#a lot of the fandom brings so much value to these spaces

[lo-fi-charming]

so i've been keeping up with TMP as it's airing, which has been fun, it's actually really nice to experience this kind of story weekly since i came into TMA late and listened up to the s4 finale in like, a month or two. i've been enjoying the new characters and statements, and while i was worried i'd have trouble actively listening (my attention span/executive functioning can be really variable when it comes to podcasts), it's been surprisingly easy for me to actually listen to each new ep the day it drops publicly

all this to say im enjoying the show! but i've found myself feeling increasingly frustrated with a couple things i keep seeing when it comes to discussions of it

to me, it seems... there's been a pervasive reluctance to take TMP as what it is. and i do understand that. it'd be stupid to pretend TMP doesn't exist exclusively because of TMA and that show's success, that it's a successor that was pitched as being similar. it's a story being written by the same people (plus guests), in the same universe (roughly), going for about the same tone and maybe themes.

i just feel like it's a bit of a shame, though, that so many folks seem unwilling not to carry TMA with them when they're engaging with TMP

i don't know where or when it was said, but i swear there was a comment made by jonny and/or alex about how TMP will have some commonality with TMA in terms of world-building, but also, people who listened to TMA first may find themselves theorizing in the wrong direction because we're judging things based off what is no longer concrete, reliable information; things are going to work differently in the world of TMP, and since we have preconceived notions on what is relevant or how things work, that's going to influence how we engage with information presented in TMP if we let it. and that's not even considering the fact that they've been explicit in conveying the idea that TMP was written so you can experience it fully without having listened to any of TMA at all!

i'm very much someone who tries to engage with media on its own terms, largely taking things at face value until i'm given reason to suspect otherwise. that's something i'm trying my best to still do with TMP, even though obviously, i've also listened to TMA and am basing some of my thoughts and personal theories on what we know from that

but that's what i mean to say i guess, it's something you have to actively choose to do. and it feels like, just based on what i've been seeing in fandom spaces, that a lot of people are having a bit of an odd time with TMP because of a reluctance to do that?

i think the easiest way to explain what i mean is to point to a general acceptance, already on the level of fanon it seems, to interpret the computer voices as Our Jon and Martin (+ Jonah/Elias, maybe). now obviously we have the actual real world reason why their voices are present in TMP, because of course jonny and alex were going to come back as voices in the show in some way. and i 100% agree it's a perfectly logical conclusion to then interpret their inclusion as being related to Jon and Martin somehow. i'm personally very into the theory that it is in no way them - not in any way that matters - but specifically their voices that have been stolen (by the Web?) as a means to help spread fears in other realities. but that's really not how i've been seeing people play with the concept? it seems largely 1:1. and again, i totally understand where people are coming from with that - especially when you consider how it can be a super fun concept for horror and angst, or even just the fact that folks want an excuse to carry their favorite characters into this new show and still play around with them. i promise i don't mean to bring this up as a means of making anyone feel bad or like, chastised for interpreting things a certain way and playing in the space!

it's the biggest example of what i mean though, and was a huge point of frustration for me when we were first being presented with TMP. it's not just that i don't want the voices to be Jon and Martin proper (i am very into their Ambiguous End, i believe it's best to leave that as a space for fans to play in); in all honesty, i think it's kind of a shame and maybe even a bit boring (im sorry!) to be engaging with TMP this way

and it's not just stuff like that - i've been seeing a fair amount of people expressing frustration and feeling disappointed with how TMP is hitting, but i mean, i feel like that's inevitable when you're going into it expecting More TMA? i saw at least one person basically say "ive been waiting for it to make me feel the way TMA made me feel, and it hasn't yet", and i really just feel like that's setting yourself up to be dissatisfied! beyond the fact that we're only 5 episodes in and the story has barely gotten a chance to happen yet, a huge element of this new show is that it's being approached as a largely collaborative effort, it seems, with lots of guests coming in to help shape the story and more writing and plotting influence that isn't jonny

obviously it's fine to not be super into that! undoubtedly it's a question of taste. but you do have to acknowledge that that's the case and adjust your expectations accordingly, or else you're not going to have a great time

i really like TMA, i had a great time with it, but even if TMP is a sequel to its parent podcast, it's not the same thing - and personally, i don't want it to be! i do hope that's a sentiment that is able to be more widely felt by some fans as we gain more distance from TMA while TMP is airing. i just think more people would be able to enjoy it that way, and come up with more interesting theories and interpretations of things! but those are really just my own personal thoughts

#endlesschatter #tmagp #i just needed to express some of this #it's a bit tricky tho esp with the voices as jmart thing bc a lot of my buddies and pals are playing in that space #and i hate to sound like im vagueing or complaining i swear im not ;lskdjfljk it is truly so unserious in the end #it's just very much not my interpretation or desire to see canonized in any way #though i cant deny some of the arguments made in favor of that interpretation are compelling #and i mean if it's the case in canon! not like im gonna be mad at folks for calling it!! #might not be my favorite angle but could still be plenty fun! #but also yes yeah i just wrote a lot of words down just to say i think it might be nice. if. #the fandom at large didn't try putting a coat of TMA paint over TMP and interpreting everything that happens in a TMA-colored lens

[ineffabildaddy]

i know this may be obvious to a lot of people, but i thought it was worth saying anyway: i love the good omens fandom because it encourages contribution more than any other popular fandom i've been in.

i'm incapable of being a casual fan of anything. it's just not in my nature. i've been in fandom spaces just over a decade - fandoms related to musicians, books, films and tv shows - and yet i've never been in a fandom that captures, creates, analyses, jokes, and just talks more than this one.

in most of the fandoms i've been in, there's a lot of passive consumption of fan content, which is obviously great and we all do it, but in the good omens fandom, that doesn't seem to make up the majority of our behaviour. in fact, when i got back on tumblr for the first time in 7 years after watching season 2, i had a look around at what the fandom was doing for a day or two and my first thought was: oh god, what if i've got nothing to say? what if i've got nothing to add that hasn't already been added? i immediately felt that i wouldn't truly be part of things if i didn't get stuck in.

if i'm fixated on something or particularly enjoying it at one time, i might wake up in the morning or pick up my phone/laptop thinking, i want to see more, hear more, learn more about this thing. that's still the case with good omens, but with the addition of, how can i contribute today? how can i bring something to the fandom, how can i connect with it, how can i consistently encourage and support the people in it? and that's all because of how artistic, analytical, poetic, humorous but above all enthusiastic all of you are.

the truth is, i'm not at all a confident person. i've got a film degree, i've done stand-up comedy and i've written comedy sketches, i was a popular fanfiction writer for years (hi supernatural fans), and i've shared poetry, too. so, i have got experience in things that could make my contributions to fandom spaces worthwhile (not that you need any particular achievements under your belt). yet usually, the fact that people are doing things that i'm doing infinitely better than me puts me off the idea of doing them at all. so, oftentimes i don't do them, or if i do i put them down immediately and keep them private.

i'm still very much experiencing that feeling since becoming active in the good omens fandom, precisely because there's so much talent and dedication here, but i'm trying to ignore it because it feels like everyone who wants to say something is genuinely valued - especially since people who think differently about aspects of the book and show aren't actually fighting with each other or obsessed with proving they're right, which is quite rare in my experiences of fandoms.

it's been really really refreshing to become an active part of this fandom and i do hope it remains that way as more time elapses since season 2 was released. i have a feeling it will because we've all chosen one of the most wonderful stories of our time to engage with, and the fans' love for it was and is taken more seriously by terry, neil, david and michael than we ever could've hoped for.<3

#good omens #good omens 2 #ineffabildaddy

[prince-liest]

I know you’ve gotten asks already talking about how happy they are that you’re going more in depth on the subject of Vox being trans in your next installment, but I can’t help myself… I’m so excited that you’re writing about that. It can be difficult to find trans rep in fandom spaces sometimes and your stories are so well written that this is like a gift from god. SO ANYWAY I’m super happy and your works are amazing and I just hope you know how many people value your works for all that they give.

Secondly, I was wondering whether or not Vox would have been trans on earth or just in hell? I mean I’m sure it would be difficult considering the time period but I also couldn’t think of a reason why he would be cis on earth but trans in hell. UNLESS he realized he was trans in hell/was finally able to do something about it?? Anyway, all of this is just speculation, I am only curious!!

Regardless, great work. It genuinely means a lot to me, if no one else :)

Oh, man, I'm ngl, one of my little, "Wait! I can do anything I want!!!!" moments of going mad with power once I got more and more experience at writing was realizing that I could just trans anyone's gender at-will and I didn't need anyone's permission for that. I still remember the first time I quietly decided an OC of mine was trans (love you, Laledy, you obnoxious asshole). I'm always a little apprehensive to start writing trans characters in new fandoms, mostly because I've been in a number of fandoms that have corners that get very tetchy about their weird gender role stuff, but it's consistently been met with such a positive reaction that it really brings me joy. So thank you so very, very much!!

My personal take on Vox in 666 specifically (a lot of which isn't going to come up because he does not want to get into it) is that he wasn't personally really in a position or environment conducive to considering trans-ness as, like, a thing that happens when he was alive, and he put his all into putting on The Correct Gender Performance with the vim and aplomb that we see from him in canon, plus all the underlying bullshit that goes into maintaining that facade. So, y'know. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, minus the Jewish. Which did not do amazing things for his mental health, not that he let himself pay attention to that at the time!

And then he wakes up, in hell, with this weird-ass demon body with a television for a head, and - well, it just makes sense to present as a man at that point, doesn't it? Hell is dog-eat-dog, and he's not going to pick the submissive gender to put himself on the back foot from the start!

He figures out what the fuck being trans even is eventually, just. Not for a while, and not until after someone like Valentino, having known and assumed that Vox is trans as a given for fucking months, mentions it offhandedly to Vox, who had been mentally describing himself as "just lying about his sex like those girls in stories that get shit done by dressing up as men". Then he gets to have his own little spiral about it, and also why it's upsetting him, and why he felt so vulnerable about Valentino knowing, and why Valentino specifically, Mr. Fishnets, Heels, and Microminis, is the one that ended up in a position not only to know this about Vox but for Vox to feel comfortable having any kind of sex with. It wasn't something Vox had to analyze back when it was just "her" freaky boyfriend being into pegging!

Okay, fuck, I have even more feelings about trans Vox than I thought I did, hahahaha.

Might fuck around and write a staticmoth-centric prequel interlude at some point if I have the brain cells for it. Vox is a lot more confident and comfortable with his gender now, to the point where he can absolutely see fucking around in a dress for kinky reasons as crossdressing and not being forced back into a box that doesn't fit, but it'd be neat to explore the earlier days. Val isn't here for gender, he's here to be sexy, but Vox... this IS the origin of the daddy kink, just saying.

#ask #personal #Anonymous #666 live on air #hazbin hotel #vox #staticmoth #my writing #nsft #trans vox

[sprout-fics]

Hello, I hope you don’t mind me asking but why is there so much hate towards people who like posts or liking posts in general? I understand that people value reblogs more because it gets them more notes, but every time there’s a post about how much creators love interaction it never includes likes. If I like a post, it means that I liked it but I’ve been blocked, gotten hateful dms, called a “post murderer”, and told I didn’t value creators as humans—even though I’m a writer myself—because I like posts and I don’t think I or anyone else deserve that kind of treatment for pressing a button that literally means I liked your post?

As a writer, I’d feel worse knowing someone was only reblogging my stuff because they felt forced to and not because they actually liked what I wrote. Also it makes me happy to see likes as much as it does other kinds of interactions, but people act like liking something is akin to spitting on the creator and I don’t understand it?

I’m not saying this as an attack on you or anything, I don’t think you’re like any of the people above who’ve been rude to me, I’ve followed you for a while and think you’re really nice. I only saw your reblog of the post talking about interaction and how much it means to creators—which I agree with 100%—but I noticed in posts like that likes are always left out and I don’t really get it? But I’m also newer to tumblr so I realize there might be something I’m missing here as part of tumblr culture or something?

You totally don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to either, it’s just something I’ve noticed and was wondering about and you’re one of the few writers I follow who’ve reblogged the nicer posts that don’t yell at me for liking things so I feel a little safer asking you 😅

Hi anon, thanks for reaching out! I'm always happy to share fandom perspectives, and I'm glad I can be a safe space to ask questions. I want to always cultivate civil discussion, and it's so nice to see someone reach out in such a genuine manner!

So it sounds like you are fairly new to tumblr, and that you may not fully understand how the site works yet. The short answer to your question is: Likes do nothing to build a fandom community.

The long answer is a little more complicated.

I'm going to go back to my fandom is cake analogy here.

Fandom is a lot like being at a potluck. Lots of people show up, not everyone brings a dish but everyone does enjoy a bite of something or the other, people talk, chat, and have a good time. Now, if you are a writer, and you brought cake, you brought it because you want to see people enjoy it. Reblogging something is the equivalent of grabbing a slice of cake, wandering over to some friends, and when they say 'Oh, what a wonderful slice of cake Who made that?' You point to the baker/writer and possibly say something like 'Oh I love this flavor/trope!' so others may be compelled to also enjoy the cake

Liking, however, is when someone wanders up to the dessert table and goes 'Yup, that's a cake' and then vanishes. We can't assume that you liked the cake and just didn't want to share, of if you saw the cake and went 'Ugh, vanilla, gross'.

Reblogs are inherently community based. Likes are not.

Reblogs are designed to share, to reach out and expose works to others. By doing so we cultivate communities and fandoms, expose artists to corners of the fandom not yet reached. This isn't necessarily for an ego boost on the part of writers or creators, it's because we post things to connect with people, because we want to make friends, to share ideas, to participate in fandom.

Likes, by contrast, are inherently isolationist. They don't expose works, they don't foster connections. They are the equivalent of a hundred people at a party looking at you without saying hi or introducing themselves, without introducing you to friends who are there at that party for the same reason as you: because you all love and adore the media you are there for.

Reblogs, comments, and comments in the tags are how I've meant 90% of my friend group. I didn't passively like things until they noticed me, and frankly if someone is trying to be friends with me in that manner? Chances are I will not notice them, because likes tell me nothing. For all I know they could be saving my fic for later, they could be saying something I can't understand because I can't read minds, and the only way for me to know is if you take a slice of my cake and show it and say 'What a neat piece of cake!!'

I think it's unfair for people to say things like 'post murderer' and such, or spread vitriol. Shaming people into reblogging does not foster meaningful connections, and frankly accomplishes the same thing serial likers do- isolating people. It's inherently detrimental to fandom. Does this mean I'm not frustrated with the current climate of fandom? Far from it. I could sit here and write essays on fast fandom culture burning through works and creators and leaving burnt out creators behind as people gobble up and spit out fandoms with short attention spans and limited investment into fandom building. It's very disappointing, and I myself am fairly burnt out trying to keep this blog and active space only to be met with this:

This is my top post of the month. Out of the reblogs with tags, maybe two or three have genuine comments and/or feedback. There's so so many missed connections here and it's incredibly disheartening. The only way to fix this is to reblog and add maybe a nice tag. Even something as simple as a few emojis or a 'I enjoyed this!' goes so so far for us writers, and encourages us to stay within the fandom and continue building and fostering new connections with readers, writers, artists, and other creators.

Reblogs are the foundation of fandoms. Artists need fandoms to thrive, and without new works/art/creations, fandoms will die. Every reblog counts.

#fandom discourse #writing advice #faq #I'm so so glad you asked this anon #It's such an important issue in fandom right now and you were so genuine in asking and I appreciate that

[fushiglow]

Who the hell is Gojō Satoru?

Some thoughts on his character in 236

Seeing everyone arguing about Gojō’s characterisation in 236 over the last week makes me realise just how good the chapter is, no matter how dissatisfied I am with Gojō's death.

When you're upset about something, it's hard to judge accurately whether something is 'bad' or whether you simply don't like it — and they are different things. Interestingly, 236 presented me with a conflict I've never experienced when following a story before. I'm really disappointed with the way Gege Akutami chose to end Gojō's story, but I think 236 will go down as one of the most beautiful chapters of Jujutsu Kaisen. In that sense, my feelings about the chapter after a week of sitting with it aren't too unrecognisable from my initial feelings — just with all of the big emotions that were colouring my judgment stripped away.

I think there *is* value in immediate reactions, and I think much of the initial outrage about the chapter was simply people grieving what was an intentionally shocking end to a beloved character. I hate that people tried to police social media reactions to the chapter, because I think everyone should be allowed to process their feelings in their own online space (as long as they don't bring harm to others, of course).

Aside from the outpouring of emotion, there have been countless arguments about 'who' Gojō was as a person in the end, and that doesn't sit right with me either. I think many artists would be disappointed to hear fans of their work insist that there is one 'proper' interpretation — because the value of sharing your art with the world is in how different people receive it based on their own experiences.

To me, that's Gojō Satoru as a character.

I know lots of people have already shared some variation of the post below (and everyone has moved on to 237 now anyway) but this was sitting in my drafts so I thought I may as well hit post before 237 is officially released!

In my analysis of Gojō's character after 235, I talked about how Gege Akutami keeps Gojō at a distance from both the readers and the characters around him, making it deliberately difficult to know who he is as a person. Despite that, everyone in-universe and out has something to say about Gojō's character, but we've never really known how Gojō views himself until this chapter.

For maybe the first time in Jujutsu Kaisen, we get to deep dive into Gojō's interior world and hear his innermost thoughts when he's at his lowest and most vulnerable. As a result, something fascinating happened across the fandom.

Even when Gojō literally tells Getō that the 'wretchedness of isolation' is something he shares with Sukuna, that he gave everything he had so that Sukuna might understand him and be understood in turn, and that he knows not everyone will get it, some people called Gojō 'out of character' in 236.

And isn't that just so damn meta?!

Akutami loves challenging readers' assumptions through his characters, so while the chapter is shocking, it isn't really surprising. I'd even go as far as suggesting that the journey of emotions the reader experiences while reading 236 is the exact same journey Gojō is going on in-story.

The thing is, I've seen tons of people arguing about whether Gojō was selfless or selfish, whether he fought for the love of his students or for the love of the fight, whether he took strong young sorcerers under his wing from a place of care or simply as a means to an ends — but I think the point is that it's always been all of those things at once.

Because he's human, and humans contain multitudes.

I think we were meant to have our view of Gojō shaken by 236 — the same way Gojō's view of himself is challenged in this chapter. However, just because we can find some truth in Nanami's criticism of Gojō, doesn't mean that his interpretation of Gojō's character is the correct one — especially when it's entirely possible that what happens in the airport isn't even real.

Getō listens with empathy as Gojō confesses his self-doubt and regrets, the solitude of his strength, and the dehumanisation he experienced as the 'Strongest'. He even expresses jealousy when Gojō admits he had fun fighting someone strong enough to understand him. Then, only two pages after Gojō says, 'You can cherish a flower and help it bloom, but you don't ask it to understand you', Nanami appears and calls him a pervert for his approach to sorcery.

It's actually really funny.

Importantly, Nanami isn't exactly wrong for saying the enjoyment Gojō gets from fighting is a little disturbing (and, to be clear, I *adore* this about him) — it's just not the whole picture of Gojō Satoru.

Akutami actually gives us some lovely imagery to visually represent the gulf between those who understand the solitude of strength and those who don't — Gojō and Getō sit on one side of the bench while Nanami and Haibara sit on the other, with each duo facing in opposite directions.

I don't think Akutami is implying that either side is wrong or right — it's just two different perspectives. Nevertheless, Gojō is pictured side by side with someone who understands him, and back to back with someone who doesn't understand him but who cares for him all the same.

Recognising this, he pivots to asking Nanami about something they can both relate to and receives an important lesson in return. What Nanami means and what Gojō takes from it is deliberately ambiguous, like everything that's discussed inside the airport:

Could Sukuna have won without the Ten Shadows?

Who does the 'flower' represent: Gojō, the people around him, or both?

Did Gojō reach Sukuna like he hoped?

Why exactly is Getō jealous?

Does Gojō feel satisfied?

Is Nanami's assessment of Gojō's character correct?

What is the relevance of north and south?

Which direction did Gojō choose?

Is it all in Gojō's imagination or is it real?

Whether we'll receive answers to those questions remains to be seen, but I highly suspect that most of them don't even have a definitive answer.

Once again, it's just a matter of perspective, and I think that's Gojō's character in a nutshell. Whichever side of the bench you're sitting on, whatever you see in Gojō says more about you than it does about him — and that's exactly why it's so fascinating to see the fandom erupt into arguments about who's interpreting the character correctly.

I can honestly say I think the chapter is really beautiful even though I hate what happened to Gojō, and that's an entirely new experience for me. For that alone, Akutami has my praise. Whatever happens in the rest of the story will determine whether 236 becomes my favourite chapter in the whole of Jujutsu Kaisen — isn't that bizarre?

By the way, I found a really thoughtful post about some of the word choices in 236. The poster shared some really interesting insights across a series of posts and they convey the tone of the chapter really well. Well worth checking out!

#i forgot to post this until now ooooops #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjk 236 #呪術廻戦 #gojo satoru #jjk spoilers #jjk manga spoilers #jujutsu kaisen spoilers #jjk meta #jjk analysis #jujutsu kaisen meta #jujutsu kaisen analysis #my writing #fushiglow

[jazeswhbhaven]

Response Email from PrettyBusy! (courtesy of WHB Updates)

Alright! So the admin has updated us with the responses from PB from a long email about our concerns. I read through them all and understand where they're coming from and at this point, I'm just going to keep proceeding as before with how I'm playing and approaching the game. Here's where you can read the responses -> Part 1, Part 2

In general, I saw a repeat from PB stating that other emails were sent in from others stating that they

A. Were fine with the prices B. Didn't want repeat characters C. Mostly concerned about the battles being boring I'll touch on this with my take real quick. Personally...who is out here saying they don't want repeat/re-releases of characters???? Because while I get that some folks don't like certain characters...some of us may want a chance to nab them in case something came up and we didn't get a chance to the first time. NuCarnival does this and no one really complains (as far as I know I'm not active in that fandom, so correct me if I'm wrong). And for pricing, I talked to my friend who also plays other gachas often and he expressed PB's prices are actually low compared to the thousands of dollars other games tend to require for players to not even get the card they want. And for the battles being boring, that's not my problem personally. I just don't want 5-6 battles in between story points...I like how the event battles are usually around 3 between story points. I get they may do this to space it out so we can gain resources and it's not just a click-and-read game, but ugh 6 battles are just too damn much, I'm sorry. I hope they don't take it as "Oh let's make the battles more complicated and harder and throw in more of these screeching bitch ass angels with the wings on their heads" because I will scream lol So the tidbit about them not excluding F2P players and stating that they offer a lot of incentives such as free main story, free Minhyeok story, H-scenes that are free; I get that.* But honestly, the Solomon Seal thing that happened really alienated me because it was like telling me "broke folks can't have the nice stuff, sorry" and let's be honest....some ppl out there REALLY think like that especially over here in the states.. Now I'm glad they ARE addressing obtaining Solomon Seals easily, and implementing a way to gift it to us a free 10 pull per month which is a $34 value (rounded up). Hey, I'll take it. Because I'm gonna save 'em up anyways.

Now....there was something that concerns me and I think players should keep it in mind. Mammon's dildo is officially retired and not coming back for any of the platforms. PB has been threatened most likely by Gplay and AppStore to get rid of stuff like that or they'd pull the app from their platforms. EROLABS sadly, is affected because they don't have a way to specifically do the censoring for some things per platform. That was one of them. So in the future we may see MORE censoring just in case and EROLABS may be affected too. Not necessarily their exclusive content of course, but maybe just small things like the card art censoring, or stuff like that. Sucks really.

Someone brought up Event Stories being available in the future for reading again and this was a great idea to bring up to them. Some folks don't play the events so having the story available at a later time would be cool. Also, I read a couple things about PB talking about their customer service trying to catch up with social media interactions and other things and I was like well damn... Because at the end of the day someone who's working a 9-5 maybe even overtime is sitting up here reading all those tweets cussing them out and it gets really mentally tiring. Criticism is okay, but yeah going left field on someone who's just doing their job is a reminder of why I hate working in customer service myself. Some of the population forgets you are a person and sometimes your hands are tied so why are you yelling? Chill for a moment. It's just a game.

With that being said they did say that they would do better on being transparent on letting us know if the cards are gonna be in the banner or not. (I'll believe it when I see it, not trying to be mean) Overall I was nodding and taking in their responses. The fact that they bothered to even answer with sincerety has already put a good impression for me so I'll stick with that. I personally keep a boundary between me and companies for my own personal reasons. I understand that there are others who are ride or die for this company, and that's cool. Just don't expect others to have that same energy. If you've been through what I have...you'll understand why I don't do this for most companies anymore unless it's for a personal friend who has their own business/commissions/etc. What do you all think about the responses? Satisfied or just waiting it out? *edit: and to add...honestly the L-card stories are better than the H-scenes lmao at least to me. Because there's our bois literally cussing, the writers use actual words like penis and masterbating, like I'm still not recovering over Beel saying "fuck this is good" and satan calling us a dirty bitch. i a m s o r r y and t h r i s t y. Because imagine Belial being like "oh so you like my thick cock up your ass?" or Dre fingering you and being like "Fuck you're so soft here..." I neeeeed it.

#whb #what in hell is bad #whb game #email updates #future outlook of whb #there was a lot here

[kissmetwicekissmedeadly]

Ikemen fandom, I want your attention!

There's something I wanted to discuss for a long time now. Do you also feel like it's about time we abolish the term "content creation", especially while talking about the fandom challenges hosted around here?

Now, the Ikemen fandom is a somewhat tight-knit community that offers tons of positivity and support for making fanworks. I'm far from the thought that anyone here means any harm while calling others (and themselves) content creators. The truth is, ever since I was a fandom baby - and I'm not sure if the fact that I'm not a native English speaker plays a role in that - I looked at the term as something that simply combines the many forms of fanworks and has a positive connotation to it. It's making things easier when you want to include everyone. You want to say writers and artists and others but there are so many more forms of art and you don't want someone to feel excluded just because you haven't named their medium. And people here are so talented they rarely ever are just one thing. But sometimes we don't realize when a word can be harmful. If you call it content, that implies that it's been "produced" - and if it's produced, then later it can be "consumed". You can read one such post about this issue here that puts it in words better than I can.

That doesn't mean that if you're using the word content you're necessarily supporting this narrative, it simply means that someone can (rightfully) feel offended by that. Here we're used to seeing it around, and we won't think anything about it. But new people are joining our space all the time. Not to mention that Ikemen Villains is soon to release in English, undoubtedly bringing forth a new fave of fans. I can't tell anyone what to do, but I know I don't want to accidentally offend someone. It's a big deal for me, because I put a lot of passion into what I do here. The challenges are born out of my wish to inspire - firstly myself and then others. But it would be meaningless if I'm doing harm in the very title of one such post.

All of this I could discuss solely in front of myself, deciding on how I'm going to proceed with this, but I wanted to make this a public post in order to bring some awareness and hopefully do something positive for our fandom - in case you simply never looked at it this way when it needs to be, in case it really is as important as it seems to me right now. See it as me giving it advice, please! Not telling you what to do. I'm not judging anyone. I just want my friends to value themselves.

Now then, what do we think about a little change in labeling those challenges? I thought of "creative challenge". A double C instead of a triple C after your challenge's name. Not too big of a change but still an efficient one imo! While the people who create are creatives, the ones who create fanworks.

Let me know what you think of this whole thing, even if anonymously - my asks are open. I can't promise to be around much but I'll get to them eventually!

#ikemen #ikemen series #ikevamp #ikepri #ikesen #ikevil #ikerev #ikemen prince #ikemen vampire #ikemen villains #ikemen sengoku #ikemen revolution #cybird

[moregraceful]

i think it's a real like. ugh how do i put this. the minute you start discord servers with rules and mods, it feels like less of a co-created space. which was also true of communities on lj or dw, but everybody did always have their personal blogs to fall back on and could create community there. but then your other options are like tumblr, which i think is good for creating one on one relationships but pretty uniquely awful for fostering community (and i say this as someone who is TRYING. and FAILING), or twitter, which is also good for one on one relationships and SOME community building but ultimately failed to hold the necessary character space and the visible follower count created some weird hierarchies, and is on top of that now in a total state of decay and full elon musk fanboys.

and i think a lot - A LOT - about how to build vibrant fannish communities on al gore's internet in 2024 when a) the social media landscape is no longer willing to publicly diary their way into community ala livejournal and b) twitter made me so unhappy and c) tumblr as a microblogging site with the option for anonymous asks is not set up to create community and d) discord is by its nature pretty insular (which is both good and bad to be clear) and if it's a tight knit server, difficult to bring new people into the fold with grace. on top of that, nsfw content is being legislated off the internet, so it's like if you want to go some place to talk about blorbo getting wrecked, you have to be conscious of your account getting killed, unless you're on dreamwidth.

and like it's not NOT a problem in the greater western world, the move towards insular communities, but when i think about specifically how to create a broad, accessible community on the internet for fans it's like. man where even are there mechanisms for that. like i think about this so much and i just have not come with up with a good solution. there are not enough people active on dreamwidth for me to want to put effort into creating a community there and at this point tumblr would have to completely implode to get people to move to a different social media site. i do not know what the solution is!! and it's very frustrating to me as someone who values community!!

also like 5000% this is on me for my life falling apart in november and december and doing nothing materially to fix it until the very end of december but the fact that i did not keep up with 4th line and time begins round up posts absolutely haunts me. but it's also like. two newsletters a month for not very much engagement was very hard to maintain focus on tbh. but it's again like...if you build it they will come does not work, both in fandom and in life, but also how do you create a community on a platform not set up for building community while also contending with general disinterest. you know?? or ok. i have said before that the greatest thing i could ever do in fandom is not write the perfect fic, but create something that brings people together, with or without me, and i do still believe that with my whole heart. but wanting that, and not knowing if it's actually happening, does not make it easier to commit to doing

#if it helps i think about this a lot with mainline protestant churches too #and there's no good answer for that one either except go to an evangelical megachurch lmfao #butterfly meme are evangelical megachurches the 300 person fandom discord servers i'm scared of? #fresno oilers.txt #spiritually a livejournal post. as always #i'm like. do i make a baseball ask meme?? would people want that?? what do i even DO

[rapturesbest]

Fort Frolic is becoming more and more popular the longer the games are out, much to my thill, as this means people are looking more and more into the muses, the Disciples, the quartet. Which is delightful. I have seen a lot of posts ranging from early 2015 blogs and art pieces as well as forums to modern, recent takes and character dives.

Of course, fandom is a space in which to explore and grow our own thoughts and theories. Some of the posts I have seen are certainly… choices. I have been putting off a brief character study of the muses until my wife and I have finished editing and splicing together our complete comprehensive history of the Disciples.

I have been working on breathing life into these characters for years now. Pulling from every media as well as looking into any rabbithole I could.

The reason behind this post is not to claim others work and ideas as incorrect but instead is to bring my findings to light. Share with you what is one of my two life’s works.

A brief character study of Kyle Fitzpatrick

Oh where to begin with my beloved boy. His canon appearances are so short lived. With three canonical lines I all but built him from the ground up. He is mentioned during DLC Burial at Sea 1 with no voice lines BUT that does give us where he was on New Years Eve, which I will talk about later in this post. He is not mentioned at all in Rapture by John Shirley. But this doesn’t mean that we don’t have clues and context for him as a character.

Let’s start with his name, Kyle Fitzpatrick.

Kyle is a Scottish-Gaelic name and FItzpatrick is an Irish surname. Coincidence right? No. Based purely on his name we can place his origin in either Ireland or Scotland, which comes into play when we dive further into his place within Rapture’s society.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Oh but he doesn’t have an accent! In his voice lines he doesn’t have an accent.” and you’re right. He doesn’t. Let’s talk about that.

Kyle was employed by Sander Cohen, we know that as a hard fact. We also know as a hard fact that Sander Cohen was heavily on the side of Andrew Ryan when it came to the Ryan vs Fontaine bias. After the Death of Frank Fontaine who rose up in his place to challenge Andrew Ryan? Atlas. Atlas is a working class Irishman. Now, don’t you think it’s rather unseemly to have someone who is in the inner circle of Ryan supporters having a similar accent to his biggest adversary?

Of course, the scottish-gaelic accent is actually quite different from Fontaine’s accent as Atlas, but we also know for a Hard Fact that there is still racism within Rapture. Therefore by piecing together the racism as well as Cohen’s connection to Ryan we can deduce that Fitzpatrick was trained to cover his natural accent to keep up appearances within Fort Frolic and Rapture as a whole.

Next, Let’s talk about his age. We know Cohen referred to him as “Young Fitzpatrick.” I have seen a million and a half headcanons and ideas on how young “young” is. For this I’m pulling from the book, Rapture, with Martin’s POV. While the Rapture book is not considered Canon, it played a very important part in my construction of Kyle. We know from that that Cohen and by proxy, his disciples, are not only privy but are actively involved in a lot of skeezy, under the table, unorthodox practices and circles. Why does this matter? Because it feeds directly into Kyle Fitzpatrick’s age. In my construction of Kyle I placed him very firmly at the age of 21 when he died. So young right? Yeah I agree, but I have several reasons behind this. The first being that I do not believe that his prefrontal cortex is completely matured; I will touch back on this later. It’s not unknown that I am an avid fan of BaS and I really liked Elizabeth’s line of “This city values children. Not childhood.”

Kyle is the youngest of the muses. Being 17 at the time of Cohen scouting him, 18 when he was made an official disciple and 21 at the time of his death. I’d like to explain my reasoning behind the gap between him being scouted and him being debuted as a proper disciple. We know for another Hard Fact that all four of Cohen’s disciples (as well as others) had a physical, sexual relationship with their employer. Martin mentions it, Silas mentions it. Hector’s audio diary mentions it. Kyle was not excluded from this though I think he was not actively sought after by Cohen as much as other muses were. Cohen is smart, very smart, he knew that bringing on someone under the age of consent would not go over well with Ryan nor a number of the other key players within the social hierarchy. Kyle was groomed for the months leading up to his official debut. Which we know many went through but only 4 have managed to pass. I can go into further detail into his test. But I will spare you the details. He was pushed into the spotlight the second he turned 18 in 1956.

Let’s talk about why he was so young. Kyle is nothing less than a musical protege. He is incredibly talented, especially at such a young age. He is *young* he is not *stupid*. I’ve read a lot of people saying that they think that he’s naive or trusting and I’d like to counter that by saying that he’s impressionable, not naive. Cohen chose him because he knew he could mold him into something special. Which he did. Kyle is brilliant. But don’t think for one second he was stupid. He had three people constantly telling him that he was being manipulated by Cohen, by his Sponsor, by several players in Rapture. But he *chose* to ignore them.

Let’s break that down. Kyle was a victim of love bombing and near constant manipulation from almost everyone around him. I plan on doing an indepth dive into the mental illness within Rapture and the effects it had on those within the city.

Kyle was pulled in two separate directions. After working extensively on fitting him into the world created by 2K as well as John Shirely I chose to have his Sponsor be no one less than Frank Fontaine.

I do have a reason behind this. We know from all media types that Fontaine is an opportunist. Ryan always kept him at a distance. Never really trusting him. Not allowing him into the proper inner circle of Rapture like some of the other businessmen. I think especially in 1956, once things were properly starting to get heated, Fontaine would have looked for a way to worm his way into the inner social circle. He had a lot of people on his payroll, this we know for another fact. But how far did that really spread?

In order to explain the next part of Kyle’s backstory I have to derail to talk about Frank Fontaine. I can cite several occasions where Frank Fontaine openly or internally admits to blackmail, manipulation, sexual favors and paying off several people within Rapture in order to get ahead or get his way.

We know for a solid FACT that he had someone in nearly every part of Rapture with the exception of Fort Frolic. I always found that interesting. Why would the person with his hands in nearly every part of Rapture not be actively seeking out someone within the gossip hub of Rapture.

Unless he did.

I pride myself on fitting my work into being completely canon compliant. Fitting Kyle into the greater canon of Rapture was… difficult. I had to play fast and loose with a lot, backbending and jumping through hoops in order to bring such an insignificant character.

Kyle was young, this we know. Impressionable. I believe that Frank Fontaine saw him as someone he could easily get information out of.

Another solid fact we know is that Cohen didn’t care much for Fontaine or later Atlas. But Sander Cohen is a connoisseur of the arts. He can appreciate people with money, especially when it comes to funding his projects. Fontaine being interested in sponsoring his youngest disciple would have been too tempting a lure to ignore and so Kyle’s ties to Fontaine began.

Let’s dive into the manipulation and abuse within Fort Frolic and Rapture as a whole. Yummy, right? I see again and again people claiming that Kyle was stupid or that he loved Sander Cohen and I firmly stand against these claims. Kyle is young but he’s not blind. Do I think Kyle was once infatuated by Cohen? Yes. He was. Especially for a kid who came from a rocky background. But I think many people forget that Martin had been with Cohen from day one, working for him topside before he joined him in Rapture. Kyle had access and very close relationships with people who had been around Cohen for a lot longer than he had been. But knowledge and outside perspective doesn’t always protect someone from gaslighting, manipulation and abuse. I think that the dynamic between the key players was… difficult. A lot happened out of the public eye, within Fort Frolic, within the Disciples relationships and most certainly the interlocking dynamics between sponsors and their subtle or active gathering of information.

I’m about to step out of my semi-formal setting to get down and dirty real quick. I know y’all Sander Cohen kinnies gonna hate me for this one but that man is absolutely an abuser. We know this. He’s a sadist. And while I *love* that for him, he absolutely took out his artistic (or personal) rage on his disciples. There is a lot of room for disdain between disciple and artist. The prime written example of this is Martin considering just fucking killing Cohen when he first started to splice in 1956. The next example I’m going to pull is from the game with Hector Rodriguez. He says, and I quote, “the things that man made me do”. Which I always found interesting, saying as until the closure of Fort Frolic on New Years, they had *every* opportunity to leave all together. Of course, I could go into heavy detail into why each of the muses stayed but I will spare you. I’m here to talk about Kyle. Why did Kyle stay?

By 1958 Kyle was very firmly rooted within the upper class of Rapture. He was renowned as a musical genius as well as held a lot of social power from his dealings with Fort Frolic as one of Cohen’s Disciples as well as his ties to the essentially untouchable Empire that Frank Fontaine had created.

He was 19 years old and was untouchable by consequences for his actions. If Cohen didn’t bail him out of sticky situations, Fontaine would. Their dynamic is extremely interesting to me and I’d love to really get into the meat of it, but again, I will spare you in this short dissertation. Kyle was feeding Fontaine information he got while in Ryan’s social circles and he was well paid for it. It was an investment, of course, but Kyle gave him valuable information on Andrew Ryan and the inner workings of Fort Frolic as well as started giving him the seeds of ideas for Atlas. Though that’s another rabbithole for another day.

Kyle was very dangerously intertwined with Fontaine, which did not go unnoticed by Ryan nor his associates. After the ‘death’ of Frank Fontaine, anyone who had any ties to him were detained and questioned extensively. Kyle being one of them. But again, a story for another day.

Kyle was young and impressionable, as I have stated before. But he was also constantly being manipulated, gaslit and abused by those who saw him as an asset rather than a person. They took advantage of his love and lust for life. Kyle was burned out in record time but that does not mean that he wasn’t an absolutely awful person. He was a teenager given an outrageous amount of power. He was making extremely questionable decisions and was facing very few consequences for his actions.

I am not defending him as a good person. Anyone who enjoys Bioshock knows that these characters are extremely flawed and that is what makes them so fucking interesting.

I can go on and on about how everyone in Rapture was a simple pawn in a bigger game in a city that was destined to fail, but that’s the beauty of Bioshock.

Kyle Fitzpatrick was not a good person but he was the PRIME example of what Rapture was made for. He was a kid who came from a backwater town in Ireland who clawed, bit and fucked his way to the top. He loved too much and it was taken advantage of, brutally. Do I think that love extended to Sander Cohen? No. Kyle recognized him as a genius, albeit an outdated one, but he did not love him. Not like he loved his fellow Disciples or his work. Cohen was a security blanket for his debauchery, he signed paychecks and Kyle was willing to entertain him until New Years.

It is my belief that it was Kyle’s plan to bail from Fort Frolic after the Civil War started. He was in too deep with Atlas and Ryan knew it. His choices had landed him directly in the spotlight. Secrets were exposed and Kyle was brutally punished for it until his death in 1960.

I plan on posting a complete comprehensive history of him as well as the other Disciples.

TLDR:// Kyle Fitzpatrick is a dirty little bastard man who’s age is being confused for him being naive or stupid. He doesn’t really love Sander Cohen and he got exactly what was coming for him.

#bioshock #rapture #fort frolic #kyle fitzpatrick #fort frolic radio

[supercalime]

I always think some of these buddie shippers never had any friends or a best friend. They say they have been in love all this time but there were really no signs. They point at moments (often vulnerable ones) where they look at each other with “hearth eyes”. Like of course they are flattered to hear reassuring words from each other. They are best friends, they love each other platonically. Buck has the same reaction when maddie or bobby say those things to him. If they actually were in love this whole time, there would’ve been so much more signs. Of course they love each other and maybe they’re even platonic soulmates but they’ve never been IN love whith each other. Not once where they bothered or jealous when the other one had a girlfriend. They don’t touch or hug each other weirdly often and if they do touch each other it’s clearly the exact same way every friends would do. Never longer than necessary or weird or underlying sexual or romantic. Some stans are so deep into this, that they turn every clearly platonic moment between them into something kind of secret love confession. They watch their scenes with glued on buddie shipper goggles. Saying eddie looked disappointed after buck tells him about his date with tommy or buck looked disappointed after eddie tells him that nothing is gonna change between them, is actually insane crazy. All I’ve seen were two very best friends who support each other unconditionally. Eddie even told buck to call tommy. Not once but twice. He looked happy for him.

You said it all anon!

I don’t think the writers had any intention to place eddie and buck together romantically at least so far. I tend to keep my ships in canon, so this whole discourse between buddie and bucktommy is very strange to me.

Like, I totally understand shipping characters that aren’t canon, heck, I have my own weird little ships too, so wanting to two characters to get together and thinking fondly of them as couple through wishful thinking and fanfic is really cool!

But the second an entire piece of the fandom decides to bring that OUTSIDE the fandom space, that’s where the problem lies.

Could we, bucktommy shippers, be very wrong about the interactions between buck and eddie meaning only friendship?

Yes, even though I don’t enjoy the story going on that direction. It could be a big plan that’s been brewing for years to have the ship become canon.

However, I feel like b*ddie shippers are being disrespectful on how they are approaching this entire situation, as, like I said, the shipping thing left the fandom space and now infects those on the inside (actors, network, writers, etc). So now we are in this strange blend of what’s on our side and what’s on the show’s side. There’s no wall separating the creators and the fans, and while that can have a lot of positives, it also taints the side that’s doing the creative part.

In fact, writers and actors are advised to not engage with fanfic and fan theories because it can affect the original work, even in a subconscious way. Of course actors can have head canons for the characters they are playing to help with the motivation, but that is also not canon, so it shouldn’t be taken at face value as well.

This whole situation is very tiring because there’s no real win here. If tommy and buck become endgame, the b*ddie shippers will say that it was rushed and made no sense because he had more chemistry with eddie, blah blah blah. If b*ddie does become canon, they will say they were always right and will most likely think that they got their ship to be canon because of their behavior on social media.

Shipping is such a harmless thing. It should be “I think these two would make a cute couple, I’ll explore that by writing about it on my own little story”, not “these two have to be together because like them together and if it’s not that way there’s something wrong being done by the creators”.

#I keep talking a lot but hey that’s where we are at right now and it sucks #im not gonna be a clown for this fandom too so im not gonna put my hand on fire on any of the two ships despite my clear preference for #the canon one #I wish we could just enjoy our ships in peace without fighting #Lety rambles #911 #ask

[kaladinkholins]

i think fandoms can be soooo ridiculous a lot of the time (see: all the nonsensical fan wars, discourse, etc) but i cannot understate how much i actually love fandoms.

like yeah it may be super nerdy and even cringe and outsiders look at it like "why tf do you care about these fictional characters so much?"

but 1) my field is literally..... literary studies..... in which all i do is study fiction and analyse it like an insane person, and 2) even if that WASN'T my field, thinking about the stories we consume is important even for any person to do, because thinking about stories exercises our brain to think critically!! why do you think our ancestors used stories as a medium to share knowledge, to propagate moral values and lessons? stories—telling them, thinking about what they're saying, and caring about the characters within them—are all inherent to the human experience!!!

so that brings me to fandom. because we are literally just making these little communities with each other based on our shared love for a particular story, and for a particular character or theme within them that resonated with us, or whatever. we're all here because we loved a thing so much that we built connections from it!!!

like yeah my irl friends laugh at me when i tell them i write fanfic, cuz ha ha what a nerd what a loser etc, but dude. i made genuine real friendships from fandom alone. from just obsessing over two characters we thought were cute together, we've gone to sending each other gifts and postcards and having voice calls and confiding in each other and sharing parts of us and our personal lives and our cultures (cuz we're all from different countries) with each other! like now i don't even share a fandom with most of my old fandom friends anymore but we still stick by each other and that's amazing???

also like, i cannot emphasise enough how amazing and encouraging it is to share your craft (art/writing/etc) with others in fandom. because for example if i make my own personal art or write my own original work, i'd have no one to share it to, no one interested to see it, and thus no one will be there to provide feedback or encouragement.

but if i post a piece of fan art or fanfic, people actually do see the work i post and care about the craft and the content it's depicting and even share their thoughts on it and that ??? is so motivating and lovely ??? because even though i make art for myself, art is still meant to be shared and seen at the end of the day—even if only with one person. so to be given the means of sharing our art in such a way, to have such a community that fosters so much creativity, it's amazing. i don't really get that anywhere else.

and especially to have this in like, a casual setting, you know, where you can just be yourself and do things according to your own time and energy without the pretenses of professionalism and a perfectly curated resume or portfolio, and all the confines of a rigid work schedule, which would all make the process of creation less fun and less genuine, and instead just more taxing and chore-like.

because fandom is essentially meant to be about doing what's fun for you! it's about sharing your creations and enjoying what others share with you. you make friends and you go ham with it.

and also it's why it's more frustrating when people take things too seriously and legitimately get upset over assumptions of other people's beliefs and hold the most minor grievances that could only be felt if you're like, chronically online.

but on that note, there are definitely still honest-to-god bad people in fandom spaces too (see: racists, TERFS, homophobes, groomers, harassers, etc). but that's the case with all communities, because bad people are always going to exist, and thus statistically speaking, the bigger a group or community is, higher chances are there's gonna be some awful people in there. but honestly that is its own can of worms and also that's not what this post is about, but i felt it necessary to address because i don't want to paint fandom as like, the best thing ever in the world, because fandom spaces are incredibly flawed, as everything is.

but i've always been one to appreciate things despite its flaws. and though this may be very personal to me, when i love things so much, i am still willing to stick around and try to change the culture around it in the ways that i can (like promoting internet safety measures, creating safe spaces for thoughtful and polite discussion, raising awareness on harmful stereotypes and fandom depictions or opinions, etc).

so regardless of the bullshit that online fandom spaces tend to perpetuate, i do very much still love the way that fandom allows me to connect with folks over something as silly as our little blorbos, and from there end up making life-long friends, or at the very least new acquaintances. insert reinforcement of my thesis statement about stories fostering human connection here. the end. send post.

#fandom #inspired by me feeling lots of love for my long-time fandom friends and enjoying making new ones since joining the BES fandom #like i still remember comments i got on my fanfic from years ago. telling me how much my work resonated with them? #talking about how much they cried reading my work? how much it touched them? #like to me that's insane. like i'm thrilled to even have one (1) person care about my work ykwim #bcs irl it's hard to find that kind of recognition? ppl hear like. “oh you write/draw? cool” and it's p much whatever #so yeah. fandom has always been v important to me like i met so many cool and awesome and nice ppl bcs of it #and though I've lost touch with a lot of the friends i've made i still think abt them a lot. they all mean smth to me still #lol joining a new fandom community is makin me feel nostalgic dont mind me! #shut up haydar #scribblings.txt

[talonflamee]

POV: Volo character analysis but you’re only 6 hours into PLA

making good progress in pokemon legends!!! just defeated kleavor (what the HELL is kleavor btw, i’ve never seen that thing before in my life) and i’m having SO much more fun with it than before! rly glad about that cuz it was just sitting & collecting metaphorical dust lmao. i still have my qualms, but i definitely see the appeal now!

i’d like to talk a little about Volo. well, as much as i can from my current point in the game.

full disclaimer, i haven’t even gotten close to beating PLA and i won’t for probably another 40 hours, but i do know what ultimately happens with Volo. my thoughts here could honestly be totally incomprehensible or may change as i continue playing. but i just think he’s neat :)

so i don’t think Volo is like…... evil? don’t get me wrong, he absolutely fucked up and there are no excuses for what he does. but i see a lot of people in the fandom make him out to be this irredeemable horrible awful murderous twisted cycle path and i just. don’t agree with that.

i think people prioritize vilifying him solely to further angst with a certain pair of twins rather than focusing on the nuance that’s embedded into his character. i don’t want to skrunkli-fy him either, but i think it’s important to recognize that he’s kinda just Some Guy. he’s not a cult-leader, he’s not a mob boss, he doesn’t have people who follow or look up to him much (as far as i know); he’s just some dude who works in retail, and he has realistic, human flaws that result in self-destructive behavior that ultimately harms everyone around him. he strikes me as someone with a boatload of (likely religious) trauma and a desperate, insatiable desire to comprehend some kind of higher being. i hope to expand on this particular train of thought later

this brings me to one of my favorite narratives in pokemon. he has Three!!! pokemon that evolve through high friendship. compared to ghetsis, with a hydreigon that was forced to evolve before level 64, holds a life orb, and absolutely obliterates with frustration with the highest amount of damage possible—it absolutely hates ghetsis. but togekiss, lucario, and roserade can only be obtained when they adore their trainers, this cannot be forced.

and, interestingly, this is lucario’s pokedex entry in shield

Volo also has a genuine interest in archeology and history and he wants to share it with people! this guy can infodump like a champ, i really respect that !

so my opinion can certainly change, but these are a few reasons why i don’t think he’s irredeemable. i don’t like how complex characters are always reduced to all or nothing values in fandom spaces. there’s so much more to these characters than 100% evil or 100% good.

this is not helped by the fact that PLA just. doesn’t seem finished? which is completely understandable considering the amount of crunch these artists and writers had to deal with. but it’s still unfinished. most characters don’t have closure or even any development at all. i’m hoping on dlc at some point but. augh

soooo yea das it lol. i hope to write some actual characters studies and analyses for this guy the more i play!! this was just to get my thoughts down, i’ll probably revisit and add to it down the line!

#pokemon #talking #pokemon legends arceus #volo #character analysis #<— hopefully will be using that tag in the future 😳

[deardarlingdevil]

I'm happy that BG3 received the Best Community award in the Golden Joystick Awards! At the same time, from experience, while the corner I found in the fandom is a great community, there's still a lot of toxicity and issues in the fandom that I want more people to acknowledge. So once again I am bringing up the moralistic double standards I see in the fandom. I think I touched upon this in a separate analysis about romance options but I want to make a separate post for the fandom issues.

Astarion will be my prime example and his Ascended route in particular. With female characters such as Lae'Zel, Shadowheart, and Minthara, you don't see as much policing from the fandom when players make them take the darker routes to their story arcs. I never saw people shaming other players for encouraging Shadowheart to become a Dark Justiciar, so on and so forth.

Meanwhile, people, particularly cishet men, shit on women and queers simply for liking Astarion. The same unwashed assholes who talk about how SH is their edgy Sharran waifu or how Minthara is dommy mommy are the same folks who will deride Astarion girlies (gender neutral) and intentionally try to provoke them by saying things like "oh I killed him on sight hurr durr" or claiming that "females" have no "morals" because of their choice of videogame men.

Sadly, it's not the cishet men who do this too. I've seen unhinged opinions from folks who use the semblance of social justice to bully other fans for enjoying "problematic" content. I've seen queer folks say things like "women who enjoy Astarion's ascended route should be euthanized". I don't like the Ascended romance route either but that's a personal preference and I'll just simply live and let live + curate my space if such content manages to come across my social media feeds instead of making batshit takes. Like, chill, please.

And speaking of the Ascended route, people automatically assume that the player is romancing him while taking the Ascended route and assuming that the players are reducing him to a sexual object. It's almost as if players can choose not to romance him and still let him ascend for other reasons. What's worse is even one of the writers expressed a similar sentiment, which I admittedly agreed with until I read other players' thoughts about the Ascended route and how they do acknowledge that Astarion gaining such power does perpetrate a cycle of abuse for the character, but can be cathartic to the players who experienced something similar but cannot or will not act on in real life.

Of course, I have to bring up Raphael too. I've seen people thirsting for femme fiends like Mizora and fem!Haarlep and no one bats an eye. But with people thirsting for Raphael, there will always be that one cishet man who will take Haarlep's, a character who hates Raphael because he essentially uses him/her/them as a fleshlight, words at face value to point out his inadequacies and oddities in the bedroom, as if that will make the character less attractive to his fans. On the other side of the spectrum, there is sadly a small but vocal corner of the queer BG3 community who are biphobic and would shame women and other queers, especially femmes, because they exclusively want to ship Raphael with Haarlep's male form.

Once again, I'm not throwing my fellow sapphics under the bus, but the amount of vitriol femmes and queers receive for wanting to explore darker themes with male characters is disproportionate compared to fans who took the darker route with the female characters.

Yes, the BG3 community is a great community in general, but misogyny and biphobia is still alive and well in certain pockets of the fandom. Sigh.

#bg3 fandom critical

[bakuliwrites]

His Worth- Julian Devorak x Reader

Rating: 18+ (MINORS DNI)

Fandom: The Arcana

Relationship: Julian Devorak x Reader

Summary: Julian struggles to see his worth, so you try to find a way to express how much he means to you, since he doesn't always seem to listen to your words.

Read here in this post or over on my AO3

“You know, I’m not sure what I’ve done to deserve you,” Julian begins as soon as you enter your shop that evening, his voice melancholy and distant. Your hunt for any information about the night of Count Lucio’s murder hasn’t been going especially well. Multiple times throughout the week, Julian has tried to dismiss you, to “spare you from the waste of time this all will inevitably turn out to be,” he claims. But you’ve been stubborn, refusing to give up in the middle of your search. From the moment you’d met Julian all those weeks ago, you’ve had a distinct feeling that he's innocent, despite his pessimism about the whole situation. You are absolutely determined to prove it.

“What do you mean?” you question as you flit from candle to candle around the room, attempting to illuminate the small space just a bit more. It is dreadfully dark outside, a moonless night looming overhead, weighty and ominous. You feel much safer with the lights on. And having Julian there, of course. 

“You’ve done so much for me,” he goes on, slumping against a bookshelf near the door, his gaze downturned and solemn, “I’m not sure how much worth I’ve had to you throughout this whole process. I’ve not felt like I’ve done much in the way of helping you out.” 

You pause in your candle-lighting, glancing across the room at Julian’s lanky frame leaning against the bookshelf.

“You’ve been a lot of help to me, Julian,” you try, though you know it won't get through to him, “This whole process has been helping me gain my own memories back. Besides, you’ve been- excellent company.” This last part you add with a blush, reflecting on all the (welcome) trouble the good Dr. Devorak hass gotten the two of you in the last few weeks. Your time in the library comes quickly to mind: your body pinned between him and the bookshelves, the feeling of his hands ghosting along your curves, the sweet taste of his lips on yours. The thought alone brings heat to your cheeks. 

“Well, be that as it may,” Julian returns with the quirk of one of his eyebrows and a flirtatious grin, “You’ve been all of that and more. I’ve not been able to offer you more than companionship. And honestly, it’s probably not even good company. I’ve been more of a hazard than anything else.” He flashes a pitying smile, appreciative of your effort to make him feel better, unable to accept the truth behind your words. 

Julian is always so hard on himself, so eager to please and unwilling to accept his own value. You want him to know how much you appreciate him, how much you love him, but it feels like words alone don't quite do justice to his worth. You’ve tried that tactic before, but he dismisses your compliments as mere formalities, even though you genuinely mean them. Julian is kind, he's funny, confident, intelligent. Dramatic and ridiculous, indeed, but endearingly so. You’ve never met someone as captivating and real as him. But every attempt to tell him so is passed off by him as admiration he is undeserving of. Your appreciation of him is body and soul, and he needs to know that.

A sudden idea comes to mind, one that makes your stomach flutter. If he isn’t going to listen to your words, maybe there's another way to get him to understand. No, you think to yourself, that would be awfully brash. But Julian deserves to know how wonderful he is. He deserves to be taken care of, too. And he's usually the one trying so hard to take care of others.  

“It’s difficult, sometimes, to express in words how much you mean to me,” you begin, striding slowly towards Julian’s silhouette, outlined by the flickering candlelight. You splay your hands against his broad chest, smoothing them over the fabric of his overcoat, garnering a quizzical look from him.

“I can try,” you continue, wide-eyes gazing up at him towering above you, trailing one hand up his shoulder and settling it on the back of his neck. You gently draw him down to you, laying your lips softly against his. Immediately, you feel the tension in his muscles melt away, his lips parting, eagerly accepting your kiss. Your lips linger briefly on his, before you draw back to look up into his dusky, gray eye once again.

“But it might be easier if I show you. If that’s alright with you?” you offer. A faint blush dances across his cheekbones, his lips still parted, before he wordlessly nods. Gently taking his gloved hand in yours, you lead Julian through the curtain separating your shop from your living quarters. His silence doesn’t last long as you ascend the stairs up to your room, his footsteps heavy with each thud of his boots on the steps.

“You know, you can be quite suave, sometimes,” he teases. You glance back briefly to catch him waggling his eyebrows at you, a devilish smirk spreading across his face. You roll your eyes in response, not sure that's quite true, but willing to take the compliment anyway. Even in the midst of his melodrama, Julian manages to be as coy as ever. You’ll have to make sure to mention that to him as something you appreciate. 

In your room, you take little time in stripping both of yourselves of your outer garments, throwing them haphazardly across the floor. Your lips crash hungrily against his as you push him back onto the bed, your mind temporarily foggy with the sensation of his fingers digging into your thighs and the warm scent of his musky cologne. You swiftly draw back from your kiss, eliciting a soft whimper from Julian, his gaze trailing longingly along your form above him. He tries to close the distance between you, rising up from where he lies to capture your lips again before you shove him back down onto the bed. 

“Ah, ah,” you tut, flashing a mischievous smile at him as you settle yourself on his lap, “Be patient, my love.” A wry grin dances across his face as you teasingly roll your hips against his. The fabric of the undergarments separating you from him, though little, is positively unbearable. But you have a plan in mind.

“So eager, my love?” you taunt, feeling his erection pressing into your thigh. You don't have much room to tease, feeling how slick your own folds are. Julian growls as you palm his bulge and languorously massage it.

“Mmmm, my Julian?” you hum as you continue to stroke him, your breath catching in your throat as you meet his loving gaze with yours.

“Yes? Yes, my darling?” he breathlessly returns, his pale skin flushed and lovely.

“Will you be a good boy for me tonight?” you coo, coquettishly biting your lip and running one hand through your hair, the other still attending to his bulge.

 “Yes,” he breathes, his good eye wide and sparkling, chest heaving with each strained exhale, “I’ll be a good boy for you. Just tell me what you want from me.” 

“Good,” you confirm, reaching forwards and tenderly raking your fingers through his wavy, auburn locks. He shivers with the tickle of each gentle pass your nails make against his skin.

“My only request for you tonight,” you start slowly, Julian’s head nodding in a pre-emptive agreement, “is to relax, let me do the work, and allow me to tell you all the things I adore about you.” 

Julian’s thick brows furrow with confusion, his face once flushed with arousal now crimson with sheepish stupefaction. You can't help but laugh a little at his humility. He might be boisterous and loud, but Julian is as humble as they came.

“That- that hardly seems fair,” he protests, but you hush him with a kiss.

“Just let me do this for you,” you argue, “You’re always making sure I’m taken care of. It’s time someone does the same for you.” He swallows, uncomfortably it seems, but when he sees how serious you are, his look of worry softens. 

“Alright, then,” he acquiesces, before hastily adding, “But only if I can return the favor sometime.” You dismiss the idea that somehow this was a “favor” for him, reassuring that everything you are about to say is the truth. 

“Not another word out of you, Julian,” you command, eliciting a contented hum from him. You return your fingers to the mess of curls on his head, combing them through the fiery strands.

“I love the way your hair sparks like fire in the sunlight,” you begin, watching as Julian closes his eye and purrs in satisfaction. After a moment, you move to cup his face in your hands, admiring aloud the angles of his high-cheekbones, the sharp curve of his cupid’s bow, and the aquiline hook of his nose. 

“May I?” you question, gesturing to his eyepatch. Julian shoots you a perplexed look, but nods in agreement.

“You’re quite adorable when you’re confused,” you giggle, pulling off his eyepatch and setting it on your bedside table. 

“Your eyes are silver, like moonlight on the surface of the sea,” you admire, watching as his face shifts from confused to bashful. In the beginning, he’d been so worried about showing you the red sclera of his covered eye, as if somehow you’d be repulsed by it. But you aren't, and can’t imagine a world where you would be.  

“You’re far too kind to me, y/n,” Julian tries.

“Hush, Julian. You promised you’d be a good boy,” you scold, smirking as you lean down to pepper kisses behind his ear. He moans, leaning his head to the side to allow you better access to the sensitive spot at the base of his ear. 

“I love the soft little moans you make when I do this,” you go on between kisses, smiling against his neck. You feel his chest rumble with a chuckle, before he sucks in a startled breath as you nip at his ear lobe. His hands grip your thighs tighter, fingernails delightfully digging into your skin, Julian’s hips grinding desperately against yours. You can feel how ready he is for you, but you aren’t quite ready to give him the pleasure just yet. You take one of his hands in yours, sitting up again, feeling his gaze wander over the curves of your hips and your breasts. You press a gentle kiss against the palm of his hand and then one by one on each of the pads of his fingertips.

“I love how kind you are. How intelligent, how funny, how confident,” you list, looking him in the eye. He still wears a perplexed expression, but his aroused flush returns in full force, pink from his cheeks to his chest, when you add, “I love what an absolute rogue and a scoundrel you can be.”

“You don’t have to say all these nice things, just to be nice-” he protests, but you cut him off by giving him a quick peck, just to hush him. When you’d requested his silence, you knew you’d been asking for a lot.

“I love your hands,” you purr, flashing a coy smile at him which he meets with an even more sinful one, “How they feel roaming along my body.” You take his hand and bring it to your breast, moaning sinfully as Julian massages it in his warm palm. His grin grows even more devilish as he takes the hard bud of your nipple between his fingertips and pinches, eliciting a whimper from you. 

“I love the way your elegant fingers seem to find the right spot every single time,” you emphasize, your voice strained as Julian circles your sensitive bud. Your own face must be just as red as his, if not more, feeling heat radiating off your body, your panties practically soaked now. You lead his other hand down the curves of your hips, past the hem of your undergarments, and down to your heat, where you direct him to slowly circle your clit with his index finger. 

“I love how wet you make me, Julian,” you whine, tossing your head back in pleasure as he picks up his pace, not able to look at the stupid cocky grin he’s suddenly acquired. He knows full well how much you want him, it's hardly a secret. You feel the coil in you growing tighter, your body taut with wanton desire.

You can't take it any longer, leaning swiftly down and capturing his lips in yours. He gives a muffled whimper before melting into you, his chest flush against yours, heart thrumming behind his ribcage, your breasts pressed firmly against his pecs. His large hands rove your body, trying to bring you even closer to him, as if he wants to merge the two of you into one. You feel his tongue hungrily slip past your lips, desperate and warm.

“I adore your sharp tongue,” you breathe, drawing back for but a moment before crashing back into him. Your kisses are sloppy, hurried, and in each moment you draw back to take a breath you speak, “I love what this tongue of yours does to me,” and, “One moment quick, and the other cloyingly languid. ” You turn your attention to the rest of his body. Your lips leave open-mouthed kisses trailing along his jawline and down his neck, suckling as you go, drawing constrained groans from Julian, who is quickly unraveling beneath you. 

“I love how your skin wears my marks, for the whole world to see,” you croon, sinking lower and lower down his body. You take one of his nipples in your mouth, flicking it with your tongue and nipping at it.

“Ah, you’re so good to me, y/n,” he groans, as you move over to give some much needed attention to his other nipple.

“My dearest Julian,” you sigh, “You are so good to me.” Further down Julian’s body you go, raking your fingernails along his stomach, the music of Julian’s sighs and whimpers pleasant in your ears.

“Your voice, it’s like velvet,” you go on, hooking your fingers into the hem of his underwear, pulling them down painfully slow, all the while complimenting his lithe, slender body. You cast his underwear aside, his cock finally springing free, throbbing and erect. You purposefully avoid it, turning your attention to his legs, which you lift slightly just to pull him closer to you, drawing a giggly yelp from Julian as you drag him down the bed. You nestle yourself between his thighs, biting and kissing the insides of them, basking in the mewls and moans of your name falling from Julian’s lips. 

“I love your long legs, how strong they are, how lovely,” you continue, moving further up his thigh until Julian is practically weeping for you to stop being such a tease. Now it's your turn to flash a devilish grin. 

“Please, y/n,” he begs, propping himself up on his elbows so he can shoot an anguished look down at you. You consider him for a moment, cruelly perhaps, but seeing him become a simpering mess beneath your touch is too exciting not to enjoy. 

“I suppose you’ve been a good boy,” you concede. Swiftly, you take his cock in your mouth, swirling your tongue around the tip. Julian’s head falls back, a husky groan falling from his lips before he whips his hooded gaze back to you. His hands tangle in your hair as your head bobs up and down along his shaft. You press his hips firmly to the mattress, preventing them from bucking into you, his impatience with your teasing growing. But the mewls and lilting cries of your name tell you Julian is enjoying your ministrations. You can feel he's close, but you aren’t quite ready for him to come yet. Drawing back from him, your mouth sliding off his cock with a wet, sordid sound, you hover your hips above his again. 

“I love the way you taste on my tongue,” you speak as you toss aside your underwear. Julian brings a hand up to cover his eyes, feigning an affected, demure look, as if he is the most tortured, humiliated man alive.

“My darling, y/n, please,” he pants, peeking at you through his fingers, the heavy rise and fall of his chest filling you with absolute delight. You love how completely undone he looks.  

“What is it that you want me to do, my love?” you drawl, tracing a finger along his hip. 

“I want you-” his breath hitching as you plant another kiss along his inner thigh, “Ta- take me.”

“Is that how good boys ask for things?” you coo wickedly. He groans in frustration, though he wears a grin that betrays his enjoyment.

“Please take me,” he emphasizes, casting the hand that was covering his face dramatically aside, “Please let me come inside you.” 

“Good boy, Julian. That’s just what you’ll have then.” With this, you lower yourself onto Julian, his erection slipping easily into your wet folds. He inhales sharply between his teeth, before letting out a loud, sultry groan as you begin to bounce up and down on his cock. His hips snap against yours, the lewd sounds of your bodies slamming against one another intermingling with your soft sighs and Julian’s needy moans. 

“You’re such a good boy, Julian,” you cry, his hips pounding mercilessly into you, drawing you closer and closer to orgasm, “So amazing. You’re so wonderful to me.” You can feel Julian’s imminent release, pulsing inside you as a string of incoherent babbling falls from his mouth.

“Love you- so much,” he grunts, his fingers finding their way back to your heat and rubbing quick circles around your clit. 

“Love you, too,” you pant, leaning down and smashing your lips against his. It isn't the most comfortable angle, but you feel like you need him nearer, pressed up against you as close as he can be. His breath fans across your lips as you break the kiss, leaning back a bit for some air, before diving back in to capture his mouth in yours. With each thrust, Julian sinks deeper into you, his tip relentlessly hitting the exact right spot. The pressure in your core builds, a white-hot fire bursting inside you.

“S-so close, Julian,” you practically whisper through shallow breaths, your head dizzy with pleasure, “So good to me.” Julian cries out beneath you, finally brought over the edge, his warmth spilling inside you, filling you and threatening to trickle down your inner thighs. In tandem, your walls begin to shudder around his member, contracting tightly until an overwhelming wave of ecstasy rocks your body. Your lips sing out his name, “Julian,” like a sacred hymn, stars dotting your vision with each ripple of pleasure surging through you. 

You give each other a few more languid pumps before settling on his lap, trying to calm your ragged breaths. Through the strands of your mussed up hair, you see Julian’s flushed, contented face gazing lovingly back at you, a twinkle in his gray eyes. He quirks a smile before gently guiding you off of him and settling you down beside him, entwining his body with yours. You are a tangle of limbs now, silent and fulfilled, your shared heartbeats a quiet lullaby.

“I think you’re going to have to tell me all the things you love about me more often,” Julian teases, kissing your temple and drawing you into him. You softly press your lips to his, soaking up his warmth. 

“I hope you realize I mean all of it,” you return, pulling back to look him in the eye, “All of it and more. You are worth more to me than words could ever express, Julian. Even if you don’t see it yourself.” He closes his eyes and smiles, pressing his forehead against yours.

“Thank you for showing me,” he whispers.

“You don’t have to thank me, my love,” you speak, feeling your eyes begin to fall shut with exhaustion, “Just remember how much I love you.” He lets out a pleasant sigh, about to say something else when you remember a thought you had before.

“By the way,” you begin, a smirk tugging at your lips, “I meant to tell you another thing I like about you.” He leans back a bit to meet your gaze, one brow shooting up in curiosity.

“Oh? And what is that?” he questions, a roguish glint in his eye. 

“Even in the midst of all your melodrama and bellyaching,” you start, “You still manage to shamelessly flirt and canoodle and carry on.” A guffaw from the good doctor, which you meet with a playful swat to his arm.

“Now, would I really be me if I didn’t do that?” he reasons, his long arms seizing you and pressing you close. You giggle, nuzzling into the crook of his neck, luxuriating in the comfort of his embrace. It is these quiet moments with him that mean more to you than anything else in the world.

#the arcana #julian devorak #julian devorak x reader #julian x reader #julian x apprentice #julian x you #my fanfiction #spicy #lemon #ao3 #praise #body worship #Julian deserves so much love and praise #he's so wonderful #fluff and spice #minors dni #the arcana game #the arcana fanfiction #my writing #this has been up on my AO3 for a hot minute #but I thought I'd put it on my tumblr too #sinful sunday #sinday? #sinday it is #sinday #dani writes

[glassbirdfeather]

Yo! I'm new to tumblr, kinda. Made an account a buncha years ago but now I'm actually using it! I didn't think Elden Ring was talked about here, but seeing a multi paragraph essay about Mohg's horn surely changed that. But with all of that out of the way, I'd like your perspective on something. It seems many tarnished online believe that embracing the Flame of Frenzy and robbing Melina of her purpose as a Finger Maiden is "saving her". This is very obviously wrong, or else Melina wouldn't vow to kill you if she felt she was being saved. She doesn't merely vow to kill you, either. She explicitly plans to bring you Destined Death. She is going to ULTRAkill you. Yet many tarnished still interpret the Flame of Frenzy as an option to "save" Melina. This confuses me, and I was wondering if you had any idea why this interpretation is so popular.

Well, you're definitely saving her from self-immolation, people are right about that. Whether her existence as a "burned and bodiless" spirit is one worth 'living' is up to interpretation. She may not think so.

But perhaps she does. After all, Ranni seems… fine? With not having a flesh body? Sleeps a lot, but plenty of people do. Sellen doesn't care. Stick Melina in a doll and maybe she'd be pretty cool with it. The key thing here is, if she does think her existence is one she could enjoy if she had another way, the absolute destruction of everything forever-and-always is not something she considers an acceptable trade.

You can reverse the Frenzy ending with the needle so she survives, but doesn't come after you during the end cutscene because you're not burning down the world--of course, it isn't a stretch to think she still resents you. Whether or not you take this as her letting go of her vow to ultrakill you, since this keeps her from ending her existence, some people consider it worth her eternal grudge.

Personally, I consider Melina the not-irritating version of Fi from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. I don't think her character arc was handled very well, I think she didn't demonstrate much personality, and I think there was not enough agency to her to feel like she was ever a 'real' person instead of a gameplay mechanic with a voice. She went from "I need to go here to find my purpose," to "This is my purpose I was given by someone else and I'm going to do it," so any motivations or desires she might have beyond that are up to fandom interpretation.

Why is this interpretation so popular? I dunno, not to be flippant, but, uhhhh, maybe people don't care to look much further than "Oh noes, mah waifu's on fire D:" and don't consider why she might be okay with or even want that? There can be fandom spaces for thirsting after your favorite Elden Ring girlie AND spaces for in-depth, canon-focused lore discussions. Not everyone is into both. Just. Make sure you know which one you're in.

On the other hand, I'm sure there ARE some people who will insist that this is the best ending because you save her, and that means it's definitely a black-and-white choice and of course she's better off this way. There's no nuance there, because, after all, being alive(?) is better than being dead!

And those people are lacking in critical thinking skills and media literacy because their education system has failed them. While I could go down the rabbit hole of why that is (at least, in the USA), that's probably not what you were looking for with this ask.

----

Funny enough, I think Melina shows the most of her own values and perception of the world right outside the Frenzy Flame Proscription where she pleas to you that births continue and there is still beauty in the world.

#raybytheway #melina #elden ring

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Starting to think the only way I can consume bts-related content is by removing myself from fandom spaces entirely. Sorry to use this as a space to rant but the constant black/white thinking, competitiveness to prove who's the biggest fan, cherry-picking performative activism, worshipping etc is all becoming too much to the point I feel sort of burnt out and ready for a break. I know you've addressed these aspects a lot on here and I really appreciate the honesty and space for discussion.

I got into bts during their boy with luv comeback in 2019 and they quickly became my whole life -- I basically only thought about or spoke about them, to the point it was unhealthy. I stepped away from the fandom a little bit in 2022 after some aggravating experiences but this year I got back into them because I loved Namjoon and Jimin's solo releases, and remembered how much comfort I took from their music and content. I started venturing back into army social media spaces.

But oh my god, it's honestly unbearable out there and it's exhausting. I'm so sick of the way armys worship and idolize these seven men like they aren't even human. They put them above their values and dedicate their entire lives to them, and don't see anything wrong with that. I'm a little apprehensive for 2025 because who knows what the fandom will look like by then? I guess it's just hard to reconcile being a fan of the group but not wanting to be associated with the stans. Do you have a balance between enjoying the content but not being driven crazy by army? lmao

I mean, the only way you can truly enjoy the content is to move yourself away completely from fandom spaces, particularly those focused on discourse. For example, I can't avoid army or the daily issue even if I follow some Jimin accounts because of course they're bringing up whatever is happening, usually criticism. And then it adds up and before you know it, you get angry everyday so where does that leave us?

A solution, at least from what I've noticed and if you want to still be aware of what's going on and enjoy the experience, apart from paying attention to content, would be to follow focused accounts on something very specific. Like strictly career updates or more on the fun side which usually post images and videos.

But apart from that, take breaks, make sure you find other stuff to be interested about and not just this. I try to curate my twitter feed and tumblr dashboard with lots of other areas of interest, mixing it up so I don't get sucked into BTS discourse and everything adjacent to it. But then, without asking, I still get the info in my inbox which is not always ideal, but that's on me and having an active blog.

#m thoughts #fandom participation #fandom experience #bts