#as well as some of the best episodes and fanfics ever created

[professorsta]

Fandoms are weird nowadays! It's like people watch a movie or show and instead of trying to understand the message the creator is wanting to send, or the idea meant to be conveyed, fans just criticize, co-opt, and refuse to acknowledge the writers vision and intent. Explaining how they would have done it or how better it would have been if it was written their way. Supernatural for example was a show ripe with criticisms, but it honestly would have done the fandom a disservice if, from the get go, we didn't like and didn't care to see where Eric Kripke was taking the story. The show was filled with rich plots and characters with very interesting questions about morality, family, sin, good and bad, but none of that would have been appreciated if the fandom wasn't able to look past the dead end arcs and throw away character in the first couple of seasons (which allowed the grey areas lacking in depth, helping in bringing about the fandom btw) and instead tried to "salvage" or "save" the story by completely rewriting the world and characters. Building theories and finding evidence to fill in the missing puzzle piece in your mind is essentially what the point of a fandom was. It was seeing canon and going, there's more there that the creators aren't aware of, and I want to delve into it. Its taking all of it, the subtext, context, characters, and psychology (even if it's not to your liking), and using that to further understand the stories point of view. Like loose pieces of thread being tied back together to make sense of the whole picture. It not "this shows narrative shouldn't have concluded like that!" gives no examples in canon as to why and doesn't have an argument to back it up. "Here's how it should be!" completely disregards canon and the message the creator was trying to send and instead replaces it with a completely different one. Now people watch movies and film and get upset when the characters don't act a certain way, not caring to read into context and maybe try and understand from the narratives point of view as to Why they would act like that. They see how flawed and vapid some scenes and episodes are and don't take it for the chance it is, which is to further the narrative yourself. Most fandoms are bred from shows and movies with the biggest plot holes, with a-lot of characters, and a wide range of different characterizations for each of them so just embrace it and embrace the flaws in our creations, because perfection just leads to dead ends.

[pipermca]

New AO3 Tag Wrangling Policy and the Transformers Fandom

(This is a long one, folks, but I think it's important.)

A new tag-wrangling policy on AO3 has the potential to create some massive confusion and chaos in the Transformers fanfic community, with regards to fandom tags. There is a Reddit post about it here with a focus on anime fandoms, but I want to give some concrete examples for the Transformers fandom on why we DO NOT WANT this, and why I think it's a horrible idea.

The Problem

Basically, AO3 is looking to get rid of the "All Media Types" fandom tag across the board, either by dismantling them or just not maintaining them. The Transformers - All Media Types tag has been an all-purpose tag that you could select when your story doesn't fall into any one specific continuity. Additionally, all most (see below) TF continuities on AO3 are considered a subtag of the Transformers - All Media Types tag. For example, if you look at the link above for all works in the All Media Types tag, you will see fics that are also tagged ONLY with Transformers: Animated, because it falls under the All Media Types tag.

One exception: With the upcoming Transformers: One movie coming out imminently, there will likely be a big influx of stories tagged with Transformers: One. In fact, there are several already. However, it hasn't been linked to the larger Transformers - All Media Types tag yet. I wasn't worrying about it though, because I know these things can take time.

With information about this new tagging policy, however, I'm now wondering whether it'll EVER get linked to the All Media Types tag. If that happens, and when more continuities are developed in the coming years (since you know Hasbro loves creating new universes) this has the potential to cause massive confusion when looking for stories to read.

Searching for Stories with the New Tagging System

So let's say the All Media Types fandom tag isn't accurate anymore, because it no longer includes ALL of the continuities (such as TF:One). You will need to include ALL the Transformers continuities when browsing for TF fics.

How many tags is that? Well, here are all of the tags currently listed under the Transformers - All Media Types tag:

Note that this doesn't include Transformers: One since it hasn't been categorized yet.

You will potentially have to have 40 or more different fandom tags in your search, just in case the author tagged their story with something you weren't expecting.

This massively decreases the findability of a story.

Tagging with the New System

The email response from the Tag Wrangling group (see the linked Reddit post above) seems to be a bit flip in the response to the user's concern. "...encourages creators to tag with the media they intend."

While I appreciate what they are attempting to do, this policy change feels like a solution in search of a problem, especially in larger fandoms with multiple continuities, versions, and media types that are all cross-pollinated in both canon and fanon. While I'm focusing on Transformers fandom, imagine a creator in the DC comic universe writing a story that incorporates bits and pieces from a dozen different reboots.

For example, let's say that I am writing a fic about Ratchet. I am using the setting of the original G1 episodes, but I also am using the characterization of him as a bit of an old man grump. That characterization originated in the Animated continuity, but I want to incorporate bits of pieces of his other characterizations as well (old friend of Optimus from TFP, Ratchet ran a faction-free clinic like he did in the War for Cybertron series, he's got a Decepticon boyfriend like in IDW1 - or maybe even Cyberverse, etc.)

With this new tagging structure, I might potentially have to tag the story with ALL of those continuities. So instead of just slapping down the "All Media Types" tag (and maybe one other fandom tag that matches the characters as best I can), I'll have to analyze my story and try to figure out how best to tag for the characters I used.

And what if you're doing a completely AU version of the story? For example, a humanformers story, or merformers? Using the All Media Types tag along with a Alternate Universe - Human or Alternate Universe - Mermaid tag worked perfectly, since you weren't writing the story to fit into one specific continuity. But now, that might not be an option.

What To Do??

The first thing I would suggest is to contact AO3 (using the Feedback and Support page) and let them know (nicely) that you think this is a horrible idea. Give them some examples on how you use the All Media Types tag to find stories to read, or to help you tag a story. People outside of the Transformers fandom don't always appreciate how absolutely tangled the continuities can be with each other, and providing examples might help them see why this would be a really messy change.

Readers: Be aware that when you are looking in the All Media Types tag, it will no longer show newer continuities. And if AO3 starts dismantling that tag like they suggested they are doing, be aware that some stories won't show up in that tag like they used to. You can also create and then bookmark a custom search page that includes all 40+ continuities. REALLY annoying, but it's a workaround.

Writers: Until they start dismantling the All Media Types tag, ALWAYS ALWAYS tag your stories using Transformers - All Media Types... Especially for newer continuities. This will be especially important if you are writing a Transformers: One story. Right now, anyone who is only browsing the All Media Types tag will not see a story tagged only with Transformers: One. Make sure you're aware of how tags work and how they can affect the visibility and findability of your story.

Epilogue

Ugh. That's a lot of words for a long-weekend Saturday. And maybe I'm overreacting a tiny bit. But my work involves information architecture, and this change just absolutely baffles me. It's almost as though they want to make it harder to find stories. Considering that AO3 won a Hugo partially because of its fantastic tagging system, this change seems like AO3 is doing its best to shoot itself in the foot.

When you have a square hole, a round hole, and a rectangular hole… Yeah, you DO want each peg to go in the "right" hole. But if all of the pegs fit in the square hole, who cares? You got the job done.

I love you @ao3org, but please reconsider this change... Especially for IPs that are as old and are as varied as Transformers.

[meowufff]

This is my first actual post on Tumblr ever so pls bear with me. Also, English is not my first language so pls excuse any mistakes I make :)

So, this whole thing here started just as a joke bc I was curious if anyone else was feeling constantly tired all day no matter how long I sleep. But it all somehow escalated a bit and I may have started hyperfixating on it so well, now it actually became a little survey.

I also wanted to mention that I only asked the artist in my little Tumblr bubble, which is mostly tmnt content, so my results are mostly referring to tmnt artists.

In total, I asked 143 people if they could remember the last time they woke up and just felt actually rested for more than half of the day.

I probably could have been more specific with my question but again, I did not actually planned to let it become so big. Personally, for me being rested means, having a clear head, no headache or foggy mind without consuming any caffeine.

So out of 143 people, 100 answered me and I tried my best to sort all of the answers after the criteria “good-sleep-schedule” and “bad-sleep-schedule” and also noted when exactly they last felt actually rested into either the last days, weeks, months, years or “???” when they couldn’t remember or didn’t mention anything specific.

And let’s just say… it does not really look good. Out of 100 people, only 18 have an actual good sleep schedule. Out of these 18 people, 13 felt really rested in the last days, 2 in the last weeks, only one person in the last months and 2 in the last years.

Out of the 82 of people who have a bad sleep schedule, 10% lastly felt rested in the last days, 11% in the last weeks, 11% in the last months, 30% in the last years, and 38% couldn’t remember or didn’t specify it.

While reading all your answers I came to realize being sleep deprived is not just bc any of them thought “Oh it would be really neat to stay up till 4 am!” or smth like that.

A lot of the artists who answered me mentioned that they have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep due to stuff like insomnia, chronic pain, other issues, or children (yeah, ok, there was just one who had a child but still).

While analyzing I mostly referred the situations to my own experience with going to sleep or rather not going to sleep...

I usually don’t have problems falling asleep but trouble actually putting my stuff away and going to bed bc I don’t want to end the day or just don’t want to go to sleep (don’t ask why, I have no idea why I am like this). While having these “episodes” I often doodle smth, binge reading some fanfics, or watch whatever I can find on the internet until I’m just falling asleep or can convince myself that it is 3 am and I really should go to bed now.

So, my personal theory about why sleep deprivation is so common among Tumblr artists is not bc they do art all night. My theory is that a lot of people who have trouble falling asleep due to insomnia, pain, or other issues are filling the time until they hopefully fall asleep with their art, doodles, writings, or whatever their creative minds can bring up, to help the time pass.

In total that would mean that not all artists are sleep deprived but more that a lot of people who have trouble falling asleep do a lot of art or creative stuff in general.

Something I could also imagine is, that if they start doing art while waiting for sleep, they start to concentrate a lot on creating more and start procrastinating sleep even if they actually get tired bc they wanna do art and fuck up their non-existing sleep schedule even more but that could also just be me projecting here.

I know that is probably no kind of big revelation but for me it was kind of surprising to see how many people here are as sleep deprived as me and due to what reasons.

I’m not going to preach to any of you to get that problem solved or smth, I have no right to tell you what to do and would be a major hypocrite so instead I really which everyone to get some kind of good sleep schedule one day and the joy of waking up and feeling completely rested at least thrice per week.

I absolutely love all your art and thank you a thousand times for helping me with this spontaneous survey!

I would love to hear your opinions on my theory and conclusion so pls don’t be shy and feel free to point out any mistakes I may have made or tell me your own theories :D

Also, if my question is still sitting in your inbox, feel free to answer! I’m gonna keep ma big ass excel table so I can edit all the results anytime. And maybe, one day, I'm gonna continue this survey and go into more detail but for now I need to leave it like this.

Ok, that's all I got

BYE!

Thanks to all participants

@abbeyofcyn @angelpuns @beannary @bulbabutt @camilieroart @cementgeek @cheesyescapade @cokowiii @easterartist @frosteaart @gemini-forest @happyfoxx-art @heckitall @hellishgayliath @holy-sweetsour-milk @icepopcider @idiot-mushroom @iscreamkitty @kovalitics @laseralligator @lieutenantbiscute @matchstique @mightyanxiety @miiukkaa @mr-doodles @pezhead @probably-not-a-rutabaga @pumpkster @sad-leon @sassatello @sewercrocodileart @sheep-turtles-and-pizza @signanothername @spectra-bear @stephuart @tangledinink @tapakah0 @tasenwiththerobots @tblsomedoodles @thegunnsara @triona-tribblescore @turrondeluxe @valen-timez @vangh17a @wraenata @zinovi768 @debb987 @dianagj-art @goatedgreen @indieyuugure

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 2

Propaganda Under Cut

Allura

Lots of people (myself included tbh) ship klance (Keith and Lance). In s8 the creators made Allura/Lance canon (but then they killed her off and left the ending ambiguous it was weird). Anyway the fandom treats her like she's the most terrible bitchy woman ever but all she wants to do is end the war and avenge her destroyed home planet. Yeah she wasn't always the nicest or always the best, but you could argue some other characters in the show aren't either and they aren't treated near as bad as allura. people really just hate her bc Lance liked her. I don't think allura/lance are good together, but I still liked her as a character and thought she was interesting and had a lot of growth during the show. she DEF is not evil like some people portray her as in fic or talk about her in captions on posts. I've seen people say that they HATE her and that she's the worst and I'm like ??? let her live (well sort of ig she is dead now). lots of fic writers use her as the villain which is so interesting to me bc the show literally has villains like use them. anyway allura so perfectly fits the bracket description she deserves better.

I hate to acknowledge my time in this fandom but I hate the way the fandom treated her more. Allura was treated like shit no matter what side of the Great Ship War you were on because she was always a threat to the biggest ships (klance and sheith). At best she got put into Background Lesbian or Consolation Prize Shallura (Space Mom-zoned) (She was not a motherly figure btw. She was just Black). At worst she was violently demonized for being ~racist~ (kinda not cool with the alien race that blew up her planet for a few episodes), complete with misogynistic language hurled at her (she got called a bitch sooo much). Allura was a good and cool character and the show did her dirty but the fandom was somehow worse.

i apologise for speaking the dark magicks, but amidst the voltron fandoms many, many transgressions, there were a particular subset of people who just hated this girl. the infamous klance wars of the 2010s kept this perfectly fine childrens cartoon character in the sights of shippers everywhere, and she (and her voice actress im sure) were subjected to years of petty squabble blown up to global perportions. ive seen hate, ive seen rants, ive seen fanfics that made her homophobic. girls been through the ringer, and even though voltron was never the show its fandom wanted it to be, i believe allura deserved better

Mary Morstan

a controversial one i know, but it’s tumblr. how could i not? anyway shoutout to the writers for CANONICALLY killing her off for the non-canon ship. she was so cool honestly poor girl

Oh god where do I start? Constantly being turned abusive? Killed off (in canon!)? Constantly being removed from fic? I cannot stand the way she's treated, but it's 100% impossible to find Johnlock fic without the "umsympathetic Mary Morstan" angle. It's infuriating!

The fandom insulted Mary at every conceivable turn, refused to acknowledge her narrative importance or impact on the other characters, called for her death repeatedly, and even SENT DEATH THREATS TO HER ACTRESS because she had the AUDACITY to be a morally gray female character who was married to John (they did not care about the moral grayness of the male characters, but she was irredeemable, apparently-presumably because she was a "threat" to the main fandom ship). And though she was definitely sacrificed on a SPECIFIC mlm ship altar, she was still tangentially victimized by OTHER mlm ships too! For example, this fandom was willing to make up a character WHO LITERALLY DID NOT ACTUALLY EXIST to ship with different male character (who was morally...way worse than she ever was), as well as create swathes of content about two men who had maybe one canon interaction in the whole show, before even thinking about the possibility of making content for this character or even just talking about her in a way that wasn't overtly misogynistic and degrading. When Mary died in-story (in what, in my opinion, was an unnecessary, bullshit way), her death was, to this fanbase, not actually about her and was just seen as "proof" that the two male leads would now get together (they didn't). And this STILL continues to this day. People reduce her to "selfish bitch," completely ignoring any of her complexity by claiming that she's incapable of caring about anyone (despite helping to save lives on more than one occasion, as well as dying in an act of sacrifice) and insisting that any of her positive qualities MUST be completely fabricated. I've seen a lot of female characters get mistreated by fandom for a mlm ship's sake, but I don't think I've EVER encountered an example as bad as this one.

[a-risk-to-take]

….you posted your tattoo (sick) and linked to house of dirk and i read it all and its unfinished. if you hadn’t posted i may have lived my life without getting fanfic blue balled for the first time since 2015. if you have any sympathy for my loss you would give me fanfic recs >:[ /lh

I feel your pain believe me 😭😭 I’m sorry I didn’t warn you at least. I’m low-key hoping the tattoo image gets to imarriedacherub and inspires them to continue the story - obviously not likely but it’s nice to dream!

I got recs for you though! I’ve got hundreds of bookmarks on my ao3 but here’s the HS stuff I love the most:

The epics:

Dayvhe’s Broken Diamond Club and everything by @unda-dsk: DBDC is my personal fave of theirs, and the best treatment of troll culture in any fic ever. If you know HS fic you are probably aware of MC Escher That’s My Favorite MC, and that one is absolutely excellent and completely deserves its status as one of the very best. And then there’s Alternate Universe, which is a perfect and beautiful magic school story. All of these are absolutely top-tier - I cannot stress this enough. They are epic and very long but some of the best stuff I’ve ever read—fanfic or otherwise—and they changed me when I read them. Despite the length, DBDC is very episodic so you can read each chapter as its own story and easily take breaks in between them without losing the flow, so you might want to start there. I promise it’s worth it!!

so we don’t kill the ones we love by @callmearcturus: I’ve never read anyone who can create an atmosphere like Arc can - this one is kind of a John Wick AU but in a really refreshing and elevated way. The characterization is so on point. Lots more I could rave about but I’ll just add that Arc’s Karkats are the hottest and most based out there. Again all his stuff is really good - this one is my favorite, but don’t miss this really cool magic artisan AU also.

The meteorstucks:

Aahhh there’s no way this is gonna be complete because I’ve read like hundreds and I get them confused but these are some that stand out. In case you haven’t notice already this list is gonna be very davekat centric!

Keep It Down by sburbanite - chef’s kiss concept and execution just read it

A Xenological Exploration of Music and Language by superbloom - super fun and well written with neat headcanon - and turned me on to some great music

I’m actually gonna just declare this section unfinished for now - I need to revisit these and remind myself what’s what - stay tuned!

Illustrated

Since you liked HoD you might be looking for more comic-y stuff with art. Definitely check out @chthonicarcher’s amazing davekats! Such as That’s All We Are

Dream a Little Dream of Me by koroke - this is just a little dream bubble comic but it’s simply the loveliest and I’m massively envious of the art style

Gonna Need Some Windex by the End of the Year by magniloquentChanteuse - more artistic storytelling just neat!

More

It’s About Time by @laurasauras - this is a sweet cute lovely little time travel davekat that I actually sent to a friend to read who knew nothing about HS and successfully led them into the fandom. (Followed by AU by Unda). Laurasauras is prolific and there are so many great fics written by them I can’t list them all here but they are one of my absolute favorite authors. Their understanding of the strider psyche is absolutely impeccable

The Worst Goddamn Movies Ever Fucking Made by writerbot - this fic brought me so much hilarity and joy I can’t even tell you. The Karkat voice is perfect and delightful and the social media interludes are so fucking funny and impressive. One of the first fics to show me how creative and funny this fandom can be.

I’m surely going to add to this - there are so many more meteorstucks and other authors I know I’ll think of after I post this - but I don’t want to spend too much longer on this now when you could be reading some of this great stuff! ENJOY!!

[whochromatic]

I must not read chapter 109 and wait for the chapters to pile up.. I must not read chapter 109 and wait for the chapters to pile up.. I must...

*reads it anyways*

Why did I do that. Damnit, I should've known that reading that chapter would have re-activated my need for more. I was way better off ignoring anything related to Yohaji and just went about my day, not thinking about Yohaji every minute of the hour of the day of the week. But the damage has been done. Now I have to read the whole manga all over again just to satisfy myself once again. But no. That's not enough. I searched every corner to hunt every single content of Yohaji. Tumblr. Twitter. Youtube. Tiktok. Ao3. Our lord and savior Canada's account. The giver of reason in life, one who resurrects the dead, the sailor uniform to my life, Tanamai-sensei's account. I know that the Yohaji content in this world is not enough and will NEVER be. The moment I discovered this manga, I knew that it would be my life. The fact that it had only reached me last year, ber month is unforgivable. Why did it not have content as many as the amount of numbers there are to exist so that it could reach me at the start of it's existence? It should have been Yohaji. Not BNHA! Nothing against that anime by the way. Well, I am grateful that I stumbled upon Yohaji while it had 100+ chapters though. And the fandom being small enough to only have nice and cool people in it. But those fics in ao3 though? Why- I mean, I don't really care or pay attention to them but the fact that the amount of nsfw fanfics is probably (I'm saying probably because they might just be more) equal to the amount of sfw fanfics in there is- I swear, WHY ARE THERE SO LITTLE FANFICS OF YOHAJI?! 3 PAGES?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? There might be more in other places but I only read in ao3 and Tumblr if I find some there. I'm so thankful for the translators though!!! I love y'all. I love the fandom. I love the characters. I love Yohaji. I love the creator. God- sorry I forgot I can't use sensei's name in vain. I'm telling y'all, Tanamai is the GOAT. A GENIUS!! Your brain is beautiful. What goes on in head yours? Tell and everyone might gain more braincells. What's with you? What's with your humor?? What's with your lore?! WHAT'S WITH YOUR ART??? WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!?! SENSEI WHEN I CATCH YOU OHH WHEN I CATCH YOU. But of course, it's not your fault that I'm starving for more Yohaji chapters. One month is nothing to me- IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO CREATE THIS WONDERFUL AND HEAVENLY HOOK THAT CAUGHT ME EVEN ONLY WITH IT'S TITLE AND ART?? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO MEEEE?!?! Senseiiiiii*sob* waaaaaahh... Still, I'm sooo happy this is getting an anime this year!! I've been waiting for this ever since I found out it existed along with other Yohaji fans. I knew it would happen soon enough because it's the law. It's a crime to not make an adaption of amazing yet weird yet amazing manga like no other. Death row. DEATH ROW!! It's fine even if it's low quality. As long as it exists, I can finally pass on peacefully- when it airs it better be as good as the manga and look immaculate, I'm telling you. Haha, just kidding. Or am I..? I cannot wait until April or whatever how long it takes for the anime to air just please. Please even the trailer only. But I'm sure everyone is already working hard to make the anime for it. Do your best!! You're doing the right thing! And.... uhm.. 24 episodes... please..? AHHH HARUAKI'S SMILEEE!!! IT'S INVADING MY MIND!! GET OUT! PLEASE GET OUT!!! THIS LOWLY UNGRATEFUL UNDESERVING WORSE THAN DUST BUZZ BUZZ KILLABLE STUPID MORTAL ABOMINATION CAN'T HANDLE OR DESERVE SOMETHING LIKE THAT!! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! I can't do this. More. More. More Yohaji. I NEED IT. IF AIR AND SAILOR UNIFORM IS LIFE THEN SO IS YOHAJI!! RAAAAAAAHHH

Also I accidentally deleted a longer version of this and rewrote it with my memory. Thanks for wasting your time on this like I did.

[rosekasa]

🦉🌷🔮 for the fanfic writers game!

HANAA, JAANEMAN!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!

🦉Is there another author that helped inspire you to write?

omg so many come to mind and im actually afraid that im going to miss people out because i feel like the only reason i write is because of the people i admire. between 2021-2023 i really struggled with writing for a bit, i dont know why, someone gave me nazar probably, but there are some writers who i would read COPIOUS amounts of and think, this, THIS love i feel while reading is the love i want to feel about my own work

@jattendschaton , obviously, has been one of my biggest inspirations since i was a BABY. their writing is so descriptive and evocative. so insanely detailed. studying their writing was what got me into the habit of trying to find different ways to express a sentence to see if i could get a more accurate representation of the feeling i wanted to convey

@frostedpuffs and @lnc2 were the first ml writers i ever read <3 i didnt even know i wanted to write fic at the time! honestly a lot of my earlier characterisations/ways of writing are heavily inspired by their works because i was so obsessed with them! they made me want to start posting on ml ao3 in the first place

@xiueryn , i downloaded a bunch of yilena's fics onto my kindle in late 2022 and fucking DEVOURED them. i hadn't really been reading longer ml fics at all at the time but yilena's... i could not stop. their worldbuilding, their pacing, the way they make writing 40k+ word fics seem almost effortless? it became a joke with my irl best friend because i would literally randomly say "oh yilena you legend" while readingsdjkfhsd

@miabrown007, i read seven is a lucky number and it RUINED me for life. i dont know why this is what keeps coming to mind, but in her a/ns she mentioned that she HAD to end the word count on a multiple of seven, and i was like, oh my god, she puts so much structural thought into her stories. meeting her irl and hearing her talk about her writing process in detail was an out of body experience. that day itself i wanted to finish a multichapter

@asukiess, if loving ao3 user asukiess was a cult i would run it. i read tbsym and it really slapped me in the face because, having encountered it at a time where i felt like i ran out of any and all ability to be unique and creative with ml, i was like, oh my god, this person just wrote 10k+ words about. kuro neko?? a twenty minute episode? and she got SO MUCH out of it? and it hit me that like. if you love something enough you WILL find a way to create more out of it.

🌷What's one of your fics that isn't as popular, but you hold dear?

i have all my stats turned off on ao3 so i havent actually had that feeling of "aw i love this fic i wrote but it didnt really get popular" in like. three years sdjfhdsjkfds but checking my stats now, hmm. maybe ya'aburnee? which is funny because although it has fewer kudos than my other fics it's also the fic that people who i meet in the fandom yell at me for the most. at the mcm ml meetup a friend who came was like "HOW ARE U COMPLAINING ABOUT MCD YOU LITERALLY WROTE IT" and i so vehemently was like NO I LITERALLY DIDNT WHEN and they were like??? are u fucking stupid. it was great

🔮What's your favorite plot twist you've ever written?

the plot twist to ya'aburnee was a banger in the outlines but i feel like i didnt execute it that well in the actual fic. but lpoam i think was my FAVOURITE favourite. i even cried while writing the death scenesfdjshd

[thestupidhelmet]

I know we talk about Jackie and Eric being a thing in fanfiction. But how much of a game changer would it have been if it happened in real life? How would casual fans take to a J/E romance? Would ratings go up, or down?

This answer went far beyond the scope of the question. 😄

When the show originally aired, down. ⬇️ The majority of the fanbase shipped Eric/Donna and Jackie/Hyde while Eric/Jackie shippers were fringe.

Today, with new generations of fans -- still down but, perhaps, slightly less. The majority of fans still ship Eric/Donna and Jackie/Hyde. But Jackie/Eric shippers have increased and are more active in fandom.

J/H shippers have been and are far more active in making fanworks (fanfic, .gifsets, art, etc.) than Eric/Donna fans, but that could be due to Eric and Donna being together in some romantic aspect since "That '70S Pilot" (1x01) and are ultimately endgame in the series finale.

In contrast, T7S fans recognized the chemistry between Jackie and Hyde as early as "The Keg" (1x06) and began shipping them around then. Fanfic followed to explore the romantic possibilities. "The Best Christmas Ever" (1x12), for example, establishes Jackie experiences some kind of sexual attraction toward Hyde (however minor). "Ski Trip" (1x13) establishes Jackie's emotional connection to Hyde (however minor).

And "Prom Night" (1x19) blows the doors open for Jackie and Hyde. Recognizing the other's humanity overrides their antagonism. They find each other aesthetically appealing. Jackie trusts Hyde when she's most vulnerable e and isn't let down. In fact, he goes above and beyond -- to the point of reconciling her and Kelso despite in previous episodes trying to convince Kelso to drop her. Hyde exhibits significant empathy toward Jackie, and the ship was sea-worthy.

Eric and Jackie canonically treat each other like bickering siblings who insult each other (to each other's face amd behind the other's back). Jackie is sexually and aesthetically repulsed by Eric, and Eric is repulsed by Jackie's personality.

Their few times bonding stems from Eric's compassion for people in general, Jackie being obsessed with getting married and enjoying the shopping process, and the writers wanting to get a laugh from the audience.

For an Eric and Jackie romance to work canonically, the writers would have to develop and substantiate the changes in their characters over half a season of episodes, at least. Thirteen episodes (T7S aired back when shows had seasons of 26 episodes, split into thirteen for the fall/winter and spring/early summer halves of a season.)

That doesn't mean fanfic writers can't and haven't accomplished the above in their stories. But a romantic Eric/Jackie pairing simply isn't built into the show in any way.

Over the years, I've gone from finding the ship physically repulsive (my stomach actually tensed in an unpleasant manner 😅) to enjoyable in a well-written fanfic. Just because a relationship ship isn't show!canon doesn't mean it can't work if it's written well in fanfic. By that same token, well-written fanfic doesn't inject canonicity into the show. It might project it onto the show, but it can't create what doesn't exist.

Interestingly, the potential for a Jackie/Fez romantic relationship is built into the show (long before the OOC season 8). Their pairing in fanfic can be considered following show!canon.

I don't ship Jackie/Fez at all romantically, but I can't dismiss what's in the show. Whereas I enjoy the Eric/Jackie ship in specific cases, but the show well-establishes their romantic (and sexual) incompatibility.

For more about Jackie and Fez's relationship on T7S, check out the following meta:

[wildskissed]

GET TO KNOW ME MEME ! !

NAME — pyro, but some of you know me by my name/name PRONOUNS — she/her SEXUALITY — demisexual, which is admittedly why a few of my more popular muses are as well, because it's easy to write, lol SINGLE / TAKEN — taken

THREE FACTS

— I used to teach preschool — I’m a published author — My ideas were used for a few episodes of a very popular cult phenomenon show that ran for 15 years...

EXPERIENCE

HOW LONG — Have I been writing? Since 6th grade. My teacher added an extra credit part to our weekly homework packets for me because I was always writing random short stories in class in my free time and she thought it would be fun if we all had a chance to do that. RPing? Since 2006, and it was on a Star Trek forum that no longer exists. It was also fully comprised of OCs only, so it boggled my mind--still does--that when I came to Tumblr that was so frowned upon, because that was all I knew. WHAT PLATFORMS — A couple of forums, one for Start Trek and one that was a world that my sister and I created that took off with our friends and some other people we never met in real life, lol. We also did Twitter RP for a while for FanFic characters, and then I ended up on Tumblr, and very rarely do a I sometimes do Discord RP. BEST EXPERIENCE — I love Tumblr most days, but those forums were hands down the best. We all collaborated on ideas, and we all gushed about each other's OC's, and we genuinely wanted everyone to have a good time. We also got really into editing and manips, which was why when I was involved in said cult phenomenon, I used to make fan videos too by meshing different shows and movies together. I still do that occasionally, but mostly I just work on my own novels, lol. Honestly, probably why Eve has taken off as she has with the group of you that I've surrounded myself with because we all do the same--we collaborate and gush and protect each other.

MUSE TYPE

FEMALE OR MALE — I heavily lean towards female muses. I don't know why that is, because I do have male muses that I have used in the past, and I love writing male characters, but I have never been able to stick with one that I RPed. Because of that, I absolutely RP females constantly. FLUFF , ANGST OR SMUT — I love them all! Angst is my niche though. I've been known for it in every serious writing group I have ever been in, but I still love fluff and I do love smut if I'm in the mood for it. I try not to turn cute threads into angst too, but I know that I'm guilty of that sometimes, haha. PLOTS OR MEMES — ALL OF THE ABOVE LONG OR SHORT REPLIES — I prefer longer replies, but I understand that those can take a toll, and sometimes, I'm more in the mood for a shorter quippy thread, you know? So, it really depends on the mood, and how my partner is feeling. BEST TIME TO WRITE — When I have the muse to. That's such a response, but, it's just true. I have such limited time because of my work schedule, so I'm mostly on in the mornings or on Sundays, but honestly, you can't force writing to happen. You really gotta go with the flow. ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S) — I mean...yes and no? I have muses that I have absolutely nothing in common with, but I also feel like, most of us pick muses that we at least see one trait in common with them? Easier to write what you know? Like I write L.ove Q.uinn, but I wouldn't say I am like her. I have a mothering streak like Eve does, and I can be a bit of an arrogant brat like Y.ennefer, but I don't know that I'd ever compare myself to my muses, lol.

TAGGED BY STOLEN FROM: the dash and i can't remember from whom TAGGING: @illithidploy, @arcanecast, @shadovan, @miidnighters, @dxnse-macabre, @fereldensheroes, @altrxisme, @luposcainus, @championsofthegate, @alittlebitofmuse, @wolf-eyes-wolf-soul, and you ! !

[chenfordspiral]

Anything with a 3!

This is so mean.. but also, thank you for not saying 1 or 2 😂

There's a keep reading tap in here because this got a little long haha

3. Are there any specific themes you enjoy exploring in your fics? Oyyy.. um. I have a hard time separating themes from tropes right now so pardon if this is crap. But I love themes (and these are probably super obvious) like family, and love, and friendship, and overcoming things together and growing stronger in the process. Like give me these found family vibes any day and I'm sat. Did I answer that correctly??

13. What's the most challenging aspect of writing fanfiction for you? Keeping the characters in character! Listen, I'm a master overthinker, so of course I will worry about keeping them in character with every new story or new chapter I write. It's who I am. Doesn't matter that I've written quite a lot now, I'm always going to worry.

23. How do you write endings for your fics? Do you prefer open-ended or conclusive conclusions? I don't think I've ever actually written anything and left it open-ended, so the obvious answer would have to be conclusive conclusions (also, why did I lol so hard when I read that? "conclusive conclusions" well, yeah conclusions are usually conclusive..right? Sorry, I haven't slept in a long while 😂) Okay, I lied. I do actually have one story that's open-ended. Whoops.

30. How do you handle writing multiple storylines or subplots? Already answered here :)

31. Do you prefer writing from a single character's perspective or switching between different viewpoints? I know for a fact that in pretty much all of my stories, I switch back and forth between different viewpoints within the story. Sooo yeah, that's my answer I guess haha

32. Have you ever participated in fanfiction contests, challenges/fests? Yes, I did contribute stories to ChenfordWeek23 in July and the Secret Santa event in December!

33. How do you incorporate world-building elements into your fics? Damn woman, these are hard questions. Does that even apply when I just take the world we know from the show and then try to stay as true to that as possible? I may be wrong here and please correct me if I'm wrong lol, but isn't world-building basically like creating your own, unique world that doesn't actually exist? 🤔 someone help me out here pls 😂

34. Are there any fic writing tips or tricks you've learned along the way that you'd like to share? Oh hell. Have fun with it? I know that's lame but that's truly the best tip I can give. If you don't enjoy writing something, don't write it. If you enjoy writing it, go ahead and write it.

35. What do you enjoy most about being a fic writer? Being able to escape reality for a bit. And trying to give these characters even more stories and in-between-moments because we don't see everything in a 40-minute episode. Also, fanfic allows you to just explore stuff and have these characters meet in 18731129 different ways and yet always find their way to each other eventually.

Thanks for sending some questions!

[p-receh]

Hi! No neg to you at all but i really need to get this out so feel free to ignore :D

I feel like fandoms as a whole has started to become WAY too comfortable in telling their creators what to do. The drama, complaints, and overall neg that i've seen people spewing to monsta is disheartening.

Critics are fine here and there, especially when mentioned in a respectable way. But people seem to forget that nothing is perfect, they see a flaw and just... zero in on it

Monsta can't satisfy everyone. Heck NO creator can satisfy everyone, but complaining about the thing something is lacking and saying negative things about the creators is helping absolutely NO ONE.

If anything it makes the creators ignore you, at worse double down or get disheartened and stop creating as a whole. Other than that it creates a negative sphere that makes some people (who were fine and enjoying this thing they like) to also feel unsatisfied or be negative as well.

ITS RUINING THE FUN FOR EVERYONE

I feel like these people don't realize how HARD it is to create let alone make a show.. its actually something i've realized in media consumption over the years; people have consumed so much media that they believe they "know whats best" or "understand better how to create this and that"

Creating is not easy. It takes time. It takes skill. WRITING isn't easy. ART isn't easy. ANIMATING isn't easy.

You want a specific episode that cater to what you like and how you want the characters to be? Write it. Genuinely write it.

Thats what fanart is for, fanfiction, fananimation.

Want something? Make it yourself. People have been spoon feed with free content that includes 3 seasons worth of a show, 2 seasons of its sequel show, 2 movies, AND comics.

And again. THESE ARE ALL FREE.

People do not REALIZE how privileged they are.

Do you know how many content now that is under a paywall? Do you know how incredible and generous it is to be given free content of an animated show for years?

To be given a show that is so obviously made with passion and love?

And still having the nerve to complain that its not the way how some people want or like it to..

Write it. To those who fully believe they know how things should be created, then do it yourself. Make a script and give it to them. Make a fanfic. Make an AU. Make art. MAKE WHAT EVER IT IS YOUR COMPLAINING ABOUT OR MADE YOU DISSATISFIED

Sorry about the long rant, this is in no way directed to you, been really peeved with how ungrateful people have been (getting that much free content in anything is a privilege some do not realize). Thinking its so easy to make a free show.

Anyway can't wait to see the continuation of your AU :D

Allahuakbar—THAT'S A LONG TED TALK wwwwwwwww X'D

Lmao I was not ready for a minute with how long your ask was, so of course I couldn't ignore this! wkwkwkw

Ehem.

Truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu 100%!

I am new to this fandom but it genuinely got me a headache. Even with the recent drama "Boboiboy is more likely a fan service franchise now!" or "Why monsta always treat Boboiboy only and abandoning their supporting characters? This is why Ejen Ali is better!" and many other drama that I don't need to know in the past.

Like... Puh-lease. Don't you guys know how much it blessed that they released their show full HD on YouTube? Both TV and movie series? Released their comic on webtoon for free?

Maybe you guys didn't realize how illogical that sound for outside of... I dunno, maybe from sea countries. Like Japan with their infamous strict rules for any franchise when they promote their products.

(and with how ridiculous what had westerns entertainment corporations did to consumers, so pirating on us and Europe almost became a norm?)

Monsta I'd say is genius. They knew they cannot apply the same way with how the Japan did, and thus they find a way to make their show release without losing any money. Even me personally still find that strategy is "somewhat" illegal. But for SEA countries? I can understand why they choose this path. Because that's how The some of franchises from my country did that too to promote their products.

Buuuut does it make the corporate go impecunious?

Now that my friend, it all comes down with the quality and the general public reception themselves.

(I can give you examples buuuut it gonna be longer and might subjective since I don't have any uh... Marketing background knowledge)

Therefor Monsta creatively managed to survive that obstacle. Their shows already big enough across the SEA nations and beyond; their comics and card battle themselves are heavily sold out, and even managed to release on theater in Japan!

Aaaaaaaaand then again, anon. This is internet.

Sometimes criticism could cause endless of drama that never ends. And it's absolutely unhealthy. Uurggh..

Yet in rare occasions, consumer criticism had their own benefits. Like the infamous Gremlin Movie Sonic before Paramount had to change because of the internet. (HUGE internet criticism If you guys don't know)

It really is a gamble to take any discourse if their take was supporting and even disowning some product. Especially on the internet where you could freely critics without hearts content.

I admit I myself have my complaints but tbf, at the of the day I don't mind with what Monsta give to their product. In fact, I respect with how much they take risk to correcting their mistakes from the very first Boboiboy Series up until now.

Nobody's perfect anyway, so I highly appreciate it they way Monsta tried to please anyone.

But that's the beauty of the Fan Art. Whether in form of music, visuals, literary, and any kind of medium to ensure that franchise still has an active community with tons of new ideas to share for their franchises. Big or small.

Fan art for me is a clarification whether the franchise is acceptable to their target market or not. If no one creates it, I consider that franchise is failure and not exist.

"The difference between fanfic and a "real" novel is that fanfic is honest about its inspiration."

-Mary Robinette Kowal

"There's a time and place for everything, and I believe it’s called 'fan fiction'."

-Joss Whedon

Tho...

Why would someone would want to waste their talents for creating fan art that they didn't even like it at first?

I specifically refer to people who made fan art clearly for hate or trigger people who liked it, not for earning money(that's another story to tell)

What a pity to waste time, ya know?

Like, touch some grass dude :/

[daydreamtofiction]

Hello! Firstly, I wanted to say just how much I adore your writing style. There's just something ever so beautiful about the way it flows. And speaking of flow... I wondered if had any tips for making a story flow better, I've so many ideas but I just can't seem to figure out how to put them all together in a coherent way. Thank you!

Firstly, thank you so much.

This is such a good question but it’s one I’m having a really hard time coming up with practical advice for! I’ll try my best, but I’m sorry in advance if this isn’t helpful.

As always, I like to start with the disclaimer that I’m 29, I’ve been writing since I was a child, went to university at 18 for an undergrad in creative writing and got my masters in creative writing at 23. I’ve also had another 6 years since graduating in which I’ve been incredibly privileged to be mentored and supported by some amazing people and organisations in the literary space. So I’ve got a lot of years worth of practice and development under my belt. I’m not saying anyone needs degrees or training or anything to become a good writer, because you don’t, I’m just trying to emphasise how time is truly the best aid for anyone looking to hone their craft. And there’s never a set formula you can follow when it comes to improving your writing.

Funnily enough, I enjoy creating fics so much on this platform because it allows me to be a little more lax with my writing. Some things I’ve published under this alias would never fly with an editor and would probably be torn apart in developmental feedback. I don’t edit and redraft as much as I do with my irl work, I’m not as economical with my words and I try not to overthink things too much. So first and foremost, I’d say go easy on yourself. You write your fics for you, and you write them for free! Fanfic readers, on a whole, consume works that range drastically in author skill level. And for the most part, they will still enjoy and appreciate a fic despite its flaws.

That being said, let me try and actually answer your question lol.

When you say ‘flow’, I’m not sure if you mean the narrative or the actual writing itself. So I’ll give separate advice for both.

The narrative

Some good ways to make a narrative flow better is to think about pace, character and storyline.

Think about a TV show, I’ll use Fleabag season 2 as an example since it’s fresh in my mind from my priest fic. The basic premise is Fleabag meets a priest, fancies him, they hook up, but in the end he chooses God. If that’s all the story was, the show would be an episode long. What makes it so much more compelling is all the little ‘side quests’ she takes, the exploration of herself and other relationships, the time they take to allow that tension to build, little scenes that have no bearing on the main plot but add meat onto the bones of the story.

This helps control the pace; makes it feel more substantial and gives the readers time to bond with your characters and become invested in the story. It also stops you and your readers becoming fatigued by the main plot. Think about your day; you got up, went to school/work/wherever, came home and went to bed. But that wasn’t the extent of your day. You also might have noticed some new freckles while washing your face that morning, had an interesting interaction with a shopkeeper while buying your lunch, you might have found yourself dwelling on something that happened years ago which affected your mood, it might have rained when you weren’t expecting it to. All those little things are what make the journey from A to B truly flow.

So don’t be scared to divert from the main storyline with extra scenes, or create secondary plots that run alongside the main narrative. Not only will it help with the pace, but it will also force you to create more well-rounded characters. A well-rounded character is another great way to make a story flow, because they feel more real and less like a device.

Having lots of ideas and no idea how to make them flow is a problem I think many writers have. My advice for that is to not attempt to squeeze everything into one story just because you’re overwhelmed with a plethora of ideas. I know it can be hard when you’ve thought of a great plot point or scene but you just can’t make it fit, or you can’t figure out where in the story all of your ideas should go. That’s why it’s good to create a rough outline of your story in advance (either mentally or written out), piece together where all of these ideas might go before you start to write your story.

You can keep a note of your ideas in a separate folder/journal/document, that way you won’t feel as compelled to fit everything in one fic, because you’ll have this great selection of ideas you didn’t use that can be utilised in other projects.

If you’re still struggling to make your ideas flow into one coherent narrative, then it could be a sign that the story you’re wanting to write isn’t a fully developed concept yet. It might be worth taking some time to read other books/fics you like, watch tv/films and take note of how they’re structured, even daydreaming about your ideas can be useful, as the more you play them out, the more you may begin to notice how your mind naturally puts them together.

The writing itself

Read 👏 your 👏 work 👏 aloud 👏. It’s easier to detect issues in the flow of your writing when you speak it out loud - if you trip over your sentences, then you can almost guarantee a reader will. Pay attention to where you naturally take pause, that’s usually indicative of a comma being required or a sentence running on too long.

Be mindful of your story reading like ‘and then they did this, then they did that, then they went here’. Not everyone writes in a flowery way, but it should still have texture, some light and shade. Similarly, make sure you’re not repeating yourself. Nothing interrupts the flow of a paragraph like seeing the same words or descriptions over and over again.

Also, I know I said I’m less economical with language here than I am in my real life work. But I still advise trying to lessen unnecessary words/sentences. Give readers credit that they can fill in blanks themselves. Do you need to tell them the character is holding the phone in their left hand specifically, or can you just say they’re holding their phone? Do you really need to describe a characters appearance top to bottom, or can you just pick out a few defining features? Do they need to be described at all? Could you take a sentence like ‘I walked over to the table and picked up the camera, then I turned around and took a picture of the flowers in the vase.’ And turn it into ‘I took the camera off the table and snapped a picture of the flowers.’ It’s only a small difference, but in terms of flow, the key is making it require as little effort as possible to absorb.

I also just realised you could be asking about dialogue, which is its own challenge entirely. But I did give this advice to another person asking how to make dialogue sound more natural.

I really hope this helps! Sorry I went on a bit lmao.

[citystoryscapes]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

yayyyy thank you for the tag deepa, who is the best! @fiercynn <3 I've been meaning to participate in this for agessssss

since there are both recent newcomers to bbs fandom and people like me who are new to bbs tumblr, i thought i'd create a getting-to-know-you meme for people to introduce themselves if they want! all questions are optional

note: i consider "fanworks" to pretty much everything people create related to a fandom, including but not limited to meta/analysis/discussion, gifs, fanvids/edits/fancams, filk, fanart, fanfic, fan food, fan crafts, etc. please include this note with the meme unless you have a different definition!

name and whatever you want to share about yourself

hey, I'm rain! that's not my actual name but it's all the internet is getting. my pronouns are she/they. I'm in my 20s and a grad student, and fandom has been a (selectively) great place for me in terms of finding supportive, brilliant friends. I like to write a fair bit; occasionally, I post it too. I also like cats, big cities, good tea, and old houses.

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

I'd heard about bad buddy because it was airing around the same time as another show I was watching, but I wasn't toooo interested until episode 5, part 4/i4. when I tell you that kiss UNLOCKED SOMETHING IN ME... I caught up on the first 5 episodes pretty much immediately after that while quarantining alone over Christmas, and it pretty much kept me sane. I watched the rest of the show as it aired- please spare a moment of silence for the people who had to wait out the two-week gap between episodes over New Year's.

bad buddy has always made me SO genuinely happy and hopeful, reminding me that there is hope for queer Asian people even if our families aren't always supportive.

favorite ship(s)

patpran, inkpa, and some comic relief waikorn

favorite character(s)

in terms of fanworks, it's a very close call between pran and pat, but I think pran is my favorite by a hair! I love his character arc throughout the show! I especially love his confidence and the way he grew into himself. pran might win in terms of being inspirational, but I have to say, I LOVE well-written pat meta.

in terms of who I'd like to channel in real life, it's obviously ink. she is the absolute coolest, a proud simp, and a protective girlfriend.

(I'm great at avoiding making choices)

favorite episode(s)

episode 5, because what could ever compare? I also love parts of episode 3 and 11 (I'm saying this as if I don't love the entire show).

favorite scene(s)

ep 5 rooftop kiss!!!! ep 3 bus stop and mini elevator scene; ep 4 pran's injury and the three wontons dinner; ep 6 beach scene where they're paired up in the game; and their trip to the market, ep 7 confession scene; ep 9's 'anyone taller than me is fine'!!!!! ep 11 bus scene, beach scene, and song montage; ep 12's entire bait and switch reveal, and pat pran's dinner out with friends.

see what I meant about avoiding making choices?

one thing you would change about the show if you could

seconding deepa, WHY DID INKPA NOT KISS??? also this isn't a change I would definitively make to the existing show, but I'd love a b-side where we see patpran's relationship in the years between their graduations and pran's return from Singapore.

what are your some of your favorite fanworks made by other people?

I can't believe this is a question I am legitimately choosing to answer:

Fic:

make my body say ah, ah, ah by Sabulum

heart in a cage by sunshinedobi

paradox by Everybodyknows

dynamic by riddles2

a nose boop and the rest is history by seekingmoonscapes

don't forget me when I let the water take me by gilly_bean

your love is your life by threewontons

Videos:

same page by dkyth73

just friends by fiercynn and scribe

dancer by coldties

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

technically I've only published one bad buddy fanwork (it's a fic called these violent delights). my favorite thing I've created for the show is an unpublished canon-divergence fic where patpran have sex and possibly get together during their ep 6 beach trip

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol)

I'm sticking to the classics; same page and just being friendly by tilly birds are my top choices. I also made playlists for pat and pran, for said unpublished fic, so here's some of the songs I picked for both:

for pat: the loneliest time by carly rae jepsen, double take by dhruv, better by khalid, the enemy by andrew belle

for pran: washing machine heart by mitski, 18 by 1D, and dancer by leon

idk anything else you want us to know?

I love all of you smart meta writers, I'm kissing your big beautiful brains

okay i'm literally going to tag all of my tumblr mutuals that i think are still in the fandom (if i missed anyone sorry!!), but also if you want to do the meme consider yourself tagged! please don’t let this flop lol 🤞🏽

[gardenerian]

today is actually a super busy day so of course i am avoiding it all by doing @celestialmickey's sweet lil tag game! ty @metalheadmickey @mmmichyyy @tanktopgallavich @energievie ily ily!

your name: mel

your age: respect your elders

your first fandom(s): time to out myself again, huh? i was on fandom tumblr for downton abbey (and sherlock oh god) when it was airing but i never really participated? i just lurked. the first fandom that i wrote fic/made graphics/did headcanons for etc. was riverdale 💀 then it was schitt's creek, and now.... well. we know what this is.

your current fandom(s): shamey wamey

how did you first get into fandom? i was on tumblr for the angst and nudes for a while asjkfh and then fandom found me. never looked back babyyyyy

how long have you been engaging with fandom spaces? i still have some very treasured riverdale mutuals, and i started in that space in 2017? that's when i first seriously engaged in fandom. i jumped right into shameless tumblr in 2019 and have been very comfy!

how often do you read fanfics? not as much as i used to! it used to be every day, multiple times per day. but now... my brain, it is broken. i would say once a week or so? sometimes more, if the noggin allows. i really want to do better!!

top 3 characters from your current fandom(s): ian/mickey, lip, fiona

have you ever written a fic for a fandom? if so, shout it out! ayyyyy yes i have, and i am trying to get more out there!

have you ever drawn fanart for a fandom? lmao no, you guys astound me every single day with your talent, but i do not have it

share a personal headcanon that you feel very strongly about: i don't want to say asdfklh

you’re trying to convince a friend to get into your current fandom(s) with you. what episode, clip, or scene are you showing them? god that's tough. possibly 4x08? it's one of my favorites and it's such a classic! the music.... everyone's storylines... the performances! s4 is such a HNNNNHHHNNGG good one. i would say 7x12 but i'd need to show them mickey..... oh god maybe 2x02??? s2 my most beloved! this is an impossible question. they need to watch the whole thing.

and finally, what does fandom mean to you? oh my god. fandom has always been something of an escape for me? i joined the riverdale fandom in a pretty rough spot, and it was such a fun and sweet way to disconnect from all of that. despite the Stupid of that show, i had so much fun. but now... it's still an escape. it's still a way to turn off the world and mess around and have fun. but it's also a way to learn and express myself and try new things and feel brave? it's a way to create in a way i never thought i could??? it's a community of kindred spirits. this fandom in particular has infused my life with so much color. it has given me my best friends. the tumblr table at my wedding is REAL and it will be the most fun table IMO. my life was very different before these folks came around, and fandom is 100% responsible for that. *clears throat, wipes away tears* anyways. fandom is cool.

tag shy today despite just spilling my guts askjdafksh please do this and share your thoughts! i am tagging yoU!

[bleachbleachbleach]

I hope this doesn't come off as rude or weird, and you are doing well! I'm dipping my toes into Bleach fanfiction and I have a question that might be more world-building-ish. We know there are prosthetics in Seiretei; do you think there are other assistive technologies (e.g. hearing aids) there? I mean, Mayuri seems to have...misplaced his ears and given himself a set of prosthetics/implants instead. Who do you think would be the go-to department for those things? I hope you have a good day!

Not rude or weird at all! I hope the amount of time it’s taken us to respond didn’t feel rude or weird; we are just… always on this strugglebus. 😅

I’m excited to hear you’re dipping your toes into Bleach fanfic! There is never enough fanfic on this website. <3 And WORLDBUILDING is involved? Say no more! And I love how much work the word "misplaced" is doing in your description. XDD Love it.

I do not have the canon citations for this handy, but it seems like a lot of the major bodywork in Soul Society is more the purview of the 12th than 4th. We know that Kira’s rebar job, and whatever else was required to anchor his being (more or less), happened at the 12th. If you want to be de-zombified, that’s the 12th. (Though in fairness, by that point Unohana was dead and Isane had more than enough to handle without also taking on special projects.) And Hinamori also had dealings with the 12th post-Winter War (which I’m sure was a gr8 environment for her mental health)*—but anyway!

You’ve already seen our post about accessibility/disability studies and the Gotei 13, which gets a little bit into my thinking re: 4th vs. 12th, so I’ll skip over that and say that in the present-day Gotei, the 12th is going to be your go-to for assistive technologies or body modifications.

But what does that mean for the availability of, research direction of, and cultural response to these things?

* Speaking truthfully, though, I think that maybe it… could have been? I mean, not interacting *with Mayuri* if ever she did, but other people in 12th.

I’ll share some of the directions I’d think in, if I needed this for fic. I’d love to hear about your own worldbuilding around this as well!

Availability/Usage Notes

Mostly whenever the Gotei needs something from the 12th, they just have it, because of course they do. Or Mayuri works some mojo and several episodes later they have it. So we could make the argument that if you need an arm, or new ears, or an eyeball, then the 12th can make that happen.

But what if it’s not that simple? Because the 12th also seems like the kind of place where people are… working on stuff, but might be driven more by curiosity than the desire to enact public good, or offer a viable service. Most of that stuff is probably prototype-only, and all of the time and materials and actual working samples may be few and far between. It’s ~artisanal~

And probably fairly dangerous! Or at best, not without risk, and perhaps not without a lot of other factors to need to consider and/or accept/deal with. We know that stuff from the 12th does… get tested, and it’s not like they don’t have the time/lifespans to be collecting longitudinal data, but I’m positive they do not have the kind of oversight and ethnics boards that we do, and it’s not as though our human history (and contemporary lived experienced) isn’t already populated with some pretty heinous intrusions of bodily autonomy/informed consent/etc., even with all that.

I’d be interested to know:

how hard it might be to get the materials required to create any form of assistive technology at the 12th, or to replicate a successful result.

how much risk one takes on, in accepting such a technology from the 12th.

what it’s like to then live with this tech

You might have a "simple" prosthetic like Kuukaku’s, or you might have a whole new arm, like Soi Fon.

Do you get a new arm and never look back?

Do those neural pathways require a different kind of maintenance than the original?

Are there treatments to keep the body from rejecting the new limb? Are there medications?

Are Mayuri’s implants the same as the ears his body came with, or do they function differently? Is sound still an interpretation of vibrations or is here now something else involved? Does sound sound like sound in the way that it does to others?

Research Direction

Kind of going off that, I think the impetus for the research that’s happening would also have a huge impact on how these technologies functioned and what they are intended to do for the user. 

Again, this is something that continues to be complicated (and often frustrating) in our world. You probably know this too well! But in general, a lot of the assistive technologies in our world have been developed for the express purpose of making X thing more accessible, in a world that is otherwise largely designed for some normative, abled prototype of a person.

I am…not convinced that is always, or even often, the case at the 12th. I’m sure they have many labs that do feel a focused direction to their research (military applications), but I don’t think altruism, quality of life, accessibility, or disability justice likely factor in all that often. So what does that mean for the forms of technologies that are available? What does it mean for the potential divide between theory and praxis?

I'm not saying the 12th approach is all bad (okay, some of it involves the completely ubiquitous, unremarked upon death and/or abuse of their research subjects, which seems Bad)--some of it is about genuine curiosity, and some of that curiosity is about understandings things that exist in ways different than oneself, and/or in understanding oneself as different from others. And I do think it's valuable for a lot of these guys to not be trying to "fix" some specific thing (more on that in the next section).

I think there’s a lot of potential here for different labs to have very different approaches to and visions for their research.

How many of them were given a problem that they’re supposed to solve practically?

How many of them observed a phenomena, and are working on stuff that will help them observe it better, or break open some new vantage point from which to observe it (replicate it?  harness it? destroy it)?

How many of them have a fetish they’re exploring?

How much slippage is there between these things, within and across labs?

Cultural Response

One thing I enjoy about Bleach is that while we don’t necessarily see a lot of visibly disabled characters, or see different ways of being highlighted in the narrative, we do see many different choices characters have made about their lives. And sure, maybe it’s not always an element of choice—maybe Kyouraku’s eyeball was seared into oblivion so bad there was no hope of any form of prosthetic or eyeball transplant or some other more magic-forward alternative.

But limb replacement seems fairly straightforward (and again, maybe it’s really not, and Soi Fon and Hacchi and Hitsugaya and anyone else who’s ever lost a limb just doesn’t talk about it); we know Kuukaku has all the money and connections anyone could ever possibly need in Soul Society, yet she has (chose?) a basic prosthetic. Tousen remains blind. And uh, this does get a bit weird at the end of the winter war with the bug-ifying and the exploding, but before things got Complicated, he spent centuries living life as a blind man, where his other senses took center stage and meaningfully shaped his experiences and way of being in the world. Atau doesn’t seem to have any visible hearing aids, but we do know that he signs, and that forms of communication other than vocalized speech are his primary. One would also hope that that means Soul Society has a signing Deaf community of which he is a part, as well.

In Soul Society, there’s a bunch of magic that can "fix" someone, but doing so isn’t a foregone conclusion, and there doesn’t seem to really be a prescription for what root someone would need to take. (Minus Yhwach telling Yamamoto he should’ve gotten a new arm.) There are characters who choose to make use of this technology or that, and characters who choose otherwise. These are all potential ways of being, each with their own considerations, both practical and persona. And it seems like there’s a lot more allowance for that than in many spaces in our world (the military, for instance).

At the same time, like that other post of ours points out, there’s not a lot of thought given to accessibility or support, so this has its limitations. XD And maybe those limitations come out of things similar to what I was talking about with regard to research directions—is there a goal of accessibility being foregrounded, or is it a bunch of dudes (who may or may not be part of the target audience for their tech, if there is a target audience at all) making/breaking shit? It might also have to do with the ways that shinigami bodies, even as they do seem important and not entirely afterthought, are not as critical to their existence as ours are. Shinigami are not as anchored to the body. Maybe this gives them a freer sense of the strictures that "must" govern it/relationship to it; maybe it also supercharges the forgetting, of the ways that it does materially impact ways of being in the world.

As far as what cultural responses to using or not using assistive technologies might be, I imagine a lot of shinigami don’t actually think about it that much, because it hasn’t occurred to them to think about it. Everyone probably thinks Mayuri is a weirdo, but probably not nearly as much as Mayuri would like, and probably not because he replaced his ears. There’s so much other stuff going on with that man. XD He probably wishes he got more of a reaction out of his "hmm… okay then" co-workers! But I like the idea that a shinigami’s sense of what is "normative" is relatively broad. At least where the body—the just-the-organs body—is concerned.

Since that’s not at all the cultural response to other forms of "deviation," like Hollowfication, for instance. Which is certainly a bodily change/non-normative way of being, but which is treated in an absolutely different way. THAT’S a deformity; that’s the grotesque; that’s incompatible with life in the Soul Society. That’s the line.

Anyway, that sure is a whole Post, but those are some directions and questions I personally find invigorating. I hope it was also useful to your own brainstorming, as a jumping off point or as counterpoint to the ways you want to explore things. I’d love to hear your own thoughts as well, and definitely feel free to tag us in any worldbuilding headcanons you choose to share! :)

[rocco-ko]

Good omens S2 finale reaction (SPOILERS)

TW: suicide attempt, alcohol addiction (This one is quite triggering, people, read at your own risk)

Tell me, why did humans created fairy tales? You see, it is much more than just an entertainment. At all times we need some gentle little stories to tell us that whatever happens, there's something good in this world left, something which is worth fighting for and worth putting your faith in... We believe in fairy tales because reality sucks.

My reality sucked a great deal when I first discovered GO 4 years ago. After a suicide attempt I went to explore the world just to discover that I was way more broken than I thought. So I came back to my parents house just to became a full time alcoholic. That is when I watched Good omens for the first time. And you know, it would be a lie to say that it changed my life right away. No, at first, I couldn't even finish the first episode. I watched it few weeks later. Realization came afterwards. I discovered that I am queer and autistic, started learning how to draw, went to therapy, got accepted to another university, learned new language, started my first job and made friends for the first time at the age of 23.

When the most important person in my life died, I just kept watching fan made GO animation, that was the only thing which kept me going.

That tale consumed my life. I wanted to draw just to be able to draw GO fan art and I wanted a friend just to talk to somebody about that stupid ineffable love story. And that felt terrific.

The last 4 years weren't easy for me. Although, just like my wretched wonderful puppy Crowley in their burning Bentley - I knew that I had to finish my ride because it was my only option.

Yesterday, before watching s2, I wrote in my notebook "I won't be the same person I was before...".

I loved the second season... a lot. It was beautifully written and filmed, and it was one level above the first season (which was amazing). I don't think I have ever felt happier than seeing Crowley creating galaxies or have a smile so sincere as I had watching Aziraphale trying food for the first time. For me, they are not fictional characters. They are real. I live in their world and I have no intention of coming back.

So I finished Good omens S2 and... stayed up until 4 am... deleting their pictures, fan arts and all of the bookmarks with fanfics...

What I don't understand, is why doeseverybody now try to make relationship look clever, love – practical and fantasy.. well... real? What's up with this kind of toxic unhealthy trend among modern comedies (Ted Lasso and OFMD fans will surely understand what I mean)? We don't want brilliantly written angst. We want magic. Maybe stupid. Maybe naive. But honest and beautiful. We want to believe in angels and true love again.

That kindness, dorkiness, sweetness and faith – faith that there is going to be a new day, even after the end of the world – that is what made GO so special. I know, people try to reassure themselves that there's going to be the 3rd season, but you know what? I don't have another 4? 3? 2? years, I don't have faith anymore. I lost my best friend. I can't hear nightingales.

P.S. I didn't mean to upset anybody with my post. I wrote this only because I am badly traumatized and if somebody's got affected by this finale in a similar way... please... lets try and process this together because I am not sure I can handle it on my own.