#this has actually happened to multiple friends

[mothdruid]

Within the past 72 hours the TGM fandom got a fire put under it's ass, for lack of a better term/phrase. Even though I'm not as active in the fandom anymore, it did make me want to talk about a few things. This isn't the first time that I've had to make a post similar to this, usually speaking about reblogs and keeping your fanfic writers feeling wanted within the fandom spaces, but today I'm going to talk more about fandom etiquette and my experiences in fandom spaces. So, if you want to hear my opinion on fandom etiquette, how I learned fandom etiquette, and my thoughts about the doxing situation that has happened, keep on reading.

My Fandom Experience.

The first fandom that I was ever a part of was The Hunger Games fandom in the 8th grade (if you don't include my anime fandoms). I was 12-13 at the time. This was when I was first introduced to Tumblr and being involved within a fandom online. At the time I was super young, barely even knew who I was as a person, let alone in a fandom space. All I did was reblog little gifsets and fawn over Josh Hutcherson. I remember getting my first hate anon, even though I didn't do anything that would generate that to even happen. Even when I was 12-13, I couldn't understand why anyone would send a hate anon. That was when I found out a friend of mine found my Tumblr and actually secretly hated me, so she sent me hate anons. Still, before I knew it was her I didn't understand.

Fandoms were a formative part of my childhood. I think that main one that helped form me though was the Supernatural (yeah, I know, eye roll), Naruto, and The Hobbit fandoms. I had made friends on Tumblr and Instagram through these fandoms. During these times was when I had first started consuming fanfiction. Specifically, destiel and thilbo fanfiction. This is how I started to find the things in fanfiction that I loved, and the things that I hated. Instead of sending hate to the writers for their thoughts and stories that I didn't agree with, I would back out of the story or just scroll past. Not only that, I also started to use the filters on AO3 constantly, ensuring that I was only reading the fics that I knew I'd enjoy. Also, I was careful to read warnings and tags prior to reading the fic. Never once did I blame the writer for something that I knew I didn't like and accidentally read or read for see what it was about.

After high school was when I started getting into fanfiction writing. I've written for a lot of fandoms during this time. The IT movies, Total Drama, Haikyuu, Attack on Titan, Marvel, Bridgerton, Top Gun: Maverick, and currently ASOIAF. As a writer I've never gotten hate, thankfully, but I have had a lot of friends that have. It's sad to see so many people who take the time to write, whether it's enjoyable or not, receive hate. As writers we are simply expressing our creativity for the things that we love. Since posting fanfiction on tumblr, I have experienced a lot of people pestering for new updates and when the next fic is, and so have a lot of other writers on here. Even though people only know us as a little icon and username, fanfiction writers are people. We have lives outside of writing fanfiction. Everyone also isn't the same type writer. One person may easily write multiple fics every week, some of us take longer, and some of us are even just passion writers (me lol).

The TGM fandom has been one of the most negative fandom experiences I've ever seen/had. It is full of some of the meanest people/anons I've ever seen. From writers being attacked for fic ideas, people being sent hate for something that the anon has full control over, and people constantly expecting new stories to read on the daily. Yes, I do know that other fandoms have these issues, but it seems to be almost a weekly, hell, even daily thing within this fandom. A lot of the issues that I see happen in this fandom are from people who don't understand fandom etiquette.

Fandom Etiquette.

If you had noticed there was a few things I put in bold above. These are key things that I learned during my time that attribute to fandom etiquette. So without further a do, I'll list out some fandom etiquette rules that I follow all the time.

Don't send hate anons to people

Block/unfollow people you don't like

If you don't like an idea or fic, don't read it

Read through all warnings and tags that the writer provided

Use AO3 filters

Don't blame the writer/creator for reading things they created that you actively know you don't like

Writers/Creators aren't "content farms"

There are people behind these blogs/usernames, treat them like someone you'd see on the street

Writers/Creators are expressing love/passion for something, don't hate them for doing that

If you see something fandom related that you don't like, scroll past it or ignore it

YOU CURATE YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE (ESPECIALLY ON TUMBLR)

The Doxing Situation.

For those who are unaware but decided to read this anyways, recently there was a writer (Mama Mayhem) on here who got doxed from another writer in the fandom. Mayhem has since lost her job due to the doxing. This was apparently from her breaking HIPAA by posting a picture into a private groupchat/discord. This picture was posted almost a half year ago. Meaning that the person who reported/doxed Mayhem had known about this picture for months and only recently decided to do something about it.

I'll start by saying that I also work in healthcare, and know many other people here who do. I understand that a HIPAA violation is 100% an offense that gets you fired. I'm not excusing the HIPAA violation if one did occur.

Some people have brought up the idea that maybe the person that reported the picture, and doxed Mayhem, was doing it out of the goodness of their heart. Due to the timeline of it all, that doesn't seem likely. I had a previous coworker get fired for HIPAA violations and it took a total of a week from the initial report for her to be gone.

The biggest thing I want to convey is that TWO WRONGS CAN HAPPEN AT THE SAME TIME. Yes, if Mayhem violated HIPAA, it is wrong. But at the same time, the person held onto this information for months only to use it out of spite, pettiness, and cruelty, is wrong.

My Thoughts.

Due to Mayhem being doxed, a lot of people have decided to leave this platform, take indefinite hiatuses, stop writing, or move to AO3 exclusively., and I don't blame them. I'll be honest, I'm thinking about moving to AO3 exclusively now. AO3 feels a lot more rewarding in my experience. I already only post my fics for ships to AO3, so why not just post everything on AO3 (which I usually do).

I think a lot of people have forgot what it feels like to feel shame in something they say or do. When I say this, it's directed towards people who send hate or do other malicious things in fandom spaces. Fandoms were never this clique-ish and mean. I think it has to do with the pandemic, meaning that a lot of people who would have never joined a fandom did because they weren't allowed to do anything outside of their house. So, those mean girls that made fun of fandom girlies (g/n) previously, joined the fandoms and decided started bullying the people within them.

This situation is super shitty and people are now scared. It makes complete sense, especially after seeing someone, that many of you were close to, be doxed. A lot of people are scared of it happening to them now. I don't think this fandom will be the same after this situation, but who knows, maybe everyone will just forget and move on. Either way, I think I'll be taking a step back from the TGM fandom. I'll still be here, but until further notice, I won't be posting any TGM fanfiction. Maybe a gifset/picture here and there, but I don't think this is a fandom I feel comfortable writing for anymore.

If you've read all of this, thank you.

[glittter-vamp]

Even if Deuxmoi is bullshit why hasn’t someone, anyone have come forward to deny the rumors? When she’s posted about a JB engagement or cheating in the past she’s always hedged with “sources” saying otherwise.

Okay, I’m going to respond to this and this only because I’ve gotten MULTIPLE asks over these weeks about this and I am quite over it. No matter how much I block anons, people on the tag what have you this topic haunts my blog constantly and I come on here to have fun and decompress not gossip about a relationship that is none of our concern.

It is simply NONE of our goddamn business what happens between Joe and Olivia.

If they’re dating, it’s NOT our business.

If they’re engaged, it’s NOT our business.

If they broke up, it’s NOT our business.

If they are friends with benefits, it’s NOT our business.

If they are married, it’s NOT our business.

If they are swingers, it’s NOT our business.

If they are having kids, It’s NOT our business.

If they are arch nemesis, it’s NOT our business.

If they are best friends, it’s NOT our business.

It’s also NONE of our business who Joe follows on instagram and if he likes their pictures because some people in his real life social circle alone are very questionable people but that’s never an issue, only a stupid follow and like on social media when it’s someone of the opposite sex has people foaming at the mouth in anger on behalf of a woman NONE OF US KNOW. If it bothers you, no one is holding you at gun point to care about Joe Burrow or to post about him. By all means move from him, enjoy your time on tumblr with people & stuff you actually like & support.

I will never understand the obsession people have about their relationship. We have YET to see Joe even throw a football as of now or know if he’s going to be back at his full potential but y’all are concerned with his romantic life that has nothing to do with any of us or his football career.

Leave what doesn’t concern you, alone. Stop bothering blogs with this and stop filling the tag with it.

[cyanidas]

🃏 Kokichi Ouma Age-up Timeline 🍇

Here, I've used his initial designs as inspiration! I like looking back at older designs cause for a lot of them, it's like watching them grow up!

Headcanons under cut (HUUUGE SPOILER WARNING FOR DRV3)

(Content Warning for child abuse, mental illness and disorder, self harm, generally dark and unsettling topics ahead)

-=-

First off, I'm firm in my take that Tsumugi was lying about everyone being fictional. There's a lot that doesn't match up, and the local V3 fandom celebrity responsible for the Amalgamate fic has helped me tremendously in solidifying my stance. I think they absolutely do belong to the DR universe, but the memories they get that aren't part of their backstory are completely fabricated.

If there's any additional input on V3 in Raincode, don't let me know because I haven't played yet ;w;

That said, there's many things I, like Kokichi, will refuse to clarify or elaborate on. His character demands mystery, and it would be a trivialization of his writing to just. lay it all out there. I think approaching his writing with the mindset of knowing the whole truth would be to bastardize his integrity and simplify him in a distasteful way - so all my headcanons here will be written and are intended to be seen as broad strokes as opposed to finely tuned detail.

-=-

I like to think of his past as muddy and confusing, even to him. There's not a lot he can remember clearly, and constantly confuses different takes on his memories. To me, it's clear that lying is a huge trauma thing to him - I would assume multiple sources would be responsible, like authority, family, and peers.

He's been lying as a means of survival, with multiple layers of how he feels about it - despite what he says, there's not actually one truth. Multiple truths exist for one single thing, and I think that mindset is something that scares him tremendously - he'd probably say that reality is just a lie you tell yourself, in order to justify trivializing and minimizing both feelings/emotion and trauma.

In his head, there's so much wrong with him that he can't even begin to unravel himself and understand everything that's happened to him, why he does what he does, why he feels what he feels... so on. He feels multiple things that often contradict each other, and he doesn't know how to understand that, so he often switches his justifications to suit whatever narrative he needs to cope.

In general, however, he claims he's just lying. There are in fact, genuine times he does actually lie... but rather than being a true compulsive liar, he is actually a compulsive method actor. He's so empathetic to everything and everyone, that he can easily switch his masking techniques to suit whatever he or others need, and does so involuntarily most of the time, though he does know how to "switch it on" purposefully.

In his earlier ages, he may have suffered from a guardianship similar to what those who have DID had gone through (not me projecting lol /hj). He's been bred and born into tragedy, not unlike Komaeda but absolutely distinct from him in that I do not believe this boy has had any good luck with anything in his life - not family, not friends, not money, nothing. I might even go so far as to assume that, similar to Yasuhiro having an unnaturally high good luck, Kokichi is suffering from unnaturally high bad luck.

I noticed that, on a lot of his designs, he seems to have always had *something* covering at least one of his hands - and even on his final design, though it could just be a design fluke or something weird with perspective I misunderstood, you can see the smallest scrap of fabric underneath his right sleeve that could be seen as another hand/wrist covering. When lined up with the other designs, it could very easily be taken as a wrist bandage - at least by my eyes. So, I (and a lot of others it seems, especially those who identify with him) have taken this to mean he may in fact be self-harming, and has been for a long while. Anyone who hyperfixates on this guy wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if that turned out to be true.

I think that age 11 is probably what Kokichi himself would think of as his 'turning point', just going off of my little chart here; something tremendously awful happened to him, then. To fuel speculation and abide by his character rules, all I'm going to definitively say is... he likely wouldn't even trust doctors with a needle, let alone his life.

So, the hardest year of any modern kid's life... 12 years old. In my family especially, it's the worst year you'll ever face, and my god was that true for me. So I think this year fits him for gaining his... as the creators put it, 'otherworldly' expressive nature. This is the year he completely stops putting effort into trying to understand the truth, and fully embraces the chaos that is his reality. He's fine!!!!!! :)))))

He mellows out around 15, and I like to think of this year as his cringe-fail-iest year to date. This motherfucker would likely be seen in Hot Topic, jamming to MCR, glomping his friends, verbally roleplaying, so forth. His phone signature is a series of kaomojis. Idk if there's a similar equivalent of being a cringe baby weeb for Japanese who are my age, so I'm really just basing this on my own experience of being 15 in 2011. But whatever the equivalent is, he is absolutely it. 15 year old Kokichi is current Kokichi's most embarrassing time ever.

However, it's also likely the age he started his talent's namesake - of becoming the Ultimate Supreme Leader. Which, I choose to believe is, much like Kokichi in general, both true and false. Same for his actual group, DICE. Both is good ;o)

Following his talent, he has a natural command to his voice that feels as though you're forced to hear him speak. No one can really talk over him unless their ability to do so demands it - say for example, Sonia, the SHSL Princess. Due to the nature of their talents, I think Sonia's voice and ability to command would absolutely trump Kokichi's. However, due to the aforementioned bad luck, people are compelled to not trust him - even if what he's saying is true. (Kokichi voice: oh pythia we're really in it now)

Also, you can't really tell because of all the scarring, but 15 and 19 are the ages where he stopped going outside so he's paler and paler, lol

And my last one, I love to imagine that due to his talent, he's actually intensely adept at fighting, especially dodging. In fact, I think he's even way smarter than he'd like to believe!

[generic-anime-boy-bracket]

Round 2, Group A: Matchup 1

Ayin vs Kim Dokja

Reasons for being generic + Propaganda below

Ayin

Reasons:

Generic face, generic black hair. He did commit a lot of crimes but he has the most bland appearance of all time

he is the generic anime boy in the grip meme and he has black hair and yellow eyes but he's so apathetic and normal it causes him to turn away from all the people he committed atrocities against

Designed as a mock of the "everyman" - scruffy black hair, black suit, white labcoat. Only thing that stands out are his yellow eyes.

Kim Dokja

Reasons:

Everything about him screams generic. Generic hair generic face generic eyes (dare I say: generic name). Multiple times in the story he tried to pass himself off as one of his (much handsome-r) companions and everyone is like. Hmmmm I'm not too sure about that. I've heard he's a lot more handsome and you're kind of mid. There's practically a running gag wherein his closest companions say something like "wow kdj has anyone ever told you that you're ugly"

Chapter one he tells us that he’s an ordinary salary worker with no friends whose most interesting hobby is reading webnovels on the subway. This hobby proves to be useful thanks to the entire plot of the story but there is a running gag that people think he looks mid or can’t remember what he looks like at all

Propaganda:

"Hi my name is Kim Dokja :) no there isn't anything weird or off-putting about me :) I am a perfectly normal man :)" <- real quote from Kim Dokja seconds before doing something weird and off-putting Jokes aside he is. Very very generic. It's an actual element in the plot that he's generic. He also keeps trying to convince everyone else he's just some normal dude but he's NOT and they DO NOT BELIEVE HIM He also keeps trying to pass himself off as his much more handsome companion and it only works because they've never seen him before (there's at least three paragraphs every time this happens of "hm no I heard YJH is really handsome. This guy is kind of ugly ngl")

[givehimthemedicine]

El's protectiveness and friendships in the lab

wanted to take a minute to appreciate that El's protectiveness isn't a character trait that only emerges post-lab. she's always been that way [assuming, for this post, that NINA stuff more or less happened]; it just couldn't always present in a way that looks badass on a poster.

El and Eighteen

only crumbs here, but if I have to point out a lab kid that El is friendlier with than the others, it's Eighteen.

El holding Eighteen's hand is the only affectionate act I've ever noticed between any of the lab kids, and offering that comfort to her littlest sister is probably as "protective" as El can afford to be (esp as an eight year old with the least power and social standing of anyone).

when the kids in general laugh at El for failing at the light game, Eighteen is not one of the kids shown doing so.

Eighteen is the first dead child El is shown to be upset about. it's not that she looks more distressed about her than the others, but it's odd that she saw Ten dead on the floor next to Brenner a second before this and didn't really react. (maybe she couldn't tell Ten was dead from the doorway? idk)

maybe an El/Eighteen friendship is cornplating or whatever the youths are calling it, but bearing in mind that we're never actually told that El/Eight had some super close friendship, maybe theirs looked something like this.

side note - are friendships even permitted in the lab?

letting the kids form friendships could be dangerous, as Brenner, couldn't it? risks them forming alliances against you? this is why I was asking the other day if socializing seems discouraged in the RR. like, even the bullies, who were "friends," never chatted openly in there unless the cameras were off. maybe any lab friendships have to be hush hush by nature.

anyway idk there's just something about us going "🤯 same numbers!!!" upon seeing the 001 / 011 tattoos, and then 008 + 018 being the only other kids El is hinted at being friendly with... why are we reusing the same pattern? 001 / 008 / 011 / 018 just happen to be every combination of those three numbers within the number of available children.

especially with El "being 8" (as in, years old) at this time. it's giving Henry, 12 / mother of 5. idk where I'm going with that but I'm squinting. Eighteen, you're not some bizarro Little Eight who has an inverted friendship with Big El, right?

El lashing out in the lab

we're shown repeatedly that El hates seeing people get hurt, but multiple times onscreen (and you know innumerable times off) she witnesses severe abuse to her siblings, and we never see her act in their defense like post-lab El would. of course, that's because she realistically can't. we know trying to help anyone in the lab accomplishes little except getting both people in trouble. but I was thinking about how we DO see El lash out for her own sake in 1983. so what's the takeaway? El cares more about protecting herself than others? nah. let's look at the other guard killing scene (again. assuming this really happened):

when similarly cornered in 1979, El's immediate response is silent surrender.

why is her behavior so different? because she's weak? too scared / well controlled? too nice to kill? all those factors have already been established as non-issues in this moment. (she does have her powers here; the circle game proved that Brenner can't control El and knows it; killing when cornered is canonically within her nature)

you might think having a staff member on her side would make her more defiant, but instead she's more compliant here than in '83 (either time. even in the non-guard-killing flashback, El screams and struggles the whole way.)

El and One

he's the difference. she doesn't know he's her brother or has powers yet, but he has presented himself as a fellow prisoner rather than someone in a position of authority. she's also already seen him get punished because of her.

as far as El knows right here, if she lashes out - whether she then escapes successfully or not - she'd be bringing SEVERE punishment onto a nice guy who can't defend himself or escape.

she has a chance at freedom, the power to kill, and the escape route all planned out, but she doesn't do it. the thing that's not in her nature is abandoning a friend to God-knows-what punishment on her behalf.

so while One killing the guards is an act of protection to El, it's also a massive act of protection to One that El is ready to throw out the whole plan right here. don't miss it just because it's not the classic El-screamy-hand thing.

she's sacrificing her chance at freedom in hopes of slightly mitigating his punishment. (they're both doomed to very bad punishment upon capture right here, but if she escapes I think he'd get punished even worse. so she's choosing to share in pretty bad punishment over him being punished extremely severely and her not at all.)

even aside from punishment, she knows she'll be returning to an even worse home life than the one she believed necessitated her immediate escape (Brenner apparently arranging for her to be killed).

so here, can she afford to act out not only because she's acting alone, but because she's an only child, so to speak? there's no one else who could potentially suffer as a result of her actions. no other siblings to use as leverage. no one to protect.

whatever consequences Brenner carried El off to after killing those orderlies, she bore it alone.

I can sorta read this as protective of the other kids in general - not that she did it, but that she didn't until now.

am I saying Brenner might have randomly punished other kids as a result of something El did?

have you met the guy? definitely would've threatened it, might've actually done it. manipulation by whatever means necessary.

when you work in a building full of superpowered people who hate you, you gotta control them psychologically, because physical control isn't something you can maintain for long. it's imperative that they're more afraid of the consequences of kicking your ass than they are of whatever torture you're putting them through. emotional manipulation using friends and innocents as pawns is a classic move. (another reason the kids might want to keep lab friendships secret even if they're allowed.)

that's not theory - we've seen Brenner use this tactic onscreen, telling El that he'll have Owens killed if she tries to get to him. he knows he can't physically control her, so he exerts psychological control by placing Owens' blood on El's hands to get her to cooperate.

the phrase "blood on one's hands" means being responsible for deaths, not having literally, personally committed murder. this imagery is used onscreen to denote El's sense of guilt about the massacre well before she comes to the conclusion that she actually did it. (this could be symbolism that El's mind organically dreamed up instead of engineered fuckery, but who knows. we have no textual explanation yet for how her hands would be that bloody).

and together with Brenner very textually using the kids against each other in other ways - having them literally duel each other in the circle game, but also the "driving them to do exactly what he wants" stuff - I don't think it's unreasonable to figure that fear of harm to the other kids was a manipulation tactic used in the lab.

that definitely includes One - lines like "I'm not going with you / if he finds me he will find you" "I wanted to help you, but I only made things worse" smack of a guy kept in line by fear of something happening to the kids.

and the Brenner-orchestrating-El's-murder story smells like a psyop. is this just Brenner wanting One to think harm would come to El as a consequence of his actions? (she became "uncontrollable" as a result of his coaching). El is too valuable an asset to actually kill. who would know better than One that the treatment for being uncontrollable is soteria, not death? assuming One is being truthful, why would he not see through that. idek what I think is going on here anymore

anyway. MKUltra is ALL about manipulation but I'll talk more about that in my other post

times El protects her friends the same way she protected One

practically every move El makes is about protecting her friends but I want to point out a few times that are specifically reminiscent of her protection of One, where she's ready to give up her freedom to protect her friends even at risk of the worst case scenario (going back to the lab):

sacrificing herself to protect the party from the demogorgon ("no more") <- is that line in reference to the 6 people the demogorgon has snatched, or is that a massacre reference given how incredibly parallel these scenes are. I'm not sure whether "goodbye Mike" meant she thought she'd die or just get so wiped out that she'd be easily recaptured by the lab

leaving Kali and "freedom" to return to Hawkins and protect her friends, where she volunteers to go back into the lab to close the gate

leaving Cali and "freedom" to return to the lab to get her powers back to protect her friends

final thought: I just had a chuckle with myself at the fact that iirc it's Mike and Nancy whose lives El has individually, directly saved the most times.

[honorable mention for Max because I don't know how to quantify 4x9. is that like one massive save?]

like, Mike, okay, but why the Nancy emphasis when she and El have basically zero onscreen relationship. (actually I have a lot to say about El and Nancy coming up soon that might add context)

idk.. lab sibling guilt smth smth El protecting Nancy "she'll be like your new sister" and Mike "will you be like my brother" Creeler. you gotta love it

[r0semultiverse]

this recently happened to one of my friends

[transmechanicus]

Really fucked up that two ppl can care about each other and make their best efforts to communicate and still end up hurting each other so badly they cannot stand to be in the same room.

[8rujaa]

i feel so happy i have the urge to get on my hands and knees and worship something

[cherryvanillacokee]

i have never seen a character take this many L’s i swear to god

[wr0ngwarp]

absence of feelings voiced is not absence of feelings felt

zero beat moment. i have many not-really-canon thoughts on this silly robot

hex translations under the cut

"can you guys SHUT THE FUCK UP for a minute??"

"i'm booooored…"

"all of you guys are morons and your plans are stupid"

"why does anyone even still care about beat when i'm RIGHT HERE"

"man who even gives a shit"

YES it is just him moping around and thinking mean thoughts towards rokkaku group (he is not allowed to complain out loud but that will NOT stop him from having strong opinions in the privacy of his own code.)

have a :zeap: as a present for opening the readmore

[mattibee]

honestly im still not wrong about terastalling being/causing a manifestation of dreams and desires but it sure is also timey wimey i guess

[pagesofkenna]

wish there was some way i could just hold a press conference and everyone in the world who might want to know my pronouns someday could attend, and ask all their question, and i could explain it once to everyone at one time

the problem isn't that people are constantly asking me questions; the problem is i'm too nervous to talk about myself ever so i never even tell anyone my pronouns unless they specifically ask, which everyone's too polite or nervous themselves to do, and i get really well-meaning people trying to remember to call me 'them' on days i really wouldn't mind hearing a 'she'

[scorpionwins]

hi, I just wanted to ask something. This has been bugging me for a while, but how come you're not as mad as Archie as you are at Betty? it takes TWO people to kiss...

Why hello!! I'm more than happy to rant about this because it's been on my BRAIN, just sitting there, so thanks for giving me an opportunity :D

So, I'm going to assume you're asking why I don't hold Betty and Archie to the same standard when it comes to bringing up the b*ghead break up/the infamous double judas kiss that started it all. To be as frank as possible; It's very much favoritism. But the justified kind, so lower your pitchforks.

Just by a quick scroll to my blog, I think it's unmistakably evident I like Archie over Betty; Like a red dot in a white room. You can't miss it. It's there. And as third party viewers, our individual feelings, opinion, and attachments we form towards these characters motivate the moral standards we set for them.

Take a generous majority of Betty stans, for example; Despite being united by the same romantic relationship in the show, they have a direct connection in strongly disliking the male half of said relationship; Jughead.

Betty is very much the golden child of B*gheads, so I figured it was fair game. Arguably, you can say some of them maintain some objectivism, but not enough for me to consider it valuable.

Now, am I saying Archie's a perfect angel who could do no wrong? That because he's the fandom's ' haha, big himbo Boi golden retriever stupid wholesome jock' means all guilt and responsibility should be absorbed from his part? No! Absolutely not.

I don't think there's anyone in this fandom who hates the " Archie is a perfect angel and our annoying but beloved protagonist " narrative more than I do;

Fuck. No. Archie is a violent, careless, emotionally inept douchebag, who wouldn't know what a non-dysfunctional relationship was if it spit in his eye. But here's a thing, Archie isn't the protagonist; He's the antagonist.

Arguably speaking, Archie's the most morally ambiguous/morally grey character on the show, in my opinion. Not because he struggles with separating dark from light, but because he chooses both.

I can't really look at a kiss and all that other shit he's done and be like ' oh YEA, kissing was definetly worse!' the same logic can apply to Betty, but here's ANOTHER thing; Archie didn't owe Jughead loyalty.

Archie wasn't his boyfriend; Archie wasn't the one promising he won't do it again; Archie wasn't the one who went behind his back. He's the mistress in this scenario, and mistresses aren't morally indebted to anyone.

Betty was. She was Jughead's girlfriend. She was the one who sang " you're the only man for me" and yet does the opposite, on quite clear multiple times. (There's accounts of consecutive emotional cheating as well) and she's the one who's actions hurt Jughead the most because SHE was dating him.

Hell, Archie and Jughead were barely even friends; I'll even argue to say a constant theme in the show is the constant construction and reconstruction of Jarchie's friendship. How they fail to be friends but still choose eachother, over and over again, because they're held together by memories and nostalgia.

Of course I can't hold the same bitterness for Archie when his involvement and presence in Jughead's life doesn't hold the same impact as Betty's. Archie never promised him anything. Betty did.

At best, Archie owes Jughead an apology, but his real target of compensation should be his actual partner. Veronica. Archie owes her remorse.

I'll even go ahead and say it - the varchie break up hurt more because their relationship was build on actual meaningful, mature grounds.

b*ughead is a middle schooler's relationship goals. Which is to be expected because they were 16, teenagers, yet! Archie and Veronica happen to be characters with more experience in romance, both by direct and indirect contact. (From multiple partners to their own parents separating respectively)

I don't necessarily like comparing emotional damage; I do my best not to cherry pick. However, I don't think I owe cheaters the courtesy of fair thinking.

There's no good reason to cheat. It's a destructive, cruel, abusive act of disrespect towards your partner, and I'm not at all moved by Betty's performative remorse, especially because she clearly doesn't feel it as much as the fandom pushes it.

But I'll say it once and I'll say it for as long as I can; If anti Barchies dislike barchie because they like Betty, I dislike b*ghead because I love Jughead.

[ratgingi]

sometimes i look at my own ocs withbthe same eyes an overobsessed fan who wants to make a non canon complient fanfic does

[oflgtfol]

gawd having to act straight at michaels is crazy bc so many of my coworkers just talk about the guys theyre dating and or fucking and its crayzay so my one manager showed me a pic of the guy shes just fwb with right now and she was like hes sooo hot and i was like meh i mean not my type i guess like not ugly but whatevs and she was like well what is your type and i was like OH NO i shouldnt have worded it that way so i said oh i dont really know i just know it when i see it i guess. and she was like well cant you list like traits characteristics and i was like. Well. i must say this. i know its controversial but i do like mustaches. and she was like. that is very controversial

[twogoliathbeetles]

hmm. i think i've fucked something up with my uni timetable but i have no idea how...