#like sometimes I think the way you act in fan spaces has much less to do w your age and more when you first entered these spaces

[melrosing]

poll bc im curious.

[antimatterz]

boyfriend/dating headcanons

ft. dan heng, gepard (my fav hubbies yesyes)

they might be ooc since i'm still getting into hsr and still trying to get to know them. might rewrite this when i am at that point and maybe i'll expand it with various other characters, i'll see lol

content under the cut | masterlist

— dan heng

here's the thing with dan heng

he's quite reserved but also unintentionally blunt and bold sometimes

i mean, he literally was about to perform cpr when he found you unconscious? boy going for that kiss after meeting you a minute ago

the proverb "still waters run deep" perfectly applies to him. he appears placid and that's something you really have to get used to in the beginning

he doesn't say much, nor does he seem to react much to what happens around him

which is a little weird to you at first. is he even happy with you? is he even affected by your presence and your actions? it doesn't seem that way... it confuses you

but really, once you get to know him, you learn to read him very well and you start to see things

his eyes, the corners of his mouth, the faint blush on his cheeks, the secret glances, the way he seems less indifferent around you

the light touches when he thinks no one is watching; his hand on the small of your back as you walk through the corridors of the space station, his fingertips grazing yours as he ponders whether or not to just take your hand even though you're in public..

eventually he grows more confident and open, and though he's still not a big fan of pda, he just can't resist showering you with subtle hints of affection

like playing with your hair during trailblazer meetings as you sit against him (the corners of his mouth would curl up ever so slightly that it's barely even noticable)

oh as i said before, he tends to be quite blunt sometimes, as he often speaks his honest thoughts. okay, he isn't the type to just blurt out things so he knows what he's saying but he also knows how it never fails to make you blush as his remarks leave you flustered

he's not the most cuddly person, you might have to help him get into a little. maybe you have to initiate acts of affection 9 out of 10 times but that doesn't mean he doesn't love you !! it's just how he is

you'd be surprised, though, as the longer the two of you are together, the more he makes the first move when it comes to showing love and affection

still though, i feel like he's more the type to verbally tell you how much you mean to him than through affection

and yeah, he'll leave you flustered as heck because he likes you a lot and he bluntly tells you so because why hide it?

you often tease him about the cpr thing and all the teasing will eventually lead to your first kiss (c'mon, you literally challenged him with all your teasing and who would not indulge if their s/o is literally asking for it?)

well, dan heng takes the chance

as blunt as he is with words, he is way more shy with next-level physical affection so his kisses are shy shy shy and careful which is really cute especially since he becomes so blushy afterwards in the beginning

and seeing the always so collected dan heng being flustered is a rarity and it's just super adorable

— gepard landau

this guy has a reputation

that of being a tough guy, stern and with a strong sense of justice, strong-willed and to some maybe even as cold as the ice of the eternal freeze that covered jarilo-vi

however, that was merely a facade, one that was pretty much mandatory as the captain of the silvermane guards and part of the royal family of belobog

it was only his public image, one that he showed to the people of belobog. you fell for it at first, being quite intimidated by the reputation that preceded him far and wide

but oh, then he developed a soft spot for you and it's so so so obvious that even the people of belobog notice it lol

yes they might notice it but they will never actually get to see the softie he is around you and he r e a l l y is soft for you

will go to his sister serval for advice in the beginning because as tough as he may seem he is actually quite insecure regarding this matter and just wants to do it well

and he is such a sweetheart??

special little smiles only for you, watching him utter out compliments and sweet nothings while he's trying to hide how very flustered he is even more so when you are the one calling him cute names and stuff

not afraid to show you off when the two of you are walking around belobog during his free time, always holding your hand and all

gets beet red every time serval teases him and that happens a lot – which is super adorable; seeing such a tall and tough guy all blushy, you can't help but coo at it which makes it even worse for the poor male

i wouldn't necessarily say he's super cuddly, he's more casual when it comes to that? like he loves it when you snuggle up against him and he won't hesitate to wrap his arm around you and hold you close but going all tiny and cuddly? that's just not him ig but he loves it when you get all clingy around him and he'll reward you with the cutest smile

but really, he has his own ways of showing that he's super into you. for instance, the fact that he's gepard around you instead of captain landau

[leftduck9986]

The Whickber Street Bees and Their Queen

Hello Tumblr! Testing, 1,2,3. Making the leap from Reddit, with thanks, to Kimberleyjean.

I understand that by now it should go without saying, however, it is with due diligence that I make sure to say, DO NOT ASK OR TAG NEIL GAIMAN IN FAN THEORY.

To begin, a look at the tv and book quotes re Bees -

S2E6, Crowley to Muriel: "Angels are like bees. Fiercely protective of their hive if you're trying to get inside. Once you're in, well, I mean … is it even faintly possible that an unauthorised demon might be just wandering around in Heaven un-escorted? (…)"

Originally, in the book, it's humans:

Sometimes human beings are very much like bees. Bees are fiercely protective of their hive, provided you are outside it. Once you’re in, the workers sort of assume that it must have been cleared by management and take no notice; various freeloading insects have evolved a mellifluous existence because of this very fact. Humans act the same way.

∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢

There was a scorcher of a summer day a few weeks ago, 40 degrees Celsius outside! After spending the day keeping as still as possible, I had a nice cool shower in the evening, unfortunately it was right before the southerly arrived and with it the 90% humidity! Already sweating more than during the day, I was not a happy bee! 'Twas a thought that got the ball rolling and I began with having a bit of fun mulling over and re-working the bee quotes:

Humans are like bees - they don't like getting w- well, let's say instead that they don't like getting their clothes wet! So humans will shelter under an awning if there is one, or whip out the brolly.

Yeah, okay … … the brain eventually latched onto something to expand upon:

There's also the protective nature and strength-in-numbers aspect that has me hopeful there are plenty of good "bees" on Whickber Street, part of The Ineffable Plan.

And what do bees/humans do when they recognise ROYALTY?

(No research done at all for this - I'm only thinking of that scene in the movie, Jupiter Ascending, where Mila Kunis' character is surrounded by bees. Some fun for anyone who likes to make Good Omens memes?)

∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢

S2E1 "Present Day" begins with a great sweeping shot of London from above, moving into Soho (as in the soundtrack) and seeing the flow of movement from this view - the imagery - suggests to me, that:

The Bookshop is the hive;

Immediately outside, a circling ring of Whickber Street "Bees";

The next level out, cars that are circling the block;

The arrival of others - two cars with boots open, behind which are the parked scooter and motorcycle and directly behind that, a street booth with, seated inside, three (or more?) potential persons of interest;

The outermost ring of pedestrians on the opposite side of the road, (often crossing back over from the street trader stalls and circling back past the pub throughout the season).

It's the busiest activity - for the show, not irl for Soho from what I've seen reading other discussions - but would suggest that while it's sunny and relatively dry, this is a normal day of buzzing about (or is it?).

Until Gabriel's arrival.

What we're shown of his journey to the bookshop is very short - a mere two blocks - less than that - for the traffic to come to a stop so quickly, pulling over to the sides and for the pedestrians to crowd the footpaths, so as to allow for a clear walkway for Gabriel down the middle of the street. No one yells at the naked man to get out of the street, nor does anyone offer to help him to the footpath. Not one person asked the naked man where he was headed, so that they might offer him directions.

They block off access beyond the bookshop on both sides, by filling in the spaces between cars; others close in from behind Gabriel, herding/shepherding so that he won't be inclined to double back.

It seems to be a well-coordinated effort. An assisted delivery!

∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢

Gabriel ("Me" pre-"Jim") tells Aziraphale, "… my arms were aching 'cause I had to carry that box for so long (…)" - not because it was heavy, but, you know, holding one's arms in the same position with a bit of static tension for anything upwards of a few minutes is bound to make one's biceps burrrrn.

Headcannon (hc): the cardboard box contains only the fly, but the fly had "the thing" from Heaven and now contains Gabriel's memories. Not currently on board with the idea of a detour to drop off "the thing" elsewhere - more leaning towards Gabriel getting off the lift one stop too early or too late (if he ended up pressing the lift button to Hell as well), maybe taking the stairs for the rest of the way to Earth, or emerging from the same unseen place that Saraqael, Uriel and Michael did in episode 2.

Gabriel still somehow remembers just enough to get himself straight to Aziraphale. Then, during their conversation in the bookshop does he become increasingly forgetful and distracted, but not before revealing some key information:

Aziraphale: "Then… why did you come to my shop?"

Gabriel: "I don't know. I just thought I should.

You know what it's like when you don't know anything at all, and yet you're totally certain that everything would be better if you were just near one particular person?"

(…)

"Anyway, that's how I felt that so long as I came here the Something Terrible might not happen to me."

(…)

Aziraphale: "Please, tell me about the Something Terrible."

Gabriel: "(…) I just know that it's incredibly awful and that that's why I had to come here and give you the thing."

I'm understanding that:

one particular person = Beelzebub (but only in hindsight - I did initially think Gabriel meant Aziraphale the very first time viewing);

the Something Terrible = mind erasure: identity, precious memories of Beelzebub, fellow angels (suspecting that he feels something greater than workplace rapport for them) and knowledge of this very important thing for work, that needs to be given to Aziraphale in case of an emergency;

the thing = not necessarily the same item as "the angle", which could also be inside the fly. The thing, possibly being the real reason he is being ineffably assisted to the bookshop.

∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢

It may or may not be so with bees, but humans respectfully make way for royalty (or the higher-ups, or - thinking of Shax speed-walking through Hell - the incredibly intimidating. Both.)

Anyway, these "bees" of Whickber Street are either excellent everyday people who don't crowd across intersections and if they see a person in the street, will pull their cars over to the sides, for the person's safety, but will also be jerks and whip out their smart phones to film and photograph a naked man without actually being helpful - well, hang on, are they really filming?

A moment to talk about the prop phones: There's one shot (14min30-34sec) where we can see that the phones don't even have active screens - and one person who really wanted their face shown on camera! (reflected in their prop phone). If these were modern day human people with real smart phones, how quickly would "naked man in Soho" grow to trend on social media? How earthly/native are the fellow Angelic Beings Who Walk The Earth - do any of them (or demons more likely, come to think of it) keep up with internet "news"? Entertaining for a moment, the thought of the inactive screens being more to do with divine intervention in order to protect Gabriel's identity and location, what about the one person who is actually using their phone AS A PHONE?

Presenting: Earth's contact to the Coordinator of the operation, Escort the Queen to the Hive:

[placeholder name] "Mary" as per this hc: her son, passing through Soho, stands to her right, his own frame of negative space to make him stand out, his hand almost permanently glued to his face for the rest of the scene!!! His Significant Other, who will stay with his parents for the next week or so, is hanging out with his Dad down the road, being all shepherd-like with the other bees behind Gabriel.

Notice how, "Mary" is on the phone with someone, not (visibly) speaking, just listening. Then she and her son (as per the above hc) have front row 'seats' (standing room only) to the show behind Gabriel. Her hand holding the phone falters upward when it seems that Gabriel has been denied entry to the bookshop, but then once he's been reluctantly invited in, "Mary" is the first to leave the scene, signalling to everyone to resume their usual buzzing about, as if to say, "he's in. Aaaaaaand we out!"

So, The Whickber Street "Bees" - are they mostly humans, just being human, but for some inexplicable - ineffable - reason, their phones weren't quite able to capture a clear image of the naked man? I'm leaning more towards it being choreographed, miracle-wise.

And who is the coordinator of operation, Escort the Queen to the Hive? Currently thinking that it's the same 'person' who sent Gabriel the thing in the cardboard box. As to who that could be - a few come to mind.

Thank you so much for reading,

See you in the new year!

∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢ ∢

DO NOT ASK OR TAG NEIL GAIMAN IN FAN THEORY

[gamora-borealis]

long rambling essay under the read more about twt phannie discourse / discourse surrounding how people talk about dnp's relationship because I have thoughts I want to get off my chest:

ohh I am so glad I am using twitter less the twt phannies are having discourse again about if you are allowed to think dan and phil act cute together (which yeah most people assume it's in a coupley way but if on the off chance they're actually not a couple then they are still cute and gay besties??? literally doesn't change much???) or that it's bad to wonder if they are soft launching their relationship because of stuff they have said that implies it? like obviously don't tag them in stuff and I get being nervous that they will get recommended stuff on twitter but like, if you keep it to tumblr or discord or your small or private twitter then whatever I don't think it's that big of a deal. they didn't like the speculation when they were in the closet because it became such a huge focus that people were messaging them about it, violating their privacy, other YouTubers were making fun of them or trying to expose them, it was putting a lot of pressure on them to come out, etc (which I think that is what Dan was addressing in BIG and people misunderstand that part because what he said was a little bit clunky in terms of how he organized it because it was hard to talk about!) but I don't think they care if people in fan spaces have opinions on what their relationship is a long as we respect their right to talk about that kind of stuff on their own terms. like the way I view it is like if you had some friends that you thought were maybe dating or flirting and then were like "aw yeah they're cute" or "hmm I wonder if they're..." to your other friends. like I don't think it's cool to say it to the people in question's faces if they haven't openly talked about it yet but I don't think it's bad to wonder based on things you have observed??? idk personally I'm always noticing details and analyzing things because my personality is just like that and sometimes I like to talk about it, not in a spreading gossip way but like an, "in confidence" kind of way to get a second opinion out of curiosity. and like ultimately your want should be for people to be happy and they are the only ones who can decide what kind of relationship/s make them happy and you can respect that while wondering or having an opinion that you don't announce to them (and like, dnp tend to understand that indirects / tumblr / etc are meant for other fans and not them and that if they go looking through tags and stuff that they are going to potentially see these opinions or observations).

also like, I think they really don't care as much now that they are out because the pressure / fear has gone away and now they make jokes about it and call themselves phan and make fun of phannies lol. I think part of the reason that so many people are drawn to their relationship in the first place too is because they are these funny relatable (neurodivergent?) queer parasocial figures in what appears to be a strong / supportive relationship, whether they are together or are queer exes who are still besties and/or queerplatonic and roommates. like we love to see them being themselves / being queer together, whatever that means for them!!! because they've even acknowledged that before they were out they were still queer representation in the sense that a lot of times they subverted society's expectations of masculine friendships in their videos just by being themselves.

also dnp have been very loud about certain things lately I don't think it's weird to be like... are they going to finally reveal something because their behavior lately has been kinda wild! (although maybe they won't because they don't want the general public / locals / news attention about it that might actually be more annoying than the standard/familiar attention from a lot of their fandom and like that's completely fine too).

Idk there is just this weird virtue signaling on twitter that is very annoying to me. like personally I am like yeah a lot of stuff points to them being in a romantic relationship but I could be wrong and either way I really love them and the relationship that they do have and show us on camera. but one doesn't have to qualify with that every time when saying "aw they are cute!" or making an observation about something on your own blog or small account...

honestly if what comes off as virtue signaling to me is actually coming from a place of care, I do respect that... I just also think that some people go out of their way to police or denounce behavior because they are afraid of being identified with people who were actually harmful to dnp when I don't think the behavior they are being mad at in this instance is actually harmful and more so just a natural side effect of being parasocially invested in these two queer guys who have spent most of fourteen years together and have confirmed that their relationship has been "more than just romantic."

[lexsnotdead]

I absolutely loved BG1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark and Neverwinter Nights 2 too are among my most favourite RPGs. But Larians writing, particularly in D:OS2 turned me off so much :( How different is BG3?

big wall of text under the cut and before anything else i want to say that criticizing a game does not equal not liking it

i thought a lot about my response to this ask, since i must admit i have never played bg&bg2 and jumped straight into the hype train of bg3. and i'm genuinely curious what exactly about dos2 turned you off that much. here's what i personally think:

i played d:os1 and d:os2 and while i'm a big fan of the latter… dos1 couldn't keep me entertained even when playing with a friend in coop, which shows just how exhaustively boring and unmemorable it was. i really love dos2 and despite what i will say next, nothing is gonna change my love for this game. but. imma be honest, it was 3 and a half characters that kept me playing. i love sebille and lohse, i love malady — the mystery around her has its own appeal, but it's still a huge miss not to expand on such intriguing character as herself. i slightly care about ifan and fane, i couldn't give a lesser fuck about beast, i fucking hate the red prince and his writing is one of most unlikable from any rpg game i ever played (i can elaborate. but that's a post for another time). in short: lack of memorable characters, and those who are there have to make up in quality rather than quantity.

and larian is still... larian. their ambition makes them bite more than they can chew, you don't need to be nitpicking on purpose to notice just now empty act 3 of d:os2 was compared to fort joy or driftwood. in similar-ish way act 3 of bg3 feels less polished in terms of performance and content. like they even had to add an alternative ending to karlach's quest only after the game's release lol. there are quite a lot of bugs and players who are doing an "evil" playthrough like me found themselves deprived of content — sometimes you're just locking yourself out of quests, encounters, characters entirely because of decisions you made, quite literally making the game harder for yourself.

another important thing that i'd point out that dos2 felt kinda lacking in terms of the character creation because ocs always felt less immersive and shallow compared to the playable origins (i had the time of my life playing as lohse, tho). i know people who managed to have fun filling the blank spaces with their imagination, but i'm not one of those people, unfortunately. when i tried creating a drow character in bg3, however, every third npcs made sure to glare at me distrustfully and be fantasy racist towards the drow. like really? thanks for noticing! this might sound weird, but i liked that. it enhanced my feeling of immersion thus making it more satisfying to play. like yeees... yes... i indeed am a drow!

i'd rather stop focusing on its shortcomings because it feels unfair to larian when they are listening to the playerbase and trying their best to deliver patches as quick as possible. after all, what makes a good dnd adventure for me is always the story and characters — banal it may be, as long as it is fun, it is a good dnd game. and bg3 is very fun and addictive. there's this unique feeling when you're planning your next playthrough and considering what you would've done differently when still doing your first. i like it more compared to dos2, because... i'm not sure why myself? interpersonal interactions just feel a bit deeper, and i actually care about almost every companion, even the ones i did not expect to care about (like gale, astarion, shadowheart). and variety of the character creation, of course. and i can bet on bg3 being next the goty haha

to sum this all up:

if you like dos:2, you will like this game

if you like dnd e5, you will also like this game

if you like bg1 and bg2 then i genuinely don't know i'm sorry

[quidfree]

Hi first off I wanted to say I fucking love your writing, you've seriously got a beautiful style and you seem to understand tsh characters so damn well it's crazy. Second I have four very important questions for you if you wouldn't mind

1. in your mind/ in your tsh fics does francis have long/longish hair? I know it said in the book he has a short mop of hair or whatever but I really don't like that so in my mind he grew it out after Hampden or something.

2. in sober ii when Richard says " I haven't- since you" before Francis kisses him does he mean he hasn't fucked since Francis committed or he hasn't been with a man since francis in college? this doesn't actually matter but I'm curious

3. this is a bit more broad but I wanted to know what you thought about the Theo's three big romantic relationships in tgf (kitsey, Pippa, Boris)

4. have you read the little friend? did you like it? coz everyone seems to hate it but it was the first Donna tartt I read and I had me completely hooked for weeks. I literally re read it constantly and when I finished I would just start it over. I especially liked the dynamics with the ratliff family and ended up feeling kind of attached to Danny even if he obviously wasn't a great person. (I didn't like the amount of slurs she used in it though but that's a whole other topic)

sorry this is very long but I'd like to hear your thoughts on this

well first off thank you very much. i love when characters feel true to the source material. and i love questions like these, whether fic based or otherwise!

francis to me doesn't have a shoulder length mane or whatever (he's too conservative for that) but i also agree he wouldn't just have short hair like the other guys. i see him w a sort of bob-length situation- long enough to tuck behind the ears and such. i saw a rich guy in a paris gay bar once who was extremely over-dressed w a suit jacket hanging like a cape over his shoulders complaining to his friends about the venue and he looked exactly like what i picture francis as but unfortunately i can't airdrop my memory of this man to anyone so you'll just have to take my word for it.

richard's just saying he's never been w another guy. which i can't imagine he would have been. he's lucky francis has a long history of sleeping w straight guys bc honestly...

oh that is a big one. i think id need to do a separate post it so lmk if you want it. in the meantime more on the characters themselves... kitsey to me is an undersung hero like i love the character so much. she's so interesting and deeply fucked up. in her own mercenary way she is being so much realer w theo than he gives her credit for bc she sees thru the act of normalcy he is clinging to, as an expert actress herself. pippa i also think is great altho i actually have less of a sense of who she is than w kitsey due to the tartt protagonist dehumanize-woman-ray at work; i really like the layers of her relationship to theo and the way we the audience can glimpse at her reality beneath it, her discomfort and her charm. like she does love him and they are brothersistersouls and she is actually fucked in ways that theo is without knowing it and sometimes not, but she is also like white-knuckling a shot at being Okay and trying from a safe distance to get theo in that kind of uncomfortable space too. and then boris obviously is the easy fan favourite bc there's just so much to him. he's deeply charismatic yes but he's also really interesting. in many ways he's a lot more grown up and realistic than theo, at every age, but he's still self-destructive, just more outwards than inwards, and i think while his lack of introspection saves him theo's inner agonies it also shuts him off to some level of profound codependent connection which he and theo r always tight-rope walking over.

have not read it, didn't know everyone hated it. i tend to have too long a to-read list to read multiple works by the same author in any kind of reasonable timeframe.

hope these thoughts were of interest.

[kimtaegis]

„Because I feel like I'm getting less and less interested in anything and everything he's doing and it's making me so frustrated because I did like him as a person and his music as well.” „because I feel like I still like him,” But go off anon I guess. People like you are the reason why I left twitter because you make such a big deal about loving every member no matter what. I do love all of them. But I still have opinions and I can’t like everything. I’m open to what they are doing, I’m open to new music, photoshoots, brand deals, you name it. But I don’t have to and I can’t like everything all the time. And sorry if me voicing my frustration about something that has been bothering me for months and asking if anyone else feels the same way personally offended you. „I still don't think anon is army” well if that makes you sleep better then okay. But you know what, I’m going to tell you something: you are not obligated to like everything. Forcing yourself to say „omg it’s a hit” to every single song they release just so you can be called a true army is not how being a fan should be. Guess what, even if people tweet about every single release and how they love it and it’s a hit and all that, 50% of those people could secretly dislike that song. Because we have opinions. And maybe you didn’t have bad intentions but you really came across as someone who just blindly supports everything they do and you force yourself to like everything. And the fandom has shifted so much and everyone acts like if you don’t like absolutely everything they do then you can’t even like them because you’re not a fan. Believe me, if I could, I’d simply snap my fingers and go back to feeling the same way I felt a few months ago, but I can’t. And that’s what’s frustrating because he hasn’t done anything bad for me to like him less. But thanks for basically stating I’m not a fan just because my interest levels are not the same.

Thank you annie for your answer, and I'm sorry for even bringing this up. I didn't want to turn this into a discourse. I won’t send another ask again.

I hope it’s okay if I don’t go further into anything you said since it was mostly directed at the other person, and let me just end this by saying something about you and me: you don’t have to ever apologise to me for speaking up about what worries you, okay? with hindsight I maybe should’ve just not answered their message and spare you having to read it as well, I don’t know… I was upset too and wanted to make some things clear from my side. I understood what you wanted to express and I’m sorry I let this go as far as you having to justify your feelings to some other stranger.

lastly, because I don’t want any of you to get my text post wrong – you can ALWAYS come here and talk to me about your thoughts and feelings, okay? I said it before but I love that my blog can be this space for you, I happily try to comfort and help you in any way I can, I really do. I’m just not immune to the ‘heaviness’ some of these topics bring with them, and now that I’m much busier with work and my own priorities (have to) shift, it can get more difficult and exhausting than usual to try to find the time, headspace and right words to reply the way I want to you. I hope you can understand that when you talk to me about these kind of things, I start to worry (about you), too, and sometimes it can get overwhelming. just as for everyone else probably, a little light or silly or sweet conversation in between all those heavy topics would do me some good, especially these days. that’s all I wanted to express, really

[mrsbsmooth]

(TW: DV/SA mention) Had to vent in your ask box because it feels safe here, if thats ok. It's upsetting to see how many people are implying or outwardly saying that Suresh is capable of DV/SA. It makes me livid to see people treat characters of color the way they do. This fandom has begged for interesting writing for years now, and the moment they get something that doesn't both 1. have drama and 2. simultaneously give them the option to stay out of drama (They always want both. Eyeroll.), they act as if this is the worst season we've had in years. Newsflash, we will never get Season 1 or 2 back. It's not that characters of color can't be toxic, it's that Fusebox is careless in choosing which characters are involved in drama, and for some reason LITG players can't separate themselves from the game and critically think about what they're consuming. Why do they feel the need to say he's capable of that? This is just a game, and it's supposed to be an escape.

I have become so uncomfortable that I'm seriously considering deleting all fan accounts I have and enjoying it by myself. The subreddit is so hostile, and tumblr sometimes is, too. I hate to phrase it like this, but LITG enjoyers/ex players need to understand that they play a huge part in this, too. It doesn't matter if the quality of the game has gone downhill. You have an obligation to keep online fan spaces less toxic by not perpetuating racism. It's not Fusebox that's making these spaces toxic. It's the players.

Thank you so much for letting me rant here. You are so quick to speak up that I knew I would at least be heard here, even if I personally am afraid to post these thoughts. Feel free to delete it if you would like. Have a wonderful week!

Why would I delete something I agree with?

I’ve literally just woken up, and haven’t even played the new episodes yet, and the first thing I’ve seen yet again is a giant bunch of notifications on the main Fusebox discord, seemingly all about this exact topic.

You said it perfectly. Nothing to add.

[caralara]

The current take in fandom is that HL want to be closeted. That their behavior indicates that they have no intention of coming out any time soon. And tbh I can definitely see how people are coming to that conclusion. What I'm struggling to understand is that if Harry and Louis truly want to be closeted and for the Larry rumors to die then why are things still the way they are. What I mean by that is why is there still the signalling and the obviousness from them both. Louis didn't have to act the way he did for the beginning few weeks of his tour last year, being very blatant about Larry stuff. Their stunts could look more convincing if they truly wanted them to. So sometimes I struggle to marry the idea that they want to be closeted with their actions that sometimes say otherwise. They literally could go completely silent in regards to any and all Larry for like a solid year and I am sure the rumors would die down a little bit if the fans were not being fed anything. So why continue to do it? I guess maybe they like having that support and people seeing them for who they really are but then that takes me back to having people see them for who they really are sort of defeats the purpose a closet. So idgi.

Well, to me, them „coming out“ individually or together really is for the GP, not for me. Like, I know already. We know already.

We joke about Harry having come out a million times, but he kind of has - to us. Both of them are queer coding, which is to signal to the queer community and find support in them without having to go through public scrutiny which isn’t a safe space.

To me, they’ve found a good way to communicate with us, find support in us, show us they are just like us, and it finds the people that are in the community themselves, and I think that might be enough for them for now, to know they’ve got the support of the people that are important to them. I don’t see Louis having the need to come out to potentially homophobic people.

So to me it makes perfect sense. They’ve found a good balance of keeping up the communication and finding the support in their fan base, while enjoying the privacy that the closet allows them (at least rn). To me, they’re not signalling „Larry is real“ with the goal of „just wait a little longer, we’ll come out soon and proof you right“ but as a „we see you seeing us for who we really are, thank you for the support and loving us the way we really are,“ as a way of everyday life, not leading up to something. I’ve made my peace with the very real possibility of them never coming out. Makes my experience and recognition of their queer coding any less valid. To me it’s a „I see you and you see me and we witness our truths together in this life and that’s all that matters.“

For Harry, I can see that he might want to come out, for himself and for others, but that’s unlinked from Larry coming out.

So yeah… I don’t see the „not coming out“ as something negative, as long as it seems they’re content with it. I also see that it used to be different, and that there certainly was a time where they wanted to come out.

In the end, for me, it is most important that they are navigating their closet and their potential coming out happens exactly how they want it to happen. Their control over the entire situation has been taken away so much, so that’s my #1 priority.

[astromechs]

I'm not going to touch ship stuff but as someone who cares about Gamora, has been away from participating in any fandom for a long time and decided vol 3 would be the time to step back in, I'm finding my decision less exciting than I had hoped for. I was hesitant to get reinvested in gotg until I knew how Gamora's death, new beginning and overall arc was going to be handled. For the most part I found vol 3 did a solid job with enough of those things for me to relax. I was hoping to see fandom have some nuanced commentary about what could have been better and what they liked but instead I'm running into a lot of ickiness. On other sites I'm seeing the topic of Infinity War come up again and more people reevaluating their opinions on Peter. That would be awesome if not for the fact that some of it is accompanied by retroactively trying to say Gamora sacrificed herself and still trying to play it off as if Thanos wasn't the bad guy. Murder being equal to self sacrifice was not on my 2023 bingo card. The overall nitpicking of Gamora's character is off putting. Obviously with the whole 2014/2018 Gamora situation there would be some of that and I get it. But there's a lack of sympathy for both in all of this and a complete ignoring of how both of them have ended up where they did. Particularly 2014 Gamora. There's a ton of complexity and seeing what's similar and different due to the circumstances and I'm not saying everyone has to love it but I feel like if she were a dude people would be more willing to relate to her and see the potential rather than some of the dismissal or one dimensional takes I've witnessed. The surge of some folks acting like all of the boys in vol 1 are why the team came together and Gamora was only along for the ride and became better because of their actions is a level revisionist history I never thought I'd see but I guess that's where we're at according to some fans.

I know fandom can be crazy and I never expect everyone to be on the same page, but vol 3 was so not the movie I expected to walk out of, take a peak at fandom and be on the verge of a rage blackout. This franchise, trilogy, series whatever you want to call it has been so much about accepting, understanding, not treating people certain ways and I was hoping maybe once that would trickle down and filter through fandom, but nope.

yeah, like i think the movie could've afforded to delve into a focus on gamora a lot more than it did (and it would've made the movie stronger), but overall, there were a lot of things about it that were better than what i was expecting. but on the part of the fandom? yes, i am seeing the same ickiness, and i, too, want to go into a blackout rage sometimes ghfjdks

people being so dismissive of gamora, no sympathy extended to her, this revisionist history when she was clearly a driving force to bring the team together in mcu continuity, all these people saying shit like "gamora is better off alone anyway"? hate it all. hate hate hate. murder is not self-sacrifice, gamora was MURDERED. no amount of revisionist history is going to change that.

just know this blog is a safe space for people who love gamora and think she deserves so much better than what she gets 💚

[tfatwsiguess]

For those of us who have seen Thor: Love and Thunder… (it was so freakin good!) Spoilers ahead!!! ⚠️

• That opening scene after the daughter died and Gorr finds his god only to realize he was a collosal ass was actually so hard to watch- like this dude really just told you his people all died after worshipping you and you wanna laugh and throw shit at him 🙂

• Y’all. I finally get what you mean when you fawn over Thor, ‘cause man was looking FINE with his new look in the beginning of this movie. Like, yeah obviously I could look at him and see mans was attractive but this was the first time bro was actually doin it for me. 😂 Only other people who’ve managed to do that are Bucky and Marc (I’m asexual y’all sometimes I’m just slow to it lmao)

• Seeing the Guardians again was actually so nice. Made me realize how long it’s been since we’ve seen them with all the other post-endgame movies that have come out. Seeing Quill and Thor being friends was actually really nice. Was definitely expecting the competitiveness still bc of the trailer but Quill was even a fan of Thor’s whole act so I call that growth 😂

• Loved seeing my girl Darcy/Kat way too much and that’s probably because I just finished watching 2 Broke Girls. Character’s just so underrated and I want to see her Monica and Woo all back together. But omg I don’t think she even got to say goodbye to Jane 🥺

• The way I thought it was out of five stages of cancer and not four, it just made sense to me

• The first two minutes of Jane’s intro were already more interesting to me than anything she’s ever done in the first two movies. Not exactly a Jane hater am I, but I definitely didn’t think she was interesting enough on her own let alone to be Thor God of Thunder’s love interest (although I found the first two Thor movies incredibly boring too so maybe it’s their fault and not hers 😬) but I feel they definitely fixed that with this movie

• Actually loving them calling her King Valkyrie because yes it’s like making girl boss moves playing chess not checkers

• Jane’s move of splitting up the broken pieces of Mjolnir to attack multiple people at once is so badass???

• Sooooo NOW y’all wanna make me ship Jane and Thor?! Had three movies to do it before and gave me less than 0%. Why couldn’t they show us a glimpse of any of these flashbacks then 🤡

• The personification of Mjolnir and Stormbreaker were really a nice touch. Mjolnir actually heeding Thor’s wish when he asked it to protects her is pretty sweet and adorable

• Thor really has a thing with people copying his look. “I see you’ve copied the beard.” // “You’re wearing my look.”

• My God when he leveled up his armor with all those bright colors after he saw Jane’s he looked like a freakin Transformer to me

• Thor is not as skilled in giving inspirational speeches as ol’ Stevie was and I admire him for always trying and knowing that’s enough 🥹

• Jane and Valkyrie are actually extremely adorable and I love them, she’s like her goddess mentor

• “Eat my hammer” is giving… “get a face full of my hammer” and I’m down with it the way she delivers it lmao

• It’s the way I should’ve expected to see Thor/Hemsworth buns uncensored in this movie and I didn’t 😂 was completely surprised when my mom actually laughed at the women fainting she’s so conservative

• YES VALKYRIE WIELDING THAT LIGHTNING BOLT LIKE A QUEEN

• Okay Jane has such a flourish to her fighting movements and I freaking love it

• Jane actually staying in the hospital to let Thor take the reigns going forward was such satisfying character growth

• Holy crap the gifs y’all make of this movie are gonna look great- that rainbow bridge shot when the goats crash through the ceiling and the extension of Thor’s powers to the kids making a tree were so cool

• Did the wish granting space person thingy look like The Watcher to anyone?

• I’m really glad they had Gorr make the right decision to bring his daughter back. I thought it was gonna be the type of situation where when they break his sword he would stop being corrupted. Still not clear on why he was dying in the first place tho

• Thor having a DAUGHTER?! SO STINKIN CUTE AND PUREEEE 😭 Idk if y’all comic readers already knew about this but I never would’ve guessed that was where the movie would end up. (For X-Men lovers I went home and watched Logan right after that too so my heart’s been through the Daddy-Daughter ringer 🥺)

• My moments of realizing why it’s called Love and Thunder and why they kept using the song Sweet Child O’ Mine shown through emojis: 😯😱🙊🥺🥹

• Hercules?! Hell yeah

• I was hoping my good sis would make it into Valhalla with the died-of-cancer/saved-all-of-god-kind card. Certainly was nice seeing Heimdall again

That’s everything I remember off the top of my head but this really was such an exciting, funny and hilarious two hours of entertainment. Definitely see it in theatres if you can guys 🧡

[ciaossu-imagines]

I’m so happy to write for the GetBackers. While I’ve never finished the manga, for obvious reasons, I love the anime and some of these boys are my favourite boys of all time! I hope anyone familiar with the fandom will enjoy these headcanons for Shido, based off this prompt here!

2-4 songs that are probably on their iPod?

Shido doesn’t actually own an iPod or any music device. He’s not really that into most music, with most of what he likes being what Madoka plays. And he doesn’t need an iPod to listen to that, since she plays for him often, because she knows he enjoys listening to her as much as she loves playing for him.

The one place they sometimes end up falling asleep, where they’re not supposed to?

I think Shido sleeps easiest outside, even when he does shack up with Madoka, and he has a bad habit of falling asleep on the lawn or especially of falling asleep up in a tree.

The game they’d destroy everyone else at?

Don’t bother trying to play hide and seek with Shido because there is no way, like zero percent chance, that you will win. He’s beyond amazing at that games to the point where he would often get accused of cheating. And maybe he does cheat, just a little, by talking to the animals around but he’s just using all the skills at his disposal.

The emoticon they’d use most often?

Shido doesn’t really get texting and he’s very, very bad at it. He won’t understand emoticon’s unless they’re super obvious…he’ll know the smiley face does mean that you’re happy or smiling but some of the other ones will read like ancient hieroglyphs to him.

What they act like when they haven’t had enough sleep?

Shido gets really cranky when he doesn’t get enough sleep. He’ll be irritable, snappish, and will just want to be left alone and to have peace and quiet. As much as he loves Madoka, he’ll even want space from her at these times.

Their preferred hot beverage on really cold nights, or mornings, or whenever?

Shido likes coffee in the mornings but tea at night. He’s a really big fan of peppermint tea in particular, just plain, before bed.

How they like to comfort/care for themselves when they’re in a slump?

He gets away from everything, seeking out the most secluded spots he can get, preferably in nature. When he’s feeling down or bothered in the least, he needs to reconnect with nature, surround himself with his friends in the animal kingdom, and just get away from people and noise so that he can get his head back in order.

What they wanted to be when they grew up?

Shido never dreamed about what he wanted to be when he grew up. Honestly, he didn’t, and still doesn’t, believe that he’ll live into old age. He focuses on the present, on the current moment, and lives as in the moment as he can instead of wondering about the future.

Their favourite kind of weather?

Shido prefers clear, bright days. While he’s not a fan of the sweltering summer, he also really hates the cold, so fall or spring days where the sky is blue and birdsong is all around…those are his ideal days.

Thoughts on their singing voice (decent? terrible? soprano? alto?)

I honestly strongly headcanon that Shido isn’t a bad singer. He has an ear for music and just naturally understands pitch and tempo. Living with Madoka allows him to even better hone that ability. I think, more or less, that he just doesn’t sing often and that, when he does, his voice always sounds like it’s been out of use for a long time, with a bit of gravel and hesitancy to it.

How/what they like to draw or doodle?

He doesn’t draw or doodle often but is artistically gifted, at least when it comes to drawing animals. Anything else he’s rubbish at. But animals…they look almost realistic if he takes his time and isn’t just rushing out a hurried drawing.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP, since you're talking about it, plus explain why so many K-pop fans that got into K-pop through BTS dislike them so much after??

**

Hi Anon,

I imagine it’s similar to how people become antis of specific members and could be down to a whole host of things. Based on what I’ve seen, it’s these three things:

1. Dashed expectations

2. A bad experience in the fandom

3. Social influence or bandwagoning

I’ve said before that k-pop offers up the veneer of perfection but is actually extremely messy, cut-throat, and filled with distinct Korean cultural markers that could seem to Western foreigners as odd at best and stupid/deplorable in the worst case. Since BTS has the widest and furthest global reach, many of the people who get into k-pop through BTS are complete k-pop noobs who have no understanding of the history of the genre/industry, much less BTS’s history within the wider context of k-pop, and once those people get past the honeymoon phase they get to see how the sausage is really made… and they hate it. Lol.

Basically, the perfect expectations they have of BTS aren’t met because duh, and while I think this happens for practically everyone and is actually a good and expected thing, for certain types of people it kickstarts a chain reaction where they remain in k-pop spaces, absorb all kinds of narratives but can’t let go of BTS in some way or other. Something I've noticed since being into k-pop for (too many) years is that nobody who has ever come into contact with anything related to BTS has ever been able to stop keeping up with them. Not one. I've said before that Jimin is the perfect microcosm of everything BTS is, so they're the og 'once you Jimin you can't Jimout'. The BTS equivalent isn't as pretty syntax-wise, but you get the idea. So like a toxic ex-boyfriend who knows the relationship isn’t working for him anymore and even if he has a new boy/girlfriend, he can’t seem to stop Googling his ex, keeping up with what they’re doing. Maybe they shared a pet before breaking up and he uses that as the excuse to keep up with whatever his ex is up to. This might seem like a dramatic comparison to make after all we're just discussing music and fans and it's not that deep, but k-pop is different. Anybody who has made a fan account is already in too deep there's no point acting coy about it. So yeah, the way some people respond to unmet expectations is anger and/or dislike directed at the subject that failed to meet those expectations.

Another reason is bad experiences within the fandom, and the places you're guaranteed to have bad experiences are shooter, shipper, and solo stan spaces. Like if you're exposed to any of these spaces for a long period of time, just the mention of the word 'ARMY' is likely enough to induce vomit. In my opinion. I've seen worse behaviour from other fandoms at significantly bigger scales and in other generations, but the sort that has found its way into this fandom is ugly and self-destructive. So far the majority of this fandom has kept these factions in check, but lol, everything trends towards entropy hence the byline of this blog.

The third reason is banwagonning. A lot of people are very easily influenced by what people around them think. It's not always a bad thing, but sometimes it works in favour of BTS and other times it accomplishes the opposite effect. As BTS has become so big the group has eclipsed k-pop as a whole, reception to BTS from the wider k-pop space has become increasingly antagonistic, given the competitive nature of the space. So while people might discover k-pop through BTS, what they’ll also discover over time is that an overwhelming amount of k-pop stans have millions of reasons to hate BTS. So for the sorts of people who got into BTS because they thought BTS is popular, once getting into k-pop and entering an environment where BTS and fans of BTS are hated, these sorts of people are more likely to be influenced into disliking BTS.

[kittyandco]

PWEASE ELLIOT AND HANS FOR THE COMFORT CHARACTER ASK MEME

THANK YOU 😭😭😭 elliot will be in orange and hans will be in pink (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)

1. how long have i known about them

when i started middle school i started to get into a lot of different things, mostly manga, and hnkna was one of those!!! so i've known about elliot for a long time! my romantic feelings have apparently been simmering for all this time...

i didn't know a thing about hans until i watched frozen in 2014. december 19th, 2014. our anniversary! the very same day

so they have both been part of my life for, well, most of it!

2. whether or not they’ve ever made me cry

not quite... but it could happen. hnkna can be angst city 😭

yes, but only because i wish he could be here with me 💖

3. whether or not i have any merchandise/objects with them

NO, BUT I AM PLOTTING. i've always made my own hnkna merch 😭 i made a boris plushie and a finger puppet out of felt a long time ago. now that i have money and can search for things on my own, i bet i can find some elliots! (also hoping to see some at the next convention i go to in march!)

answered for hans! i only have a couple things though

4. what about their personality i like

EVERYTHING I ADORE THEM BOTH

5. what about their backstory makes me emotional

the fact that elliot was punished for an act of pure love will always make me SO emotional

do i even need to say it for hans?

6. the moment of theirs that made me the saddest

same answer for 5...

reading "a frozen heart" nearly had me in tears. hans lived a pathetic and hopeless life for so long. i wanted to jump into the book and protect him. and i still do

7. the moment of theirs that made me the happiest

i am absolutely LIVING playing the game. so many happy and cute moments with him 🥺 i can't even pick one

when he dances with and romances anna... kills me instantly

8. something about them that made me laugh

elliot is hilarious! his insistence that he isn't a rabbit will always get a chuckle out of me 😭

"you slipped on ice 🙄" is such a funny line i love the way he says it 😭

9. my favorite canon outfit of theirs

APPARENTLY ELLIOT HAS DIFFERENT OUTFITS? AND I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THESE (but many of them are very new and i am SO behind on the lore it isn't even funny. like 11 year old me i'm stuck in the first couple of volumes from the late 00s) i like his normal fit... but shout out to this one 😳

and you KNOW. YOU KNOW I GOTTA GIVE IT UP FOR HANS' BLUE CLOAK -- it isn't flashy like his other fits, which are both immaculate, but it does something to me

10. my favorite moment with them in canon

THIS ONE IS SO HARD BECAUSE first of all, elliot has SO MUCH material, and it can change depending on how i play the game... so i'll go with the first heart manga. i like his first appearance tbh. 😳 he's so willing to kill which is hot and then suddenly he's like "oh yeah i like you now alice sorry about that 😇" like boy??? idk why it's just really cute to me. get to see both sides of him 🥰

I THINK YOU KNOW what i'll say about hans. :)

11. my favorite relationship they have with another character

elliot is so sweet with alice, it's easy to project onto them 🥴 i mean that's the biggest reason why i sought out the game to play

ANNA, IT'S EASY TO PROJECT ONTO THEM. also i ship them 🥰

12. what i like about the way the fandom portrays them

i'm not very familiar with the hnkna fandom; i didn't start interacting with fandom spaces until very recently when i got to tumblr, which wasn't that long ago. but i've been in a server for it for a while and haven't been disappointed with their talk about elliot! everyone is actually supportive of me loving him 🥺

HANS FANS LOOK OUT FOR EACH OTHER, THEY FEED ME TIL I CAN'T EAT NO MORE. WE UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER WE LEGITIMATELY SHARE ONE BRAINCELL AND IT'S DEDICATED TO HIM

13. what i dont like about the way the fandom portrays them

see above! i really don't know, and the less i know the better sometimes

idk where to even begin, y'all are lost... so the frozen fandom has a long, weird history of major drama over hans fans just existing... and this section really goes all in and i don't understand it. it's bad. i don't even wanna get into it. it'll upset me

14. what i liked about the way canon portrayed them

i like that he has a sweet side! and that he lets himself be sweet and goofy with alice! it's very cute!

aside from making him the perfect man for me to love?

15. what i dont like about the way canon portrayed them

he's executed very well. however i hate blood so if he could be a little less loyal to him that would be good. for my sake. but KJDSKJFD

he's reduced to a joke, hardly gets to be cool, glosses over his past on purpose, and disney & canon constantly sidelines him. i'm working off crumbs here!

[i-read-shitty-comics]

DRAMAtical Murder

Genres:

Action, Cyberpunk, Drama, Mystery, Psychological, Romance, Sci-Fi

Average Rating (Google): 96% positiv feedback

Synopsis (Steam):

"I will destroy you"

Midorijima. Situated to the south of Japan, this beautiful island was once a place where people lived in harmony with nature. Then the Toue Company took over, (only Aoba, master of the gay could stop them but when world needed him most he decided to have sex instead of saving the world because he knows his priorities) driving off most of the island's residents and forcing those who would not leave to live in the shadow of Platinum Jail, a walled-off megaresort where the wealthy wallow in luxury.

Aoba is a young man living with his grandmother in the Old Residential District, the last refuge of Midorijima's people. While his peers join gangs and fight for dominace on the streets or immerse in the virtual reality game Rhyme, Aoba works part-time at a junk shop and only hopes that his peaceful life will last. (Spoiler: it doesn't ... shocking I know, I was surprised too that this game had a plot outside of gay sex.)

But strange things are happening on Midorijima, and Aoba will soon have to fight ... or lose everything he holds dear.

My Opinion:

Welcome to my obsession of the month! I got into this game back in the day, when I was too young to play an 18+ game. To my defense, I didn't play it, I watched a let's play by a Youtuber I watched at the time and was mostly there to hear him make a lot of dick jokes and see how he censors the spicy scenes. Also fyi, I 100%ed the game, so I don't just talk about the route I got first try.

Honestly though, this is a great game. It doesn't have phenomenal world building, or the best story but what it has is a really fun and colorful cast of characters that never fails to entertain and have incredible developement ... except Mink ... we don't talk about Mink ... for the sake of this whole segment, we just act as if Mink doesn't exist for a few seconds. This was so much fun to read, espacially since each love interest has their own route with one good and at least one bad ending and let me tell you: the good endings can hit all the cute feels ... or sometimes make you cry because your favorite just died ... or make you question if the MC even has a brain ... to be fair, he never said he had one. Maybe he wear that jacket with a brain on the shoulder in hopes of becoming smarter ... Aoba, honey. I love you but it's not working. Get a plan B. Anyway while the good endings hit the right places in all the right ways, the bad endings hit the bad spaces in all the right ways and I'm a giant sucker for well done bad endings.

My Ranking (with Mink): 8

My Ranking (without Mink): 9

(WARNING!: This visual novel is hella fucked up! There is sexual abuse, emotional abuse, rape, physical abuse, Mink, the MC making terrible life choices that make you question his sanity because of fucking Mink, sentient tattoos, having sex with someone who is about to die, because that's what you do, apparently, a German guy, who's real name is Willhelm ... it's not offensive but it's pretty funny to someone who's German, his parents really wanted him to get bullied when they game him that name, that's for sure, the bad endings can also be extremely disturbing and can feature dissected limbs, kidnapping, suffering in pain for all eternity, last but not least the true ending of the game is debatably beastophilia/objectophilia, selfcest and incest and fans are still debating until this day what exactly it is because it is all of them and none of them at the same time and this game is just weird and complicated but I still love every Mink-less second of it.)

Recommended to:

Everyone who sees the trigger warnings and still thinks they could get through the game. It is really good and you should stop what you're doing right now and go buy it on Steam! ... Plus the 18+ patch from the publisher if you're feeling like playing it the way god intended.

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

hello! im not usually active on here (i use twitter more) but i stumbled on your asks while scrolling through my feed and after reading some, i realized that we have the same stance on chapter two. when it was announced that each member would be releasing their own solo album, i was super excited. ive loved everything each member has put out before including collabs and their songs on soundcloud so, of course, i was excited to see what this chapter had to bring! looking back, i have no idea how my feelings abt this changed so much.

it was definitely after face that i started to get a bit tired with all the releases but i still streamed and kept up with all the content because i truly do love all their solo works and wanna give all seven members my full support. i was definitely a bit overstimulated with how much individual content we were getting, which could be why i started to feel these things, but ive always shown my support.

although im vmin biased and adore the layover album with my whole heart, i definitely think layover era was definitely my breaking point. twitter has become so insufferable and has just created a space so negative that its hard to even enjoy anything. i was so excited for layover but everytime i would go on twitter, solo stans would be tweeting nonsense and comparing numbers and its just all too much. this has been a problem ever since chapter two started but i never saw how bad it was until now and its honestly heartbreaking. i miss when there was no division between the members and everyone was supported equally among the fandom. ive spent a lot of time on twitter and would just block solo stans and call it a day but its come to the point where its impossible to just block and ignore bc theres way too many! chapter two has definitely fueled their narratives and given them more confidence for some reason but i truly hope theyre gone when 2025 comes around.

even some fans have started acting like solo stans but hide behind the fact that theyre heavily biased. theres clearly a difference in how armys treat the members and it definitely shows more with how they treated each solo release which is just disappointing. i understand people have different music tastes but would it hurt to act excited for a member that you supposedly love?

ive never noticed this before but this chapter definitely showed some armys true colors. this chapter also did an amazing job of fueling solo stans and their narrative that their favorite could go solo and leave bts behind, which is completely untrue and none of the members would actually want that. because of this, twitter has become such an uncomfortable space and has definitely made me less excited abt future solo works which ive never thought would happen since i love new bts music.

im definitely gonna take a break from twitter until jin comes back but for now, i really do wish i was able to enjoy chapter two without such negative feelings. i was truly very excited but looking back, i see how rushed everything was and although im glad each member was able to shine in their own way and explore with different genres, sometimes i wish this chapter took a different approach or just never happened. im hoping this feeling goes away when bts are fully seven again but i dont know. i just felt the need to let that out since ive been feeling this way for so long that i started to feel guilty bc ive never had such negative feelings towards bts before.

and of course, this is no hate to bts! i love my boys and have gone all out for all solo releases. im more just ranting abt army twitter and how they kinda ruined this experience for me which isnt the boys faults at all.

Your feelings are valid! You don't need to feel only positive things about people you love. Think about the people you love most that you know personally. Have you never been disappointed in them, with or without reason? Have you never been irritated by them, irrationally or righteously? Have you never wanted distance from them, because you wanted space or because you were upset with them? People only have these kind of unrealistic expectations about love when it comes to their favorite celebrity. Having mixed feelings about people you're close to, or even love, is just life.

Fandom is a large part of being Army - I mean, it's right there in the name -, of course bad fandom experiences can "turn you off" from the group. Before this blog actually started to resonate with some people, I wanted to delete it and hated myself every time I posted because I felt that all I did was spread hate - even when it was more political and not really about BTS themselves. I felt so alone and it was hard being a fan. Then, because of my Jikook and Jungkook posts, more people started following me and interacting with me - for example, sending me asks like this - and everything changed. Now I know that if I don't like something, I can share it, and someone will most likely feel the same way. It makes a world of difference...

I don't think I was ever that excited about chapter 2 tbh. And, unlike you, I definitely was disappointed by most releases. Most of it grew on me over time though, and I genuinely appreciate everything BTS has accomplished in chapter 2. I had so many mixed feelings about Jungkook, and still regularly get annoyed and disappointed, but when I see everything he's been able to achieve... like having the fourth most streamed song on Spotify this year??? With 3 months of tracking? Being the first Asian act ever in the top 5?? That's crazy. His music is so loved, and he's done so many cool things... I wouldn't trade solo era for anything. I really believe they needed this. There was always so much talk about BTS having no individual branding, and everyone wondered how well they would do solo - I'm sure BTS themselves had these thoughts about how they'd manage on their own - and now we/they know. They did great!

Obviously, chapter 2 made solos worse and fueled petty competition between the members, but I don't think it was that bad? These issues have always existed in the fandom and I don't believe chapter 2 made things that much worse. I still see so much support for OT7...

Honestly, I'm OT7 but I love Jungkook way more than the other members... I only streamed for Jungkook because otherwise I didn't have the motivation to stream songs I didn't want to listen to that many times. I think it's impossible to expect everyone to have the same energy towards every member. I listened to every song and album in chapter 2, and watched most of the performances, but with so much content, I couldn't be bothered to keep up with most of it. I have, like, 10 Jungkook lives as well as radio interviews and other videos of Jungkook to watch still.

Another point, I think it's easy to get caught up in fandom battles. I found myself pitting JK against Jimin, for example, because I saw so much of it and maybe I'm naturally competitive? You just get sucked into the bullshit as well. Even if you're not a crazy toxic fan, Twitter can change you.

Sadly, solos will still be around in 2025, and a lot of them will still be crying out over mistreatment and other bullshit. Now the members have "legitimate" solo stans too - ie. people who became fans during solo era and didn't bother checking out, or liked, the other members.

There was definitely so much content that it was overwhelming, but that's BTS tbh. I've just been a fan since 2019, but I was only not overwhelmed with content in, maybe, 2022?

This post kinda got away from me, but, yeah, take a break from Twitter, don't feel bad for feeling tired and overwhelmed with all the content (what Army isn't tbh), and my ask box is open anytime you want to vent!

Thanks for the ask!