#so it’s also disheartening to see how good it was vs is now.

[alittleemo]

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[jackiepackiee]

Hello! If you could consider: I was wondering how Tanjiro, Sanemi, and Mitsuri would react when their s/o answers the man vs bear question with bear? Maybe little hcs, or mini drabbles?

Have a lovely day/night!!

You literally read my mind I was thinking of this the other night

𝒟𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃 𝒮𝓁𝒶𝓎𝑒𝓇 𝒟𝓇𝒶𝒷𝒷𝓁𝑒

𝑀𝒶𝓃 𝒱𝒮 𝐵𝑒𝒶𝓇

𝒲/ 𝒯𝒶𝓃𝒿𝒾𝓇𝑜, 𝑀𝒾𝓉𝓈𝓊𝓇𝒾, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒮𝒶𝓃𝑒𝓂𝒾

𝒯𝒶𝓃𝒿𝒾𝓇𝑜

The topic is pretty unfamiliar to him at first

He understands and knows about misogyny, but growing up with such a loving family in the secluded woods of a nice town didn’t expose him to much

Being surrounded by good hasn’t shown him much of what people can really be like, especially humans and not demons

But this boy is willing to listen!

Now he will defend you with. His. Life.

And that includes your opinions (unless they are obviously immoral)

But when he firsts hears it he’ll be confused

“A… bear? Why would you be with a bear?”

He makes that silly face he has when he’s confused

Then he starts to understand the more serious aspects of the discussion

He wants to know everything so expect a whole lot of questions

“Which man? I can’t pick? Oh well I don’t want it to be random.”

After he gets an understanding know he’ll be more aware of you and Nezuko.

On the lookout for creepy looks or comments

Overall 8.5/10, he supports you fully with your opinion but he’s not fully up to date on the topic

𝑀𝒾𝓉𝓈𝓊𝓇𝒾

Mistsuri is sad when she hears this question

Why would you ever have to be afraid of a man or a bear when you have her to protect you?!

She’d defend you from any man, no matter the cost

And probably become friends with the bear like a Disney princess

Now she definitely understands

Being a very beautiful woman she’s been through a lot

And while it might not show in her bubbly personality, she does often get uncomfortable with men and their advances

Only really being used to either complete rejection by possible marriages or creepy injuries by strangers

She has her own input as well

“Well I think you’re right! The bear is also way cuter!”

This is her way of cheering you up, making silly comments

Because she’s well aware of how disheartening the topic can be

And sees how it brings you down to have to think you can’t trust half the worlds population

And if anyone tries to disagree with you?

Mitsuri is no yeller but she sure is fierce

10/10, she understands completely and cheers you up after the depressing discussion topic!

𝒮𝒶𝓃𝑒𝓂𝒾

He HATES the idea that this even has to be a debate

He truly and honestly believes woman should be safe and respected

And the fact that his lover would rather be with a wild animal than a man? It’s disgusting to him that you would ever feel so unsafe

He’s not mad at you at all

But everything he feels he feels 100% so his support of your opinion is probably more intense their your original thought

You’d think he’s the one who brought it up in the first place with his passion for his opinion

Going off your given fear from the psych question, he becomes more protective

Now he is well aware of how unfairly woman are treated, being raised the way he was

And he respects their power and perseverance more than anyone else in the corps

The fact that you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable from the idea of a male stranger has him subconsciously keeping you at his side in public and defending you louder than he berates a demon

You don’t have to teach him anything about woman’s respect and safety

While he may be cranky, it’s all equal lol

He’s not rude to people because of their gender, he’s just that way (not to you obviously)

11/10, he’s such a big defender of your opinion that he cares more than you do!

[genericpuff]

I'm not sure if you've answered this question before but what were some of the things that made you interested in Lore Olympus in the past and at what point did you lose interest?

I adored the art in the beginning, and just like, the really warm-feeling romance that just had me feeling so giddy reading it. There were some red flags in the beginning like the age gap, but I kinda fell for the same mindset of "well they're gods so what does it matter" (obviously I can't in good faith use that argument anymore because if the age gap didn't matter then it either wouldn't exist or wouldn't be brought up in the first place lmao but it took me a while to realize that).

Now, to be fair, LO was also one of my first introductions to webtoons as a format, prior to that I had read mostly manga and left-to-right indie webcomics (i.e. comics that were hosted on their own site) and I was still in the early years of my own development as a writer and artist (I still feel like I'm early in that development tbh) so of course there were undoubtedly a lot of obvious flaws that went over my head (and I was younger and inexperienced so I wasn't as critical of what media I was watching / reading as I am now) but that's been half the fun of catching them now - it's given me a lot more perspective and helped me hone my own skills in my writing by analyzing what's wrong with LO and brainstorming on how those problems can be avoided.

But then there was the Act of Wrath plotline and I was completely sold on it being gold. Anyone who's read my original work knows how much of a SUCKER I am for "dark alter ego" plotlines, I eat that shit up like junk food. But what I like about the dark alter ego tropes is when they're used to explore the subconscious, question one's morals and true identity, etc. That was what I was hoping for and expecting with the AoW plotline in LO - that her "dark self" was gonna be a reflection of how she felt "held back" by her circumstances in the Mortal Realm, and her wrath being something she could use for retribution (in a "do no harm but take no shit" kinda way). Especially with how naive and innocent she was in the beginning, I loved the idea of her slowly coming to terms with her "darker" side and learning not to suppress her emotions until they had nowhere else to go and exploded (which was how I interpreted the AoW).

So when it didn't do that, or even explore an ounce of nuance regarding her relationship with her wrath, I was very disappointed to say the least. When Eris was revealed to be the one who "blessed" her with wrath, that was when the rose colored glasses started to fall off and I realized "wait, does Rachel not have an actual plan for this whole Kore vs. Persephone thing???" And now her wrath is literally just there to... give her the power to bully people?? It just feels so disheartening to see such potential squandered.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna chastise a story if it doesn't go exactly where I want it to go, there would be no fun in that anyways (and that's what fanfiction is for lmao). But when a story is leaving very interesting but connectable breadcrumbs that are VERY clearly leading you somewhere and then just... doesn't, that's when it's disappointing and unsatisfying. LO feels like a "creator vs. the reader" story in the worst way possible, where it's constantly leaving breadcrumbs, getting pissed when the audience "figures it out", so then it overcorrects and tries to "subvert" itself to keep the readers "on their toes"... but the problem is that all it really does is punish the readers for paying attention and investing themselves in the story by giving them a worse story. It's like Rachel's getting mad at people for figuring out a story that she's writing and hinting towards.

And this has been going on for YEARS now, it's like a Shepard tone where it sounds like it keeps getting higher and higher in pitch but then doesn't actually resolve so your brain is just scrambling trying to figure out what in the world it could be "building up to".

There's nothing. It's not building up to anything. It's just constantly putting down new plot threads that are slightly altered versions of previous plot threads and expecting you to keep following along while it makes a mess of itself. It feels like you're going somewhere but you're actually still just running in place. It's just Rachel never learning how to progress past the middle school writing level of "and then this happened and then this happened and then this happened". Not only is it disorganized writing, but it's just... it's so boring. Nothing's exciting or interesting anymore when it keeps distracting itself with shiny new plotlines and characters that never get resolved.

It's like when you were a kid and thought "man , when I grow up, I'm gonna eat nothing but chocolate cake and ice cream every day forever!" and then you get older and you realize you were being silly because eating nothing but chocolate cake and ice cream every day 1.) isn't good for you and doesn't feel good, and 2.) the appeal and novelty of it wears off if you can have it any time you want, it doesn't feel as special anymore as it did when you were a kid and having those things was a treat.

To compare this back to LO, none of its "reveals" feel like treats anymore, they feel like just another half-assed attempt to keep people interested. It's clickbait.

And don't get me wrong, you CAN totally subvert the breadcrumbs you put down for your audience and go in a completely different direction than where the audience was expecting, but it takes a shitload of skill and thought to do it well. Attack on Titan is one of the best recent examples of a story appearing to completely throw out its original script halfway through, only for that script to actually still be relevant in a very complex and thought out way. Especially when there ARE hints towards the big "twist" that make you go back and rewatch it and realize "WAIT, THEY'VE BEEN GIVING US THE ANSWERS ALL THIS TIME?!?!"

(it would be TWO MORE FUCKING SEASONS before this ending would make sense, that's fucking GENIUS foreshadowing and in the CREDITS SEQUENCE LIKE ?? IT'S SO BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT HOLY SHIT-)

Evidently Rachel does not have that skill and is not willing to put in that thought; maybe she could some day, but I don't think she's learning it on the job as well as she thinks she is.

And it's disappointing as fuck because it could have been so much better than this. Rachel is literally the only one getting in her own way of LO being something truly great.

[samwinchestermydude]

My Supernatural Journey I guess

I actually did go into spn fully expecting to ship Destiel. I came into SPN after watching Merlin, and I had often seen Merthur (my beloved) and Destiel likened together. I barely knew anything about Sam. I only found out that Sam existed because I saw that he was being shipped with his brother on the Ao3 ships polls last year. I didn't know if Sam was important or not because I hadn't seen much content about him. So I ended up calling him the hippie brother mentally.

The only things I thought I knew about Supernatural was that it had some religious stuff in it, Destiel was canon apparently, there were demons and stuff, and John really hated. My impression on Spn was this horror show that was featured this really tough macho dudes but the show was supposedly kind of gay??

I also followed this one person way back for discussing this one video game. They were an ex-supernatural fan way back but left because they found discourse surrounding destiel to be to exhausting. They also used to be a big Sam fan and shipped wincest. I like found the latter to be like really weird back then but man the tides have turned.

So I turned on the Spn pilot with my mom in the same room one day out of sheer boredom. Back then I was still considering Spn as that tumblr show. And then the rest was history, and I lost countless hours of my life obsessing over the show.

So first of all, I only saw one brief glance at Sam before voting for merthur in the wincest vs merthur poll (I'd have probably voted for wincest now lol) so I didn't really know who he was. To me initially he just looked like the 2nd big, gruff dude with long hair. And then I found out that the sweetest looking boy with the floppiest bangs was that guy, Sam.

Also I thought Dean was the younger brother for some reason before watching the show (Probably because Jackles just doesn't age lol). So I was really surprised to see that the little kid in the opening scene was Dean and that the baby was Sam. Oh and I was totally predicting that John died actually in the opening scene and that something else was pretending to be their father lol.

I think I fell in love with the show right away. There was just something really believable and palpable about the brother's estrangement and relationship from the start and I just wanted to see how it developed. S1 is just filled with great horror episodes, and I started watching around October so it was just perfect timing.

So Things that Ended Up Suprising Me the Most/Other Things

I actually ended up really liking John in s1. JDM was just stellar in his all scenes and brought an emotional and sincere side to John. He's tough for sure but he doesn't hide his feelings about his boys. Like you can see the tears in his eyes when they reunite. Also his speech about how he wants Sam and Dean to have normal lives and how he's tired and so broken up after seeing all his friends being killed by meg never fails to hit hard. Do I think John was a good father. No. But he did care about his boys truly. And while I do understand Fandom's widespread dislike of John it is disheartening to see him reduced to this unfeeling caricature. John's problem wasn't that he felt too little; it was that he felt to much and he never really properly managed it and it ended up hurting the his boys.

I thought Meg and Sam would maybe end up being a thing and was like :(((( (because I just liked the bros being by themselves even though I wasn't a wincest shipper at the time lol) but I was also like go Sam if thats what you want ig? Lmao Idk I just wanted Sam to be happy even back then. Anyways thank god that never happened.

Me falling in love with Sam.

Dean. I always saw a lot about him but never found myself to interested in him as all I saw was Destiel content with him. But I ended up falling in love with his character so hard in Devil's trap. When he begs John not to kill him :(((((((((. I think Devil's trap is one of my favorite episodes for Dean. It's when I started to understand him and his loyalty to his family really touched me.

1x22 was also the episode that convinced me SPN was going to be a insane show. Like what a season finale. I feel so bad for the fans who had to wait to watch s2. I actually jumped up and said it ends like that?! The car scared me so bad.

Around s2 I set my foot in the wincest fandom. Back then I thought you guys were scary but in a good way. But I was also getting really into the codependency at the time so I found myself starting to seek wincest out because well you guys just get it. And then Dean sold his soul for Sam and I looked up wincest fic for the first time with the intent to read fic about wincest. Before it was reading wincest fic despite the wincest and then well all hell blew loose (sorry I just had to).

First wincest fic I read: half the man i used to be by dollylux. I wasn't exactly a wincest shipper then. But I thought it was fucked up and strangely fitting to Sam and Dean's relationship and fucked up lives. It was probably the fic that got me into wincest.

I had a bit of an internal rule I set for myself back then where I could only read Wincest fics that were about them being in a fucked and toxic relationship because I felt bad reading fics about an incest ship. So I guess in my mind it cancelled out because then I thought then I wasn't romanticizing the incest lol. Idgaf now. I read anything about Sam/Dean if it's good.

When You're Not Here by raziella was the 2nd wincest fic I read. I read it because it's pretty much gen but it does have some wincest leanings. It's a really good fic.

I gave up Destiel even before s4. It was around in S3 after seeing Sam slowly go insane that I realized I wanted nothing more than the two brothers together.

I just realized that even if Destiel was canon or not nothing could be as important to Dean than Sam was and vice versa for Sam.

I actually was anxious about s4 because I didn't want the show to change that much and drift from the focus on the brothers.

S4 and s5 were really difficult to go through for me. I thought they were great television but it was too painful. I felt horrible seeing what happened to the brothers and how they drifted apart.

S4 Sam hair was probably my favorite.

[circular-bircular]

I wanted to bring up how difficult the whole pro/anti endo situation has been since finding the did/system community even as a traumagenic system…I feel it’s done so much more harm than it seems good in the months I’ve been in the space…I came in knowing a bit about it and knew it was going to be there but it’s disheartening that even just looking for help/advice/answers for symptoms or experiences can bring such a negative and limiting view with it I guess I was also shocked at such a strict belief/sides when our system doesn’t even fully agree on how we feel about it and it’s just sad cause I feel like it’s limiting everyone on finding what’s needed for them

I understand why origin topics come up and that a traumagenic system is going to need some different types of help/info compared to endos but I do believe that as far as helping or just supporting eachother as systems/plurals is possible…of course bad actors will always be in the mix but I just hope that somehow it’ll be easier to find help/advice/answers on symptoms and experiences without being thrown into the endo vs traumagenic thing

Sorry this is kind of not explained as well as I’d like but it’s just been on my mind

Fully agreed. These spaces have been hellish for all types of systems, and I am so, so sorry that I participated in them for so long. Mostly for myself -- I deserved better than this shit.

I think everyone really needs to work on their kindness. Everyone needs to work on being nicer to everyone else, and actually providing the insight people are looking for. But... we're a bunch of traumatized people together in one space, making stupid choices together.

I guess what I"m saying is, have grace with each other. Have some compassion. Which is funny, because both of those concepts are trauma concepts for me. I wonder how related they are?

In any case -- I'm hoping my new blog will be a bit better for that sort of thing. I want to share my experiences so others can see them. That's all I ever wanted to do, and now, I might just get the chance to do it. <3 Let that be a reminder to everyone that they can get out of this hell anytime. Just... do it. Do it scared, let it go, it doesn't have to be cold turkey, but just move on.

[vro0m]

Do you think if 2024 is just as bad/maybe slightly better we will still see Lewis on the grid? I know he wants that 8th title that is rightfully his, however, it has to be the most difficult thing mentally, physically and even on a spiritual level to have the hunger, fire and want to fight up front but the machine underneath you just doesn't do what it's meant to do and doesn't seem to align well with the driver in the seat which is so disheartening to see.

Hard question. Ultimately I don't know, because I don't know him and I'm not in his head, but there's a few things I imagine would have an influence on that decision.

SORRY IT GOT SLIGHTLY LONG (duh)

1- The contract

First of all let's not forget he's contracted until the end of 2025. We all know contracts can be broken but it does make it seems he's determined to not give up quite yet.

2- The car

Of course the car performance is the main thing. It's very unlikely, unless there's a legit engineering miracle happening, that the W15 will be able to challenge RedBull. But I don't think he's necessarily asking for that much. I think if the next car feels better to him in testing, and then he sees the development finally reliably go in the right direction, even if slowly, it'll give him enough hope and fire to sustain the effort for a bit longer.

3- The 2026 regs

If the car stays bad or doesn't get much better, the second main question imo is can he keep himself going until 2026 to see if the new regs change the situation. Can you imagine retiring at the end of 2025 just for the 2026 car being good again? It would be infuriating. 2026 is in quite a long time but I do feel like he wouldn't leave without checking it out if he can't get what he's still here for until then (and he almost certainly won't).

4- The mental side of things (amp up the speculation)

I feel like it's pretty clear he had a retirement plan and the Abu Dhabi 2021 finale has pushed that back. He also said he wasn't planning on still being there at 40. So on the one hand, he might be kinda done? Or more like he wishes he was done? I do personally feel like at times he seemed tired and disengaged (understandable). But it's not necessarily a bad thing to be able to put some distance between F1 (or anything really) and oneself imo, and not be starving and frustrated all the time because it's not going how you'd like. Take Alonso. Alonso wants to win extremely bad as well. I mean he hasn't won in 5'000 years but he's STILL trying at his old age (I'm half-joking). But ultimately his detached attitude in the face of lack of performance is what he owes his longevity to. He still wants it, but he doesn't let it get to him too much when he can't get it. It's not sustainable to be angry about something you have no control over 100% of the time. You will burn out. You need to let go.

On the other hand, can Lewis really detach? No one has been as fully dedicated, no one has sacrificed so much for so long, no one has put as much effort in it, no one has set such a high standard for himself than he did. His own teammates have been saying that. His own teammates have burnt out trying to keep up. AND he's being going at that pace for so long, been on the top for so long, I wonder if he even can let go enough to wait for better days without exhausting himself mentally in the meantime. He's not used to it. I'm not saying his career has been smooth sailing, he's had subpar or even bad cars before. But not for like. A decade. In a sense he's precisely in the position his teammates have been in. But instead of them VS Lewis, it's now Lewis VS the car, I guess? My point is in both cases, when you give it your 110% and don't see ANY result coming your way, you can't keep giving 110%.

Basically it's a fight between the fire in his gut and the dull reality of things. I don't know who wins because we haven't really been there before.

5- Time

The only similar situation was the last few years at McLaren but he was winning races even then. And his solution was move teams. I think it's unlikely he will do that again, most of all because he's running out of time. Back then he had the time to build up from the ground again, but it's not the case anymore.

So the last question is, if he does keep at it, until when? At some point he will have to retire. If he manages to win his 8th, then it's pretty clear-cut. If he doesn't, when does he stop trying? The longer he stays, the further from quitting while he's ahead he is. Maybe it's just my own feelings talking but I feel like it would be also very disappointing and annoying to leave in such a lackluster way after having accomplished so much. Although I guess that's often the tragic fate of champions. Anyway, there must be some kind of deadline in his head, maybe not a fully hard one, but at his age and with where he's at in life with the rest of his projects, I don't think he's blindly walking along anymore. We have no way of knowing what the deadline is though. Time will tell.

[tokiro07]

Martial Master Asumi ch.32 thoughts

[And Then There Was One]

(Contents: speculation - cancelation)

I wonder how I would have taken the news that MMA was ending had Cipher Academy not ended at the same time?

I wonder how I'd be reacting if I hadn't been told prior to the previous review?

I wrote last week's fresh off of that news, so I almost feel like I already did my end-of-series review

I almost don't know what to write here, but I owe it to this series and Kawada to at least try

Like with Cipher Academy, the roadmap that we skipped is pretty well laid out here - we see the key opponents that Asumi would have needed to face in the J-Future Cup (Takanori obviously being one of them, and I'm willing to bet would have been the final one), we see that Baku had a violent and deadly past that likely would have been a major revelation that raised the stakes for the entire series, and finally we see Asumi vs. Kazuro, with Kazuro's bloodlust manifesting as fire to complement Asumi's water. I don't remember if I predicted that specifically, but it doesn't come at all as a surprise

I definitely would have liked to see other characters show off their bloodlust like that, and I think it's a tremendous shame that no one ever got the chance to. I don't have a good idea of what it is that prevented the series from catching on, but if I had to guess, I think it might be that it established itself as a continuation of Hinomaru Zumou without matching the level of escalation quite quickly enough

To illustrate: Hinomaru revealed the concept of bloodlust around chapter 60-ish as I recall, while Asumi did it around chapter 20; now that we know that they're using the same mechanics, we would expect to see it being used by other fighters just as quickly rather than having it sprinkled through, but the only glimpse we ever got of it after that was from Okiba. I think since Asumi reached the professional stage in about an eighth of the time it took Hinomaru, then we as the audience should have been given a glimpse of how the ceilings of the professional worlds compared

The moment we knew Kunisaki was here, I think it would have helped if we had gotten to see him fighting. Maybe we could have seen the fight that inspired Amagaki, or the first professional bout we saw could have been one of his rather than Okiba's one-sided beatdown. The sense of escalation was fine for me, but maybe it felt too laid back for everyone else. Hinomaru fans know that we could be seeing people with lightning coursing their entire bodies, why are we only seeing Asumi splashing a little bit of water?

Like I said, this is just my best guess, but I think the connection to Hinomaru established too strong of an expectation that wasn't really being delivered on. That said, wow did people not give it any time to do anything with it! It's been what, a quarter year since we saw Asumi enter bloodlust mode?? That's nothing! We only got to see two fights since then! But I guess maybe people were just impatient?

Or they just...weren't up for reading an MMA manga? Maybe MMA's not that popular in Japan? I think Hinomaru Zumou found a really good niche cus sumo itself is big, but also from how Kawada portrayed it, kind of dwindling. It seems like sumo is having a harder time connecting with the youth, so maybe Hinomaru helped bridge that gap, or appealed to the fans who felt like their favorite sport wasn't as popular as it should be?

Or maybe there are too many MMA manga. I don't read any, but I've seen a few here and there like Teppu, so maybe the market's oversaturated with them and I didn't realize it

There are so many possible factors, but in the end, knowing what to blame wouldn't really change the fact that another one of my favorites is gone. It's especially disheartening because of how Kawada seemed to take the news, berating himself in the author comments this week. Maybe his tone was more light-hearted in Japanese, but calling himself an amateur and blaming himself for his own failures leaves such a negative taste in my mouth. I hate to see an author I love get down on himself, and it makes me so worried that he's going to give up, like I said last week too. I want to see his work again; his art style is so pleasing, his choreography is great, and his character writing is fantastic. I think it would be a tremendous loss to the art form if he were to quit, but alas, he will never hear me say that. I hope someone feels like I do in Japan and sends him a nice, heartfelt letter expressing how much he means to people like us, and that we'll get to see him again as soon as possible

I'm going to stop here, lest I work myself up into a lather. I know I pretty rarely had engagement on these posts compared to UU and CA, but I hope that the few of you who read them enjoyed yourselves, and I hope it deepened your experience and appreciation for the series like it did for me. Hope to see you all again with Kawada's next work

Until next time

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Kind of an add-on, but I've been observing the response to the INSIDE OUT 2 teaser.

I haven't seen this kind of response to an upcoming Pixar movie in a while. Where it seems like the film/toonsphere on the internet is united in anticipating a Pixar movie... Because ELEMENTAL, LIGHTYEAR, and TURNING RED got all kinds of jeers from various (and largely toxic) swamps of the internet. But it seems like there's no complaint about INSIDE OUT 2...

Anxiety seems to be the film's Grogu. People are already falling in love with the character and especially her funky design. I see praise for a female Pixar character that isn't all perfect-looking or overtly "feminized", a man's idea of what a female character looks like vs. a funkier-looking male character. I think Anxiety's design, and what we saw in TURNING RED and such kinda steer us away from Lasseter's very "boys' club" Pixar, or as one person on twitter once put it, "For dads, by dads".

Also, a lot of us suffer from anxiety, myself included, so for a lot of people this character will be super (forgive me for using this word) relatable. First film was basic primal emotions: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, Fear... And in this film we have a literal mental illness with Anxiety.

This film will singlehandedly cure Disney's animation box office blues. WISH is also apparently tracking very well and will likely outgross ELEMENTAL domestically and maybe soar above it worldwide, too. It costs around the same amount, so $500m should be the floor here. ELEMENTAL just barely missed that, but Disney top brass considered it a success while the praise lauded its leggy run as a "comeback story".

INSIDE OUT was massive back in 2015, and made some incredible numbers for an original movie not based on any pre-existing IP. Performed similarly to the likes of FINDING NEMO and THE INCREDIBLES, made well over $800m at the worldwide box office. With the 9-year wait and the astounding amount of trailer views? Easy billion right here. Perhaps Disney and Pixar knew what was on hand, and probably delayed ELIO - previously set to open this coming March - all the way to summer 2025 for that reason. (That, and - supposedly - to have some time to fix its story troubles. Post-strike, they can get the voice cast back now. Again, if that's all true.)

While box office is largely silly, it'll be cool to see a Pixar film not "flop" again. ELEMENTAL barely checked out, so INSIDE OUT 2 will be their first bona fide smash hit since... TOY STORY 4 all the way back in 2019. A sequel, no less. Hey, remember how the surprise appearance of Forky in the TOY STORY 4 teaser had the internet a-blazin' for a brief bit? Anxiety gives that kind of energy. Maybe a good secret weapon is a neurotic, jumpy character? (Thinking back to it, that TOY STORY 4 teaser is *brilliant*.) It's why people tend to talk about panic attack scenes a lot. I think the generations from millennials (mine) on down are more upfront about their mental health struggles, and the lot of us love to see it represented in some way or another.

From the teaser, I can't quite say much about Anxiety other than love that incredible design. I wonder if its portrayal will, in some way or another, really hit me hard.

As for later Disney-released theatrical animation, I'm going to be curious to see how they go about original stuff. ELIO would've given us an idea of that if it had come out in March 2024 as initially planned, but now post-WISH, we'll have to wait 'til Disney Animation's presumably-original movie comes out in November 2024. It'd be a little disheartening to see only a bunch of sequels (this, TOY STORY 5, ZOOTOPIA 2, and FROZEN III) do well while the originals have trouble.

Worth noting that the biggest animated movies domestically are largely franchise favorites or adaptations of beloved properties. Illumination's SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE reigns supreme with over $570m followed by SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE and MINIONS Deux, both of which made over $360m respectively... And then well behind that is PUSS IN BOOTS Dos with $185m, and then SING 2 above $160m. ELEMENTAL is the biggest original so far with $154m. Worldwide's a different beast, as ELEMENTAL outdid PUSS IN BOOTS 2 in overall global gross, for example.

But WISH doing good (with, say, $180m+ domestic and $600m+ worldwide) followed by INSIDE OUT 2 easily breaking the big billion will make for a nice upward trajectory for Disney-released theatrical animation... So that would make WDAS #63 the interesting one to follow. Does that repeat WISH's success? Does WISH's box office inform WDAS films going forward? We shall see.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Dragon Age: Absolution

So for the very first time, I sat down and consumed some ancillary media about a video game franchise I like. I don’t normally - in fact, I resent having to do ‘homework’ to really understand what’s going on in the next game - but ... y’know, voice actors I like, it was short comparatively, so I figured, why not?

I mean, it was good, don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed it a lot. The characters were great, the actors were on point, the story itself was compelling, and I honestly loved everything about it, especially the bits that I imagine some of Those Gamers will rip their hair out about because “woke”. Just ... one thing that I will put under a Read More just in case, because I really do recommend watching it (and yes, I will also tag for spoilers).

BY WHATEVER GODS YOU WANT TO INVOKE, COULD YOU PLEASE JUST LET VILLAINS FUCKING DIE ALREADY?!?

Knight-Commander Meredith’s death was only saved from being a really annoying robbery of the final blow against the BBEG by how thematically perfect it was. By wielding something too powerful for her to control, she went exactly the way she was so paranoid about mages going, and in the end, it destroyed her.

EXCEPT APPARENTLY NOT. Not only do we still have Red Templars, but we have a ‘Crimson Knight’ in Kirkwall - and that Crimson Knight appears to be a pillar of red lyrium with an incredibly familiar voice. Meredith Stannard was supposed to be destroyed by the power she wielded in an echo of what blood magic does to mages. That was the narrative thread. And now we have her sitting in a big-ass chunk of red lyrium bitching about burning Tevinter to the ground?!? “I will have my war”, hell.

So I’m thinking that we just saw the start of a B-plot; one that might explain why we get so much Varric in the teaser trailers. After all, apparently he’s the Viscount now, if Trespasser was anything to go by (and it by rights should be, given that it was the real ending of Inquisition and the supposed base of the next game’s main plot). So he’s going to know a few things about this Crimson Knight and so forth. Also, I mean, given how long this is after Trespasser, we might get him back simply because Red Templars took over Kirkwall entirely. I guess we’ll have to see.

Just ... I’m getting a little sick of people bringing back dead villains like it ain’t no thing. It’s getting annoying. I feel like Poe Dameron rolling my eyes and grumbling, “Somehow, Palpatine has returned”. Except first it was Zenos yae Galvus in FFXIV, then it was apparently Malgus in SW:TOR, and ... I mean, Corypheus was one thing, but now Meredith?!? It’s disheartening to stamp on a villain and finally defeat them only to have them come back and bug us some more.

Anyway, it was still good, but that’s one bit I kind of resent. Though maybe it’ll stay in the series - I mean, that was a sequel hook, that ending. Then again, maybe it just means I’ve met some of our upcoming companions-to-be in DA4 and thus it will be B-plot. Awfully big B-plot, if you ask me.

And no, I am not using that stupid name for DA4. DREAD WOLF SHOULD BE TWO WORDS AND I WILL DIE ON THAT HILL.

[commodifyme]

Just listened to your crossover thxgiving debate ep w gorilla radio. It was rly fun and interesting! Tried to find greg’s tumblr, and am not sure if he deleted or if i was blocked lol. Anyway thx for takin a hard stance in the “is pan different from bi” convo, its always rly disheartening when pan ppl try to call me / other bis i kno transphobic based off their own false definition of bisexuality. I will deffo be subscribing to ur pod!

thank you for listening! greg to my knowledge has been kicked off tumblr for being incorrigible and probably breaking community guidelines so the only places to hang out with him now are in the grs/bsn discords. i can invite you to the bsn one if you want it btw!

i honestly think the pan vs bi debate is really boring, i don’t think there’s a meaningful difference i’ve ever heard defining the two terms besides ones that make blanket pejorative statements about bisexuals but besides doing some light bullying i don’t really care what people wanna call themselves since it’s barely my business. but i do think it’s patently ridiculous to declare someone transphobic and demand they use a new label for themselves, as if a new label would actually erase someone’s transphobic dating preferences if they had any. like if someone genuinely is using bisexual to indicate they wanna date cis men and women only, there’s several underlying issues there that aren’t going to go away if they change up their terminology.

i also try to avoid prescriptivist language debates because as much as using inclusive + accurate terminology is important, what’s more important to me organizing to build power for oppressed people and taking action towards that goal. language is inherently clunky and how people want to refer to themselves and others is always going to change. i don’t see it as a good use of my time to get involved in making people change up their terminology because imo, that’s usually a natural consequence of getting people on board with solidarity and building power anyway!

[faroreswinds]

I hate to say it but there's a reason why people find the Fire Emblem fandom to be mostly toxic. It happened with Fates, it happened with 3H, it probably happened with Awakening, and it's happening with Engage; whether it'd be old guard vs new guard, censorship vs non-censorship, localization issues, or just the motivation of characters, who's right and wrong and judging a person for siding with one lord over another.

I have quite a few asks to get to but I'm only going to answer this one right now. Don't worry, other anons, I'm not ignoring you.

So it's funny, I'm not new to FE. I haven't played ALL da games, because many of them are very hard to access now. But I didn't start with Houses.

But I only got into the discourse around FE due to Houses and hoooooo boooyyy, what a mistake. I'm too deep into it now but like... I am not impressed. Seeing the shift, shitting on the old games or whatever, it pretty disheartening. Yeah, Houses made things worse but no one is helping the situation either!

As for FE, I won't have much to say about Engage. From what I can tell, the animations and attention to detail are good, characters are pretty boring and that's OK, I never loved an FE cast except for a few stand out anyways, and it's prettier than Houses. Gameplay also looks absolutely solid, probably the best in the series.

But bad (so bad) designs, bad overall models, the stupid Engage gimmick (I cannot tell you how much I hate this idea from purely an idea standpoint, not a gameplay one), the game still doesn't look that good graphically to me (just better than 3H, which is barely an accomplishment), and the sticky sense that this game feels predatory to me does turn me off of it.

I liked Zelda's anniversaries better. A concert for the music, a new game that doesn't rely on nostalgic bait (game ended up being the weakest in the series but it was a least not recycling old favorites), and not trying to get players hooked on their gacha game.

I'll probably get it used, play it quietly without posting on here, and then moving on. Wait for a FE4 remake or a new game with better designs and not Tiki for the millionth time.

[notafunkiller]

cringey, embarrassing and tacky - this whole "relationship" has made me look at seb in a different light, allowing this talentless "influencer/part time actress" to piggyback off his success just makes me sad.

It disappoints me he is so desperate for awards that he does this. It's not surprising, but still... he is so talented and hard working, and he can do other types of PR.

I fully agree with what both of you said (anon and blog host) If you believe the rumors & Annabelle is Sebs PR to clean up all the negatives attached to him from his previous PR Ale (if you believe that was PR too) it just looks really bad on Seb. Because it’s 2 girls back to back to have too many similarities & leeching tendencies. Although I believe Annabele is far worse because she’s more manipulative & calculating about it, it looks bad for Seb to date 2 women back to back who are so similar in many ways. Makes it seems like that’s his type and that maybe he was wearing a mask before. Like now he’s made it big the masks are coming off and he’s into vain, superficial, fame hungry socialites. It’s very disheartening to see when he’s so talented and doesn’t need this kind of PR (if it is PR).

Either way, real or fake, it definitely makes me question who the real Seb is. Like is he really as nice and sweet as everyone says. Yeah people on set say he is too but he’s working, we all wear a mask at work too, to some extent. The fact he’s chosen 2 very similar women to allow so close to him (even meeting his mom) makes me wonder if this could really be his type and we’ve all been duped into thinking he’s a sweetheart but he’s actually more like these women he’s dating than we realize. 😔

I think there is a huge difference between Ale and Annabelle, though... the personality.

Ale displays hers publicly in posys amd doesn't need to show 47457 freebies she gets, yl what I mean?

I saw she is respected in Spain for modeling... I watched Alta Mar and I actually enjoyed it (before they got together) so she is not a bad actress at all. Much better than Annabelle at least.

I do not think it was PR with Ale. Did they do PR together? Of course!

But it's interesting she visited Romania twice long after the break up, too.

Yes, she had problematic behaviour, and his fandom nade sure to go wild on her, yet they stay silent on Annabelle and praise her for things Ale would've been hated. If she had done half of the things Annabelle does, they would write letters like Chris Evans' fans.

But Sebastian's behaviour speaking, with Ale he really seemed really happy (just like he was with Margarita and Leighton) and so much younger and fresh despite working quite a lot. With Annabelle his behaviour shows that he does not like her or if they were together for real... that he is a very crappy boyfriend since he turned 40 bc who would want this trashy treatment besides the people who ship them?!

The difference between how he treated Margarita and Ale vs Annabelle is huge. Look how he treated Daisy (and Annabelle and him were together already)!

If this is how he treats his real girlfriends now (as in how he treats Annabelle), he is 😬, but I doubt someone can change his behaviour so drastically overnight.

Of course we do not know him personally, but it's sad to see such desperation, especially since he has such talent and he's hard working. The fact he wants to get an Oscar (which is so meaningless in a way since the lobby and the academy are the way they are) so badly that is willing to sacrifice many things is really sad.

Also, I do not think the self help books he reads are good at all or meaningful amd they do not seem to help him. I tried reading a few he recommended and they are not giving info for real. Atomic Habits, Dopamine Nation etc are surface types of books. If these are the books his therapist suggests then 😬.

[jennyandvastraflint]

C: How did you come up with the title to "Until the dance ends"?

A: Of the fanfic you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

P: Where did you find the most inspiration for your story "Halloween Wars"?

Y: What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you’ve written vs. the popularity of your stories? Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?

:)

(I'm so sorry, I am too tired now to read the Strax fic. But I read the beginning/introduction and I already love him for wanting to conjur some celebration for Jenny <3 I am sure he'll do great!)

Ahhhh, thank u for the ask!

C: How did you come up with the title to "Until the dance ends"?

Well, originally I saw a TikTok of two people dancing and one of them not showing up in a mirror, and that kicked off the initial thought process, and since I wanted them to be dancing, it's basically "Until the dance ends, they're happy together". It kinda fits as well with them having limited time (and Vastra making the music last longer because she isn't ready to face it ending) and all, I think!

A: Of the fanfic you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

Gosh, I love Turn Loose the Mermaids because it's such a sweet AU and I managed to put so many other characters I love in! And mermaid!Vastra sparks so much joy (Hi, Jenny's obsession with mermaids, I see you <3)

A few other favourites would include Butterfly Queen (it's so fucking fluffy and adorable okkkk), Like Leaves Falling (the healing for me because I've put in personal experiences), a kindest heart made me believe the world as I wish it to be (I'm a sucker for hair braiding as a love language and I am a touch-starved bastard), and Your beauty never ever scared me (I do love me a good fairytale AU... There's a reason I have like four published on my AO3).

P: Where did you find the most inspiration for your story "Halloween Wars"?

Well, I had the concept of Strax throwing a party that escalates into fighting lying around since shortly after Halloween 2020, but I never got round to writing it (said WIP would have included Jenny trying to get Vastra to dress up as a mermaid with a wig of long golden locks btw, and Vastra vehemently refusing, and Strax stealing the wig because he thinks he looks awesome with it...)

Apart from that, it was a lot of spontaneous ideas in the moment. I kinda sat down and wrote 9k in a day, so I don't remember that much XD I did go through a list of Doctor Who monsters to find a whole bunch I'd like to include. Fitting them all in was a bit of a struggle at first (also, I noticed a lot of the ones I had show up began with "S".... Sontaran, Silence, Slitheen, Sea Devil, Skithra... Oops), but I think it turned out fairly well!

Y: What are your thoughts on your personal satisfaction with something you’ve written vs. the popularity of your stories? Do you tend to be most satisfied with your most popular stories?

Not at all. It might have to do with my most "popular" fics being in for instance Legend of Korra and The Owl House spaces, which is y'know, slightly annoying when my main business is Paternoster Gang. And from those, I know with archive locking lots of my stuff, I lost guest readers, so many of my older works will show up with more kudos despite imo being nowhere near the quality and depth in characterisation of more recent fics. It's a bit disheartening, honestly, to see the works for some side fandoms be my most popular ones, and it's actually made me stop writing for most of them entirely. Like sure, I do wish my fics were read more, but I am (painfully) aware that the Paternoster fandom consists of like. Maybe three dozen people? Compared to that, LOK with KyaLin has a huge following, and TOH or The Dragon Prince are fairly recent shows and thus receive more attention. But honestly, I treasure each kudo and comment I get, because I know the people who are reading my stuff are loyal readers! I see their names pop up repeatedly and I remember them <3 So, huge thank you to those people who read regularly!

I hope you are satisfied with my answers <3

[romanoffsbish]

Hello, I'm not sure how to word this question, but how do you deal (or how did you deal when you first started) with low engagement on things you write/wrote? I write for a lot of characters, different POV's, situations, etc., and I'm becoming a bit dishearted that I might not be good at it due to not seeing much happening on them. I'm also quite shy, so I don't know how to approach people to see if they might be interested in reading some of my stuff and giving feedback. Sorry if this is weird to inbox you lol

It’s not weird at all to ask honey… Now, for me it was always something I didn’t find myself looking at because it was truly a fun lil habit for me only when I started. I felt like 50-100 likes was more than enough in the beginning, but over time I got used to a certain amount and now when I fail to get close to that I too feel disheartened. Then I remind myself that not every single idea I have is going to be a big seller, and that’s totally fine.

I do think it’s important to note that the Tumblr of last year is not the Tumblr of this year in the slightest. I’d started posting on here in February of 2022, and back then comments/reblogs were a constant on any type of fanfic. Angst actually got so much interaction back then, but now they primarily only occur on the smutty fics (sex sells, lol).

I promise you that engagement means nothing here, I have seen writers that average 50-150 likes that write amazing fics just the same as someone who averages 700-1,000. I’ve also seen fics with a million typos and missing words that still reach 300+ likes (which is fair, because not everyone has the energy to reread) It comes down to: the algorithm, the type of fic you mass produce (angst, fluff, smut, combo, etc.), how long you have been here (2019 vs 2022), the time you post, and sometimes even the day/month. For instance, if you post a fluffy fic in October you’re asking for low interaction since everyone is usually in the Kinktober mindset.

My only “criticism” for you is the swapped POV’s, as someone who started on Wattpad I have noticed those fics tend to only do #’s there. Tumblr is more 2nd person friendly, and I had to adjust to that notion before I actually started seeing my fics really going anywhere.

If you want you can make a burner account and send me snippets of your stuff in a DM. I’m not an expert at this whole writing shindig but I can surely offer you my thoughts/tidbits. 🥰

Happy writing angel, if you like your stories, that should be more than enough to keep you creating them.

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. i seriously cannot get over how RS tried to make Apollo and Artemis being Zeus' children be a shock

like how was that surprising

how was that a twist

was she running out of ideas for more "drama" or something

2. This is more of a rant about all modern retellings of the taking of Persephone, but LO is the most egregious example to me. I despise how much the story has been warped and twisted to make Hades seem like a good guy and Demeter as a bad guy. Persephone’s story was meant to represent the strong bond between mothers and daughters, and the grief of a mother when her daughter is married off and separated from her. It always pisses me off when it’s portrayed as a love story, which unfortunately, is how it’s always shown nowadays. The way Demeter is treated by the LO fanbase and RS herself angers me to no end. It’s so disheartening to see misogyny win yet again with the modern demonization of Persephone’s grieving mother. 

3. What really bothers me is that new born infant Persephone has full done eye brows and teeth. Like holy fuck babies don't look like that did RS just really draw P's normal adult face on baby her???

4. I don't think Rachel is even reading the mythology right. It's not supposed to be a morality tale with clearly defined villains and heroes Even Zeus could be outsmarted, knocked down, and made to reflect on his bad choices, and he's the Top God. Rachel instead boiling down mythology to "good vs bad" with no shades of grey and needing the good guys to always be right with the bad guys always being wrong is just bad from a writing and interpretation standpoint. Even Disney gave them more nuance.

5. The de-twinkification of Thanatos and Eros should forever be a crime 

6. I love when LO fans realize Amphitrite is also a nymph and they realize the world building makes no sense because surely if every other nymph is hated shouldn't she be too? Or is she just one of the "good ones"? Truly give it up for a white woman to think the gods needed divine racism to seem more ~real~, with their racism being framed as a good thing because all the marginalized nymphs are all bad and uppity save for the few "I have a nymph friend" excuses.

7. I just find it so creepy Hades' first look of Persephone is her being humiliated and then him lusting after her body before even glancing at her face. Like what is that telling us exactly? 99% of the time we only get his POV too. We get Hades' POV looking at her, his internal dialogue, his thoughts, his memories, more focus on his life and relationships, meanwhile the only time we ever got her POV was her being r//ped and murdering a village. She seems like an afterthought most of the time.

8. What I find frustrating is RS has removed any sort of meaning or symbolism in P's design. The red eyes used to symbolize her inner darkness, only to now show up at random and go away just as fast. the long hair used to be tied to her strong emotions but now come up whenever it fitS better with her outfit, and now claiming her pink tone is from "a million perfect roses" is a laughable attempt to make her unique when the flower nymphs are the same color. She can't even keep her own lore in line.

9. IDK how we're supposed to buy Persephone has any guilt or even cares about her nymph "sisters" when she purposely ran away from the law instead of turning herself in, tried to sob story her way out of punishment, and tried to distract from her crimes with Elysium plans, and more so never once showed she remembered the nymphs or even tried to see them in the Underworld despite working and living there for weeks and having direct access with the King of the Dead. She's all talk and no reflection.

10. What I don't get with so many HxP retellings (and LO is the most egregious example) is they think the romance can ONLY come about with the destruction of Demeter and Persephone's relationship to prop her relationship up with Hades, which seems so reductive to me. A half-way decent writer should allow for Persephone to love them both, yet no one seems to even try. Their idea of the "reclaimed" myth is that Persephone's world starts and ends at Hades, and Demeter is to be vilified.

[rpbetter]

I'm so tired of roleplaying with people who don't put half the commitment I do into our threads and muses. I'm so tired of feeling like I'm a weirdo or like I don't belong for that. Any other hobby and people wouldn't care if I took it seriously. Why is roleplaying different? How can I keep going like this if I'm getting rudeness from all sides? I can't even go outside my already tiny bubble and find more partners, because I always see people putting roleplayers like me down and it's exhausting.

"Why is roleplaying different?"

Well, Anon, I know that was a rhetorical question, but I have some thoughts on that. To the surprise of no one!

I strongly believe that this is an issue with how fandom has come to dominate roleplaying. As I've said before, it really wasn't always like that. Of course, you always had canon characters and almost all RPers were invested in a fandom or two. The difference was that online RP was once viewed much more like tabletop RPGs are.

When the RPC became a near-total offshoot of Fandom, a lot of shit changed and very rapidly...and within Fandom, a lot of shit was changing very rapidly as well at that time.

RP has always been something looked down on (though, at least no one ever accused written RP online of being literally demonic like they did DnD, or made correlations to murder sprees like they did LARPing, so there's that) as strange, not the good, understandable sort of dorky.

Part of that is almost certainly because of the difference in the way society views writing vs the way it views hobbies like gaming - writing is seen as an intellectual pursuit and a job, gaming, even at its most negative points of view in wider society, has been seen traditionally as a downtime activity only.

But. RP was not looked down upon from within Fandom or in roleplay communities themselves like it is now.

When the whole experience of fandoms themselves became extremely mainstream and open, it welcomed in a ton of shit ideas and behaviors that were not previously prevalent. It changed RP, too, along many of those same lines.

When your hobby is considered objectionably weird by people within the fandoms you love and RP in and that makes you a sort of lowest-tier fan, the viewpoint of RP to RPers becomes something lesser than a valid hobby. When RPers are the same people who engage with Fandom monetarily, anything not monetized is passively consumable content, including RP. And RPers are trying to both deflect shame and struggling with wider society's mixed messages, that now hit them everywhere online as well. Shit like, "you don't have to monetize your hobby, it's okay to just make really good cross stitches of memes for yourself" and "if you're not paying me, you have no control over me."

We seriously do not view RP as a proper hobby anymore, that's why. There are many factors to that, those are just few, but that's the ultimate answer. It's not seen that way because it's not valued in the same way.

I think much of the problem with muns losing their entire shit over anyone else approaching the hobby differently, dare I say...more seriously, is related to a lot of complex psychology about self-esteem, control, and anxiety. So many people here struggle with serious self-worth and confidence issues, and I think to many of them, whether they realize it or not, when they see serious RPers, they feel like that's an inherent judgment and a danger to their own enjoyment. Because RP, as writing, is a skilled hobby - the more you practice it, the more skilled you become with it. Meaning that someone who approaches the writing seriously is going to be at a higher skill level.

Enter the way we're training to think about writing again - when they see someone who is very practiced, skilled, and confident with their writing, the learned idea is that they're somehow superior in a nasty, personal way.

I most certainly do not think that makes it alright, it isn't, and I'm not very tolerant of it.

It's absolutely alright to engage with RP in any way you see fit. If that's extremely casual, it's a minor hobby for you, that's great! I'm so happy you're enjoying yourself, and I mean that in no facetious way. But not when that is the only form of it respected and accepted. It's just as alright to have RP as your primary, serious hobby!

The only way we can all enjoy a hobby with such great variance within it is by respecting each other's variables, not by vilifying them. It's recognizing that, no matter how much you enjoy the mun and/or muse, they're not engaging with the hobby in the way you are, it's not a good fit to write together. (Please, begging y'all to be friends with those who are different, not enemies, shit's sake. You've not got to write together to be friends!) Instead of labeling them and being hateful. Different =/= a threat.

And, to go off a bit lol y'all demonizing serious RPers really don't get that there are some intense tones of ableism and more going on in that narrative of yours, huh?

Not that anyone requires a reason to be serious about any hobby, but when people pick a hobby like RP as their primary one...you should probably have the maturity to consider why that is. Could it be that they focus on a hobby they can do from their homes and that requires low physical involvement, and has a degree of separation from direct socializing, for a reason?

Serious RPers tend to be limited in their ability to pursue other hobbies. Mental and physical health, region, finances, and ability to spend time outside of the home are all very common limits for those who "take RP too seriously/are addicted to RP."

Maybe take five seconds away from your own issues to consider that the person you're shitting on for something so minor as a difference of importance of a hobby might be the full-time caretaker of a special needs child, having to remain home and on a very small income. They might be chronically ill or suffer from agoraphobia. They might live in an area with no hobbies of interest, affordability, or at all...or they might live somewhere that is incredibly dangerous for them.

I honestly do not know where these people have been that they've been aggressed at by serious RPers, but that's usually the excuse. (I'm not saying it has never happened or does not happen, before anyone goes there.) The idea that serious RPers are extreme elitists who are demanding that other muns do what they do, how they do it. That they expect other muns to be online and RPing all the time, that they be "available for entertainment at all times" at the cost of real-life matters. Having the expectation that threads not be dropped constantly or that a writing partner not leave for months with no contact is neither of those things.

In over two decades of RPing across almost every platform type that has existed, I have literally never seen that be either a singular RPer-type problem or one that serious RPers are even more likely to deal in. I've seen the opposite, actually. Which is not a condemnation or a statement that all casual RPers do this, just what my experience has been. And one that actually stands to reason based on the way they view and engage with RP - quick replies, quick entertainment, and very low commitment to threads, muses, or other muns. Of course, it's annoying to them when a more serious RPer is unwilling to do rapid-fire style quick, short threads from an ask with them, but is writing the lengthy replies they already owed instead.

That's probably a factor as well, in here among a plethora of misunderstanding/unawareness of differences - for many serious RPers, it's not easier and more fun to write short, quick threads. So, what a casual RPer is seeing is that they're willing to put all this extraordinary effort into a massive reply to someone else while their easy, fun, quickly done thread is waiting in line.

Misunderstandings and unawareness breed hostility, period. And there is a hell of a lot of those things in the RPC.

What serious RPers are expressing are either boundaries/expectations or frustration. Not a demand that you be around all the time, but an expectation that you leave them alone if you're not also a serious RPer who will be committed to threads and muses. Not hostility and elitism, the frustration that it's already difficult to find muns who will work out before you add in the majority rule of casual RPers.

It's incredibly disheartening, frustrating, and honestly, a bit anxiety-inducing to constantly be the weird one, always have few choices, and to be at risk of being Problematic purely because you take the hobby seriously. You can't vent without someone jumping on your ass to remind you (even if you said numerous times that "real life comes first" and "people can do what they want") that omg, people have lives, people can do what makes them happy, it's just RP.

It's so upsetting when you think you might have found a good writing partner, then, you see a PSA they've reblogged about how it's a "hobby, not a jobby," and "no one owes anyone anything, ever." Excuse me, as that last one is a direct quote, let me redo it so it is verbatim: "no one owes anyone here anything - EVER !!!"

I said I wasn't very tolerant :)

But seriously, exactly what you've expressed is why I'm not...it's another form of controlling others instead of trying your best to control your own experience, and it's often extremely hateful. I'm not tolerant of anything like that, it's no longer supporting preferences at that point. When your preference is the only one that will be tolerated in the community, it's not a preference anymore.

It's something that makes others feel isolated, afraid of harassment, and depressed. It is a hobby and it isn't supposed to make you feel like that!

And, no, absolutely the fuck not lol the "answer" to this isn't that you're taking it too seriously and need to take a break. I'm so tired of seeing that shit tacked onto RPH responses and vents and PSAs. You're not saying that RP is making you feel this way, "just take a break and come back when you agree with everyone else" isn't a solution.

Of course, if you do feel like your time here has become so upsetting? Yeah, obviously, you should try to find some other things to supplement your downtime that make you feel happier again. Engage in some other forms of writing just meant for yourself, or that can be published as fics. Spend some more time on a game you enjoy for a while, or get invested in a new one. Learn to shape bonsai or make no-knead rolls. Whatever would make you happy as a hobby when you're not here.

Other than that, however, well...we're not going to be implying on this blog that you're too serious and need to take a hiatus until you have no emotional investment in your hobby. That's insane. I'd not say it about hiking, martial arts, dog obedience competitions, hobby farming, or painting either.

I wish I could think of some solutions as to where you could look that wasn't like this, but it's definitely the majority of the RPC. It doesn't help that, due to this, serious RPers have a tendency to quietly stick together and not venture out into the RPC. They're just not incredibly easy to find.

I will say that they tend to be:

novella - if you're not here for serious RP and sticking around for a while, you're not going to invest the time and energy into particularly lengthy writing

older RPers - I would say that twenty-five is probably the youngest, with early thirties to late forties being the majority

in fandoms with a large adult base of fans - even if it's a franchise friendly to, or even meant for, younger fans, if it has a particularly active adult fanbase, it's a better chance of finding serious RPers in it

as above, old fandoms - fandoms that have been around for a long time tend to have more serious RPers in them

fandomless OCs - tend to have a higher chance of being written by serious RPers than canons or heavily fandom-involved OCs

RPers who do not do a ton of advertising for their muse(s), but when they do, they don't advertise them based on activism points or trends

slightly more likely to not have an emphasis on highly aesthetic blogs, graphics, icons etc. - they use a modified basic tumblr theme, low on graphics, their aesthetics are not on-trend, for example

anti-content policing/"write what you want" style muns

muns with more extensive rules pages - they plan to be here for a while, they take writing, RP, and their muse(s) seriously, so, it's a bit more important to them to head off problems before they start

those with older characters/FCs - be that literally in age or the character being one that has existed for a long time

"stay in your lane" style muns - if they're opining on fandom or the RPC, they must really be angry about something

those with numerous and detailed headcanons - for example, their response to a HC meme ask like, "what's your muse's favorite ice cream flavor?" is going to be treated seriously, not simply answered with "mint chocolate chip because my bby is gross"

As usual, not a complete or perfect list. I don't fit some of the things on there! It could give you some things to look for when trying to find other serious RPers, though. It's based on observances from someone who was never a casual RPer, even as a minor (me, obviously), and maybe it could at least keep you from continuously running into hostility about your approach to RP.

I've honestly considered making a list of some sort expressly for RPers who are on the more serious end of the spectrum, but...in a RPC back when things were dominated by serious RPers, I did that sort of thing with a RPH I had, and it still got labeled as being a list for and by Elitists. I don't know that anyone would want to put themselves out there for potential harassment on tumblr, you know? It was a joke then, just having a group of RPers label you as an Elitist. Here, you get told to kill yourself, and none of us need more of that shit, right?

Try to hang in there, Anon, I know it's upsetting, and I'm so sorry that something fun has gotten to be like this.

Try to understand that these people are coming from a place of irrational defensiveness, often in response to bullying themselves at some point or feeling bad about themselves. That doesn't make it right, but it does make it easier to not take to heart.

And keep at it! In my experience here, once you find a group of people you fit into, it really is...A Group. Especially among RPers who are ostracized, they stick together, they promote each other, and they're very happy for their mutuals to become your mutuals. Once you find them, it unlocks so many opportunities for the interactions and type of RP you've been missing!