#what a lot of sexyman fans wanted

[craske]

theres a dollhouse in the depths of the psyche

(reblogs > likes)

[readymades2002]

tumblr sexyman is not an archetype or a type of character at all it is a phenomenon. you can’t just call any character a tumblr sexyman you can’t just fill out a checklist and WOW its a new one how fun! its not something that you make its something that happens

[megabuild]

i've seen some people (mainly techno/quackity fans from the alliances) interested in getting into etho content after the polls, but it can be a little daunting when the guy's been making videos semi-consistently for over a decade, so here's your ✨ not definitive ✨ guide to Watching Ethoslab!

for starters: etho's videos can get a bit technical! he's a redstoner and is known for making lots of crazy stuff, like the original hopper clock design, a working tamagotchi, and a massive storage system that uses hexadecimal to sort and pull items.

if you're familiar with the life series, that's arguably where you'll get the most "character"/"lore" content from etho! he's been in all three seasons, starting with 3rd life. this is also where he shows off his pvp, and though it isn't as obvious in his own pov, you get to see everyone else being really intimidated and hyping up his mysterious guy persona... while he's busy crying over his stuff getting burnt.

however, if you want to start with some regular single player content, his lp series has been going for over a decade! if you're a big fan of older, nostalgic vids and can deal with him being a bit awkward, his season 1 is just over 100 episodes and imo is still very fun to watch today. if you're less into that, it can be intimidating to try and pick up a series with nearly 600 episodes, so you might want to start with his most recent world tour! it's a long one, but it summarises all the work he's done so far, and there's only 25 episodes after that which is a lot more manageable! (and then you can go back and watch the rest ^_^)

his current hermitcraft series is only 9 episodes long so it's pretty accessible, though he does start halfway through the season (and purposefully exiles himself across the world with no tools or help until he can beat a raid single-handed. because. jeez.) if you're looking for a more rounded experience though, his season 7 is where i personally started with etho content and is still one of his best series yet! he gets plenty involved with the overarching "story" of S7 too, so it's a great jump-off point if you're just interested in HC in general.

other iconic etho videos and series include

- king of the ladder, a fan favourite from his time on mindcrack (the series which, dare i say, made him the og mcytblr sexyman- seriously, look into nebtho and you'll see what i mean)

- team canada escape the nether, for a quick look into his dynamic with pause and beef, two other mindcrackers he collabs with a lot

- (and if you like that and want more, team canada's sky factory)

- lp episode 404. please watch lp episode 404.

overall, etho is a very chill guy to watch.. most of the time.. and i would highly recommend him to basically anyone who likes mcyt. he's your fave's fave, a pillar of the community, but also a guy just Doing His Thing, and even after a decade he's still finding new ways to improve and change his content... so even if i haven't convinced you to give him a try, hopefully i'll still have convinced you to give him a vote since he's about ~30 votes behind at the time of posting this ;)

thanks for reading, and happy watching! and of course, any other ethogirls are welcome to add their own recommendations in the notes!

[funnycreatortimetravel]

I love how incels/misogynistic people are like, "for girls to love you, you need to be six feet tall, be super rich and have a lot of muscles, and even then, you'll STILL be cheated on!"

And then you look at Sans fans and they were ironically the most loving people ever and were willing to turn a blind eye to everything so long as you were a skeleton and mildly funny.

And I'm being so dead ass here because the funny part is, he doesn’t have nor ever had any redeeming qualities in or outside of a relationship.

Like, dude canonically eats mayonnaise and drinks ketchup for fun:

Doesn't take baths regularly:

May be two feet tall (I'm still crying at the possibility that he's the height of a toddler, though I'm sure that was heavily exaggerated on the part of the fandom.)

But at most, he's the height of a child who's 12/13 at the oldest, so he's around four feet at the tallest (😭😭😭)

And if bro is too lazy to get a shower regularly, what makes Sans girlies think he'd be a good contender for a relationship? 😭

He's literally the exact thing that incels say a girl wouldn't want, and yet he was Tumblr's number 1 Sexyman purely for his personality (I'm choosing to believe it was purely for his personality because like, what else CANONICALLY (I'm looking at you traumatizing glowing blue hotdog fanart that is STILL ON GOOGLE and clearly visible by just looking up Sans) does he have going for him 😭

And even worse, I'll list all of these facts and people will STILL be in love with him.

To all of the Sans fans who have grown up and started dating (and maybe you outgrew your fangirl status and maybe you haven't), I wish nothing but the best for you because lord knows it doesn't take a lot to make you guys happy it seems 😭

I wonder where you guys are all at in life, dating or otherwise.

[strawberryraviegutz]

I really REALLY hate those kinds of stupid “hot take” posts. I think they’re just garbage to purposely farm more discourse to cause infighting, but I’ve been holding this in for so long and I need to get it out of my system so here it goes.

Alastor fans are allowed to dislike Valentino. Valentino was made to be a dislikable Villain while Alastor BY VIV’S OWN WORDS is a chaotic neutral antihero based off of Dexter with a moral code. Of course people are gonna like Alastor more than Valentino. The antihero/vigilante is a very popular beloved trope. I mean just look at Magneto and Venom.

You guys claim to want more nuanced characters but when we try and tell you that Alastor is more nuanced BASED OFF OF EVIDENCE FROM THE CREATOR and little possible context clues in the show we get accused of “babying/woobifying him”(as if Val fans haven’t done that to Val). This isn’t a hit piece against all Val fans/simps btw. I may hate that moth, but you guys should be allowed like him without receiving hate and or death threats.

It’s not “hypocrisy” to dislike Valentino or the Vees and like Alastor for the reasons I said above and the four of them aren’t comparable. Yeah they share some traits but overall the only thing Alastor and the Vees have in common are the mistreatment of the souls they own. Like I said, Val fans shouldn’t be attacked for liking him but the thing is…if you’re gonna preach those words then do the same for Alastor fans/simps because we get attacked too.

(Again it’s not all Val stans but it sure it a lot of them. I’ve all so seen Val haters do it too.) Yall claim not to harass people over fictional characters yet will go under Alastor posts and or discussion threads and be like “Uhm actually him and Valentino are the same🤓☝️”.

“He’s worse than Val” “Why can’t we just have a good villain” “Just accept that Alastor is a villain stop babying him” when we’re just minding our own business. Not to mention people going under fanart of Angel! Alastor and being like “erm actually he’d never go to heaven🤪”.

Along with yall bullying the hell out of Alastor selfshippers/simps and using tumblr sexyman as an insult(which reaks of internalized misogyny btw because majority of Alastor simps are women + women are always the first to be made fun of when it comes to characters that Classify as tumblr sexymen being found attractive by them or any character you personally wouldn’t find attractive.)

And yall going around and keep calling Alastor ugly under posts about people gushing about him and i don’t mean lighthearted jokes either because i make fun of the back of his head sometimes too. And full blown harassment. When an Alastor fan provided evidence of Alastor being a more nuanced character which were clips from Viv’s streams, people in the comments and qrts were being extremely rude and dismissive. It got so bad that op deleted the og tweet.

Don’t go around and claim to be against cringe culture but then make fun of people for finding Alastor attractive. And for goodness sake STOP FUCKING CALLING HIM A SLAVE OWNER. And yes he owns souls but that doesn’t matter.

Alastor is canonically half black and its overall disgusting to slap the label “slave owner” onto him knowing damn well that he grew up in the Jim Crow era of America in the Deep South of Louisiana. His existence as a mixed black person back then was basically considered an abomination. With how terrible it was for black people back then, Alastor probably bore witness to a lot of messed up shit growing up and if that’s the case then it’s no wonder he’s so messed up in the head.

This type of behavior has been going on since the days where we only had the pilot and it’s only gotten worse since the show came out. As soon as I saw that scene with husk and Alastor in hell’s greatest dad I automatically knew what was coming. I’m not saying that Alastor Is a good person nor am I saying that what he did to husk was ok. But to go after/make fun of Alastor fans,purposely denying evidence of his character while in the same breath preach against bullying people over liking certain characters makes YOU the hypocrites. So much for anti-harassment. I’m tired. Bye.

[starleska]

hi! im a really big fan of your fanfics (especially the wally ones) and i’m really curious to know what are songs that you associate with him?? please don’t be afraid to share!!! i really like talking and gushing over wally darling with a fellow wally simp lol

hey there anon!! 💖 aww my goodness you are so lovely, thank you!! it brings my heart so much joy that you like my writing...i can't believe the surge of wonderful feedback fired my way over this past week 🙈🙈 what a fun question!! there's a few songs i associate with Wally right now, and i'm sure more will pop up as we learn more about him;;; some are less overt, and more to do with Wally x Reader vibes - or, my terrible musical taste/hallucinating scenarios while listening to the same twenty songs 😂 fun simp challenge!! have a listen to a few of these with your eyes shut, thinking about Wally. you're guaranteed to have a good time 😉

Songs I Associate with Wally Darling:

Touch-Tone Telephone by Lemon Demon. no one could've seen this one coming 😂 no, as soon as i discovered Welcome Home i knew i'd finally found the right character to edit this song with. the conspiracy theory, cryptic vibes, slight desperation and of course retro-phone theming all work so well for Wally! 🥰

Out of My Mind by CG5. total coincidence that this banger dropped just as i learned about Welcome Home, and there's something cathartic and hypnotic about that repetitive chorus that fits with a lot of theories about Wally's struggles with Home...i had this one on repeat while writing The Nightmare Picnic 👀

An Unhealthy Obsession by The Blake Robinson Synthetic Orchestra. this one's for all the yandere!Wally fans out there - i think every person who's a fan of terrifying, obsessive characters loves this song 😉 this is the one had on repeat while writing those yandere!Wally headcanons - i actually included it to listen to whilst reading in the original post, but i ran out of space!! 🙈

INSANE by Black Gryphon & Baasik. i know, strike me down for including a song made specifically for another Tumblr Sexyman on this list!!! but come on - the static, the showmanship, the overt friendliness masking a smiling, curious sadism...don't pretend like you don't enjoy this take on Wally, i've seen the fanart 😂

LA Devotee by Panic! at the Disco. this one's jam-packed with fun occult imagery and all about fame and obsession, so it feels perfect for our children's puppet show ARG!! something about it just hits right with how the fandom perceives the darker side of Wally 😳 i'm listening to this a lot at the moment as i've got a Metalocalypse MEP part to this song in the works, but my thoughts can't help wandering to Mr. Darling;;

Super Psycho Love by Simon Curtis. lord help me, you can tell i was in the AMV-making community in the late 2000s/early 2010s 😂 this song's a staple for attentive, manipulative, obsessive characters...even if we end up being totally wrong, and Wally is a Darling in more than name, we'll always have fun with our unhealthily possessive fantasies 🥰

Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. hey, i'm a basic bitch - i love listening to sugary-sweet, fluffworthy AMV music whilst writing my x Readers 🙈💖 a lot of the folks who request Wally often bear a little bit of their souls when asking - revealing insecurities about themselves, and wanting to be reassured he'd love them anyway. this is such a pretty, nostalgic song, and i think it captures the softness with which many of us would like to be treated by him ✨

Crush by Mandy Moore. similar to the last entry, yet leaning even more into that bubblegum romance vibe...i'm simply weak for blushy crush scenarios 🥴💖 i like this one a lot for x Readers, especially an embarrassed Reader absolutely overcome with how precious they find Wally 💖

Stray Italian Greyhound by Vienna Teng. one of my favourite songs of all time, and the perfect choice if you want your heart to ache 💔 i think this is a wonderful choice when thinking about a hurt Reader...someone who has fully given up on love, only to be confronted with Wally's relentless sunshine personality and falling head over heels 🥺 this song speaks to why i think many of us are infatuated with Wally...his charm coming from that childlike outlook, his tendency to love everything and everyone. lots of us could benefit from that kind of unconditional love, i think;;

[the-blorbo-project]

Blorbos at Conference!

Long time, no update, but this project is moving forward! This weekend, we're at a conference hosted by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, or SCMS, presenting as part of a panel devoted to fan studies.

Why do panels matter?

First and foremost, it's a way to get research before a bunch of other researchers while it's still in progress. This helps catch poorly formed ideas, surface new good ideas, and share what's coming up with the fan studies research communities. It's also good for our humble PhD student CVs!

The Findings

Of course, the most interesting part is what, actually, we're presenting, AKA the findings! They're a work in progress, and the hardest part is the coding (talked about here). Therefore, I'm focusing on what I could do deep analysis on relatively quickly. (note: these images don't have image IDs because I summarize them below, but they're graphic representations of what I talk about in the text).

The majority of survey respondents were young: about 39% were 18-22 and 32% were 23-27. A further 17% were 28-32, about 8% were 33-37, and then it got progressively smaller from there. Shoutout to all 3 respondents who were 63 and over! So glad you're here.

In terms of social media usage, most people used tumblr - unsurprising, since that's where we got our most traction for the survey. Discord was the second most likely. Part of a later analysis will be seeing if these terms are more likely to be used by different age groups or on different platforms, which is cool.

Almost everyone surveyed had heard of these terms. Blorbo was the most-used and meow meow was least used, but very, very few respondents had not heard of these terms at all. This may be in part due to how we used them in our survey recruitment, since we did want to find people who knew what these terms were so that they could define them for us.

These numbers slope slightly down because something broke when we imported them into NVivo (a coding software) and frankly I don't understand it well even when it actually works, let alone when it breaks.

Here's a little visual of the terms you suggested for characters. Unfortunately, NVivo crashes every time I try to exclude words from this word bubble (like "term"), so it's not as clear as I'd like it to be, but there are some interesting ones. Particularly interesting are the cluster of gendered terms; husbando and waifu, malewife, sexyman, boy, girl, etc. I want to do some analysis of this because it parallels some preliminary coding results. Y'all also really find your blorbos scrunkly/skrunkly/scrungly, huh?

I also want to figure out how to tell the visualizer that "glup" and "shitto" go together, because "shitto" all by its lonesome over there is cracking me up.

Qualitative Findings

Like I said, the coding is...so far from done. That's mostly due to some Ao3-author levels of life disruption from both of us. BUT! I can tentatively say a couple of things:

There are notably clear definitions about these terms. We weren't sure if there even really was a definition of "blorbo", but it clearly refers to a very specific kind of one-true-character. By contrast, comfort characters are associated with experiencing positive emotions, and meow meows are more likely to be evil or morally grey (but you love them though).

Unsurprisingly, your characters make you happy. We're distinguishing between general positive emotions, attachment, relatability, and one-true-character belovedness. Also sexiness, but that (surprisingly) hasn't come up that much.

There are a couple of ways in which darker themes come up. Villains remain beloved, but a recurring theme is also using tragedy or trauma in fiction as catharsis.

Finally, there's a lot of playful and tactile language. "Rotating him in my mind" really is that common.

Additionally, I'm really interested in the role of gender. Many of you referred to your blorbos/meow meows as your guys, with some of you clarifying that it was "my little guy (gender neutral)". Others noted that most characters you'd seen people describe as blorbos or meow meows were men/masc. This did not come up for comfort characters. Analysis of the characters you consider exemplars of each definition will help flesh out this analysis.

Still to Come

SO much. Who are these characters? Is a specific character exclusively a meow meow, or are they also a common comfort character? What types of positive emotion are associated with each type? Are these character types or do they speak to a fan's individual (or a fandom's communal) relationship with a character?

Additionally - we didn't ask about neurodivergence, but many of y'all referenced it. I'm looking forward to exploring that as well.

That's all for now! I present this live in about two hours. If you're somehow following this account AND at SCMS, please come by!

[blog-on-a-log]

hello new tumblr users! a lot of you are twitter refugees, so it is necessary to teach you about tumblr culture and how it differs from twitter.

REBLOG!!! tumblr runs on reblogs. there is no algorithm so if you want to show off a cool post you found (think of it as a cool rock) you have to reblog it (pass the rock around). love is stored in the reblog. it's especially important to reblog art!!!

CHANGE YOUR PROFILE PICTURE!!! tumblr has got a perpetual bot problem. we've tried time and time again to get rid of them but they always come back. so, we've taken to the habit of blocking blogs that show up in our notes with one of the default tumblr profile pictures. don't get blocked by a blog you like just because you have a default profile picture! change it! it doesn't take that much effort! while you're at it, consider adding something to your bio to show us that you aren't a bot!

ASKS AND ANONS!!! you may have noticed you have the ability to send asks on tumblr to other users. you can also send them anonymously (unless the blog has turned anon asks off). DON'T SEND HATE ANONS!!! you will get utterly destroyed. also, it's really rude and mean, so don't. find a moral compass and follow it.

CELEBRITIES AND COMPANIES!!! yes, there are celebrities and companies on tumblr. IGNORE COMPANIES. DO NOT INTERACT WITH THEIR POSTS. i don't care if they are funny. we don't want to end up like twitter (there's a reason why you left). the only celebrity we allow on here is our local cryptid, mr. neil gaiman. he's been through the horrors with us. if content creators for your fandom are on here, treat them with respect. respect their boundaries. they are Just Some Guy On Tumblr like you are.

COMMON QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE:

Q: how do i get popular on tumblr?

A: you've come to the wrong place. you don't come to tumblr to get popular, you come to tumblr to show off your hyperfixations and mental illness. no one can see your follower count except for you. you might have 5 followers or 5000. no one cares about your follower count.

Q: well, okay, but how do i gain followers?

A: gaining followers isn't the point of tumblr!!! but if you really want to, you've got to interact and tag. interact with blogs you are fans of, and tag your works for your targeted audience/fandom.

Q: well, how do i tag?

A: when you create a post, or reblog a post, there is a place at the bottom just above the post now/reblog button that says #add tags. type in your tags there. please, please, please tag content that may be triggering!!! also, we don't do things like "unalive" and "su1cide" here. this isn't tiktok, this isn't twitter. when you don't tag triggering content properly, you risk people who it affects seeing it and hurting them.

Q: what if i don't want to see certain content?

A: block the tags. go to settings, and under account, there is a place for you to filter tags. type them in. you won't see posts with tagged with the tags you enter.

Q: what is a tumblr mutual?

A: tumblr mutuals are the ones who've been through the horrors by your side. between the two of you, there is an unbreakable bond.

Q: what is superwholock? who is destiel? how many tumblr sexyman are there? why is there a ball pit? what is a kung pow penis? i heard john green was on here, where is he? why do people love the color of the sky? why do people like my shoelaces?

A: in order of questions asked: hell, you don't want to know, infinite, dashcon, homestuck, a holy weapon handed down through the generations, look up "john green cock post", we also love scrolling, did you steal them from the president?

[twinkrundgren]

one of those Redesigns.

i feel like, not quite being a fan of viv, i know where her art style and design choices are coming from and we quite agree on a lot of it, its very influenced by 2000s scene culture. i don't think her designs would hit the same way if that scene influence was not present. its present in the fur, the stripes, the face shapes and colors. i think it's charming, and i think a lot of designs iron that out to make her designs less tumblr sexyman or whatever. and thats fine, but as a fan of all those 2000s scene designs, i don't really want to ruin what i find appealing about her designs and art style. i just want them to be more grounded, more understandable, and less obnoxious.

so for AD here, i just wanted to amke him more spider like and figure out his face shape. i like his face shape, its very flowy and fun to draw, but it doesnt make any sense. i tried to make his side? hair into cheek fluff, he's some kind of furry spider and i gave him a sort of diamond/triangular shape to his head to emphasize that. his hair, which is sooooo 2000s scenedog, i couldn't NOT keep that its one of my favorite things of that era. its goofy and obnoxious, but honestly, i like that.

i think there was wasted potential not making one of his spider eyes to be his eyebrows. (raven, anyone?) i think it allows the design to have these different eye colors without making him TOO special for those odd colored eyes. the rest are just next to his eyes, i think you can place them in any different configuration and it works tbh. i also gave him some spiky pedipalp like mouth appendages to add to the spider motif and made one of them gold, instead of one of his teeth. i think its a bit more eye catching that way.

the lower body is basically the drastic design change. he's a spider, but he doesn't have 4 pairs of limbs or even an abdomen. i gave the abdomen some fluff, because tarantulas have fluffy abdomens, and i removed his extra arms (clutters the design and silhouette too much) and gave him 3 pairs of legs in a sort of squidward type of leg style. i can see him skittering around on his multiple legs, while allowing the shape to be sexy since he's trying to be sexy.

with this design, i feel like he has more freedom with posing without his silhouette being compromised by so many long spindly things. i love long and spindly, but you need to balance it out too. big round shapes are just as fun as thin spiky ones.

the rest is just my personal touches as an artist who likes 2000s scene dog art. me and viv tend to converge on design sensibilities, but i think i have more tact and especially more subtlety in my designs than her. tee hee

[blocksruinedme]

(hi there! sorry if this is disrespectful or anything, feel free to delete this ask! i was just concerned because in the comments of jimmy's recent videos, it seems that he might make a video reacting to fanfictions...

very concerning! especially because it seems like he didn't contact the creators of the edits in newest video beforehand. no offense to him, but i genuinely do not trust him to handle fanfiction in a respectful way. he's very hard-working, but he's getting dangerously content-brained!

anyways, the reason i'm sending this ask to you is because you seem to frequent his streams a lot. VERY sorry if this is disrespectful to ask, but if you do attend his next stream, is it ok to ask that you try and send a message in his chat? i would myself, but he streams after midnight where i live T^T i really hope that someone well-versed in the rules of fandom spaces (maybe scott (ｰ ｰ;) ) can talk him out of it, but i would be very grateful if any chatters could discourage him during his next live.

thank you very much for reading!!)

-a shy chinese anon who experienced the banning of ao3 in china because fans of a celebrity mass-reported an rpf fic to the government :<

(Hey shy anon, I didn't show up until a little after the ban, but I was on the english side of that fandom so i know a lot. my eternal condolences, I'll never stop being upset about what happened!)

It is not at all disrespectful to ask politely, which you have! I am not going to send a message in his chat because it is an absolute hellhole, but people I know have left thoughtful comments on his youtube, which I think is 20x more useful. He sees those in his own time and can think about it. Chat is running nonstop, super fast, you get instant reaction in the chat from all kinds of sorts - seriously i love jimmy and i have nothing against younger people, but holy hell that chat is mostly intolerable to read. Most streams I don't even have it visible. Jimmy has very little time to think in response to chat messages, it can't be nuanced, and the first thing he says is now public record.

Overall, I don't think Jimmy will react to fanfic. If he does (and I've been wrong predicting Jimmy before!), it's going to be something like Wholesome Seablings Adventures. I can not imagine Jimmy reading ship fic - unless I guess it's incredibly pg canon-ship? There's all kinds of "pg youtubers", and Jimmy's more on the Katherine side of thing, appealing to families and genuinely little kids. If you look at the saucy things he lets in, you generally need some real non-pg context for it to feel non-pg. (there's always exceptions)

When people demand he address shipping he tries to say as little as possible. He's been shown nsfw fanart while he was streaming. He knows what is going on and he's not going to touch that. He's thoughtful when it counts, and since these aren't stream reacts, he has time to think hard about what he's actually going to use. So if he did do fanfic, there would be plenty of never seen footage of Jimmy of going "holy moly!" and moving on. When it matters, he is generally thoughtful and respectful.

Like the time he realized he was confused about asexuality (he didn't know about aromanticism) and slowed down to be really careful he didn't say anything accidentally hurtful. (for context shelby is ace but dates and he knows that. look at his poor little face trying to understand.)

Maybe he'll mess up this time, I sure hope not, but I'm not personally freaking out.

Also, exactly one time he opened tumblr on stream, it was the sexyman poll, and he read my reply to the post (i'm the one who called him a wet paper bag of a man, my claim to fame.) I showed up to apologize, he was a sweetheart, and he said this about tumblr, that he knows we want our own private space. He's respectful at heart.

I am not on tiktok, but until your ask, I'll admit it never occurred to me he might contact the creators before reacting. Thinking on it, I guess I think of TikTok like youtube, where it is loudly tossed out at the whole world for attention, but I'm not on TikTok.

And why do I think ao3 is different? Well, I have no coherent answer besides "vibes" and "more contained audience" and "everyone knows everyone is on youtube and tiktok".

Here are some more Jimmy clips I've wanted to share on tumblr for one reason or another.

In the end, I have been hyperfixating on this man for sixteen months and I believe it'll be okay. If I'm wrong, well. We'll make it through this, gang. We'll take care of each other and keep going. Nothing's stopped us yet!

If you want to say something to Jimmy, leave a yt comment, don't go into his stream, please, not there, you'll just provoke people and he might have to respond to that, please

Everyone out there who read ao3 not logged in - go log in, people are locking things.

People on ao3, lock or don't lock, as you see fit!

(also joel lizzie and oli did fanfic readings/reenactments/whatever years ago, including writing their own snippets, i got through like 90 seconds of one, youtube at your own risk.)

[bookishbrewer]

Jax & the Tumblr Sexyman phenomenon - an opinion piece:

This is just my opinion. I may be misremembering, misunderstanding things. I'd love to have a civil discussion + be corrected if necessary.

So, The Amazing Digital Circus released it's 2nd episode and the reception was overall very positive. The episode was written very well and tackled sensitive subject matter such as existentialism, friendship, guilt, denial & abandonment with as much grace as possible within the limits of the story.

All of that being said, there was a new controversy in the horizon: the portrayal & arc of Jax.

In the pilot, Jax is portrayed as, well - a douchebag:

When Pomni first arrived, he essentially encouraged her existential crisis, mocked her for freaking out & made fun of her (in addition to making fun of the rest of the gang).

He broke Gangle's comedy mask, as she was crying over it being broken.

He uses Zooble's arm as a scratching stick (& gets choked for it, good for Zoobie).

He disregards Zooble being dismembered & taken away by the gloinks (even as they're literally screaming in agony as they're being taken away by hostile NPCs).

He (maybe) put centepides in Ragatha's room, even though it is "literally her only fear".

He deserts both Pomni & Ragatha immediately as they find out Kaufmo has been abstracted (Pomni is new & still horrified & he may know about the pain that glitching can cause to Ragatha if she's caught by Abstracted!Kaufmo).

He throws a bowling ball at Kinger after he lies to him about Kaufmo's mental state (which may especially worry him both because he is losing his own mind & because he may have lost someone to abstraction before, namely Queenie). Causing the 3 of them to fall down the "Zooble hole".

Allows & disregards Zooble being consumed by the Gloink Queen (right after refusing to help them because they were "rude").

He pushes Gangle after mockingly suggesting that she goes first.

He tells Zooble to shut up. For really no reason (after being rude & dismissive of them the entire day).

Mocks Kinger for not "even being relied on to abstract".

Moving on to episode 2:

After one of the mannequins gets run over by a truck Jax exclaims: "oh, violence!".

Jax wants to shoot the thief!NPCs "until they're unrecognizable" and shouts at Gangle for being uncomfortable with the idea.

He throws Pomni (who's on her first out-of-circus adventure) out of the truck.

He calls Gangle "submissive & agreeable" (I mean, it's funny. But still kind of a douche move, given how sensitive she is).

He blackmails Gangle over "the figurine thing" so she does what he wants (ram into the thieves' trunk because "it'll be epic").

He hints that Ragatha's hair looks like licorice in front of a candy-eating fudge monster.

Jax is later seem distraught over the fact that there was no "big final battle, bloodshed, chaos".

He left the kingdom's gates open so that there will be carnage in the candy kingdom anyway (even though he won't even be there to witness it. Sadistic a-hole xD).

He doesn't attend Kaufmo's funeral

So, in conclusion: Jax is an a-hole (to quote Pomni).

But, the fandom was incredibly, well, surprised. A lot of fans immediately latched onto Jax, shoving him into the "bad boy" in need of "fixing" archetype. Obviously, tons of ships started (FunnyBunny, RibBun, Jagatha, KingRabbit, ClownBunny etc), headcanons about him "actually being a sweetheart", Human!Fanart and much more.

Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with being huge fans of barely developed characters & creating headcanons while waiting for more canon appearances, but that isn't the only thing that happened.

Besides comments like these:

There was also outright backlash against Gooseworx, including alledging she "retconned" Jax in accordance to the fandom's reaction to him (when in reality she predicted the backlash & divide over Jax over a half a year ago):

in addition to essentially blaming her for "Sexyman-bait".

Now yes, Jax does fit the bill of a "Tumblr Sexyman": tall, thin, douchebag, chaotic, sarcastic, cynical, implied to have deeper lore, shipped with just about anyone (well, maybe besides Bubble, wait... WAI-) & I'm sure there's other stuff that I missed. He even has his own Sexypedia page (which I didn't even know was it's own website but hurray! Research!).

He can definitely join the ranks of (reads from scrapped paper): The Ouncler, Bill Cypher, Sans Undertale, a lotta vivziepop characters (no shade!) & others.

But honestly, I think fans need to ACTIVELY try to pretend Jax was portrayed as anything else but a meanspirited jerk.

One of the most popular theories I saw is that Jax was in Kaufmo's funeral, but out of sight, even though we had 2 outward shots of the funeral, and Jax was nowhere to be seen:

Their basis for this theory? This:

That's right. A 2 second snap shot of Jax (still) looking salty & then leaving. You remember how this happened before? RIGHT BEFORE THE VERY SAME EPISODE?? Fans thought that this:

Was going to be some sort of "angsty" or "character development" scene, and even went so far as to theorize that this episode may be a "Jax Episode".

But then we found out the reason:

Not enough violence.

Jax's character essentially reminds me of a 13 year old with a copy of any GTA game, enjoying the freedom to destroy property & NPCs as he pleases through the limitlessness of a sandbox high-quality game. That's who he's actually meant to be, at least from my understanding of it.

I think Jax is a great SUBVERSION of the Tumblr Sexyman trope: he isn't some "bad boy" (shoo, Nifty, SHOO!), he's just, well. An a-hole. If my memory serves me right, Gooseworx did refer to Jax as "chaotic evil". Meaning: characters who are driven by their own desires and will do anything to achieve their goals, often disregarding laws, ethics, and the rights of others. They revel in chaos and destruction for their own sake. Though, granted, he was also discribed as a "troubled individual" about which the audience will learn more of. Also, he's 22. While technically an adult, he's still very young.

To conclude, I think fans of the "Tumblr Sexyman" trope/characters are really reaching with Jax, and it sometimes escalates way too much (to the point both the creator & VA are involved). I don't think Jax was written to be another "bad but sad boy" (if you'd pardon the Owl House reference), but I do think he's going to be interesting to watch unfold.

I understand that some people love their tropes, but let us all be mindful of each other as fans & casual viewers, and of the creator & team.

Thank you for reading 🙏

[dollar-store-sparklez]

so im gonna take a little time here while its slow at work to gush for a moment

you see this guy?

thats vikingpilot. he is a streamer and he has a tumblr, he does a lot of really cool content and hes the type of guy to absolutely want in your dnd game. hes chaotic and funny and he joined my double life server.

record scratch, freeze frame. yeah you heard me, the streamer joined the server. howd that happen? well it all started with the first session where we could not find any cows for the life of us. 2 groups of soulmates including me made a polycule, and it went fine for a while. we found cows the next session. and then they get stuck by lighting through a roof and die. so we, as a joke, blame vikingpilot, because frankly its funny and we're all big fans in the polycule. and then half the polycule died and went yellow. so we blamed him again! as a joke! and then, because we didn't really expect him to, yknow. agree we were like. what if we invited him. yknow, since he killed us and our cows. but he did agree and we made the server circle up and do a summoning ritual, the only people aware he was coming being our group of 4, even the friend thay whitelisted him didnt actually know he was gonna show up. so we ring a bell jist So Much and then boom. vikingpilot and utter chaos and also he actually killed half the polycule this time oopsies.

pandora why are you telling me this you ask

bc its the coolest thing ever actually. how many streamers would actually casually join a server to cause chaos just cause someone asked. like, basically none, thats not how it worked. but my silly got round 2 tumblr sexyman minecraft guy was like yeah thats funny lets go and did it. and we did have plans but they were completely derailed because we made viking a god and it was hilarious. but its just genuinely so cool, hes a super nice cool guy and it was most of the servers first impression of him which made it way better, and all i did was ask politely and ring a bell. im just like. it was so cool genuinely everyone had an absolute blast, we gave him gay dirt which has now been seen by three minecraft streamers, a win for the me community for sure, and just like. yeah it was really really cool. open invitation king, if you ever wanna come back and vibe you can, it was funny and awesome and you were great

and thats all to say

SUBSCRIBE TO VIKINGPILOT WOOOOO SUB W TWITCH PRIME AND ON YOUTUBE HES A SILLY SCARY GUY SUB TO VIKING WOOOOO

[thankskenpenders]

I've been catching up on the BumbleKast after getting behind so here are some interesting tidbits from various September 2022 episodes. Lots of behind the scenes info, discussions of canonicity, hints of what may be coming in the future, and also just random fun stuff

1. I'll put the most intriguing one up front:

"Is there any chance the IDW comics will connect themselves to future games?" Ian: "Mmmmmmmmaybe." Kyle: "Is there any chance that the IDW comics have already connected themselves to any future games?" Ian: "...Not in the direction of comic into game."

Ian's wording is intentionally vague here, and I'm not sure if the phrasing of "comic [connecting] into game" would mean he's ruling out the comic connecting itself to the game or the comic being referenced in the game. He's already outright said Tangle isn't in Frontiers or anything like that, so don't expect something THAT big, but previews have also said that Sonic will occasionally make surprising references to characters from past games while exploring the islands. Maybe the IDW comics will get a nod like this? Or maybe he means it the other way around, and we'll see some Frontiers stuff in the comics next year?

Regardless, you KNOW I'll be reporting back on this when Frontiers is out

2. Ian very strongly hints that Silver will be relevant in 2023's comics. This isn't exactly a surprise, given his story in the Annual and the fact that Evan's lead writer. (She's shown immense restraint not shoehorning Silver into every arc lol.) But it's nice to know that setup will pay off before long!

3. In general he's been saying that how the Classic era games fit together is being discussed behind the scenes, especially now that it's considered the past of the Modern series again. Things like Chaotix being non-canon may no longer be true. It's probably best not to think too hard about these things (Sega didn't care about "canon" in the '90s), but he reiterates that the version of events depicted in Origin is what Sega considers the definitive start of the series

4. Ian was very pleasantly surprised (and jealous) when the Scrapnik Island team was allowed to use Mecha Sonic and other Classic elements. He's holding off on commenting further on why Sega might have allowed this

5. Ian gave his ideas for what he could do in a crossover between Sonic and Homestar Runner complete with impressions

6. He also described how a TF2 match on 2Fort between the IDW Sonic cast would go

7. The question of whether or not Nicole could still be a lynx if she came back in future media has come up on here a lot, and sadly Ian seems to think the answer is a definitive "no." If the Freedom Fighters were to ever return, ALL Archie-original elements would likely be gone, starting back at square one with only SatAM (and, technically, their Spinball cameo) as inspiration. Nicole would not be a holo-lynx, Antoine may not be able to use a sword, etc.

8. On the subject of Mega Man, Ian picks up the homoerotic vibes fans always read between X and Zero and wonders if it was intentional lmao. Ian's a real one

9. Ian gave a loose summary of what would have happened in the unreleased third issue of Archie's Sonic: Mega Drive. The story would have opened with the team working together to hunt for the Emeralds in the Special Zone, which wouldn't quite be 1:1 with any specific previous version

10. Several ideas have apparently been pitched for using the Warp Topaz again, since Sega requested they leave it intact at the end of the Metal Virus Saga so it could be used again, although no idea has stuck just yet

11. Ian does not want to admit that Starline is already a Tumblr Sexyman

I was going to add more to this post as I continued getting through the backlog, but this is already long enough

[hell-fm]

I didn’t create this blog to start unnecessary fandom discourse but here we go….

(Not that it matters but I’m aroacespec)

I def don’t feel like I enjoy the fanon Alastor that is so popular in shippy or horny fanfics and fanart that is suddenly flirty and somehow caring and I understand the frustration some people have with that portrayal. If I had any say in how other fans enjoy their stuff (which I don’t have lol and neither do you), I’d wish people would move away from the suave sexy gentleman trope who just needed a single dad twink and adoptive daughter to suddenly see the light. I don’t think that’s Alastor whatsoever, but fans are allowed to do what they want and their interpretations are gonna exist, whether you like it or not.

That being said, can we stop acting like Alastor is NOT created to be a character trope that people love to sexualize? You’re valid if you don’t like it, but in that case it’s smart and mature to just…. Block content creators you don’t want to see. Like, he IS a tumblr sexyman, it’s very obvious that people are gonna go nuts for him and there’s nothing surprising about that whatsoever.

Also, everyone loves Hannigram, so I would’ve assumed that people understand the appeal of the cannibalism horror genre in a (homo)erotic context and project that onto Alastor. Like out all of the nonrapey but evil murdery things a psychopath could enjoy doing, cannibalism is the one thing that shows the most desire and appreciation for the human body. Sexual euphemism are often about eating or being eaten. It’s not uncalled for to just connect the dots laid out by the creators themselves and find some sex appeal in that. Alastor is not a normal aroace uwu boy that shouldn’t be touched or else you’re guilty of being unwholesome, he’s a violent sadomasochistic freak, there’s a lot of potential for fucked up freaky, shippy and also erotic content with him.

If you don’t enjoy that, thst is absolutely understandable and valid. But people shouldn’t bend over backwards for you, you’re the master of your own fandom fate. I know what it’s like to hate specific fandom interpretations, ships and character tropes, trust me I’m a number 1 hater. But I had to learn how to deal with that myself because at the end of the day actual in real life peoples agency is more important than that of a fandom blorbo.

[taldigi]

I kinda consume chikin nugget passively. I wouldn't call myself a fan but I enjoy it overall. I like the designs and art style and a lot of the jokes hit- But some recent changes aren't really vibing, some I get- new animators, character development, ect ect.

But one of them I don't like is Bezel. I know the series has basically said "this is our show, we can do what we want, so shut up and deal with it" (they say it a lot thru characters calling out the issue and then mocking the idea that his design doesn't mesh) Like, fine. But man, what a missed opportunity that they threw away for tumblr sexyman jokes.

They don't even go here.

[keicordelle]

Idolish7 sexuality headcanons because my head is full of cotton balls and anime boys today

Iori is quietly gay. Mostly closeted but not really trying to hide it, he just doesn't really want to talk about it. Secretly crushing on Riku, but has convinced himself it's just teenage infatuation. (A conviction that helps in no way whenever Riku does something cute or asks him for help)

Yamato is straight but open-minded. Get him drunk enough and he's ready to kiss whoever's at hand. Would be willing to swing the other way for the right person, but so far isn't really interested in anyone at all.

Mitsuki, my ace star! My boy has got no interest in sex whatsoever. He makes a great wingman though, always happy to tag along and talk up his friends. Iori comes to him for advice sometimes, and he always has the best responses to give him. Not aro tho, he wants to find someone(s) to settle down with someday who'll have just as much love to give him as he does them.

Tamaki : this boy is gay and doesn't even know what the closet is. Has never had any compunction about it, no worries, no revelation or coming out, he just is who he is. It's no big deal to him, and he's super perplexed as to why it matters to some.

Sogo spent the first 20 years of his so far in the closet that he's still not comfortable with himself. Only comes out as gay after he joins Idolish7 where he's surrounded by supportive friends. Is slowly starting to accept himself -- Tamaki is a hugely helpful influence with that.

Nagi is the most queer-friendly straight man in existence. An honorary queer. Very much a ladies man but frequently jokes(?) about how it's a shame that he deprives an entire half of the population of his charm. Very staunch trans ally and will hit on trans women just as readily as cis

Riku... I don't think even he knows what's going on inside his head. Had a gay awakening during puberty and straight up forgot about it. An oblivious gay, much to Iori's eternal despair. (Actually Iori's probably fine with it because it means Riku's less likely to notice his crush)

Gaku is bi but fem-leaning. But he's so head over heels for Tsumugi that it hardly even matters. He's Tsumugi-sexual now. Was never really into casual relationships anyway, and really rather hates that people think he's that type.

Tenn has known he's gay since he was very young and is really kind of resentful every time he's required to play up the sexy straight boy act. He's polite to the women he's paired up with of course, but he definitely bitches about it behind closed doors.

Ryu, aroace king. Please free him from the role of sexyman he just wants to go fishing and chill with his friends. He's running out of ways to politely turn people down. Gaku and Tenn come to his rescue whenever they're around, it's practically a routine now.

Momo came to terms with being gay some time ago now. Was a bit conflicted about it in high school, but being gay as an idol is a lot easier then being gay as a soccer player, especially with his partner up on stage with him.

Yuki is the most extremely pansexual man on the face of the planet. Attracted to anyone and everyone, but the attraction feels different from one gender to another. Has had way more casual relationships with women, but both people he's fallen in love with have been men. Maybe fem-leaning sexually and masc-leaning romantically. Or maybe it's just coincidence.

Haruka is a baby gay and still a little awkward about it. Still experimenting, and may or may not land on the gay label. Looks up to Minami for guidance and advice. Could stand to learn a thing or two from Tamaki, but whether or not he will...

Toma is a bisexual disaster. Everyone is pretty and he doesn't really know what to do about that. Thankfully he's got more important things to worry about so he just doesn't really think about it more than he has to.

Minami is cool, calm, collected, and fairly openly gay. Is perfectly content to take on the interest of their male fans. Knows what he wants and is entirely willing to go after it.

Torao : aggressively straight. Maybe a little homophobic about it. Definitely makes Haruka a little nervous. Minami just doesn't care. Will probably lighten up eventually, but things are a bit tense at first.