#fandom meta of sorts

[lurkingteapot]

Every now and then I think about how subtitles (or dubs), and thus translation choices, shape our perception of the media we consume. It's so interesting. I'd wager anyone who speaks two (or more) languages knows the feeling of "yeah, that's what it literally translates to, but that's not what it means" or has answered a question like "how do you say _____ in (language)?" with "you don't, it's just … not a thing, we don't say that."

I've had my fair share of "[SHIP] are [married/soulmates/fated/FANCY TERM], it's text!" "[CHARACTER A] calls [CHARACTER B] [ENDEARMENT/NICKNAME], it's text!" and every time. Every time I'm just like. Do they though. Is it though. And a lot of the time, this means seeking out alternative translations, or translation meta from fluent or native speakers, or sometimes from language learners of the language the piece of media is originally in.

Why does it matter? Maybe it doesn't. To lots of people, it doesn't. People have different interests and priorities in fiction and the way they interact with it. It's great. It matters to me because back in the early 2000s, I had dial-up internet. Video or audio media that wasn't available through my local library very much wasn't available, but fanfiction was. So I started to read English language Gundam Wing fanfic before I ever had a chance to watch the show. When I did get around to watching Gundam Wing, it was the original Japanese dub. Some of the characters were almost unrecognisable to me, and first I doubted my Japanese language ability, then, after checking some bits with friends, I wondered why even my favourite writers, writers I knew to be consistent in other things, had made these characters seem so different … until I had the chance to watch the US-English dub a few years later. Going by that adaptation, the characterisation from all those stories suddenly made a lot more sense. And the thing is, that interpretation is also valid! They just took it a direction that was a larger leap for me to make.

Loose adaptations and very free translations have become less frequent since, or maybe my taste just hasn't led me their way, but the issue at the core is still a thing: Supernatural fandom got different nuances of endings for their show depending on the language they watched it in. CQL and MDZS fandom and the never-ending discussions about 知己 vs soulmate vs Other Options. A subset of VLD fans looking at a specific clip in all the different languages to see what was being said/implied in which dub, and how different translators interpreted the same English original line. The list is pretty much endless.

And that's … idk if it's fine, but it's what happens! A lot of the time, concepts -- expressed in language -- don't translate 1:1. The larger the cultural gap, the larger the gaps between the way concepts are expressed or understood also tend to be. Other times, there is a literal translation that works but isn't very idiomatic because there's a register mismatch or worse. And that's even before cultural assumptions come in. It's normal to have those. It's also important to remember that things like "thanks I hate it" as a sentiment of praise/affection, while the words translate literally quite easily, emphatically isn't easy to translate in the sense anglophone internet users the phrase.

Every translation is, at some level, a transformative work. Sometimes expressions or concepts or even single words simply don't have an exact equivalent in the target language and need to be interpreted at the translator's discretion, especially when going from a high-context/listener-responsible source language to a low-context/speaker-responsible target language (where high-context/listener responsible roughly means a large amount of contextual information can be omitted by the speaker because it's the listener's responsibility to infer it and ask for clarification if needed, and low-context/speaker-responsible roughly means a lot of information needs to be codified in speech, i.e. the speaker is responsible for providing sufficiently explicit context and will be blamed if it's lacking).

Is this a mouse or a rat? Guess based on context clues! High-context languages can and frequently do omit entire parts of speech that lower-context/speaker-responsible languages like English regard as essential, such as the grammatical subject of a sentence: the equivalent of "Go?" - "Go." does largely the same amount of heavy lifting as "is he/she/it/are you/they/we going?" - "yes, I am/he/she/it is/we/you/they are" in several listener-responsible languages, but tends to seem clumsy or incomplete in more speaker-responsible ones. This does NOT mean the listener-responsible language is clumsy. It's arguably more efficient! And reversely, saying "Are you going?" - "I am (going)" might seem unnecessarily convoluted and clumsy in a listener-responsible language. All depending on context.

This gets tricky both when the ambiguity of the missing subject of the sentence is clearly important (is speaker A asking "are you going" or "is she going"? wait until next chapter and find out!) AND when it's important that the translator assign an explicit subject in order for the sentence to make sense in the target language. For our example, depending on context, something like "are we all going?" - "yes" or "they going, too?" might work. Context!

As a consequence of this, sometimes, translation adds things – we gain things in translation, so to speak. Sometimes, it's because the target language needs the extra information (like the subject in the examples above), sometimes it's because the target language actually differentiates between mouse and rat even though the source language doesn't. However, because in most cases translators don't have access to the original authors, or even the original authors' agencies to ask for clarification (and in most cases wouldn't get paid for the time to put in this extra work even if they did), this kind of addition is almost always an interpretation. Sometimes made with a lot of certainty, sometimes it's more of a "fuck it, I've got to put something and hope it doesn't get proven wrong next episode/chapter/ten seasons down" (especially fun when you're working on a series that's in progress).

For the vast majority of cases, several translations are valid. Some may be more far-fetched than others, and there'll always be subjectivity to whether something was translated effectively, what "effectively" even means …

ANYWAY. I think my point is … how interesting, how cool is it that engaging with media in multiple languages will always yield multiple, often equally valid but just sliiiiightly different versions of that piece of media? And that I'd love more conversations about how, the second we (as folks who don't speak the material's original language) start picking the subtitle or dub wording apart for meta, we're basically working from a secondary source, and if we're doing due diligence, to which extent do we need to check there's nothing substantial being (literally) lost -- or added! -- in translation?

#translation #linguistics (sorta) #I love language so much #long post #subtitling #dubbing #transformative work #if you read all the way to the end - THANK YOU I am so impressed #localisation #this is not an academic essay but I still feel bad for not citing sources #low vs high context cultures and languages are concepts from intercultural communication studies #but idk how up to date that is or whether folks even still actually use them #I know they oversimplify things #but it helped me say what I was trying to here so shrug #languages #language soup #meta #language meta #fandom meta of sorts #thanks for the help sorting this out kayla <3 #my nonsense

[infestedguest]

A relatively common trope of fma fanfiction is the modern Amestris au, which is basically your standard modern au for all your slice of life needs except stuff like alchemy and automail still exist, so the author doesn’t have come up with real world equivalents when that’s not really the point of their fic.

This is all fine and dandy, but one thing that’s always bugged me is that most of the time in these fics Al is just like. a normal, not disembodied, fully abled child. There are several issues with this, mainly that this alteration significantly changes the character dynamic between Ed and Al in ways the author often doesn’t account for at all.

This is also a common issue is regular modern aus, but I bring it up in the context of modern Amestris aus because an idea just occurred to me that I don’t think I’ve seen before: since alchemy still exists, why not have Al just straight up still be in the armor? Put that boy in public school and give him the strangest IEP known to man!

Touchscreens don’t recognize his leather fingers so he has a blackberry (which his hands are way too big for so it takes him twice as long to send most messages because he doesn’t like to leave in typos).

He was both pressured into joining and permanently banned from his middle school’s basketball team within the span of a week.

His condition isn’t secret or anything, it was kind of a big deal at the time and it made the news after it happened but after awhile the buzz mostly died down.

They were contacted by one of those medical mysteries documentary shows (a la extraordinary people), and Pinako told them that if they thought she would let an entire camera crew into her house they were fucking insane.

The initial publicity is the only reason the Amestrian government hasn’t kidnapped him or anything, but they do stalk him and the brothers and the Rockbells have definitely noticed.

If Izumi is Ed and Al’s legal guardian they are much more discreet about it because whenever she spots them hiding in the bushes or whatever she starts reciting castle doctrine law “to no one in particular.”

Because the modern world is a bureaucratic panopticon from hell and also CPS exists instead of just going out into the world to find the philosophers stone the Elrics just have to study real hard and try to eventually get into Alchemy MIT I guess.

Al is physically unable to use any kind of headphones because he has no ears.

He and Mei Chang are playing Minecraft right now as we speak.

#I want to see that boy in situations #sort of related to my crossover fic post #anna talking about stuff #fma #fmab #alphonse elric #fanfic meta #fandom meta #fma au #brainstorming #fullmetal alchemist #fullmetal alchimist brotherhood #fmab au

[createserenity]

Does Crowley stay at the bookshop all night?

I'm just putting it out there that I don't think this is talked about enough:

This might not have been filmed, but it's right there in the scriptbook. Crowley leaves Aziraphale's bookshop right before Gabriel and Sandalphon arrive. I'm sure it's implied they are visiting fairly early on Thursday morning, since it's the first scene labelled as Thursday and later on Aziraphale and Crowley have time to drive all the way to Oxford and mess about there. So what? Well the scene before this is Aziraphale and Crowley drinking in the bookshop after Warlock's birthday party on the Wednesday. It must be fairly late in the day by this point because the hell hound was supposed to arrive at 3pm and this scene is happening sometime later. So Aziraphale and Crowley are in the bookshop drinking presumably into the evening on Wednesday whilst Crowley goes on about how he knows what Aziraphale smells like and they both think that the world is about to end in a matter of days. Then the next morning Crowley is noted as leaving the bookshop and has clearly been in there for enough time that Sandalphon can still smell his presence. Are we supposed to buy into the idea that he leaves late Wednesday night, comes back for an unspecified reason really early on Thursday, leaves again when the angels turn up and then comes back later for the trip to Oxford? Well, I'm not buying it. So what were they doing in the bookshop all night? (And also Aziraphale takes the angels into his back room to buy "pornography" - the back room where he was with Crowley not that long before - and frankly Aziraphale loves feeling like he's got one over on the Archangels, especially Gabriel, so yeah, there's that too.) ...just saying.

#good omens #good omens analysis #good omens meta #sort of #ineffable husbands #they probably just got horrendously drunk together #but I love the idea that they did more than that #I especially love the idea that Aziraphale just flaunted it in front of the Archangels #I need to write a fic of this #good omens script book #ineffable fandom

[your-name-is-jim]

"Ted, why doesn't Spock die when he doesn't get laid?"

Listen, I have to make a post about this because I'm laughing out loud :D

In 1967, Gene L. Coon (Star Trek showrunner) wrote to Theodore Sturgeon after reading the first draft of Amok Time:

First of all, Ted, let me say that we are all generally pleased with the first draft of "Amok Time," although, of course, a certain amount of polishing and so on will be necessary. [...] We have to learn why Spock will die if he doesn't get to Vulcan in eight days. What kills him? Swollen gonads?... [And] since we have established that Spock either gets to Vulcan within eight days or dies, why doesn't he do so when he doesn't get married or laid? We must establish a sound explanation and have it explained or a lot of people will be unhappy with us…

The source unfortunately doesn't report if Sturgeon ever gave an answer about this. We just know that in the actual episode we never got it.

What I find hilarious is that Coon was worried about a lot of people potentially being unhappy about the lack of "a sound explanation"… But what actually happened is that a lot of people found their own based on what we saw on screen… aaand they wrote and drew a lot about it :)

#spirk #james t. kirk #spock #star trek the original series #star trek tos #k/s #kirk x spock #meta #sort of I guess #theodore sturgeon #gene l. coon #slash fandom #fandom history

[formereldestdaughter]

ok wait i need to hear more of your thoughts on peeta owning a bakery....

This is one of those rare times where I’m pretty sure this anon isn’t someone I know personally bc I’ve subjected anyone who will listen to my rant about the Peeta Bakery Headcanon. Anyway, you’re gonna regret asking this anon bc there are fucking Layers here.

I know this is probably a controversial take based on the number of fics where I’ve seen it, but I simply do not think that Peeta would open a commercial bakery after Mockingjay!! Like on a metatextual level, I don’t think it really fits with the point of the ending of the series. It actually sort of fascinates me that it’s just such a common headcanon because the ending of Mockingjay is exceedingly vague. I think that vagueness invites us, as readers, to imagine a better world post-revolution. A world where Katniss would feel confident that her children would be safe from injustice, where she’d feel confident that her children would never know want the way she did as a child. A just world. A kinder world. Can a capitalist society ever be just? Is a capitalist society where a disabled teenager has no other means to subsist himself (or feels like there’s no other way he can be a contributing member of his community) really the post-revolution world we dream of? Is that really the best we can imagine?

(This got so insanely long I’m adding a read more lmao)

I get that showing a better world is not always the point of post-mockingjay headcanons/fics. Like there are plenty of really great post-mockingjay fics I’ve seen where, yeah, part of the fic is that society like ISN’T all that different or all that much better. I’ve seen that really well done! Hell, I’ve written them myself! It’s easy to imagine how a lot of aspects of society would not get an overhaul, a lot of the same structural inequalities would continue to exist. One headcanon that really stuck with me (I can’t remember which fic it was from) was that Peeta sells basically mail order baked goods to people on the Capitol, sending them iced cakes and pastries by train, because there are still people who were “fans” of theirs during the Games. And idk this doesn’t actually have much to do with my point lol but I liked it because it’s kind of fucked up and like! Yeah! It makes sense! If he needed money that would be a good way to make it! War often makes people rich, often for horrible reasons, and often it’s people who already have capital in the first place.

Anyway, more about the hypothetical bakery because alright. I bring up the fact that “yeah society not being all that different post-revolution and still being an unjust capitalist hellscape” could be a reason why Peeta re-opens a bakery because that’s actually never the types of fics where I see the bakery headcanon. Fics where Peeta opens a bakery are usually trying to make the exact opposite point. Like. Things are getting better, now he can open a bakery! Look at how much better the world is now, plus he’s got a bakery! Peeta is healing, that’s why he can open a bakery now! And I am so, so sorry to inform everyone who’s never had the grave misfortune of owning a family business, but there is truly nothing further from the truth lmao. Like just putting aside the immense amount of emotional baggage that Peeta has about his family, running a small business is an insane amount of work in any context and being a baker especially is physically grueling and involves early hours (and long hours) that aren’t really the best fit with the multiple ways that Peeta is disabled now. (I could go into this more because I have a lot of thoughts. But I will spare you.). I also think it’s seen throughout the books that Peeta is someone who needs time to pursue creative outlets to process his feelings and someone who values leisure and values quality time with his loved ones. And having grown up in his family’s bakery, I think he’d understand the reality that running a bakery wouldn’t leave much space of those pursuits and wouldn’t leave much space for him to have the things that keep him healthy and stable. I think he’d know that the way he is now— after two Games and the war and unspeakable torture at the hands of a dictator—isn’t compatible with the lifestyle necessary for running a commercial bakery.

And tbh with that in mind, I don’t think he’d push himself to re-open a business (one that would be a constant reminder of his dead family and his complicated relationships with them that got no closure) that would require him to sacrifice his physical and emotional well-being. Like I think he might look into the possibility, I think he might even start trying to open a bakery out of a sense of obligation/duty, maybe harboring some idea that this is who he was supposed to be, who he would've been without the Games, or that it’s this last piece of his family that can live on, or that it’s this last connection to his family so he can’t let it die too. But ultimately, I think any attempt to open a bakery wouldn’t get very far. Maybe he'd start wading into the logistical nightmare that is small business ownership and realize it's not for him (because it's probably also true that as much as him and his brothers were involved in the business, there's almost certainly parts they weren't involved with and didn't see, i.e., filing taxes). Or maybe looking into opening a bakery— how triggering it is, the stress of it— causes a downward spiral. Maybe he hates how much he's worrying everyone by unraveling. Maybe having a breakdown from the stress of just trying to open a bakery makes him realize, yeah, maybe in another life he would have ran his family’s bakery but the way he is now just doesn’t work with running a bakery, not without great sacrifices he's not willing to make. I just can’t see a bakery coming to fruition.

I know a lot of fics include Peeta deciding to reopen a bakery as a big step in his healing or include him rebuilding a bakery as part of his healing process but honestly, I think the opposite would be more true: I think Peeta either trying/failing to open a bakery or ultimately deciding not to open a bakery would be hugely healing for him. I think it would be a huge part of him accepting the way he is now as a person, his new limitations but also his strengths. I think it would be a huge part of him accepting the way his life his now and accepting that he likes his life the way it is, that he’s satisfied with his life without needing to own a bakery. I think it would be an important part of him coming to terms with the loss of his family. I think he knows he can never have things back as they were and I don’t think he would try to recreate them, especially because his family’s legacy isn’t a business. I think he’s emotionally intelligent enough and self reflective enough to realize that what mattered to him about the bakery— taking care of others by feeding them, being integrated into his community and being actively involved in it, brightening people’s days with delightful things whether that’s beautiful cakes or hearty food or delicious treats— and the things he learned from his family through the bakery, are things that he can carry on in other meaningful ways.

(Do you regret sending this ask yet, anon? Because if not, you will soon. I’m not done yet. There’s more.)

I wasn’t really sure where to put this next part in what is rapidly becoming an essay because it sort of combines the points about like “what do we imagine a post-mockingjay society to look like” with the practical difficulties of starting this bakery but here’s another thing: do people really think that the Mellarks owned the land the bakery was on?? Like, sure, the merchants are the petit bourgeois of Twelve but I still don’t imagine they really own anything. In a society where houses are assigned to people upon marriage, where property ownership and capital are so closely interconnected with citizenship (as shown by the Plinths who, by having immense capital, are able to leave their District and become citizens of the Capitol) do people really think the Mellarks would be allowed to own the land their bakery is on?? I always imagined it sort of like a tenant farming situation: the Capitol gives them the raw materials for the bakery and in return the bakery give them some absurdly high portion of their profits, or the Capitol sells them a year’s supply of raw materials at a premium on credit and at the end of the year the Mellarks have to use the money they made with those materials to pay it back, except it’s never enough to turn a profit so they always have to buy next year’s materials on credit and the cycle continues.

We (understandably) get a really skewed view of the merchant class through Katniss’s perspective so I can see why people come to the conclusion that his family owned the property and, as the last surviving member, he would’ve inherited it. I’ve seen the inheritance thing in fics a lot or a hand wavey “well Twelve was decimated to no one owns anything anymore so it can be his” or even like an almost sort of reparations type situation where he’s entitled to the land as a surviving refugee of Twelve. But I don’t know. I guess I don’t think it fits with everything else we know about Panem that the Mellarks would’ve owned that land and I think the question of whether the government would’ve let him take ownership of the land post-revolution brings up a lot of issues about the structure of society post-Mockingjay that I find more interesting to explore in other ways, especially when, from an emotional perspective, 1) I find the idea of Peeta not opening a bakery more compelling and 2) I don’t think it really fits his character arc by the end of Mockingjay to reopen a bakery, as I went on about at length above lol.

On the flip side: literally who cares!! Do whatever you want!! Headcanon whatever you want!! I get why people go for the bakery!! It’s fun, it’s wholesome, it’s a built in bakery AU that isn’t even an AU. It doesn’t matter if it’s practical or realistic!! It doesn’t need to be practical or realistic!! It’s fanfic of a dystopian YA series!! My unfortunate affliction is that I grew up in a family that owned a restaurant and that I have multiple degrees in the social sciences so I can’t see the bakery without being like “What about the overheard? What about the start up costs? Who’s spending long nights balancing the books? Is Peeta covering shifts when an employee calls in sick? Is Peeta the sole person working there until the bakery is open long enough (often a year or more) to start turning a profit? How does that sleep schedule work with his nightmares? How does that work with Katniss’s nightmares? What happens when he has an episode and suddenly needs to take the day off before he has any employees? Does the bakery just remain closed for the day? Can the profit margins withstand regular unexpected closures? Can the supplies withstand regular unexpected closures?” And if the answer is “Elliott none of those things matter he’s not doing the bakery because he needs the money but because he wants to”, then my question is why does he want to? Does he not get the same sort of satisfaction out of feeding his loved ones? Doesn’t Peeta seem like someone who would rather give away baked goods than sell them?? Doesn’t Peeta seem like someone who would prefer to make cakes for people’s special occasions upon and then when they insist on paying him for it, he only lets them “pay for the ingredients” which actually cost significantly more than he says they did??

So yeah my point is that it’s a matter of personal taste! It doesn’t fit the way I see the series but that doesn’t mean it’s like wrong, I’m not an authority on Peeta lmao.

It’s also a matter of personal taste in the sense that I find the themes that most resonate with me at the end of Mockingjay (and the end of Peeta’s arc specifically) more interesting to explore in other ways. Grief, living with loss, relearning yourself, finding hope, figuring out your place in a dramatically different world when you don’t even know who you are anymore, healing, building a new life after such complete and total destruction of your old life— those are all things I find compelling about the end of Mockingjay but for me the bakery isn’t the most compelling way to explore them.

Not to say I find the concept of the bakery totally uninteresting. I have this fic about Johanna that I’ll probably never finish where the point sort of is that, yeah, her life really isn’t all that much better after the war. It’s been years at this point and she’s still miserable and she doesn’t know how to be a person but by the end she’s trying to figure it out. And towards the end, Peeta tells her that he’s spent years sort of passively, half-heartedly trying to figure out how to inherit the land his family’s bakery was on, only to find out it was never theirs in the first place. They’d been renting it the whole time and he’d never even known as a kid. So he sort of passively, half-heartedly went on another wild goose chase to find the owner and now, finally, after years of writing to various government agencies and being sent in circles and things being barely functional, he’s managed to track down the owner. Now it’s owned by the daughter of the man who owned it when he was a kid because the original owner (who was likely up to some sketchy war crime shit) died during the war and she inherited it (the irony…). He got in contact with her and asked how much it would take for her to sell it and she told him she’s not interested in selling but in light of the situation, in light of the fact that he’d have to build a new building in order to operate a bakery, that she’d cut him a deal— she’d only require 50% of the bakery’s profits as rent instead of the 80% his family used to pay. And of course Johanna is outraged, that’s not right, the owner shouldn’t be allowed to do that, they should do something about it, they should fight back. And Peeta is like. Not interested. He was actually sort of relieved that opening wasn’t very feasible. Getting the answer was a lightbulb moment where he saw that over the years of trying to look into this, he’s built a life that he likes— one where he’s stable, where his loved ones are stable, where he’s cared for and can care for others— and he doesn’t really want to change it drastically by opening a bakery anyway. He just needed an answer, one way or another, before he could get some closure and move on. (And the point of the conversation is Johanna is having her own lightbulb moment that it’s okay to move on, it’s okay to change, it’s not a betrayal of the people and things she’s lost but that’s not my point here!!).

But anyway. That’s obviously not about running the bakery— it’s about the choice to not run one.

Anyway!! Anyway… are you satisfied anon? Is this what you wanted?

Lastly, here is my most important qualm with the bakery headcanon: must Peeta be gainfully employed? Is it not enough for him to be Katniss’s boytoy? Can’t he just paint and garden and bake and hang out with his girlfriend all day? Is that really too much to ask?

#peeta mellark #thg #the hunger games #the hunger games meta #anyway wow this got so long and I literally read it through one (1) time so uhhh sorry if this makes no sense!! #as I was doing my one read through and realized that one of my other thoughts on this is that yeah I can much more easily see the #headcanon that peeta like sells baked goods (probably at cost with no profit) out of his kitchen because that’s much more flexible #and I think that would work a lot better with what like I guess I’d call his psychiatric disability post mockingjay #and how he’d certainly want to take care of Katniss too #like that sort of flexibility makes a lot more sense for him and it’s like. if he doesn’t bake for a few days or however long then it’s fin #it’s not a formal brick and mortar business #it’s just something he’s doing because it’s a way to be involved with people and a way to do something he’s passionate about #without there being waste and while covering some of the costs #and he doesn’t have to like keep books or do payroll or any of the things I can’t see him being very passionate about #as far as like bakery management goes Lmao he can just bake!! #but then I started getting into this whole thing about how that quote-unquote ‘running a business’ like that (informally from your house) #is actually a really common practice for people living in poverty so probably something that Katniss and peeta would’ve been familiar wirh #anyway and then this whole rant about how the emphasis on the brick and mortar bakery often goes hand in hand with #this widespread fandom thing of having a fundamental misunderstanding of how rural poverty works and what it looks like #but then I was too deep into it and said you know what? never mind! and deleted it lmao

[balanceoflightanddark]

Here's a friendly reminder that Azula got as good as firebending as she did through hard work. Not luck nor eugenics. She was a prodigy and worked her ass off.

Putting aside the fact that I couldn't imagine Ozai allowing his weapon to get lazy, it's a canon fact that she pushes herself for perfection. You don't get that by being lucky. You get that by becoming the best. And it's pretty insulting to try and tear her down, thus rendering all her efforts null and void.

Maybe this is imposter syndrome talking, but Azula should never be seen as second-rate just because she never beat Katara. Nor should her victories be downplayed. She's the third-best firebender in the series, and she should be respected as such.

#azula #princess azula #azula meta #atla #avatar: the last airbender #i don't know #i guess this sort of discourse bothers me a little #maybe this is just my imposter syndrome talking #atla fandom problems #i guess

[vittoriaisfuckingpathetic]

RHODES POST-GAZETTE

MARCH 15, 1989 In a long-abandoned manor located deep within the swamps of Bayou Nwa, one amateur historian made a remarkable discovery. Underneath the floorboards, a satchel with a faded HM monogrammed into the leather was discovered. While a few items of interest were found, the photographs are perhaps the most important discovery. These images are believed to be photographs of the infamous Van der Linde gang shortly before their dissolution.

“If these pictures are indeed of the Van der Linde gang, they paint a picture of the gang’s day-to-day life,” historian Josephine Chǎtaney noted, “Oftentimes, we get so caught up in the infamy of the group that we forget that they, too, were in fact real people.”

The gang’s exploits were recorded in the firsthand account of John (Jack) Marston’s 1927 novel American Venom and later popularized by the 1959 film Red Dead Redemption starring John Wayne.

”I really think these pictures are of Dutch’s boys. I mean, these guys are legends. Honestly, I can’t believe I got lucky enough to find these.” the amateur historian — a man by the name of Ricky De Santa — went on to say.

The photos are currently under the care of the Blackwater Historical Society, undergoing restoration to be displayed in the Blackwater Museum.

John (Jack) Marston declined to comment on the photographs.

#do i know if old photos stored in a satchel would survive 100 years? no! #but do i care? #also no! #red dead redemption fandom #rdr meta #red dead redemption meta #red dead redemption #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 photography #rdr2 photomode #van der linde gang #rdr fanfiction #sort of #hosea matthews #dutch van der linde #arthur morgan #abigail roberts marston #john marston #jack marston #EDIT I CHANGED THE DATES TO MAKE A LITTLE MORE SENSE SORRY #because originally the date was 1999 and i remembered that jack would’ve been 105 like…. nah. it’s 99.9% unlikely #so it’s 1989 now ok? pretend the 1999 thing didn’t happen 😘

[fangxin-guoshi]

I always really liked this convo bc not only does it primarily serve as yet another moment emphasizing hinata's passion for volleyball, but it also helps foreshadow osamu's future career choice and in general flush him out more. It draws a parallel between Hinata and osamu's passion for things they love. Osamu is able to understand how Hinata feels Abt volleyball bc it's the same way he feels Abt food sjcoshofsjic

Ik I sort of just stated the obvious lol but I'm still hung up on this bc I love samu yk :')

#meta #sort of....? #haikyu #haikyuu #hinata shouyou #miya osamu #hq #was rewatching the vs ina game and i remembered why i liked this convo sm during my osamu phase #the 5am brain is running on fumes #does this fandom even care lololol

[thetarttfuldickhead]

It’s fair to assume that Jamie felt tricked and betrayed when he was unceremoniously sent back to Manchester in spite of putting himself out there and taking some steps towards making nice at the exorcism in 1x06 – but I think that we often fail to consider that the team, in turn, may have felt tricked and betrayed by Jamie.

Because at the bonfire, they’re by and large ready to accept his overtures, aren’t they? His hold over them, such as it were, has been broken, but when they see him trying they’re happy enough to give him another chance: a team united, as Rebecca sourly notes. When Ted goes to remove Jamie’s shirt from the dressing room at the end of the episode it’s very much framed as a dismal moment, for the show – and for the team, who are all looking solemn or uncomprehending or unhappy. There’s no relief or celebration (although, to be fair, in some cases it might just be a sense of decorum holding them back).

So, as far as the team is concerned, it’s sad, but at least it ended with them all on somewhat decent terms, yeah? Only, then comes the interview before the City game in 1x10. Note the lack of resentment when Jamie first shows up on the screen: it’s all hey and oh and amigo Jamie. Yes, there’s Colin’s barb about the lack of barbers in Manchester, but ribbing is a thing, yeah, and Colin is a sassy bitch, and furthermore he has a fucking point: the hair is bad. They all aw appreciatively when Jamie states that he would never say a bad word about his old team, and it’s only when he proceeds to say a fair few bad words that they lose their temper. And from their perspective… mustn’t this look like Jamie was the one tricking them earlier? Like he was fooling them into thinking he gave a damn about the team and wanted to be a part of it, only to then turn around and shit all over them? We, as viewers, understand why Jamie’s lashing out at Ted, and at Richmond in general, but the rest of the players saw how upset Ted was over Jamie leaving, and have a harder time squaring their former star tearing into their gaffer, and them, like that.  

To me, this goes some way towards explaining why they’re so resistant his return after being somewhat upset – or at least not happy – that he left. It goes some way towards explaining why they react so strongly and negatively to his apology. I’ve always found that slightly jarring and very interesting, the way they shift from seemingly regretting his leave in 1x06 to being so furious with him in 2x03. Of course, the bit where he actually was a huge prick also plays a part in it, as does the lingering pain of relegation, and the fact that it’s easy and safe and convenient to blame all the old stuff on Jamie since his absence coincides with the team coming together and choosing a better path – but I do think that on some level the team simply daren’t trust that this isn’t just Jamie trying to pull a fast one on them again.

#i really haven't written much meta for this fandom have i? #bit unusual for me #and perhaps a sign that there's not much in tl that doesn't make sense to me #usually meta is for sorting out stuff i'm confused about #like the difference in attitude towards jamie in 1x06 and 2x03 #haven't even touched on the difference in TED'S attitude #which i do have thoughts on! #but that's another meta #jamie tartt #afc richmond #meta #ted lasso meta #1x06 #1x10 #2x03 #my stuff

[ladyluscinia]

It's so fucking weird to me how much of the OFMD S2 "discourse" on the side of praising and defending the decisions keeps centering on "if you just rewatched the show as a whole you would see it all fits!"

Now to be clear this is not true - I rewatched all of S1 quite literally right before S2 started dropping, and I rewatched 2x01-2x07 right before 2x08 dropped. I am, in fact, basing my analysis of the whole season on the whole season (even if I'm not inclined to rewatch / get more pissed), I'm not relying on year old fanon to tell me what happened the season before (actually I encouraged S1 rewatches all through S2 for that issue), and I still have criticisms. Many.

But moreover... What kind of insane streaming-poisoned take is it that having watched a season play out over 3 weeks has made it so fans cannot trust their evaluation of the story and arcs?????

Like people are genuinely, with their whole chests, arguing that the main reason other fans are criticizing things is because they just got too many ideas in their heads with the episodes spaced out instead of just appreciating the story that was intended. Or that the pacing felt off just because of waiting for episodes. Or that fans have straight up forgotten the context of scenes that aired less than a month before the finale.

What.

I made an argument on how fandom is changing due to streaming schedules vs traditional cable airing but have so many fans just straight up forgotten how television is consumed??? 3 weeks. THREE FUCKING WEEKS?

I do not know how to impress upon you that if a tv story falls apart the moment you are not consuming it in a singular 4 hour block then it is almost certainly not a good story. Having a week between episodes to speculate on ideas does not create an entire alternate fanon that fucks up an airing story. Good pacing is achievable even if your audience takes breaks between episodes.

Like fuck I guess I'm glad if a rewatch made you feel better but what the actual fuck is this idea the first watch is inherently corrupted just because people might have engaged with it like a tv show???

#our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd meta #fandom culture #tv production #analysis #media #ladyluscinia #ofmd critical #< sort of?

[midnights-dragon]

I think that the Good Omens fandom gets a rep for being a 'good' and 'not toxic' fandom but unfortuately that's simply not true, and viewing it as such minimizes some peoples' experiences with horrible people in the fandom.

It really sucks, because fandoms are supposed to be a place to express yourself and how you love these wonderful characters; but in this fandom, it's never-ending struggles of people arguing over their sexualities (particularly ace/allo), people choosing 'sides' in the divorce, people tearing apart Aziraphale (harmful to people with religious trauma) for his choices, people complaining about different AUs in fanfic or styles of drawing, people who are just horrible in general.... how about we all just utilize something amazing. Here it is:

If you don't like someone - whether that be their opinions, their art, their fics, whatever - then BLOCK THEM.

It is so very very VERY simple. Don't leave a hate comment. Don't send anon mail. Don't screenshot the post and make fun of it with others, or mock the writing on Twitter, or make ENTIRE BLOGS dedicated to tearing opinions to shreds (I'm looking at you, blogs that say they're 'defending aziraphale' and go on to be so cruel to people with opinions that are not ableist as they so claim).

THE BLOCK BUTTON IS THERE FOR A REASON. IT IS FOR YOU. FOR YOUR BENEFIT. AND IT IS SO FUCKING EASY TO DO.

Why make someone feel like shit just because you didn't like what probably made them proud at first before you had to be an asshole about it?

TLDR: People behind the screens are real people, with feelings and emotions and ups and downs. Remember that next time you see someone's opinion/meta, or art, or writing, and are about to leave a fucking obscenely horrible comment. Just don't. The block button is right there and it is so easy.

#this is so frustrating and i've seen it a lot the past few days #good omens fandom #good omens meta #gomens #fandom etiquette #vent post of sorts #signal boost #good omens aziraphale #good omens crowley #good omens twt

[gaywarcriminals]

How much lesbingqiu is there?

Since exactly One (1) person asked for the femslash slash stats on my post about the proportion of hetswap in the bingqiu AO3 tag, I have obliged. 

I used the bingqiu tag and filtered by F/F. Obviously many of these results are F/F side pairings with M/M bingqiu, so from there, I counted them by hand.

I excluded crossovers from my search criteria, but I did a separate search to include the fics tagged with both SVSSS and Scumbag System. At time of writing there were 257 and 18 fics respectively, or 275 total.

I have included fics with multiple pairings and polyships. Iirc this was only relevant to Bingliushen.

I counted collection fics that had at least one fembingqiu ficlet/chapter.

I included art posted to the archive.

I included podfics posted to the archive, and counted them and the fics they were based on as two separate works.

I am excluding fics where male characters' bodys or genitals are temporarily changed for a plot device but the characters maintained their original gender identity.

By these criteria, I counted 140 lesbingqiu fics on AO3. At time of data collection there are 7005 total fics in the bingqiu tag, meaning lesbingqiu makes up 0.01999% of the bingqiu tag

For funsies, I have also noted instances of trans bingqiu!

I am including fics where amab Shen Yuan Transmigrates into a cis woman and decides they're okay with this body in the trans category. 

If gender was not mentioned in a fic I defaulted to cis.

I am lumping all iterations non-binary bingqiu into the trans category, including afab non-binary bingqiu.

Not all fics with trans characters are tagged as such, so I skimmed any fics I was unsure of, but I'm sure I inevitably missed some.

Cis bingqiu - 118 Trans SQQ x cis Binghe - 8 Trans Binghe x cis SQQ - 6 T4T bingqiu - 4 Monsterfucking body weirdness, gender fucky omegaverse, or high tier SQQ gender shenanigans that I didn't know how to categorize - 4

Reflections

WAY LESS THAN I THOUGHT??? I think my perception has been skewed by what a high proportion of my fandom friends are lesbians, and how often femslash AUs feature in our discussion. 

Similarly, the fact that there are only four T4T fics was genuinely shocking to me-- I forget sometimes what a bubble I'm in lmao. I also noted that trans bingqiu was a more recent development, at least on AO3; the first fic I found to feature trans girl SQQ was from January of 2022.

I don't have exact numbers because I didn't think of it until halfway through, I noticed that in almost all the NSFW fics where just one of bingqiu was trans, the trans girl topped. This was an interesting mirror to the trend I've noticed where, in cases where just character is a trans man, he almost always bottoms. I'll shelve speculation about that for another post tho. 

#This is the adult equivalent of counting my favorite rocks #some times you just want to count and/or sort things (normal neurotypical sentence) #svsss #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #genderswap #genderbend #lesbingqiu #bingqiu #fandom meta #fish meta

[galedekarios]

honestly, while we're on the topic this whole 'gale has beef/rivalry with sorcerers' can be boiled down to (other than completely misunderstanding the "are you versed in magic?" dialogue):

ppl: pick the most obnoxious & arrogant & rude sorcerer options in the dialogue tree gale: claps back eventually ppl: omg you see gale is Totally Jealous of sorcerers & he's so so bitchy abt my incredible power~

and

gale: tells them about how being a chosen of the goddess of magic and an archmage has made him more knowledgable in areas (like cleansing the shadow weave) ppl: Um Akshually i'm just as capable

#spoiler: you are not #i should clarify: if that's the sort of dynamic you want to rp that's totally fine it's not abt that #but it's a one-sided rivalry from your oc's side tbh #with gale either taking it in stride if you do pick those options or having some really good comebacks #i've said it before but ppl love to say that gale has hubris/an ego but it's got nothing on some ppl i've seen in the tags lol #anyhow i need to finish that meta abt how gale views other caster classes #ch: gale dekarios #vg: baldur's gate 3 #series: baldur's gate #text: personal #discourse for ts #fandom critical

[teacup-gathering-itself]

The Sorting Hat listened to Harry’s pleas to be in Gryffindor because it realized putting Harry “Himbo” Potter into the snake pit would fundamentally change everything bc those heirs don’t know how to act with someone who’s so transparent and emotional, let alone so viciously fruity. He’d have been a house mascot and the Hat would have to listen to all of Albus’ rants from inside his office.

Truly the prophesy only came true bc the Sorting Hat didn’t want to have to listen to all that.

#harry potter thoughts #harry potter imagine #hp imagine #harry potter #harry potter rant #harry potter fandom #harry potter meta #harry potter drabble #hp drabble #hp thoughts #hp #hp fandom #slytherin problems #sorting hat

[gentil-minou]

Someone has to have written meta about how important the 1st incense burner chapter was for wangxian and how ir gave Lan wangji the catharsis he needed to stop being ashamed of his sexual desires after spending years punishing himself convinced his feelings were wrong and shameful because wy could never feel the same way about him. That the ugly feelings he had were his fault and how that made his guilt about his parents even worse

And then having Wei Ying the man he loves see them in all their raw and shameful glory, but instead of recoiling away in disgust wwx accepts them and lwj, showing him how lwj and his desires are not shameful, that wwx gets it he understands and he's into it too...and then the dream changes and becomes one of empowering lwj and giving him a chance to reclaim those teenage desires in a way that makes he feel good for once

how powerful that moment was for lwj who must have had a part of him that even in adulthood told him his teenage feelings were wrong, to finally come to the realization that he was just a kid and it's okay because those intrusive thoughts didn't make him a bad person. That even now they don't make him a bad person. That he can want and desire and be safe to explore those feelings and they aren't ugly or shameful they just exist as they are, that he can take them ans make them into something beautiful

Please tell me someone has written a better more cohesive version of this because my irl bff just finished the novel and hates lwj and I cannot handle that pleaseeeee

#SOMEONE HAS TO HAVE WRITTEN THIS PLEASE DONT TELL ME IT HAS TO BE ME IM NOT EMOTIONALLY CAPABLE OF THIS UGH... #my bff not understanding lwj's character....I have failed as a fan 😭😭😭😭😭 #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #lan wangji #god like i get that those chapters are not for everyone but ignoring the complexities of all of lwj's experience and narrowing it down to #make hime into a bag guy grinds me gears sk bad #i love lwj so much pleaseeeee not my boy #wangxian #mdzs meta #i swear to god if i get the same sort of bad faith comments and vague posting on this post as i did the last time i dared to express an #opinion im going to give up on this fandom i AM NOT IN THE HEADSPACE FOR THIS OKAY #mdzs musings

[secondbeatsongs]

Spencer and Socko def had some kinda relationship I was sure of that from the very beginning. But your posts made me think that maybe he probably might've brought him around and introduced him to the gang properly had the episode where the grandpa nearly took Carly away not happened. Like as far as I can remember, none of the other characters met or knew Socko very well, and Spencer managed to meet with most of Socko's family members? Idk if I was going anywhere with this

I really love Socko as a character (as you can tell from the over 2500 words of meta I wrote about him and his family)

I would have loved an episode where they're actually dating and Spencer gets to introduce him to everyone as his boyfriend, but alas, it was not to be.

though, personally, my opinion is that Socko and Spencer have the sort of relationship where it's just never been the right time for them to date. they've known each other since at least high school, so I imagine it being a situation where they've both had crushes on each other, but at different times, and it just never really worked out.

like, Spencer worshiped Socko when they were in high school because Socko was The Weirdest Guy™, but Spencer was still set on going to law school because of what his dad wanted - but then Spencer ditched law school and became Pretty Weird™ himself, and Socko was like "oh no he's hot". but at that point Spencer was fully parenting Carly, and relationships were on the back burner for him, so nothing really happened about it.

like, I'm picturing a fun and deeply loving friendship where maybe they hooked up once or twice, but they were never in a relationship. and now that they've gotten to this point, both being adults with complicated lives and artistic careers, it almost feels strange to talk about trying it again.

(this is all headcanon of course, I have no sources or anything that would imply this. I just...think it'd be nice)

anyway thank you for coming to my ted talk, please somebody write more Socko/Spencer fic, I am dying of thirst in a desert of my own making

#the desert being my eternal love for this show #also funnily enough #while I do ship socko/spencer #it's not my main ship in this fandom #ah well #there are even fewer fics for that ship #I make do with what I can #icarly #icarly meta #not exactly meta like my other ones #it's just opinion #but still #I'll tag it like that for sorting purposes