#and I don't think I'm the only creator who thinks so

[bloo-the-dragon]

Why did Solar have to die permanently while Eclipse gets to keep coming back over and over like freaking Megatron!?

anon you stirred an ancient ghost inside me with mention of megatron lmao /silly

but anyways - i think it became a running theme that Eclipse was gonna keep coming back like peepaw. But this time however there has been a big shift in his character, so the coming back from death thing has ultimately had a greater effect this time around than the last.

For starters, it's already been confirmed he is not really Eclipse. At least not the prior incarnations. He's a mimicry a different entity who carries only the fractured memories and directives of the ones who came before. The only thing that even really connects him to the Eclipse character beyond that is the fact his code was made from Solar's (who is also an Eclipse)

He is very much like Eclipse in personality for sure, unhinged and a complete asshole. But his unique circumstance, being brought so low that he truly is an inferior Eclipse, a false copy, and the fact he knows this has greatly altered his view on himself and his goals. He can say how he's superior to everyone all he wants but 1. no one cares anymore and 2. he knows it's a lie anyways.

But with Earth showing him genuine kindness and patience lately combined with the aforementiond, this has finally allowed him to actually open up a bit and maybe just maybe allow that sliver of a chance for redemption/to find a new purpose in life, even if that is away from the plex. I don't expect him to suddenly turn into a nice eclipse like Solar, in fact i would very much prefer for him to continue being a little asshole rat bastard /aff - but i do want him to be free of his past and find a new purpose, a new reason to live that isn't just antagonising others and hungering for power.

But i'm getting off track here-

We don't actually know if Solar will be dead permanently. It's been said already there is a way to bring him back but it would require sacrificing someone else, and not only that but their entire existence. My moneys on it being the creator ngl because as it stands he is pretty much unkillable. Using him as that sacrifice would be effective in removing him entirely but the only problem would be actually being able to go through with the plan because the brain's a tricky guy to pin down (plus i don't doubt Earth would be conflicted about it)

#questions and answers #Anon #sun and moon show #sams eclipse #sams solar #i have yet to watch the recent episode with earth and eclipse becoming friends (as the title says) #but! i do believe Earth will be key to Eclipse finally getting that redemption we've wanted for so long lmao #and as for Solar i do think he will be coming back but there will be a great cost to it #but again i'm of the belief the creator will be that sacrifice used #because it does make narrative sense #(then again the shows writing makes me have a bit of doubt there ngl gjfklgh) #but the only issue is again actually making him that sacrifice #because it ain't gonna be easy #also im writing this while recovering from fatigue so apologies if it doesnt make complete sense in some areas fjdg

[batshieroglyphics]

I guess it's that time of year, again, when I ask folks to send me prompts(text is link to my ask box) for the 800-2k word ficlets I send out with holiday cards. (For those new to this, ficlets will get publicly posted to AO3 in Feb/March of 2025. And I usually post the rough drafts to Patreon, if you really can't wait.)

Things to keep in mind about prompting:

I do not anticipate to write every prompt I get, and multiple people sending in the same or a very similar prompt will not make it more likely to get written. (This does not mean you shouldn't send in a prompt.)

I don't write in any of my existing AUs, because I don't want folks to have to be familiar with a longer fic or series to enjoy a little ficlet with their card.

I am not currently writing Harry Potter for personal reasons. Any prompts sent for this fandom will be deleted out of hand. (This does include crossovers.)

I will 100% write a ficlet for my own OCs. I am not comfortable writing a ficlet with another person's OCs unless their creator requests it themself, and are open to me pestering them for more information.

I will write both shippy and platonic ficlets. However, these do aim to be family-friendly, since I don't know who's opening anyone's mail, so we aim for a generalised Teen rating.

If you've never seen me write a ship, but you know I'm in the fandom, go ahead and prompt it. (If it's a ship that I have no intention to write, I'll just quietly delete it, not here to insult anyone's joys.)

Yes, anon is on. Please don't give me a reason to change that.

You can also send your prompts to either of my multi-fandom blogs (batsutousai and the back-up bats-batsutousai) or my twitter (LadyMarvolo). You can also send them through my cohost (batsutousai) or bluesky (batsutousai), but I keep forgetting to check both of those places and don't know what sorts of notifications are turned on, whoops.

BATS' SHIP LIST (text is the link. This is not all-inclusive, just the ones I am 100% comfortable with and down with writing. Yes, I know I said, last year, that I was going to try to put together a platonic 'ships' list. That clearly has not happened. I shall make an attempt again this year, but my promises are sand.)

PROMPTS (just gonna do links to some of the prompt lists I've reblogged previously, just please let me know which list you're pulling from?)

Bats' previously created holiday ficlets prompts list

Line of dialogue

Four word prompts

Numbered dialogue prompts

X Me prompts

I think there's one in my drafts that cuddling related? I'll see if I can't find that and post it some time this week.

And, no, you do not have to pick prompts off the lists. If you've got one you've been dying to send me, go for it. Just, please keep in mind that I'm only looking for short ficlet prompts at this time.

#bats' holiday card ficlets #prompt request #about the Bats

[disorganizedkitten]

Listen. I deeply dislike being my own PR team.

This feels like such a dumb thing to complain about but genuinely it's?? so much work? I have social anxiety but equally it is my own responsibility to network and make my own work sound appealing and it's just. Such a Feeling.

I can talk about myself and my writing all the time, that part's not hard at all, but making sure that when I talk about it it sounds appealing? Being in charge of enticing others to actually interact?

Deeply tiring. I dislike interactions whose goal is advertisement and I UNDERSTAND it's different when it's indie creators and fanworks and not capitalism/consumerism but I think I'm still a bit rough from consumer culture, you know?

I just want to create and shout into the void and it not be tiring but at the same time I crave validation and I want to be known and it is. a dilemma.

#I get awkward inviting people to read my stuff #okay #you don't see it bc I draft things for so long but I do #social anxiety is a bitch #and my only silver lining is that it's not entirely debilitating #thanks to COPIOUS HARD WORK TYVM #yeah so i'm a disaster #Jaymeow speaks #jaymeow speaks #DK speaks #I am my own PR team and I won't STOP #I just want everyone to know it's tiring #and I don't think I'm the only creator who thinks so #so really this is a quiet way to scream REBLOG CONTENT PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU #off to curl up in a word doc and a discord chat and have actual fun #before returning to pretend I'm that being a successful author means being a functional writer

[little-pondhead]

Danny moved to Gotham.

Freakshow is touring in Gotham.

Freakshow knows Danny is in Gotham.

Danny knows Freakshow is still after him.

Danny's faith in heroes has been shattered.

Danny turns to the only person powerful enough to run Freakshow out of town, hopefully for good.

Danny turns to the Joker for help.

The Joker is looking for a new punching bag sidekick after Harley Quinn left him.

Danny is just the perfect person to be shaped by the Joker's hands.

Danny becomes the new Joker Junior.

#pondhead blurbs #dpxdc #how we feeling about this fellas #i think it's an ideal angst fic #but i don't wanna write it lol #the younger danny is the worse it gets #someone said that danny shouldn't be afraid of the joker because he's a clown and freakshow is a ringmaster. not a clown #if i find that post i'll tag the creator cause i can't remember rn #but i'm imagining danny who is heavily traumatized and scared and lonely #finding out that one of his worst enemies he hoped to never see again is hunting him and is so close danny has to check his eyes every day #just to make sure they haven't turned red #his anxiety is out of control and he's not about to go find a Bat or Bird to talk to #who would believe him anyways? he's a monster #but danny needs help cause he will not survive this on his own and he knows it #freakshow haunts his every waking dream #but freakshow isn't from gotham. he doesn't have the city's curses engraved into his blood. he never died and he's not truly teasing death #so danny chooses to plead for help from the only predator bigger than freakshow (in his eyes) who IS from gotham #danny goes to the Joker. prepared to offer everything but his free will and free mind. he can't give those up. it's all he has. #danny is a feral house cat asking a tiger to take care of a mountain lion for him by offering the tiger his own liver on a silver platter #joker is...delighted? maybe? no one is quite sure. but he takes what danny offers. #here is this little boy. almost the same age as the second robin when he died. pleading for the JOKER to be his savior. this will be fun

[starflungwaddledee]

which ocs in the fandom do you find the most interesting? also, which ocs do you think have the most aesthetically pleasing designs? finally, which ocs have you only heard of but would like to know more about?

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooo ha haaa noooo i can't possibly answer this because it would be soooo unfair to have favourites wouldn't it's comet knight by @kittenvirus

#sorry it's the colour scheme and the glitter and the fluff. i'm unfortunately so so weak to all these things 😭 #even a little bit of pastel rainbow star theming specifically... comet really has everything i'm sorry to say #i think starstruck would faint immediately if she saw him. could they be friends?? i'm not sure i think she'd just be like this: 👁️👁️ #he is also one of (if not the very) first designs i saw when i started picking around the kirby community #so i'll always have a soft spot for him no matter who else i discover. #there are also a dozen other OCs that i love and adore but the more that i list the more folks will feel that i didn't list *them* #and i really really don't want to do that! my mutuals have some absolutely banging designs as do some folks who i don't follow! #there are also a lot of REALLY cool designs that are 'semi' oc but are more like redesigns? from folks AUs or comics or so on #many great morpho-esque redesigns out there too i'm always a fan of those!!! #please understand i'm listing only ONE design that hits all these prompts (bc i also don't know the creator well hence 'only heard of') #and one that always stands out to me personally because of the sentimentality i mentioned above #but i love MANY many many. if i started listing them i would never stop!! if you have an oc or a design i probably love them!! #i realise that is a bit of a dodge of the breadth of this question but i just... yknow? haha #i'd be happy to learn more about any ocs really!! i would actually love for starstruck to start having some relationships with others too? #if folks are interested in that!! she has relationships with the dream land four but not so much with ocs; and that might be fun too!! #others ocs #asks

[slasherscream]

really wish people would read blog rules more, it makes running blogs like this very low reward and you feel like a machine if people aren't commenting and aren't even abiding by one of the, honestly, very few and politely phrased rules i even have

#then i'm left trying not to respond like a bitch when the rules are there in the first place so i don't have to have negative interactions #with the people who come to this blog #like keeping it 100 you write for yourself but you write for ENGAGEMENT and COMMUNITY #and these days in fandom there really is no community #for any fandom across the board #people see something and move on #that's bad enough at killing fandoms #but the fact that a creator can have really only one super hard rule and it gets disregarded every day #day in and day out! and i really mean it this rule gets broken in my inbox DAILY man! #i write for a lot of small fandoms or smaller characters i love the characters i'm happy to do it #but i have an adult job. college. friends. family. my own original creative projects #and even if i don't respond to the asks where people are blatantly violating /again/ #one of my FEW rules #it's exhausting to even see it !!! #it makes me not feel like a person #who cares what the girl behind the screen asked me not to do? right?? but i'm about done #i'm only at my breaking point because i've had this blog now for what three or four years?? #and no matter how i phrase the rule people break it #no matter how many reminder posts #it's exhausting because it's an every day daily thing #idk maybe i'll feel better abt it in the morning but i'm getting exhausted tbh #exhausted as in this blog might be going BYE BYE i wont delete i think you'd have it up until tumblr goes away but i am getting pissed off #TRULY pissed off bc it's been years of me asking cmon now

[walker-lister]

I just have to remind myself sometimes that no matter what anyone else says, the way a piece of media makes me feel and the positive impact it has had on my queer identity is valid, and that tearing myself apart thinking I have to defend it or questioning my own place within queer communities is not at all important when compared to the almost tangible sense of 'rightness' that piece of media helped me to feel about myself.

#just something i've been pondering the last few days #kind of like no matter how much people debate or i suppose theoretically deconstruct media featuring queer stories #the most important thing is how it makes a queer person feel #and I do think it is of course a good thing to ensure queer stories are executed with respect and authenticity #but there's this grey area in fandom spaces in which people may have found rep from a 'unreliable' source i suppose #or something which is queerbaiting- sherlock springs to mind for example yet if people have been able to explore and nurture their own #queerness through that media does that therefore mean their experience is invalid? i don't think so #and my worry is the more we focus on theory the less we focus on emotion and therefore the actual queer experience itself #and sure theory can inform the queer experience and ensure the media is a 'healthy' site of queer identity formation and identity aid #but at the same time scorning or being rude to those who have found certain media an aid is not the right approach to be taking #especially as queer experiences are so wide ranging that one person's idea of 'good' representation is someone's else's of 'bad' #and that unless a piece of media is clearly offensive in its portrayal of queer experience there has to be some benefit of doubt #I think we're still in a period of progression in media espc tv where queer creators are coming to the fore of their own stories #and we've got to 'live and let live' a little about where people are finding sights of queer validation and joy #and perhaps this a naive and simplistic way of thinking but i think queer people can either recognise when something isn't the best rep #but was helpful for them anyway and therefore in a way confer 'ownership' of the media to themselves in how they engage #or there is variety in queer experiences represented in media so that perhaps not everyone finds a 'site' of rep but that does not #therefore invalidate it or make it 'bad' representation #this is just my opinion and it'd be hypocritical for me to not now mention this is only formed from my own queer experience lol #so i'm not trying to tell anyone how to feel or anything just something i'm pondering

[the-catboy-minyan]

Absolutely out of this fucking world how celebrities get cancelled now for saying ‘I don’t want anyone to die’. Seeing Israelis (really just Israeli Jews, because non Jews are just brainwashed to them) as human beings is the pinnacle of evil online now

I agree, that's literally the most common sense response to seeing a war happening, and yet these so-called "activists" read it as "I 100% support the (((apartheid))) and think all Palestinians should die" even though the message was clearly anti death period.

#i feel like I have more things to say abt it but my brain is empty #also I personally only seen one celebrity get “cancelled” for a take like that #it was Rick Riordan and I've only seen people talk about how he got cancelled and not actually the cancellers #but that was while I was taking a break from reddit so that's probably why 💀 #antisemitism #israel #israel palestine #sceasefire now #celebrities #also like who cares what celebrities think #they're famous for stuff like acting and singing not for being world leaders and philosophers #their opinions on things don't affect their performances #unless they take actions that are racist or [anything]phobic or mysoginistic etc #and if they're creators if they create stuff with racist/phobic/etc content which is painted as positive or normal #yk what I mean #I'm rambling #asks

[catoscloves]

so i googled rachel gatina's fate and.. fuck that? my girl deserves so much more

#the creators don't deserve her?? #i honestly hated the way she acted at the tail end of s3/the beginning of s4 #especially because i genuinely think she's better than that chasing after unavailable guys/guys who are far too old for her #like she's a genuinely interesting and mildly mean girl secondary antagonist/anti hero character but with so much capability #to show people genuine kindness and actually care about others!! #and instead of allowing her to keep that growth they made her a heroin addict and prostitute? #I'm not saying there's anything inherently morally wrong with people who are those things irl #but like??!! hello???? #and they fucked over brachel too i fucking hate this #she grew so much and grew on everyone and showed people that redemption was something that could happen #that she could change and become better through friendship #and they threw that away for DAN??! he killed his own BROTHER but his redemption arc was more important than rachel? #(who did not kill anyone and was only a promiscuous teenage girl with lacking boundaries when it comes to men she shouldn't pursue) #(i'd argue that that's better than a MURDERER who killed his BROTHER) #(and emotionally abused/terrorised his wife into a crippling pill addiction?) #(and abandoned the child he fathered?) #i do think a lot of Rachel's actions like flirting with a married man REPEATEDLY (and she literally even went to their wedding too so??) #were inexcusable but rachel had the redemption arc that Dan could never dream of #especially since Dan LIED TO EVERYONE about how Keith died and deceived karen into opening up to him again #oth #rachel gatina #anna speaks

[aleroin]

"I'm tired, I'm not gonna stay up" has turned into "there is no time, there is only Merrill"

#OOC / HOLLY. #I'm putting myself to bed I DO need to sleep #listen tho — Merrill having a bit of an accidental superiority complex around being Dalish is something that is so rarely addressed #but so good to explore and have challenged #she doesn't even realize it's there #which does allow it to get ugly in her worst moments #i.e. if you're on a rivalry path with her and do Feynriel's quest in Act II she has some nasty things to say #I don't think that's who she is at heart but we see this ingrained kind of 'Dalish ways are the true ways' attitude in other places #it's the sort of thing that if left unchallenged will fester #going back to Feynriel — she doesn't talk that way if she's on a friendship path and is in a better place mentally + emotionally #she also doesn't talk that way in Act I where she's bout ready to throw hands with Vincento #so it's a matter of like 'here's a thing I was raised with and have never known differently.' #'if I go down a bad path and don't challenge it it will fester and eat me from the inside' #she does think of all elves as her people / part of the People but she was definitely raised to believe that #their way is the only way to be a True Elf and that the People have lost their way #that the only way they'll get the Creators to hear their prayers again is if they prove they haven't forgotten everything #and are 'true elves' whatever that means #which also something she has to challenge. like what does that even mean what does it look like etc #I'm veering off topic tho #everything circles back to the eluvian and how there is a I suppose religious motivation to her conviction #GOOD NIGHT see y'all tomorrow

[14th-centuary-capitalism]

"don't buy hogwarts legacy because it funds transphobia" and "don't buy hogwarts legacy because it's basically an antisemitism rpg" are both incredibly valid arguments but it also just looks like a bad game

#in all honestly even if jkr was the biggest trans ally in the world and there was absolutely nothing antisemitic about the goblins at all #i still wouldn't want to play that game #I'd maybe watch 10 minutes of a youtuber play it just to see #but only if it was someone i already followed and i don't follow any gaming creators #maybe it's because i've never been a gamer or cared about any game other than princess peach on the nintendo ds #but it just looks like something i'd never be interested in even if it had come out when i was 14 #pre terf tweets and pre me having the critical thinking skills to see any problematic concepts in that world #like i see people arguing about it and i just... #THIS is the hill you're willing to die on??? #THIS is the thing that makes you turn your back on your trans friends??? #i don't know anyone personally who's going to play it (thank god) but all the discourse online is just confusing #this isn't me morally posturing i'm just genuinely confused #if i was morally posturing id be talking about how amazing it looks but aren't i so good for resisting #like there is simply nothing to resist #same with that last fantastic beasts film #like i don't think i missed out on a good time by not going to see that #it's simply more convenient to the enjoyment of my life to have nothing to do with that shit

[untitled-byler-blog]

"this is an event to uplift lesser known authors" and half the recs are from the most popular authors in the fandom

#👿👿👿 #this is not the creators of the events fault they are very kind and thoughtful for coming up with this #it's just frustrating that unless you're a pre-established popular writer no one reads your shit no matter how hard you work on it #not main tagging for OBVIOUS reasons #i don't even think i've written something that falls into today's category (except my xmas fic but i'm like the only person who reads #xmas stuff outside of xmas time i think so w e) so it's not like i'm bothered by not being on any recommendation lists #it's just like i was hoping to see new fics that i've never heard of and i'm like not getting that #also I'm not a huge fan of the 'big writers' in this fandom anyway -- like they're stuff doesn't interest me so idk #shut up lilly #let's chat

[satellite-blossom]

Oh boy I saw a post about Black Pete (aka "Pierre le noir" in French) and oh dear that made me remember that we seriously have an issue of casual racism in this part of Europe (France, Belgium and the Netherlands most specifically).

You still have white people playing "cowboys and Indians" in French ads and no-one says anything. This year I was watching the 1 pm news (which are supposed to be silly and chill), and they were covering a silly seagull screaming competition in the north of France ; everyone was costumed and suddenly I saw a guy in blackface just chilling there and no-one said anything. You try to watch a classic French cartoon while it reruns on TV during the holidays (Astérix comes to mind but that's not the only one) and you see racist caricatures of black people just popping in and it ruins your mood (thinking about the Astérix & Obélix chez Cléopâtre cartoon right now). In the north there are still people wearing blackface and "savage" costumes (= black afro, animal skin tunic and bone in the nose with sometimes blackface too) to carnival... And of course there's Pierre le noir, with his large red lips and other caricatural features...

And don't even get me started on French cinema, which is 80% comedies about old white Christians having to coexist with "so weird and wacky others" ("others" as in black, Asian, Arabic, Jewish, Muslim, ...) who are totally like the clichés say, and sooo different from "us" and so extra and soooo bold & intrusive ❢

Dear God I'm so tired of it. And I'm not even bringing up my personal, direct experiences with racism, some of which date from preschool nonetheless.

#berry rambles #Racism tw #And it sucks to feel like the only one who don't get to ignore things #Like I'm black ❢ I don't get to close my eyes and shoo whenever I see a racist caricature of a black person on TV #I don't get to think it's not about me #I don't get to say it doesn't matter #When you are black with Senegalese origins and come from one of the most stigmatized part of France #It's not funny to constantly see people like you depicted as thugs‚ lazy‚ annoying or in need of a white teacher to save them #It's not funny to see a slow red lipped black as charcoal character in your classic French cartoon adored by many #I don't even get to ignore things. I have to look at them and think ❝this is how those creators see people like you❞ #❝this is how they want others to see you❞ and I'm so mad about it ❢ I'm so mad ❢ I'm tired of it ❢ #Sorry for rambling but I needed to get it off my chest

[tenok]

.

#have read some comments to the wip post and like #that's where I start to shake my fist and sound like an old man but some people use 'I'm neurodivergent' like getting out of jail card #WELL I WOULDN'T READ WIP BECAUSE MY BRAIN SAING NO #a) than it wasnt' post for you. it's a post for the one who can and don't want because for them getting story at one piece is more #important then to support wheators #b) does you brain truly don't work this way and you psichically can't read wips or like #or are you like 'ehhhh I don't waaant what if they won't be finished' #huh? #are every person who say it physically can't too? #are literal generations of fans who have read ongoing comics and watch ongoing series suddenly dissapeared? #or are people just prefer to not invest in small creators because for them we are not people who have feelings but some kind of fanfics #generating machines #if they think about who write the fics at all? #also I want to say that I have WONDERFUL readers #because they all chhering for me while I struggling with my fics #(I recently finished I fic that wasnt' updating for YEAR #and all this time people were rereading parts and leaving comments about how they like this work #IT WAS SO MOTIVATING) #(but also I'm one of those authors who write long fics mostly in secret #and show drafts only to several close friends)

[tiger-in-the-flightdeck]

This is something I'm seeing more and more on AO3 that I'd never seen when I first got into fandom stuff, so I wanted to find out how you all feel about it.

What are your thoughts about seeing posted fanfiction that isn't commissioned, where the creator says that they have never read/watched the source material? For example, someone putting out a fanfic for a show they've never watched that includes the tag Author Has Never Seen Suchandsuch.

#polls #fandom polls #fan polls #ao3 #batman #batfamily #i'm tagging that because it's where i've seen that happening most often

[centrally-unplanned]

We (somewhat rightly) mock the 2000's era fansub translation notes for their otaku fixations and privileging of trivia over the media, but they should be understood as serving their purpose for a bit of a different era in the anime fandom. Take this classic:

Like, its so obvious, right? Just say "pervert", you don't need the note! Which is true, for like a 'normie' audience member who just wants to watch A TV Show - but no one watching, uh *quick google* "Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne" in 1999 is that person. The audience is weebs, and for them the fact that show is Japanese is a huge selling point. They want it to feel as 'anime' as possible; and in the west language was one of the core signifiers of anime-ness. 2004 con-goers calling their friends "-kun" and throwing in "nani?" into conversations was the way this was done, and alongside that a lexicon of western anime fandom terminology was born. Seeing "ecchi" on the screen is, to this person, a better viewing experience - it enhances their connection to otaku identity the show is providing, and reinforces their shared cultural lexicon (Ecchi is now a term one 'expects' anime fans to know - a truth that translator notes like this simultaneously created and reflected).

But of course your audiences have different levels of otaku-dom, and so you can't just say 'ecchi' and call it a day - so for those who are only Level 2 on their anime journey, you give them a translation note. Most of the translation notes of the era are like this - terms the fansubber thought the audience might know well enough that they would understand it and want that pure Japanese cultural experience, but that not all of them would know, so you have to hedge. The Lucky Star one I posted is a great example of that:

Its Lucky Star, the otaku-crown of anime! You desperately want the core text to preserve as much anime vocab as possible, to give off that feeling, but you can't assume everyone knows what a GALGE is - doing both is the only way to solve that dilemma.

This is often a good guideline when looking at old memetically bad fansubs by the way:

This isn't real, no fansub had this - it was a meme that was posted on a wiki forum in 2007. Which makes sense, right? "Plan" isn't a Japanese cultural or otaku term, so there is no reason not to translate it, it doesn't deepen the ~otaku connection~.

Which, I know, I'm explaining the joke right now, but over time I think many have grown to believe that this (and others like it) is a real fansub, and that these sort of arbitrary untranslations just peppered fansub works of the time? It happened, sure, but they would be equally mocked back then as missteps - or were jokes themselves. Some groups even had a reputation for inserting jokes into their works, imo Commie Subs was most notable for this; part of the competitive & casual environment of the time. But they weren't serious, they are not examples of "bad fansubs" in the same way.

This all faded for a bunch of reasons - primarily that the market for anime expanded dramatically. First, that lead to professionally released translations by centralized agencies that had universal standards for their subs and accountability to the original creators of the show. Second, the far larger audience is far less invested in anime-as-identity; they like it, but its not special the way its special when you are a bullied internet recluse in 2004. They just want to watch the show, and would find "caring" about translation nuances to be cringe. And since these centralized agencies release their product infinitely faster and more accessibly than fansubs ever did, their copies now dominate the space (including being the versions ripped to all illegal streaming sites), so fansubs died.

Though not totally - a lot of those fansub groups are still around! Commie Subs is still kicking for example. They either do the weird nuance stuff, or fansub unreleased-in-the-west old or niche anime, or even have pivoted to non-anime Japanese content that never gets international release. But they used to be the taste-makers of the community; now they are the fringe devotees in a culture that has moved beyond them. So fansubs remain something of a joke of the 90's and 2000's in the eyes of the anime culture of today, in a way that maybe they don't deserve.

#may have said this before - it be that way sometimes #anime culture discourse