#fandom is for everybody

[kimwarris]

ATLA Shipwars

For real though... Let people ship and enjoy whatever they like. Why all the hate?

You like Kataang? Good for you!

You prefer Zutara? Go ahead, enjoy!

You like Zukka? Tyzula? Anything else? Way to go, have fun!

It's that easy.

[aroaceleovaldez]

i had a thought of "do people not know what AUs are anymore?" and then i remembered nobody explains fandom stuff to new people anymore so it is entirely plausible people genuinely don't know what AUs are and nobody has explained it to them, so for today's lucky 10,000:

"AU" stands for "Alternate Universe" or "Alternative Universe" (same difference) and is basically any thought scenario for a fandom that isn't canon and can't fit within the canon universe. If it takes place in the canon universe but something is notably different, that is typically what's known as a "Canon divergent AU," because it diverges from canon.

an AU can be absolutely anything. There's a couple of widespread pan-fandom au scenarios that often get thrown around, like coffee shop aus, genderbend aus, hanahaki aus (hanahaki is a whole thing in itself i'd recommend researching on your own), etc. One you might hear sometimes is "crossover AU" which is when you have characters from one fandom interacting with characters from another.

You can have as many aus as you want. They can be whatever you want and you can do whatever you want in them. It's a sandbox for you to play around in and explore how things would be different or how the characters would act in those circumstances or environments. Maybe they have different relationships with each other. Maybe they behave slightly differently. Or you can just say "Okay, [x] is true. How did they get here? How would things have to be different for this to occur?" which can also be fun.

If you are ever confused about why people ship something that seems completely out of the blue or doesn't make sense to you in the canon setting, there's a good chance they like it in an AU setting! Not everything everybody is interacting with is necessarily the canon! Not everybody wants things to exist in canon and just want to explore playing dolls in a different sandbox and that's okay. And their sandbox might look a lot different than yours, and that's also okay. You have the freedom to make your sandbox whatever you please. Do whatever you want forever. Get funky with it. AUs are fun.

Okay that's my schpeal. everybody go have fun and play nice now.

[helpallthenamesaretaken]

OK GUYS IVE ALWAYS KNOWN ABOUT READRIORDAN.COM BUT NO ONE EVER TOLD ME YOU GET UPDATES FROM THE CHARACTER'S LIVES??

From the Spring Break Update Article

PERCY GETS BETTER GRADES THAN ANNABETH????!!!! WAS PERCY JUST....GASLIGHTING US THAT HE GOT BAD GRADES IN SCHOOL? WHAT NEW LEVEL OF UNRELIABLE NARRATOR IS THIS?

"oh yeah annabeth is the top of my class, i just manage through school😁🥰" WHAT THE ACTUAL--

PERCY IS DUMB TRUTHERS HAVE LOST THEIR ONLY DEFENSE???

(obligatory beep boop percy being called smart alert)

[lila-oh]

Who wants a piece of him? 📻❤️

[feldspar-flesh]

jimmy try not to be a complete udder piece of garbage challenge (failed miserably)

I like this without the text better, but the whole reason I drew this was to include Jumbo Shrimp being a hypocrite, so here's the other version below.

UUUGGGHHHH TAKE A MINUTE TO LOOK AT THE MUSCLE, IM SO PROUD OF IT!!!!!!!!!! I NEVER DO REALISTIC BACKGROUNDS AND IM REMEMBERING WHY!!!!!!

[bvcktommy]

what do you mean 911 just gave us arguably one of the most well written, well directed, and well acted episodes of, at the very least, the last few seasons, if not the entire damn show, and all a certain group of people can talk about is how it's not worth anything because eddie diaz wasn't in it

[thatlittlefangirl]

Sirius: *his only female trait is his long hair*

People: Omg SO fem, he's such a little femboy! There is no character more fem coded than him!

Snape: *"feminine" handwriting, wearing women clothes his whole childhood, closest with female characters*

People: HoW daRe YoU cAll hiM feMiNinE, yOu'Re sO deLusiOnaL !1!1!

Inspired by the comment I had on one of my whispers:

[slowburningechoes]

No thoughts except for Robert Sean Leonard wearing the leather jacket from “Everybody Dies” while stage-dooring for At Home at the Zoo (2018)… (top three pics belong to @ginger1982)

[licorishh]

she's everything, he's just ken, etc. etc.

[wyervan]

👁️ 👁️ hey. I love your creepy moon

hey. i think he likes you too.

[yellowocaballero]

There's a genre of post that I see pretty frequently, which can overall be summed up as, "Modern fandom has a culture problem where fanfic authors are treated as content producers instead of community members and their fanfic is treated as a commodity to be consumed instead of a high-effort labor of love that deserves attention and compliments given directly to the author". I agree with 3/4ths of that. I find the part I disagree with very interesting, the same way I find a lot of writeblr interesting, because it's a perspective that I had to work very hard to actually understand.

Because the posts have such a warped view of what writing is and why we post our writing! They say that fanfic fights against the commodified internet we live in, but all they're doing is changing the currency of payment in this attention economy. Another way you can summarize about 70% of these posts is, "My payment for writing and posting my fanfiction is compliments, and if you do not give me those compliments you are not paying. If you give those compliments behind my back, or talk about them privately without giving them to me as well, then you are stealing from me." I don't want to put it like that, but a lot of these posts use words like 'deprive', as if the reader who enjoys the fic without commenting is withholding something from them that they deserve. They use the word engagement, and they do talk about how part of that engagement is just the joy of talking about AUs and ships with other people, but when people say that comments are their motivation to keep writing, what they mean is that validation is their motivation to keep writing. Which is compliments.

I understand that, because I understand that fanfic writers are not immune to the attention economy. But I don't understand how almost every one of these posts talk about how this lack of attention makes them stop writing - that this act of theft is killing their desire to write. I could understand this if they meant 'desire to POST fic' (I don't post fic I think zero people would read.), but they talk about how lack of payment stops them from writing at all.

IMHO, that is what creates a commodity from fic. People want to treat fic as art, but an artist makes art for themself. Art is made because we want to hold parts of skills and ourselves in our hands. If you won't make art if you get no payment, then you have devalued the art completely.

We think of AO3 as this unique site that's born entirely from passion and is filled with fics written for love of the game. But guilt-tripping posts that shame people for not commenting on a fic they enjoy, and that describe how there's no point in writing fic if it's not getting attention, are directly contributing towards the culture of treating fic like a commodity.

I also really want a fandom culture where the relationship between artist and reader is reciprocal, where it feels like a community, and where I get to talk about my fanfic with people. My favorite part of posting fanfic is rambling about it on my blog, because I can talk about my art all day and I love it when people stop and listen. But I love that because I love my own art. If you love your own art, then it'll always have value.

Also Google your username, just trust me, that's how you find The Secret Discussions. Someone made a TikTok fansong of me once. WHAT?

[mmelete]

Random Lu Headcanons

Four has an unhealthy amount of socks. Fuzzy socks, themed socks, etc.

Wild bakes a lot when he’s stressed.

Twilight is actually really funny but not intentionally. He’ll add a random comment into a conversation with his thick country twang with plenty of sass and it’s HILARIOUS.

On the other hand, Sky will say the most UNHINGED thing you’ve ever heard of in the cheeriest, friendliest voice. “Did you know that swans mate for life and when their loved one dies, they usually die of grief? How tragic! ☺️☺️”

Time is a picky eater. He also might have a slight obsession with milk-based desserts (tres leches perhaps?)

Legend and Wild hum a lot when they’re relaxed/doing tedious activities like cooking or chores.

Hyrule can jump the highest (without magic abilities)

Warriors shaves even though he can’t grow a real beard to save his life. Legend makes fun of him for it even tho he can’t grow a beard either.

[dapper-lil-arts]

Fanart of @punkitt-is-here's fursona! Thank you for putting big fluffy stuff on main 🙏

Also Idk what's wrong with me but when I saw this cute art Punkitt made the barbarian painting was the FIRST thing I thought of. lmao

[magicicephoenix]

boy i wonder who that was…

[eggcromancer]

It's my birthday!!! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ🎂

[milk-is-stable]

From:

"Every night after dawn"

to:

"Unfortunately!"

I believe we call that "redemption" 😂