#and no. a fanbase is Not required to make this argument but even if it WAS its still very possible

[genericpuff]

The Elephant in the Room - Queer Erasure and Westernization in Lore Olympus (and all its horrid stepchildren)

This is one people have been asking me for a while now, and I've been waiting for the right inspiration to hit, as is required for my ADHD hyperfixation-fueled rants. After recently watching a video that did an objective review of Cait Corrain's Crown of Starlight, I felt now was the time, because Crown of Starlight effectively proves exactly what Lore Olympus - and other Greek myth interpretations like it - has issues with.

And I want to preface this post with one question - why do we keep getting these Greek myth adaptations written by queer women that still wind up perpetuating toxic heteronormative culture?

Buckle up, because this one's HEFTY.

In that aforementioned review of A Crown of Starlight, there were a lot of points that came up about how Cait wrote the female protagonist - Ariadne, wife of Dionysus - where I immediately stopped and went, "Wait, this sounds awfully familiar."

It should be mentioned briefly for anyone who's unaware - Cait Corrain is an author who was recently (and still) under fire for using sock puppet accounts on GoodReads to intentionally sabotage the ratings of other debut authors, many of whom were her own peers or from the same publishing imprint as her (Del Rey), and most of whom were POC. I mentioned in that previous essay that I just linked that Cait Corrain is a fan of Lore Olympus and decided to give it 5 star ratings from these alt accounts, not just de-legitimizing the reputation of the books she bombed, but also the ones that she praised (including her own book, because of course she had to leave an obvious calling card LMAO). I felt it necessary to tie Cait into my discussion of white feminism in LO and its fanbase because people like Cait are exactly who we're talking about when we dissect the intent and consequences of LO's writing - much of its brand of "feminism" seems to only be catered to a specific kind of woman (i.e. white women who fetishize queer people/relationships) and seem to encourage/embrace violence towards women if those women aren't "behaving correctly" or just aren't fortunate enough to be white and rich - and so Cait choosing to give Lore Olympus 5 stars in her hate-raiding and even have it visibly in the background of her headshot photos was... not exactly disproving my argument that these are the types of people LO caters to and encourages, to say the least.

But then I watched Read with Rachel's "Did It Deserve 1 Star" review of Crown of Starlight and it cemented my assumptions and concerns regarding Cait's intentions and influences even more.

As a brief tangent, I've read A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Claire. It very obviously is using Lore Olympus as its blueprints, but it's not super obvious that if you didn't read Lore Olympus or weren't aware of it, you probably wouldn't notice. It's still not a great book on its own, it's riddled with writing problems, but at least it can call itself its own thing to some degree.

Crown of Starlight is just blatant Lore Olympus fanfiction pretending to be original, even down to its marketing (which I'll get to shortly) but swapping out Hades and Persephone with Dionysus and Ariadne, and setting the entire story in space. Why is it in space? There doesn't seem to be any actual necessary reason for this, it just is, go with it. I'd be willing to accept this because changing up the setting of pre-existing stories can be fun (god knows I loved the premise enough of Lore Olympus being a modern day Greek myth retelling that I had to go and make my own version of it that's still in that modern setting) but as RWR says in her review:

"... we're told that it's the 'island' of Crete, but then we talk about commbands, airlocks, [holo-shields] and it wasn't really written in a way that I felt meshed 'Greek retelling' and 'sci-fi' in a cohesive way."

Needless to say, Crown of Starlight unsurprisingly suffers from the same problems Lore Olympus does, where it will try to "subvert" the original myths by changing their setting and characters and then doing absolutely nothing interesting with them to justify those changes.

To really drive my point home that Crown of Starlight is undoubtedly Lore Olympus fanfiction, Lore Olympus was literally used as a comparison point in Crown of Starlight's marketing which is a fair tactic to use to advertise to a specific niche or demographic, and while some have argued that Cait isn't technically the one to come up with that marketing jargon, it's made much more clear that she used that comparison herself when writing and pitching the book because it is quite literally just Lore Olympus with a different couple in space, right down to the main female protagonist being part of a purity cult. And of course it wouldn't be a bad Wattpad romance if it didn't have our main female protagonist Ariadne talking about how inconvenient her MASSIVE BREASTS are and of COURSE Ariadne is a poor innocent uwu babygirl who needs a man to come in and rescue her from the evil purity cult and of COURSE it hints at them eventually having raunchy sex just for it to wind up being milquetoast bondage and of COURSE it all just winds up taking traditionally queer characters and stories and turning them into this sanitized Disney-esque plotline where the boy and girl were always meant to be together and nothing else matters except their love-

And that, at its core, really just screams "this is bad LO fanfiction". From the stylization of the book's writing which never outgrew its "adorkable fanfiction writing" phase-

"Realizing that I'm being gaslit by my entire world doesn't make it easier to deal with, but hey, at least I still have some part of my soul!" - an excerpt from Crown of Starlight quoted from RWR's review timestamp 13:03

-to the "creative" choices made to turn Ariadne into a chastity cult girl whose resolution is obviously going to be to have what's implied to be dirty raunchy sex just for it to be like... the most tame level one bondage stuff;

-to the classic "she breasted boobily down the stairs" focus on Ariadne's body and breasts and sex appeal that's being kept in check by that pesky purity club.

And that's really disappointing because I had seen people say, "Yeah, Cait did an awful thing and deserves to be removed from her publishing schedule, but it's a shame that that book was written by Cait because it's actually a really good book!" because now it's just making me even more sus of people's Greek myth adaption recommendations (I'm still mad at BookTok for convincing me that A Touch of Darkness was worth reading). All I could think while listening to some of the excerpts quoted by RWR was that if I didn't know about Cait Corrain and read Crown of Starlight blind, I'd undoubtedly assume it was being written by a heterocis guy... but it's in fact being written by a queer woman.

And this is where I segue into talking about the root of this problem, where the calls are really coming from - Lore Olympus and its erasure of queer identities and relationships, despite also being written by a queer woman who should know better.

I could think of no better character to help carry this essay than Eros.

Unlike many of the characters in LO that Rachel has managed to straightwash by changing their motives entirely or straight up changing their identity from the source material (ex. Zeus, Apollo, Crocus who was turned into a flower nymph, Dionysus and Achilles because they're both literally babies, the list goes on), Eros has largely remained the same on paper who had zero reason to not be queer within the story.

Eros is still the god of love in this, he's still a guy and presumed to be an adult, but we NEVER see or explore him having relationships with anyone other than Psyche, aside from a brief mention of organizing orgies in the beginning that's used as a quick joke and then promptly never mentioned again.

Just like with Crown of Starlight and A Touch of Darkness and all these other "dark romance" stories, it's that brand of "pretends to be sexually liberating but isn't actually" writing, where they'll briefly mention orgies or sex-related things and then beat around the bush or avoid involving them entirely like a kid at Sunday school who doesn't want to say the word "penis".

(fr out of all the corny and awful slang for genitals I've seen used in stories like this, "a certain part of my anatomy" is definitely one of the most boring and stupid, like for god's sakes Hades you're both adults and at the beginning of this comic you thought she wanted to bang in the kitchen, why are you suddenly talking like a 7 year old boy LOL)

All that aside, while Eros might still be hinted at being queer and sex-positive, it's only as vaguely as possible so that the story can quickly move on to focus on him and Psyche or, better yet, Hades and Persephone. When Eros isn't deadset on finding Psyche, he's being the gay best friend for Persephone, who he has NO right having a friendship with when he introduced himself by intentionally getting her as drunk as possible with the intent of dumping her in Hades' car as per his mom's command. It's brushed off later as "well Aphrodite maaade him do it, for Psycheee!" but Eros still agreed to potentially put Persephone in danger over a relationship that had NOTHING to do with her and was also mostly his fault in its fallout (which Artemis calls him out for, but of course, like all the other times characters have called out the actual issues in the story they're inhabiting, they get brushed aside so that Persephone can talk about Hades):

Now, the Eros and Psyche plotline is one I've talked about before here and not the focus of this essay so I'll keep this tangent brief, but it's absolutely wild to me that Rachel took a story about a woman going to the ends of the earth to prove her love for someone whose trust she broke (a common theme in a lot of Greek myth stories, such as the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice) and turned it into... woman of color gets turned into a nymph slave for Aphrodite to 'test' Eros, a test that isn't clear at all in what it's trying to achieve, and wait hold up, didn't Eros actually fail that test by kissing Ampelus while completely unaware that it was Psyche-

This is just that episode of Family Guy where Peter justifies emotionally cheating and eventually physically cheating on Lois because "well you were the phone sex lady the whole time so no harm done!", isn't it? (×﹏×)

Anyways. It's all very convenient that the comic will hint at queer rep just to either have it be a constant question of whether or not they're actually queer (ex. Morpheus) OR to have it be promptly swept under the rug to make way for other characters/plot points. It's like when mongie tried to be "inclusive" by writing a stereotypical vaguely Asian character with no specific ethnicity just to get angry at her fanbase for calling her out on this that you can't just call a vaguely Asian character "representation" of anything (because Asia is MASSIVE and covers so many different ethnicities and languages and cultures).

Eros is only as gay as he needs to be to fill the role of "gay best friend" for Persephone.

Krokos is no longer a male lover of Hermes but a flower nymph created by Persephone because... apparently we can't dare imply that Hermes would be into anyone besides his unrequited childhood love, Persephone.

Achilles is introduced as a baby even though it makes no sense in the comic's own timeline where Odysseus is presumably already a well-known hero in Olympus, so much so that he was invited to the Panathenea.

Apollo is turned into a flat-out rapist who's only concerned with getting Persephone at all costs and when that doesn't work, he tries to get ANOTHER flower nymph (Daphne) who's actually genuinely interested in him (contrary to the original myth, there's that "swap it subversion" Rachel is known for) to cut her hair so she'll resemble Persephone more because we can't have a single plot point not resolve around Persephone.

Despite there being loads of genderbent characters already, Morpheus is supposedly the only one we're supposed to assume is specifically trans and not just a gender-flipped version of a Greek myth character. Why? Not because Rachel stated so explicitly, not because the comic has actually explored her identity as a trans woman, but because the readers just assumed it in good faith and Rachel was clearly fine with taking credit for trans representation that's only there via assumption (and only confirmed via her mods in Discord, which is... not how you establish canon information in your comic, Rachel.)

Hestia and Athena are part of a chastity club, until uh oh how convenient that they're secretly in a relationship with each other even though it further vilifies them and their morals, particularly Hestia who was promptly called out for being a hypocrite for taking Persephone's coat gifted to her from Hades while secretly being in a relationship the whole time. Not only does the Hestia and Athena relationship manage to commit queer erasure - of two gods who are considered icons in the aroace communities - but it also makes the only two lesbians in the story come across as assholes AND ON TOP OF THAT ALSO manages to somehow invalidate queer sex and relationships as being legitimate due to the even deeper implication that breaking their chastity vows "doesn't count" because it's not a male x female relationship. It's the 'ole poophole loophole all over again.

And then there's Artemis, who has MORE REASON THAN EVER TO BE IN THE PLOT but keeps being conveniently ignored. Her finding out about Hestia and Athena doesn't get any more screentime than her going "oh you're in a relationship, okay" , we never see her question the true intentions of TGOEM or what it means to her, we never see her have any opportunity to carve out her identity beyond just being Apollo's twin sister (it tries to at times, but then immediately goes nowhere with it, amounting to just poetic word salad), and she really just comes across as what a lot of people assume aroace people to be - alone and standoffish, because obviously someone who's nice and a good person would be in a relationship, there has to be a reason they don't want to have sex or fall in love, and that reason obviously has to be that they just hate everyone and want to be alone forever (￢_￢;) Then again, like many of the queer characters in LO, I don't know if I can definitively call her aroace because it's kept as vague as possible, and - going by Rachel's answers to these questions way back in her Tumblr era - apparently people can't be gay and ace at the same time-

There are undoubtedly loads more examples that I could cover here but that goes for practically any essay I write about LO - the more you peel it apart, the more you start unearthing some really questionable and frankly mean-spirited stuff. Queer people feel largely ignored in LO, alongside many of its derivative offspring such as A Touch of Darkness and Crown of Starlight, and it really speaks to how so many people - queer women, no less - have somehow managed to bastardize and sanitize what were traditionally very queer stories with queer characters. It's like these people think "olden times" and can only get as far as "women were slaves and men were rich assholes". Like, yeah, okay, that was the case for many cultures, but not all of them, and for some of them it wasn't as clear cut as that, many had misogynist power struggles in them while also still celebrating women and queer people in their own way. Greek myth is full of stories of women being forced into marriage or being made the victims of assault, but many of them are supportive of women and their struggles, unlike works like LO that somehow manage to be less feminist and sympathetic to women and queer people than these works from thousands of years ago.

This is another topic that's surely meant for another post, but it really speaks not only to the straightwashing and whitewashing of Greek myth, but also the Westernizing of it. That's not to say Rachel Smythe and Cait Corrain and Scarlett St. Claire are intentionally trying to whitewash another culture's works here, but if you're raised predominantly on Western media, you're undoubtedly going to absentmindedly adopt ideas about society that are primarily molded around Western beliefs .

And this is apparent in LO, while Rachel is from New Zealand, you can tell she grew up on a lot of Western media and its influences are sorely showing through LO's worldbuilding, character designs, and narrative choices. That "modern setting" that I mentioned before is much less Greek and a lot more adjacent to The Kardashians which lends to the theories that most of the media that Rachel consumes is American. Rather than actually going to the effort of doing her research on Greek culture, she seems to just prefer defaulting to the easiest assumption of how modern society is across the board - a generic Los Angeles clone with big glass skyscrapers and pavement walkways. She rarely ever draws food or clothing from those time periods; despite this story being about gods she's spent so little time on the people who passed on the stories about those gods, the mortals, and the gods themselves rarely feel like gods, rather just like Hollywood celebrities covered in body paint. The clothing feels very generic and uninspired with often very little Greek influence, even though Greek clothing is designed around Mediterranean living which you could do a lot with, to such an egregiously Western degree that Hades and Persephone's wedding was Christian-coded. The food... well, there ISN'T any because as we've seen, like the stereotypical American child, Persephone apparently only wants chicken nuggies and Skittles for dinner, so we never see her eat; and not only do we not see Persephone eat, but Rachel weirdly tries to use Persephone's vegetarianism as some kind of anti-capitalist characterization when much of the Greek diet is predominantly vegetarian. It's NOT HARD or uncommon to be a vegetarian in Greece!

(it looks like they're literally all eating the same thing so IDK what Hera is referring to here, it looks like they're all eating toast and lettuce LMAO)

All that's to say, much of LO - and the books like it that I've gone over here - are written with this idea that every culture - including the one that it's trying to adapt - was subject to the same ideas that Western culture lives by in the modern day - that being a vegetarian is "counterculture" in every culture, that the notion of sexual purity is enforced in the same way it's enforced in the Western education system (cough Christianity cough), that queer or otherwise "unconventional" relationships should stay inside the bedroom and not be seen. As much as Rachel claims she wants to "fight the patriarchy" and "deconstruct purity culture", all she winds up doing is reinforcing it through a Westernized lens, which is, as I've talked about before, very indicative of right-leaning white feminism and what it embraces and promotes - being a "good woman" who follows the rules and willingly becomes part of the system that's oppressing them because that's what "good women" do. Women who are confidant in their sexuality are evil and should be shunned for being "sluts". Women who are in relationships with other women "don't count" as real relationships the same way heteronormative relationships do, and cannot be trusted because they're likely trying to spread an agenda that's designed to brainwash heterocis women. Women should only aim to achieve marriage and their entire personality has to be built around their true love. Women are allowed to be kinky, but only as kinky as roleplaying the exact same gender structures that puts the man in a position to dominate a woman, and it should always and only ever be with her first love who she marries immediately, no one else.

This is exactly what the critics are getting at when they hold LO - and its creator - accountable for the messages it's been sending for five years to its audience of middle aged women and young girls. Having a demographic is fine, if this were just a comic for girls it would be fine, but it becomes a lot more problematic when that demographic is being fed toxic power fantasy stories based on a culture that's being gentrified and sanitized of all its original messaging and characterization right before our eyes. It feels blatantly misinformed from the very beginning in its intention to be a "feminist retelling" of Greek myth, because somehow Lore Olympus manages to be less feminist than these stories drafted and written by men from 2000+ years ago.

I opened this essay with a question: why do we keep getting these Greek myth adaptations written by queer women that still wind up perpetuating toxic heteronormative culture?

I think cases like these really highlight how deep the heteronormative brainwashing from childhood onward goes. That, despite these writers being queer or women, still manage to reinforce the same ideas and tropes and harmful predisposed notions that were designed to be used explicitly against queer people and women. These are things that we can't ever stop challenging, and asking, and truly deconstructing, because it runs deep in many of us who grew up on popular media even as innocent as Disney. Learning about more complex social concepts like sexism and misogyny and queerphobia doesn't automatically absolve us of those very same biases that have been both blatantly and subtly ingrained into us since childhood. All that said, Rachel being bisexual does not mean she's not capable of straightwashing; Cait Corrain being a queer debut author with a POC main character didn't stop them from targeting other POC debut authors at their own imprint; being part of any minority group or identifier does not automatically protect you from perpetuating the cycle that you, too, likely had enforced upon you at some point or another in your life. The fact that these creators and writers are still perpetuating that cycle to begin with is indicative of why it's a cycle at all - it takes work to break on a subconscious level because those cycles are specifically designed to target and hijack the subconscious.

At its worst, do you really think Lore Olympus can claim to be a feminist retelling that's "deconstructing purity culture" when the creator herself admittedly never fully identified or understood sexism until her mid-30's and has the audacity to say her audience is "harsh" on the female characters that she constantly vilifies through her own narrative?

"I feel like female characters in general, people will be a little harsher on them and sometimes way harsher on them, and I used to be like.. before I started writing the story and like making a story I was like yeah, sexism is not that bad, and [now] I was like oh it's bad. It's quite bad [laughs], so like, I don't know, I feel like the female characters in the story don't get so much of a pass. But this isn't consistent across the board, it's not all the time" - Rachel Smythe, in an interview with Girl Wonder Webtoon Podcast

If Lore Olympus truly was just a series meant to be for fun "no thoughts head empty" drama and spice, that would be fine. I've said it time and time before on this blog and I'll say it again: I wouldn't have an issue if Rachel was just writing a story exclusively revolving around heterocis men and women. I'm just frustrated and tired and annoyed that she keeps lying about it, and doubly so that this comic and its creator who claim to be "feminist" have inspired other people in the same headspace to continue to perpetuate that cycle through works that are clearly inspired by LO and never challenged the things LO promoted - violence towards "unconventional" women, violence towards POC, and erasure of queer people. And worst of all, for writers like Cait Corrain, it's more than just writing a really bad book with really bad messaging, it's going so far as intentionally targeting those same groups of people that are regularly vilified in works like LO - people who are just existing, who don't pose a threat to anyone, but had the misfortune of becoming the target of a white woman's insecurity.

I don't know what the answer to this problem is. I don't know what form the solution will come in, if any, to address the ongoing issues with Greek myth adaptions that are being sorely written through an "America as the default" point of view and praised for "rewriting the script of Greek mythology", quite literally cultural appropriation happening live right before our eyes all for the sake of cheap entertainment. Maybe it'll take the failings of works like Crown of Starlight to really get people talking about it. But so long as the roots of these works - such as Lore Olympus - are still being protected and marketed en masse by the same kinds of people who don't see the issue in Americanizing other cultures and their stories, then Lore Olympus and Crown of Starlight will not be the last ones to cause harm to the source material - and the cultures that source material is born from and a part of - they're taking from.

I opened this post with a question, and I'm going to close it with another to really leave it as food for thought. That question comes from another video that I'll link here for you to watch at your convenience that spends even more time diving into and discussing the nature of works like this that have seemingly attempted to "deconstruct" the very dogmas that they still wind up reinforcing all the same.

Does the romance genre have a white supremacy problem?

(yes. yes, it does.)

[velvet-vox]

I was quite surprised to see some posts on Andy and Leyley on your page. Not like in a bad way. I’m curious to your ramblings on it.

First things first: to anyone who reads this and names this psychological horror game the "weird incest game" and calls it bad because of its contents, get out of here.

I won't accept any arguments in this comment section.

I love the first two chapters of this game, and if the rest of the experience lives up to their quality, I would call The Coffin Of Andy And Leyley a masterpiece in the making, even if I already consider it as such.

I especially enjoy the uncompromising position of moral ambiguity that the game takes: 90% of the cast is awful, and our main protagonist Ashley Graves in any other work of fiction would be the Pure Evil villainess (granted, a lot of the fanbase also considers her as such, and I usually would be fine with it, but in Ashley's particular case, it feels rather disingenuous and kinda gross, especially when Ashley is meant to be a subversion of the typical murderous Psycho girl archetype) that's masterminding the whole plot, yet, the game never tries to condemn any of its characters for their actions, as the whole world is just as evil as they are, and this allows said cast to showcase some of the most disgusting and least talked about aspects of the human nature.

But the thing that I love the most about this game, is the amount of non talked about topics that it decides to tackle: the incest and cannibalism being the most obvious of these, but they are far from being my favourites; no, what I really love about this game is its tackling of mental health issues, like BPD and Sociopathy, and most of all, it's deconstruction of the social contract.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this post made by @lisafication , as it does a way better job at putting into words what I'm trying to discuss than I ever could.

I love this story, I love these characters and I can't wait for what Nemlei has stored for us next.

I would have loved to make some analysis on it, but I feel like the analytical threshold for this game is way more complicated than something like Murder Drones, as it actually requires you to know about things like societal conditioning and how our understanding of morality and mental health in fiction differs from the real world.

[anime-owo-kage-san]

*WHEEZE*

I’m sorry I couldn’t stop laughing when reading 1,2 and 4 😂

I don’t venture to these parts of the internet on my account. I just found it by chance.

Little explanation: personal pass times I have is requesting an AI to write a specific fanfic for me to read.

(Not post-worthy fanfics. It’s just cracky shit that I wanted to read for shits and giggles, but I obviously don’t want to write myself or ask irl people to write).

I decided to see how Capitol AI would write a Pomni x Jax fanfic. And, one thing you should know about this website, is that it would site sources where they got information, like the characters, the show, etc. Even fan contents or fanbase wikipedias. So, when I scrolled down to see which sites it got their material from, I found this.

Hate the ship or not, we can all agree:

- the people on this wiki page, doesn’t actually know who the target audience of the show is.

- zoophilia and bestiality is an outdated and dumb argument for fictional characters. (Do people really think kids want to date animals just because they see different species relationships on TV??)

- The age gap argument is getting stale. (Istg, you can’t even ship a 40 year old with a 30 year old without someone out there considering it as pedophilia these days).

This was just supposed to be a shit post, bc this post is ridiculous and pointless. But, in the middle of writing this, I thought it would be a good opportunity to speak out my opinion.

If anyone here wants to hear the other things I have to say, then continue scrolling:

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Can we stop making “puking” posts/slander posts/troll posts just because you don’t like a ship?

Yeah, not every show/story requires romance for it to be good. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t think two characters are cute together. Even if they barely have chemistry, or they’re dynamic is “ToXiC”, or you plainly don’t like it when people change a character’s personality to fit a trope; It’s called FAN content, for a reason.

PLENTY of us are aware that none of the TADC ships are canon. And PLENTY of us are fine with that. Gooseworx has the whole show’s plan in her hands, and no can change her mind on what she can do.

But, we have the HEADcannons and FANarts in ours (emphasis on “head” and “fan”).

We have no control over the show, and that’s fine. Because, we don’t want to change anything in the already perfect show. We just want to come up with silly ideas and silly scenarios. And no one deserves to be slandered or be policed for that.

[skaruresonic]

I think the argument about Sonic's inconsistency is, like many things, one of those criticisms that actually was born from a somewhat solid foundation but got warped over time by virtue of the Sonic fandom being what it is

Because to claim that Sonic is an inconsistent series in terms of general quality and direction...well that's actually true. I'd even argue it's undeniable, as the series has gone from the highs of the Classics to the lows of 06, to gaining back its momentum with the likes of Gens and Mania, to losing it again thanks to Boom and others. Even direction wise: sometimes it's silly, sometimes it's dark, sometimes it's both, other times it's who knows what?

Of course none of this is unique to Sonic, but the series has had so many ups and downs (while also being the target of many internet personalities and such) that a lot more attention has been given to it

Let's also consider that most of the fans that we see flinging these takes around are, most likely, folks who grew up with the 2000s games aka the period when Sonic was arguably at his most inconsistent, in terms of tone, quality and even gameplay style, so to many Sonic being inconsistent is like an inherent part of the series' identity, thus making it that Sonic has always been inconsistent...to them

Because to imply that Sonic has ALWAYS been inconsistent since day one, since the early 90s, would not only require some interesting mental gymnastics but it would also be pretty weird: how can a series that is so inconsistent become one of the best selling of the 90s, able to keep the pace with Mario? Able to survive through thick and thin for decades?

At the end of the day this is just another way of unleashing one's own frustrations on and about the franchise, frustrations that are even somewhat justified in some cases but, like it's often the case in the radioactive wasteland that is the Sonic fanbase, these frustrations take on some twisted forms

Let's also consider that most of the fans that we see flinging these takes around are, most likely, folks who grew up with the 2000s games aka the period when Sonic was arguably at his most inconsistent, in terms of tone, quality and even gameplay style, so to many Sonic being inconsistent is like an inherent part of the series' identity, thus making it that Sonic has always been inconsistent...to them

Hello. Hi. I grew up with those games just as much as they did. Just stating for the record that not everyone in this Adventure-era-fan Chili's is like this.

Not necessarily saying that every Sonic game is homogenous, but like... One man's inconsistent is another man's versatile. I had no problem playing gritty ShTH and colorful Sonic Advance 3 side-by-side, because to me it was just Sonic, you know? Not that I didn't have opinions about those games, but back then I was in more of this "yay, more of the thing I like" headspace.

Besides, quality is so subjective, it's difficult to say what counts as "inconsistent" from one person to the next. I for one think ShTH is an underrated masterpiece

I think, overall, as we move forward, we tend to lose the historical context in which these games were made, and that influences people to judge the series through a much harsher lens.

---

Because to imply that Sonic has ALWAYS been inconsistent since day one, since the early 90s, would not only require some interesting mental gymnastics but it would also be pretty weird: how can a series that is so inconsistent become one of the best selling of the 90s, able to keep the pace with Mario? Able to survive through thick and thin for decades?

I mean. They did it with "Classic Sonic games don't reward instant speed at all times, therefore they're not good games, therefore they only trick you into thinking they're good," they can certainly do that to the games' narratives.

---

At the end of the day this is just another way of unleashing one's own frustrations on and about the franchise, frustrations that are even somewhat justified in some cases but, like it's often the case in the radioactive wasteland that is the Sonic fanbase, these frustrations take on some twisted forms

Maybe there is some grain of truth in there, but like all needles in haystacks, it gets buried under avalanches of bullshit.

To be completely honest, with Sonic being as old and as storied as it is, I don't see the point in calling it "inconsistent" even on a quality or marketing level. I don't see any reason to single out or focus on the inconsistency as if it's something special. Because if we judged everything according to that metric, every single franchise in existence would be "inconsistent" as well.

That's why I called the sentiment a thought-terminating cliché; it pretends to impart genuine information when people only use it when they want to end the argument. We've already lost the original context in which the argument ought to be used, if it even existed to begin with.

[a-student-out-of-time]

What's wrong?

//It's a lot of fandom bullshit that I imagine would require a lot of explanations if you're not involved, and I REALLY don't want to deal with more discourse tonight because it's put me in a terrible mood.

//I'll put what actually happened down below, but I'm going to ask that we not start another argument. I'm just very tired.

//It's just more fandom drama stuff. If any of you are familiar with Disventure Camp, you'll probably understand what the issues are since the season 3 finale happened yesterday. I hate the way the ugly ways the fanbase acts, the way the staff clearly doesn't understand how bad and damaging a lot of their writing is, and how nobody addresses the real problems with the show.

//I tried to explain the issues I had with its conclusion in a Reddit post, and absolutely NOBODY actually understood the point I was trying to make. It just brought out a lot of ugliness and I deleted the post before it got out of hand. Even the worst responses I got on here paled in comparison.

//It was just a bad time and I really don't want to deal with that show or its fandumb anymore.

//Remember kids, online discourse is a pointless exercise and you'll do yourself and your mental health a favor if you just not engage. It isn't worth it.

[bowtiesarecool123]

yk what guys time to refute all of the hate all quiet has been getting bc i have nothing better to do

ok so i am having a very hard time understanding how a film score without lyrics can be offensive. does it make fun of something that requires nuance? no??? this score is not satirical in any way nor does it appropriate cultural music so where the fuck did offensive come from??? also what is so bad about the score being anachronistic? in fact i think this is one of the best aspects of it, if a film score has to be strictly within whatever period the film is set in not only does it lead to one dimensional uninnovative film scores, it just doesnt make sense in some scenarios. does a prehistoric film have to feature sticks as its only instrument?? ok even if we take all of that at their best, i feel like we're being too severe a couch critic, like cmon, they won for a reason, we don't have to be this rude about it, just say it's mid and call it a day...

yay lets generalize a very diverse fanbase bc it makes it easier to strawman and push my argument!! ok anyways i think a rlly big thing with sucessful adaptations is that ur gonna have to change some stuff. what works on paper might not necessarily work on the big screen. i get that a huge point of contention is the ending change and the cutting out of the returning home section. so about the ending first, i actually liked the changes bc while i get the poetic ending of the book, i think the movie ending does rlly well for character development and rlly goes all in to show the psychological changes paul experiences during the war. if we did keep what they were doing in the book, we might run into a lot of issues bc we're able to know what paul is feeling however that might be difficult to translate on film. also, we get interesting interpolation and final emphasis on the theme of how war is essentially just a puppet game. without the changes of the 11am armistice or the final orders from the evil general dude, we lose the new themes that the film brought in which would feel less complete than status quo. ok so the returning home argument, the novel is obviously more complex than the film but that doesn't make it better or worse. our film at hand already has a huge run time, if we tried to shoehorn in another whole theme, that might be too ambitious and we lose the focus the film has right now. i would definitely choose a world where they focus on one theme and do it really well, which is what's happening rn, over a line by line adaption that could feel messy and end up being too ambitious. again, a line by line adaptation has already been done and i wouldn't fault anyone for thinking the 1930 version is better, it just means it would be even worse and completely redundant to make another line by line adaptation rn. also again, these are completely all my opinions and its def valid to disagree on all of them but the real root of the issue i have with op's comment is how they chalk it all up to ppl not reading the books. it just comes off as rlly elitist and just not representative of what ppls actual opinions rlly are. also it's better to attack the media itself rather than ppl who enjoy the media 💀

braindead bird app time, here we have the classic case of someone thinking it's cool to shit on the film that all their twt mutuals are shitting on rn without ever having seen it. sorry if this is a bit left field but next time maybe watch the film b4 commenting on it?????????

this is honestly one of the least problematic opinions out of the all quiet haters so far but i am still responding to this bc the only category all quiet beat banshees in was original score (why is it always this) and the score doesn't have much to do with whether or not this film is a war film or if soldiers appeal to u or how many times this has been remade. and like i agree, banshees score, phenomenal, but if all quiet lost it still would go to babylon so i feel like the anger here is rlly misdirected.

all quiet haters cannot seem to comprehend that this film is not a remake holy shit. and even if it is inferior, it would only be inferior storywise bc u cannot fucking argue the point that 1930s vfx and cinematography are better than the 2022 version. and the only sweeps all quiet got were technical category sweeps so the inferior remake point is entirely irrelevant. and i am willing to bet 5 bucks this person didnt watch the movie bc then they would understand that technical aspects and story aspects are different bc what it sounds like rn is they're repeating whatever they've heard without properly applying the criticism to its accurate category.

.

.

ok im done now very slay if you've read all of this im sleep deprived bc of babylon dickriders so ignore my gramatical mistakes ty.

[horrorknife]

why do you like jake so much?

because i love it when characters are difficult and complicated and their characterization escapes the vast majority of a fanbase. there is SO MUCH to jakes character and a lot of it gets misconstrued/misunderstood or straight up just blown past. also jake has a lot of "required reading" as i like to call it irt movies, many of the movies and medias he enjoys can be looped back around into the reader's understanding of him; big examples here are princess bride (which i actually havent seen yet but i Understand how it impacts him), avatar, and i would say even his interest in comics! Everything is Something with jake.

if were gonna use avatar for example. You might think Oh jonah. This is just his silly joke interest! which yeah thats true but it absolutely can be both and i choose to interpret it as such. but if youve seen avatar then youve seen the way neytiri and jakes relationship operates. Its literally dirkjake in a different font you guys. an important sentiment i always come back to with avatar is "i see you". jake wants to be Seen and Understood and Known but he is also very scared of being Seen and Understood and Known because he is, more than anything, a Faker. he hides the truth and even squirrels it away from himself and this is the thing that causes a lot of his internal strife and etc. in avatar jake sully at the end of the movie makes the choice to become a na'vi and be with neytiri. he literally changes himself to be with her (and ironically turns himself into a Blue Guy to be with the Blue Girl) and i think this is probably a really easy and quick way to explain the Jake Camouflage. jake Pretends and Fakes because he wants people to like him. he is desperate for validation and approval from other people to the point where it wears heavily on his wellbeing. this is one of my favorite things to play around with.

jakes relationship with gender and sexuality is also a really heavy hitter for me, i love gender and exploring gender and talking about gender because it is the Core of me as a Person. i <3 being nonbinary i will never shut up about it. Anyway. the way jake haphazardly traipses through all of his interactions with women he is "supposed to" be attracted to just screams closeted gay guy to me. like. Check this out.

here jake is having an argument with 'himself' (bgd) about his attraction to aranea and how hes having intrusive sexual thoughts about her but "theyre just thoughts they dont mean anything im not trying to have them!" comes off to me like "Please Someone Fucking Save Me From Forcing Myself To Like Girls To Fill The Part Of A Macho Man Which I Know I Am Not". jakes relationship with jane is a fucking disaster because theyre both trying to appeal to a cishetnormative read of themselves (and for jane she pastes that onto both of them) and play the part of their agabs (tmasc nonbinary butch lesbian jane and tfem nonbinary gay jake household sorry if you came here for something different) while failing spectacularly.

when it comes to gender jake really enjoys his extremes--he loves peak masculinity and he loves peak femininity but he HATES the idea of being a man (his own words!) cue: the excerpt everyone sources.

i have a Lot that i could say about this exchange but this is already a really long post so im gonna try and wrap shit up here.

i could honestly talk about this All Day and write several thousand words about jake alone (notice how i didnt touch on dirkjake at all here. Yeah thats because it would be the worlds longest post ever if i did. We can save that for a rainy day LOL) but for your own sanity anon i will abstain. Um yeah but this is just a quick snippet of my Thoughts. i have a lot more and i definitely left a lot of things out here but im always happy to infodump like this if i get prompted :-)

[kob131]

https://www.reddit.com/r/RWBY/comments/y1k434/rwby_its_fandom_and_the_unduly_idolization_of/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

So, I dunno what Dextixer was thinking when he decided to argue about authority to a primarily American fanbase but guess we’re doing this.

A. We know “What”, the question is “Why”.

So the first part is all about defining authority, detailing examples of it and such. With a little bit about rebelling against ‘unjust authority’.

And right there, Dex crashes into a wall.

The issue he presents is not about a misunderstanding of what authority is- it’s about what constitutes ‘unjust authority’. People call James supporters ‘bootlickers’ not because they don’t know what authority is but because they see them as supporting a vastly UNJUST authority.

And Dex doesn’t fine what it means to be ‘just’ and ‘unjust’, which is gonna bite him in the ass.

To save us some confusion, I’ll do his job for him. 

To quickly define ‘unjust authority’ without going into a long tangent about the philosophical/practical responsibilities of an authority- it’s when an authority does not act in the interests of their people. Emphasis on ‘their’ because we’d also consider sending foreign aid during a time of crisis in the home country.

This is pretty god damn important given that Dex is fighting an uphill battle here. RWBY is an American show with a majority American fanbase. Americans, by our nature as Americans, do not respect authority and glorify rebellion. That’s what happens when your country is founded by one of the few successful rebellions in history with very heavy libertarian principles. I myself have a rather intense disdain for any authority trying to rule over me without my trust for example. He should know this by now or done his research.

Dex kneecapped himself before he even truly began.

B. If Robyn is bad, James is worse.

The first argument boils down to “We never see Robyn doing any good and she’s actively hindering Amity so she’s bad!”

Problem is- Robyn has theoretical bad actions. James has OBSERVABLE bad actions.

Whereas Robyn’s actions are negative in the case of Amity going up in the future, James’ actions directly affect the people in the present. Robyn didn’t make the people of Mantle distrust James, James and his actions did. Robyn didn’t fail to update the security in Mantle which let Watts manipulate events, James did. Robyn didn’t abuse her power which led to her fellows distrusting her in a plan that REQUIRES their trust, James did. Robyn didn’t preach about the virtues of fighting the impossible and self-sacrifice to her people then betray those same principles that united them in order to leave her people to die, James did.

By just about any metric you could give for judging an authority to be just or not, James would 

C. James abandoned his duty

Now, if you were to elect someone to the position of ‘General’ to a standing army meant to protect the people of your kingdom- Would you consider them a good General if they decided to ditch said people?

No, you would court marshall his ass at the speed of light. To make him an example so the people could continue to trust the government which is ESSENTIAL in its function.

That is what James was trying to do: ditch his people and leave them to die. Which is not only going to destroy any trust the Atlas people had in their government, thus undermining James’ attempts at saving them- it also completely went against what HE preached to Team RWBY and co. You know, the whole speech about-

Ironwood: You fought for your school and your friends at Beacon. You fought for the world and the innocent at Haven Academy and beyond. You faced down terrors people can't even fathom. That's not the behavior of students. It's the behavior… of Huntsmen and Huntresses.

All Team RWBY did was follow the standards James set beforehand.

Once again, James proved himself an unjust authority. And ironically, even if I were to accept your standards that seem twisted to absolve James of responsibility- You said that Robyn was bad for undermining the Amity project. James outright ditched it AND tried removing Atlas from the rest of Remnant, thus weakening everyone’s chances at surviving. So even by your standards, James is an unjust authority.

D. Parroting Cordovon.

It’s the fucking airship thing again. And yet again-

“But Weiss could go-”

To Jacques?

Cordovin: (sighs) If Miss Schnee has truly come to her senses and wishes to return to her family, then, of course, the Atlas military will escort her home. But the kingdom will not be responsible for her "friends" of... questionable character. (glances at Blake specifically upon saying her last statement)

Who is AGAINST James even by the end of Volume 4, thus she would have no means of meeting with him?

Glad we could shoot this shit dead and not beg the question for the thousandth time.

E. Hypocrisy...just not the way you think.

... This needs to be read.

And what needs the most discussion is the hypocricy that can be perceived in the fandom over this opposition to authority. Previously i have stated that some people seem to only dislike authority when it challenges the protagonists, and i believe that to be the case due to how many other anti-authority figures are treated in the show itself.

The best example of this being the White Fang. During the entirety of Volumes 1-3 the White Fang have been the main enemies of out protagonists. We know that Faunus in the lore of the show have been long abused by humans and White Fang was the result. And what do our heroes do?

They beat down people resisting human opression. And do the protagonists challenge the authority of the kingdoms? Never, no.

The only time that our protagonists challenge the authority of the kingdoms is Atlas, when that authority impedes them and their actions. But not before.

Many people in the fandom have been even outright demonized for daring to point this point out and how badly the White Fang and the Faunus racism arc was writen. Even more if one points out that our protagonists are the ones writen to be in the center of it, establishing and keeping the status quo.

I would say that it is not only the fanbase but also the writers that have dropped the ball on this one, even unintentionally. There seems to be a large ammount of bias to be held in regards to the protagonits.

This makes it even harder for the critics to accept when the protagonists seemingly rail and reject authority. They never did before, until it personally affected them.

They even slowly are taking on the qualities of the authority figures that they previously railed against, most often shown with them learning to lie just like Ozpin did. But that is not really acknowledged, now is it? Strange how such a quality that lead to Ozpin to be demonized by the fandom in V6 is kept quiet about or justified when the protagonists did it, for the same reasons as Ozpin did.

Yeah so-

A. The WF actually shows a consistency with the show- in that it disdains when MURDER is involved. Because the reason why the heroes oppose the WF and James is the same- they’re trying to kill people. And that KIND OF goes against their morals.

B. You’re a fucking self-described progressive Dex. This just looks like you throwing a fit over the show not sucking your cock.

C. What bias? Given that the SHOW ITSELF and the commentary tracks indicate that Team RWBY were meant to be wrong in Volume 7- the only bias here is you crying about James being treated the same way.

D. You know, that smarmy accusation of hypocrisy kind of falls apart when you engage in it yourself.

Closing Thoughts

Dextixer never once explains what makes James’ authority justified. He tries to argue that ‘Amity good therefore James good!’ but that doesn’t cover his blatant abuses of power, something Dex himself has admitted to, which would make James an unjust authority. Especially given that by his metrics or his opponent’s. James has failed in the narrative. 

Yeah I know he says it’s his opinion...but he’s also acting like this is at all consistent. Which it isn’t.

All you’ve done is make a case that calling you a ‘bootlicker’ is giving you too much credit.

[fictionalpeter]

I think the thing that makes me the angriest about certain fanbases are the ones that just--forget who the main character is.

They latch onto another character: usually the sidekick, or the anti-hero, or even the villain--and then act like they're the star. Like the story is supposed to revolve around them, or they're always supposed to win, or they're the only one who's important.

Usually, in contrast, they treat the main character as 'too boring' at best, secretly a horrible person or enemy at worst. Basically, anything to project the delusional notion that the story being told isn't about them. Kinder arguments I've seen are that it's an ensemble, but the fact remains--it's the fanbase trying to pretend the main character isn't the most important character in the story.

Like, if it wasn't for the main character, your faves wouldn't even have the role of counterpoint to them. 'Boring' characters are required to move the plot along. There would be no 'bad boys' if they didn't have the 'good guy' to be contrasted against.

[bitcofun]

With a current proposition by a member of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prohibit TikTok, influencers are rushing. If the FCC makes great on the restriction, TikTok developers might lose their fanbases and income streams over night. People are typically hesitant about Web3, a number of them influencers and digital material developers. Significantly, much of those most hesitant to accept Web3 are extremely effective on Web2. Given that they've mastered money making on popular Web2 platforms such as TikTok, Twitch and others, why trouble finding out the guidelines of a brand-new video game? The existing regulative dispute around limiting TikTok in the U.S. offers a significant example of the dangers related to Web2 platforms, and why accepting Web3 can both advantage and safeguard influencers and their fans. The worth include of Web3 is twofold-- autonomy and insurance coverage. Let's hope this TikTok proposition offers a wake-up call for influencers all over. Cutting out the intermediary There is a typical misunderstanding (not assisted by the name) that Web3 is here to change Web2. Instead of considering Web3 as a "brand-new web," it's finest to consider Web3 as a brand-new channel Web2 isn't going anywhere quickly, and as a developer, it's wise to generate income from as lots of platforms as possible. Influencers should consider it in this manner: If TikTok was revealed today, would you decline it out of hand even if you were currently effective on YouTube? Obviously not. It's the exact same with Web3. Related: The future of DeFi is on TikTok In a Web3 world, where digital material can be "tokenized" as NFTs, developers can set their own payment terms, and fans can in fact own the digital product that they're spending for, whether that be an art work, a video, a piece of music, and so on. NFTs can consist of royalty specifications, so developers and collectors can benefit straight from the earnings of secondary market sales. That type of repeating profits stream does not exist on conventional Web2 material platforms. Protecting your material for the long term For effective influencers, censorship and "de-platforming" represent a significant danger to their profits, however numerous developers see it as an abstract danger. They argue that the elimination of bad material is required and huge tech business can be trusted to make practical choices. And anyhow, excellent, rule-abiding developers like themselves will not run afoul of small amounts? They likewise appear to think that platforms like Twitch, TikTok and Instagram are so effective that they'll be around permanently. Regretfully, none of these arguments hold up. In reality, popular platforms do not stay permanently (keep in mind MySpace and Vine?), and rule-abiding material developers get censored all the time. With a lot material on their platforms, business are required to depend on automated options that often get things incorrect, with pricey effects for developers. Healthy online neighborhoods require guidelines, and small amounts is essential in order to impose them. If you're a developer with an archive of important material, there's a possibility that your material will be lost or ended up being not available to your fans. Related: Nodes are going to dismiss tech giants-- from Apple to Google Web3 is various due to the fact that it's developed on blockchains (or public journals) where information is included however never ever erased or altered. Blockchains are decentralized by style, which indicates the information isn't resting on a server someplace managed by a huge tech business; rather, a big network of nodes around the globe keeps the precision of the network, making it transparent and practically difficult to hack or corrupt. An example of the strength of Web3 platforms took place in 2015 when the creator of Tezos-based NFT market Hic et Nunc chose to suddenly close down the job, leaving half a million NFTs in digital limbo.

Due to the fact that Tezos is a public blockchain, and due to the fact that the platform was developed on Web3 open-source concepts, the Hic et Nunc user neighborhood was able to relaunch it within hours, without severe disturbance to sales. Envision doing that with Instagram or TikTok. Although a direct Web3 equivalent of TikTok does not exist yet, it's just a matter of time. And if you're a digital material developer, there's no requirement to wait. Web3 makes it possible, today, to expand your choices for money making and audience engagement through NFTs and other systems. Developers need to utilize as numerous platforms as possible. Web3 is what follows-- and it's coming quicker than you believe. Mark Soares is the creator and chief marketing officer of Blokhaus, a marketing and interactions company supporting international activities for the Tezos blockchain community. He was formerly the basic supervisor of marketing and interactions at Nikon Inc., where he supervised branding, item and material marketing, influencer activities, and more. This short article is for basic details functions and is not planned to be and must not be taken as legal or financial investment guidance. The views, ideas, and viewpoints revealed here are the author's alone and do not always show or represent the views and viewpoints of Cointelegraph. Read More

[kidzlong]

Space engineers vs starmade

#SPACE ENGINEERS VS STARMADE MOD#

#SPACE ENGINEERS VS STARMADE UPGRADE#

#SPACE ENGINEERS VS STARMADE FULL#

This allows for pretty intricate detailing of ships. It comes with slabs in 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 sizes, as well. Good Detailing - There's a reasonable variety of blocks and materials, and the size of a block is 1x1 meters. Massive scale-ships can be built to ridiculous sizes and still render, although it does take a severe toll on performance eventually. I'll try to present a neutral viewpoint on it, but take what I say with a grain of salt. This is the game I know the most about, due to several years spent playing it. I've only played a tiny bit of Avorion, so I won't be doing a real Pro/Con on it-just mentioning the few things I know. and make me think if they really want to release it.I hope that does not happen to this game.that will ruin EA forever for me.I can do a pro/con, since I've played Starmade, Empyrion, and Space Engineers. but they deviate form their path and started to adding things in the game which suppose to be not a feature of the game anyway instead of fixing bugs, optimize and release the game.which I don't think going to happen in foreseeable future.

#SPACE ENGINEERS VS STARMADE MOD#

also KSP is one of the best example how EA should work.Īnother thing about SE that it suppose to be a space engineering simulator which they accomplished brilliantly quit a long time ago.and they could release the game then and have some bi-monthly or so update for new items if they wanted,but with extensive mod support which wont be even necessary. ARK was unplayeble even at higher lvl PCs when it was released and since then it somewhat optimized to what they advertise as system requirement because of player feedback.but I never seen that happen to SE. I would say ARK is a very good example for SE.

#SPACE ENGINEERS VS STARMADE UPGRADE#

I visit their forum often to see is there any release which make the game playeable in my computer with some little upgrade (not a whole new computer) but what shocked me that not only it not get optimized, it also making some upgrade which make it unplayable in some PC where people used to play.and any argument against that getting very suppressed by saying they should not try to play new game in old computer but peoples are forgetting that SE is not a new game, its a 2 year old game which had a min system requirement which was at per for that time, they may change that now to newer system but the players bought then, they bought because false advertisement which should be illegal. Not every game studio are like that, maybe most are not, but if a game stays in more that 2 years of EA development and do not care to improve their game performance it makes me very suspicious about their intention.

#SPACE ENGINEERS VS STARMADE FULL#

That being said, I am seeing a very dangerous trend among the fans of EA games that every little criticism they discounting saying "its EA and its suppose to be that way" but as a consumer you should think about that many game studios are getting a free pass for everything using that an excuse and have a dedicated fanbase supporting behind that excuse and stuck in a endless EA stage.If you think about that, why would they want to release a full game when they are earning money selling a buggy game which would never get good review if full released at current state but getting tons of good review with an excuse of being an EA. Now, I always wanted to play it ,but even though my system within min-recommended I never able to run it at playable frame-rate(during some free weekends).still now I want to experience SE as I am enticed by many gameplay videos, but I know I can't run it unless I buy a beast of a computer and even then it my not be smooth. Click to expand.First of all I never played SE fully(because I can't)

[caswlw]

also men can b emotional and not b perceived as gay on tv i promise u it does exist !! men can b friends !! it just so happens that a generation of young adults and teens online is significantly more queer (openly) than ever and likes to see that in their media- so ofc that’s the content that happens to get big (both in ppl watching and fandom growth)- so it’s not exploitative and it’s not twisting something into something it’s not, it’s seeing what’s there and just interpreting it differently (which is allowed.)

again- any argument about “men not having close friendships without being seen as gay” can be refuted by idk. most shows with men in them ? also- take a second to guess WHY shows with mostly male main casts (or entirely male main casts) see this as the way to make content after release. beating around the bush that says “i don’t like this” isn’t helped by trying to make arguments with no base that have evidence covered in the actual homophobic rhetoric that causes men to be written more emotionally closed off- not the ppl on the internet who saw ur work differently !! take a hike

[football-in-tuxedos]

If you think you're so much smarter than Ben Shapiro, why don't you challenge him to a debate? I bet you know you'd lose

First off, I am smarter than Ben Shapiro, so jot that down.

Second, neither of us would have anything to gain from that. Ben doesn't gain anything from debating a random trans girl with no real following, and I would be exposing myself to the unholy nightmare that is Ben's core audience. Even if I made him cry, I would probably end up getting harassed off twitter by his fanbase, something I don't need.

Third, and most important, I don't want to debate Ben Shapiro because it is impossible to win.

Benny Boy is not a good faith debater. You can tell by the fact that he exclusively chooses to debate college students as opposed to people who have completed their education, and the fact that (according to many reports) he has a lot of stringent requirements in his "Debates" (namely the students not being allowed follow up questions and having complete control of the mic). He can always have the last word in all of his debates and that's important.

Benji doesn't go in with the possibility of having his mind changed, much less the willingness, because conservative debaters aren't actually interested in the Facts or coming to a real solution. What they're interested in is Owning the Libs. We know this for ben because he's said it, out loud. "The only reason to have a conversation or be friends with anyone on the left is if you're in public in front of large audience & your goal is to humiliate them as badly as possible."

So yeah, if I debated Bench Appearo, I would likely dismantle a lot of his arguments over the course of some very long, even by my standards, rants. And Wet Ass Benny would say quick, punchy and wrong things, that I would have to spend minutes debunking. And, by any regular standard of debate, I would win. I might even get a video of it passed around Left Twitter.

And six months later all that people would remember is Little Benny FELT like he was winning, because the appearance of being right is, long term, more important than actually being right, especially on the right. Little Benny has media training, very little conscience and no attachment to saying what is true or accurate. He is willing and able to just lie to make his points, something I'm not willing to do, that means he gets to be short, quippy, punchy. He might not be right, but if you don't know the facts, he FEELS like he's right.

[shallitickleyournerdbutton]

After the heartache of the Volume 8 finale, I would like to return to a happier point in the show and suggest some memes/jokes that I like to think the students at Beacon would have had. More closely inline with the RWBY Chibi-verse, than the actual show - where Nothing Bad Ever Happened.

"Who's child is this?" being used to refer to Ruby - the youngest student at Beacon - when she's left unsupervised and/or doing something odd.

"I'd let Glynda punish/whip me for one corn chip."

Every now and again "Missing - Have you seen this person?" posters for Professor Peach will pop up around campus. No one knows who it is that keeps making them.

Vomit Boy candids being taken and shared any time Jaune is Suffering™️ on some form of transport.

The Great One plush of Pyrrha exists in-universe... and becomes the go-to prize for any stupid competition between the students. There's at least a dozen of these dolls on campus now, owned by various people and won as "spoils of war."

There's a dedicated chalkboard in the combat room for tallying how many times Nora has launched someone into the stratosphere. Notable mentions are listed on the board alongside her of other people who have achieved this feat - including Yang, Yatsuhashi, and Glynda.

(She launched both Port and Oobleck one day when they kept annoying her. Sometimes, their screams can still be heard if you listen closely enough.)

"There's that old guy again..." "Oh, shopkeep? Yea, he's everywhere. Don't think too much about it."

This leads to "Don't think too much about it." becoming something of a slogan for every time anything unusual happens.

"Candy canes, kids! One for Sun Wukong, one for Yang Xiao-Long, ooh four for Coco Adel, you go Coco!"

"I--"

"Andnoneforweissschneebye~"

Team STRQ having something akin to legend status at Beacon, whispered in hushed voices for fear and reverence of their names. There's a war between the students regarding team JNPR as their successors vs. the students who insist JNPR are not anywhere near worthy of such a title.

"How many team CRDLs does it take to beat Pyrrha?"

Blurry fancam-style videos of the Qrow vs. Winter fight out in the courtyard being traded around like baseball cards with other students. Some try and manufacture a "rematch" of this with the materials they've got - trying to get Ruby and Weiss to fight each other. 

That weird sing-song "HellOooOo~" that Yang sometimes does being mimicked by everyone. And I mean everyone.

Any time there's a significant lull in conversations or classes, someone often asks "Why are we here?" which never fails to make everyone in the vicinity groan.

"Ozpin is compensating for something" jokes about his office chair - including at least one popular response being "it's the war crimes", without them knowing just how accurate they actually are.

"On a scale of Ren-Nora, how excited do you want me to be?"

"Ladies Love Lavender" referring to Lisa Lavender having her own in-universe fandom mostly comprised of women. (Lavender being associated with lesbians irl, and I just think this would be funny.)

The sight of Ren just picking up and carrying Nora away from something is so commonplace that other people start doing it to their friends when they Need To Stop.

"Why is Blake's bow so big?" "Because it's full of secrets."

Blake being a closet faunus being such a poorly hidden secret that by the time she finally takes off the bow no one actually even notices. 

The betting pool surrounding exactly what it is in Ozpin's cup - coffee being one of the least popular options, and souls being the top choice.

Using Yatsuhasi as a unit of measurement. 

Photoshopping adorable images of Velvet onto various "cute" animal memes.

Everyone wanting to be spanked by Coco Adel. 

"I'd let Fox blow me up too."

"Why is Weiss' hair so long?" "To reflect the length of her father's crimes."

Everyone mimicking Pyrrha's memetic "I'm sorry!" anytime they apologise for anything. Even going as far to do it while apologising to things that don't require apologies - like inanimate objects.

"Are Port and Oobleck, you know... 💅?"

In fact, just that 💅 being used to refer to a large number of people at Beacon. Actual LGBT students picking this up and using it towards grimm when they're attacked to question the sexuality/homophobia of the grimm targeting them over their peers.

Threatening Neptune with water anytime he flirts with a girl who is clearly Not Interested in him.

No one knowing who, exactly, the other two members of team SSSN are - with wild theories abounding about who they may be. Popular choices include Shopkeep, Zwei, and Professor Peach.

This persists even after their tournament fights where they're shown. Scarlet and Sage are perfectly content with this, and participate.

"Arslan's/Pyrrha's back must be aching from constantly carrying her entire team."

And the respective responses of, "Reese/Nora are alright."

Similar jokes about Glynda also carrying the entire faculty/academy on her back.

"Salutations!"

The war between the "Irondaddy" fanbase, and his haters - who refer to him with various derogatory versions of his name. "Metalpenis", "Coppercock", "Chromeshaft", etc.

Anytime someone is doing something ~questionable~ donning a pair of glasses and/or imitating Oz or Oobleck pushing them back up their nose with accompanying menacing body language. (Kubrick Stare optional.)

Mercury having a foot fetish, courtesy of the people who caught him sniffing shoes at the festival.

"Did <character> just die?" "You know, it was really unclear." any time someone takes some insane damage in a fight and isn't seen for some time afterwards.

Everyone trying to locate and get a pic of the ~mysterious~ fourth member of team CMSN, who has only ever been spotted once - her tournament fight in the first round. Beacon's version of "Where's Wally?"

The Sympathy Fund for Emerald and her one-sided crush on Cinder. "She could honestly do so much better."

People offering themselves up as tribute to spar with Pyrrha/Yang/Coco/Sun just so they can be beaten up by the hottest people on campus.

"I drink milk!" being used as a defensive argument in wildly inappropriate contexts.

Naming grimm really boring names and attempting to keep them as pets. 

The innumerous times Port has allowed a "zoo-break" to happen under his watch and everyone having to assist in recovering his prized subjects.

"Where the fuck are all the fourth years?" "Ozpin's soul collection."

Candid shots of Glynda Suffering™️ being shared similarly to the ones of Vomit Boy.

Ranking people based on their Patience Levels - Pyrrha, Ren, Glynda, Emerald, and Fox being frequent top markers based on the bullshit they put up with from their respective teams.

"Saint Pyrrha" being a common nickname for her, and her neverending niceness towards people who absolutely do not not deserve it.

Weiss' "Hey!" being replicated amongst the student body and slowly growing more and more high-pitched in its replication until it eventually just becomes a shrill noise. Even so, everyone still knows what it means - and Weiss is absolutely unamused by all of this.

In fact, a lot of early!Weiss' comments being mercilessly mocked by everyone - "I'm a victim!" being one of them.

Renowned fear permitting amongst the student body regarding Yang's red eyes meaning Serious Business. Morphs into references of "going full Yang" to mean having rage-fuelled temper tantrums.

"Never miss a beat, never miss a beat" becoming a mantra for focusing on a task. This inspires several remixes of Neon saying it, and again with no one knowing who it is making them.

By all means, feel free to add any more that you all think of! I could use a laugh!

Also, check the notes for additions!

[high-on-copium]

Let’s talk about MCC17 and Buildmart

lk I rarely post anything on Tumblr, hell, the last time i posted anything here was months ago, but I feel like I want to have a discussion about the whole Buildmart discourse. 

Personally, I don’t think either Dream or Sapnap is wrong for hating Buildmart. They have their rights to hate a game and I am pretty sure all CC’s have a game they dislike as well. The problem with Dream and Sapnap speaking publicly about Buildmart is because of their large fanbase. 

Now I know not everyone on the dtwt is toxic, but a lot of them are. Neither Dream or Sapnap calls out their toxic stans, that why when they spoke out about something, there’s discourse. This happen during MCC 14 as well. When Sapnap and Dream spoke about Hbomb and Scott possibly cheating, both of them got a lot of death threats and homophobic comments thrown at them. 

Sapnap saying things like “People who likes buildmart are a pussy” is also very distasteful. It only adds on the toxicity for his fanbase and make him look bad. I think him calling people who enjoys buildmart names is not a good thing  and is a bit irresponsible of him to do, and H, rightfully so calls him out on that.

A problem I have with this whole drama is because it overshadows Orange’s win. When I look at reddit, tumblr, or twitter, I don’t see much people being happy for Orange’s win, I see so many people just arguing about Buildmart. The way people word their arguments feels like they’re saying that Orange’s win is purely because of Buildmart, especially since it’s one of their better games. It feels like a lot of people are saying that their win is undeserved. This causes some outrage from Orange’s supporters and fans, especially since they were all so excited and happy from the two 1st wins, a 3 times win, and a 4 times win. It feels like this whole argument is destined for hermittwt and dsmptwt to fight against eachother.  

Do I think Buildmart can be improve? Oh yea, 100%. Alltho I personally enjoys Buildmart and think it’s a fun game, I do see a lot of flaws in it, and anyone has the rights to critic it. But I don’t think it should be removed. Buildmart’s charm is that its a game that values team coordination and communication. It’s a chance of non PVP players to shine. To excel on Buildmart, it doesn’t require you to be a builder or to be creative, it requires you to talk with your teammates. If a teammate is being quiet, ask them, talk to them. If you think memorizing is a bit of an issue for you, maybe try a different role, like being a floater. There are many ways to improve on Buildmart. 

In conclusion, I feel like Sapnap and Dream, should called their fans out about this. They can’t control their fans, sure, but they can call them out. They should watch what they’re saying more carefully next time. They’re not wrong for having these opinions and frustrations, they have their rights to feel how they want to feel, and us as a fanbase can’t change how a content creator thinks. We can also have our own opinions and critics for MCC’s minigames, but we should not attack anyone for it. And also, please just be happy that orange won? even if you weren’t rooting for them, its annoying to see “cyan should have won” UNDER ORANGE’S CONGRATULATION POST. What you are doing is literally asking for a fight. 

[luckgods]

Why all the white guys in whump?

I got Inspired by a post asking that question, and here we are. Warning: long post ahead.

I think it’s due to a combination of factors, as things frequently are.

The preference for / prevalence of white male characters in fandom is well-known and has been examined pretty thoroughly by people already.

What’s worth noting for discussing this tendency in whump in particular is that the ‘whump fandom’ itself is not a ‘fandom’ in the traditional sense of being made of fans of one single source narrative (or source setting, like a particular comics fandom, or the Star Wars extended universe) with pre-existing characters. Although subsets of traditional fandoms certainly exist within the larger whump fandom, a lot of whump is based on original, ‘fan’-created characters.

So, given the tendency of ‘traditional’ fandoms to create stories disproportionately centered on white male characters due to the source material itself being centered on white male characters (and giving more narrative weight to them, characterizing them better, etc), if we say hypothetically that the whump fandom is split say 50/50 between ‘traditional’ fandom works and original whump works, you’d expect to see a higher number of works focused on white men than the demographics of the ‘traditional’ fandom��s source work would predict, but not as extreme of a divergence between the source material & the fanworks as the one you’d see if whump fandom were 100% based on popular media.

However, that doesn’t quite seem to be the case. Whump stories and art remain focused on overwhelmingly male and frequently white characters, which means that the tendency of the fandom to create stories disproportionately centered on white male characters cannot be ONLY explained by the source material itself being centered on white male characters (and giving more narrative weight to them, characterizing them better, etc).

And, having established the fact that whump writers & artists presumably have MORE control over the design of their characters than writers & artists in ‘traditional’ fandoms, we have to wonder why the proportions remain biased towards men, & white men in particular.

—

The race thing is pretty simple in my opinion. Mostly, it’s just another extension of the fanbase’s tendency to reflect the (predominantly US-American, on tumblr) culture it exists in, which means that, in a white-centric culture, people make artworks featuring white people.

There’s also the issue of artists being hesitant to write works that dwell heavily on violence towards people of color due to the (US-American) history of people of color being violently mistreated. I’ve actually seen a couple of posts arguing that white people SHOULDN’T write whump of nonwhite characters (particularly Black characters) because of the history of actual violence against Black bodies being used as entertainment, which means that fictional violence against Black people, written by white people, for a (presumed) white audience, still feels exploitative and demeaning.

I'm not going to get into all my thoughts on this discussion here but suffice to say that there's probably an impact on the demographics of whump works from authors of color who simply... don't want to see violence against people of color, even non-explicitly-racialized violence, and then another impact from white authors who choose not to write non-white characters either due to the reasons stated above, or simply due to their personal discomfort with how to go about writing non-white characters in a genre that is heavily focused on interpersonal violence.

Interestingly enough, there’s also a decent proportion of Japanese manga & anime being used as source material for whump, and manga-styled original works being created. The particular relationship between US-American and Japanese pop culture could take up a whole essay just by itself so I’ll just say, there’s a long history of US-Japanese cultural exchange which means that this tendency is also not all that surprising.

—

GENDER though. If someone had the time and the energy they could make a fucking CAREER out of examining gender in whump, gender dynamics in whump, and why there seems to be a fandom-wide preference for male whumpees that cannot be fully explained by the emphasis on male characters in the source text.

I have several different theories about factors which impact gender preference in whump, and anyone who has other theories (or disagrees with mine) is free to jump in and add on.

THEORY 1: AUTHOR GENDER AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
 Fandom in general is predominantly female, although these days it might be more accurate to say that fandom is predominantly composed of cis women and trans people of all genders. However, pretty much everyone who isn't a cis man has had to contend with the specter of gendered violence in their real personal life. Thus, if we posit whump (and fandom more generally) as a sort of escapist setup, it's not hard to see why whump authors & artists might willfully eschew writing female whumpees (especially in the case of inflicted whump), because (as in the discussion of people of color in whump above), even violence towards women that is explicitly non-gender-based may still hit too close to home for people whose lives have been saturated with the awareness of gender-based violence.

THEORY 2: SICK OF SEXY SUFFERING.
 Something of an addendum to theory 1, it's worth noting that depictions of female suffering in popular media are extremely gendered (in that they specifically reflect real-life gender-based violence, and that said real-life violence is almost exclusively referenced in relation to female characters) and frequently sexualized as well. There's only so many times you can see female characters having their clothes Strategically Ripped while they're held captive, being sexually menaced (overtly or implicitly) to demonstrate How Evil the villain is, or just getting outright sexually assaulted for the Drama of it all before it gets exhausting, especially when the narratives typically either brush any consequences under the rug, or dwell on them in a way that feels more voyeuristic and gratuitous than realistic and meaningful. All this may result in authors who, given the chance to write their own depictions of suffering, may decide simply to remove the possibility of gendered violence by removing the female gender.

THEORY 3: AUTHOR ATTRACTION. 
I'll admit that this one is more a matter of conjecture, as I haven't seen any good demographic breakdowns of attraction in general fandom or whump fandom. That said, my own experience talking to fellow whump fans does indicate that attraction to the characters (whether whumpers, or whumpees) is part of the draw of whump for some people. This one partially ties into theory 1 as well, in that people who are attracted to multiple genders may not derive the same enjoyment out of seeing a female character in a whumpy situation as they might seeing a male character in that situation, simply because of the experience of gendered violence in their lives.

THEORY 4: ACCEPTABLE TARGETS.
 The female history of fandom means that there's been a lot more discussion of the impacts of depicting pain & suffering (especially female suffering) for personal amusement. Thus, in some ways, you could say that there is a mild taboo on putting female characters through suffering if you can't "justify" it as meaningful to the narrative, not just titillating, which whump fandom rarely tries or requires anyone to do. This fan-cultural 'rule' may impact whump writers' and artists' decisions in choosing the gender of their characters.

THEORY 5: AN ALTERNATIVE TO MAINSTREAM MASCULINITY.
 Whump fandom may like whumping men because by and large, mainstream/pop culture doesn't let men be vulnerable, doesn't let them cry, doesn't let them have long-term health issues due to constantly getting beat up even when they really SHOULD, doesn't let them have mental health issues period. Female characters, as discussed in theory 2, get to ("get to") go through suffering and be affected by it (however poorly written those effects are), but typically, male characters' suffering is treated as a temporary problem, minimized, and sublimated into anger if at all possible. (For an example, see: every scene in a movie where something terrible happens and the male lead character screams instead of crying). So, as nature abhors a vacuum, whump fandom "over-produces" whump of men so as to fill in that gap in content.

THEORY 6: AMPLIFIED BIAS.
 While it's true that whump fandom doesn't have a source text, it's also true that whump fans frequently find their way into the fandom via other 'traditional' fandoms, and continue participating in 'traditional' fandoms as part of their whump fandom activity. Bias begets bias; fandom as a whole has a massive problem with focusing on white male characters, and fans who are used to the bias towards certain types of characters in derivative works absolutely reproduce that bias in their own original whump works.

—

I honestly think that there is greater bias in the whump fandom than anyone would like to admit. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems as though whump fans avoid introspection and discussion of the issue by bringing up the points I talked about in my previous theories, particularly discomfort with depictions of female suffering for amusement.

However, I think that, as artists, we owe it to ourselves and one another to engage in at least a small amount of self-interrogation over our preferences, and see what unconscious or unacknowledged biases we possess. It's a little absurd to argue that depictions of women as whumpees are universally too distressing to even discuss when a male character in the exact same position would be fine and even gratifying to the person making that argument; while obviously, people have a right to their own boundaries, those boundaries should not be used to shut down discussion of any topics, even sensitive ones.

Furthermore, engaging in personal reflection allows artists to make more deliberate (and meaningful) art. For people whose goal is simply to have fun, that may not seem all that appealing, but having greater understanding of one's own preferences can be very helpful towards deciding what works to create, what to focus on when creating, and what works to seek out.

—

GENDER ADDENDUM: NONBINARY CHARACTERS, NONBINARY AUTHORS. 
Of course, this whole discussion so far has been exclusively based on a male-female binary, which is reductive. (I will note, though, that many binary people do effectively sort all nonbinary people they know of into 'female-aligned' and 'male-aligned' categories and then proceed to treat the nonbinary people and characters they have categorized a 'female-aligned' the same way as they treat people & characters who are actually female, and ditto for 'male-aligned'. That tendency is very frustrating for me, as a nonbinary person whose gender has NOTHING to do with any part of the binary, and reveals that even 'progressive' fandom culture has quite a ways to go in its understanding of gender.)

Anyways, nonbinary characters in whump are still VERY rare and typically written by nonbinary authors. (I have no clue whether nonbinary whump fans have, as a demographic group, different gender preferences than binary fans, but I'd be interested in seeing that data.)

As noted above with female characters, it's similarly difficult to have a discussion about representation and treatment of nonbinary characters in whump fandom, and frankly in fandom in general. Frequently, people regard attempts to open discussions on difficult topics as a call for conflict. This defensive stance once again reveals the distaste for requests of meaningful self-examination that is so frequent in fandom spaces, and online more generally.

—

TL;DR: Whump is not immune to the same gender & racial biases that are prevalent in fandom and (US-American) culture. If you enjoy whump: ask yourself why you dislike the things you dislike— the answer may surprise you. If you create whump: ask yourself whose stories you tell, and what stories you refuse to tell— then ask yourself why.