#since i know that there are a lot of younger folk in this fandom

[love-3-crimes]

Hey cj fandom! It's currently the 29th of January, which means that yesterday was the last day of the week long strike for Palestine. I apologize for not making a more official post for this earlier. I just wanted to come on here to try to sort of give ideas for what you can do to support Palestinians that should either not require money or just a small amount, and that I have personally done before.

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For boycotting, there is an app called "No Thanks" (Here's a link to my original post) that tells you whether something is on the boycott list just by scanning the barcode. Very easy to use and it should be available on most phones.

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For more information on propaganda and anti-Palestine talking points, I recommend reading Advocating for Palestine. It's a very short booklet, about 16 pages, and it comes in English, Arabic, German, French, Spanish, and Mandarin.

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One way to get your voice heard is by contacting your representatives. Emailing, calling, anything to get their attention! The way to contact them will depend on which country you live in. For Americans, if you don't know who your representative is, use the congress find-your-member website, put your city/state, and a list of members will pop up with their info!

For the Australian representatives, use this website for the list of members, and for Europe there is a website called Voices in Europe for Peace that helps you get in touch with officials from your country. (It also has template you can copy and paste which is pretty cool!)

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Now for E-SIMS! I'll be honest about this one, I don't know much about how these work exactly, but!!! I was given a link to this tweet that has a pretty good step-by-step of how to get E-SIMS to people in Gaza who need them! Though from what I've seen, they take about a month to activate and be used, so just a warning.

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And, of course, the once-a-day click to help the UNRWA, who have been helping Palestinian refugees for many, many years. This one is especially important right now, as many countries have cut funding to them (more on this post)

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One of the most important things you can do right now is listen and learn. Listen to Palestinian voices, uplift them, read their poems and stories and look at their art. Remember that they are human too. They are still alive! Don't forget about them, please.

[twig-tea]

With 23.5 finally coming out, the people are rejoicing at finally getting a high profile gl from GMMTV. But there have already been several gls airing this year, including my fav TsukuTabe, that have been flying under the radar with fandom, and in general there are more gls already out there than folks seem to think. I just know you have a list of all the gls we should be watching, please share with the class!

Thank you for the ask! How did you know I had a draft of GL recs to make at some point? [Trick question, I mentioned it to you.]

It may seem like I'm out here hating on GL because i've made a couple of negative reviews of recently airing series recently (Love Senior and Chaser Game W in case you're curious) but I actually have lots of GL that I love and that I wish were better known! Thanks for sending this ask so I am inspired to actually finish it! I've limited myself to series so that I could keep the list and this post to a reasonable length. Where possible I've listed where you can find each of these and included a link. And I've included an 'elevator pitch' summary but I am NOT in marketing for a reason, so please don't roast me too hard for my terrible comparisons. Alright, enough waffling!

Twig's GL Rec List

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat S1 & 2 (Japan, 2022 & 2024, both seasons fansubbed by @furritsubs; if you need help accessing this show feel free to DM me!)

Elevator pitch: Our Dining Table with lesbians and an even slower burn. Watch for beautiful food, acespec rep, mental health and therapy rep

What might turn some off: Extremely low heat, and quite slow-moving; warning for a disordered eating and family trauma plot (v gently handled)

Let's start with the one you've already mentioned. This is a heartwarming slice-of-life slow burn in which an autismspec-coded woman who likes to eat is invited by her neighbour, a femme acespec woman who loves to cook, to come and eat her food. It starts from a very practical place (when you love making food you need someone to help eat it), but their relationship grows as they spend more time together. The story follows them as they both move towards self-actualization in several ways: as a lesbian, as asexual, at work, with their families, with their friends, with each other. This show is so careful to say the important words aloud. And there is so much delicious cooking! Each episode highlights a particular recipe, and the food porn is real. Do not watch while hungry, but definitely watch. The found famiy vibes in this one one are also immaculate.

She Makes My Heart Flutter (Korea, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Younger lesbian friend group tries to help out (slightly) older lesbian bar owner with mixed success. I can't think of a good BL equivalent, The Moment Since feels the closest with its similar bartender/patron romance

What might turn some off: Comedic tone; short runtime; struggles with being closeted

This is a gem of a miniseries about a bar owner and an interior designer who smoulder at one another while an intrepid group of younger bar regulars (including the bar owner's neice) meddle. This series is really cute, solid, and full of sapphics! Once again found family vibes are immaculate (you may sense a theme in my faves). Run don't walk.

Fragrance of the First Flower (Taiwan, 2021, GagaOOLala)

Elevator pitch: Right-person-wrong-time/second chance romance; tonally is a little like We Best Love 2: Fighting Mr. 2nd but with an ambiguous ending.

What might turn you off: Medium heat, second chance romance means they break up once, internalized homophobia, adultery/cheating, at one point there's a creepy dude, child with autism (depicted well), ambiguous ending

At its core this is a story of a woman who can't stop getting in the way of her own happiness. This series is a little more sad than the rest of this rec list but I couldn't not include it because this relationship is so poignant. Plus there's a s2 that supposedly is to come out in 2024 so maybe we'll get our happy ending after all?

Love Greater Than or Equal to 70 Degrees C (Korea, 2019, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Ingredients but with lesbians staring at one another over beautiful tea pairings! What more could you ask for?

What might turn you off: Low heat; short runtime; ambiguous ending; like Ingredients this is essentially a long ad for the café it's filmed at.

This is a Korean miniseries about passionate tea sommeliers making really fancy tea while staring at one another a LOT. Perfect sapphic representation, 10/10 no notes. This one packs a lot of the drama tropes into its short runtime, so even though it's short it's full of butterfly-inspiring moments.

Sleep With Me (Philippines, 2022, GagaOOLala/iWantTFC/Netflix w/VPN set to Philippines)

Elevator pitch: The Truth About Cats and Dogs but the self esteem issues are handled without catfishing. BL equivalent: Hmmm. Closest I can think of is Gaya Sa Pelikula.

What might turn you off: There's some ableism (treated as such) in this show; Open ending.

Stellar GL between a late night radio DJ and an insomniac who listens to her show. One of the main couple is a wheelchair user and the show tackles ablelism and navigating disability in relationship as well as feelings of inadequacy in a relationship and how that manifests as interpersonal conflict.

Our Relationship Ended Before it Began (Korea, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Along the lines of I Cannot Reach You; the show gives both perspectives and they are held back by queer angst.

What might turn you off: No kiss (but they make it very clear both want to kiss), internalized homophobia

Really sweet miniseries about having a crush and being afraid of being hurt so you don't actually make a move. I really like the way the girl who has not dated a girl before defaults to gender roles and it throws the more experienced lesbian lol I also really like the way this show makes clear that both of them are waiting for a kiss, and that if you get in your head about things, it can get in the way of your own happiness!

Pearl Next Door (Philippines, 2020, Youtube)

Elevator Pitch: Gameboys but with lesbian vloggers.

What might turn you off: Love triangle, lots of teasing but low heat in the end, a lot of (good) conversations about mental health issues, ambiguous ending

This is the GL spinoff to Gameboys, starring Pearl from Gameboys. Pearl ends up being fought over by the two gorgeous women in the gif, an old love and a new. I love the queer friendships in this story as much as the relationships. I will say it's an open ending (that felt a bit like the showrunners didn't want to decide between ships) and definitely the love triangle features prominently but even in the face of these aspects that would normally turn me off a series I had a good time. The characters and interpersonal conflicts feel very real, and are allowed to be complex even when the show tone is comedic.

Dear Uranus (Taiwan, 2021, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Schoolgirl ensemble GL; a little like My School President but without the singing.

What might turn you off: Short runtime; ambiguous ending; a little bit of bullying; very standard romance trope execution

The first Taiwanese GL miniseries, this series was produced by a Taiwanese lesbian couple (Rabbit & Wolf)! Lots of excellent drama tropes, and incredibly gorgeous women (I think the entire watching audience fell in love with Erol.

Lily Fever (Korea, 2015, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Complete crack; YYY but with more kissing and frankly an even less coherent story.

What might turn you off: The lack of coherent plot; less a romance and more a very thirsty lesbian kissing everyone she can

This miniseries is utter chaos. Nothing really makes sense, it's all just random excuses to cause very suggestive moments (and kissing) to happen. I love so much how this series depicts women being so absolutely thirsty for one another (and yes that date isn't a typo, this series is ~9 years old). Not an "happy ever after" ending but it really isn't that kind of story.

Chasing Sunsets (Philippines, 2020, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: Ocean Likes Me with lesbians. Resort romance with a mental health twist.

What might turn you off: Some of the mental health stuff gets intense, this was filmed in 2020 so the pandemic features heavily; hopeful but slightly ambiguous ending.

A complex story from the Philippines covering mental health and finding yourself. A woman shows up to a resort and befriends one of the women running the resort. They get closer as they spend time together, and the resort owner realizes something is off. There's also a BL side couple in this series.

Show Me Love (Thai, 2023, YouTube)

Elevator pitch: A little like My Day the series with lesbians, in that they work together and fall in love and it's full of tropes

What might turn you off: The advertising for the Miss Grand competition, there is some bullying and cheating (though way less than I was expecting tbh), not a lot actually happens, the editing gets a bit wonky at the end

This is essentially a massive ad for the Miss Grand Thailand competition; this GL was produced by the same company that produces that competition, and the stars are mostly Miss Grand competitors. The main pairing were shipped in the actual competition, and the company decided to make a GL about them. It's very slow paced and low-stakes, and there are better kisses than I expected considering everything I just said about where this show came from. There are a lot of cute moments!

Girlfriend Project (Korea, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Love Class with lesbians

What might turn you off: One of the leads is kind of mean in that pgitail-pulling way? It ends abruptly (but happily)

This is a short miniseries about two girls paired in a class that are assigned to "date". The chemistry is chemistrying. And there is a kiss (a good kiss, and a tiptoes kiss at that!). This show also has one of my favourite tropes, in which someone who seems like a pushover stands up for themselves and their partner finds it very attractive. For the record, in this show they are watching another GL by the same company, Love Tech.

Lulu (Philippines, 2022, Vivamax/grey)

Elevator Pitch: Present Perfect with lesbians (but with a better ending).

What might turn you off: Depictions of panic attacks, brief depiction of drowning, pandemic lockdowns, illness, exes, waffling, happy but open ending (which I actually liked for this story)

Two women trying to move on from the garbage in their lives meet at the beach of a B&B (where one saves the other from drowning) and become one another's company during their escape and then something more. They both have baggage that seems determined to keep them apart even as they continue to be drawn together. In the end, they decide to stick it out and see where they end up, with no guarantee of happily ever after, which I found very sweet. Requires either a VivaMax account or searching the grey for it, but it's worth the effort (check MyDramaList comments for suggestions on where to find it). Plus one of the leads has a cactus as a pet.

Welcome to the Lesbian Bar (Korea, 2023, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: A little like Fudanshi Bartender but without the fudanshi bartender and all of the bar patrons are lesbians lol

What might turn you off: Short, can get a little bit preachy, abrupt ending

Cute short series with different very stories every episode as different patrons visit the bar. The stories range from women who have been together for awhile, to people meeting from an online app for the first time, to someone visiting a lesbian bar for the first time; and yet the story all weaves together in a way that's satisfying though ends abruptly. Includes some solid marriage equality propaganda.

GAP the Series (Thai, 2022, YouTube)

Elevator Pitch: Kind of the vibes of Together with Me but lesbians and in an office instead of school. Angry boss falls for charming new intern and

What might turn you off: This one is the highest heat of all these recs; homophobia especially amongst family, brief depictions of death by car, brief mentions of suicide, cheating, bullying, abuse of power in the office.

A list would not be complete without this one! Honestly the plot is a bit wobbly but the show is a lot of fun. The girls are very cute, the feelings and tension builds really well between them, the friend group is excellent, and in the special we get a wedding.

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The rest of these have caveats of one kind or another, but i couldn't leave them off a rec list, so here are the side couples and censored stories that are still worth your time anyway (I might do a separate more detailed post for these, as well as for films, one day if there's interest):

Nevertheless (GL side; Korean, 2021, Netflix) Not sure it's worth watching a whole kdrama for side lesbians? Search soljiwan on youtube. They are great. Even the Netflix account stans them. I watched this (ngl, I watched the SolJiwan cut) as it aired and was constantly braced for it to let us down but it did not! A really good friends-to-lovers story.

Friend Zone 2: Dangerous Area (GL side; Thailand, 2019, YouTube): These sapphics are messy and I love them. Decent conversation about dating someone with mental health issues in this series, and they're one of the only couples in this ensemble to get a happy ending. If you're just watching the lesbian couple (which you can, their story is pretty self-contained) you don't need to have seen s1.

Six Survivors (GL side; Japan, 2022, Viki) This show is a horror comedy and it is SO MUCH FUN. Warning for zombies and blood, but way less than you might think. One of the eponymous 6 survivors is a lesbian who keeps trying to convert them to veganism lol. If you watched Chaser Game W you'll recognize one of the actresses in this, the lead actress is from Kamisama no Ekohiiki, and one of the guys is from the prequel series His as well as I Want to See Only You! And yes there is a kiss. Also a surprising number of Mallrats references. Not for people who can't handle gore or relationships being complicated/not a "true love" story/ambiguous ending.

Kamisama no Ekohiiki (complicated question of is it GL in parts, Japan, 2021, furritsubs once again coming through to save the day) This one is a bit complex because there's bodyswap, but the girl who falls for the bodyswapped boy-in-a-girl's-body is clear that she is only interested in the girl. One of the better bodyswap stories because the bodyswap is not a secret for very long, so instead there's a lot of introspection about what gender means and who/what they are attracted to. Feels wrong to call this GL, necessarily, but it's very queer.

Couple of Mirrors (Censored GL, China, 2021, Viki) Story of a rich girl and her assassin girlfriend. This production did an amazing job getting away with what they could, just don't watch the last five minutes and we've got essentially a happy lesbian family.

Legend of Yunze (Censored GL, China, 2021, @douqi7s) Very cute very low budget xianxia miniseries with two seasons and a special. The special is set in modern times in a future lifetime so if you want a cute censored-but-clearly-a-soulmate-love-story this is the one for you. Don't be thrown off by the weird cuts/abrupt episode endings, that's in line with cdramas in general.

Led Astray by Love (Censored GL, China, 2021, @douqi7s) A very fun and adorable isekai story in which a modern day girl is transported to a wuxia novel setting and has to figure out how to get home, and gets romanced by the princess along the way.

And a few additional links for people who even more content:

My Indian sapphic webseries rec list

My suggestions for content with toms (Thai category that's similar to but not exactly the same as butch lesbians) in response to this post.

This really good GL MyDramaList list (not made by me!) lists what seems to be everything I've mentioned and about 200 more. Even I haven't seen a few of these!

My YouTube playlist of sapphic content: This includes anything I stumble across or find in my searches, a lot of music videos and random shorts as well as some microseries and miniseries that I don't consider GL but are WLW/sapphic in addition to true "GL" content. For serialized content, I add just the first ep. A complete mess, but you can trawl through to find stuff to watch, like Hetero!

SOONOTSUE: The same producers of She Makes My Heart Flutter have other short series on their channel worth checking out; if you liked that one, try Out of Breath!

Shakeshoulder: Thai YouTube producers of very pulpy (read: low budget and dramatic plots) shorts

FuFuKnows: This YouTube channel is owned by a gay Taiwanese couple that produces shorts every week, including some with GL mains and sides. These are very low budget but cover a whole swath of queer themes.

@douqi7s is a godsend providing subtitles for all kinds of content, including sapphic shorts and more series than I've listed here. Check their tumblr for links to all of their content; A Practical Guide to Being a Superstar's Assistant has one of the best setups to giving us great moments in the guise of something else so that they get past censorship I've ever seen; I also recommend The Vampires if you're into genre fiction, as well as Legend of Yunqian if you enjoyed the xianxia parts of Legend of Yunze. @wlwcatalogue did an excellent summary of many of the non-wuxia options here.

Quick pitch for the streaming platform GagaOOLala; it's affordable, has a ton of content, including a whack of GLs (originals, license series, and a ton of shorts), and is run by queer people out of Taiwan who care about good quality queer content being made and having an audience, and using the soft power from those successful series to support social change. And if you can't afford a subscription it's worth checking out what they have for free, they open up temporary free access to some things for various events throughout the year.

In searching for gifs for this post I found fellow tumblr user @drowningparty 's WLW compendium list; they've listed more series and films so check it out if you still need more content!

*wipes sweat off brow* that should be enough to be getting on with, but it's really just the tip of the iceberg! If there's something specific you want to see with sapphics let me know and I can tell you if I know it exists. Anyway, I hope this gives you and everyone else a taste of what all is out there! I of course always want more, I am serious about being a sapphic dragon hoarding every crumb i can get my lizardy hands on, but I do think what we have should also be appreciated more. If I missed one of your faves, please tell me!

[cactusringed]

You know, whilst obviously a cushy ass job, I don't think many people appreciate how difficult and stressful content creation is. Humans were never meant to have millions of eyes on them and especially people in their 20s or lower are never going to be the perfect emotionless content creating machine

Idk, it's just the way I see some people talk about CCs is kind of painful. Maybe I'm being a bit parasocial, but a few are around my age, or even younger, and I can't help but wonder how horrifically choking it must be to have to continuously entertain millions of people. I know it's easy to forget just how much that is. But even one million is a staggering amount of people. Many of them have over 5+ million subscribers.

And worse yet is that they have to balance their genuine friendships and emotions with what will be considered entertaining to an audience. It's easy as scarian girlies to be upset when Grian avoids Scar so much in the life series since third life, but I think that annoyance is a bit misplaced both because 1. They still interact quite a bit and their interaction are always full of joy and radiate with their friendship even when they play enemies, and 2. In the grand scheme of things, we remain a minority within the 8 million people who are subscribed to Grian. Many more would be annoyed to get the same storyline over and over.

There is an unfortunate pragmatism that content creators in such series have to employ. They need to juggle between their friendships, the people they tend to hover around, and the idea of what would make good content. As much as scarian girlies would eat up 5 seasons of scarian alliance, the nature of their natural friend dynamic as well as the series in general would lead to it being repetitive. It would lead to decreased viewer satisfaction. Decreased viewership. Decreased money. They're in the unfortunate position of monetizing their friendships. Who they ally themselves with is not just a matter of who they like most, but it's also a business decision. None of us are in the position to fully appreciate that, unless there are content creators with millions of followers in the midst of mcyt fans ig.

Idk. Idk. Maybe I'm too protective of CCs or whatever. But I've seen too many folks completely dehumanise them and fully forget that they're just dudes playing Minecraft for a living with their friends in front of million of people. A lot of these dudes are in their 20s or 30s. Hell, even those in their 40s have a right to struggle with shit as well. That level of attention on you can be terrifying. They reserve the right to do what they fucking want, and furthermore reserve the right to offer the kind of content they want. And maybe that includes not exploring a storyline or trope or character the fandom is hyped about because they got spooked by the attention, or flat out aren't comfortable with it. Maybe it's trying to be aware of how often they magnetize towards their closer friends, and thus avoiding making all of their videos about them, because they want to ensure the amusement of the million of people who watch them.

Idk. Idk. There's a level of entitlement we can sometimes feel towards the CCs that we as a fanbase - that we as individual people - need to be aware of and question. These are people. They're professional but not in the same sense that film actors are professionals. The majority of them completely stumbled into their popularity and their spontaneity ends up weighed down by that awareness of an audience. Idk. Grian won't read your posts about him but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be kind

[getvalentined]

I love when folks ask me Fandom Old questions and I get to be like "Yeah, uh, that's from my old online RP group, no it's not canon at all, yes we just made it up, no we did not claim it was canon but the mid to late aughts were a strange time."

It's honestly a shock to realize how often this has happened. I mentioned earlier that Reno's fanon surname came from this same group, but that's not even the half of it. I once made a bunch of screenshot manips based on the most ridiculous ships anyone could think of—someone slapped a random line of text onto one of them and to this day it's used as a "cringe FF7 fandom" meme. I saw it on the twits a bit back and almost fell out of my goddamn chair.

If you've ever heard Scarlet referred to with the surname "West," read about Tseng fighting with metal fans, seen Elena's older sister being called Anna instead of Emma, come across Vincent portrayed as having a PhD in spite of being a Turk, or caught references somewhere to Grimoire experimenting on Vincent as a child, that started with this group. That was us.

One of the funniest examples of this, for me specifically, is that we don't actually know which arm Veld is missing? The fandom generally goes with his left because that's how I drew him in the first picture of the guy ever posted on devart way back in 2005, but it may very well be his right. I've seen people offer "proof" that it's his right based on a scene in the opening cutscene, but you can't tell there either, and with BC's graphics there's literally no way to tell on his sprite.

Hell, this year we found out everyone's assumed timeline of the Kalm fire is wrong, and that's our fault too because we made some assumptions about Felicia's age for an LJ RP that were entirely wrong. She's around Zack's age, not Sephiroth's! She's old enough to run with a terrorist group in BC, but she was a child when Kalm burned, and that happened in 1997—we know this because NPCs in Rebirth literally refer to the fire in Kalm having happened "just ten years ago." Veld has only had his prosthetic for three years when BC starts. (This also implies that, contrary to popular belief, Veld may actually be younger than Vincent. Vincent may have been the senior partner, and that's why he was sent to Nibelheim alone while Veld was left at headquarters.)

We were really wrong on this! But we were working with what we had. There's no canon evidence for the vast majority of these things (the most notable exclusion here is Vincent being educated) but we weren't claiming there was. We were filling gaps, and canon was so sparse that we had a lot of gaps to fill. So if it turns out that Veld lost his right arm, then I'll just have to start drawing him that way—because losing his left was never canon.

Tragically, there's nothing any of us can do to make people stop assuming these things are canon at this point; there aren't a lot of us still in the fandom, and it's not like any of us have those old chatlogs anymore. People from this RP group have DIED since those days. It's been over 20 years since most of us met, and around 15 since most of us were in a public fannish space together.

"Prove it," people say, and I literally can't. Do you know how many computers I've been through since then? 75% of the platforms we used no longer exist. This all started on a BBCode forum! There is no proof!

But...there's no evidence any of these things are canon, either, so maybe think about that? The Kalm fire, Tseng's weapon of choice, Veld's arm, character surnames—none of these are retcons because there was no lore there to retcon. We made it up for our specific purposes, and it escaped containment in an era when there was really no way to do online contact tracing.

It's just one of the weirdest feelings in the world to see younger folk arguing about A or B point in canon, about X or Y retcon—referencing something my friends and I thought up at like 10 o'clock at night on a now-defunct IM client in August of 2005, because we needed something to refer back to for a specific scene in an RP and the source material had nothing to offer.

Absolutely fucking bonkers.

[freckliedan]

omfg so im reading your linguistics paper rn and im at the part where you talk about how its taboo to post abt the vday vid or dailybooths etc. but i feel like the chains have loosened over the years so to speak? cuz like, on twitter people have just. posted full dailybooth screenshots, or reference the 2009 phan song all the time which itself refs vday. and im wondering if thats like, because the community had gotten smaller after the dapg hiatus that ppl were more lax about it, or if it felt like dnp were more lax about it, or if these are all younger fans who werent aware of this etiquette at all but since so many younger fans have been joining like post coming out they just dont see it as taboo at all? some self-policing does still occur, specifically w ppl reposting dans nakedbooths, but its def not the case of YOU HAVE TO BE COMPLETELY SILENT ABOUT THIS anymore. i havent even finished reading yet but im enthralled

OOH thank you for the question i have so many thoughts on this actually. (context)

i think there's multiple reasons why the taboo on discussing the vday vid & other deleted social media things has grown lesser? under the cut bc i got wordy.

partially i'd chalk it up to the change in phandom demographics. like, there's a way lower proportion of us now who were around for the direct aftermath of the first major leak in 2012, or who even were a part of the phandom when a majority of folks had been present for that. things were so bad and painful then & in the era directly afterwards! people still learn about that but the knowledge of how bad things got is always going to be different from the lived experience.

so that's reason one: i think that within the fandom the strongest emotional reaction to the existence of the vday video & deleted social media posts will always exist in ppl who were around in 2011-2013 & similarly deeply ingrained in folks who joined right after that in 2014-15. and i think there's still a lot of us but there's also just like.. so many less of us now, too. the vast majority of my mutuals from 5 years ago have abandoned or deleted their blogs.

i do think another part of why things have gotten less taboo is bc it's no longer something that has the potential to out dan and phil/how directly they've acknowledged the social media posts (& to a lesser degree the vday vid)?

like. dan literally used screenshots that he almost certainly got from the phan directory in basically i'm gay. they acknowledged that the manchester eye meant something to them in giving the people what they want/witl (watched them at the same time, can't remember which had that in it). i know they knew how people would react to them mentioning iconic teen dalien moments in the big wheel in the sims.

there's also the fact that like... angry phil DMs/copyright strikes are a thing of the past? i'm not going to tell people where to find the vday video but it's stupidly easy to locate on more mainstream platforms at this point in time. shit, that brings me to another point: fans who joined more recently weren't around for the era where blogs were getting taken down for what they were posting. another reason it's more chill now.

like, the openness of the secret is like, something that makes seeking out the taboo less of a thrill?

but on the other hand! learning in detail abt the vday vid and old social media posts is something i think people find less necessary now? that used to be the most concrete like... phan proof. proof they were queer. and now that they're explicitly gay and openly together to the degree that they are it's like. the value of the information has lessened.

to go in a different direction. i definitely wouldn't call it a formalized etiquitte that the youngun's just don't know, especially when it comes to the social media posts—they've always circulated and even 5 years ago when i wrote that paper they were more openly talked about even tho the vday video wasn't (though again: 5 years ago was still wayyyyy more lax than 2013/14).

ultimately there's always just been so much clout tied up to knowing about the vday video & social media posts? so even though being too blatant has always been a taboo transgressing that norm with skill has also always been a phandom value.

i'm not going to get too far into the ways that dan and phil's fandom literacy and the fan response of archiving everything play into things bc i think i covered that well in my paper but yeah!

i don't have a good conclusion but: less % of the fandom being present for the aftermath of dnp being outed by the leak + greater aknowledgement of these subjects by dnp + less value for the information in the vday vid & deleted social media posts = more casual attitude towards vday vid & social media posts and a healthier phandom overall

[inchidentally]

Why do I feel like Oscar is intentionally keeping Lando at a distance because he assumes it would never work out? And Lando kind of wishes Oscar would show an interest but he isn't so Lando pulls back too? Maybe I'm totally crazy but feels like they're doing a double fake out. If not then why not just be friendly the way they are with other guys?

This is my thought on them too. Anon explained really well. I see the same when I look at them. One of them wanna get more friendly but other's shields up and visa versa :I

(the quote comes from this anon and possibly also this one I'd received before)

I've tried giving this a look at other angles since obv none of us knows - and likely won't ever know - for sure, and I think the one way I can see this being the case is mixed signals? bc I feel like it being deliberate on either of their parts is too far a stretch.

long thing below and usual caveat that no I do not write this stuff thinking I actually know what's going on and it's just for fun and I do not take it seriously !!

like on the one hand, for a while before and even after meeting Oscar, Lando kept having to hear about this "rookie" who'd soon be his teammate and how he'd be the more experienced one etc. jokes about him "looking after" the new kid and how is he settling in blah blah. none of which Lando was remotely enthused about, understandably so. unlike team sports, mentoring isn't really something teammates do for each other in racing since they're each other's greatest measure of competition.

and Lando joined F1 so young (and was in the McLaren development program even younger) that while his talent and personality often deceives a lot of people into thinking he's become established and experienced, Lando himself doesn't rate experience much when it isn't bringing race wins or the WDC any closer. and his personality on camera was largely defined by latching onto Carlos and Daniel. he was a little more vulnerable around Carlos but mostly the dynamic of big brother/baby brother was the same for both those relationships. Lando with Max F and the Quadrant folks is pretty different to who he is with those older guys.

so it's easy to see why he didn't feel at all prepared to play the role that everyone kept assuming for him when Oscar came along. and re this babbling I did I genuinely think the difference between how young and small Oscar still was when they first met in winter of 2022 to the infamous "did you grow, what the fuck" moment was transformational for Lando. you look at his eyes gluing themselves to Oscar when Oscar isn't looking and the cheeky way he keeps getting Oscar's attention - and the way Oscar can't hide his surprise and how pleased he is - and I truly think the dynamic started to shift from a sort of stiff friendliness to Lando being genuinely interested in this guy.

Lando said himself that before the season properly started, he and Oscar had been so busy when they were in the same space that they didn't really talk beyond hello and goodbye. which needn't have been the case. I think a fair part of that was Lando's poor bruised heart at having Carlos leave and then Daniel being bought out, just not ready to deal with what he could fairly assume would be some younger guy jumping in wanting to do the bromance bit and glom onto Lando's popularity - all while probably cynically planning to strategize a way to a better seat or maybe one day take Lando's place at McLaren. his knowledge of Oscar at that point was of what a strong up and coming threat he was and that he had the balls/audacity (depending who you ask) to go up against his development team. and that Oscar had gone F1 fandom viral multiple times and was actually an existing personality to F2 and F3 circles. nothing about Oscar seemed vulnerable or unsure and yet people would not stop asking Lando about him as if he were Lando's responsibility.

and as Oscar said, his low frequency personality can often get mistaken (even by Mahk Wibba!) for not caring or being engaged. and if someone wasn't aware of his social media then I could see them thinking that someone as cool and calm as Oscar was almost aloof or disinterested.

with that limited knowledge, Lando would have been right to be wary. hell, Lando was distinctly cool toward Daniel when Daniel showed up pushing the 'landan' agenda as replacing carlando. we all know they ofc became good friends. but we also know that Lando wasn't remotely going to be guilted by Netflix or the fans into feeling responsible or overly concerned for Daniel's struggles. Lando was still very young and focusing on cementing his place in the sport. Daniel's inner and outer turmoil as a 30-something was for him to deal with.

so knowing what we now do of Oscar, this was not an ideal setup for him to meet the driver and new teammate - The Lando Norris - who he'd been a fan of for almost all of his junior career.

and on Oscar's side, it is extremely safe to say that after the Alpine/DR drama he just wanted to get his head down and prove to McLaren he wouldn't be any trouble and was more than willing to put in overtime at MTC and solo with the engineers (I think he essentially said this in the Laura Winter interview). his time spent in the car would speak for itself. but I feel like it's also fair to assume that Oscar not only being a fan of Lando's already but also knowing that he was following in Daniel's wake, Oscar mostly tried to just… not be a problem for Lando. that he put all the power and control over how their relationship developed outside of the track and meetings fully into Lando's hands - if indeed a relationship would develop (and it doesn't always). Oscar was used to looking after himself and he'd probably preferred to not risk upsetting Lando's routine or worse, pissing him off. I would not be at all surprised if that's what Oscar assumed was the safest, simplest approach.

but !! Oscar not launching into a bromance for the sake of his own image and him not trying to push for a relationship immediately for the sake of cementing the partnership would absolutely have felt weird and alien to Lando. and considering what was popularly said about Oscar following the Alpine stuff, him not pushing himself into Lando's space possibly would've come off as distant or cold and probably a bit calculating/cocky. maybe even a bit as if Oscar was so sure of himself, his youth and so laser focused on his own advancement (and boy did Netflix frame it up that way, dramatic Dutch angle and all) that it seemed as if he didn't see the point or the need in benefiting from an alliance with Lando. again - that's just possible conclusions that someone like Lando who hates having his stability threatened might have felt.

this is an even more HUGE leap but we know that Oscar visibly watched Lando closely since the start of the season and was learning from him and about him. and that Andrea had already instilled his new 'team before driver competition' ethos. and that Lando had seen examples of Oscar showing up for him - as a teammate at least - when their relative 'fortunes' before the updates would regularly see Lando in a better position or a better result. and like, if I were to truly jump to a conclusion here I'd say that Lando's gradual thaw in between Australia and Monaco absolutely delighted Oscar - and that he wouldn't have expected any more from Lando at all. Lando being chummy with him during media and a bit of bonding over the state of the car at the time could easily have felt more than enough for Oscar. (and just to throw in here as well that in those much earlier videos together, there were little flashes of Lando's sarcasm bordering on passive agressive but Oscar just laughing delightedly. like I think he fully either didn't mind or didn't notice that Lando was bleeding a bit of genuine annoyance over the car into their dynamic at times. the British theory test is a very good example of that.) whereas from Lando's perspective, maaaaaybe Oscar being so content with so little effort from him - compared to Carlos and Daniel - could have confirmed his suspicion that Oscar wasn't actually interested in being truly friends or bonding? idk that's me really exploring a big blue vague space asgfjlsagf. even more than I already do lol.

now I'm not saying at ALL that these friendships are remotely phony or PR because they're absolutely close in real life! but there's also no doubt in saying that like a lot of the drivers, Carlos and Daniel show up to a new teammate with the usual bromance shtick in their back pocket. and with how successful carlando and dando have proven to be with fans and sponsors and networks, they play into it with just a touch of cynicism even now. again, not saying that's nefarious at all and Lando's no dummy when it comes to personal brands and "shipping" etc. the boy is a youtuber/streamer lol so he /knows/. but yea, the 'oooh aren't we acting gay!' and overly touchy feely stuff especially is entirely for the fans' benefit. and we eat it up aslgfjsagf.

but Oscar has literally never had a bromance in any of the stages of his career and he doesn't publicize any of his non-racing friendships like the boys from boarding school he's still close to. we know he has probably a higher level of awareness of queer existence/culture than most of these guys and he doesn't hide it. I know the bar is in hell but it's significant enough that Oscar's never once used 'gay' as either an insult or as a hilarious joke - and he's had an active presence on social media since 2019 (his dad managed everything before that). when a Prema challenge was for him to kiss someone in the room and Arthur kept pushing, we know from the thumbnail that Oscar gave him a kiss through the covid plexiglass and then rolled around giggling. but he didn't treat kissing a guy in particular as 'hilarious' and he's never 'played gay' with any other guys. he also doesn't talk about Lily as if she's an accessory or "his". he brings her up in the context of things they did together or things she told him etc. the boy just doesn't know any degree of toxic masculinity apparently!!

where this gets confusing for Lando is that men are always dying to touch or cuddle or fawn over him - whether it's as a cute little brother like Carlos does (sorry fellow carlandos but that's the non-rpf truth) as a stereotypical bromance like Daniel does (and oh how I love that his ass caught feelings when he didn't mean to) or some potent mixture of fondness and attraction, which constitutes basically every other man who's met Lando.

and god knows I've written time and again how poor Lando does not know what to do with Oscar when Oscar looks with such intensity and he says so many things that show Lando respect and care and kindness. but he simply will not touch him ?? and he won't even half-fake half-serious flirt with him !! and he won't even take the bait when a bromance moment is pushed on them ! and when they're pressed close like in Twister, Oscar looks pink and flustered and refuses to put his leg between Lando's even though Daniel and Carlos have practically wrestled Lando with limbs akimbo multiple times. Oscar initiating the side hug at Silverstone was such an event that even Lando looked staggered by it. that's so strange !! Oscar is not remotely homophobic and he's not at all stand-offish physically and he's fine with people touching and hugging him. sure he doesn't do excessive PDA even with Lily but he still does some. he clearly is fond of Lando and doesn't mind when Lando decides to touch him. but we haven't even seen them hug ! and Oscar will give Lando such sincere praise and respect but he won't use hyperbole or make jokes like Carlos saying he was jealous of Lando liking Daniel or Daniel cracking sexual jokes about him and Lando.

and I fully feel like that breaks Lando's brain a little and has to make him falter at times bc everyone touches Lando and crosses easily over into some form of casual intimacy with him. Lando hides absolutely nothing and is extremely easy going. people feel very comfortable engaging with him, knowing that he'll play along so long as they're being kind or friendly.

and I think that's where the decision Lando made to let his brattier moods out around Oscar comes from. it's a very weird sort of compliment to Oscar that Lando isn't worried about pissing him off or being rejected - and I think it came from Lando being a little frustrated with Oscar for not falling in line with how everyone else is with him and not being able to get a secure read on how Oscar feels about him. as well as like I said earlier how Lando would be a little passive aggressive in his humor but Oscar never took offense. so Lando lets all his petulance and impatience come out around Oscar in a way I don't really know that he does much with anyone else? I think there's been a few times he's gotten like that around Max but Max has a good strong hand with him. but even when Lando goes Full Brat like the beloved Tic Tac Toe filming day Oscar is still endlessly charmed by Lando and you can see Lando soften and blush bc he knows he’s really letting it all out and Oscar is still being so good with him. Carlos would’ve picked him up and put him in a bin and Daniel would’ve out bratted him ajsbjsbsjd.

we know that Silverstone was a huge stepping stone for Lando and Oscar's relationship but I wish I could pinpoint before then when it was that Oscar realized just how much he couldn't apply his former racing friendships as a model for interacting with Lando. that Lando is anything but 'typical blokey guy' and even more than that, he isn't remotely typical or like anyone else in any way. definitely it was after Australia and by Austria the shift had already happened and we could see Lando watching Oscar as much as Oscar watched Lando. the trust and beginnings of feeling comfortable had already begun to be earned before Silverstone for sure.

and by the time he did this BTG interview, the genuinely fond way he talked about Oscar and mentioned the ways they're similar is such a major shift from simply saying that Oscar is calm and super quiet and fast as a driver. then we hit Singapore (where Lando sought Oscar out to spray champagne on him) the double podiums and Oscar's extension.

and then the Austin weekend and the filming they did and Lando posting that beautiful photo of Oscar smiling back at him all seems to have brought them to a place where yea, if we're being honest the lingering looks and the sense of sweetness to their shared humor is the dynamic we've had ever since.

and at this point I think what people are mistaking for a fakeout or misunderstanding is just that their lives outside of racing are so vastly different. Lando is in perpetual motion and constantly in demand and if you don't do a common activity with him like golf or padel then good luck catching him. whereas Oscar has been snared by a growth spurt that seems like it's still going on and he's either sleeping, sleeping, sleeping some more, spending time with Lily, sleeping, or spending time with his friends if possible. so there just isn't really an overlap with how their lives are right now.

to go out on another pretty out there limb, the one thing I might say is that Oscar still defaults to letting Lando call the shots about how much he wants to spend time together outside of being teammates. his own life is so uncomplicated that from his perspective it would feel a little daunting to try and insert himself in Lando's ever-changing schedule and multiple friend groups - esp since he already has so much time with Lando anyway due to the racing calendar. we know that it happens at times and that it's never broadcasted, only mentioned after the fact. it tends to be flying together or choosing to have lunch or after race meals together. the one time that rly gets to me is after Vegas when Lando could barely muster the energy to hit the tables with Max, Ria and Aarava. we find out later he spent at least part of that night with Oscar and someone mentioned that Oscar will have wanted to watch the cricket so like? it's kind of touching as well as saying a lot that the best time for their social lives to overlap is when it can be calm and quiet and Lando specifically does not want to be busy or loud. Lando dopey with painkillers and moody about crashing out of the race, possibly holed up in a hotel room with Oscar and the cricket playing on TV just sounds very sweet and likely. but other than those moments, their social lives just don't intersect easily. yet!!

but yea, I think ?? that by now they've kind of reached a comfortable place of knowing - at least for now - what their relationship is. it's why I honestly assumed Lando was finally doing the visit to Daniel's ranch and wouldn't be meeting up with Oscar in Australia. they're simply not to the point of coordinating off season schedules. even less of a surprise since he ended up spending less than 24 hours in Perth before he and Martin moved on!

ofc we as fans cannot get enough content of them together and just want more. but a lot of that is McLaren social media deciding to drop off just as McLaren started climbing up the grid ??? if they can get their shit together for 2024 then we'll see as much Lando and Oscar as we always did Lando with Carlos and Daniel.

[theokusgallery]

What do you think about middle aged sunflower ????

Okay I'm going to pretend I'm normal and didn't just have a conversation about it yesterday within which I had to restrict myself because of Discord's stupid character limit

Anyway. Gonna talk about fanfics briefly, because fics tend to get more complex with characterization.

A while ago, I got really into Marvel, and for two months I did nearly nothing except read spideypool fanfic all day and night. If you know anything about these two (that isn't from the MCU) (I hate the MCU, I hate it so so much, this is not who Spidey fundamentally is, he is supposed to be a friendly neighborhood loner loser and you Cannot just give him an Iron Man suit and a mentorship with Stark and intergalactic missions at 16 or however old he is in those movies when the essence of the character is that he is an average struggling teenager who just happens to get superpowers and fucks up a lot at the beginning of his journey and mostly works alone and quit the fucking Avengers himself) (wow I started rambling sorry. Ignore that), you'll know that they are both around... 25-30ish, currently. Something like that. The only other fandom that I read as many fanfics of was Ace Attorney, where depending on the timeline, they can be from 23 to like, 35 with a kid. So I'd say me being so invested in a ship with 16 year-olds is... kind of an anomaly.

I don't usually like the coming-of-age, teenage love stuff, and I honestly have never found a single sunflower schoolfic I liked (except Spiral of course but even then they're in college) because all of them tend to... infantilize both Sunny and Basil at great length. And also tear down anything that makes them interesting characters. I think a lot of OMORI artists (that includes writers) are very afraid of doing anything substantial with teenagers, despite, you know, the actual plot of the game, and as a result, a lot of the time most fics where the characters aren't aged up tend to be... incredibly boring. Of course there are some that are good — exceptional even — but in the end all I can think of is the huge gap in... quality? that sounds wrong to say about a creative thing... interesting-ness, let's say (a very personal and subjective concept), when I stopped reading Marvel and went back to OMORI. I stopped reading fanfics altogether because I just couldn't find one I liked as much as the average Marvel fic that I hadn't already read.

Maybe it's a result of the writers themselves being young? I know OMORI's fanbase is generally a lot younger than Marvel's, so that could affect it. I mentioned schoolfics because there's a lot of them and because they were mentioned in my rant yesterday, but it's not really about the fact that they're schoolfics, it's about the fact that more often than not, the setting is the plot, and since it's just your average highschooler writing their favorite blorbos into their own environment and projecting (which is very cool btw, 99% of my own writing is projecting), the plot is... basically nonexistant. It's boring. It's boring and the characterization is usually dull. But even outside of schoolfics, I think I stopped trying to read fics that start with Sunny getting out of the hospital after the True Ending for the same reason : it's often plain and plotless and boring. And, fuck, my favorite books and mangas and such are slice of life, I'm all for mundane plots! But there's a difference between a mundane plot/realism and just no plot at all.

(This is not, like, an attack of OMORI writers who make schoolfics or fics that start with the above mentioned premise, btw, I want to make that very clear. It's very much a personal preference. I think it's boring because all of the fics I read in Marvel had a very unique plot/premise is my point. And also because the characters were a lot more mature and complex. Different strokes for different folks)

I think that's what I'm kind of sad about. OMORI characters tend to be complex and morally grey in their own way, and people tend to forget about that because they're teenagers and obviously no one can do no wrong before the ripe age of 18. Children are all innocent and therefore cannot be more morally complex than cinnamon roll soft boys/girls (looking pointedly at Sunny, Aubrey and Basil. But mostly Basil). Also, I think people tend to straight-up forget that 16 year-olds aren't, like, 10? Of course they're not going to be as mature as grown adults, especially Sunny OMORI, Dissociative Amnesia World Champion, but like... When I was 16 reading OMORI fanfics, half the time I was like "a 16 year-old would not fucking say that". But also generally more mature characters are inevitably more interesting to explore to me because I prefer more mature themes — I'm simply extremely upset at the fact that people don't explore the complexity that's already there when they're 16, including the very mature themes that are already there.

TL;DR: I love middle aged sunflower, I love middle aged ships in general ! In fact, I will tend to prefer sunflower when it's aged up.

(... I probably should've led with that.)

[spicybylerpolls]

It's interesting how many people are bothered by the banner on this blog. It's pretty tame. This idea that Mike and Will aren't even allowed to kiss when they were younger because it's inappropriate is crazy to me when we saw Mike and El making out at that same age and people weren't scandalized by watching that. So clearly their issue is that it's 2 boys and they are uncomfortable with adults knowing they want to kiss. I saw someone claim that it wasn't homophobia but they were bothered by the fact that the disclaimer says they will be aged up in polls but then used something from S3 in the banner. But that's because on the show they have mostly been young kids so if you're making a banner there aren't pictures of them randomly as adults lol. It's not a big deal at all. People don't even think through why they are mad. They just have a trigger response to things they don't like and go off about it. It's like they are throwing darts and hoping one of the reasons they've come up with will stick and actually be a legit issue. But I have yet to see an actually criticism of this blog that was fair. All of it is coming from young people scandalized by sex and freaking out over the details and kinks people came up with. They equate "kink" with something sinister and predatory. I sincerely hope that they get educated better at some point because their attitude is a big problem. When the fandom is more active there is going to be a lot more people talking like this. And if there is a sex scene that is all anyone is going to be discussing. If it's bothering them now, they won't be able to deal with it later.

Yeah I was genuinely surprised people were/are upset about that too! I understand not liking the blog as a whole, but to single out the banner as some kind of gotcha is def strange to me. Even some people who like this blog are bothered by it. But it didn't even cross my mind once that the banner would potentially be something folks would have any opinions about at all, negative or positive lol.

Having a S3 banner isn't saying, "Go think of them as their S3 selves!" (And it isn't saying the opposite either- no one can control what others think about). The banner isn't saying anything at all. It's just a banner. Like, there's no sinister or ulterior motive behind it. It was just chosen because it looks cool and because, like you said, we don't have any pictures of them randomly as adults. It's strange to me that people think the banner is "attaching a specific image" to Byler.

But they don't think that about anyone else's profiles. Are people with S1 Byler profile pictures only talking about S1 Byler on their accounts, even when they analyze darker themes? Of course not. So I do think people are grasping at straws and partially motivated by purity culture and homophobia, even if it's internalized homophobia.

And the disclaimer says Byler is aged-up in all the sex-related polls not just to clarify the purpose of the blog as a whole and so people don't have to keep adding "for aged-up Byler" to their submissions, but also for literal reasons. Unless you believe Byler secretly boned off screen already or something, when Byler has sex, whether in the show or post-canon, they will be aged up to at least Stancy's age.

(Some of the anons haven't been specifically related to having sex but to sexuality in general, and people are usually discussing things like hosegate where obviously they aren't aged up. But the actual sex specific questions are clearly talking about Byler in S5 and beyond).

Since the show is going in a more mature direction, it makes sense to talk about sex and sexuality as it relates to Byler. As you put it, "I sincerely hope that they get educated better at some point because their attitude is a big problem. When the fandom is more active there is going to be a lot more people talking like this. And if there is a sex scene that is all anyone is going to be discussing. If it's bothering them now, they won't be able to deal with it later." Very true.

[impishtubist]

Factually, I know that there are a bunch of younger people in the marauders/wolfstar fandom who haven't actually read the books, but the thing I just can't wrap my mind around is: WHY??? And I don't even mean it in the sense of "these kids are ruining the fandom and should read the canon before they start writing fics" (well... at least not entirely). I mean that I utterly don't get it as a choice for them. Like, there is SO MUCH media out there that (a) has way better canon, (b) has canonically queer characters, and (c) wasn't written by a racist TERF. For example, Young Royals. In itself, a really good show. And if these new MWPP fans' fics are anything to go by, it has the exactly the kind of character archetypes, character relationships, and story lines that these folks are actually interested in seeing/reading. There's also Good Omens, OFMD, the (small but great) the Old Guard, etc. The options are abundant these days!

Now, for all I know, a lot of these folks might be in a few of these other better-suited fandoms in addition to MWPP. But why do they bother with MWPP at all? I get that MWPP & Harry Potter in general is a bigger, older fandom with a lot of existing content. But I feel like this newer pack of MWPP fans could really help build up more vibrant communities in the fandoms that genuinely suit them if they just invested their time & energy on that instead of on attempting to shoehorn characters & story arcs that they don't even (canonically) like into a form they enjoy.

I have many thoughts about this, actually! It's an interesting thing to discuss.

(I'm going to start out by saying that if you're a newer/younger fan here and you are reading this post...cool, you do you. I understand that the hyperfixation brain worms sometimes lead you places you didn't expect and you can't extract yourself very easily. But I'm still going to talk about how it 'tis a bit puzzling to me.)

This is not going to be universal at all, but I find personally that the fandoms I'm more active in are the ones where the queer relationships aren't canon, or are only hinted at very very slightly. Like, I wrote 18 fics for Good Omens before the romance was confirmed, and after that I wrote...1. I've written one fic for Maurice and 130 for Sherlock. I think that once the couple I want to get together is actually confirmed in canon, there's nothing left for me to do, you know? No more writing sandbox to play in. Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that Aziraphale and Crowley kissed and I cannot wait for season 3. I'm just not as compelled to write fic for that fandom now as I am for, say, Temeraire. So I can see people being more drawn to write for MWPP, with so many possibilities to play with and so many characters/couples, as opposed to Young Royals, which was a fun show to watch but I am not compelled to write anything for because the romance already played out on screen! Same with OFMD and Old Guard - LOVED watching them, don't really feel compelled to write for them.

Obviously this is not universal because those fandoms are thriving, but it's just kind of how my brain works.

Also, there must be something about the way that Sirius's and Remus's characters have been watered down/changed entirely for TikTok videos that is compelling to the younger crowd. I don't know, because I don't go there, but I've heard so many younger fans say they started shipping Wolfstar because of what they saw on TikTok.

So...yeah. I am as baffled as you! With the abundance of queer content out there not written by a TERF, it is definitely surprising to see the fandom gain new members. I am only here because Sirius Black grabbed me by the throat when I was 7 years old and hasn't let go since. If I hadn't been seized by the series at a formative age (and before her TERFness was known), I don't know if I would have gotten into it as an adult. But I can't speak for those fans! I can only speculate, like you.

[writteninlunarlight-years]

Hi! I saw you were doing matchups and I would love to get one for Bg3 and Hazbin Hotel! <3 here’s the info about me:

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: I’m asexual biromantic, for the matchups I would prefer a male character, but any gender is fine if you think a girls fits me better!

Appearance: I have green eyes and dyed cherry red hair. I dress with vintage/fairy grunge clothes. Long skirts and corsets are my fav type of outfit. I wear lots of rings and crystal/pearl necklaces and love to exchange them with others. I also have tattoos, currently I have three but I’m planning to get more; and I recently got a vertical labret piercing. I love to wear makeup and come up with something creative and different everyday. Also if someone lets me do their makeup they’ll have my heart forever.

MBTI/Enneagram: I’m an ESFJ but I don’t know my enneagram.

Personality: I’m the mom friend of the group, always there for everyone and my friends say that I’m really good at comforting people. I’m also calm and responsible, I usually am the one that takes care of other people. I’m very optimistic, I always try to see the good in everything and I often put other’s needs before my own. I love making others laugh to lighten the situation. I’m not afraid to stand up for myself or for someone else but sometimes it’s hard for me to say no to things. I’m also very ambitious, I always try to achieve my goals.

Likes (at least 3 things): I absolutely love listening to music, it helps me relax and I really like reading (I love reading out loud to others, when I read dialogues I act them out a little to help picture the scene). I especially love fantasy and I recently got into greek mythology. I also love watching horror movies even though it’s impossible to scare me. I also play Dungeons and Dragons with my friends anytime I can. also, I absolutely love musicals and I’m definitely a theatre kid. Lastly, I adore art.

Dislikes (at least 3 things): I dislike when someone is too serious and really can’t take a joke as I tend to use humor as my coping mechanism. I also dislike people who need to judge others and comment on everything they do. Lastly, I dislike sports, they’re not really for me!

Extra fun fact: my favorite music genre is either musical songs, or like medieval folk songs/sea shanties, I found so many playlists on spotify!

BG3 EXTRA:

Race: Tiefling, 100% my fav race

Class: Either a bard, or a sorcerer. If I can multi class both of them!

D&D alignment: lawful/neutral good.

I really hope I did this correctly, have a great day! 🫶🏻

~~~~~ MATCHUPS ~~~~~

When choosing these two characters for you, I took many things into account. First, the minute you said you act like a mom and everyone views you as a mom, I was immediately drawn to two very specific characters for both fandoms. Your aesthetic suits these two, and I chose them very well. Taking into account your hobbies, your passion, and the vibe I get from your message, I am confident in my two choices.

BG3

Rolan

~~~~~ HEADCANON ~~~~~

It's well known that Rolan has taken on the role of father with his two younger siblings.

Rolan wants to protect what he loves and cares about, which includes you. However, he doesn't necessarily see you as a child; he sees you as his equal.

Since you two met, his siblings would call you two mom and dad.

He can be harsh and overly serious, but once you crack his shell, he can be a big softy who loves to participate in playful banter.

He loves color-coordinating outfits with you.

WOULD BE THE ONE TO WEAR MATCHING VACATION OUTFITS, AND YES, THAT INCLUDES HIS SIBLINGS.

He loves helping you learn and explore new topics you find interesting.

He is interested in the different properties of natural-born and learned magic.

He will ask you to show off your skills to him sometimes so he can admire you.

~~~~ BLURB ~~~~~

The tower had been running smoothly for the last few months since Loroikan had been killed. Rolan had begun to heal, and you two had made the tower better than ever before. Wizards and spell casters from near and far came to your establishment to gain knowledge new and old. While Rolan ran the purchasing and sorting portion of the tower, you ran the extra activities and teaching portion of the building. From time to time, his siblings would come and go, helping every now and then.

As the day ended, you cleaned up the bottom part of the shop, ensuring everything was where it should be. Once done, you headed to the door, ready to lock it for the night, when Rolan's siblings came in. Cal and Lia looked reasonably intoxicated, blubbing with laughter, falling over, and not making any sense. Sighing, you wrapped their arms around your shoulder and began going up to the portal leading to the tower's living quarters. As you appeared inside the drawing room, the siblings started to sound even more delirious. You can only assume hearing the commotion Rolan came out from your shared room, a look of shock on his face, "We let them move out and look at the trouble they cause." You laugh lightly, allowing Roan to take Cal off your shoulder while you continue with Lia.

Once you two had cleaned and cared for the siblings, you lay in bed staring at the ceiling with Rolan. "I am glad they decided to come here and not wander around some alleyway." Rolan sighed, rolling on his side to face you better. "I agree. Doesn't mean they are any less of a problem." You smile, moving on your side now to face Rolan. "Oh, like you weren't a problem child growing up, Rolan. I heard the stories." Rolan laughed softly, moving to place some hair behind your ear. Slowly Rolan leaned in ready to kiss you, just as the ghost of his lips touched yours the door to your room opened. You both turned to look at the intruder and saw Lia holding her stomach. "Mom, Dad, I grew up."

~~~~~ EXTRA ~~~~~

(You and Rolan had taken the day off, leaving the tower with his siblings. You two had found a lovely meadow near the town and began working on some new spells from a book you two were gifted)

Rolan: No, Y/N, I believe you have to do it like this (tried the spell and failed)

Y/N: No, Rolan, I am serious. This spell is meant for a blood-born magic user, and it's all about channeling your energy.

Rolan: Anything a Sorccer can do, a wizard can do too.

(Many hours of failing on both your parts happened. You took the book and sat down, looking over the words, noticing it sounded like a poem)

Y/N: Rolan, maybe it's meant for something other than the magic we are thinking of.

Rolan: huh?

(You begin to sing the poem, and the spell works, causing flowers to bloom all around you two)

Rolan: (sighing dreamily and staring at you) You are so talented and beautiful, my love. Now it's my turn.

Hazbin Hotel

Lucifer Morningstar

~~~~~ HEADCANON ~~~~~

When I think of the cool, out-of-touch dad who wants to be present but is so far off, I think of this man.

He loves dad jokes and using humor to cope; the man has a rubber duck collection for crying out loud.

He would commission every fashion icon in Hell to make clothes for you two.

HE WANTS YOU TO DO HIS MAKEUP AND MAKE HIM A PRETTY BOY.

He is very protective of you when it comes to other demons, he has already lost so much that he's so afraid of losing you too.

He never limits your creativity or knowledge, though he wants to watch you excel in everything you want.

If you and Charlie hit it off, he's the happiest man on earth.

Even if you two don't hit it off immediately, he reassures you and helps you through it.

He loves to cuddle and just know you are there and haven't left him alone.

~~~~~ BLURB ~~~~~

You sat with Lucifer on a big red couch at the Hazbin Hotel. Though you and Charlie had a great relationship, you still felt out of place helping her make such large decisions as this since you didn't want to replace her mother. Lucifer had his arm wrapped around you, watching his daughter intently as she explained her plan for rehabilitating sinners once more. You were proud of Lucifer for stepping up and helping his daughter achieve not only her dreams but also his.

Charlie, striking a brilliant idea, pulled her dad up and walked him over to another part of the foyer to show him something. You sat there politely, watching the father-daughter duo having a good time together. As you watched from afar, the seat next to you dipped in. Turning to see who took your partner's place, you saw none other than Alastor. The relationship between you two was odd, see you came to hell due to killing those that harmed the ones you loved and Alastor respected that since he did that for his momma. He also gravitated towards you simply to piss Lucifer off. Knowing this, you spoke, "If you are looking to tease the man today, Alastor, you are out of luck. He and Charlie are enthralled in conversation." Alastor smiled that same smile every day, "Y/N, you see, he is always watching when it's the people he loves, and I just so happen to know he will come storming over here to push me away from you in the next few seconds."

As if on cue, Lucifer appeared heated; you could see the flames flying from him. You laughed into your hand while Lucifer sat down directly on Alastor till he moved. With a pout on his lips, Lucifer spoke, "You can not have Charlie, and you sure as hell can't have my future spouse, bud." Your laughing died down, gently caressing the back of Lucifer's head. Once Alastor and he had their verbal diss match, you leaned over and whispered in Lucifer's ear. "So, my love, when is the wedding?"

~~~~~ EXTRA ~~~~~

(Up in Lucifer's room in the hotel, you went to work on his face with your makeup. He willingly offered to help you achieve the new look you were going after. Just so happens your door was wide open, and every sinner couldn't help but take pictures of the vulnerable king)

Y/N: Alright, now close your eyes and wait to open them until I tell you the eyeshadow and liner are the essential parts.

Lucifer: My love, is this all necessary? You are beautiful without makeup, you know.

Y/N: yes, yes, you tell me every time, yet still let me do this once a week.

(A sudden bright flash blinded you, causing you to smudge your line)

Y/N: dammit

Lucifer: what's wrong, my love

Alastor: Nothing good, pal, just some mementos for future use

(Lucfier proceeded to chase Alastor around the hotel in an attempt to claim the pictures)

[irisbleufic]

Hello! I've followed you for a while and if I'm brave enough, one of these days I'll ask for an invite to your server. I am too socially anxious to do it right now.

But I wanted to say that the current fandom environment (not only in the Good Omens fandom but at least what I've seen almost everywhere) is a bit scary because apparently not liking something and saying it openly is seen as some kind of unforgivable offense.

I'm a bit sad bc I was a bit involved in some fandom projects for S1 and had a lot of fun with people I thought was very reasonable and open but this season has made those same people act so weird if someone dares say they didn't like it.

I wasn't kicked out of servers, I left them voluntarily because it felt uncomfortable seeing this almost cult-like reactions. I really don't know if fandom has always been like this or I was lucky before.

I'm more or less old but I am not what some people would call a fandom old since I discovered fandom (the interaction with group of people that like the same stuff as me) somehow late and didn't experience LJ, for example, so I am curious to know if people acted like this before too.

Anyway, I hope you have a nice day/afternoon/evening.

Good morning, anon! I’m sleepless and happened to see this come in. Please rest assured that the server will still be there if and when you decide to request the invite link. It’s honestly shaping up to be where all of the book devotees and other misfits not welcome in the TV crowd for various reasons are seeking refuge, if you want to know the truth. We welcome you.

The environment in fandom right now is disheartening. I feel like dissent and criticism surrounding media used to be a normal part of fandom interactions. Somehow, fandom has forgotten how to let it co-exist with positive sentiments. I’m as taken aback as you are.

Whether you were kicked out of servers or left them due to discomfort, I just…wow, I’m tired and sad to keep hearing this story from folks right now. It’s why I feel keeping the Ritz around is so important. It was founded in 2017 and used to be the largest, busiest GO server. As soon as the show hit, new folks coming in expected the (as you say) cult-like devotion to the show…and mostly left because they did not find it. I’m heartened to see it coming back to life, though, with newcomers. I’m one of the only founding mods left; the co-mod who created the server is now less active since transferring ownership of it to me a few years ago.

You’re asking if GO fandom has always been like it is now, and the answer is a resounding no. It was so much more diverse before as far as opinions that were socially “permitted.” The expectation of homogeneity that the show has brought about is frankly unprecedented.

You’re not alone in not quite being old/a fandom elder, either. I’ve been in GO fandom for 19 years, but I’m only 41. I started writing them a lot younger than some of the first writers the fandom ever had (those writers were my mentors and many remain my friends). TL;DR I’m young relative to how long I’ve been in the fandom, and I agree that it places a person in the weird position of being an elder, but not precisely being old.

I hope that this perspective helps. You truly aren’t alone in how you’re feeling, and your observations are valid 💙

[asachuu]

A lot of people are talking about Arthur’s age right now to the point even I know about it from under my rock, but instead of stating the obvious and simply assuming everyone is in on everything already, I’ll just ask this: what is actually so unbelievable about him being 27? I’ve heard folks say that it would mean he would be 15-16 at the time of joining his organization, which is indeed correct, but somehow, this comes as a surprise or something unacceptable, and I don’t understand why? The two literal fandom favorites, Dazai and Chuuya, met at fifteen years old when one was a mafia member already and the other joined at the same age, and no one seems to find that unbelievable?

Anyway, since I have my two cents on this matter, I have to shove the rest of this under the cut, but please bear with me here.

I presume people are mostly shocked for that reason, though do correct me if I’m wrong— I do see how it could be inconceivable to think of his whole entire background, memories, memoir and so on as being attributed to a 15-19 year old instead of someone far older, but if that’s due to any other reason than it simply not meeting expectations thanks to some former headcanons, I’m not too sure why. Obvious Fifteen parallels aside, it’s not as if BSD is some light-hearted series where characters going through incredibly harsh events we cannot even imagine have to be of legal age and in perfect circumstances to be able to handle it— I suppose some could be wondering about that aspect, but it would match up with the whole feel and plot of the story, and no part of it feels out of place. I’ll admit I used to believe Arthur was 36-37 at the time of his death as I didn’t know of his age either, but upon seeing he was a decade younger, I didn’t exactly think it to be nonsense for the sake of him being “too young”, and not to mention, this would also mirror his IRL counterpart, being 16 at the time of meeting Verlaine— which you absolutely could say is too young, considering the entire story between them, but it did happen, and BSD is based on the real-life authors after all— so I don’t see any argument against this which truly makes sense, all things considered.

That aside, I will say that Arthur’s canonical age specifically matters to me, unlike some other characters’ ages, and perhaps my reasoning could be a shared one that contributes to some of this confusion, and that is because it does change the perspective of Fifteen/Stormbringer to quite an extent. I had a whole post drafted about this already a week ago, but it seems to be even more relevant now, so I’ll just throw a part of it here and the rest in a reblog to not derail too much.

In my opinion, if one is to read Arthur’s memoir from Stormbringer, it feels much different to think of it as written by an adult as opposed to a teenager, purely because of its content— the character who has no family to return to, no loved ones or friends or even personal feelings he is allowed to have due to his job, the one who is overjoyed to finally have a partner whom he could make any difference to and who is already prepared to be forgotten after his death anyway, is not actually fully grown up, which maybe some are having a hard time accepting, I’m not too certain.

To me, this view on the story is indeed a lot sadder, especially if one is to consider his only partner betrayed him at 19 instead of whatever other theory could be in place, alongside all else I won’t be mentioning here as I believe I wrote a long enough essay about those two as is, but I don’t think any of it is strange or odd-sounding. If I may, in my personal opinion, I actually believe it makes far more sense, and not because it once again would align with his IRL counterpart even here— no, rather considering his behavior in Fifteen of desperately trying to find a way to remember his best yet only friend, likely because he hadn’t had anyone by his side from such a young age and clearly latched onto the first person he could have had alongside him, which could be a fully applicable theory even if you hadn’t seen the pair in any unrequited romantic contexts that could have been his motive. Does it make the story far more sorrowful? Yes. But does it make the story nonsense and unbelievable? Absolutely not. At this point, I would be so much more surprised if he wound up actually being 37 as I and what I suspect is a decent amount of others guessed at first, because in that case, I would somewhat understand the other side to my arguments— I still wouldn’t agree with them as I never did, even in the past when I didn’t have any extra information, but I could potentially see where they’re coming from at the very least.

I’ll just briefly acknowledge that perhaps some saw the memoir implying Arthur being more of Paul’s mentor at the time, being much older and wiser than him as would be expected, but I don’t think this was ever anyhow highlighted in the novels to make it clear that Arthur could be considered as such entirely— it was only said he would be the one to raise him, which I admit would not leave me assuming the given character is 15, but all things considered, it still aligns with everything above. I also have to acknowledge that in Fifteen, he is referred to as an “older” member of the Port Mafia, but I believe that refers to the eight years he spent in it, and was not meant to be an indicator of his actual age at the time, although compared to Chuuya and Dazai back then, perhaps 27 could indeed be seen as older in a very relative sense. Still, neither of these things are a direct contradiction to his supposed age, and while I’m not here to “prove” he’s 27 or 37 or whatever else one could assume, since I don’t have any other source of information other than the S3 guidebook and don’t have any reason to come up with alternative theories, hence why I choose to trust it unless official sources state otherwise, I’m only here because it surprises me how many people are shocked by this, as if many other characters in BSD weren’t in the same exact age range at the time of drastic or serious events happening around them/to them. I assume that, for some, this is merely something which goes against their personal headcanons or is just wholly unexpected, with nothing more in-depth sitting behind it, at whom this post is not aimed whatsoever, but I saw some saying it doesn’t even fit into canon at all, which…how, exactly? Because I don’t see it at all.

[shealwaysreads]

This is gonna be really random but I am so delighted that you have 30s in your bio. I'm 23 and at that point in my life where I'm entering adulthood and I've thought of my involvement in fandom and how that would change as I journeyed further into adulthood. And most of the time, especially on new platforms like tiktok, it's mostly younger people who are making fan content so it's amazing to see people actively enjoy fandom content as they become full adults. It's very freeing 💜

This was such a lovely ask to receive, I’m so touched and so glad that you reached out! You’ve tapped into a subject I have a Lot of Feelings about, so forgive the incoming ramble ❤️

I have had friends of all ages in fandom over the years, and those friendships have been more important than perhaps I gave them credit for at the time. I’ve been fandom-ing since I was about 14 and its been a hobby that’s brought me huge joy and allowed me to get to know so many lovely humans. They’ve modelled ways of living that I didn’t know about, have generously shared their time and knowledge and expertise and experience, and have been examples of preserving one’s joy amidst the reality of growing up and of living in an adult landscape that can become barren if you don’t intentionally enshrine what’s important to you. (The actual you, the one that lives in your heart.)

The narrative of ‘you’ll grow out of this’ or of setting aside your pleasures as you become an Adult™️ is incredibly pervasive and incredibly damaging. There is even more pressure on young women in particular, and I’ve seen so many instances of ‘oh my god you’re 30 why are you reading fanfic, shouldn’t you be married/mothering/doing your taxes?’ 

It’s easy to get tricked into believing these social strictures are rules that really mean something, but reducing yourself to something prescribed by….who, exactly? (The people and structures that are interested in keeping us small, and bored, and tired, and empty-hearted, and too worn out to argue when they want to take more of our money and eat into more of our precious time here on this precious planet with all of these precious people) It’s a losing game! How much do you think you would need to give up to please the anonymous Life Police who are apparently out to make sure we’re all living the most stripped-back life we can?

If something makes you happy, if it gives you pleasure or comfort or inspiration, then it has a meaningful place in your life. This isn’t hedonism, it is a fundamental basis for a life worth living. 

Fandom is fundamentally about fun—it’s a small word for a big phenomenon, full of community, and friendship, and connection. It’s a folk-space where there is room for everyone, where you can explore the subversive and the comforting all in one blog. It’s where all of us can contribute—making art of all kinds, celebrating each other, inspiring each other, debating each other, stepping out of our daily lives to indulge in the essential, essential, work of imagination and creativity and enjoyment.

Play doesn’t stop being important when you stop being a child, or a teen. We’re human: telling tales and making marks, and sitting together around the fire enjoying it all is in our DNA. Fandom is just another circle of humans joining together to listen to stories and be together.

So. Enjoy being 23, but don’t fear 33, or 53, or 73!

You’ll be yourself; wiser and older, and more well-lived, but you’ll still be yourself. You’ll still laugh, with love, at your childhood and teenage embarrassing moments.

You’ll still remember when that actor did that movie, in that outfit.

You’ll have playlists full of music that brings back summers and parties and heartbreaks, and you’ll still know every lyric of all of those songs.

You’ll have new hobbies, and you’ll have your old hobbies, and maybe you’ll leave them for years at a time but you’ll come back to them unexpectedly and joyfully.

You don’t have to give anything up, not if it still makes you happy!

❤️

[wakeupthemembersofbylernation]

why do you think byler is less popular than mlvn on instagram?

on tiktok, tumblr, twitter and pretty much all other platforms byler is the more popular ship, but for some reason mlvns is more popular on instagram.

This is a good question! I’m not sure there’s a definitive answer, but if I were to take a stab at it, maybe it has something to do with the age demographic/type of fan on each platform?

Tumblr is very gay platform, and it’s also a platform for theorizing, so it makes sense that Byler is more popular here. Mlvn just kinda exists right now. There’s not much to theorize about. Like if you really believe that the monologue fixed everything and Mike and El will live happily ever after, then okay. It makes sense why a lot of them believe Mlvn will get married young and have children, cause where else is for them to go? All the other ships have unfinished business, even Jopper, the ship that’s probably in the best place after S4. They still have to figure out how to work together as a couple with a blended family.

Byler is inherently exciting to Tumblr cause it’s all about theorizing and anticipation. And it’s queer. Age demographic-wise, it seems like Byler Tumblr is all over the map too: from millennials who’ve been through this before with other ships that turned out to be queerbait to Gen Z adults my age to younger Zoomers who are truly excited about a ship becoming canon for the first time. There’s probably some of Gen Alpha here too, as well as people from Gen X. This shows that Byler is exciting and appeals to a wide range of folks.

With TikTok, it’s a younger skewing platform, and fandom-wise, there’s an emphasis on edits as well as Byler theorizing. And honestly, Season 4 genuinely didn’t give Mlvns that much to work with when it comes to edits. I mean, Will is in most of the shots. And Mlvn theories don’t seem that exciting. The GA already sees Mlvn endgame as the foregone conclusion, and he monologued to her. What else is there to theorize about? Since TikTok is a newer platform, it seems like there’s just less Mlvn-loyalists making content there, and Byler shippers have just taken it over. This is in large part due to Stranger Things as a whole exploding in popularity during summer 2022 and a lot of people switching sides to Byler during that time. There was a lot of content to create. I also think to some extent angsty edits perform better. And Byler obviously has a lot of angst.

Twitter honestly seems like the biggest war zone to me, which is why I stay away from ST Twitter for the most part. There’s just a lot of petty fights and arguments. Clearly we have a strong presence there, as evidenced by us causing the whole Byler script fiasco in august 2022. Mlvns there seem to be the most toxic, and I’ve noticed they always have Regina George tendencies (a lot of them have PFPs of Millie, Regina George, Barbie, or Olivia Rodrigo for some reason). I don’t know if it’s true that there are more Bylers than Mlvns on Twitter, but if that is true, that’s once again because Byler is just more exciting lol.

I think Instagram is a weird creature overall. It’s older than TikTok, so the fandom presence was likely established in 2016 when Mlvn mania began. It’s not really algorithmically based in the same way (with clear trending topics), so I think it’s easier for people to just follow and interact with accounts they support. I’ve noticed that a lot of the Mlvn accounts are Fillie accounts or Fillie-adjacent accounts often run by young girls (but not always- there are older fans too).

They tend to overly romanticize Mlvn and genuinely see it as the height of romance, even denying that they have any problems whatsoever. And they tend to bombard ST comment sections with extremely overzealous pro-Mlvn stuff, sometimes bordering on bizarre. Maybe part of this is due to IG basically being Facebook for younger millennials/older Zoomers? I think it’s a substantially more normie and less queer space than Tumblr. It’s also picture-based, so Mlvns often post screenshots from the show and pictures of Finn and Millie.

And obviously reddit is pro-Mlvn to an extreme too, with Bylers basically been exiled to the Byler subreddit. But there it’s largely middle-aged men who can’t fathom their favorite nerdy 80s nostalgia show becoming “woke” and gay.

[lunar-wandering]

The way im having a panic attack rn because someone that’s been interacting with my posts and seemed okay apparently approves of proshipping......folks, I’m not saying this to be mean. I promise I’m not. But proshipping doesn’t mean “i’m a multishipper, ship hate is bad”. Maybe that’s what it meant at the start, I don’t know. But today, it means “im a pedophile/support pedophilia and support incest”.

It means you’re a dangerous person to be around. If you’re swinging around the argument of “fiction doesn’t affect reality”, you have to know, just because you’re not doing anything to “real people”, you ARE normalizing it. You’re making it easier for people who WOULD do that shit to real people to groom people and do that stuff to them. Because while you’re having fun and saying that what you’re doing isn’t harming anyone, other people that do have harm at mind can infiltrate the community, and since you’ve made it seem normal, they can easily get to younger kids minds, ESPECIALLY if you’re doing this stuff in a fandom with a lot of younger people in it.

i hoped to never have to fucking say this but if you’re a proshipper and ship pedophilic or incest or mentor/student ships like Wukong/MK or anything similar please get off my blog. 

because THAT is what proshipping means. It means you ship things like THAT. it doesn’t mean that you just ship a rare pairing that might get you hate. it means you are doing actually harmful stuff.

i’m taking a break for the rest of the day.

[clearancecreedwatersurvival]

As a follow-up to my let people use fanfiction as narrative therapy post I would also like to state for the record:

Ain’t nothing wrong with self insert fanfiction. Or Mary Sue OCs that are basically self inserts. Also nothing wrong with people writing ‘bad’ fanfiction that has nothing to do with the canon really. I don’t give a shit. People are making art and that’s awesome. I may not read stuff that isn’t to my personal tastes, but I am Glad people are making their art regardless. Especially young people. Especially people who are otherwise new to writing. Hell yeah, Make Art.

One thing I have noticed about fandom on tumblr is that in very large fandoms with mass appeal, there are often a lot of kids and youths and young folk watching or reading and thus wanting to create transformative art about it. This also means that a high concentration of fic may tend more towards having less to do with the actual canon of the thing and being more focused on whatever those kids really wanted to write or read about it. To discuss one specific example, the largest subsection of fandom that currently exists around the DC batman franchises on this site is the batfam fandom, a fandom comprised mostly of younger fans who are fans more of the platonic ideal of batman and his adopted kids and close associates that only really exists in their own works and also the webtoon**** For most of those people the appeal is the found family aspect, and that’s what they want to read and write about. Hell yeah. Good for them. At least they’re writing. At least they’re making art.

****I know there are a lot of people in the batman comics fandom that have serious issues with the webtoon and the way that dc comics publishing agendas have begun to reflect more what people on the internet are talking about and less coherent storytelling that makes sense based on past canon. And this is a very fair criticism.

But this is not a problem limited to dc. This is a problem of all major production companies who produce art for mass release. TV shows being written in response to what people say on reddit has been ruining creative endeavors in an obvious way at least since Game of Thrones was airing. Books being published based on what will be popular on tiktok derived from the popularity of some frankly terrible novels (yes I do mean acotar) leads to some absolute drivel on the best seller list. Of course the comics industry is also fucking things up the same way.

Your enemy there are not the young fans new to fandom who are just discovering writing fanfiction and doing so by writing about whatever interests them most. Please stop blaming kids and other people who aren’t writing fanfiction close enough to your concept of canon for this problem, it is far bigger than that.

Let people make their maybe bad art in peace. Everyone has to make bad art on the road to learning how to make better art. I am glad they are making their art regardless.

Also no shade meant to those fans this is just an observation and I wish you all well, but I do find it a little funny that the people who Are experts on the dc comics canon who I have seen criticize the existence of the batfam fandom on here are also usually like ‘this is my favorite character, I hate every single run this character has ever been in except this one from 30 years ago and five panels of this one run that got cancelled early.’ Like, you don’t really like most of the canon you wish other people would familiarize themselves with right? Give new fans a chance to want to learn more about it. Most of the fans in that circle are pretty young, they’re gonna have kinda bad taste sometimes and that’s fine and good actually. They’ll grow out of it and maybe some of them will come to know the comics canon more closely.

This is also why even though I am vocal about personally disliking the works of SJM (acotar my beloathed) and its impact on the publishing industry, I am honestly happy for anyone that read those books and enjoyed them. Same for every other book I don’t like. If you read it and get something out of it hell yeah good for you. I was unironically into twilight for many years as a teen I am not here to pass judgement on teens or anyone for that matter for what they enjoy.

Most big fandoms I have dipped my toes into have this same problem. If there are a lot of young people in that fandom, there’s gonna be a lot of fanfic that is written by people just learning to write, and that’s great, I love that actually, good for them. But those are always the fandoms where I see people being perhaps more vitriolic than necessary towards other fans for not being up to snuff. Let people make art that you don’t think is good, please. It’s fine actually. If you don’t like it you don’t have to read it. Just be glad someone is making art that makes them happy and move on.