#because I'm wary of the fandom in general

[xenonsdoodles]

my faerie shaped stress ball. crushing him crushing him

[joycrispy]

I wanna talk about The Angel Who Would Be Crowley.

Because I had a certain set of expectations, which got thoroughly trashed in the first five minutes of S2, and my genuine response is, "Oh, fuck, yup. You're right. That's WAY better."

Looking around at GO fandom, I'm not alone in this. So let's talk about it.

Basically, a lot of people (myself included) believed that he was a high-ranking angel, and therefore as chilly and remote as every other powerful angel we'd seen at that point. We pictured Crowley-To-Be as long-haired, regal and imposing --and the fanart at the time reflected this. I'd link some if Tumblr didn't hate links.

Something like this:

We were collectively drawing on a few things --mostly, Crawly's appearance and general bearing in the Biblical scenes of S1--

--But also scattered hints of his importance, backed up by conspicuous absences in Heaven and a few profound displays of power. That's all better covered elsewhere, so I won't reiterate the arguments here. All I'm saying is: I think our headcanons were justified.

But it turns out he was this:

!!!

With his curly little--!!

And his neat white--!!

IT TURNS OUT, he was an angel who squeaked and squealed when he was happy; who flailed his arms around and made explosion noises with his mouth to explain nebulas; who preened when told his stars were pretty. Furfur, who knew him before the Fall, says:

"You used to jump on me back, little monkey in a waistcoat..."

(The use of a diminutive there, 'little'...oh, that fascinates me.)

In a pretty huge subversion of expectations, we're given these glimpses of an angel who was sweet, and joyful, and heart-meltingly silly.

In sum...an innocent.

(Perhaps innocent to a troubling degree.

We see how he troubles Aziraphale, during their first conversation. He starts looking around and behind them, checking to make sure that no one can HEAR the blithe and reckless things coming out of this angel's mouth. This angel who talks like he's never been reprimanded in his life; like it's never occurred to him that anyone would want to hurt him.

Before the Beginning, Aziraphale understood Heaven better than he did. The danger is plainly occurring to Aziraphale.)

So now, we the viewers are in on a cruel joke that Aziraphale has known all along, which is that this --THIS-- is the angel who--

*checks notes*

--did a million lightyear freestyle dive into a boiling pool of sulphur. For asking questions.

...Imagine you are Aziraphale, and everything inside you wants to believe Heaven are the Good Guys, and God is Good and Everything She does is capital-R Right...and now try to reconcile that. Keep trying. I don't think he ever totally managed it in 6000 years.

All this gets further complicated when we learn that, despite all of the above, we were still right. That sweet excitable babby up there?

He WAS a powerful and high-ranking angel.

That much is explicitly confirmed, with significant evidence that he could have been among the mightiest of archangels...

...Who apparently accosted his fellow angels for piggyback rides. And was remembered millennia later by those (now fallen) angels as something 'little.'

What does that tell us about who he was? Is?

Hell, Aziraphale has known to be wary of the archangels (and the judgements of Heaven in general) since before the Fall even happened. He chooses to believe they are Good; he can't fool himself into thinking they are Safe.

Yet he's absolutely certain that Crowley won't hurt Job's children. Enough to stand in a burning building and say to them, "I can't save you, but don't be afraid. I won't need to."

And what reason does he give?

("I know you."

"You do not know me."

"I know the angel you were.")

What does that tell us about who he was? Is?

("The angel you knew is not me."

But how is Aziraphale supposed to believe that, when he can see him all the time?)

tl;dr --yes, this is better. I love the tragedy of it.

'Innocence died screaming' and all that.

[starheavenly]

(this was about a million more questions than I meant to send sorry! I got ahead of myself, answer what you’d like, no pressure.)

You mentioned Pharma’s codependency with Ratchet and how some deceptions would fake injuries (or actually get injured) to see Ratchet. How do you think he reacted to that? / Was he allowed to help medical visits at all (not saying they allowed him to surgery of course, but more like a basic check up and etc) or was that only after the whole redemption/recovery happened?

Speaking of Pharma’s codependency; how did that work out when Deadlock started to warm up to Rachet? Had he gotten enough work and healing in that it wasn’t an issue or was it a mess? XD (Would be wild of Pharma and Deadlock got along before they added Ratchet)

I'm glad people are invested in these three; they're obviously my favorites! Okay, just had my morning coffee, so it's time for a wall of text.

I still think my idea that half the Decepticons have a tiny crush on Ratchet is pretty funny. It was a little joke on the fandom since so many simp for Ratchet (me, it's me). I don't think Pharma ever noticed the correlation, though. Like I've said, I've moved on from the yandere idea, so Pharma isn't actively threatening people; he's just clingy. Maybe the cons stopped getting injured because they were wary of Pharma being around.

Honestly, I don't think Pharma is ever getting his medical license back. But at the same time, I think part of healing is accepting that you can't be the same person you were or do the same things you used to do. He probably just helps with tools and getting supplies. After a bit of recovery, he would get some of his snarkier personality back and be a bit of a backseat medic to Ratchet. He's healthier but still a control freak, that's for sure.

And Pharma obviously has a resentment to Decepticons in general, so he did not like Deadlock at first; but Deadlock didn't really care about Pharma nor Ratchet either.

This is a super silly detail, but Deadlock writes/talks to Cyclonus on Cybertron since they're all supposed to write to someone. Cyclonus is the one who convinces Deadlock to make more of an effort to get to know people (like how she got to know a little sanitation bot) Once Deadlock actually begins to try, he finds out a bit more about Pharma's whole deal. Deadlock discovers that Ratchet still cares about and helps Pharma even after what he did. Seeing how different Pharma was (a bit of a parallel to Drift/Deadlock), he begins to warm up to both of them.

(Pharma 100% cheats at their games of Go, by the way.)

And I know you didn't ask, but I didn't explain how/why Deadlock leaves Earth. He noticed how fond he was of Ratchet, and that scared him. He really didn't think he deserved any sort of redemption after all he'd done. Windblade and Chromia visit, and he steals their ship. Yes, there is Zenith!Wing. I have to design him, but he's a silly hermit who teaches Deadlock that there will be people willing to forgive him and care about him (also swords; he shows him how cool swords are). So Deadlock goes back to Earth as Drift! And my dratchma bias continues.

[damnfandomproblems]

respond to a reply on this post: https://www.tumblr.com/damnfandomproblems/758279107941466112/fandom-problem-5461-cishet-being-used-to?source=share

"are you seriously equating making fun of a marginalized group to making fun of like, idk gender reveal parties or whatever people in your fandom make fun of cishets for doing? Like I don't mock people based on their sexuality but tell me that you do understand the difference between someone making fun of a marginalized group with a high suicide rate and someone poking fun at straight people.(Also, for the folks making racism comparisons: I'm white and when people make white people jokes about like, white people love avocado toast! White people love yoga and saying buddy! or whatever, 1) I don't mind 2) that's much different than a white person making fun of say, Black people.)"

As a poc, and specifically a queer (cisbi) native american (tlingit) who grew up around cishet white people, when it comes to online and fannish spaces I have noticed that people tend to cross the line from making harmless fun to just straight up expressing and encouraging hatred

While this is definitely a minority of people who believe and act out on these beliefs, there is a problem of people truly believing that cishet white people are all genuinely evil and inherently evil at that, and that the only way to "fix" (cleanse) the world of all problems would to be committed genocide in fandom spaces. They immediately assume the worse and dehumanize and rejected similarities they may share with cishet white people. It's absolutely prejudice and need to not only be called out, but utterly tossed in the bin

I get feeling uncomfortable or even wary of people who appart of the same kind of people who have oppressed you because you are not sure if they too have been indoctrinated into the bigotry, but we live in the modern era, more often then not you'll find that most cishet white people just don't care about poc and queer stuff

Cishet whites aren't responsible for crimes they weren't even alive for, that their ancestors committed. They are far more often ignorant because the education system is shit and has a lot racism/ableism/etc baked into foundation ontop of not really being how to do own research, then they are intentionally malicious and bigoted, and the best way to prevent them from being indoctrinated into bigotry is to just, expose them queers and poc who are chill with them and are willing to educate. Insulting them and assuming they want to hurt minorities just because they're cishet whites is the best way to push them into radical hands that will instead pain queers and poc as the ones who just want to hurt others for being cishet whites, because "obviously" why else would they immediately assume you want hurt them unless they want to hurt you?

Hating anyone for things they cannot control (race, gender, sexuality, etcetera) only breeds more hate. Yeah, don't tolerating bigots, but if genuinely can't stand a certain demographic of people ignore them rather then going out of your way to hate them. Educate if you can, or shut up when talking to people who haven't don't anything to you beyond offend your sensibly for committing the crime of being born a certain way, because otherwise you're just feeding into the genuinely malicious and bigoted peoples hands and making it easier for them to take the ignorant and make them malicious too

Hatred at the end of the day is hatred, sure, it might not be the racist or homophobic flavor of hatred, but it's still hatered. And no one should hate anyone, at least not for the things they can't control (because fuck pedos/rape-philies in general and murders and genuine racists of course, they can all go get shot, don't get me wrong and twist my words like I know some of y'all are just dying to do)

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[eleanor-bradstreet]

Thoughts on Bridgerton season 3

No one asked, but putting it out there. (Written after viewing part 1.)

The Good

Polin - it’s their season after all. There is plenty of them and a lot of scenes pulled right from the book. I don’t think Colin/Newts is all that charismatic or great at acting tbh, but Pen/Nic is carrying the season. Seeing through her eyes, there is a compelling story of self-acceptance, struggle and romance. I was whooping whenever she got steamy with her man.

Debling - wonderfully acted and such an interesting addition to the ton, I love this character. He is so kind and honest, he deserves the world.

Francesca & John - Hannah Dodd is doing a wonderful job. We get to see the one and only shy Bridgerton, which is novel. Her odd chemistry with John is magical and I am already fucked up about them. I’m more invested in them than Polin 😅

Eloise - we are seeing more facets of Eloise which is wonderful. That she is willing to look deeper at peoples’ true character - including Cressida and Pen, though the reconciliation with Pen isn’t finalized yet. Cressida also makes Eloise check herself, her assumptions and privileges which is crucial for her development. She’s growing this season.

The Cowpers - redemption arc for Cressida incoming! We are learning that her bitchiness stems from a competitive nature, which she feels she must have to secure a good match thanks to pressures from her awful parents. This is interesting in its own right but please please please have Sophie also being mistreated in their household. That would be the bow on top.

Marcus Anderson - hello handsome! He is wonderfully acted and immediately has a warm spark with Violet. The mystery is built as to why Lady D is so aggravated by him. What has he done in the past that makes her wary of him?

The music - great instrumental covers of on-point pop songs and revisiting a few tried and true Bridgerton original themes.

The Bad

Kanthony - But only for part 1. I'm guessing they had to work around JB's busy shooting schedule, but it sucks they found a lame way to essentially write them out of episodes 2-4. I'm happy to see from the trailer there will be more of them in part 2.

Benedict - for fucks sake, he does nothing. Season 2 might as well not have happened. Not only is he not sad nor frustrated with Anthony about art school, he has no introspection or personal development in part 1. He’s just shoved in the background again, making sassy little comments and fucking a random lady. Where is this ‘crucial role’ the showrunner mentioned? What ‘comes to a head’ for him as Luke keeps alluding to? All of his material must happen in part 2 because there is nothing in part 1.

The fucking Featheringtons - I know the entail is a plot line set up by season 2, but getting into microscopic detail about the sex lives of the elder two Featherington sisters is not the comic relief the show thinks it is. It actually makes me nauseous. The whole ‘race to produce an heir’ could have been a single line explanation from Portia and screen time with the Featherington couples could have been spent on more Benedict.

The sex - part 2 better be mind blowing because Nicola’s claim that Polin has ‘won the steamy battle’ is unfounded based on the first four episodes. Okay we’ve got Anthony and Benedict each with a scene between the sheets kissing ladies but not a single Bridgerbum to be seen. The claims of ‘threesomes’ and ‘lesbian sex’ are extremely generous. It’s 5 seconds of Colin kissing sex workers and them peformatively kissing each other. I know we have the mirror scene coming in part 2 which threatens to blow the roof off anything Saphne and Kanthony did but thus far, I am unimpressed. It feels more buttoned up than ever.

Now, I have also watched part 2 in its entirety. Without spoiling any details, see below the cut for a general note.

Part 2 contains some MAJOR twists that I feel are going to fracture the fandom. Brace yourselves.

[nitewrighter]

All things considered, I hope that MAWS season 3 is the season where they introduce the other big DC heroes, but at the same time, I have to wonder what the characters of Batman and Wonder Woman will be like.

Will we get an overdramatic loner emo Batsy for that current Pattinson Batman synergy, or are we going to get something closer to Conroy's Batman? Heck, with the tech-focused angle of MAWS, perhaps this would be an opportunity to try something closer to Rino Romano's portrayal in The Batman?

Will Diana be the ever-compassionate, wise yet pragmatic nigh-immortal warrior princess, or is she going to be little more than the primary vehicle for next season's relationship drama, her mere presence driving a wedge between Clark and Lois akin to early New 52 Wondy? I really fucking hope not. For a change, let Diana be into both Clark AND Lois. Let her rizz them BOTH up and let Lois be kinda into it.

Honestly I'd rather the trinity get their own respective shows in this style that introduces them in the framework of their own stories before they get slapped into Superman's story. And also I'm very wary about introducing Batman at all because DC has a problem of introducing Batman to a story and it immediately becoming A Batman Story (tm).

If they do end up introducing other heroes from the DC universe, I'd rather they pick characters in theme with the show's emphasis on space and technology--like Adam Strange, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Captain Atom, or Cyborg. Or that they start bringing in Fourth World characters like Darkseid, Orion, Mister Miracle and Big Barda. Hell, they could bring in Kon-El or General Zod, too. They're only now establishing Lex as his own villain and not just someone clinging onto Waller, and they haven't even brought in Lobo yet!!! There's still plenty of Superman content to explore without shoehorning in an underdeveloped Trinity. Or they could bring in Booster Gold and/or the Legion of Superheroes for a time travel plot that's still focused on Supes. (A time-traveling Jon showing up à la Trunks, anyone?)

My really big concern here is the show has put all this energy into establishing Lois + Jimmy as Superman's team, and now with the new season they've expanded that to include Kara and Steel, and I don't want that to get chucked out the window just because they want to bring the Trinity in. Honestly the last thing I want is for Batman and Wonder Woman to show up like, "Out of the way, supporting cast! The real main characters are here!" If they're going to expand further into the DC universe, I want it to feel natural to THIS show, not just ticking off a mainstream fandom checklist.

A big part of what I love about Superman solo comics is their emphasis on the normal people surrounding Clark that he cares for and is inspired by, and they're usually the first to get elbowed out when he gets thrown into big crossover. I don't want that with MAWS. The show is literally called My Adventures with Superman, which implies its major baseline is that its from the perspective of the normal non-powered people closest to Superman (read: Lois and Jimmy). I don't want this show to breach that until Wonder Woman and Batman are established on their own.

[mx-loar-tev]

Hook, queer ships and sexism in fandom.

I know us swanqueen shippers tend to collectively hate Hook and shit on him, but I personally do like the idea of a nice and supportive Hook that push Emma and Regina together, that is supportive of their relationship and is not just an overall shitty guy.

Like, I get that a lot of us hate him (honestly I find him boring each time I watch the show), but in fanfictions, do we really have to just have him play the bad guy role over and over again instead of giving him a nice role? Can't we write fix-its where he is different?

I mean, that's what fan work is about, isn't it? I get some of us just want to write angst and that's okay. But if we just want to write our sapphic ship, why do we have to make the canon male love interest a villain to do it?

It's an honnest question really. Because I know I've done it, and not just with Hook and swanqueen. Even if the canon straight ship is shitty and that's why i/we are shipping the queer non-canon ship instead, why automatically making the guy a villain? Why making a guy a villain, period ?

No really, I feel like a lot of queer fangirl shippers tend to make male love interests into villains. And I think that's because a lot of us are queer girls or at least afab people, who ended up with a lot of resentment towards men in general.

I'm not going in the "you're a lesbian because you hate men" territory. I'm just saying that we just had those experiences with men, that left us angry and wary. And like a lot of feminists that lost sight of what they are fighting for (equality between sexes. Not women supremacy) we sometimes let ourselves go down that hill of anger and trauma.

I think we need to ask ourselves why we do what we do, why we write what we write. Do we write that male character as a bad guy because the show really depicts all the red flags? Or is it because of our internalised bias about men?

Again, it's an honnest question. Sometimes the guy is just that bad. But is he, always? I think that's a good question to keep in mind.

[godtier]

so i got an email from RT about the last season and i'm kinda annoyed

first there was this:

brother, just say it was because of the strike lmao c'mon now. we all know that's why you're pushing it back

tho don't get me wrong, i will always support a creative team pushing a release date back to perfect the product (whether it's a show, movie, or video game), but this was just stupidly phrased and they coulda just said it. i'm guessing WB was like "no don't mention it at all for the love of god"

then there was this:

now the way this reads to me is that only first members get to watch the season?? traditionally, first members got the release ... well, first. then, non-paying members got the release a few days/a week later. that makes sense to me and it's how it's been since forever. the last time i bought a first sub was for the shisno paradox trilogy and i didn't need to be coerced into it; i wanted to see it as it came out. doing it like this seems really fuckin stupid.

and, in case anyone missed it, rt already removed all seasons of rvb off of their youtube channel. so the only "official" way to watch rvb (aside from DVDs/blu-rays) is their site.

not only that, but just seven episodes? and yet it's gonna be released as a (presumably) feature-length film? so if we're to assume the "movie" cut is gonna be about 90 mins long (being generous here), that means each episode is gonna be about 12-13 mins long, which is fine... but just seven? idk, for the last season, i would have thought they'd have gone all-out and produced a more "standard" length season.

for reference, the average season length (not counting rvb: zero) is about 19-20 episodes. the season with the smallest number of episodes (again, not counting zero) is s17 with 12. i'd have been satisfied with 12, but 7 is just... what. how are you gonna wrap up an entire 20+ year-long series with 7 episodes?? if the episodes were 30 mins long each, then i'd be like "aight let's go son" but if my assumptions are correct, 12-13 min long episodes isn't enough

idk, i was probably gonna renew my first sub anyway, but the fact that they're locking it out entirely unless you either buy first or buy WB's movie-version... it just seems yucky

tbh, if you ask me and consider all the main cast seasons, rvb ended with s17. it had the best wrap-up imo (aside from s5, but only OGs will agree that's a good ending point, myself included), and it tied up everything neatly and left it open-ended. the boys had their biggest adventure, donut got to shine (yes i'm biased), and it ended in a place where you could feasibly imagine them living out their lives in peace, like they deserve.

it's been a long time since i was active in rvb fandom (and it was here, on this very tumblr!) but i'm wary about going forward now. i'm gonna watch it somehow, but i've gotta figure out the best way to do so. i'm hoping they either clarify that they meant that first members are getting it ... first (as it has always been) and the wording was just bad, or they roll back on that stipulation and just leave it the way it was.

[bookwormbynight]

that sounds like misa is raping light and we're making fun of him for not pleasuring his abuser tbh

Oop I've reached a level I think.

I'm going to answer in good faith, although admittedly I'm fairly wary because my friends (REAL PEOPLE) have gotten really serious hate (SOMETHING THAT AFFECTS THE EMOTIONAL WELLBEING OF REAL PEOPLE) from anons once we've gotten into this territory. But the topic is important and should be treated with actual gravity for at least a minute.

Serious, real life bullshit:

Yes, rape and abuse are serious issues and real survivors of that deserve all of the empathy and respect they can get. I myself have been in incredibly toxic situations (both parental and romantic) that have fucked with my boundaries, sense of self-worth, and perception of reality. And rape - especially coercive rape - is a crime that goes dismissed and unpunished way, way, way too often. This is plain fact and I will fight with people over it.

However.

We're all adults here, correct? My blog is a page intended for 18+ users who are generally in the same circle of the fandom as I am, meaning, in broad terms, that they ARE aware of the social issues and nuances and general things about consent and morality. And with this assumption in mind, that we all understand that this is FUCKED in real life, we're enjoying a show in which we understand that the two main characters are a genocidal serial killer and a selfish man who has no qualms with literal torture in order to get his way. Death Note is not a story intended to be enjoyed for its moral character! It is a story where we watch terrible people be assholes and monsters and its fucking entertaining!

The acceptance (not condoning) of murder and torture as themes are inherent within the fabric of the fandom itself - as is Light's canon onscreen abuse of Misa and Misa's literal stalking and jealous threats of murder that would legitimately victimize Light if he was a real person. (Quick reminder that he is not.) Do not treat real people like this!! Just as you shouldn't treat real serial killers like your pathetic meow meow babygirl!!!

If rape in this fandom is a step too far for you, I can't blame you, everyone has their triggers and boundaries (the amount of horror movies I've had to walk out on because of pet death triggering memories of an incredibly traumatic event for me is more than zero), but you would be better off blocking me and moving on with your day than attempting to start some sort of ethical debate with me about the morality of joking about a mutually abusive couple from source material that is entirely fictional. Everyone needs to know, the block button is not a bad thing! It is a useful tool for disengaging! If you don't want to go that far, I am absolutely open to suggestions for trigger tags I should put on my posts that you can block. I myself have tags that I've blocked, which keep my bubble safe from some topics that my friends enjoy.

Take care of yourself and others out there.

Unserious response:

I'm not making fun of Light for not pleasuring his abuser, I'm making fun of him for being really bad at being in the closet (relatable), being a misogynist (icky), and staying in an abusive heterosexual relationship he hates when he canonically has zero qualms with just killing her and no longer has an obstacle stopping him (plothole).

[jakowskis]

torchwood fanfic resources

so i'm a chronic livejournal archaeologist, and fixating on 2000s media is particularly fun for me because it means i get to go digging on lj / dw / old fanfic forums. below you'll find some of the excavations from my torchwood fixation (give it up for month 6!) it's pretty much got every comm i've ever stumbled upon and found useful, or thought others would find useful. it's largely fanfic-oriented, though there's some more generalized comms, too. i hope you guys enjoy!

i was originally going to include a link to my reclist on this post as well, but it's still a wip, so i'll just post that separately in the future.

general disclaimer: most of the content here is from 2006-2013 or so. period-typical attitudes may pop up in places. i'm not sure if most modern tw fans have witnessed the original fandom at all, but i felt a need to say this anyway, because i've seen some icky stuff. i've warned for anything notable. gwen bashing in particular may unfortunately pop up in some of these comms, especially in the comments, so tread carefully.

if you're new to probing through old lj comms, remember to always have the wayback machine on hand, because you're going to run into a lot of purged accounts and seemingly lost fics, but sometimes you get lucky and something's been archived :)

as of the date i'm posting this, all of these comms are still accessible, but if you're from the future and some have been deleted, again, go ahead and give the wayback machine a try. additionally, livejournal has a system that includes 'cross-posting' in which, if authors choose to (and the majority of them do, to get their fics more visibility), fics get posted to multiple comms at once. so chances are, even if one comm gets deleted, the contents will survive through other comms. kind of like how reblogs continue to exist even when the original blog is deleted.

finally, ctrl + f is your best friend if you have a specific ship/character/trope you're invested in, especially in comms with less than ideal tagging systems. if a comm does have a substantial tagging system, you can find all of its tags by adding '/tags' the end of the urls i've provided.

ok... let's begin :-)

assorted livejournal communities

✎ torch-wood: this is essentially a torchwood subreddit. it started before the show even aired, and one of the highlights of it is episode reaction posts (easily accessible on the right side of the lj) that document how everyone immediately reacted to the eps, which is pretty damn cool, fandom-history wise. only thing i should mention is there's quite a lot of gwen and owen bashing in the comments of some of those reaction posts, so just be wary of that if you love those two like i do, 'cuz it's a bit of a bummer.

✎ torchwood-three: this comm is an extremely cool then-daily newsletter (that still updates sometimes?!) that compiled as much fan-content as it could find into cleanly organized lists. the posts made immediately after new episodes aired contain reactions, discussions, meta, theories, new fic, fanmixes, just about everything. very very cool to go back and see the way the fandom was thinking as the show was airing and as they were getting to know the characters. here's a direct link to all posts made in late 2006, during the airing of s1.

✎ torchwood-fic: exactly what it says on the tin. desktop layout is easy to navigate, tags are all there!

✎ torchwood-fic's profile page also features a list of affiliated accounts that's pretty handy. it's worth taking a peek at, in case i've excluded anything in this post that you might be interested in.

✎ twgenrefinders: handy dandy comm where people would ask for fics of a certain variety & be treated with reclists, or hyper-specific fics... pretty cool stuff, ive got several threads bookmarked to sort through the links later. ofc, please note that some of the things people asked for might be stinky. particularly i've seen a lot of ppl requesting gwen bashing fics :/

✎ twstoryfinder: cousin to the above comm; here, people would ask for a very specific fic they'd lost. it's kind of fun to find fics through because you get someone describing memorable scenes + hyping it up, so it's different than just a standard summary. this one still gets posted on, too, which is crazyyy.

✎ tw-unpaired: for gen fics! no romance allowed! there's some good character studies + friendship fics in there. stuff's tagged by character + authors are even tagged, in case you find one whose writing you particularly enjoy. this is v useful for when someone's main journal has been deleted.

✎ torchwood-decaf: a comm where janto is BANNED. nah i'm kidding, it's not anti-janto, it was just made because janto is so huge that it overshadows everything else. pretty smart, tbh; wading through the sheer mass of janto content can be tiresome.

✎ jack-in-cuffs: for dark tw fic, or uber smutty tw fic. as a fan of dark!fic, there's some goodies in here, but of course it's not everyone's cup of tea. most of the writers included warnings, but if you go a little further back, some people weren't as courteous; navigate with caution.

✎ jack-owen: for fic featuring our captain and his (second favorite) doctor. i know this pairing's kinda divisive nowadays, but i enjoy it a lot. the comm's got a dismal tagging system and, ngl, i don't truly like any of the fics there (i'm very intrigued by jack and owen's relationship but i've never found fic that really does them justice, and i still haven't figured out how to write them myself) - but i'll include it anyway.

✎ odetojoi: for fic featuring owen in the middle of a janto sandwich, for those of us who are allergic to women (/sarcasm). there's an oddly impressive supply of fics of the three of them, and a good chunk of them can be found in this comm. (everytime i see this comm i think of a certain abbreviation found in p/rnogr/phy... but i digress)

✎ halfwee-and-tea: for ianto x owen fic. haven't gone through this one much, truthfully. i hate when comms have no tagging systems agh.

✎ owenharper-fans: a comm for the saddest undeadest bisexualest doctor around. also features a few burn appreciation posts, which is nice to see pre-pac rim era. mostly just features a shit ton of owen fic, particularly owen x ianto fic. mostly sufficiently tagged. if you need me once i post this, btw, i will be balls deep in this comm.

✎ the pro-owen alliance: another owen-focused comm - i think this one was made directly in response to owen bashing. haven't combed through this one much but it's got a fair amount of fics.

✎ house-of-cooper: a gwen comm! made in response to gwen bashing. haven't gone through it, but i'm glad it exists.

✎ torchwoodcoffee: ianto comm! this one's hugeee. the majority of it's janto, but the pairings aren't tagged, which is really frustrating. about 6k fics on there, though! just untagged. fff.

✎ tw-femficfest: a comm for fic about any and all of the torchwood ladies. tagging's cleanly done & there's some handy fic round ups, too.

✎ tw-femslash: yuri!!! wahoo!!! a comm for f/f tw ships. there's quite a lot of fic on here, but unfortunately there's no tagging whatsoever. sigh.

✎ tw-classic: a comm for 'all things series one and two of torchwood'. was made after s3 and was popular around s4 out of nostalgia for the golden age <3 good amount of fic, discussions, etc.

✎ torchwood-house: this comm is, like, letterboxd, but for torchwood fanfic. basically a group of individuals who thought of themselves as having Good Taste would read Good Fic and then go in this comm and write a post about why they recommend it. it's well-made, easy to scroll through, and sells the fics v well, and it kinda gets you more excited to read them when you get to see someone hype them up with Fancy Words. it's like a little torchwood yaoi bookclub. we're eating quiche

✎ tw100: a drabble challenge; this thing's full of 100 word drabbles. ngl i hate drabbles but i'm throwing it in here anyway

✎ touchyerwood: i love kink memes... i love kink memes less when my favorite character/pairing is unpopular. the pac rim kink meme's been a blessing bc i'm a basic ass newmann - the torchwood kink meme? not so much. it's got a fair amount of shit, though, so maybe someone else will appreciate it. this one isn't the original, that one's been wiped off the internet, to my chagrin. keep in mind before digging that people in kink memes are horny & gross. that's your warning.

✎ reel-torchwood: for any and all movie aus... ok i have a bone to pick with this comm. i'm a big movie nerd, i love film, i've seen dozens of films i've thought would make good aus - i combed through this and there is not a SINGLE fic in there that piqued my interest. NOTHING. needless to say my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. i'm sure my experiences aren't universal though.

✎ torchwoodslash: ah, remember when we called it slash? gee whiz. i'm not big on this comm, it's not very user friendly + there's like no tags whatsoever so it's extremely hard to navigate. enter at your own risk & good luck, lol.

✎ rounds-of-kink: this isn't a torchwood-exclusive comm, but it's got a sizeable torchwood tag, which can be found here. pretty organized tagging system; makes me happy.

✎ tw-declassified: this comm was mainly used for running a 'torchwood bingo', which, i've been in other fandoms that do episode bingos and it's usually cute... this one confused me a little so i didn't bother peeking around too much, but still a cool little bit of fandom history.

✎ writerinadrawer: this was an annual torchwood writer's challenge that ran for four years... it's kinda hard to navigate but it does have some fic in it so i'm putting it here.

✎ dmarley-recs: a recs journal someone ran for compiling torchwood fic; it's got a l o t of recs on there, largely jack/ianto.

ok and straying from lj briefly for two other places to find fic...

✎ kink_bingo: this is a dreamwidth comm, and it's not torchwood-exclusive, so i've linked straight to the torchwood tag. this comm has a livejournal equivalent, but for some reason the tw tag is pretty barren on that one? not sure why. but on dw it's got a fair amount. the tagging system is rough, it tags fandom and kink but not pairing, which is irritating, and every post is hidden under a cut AND makes you go through a discretion barrier every single time (but probably only if you don't have an account? i'm not logged in) which makes navigation a pain. but i dunno, more smut, if you want it.

✎ whofic.com: this site is for doctor who fic, but it's got a very substantial amount of torchwood fic. i do not, however, like the formatting at all. i'm being overly nice; i HATE the formatting. it's very reminiscent of fanfic dot net but, like, worse. it reminds me of adultfanfiction dot org which was a NIGHTMARE to use. but! there is torchwood fic there so it's going in here.

aaaand there we go! that's all i have. i hope these prove handy! enjoy :D

[antianakin]

Personally, I believe that a lot of the anti-Jedi arguments are made because of certain EU works that painted the Jedi in a negative light. The Republic Commando novels, Knights of the Old Republic, the Legions of Lettow, Galidraan, etc.

I think having a lot of Jedi critical media in the EU/Legends has certainly helped encourage a lot of anti-Jedi and Jedi critical mindsets in fandom and fanned the flame of the idea that Lucas INTENDED the story to be Jedi critical. Which is unfortunate. But in fairness, those things got written as Jedi critical because those people already felt that way about the Prequels Jedi and their feelings leaked into the things they ended up creating. And if THEY felt that way, then many other fans likely did at the time already, too. It's an immensely popular feeling and interpretation of the source material and was even more so back when most of these things were being released. The anti-Jedi sentiment definitely came first, but the EU media that got released post-Prequels absolutely helped keep it alive to this day.

Which is WHY we need more pro Jedi content out there to help combat this stuff. It's why it's so frustrating that even in things like Rebels or the Cal Kestis games, which are generally fairly positive about the Jedi, there's STILL moments that push the idea that the Jedi were arrogant, the Jedi were old-fashioned and out of touch, the Jedi didn't understand love or relationships, the Jedi rushed into war, etc. Even in High Republic novels, which are set over 200 years before the Prequels happened, there's elements of this sentiment, particularly in Stellan Gios's storyline. I've seen several pro Jedi bloggers discussing recent novels or shows that specifically were critical of Mace Windu and they all have to convince themselves that the authors were totally just making the main character an unreliable narrator in order to enjoy the story at all, even though most of us are perfectly aware that that's not what's happening and it CERTAINLY wasn't the author's actual intended message. We pro Jedi fans have to literally LIE TO OURSELVES about the media coming out in order to enjoy it because Jedi critical stuff is so pervasive that it's impossible to avoid.

The only thing that's come out recently that I have seen that I felt like was genuinely pro Jedi was the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, and even that had a moment that was slightly questionable. It's dispiriting, it's sad, it's disappointing. Maybe one day some of the more pro Jedi fans will actually manage to end up writing things for Star Wars and we'll see the franchise start to turn a different direction. Until then, I'm just going to go into everything at least a little wary.

[metanarrates]

i have a lot of mixed feelings regarding trans headcanons in orv, or in general in fandom spaces because of how often its taking transmisogynistic jokes and bending them to actually have a cool and awesome meaning instead of just reading fiction with transgender characters. how do you feel about this as an everyone in orv is transfem poster (not accusatory tone i am genuinely wondering your take on this)

I think it's complicated because i Do agree that most trans headcanons in fandom are rooted in transphobic ideas, especially when it comes to transfem characters. I actually personally wouldn't trust most people who headcanon characters as trans unless they're able to point out when something in the text is transmisogynistic. and orv does have transmisogynistic stuff in it. the whole joke with nirvana and the entire scene with the pink kids is based around transfems being predators and men in disguise. I really don't want to hang around other orv fans unless they're able to point that out. (also, i would Definitely not trust anyone who refers to those characters as trans icons or whatever.)

I'll also fully admit that I don't remember the revolutionary arc all that well. at the time when I first read it, I just simply assumed that jang hayoung was meant to be a trans woman, and any issues kim dokja had with recognizing her gender was interesting because of how it tied into the metafictional elements about how characters can change beyond a reader's perception. from my recollection, and from the readings of other people in my life who have read the novel, it seemed canon that she was intentionally transfem. similarly, I felt like the plot point of "yoo joonghyuk has a female alter ego" was taken pretty seriously, rather than being a meanspirited joke. if I'm not remembering that right, though, please let me know.

orv in general has a problem in depictions of lgbt people. there's the abovementioned transmisogyny with nirvana and the pink kids, and there's also the undeniable fact that "kim dokja and yoo joonghyuk are gay but haha Not Actually" is leaned on a little bit too much as a joke. I have a similarly complicated relationship to the idea of shipping them for that reason - I think their relationship is meaningful and rich, but I really dislike that the fandom seems to just take that joke as an uncritical BL trope, rather than discussing how it's sometimes a bit homophobic. again, I don't trust joongdok shippers who aren't able to discuss this.

at the same time, though, I do think that if you're aware of the problems in the text, it's possible to construct a lot of rich meaning out of applying queer lenses to the text. there's a lot to dig into regarding how the story depicts gender, for example, and how it depicts transcendence and self-actualization. you can't credit the authors here - like I said, their writing has several issues with lgbt people. but as long as you aren't advertising the story as Queer Fiction, I find that it's extremely valuable to discuss how a trans reading might cast an interesting light onto a character. and on a more personal level, I think having these sorts of open discussions about both the problems and merits of trans readings, as well as the issues present in a text, do tend to make a lot of trans people feel more welcome in fan spaces. both are necessary for making a story and space that may be hostile towards them feel more welcoming.

yes, I do agree that it would probably be better to read fiction with better trans characters. those stories are out there! this is also why I am wary to praise singshong for jang hayoung's character - I don't think orv exactly Deserves a reputation as a trans inclusive story, especially when there's a lot more of those that are much better at it out there.

but at the end of the day, there are going to be trans people who do like orv, all the same. I'm one of them, though I will say upfront that I am tme and therefore much less affected by the story's problems. my fiancee is transfem and she likes it. a lot of my mutuals who like orv are trans. I don't think it's such a bad thing that we've constructed these community readings in a work we already liked for its other merits. we're going to be here anyway. as long as we do our best to be respectful and point out problems as they arise, I think it's a good thing that we're having these sorts of discussions.

[damnfandomproblems]

Posting a compilation of responses in regards to Fandom Problem #5414:

Anon:

"Christians are the biggest problem in fandom" not the literal predators who join to prey on minors??????? I might be misunderstanding this, but this feels odd: 1. This is a personal thing, but I'm wary of people who bring up predators unprompted when the original conversation had nothing to do with it. These people tend to not know what they're saying and are often just repeating things they heard without first hand experience. 2. I could be wrong, but there aren't more predators in fandom spaces than there are in non fandom spaces. I've heard some boy and girl scout places and church's had some problems, and I've used a few non fandom apps and apps that had non fandom spaces (had issues too) that had problems because of how the apps worked. Abusers go where they have easy access to their preferred victims and can get away with it. It's not an issue found more often in fandoms. The ones you hear about in fandoms are often false alarms or the minority. Most adults want nothing to do with kids anymore because a lot of kids don't know how to behave. 3. I hope this person isn't inherently wary of adults in fandoms. Fandoms are often mostly adults. And just cause a work features a younger cast it doesn't mean it's not for adults. And even if it is, they most likely joined simply cause they like the thing. I know there are predators in fandom spaces, but I don't think it's as big an issue as this person is seemingly making it out to be

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Anon:

@ that "I've tried to stay quiet" person but also @ anyone who says this generally: please stop censoring Christian to Xtian. My Mandarin-speaking ass reads it as a mistake for xian and I have to stop and think first, which character transliterated xian are you using and second, what the fuck are you talking about? (It's hella dumb to censor the name of a religion anyway unless you're going to censor ALL of them. Either fully commit and say *sl*m, T**ism, B*ddhism, J*d*ism, Y*z*dism, or grow up and write out the full word.)

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Anon:

Christians in fandom spaces play the victim but are super racist and homophobic freaks making others feel unsafe

[sam-reid]

it's already missing sam reid hours for me, and i was scrolling all the way through your sam tag and was shocked to find out that people were upsetti spaghetti about sam's casting in the beginning like?? i only found out about the show when the first ep aired so i missed most of the early histrionics

and then i looked through the notes of your earlier posts. and i know it's partially because 75% of sam's portrayal is body language and you cant get that through stills and 2 second clips but they were really saying this man is too ugly to play lestat 😭😭

2 years later and how does it feel for them to be booboo the fool. they didn't know it (samstat) was a gift.

oh yeah, fandom at the time was so mean about the casting in general. sam was apparently too old and not attractive enough(??? clearly they need their eyes checking, and he's only 3 years older than me 😭), and the stuff that i saw people say about jacob in particular was downright vile and racist and doesn't bear repeating.

i'd been keeping my eye out for casting as soon as i heard the show was greenlit, and when i found out about sam, i'll admit i was a little bit wary (when your lifelong favourite literary character is finally coming to the small screen, you're gonna be a bit nervous lmao) but i kept an open mind! because that's what people should do.

samstat is glorious. like i said before, he has a lot of book elements in him and he feels faithful to anne's creation, but i love that he's his own gorgeous creature. and in an age where a lot of books with huge passionate fanbases are being turned into soulless and mediocre adaptations, i'm always aware of just how lucky we got with this show.

[olderthannetfic]

Don't really have strong feelings about this, but why do so many western fandom people always equate "abuse" to immediately mean "sexual abuse"? I've read a lot of fanfics, fan theories and other stuff, and any time a character is described to have been "abused" a large part of fandom just seems to fan canon it to it mean "sexual" even with no indication to that being the case, or even there's proof to the contrary. One of those fan-canons I almost understood while reading a novel, was people claiming one of the characters had be SA'd because the character was very wary of men... until the chapter where the story just says "Yeah that character is a virgin" and then I just didn't get it anymore. The characters trauma was just a part of having been physically abused, not sexually, by slave drivers and then the characters new owners until the character managed to escape after killing them all. It wasn't super detailed but it was a quick flashback to their trauma, the story didn't shy away from clear mentions of SA and murder and gore before btw, so no censoring. Not sure, I'm just confused and wondering.

--

Frankly, in a lot of cases, id reasons.

A lot of people are just so very into their faves having that specific type of trauma background. They might not perceive it as a kink themselves, but there's a certain heavy breathing quality to the fic and theorizing.

And beyond that, probably the general cultural value that sexual abuse is worse than non-sexual. I think this is a terrible cultural value, and you can't really know how badly someone's affected without looking at a specific situation, but it's a subconscious judgment that a lot of cultures have.

[svsss-fanon-exposed]

I'm the anon! I wasn't meaning you specifically. I actually think you've been doing an amazing job at stating the facts without letting biases show one way or another. Mostly I'm referring to some tags I saw and the salty post, in addition to YEARS of seeing people on twitter acting snobbish and like the western fandom (in particular after the 7s novels came out) are lesser, ignorant, or a plague. Might've been a bit of projection on my part but the aforementioned notes and comments from others in your posts reminded me of those attitudes (or how if unchecked they could become as rancid). My bad that I didn't clarify specifically what I meant. I love your posts and that's why I would hate to see them be used by bad faith actors to delegitimize "western" voices. Yes, we need to be humble and come from a place of being open to learning and not imposing our pov, but it's also unfair when we're being subject to higher standards and scrutiny that other non-english speaking parts of the fandom are.

Ahh I see!

Even though SVSSS is a Chinese novel written primarily for Chinese readers, the fandom itself is massively diverse. All sorts of different people from everywhere in the world have found things they enjoy about this book, and it means a lot to them— and I think that’s neat.

No one should be made to feel like they have no place in the fandom, or aren’t allowed to create fanworks. No matter where you come from, what your background is, there’s no reason you can’t be an equal part of the fandom — and yes, this also includes western fandom.

One other thing: there is nothing wrong with ignorance itself either. Everyone is ignorant of everything until they learn. If western fandom is ignorant, but they are trying to learn things, then what good is beating people down going to do? Only take any joy out of learning, only creating bitterness.

Western fandom is still SVSSS fandom, still people who enjoy this book.

It’s important to remember this is for fun. All of this, all fan creations and fandom in general is because a bunch of people from all sorts of backgrounds all liked one novel. As a Chinese person, I really love that people actually care to learn about Chinese culture through things like this. To see people genuinely interested in a positive way, it’s really nice!! It’s refreshing, and while my own life experiences make me quite wary of westernization, it also gives me an appreciation for this genuine interest, and this embracing of learning. I’ve seen much more instances of western fandom actually wanting to learn and being interested and curious than being willfully ignorant.

Everyone has a place in fandom, no matter if Western, Chinese, or anyone else. There’s nothing good that will come of gatekeeping people’s enjoyment of a book or participation in fandom.