#based on a trend I’ve seen in a certain fandom

[annwayne]

Y’all please.

Your f/o’s, your blorbos, your selfships think you are hot and love you.

“But we’re not compatible.” “It’s out of character for them to like me.” “They wouldn’t go for me.”

Shh. Shhh. Gently I hold my finger to your lips as I reveal a new frontier of thought to you.

In character is a matter of what it takes for a character to act different. What love and gentleness can you give your blorbo to make them yearn for you? To trust you and open their heart to you? How are you the one that catches their eye? All of these questions can be answered positively.

Expand your horizons. Scrutinize if the world they come from really would have our same beauty standards. Really think if your crush would even care that you have back rolls or acne scars or wrinkles. Then think on what it would take for them to stop seeing the parts of you and instead see the whole, beautiful, wonderful person that you are.

Love can change a person so much. How would it change your f/o?

[riacte]

Re: popularity and clout gap, this thought has been lurking at the back of my mind but it didn’t hit me until a friend pointed out it was like how some parts of the audience used to treat hermits in MCC. As in: the hermits could achieve something technically amazing but were ignored simply because they weren’t popular (see False’s back to back win being ignored post MCC12) when the exact same achievement would cause them to lose their minds if it was done by someone who was more “popular”.

Post Demise 2, I joked this was like Blue Bats over again in which False (and Ren) won with the power of friendship in a wholesome storyline yet some parts of the audience chose to be salty their fave didn’t win instead. Sometimes you can see such a severe cognitive dissonance because people watch different hermits. Like that post on Reddit innocuously asking about Perry when I’d seen him around for weeks now and people pointed out Perry had been featured in the Neighbourhood’s videos for a while. (Nothing wrong with the post but it shows how vastly different the viewing experience is.)

It’s kind of like we’re back to 2020/21 era esque “hermit erasure” but it’s (unintentionally) done by some hermit fans. Okay, actually I’ll erase the unintentionally. Plenty of people only watch a few hermits and I emphasise that is fine and you can do anything you want forever. Enjoy HC in any way you like. Be free. The problem only surfaces when people pretend their corner is the only corner that exists and everyone else are the side characters. Like, it’s really fine to admit you don’t know everything. Someone on the MCC Reddit tried making teams and admitted they didn’t know the hermits well but somehow their teams ended up being more hermit accurate than most teams I’ve seen.

This situating done by some parts of the audience of some hermits as “main” and some hermits as “side” to the whole production of Hermitcraft makes me think of 2020/21 MCC again. In which people were discussing protagonists and villains and cannon fodder. Which was why I wrote Battle Scars, a parody / satire / sincere piece of work / whatever, to show that my faves (Blue Bats) could be the protagonists too. And it feels like I’m back. Scrambling to script my faves as characters worthy to have their stories told. Why are we back again.

And why does it lowkey feel worse because this is happening within the same fandom.

… And now I realise that’s also part of why I wrote Feel It Still, another crack treated seriously fic. Because it’s a Superhero AU proudly situating my faves in the lead roles based on canon stuff, while the typical protagonists of Superhero AUs in this fandom are delegated to side characters and are the trainees under a main hero. It’s this sort of twisting of canon that I keep on (subconsciously) doing, attempting to give some sort of spotlight to my faves by mimicking / parodying fandom trends and tropes, trying to make them more palatable and spread propaganda or whatever.

Tldr: it feels like we’re back to “hermit erasure” era and there’s a lot of fanon attention on a few. And you just know certain events would receive significant more attention if they were done by the popular hermits instead of the less popular ones. But it’s mostly crickets outside my circle and the people that I know of. Like hey yeah this is someone I know from chat and someone I know from Twitter. And I know about “being the change you want to see” and “make stuff you want to see” and “promote your faves”. I know. We all know.

It just gets tiring sometimes.

In the end, a number’s game is a number’s game.

[ladamedusoif]

It might be the cold meds talking, but I feel like I need to have a ramble about writing - partly because I’ve seen a few “you write for YOU and whatever you WANT” posts over the last few days, some of which have been spot on and some not so much.

To clarify: this post isn’t about me. Or at least, it’s MOSTLY not about me. It’s just some observations about fic.

This is a lovely and important message. Ultimately, we do all write for ourselves. Of course we do.

But saying “write for you and only for you!” is easier when you’re someone who routinely gets hundreds of notes on a fic within the first couple of hours. Or when you’ve got a massive audience already. Or when you write something that seems to get more attention than anything else in terms of popular characters and tropes (ahem Joel age gap smut ahem).

Trends come and go in literature of all kinds, whether properly published works or fics. That’s par for the course.

But the problem is when it feels like only a certain kind of story gets any attention. When stories with real heart and love and care and feeling seem to be routinely ignored because they don’t fit the bill: they’re slow burns, they don’t involve popular tropes, but they’re proper stories that could exist without any connection to the fandom they’ve been written for.

And, worse, when the people writing those stories start to feel deeply disheartened and as if it’s just not worth it.

We talk a lot about anon hate (spoiler: don’t do it) and nine times out of ten that seems to be based on the idea of people writing potentially triggering or taboo topics saying they’ve received “hate”. (Sometimes this is actual hate and sometimes it’s genuine, considerate questioning around warnings etc.)

Thing is: the people writing the ‘unpopular’ stories get hate - genuine, real, nasty hate - too. This post isn’t really about me, but as an example: I’ve not turned on anon asks in months, because of the last shitfest. And I’m not alone, because I know what people have had sent into their inbox in response to the most inoffensive, sweet stories. It baffles me.

All this is to say - I wish people would be a little bit more open in what they want to read, and would recognise that “anon hate” isn’t just about puritanical prudes trying to “tell people what to write” as seems to be the general assumption. People keep trying to put a bit more diversity out there in the fic buffet, to write loving and carefully crafted stories, and for all the “write it for you” posts it still feels like it doesn’t matter. Like no one wants it. And that’s when writers start to think they’re awful, their ideas are bad, their style is weak.

Worse? They get shitty, mean-spirited asks and comments. (Even if it’s not “hate”. I’m still baffled by the people who say they couldn’t finish a one-shot of mine because there wasn’t a significant age gap between the Reader and the male character… but I don’t think that’s strictly hate, as such. Dispiriting, though.)

And what happens then? They stop writing. The stories cease. And the fic buffet becomes more and more one-note, more and more dictated by prevailing winds and a particular kind of purple prose style. And the readers - who might have found those stories if more people had engaged with them and reposted and shared them - wonder why no one seems to write for them.

A while back I wrote a tag that was something like “there’s room for everything”. Unfortunately, that “everything” remains a little limited, at least in terms of what actually seems to get picked up and gain traction. And “there’s room for everything” doesn’t mean that all writers are above reproach, either.

Try something new, people. Give a soft story a go. Who knows, you might like it.

[plumsaffron]

I don’t normally criticize or even insult this hard but these are the few times I’ll do because I’m not the only one having enough of a certain fandom’s shenanigans:

I used to tolerate and even slightly like Miraculous Ladybug for several years since they were first released just bc their opening was catchy.

However, ever since “Chameleon” was released, it started a huge trend of Lila Rossi hate content. I’ve never seen such a magnitude of hatred on a controversial fictional character or even other characters who are innocent compared to previous shows I’ve watched. And y’all have seen it corrupt and infect other fandoms when they crossover since the late 2010s to even the present…

The last fucking straw was when I was searching for Kimetsu no Yaiba: Demon Slayer fics on here, an untagged salt fic showed up with it! I was like fuck this, I’m removing anything miraculous out of my social media blogs and bookmarks/favorites on fanfic sites I use!

And Thomas Astruc is a rather pathetic human being, because he projects himself a little too much by stating that Chole is based off of his past bully; him and his ex girlfriend had a virtual daughter, Marinette. I have nothing against self-inserts but this is a bad example, not letting go of the past that leaks into popularized fictional media where.

At this point I think Miraculous is not worth of anyone’s time, new curious viewers or former fans.

[mikauhso]

Small fandom rant, feel free not to read.

I don’t really care what an artist has done as a person, unless they’re like literally hitler or someone who you’d punch in public for their crimes, I find it a bit sad and annoying how so many artists online are willing to tear down someone else’s art to say “I did it better.” It’s one thing to give constructive crit in good faith, and it’s another to make an OC-ified version of canon out of your love for something, but creating something out of spite will almost always ring hollow for me. I see so much good art duct taped to posts about how “here I fixed it” or “lol you can’t draw” and I think back to the time when I learned the phrase, “you’ll attract more flies with honey than vinegar.” It disheartens me to see artists and people I’d know to be kind and constructive not extend the same kind of care hey show irl to someone online based on their parasocial relation to them. It’s such a low-stakes game and people will act like a mid show having characters they enjoy is the end of the world, and in doing so will take personal snipes and make insults at the art instead of addressing the actual problem head on, because it’s easier to derail and funnel attention and love towards yourself instead of ask that others improve. I love redesigns born of love. I love rewrites that try to see an artist’s vision, but at a certain point I wonder if people even like what they’re making art about or if they’re slapping something recognizable over top of it in order to ride trends.

The internet normalizes clout chasing to the point where I feel like we do it almost instinctively. That little insult or sly comment at the end of a post, that’ll sway people to your side. Saying why you don’t like some person despite not knowing them. It’s valid to have your opinions but I wish people would act like they would in the real world. You wouldn’t go around and scream at someone who you saw post this one thing one time. You wouldn’t punch someone based on a rumor, or verbally berate them in a restaurant. Yet people post so much shit online and it’s so normalized that we don’t even register it as a sign to log off anymore.

I feel like social media is something incredibly important for communication, but it’s currently designed in a way that centers ourselves and how much dopamine we can get, whether it’s at the expense of others, ourselves, etc. And we’re part of the problem too, we refuse to change and recognize that maybe internet points aren’t worth it and maybe it shouldn’t matter what people think of us. And maybe it’s an opinion I have but I shouldn’t judge someone based on what fraction they put out on the internet of themselves. Maybe I should cook myself a snack or go out for a walk or sit on the balcony or in the yard, talk to a friend face to face. Again, I love what the internet has done for accessibility but every accessible thing is locked behind a service designed to ignore vitriol and anger towards one another.

I guess I fall prey to this too, but I’ve seen this pattern happen again and again and again. There are people behind everything that’s made, and unless it’s ai or something stolen, an artist put their time and heart into it. It’s part of the game to have tough skin but I wish it didn’t have to be a necessity because of spiteful people.

I guess I should add an addendum, this is about a pattern I’ve seen in many a fandom. This isn’t about the morality of a show’s crew or whatever, that’s a conversation for another day that I’m not getting involved in because the personal lives of others are no business of mine. Hah, there I go again. But in all seriousness. I’ve seen it in Hazbin Hotel. I’ve seen it with High Guardian Spice. Velma. Steven universe. The owl house. Any new show I’ve seen come out where someone decides to have a moment and say “I will create out of spite and a need to be seen.” I wish artists didn’t feel the need to ride trends and that we’d value each others’ work as much as something put out by Disney. But that too, is a post for another day.

[beigetiger]

Discussing Valduggery and how it reflects disagreements in generalized fandom shipping ethics (I wrote this on a dare, thanks @vividvermilion)

Gonna preface this by saying that I do not ship Valduggery, nor do I necessarily approve of other people shipping it. I think that there’s some legitimately fascinating discussions that could be had surrounding it though, but any sort of nuance usually gets flattened and it’s pretty disappointing. So this essay is gonna sound a lot like me defending the ship, I’m not, but I was thinking about it.

Like I said earlier, nuance often gets cut out of the conversation, likely due to a variety of factors. One would be a knee-jerk disgust towards it (which I’m not saying is inherently bad) and another is probably that people really, really do not want their fandom to be known as the one that defends a borderline pedophilic ship (I say borderline because I’ve only ever seen Valdug stuff set when Valkyrie is an adult, but I’m also only on Tumblr and have no idea what’s going on in other forums). Again, not a bad thing to want, but outside social pressure is how a lot general fandom policing takes hold, which then makes the fandom more of a toxic space.

Now, this fandom in particular is pretty relaxed and I appreciate that, but getting into fights, bullying others over their ships, and just generally spreading vitriol against your fellow media enjoyers is never ok and it makes the fandom spaces so much less enjoyable for everybody. And since so many people on social media feel the need to insert themselves into everything regardless of whether or not they enjoy it, it’s always a good reminder that if you dislike or disapprove of something, keep your mouth shut and block it (I know this is a pretty general thing taught on Tumblr, but I’m still going to reinforce it here). This also means that experiencing some form of shaming from someone outside the fandom is very much within possibility, but the people who do that are stupid and you should internalize the idea that you shouldn’t take that seriously.

I’m also gonna point out, no matter how already-talked-about this point is, that none of these people are real people, or even based on real people. These guys are about as fictional as you are ever going to get. It’s a fair thing to point out that allowing yourself to become accustomed to this particular flavour of fictional abuse can allow you to become more accepting of it in real life, and that might be vaguely correct (don’t quote me on this, I’m not a psychologist), but the thing is is that if that were true, than that standard would have to be enforced on all types of fictional abuse.

And here is where I discuss the big double standard of abuse in fandom spaces. I’m gonna have to use some other fandoms as a reference for this, and I’m dead certain that everyone reading this can come up with a few of their own as well. Abuse is depicted in media pretty often, which means that the people who consume it are then desensitized to it (to a degree). But since some flavours of abuse are shown, discussed, and joked about more often, this leads to a sort of fandom dichotomy between “acceptable abuse”, which is abuse that is allowed to be drawn, enjoyed, and romanticized, as opposed to “bad” abuse, which will get you demonized for enjoying and sometimes even depicting. If any of you have seen Gravity Falls trending recently, Billford (the reason it’s trending) is an abusive ship, but it’s considered “acceptable” abuse. Bad abuse usually involves sexual assualt or pedophilia (and often other topics as well). It’s all abuse, but the fact that some forms of abuse will get you harassed and threatened while other forms are extremely popular signals to me that some amount of discussion regarding double-standards and basic self-control should probably be had in general fandom spaces.

Because if we were to enforce the idea that all types of abuse (romantic or otherwise) are Very Bad™️ and need to be demonized, none of us are actually allowed to enjoy Skulduggery Pleasant because it’s a series about a child soldier and the four-hundred-year-old guy she has a toxic codependency with. Again, I do not ship them romantically at all, but I really do enjoy thinking about and analyzing fucked up dynamics, so I’d much prefer to be able to enjoy this series without being shamed for it (and wish to extend that courtesy to others because if there’s anything I hate, it’s being a hypocrite).

But going back to shipping, shipping something abusive or generally fucked up (such as Valduggery) is not the same as endorsing it, even if the person does enjoy it. Enjoying/appreciating is not endorsing either. In fact, writing or depicting something that’s already messed up in the canon can be a creative way to analyze and then extend that abuse, which gives fans more food for thought and gives writers and artists good practice thinking about social implications.

For example, there’s probably an unholy number of variations of Valduggery ships (I’ve seen two here on Tumblr but I’d be shocked if there’s not more) due to there being so many variations of both Skulduggery and Valkyrie (four each, I believe). Each of these pairings have a slightly different dynamic and writing about those different dynamics is interesting! I have fun thinking about the different possible dynamics between the duos (hello, every SP au I have ever made) and doing that same analyzing but in a romantic sense isn’t inherently evil (sometimes it’s really funny). Fandoms are supposed to be places for creative self-expression, and policing what people are allowed to do with themselves (while also enforcing a double standard) isn’t good.

On a more general note and not necessarily tying into the SP fandom, sometimes people write or draw toxic ships (or other things that aren’t necessarily ships) as a way to work through and express trauma or other negative emotions. And these people don’t deserve to be harassed for doing that (again, self-expression). They also don’t have to defend themselves to you or specifically state that they’re doing what they’re doing to help themselves handle trauma, because that’s on par with asking for the medical history of a trans or disabled person and is a fucked up thing to do. Not that I’m blaming this fandom in particular for doing that, you guys are great. This is just my general ranting about fandom spaces with my limited experience handling fandom (especially toxic fandom).

Now, as I said earlier, I actually don’t interact with the SP fandom outside of Tumblr, so I could be wildly mischaracterizing Valduggery shippers in other spaces at the moment (I’ve heard horror stories about AO3 but I’m not on there so I have no opinions of my own). Intentionally making light of abuse is always bad, but again, please do not harass your fellow fans.

This was a REALLY long post and I’m sorry for bringing up something that I know is a bit of a touchy subject for this fandom. This idea started out as a lot more specifically about Valduggery but then I decided that so much I wanted to talk about regarding the ship is a trend reflected across nearly all fandoms, so I ended up talking in much more general terms.

If anyone has literally any thoughts please share them, because I’m slightly in disbelief that I actually wrote this out about this subject. I also want to know if I missed any important factors while writing this because I hate doing that. Thank you all for reading my soapbox rant.

[dearweirdme]

to be frank, i am glad the jennie/tae situation is over and you can see the switch in taehyung’s outside perception again. That rumor costed Taehyung a positive solo debut and created a bad narrative around him. I’ve been observing people’s reactions (not just ARMYs but Koreans in general) towards the dating rumors since it started and it only affected him negatively.

J*nnie has always been a polarizing person in the industry more so now than ever. She’s always been involved in controversies either about her partying lifestyle, lazy performances or rude attitude. His involvement w her (real or not) did nothing but paint him in a negative light. they would associate him with her every time she had a controversy. During that p*rn series of hers they would involve T*ehyung about his “girlfriend trashy behavior”, then during her whole recent lazy scandal they would say Taehyung is with someone that doesn’t seem to put energy or passion to their job as opposed to him who’s always been known for his good performance skills. And during GD dr*gs scandal they were trying to involve him and BTS by linking him with Jennie who used to date GD and still hangs out with majority of his friends.

It was terrible for him. It switched the way a lot of people (mostly gp) perceives Taehyung as a person because it put into question his character and is not false that bp is a polarizing group in sk and the majority of armys don’t like bp not just for the fandom being awful to bts but because they in general hold a very terrible image and you can tell there’s not love or passion for the work that they do. just 4 airheads that keep taking ownership of the things bts worked for as a group.

i personally saw so many negative media articles about taehyung during that period in a way i’ve never seen before. He’s always been liked by the media. and now that the break up articles came up, i am starting to see Taehyung trending on naver for good positive things again such as how good he looks with his buzzcut or how great he was at the variety show. that relationship with jennie did nothing but bring him down and i am glad he can finally be free.

Hi anon!

Mmm, I think it's very much a point of perspective (and I don't really follow BP, so I'm not sure if I see this correctly). Army generally does not like BP (or maybe moreso Blinks) much. At least, the loudest voices don't really seem to get allong, because I'm sure there's also many Army who do like BP as well.

So from an Army perspective.. BP is the source of all evil in many cases. From a BP prspective, this would probably be the other way around. It's a competion based rivalry I think.. both fanbases wanting theirs to be the Kpop group that get's to be the biggest. Whether this rivalry also exists between Bp members and BTS members themselves is doubtfull I think.

Pairing Tae and Jennie for this was basically the ultimate attention grab... can we actually think of a pairing that would have more of an impact (Kpop wise)? Did they hope for Tae's image to rub of on Jennie? Did that blow up in their faces a bit? Do they see this as a succesfull stunt right now? I do feel it's possible the stunt was pulled before it actually was supposed to. After Paris things got chaotic real fast... and there was definitely more hate than positivity going around. Talking about the amount of attention they got, I'd say they deem it succesfull.. the quality of attention was not that great, but I think that was of lesser concern. Tae is wonderfull, so the possible damage that has been done to his image will be mended in no time.

I am very glad there was an actual visible ending right before his enlistment. This gives a certain level of peace for fandom and I think for Tae personally it must've been some sort of relieve. Jennie wont be blamed for cheating while he's away. And when Tae returns.. all of this will be long gone.

[haleigh-sloth]

Have you ever wondered if any Asian/ japanese person read the leaks as well? It can't be only us in America(North/South) or Europe, right...? 😅

I have no way of knowing the full extent of that

All I can say is that from what I gather, significant portions of the Japanese fan base specifically—idk about other Asian fanbases—doesn’t appreciate spoilers, I think.

I know that Japanese artists will block people on Twitter who put spoilers in their TL, and I see a lot of people who are part of the Japanese fan base say repeatedly on Twitter to stop putting untagged spoilers up. I’ve also seen waves of upset from Japanese fans for certain characters trending, biggest example I can think of is Bakugo dying and it went viral before the actual chapter came out. That caused a lot of irritation understandably. I’m sure Japanese fans do engage with spoilers but like on social media it does not seem to be appreciated overall? But this is based on evidence I’ve observed over the few years I’ve been in the fandom. That one thing has been consistent, stop spreading spoilers on Twitter and spoiling it for people who don’t want to be spoiled. I can’t say for sure and give a statistic or anything.

I think the reason it comes up as “eastern fanbase vs western fanbase” is because of spoilers and people being super careless and stupid about said spoilers. There’s no way “western” fanbases are the only ones engaging with spoilers but it does seem based on observation that the divide exists in discussions because of the online behavior regarding spoilers.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP, since you're talking about it, plus explain why so many K-pop fans that got into K-pop through BTS dislike them so much after??

**

Hi Anon,

I imagine it’s similar to how people become antis of specific members and could be down to a whole host of things. Based on what I’ve seen, it’s these three things:

1. Dashed expectations

2. A bad experience in the fandom

3. Social influence or bandwagoning

I’ve said before that k-pop offers up the veneer of perfection but is actually extremely messy, cut-throat, and filled with distinct Korean cultural markers that could seem to Western foreigners as odd at best and stupid/deplorable in the worst case. Since BTS has the widest and furthest global reach, many of the people who get into k-pop through BTS are complete k-pop noobs who have no understanding of the history of the genre/industry, much less BTS’s history within the wider context of k-pop, and once those people get past the honeymoon phase they get to see how the sausage is really made… and they hate it. Lol.

Basically, the perfect expectations they have of BTS aren’t met because duh, and while I think this happens for practically everyone and is actually a good and expected thing, for certain types of people it kickstarts a chain reaction where they remain in k-pop spaces, absorb all kinds of narratives but can’t let go of BTS in some way or other. Something I've noticed since being into k-pop for (too many) years is that nobody who has ever come into contact with anything related to BTS has ever been able to stop keeping up with them. Not one. I've said before that Jimin is the perfect microcosm of everything BTS is, so they're the og 'once you Jimin you can't Jimout'. The BTS equivalent isn't as pretty syntax-wise, but you get the idea. So like a toxic ex-boyfriend who knows the relationship isn’t working for him anymore and even if he has a new boy/girlfriend, he can’t seem to stop Googling his ex, keeping up with what they’re doing. Maybe they shared a pet before breaking up and he uses that as the excuse to keep up with whatever his ex is up to. This might seem like a dramatic comparison to make after all we're just discussing music and fans and it's not that deep, but k-pop is different. Anybody who has made a fan account is already in too deep there's no point acting coy about it. So yeah, the way some people respond to unmet expectations is anger and/or dislike directed at the subject that failed to meet those expectations.

Another reason is bad experiences within the fandom, and the places you're guaranteed to have bad experiences are shooter, shipper, and solo stan spaces. Like if you're exposed to any of these spaces for a long period of time, just the mention of the word 'ARMY' is likely enough to induce vomit. In my opinion. I've seen worse behaviour from other fandoms at significantly bigger scales and in other generations, but the sort that has found its way into this fandom is ugly and self-destructive. So far the majority of this fandom has kept these factions in check, but lol, everything trends towards entropy hence the byline of this blog.

The third reason is banwagonning. A lot of people are very easily influenced by what people around them think. It's not always a bad thing, but sometimes it works in favour of BTS and other times it accomplishes the opposite effect. As BTS has become so big the group has eclipsed k-pop as a whole, reception to BTS from the wider k-pop space has become increasingly antagonistic, given the competitive nature of the space. So while people might discover k-pop through BTS, what they’ll also discover over time is that an overwhelming amount of k-pop stans have millions of reasons to hate BTS. So for the sorts of people who got into BTS because they thought BTS is popular, once getting into k-pop and entering an environment where BTS and fans of BTS are hated, these sorts of people are more likely to be influenced into disliking BTS.

[trerti]

Honestly I kinda like how the collective narrative of the users of this site has calmed down a lot in the past 10+ years. I’ve been on this site since 2010 (not as a active user most of the time, I like to observe) as a wee Gen. Z kid and watched some Gen X and Millennials progressively change and morph from being very young and passionate to more chill and calm. And yeah it’s because the population here is aging blah blah blah but it’s an interesting shift now more than ever from what I’ve seen because you can literally see the exhaustion and maturity shift set in the user base of everyone here in the changes for discourse, fandom dynamics and political/societal from here so rapidly. It’s really fascinating to me. I grew up from the millennials progressing from posting poor quality gifs in long drawn out fandom posts and commenting “if you’re not angry at this (insert large scale societal issue) you’re not paying attention” on every other (insert bigoted whatever -ism/ist term here) critique post and obsessing over random white boys/men to becoming basically the primordial soup progenitors for fandom culture and progressive politics.

Now that I’m at the point of the beginning of my adulthood, I’m glad to have seen and experienced what I did. It’s still so weird to see the shift from 2014ish when everyone started to be emotionally exhausted with the way their all lives were heading collectively that is was literally tangible in the way that intersectionality is incorporated, and then started to be applied in social/political discourse became the foundations for online behavior today for a lot of ideas and humor concerning all online spaces, like YouTube comments to Pinterest posts reels. Like, it was a very VERY USA oriented white fandom men space focused space where there was young and fresh 20 year old something (usually, on the surface cis and straight oriented) millennials were just obsessing on the same 3-4 major fandom things at a time or so was into a very admittingly prominent site for gender and sexual orientation terminology and concepts development that are now being practiced and in use are implemented on a societal level. I feel like I’ve aged x2 fast too just being here lol.

Now I mostly just see millennials and a vast majority of the more older gens blogs chilling and just focusing a bit more on living in adulthood in the strides they wish they had earlier and (usually) cheer on and encourage Gen. Z youngsters and slowly raising and preparing Gen. Alpha as of now. Gen Z is just mostly geeking over the aesthetics, trends and terminology/concepts now, especially in identity politics laid down earlier from others in discourse in our identitys as adults. Aka; Cancel culture and policing is the same hurdle we have to face head on and navigate as a generation for the next one to come after to work, tweak and improve on a societal level.

Of course the echo chambers here and the discourse are still annoying here and there but I feel like now more than ever I see a lot of settling? happening now. It’s very chill; like the tones and way people talk changed, lowkey it’s kinda a nice even if there used to be and still is strife in certain spaces I guess.

I’d argue being on here is the most tolerable concerning the younger gens here being discreet (as in I don’t see younger people always focus on output here and more so relaxing and not engaging in large fandom wars or whatever like I’ve witnessed before, it’s only be very slight if not tedious buzzword identity policing and gatekeeping callouts but that’s as far as I’ve seen) and just focusing on creative content, and gaining inspiration in lieu with Tiktok and Instagram and Twitter as the main avenues for content content (ironically as there was a great migration in 2018 to Twitter due to policy update and back here on tumblr for the same reason Lmaooooo) being a whole thing… also to be fair the UX of this specific platform is actually nice because you have the ability to actually extend and spell out our own coherent ideas about things as need be compared to the other platforms where content creation forces the users to be hard pressed to not be able to flesh out and materialize their ideas and posts aside from Reddit or something.

Also? To see blogs that are like 10+ years old and scrolling though the older posts of like, idk a blog dedicated to providing insight into Wicca or a set interest etc. for a subject you are researching and have those same popular older posts (‘the president stole my shoe laces’ and ‘do you like the color of the sky?’) be in its ye olden archives when you search for something accidently is really entertaining to me. I can see why everyone here lowkey kinda remanences and cringes at those times, it’s truly iconic in every way possible before and after if you were there lol.

[trshltna-blog]

The relevancy of blogging- in an era like “this”

The description of a “blog” is defined as a regularly updated website based on information about a person, a community or any general thing. It consists of articles and can be used for business or for personal use (Website Rating 2020). As someone who was very much interested in the writing community many years ago, I ran a blog of my own using Blogger to post my short stories and poems. However, in an era like this, where applications such as Instagram and Tiktok dominate the media, it is rare to see people use or consume blogs as their prime source of information.

Unfortunately, the relevancy of blogs have dropped over the years although admitting it would be pretty sad. Blogs were used to gain information especially at an individual’s peak interest. In my case, it was writing. Blogs can be easily replaced with these applications stated above because of how popular they are and their accessibility. In terms of popularity, individuals are highly likely to be navigated towards an app which most people are currently using. In other words, ‘trending’. To be able to keep up with friends’ and family’s lives is what most people desire to do online. Instagram makes it easy because pictures can be posted, and you know what they say, ‘a picture tells a thousand words’, probably more than my word count right now, even. As for the recent rising star, Tiktok, most people would prefer doing ‘daily vlogs’ (yes, vlog, it a blog but replace the B with a V, so you’ll have video blogging) and watching them. I do believe that our generation, and probably the upcoming ones are embedded with a short-term span, hence to why vlogging is ‘the in thing’ at the moment. A 15-second clip of someone’s day could already sum up what most people used to write on blogs. Alas, individuals are much more attracted to graphics and visuals, thus the heavy usage of Instagram, a photography app, and Tiktok, a video app.

While the relevancy of blogs have gradually decreased, I do believe that the usage of blogs still exist. It hasn’t gone completely extinct, as there are still some individuals that consume it daily. Just because something isn’t popular doesn’t mean it isn’t being used. Blogs are still used amongst fandom communities, that gather to discuss about their favourite celebrity or fictional character. With fandom being a thing in modern society, blogs are still bound to be somewhat the centre of it all. Another great example would be food bloggers. Cooks use blogs to post their food recipes and to engage with those who have the same interest in cooking. Sharing recipes online have been going on for a decade, ever since the word ‘blog’ came to existence. In some cases, blogs and vlogs (what a mouthful, really) can go hand in hand together especially with food. I’ve seen Tiktokers link their blogs to their accounts so that people watching their short cooking videos who want to try it out can go check the full recipe. Alas, it all comes down to interest. If an individual is interested, they’ll go looking for it, thus the usage of vlog and blog at once.

Blogs have been around ever since Internet Explorer was heavily used, and with fast paced ever changing media, I believe that even Tiktok and Instagram will ‘go out of style’. Or perhaps, make a huge 360 cycle back to blogging being in trend again. Regardless, it is certain that every single media outlet has its relevancy, just depending on how relevant it can be in the appropriate time frame of society.

#MDA20009 #Week4

[deificdeceit-a]

@kohlapsar​​​ asked:

imma ask you the 3rd question from each section of the questions for the mun :3c

Mun Questions - Accepting    

Lmao thanks for this there’s so many and I’m very sleepy but I’m still answering lmaooo

If your mother tongue is not the language you write now, what caused you to switch languages?

Unfortunately I can only speak English. I’d have loved to learn a new language but I just didn’t the attention span when younger nor did I like being forced to learn French and Spanish at school so I refused to learn them and just do the bare minimum to pass my exams :’)

Are you happy with how your favorite canon muse was portrayed in canon?

I mean... Eh? We haven’t really got much Zhongli lore wise since his second Character story and he’s only briefly appeared in a few events. Even then not much is really revealed bar crumbs. I don’t like how fanon likes to idk... Make him seem innocent and stuff like. Mans morally grey. He doesn’t hate the Fatui nor the Tsaritsa from what I remember and I see people seem to believe he’s some beef with them. 

I also think people tend to forget who he was. We only know what Genshin feeds us and even then we learn that some stories like Rex Lapis Incognito shouldn’t be taken as truth as even some things aren’t true/exaugurated. Even then people forget he was a warrior and that and seem to idk... Act like he isn’t? And that he abandoned his country when he didn’t???? Idk he’s very complicated and in canon we only get crumbs and with them crumbs fanon likes to make him seem innocent and stuff half the time so. With what we see in the main quest I do like but I do wish he got a bit more love in some events. Same with Tag but I don’t wanna open my can of worms on him!

Who is your favorite OC?

I don’t write him here. But his names Rohan and he was originally an RK900 from Detroit Become Human. I’d like to bring him here eventually but I don’t know if I will??? Mainly cause I don’t really have good Faceclaim for him that’s like animation style. Only realism right now. If I pick one I like maybe I’ll bring him here. He’s based kinda in futuristic settings due to DBH so think like Cyperpunk and games that have that as he does have a prosthetic cybernetic arm. And he’s a lowkey corrupt Detective for the police atm. Yeah we’ll see.

Is there any fandom you regret exploring?

Yes... I do. I won’t mention any really but just there are certain fandoms I just avoid for personal reasons due to how they where in the past and because of that I like to avoid them for my own sake.

Have you ever developed a ship based on writing with a certain other character / mun?

I have in the past. Just ships I didn’t think would occur just happened or wouldn’t consider and they just happened and I always enjoyed them in the end. It’ll hopefully happen here maybe one day but then again I don’t mind if it doesn’t. Sometimes it’s fun to develop unlikely relationships with characters that you didn’t think would occur uwu

What trend would you wish to see on here?

I honestly don’t know. I’ve seen so many over the years and they’ve all be kinda fun. I think seeing like promos with a silly little tumblr/twitter shitpost quote would be nice to see. I’ve had like 2 over the years. The first was like my Marvel days so like 8+ years. The other was with The Arcana so that was like 2/3 years ago I think. Like they where always easy to do and just a bit of fun. I might do one again one day.

[creacherkeeper]

so i’ve seen some people (mostly on twitter) say things like “oh everyone on the internet thinks theyre autistic” in ways that are mostly used to dismiss self-dx but i kind of wanted to talk about that for a second. so pardon the ramble 

disclaimer up front that i am super PRO self dx as someone who is professionally diagnosed, has done a ton of autism advocacy in leadership positions, and just started a new job working with autistic people in a professional social work capacity 

so there IS this stereotype of like. everyone in certain circles thinking theyre autistic because its like some sort of trend or excuse for certain behaviors. the people saying this are seemingly under the assumption that some/most of these people are NOT ACTUALLY autistic and are just claiming to be 

but here’s the thing. a lot of this happens in fandom circles. you know, fandom, a place where people talk at length about interests in a very deep and focused capacity where you can manage your social circle so most of the people youre talking to shares interests and wants to talk about them a lot? you know, online, that has a specific way of communicating that can be easier to read for someone who struggles with body language and where people wont subconsciously discriminate against folks who have othered body language and speaking? i’m saying that fandom is a place that inherently attracts neurodivergent people, especially autistic people who are more likely to be introverted (not all, i am a ~rare extroverted autistic~) and want to socialize more online where they have more control over communication and content 

also, autistic people are more likely to be influential in fandoms because they’re usually the ones sticking with fandoms for long periods of time and producing a lot of consistent content for it. if someone has been running a fandom-specific blog for years and has a hundred fics written for it (or gifsets or art or meta etc) i can guarantee theyre more likely to be autistic than any random person on the street. so you have a lot of autistic BNFs (big name fan) who are not only attracting other fans like themselves, but are sometimes making posts or reblogging things about neurodivergency and autism. which attracts MORE autistic people to their blog/fandom but ALSO is exposing non-dx’d people to what autism is who maybe wouldnt have encountered it otherwise. so people who maybe never wouldve gotten dx’d or self dx’d are now learning about autism in fandom spaces and going “wait thats me!!”. so having prominent autistic people is cultivating a circle of neurodivergence in fandom 

NOW before you come at me with like “but autism isnt that common!!! they cant all be autistic!!!” im going to argue that autism is WAY WAY MORE COMMON THAN MOST PEOPLE THINK IT IS 

when you hear these statistics like “1 in 60 people are autistic” (some recent stats say 1 in 54) THIS IS MISLEADING because it is mostly based on DIAGNOSED CHILDREN and not the actual prevalence of autistic people 

diagnosis is not only financially inaccessible and locationally inaccessible (i dont think thats a word but um. yeah a lot of people do not have diagnositicians anywhere near them) but diagnosis is also skewed heavily towards stereotypically-presenting white male children!! adults, AFAB/female presenting people, and people of color are MORE likely to get misdiagnosed and LESS likely to be diagnosed with autism even if they are autistic. plus, a lot of people get diagnosed later in life and wouldnt be included in statistics about children (i was dx’d at age 19 after seeking out a diagnosis myself against the wishes of my parents who never wouldve let me get evaluated had i been a minor. i am still autistic and should be counted.). not only that, but our diagnostic criteria is heavily biased towards how autism presents in DISTRESSED AND TRAUMATIZED individuals which means healthy and happy autistic people probably will not get a diagnosis from a professional even if they are autistic  

basically what i’m saying is we have no idea how prevalent autism is, but it is probably way way more common than people think, even going off of that “1 in 54 children are diagnosed” statistic. so taking into account that autism could make up a significant portion of the population, that we tend to group together even if we dont know we’re/others are autistic, AND that fandom/the internet is an inherently attractive model of community to autistic people .....

yeah, “everyone on the internet thinks theyre autistic” literally what of it. we probably are mind your business 

[fatechica]

Loved your answer about what's the hate the show and certain characters are getting in tumblr. I personally don't get how a show with characters (Mike particularly) everybody loved so so much and a couple (mileven) everybody adored (plus it was made so clear since season 1, like no doubts they were endgame) now they get so much hate. It's heartbreaking. I know it's something only happening in tumblr (and maybe Twitter) because all my friends in real life still think the same about characters and couples and when I tell them arguments in tumblr they can't believe it but it's sad you can't go around tags because all you read is hate. I only check your account and a couple more (so if you know another good accounts I'd be thankful) since I'm here to enjoy and not be mad. Don't get how people can be disappointed about not getting their way or their predictions not being right when those predictions are literally invented based only on their desires... I've shipped fanon couples all my life but I knew that. Sorry for the rambling but it's being so heartbreaking seeing what's happening in this fandom I enjoyed so much.

No need to apologize, anon! It’s hard to be in a fandom that’s immersed in drama when all you want to do is enjoy the fandom.

That said, I think it’s fair and valid that people are disappointed with how vol 2 went - and there are a variety of valid criticisms to be leveled at what we got in the last two episodes of ST4, as well as how vol 2 was promoted and what they chose to feature.

I know, for myself, that I’m legitimately disappointed they didn’t explicitly address Will’s sexuality when they very much hinted that it would be addressed. It’s edging close to queerbaiting and for people who are legitimately upset about this, they’re not just allowed to be but I feel justified in feeling angry and having their hopes toyed with.

Where some of my sympathy has limits is in being mad that a fanon ship didn’t become canon. There’s this worrying trend I’ve seen in fandom in general where a ship has to be canon in order to be valid when no? That’s literally never been how fandom works?

I’ve shipped tons of non-canon ships. I’ve shipped crossover ships, AU ships, ships that never had any hope of being canon, ships that could have been canon….the list goes on. I’ve been in fandom for 25 years in one way shape or form so I’ve experienced the full gamut of what’s possible in shipping. So I understand the disappointment when a ship doesn’t become canon, I really really do. And, yes, I totally get wanting ships to be canon for media representation and/or because you think it makes better narrative sense.

BUT.

Shipping a non-canon ship that doesn’t become canon doesn’t mean you were promised something that never came to pass (I’m explicitly talking about the writing, not how certain ships were marketed in between vol1 and vol2 - that’s a completely different and more valid complaint/criticism). It just means you ship a non-canon ship and the creators have different ideas about their creation.

That’s it. That’s literally it. If your ship never becomes canon, well that’s what fanfic is for. Yes, it’s ok to be disappointed - it’s more than ok, actually. But it’s not ok to be mean or take out your disappointment on other fans/the creators/the cast. It’s not. It’s immature and in some cases reeks of entitlement.

So yes, be disappointed. Be angry. That’s your right! But recognize that it doesn’t mean you can take it out on other people and that just because you expect something doesn’t mean you’re entitled to it.

[tomatograter]

May I ask why are you so fond of Jake?? I've seen that one anon who said that they are grateful that you won't excuse Dave's shitty behavior but I feel like you do this but with Jake? Jake was a really shitty friend and was hella selfish most of the time, so how is he any different to Dave? Yeah, Jake has his issues, but like everyone else in hs. I'm not sure if I remember correctly but I'm pretty sure you did point out some of his flaws at some point and you're aware that he's not perfect, but why you dislike so much some characters that are as dickish as Jake? Bc of the fandom? Or bc of they are popular? I swear I'm not trying to excuse Dave or something, he can be a real asshole sometimes lol, I'm just using him as an example. Sorry for the long message, but I'm really curious.

So. I feel like its worth noting here that Dave is the character that most attracts hyper defensive or offended asks whenever i talk about him or mention him in passing, and it's a bit of a comical phenomenon because i don't even... dislike... dave...? But neutrality, disinterest or even mild critiques directed at him earn you full on psychoanalytic paragraphs from anons, and while this isnt personally directed at *your* ask, its one in a reign of many, so you'll have to forgive me for putting the long delayed interjection here.

This isn't really an ask about jake, and I'm not going to pretend it is, so let's talk about dave again. Or rather, why I'm not davelikers.com when by all means i Should Be as a good homestuck reader and faithful fan: eh, idk.

I get the appeal of Dave, i comprehend the general concept and manpain, but there's nothing particularly vexing for me to prod at there. He's already been done.

Dave is perhaps the Homestuck character most benefitted by the story; the one that gets the most clear-cut and self-fulfilling arc, complete with the satisfaction of an ending and settling down with his newfound sweetheart. He's so perfectly serviced by it he gets to tell Rose Real People Don't Have Arcs (despite the fact he just completed his). Dave is also one of the Homestuck characters that personally chews up his own arc and delivers it as a verborrhagic red paste, mother-hen to baby-chick-like, for all readers to easily internalize and reproduce, copyright-free.

THE POINT BEING: Dave is safe. Dave is likeable. Dave is deeply beloved. He's the archetypal fan-favorite. Dave is, on the realm of normal, as regular of a dude as it gets. And i'm not hugely invested in regular dudes. Dave, above all, won't be missing me or my patronage here, let's be honest.

I get why people may be frustrated by this, but after a certain point his story stopped being engaging and started to be the safe bet to drag around and expect the public to place all their emotional tokens on. I've already talked about the surplus of dave in the epilogues before, and it's a trend that's continued into hs2, apart from the deluge of fanworks that have been coming out since the dawn of Time. (Up to 2017, Dave ranked twice in A03's top 100 ships—there isn't a 2018 record, but i bet he was in that one too)

If you really want to ask me "why i like jake's issues but not dave's" the answer is a very simple "because why not." or if not satisfied, the more polarizing "dave is just some guy". I really hope people aren't thinking I'm saying dave is 'problematic' here, because that'd be hilarious. I don't think he's 'morally damning' or 'a bad boy' or even 'mildly interesting in that vertex of discourse'. I'm not ranking characters i like based on how unproblematic they are, but rather how interesting i find them to be.

I mean, i really like Vriska. Dave is as far as you can get from a Vriska. Hope this helps.

[qwertyfingers]

the thing is like. some people absolutely are weird about homophobia and delight in saying slurs too much but not one time have i seen anyone call attention to it in a normal way. jender isn't homophobia it's genderweird young people talking about gender envy of a specific person. malewife isn't (generally) homophobia it's a JOKE about gender roles in relationship (a joke which is specifically about how those gender roles are stupid but fun to talk about) and is never used as a serious marker. fruity isn't usually homophobic it's queer people talking about other people engaging in queer behaviour and aesthetics; it is very much honourific and complimentary even when jokingly said as an insult. is it okay to feel uncomfortable with that vibe? yes! is there something to be said about how people engage with this type of casual homophobia? yes! is the way to go about this making posts describing 'she/they bisexuals' as a coherent identity group or claiming there are no queer men in fandom? no it isn't! you will never have a productive conversation by being passive aggressive

the main flaw most posts about this discussion have is absolutely vicious transphobia - mainly directed at transmasculine people - involving a bunch of really harmful assumptions. these people are deciding who they think is what gender based on what pronouns they list in their bio, something that will always be harmful no matter what. they say shit like 'she/they bisexuals' to mean 'afab nonbinary people' because they know they aren't allowed to be derogatory abt all nb ppl and 'he/she genderweird people' (both of these are actual examples from real posts lol). they constantly imply a hierarchy of cis gay men as the 'real' victims of homophobia and trans men as some unfortunate tangential group who don't really experience the effects of it. they talk about gay men as if none of us are in the room and then get angry when you disagree with them. they also tend to assume when they do know you're trans that you're not transitioned; that you don't really live as a man and don't know what it's like to experience the same homophobia as cis gay men.

every. single. post. i've seen about fandom homophobia is based in OLD old assumptions about the demographics of fanspaces - first and foremost there is an assumption that only women engage in it which is demonstrably not true. gay/bi cis men are FAR less likely to write fanfiction and generally much less likely to be on tumblr than other websites, yes - but this isn't because of the very recent tendency to use a certain kind of language, it's a holdover from the fact that tumblrs biggest userbase on the fandom side was always teen-college age women. there's an increasingly large trans demographic as people grow up and start exploring trans identity but a significant amnt of users in most circles have been here a long long time. cis gay/bi men are more typically found engaging in fandom on twitter, reddit, other blogging sites, and irl meetup groups. google 'scifi meetup (your closest city)' and you'll almost certainly find one. people tend to naturally drift where their peers are and the fact that our version of fandom - centred around art, fic, graphics, gifs, etc - was originated by women and perpetrated almost entirely by women means the demographic has always skewed heavily towards them. that's just how people work!

the idea that demographic unbalancing is caused by a trend that's less than six months old and laregly isolated to a handful of fandom circles is completely fucking insane. do i think the current use fo language might be stopping more gay men from newly joining right now? yeah! i think it could be alienating to some people. but the gay men who are already here and say they personally feel okay with most of it aren't being homophobic to you when they disagree with you lol. we're just experiencing and coping with life differently than you

that being said cas the gay angel tiel is a fag and i'll say that with my whole pussy in front of god robert singer and everybody