#watch this account just become a random fandom post blog

[komakatt]

Everytime I think of what Starclan did to Leafpool I want to send a misslie straight to them

[storiesofsvu]

All of us need to do better

y'all... this is hitting another bad streak. I'm seeing multiple friends/moots/other accounts either disappear from fandom/writing silently, or making posts about how they're either leaving, taking an indefinite hiatus or want nothing to do with writing anymore.

And I *completely* get where they're coming from. (and am losing motivation to write/post every single day).

interaction on posts is WAY down. and I don't mean notes. I mean reblogs and comments/a conversation going in the ask box and even requests. (which can happen ON ANON).

i get messages asking when the next ____ (insert character here) fic is and I have nothing for them because no one's sending in req's anymore either.

I have MULTIPLE people who have signed up for taglists (and recently and I know they're active blogs) who then don't interact with the fics theyve ASKED to be tagged in. You're literally holding a spot someone else might want, the very LEAST you could do would be to reblog things. (and i've seen their blogs, some of them don't reblog ANY other fics, they only have their own posted). this is just bad manners.

If you're a newer blog, let me let ya in on something.... reblogging and commenting and engaging with other people's fics is the easiest way to make friends on here, to become part of discord servers dedicated to fandoms where you can discuss headcanons, watch eps together, and spitball for your own fics and theirs.

it takes 2 seconds to reblog, and if you don't want to ruin the aesthetic of your blog, or don't want people to know it's you reading and enjoying fanfic, it takes 5 mins to make a secondary blog to do exactly that on.

ETA: i also see people complaining in the show tags that “no one writes for ______” anymore. Meanwhile they clearly havent done a good job searching as they havent seen my blog or any of the ones i reccommend.

anyways, i could go on forever. i guess i just woke up in a very lacking mood and wanted to get this off my chest because it's been bothering me a lot recently. Decadent Desires is almost wrapped and I have no motivation to even CHOOSE which series to start next because it seems like most of you do not care AT ALL. And yes i threw in random gifs to grab your attention but at least i'm going to tag this appropriately lol

[ca-suffit]

First of all, thank you so much for your reply. I really needed to hear that I wasn't the only one who found the lack of melanin conspicuous, cuz everytime I saw the post had more notes than the last like I thought I was tweaking.

Second, you're so right about the nature of this fandom's discourse. Most of it's just platitudes. It's all very... It’s all these ostensibly leftist or at least liberal ppl misusing therapyspeak and being downright nasty with no regard for (other) BIPoC fans' feelings (or the themes of the show), trying to cudgel ppl with how "smart" they are and how "dumb" we are.

I think the nasty thing for me is that I love what the show is doing, but then I check on the fandom and it goes ah ah ah negro you don't understand anything at all. Read Chrétien de Troyes' body of work and watch random USAmerican show #47 before you try speaking again.

I'm coming across as confrontational, I think, and I don’t mean to. Let me try again. Food for thought for the well-intentioned:

Are you really engaging with the show's critique of white supremacy if your behaviour in fandom replicates it? Using the white Western literary canon etc as shorthand for your intelligence/the worth or value of your interpretation. Are you actually egaging with the show's critique of cisheteropatriarchy if all those texts were created by and largely for an audience of cishet men? Maybe ppl don't need degrees in literary or gender and queer studies to have worthwhile insights. Maybe condescending to people while being unfamiliar with a whole host of queer Black literature when talking abt a queer Black show is at best... foolish. Maybe it weren’t for all that then watching the show would feel less like stepping on a rake. Okay, sorry, now I'm being petty (and elitist). I'm trying not to make assumptions or broadsweeping statements here.

Like you said it's all in service of not mentioning what even the blind can see. That's not a value judgement, ppl don't usually bury the subject consciously, white or BIPoC, it's our society. But that's why you gotta think and talk about race, because when you don't, you leave it unchallenged and it perpetuates.

Reading that the Utena thing at least didn't start (?) with non-Black fans did make me feel weirdly more positive about it. Anthy and Utena... Hm. Loustat is everywhere to see for the delusional. 🫶🏿

(I keep mentioning in asks that I'm very happy with the show and I hope it doesn't come across as trying to shame/police fans who aren't or sound like I'm gloating - I just wanna contextualise my specific frustrations.)

This felt productive to me.

Thank you so much for this space and especially for your time, I realise what a huge amount of emotional labour this blog must require (and here I come, shoveling more shit onto you 🫤). You've been both very thoughtful and thought-provoking. - 🦁

I'm out of brain energy to give this a better response rn but I've rly appreciated u being here and sharing what u do, and thank u so much for the compliments too. I used to have this account locked down bcuz I only ever saw anon asks and post comments and stuff allowing bullying to happen in more hidden spaces. I never thought the fandom could utilize the same things in order to be more vocal about a lot of stuff. I love that we've all discovered that this can work like this now. there's still shit happening at times but it's become a lot more positive here than it was at the beginning, bcuz ppl *want* to have these conversations.

[lilyflowerpot]

introduction post ✧

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

hi! I'm ellie :) (nicknames include el, ells and red). i'm 17, bisexual, and an absolute fandom fanatic.

i've recently logged back into this account after a brief (long asf) hiatus, so im looking for some more mutuals who are active and have the same interests as me, so we can all chat and have a good time :)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

ao3 is lilyflowerpot, and i love writing fanfic and hearing what people think of it!! i've linked it right there :P

here is where i talk when i probably shouldn't

this is my mutuals hall of fame <3

and this is where i write

song rec/recent fic inspo/random song: drama by spencer sutherland (THIS SONG *IS* SIRIUS BLACK, THANK ME LATER!!)

time zone is GMT +1... i think? idk, but i live in the UK!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

fandoms: the marauders, agents of shield, pretty little liars, pitch perfect, the mcu, six of crows

favourite things to do: read, write, play guitar, and do nothing but listen to music and *think*

favourite characters/kins from each fandom: lily evans and james potter's love child, fitz, simmons and lance hunter, spencer hastings, beca mitchell, peter parker, and nina zenik <3

ships: jily, jegulus, pandalily, wolfstar, dorlene • spoby and haleb • bechloe • FITZSIMMONS, natasha romanoff x maria hill, pepperony, parkner, stucky

favourite foods: ice-cream, pepperoni pizza, and pancakes

music interests: fall out boy (my first concert, i saw them live! :D), billie eilish, destroy boys, james marriott (i saw him live too!), måneskin, and random songs i pick up from my favourite films/tv series lol

youtubers i watch: dan and phil, joe and caspar, zoe sugg, dylan is in trouble, probably more i just forgot

fun facts about el: i'm a natural redhead and have never changed it, if i find a series or a film i like then i hyperfixate on it so hard until i feel empty because i'm not as passionate about it anymore, and i'm an extremely picky eater since forever :)

oh, and james potter is my husband. enough said.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

I DO NOT TOLERATE HATE OF ANY KIND! A BIG NO

୨୧⋆｡˚⋆ this blog is a safe space for everyone's vibes ｡˚⋆

so... yeah. this blog will either become my diary or i'll forget about it. let's hope that doesn't happen :)

thanks for reading, and I hope to meet some cool people! <3

creds to picture owners on pinterest !!

[mymiraclebox]

Hello :)

This is going to be more of a comment than a question but I felt like I couldn't articulate what I wanted to say in a comment because of the word limit.

I wanted to post this because at some point in the next few weeks there is going to be 1 year since I discovered your account.

I have no idea how to express this so I'm just gonna say it. Your story has become my canon. I'm not kidding. I've been practically obsessed with this account and the book "Crimson & Noir" ever since I found out about them, which isn't a long time but it's honest work :)

Your fanfics are the reason why I have a Tumblr account in the first place, and in the first 2 days after finding it, I went through years of posts up until 2020/2021. I ended up creating 2 google docs where I would copy - paste answers that I believed would be important for the story so I could go back and find them easier. I've never done that before with any other one.

Later on, I ended up creating another google Doc with all the Kwamis bios so I could go through them easier (because I could search any word I wanted). In these bios, I also added the Miracle Boxes each kwami is in, from all 3 generations (colour coded too).

You would usually post around 4/5 am for me, so I couldn't see them until morning. There would be times when I would dread going to class, and seeing the notification that you posted actually made me happy. Your posts have literally turned into my own personal Lucky Charm. 😀

The thing is that I only ever had an obsession like this one years ago so I started to wander what exactly is that attracted me to the stories and I realized that it's because you managed to put into words exactly what I wanted from the show. Like to a T. What I love the most is the way you portray the Kwamis. These little cuties are the main reason why I started watching the show in the first place but I believe that the way they were portrayed (as clueless kids) was pretty underwhelming considering the were supposed to be this powerful beings, some older than time.

From what you have said in the past, the structure this series (My Miracle Box) is going to have is so smart. Like to have multiple little plots with an overarching bigger one that you can find snippets of in all the stories is something that I and many readers I watch really appreciate and praise.

The story "Crimson & Noir" is the first and only book I ever annotated. Does my annotating suck? Yes. But I am still so happy to have done it. :) During breaks if I am stressed or tired I would whip out this story and just read some random parts. I am truly happy that I found your account.

I can imagine that there are some people that ask you when are you gonna update the story or start a new one. I'm not gonna sit here and claim that I didn't think these things too, but I trust you and the vision you have for them (how 🧀).

What I'm trying to say is take your time and write something you are proud of, even if it takes months or years to get an update. I will patiently (not really, but I will try) wait for them :)

This ask has really made my week! ❤ Thank you so much for the kind words, it really does mean a lot!!

This blog really started out as a place to throw out random ocs and headcanons, I'm glad that you've enjoyed what it's become. :D I have had a lot of fun creating stories in this fandom, and it means a lot to hear you've loved it as well. I hope you enjoy what's to come, and thank you again for this sweet message, it was heartwarming to read!! ❤ 💕 ❤

[anonygowose]

!!! WELCOME !!!

☆ I'm Goose / Goosey, this is my main blog! ☆

♡ 19 - They / Them ♡

☆ I think many people can be something's biggest fan ☆ ᵀʰᵃᵗ ᵇᵉᶦⁿᵍ ˢᵃᶦᵈ, ᴵ ᵃᵐ ᵗʰᵉ ᵇᶦᵍᵍᵉˢᵗ ʳᵒᵇᵒᵗ ᶠᵃⁿ

I MAINLY JUST REBLOG THINGS ON THIS ACCOUNT!

This includes:

☆ My own art / creations from my other blogs

♡ Fandoms I am a part of / enjoy

☆ Friend's art

♡ Shitposts

I RARELY CREATE ORIGINAL POSTS ON THIS ACCOUNT!

This includes:

☆ Light vents

♡ Dreams

☆ Conversations

♡ Random thoughts / ideas

☆ Game screenshots / stories

♡ Shitposts

I ATTEMPT TO TAG THESE APPROPRIATELY

However I have learned I am absolutely terrible at doing this consistently.

CURRENTLY SIDEBLOGS

☆ @anonygooose - Art Blog!

♡ @asurrealexperience - Dream Game! (massive eyestrain warning)

☆ @afterlifeafterhours - NOT MY BLOG but I voice one of the characters in this series! I am Erus, the silly pink one, go check it out!

more to come...

PLACES YOU CAN FIND ME

☆ My Website!

♡ Ko-Fi

☆ Art Fight

♡ Flight Rising

☆ UnVale

♡ LinkTree

24/7 HYPERFIXATION:

RAIN WORLD - Literally my ENTIRE personality since 2020. I will NOT shut up about it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If Rain World has a million fans I am one of them. If Rain World has 10 fans I am one of them. If Rain World has 1 fan I am it. If Rain World has 0 fans it must take place in an alternative universe where it's an actual good game (just KIDDING guys GOSH take a JOKE ((/lh /no ill intent /Rain World is a very good game it just makes me want to rip all of my hair out <3)))

OTHER OBSESSIONS:

PLACID PLASTIC DUCK SIMULATOR - Probably one of my bigger hyperfixations, I am a HUGE fan of the series. To the point the Developers my beloved ADDED ME TO THE "THANK YOU" SECTION OF THEIR GAME!!! I'M LISTED THERE!!!! THANK YOU DUCK DEVS <333 Anyways, I am a MASSIVE supporter and enjoyer, and I play any of their games! I cannot wait for Placid Plastic Duck - A Quiet Quest and also Slowly Sliding Ducks. ACE ATTORNEY - Becomes a hyperfixation every few months. You will know it happens when my entire theme changes to Godot and I spend every hour I am awake and should be asleep talking about it and / or reblogging posts about it and / or playing the games and / or watching the show AGAIN !!!

BUGSNAX - Probably THE biggest fixation I have ever had, took place the entirety of 2021. Pulled me out of the worst depression I've had in my life, made me start drawing again and I have over a dozen grumpus ocs. It's what made me comfortable enough to create headcanons and fan characters again. Holds a special place in my heart.

INFINITY TRAIN - My all time favorite show !!! I have ocs regarding this series and I rewatch it pretty frequently. It means a lot to me, I hold it in a special place in my heart :)

MOOMIN VALLEY - A series I enjoy a ton, there will be certain days I will focus entirely on this silly series I love it <3

ALL SAINTS STREET - Another series I enjoy a ton! I talk about it every so often but it's something I mostly keep to myself.

CULT OF THE LAMB - One of my current bigger obsessions, I actively desire to have the time to draw my lamb and all the silly followers I have. I reblog a LOT of fanart of this game, beware.

REGRETEVATOR - The biggest obsession I have at the moment, I draw my character Dizzy & canon characters whenever I can and you can find posts of them on my art account! Currently drawing a lot of Regretevator ocs on Art Fight :D

OTHER THINGS I LIKE (NO SPECIFIC ORDER): Psych, Phighting!, Flight Rising, New Girl, Schitt's Creek, Mii Related Games, Tomodachi Life, Arctic Eggs, 7 Days To Die, Project Zomboid, Fallout Games, Stardew Valley, An Airport for Aliens Currently Run By Dogs, ARK, Buddy Simulator 1984, Crypt Of The Necrodancer, Content Warning, Lethal Company, Darkwood, Costume Quest, Inscryption, Neon White, Night In The Woods, No Man's Sky, No Straight Roads, OMORI, Oneshot, Rhythm Doctor, The Sam & Max Series, The Sims Series, Slime Rancher, The Subnautica Games, Voidigo, Wobbledogs, Pokemon, Everything Everything, The Scary Jokes, Of Montreal, Glass Animals, Arcade Fire, Robots, Minecraft, Terraria, Minecraft Story Mode, Murder Drones, The Amazing Digital Circus, Epithet Erased, Stuffed Animals

RANDOM FACTS THAT NOBODY ASKED FOR

☆ I am Polish but based in America

♡ ENFP !

☆ I am currently a Game Design & Development college student :D

♡ My favorite animal is the Red Panda

☆ My favorite colors are brown & pink !

♡ I have two very odd kins- being the Twitter cat emoji and cyriak's 7 Billion rabbit rabbits

I AM A COMPLETELY SFW BLOG !!! I NEVER PLAN ON MAKING IT NSFW.

☆ If you are a NSFW blog attempting to follow / reach out, do not be shocked it I do not respond and potentially block you! This is rare but if your blog makes me uncomfortable I WILL do it. If you are afraid of this happening, use a side account to interact!

☆ If you are anti-LGBTQ (including ANY amounts of homophobia, transphobia, acephobia, against neopronouns & against the use of umbrella terms such as pansexuality, you are OUT)

Licherally be open minded, not a creep, or at the VERY least keep all of it to yourself if you want to interact with this blog or any of my side blogs :)

I do want to note I love making new friends, if you would like to get to know me and share interests and such, please reach out!

And ANY person I have ever once known, whether we ended our relationships on good or bad terms, are ALWAYS accepted in my mind. If you ever want to reach out, I am here :)

[mercymermaid]

hi! i'm mercy, but you can call me nat.

i'm a high schooler, so please don't be weird

i'm a lesbian demiromantic, and use she/them (you can use any pronouns, as long as they're not masculine)

this is my main blog, where i post art, ideas, rants, all that fun stuff

i usually reblog stuff at @mercy-reblogs , and it's an absolute shit show over there. (it's my inner perfectionist needing to keep my main blog nice and clean and stuff)

i have an ao3 account (@/CatNat101) where I’ve posted mostly rtc and fnaf fics, twitter (@/Mercy_Mermaid), instagram (@/mercymermaidyt), cara (@/mercymermaid), and i'm on youtube (@/MercyMermaid) where i post nothing.

DNI:

bigotry dni (lgbtq-phobic, racist, that kind of shit)

israel supporters (from the river to the sea, palestine will be free)

creepy dsmp stans (i can see how weird we were in 2020. please be normal.)

wilbur soot supporters (we do not support abusers, fuck wilbur soot)

ai “artists” and “authors” (ai was made to assist humanity, not the other way around)

current MAIN obsessions: (utd means 'up to date', so i've seen all there is)

fnaf (very very utd, this is my ultimate fixation. i am unhealthy.)

jekyll and hyde (finished the book, gonna watch the musical, yes i read glass scientists, hyde is an icon, utd)

commercial aviation (utd ig??? idfk, i can't tell you how to fly a plane but i can tell you all the ways to crash it)

horses (idk jack shit about the professional equestrian world, i ride irl, showjumping!! i'm a horse girl through and through)

lego monkie kid (utd, s6 nezha episode when)

fairly oddparents (not utd, finished new wish before the og show, watching og show, peri is an icon to beat all icons)

other fandoms:

dsmp (utd, i am ashamed of my past, i never left, never got into qsmp however)

tommy, slimecicle, ranboo, and co. (utd)

uranium teen scream (ride the cyclone / legoland, utd)

wings of fire (not utd, i need to read flames of hope and legends and winglets, haven't read the series in a while but ik most of it)

the amazing digital circus (utd, caine deserves more recognition <3)

gravity falls (utd, that bob ending had no right being as cool as it is)

indigo park (utd i think??, rambley is actually just a giant sweetheart and he better not become a villain)

tangled the series (utd, but idk shit about vat7k sadly)

the property of hate (utd)

the dragon prince (utd, there is no way they dared to leave s6 on a cliffhanger like that, s7 better have some good aaravos angst)

the world of mr. plant (utd, i will not be calling it twomp)

chonny jash (especially cccc content, mostly utd)

there's a lot of other stuff, those are just my main!! if i've ever interacted with the fandom recently, i'm probably in it.

come by and say hi!! my ask box is always open, and i love talking to people!

my irl moots ❤❤: @mysticalgiraffe @itskandykane

tags:

#mercy draws - art!!

#mercy writes - my silly fanfics and detailed headcanons!

#mercy rambles - literally random rants and tangents and stuff, fandom-related

#mercy yaps - random rants and tangents and commentary, not very fandom-related

#mercy answers - answering asks!

[hergan416]

YNM ask game! All of these are 5 and 7 (because of course). E, W, Z, T, M

Meme here, feel free to ask more!

(5 is Fred and 7 is James Bonde)

E) Creates a Tumblr account. What does the character like to post?

Fred's blog starts out entirely as cat pics. People think because there are so many different cats that he's stealing other people's cat pictures and reuploading them, but then people do a deep dive and realize that a) the photos were all taken on the same device and b) his posts are the first iteration of the pics on the internet. He makes cat memes. Eventually he becomes the subject of discourse because it's unethical to have so many cats. Fred is very private and doesn't actually say anything other than the names he gave to the cats... they are stray cats that he is trying his best to keep out of trouble. Yeah, of course it is unethical to keep so many cats but that many cats are keeping him. It's not his fault.

James' blog is alllll over the place. Random cottagecore aesthetics (but like, not like the blogs that do this in a housewifey way, just there are floral patterns and pastels and maybe some like nice suits or something along with it), food (and drink) pics, shenanigans (he absolutely has at least one Deleware-saga level post), shit posting, he probably has at least one fandom. It's not organized in the least and he uses it super casually but somehow is still an influencer.

W) Is born from a Greek god/goddess. Who are the character’s parents and does the character have any powers?

Oh gosh I don't know the Greek pantheon fuck. Uhhhhh

Fred is maybe Persephone's child? Yeah I like Persephone for his mother. She helps him be slightly better at growing things actually. (I know I could have chosen Demeter for this as well but I do think Persephone fits Fred better than Demeter).

(Looks through a list for a while) You know what -- I like Eros as one of James' parents. I think that works well for him. Fuck if I know about powers.

Z) Is a YouTuber. What kind of videos does the character upload?

Fred -- animal and cat videos again. This is brought to his defense re: his tumblr account probably. It's why anyone knows the cats are well-cared for strays and that he's trying to make their lives as good as he can, since there is no shelter for all of them.

James -- imagine the kind of chaos that is Brandon Farris, except he has his own gimmicks. The videos ostensibly have a point but they WILL get him into trouble. He's charismatic and entertaining as hell, so somehow it doesn't hurt as much to watch this trouble happen, and he somehow manages to end each video safely. You somehow feel you have learned something from watching it, but you are not sure what.

T) Is in the Olympics sports AU. What sports does the character play?

Excuse while I look over what sports are in the Olympics ...

Fred - I was looking for something akin to parkour and I was left with either gymnastics or sport climbing and neither really feel right. But skateboarding is apparently an Olympic sport and for some reason my brain will accept that for him? So I guess he's an Olympic skateboarder 😂

James - I really wish that they had like a horseback archery category. I think he would do all sorts of cool trick shots if he could hang off the side of a horse. I'll stick with regular archery though. I do think that in modern times he'd like a shooting sport but enjoy archery more than guns. There's more art to it.

M) Has elemental powers (for example fire and water), Which element does the character control?

Fred controls darkness

James controls light

Of course this means they belong to each other.

[pokenoire]

I mainly wanted to say that your tumblr blog is like a breath of fresh air as someone who saw a lot of the pokemon character shipping wars when I first got into the fandom around 2015. I'm also an amourshipper, it was my first ship and the way I got into fandom, but I genuinely love seeing other ships also get love, multishipping is so fun and just freeing, like why choose when you can just enjoy both!

Also do you had any amourshipping headcanons?

I've been in this fandom on YouTube and on Deviantart since 2007, I thought it was so peaceful compared to the current shipping fights, Of course I was a person who rarely looked at ship comments, since I wasn't interested. I have had contact with many if not multi-shippers, they were respectful and seemed to make fanart of everything (Poke, Advanced, Pearl, Negai...even Amourshipping and Yumeshippers or Canon X OC), I think it helped me to be neutral in that sense...

Oh I just love them so much, I have so many different headcanons I consider them as multi verses (UAs) both what I wrote in 2013-2018 and what I did in this fandom in 2019-2023.

Well, let's take it one step at a time. In 2013, I started watching XY and joined the fandom on Deepy. I watched absolutely everything other than AMVs...uh I looked at FanFiction FF net (I used page translation to read on my first phone) and saw that there were many other different things, I chose some ships to write about... specifically (Amourshipping/Mirroramourshipping) being the main ones from my pre-teen era the second one I chose to write about was, Palleshipping (I thought I had to have a separate account for everything so... I kind of did something like "I was a Palleshipper") which wasn't very cool, but I apologize because I was a kid and didn't know that, I didn't need to go THAT FAR, and could have posted this on my main (2014-2015) I started reading Shinsato, before I saw some things but...it was just hitting some random site lol, I just ignored it. Sapphirepearlshipping IS THE NEXT WHO I CHOOSE WRITE 😭🩷🤎🧡🥰

But reading it all and rewatching it I know I'm neutral to the palettes on screen. I also got to write Gary X Serena lol I just didn't see it happening in the show but it was fun to make this conflict of feelings so you could say it's my fanon (this was probably the beginning of my bi Ash Ketchum headcanon)

When I was younger I didn't know about the things that PokémonRangerboyguy did, but...I remember watching his own videos with Fancyfashionshipping (Dawn X Serena with Lost in you style) so it began + my wlw Serena agenda and Dawn lesbian even more deeply (despite knowing Sana x Serena and Miette X Serena...I was more neutral towards them too and saw them as friends/BFF)

I admit that in my new rewatch... I was more in favor of Serena X Aria imo...

Now, let's go to part 2, wlw SatoSere this is something that I simply, ONLY found out about entering the miraculous fandom, they usually have a VERY strong headcanon wlw ship or mlm ship or male/fem genderswap...male Marinette/ trans Marinette/ transfem Adrien/ fem Adrien Agreste etc. I just took this and did the same for SatoSere (I already wrote Adrien X Marin and Marinette X Adrianne (which helped me to do Amourdreamshipping) crosdessering Ash in fem Ash slash SatoSere...many things I couldn't finish or start in 2016-2017 because at the time I didn't have time (in high school I tried teacher training and it took up all my time 😭🫠 so I deleted all the stories I was working on)

Now, the third part is that I REALLY LIKED MIRRIOR ASH HE SO CUTE AND HOLY SHIT IT TOOK MY MIND ✨⭐ I DID SO MUCH THINGS WITH HIM THAT I CAN'T SAY one blog without becoming bigger than it already is 😭 but one universe in particular is that he is AUTISTIC (before I was diagnosed with autism) so this is my favorite. ❤️🫠

Ok sorry I talk too much...

Male Serena my BELEVOLED I never had a chance to write Male/Boy Serena because I NEVER COULD COME UP WITH A GOOD NAME FOR HIM Ç.Ç

[whatsagirltoblogabout]

Okay, I’m doing a pinned post because I’m starting to feel the need to explain myself LOL.

Hi! I’m Idiom. Adult. She/her.

(Follows come from youreanidiom. I made my main account fandom-specific because I was a noob back then, so just ignore it if it’s not relevant, please and thank you.)

Once in a blue moon I write fanfic: AO3 Tumblr

Currently watching: nothing, astonishingly. I'm trying to write :o

Just finished: Alias (first time)

Rewatching occasional episodes here and there: Alias, Agents of SHIELD, White Collar, Psych, The Mentalist, Supergirl if I’m feeling particularly strong

This started out as a sideblog for me to just write random thoughts, but I can never resist the pull of fandom for long. So now I’m just cycling through hyperfixations and still occasionally posting random thoughts. Under the cut is a list of fandoms in reverse chronological order (most recent at the top). I will never fully be over any of these, so really this blog is just slowly becoming more and more multifandom as my hyperfixations fade but my appreciation remains everlasting.

Also, I barely understand my own tagging system, but it does exist. I think.

As of August 2024:

- Alias [TV]

- Agents of SHIELD [TV]

- Soy Luna [TV] (though I don’t think I posted about it)

- Matt Bomer [human]

- White Collar [TV]

- Supergirl [TV]

- Katie McGrath [human]

- The Mentalist [TV]

- Psych [TV]

- Pokemon [video game]

[dojae-huh]

Hi.... Just curious

I don't know if you use insta or not. But why do you think someone likes other people's posts?. In the context of Do and Jae here.

I noticed that Doy often liked the posts of people he followed. Sometimes even leave comments. Meanwhile, as far as I know, Jae only likes 2 photos, even though he doesn't even follow anyone on his account.

Among 127 (including winwin) only Jae and Tae do not follow the other members' accounts. And the two of them also only ever liked 2 photos of the "127" member. I haven't found Jae ever or not leaving a comment. But if Tae I know he has commented on Do's post. Which he neither follows nor likes his posts. LOL. Jae once watched live insta Do (a legendary moment for Jaedo shipper) And Tae once watched Jae's live when it was Jae's birthday.

And then winwin is one of the people who often likes Do's posts. Although the two of them don't seem very close or interact often. I'm sorry if I'm wrong because I'm new to this fandom so I don't know if Do and Winwin were really close? If I'm not mistaken, even winwin never liked Jae's posts and didn't follow his insta account even though they were line friends. Aren't they that close? So why do you think they liked someone's post? Is it just because they are online? Or bored? What do you think if it's from their habits?Thank you. Sorry if I beat around the bush. I hope you read this and are willing to answer.

Thank you.

The usage of likes depends on the platform. For example, on twitter it's: 1) adding to the collection of favourites, saving posts to access later if needed (pictures, interesting info, posts with many useful links), 2) "I agree with this post" - letting the author know that you like the content, 3) marking as "read" for easier navigation on a blog.

Instagram has bookmarks as a separate option, you can even create folders. On the other hand, your likes influence what IG offers you. If you like a picture with pigeons, IG will start offering you random Arabs showing off their prized rare breed pigeons. Personally, as I like to scroll IG offers, I don't leave likes under the posts of my friends I'm subscribed to (who are artists) as I don't want to be offered cartoons and comics fanart instead of the pigeons. And in this I'm being selfish. IG likes (and comments) influence a post's promotion. The more readers interact with a post, the more readily IG algorythms show this post to random new users (ergo, like works of artists and creators, it helps them to get famous).

People say that a verified account (with a blue tick mark, NCT members have verified accs), i.e. an account of a celebrity, has an option to hide subscriptions and likes. I think it's what Jae and Tae did, they hid their public info.

Why would they do that? To not be transparent. To not show the fans who they follow (which NCT members, which celebreties or foreign artists). IG activity becomes political. Fans keep an eagle eye on all interactions, they find out all the producers, agents, song-writers, companies, etc, who subscribe to NCT members. And monitor who congratulated with BD or a solo song and who didn't. A BigBang member liked to go on drunken like-sprees, so the fans knew all the slash fanart he liked and all the gay foreigners he befriended. Yes, I mean GD.

As for Doyoung. He leaves likes for two reasons: 1) to let neos know he keeps an eye on their activities, to support the bonds (a like under a Xiaojun's cover or WinWin's magazine photoshoot will do that), 2) to show his friendship with 127 neos (a like under Yuta, Taeil or Johnny's posts will do that).

Doyoung can say he liked Yuta's latest IG post to Yuta personally, but a like is a public thing, an action eveyone will witness. That's why fans kept a close eye to DoTen on IG, whether Do liked any of Ten's posts in 2020-2021 or not (the two had a quarrel).

To pretend he is not close to Jaehyun, Doyoung ignored him on IG for several years. Only recently he started to leave likes under Jae's posts. Which is a sign that he relaxed with the hiding and now officially "knows Jaehyun exists".

Jaehyun and WinWin are close friends and there are multiple other ways to communicate. When WW is asked about Jae, he says they keep in touch. They don't need to leave likes on IG, considering for them IG is part of the job, a public space.

WinWin had been a part of 127 before WayV debuted and he was transferred to that unit. DoWin was similar to DoWoo. WW is one of Do's "children". They are not as close as DoMark, for example, but they like each other and flirt on IG at times with "I want to see you!".

[tundrainafrica]

Note: Instead of posting a meta or a fic today, allow me to take a quick break from that because I think I really need to appreciate some people here and the fandom overall.  

February 7, 2021. 

Today, I turned 24 and my boyfriend surprised me with a gift I think I’ll be taking to heart for a very long time. 

The story behind the gift was as precious (or even more precious) as the gift itself and I thought I’d share it since it turned out some content creators were involved in this gift and I very much want to express how much this gift has defined this day for me and will place my 24th birthday as one of those birthdays I don’t think I’ll ever forget. 

Apparently, I had casually dropped both my tumblr and my ao3 account during one of our conversations and somewhere around November he had started looking through my bookmarks, my posts on tumblr and some of my interactions with people in the fandom.

I should have seen it coming. It had started with my boyfriend suddenly asking about my hyperfixation with Levihan.

Sav? Shipping? Sav? Binge reading ships and meta posts? Sav? Gushing about a fictional ship?

And I remember gushing about this with my seemingly uninterested boyfriend a long night after explaining what was oddly the most out of character thing for someone like me. 

I was sharing with him my metas and hcs and maybe, I was dropping a few of my favorite quotes along the way and it turned out he was interested. Suddenly he was asking me about my favorite fics, my favorite scenes. Suddenly, he was rereading my favorite fics with me and a few times, he was quoting those same scenes. I did find out he was looking through my blog when I got a random message from a really sketchy tumblr telling me to open my facebook. 

I suspected a few times that he could be planning something. December passed with nothing and eventually he stopped asking so I clocked that as a fevered dream or unnecessary assuming on my end and didn’t think too much of it after. 

It turned out my boyfriend had messaged my favorite authors about their fics and he commissioned one of my favorite artists (if not my favorite) to draw a few photos and bound them into a Levihan Anthology 

And it feels fucking amazing to receive something like this. To get Levihan which helped me through the worst of 2020, bound forever as a book I can just open up and read anytime. And I guess tearing up at receiving such a gift had me thinking of a lot of things at once (which were always at the back of mind) but I thought of sharing now. 

The past year wasn’t easy. Actually. don’t think it’s an understatement to say this past year was dog shit. With the covid pandemic and all plans after that cancelled, I’m sure we can all agree we had our ups and downs. 

I had a lot of my own plans completely thrown out the window for numerous reasons. I had plans of going to law school part time while building a career. And, I got a job right after college to make these plans come true. In September the law school I got accepted to (after working so damn hard the past year to get accepted) denied my appeal for night classes. I decided to drop my enrollment to focus on my career. A week later, my job laid me off. 

And for once in my life, I wasn’t going anywhere. And I lived in a house where everyone was always doing something and as soon as I lost my job I was pressured to find another one. But as we all know, searching for a job during this pandemic isn’t easy. I was still reeling after having dropped my enrollment just to focus on my job only to lose that job the week after with no prior notice. Everyone around me was busy doing their own thing. I had no one to talk to and for a while, I was falling into this pit of depression. 

My days consisted of me hiding under the covers of my bed in between the few interviews I would take day to day. Around that time, I decided to binge watch Attack on Titan as well 

I was never one to get hyper fixated in ships. In fact, this was the first ship since Royai and Victuuri which I have been so passionate. And this is a whole new level of passion. I think this is the first time I’ve ever written so much in this small amount of time. It was slow going. Just like Levi and Hange’s relationship, my fixation with this ship was a slowburn. 

Those days alone, I was reading fanfiction by the bundle, I was scrolling through the Levihan tag like a simp, leaving kudos in ao3 on a throwaway account and just scrolling through random people’s tumblr accounts. 

What happened during the one month? And when I was alone, sad, lonely and stagnant with no one to talk to, when everyone around me was living their own lives, all I had alone in the bedroom was Levi and Hange’s stories to keep me company between interviews. 

And the meta analyses and headcanons I had about their relationship were teaching me things. They were teaching me that life was never about how quickly you progress or how far you go. Maybe the real winners in life are the ones who can build good relationships, build relationships so mutually satisfying they keep each other growing and in those few moments reading, headcanoning ships, I did realize, maybe even as stagnant as I was at that moment, my life wasn’t dogshit. 

No one’s life is dogshit for a few small bumps along the way. Sometimes it just is part of the process of growing, learning to get past the worse, learning to manage relationships. And maybe it’s these relationships which make life worth living. Maybe it’s these struggles depicted in these stories and the bounce back. Maybe it’s the love, the life, the emotions so carefully described and depicted in every single story which makes life, life. 

With every single fic I read and every single fan art I scrolled through. Levihan was teaching my things about love, loss and life. 

Sometimes, these fandoms are the things which can catch people before they fall too low into something. These works and stories authors and artists shared so generously were what pulled me out of this state and are what inspired me to explore this relationship for all the potential its worth and maybe share my own stories and headcanons which people may learn a thing or two from or maybe just find some comfort and hope in.  

And these inspirations eventually evolved to writing. Writing 10,000 words in a day in between three interviews? I never was a writer but somehow, I found myself spending hours exploring the themes of love, loss and life with our favorite pairing 

I didn’t start writing out of nowhere. I didn’t start making metas out of nowhere. I needed the right inspiration, the right content to get me into this point where I could continue writing, reading, meta-ing, appreciating, headcanoning and everything in between.

And I just wanted to express my gratefulness to every single person in the fandom who had made it possible for me to pull out of that blackhole. Fandoms are underrated and I believe there are so many lessons which can be learned from the right content and from the right people. 

To the people who so willingly went along with my boyfriend’s little project: 

@faerielleart​ I saved A LOT of your art and they’re sitting in my google photos under a folder called Levihan and maybe I did share a few of your photos (the cheeks one and the beast titan one and the les miserables) ones to my boyfriend unsolicited just to show him how beautiful Levihan can be. Thank you so much for these beautiful drawings.

@lizaloveslevihan​ You were one of the first people I talked with in this fandom and dreams really was one of those stories that fucked me up a little bit, had me make a few misses on the commute on the way home one day but maybe it did have me explore the angst genre a little more, maybe it did have me explore Levi’s character a little more. 

@ariadneamare​ YELLOW. OH GOD. You know those letters? The ones which Hange left Levi at the end of the story? I ended up copying and pasting them and sending them to my boyfriend right after reading and I remember talking to him about this. We might be facing that same type of story in the future and I guess that ended up becoming a lot of foundation of our discussion and I guess, it’s just proof that there is so much to learn from fanfiction. There’s just so much to explore and fanfiction as a genre just does not get the credit it deserves.

@fanmoose12​​ I was exploring your works even before I started this tumblr up again. Maybe it was even your works which got me building my own headcanons from Levihan and writing from there. And I think I did leave a few anonymous messages telling you how I started exploring other genres because of your fics. Your works got my out of my dark place, it got me exploring a lot of other genres and for that I’m eternally grateful.

And somehow, my boyfriend picked that all up from late night discussions and one-on-one metas. Surprisingly, he wasn’t just playing along to humor his girlfriend. He was exploring the themes of love, life, loss and Levihan right along with me. (And got spoiled about Hange’s death along the way… Oops.) 

And I am eternally grateful for that and I made sure to shower him with a lot of kisses after he kept me in the loop with what has been going on these past few months with his sudden interest in Levihan.

And this huge thank you goes out to all content creators (authors, artists, gif creators, shitposters alike). Sometimes you never know who’s thinking about your work, who’s shoehorning your works and quoting them to their best friends. Sometimes, you never will find out but your work had pulled someone out of a blackhole which they’ve been stuck in and sometimes you never know that your work has been that seemingly small thing that had taught them a lesson in love, life or relationships. Sometimes, that one work turned out to be an inspiration which got them writing and sharing their own stories or making their own drawings

And I guess, the point is, keep writing. Keep drawing. Keep sharing pouring your love, passion and emotions into works of art because you never really know whose heart you touched or whose life you changed.

I have a job now. I decided to push law school a few years back and maybe take the time to work on myself now and maybe spend the next months or maybe years writing metas and fanfictions. I was pulled out of my hole. I was inspired. I have my own stories to tell and I don’t think I would have been here if I hadn’t spent the last few months reading fic after fic, meta after meta, appreciating art after art, 

So anyway, I just wanted to share some pics of my favortie fics, immortalized in one anthology, all organized by my boyfriend. And I think he made some great decisions with these.

(Bookbinding credits to @mayerwien)

[justanothergayemperor]

Before Following, please read topics discussed below:

This is a kin blog, all dedicated to this wonderful, villainous asshole.. Shao Kahn. All I say that may come of as off putting, please be reminded that I'm merely just trying to entertain myself and others for being able to kin Shao Kahn and anyone I want. Trigger warnings are present here whenever topics that are sensitive to others, Trigger warning for upcoming swears.

I'm a minor, so please don't come at me with your porn accounts and try to hit me on, or else I'll have to send an image of this bastard I'm kinning telling you to piss off and immediately block you.

I'm not an asshole, but I am aware that Shao Kahn is one. So whenever I try to be into character please know that I don't intent it to be my actual motive, but if I do end up becoming too much please don't be afraid to say so!

I can do what I want, so anything that isn't canon about what I think about how Shao Kahn would be, please just respect it. At least I don't try to push the narrative of it actually being canon, I can tell the difference of a headcanon and canon facts.

I can and will be creating Aus according to specifically change the way Shao is an absolute villain, he still is any shape and form but I like me a villain turning into at least of an anti-hero. Or just becoming chaotically neutral.

My mind is chaotically gayish in nature when it comes to ships, so please respect any weird and randomize ships I can come up with involving Shao Kahn. I mostly ship Raiden X Shao Kahn since their dynamic, for me and my created timeline, works for each other. I also like Kollector X Shao Kahn. Yeah I know, I'm weird..

I go by as all pronounces but I will prefer to stick with They/He. Another thing, I'm Demiromantic and Demisexual and also Pan. I'M A P A N

If you're an actual disgusting whore, support/is a part of maps or pedophilia, homophobic in any kind of shape and form, a FUCKING racist, and any of that nature.. PLEASE. FUCK. OFF!!! this is a safe blog for people who just want to chill, be homo, be safe from predators and be supportive of each other. I don't want any of that FREAKISH NATURE coming out from my feed, eyes, souls or even in my follower sections. I'll be fucking watching.

Any kins of any fandoms that I'm in or just anything in general, as long as it's safe and it doesn't cross boundaries, you can chill on my blog. Hell! Even interact with it, do whatever! Just don't come off as offending In a way that makes people uncomfortable and I'll chill.

I'll tag anything that involves posts that are "in character". Also a little summary of my timelines and dips of lovely lore, 1. in my AU Shao Kahn is NOT an emperor anymore. He still owns his fortress though but doesn't rule anymore. 2. Shao Kahn and Raiden were and still are together for 19 years, how?? Hell if I want to tell ya I can, but I don't want to for that sweet juicy lore. 3. Shao and Kitana doesn't have a stable relationship with each other, yet. They can make up but for now they're too stupid to even try and get along despite wanting to. Something they have in common a lot. 4. Shao Kahn is.. still an asshole, but not as bad as he was before, he's just Like your friendly neighborhood asshole who'll ruin your day just for entertainment and giggles. Nothing too harmless unlike before. 5. Shao will still fucking adopt kids, create them or something I DON'T KNOW! but fucking hell, he loves kids. Some of them just reminds him of his lovingly vicious Mileena and loves them all dearly and equally unlike before "retiring". The guys just wants more kids 6. Kotal Kahn and Shao Kahn.. well they have a complicated friendship, they can be trying to ruin each other's days every single moment, or they could be having the most beautiful brother bonding relationship. And act like utter kids when the other disagrees to do what the other wants.... Okay maybe that's too long for a summary...

Might update this if necessary or if points that I planned on discussing isn't discussed, otherwise I still stand on my points. I'll see you In my kin posts ;-P.

—JustanothegayEmperor

[writerrachelspangler]

The long awaited book release

So, I wrote a book. I mean it’s my 18th book, so like the book writing itself isn’t a surprise, it’s sort of my job, but the fact that I got this particular book written and published is a big deal.  

For the like 4 of you who actually follow this haphazard Tumblr, you know that I started my account because I’d been in a massive writing funk since my friend Diane Gaidry died. I hadn’t felt even remotely cohesive in my creativity for almost a year. I’d already abandoned two other projects in that time. And when I found Tumblr I wasn’t trying to do my job at all. I was mostly laying on my couch, grief stricken and watching too much Gentleman Jack. It was really that show and the fandom surrounding it that made me want to start writing again.  

If you read my early posts here they’re filled with both trepidation and hope, and totally interspersed with GJ fandom reblogs, along with the occasional gushing about other things that got in the way of being a functioning professional (I’m looking at you gender dysphoria and conservative family members).

This was not the novel writing process I’d ever known or would recommend to an aspiring author. It went against everything I’d ever learned about how to be successful in my field. Tumblr is not well organized, does not facilitate strong focus, it doesn’t conform to high ideas of craft or form. It’s not filled with serious topics to hone the mind or sharpen creative stamina, (at least not the way I follow it). Most of all it draws more heavily on the work of others than anyone who fears copy right lawsuits should ever be comfortable with. For me Tumble was pure fandom, the exact thing people warned would lead to the watering down of my voice and derivative story telling. And yet, the voices I found here were also so unapologetically enthusiastic I dove right in, not in spite of all those things, but because of them! The content I used as a crutch was passionate, unrepentantly whimsical, and wildly joyous in ways I desperately longed to be again. And I’ll be damned if it didn’t work

At first I would write like two paragraphs of my own work then, totally exhausted and emotionally spent, I’d zip over here to emote and/or distract myself for the rest of the day. Many of my colleagues posted about their own impressive progress, and shook their heads at me. But just like learning to ride a bike with training wheels I got less wobbly as I went. I grew more confident, and a picked up speed. Soon queer Tumblr became less of a distraction and more of a reward for a job well done. Then it became a way to unwind after a full day of writing. I leaned on the mental/emotion supports less and less, until one day I realized the training wheels had fallen off and the writing had actually become it’s own inherent support system. 

From there I took off, and the book took off, too. Modern English not only finished strong on the first draft stage, it flew threw edits, and copy edits, and early reviewers. Everyone who got their hands on it talked about how it was just “one of those special books.” The kind that reads like an effortless gift from the muse.  

I still don’t know if I should laugh or cry when they stay that.

Nothing about this was easy. Nothing about it was normal. This was a mess of absurdity, heart wrenching, teeth gnashing, and clinging to random lesbian period romance memes with all of my fingernails. 

It wasn’t even until recent weeks that I could loosen my white knuckled grip and breathe deeply enough to look in the rearview mirror at how far I’ve come. Reading my early posts now is humbling. I couldn’t see the path forward from there, which I suppose makes sense. I was so lost, but after I found my way again I forgot to bring you all forward with me.

I’m sorry for that. Once I started writing on the book in earnest I stopped writing here.  And I’m not sure anyone particularly cares, but it didn’t seem right to just ghost Tumblr.  Y’all deserve better.  At least a few of you took me at my worst, so you deserve to see me at my best.

So here you go. Here’s the full circle moment. The culmination of the crying, and crazy random fandom, and deep dives into obsession, and therapy style blogs, and my complete submersion into the queer content sections, and my trying to wrestle all of that into something that meant something, something I could make sense of, and something I could give back to the community that gave so damn much to me.

Modern English, my 18th full-length, women loving women romance novel is now available wherever great queer romances are sold.  

The reviews are rolling in, and every one who reads it assure me no one would ever know what I went through while writing. 

But I know, and you all know too.  

So thank you. 

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-English-Rachel-Spangler-ebook/dp/B08NWF3RC7/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Rachel+Spangler+Modern+English&qid=1613866103&sr=8-1

[whenrockwasyoung19]

It’s Time to Talk about a Bespectacled Elephant in the Room

I’ve been in the Beatles fandom for 8 and a half years. I have had a Beatles blog for the entirety of those 8 and a half years, and I have watched as discourse about these four men evolve. The discourse inside and outside the fandom has become so toxic that I don’t think I can engage with it in the same way that I could before. Let me explain. 

When I entered this fandom 8 and a half years ago, it was in 2012, quite an infamous year in tumblr history. That was the pique of “”cringey”” fandom culture. The Beatles fandom was as steeped in fandom culture as any other fandom. I know this because I was part of two of the top of fandoms at the time, Doctor Who and Sherlock. Believe me, I have seen cringe. 

The fandom at the time was totally aware of the John, Paul, George, and Ringo’s flaws as individuals, but most fans tended to simply enjoy Beatles fandom as if it were the 60s. Some might call it ignorant bliss. If you asked me at the time, I’d have said it was self-aware ignorant bliss--if that even makes sense. At the time, there wasn’t a person with a Beatles icon who hadn’t heard the line “John Lennon beat his wife.” Everyone knew it, but everyone also knew the real story, and so everyone just made peace with it. As a result, people didn’t think about every bad thing the Beatles ever did on a daily basis. It was more like a once-a-month kind of thing. Otherwise, fandom discourse was quite fun and relaxed. There were no shipping wars, no one fought over who was the best Beatle, everyone gushed over the Beatles wives, and we all just had fun with fics and fan art. 

Of course, in this period, people engaged in conversations about one bespectacled Beatles problematic behavior. These conversations usually came from outside of the fandom. It was usually randos coming into the tags or into someone’s ask box and ranting about John Lennon’s violent behavior. Some of it came from within the fandom. Some people really didn’t like John and gave others shit if they listed John as their favorite Beatle. A lot of the discourse boiled down to: ‘hey, I see you like John Lennon. You should know that he beat his wife. And now that you know that, you should feel bad about ever liking him in the first place.’ And the response was often, ‘Actually, John Lennon didn’t beat his wife. They weren’t even married at the time. And also he didn’t beat her, he slapped her once in the face, and then never did it again.’ No one’s minds were changed. The fans had made their peace, and the antis came off as cynical and pretentious. 

When Dashcon happened, and Tumblr took a hard look at its cringey fandom culture, the Beatles fandom evolved as well. The fandom became, frankly, less fun. It no longer felt like a group of people who found the Beatles decades after the 60s and were fangirling like it was 1965. There was still some of that left, but a lot of it kind of faded. So, most fandom interactions were reblogging pictures of the Beatles from the 60s and various interview clips and quotes. But the barrage of antis never really went away, and the response didn’t evolve. 

Then, the advent of cancel culture came on. I always waited for the Beatles to get, like, officially canceled, but I also felt they were uncancel-able at the same time. Let me explain. I have been a Beatles fan primarily in an online space, rarely engaging with fans in real life. But I have met fans who are life-long Beatles fans, people who are a lot older than us and who’s fandom isn’t tied to the internet. They don’t give a shit about any of our discourse. They may or may not have heard it before, but they seem totally indifferent to all of it. I’m sure most of them have never heard ‘Mclennon’ before. These are the people that flock to see Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in concert (and pay astronomical prices for it). These are the people who go to record shops and buy vinyl. These are the people I run into at flea markets who buy up all the Beatles merch before I can even arrive (true story). So, the Beatles will never be canceled because there will always be people who love the Beatles and don’t engage with online discourse. Rarely said, but thank god for Gen-X. 

As cancel culture took over the internet, fandoms changed. It’s not as noticeable in fandoms without problematic favs. For instance, I’m also steeped in the Tom Holland fandom, and that boy is a little angel who has done no wrong. No one has discourse about the unproblematic boy who plays an equally unproblematic character. But in fandoms with ‘problematic favs’ the mood has shifted. I’m also in the Taron Egerton fandom. Taron Egerton, for those who only follow me for my Beatles stuff, is a genuinely sweet and kind person who has had zero scandals in his six year career. There were some rumblings when he was cast as Elton John, and some people took issue with the fact that he’s a straight man playing a gay man. This discourse seemed to die quickly as a whole lot of straight people played gay people in that same year (Olivia Coleman as queer Queen Anne, Emma Stone as her queer lover, Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury). Why jump on this boy who at the time was still technically on the rise. He’s not exactly the same target as someone like Scarlett Johansson who has her pick of roles. Taron doesn’t have quite that some power in Hollywood, and I think most people made peace with the fact that this was a big role for him, and it’s not really fair to take that away from him. So, all in all, the closest thing to a scandal was something that died pretty much on arrival. 

That was until this summer when everything changed. When George Floyd was murdered, celebrities flocked to social media to mourn his loss. Taron’s social media account was silent. For weeks, Taron said nothing about Black Lives Matter or Floyd’s death. This caused outrage in the fandom. Many raced to defend him, starting a hashtage #IstandwithTaron. Others sought to tear him down and anyone who supported him. The kind of mania this one incident caused tore through an otherwise peaceful fandom. What I saw was two sides in a total panic. The antis were people who once had faith that Taron was a good person and were now questioning that. Andthe defenders were people who desperately wanted him to be a good person and were afraid that he wasn’t. In essence, both sides could feel Taron about to get canceled. The defenders wanted to stop it, the antis wanted to ride that wave. 

What this long drawn out Taron example is meant to convey: is that cancel culture has put fandoms on edge. One’s fav has to be perfect, otherwise it can jeopardize the existence of the entire fandom. I’ll admit, I was afraid that I’d be some kind of pariah for standing by Taron through all of this. My actions were to basically reason with the antis but still defend Taron. I defend him mostly because I felt that his silence was the result of a needed social media absence and that trying to shame him back onto social media was an invasion of privacy. But I was genuinely afraid that he would get canceled, and the fun of the Taron fandom would be lost. 

In the Beatles fandom, it often feels like the Beatles, mainly John, have already been canceled. I see this coming from two different sources: antis from outside of the fandom and antis within the fandom. The outside antis are just the same as the ones from 2012. These are people who like to drop in that John Lennon beat his wife, posting this in the tag (which violates an ancient tumblr real by the way--no hate in the tags). 

The antis outside the fandom speak to a larger anti-John Lennon sentiment online. I see references to John Lennon ‘beating his wife’  on Tiktok and twitter. The tone of anti-John Lennon posts has shifted. Before, it felt like the antis were being smug but also argumentative. They wanted to have a conversation about this bit of info they read on Reddit with no context. Now, “John Lennon beating his wife” is practically a meme. It’s a running joke online that John Lennon was a wife beater. I can’t look on my instagram explore page because every so often a John Lennon beats his wife meme will pop up amongst the other, normal, memes.

This change in discourse suggests that the internet has just accepted this as fact now. I should note that back in 2012, it seemed as if few people knew this fact. The fandom knew it, and these random antis knew it, but few others did. Now, because of how common these memes are, it seems to be widespread knowledge.

Consequently, the Beatles fandom, who used to ward off attacks from antis, seems to have given in. I recently saw a post from a Beatles blog (had the URL and icon and everything) that confessed they felt guilty for listening to the Beatles, and I’ve seen similar sentiments expressed in the fandom. People tend to put disclaimers in posts about John or even all four that John is an ‘awful man.’ It seems like the self-aware ignorant bliss has completely gone away. Occasionally, I still see posts joyously talking about Mclennon or reblogs of old photos from the 60s. But the culture has shifted. 

Online, it no longer feels comfortable to be a Beatles fan. It feels like you have to own up to 8 decades of mistakes by four men you’ve never met. And, I should note, this is kind of how it feels to be a fan of anything right now. Taron is not canceled today, but he could be tomorrow. It’s this pervasive feeling of guilt that the person you’re supporting may or definitely has or is doing something wrong.

I’ll admit this uncomfortable feeling has expanded into other parts of my fandom life. I listen to their music, and I feel elated--the way I always have. Then, I get these intrusive thoughts which sound like all the worst parts of Twitter combined. It wasn’t always like this. Back in 2012, when I knew almost nothing about them, I saw them as four young men who were full of happiness, love for another, and talent. Back then, listening to their music was exciting and joyous. Sometimes, I fear that I can never feel that way again. Next year, when I finally go to Liverpool, will I be filled with excitement or guilt? 

I say all this for a few reasons. One, I love John Lennon. I appreciate all the good he did for the world not just as a musician and an artist but also his advocacy and charity work. I love him, and a part of me will always love him, but observing the change in discourse has enlightened me as a historian. Part of my job is to observe people’s legacies, and John’s is perhaps the most interesting legacy I’ve ever observed. When he died, he was hailed as a saint. But tall poppy syndrome set in, and the antis started. This culture grew and grew to the point where it seems to, at least among the younger generation, taken over the sainthood. 

But as a historian and a fan, I have never seen the saint or the devil. I’ve only seen the man, the incredibly flawed man. The thing that these antis never understand is that John Lennon was painfully aware of his own flaws to the point where it made him all the more self-destructive. In essence, his past mistakes caused him to make additional mistakes. But John, aware of his own flaws, always tried to change and was often successful. I’ve talked about this before, but John demonstrated that he was capable of being a good person, like properly so, again and again. After he struck Cynthia, he never hit her again. His shortcomings as a father to Julian weren’t repeated with Sean. He worked on his drinking, his drug addiction, and his anger, trying to overcome those demons till the day he died. By all accounts, the John Lennon that died in 1980 is not the John Lennon who struck Cynthia Powell at school. That John Lennon was living a cleaner, healthier life. He was a better father to both his sons by that point, and was trying to repair his relationship with Julian. He was a good husband to Yoko and saw himself living a long and happy life. 

John Lennon cannot and should not be boiled down to just his flaws. It’s one thing as a fan to acknowledge that John is a flawed human being (news flash: they all are), but he is also much bigger than that. 

So once again, why am I writing this long, rambling post, once again talking about John Lennon’s virtues? Because if I can’t engage with healthy discourse about the Beatles and John Lennon, then I can’t engage with discourse on the topic at all. So, I probably will post less Beatles stuff because I find it hard to go through the tags or even my dash (well, I can’t really go through my dash anymore for other reasons I’m not going to get into right now). If any of my followers have noticed a lot of Taron posts lately, it’s not just because I love Taron, it’s because Taron’s  tag is pretty much the only location on tumblr I feel 100% comfortable in. Any foray into John or the Beatles tags becomes uncomfortable and guilt-ridden quickly. 

So, I probably will post less about the Beatles until I can find a blog or a tag that doesn’t give me bad vibes. My fandom will likely outgrow tumblr and the internet. I have a ton of Beatles books; maybe I’ll rely on those. I am doing official scholarly research on them now. Maybe that will be my outlet. I’m sorry if I post less about them now, but it’s really for my own well-being. 

[sinnhelmingr]

SO YOU WANT TO PROMOTE YOUR ROLEPLAY GROUP.

and that’s great! i’m sure you have a fantastic idea to develop your story, and a genuine love for what you’ve created. there’s nothing more harrowing and rewarding than putting your skeletons out there and watching interested players snap them up! i don’t think there’s anyone but the most curmudgeonly indie who will begrudge others for wanting to share their creativity with the community. 

no doubt you’ve poured at least a day or two into the skeletons, the theme, the graphics, and perhaps most importantly, the promo. after all, how will your group get off the ground without reaching out to others? promoting is a time-honored aspect of roleplaying on this site, one that most of us have taken part in from time to time. from the simplest single image to the most ornate multi-panel gif templates, promos are a great way to get your blog out there and invite others to engage with your content.

if. they are used reasonably. promos give you the power to reach out to entire communities that could join your group, and with that power comes great responsibility. this includes recognizing that while you are ready to put in the work to put your group on the map, there are plenty of indies who use the same tags you do. some indie muns might be willing to apply, some might simply scroll past your content, and some will block groups on sight, and that’s the variety you can expect from the independent blogs you share tags with. one thing that all kinds of muns can usually agree on, however, is that scrolling past entire walls of content over and over again is annoying.

really, really annoying. especially in the event that your promo overtakes the tag others are trying to navigate. double that annoyance if trying to take the high road and block/filter out your promo account breaks the tag entirely. with some groups, it becomes obvious that moderators think that taking over a tag is a sure way to generate interest, which might be true... but ask yourself if people complaining about your content is the kind of interest you want.

it seems that recently, a number of rpgs have decided that posting a single or rotating stable of promo graphics upwards of ten to fifteen times a day is necessary to drum up their numbers, and in particularly slow but active tags, the spam can really add up fast. and that is what it comes down to : spam, flooding a tag with your own content so nothing else can rise to the surface. this is the kind of behavior that gets commenters banned on more functional sites, but as we well know, tumblr is not that. thus it falls more to the moderators themselves to, well, moderate themselves.

consider the following before invading a tag:

try to maneuver one of your favored tags from another account. see how long it takes you to find an indie blog, or block your promo account and see if it breaks the tag. this should give you a taste of what indie muns go through trying to maneuver around your flood of content. consider that while you want to build a community of writing partners, so do people outside of your group, and how you might make that harder for them through your promotion tactics.

only post in an rp tag from your promo account. i often see blogs post unrelated content into tags commonly used to promote for new followers, things like mod activity updates from an hq blog or even random asks about fcs. ask yourself what bearing this really has on your promotion, especially in a tag you already use heavily. people have already seen your many graphics -- is an update about you being online or activity checks that could be handled in-house really going to reel in that one person who might not otherwise apply? i suppose it’s possible, but it’s just as likely you’re contributing to a wider audience having to block another account just to make it through to people who will interact with them.

consider changing tags. have you noticed that people aren’t applying from a certain fandom or setting? have you posted in that certain rp tag time and time again only for that latest batch of applications to come up with no results from it? maybe that should be a sign to ease off of the tag for a bit. if you post too frequently, rest assured that users are seeing you, and it’s likely people there aren’t taken by your group. that might be hard to hear, but not everyone has the time or inclination to pour into a group, and that’s okay. shift focus to those fandoms and settings where you are getting some good returns, and if you still need that other tag, try again in the future. chase what works and stop trying to make your group happen where there’s a lack of curiosity.

try looking into alternative tags. imagine how much easier it would be for players to find your account if there was a dedicated group tag depending on the fandom or genre they write for. your page could be more easily accessed by popularity without having to compete with indie account promos, which often rack up a fair amount of likes and reblogs, for space at the top of the page. as there are already some pretty dedicated ‘indie [fandom]’ and ‘indie [genre]’ tags in play, there’s nothing saying that groups can’t employ the same advertising maneuvers.

and above all else, scale back the number of posts you queue in a short amount of time. twenty posts in a day, which i have seen in extreme cases, is inexcusable. even ten in a day has the potential to really upend maneuverability in particularly slow but active fandoms. i want to repeat that your page is being seen, i promise, and if you’re ruining the tag for others by putting out more than one post an hour, you’re being seen for all the wrong reasons. if people have to actively come forward to you asking you to please stop posting so often, consider that you have a problem with oversaturating your group.

of course, no one group of mods is under any obligation to listen to this. the few groups that i have seen others reach out seem to believe that if they don’t post at least three times an hour four times a day some other group will swoop in and steal potential players out from under them. a few that certain mutuals have approached even claim that many promos a day is ‘normal.’ and i would like to say, from the bottom of my heart, it shouldn’t be and you’re part of the reason other mods think that. i want to believe after almost a decade on this site that indies and groups can coexist as they always have, but i know others and i myself are recently at the mercy of scrolling past endless amounts of group promotions to find even one new blog, especially in larger fandoms. some groups have even gone so far as posting in indie rp tags, which defeats the purpose of the tag entirely. with a little courtesy and less obsessive advertising, we can find a middle ground that allows both groups and indies to use the tools available to us to entice new interactions and players alike.