#i'm not a gatekeeper of fandom

[kiaerinnn]

I love how the whole part of this episode was just Kai gaslighting Zane into cheating. I mean yea sure if they didn't cheat they probably would've died or smth but cmonnn (it was a white lie though we goodd)

#ninjago #hello tumblr #fandoms i'm in #recommend #fyp #ninjago kai #lego ninjago #ninjago zane #zane julien #kai smith #kai jiang #gaslight gatekeep girlboss #gaslighting #it was a white lie though we're fineee

[kiragecko]

cherrystainedknuckles

I guess the only problem with being asked to take a “marie kondo approach” is that in order to find any fanfic that appears to be based in actual canon timeline and plot points and characterization (which does exist, and I’m not sure why fanon fans seem insistent that it doesn’t), I literally have to search for hours. I’m not joking, I consistently make fic rec lists, and I have to search for hours and hours for actual canonical basis. same thing with character tags on tumblr.

I’m not saying fanon fans have to stop enjoying fanon or making up their own content. I’m just saying that when the tags used for both fanon tim drake and canon tim drake are the same tag it just becomes incredibly annoying sometimes, and I understand why people who like to engage with canon (me, often) become frustrated

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I have definitely had periods where I got incredibly frustrated with fanon! Around 2019, I was wondering if I needed to leave the Batfandom, because it had been so long since I read a new fic where the characters felt 'right'.

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But, if you're willing to, I'd like you to consider what you mean when you divide 'fanon' from 'canon'. Because I struggle to find a hard line between the two, for several reasons:

1. Fandom is transformative. Every fanfic is going to have some interpretation of the source material. The line between what is too much interpretation and what is acceptable is different for every person. For me, I find it can even vary based on writing style or other odd things - lighthearted fic can have more noncanonical stuff in it than heavier fic, and still seem true to canon.

2. 'Canon' is subjective. I do not consider the movies or video games to be 'canon', and it annoys me when things from those creep into the fic I'm reading. (I'm okay with SOME Battinson.) Some aspects of the cartoons are okay. I consider precrisis Jason Todd to be an alternate reality version, but Donna's precrisis origins are more canonical than the dumb retcons. Wayne Family Adventures isn't my main version of the characters, but I'm not bothered if some elements show up in my stories. I'm ignoring most of the nu52, but I like Duke and I'm still watching this new Lian to see what happens. I doubt your divisions are identical to mine.

(Also, some things that I think of as 'fanon' have shown up in nu52 canon! I do not accept them as any more canon because of this.)

3. Most 'fanon' is based on canon. Canon Tim has weird sleep habits. 90s Dick is really lighthearted and joking around some characters in ways similar to fanon. Dick can canonically not be trusted to take care of himself if his mental health gets low enough. Jason likes classical literature. Etc.

These are exaggerated and/or twisted in a lot of fic, but where is the line where they stop being canon? I wouldn't bat an eye at a lot of this stuff, if it didn't show up SO OFTEN.

4. Most 'fanon fans' do know some canon. What line are you going to set where it will be 'enough'. And are they allowed to mention parts of the canon they haven't read yet? Is anyone allowed to talk about Dick's early Robin days, or only the tiny amount of people who have read the golden age stuff? A lot of the 'mistakes' I see are obviously made by people who have read ABOUT canon, but don't know quite how it fits together.

5. 'Canon' is FULL of contradictions. Yes, there are canon events. Yes, there is characterization that is consistent across 3/4s of comics. But. I'm still working on my sidekick timeline. I've devoted days to figuring out ages and passage of time. I've spent over a decade trying to figure out Jason Todd's motivations, and why Tim treats him the way he does. I've read all the 90s and early 2000s CANONICAL character assassination of Jason.

I spent years thinking that Donna's death was almost as foundational as Jason's, only to later discover that I had just happened to read the specific comics that focused on the fallout, and she only stayed dead for a short time. That happens to fans ALL THE TIME! We read a character summarizing an event we haven't directly read, and just accept it as what happened. But characters have biases, and not all writers care about accuracy.

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I've read some Tim Drakes that I consider to be almost entirely 'fanon'. And quite a few that were so scarily 'canon' that I got chills. (Not all of which were similar to each other.) But the vast, vast majority have fallen somewhere in the middle.

I definitely do not want the responsibility of deciding which ones count as 'canon'! And I think I would strongly dislike anyone who tried to decide for me.

Being frustrated is logical, and I empathize. But the original post was about the impossible expectations some fans feel. The expectation to read thousands of comics, synthesize all the contradictions, and come to conclusions that match the 'true fans'. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to be complaining about.

If that's what some fans are experiencing, of course they're not going to want to engage with canon! There's no way for them to succeed, so why should they even try?

When you join THAT conversation to discuss your frustration about fanon, it strengthens that perception. When you call them 'fanon fans' it emphasizes their belief that you don't think they belong. And rather than trying to change, it's more likely that they'll double down. Canon is full of gatekeepers, so they'll avoid it.

#gatekeeping #fandom policing #fanon #canon vs fanon #usually don't do stuff like this anymore #I'm old and tired #but sometimes the words want to come out

[sailor-aviator]

If you're reading this, this is your sign to write that weird/fun AU or trope even if it's been done before.

#we are not in the business of gatekeeping aus and tropes #in fact i wish someone else would write about pirates and mermaids and the old west #that's why i wrote my fics in the first place - because i couldn't find any #if y'all want to write about them then by all means please do!! #as long as you aren't copying word for word then it's fine!! #that's what fandom is all about!! #I'm literally reading three different mafia aus for a different fandom and i'm eating every single one of them up!!!!!!

[this-acuteneurosis]

Can I just say how much I appreciate the fact you don't stray much from the movies?

It's just so refreshing to see a fic that is built on a clear, unbiased and simple canon base. This way, as you demonstrated, a writer not only has the ability to further explore the main themes and ideas introduced in the source material, but they can also go ahead and naturally develop their own by branching out on those fundamentals. They can offer their perspective by using the source material to their advantage, instead of working against it or even worse, trying to include all contradicting canon aspects. Part of writing a fic is kind of like offering your input in a conversation/disagreement. You have to listen carefully to what the other person is saying in order to form your answer...If you're listening to a thousand different people who are all saying a different thing (in this case, The clone wars, legends, novels, comics ect), you won't be able to give an answer that makes sense, much less give a structured and stable opinion.

I love how you were like "I know star wars is entering an era of a shit ton of spin off content with seemingly no end and most star wars fans know shit like who chewie lost his virginity to and what the kessel run is but screw this. The movies and maybe some late night wiki research is enough."

And you were right.

It's so funny, because I feel like I do ultimately stray pretty far from the movies. Not in terms of events I guess, but especially the prequels, I reject some of the underlying assumptions of what is said on screen and just treat it like fallible people strongly asserting opinions that no one calls them on. See: everything I ever assert about the Force/Anakin's "destiny."

I do think it helped me to stick with limited material. And it wasn't even because I saw all of this new SW content coming. I've mentioned this before, but when I started writing Don't Look Back (when it was just Like Fire and I naively believed I was gonna be done in 200k words, lol, rip past me) I hesitated a lot because as far as I was concerned, I wasn't a Star Wars Fan.

I'd watched the OT and PT multiple times. I knew that novels and games and cartoons existed, I knew people had consumed them all. I had been reading some SW fic because @mylongsufferingroommate had been sending me stuff they were enjoying and I was having fun with it. But like, I would never have called myself a Fan. I got goaded into writing this fic by people who knew me too well and really wanted a political thriller. I wouldn't have called them Star Wars Fans either.

Limiting myself to the six movies I had watched was a preemptive defense mechanism against a fan base I wasn't sure would want to accept me. My thin skin is my own problem, but every time I think about writing in a new fandom the same sort of nerves take me: what if my fanon is "wrong" and people are mean?

I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you so much to everyone who gave me a chance and encouraged me and were excited and shared that excitement.

And please, for the love of all the sky and stars DON'T GATEKEEP FANDOMS.

Don't tell people their canon is too big (@blue-sunshine-mauve-morning and @chancecraz have amazing fics that are much more compliant than mine to the broader canon, as a quick example), and definitely don't tell people their canon is too small. Walk away if you aren't enjoying something. Give compliments when you like something that is unique in a fandom you're familiar with. Be patient with people, be kind.

I could easily have given this story up if people hadn't been patient with me. I got comments as early as my first chapter from people who were angry with a single thing that I said and felt the need to tell me I was wrong. I could have left. I could have stopped.

I'm glad I didn't. But I wonder how many other people have.

#writing #people are so kind #fandom #stop gatekeeping #please #canon what canon #me just playing around in my own little sandbox #hoping you all are enjoying the show #anxious someone might steal my toys #or knock over my castle #yes I'm still like this #my thin skin problem

[reidiot]

*not having a job* *not knowing what to do with my life* *dehydrated* *waking up at 2pm* *having my first meal of the day at 4pm* *no friends* *unhealthy obsessions with fictional characters* *daydreaming about living in a fan fiction* *no sense of purpose* *no motivation* *introvert* *poor communication skills* *indecisive* *easily bored*

it doesn't matter because i'm going to take a nap ♥︎

#easily bored #indecisive #gemini #poor communication skills #introvert #no motivation #fan fiction #fics #fictional characters #fictional men #I'm nothing in my soul if not obsessive #fandom #text post #female hysteria #female rage #femcel #femcore #gaslight girlboss gatekeep #girl interrupted #my year of rest and relaxation #the bell jar #lana del rey #lizzy grant #angelcore #coquette #dark academia #the office #michael scott #steve carell #incorrect quotes

[impishtubist]

bitchy inbox time (i’m not over thirty but i do love sirius black) !!

there are many (many) things that annoy me about the current mwpp fandom (and/or a specific part of it). it’s not just jamming all the DE’s and order members in the same year(s) at hogwarts, and making the DE characters secretly good (but not their parents) and also very boring, and the complete OC-ification of characters because the characterisations were like that in this one big fic, and the frequent attempts to make the 70s fit into the 2k20s ideas of progressiveness. it’s not just stuff like that.

i don’t like the whole ‘fandom agrees’ thing either, but that’s not very new nor fandom specific anyway so that’s not something i can complain about lol. what i hate the most is that it just takes the heart out of it, i guess? basically all these characters who get extra background, or additional background, or whatever are the same, just with a different look and different name. the terf lady didn’t give much of a flying fuck about any of the characters, but the fandom did. and each character was (usually) so vibrant!! distinguishable!! even in the fanart designs, you know?

and now it’s like. the same cookie-cutter guy or gal. queer and tattooed, with mental health issues fashionable clothing like it’s something you can just fucking put on—some sort of tiktok aesthetic played for being ‘relatable’. all the DE’s have shitty parents and a heart of gold and Not That Bad actually. remus gets turned into james and if a very specific sirius portrayal was afab, people would call her character one of the most misogynistic and sexist portrayals in the series.

‘we’re throwing away canon and making the series progressive and morally good’ but we’re not, because the queerness feels fetishised and the depiction of abuse is so unserious, and we’re apparently making bigots ‘misunderstood’. it’s just. HNHHHH. so annoying.

xoxo soopsie

Hiiiiiiiiii darling <3

Yes! All of this is so well-said! I spent a lot of time banging my head against a wall, trying to figure out WHY this was happening, and when I found out that a lot of people joining the fandom had never read the books, that's when things clicked. It's not GOOD, but at least I sort of have an explanation now for why these characterizations are happening and why they're so prevalent. If you only know these characters from fanfic and TikTok....well I'm still gonna bitch about all of this but at least I know why you're writing them a certain way.

And another thing! If you weren't here in the '90s/early '00s then what are you doing here in the first place lmao, we're only here because we have no choice.

#i'm sorry i don't mean to be a gatekeeper but i'm kind of being a gatekeeper #asking people to read the source material before doing anything in fandom is not elitist #like! pirate that shit! #imp speaks #chaos night

[saotome-michi]

figure skating au fanfics are interesting to read because you can usually tell if the author's knowledge of it mainly comes from yoi or casually watching the olympics every four years when you get gems like:

the main character saying that they might participate in three competitions for the grand prix if it'll improve their standing which is impossible to do. like everyone is restricted to two, the only way you'd get a third is if you couldn't attend one of the original two that you were scheduled for because idk you had covid or something.

the main character saying that they're trying to do a quad axel. A Quad. Axel. A jump that only ONE PERSON IN THE ENTIRE WORLD has landed in competition and that only happened A YEAR AGO. and this character isn't even a pro skater!??? They're competing in the intercollegiate!!?? Not that there aren't good skaters in the intercollegiate, on the contrary there are many, many extremely skilled skaters, but if you can even ATTEMPT a QUAD AXEL then your character should be going pro. Or like, you should have tons of people trying to convince that character to go pro and the country should literally be trying to recruit them because a QUAD AXEL??????????

#jesus i think my heart jumped a quad axel when I read that #ofc there is nothing wrong with writing a fic about something that you're not that knowledgeable about!!! #I don't want to sound like I'm gatekeeping #I write about shit I don't know ALL the time #figure skating #random letters of blah #fanfiction #fandom

[rubsjuice]

STOP GETTING INTO FEAR AND HUNGER!!!!!!! IF THOSE BEAUTIFULLY CONSTRUCTED CHARACTERS GET ASSASSINATED BY FANDOM BECAUSE EVERYONE'S BREEZING THROUGH THE GAME CENSOR MOD ON AND BEING EXPOSED ONLY BY OTHER PEOPLE'S MEMES AND BADPOSTING I WILL TURN INTO A CORN COB AND EXPLODE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes art is meant to be uncomfortable and messy and scary to retain its quality depth and message and if you are not ready to absorb&process it the way it was intended to be maybe you are not ready to get into that art in the first place

#mafa talks #joining the war on gatekeeping on behalf of gatekeeping etc #i might not even tag this with fear and hunger because i don't wanna attract stupid bitches to my blog #but by god #i can't believe 'we should take the sex off our christian wholesome murder abuse trauma addiction game' is a real position in this fandom #also henryk can get it but don't tell anyone i'm still just in the beginning of termina #you guys should watch crash (1996) and then write an essay on why sex was necessary in that movie

[bonnieisaway]

seven's the best protag ever because i could make a million "get you a man who" jokes about him. get you a man who looks at him the way thirteen does. get you a man who has undefeated whimsy and love for the world like seven. get you a man who holds his friends above everything else. get you a man who'd rather go broke and hungry rather than tear apart the bonds between people. get you a man who'd get himself killed for someone who barely knows him. get you a man who'd get himself killed for an island which he's barely familiar with. get you a man who'd dress up as you and settle the arguement between you and your girlfriend including a really long serenade. get you a man who could both save the girl in white like that and also let thirteen save him like that. get you a man who's driven purpose in life is loving others

#i think i shouldnt limit it to just “best protag” but im too lazy to think of better phrasing #i know very little medias who would be willing to write a man who's that loving and empathetic and caring and also have him have killed #literal thosuands and those two points of his characters dont contradict his very personality because his actions have genuine sensible mot #a character who is the victim of his own narrative and continues to fight it over and over and over even if he's tired #because being tired does not mean he gets to stop fighting for what he loves #the s4 op lyrics literally say something along the lines of “who's tired of fighting evil?” i cant check the netflix captions of it rn #god i just love seven as a character i love how he's written #i cannot interract with the tiktok side of the fandom because #i feel like i'm pretentous or a gatekeeper when i say this #but some people just wanna see funny badass who should be feared and will not comprehend how empathetic and adoring he is #and that's ok. that's an ok character to want and love #and i will not be the person to burst the bubble but also the bubble chokes me alive LOOK AT HIM /j #explaining the intricacies of his character takes so long and its so fun but also some mfs jsut dont wanna hear it i need mfs who need it #scissor seven #wu liuqi #seven

[aliferousdreamer]

"max is a horrible person"

#time to gatekeep max from a certain part of this fandom #you can probably take a guess at which fans said it #so i'll just vent about it #so if any of them jump on this post i'm simply not engaging with them #but yeah #ughhhhhh #i just think saying that max is a ''horrible person'' (especially in the context they used) is ridiculous #sometimes the way this fandom treats female characters compared to male characters really frustrates me #*especially* when the female characters are abuse victims being vilified for reacting to abuse #whereas some male characters get a pass for abusing others & even have their abuse *minimized* #stranger things #max mayfield #max mayfield deserves better #st max #maxine mayfield #st fandom #stranger things fandom #st2 #st season 2 #stranger things season 2 #st s2 #mine #vent #tv show tag #tv shows #netflix

[batfamfixation]

Actually? Fuck all of the people trying to gatekeep comic book characters that exist in other media. Acting like people can only form opinions about characters based on the comics is bullshit. If someone likes the Teen Titans because of the TV show instead of taking the time to read the thousands of comics "required" to be a "real fan" of those characters, good for them. If someone likes the Young Justice or Justice League cartoons and wants to talk about their love of those characters, they should. If Batman from Batman the Animated Series is a person's favorite version of Batman and their comfort character, GOOD FOR THEM.

This need to gatekeep comic book characters that appear in other media is fucking gross. If someone loves Batman and says he's a great guy because of how he's depicted outside of modern comics, then they're not a "fake" Batman fan, they just love a version of Batman that you don't care about. The same goes for all of the other DC shows and movies. People are allowed to love versions of characters that exist outside of comics and call themselves a fan of that character.

Stop. Gatekeeping. Fictional. Characters

#Are there any fandoms that aren't toxic? Please? #Growing up I experienced misogyny for liking media that fanboys considered to be theirs #(looking at you ⭐ Wars fandom) #I didn't experience misogyny in the Harry Potter fandom before the series ended but then JK R0wling ruined that herself #fucking with the spelling of fandoms so they don't show up in those tags #I felt fetishized and objectified in anime fan spaces (am lesbian) #Comic book fandoms used to be dominated by misogynistic white guys who didn't believe women who said they liked comics #Remember when we used to criticize guys who wanted women to prove they were “real” fans???? #Why are women now doing that? #So many women fought to be a part of fandom spaces just to turn around and join in on the gatekeeping #Setting rules on who can call themselves a fan #Stop #Please #I'm so tired of going to character and comic books tags just to see people gatekeeping what iterations and ships are acceptable #This fandom is full of so much hate that I'm losing my love of comic books #I planned on binging Roy's comics #but the die-hard Arrowf@m fans “us vs the Batfam” mentality is ruining the character for me #and from what I've seen of Roy's Titan run I relate to him a lot and absolutely planned on making him my next comfort character #and I really need fucking comfort right now

[someone-you-do-not-know]

...

#This fandom really has changed since 2012-2014 ish #As in. #fuck #you guys have become purists who don't even look at what canon actually contains #Or alternatively when you look at canon you misinterpret it either to cutesy it or make Hima problematic #Without an ounce of understanding for his cultural background #This fandom has become such a snake pit #You're all just eating each other for whatever wrongdoing you can imagine someone else might have done #Stop sanitising everything you come into contact with #At the same time as you're smoothing out whatever you dislike you're also erasing the humour #This series always had dirty humour #If you can't live with that I'm going to gatekeep because then you don't actually like hetalia #I prefer the fandom of 2012-2014 where we casually made jokes about invading vital regions over this shit #where everyone badmouths each other over the most minor of offences #being silly #(I'm not but that's my archiving for personal stuff tag) #Personally I'm not fond of people joking about drugs but you don't see me stopping anyone joking about that or throwing a hissy fit

[loomiskiller]

i wish scre@m fans who erase sam from canon just to create their own ocs ( not at my mutuals ) a VERY DIE.

#& gaslight gatekeep ghostface ( ooc ) #tbd #i'm mad cause WHY can't billy have sam as well? #he can't just steal her from christina? #he can't co parent her and these ocs? #about to pull my hair out #sam deserves better than this fandom :/ #this sounds so dramatic but i am tired of seeing this happen #just let billy parent both the ocs and sam #it's not that HARD

[moonykat]

Okay rant time, I'm so sorry for the people who don't follow me for stucky content, but I just have to let it out somewhere I'm so fucking sick and tired of Marvel and Disney playing Bucky's disability for laughs. He's a disabled person, he doesn't have an arm, he is an amputee, and yet they make him lose his arm again and again at every opportunity they can, just for laughs. What the fuck. It is so fucking insulting and hurtful to everyone, to everybody who is a fan of him, who identifies with him, and they just keep doing it . It is so fucking insulting I can't even put it into words, what the fuck like, please just let him be forgotten about for christ's sake.

#i need to gatekeep bucky from marvel itself #I have been in this fandom for almost a decade I don't give a fuck if new people agree or not with my point of view but please just forget> #he exists #let him and steve go #don't just keep ruining them #i hate it here #fuck #yk what I'm making this reblogable bc I no longer give a fuck about anything like go on #spread this #I hate marvel for the mistreatment of my most beloved boy #they donot deserve him

[uselessnbee]

oh and while i'm still on my rewatching bullshit

in season 2 episode 8 when they realise that the mind flayer spies through Will and Mike tells them that they need to put him to sleep

Will starts yelling and screaming that he's lying and to let him go

you can see Mike putting his hands over his ears so he doesn't have to hear Will screaming

my heart broke when i noticed

#i'm actually thinking #about gatekeeping mike from this fandom #most of yall act like he's the villain #mike wheeler is now only for the poeple #who understand that he's just a human being #and a teenager with trauma #i'm actually getting tired of seeing people in any fandom #acting like side characters can't have trauma cause the THINGS didn't happen to them personally #sometimes they can have trauma from watching their loved ones suffer #like this boy was 12/13 when his best friend went missing #was presumed dead and had a funeral #while he was trying to find him #and made a new friend that he ended up losing too after just getting his best friend back #then he had to watch his best friend being possesed and hurting again #they all were just children #cut him some slack will you my boy is not ok #i am forever a mike wheeler defender thank you #byler #also i know that this probably isn't anything new but i'm slow so let me be #blue's 'Mike's extreme defender' ramblings

[the-foley-knoll-horror]

Dungeon Meshi animeonlies have the most boring white bread opinions I swear

#We need to kill the fans of the fanart aspect of fandom #I'd say maybe some gatekeeping is good actually but they're not entering the gates are they #they're just kinda standing outside the wall talking about how Dungeon Meshi is their favourite anime about lesbians #anyway this was spurred by a comic I saw about Falin handing Marcille a beetle and Marcille thinking that's hot #but I didn't want to put all this on that post because even if I'm right it feels rude #It feels like I'm kicking down the door and yelling UM ACKSHUALLY #but also you just drew a comic about Link and Zelda and swapped the characters out for new trendy anime