#as I said in the tags of the original post I think her 'what's valid criticism and what's just haters' radar is irreparably skewed

[my-mt-heart]

Here we go again...

I'm going to echo what I said on Twitter about "The Big Three" post on my blog since this is where I feel safe speaking up. I'm very sorry I had to direct it at Valhalla who have been Melissa/Carol/Caryl fans' biggest ally on social media up to this point, even using #TheBookofCarol tag to let us know they see her as the main protagonist that she is. I'm also very sorry that as of today, we've reached the two-year mark since the news of the original spinoff's cancelation and this fandom still has to fight for the respect that they and Melissa herself have more than earned. Again, this is why we need a new showrunner with the intuition and authority to change the messaging on the show and on SM, so that Caryl fans not only feel safe, but also eager to watch, pay for, and engage with new material.

I saw that Valhalla acknowledged Carylers' complaints on their post. I wasn't expecting that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any other official account has ever put the needs of the fans over their own need to save face, so I respect and appreciate that. The comments were filling up with voices from other parts of the fandom trying to give Valhalla an out, but it's easy for them to ignore or in some instances mock the issue because their favorite character is represented and they get the satisfaction of a character they hate being left out and her fans being upset about it. It's easy and probably fun for them to accuse us of throwing tantrums, invalidating a very real source of pain for many of us.

There is a long history of fandom bullying and ageism directed at Melissa/Carol/Caryl and their fans to the point of many people, including Melissa herself, having to leave SM. The other factions claim we're a minority, but in reality we're just less active in public spaces because we're made to feel like we don't belong. Caryl fans are very much like the characters in that way and unfortunately other fans and other official accounts take advantage of that.

What happened exactly two years ago has broken our trust and our spirits even more. A lot of us are teetering on the edge of leaving because we're tired of being gaslit and strung along. We're vulnerable and we have triggers. In order to keep engaging with TWD content, we have to feel like its worth it, which means we need to know that the show and everyone affiliated are meeting our needs: that Melissa and Carol are acknowledged for the HUGE impact they've had in the story since S1, not how much they are marketed, and that Caryl is treated like a valid ship.

We need strong leadership for that. Valhalla is a female-led account, so they have the authority to tackle the issues that the actresses and their female fanbases face. A female showrunner would help with that as well. TBOC is fast-approaching. The promotion should focus on hyping the core audience of that show, not alienating them further. We deserve so much better. Melissa deserves so much better. Caryl deserver so much better.

[autumnslance]

Search, Tags, and Tumblr

Tumblr's search functions are notoriously weird, but there's a few common things to know about how it works in conjunction with Tagging. First things first:

-Tags are for searching but also personal blog organization as desired. This is why some folks have weird/funny personal use tags. Tags can use dashes and spaces, but not regular double quote marks ("), though single marks are fine (').

-Tag for what's in the post; adding other, unrelated tags "for visibility" is against Tumblr's TOS and gets you reported for Spam!

Example: if you make a post for your new Clive Rosfield screenshots, make sure you're only tagging terms relevant to Final Fantasy XVI and Clive Rosfield (and any personal organizing tags like "screenshots"); don't add tags like "Star Wars" and "SpongeBob", as Clive has nothing to do with those!

-Tag without censoring words! We use filters/blacklists here to avoid things we don't want to see. Can also work for words in the body of a post. There's no rules here against using "kill" or "death" or other terms defining common human experiences determined "too negative/dangerous" on other sites (stay civil to each other).

-If you do alt-spell things, it's only in the body of a post and usually when it's dislike of a fandom thing as a courtesy to those enjoyers. If I make a shipping post and say, for example, "I can't stand R3y|o", that's when I want to use weird spelling and symbols--and no common tags for that fandom! If you do use tags for organizing, keep it to things like "#anti (thing) or "#(thing) critical", again spelled correctly for others' blacklisting purposes and to keep it out of the Reylo Search and Tags so those fans can enjoy their ship without seeing negativity. Because...

-General Search pulls from Tags and Also terms found in the body of a post. If I just put "Thancred" in the Search bar at the top of the page, it'll show me any and all posts with "Thancred" in them, including 1) if the name is in the body of the post, 2) if the name is in a tag that's a sentence/includes other words, and 3) even if not tagged for Thancred.

This caused some wank a couple years back for certain fans when someone tagged a lascivious picture set with what they knew was a triggery NOTP for many...but they also put the characters' names in the post body, not realizing simply searching for either of those characters would pull it up (They also, IMO, should have put the images under a Read More to be doubly safe, for themselves and for others they knew might be upset stumbling onto said images, but the crux was not realizing how Tumblr Search worked).

-Tag Search specifically pulls from the tags; per Tumblr's info pages, the first 20 tags (out of 30 total allowed) now will show up in search. Common, consistent tags first are good for visibility. You can also Follow tags you want to keep track of; there's even a tab on your Dash for it.

-Reblogs do not show up in the searches, even with additions and new notes. However, a blacklist filter will catch tags put on the original post, even if the reblogger doesn't add it when it ends up on your Dash.

-You can also blacklist blog names/URLs. Think of it like Twitter's muting rather than a full block (though one can do that too, and should as needed).

Example: someone following Seanan McGuire doesn't like frogs, but she reblogs a lot of frogs. The follower blocked and blacklisted the blogs she often reblogs frogs from to minimize the number of frogs they see while still following a favorite author for her book info.

-If people ask you to tag a thing cuz it's a squick or full-on trigger, you can just do it, or you can politely say no; that's valid. It's up to that person then to decide if they want to blacklist or unfollow or block or what. Just be civil either and both ways.

In summary: if you're talking about bunnies cuz you took pictures at the local farm show, just write "bunnies" normally in the body and/or tags of the post, so anyone with "bunnies" blacklisted can avoid it--and folks who want to see cute pics of bunnies can find it!

Even if you use proper tags, or no tags, or only use alternate spellings in the post body to keep things out of the tags/searches, consider still using a Read More as a last line of courtesy to any followers or random folks you don't want to catch in the crossfire. Also consider hiding your blog from Search results, and/or Private posts.

Tumblr's Help Center (On Desktop browser, go to the "About" link, and then the "Resources" menu; on Mobile App, go to Account settings, General settings, scroll down to "Help" under "Account") has further info about Searches and Tagging (and everything else!), and as that info changes, it's a good idea to keep track of those page updates, as well as the @changes blog to keep track of new updates, bugs, recent fixes, and upcoming info.

[aemiron-main]

i think what's so funny about the bi Mike narrative is that you flat out have to ignore canon scenes. "boys only"? doesn't mean anything, only Will's "a day free of girls" means something. Mike and El's severe family coding going back all the way to s1 where they explicitly discuss being cousins and siblings? doesn't mean anything either, that's just there for fun, their romance should be taken completely serious and not be uncomfortable at all. Mike seemingly realizing he doesn't want to be with El/wants to be with Will when she kisses him in s3? coincidence, it's not because he realizes he doesn't like El, it just happens to happen while a girl is kissing him. Mike resorting to a disprovable lie about love at first sight during his monologue instead of stating the real moment he realized he liked her? completely random🤭

if your interpretation of canon is that solid then why are you avoiding certain scenes? and the few people i've seen tackle them always need to go on their tangent of how "it's not like that" or you're "reading too much into it". so obviously El saying she could be Mike's sister doesn't mean anything and is just random filler dialogue, it's not supposed to make you feel any particular way. Mike having a similar girls excluding line to Will is only gaycoding for Will, Mike is just being silly and goofy duh, it's not that serious, and so on

it's fine to have whatever hc or interpretation but it's weird to me when ppl straight up say it's just as valid as the interpretation that's actually applicable to all of the show. the narrative that there is a good argument for bi Mike to be made and that ppl just don't post it anymore because the gay Mike truthers (who only hang out on their blogs) are so mean is hilarious when i know i've seen every bi Mike take last year and wasn't convinced by any of them. if there is such a good argument for bi Mike then why don't i see more posts? bc despite the current victim complex, gay Mike was the original pariah in the fandom until people had the guts to start posting analysis. the fact that half the people on here now subscribe to gay Mike despite that interpretation only not getting you screamed at since a few months ago does say a lot about how convincing both interpretations are. because just maybe, the fact that there's more gay Mike believers than bi Mike believers (don't even know if that's accurate i don't know the tag anymore, but it's what the bi interpretators are saying) is because people see it as more plausible, and not bc they haven't had the pleasure to see a bi Mike post yet

seriously, just your gay Mike takes alone go way back and were pretty unusual at the time. and it speaks volumes to me that most serious anaylzers and theorizers subscribe to gay Mike exclusively, while the blogs that post more for fun and provide regular character and ship content and interact more with the tag and "community" on here like bi Mike. it's almost like... bi Mike is more fun as a hc but narratively inferior to gay Mike, which is why all the serious show analyzers are so adamant and passionate about it

ANON YOU WENT OFF WITH THIS!!!!!!!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 ABSOLUTE FACTS 10000000% REAL LIKE I HAVE NO NOTES IM JUST CLAPPING AND CHEERING AND NODDING MY HEAD WHILE I TYPE THIS!!!!!!!! That’s SO true about how the more serious analysis blogs tend to be gay mike truthers whereas the more for fun/posting solely hc stuff blogs tend to veer towards bi mike. And with that said, I think there’s also an element of that dynamic that’s tied to how that solely fic/hc section of byler tumblr tends to get fairly weird about The Actual Show sometimes (such as a bunch of them being appalled that people would bother to try and analyze henry) & try to stay in this weird “all headcanons are textually valid” space (even though thats not possible) because that whole group is so eager to jump at the throats of anyone who makes a minor misstep. Like this does NOT go for *everyone* who is just having fun/posting ship stuff, many of those folks r wonderful, im talking abt a particular group of popular/vocal folks in that circle, and there’s definitely a dynamic at play of “smh someone CRITICIZED another TAKE from SOMEONE ELSE, they are SOOOO rude smhhhhh everything is canon and valid” which makes people not want to step out of line/not want to have actual firm opinions on things.

But god uh my little tangent aside, this is so real and well-put, anon. Like you said, if there’s so much evidence for bi mike, then why arent people posting it instead of posting posts whining about how somebody said that there’s no evidence for bi mike? Like. Post your evidence then. Do it. I still laugh about one big prominent bi mike blog that posted awhile back about how they COULD disprove all the gay mike analysis but they WONT. and it’s like. girl. we know that you won’t because you CAN’T. If you could, you WOULD. And oh my god people acting like the familial parallels are just random filler dialogue makes me INSANE and what makes me more insane is when people (specifically the fucking idiots on twitter) act like pointing out the obvious mileven familial parallels is weird on MY part. As if IM THE ONE THAT PUT THEM THERE?? AS IF IM CONDONING INCEST?? LIKE GO TALK TO THE DUFFERS THEY PUT THEN IN THERE NOT ME!!!

And god yeah you just. You said it ALL, anon, like this is perfect, like people can have hcs or whatever i dont care but dont act like theyre equally textually supported. Because theyre not. And pointing out what is/isnt canon in the show isn’t biphobia, as much as God’s Whiniest Soldiers would like to believe it is. Gay mike ws absolutely the pariah before, and it’s SO funny to see bi mike truthers acting like anyone who disagrees with them is a Big Bad Mean Person who is Exploding Bi Mike Truthers With A Biphobia Laser. I have asked 163748596969696 times for someone to give me bi mike evidence that doesn’t heavily rely on outright ignoring the existence of other scenes in the show. And nobody’s been able to do it. Because mike is gay & the show is written with gay mike in mind. And god yeah the whole me getting screamed at over it thing is so funny in retrospect because people were literally mad at me for “disturbing the peace” as if this is fucking hobbiton and i’m gandalf after dragging bilbo baggins off to the lonely mountain & being labelled a disturber of the peace for it. like oh nooo ive got my gay little hands all over your peace. So what. Block me. Kill me if you can. Just do SOMETHING other that whining in my inbox like youre a 50 year old home owners association leader who got a noise complaint because i sneezed too loudly. (and when i say you, i dont mean You, anon, i mean the collective whining bi mike group who haunts my inbox).

It makes me insane. Every day. To see people willfully ignoring evidence that disagrees with them & trying to shoehorn evidence into working just for them to bring out the flimsiest analysis youve ever seen in your life & have a fucking fit when people point out that it’s flimsy. Again, anon, you said it ALL.

[findingmypeace]

This was originally part of my other post but I ended up doing a lot of ranting and going down rabbit hole I did not intend to go down. My original point was to discuss why I have such a hard time moving on and letting go but obviously it didn’t quite work out like that. I feel vulnerable posting this and obviously I have talked about all of it many times. I’m just not sure if I’ve ever put it all together like this on tumblr and it feels more revealing this way.

Also I am going to stop right here and make a big trigger warning. My ‘rant’ includes many of the traumatic comments my parents have made over the years. While I’m not sure what I’ve experienced is really *abuse* I tagged it as emotional abuse and I am making this warning for the sake of anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable reading this topic.

In a dream world my parents would listen to me as I recount everything they did, then they would apologize, and (again this is dream world), they will change and give me all the support, validation, and understanding I’ve always wanted from them. That is 100% never going to happen. In their mind I’m a ball of emotion and drama and apparently I love every bit of it.

That’s the problem. I am haunted by so many one-liners that my brain has decided to hold onto.

“You’re not going to die” (said with an eyeroll) “If you want to fry your brain, you’re an adult and I can’t stop you.” (about ECT) My Mom: “I don’t think you should go to treatment because you enjoy it. You were laughing when all the other girls looked grumpy.” Me: “Mom, that hurts.” Mom: “Well you don’t want me to lie to you do you?” My Dad, years earlier, “I don’t know you well enough to know if you need treatment” “My Dad, a year ago: “You chose to develop bulimia. You researched disorders, decided on bulimia, and deliberately developed it.” My Mom: “You’re an addict and addicts die”. The ‘addict’ part was not the problem. It was her tone of voice. Like she really didn’t care if I lived or died. Yes, she said it out of anger and irrationality but that was devastating to hear from my Mom.

I’ve heard these one-liners my entire life. It is not surprising then that I despise myself and second guess every word I say. I’ve never been able to relate when people talk about comforting their inner child. I’ve just never truly believed my parents were…incorrect? It’s not that I’ve believed I was a ‘bad’ kid. It’s that the message I got from my parents was everything I said or did was an exaggeration of the truth for the sake of getting attention.I was told (about my ed): “You’re lying. You’re making it up for attention.” And in present day, I get all those lovely comments from my parents that I listed above. That is why I stopped talking to them…

I don’t know where to go from here although I know I need to move on and stop perseverating on all of this. Like I said in the other post, how? How do I say, “It was hurtful but I’m letting it go?” Like how do you flip the switch and just move on? I have no idea how to get to that point.

[phantom-of-the-ruckus]

Hello puppets theories #2: Why I can't see the handeemen as related

1/?

Special thanks to my discord sister (whose actually my best friend) and co-creator of the theories: @dolly-royal for hearing me rambling about evil puppets and cults, helping so much finding out my points, and bringing up points I did not notice.

This will be a jungle of many reasons why I don't see the handemen as related. There is a change individual posts will be created furthering these points.

And who from now on will be part of my tag list for my theories and observations

(If you want to be part of the list or wish to part take in discussions feel free to DM!!)

special thanks to @dreamland-creations for hearing my rambles and seeing my constant screenshots (ily little meow meow/planotic/affectionate)

Before reading this, please read my previous lore for more dept:

(I am linking the one with the reblog because Andrew replied to that tweet I shared, and explain to me the connection but sorta confirmed that Owen and Mortimer are indeed Gods)

As a quick recap. I came out with the theory that Riley believed Mortimer was her "Father" at first as she tried to explain logically (avoiding the supernatural aspects) until she accepted that Owen created her and just sees Mortimer as a leader. She just refers o him as her "true father" out of respect.

I am adding here some things that I forgot to mention:

I am very well aware of the first Nick Nack tape, however I will say this: The tape is originally around in the early years of the take-over. I have a theory in-process regarding the timeline. So that means during that tape Riley was refusing Owen as her creator.

Going also back to the same point. Daisy canonically has said and it's implied she doesn't really care what the others do as long as they're nice to her. She hasn't shown any evidence based on the puppet interactions that she sees them as a family. So no, I don't think she sees Mortimer or Owen as her fathers.

Nick Nack is the only handeemen that doesn't address Mortimer as father or has shown to see him as such + Not to mention he doesn't treat the others as family or has any indications that he sees them as such as evidently with Riley and Daisy.

So, with those things out of the way. I'll start with a post I wanted to make for a long time and it's about my arguments of why I strongly disagree with the view the puppets are related.

Disclaimer: I am not calling out or criticizing those who believe it. Although this is my personal opinion, yours is just as valid as mine and you have every right to disagree with me. Until we have an actual response, we only have speculation

So, I'll divide this into several points that I am working alongside with Amber (Dolly-Royal) to address our POV.

Part 1: The talks about Gods: Owen is not actually viewed as a father.

This is mostly about the cannon fact that Owen is a puppet God. It is established several points in the game as well as in the tapes itself. This is a straight-up fact that was actually brought in the first hello puppets game when Scout and host find Owen's dead body turned into a puppet-like human and Scout saying the following:

"Shit! That's Owen, that's the guy that made us ...(proceeds to explain Owen creating them and how he regrets it now)... it is weird to met your god" (Scout, Hello Puppets!)

This probably seems like some sort of irrelevant, or simply a weird comment off made from the first game, but actually...this is shown and implied several times in the actual gameplay of the midnight show itself.

The first example that I can actually think it was implicitly implied that Owen was a sort of God to the puppets was during the second phase of Riley's level where Owen calls her "Atheist" after she denied that he created her and believed that the puppets evolved.

I can see people taking this as Owen commenting in the whole evolution reflects Atheist beliefs, but that wouldn't exactly fit within the conversation Owen and Riley were having. Owen could simply remark that he was her father instead of calling her an Atheist if it was actually the case that he was her father as in terms of family and not Father as "Father of creation", which she sorta implies during off the conversation in one of the tapes.

"We are just reflections of our creator. A river and a tributary." (Daisy Danger loyalty tapes #7)

This goes pretty much goes along with the whole "Owen is a puppet God" narrative in the Midnight show as a whole. I did mention before that as someone who grew up in a religious environment, I was not stranger to see people referring to God as "Father" (in terms of Father of creation)

So, I wouldn't be rare for the puppets to refer to Owen as their father of creation, while Riley wouldn't due to not believing in God (hence why she was a puppet Atheist) which does goes along with this phrase she says during our first encounter with her in the MS.

"The others may call you that; but as far as I am concerned, Mortimer is our father, and you are just a Lab Rat" (Riley Ruckus first level, Hello Puppets!: The midnight show)

I believe that Riley was making clear she wouldn't call Owen her father because he was not the one who breathe life into her as it was Mortimer who did so, and therefore should receive the title of "Father" according to her mindset.

I did briefly mention a theory of mine involving Riley perspective of Mortimer at the end of my first long post focused on the lore and talk more about the cult theory:

It would make sense for Riley to call Owen a simple nobody who is no use to her other than some testing subject. Why would she care about a God she doesn't believe in? After all, Owen is not a puppet but just a human, a cattle for them.

Anyways, outside Riley referring to Owen as "The creator" there are other instances in the tapes and the actual gameplay where Owen is implied or is referred to be a God. There are the mentions of religion of the game by Daisy, but I'll divulge into later. Strangely enough, Mortimer is the one who constantly has made a lot of religious comments and these implications, Riley appears to be the second one. Daisy and Nick don't really mention much.

Anyways, I'll start with the minor implications towards Owen being confirmed in the game to be a good.

"For the love of Owen!" (Mortimer, Nick loyalty tapes #1 I believe. Hello puppet Midnight show)

This one is the most straight forward. This is clearly a reference to the phrase "For the love of God!", except that God was replaced by Owen because Owen is the creator, and therefore the actual God figure of the puppets.

Second one is more of an implication

"You'd rat out Owen himself if it got you a pat on the head" (Mortimer, Daisy loyalty tapes #7, Hello Puppets: Midnight Show)

Although some might argue that they would say that Nick would rat out their "Father", I actually argue that Mortimer comment about Nick ratting out Owen is actually about Nick ratting God himself just to get the benefits

Which does go along with Mortimer calling Nick a "Judas" who according to the New Testament in the bible betrayed Jesus (who was also referred to as God himself) for some benefits, or what Mortimer implies "A pat on the head"

This is actually into Mortimer's character, but that would be part of another segment.

Anyways, the most important reference Mortimer directly makes into the game in this cut scene:

Based on the context, and implications of Owen being a creator of the game, it's pretty clear Mortimer is referring to his situation with Owen himself as it's a conversation they have during that cutscene.

I am still trying to figure out what did the creators themselves particularly meant during that cutscene, but my best take is that Mortimer is referring to his plans to force Owen into submitting to the puppets.

The puppets have dark plans to survive and according to Scout take over the world, but well that might be just an exaggeration or an actual plan, but nothing of the sort was explained in the game prequel. We know that Owen tried to stop the puppets multiple times, and they would not be able to thrive because Owen did intend to undo the spell and at the end of the game it is implied that he wants to destroy them.

I would also love to mention something else Mortimer mentions "Owen's presence haunting the Handeemen." I think this has to do with the poetic parallel Andrew Allen mentions in this tweet:

I do believe Andrew confirmed that Owen and Mortimer are considered Gods among the puppets themselves (which could explain why Riley refers as Owen was an impostor), but as the religion suggest, Mortimer would be always lesser than Owen himself, and even though he tries to give what the puppets need (A shaman, a guide) he would always be overshadowed by the greater God that created them all.

This actually reminds of the whole Satan and God complex in many religions. According to some beliefs (not mine) Satan wanted to be like a God, but he is always lesser to Jehovah/God/Jesus. Which ironically both are represented as the Evil (Satan) and Good (God) of the world.

Which would not be shocking if the creators got some inspiration by the major ruling religions of the world like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (ironically, the later two taking inspirations from Judaism, and Islam from Christianity as well. Hence, why they are similar in some aspects)

Part 2: The Handeemen: It appears to be a cult

Heavy trigger warning for cult talks and cult characteristics.

For this section, I'll focus more into the character of Riley herself as she appears to have the most prominent behavior that I think might be hints it's not a "Family" but rather a cult

As my dear friend Stich pointed out in one of our conversations, we believe that the puppets are in, as she puts it, "A patriarchal cult" with Mortimer as their leader and the puppets as the twisted "Family" based on some strange behaviors the puppets exhibit throughout the game.

More notably:

"Mortimer should not be defied"

Throughout later in the tapes from the puppets and the game itself, you can see that Mortimer is being quite a respected individual and who the puppets will side with no matter what (more or less) it is clear that they follow him out of fear and also respect as he was the one who brought them to life and the one that they ought their loyalty towards him.

Still...they refused to go against Mortimer no matter what he does or what even Owen says.

I am well aware of the whole puppet rebellion but I actually have an interested take and I think I mentioned before in my headcannons, but I'll say it again:

Riley was visibly unsure when it came to "overthrow" Mortimer.

If you look closely at her conversation with Daisy in tape #12 (Riley's tapes) Riley has a peculiar way of sinking into the idea of betraying Mortimer:

"....That would be treason..."

If you listen to the tape closely, you can actually hear Riley is rather muttering with a slight hint of horror in her voice. Not to mention she takes a pause before saying more loudly

"If Mortimer knew..."

Wish is obviously referring to Mortimer getting upset about the idea but she's unable to bring herself to finish the sentence as she knows what Mortimer would do, which Daisy does explain that Mortimer would pretty much make Riley's life a living hell as Daisy suggest Riley should become the new leader.

Surprisingly, the first thing Riley says is a direct "No" as she starts to have a hard time explaining why she disagrees if you focus on the way her VA (Jannel Bierch) delivers this line.

"No. This...This is not a rational plan."

What I find interesting, besides Riley having issues with Mortimer's leadership over the puppets, Riley is quick to refuse the idea of throwing "A'coup", and it's actually Daisy that convinces her to carry on with the plan but rather tackles on one of Riley's ego to convince her to carry out the plan as if you noticed, Riley seems to be a character that adores admiration and to prove herself constantly as a character and be always right.

Still, even though she carries out with her plan, she still makes clear she doesn't want to do this and has no choice according to her last tape: Riley's loyalty tape #15

"Mortimer. Our true father. Our leader. It gives me no pleasure to say, that we have assembled here to dispose you today.....I will always revere the name Mortimer Handee; but your leadership has become unsteady, and it's time for someone else to lead the puppets to glory."

What I find curious is how Riley still remains respectful towards Mortimer even after she announces that she's trying to overthrow him. She even makes clear that this is something that could potentially pain her, but stills holds respect to Mortimer Handee as a character.

Why am I bringing this up? I'm bringing this up because I believe might have the mentality of a cultist in regard to her leader that are common within cults. I've been trying to reach articles in regard to the subject, but I would divulge more into the whole what makes them a cult than explaining the whole "family aspect", so decided to pull out some small characteristics of this small article.

More specifically, I want to bring these particular points out.

One of the biggest things that made me curious about why the Handeemen particularly remained loyal to Mortimer besides his treatment of them and how tired they are of him. I think this particular characters goes well with the whole

"Not defying Mortimer" and the portions I show of Riley's dialogue, that are proof that she's still loyal to Mortimer regardless of what he did to her. Before any of you tell me "Phantom, he manipulated Riley to stay with her with Rosco"

I do agree, but if you look closely at these subtitles and the way Riley thanks Mortimer then it does become clear Riley easily fell into her devotion with Mortimer:

This was one of the biggest hints that the Handeemen were a cult was the way Riley behaved around and some of the things she said. One of the other hints that she gives is in her personal dialogue in tapes and outside tapes:

Riley almost never talks about herself in a singular way when it comes to the handeemen. It is almost always the Handemeen as a whole. She does occasionally refer to herself, but when it comes to the Handemen it is always "We" as a whole.

Even she addresses when she complains about Mortimer, she briefly mentions "Yeah, he constantly gets upset over me because he forgets what he ordered me" but her biggest complaint is how "Mortimer is going to bring down the puppets"

Once again going with the whole "Us" mentality, and I think this portion of the article might be the reason why:

When you think more about this, that would make much sense into why Riley would be more concern about the Handeemen than for example let's say Owen or any of the hosts, and event Scout herself.

I have another reason why she acts the way with Owen and the other humans, but let's focus on Scout for a moment.

In the first game Riley mentions that she doesn't consider Scout "A Handeemen" in other words, she is not one of their kind. I've always wondered about why Riley despises Scouts so much and I think it is not exactly about her [Scout] being created to destroy the handeemen (which I highly doubt Riley is aware) but rather this:

Scout can arguably be considered as an outsider to the Handeemen group since she's not a handeemen (which furthers down my point)

I am mentioning this because I want to elaborate into a possible meaning of "Family" in the sense of the cult based on these two observations.

Outside like one or three mentions of the usage "Father" Mortimer is referred by his first same and is talked more about as a leader than a "Father." (there is no evidence proving he ordered not to be called a father)

What Riley considers her "family" just goes into the three Handemeen, however, she treats them more as colleagues/and a leader rather than a family + she referred to them as a family in just two "occasions" but gave no indication she sees them as such.

As I established before, Riley is nonetheless a loyal follower to Mortimer's cult. As from my previous point, I believe that Mortimer has more the association of a God than a father (another hint that is a cult) and I believe that everyone may probably have misinterpreted the whole "puppet Children"in the literal sense rather than creations considering Mortimer thinks of them more as subjects than a family (which I strongly believe he was using to guilt-trip the handeemen into submission)

(This is from Superhorrorbro tapes video. This is tape #15)

I think the whole "family" and "children of Mortimer" has a lot to do to what my good friend Stich herself said as she believes "The Handeemen are in a Patriarchal cult as a twisted "Family". "(implying she agrees they are not related)

Like I mentioned before, the usage of family can have a different connotation when it comes to religious subjects, and it is not strange for cults to use the terminology of "Family" to refer to the group inside the cult (which was confirmed by an ex-cultist.) E.I Charles' Manson's cult was referred to as a "family" even though the members were not related to each other at all.

This most likely tackles into one of the aspects cults tend to do with the followers as a form of abuse and control (taken from this Article this would be used a bit more into part 3)

I did mention before that I believe the puppets have needs of their own. According to Marlow's hierarchy, there is a need for love and belonging which correlates to something the cults prey upon to gather new followers, and I believe this is where the whole "family" thing becomes strong.

Family for the puppets is not about being an actual family. They are in a closeted group, an elite group (according to the previous "cult characteristics article" for a better explanation)

(I'll argue that instead of humanity, is referring to the well-being of their kind)

The usage of family to them is more about being part of something and belong. This can be a parallel to the religious aspects of cults. Although it's not prominent, the references to religion and Gods is no stranger in the game and is another aspect of the cult. This goes along with the "how to stuff article" mentions briefly in one of the things cults seek out for leaders that I mentioned later.

The best example of what I mean with the "family" usage of things would be from a work of Stephen King himself "Children of the Corn." For a quick summary, here's what google summarizes the movie to be:

I hardly doubt that all the children may be related (some might be) but I can see a parallel of them as just as the Handemmen being the loyal subjects who serve a higher figure and leader: Mortimer Handee.

This also goes along with Mortimer being referred almost always as the Handeemen leader, which even Riley does. Outside tape 1, Mortimer is simply referred by his name which I found strange.

He's always refer as Mortimer and "Sir" but not father. Like I said before, there is no indication that he demanded not to be referred as, but this might be because of the whole cult structure and calling Mortimer their leader and refer to his name is a sign from the puppets that they respect him.

Mortimer constantly refers to himself as a person of higher standing, which Andrew did confirm (think) that the puppets are in a sort of hierarchy where Mortimer comes first. He does imply it with this:

The game itself also treats Mortimer as the ultimate power of the puppets, which goes along with what I am saying.

There are also many points I want to bring about the cult theory, but that will divulge less into the subject of "Not being related" into this series of analytical posts, so that would be another thing for another set of posts.

I'll eventually released the other posts and make a master posts combining all of them into one place as Tumblr will not allow me to post pictures.

[torturedpoetemotions]

@valleyg0th Like I said, answering this in a separate post because it's too long-winded for a reply and sort of off the topic of the original post. My comments and yours from that post above for reference.

Also, I'd like to preface this by saying that the ethical and moral considerations around RPS/RPF are massively nuanced and complicated, and something that I'm still working through myself. That being said, I do have some pretty hard and fast ideas about what ISN'T okay, which inform a lot of what I'm getting into below.

But first, I'd like to clarify my statement as it seems from your reply that it did not come across the way I intended. When I say "something Taylor has made it clear she doesn't want to be super public about" I'm not talking about her sexuality. I'm talking about her relationships in general.

She has made it very clear, repeatedly, over the years that she does not appreciate uninvited intrusions into her personal life. That's not really debatable at this point. She wants to be the one to choose what and when and how her personal life is shared with the world. If she has ever asked for anything, anything at all, it's that.

That's part one of why I find the constant spreading and debate and speculation over these still-unconfirmed break-up rumors so distasteful, particularly from people who claim to love Taylor.

Part two of why I find it so distasteful is the way so many people are celebrating this breakup rumor because it validates their theories about Taylor's sexuality, rejoicing that she's "gotten rid of her beard" and such. That's gross regardless of what you think her sexuality is. If people were on here going "oh yay she broke up with Joe this is how Haylor can still win" I would find that despicable, too.

I'm not particularly invested in any of Taylor's relationships beyond being happy that she's happy, but I do participate and get invested heavily in RPS/RPF in other fandoms, and the keys to respectful RPS/RPF are pretty clear, whether the ship in question is het or queer.

1. You do not demonize, villainize, or harass the real life significant others of the people your ship concerns. (It's also generally considered distasteful to float or perpetuate rumors or conspiracy theories about the relationship being fake or forced, but the bare minimum is you don't make whatever you think about the relationship that SO's problem.)

2. You do not involve or bother the children of the people your ship concerns in any way, ever.

3. You do not ever, ever, EVER put your shipping or associated material (i.e. fics, fanart, theorizing, tinhatting) where the real people it concerns are likely to see it.

And that third one is where Swifties, Gaylors in particular, are really fucking failing right now. Now, if a famous person goes onto AO3 and searches for their name, that's one thing. Or they come into any fandom space where they aren't a known presence and start poking around...they went looking for it. But bringing it up at live events or putting it on social media platforms that said celebrity openly frequents in a way they're likely to see it (i.e. by @ing them or putting it under their name's hashtag) is crossing a line.

And yet what is the Taylor Swift tag FULL OF, on tumblr where we all know Taylor has had an account for years and lurks occasionally? People calling Joe an ex-beard, celebrating the end of their relationship, and analyzing her every move and facial expression and song choice in the context of these unconfirmed break-up rumors.

This shit is gross, full stop. And on top of everything else, far too many of the fans in the Gaylor camp are quick to call anyone who has a problem with their behavior in this regard a homophobe, trivializing the very real dangers and struggles faced by queer people to win their stupid little fandom arguments. That's disgusting. It disgusts me as a queer person.

Part three of why I find all the breakup rumor speculation so distasteful is that once again, Taylor is doing the absolute most and completely killing it at her career, but many of her so-called fans only want to focus on her relationship status with some guy. It's all "she's doing so great on tour in spite of the Joe breakup!" or "she's doing so great on tour because of the Joe breakup!" How about we stop attributing anything in this woman's career to the men she's involved with? Are we capable of that? Have we fucking evolved past 2015 yet?

As for Taylor's habit of leaving clues in her albums, I find it wild that people assume because she has left fairly obvious little puzzles and easter eggs for us throughout her career ABOUT her career, i.e. background info about the music on an album or foreshadowing around what's coming next, that means that she's constantly sending us secret coded messages about her private life.

Like...capitalized letters in liner notes that spell out a detail about that song or album that you wouldn't otherwise know, or a numerical code on her instagram that reveals the vault tracks on her next TV re-recording, or even easter eggs in a music video related to very public knowledge that inspired the song and album...are all a pretty far cry from "Taylor has been sending secret, unconfirmed signals that only we can see for over a decade to tell us that she's actually queer and being forced to stay in the closet and have PR relationships with men she doesn't care about."

And finally, I actually don't have a problem with interpreting Ivy or any of Taylor's music as queer. Interpreting art is not the same thing as speculating on the artist's sexuality, and it sure as hell isn't the same thing as celebrating a breakup rumor because it validates that speculation. I myself interpret a LOT of Taylor's music as queer. But I also understand that how I interpret art is just as much about me as it is about the art.

Me finding something in Taylor's music that I resonate with as a queer person doesn't necessarily mean Taylor herself is queer. And even if she is, she hasn't chosen to share that with us, so it's simply none of my goddamn business. "A lot of Taylor Swift's music resonates with me and my queer experiences" and "Taylor Swift's sexuality is none of my business" are ideas that can and should coexist.

As are "I think she might be" and "but that's none of my business" for that matter! Hell, I can even admit that based on my own experiences of being closeted and coming out, I wouldn't be surprised at all if one day Taylor comes out as bi. But that doesn't mean she OWES me or anyone else that disclosure, or that it's okay to be on the internet endlessly speculating on unsubstantiated rumors concerning something we know she specifically likes to be private about in a place we KNOW she's likely to see it! Especially when that speculation gives way to actively celebrating the end of her relationship without knowing a) if it has actually ended, and b) how she feels about it if it has.

[unhingedhearties]

The Burned Photo Evidence!

Someone anonymously sent me screencaps of a Twitter exchange that mentioned the infamous burning of Erin's photo incident. The original post was deleted, but on a hunch I put the URL into the Wayback Machine and by luck the deleted Tweet was archived, although the video of the photo being burned was not saved. That's what I really wanted, however this is close enough and I'm feeling generous, so pinned this post will be for 2 months.

It’s like reading a Tweet or message on Instagram today. It really is the same insane behavior. It’s just coming from “the other side”.

This Team Lucas Team Nathan nonsense needs to be put in a highschool textbook as an example of horseshoe theory. Forget analyzing how Democrats and Republicans act, that is the prime example. 

“Nathan carried those last three seasons”

So you’re weird hatred of Elizabeth aside, NONE of the other characters were fun to watch? Nobody? I could understand this mentality if you were watching a show with a small cast and you only care for one character, but how do you sit and watch an hour long show with a large ensemble of characters and only care about one person who gets, what, ten minutes of screen time an episode?

Of course they tagged the actors, writers and producers. Because when you’re showing your ass in public, you want the largest audience possible. 

“If they hadn't humiliated our Mountie like they did we might even think about rooting for her.”

It astounds me how many people, on both sides, don’t treat Elizabeth like a person. She is just a physical embodiment of validation. They don’t actually care about the character or her journey. A lot of the time it feels like they hate her. But they want her to approve of the man they’ve chosen to obsess over. “Yes, pick the same man I also picked. Now shut up and let me project myself onto you.”

I feel like this needs to be said:

Chris is not going to **** you

Kevin is not going to **** you.

The sooner some of you people come to terms with that, the healthier your lives will be. 

God Bless Emma and TeamHeartieElizabeth for trying to bring some sanity into this situation.

“If you didn’t like it, just don’t see it!”

That is some brilliant logic. 10/10 big brain thinking.

“If was a joke”

You have a shit sense of humor. I doubt if someone did that with your photos you’d be laughing. You’d be throwing down the victim card so fast your wrist would break.

“I don’t care about being criticized!” *post deleted*

The Internet is public. Anything you do on it is public and open for ridicule. That is the thesis statement of this Tumblr.

[randomfoggytiger]

I think your interpretation of that scene is skewed and contributed to what happened. Whether or not the specific term “man crush” had been invented by the time of that scene, what David and Gary are discussing is bisexuality. Bisexuality has been around longer than we’ve had the words to talk about it and certainly much before either Gary or David’s times. My understanding of “the humor” in that scene is that David is describing the feelings of being attracted to a woman and comparing them to the same feelings he has towards Gary, thus verbally contradicting himself. It’s funny because while David is saying he’s NOT gay, he is describing himself BEING gay. (Re bisexual due to his history and admittance to wanting/liking/desiring women as well).

No matter the intent of the skit, the impact is a discussion of bisexuality.

Your response to the other person denies and rejects the duality of intent and impact and leans heavily on the insistence that only the intent is valid. Which is where I see the disconnect. (And how the hell do you know David and Gary’s initial intent with this scene?). If you speak with such authority, you need to give that same authority back to those in the same position as you. Neither of you were there in the making of that skit and both of your responses lay on the same level of assumption.

As someone who has faced continuous denial and rejection of my existence and identities, being cast away with words of “it’s just funny to me” is not funny to me and does more harm than good. It’s especially difficult to have discussions and back and forths online because you lose a lot of nuance and tone indicators when reading in your own voice and from your own perspective. I’m sure your impact of this anon will differ from my intent in sending it.

I’m interjecting my voice and my opinion on the matter because your “call-out” post made this all public and indicated that some sort of external input was needed or desired. You seem to be trying to understand what’s happening and without personally speaking to either of you or having any additional context out of seeing your post on my dash and clicking the links (seeing those posts for the very first time too) i understand how much it sucks to feel misinterpreted and wish you peace in whatever level of understanding you are left with.

Tagging this as "drama" (shorter than misconceptions) for anyone that wants to avoid.

Referring to this post.

Well, I only "know" because David has repeatedly said in all his interviews about the topic that the skit was about a "man crush" before the term existed, not about gay or bisexuality. I'm just repeating what he's said--reference (2:37 onward is the specific backstory.) It's funny either way; the original intent just tickled my funny bone more.

I'm fine that anyone can interpret it differently-- that's comedy-- but that doesn't give someone the right to paint me as a bigot for not agreeing with one interpretation, just as it wouldn't give me the right to lambast jewish-mulder for her own take on that skit.

And let's say you're 100% correct and I'm 100% wrong... am I a bigot because I accidentally hurt or minimized your or Anna's personal experiences? The intent is important: why was I brushed with the same brush as an actual bigot and dismissed so quickly without being given the chance to correct if I'd offended?

Thank you for taking the time to drop in with your thoughts. I appreciate it; and hope you have a lovely day.

[baladric]

i was just randomly scrolling through the tdt tag and i saw your post about the horrible treatment by supposed fans towards stiefvater and trc/tdt and i couldn’t agree more. things were always tricky and it was a sad sad day when she closed her tumblr and i remember a lot of it had to do with the treatment of kavinsky’s character. i’m not saying there weren’t problematic elements to her writing but she more often than not got criticised for all sorts of dumb shit but i truly hoped that the fandom had matured in the years following the release of the raven king but i suppose it was not to be. i remember when she did a reddit ama and got accused of being homophobic because declan and jordan got engaged but not ronan and adam. like ?!?!? did this person even pay attention to the story and their character arcs?? it would make very little sense for pynch to get engaged, not least because they are barely in the same place for most of tdt. anyway sorry for the rant but i just truly feel bad for maggie, for all the work and love she put into these characters and doing it all through a scary illness that nearly stopped her from writing and by all accounts would have killed her. i definitely think she wasn’t prepared for the level of fandom and attention she was going to receive for trc and it sucks that she’s had to reduce her presence from social media since. i can’t wait for her next books though especially because they seem to be more for adults. i think she has truly mastered young adult fiction so i’m curious to see what she does next, and it’s bound to be good if tdt is any indication

oh word, friend! honestly the vitriolic outlash re: kavinsky was sort of my personal first red flag about the rising of purity culture in fandom spaces (though there were, and are, valid criticisms of k obviously, like yikes re: the "face of a refugee" shit)—and now all this stuff about pynch in tdt is like... idk, people have lost touch with the concepts of nuance and also unhomogenized relationship arcs.

(THIS GOT SO LONG SORRY, I HAVE TOO MANY THOUGHTS)

idk how understood this is, but as a chronically ill person, i think about it a lot—ronan's entire arc in tdt, especially in cdth, is about chronic illness and the arduous, painful process of acceptance of one's disability and consequent limitations. like you said, stiefvater came into tdt after a terrifying illness during which she literally lost the ability to string sentences together, and very much had no idea if it was a skill she would ever regain. and she's still dealing with issues, i'm sure, because any serious illness leaves its marks.

being a dreamer has always had aspects of chronic illness, though one could argue that its original plot inclusions in trc aligned more with experiences of addiction and mental illness (with a soupçon of internalized homophobia, for Flavor™). but the way tdt starts off with ronan being very directly forced into conflict with his physical capabilities in regards to doing the things he needs to do for his own essential happiness (read: moving to be closer to adam, and his following inability to actually do that, as it took him too far off the ley line to be safe for him,or anyone around him) is a classic chronic illness narrative. and considering what stiefvater was coming out of, experientially, it's very clear that this is deliberate.

(i think she's actually talked about this somewhere, maybe in that reddit ama, but idr where! if anyone wants to follow-up with that, it would be lovely)

the thing is!!! navigating one's own disability is a grieving process—and grief is multifaceted, and comes paired with a lot of anger and railing at god/nature/reality/whatever. which, of course, can absolutely ruin relationships and push loved ones away. and even if it doesn't firebomb those relationships, it still complicates them intrinsically. a person can't help someone that's not helping themself, and it's hard to have space for helping yourself when all of your resources are going towards survival. and ronan is very much surviving. he is not helping himself—and he hasn't been for a long time at the start of tdt. we see that in the daily/weekly schedule declan had to force him to write so he wouldn't just waste away, and it continues apace into, you know. violent ecofascism. (which is a lot more destructive than your average joe can manage with their disability crisis, but you know, each to their own!)

meanwhile, adam's on his own self-worth/self-concept journey, spreading his wings at college and doing the very classic job of swinging oneself so far in the opposite direction of their old behaviors or the person they used to be, that it ends up being its own brand of personal disservice. he has put the adam parrish of henrietta in a box and shoved it to the back of his mind, and donned this very literal disguise (my boy! in a tweed fuckin vest and slacks! love that for him) of ivy league therapist friend!adam, and though we obvs lack adam pov to take the actual temperature of this, it's really clear that this shift isn't sustainable. you can't run from trauma, and you can't run from your past self, and he's making a valiant effort at doing both. it's gonna back up on him, if it's not already.

so ronan going off the rails? not something adam has the capacity to manage gracefully, even if ronan was letting him in—which he isn't, because he's grieving the simple fact of an inherent freedom he'll never be allowed. all of his friends have scattered on the wind like so many traumatized dandelion seeds, and he's stuck in the same place, unable to put the ghosts of their collective past behind him, because they live in his house. this is the driveway where he found his father, dead; this is the barn where he spent countless fruitless hours trying to dream a sweetmetal for his mother, only to have her die horribly before he could; this is the car in which he raced a dead boy, and these are the streets he drove with his best friend on long, sleepless nights when all they could do was try to keep each other from falling through the holes in their heads. the school he failed, the church in which he dreamed a crime worse than anything he'd dreamed before or since, the hummocks of disturbed earth, grown over with tall grass, in which he buried the things that wanted to kill him and who knows how many other corpses of his own physical self.

and he can't leave. he can never leave, so he's clutching at straws and alienating everyone who loves him and just McFreakin Losing It! which is fine, because he's nineteen and stranded and feels more alone than he ever has, in this void of anything like guidance, in the void of parental figures, in the void of any kind of traditional life path, and he has to work all of that out for himself.

so of course he and adam aren't getting fucking engaged. of course it's not a happily ever after—and it would be disinenguous for maggie goddamn stiefvater to give us that! because when has she ever been anything but a writer of complex, messy and wretchedly gorgeous characters? isn't that what drew us all to her in the first place? because fuck, y'all, the draw sure isn't her plots or her worldbuilding! (i love her worldbuilding, to be clear, it's just... aside from the dreaming, it's not super consistent)

stiefvater's appeal as an author is the very unique and complex way she understands her characters' minds, and refuses to ever play them as archetypes. gansey isn't just a nerd, or just a rich boy, or just a lonely person—he is all of them at once. he's a king of men, he's miserable, he's giddy with the thrill of being alive, he wants to get pizza with his friends and drive too fast and be allowed to go fuckin bonkers now and again and kiss the girl he loves.

gansey is a fucking problem. blue is a problem, henry is a problem—adam parrish and ronan lynch are PROBLEMS, and god fuckin bless stiefvater for not only allowing this in her characters, but for leaning into it. she lets them be messy, lets them be awful and fight and do the wrong thing, and—most importantly—she lets them find ways to come back together afterwards!

all this to say, it blows my fucking mind that people are surprised that this trilogy is doing anything other than absolutely wrecking shop. stiefvater wouldn't have written these books if there weren't things in her characters that needed to break in order to be patched back up, stronger than before. the entire raven cycle universe is built on the shifting nature of individual identity, and the ways we all have to create our own fulfillment, because the goals we set for ourselves are very rarely the point of existence that we want them to be. and if the first quartet was about gansey and adam, at their core, then this trilogy is about ronan and declan, building their fulfillment. finding their footing in the world as adults (which, you know, quick point, tdt is not young adult fiction, it's regular old speculative fiction, so uhhh yeah of course the material is gonna be even less fluffy homogenized shit than the first series) and that's fucking HARD and MESSY and just. jeez, y'all, have faith in stiefvater that it'll all come out the better, and find some peace that things are messy right now. (it's not HOMOPHOBIC for a queer person to struggle in fiction, and if you're thinking that, you need to sit down and examine that thought very deeply. i could say a lot about how declan falling in love and getting engaged is extremely meaningful for his personal development, where the same thing wouldn't be for adam and ronan, but uhhh idk)

we make a lot of jokes that stiefvater likes to hurt us, but does she? really? like, yes, her writing hurts, but as a person who was dragged kicking and screaming through his mid-20s by the nape of his neck and the slim hope of the brighter future shown in the raven cycle, i can say that her stories are actually, at their core, about healing and the awful paths we have to walk to reach it. and, with the advent of tdt, they're now also about the fact that healing is cyclical, not linear! there's no end point to growth. there's no happy ending—because there's no ending, short of death. life has ups and downs, and with every layer of ourselves we heal, another, deeper layer pulls back, demanding that same care and attention, those same tears and clawing for the light. it's hard. it sucks. but at the end of the day, we can get gelato with our friends. we can look at art. we can find our sweetmetals to carry us through our days, whether those be assistive devices, or people, or a favorite book.

;laskfjw idk TL;DR, these books would not only not be maggie stiefvater books if adam and ronan just... got engaged and were having a happy, fluffy time of it (and fwiw, declan and jordan are distinctly NOT having a happy fluffy time??)—they would also fucking suck. they would not be entries into this world. they would be doing these characters a fucking disservice. so just. everyone needs to calm down and realize they can just not read something if it makes them mad. what's that meme with the skeleton? you can just LEAVE!!! you can put the book down instead of harassing the fucking author, who is doing nothing but staying true to herself and her motivations in storytelling.

clearly i have a lot of feelings about this. if you read this far, blessings be on your funky little soul, you absolute legend.

[calzonekestis]

No, tumblr is not glitching. There is a a screen shot of a Marvel gif set in an unrelated fandom’s tag.

Tis a screen shot so as not to derail the notes of OP’s post with said unrelated fandom’s discourse.

If OP would like me to delete the screenshot and simply leave the link to the original post, I will happily do so.

It’s just.

I’ve been thinking a lot about just. The misogyny of fandom. Not particularly the Marvel fandom, or Stranger Things fandom, but like. Any fandom?

Cause despite what gatekeeping dudebros may want to believe - so much of Fandom culture thrives on women. Them and their creativity, and their engagement.

And I realize that as a cis man I should tread carefully asking this, but then… why is it that fandom is so misogynist towards actresses just doing their jobs?

The likes of Emily VanCamp and Grace Van Dien get viscous attacks online because people don’t like their characters, their relationships to their male faves. The actress merely living and breathing in real life is somehow a threat to their favorite fictional pairing.

Meanwhile, like. Joe Quinn talks about Eddie and Chrissy, people ignore him and say he doesn’t know what he’s saying. That he’s being pressured into saying it.

David Harbour talks about how he read Jopper fanfic, and how he and Winona adlibbed their second kiss. He’s a King for this. Fandom loves him.

Grace Van Dien just shared cute fanart to her social media accounts. She talked about how she and her scene partner approached the scene.

That’s literally all this poor woman has ever done. And suddenly she’s labeled the antichrist.

Like, ok, the screenshotted gif set. I like Sebastian Stan. I like that he Ships the Thing. I’m not saying we should tear him apart for shipping the thing - not at all, by any means.

But like. Can you imagine how opposite the response would be if he was a woman?

Saying he wants his character to marry/date/sleep with a dude? Making sexual innuendos?

Can you imagine if Grace said any such things pertaining to Eddie? I mean I know she was put on the spot with that Date/Marry/Kill game at various cons, but like.

She wouldn’t, because she has more tact - but if she was like “yeah I wish Chrissy had lived so she and Eddie could bone.” Like. If those were her words.

Like if she didn’t go all “be a weird/uncouth couple” about it, but if she was just like “girlie deserves to get it.”

I’d be snickering and cheering her on, frankly. I wouldn’t see anything wrong with that. Dear God though, could you imagine how twitter would react?

Like. Come on. Again, we’ve seen how the woman is treated just for sharing fanart and talking about how she approached her craft. If she did any of that?

Could you imagine?

A white man can get away with it, though. Be praised for it. Why is that? Is it because he’s conventionally attractive?

Like. Is that it?

Cause like. Again. Women hold fandom up on their shoulders like they’re Atlas. So why is misogyny so damn prevalent, especially when it comes to shipping culture?

I’m not even getting into acting like you’re some progressive ally just because you have a slash ship - because I think I covered that in previous posts. Its not actually caring about m|m or our representation. In many instances, you’re just horny. Or you just want to fetishize us as your “uwu soft gays”.

No, I mean like. Not even talking about the erasure if female characters, the shaming people for shipping m|f ships… why is it that the women making the content like ships? Why can’t they validate them? When you love it when the men do - at least, when they validate the ones you like. The women though, they better just keep their mouths shut. They’re so creepy, I bet they’re lusting after their costar! We aren’t projecting at all!

Again. Cis male. So like. I’m self aware enough to know I’m maybe not the best person to call this out/the person who should call it out but. Does fandom hate women? Cause it sure seems that way sometimes, and like. That makes little to no sense to me, not only because ayyy women 😩🤌 but like.

This is your house. Women built this house. Y’all are the ones who keep it running, it would be an even uglier and much more boring place without you. A patriarchal white echo chamber of dudebros complaining about a Star War.

So like. I’m sorry, but the shaming actresses for shipping a thing, cyber bullying them for daring to breathe your white blorbo man’s air.

While also building that white blorbo man on a weird little Hey Arnold style shrine in the back of your closet, so to speak.

It makes no sense to me. Y’all should be better than this. I know that you are better than this, the majority of you - that it is just a heinous vocal minority who attack actresses online but like.

What the fuck is up with that, pray tell?

I’m not blaming all this bullshit on all women - that’s stupid and I have more self awareness.

Again, white man. If I blamed you personally for this, you could blame me personally for like… I don’t know, nearly every horrible historical event in the history of history.

I don’t mean to play the blame game here, I just. I don’t understand.

Like you can tell it to me why this happens - I understand what all the words mean. Jealousy and bitterness and internalized misogyny. Yeah, I know, that all checks out.

It still. Doesn’t make sense. Going back over a decade to dig through a person’s trauma and recovery, their posts from when they were a minor… doctoring them in an attempt at defamation and libel.

All that. Over fictional characters. Over ships. Over your obsession with an actor who doesn’t know you exist and if he did would be disgusted by how you’re treating his friend and coworker.

Nothing about any of that makes sense.

[mercurygray]

I posted 2,578 times in 2022

867 posts created (34%)

1,711 posts reblogged (66%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mercurygray

@carbone14

@shoshiwrites

@marvelingjules

@captainkilly

I tagged 2,357 of my posts in 2022

Only 9% of my posts had no tags

#asked and answered - 153 posts

#i have written a thing - 138 posts

#shopping for a fanfic - 131 posts

#rebagelling for a later crowd - 115 posts

#the care and feeding of your friendly writer - 98 posts

#this has been a psa - 97 posts

#writing - 92 posts

#joan warren - 85 posts

#original girl gang - 79 posts

#house of the dragon - 78 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#(which is great! your brain needs downtime! but pls try something with a higher difficulty setting too cos your brain needs that as well)

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

One of my fandom servers recently shared another post about the vicious 'comments-likes-kudos-reblogs-no one is sharing my stuff' cycle that often pop up in internet writer circles.

And after we'd gone on a ways, one of the people in this conversation (the always lovely and astute @captainkilly) pointed out that that what writers want when we complain about things like this - what a lot of us want, anyway - isn't necessarily pure attention, but connection. We want to talk with someone about something that makes us happy. We've written something down specifically for the express purpose of giving voice to a thought we have. We want to have a conversation - ideally a deep and genuine one, but a conversation regardless.

I thought this was a very valid take. And I realized something else, too - To find that person, you have to BE that person.

How do I know this? Because I'm TERRIBLE at it. I have been the person on the sideline stamping my foot that my genius isn’t being noticed and isn’t that awful?  I can't start conversations on the internet FOR BEANS - I can be VERY self conscious when I want to be. I've done this with exactly four people over the last two years. Three of them are still talking to me.

And here's where this story gets interesting. That fourth person? I asked them for perceived internet clout. I wanted to be in their circle because I thought it would bring me fame and recognition and legitimacy and they could put me in front of eyeballs, and you know what, they're NOT still talking to me, because to be honest, I figured out after a while that she didn't care about my stuff - and I had never cared about hers.

But those other three folks? They'd jump through the internet and hit someone for me. I love them to bits. I would jump through the internet for them, too.

Connection, not attention. Talk to people. 

125 notes - Posted April 14, 2022

#4

House of the Dragon 1.9 thoughts: I love Jace's shocked Pikachu face with Helaena's speech. Like, what, that's how marriages work around here? I've only seen Mom with Dad, Totally Not Dad, and Daemon, and they all never treated her like that. This is an outrage.

128 notes - Posted October 10, 2022

#3

I went to go see the new Top Gun again after work ($5 Mondays!) and I think I found the moment in the movie where Phoenix really adopts Bob.

In their first dogfight against Maverick, Hangman is flying with Phoenix and Bob, and after their plane is shot down, Hangman desperately asks for help trying to find Maverick when the sun is in his eyes.

Phoenix reminds him that she's dead and therefore out of the game, and Bob says "See you in the afterlife, Bagman."

It's the first time someone else has used Phoenix's derogatory take on his callsign - and Phoenix smiles. Yeah, this guy's on her team. Just watch someone try to take her WSO. (And he made a joke!)

251 notes - Posted June 27, 2022

#2

Things You Said Prompts

… in the dark

… in the aftermath

… under a bridge

… for comfort

… with intent to harm

… in the shade of a tree

… where the water was loud

… out of anger

… out of fear

… when I wasn't listening

… when I was gone

… where everyone could hear

… where no one could hear

… when I wasn't meant to hear

… that you regretted after

… when we were afraid

… when we were in danger

… when one or more of us was drunk

… after the storm had passed

… to comfort me

… far away from all of it

… when we woke

… while we slept

… with our bodies and not our voices

… when we were close together

… when the world was ending

things you didn't say at all

336 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Achievements in Fan Writing:

inarticulate screaming in comments

'i read this in one sitting'

'i don't usually read this but I liked yours'

'I hoped somebody would be writing [x] and then I found this!😍'

'i didn't even know I needed this until now'

'i've never even seen this show but i loved this'

'you bastard now i'm writing this too'

'I have had your OC for only a day but if anything happened to them I would...'-insert meme here

'you made me start shipping [pairing]'

'you made me see this character differently'

'you made me see this character'

'here i drew you fanart based on your fic'

made it onto someone's rec list

2,607 notes - Posted February 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[bre-meister]

So hear me out. I don’t usually talk about Stranger Things here but I gotta rant to someone even if it’s just like, 3 random people who happen upon this post in the tags. I’ll put the rant under the cut for spoilers and for those who don’t care

Ok so this is 10000% about the whole Jancy situation in st4.

I feel like Jonathan and Nancy obviously have a communication issue that can be fixed with an in depth conversation. Now, will we get that conversation on screen? I’m not holding my breath but all that to say they both have pretty valid concerns about the trajectory of their relationship but it’s by no means has to be a dealbreaker for either side. They can go to different colleges and still be together! Although, slightly off topic, I kinda wish that Joyce would push Jonathan to go to a school he wants (like NYU since she said it was his dream) and not just stay for her and Will. Maybe with Hopper back he would feel more comfortable with that.

Back to the original plot of the story, this whole side thing going on with her and Steve is so weird to me. I’m echoing what a lot of people have already said but it just doesn’t make since for any of their characters narratively to get back together. We’ve established that they care deeply for each other but we’ve also established that “care” doesn’t always translate to “love” in a romantic sense. To me it also doesn’t make sense for Jancy to have that parallel scene where they talk about each other so passionately for the writers to just throw that away to make Stancy a thing again. But what do I know about characterization and writing, I only write fanfics, right?

Also, I’m also getting annoyed with all these characters who DON’T EVEN KNOW ALL THE PARTIES INVOLVED giving their two cents on Jonathan and Nancy’s relationship or her supposed feelings for Steve. Even for Dustin to say something about Steve not successfuly dating because he’s still into Nancy? Like…no? It makes sense that all his dates with the “normal” Hawkins girls fall flat. He’s experienced things that have become a huge part of his growth and personal story that he can’t share with anyone else. Plus it’s been established that most of the “normal” girls in Hawkins are a lot less mature or more superficial than Nancy or the other females in the larger party. No duh he can’t find a connection with anyone but it’s not necessarily because of Nancy.

So, to end this all off, I would like to leave whoever has made it this far with what I think would make a funny Jancy reunion and bring a conclusion to this whole revisited love triangle:

- Because we have established that Steve does not know “what he wants” we’ll say he follows everyone’s misguided advice and tries to charm and kiss Nancy even though I’d say he’s feeling a bit conflicted

- Nancy obviously does not reciprocate and immediately breaks off the kiss. She starts to tell Steve why she doesn’t feel the same way but suddenly Steve’s eyes go wide looking at something behind her. Before she can turn around and see what he’s looking at someone comes barreling over to Steve and punches him right in the face

- It’s obviously Jonathan

- he doesn’t truly “fight” Steve and both him and Nancy explain what happened because “it’s not what it looks like! Ok… it kinda was but it’s not!”

- words are exchanged, explanations given, and Steve leaves so Jancy can have a true reunion moment

- Dustin makes a comment to Steve about how Jonathan kicked his ass…again. The two descend into banter as they give the other two some semblance of privacy

Now, I’m not delusional about this actually happening. I do think it’s hilarious and offers a funny parallel to season 1. It also tied back into the joke about Steve and fighting. His total would be like 3:2 now (yes i am counting him fighting off that bat in the UD, it was kinda bad ass so gotta give Steve props) and Dustin or Robin would definitely make him aware that he is now loosing in terms of fights again.

Who knows that v2 will bring. I pray some peace for Jancy 😭

[naitosutan]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SWEET RESPONSE!! 🍭🍭

(I didn't know how to respond to your tags on your reblog so I thought I would just send you an ask-)

I'm glad you thought I had some good concepts, I'm terrible at explaining things so it's nice to know that some people understood what I was getting at. And your tsum tsum steek drawing lives rent free in my head, it is so fricking cute. I love tsum tsums!! And I was glad I could influence your love of Steek, kvasgi's art of Steek was one of the first pieces of art for that ship that I saw which was part of the reason why I got into the ship too! And your sister's art is super cute as well, I love it all so much, especially her AU!

Since I'm here, I'd like to ask you, who are your favorite characters and what are your favorite ships?

Thanks again for the sweet response, have a great day!! ❤️❤️

@/steeklover AHH I’M SO SORRY I FOOLISHLY SAVED YOUR ASK AS A DRAFT ON MOBILE AND TUMBLR ATE IT 😭 Luckily, I had part of my response written already and I’ll try to reply as best I can to what I remember of your ask!

Did you know I’m a fool and inept at anything technology ._. I found the ask; somehow I saved the ask in my drafts completely separate from my response ahskkgj

Pls forgive me for the repost, I wanted to keep the original ask attached 🙇🏻‍♀️

(ALSO HELLO I DID NOT FORGET OR IGNORE THIS I WAS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO ANSWER CONCISELY AND GOT BUSY AHAKDLGK)

ACTUALLY *YOU* ARE THE SWEETEST AGALLFJA

I think you explained yourself pretty well! Legit, I always love reading your thoughts on Steek and seeing the ideas you have for them, whether it be your mood boards or playlists, I enjoy your ideas! You are THE Steek shipper to me so I really value your perspective on them and keep some of your posts in mind whenever I try to portray them!

Tsums are definitely a long standing obsession of mine lol Evie says thanks for the praise as well! Her AU means a lot for the three of us ✨

(Long post so favs and ships under the cut haha)

To answer your questions, I’d say Tweek is my favorite from the show, but Stan had definitely settled into also being a major fav of mine! When I was first watching it, I went into season six a bit bitter about Tweek taking Kenny’s spot but… he’s just a little dude :3 Simpsons Already Did It is one of my top favorite episodes lol Stan was a surprising favorite but I guess following him and his friends around the most, I really liked the way he was characterized and the struggles he deals with? I also love Kenny content 🥺🧡 Anything and everything for Kenny lol

Anyways, here are some of my top favorite ships!! As you can probably tell, my sisters and I have a lot of overlap in the ships we like, and tend to influence each other a lot lol I’m a multi-shipper who generally likes a ton of ships and also really enjoy crackships and rare pairs cuz of the untapped potential of interactions that could happen! I also enjoy polys but for simplicity I’ll put just pairings here! I had tried organizing them in a tier list but… it ended up as a ranking list anyways so…

Stenny - I actually surprised Kim a lot when I first brought up that I liked her old flame lol My first and my fav ship, there’s something about them that makes me extremely happy and I can’t quite explain it. It probably has to do with their personalities and interactions, but I can’t really articulate it into words haha I also love all the fan created content of them! They’re lovely and adorable 💖

K2 - The OTP of my sisters means a lot of amazing fics recommended to me that makes it hard to not love lol I’m not picky about how the dynamic is portrayed, I’m always down for these two together! They baby 🥹

Steek - <333 SO much love for these two! Like I had said you were definitely a big reason for it. Plus why NOT ship your favorite characters together? They both have a tendency towards destructive patterns that I think the other could relate to, especially with seeking validation on their feelings? I think potential interactions between these two are severely under explored so I’m always searching for more Steek content!

Revin - OKAY. This one was definitely a ship I shipped from the show before looking at the fan content lol Constantly seeing them together in the background just reminded me of playground crushes, and their moments were small but cute. AND THEN WHEN THEY BROKE UP I WAS DEVASTATED. CONFIRMATION THEY WERE DATING AT THE COST OF THEIR BREAK UP AND NEVER SEEING THEM TOGETHER AGAIN 😭 We’ve also headcanoned their personalities quite a bit and so I like to think of them both being a bit airheaded? Kevin constantly thinking about his sci-fi and Red seemingly not pay attention to things around her? Kevin calling their fruits sandwiches and Red just going along with it was also funny even if it’s just an animation error lol ALSO KEVIN BEING SO SAD AT THE BAY OF MEMORIAL PIGS DANCE AS RED DANCED WITH TOLKIEN I CAN’T 😭 I love little background details the most when it comes to characters, I think.

Crenny - Again, Kim was a big influence in me liking Kenny ships, also Crenny has some of the most beautiful and heartfelt works I’ve ever seen and read? I think things would be pretty easy with these two and they’ve had some good moments together!

Cryle - I know people say they don’t interact much but when has that ever stopped me lol They’re both stubborn in different ways, Craig more passive and Kyle more confrontational, I think? Like, I really liked the scene in Fishsticks where they’re both advising Jimmy. They were basically indirectly arguing against each other and I think that’s such an interesting and fun dynamic lololol There’s enough there for me to enjoy them together!

-

Creek - Just LOOK at them lol. I do admit I like them a lot in the show but don’t seek them out in fanworks but they’re great <3

Stendy - I HAVE A LOT TO TALK ABOUT THEM TOO. Like Stendy is complicated but they’re also elementary school kids, of course they’re not gonna know how to relationship properly. But they’re still so messy?? And it’s just on their personalities mannn. I think Stan very much takes his friends for granted sometimes and especially his girlfriend. And Wendy isn’t a part of his friend group enough to really be comfortable discussing their faults? Like obviously he’s done some things and she has as well but things are always resolved offscreen or brushed aside so we never really see how they get over it. Basically they’re cute when he’s pining or when they’re domestically together and supportive but when they’re just not paying attention to each other they’re difficult lol

Stolkien - Another ship from the show, I think their interactions are always so fun, especially in the later seasons 🥺💕

Staig - I love rivals lol I think fandom plays up their hatred for each other a lot but Scauses really convinced me that they do notice each other lol That and Craig likes stirring the pot a lot XD

.

.

.

It feels like I’m missing so many characters and ships but I had to limit myself! Ten is enough haha (shout out to all the ships I do ship but didn’t make it to this list 😔) I tried to keep this short lol

I hope your days have been great as well!! Thank you so much for the ask!! 💖

[viscountessevie]

Did you see that CC and Simone were reunited at Venice? CC also started liking pics of Simone (including posts uploaded by Simone herself) and tagged her in one of her stories after being called out by some random person commenting on babskymakeup’s IG. Idk what’s going on but it’s weird.

Prompted by/Related to this ask

Hello there anon and yeah I did see them! They honestly look adorable together and it did bring me some comfort after all the weird vibes I've been getting from press tour- but I digress I have talked about it before (briefly in the ask linked above!)

Look at them - they're ALL SO GORGEOUS:

Honestly my fave girlies; all talented in their own rights!

As for the second part of the ask: Oh wow, again like I said before I did not notice. I only get my info from yall. Good for Chari I guess? It just seems a little virtue-signalling to me at this point like she was pressured and forced to perform like this just because she may have noticed what Hannah (the random commenter) said.

Like if she didn't want to do all of this when S2 was in full swing, that's her problem lol I don't understand why she's trying to appease us now.

Anyways weird IG activities aside and again yall I really think we'd be better off not analysing these things, let's appreciate our pretty girls in pretty dresses at a fancy af event!!

~

It's really funny that I mentioned virtue-signalling and Hannah the commenter cos along with the original ask I got about Simone and CC's IG activities, around the same time I got this super rude anon lecturing me on how to address/influence fandom drama within the Kathony fandom and then when I said Hey you could have been nicer, they became more rude lmao?? It just felt like they wanted me to be virtue-signalling and policing the fandom. It was weird af how they were treating me like some sort of Kathony fandom influencer and now it seems Hannah is more of an influencer than me if Chari did see that comment and decided to do all of this ahahah.

Anyways worry not yall I will be making a post address that anon's concerns (they had valid concerns just hated the way the asks were phrased and the energy they gave off), just not directly replying to them or right now because I have no time or energy to give people like that.

[viridescent-din]

I’m going to be honest here, as a follower of your blog.. these anons are right. Tess wasn’t even included as a character in your most recent fic so there was no need to use her tags at all.

Yes other writers do it too. One of the anons even said that in their message. That the Tess tags are filled with Joel content because a lot of Joel writers are using Tess tags unnecessarily and unfairly.

As a tumblr oldie that reads a lot of fanfics and follows a lot of writing blogs, it’s always been common courtesy here to not use unnecessary tags for characters/fandoms that are not a featured in a post.

Sadly, more and more writers, yourself included, have started unduly tagging posts with characters/ships/fandoms that aren’t featured at all, and it is ruining tags for fans because character tags are being filled with content that isn’t involving that specific character.

The problem is that when politely asked not to do this, a lot of writers are being selfish and saying no, and giving the excuse of, “Well other writers do it too” - not realising that other writers only do it because they also see other writers doing it. Nothing will change and things will only get worse for everyone if nobody is willing to stop unfairly tagging their content.

Right now you don’t care because Joel is a popular character with a large following, so the original anons issue has no impact on you and your enjoyment. The Tess fandom is small, and majority made up of queer women, and yet her tags are overflowing with Joel x reader smut content. It’s unfair to them to have to pick through masses of unrelated content to find posts about the actual character the tag is meant for.

this is weird y’all.

i’m not saying the anons are not right. i’m also not saying i am. i think they have valid reasons to be upset, and i think i have valid reasons to continue to use the tagging system as i prefer to. i tagged tess because on my previous four imagine blogs (the first of which dates back to 2015. i’ve been here awhile), i was asked each and every time to tag characters that made an appearance or were mentioned because a lot of folks reading x readers are only looking for that character and the reader insert. every single new imagines blog i created. it’s what i’ve found works for my followers and i. it really is that simple. i’ve said now twice. i never used the excuse that other people are doing it so it’s fine for me to - if you’re going to have a discourse with me, that’s fine. but we can’t have a conversation if you’re going to put words in my mouth.

i find it necessary to say that i don’t really appreciate the implications of the last portion of your message. i’m a queer woman myself - my attraction to men is holding on by the thread that is pedro pascal. i feel like you’re telling me that as a straight content creator, i’m impeding on queer folks. do not assume my identity. i’m a queer woman who lives deep in hick town. queer identities are not something to weaponize. perhaps i’m misinterpreting the reason you feel the need to bring that up, just like you misinterpreted the anon who came to my defense’s words of “other writers are doing it” as my own. i hope that is the case. the lgbt community is suffering because of in-fighting.

this is such a chronically online debate. just block me. it doesn’t solve your issues with the other authors using the tag, but that is between you and them. with me, the button is right there. click it. it’ll take you much less time to do that than it will to send yet another message.

[bisexualmultifandommess]

People be hating on Lila but turn around and praise five and klaus saying their precious baby angels even tho Lila is literally a female version of them both like five is praised for murdering people but as soon as it’s Lila all of a sudden the fandom turns into a damn cop

In my opinion the same can be said about any character and any fan. Some fans are toxic and will defend a character no matter what and that happens with fans of Klaus or Five but can also happen with L*la too. All fandoms have toxic fans and they aren’t all fans of just one character all characters have at least a few toxic fans. But you are right that fans need to stop being hypocritical in hating on characters because we need to criticise all characters over their bad actions not just one.

I love Five and Klaus a lot but also don’t agree with everything they say or do and won’t praise them for it. Five is very protective of his family and is trying to save them but also talks down to them and can be harsh and Klaus is very emotional and supportive of his family and great at finding out solutions when focused but I also see that he can be insensitive, rude and thoughtless at times. I like them but will criticise the things I don’t agree with and with L*la I originally liked her but as time went on I started to dislike her and criticise her but I’d still admit when she said something funny or was helpful (like when she helped in fights or joins forces with them) but I also know that some people who hate her will hate for reasons that don’t make sense. If a character I like did something I didn’t agree with and L*la also did the same thing I’d criticise them all for it not just her.

I personally think that if you don’t like a character because that character just isn’t for you (you’re not interested in them) that’s valid and if you hate the character for reasons such as them being bad or doing something you’re not comfortable with or you don’t agree with that’s valid too. We all just need to remember to keep our hate posts in the anti tags but fans should be able to dislike them as long as they’re polite and try not to cause drama like going into anti posts to fight or if someone crosstags on purpose.