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pumpkinpaix · 3 years

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this is gonna sound so harsh but im legit tired of chinese diaspora people who think that bc they are of chinese descent and they have pleco they can act like voices of authority in the fandom. if modao is the 1st chinese book you have read pieces of with a dictionary, if you have never interacted with the actual chinese fandom, you are not part of the intended audience and your biased opinion is not the One And Only Valid Truth 🍵

genuinely cannot tell if you’re trying to shade me here anon lmao 😂

this got long and rambly (of course) asldkjfslj. i would love to make the excuse that it’s bc i’ve got a migraine and had No Sleep but. let’s be real i’m always like this.

ok i’ll start with where i agree: i don’t think anyone has the right to act like an ultimate voice of authority in fandom. i think different people with different backgrounds have varying realms of expertise and they should be respected when they share that knowledge, but that the instant someone starts to use that kind of power as a weapon against people they personally don’t like, i think they forfeit that privilege. no one has the one and only valid truth about a piece of media because that’s fundamentally impossible. i have definitely interacted with diaspo who behave like their heritage gives them some kind of incontrovertible authority over everyone else, and they’re fucking insufferable and often rather cruel, even/especially towards other diaspo. meet me in the denny’s parking lot and fight me for real. i’ll kick ur ass. >:c

however, I also think it’s true that there’s a lot of dismissal of heritage fans in this fandom, if that makes sense, from both sides of the equation: non-Chinese fans ignore our cultural hangups because they’re inconvenient, and non-diaspora disdain us for being not Chinese enough. that puts a lot of us in a position of feeling disrespected just for being who we are, or having our very real knowledge and unique experience as individuals devalued because of it.

regardless of my identity, I have formally studied a lot of things: literary translation, media analysis, the politics of oppression, film critique, religious studies, philosophy, four foreign languages etc. and that is all knowledge that I had to work for, and work hard for. I do have a certain measure of authority on all of these subjects over a layperson (to varying degrees), and there are going to be times when i will be more correct than someone who disagrees with me -- but I’ve also absolutely experienced people talking over that specialized knowledge because of who I am, which is, to be clear. extremely infuriating and hurtful. like, i have cried so much about it in the last 18 months. people see my racial and cultural identity before they see anything else, which is understandable to a degree, but upsetting when it becomes the basis for how my work is judged, whether positive or negative. i don’t want you to trust me blindly because i’m abc. I want to you to trust me because you have examined my work critically and judged it to be trustworthy!

so i guess this is getting into the strongly disagree part of the answer: i’ve been speaking a lot with other diaspora fans lately, and it’s been simultaneously hugely relieving and also really saddening. relieving because oh thank god someone else Gets It, and saddening because pretty much all of us, no matter what kind of diaspo we are (north american, european, SEA, taiwanese etc), we’ve all experienced a lot of pressure in this fandom, from non-Chinese, Chinese, and other diaspora fans alike. we’re all acutely aware that we are not modao’s intended audience because being diaspora vs being “from the mainland” or whatever, are actually quite different things, but modao still feels close to home. even if it was not written FOR us it is still familiar to us.

and, because so many of us are multilingual and multicultural, we end up being the bridge between the “actual” chinese fandom and the english-speaking fandom, which is largely made up of non-chinese. (sidenote: I hate it when people say things about being “actually” any identity because it’s almost always for the exact reason you brought up: to use heritage as street cred. it’s like damn, being “actually” chinese doesn’t make ur opinions any less rank. sure you might be “actually” chinese, but do you have basic reading comprehension and literary criticism skills? no? ok then sit your ass back down) many of us are most comfortable in english! so we produce our content in english! but we also DO often have a somewhat privileged access to the culture that underlies mdzs and can explain it in a language that other non-Chinese fans can understand. so it’s not surprising that people flock to us for answers to their cultural questions. and like. if we think we know the answer, it’s natural for us to try and help. this is fandom! we’re here to have fun and find community! and it is definitely a little bit nice to have my culture treated as something desirable for once instead of just like. a weird exotic curiosity that no one really cares too deeply about. and, since a lot of us are able to do things that non-Chinese fans can’t (research in chinese, for example. ask family members for help and more information etc.) we end up just having more information to share.

I think this sometimes results in a tendency for fandom at large to put heritage/diaspo fans on pedestals and tout them as authorities (or use our conflicting viewpoints as ammunition in fandom drama) when the diaspo in question have repeatedly stated that they should not be taken as authorities on something -- and then, once you reach critical mass, your reputation starts to precede you, and I think there’s a lot of misconceptions of how a lot of diaspo act in this fandom simply because of that phenomenon. most of us know that we’re not ultimate arbiters of some kind of cultural gateway, and it can be very tiring both to be treated as such when we insist we are not, and then punished by other people who assume that we acted like we were.

i don’t think there’s a benefit in trying to keep en fandom and cn fandom totally separate, and I also think it’s unfair to consider the cn fandom the “real” fandom. i think that way lies deeper misunderstandings, gatekeeping, etc. i think we can definitely acknowledge the differences between them, but i think trying to make meaningful connections between fandom circles is really valuable! i don’t think i’ve ever made it a secret that modao is my first cmedia fandom? so it’s also the first time i’ve had reason to interact with chinese fandom, which has been super enlightening and interesting! i’ve made some super cool friends and learned a lot about how fandom works in china, how it’s similar and how it differs from the fandom i’m familiar with.

and then, kind of circling back around, there’s also a bit of a sense like, okay, so if diaspo don’t belong in the CN fandom, but we can’t talk about our own culture with some degree of confidence in EN fandom, then like..... where do we go...? if we see EN fandom doing something that contradicts our cultural knowledge, do we just. not say anything? do we not count unless we’ve already ingratiated ourselves to CN fandom? that’s probably where the core of my strong disagreement comes from, because criticism of diaspora fans as like, acting above their station so to speak, feels just like a tired continuation of the same shit we’ve had to deal with for our whole lives, being told we’re not good enough for anywhere and that we should just be quiet and keep our heads down and get over it. that our opinions, despite coming from a unique perspective with a unique relationship to the subject in question, are less valid or real than “actual” chinese people, you know? and sometimes i see that and im like lmfao just sneer at me for being jook-sing and leave then if you’re so eager to think of me as lesser.

so yeah, basically im of a few minds: true! diaspora fans don’t get to throw their weight around just because they’re diaspo. they don’t get carte blanche to act like bullies or try to shape the fandom to their own personal liking and crusade against people who disagree with them. they don’t get to pretend their heritage makes them superior to everyone else, and i think western diaspora especially need to be careful when asserting any kind of moral lens over the text to acknowledge that we have our own biases to interrogate. i am not immune.meme etc. on the other hand, this vein of criticism tends to put all diaspo in a bit of a double-bind, and also, however unintentionally, plays into the general, continuous trend of dismissing diaspora for being diaspora, and i’m really not about that. i don’t think that’s the motivation behind opinions like this, but i do think that when the basis for the argument hinges on the idea that diaspora are not “real” chinese, no matter how much I too have beef with certain diaspora fans, the argument needs to be revisited.

(ko-fi)

🍵 ((un)popular) opinions meme

#Anonymous #asks and replies #cyan gets too deep in the weeds #race #chinese diaspora #statistically average #mine #mymeta #mdzs #ummmmm #politics #??#opinions meme #ask meme

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rpbetter · 3 years

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Raven used to be my friend but I had to cut ties recently due to feeling like walking on eggshells everytime we spoke and they never apologized to me for when I brought up something that they did upset me. I really miss them but I don't want to deal with the if it's not about me I don't care attitude.

Pt 2 of Ravens old friend. They reblogged anti fandom posts on their resource blog and I happened to be in that fandom and it hurt. A resource blog shouldn't be doing that.

Hey, Anon! I wanted to post this before I released one of my drafts, as that draft happens to be something I do not want you to misconstrue being about you. Thought about it after the fact and honestly, felt a bit ill over potentially making you think any such thing! The post is about how pushy people can be about what they like (usually as regards fandom) that you don't, and how that can be a contributing factor toward people saying hateful things about fandom topics. It was the quickest of the finished drafts sitting around to edit, so it was being queued, that's all! I do not think you were being pushy about your likes to "deserve" this, and frankly, even if you had? One's meme/resource/help blog is not the venue for shitting on your friends.

Okay, just wanted to clarify, everyone is stressed and feeling judged enough, I don't want to inadvertently contribute to that with any drafted posts!

I'm really sorry this happened, Anon. I don't mean that in a passing, flippant way that looks good on my blog. Not that I mean anything that way lol but I frequently have had "friends" in the past who felt like it was totally fine to reblog, even make original posts, like what you're talking about. Anti-fandom, anti my part of the fandom, my muses, my takes, and so on. Really hurtful things when we'd spoken in DMs about how upsetting it was, then they go and throw full support behind it in front of me.

It would be irritating with a grain of betrayal if it was a friend of a shorter time, or a mutual one doesn't really interact with OOC, but with a closer or longtime friend, it's actively hurtful. It feels like they looked you right in the face, said they do not give a single shit about either what is important to you or sparing your feelings, and went on. Yeah, it's just fiction, but the way we treat each other over fiction is real.

Given the behaviors displayed openly, it's not a shock you received no apology. Whether you got an apology or not, though, good on you for trying to bring it up to them! It's hard to do that with friends, even ones you're more certain won't blow up at you for it. I think if we could all be a little more (calmly, nicely, reasonably) open with each other like this, we could avoid problems that result from things festering and piling up, but it's hard to take that step...and I'm sorry this was your reward for it.

Just as blogs that are not one's RP or personal blogs shouldn't be openly judging and hating fandoms like that, friends shouldn't leave you feeling like you're walking on eggshells.

And, I'm going to say something unpopular here - sometimes, we all are capable of doing that to people we care about. Bad moments in lives combine, there are misunderstandings, sensitive topics, and things we can't entirely control otherwise. I don't like this idea tumblr has that anything other than a perfect, sweet, forever-cheery relationship is the actual height of abuse, so I want to be clear on that because it's just trivializing and blinding people to the possibility of toxic and abusive interactions. When you think "toxic" means "they don't like x, I love x, we don't talk about it," you're not aware of legitimate signs like being too worried to be yourself around them.

It's when this is the typical, established behavior that it's a problem. It's when there's never any meaningful acknowledgment, apology, or attempt at changing that it's a problem. If you constantly feel like you have to be worried about what a friend is going to say or do, it's not a friendship you need to be in, and I'm glad you recognized that and got out of it!

But there's also the idea that this is easy because it's the right and logical choice. It is not, and it's often made even harder because admitting to other friends that you miss the good times with the former one is all but impossible. They're often only reacting out of concern for you, the fear that if you miss this person they watched hurt you, you'll go back to that friendship, but it effectively shuts down a more healthy way of dealing with your feelings by sharing them with better friends who could support you.

So, Anon, it's also fully alright and normal to miss Raven! They were a longtime friend, and the thing about these kinds of friendships, these kinds of relationships in general, is that we seem to fail to realize that if things were straight awful from day one, we'd not have been friends. Of course, there are memories! Of course, you have the impulse to send them a link or that meme you know is their humor! It doesn't stop for a long time, either. That doesn't mean you're fucked up for it, it's something to be ashamed of, or that you're going to drop your better judgment and go send Raven a message immediately and rekindle that friendship. It's okay!

This right here: "I don't want to deal with the if it's not about me I don't care attitude." This is the place you should be in, and I congratulate you on being there because it takes a lot of shit heaped on someone by a friend to get there. Just keep remembering the good things you experienced with them, but always with this in mind, that their end of the friendship appears to have been predicated upon what they were getting out of it only.

Case in point, like everything they displayed to the whole damn RPC that encountered them these last few months, their personal interest and viewpoint was of greater importance to them with that anti-fandom post than a friend was.

I will say, it can be a delicate thing having this blog. I have opinions and takes that most of my friends share, what's important to me tends to run in the same lines as what is important to them, that's the basis of a lot of our friendship. We still disagree! We still have different interests, fandoms, favorite characters, songs, and experiences. Sometimes, I have to address a problem that they could misconstrue, in a totally normal and reasonable way, because while they're not doing whatever in a bad way, others are. I've made a point, more than once, to contact them and talk about it a little preemptively, and that's not just to keep up friendships, it also allows for extra insight from them and better phrasing from me so that other people I don't know won't take it the wrong way either.

Yes, I have some immutable, incredibly hard lines lol I think we all know what most of them are now, but expressing my purely personal opinion on something like fandom is not more important on this blog than anything else. I may genuinely feel like there is diseased connective tissue of disappointing behavior stemming from an origin point in a popular fandom, I'm not going to go off about it on this blog. It's inappropriate as hell, going to make people feel isolated and targeted whether they're my friends or not. Being passionately displeased about that does not have place here, and that's the kind of thing you have to consider, reconsider, force yourself to shut up about when you've got a blog that isn't for RP or a personal, you know?

I don't think everyone is cut out for doing that, and no one is cut out for doing it without ever making a mistake in judgment. Some people really should simply realize that there is nothing wrong with not being in the place in their lives or mental health to put that much effort into being fair or being quiet and concentrating only on memes. If you're one of those people, random reader? I'm serious, it's okay if you can't do it! It's not shameful, I'm also a deeply flawed human being, the quietest, politest, helpful meme blog out there is also run by a flawed human, they're just at a different place with themselves than you are. And. That's. Okay. Just don't hurt other people (and yourself, ultimately) by forcing it, please.

I suppose, knowing that it wasn't important enough to chill and reevaluate for the sake of a friend is some consolation lol what one won't do for friends definitely won't be done for random muns deemed problematic. So, maybe that'll make some other people out there feel a little better, and I thank you for sharing...as much as I wish you had nothing of this experience to share. I know it's an unpleasant one to have had, and I hope you have much better friends!

I promise you that I'll never post anything here that is viciously against any particular fandom or any such thing, and that if you feel like I've been unfair about anything at all, I welcome polite messages as a way of discussing it so we can all be clear and/or learn from each other. I know, I openly admit, it's kind of a draw of the blog, that I have a...um, tone of salt about things lol and sometimes, I don't phrase things the way they deserved. So, it's always okay to drop in for clarification or counterpoint, so long as it isn't being done with a shitty attitude that incites hostilities. Let's do have a legitimate conversation about it instead of hurt feelings!

Thanks again, Anon!

#vespertine #answered #anonymous #fandom #toxic friendships #drama cw

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ourbrokeninsanity · 5 years

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Hulk/Reader SFW and NSFW Headcanons

Hulk is my bae. I spend too much time thinking about this so decided to share. No idea if these are any good or if anyone other than me even wants this but *shrugs*

SFW aka Hulk is a gift

Hulk is a tactile guy. If you’re ok with it, he tends to touch you a lot - a hand on your shoulder, an affectionate back pat, hugs, have you sitting in his lap or on his shoulder like an pirate’s parrot. It’s a way for him to show you affection, but also he just enjoys non-harmful touching - it’s a reminder to you but mostly himself that he can, in fact, touch people without hurting them. If you reciprocate, he’s over the moon.

So, yeah, you’re probably going to spend a lot of time in his arms. Which is pretty great, as Hulk is warm and surprisingly cosy.

Dates tend to be non-traditional - very little going out to the movies or to a restaurant here, people just don’t react well and everything is tense and no fun. You don’t mind much, the two of you find other ways to have fun. Movie nights at home in comfy clothes with loads of snacks - what could be better? Other date ideas include: playing pranks on the other Avengers/Smashers, helping him train (ie Hulk showing off his strength for you), cooking together (Hulk is fond of spicy food - he is technically from New Mexico after all, and he is always happy to eat the evidence of botched recipes. Also he is the best at kneading bread. If a recipe calls for an ingredient to be smashed he is on it, which becomes an inside joke.)

Hulk isn’t the most eloquent guy, but he’s serious about relationship negotiation. Hulk is very aware of just how much bigger and stronger he is compared to you and how the outside world would view your relationship - he needs to know that he isn’t pushing your boundaries or making you uncomfortable. If you’re willing to initiate these conversations or help him clarify his viewpoint he’s grateful - he appreciates that you understand how important this is to him.

He is protective, sometimes very protective. He’ll let you fight your own battles but he is always going to be watching, ready to wade in if he has to/you ask him to. Frankly, anyone who messes with you is on his ‘to be smashed’ list. If someone, anyone, actually hurts you (especially physically - he has the same reaction to emotional hurt but is aware that smashing isn’t always the best response here - especially if the perpetrator is a friend or relative) then they’re getting smashed. Hard. He will then stick to your side like glue, offering affection, protection, comfort and reassurance until you bat him away. This applies whether you are a superhero yourself or not.

Hulk is super supportive. He’s great to vent to, able to offer supportive silence with affirming noises and/or increasingly ridiculous and violent smash offers depending on the subject of the ranting. You try not to do so too much, aware that Hulk has enough anger issues himself, no matter how well controlled. He supports your hobbies, even if he doesn’t understand them. He may not be the most vocal cheerleader, but you know that he supports you. Really enjoys watching you do/talk about the things you’re passionate about, he finds it really sweet. He also trusts you with his hobbies - you are the one person trusted with The Zoo (also he absolutely has a figurine of you, made after he introduced you to Glorian. It’s one of his favourites. You blush when you see it).

You will fight anybody who calls Hulk a monster or a beast. Hulk will try and pull you away, but inside he is super touched. Also, he admires your left hook - for such a small person you’re a pretty effective smasher. You also get annoyed when the other Avengers treat Hulk like smashing is all he is good at - you see a side of Hulk that not many others are aware of but you insist that it’s there to see, if people bothered.

He has quite a few nicknames for you: Tiny (no matter your size you are tiny to him, Little Smash(er), Pretty Girl/Boy/One (when he’s feeling playful or wants to see you blush).

Hulk is rather protective, and proud, of the fact that you’re his s/o. Not Banner’s, his. He cared about Betty, but she loved Bruce over Hulk, and really only loved Hulk as an extension of Bruce. You, on the other hand, care and love Hulk as his own person. That means the world to him. He repays you by seeing you as you are and loving the real you, rather than what others try to paint you as. Basically, Hulk is a literal gift and you don’t understand why the world can’t see that.

NSFW (such sin, but good sin)

I personally headcanon Hulk as demisexual. As such, you’ve been together for quite a while before sexual stuff gets broached. He just notices one day that he’s attracted to you, and is honestly a little mind-boggled; when did you become so sexy???? It takes him a little time to get used to. For a little while pretty much everything you do turns him on a little and he gets all flustered. He’s very glad that his thick green skin means that his blush isn’t very noticeable.

Hulk doesn’t really have a preference for physical characteristics on a partner. Rather adorably though, once you’re together and he starts noticing you sexually, he tends to notice people who have your traits more, simply because they remind him of you. Not that he becomes attracted to them, he just notices certain traits that match or nearly match yours.

So much negotiation. Hulk is so worried about hurting you, it takes a lot of discussion and reassurance from you before he’s ready to do much more than kiss you. For this reason, you initiate pretty much all sexy times at first. Eventually he becomes confident enough in himself and his knowledge of you (your body, your boundaries) to initiate.

Because of the huge amount of discussions, your sex life is a slow build thing, which just heightens your anticipation. Like pretty much all aspects of your relationship it’s non-traditional, based not on societal expectations but on what feels good and comfortable to you both. Because of this it is very, very good. You realise you may be spoiled and now ruined for any future sexual relationships, Hulk takes such good care of you.

You tend to be on top. It makes the size difference easier to manage, and lets Hulk relax a little. He’s not going to fall on you or accidentally crush you. You approve of anything that lets Hulk relax.

Hulk is a gentle and enthusiastic lover. He is super responsive to you and enjoys instruction. Tell him what you like, guide him, beg him and just watch him light up as he gets to it. It is quite possible that your first sexual foray started out as a make-out session where you pointed out how much you like his size (”your forearms are works of art, big guy. I could get off against that wrist.”) where you precede to do just that. Hulk has a Thing about you masturbating on him, whether that’s you fingering yourself/jacking off whist you’re sat on his lap or humping his arm/thigh.

Unless you have some shapeshifting/sizeshifting/magic of some sort, penile penetration just isn’t going to be a thing, he’s far too big. Frottage is a large part of your sexual repertoire - but as you will smugly tell anyone who asks, penetration is over-rated. Hulk does not find this at all frustrating - he’d never want to do something that would risk harming you. Also his focus is on making you feel good over making you cum/orgasm - and it’s really nice that he takes the pressure off (especially if you’re female-bodied).

The absolute king of oral (fight me on this). Hulk loves going down on you, absolutely loves it. It turns him on (loves the smell and taste of you, and the noises you make, yes, give him more) and soothes his ego - see he isn’t just a monster he is also a beast in the bedroom who can make you sound like that. Whether you’re on your back or riding his face he loves it. He will totally sling your legs over his shoulders and effortlessly hold you up as he goes down on you - oral sex + showing off his strength = win. Sexual episodes where he doesn’t go down on you at some point are pretty rare, honestly. You learn some tricks to reciprocate but Hulk honestly prefers giving over receiving. He gets of on getting you off.

Also the king of making out, once you get used to the size difference (honestly you are starting to realise you may have a size kink). Lying on him, mouths locked together, scraping your nails against his scalp as you grind down on his bulk = the best way to spend a lazy afternoon. 10/10.

His fingers are the same size of other guys dicks. Do with this information what you will.

Hulk lowkey has a praise kink. He doesn’t accept a lot of praise outside the bedroom but you notice that once you’re getting down and dirty he just soaks it up, so you keep giving it to him. Tell him how good he’s doing and he just gets even more enthusiastic.

He also likes some sensation play, which you figure out after witnessing his reaction to you wearing velvet. This leads to you incorporating different fabrics and textures in the bedroom - Hulk is pretty open to experimentation (your whole relationship has been pretty experimental really, figuring out what you both want and can give each other) as long as he doesn’t feel like an experiment and it doesn’t risk hurting you). Velvet is a favourite of his.

He enjoys bathing with you. Showers can be a little awkward as he’s so much bigger, but if you have a tub large enough he’s pretty much always down to bathe with you. He loves the warm water and skin contact. He’s very relaxed and playful in the bath. Will both splash you and wash your back. Great bath buddy.

Hulk lowkey enjoys feeling you struggle against his strength. He’s not consciously aware of this, and would likely be horrified if he was - it screams harmful dominance, monster, to him because of his experiences. You are aware of it. And enjoy it. You know him using one hand to hold to hold your hips still as he gets you off (so you don’t get carried away and hurt yourself, he justifies) and enjoying the feel of you writhing and bucking against it, is a whole world away from forcing someone down to hurt them.

#hulk #hulk x reader #avengers assemble #hulk and the agents of smash #s/o #hulk imagine #hulk headcanons #monster post #can you tell i adore hulk #let me know if you enjoy these

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tomeandflickcorner · 4 years

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Umbrella Academy Rewatch 1x09

1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08

Last episode left us with a pretty big cliffhanger, with Allison grievously injured. So how does this episode resolve that?

Before we get to that resolution, the episode gives us a flashback to 1993, before Reginald started suppressing Vanya’s powers with her medication. Back then, Vanya appeared to be a bit of a picky eater, absolutely refusing to eat her oatmeal. Can’t say I blame her, of course. I never cared for oatmeal, either. But, rather than meet her halfway and come up with an alternative nutritious breakfast that she would eat (because it’s completely okay to not like certain foods), the nannies Reginald hired to take care of the Hargreeves Siblings’ daily needs attempted to use every trick in the book to force her to eat her oatmeal. This always led to Vanya’s powers bursting out of her, resulting in the hired nannies all meeting an untimely end, much to Reginald’s disappointment. So, after losing an undetermined number of nannies, Reginald ended up constructing Grace, who the Hargreeves Siblings would eventually view as their mother. When Grace attempted to get Young Vanya to eat her oatmeal, she was sent flying across the room like all the other nannies. But, since Grace was a robot, she could simply get back to her feet and dust herself off, completely unfazed. The sight of Grace being able to readjust her head, which had been knocked 180 degrees around when she collided with the far wall, manages to scare Young Vanya into obedience, with her wordlessly eating her oatmeal as Reginald looked on in satisfaction.

We then flash forward to the present day. Harold/Leonard has brought Vanya back to his place after the incident at the cabin. He announces that they have to hurry and pack up their things, as they’re going to have to go on the run. Although, when he notices that Vanya is still in shock over what just happened, he brings her into the bathroom to clean her up, seeing as she’s still covered in Allison’s blood. As Harold/Leonard washes the blood off Vanya’s hands, he tells her that the other Hargreeves Siblings will surely view her as an enemy now and come after her to avenge Allison’s death. Vanya is still a bit shell-shocked, but she doesn’t share that viewpoint. She’s sure that, if she just explains to her brothers that it had just been an accident, then they’ll understand. Harold/Leonard, however, tells her that he’s the only one on her side, the only one who sees how special she is, and how her brothers will never understand. Which is a pretty chilling line, considering working to completely isolate someone from their friends and family is practically the first chapter in the abusive relationship handbook.

Elsewhere, the Hargreeves Brothers have brought the injured Allison back to the Umbrella Academy mansion. Which doesn’t seem like the most logical destination. Why didn’t they just bring her to the hospital? Considering Allison was losing a a lot of blood, time was clearly of the essence. I’m willing to wager that hospital we saw in the last episode was closer to Grandma Jenkins’ cottage than the mansion was. Regardless of how it doesn’t make much logical sense, they carry Allison inside, where Grace is quick to start administering first aid. Grace announces that, for Allison to survive, someone is going to have to donate some blood. Immediately, all the Hargreeves Brothers volunteer. Though Pogo informs Luther that, due to Reginald’s serum that had given him his ape body, his blood is more compatible with Pogo than to Allison. Pogo also states Klaus’ blood is likewise off the table, as his blood is too contaminated with drugs. (Question- does Pogo not realize Klaus has achieved sobriety? So doesn’t that mean his blood is clean now? Or do the chemicals from drugs remain in the blood for a longer period of time? Granted, I do see from the website for the American Red Cross that people who used intravenous drugs must wait three months before they can be allowed to donate blood, but I don’t recall any evidence that Klaus took heroin or anything like it. We only saw him popping pills.) In any event, Diego is the one who is selected to donate his blood, even though he faints at the sight of the needle. Which is rather unusual, when you think about it. The man whose entire schtick is throwing knives can’t handle needles? How’s that for irony?

A little while later, Klaus is in his room, searching for something. Ghost Ben appears and is clearly disappointed when he learns that Klaus is looking for more drugs. And he doesn’t hesitate to voice that disappointment, stating that Klaus has finally managed to achieve sobriety for the first time in a while and questions why he’d just throw it all away. To this, Klaus vents his frustrations. Yes, he managed to get sober, but what’s the point of staying that way? He hasn’t been able to make contact with Dave and his siblings still treat him like a screwup. (Perhaps Pogo turning down his offer to donate his blood for Allison hurt him more than he let on.) Klaus says that if nobody takes him seriously anyway, then he’d rather just be numb. Ghost Ben tells Klaus that he’s tired of seeing him give in to defeat and that he’s better than that. He even goes so far as to say that Dave knew he was better than that, too. But Klaus still doesn’t listen and ends up popping some pills into his mouth. Before Klaus can swallow, however, Ghost Ben punches him hard across the face, resulting in the pills flying out of his mouth. This act visibly stuns both of them. Because, as we’ve already established, Ben is a ghost. He’s not physically there, and therefore cannot make direct contact with anyone. Episode 7 even highlighted this fact by showing us that Klaus could walk right though him. So how was Ghost Ben’s fist able to connect with Klaus just now? Ghost Ben surmises that it must have been Klaus who made it possible. Does this have something to do with Klaus’ true potential that Reginald hinted at during Klaus’ out-of-body experience?

Downstairs, The Hargreeves Brothers are discussing their next move. Diego is fully ready to go after Harold/Leonard, believing that he was responsible to Allison’s injury, and that it’s imperative that they do whatever they can to save Vanya from him. Number 5, on the other hand, while he does say he’s concerned for Vanya’s safety, believes their first priority should be taking down Harold Jenkins, as the apocalypse is supposed to happen that very day. And if they can’t stop it, Vanya will die anyway, along with everyone else in the world. So Diego and Number 5 start to head out to find Harold/Leonard. Klaus, still trying to wrap his head around what had happened with him and Ghost Ben, tries to duck out. But Diego indirectly threatens him into tagging along by throwing one of his knives at him, with the knife just barely missing Klaus’ crotch.

Over at Harold/Leonard’s place, Vanya is unable to stop reliving her last terrible interaction with Allison. Trying to settle her nerves, she heads over to the sink to splash some water on her face. But when she reaches for a towel to dry off, she ends up knocking Harold/Leonard’s bag off the counter, causing Reginald’s stolen journal to slip out. When Vanya opens the journal to read it, she finds all the information Reginald had written about her. She instantly realizes that, if Harold/Leonard had that journal in his possession, it means he must have known all about her powers this the whole time. And that means he was just manipulating her from the very start. So she confronts Harold/Leonard about the matter. Harold/Leonard tries to worm his way out of it by spouting off a bunch of flowery lines, about how Reginald had been afraid of her and put her on those pills because he didn’t believe she could learn to control him, how he was the only one who believed in her and embraced her for who she really was, etc. etc. But it seems that Vanya’s trust in him has been broken. Remembering what Allison had tried to tell her before, she asks him who Harold Jenkins is. Realizing the jig is up, Harold/Leonard drops the nice guy act and, when Vanya tries to get away, he physically stops her while angrily asking her what her family ever did her her, as well as asking her who helped her get first chair in the orchestra. He asks if she really believed the spot opened up on its own, all but directly admitting that he murdered Helen to pave the way for Vanya. Naturally, Vanya is horrified by this revelation and tries even harder to get away from him. In the end, when Harold/Leonard realizes that he’s forever lost his physiological grip on Vanya, he begins deriding her, stating that perhaps Reginald had been right. Perhaps she really was too weak and pathetic to control her own powers. As you might expect, Harold/Leonard’s cruel berating leads to Vanya tapping into her powers, with her creating a whirlwind of multiple sharp objects that collides with Harold/Leonard, resulting in his death. Vanya looks coldly down at his body and walks out without even shedding a tear.

Sometime later, Diego, Klaus and Number 5 find Harold/Leonard’s body. Number 5 tries out the glass eye he’s been carrying around for all this time by inserting it into Harold/Leonard’s empty eye socket. In doing so, he confirms that this is indeed the man who was supposed to have brought about the apocalypse. So, now that he’s dead, it looks like they don’t have to worry about that anymore. But Number 5 isn’t satisfied. He can’t accept it had been this easy, and wonders who killed Harold/Leonard. He then teleports off as Klaus suggests finding Vanya so they can ask her about it. Diego figures she might have headed back to the Umbrella Academy mansion, so they decide to go back there.

Back at the mansion, Grace has finished tending to Allison’s injury, as Luther keeps vigil nearby. It seems as if Allison will live, but Grace announces her vocal cords were badly damaged, and there’s no way to tell if she’ll be able to talk again. Pogo suggests that Luther go get some rest, but Luther snubs the advice, announcing that Pogo is the last one he’d take advice from. It’s clear he’s still angry at Pogo for keeping so many secrets from them. Once they’re alone, Luther apologies to the unconscious Allison for not being there when she needed him, realizing that, if he had gone with her, Diego and Number 5 when they headed out to find Harold Jenkins instead of staying behind to look for his old moon mission reports, Allison wouldn’t have had to go off on her own.

Meanwhile, since they’ve determined Vanya hadn’t shown up at the mansion, Diego decides to head off again. He still wants to settle his score with Hazel and Cha-Cha. After he leaves, Number 5 starts grilling Klaus, asking him if Reginald told him anything more about the apocalypse when he’d spoken to him during Klaus’ out-of-body experience. However, Klaus only wants to figure out more about how to continue to advance his ability, as he’s concluded that the fact that Ghost Ben was able to punch him had something to do with Reginald’s hint that Klaus’ true power went beyond simply communicating with the dead. So he tries to ask Number 5 how he managed to figure out how to time travel on top of his ability to teleport. As this conversation continues, Klaus informs Number 5 that they’re both addicts. Number 5 denies this, but Klaus insists it is true- Number 5 has become addicted to stopping the apocalypse. So much so that, now that it looks as if they’ve successfully stopped it, Number 5 is unable to accept that, as he no longer has a purpose in life.

Of course, we can’t forget we also have the subplot with Hazel, Cha-Cha and Agnes to deal with. Agnes arrives back at her motel room at the bird sanctuary. Hearing someone in the bathroom, she grows elated, thinking that Hazel had returned. Only for her to find it isn’t Hazel. Cha-Cha has managed to track her down. Valiantly, Agnes tries to tell her that Hazel left her and isn’t coming back, but it’s clear Cha-Cha doesn’t buy it.

Hazel, not knowing the danger Agnes is in, comes to the Umbrella Academy mansion to seek an audience with Number 5. Number 5 allows Hazel to come in and they begin to talk civilly for a bit. But right when Number 5 asks him directly why he’s there, Hazel doesn’t get a chance to answer. Because Diego appears quite literally out of nowhere and begins whaling on Hazel. At first, Number 5 tries to tell Diego to calm down and just give Hazel a chance to speak, but Diego is past the point of being reasoned with. So Number 5 just sits back and watches the fight continue for a bit. (Hazel, to his credit, manages to get a few good hits in himself.) Eventually, though, Number 5 decides things have gone on long enough, and he interferes, breaking up the fight by smashing some glass object over Diego’s head, knocking him out. Now that he’s able to get a word in edgewise, Hazel announces that he’s left The Commission and wants to volunteer to help stop the apocalypse. Number 5 tells him that it’s too late, as the apocalypse has been successfully prevented with Harold Jenkins’ death. So Hazel breaths a sigh of relief, knowing he can now have a long, happy life with Agnes. He and Number 5 then elect to part ways in peace, with them wishing each other luck with the rest of their lives. Before Hazel leaves, however, Number 5 announces that he has one last question for his former adversary- which of them killed Detective Patch. Hazel states that Cha-Cha was the one who murdered her. He then gives Number 5 the gun Cha-Cha used to kill her so Diego’s name could be cleared. When Diego wakes up again, Hazel is long gone. Number 5 tells him that, now that the apocalypse has been prevented, its time to stop fighting. But Diego’s rage hasn’t subsided, still wanting to go after Hazel. Even after Number 5 tells him that Cha-Cha was the one who killed Detective Patch, Diego insists it doesn’t matter, as Hazel was also there that night. Therefore, in Diego’s eyes, Hazel is equally guilty. But in the end, Number 5 is able to talk sense into Diego by helping him remember that the thing he liked best about Detective Patch was that she always saw the good inside people. So him killing Hazel and Cha-Cha would be a poor way to honor her memory. With his point made, Number 5 leaves the room with Delores, leaving Diego with Cha-Cha and Hazel’s guns, which could be used to clear his name, as ballistics would match the bullets found at the crime scene with the ones used in Cha-Cha’s gun.

We then see Vanya has returned to her apartment, Upon her arrival, she listens to the messages on her answering machine. As a result, she finally is able to hear the voicemail Allison left her a few episodes ago, about how she only wanted to be a good sister to her, and that she loves her. Hearing this message, combined with the fact that Vanya thinks she killed Allison, leaves her devastated, especially when she sees the strings on her violin bow are still stained with Allison’s blood. She breaks down into tears, sobbing openly.

Back at the Umbrella Academy mansion, Allison has regained consciousness. But because of the damage to her vocal cords, she cannot speak, as Grace predicted. So she signals to Luther, who is still keeping vigil at her side, for a pen and paper. When he complies, Allison hurriedly writes him a message, attempting to inform him that Vanya actually has powers. Luther doesn’t really understand what Allison is trying to say, but Pogo, who had been within earshot, decides that there’s no point in keeping it covered up anymore. So he tells Luther the truth about Vanya.

So, by the time Vanya is able to bring herself to return to the mansion herself, Luther knows all about what really happened. And he is the one who meets her upon her arrival. He tells her that Allison survived, and Vanya is relieved by this. She then explains that she and Allison had gotten into an argument and things had simply gotten out of control. Vanya tells Luther that she hadn’t meant to hurt Allison, and that it had been an accident. Luther assures her that he knows it was an accident, and then holds out his arms in a clear invitation for a hug. Tearfully, Vanya moves into the hug, once again saying she was sorry.

But then, things abruptly go downhill, as Luther immediately starts squeezing Vanya, utilizing his super strength against her until she passes out. When Vanya comes to again, she is nothing short of horrified to find herself in the same soundproof room Reginald placed her in when she was 4. When she sees Luther, Diego and Klaus standing outside the room, she tries to call out to them. But because the room is soundproofed, they cannot hear what she’s saying, and she also can’t hear them.

Outside, it seems that Luther has already told Diego and Klaus about Vanya’s powers. They are both in disbelief at the revelation. However, it soon becomes clear that they are both against the idea of keeping Vanya locked up like this. After all, this is their sister, who always cried when they stepped on ants as kids. Diego declares that if Vanya does indeed have powers, it’s obvious that she needs their help now. And they can’t help her if she’s locked in a cage. Klaus is in agreement with this sentiment, adding that Vanya is most likely struggling with her new power, which must be scary for her to deal with after years of believing she was ordinary. Allison, who has also made her way down to the soundproof room, states through written message that she wants Luther to let Vanya out of her cell, too, stating that what happened had been her own fault, not Vanya’s. But, despite all of this, Luther digs his heels in, stating Vanya is a danger to herself and others. So she must stay put until they know how to deal with it. He then all but forces Allison and his brothers to walk away, leaving Vanya alone as she pounds on the door, screaming that she’s sorry.

Okay. I gotta say this. I was pretty much on the fence about him up until this point, neither liking or hating him. But this moment made up my mind about him. Out of all the Hargreeves Siblings, Luther is the one I like the least. I don’t care if he was trying to think about what was best for everyone. I don’t care if he was just trying to keep everyone safe. At the end of the day, Luther is supposed to be the leader of the team. But this scene made it clear to me that he is the worst candidate for team leader. Because a real leader isn’t just about being the one in charge and forcing everyone to go along with your decisions. A true leader also has to listen to the rest of their teammates. And if the rest of your team is all in agreement about something, you don’t get to just overrule them as if your word automatically vetoes theirs. So much for sentiment they had back in Episode 4, when they were deciding things with a vote. Because if they were still honoring those rules, then Luther would be outvoted. Yes, Number 5 wasn’t around to voice his thoughts on the matter, but I have a hard time believing that Number 5 would be okay with Luther’s decision to lock Vanya up like this. Especially since it was established in the first episode that he and Vanya were once pretty close themselves. After all, when Number 5 disappeared when he got trapped in the future, Vanya was the one who left the lights on for him in case he ever came back during the night, also leaving out a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich for him every night. And it was Vanya who Number 5 sought refuge with following his run-in with the first batch of temporal assassins at Griddy’s Donuts. But even IF Number 5 sided with Luther on this one, it would still have been three to two in favor of letting Vanya out. But instead, Luther is all ‘I’m team leader, so I get to have the final say in everything.’ As far as I’m concerned, Luther is going to have to perform a pretty epic makeup for this before he can be redeemed in my eyes.

Anyway, another drama is going down elsewhere. Hazel arrives back at the bird sanctuary to rejoin Agnes. But when he enters their motel room, he is met with a chilling scene. Cha-Cha has tied Anges to a chair positioned in front of the hot tub embedded in the motel room floor. All Cha-Cha has to do is pull the rope she’s holding, and Agnes will be pulled back into the hot tub to drown. Hazel tells Cha-Cha that she can do whatever she wants to him, as long as she lets Agnes go. To this, Cha-Cha states that she fully intends to kill him, but first, she’s going to make him watch as Agnes dies. Before Cha-Cha can do anything, however, Hazel lunges forward and a full-on fist fight erupts between him and Cha-Cha, with both of them during a deaf ear to Agnes’ pleas for them to stop. After this goes on for a while, Cha-Cha manages to get the upper hand over Hazel, wrapping a cord around his throat until he no longer has the energy to fight back. She then leaves Hazel lying on the floor, gasping for breath, and heads back to Agnes, instructing him to watch as she forces her back into the hot tub.

Before Agnes can hit the surface of the water, however, time suddenly stops and everything freezing in place, with only Hazel and Cha-Cha being able to move about. As Hazel and Cha-Cha look around in confusion, the door to the motel room opens and The Handler strides in, announcing they really screwed things up. Not sure how she survived the exploding grenade with nothing but a scar, but whatever.

As this episode comes to a close, we see the Hargeeves Siblings as they try to take stock of everything that’s happened. Luther tries to convince Allison that he did what he had to do, but she’s not having it, proceeding to give him the cold shoulder. (Good! He deserves it!) Diego is sitting alone in the kitchen playing with a lucky rabbit’s foot that I guess belonged to Detective Patch, only looking up when Grace places a plate of smiley faced pancakes in front of him. Klaus is in his room, attempting to play pat-a-cake with Ghost Ben in an effort to try and make physical contact with him again. And Number 5 brings Delores back to the department store where he found her. As he gets ready to leave her there, he makes a heartfelt goodbye speech to her, with him talking about how they’d been through a lot together and that he’ll never forget her. As he turns and walks away, he requests one of the people working at the department store to give Delores something new to wear, stating she likes sequins. Naturally, the department store worker is visibly confused by this but says nothing.

But then, as the episode wraps up, we see Vanya down in the soundproof room. As she gives into despair, she has some sort of mental breakdown, with her reflection on the glass door being replaced by the image of her younger self. The Young Vanya Hallucination declares that the others are still scared of them and their power. The hallucination, apparently voicing Vanya’s darkest thoughts, encourages Vanya to accept the fact that the other Hargreeves Siblings are just like Reginald and will keep her down there forever, so the only thing they can do is embrace who they are. That’s when Vanya notices there is one sound the soundproof room cannot muffle- the sound of her own heartbeat. So she ends up using that sound to activate her power, successfully breaking herself out of her cell. The sound of the door to the soundproof room crashing down is so loud, it can be heard throughout the mansion, with Luther instantly realizing what it means.

Final notes/questions

Seriously, how did The Handler survive the explosion?

What’s going to happen with Hazel and Cha-Cha? And will Agnes make it out okay?

Boy, Luther really botched that one. He should had listened to Diego, Klaus and Allison. Now Vanya is on the warpath.

No, I’m sorry, I’m still peeved with Luther. After all the indications that Reginald was the worst person in making judgement calls (sending Luther up to the moon for no real reason other than just giving him something to do, committing suicide and making it look like a murder mystery to trick everyone to reunite and lying to them all about Vanya’s powers, among other things), and was therefore not someone anyone should be emulating, he still thought copying his methods by locking Vanya up in the soundproof room was the way to go?

Is Klaus going to be able to master his new ability?

#umbrella acedmy #umbrella academy 1x09

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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April 8th-April 14th, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from April 8th, 2020 to April 14th, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

Has gatekeeping ever affected which comics you read? If so, how so? If not, do you think it could in the future?

DanitheCarutor

You know, I usually don't care about the person behind the work, although there is an exception. During the Twitter Pride Month event if a webcomic creator I'm following says asexuals/pansexuals/non-binary people aren't allowed/can't follow them either due to not being oppressed enough, or not being real LGBT+ people, I will stop reading their work. Afterall, it wouldn't be right since I'm not queer enough to read their work. -coughsarcasmcough- There are instances where I'll still read their comic, but with a feeling of mischievous excitement for doing something "against the rules". Although there will always be this understanding of that person hates me, coupled with a slight feeling of 'yikes' whenever I see their work. Lol It's about the same with any other type of gatekeeping, although admittedly I'm more lax about unfollowing someone if I'm not being targeted since I'm narcissistic like that.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

Thats ridiculous to think an author would try to control which demographics can read their work. Artists shoudn't discriminate against certain groups in who can access their art.

RebelVampire

It does happen a lot though as all my gatekeeping experiences are about that as well, creators kind of directly shunning a specific demographic (granted not exactly @DanitheCarutor 's experience)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@DanitheCarutor Man I've never seen anything like that. I thought this post was about "only true gamers will understand" comics and such. I guess I'm lucky I've never stumbled into that side of the internet. If someone holds such views and expouses them so loudly i probably wouldn't like what they write, anyways.

RebelVampire

To answer the question more thoroughly, there have been plenty of incidents of gatekeeping that have affected how and if I read certain webcomics. However, generally speaking, they come in two specific flavors. Flavor 1: Creators basically pushing for their target audience too aggressively to the point they're either: A) insulting anyone who is not in that target audience or B) dismissing anyone not in that target audience and treating them as someone who isn't a "true" fan. which usually means their opinions are basically treated as auto invalid and not worth anything. B is more the experience I see for this flavor on my end, though honestly I don't think a lot of the creators I see do it on purpose. This particular flavor usually just effects my engagement because I generally just don't want to engage with the work at all if my opinion is going to be auto invalidated anyway. Flavor 2: Creators basically saying "Don't read my comic if you don't 100% agree with my political view(s)." This is a nope for me. A guarantee I will never read that comic again and will immediately mute said creator on my social media - even if I do 100% agree with their specific view. I cannot stand it when people literally cannot tolerate the fact that people who may think the opposite of them (or even have nuanced opinions that aren't full agreement) can still enjoy their work. Out of principle, I will not support this, and out of practicality, the audience that stays after that will probably be equally closed minded and probably not people I want to hang out with on a regular basis anyway.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I don't get the "don't even read this if you [x]" thing. I can understand if they just don't want to hear disagreements, but even silently reading?

RebelVampire

What I don't get is half the time said political view has absolutely nothing to do with the work whatsoever. So it's not like people would be going into the comic commenting disagreements anyway?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Who knows, maybe they've actually had weirdos making political comments in their comment sections and they finally had enough one day.

I do know at least one person whose (very non-political) comic has attracted a lot of politically vocal readers, and it has been a source of headache for them for a long time.

RebelVampire

Yeah I mean I don't doubt there's some comics. Usually in the little research I've done it wasn't really the comic that was getting view. THey just saw something on social media that made them angry thus had to comment on it.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

In the case I'm thinking of, it wasn't that the fans got angry at the creator's views. The fans were just openly talking about that stuff? They didn't seem to understand, nor care, that the creator didn't share their views. It's..... weird is all I can say.

My only guess is the comic got shared in a politically oriented space (forum, a FB group, whatever) and attracted some vocal readers from that space. Maybe.

RebelVampire

Possibly, although in my experience it's pretty easy for comment sections to devolve into some random political discussion. People tend to be very passionate about their viewpoints, so it really only takes one person being mad

and then relevant xkcd comic https://xkcd.com/386/ happens XD(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It might not be relevant in this case because the readers weren't arguing with each other XD just vocally agreeing with each other in someone else's space

Though yeah, I have seen it happen too, political wars in some completely non-political comic's comment section

There was a semi-infamous case

The Tiny Hippo comic in which the hippo knifes a raven that stole its toy got littered with Koreans arguing with others about the Korean-Japanese political tension. The comic... has absolutely NOTHING to do with Korea, Japan, or even Asia.

RebelVampire

omg now thats extreme

DanitheCarutor

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Yeah, be prepared if you ever dive into the LGBT+ artist/comic side of Twitter during the Pride Month events. There are far more nice, inclusive people, but the exclusive ones are very loud and make long rant threads. Also you may get someone responding to your promos with nasty shit if you use the hashtag. This has never happened to me personally, but has happened to webcomic creators and illustration artists I follow who are very open about being asexual/non-binary/pansexual.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

To be honest, I am usually the one LGBT+ creators keep from reading their work in those scenarios. It has happened before where a creator has said something similar about ace people or hetero people not being allowed to read because "they wouldn't get it." Or sometimes even more offensive. Even if I wasn't both of those things, hearing someone be so exclusive of any group just makes me not want to support them. So yes, haha, I have definitely been affected by gatekeeping.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Theoretically, I can see where gatekeeping can be done in good faith, and possibly even respectfully. Like, there's a reason why support groups for a specific thing only allows people who are directly affected by that specific thing. Trying to educate other people on that issue, and including the allies, those things are extremely important, but a gated safe space is also incredibly valuable. You can do BOTH of those things (just not in the same place at the same time). It can definitely go wrong, though. It really can.

like "we need a safe space for lesbians to talk about their struggles" is not the same thing as "if you're not a lesbian, you don't count as lgbt" (which would be... no???)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

yeah.. I've also seen lesbian only spaces turn terf-y

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I think there is definitely a difference between gatekeeping against bigotry and blanketsweep gatekeeping against a specific group of people that you've stereotyped as bigots

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I mean, it's not always about keeping the bigots out

sometimes you need a safe space specifically for that group, and not the supporters of that group. That serves very specific purposes.

DanitheCarutor

@Cronaj (Whispers of the Past) Oh gosh, there is this one artist who's words I remember to this day. During Pride Month they made this looooong thread about how they didn't want ace people following them, how they are not allowed to use the hashtag or even be part of the LGBT+ community, then went on about how they were all just heterosexuals. The they talked about how non-binary people are damaging the trans community with their "fake gender". Very ignorant, very weird, I totally unfollowed them after that even though I really liked their art.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

But yeah, Twitter is probably the wrong place to do that.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

God

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@DanitheCarutor wtf ._.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

That's part of the reason I don't participate in Pride stuff

Because I know I would get skinned alive

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

lol, I already got skinned alive for that reason even though I wasn't advertising my comic as lgbt. That's getting off topic for reader_favorites though.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

In regards to comics, I haven't seen other readers gatekeeping a story before

But oddly more creators

Which completely boggles my mind

DanitheCarutor

Fffff yeeeah. I still try to participate in Pride stuff when I remember, but I never specify anything. I just say I'm a queer person and everyone is fine with it. Lol

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Because you'd think they want more readers, not less

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Mmm, not everyone wants more readers (or at least, it's not a priority for them)

RebelVampire

I'm kind of glad about that too. Readers gatekeeping is even worse sometimes in mainstream. So to a degree it makes me glad that the only people hurting a creators work is the creator themself, if that makes sense.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yeah, definitely

When fans of a specific TV series try to gatekeep against specific groups, it makes me so angry

It's usually for entirely stupid reasons too

"If you're not (insert race), you're not allowed to watch this show. It was not made for you."

Haven't really seen this yet for comics, but if I ever do..... YIKES

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I mean I can get "It was not made for you." But that's.... not really a reason to actually disallow anyone from enjoying it.

DanitheCarutor

Oh god I'm getting SU and Rick and Morty fan base flashbacks.

RebelVampire

I think when it hits webcomics (cause I won't pretend it won't someday), I think it's gonna be in the same regard where I see it more. In that readers will be saying "If you don't agree this webcomic/ship/something is the best, you're not really a true participant in the webcomic community!"

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Honestly, I think educating people outside of these marginalized groups is just as important as validating the groups

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

like I do it all the time, I check out stuff whose target audience does not include me. I just don't openly criticize it for failing to cater to me.

@Cronaj (Whispers of the Past) It's absolutely important. But one can support both education and gated safe spaces! Like I can totally imagine the same people moderating a gated safe space, and holding educational seminars where everyone is welcome. Those two things serve different functions.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yeah, I was talking about media tho, haha

Not gated safe spaces(edited)

DanitheCarutor

I imagine if it happens with webcomic it will be an extremely popular comic that will have the readerbase size of something mainstream. I've stumbled across a couple small instances where webcomic fans have been gatekeepy about fanart and such, but not real big, crazy instances.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

That would likely be one of the biggest curses about having a webcomic that's popular.

RebelVampire

Actually when I think about it more, I've seen readers start to get gatekeepy about ships on super popular comics

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Actually, yes

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Oh man, shipping wars X'D

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Ship-gatekeepers are kind of scary

Especially popular romance comics that include love triangles(edited)

DanitheCarutor

Yeah, a couple of the popular Webtoon webcomics I've followed like Gourmet Hound have had big ship wars in the comments. Actually if you want to see a good example of ship gatekeeping, you can look at any popular romance comic on Weboons, the comment section will probably be insane.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yep

True Beauty is just FULL of gatekeepers arguing about the male leads

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I like to think a lot of the seemingly vehement shipping war comments are made in jest. But even if like, 80% of them are just having fun... you know there's 19% that are actually serious... and the dreaded 1% who will actually commit a crime IRL for their ship

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Ewww... Yep

DanitheCarutor

No, Keii, you're wrong. Most of the readers on Webtoons are horny children, they are going to be very serious about their ships.

RebelVampire

Yeah that is like the problem with a lot of things on the internet. It's hard to tell who is the 80% not being serious, and who is the other 20% who is super serious and thinks the 80% are completely serious about it too(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Omg, don't call the readers out like that

DanitheCarutor

Someone's gotta tell it how it is!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@RebelVampire Yeah, that's definitely the hardest part. Trying to tiptoe around the fact that a specific commenter very well COULD be serious.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

yeeeeah

DanitheCarutor

@RebelVampire That's definitely the crappiest part about being on the internet. You can never tell just from reading words, especially if they type in a super anal way like myself most of the time. Personally if I have no idea if a reader is serious I default to responding with a dad joke or a meme... which has caused a few upset responses.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I have definitely been attacked for what I thought was an innocent comment

RebelVampire

I've learned if I don't know if the person is serious or not to just ask. Sometimes make them grumpy and you get "well obviously i was joking/being serious", but at least saves the headaches of assumptions.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

oh jeez @DanitheCarutor that sounds horrible gatekeeping

DanitheCarutor

Opinions, MMMM gotta love'em.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

A comic creator I really respected, someone I thought was super supportive of the community at large, made a blanket statement forbidding cishets from joining their big new webcomic server. The server wasn't meant for LGBTQ+ webcomics only - all comics were allowed to be discussed - so it wasn't incredibly stringent on its content, just its membership. I know it's small beans compared to other bits of gatekeeping, but it definitely made some people feel left out, and it made me feel really sad. Made me feel like... even if I somehow became friends with the creator someday, I would always be considered an other/outsider, so... why bother, you know? I haven't really felt like keeping up with their work since. It doesn't quite feel the same. I don't know if had the 'right' reaction, but the experience definitely took off my rose-tinted glasses.

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Honestly I think it’s really counterintuitive to gatekeep?(edited)

Like you want people to read your work don’t you? So can you really be so selective of people with such standards?

And if you’re a reader, gatekeeping is just going to harm the creator and make you look bad

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #reader favorites

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unproduciblesmackdown · 5 years

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so i saw your post about artists still drawing willc, and i understand the viewpoint (i am also disappointed by lack of willr content) but i felt i should maybe provide an artist's perspective! personally, while drawing characters i like, i fall into a groove with it. they obviously became fans (perhaps far) before willr was jerm and they cultivated willc in their style already. i've gotten to a point where i don't even reference characters anymore, how i draw them Is That Character for me

i don’t follow you and just peeped your blog realizing you make art and shit that sounds condescending now cause i didn’t know you were an artist! and also although i have my Main Base characters i draw, i like to branch out to explore newer actors in the roles, so it’s still kind of disappointing there’s almost a rift between jeremys. (also ps your art is very good and cute i hope you have a nice day)

i really accept no Good Faith arguments about why there’s a noticeable lack of Specifically Roland Jeremy depictions. like, this isn’t even about individual artists; i don’t need every single person who draws a conn-style jeremy to justify it or Prove that it’s not about rejecting roland jeremy. the issue is the emergent discrepancy between them + the fact that we Do see people make adjustments for visual changes and new castings seen in 2.0/3.0, even allowing for jeremy’s new costume (or voice…..) while still retaining Will Connolly’s Appearance. which in itself is not necessarily the work of the devil but we Do see that it is A Choice that people make

there’s never any reason someone is Actually Incapable of learning how to draw anything differently. god knows we all wish that we really Could settle into a routine with the way that we draw and feel comfortable at home base but even if you do draw the exact same characters all of the time, your style evolves and your abilities improve and you really Can’t not adjust the way you draw. and inevitably we have something new we have to learn how to draw and yes it’s frustrating not feeling like you “know” how to draw it but like. if you try to learn you can. and artists will keep pulling out the “well i don’t have as much experience drawing _____ so i’m never going to draw that way” to justify some kind of nonsense about why they can’t possibly depict a fat person and it’s so totally reasonable to just imply they can’t even Make An Effort……like, not drawing some Unusual Perspective or not putting realistic folds in clothing b/c you don’t have much practice / don’t really feel like it isn’t the same as “i shouldn’t have to learn how to draw people with characteristics i’m not already used to drawing” b/c obviously a Lot of issues crop up with this that aren’t relevant with stuff like “i’m not used to drawing shoes so i’ll draw them the exact same way always”

in this case there is the way too pervasive issue that people have honest contempt for will roland because he does not look or sound a way they consider adequately Cute / attractive and that is the entire nuance of it. we’ve got people out here imagining justifications and making up objectively false arguments about why actually It’s Bad And They Dislike Him /(As Jeremy) Because ___ but then you really do have people flat-out owning it that they don’t like him b/c of how he looks. this is the Entire Issue. if this wasn’t a factor then we’d see a more balanced ratio in terms of The Way People Are Willing To Imagine This Character. there’s only two guys to have played this role (and only very recently several appearances by alternates) and while the fanbase exploded on the connolly look and sound, there’s been like. a whole Year of will roland jeremy and if the only issue was “it’s difficult to learn how to draw a new person” then, well, there’s been time to practice.

again i accept no arguments that so many people are refusing to draw will roland jeremy In Good Faith. this isn’t about individual artists; the Trend or Pattern inherently requires looking at a whole group to be discernible

like, i don’t really search out bmc fanart, so what i come across is a pretty random selection of recent-er works, and i’ve very very rarely seen Only 1.0 Cast fanart, yet i’ve also very rarely seen Clearly Roland Jeremy fanart. people are willing to learn to draw characters in a new / multiple ways, but there is this unwillingness to imagine jeremy the way he looks as played by will roland because yknow. god forbid you compromise the mental image of a willowy conventionally prettier jeremy

honestly and it also feels like a rare occasion when i see a jared that looks all that much like will roland in particular. obviously there’s a lot more options re: people who’ve played the role and so like, okay. but at the same time it’s wild that like, the Collectively Imagined Usual Depiction Of Jared does not share that much in common with will roland besides being a white short-haired brunette in glasses. it’s like, wonder of wonders when someone’s fanart of jared is clearly based on Either of the two principle broadway actors for the role. stuck between a rock (non conventionally attractive white guy) and a hard place (he’s totally skinny! but he’s black, too!) on that one i guess

also i have one resounding complaint to make about people drawing Ostensibly-Will-Roland

the roles he’s played which receive the most fanart are obv jared kleinman and jeremy heere………….these are both canonically jewish characters……..would it absolutely kill people to ever ever ever draw a nose like how will roland’s nose actually looks Especially in these cases. sometimes we Do get examples of people drawing not-will-connolly jeremy but The Nose Looks Nothing Like Will Roland’s and it’s like oh. well that’s fantastic. we’re just defaulting to generic white brunette with “acceptably Cute small narrow upturned nose” some more then, okay, i cannot condone this

gods sake when i see a would-be 2.0 / 3.0 jeremy like

that honestly hurt me to make btw…..look noses are a challenge to draw and basically all of us simplify them but if your Shorthand Nose For Absolutely Everyone looks like the above please think about this. noses that are deemed Too Wide / Flat / Big / Hooked / Downturned are also deemed bad / ugly and like, get over that and don’t subscribe to it or propagate it. there’s no such real thing as ugliness or Objective Attractiveness and the concepts are Not at all apolitical liiiike

please everyone be conscious and analytical towards how you draw people and whether you think you have to “censor” certain physical traits and don’t use the justification of “it’s hard to learn how to depict ____” like yeah it’s hard drawing is always hard we’re all trapped in hell together, learning how to be better drawing something that we didn’t use to have any practice drawing is how anyone ever draws anything at all ever so like. it’s not an argument about why someone Can’t draw something. you only Won’t draw something and you can have good / neutral reasons behind this or terrible reasons and plenty of people won’t draw will roland looking like will roland because they think don’t think he looks cute and that’s it.

#Anonymous #god this is like months old #also thanks lmao

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alethia000 · 5 years

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[TRANS] Nichkhun's Interview with OK! Magazine Thailand (July 2019)

SO PROUD OF YOU, NICHKHUN.

Behind of the scenes of idol life that are not as perfect as you think,

Challenges that dare a man to prove his capabilities,

And looking at life from a different perspective through the eyes of ‘Khun’ Nichkhun Horvejkul, a K-Pop idol from Thailand who has been the pride of the whole nation.

Nichkhun Horvejkul is the name of a Korean artist who is well known by Thai people. For over 11 years, he has been famous as an idol in Korean boy band 2PM. He has also become a real idol for new generations for his success and his impeccable demeanour as a representative of Thailand. Although Nichkhun has settled in South Korea, every step that shows his development has been obvious to everyone.

Currently, Nichkhun has stepped closer to becoming a true actor through his third Chinese series ‘Shall We Fall in Love’ which would be shown on WeTV. On this occasion, Nichkhun flew back to Thailand to attend the official launching of WeTV application on June 14, 2019. He talked with OK! about new steps, challenges, and projects that were beyond his expectation, behind the scenes of idol life that several people deemed perfect, and his viewpoint on love, from a direct and honest perspective filtered through his 31-year experiences.

Q: We are used to seeing you promoting your works in Korea or Thailand. Can we say your work in China seems to be a new development?

Nichkhun: Thai people may not know I have worked in China often. When I went to award ceremonies in China, I met Mike (Pirath Nitipaisankul) because he also attended these ceremonies quite often. This is the first time I have an opportunity to promote my Chinese series in Thailand. It is a refreshing feeling. As a matter of fact, ‘Shall We Fall in Love,’ currently aired on WeTV for Thai people, is my third Chinese series. WeTv is a new online platform that will satisfy customers’ demands or requirements. I believe there will be more collaborations in the future. Thais will be able to see another aspect of me when I speak Chinese or English in my series.

Q: What is the appeal that will make viewers fall in love with the series?

Nichkhun: The goofiness of the male lead, Jiang Yinan. He is cheerful and cute. He doesn’t care that he may be a loser. He is content with who he is. When he meets the female lead, he tries in every way to make her happy even though she doesn’t love him.

Q: Jiang Yinan is a character full of positivity and liveliness. How much is he similar or different from you?

Nichkhun: This role is similar to me to a certain extent. I like to be a giver and at times I don’t care about other people either. Nonetheless, I am a star so I have to maintain my image a bit. Sometimes I ran around and hang out with my friends in the middle of the streets too. I want some freedom and want to express who I am as well. But I may not be as expressive as this character.

Q: Jiang Yinan is a joyful and lovely boyfriend. In real life, what kind of a boyfriend are you?

Nichkhun: Goofy. When I am being with someone, I will adapt myself to suit that person. It depends on the character of the person I am dating. If she likes someone who is boyish, playful or goofy, I will be like that. If I am dating a woman who is more reserved, I will try to tease her from time to time. I like making people around me laugh, with my facial expressions, remarks, or gestures.

Q: The Thai title of the series is “กล้าไหม... มารักกัน” (Do you dare to love me?). Do you have such experiences in real life?

Nichkhun: I guess so. Even though I am ‘Nichkhun,’ it doesn’t mean everyone will fall in love with me. Fame makes people cautious to be closer to me. Some people may talk to me but they may not dare to love me. I think if we decide to fall in love with someone, we are taking a risk. We need to be daring too. With a woman I don’t think of her that way, I will be able to playfully talk to her or even hug her neck. But with a woman I am interested in, I will not dare to approach her to say “Hello. Can I have your phone number?” I will nudge my friends and ask them to help me. (laugh)

Q: You have worked with Korean, Thai, Japanese, and Chinese production teams. Can you tell us the differences?

Nichkhun: Chinese production teams have limited the filming to 10-12 hours per day, including makeup and hairstyling time. In China, I would have a one-day break per week. It was quite comfortable because it’s guaranteed that I would have time to sleep and rest truly. (laugh) Chinese and Thai production teams are similar when it comes to cordiality. Actors would come out to sit, talk, or have a meal together. Korean and Japanese teams are similar when it comes to maintaining their privacy.

Q: Even though you debuted as an idol, you have proved yourself as an actor in several roles. Do you feel like you are getting closer to becoming a true actor?

Nichkhun: We just sent Chansung, 2PM’s last member, to the army. We will have to wait for 2 years to be able to come back together. For the present, I am changing my role between being an actor and a solo artist. I will hold a solo concert in Thailand on July 27. Composing music, practising, playing musical instruments, and performing on stage has a certain appeal. When I asked my fans to scream, I would have a feedback immediately. For acting, I would have to wait for 3 or 6 months or 1 year for feedback. They are different but both are fun to work on. At the moment, I still don’t consider myself an actor. I have only worked on some acting projects. Almost every role I have played is quite similar. They are warm, lovely, or nice. I would like to play a different role which will prove if I will be able to do it well.

Q: Most idols who have become actors have often been subject to criticism about their talents. Have you encountered this problem?

Nichkhun: All the time. In fact, I have wondered whether I performed my roles well. That’s why I have often asked people around me what they thought about my performances in certain scenes. I want to do it well. I don’t mean acting merely. I mean singing, dancing, and playing instruments too. All of them are a challenge for me in each step. Acting is not easy. It depends on your experiences how you will portray each role excellently. You have to make the character on the papers come alive and live inside your body. It doesn’t mean there is only one way to play a character. It depends on how well we can create the character and make him more alluring.

Q: Several people consider you their idol and expect everything you do to be great. Do you feel pressured for carrying everyone’s expectations?

Nichkhun: In the beginning, I felt deeply pressured. Before BamBam (GOT7’s Kunpimook Bhuwakul) and Lisa (Blackpink’s Lalisa Manoban) made their debut, I was the only Thai idol who was successful in Korea. Everyone thought Thai people must be like Nichkhun. It was a burden I have carried for a long time. In the past, people tended to think that Thailand was an undeveloped country or Thai people still rode elephants. I have told people there are several great aspects of Thailand and invited them to visit Thailand. More tourists started to come to Thailand and there have been continuous promotions. Thailand in the eyes of foreigners has changed and I have carried a lighter burden in this regard. But importantly, I have begun to let go and to think we are not robots or printing moulds that will be perfect perpetually. If we make a mistake once in a while, it’s because we are human. I have tried not to tell myself I have to be perfect. Instead, I have told myself I have to be a good person. I must not betray people. What I have spoken must be true. Otherwise, I must not say it or do it.

Q: Are you a perfectionist?

Nichkhun: Pretty much but not all the time. I like my house to be clean and organised. But there are times when I let it go and don’t clean at all. After that, I would have to spend the whole day cleaning. (laugh) When I began cleaning vigorously, I would kneel down to scrub the floor.

Q: Do you scrub the floor by yourself?

Nichkhun: Of course. I don’t hire anyone to clean my house in Korea because I don’t want people I don’t know to come into my house. Thus, I do all the cleaning, laundry, cooking, and dishwashing by myself. It makes me happy that I have my own house. After finishing cleaning everything, I feel great that my house is clean. Am I getting old? (laugh)

Q: Can you share with us how is your social life in Korea like?

Nichkhun: Actually, I seldom go out for a meal or go to parties. I only go to the gym, play golf and badminton. Or I go out to do some errands or for work. Most of the time, I stay at home, cook, invite my friends to come over, drink wine, or play games just like normal people. I want to rest. If I go out, some people may ask for my signature or take my photos. Sometimes I had to refuse their request because I didn’t have any makeup on. I stay at home to avoid these problems.

Q: You have often said you are fortunate for having a chance to be in this position. Besides opportunities, what do you consider the important driving force that makes you have everything today?

Nichkhun: My fans, my friends in 2PM, my family and Thai people. I still think of myself as a Thai person. I must not do anything to damage my country’s reputation. That’s the reason I still work hard, want to improve, and keep on fighting today.

Q: In your opinion, how cool is Nichkhun Horvejkul?

Nichkhun: To a certain level. I will give myself 6-7 out of 10. There are many things I have to improve. However, what makes me proud of myself is the fact that I have done things I previously thought I wouldn’t be able to accomplish. Releasing my solo album ‘ME’ is an example. After making a debut for 11 years, I had never thought I would be able to do it. When we released our albums or when I performed in concerts with 2PM, I didn’t have many singing parts. Occasionally I had some rap parts. Several factors inspired me to release my solo album. I told myself to give it a try and do my best. I wanted to see whether I would be able to do it. After finishing making the album, I knew I could do it. I may start from zero but if I pour my heart into it, I can accomplish anything.

Q: What was your inspiration for releasing a solo album?

Nichkhun: We held some concerts since Taecyeon, 2PM’s first member, went to the army. Our fans were sad that it would be our last album before five of us would be discharged from the military. I didn’t know what came over me. I spoke into the microphone and told our fans I would release a solo album so our fans would not be lonely. I said it without consulting with anyone. Our staff was half delighted, half stunned. They were not certain if I was being serious. That’s what forced me to make my album. (laugh) In fact, my true inspiration was my fans and other 2PM members. All of them had their solo album and composed their own songs. I thought, as a member of 2PM, I should be able to do it too. That was an important inspiration for me to work hard on composing, singing, and performing on stage.

Q: Idol life may sound beautiful and luxurious but life behind the scenes is full of pressure, disappointment, and loneliness every now and then. How do you handle these feelings so that you can keep going?

Nichkhun: I think I am a man who works in the entertainment industry. Being a star is not my whole life. It is my job and my responsibility. When I have free time, I live with myself and do things I want to do. I exercise, play golf and badminton, play games at home, or go out for a meal with my friends. I have to learn to adjust my life. I work when it’s time to work and I take a break when it’s time to do so. I was not born to be a star. I was born to be a human being. Therefore, I have to live my life as a human being, not a star. I can be a star while I am working but I must realize what goes up must come down. When my popularity peaked, it seemed like everything would stay like that permanently. But when my popularity has lessened and fluctuated over time, it is fun and challenging for me. I think my life should not cling to being a star and to fame. I have to talk with my family very often and find one or two friends whom I can trust. Sometimes you can have a wrong idea if you stay alone. When you were used to standing in front of ten thousand people and suddenly there were only hundreds of people, I understand that it hurts. However, basically, we are a human being. Our daily life is just like other people. We have to eat, drink, and sleep. We have to truly understand this fact.

Q: It is difficult to get into the entertainment industry in any country. Do you agree it is more difficult to maintain popularity for as long as possible?

Nichkhun: Yes, I do. I think the important thing is our effort. We also have to be a good person and we must not lie to the media or our fans. We may not be this popular forever. Fame can go up and go down. But we will survive. People’s age and thoughts rapidly change. New artists are only 10 years old. They are less than half my age. Fans are getting younger too. Will they like someone who is the same age as their uncle, their aunt, or their older sibling? They may like artists who are the same age. We have to know and understand these things.

Q: Age is a limitation for most boy bands. Are 2PM members worried about their age?

Nichkhun: No, because we have never created a cute image for our band. We have been known as beast idols since the beginning. We have shown masculinity and maturity. I believe 2PM can keep going. We will sit down and sing if we cannot dance any longer. There may be dancers performing behind us. We have talked about the time when we reach 40 or 50. There will be no dance songs and we may sing ballads or slower songs.

Q: News and celebrities go hand in hand. But we have rarely heard negative news about you. Is it because you always live your life carefully to avoid such news?

Nichkhun: Maybe because I try to be careful. I try to be a good person and I don’t lie to the media and my fans. I let my fans know the kind of person I am. I didn’t smile when I didn’t want people to take my photos. Once in a while, I was in a dark mode or upset. I scolded my fans if they crossed the line. To be a good person, I don’t do anything immoral and illegal. Fame can drive people crazy sometimes. It is fortunate that I have great friends in my band. We have warned each other not to do certain things if they were not right. We have supported each other to do good things. Most of the time when we came back to Thailand or went to other places, the questions we asked were: What are the opening hours for the fitness centre and swimming pool? What is the WiFi password? (laugh)

Q: Can you list work, family, and love in order of importance?

Nichkhun: Family, love if I am in love, and work. Most important are my family who will be with me for my whole life. Then there are people I love, my friends, my girlfriend, my wife or my children. People may think stars must be rich and busy with works constantly. That’s not true. Being a star is among the most unstable jobs. We will have work when people hire us. If they don’t hire us, we won’t have any work or income. There was a period last year when I tried to focus on making my solo album. I didn’t accept any job because I spent a lot of time at the studios. For the whole month, not a single baht was transferred into my bank account. I was so shocked. (laugh) That had never happened before. I have realized stars don’t have salaries. How much money you have depends on how much you work. People rarely know about this. They may think every star must be wealthy.

Q: We have often seen your conversations with your sisters on social media. We know you are very protective of your sisters. Are you going to be this protective of your girlfriend?

Nichkhun: We just teased each other. I have let go. In the past, I was more protective. I didn’t want them to wear short skirts. When I saw them with a man, I wanted to know who the man was. Nowadays, if my younger sisters are ready to date anyone, I just ask them to bring the guy to see me. If they wear short skirts, I may tease them or find something to cover their legs. I don’t ask them to change their outfit. On social media, we just teased each other playfully. I am not that protective in real life. With my girlfriend, shouldn’t I be more protective of her than my sisters? (laugh)

Q: You have lived alone for a long time. Are you lonely?

Nichkhun: I have many friends. And I have lived abroad since I was 11. I have not lived with my family for 20 years. I have frequently travelled and worked in several countries so I don’t feel lonely. There are many things I can do. That’s why I like to play golf. I can play it by myself. When I stay at home, I watch movies or play games. I just live with myself and think of what I want to do in the future. That’s why I don’t have time to be lonely.

Q: You have said you wanted to get married when you reached 32-33. Do you still have the same thought?

Nichkhun: At first, I even said 30. Now I still haven’t thought about wanting to get married. There are still so many challenges that I want to give it a try. If I really get married, I will possibly quit show business and live in a quiet town in America in order to spend time with my family.

Q: Haven't you found anyone that attracted you?

Nichkhun: I don’t want to be a burden for the person I have a relationship with. Even though I have settled in Korea, I don’t spend much time there. In one year, I may stay in Korea for 6 months or less. From July this year, I will come back to Thailand very often because of my work.

Q: This question may sound repetitive but many people want to know what kind of girl are you attracted to.

Nichkhun: I don’t have a certain type. Perhaps, I like women who are naturally cute and lovely with facial features that are not too sharp. Actually, physical appearance is just a part. The most important thing is her characteristic. I like people who love their family. I like the kind of person my mother will like after I introduce them. The kind of person who respects older people. I just want her to be a good person. Because if I start to have negative feelings or things change, no matter how beautiful she is, it doesn’t help at all.

Q: You have fame, wealth, and many people who love you. What is the next happiness that you are looking for?

Nichkhun: I have never thought about it. (laugh) I am happy with my life each day. The next step is probably building my own family but I don’t know when or whether it will happen.

Q: When do you want to get married then?

Nichkhun: Let’s say 35. When I am 35, I will probably say 40. (laugh) Right now, I am enjoying my work. I want to spend time with my family and my friends for the time being. Getting married to someone is making a promise that I will spend the rest of my life with her. It is meaningless if I can’t keep my promise.

Q: What are your future goals that you want to achieve?

Nichkhun: If it is possible, I want to make it in Hollywood as an actor just once. In fact, there have been auditions and I have sent my videos. There were some interests but due to time and other factors, it didn’t work out. I am waiting for the right time. Mike (Pirath Nitipaisankul) has already joined a Hollywood-production movie entitled ‘The Misfits.’ It will be fun to work together.

Q: Do you have anything to say to your fans who have always supported you?

Nichkhun: From now on, we will see each other often, on TV, in my concert, and through my solo album. I will keep working on more projects but I won’t make a specific promise. Thank you for following and loving me. It has been 12 years in Thailand. In the future, I will produce works that are better, more mature and perfect for you to see and listen to. Let’s get old together. Thank you. (smile)

[Thai-Eng Trans by Daffodil0624]

Please take out with full credit.

#2pm #nichkhun #OK Magazine Thailand #interview #Daffodil0624 #OK! Magazine Thailand (July 2019)#magazine

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dysphoric-affect · 5 years

Text

The Art Of Companionship

As Booker Dewitt in BioShock: Infinite, you look on as an idling Elizabeth stops over a dead body, clasps her hands to her mouth and stares, eyes wide with remorse, and it seems like to you an increasingly - and tragically - sense of innocence lost. It’s just a dead body, and you’re playing a first-person shooter. You’ve seen this sight hundreds of times. Under other circumstances, you’d think almost nothing of it, so familiar are you with the sight. Yet suddenly, in a way you never have before, you appreciate the gravity of it. That inert form is a dead human being. They had a life and feelings. People that cared. Elizabeth’s reaction forces you to think of this, even if only on some small level. Still, it is more than what you would ever think normally, which makes such a quite, small moment able to feel so profound.

As Joel in The Last Of Us, you listen to an enthusiastic Ellie express her optimism about your survival chances, or confusion about what could lead people to commit the horrors of something you’re witnessing. Joel, annoyed, tells her off with a harsh rebuke of how naïve she is and how grim human nature is, sometimes more subtle in manner and sometimes as overt as can be. Given Joel’s past, you understand there’s another reason why he’s so hostile that makes him less of an asshole than he seems: these moments of Ellie’s remind him of the innocence of who he lost, a reminder of a pain he wants to forget and isn’t allowed to because of those circumstances. Underlying his terseness is something more than annoyance as well, you understand coming from this past of his: a sort of paternalism. He doesn’t want to see this person meet the same fate. He wants her to learn so she can survive where someone else didn’t, even if it takes tough love...but love, understated.

As Kratos in God Of War, your son asks a question about his mother - your wife - whose death drives you both forward. Being so gruff of a person, at times these questions are met with anger and annoyance and a demand to quit prying and focus. At times they are met with quiet, with an eventual answer being short and elusive, avoiding greater detail; perhaps it is in his nature to not talk at length, but an understanding is there that it’s also because feelings are involved in the subject at hand for the love lost, feelings being one thing the character, for all his power, has almost no skill in dealing with well. And at times, Kratos’ voice goes unusually soft for him, and a heartfelt admission about who his wife was as a person and what she liked is made, in part for the boy’s sake, to give him a larger piece of her to have in the absence of her living, as well as in part, you realize, for Kratos himself, a reminder of the peace he had and that violence isn’t all there is to life, a reminder that there are other forms of strength in the world than his own, kinds of strength that he needs to find now in himself in her absence in order to honor her memory as well as to fully give the boy the love he was intended to have. The hard exterior of this man, you realize, belies a great depth of emotion and thought...even if something his enemies will never see.

What do all these moments have in common? They all demonstrate a potent element games can possess that we’ve seen emerge more and more in recent years: that of the singular, constant companion. While certainly credit must be given to the writers and others behind creating these characters that makes the specific examples referenced so well executed, I do think that there is something inherently special about this type of element that makes any game that incorporates it with purpose and puts thought into it a game that is much more liable to be well received, or even celebrated. Why is this so?

The key here I think is the inherently limited nature of perspective you get from the player character: on events, on the world, on themselves and even any broader moral or philosophical themes that might be a part of the larger narrative. Our world and any fictional one includes a host of people with differing perspectives about it, yet we often only get to perceive these fictional worlds through the very limited scope of the player character’s viewpoint, or with no perspective at all in the case of the many silent FPS protagonists. Having a critical companion throughout the story of a game ensures a layer of depth unattainable for the narrative otherwise.

This can be in reacting to events, offering opinions and sharing lore we otherwise wouldn’t know, but it also provides the chance to create more depth for the player character as well: when the companion reacts to what they do, it creates more of sense of that protagonist’s existence in that world, fleshing them out, as well as providing something for the player character to react to, directly revealing more of their personality and opinions in the process where they otherwise simply wouldn’t have a chance to do so. In the course of all this, there is an understated but powerful sense of connection to the player character that players can come to have from this relationship which bolsters a sense of ownership of and care for what’s happening in the game. This occurs because the player character and players themselves both develop a sense of attachment for these companions in tandem. When this connection has been established, everything going on with the experience takes on a greater significance, and since the ostensible goal with narrative-based games is to have players care about the story, about the world and these characters and what happens to them all, then fostering this kind of regard from players is certainly an important step toward achieving that goal of creating a meaningful experience.

The trick, of course, is that while being a game provides a sense of being there with these companion characters that makes moments with them potentially so profound, that same format poses a unique challenge: how to incorporate them into the gameplay mechanics of the experience. When we look at the examples given at the start of this piece and comparing them, given they all succeeded extraordinarily well with their companion elements, certain patterns emerge on how best to do this effectively.

One, which I think overall is most important, is to not have game progression failure tied to their actions. Part of this is ensuring no actions that deviate from player intentionality in a scenario. In other words, they don’t take an action that can cause something undesired to happen, particularly as concerns enemies where the player is attempting to strategize in their approach. The most salient example of this would be in stealth scenarios, where the companion taking more overt action or just being scene would cause a break from the stealth mechanics of the game against the players will, frustrating them in their lack of culpability in that having occurred.

The Last Of Us presents a great example of this, where Ellie is literally incapable of alerting enemies to her presence when moving in stealth. While her pathfinding is pretty strong about positioning her to where she gets into cover with realistic timing, at times she doesn’t. I remember watching a design talk done by Naughty Dog where it was explained this was deliberate, because it was seen as worth it to potentially have the odd immersion-breaking moment where an enemy doesn’t see Ellie when she’s clearly in view in order to guarantee she could never trigger enemies’ alert status and garner negative feedback from the player for her actions. I personally experienced a few of these moments playing the game and have to admit it was the right call: more than I was put off by any sense of “Really? You idiots didn’t see her right in front of you?” I was just relieved to not have an alert status triggered, leaving me free to keep attempting the checkpoint rather than initiate a manual restart of it because the element of surprise was gone against my will. This made it clear that having your companion unable to cause any failure of your attempted approach as a smart way to design their performance, as the suspension of disbelief for it to occur is outweighed by the benefits in progression.

Another means to avoid progression failure is simply ensuring they can’t die. It is always critical in good game design when it comes to the difficulty aspects to ensure that player action is the determining factor in successful progression, not that of an external party beyond their control. Since these companions by definition have a great deal of their own agency, then if they could die there is always a chance that event would occur due to factors that weren’t necessarily the player’s fault. That just leads to player frustration that puts them off the gameplay experience, as well as weakening the companion’s narrative strength by having such player frustration be directed toward them, which is of course counterproductive to the empathy and love for them players are intended to have. As far as why they always escape a grim fate, this can be explained away easily enough with them being stealthy or nimble enough to avoid efforts to hurt them, seen manifested in their gameplay behavior, or simply with the “bigger target” philosophy: the enemies focus far more on you because you are the bigger threat offensively. This leads nicely into the next point...

Two, have the player character be the star offensively. Players want who they are in the story to be the dominant offensive force, so having the companion dwarf you be killing more effectively than you do would only generate resentment on the player’s part. In gameplay terms, this doesn’t mean that they can’t be capable of killing, just that the ceiling for their potential kill rate can never surpass what the average killing rate for the player character is. So that they don’t feel like an escort that steals a few kills, however, the crucial dynamic for those companions is to have them be useful in other ways, such as using their size or other skills to bypass obstacles and deal with puzzles. Having them find useful items or indicate points of interest can also serve this purpose really well. In the examples mentioned before, Elizabeth, Ellie and Atreus all have their focus as companions be in these areas, to great effect.

Third and finally, have their useful capabilities grow as you progress, right along with you. Your character will always have to deal with increasingly more difficult enemies and obstacles over the course of the game, so having the companion’s own abilities increase accordingly sustains their sense of viability as you deal with those greater challenges. In the noted examples, Elizabeth progresses to opening extremely useful tears, Ellie starts getting kills of her own that minimize the threat to you (noteworthy because of how high the sense of vulnerability is for you throughout the game) and Atreus can better weaken and kill enemies of his own. This plays back into the last point I made, which is to ensure that they only get better offensively in a way that makes them more supportive, but never deadly on the scale the player character is.

With these criteria met, from there it is simply up to the writers to make them strong characters in the emotion they express and story they create as they interplay with the player character. Done right, this type of companion relationship stands to be one of the most satisfying experiences you can have in modern games. Fortunately, the special quality these have is something that’s been noticed, as we can see it in more games all the times in modern gaming. Sony in particular has been seemingly focused on producing these narrative-focused experiences with companion interactions.

It’s worth noting that while the singular, main companion experience is generally which seems to have the greatest potential, there’s something to be said for deviations that at least have interactions with a core set of companions as the key, or a more dynamic narrative relationship with what companions one has. Speaking of Sony titles, the recent Spider-Man game is a strong example of this: while you don’t have gameplay companions generally, you do have constant interactions with a few key allies remotely, who you understand to be conceptually driving the narrative forward and also providing a chance to see more layers of Peter Parker’s personality.

In other cases, we can see where embracing more dimensions of the critical companion dynamic has occurred. Halo, for instance, had Cortana as a beloved character for its’ entire history as a franchise with her useful intel on the world and events, comic relief and the conceptual help she provided in opening doors and enabling you to pursue certain objectives. With Halo 4, though, that dynamic evolved in a great way as the Master Chief started talking back to Cortana, with her talk now being used to draw out and show an emotional depth to the Master Chief that made an already loved character even deeper and more worth loving, which was a victory for fans of the franchise and for fans of deeper storytelling in games; in fact, their dynamic was I believe that title’s standout element over all others.

All these cases go to show that while there may be a place for the titular solo hero in games, there is certainly a place for the hero who gets by with a little help from his or her friends, or at least, a friend. As the potential has grown for realism in games, the capability has grown to tell more meaningful stories through the presentation of more believable characters, and with that capability I believe there is an impetus that should be felt by more developers to create more games with these kind of dynamic critical companions. They can immerse us more in the worlds of games and create opportunities for fresh new gameplay elements in the process, making their continued and ever broader incorporation into new games we have yet to experience be something that will be a boon to all who are entertained by the medium.

And Ellie, we’ll see you soon. ;)

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nerdygaymormon · 5 years

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I can't tell you enough how wonderful you are and how much I appreciate your advice and how much to helps to see your overwhelming kindness. I am going to ask another question though. How do you develop the courage to speak up about who you are and about your experiences? I always panic and end up saying nothing at all, even when I know exactly what I want to say and strongly believe it needs to be said.

Thank you for the very nice compliments.

Speaking up can be scary, and sometimes I don’t (and I most always regret that choice). It seems like at church we’re socialized to not make other people feel uncomfortable even as they are saying things which are hurting us.

It helps me to be braver when I think that I am helping others. And honestly, while it may not feel like it in the moment, that’s usually the case. I’m always surprised when people later pull me aside to tell me their cousin or their son is gay or trans and they appreciate me speaking up.

Pushing back against negative & rejecting messages actually helps ourselves. It’s a way of honoring ourselves and helps keeps us from internalizing the negative messages. Of course, you have to determine if the situation is a safe one in which you can push back.

In Church there’s a major shift taking place in the views of the members on LGBT topics, but it doesn’t seem that way because the voices we hear are those who support the official policies, and also those who want even stricter/harsher positions. When no one else is speaking up, it seems like we’re the only ones who feel differently. My experience is that we’re not alone, and my voice will give others permission to speak up.

Here’s some tips for when you do speak up:

* Don’t attack the person. We want to challenge their ideas and assumptions, to make them aware of other experiences and ways of thinking.

* Respond by building on common ground. For example, if they quote a prophet, you can also speak about the importance of prophets.

* We can explain how those words carry a negative message, the unfairness of what they’re saying.

* It helps to assume they have good intentions and didn’t realize what they said could be understood in a way that hurt others.

* Share your feelings and experience, use “I,” it’s hard to dispute that you feel a certain way and it makes things personal. When we open up and make ourselves vulnerable, usually others will react positively and they let down their guard, too.

* Practice how you might respond. It helps to know how to respond when the situation arises. For example:

** “I’m also glad for prophets and the hope it gives us, but it’s important to think of how things like the Proclamation applies to our own situation, not to use it to exclude or invalidate others.”

** “When the Proclamation is used in this way to exclude others, it really is painful to me. As a gay person, I don’t feel like I’m loved and valued and welcomed when I hears words like this. And I have other friends in the ward who are single moms and it’s important they know that God loves their families, too.”

These are examples of building on common beliefs, being respectful of the person and assuming good intentions while providing a viewpoint they may never have considered. Also, they can’t challenge that this is how you feel.

Just as we want them to listen to us and where we’re coming from, we have to do the same. We have to be willing to listen and learn.

As a way to help get started, here’s some words that can hurt queer people. Role play in your head how you could respond.

· A mom saying she wants only straight/cisgender representation in the media for the benefit of the children, so they won’t be confused

· A man says he wishes that as a kid he’d heard of being transgender, because he would’ve used that to get into the girls’ locker room

· A person saying it’s abuse when parents allow a transgender person to transition

· When a person says they’re disgusted by affection shown between a same-gender couple

· A parent says she’s uncomfortable having a lesbian as her child’s Primary teacher

· Being told we should not identify as gay

· Being told they love and accept us, but don’t go around telling people that you’re bi

· LGBTQ+ people are that way because of bad parenting, or sexual assault, or something they saw on TV

· Children deserve a mother and a father

· Gay people are loved less by God because they persist in living a sinful life

#queerstake

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ginnyzero · 5 years

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Being a Fanfic Writer is Okay

AKA I love Fanfiction

Fan Fiction, a bit controversial and a bit time worn topic in writing and fandom circles. But let’s face it, fan fiction is older than dirt (Shakespeare anyone?) and isn’t about to go away any time soon. So, we might as well face the pink elephant in the room and address the issue. Besides, fan fiction is really personal to me. Of course, before I get all maudlin about my experiences with fan fiction, maybe we better discuss what fan fiction is, a bit of history and where to find it.

Fan fiction is at its core, a story written by someone who isn’t the original owner of a story. They are simply a fan writing in someone else’s world using someone else’s characters. After that, the possibilities are pretty much limitless and maybe we can discuss some of the more interesting aspects of fan fiction later. Some of our favorite classic stories might be considered fan fiction, Homer’s take on the Trojan War for example. Shakespeare wrote wild interpretations of the lives of British Kings. And modern day published fan fiction would be the books based on favorite television shows or popular games, video, role playing or even board games. A type of visual fan fiction would be the movie Clue! Based on the popular Clue board game. (Sadly not really an action movie, drat.) Star Wars Expanded Universe is a type of authorized published fan fiction. And who can forget the hundreds and hundreds of Star Trek novels based upon the episodes and later expounding upon the universe.

Speaking of Star Trek, the modern take on fan fiction really took off with the introduction of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. Before the internet (what a phrase,) ambitious Trekkies created magazines that writers could submit their own stories about the Starship Enterprise and her crew and receive subscriptions of them in the mail. Many of these stories revolved around Kirk and Spock in a romantic relationship, which is still a huge pairing today. Other fandom groups copied this magazine model and later as the internet took off, they created online email groups, forums, journaling sites, chat rooms and individual sites, until someone got ambitious enough to create the first fan fiction archive. And suddenly, there was a place where any writer of any talent could post their work to one place and read everyone else’s work no matter the quality or fandom. And with the introduction of Japanese anime to America, the concept of fan fiction exploded.

And Sturgeon’s Law reared its ugly head. 90% of it is crap.

But that’s okay.

A lot of archives came and went. There are only a few that stayed the course; fanfiction.net, mediaminer.org, adult-fanfiction.org and the baby of the family, archiveofourown.org (AO3). Each of these rather interesting archives have a tumultuous history and interesting backstories, which I really don’t want to get into right now. Just saying, if you have a bunch of free time, want to read some free stories and have some fandoms you really love, then these are the places to go. It might take some time to wade through the truly awful stories to find the gems, but the side effect of fan fiction archives, are fan fiction recommendation lists! These handy lists have the best fan fiction from certain fandoms in the compliers subjective viewpoint! Always a good starting place.

As I said, fan fiction is really personal to me. As it says in my bio, I have no formal education about writing outside some interesting English classes in college. I got a C in research papers and grammar; a B in creating a pitch and an A in narrative storytelling. This probably should have told me something. What I do have, is a very long history and experience in fan fiction. I’m not comfortable with putting my pen name out there, let’s just say I’ve been writing fan fiction for over fifteen years in a variety of fandoms under a couple of different names. And in the beginning, I was one of those probably writing crap. And I didn’t care. I was writing and I was having fun. Writing fan fiction helped me through my bad high school experience (a lot of people have them) and it helped others too. And that was important to me. Is still important to me. I grew. I improved. I got to focus on things in fan fiction that I would never have focused on if I had been trying to write original works. And it helped me churn out idea after idea and see how I could string these ideas together to create good concepts and make better stories.

The greatest thing about fan fiction in my opinion, is that it gets people of every age (I have met as many forty year olds as I have twelve year olds) writing. And when people write, they also tend to read. Okay, so maybe they are reading in this vacuum bubble of fan fiction where 90% of it is crap and they may or may not improve, yet, they are reading and you know, that is okay. Because, let’s face it, 90% of the published world of books is crap too. And let us not get started on this idea of self-publishing. Seriously, anything that introduces a little bit of literacy to the world I’m all for. I’m not going to discourage anyone from taking up a pen or sitting down at a computer or type writer and taking these ideas they have in their head and getting them out there. Because, there is a certain magic to it. Let’s not stifle any form of creativity of the arts here.

Now writing and posting fan fiction are two completely different things. And if someone wants to write a story based on 10 Things I Hate About You (which in itself was an authorized fan fiction of the Taming of the Shrew, which is based on classic literature tropes) and keep on their computer for only themselves to read. That is fine! However, if they want to take that fantastical leap of courage and post it the internet in one fashion or another for the public to see, then that, is inspirational. Posting, which in this case is essentially publishing, something you have created from your heart for others to see and consume is perhaps one of the scariest things you can do. And I applaud them for their courage because the public is not a safe place and you never know what will happen. Now, I will say that a lot of fandom communities can be nice and welcoming. And then there are the communities that are insular and full of drama. And sometimes, publishing in the fan fiction world is like shouting into a canyon and hearing the echo and you might have to shout several times (meaning publish more than one story or more than one chapter of a story) to get any sort of response. Hey, being popular in one fandom, doesn’t automatically guarantee being popular in another fandom!

And that is where the sense of community steps in. Sure, you will probably get a lot of ‘squee, I love it, write more!’ responses, which are good for the ego and the soul. But there will be rare times, where you will meet people who love the same things you do and want to squee and discuss writing. About characterization, and plot bunnies hopping out of control and multiplying and isn’t so and so just hot as this character. And suddenly, one isn’t so alone anymore. You don’t feel exactly strange or like a hermit who sits alone in their bedroom typing for hours at a time. Out there, in the world, there are people just like you, doing the same things. And it is okay. People, as a community who like a certain thing, are being creative and sharing ideas. And that is wonderful. So, the execution of said ideas might not be wonderful, but now, the idea is out there in the universal consciousness waiting to be picked up by someone else, tinkered with and fine-tuned and maybe a better version of it, or maybe one just as bad, will be published to be seen and shared by more people so more interesting and diverse stories can be born. (Or, as it is so easy to see in fan fiction if you pay attention, a new fad of fiction tropes and mish mash of nonsensical ideas put together to create something absolutely crazy but mind numbingly fun that you have to go ‘what the fuck, who came up with this bullshit and how did it become so popular and why wasn’t it me? [Superwholock, Omegaverse, Soulbonding])

Now we could discuss the legality of fan fiction, or some of the crazy views that published authors have about fan fiction (Anne McCaffery, George RR Martin), or some of the awesome things that have happened to people because of their fan fiction and the original creators being okay with it (Avatar: The Last Air Bender, Joss Whedon). Or the crazy things that some fan fiction writers do to take their fan fiction and make it into original fiction (Cassandra Claire, 50 Shades of Grey.) But those could take a couple thousand more words and some of it sincerely bewilders me.

Fan fiction is great. I enjoy writing it. And I also enjoy reading it when I have time. There is nothing wrong with people, in their spare time, writing fluffy and sometimes not so fluffy stories about their favorite characters in their favorite universes. There are a lot more horrible things they could be doing than writing stories about fictional people and posting it on the internet.

Now, when I get published (and I say when, not if because I must believe in the when), as a matter of course and a, for your information, I won’t be reading any fan fiction of my own works. (Though, I’d love to keep track of statistics for it, that would be amusing.) It comes down to the universal consciousness once again. If one of those stories someone writes about my work has an amazing idea and I read it, later forget about it, and then think I come up with it on my own and use that idea, then, well, I could be sued. (It has happened.) It is unlikely that the fan fiction writer will win (there is precedent about this), but I would still feel awful. So it is just better all around if I don’t read fan fiction of my own work. Which for me is kind of sadness, but hey, it is a fact of life.

That being said. I hope that I do inspire people to write their own crazy times using my characters or creating their own characters and putting them in my world, or crossing my world into their other favorite worlds. Because, if I wasn’t so busy writing the original world, I’d probably be doing the same thing. There is nothing wrong with people having a good time and enjoying themselves. In fact, if it helps get them through a bad place in their life, then good for them.

Not that the die hard fan fiction writers need permission from me. But those who aren’t so certain, and maybe worry a bit too much or have been told that writing original is superior to writing fan fiction and believed it. Writing fan fiction is okay. Don’t beat yourself up over it and go out there and have fun. Go on, get your fanfic on!

#fan fiction #fan fic #fan fic history #writing #writblr #writeblr

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dadingeorgia · 6 years

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A mental stroll

For the first time in two months, I feel pretty level and calm. Actually, it's been much longer than that. I want to write about something, to make my mark on a milepost of my journey and be able to look back it.

The thing is, I'm not really sure what to write. I don't feel the need to open the hood and poke around in my psyche right now. I've done so much of that recently, and it's a good exercise, but tonight I just want to relax.

Since I can't seem to figure out what to write about, I can write about writing. I think I started writing narratives when I was probably about 12 or so. That was the year I started going to summer camps, and I made a several friends that i kept in touch with by mail. This was long before cell phones and email, and postage cost 20 cents. I did a lot of that all the way through high school, so I became accustomed to narrative writing.

At some point, I became fascinated by journalism, and set my career objective to become a reporter. I wound up working at the local newspaper for a couple of years, covering local youth sports, learning typesetting, and graphic design. That's where I fell in love with photography.

If narrative writing is recording a scene in words and sharing with people who aren't present, journalistic photography is the ultimate expression of narrative story telling. I found the technical aspect to be very appealing. I learned photography using manual cameras and hand-spun canisters of AGFA 800 film, developed my own film in the darkroom and printed my own enlargements. It really me taught attention to detail, because I was trying to record fleeting moments in time, and it would often be hours before I would know if I was successful. It taught me how to see the world through a viewfinder, to search for and absorb minute details visible through the eyepiece, and to look through the eyes of people I would never meet. I learned how to use all of the tools to capture slices of the world and preserve them.

I really enjoyed all of that, but I've never considered myself to be creative. I wasn't making anything, I was recording it. I still see that heavily in my writing and photography now. The journalism dream didn't really play out for me, but I learned a lot of things that I still use every day.

Most of my writing these days is journals and blog entries, and some personal letters. It all tends to be rather intimate to a certain level, and for an outside reader, it probably assumes a pre-existing level of familiarity. That's ok with me, because my writing is for my own benefit.

That probably is indicative of my personality. I'm not a gregarious person generally, although I've learned to be personable. I'm not the sort of person that will make great efforts to introduce myself, but if you're willing to spend time around me in a comfortable environment, I'm not hard to get along with and you'll get to know me pretty easily. Of course, once you get to know me well enough, it probably gets harder to get along, but I'm working hard to change that.

I've wondered sometimes if I have it in me to write fiction. I doubt I'd be very successful at it, because I've not been great at being able to consider the viewpoints of others. I think it would be difficult to develop an ensemble of convincing characters if they tended to be a reflection of a singular viewpoint. Obviously, one can be taught certain things about writing, but I suppose they'd also need to possess an innate sense of empathy to be truly successful.

That's actually an interesting idea. It's easy to say that I'm empathetic when I am upset by the misfortunes and heartaches of people I care about, and even when I hear of people I don't personally don't know. I do often feel genuine heartache in these situations, but very rarely do I have a common frame of reference to truly *understand* what someone is experiencing and how it impacts them. What exactly is empathy? It's not difficult at all to share someone's expression of grief and heartache, and offer support, but it's way too easy to turn those expressions into assumptions about another person's experience, and then transpose your perception of their reality into the relationship. It's probably done with the best intentions most of the time, but it's likely not that helpful and could actually be a hinderance to their progress. I suppose that's an extension of something my wife told me recently, which was to simply "thank you" when someone expresses sympathy, and leave it at that.

Well, I guess this will be my Tuesday evening journal entry. I've had a good day, and I feel healthier than I have in a long time, both mentally and physically. It's nice to be able to sit down and tell a story that's not full of hard self-examination and uncomfortable musings, but still be able to ponder something important along the way.

It was a good day, and i feel confident there will be many more to follow.

#improving myself #getting better #feelsgoodtofeelgood #being healthy #mental health #controlling anxiety

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lasorciereviolette-blog · 6 years

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On Witch

(So RP’s are a bit slow right now so I might as well continue down the saltapalooza that has been opened up due to a post on how Sega’s flanderized Amitie over the years.

This one’s kind of all over the place, because it’s not a strict flanderization argument per se and since Witch is my favourite I like to gush about her. I’ll try to keep on topic as much as possible though.

So I’ll start by saying that honestly, this could be a lot worse in several ways. Sega’s done at least a little homework on Witch. It took them nearly a decade to put Witch in one of their games (no, 7 does not count since she has no lines) but it looks like she’s here to stay seeing as she was kept on the roster for both Tetris and Chronicle.

But... Now what? See, my analysis has led me to the conclusion that Sega have absolutely idea of what to do with Witch.

I didn’t always have that viewpoint. At one time I thought Sega had done a pretty good job with Witch. She showed up, her story was reasonably funny, and she was actually allowed to behave like a selfish jerk unlike certain characters.

However, a little while ago I came across a translation of Yon’s cutscenes. And I came across an unfortunate discovery: Witch’s campaign in 20th is nothing new at all. Nope. It’s just a copy-paste of her few scenes in Yon, and one cutscene in Sun.

Let me elaborate. See, in 20th Witch is trying to collect ingredients to create a potion in one of Wish’s spellbooks. Collecting these ingredients involves taking parts off of certain cast members, namely Draco’s tail, the Acorn Frog’s eye, an imp’s horns, a ladybug, a dark wizard’s hair, and a fish’s scales. On the surface this isn’t a bad premise. I didn’t mind it too badly before I knew anything about Yon. Except in Yon, Witch’s goals are almost identical. She needs Draco’s tail and Seriri’s scales, and wants to collect Carbuncle’s finger grime (... somehow) just in case she ever needs it. When she comes across a sleeping Dragon, she also tries to seize the opportunity to grab some snot.

The details aren’t exactly the same, at least. Which is nice, because if the scenes were word for word the exact same I’d be even more peeved. I can at least give the writers that much. The thing is, after waiting so long for a beloved character’s comeback, why did they decide just to recycle half the cutscenes from other games? I suppose this can be forgiven since it’s an anniversary title, but it’s still a little odd.

And then we get to Tetris, where Witch has a total of... One scene. When DLC was released, she got another very short scene. While these were both original, there... Really was nothing to them. All she wants to do is perform an experiment with blocks in one, and in the other she mocks Draco, which would have been absolutely unsurprising if you had played either Saturn or Yon in the past. Witch’s appearance is very much a token one and she doesn’t even really interact with other characters besides Draco Centauros when there was an opportunity to have her bounce off of the members of the Starship Tetra, or Amitie, or Ringo. Or maybe to put her in Primp and have her hang out with some of the people she used to. Talk about a waste. Witch is a fun and dynamic character who has been allowed to remain a bit of a jerk. There was plenty of room to have her interact with new characters, but instead they threw her into space and called it a day. Hell, she’s a comet witch and she doesn’t even notice she’s in space!

Which leads me into the next part of this rant, the fact that Sega only really seemed to look at Yon and one cutscene in Sun and determined her entire character from there. Before Yon Witch was primarily a comet witch. While she did make potions in Seriri’s Happy Birthday, Witch’s gameplay was focused more on flight and spellcasting. Based on her moveset in other games, Witch not only shares most of Arle’s spell set (being proficient in fire, ice, and lightning magic, as well as being able to cast Brain Dumbed and Jugem) but has her signature Meteor spell and a few other comet style magics such as Big Bang. These spells have a distinctive star theme when she casts them, distinguishing her from Arle.

Pretty cool, huh? She is also somewhat of a melee fighter, not being afraid to swat people with her broom. (this isn’t the greatest of examples but it’s cool so)

Coming back to her broom flying, a whole game was built around it called Comet Summoner. It didn’t have much of a story, but it did feature a bunch of cute levels and a powerful boss that may or may not have been Witch’s future self. And this future self was strong, with a huge red aura, several health bars, and the ability to not only zip around the stage at high speeds, but cast spells of her own and combo you with a mix of melee and magic if you fuck up and get too close to her.

Witch would make a good fighting game character.

This is getting a bit off topic, but point is, Witch is versatile. But unfortunately it seems that apart from her spell names Sega can’t be bothered to remember her versatility and just wants her to make wacky potions. I’m not opposed to her making wacky potions, it’s not necessarily bad, but at one time she was a lot more than that.

She was more complex as a character than she seems to be in 20th or Tetris. Maybe not in Yon, where she appears very little, but in Madou Monogatari she got some attention. Yes, Witch is selfish. Yes, she’s pretty power hungry. Yes, she’d probably sell quite a few people out for a single corn chip. But there are some people who are dear to her, like for example her grandmother Wish. While again, I can’t read Japanese, Witch Leeroy Jenkins’s into a room when she sees her grandmother’s body on the floor in Tower of the Magician. Afterwards, Witch’s body language is pretty clear to see.

She’s clearly very worried about Wish and does not appreciate any harm coming to her. Even jerks have loved ones, I guess?

Let’s give Sega the benefit of the doubt, maybe that one trait just hasn’t come into play yet. After all, Wish hasn’t appeared (but she has been mentioned). Sure. However, there are other traits that the Sega games ignore when it comes to Witch’s character.

First, Sega has arguably made Witch into an even worse jerk. In Compile’s games, Witch is often abrasive and rude, but she will defer to an expert’s judgment in a situation she doesn’t understand. Case in point, Saturn. Upon coming across the Yog smoke, she avoids possession because she immediately listens to Arle and Rulue’s advice. She doesn’t argue, she just does it.

Contrast this with 20th.

In general, Witch is crafty and rather full of herself in Saturn, but not so much as Rulue. She has a low opinion of martial arts and so that makes her play well off of Rulue (It probably also explains her animosity towards Draco), while she has a high opinion of her magical skill and loves to soak up praise. Witch also shows little ill will towards those who quit the tournament after a Yog presents itself, which might hint at some sensibility the character doesn’t tend to have much of after this.

Witch is also a bit of a snarker in this game:

There’s character here besides her excitability, or getting pissed off when things don’t go her way. Now Saturn does bring up Witch’s legendary temper, but we don’t really see the results of that in-game. 20th really pushes that informed attribute into the spotlight, where all her thoughtfulness and cleverness go out of the window for her to make a bad potion that obviously contained too many substitutions, to the potion not being useful in the first place, to her beating up Lemres for stating the blatantly obvious. Witch doesn’t really come off any smarter than Draco at the end of this, because all of this was obvious! She just comes off as an even worse ass than usual because of Sega’s wackiness mandate.

I also really don’t get what the point of her fighting Lemres even was. Lemres seems disappointed at the end that he didn’t get to talk to Witch more, but the story just ends. There isn’t any kind of payoff or character growth here. Just... Nothing. Again, a total waste of potential, having the two comet mages meet and then do absolutely nothing of value. Love it, Sega.

Oh yeah, there were two more things Sega forgot about. First, this.

Witch is probably an actual pervert, to contrast with Schezo’s fake perversion (which may or may not be real perversion too sometimes, because Saturn’s fun like that). So that’s another thing Sega forgot, for better or for worse.

Which leads me to the last bit that Sega’s forgotten. This too I can’t really say if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. I like that it exists in Compile’s games, but if Sega remembered it would likely devour what remains of Witch’s personality. In certain games, there are implications that Witch may have a crush on Schezo. She fawns over him in athletic clothes in Puyolympics and as seen above, asks if he’s cool and wants to touch him in Saturn. Then of course there’s the whole “I want you” scene that solidifies the thing. For all I know there could be evidence for or against this in Tower of the Magician, which is a game where the two spend quite a bit of time interacting with each other, but since I haven’t learned to read Japanese in the last few hours I can’t comment on that, as much as I want to.

Now whether this is a good or bad thing for Sega to ignore really depends on your interpretation of this trait. I’m personally torn, because again I’m glad that Witch has not been reduced to a lovesick one-note failure. On the other, it’s a facet that a more competent writing team could have explored with some success. So it sucks that it’s been abandoned completely, but the end result could have been really terrible had Sega noticed this, so... Yay?

Okay, so I’ve written blocks of text. What does it all mean? Well, it means Witch isn’t immune to being flanderized in Sega’s works. It could be a lot worse, but there’s plenty of Witch’s character that’s been left out of current Puyo and plenty that has been aggrandized into a worse person. Right now Witch reminds me of a mixture of herself and Saturn’s take on Rulue, which... Really sucks, because no wonder Sega can’t figure out how to make Rulue stand out if they give her traits to other characters! Poor Rulue. Give her some love, Sega. She doesn’t deserve this kind of shafting.

As for Witch, you’re not going to get a total sweet kindhearted girl out of her. She was never that kind of character and that’s not a bad thing. But throwing on Rulue’s most boastful traits and making her a worse jerk, then giving her cameos because you don’t know what to do with her isn’t a good way to characterize her. Return some of that sense into the mix! Like I said in my Schezo comments, not everyone needs to be a wacky joke 24/7.

#puyo puyo #witch (puyo puyo)#madou monogatari #characterization #discourse #compile #sega #this one's even longer and less concise than the schezo one so apologies in advance #a lot of it's just generally talking about witch's character

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hockey-jews · 6 years

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For anyone who wants to learn more about Judaism! Also, kind of a post about how to deal with some Things and Stuff. This is a long post so I’ll put it under a read more for those interested:

This is really for an anonymous message I got that described struggles with things that I think many of us struggle with or have in the past: not being “Jewish enough” in the eyes of other Jews due to your heritage being on the “wrong” side (read; on your father’s side), yet still experiencing antisemitism from goyim. Not learning very much, if anything, about Judaism as a child but wanting to learn more as an adult. Not being comfortable with some traditions or laws of Judaism because you are a) a feminist b) LGBT c) an atheist. Living in a place with few to no Jewish spaces. Not feeling welcome in the Jewish community due to any or all of these things.

Book recs!

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys reading (or can at least tolerate it) I highly recommend these books! They’re all books that I have either read/started reading/or plan on reading. (Please keep in mind that none of these are Jewish texts such as the Torah or the Talmud and that I do understand the importance of such religious texts but am not recommending them because I feel those are obvious sources of information)

A Bride for One Night if you aren’t familiar with the Talmud, it’s a collection of writings and explanations of Jewish laws and traditions and it’s old as balls. The author of this book, Ruth Calderon, takes a bunch of Talmudic stories and makes them into these wonderful beautiful stories that are easier to read than the original ones from the 3rd and 6th centuries. Even if you don’t know anything about the Talmud this book is so fascinating and fun to read.

The G-d Who Hates Lies is literally perfect for you if you have issues with how women are viewed and treated in the most traditional sense of Judaism. It’s a really great criticism by people who are extremely qualified to make those criticisms (both are rabbi’s and I think they both have doctorates in theology, specifically Modern Orthodox Judaism, which makes for a really cool viewpoint). I can’t find anything about the third author of this book, who is a woman, but it’s comforting to know that a woman had a part in this as well. Obviously these people love Judaism, they just want to see it adapt to modernity. Just in general it’s a really thoughtful book that challenges dogma.

Jewish Literacy was recommended by an anon (thank you!) The rest of the title is “The Most Important Things to Know about The Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History” so like. Ya get what ya see here folks. HOWEVER I did see a review that mentions there is some Islamophobia and hostility towards Jews who are antizionist. It does genuinely look informative and I haven’t read it myself so I can’t attune to whether or not that review is accurate, but maybe be cautious if you read this in knowing that the author may not be objective.

Book of Mercy made me openly weep and feel something tender and weird in my heart and like. Okay so it’s not informative so much as it’s a book of poetry by Leonard Cohen (he was Jewish if you didn’t know!) He calls his poems “modern psalms” and honestly this would be a good read even if you aren’t religious at all because his writing is just so gorgeous. But it does have references to Judaism and his identity as a Jew

Understanding Judaism is really a “building blocks” kind of book to me, if that makes sense? It’s really informative but also really basic and is fantastic for people who know very little about Judaism or just want a well presented understanding of the core aspects of the Jewish religion. Even if you aren’t a Jew who’s looking to learn or someone who is considering conversion it’s still a good book if you’re interested in world religions regardless of your faith or lack thereof. (man I’m starting to sound pretentious lmao I just mean like, if you’re an atheist or Catholic or whatever, it’s pretty interesting and also this guy is kinda dorky-funny so it makes for an easier read than some other books about religion)

Shmooze I think this is meant to be more for a group to read an discuss, and like, also maybe meant for a younger audience (I’m talking about teenagers so not really that young, but if you’ve been reading dull infodumps by 90 y/o Jewish rabbis with doctorate degrees this is gonna be a change of pace lmao) I should mention that I’ve only read like two pages of this book because I saw it at Barnes and Noble and just kinda briefly checked it out so I don’t know a ton about it but it stuck in my head and the reviews look positive so

Obvious I don’t think you have to read all of those because I haven’t even read all of those so maybe just check one of them out if it seems like it could be helpful to you.

Judaism here on tumblr dot com:

Okay so like. This is really my personal diced onion so take it however you will but keep in mind that this really only reflects things I’ve come across and how I feel.

Obviously there are a lot of really great blogs about Judaism but I don’t have any specific ones to recommend I’m sorry :O I really really hate ~Discourse~ and like, in-depth arguments about the Holocaust because I get so wrapped up in it and let’s be honest, tumblr is all about the discourse and ignorance. That being said, I like to follow other people who are Jewish and blog about whatever because that usually leads to safer discussions and also is a great way to find really helpful thoughts and discussions by other Jews about topics like being LGBT, being a woman, being an atheist, etc. These are just nice to read and also if you aren’t familiar with certain Yiddish or Hebrew terms that are commonly used it’s a good way to see how and when they’re used in certain contexts.

I’m going to tag anything like this that I post here as “good info” just so me and anyone who wants can find this stuff easier. No they won’t necessarily have anything to do with hockey.

Also please be very careful when you’re reading a post that is presenting certain things as facts, always double check what someone is saying because misinformation is spread so quickly, and it’s almost always unintentional. The things that I find genuinely helpful/safe/fun involve opinions, common feelings and experiences, little personal stories and jokes, cool stuff like that.

I’m Jewish on my father’s side :0

Me too boo. Unfortunately that’s an unending discussion, and one that is often held by matrilineal Jews and doesn’t actually include patrilineal Jews, nor does it consider our thoughts/feelings/experiences. Without sounding like an idiot, it is absolutely buckwild to me that there are people who have been raised Jewish, have never known anything other than Jewish tradition, have been subject to antisemitism, but still aren’t considered Jewish.

And then this is where I see matrilineal Jews who hold this viewpoint bring up Reform Judaism, which is one of the three main branches of Judaism and does recognize patrilineall Jews as Jews. I’ve seen some discrepancy as to whether or not patrilineal Jews had to have been raised Jewish in order to be considered Jewish. This is all well and good for Jews like me whose family practices Reform Judaism, but for patrilineal Jews who wish to practice in an Orthodox or Conservative synagogue, it gets tricky.

Basically, yes this is a huge topic that inspires a lot of disagreement, and that sucks, but here’s what it comes down to. No one else is allowed to make you feel inferior because of your heritage. So many people, even modern Orthodox Jews, recognize that certain aspects of Judaism need to adapt to today’s society. I don’t want to offend anyone here, but I really do feel that most matrilineal Jews who don’t consider us Jewish are extremely hypocritical (for a lot of reasons but mostly like...y’all really follow every aspect of Jewish Law? Like do you really? All of it? Girl do u? Or are you maybe just being elitist). Learning about your heritage, talking about shared experiences, combating antisemitism, these are all things that are fair game for you (especially for the anon who said they were atheist) and going to Shabbat services, praying, participating in holy days. That’s all yours if you want it, bubbeleh.

Can I be an atheist Jew?

Sure you can! I, personally, am not an atheist so I wasn’t comfortable finding specific resources about this because I don’t really know much about it? It’s fine with me if you’re atheist that’s none of my business, I just don’t want to direct you to a bad source. But yes, many Jews are atheist, many are secular, I’m sure there are many here on tumblr. It’s absolutely okay, Judaism is an ethnoreligion, and while you may experience Judaism different than the rest of us, you’re still a Jew and still belong.

Here’s an excerpt from a short lil synopsis of Judaism:

These three connotations of Judaism as a monotheistic system, as a literary tradition, and as a historical culture are sometimes viewed separately. For example, there are Jews who see themselves as culturally Jewish, but who are also non-religious or atheist, often identifying more strongly with Jewish “peoplehood” than with traditional understandings of God and Torah. Even so, all Jews would recognize that these three points of reference have shaped and guided Jewish experience through the ages.

Jewish “peoplehood” that they talk about is like. Culture, customs, food, art, history, etc.

One last little note on this, you’ll hear a lot that Judaism focuses more on actions than on beliefs. This is an excellent article that is pretty short and worth reading that I want to include because I think that even if you don’t believe in G-d or even if you are seriously questioning, the focus on just. Doing good. Actively doing good things and trying to be a good person (I know that’s objective but bear with me) is a such a huge part of Judaism that you can try to incorporate into your life without having to subscribe to any sort of dogma or beliefs that you don’t hold. “Judaism is certainly a faith-based tradition. Belief in G-d is central to our religion. It just isn’t a prerequisite. If you are Jewish, you are so regardless of belief.”

But I’m a feminist....

As you should be. This is probably another personal statement you gon’ wanna take with a grain of salt, but I think Judaism, especially in the last 50 years or so, has made huge strides in this. Especially Reform Judaism, but that kind of goes without saying.

Example, my synagogue was founded as a Conservative synagogue. Our website still says we are. I’m not actually sure tbqh, like I said, my family are Reform Jews, and so are most other families in our congregation I think but this is literally the only synagoge for like hundreds of miles so. Anyways our rabbi is female (Rabbi Shaina!) and she does great work, we all love her. She’s really adament on teaching kids that gender shouldn’t keep you from anything, that Judaism is for all Jews, that it should enhance our lives. She wears a tallis, lays her tefillin, and reads from the Torah.

My point here is that while this isn’t like, the end of misogyny in Judaism as we know it, it’s still a big deal in most religions to have a woman as their religious leader, essentially a position of religious power. For men to accept a woman as a religious leader is not something that is super common in most religions. And we’re like, a tiny congregation over a hundred miles away from anyone else, technically a Conservative synagogue, that’s super loving and accepting of a feminist running our shit... female rabbis are super common and I think it speaks a lot to how we’re progressing as a religion. Reform Judaism is going to be your best bet when it comes to tolerance but knowing that all three of the main branches are progressing, at least with this, is really comforting to me.

However, that’s an extremely one sided view and doesn’t really show the issue as a whole. This super short article (? not sure) is a bit pessimistic in my mind but presents the other side of things and gives a good explanation of the traditional sources of misogyny in Judaism, so this could further your understanding as well.

By no means are we perfect but we’re workin on it. Look into Jewish Feminism though, if you have the time. That article is just a lil intro to the topic.

I’m Q*eer/LGBT and I’m not sure y’all are gonna be cool with that...

Well this one’s a doozy.

I’ll kick this right off by presenting an article that is objective and does not reflect the author’s opinion, just lays out the issues at hand. It also has some links to other good pieces, including one cool story about a transgender man, Rafi Daugherty, embracing his role as a father and details his experience with pregnancy and giving birth. I should mention that I am cisgender so I’m interpreting this article through a different point of view, but it really does make a point of celebrating Rafi and his daughter and sharing their story. It does include a little cultural background context, but this is a positive story that I think deserves to be shared :)

Then there’s this statement from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism that confirms its absolute acceptance and support of LGBT Jews.

On the other side of things, there are still homophobic and intolerant Jews. Conversion camps were not just a Christian thing, there were Jewish conversion camps as well, which is horrific. Idk what to say because I think homophobia and transphobia in Judaism is really similar to what you would find in Christian settings.

I’m bisexual and I feel completely welcomed by other Jews who know this about me, and I certainly don’t feel any less Jewish because of it.

I live in a place where Jewish spaces are rare.

I really hate to disappoint with this one but I don’t have any specific sources or anything like that. Alls I got to say is that’s why the internet is so great? I really don’t feel like that’s helpful at all, but I think for the most part, the Jewish side of tumblr is pretty accepting and welcoming. Obviously that’s not always gonna be true though idkdjaskfl;dj

I spose with this one I wanna encourage anyone who has any good resources for involvement or something like that to reply to this post or drop by my inbox and let me know! Or maybe just your thoughts on some Jewish spaces you’ve encountered?

I hope this was helpful

In conclusion, don’t let anyone make you feel less Jewish. Your sexual identity, gender identity, and even your belief in G-d doesn’t take away from your Jewishness. I’d like to say that since I started delving into Judaism a little more I’ve found a lot of peace. And yeah that sounds cliche and also vague but it’s really a breath of fresh air to learn about my family and know more about this community. Also if you’re comfortable with or willing to try prayer, even if you’re atheist, it can be a good way to decompress sometimes, a really therapeutic kind of way to voice your thoughts and feelings and reflect on them.

There’s so much information and culture to delve into but it’s so so worth it to learn and I’m really happy for you that you’re interested in getting more in touch with your Jewish roots.

If any of these links don’t work and you’d like to see them let me know!

#this took 78 years sorry #ok for anyone to rb #there are TYPOS galore I'm sorry #judaism

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unlovedaddict · 6 years

Text

The Ultimate Guide to SEO

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While obtaining as many pages indexed online was historically a priority intended for an SEO, Google is right now rating the quality of webpages on your site and the particular type of pages it will be indexing. As mentioned earlier around 95% of general population will certainly not move beyond the very first page SEO search results, therefore as a business you require an in-depth knowledge of the particular latest SEO techniques and begin incorporating them in your company today.

Many electronic natives and marketers alike are usually using SEO to its benefit by incorporating every keyword you can possibly imagine into the content they create. Now that a person understand tips on how to please your customers, how to satisfy search objective, and how to create content material, it's time to move on to Pillar #3 in this SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy. As mentioned previously, businesses could not make the bigger mistake than thinking that will best SEO techniques only rely on content, because the most recent SEO techniques you need in order to adapt depend on greater than simply content. Today that you're on top associated with these 6 SEO trends plus have an arsenal of ideas to manage your strategy, a person are well positioned for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and digital marketing in 2018. In order to obtain a featured snippet, content internet marketers must structure their articles in order to a number of factors, having SEO well beyond the existing competition to reach the number one particular spot on Google. A good SEO strategy in 2018 requirements to consider the way we all consume visual content and exactly how search engines now go past text to explore the transforming habits of search. As a matter of reality, the strength of any website is situated in the DA. Domain Expert is SEOmozs calculated metric regarding how well a given domain name is likely to rank looking results. An SEO expert can tell you this single modification may not improve your web page rankings or authority very very much, however it will get even more clicks. Off-page SEO very efficiently in advertising your business where social press, bookmarking sites, forums, blog listing, Q&A, articles, videos, image plus infographic sharing, and document revealing play well. Even though AMP is not so very much a ranking signal for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, you can imagine that AMP's, when properly utilised, provide the broader visibility. The white hat SEO methods are good for future-proof SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION results Meanwhile, black hat ought to be avoided at all expenses as they strategies are the particular ones that Google and various other search engines are determined in order to root out. SEO a lot more usually discuss domain trust plus domain authority based on the particular number, type and quality associated with incoming links to a web site. As electronic assistance gets more accurate presently there is a great opportunity each for SEO and content, gaining from a growing market that develops the brand with a consumer in a unique but nevertheless relevant and useful way. Not simply search engine algorithm changes yet also the way in which usually people search keeps changing, therefore, considering the above 10 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION trends- digital marketers and company owners could make their web site ready for ranking high within 2018. If you look at huge brand names like Amazon and Walmart, a person see how powerful SEO may be. When you search regarding nearly every consumer product on Search engines, Amazon and Walmart are even more than likely to appear upon top. In the similar vein, you can't go to an SEO blog at the particular moment without seeing a function on Voice Search.

RankBrain is more associated with a ranking signal than a good SEO masterpiece, nevertheless, it will have some effects on SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, and can be especially helpful if users don't know fully what they're looking for, or even simply can't find the correct words to use. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION - Seo: the process associated with making your site better intended for search engines. Google announced last 12 months that RankBrain had become their own 3rd most important ranking aspect, and our SEO predictions recommend it will grow in significance for 2018. Creating and promoting linkable property is an excellent way in order to increase your SEO through the purchase of backlinks. You can get SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION results by executing Pillar #1 and Pillar #2 well, yet backlinks are fuel on the particular fire. This way, a person and your SEO can make sure that your site is created to be search engine-friendly in the bottom up. However, a great SEO can also help enhance an existing site. Not just is it a great method to get different viewpoints straight into your article and find out there new things, it also assists grow your SEO rankings plus traffic. Use LSI keywords in body (use Seo pressor plugin to get related keywords). All these consequences also lead to better SEO and higher search engine rankings. On-page SEO is the exercise of optimizing individual web web pages to be able to position higher and earn more related traffic in search engines. In the event that you are a local company and want to build upon your local SEO, do that simply by looking for websites that are usually associated with the area a person operate in. You can inquire your local magazine whether these people wish to work together upon online articles and mention your own business in them or enjoy the role of mentioned upon local websites like your neighborhood page. To predict tips on how to surface a business's results within a voice search, SEO experts now need to concentrate upon ranking for the common NL queries around target keywords. While every single client has a different goal, the SEO ranking principles are the very same. In 2018, it's going in order to be increasingly important for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION builders to incorporate longer-tailed key phrases into queries. On-page SEO is the optimisation of the elements that can be found on your own website, which includes content, the code behind each page, visual elements and consumer experience. Only continuous updation of your website with the particular latest SEO techniques will assist to raise it to the particular top most positions within the particular ranking. No matter how many up-dates Google gets released for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION but without having a correct content for a website just about all these updated will be used up. That makes SEO an perfect leads tool, because when people follow links back to your own site, you have the possibility to convert them to network marketing leads, and later make sales. There's simply no question that focusing on your own business' SEO is critical regarding a successful marketing strategy. The use associated with specific, purposefully chosen keywords will be also important in the procedure as the strategy of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION depends on the ways individuals use search engines like search engines. In this post, coming from divided the top SEO techniques in order to help you skyrocket your ratings and boost your number associated with monthly visitors. Therefore, it's time for mobile search engine optimization for better SEO result. These 2 updates have compelled the SEOs to keep the mentioned tasks in check and work in the direction of Google's mission statement of offering authentic search engine results in order to the visitors. Search engines has emphasized links as the ranking factor since the 1990s, according to Moz, and they will continue to be an important aspect of every great SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy. The ability of web SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION lies in understanding how individuals search for things and knowing what sort of results Google wants in order to (or will) display to the users.

Google, much towards the shock of every SEO pro, is just not obsessed with making our life more difficult, but instead, will be obsessed with providing their customers with the best user encounter possible. Organised data on websites are definitely used by search engines in order to provide more info to users, plus they will continue to achieve this. Using schema markup to supply data about events, payment strategies as well as review ratings to research engines will push local SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION rankings higher in 2018. As considerably as SEO, he offers this particular post from 2017: 18 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Tactics that Take Only thirty Minutes Each” Tactics here range between getting set up on Search engines My Business to checking your own site speed (with speed becoming even more important now compared to when Patel first wrote their post), and from enhancing your own site's URL structures to including internal linking to your advertising mix and much more. Our in-depth guide provides the latest SEO most readily useful practices so you can improve how your content appears in search results, and get more traffic, leads, and sales.

In today's rapidly moving world, SEO techniques can alter on the dime—and the most severe part is that you basically might not even know this. Hacks which could have received you a front-page result mainly because recently as 2016 are outdated now, but they may also hurt your website's rankings. It's a really good and knowledgeable blog to enhance your SEO ranking. Take some time plus find out about your Meta titles, description, URL readability plus how to earn featured thoughts and site links SEO's close to the globe are taking click through rate seriously claiming it in order to be one of the best ranking signals. Bing has confirmed that will they track unlinked brand says and use them as the ranking signal — and the patent by Google (along along with observations from many SEO experts) indicates that Google may become doing this as well. I've seen success with producing videos lately and am searching forward to making use of your SEO suggestions to help my videos position on page 1. Plus SEO professionals are absolutely thrilled about this new opportunity mainly because featured snippets provide a opportunity for low-ranking pages to get at the particular top of search results along with almost zero effort. With more than 200 ranking factors in Google's search algorithm, SEO is right now a highly complex process. A SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION process may involve a web site's coding and structure, content plus copywriting, site presentation, as properly as fixing other issues that will will prevent search engines through indexing your company website. Just because Google and other search motors are using personalization more regularly in order to get more accurate search outcomes for their users, user customization has become more prevalent within SEO. The particular need to learn about fresh entrants like Siri, Alexa, Fb, Linkedin, and specialist search motors (like, for example) will maintain SEOs on their toes regarding years to come. It took me plenty associated with time to organize for it, in order to conduct the research and therefore forth. It is very helpful to have the information upon how the very best professionals use SEO at hand. Affected sites along with poor onpage and offpage SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, and has a massive impact on location related search.

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