#but not in the sense of popular

[shatouto]

両片思い

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 tav #astarion #tav x astarion #bg3 oc #oc: lorame #caption in jpn bc 'mutual pining' doesn't hit as hard and 'mutual one-sided love' makes no sense #ryoukataomoi just hits different ok #edit: oh wow a lot of you found this huh ;w; thanks for all the notes !! #i'm happy you're looking at my silly son and son in law #.....man this post was rly popular with y'all huh. thanks for 5k!

[starbuck]

reading and watching “classic” books and films is such an interesting experience because, before you get into them, when you only know them by name and maybe the vaguest plot outline, they’re intimidating and stuffy and up on a pedestal, but then you finally take the leap and check them out and realize that almost every story that’s achieved such a legendary level of popularity did so because something in its emotional core reached out and grabbed a lot of people by the throat and you are NOT immune.

#not that anyone but me probably needs to hear this but… #it’s OKAY to have Big Feelings about popular things #they’re popular for a reason - it makes sense to have a big reaction #but yeah - i should really know by now but i’m STILL floored every time i read or watch a classic and it Gets Me #like. this story has been Getting people for decades or centuries or MILLENNIA and yet STILL i’m surprised #‘i didn’t think the story would Get me’ says man about story that’s Gotten everyone who’s ever heard it

[turtletoria]

the amount of people i see that have started making south park fanart is astounding if i ever start doing that shit you gotta take me out back and shoot me

#not art #sorry if this is a controversial take but i thought we all agreed like 10 years ago that this south park was like. uncool #like genuinely ruined so many gen z kids' sense of humor and created the most rude and insufferable people imaginable #also im not against people learning why its bad and changing their mind btw i love!! change!!! #its just so concerning and annoying how popular its been getting among teenagers D:

[xiyade]

cinema and scriptwriting peaked here

#i have the sense of humor of a 13 year old amd im not ashamed to admit that #the most popular girls in school #mpgis #sometimes u gotta watch a youtube slow mo show with barbies to feel something

[kaladinkholins]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

#blue eye samurai #mizu blue eye samurai #akemi blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai meta #just in case... im gonna tag this as #mizukemicritical #akemizucritical #though this post isnt actually criticising the ship itself but rather fanon's portrayal of the ship and the characters #for that reason lemme also tag this as #wank.mp3 #feel free to disagree of course but please be civil #and if you need to rant about how wrong i am without any convincing evidence kindly feel free to make your own post. peace and love <3 #fandom.rtf #meta dissertations.pdf #shut up haydar #edit: for full disclosure. i do rather dislike this ship. but obviously it's fine for anyone to enjoy it. please do! have your fun! #it's just that as usual! popular fanon and fandom around a ship is what has completely deterred me from any sense of enjoyment of it #it's a shame too because i was very open and even eager for some mizu/akemi romance in the future #but out-of-character fanon + the rudeness of certain fans has definitely soured it for me #but that doesn't mean people can't enjoy it obviously! ship and let ship!!! #plus it has its appeal which i DO STILL see and enjoy!!!! #i would even go as far as to call them soulmates because their narratives and characters are LITERALLY intertwined!!! #but. yeah. my gradual distaste for this ship is indeed very unfortunate.

[upsidedog]

i was gonna do this meme with the original format then a much better came to mind

#stranger things #erica sinclair #dustin henderson #idk if they have a friendship name #i am usually v good about not cross tagging but bc these are literally the least popular characters so byler and max will be tagged bc byle #is popular and bc i produce so much max content it evens out lol #max mayfield #byler #dustin and erica being mlp friends is so special to me btw #also 4 those not familiar w/ the mlp g1 naming conventions these names makes sense #technically there was already a pony named ribbon but it's hard to find a single word girly concept or item that they didn't use #and the boys were named shit like quarterback and barnacle so i feel like dragonslayer is in character for dustin and mlp #also if it was the original format i would've used like lucas or steve but i also couldn't because they would also think erica's ponysona i #cool and want their own tbh

[ink-the-artist]

holy shit I did NOT realize how popular my "I will remove my teeth, for I want to remain kind despite my anger" quote is. I just googled it for fun to see what would come up, a bunch of people are quoting it not knowing who its from, an artist called Kuma made an album titled that, so bizzare

#also people are misatributing the quote to kuma and the first google result for the quote attributes it to them #which is kind of upsetting but not a huge deal whatever #its cool it seems to have entered culture like that #i get very mixed feelings about those instances where something I made got WAY more popular than i expected and #people are reposting it or using it without attributing it to me #i both feel bad when stuff isnt credited to me but also good that my art has expanded beyond my reach #its out of my control kind of and other people have it now #which IS what i want for my art and how i generally think art should be #but it is also obviously causes some anxiety to lose control and really full ownership of something that is yours #i think also there is anxiety about something of mine being taken by someone bigger than me #since they can just claim it as their own and most people will know them as the origin #not talking specifically about this quote btw just any of my work #ive definetly been thinking about that hbomberguy vid lol #i hope any of this made sense im a little high rn

[gulducock]

look at this pic i found on twitter

#mine #hi heres my star trek take for today #does anyone else feel a little teeny bit weird when peeople talk abou t #wait ok hold on spoilers for s7 of ds9. dont read ahead ok #does anyone feel weird when peopeple joke about how kai winn and dukat were such a good couple when he like. raped her #like i know why they do but did no one think about that whole story arc hard enoigh to realize what he did to her #explicitly stated on screen. like thats verbatim unconcensual sex what happened and everyones liek its funny because dukats funny #and kai winn is a bitch which she is but also idk. does this make sense #ok thats my thought this have nothing to do with the abive image #i just didnt want to make this into a text post :| anyohe else get scared when dukat is on the scren #okay goodbye. im rewatching viyager btw not fr im just putting it on for comfort whenever i feel sick which is often LOL! but like on n off #can we make the doctor more popular than data =. keep going warriors

[tippenfunkaport]

That viral post that's going around about how people who write "book quality" mlm fic are too "normal" to publish and have real jobs so only "weird" people publish their "shitty" fanfic is so completely out of touch with reality and I am giving a massive side eye to everyone reblogging it.

Not only is it completely, easily verifiably untrue (you cannot enter any professional writing space without tripping over a dozen grizzled scifi writers who got their start by filing off the serial numbers and publishing their Star Trek fanfic even going back decades ago??? it's a whole thing?? plus how can you look at the mlm category on Amazon right now and say with a straight face that people aren't publishing shitty Spirk and Stucky fanfic??? Oh, honey...) it's also the perfect example of this kind of sneering elitism that true artists would never sully themselves by seeking profit, they do it only for the purity of the thing that always somehow leads back to, "no one should be paid to make art, actually."

The only reason you're seeing more published fanfic right now has nothing to do with the idealistic purity of your hypothetical government employee written smut of the past vs the debased scribbles of those awful straights of today and everything to do with the fact that a) self-publishing has created a voracious readership that wants a ton of content so it's become a viable, flexible income stream for many, especially disabled people b) anyone can publish now with self-publishing tools so there are less gatekeepers and c) lockdown got a lot of people into fandom and therefore writing who never tried it before.

And if you really think there's no "shitty" published mlm and no "book-quality" m/f writing out there that started as fanfic, then you are clearly not a reader so why are you even talking about this?

#love how they manipulated people into spreading that post by making it seem like a cishet vs gay thing #when the real message is OP thinks trying to sell your writing is cringe and 'weird' and 'normal people' with jobs would never #which would of course never have flown on the fandom website #so they played into the queer shipping is purer than cishet shipping puriteen thing #and it worked! #because my god people are gullible #this is the direct pipeline that leads to AI thievery #''normal' people write for the joy of it anyway so why do you need pay? you are just greedy and 'weird'!' #'oh no this isn't about who we get to call cringe and who gets to profit from art it's about um... #(quick what's a hated m/f ship?).. oh uh 'shitty' REYLO #and not our super pure uh... (spirk is still popular right? lets throw in that avengers one too to make it seem timely) stucky!' #I'm sorry if I have no sense of humor about this but the year is 2024 and people are still way too ready to sneer #about writers trying to earn a fucking living in the shittiest timeline #and i need you to look deep into yourself and ask you why it's so important to you to tell yourself that only people writing what you like #are 'normal' with real jobs and to vilify everyone else as 'weird' and 'shitty' #for trying to make an income during a financial fucking crisis #i would say sorry for ranting about this but I'm not sorry because wtf #write whatever you want #publish whatever you want #there is no moral fucking purity in what the content is #and one thing certainly doesn't make you more 'weird' or 'normal' than the other #like there is soooo much shitty mlm that started as fanfic??? #that post is 100% OP made up some guys to get mad about and called them relyos for the clicks #writing #publishing #writblr #writeblr #i wasn't going to tag this anything but you know what fuck it I'm mad #i had like 5 more tags but tumblr cut me off which is fair 😅 #fan fiction

[fuckyeah-bears]

y’all never fucking appreciate polar bear sunday and it always pisses me the actual fuck off

#seriously #why is polar bear sunday the least popular of all our series #??????!??!?! #it makes no fucking sense #blasphemy #y'all be tripping some serious balls #polar bears are fucking amazing #polar bear sunday #edit: ​lmao catch me forgetting I don’t gotta talk in third person on this blog #ain’t no brand continuity to maintain here #bearotonin has forever ruined me #lmao #meant to say #why is polar bear sunday the least popular of all MY series #lmfao #wow I am in way too deep #and it shows

[featuringthecreatures]

Any character portrayed by Natasha Lyonne, experiencing horrors beyond human comprehension: “Oh, hello, very good, okay then, understandable. Horrors, horrors, horrors, et cetera, I’ll be getting the fuck out of here now, thank you for your time.”

#cursing #I’m a little sleepy I may delete this later #if it doesn’t mske sense when I’m less tired #Natasha lyonne #russian doll #poker face #etc etc #none of the other things that apply that popular

[thepunkmuppet]

ok but man in a hurry is definitely a victim of the bastards box right?? cursed by tinky to be forever in a hurry but never knowing where he’s going?? we’re all agreed on this right??

#this is just my personal theory but i’m surprised it’s not a popular one because it makes the most sense to me #hatchetfield #hatchetverse #hatchetfield universe #starkid #team starkid #starkid productions #barry swift #jeff blim #man in a hurry

[lesbiankordian]

it probably has been done already but

(no welcome to the black parade and teenagers bc there's an option limit 😔 and they're the most popular songs so it's interesting to check without them)

#I wanted not to add the least popular songs but this is how I disappear is 2rd least popular on spotify??????? how #blood is the least popular but that makes sense #(i love it) #my chemical romance #mcr #poll #this is how I disappear 3rd*** least popular

[amaranthdahlia]

paranormal brothers

WOO finally shigaraki twins art dump lesgoo

first off heres a facial study+headcanon thingy i did of these two cus theyre fun to make !!!

theyre not complete i think..? since i couldnt come up w anymore hcs 😭😭 i wanted more. anhways yeah also ofc things might change btw!

(this is actually a revised version but i dont wanna show yall the old one bc its bad hahdj)

anyways, doodles go!!!

andddd old art from 2022!! which u can tell cus of the age hc lol.(

#ah yes mhas finest toxic doomed siblings #the first image was drawn right after 407 dropped :]] #(pls ignore the hole hand mistake asdfgh) #yall dont know how ECSTATIC i was when we FIANLLLYLYLYY got their backstory #i literally had been bitching ab it for a year on twitter ahhhh #it was so sooooo good #it actually made me get interested in afo cus i did NOT gaf ab the guy lol #but at the same time that was a mistake bc there is so much to unpack w this character #i still care ab his brother more tho ! #not afraid to show my favoritism tehee #we dont know much about yoichi afterall soo #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha manga spoilers #mha all for one #mha afo #yoichi shigaraki #shigaraki yoichi #i actually bought into the 'theyre twins' hc at one point cus it made sm sense #but them having an age range was more popular so i just went w that instead #bnha #mha #also ik afo having preferred prns is nuts but he rlly doesnt care

[zakuramochi]

After watching the Hetalia english dub, the disparity between the interpretations of the Western and Eastern fandoms suddenly make a lot more sense… a lot of the lines were changed so much to cater to localization to the point that the characters’ personalities became completely warped from the Japanese version. 😯

#hetalia #teatime talks #Although I would have to agree that the English dub is hilarious and written with so much comedic skill #A lot of the scenes that were supposed to be serious and emotional were glossed over by jokes in the dub #The only ones whose personalities stayed the same with the original work are America and France #It also makes sense why Asakiku is less popular in the west hahaha #Their sweet moments were replaced with sarcastic quips u_u #If you think the UKxJP ship makes no sense please watch the sub and read the manga instead

[shower-phantom-ideas]

Seeing a lot of de-aged Danny in Gothem posts floating around and I love it

100% here for little shit Danny being a “fuck around and find out” child

I like to think of him as detective conan style with full memories and brain power jam packed into the body of a smol bean.

Let him get spotted by The Batman and just fully throw the man for a loop cause holy fuck not tiny little child could think of this wtf.

Like Danny isnt even as big as he was when he was six. No. Now hes like the size of a small for their age six year old. Shortest in the kindergarten kinda sized.

“Wow what a smart 4year old you got there” actually MiSs hes six and a half.

Let him be so hard for Bruce to catch but also so smart. Bruce can see him taking apart a smartphone and re wiring a microwave. Hes a little genius! Danny normally is an engineering genius but now hes just so very cute and smol. But he doesn’t wanna be babied. So sir he demands respect.

Anyway cut to like three months later and hes the head maintenance guy at the watchtower. Everyone learns that hes not to be messed with too. Some just respect him out the gate cause The Batman is bringing him in and they don’t wanna be fired. Others learn the hard way that this fucking toddler (hes seven now thank you very much) can fix a teleported that they hardly understand.

I also like to think Danny uses it to his advantage as much as he can. “But im just seven mister pwease don’t make me fill out paper work 🥺” but it doesn’t work in The Batman cause hes apparently the worlds greatest detective and knows this one isnt actually seven. Danny put in so much work trying to keep Bruce in the dark (thats a lie he didn’t do shit to protect his identity) but the knight saw through him pretty early on. Like a week after Danny moved in with him. Though I did take him a bout a month to get him to do even that.

#danny phantom #dp x dc #dpxdc #I actually hate the de-aging trope lmao #one of my least favs for this crossover. #like that and danny actually being adopted by the fentons. #or hes someones long lost twin #but I see the apeal behind it and know how to pander #yall aint hurting me by having your fun so go off queen and slay #it’s not made for me and thats ok I just felt like voicing my opinion #great now im worried about my tags getting me canceled #which im not even popular so can’t happen #but I like to pretend im a big popular blogger and what not #makes me feel important #even in this sense if im not #oops weird tags