#the person who reblogged this also reblogged something like 'when op makes a good point but tags it as transandrophobia'

[transmascrage]

I thought we were ugly and dirty. Make up your mind, I gotta know which stereotypes fit me.

[rongzhi]

what did you mean by reblogging that post about the uyghur genocide in china? can you elaborate?

Means I agree with what op said

If you want some elaboration with points to jump off, you can read the direct follow up to their post. Check out the notes as well. I think this post (yes, it's a reddit post. There are links within) also has a good summary of some things. I don't really keep a bookmark of better sources but again, you can use the discussions for jumping off points if you like—there's a number of links from both "sides". I highly encourage you to do your own research as there is much back and forth on the issue, but I think you will find that there is a certain... spottiness... a sort of general Lack of substance but a lot Spin when it comes to the mainstream reports/sources you will generally find on the topic.

I think as you read, it can all very shocking to read the reports by the Guardian or the BBC or whoever, and that points to something that I agree with in the post that I reblogged initially: "Of course, any decent person would rather believe a claim of genocide than deny it out of basic morals, and that's part of what makes it so sickening."

I think with what's happening in Palestine, there has been some renewed discussion about various genocides happening globally. I have seen more than one well-meaning post on this site that has included Uyghur genocide on the list of genocides to stand up against. Now I'm not a particularly politically vocal person—have not really ever said much about anything on this blog until more recently—and I've never really posted on "Uyghur genocide", not even when I started this blog during COVID lockdowns and was getting anons harassing me/demanding I answer for such things (something that has died down a lot, either as I have never responded or I blocked all the anons who were doing that), but the charge of "Uyghur genocide" has always weighed very heavily on my mind; first, a couple years ago when I first learned about it, due to the sheer horror at the idea; then as I started to periodically look into it, due to a sense of guilt over the possibility that my increasing suspicion of its falsity was a sign that I was falling complicit to covering something up. But frankly I don't think that's the case. But, it really is fucked up and vile and I thought OP of the post in question summed up exactly the root of that particular emotional facet.

My own two cents (what little that it's worth) is that in the harshest light possible, you could say that there's a likelihood that human rights abuses have been committed in some cases in the broader deradicalisation effort the government has implemented. I do think that that there is likely a level of prejudice or at least an othering of especially those who live in rural Xinjiang or in bordertowns far removed from the cities (regular rural alienation in other words). Obviously none of this is "good" and should be ignored or deemed necessarily acceptable, but none of it is genocide, either. And by overshadowing any police mistreatment or such with a charge as serious as genocide, it also does a real disservice in terms of rectifying anything short of it (including the claim of "cultural genocide").

That's all I have to say about it really.

Edit: fixed typos

[yanderefairyangel]

I don't like doing this... and I was really seriously debating on whether or not I should do this ( and I really hope this time it's the last I ever have to) but

This blog has been running for quite sometime in tumblr, about a month if my memory is right. However, this blog had very.... very weird takes

Notably anti Brodian one. But then, I checked something in the AITA blog and found.. this

This blog, whose first post is a submit to the account about shipping regarding Alear and the Fell twins of the Xenologue. And then

This blog reblogged it. Except they aren't claiming to be a side account as you can clearly tell. Now, I don't like accusing someone, however I find it very strange that scrolling both blog, not only do they have the same way to express themselves and typing quirck but both blog's first post was an entry to that AITA blog.

Do you see what I mean by "same way of typing" ? Well, that's not all. After searching, I realize that the blog they reblogged "femalealeartruther" used to be active as well

For people already aware, I already pointed out that this person was the same as chaotic flower and timerra lover, two blog that became infamous for championing the idea that F!Alear is the "true canon one" and on hating M!Alear. Evidence as follow :

I really dislike saying that but after checking the blog of aleardivine dragonmonarch, I realized they answered in the same way as THIS blog to ask they receive

The same way they answered to a blog reblogging them and this time with the femalealeartruther account

And again. Those blog all have deactivated.

As I explained I have several reason to believe that not only is femalealeartruther the same person as aleardivinedragonmonarch, but also that they are the same person as timeralover and thus with chaoticflower.

Yes, the same blog who in the right order :

claimmed you were bing racist if you didn't like Timerra's singing

claimmed that Timerra and Fogado aren't popular because people are racist

Hate constantly on Brodia and try to villify it by any means and hate Alcryst in particular

Was being rude towards fanfic authors

Insist on shipping Alcryst with F!Alear even though they hate him

Call anyone who prefer M!Alear over F!Alear sexist

Admitted to have stolen an idea of fanfic for an Alearcryst fic that was shared on Discord and trying to make belive it was their idea first

Have apparently lied on their age multiple times

The thing is that each time they claimmed to be a different person who had nothing to with the person who deleted their account... despite the obvious

Each time they come back with a new obsession and a new way to stir out drama and this time, it's because they dont like the fact that they dislike seeing Alear being shipped with Nel or Rafal and won't block or mute the ship instead they tried to prove that this ship is "problematic" (which imo when you do that it's not a good look for you at all ngl it come across as controlling and mean spirited)

Also, I should say it right away but chaotic flower has apparently displayed such behaviour in other fandom such as genshin and twisted wonderland

I could be wrong but again I find it very strange that several account that hates Brodia, claim F!Alear is the canon one, hates M!Alear ship Alearcryst, insist that the Fell twins are Alear's sibling because of an headcanon and express themselves in the very same manner and keep intereacting with the AITA blog with it always being their FIRST post and regularly hosting polls to test which of F!Alear or M!Alear people prefer would all be run by completely different people.

Also.. again, searching, I realized that a lot of the reblogs that were taking side of OP were having the exact same type quirk and scrolling through their blog there is none to little content which are limited to intereaction with the AITA blog and rebloging from the same blog as aleardivinedragonmonarch and weird captions such as never mentionning which is their main account and all

The last one I am SURE I saw the account femalealeartruther at SOME point reply with the exact same arguments.

If somehow they are different person, then this must be one heck of a coincidence

What does Op says ? They are denying it

However I am clearly not the only one who noticed it

(so yeah they kept spamming the inbox of the blog with Alear related ask and F!Alear in particular)

(all of this because of ship I just can't-)

Keep in mind that those are just several thing I noticed and I am kinda worried to see that this person keeps comming back with a new identity pretending to be a different person and well, cause drama.

Also, OP if you read this. Again, I must reiterate. You are welcome in this fandom as long as you STOP doing this sheet right here. That's just baffling that each time you make a blog and then deactivate it all to come back with a new obsession. And each time you pretend to be someone else. Why can't you just run a blog without trying to spark the flame of discourse ? The block button exist, the mute button exist. It's up to you to curate your own online experience and if you are indeed a minor as you claimed several time you were yet keep insisting on having this behaviour, then maybe it's a sign that you are not mature enough to be on social media. Especially since you speak as F!Alear as if she was a real person and not just a fictional being. I am sure that if you properly apologized and admitted your mistake instead of having several blog running to pretend to be another person just to prove that you are right people would actually forgive you.

As for other especially Alear, Alcryst and the Fell twins fans, I am advicing you to block this person and avoid any intereaction with them. This isn't an invitation to harass this person, if anything just block them.

Update

Both account ended up deactivating.

AT THE SAME TIME !!!

[bleeding-star-heart]

These tags on a reblog of my Anders analysis are another problem I have with DA:2's writing

#god i have so many feelings about this#cuz i romanced anders my first playthrough#and i hated that our relationship did a 180 as soon as I was like#“im not gonna let you gaslight me into doing war crimes”#was it OOC?#i don't know#I can't say#I haven't studied anders as a character or taken the time to contemplate him enough to speak on it#but i just know it was such a turn off that i started a new game entirely EDIT: I have removed the word "gaslighting" from this meta owing to the fact that technically, Anders isn't gaslighting, because gaslighting is something different. Gaslighting being trying to make someone doubt their perception of reality, among other things. What Anders ACTUALLY does falls under emotional manipulation. I would say to the OP that yes, indeed, this is VERY "out of character", so to speak. Most definitely for JUSTICE, the spirit inhabiting Anders's body. But also for Anders as well. Think about it: emotionally manipulating one's romantic partner is an inherently unjust thing to do. It is not something two people who respect and love each other do. Yet the spirit of Justice is completely silent when it happens. A being that supposedly embodies nothing but Justice simply...allows his host to guilt his lover into doing something they disagree with. He does not protest or try to stop Anders from engaging in a truly toxic form of emotional manipulation. If written properly, Justice should immediately have called Anders out on this. Which should prompt either an apology from Anders or a long, seemingly one-man argument between the two. But that doesn't happen. In fact, Justice only shows up if you, as Anders's rival, manage to turn him AGAINST blowing up the Chantry. And then, only to railroad Anders back into the role of terrorist. This, combined with Justice's general lack of reaction to any injustice or violation of rights that DOESN'T have to do with mages, causes him to become little more than a cheap plot device. Now as to why I don't believe a properly written Anders would do it, either. Anders at this point in the story is a revolutionary, yes. He is passionate about his cause. But he is also MORE than that. And part of that 'more'-and also WHY he's a revolutionary-is that he was a victim of a controlling, emotionally manipulative institution. One that bombards people like him with all kinds of unhealthy messaging. Messages like: the outside world is guaranteed to hate you, your (unchangeable) nature is inherently wrong and sinful. As well as: you can't trust yourself at all, you are one bad day from being a monster, you need to let us control you for your own good. Anders probably saw more than one person like Keili-that girl in the Mage Origin who actively believes she's evil and prays to 'not be a mage'. He probably encountered a lot of mages with varying degrees of religiously based self-loathing. He probably had some himself. And he lived in the Ferelden Circle. He's also a person who not only left a toxic institution, but actively sees and complains about how toxic the institution is. People who've suffered from toxic environments/relationships and RECOGNIZE how toxic those environments/relationships were, tend to value healthy relationships/environments. They try and work on themselves to remove any lingering psychological effects of that toxicity. It is highly likely that Anders would NOT want to repeat the kind of emotional manipulation he and others were subjected to. While he might not agree with Hawke about methods, Anders would not believe guilt to be a good tactic because guilt is one of the very tactics the Chantry used on him! Guilt about being a target for demonic possession, guilt about what the magisters did, guilt about being a mage in general.

Guilting his partner into agreeing with him, is, essentially, him doing what the Chantry did to him. And if the writers had put any thought into his character, they would have realized that too. And thus, if they were smart, or and simply give the player the option to permanently decline the quest with no negative consequences. The other option is to lean into that, and purposefully make it a character flaw, that he's too blinded by trauma to see that. But the writers did NOT have the time to be able to successfully pull that off. Thus, yeah. They make Anders, who suffered from religious based emotional manipulation...into someone who emotionally manipulates his partners. Which is yet another thing done in the name of a less-than-stellar ending and plot beat. EDIT: I have removed the word "gaslighting" from my part of this meta owing to the fact that technically, Anders isn't gaslighting Hawke, because gaslighting is something different. Gaslighting being trying to make someone doubt their perception of reality, among other things. What Anders ACTUALLY does falls under emotional manipulation. Which I still don't believe a properly written Anders OR Justice would do, for the reasons stated above.

[starflungwaddledee]

do you have any tips for leaving compliments on other people's art ?? your tags are always so well phrased !

oooo oooooooooooooo uuhhhhhhhh hmmm!

firstly, thank you!! i'm rather glad to hear that! i try quite hard to leave meaningful comments so it's nice when folks notice or appreciate it!

outside of commenting on the work, i first consider the tone of what i'm saying and who i'm saying it to.

i always try to make sure that what i'm saying will be appreciated by the person! that's the point. for the most part i leave comments to bring joy to the op, and thank them for their hard work, for being here and sharing art that made me happy! if i'm speaking to a mutual or friend, there's gonna be inside jokes and probably an amount of casual yelling. possibly even a little friendly roast, if i know them well enough. if i'm speaking with someone i don't know as well i try to keep it a little more professional, but i keep in mind that this is a fandom so an amount of yelling and screaming is expected. i tend to think about what i would like from someone else.

also if i notice that a caption or a blogs about is not in english i double check. if english is not the first language of the artist i make sure to construct tags that are easily translated and i use only and exclusively positive phrases. saying things like "delete this!!!! /pos" or "eating my own hands" can be totally lost in translation. i also keep in mind the age of the OP. don't tag as though you're Looking Disrespectfully at the art of a minor, even if that's your favourite blorbo.

as for how to comment on art or storytelling itself, this is indeed a learned skill, and it can be helped by training your eye to understand different things in artwork. but it's easy to start practicing! this is intuitive to me now, but an easy way to begin is to pick out one or two things that really stand out to you on a piece. (examples could be line quality; is it smooth? neat? textured? full of emotion?, shading: is it crisp? atmospheric? realistically rendered?, or colour choice: is it vibrant? is it moody? is it perfectly on model?) and draw attention to them and how the artist successfully used them to make the piece work.

if the piece includes design-work, pick something of that which you like as well. (clothes, colour choices, abilities, parallels to other characters, totally new or unique concepts that you haven't seen before. if you see your favourite colour combos or notions, let them know, but if it's a stranger remember they made the design for themselves, and you just share (good) tastes!) if you really want to make an artist/designer/storyteller's day, try to find the Little Thing that they've snuck into their art or design that ties into the story or lore that they are telling. even guesses to this end tend to be appreciated!

generally useful things you can also comment on are how well an artist has utilised a medium for its strengths, especially if the medium is a little unusual. if someone @'d me in particular i make sure to acknowledge that too because they probably read me for something and i should acknowledge the effort!

another thing i also always, always encourage, is to try to periodically share and comment on the work of people who are either less experienced or who have less visibility than you. especially if you have more of a platform! if you want to keep your blog clean of too many reblogs for aesthetic or professional reasons you can even go through and remove them later, but sharing the work of smaller accounts- even temporarily- makes such a huge difference! and encouraging + supporting younger or beginner artists is something we should be endeavouring to do as much as possible!

at the end of the day, i always just try to be very earnest in my tags.

there is generally no reason to withhold any praises i can think of, because it's usually nice to have your work perceived and appreciated! i personally loooovvve long rambling tags, screaming tags, stuff like "AAHH NOOOOOOO (THE BLORBO)" and so on. i try to leave the kind of thoughtful comments that i like (and am lucky enough) to receive, and i try to share artwork from a wide variety of people!

[secret-tacos]

my response.

yesterday, i was ''called out'' by @deathmetalyaoi. i put that in quotation marks because OP has stated this is not a callout post, but a ''warning to people in the fandom'' in an effort to ''cut off the diseased tissue at the source'', positioning this as not only something good but necessary, justified, and righteous.

let's unpack that.

my ''ides of march'' event was not a ''most controversial dead dove'' contest, and implying as such is a deliberate misreading of the situation.

i don't actually have a copy of the original post, which has been deleted for over 3 months, so i'll be using this screencap from deathmetalyaoi to illustrate my point--

the explicit intent of the event was to promote and create dark content. i created this as a direct response to events like the christmas and valentines ones -- not because i had an issue with them, but because i wanted to see content that was more accurate to the dark and brutal show that i fell in love with.

deathmetalyaoi later posted a clarification which proved to be a deliberate misreading of the situation, moving me from ''aggressor'' to ''victim'' and misgendering me in the process--

i want to set the record straight -- the original prompt list was my idea and mine alone. this includes murder, gore, stalking, cannibalism, and torture, all of which are concepts that frequently happen within the show that we all claim to have watched.

when i was creating this event, i spoke with basu, who urged me to include nsfw prompt options, and insisted on having incest be one of the options, despite my reluctance. we have spoken about this, she has apologized.

shortly after posting the event advertisement, it was screencapped and posted in a discord that i was also in, where several people made baseless accusations about me (including that i was a pedophile, that i hated survivors, that my event was edgy and baseless and devoid of any merit), leading me to delete the post. several of those people are now liking and reblogging the original callout and using that as an excuse to pat themselves on the back for being ''against harassment'' and ''doing the right thing''.

deathmetalyaoi refuses to speak to me or ask me for clarification -- all they've done is throw around extremely serious accusations and play with people as if they're paper dolls. but, i'll bite. deathmetalyaoi is implying that i -- and the other people named in that post -- are bad people, while they, by contrast, are good.

so, who IS deathmetalyaoi?

deathmetalyaoi is a 22 year old person who claims to have DID -- a serious condition that real people suffer from -- with their primary alter being pickles the drummer from metalocalypse.

they frequently suicide bait, beg for money to escape toxic living situations, and then spend the money on luxury purchases before going back to begging for money.

they also like to go through people's blogs and find old receipts to hold over their heads.

and leave rude comments on fanfiction they dislike -- primarily of the explosiontooth/tickles variety, as they operate under the ableist assumption that toki, as a canonical age regressor and potentially autistic character, is a child incapable of making decisions by himself.

they also like to use their labels (primarily being trans and autistic) to label anyone who does not agree with them as bigoted.

here's another example of them begging for money and then misusing it -- they seem to have a habit of remaking blogs whenever people catch on.

they also make music labeled as lolicore -- this is a genre originating on 4chan which primarily gets its name from the sampling of lolicon porn. they claim the name is purely ironic and that using it does not make them a pedophile, which is correct. however, in the same breath, they also accuse triplefaggot of being a pedophile for drawing an au where toki and murderface are safe for work, fully clothed, unsexualized children, implying that simply using the word 'loli', even if ironic, is unacceptable and cause for cancellation.

to be quite frank -- this hurt me. i am upset. this is a show that brings me a lot of comfort, and several real life incidents occurring in close proximity have left me desperately in need of that comfort. i don't like the idea of having to walk on eggshells to avoid being raked over the coals by a fandom perpetually hyperfixated on the idea of ''moral purity'' -- the idea that wrong step can leave you irredeemable, and that it is your god-given duty to lambast this person for being impure, lest everybody else believe you, too, are Bad.

there is no such thing as a person without sin. the best people fuck up and make mistakes and don't think straight and act based on emotion all the damn time. you are never going to find your perfect fandom darling, and cultivating an environment where everybody is paranoid of being attacked for having beliefs that differ from yours is not only pointless, but specifically, objectively cruel -- you have accomplished nothing beyond making people afraid in a space meant to be about enjoying a cartoon and making a fool out of yourself.

i know that you aren't going to read this, @deathmetalyaoi, because you blatantly ignore anything that paints you as being incorrect. at the very most, you're going to make a text post about how people are being mean to you when all you want to do is think about nathan and pickles kissing sloppy style, and people will shower you in sympathy and pictures of kittens and puppies.

but i'll know, and that's enough for me. i'm not doing this to call you out, nor am i trying to warn people -- it's my honest response. you get what you give.

[offtorivendell]

Some Friendly Teasing...

🌸 Elain Archeron Week 2023, Day 2 - Sister and Friend 

This headcanon/theory is based on a few things:

This brilliant crack theory by @wingedblooms, and the subsequent thoughts reblogged by @ladynightcourt3, which posit that Elain may have shifting powers, and have taken the form of Balthazar in ACOSF's Blood Rite (the OP), as well as the priestess Ananke during Valkyrie training (the reblogs).

This corresponding crack theory by @psychologynerd, which hypothesises that Nuala and Cerridwen may be Roslin and Dierdre, two of the other training priestesses who are frequently seen with Ananke.

I highly recommend reading both theories by these supremely lovely and talented people, they make a lot of sense! But let's go...

Azriel’s presence helped. He now trained the newest recruits, quiet and gentle yet unfaltering, and if she didn’t know better, she’d swear at least two of the priestesses—Roslin and Ilana—sighed every time he walked past. - ACOSF, chapter 40

I can't think of anything more appropriate for a trio of besties than for two of them to tease the third - lightheartedly, of course - when they discover a crush. Now I know the names Roslin and Ilana don't match up exactly with Roslin and Dierdre, but this could be explained by one of a few things:

The wraiths don't always wear the same bodies, and at this point they were Roslin and Ilana.

Only one of the twins, as Roslin, was teasing Elain at this time, and Ilana just has good taste.

Ilana, which means "torch, beautiful, light, bright, shining," is Elain (or she was on this day, instead of Ananke).

In the beginning, Elain thinks she's slick, asking for information about Azriel, like his favourite foods, or whether he has any aversions. Nuala and Cerridwen see through her falsely casual interrogation in an instant. But hey, we all have to start somewhere.

I can just imagine the glee lighting up Nuala and Cerridwen's eyes when they realised for whom Elain was developing feelings. Their boss, of all people! Who they probably know well and have a fairly good relationship with after a few centuries of being his personally trained spies, so I anticipate Azriel will cop his fair share from them in an Elriel book, too.

Nuala may have suggested that Elain train as a way to improve her balance for stealthy walking (if she is Ananke then she was as bad as Nesta initially) and self defence, but she conveniently forgot to warn her that Azriel would be taking the other priestesses through their exercises, not Cassian.

Cue the silent snickers and not-so-subtle looks when his back is turned, and Elain's ever blushing face.

That's something she'll obviously have to work on, pipes in Cerridwen.

Elain doing her best to balance, planting her feet in the dirt, yet still toppling over, only for Cerridwen to accuse her of doing it intentionally when Az is looking the other way, saying that she just wanted Azriel's undivided attention.

And when Elain does finally begin to improve, Nuala will give her a teeny, tiny nudge, just to see if they can get her to falter.

And maybe blush some more. For spy training.

At which point Cerridwen will say, deadpan, that Elain may be great at keeping others' secrets, but she sure as shit wears her own on her face.

I am really and truly hopeful that we'll finally get to see the two spies who masquerade as Rhys' own handmaidens at home and abroad for who they really are, through the eyes of their good friend, Elain, rather than someone who doesn't know them well. I think they'll have a lot of fun together, and we'll also see them all open up about their pasts, and their hopes and dreams for the future.

@elainarcheronweek

[redwinterroses]

Random tumblr hacks and info:

if you are on mobile, you can fast queue or fast reblog by holding down the queue or reblog button and then swiping up to the little icon of your blog (if you have sideblogs, they'll show up as options.)

if you're on desktop, you can fast queue by holding down W and clicking the reblog button (it should turn pink when you press W) or fast reblog by holding down E and clicking reblog (should turn blue.)

you can edit tags now on desktop -- not on mobile yet, but if you make a typo in a tag on desktop, you can click into the tag and edit it directly instead of having to retype the whole thing

similarly, on desktop you can rearrange tags before posting by grabbing the # and dragging the tag into place. Can't do this on mobile. Yet.

You can blacklist both tags AND post content. In your settings, you can block any post that has, say #tarantulas in the tags, but if you REALLY don't want to see any of that you can add "tarantula" and "tarantulas" to your blocked content list as well.

op's tags are persistent. So if the original poster tagged it with #tw blood, you don't have to worry about tagging it before you reblog. It'll carry through. However it has to be OP, not the secondary person you reblogged from, and this doesn't apply to tags on reblogs. Those are just for you and your followers.

Only the first ~5 tags on your post are searchable on the site. Anything after that is fair game for subvocalizing, adding your own commentary, or screeching over lovely art.

The search function is garbage. But you can go to your blog and add "/tagged/tarantulas" to the end of the URL to (in theory) show (most of) the posts that have that.

A great way to edit tags (or find posts with specific tags when tumblr fails you) is tags.circumfluo.us/. This site is invaluable. You can search any tag you've used and replace it -- or click the hyperlink to go straight to the post. Did you just realize you've been tagging Martyn Inthelittlewood as Martin this whole time? That's your salvation right there.

You can make your posts unrebloggable and/or un-reply-to-able in the settings when you make the post (little gear menu at the top) and you can edit them to change those factors after posting.

Don't bother to edit a post once enough people have reblogged it: the one they reblog will remain as it was when they reblogged it, and anyone who reblogs from them will get that copy. You can change the original, but there's not much point as once it's out the gate there's no getting that horse back to fix a typo. (however, this can be used for jokes and bits. just don't bother doing it to actually FIX something lol)

save your brain and turn off infinite scrolling

Also turn off "recommended for you," "in your circles," and any other recommended posts, as well as setting your dashboard to reverse-chronological.

blocking means nothing. no one will be offended. do it liberally, it's freeing and very good for your mental health.

Your blog is your bedroom. Decorate it and make it nice. There's a million themes out there, but a good place to start is @theme-hunter -- this site still lets you directly edit the code of your theme, so go nuts.

You can turn off notification/message sounds in the settings. Do it. Save your sanity.

If you go to a blog's ask page, messages are limited to 500 characters. If you hover over their username in your dash, click the little meatball menu, and click "Ask" there is no character limit.

if you use the tag #tumblr, you'll get a phantom like on your post XD

There's no way to turn off notifications for something after you've posted it. Sadly. So if you have something blowing up your notes and you want to keep it but you DON'T want the notifications, reblog it once at a quiet time so not too many people reblog it from you again... and then delete the original post. Everyone who reblogged it still has it, it's just not sending you mail anymore.

There's a few more but this post is getting long so I'm just going to link the official tumblr "Lesser-Known Features" article

[babybells123]

I love how you’re like like oh I love all of the asoiaf girlies Arya, Sansa Dany but you only ever talk about Sansa and jonsa. Like why are you lying.

Hey anon :)

I’ve actually mentioned in that post that I talk about Jonsa and Sansa a lot more because those are the blogs that I primarily follow (and thus, they come up on my feed a lot more). Sansa is my favourite character, I think that’s pretty clear. But the reason I don’t post about Dany and Arya a whole lot (though I have reblogged about them, which I’m sure you’ve noticed as you seem to have obsessively scrolled) is because I have lots of arya and dany blogs blocked since unfortunately they tend to have sansa/Jonsa hate and I don’t really want to see that. I also mentioned in that post for anyone to recommend me some blogs that don’t foster sansa or jonsa hate, but no one responded with any so I just left it at that.

In any case, you don’t know me so I don’t know why this page bothers you. - I DO love all asoiaf girls - but I prefer to not interact with certain stans since negativity is something I’d very much prefer not to encounter :p I have an asoiaf TikTok where I post equally about characters, so there’s that. In that original pinned post, I had a j*nrya shipper come into my notes and essentially act very condescending towards me for shipping Jonsa. It left quite a bad taste in my mouth and was vitriolic for no reason, (and they actually blocked me when I provided reasoning + evidence which is …funny to say the least). I come onto tumblr to read metas , view beautiful fanart and edits, and converse with my *wonderful* mutuals. I do not come on here to argue, to hate, to bully, to provoke discourse - it’s just not in my nature and I’ll only speak on something if it’s presented to me unabashed or in my actual mentions. Otherwise I don’t venture into anti-tags and even just avoid pro - arya or pro - dany tags since I’ve seen lots of hatred to sansa and Jonsa on there and frankly ? I’m not interested. I’d love to follow some blogs that appreciate or are at the very least respectful about all these characters so if you can point some out to me lovely anon, that would be great :) It’s been a while since I’ve read a good arya or dany meta.

Now, in terms of characters - I believe I’m one of those rare asoiaf fans who are appreciative of all female characters for what they are. I’ve mentioned sansa, dany and arya are my favs - and this is due to complexity, nuance and the unique beauty and meaning to their stories. I enjoy them in different ways, and I appreciate them for different reasons.

To address the crux of your statement, which is relatively hateful, bitter, and condescending - I’m really not sure why you’re here? You seem the only person who has a problem with my page. There are numerous blogs dedicated to arya and/or dany. If you could read properly, my op post states that they are among my favourite characters *but I post primarily about Jonsa and Sansa for the reasons I stated above.*

I urge you to turn your biased glasses off and go back to your side of the fandom , where I’m sure you’ve come from just to …what? Hate? Call me a liar? (And I’m gaging its because I ship Jonsa and love Sansa…as is the pattern with these types of asks) in any case I have 40 followers on this blog, it’s a place for me to come share my thoughts on my most favourite book series of all time. I’m sick of people making assumptions about me when they don’t even know me.

Anyway anon, have a good day/night and perhaps follow blogs that you like and agree with!

🌹🏹

[gwyns]

The post by op talking about how Elain loses her newfound boldness when Lucien is around makes me laugh. What about when Azriel (and Nesta even though I love her) keeps making decisions for Elain and speaking up for her, when she has said that she doesn’t like that. Calling what happened a mistake to her face and hurting her feelings. Not encouraging or supporting Elain to do what she wants. Elain in SF is not happy or thriving. E/riel’s talk about how Azriel knows what Elain needs because he asked her if she wanted to look around the gardens in ACOWAR, but they fail to acknowledge that it was Lucien who first suggested it! Same with Cassian who first offered to rescue her from the camp, then offer his knife to her in the battle, and defended her from Amren in ACOFAS at the dinner table.

One of the reblogs from op came from an E/riel that said we know the bond is yadada because we know the Cauldron is corrupted by the Asteri. To question their mating bond would also be questioning Feysand’s, Nessian’s, Viv & Kallias, and multiple others. They just don’t want Elucien to be mates because they know Sarah loves her mates and that mates are endgame.

I’ve seen them compare that Elain & Azriel scene from Solstice to other couples from TOG & CC. And to me, that’s just not a good comparison. As if sex/lust = love, because it doesn’t. You can have a crush on someone without it being anything deep. And that’s what we got from Azriel. He spent a year planning for a snowball fight, but couldn’t think beyond the fantasies he pleasured himself to. We got no romantic feelings from him. Only lust and jealousy. Lust is no way as strong as a feeling to that spark that Azriel felt in his chest at the thought of Gwyn.

Reminds me of how they dismiss Cassian when he said that Night Court black sucked the life from Elain and say it’s not important, but her wearing cobalt blue is or that her scent of honey & jasmine is important, because jasmine is used a lot to describe the NC. They really do pick and choose what they want for when it suits their ship.💀

I’m convinced that most E/riel’s lack reading comprehension or haven’t been in an actual relationship.

despite claiming they care about elain, they don't listen to her, much like characters in the series. no one actually pays attention to elain, not in the way she craves. the only person who has shown that he actually hears her is lucien when he believed in her powers and vision so much he risked his life to find vassa. that's what she wants, she's just being an archeron and stubborn as hell

i can't remember who it was but someone brought up that everything az did "for elain" in acowar was first suggested or attempted by someone else. he didn't have one original thought when it came to her, he didn't understand what she needed or wanted and based on his bonus chapter, he still doesn't. elain wouldn't want him speaking for her or threatening her mate

newsflash! the cauldron has been corrupted. wasn't that like a major plot point in acomaf and acowar?? literally evil forces were using it for their own gain then, what's different now? oh yeah because it suits their narrative. the cauldron is just a tool for their god, the mother, it's very likely that she (aka sjm) is who decides mates. also like... even if not sjm will pull something out of her ass, if she wants it to happen, it will lol

i've said it before and i'll continue to say it, az in his bonus chapter was not romantic. that chapter was more so to show us his mental state than anything else. it showed us how envious he is of his brothers, how desperately he wants a mate and to feel like he's worthy of something. but of course e/riels deny that and say it wasn't about wanting a mate and he doesn't care, what did he mean by "what if the cauldron was wrong?" then?? that's clear as fucking day to me that he's jealous and wants that deep bond with someone. if he indeed didn't care, he wouldn't be questioning the bond

i'll forever be amused by e/riels saying that spark is evil when it's literally just az feeling a normal emotion. something elain clearly hasn't made him feel before, it's such a self drag that it makes me laugh everytime i see it

ok look cassian has never once commented on clothing to that extent, of course we'd have him describe nesta because hello that's his mate and he loves her but elain? my man spent a good chunk of time telling us how shitty she looked in that damn dress and it means nothing?? uh huh. whatever you need to tell yourself. they really do pick and choose which colors are important, and honestly the only one i see holding any relevance is her wearing night court black. it sucking the life from her is like sarah holding up a big sign saying: look here!

everyone goes on about different interpretations and such and i understand that is a thing but i'm sorry, not everything is up to the reader to decide. it's the author's job to tell us a specific story and sjm is and no amount of cherry picked "evidence" will change that

[tasmanianstripes]

Re that post about content warnings...

I suspect I'm the person you saw reblog this--and I think that some of the OPs original point/intention might have been lost. It is mostly to emphasize that there's some degree of responsibility on the reader -- by this I mean, you can't get mad at an author for hiding behind tags like "creator chose not to use content warnings." It's kind of a two way street. Because if you put "cw: (triggering thing)" it protects the people who are avoiding it--- but it also may spoil the story for the people who arent. This can be problematic if that major content is actually a huge plot element and having it spoiled kind of removes the shock reaction that comes.

I'm of the opinion personally that people can and should use creator chose not to use warnings and then just a vague "this is going to deal with problematic content that could trigger you; be in a good headspace to consume" type note at the start of its something specific. I reblogged because I really wish more authors would lean into that tag function; it exists to protect both reader and writer, lets us keep our spoilers and surprises while alerting the reader that There May Be Dragons here.

Anyway, I know you don't want discourse and I'm hoping this ask just clarifies why I reblogged it rather than sounding disrespectful in any way. If you wanna reply feel free, but you don't gotta. I just felt bad when I read your post, thought you might have misunderstood my intent behind the reblog, and really wanted to explain myself.

Oh no it wasn't from you, and I totally agree with you!

This is why I mentioned that option of AO3 too because I think it's a good compromise, it doesn't spoil the story but also makes it so people know there might be some potentially triggering things if you read it. When you click on that you kind of accept that risk.

I was more so talking about when there's no warning at all, not even "Hey this has some triggering stuff in it but I can't say what because that's a spoiler, read at your own risk", and my absolute frustration with it. If that is not what OP meant then my bad, but that post came off as also defending that, mainly thanks to the inclusion of the line (paraphrasing) "the author only has the obligation to add the trigger warnings the website they're posting to requires them to" which in cases for websites like Tumblr is none (or was none for a very, very long time (untagged graphic SA fics in the Moomins tags my beloathed)) and is generally a problem where websites don't really have filters like AO3. If it's only about AO3's option to not include warnings and an AO3 post that broke containment then I agree (and my bad also), because it's clear when there are triggering subjects and the author simply chose not to include them vs if there are no triggering subjects.

I still take issues with the wording even then though, though this feels like a nitpick and I generally don't like nitpicking people over wording they use. I'm just generally frustrated because it feels like the discussion of trigger warnings is about courtesy and comfort when treating it like it is is massively underselling it and feels like intentionally picking the words to trivialise the issue and making the people who need them out to be needy and nuisances. Trigger warnings are an accessibility feature, and I'm tired of people boiling it down to simply comfort of the reader, it feels like accessibility is always an afterthought and even a nuisance to some people to deal with. It's genuinely frustrating, and maybe my personal experiences affected my reading of that post.

Sorry if my post upset you also! I admit I was pretty frustrated when writing it so I wasn't the most polite. I totally agree with you here though.

[accessibleaesthetics]

i don't know how to get this out there so i'm sorry for sending it to you but since you reblogged it, crab day was started by a violent transphobe. the person who made the other 'crab day' post received hate mail about the whole terf thing but also responded with 'i do not have the same views as you' which is also heavily suspect. i'd love to actually support tumblr and keep it running but i do not trust the person who's running it at all

Disclaimer: I cannot verify the claims anon is making, please do your own research when it comes to TERF accusations, and even more research accusations of violence. Do not just take people's word for it.

Usually, I ignore anons like this, but I'm going to answer this one and I'll tell you why.

I know you are coming from a good place.

You didn't actually name names, and I just deleted the post in question from my blog, so if anyone cares to find out who the OP was, hopefully they care enough to fact-check your claims about them.

I can't actually talk about what I want to talk about without acknowledging that this is stems from someone accusing the "Crab Day" OP of being a TERF

So here's my take: I think bad people can make good points, and good people can make bad points. I don't believe in rejecting everything someone says based on an unrelated belief. However, you are also free to choose how to run your own blog, so if you ever seen an "event" like this crab day thing come from someone you believe to be a TERF (or otherwise someone else you disagree with), remember you can:

Start something similar yourself

Just just do the action (e.g., buy crabs for someone to support Tumblr) anyway without any fanfare

When it's just an info post, rather than an event, remember you can always share the info on your own post too! Don't let the source of something stop you.

[dm-clockwork-dragon]

Another Unpopular Opinion

I was asked to delete my earlier reblog by the OP, so they didn’t get sucked into discourse, so I’m reposing this as it’s own thing Well, here I go publicly stating another opinion that will probably get me cancelled. To be entirely fair, I’m sort of beyond caring at this point?

I think people need to calm their fucking tits - homegrown, surgical, or happily removed - over not just this game, but about HP stuff in general.

I’m a recently hatched egg, but I’ve considered myself non-binary for almost 15 years, and been an ally for as long as I knew what an ally was. I also have no particular love for the franchise, despite enjoying it a lot when I was a kid. That’s not virtue signally, or an attempt to defend my position - just letting you all know a little context, and that I do actually have a horse in this race.

I get it, I really do. JK is a fucking terrible person, and should burn in a thousand multicolored hells for the bullshit she spews and the hate she engenders in others. On top of that, she’s a shitty writer, to the point where she accidentally created an entire wizarding world where the difference between the good guys and the bad guys is just what flavor of Nazi you want to choose. But there’s a couple reasons I think that people really need to try and separate her from the franchise that she started.

1. Death of the Author.

This is the one that everyone else gives. It’s possible to enjoy, appreciate, or interpret a creative work in absence of it’s author or their intent. We do it with music, we do it with painting. and Like OP here points out: if we were to burn every book written by a problematic author, we would leave glaring wholes not just in our understanding of our own history and society, but in our understanding of how to avoid the same injustices and suffering caused by those authors. Dead or alive, the author’s right and control over who others interpret their work the moment they share it with the outside world.

2. You guys don’t know how JK makes money, do you?

I see all kinds of arguments out there about how engaging with, or - dare I even mention - paying for HP content is somehow a crime against transfolk because it directly supports a raging TERF and her platform. It doesn’t. Aside from the argument that JK makes all her money through investments and stock market trades - just like any rich person - She also DOESN’T OWN THE FRANCHISE. She retains intellectual property rights: AKA, she can write new books or shit if she likes (we have seen how that goes for her), and she is still treated as the primary source, but the IP and all production rights are owned by Warner Bros. JK doesn’t make a dime off of game, movies, or anything else that WB license or produce based on THEIR franchise. She already made her money by selling the franchise to them years ago. Honestly, she probably got the raw end of the deal at this point. At most, she might get some meager royalties that are eaten up entirely by the cost of paying someone to process them. That’s how publishing contracts and movie deals work - they are a fucking racket.  3. HP isn’t just something some people can throw away.

Like I said above, I sorta grew out of my HP phase, long before any of the issue of JK being a TERF ever came up. And I know that a lot of people who considered themselves fans have also willingly distanced themselves from the franchise in light of her shitty views and actions. But not everyone has that ability. To give you a different example: I grew up reading the Dune books. I finished the core series for the first time when I was 8, and have re-read the entire extended series more than a dozen times since then. It’s more than just my favorite book series, it’s a formative part of who I am as a person. So much of my beliefs and identity as a person have been informed or inspired by those books that I would argue it is impossible to truly understand myself without them. Hell - I’d argue the entire reason I started explore my gender and sexuality in the first place is because of the emphasis those books placed on the “Quisach Haderach” as the perfect fusion of male and female. Even if I were to verbally disavow the series for some reason, those books still define who I am today, and It would be physically impossible for me to separate myself from them Harry Potter is the same way for a lot of people. I think some of us loose sight of just how meaningful those books are to a generation. Not all of us - even within that generation - had the same connection, but for a lot of people who grew up reading them from the time they could turn a page, those books are just as formative and intrinsic to who they are as Dune is to me. they couldn’t separate themselves, even if they wanted to. And pissing all over someone for something they can’t change about themselves is exactly the sort of thing we are supposed to be fighting against! Same can be said of the bible, the Torah, the Quran or any other work that was meaningful and formative to a persons cultural upbringing. Even within the trans community, there are countless Christians, Jews, and Islamic followers. They make the faith their own, because it is an intrinsic and immutable part of who they are. If you are going to condemn Trans or Allies who can’t separate themselves form HP, then you are also condemning any Ally or Transperson who still practices or believes in some form of the religion the grew up with.  4. If we can reclaim slurs, we can reclaim this! I see so many of the same people who rail against HP, also writing or relogging posts about how important it is to reclaim slurs and other labels that have been historically used against us, and I agree. But that shit goes a lot further than just the names we have been called. Reclaiming something from those who would hurt you with it is like picking up the rock that was thrown at you, and saying “neat, this is mine now, you cant have it back”, as opposed to just kicking it back to the abuser so they can hurl it at you again. JK is a terrible person. which is all the more reason that we have a responsibility to take this beloved franchise away from her. She doesn’t deserve it, and as long as it remains in her power, she can continue to use it as a platform to hurt people. And this isn’t without precedent: Look at Butch Hartman, or Joss Wheaton, or Notch, or Gary Gygax. We have a history and a present filled with examples of taking beloved content away from shitty people a deciding “this is ours now, you can’t have it back.” We take those things that were or are important to us, and reframe them, re-write them, or reimagine them into something positive and supportive.  As an author myself, I know quite well how painful it can be to see your work taken away from you, and transformed by people who don’t share your vision. So lets hurt JK where it counts! Not in the wallet, not by railing against her on social media, but by taking away the one meaningful thing she has ever created in her miserable life. Because she doesn’t fucking deserve it.

[chordsykat]

I'm not defending the anonymous person, but maybe it would be easier to take the criticism that they didn't get their fanart done because your art is good and worth getting. The comics you draw are pretty close in feel to the show and it's alot like having an expanded universe, so people want to get art from you just like they'd want their character to show up in the cartoon. That's my two cents.

I almost didin't answer this one because I'm getting fucking tired of concerns about my character over my decision to draw some fucking free fan art every now and again, but two things up front:

I think it gives a good foundation to address a broader topic.

I appreciate your asking it with your account attached. Thank you for that, and I invite you to DM me if my response is something you feel you want further discussion on.

That said, and please don't take this as a personal attack: I disagree with your assessment on how I should take the wants and desires of my fellow fans (and again, I reiterate -- I am a fan like everyone else, here) with every fibre of my being. I've been an artist, writer, animator and developer with enough published and public work to my name to garner my fair share of fan interaction through the years, and "taking criticism" as you are writing about here, is different from being expected to cater to every request from every person every time without fail. Especially when I'm not the actual creator of the source-content and when it comes to the things I share on this blog and the Dethkomic blog, I am sincerely, honestly, truly, just some fucking guy at the end of the day.

I've said it before as a joke, for all the questions I get, but maybe I should also make it perfectly clear in a more serious tone:

I am not Brendon Small.

I'm really not. And if I was, in what universe would it be okay for folks to come on my blog and get mad that they didn't get a chance to have an idea heard because I simply didn't have time to take every request I got? How does the idea that I'm the one producing your favorite show somehow correlate to a built-in expectation that I should cater to the wants, desires, and wishes of everyone who enjoys the thing I'm making?

See how ridiculous that sounds? You can't stick a "well, you're practically making official content" label on me and then feel okay about holding me to a higher standard than you would the people making the actual show. Or, Jesus Christ, I hope you don't think holding the creators of your media (who are people, by the way) to such standards is okay.

For a while now, this has gone beyond the ask that went down, yesterday, which, in retrospect, I probably never should have even answered. I get a lot of troll messages on here, and I usually just trash them. But if you want to know what Dethkomic's greatest hits of troll commentary looks like, the breakdown is something like this:

"I think you should write (some character, some fan creation, some wholly different story) along with/instead of the thing you are writing about."

"I don't think you should have fan-characters at the center of the story like you do."

"I think (canon character) actually acts this way and I don't like it when you write them the way you do."

"(this character) is my baby and I hate (this character) for looking at them."

All of it, and I mean all of it, is usually presented in the same way. That Dethkomic is a work the troll enjoys reading, but... (insert grievance here). To anyone who has sent an ask like this, please consider the alternative: Write your own story. Because this is the one I'm choosing to tell. Dethkomic is fanfiction and won't be affecting the canon any more than anything you come up with will.

So, back to your original point, OP -- if I draw art of your character, or put them in my comics, or give a kudo on AO3, or nod in approval to a character you come up with, or reblog art you did, it does not canonize those things any more than me writing and sharing my own works does. It's fan content. It's all fan content. I'm glad you like my stuff and I'm flattered to hear you feel like it's semi-official, but it is you putting it in that space. I don't suddenly get a production team, thousands of artists, and a big payday from the networks because you think my stuff is good enough to warrant it, so please don't expect me to suddenly be okay with handing public relations the same way I would if I suddenly had all of that.

And this is the last statement I'm going to be making on yesterday's situation. I think too, I'll be taking a little hiatus from Tumblr until the next 'komic update on Tuesday.

Sorry for being quiet in the coming days, but I'm presently exhausted.

[olowan-waphiya]

from the river to the sea does not in fact refer to killing all jews in palestine… it originates from the PLO’s calls to create an arab state in mandatory palestine. this state explicitly included jews who had lived in palestine before 1947 (though this was later revised to include less jews, unfortunately). since then, it has been adopted by many people, including, at times, zionists, who use it to refer to an israeli state spanning from the river to the sea. this has sometimes been modified to simply say “west of the jordan river.” that post about antisemitism does make some genuinely good points, but a lot of people try to act like from the river to the sea is a violent call for the destruction of israel and/or death to all jews, but that’s just factually incorrect to how it was originally used and how the vast majority of activists use it today. i was unable to even find significant information on hamas using it violently but, again, they wouldn’t even be the originators of the phrase, since hamas wasnt formed until 1987.

no malice to op, but these talking points have been used to validate violence against encampments on the basis of “fighting antisemitism” despite the fact that there are large jewish presences at many of these protests. i just think it’s important to actually research these things when it could lead to violent arrests of protesters.

in reference to this post https://www.tumblr.com/brandnewjew/749698408464433152?source=share

thanks for speaking with me in a good way-- as i said in another ask about this same post; i'm trying to walk the line between supporting Palestine and not being antisemitic in the huge surge of information and discourse. this is unfortunately something i am still learning, and as someone who is from neither of these cultures i will occasionally err. but i really do appreciate all those who are patient enough to speak with me about the nuances that i might miss as a result. thank you.

oh and i am sorry for spreading something harmful, i know intentions don't make things better but genuinely my heart is with Palestine. I just don't want to also harm Jewish people bc I know there is also antisemitism abound.

I will do better. I've blocked the person I reblogged the og post from.

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

I just saw a very good post in the anti tag about the issues with the IC making Nesta dance with Eris, and the reason Im not reblogging it is that I think it has some pretty bad and wrong shit to say about Nesta, specifically her age

First of all, it leads with that godawful "the brain isnt fully developed until 25 (therefore youre actually still a child until your mid-20s)" talking point which is just wrong, like scientifically, the brain is never truly 'fully developed' because it never stops developing because past a certain point brain development has very little to do with your age and more to do with your personal experiences. Also, 'development' when we're talking about the brain is not synonomous with becoming more mature or improving somehow. Like, if you suffer some trauma thats going to affect your brain development in ways that have to do with your life experiences so far and with your material circumstances and very little to do with your age (unless youre an actual child who has less rights and less control over those things o guess)

The OP of the post goes on to be like "Nesta was turned fae when she was 24, presumably the way the cauldron turned her immortal is by slowing down her aging to an astronomical degree, which means that shes going to mentally be 24 years old for a long time after this, thus effectively making her a child for the next eternity" and then, presumably to legitimize the absolutely asinine argument that a 24 year old (previously) human adult could be a child in any world, they go on to say some shit about high fae not reaching maturity until theyre like 50 which Im prwtty sure is wrong

Like, SJM is a bad writer and a worse worldbuilder so everything about everything is just a big inconsistant mess, but as I understand it, high fae and illyrians seem to age like normal humans until they hit their mid-20s and then their aging slows down to an astronomical degree, the thing about fae aging slower is something said by Alis in the first book so it its either something that only applies to lower fae or its one of the many things that got retconned from ACOTAR to ACOMAF. In other words, fae would physically develop the same as humans, brains and all (not that that matters anyway, as ive already detailed in the previous paragraph)

The thing that kills me about this post, the thing that makes me call it very good except for this aspect, is that its primarily about the IC putting Nesta in danger by putting her in contact with a guy who, as far as they know, is a dangerous misogynist with absolutely no regard for her safety. Thats an absolutely horrible thing to do to an adult woman, especially one whos recovering from severe trauma, and there is no need to make it seem even worse by infantilizing her like that. Yes, thre is an age gap between Nesta and Eris which contributes to a pretty weird power dynamic, but ultimately the reason that dynamic skews towards Eris is that hes older, not that Nesta is younger. Eris is a guy who with centuries of life experience who is characterized as manipulative, who likely spent a big part of those centuries learning how to be manipulative in the most effective way possible, and Nesta is a normal adult woman, thats the issue here; not Nesta being a "child" and Eris being an "adult"