#and remember that fandom should be FUN

[dayurno]

my advice for anyone whos growing more and more frustrated with the state of aftg and fandom at large is that arguing is fun but you need to be happy. ok. you need to. its hard when bad faith takes are dropped to your doorstep but you need to be happy and enjoy yourself and have fun or there's no point in anything at all ever. ok. fandom is not real and nothing is worth more than your enjoyment. i love you please make sure to have fun and reach out to a friend today. for me

[madame-mongoose]

There needs to be more fandom made dating simulators

[cookie-run-haven]

And yes I'm going to complain about the chapters when I feel better and I'm on the computer

[adastra121]

Touchstarved as Arcane

I just listen to the Arcane soundtrack a bunch while creating my Touchstarved OCs' backstories and I wanted to ascribe the characters to each song.

"Playground" by Bea Miller = Vere. I love this song for him. Even the vibe fits him.

"Who told you what was down here? Come along if you wanted a peek. I've seen your face around here. Come alone, tell me under the table What do you seek?"

"Welcome to the playground, follow me. Tell me your nightmares and fantasies. Sink into the wasteland underneath. Stay for the night, I'll sell you a dream."

It could also fit Elyon? I don't know anything about him but it feels like this line in particular would fit his character:

"Everybody's got a price 'round here to play. Make me an offer, what will it be?" (there's no dark blue colour on the website so I gave him girlboss pink. I think it's fitting.)

"Goodbye" by Ramsey = Mhin. They're an outsider, which means they had to come from somewhere, right? And they probably had to bid that part of their life goodbye.

"I can hear the sound of a heartbeat before it goes out. Won't ever leave my memory of bloodshed all around."

So many of these songs are just me running free with my assumptions of what their backstories are based on the little info we've got from the demo. Anyway, I imagine that line relating to Mhin losing control of their curse and the death that resulted in it.

"Be still, 'cause I see smoke up ahead and I got steel in my hands. We will return like warriors, I swear, that we'll find glory up ahead."

I just liked the "steel in my hands" line for Mhin because of how we first meet — it's right there. The bloodied blade in their hand.

"Dirty Little Animals" by BONES UK = Ocudeus and the Seaspring groupmind.

"Novocaine, never same, giving local luck But when you go under, you will never go back up."

Also, surprisingly Kuras. Only this part, though:

"Taste what fell from grace Wanna taste what fell from grace? Run away from the faith. Let's race if you want a taste."

There's the part about falling from grace, going against faith, and a bunch of running away which reminds me of that scene with Kuras and MC running from a Senobium cleric.

"Enemy" by Imagine Dragons ft. J.I.D. = Hound!MC (this MC is so Arcane-coded…so many of the songs could fit them). But also Ais, I think I remember something about him mentioning he makes enemies pretty easily (which is hilarious because almost every Touchstarved character likes him), and he seems to think of himself as a black sheep.

"I'm searching to behold the stories that are told When my back is to the world that was smiling when I turned. Tell you you're the greatest, But once you turn, they hate us."

"Guns for Hire" by Woodkid = I think this could fit both Ais and Leander. But I feel like the song has different meanings when imagined with each of them. The line about "losing control," for instance.

"Not a good night to lose control Right as the Earth is unraveling."

"Not a good time to lose control Right as your marionettes cut their strings and run away."

When I imagine the song with Ais, it feels like him losing control over himself or his monster form. With Leander, it feels like it's about him losing control over others, maybe his mask chipping away.

And there are just so many parts that could fit them both, but they carry different meanings depending on who you imagine the lyric with.

"Tuck your innocence goodnight. You sold your friends like guns for hire." (still don't know what happened to Ais's gang)

"Resting on a knife, you heavy souls With all this weight buckling down on you now Don't you drown and float away."

"When Everything Went Wrong" by Fantastic Negrito = Ais and his tavern brawls.

"Ninety-nine ways that you're willing to die […] Broken beer bottles that are starting to fly […] Temper start to flare, now they're starting to fume I know my time is coming soon."

But also, when did everything go wrong? How did it go wrong? What happened to Ais's gang? And maybe it happened around the same time Ocudeus did?

"I lay down to die on the concrete floor. Now that's when everything went wrong. The devils coming after me."

"What Could Have Been" by Ramsey = Sen and Alchemist!MC or Unnamed!MC.

"I hope you know we had everything When you broke me and left these pieces. I want you to hurt like you hurt me today and I want you to lose like I lose when I play what could have been." (Eh, fuck it, Sen also gets pink. The DLC LIs are Barbie babes)

"I am the monster you created […] I am your ghost, a fallen angel. You ripped out all my parts."

"And worst of all, for me to live, I gotta kill the part of me that saw That I needed you more […] I couldn't care what invention you made me 'Cause I was meant to be yours."

Again, most of Sen's is just me assuming what her story is, but this is a good angsty Frankenstein's monster type song.

I think it fits Alchemist! and Unnamed!MC more so than the Hound!MC, because they are the two backstories that involved mentor figures or a community moulding them for specific purposes.

[phoenixcatch7]

Brain filled with dp x dc... I'd complain if I weren't having so much fun. I've never seen such ripe pickings for twin AUs,,, top notch trope.

But Danny and Jason twins, right? The parallels are so good! Unknowingly adopted (as Danny would also be in this au), bright eyed stubborn child just wanting to do good with big dreams and not ideal parents suddenly getting killed in front of the people they cares for most, revived as inhuman people dragged into violence against their will while desperately fighting to prove their own humanity (to themselves). Green of the dead, flashing eyes, ridiculously big and built when they grow up, best friends with the outcasts of society. Black hair, blue eyes. Relying heavily on death to keep their identities safe. Still loyal, despite it all.

Just to up the ante, how about the portal accident happens on Halloween? Extra spooky atmosphere, the night when the walls between the living and the dead are thin, the perfect time to try and (fail) open a portal to the ghost world, and Danny is dressed up as Robin - they look about the same age!

He puts on the protective jumpsuit, he's not a fool, but Sam - in a witch costume, and tucker as a mummy - convinces him to put the cape and mask back on, for some photos. He looks a right hero!

In the aftermath, it takes them a few weeks to hear the rumours of a new, smaller Robin. What happened to the old one?

Dan happens, vlad happens, dani happens, it's all going on until it isn't, and Danny has finally got that growth spurt he'd been begging for - alas, only in his human form.

Maybe he's chasing a ghost, maybe he's touring a Gotham uni with Sam or Tucker, maybe it's not even he who finally crosses the invisible line. He meets a lookalike who reeks of bad ectoplasm - another clone??!

Jason is understandably spooked, but whether he goes willingly or not, he wakes up in an ice cavern, small and colourful and glowing, with a wide eyed mirror in the chair next to him.

Jason has a ghost form, and like everyone else, it's how he died. Two near identical fourteen year old 'Robin' ghosts and two identical absolute tanks of illegal undead vigilantes with vaguely malicious snark streaks a mile wide.

The chaos... The unearthed trauma... The instant snap bonding and FEROCIOUS protective instincts. Danny infodumps about space for an hour while Jason nods enthusiastically and then talks about Jane Austen while he listens. B and Danny getting into angsty shouting matches over Jason's death that ends with Danny teaming up with Nightwing to drag him over to the Manor for family meals.

Sam, tucker and jazz meeting the rest of them and going DUDE SAME they're awful lmao. Secret twin swaps. Danny hijacks his way into the watchtower and immediately blows it by freaking out about space. Jason teaching Danny how to get out of handcuffs and how to steal keys and Danny teaching him how to phase through things without anyone noticing.

Just DUDE.

[cha1cedony]

Idk what it is that makes me fixate so hard on one specific thing for years at a time, but I need it to chill out 😭 DnDads has been my only long-term media interest for like 1 and 1/2 years now, and it’s BORING to only like one thing ever lol I’m BORED!!! I need other things to be interested in, but I struggle with getting into new stuff (other than video games) sooo bad :(

That said, if you have DnD podcast recs that have interesting characters……… GIMME 👀 Also where the early episodes aren’t a nightmare to listen to 🙏 I have never listened to any other DnD podcasts, and I think it’s mostly bc the earlier seasons are always poor audio quality or like 3 hours long 😭 I’m also good with any type of narrative podcast. I just want compelling characters and platonic/familial dynamics pls. Stuff I can write sad shit about!! But also not TOO sad the whole time… maybe a little bit silly idk

So far, ones I’ve written down to listen to are Cast Party and Friends at the Table? I don’t know anything about either of them, though so? Also I keep seeing my mutuals posting Oxventure and Woe.Begone (although the latter isn’t a DnD podcast.. I think?) sooooo let me know your thoughts. And recommendations! Send me your propaganda! Tell me about your blorbos

[yellowhollyhock]

i have only two tagging modes:

1) bare bones, minimal description to (hypothetically) be able to find the post later, sometimes less

2) more than half the post is in the tags

[adanseydivorce]

remembering on my circa 2017 booklr I used to tell people to read Gemma Doyle by describing it as trc but with an all girls boarding school / all girl group in a historical setting… I was trying to do the lord’s work she deserved tumblr fame

[cryptid-crawly]

can’t sleep. thinking about how fandom characterization of eraserhead is off the mark and we need more canon Aizawa appreciation.

the core aspects of Aizawa Shouta are: tired, Bastard, boring old man.

he may have dad energy but he’s a reluctant dad that doesn’t get that his neurodivergent kids need extra help bc he doesn’t realize he himself is neurodivergent and needs help. he’s the middle-aged dad that says we aren’t getting a pet dog and then he’s the pet dog’s favorite. he’s a rational downer that poops your party. he is the most boring man alive. this man does NOT fuck. he barely eats or sleeps or talks to other people. if he has free time that he isn’t spending napping he MAYBE goes out to pet some stray cats. you think this bitch goes to clubs? has one night stands? he can barely take care of himself why would he ever have prolonged interaction with another human being that wasn’t for work? and also he’s a total bastard. will fight for his kids? yes. absolute 100% bastard that causes grief on purpose bc he can? also yes. he’s trying, sure, but also he has his head up his ass and deserves to be put into a little jar and shaken a bunch.

i’m tired of sexy-wonderful-teacher-perfect-husband-material-best-dad fanon aizawa. I want more asshole-boring-mess-of-a-man canon aizawa

[carry-on-every-neverland-magic]

Also also it's literally just the first two eps people are lucky enough to have seen early, no one can say what else happens or the ending so wanting to know some things from the first two to get even more excited seems reasonable and I'm bothered by the holier than thou who are getting at fans who are actually tagging spoilers correctly and asking privately for spoilers with no intention of deliberately ruining it for someone else, like let us live a little and if you are privileged enough to see these screenings (if I wasn't broke I could have got London tickets since I'm off work next week but alas I'm poor 😭) so maybe just don't say anything if you're not gonna give a morsel of a spoiler. The show and everyone have put themselves here by allowing people to see it early like what did they think would happen?! Of course people wanna know things and get more excited so ya just saying if I'd have gone I'd be telling anyone who wanted to know every single juicy detail.

[anodyne-sunflower]

What's your opinion on ascended astarion fans?

No real problem, to each their own and I believe people should play a game however they want. Plus, if you're doing an evil run, it probably suits the narrative you want to build. Either way, it's your game, do as you please.

The only time I'm bothered is if they try to convince me it's the 'good' ending for him or that he isn't toxic/abusive or to just change my opinion at all. Again, as someone who has been in a toxic/abusive relationship, I'll never like ascended version. Not for me at all, and I won't budge on it being the objectively bad ending.

But most fans seem to stay within the spaces they enjoy, so it hasn't been a big problem, thankfully. Just be respectful, and no need to argue the point in a nasty way either. Just do what you want and enjoy it how you please.

[drewsaturday]

i've had such a weird relationship with making fanon things lately for a few diff reasons i think.

i haven't rly been inspired enough to take things beyond my thoughts and make an actual thing out of them. part of this is probs bc of my medication. the other part is that...

i don't have the time to dig too deeply into my favorite things rn. this means i don't dig up new parts to feel excited about, i don't feel Qualified to carry those ideas out bc my understanding of the source material is so limited and people expect waaaay too much quality from fanworks these days, and i feel like i'll never be able to finish what i start anyway.

lastly, i've been doing fandom so repetitively i'm just... tired? of the same thing over and over again. i work on a thing, i polish the thing, i post the thing, i wait for feedback that is either nice/mean/empty, rinse and repeat. the solution would be to just not post these things, but why go through all that effort to carry something up out of an idea stage then since that's what makes me most excited? and if i spend the time drafting, it feels like a waste of time since it's not going to go anywhere.

i do think a lot of this is medication, because it dulls Just how insane i am capable of getting about a thing. in the past i would have sooo much drive because i felt like if i didn't make a thing, i'd explode. i don't rly get that anymore, at least not in a big enough burst to keep me working on things very long.

i've instead been thinking a lot about diving into original content because... although i make everything for fun, i think original stuff has way less of the above issues attached.

there's no time limit. i'm not... "competing" for being able to get an idea done first, or trying to get a fanfic out while there's still hype over a show, or worrying about my work being ooc compared to someone else's, or worrying the fandom landscape i vibe with is going to change when people move on.

it's theoretically not as repetitive. i'm sure the things i'm interested in shows are similar to what i come up with from my brain, and i could just try to make different things for fandom than i'm used to. but i am kind of tired of my inability to do anything besides hurt/comfort oneshots for the same kind of pairing over and over again. this would force me to actually develop other shit too lmfao.

it's Technically something i could profit off of if i really wanted to, making it less of a waste of time. for fandom, it feels like a waste of time if i'm not putting a fanon thing out for other fans to see. it also feels like i put a ton of work into my own little understanding of a show--fleshing out backstories and worldbuilding etc. so if i move onto another fandom... it feels like it was all for nothing, esp if i don't make something from it all. ideally i would be doing it just for the fun but there needs to be some balance with what i consider pay-off. and since i usually don't stay motivated long enough to do these big huge projects, or people move on, or other people do the idea first because i work so slow, it's just gotten rly un-motivating.

there's like, layers of motivation imo. i like a thing and i get excitement about making stuff for it and exploring certain parts of it. and i can do that for myself, but to make it stand on its own enough to post for other people to see isn't something i currently get enough motivation for. and because of that, it makes the fun part feel like a waste of time i guess.

i usually stay away from my own original stuff bc i honestly just don't feel the level of excitement with it as i have felt with fandom in the past, and... it's just harder lmao? but i think it would be good for me to at least fuck around with it.

fandom started as a vessel for creativity for me. i wanted to make videos, it gave me footage. i wanted to draw, it gave me designs for characters. i wanted to write, it gave me a sandbox to play in. and i still find those things fun, but i guess it just feels like i'm limiting myself by only playing with other people's dolls in a public park for all to see. like i'm just not as connected to the Making part as a hobby or to the parts of myself i would put into it.

idk, i am just rambling and i think honestly if i Did have more time it would help take a lot of the above pressures and risks away and balance me out so that making silly little fanfics sometimes would feel more worth it because i'd feel free to do other things as well.

i also do sort of get glued to the screen when i'm in mode of making and posting things and i'd like to uhhh. do other things with my life too sometimes lmfao. part of this boredom does probably stem from being chronically ill and therefore barely leaving my house. i haven't been able to do other things beyond fanon creations in years. so no wonder i'd feel less inspired and more bored.

i also think i've gotten tired of watching things feeling like a chore. oh shit i need to write down this scene so i can use it on a fanvid, or make sure i take note of this piece of dialogue for this character's backstory, etc. i know i bitch about how i don't hate the word "content creator" bc it is just an easier catch-all for me as someone who makes lots of diff things, and i still agree with that, but i do think because of my own levels of perfectionism, mixed with honestly how weirdly expectant of quality fandom has become, it's become a chore to engage with source material.

another thing is i've always felt like i've needed a purpose in what i've made and that purpose tends to be justified by the community interactions. it makes me feel less lonely and it helps me feel inspired and like... it doesn't hurt to know you'll get feedback on something because you've found so many supportive friends in it. i rly just haven't landed in any new communities i vibe with a ton for the things ive gotten into lately, so there's less motivation there. that's not to say anyone's Bad, just... discord servers are too big, tags are too dead or all over the place, i don't message people to become friends, and the communities and friends i do have from fandom are all kinda doing different things rn, etc.

the other form of purpose would be challenges--exchanges, bingos, etc. this fanwork isn't just a random thing for fun, it has a reason for me to work on it enough to let it see the light of day. and i think i've kinda broken my brain a bit using those for motivation so much, but the alternative would be to never get anything into a publishable state, but without it being a publishable state and interacting with communities through it there's no reason for me to really spend all that much time on it in the first place, which means i'm really not getting to Create.

i think the biggest issue these days if every part of the creative process now feels like it's "for show" and original stuff that has literally no audience is the only way to kinda undo the amount of rules that's put on me and my creativity.

tl;dr i'm just not feeling the same fulfillment from making fanon stuff as i used to so i guess i need to experiment with making other things so i can still do the Making part and see where that lands me, and see if it can help undo some of the toxic mentalities being an exclusively fandom girlie for so long has kinda instilled in me.

i'm sure i'll still make fanon shit every so often--i honestly have been so busy that output won't be noticeably different from my usual once every five months contributions. i just need to get back into the right blend of circumstances for it to feel worth it, and until then i guess i need to dig out the dolls from my own attic instead of someone else's so i can have a less complicated vessel for creative hobbies because i'm fairly certain i'd still like to create.

[angelsndragons]

man i haven't seen critical role hot takes this bad since luc brenatto died.

[certified-anakinfucker]

ok this is unprompted but if you pride yourself on being the reason people leave a space for something they genuinely love and have done no objective wrong - youre a piece of shit btw. like full send youre horrible.

[supernovaa-remnant]

my level of curating my online experience is too good why have I seen a bajillion distraction posts and posts reminding people not to doom scroll on my dash? 😭

[miscreantahead]

I can't stop thinking about how often I'll go "oh look a fandom I would like to make this my online identity" and then not care about that thing at all outside of the time that I am actively consuming it (doesn't mean I don't enjoy it ofc) and then other times I'm like "oh look a fun silly little thing to kill time" and THAT becomes my online identity like I literally do not think it's EVER been the other way around.