#they understand the art better than anyone in the fandom seems to.

[dueling-jesters]

I beg y'all to read the article I reblogged yesterday. I've never read something written about svs that displayed such a deep understanding of the comics as this one does. There's plenty of fantastic commentary in it, and many great points are made.

[elitadream]

Hi guys~! ⛅👋

Long time no see! Much longer than I ever intended, in fact. Truth be told, I wanted to make a public post sooner, but I've had a lot to catch up on in terms of notifications and messages since logging back in a few days ago. I've also made some changes that I will address shortly, but first of all I wanted to thank those of you who have reached out with so much care and understanding during my absence. Adjusting has been a slow and fragile process for me -still is-, and I sadly haven't responded directly to everyone yet because of it, but I wanted to say how much I appreciate your patience and support nonetheless. 🥹 🙏

Long story short, I was gone for five months due to a huge burnout, then progressively found my spark again somewhere along the way and have since mostly recovered. It was my wonderful friend @drones-of-innocence who reached out to me outside of Tumblr, and her sense of initiative is largely the reason why I managed to make this post in a somewhat reasonable delay. 😅💖 With that said however, I must also mention that I've deleted a lot of stuff from my page and have removed most of my work from the public eye as well. This may seem quite drastic and frankly a little unsettling, but I assure you that it was a thoroughly considered and reasoned decision! The thing is that I was still getting lots of notes on these drawings everyday and… To put it simply, I didn't want that anymore. 🙇‍♀️ Experiencing popularity was very detrimental to me in the long run and I needed to put an end to it for the sake of my own wellbeing; at least for now.

Which brings me to my next point.

After mulling it over for a while, I've decided that I would not be returning as an active creator in the Mario community this time around. 👐 Making fanart for this franchise (with such a high and continuously maintained degree of involvement) had a lot to do with my health's decline and I've come to realize that I wanted to direct my focus elsewhere going forward. For that reason, there are things which I know will never be repeated again in the future, both in regards to my art and online presence in general, but that's alright. Things change, as they do and should. I'm looking forward to reuniting with folks and would be very happy to stay in touch with those of you who wish to message me privately. Like my lovely pal @istadris said, what matters most about any fandom are the friends you make in it. ☺️

And speaking of which-

@ody-and-fanatu That's so sweet of you, thank you! 💗 I'm glad you've enjoyed my contribution to the fandom. It was fun while it lasted! 💫 My visual ideas may be gone from my page, but most of my written posts and replies are still there for anyone who wants to revisit those at least, so there's that! And I'd also like to answer some of the asks I still have in my inbox at some point. Knowing that you hold my art in such high regard makes really happy! 🥰 Unfortunately, the other account that I have is reserved for my professional work and I prefer to keep them separate from one other, but the good thing is that I intend to go back to this blog occasionally. Hoping to see you around! Cheers! 🥂

@heiressofdoodles Thanks, I appreciate that! ✨ I'm honestly doing much better than I was earlier this Spring. Back then, I was running on empty and on the verge of crashing without even knowing it. Being in constant physical pain was one thing, but feeling mentally and emotionally drained on a daily basis was another entirely, and something had to be done. It took me a moment to really figure out what was wrong, but thankfully I realized very quickly what was causing it and applied the breaks with all my might. One of my main priorities now is to be more alert and respect my own boundaries to make sure that this never happens again. 🥲

@keakruiser Thank you. 🙏💐 I'm just glad to have found my footing again. Feels good to be able to create freely.^^ Hope you're doing well too!

Special thanks also to @pianokantzart, @jelly-fish-wishes, @katlyntheartist, @triniji and @wahooitsamee for their kind words. 🫂 Your graciousness and consideration means a lot to me. 💝

As for all the nice people who sent me anon comments and well wishes, I tried to summarize my thoughts as best I could in this update, but if there's anything else you'd like to say or know, don't hesitate to ask me anytime! Now that I feel like myself again, I think I'm gonna hang out on Tumblr for a little bit. I'll be excited to see what you guys have been up to in the meantime! 🤗 Wishing you all a very good day and pleasant Fall. 🍂

-elita 🌸

[animationgirl89]

[MESSAGE TO THE MURDER DRONES FANDOM. 💜💀]

(Please Read)

Hello There!! So, with the Murder Drones Series finale now out and released I wanted to discuss this as I've seen many express their disappointment and even hatred for the series finale and have sent hate towards Liam and Glitch and it's just unfortunate and I feel this needs to be said and talked about. Alright, so everyone's allowed to feel however they feel about the finale and you're allowed to feel unsatisfied and even disappointed, but to send hate towards the team and creator and call them talentless or sending them hate won't solve anything and shouldn't be justified in the slightest, y'all need to be reminded and see that the series finale wasn't intended on being any longer than any other episode or series finale for other shows out there made by studios that are financially funded by huge studios. And I know y'all say, "ohhh!! But it felt rushed and unearned and the finale was terrible and awful and should have been much longer and an hour." Yeah, because an INDIE animation studio has the money for that...plus, I don't think some of you know how animation works and how much time it can be, animation takes so much time and for a Indie animation it's NOT easy in the slightest and also cost so much money, it's extremely hard but isn't impossible. Making animation is extremely expensive and time consuming to make and that's very hard and difficult, funding for a show, a INDIE animated show is incredibly hard especially when it's animating for a full season and that's why these studios sell merch to help them make their stories, to make their dreams come true and help create the shows, the stories they wanna make, every dollar and penny goes into making these shows a reality.

But some don't seem to understand how difficult and how much time animation truly takes and even understatement it which is unfortunate, animation is a form of art, animation is cinema. Animation is not a genre for kids and can be enjoyed by everyone, It Is a medium. People need to realize and see that, again you're allowed to feel how you feel about the finale and I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion, but harassing and trash talking the creator and the team isn't it and won't solve anything, everyone at Glitch worked extremely hard on this finale, they've been working on this finale for over A YEAR, some of you fans are honestly very ungrateful and awful especially for how you treated the creator and Glitch to the point one of the VA's had to tell you STOP, and I know all fandoms are like this..but some of you MD fans are fucking terrible and make this whole fandom look bad, and although I'm grateful to be in this community as I've met some incredible people and will forever love the show, this fandom as a whole (especially Mdtwt) is honestly kinda a hellpit and we honestly didn't deserve this show, some of you really took this show for granted and just didn't seem to appreciate it, appreciated the love, dedication and hard work that went into it and not to mention some of y'all hated on almost anything that's not Md and harassed Glitch and even other fans, again I'm thankful for this show and feel satisfied with the ending however I'm disappointed for how bad this fandom has gotten..I'm saddened and feel some in the community really took this show for granted and didn't really appreciate it, but as a whole I feel this fandom NEEDS TO DO BETTER and improve going forward, and should STOP mistreating both each other and harassing the ones who made the show, just please do better. ❤️

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for my fanart and how I responded to someone's negative reaction of it?

Okay so some background to start. I'm (genderfluid, 18+) in a fandom that was originally a book and got a live action adaptation several years ago. The adaption is MUCH more popular than the book series and honestly very different from it (a lot of characters have different backstories, the main character doesn't have a brother in the adaption, and ages were changed) but very few people have read the book series. (Admittedly, the fandom is not very big. It's actually the smallest one I'm in, which means I'm kinda limited in the number of people to interact with) Anyways! I'm in a discord (it's 18+ tho I don't know the actual ages of anyone else involved) for this fandom and although they promote themselves as being for both book and adaptation fans, according to the roles I am one of five people of the 40+ people in the server who have read the books, so that's not a lot.

Now, for Valentine's day I made fanart of the main couple, the mc and his wife (they get married in the series. In the books they are already together in the beginning but the adaption wanted drama and decided to not have them be together in the beginning. One of the changes that I very much do not like.) They're the most popular ship in the fandom. I love them. Anyways, I shared it in the Discord for Valentines and did not get a nice reaction.

See, in the books, both characters are white, but in the adaptation the wife is black. (The mc looks different in the adaptation too, shorter and with different hair and eye color, but he's still white) I drew the book version, because that's what I like. They're my blorbos.

Another person in the server took MY art and recolored it so that the wife was black and posted it in the server with a comment about whitewashing characters of color. I told them that I didn't whitewash her and that it was really fucking rude to edit someone else's fanart. They replied that she was black, I was racist, and posted a screenshot of a Google search asking the race of the actress who plays the wife in the adaptation. I replied with a screenshot of the her books' fanwiki page and said that my fanart was of the books and if they wanted fanart of the adaptation they could make it themself. They asked how they were supposed to know it was from the books since nobody read them and they were shit. I replied that they could realize the mc AND his wife looked different, that I read the books, and they were better than the adaptation, and how would they know if the books were shit since they obviously hadn't read them?

Anyways then the mods stepped in and made us break it up. One of the mods (the only one to have read the books) dmed me and told me that they understood my frustration and that another mod was talking to the person I had been fighting with about respecting other people's work but I needed to understand that assuming I was racist and whitewashing wasn't going to be uncommon since the books weren't as popular as the adaptation and I needed to be respectful when people confronted me with this. I replied that if the other person had confronted me directly and not just assumed the worst and edited my work I would have been more respectful. The mod agreed that the other person was out of line, but the whole thing seemed to be one giant misunderstanding so neither of us were getting strikes against us this time.

Anyways, the mods added some rules about not editing people's work and a thing in the announcements channel explaining the differences between the books and the adaptation but everything in the server has been really tense especially since people in the server started vague posting on Tumblr, some people favoring me others favoring the other person. I blocked the person I fought with on Tumblr but neither them nor I were involved in the vague posting.

(also idk if it matters but I'm white, idk the ethnicity of of anyone else involved)

So! Tell me, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[cursedvibes]

There's something about Mahito hate that makes people forget any fandom etiquette they might've ever known. First there's someone telling Mahito/Junpei shippers to die, tagging every possible version of this ship and spamming the tags, simply because a post of that ship appeared on their For You page. No shipper even interacted with them. The algorithm just showed them a post they didn't like and they thought the reasonable response here is to wish for people to die because they have other taste in media. I'm not invested in that ship either, but then just blog the ship tag if it bothers you so much and move on? The fuck is wrong with these people and why do they think they look better here than the ones just minding their own business. That post was clearly not meant for you. You will have to deal with the fact that you'll see people with different interest on the internet.

And now you have again someone who not only reposts art without credit, but then shits on the artist because they drew Mahito happy and with flowers. Which is apparently bad because Mahito is a bad person and therefore you can only depict him with blood and guts I guess (except that's problematic) and anyone who depicts him as "cute" or whatever must not know who he actually is. They don't seem to understand the fundamental concept of what a "fan" is.

Villain fans and people who ship unhealthy stuff exist and have existed for a while. I don't know why people have such trouble wrapping their head around it when Mahito is involved. Nobody is saying you have to like him or any kind of ship, but then just block/mute what you don't like and move on? Just let people do their own thing? Not everything is gonna cater to you. It's not like anyone is getting hurt, so who cares what character someone likes.

[yourstruly9489]

What is your OC passionate about?

I've seen stuff to help develop characters that's asking questions about them, eg. What do they want more than anything? What is their greatest fear? What are their dreams? etc. I've always had trouble with these for some reason. Possibly because they seem so impersonal to me, despite being directed at a person. But I discovered something the other day. I love crossover fics, and I sometimes imagine my own OCs going into a fandom I like. Because of this, and my recent interest in Ride The Cyclone, I found a way that works better for me.

Ride The Cyclone is a musical about six teens who died in a tragic roller coaster accident. A mystical fortune-telling robot, whose name is Karnak, somehow has the ability to bring one person back to life. He takes the six teens, Ocean, Constance, Ricky, Noel, Mischa, and Jane Doe, to a sort of purgatory. In this purgatory they are to decide which one of them comes back to life. Each character, excluding Karnak himself, sings a song about themselves so that they can judge amongst themselves who should be brought back to life. But they don't exactly sing about their actual lives, instead they sing about their passions. In the words of Karnak, "Tonight I wish to give them the chance to express not what they were perceived to be, but what they dreamt they were."

Ocean sings about what she's passionate about first: Wanting to be on top, first place, the best. She sings how she's better than everyone else. She sings how the world needs more of her, and less of others.

Noel is next. He sings about the art movement Romanticism, he is the most romantic boy in town after all. He sings about wanting to be a female hooker in post-war France. He sings how he wants to live a life of sin, to burn himself with cigarettes, to die in an alley. He wants to experience a tragic life, not just the good, but the bad.

The next to sing is Mischa. A boy from Ukraine who lost his mother to radiation poisoning. He starts by singing about his facade, a gangsta. He raps about how everything is awesome. How he's awesome. But then he breaks out of that character and sings about his true love. Of which is his fiance, Talia. He devotes himself to her wholly, singing with passion.

Next is Ricky. A boy who was mute and physically disabled his entire life. He was often avoided in life, with his parents and cats being the sole exceptions. He sings about an escapist fantasy. He sings about himself in a sci-fi world, sent to help the race of the cat people of Zolar. How he helps save their world from extinction, and becomes famous in history. He sings about being known and loved.

Then there's Jane Doe. The one unidentified victim of the Cyclone accident, she lost her head and no one knows who she was in life. She sings about how she doesn't understand. Why she couldn't remember her family, her friends, her name? Why can't anyone remember who she is. How she'll be eternally forgotten and how everything will eventually join her in death. She sings about not understanding why.

Finally is Constance. No one really knew her well, she was only known as nice. She sings how she used to think that her life sucked, and howit only got her down. Then she goes into how wonderful she realizes life is now that she's lost it. She sings about loving the life she used ashamed of.

All of them sing about their true passions. Without the fear of being judged, they're all dead anyways, no point in being self-conscious. Then imagining my own OCs in that situation, with no consequences for expressing themselves, really helps me deep-dive into their characters. Reframing the question "What are they passionate about?" Into what would they be like in this specific situation I'm familiar with?

So I think of my OCs and what they would sing about. For specifics, I have three OCs I've been working on recently.

Left to right they are: Henry Robinson, Victor Shelley, and Mary Robert. Their story is very much about wacky mad science and creating life where there was none. Definitely inspired by the idea/story of Frankenstein.

When I imagine what they would sing about in a situation with no consequences, just a chance to truly express themselves, I understand them far more than I would with just generic questions.

I imagine Henry would sing about his triumph in creating artificial life, he'd sing about how he's going to be known all across medical history as the man to prevent death. He'd sing about how betrayed he felt when Victor abandoned him. He'd sing about how he deserves more. Victor would sing about his grief. He would sing about how stricken he is at Henry's blatant ignorance of the laws of life and death. He'd sing mourning the lives lost in this pursuit of life. He'd sing about his care for others. Mary would sing about her lack of understanding. How she was brought into a world, not through love, but through science. How she woke up in a lab with only Henry there to help her, a man who is only using her for his own gain. How she doesn't understand why she couldn't have stayed resting in a grave. She'd sing about her confusion.

With just the question, "What are they passionate about?" I think that Henry's passionate about science, Victor's passionate about his disregard for Henry's actions, and I wouldn't even know about Mary. But with the question, "What would they do/sing about if there was no fear of consequences?" I come up with so much more.

And so, I ask you, dear reader. What would your character rant about, if only there were no fear of being judged?

(watch Ride The Cyclone, it's great)

[thatneoncrisis]

I was just catching up on your most recent fic after a busy week and saw your AN and came here looking for more clarification.

I guess I don’t understand why you felt the need to take it upon yourself to write something that you knew would get the attention of the people you were satirizing. Your whole stance on fan fiction (based on your own personal statements in both your asks and your ANs) seems to be that if people aren’t doing it the way you personally like, they shouldn’t be doing it at all. You keep saying you want people to just talk to you about it but why should they when you haven’t extended that gesture to them?

Also it’s very odd of you to be speaking for an entire group of people you yourself do not identify with. To what end exactly? So you can pat yourself on the back and tell yourself you fandom correctly while everyone else doesn’t? Did someone come to you and ask you to advocate for them? It just doesn’t make sense why you felt like this was your responsibility to correct or something.

It kind of reeks of moral (and fandom) superiority, like you’re just doing the most to educate people (which is. Not a thing we need in fandom spaces) and keep them on your straight and narrow instead of letting fandom works be what they are which is, for most people, a fun, exploratory way to engage with the source material. Your GOTCHA attitude towards readers who were enjoying your “bland” fic was very shocking. It does come across like you just want to embarrass people who enjoy those types of stories and tropes and make yourself feel enlightened and better than them because you thought outside the box.

I don’t know. The idea of using these tropes as a tool to spring “THIS WASN’T REAL” on readers is fun but I think it would have been much better if you hadn’t actually been making fun of other people. That kind of spoils the whole experience of your fic. I’ve been a fan of your writing and art for a long time and I do genuinely understand the desire to have people write more of what you want to see/write things that feel more in-character, but the approach here is confusing and off putting and it’s pretty disappointing to see you openly hurt people just because you like dicking around and can’t just scroll past stories/ideas/headcanons you don’t agree with.

Anyway I doubt any of this will change your mind about what you did and I doubt you’ll even care about what I have to say about it. It’s hurtful and upon deeper inspection and reading and rereading the fic and your AN and asks, I’m pretty sure I’m one of the intended targets. This is kind of word vomit at this point as I try to get my thoughts out but you asked for the people you were criticizing to reach out so here I am. Discouraging and disappointing but I hope you found what you were looking for I guess.

see thats like. completely antithetical to the point ive been reiterating for like a week. i CANNOT stop anyone from writing and i dont want to this is not the take away and it never has been. if they want to write fifteen fics like that to spite me then good on them i really just

cannot keep saying enough that i dont want anyone to STOP writing. this was just me kind of screaming in the dark because i see the exact same patterns repeated over and over. you should never ever stop creating because some fucking nobody is frustrated with the content produced en mass for free as a hobby. there is no actionable Thing that can take place here i cant stop anyone from writing any of this i just kind of wanted some people to Think about what they were reading. ive gotten messages from people saying they didnt like the initial tone of the story before chapter 4 but kept reading it because they were desperate for content. thats nuts to me! but i also understand that those people just have very little to choose from. if anything i want MORE people to write

like i keep saying again and again i do not want and cannot stop anyone from writing whatever they want. im not your mom! and to a certain degree, this did come out of nowhere there was no big thing that set it off, it was just me being obscenely frustrated.

and what i am REALLY frustrated about is how presumptuous youre being! i do feel bad that i hurt people and i decided basically a day after i posted the chapter i would never do something like this ever again. theres just too much room for misinterpretation. you are actively reading me as malicious like we can just talk in dms. "im so disappointed in you" YOU DO NOT KNOW ME. THAT is the shit that is getting to me youre acting like i am incapable of acknowledging how i know this fic could have been interpreted. its up now i made my bed im not going to plug my ears and pretend a public vent wouldn't catch people unawares. i am no stupid and do not treat me as such

i am actively choosing not to post most of the asks i get in FAVOR of this because they are dumping on the kinds of fics i dont even necessarily like and i think that's just adding on. again this is why i spoke about braid tropes used, shit that could basically be applicable to any fandom, and not a particularly fic. i didnt want to go into someones comments or dms and say hey! your fic is personally, to me, bad and hard to read, might you explain yourself? like theres nothing TO explain its aet it just exists how it is. there was no nice way of doing this kind of thing, but itd be so sweet if people didnt call me a friendless clout chaser and do some "you'll never work in this town again" shit.

[dextixer]

The hypocritical Woobification of Raven Branwen

I dont think it is a secret to anyone who has followed any RWBY discourse, that female characters are treated VERY differently from male ones in the wider fandom, especially in regards to the morality of their actions. I dare anyone who wishes to enter the words like "Raven" "Ironwood" "Adam" "Cinder: and the like into the search bar of websites like twitter and even Reddit to some extent. What you will find more often than not, besides fan-art and porn are discussions about these characters.

After browsing through these discussions one can quickly notice a pattern. Ironwood and Adam are either demonized or have complicated discussions surrounding them. While characters like Raven and Cinder, while having their detractors mostly have discussions focused on shipping or on justifying/excusing their actions.

Raven Branwen is of course, the most iconic example of this.

Raven Branwen in Canon

In the canon of RWBY, Raven Branwen and her brother Qrow both hail from a bandit tribe. They were sent to Beacon to learn how to kill hunters where they learn the values of family and friendship, with team STRQ becoming close. Raven even marries Tai, her teammate and has a kid with him, then ditches him with the child and leaves Summer to come into the picture while Qrow remains an eternal bachelor.

It is revealed to us that Ozpins tendency to keep secrets is what lead Raven to losing trust and leaving the side of good. That, and feat of Salem who she knows is immortal and thus cannot be killed directly.

She returns to her bandit tribe and becomes a bandit queen, killing entire villages for loot and plunder. One of which we can see in the show.

Her becoming a bandit is not something that was thrust upon her, she was not forced to do it or anything of the sort. She chose to do it under her own volition.

Her only "redeeming" point is not being allied to Salem and having a "I will save you once" rule with those she knows and nothing more.

And yet...

Raven Branwen in Fanon

If we were to follow the most common discussions of Fanon then Raven is a tragic lesbian who could never be with Summer, a mother who understood her limits and wanted her daughter to have a better life than with her and who was forced into the position of providing for her tribe and had absolutely no choice but to raid villages for survival of her poor tribe.

If people arent thirsting over Raven herself and or her "romance" with Summer then one can always find many excuses and people calling her a "tragic" and "understandable" figure. They will say that "Shes not perfect" and things like that when in reality, Raven Branwen is just a straight up evil person in the story. Complicated? Yes. Evil? Also yes.

Her only saving grace is that most of the time she is not an antagonist. And she is not related to Salem and in fact would oppose her if she wasnt a coward. And yet, her actions, her being a literal murderous bandit seem to be ignored by a lot of the fandom.

The same fandom that will give shit to Ironwood for bringing 3 airships to Vale and calling it a "military occupation" and Adam wanting to blow up a train (with its crew) will then turn around and pretend that Raven killing innocent villages for shits and giggles on her own volition never happened.

They will cry about how Ironwood and Adam never deserved redemption! How they are deeply evil and have always been deeply evil people, while convincing everyone that Raven is perfect for redemption and was just "forced" to be a bandit queen.

The hypocricy of the RWBY FNDM is staggering, but not news.

What is worse however is how Raven is seemingly receiving the same if not even faster way of redemption that Emerald has. By now most people have probably seen both the RWBY:Beyond first episode and of course the ending animatic. And who else is there in Vacuo if not Raven. Shes just there. Like she just belongs amongst the heroes despite being a literal BANDIT QUEEN.

Despite Ironwood and Adam turning evil they had a good cause at the end of the day. A cause they wanted to fight for.

And instead the people praise and want the redeption of a terrorist who worked for Salem and a literal bandit queen, both of whom did the things they did out of selfish needs? Seriously?

Whats worse is that it seems that CRWBY is more than okay with that. It seems that this is at least currently one of their goals. Which to me is just staggering.

Conclussion i guess

Sorry for the ranty nature of this post. I know that im preaching to the choir but i just needed to get this out of my chest after seeing 10000000000000 posts about Raven and Summer fucking on twitter. Because yeah, THATS Ravens most identifying feature, being a girlkisser. After fucking years of being called a fascist and a bootliker for simply saying that Ironwoods heel turn was shittily done and that SOME of his plans were good it fucking maddens me to see people simp for a literal BANDIT QUEEN without push-back.

[jmdbjk]

Not the usual ...

Hate'll paralyze your mind Gotta see the other side It costs you nothing to be kind Not so different you and I Looking for love in a different light Until we find that equal sign ~~ j-hope

I am not sure how to start or if I can even touch on everything that's going on in my mind and what follows will probably be disjointed, messy and all over the place.

When the concept of "fandom implosion" was set in front of me, I was skeptical (my middle name), "no, that most likely won't happen."

Me: "Army are pretty cohesive, we are mostly smart, critical thinking humans who can spot the bullshit a mile away and we are resilient enough to carry on."

Remarks such as: "you don't need to announce your departure from the fandom, just go!" accompanied by "the fandom needs a cleansing" and "slough off the ones who are not here to support BTS" and each time, we move on believing we are stronger, better and will persevere.

Yet, every week that goes by since that concept entered my BTS mind, it seems that there is something else that furthers the process of this *now obvious* fandom implosion that is occurring before our eyes.

This stuff going on today in Korea, the wreaths in front of the Hybe building, the trucks, the relentless negativity supposedly FROM K-ARMY is downright disappointing and disheartening. They said for I-Army to let them handle it.

But this is not it y'all.

You have played right into MHJ's hands in sowing negativity in the general public and korean news media. Most concerning to me now: my trust in K-Army has faltered. I know K-Army is not a monolith, just as no faction of the fandom holds more weight than any other, but damn, these people have the attention of their general news media and now they have to deal with the consequences.

Hybe put out a statement about the status of legal proceedings and the statement included an apology to Army. THEY APOLOGIZED TO US, THE FANDOM!

But obviously, that wasn't enough.

I am Army and know all the details of what has happened and is happening and I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE LOGIC OF RELENTLESSLY BEATING UP HYBE, I am confused as to what's happening. What makes anyone think the general public and news media will dive deep enough to understand all the details and nuances?????

Can this also be the work of the organized, paid antis? Yes, it could, but some of my trusted K-Army accounts on X are also supporting this mess. WHAT THE FUCK ARE Y'ALL THINKING???

Maybe I'm too American to understand the logic behind what's happening over there. Or maybe its just my nature to always think beyond the action happening to what the aftermath might look like.

But tell me, exactly WHO and exactly WHAT company are we to have faith in for BTS if not Hybe and BigHit? Tell me who? Just cut the group loose and then what? Let them get eaten alive by the media, the general public, every other fandom and hater? Force them to focus on rebuilding their own careers? Force them to have to rebuild another company? How does that support them? How does that protect them? Do you think another company will instantly materialize to pick up the pieces? If you do, you are truly living on another planet.

They should be focusing on their art, not on any of this.

It is usually easy for me to reassure myself that "this is only happening on X/social media," and mostly removed from the real world. But not this time.

The most heartbreaking thing about it all is NONE OF THE MEMBERS can refute, debunk, rebut or speak on this on their own behalf. They are being raked over and over again and there is nothing they can do except carry on. RM doing his best at promoting. Jimin and Jungkook just serving their country the best they can. Jin coming back not into loving arms of his fandom but the ashes of what we once were. Yoongi... my god... I can imagine the cyphers pouring out of him this very second... but he must be silent now.

I am here to support BTS, all seven members. As soon as Namjoon's single was available again on the BTS store website, I bought it. I will buy the song on Apple Music and Amazon. I plan to march over to Target on the day of the album's release to buy it. I can't wait for shipping, I must have it immediately. I have done this with every member's release.

I want to wake up and this be a bad dream. I am certain all the members do too.

My apologies for this very negative post but damn, I had to get it out of my head. Individually, we each have a limit. I am going to recharge my BTS batteries so I can fight another day in what's left of this crazy fandom.

No truer words spoken: Being a fan of BTS, being ARMY, is not for the faint of heart.

[lola-andheruniverse]

Caryl Fanfiction Recs - Celebrating single-fic authors (part 1)

Happy Sunday, dear fellow carylers! Today I bring you the first part of a list that I have been preparing for some time.

Every fandom has its big stars: incredible gifmakers who everyone recognizes their work from a distance; amazing artists who draw fanart and edit fanvideos that deserve to be in a museum; and talented and prolific fanfic authors who are better storytellers than the actual canonical writers/creators. All of them deserve all the praise and love in the world, but, in reality, even the most popular ones don't get the feedback they truly deserve. Now, what about those fans who only create one thing for the fandom? Just one art, one video, one analysis, one fic? Where are the compliments for them?

So this list it's a way to rectify that for single-fic caryl authors. I hope a little bit of love reaches them wherever they are. Thank you for contributing to our fandom!

1. Wait by acaryler [ 9Lives ]

Summary: A new day only begins when the darkness goes away.

Rated: G

Word count: 814

Published: February 22, 2017 (one-shot, contains character death)

2. This is Who We Are by CarylLover [ 9Lives | AO3 | FF.net ]

Summary: Aaron is badly injured and, after the attack of The Wolves, the group at ASZ is left vulnerable. Daryl needs to go out to find more people, but he can't go alone. He chooses Carol to go with him. This time together will revive some painful memories for Carol and confessions will be made. But will they only come from Carol? Does Daryl have a dark secret too?

Rated: M

Word count: 10.490 (05 chapters)

Published: May 31, 2015 (complete)

3. Weeping Statue by Evilangel [ 9Lives ]

Summary: She watched silently from the shadows.

Rated: T

Word count: 151

Published: January 22, 2016 (one-shot)

4. Contently Broken by FloraDora [ 9Lives ]

Summary: Following the deaths of Beth and Tyreese, Carol's concern for Daryl grows as he continues to distance himself from the group, clearly struggling with his grief. Carol attempts to reach out to him which results in a very emotional encounter.

Rated: T

Word count: 1.410

Published: March 17, 2015 (one-shot)

5. We belong by Ithil [ 9Lives ]

Summary: Daryl helps Carol to start healing after the events of 5.16. Inspired by Ryan Adams' song I love you but I don't know what to say.

Rated: T

Word count: 1.622

Published: June 24, 2015 (one-shot)

6. Doors by @jtsbar [ 9Lives | AO3 ]

Summary: Daryl before he opens the door.

Rated: T

Word count: 513

Published: August 16, 2014 (one-shot)

7. Felicity by Lesoni [ 9Lives ]

Summary: He hoped that she would understand him like she always seemed to do. That she was his woman-his Carol. The woman that he'd learned to love more than he loved anyone else-especially himself-because it had been her that had shown him how much he was actually worth. He was trying to give her that back. He damn near worshipped her, and she needed to know that.

Rated: E

Word count: 2.787

Published: April 23, 2016 (one-shot)

8. New Habits by LouWho88 [ 9Lives ]

Summary: Daryl and Carol have stuck with their usual habits while becoming roomates in Alexandria even as their relationship has been growing. However, on this particular morning it seems as though Daryl has developed a new habit and Carol hope it sticks. 

Rated: T

Word count: 1.238

Published: May 02, 2016 (one-shot)

[yuikomorii]

You just take the words out of my mouth, girl! I was thinking too how this franchise is just dying little by little.

A lot of creators I followed left their blogs 'cause they, of course, didn't find this franchise interesting or worth to work on anymore. And I don't blame them given that the only thing we get nowadays is merch. And merch can be cool, yes! But can we compare it with a games, CD's or even the manga. If this fandom is still alive is thanks to people like you, the fan artist, the fan writers, the oc's blogs still outside there that keep on with their incredible creativity, even better sometimes than Rejet story writers!

I feel a bit sad that all of this is happening. I mean, of course it would happenin someday. But as I discover this fandom really late I feel like I had lost the best moment of life of this!

As you said, DL has still a lot of possibilities to still be alive. And I hope that would be the case! I really hope so.

To end this infinite papyrus, thank you for the hard work on this blog! I enjoy every line you write (your analysis more than everything) 💗

// I felt this so much! I can’t deny that I’m sad seeing people leave or take a break from the fandom but I totally understand the reasons behind their choices. At first, getting merch was exciting, and I loved seeing fresh official art, but now it seems like they're just recycling and releasing too much, which takes away from its appeal and originality. I pre-ordered the Yui acrylic stand that was launched a few days ago, but in all honesty, it looks like something that anyone could make in under two minutes using Picsart, lol. In addition, even with the VAs scandals, I think there are more effective ways to promote the franchise than simply impulsively producing more and more merch, especially if it’s overpriced or kuji (lottery).

Although I feel like I don't feed the fandom as much as I once did, I'm glad to see that there are still few active blogs that are making a difference. I should also acknowledge my gratitude for the ongoing support; comments like this truly encourage me to keep posting. 🥹🫶🏻

[queenimmadolla]

Ok not to kick this up again, but a few of the people that rbed your post/ask answer about how it’s not just about the art/fics white people create, but also poc artists need to step up and draw poc people, are white people/white artists and i really can’t help but feel some type of way about it. Esp bc they didn’t like or rb your other posts speaking up about racism FROM white creators in this fandom AND some had also recently supported a friend of theirs that had attacked a poc person after they pointed out how white centric this fandom is. This is the type of coded behavior in this fandom that makes me so uncomfortable. I see what people support and don’t support. Like ma’am you won’t rb posts about racism and inclusion that’s addressing the white people like yourself but you’ll rb a post saying poc people in this fandom need to do better to make it inclusive? I see you. And this isn’t at ALL about what you said, I understand your point entirely, it’s about THEM and how they move.

What you said does have validity to it and I think itss something that should be addressed, though I am gonna hit more on things I’ve noticed, because there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes. As in interactions with my account people think I don’t see because they try to undo it quickly or hope I don’t notice.

Also, if you’re referring to the stuff that happened the week before last, it was amongst two POCs. Both are people of color which is why I stressed in my previous heavy hitter that we have to try understanding each others’—once again talking about within the POC demographic—viewpoints and where we’re coming from because it was a misunderstanding that seemed to spiral. Most of it occurred when I was not active on tumblr, so I can’t say much about it, but I do think that needs to be cleared up, because it wasn’t a white creator attacking a POC person. Misunderstanding. I’m not ignorant enough to say all POCs get along in the world, but people seemed to think it was a white person vs POC and that’s not the case. Onto the rest of it:

I noticed a couple people liking and then unliking my posts about the racial issues, though my last post received more engagement. I’m happy my point was made, because it is a serious issue within the POC community but so is the blatant racism and ignorance (as in actively ignoring it) when I talk about white creators purposely excluding people of color, and this is obviously not just amongst POCs.

It didn’t get a lot of reblogs or traction, but it got more than those other posts (this one will also follow in the lack of interaction), and POC readers see that. We see everyone agreeing with that point, being like YES!! POCs need to be more involved if they want representation, preach!! and then we see even more people being like OOP, she’s talking about white creators needing to not exclude people of color? Let me pretend I didn’t see it, scrolllll. Or even unfollow (which yes, I notice)💀

if you can reblog me saying not to hate on artists for drawing themselves in their fanart as the race they are, then you can easily reblog me telling white creators not to intentionally leave POC out of something that is meant to be a Reader (as in ANYONE reading it, including people of color) insert. same applies to other white creators who speak up about it, I notice their other posts get interacted with a lot more than the one in which they speak about the issue. and clearly, I’m not the only one who notices. it’s telling.

I’m not implicating everyone who reblogged that post, I’m aware some of you didn’t even follow me until then and some of you did reblog my other posts and some of you simply agreed with my point right then (I’m talking to the POCs specifically with that last post—that wasn’t a Dear White People post, it was to other POCs, but again, that got more interaction than anytime I address white creators—and yes, I am aware it’s not all of you—which shouldn’t be the case given how the majority of the fandom is white).

if this post makes you feel guilty, makes you wanna scroll past it and not think about how you wanna stay mum on the subject, you may want to think about why and how privileged you are to even be able to do so in the first place. we should all feel welcome here and there’s always a chance to right our wrongs (or in this case write our wrongs, heh :D ) 🩵

your POC friends and followers see you. they know what you’re doing. they do talk about it amongst each other, where they feel safe. don’t exclude them and let them down. make them feel safe with you. let them know they are. we don’t expect you to write black!reader, or Latinx!Reader, etc. because you’re not part of our groups so you can’t accurately depict us. we just want to read about reader. and not how they can’t step outside without getting a sunburn or tanning their pale skin. if you don’t wanna reblog my long ass posts then do something else. a simple “hey POC followers, you’re safe here” is a good start.

if for some reason, we’re not safe on your blog so you can’t say it, that’s uh, that’s real unfortunate. but also, maybe let everyone know that.

And to my friends who make sure their work is inclusive, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MY BELOVED FRIENDS, thanks for letting me and a ton of other people who are scared and scarred from previous interactions over the years see ourselves in your fics 🥹❤️‍🔥

[mrghostrat]

Hello Mr ghost rat! I apologise if this is an incredibly stupid question and if this is an inconvenience to answer, please don’t feel pressured to even look at it! I was just wondering, how do you feel comfortable writing fan fiction for a tv show you have started more recently. (And by recently I mean less then 6 years since starting it and rewatching it a million times) like- and I’m so sorry if this makes no sense but I desperately want to write good omens fan fiction, and fan fiction for other fandoms I am immensely interested in, but I feel as though I am unworthy of writing these characters who I have only just met and may not understand to the best of my abilities. When I watch a tv show and I like it I go into a frenzy and by about a month since watching it I could tell you everything there is to know about the show the production the storyline the hidden meanings what happens and any time stamps during the film but I feel very guilty writing the characters even though I probably won’t ever know them better then I do now. The only thing I’ve ever felt comfortable writing fan fiction about is a tv show I started watching when I was 8 and have literally (and I’m not exaggerating) watched over 300 times since then I have merged with the characters and so I feel justified writing them. I have so many ideas for fics but don’t feel as though I have known anyone long enough to write them. Either way my question is, how do you do it? You write so brilliantly (and so much) for characters who you seem to have only met within a few years of writing? It’s incredible and I would love some advice! I’m sorry that this is so long but I would appreciate anything you would be able to tell me! Thank you so much 💛🐝

honestly you sound more than equipped enough to write good omens fan fiction! i think reading a lot of other fic helps, because you get a feel for how other people capture their likenesses in prose-- kind of in the way that it's easier to learn to draw people by looking at someone's art of them, to see how another artist interprets their face in a two dimensional way.

i guess i was a little terrified to write and release my first fic, but when you inhale the characters like we do, it's not the end of the world to simply try. writing for a live action series is a godsend actually, because you can close your eyes and picture the words coming out of david & michael's mouths and test if it sounds natural or not. that's also why i enjoy linking in so many lines and moments from the show (good lord + that's my point + etc) because it brings you back to their reality and keeps you grounded in canon characterisation.

at the end of the day, you can't do any worse than people renaming aziraphale to ezra/zira/az/avery.

[mcsm-confessions]

One thing you people need to actually understand is that the MCSM fandom is FULL of dick riders. You see Lukas ones everyday, you see Romeo ones all the time and not a single person really ever says anything. I have met so many Romeo dick riders who are just bad people it’s insane. So for you people to be like “oh Petra fans are such dick-riders” is actually insane?? Do you not worry about the Romeo dick riders who are (a lot of the time) not great people. I’ve seen a good few of them just say some of the most outrageous things. All I ever see if Petra fans defending her because you people can’t seem to understand character complexity. You can’t seem to grasp the concept that not EVERY character will have a positive character development, sometimes it takes them a while for that to happen. Of course it’s the same for Romeo in… some ways, but for the most part, if you NEVER took Romeo’s power away he wouldn’t have tried to be a good man again. Petra though out season 2 was trying to figure out ways to express her emotions to Jesse, to try and explain how she felt but it’s hard for someone who never actually spent time around people. It’s hard to express yourself when you never had anyone, then you end up finding a group that you love and then they slowly distance themselves from you. I’m not saying you can’t criticize a character at all, I’m saying if you want to try and criticize one don’t say the same shit over and over again. We don’t need more “she’s a boring character” we need more actual facts other than your opinion on her character when you like Lukas. Also I do have to add, if you call MCSM a “dog shit” game you need to get off the tags right? We don’t need to hear your opinions on a game you clearly don’t even enjoy, and if you’re insulting people’s art because you’re butt hurt, grow up. Anyways, Petra is a great character with a great development and the writers did fantastic on her. There are up and down moments for sure, but it isn’t her ENTIRE personality. Just because she was mean to a character a few times doesn’t make her a horrible character, no one said character development is always positive. She learns from mistakes, she understands what she had done, and she is trying to better herself. We all go through the same thing.

~~~

[xoxiu]

first love of late spring - ot7 x reader

chapter four table of contents masterlist join the taglist discord

summary: falling, falling, falling- that's what you shouldn't be doing as a young intern at hybe. falling in love with your supervisor is frowned upon, especially all seven of them. you'll never learn, will you? guess you’ll just have to be their dark secret.

tags/warnings: intern!reader, poly relationships, stockholm syndrome, age regression, spanking, drug use, sugar daddy au, dubcon, body dysmorphia

taglist: @frieschan

February 1st was your first day starting as a social media manager for BTS. Scratch that- not a manager, but the social media manager. Your new position came with many amazing benefits, and you liked working from home when you weren't with the band. It felt like you were amongst the popular kids at school for once. You followed them around all day, taking pictures and videos for their socials. It almost felt like a dream- your job was to be their friend and photographer. They treated you more as a friend than a staff member. 

Then there was dealing with the fans. Being sneaky and having a secret fan account on multiple platforms allowed you to see what the fans were liking and into, giving you more ideas for the official pages. That meant you were in on all the inside jokes, leaked information, as well as what was trending amongst the fandom. 

Back in your youth, you ran a fan Twitter account for One Direction. You understood the fans better than anyone else because you were in their positions at one time. Times have changed over the past decade (you didn't even want to think about how long it's been), but getting back into the groove of things was easy enough. 

"y/n, you don't have to be so formal with us," Jimin would tease you all the time. While your job was fun, you were still a staff member. The boys would call you out constantly on you referring to them as 'sir', complaining about feeling old, and whatnot. They saw you as an equal and awaited the day you felt like one too. 

Today was the filming for a Run BTS episode. You didn't entirely understand the concept of the game- all you knew was that they were painting something and whenever they asked you to take a photo, you would. It was adorable- they would hold up their paintings like proud little kids. The photos would be posted to their individual Instagram accounts, so you would send each member a copy on KakaoTalk. 

"I think y/n should be the judge!" Taehyung said, standing up from his chair and pointing in your direction. You looked up from your phone in confusion, only having heard your name and 'judge'. The boys noticed your deer-in-headlights look and let out an endearing laugh. 

"Just tell us who you think has the better painting. We'll film a male staff member saying your answer so you don't have to." Yoongi said. You appreciated not having to have your voice in the recording. 

You gave each painting a very good look. Namjoon painted what appeared to be the Han River. Seokjin painted a rainbow that had been destroyed by brown paint, most likely by Jungkook that sat next to him. Jungkook didn't have much on his paper, obviously focusing more on disrupting the other members. Taehyung had an all-black abstract drawing that almost looked like it belonged in a modern art museum. Jimin's painting was of a variety of flowers in a bouquet, also destroyed by Jungkook by a brown marking of 'JK' right in the middle. Yoongi and Jimin seemed to have a combined painting that illustrated the seven members of BTS as crudely drawn stick figures when placed side by side. You chuckled at Yoongi's portion of the picture where he drew Seokjin with comically large shoulders. 

"Yoongi wins solely for how he drew Jin," you said, smiling at the excessive cheering from the normally calm member.

It really was days like this when you enjoyed your job. 

You sat in one of the production lounges on your laptop, editing some promotional photos for Instagram. Stretched out across the length of what had to be the building’s comfiest couch, you let out a long yawn before checking the time. 

A text alert is shown as you checked your phone. An unknown number had called you before sending a simple text. 

‘Hey y/n it’s Jin, are you busy?’

You smiled as you responded ‘No’ with a smiley face. You had no idea where or how Seokjin got your personal number, but you didn’t let that thought bother you much. Once you felt your phone buzz with an incoming phone call did you sit up straight on the couch. 

“Hello? Seokjin?” You asked. The line was quiet for a moment before you heard Jin’s voice through the phone. 

“Hey, could you come to our dorm? It’s not urgent or anything.” 

“Sure! Just text me the address and I’ll be right over,” You replied, standing up and starting to exit the building. There were the sounds of shuffling and muffled voices through the phone, making you wonder just what was going on over there. 

“Actually,” Jin suddenly said, “It’s nothing. You don’t have to.” You stopped in your tracks, now very curious and concerned about what was happening. 

“No, no. Come over. I lied,” Seokjin said quickly after, correcting himself. “We want you to come over.”

————

Jimin roughly nudged Jin with his elbow once the phone was hung up. There was no way he didn’t sound suspicious during the call- stumbling on his words and even backtracking on what he said. They were lucky you just followed along. 

“Fuck,” Yoongi said, holding his head in his hands, “Now we need to think of a real reason why we needed her here. Jungkook missing her isn’t a good enough answer.”

“I think it’s fine…” Jungkook mumbled to himself. 

Namjoon looked across the room and into the kitchen, coming up with an idea upon seeing the state of it. “We could tell her we needed help putting the cabinet knobs back on.”

“We need our social media manager to help us with home renovations?” Yoongi questioned Namjoon’s idea.

“We wanted to film a TikTok?” Taehyung suggested. 

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go with that one!” Seokjin said. 

————

By the time the bus had arrived, the sun was close to setting. You kind of started to regret agreeing to come- it was late and you were quite tired. Finally, you had regulated your sleep schedule to be like a normal adult’s, and the members of BTS had to screw with it. What else did you expect from them?

Within seconds you were buzzed in and headed to their shared penthouse. All seven of them had their own apartments by now, but they all chose to live together still for the majority of the time. You often questioned how they were able to do it for so long- you had two roommates back in college that made you question your sanity at any given moment. 

You barely even knocked on the door before Jimin opened it with a smile. He ushered you inside, and you stood in the entryway in awe. The dorm was beautiful and big. Much, much bigger than your tiny apartment that probably couldn’t even fit seven people in it. The ceiling was high up and the doorways were arched, making everything feel so much bigger and fancier. 

“y/n! Thank God you’re here!” Taehyung said, running up to you and hugging you. You awkwardly stood there, allowing him to hug you. Never once had you had any physical affection or contact with them, and it felt like a weird time to break the boundary. You laughed slightly as he let go of you. 

After taking off your shoes, you were led into the living room where the other members sat. It was odd- everyone acted as if you weren’t needed and that there was nothing you needed to do. The sitting members all smiled and waved at you, remaining in their spots on the couch. 

“So,” you clasped your hands together behind your back, swaying slightly on your feet. “What do you guys need?”

“We just-” Jungkook started to talk, only to be interrupted by Namjoon. 

“We wanted help filming a TikTok!”

You stared at him confused. Filming a TikTok was something they were more than capable of doing by themselves. You had directed some and given them ideas, but for the most part, they would just film it themselves. It felt more natural and created more of a connection with the fan base. 

“You could’ve just done it yourself, you know,” You let out a chuckle. 

“We couldn’t think of any ideas for one,” Hoseok said. He stood up from his spot on the couch and motioned for you to take his seat. You pretended to ignore him at first, but he only kept insisting you take a seat. 

“I mean, there’s a trend of AI face filters right now. You each could do that.”

“Yeah! Let’s just play around with filters,” Taehyung said, pulling out his phone. “Wait, y/n has an iPhone. Can we use your phone instead?”

Without hesitation, you handed your phone over to Taehyung. The seven of them took turns playing around with silly filters, doing their best to keep you out of the shot. You happened to glance over at one that turned Jungkook’s face into a creepy unicorn. 

Hours passed by eventually, and you took your leave. You stood up from the couch, trying to locate your phone. A chorus of disappointed ‘aww’s filled the room at your sudden insistence on leaving. 

“It’s already 22:00 and the buses have stopped running. It’ll be a long walk.” You claimed. Jungkook stood up and walked over to the windows, observing the dark skies and falling rain. 

“It’s pouring rain out there. We can’t let you leave in this- you’ll catch a cold.” He said. The others agreed with him excitedly. 

“Or I could just drive-”

“No! It’s too dangerous. We’ll fix the couch up for you tonight.” Taehyung interrupted Seokjin and his logical solution. Everyone soon began to hunt for spare pillows and blankets for you. 

“It’s fine, guys. I really don’t need to stay here.” You slowly began to approach the front door, hoping no one would notice you leave. Hoseok snuck up behind you, blocking your path to the exit. 

“Nope, no way. We’re older and know what’s best,” he said, guiding you back to the couch. A crack of lightning struck and illuminated the dorm, making you jump at the sudden strike. 

“Awh, you’re afraid of storms,” Jimin said, placing the last of the blankets on the couch. “Now we’re definitely not going to let you outside in this weather.”

The couch had a plethora of blankets and pillows piled high on it. It seemed like each member brought at least two of each for you to sleep on. When you pointed out the hilarious amount of blankets and pillows, you were told that it got cold at night. You looked over towards the thermostat on the wall that read 23°C. The members pretended to ignore your questioning stare. 

You gave in eventually and got settled in on the couch. They made sure you were tucked underneath each of the six blankets and placed some pillows on the floor next to you. 

“Just in case you roll off in the middle of the night,” Namjoon said, seeming like he was speaking from experience. 

Within minutes of the lights turning off and the boys going to bed, you were out like a light. 

Yoongi, Jungkook, and Hoseok snuck out of their rooms at one point, standing in the hallway and watching as the city lights illuminated your sleeping body. They watched as each breath caused the blankets to move up and down, and as you softly snored. 

“You’re crazy for having this idea, Hobi,” Yoongi said with his arms crossed. 

“I mean, it sounds like a pretty good plan,” Hoseok tried to defend himself. “Jungkookie really wants her, and I figured it would be fun for us, too.”

“We do really want her, hyung.” Jungkook said to Yoongi. 

“We? What part of this involves ‘we’?” Yoongi asked, before letting out a sigh. 

“Yeah, I guess it is we.”

[awakentheeldritchabomination]

The Thing About Redesigns, Rewrites, and Reimagines…

(Part I: Broader Discourse)

To those of you who’ve been keeping tabs or maybe seen my posts floating around the tag, you might recall me mentioning that I felt a bit of hesitancy toward the prospect of joining in on the recent wave of redesign/rewrite content. In the more likely scenario that you haven’t or do not know what the crap I’m talking about, that’s fine lol. Understandable. It was a little thing I had written into my first rewrite/redesign post about Charlie. In a short aside, I explained that it was because I’d felt “bad about tinkering with someone else’s work like this”, and then I’d left it at that. So… yeah. Why am I bringing it up now?

Well, I don’t think I need to tell you that this fandom is… a lot. Y’know people have been talking…discourse is being had… heated, moral arguments are being hurled left and right. And in light of all the growing, reactionary accusations, I…found myself starting to feel bad again.

My initial issue, the reason why I didn’t immediately jump to sharing my ideas was that, for all her faults, I empathize with Viv as a creator and didn’t want to feel like I was disrespecting her, her characters, and her vision by reworking it to suit my own. I had frustrations and criticisms, but I never wanted to make it seem like I was trying to ‘fix’ her work or her style. I really didn’t want to be one of those pretentious dipsh*ts (the kind that take a piece of art, digest it through their own preferences and biases, then spit it back in the artist’s face with a, “There. I made it better”). In the end, I went through with it because I had a small hyperfixation and a tendency to project my own issues onto characters I love (I’m sure some of y'all can relate). And also, I was having fun. But… then more discourse poured in, and I saw all the concerns I expressed reflected in the arguments presented by other fans and artists.

And well… That made me feel like I was doing something wrong, like perpetuating and becoming the exact problems I had wanted to fight against. So, I took a step back. I reevaluated.

Now, I have thoughts (shocker!).

And they are conflicted.

On one hand I agree with the idea that redesigns/rewrites are not inherently bad or disrespectful things when it comes to productions like Hazbin since Viv is not a small creator with no power. She and her team have ultimate authority over the show’s events, and those plans will not be derailed by what is basically some random tumblr artist’s fanart/fanfiction.

In regards to the critical side of things, that kinda comes with consuming and digesting the messages and presentation of a work of art. Ideally, it should get people to discuss in this capacity, especially when it deals with such sensitive subject matter as Hazbin does (and especially when it is executed with evidently problematic notions which do bleed into the designs at times).

Still, I do think this trend can be disrespectful if the intention and presentation are made with an aggressive holier-than-thou attitude which explicitly seeks to one-up the creator. Though I understand where it comes from, I think that can be just straight, undiluted maliciousness with a generous helping of pretentious, self-appointed superiority. And I don’t think it’s necessary to pick apart the style itself. You don’t have to like it, of course, but I feel like stating your preference for one way of drawing over another and asserting it as if it were some objective truth antagonizes the entire point of individual artistic expression and personal taste. Criticize the lack of diversity (something which, I’d like to add, is not actually unique to Hazbin) and potentially problematic aspects, but not the style. Even then, it’s important to be constructive not destructive.

That being said, I don’t expect everyone to agree with me (especially if anyone who’s a die-hard fan finds this) Whether you do or not is on you, and that’s okay.

This is more a snippet of my thoughts than a fully developed rant. I just wanted to share where I’m at right now. There will be a part 2 to this expanding some of my feelings while also outlining where I might go from here because things are going on in my head, and I don’t actually know whether I will continue or not with this project. Right now, it feels like it’s drifting toward a more original direction (Charlie feels like an entirely different yet vaguely similar character and dang it I’m attached…It’s kinda weird lol) so….anyway—I digress.

Thank you for reading.