#but i guess this is propaganda for a ship already seen as popular but like... idk i think theres something to it even as someone

[kelocitta]

In honor of the @rw-ship-showdown I wanted to write about Artihunter as someone who jokingly slapped them together pre-downpour and still thinks they are actually very compelling. Just not in the super soft love wins kinda way (Although I get why people like that more) And the only way I know how to do that is talking too much so heres a far too long slug essay-

Obviously the slugcats don't offer a ton of characterization but theres not nothing to work with. Their stories, whether by their roles in it or the overarching themes do provide a backbone to work with. Even gameplay itself can provide a bit. (for some more than others) Hunter, to me, is ultimately a story about selflessness. The goal is to revive Moon, which is very much an act of kindness from both Hunter and NSH. But the weight of that action is much more significant for Hunter- Hunter is deeply sick. They're on the clock, and for all their skill in combat none of that will ultimately help them to survive longer than their body can hold out. Moon is a close friend of NSH but that means little Hunter- Hunter really gets next to nothing out of helping them, and ultimately pays quiet a bit spending their limited time alive fighting to deliver that neuron so that someone else can live.

To spend ones limited days on helping another, in a game that very much stresses the unwavering cruelty of the world and nature- is pretty notable. (And you could even say that Hunter being the Hardmode of Rain World adds another layer to this)

And then we have Artificer. A storyline that very much stands out to people as more… villainous (so to speak) than the other slugcats. Artificer's story covers a lot of things. Trauma, violence, revenge, etc. Revenge is a bit of a selfish desire- That need to see someone hurt as they have hurt you. A punishment that ultimately does not fix whatever harm was done- but feels good to see because you were hurt and now those responsible share that pain.

Artificer's actions are founded in that need for revenge, their pups killed for overstepping boundaries they didn't know existed. Is it not fair for them to be angry at that, to punish the scavengers for their violence with their own? Why should the scavengers ever be forgiven when they and their pups were not? And that's how you get that loop- Harm for harm over and over.

The original action has been lost in a spiral of violence for violence. And here stands Artificer- their very spirit scarred. Not just because they sought revenge, but because they never ceased trying to scratch that itch for violence as an answer. Artificer only has two paths for their story- killing the scavenger king (Someone who, really, has little to do with the original 'crime' of the scavengers, but represents an important individual to them- as did the slugpups to Artificer), locking themselves as karma one for good and spending the rest of their life chasing creatures that no longer even fight back in a warped sense of closure- or to dissolve themselves in the acids of the void sea because they're too far gone to find any real peace.

They can't meaningfully recover from that state, not alone, twisting in on themselves. Even if they halt their actions, they've been using violence as a feeble defense against their own pain- violence that no longer has any real direction or basis. Artificer gets no real closure from killing the scavenger king. All they can do is continue the cycle, or try to scrub it away. No real peace in a prison of their own making. So you have a creature, who even with a strict timer on their life- a body that will crumble to disease, spends its last bit of time on saving another. And another who was so caught up in the pain of loss that were eaten alive by their own anger, poisoned their own soul on such a deep level even self-proclaimed gods have no solution for them. What peace can they offer each other? For Hunter, its only a fleeting moment of happiness- of selfish love, before their own body fails them. A bit of indulgence in something for themself. For Artificer, its a single, comforting thread to ground them again, something tangible to protect and care about again. But thats a thread that will ultimately be snapped under the cruel indifference of the world. Hunters timer will tick down regardless of if it takes another with it. Its a tragedy- its doomed to end badly. Whatever good it offers to either of them to find each other will only provide the fleeting comfort of a band-aid that will be ripped away too early. But all that can be worth indulging in anyway, if only for the moment. It doesn't change the ending, but the ending was never going to be happy. Its can so yuri

[lovely-english-rose]

14, 19, 28, 30, 36 & 38 for the FE asks

oooh lots of questions! i'll put them under a cut to spare everyone's dashboards from how long this will probably get lol

14. Something you really don't like about this series?

Hm.. Less about the series I guess, and more of the general treatment of female characters- The oversexualization of them particularly. I get having fanservice, but alot of what the games do is just 😬 We respect women in this house, they deserve better- AND if we're gonna fanservice WHERE is the equality? Sexualize the men too. Also, having thousands year old characters looking 12....

19. Favorite (canon) pairing?

Obviously (m)Corrin and Niles- Of course they are canon, IS hasn't come out and said they're not, so who's to say they aren't 👀 it's my playthrough and i get to decide the canon ships! and who am I, if not the walking talking kamu//zero propaganda machine? I mean that's why I'm drawing them all the time lol. I genuinely hope they get an alt together in feh the way Chrom and Robin did earlier this year.

In terms of pairs that are 100% canon in game, I do adore Louise and Pent! What sweethearts!

Also big fan of ~heavily implied~ Eliwood and Ninian uwu

28. Because this fandom doesn't see enough discourse [citation needed], post a spicy hot take here🔥🔥

oh geez I gotta come up with another spicy hot take- lets see. ah- avatar characters are in fact their own characters, none of them are "self inserts" despite having customization options, because they all have their own distinct personalities. also, while you can have a preference for one version over the other, ultimately male and female versions are the same, because they're literally the same character so it's pretty dumb to hate one version while holding up the other one over the same traits- (ex. i have seen people hate m!corrin for being "too emotional" while in the same breath adored f!corrin for being "a strong and emotional protagonist" they're... they are the same character. and people do this with all the avatar units smh)

30. Since horse abuse is currently popular on Tumblr, beat up a dead horse with your take on an oversaturated topic🐴

*leans into mic* Edelgard, while in fact being a very strong and interesting female character, is still the villain of 3h. And that's okay, you are allowed to enjoy villain characters, free yourselves from needing to justify everything your fave does and just enjoy baddies. Liking villains doesn't make you a bad person. Also her being bi does not excuse or justify anything she does?? Rhea is also a bisexual lead in the same game so. Ya know. Also potentially Byleth as well depending on player choices-

36. Share a funny FE-related story, either ingame or not!

I think I've told this one already, so sorry if you're seeing it again- But this is a favorite moment of mine. One (1) time I didn't marry Niles in a Conquest playthrough, for the sake of finally seeing Nina right? So I had Niles go after her, iirc he was closest, and she says something like "you'll never catch me daddy! >:(" and Niles, hitting a fucking crit, "you can't hide from me!" and oneshot poor Nina- I sat there like

thankfully you can recruit her by defeating her, but MAN what a moment. I was shocked then, but I find it very funny looking back.

38. Freebie! Talk about whatever you want 🐉⚔

Outside of Smash, FE was introduced to me by some friends. And the series has introduced me to so many more so, I'm really happy for that! As rough as the community can get, I'm glad for all the people the series has connected me with. And the games themselves have brought me so much joy. Also, love seeing the shining creativity in the community, in art, fic, cosplay, analysis, etc. 😊

Fire Emblem Series Ask Game!

[twistedrozu]

Trey Clover Inspired Heartslabyul Birthday Headcanon!

I forgot to post this....whoops?

Funny story....I was pulling for Azul's SSR card and I went all the way to 100! And I got 1 SSR Dorm Outfit Trey! And 0 SSR Beanfest Azul! Yay-

Anyways....I was reading Trey's Dorm Outfit Vignette and I saw that a lot of people like made requests for Trey as soon as they heard there might be an opportunity. It got me thinking (Which is never a good thing mind you.) Thinking of a birthday headcanon for Heartslabyul!

Trey will make a persons favorite food/dessert on their birthday.

I know it sounds simple and probably a given but it sounds cute and I just love it!

Riddle - Strawberry Tart with extra Strawberries (Cause Trey is sweet like that and Riddle definitely has his own personal strawberry garden in the school greenhouse. You can't change my mind! If Jade can grow his lovely, weird, and interesting mushroom in that greenhouse then Riddle can grow starwberries. Riddle probably does (Who are we kidding- we already practically know he does) a little of everything so why not gardening too!)

Cater - He probably gets a savory food.. like a quiche! (As mentioned in the Redo Unbirthday Party, Cater doesn't like Sweets and Trey said he would make one for him at the next unbirthday party...so why not for his birthday too!)

Ace - Cherry Tart. Ace gets a Cherry Tart! (Ace has already mentioned that he loves Cherries and that Cherry Tarts are his favorite! Trey probably keeps a list and remembers when people make requests or mention their favorite foods for their birthdays...again because Trey is a sweet older brother figure/person like that.)

On a separate note....

If Ace x Riddle isn't popular we need to give them a cute ship name. And what better way to start off then with their mutual love of a kind of tart! Which is how my whole StrawcherryTartShipping/StrawberryCherryTartShipping propaganda started. I still haven't come up with a decent one....but I'll find a cute one. It's not a popular ship and it's not the biggest ship...who am I kidding it's overlooked entirely. At first glance they are just two idiots but them as well as the ship grows on you :) For newcomers to this ship. I recommend reading Ace's P.E outfit vignette ❤

I'm just imagining Trey has a list of everyone in Heartslabyuls favorite foods, desserts, and or pastries. Although....because of Riddle since no one in Heartslabyul drops out or gets held back Trey's list probably covers his room and goes out the window- (Have you all seen what those NRC dorms look like on the outside.)

Back to the original focus of this post-

Deuce - Deuce is like the single most wholesome child ever. 🥺🤧💙🖤 (He's literally someone who canonically used to beat people up and actually...still probably does? Do I care? No. ❤) In Trey's Vignette I believe he asks for a Eggy Chiffon Cake (Granted he does like anything with eggs so I guess that makes sense! Sounds good too 😯) and of course ask and you shall recieve my child.

At this point Trey himself will become a fairytale story. I can see it now "The Baker Man...Student...Person!" He brings you your favorite desserts in your dreams and is basically a modern cavity creator. But sweets make you (most of you probably?) and me happy and most importantly Riddle happy. So who cares! ...I do!(I need help.)

If you took the time to read my rant! Thank you :D! And if you hated this...I'm very sorry you wasted your time reading this :(

Azul....I hate you. And I hope that your octopus pot. Breaks. Like my heart when I didn't get you. 😔💔

[ryuichirou]

I saw one very stupid post on my dash about how snk is OBVIOUSLY nazi propaganda and trying to convert all of us into imperialists and white supremacists. tbh it’s not the first time I’ve seen that kind of stuff and probably won't be the last, but for some reason this time it gave me a lot of anxiety (I got wordy, I'mma need to send another ask, sorry)

(part 2) It's been more than half and hour and I still feel this awful sensation in my chest. It's just overall pretty fucked how to have something you hold dear being misinterpreted in the worst way possible, and I was just wondering what are your thoughts on this situation or how you deal with people claiming all sorts of awful shit.

(part 3) I imagine that as an artist some people probably direct their issues with snk towards you, 'cause I don't even post that much fanart and I've gotten anons "trying to educate me" on why this series is so wrong, after posting drawings. Of course, you don't have to reply, maybe the topic makes you anxious too and I don't want to bother you, so sorry for the depressing topic (｡•́︿•̀｡)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Tiiish, I want to hug you, I’m really sorry that this happened to you. I hope you’re feeling a little bit better now.

Like we already mentioned a while ago, when we were talking about that darn article, after we read through it and did a little fact checking (and I mean it when I say a little, because there weren’t many facts to check), we stopped caring about it. It’s not research at all, just a manipulatively written speculation on Yam’s motives and worldview, but sadly, people easily believe these accusations because they hate SnK and want to find a valid reason to hate it and shit on its fanbase. Because “I hate it because it’s nazi propaganda” sounds much cooler than “I hate it because it’s popular”, doesn’t it?

It’s easier to ignore the article itself though, and it’s much harder not to think about tumblr posts or those Twitter threads that get very popular (although there are a lot of bots on twitter, trust me…), and it’s especially difficult to ignore it when it’s specifically directed at you. But the only thing that these people deserve is a good ol’ block and (if they’re getting too offensive and abusive) a report for harassment. The thing is, their opinion doesn’t matter: it won’t change SnK’s story, it won’t affect its success and popularity, it doesn’t affect anything other than our mood (temporarily lol). Because they aren’t critics who actually give a flying fuck about the subject matter, they’re just random assholes with a hateboner for SnK, who sit in their echochamber and discuss the same shit over and over again. And if they’re “fans” of the SnK, it’s just them “consuming it critically” 🙄 such a convenient phrase and so easy to abuse.

If we think about these accusations again… they’re so damn nonsensical, it’s almost amazing. I’m not going to reread it or to make a proper counterpoint article out of this ask, so this is just based on how we remember these accusations.

Like, what part of SnK approves and pushes the idea of imperialism in any way? When the entire idea of the story is that war is bad? When people like Onyankopon, whose homeland was invaded by Marley, exist? And it’s never portrayed as a good thing? Having only one country dominating the world’s situation is literally the main reason why everyone’s suffering??

And come to think of it, Isayama is one of the few manga artists to kind of sort of openly critique Japan: he literally drew Kiyomi losing her cool and drooling while thinking about all the profit and wealth she would get from the deal with Paradis. Why do people never talk about that? What is it, if not a critique of greedy and two-faced nature of people from Azumabito clan, who are heavily implied to represent Japan? I don’t read a lot of manga in general, but do you know how many mangakas I’ve seen who directly talked shit about Japan while being Japanese? Two. Excluding Isayama.

Isayama is clearly invested in the Western culture and he understands the World’s History. He understands that political relationships are complex and that there are no “bad” or “good” countries. I don’t want to make assumptions about how much perspective of the world’s relationships the average person from Japan has, but I still feel like Yams has a pretty good understanding of it. He did his research for the subject matter, and while it’s obviously not perfect, it’s clearly there.

These people also claim that SnK is anti-Korean and anti-Semitic, but if Hetalia had taught me anything, it is that if the story has or used to have any anti-Korean undertones, the Korean readers wouldn’t want to have anything to do with it. They would be the first people to ditch the manga, they would be the first people to critique SnK, and rightfully so. They burnt Uniqlo clothes, their overall domestic policy is pretty anti-Japanese, so there’re literally zero reasons for them not to destroy SnK if they see it as anti-Korean. But the size of the Korean SnK fandom suggests otherwise, doesn’t it.

And the “big noses = Jewish caricature” argument, seriously? How anti-Semitic can you get? Who the fuck looks at people and goes “oh, those have big noses, bet they’re caricature of Jews”?? Sorry I’m getting heated lol The argument about “Asian artists portray Westerners with prominent noses because that’s what we look like to them” has been done a lot of times, I’m not going to go over than again.

And god forbid Isayama to use Germany and Europe to draw a story where his characters are (approximately) Germans and Europeans! Let’s go fetch our pitchforks to punish Isayama for using their aesthetic to make his story look more believable and authentic, right? “Oh, those areas where they hold Eldians resemble places from real life”, like no shit???? Ofc they would??? That’s what references for making the story more grounded are used for??? If I were to write a story about a fictional place based on a real one that I don’t live in, I’d use some visual references to help me to make it more believable??? Why do I even need to explain that?

In my previous post I talked about the armbands and ghetto and stuff, but I’ll reiterate: even if there are thematic similarities, it doesn’t mean that the story mirrors our history. And it doesn’t mean that there is an analogy, since Eldian’s situation is quiiiite different than what Jewish people had to go through. It’s just thematic similarities. And it still doesn’t plant any specific idea in the reader’s head, other than “having people shoved into ghettos with 0 civil rights is a horrible thing”, and I can’t comprehend what’s anti-Semitic or imperialistic about it. Also I’m sorry, but nazis are not the only people who genocided a bunch of people, breaking news. Nor did they invent armbands. Same goes for Japan in WWII.

And now for my favourite argument: Erwin is nazi because his name is Erwin and he was born on the same day than some nazi guy died… I won’t even talk about why this idea is hilariously stupid, I just want to appreciate the level of nitpicking that’s going on here.

So… yeah. People who have nothing else to do but to complain about the show they hate don’t matter. And people who consider themselves a part of the SnK fandom and still say this bs (yep, there are people who do that) are huge hypocrites. The heck are they doing in this fandom then?? Of course, any story is up to interpretation, but this is so backwards?

Sorry for rambling so much… anyways. We’re happy enough not to encounter any hate related to this topic, but we think it’s because we ship Ereri and people already hate us for that, so the majority of shit we get is related to that, I guess we’re a lost cause for them. We’ll see if anything happens after this post though.

But once again, I’m very sorry that you had to go through this. Please remember that this isn’t personal at all, and people who harass strangers on the internet just want to flex their high moral ground while acting like complete assholes. You don’t have to explain anything to them, you don’t have to talk to them, you don’t have to listen to them or give them any attention. I hope you’ll never stumble upon anything like this; but if you ever do, please block them, don’t even bother reading their attempts at “educate” you. Isn’t worth it.

Please have a good day, Tish. And everyone who’s reading this reply.

[shinneth]

Spill the tea on Stevinel (just because I saw one for conniverse) And yes, I'm not on Anonymous. Because I'm a proud stevinel shipper and no one's going to stop me from loving it, also your blog is cool

And you know what? That’s the right attitude to have! People should be free to express what they ship without shielding themselves with anonymity. I don’t blame the people that do these days - antis are fucking dangerous people - but goddamn, people. It’s fiction. 

So I commend you for shipping Stevinel openly and proudly! Hard to believe it’s actually considered a bold and brave move just to be open and honest about harmless preferences these days. 

That said, I’m sorry it took so long to get to this. I felt you deserved an epic, given how unexpectedly successful my tirade on why Connverse is a shit ship with an undeserved golden reputation was...

But the truth is, even though I’m very much a Stevinel shipper, it’s definitely not my OTP.

And it’s very tricky for me to figure out how to spill the tea on Stevinel in a way that’s distinct from me doing the same with Stevidot.

Because, well, let’s face it: these two ships, beyond being very similar in nature, have also endured identical hardships from the fandom.

All the death threats Stevinel fans get from the raging antis for daring to ship something so “problematic/immoral/wrong/not Connverse”? 

Stevidot fans have been treated that exact same way for years. And still are. For the exact same reasons.

Both Stevinel and Stevidot shippers are valid, but the fandom constantly turns a blind eye to Rebecca Sugar’s husband who also worked on the show outright saying gem x human ships are FAIR GAME.

And also turn a blind eye to the recent interview where Sugar herself stated that the gems are more like AI - a conclusion I and many others deduced ages ago just by how gems are portrayed in the show. 

But by god, they’ll hang on Matt Burnett’s word that “grown gems” are a thing even though canon itself explicitly states that GEMS DON’T GROW.

Just like how despite Maya Petersen outright admitting that Aroace!Peridot is just her headcanon, people treat it like the fucking gospel now.

(no offense to anyone who’s committed to that particular headcanon - I just don’t really see it with Peridot in particular and it’s really fucking stupid to claim it’s 100% canon when the source herself explicitly said it wasn’t)

Well, it’s canon that Spinel kissed Steven and he didn’t turn into dust. And Steven was already well on his way down the path of self-destruction at this point in time; he would’ve gone monster whether this happened or not. 

Also, how often does a character get the “heart eyes” expression for just a platonic love?

If there was ever a scene where Connie or Steven had heart eyes, no doubt most of the pricks would scream “YES!!!! UNDENIABLE PROOF THAT THEY’RE IN LOVE!!!”

But when it’s Spinel, suddenly it doesn’t count? Really?

How convenient.

There’s also the stupid idiots who saw the conceptual development of Spinel in that movie artbook and saw some vague color keys during a conceptual stage and claimed that Spinel was “family” to Steven - which of course must mean “related” and therefore must make Stevinel an incestuous relationship! 

Which is bull. Also shit. It’s already common knowledge that gems don’t work that way. She was the designated playmate for Steven’s mother. Nothing more.

Of course, most gems who come in Steven’s orbit end up being sort of a family to him. 

But everyone seems to have this impression that a gem being part of Steven’s family means they become additional surrogate mom figures.

And yeah no, that’s dumb and wrong. Garnet and Pearl are really the only ones I’d consider actual “mom figures”. Amethyst’s more of a big sister. Everyone else can vary depending on perspective, but I’ve never seen any of the other gems as anything close to a motherly figure for Steven. Any time I see shit about Lapis or Peridot being regarded as “gem moms” to Steven, I laugh my ass off. They are so not moms or any kind of authoritative figure for Steven. Bismuth at best is more of the fun-loving aunt.

There are more roles in a family than just a paternal/maternal substitute. In fact, I believe Steven has considered Connie to be part of his family well before they hooked up in canon.

(as a side-note, I love how people who are allegedly SO squicked out by age gap ships totally pardon Connverse - you guys realize Connie was 14 in Future, right? Possibly 15 depending on the time scale? There’s gonna be a point in the relative near future where Steven is 18 and Connie isn’t - why don’t I hear you assholes angst about that “atrocity”, huh?)

I honestly do consider the CG B-Team as part of Steven’s family, but more in a loose sense. But by that same token, I consider Connie as part of the family in a similar manner. 

Especially since Spinel was shoved off to live with the Diamonds after the movie - and the Diamonds themselves have a very fucked-up relationship among themselves to the point where I honestly hesitate to put a familial label on it at all - it’s extra stupid to try and paint Stevinel as something with incestuous overtones when it clearly doesn’t. 

Spinel does happen to be a perfect representative of how full of shit antis are about age gaps, though. 

While Peridot’s age has always been left vague, we know she can’t be 5K or older due to being an Era 2 gem. Due to her utter lack of knowledge of Era 1 events (or being completely sold on the Diamonds’ propaganda) and her general inexperience with her own equipment - as well as her ability to quickly adapt to Earth - I always headcanoned Peridot as being especially young. Like, younger-than-Steven young. 

Mostly because Peri’s attitude reeks of Gen Z - also because it’d be nice for a change to have a gem who isn’t thousands of years old like literally every other noteworthy gem in the show. We need a representative of gemkind who hasn’t been around for ages. 

Of course, Spinel’s backstory proves that even if they went the boring route and made Peridot thousands of years old just like everybody else, it wouldn’t really mean much of anything. She’d be no less of a valid romantic option for Steven regardless of age.

Spinel is several thousands of years old, and the movie explicitly shows us what exactly that amounts to for a gem.

As I mentioned earlier, Sugar sees the gems more like AI. Spinel remaining in one spot for several millennnia, not moving an inch, not speaking to anyone, not seeing anything other than a gradually-deteriorating garden... yeah, and somehow, despite all that, Spinel’s still very childlike per her design. She had literally no room to mature or accrue life experience: Pink Diamond basically hit the pause button on her entire life.

Even though she’s several thousands of years old, through no fault of her own, Spinel’s mindset remained unchanged. It wasn’t until Steven inadvertently came into her life that she became twisted - understandably so after finally realizing she’d been abandoned by Pink. 

But she still didn’t completely lose her true self. Spinel realized on her own that Steven didn’t deserve to suffer just because his mom was a negligent asshole. She also came to understand on her own that unlike Pink, Steven truly cared for her no matter what shit she threw his way. 

Steven could give Spinel the care and attention she always deserved; something Pink totally denied her while deceiving her into wasting away with her abandoned playground. He could be the one to give Spinel the love she always deserved but was either denied or manipulated into believing she got. 

Honestly, this is more than enough to warrant building something more between these two. 

The age gap is irrelevant. The two have chemistry. They aren’t related.

(and honestly, this is fiction - these details are largely irrelevant in fiction anyway. I’m only bringing it up because it doesn’t take much research to find that every label the antis put on Stevinel is complete inaccurate Diamond propaganda bullshit)

Stevinel is FINE. Let people ship it if they want to!

Um... is that good enough?

Honestly, I’m not gonna lie: Stevinel’s pretty goddamned popular; so much that I’m a bit jealous of it. I enjoy the ship a lot, but I’ve been keeping it at arms-length all this time. I’m looking forward to when I can write my own brand of Stevinel interaction when I get to introduce her in my series, but that’s still a while to go. 

Also, there’s almost zero Peridot/Spinel material, let alone my Peridot/Steven/Spinel OT3. And Stevidot material is still hard to come by; I’m noticing Stevinel’s still quite a bit easier to find by comparison. 

So in a way, I feel many other unpopular ships deserve some tea-spilling sooner than Stevinel because Stevinel at least still has a sizable fanbase. Same can’t really be said for a lot of similar ships here...

A lot of this can apply to other Steven x gem ships, honestly. 

But I guess I haven’t been showing Stevinel much proper love due to my devotion to my superior SU-AU. I can only hope I can soon reach a point where I can have GA Spinel react to Steven, since their dynamic will be significantly different.

(and then one day I’ll finally make the Peridot/Steven/Spinel OT3 fic!!)

Until then, I can only hope I did Stevinel some justice here!

[timeisacephalopod]

The criticisms I’ve seen for Captain Marvel are fucking stupid. I’m so sorry for the long rant!

Number One: ‘But the skrulls are antagonists in the comics, its insulting to comic fans that they changed it!’ Yes, skrulls are comic villains. But I read I run of Guardians of the Galaxy that had this EXACT storyline. Cosmo (the dog in a space suit we see in GoTG) was hiding skrull refugees who didn’t agree with the skrulls overall goals and Drax deadass killed everyone on the ship for 30 seconds to determine who was and wasn't a skrull, resulting in Cosmo having to defend them to the Guardians because these particular skrulls didn’t agree with their people’s ways and were looking for safety. The refugee storyline is literally CANON. Just because its not a popular storyline doesn’t mean they didn’t pull it from the comics. And we’ve never particularly cared how faithful something is to comic canon before either.

Number Two: she’s over powered. So was Thor when he took the full force of a dying star in Infinity War, so was Tony Stark when he fell out of the sky and smashed into the sand going more than fast enough to break every bone in his body in Iron Man, so was Bucky when he didn't die falling off that train in Captain America, Bruce Banner- no further argument needed. And its worthy to note Peter Quill, who never used his powers before meeting Ego, was able to conjure them almost immediately and use them with a small level of control. Arguably, Loki is overpowered too. Carol Danvers had extensive combat training on TWO planets and already had a decent control on her energy blasting powers, PLUS she was shown to mess up a few times in her final battle but her powers made up for that. Not unlike Captain America in all HIS movies, or Tony Stark for that matter.

Number Three: bUt I dOnT lIkE tHaT iT gOt pOliTiCaL. Oh, you mean like Iron Man talked about US sponsored terrorism and criticized the military and weapons use? Or like Infinity War had Thanos go on and on about over population and resource scarcity? Or IM2 talking about green energy and referencing climate change? Or how about the explicitly political entire third Captain America movie or you know, C A P T A I N  A M E R I C A as an entire character. The guy is literally walking American propaganda in the movies and in real life, plus his first movie criticized war propaganda. Thor 3 touched on historical revisionism and imperialism, it also criticized prison slavery. Political commentary is integral to both the comics and the MCU- the political backdrop of the times shaped how the fucking stories got told. Comic villains are literally whoever America doesn’t like at the time of writing- we know this.

Number Four: ‘but I don’t like that Brie Larson talked about feminism and critics being diverse, this is a bad thing for some reason!!!’ Oh, but we’re going to ignore Chris Evan’s left wing politics and how he’s pretty open about it too, often criticizing Trump and making other left wing criticisms of America? I’ve never seen anyone say they don’t want to see Captain America or that they don’t like Chris Evans so much that they try and bomb a Cap movie before it even comes out due to his politics. And Evans’ political stances are more radical than her critic comment, and even if it wasn’t they have similar politics. Given that no one is trying to boycott Chris Evans I’ll assume that’s total bullshit, otherwise there’d be no difference in Larson’s backlash and his crickets.

Number Five: ‘it wasn’t that good, its only mediocre’ or alternatively ‘the trailer/movie didn’t convince me’ argument. Sure, because Ant Man was mind blowing and not at all a Filler Movie, and Doctor Strange totally doesn’t feel like Magical Iron Man, and Peter Quill totally isn’t Space Iron Man, and Thor’s first movie was totally new and original and memorable. Shit, even First Avenger was mediocre. Now, none of these movies are bad- I liked them all fine but lets be real. Ant Man was a money making venture with no value to the MCU and Scott Lang felt like the sidekick in his own story. The first two Thor movies were DC level Dark and Edgy for no reason and, unpopular opinion, I hated the third. The first two Thor’s were dry and lacking in characterization, and the fact that the third was hilarious and made Thor relatable is the reason for its success and the redemption of Thor as an MCU character in fandom eyes regardless of my personal opinion of it. Doctor Strange was a filler movie too, and while it wasn’t nearly as obvious as Ant Man that it was, it sure shit didn’t add anything amazing to the mix either. The time stone was more important than Stephen Strange to MCU canon. It was a Standard Hero Arc with lackluster villains that Strange deadass annoyed into fucking off. That’s how he won the fight in his movie. He was very annoying. Again, I liked this movie fine but the magic was the only new thing. So where’s the ‘well it wasn’t THAT great, it didn’t blow my mind because I guess that’s what we expect out of a fucking superhero film now’ for these movies? Did we expect any of these movies to have off the wall super amazing the best ever never seen before and will never be done like it again storylines that we... honestly don’t see in most any movie? No. And we know why. But given its genre CM was good, exceptionally within its franchise. Is it the most amazing movie ever? No, but not a single MCU film could qualify for that spot either so why do we expect movies led by minorities like CM and Black Panther to?

These are the things I see brought up the most and not one of them even holds. The movie was good and yet critics are like ‘we don’t wanna seem not progressive because we ranked it bad :(((((( But sometimes its not a good movie :((((((( I know I liked Doctor Stange even though its not nearly as good :((((( And CM is one of the best origin stories in the franchise :((((( and we didn’t scrutinize Ant Man, Doctor Strange, and Thor like this even though they were blatantly filler movies :(((((( But sometimes its not good :(((((( I’m a feminist I swear!’ How about admit that you had STUPID high expectations for no reason at all and were looking for a reason to hate the movie. We’ve been handed much worse than this, and the story was just fine. Carol was compelling and interesting as a character, her hero journey is just different enough to make her stand out, I loved what they did with the kree, and the skrull storyline was unexpected, but interesting. We’ve never expected total faithful adaptation to comics before, people didn’t scream that Civil War deviated pretty hard from the comic counterpart, but I guess the fucking skrulls were too much. Not to mention this movie is one of the very few MCU films that doesn’t have a boring villain. All around it was a solid movie, why are people bitching?

[valoisfulcanelli]

randomsquirrel replied to your post: What’s going to happen to my content on Tumblr

Doesn’t it just figure that JUST as things are getting together and you CAN start posting again they pull this bullshit. I’m in a similar boat, as this is one of the few places I can think of to say “hey, read my fics!”, and without it, well, I almost wonder why bother updating, yeah? >_>

Yep. The new computer is actually arriving this afternoon.

The thing is... *sigh* I’ve seen all of this before. Many years ago, before Tumblr was even much of a thing, LiveJournal was THE home for fandom. Everyone was there. After the first ‘strikethrough’ several clones popped up--most notably JournalFen--but LJ was fandom’s home in its entirety. You could find anything on there when Brad and his staff ran it.

(I got wordy again. The rest is behind a cut.)

Then Brad sold it to 6Apart, who took it apart. They created VOX: an abortive attempt to ‘simplify’ LiveJournal for people who thought it too complicated. I got an account there to try it out, and it was horrendous; like LJ for kiddies. You couldn’t leave comments on other peoples’ posts; the only way you could respond was by clicking an “I like this” button. 

Clicky buttons are the one thing I truly detest about Facebook. Their ‘like’ button was the start of what I think of as ‘lazy reactions’. People rarely comment these days (and yes, I include myself among that number) because we have other, much faster ways to react. And thus, slowly, community and support is eroded. Slowly, more and more young people--who grew up with simplified reactions as their only feedback--are at risk of tying their self-esteem and self-worth into how many likes/hearts they get, and how many followers they have, regardless of whether those followers actually interact with them. Is it any wonder that--despite our all being so much more ‘connected’ these days--many of us feel so much more lonely?

So 6Apart began the taking apart of LiveJournal. I finally quit my expensive permanent account when one of the staff members made a post mocking people who were upset about the changes that were being made. He actively wrote derogatory things about them (I still have the screenshot of it somewhere in my old backed up archive files). And when I made a final post telling my almost 300 followers that I was done with the site, guess what happened?

Several of them told me I was selfish for taking all of my self-created content away from them. People messaged me, screaming about how I was letting them down. Other people messaged a co-writer I’d been working on a long series with and urged her to forget about me and take on a new co-writer who would (get this) take over my characters and write them for me, just so they didn’t lose a series they were so invested in on that platform.

I’d created something they loved, and they didn’t want to lose it. Looking back on it now, with the benefit of time and hindsight, those people were just as scared as I was of change. But while they stayed on the sinking ship, I had to jump over the railing and swim away.

I quit in 2008 and pretty much left fandom for a long, long fucking time, after having been incredibly active on LJ for 7 years. 6Apart sold LJ to SUP, a Russian company. I took a tentative step back to LJ about a year ago. I tried it for about a month and then the ToS changed. Everyone was logged out, and they couldn’t log back in without accepting the new ToS... which stated that they agreed not to post any LGBT ‘propaganda’. 

So I closed the tab and never went back. So did many others, but--Dreamwidth aside--there was no single place that fandom went to. The diaspora had already begun years back, with the people who posted the pictures moving to Tumblr, the fic-writers moving to AO3, and the general bloggers moving to DW. Fandom was split into three, and--not incidentally--that was when fandom started turning in on itself, too. The worst of fandom that you see today was beginning to make itself known back then, on those disparate sites. Sure--even prior to that--you’d see some stupendous Harry Potter absurdity being related on the fandom_wank community on JournalFen but the kind of shit you see with fen turning on other fen wasn’t around back then. (Anyone familiar with ‘hed pastede on yay’? That was a fandom_wank thing.)

I didn’t get back into fandom until I started writing The Madness of Mr Goth. And my god, had fandom changed by that point. I barely recognised it. Whereas before--when I posted chapters on LiveJournal--I’d get up to 50 comments per chapter, now I was lucky to get maybe five or six from the same faithful band of devoted readers. Sure, a lot of that could be down to the fandom I found myself in--but hell, my old ones weren’t exactly hugely popular! I was often the fandom-of-one who managed to pull other people in.

People don’t interact anywhere near as much as they used to. And part of me can’t help but think that... that is what’s wanted. In isolation and loneliness, people have no support, no backup, it’s harder to organise things. Look what happens when people do protest. Shit gets done! But with everyone posting away and getting only hearts and thumbs-ups, it’s harder to feel like you’re getting anywhere. Whereas, back when I was more active and other were too, there was support everywhere.

You know something about me and LiveJournal? I started something there, something that a lot of other people picked up and ran with. Anyone who might have been active back then may realise that I’m about to out my old fannish identity to anyone with a good memory, but I started a movement on LJ: the _daily community, posting a daily image of [insert fandom here]. I created the very first one--the idea was mine--and thousands of others followed. You won’t find a _daily that’s older than the one I created (and yes, eventually deleted when I deleted all of my other journals; another thing I got told I was selfish for doing) because I started that whole thing. And I was the only one who never missed a goddamn day. I even arranged for others to cover when I was away on vacation (there were no queued posts back then) so that not a single day was missed. 

I had something like 30 or so journals and communities, combined. They ranged from my own personal account, personal fanfic posting, non-fannish fic posting, several fandom communities, a writers’ support community, a community dedicated to philology, multiple roleplay journals and journals dedicated to individual long story arcs, a journal that I was writing from the historical standpoint of a fictional Elizabethan doctor and his apprentice (in as close to original syntax as I could), and many many others. I was ridiculously active back then, posting fiction almost every day, and huge summaries at the end of each month, so people could click links to catch up on what they were currently reading.

LiveJournal was my home, but I upped sticks and left because I couldn’t stay there any longer with the way it was heading. Not only did I leave behind those journals, I also left behind the online persona I had been using for more than ten years (actually, when I look back, I’d been using that persona online for about TWENTY years). I figuratively shed my skin, and felt lost for a very long time because my entire online identity was left behind on LJ.

I don’t even know where I’m going with this ramble. Clearly I have a LOT of fucking thoughts on this, and many of them have been simmering just under the boil for about ten years. I would love to go back to how I was then, but I’m not sure that I can.

[lehdenlaulu]

Under other circumstances I'd believe they were just trying to start trouble too, but after being in the Reylo fandom since Jan 2016... Unfortunately they probably 100% believe it. I mean they've been claiming Reylo shippers are literal Nazi's, abuse apologists, racists, paedophiles and delusional. I have around 900 tumblrs blocked and I still find hate in the tag. The current wave of Damerey hate shouldn't last to long though, they get more attention from the big ships.

I’m absolutely certain most of them 100% believe it too. I mean, propaganda is one of the most dangerous weapons out there for a reason, and buying into your own propaganda is an actual thing. Human mind is funny like that, which is why echo chambers are extra dangerous.

I mean… I’m not innocent of anti-reylo sentiments myself. I don’t like the ship. It creeps me out and pisses me off to the point of being legitimately borderline triggering for me. And frankly, the shipdom hasn’t really done much to endear themselves to me either – I have, unfortunately, seen evidence of abuse and Nazi apologia, racism and what seem like honest-to-god delusions. It’s just the type of ship to attract that kind of elements, I guess. It’s not the first one and neither will it be the last. And since it is a big, popular ship the crazies are going to be extra apparent, too.

I do try my best not to generalize, though. Painting any demographic with a wide brush has never sat well with me, and you can already see the effects of antagonizing and hounding shippers that might have otherwise just continued to mind their own business peacefully: they’ve become radicalized. Fandom really is not all that different from politics or religion in that sense. *sigh*

I have to say I don’t believe the anti-damerey fad is going to go away anytime soon, though. People across the fandom are starting to see it as a legitimate threat, so to speak, whether it actually is one or not. …God, it feels ridiculous to even be using terms like “threat” when talking about something so fundamentally frivolous as shipping, but here we are I guess. *a deeper sigh*So if anything, I suspect they’re going to increase their efforts to demonize and intimidate damerey shippers. Oh well, they’re welcome to try in my case at least. See if I care.

[londonwayne]

Alright, this will be a bit lengthy and I'm sorry in advance. I want to talk about why I feel a comparison between Hitler and Trump is absolutely a fair comparison. Outside of just wanting a Muslim registry, there's quite a bit that makes this comparison apt. In 1932, Hitler ran for President of Germany and lost to an Independent Party candidate. However, because the Nazis had the majority of seats in government, Hindenburg, the winner, went ahead and made Hitler the Chancellor. Hindenburg died and this left the President's seat open. However, a day before his death, Hitler and his cabinet had worked to give the seat of Chancellor the same power as that of the President. This meant that, when Hindenburg died, Hitler could do what he wanted as President without actually holding the office of President. So, despite losing the popular vote in Germany, he was put in charge. Trump's ascension to power just took less steps, but boils down to the same thing. Both Hitler and Trump had far less support than their direct opposing candidate, but both still secured power. Now, let's look at media real fast since Trump is all about silencing those he can't control or immediately calling them lies and propaganda. Guess who else did that? That's right- Hitler. While we aren't to the point that Trump has people going in to destroy publications and websites he disagrees with, he's already begun to exercise his power with the National Parks twitter. While, to some, that may seem silly, it's scary to those of us that see the possibilities that could follow. Keeping the public stupid is one of the ways to keep people obedient. Destroy free thought and you can mold them better. (23) Hitler wanted immigration of any kind to stop. If you weren't German originally, you'd never be German ever. And, if you came in, he'd ship you right back out. Trump has said similar of immigrants and America. (4-8) Keep your eyes open. Trump is not Hitler currently, but I feel it's safe to compare the two given what we've seen. We must work to ensure that Trump does not become the next Hitler and signing so many Executive Orders without a fair vote is how it starts. He is our employee as a public servant. We are not required to follow blindly. He is there to represent us. All of us. Not just the ones he likes, but all of us. (The numbers in parenthesis are the correlating number in Hitler's 25 point plan)