#i saw it on twitter and became obsessed what can i say

[cupothi]

luke skywalker it seems i've grown quite fond of you tho there are no sexual urges or desires you come to me as a long lost friend whom i once picked apples with in papa's orchard

edit: I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THE TWINK POLL YALL BETTER VOTE LUKE

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/739381076510785536/so-it-seems-our-flag-means-death-has-not-been#notes

I liked OFMD and I'm sad it's not getting renewed, but I agree that the fandom was especially toxic, even by the standards of currently popular slash-heavy fandoms. I wanted to read fic after s1 ended the way it did, and I read a little bit, but along with it having all the tropes that I can't stand in a lot of what is currently big with the MSF crowd (and that I'd been happy to have a reprieve from in my current main M/M fandom), the toxicity of the online fandom discourse made me quickly realize it was one that I was going to discuss among my current-friends-from-other-fandoms who also watched it, and my sister who watches it, and pretty much ignore the rest of the Internet. It was such a perfect storm of everything awful, from people who are overly invested in it to an unhealthy degree (I think I realized I wasn't gonna be active in the larger fandom around a month or so before the s2 renewal announcement, when I saw earnest PSA tweets telling people to "stop threatening suicide in HBO's replies if they don't renew OFMD"), to bombarding and parasocial obsessions with the creators and actors, to all the classic "anti" and purity police crap that plagues anything that gets popular on here.

The fandom it reminds me the most of, honestly, is Yuri on Ice fandom at its peak in early-mid 2017. Again, a show I love, but a fandom I absolutely do not miss. In some ways they are kind of similar shows: ones with canon M/M romances where they were not billed as that, and they were hinted from early on but people didn't trust it due to years of dealing with queerbaiting, where that sort of thing slowly crept up on people and then became the defining feature of how it was discussed everywhere. I wonder if there's a particular level of insanity that that type of thing breeds in its fans - or maybe, more broadly, "canon M/M with a large female fanbase." Like, you don't see this kind of thing in canon M/M stuff that's mostly watched by queer men rather than women, but there are shades of the insanity I also remember from Glee fandom (I was more active on the F/F side of things there, which had its own unhinged drama, but the Klaine vs. anti-Klaine stuff was so explosive that it was hard not to notice it if you were anywhere in that fandom, like a mushroom cloud in the distance). But YOI and OFMD do seem very... singular in the particular kind of obsession that they generate.

And I really wish people would shape the fuck up, because if they're going to act like this over and over again, that's just going to de-incentivize showrunners to make shows like this for that audience.

Driving Con O'Neill off Twitter was one of the worst parts of it, too. There was something so refreshingly earnest about how much he embraced the fandom, even the weirdest parts - saying with regard to NSFW fanart that "art is art" and retweeting stuff like his character in a crop-top that said "babygirl." It was so nice to see an actor who didn't usually have that kind of following embrace it wholeheartedly rather than steering clear. ....And then people had to be awful and creepy and obsessive and he left Twitter. I bet he's going to be a lot more skeptical of dealing with fans in the future!

--

It's not just the canon m/m aspect: it's the wholesomeness.

Yes, yes, they're all evil pirates, I agree, but watching S1 did give me the feeling of something that was supposed to be very progressive and light-hearted in particular ways. I don't think that's bad, but it does tend to attract some very over-sensitive fans with some very rigid expectations.

It's sadly par for the course that one of the random side character actors is the fun one and people are jackasses and desperately want the leads they ship to be the fandomy ones and/or just start creeping on any actor they can get a reaction from.

[valkyrie-8888]

the wilbur soot situation

hi

im not a very big person on social media, nor do i post often, but i just want to get this out of my system. this post is just going to be a little rant and my take on the current situation. to anyone who is not yet caught up to the situation, i hope this can help a bit.

TW: discussions of abuse, domestic violence, death threats, etc

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

when i first saw a video about wilbur soot's allegations, i thought it wasn't anything that bad. things like this happen to cc's all the time.

a while later, it kept popping up. i still thought it would go away eventually. i'm not proud of it in hindsight, but i cant change the past.

recently, i realized this situation was serious, and decided to catch up and investigate. what i was not prepared for was having my view of the world absolutely shattered. this will not go away. it will not be silenced by fanatics who believe their favourite cc can do no wrong. this is extremely serious.

a bit of backstory, so that my reasoning can clearly be understood:

i started getting into dsmp in around the start of 2021. i was immediately drawn to the dynamics of sbi as a group and started watching mainly their pov-s of things. the three quickly became a part of my daily life. i have been watching them ever since. went through some really bad times, especially after technoblade's death. after that, i started watching wilbur and phil more.

wilbur soot, i highly doubt you will read this, but if you do, i want you to know that I am disgusted by you, your behaviour, your response to said behaviour coming to light, and your sheer cowardice. you are a disgusting human being. there is no justification for your actions. no apology can undo what you have done. and from what i have heard and seen, shubble might not be the only victim.

as of my writing this, wilbur soot has not given any more responses besides the emotionless and frankly disgusting apology published on twitter/x

an overview of everything, my take on this situation, and just a little vent:

wilbur soot is an abuser and a manipulator. he ignored consent and a set safe word. as someone who heavily believes that consent and respecting it is common sense, i am disgusted, to say the least. i recommend reading more on the situation and watching an unbiased and neutral video

i looked for any possible justification, any way this could be misunderstood or redeemed. i have found none.

this man was my idol. i looked up to him, respected him, and admired him deeply. he was my comfort streamer and one of my favourite musical artists.

because of this, i will find it extremely difficult to cut him out of my life completely. however, i do not support him or condone his behaviour in any way. i don't think i will be able to completely sever all bonds to him. that's what abusers do, isn't it? they worm themselves into your life, make themselves irreplaceable, and, once their toxicity is discovered, they guilt trip you into staying, or make you think it's your fault or just paranoia.

the people who try to justify his behaviour, belittle or blame the victims of his abuse, or frankly any abuse, are absolutely disgusting. karma is a bitch, and i hope it hits them hard.

wilbur soot, it seems, has blown up his own career just like he did to l'manburg. i hope to never hear about him again, except to see him be brought to justice. domestic abuse is a felony.

my message for shubble:

you are incredibly brave. to speak up at all about anything like this takes a lot of courage. i despise the fact that the obsessive fans are threatening and blaming you. it is disgusting. but i am happy to see that you are still standing strong. your story has inspired others to come forward and take this man down once and for all.

EDIT: Insight a few days later

there have been more people telling their stories. the 'allegations' can no longer be referred to as such. i now add 'rapist' to the many words one uses to talk about this horrendous man.

i personally feel a bit gaslit myself. this person so many praised and referred to as this perfect man turned out to be an absolute incel.

one thing i noticed after looking through old clips is that there were in fact signs that seem obvious now. niki also mentioned the biting a few years ago. however, we all laughed it off as a bit. because we thought it was. because we were lead to believe it was. in one clip, wilbur tells niki to 'tell them how horrible i am to you,' and proceeds to start fucking hoovering. and everyone laughs it off. because that's his thing.

there are also signs in some of the songs in both ycgma and those released separately. especially your new boyfriend, soft boy, and the nice guy ballad. the last one is the most chilling. there are also some lyrics in ycgma, like 'abuse those i love/while i ostracize the ones who love me back'.

to end my little rant/essay, if wilbur soot is a manipulator, what is to stop him from (consciously or subconsciously) applying these behaviours to his online presence?

i genuinely hope he can get help and improve as a person, but that does not excuse his past behaviour. neither does his bad mental state during said behaviours.

[evendumbo]

Man, just one more thing since I made the mistake of seeing how the conversation was going on twitter and elsewhere with the antis. It's not fun to see people call fans who rooted for a Ted and Rebecca romance crazy, strange, and obsessed. That's just fucking sexist and, maybe even more annoying to me, it's not good faith disagreement. I did not ship Ted and Rebecca throughout my first watch of both seasons one and two. I am generally not pressed by possible tv romances. The ship did not start in my imagination, it was initiated by the writers. It was not only a platonic soulmate story. It was a possible romantic soulmate set-up. I wish people would stop playing. If everyone can acknowledge that Nate eventually taking a turn for the worse was seeded all the way back in the season premiere, then we agree that the writing was deeply purposeful and likely seeded other things. In fact, after I finished the season 2 finale and rewatched seasons 1 and 2 together as a whole, it was the seeds of Nate's arc that I saw first. Then I began to realize the other narrative arcs that had been put into place and I marveled at the kind of work that the writing was doing. This is when I realized that the writing was communicating that Ted had a crush on Rebecca and only then, lo, a shipper was born.

Por ejemplo, I wish those who are saying that tedbecca was fabricated could explain why the Dutch guy had so many parallels with Ted. What would be the point of that? There are an infinite number of ways the writers could signal that he was a nice, goofy, caring guy. They didn't have to reference Kenny Rogers, they didn't have to make him cook for her, they didn't have to have Rebecca say "fuck me" after she consumed something he made, they didn't have to make the dress pink. If this were a regular show and Ted and Rebecca were regular platonic friends, none of this would have been (or at least should not have been) written. Imagine Leslie from Parks and Rec falling for a guy who is written to be exactly like her platonic friend, Ron. That would be weird, uncomfortable, and at least raise questions.

One could argue that, yes, Rebecca and Ted were soulmates but they had no romantic attraction, so the Dutch guy was supposed to be a Ted-shaped soulmate with romantic attraction. I'd counter with all kinds of things, but at least this would be a good faith argument because we can agree about what is clearly on the screen. We just disagree about the interpretation of the narrative. Nobody is "crazy" in this argument. It's fine if Hannah advocates for a purely platonic relationship between Ted and Rebecca, but it's not cool that she talked down to tedbecca fans who became excited about what was clearly on the screen like there was something wrong with us. The possibility of romance between Ted and Rebecca did not come out of thin air or some kind of heteronormative compulsion, it came from your show, girl. We didn't write it! If they were gonna get exasperated about people getting excited about a possible romance, then they shouldn't have written it and performed it like a possible romance.

As I said, it would have helped if we at least were given confirmation that Ted had a crush on Rebecca in season 3. If that had happened and everything else was the same, I would have been a little disappointed, but that would have been an ending that made sense to me, an ending that was bittersweet and cohered with everything else the show was expressing. I would have defended that ending forever. But without an actual reveal of at least Ted's feelings in the world of the show (not another pointless fake-out), I'm left feeling irritated or crazy-made or, as I said before, somewhat abandoned as a fan of the TL narrative style. And, at this point, until I let it go, I also dread the hanging possibility of TL's return. I've had enough ambiguity from these folks 😂. Just vaya con dios, friends. Adiooooos.

I love and respect television and I am deeply grateful to television writers. I have also acknowledged that Ted Lasso looks hella hard to write, so I am humbled by that. It had to reach a great height in order for me to be invested this hard. I am thankful for the show's lessons about faith and ethics and community and will try to take them to heart going forward. I honor the show, the fans, and the artists.

And, as far as people calling tedbecca fans crazy? As the woman said, fuck the haters. 💜

[shoujoboy-restart]

angela davis herself wrote about how the obsession with "true womanhood" always has a white supremacist agenda behind it. she remarked on the obsession the right-wing has with trans women and compared it to the bigotry she and other black women have experienced.

needless to say she was 100% right about the connection transphobia has to white supremacy. anti-trans lobbyists have direct connections to white supremacists.

Oh yeah, ironically enough they also harassed her some years back, she had a interview with two drag queens on the GLAAD youtube, and when asked to introduce herself, she called herself a queer lesbian, i believe, queer nonetheless, and during it she also said she saw black trans women as the most oppressed demographic out there.

Of course TERFs lost their fucking minds, did the usual "ANOTHER SELL OUT THE LIZARD ELIT-i mean, QUEER LOBBY!" and said Angela Davis, the woman who who became a targeted by thee FBI for saying racism bad ad was put on the death row multiple times and became a political refugee on the USSR, was scared of becoming a hashtag, the trending topics and anime profiles.

Is amazing, when they believe you are siding with them or can become useful as a tool to attach themselves for PR reasons? Oh such a strong woman with conviction, courage and determination to fights against oppression and the patriarchy

The moment the are like "ummm i don't think hate criming trans people is gonna them sex trafficking victims or make tampons free" OMG A TRAITOR A SELLOUT YOU DON'T KNOW THE TEAL OPPRESISON OF GETITNG RATIO'D ON TWITTER.

And it really tells how terminally online these people are, because when they aren't out here making parades with their neo-nazi boyfriends and calling black women dirty(Posie Parker), they legit think being a hashtag or cancelled on Twitter is the end of the world, they become so obcessed with numbers they really think women who stared death down are gonna give a shit what some fag with a anime profile is gonna think of them.

And btw "they were Jesus on our side, but the Devil on the enemy" is also a tactic used by scientology compulsively in their own scripture, from the average members to chairmen, the moment they come out the church and have criticism, whatever was good about them is ignored and replaced with them being satan on earth, and I'm not joking with the charimen part, an actual chairmen who was adored by thousands, appeared on the biggest events and has footage and general information about him talking about how great he is, then the moment he spoke against the church, HORRIBLE, LAZY, HARD TO WORK WITH, POISONED THE WELL AND WE WERE LUCKY TO CLEAN IT ON TIME.

The person you ideolized and believed was figuring for a better world just supported a democraphic of people you hate getting rights? Pfft, don't self introspect, just call them dumb traitor, sellouts and mock specific violent think they went to right in life, you are such a good person for that.

[bcacstuff]

I think the key issue within the fandom is in the beginning it was overwhelmingly an obsession fest over Sam. That obsession became blind worship and defense primarily because of his looks and the halo effect. Does Tobias inspire that kind of wide spread devotion? Do Cree or Duncan? It wasn’t until he made too many messes, the bitter infighting became too exhausting, and people either left or what we see more now, people have taken off their rose colored glasses, that the tide started to shift. The swing in the opposite direction against him I also think is in part a natural reaction to the absurd salivating and competition by his mommies, the fact that he does make mistakes and doesn’t own up to them, and is always given a pass (see halo effect). Yang to yin.

This fandom at itself could be subject for a PHD and a doctorate to be honest 😉. You made some good observations and touched some aspects of it. I saw this obsessive blind worship and defense right from when I started to explore some accounts beginning 2020. A fan that made a gesture towards his butt while they were playing a game during Nola, was accused without any mercy and bullied straight off of Twitter. Have to mention how S stepped in later on and defended her saying nothing happened and it was all in jest. But the harm was already done and my decision to never interfere on Twitter about S or OL or anything related quickly made. (and bet I'm not the only one that was turned off by that fan behaviour)

Yes Hawaiigate was my next encounter and I know there were some more messes before that, and a fair number of people took off their rose colored glasses. But that wasn't the only reason for the infighting I think. The many fractions the fandom split into are as well cause for the infighting. Each one defending and obsessively trying to convince other opinions being wrong, leading to bullying and harassment.

Yang to Yin is a good metaphor. I just wish sometimes that people would be able to balance their view on things more. Criticism isn't hate, and why is it so bad to have some criticism? Why judge people that express their opinion and tell them what to do. Is it forbidden to say something that isn't all worshipping, is it forbidden to follow when you do not worship? Do you need approval, or have to take an exam before you can follow or write about him? And why see it all as negative? That's what keeps baffling me.

[bluewinnerangel]

I just found out your a quarantine larrie 🥺 due to a an ask of yours on dash. Your anon asked how did us veteran larries survive [it's been chaos all I can say] but I'd like to know as a veteran larrie how have you newer stans managed? Like you came in 20 chapters into a story with like 5 different spinoffs how did you manage to learn all that happened prior? I saw it all first hand since I've been a fan since xfactor. I even remember seeing the gossip news channels talk about the scandalous situation of Taylor being spotted alone on a boat while Harry was out partying with friends. But for someone like you who didn't see this play out first hand how did you manage to learn about all this stuff? Was it difficult?

You have activated the ramblesTM:

You know how much time there is in quarantine, that's how. I stumbled upon this bluegreenworld, became obsessed to have a conclusion (larry real or not) for myself, so I just didn't stop till I got there. I'm not gonna pretend I cared about these boys at that point, it just became a challenge for myself to have a conclusion. Like entertaining a crazy conspiracy not because I want it to be a thing, just, I'm curious and I like entertaining the thought of something to see where it leads. Trying to see the logic of someone who is claiming something that isn't the default GP thought. Basically, I just wanted to know what you all were going on about lol. And in the process of watching them I just fell in love with them and now we're here. Larries have done an incredibly impressive work archiving their screaming, and if you know how to find stuff it's not difficult. But I'm very very super skeptical (although now i don't sound like it now, i just.. concluded harry and louis are ridiculous in the best way and am operating from that point of view :') ) and basically didn't listen to anyone's interpretations. Like I read all the masterposts I could get my hands on (not just larrie things also just ppl debunking the whole thing, any type of anti out there, haylors, zarries, xarries, narries, elounories, whatever else name merge you can think of, people that were set on proving their beloved 2 favs were it and larries are wrong, also I came to tumblr just before that portrait blog changed so a lot of views were coming to me in real time as there was a shitload of debunking going on, debunking the debunks, reposting certain moments, so many takes), I learned how tumblr worked and found the people who kept pretty archives. Then for some events I just went to the date of it happening on a few blogs to see the actual reaction. But again I didn't listen to any of you to be honest. So I was digesting a lot of takes but mainly what got me there was I just watched footage. Any. Every. I'm talking nonedited (as in, not larrie edits) interviews and show footage trying to see what's what, knowing some peoples interpretations of some moments, slowly getting familiar with their personalities and mannerisms. And what I found was basically more, things not mentioned and chewed out as a larry moment, behavior that I just can't make sense unless larry is really a thing so that just convinced me..

And now for the disgusting "I'm not like the other girls" addition although I was already on a roll there, I do think a lot of quarantine kids just got their info from youtube LaRrY PrOoF videos or tiktoks or twitter threads which are dumping both super larrie things and nonsensical garbage all together on one big pile so I don't think I'm speaking for the majority of people who came in when I did. I really do think a lot of larries have their beliefs based on a lot of things that I think aren't what they look like (it's say debunkable moments), and some absolutely very much debunked by veteran larries, some just me personally not believing that's what went down... and I mean in the end the conclusion is the same and it's based on consistent persistent patterns that lead to the conclusion "larry" for a decade here. So I somewhat don't mind that some details are just not it (the amount of details not adding up when you believe anything but larry being the truth here is far greater for sure)

I think a good thing to point out about me and everyone else coming in later tho is that I absolutely am not aware of any minor details that happened unless it was screamed about hard enough its still echoing, I don't think you can. Especially if it's about articles coming out in the context it did exactly, the timeline of harry/louis posting or in any way shading or hinting at a certain thing while these other let's say image shaping things are happening. Or the other way around, things that seem loud and clearly "this means larry" while at the time there was another context that wasn't "larry" at all.

I think all this resulted in a lot of different sub-bubbles within this already divided fandom. Like what's the general thought about certain things differs between platforms, and even within them for instance on twitter we have two outer ends of on one hand massive clowning, thinking everything is a hint, everything is foreshadowing that somethings gonna happen, everyone's in on it, and on the other hand we got people that somehow do believe they're together but will trash you for thinking they're giving any hint whatsoever to that they indeed are (like, anti-bluegreening-larries, like what is this how did you get to this conclusion theyre still together if you aren't acknowledging they thrive on doing weird shit, and don't even believe in their most blatant, easiest, "larrycoding" thing they got going on)

Also to take your example, with the taylor thing I tried to form my own opinion based on everything they've said throughout the years and their lyrics, on top of people's takes who lived through it all. With that I basically came to the same conclusion as what people in 2012 were saying, everything in the past decade makes sense with what you saw back then, unfortunately (because it fucking sucks that this is real of course).

But it's not difficult, because it makes sense. I'd say it's getting easier even because with every new thing they put out it just adds to the huge pile that is a mountain pointing at larry. And whenever this happens, older stuff gets brought up by those who remember it, and you'll learn that way if you don't rummage through it in your spare time yourself. It's because they(HL) stick to their story, because it's their actual story, that makes it easy. I mean otherwise we wouldn't be here.

[tipsy-scales]

Despite starting to use tumblr again, I haven’t done a good job at updating on what has become of me since I left, so I’d like to make this special post centered on:

✨My Selim Bradley Obsession✨

“What?” You may ask. That kid from the last arc of FMA who nobody likes? Yeah yeah that’s him.

I’m exaggerating ofc by saying nobody likes him but he’s not among the ranks of Roy Mustang, Edward Elric himself, or Greed. He is not fighting for good. He is not a suave adult. He is a mean little boy.

FMA has been one of my great loves since I was 14…which was a very long time ago. To me the story is perfect and satisfying— so much that once the manga and FMAB were finished, I stopped thinking about it. (I also had a lot of embarrassment over how in love I was with Ed before that.) It was easy to leave FMA behind and move onto new things…like Fire Emblem Awakening! That is how I ended up making this blog. But over time I became sad that I was only chasing new things. Eventually, I wanted to return to the media that had shaped me and it was during summer of 2020 that I decided to revisit FMA.

Originally Ed was the character I cared most about. I remembered Selim but not enough to care about him. My taste in characters had changed drastically by the time I returned though. I actually did a rewatch a few years prior and thought Selim was really cool. This spurred me to make a Twitter thread about how he *might* be my favorite FMA character. And by the end of that thread, he WAS my favorite character. Below is my gallery where you can see the obsession awaken down to the day.

Simply put, I think he’s neat? M Robin Fire Emblem was my favorite when I was blogging here regularly. I like male characters who fight with their wits instead of flashy weapons, so I guess Pride falls into that too. I also like shadows. Darkrai is one of my favorite Pokémon. I like little boy characters with big empty eyes. I think they’re cute in probably in the same way people think squishmallows are cute. I like characters with spiky bangs I think it looks sick. There’s also something somewhat tragic about him. From things with his mother to things with his Father to the fake little family he lives in. I can spend a lot of time on this so I’ll stop there.

My little obsession (2 years and counting ahaha…) has lead me to do all kinds of things too! I’ve made new friends online! I started collecting manga beginning with FMA! I’ve gotten a bunch of merch that makes me happy. And the projects I’ve done! I’ll make a separate post of all my Selim inspired projects but gosh I learned so much by being way obsessed with a character who barely has any merch. I had to make my own merch! And then there’s…my shameful custom phone screen

(It’s actually easy to navigate once you get used to it)

Anyway I’ll stop it here! I mostly wanted people to know about my new child. I reblog him every now and then but so far people on…every one of my other social medias who saw this happen know, but tumblr doesn’t

[armando-triplepapito]

Okay story time!

Before I got obsessed with ysblf, I was obsessed with BTS. So obviously I was in the BTS army/fandom. I was active in Twitter so I had quite a following (over 4,000 followers! Sorry I had to brag🤭). Random people would message me and you know me, I wanted to make friends so I would reply back and made some nice conversation. Now tell me why a 10 year old girl started messaging me!!! The worst part is that I didn’t even know she was 10 until multiple messages later!! When I found out her age I was flabbergasted! Like why is a 10 year old messaging strangers!! Kids these days are so bold!! This was 3 yrs ago so she’s probably only 13 now ugh I can’t believe it! I always think about that girl till this day😭 I should’ve known honestly, cause the way she “typed” was off like you could tell she was way too young😭 that got me wondering tho! How old we’re you guys when y’all decided to message strangers online? I was 20yrs old when I started to do so and that’s for my BTS Twitter account. I’ve always read fanfics, I think I started when I was 13 yrs old but even then I never commented on a fic ever until this year, just a few days ago actually. And that’s only cause the fic I commented on belongs to a mutual here! I’ve always been too shy to talk with strangers 😔

In my Twitter bio I always had my date of birth (Ik I shouldn’t) so everyone could know my exact age plus I wanted to attract people my age yk, but no! I always got kids I’m my dms! (That 10 yr old knew I was 20 yet she still decided to dm me💀) I even made good friends with these two girls, in my head they became my besties! But dude!! One was 13 and the other 15!😭😭😭 tbh I miss them🥲 but turns out the 13yr old blocked me! How dare she! Like why? What did I do? We had deep conversations and everything! Maybe I offended her 😞 I also had deep conversations with this 14yr old Brazilian (well her bio at the moment says she’s 17 so I’m assuming she was 14 when we talked). I feel so bad cause I never saw/opened her message. Her last message was her talking about how ashamed she is to talk to people in English since she’s not fluent. Like girl noooo don’t apologize!! I should be the one ashamed! And I am!! My poor baby! If only I replied to make her feel better! But in my defense by that time I was already homeless so I couldn’t log back in and when a year has passed and I finally found a place I watched ysblf and got obsessed so I never went back to Twitter. I actually logged in just a few days ago and that’s when all the memories started🥲. Army Twitter 2020 was the best!

Anyways yea Ik this is random and all but yea I just wanted to share a bit and go on a bit of a rant. Tbh I was never not shocked when I found out the ages of my mutuals on Twitter, they were hella young! Tho I sometimes do get shocked when I find about y’all (tumblr moots) ages too cause I’ve noticed some of y’all are over 30😳 which idk why that surprise me cause y’all are so smart I love it🥰

Its crazy how I was an army for 3-4 yrs and I’ve been a ysblf fan for a little over a year now. Makes me wonder what I’ll be obsessed with next tho I don’t wanna jinx it cause I wanna stay in this fandom as long as I can! I love y’all 🥹❤️

[dreamhot]

I wouldn’t say I started off disliking dream, but I definitely assumed he was on the more problematic side. I first stumbled across him in an among us video that I think jacksepticeye posted, and it was the ‘biggest youtubers’ and some of them were kind of.... not my vibe, and I’d never heard of dream, so I just assume he was like the others.

Then fast forward to December 2020 and I don’t know how I saw it, but I saw the twitter thread he made about queerbaiting and ‘not dating George’ and I genuinely remember thinking, wholeheartedly, ‘why on earth would anyone ship dream with anyone? he seems so distant and cold’ (and to be fair he kind of was in among us lobbies where he didn’t really know anyone, and now I know he just gets a little shy sometimes). So I thought that was a little strange.

THEN, like a week later or something, I was bored and scrolling through twitch and I started watching Ludwig’s mcc pov, I had no idea what mcc was but I knew Ludwig from among us and I liked him so I tapped in. It was that stream that I was like, wait- THIS is George?! The guy everyone ships with Dream...? Interesting.

Then it wasn’t until I wanted to watch corpse in among us but he wasn’t streaming that I tapped into George’s stream (because I’d recognised him from mcc) and I became obsessed. Binge watched every stream and video of his in like a week and considering dream is in at least 85% I got to (parasocially) know him quite well. And I’m glad I did because I was wrong in my assumptions! And then well I became a dnfer but well- that’s beside the point.

Sorry for the essay lee I think my journey into dteam fandom is so funny considering how many ‘signs’ I had to just Watch them before I gave in.

it's so funny that you had the opinion of him being kinda aloof (which makes sense bc like Yeah he can be kinda quiet in larger group settings with people he doesn't know), since like. i somehow had the opposite notion of him and it was based on Nothing lmao i just assumed he would be a loudmouthed blowhard 😭😭 and then i heard him speak in the eboys vs dsmp video and he was so QUIET like who is this soft voice of a man...... clearly he's more outgoing in certain environments but no version of him matches my original concept anyway

[showtoonzfan]

When I first saw Vivziepop's artwork and show(s) I was super excited! It was my first time seeing something like that. I never really was into Helluva Boss, my boyfriend is. What really caught my eye was Hazbin Hotel. But once I start doing research about Viv, actually broke the concepts of the shows down, and just really thought about the storyline, the plots, everything, it just slowly became boring to me. Viv... is sadly a bad person. Well, at least in my opinion. She's racist, she let her fans attack a 14 y/o girl, she's scammed people, ect ect the list just goes on and on. It's really sad. And it fucking PAINS ME SO MUCH when her blind ass fans just praise everything she does with no criticism at all. It's always "This is so good!" "Viv this" "Viv that" how can she grow? She's still in her baby stage where she can't even take one piece of criticism. I've seen so many people use the same drawing style she uses and her fans are so quick to attack those people. It's so sad. She does nothing about it, she hears no one out, she just really could care less.

What happened to you exactly happened to me. I used to be a huge fan, I loved her art, while it had a lot of flaws with the colors and anatomy, it was still beautiful from time to time to look at. Her art really had a personality to it you could say, it popped and it always caught your eye, wether good or bad. I had never really heard of her though until the official Hazbin trailer came out, and once that did, I immediately become obsessed with her and the project. I followed her on Twitter and YouTube, and I really loved her animation as well. But of course, after the pilot came out, not only did I discover it wasn’t the best it could have been, but Viv wasn’t a good person in my eyes. She’s childish, passive aggressive, has shady history with Dollcreep and Kat, threw multiple shit fits on Twitter, like you said the list goes on and on, like holy HELL did discovering who she was truly was took a toll. And yeah, it’s so funny because again, I’ve heard her say how important things like criticism is, yet of course when you give it to her, she acts like a baby. Not only that but I haven’t seen her grow as a person, I’m sorry. Maybe she’s not as awful as she was a few years ago, but she’s still a drama queen who’s childish and aggressive, and I just don’t respect her as a person, especially from the people she’s hurt and negatively affected in the past.

[sudrian-railways-enthusiast]

for the ask game, can you tell/share a bit more on Cold Iron/Funiculars of the Fantastic?

i just like saying 'funiculars' <3

Funiculars and the Fantastic

AKA Cold Iron

AKA Olton Hall goes to Florida

First, some disclaimers:

This fiction engages with the existence of the Harry Potter Franchise

I do not recommend financially contributing to said Franchise at this time

This work of Real Locomotive Fiction (RLF) is inspired by Hatt v Rowling by halfbakedhex8 on twitter and Joezworld's headcanons regarding Olton Hall and Taw Valley 

Written for Traintober, this work plays with themes of cosmic horror and the threshold of the uncanny valley for steam locomotives

In which Olton Hall, due to unfortunate contract compromise and/or the mistaken assumption that his celebrity status would be properly acknowledged, finds himself neglected and obsessed over for a week on a plinth in Universal Studios theme park, Florida. His only reprieve from the endless stream of park goers? A seemingly Lovecraftian horror that mocks his form and speaks in his voice.

I have cleaned up excerpts of the scenes that inspired me:

And indeed, as Olton squinted over the heads of passengers, he saw what his driver meant. The engine was uncanny. Protruding from its smokebox was a face unlike any Olton had ever seen, but which also reflected Olton’s own complexion. Its mouth creased in the well-worn motion of connecting rods rather than the fluid motion of lips, and its dead eyes meandered to and fro in mechanical synchronization with the rhythmic oscillations of its expressionless countenance. Its skin was too rubbery and pale, and lacked a healthy metallic shine. Judging by the parkgoers in que, it seemed even some humans found its presence disturbing.

But Olton could perceive more. Living machines have a certain perception of architecture in the manner that a human perceives and imperceives faces. Certain schools of design define many a machine's very sense of self and other. Curves and straight edges, proportions and profiles, the placement and choice of components; any decision that is penned to blueprint (knowledge trivial, niche, enigmatic or even arcane to the layman) ought to have appeared as plain to Olton as the funnel on his smokebox. And so, even through the throng of people, Olton could sense an uncanniness. Parts whose function he could not understand. Parts that operated in unfamiliar ways, and certain familiar parts to him missing. As Olton scrutinized, he became more perplexed and unsettled, and curious, and sore in the smokebox. Once, he swore he caught sight of its driving wheels simply stop rotating as it left the platform and glided swiftly away. In the end, he was forced to conclude that he simply could not understand how the form so intent on impersonating his likeness could function the way it did, without actually possessing the functionality that made Olton, well, Olton. Despite functioning apparently fine? "Rich criticism", thought Olton, "coming from the engine currently on static display." But there was something else about the engine that disturbed Olton on a completely different, visceral level. It spoke in his voice. His past voice. It spoke entirely and unerringly from a script pulled piecemeal from various clips of his acting career. "Doesn't it have a voice of its own?", Olton had complained to his crew. "Of course not!", his crew had replied. "It's only a model, like a mannequin!", "It's line is only half a kilo-long, it would be wrong to confine a living engine like that, it might even be illegal here in the states." "Oh, like static display is any better", Olton groused, annoyed. His crew could only grimace awkwardly at that. Slowly, Olton softened. "Is, -did it die?" "Oh goodness! No! Its never been alive at all, just a model, remember?" "Only Cold Iron."

Some time later, uninterrupted exposure to the Public™ and the park's unwillingness to cater to the needs of their local locomotive celebrity (such as designated meet and greet events rather than a continuous barrage of attention from the public at large) leads Olton Hall to demonstrate why imprisoning a very sentient steam locomotive in a theme park is not a profitable idea. [Not Pictured]

Olton sat in the studio lot after his outburst. A rumbling noise disturbed the elevated track before him, and two terribly familiar trains approached from opposite directions. He stared, incredulously. “Are there two of you?”

For a moment, eyes literally blinked into existence where there shouldn’t have been. Olton’s vision went hazy, speckled with afterimages. Squinting, he inspected each engine, tender, and carriage. No, no eyes, why did he see —two sets of Dead eyes swiveled jerkily to stare at Olton. A staticky staccato chorus. “No. Only. One.” A detached part of Olton noted that he recognized which clip from his past that each word had come from. The rest of him didn't really know what to think. As the two trains continued, out of view, they echoed, "Our. Heart. Belongs. to. King's Cross."

Bonus Notes:

POV Your upset celebrity guest accidently gave the spark of life to your very intentionally repressed and isolated amusement park attraction and it developed a gestalt consciousness to cope.

In a world where look-a-like locos are generally sentient, animatronic loco faces are exceptionally creepy.

For more information on the funicular in question, watch the other thing that inspired this work.

[bala5]

This year, the Colorado State Fair’s annual art competition gave out prizes in all the usual categories: painting, quilting, sculpture.

But one entrant, Jason M. Allen of Pueblo West, Colo., didn’t make his entry with a brush or a lump of clay. He created it with Midjourney, an artificial intelligence program that turns lines of text into hyper-realistic graphics.

Mr. Allen’s work, “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial,” took home the blue ribbon in the fair’s contest for emerging digital artists — making it one of the first A.I.-generated pieces to win such a prize, and setting off a fierce backlash from artists who accused him of, essentially, cheating.

Reached by phone on Wednesday, Mr. Allen defended his work. He said that he had made clear that his work — which was submitted under the name “Jason M. Allen via Midjourney” — was created using A.I., and that he hadn’t deceived anyone about its origins.

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“I’m not going to apologize for it,” he said. “I won, and I didn’t break any rules.”

A.I.-generated art has been around for years. But tools released this year — with names like DALL-E 2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion — have made it possible for rank amateurs to create complex, abstract or photorealistic works simply by typing a few words into a text box.

These apps have made many human artists understandably nervous about their own futures — why would anyone pay for art, they wonder, when they could generate it themselves? They have also generated fierce debates about the ethics of A.I.-generated art, and opposition from people who claim that these apps are essentially a high-tech form of plagiarism.

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Mr. Allen, 39, began experimenting with A.I.-generated art this year. He runs a studio, Incarnate Games, which makes tabletop games, and he was curious how the new breed of A.I. image generators would compare with the human artists whose works he commissioned.

This summer, he got invited to a Discord chat server where people were testing Midjourney, which uses a complex process known as “diffusion” to turn text into custom images. Users type a series of words in a message to Midjourney; the bot spits back an image seconds later.

Mr. Allen became obsessed, creating hundreds of images and marveling at how realistic they were. No matter what he typed, Midjourney seemed capable of making it.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said. “I felt like it was demonically inspired — like some otherworldly force was involved.”

Eventually, Mr. Allen got the idea to submit one of his Midjourney creations to the Colorado State Fair, which had a division for “digital art/digitally manipulated photography.” He had a local shop print the image on canvas and submitted it to the judges.

“The fair was coming up,” he said, “and I thought: How wonderful would it be to demonstrate to people how great this art is?”

Several weeks later, while walking the fairground in Pueblo, Mr. Allen saw a blue ribbon hanging next to his piece. He had won the division, along with a $300 prize.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I felt like: this is exactly what I set out to accomplish.”

(Mr. Allen declined to share the exact text prompt he had submitted to Midjourney to create “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial.” But he said the French translation — “Space Opera Theater” — provided a clue.)

After his win, Mr. Allen posted a photo of his prize work to the Midjourney Discord chat. It made its way to Twitter, where it sparked a furious backlash.

“We’re watching the death of artistry unfold right before our eyes,” one Twitter user wrote.

“This is so gross,” another wrote. “I can see how A.I. art can be beneficial, but claiming you’re an artist by generating one? Absolutely not.”

Some artists defended Mr. Allen, saying that using A.I. to create a piece was no different from using Photoshop or other digital image-manipulation tools, and that human creativity is still required to come up with the right prompts to generate an award-winning piece.

Olga Robak, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, which oversees the state fair, said Mr. Allen had adequately disclosed Midjourney’s involvement when submitting his piece; the category’s rules allow any “artistic practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process.” The two category judges did not know that Midjourney was an A.I. program, she said, but both subsequently told her that they would have awarded Mr. Allen the top prize even if they had.

Controversy over new art-making technologies is nothing new. Many painters recoiled at the invention of the camera, which they saw as a debasement of human artistry. (Charles Baudelaire, the 19th-century French poet and art critic, called photography “art’s most mor­tal enemy.”) In the 20th century, digital editing tools and computer-assisted design programs were similarly dismissed by purists for requiring too little skill of their human collaborators.

What makes the new breed of A.I. tools different, some critics believe, is not just that they’re capable of producing beautiful works of art with minimal effort. It’s how they work. Apps like DALL-E 2 and Midjourney are built by scraping millions of images from the open web, then teaching algorithms to recognize patterns and relationships in those images and generate new ones in the same style. That means that artists who upload their works to the internet may be unwittingly helping to train their algorithmic competitors.

“What makes this AI different is that it’s explicitly trained on current working artists,” RJ Palmer, a digital artist, tweeted last month. “This thing wants our jobs, its actively anti-artist.”

Even some who are impressed by A.I.-generated art have concerns about how it’s being made. Andy Baio, a technologist and writer, wrote in a recent essay that DALL-E 2, perhaps the buzziest A.I. image generator on the market, was “borderline magic in what it’s capable of conjuring, but raises so many ethical questions, it’s hard to keep track of them all.”

Mr. Allen, the blue-ribbon winner, said he empathized with artists who were scared that A.I. tools would put them out of work. But he said their anger should be directed not at individuals who use DALL-E 2 or Midjourney to make art but at companies that choose to replace human artists with A.I. tools.

“It shouldn’t be an indictment of the technology itself,” he said. “The ethics isn’t in the technology. It’s in the people.”

And he urged artists to overcome their objections to A.I., even if only as a coping strategy.

“This isn’t going to stop,” Mr. Allen said. “Art is dead, dude. It’s over. A.I. won. Humans lost.”

[duckydae]

exo-l tag challenge

so now that exo's coming back to properly celebrate their 10th anniversary, thought i'd send this around so we can have a wee giggle and reminisce

dunno if any of my moots are still active anymore so feel free to do this whether or not you follow me! also feel free to tag me, need some new exo-l blogs to follow as my dash is very exo-less

when did you first learn of exo?

this is really cringy but i first saw exo in twenty-fourteen on a 'youtubers react to k-pop', they were reacting to "overdose" and i kid you not, i was so put off their styling i wanted nothing to do with it. i hated it (and i still bloody do)

and then, a little while later they put out a 'teens react to exo' and i hadn't connected they were the same group. anyways, i saw yixing with that blonde hair and my mind went "that one, i like that one"

so don't let anyone ever tell you a visual is a stupid position

(it was probably a lot to do with the fact the boy i really liked had the same hairstyle)

turns out, my friend at the time was vaguely into them (she was more into super junior & shinee) and we just clicked over that and the rest was history

who was / is your bias?

yixing was my first bias ever, and i vaguely remember bouncing around yixing + luhan but i think like a month in jongdae committed the cardinal sin of a bias wrecker and became the ult bias

don't ask me how, it might have been showtime? but yeah jongdae's been my ult since twenty-fifteen. oh god.

where you team exo-k / exo-m?

i was pretty openly exo-m, because yixing was my bias and would only exclusively listen to their versions of the b-sides, until "the war" and it's funny that jongdae became my bias because i really don't think it was his vocals that sold me on him because i was too busy thinking "i wish lay would get more lines"

now looking back, yeah jongdae (and yixing) were my bias individually but as a collective, i preferred exo-k (also, "candy" and "mirotic" were better than "sorry sorry" + "happiness")

favourite m/v?

"lotto". not my favourite song in the world but the aesthetics, the 'plot', jongdae in the white smashing up that table with a hammer? ugh, love it. jongdae and baekhyun's era.

i love a music video with a plot, i would love to see them do a "now" or "365 fresh" but i don't think my heart could take it lol

honourable mentions: monster & i love 'love shot' probably because its in the same vain as "lotto" if it were less plot, more vibes.

also chanyeol with no shirt and that black leather, ugh.

the music video isn't my favourite, but i love the 'alice in wonderland' aspect of "love me right"

favourite album?

i think it really depends on what day you ask me, also my favourite album isn't always the one i think its their best. i'm really enjoying the obsession album right now but the "love me right (exodus)" is exo's magnum opus and dare i say "lotto (ex'act)" is the best sequel since shrek two.

but i really didn't like "love shot (don't mess up my tempo)" and it killed me inside but i only liked two of the b-sides

top ten tracks?

exodus

heaven

thunder

my lady

forever

cosmic railway

white noise

hurt

christmas day

fall

favourite soloist / subunit?

unit is absolutely exo-cbx. their "hey mama" mini-album is a no-skip album, their second mini wasn't really for me but "vroom vroom" is amazing also jongdae's "watch out" is brill but i can't listen to it without remembering him decking it on stage

that said, i still mourn the concept of chenbaeksoo unit and i'm still really disappointed sment didn't milk the shit out of that trio like kry or tts before them

favourite performance?

it feels a bit cliche to say the "wolf (remix)", the olympics or "artificial love" so i think i'll have to go with twenty-fifteen's mama set it was fantastic, show stopping and a bit chaotic

but shout-out to baek's "monster" in tokyo dome. y'all baby exo-l missed out on the shitstorm that was tumblr / twitter.

also, not a 'favourite' but cbx in "run this" at the golden disk awards being visibly pissed-off and screaming into their mics because of the "lip-sync" rumor

your exo hot take?

not an unpopular "hot take" but i know folk get stick for it

i really dislike superm, like seriously. i really dislike sm's management of it. sm had a perfectly good group to go up against bts on a global stage and they screwed it up. they weren't rookies like most of nct, they weren't too "out there" like shinee and the less said about suju the better.

also, they're a 'global group' yet all their best songs are mostly korean.

but they squandered it, they prioritised the nct brand both with the group itself and superm and tacked exo + taemin into their daft group to make older fans give a shit and they took away exo's chance at their final ot8/9 comeback before enlistment.

also, whilst it was for the better, kris leaving exo really stilted their international growth as a unit and individuals, honestly just the china line generally as they are collectively a lot stronger in their english as opposed to the korean members

showtime, ladder or arcade?

overall, ladder but i love showtime, especially episode eleven. i think that's when i first thought "hey that really fucking loud guy is pretty cute"

collab you'd like to see (western + k-pop)?

in regards to sm, i would love to see taeyeon, wendy, kyungsoo and jongdae take a shot at either a jazz or r'n'b collab track.

k-pop generally, baekyeol + dreamcatcher

western, bruno mars & kyungsoo

what would you like for exo to do next?

sm please! give me an english version of their title! almost everyone else at sm has one! hell, there was literally an english version of "the eve"!

but also, royalty concept (they've bloody earned it and exo-l's can't keep suggesting it every comeback)

but personally, it'd love to see a twenties or thirties "great gatsby" concept

funniest exo moments(s)?

"say hey!" that entire performance is a disaster, baek getting interrupted, then spooked by a pyro and finally jongdae decking it in the dance break of "growl"

the water fight during exoluxion

jongdae's outbrust at sehun on knowing bros

exomentary's bowling episode (rip chanyeol)

sehun and the beluga whale

the exo-l screaming "yah baekhyun!"

jongdae scaring the shit out of doni on weekly idol (deserved)

everyone yelling that baekhyun picked 'i got a boy' and not ‘gee’ like a normal person (personally luhan made the best choice)

baek, tao and luhan's haunted house run

heechul's various impressions of kyungsoo on knowing bros

favourite line?

chingu, we never get to see them anymore but they (especially the beagles) were always tied to the hip, that said i've defo gone soft for the maknae line

who's the traitor? is there one?

kris it's absolutely jongdae. i know folk think it's baekhyun but or chanyeol but after "lotto", i feel like that rules out chanyeol and baekhyun after "monster".

jongdae seems to be doing the opposite to everyone in these music videos whilst still being 'apart of it'

like: the white shirt in "lotto", standing at the 'last supper', the cameras in obsession, the smashing of their earnings in "lotto" the 'no fucks given attitude' when the swat shows up, unlike the rest of the group

favourite pathcode?

baekhyun, its so pretty but i also love sehun's as a resident scot

favourite cursed moment(s)?

"my name is baekhyun, but you can call me bacon" stfu bake-hun

suho meeting jedward

chanyeol's nick mask

exo: next door (side note: why was exo-m + jongin just not in the show?)

baekhyun's 'best looking' ranking on weekly idol

"wolf" demo

who's "baby-girl" are you picking?

kyungsoo's in "call me baby" but shout-out to jongdae's underrated one in "juliet"

favourite exo collab?

i've got a few, probably "lil' something" with jongdae & heize or his collab with ailee

it kills me that taeyeon was unwell whilst singing with jongdae also, chanyeol's collab with far east movement

favourite cover?

vocal line + sehun's "why so serious"

exo & yuna kim's "happiness" (vocal line sound brill in this)

sunday morning

[postguiltypleasures]

My peak tv Journey *Saved by the Bell*

I loved the Peacock Saved by the Bell reboot. I saw the first season when it was briefly not behind paywall right before the second season. I did not upgrade to a paid version, and it was cancelled. But then there was a special subscription rate that I did upgrade for and the second season was the first thing I watched. Now I really can be disappointed that it was cancelled!

I have started to become interested in how different fandoms are on different social media. A romance popular on Facebook can be derided on Twitter. While when I see posts on here that love the reboot, when I watch clips on YouTube where the original and reboot versions are compared to each other the comments tend to say things like “I only laughed at the scenes from the original, who is the news show even for?” Which made me wonder if the new version is for people who don’t like the original. I remembered a review of the first season on Vox focused author Aja Romano’s bafflement about who the target audience is, which helped create this idea in me. That said, I’m clearly the audience for this show and I’m not someone who hates the original.

I remember being kind of obsessed with the original when in was on in syndication seemingly everyday after school and occasional weekend mornings. It was fascinating. I often wanted assurances that kids older than I were not like that. But I had to be invested enough that I was was shocked when Kelly dumped Zack for Jeff, and generally think it was silly that Slater went after Kelly so much while his real sparks were with Jesse. Also most of the treatment of Screech was mean. And Lisa was often treated as an afterthought. I’m the kind of former viewer that the Funny or Die series Zack Morris is Trash was made for, then you’re right. And realizing that the guy behind that, Dashiell Driscoll, was also working on this was promising for me, if discouraging for others. And I like Tracey Wigfield from her other word from 30 Rock to Great News. Eventually I found a YouTube comment cursing the “wokeness” and “predictability” of of the new show while clearly not having watched even the clip that the writer watched and getting everything about in their predictions wrong. I stopped worrying about what these comments said about who the show was for and filed this to my continual anxiety about reactionary backlash to any programming that doesn’t center on straight, cis, white male characters.

The Peacock SBTB is self consciously a tv series in a way that the original wasn’t. Characters from the original make jokes about the lack of continuity in the old series including family members who showed up once only never to be heard from again and  the fact that it started as a different series set in Indiana then became the SBTB we know and was in CA.  In the new cast of characters, Zack and Kelly’s son Mac is a prankster who is self conscious about living up to the legend of his father. The series’s inciting incident involves kids from the underfunded Douglas High School being bussed to Bayside on the order of Governor Zack Morris, and these characters  frequently comment on how the in world things from the original are weird and a sign of them being very wealthy.

Jesse and Slater are the only members of the original cast to an appear on every episode and they are really well used. They are there to mostly support the new kids who are the real stars. When they had more of the old cast back an were highlighting them, the show was on weak footing.  I really didn’t like the home coming episode in the first season where they wondered where they wonder why their friendships don’t feel real like then. The Screech memorial scene was necessary and sweet, so I can’s judge it. The second season’s career fair episode was slightly better than the homecoming one. There was a whole subplot to make meta jokes Elizabeth Berkley being in Showgirls and its reception. I appreciate that she went there. The jokes were uneven and they mostly left me feeling sad.  

As I said the real stars are the kids, and they as great. I especially like the girls Daisy and Aisha and their aspirational friendship. I love the details like their occasional slipping into Spanish, and that they have had multiple conversations about which pro basketball players cheat on their wives. They’re supportive of each other’s craziness and ambitions. I loved watching them.

Of the Douglas High School students Devonte feels underutilizing. Some of that was about emphasizing that he’s kind of a loner, uninterested in the drama of the other main characters. It made sense that he’d be the one to have a long term romantic relationship with a reoccurring character. Whenever he is in the spotlight he’s a consistent delight, and it made me miss him.

As for the Bayside kids, they’re wonderfully incapable of being self conscious. They’re ridiculous, but worthy of sympathy. I liked them best when when they interacted the Douglas kids. 

The second season had a few message episodes about facing transphobia, racism, financial anxiety. They were notably earnest and not at all like it would have been done on the original series. 

[astranva]

the Fenty effect makes so much sense and i agree so much. using rihanna and selena as examples is perfect because yes, you’re so right. it feels like they’re the only two celebs who truly own their brands and not vice versa. i’ve never seen harry promote his products other than the nail polishes and that’s through pictures and just someone putting them on for him so like…maybe make him put it on for himself?

I feel like Harry is following the career path of Beyoncé. And hear me out. After Beyoncé left Destiny’s Child she started her solo career and were simultaneously doing acting at the same time. Beyoncé built a huge empire with her clothing line, her perfume and her music and with her acting as well. She took a step away from acting and just focussed on her music and after a while Beyoncé stopped doing interviews. I want to say it around the time her album Four came out so in 2011 or 12. Beyoncé stop doing interviews and has it done a full press interview in years. You don’t see Beyoncé on talk shows you don’t really see her doing anything of the sort. Beyoncé overtime started to detach from a very public life and became a very private person. You didn’t hear about Beyoncé very often. Her relationship with Jayz she never really confirmed until they got married. She just mind her business and continues on with her life. Beyoncé has this holdover people where she is the highest regard in music. She was around before social media so she had built this different type of connection with her fan base. Beyoncé doesn’t follow anyone on social media and doesn’t use Twitter and uses her Instagram as a place to post her pictures really. And the only reason she does that is because to devalue Paparazzi pictures of her. I feel like Harry’s team is going in a similar route. With him doing music and acting simultaneously and now having his own brand. Beyoncé has IV park here he has pleasing. They are slowly taking him out of the press aspect of his life. Harry as we can see from this last album rollout did very little press for this album. Harry also follows the same type of press run every time he releases an album. He does the same talkshows same performances and doesn’t really do anything different. Harry also has detached himself from his Fanbase. Doesn’t interact with them, doesn’t really understand his Fanbase and knows that his fans will grasp onto anything which is why he has pleasing. I feel like his management want him to be this unattainable untouchable celebrity kind of like Beyoncé and they are going in that route. It’s a matter of time before he stopped doing press completely. I don’t think Harry Styles popular enough to release an album with no press like Beyoncé but it’s something that they’re working towards. I have noticed the parallels in Beyoncé solo career that Harry is following and it’s very similar. I don’t think he has done enough work to be at that place yet where he can start attaching himself from his Fanbase and his following and this is something that’s going to bite him in the ass. We saw this happened with One Direction. After One Direction when I’m hiatus fans found something new to obsess over. There’s a good chunk of fans of One Direction who became K-pop fans and also just moved into different bands like arctic monkeys, five seconds of summer or the 1975. If you aren’t giving them what they need and you were not interacting with them they are just going to find someone else who does. And I don’t think Harry or his team really understand it. I think he’s always gonna have a big Following and I think he’s always going to have fans but he needs to understand especially this day and age of being a celebrity and social media you have to interact with your Fanbase to keep them interested because if you don’t they are going to find somebody who gives them that attention and constant thing that keeps them interested. I think that his team want him to be some thing that he has not proven that he is worthy of or can be just yet. If you or someone who was a fan of *NSYNC and Justin Timberlake it’s some thing that he did. He had the same career trajectory. He went solo, started acting and doing music at the same time and at some point people stopped being interested because they found something new to obsess over. If Harry is a careful his fans are going to find something new just like they did after One Direction one on hiatus.

the thing with beyoncé though is that she’s huge and is also unattainable. like i don’t think that’s a good thing. sure i love beyoncé, i admire her even but she’s also such a celebrity if that makes sense. fan interactions are so important, but when that’s not there, then it’s important you find anything to resonate with with the celebrity, you know?

but the thing with beyoncé as well is that she’s an incredible actress, like???? dream girls??? but she didn’t get a $100 million deal with marvel when she was just getting into acting, that seems so questionable and unfair.

and you’re right. i think his team sucks ass.