Omg hi Ms. Yellow Caballero big fan of your work <3 For real though, I'm really excited that your sharing the Weekenders, it was a joy to read and I'm bongocat-ing now that others also get the privilege to read it as well.
Referencing your tags, would you please elaborate of ableism in fandom and, like you said, how fandom treats characters with unpalatable disabilities?
Hi Ms. Bud Lite I'm a big fan of you <3
TL;DR A fear of writing characters of highly marginalized identities shields you from criticism and discomfort, but it's actively stigmatizing to people of these identities and as a writer you really need to get over yourself and write The Icky People.
I guess I'll come out swinging on this one and say that fandom doesn't like severe mental illness. (As a note, when I say severe mental illness (SMI) I mean illnesses such as psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, personality disorders, etc)
Obviously, nobody likes people w/SMI. It's just insanely egregious in fandom to me, since fanfic writers absolutely love writing characters or HC characters with depression, anxiety, or a specific variety of PTSD That Isn't Scary. People actively reject any character HCs for a SMI. When people write a character with SMI, they nicely downplay it, ignore it, substitute it for a disorder they like better, or rewrite it. It's completely untolerated, in both headcanons and in fanfiction, and every time I bring it up I always get the most interesting reasons why somebody couldn't possibly acknowledge a character's SMI in their writing. I've heard all of these:
"I don't know enough about the disorder to write it accurately." Do research.
"I'm not X, so I can't really depict it." You probably aren't a cis white man, but you depict those guys just fine.
"It feels insulting to the character." There is no shame in having a SMI.
"I can't understand what it's like, so it's better to be cautious and avoid giving characters stigmatized identities." There are LOTS of experiences that you'll never understand because you've never had them - you just don't want to write anything you're uncomfortable with. People with SMI make you uncomfortable, and you don't want to write anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, or think of a comfort character in an uncomfortable way. SMIs are marginalized differently than solely depression/anxiety/The Nice PTSD, and by refusing to write them you're actively contributing to the stigma.
I think (?) I've spoken in the past about how I believe that the rigorous external and internal policing of writing people of marginalized identities is actively harmful towards efforts to increase diversity of experience and background in fiction. A lot of fanfiction writers are just terrified to write people who they can't directly relate with, because they're worried 'they'll get it wrong' and be Big Cancelled. I think this is negative enough when it prevents people from going outside of their comfort zone, but on a macro level I think this results in people refusing to write characters of marginalized identities as all. It's an insidious thought process, and it's reflected in people's unwillingness to diversity their writing or acknowledge canon diversity.
'Well, I don't understand what it's like to be Black, so I don't want to write Black people'. 'I want to project on this character, so I only want to write them with mental illnesses and identities I have'. 'If I write a marginalized character incorrectly people will yell at me, so I won't write a marginalized character who's marginalized differently than me at all'. Can you imagine writing a lesbian character with a boyfriend because 'you feel uncomfortable writing lesbian experiences'? It's blatantly homophobic. But people do that with disability and race/ethnicity ALL THE TIME.
People with SMI notice that you feel uncomfortable with them. It's obvious. They notice when a character has a SMI + anxiety, and you only write their anxiety. They notice when a character displays symptoms of a SMI in canon, but you write it out. And POC notice when the characters of color are written out. I know we all like to project on the blorbos and relate to them, and in the joys of your own head do whatever, but as a writer if you only stick to identities you're comfortable with you are actively being a worse writer. Which to me is the REAL sin lmfao.
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Various HSR Casts vs Escape Rooms
Summary: Some of the Star Rail characters vs how they’d do in an escape room.
I went to an escape room recently and thought “Sure let’s put characters in an escape room and see what happens”. Also this isn't edited at all. Sorry lol
Trailblazer (Stelle/Caelus)
The few times that I’ve been to an escape room, there’s always a reminder and rule that the game is about “brains not brawn!”
…And the Trailblazer is the reason why
Is somehow a little too convinced that if you just pull harder, maybe it’ll finally open (you’re not supposed to open it)
HOWEVER, because they are really nosy and like digging around a lot, they’re actually pretty good at finding hidden things that may be the key to a puzzle you’re trying to solve
I can see them just throwing ideas out and shooting their shots until something clicks for someone else to solve a puzzle
If you didn’t already get booted out of the room for property damage, I’d say you have a chance to make it out of the room together
8/10 — You just really have to make sure they don’t just. Destroy everything.
Dan Heng
A little rough to cooperate with because of how quiet he tends to be, but he’s smart and can solve puzzles
He’s really good with the puzzles that require attention to details, so two things that don’t seem associated but actually are? He can get that down for you
Will more likely start in his own corner without being told and figure something out on his own while you handle another corner
If he notices you’re struggling with something, he’ll help and offer suggestions and that’s mostly how the both of you would wind up working together for the puzzles at all
Also another person you have a chance to make it out with, but really depends on whether or not the two of you manage to overcome the silent barrier
7.5/10 — Generally good but you know—
March 7th
Another memory to record down!
She would have tons of fun with the escape room; it’s just like being a detective from The Angler Mysteries!
….But admittedly, she leaves you to do the puzzles yourself. You’re the sidekick after all!
Will cheer you on while you do the puzzle, and more or less take the credit for when you solve it, saying “Of course you got it down! You’re the sidekick to a genius detective!”
Good at bouncing ideas off each other though, so that’s a given!
If she does solve anything, it's pure accident BUT she'll act like she totally did it on purpose.
7/10 — She’s great at support and she just has good energy as a partner! Just not good at puzzles herself.
Welt Yang
He’d love the chance to try and do all the puzzles himself if given the chance but of course, with time ticking, he relents to splitting the work up.
Very good at cooperating that tbh, you’d probably want to work alongside him to the puzzles but…inevitably winds up turning into him doing the puzzle instead BUT HEY WE CAN CALL IT TEAMWORK SURE
Honestly a good sport in escape rooms, but unfortunately because he takes his time with the puzzles, you either run out of time or nearly run out of time before you make it out
If you don’t finish, Welt’s more likely to ask for the solutions which. Um. then you can’t come back to the game after unless you really forget how to do the solutions, but I don’t think Welt’s really one to forget
9/10 escape room partner with a -1 because Slow.
Serval
Oh you know she’s going to be such a great partner for these
She’s smart. She’s friendly and warm. The two of you are definitely going to make it out of here and it’ll be extra fun!
She'll hype herself up when she manages to complete a puzzle and she'll definitely hype you up too when you complete one
If the two of you stumble on a puzzle you can't solve, she’ll definitely have both of you try to put your heads together to figure it out.
She's also the one I bet could have a chance of getting the both of you out in record time
10/10 partner but maybe because I'm biased and you can't go wrong with Serval
Gepard
Even despite it being all fun and games, the diligent and responsible face of Captain Gepard Landau is a tough one to break.
He's a little too serious about this because he focuses too much on trying to finish on time rather than the fun of the game
Starts delegating the work between everyone and is constantly the one trying to regroup and fill everyone in so everyone's on the same page about puzzles and everything
Very much continues being captain. In the escape room.
Please help him ease up a bit he's probably stressing himself out more than anything
7/10 He gets it done and you manage on time but again. A little too serious even for his own good
Sampo
What are the chances that he leaves you to do the puzzles on your own?
You know him: with the number of times he’s been in trouble there comes an equal amount of times he’s escaped
So to speak: he’s good at escape rooms
…Except he uh. Doesn’t exactly…. Solve the puzzles that the escape rooms set up.
Maybe if you push him, sure, but chances are he’ll play dumb and pretend he’s stuck on a situation and then you wind up having to do all the work
You probably have to keep a careful eye on him because I can imagine this guy possibly leaving out the entrance and leaving out there if you don’t notice soon enough and well. Now you’re on your own in the escape room 🧍🏼
Force him to stay and he might actually give you a winning chance to get out of the escape room on time because of how fast he works. You’ll start wondering if he’s done these before and what kind of situations caused him to say things like “oh yeah I’ve seen this one before.” But hey you’re winning
Also with how fast he is, there's a chance you could get out record time. But. You know.
6/10 — Seriously. Have a leash on him so he’d stay and solve it. Otherwise he’s out within the first 3 minutes or something. Without you.
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Made myself sad over the thought of what if the champions ever met their younger selves
Like imagine Lance ruffling his younger self's hair, young Lance is there w his shoulders raised, an arm over his eyes, hiding his tears, Dratini on his shoulders trying to comfort him, and Lance, voice ever so soft, like he was afraid anyone would hear him, afraid of anyone to hear his voice crack, "you're enough."
Imagine Steven sitting with his younger self, young Steven holding Beldum close as he cries, and Steven's there pulling him to a side hug, he looks away, almost fighting back his own tears, he clutched his mother's emerald pendant tight in his fist, "I miss her too."
Imagine Wallace kneeling in front of his younger self, young Wallace was wearing a tattered dress, tears in his eyes as he held his cheek, hiding a bruise, and Wallace is there wiping the stray tears away. He smiles softly, his own heart aching, "there's nothing wrong with you."
Imagine Cynthia hugging her younger self, young Cynthia was holding her hand over her recently scarred left eye, her other hand was clutching Cynthia's shirt tight, sobbing her heart out. Cynthia pulls her impossibly closer, stroking her hair as she tries to hide her own tears, "it wasn't your fault."
Imagine Iris sitting with her younger self at the roof of Opelucid's Gym, watching over the city, watching everyone minding their business, and Iris just smiles at her younger self, giving her a pat on her shoulder, trying to mask the waver in her voice, "soon they'll see how strong you'll be."
Imagine Diantha with her younger self, young Dia was carrying her Carbink, happy to show her beloved partner pokemon off, and Diantha smiles at her with a sadness she thought she had buried along with her pokemon. She gently pats the head of her Carbink, something she never thought she could ever feel again, "take care of them, okay?"
Imagine Hau comforting his younger self, imagine him telling young Hau that everything will be fine, that soon he'll prove he's more than just a terrified little kid hiding behind his grandfather, prove he's more than that, that he too will be strong like the others, "just be brave. Be the bravest ever."
Imagine Leon placing his cap on his younger self's head, laughing as he did, and he watched in amusement as younger Leon looked at him with his best angry look, then his smile turned somber, and he turned to look at the view from his tower, how isolating it was for a ten year old, how they left a child to bear the responsibilities of the region, "it's quite lonely here, don't you think?"
Imagine Geeta sitting w her younger self at the end of the stairway to the Academy, both sitting in silence as they watch Pawniard run around catching a stray Marill. Geeta then turned to her, her younger self, so lonely and quiet and friendless, then she placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze, even though her own hands were trembling, "don't worry, someone out there would want to be your friend."
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