#at no point was i influenced by people other than some irl friends who shared in and fueled my obsession

[ghwosty]

sometimes i miss how i engaged with my interests before i started being more online, there was a purity and authenticity to it

[insteading]

So, I'm newish to fandom, right? Though I'm not new to being obsessed about particular shows, my last rounds of obsession came when the blogosphere was still a thing, and that's where my blathering about it in the tags energy went.

I get that "Positive feedback only on art and fic" is a way of extending support to artists and writers who make things for free! (I also have ascertained that we don't have the same norms for meta / nonfiction, which I find fascinating AF. Is it that meta's commitments are more explicitly intellectual, and that we therefore expect and accept a level of critique we wouldn't where fic and art are concerned?)

The caveat I've been seeing "Except where racism is concerned-- we call out racism ..."

We don't. Not universally, not consistently. And I'm going to bet calling out racism when that calling out actually happens is a comparatively new fandom norm, and there are some people who dismiss it as a form of moralism. My point here is:

Fandom norms aren't eternal, and (this is my blogosphere training talking)

Re: "ship and let ship," you like what you like, but what you like is culturally influenced. Subtracting the wrinkles from someone you're drawing comes from somewhere (and it's not always "I'm drawing an AU in which these guys met in high school"). Drawing someone as skinnier than they are comes from somewhere. (I'm thin. The number of times IRL someone has attempted to force-team me into bonding over snarking on someone for their fatness is substantial and not cute.)

The norm of "If you don't like it, use the back button" means if I nope out of your fic in chapter 7 because I just read a sentence in which Stede's eyes are blue, and that has been a pretty reliable proxy for racism, you will never know why I stopped engaging. You won't know that I stopped reading because your Ed can't read-- a detail that you think is canonical but that has been disproven multiple times in the show. You might think life intervened. No. I have three hours of commuting and a ridiculous amount of reading time. If I didn't finish a fic there is a reason why. Maybe you're happier not knowing it. Meanwhile I'm thinking: if we were actually friends, I would be working up the courage to talk to you about it, because Blogosphere Years Ago I promised that I would not let pointing out racism, fatphobia, ableism be the sole responsibility of POC, fat people, and people with disabilities.

I get that it's stressful to be called out. Hell, it's stressful to say "I have a problem with this" too! But I've also seen people do absolute master classes in responding to a gentle callout without defensiveness, and with changed behavior, and it made me better at in-person conflict to witness. One of my blogosphere lessons is: Preferring harmony over growth isn't neutral. It's culturally white, and it has costs (mostly to the people who don't share the cultural positioning of the majority).

So yeah: part of what makes me sad about the back button norm is that I think it reinforces a producer / consumer relationship between writers and readers. If I can't tell you when I've got a problem with something, and you can't tell me when you've got a problem with something, that's a hard limit on the extent to which we can know each other. (Also: because I write meta rather than fic, it is absolutely within tumblr norms for you to tell me my take is bad, even if it's not within fandom norms for me to say "I love this fic except for X.") And as someone who made enduring IRL friendships from my blogosphere days, I find that a bit saddening.

[hanzajesthanza]

"controversial opinion" 👀 ? do say…

(the tag for context; the subject being parasocial relationships)

well. i just don’t think that parasocial relationships are that bad. i haven’t looked into the scientific publishings on it or anything, but…

contrary to the popular opinion of moral panic, sound the alarms, the children are thinking they’re friends with streamers, i knew twitch was the work of the devil…

it seems to me that people have always been attached to people they don’t know in close ways. even if you hear a story about someone, some mythical being, that draws you close to an individual that you’ve never know IRL, but whose “presence” gave you comfort. people have liked and felt familiar with the ideas of people without actually knowing them, from like, day one.

and then, when writing, and later, radio and television, became widespread, ideas and communication did too, with people being fond of and comfortable with the presences of radio personalities and actors in their homes.

i think we’re just seeing parasocial relationships more prominently now, because technology has advanced to the point where, to share your opinions, ideas, artistic expression, while also attaching your face and your voice to it, has become ubiquitous. and this was happening before the concept of the influencer existed, there were bloggers and internet personalities in the 2000s and early 2010s.

we (gen-Zers) were the first generation to have grown up with such technology—maybe not “with a phone or iPad in our hands” (as gen Alpha has) but certainly from a young age—so we grew up with these video platforms, and thus, communication with and absorption of various personalities. and all of this in a time of when our social development is the most intense, i.e., childhood, then teenhood, young adulthood.

and at the same time, we are experiencing a growth in loneliness (“an epidemic of loneliness”), and also an actual pandemic, and other shifts in social environment, such as dating moving online…

so i think it’s only natural that parasocial relationships have risen as a phenomenon, and are more visible and more prominent than, perhaps, what it was like pre-smartphone, pre-blog or vlog days.

my controversial take is this.

i think parasocial relationships only become a problem when it leads to harm: to either the person as the object of the relationship, as in (at the least) rudeness, like assuming you’re actually friends IRL and treating them as or demanding their attention as such, or (at the worst) obsessive or violent behavior like stalking. or, to the person having the parasocial relationship, in being detrimental to their social skills over time.

but i think that, if you’re just looking at your phone and watching a video from a youtuber you’ve watched videos from since you were eight years old, chilling and not being harmful to them or yourself in any way… i ask, what is the harm in not just feeling entertained, but feeling a certain familiarity on an advanced level, feeling like you’re friends—as long as you are cognizant and comfortable with that you’re not actually friends, and that the relationship is one-sided, what’s the harm? i think it’s even kind of normal amongst people who grew up with that kind of technology in their hands, which connected them to such personalities.

in the coverage of parasocial relationships, i feel like it has been a little blown out of proportion by the media, through conflating the (shall we say) “well-adjusted, normal” crowd, with sad and ugly stories of stalkers and worse—because “creepy stalker fan” is a well-known archetype by now in pop culture, so it drives more engagement and outrage.

(edit: stalking and harassment are really bad and scary—im not denying theyre not—my thought, rather, is that the amount of “normal” or even “positive” parasocial relationships probably outweigh the creepy, harassment ones, but the worst outcomes are whats reported on the most)

and i feel like this conflation also happens because the people writing these sensationalized articles did not grow up with such technology, so it’s absolutely weird and alien to them to have such a familiarity with someone they don’t know IRL (like youtubers, streamers, whom are often objects of parasocial relationships), because they basically just didn’t grow up with it—television being different than online video platforms because online video allows you to share a lot more unedited, casual moments (like playing a video game, going shopping, even eating breakfast—you can livestream anything, or vlog anything really, even the most mundane things). and these are (i’d guess) the same people that don’t understand how you can make friends via the internet, and (maybe) believe that all social interaction via the internet is sinister or insincere in some form.

they don’t understand how a parasocial connection could be a normal thing, because they’re unfamiliar with the normalcy of such content which forms the relationship, which makes it bizarre and creepy to them; however, such parasocial relationships are becoming more normal, and are hardly worth fascinating oneself over for people who grew up forming them—so much so, that they didn’t even have to think about it as being abnormal. they (we) were able to form them and at the same time rationalize them, so it never occurred to us as being something to morally concern ourselves with. this also explains why such coverage of it only occured years after such a phenomenon was even occurring.

tl;dr my take is that the concept of parasocial relationships itself is somewhat of a non-issue, and only becomes an issue when individuals conduct unhealthy or harmful behavior, or when we want to talk about parasocial relationships forming as a symptom of larger societal issues (like the loneliness epidemic). but the moral concern with parasocial relationships i think stems from a generational divide around technology and constantly evolving social norms and landscapes :p

[mariacallous]

One night this past February, over drinks and moody bar lighting in Brooklyn, Eric Green and his friends were swapping stories of their recent hookups when one mentioned they’d used the app Sniffies to have public sex. A 30-year-old tattoo artist who works in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Green identifies as a bottom, is a frequent user of dating apps, and has an active sex life—only, he’d never heard of Sniffies.

It wasn’t long after that night out, Green was overtaken by “complete and total horniness” while at home, and decided to sign up himself. When he opened the app he was reminded of Google Maps, only instead of restaurants and shopping recommendations, he was inundated with nudes and suggestions for the nearest pump-and-dump. “I expected it to be like Grindr and Jack’d, but after I checked it out I realized it was super accessible,” Green says, referencing two other popular queer hookup platforms. “More accessible than any other app.”

Access is Sniffies’ main selling point. A map-based cruising platform for men of all sexual identifications (gay, bi, DL, and straight-curious—yes, you read that right), Sniffies has become something like an adults-only Disneyland for queer men interested in sex-positive, no-strings-attached casual encounters. “We really focus on in-the-moment connections,” says Eli Martin, the company’s chief marketing officer and creative director. “On other apps, it’s not always clear what people’s intentions are—some people want to find a boyfriend, others just want to look around—but on Sniffies, we try to make it clear that people are fulfilling their sexual desires and fetishes.”

Sniffies is not your typical dating app, or a dating app at all, really. In lieu of the typical song and dance on Tinder or Bumble, where conversations are bogged down in endless chatter that often never materializes into an IRL meeting, on Sniffies you can anonymously browse a map of guys looking for sex with other guys. Along with web-apps BKDR (short for backdoor), Motto, and Doublelist (think a more streamlined Craigslist personals), it has reignited an appeal in cruising culture that for so long had been taboo, even among certain queer circles, for fear of acceptance or health concerns.

“Destigmatizing casual sex has been our biggest hurdle in general,” says Martin. “It’s been ingrained in us to be monogamous, but we should have this sexual freedom. Cruising doesn’t have to be seedy or something that only happens in back alleys.” Thankfully, he says, that’s changing. “In the last couple of years, we’ve been able to enjoy it more without as much judgment, but it was still hard on day one, because I was like, how do we create an app that’s [not only cool] but going to continually push people to engage in?”

Launched in 2018, Sniffies was the brainchild of former Seattle-based architect Blake Gallagher. A problem-solver by nature, Gallagher was fascinated by the way urban environments influence sexual interactions. He wanted to better augment natural human connection in public spaces, and decided to implement a map feature and geolocation technology as the basis for Sniffies—tapping into what author Jack Parlett calls “the democratic potential of cruising.” Gallagher first tested his idea in Seattle and, with the help of his brother Grant, a programmer, slowly built Sniffies into what it is today—a “cruising app for the curious” with an increasing global reach.

“We really push for the physical aspect of getting off your phone and out and about,” Martin says. And it’s paying off. According to data shared with WIRED, the US cities that see the most action—that is, the horniest cities—are Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Chicago, and Atlanta. (These figures are based on the highest number of sessions within a geographic area.) London saw a 475 percent growth in usership from 2022 to 2023, and Vancouver is Sniffies’ most discreet city.

Green says he uses the app twice a week “if I’m actually going to meet up with somebody, but I will go on there and scroll every so often.” (His last name was changed to protect his privacy.) According to the company, the average Sniffies user identifies as vers (25.6 percent of total users), has a penis size of 6.67 inches, prefers to cruise a park, restroom, or a residential tower of some sort, is into edging and cum play, and is most likely having sex on Mondays. Since joining, Green describes his time on Sniffies as “kinda calm,” compared to his friends. The encounters he has had, he says, have been “from apartment to apartment, nothing outside or in the gym.”

BKDR is another rising player among the burgeoning world of queer cruising apps. Eric Silverberg says users on Scruff and Jack’d—sister apps to BKDR (all three are owned by Perry Street Software)—were identifying “a clear desire for a platform that prioritized sexual expression and sex.” Cruising has occurred for centuries, he says, and an app like BKDR is a “direct, no-nonsense product that allows people to get on and get off in a very literal sense.”

The demand certainly seems to be there—and the potential for such apps is only growing. Although BKDR launched less than a year ago, it has already expanded to Latin America and Europe. “It’s early days for us, but over 1 million people have visited BKDR in the past month,” Silverberg tells me, adding, “We think it will be the biggest product in our portfolio.”

Growth brings its own set of problems, however. A recent Reddit post detailed how a more conservative kind of user now inhabits the Sniffies. “Now that [the app] is getting really popular in some places there are a ton of guys on the map in my area and most of them are just there to waste your time. I'm looking for [a] hookup right now,” user @curiousFriend2 wrote. “Sniffies used to cater to lowkey guys and even some cumdumps and the more sleezy side, but now the Grindr crowd [has] come in and a lot of them are not even into those things and publicly announce it.”

Sniffies took off following the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020, and Martin believes the isolation of the pandemic led to users being more open-minded about cruising. “People’s mindset changed to realize that they want to take advantage of the moment,” he says.

That’s mainly what Green is after most days, though he says he tries not to use Sniffies as a crutch. “It’s cool to go on during my downtime—late at night or early in the morning,” he says, “because I actually have stuff to do, and I don’t want to throw my day looking for dudes,” he says, before adding that “if you’re solely looking for fun,” it’s unbeatable.

[crosbyism]

Yeah one of my issues regarding who is feminized in hrpf has a lot to do with trends. Like nothing wrong with feminizing the more physically slender, smaller guys on its own, but I do definitely notice how the lion's share of feminization (and transmasc fics 🤔🤔🤔) are exclusively about skinny, hairless twinks (because of their natural unchangeable biological features which are often considered to correlate to gender expression :/). I rejoice when I find the rare content that feminizes the larger, harrier men (esp as a larger, harrier, often feminine guy) cause it's so rare, especially in comparison. That's one of my side eyes towards the fandom overall about it, that it comes down to biological differences influencing the ratios and trends rather than anything wrong with specifically writing about mitch marner or jack hughes as a pillow princess bottom or whatever. Have some imagination! The possibilities are endless!

friend we are vibing on the same wavelengths. u get it so hard. this definitely articulates it so well, especially this: “…because of their natural unchangeable biological features which are often considered to correlate to gender expression” like yeah. you’re so right, and this put the finger on exactly what bothers me about it too. i wonder if people who aren’t naturally hairy don’t realise how independent it is of enjoying feminisation or feminine expression? i mean, my irl experience even skews towards: the bigger and hairier, the likelier it is a person will enjoy a little bit of femininity. rather than the fandom trend of: less hairy = more fem.

i keep thinking about this fantastically charismatic drag performer where i live, who is a fully bearded bear out of drag. but the way she moves when she’s performing; i mean aside from just being one of the most captivating performers i’ve ever seen there is simply no question that she is performing as her onstage, you know? one of the most feminine and elegant people i’ve ever seen in my life, bearded bear stature or no. and there’s so much joy in that kind of queer expression, y’know? the lacy stocking on a thick hairy thigh. there’s so much potential for it in fic, too. i miss it in fandom sometimes, i wish there was more of it.

there’s also the very pertinent aspect of, as you put it so succinctly, this issue in transmasc fics 🤔🤔🤔 (sorry but the emojis are SO ON POINT, saw them and went: CORRECT). it’s all fun and games only feminising the twinks as cis dudes, but there’s a hella lotta yikes and straight up transphobia involved once only those guys get assigned trans. i’ve seen a lot of fetishisation in a “fem boypussy”, “treat him like a teenage girl, violent misogyny included” kinda way. gives me hives, makes me feel queasy.

of course, individually these are just singular people writing what they wanna write. once again, fandom trends are just an aggregation of individual preferences within a fandom. but it’s really noticeable how skewed the trend is in terms of who gets feminised and how they get feminised. i have never in my life seen a fic where, for example, trans leon draisaitl gets violently dubcon’d and treated like a female sex object in a misogynistic hentai porn way. mitch marner, on the other hand…….. well, there’s dozens. and it’s worth noting that.

[bernie sanders meme voice] i am once again asking for varied and creative gender play in hrpf

[ramshacklefey]

Friend group red flags exist, and we should talk about them.

This has come up for me recently because one of my house-mates (bless her heart), has been coming to talk to me every couple weeks about some new drama in her online social circles. She's probably been through five different sets of online friends in the last year (and more irl friends before she stopped interacting with people entirely), and she's got this idea in her head that this is all just an inevitability.

I have restrained myself from pointing out to her that it sounds like she just needs to rethink what kinds of people she hangs out around, because I know it won't do any good. But it has made me think a lot about stuff I've figured out through long hard experience, about how to find healthy social groups, and I want to share.

So, here are some things that you might want to think about before you enmesh yourself too deeply in a particular friend group:

Is this group of people totally centered around one person (or much smaller group of people)? Does that person seem to have a ridiculous amount of influence over everyone else in the friend group? While it's true that many social groups have someone who is very much a leader within the group, that shouldn't look like one person wielding power over everyone else. A healthy leader figure within friends is someone who others respect for their good qualities. They give advice rather than issuing edicts. They sow harmony between people rather than stoking conflicts.

Do the people in this group talk incessantly about problems within the group? Sure, they may just be going through a rough patch, but even if that's the case, a healthy social circle will be thinking and talking about other things. If two people in a group are fighting or breaking up, the rest of the group won't be taking sides or constantly gossiping about it like it's the biggest political drama of the century. They'll leave it to those two people to sort their shit out, and won't unload it in front of someone new to the group.

Does there seem to be a list of people that this group has previously kicked out? Sometimes it just comes down to it and someone has to be gently exiled from a particular social circle. But if there's a list a mile long, it suggests that this group has some kind of overly authoritarian unwritten code for who's "allowed" to be in their group. Getting involved in a group like that means you'll constantly be walking on eggshells to avoid being exiled yourself.

How do they treat new people? A healthy group will be curious and friendly toward newcomers, but they won't immediately draw you into their deepest confidence.

Do the people in the group in general seem happy and content with themselves? Strong, healthy social bonds between people will make us stronger and happier. Even a group of people with significant trauma backgrounds can be stronger together. Unfortunately, if people have not healed themselves and continue to rely on unhealthy coping mechanisms, they often form groups of dysfunctional, unhappy people. Joking about trauma and difficulty are part and parcel of a lot of younger people's lives these days, but take a moment to look at what behaviors this group actually encourages. An obvious example might be that they all handle their stress by binge drinking. A less obvious one might be that they are hostile towards the idea that they have any agency in their lives and could, in fact, take actions to make themselves happier.

How do they respond to people with different views and values than their own? A healthy group accepts and values the fact that not everyone is going to agree with them morally, politically, or philosophically. As long as no one is being deliberately nasty or bigoted, and everyone is genuinely trying to treat each other with dignity and respect, people aren't being ostracized or hated on for not sticking to a particular dogma. People aren't being dunked on or told off for having different views on an issue.

How do they handle conflict? People don't always get along, and it's actually fine for a group to have some people who straight up dislike each other. A healthy group can absorb those things, and the people who don't get along will act civilly towards each other. Being civil and friendly towards someone you personally dislike is not "being fake." It's acting like a normal, healthy adult.

Do they try to tell you who you should and should not be interacting with outside the group? Someone you barely know sidling up to you to inform you that so-and-so has done or said such-and-such so you shouldn't ever interact with them is a big warning sign. Even if someone was cut off from the group for genuinely bad behavior, it's not their job to police who else is allowed to interact with that person.

Do they try to tell you what you should and should not be saying on social media? Do they try to tell you what you should and should not be reading/watching etc? Related to how they deal with people with different viewpoints, however this hits a deeper level. You always have the right to enjoy things and talk about things, even if your friends don't. Similarly, you have no obligation to join in a particular topic on social media!

Who isn't in the group, and how do they talk about or treat those people? This is easy to see if they're, say, openly racist or homophobic, but also. If it's a group of mostly women, are they constantly hating on men? If it's a group of mostly queer people, are they openly hostile towards anyone who isn't queer, or isn't queer in the right way?

A health social group has lots of different people in it. Those people have varying views and backgrounds. They treat each other with love and respect, and the group is resilient when there's conflict rather than dissolving into warring factions.

I know it's hard, especially when you're young and marginalized. You might feel like if you don't hang out with these people, you won't have any friends at all. But I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you're better off alone than stuck in a group that's actively making your life worse.

[shtetlcore]

What ever happened with bibleluvr? Was she an actual fake I’m so confused. Some say they had proof but I haven’t seen any and some say she was actually real and wasn’t faking

I feel I can take this question on without the other mods as the only one who knew bibleluvr IRL and someone who was once quite close with them. (We’re not ignoring any other asks they just gotta be discussed all the mods together!)

Bibluvr was a real person with a real Bachelor’s degree is Jewish American studies. They were a practicing Jew at the point their posts were reblogged onto this tumblr, however because their parents had become evangelical Christians before they were born so bibleluvr was raised with that environment and they were actively trying to unlearn a lot. They struggled a lot to actively engage in Jewish community IRL because of a really abusive but well connected person who worked diligently to cut them off from all community because of a mutual ex and I believe this affected their ability to unlearn some of those evangelical influences. Without revealing too much about their identity, people were very racist towards them as well which ensured further isolation. They were not involved with Messianics when this blog interacted with them, I do not know if this has changed recently.

I, mod feygele, personally cut off contact after bibleluvr expressed clearly that they were not just learning about what radical feminism was , they identified as a radical feminist and after they began to vehemently defend very transmisogyny and transphobic personal posts, comments, and messages. I posted an apology here at that time because bibluvr’s content on other websites had deeply hurt a beloved person in my life and I was apprehensive about that happening with their content on this website as well. I had shared their content on this blog and so I did not want others to be exposed to their transphobia without warning because this blog had lead followers back to bibleluvr’s.

I don’t really have proof of their Jewish-ness, as they were one of my best friends and we met more than 6 years ago. I apologize for that.

However if you have further questions please contact me directly as anything beyond what I’ve said above gets potentially outside the scope of this blog and there certain things I will say only over private message for the sake of everyone involved. (I’m at big-gay-bird.)

[my-lunaberg]

Hello! I saw your post on asking ab ppl's opinions on the DSMP and had so many thoughts to share I actually went to my pc to write this, lol. Long ask incoming, sorry.

I started watching the DSMP in august of 2020, specifically right after the Techno vs. Dream duel. At this point in time, the Dream SMP tag had only like ten posts--not exaggerating, you would scroll and see the same few posts over and over again cause there was almost no fandom. I followed the series pretty much religiously all the way up to the prison break, where I then basically had to stop watching cause my life was falling apart (paying attention to streamers all day every day causes you to fail classes, who knew?)

So I guess I don't have a lot to say on the ending, other than it certainly was an ending. I think the crew did a good job with what they had, I liked the realization c!Tommy had towards c!Dream and what was once an innocent intention of server unity twisting into something else. I think using the nuke to blow everything up to start anew was a cop-out, but I also know (or at least feel like) the server itself was falling apart IRL and they had to bring it to a conclusion somehow. (Because of that, I knew the server wouldn't get a "season 2")

You mentioned how you liked it on a thematic level rather than emotional, and it really made me think about how my own interest manifested. I was certainly invested in these characters and their stories, but I only carried an emotional attachment to c!Tommy and c!Dream (and DreamXD, but only because I love deities in fiction).

I think, story-wise, the DSMP had many elements that hit hard, c!Tommy's abuse being one of them. During the prison arc, when c!Dream is being tortured constantly by c!Quackity, a large part of the fandom rooted for c!Q because c!Dream was an abuser and deserved the dehumanizing treatment. And boy do I have some opinions on that, lol. Because of the nature of the DSMP, I never thought of it as a teaching element, and your comment on that only being prevalent to children's media struck a chord--because, yeah, that makes sense. The target audience for the DSMP is a bit skewed, because it does take place in an all-ages video game, but the storyline and characters themselves would never get a G rating. I always considered the DSMP to be a bunch of people having fun exploring the different ways they can write a story/character, without any real end-game in mind. They did marvelous, too, in my opinion. I don't believe the DSMP was ever meant to be a literary marvel, or whatever the video-game equivalent is, so for a bunch of then-friends just throwing ideas at a wall and seeing what sticks with the fans, it did it's job.

People now, coming into the fandom for the first time, or looking in from the outside trying to analyze it, don't understand it, imo. It's not that the narrative can only be experienced at the time it was written, because no, you can watch and re-watch it thanks to VODS and recap channels. But so many people hear stories of it being a great time and a great story with great characters and then analyze it to put it on a pedestal only to see that its a piece of fiction with many flaws. Not understanding that the SMP wasn't created to be role-playing server, that never even crossed their minds. It was meant to be a place to have fun and explore a snapshot. That's not saying the cc's shouldn't have made the story in the first place, it's just highlighting how out of control the SMP got due to influencers' fame and fun writing. It was a product of its time because everyone was together, quarantined, exploring how far they could go in a virtual setting. Sorry, rambling a bit. I just think that a sensation like the DSMP can never be repeated on such a scale, and that feeling is why so many outsiders expect so much.

Hope this makes sense, haha. Sorry it's not juicy discourse, but thanks for listening anyway.

No its fine, thank you very much for telling me this!

I initially started watching I think right before the exile arc started but by the time I figured out how to best watch it and caught up with it, it had already been going for a few days, then I followed along with it for a while until I lost interest sometime after the big clingyduo v. Dream fight. Then in late 2022 I was at a local comic con and saw someone in a ghostbur cosplay and some people carrying around a big lmanberg flag and it just made me feel so nostalgic that I wanted to rewatch/finish it, and because I thought it would be fun I also made this sideblog to liveblog it. Im pretty sure dsmp was already over or at the very least getting close to the end by the time I did that, so it gave me a kind of distance that definitely affected my experience with the show.

Like, I think if I had kept up with it throughout (what i would consider to be) its decline and then had to witness that ending after all that, I would definitely feel more negatively about it, so I understand why it was upsetting for a lot of fans, but as it stands, I can mostly just remember it as an overall good piece of media that started stumbling towards the last quarter or so and then ended in a way thats fine, although not particularly satisfying on an emotional level. Like, Dream and Tommy's whole storyline was essentially about the cyclical nature of violence and I think ending the cycle is the best way to resolve that kind of story and in theory, having them make amends before they both die together sounds good to me, but idk, in practice I just didnt like it lol. I think its mainly because their attempts to make Dream seem more sympathetic were kinda too little-too late; Dream didnt have his own pov when most people did which automatically dehumanized him in the eyes of the audience, which was brilliant for the manipulative and unpredictable villian character that he was, but I feel like the CCs didnt really realize that that was the case and didnt feel the need to show stuff from his pov, when it was actually vital imo

You said that people coming into the fandom now come into it with these expectations and I think thats true, but I feel like people who have been following it since the rp properly started also tended to put it on a pedastal because of how genuinely impressively good it was in the beginning, and then when the finale was Like That, a lot of them were insanely disappointed. I also think thats where a lot of the discourse revolving around the ending sending a bad message comes from — a lot of people think of it as something very polished like an actual tv-show when thats simply not what it is or ever was. Its just people fucking around and having fun, and when people just fuck around, theyre not really thinking about "being responsible to their audience" or whatever. Take it from me as a writer lol, I have plans for ya-novels that touch on serious topics and with those I do try to be mindful of the fact that my audience is younger (although teenagers are obviously not children and already dont need to be taught via their media anymore imo), but when Im just writing a little short story I'll usually make it as fucked up as possible just because thats fun to me, yknow

[yooniesim]

Very quick question, simblr will post things like please tell me if I’m following someone sketchy, so someone goes around to give “heads up” or a “warning” but it seems like it’s okay to do so in some cases but not others. I was wondering when you think is the right time to do that, or if it should stop altogether. I know that’s it’s possible to have different opinions on someone or something (but I feel like simblr can’t fathom that.) Do we let people follow whoever or do we speak up? I guess as someone who’s new here I’ve seen this trend and it can be overwhelming when it comes to who I’m supposed to follow or not. Sorry if this is gibberish, and you don’t need to answer at all. Thanks for even reading!

Hey nonny, this is a complicated question that I'm not entirely sure of the answer.

I think, ultimately, it depends on your personal lines. Because we as people can't take on every issue and try to save the world. Not only is it exhausting, especially if you're part of a marginalized group that deals with this shit IRL to start with, but it's functionally impossible. And we can all only take so much. I have to say that again. We can only take so much. Ultimately, if fighting the so-called good fight on the internet is too overwhelming, you can just stop. In fact, you should. Dealing with shit on here combined with IRL took me to one of my lowest points in my life, and depressingly, it did functionally nothing in the grand scheme of things. Whether that grand scheme of things was in terms of the simblr community or the world a whole, it's the same; I accomplished nothing and nothing changed. Except I feel worse when trying to participate in the community and I certainly have a far bigger target on my back from bigots and anyone else that just found me annoying. It gave me a bad reputation for being involved with "drama" and I've endured so much vile shit being said about me on here that occasionally it makes me nauseous to think about. So was it worth the time and effort spent? Well, no. So from my experience, I would advise not to get too wrapped up in who did what and who you should block and the entire history of who did that stupid ass thing that one time. It's useless.

Instead, measure by your own lines, your own morals and triggers. I personally block transphobes, terfs, racists, etc, that have documented proof in their own words of bigotry, that have not apologized/changed. I don't go into others inboxes to inform them about these people, but I will reblog/boost informative posts with appropriate proof and tag them accordingly, so that my followers can be aware. I certainly do not take random anons as proof and do not share rumors or vague accusations. If you ever feel the need to inform someone about someone else, be sure to investigate fully and know exactly what you're talking about before you do so and provide links/screenshots. Simblr has the collective memory of a goldfish and mixes things up all the time, together with remembering rumors as fact or even completely switching around events. I have over 500 asks in my inbox, and have received "reports" about many, many people here. A good amount of them are inaccurate & misremembered, accidentally about someone else entirely than who they named, have two different stories mixed up, are sourced from bad faith actors (such as bigots), or are completely made up with no source. I've always emphasized reading comprehension, proper research, and taking where you're getting your information from into account, and now I want to stress that even more.

I also do want to emphasize that random people on simblr are not the beacon of morality, nor should they be the judge of who is good and who is bad. We all have bias, misconceptions, and different backgrounds and life experiences. We all have different follower counts and influence in this sphere. And in my experience, simblr's perverted sense of justice more so depends on how well you are liked, who you are friends with, and what you can give the community than the weight of your actual crime. There is a reason why simopeia (just one example, there are many) gets called out every other week and still gets hundreds of notes on posts. There is a reason why certain cc creators regularly rip off the community but are continously overlooked. There's a reason why popular simblrs can act like complete assholes and engage in bigotry and go on unchecked, but others get railed for minor infractions. And there's a reason why minority simmers are criticized far more harshly for their mistakes than their peers, especially the few that have taken up the white savior role.

Simblr is not a court of law. It's social media. And it's a social game more than anything else. Many people have been here for years and have personal history with one another. Some hate each other for being friends with or following someone they dislike. They will hold onto shit endlessly, bring old events up over and over out of context, even consider themselves some sort of online royalty with the power to exile those they dislike to Instagram or Twitter. Whether they find legitimate problematic behavior or just decide to make it up one day, they use and abuse their follower count on a whim without any regard for the effects they might have. It's an ego-fueled game with a fresh & shiny veneer of performative morality. And those that are good intentioned get swept up in it thinking that it is legitimate until they meet the harsh reality that it's nothing more than a fool's errand. It's bitter and sad, and in my experience, the people that endlessly talk about this either lack control in their life IRL & think they can change things in this smaller space (like I did) or simply have made being angry online their personality and can't find a way to break out of it. You do not want to become one of these people, trust me.

These are a lot of words for me to say, basically- judge for yourself, block who you need to, but don't get too wrapped up in it all. I wouldn't go out of my way to tell anyone anything, but if you feel you should (and they've expressed wanting to be told), be sure to do so clearly and appropriately with proof. Above all, protect your own peace. No one else will. If you don't want to engage with it or don't feel you have the mental space, then just don't. I certainly can't blame you for that.

[acourtofthought]

I'm so over the whole " books of buildup" regurgitated excuse from elriels, it's a broken record at this point, there is so much evidence that ACOMAF leaned Moriel, ACOWAR ends with a promising outlook for Elucien, and honestly, ACOSAF, if Azriel wasn't looking at Mor with so much heat, I could maybe give it to them, but, sorry, no. Azriel being hung up on Mor all throughout the series is a huge red flag. The way elriels act like Azriel wouldn't drop Elain like a bag of potato's for Mor really shows you we must have been reading a different series. I'm not saying there was absolutely nothing, but the way SJM wrote it, just fell so flat, it's missing all the components that makeup her endgame formula, and again; MOR, MOR MOR MOR MOR MOR MOR MOR MOR. Even though Mor doesn't feel the same way,HE does feel things for her and it was telling in ACOSF when he wouldn't give Rhys an answer, like, IRL, if you crushing on a guy or dating a guy who wasn't over his ex, you'd just *bE oK* with that. Please. SJM having Az rebound on Elain and Elain with Az to get over Grayson make sense for their arc, but doesn't mean it's endgame. Oh and as far as we know; Elain was still in love with Grayson in ACOMAF, ACOWAR and Feyre notes her sadness over Grayson in ACOSAF, sorry, but two people still longing for another is NOT A GOOD SIGN, no matter how you spin it in a SJM book. That's not how she writes endgame couples. But given how much context I've seen them twist and misinterpret, it doesn't surprise me in the least they cant differiante what a red flag is in a book written by an author who uses adults themes to tell a story, it's like they can't grasp the purpose of Elriel, at all. When I see "why would SJM abandon Elriel after all this...ummm easy, there was never any real buildup to a true romance, y'all saw it for what y'all convinced yourselfs of it to be, they dont read between the lines, disregard a ton of context clues, or think critically when it comes to patterns and the kind of author SJM is (she to date favors mates) and interviews of her talking about Elain and Lucien and telling us in her own words, we can expect tension but growth and healing TOGETHER. It's funny how they conveniently forget that. I see why they try and stamp it out from existence for new readers but we have the receipts.

She has ended canon ships with on page kisses, sex and romance, and Elriels really think she won't let that almost kiss amount to nothing more if she wills it. If they were so confident in their ship, why do they bully, harass and attack anyone who disagree with them? They've bullied published authors, her best friends, her family, book community influencers, podcast hosts, made threats about her kids, e-mail BB NON STOP with threats, the receipts and videos all exist if you know where to look of their disgusting behavior. For a group so confident, they sure don't act like it.

With SJM, she tends to blur the lines when it comes to interactions between some of the characters so a lot of things look like something.

Lucien and Feyre had many scenes that could have strongly hinted at them being together. Nesta regularly wanted Azriel to train her instead, thought he was the prettiest of the three, and even imagined having a threesome with him.

In ACOMAF we found out Cassian slept with Mor and STILL thought about how absolutely perfect her face and soul were in ACOSF, we could easily use the multiple books of buildup for them too.

And the biggest example is the fact that Az has looked at Mor with longing, hunger and yearning for every single book he's been in.

Just because Elain and Az nearly kissed and they are physically into one another doesn't make their hints any more meaningful than the moments those other characters shared when they are still not proven as endgame.

If Feyre and Lucien ended up not together despite her feeling up his bare chest in ACOWAR and him stroking soothing lines down her back, if Mor looking at Azriel in a way Feyre couldn't decipher and him blushing and looking at her with hunger in ACOFAS didn't mean anything, if Cassian actually had sex with Mor yet now looks at her like a sister then there is currently nothing about E/riel that's proof of anything. They are simply two characters exploring an attraction and that could come to mean nothing in the end just as it did for so many other characters.

But that doesn't mean anyone had multiple books of buildup. It will only mean that if they end up together and as it stands, E/riel isn't looking good. Like you said, there are some very concerning red flags that exist for them that weren't there for others. Like the most raw and real thing we've seen E/riel discuss is her garden.

Where are the discussions about Graysen? Mor? Her being made? Her losing her father? His struggles with his heritage? Even Nesta had deeper conversations with Cassian before her book and 99% of their interactions were snarking.

There is no endgame couple without the two characters being very real with one another, as uncomfortable as that can be and E/riel just doesn't have it.

[castlebyersafterdark]

But it's fascinating looking at what he decides to post and share. Because sometimes I think... why do that? I look and it makes me happy but I wonder, why these moments?

wahhhh the thoughts in THIS post are soooooo up my street! only today i was tempted to post something recreational on social media for the first time in years (i only use it sporadically for my work) and i had a little talk with myself about exactly what you asked: who is it for?

this is a question i ask myself about so many things in my life, from what i wear today to what i want to do with my whole life. its a great question! a good psychology question.

ive also had people i love say its nice to see what i chose to post on insta back when i did (mainly in covid times), theyre seeing through my mind and wondering, just like you are about your fiance, vinny (🥳). i always find it interesting when you can see some artistic influence in their posts, if they dont sound like the person you know irl.

and honestly, today, it was a feeling of WOW this is a beautiful day and beautiful pic, and i want to cement it somehow by putting it online. its almost like the act of sharing is addictive, even though i never felt that great when i noticed the views ticking up or even the comments. lets face it, most social media comments are boring af. i much prefer long form chats with friends, and on here lol! i didnt post it in the end. what would it have been for?

so let's swing this back to our boy noah. i am not someone who ever posted thirst traps or even pics of my face, i just always think it's got an 'I'd like validation please' vibe that makes me cringe. but many do post themselves! and noah is a public figure. his face and personage is his brand, so if he wants a presence and maybe more modelling gigs, posting his face is a good idea. but i do also think the boy has a little vain streak that someone like finn, for example, doesn't. no shade because its always connected to deeper stuff - possibly insecurity, very human, very valid! to me, noah's possible insecurity manifests as a need for the attention. whereas finn's manifests as avoiding attention. so this year, noah leaving sm has been a great change and growth for him - can i live without this?

and likewise finn has been leaving his comfort zone by diving into things (like modelling and perfume ads) that clearly feel fish out of water for him. theyre both fascinating.

so i looked at that finn acc noah followed, and it seems to be one of the more lowkey ones - it doesnt have an obvious searchable username like FINN WOLFHARD FANS or something lol. its niche. so thats... yeah. haaaaaaaaa. and its also fan engagement rather than posts of finn's professional photoshoots and stuff, so noah clearly appreciates the Real Finn. 🤭 but theres also pics of finn with other friends and castmates a lot. so it almost seems like the equivalent of scrolling a crush's FB wall, seeing what theyre up to without you. cos finn doesnt have an acc where he posts his life, does he? and we all know there's like zero pics of noah and finn hanging out together lol. so noah won't be spying pics of him and finn together. maybe his camera roll is already full of that 🤭 but otherwise, smells like doomscrolling. oh boyo :(

once again i cannot stop rambling.

Getting to this one finally!!!

It is very worthwhile pausing and re-evaluating what we share and why - all good points and insight. Social media is a good tool for showcasing work if you have a talent or field that benefits from a visual - I sometimes miss having an art account that was public, but I think I also like keeping it as something private for those close to me until maybe one day I change my mind and decide to do something with it. I go back and forth and right now I sit with keeping my hobby a hobby, no temptation to make it more than it is. I really kinda simplified my life in the last few years if that makes sense? Choosing when and what to share publicly has been a big challenge but something centering as well. Different needs for different people!

The act of sharing IS addictive, and I can admit that about this blog in general. Me at the beginning, eating all my words, "I don't want to make it too personal, but..." and here I am now, sharing so much. It was a discomfort with the fandom, though, and not knowing what this corner would be like, and the jarring nature of having people actually send me messages where before - it was kind of isolated on this site and when I sought online interaction, it was always a bit hostile on places like twitter or reddit. This ended up being so so different. Every day, entirely unexpected.

Swinging over to the boys! Funny, I was someone who in the past posted for attention. I'll say it! Thirst traps and all the cringey like, part of why I won't share myself online anymore - if my friends share candids on private accounts, totally fine. But having my life hyper documented, by my own hand, just really freaked me out at one point. All done with that. So it's interesting being a big fan of celebrities where we hang on the edge waiting for a glimpse, and I do!! I totally do! Being a public figure for sure - that's kind of necessary to a degree. And a little vanity is ok - can go overboard. Balance. Sharing things, keeping other things personal. "Can I live without this?" That's everything. Healthy.

Think you're right about the fan account, there's an angle there I hadn't considered. Because let's say there is/was something there with him either crushing or wanting to enjoy looking at his guy - where else is he going to look up a bunch of photos of him? Google isn't personal. There's a fan-curated space with everything good all in one spot. Crush scrolling. Relatable. So human. But with the privilege of having your famous crush also crushed on by many so they do the work gathering info for you hahaha

Love to ramble, no one here should ever apologize for rambling!!! I am the crown prince of rambling ceaselessly hahahaha

[squirsquirrel]

Consider this as I have a lack of friends of which I can’t confidently confide in with these things. Having said that, if you are one of my friends (specifically one of you might understand where I’m coming from with what I’m about to say next) then please don’t worry about me because, well, you’re going to read for yourself and I don’t really think it deserves much further explanation than what’s written plainly here. If, however, it doesn’t make sense then all the better for everyone!

The need to feel like there was a mistake at some point in my life. 

Like, surely something must’ve happened? Otherwise I feel at a loss to everything. Nothing makes complete sense and if there’s no explanation for that thing then I just make it up? It’s very likely that I’m the one who made the mistake and likely, though not as likely, that someone else had made the mistake, but what am I supposed to do? I think it’s just the such and such “reward” that comes with something being mistaken which is comfort whether that is being comforted yourself or comforting another person. Or maybe I am just that touch-starved and have been for years. Honestly I can remember the last time I was hugged but it doesn’t quite fit the hug I need (I think?). It wasn’t committed? It felt obligated and maybe that’s my stupid brain being silly but that’s what it felt like and it wasn’t nice.

The other thing I guess is having room to speak. I’m seriously lost in my head trying to figure out when everything happened and why it did. How did I end up the way I have and what influenced me mentally to choose not to speak personally ever to someone who could help me. (I felt like I needed to specifically say someone who could help me because obviously I’m speaking my mind here on this site which can either be a void or something that a few people will notice, read, then move on with their lives like they should.) There are things, many things, I wish I could share with others just to see if my thoughts matches what others think but doing so requires a lot of trust and understanding (mainly trust though) and not that I think bad of my irl friends but I don’t think they can handle that. And as stated in a previous post long before this one, family are of no help to me whatsoever.

Some things that have come out from whatever all this is:

I am an adult. I can give myself hugs. (This is more of a joke than anything. It was something I thought of today and it really struck me how true it was lol)

Life is fine provided nothing happens. (Which is a huge thing to ask for and one that won’t be promised.)

If life sucks, make a new one. (Be creative, don’t worry about what others say or do to upset you, and learn to enjoy things. Sometimes this gets really bad (for example, a quick fix for me to forget anything sad is to just laugh and if anyone asks questions, say you were thinking of something else. Practise enough and it’ll be so convincing you’ll even convince yourself! (not guaranteed to work every time, please read the terms and conditions before applying method)), so do this in moderation.)

Taking the vow of silence. Ignorance is bliss. (Taking things to heart is sometimes a terrible thing and unfortunately in my case, I’ve done just that. These two sentences are what I’ve done and will continue to do, so please, if I ever clam up or shrug things off know that one of these two are taking place. Again, nothing to worry about!)

Be who you’re meant to be. (I’m an adult and so I should be an adult and be concerned for others. Well, that goes without saying for all ages almost, but what you should be concerned about varies/gets added onto with age. Be mindful and be wary. Take care and look out for everyone.)

And that’s about it, I think. I don’t understand why we get tired after confessing to something we’ve been holding onto for a long time. You’d think with relief you’d be filled with energy, just waiting to start starting and be free of what you’ve let out. But nope! But also it’s late for me so I do need to sleep.

What I’ve said here isn’t much of a concern. I said I don’t have friends I can fully confide in (the last and actually first time I did left me uncomfortable), so here I am doing the irresponsible thing by posting on the internet. I know I said I’d end it there but it amazes me how much of a little thing can stop us from doing something beneficial. I have freedom and I have choice but because of such and such and this thing and that, I simply can’t go and do what can help me. Instead, I shall type and respond and everything will be okay. Pretending isn’t even an option anymore because there’s no pretending when you’re living it.

Sorry if this upsets anyone and usually if you think something is going to upset someone you’d stop, take a breath and delete, but I don’t want to do that. I could keep this in drafts forever but I think that would cause more harm for me than not saying anything at all. I don’t know. Sorry again and for whatever reason you chose to read this in its entirety, thank you(?) and I hope you have a happy day/night.

[tareyoabrumado]

ive been a lot happier making art since i stopped doing character art.

i was focused on making interesting ocs and their stories and drawing them to keep up with what everyone else was doing. i had one oc i focused on most strongly, and everyone else within the story was an afterthought to fill out the backstory. i still really love the character, dont get it wrong, but i realized over the development process that my favorite parts werent designing and drawing the character; it was the worldbuilding behind it:

speculative biology for nonhuman sentient organisms

language with no basis in existing languages (i developed my first conlang solely for this one character!)

environmental influences on a society's culture

linguistic and cultural barriers upon migration to a new world

practicality and structure of clothing and tools (i feel it reasonable to believe that all the clothes i designed would be easily sewn in real life) (also hair!! many of the hairstyles i designed could theoretically be done irl, provided the wearer had horns)

music and instruments and the arts culture within a society

it got to the point where i would look at the character and there would be so much going on, and yet very little in terms of a present-day storyline. ive since realised this character was just a vessel for all my other interests: linguistics, anthropology, biology, music, and physical crafts.

and i didnt even realize those were things i was that interested in! i knew i liked music, and i was on my way to a second language, but the technical linguistics really came out of nowhere (the biology was a huge surprise, given my apathy when learning it in school).

i havent touched the character in a long time. but im happy leaving their story where its at. they live out their life until they get bored, and then move on to something else, and so on. life goes on.

i got a little bit off-topic with this post. anyway. when i joined the art side of the internet, much of it was dedicated to character design and story. everyone was making intricate universes with overarching stories and detailed characters and relationships and developments; and rather than write books, they shared concept art in the form of comics, scene drawings, and character reference pages. i very rarely saw more traditional art: paintings of just. people and things. nothing exists past the piece. its nobody specific. because of this environment, somewhere in my head it was established that this is what art is these days, and to be an artist online youre expected to do character-based pieces.

so i forced myself into it. its what all my friends were doing, after all. social psychology says that you are your friends. they were all making fanart and of course, character-based pieces with extensive stories behind them. and i just couldnt figure it out. i thought there was some kind of social disconnect--wouldnt be the first time, as i seem to be the only one in my group who really doesnt enjoy playing any videogames aside from minecraft. i tried my best, and really enjoyed the process of building up my character and their backstory and homeland and culture and anatomy and dear god ive strayed away from the character themself. it never was about the character. it was about the messages i was trying to convey. everything that overshadowed the character was everything that was more important. i dont care if the design is too busy--look at all the ways a person could wear chains as jewelry!

i see the details in everything, and especially people. human bodies. nonhuman bodies. clothes and jewelry and hair and everything else. this made drawing very difficult. i wanted to detail every part of it. it became a too-realistic cartoon. i drew the seams in the clothes and the twists in the locs. i had to stop myself from drawing lines in the face. there are lines everywhere and once you notice them its impossible to ignore them. the one time i included lines and creases in the face (not nearly as many as i wanted to, but the minimum required to convey the expression and emotion), my friends said it looked weird. unfortunately cartoons and anime and character illustration have simplified designs, and every character is either young and smooth and beautiful or theyre old and wizened and wrinkled and never beautiful and often played for laughs or when the protagonist needs a mentor figure. for a person grappling with their own identity and physical existence, seeing these sentiments expressed so prominently is. difficult. people have a lot to them and its busy and not traditionally beautiful and complex and thats what makes them interesting beings.

character art is almost always digital in its final form. so that was my medium. i got by with the lineart-colorblock-shading-background setup that much of that kind of art shares. i began using a crayon-style brush for my lineart. i was always searching for a way to do a realistic oil paint style with my coloring and shading. i never found the perfect brush, so my art never turned out exactly how i was dreaming.

i thought i hated art classes. i thought i hated art classes. i thought i hated art classes. i was so trapped in the character-art funnel that nothing was to my standards and every project was shit.

i took two art classes this year to fill credits, one focusing on 2d art and the other on ceramics. neither was digital. neither was about characters.

in my pieces, i want to explore abstract ideas. i could just make a candle lantern with a cool design carved into it; or i could explore themes of what it means to be human. there is not a single character aside from vague representations of human beings. im in love.

for my 2d class, we're expected to keep a sketchbook. any art, so long as it's art. too many times ive filled a page with a drawing of a person. nothing exists past the piece. its nobody specific. and their faces are covered in lines. everywhere. eye bags, crow's feet, lines around the mouth and nose and chin, forehead wrinkles. necks.

they are people aging and they are beautiful. they are young people with decades under their belts and they are beautiful. they are people of every age and every life and they have existed physically enough for their bodies to recognize their physical habits. a testament to their living.

they are not smiling. but they have the crow's feet and the lines around the mouth and nose and chin and you know they have laughed many times before. they have lines between their brows and you know theyve felt worried about maybe one too many things. they have wrinkles on their foreheads and you know theyve felt surprise. everything is surprising. and interesting. and awe-inspiring. and beautiful.

we age and we change. this is a story everyone knows. people are often afraid, but then years later, theyre happier than theyve ever been. and they know it will only get better with time.

november 15, 2022

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. The trial happening right now bothers me because we get to see how Thanatos and Echo reacted to this, but Demeter and Persphone don’t know and I know why they don’t know yet. However you think that would tie some more stuff up together

It was Minthe, Thanatos and Thetis who whistle blew on Persphone. Meaning Thanatos would probably be called to trial and would have to face persphone and I would hope say something to her BUT I kinda doubt that’s gonna happen.

But the other thing to this Minthe is a plant who can’t testify. Are hades and Persphone hide the fact she’s a plant and pretend she’s missing or are they gonna say “yeah I still don’t have control over my powers but I’m queen now” HOWEVER I truly believe RS is just gonna not address these two plot points until way later.

FINALLY Eros and Psyche KNOW the last person Daphne was seen with was Apollo, did they chase after her after he got shot by the arrow? We don’t know. We don’t even know what they’re doing about Psyche. Did Eros and Psyche even see the Daphne tree? Are they going to try and sneak in to tell Persphone?

I know the plots gonna focus more on HxP secret marriage at the court trial rather than the actual consequences and the fact people are turning into greenery left and right. (It’s not Persohones Faullt Daphne is the way she is but RS needs to focus on other plot points I feel)

2. like, age gaps, height differences, and power imbalances dont always have to be bad, the issue to me is that the way rachel does it is hyper-focusing on how young, small, and child-like/unexperienced persephone is compared to the old, giant, and all powerful/mature hades is like ... yeah obvs people are going to find it creepy? how would they not?

3. i honestly cant stand the "theyre immortal gods the age gap doesnt matter!!" agreement because like??? ok??? then she could easily be 300 years old then? she shouldnt be so borderline underage then?? like the immortality aspect actually makes the age gap worse, not better??

4. i realize getting nitpicky over unimportant characters in lo having american names is a bit dumb, but it does speak to just how lazy rachel is and how little care she has for greece and its mythology. there are countless english names that are also greek, yet even that's asking too much of her. percy jackson isnt a perfect series, but even the characters (who are in america) have greek influence and meanings put into their names and characterization, something rachel doesn't even attempt to do.

5. ok but thats a good point, because rachel seems to be taking physical wounds to matter more over the mental ones, when thats not how trauma works. her writing on zeus is reflective of her writing minthe, where she confirmed she has a severe untreated mental illness and that's linked to her evilness, and thus what she should be punished for. meanwhile persephone own mental issues can be bastardized as a "yass queen" thing?? somehow?? its just bad writing all around.

6. i kinda wish lo fans would listen to their own logic and give the same leeway to the other characters. theyll scream from the rooftops that hades and persephone and hera can be awful people all they want because thats ~realistic~, meanwhile minthe and zeus and everyone else are held to such extremes they can never meet and are hated and despised for nothing in compared to hxp or hera. either hold your faves accountable or let off on hating characters who do the same as them.

7. i see a lot of lo fans excuse how everything drags as "thats how a slow burn works" and its like ... no? because most of that slow burn isnt even hxp, its rachel forcing in more plots we dont need, and when its hxp, you look at the timeline and how they act and its actually neck-breakingly fast? like if as much time had past in LO as irl time then yeah, four years is a slow burn, but its only been maybe a month in comic? so its not slow for them at all, but it's a drag for the readers.

8. See, the difference between Lo!Hades and Punderworld!Hades is that PW!Hades has so much personality, he and Persephone are literally bustling with life (even though one of them rules over a realm of dead XD) AND their interactions are so cute with their awkward attempts at flirting and failure at doing so. Persephone is still somewhat sweet and “pure” but she’s also a bit of a spitfire, she’s not easy to surrender, she has wants and dreams and that little differences makes her character likable!

We NEVER get to see anything like that with LO!Hades and Persephone, we don’t see them have these sweet interactions, these heart-fluttering moments, because there’s no base or foundation for those sorts of moments! It’s always these very out-of-character unrealistic scenes expected from a married couple, but they just met! It doesn’t feel natural, it feels forced and rushed and so slow at the same time.

Although Punderworld makes Demeter overbearing, i love her characterization i really do, waAAAY more than LO!Demeter, because we actually understand her reasons for her overprotective behavior and we get to see her in a more sympathetic light/manner in the newer chapters, we see her as more than “mean mom hates bf”

9. Daphne and Thanatos were adorable. Like, Daphne was a sweet, caring girl with genuine interest (and power/agency) and Thanatos was a shy, awkward guy who was just doing his best (and not pressuring her). They weren't perfect, but it was something! Why couldn't LO be about them?

10. What I find funny is that Minthe and Thetis have a more defined friendship than Persphone and other female characters.

Minthe and Thetis ARE TOXIC don’t get me wrong but both characters are aware of each other’s motives. Minthe knows not to trust Thetis fully and is straight with her on her opinion of Thetis. But the readers clearly know their relationship as well as the characters.

Persphone is in gray areas with most her female friends. The beginning of the story we are lead to believe Artemis and P are besties with the dress sharing and the way in P’s mind they’re holding hands with Hermès. But clearly now their relationship is a question mark and they’re both more detached than we thought. Artemis was just being nice to P letting her stay with her because they’re both in the TOGeM but they’re probably more like acquaintes at best.

Daphne and P we know they’re friends but P isn’t straight with her. Like Daphne is P’s only named friend, but did P think of her as the other overbearing nymphs? We don’t know because they’re all pink and some of them are dead. Despite being told they grew up together we don’t even know much about their relationship what do they like about each other? Does Daphne agree with Demeters parenting or P’s need to leave? When did Daphne get to move to Olympus? I feel like the plot just says “these two characters are friends “ but doesn’t elaborate much. Why did P let Daphne in her room at Hades mansion and not the other nymphs? P told Daphne that Apollo is dangerous, but it was a little too late. Also why didn’t P have her phone number when she got to Olympus? Wouldn’t she know to contact her on insta or something? P was like “omg I know no one except Hermès “ but that’s not true! Daphne! I could go more but I think we get the picture that Daphne’s plot point is having the readers be told Persphone has friends but she doesn’t but she does.

Were shown that P and Meg are getting along because P was nice to Meg, despite Meg being silently jealous of P, but what about Meg now? Is she ever gonna tell P that she’s jealous of P that she had a mad crush on Hades, even her journal? Or is that all gone now? Does Meg even matter any more or is she now here just to support HXP?

[hollowandmerciless]

So it was a love story after all

One of the things that has been said over the years about Attack on Titan is that it had no romance. Isayama, was the general consensus, didn’t write a love story. AOT is not about ships. It’s about the nature of humanity, about hatred, about racism and the will to survive. It’s got its roots in Norse mythology, in real life events from the recent past and a more ancient past. But love and romance, so everyone thought, never had a place in this story.

How wrong we all were.

As it turns out, Eren’s motivation for everything he did was always his eternal and undying love for Mikasa.

Here’s where I stumble.

I never saw any convincing signs of Eremika in this story. I didn’t like their dynamics in the first place – Eren seemed annoyed with her a lot of the time, or at best consider her his adopted sister – and what really rubbed me the wrong way during the entirety of the story was Mikasa’s unhealthy obsession with Eren. Yes, he saved her, and yes, she’s an Ackerman, who are known for their intense bonding to their host (although this was a false assumption as well, according to Zeke), but her obsession was unhealthy and annoying to the point that I was unable to see her character development or her actions. 

Her looks didn’t make her special to me (contrary to a lot of male fans I encountered on social media and irl), to me she was just one of the characters, albeit a rather uninteresting one, so I wasn’t paying as much attention to her as they did – we all pay most attention to our favourites (which in my case are Eren and Levi and to a lesser extent Hanji and Connie), and as a result I may have been blind for any character development she had. 

Maybe it’s because I’m a woman and I feel like she’s one of those poorly written -“the man is my only goal in life” -women. Women who in a story solely seem to exist as an appendage to the main character and have no life or will of their own. Eren and Mikasa were, in my opinion, never equals in this story.

I know many people do see Mikasa’s character development, and do see meaningful interactions between Eren and her, but I’m sorry, I can’t see them unless I use a microscope, and I think this is the main flaw in Isayama’s writing: with all the twists and foreshadowing (which I so thoroughly enjoyed), some hints he left are way too small, while some of his red herrings are too in your face to ignore. 

It also feels like Isayama changed the ending too often and forgot about a lot of foreshadowings along the way.

This is why it feels that we’re left with so many plot holes – if you read closely, there aren’t many, but the red herrings were sprinkled so abundantly throughout the story that we may have expected way too much. The origins of the Ackermans, the importance of Historia’s’ baby and “who is the father”, Zeke’s presumed 4D chess and Eren’s 5D chess, the Underground cities as protection against the rumbling, what caused the titan forest trees to grow so large, what happened 854 years ago in the year 0, Reiner heavily being foreshadowed to become the new Helos, what is the Hallucigenia thing, where did it come from and how does it create titans, where did Ymir’s first titan come from if there was no one in PATHS yet to build it – we don’t need all these answers, but somehow Isayama made us believe there was more to this than there actually was, and that’s why many of us feel robbed of the ending we wanted or expected.

The Historia storyline bothers me the most. The dynamics between her and Eren were much more interesting and realistic than those between Mikasa and Eren. To begin with, they were equals. Whatever happened, they always had each other’s backs. So it made sense to me that Eren had at least something to do with her choice to have a baby, especially because he was so vocal against it. Instead, she too married a guy who hadn’t been particularly nice to her in the past and nothing of it had anything to do with Eren or his plans, or their shared memories of previous founders. 

Parallels between OG Ymir and Historia seemed abundant, but apparently, in the end, we were supposed to see an essential parallel between Ymir and Mikasa. Her Stockholm-syndrome-love for the first King Fritz felt like a sort of deus ex machina (and yes, if you reread chapter 122 there were hints, but so scarce, so small, that they didn’t seem to hold much significance).

I find the fact that OG Ymir needed to see someone break loose from the clutches of obsessive love in front of her own eyes to finally break loose from her own love for Fritz a bit far-fetched, especially since I consider that this is what the entire story hinges on.

(Now we do understand why Isayama had Levi so severely wounded in chapter 114 (the explosion). Had he been fit, then he had most likely been the Ackerman who killed Eren (because this has been foreshadowed too, multiple times) – and that wasn’t supposed to happen. It had to be Mikasa, or else OG Ymir wouldn’t understand how to break loose from her bond.

Another thing that bothered me was Eren’s sudden confession of his love for Mikasa to Armin. Like I said, I found the Eremika dynamics particularly uninteresting, so this confession felt very unnatural and far-fetched to me – but, again, this is what the entire story is built upon. 

He does what he does for them, specifically for her.

It’s actually kind of sad that some fan theories were better/more interesting than the canon ending, but Isayama is the creator of this story and we’ll have to accept his ending – I do know that the more I’ve been rereading the final chapter, the less it bothers me how the story wrapped up. I might even come to like it, and when I reread the full story (which I will certainly do, I LOVE this story) I’ll pay more attention to the small hints Isayama sprinkled between the lines for us about the love Eren felt for Mikasa, to see if his words in 139 will finally make sense to me.

For now, Eren’s motives don’t feel real or grounded. If he’d cried about the millions (billions?) of deaths he’d caused instead of about Mikasa, it would have made more sense in the grand scheme of things. He’d cry for the lives he’s taken, and for the realisation that it has all been in vain, because the ones he tried to protect so that they can live long and happy lives, will now be consumed with grief and survivor’s guilt.

Still, could any of this have gone differently?

No.

Eren was rightfully desperate when he, from behind the bars of his cell, yelled at Hanji if there was another way. Because there wasn’t.

The irony was that Eren always fought for freedom, but all his life he had been a slave to his own destiny. He was unable to change the future, and could only try to influence it. Or else, as Kruger said, this cycle would repeat itself, again and again.

All in all I feel there was more to this story than what we got, it could have gone deeper, more foreshadowing could have paid off instead of being a red herring.

A bittersweet ending

Levi surviving and finally getting closure with the knowledge that this was what all of his old SC friends died for, brought me to tears. And that smoke, was that the disappearing of his Ackerstrength? 

The frame where he travels the world with his carers/adopted children Gabi and Falco and his new best friend Onyankopon (friend? lover? just look at that glance they share) made me so happy that this is now the desktop background of my laptop.

(I hope they’ll travel to the AOT equivalent of the UK so he can finally enjoy some decent black tea)

To me, at least this part was sweet. The rest: bitter, even the fates of the Alliance members. This is a story with an open ending. We don’t know if they’ll succeed on their peace mission, we don’t know what the Yaegerists will accomplish, we don’t know what the rest of the world will do; all options are open again, but maybe that is the point. Eren never meant to end the hatred, there’s no fighting the nature of humans. Erwin knew this already: mankind won’t stop fighting among themselves until there’s only one person left. 

Eren’s goal was to end the titan era, and at the cost of his own life and that of 80% of humanity, he succeeded. 

Learning that Eren, who held freedom in such high regards, was a slave to his own destiny all along was painful and ironic, but in a way he lives on as a bird, finally free, finally Vogel aus dem Käfig.

Thank you, Isayama.

[yonfiendmaker]

behold! i didn't see any otgw icebergs, so i made my own :)

if you think i should add something, lmk!!

Explanations under cut :)

First layer:

▪︎Beast!Wirt au - very popular au in which Wirt stays in the Unknown, possessed by the Beast to some extent.

▪︎Bad End Friends - Crossover AU of Beast!Wirt teaming up with Ice Finn from Adventure Time and Bipper from Gravity Falls; sometimes other 'bad end' au characters are thrown in such as a glitched Gumball from TAWOG

▪︎Irl Copies of the For Sara tape - Limited copies of the For Sara tape were sold at two points. They have yet to sell for a third time. (🤞🤞🤞)

▪︎Tome of the Unknown (pilot) - The Pilot of the series. Can be watched on YouTube.

▪︎Wirt Staying in the Unknown - In a scrapped ending, Wirt was to stay in the Unknown, saying that facing your real problems was scarier than staying there.

▪︎Mystery Kids - Crossover AU with other child-late teens aged characters from sources based on mysterious and supernatural themes such as Gravity Falls and Psychonauts.

▪︎Quincy Endicott's grave - Quincy's grave can be seen in the graveyard that Sara and the others are hanging out in.

▪︎Original Beatrice Voice Actress - Beatrice had a different VA in the pilot, Natasha Leggero. Melanie Lynskey voices her in the actual series.

▪︎The Woodsman's Daughter is Named Anna - The comics have several issues focused on his daughter, in which her name is revealed to be Anna.

▪︎Jason Funderburker's Ax Murderer Story - At the gathering in the graveyard, Funderburker is telling a story about a man with an ax; this story is believed to have influenced the existence of the Woodsman.

▪︎Full Versions of Songs in the OST - A handful of the songs are cut down for their appearances in the series and can only be heard in full on the OST. The most notable example is Old Black Train , which is actually 2 minutes and 15 seconds long, but is only in the series for about 15-20 seconds.

Second Layer:

▪︎Sara is named after the Fleetwood Mac song - Listen to it here :) it is notable that it includes lyrics about "drowning in a sea of love" and that Sara is "the poet of [the singer's] heart."

▪︎OTGW Reanimated - a reanimated project for the first episode. Got taken off of YouTube, but can be viewed on Dailymotion.

▪︎Baby Wirt Audio - In the For Sara cassette, there is a small section of audio that can be heard in about the middle of the recording of Wirt's father talking to him as a baby.

▪︎Funderburker/Funderberker - The two Jasons's surnames are spelled slightly differently to avoid confusion.

▪︎The Brothers Never Ate or Needed to Rest - Although Greg expressed being hungry, neither of the boys actually ate anything (outside of one spoonful of bland potatoes and inedible items such as dirt and leaves) and never laid down to rest, only sleeping when night came.

▪︎Book on Interior Design in Wirt's Room - In Wirt's from, a book on interior design can be seen laying on the floor, backing up the knowledge he displayed when analyzing the interconnected mansions.

▪︎Mad Love was Based on a Dream - The plot of Mad Love came from a dream that Pat McHale had about house hunting. In the dream, while exploring one of the houses being shown, he ended up wandering into someone else's home.

▪︎Beatriceoftheday - A blog dedicated to our lord and savior Beatrice, known for its strange shitposts and intense praise of the titular bird girl.

▪︎Wirt is Jealous of Greg's Popularity - Shown in the Circus Friends issue of the comics, Wirt is jealous of Greg's ability to make everyone laugh and have fun. This may factor into his dislike of his brother.

▪︎Greg was Feeding Fred at the Tavern - At first watching, one may be confused as to where all the food Greg was gathering went, why Fred was wearing lipstick and why he was refusing to talk to Beatrice. Shown in a deleted scene, this all explained, as Fred tells Beatrice that he didn't talk to her because Greg was feeding him.

▪︎Elijah Wood Voiced the Crazy Driver - Exactly what is says on the tin, the nutty driver was voiced by Wood.

▪︎Cloud City is Heaven - A popular theory that Cloud City actually represents Heaven.

▪︎Greg is Greg Universe - A headcanon/theory that has mostly died out that Greg is the same Greg in Steven Universe.

▪︎Bee Beatrice - Beatrice was originally cursed to become a bee, but was changed into a bluebird to match better with the seasonal autumn theme.

▪︎Pat McHale Voiced Wirt's Voice Crack - Wirt's voice crack when asking the Beast Are You? was actually done by McHale, not Wood.

▪︎The Other Actors Harassing Elijah Wood When Singing Wirt's Song - In order to make the performance as awkward as possible, the other actors were asked to yell and demand Wirt to sing. This can be heard in the episode.

▪︎Come Wayward Souls Has the Same Melody as O Holy Night - The song shares a cadence with "O Holy Night", and can be sung to its tune.

▪︎Black Turtles Origin/Purpose - No one knows why the black turtles exist, and McHale has said that they're just one of the unexplainable things of the Unknown.

▪︎Anna Never Left the House - In the aforementioned comics, it is shown that Anna had never left the house, living on her own until the Woodsman's return.

▪︎Sailor Suit Greg - Greg originally wore a sailor suit, but was changed later on to his current, Johnny Appleseed inspired outfit .

▪︎Beatrice Missing Being Able to Flip People Off - In the Art Book, Beatrice's introduction states that one of the reasons she hates being a bird is because she no longer has hands to flip people off with.

Third Layer

▪︎Jason Funderberker is Visually Based on a Teen Pat McHale - As seen here, Funderberker was designed after McHale.

▪︎Babes in the Wood is Based on an Old Alice in Wonderland Cartoon - You can view the original 1923 cartoon here! Starts at 4:25.

▪︎Wirt and Sara are Dipper and Mabel's Parents - A popular AU/hc where Dipper and Mabel of Gravity Falls are the future kids of Wirt and Sara.

▪︎The Tune of Wirt's Song is Improvised - In addition to the aforementioned harassment, in a further attempt to make the performance as awkward as possible, Elijah Wood was not given a tune to sing, only the lyrics.

▪︎Wirt's Costume Origin - As said in the art book and on his tumblr, Wirt's cone and cape come from an attempted rock and roll persona from McHale's teen years.

▪︎Greg is Based on Pat McHale's Son - It has been claimed that Greg is based on McHale's son, but Greg existed before him. The similarities are simply coincidental.

▪︎Old Scratch - The original name of the Beast.

▪︎The Beast Killed the Woodsman's Wife - Shown in the comics, The Woodsman's wife was mortally injured, with her attacker implied to be the Beast.

▪︎Wirt and Greg Staying in the Unknown Until Christmas - Another scrapped ending, in which the brothers stay in The Unknown until Christmas, with their absence unexplained.

▪︎Tome of the Unknown (original plot) - Early concepts had the Beast ( then known as Old Scratch as mentioned earlier ) scattering the pages of the titular book for the brothers to collect. Each page would come to life and the brothers would explore each story.

▪︎Dante's Inferno Comparisons - Check out these videos for full analysis!

▪︎Wirt Panty Shots - In the aforementioned Circus Friend comics, Wirt dons a dress as part of a disguise. Later on, he rips off the bottom half off, revealing that he is wearing bloomers.

▪︎The Beast's True Form was Inspired by Trypophobia - As stated in the art book, The Beast's hole-filled appearance was inspired by Trypophobia, the fear of many small holes.

▪︎The Fight is Over is About Drowning - Give the lyrics another read.

▪︎The Beast Last Minute Design Change - The Beast had a very different design, and it was changed into the current one at the last minute.

▪︎Gnome in Cloud City Representing Wirt - Many people believed that the Gnome with the lantern in cloud city was a parallel to Wirt, or a glimpse into his future. However, this was debunked.

▪︎Send Me a Peach - This song is included in the ost, but isn't in the actual series.

▪︎Fred and the Highwayman's Backstory - The comics expand upon the story of Fred the Horse and his involvement with the Highwayman.

Fourth Layer

▪︎Babes in the Wood Title Origin - The name of this episode comes from an old story of a pair of children getting lost in the woods, dying, and being buried in leaves by robins.

▪︎poorlydrawnotgw - This was a blog created during the poorly drawn series meme period. It consisted of poorly drawn and very strange shitposts and has since been deactivated. I was a part of it as mod Goopy Wirt and only have a handful of images saved from it.

▪︎Read and Listen Book Lost Audio - A read and listen book was created, with the book being read by Greg's Frog, who would stop every now and again to talk about being a frog. The pages can be found online, but the audio is currently lost.

▪︎Skinless Witch - A scrapped episode concept involved a skinless witch that kidnapped Greg and rode him like a horse.

▪︎Gentleman Burglar Wirt - A scrapped concept in which Wirt breaks into a woman's home, who is charmed by this young man who has come to visit her.

▪︎Animal Transformation - It was originally planned for Wirt and Greg to be turned into a bear/dog and a duck and remain that way for several episodes. This was later used in the comics.

▪︎The Unknown is influenced by Wirt's mind/interests - The Unknown is influenced by those who walk in it, in this case, Wirt. This includes the old timey mystical nature of it, as Wirt has been stated to have an interest in old folk tales.

▪︎Good Guy Beast/Black Train Scrapped Concept - In an earlier draft, the brothers were on a train, heading to what they assumed was death. They jump off, ending up in the Unknown. The Beast tries to get them back on the train, which turns out to be heading back to life.

▪︎Evil Woodsman - At one point, the Woodsman was intended to be under the influence of the Beast and tried to sabotage the brothers's attempts to return home.

▪︎Lorna Reading the Tome of the Unknown in the Epilogue - In the epilogue, Lorna can be seen reading the titular book from the aforementioned scrapped plot.

▪︎The Beast was Originally the Devil Himself - The Beast was first designed as a devil-like character, the aforementioned Old Scratch.

▪︎The Brothers Never Went Home/The Hospital is Part of The Unknown - a theory based on the fact that the edges of the screen are still blurred at the end of chapter 10, the rushed narration, and the lack of consequences of nearly drowning.

▪︎Beatrice Seeing Wirt Nude - In one of the comics, Beatrice accidentally sees Wirt while he is washing his clothes in the river.

▪︎Sara is a Descendant of Lorna - A theory that Sara is a distant relative of Lorna.

▪︎Exists in the Same Universe as Clarence and Home Movies - The most well known piece of evidence is the overhead shot of the town matching the town that Clarence is set in. Wirt and Greg also have a cameo in another episode, and one of the final episodes shows Brendon Small of Home Movies runs a movie rental store in the town, connecting all three series together.

Final Layer

▪︎Beast x Wirt - Also known as Poetree.

▪︎Candycone - Greg x Wirt.