Despite his family losing everything when the market crashed, he was grateful for what little he did have even if it meant he had to wear clothes given to him by friends or cheap items. He proved that he would literally do anything to help his family, like when he found a job as a male stripper to make extra cash to help his family afford certain luxuries they wouldn't be able to without extra help. He would also do anything for his friends, like when he helped Blaine gather all the rival glee clubs together to help him propose to Kurt. He could also be self conscious at times. He would often brag about his body but when no one was looking he found flaws that he didn't like about himself. Sam was an easy going, sweet, funny, closet romantic and I stan the hell out of him.

3) Most Underrated Character: Elliott Gilbert

Reason: The beautiful Adam Lambert only graced us with his presence on the show as Elliott for a very short time but it was enough to make an impact on me. He was very talented and a good friend to our Gleeks living in New York at the time. He sometimes acted as the voice of reason, being an unbiased middle man when Rachel and Santana were fighting. He refused to pick sides when his friends were fighting but gave them someone to talk to and vent to. He was a fun person to be around and have a way about him that made anyone at ease once they got to know him. When Blaine moved to New York, he felt threatened by Elliott and his friendship with Kurt but Elliott reassured both Blaine and Kurt that he believed in their relationship and wasn't out to come between them. He was a chill dude who was just an all around great person to be around and I missed him when he was written off the show so that Adam could go back to his music career. I loved Elliott so much.

4) Most Overrated Character: Rachel Berry

Reason: First of all Lea Michele has an amazing voice but her character Rachel is overrated because she *knows* she has an amazing voice and tends to rub it in everyone's face every chance she gets. She is always on about how she's going to be a star and how she's so much better than everyone but let's look at the facts. There are better, or equally as talented, characters on the show and when Rachel had the chance at her dream role on Broadway, she left it too soon to do a TV show that flopped after only one episode causing her to run back home with her tail between her legs to revamp the Glee Club. Sure she made it in the end after she decided to go to college (and married Jesse....yes!) But she became more humble after she lost everything and got knocked off of her high horse. I still thought she was an overrated character.

5) Least Favorite Character: Tina Cohen-Chang

Reason: Tina Cohen-Agitator as Kitty once dubbed her was one of the most annoying characters on the show. She was self absorbed, even more so at time than Rachel, and constantly whined because she wasn't the center of attention. She hurt people without any remorse, like when she dumped Artie for Mike Chang or when she dropped Sam as a prom date when he didn't get nominated as prom king. She also had her weird tendencies, like rubbing vaporub on Blaine's chest when he was asleep and trying to propose to Mike when they weren't even together. She complained about *everything* and it just grated on my nerves. I really couldn't stand her. Sorry not sorry.

6) Favorite Canon Ship: Quick- Quinn Fabray & Noah Puckerman [Honorable Mentions: Brittana (Brittany & Santana), Klaine (Kurt & Blaine), and St Berry (Rachel & Jesse)]

Reason: Before I start this, I know Mark Salling did some shitty things before his suicide and that is not ok but this reflects on his *character* Noah Puckerman, not Mark personally.

From the moment Quinn found out she was pregnant with Puck's baby and we the fans first see them alone together onscreen the chemistry insane. They loved each other but they never *really* dated despite having a daughter together and making out a few times. It wasn't until later, after Quinn went on the Yale and Puck joined the Air Force that they finally officially got together but even throughout the seasons you could see their love for one another. They were a beautiful couple who had a beautiful daughter (who they have up for adoption to give her a better life since they were only 16 when they had her), and probably more later after the show ended.

7) Favorite Non-Canon Pairing: Blam- Blaine Anderson & Sam Evans

Reason: They were best friends and there are alot of great romances that grow from friendship. While in the show Blaine had feelings for Sam that Sam didn't return because he was straight, in the eyes of the fans they were in love. They had undeniable chemistry and were cute together. They looked out for each other and would do anything for the other. I stan Blam so much. And honestly when Blaine sang "Against all Odds" to Sam, I adored that moment because Sam saw him and even though he didn't return the feelings, though I still say Sam was in denial because later he was way too focused on the fact that Blaine wanted to do him.

8) Least Favorite Pairing: Rachel Berry & Sam Evans

Reason: I thought Rachel and Sam was such a random pairing. Yeah they had their cute moments but the chemistry felt forced between the two of them, especially since Sam was still in love with Mercedes and Rachel hadn't been with anyone since Finn died. Honestly when they eventually broke up, and Rachel ended up with Jesse (yasss), I wasn't that upset by it. I was just upset my man Sam ended up being the only one left unpaired by the end of the show, minus Mercedes.

9) Favorite Part/Moment: The Double Rainbow Wedding

Reason: I stan both Brittana and Klaine so much. When Santana proposed to Brittany in the final season I was like yassss Queen because I adore them so much, though I was still kind of salty like Kurt was that Klaine called off their engagement. The day of the wedding, or days leading up to the wedding, however saw my other pairing getting back together and the reunion of Klaine was epic as always. Fast Forward to the day of the Brittana wedding and Brittany, with the approval of Santana and Sue, made Klaine an offer they couldn't refuse. They surprised everyone when they made their way to the alter walking Brittany and Santana and actually staying so that they could get married to. It was a beautiful ceremony that left me with one of my favorite quotes that I plan to get tattooed on my wrist "I'm a work in progress". It was moving, shocking and beautiful and I love this moment so much.

10) Least Favorite Part/Moment: The Quarterback - Finn's Death

Reason: First of all, Rest in Peace Cory! You left an impact and will always be missed.

Because of the unexpected death of Cory Monteith, the writers had to kill Finn Hudson off on the show as well which lead to one of the saddest and most emotional episodes of Glee ever. It is my least favorite because I can't watch it without sobbing like a baby because you can tell the emotions of everyone in the episode are genuine. It was a sad time for us Glee fans.

[spaceorphan18]

I'm new to fandom - what are the better boyfriend olympics? I've heard that phrase being used a lot to talk about Klaine but I'm not really sure what's going on.

Hi Nonny! Welcome to fandom :) Pull up a chair as I give you a history of the BBO and how it started.  I actually think it’s kind of fascinating now that I’m not living through it, lol. 

Okay, so let’s go back to 2010 when there wasn’t a Klaine fandom, there was a Kurt fandom.  A lot of the BBO stemmed out of the Kurt’s Boyfriend Shipping wars of 2010.  

Back then, there was just a Kurt fandom, and a lot of opinions about who he should date.  Believe it or not, Kurt was shipped a lot with the other guys on the show, there was a healthy dose of Kurt/Finn, but Kurt/Puck was huge, and there was a smattering of Kurt/Mike (I never really did see much Kurt/Artie now that I think of it, which is kind of funny in retrospect, but I’m sure it’s out there.)  Anyway - when the show announced Kurt was getting a boyfriend -- well, things began to get heated up.  

Three big ships emerged

Kurt/Sam - because the rumor was that Sam was originally supposed to be Kurt’s bf (probably not, but that rumor was big at the time).  Btw, they were the canoe ship (I have no idea why) and was also known as Kum (rolls-eyes).  This ship’s fanbase was so huge and lasted so long, that the show felt the need to address it head on in Season Two’s Rumours (not a joke).   

Kurt/Karofsky - Also known as Kurtofsky, they were also called themselves the Pirate ship (god, Idk why, shipping wars are weird, yo).  These people were also really passionate, mostly about Dave, but liked the whole idea that Kurt would save Dave and they would have this weird - enemies to loves love affair or something.  I don’t know, I could never get past the squicky assault aspect, but whatever. 

Kurt/Blaine - which. at the time, was... the biggest possibility? It’s funny cause the other two ships were just as big as the Klaine ship, and really the fighting became over who was going to be the best option for Kurt.  

And that’s the thing.  Fans of Kurt were so passionate about who was best for Kurt, because everyone had seen him go through hell and back on the show, so his boyfriend needed to be perfect for him.  And you know who was perfect (at first) -- Blaine.  More on that in a second... 

However, Blaine brought his own bit of baggage -- namely fans of Darren Criss (and/or Starkid fans).  Unlike Chord Overstreet or Max Adler, people knew who Darren was before he was on Glee.  So his own fandom joined in on the Klaine of it all.  At first it was all fine -- as the shipping wars continued, it was less about Kurt vs Blaine and more about Klaine vs the other shippers.  Well, that was going to change.... 

Original Song happened and Kurt and Blaine got together ending the question of who would ultimately be Kurt’s boyfriend.  And things were nice and cozy headed into season 3.  You’d think the Kurt/Sam and Kurt/Karofsky ships would die out, but not really, they stuck around for a long time, and kinda morphed into something else.  

See, The First Time happened.  And for the first time Blaine wasn’t the perfect prince that he was in season 2 -- he had more of a developed personality, and more flaws.  And... some people didn’t like it.  (Also added to the mix was Sebastian -- and the Seblaine and Kurtbastian ships were born, but those kinda go off on their own thing and I’m not really going to bring them up much here.)  Anyway, what really got fandom split was Dance With Somebody. 

You had two sides of an argument, people who saw Kurt’s POV and people who saw Blaine’s POV -- and guess what happened.  The two sides began to fight with each other over who was “right” in the argument.  (My god...) And thus started what fandom started referring to as The Better Boyfriend Olympics. 

See - for reasons I don’t fully understand - instead of seeing that each of the boys have a fault and each were wrong in the episode, each side wanted to say that their side, and their POV was the correct way -- that one boyfriend was more oppressed and the other was not as good a partner.  

On the Kurt side, though, you had a lot of the old Kurt fans and ships who didn’t like Blaine (and/or didn’t want Blaine as his partner) so they vehemently decided that unless Blaine was the perfect boyfriend again, he didn’t deserve to be with Kurt.  Meanwhile, you had the Blaine fans, many of them Darren fans who wanted Blaine to have more depth to him than just being Kurt’s boyfriend, and not being Kurt fans first (or originally) they were going to push back at the Kurt fans who were lashing out at Blaine. 

Compounding this was the fact that during season 3, there were so many cast members and characters that unless you were Finchel, you were begging for scraps and your featured episode to come along.  Meanwhile - Kurt got a ton of screen time, but didn’t sing much, while Blaine sang a lot more, but didn’t get much story.  The Kurt fans resented that Blaine was always singing.  The Blaine fans were annoyed that the Kurt fans resented it, and tried to remind the Kurt fans that Blaine barely got any development.  

Either way, a war had begun.  And then The Break Up happened.  

Now Kurt fans had a specific reason to point at -- Blaine being a terrible boyfriend.  He cheated.  He’s terrible.  The end. 

The fandom was not firmly split into sides - you were either a Kurt fan - a lot of them who HATED Blaine - partly because he was getting more attention at the time, partly cause he did sing more, partly because they were made up of Kurt ships that didn’t work out, and partly cause they saw so much of themselves in Kurt that they projected onto him their own feelings, and loving Blaine was not a part of that projection.  Or you were a Blaine fan - who spent a lot of time defending Blaine to the point of exhaustion, and became so resentful of Kurt that they wished Blaine could be with anyone else because Kurt (fans) didn’t understand Blaine and should just stop trying. 

Weren’t there any Klainers you ask? Ha, well.... Klainers, people actually liked Kurt AND Blaine were stereotyped into two categories.  Category A) the really really loud fanbase (usually on Twitter) that harassed the creators, RM, Chris, Darren, various crew about Klaine every second that they got -- to the point that it started to feel embarrassing (that’s probably my own projection).   Category B) People who thought (think) that Chris and Darren were (are) in a secret relationship.  (Spoiler alert they aren’t, never have been, and never will be.)  The two of these categories overlapped A LOT, and many of the fans of one boy or the other just disassociated completely.  

You could still be a fan of the Klaine relationship, but you had a preference to which boy you were actually a fan of -- you couldn’t like both, or else you were a Klainer, and that was not cool.  (I spent a long time NOT identifying as anything, and trying to make sure everything I did and said was equal -- a) cause I was new to fandom and b) cause I hated that either one or the other of these characters were villainized so frequently.) 

Anyway - Season 4 continued.  Adam showed up, and Kurt fans got all excited, but the problem was that a lot of them saw him as the perfect boyfriend again -- not a real character but a prop that could make Kurt look good and be everything for Kurt.  Look, I liked Adam, I did, but he was underdeveloped, and this weird idea that your boyfriend needs to be perfect in order to be a functioning relationship is just unrealistic.  I digress.  Meanwhile, we didn’t get a lot of Kurt POV, which didn’t help things, and meant even more projection over his character. 

Meanwhile, the Blaine fans had formed their own community, which became viciously defensive of him.  I think the whole fandom was toxic during this time for a lot of reasons, and I really wanted to quit it.  Many people did -- the show wasn’t being fun anymore. 

Season 5 came along, the boys got back together, tempers simmered, but the whole idea of the Better Boyfriend Olympics came back every time a conflict happened.  Arguments about who was the better boyfriend ensued, gatekeeping as to why their pick was best and why your opinion sucked still ran through the fandom.  Not helping was the fact that Cory had died, and the creators, actors, and crew -- as well as media -- was tired of Glee.  

The one nice thing, though was that a lot of the old crowd had moved on by then, and there was an influx of newer people coming in during season 5 (and season 6) -- they weren’t here for the season 3 droughts and season 4 wars, and brought in a newer and fresher perspective.  

But still - we had the end of season 5 and the summer of spoilers and season 6 to get through.  At this point, the Kurt and Blaine camps had moved to their parts of the internet and really not speaking much to each other if they could help it.  When an argument happened on the show, the same kind of Better Boyfriend Olympics came up again -- one boyfriend was worse than the other, and unless they changed xyz they were not good enough for the other.  But at this point, it was incredibly tiring.  I know that I was just ready for the show to be done with. 

I should say, as an aside, not helping things were the rise of some rather vocal BNF-ish fans, who dug their heels in about their own opinions.  The refusal to even acknowledge that one side or the other might be right, or have valid points was not helping anything.  A lot of people on both sides refused to even listen to the points on the other side -- and instead of being frustrated at the show, the creators, or whatever, they took it against each other, which wasn’t fun to watch either.

Season 6 happened - Blainofsky happened, and that killed enthusiasm for the season on both sides, most people just kind of wanted it to be over.  And then the ending came quickly, and I think a lot of people who were just plain unhappy about everything left for good.  

The Better Boyfriend Olympics, or this weird competition that always pitted the boys and their fandoms against each other in the name of one being better than the other, leveled off after this.  I won’t give myself /that/ much credit - but one reason I created @todaydreambelievers was to give fans of both Kurt and Blaine a safe place where we could enjoy and discuss both boys without the BBO rearing its head.  And you know what -- it did mend a few hearts.  

For the most part, it’s been pretty quiet since.  Fandom is quieter, but I think the people who have come into it after the show has ended are a lot less judgmental and argumentative.  (I suppose it helps if you know how the story is going to end.)  And the cool thing, for me, is finding a group of people who enjoy Kurt and Blaine equally (or respectfully) -- and reclaiming the name Klainer as a good thing.  

I’ll end by saying this -- it’s been relatively peaceful, even with the influx of new people throughout the years, but I have been seeing shades of BBO pop up again.  Look, you don’t have to like Klaine to be a fan of one or the other of them.  But there are a lot of terrible things going on in the world, a lot of things to be angry and get indignant about.  How a fictional couple was written ten years ago is not one of them.  Be respectful of people, and know that maybe the side you understand better isn’t the only side worth listening to.  ;) 

[angelhummel]

Unpopular opinion maybe, but I don’t think Kurt and Blaine’s relationship was heteronormative. There were certainly issues with its execution, but I’m hard pressed to think of instances where Kurt was treated/coded as female. In fact, many of the examples people give of heteronormativity don’t stand up to scrutiny. Yes, Blaine was included in the “bro scenes” but he also had female friends and was grouped with the girls in Diva. If socializing with the same sex makes you a man and (cont)

(Cont) socializing with the opposite sex makes you a woman, what is Blaine? Sometimes the claims reveal more about fandom’s heteronormativity than the writers. Seeing Blaine’s comments about needing Kurt to be weak as proof that he’s a girl equates womanhood and victim hood, which the show didn’t do. No, they felt that fight was about how all relationships between gay men are about dominance, the opposite of heteronormativity. The accusations are a simplification of Kurt and Blaine dynamic.

Different anon -There’s a difference between being an alpha male, as the op claimed, and an alpha gay, which the show mentioned. The second one means that Blaine had higher social status due to his gender presentation. The first says that Blaine is hyper-masculine, aggressive and dominating and meant that he forced Kurt to be the beta in their relationship. It was 100% intended as an insult, as I’m pretty sure this person either stated or agreed that “Blaine would punch anyone who said he was girly.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay so I’m just answering both of these asks together bc I think they’re similar. And then we’re not gonna talk about it anymore lmao. Not even because these anons are angry or confrontational but just because I don’t wanna be too in the negatives today :P And both are in response to this and that if you wanna catch up 

First of all I just wanna say that calling any gay relationship heteronormative based on stereotypes and cliche ideas of gender roles and presentation is just not great. And if it was just the fandom being like “Oh Kurt likes fashion. That makes him the girl” then it would be bad enough. But I do feel like the show tried to push that at times. Tried to make one seem feminine or “weak” and the other seem masculine and strong 

And it was always unbalanced. Like one had to be winning and one had to be losing. Think mainly season 3 vs season 5. Like Kurt singing his lady Broadway songs, dressing up in tights, being laughed at for attempting to be manly, getting called delicate and too much of a lady (by Beiste of all people) while at the same time we see Blaine being more aggressive, picking fights, boxing, being seen in a newly sexualized light. Then in season 5, Kurt is working out and bulking up and feeling more confident and standing up for himself, while Blaine is falling behind and feeling like he’s losing and feeling self conscious about himself in all ways possible. It’s like this weird seesaw the writers always had them on. 

(Also side note but I am really confused by Blaine’s sexualization in the show? Like they dress him up in little green suspenders and pink bowties and everyone makes fun of his looks but also they put him in the tightest clothes possible to make sure nothing on his body is left to the imagination, and we’re treated to plenty of lingering shower and locker room scenes. And even when he’s gained weight and feeling down, we still have like a whole scene of him half naked and squirming around on the bed and idk it’s just odd to me)

Oh also kind of a side note but dealing with Blaine being one of the guys and Kurt being one of the girls. I know Kurt does seem like the type to prefer the company of girls over boys and that’s okay. But in that Brittany + Klaine skit I rewatched the other day, Chris did have a little line like “Oh it’s so nice being here in ____. Even if I do have to room with the girls”. So I wonder if that was yet another point of contention between Chris and the writers 

And I wouldn’t say that Blaine wanted Kurt to be weak. And Blaine doesn’t need to be the strongest one in the relationship. He just liked taking care of Kurt. But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, anyone who tries to slap a masculine and feminine label on Kurt or Blaine is thinking too small. They don’t fit in your little minuscule stereotypical boxes, sorry not sorry. You’re so right about them just simplifying all the complexities that make Kurt and Blaine such unique and interesting characters, and a dynamic couple 

Second anon - Yeah at the very end of that person’s blog description was like “Not Blaine/Klaine friendly” so that means I should’ve been taking everything they said with a grain of salt. I mean I’m sure some of what I just said above seems to agree with some of their points on Blaine and Kurt and masculinity, just not to a debilitating Blaine bashing degree lol 

But yeah saying Blaine forced Kurt into anything is just a reach. And I mean that all across the board. But saying he forced him to be the “beta” is just stupid because the whole idea of alphas and betas etc in the first place is insane. But ugh. Idk what that other person was on to make such wild claims about Blaine, but I think we should just let it rest lmao. I think we’ve said it all

[todaydreambelieversfic]

Author Spotlight: Darriness

Author : @darriness​

How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

Depends on which of my fics we're talking about. For Fic A Day, I usually just spew the whole chapter out in the evening and then I'll read it over once or twice before posting. The whole process has been known to take no longer than an hour (though sometimes longer). For my linear longer fics I revise constantly (too many times to count) while I write, and then my beta reads them over usually at least twice, and then after I make all the changes she suggests I'll go back once or twice to read the whole thing. How many times I do that last step usually depends on how soon I plan to post. For 3 on 1 I probably read/revised that fic a hundred times while waiting to be able to post it for the Big Bang.

If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?

Hmmmm, probably Life In A Year but only because I wrote 365 chapters/fics without a second set of eyes looking at them to tell me when I made stupid mistakes (I've caught a few as I've reread chapters over the past couple of years.) I probably wouldn't change the stories themselves though. I would just want to fix the silly grammar and spelling errors.

What do you look for in a beta?

Someone willing to put up with me? lol I didn't use a beta for a long time. The only reason I got one is because I did a Glee Fic Exchange and one of the 'rules' was that you had to have a beta. Luckily a Tumblr friend of mine offered to help and has been my exclusive beta ever since (I don't mean exclusive like she can't beta for other people, but she's the only person I use as a beta). If I were looking for a new one (which I hope not to have to do ever!) I would want someone who is enthusiastic, able to catch sneaky grammar and spelling errors (I like to think my work isn't riddled with obvious ones), and someone available for me to bounce ideas off of (if I ask you a question about a fic and it takes you a week to get back to me? That idea is either gone or I've already worked it out myself).

If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

I don't think *I* would want to write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there. Are there fics I would like to see the story continue for? Of course (though do you think I can think of any specific fics right now? Of course not lol). But I would like the author to do the writing, not me.

Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?

I call most of my fics, that aren't clearly AU, 'canon adjacent'. I follow canon pretty closely but there are three main things I always 'conveniently forget' about canon when I write - Finn's death, Blaine cheating, and Klaine breaking up. Most of my canon adjacent fics take place after canon ended but I do still follow the history of canon except for those things listed above. Oh, and I usually 'forget' Puck existed at all. I'm not sure he's been in my fics at all after that whole thing happened.

Talk about a review that made your day.

Here comes the cliché but legit true answer - ALL reviews make my day. Getting a notification email that someone left a comment on AO3 never fails to make me smile and clicking on people's reblogs on Tumblr to see if they've left comments in the tags is a lot of fun for me! The fact that someone took the time to comment on my silly writing? Blows my mind. I will say though that the comments I got nearing the end of A Life In A Year (including the last day) were especially satisfying. They were congratulations about finishing the year and as I was feeling pretty proud of myself, having other people share their congratulations was really special.

Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

I don't think I've ever gotten a rude review luckily! There was one on one of my very first fics in fandom (that I posted on FF.net, it's not even on AO3 or Tumblr) that felt the need to correct an error in my grammar but I wouldn't necessarily have called it rude. I felt it slightly unnecessary but I actually took their comment to heart and think about it every time I go to make that error in my writing today.

What advice do you have for people just starting to write?

I don't feel qualified to give advice but here we go. WRITE AND READ AND HAVE FUN! Your ideas are never going to get put on paper (or document) and you're never going to improve your writing if you don't actually write! Even if you don't think it's very good (I'm sure it's good!) if you don't write it, you can't improve. Write, and then get someone you trust to read it and help you make it better (or even take a course!). Also, READ. And I don't mean read your own writing (well yes, read your own writing) but read OTHER people's writing. Read fic, read books, read the newspaper - the reading and writing skill are so interconnected that your writing will improve the more you read! So READ! And then write some more! And lastly, have fun writing and reading. If it's not fun, then it's not worth doing it. It shouldn't be a chore or a job and even if it IS your job? If you're not having fun then it's still not worth doing in my opinion.

Which fic do you most like to discuss with other people? Why?

I love discussing all my fics with other people! I'll choose two fics for this answer though that I don't get to talk about a lot with other people and wish I could more - Roadie and Evolved. I love those fics/verses personally and wish I could really discuss them with people :)

What's one aspect of writing fic that gets you really excited?

Narcissistically? Rereading my own fic. I love going back to an old fic of mine and reading through it again. It's simultaneously a comfort because I know it so well and a bit mystifying because I think 'I really wrote this?'

***

Check out Darriness’s Fics: 

Roadie -  Blaine Anderson is the lead singer of one of the most popular bands in the United States. His life is chaotic but he loves it. One day, a new sound engineer joins the tour and turns Blaine's already chaotic life upside down.

Like You Wanna Be Loved -  A new boy moves in and catches Kurt's attention...but everything is not as it may seem.

Quality Time -  Kurt and Blaine try a little quality time activity together!

[miasswier]

Some thinky thoughts about That Post because everyone seems to be posting theirs and I feel left out

Look, I’m not going to lie, I reblogged that post. I related to that post. I think it’s fantastic that so many people didn’t have that fandom experience, and honestly, I wish I hadn’t. But I did. I followed too liberally when I first joined tumblr and was far too reticent to unfollow, which means that I saw it all. The ship wars. The character wars. The hate. Any shitty thing that happened in fandom between seasons two and four, I was there for it, watching from the sidelines, only marginally getting involved every now and then (though those small involvements usually ended with either someone telling me to kill myself or someone harassing me through asks for multiple days). I saw the rise and fall of popular tumblr users and fanfic writers. People jumped ship, then jumped back, then changed their mind again. Up was down and down was up, and honestly, it wasn’t until I realized that it didn’t have to be this way that my experience with fandom changed.

Now? I love being in the Glee fandom. But that’s because I have a very selective number of Glee blogs that I follow, and I am no longer reticent to unfollow. In fact, I’m almost too trigger happy with the unfollow button. I love every mutual I have from the Glee fandom, I love every Glee post that comes my way. I have xkit so I can block the few posts that come my way that I don’t agree with or seem too aggressive. I will probably be a part of the Glee fandom until I die (sorry to those of you that hate me lmao) because I love this goddamn show, and I’ve managed to find a group of people who love it just as much as I do.

The funny thing is that when I changed my tumblr dash, my view of Glee changed, too. There were dozens of times that I almost stopped watching the show, that it became too much, all because of the fandom. Around the end of season four is when I started to re-vamp my dash, when I became really quick to unfollow and really hesitant to follow new blogs. And you know what? Seasons five and six were amazing to me. I still consider them to be my favourite seasons of Glee, because my fandom experience was so goddamn positive during that time.

But you know what else? My view of past seasons has started to change, too. Characters I couldn’t stand (Marley in particular, but also Rachel, Brittany, Finn, Artie) are characters I’m growing more attached to. With every re-watch, I fall harder for stories that used to annoy the fuck out of me. I’ve started to listen to more of the music because I used to hate certain songs on principal and wasn’t able to appreciate how amazing they are because I just didn’t want to. I used to despise Brittana, and now it’s my second favourite ship. I couldn’t stand Rachel, and even though I still struggle with her sometimes, I can see the good in her even when she’s being obnoxious. Even the season four newbies don’t annoy me as much as they used to (I recently re-watched 4x12 and found myself feeling tiny tugs of emotion about the Jarley scenes, which in the past have only made me roll my eyes and pull out my phone in an instant).  When my fandom experience changed, my view of the show changed. It went from a guilty pleasure I couldn’t quit to something I am proud to love. I’m not embarrassed when I tell people Glee is my favourite show. I love that fucking show. Of course there are issues with it, and I’ll be the first to point those issues out, but I still fucking adore it. It’s my show, and it’s so special to me, and let me tell you, it’s so much more rewarding to watch the show and actually enjoy it for what it is, instead of counting down the scenes until Kurt and Blaine share a look again (another reason why I enjoy the show a lot more lately is that I no longer force myself to re-watch awful episodes in the spirit of a full re-watch. I know which ones I can’t stand, and I just skip them. Seriously, it’s made my most recent re-watch so incredible). I know I wouldn’t feel this way if it weren’t for my current fandom experience.

But all that being said, I still lived what that post was talking about. I saw the shit, I lived through the shit, I learned from the shit (though I will admit that I backslide sometimes if I don’t have the spoons to remind myself that I’ve already been through this a thousand times I should know better by now). Someone once told me to burn my face off, and then someone reblogged my response (which was aimed at a specific section of fandom, which I know the person who sent the ask hailed from) telling me I was being rude and judging an entire section unfairly because they weren’t the only people who hated mia. So, like, I think it’s absolutely amazing that people on here have managed to avoid all the bullshit and feel really protective of the fandom space that they’ve created for themselves, but honestly, the large majority of the Glee fandom experience was what that post entailed. We followed the wrong people, we allowed ourselves to be sucked into the madness, and it wasn’t good.

You know what, though? That wasn’t Glee’s fault, and none of this is specific to the Glee fandom. You think Glee invented toxic fandom spaces? PLEASE. Toxic fandom has existed since day one. You take anything that people feel passionate about and put them in close vicinity with someone who feels that same passion but in a different, potentially opposite way, things are bound to get volatile. Glee isn’t even the worst I’ve experienced. Yeah, it was a mess, but to act like it was the catalyst to everything that is wrong with the internet is unfair. I mean, for goodness sake, one of the few things that everyone in the Glee fandom could agree on was that it annoyed us that people kept forgetting we were a fandom. We had a huge presence on tumblr, but we were always ignored. How the hell could we have sparked the internet revolution? How could we have popularized the use of the word “problematic”? Everyone wrote us off as a joke because our show was seen as a joke. Don’t try and pin all of tumblr’s problem’s on us.

Also, it is important to note that the person who made that post is a Brittana shipper, and therefore their fandom experience was most likely self-contained to Brittana. I mean, for goodness sake, the post mentions HeYa, but ignores CrissColfer, which is probably the most active section of fandom still left (though don’t get me started on that). A lot of the posts I’ve seen in response to this post are coming from Klaine fans, who will obviously have different experiences with the fandom than this person did. And I mean, really, do I even need to point out the obvious that everyone’s experience in fandom is different?

I really wish I could be one of those people annoyed at that post because that wasn’t my experience. I wish I had followed the right people from the start. I wish I’d known better. I wish my first three years in fandom were as amazing as the past four years have been (and jfc have I really been on this dumbass website for that long?!). But it wasn’t, and that post really reflected a huge part of my fandom experience. I’m so thankful, though, to read posts by people whose fandom experience is not reflected by that. I’ve loved every one of those posts that’s come across my dash. And I especially love that I only saw the original post once, but have seen at least four or five posts talking about positive Glee experiences instead.

I love this fandom, even with it’s messy history. And, more importantly, I love this show, and will continue to love it until the literal day that I die.

[lady-divine-writes]

@klaineharmony tagged me in this lovely post -  Fic boosting/comments thread! Hi everyone - I’m feeling a little lonesome tonight because Spouse is away on a work trip, and I am not feeling 100% (Spouse is also super sick with a sinus infection, sadly), so I was trying to think of something nice to do that would let myself and my fic writing followers boost their work and get some feedback.Let’s do this: What are your top three fics that you wish people would comment on? Reblog and include fandom, description, and why comments would help you as a writer. Provide links, then tag your favorite writers so they can play, too. :) No limits on how many people you tag! This is all about helping people share their work and gain motivation. And this way we all have more to read! I will reblog all of you who provide links to your stories. :)

Hey, doll :) Thank you so much for tagging me in this. I started writing this on your original post, but it got real bitter quick, and I didn’t want that for you <3 I thought I could add to this without venting or being sarcastic, but I do apologize that I might just xD But that has nothing to do with you. I love and respect you to pieces. I think one of the major issues with the fics I have that don’t get notes is that there are people in this fandom who for YEARS legit will not read/reblog/like/comment on my stuff out of some weird matter of principle. I don’t know what I did, but there you are. In your so far 39 notes on your original post, I counted around 5 people total who might like my fics, three of those who would reblog. We aren’t a large fandom, but there are at least 200 people who come out of the woodwork when someone like the lovely @hkvoyage​ posts a fic. That being said, of the 1025 fics I have posted on AO3 that no one gives a damn about, here’s what I’ve got to rec -

The Sure Thing - All of my fics have twists in them. That’s part of what I’m known for writing. This was written for the Klaine Advent Challenge so regardless of what I put in the tags, we know they’re endgame. But because I mentioned Sebastian, fandom collectively ignored it. And it was hella fucking cute. And hot. Spoilers - no one fucks Sebastian! It’s a ruse. You don’t even see him till the end. There you go.

The Hallmark of a New Christmas Tradition - I wrote this for the 2019 Klaine Advent Challenge and I thought it was adorable. I was encouraged because several people had actually reached out to me asking if I was going to participate and I was like, “Yay! They miss me!” But no. When I posted my six fics on tumblr, only one of those people gave me notes. And that was kind of heartbreaking, especially considering the Klaine Advent challenge always struck me as that one time during the year the people left in fandom come together and bury axes. Guess not.

BDSM ASMR - For a fandom with as many D/s fics as the Klaine fandom has, you would think that D/s fics written by someone who actually Dominates professionally would have a zillion notes, but that has never been the case. In fact the amount of criticism I get for being ‘cruel’ from people who stalk my and other D/s blogs, bite our stuff, and have never even seen a flogger in real life will never cease to floor me. Though I have discovered that’s fairly universal in fandoms, so fuck me, I guess. Any who, this one-shot in particular pretty much showcases - to me - how creative we can be with D/s, as well as the actual extent of knowledge about my tools (which has come into question before), and how Dom and sub can work together during a scene to reach a goal that makes completion secondary. And yet other fics where meanie Sebastian pees in Blaine’s food and Kurt has to take care of him are way more popular so you be the judge of what’s responsible or not.

So go ahead and read them if you want. Thank you again @klaineharmony for kindly remembering me. I hope I haven’t frightened you off from tagging me in stuff in the future. Again, the above had absolutely nothing to do with you. It’s just something I needed to get off my chest. <3