#even if we rarely interact

[devilfated]

please give this a like for a christmas starter :-) mutuals only. multis pls specify muse

[aroaceleovaldez]

i mean it when i say we've gotta bring back askblogs. bring back making character chat posts with poor choice text colors over random backgrounds. bring back blogs dedicated to what outfits you think characters would wear.

fandom is an ecosystem, not a numbers game. these types of blogs/posts/etc still exist in concept, because people still want to make them and they're a great way to get your thoughts of an idea out in a simple format, but most people make them on like tiktok or instagram reels and that's where the problem lies. Those videos don't go anywhere. The format doesn't allow for the discussion to spread through the community and they're less likely to be engaged with in general. And to make them most people have to either show their face or figure out editing software, so the barrier to entry is higher (editing) and/or they have to forfeit an amount of privacy.

those types of posts/blogs are the first rung of the ecosystem. they're the perfect environment for younger members of the fandom to begin safely interacting with the larger community and putting their own thoughts and ideas out there. roleplay is the other major spot for that and those communities are diminishing as well, honestly (if you know of an rp forum board site, cherish it. and if you can make one, make one). they allow younger fans to begin engaging with the source material on a different/deeper level, but still at a very low barrier to entry, and begin conversations with other fans, which also helps them build skills which in turn may encourage them to pursue other avenues within the fandom (fic writing, other formats of askblog - which itself usually leads to art, cosplay, also fic writing, etc). Without those places to build those skills, they might feel discouraged from trying to begin when surrounded by curated people who have built their skills up for years.

And those conversations they foster also in turn help the community, by offering ideas to artists or fic writers to extrapolate on or building community jokes. And that text/blog format specifically is extremely beneficial, because it allows younger members of the fandom to remain anonymous and keep their privacy without concerning themselves with having any platform or having anything attached to them (very important for young fans figuring themselves out and navigating online community spaces for the first time, since they can remove themselves from spaces easily if they decide they don't like it and they're protected, rather than PUTTING THEIR FACE ON THE INTERNET). And those posts they make will spread a lot more into the community since they're in a significantly easier format to be reposted (few people are gonna be reposting tons of random short-form videos versus spamming their instagrams with reposts of 10 random fandom images yoinked from tumblr, or reposting to pinterest or something). Like, don't repost art, at the VERY least don't repost without credit, but also I am not ignorant to the fact that my art is not just the first google image result for "pjo pride" and related searches, but also the 4th, the 6th, the 9th, the 10th, the 11th, etc etc., and pops up in the search results before the official ReadRiordan does simply because people reposted my work more (most with credit, thankfully).

For fandom to be a community, it needs to perpetuate itself. There needs to be engagement with one another and conversation. If that bottom rung is cut off, then new fans won't be able to grow into the other niches of the fandom, and the fandom will be solely reliant on the source material and die out extremely quickly, and there won't be a community. There's no conversation! There's no reason to stay beyond the original material! But if you don't have points of entry for new fans, they won't have any way to build the skills needed to move into those niches, or engage with the community in a healthy way.

tl;dr: Bring back askblogs and character-based text post blogs. They are vital to fandom ecosystem.

[pumpkinpuffgirls]

Random talking, but despite the problems I've had with the PPG fandom.

It's the only fandom where I have people who aren't exactly friends, and some who aren't even mutuals. But whom we both have a mutual respect for each other. The kind where if we saw each other on the street we wouldn't exactly start chatting but we'd give a nod of understanding at each other and go on our way.

IDK I don't have that in many other fandoms aside from Pibby possibly, but PPG I know that for sure.

[rocktis]

fanon my beloved vs. fanon my beloathed

beloved - zack's nicknames for cloud (spikey, sunshine, cloudy, etc) - kunsel has hacked into shinra's database and could cause massive damage to the company on a whim by tapping a few keys beloathed - "zack's so stupid lol he's such a himbo" - "cloud's just a cocky asshole who doesn't care about anything but money and himself"

[femmesandhoney]

was chatting w this co op person in genshin and we were getting along well and they surprised me saying they were a man and i was like eh okay maybe. but then later in the convo they randomly brought up how much they hated the anti aging stuff on tik tok and we were chatting about that and i was like would a teenage boy actually care about this lol and then later later they were like what r ur pronouns so i can refer to u correctly (we are literally having a direct convo why would that matter) and then were like i use he/they. okay girl ty for confirming <3

[heros-shade-fanclub]

💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌 <3 pea

hello sweetums. my favorite thing about you is actually just your puppydog sorry. yeah I only followed you for molly. show me her now 🫵🫵🫵

[coachbeards]

the way we never got beard properly having in depth relationships with any team member lile girl why was he there

[unproduciblesmackdown]

billions also comedy gold presenting winston as a scapegoat for abuse culture fans when it's like but hey it can't be actual scapegoating if you Enjoy It or consider it Justified or experience Reassurance from Its Opportunity For A Group Cohesion Substitute For A Cohesion Based On An Inherent Equal Degree Of Belonging, The Absence Of Which Allows For, Encourages, Reinforces, & Rewards Scapegoating

it can't be Bullying if someone's Weird or you Just Don't Personally Like Them or Nobody's Actually Stopping You, Maybe At Least If They Don't See Too Much Of It, Maybe Others Are Supporting It

it can't be Abuse if you're just doing things Normally or are Following Rules or Aren't Feeling Malicious And Aren't Getting Divine Revelations Otherwise and probably it's just that a lot of abnormal people are being whiny &/or unfair &/or the Real malicious ones. kinda just like how that scapegoat is the real person ruining everything and really just forcing you to treat them like this

[bumblingbabooshka]

St Voyager - Ex Post Facto “Maybe I kill myself slowly because I don’t have the courage to do it all at once.”

[callmepippin]

also to those 2 mutuals that, between the two of you, like pretty much all of my silliy little personal vent posts: i see you and i appreciate you <3

[aria0fgold]

When too lazy to draw but wanna see my own OCs interacting, it's picrew time! With slight annoyance and a lil more added urge to just draw it myself... cuz picrew limitations...

[1st picrew and 2nd picrew] the Flowerheart! My dear children with the slowest slow burn but they're happier in picrew form... Hal is also not supposed to be that pale but it's either him being so pale or being so dark skinned in which case, both are inaccurate orz... Feli's skintone on the 2nd is wrong too but it's pretty accurate on the 1st, it's just that I can't dual colour her hair on the 1st...

[Picrew] My duo ever... Alec and Ray as kids being the happiest ever, I love them...

[Picrew] THE LESBIANS! It's Alec's sister, Elyanore with her future partner Cressida being incredibly flustered to be That close to her senior at school that she secretly idolizes. Her skintone, hair style and hair colour is... pretty inaccurate... but alas... picrew limitations orz...

[tidal-chaos]

the online system community sucks so bad lmao

[inspectorseb]

Guess who’s miraculously the only person in my house that don’t have Covid 💪🏻

Both my parents are miserable right now and we knows they got it from my grandfather who we saw Sunday but didn’t find out he had it until Monday. I don’t have it now but if I get it I’m gonna be fucking pissed cause I have never had Covid in the over 4 years it’s been around. And I’m the only person I know who still always wears a mask whenever I’m out in public

So I have now quarantined myself to the living room where I’m sleeping on an air mattress. I mean it ain’t that bad tho cause I’m right next to the kitchen and it means I have the big ass tv and my ps5 lol. You might be thinking why not just stay in your own room? Because of the shitty timing we’re supposed to be completely redoing my room rn which means all my shit is everywhere, I have no floor, I can’t sleep in my own bed 💀

Also there is a long ass rant about stuff in the rags that you don’t have to read. Really you didn’t even have to read anything anyways lol.

[g0thsoojin]

🩸

[legendoftherisingtide]

is it some weird asian politeness instilled in me that i don’t like calling characters by their first name? like for western characters its fine but like when calling someone by their first name or a nickname is important, i cant bring myself to do it.

like girl you aren’t even real why am i so caught up on the fact that i dont know you personally so i shouldn’t be calling you a name you haven’t allowed me to call you.

[ceo-of-jennette-de-alger-obelia]

Does Whitley actually speak to anyone besides his family aside from that one convo with Ruby? No? Not even the other manor servants?

Well then how the FUCK would we know what kind of character he is?