#the clarification on the not ship art thing is because I’m afraid of people not getting the Shrek ref and assume I legit think they are | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

as8bakwthesage · 2 months

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I think the biggest issue with fandom is probably the lack of moderation.

And I don’t say this meaning “fandom should be moderated,” no. I mean, people in fandoms tend to do things in excess or can be very overindulgent with certain things. Fandom lacks personal or individual restraint.

Yes, it’s good to read fiction that will challenge you and will make you uncomfortable, but it’s also important to approach those subjects carefully and when reading or engaging with this material it’s important to step away and engage in other content. (This is about the on-going discourse regarding whether it’s okay to write about difficult topics. The answer is “yes*” *but please also do research, if you are a survivor learn about other people’s experiences. Fuck, if you ain’t a survivor, do this regardless.)

Yes, it’s healthy to self ship and there are psychological benefits to it, but it’s also important to also have real and healthy relationships with people. Platonic or romantic. It’s also important to recognise when something is too far. (This is about how people tend to take their obsessions with characters too far, and don’t engage with actual real people in their day to day lives.)

Yes, it’s healthy to have coping mechanisms, but don’t glorify or make light of serious issues such as rape or incest or abuse. Organisations have written guides on how to write topics such as suicide or rape and how to best approach these kinds of topics in fiction. Use them please. (This is about “proshippers.”**)

Yes, art should be free of censorship, but please let’s respect the wishes of the creator when it comes to the character’s sexualities, romantic preferences. And yes, it’s healthy to draw vent art or write vent fiction but please don’t post your incest/rape/abuse fics about your personal trauma online where people can see it and be cunts about it. (This is about how people frequently disregard aroace characters’ sexualities in order to ship them with other characters. This is also about “proshippers.”)

Yes, it’s good to have debate and talk with your fellow humans, and you shouldn’t be afraid to speak to other people. But it’s also important to know that your experiences may not be universal and bigotry is a very real thing. (This is specifically about fandom racism and how people treat people of colour in fandom because holy shit, white people, listen. Stfu and listen.)

Yes, it’s okay to have something as a means of escapism. But not to the detriment of other people. (This is about Palestine, and Sudan, and Congo.)

People have gotten waaaay too comfortable sharing very intimate and personal details about themselves online. Publicly too. Stuff that maybe you should reconsider before sharing with others, such as your mental disorders/traumas/real names/etc. And obviously, I can’t talk about every single aspect of fandom and the nuances behind a lot of stuff, but hopefully my point is at least somewhat clear. Approach anything you do online with restraint.

I think the best piece of advice I’d give to folks would be this: Please always think about the work you engage with, think about other people when posting and how they will feel, and that just because this is the internet, it doesn’t mean that you are anonymous. Have empathy. Approach conversations in good faith. Ask for clarification if something isn’t clear. Go outside. Seriously, go outside. Open a window in your room. Do other things too. Read fiction or non-fiction stories, depending on which is more out of your wheelhouse. Please go actually read the books you claim to be experts on. Go out of your way to follow more POC who are in your fandoms. Don’t ignore the real world.

**I put “proshipper” in quotation marks because I’m doing that annoying thing where people put quotation marks over terms they think are weird or when they are being sarcastic. In this case, I think proshipper as a term has been very much muddled in so much fandom discourse that it’s very hard to talk about proshippers without someone not understanding what the fuck the other person is talking about. In this case, proshipper means someone who is comfortable shipping characters regardless of the level of abuse prevalent in the relationship, and even romanticise it to some extent, portraying these relationships as desirable.

#aso rambles #fandom #fandom discourse #please approach this in good faith #im trying to say this in good faith #shipping #shipping discourse

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rainbowsky · 3 years

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Final round-up of fan fic asks

I've gotten a few more interesting responses to the fan fic discussion so I'm going to round them all up here. This will be my final post on the topic until/unless there's a dramatic new development, or a particularly notable response I want to highlight. Thanks to everyone who brought their thoughts and experiences to the topic. I hope everyone at least feels heard.

The biggest piece of advice that I would like to offer is for everyone to focus on what they love rather than what they hate. If we all did that, the world would be a better place. Alongside that, I'd like to remind everyone to please support authors whose work you like. It's so important. Give them a kudos, give them a nice comment, recommend their work to others. You never know what kind of grief and harassment they are dealing with to bring you these great stories, and our support means a lot.

This is in reference to previous posts here and here.

Anonymous asked:

With regard to fandom and fan fic issue, my years of experience being part of very large fandoms has led me to believe that big accounts are v important in facilitating and enforcing the general consensus of the whole fandom. Unless there will be big accs who'll remind everyone of being respectful & just not being a dick over other's preferences, nothing will change.

This is also the reason why I think certain solo fandoms have adapted weird and twisted narratives as their general fandom story because no big acc has tried to police them & and say hey pls be rational. Whether we like it or not, in a place where how far voices, ideas, tweets, posts get heard is based on the number of followers you have, big accs will have the power and influence in creating/curating/shifting the narratives.

So, if you want to know why your/our fandom thinks like this in general, look at what big accs are tweeting/posting, look at what ideas & values they follow, look at their preferences or how strongly they react to certain situations. it's taxing and toxic for big accs given the nature of social media these days, but it's also the reality of system, the more followers/audience you have, the more influence you will have.

So to anyone reading this I hope we all practice more restraint and reflection before we post anything. Remember that words, no matter what medium you write it in, will always carry weight.

So true. It is easy - even for myself who spends a fair chunk of time answering people's asks - to forget that people can sometimes be impressionable and what we say can influence people whether that's our intent or not. I get used to thinking of myself as a regular guy just doing my own thing when sometimes my thoughts and words go well beyond where I initially posted them.

I think it's important for us to be careful what we say, and it's equally important to be careful what we take from what other people say. Especially when it comes to big claims. Always get a second, third, fourth opinion and don't be afraid to ask for clarification if something doesn't sit right or sounds confusing.

It's also important to reflect on how our words and actions might affect other people's experience of fandom, and err on the side of 'live and let live' wherever possible. It's great to have our own preferences and to champion them, but we should try to do so in a way that leaves space for other people and perspectives.

The more unique perspectives and the more friendly, open dialog there is, the healthier the community will be as a whole.

There's nothing wrong with encouraging and guiding growth in the particular areas we are interested in, as long as it doesn't step on, oppress or attack those who are peacefully enjoying something different.

Anonymous 2 asked: bjyx fans attacking gdgdbaby for including zsww/lsfy dynamics in an event named bjyx then turning right around and attacking the zsww/lsfy event organizer for excluding bjyx? god, can you hear my facepalm and sigh of resignation and incredulity from over there? im genuinely not surprised that they're trying to drive an entire part of the fandom out by disgusting them (and me) with these immature tactics. i believe what im about to say next will sound quite bait-y and i respect your decision 1/?

should you choose not to post this. but i do know that it is not only me, in fact there are many out there, that is of this opinion. we just dont talk about it on twitter to avoid the potential mess it will bring lol. okay, here goes nothing. (do note that im talking about the majority here, not every single person is like this) so bjyx fans tend to be cishet females whereas zsww/lsfy fans are more diverse in terms of age and gender, and most of them are part of the queer community too 2/?

i would like to clarify that most of these zsww/lsfy fans are not dynamic exclusive (in the sense that they are friendly and interact with all ggdd fans) they just prefer to "identify" themselves as zsww/lsfy fans (on twitter specifically) just to form a distinction from bjyx fans who mostly are dynamic exclusive (as in; they do not consume non-bjyx content, and straightup refuse to interact with non-bjyx fans, often blocking them). as a result, id say that the zsww/lsfy communiy is way more 3/?

mature and respectful (after all, they're mostly queer people talking about a queer ship) whereas many problems in this fandom, such as the homophobia, adamantly insisting on "drawing lines" between dynamics, stem from the bjyx exclusive fans, comprised of cishet females who "may not know better". so, it is of no surprise to me that they're resorting to these immature tactics of calling gg unsavory names, and organizing retaliatory events with controversial topics in an attempt to "purify". 4/4

I trust that you have arrived at that theory through your own experience and observation. I haven't personally spent much time immersed in this stuff so I can't claim to have any real insight or expertise. If you say that's your experience of it, then at the very least that's how you've seen things up to this point.

I just want to say that I think we should always be careful about making assumptions about people's age, gender/gender identity, etc.

There are plenty of good reasons to avoid doing that; because those assumptions could be very wrong, because those assumptions are often laced with ageism, sexism, etc., because those assumptions - even when correct - might not be an accurate basis for the conclusions we draw.

But the primary reason I recommend avoiding those type of assumptions is because anything that enables us to clump a group of people together in our minds like that will tend to make them easier to demonize and dehumanize. They are no longer individuals who are each responsible for their own unique perspectives, they are now 'the X group' who is known for 'A B C series of easily attackable ideas or behaviors'.

If we attribute undesirable traits and behaviors to a group of people we feel opposed to in some way, that makes us feel more righteous and justified in behaving unfairly toward them, dismissing their humanity and warring with them. It's just risky behavior to engage in, even when it's well-intentioned.

There might actually be some truth to what you're saying. It could very well be that most of these people are young, inexperienced, heteronormative, etc. but if that's the case then we should try to use those traits to better understand and empathize rather than to better dismiss and discredit.

Just my two cents on that.

It can be really frustrating dealing with what feels like other people attacking us, trying to oppress us, etc. - especially when there are more of them than there are of us. In my experience the best solutions to that sort of problem are generally the ones that focus on what we are doing and want to do rather than what they are doing that we don't want them to do.

As I am always preaching, we can't control what other people say, do or think. The only thing we have any control over is what we say, do and think (and how we respond to what they say, do and think).

I have found in my experience that the moment I step out of a conflict mindset and instead step into a problem-solving mindset, everything starts to come together. I feel better, my outlook is more positive, I can begin to see solutions and allies rather than problems and enemies, and most of all, I become more focused on what I am doing than what others are doing.

So I would recommend everyone who is invested in resolving these conflicts focus on that. "How can we best showcase and encourage the types of stories we enjoy?" instead of "How can we stop these other people from doing things we dislike?"

Anonymous 3 asked:

Hello again! It’s anon #3 from the fanfic post. I really do appreciate reading your thoughts on various issues like this, so thank you for always taking time to write in depth. As for supporting without going to war, the simplest way has always been to just show appreciation for the creators, hype them up. Kudos are the easiest way on ao3 but comments in addition are great. This goes for all content—art, fics, vids..etc. Creators love to see and read how people react to their content. Sharing is also great, fic recs are very helpful, just be cautious with art and reposting though. Hope this helps a bit!

Thanks so much, Anon. I think this is excellent advice. And it's true that appreciation is great, but helping to expand the audience is also great. Recommending stories, pointing people to the pages/websites of artists we like (as opposed to reposting), sharing our own ideas and approaches, encouraging people to try new things... all of this helps build healthier communities.

And here's another one: WRITE! DRAW! CREATE!

I urge anyone with creative interests or talents to bring their voices to the community because we all can benefit from hearing from you.

Thanks again everyone for sharing your thoughts on this issue. I hope that over time we can all work in positive ways to improve the situation.

I think this subject has been well-covered now so I'm going to retire it for the time being. If anyone still feels they want to discuss it further please feel free to message me privately. Thanks.

#fan fiction #fandom reflections #ask

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lady-of-disdain · 4 years

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If you're so bothered by a cartoon ship (which... no words) still don't understand why you take it out on shippers, not like you could do much about the studio anyway, they don't care, as they should, but then being on our ass is entirely pointless... maybe that's the problem at the same time, maybe to some extent you do realise no one cares so you've decided persecuting a bunch of fan creators and consumers would be the next best thing. That said I feel it's imperative to point out, we're not Sunrise, we're not the ones with the power to shape this story, so you bullying us is frankly just devoid of any meaning other than raw intent for violence. At the very least admit that and drop the pretences, it's the only thing you've done after all, one would have to be blind not to see it.

If you're afraid a puny ship might be canon, and whatever you've twisted it to mean for you, take it up with the studio, alternatively with god since you're so into fictive characters over real life. Come to think of it didn't you guys have a friend that has a friend working at the studio? How come you're still so insecure? Why don't you tell the friend of the friend to influence the plot? Why hasn't this friend of a friend provided any other inside scoops to make themselves credible? Questions, questions.

Either way, hurting shippers will achieve nothing, we were gonna ship no matter the canon status of the ship, and I pity you people who think that shipping something has to be done because you want something canon, as opposed to just... for fun... but maybe that comes naturally with being pathetic, anyway, the possibility of it becoming canon now has nothing to do with us. Even less so as Westerners, if audience even has any sort of influence in all this, it would be the Japanese one way before it would be any Western one. Appreciate you giving us so much importance, but we don't need it, and we're just not really as important as you attribute, we'd just love it if you stopped hurting people over cartoons. You made something gruesome out of a fairy tale, that's on you, that's your problem, and we'd all be better off if you found a way to deal with that didn't rely on abusing others.

Honey, are you lost? I think there was maybe a different blog this rant was supposed to be sent to but I got it by mistake. Because I have no worldly idea what you are talking about in about half of this ask.

The first thing that confuses me: that I’m apparently “taking it out on shippers”, “ persecuting”, and “bullying” them? Please show me your receipts. I’ve literally never directly initiated contact with a sessrin blog. Hell, the one time I considered answering a post made by a pro blog, it was going to be in direct response to a question they posed in the anti tag, directed towards antis, and it turns out I couldn’t even answer the post because the user had most of the anti community blocked. (Silly, I know, but this is what we’ve been dealing with so what can I say.) Any time I want to respond to a sessrin argument that wasn’t directed to me anyways, I would usually screenshot it and blackout the names.

I can count on one hand the times I’ve even posted in the same thread as pro sessrin blogs, and in those cases, I either A) didn’t directly call out the other blog/blogs that were posting in the same thread as me, or @ them, or B) was only even interacting in said post because pro shippers were piling on and harassing people in the thread, and I was simply pointing out that there were shippers in said thread acting fools. The only time I ever even pointed out a particular blog I did it via screenshot and did it to keep a record of a blog that was admitting to flagging our posts as spam.

If you would like to see proof of my interactions, all you have to do is check the #receipts tags on my blog, you’ll find all of my interactions conveniently tagged. (Oh and don’t worry, I’ll get back to that receipts tag shorty.)

The second thing you said that confuses me, that I have a “friend that has a friend working at the studio”? What (and I can’t stress this enough) the FUCK, are you talking about?

I.....have never made this claim? Where have I ever said this, where have I ever reblogged this? I’ve never even read this? I need some clarification here, because either you are from an alternate timeline where I’m living a much cooler life, or like I said, you have the wrong blog.

Anyways, regardless of the fact that I’m pretty sure you sent this to the wrong person, I guess I can render a response to the base question you seem to be asking here: Why argue with shippers?

Really, at the end of the day, I’m not arguing with your average shipper. Hell, there are a few blogs I even follow and interact with that have said they like sessrin content, but they understand this is not an appropriate thing for a kid's show. And I can respect that because I’ve been in the problematic ship boat in other fandoms. (Here’s a hint, in one of the fandoms that I followed content for a problematic ship in, a content creator was given cookies with sewing needles baked into them, yikes right?!)

The main message of mine and many other blogs I follow is that this ship isn’t appropriate for children’s media, and what happens is a lot of salty people come out of the woodwork who feel the need to argue and say there is nothing wrong with it, which causes us to have to list the reasons why there is indeed something wrong with it (thus why it shouldn't be in said children’s media), then what happens is people like you come at us and act like all we’ve been doing is bullying shippers, and “why don’t you just let us ship in peace!?!?!?!!!??”

In fact, I shouldn’t even be surprised that I got this ask eventually, because as I’ve pointed out in the past, the shipper argument seems to be a cyclical one.

A blogger will make a statement something along the lines that they really don’t care if people ship sessrin, but the shippers really shouldn’t be making a lot of noise to the studio that they want to see this ship in the show because kids watch it, and it’s not a great message to send to kids.

A shipper will then message the blog (usually anonymously if possible) something along the lines of you’re wrong about the ship sending a bad message to kids because of xyz, or it’s a totally normal and healthy relationship, and you’re wrong, or Yashahime isn’t for kids, etc.

The Blogger will then respond with actual evidence, a well-worded response, or even just fucking common sense (like come on, some of the mental gymnastics I’ve seen people employ to try to validate this fucking ship to us is hilarious).

The blogger will then get another message something along the lines of “why don’t you just let us ship in peace!?!?!?!!!??”

The blogger responds with JESUS CHRIST I SAID FROM THE VERY START THAT I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SHIP I JUST DON’T WANT TO SEE IT IN A GODDAMN KIDS CARTOON”

At which point the whole process is rinsed and repeated. Congratulations you’ve just witnessed a new grey hair grow out of my fucking scalp.

However, there is a new facet to this shit gem that I’ve noticed during this whole annoying cycle, and that is the fact that a lot of pro shippers are making claims that they are being harassed by anti blogs, but I’m not seeing a lot of proof of this. And make no mistake, if I see an established anti blog being terrible, or making a false claim, I have no problem calling them out, or correcting false information. Please, feel free to screenshot proof and post it in the anti tag, and see how many other blogs won't put up with this either.

And to be clear, I don’t really count anonymous asks as harassment, because people can be sending that shit to themselves. Just like I don’t mind asks I get like this one because I naively respond to them in the hopes that maybe someone will actually understand what the argument has been about this whole time. And if I didn’t like it, turning off anon magically gets rid of it, so *shrug*.

No, I’m talking about actual, out in the open harassment, or shitty behavior.

Like oh say, Patreon art being reposted in a discord server, then when a good samaritan reports the art theft they are harassed by their fellow discord members.

Or maybe the ongoing flagging and harassment campaigns that are going on over almost all online social media platforms.

Or how about the time some people tried to start a Twitter smear campaign against a voice actor who has some opinions about their ship they don’t like.

Yeah, remember how I said I’ve got a receipts tag. I see ya’ll.

#anti sessrin #anti rinsess #antisessrin #anon #yay I've finally reached the rinse and repeat stage of my blog #next ask from a shipper will be an excuse or validation of sessrin guaranteed

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ironwoman359 · 5 years

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Hello. I saw the post you reblogged about toxicity in the TS fandom. And as someone who is relatively new (Just over 2 months, heyo!), may I ask what kind of toxic behaviour do you see in the fandom? I hope this isn't too much for me to ask, I was just a bit curious and wanted some clarification on the matter. Please feel free to ignore this if it bothers you!

Well, welcome to the fandom, first of all! I hope you’re having fun so far.

In regards to the post you’re talking about, I think @izzyfandoms said it best: “...most fandoms are okay but have a loud toxic minority, but for us the not-toxic people are often the loudest so we can come off as pure and perfect...”

Most fandoms do have an amount of toxic behavior in them, it’s very rare (I’d say impossible, actually) to find one with zero problems, but it’s also usually more noticable in other communities than in this fandom, as we have been fortunate to have the non-toxic majority also be the louder voices most of the time (most often in fandoms, toxicity is a loud minority, though there are of course exceptions to this as well).

The other thing I think is important to remember is that this fandom started out smaller than it is now. I’ve been a presence here since november 2017, and there are other who have been around even longer, and back then, the fandom was much smaller and therefore the toxic minority was even harder to notice. This led to us gaining a reputation of “purity,” which in turn made issues more complicated when they started to crop up. Every fandom is going to have issues, things that people in it disagree about, and people who try to stir up trouble. This is normal, and a fandom displaying those traits is not immediately a bad fandom. What can shift a fandom into an unhealthy one is when issues, disagreements, and drama become the focal point and people begin to treat each other poorly over these things. And I would say a majority of fanders are good at not falling into that type of thinking or acting. But it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, and it doesn’t mean that the fandom as a whole can just stick our heads in the sand and pretend everything is fine.

So, you asked me what toxic behaviors I see. I’m going to talk about some examples I’ve seen in this fandom, and before I do I’d like to state first off that it is not my intention to attack anyone specific, or to shame people for their tastes in characterizations, ships, or their triggers or squicks. This is me trying to give my open and honest opinion about this community while being as respectful and tactful as possible.

Also going forward, every time I say “the fandom” or “people” or refer to the community in some other all encompassing way, know that I do not mean every single person in it, or even a majority necessarily, just enough people to make it noticable. If you exhibit some of the behaviors I’m talking about, I’m not saying you’re a bad person or that you shouldn’t be here, far from it. But everyone has flaws, and these are just some common things that I see in this community. Maybe if you see yourself in this post, you can take a step back and consider your thoughts and actions to see how they may be harming you or others.

Regardless of everything I’ve said and am about to say, I really love this fandom and the people in it, and I’m incredibly grateful for the impact it’s had on my life. Some bumps in the road aren’t going to change that. (Also I don’t engage with the fandom much outside of tumblr, things may be different on twitter, discord, or other places, this is just my experience with this platform specifically. Okay? Okay.)

So...here’s what I see in this fandom:

It is quick to judge. Anyone been here long enough to remember the week when Roman was “cancelled” between Accepting Anxiety part 1 and part 2? I came into the community later that year, but the fandom elders can tell you, there was a rally against Roman as a character, and a slew of people calling out prinxiety shippers for shipping such a “toxic ship.” You’d think after that first time, the community would have learned to perhaps be not so quick in its judgements, but we’ve seen the same pattern over and over again.

People were quick to judge Deceit when his character was introduced, which was followed by a back and forth where people argued about what was and wasn’t “sympathetic” content, how things should be tagged, and

People were quick to judge Virgil after Embarrassing Phases

People were quck to judge Patton after SvS and Patton AND Virgil after DWIT.

People were quick to judge Remus after DWIT.

And here’s the thing, it’s fine if you have different interpretations of characters, or prefer certain versions. You see Patton’s character flaws and decide “you know what, this character isn’t for me now” or want to explore those flaws taken to their extremes? That is okay. What is not okay, and what this fandom does a lot, is insisting that YOUR interpretation and version of the character is the correct one and shaming people with different ideas. It’s fine if you don’t like Patton or take issue with his current flaws being displayed. It’s NOT fine to attack people who disagree and send anon hate to blogs who speak out in support of Patton. It’s fine if you don’t like unsympathetic sides content. It’s NOT fine to shame people who do or send anon hate to unsympathetic sides blogs. There are lots of different ways to interpret all SIX sides, and yet so often I see people go on some sort of crusade to defend their opinon and insist that it’s canon.

But that’s all just the characters, this fandom also is very quick to judge the individuals in it. Real, breathing people with lives outside the internet are often shamed or attacked for their opinions about the characters, different ships, the way they’ve chosen to portray the characters in their art or stories, I could go on. Purity culture and cancel culture are prevalant in all areas of the internet, and this fandom is not exempt from it. Demonizing people for making small mistakes, or even for just disagreeing with you, is never okay, and yet it is something I’ve seen again and again in this fandom. Which leads me to my next point...

Anon hate. God, it makes me so angry, and this is the only one that I won’t try to portray both sides of or be diplomatic about, because it is flat out unacceptable no matter the circumstance. There are so many blogs in this fandom that have horrible anon hate problems, and I am sick of seeing it. I don’t care what a person has done or what opinions they have that you may disagree with, I don’t care if they’re the worst person in the world. It’s not okay to send anon hate, and it’s not okay to tell people to kill themselves. You find a blog in this fandom that you just Do Not like, either because of their content, their opinions, hell, just their personality? Unfollow them. Block them if you want. But sending anon hate over ships, characters, opinions and statements, it’s just childish and unacceptable. And it happens enough in this fandom that there are people who are afraid of making statements about things for fear of attracting more of that energy. Love always follows the hate and drowns it out in this fandom, for which I’m grateful, but the hate shouldn’t exist in the first place. Cut that shit out.

In general, this fandom has not handled differing opinions well, be it opinions on how to tag content, disagreements over characterizations, or encountering an idea that you personally may not care for. It is ultimately up to individuals to curate their online experience, by unfollowing blogs they don’t like, blocking tags and blogs they don’t want to see, and reading summaries and content warnings before opening fics. Often in this fandom I think people get upset if something isn’t tagged the way they want it to be (and I’m not talking about not tagging triggers, I’m talking like, someone insisting a blogger tag deceit content as #ts deceit when they already tag it as #deceit sanders. In situations like that it is the responsibilty of that someone to either block the tags a blog is using or not follow blogs whose tagging system doesn’t work for them), or if someone disagrees with them and we forget that it is okay to just...unfollow people. You don’t have to follow every blog in this fandom to be a part of the community, and if a blog is making posts and content you don’t like, unfollow them, don’t attack them for it. Accept that they have as much a right to their opinions and their space in the fandom as you do, and adjust your block and follow list accordingly so that you can get the experience that YOU want out of this fandom.

I hope this was helpful, and I hope it didn’t get too long for you. I’m not putting this under a cut because I think it’s important, but I will tag it as #longpost so my mobile users don’t suffer too much. If you want to discuss this in the notes, please keep it civil, and remember that we all are fans of Thomas here, and that we probably have more in common than we do differences. I love you guys, stay awesome

#sanders sides #fanders #taylor talks #longpost #ask to tag #asks and answers

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bnha-kokoro-zine · 5 years

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Tips for first-timers in Zines

Hello! I hope you don’t mind if I show your question like this @angel-of-darkness-217 ; this is something I would’ve loved to know when I started applying to zines myself, and that I’m sure it will help more people who are thinking of applying to this one.

There are many different types of zines out there; free, for charity, for profit, only for artists, focused on writers, focused on merch (like tarot projects), and with all kinds of contributors working in them. Every zine is unique, so their applications may vary, but there are a few essential things you always need to take into consideration if you want to be a contributor to one of them.

I will divide this answer into the different stages of a zine for a better organization.

Getting interested in a zine

When you first bump into a zine, all zines look like shiny little jewels you want to get your hands on asap. However, a lot of zines sadly fail through in their earliest stages, so you need to take into consideration a couple of things before thinking of applying:

Who’s the mod team? Try to find a list/post with some information about the mods of that project. See if they have prior experience in modding a project like this one. If they have experience, there are more chances that the project will follow through until the end. Be careful, though! Zines with heavily experienced mods can also fail for multiple reasons, and people without experience can also produce a really good product. It all depends on the next points.

Check their FAQ and guidelines. A properly structured FAQ including details of the project shows very well the organization of the team. A good FAQ makes a good project. I’d also advise you to read through the FAQ to make sure you’re really interested in the project.

Is the mod team communicative? Do they answer questions regularly? Are they clear in their answers? Are they polite? Do you think you’ll be comfortable working with them? Have they answered all the questions you’ve left in their ask box? (check if it has been answered before or that you’ve left them enough time, though) If you have answered with “No” to one or several of these questions, I’d rethink my wishes to apply to that project.

Remember, if a project doesn’t follow one or two of these points it doesn’t necessarily mean the project itself is bad. However, this is what you ideally need to find in a project like this.

Applications

Now it comes one of the most nerve-wracking parts of a zine: applications. You really want to get into this project, and you want your application to knock the mods off their feet. Applications may feel daunting, but they’re pretty straight-forward once you get the hang of them!

Follow the guidelines carefully. Mods usually leave some rules for applications, like the number of samples, the maximum word count, the theme, etc. Make sure you follow all these rules, or else you risk your app being disqualified.

Make sure your work is easily accessible. Make sure the mods will have no issues viewing your samples (for example, that the links you’re posting aren’t restricted only to your followers, that the link is still active until the end of the applications period, or that you’re sending the correct link). Mods can’t give you a score if they can’t see your work.

Answer all the questions as clearly as possible. Make sure to read them all carefully before submitting your app. Don’t worry if you have to take a while to write a proper answer, or if you need to ask the mod team about clarifications for some questions -- Mods will gladly answer any doubt you have.

Make sure your application fits the theme. Normally, it doesn’t matter much if your samples stray a bit from the theme of a zine, but some zines ask specifically for samples that fit a certain, general theme, like nature, love, fairy tales, etc. For zines like that (and essentially all zines if you want to get more attention from the mods), it is nice to make a bigger effort to find samples that fit the theme. A very important note! To all artists who also apply as a merch artist, please don’t apply with the same samples you used for your artist application. It shows a lack of care and it might hinder the mods’ opinion on you. Including actual designs for merch in your samples and/or portfolio helps a lot.

Offer pitches if they ask for them. Sometimes it’s not obligatory, but well-explained pitches really show how interested you’re in the zine. It will leave a good impression on the mods! Again, don’t worry if you need to take some days to think about them, and get feedback if you need it. Just make sure you submit it before apps close.

Have a good portfolio. Our dear Mod Dev has written this post about what makes a good portfolio. It’s a very interesting read, so I recommend you read it, guys!

Again, if you don’t follow one or two of these rules it won’t affect your application much. Mods are pretty flexible, and they can adapt to most situations without hindering their opinion on the application. However, it will look really good if you do follow them.

And remember the most important rule of them all:

Don’t be discouraged if you get rejected. Sometimes zines get too many applications and have very limited contributors spots. Mods see themselves in a situation where they have to choose between several really good applications and discuss for hours to see who they accept and who they reject.

Being rejected doesn’t mean you’re bad; sometimes, someone else’s application fits the theme better, they explained themselves better, or they were just very lucky and were chosen over you. So, please, don’t let a rejection email let you down and keep trying!

Most of the people who have participated in a zine sometime have been rejected heaps of time before. I have been rejected dozens of times before (at this point it’s part of the zine experience*). However, if you keep trying and learn from your mistakes, it’s only a matter of time until you get into one yourself.

You won’t get in if you don’t try.

*And please, remember not to bring someone else down if they have been accepted in the zine you wanted to get in, and never, never say they got accepted because of their popularity. Most mods score blindly or know they can’t be influenced by someone’s popularity, and that someone has already been rejected dozens of times before, just like you.

They have tried just as hard as you, and they were lucky enough to get in, so make sure to congratulate them.

Creation process

You’ve finally gotten into a zine, cool! However, there are still a few things you need to take into consideration while working in a zine.

Follow the zine guidelines. Be it dimensions, standardizations, limited word counts, etc., make sure you follow them. Every contributor has a limited space assigned to them in a zine, so make sure you can stay within those limits and ask for help if you need it.

Be communicative, ask questions and be patient. Don’t be afraid to ask questions to your team -- mods are there to organize the project, and they will gladly answer any question you may have. But remember to be patient; modding a zine is a hard job, and sometimes the team needs to discuss the answer to your question before they can give you an answer. Don’t worry; your answer will come eventually. Feel free to remind them if they haven’t answered you in a while, though; they may have forgotten about it!

Follow check-ins down to a T and in time. Check-ins are there to help you go through your workload seamlessly while letting the mods see what you’re creating. It still shows the mods that you’re still very interested in the zine - they won’t know if they have to find someone else for your position if you don’t answer. Don’t be afraid to ask for an extension if you need it.

If you’re a writer, find a beta. Some zines offer betas for their writers, but some don’t. However, that doesn’t mean your work doesn’t need to be anything less than the best (after all, it gets to be in a zine!). Try to find a beta to spot any mistakes you could’ve missed before submitting the final piece.

If you follow all these points, I’m sure the mod team will love you forever.

Preorders/Shipping

All the final pieces have been submitted and the zine has been assembled, so now preorders start. You obviously want this project you’ve worked so hard on to succeed, and you can actually help to make that happen if you follow these little tips:

Reblog the Preorders open post in all your social media. And if you have social media where the mods don’t have accounts for, post the link yourself! You want to attract as many buyers as possible, and that will only happen if we spread the word.

Make sure you post a preview of your work if the mods ask you to. Previews help hesitant people to finally decide to buy a zine. If you like the concept of a zine but you don’t know if you really want to pay $X for it (remember, zines are usually quite expensive), some cute art and snippets can convince even the most stubborn of buyers!

Ask for updates. See how things are doing and help promote preorders and events like giveaways if necessary. You can also ask for photographic proof when the physical zines get to the mods in charge of shipping; who doesn’t love to see shiny, beautiful products all of you have worked so hard for?

Sometimes, zines don’t make enough money to provide their contributors with a free copy of the zine. It’s really sad, but it happens. And if you’re sad, believe me when I say that the mods are absolutely devastated; they’ve made their biggest effort to lower the expenses as much as possible, but math sometimes just laughs at them in return. If it comes to this, be supportive and, if you want a copy of the zine, try to find alternatives; see if you can buy the zine at production cost, or if you can pitch in with the shipping/fees expenses.

And that’s about it! If you follow these points, I’m sure your experience in the zine scene will be very enjoyable! If you have any questions about them, feel free to ask. Our ask box is always open :D

Lots of love,

Mod Lie

#bnha kokoro zine #zine scene #tips for beginners #zine contributor tips #tips to have a healthy zine experience #:D #zine tips

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archivistsrock · 7 years

Text

Tagged by the wonderful @fearwill! Thank you!

Relationship Status: Single and afraid to mingle.

Favorite Color: Honestly don’t have one. Not orange. lol

Lipstick or chapstick: Chapstick. I NEVER wear lipstick. I always feel like I look like a little girl dressing up when I wear lipstick. I wish I had the confidence to rock a bright lip.

Last song I listened to: I have no idea. Probably something on the radio while I was driving. I do recall listening to a Florence + the Machine song recently.

Last movie I watched: Dunkirk.

Top 3 shows:

No longer airing fave: White Collar

Currently airing fave: Game of Thrones

Nostalgic Fave: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Top 3 characters

Neal Caffrey

Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG-1)

Liz Lemon (30 Rock)

Top 3 ships:

Peter/Neal

Peter/Elizabeth/Neal

Old ship: Jack/Daniel (Stargate: SG-1)

Books I’m currently reading: I just finished CIty of Light by Lauren Belfer. Historical mystery-type book (Buffalo, NY -- not Paris). Idk how I feel about it. It was good. Sometimes a bit wild. Sometimes a bit too historically detailed. Slightly disappointed by the ending. I kept envisioning Matt in one of the roles (oddly, not the male lead, although I suppose he could have fit that part).

5 Things in my bag:

Wallet

Umbrella

Work badge

Keys

Chapstick

5 Things in my room:

Clothes. All over the place. :/

Suitcase. Still haven’t put it away.

Books

A bunch of framed black & white pictures I took on various travels.

Jewelry. idk. Just normal bedroom stuff. I basically just sleep in my bedroom, so I don’t have a lot in there.

5 Things on my to-do list:

Clean my house. It’s a MESS.

Do some giffing. I haven’t done much giffing lately. I kind of miss it, but it’s also a little liberating tbh.

Call someone to look at my leaky water heater. But I don’t want to bc I’m 99% sure I’ll need to buy a new one and WAAAHHH. $$$

Finish putting in my landscape edging and mulch/river rock. BLERG.

Set up my new garden gnomes in my backyard because I don’t trust them in my front yard anymore. Clarification: I trust the gnomes, but not my neighbors who apparently like stealing gnomes. >.<

6 Things I’m into: Oh God, I’m boring.

White Collar/Matt Bomer

Giffing/photo editing

History

Arts and Crafts

Hiking and nature

Traveling

I tag: I don’t feel like searching for my post of people who like to be tagged for this type of thing, so I tag all my followers who want to do this! Claim me as your “person who tagged me!” ;)

#selfie #me meme #random

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labingi-blog · 7 years

Text

Mirage of Blaze Plays: Review and Some Kagetora/Naoe Thoughts

(For the fully formatted post, go here: http://labingi.dreamwidth.org/140269.html)

Many thanks to imperfekti for a) informing me that Mirage of Blaze Showa period stage plays exist and b) doing excellent summaries so that I can sort of tell what's going on:

http://michiru2042.tumblr.com/post/128310313517/mirage-of-blaze-yonakidori-blues-summary-part-5

http://imperfekti.tumblr.com/post/150910620139/mirage-of-blaze-stage-play-ruritsubame-blues-part

I have got my hands on the DVDs for the first two, thanks to demitas, who used her Japanese skills to order them for me. And now I have thinky thoughts. To begin reviewish stuff:

Reviewish Thoughts on Mirage Stage Plays Caveat: I can't fully "review" these plays, of course, because I can't understand 95% of the script. For the same reason, I can't fully assess these plays against any other Mirage material that hasn't been translated into English, so please take my thoughts with the appropriate grains of salt.

In a word, I loved these plays. They're very successful theater: wonderful use of lighting and sound effects to create very much the same level of physical excitement I personally get from a big budget movie. It's a great way to bring a text with comparatively small financial pull to life (and I'd love to see more of this in the fine arts). The acting, in general, is very good and the characters very in character. I would recommend these plays to anyone who is a serious Mirage fan. They are an important addition to the universe. I laid down a fair amount of money (~$160 USD) to buy them and get them shipped from Japan, and although I am not rich, I consider it money well spent. They're that good.

SPOILERS FOLLOW…

Setup: The plays take place c. 1958, that is, the beginning of the events that culminate in all the Minako-era horror (the two plays do not nearly get that far). Basically, everybody is in the body they possessed just before the original Mirage novels. These two plays concern the resurgence of Nobunaga with the Yashashuu attempting to foil him and being depressed at the idea that he's back. They also meet and begin to befriend Minako.

Plotty side note: most of what I know of this era in novel canon comes from summaries and discussions, and it's a bit hazy, but I have a suspicion there are some changed premises from the narrative in the original novels. I welcome clarifications.

At this point in time, Kagetora is Kase, a World War II veteran (and, thus, a significantly physically older Kagetora than we are accustomed to). Naoe, in contrast, is in the body of Kasahara, a lad at medical school and thus physically much younger than Kagetora, which is weird and interesting. For further summary, I'll refer you to Imperfekti's links above; she does a wonderful, thorough job and with pictures.

Acting Generally, the acting and character concepts are very good. Irobe, Haruie, and Nagahide (who appears only in the second play) are very much themselves. Nagahide feels a little lighter than I'm accustomed to, a bit more playful, less mean, but that could be perfectly in keeping with life before everything really goes to hell. A few actors are doing dual roles: original personality and person/spirit possessing the body, and they navigate this really well. This includes Minako. The actress has good range and brings a nice subtlety to a basically "good girl" part.

But let's talk about Naoe (Aramaki Yoshihiko) and Kagetora (Tomita Sho). (I think I have the actors right, but somebody let me know if I have them backwards.)

I'm going to start with just about the only negative thing I have to say about these plays. I don't think Aramaki carries off Naoe. He's a very gifted physical actor. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a background in dance, and he's competent in every respect, but Naoe is a complicated character—Naoe stuck in the body of a college student even more so—and I did not get a real sense of "Naoe" out of this performance. I suspect the script is good and the character well written, and if you can understand the dialogue, that doubtless helps the overall effect, but the acting per se feels wooden to me, the gestures a bit contrived, the facial expressions stiff, and so on.

I will give some handicap points for the fact that Naoe is stuck in a body he himself is not comfortable in. He's only been in it for three years. He's socially treated as younger than all his compatriots, and this is awkward. So a certain woodenness may be exactly what Naoe's feeling. But that allowance made, I still didn't feel the spark.

This slight "miss" in the performance stands in radical contrast to Tomita as Kagetora, who is a revelation. So now that the negative is out of the way, let me gush. Damn, this man is a good actor! While it's a stage play, and everyone broadcasts to the back rows, there's a tremendous nuance in his performance (facial expressions, etc.), much of which I expect the audience can't directly see in a live production but which undergirds the whole feel of the character. And he can cry on demand! Which brings us to…

Kagetora (and Naoe) This theatrical conception of Kagetora is brilliant combination of scripting, casting, and acting that finds the sweet spot of being unexpected but also utterly in character. As Imperfekti observes in her summaries, Kase is not Takaya. But he is the person who will become Takaya and stands as both a fascinating presence in his own right and an instructive lens through which to read Takaya and his dynamics with Naoe thirty years later.

Kase brings to life a lot of things the novels <i>tell</i> us about Kagetora but don't <i>show</i> much. He is reserved, low key, very much in control, and sells better than Takaya the idea that he's the leader everyone on his team looks up to. Unlike Takaya, he rarely shows the chinks in his armor. When he does, it usually comes out as grandstanding at Naoe, which is, in itself, a refusal to really show the chinks. Or occasionally, he'll give a speech about how hard it all is, but this is a far cry from Takaya's tendency to launch into long spiels about the details of his anguish with people who, on a conscious level, he thinks are complete strangers (Ujiteru, Kaizaki).

This greatly enhances my understanding of why Naoe is so intimidated by Kagetora, why he so often accuses Takaya (even poor teenage Takaya without most of his memories!) of treating him like a dog. Kase really does do a number on Naoe—Takaya does too, and Naoe and Kagetora surely do it to each other—but Kase does it with far greater consistency and, I think, more explicit manipulation than Takaya ever achieves. Takaya seems to go into a sort of "Kagetora mode," in which he berates Naoe for being a worthless sycophant and dares him to leave or not to leave, but this feels more like habit, like an inability to snap out of it, than a reasoned strategy for dealing with Naoe. In fact, it often runs directly contrary to what he wants to express. With Kase, it feels like a strategy, at least in part, a performance he passes on to Takaya even though, by Takaya's time, he no longer really wants to use it.

It is worth noting that Kasahara!Naoe is bad to Kase too. In fact, he's much more physically aggressive than I expected from Naoe in that era. (I wonder how much this is a changed premise for theatrical effect? I had the impression, based on what I don't know, that Naoe in that era was reserved and correct until it all busts out with Minako.) In any case, Naoe's behavior is bad, no question, but I do understand his sense of extremis.

Kase's pattern of behavior to him is psychologically manipulative, arguably to the point of abuse. It consists of a push-pull in which a dominant sense of combative disapproval, for what seems little reason, is occasionally interrupted by a tender, relative openness: sharing a drink, a vulnerability, a reminiscence, etc. This is a formula for profoundly wounding someone by giving them just enough affection to keep them emotionally dependent and in a constant state of fear over when the other shoe is going to drop. Mind you, I don't think Kase does this completely intentionally. He's trapped in a wounded relationship with Naoe too, needing him and unable to admit his need. But he sure as heck knows he is pushing Naoe's buttons, and he strategically does so to assert his ownership over someone he is fundamentally afraid of losing.

I find it interesting to set this "pure," un-Takaya-mediated dynamic against Naoe's later pattern of behavior to Takaya, which is abusive in a remarkably similar way: a push-pull in which he embodies loving support only to undercut Takaya's sense of security by lashing out in ugly, violent, nasty outbursts. Naoe, too, doesn't do all of this systematically. By the Takaya era, he's trapped between trying to forge a new, better relationship with Takaya and falling into the old patterns based on the old resentments against Kagetora. Still, there's an element of turnabout here, and it's certainly an effective way to get Takaya to feel very much what Kagetora has made Naoe feel.

All in all, this dynamic provides wonderful context for the craziness that is Naoetora in the novels.

There's a lot more to say, but I'll break here and pick it up in another post.

#mirage of blaze

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