#so many other people but when the fandom has like 5 people its way harder to ignore

[yakkitylylac]

heehee hoo i love anxiety i love being anxious over people not reblogging my stuff

[ivyial]

Canonicity in the Context of Ships (and Ship Wars)

Essentially, what makes a ship canon? Does it even matter that a ship becomes canon?

So, disclaimer before we start:

1. This is my interpretation of the meaning of "canon" and what it means for a ship to be canon. As always, I'm open to disagreements and constructive criticism, especially if it can tame the constant aggression in some fandom spaces

2. I like ships, but I don't support ship wars because they're all fucking pointless and if you're a grown adult or close to being one and you're still harassing people over ships on the internet, you're a fucking loser

That being said

As we all know, online fandom spaces have developed their own vernacular over the years: canon, fanon, headcanon, OC, AU, OTP, the infamous 'Dead Dove: Do Not Eat', etc. Fandom slang has also evolved since it was first coined. A prime example of that would be the use of the term "lemon" to refer to erotic fanfiction, which while still used, has suffered a sharp decline in favour of the word "smut" (although smut has its own use and meaning outside of fandoms).

The word "canon" is arguably one of the most important words in fandom, since it refers to the official source material from a game, book, TV show, movie, whatever form of media said fandom is about. In essence, it's the official story: what actually happens and what was intended by the creators. Some universes are easily accessible and the canon isn't really subject to much debate. Most TV shows have very straightforward canon: assuming that everything is contained within, let's say, 5 seasons of 22 episodes each, with no spin-offs, movies, or exclusive bonus episodes, the canon of the show will be laid out in these episodes. That's it. Some other fandoms will be much more obscure: think of game franchises such as Resident Evil, where many games have been released over the years, remade, and some have been largely forgotten and can even contradict the current version of events. In this case, it can be much harder to define what canon is, which events are official and still applicable to the story and which should be discarded completely. (And I have to say, as a law student, canon is weirdly reminiscent of the hierarchy of norms, but that's for another day.)

I could discuss the importance of canon in fandoms, but that's irrelevant to the point of this post. Let's talk ships. I don't need to explain to everyone what a ship is. There's no point of contention there. In most media where romance is either dealt with or hinted at, fandoms, and therefore, shippers, will jump at the opportunity to write about or make art of their favourite ship. However, there's always something rearing its ugly head and contributing to the toxic atmosphere in fandoms: ship wars.

Ship wars are in essence extremely simple, and I'm sure we've all been in a fandom that participated in a ship war, whether we were involved in it ourselves or not. Long story short, shippers argue over which ship will become canon. Writers are toying with the idea of two or more major ships and teasing that both have their chances. So, in the end, it's all about who comes out on top and who becomes official.

The canonicity of a ship is a lot more complicated than the canonicity of media itself. I'd argue that even if the canonicity of the story is simple, it's likely that the canonicity of ships will necessarily be harder to draw conclusions about. So you can imagine how complicated canon is when it comes to ships from franchises that barely know their own canon.

Since I've seen a lot of arguments over canon ships in the Resident Evil fandom as of late, and this is what inspired this post, I will be using this example primarily - and since ideally I'd like this post to reach fandoms outside of RE, I'll be explaining and illustrating my examples. Other fandoms and ships might also be referred to.

1. Canon, semi-canon and non-canon

When it comes to ships, there are 3 main ways to describe them:

- Non-canon: quite straightforward. The ship has not officially expressed any desire (even implicit) to get together whatsoever. They may or may not interact in canon, and if they do, there's just no romantic interest there. Non-canon does not necessarily refer to a ship being into each other but not doing anything about it, as this is characterised as:

- Semi-canon: there's something there. Maybe both characters like each other romantically, maybe it's one-sided, maybe there is potential but it could either sail or be ruined completely by Character A's reaction to Character B's feelings. But overall, the general consensus seems to be that semi-canon ships have not acted on their feelings. This definition is not set in stone - we'll come back to it later.

- Canon: yay, your ship has sailed!! The pairing has officially been confirmed. The characters have acted on their feelings and you have won the ship war.

These are the general definitions of canon ships. And if you think they're clear and satisfactory, in what world are you living?

2. Past canon vs current canon

You finally got around to watching the season finale and there it is: Character A and B confessed and kissed. Finally, it's canon, and you can gloat on social media about how you were right all along.

But then it turns out that by the final season, your ship breaks up, and Character A gets with Character C. Even worse, Character A stays with Character C and the show ends with them being officially together. What the fuck.

So, what does that make your ship? It's officially a sunk ship, sure, but what about its canonicity? Should it be considered canon? I mean, they dated for 2 seasons. So technically, there was a period of time when your ship was canon. It just isn't anymore.

This is the first hurdle we meet when trying to define a ship as canon. It all hinges on the when aspect of it. This is also where ship canonicity differs from story canonicity. Storywise, the ship is rooted in canon since they were together at some point. Shipwise, however, they are not canon anymore, since they have broken up. It's canon that they happened, but they themselves aren't canon anymore.

At this point, I would argue that most people consider that a ship that is together by the end of the show/game/movie/book etc., by the end of canon essentially, is canon. Don't worry, we're still far from having solved this.

3. What does it take for a ship to be canon?

You will have noticed by now that, so far, I have instinctively referred to a canon ship as a ship that is together. I'd argue that this is what most people think of when they think of a canon ship.

But what does it mean for a ship to be together? Do we mean that they have to be a couple? Is it marriage, is it a relationship, is it friends with benefits? Or is it a simple kiss and confession? Do they even have to make out, or have sex, or put a label on their relationship?

This is when we venture into the territory of canon vs semi-canon. Earlier, I defined semi-canon as a ship that has feelings for each other, or is one-sided, but no one has acted on their feelings. Mind you, this is the definition provided by the Internet.

Let's say Character A confesses to Character B. Character B feels the same way, but they don't want to get into a relationship right now. The show ends there. I mean, technically, they like each other, right? That much was confirmed. They acted on their feelings by confessing. Technically, that gets them out of semi-canon territory. But does it get them into canon territory? Nothing came out of the confession, really.

We can't in good faith argue that two characters confessing is enough to make them canon, since the term semi-canon also exists, and could very well apply depending on your own definition of it.

The problem lies in defining what it takes for a ship to be canon. If we go back to the very roots of canon, it's confirmation that a ship has an official romantic nature.

Is liking each other enough? Doubtful: if a main character flirts with a minor side character, who reciprocates, does that make them canon? They're into each other. But it would be ridiculous by fandom standards to deem them canon when the side character might never be seen again and has no real bearing on the story.

Truth is, what makes a ship canon fluctuates depending on the standards set by the media itself. If a piece of media is heavily romance-based, canon will most likely be defined by the ship that makes it out in the end, the one that has proclaimed to be a couple. If the piece of media is not keen on romance, and never creates romantic relationships between characters, it might be enough for the fandom to consider canon a pairing that has simply alluded to being into each other.

Whether the last example is good enough reason to hail a ship as canon depends on the fandom and the shippers. Some might think it's a stretch, some might think it's more than enough.

One possibility would be to look at the writers' intention for the pairing, read interviews if they're available, etc. However, most of the time, franchises have changes in writers over the seasons/games/movies, and it gets even worse when you take into account franchises that are adapted from another source material - say, Game of Thrones vs ASOIAF: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss' intentions for the characters certainly differ from George R. R. Martin's intentions.

I'm going to start using actual examples now, to better illustrate my point. I'll be using Resident Evil ships, like I said. RE, despite having constant ship wars, is not famous for making ships canon or focusing on romance at all. The most you'll get is indicators that two characters are into each other or you'll get established relationships that are not subject to ship wars since they have no other love interest (see Mia and Ethan Winters: married couple, established as part of canon and the validity of their relationship with regards to other characters is never questioned). As a matter of fact, you could probably argue that the Winters are the only canon couple in the REverse.

Most RE ship wars happen as a result of Leon ships, the main ones being Aeon (Ada/Leon) vs Cleon (Claire/Leon). There are other Leon ships out there, mainly Chreon (Chris/Leon), Serennedy (Luis/Leon), Leshley/Eagleone (Ashley/Leon), and many more, but they don't engage in ship wars because they have the common sense to be normal human beings about their ships. (Seriously everyone, chill the fuck out.)

Aeon shippers are known for one thing: banging on and on about how their ship is canon - which, in their eyes, automatically discredits all other Leon ships (what's the point of shipping if it isn't to win, right? I'm obviously being sarcastic). Which, knowing the canon nature of Aeon, makes it the perfect test subject for this discussion and post.

Are Ada and Leon into each other? Sure. Ada confessed to falling in love with Leon in OG RE2, they flirted in OG RE4, Resident Evil: Damnation suggests that they have shared at least one night together, and in RE6, Helena guesses that Leon has feelings for Ada. These events, however, have changed in the remakes: Ada no longer confesses to being in love with Leon in RE2R, though she does kiss him to manipulate him, and they don't exactly flirt much in RE4R. But then, by discussing this, we'd end up discussing what is canon in a game franchise plagued by obscure secondary sources of canon, and that's not what I plan on doing here (I also severely lack the extensive knowledge to do that).

Despite all of this, Ada and Leon never actually get together. It's a constant game of cat and mouse, will-they-won't-they, whatever you wanna call it. Since they are on opposite sides of the same fight, it's practically impossible for them to get into a normal, healthy relationship. Going back to what I said about the canonicity of a ship being defined by the standards set by the piece of media itself, you could argue that Aeon is canon by those standards: since they can't get together, it only matters that they have shown reciprocated feelings towards one another.

However, that's not entirely true, is it? RE hasn't set those standards for romance. It doesn't act on ships, but it hasn't deterred romance as a whole: look at Mia and Ethan Winters. It is possible to get into a relationship in RE - now whether it is possible to get a happy ending is entirely less likely.

But I mean, there are other love interests for Leon that aren't on the side of who he's fighting. Look at Claire, or Ashley, or hell even Jill. We can't, as a fandom, reasonably ignore the flirting that went down between Claire and Leon in RE2R (and Infinite Darkness at times) and Leon and Ashley in both OG RE4 (though he does reject her at the end of the OG) and RE4R. And he was probably trying to flirt with Jill a little in Death Island, too - he's a bit of a whore (affectionate).

How do you even define the canonicity of a ship in a universe like RE, in which most characters can't form normal, healthy romantic relationships? Is it enough to kiss/sleep together (Aeon)? Is it enough to unabashedly flirt and to practically be parents to a practically adopted daughter (Cleon)? Is it enough to share all sorts of romantic tropes and overtly flirt with each other (Leshley/Eagleone)? What happens when you start removing all of the events that used to be canon, but might not be anymore/be part of a different canon than the current one?

4. Conclusion (kind of)

I really want to offer a definition of a canon ship that suits everyone, but every time i come up with one, I bump into yet another wall. Tentatively, we could define a canon ship as a ship that has, by the standards of the piece of media they belong to, acted on their desire to be together in a lasting manner that disproves all other potential ships for the characters. I'm sure that can be perfected, and there might be elements of this definition that can be refuted, but this is how I would characterise a ship as canon. Which would, you guessed it, make pretty much every Leon ship non-canon in the context of the REverse as a whole.

The one true conclusion of this post, however, is that shipping amounts to playing with Barbies and should not be taken so seriously. There are a lot of shippers who know that their ships have no chances of becoming canon, yet still choose to have fun with it, make content for it in their own space, and some of you guys are dicks enough to go and bully them over it. Go outside, take a breath, and understand that canonicity is not the be-all and end-all of shipping.

I went a bit overboard with this and I'm sorry (not really). I'd love to know everyone's opinions on what makes a ship canon, if there's scenarios I haven't considered, etc! Constructive criticism is more than welcome and as always, my ask box is always open <3

[sitp-recs]

Hidden Gems: Special Edition

5 7 underrated works by @skeptiquewrites

It’s been ages since I did a Hidden Gems post so I’m probably a bit rusty but I thought this was the perfect way to celebrate our dear Tee. I’ve loved her work ever since the first fic I came across, and I am over the moon that she was the first fandom friend I was lucky to meet in person earlier this month! We immediately hit it off and had the BEST time around - dinner at a cute Vietnamese place, a walk along the canal, ice cream treats while talking fandom & life. A perfect date night that could have been pulled out from one of her fabulous summery fics if you ask me 😌

It was even harder to choose how to celebrate her birthday having met such a lovely person - after many single recs and lists I was like “what else is there???” But after some thinking with the help of my partner in crime @sweet-s0rr0w I came up with the idea of boosting some of my favourite hidden gems by Tee, fics that I don’t see recced often but deserve all the attention and buzz. They will tug at your heartstrings and make you fall even more in love - not only with Drarry but with summer aesthetics, its endless possibilities, and with Tee’s quiet, charming, elegant, wistful and seductive writing.

These are all shorts but each perfectly placed word and well executed plot contain new and unique universes. Each clever line and lush dose of mutual want - either followed by delicious smut or equally sexy doses of quiet intimacy - fill me with different but wonderful emotions. I think the banner pic translates very well one of the best feelings I experience reading her fics: how special it is to celebrate the little things, how powerful yet vulnerable we are when facing the inevitability of falling in love, how one magical second spent on summer nights, as fleeting and removed from our traditional sense of time and space as they might be, can last forever. I hope the fics and quotes I selected below give you a tiny taste of the magic contained in each one of her short, brilliant love stories. Happiest of birthdays, my dear friend! ♥️

⌛️ light that covers us (T, 117 words)

Lovers in dangerous line of work.

"Always on borrowed time," a singer croons in the background. Draco turns up the Wireless. “God, I hate that song."

🗓️ Four Seasons (M, 2k)

A romance in four seasons.

There was something lovely about being out of excuses, Harry thought. Everything was possible. "What are you in it for, then?" Harry asked as they crossed the threshold.

🌊 On The Shore (T, 3k)

Draco takes up wild swimming. Harry joins him.

Harry turns his face towards the sun and he doesn’t quite smile, but there is something content in his expression that makes Draco a little more willing to share this place.

🎸 Lights Down Low (T, 4k)

“Will we ever learn? We’ve been here before.” Recording the Hallows' fifth album with Draco brings up the past in a way Harry’s never expected.

The music’s a little wistful, haunting even with no words, recorded in the middle of the night. Harry has done this dozens of times before and for other people. There is no way he has forgotten how to write a song.

🎇 No Distance (E, 5k)

Harry doesn’t believe in resolutions, because a new year doesn’t mean feeling any different. But something feels possible, meeting Draco again in Zurich. The past is the past, but the future can be different. Sequel to Nothing Left to Burn.

“Poor thing,” Draco responds and presses his lips to the back of Harry’s hand. It's a little mocking, but Harry's heart hasn’t taken the memo.

Bonus 1: fresh out of Bodice Ripper!

🎤 The Real Thing (M, 5k)

Harry only means to cheer Draco up after a terrible breakup. He doesn't mean to fall in love.

“I don’t know that he cared what I wanted. I don’t know if he knew what I wanted.” Harry wanted to ask Draco what he wanted, the exact contours of what might please him and how.

Bonus 2: Femslash!

🧣She Was Pretty (E, 4k) - Lavender/Parvati

In the aftermath of the war, Lavender Brown rediscovers herself in a tiny flat above her Diagon Alley tea shop. Parvati helps.

Her mother offers her pity mostly, raw and cloying. But there is love there too. She clucks at her the second day Lavender is home after a month spent in hospital. “They didn’t braid your hair tight enough, Lavvy. Come here.”

[goneahead]

Writer 20 Questions

I was tagged by @stephmcx and @itwoodbeprefect back when trilobites roamed the earth. Um, sorry?

How many works do you have on A03? Actually, I’m mostly on Dreamwidth so:

Dreamwidth ~150 fics

AO3 is 59 fics

What's your total AO3 word count?

DW is 1,012,997

A03 is 404,628

note: I don’t keep an exact track of my separate poetry journal but there are 947 poems—so I am guessing that’s another 75,000 words😁

What fandoms do you write for? Currently? Steve and Danny from Hawaii Five-0 have stolen both my heart and my muse!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

* Care and Feeding of a SuperSEAL

* Trusses of my Heart

* A Bodyguard for Christmas

* The Long Road Home (Broken Road on DW)

* Five Times Steve was an Idiot, but Danny Kissed Him Anyway

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do respond to comments, but in a completely random and haphazard way because I am incable of being organized😂

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? My H50 comment fic ‘Anger’ is definitely my most angsty ending. And yes, it’s yet another fic I need to cross-post to A03…

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? It’s a toss up between Care and Feeding and Bodyguard. I love happy ever afters!

Do you get hate on fics? Not on my fics per se, but I called out some people who were bullying a friend of mine in another fandom—and they decided to repost all my fics on other sites to punish me for speaking up. So, now all my fic is on Dreamwidth and friend-locked. I am slowly cross-post H50 fic to A03, but I doubt I will ever cross-post fic from that other fandom.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I will write sex if its necessary for the story, but porn is definitely one of my weak spots as a writer.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Occaisonally. I wrote an Addams FamilyxAvengers that was very short and very silly😂

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yes, many. At least I am really good at writing DMCA letters now?

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope, but I had few pod-ficced ages and ages ago.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? I used to co-write regularly, but my co-writers all got super busy😭

What's your all-time favorite ship? I think McDanno has ruined me for all other ships.

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I have a X-MenxSupernatural fic that my co-writer had to abandon.

What are your writing strengths?I love to world build and have been told my AUs are very believable. Even when I do really crazy stuff, like **checks notes** space spiders.😁

What are your writing weaknesses? Writing sex scenes. Definitely.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

In general, I think writers are still working out how to write fanfic that is easy to read on mobile screens. For example, long paragraphs and conversations between more than three people are sooo much harder to read on a mobile phone.

Heck, I’ve even stopped using italics for dream sequences/flashbacks because it’s just not readable on a small screen. And then there’s coding. **Sigh** Dreamwidth has updated their coding and now I really need to reformat my entire journal because the changed have made my older fanfic much harder to read.

So when it comes to different languages or dialects, I try to come up with something that will make it easier for my readers, instead of relying on the ‘proper’ way to do things. I don’t know if I’m always successful, but I at least make a stab at it. And since I have a fic I’m currently rewriting that has 13 different languages in it, I definitely spend more time than I want to admit thinking about this problem! 🥵🤪

First fandom you wrote for? Duran Duran bandom. Yes, I just dated myself😂😂😂

Favorite fic you've ever written? My fic with the most kudos is Care and Feeding of a Super SEAL. The fic that people are still dming me about is So Let Me Set Your Battlements On Fire over on dreamwidth.

Tagging @cowandcalf @actingcamplibrarian @stellagioia @redgoldblue @bennyokelly and anybody else who wants to play!

[antitheticaally]

Answer the questions and tag five fanfiction authors you know!

tagged by the wonderful wonderful @asteria-argo

Wow hi everybody I know I vanished off the face of tumblr for a good 6 months, and I'm hesitant to say I'm "back" but... hi!

1. How many fandoms have you written in?

Well, I've written in a lot of fandoms over the years (almost everything I've ever hyperfixated on I've written fic for), but I've only ever published in one. As you all know, it is my one and only Ted Lasso fic. I've written a lot for Buffy the Vampire Slayer - that's probably the other big one, and then I definitely wrote some Percy Jackson fics in my youth, as well as *sigh* so much Harry Potter at the age of like, 10. But those are all (thankfully) buried in the recesses of my google drive and will never see the light of day.

2. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

I think I probably wrote my first "fic" around the age of 6 or 7, and I'm 21 now, so... 15-16 years? Wow.

3. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

I definitely read wayyyy more than I write. When I'm really into something I can go through like, 3 fics a day, but it's a lot harder for me to write consistently.

4. What is one way you've improved as a writer?

My grammar and just like, use of language and developing my own style has improved immensely just from writing for soooo long. I think I've definitely found my own voice whereas, when I was younger, I used to kind of take on the tones of other writers I liked. I've also gotten a lot more confident in sharing my writing, especially since I joined tumblr and published something in the last year. That doesn't exactly have to do with the quality of the writing itself, but like, the relationship I have with what I write.

5. What's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Oh boy, well, I did a lot of football research when I was writing for Ted Lasso, because I am not a sports girly. But back in middle/high school when I was super into Buffy I ended up doing a weird amount of research on 17th century England for some AU thingy I was working on. I think I still have the notes on that haha

6. What's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

I love all comments, because I crave validation way too much. But long ones especially. Like, when people go through and pick out all their favorite bits and lines and take the time to tell me how much they like them... it's very Special To Me. <3

7. What's the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

Hmm.... I feel like I'm lowkey kind of basic in terms of what tropes I write... But I guess I write a lot of stuff that focuses mainly on like, friendship and platonic love and intimacy and usually not a lot of romance, which, like, I've found a niche of people who love that shit for sure, but I guess maybe it's not asssss common? Idk

8. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

Oh god I can't write happy. I literally have never successfully written a story where nothing goes wrong. How?

9. What is the easiest type?

Angst. But like, angst with with comfort. Is it projection? Is it being a psychology student? We'll never know.

10. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

I'm a google docs girly through and through. I do have a notebook that I jot down drafts in a lot of the time, but if I'm typing its on google docs. As for where and when... basically anywhere private. So, anywhere within my room. I can't write if there's even a smidgen of a chance that someone could walk by and peek at my computer screen. If I'm super into writing something I'll work on it all day, but unfortunately for my sleep schedule, most of my ideas come to me at 12 am when I'm trying to go to sleep.

11. What is something you've been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

Honestly, at this point, I'll write almost anything as long as I think I can do it in a tasteful and respectful way. But there was a while where I was terrified of writing anything sexual or "smutty", I've kind of gotten past that as I've embraced my sexuality a lot more, and I have written sexual content. None of it is published, because a lot of it is from original short stories or older fics, and because I usually write platonic relationships, but I've done it!

12. What made you choose your username?

Aahaha... this is actually the second iteration of my tumblr username. A lot of you previously knew me as @antitheticallyargumentative, which came from a Taylor Swift song. I am a huge Swiftie, which I haven't realllly talked about on here, but I love her music and lyricism a lot. So the username came from a line in a song that was "argumentative, antithetical dream girl", and I just thought it was kind of fun so I messed around with it a bit and eventually came up with "antitheticallyargumentative." Then I revamped my account and shortened it a bit. So yeah.

I do not know whose already been tagged or whose already done it so.... whoever sees this... go ham.

Love ya!

[olderthannetfic]

I posted 13,198 times in 2022

That's 9,790 more posts than 2021!

11,477 posts created (87%)

1,721 posts reblogged (13%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@olderthannetfic

@jikook-real

@elfwreck

@lierdumoa

@longholyscream

That's right. The person I reblog from most is MYSELF.

I tagged 158 of my posts in 2022

#lol - 38 posts

#fic downloading project - 15 posts

#what? what? - 5 posts

#yup - 4 posts

#;) - 3 posts

#hahahahahahaha - 2 posts

#lolololol - 2 posts

#ao3 - 2 posts

#lololol - 2 posts

#hahahahahahahaha - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 118 characters

#but youtube and places are filled with bizarre-ass seemingly algorithmically generated nonsense in place of real hacks

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Because it’s a major cultural shift

Dude, aside from people just going “ugh, kids”, the whole point is that the assumption that sites have algorithms is a sign of how the entire internet has been ruined. It’s a major cultural shift and a terrible one.

AO3 is the opposite of obscure in fanfic fandom, and its entire existence is political and an act of resistance.

No shit people react to cluelessness about how it sorts content: how it sorts content is a conscious ethical statement.

And to answer this other person’s comment:

See the full post

9,342 notes - Posted August 7, 2022

#4

No, no, and NO.

AO3 does not live in “the cloud” because that is other people’s computers, and other people’s computers are vulnerable to censorship.

AO3 is on its own computers. It does still have to be housed somewhere, and I suppose a determined enough hater could try to find that place and go after it, but it’s a lot harder than sending spurious complaints to Amazon or whomever going “BadWrong things are hosted on your cloud service!”

Owning the servers is a core tenet of OTW/AO3.

11,289 notes - Posted July 5, 2022

#3

You keep talking about the origins of AO3 as this group effort by an actual group of people who were friends and who spent time discussing this with each other in person. It's kind of blowing my mind. Is there a post or a journal somewhere that specifically keeps record of this?

--

I'm dying.

Nonnie, seriously?

No, that's mean, I know you're serious. It's just flabbergasting how much fandom has expanded and how much there isn't a direct link to the past.

Astolat and Cesperanza floated the idea at Vividcon and various places, I think, though I wasn't going to cons in that era. We were all on LJ in those days, and Astolat made a big post nailing her theses to the door. Discussion in the comments was instant and prolonged.

A LJ com was set up to discuss. It was later renamed to otw_news, but if you go all the way back to the beginning, you can see brainstorming mess instead of official news posts.

Fanlore page linking to Astolat's post and giving a little context.

Early brainstorming: https://otw-news.livejournal.com/2007/05/

For example, here I am collecting links to older archives to look at for research when designing AO3.

Fun fact, we never intended to call it AO3. There was a whole call for name suggestions, but nothing was as evocative as astolat's original post title referencing Virginia Woolf. (For those who haven't thought about it, AO3's name is a reference to A Room of One's Own.)

Here's the name discussion

Here's the poll that came out of it

But also notice how many people voted: 562.

That's how many people cared at the time: a few hundred. Maybe a thousand if you count lurkers, but frankly, that community was not as lurkery as now. It wasn't just ten friends. It was a community effort. But what "our" community looked like at the time was vastly different. It was six degrees of Kevin Bacon astolat, not a vast sea of strangers like fic fandom on AO3 is now.

Here's an early post suggesting we ban the under 18s from the site entirely. Pity we didn't do so, given the rise of antis.

Here's the invite to a fundraising party at astolat's in NYC that following Halloween. I dressed as Amanda from Highlander, not very well.

You can tell we knew each other by looking at those comments on astolat's initial post. You can also tell how discussion-based that part of fandom was back in 2007.

The way my tumblr is now with a ton of text, back and forth, and hopping around between threads of conversation, all featuring a consistent set of faces, is very much like LJ. Most of tumblr is not.

12,529 notes - Posted February 3, 2022

#2

*cackling*

If OTW weren’t around, this wouldn’t be “scaremongering”: It would be the inescapable status quo.

25,178 notes - Posted April 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

See the full post

81,482 notes - Posted August 6, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[thebansacredbanned]

Tagged by @wishthefish!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

123... somehow... oh wait i know how its bc i did whumptober

2) What's your total AO3 word count?

392,687

3) What fandoms do you write for?

Currently: The Untamed/MDZS, Nirvana in Fire, A League of Nobleman, The Blood of Youth [screaming, crying, trying please i need more people to write tBoY fic my crops are dying], The Disguiser [sometimes]. I'm also working on a few ideas for Mysterious Lotus Casebook which I finished last week

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

So these are all from back when I was actually writing the most popular pairing for a popular fandom, as opposed to now where I'm either writing the Rarest of rare-pairs or for fandoms that have <100 english fics so:

Yellow Petals - The Witcher, Geraskier, hanahaki

I Would Know Him In Death (At The End of the World) - Les Mis, E/R, les amis are reincarnated greek heroes

Butter-cup of Tea - The Witcher, Geraskier, round robin me and @nemainofthewater wrote together that I'm sure had a plot

as I reckon with the effects of your life on mine - The Witcher, Jaskier & Valdo Marx, another one by me and Nemain where I wrote Jaskier's letters and Nemain wrote Valdo Marx's

Know the Water's Sweet but Blood is Thicker - The Witcher, Jaskier is Calanthe's brother, yikes I never finished that one oops

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to (sometimes I forget though lol)! It feels nice to have some kind of interactions with other fans, plus that's how I made friends with @wishthefish so there's always a risk chance of getting to know people ;P

6) What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

hahhaahahahahahahaahahahhah

ummmm all of them?

it's probably 'You left me here behind, do you not care?' which has very little room for any hope at all come the end

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

this is actually harder than the angst one, somehow. like happy? are any of truly happy??

I'm restricting it to things I wrote this year and I'm going to say As we walk with the sun hand in hand from the wreck, which is the 'happy ending' stem of the Xuyao choose your own adventure thing I was working on this year

8) Do you get hate on fics?

I did once, but it was for a fandom I was already over in a work I wasn't like 100% sold on anyway and I found it kind of funny

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

No but as I put in a group chat the other day "every day i inch closer to writing porn and i am not happy about it".

To be fair I don't think I'll ever write full-blown smut, and generally I find that, for what I'm writing at least, having things left implied is better bc then people can imagine whatever they want (and I don't have to write it)

10) Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I do in fact have a NiF/Untamed bodyswap crossover in my docs which I either need to write more of or decide that I'm not going to write any more of and just post as is

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! There's a French translation of I Would Know Him in Death (At the End of the World)!

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

I have several co-written fic with @nemainofthewater - we share a braincell so it's always a lot of fun

14) What's your all-time favorite ship?

See that's a. that's a question that I'm finding WAY harder to answer than it should be.

Probably E/R (Enjolras/Grantaire) from Les Miserables. Like R is still my tumblr/ao3 picture (and my phone home screen), I might now actually be in the fandom so much any more but forever in my heart etc

15) What's a wip that you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Oh man I just went on my posted works on ao3 and I have a les mis fencing au that I last updated in 2020. That's never going to to happen

16) What are your writing strenghts?

Lets see how much angst I can fit in a very small amount of words 😈

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

I struggle finishing anything longer than about 2k which is a pain bc I have lots of ideas that deserve a lot more words than I can focus on writing for them

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

It's cool when people do it (especially if they have hover-ovre translations)! I haven't ever tried and am unlikely to any time soon

19) First fandom you wrote for?

Turn! (actually the first fandom I wrote for was Hamilton but that never saw the light of day and NEVER WILL)

I'm going to tag @nemainofthewater @luzzeagain @woobifiedvillain and anyone else who feels like it!

[william-s-churros]

painful definitive edition thoughts from one playthrough lol

i mean its lisa, so am i gonna complain that much? the campfire conversations are a nice touch, but they're so sporadic and im not sure how to trigger them so i wasted a lot of time and resources trying to get the damn things to happen. as for the rest of the game tho, it really is pretty much exactly the same, just with an added layer of frustration to get bonus content thats like. fine i guess. the terry convo is obviously very charming and sweet but its kinda like i feel like the trailer/promo material kinda overpromised this feature lmfao

SPEAKING of overpromising... i was really hoping for more enemies lmfao.... area 3 has always felt extremely unbalanced to me and i was kinda hoping like. something would be done about that, but it wasnt, so whatever. i do feel like im the promo stuff it was stated there would be more battles but perhaps i just misunderstood?

anyways, its lisa! obviously i had fun playing it. i was just kind of hoping it would be like... harder.... or like maybe had an even harder mode than pain mode... outside of savescumming to bring back guys who died in battle and falling off a cliff once, i think i only game overed during battle once? i dont give brad joy and i usually play one-armed, tho i have beaten it armless and even then i still didnt struggle as much as i hoped i would... oh how i miss the highs of being killed by the mens hair club like 5 times before getting into the proper groove of things and the rush of finally defeating them... i guess this is just what happens when youve played a video game like 20 times.... you git gud as they say. sometimes i really appreciate the ability to stunlock (for ex, when fighting an enemy with permadeath moves lol) but sometimes being able to do that really detracts from the challenge ykwim?

who knows, tho. theres probably some kind of fanmod for masochists like me out there and maybe i should look for it. most of the ones i have seen as qol mods that make painmode easier which is basically the opposite of what i want lmfao.

anyways, all in all-- its lisa! most of the character information i got from campfire conversations is extremely compatible with my own headcanons already too so lmao. its validating i suppose! but its kind of on me i think for hyping it up in my own head. i am curious to see what becomes of this fandom as more people play this game this way.

ive heard theres a secret ending if you get all the companions that im gonna try for next. maybe its all worth it... we'll see.

also i still gotta play joyful! i do wonder if a lot of the changes made were to joyful bc that game felt like such an afterthought in many ways lmfao. we'll see igss! im probs gonna keep replaying these games forever because i love them, but yeah. i guess i was expecting more lmfao. but i still liked it! and im excited to try and get other things, but i do sort of feel like like easter-eggy character interactions is cheap in terms of replay value for me anyway, maybe id feel differently if i were still at that stage with the game that i found the battles really challenging and stuff, idk, lmfao

OH EDIT; super appreciated the toning down if not outright omission of the antiblackness in the original game, altho the american indian stuff was still pretty stereotypes, tho im not entirely sure what you could do abt that besides a complete overhaul of the blood moon area lol

[theladyofbloodshed]

You’re a teacher in UK (I’m assuming based on a few posts from before). Rishi Sunak (the new prime minister) is making plans to make maths compulsary for kids upto 18 years old.

All over social media, british people have different opinions about it. Most are however against it. The most common reason is that they believe it kills creativity, and that the cirriculum could use some other useful subjects.

What is you opinion on the matter as a teacher?

(Sorry if you only take fandom related questions. You can totally ignore it if you don’t like non fandom related questions)

I think it is ridiculous. Long post so I'll put under a read more

If everybody studied maths to 18, it wouldn't make anybody more employable because all would have that qualification. The majority of jobs do not require you to use maths. So often my kids will ask me why they have to learn something and the honest answer is that the government told me I have to teach it.

The shift between GCSE to A Levels was hard. That was ten years ago for me, but it was hard. It's a big jump in terms of depth of learning. In order to study maths to 18, either students have to drop a subject they had wanted to take to fit it in (in the UK, you generally take 4 subjects for AS Level then drop one for the final year. I took biology, chemistry, psychology and philosophy & ethics then dropped the latter) or will have an extra subject wedged on top which gives them less time to focus on each class - or they won't actually care about taking maths so won't put effort into it.

I work in a primary school and how it works here is you teach the same 30 children every subject for a year. My role is slightly different as I am a cover teacher and cover all across the school so when a teacher has the afternoon to plan, I'll teach their class which means I can teach from 4-11 years old in the same week. We already have children who declare they hate maths and its hard. We have parents who when we ask them to support their children's learning will say that they were bad at maths so it doesn't matter if their children give up on it. I had a child last year who at 11 years old was greater depth for writing and reading (the highest level you can be) but wasn't secure in her number bonds to ten so massively struggled with all areas of maths. Number bonds to 10 should be secured at age 5. Our curriculum is so big that sometimes we run out of time to teach everything or children have absences and they have so many gaps. She was missed every year as somebody who should have been higher and I spent so much time trying to catch her up by filling in all of her gaps on number bonds and times table knowledge which filter into every strand of maths. We had 2 years of covid so maybe if that hadn't happened, the gaps would be apparent sooner, but she's not the only child like that.

Maths isn't valued here. Partly that comes down to the way it is taught. It's not a criticism of teachers, but the syllabus is so massive that you have to hit everything at pace and for those who can't keep up, they end up with massive gaps in their learning. If they've struggled with fractions for the 3 weeks they've studied it, too bad we're onto area and perimeter now, you'll do fractions next year!

In the mornings, I tutor a group of children who have fallen behind and I have to plug any gaps and try to catch them up to age related expectations. This past week, I taught them bus stop method for division because that was what I was told to teach by their regular teacher. I then found out what we aren't supposed to teach that method until next year.

But they had understood it, because they know how to exchange from subtraction because we ensured they really were secure and understood what exchanging means rather than "you add a 1 to the next number".

So then we had to go back a step because the government said they need to learn how to partition it into a whole part model... which is actually harder because they didn't know how many tens or ones they should be splitting it to. It's just so ridiculous. They completely understood the one on the left and will be taught that next year and will use that method forever. But the one on the right has confused them - and they won't need to do that ever again after this year - but we have to teach them like that because that's what the government says?

I didn't really enjoy maths. I never gelled with my teacher and I had the same one for 4 years and I knew I wasn't taking it beyond a compulsory level. I got a B at GCSE which was bad in my school so I had to go to a remedial math class at the start of year 12 because there was maths in biology/chemistry which I had chosen. But in the first lesson my teacher was like "why are you here?" because the small branch of maths that I needed for my science subjects was secure. I've not needed trigonometry or the quadratic equation ever in my life.

I've needed maths to teach maths but actually my understanding of fractions and place value has only become secure since I've had to teach it.

That time would be better spend in teaching young adults how to apply for jobs, for understanding taxes and insurance, for developing contacts in careers etc. The average grade for maths at GCSE level is around a low B/high C. At my school, if you received a B in a subject that you wanted to take for A Level, you would be warned that it would be difficult. If you had a C, they'd advise you against taking that subject because it would be too hard.

It would be better for the government to look at the national curriculum and see how many hoops educators have to jump through and how many boxes we have to tick to please them first. It's so stupid!!!

[missremember]

Do you have any character headcanons for Hero of Another Story? (Sorry to randomly drop into your inbox, but I'm curious-)

Please don't apologize for dropping into my inbox stop by anytime pspspspspsps

Sorry this took so long to get to, HoAS is basically just a parade of my HCs loosely arranged in a narrative format, lol, so I was trying to think of ones that either wouldn't come up in the story or wouldn't be obvious.

But!!! Here are some!!

Jecra

Like most of the fandom, I think Jecra has a bit of a golden-retriever-esque personality, what with the high energy and inability to shut up.

In some ways, he's the most grounded one of the Trio, for he is the Resident Normal Guy.

His drive comes from the relationships he forms with others, and he forms MANY, because he develops a strong impression of people pretty much the second he meets them.

If he decides you're stuck with him, then you're stuck with him.

His accent gets harder to understand the more woiked- uh, worked up he gets.

Garlude

She comes from a really communal background, everyone regularly depended on each other's support and gave support in kind, so working as a team comes pretty naturally to her.

This is already kinda plainly demonstrated I think but she's also a natural-born marksman!

She's pretty no-nonsense, and has a pretty keen sense for when someone's trying to pull one over on her.

She can match pretty much anyone in a fight.

She has that heroic pitfall where she acts on instinct when someone's in danger...it'll prolly be fine.

Meta Knight

Made this question really hard to answer cuz half the HCs I have for MK are spoilers lmao.

He does NOT like to be dirty. Is it about his image? Feeling dirty feeling bad? Who knows?

Out of a lineup of any weapon ever made ever he will always, ALWAYS choose a sword.

He think it's the perfect weapon because its efficient use relies purely on skill, making any sword fight an equal playing field, and as everybody knows (...probably. he at least thinks that everybody knows this.) emerging victorious from such a fight proves your greatness.

He really, REALLY likes proving his greatness. Or lack thereof. In which case he will improve until he ACHIEVES greatness.

He's...he's a real big fan of winning.

But we all knew that.

Misc.

Assume that in any time that passes between chapters, Jecra and Garlude spend it gushing about their kids

Meta Knight only has a very loose grasp of what a kid is

MissRemember did not mean to make as many OCs for this story as she did on God it was just supposed to be the kids from Chapter 5 and a bunch of monsters what happened who's Ciraco how did she get here why do people care about the Poppy Bro Watch Captain-

[scripted-downfall]

Ahah! Fren you think you are gonna come to my blog on this, the day of my daughters middle school awards show (it actually was) and think your slick giving me so many numbers.

WELL I TAKE THIS CHALLENGE

And give you #15 and every odd number before it!

Welp. I don't know if this plan has backfired or not... on the one hand, lots to answer; on the other... lots to answer. (jk; this is awesome and I'm thriving :) Thanks, dear!) Also, congrats to your daughter!!!

However, you also, um. Forgot to tell me what ship/character/film/show/etc each number belonged with. So. Whoops. Now I'm going to heckle you in Discord until you give me the criteria for each. (The actual answers will all be mine, though, so.)

EDIT. In order, they are: Deckerstar, Thirteen Ghosts, Count of Monte Cristo, Supernatural, TenRose, Destiel, Whoever you hate more Max or Sam, GentleBeard

ANYWAY. (keep reading because someone sent me eight different numbers)

(Fandom Ask Music Game)

1. A song that reminds me of Deckerstar: Definitely "Wicked Game", no question. Every time I think of/hear that song, my brain replays the scene with breaking-down Luci playing it in his red robe thing in the penthouse after coming to the conclusion that he couldn't tell Chloe he loved her. It's the first thing that came to mind when I read this part of the ask, so, yeah, maybe there's a better answer, but this is my instinctive one.

3. A song I wish was in Thirteen Ghosts: Well, someone's making things difficult. I think I'll say "One" by Metallica. It's pretty pertinent to the ghosts and/or to Dennis (kinda one and the same, at some points), and it fits the vibes of the film, imo. Plus, I just love Metallica.

5. A song that I associate with The Count of Monte Cristo because of exactly one (1) applicable lyric: You know. This is way harder than you think. Because there's an entire CoMC musical that's now invading my head and not applicable as an answer. BUT. I guess I'll say "Macavity: The Mystery Cat". (aka, it's the first think I came up with and it works decently well, so!) The pertinent line: "And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake." (and bonus points for "He's outwardly respectable/I know he cheats at cards.") It's very reminiscent of the way the Count looks aboveboard but is actually doing his best to take them all down,

7. A song the fandom constantly talks about fitting Supernatural perfectly but I just Don’t See It: (EDIT: I realized after I already wrote this that I turned "SPN" into "Destiel," but it's fineeee. tbf, the only songs I know people connect to the show --- Destiel or otherwise --- and don't agree with are Hozier songs and "Angel With a Shotgun"... which I only don't agree with because I'm a heathen and haven't heard them. SO. Destiel it is.) Anyway... "On My Own" from Les Miserables. I love this song so much, but it is not at all accurate for the show. (Note: Do I think that either Dean or Cas would have their perception be that it's accurate, yes. Do I think it's actually accurate, no. Does that make any sense?)

9. A song I wish didn’t remind me of TenRose but it does: I assume Doomsday doesn't count? Uh... Okay, got one. "We've Only Just Begun" by the Carpenters. And I confess freely that this is biased by my adoration of 1408 (the film; I didn't much care for the short story, tbh), but. That song is creepy af. it sounds soooo optimistic. And it's just got this edge of darkness. And if that's not 10Rose in a nutshell --- everything sounds bright and happy but you just know something's about to go wrong --- I don't know what is.

11. A song that makes me feel happy about Destiel: Back with the hard ones, I see. How am I supposed to be happy about a ship that practically definesssss tragedy? Like, "All Outta Love" makes me happy for its connection to them, but the context is tragic, so it's not my answer? And I have a bunch of applicable Hadestown songs, but those all hurt? I guess I'll say "Every Woman in the World". In addition to just fitting, it's also Air Supply --- so a connection to the aforementioned "All Outta Love" --- and has been used in both Slither (a family-favorite film) and a romantic comedy starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan (which was good enough that it overwhelmed my chronic dislike of rom-coms).

13. A song I associate with my least favorite character: They. Are. The same. People. Ma'am. But anyway... I guess I'll go with Sam because I have a good answer (and it's not actually anti!!!): "Walk in the Dark" by David Byrne. In my head, it's largely Azazel POV as he looks in on Sam as one of his "kids", but I still view it as a "Sam" song. If that makes any sense?

15. Top five songs I would add to a Gentlebeard playlist: Definitely "The Chain", for obvious reasons (if you've seen the show). "Ain't No Sunshine", definitely. "Promises in the Dark", too. "Jolene" for the ouch. And... "I Will Survive". Because that's basically what Ed's doing when he turns into the Kraken, and that hurts.

If you're noticing that these songs are largely in order by artist/band name, it's absolutely not because I started going through my playlist for inspiration. Not at all. Obviously.

Thanks for the ask, jezebel :)

[catofadifferentcolor]

Wiedźmin: The Witcher &c

I came into The Witcher fandom quite sideways, following a series of white rabbits to the books that honestly feels, in retrospect, like a series of red flags warning me away.

My journey starts, ignominiously, sometime in college, when The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt came out. I was desperate for anything new to play... and got as far as the first tavern in the game before losing interest. This repeated twice more over the next few years, but I never got farther than that first tavern.

Fast forward to 2019, when Netflix released the show based off the books. I was tempted, but ultimately stayed away as my feelings on Henry Cavill can be summed up as pretty, but overrated and wooden. I got rid of Netflix not long after, and considered the matter finished.

Then earlier this year I fell back into the Dragon Age fandom, and came across a music rec in the truly excellent and epic the forest is dark and deep and i've seen you here before for Joey Batey's band, The Amazing Devil, and I got hooked. Around the same time I started stumbling into fics in other fandoms based off the remarkable Accidental Warlord series and that was enough. Despite having never read the books or seen the show, I had to find out more. So I ordered the books, dipped my toe in the fandom, and soon had scraped the barrel of fics clean trice-over.

Which brings me back to the books. This weekend I was finally ready to start. I had the first three books by Andrzej Sapkowski, a three day weekend, and no other plans.

I picked up The Last Wish. I read the first two pages. I put the book down.

I tried again an hour later. I made it through the first chapter - barely, by the skin of my teeth, but I made it. I put the book down again and texted the one person who has always shared my book tastes, my mother, and asked if she knew any reason I should continue. I forced myself through a few more pages before I got an answer: no, she'd not made it more than 50 pages into the book either, nor more than 5 minutes into the Netflix series. Relieved, I put the book and its ambitiously purchased sequels into my I really need to find a used bookstore to sell these back to pile.

So here I am. I feel somewhat guilty for attempting to review a book I couldn't force myself to finish - but I feel in some ways that's a review itself. Maybe it's an artifact of it's translation, but everything I did manage to get through felt clunky and forced, all info dump dialogue without any descriptors or even consideration that what info is being dumped is strange to just dump on a complete stranger, even if you're expecting him to solve all your problems. People lie. People don't know the whole truth. Et cetera, et cetera.

Perhaps I should have tried harder. After all, I made it through The Mortal Instruments series - drunk, mind you, but I made it. I made it through Twilight. I even made it through The Magicians - though by quarter of the way through that I was already composing my one star Amazon review. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to finish The Last Wish, despite truly enjoying some of the fan fiction based on it, just as I couldn't bring myself to finish Wild Hunt or even start the show.

Make of this as you will. I certainly won't be giving the books another shot. I tried, but whatever it is that drew in so many people, I couldn't bring myself to stick along long enough to find it.

[sabertoothwalrus]

With all the new user advice going around, whats your opinion on the thing with blocking default user icons? Like I do it too but as someone who averages 5 new followers a year its a lot more feasible to vet that kind of thing. I always figured with blogs that are popular enough, there’s no way you’re keeping up with that anymore. How do you handle it?

hsgdhdhs honestly I don’t check very often. I just kinda… let it happen. Usually when I check, it can be as many as 3 or more bots per 10 followers, and I’ll spend 20 minutes vetting before I get tired and need to do something else. Having a lot of followers on tumblr is kinda meaningless because 1) it doesn’t get you any clout (which is honestly kind of nice! it is very private still) and 2) it’s sooo artificially inflated by bots, so who knows how many are actual people.

as far as my method for blocking people, it’s just a matter of checking each individual blog. I just took a look and here’s what I found:

Sometimes accounts are just new, and sometimes they’re just lurkers. It’s harder to tell whether new blogs are bots or not, because they won’t have any posts or likes, and will only be following other popular blogs like gaud, badjokesbyjeff, hungwy, glumshoe, dankmemeuniversity, sergle, pukicho, etc etc. honestly I assumed all these accounts had over 100k followers or something so I’m surprised?? I’m seemingly being lumped with these?? and I don’t know if tumblr recommends high-traffic blogs to people when they first sign up, or if these are just bots that are attracted to blogs with a lot of activity. If the sneaky lurker account follows a a lot of fandom-specific or artist blogs, they’re probably a person.

When it comes to porn blogs, idk. Like, I guess real people can have lurker blogs to view porn??? I sometimes just block them anyway hsgshd If the blog in question does have reblogs, but the most recent addition has some kind of link attached to it, that’s a red flag and probably a bot.

Blogs in Russian, Korean, and Arabic are often bots, but not always. A lot of bots DO have icons! If the whole account is advertising some product or service, it’s immediately obvious it’s a bot.

It’s just,,, so tedious sometimes to go through them all. And honestly, if the blog doesn’t have anything immediately incriminating, I’ll play it safe and leave them be. I’m always gonna have bots following me and it’s out of my hands at this point.

[help-i-need-a-cool-username]

So last January i started keeping a notes page for recording tags that made me laugh or smile. I was reading through them and realized it been over a year since i started. So i decided to post them to make you all smile too. The fandoms are in no specific order, but i did post my favorite tags at the top of each section. I used the ";" as a break between tags. Ao3 uses "," but several tags included their own "," and "#" made things harder to read so i swapped it out for ";"

These tags are 95% from ao3 fics (many of them from the same fics). The other 5% consist of tumblr tags, fic titles, and the occasional author note/funny fic quote that i loved so much i wrote it down. I dont remember what each fic each tag was from*, so please dont ask for links, but as they're tags you should be able to search them in the ao3 search engine. However if you want specification to which character a tag was referring to, i do remember that.

*im 99% certain these tags were for that fandom

Not fandom specific/i cant remember which fandom

I will take these crumbs of characterization and bake them into a cake myself so help me god

i don't make the facts people i just gently unearth them from the subtext

author is a trash can not a trash can't

Please keep in mind that Canon Timeline has died tragically in a fire, and I am but the weeping widow with an inheritance

I'm not so much taking liberties with canon at this point as flirting outrageously and never calling back for a second date

shameless wish fulfillment; like this is what i want to see and you can watch i guess

31k notes and counting as of this tag sweet jesus you all need church and the bible and the vatican

I will not explain my rarepairs; they're in love now. that's how it is

Cursed By a Mage; That Mage? Albert Einstein

did i just write a different fix-it for this episode two days ago; Yes. yes i did

unforgivable foreshadowing

The Cain Instinct

Destiny's a Bitch: A Love Story

F@¢k Amatonormativity

the untaggable qpr strikes again

they h#ld h?nds ok

it's about the yearning

Star Wars

The Mandalorian & TBOBF

Destiny is calling and it doesn't care if Din has blocked its number

love is stored in the head bonk

*Slaps roof of random Deathwatch Member* this guy can fit so much love and affection for Din Djarin in him

Din does NOT have the Darksaber; because what does he need?; an ulcer?

Din is low key demi and no one makes a deal about it

Mand'alor the Reluctant

platonic love is what healed his lonely existence

when in doubt: road trip with the besties

Accidental Baby Acquisition (A LEGIT TAG)

TCW

Not even death can stop plo koon's dad instincts

General Hothead the Thothead

anakin skywalker eats live bugs

Anakin figures it out first, which is pretty dang embarrassing

SWR

2am bathroom break at a dingy rest area in the backwoods of appalachia vibes

Or: How the Ghost Crew got banned from Space Costco

Kanan Jarrus: The Daddening

Movies (Sequel Trilogy)

The Traveling Jacket

MCU/general Marvel

This is why we can't have nice things

in which our heroes meet where they belong; IN THE TRASH

An Attempt Was Made At A Romantic Gesture

Erik is crushing harder than a 12 year old girl (A LEGIT TAG)

BROTP: She's Perfect

i will delete this later; nevermind im not deleting this, im leaving this as proof; that i am sexier and better than the entire mcu writing team

Nick Fury Deserves To Be Swept Off His Feet; And Carol Danvers Is The One To Sweep Him

Tony Stark/Acting Like A Bitch

Fury and Goose are the BROTP to end all BROTPs; watch a hardened spy become a fool for a tiny cat

the Cloak is protective; the Cloak is clingy

Middle Earth (LOTR/TH)

Legolas wants the D (the Dwarf)

Reshirement AU

Thorin Oakenshield: King Under a Massive Pile of Guilt and Self-Loathing

hate at first sight

Gandalf Ships It

Look out Middle Earth; when a elf and a hobbit decide to have an adventure; its best not to get in the way

The Witcher

i cant not write dramatic things. its bc im gay

toss a kudos to your bitcher, o valley of ao-three

Two Distinct Varieties of Commitment Issues

Pre-Relationship; by about eight hours

they should be....soft; so upon writing chapter two that one has a heady mix of angst

Im British and so's my spelling

only a jealous threesome can resolve that kind of mess

ft. the only m/f dynamic that means anything: if she can't have him executed; there's too much equality going on; and he is Into That

Jaskiers main role in this fic is to go: what the fuck

Geralt is completely gone on his common law husband and he's fine with it

the other Witchers care and want Jaskier to be safe; Geralt is amused because Jaskier is a feral bitch

Aggressive herb gathering

Grilled Chicken Sandwiches

The Wind Howls A Lot

Geralt is back on his bullshit yet again; what else is new; geralt is a dumbass first and a witcher second

cause of death: refusing gwent; (its actually being a bandit but for geralt one crime is worse than the other); (and we all know which one)

but jaskier is thirsty and geralt is an entire lake

sometimes a family is two dumbasses and their lion cub

the many shades of Unrequited Love; or is it...Requited??; who knows

Many boats get harmed in the making of this fic; Reckless Sailing

is it a romance if there isn't at least one fart joke

Cutagens | Cute Effects of Mutagens (A LEGIT TAG)

Geologically Improbable Hot Springs

nothing makes me happier than making the big rat man cry

Buckle up bitches

Kaer Morons

RWBY

This team shares one brain cell and right now it’s in Nora; NORA

James gets bullied by teenagers: the musical

Press f to pay respect for my sanity

Ozpin adopting Oscar: buy one son get one moral compass free

Yang is Summer's daughter; and Raven knows it

Avatar (ATLA)

must a fic have a plot to be good?; is it not enough to have 6K+ words of toph and zuko being bastards together?

Aang was not expecting THAT

Soul Eater

the inherent intimacy of comparing hand sizes

found family at its finest

Merlin

sir leon the long suffering

Mordred and Merlin are friends; because f@ck you thats why

Star Trek

and Jim settles into his new relationship status of "single but pining immeasurably"

Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

This colossal disaster required divine intervention to fix

Intentionally sexually charged sleepover; with Illya dying a thousand deaths in the bathroom

[astorinx-writes]

I Rewatched The 2009 Movie... And It Was Okay!

If you were to ask any Gen Z fan of Astro Boy how they got into the fandom, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who says anything besides its 2009 CGI film rendition. But ironically, for the past 2 times that I’ve surveyed the fandom, 3 out of 5 fans consider it to be their least favorite rendition. Why is that? Well, many argue it comes down to the poor writing and acting in the movie, as well as how different it is compared to renditions of the past. Despite this, I was inspired by newly cropped up blogs dedicated to talking about the 09 movie– even going as far as defending it. So, I decided to give the movie a rewatch and talk about my overall thoughts.

Now, as a disclaimer, I will say that I too did discover Astro Boy through the 09 movie. That said, it is not the sole reason why I joined the fandom. This does, however, mean that I am susceptible to bias. So I’ll be trying my best to hide it whilst writing this review. This is also not meant to sway you one way or another, I am simply discussing my thoughts on this movie. Because though the 2009 movie is still arguably the worst Astro Boy rendition so far– there is some good and charm within it that makes it worth a watch.

The Bad… and Arguably Confusing

One of the biggest complaints about the movie (and rightfully so) are what I’m calling “watered-down characters.” What sets them apart from previous versions is how their personas aren’t how they usually are. The biggest example of this has got to be the portrayal of Tenma. The 2003 series posies him to be the big baddie and overall fucked up dad that seems to be only looking out for himself and his motives, and no one else’s. He forces Astro to combat villains so that they can “evolve” and become “The King of All Robots.” Yet, in the 09 movie, he comes across as more of a science dad (who definitely listens to Nickelback in his spare time) who doesn’t really seem to know what he wants and seriously lacks depth. This isn't to imply that being a baddie is remarkable, or that being just casual is bad. But the plot hinges on Tenma’s character, and thus he must be at least interesting.

Speaking of villains, many of them in this movie are also just shells of their archetypes and nothing more. President Stone, is obviously meant to be the corrupt, rich politician that wants nothing more than power and money. But the way he’s showcased makes him look like a little bitch boy with no spine. There’s supposed to be stakes at play regarding his “big scheme” to inflict war on the surface, but not even anyone outside his circle seems to take him seriously. He mentions this when talking to his right-hand man regarding how low he was doing in the polls, saying “… I’ve cut taxes for a lot of very influential friends. What more do the people want?” So, what’s the point of making him the villain if you aren’t going to commit to making the things he’s done actually mean something. Or, at the very least, they could’ve given us something to psychoanalyze and pick apart, à la 03 Tenma.

Astro’s characterization in the movie is also incongruent with how they are in past series. Typically, Astro is seen as a lovable kid who only wants to see the best in others, and exercise the least amount of physical force to combat the baddies that get in their way. In this movie, nonetheless, they seem to take more of a “sarcastic” approach (for lack of a better term). This isn’t to say they’re mean, but I’ve found it much harder for fans to look at them as the adorable “baby” (their words, not mine) to fawn over and make memes about.

The most interesting thing about Astro’s character in this movie is that they seem to have a chip over their shoulder the entire time for no real reason (at least not one that gets brought up). And they accept their fate of being deactivated rather quickly. I’m reminded a lot of an old head canon I’ve dubbed “Sasstro Tenma” who, like 09 Astro, has a bit of an attitude (hence the “Sass” part of “Sasstro”). Of course, this could be contributed to them being 13 instead of 9. But no matter how you slice it, they just aren’t as pleasant to watch, or be willing to root for.

Elefun is also British in this movie… for some reason. According to a Discord server I’m in– the voice actor for Elefun, Bill Nighy, is quite renowned for his voice. Now, while I’m assuming no one was talking about this movie when they made such a statement. I guess if he did want the role, then there was probably not a chance in hell that he was going to do anything but that voice for Elefun. What confuses me about this, howbeit, is that regardless– Elefun is Japanese.

Yet, this doesn't imply that the movie is a total pan in this area. It does seem by the looks of it that they tried as best they could, and they did have a clear vision on what was intended. Unfortunately, it still falls short nonetheless. What they wanted the movie to come out like and be shown, is very much not how it ended up. I mean, the movie went through numerous directors before finally ended up in the hands of David Bowers. Saying that his intention with joining the film was simply to try his best to see it to the end and finish it. Obviously, with a mentality like that, you can’t expect for it to do an impressive job at achieving its goals, especially in the characterization department.

Stone turning down the blue core at the beginning of the movie, only to desperately want it midway through, is also just one of the ways this movie can’t seem to get it right. In addition, there are minor details, like how the first question Toby gets in his pop quiz is as follows:

These broader theories may be formulated using principles such as parsimony (e.g., “Occam’s Razor”). They are then repeatedly tested by analyzing how the collected evidence (facts) compares to the theory?

When a theory survives a sufficiently large number of empirical observations, it then becomes a scientific generalization that can be taken as fully verified?

They should’ve honestly just used Lorem Ipsum.

We could take this even further, and question why he even did a physics quiz after a history lesson in the first place! Is Mustachio Astro’s teacher for all subjects????  We don’t know for sure the location for  where Metro City is to figure out how perhaps their school system works. It’s only stated as being a “floating [city] in the sky” and that it used to be Mount Sofia. Other (minor) fun facts include: “The Surface” being the nickname given to Earth. And Metro City also getting nicknamed, “The Jewel In The Crown” (what crown in particular, remains unsolved).

There are other ways anyhow that this movie is bad. Quite possibly the biggest reason among fans (myself included) is the painfully bad writing. Yet, there are some gems here and there, it mostly comes down to it seeming a bit… off.

Take the RRF for example, a rag-tag team of robots who “supposedly” are fighting for robot liberation, but don’t seem to follow through? I understand that this is a kid’s movie, yes. But if you’re going to go through the effort of having them call everyone around them a comrade. Put up Trotsky AND Lenin posters in their hideout (whether this means the RRF are tankies is a discussion for another time). Then, at the very least, don’t write them off as law-abiding robots. That’s just leftism 101, dude. No genuine leftist gives a shit about whether they’ve “gotten permission” beforehand or kept keenly aware of the legality aspect in regard to acting against something.

We also can’t forget about the role Stone plays in the film. His main motivation seems to be wanting to wage war against the surface, which is fine enough, I suppose. But the issue here is that because he is so uninteresting and honestly a giant laughingstock, it’s hard to take the shit he’s doing seriously. Although, I think we must find what he’s doing to be legit because there’s a teachable moment at play here.

Many have theorized that this movie has undertones of anti-government and anti-capitalist sentiments– but as a leftist, I can’t really say I agree. Because this movie could very well make true leftist-aligning arguments if it wanted to. Particularly, that the State, and all the businesses that rule the world and corrupt the State, are (for the most part) wholly responsible for the disenfranchisement of its people. I mean, they went as far as to say at the beginning of the movie that the people of Metro City are, in fact, wealthy, and basically look down at the poor (potentially working class) people on the surface. But why could they never commit? Why are all that I and others left with is just that Stone is a bumbling fool?

Then, of course, we have the ending. An alien invasion that quite honestly didn’t need to happen. Especially when you consider that this movie never got a sequel. I guess you could potentially argue they wanted something impactful to leave with, but they already had all the characters go through a heart-to-heart moment with each other. If the power of love isn’t impactful enough to end a movie on, then consider me a loveless prick.

“But Sage!!” You might argue. “This is just a kids film, it doesn’t need to be serious! Why are you taking it so seriously???” And you’re right, it doesn’t. But non-seriousness isn’t a “get-out-of-jail-free” card, so your movie can get a good rating, it still has to be good. Because seriousness ≠ good writing. You can have movies that are written phenomenally and are a total blast to watch, but maybe are devoid of any thought-provoking meaning. Or, you could have a movie with writing so bad it’s good. This movie, withal, is just stuck in the middle. It wants to be better, It tries to be better at many points. But ultimately, it succumbs to what I believe to be its biggest flaw, and what summarizes pretty much everything mentioned: a lack of care.

Where It Redeems Itself

Originally, if you had asked me when I was around 12-13 if this next point I’m about to make was good or not, I’d assume my answer would’ve been that it’s not good. But honestly, this (in my opinion) is how the 09 movie has surprisingly aged well in my eyes. I’m talking about the romance (or lack thereof) in this film. Personally, I don’t like seeing romance in any Astro Boy series or movies ever. It just makes me a bit uncomfortable when you remember that in no rendition is Astro ever at least 16. This is not a suggestion that kids don’t go through crushes, or that perhaps I’m being a prude. But I just feel like it’s not something I want to see canonically. You can save the romance for your fanfics (hopefully, assuming they’re post canon) or theorize who they might end up with if Astro Boy got the All Grown Up treatment (If you don’t know what that show is… I am way too old).

Like I mentioned, this isn’t a stance I held at the time when I originally saw (and rewatched a couple of times) the movie when I was younger. It is, anyhow, a considerable breath of fresh air. It’s pretty progressive on this movie’s part to not have Astro and Cora get together at some point. Yes, they do hang out together, and some may argue that that alone means the movie was at least trying to hint at them being romantically involved. But, might I remind you that this is a children’s CGI animated “indie” film from 2009? Budding romance between A male protagonist and anyone vaguely female with a pulse was pretty much the standard, and they would never shy away from it, either. Not necessarily in the same time frame, but I’m reminded of my watch-through of Mr. Peabody & Sherman, where  it built up the big kiss at the end from the start– and I anticipated it! And felt vindicated when it happened! In the 09 movie, per contra, no such scene occurs, with only Astro and Cora having a friendly talk with one another. I honestly find that to be much more entertaining than any romance they could’ve possibly forced.

Another (completely self-centered) reason I enjoy this movie, has got to be one of the “strangest” things ever, and that’s its use of blobitecture. Blobitecture, for the unaware, is a style of architecture that emphasizes roundness and organic forms. There’s no sharp or straight edges to be found there. And Metro City (as shown in the film) is just oozing with blobitecture everywhere. I think what I like about it so much, is how it gives the city a clearly futuristic and sci-fi appeal. Which would explain why blobitecture being a staple of the Y2K aesthetic is a no-brainer. Speaking of Y2K, can we talk about the color palette??? So many blues and lilacs, I could die (not literally, thank god). And its use of holograms, particularly when Tenma calls Elefun, is so, so Y2K. It’s probably one of the funnest things about this movie.

The character designs, however… well… they suck. Big time.

It’s such a let-down, honestly. Like if you have the means to make say, Tenma’s house, look cool as fuck with it’s mid-century inspired furniture, but can’t be bothered to actually make TENMA look good– what’s the point???? Like, why does Tenma have a wonderful couch that I so desperately want, but his eyes look like he does Coke in his spare time to cope with the bullshit President Stone puts him through?

This doesn’t take away nevertheless from the fact that I still like the backgrounds and the overall aesthetic, especially during the introduction video we see in the beginning that very much gave me 70s meets The Jetsons. It just means that their decision to make the characters look as shitty as they did, that much more confusing, and downright disappointing.

It’s Obviously Not The Crème De La Crème of Astro Boy Renditions… And That’s Okay

I’m sure just by reading that headline, some of you are already thinking to yourselves, “But just how so?“ Or “why?” And I’m here to explain.

For starters, there’s a plethora of additions and tweaks this movie has done regarding the “typical” Astro Boy plot-line. This bills the movie as more of a standalone project than something meant to be included in the “Astro Boy Canon” (or the “ABCU” (Astro Boy Cinematic Universe), if you will). Examples of this include an OC count that certainly rivals the amount of OCs I had in my fan fiction series, Vivid Insomnia. And, the (obviously) different plot.

But I hear you: “If it bears the Astro Boy name, then it must be considered a part of the universe!” The issue with this take, is that it implies there’s only (1) way to re-tell a story, allowing no depictions to take the story in a (completely, or only minor) different direction. Now, whether the changes they make are good or not, is a separate discussion I already went through earlier. Even if I (and many others) think the changes made were bad, that doesn’t mean they weren’t allowed to make them. So if they’re allowed to make changes, we as fans can, similarly, interpret those changes as meaning what we’re watching is something of a freestanding creation. No person who worked on the film has ever come forward and admitted that the movie is canon, so it’s fair game to assume it’s not.

Another reason that sets it apart, are the little things it includes that I, personally, find to scratch itches I’ve been begging to have scratched for ages. Particularly, Tenma taking Astro back and owning up to his faults. Both as a father and regarding his initial rejection of Astro, under the basis that they were simply a “replacement” of Toby, instead of their own entity that he was entitled to support and care for. So many renderings portray Tenma as a deadbeat, or as a villain, but this one takes the cake for having the best (morally speaking) Tenma you can find. Sure, maybe he shouldn’t have rejected Astro in the first place, or maybe he should’ve quit his boot licking ways and made a bigger effort to be part of Toby’s life. But, so long as he tries now to right his wrongs and do better, then all is good in my book.

Secondly, Elefun telling Astro that none of their circumstances are their fault or of their volition. When I tell you I immediately jumped for joy upon him telling Astro this, I’m not joking. Rendition after rendition, we see Astro go through the most heinous of things, and no one seems to ever think to console them. I want Astro to know that what’s happened is out of their control. That there was nothing they could do to make Tenma be a better father, to make Stone get off their ass for good, to have perhaps saved Toby’s life. Radical acceptance.

Of course, still, detractors of all kinds will probably say that such things make the movie boring! Tenma being the complex villain that consistently treats Astro like shit with no recourse (like in the 03 series). And, Elefun taking Astro under his wing and subjecting them to a life-long mission of being the neoliberal middle man to the high stakes clashing between humans and robots is what we’re after– nothing less! And I hear you, but even if it may be “boring,” that doesn’t mean it’s not well-needed. No matter what you think, Astro deserves to be treated well and told the truth about their circumstances. This, again, goes back to what I said earlier about this movie being a separate thing. If we are to believe and accept that it is, in fact, a standalone project, then there’s nothing standing in their way of attempting to right the wrongs that are consistent throughout all prior versions. They have all the right to make Tenma and Elefun out to be better at handling the tough emotional situations they go through. Also, Astro is 13.

Conclusion

Again, this was not me trying to sway you one way or another. The 2009 movie is still obviously polarizing, and I don’t think it’ll ever stop being that way any time soon. If I did another round of surveying, I wouldn’t expect any other statistic than one that says that 3 out of 5 Astro Boy fans hate the 2009 movie. And rightfully so! It’s got characters that are basically a shell of either who they are in past adaptations, or of the stereotypes they’re meant to emulate, and poor writing galore. But I think the way in which it subverted the “forced hetero romance” stereotype that plagues many movies of this caliber is well appreciated. And we cannot forget the background and set design, oozing with blobitecture inspiration; as well as what gave us Tenma’s amazing couch. If I had to rate this movie, Anthony Fantano style, I would say it’s a light to decent 6 out of 10. The things that make this movie different (justifying the score) are arguably why most (myself included) choose to see this as a standalone thing. It may not be the behemoth that is the 2003 series, but it doesn’t have to be. It has all the charm and good it needs to, at the very least, convince people to watch it just once.

[your-turn-to-role]

hi! little disclaimer: this is a question made in good faith by a newbie who got in via C3. do u think the current hype surrounding tlovm (and the many in-story references to C1) is making it hard for C3 to have its own identity and stand on its own legs? thanks!

hello and welcome!

and, i'll be honest, i haven't watched past episode 5 of c3? i've been loosely keeping up via the fandom on tumblr, but i've been struggling to get into that as a story, just because it hasn't really been my thing so far? (and, turns out watching 4+ hours a week of content when you're not hyperfocusing on it is, hard 😂)

i'll leave this as an open forum, if other people wanna jump in here go for it, but as far as my perspective goes....

i don't think the hype surrounding vm is making it hard to stand on it's own, critical role as a fandom is kinda unique in that it's practically impossible for any one person to have consumed all the content they have to offer, and you shouldn't have to! while i've heard tales of some people being gatekeepy, i personally haven't encountered it, in my experience this fandom is extremely generous with accepting we're all here because we like at least one story these people have made, but these may not be the same stories at all. and some people segregate those fandoms and will make separate blogs for separate campaigns, other people (myself included) lump everything from tlovm to all work no play (sam and liam's personal podcast) under the general banner of critical role, and people can pick and choose what they want. what we've been seeing is the vox machina fans who've been in hibernation lately all get super excited to see a story they love on screen, but those people can still be fans of c3 without the two clashing, and c3 will always be there for people to come back to, as lovm has proven, love in this fandom sticks around a loooong time

(and i'm still seeing c3 posts around on my dash a fair bit, i don't think they're conflicting)

whether the references make it harder to stand on its own, is a good question

i know when they went into campaign 2, they wanted to prove they could make a story that had nothing to do with vox machina, to the point where matt banned backstories with vm references (taliesin had to change molly's surname, he wanted to make it trickfoot after pike). thus, a major selling point of c2 in early game was this is a new campaign and a new story, no need to watch campaign 1

campaign 3, those rules have clearly been relaxed a little, and from the exu characters to delilah briarwood, there are definitely a lot more references to be had here

it is, however, an extremely different tone to either of those campaigns. and i know the cast have said that the backstory lore from past campaigns is optional, not required to understand the story, they are still invested in c3 as its own story and invested in telling it in a way that won't alienate viewers

so from my perspective, i think c3 is its own story? it leans heavier on past content than c2, but it's the child of that content, it doesn't have to grow up identical to its parents, and i don't think it will? a story always takes a bit to find its feet, and it's usually only looking back from the halfway point or further that you can see what shape it was making all along

it feels different enough to me. and i trust that the cast want to make it a new story as well, they're not interested in rehashing what they've already done, and any nostalgia they have in that respect, they've been funneling into the legend of vox machina

i think given enough time, you should find it stands out as its own thing, and i hope you enjoy your time with it! (who knows, maybe that'll be the point where i catch up)

but yeah, the c3 fandom is definitely around and will be sticking around for a while