#maybe this is what happens when you're fandom old and most people you used to know have moved on

[kangals]

way back in 2014, probably a few weeks or months after you posted that picture of boone with the stick on his head, i checked your blog out and so dearly enjoyed all the dogposting that i followed. i think you were the first dogblr blog i actually followed at the time, but it's been ages and my memory is bad, so i'm not fully sure. it wasn't long before then--2012 i think?--that i had gotten a new dog of my own, a border collie. iirc he and boone were just about the same age.

in 2018 i lost that blog i'd followed you with, and a lot of connections with it. i didn't return until 2021, and when i did, i didn't refollow most of the old blogs; i don't think i even really went looking for them. it took me a while to get back into the swing of using tumblr.

last september, my border collie had a sharp health decline, and i had to say goodbye. it's not the first time i've had to put a pet down, but i think it was the hardest. i'm still not over it. even just typing this now, i feel raw.

then in march or so, i made a new fandom friend who knows you, and i enthusiastically recalled following you before and how much i enjoyed it. i didn't even know about stellina, and now there's kep too! but... i also didn't know you'd lost boone. i followed because i still really enjoy your blog, and i love your collies too. and butters!!! so glad she's still here!

idk what made me look tonight... maybe because i talked about my old border collie with someone today. i went looking for the posts immediately around when you lost boone, because i guess some part of me wanted to know what happened. i spent the better part of an hour (maybe longer?) reading posts from the weeks before the decline, and then the loss, and then the deluge of old boone pictures after, and i've been crying pretty much the whole time just reading your posts and tags about him.

and this is a long and windy way to get to saying thank you. i'm glad you shared your grief, though that seems like a weird thing to say. there's something cathartic about crying over someone else's dog when you still hurt about your own, and knowing you're not alone in that kind of sorrow. boone was such a beautiful boy. i'll never forget that silly post that made me check your blog out in the first place, or the years of posts i stuck around for after. i wish i'd remembered to follow sooner, but the archive is still there, and it's so fun looking through all those old posts about him and his quirks and antics. he was amazing.

sorry for the length of this, i just... really wanted you to know that he touched yet another life, i guess. and i've been so deeply enjoying your posts about stellina and kep. i know it'll be a year soon... i hope there's some peace in how things have gone since he passed, and i hope the anniversary isn't too hard on you. thank you for sharing him with us.

i've been on tumblr for 14 years and this is, genuinely, the nicest ask i think i've ever been sent.

thank you - sincerely. there's been a lot of times over the course of this blog that i've felt like i was oversharing, or talking about pointless things only i cared about. i still so frequently start typing out a post only to stop mid-sentence and delete it because i can't help but think "no one cares about this." possibly it's why i like to talk about my pets so much - they're not me, but i'm the one who knows them best, so i get to say "hey look at this" and ramble and have people say "i'm looking" back. when boone passed, i lost that filter and i poured my grief out into this blog because it was the closest outlet i had. and to have hundreds of people not only acknowledge this but to commiserate, to reassure, to share their own stories - that helped healed me more than i can put into words. it's exactly as you said: there's a catharsis in grieving together.

i am sorry you also had to say goodbye. i wish i could say it gets easier, but i think that would be defeating the point of grief. your grief is your love and damn it if there isn't any act more loving in the world than choosing to say goodbye to an old, loyal dog. you think of how dogs were domesticated tens of thousands of years ago, of how human society and dogs have developed intertwined, of how we have records of ancient greeks and romans carving loving epitaths on their dog's graves, of how a prehistoric dog's skull was found with a bone placed in it's mouth after death, and you wonder if grieving a dog isn't one of the most consistent experiences in the whole of human history that there is.

i'm glad to know that this could bring you some comfort, in some way. it's incredibly touching to know that you kept me and boone in your thoughts for all this time. i am doing ok - i've been reflecting a lot as we approach the one-year mark. i'm not sure if i'll be able to condense those thoughts down into coherent words, but i'll do my best. i hope that my silly little pets continue to bring you some happiness, and that you've found peace with your own grief.

thank you, again - this is extremely touching and means a hell of a lot to me.

[dhampir72]

Please don't be discouraged about your writing, or the frequency of it! We adore your work, and will stick around for however long it takes <3

Thank you, anon! I really appreciate the kind words <3

[eva-of-the-sea]

Y'all ever notice that Fujiko receives a disproportionate amount of hate in the fandom? I'm sure it's something we've all seen, especially if you're a fan of her, but I don't really see it discussed.

I'm bringing it up now because for the past couple of months, I keep running into new fans that are very vocal about disliking her. And while I understand that everyone has their preferences, the reasons they give for why they hate her bother me the most:

"She's a bitch, she's so awful to the poor guys and especially to Lupin."

"She's a slut. She's constantly using her body to get what she wants."

"She betrays the gang so much it's annoying how she always does the same thing."

"It's the writers' fault for making her so unlikable."

While I partially understand one of these points, some of these other ones confuse me.

Fujiko is a character that looks out for herself. She goes into every heist with the thought of "what can I get out of this?" And despite this, she's been shown many times to care about all of the gang. Yes, even in part 2 where folks usually base their hatred of her off of. This is because she is a multifaceted character that isn't just driven by a single motivation.

"But Jigen and Goemon hate her!"

Do they? Because while they do get mad at her shenanigans, we also see them going out of their way to protect her and comfort her. Hell, Fujigoe is a common canon occurrence! Do you really think Goemon would be dating her if he didn't like her? Or that Jigen would be pushing her out of the way of bullets or shielding her with his body if he didn't care about her? Being mad or annoyed with someone's actions aren't the same as hatred. No one ever points out how they get mad at Lupin, and I'd argue that happens more often!

And on the point of her being a slut...where? I'm genuinely confused with this one. Fujiko does use her beauty and charms both to manipulate rich men into giving her treasure and to get out of dangerous situations. That's kind of the point of her being a femme fatale. But how often does she sleep with the people she manipulates? Most instances I can think of, she knocks them out when she gets that far. In fact, I would argue she doesn't seem to be that interested in having sex at all. Do they count her flirting as being slutty? If so, c'mon. And even if she did sleep with her targets, why would this be a bad thing? Are women characters not allowed to have sex? And again, how come Lupin doesn't get the third degree for HIS sluttiness. In fact, I see people joke about it and celebrate it if anything.

On the point of her betraying gang, yeah it is very one-note and does get old. You know what else is very one-note? Literally the actions of every other character in the show. I don't see people complaining about Zenigata chasing the gang getting old. Or about Lupin flirting with every woman he sees. Or about Jigen and Goemon using the same weapons in the same way to get out of every situation. Y'know, maybe this is just a repetitive show! And tbh, the writing lately has been shaken up. The modern series doesn't really have Fujiko betray the gang much anymore. She's either off doing her own thing or she's working with the gang as a member of the team. A lot of people complain about parts 4-6, but I think this is one of the elements it does right.

And finally, on the note of "poor Lupin", I think this one pisses me off the most lol. The fuck y'all mean "poor Lupin"?? I think fans either forget or don't realize that Lupin is a pretty smart guy. He knows Fujiko is most likely going to betray him if he does something for her, the bastard LIKES IT. This is foreplay for both of them. In case you haven't noticed yet, both of them are kind of freaks lol. There's a reason that most of the time, Jigen and Goemon are mad at HIM. Lupin is not a poor sweet baby that needs protection from Fujiko. He specifically loves the chase, the constant push and pull of their relationship. She's an exciting challenge for him, he's a stable home for her.

While I agree that Fujiko has not always been written great in the past, and I'm sure a lot of that was due to misogyny, I think fans need to reevaluate why they criticize her more harshly than the rest of the gang. There's a lot of things she's done that the fandom deems unforgivable, yet the boys have done some of the same stuff without so much as a slap on the wrist. Lupin constantly puts them all in unnecessary danger. Jigen has made some really unsavory comments about women. Goemon has betrayed the gang more than once. And I don't see nearly enough discussion about how Lupin really used to push himself on Fujiko, to the point of it being uncomfortable sometimes. Like damn I'd sell his ass out too😬.

I think it all boils down to Fujiko being a woman. And as a woman, she has to work harder to please the fans. If she's too nice, then she doesn't really have a personality or a reason for anyone to like her. If she's too selfish, she's a mean bitch and everyone should hate her. What if people saw her as a character first? Because no she's not a good person, but neither are the rest of the gang. Their morals are all on a sliding scale of what works best for the plot. But damn she's a great character. She stands out on her own and really makes you remember her. She's so much more than "the girl" character, and I'm so grateful for that. I hope more fans come to this conclusion too.

[nobodysdaydreams]

More Hatchetverse Theory: Sycamore High and the Timberwolves are connected to the Hatchetmen and the Tree-People

Starkid's Hatchetverse has retriggered my hyperfixation, and by golly if you think I'm not gonna share every unhinged theory...you're wrong. I’ll tag them “#hatchetverse theory” to make it easier. So let's dive in.

One thing I haven't seen anyone talking about is the fact that, based on what we know about canon, Sycamore High School likely shouldn't exist.

Hatchetfield is a "tiny town". There doesn't seem to be a reason for them to have two high schools, especially when Sycamore seems to not even have enough staff and students for most extra curriculars and programs (in TGWDLM, Paul mentions they don't have a theater program).

So why does Sycamore High School exist? Well, one thing I noticed was that SYCAMORE High as well as its mascot, the TIMBERwolves, have tree related pun names. And what a coincidence, trees happened to be big in the hatchetfield universe, particularly when it comes to the hatchetmen and their hatred of the LIB and magic/“the gift” in general. They did plant a forest of magic tree people after all. And, since they hate the LIB so much, they likely wouldn't want their children attending high school at one of the black altar locations, which just so happens to be Hatchetfield High. That gives them a motivation to build an alternative school.

Sounds like a pretty solid theory to me, but then there's also the fact that the residents also seem to have an odd attitude towards Sycamore High. It's not hated by Hatchetfield High with the same level of hatred they give the Clivesdale Chemists, but they still don't like Sycamore, and the students hate the idea of transferring there. Which seems odd. You'd think it would be the other way around since Hatchetfield High is the school with the black altar. Unless being around a black altar makes the students hate Sycamore, and I could probably do a whole different rant on how the LIB's influence is messing with the perceptions and behavior of the people of Hatchetfield, particularly at the altar locations or when someone uses or has used the black book, but maybe I'll save that for later.

However, if you really wanted to take this theory to the extreme, it could be part of the reason why Paul "doesn't like musicals." Musicals and music are the primary way Pokey expands his influence in Hatchetfield, at least in TGWDLM. That might be one of the reasons Sycamore doesn't have a choir or theater program: not just due to lack of students, but strategically to keep Pokey's influence out. Paul went to Sycamore High, which isn't a black altar (and indeed, might even be designed to counteract or resist the LIB), therefore he's more put off by music and musical performances in Hatchetfield, though he doesn't really know why.

I also suspect this isn't the only instance where the name of locations around town have significance. This has already been seen several times, particularly with the black altar locations.

For example:

The Starlight Theater: has a star theme similar to "the Church of the Starry Children"

CCRP (COVEN Communication Research and Power): Literally has the word "Coven" in it.

Lakeside Mall: Used to be the old mill (which would be located near water, also "mall" and "mill" are one letter off).

And trust me, I have my theories about Clivesdale as well, but again, maybe that one is better for another time.

I hope you enjoy Starkid fandom!

[vex91]

Yu Jimin - Mess

Pairing: Yu Jimin x Female Reader

Fandom: Aespa

Summary: After the news of you dating someone came out, Jimin spends the night drinking and venting to Aeri about how much she was missing you.

A/N: Just some angst to hurt all of us☺

3rd's POV

Kim Y/N and Hwang Yeji confirmed to be dating. JYP Entertainment releases a statement abou-

Jimin shut her phone off as another article about you and Yeji appeared on it. For the past few hours ever since JYP confirmed that you two were in a year old relationship it was the only thing that flooded her social media. In moments like these she hated the algorithm for bringing her news about you like it was nothing when in reality that news was enough to break her.

She should be happy for you. Your happiness was always her number one priority so she should be happy that you're happy but how can she when that means your happiness is with someone else? She wanted to be the one to make you happy, not someone else. It was supposed to be her job but it wasn't anymore and it was all Jimin's fault.

The girl in front of her could only watch as her best friend crumbled. Aeri already lost the count of how many drinks Jimin had, too many despite them going out only an hour and a half ago. Aeri knew that Jimin wouldn't take the news lightly but she didn't expected the mess that the leader will become. Truthfully Aeri already knew about you being in a relationship with Yeji, she heard about it from Yizhuo who of course knew because you were best friends.

Despite wanting you to be with Jimin, Aeri understood that you were already in love and wished only the best for you but she was still sad about Jimin's situation. The girl was a complete wreck and Aeri could see that she blamed herself for you not being with her anymore.

"Jimin-" "Do you think that Yeji knows that Y/N has problems falling asleep with drinking tea?" Jimin mumbled slightly looking up to meet her friend's gaze. Aeri sighed at her words "I'm pretty sure that she knows" Jimin looked down at her drink again "What about her ankle? Do you think she knows how to treat it properly?" Aeri took a sip of her own drink before answering "Jimin I think she knows all of it so you don't have to worry, Y/N is in good hands" Jimin gripped her cup tighter, her bottom lip trembling slightly.

"She was in good hands with me too" A tear escaped her eye when she remembered how happy you made her. A regret feeling her entire being as memories from that one night came back to her. The night when she ended the most important thing to her just because she wasn't able to control her emotions properly, hurting you and herself in the process.

"Jimin, it's not fully all your fault. You both made mistakes that caused this but that doesn't mean that you're terrible people" Aeri tried to comfort Jimin, that's all she could do at the moment but deep down she knew that Jimin won't be fully fine without you, still she at least wanted to help her get a little better. Jimin looked up again just to see Aeri looking at her. She could see the girl looking at her with sympathy but for her drunken self it looked like pity, making her feel worse about everything.

"I told her that she was annoying... and that she was not worth it. I'm a jerk no matter how much you will try to deny it" Jimin took another sip of her drink before calling for the refill. Aeri sighed knowing that it be a pain trying to get her back home. Jimin wasn't about to stop drinking and it worried Aeri "Because of me... Y/N is with Yeji" Jimin laid her head on the table. An image of you and Yeji together appeared in her mind, haunting and mocking her.

Soon her eyes landed on her phone and the sudden urge to call you started to overwhelm her. Aeri took notice of it and started to question if she should stop her or just let things go and see what happens. Maybe this call could help her stand on her feet a little. Jimin took her phone and somehow in her state managed to find your number, Aeri only watched as she pressed the call button.

.

.

.

Nothing.

You didn't picked up, Jimin's heart dropped at this as the notification from Yeji's instagram popped up. It was a picture of you and her at her dorm, cuddling and the video of Yuna and Chaeryeong managing to get themselves there to cuddle with you too, Lia's and Ryujin's laugh could be heard in the background. Jimin shut her phone off and layed her head down again. A tear escaped her eye soon followed by more and soon she was sobbing into Aeri's shoulder who could only comfort her and hope that things will get better.

Because right now Jimin was a mess and no one could do anything to take away the leader's pain.

[whywoulditho]

"the fandom ruined mha" is one of those vastly popular opinions that i've never quite understood. because they honestly...weren't as bad as people made it seem??? i swear people with zero fandom experience will see a thirteen year old in cheap cosplay having fun and say shit like "ew i hate this fandom you're ruining it" like maybe leave the goddamn kid alone??

mha has a very large fan community, and what makes it a little different than most other anime fandoms is that mha was specifically targeted for a global audience. they did their best to avoid any quirks and cliche tropes of anime that would go over non-japanese' heads. the art style is pretty cartoonish and it's got lots of references to western comics. there's a whole ass movie set in the US. what i'm trying to say is that a large, international fandom was always what they were going for, and it was well received. it was one of those shows that you'd kind of had to watch if you wanted to be in anime spaces back in like 2016-2018. mind you this is when even aot wasn't that popular. and when something is so popular, there's gonna be lot of weird people in the fandom. BECAUSE most of them will be people who have never been in fandom spaces before. the "cringy mha fans" that were the butt of every joke in anime discord were more of than not minors having just been introduced to anime or fandom culture as a whole. there were lots of weird stuff, i admit. but was it ever really that serious? like why couldn't yall just leave those people alone??

another thing people just couldn't stop talking about was how there were way too many ships in the fandom but 1) why is that a bad thing? and 2) of course there were gonna be a lot of ships in a show that introduced TWO WHOLE CLASSROOMS OF TEENAGERS AS THE MAIN CAST who interacted all the time. not to mention all the students from other hero schools, upperclassmen, pro heroes & teachers. there are like a million characters in this show and the more characters the more potential ships -it's fucking common sense. i think what really happened there was that people outside of the fandom looked at the fanmade content and thought the fandom must have been obsessed with ships. when in reality i think the fans were really chill about it. most of them were multishippers, they didn’t mind the other pairings. i understand that for an outsider's eye all the ships and disclose must've looked chaotic but in fandom spaces people know how to filter the content they engage with so there really arent any serious "ship wars" going on anywhere except for maybe instagram comments.

i am not saying all the ships were unproblematic, there were some pretty weird ships going on too, but honestly i thought half of them were jokes? or at least crackships? and if you compared the number of fics those kind of pairings have on ao3 to the more family friendly ones you'd see that there really weren't an actual fanbase for any of those weird ass pairings.

i think the core of mha fandom has never been as chaotic as others thought it was. mha fans were interested in the story, the fights & the character development while casually enjoying ships as well. it wasn't that serious until yall started bullying a bunch of kids online. with the rise of tiktok and the boredom the pandemic caused there were a huge amount of amateur content. i'm not saying i've never seen a mha fan being genuinely cringe. i just think the mature response to those posts would have been leaving the poor kids alone.

yesterday i've seen a youtube video about how awful mha fans are and this guy just showed a clip of a bunch of cosplayers outside of what was probably an anime convention dancing to gangnam style and he was going on and on about how annoying they are. and it made me so angry because where the fuck did these anime fan bourgeoisie snobs come from telling people they can't have fun at FUCKING ANIME CONVENTIONS??? i dont know if you've ever been to one but an anime con is basically the only place that's supposed to be safe to do cringe shit like that. everyone goes to those things in cosplay, some better than others. but last i checked everyone was pretty nice to each other, complimenting each other's costumes, asking to take photos. the cosplays don't have to be good, they don't even have to be complete. a convention is the one place you can show up in a wig you bought off ebay and a costume you finished making the night before. i dont know what yall are on but people go to those events to have fun. not to be filmed and made fun of. and from my personal experience having been in fandom spaces since middle school, someone who dances to gangnam style in a cheap todoroki cosplay is an infinitely nicer person than the stuck-up loser who makes a video complaining about it

[chaifootsteps]

I just don't get how Viv expects anyone to believe that she cares about being careful how she represents SA when she has:

made a sex joke when talking about the visuals that accompany Poison

allegedly not even put trigger warnings on what looks to be an incredibly graphic rape scene in a show with a 16+ rating

decided Blitzo is in the wrong when Stolas coerced him into a sex for services deal to keep his job going when he was being shot at, just because she decided to change tack halfway through and make them a couple

liked a Tweet saying Blitzo could have just 'negotiated his way out' of having sex with Stolas, despite Stolas having all the power and being a Prince (major yikes, don't know why that didn't get more pushback)

has a long history on HB at this point of depicting powerful people as being the sympathetic ones who need protection from the evil, vindictive poors who ought to be happy with their lot in life and not complain when the rich want to use them for their own benefit (which could easily be projection at this point given Viv's habit of using and discarding people with less privilege and social capital than her)

has a long history of misogynistic writing on HB where most female characters are either the Missing Mom Saint or else they're bitches or monsters (in other words, the Madonna-whore complex). The one exception is Millie who is the most underwritten character by far, and Loona who is constantly sexualized by the fandom and is barely even a character by s2

portrays abuse solely through the vector of 'who do I want the audience to feel sorry for because I like them?'

promoted a pin set with Angel and Husk being chained up by Val and Alastor, and acted like it's 'just an angst thing'

allegedly allowed Raph to storyboard the Poison sequence despite knowing they ship Angel and Val and maybe aren't the best choice if she wanted to avoid making this sequence just exploitative and shocking?

either outed Raph has having been a victim of SA, or lied about it since it contradicts Raph's earlier statements. it's hard to believe she got permission to say this when it came out in the middle of an ongoing Twitter slapfight

this sort of thing is exactly why people say her work is like fanfic. it's not only the 'shrew Stella stereotype', it's the insistence on shoehorning in dark themes and then handling them with all the grace and sensitivity of a 13 year old. it's the exact same impulse as the non stop swearing - it's wanting to be seen as adult in the most childish way possible.

if she really cares about SA and how it's represented - don't let someone who clearly has a history of drawing Angel being graphically abused be involved in the making of scenes including Angel and Val! (You managed it for Addict, what the heck happened??) Don't throw a temper tantrum, step back and think about what you're actually saying and what message you're sending to your young audience! Do the bare minimum courtesy of having TWs for the one thing pretty much universally agreed should have a TW!

but I don't think Viv will do any of that, because I think she cares more about being seen as a genius flawless writer than she does her audience or any actual victims of SA who don't agree that the way the show goes about it is good.

the problem is not Angel Dust or his being hypersexual.

the problem is Viv and Raph

Couldn't have said it better.

[jazeswhbhaven]

I wanted to make a separate post regarding this before I made my react post for the event...but idk how to feel about how they described Stolas and his preferences for how he likes to present himself. I'm sure it's translation issues, but describing him as a boy may refer to just how young he looks when he's actually of age for the devils in the universe (seeing as how in the event they all mention most places in Avisos are not appropriate for minors) and how he said so himself he just PREFERS to present himself looking young and 'boyish'. So when writing things about Stolas, I'm wondering if I'm teetering into the dangerous line of sexualizing someone who appears to look like a minor. Before the canon, I just assumed he looked like younger 20s maybe with how full his face is. Same with Eligos, Pheneix, etc. I don't like using the whole "well they're hundreds of years old" because there are devil children IN the game, and from the events, we KNOW they were children at some point in their lives, however their aging for example could be (13=300 years old in human) or something like that. But as I type this, I realize that a bunch of my friends get carded at bars for being mistaken as a minor, and one of my friends is actually shorter than me and has tiny hands that people tend to pick fun at her for (she doesn't mind it) so maybe that's the angle PB is going for here with Stolas. Sorry for the ramble, it just went through my brain as I played the event because somehow, someway someone tends to be that person and accuse you of being something you're not. Maybe it's just my paranoia from seeing what happens in other fandoms.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Right, I'm back. I didn't post anything yesterday because I thought it's best not to rush. But it was indeed fascinating to see reactions in real time to the photo. Yes, I'm talking about the photo posted on IG of JM, JK and another person.

I think I must have read opinions that varied on a entire spectrum and expressed quite vehemently. It's safe to say everyone has really strong opinions and you either condemn it or you're totally fine with it, as long as you pick a side and don't question anything. In sitautions such as these, the tendency to add just a touch of conspiracy is right there. And it gets a pass when there's a lack of information, a language barrier, etc.

I too have my own questions and observations, to which I don't necesarily need an answer, but I'll just write them down.

1. I couldn't help but think of how deep the level of social media stalking is in this fandom. I looked up the account immediately as I saw a screenshot because initially there was confusion about the source. That guy made no previous photo uploads of either JM or JK. At a first glance, there is nothing to connect him to them. And still he had fan accounts following him, before it all blew up and he gained a lot more. My question is, how did that happen? Are there people who look up Jimin's followers list and they try to figure out if there's someone from an inner circle? In all those 50 million people? Do they check some select few accounts daily to see if there's a possibility of a post? The logistics of this are giving me a headache. Or maybe there's some obvious, easier answer and I don't know it.

2. Considering that the account is public, it's not like the photo is leaked. I don't know exactly the nature of the relationship that man has/had with JM & JK and I do not wish to make any speculation with regards to his intentions.

3. I think the outrage was mostly caused by jikookers bringing back to the surface that old photo under the heart arch. Which indeed paints a certain picture, but it's also not the most incriminatory thing out there. I don't think there's any real actual danger, considering that it was supposedly taken from Jungkook's dad Kakao talk. If that's true then it means the dad was ok with showing it.

3. What I personally believe should not have happened was to circulate that photo so easily on social media. People knew about it for a long time, even before someone posted it on I-Jikook twitter. But in cases like these, the photos will always be revealed. They will leave the group chats and out into the wild usually for a petty reason. Because at the end of the day, that's the issue. It has nothing to do with giving a shit about the people in the photo, it's about winning a shipping argument, about screaming "we won". Win what exactly???? It shows who is in it for the fantasy. No single argument could work for them. Replying on and on about deleting doesn't matter.

4. Maybe my last point, but this situation has revealed some things which were already known, but maybe not really articulated specifically all the time. As people not only part of the fandom, but also using social media 24/7, our ideas about privacy and what we should have access to when it comes to public figures has certainly been influenced by the current landscape. In the case of JM & JK particularly, they have been sharing pieces of themselves for more than a decade. It was the BH strategy, the BTS brand. It worked wonders because look at the huge fandom it gathered and the relationship that was built between idol and fan. Hell, Jungkook is doubling down heavy on it with his livestreams. How can anyone really expect a mass of people to really stop and think about privacy? We ourselves as regular people curate our social media image and we voice our opinions and share the places we go to, who are our friends, what parties we attended, when we get into a relationship. Every mundane or special occassion is posted for public consumption. I'm not saying this as some excuse that would justify sharing what looks like a private photo. What I'm saying is that it's to be expected in a way. As harsh as it is, but we live in this reality where the line between the public and private sphere is getting more invisible day by day.

What I think it's scary is that if there's a situation in which an actual compromising photo would somehow be leaked and which can be in the detriment of the people in it for various reasons, so called fans would still share it as proof. Because it doesn't matter for them. It's the high of finding it, of screaming about it on social media, without thinking for more than a second about possible implications. Everything needs to be done fast, regardless of consequences because people need to feed themselves with gossip and leaks.

I'm really just rambling here and not making too much sense. Anyway, I think we should always take a step back and really assess the situation and not scream about it, regardless of our position. Not everything is a threat, or privacy violation or putting people in danger, but it doesn't mean that it needs to be treated lightly as if it's no big deal (which usually comes from people who care more about their own safisfaction and feeling like a "winner").

[alfredsolos]

Among us Batfam fans, not all of us love every single member.

Some of use don't like Jason, Dick, Bruce etc.

And naturally, there are people who don't like Damian. Be it his personality or his difference from the previous Robins. This is perfectly normal, you don't have to like Damian or any other Batfam member. For example, I don't really like Bruce's personality and his treatment of his kids. (Although that's mostly DC's fault not Bruce)

But there are certain types of people in the fandom that just loathes a character. And most of the time, this character is Damian. And as a person whose favorite is Damian, this irritates me to say the least.

People don't like the fact that Damian is different, and in their mind, not what a Robin should be. They think that Robin should be the light to Batman's darkness. Which is problematic on it's own, but I won't get into that.

They don't like his bluntness which is often percieved as rudeness (I know there instances where he is rude on purpose, but most of the time it's just him being brutally honest.)

No matter how much these haters deny it, Damian is very capable. He is very smart both academically and in-life. He's a good strategist. He can get himself out of bad situations as easy as getting himself into one. He bested his mother in combat at the age of 10 to learn the identity of his father. He was able to tell who his father was, just by reading his body language (In which Bruce was in Brucie mode). He can manipulate his voice to sound as whoever He wants. He is brave and almost fearless. He is not afraid of higher authority and has wicked wits.

Of course the haters don't care for any of that. The probably don't even know half of these actually happened. Maybe they never even opened a single issue of a comic.

What they're focused on is: He's rude to the other members, he is the weakest of the Batfam and gets his ass handed to him, he is an egoist and aggressive person, he is unwanted and so on...

And when you point out that what they're saying is just what they think and percieve of Damian, and not real facts or when you try to show them examples of him being good and a capable fighter they just deny it and go back to just hating him for nothing.

Like I said before in the beginning, it's totally okay to not like a character. For example if you're a Tim Drake fan you may not like Damian because he tried to kill Tim or said rude things to him.

But with that you have to acknowledge that Jason did the same thing. He beat Tim in the Titans Tower and tried to kill him in Battle For The Cowl. Or that time when Bruce punched Dick. Or that time when Jason shot Damian. Or when Steph hit Tim on the face with a brick and so on...

We need to understand that the current Batfamily is very disfunctional and often times hurt each other. So hating on a character for attacking your favorite one is kinda dumb because they all fought each other at one point.

And so what is the other reason why people hate Damian? His personality.

Yet again this rant is for the people who hate him almost religiously and can not have a conversation about him without bashing him.

(It's totally okay to not like his character and instead focusing on your favorite characters without having the need to bash him.)

This is not very well known but Damian technically has 3 origins.

1) His first appearance, in which Damian was given up for adoption by Talia the moment he was born. We don't really know anything of this origin so I can't really say anything of this version of Damian. But what I can say is that this version would be a lot different than the canon one and he would just be a normal kid.

What we need to focus on is the other two versions.

2) The version that was/is considered canon which was written by Grant Morrison. This version of Damian was raised in the League by trainers. This Damian did not meet Talia until he was 8 years old. So he was more intense and aggressive than the other 2 versions. This is also the version who tried to kill Tim and brought a severed head to the cave.

Now think of a kid who was raised and brainwashed in this cult where he had to kill people, learn advanced academic lore, train and master in multiple martial arts, learn to be obedient but also respected. Imagine this kid growing up and doing these things without having a single parental figure that showed him an ounce of love. Where everyone he interacts with is either scared of him or is meant to train him brutally to make him the best. Imagine this child not knowing the fact that the reason why he was trained like this is not to become the Demon's Head or an assassin, but to be a vessel for Ra's when his body starts rejecting the pit. This was a kid raised to die while suffering his whole life. This is the kid who was killed by his own mother. A 10 year old child that was sent to Hell.

And the last version:

3) Tomasi's version of Damian Wayne. This Damian has a different backstory than the other two. He was raised in the League just like the second version but with a difference. Talia was there. So although he was raised in this violent cult-like place, he had the (somewhat) love of a mother. There are canonical instances shown to us where Talia tells him stories and so on. This is the version who canonically referred to the other assassins as his brothers. This is the version who cried after killing the Bat Dragons. This the version who cried at the death of Alfred. He is the one who cried for Dick when he was shot.

Excluding the first version, the other two encountered very traumatic things in their lives and as a response grew up to be cold and blunt to survive that kind of environment.

So when a Damian fan responds to questions as to why they stan him despite his personality with "Because he is a child.", they don't really have to say anything else. Because that's what he was.

An abused and traumatised child. And honestly, we don't really need another reason for liking him.

Even Tim -whose some fans hate Damian for what he did to him- tells and believes this.

"You were just a kid"

[mdhwrites]

I saw a post a while ago lambasting Amphibia for having its characters 'do the most horrendous shit imaginable' for the sake of comedic plots and get off far too easily for it. In their view, Amphibia took slapstick comedy way 'too far' sometimes. I thought this was quite hyperbolic; the protagonists made serious mistakes, but rarely anything I'd call unforgivable, especially since they'd almost always show a level of remorse. But it did make me think about the way immoral acts are portrayed in comedic shows, and how we, as viewers, can tolerate and forgive things we probably wouldn't in real life because of the way these acts are presented to us.

I mean, think about Hop-Pop using mind control on Anne, Sprig and Polly in Children of the Spore. If anything like that happened to you in real life, chances are you wouldn't react to someone violating your body and mind by shrugging your shoulders and going 'well, guess we pushed you pretty far.' You'd probably beat the shit out of HP and never talk to him again. But that episode is kinda self-aware about the awfulness of it all (which I love). Polly flat-out says the old frog crossed all kinds of ethical and moral lines XD

Going back to the whole 'too far' accusation, though, I'm pretty sure we're smart enough to understand the difference between a silly frog show and real-life crimes. I don't think there needs to be super realistic consequences to everything (as the post I mentioned was suggesting) when your focus is on writing a slice-of-life fantastical comedy. I guess the only real argument you could make is 'but it's teaching kids to forgive absolutely atrocious, unforgivable things!' And...maybe? But I'm pretty sure any kid with their head screwed on straight understands not to replicate or forgive immoral behaviour too easily.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is, do you think characters doing awful things for the sake of comedy or plot can go too far, in that they can unintentionally make characters far too heinous to sympathize with, or do you think complaints like those of the post I mentioned above are a result of taking something far too seriously? Is there even such a thing as 'too far' when it comes to slapstick comedy?

So let's talk about intent, tone and framing because these things REALLY matter to a story. It's actually part of the problem with fandoms wanting everything to be realistic, darker, etc. because they're really asking for one thing: For them to all be the same. To not be what they are because, you know, the fact that these are comedy cartoons for kids MATTERS.

But first let's actually shift gears AWAY from cartoons for a second to talk about things being genuinely irredeemable for comedy. MANY people are really against prank style reality tv because it preys so completely on human suffering. Because these people are doing terrible things to just normal people. I personally don't like the premise... But I like Impractical Jokers. That show frames it DEMONSTRABLY more about terrible things happening to these four friends, by these four friends, and usually the worst they do to others is leave them a little confused or a bit uncomfortable. One of the big elements to changing this is that all the challenges are effectively dares. Someone either commits to the bit or if it becomes too much, they dip out but they are ALLOWED to dip out, minus the final jokes which are always pretty much purely at the Joker's expense.

Are these four people bad people? No. But part of why we also know that is because it's television and they're doing it to entertain as part of being comedians. Bizarrely enough, a lot of modern cartoon fandoms seem to want to act like fiction IS reality. It's where you get people going "Oh, you're being so cruel to a 14 year old, nuerodivergent girl!" and me going "I'm being critical of a character in a narrative. Can you please stop telling me, an actual human being in the real world, to kill myself because of a fictional character?"

Because shock of all shocks, PEOPLE CAN TELL REALITY FROM FICTION! In fact, even kids can! The fucking video game industry had to go through this hell HARD to prove that killing people in a video game is not the same as having psychopathic tendencies in the real world. Do you know how many kids play CoD? And those kids are fine. At least most of them.

So with all of that preamble out of the way: When can a morality focused show fuck up?

It's actually incredibly rarely in the terrible things the characters do because the show USUALLY addresses these elements as part of the moral of the day.

For the example given of Hop Pop's mind control, it is shown as... Eerie to put it mildly. Even from go, Hop Pop only enjoys it so long as he doesn't have to interact with it. It is never framed as a positive besides a bit selfishness. However, Hop Pop is a good enough person to show genuine remorse and try to fix this. He puts in a lot of effort, is admonished as the lesson of the day is learned to not try to control people and to potentially compromise and then it MOVES. ON. Because they live in a fantasy world where anyone could die at any second. A day of none thoughts is not actually that big of a deal, especially since it wasn't done out of malice or even really on purpose. It's a part of the fun of the setting and of the fantasy genre as a whole that you can just do these weird concepts like this and move on because magic happens sometimes. You might grumble for a day or two but hey, at least it was your neighbor and not the king, am I right!? Hail King Andrias.

A big part of this though, and why so many morality driven shows can have characters do terrible things without imparting the wrong lessons, is because it's addressed. Pretty much explicitly. It is framed as wrong, addressed as wrong and then fixed because it was WRONG. Even if it gives momentary gain, that gain is almost always also included in being wrong.

It's actually a formula that Amphibia purposefully breaks for an episode, carrying it over from directly the one before, because there genuinely was one crime committed that hadn't been addressed and by the time it was, that sin had grown to a point where it was too reasonable to have a character still be mad to ignore it: The music box. Hop Pop hiding it is actually an AWFUL thing to do because it dooms Anne, it means her parents will never get closure, dooms the rest of Anne's friends, etc. etc. Hop Pop has to be okay with Anne never quite being fully happy because of always wanting to go home while also living with this false hope that he implanted into her. A trust he has not earned because of the lie.

So even after they theoretically have their morality episode about the box, Amphibia takes this time for such a PERSONAL attack on Anne to stick with her for another episode during The First Temple. It actually acknowledges that you don't get over everything immediately. That sometimes you need space. I don't even like that episode but the break in formula is actually meant to make the message more powerful, and does so successfully, especially because the crime was different. It wasn't of indifference or something quickly fixed. It was of long term AGONY and a complete breach in trust that would make one question what relationship they can have with another person. There's pretty much zero other crimes in the show like that besides Sasha/Marcy's betrayals, which aren't treated as easy fixes, and Andrias' betrayal is the heel turn that makes him the primary antagonist. These crimes, these personal, genuinely awful things to do to other people that could be replicated, unlike so much of the fantasy violence, are usually seen as something you do have to work on. It's a great, nuanced take on being a morality one off show while also being able to elevate some issues to being dealt with more seriously and consistently.

Also, quick note from someone on my Discord: They NEED to do bad things in order to teach! They are meant to be the bad example so when their actions lead to things going wrong, you understand not to copy that behavior. This is honestly storytelling 101 for most... Plots. Not just morals but plots. If the characters do NOTHING, nothing happens and nothing will be learned.

You want a show that will teach kids bad lessons and then reinforce there are no consequences for those? WELCOME TO THE OWL HOUSE! Specifically: The show that tells you to lie and keep secrets because your fear justifies keeping them!

I know that sounds shitty but like... Luz is the main character. For half of the show, she is portrayed as the second most moral character in the show behind Willow. She admonishes stealing, cheating, etc. as her contrast with Eda. Then after Yesterday's Lie... She literally can't stop lying and never faces consequences for it.

The closest actually comes in Falls and Follies where Amity at least forces a promise out of Luz to be more open with her. This actually though doesn't fix the problem, it just makes it WAY WORSE because one of the main targets of these lies, that kids can easily replicate, especially because Luz is almost always lying about things that might upset others which is the most common thing kids will lie about, is Amity. So now we have both lying and breaking promises. You know, two of the most basic morals any kids show should impart on the audience!

In Reaching Out though, Amity gets a little mad but then it's excused because of her dad! In Thanks to Them, no one gives a shit that Luz has been keeping secrets and lying for months. Camila makes sure Luz DOESN'T tell her friends the truth either about her plans. You know, Luz's MOM who should want her daughter to be an honest person. The show then constantly keeps cutting Luz off from telling anyone anything because it literally can't without revealing how bullshit what she's doing is until by the end of the show... Luz hasn't been punished in any way and the lies just... Drift away.

Completely unaddressed.

This causes a problem because while the lies theoretically hurt Luz... They hurt less than losing her friends. Hurt less than disappointing a parent. Hurt less than making her look bad. And this is the main character. The one kids are supposed to connect with the most. The one who usually most explicitly defines the morality of a show. And she is never punished or stopped from all. Of. Her. Lies.

(As a note: This is also how you get a lot of guys taking the wrong lessons from anime perverts. Sure, this guy gets smacked but he never loses his friends. Never faces real consequences. In return... He gets way more ass than the main character does, doesn't he? *gags violently*)

THAT is how you impart bad morals. It's not surprising to me that the fandom for TOH hides behind excuses so much for their show because their literal main character was justified, in fiction, to have all of the terrible things she did, all the choices she didn't have to make or the people she discarded, because she ALWAYS had an excuse. And so long as you have an excuse, by what TOH says, you can get away with fucking anything.

And mind you, that last part is NOT Luz specific. Have a bad uncle? Don't worry Hunter, the fact that you literally hunt, oppress and potentially kill wild witches can be entirely forgotten and ignored. Have a mean mommy? Don't worry Amity, we literally never have to properly address the literal years of bullying you did to another character or even how attempting to kill Luz was wrong. Collector? COME ON! You just had bad friends/family so now you just need good ones and we can forget all about you oppressing people for fucking months!

This isn't addressing these problems. These are excuses. And excuses can seem REALLY appealing to people. After all, how many hide awful acts or statements behind: "Come on, it was just a joke." Shields are useful for trying to avoid criticism after all. If you never acknowledge you were in the wrong, you don't have to feel bad for having done something mean, let alone terrible.

Just to bring it back to Amphibia: Sasha tries to do this. She believes she knows best so she feels justified in all she does because it will make everyone the happiest, at least in her own eyes. Then in Turning Point, she realizes the folly of her ways, addresses that she was a terrible person and plants her foot down FIRM. No more acting the part of protector while actually being a tyrant. She will risk her very life in order to right these wrongs. And we see it also in Commander Anne where she is taking the change seriously. These are two half episodes, a single episode in full, that lets us know that her actions were inexcusable and that they were wrong and now she is allowed to be a part of the good guys now that she has made sure the audience knows that they can look to her as an example.

One full episode to ADDRESS the fact that what Sasha did was wrong and to not excuse it but to learn from it.

That's why all these terrible things protagonists do in shows is fine. They learn from it. They genuinely regret their actions. They show the audience why they shouldn't have done it. It's never okay to the show that they did. Not that it can't be forgiven, because people should be allowed the chance to grow, but that it still wasn't okay.

For a kid's show, that is pitch perfect. It's why moral of the day storytelling exists and I can't really think of any huge errors in this department on Amphibia's side. It's pretty damn good at smacking someone over the head when they act like a jackass. At bare minimum, there are WAY worse examples out there.

======+++++======

This is absolutely one of those criticisms that has me look at the person making it and go "Just admit you don't like cartoons. Or children's media in general probably." Admittedly, there's actually plenty of adult stuff just as childish, no one stays mad in Family Guy, so it's probably just "You don't like cartoons." It's the sort of bad faith criticism that just reveals you as not having actually wanted the product but whatever you thought the product should be.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[krash-and-co]

hey krash, i wanted to reach out and say that i'm so sorry that you got such a hurtful reaction from one of the l&co servers for speaking up about something that genuinely needed to be addressed. i won't badmouth anyone in particular but this is not the first time this fandom has dogpiled someone over a misunderstanding, and when it happened to me i had severe anxiety over it for about a week even after it was resolved, and eventually left because of it. it left a pretty bad taste in my mouth for the fandom in general, so i mostly just stick to my small group of mutuals now lol. i wish this fandom truly was different from other fandoms, but this kind of thing is unfortunately inevitable once something reaches a certain level of popularity. but that certainly doesn't make it okay, and you didn't do anything to deserve the reaction you got. i hope you can feel peace about it soon, and i'm sorry again that it happened at all. 🫂

(please don't feel pressured to answer this if you'd rather the matter be left alone, i totally understand. i just wanted to send you an ask because i didn't know if you're comfortable with dms.)

hi im so sorry i forgot to answer!!! thank you so much this means so much to me. 💙💙💙 i read this for the first time when i was feeling pretty attacked and it really cheered me up <3

hmm other people have been telling me about how they got attacked in this fandom too. and maybe this shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did. but it's something fans never talk about and claim doesn’t exist, so i thought it didn’t. i was horribly fooled lol. as, uh, i am about to rant about; do you mind? u don’t have to read it, i won’t be offended, but halfway thru answering this ask it turned into a rant i wanted to release into the world lol, so sorry about that 😭😭😭

very important disclaimer!!! this is NOT about everyone. ABSOLUTELY NOT. most of you are absolutely amazing people, and i assure you if ur worried this is about you, it’s prob not lol

ANYWAYS!!!

im kind of feeling i was betrayed?? ig? i rlly believed everyone was so kind, and look what i know now. it genuinely seems like people are gaslighting themselves. how else do they only see our ‘harm?’ yeah, our fandom is known for being passionate, but saying we’re known for kindness is starting to make me sick. maybe we were, i know a lot of us still are, but throwing that out there in the middle of your hypocritical hate post seems like justification for the shit things people have been saying. you can say no wrong so long as you’re here. only people who don’t agree with you. so yeah, fuck krash and ljc and anyone else who doesn't agree!!! that totally shows how kind you are and how much you loved the fandom before we messed it up. nobodys visibly mad, cuz we're too scared to say shit!!!

i’ve seen too many examples of the contrary from the “victims,” wailing about how cruel we are the second they disagree with someone. (in a highly hypocritical manner, at that.) “everyone was so happy before this!” no, they weren’t, that’s why i brought it up. “stop bringing hate to this fandom! now let me fucking berate you!” do you even hear yourself? “nobody even cared before, we were all content!” we weren’t all content, we were just silent. it sometimes looks the same.

someone even declared they were leaving the fandom because ‘one person wanted to stop show saving efforts entirely because it traumatized them, and this is no longer a safe place.’ like, what? where did you even get that? for one, there were at least two of us posting together, and that’s just barely knowing anything about what’s happening. thats not even touching on how one of us (idk who the op of that post was talking about, it’s a 50/50 lol) made the fandom an unsafe place for our personal gain. what?

hella kind. hella safe on their part.

another said they saw only old fans agreeing about this so it’s just us being pissed about change. it’s us hating the show. me and ljc being upset about not being the only “big blogs” any more. our fandom is only for the elite, etc. fuck us. yet ljc is getting blackmailed. we’re getting hate replies. friends that try and help get attacked. misinformation spread. how did that even happen? we never once tried to hurt anyone; thank you to those who understand.

but to some, WE’RE the ones in the wrong.

do they SEE themselves? how hypocritical all of this is? or are their heads that far up in the ass of their petition and beloved fake idea of this fandom that they care about more than all of us?

now, this is where i add another “not everyone” message. not everyone is like this, this is not me saying i hate the petition or people who support it. hell, i signed the petition. twice. and once more from my mothers email.

i don’t regret the i love you posts i made, because i still do love this fandom, i am still absolutely here for the rest of yall. but DAMN if we weren’t hiding something under happy Save The Show, I Love Locknation! messages. perfectly smiling faces until they bite. i was surprised to see how many people did.

as if our previous problems weren’t enough, now it turned into this lol. no, that’s a lie, it didn’t. it already was, and i HATE THAT.

ig im kinda spoiled, i never really experienced hate like this from this fandom before. but now i know it happened BEFORE too, and that just pisses me off. it hurts coming from a group who says they love us. genuinely wacko (not the fun kind) behavior :[

i know this isn’t everyone’s experience, but it is mine, and enough others to make me wanna say this. and this is ofc me and @lucy-j-carlyle 's brand of hate, not yours. but it does happen and the constant chant that IT DOESN'T IT DOESNT IT DOESN'T isn't helping anyone. and now I know.

idk what im even saying anymore lol, sorry for ranting. what i mean to say is, thank you, and i wish things were better. and i love you kind people. im happy it’s most of you.

[sapphire-weapon]

Final thoughts on Death Island.

First, the less serious and sometimes shitpost/meme shit:

spent a not-insignificant amount of this movie distracted by Leon’s body hair, which is not a thing I ever thought I’d say, but sweet Jesus it’s about damn time

RIP Chris’s tiger shirt. that thing ripped easier than one of Hulk Hogan’s tank tops, man.

I get that she’s a BOW or whatever, but it’s never not going to blow my mind that this series gets away with its darling male protagonist (Leon) punching a woman in the face on screen

in fact, it’s kind of wild that Maria’s only purpose for being in this movie is to just hunt Leon for sport. like she’s literally ONLY there to beat his ass. what a fuckin queen.

I’m not saying that it’s canon that Leon and Jill had sex at some point, perhaps multiple times, between RE5 and Death Island. I’m just saying they were very, very chummy and hands-on with each other, and Chris was seemingly absent from Jill’s life for those six years, so.

actually, you know what. there’s a non-zero chance Leon has actually banged the entire recurring cast by this point. except maybe Rebecca. because she’s smarter than the other three.

Leon and Chris are the most married they have ever been, holy shit they are so fucking married

my reaction to Leon repeatedly saying the word “terrorist” in this movie probably should not have been “oooh say it again~” but it was because “this is no ritual. it’s terrorism” is still the single most ridiculous line that has ever come out of that man’s mouth, and I really felt the absence of it in RE4make, so I’m glad its spirit still lives on

Chris is looking old, dude. he’s beat the fuck up.

but so is Leon. when I wasn’t distracted by Leon’s body hair, I was distracted by the lines around his mouth. so, Chris has obvious wrinkles forming around his eyes, and Leon has them forming around his mouth. but the girls are all pristine. mhm.

OK SO IS INFINITE DARKNESS CANON OR NOT BECAUSE DEATH ISLAND REAFFIRMS DEGENERATION AS CANON, BUT ID AND DEGEN CAN’T EXIST IN THE SAME REALITY DON’T MAKE ME PULL OUT THE FUCKING CORKBOARD AGAIN

Now, the more serious actual commentary:

it’s a little nuts to me how I keep seeing people in fandom say that Leon has no hint of depression in this movie. when Dylan is verbally dragging them all while they’re slowly succumbing to the T-Virus, both Chris and Claire clap back with affirmations that they believe in what they’re doing and that they’re doing the right thing. Leon... doesn’t. 

like, Dylan says to him basically “you're stuck in this horrible nightmare that keeps repeating because the people that you fight for put you through it on purpose because it serves their own ends, and it’s got you burnt out, but they just keep using you.” and Leon’s response is basically “I mean, you’re not wrong, but I don't exactly have a choice, so.”

he’s still stuck and trapped and resentful of his position, and he’s reached a point now where he’s just resigned himself to his fate. there’s very much a sense of inevitability about him, which is reinforced at the end when he tells Chris that this is just going to keep happening -- fuckers like Dylan are always going to keep coming back, because they always do.

the man shouldn’t have to be outwardly despairing and visibly drunk for people to pick up on his depressive mindset, but I guess I don’t know what I expected from this fandom.

Leon’s character was actually perfect in this movie. whoever wrote him this time around Gets It. he’s written the way that I write OG Leon and have been writing him for years. his humor-as-a-coping-mechanism is there without being obnoxious (which is where Damnation fucked up), his professionalism is there without being too serious (which is where Degeneration fucked up), his depressive mindset is there without fully consuming him (which is where Vendetta fucked up), and his latent anger at the state of things and at his life in general is there without feeling like it’s dysregulated (which is where Infinite Darkness fucked up).

so, for the anon who asked me what my favorite iteration of Leon is: the answer is Death Island. he is pitch perfect in this movie. straight up.

it did really catch my attention how the movie made it a point to call attention to Leon being burnt out. there’s just something about the way it happened that makes me feel like they’re setting up for Leon’s character to get retired in RE9. I don’t know why I think that, because it makes no sense from a business standpoint for him to be the first of the five to get retired, but. I dunno, man.

the only bit of weirdness in this movie was the whole Chris and Jill thing at the beginning that I already commented on. everything else in this movie was basically perfect. this is the best version of Claire we’ve seen since Code Veronica. like, hands down. Rebecca getting giddy and geeking out over beating the big monster with science could not have been more perfect. everything about Jill was excellent.

like, I have so few things to complain about re: this movie that I’m sitting here going “you know the mocap was kind of wonky in some spots” WHICH IS THE MOST ARBITRARY, NITPICKY SHIT EVER.

but like

I’m just going to throw this out there

but Dylan was super right.

he was so correct in a way that no RE villain has ever been correct ever in the history of this series. I kind of... spent some of this movie actually rooting for him. I was ready for him to kill the crew and wouldn’t have been mad about it if he did; I was like “fuck it, he’s right.” like, I was just sitting there like DRAG LEON AND CHRIS HARDER FOR LITERALLY BEING "THE MAN" DRAG THEIR ASSES FORCE THEM TO FEEL SHAME

in a lot of cases, a story is only as good as its villain, and Dylan being so right was a big part of the reason why this movie worked so well.

Wesker could never.

[unstabledumbdoll]

I get why you're scared to use main fandom tags for posting darker stuff but remember that antis are essentially a very loud hateful minority. Unfortunately % of them are higher in some fandoms, especially newer fandoms on places like tiktok.

I'm a content creator of relatively 'messed up' stuff (although in relatively old fandom) and thankfully hardly ever encounter those haters. Ofc it's bit on luck's side plus fandom being niche and uninteresting to teenagers but here are few tips that helped me throught the years:

- block antis on sight. No discussion, no debate - hard block. And not only that but scroll through anti tags, blogs, comments etc. scroll through notes and block anyone exhibiting anti typical behavior. Rake through their blogs and block those who reblog posts from antis. I know it's time consuming and can't be done overnight. I've been doing that for 2 years and 9/10 times when I see someone complaning about antis I'm happy to realize I have that anti blocked

- ommit using proship tag on posts that aren't about general fandom attitudes (meaning posts like how people should ship and let ship etc.). 90% of all hates I've attracted had been from social media posts using word proship. Truth is antis aren't too bright, they react to buzzwords like proship, age gap, anti anti etc. Plus are bullies that are seeking target via those tags. In case of just tagging art of darker ship with ship name and no proship tag you'd possibly have just antis from that fandom on your back, not all antis. Sadly proship label has been dragged through the mud over the years and people are known for jumping the gun. There are legit younger folks out there who think it's a synonym with a child molester or something. Unfortunately most antis fall into cognitive bias, hence trying to tell them their views on certain things are off-mark would fall on deaf ears

- when joining new fandom rake through tags and blogs for search of hateful individuals in that particular fandom. Block them and anyone with proship dni in bio that you can find

- never respond to hate where said hater can see. Talk about it with friends on DMs or somewhere you're sure antis can't see. They're like leaches, they feast on negative energy they create in fandoms. All they care about is winning an argument, no matter the cost. Responding and explaning yourself does sounds intuitive but in actually is counterproductive as it creates more drama which adds more fuel to the fire. Block anon who sent hate, block whoever leaves hateful reblogs or replies and act like that person doesn't even exist

- best remedy to a callout post or controversy is to ignore it and let it die out. Close anons and go private on social media for time being until dust settles down. Block the drama starter and all of those who interact with drama post. Don't post anything for few days if drama really gets out of hand. Haters are in for fast burning drama, source of drama being unresponsive won't be of interest to them. In a week or two they won't even remember what has happened, they'd move onto a new thing or target cuz capitalism consumption of internet stuff - nothing can hold their interest for too long

aww, thank you for those helpful tips anon! maybe when i get enough courage to post in the main tags of a fandom i'll use those! ❤️

[rays-of-fire-and-ice]

One thing that always hit me in Bleach fandom is that some people see Hitsugaya as a literal child in the main history, even tho we get glimpses of his childhood - and a lot of Hinamori haters use that as an argument of why hitsuhina would never happen. I particularly see him as a young teenager with an obvious problem of aging (😂) and I’m glad to see blogs just like yours that perceive his youth, but doesn't put him as a kid and also explore his feelings towards things and people who are dear to him in a way really loyal to the character (because putting him acting as an adult also give me awkward vibes, you know). Just a thing I was minding, you can take it as a compliment, I guess.

Sorry for the late reply anon!

I want to start off this response by saying for anyone who does see Toshiro as being a child, more power to them if it helps appreciate his character more.

I have to admit one of the main reason I saw him as a teenager in the beginning is because I was a teen myself when I started reading BLEACH and assumed any character who didn't obviously look like an adult/child/elder or had an ambiguous age was probably a teenager. That's probably a weird reason, but that's how my brain worked while reading BLEACH at that age ^^;

There were other factors too, like his reactions to others referring to him as a child, the flashbacks to his childhood, and that he was able to pass as a student at a high school.

His reactions in particular are what convinced me he's not a child, they struck me as not just someone who was demanding respect for his high ranking position but also as someone who's sick of people thinking he's a child because of his appearance. I've always seen it as because of his short stature and maybe a baby face, everyone mistakes him for being a child when he's actually a teenager.

As for the flashbacks, when I compare his appearance from back then to the one in the main story, to me there's a noticeable different. As a child, his eyes and face are rounded and he's obviously shorter. In the main storyline, his eyes shape changed (perhaps to reflect the change he underwent as a Shinigami), making them look more narrow and sharper, his face is slightly sharper, and he's taller (not by much but).

Then there's the recent revelation from Kubo that Toshiro is actually older than Momo. I've seen most people take this to mean he's literally older than her, which would strongly suggest he isn't a child, because then how old would that make Momo (who is definitely not a child)? If this interpretation is the correct one, then I'm okay with that. However, as I've mentioned before, I've actually taken this to mean he's been in the Soul Society longer than she has (if you're interested, you can read more on it here).

In the end, as stated many times on here, aging in BLEACH is weird. How come Unohana isn't as old looking as Yamamoto if they existed together long before the Soul Society was established? What the heck is going on with Kyouraku and Nanao's families? The list goes on.

Also, thank you for your kind words too, I'm glad that's how my writing comes across for him :D I find it interesting to explore how someone like Toshiro reacts to things, whether they're mundane or life and death situations. While not a child, he's still a minor who has put himself in a world of huge responsibility, and death and violence. How does someone that young, despite being a prodigy and having a mental maturity that's suitable for the role, think and feel about what he does? How does he view those around him? How does it affect his relationships? What kinds of memories does he keep from his past and how are they different someone else his age? It's all interesting to me.

Anyhow, I'll leave it here. Thanks for sending this in! :D

[makeitastrength]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank you so much to @cfr749, @sisterofficerlucychen, @mamadoc, and @queseraone for tagging me in this! I was on vacation last week which is why it's taken me forever to answer.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

29

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

213,510

3. What fandoms do you write for?

On AO3, only The Rookie. But I used to write for Castle on ffnet

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The spaces in between

Unless it is

The (E-rated) spaces in between

Tell me you love me (without any words)

Put me back together piece by piece

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I used to be very inconsistent about this, but now I always make sure to reply to every comment because I want people to know how much I appreciate every single one

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I generally at least make sure the ending is hopeful, even if it's not completely happy. I guess the most angsty ending is either this one or this chapter

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hmmm... most of them? But if I have to pick just one, I guess maybe this one since the whole thing is really just them being so completely in love and happy

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Luckily, no. Not in this fandom. I got quite a bit for Castle though, which is part of the reason I left that fandom behind

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do. I seem to be incapable of writing just plain old smut, though. Somehow the emotions always find their way in. So if you're looking for porn + feelings, I've got you covered

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I have not, and I don't think I ever will

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, once, when I wrote for Castle. Someone took it from ffnet and posted it under their own name on AO3. Luckily, someone from the fandom noticed and told me, and I was able to get the fic taken down

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

Yes, a couple people translated a couple of my Castle fics back in the day

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not, but @queseraone and I have an idea for one that is hopefully going to be a summer hiatus project 😊

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

For so many years it was Caskett, but I think Chenford has taken over the top spot now

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oh gosh, I have so many partial ideas and little tidbits jotted down on my laptop, and I have no idea which, if any, will ever see the light of day. In theory I will some day write all of them, but I know that's not actually going to happen

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'd like to think my strengths are characterization and attention to detail

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm not a very creative writer. I never have been. I'm not good at thinking up characters on my own or building my own story from scratch. But if you give me the characters and universe and all of those details, I could write about them all day

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Hmmm. I don't think I've ever done it. If I did, I'd definitely use multiple translation tools to ensure accuracy. And if I knew someone who spoke the language, I would reach out to them too

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Castle

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I've been asked this question multiple times over the past couple years, and I keep thinking someday I'll write something new that I really love and I'll be able to give a different answer. But nope. It's still this one

I think most everyone has already been tagged in this over the past week, so I'm tagging anyone who hasn't answered these questions yet but wants to!