#cringe cultural isn't dead no matter how many times you say it

[mephyyy]

So I was trying to find some random Sonic OCs off Google to draw today because, man, art block killing me. I would like to prefece that I, myself, have Sonic OCs.

(This is all old art, except for my sonic.exe oc, but alas)

I think they're fun and a good way to express your creativity, whether that's writing them to date a character that you like or to be the most popular/powerfulest person EVER.

But with my not very deep dive into the 3 page of Google, I realized that even the really well draw or intriguing OCs are "cringe" and "Mary Sues".

With this, the notion comes that OCs are inherently cringe and not worth making unless you make them the most boring and unspecial person ever. Like: "This is my Sonic oc, Joe the cat. He works at a desk job, and he likes coffee." Making just your average Joe can be fun, but the thought that ALL OCs have to be fucking boring is dumb.

This thought is everywhere. You scroll through Google for 30 seconds, and you see articles about sonic OCs being a sickness, like this article from the medium. Like the drawing that a 10 y/o posted on deviant art about their green sonic will irreparably damage art.

This mindset actually hurts art in the long run. If you get told over and over again that the self insert you make is cringe and you should never draw again then, inevitably, you're going to stop drawing.

I was someone actually who thought for a very long time that my OCs shouldn't be special, or have super cool powers, or even have heterocromia. A good lot of my original characters were boring because I was worried about making a Mary Sue (Thanks CyberSans). It's actually a very deliberate choice that my self-insert/persona, Mephy, cringe.

Yes, I took things from jjba and Sonic to make this weird combo of Mephiles, Diego, jouta, and myself. I did this to push myself to make something "cringe," and anytime I think about removing his tail, I remember why I gave him one.

After I disregarded being seen as cringe, did I start to like designing characters. Just the want to make something I like without being worried if it's cringe or not. I think the freedom to make things like this is very important for young artists (or just artists in general). It's very liberating.

I took the making things purposefully cringe into my TF2 OCs. I gave them on the noise names, and I gave them back stories that were edgy. I enjoyed it. It made me happy.

With the acceptance of being seen as weird, I almost forgot what things were "cringe." I've just been seeing so many people happily making sonadow fan kids that I forgot people think that's cringe. I forgot that edgy OCs is cringe. I forgot that just being into something odd is cringe, and that makes me sad. I honestly thought that we got past thinking that darkspine the evil hedgehog (original character, do not steal) is cringe.

It's just sad. These OCs are cool. And yes, there are sonic OCs that aren't seen as cringe, like Ian Jr, S.N.T., or Trevor the hedgehog, but those are the exceptions. When was the last time you heard something say that Rosechu was their favorite OC? That's right, you haven't because sonichu is very much "cringe" (and don't bring up that Chris-chan did some fucked up shit, y'all didn't like she before she went to jail or did any of that fucked up stuff.) Why can't someone just make someone weird?

Concussion: Stop seeing things as cringe, and cringe culture is NOT dead until we kill it ourselves.

Anyway, I think I have written enough, and my English teacher would say that this is an emotional rant and that I need to rewrite like half of this. I think one of her exact words on a paper I wrote was "zack, this sentence makes me want to smear poop in my hair."

Here is some old art is some of my favorite little guys I found off Google (:

#rant #sonic #sth #sonic the hedgehog #sonic oc #sonic ocs #sonic rant #original character #original characters #cringe #cringe culture #i think i can write a paper on this tbh #oc #ocs #cringe cultural isn't dead no matter how many times you say it #it lives untill you make sure it's dead

[sureuncertainty]

just saw a somewhat valid post complaining about the lack of sincerity in media today, particularly looking at like, reboots and adaptations without respect or love for the source material, and while I completely understand that perspective, it's also maddening to me to watch people say this and agree with it but not seek out/support those pieces of media that ARE made with love and care and sincerity (of which there are literally SO MANY) AND then turn around and call anything that IS sincere and authentic is actually cringey and problematic

LITERALLY people in the notes on that post going like 'everything is so sanitized bc people are worried about being problematic' on the fucking internet these days where literally everything is problematic and you can't like anything bc if you like it you're actually also part of the problem, and you have to have morally pure and correct and upright opinions about media and stories at all times, and if you don't you're a BAD EVIL PERSON

and don't even get me STARTED on the fucking person in the notes of that post who was like 'this is why i only read books bc books are just far superior to all other forms of media' like i am exploding you with my mind, art and storytelling are so valuable and important no matter the medium. there are movies and shows and podcasts and yes, books that are telling meaningful important stories and you just decide you don't care bc it doesn't fit your litmus test of what must be ideologically pure and perfect at all fucking times. you have to enjoy things but you can't enjoy them too much bc that's cringe. the HYPOCRISY of the people in the notes on that post being so cynical about media while complaining about media being too cynical these days

like sorry but i'm sick and tired of this culture. like isn't it exhausting? aren't you fucking tired of hating everything all the time? you spend all of your energy hating everything and then complain that there aren't any sincere stories? there are so many amazing movies and shows that have been coming out this year and every year, we are in a period of time where acknowledging the hard work of writers and actors and other storytellers has become more important than ever with the strikes and such, and you're going to sit up on your soapbox and act like you're better than everyone, preaching about how art is dead bc of capitalism while doing fuck all to actually support the HUGE amount of creators desperately trying to tell the stories we love and care about

also puts me in mind of the other post I saw awhile back making an addition to about how important stories are to us as humans, because of their stupid condescending 'you're too afraid to be alone with your thoughts that you can't have any identity outside of media lol aren't you so pathetic' and everyone in the notes like 'wow you so called me out!' and then when I responded to it op was like 'wow look at this cishet man being fake deep and shit' like the moment I try t express my own sincerity, even online, I am mocked and misgendered lol

like no fucking wonder stories aren't sincere anymore, you call them cringe and you mock them. there are so many beautiful stories out there and you don't even have to look hard to find them

#win rambles #anyway i love being a storyteller and i love stories and i love the things i love and refuse to apologize for them #i refuse to apologize for my love and sincerity #no matter how much people might decide to make fun of me or misconstrue my words

[rosetyler42]

hi. the whole mcr post thing from yesterday has crossed my dash today. I don't know you at all, but I would like to say, on behalf of the mcr fandom. they are assholes. you did literally nothing wrong. even if you had known it was an mcr post this is fucking tumblr - stealing other fandom's posts is a time-honored tradition. mcr is all about being yourself, no matter how unpalatable that may be to someone else. you hurt 0 individuals in the making of that post, so you have nothing to be sorry for. be yourself. be unpalatable. be ungovernable. <3 hope you have a great day and keep posting vampires.

That's part of what's honestly so weird about all this. Like, I get them having high emotions about this, but it's still kind of funny that they're freaking out about a post being derailed on the same site that spawned such classics as Color Theory, KUNG POW PENIS, having a Supernatural gif for everything, the Harry Potter houses Toasting knife post, speech bubble post gags, and more. And then there's the whole "cringe" fandom angle. (Not that I think HT is cringe myself, but I know many do.) Which again...this is Tumblr. Even if Cringe culture weren't dead, this is the Cringe Fandom website. I mean, I remember being on here around the time of Superwholock back when I was in my Doctor Who phase. Very few of us are cool on here. I post largely for myself and things I find funny, relatable, fun, cute, whatever. As well as showing friends and other people in the fandom(s.) I've met, such as @broppyhater16 the one you probably saw in the post commenting on my meme.

Thank you, though, my fren. Your understanding and support mean alot. I don't really go here, but the ones who have reached out to me have been great, and I wish you all the best. We also agree on many things: the important thing is being yourself and doing what you like, no matter what the rest of the world says. Don't worry, I'll keep on keeping on when it comes to my interests, be it HT, Doctor Who, Laika, BATIM, KP amd anything else regardless of those that call it cringe. And I wish you the same confidence. :)

PS: I might suggest you send some love to Broppyhater16 too. I'm not sure how they're taking this, but I mostly got into this fight because I felt it was wrong for them to have gotten yelled at (It was mostly "THIS ISN'T ABOUT A CHILDREN'S FILM, IT'S ABOUT MY THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ON MCR") Not anything particularly rude/threatening, but they were still yelling at them for something they didn't do.

#asks #ask #mcr #pibsboots #broppyhater16 #hotel transylvania #again thank you for the love undetstanding and support #I really appreciate it

[dartwright]

flip, 21, any prns.

18+, independent, headcanon-heavy blaine dartwright from layton brothers: mystery room.

single verse.

about / bio , smut / nsfw sideblog

rules under cut:

I. cringe culture is dead. do whatever the fuck you want as long as you're not hurting anyone. enjoy your interests, no matter how embarrasing they are. have fun. self-indulge in your own character portrayals, write as loose or strict to canon as you please, fast and slow-moving threads are encouraged here. there's no need to judge each other as writers on tumblr. that said, i don't support pro-shipping or harassment & anon hate isn't allowed and will be deleted on sight.

II. basic roleplay etiquette. no god-modding, powerplaying, or metagaming. cut your threads - if you can't, let me know. i'll do it for you. i don't care about your formatting if it's readable.

III. eighteen and over. that said, threads & content on my blog will contain dark & mature themes concerning drugs, violence, organized crime, and other stuff i don't condone outside of fiction. there's also a smut blog linked in my description, which is accessible only through the fact i'm an r18+ roleplayer. turn back if you're underaged.

IV. multifandom & crossovers. i'm into multiple fandoms, in fact, i'm playing an unused character from a relatively obscure mobile game. crossover friendly? fuck yes. i'll roleplay with anything and anyone, as long as you're not rpf or a celebrity roleplayer. if there's anything you recommend i blacklist, do let me know. i'm not exactly aware of everything in live action pop culture & i'm best described as an animation-leaning guy. though, nothing's going to stop me from playing a video game character in a thread with the guy from morbius.

V. original characters. make sure you have an about / bio page set, so that i'm able to read up on your character and who they are. what's going on with them, y'anno? i always love hearing about other peoples' characters and i'm willing to follow back if there's information on them.

VI. mutually exclusive. i'll only write and interact with people i follow and those who follow back. mutuals automatically can do whatever the fuck they want with blaine and i! crack threads? please. ask memes? thank you. headcanons with our characters? sure thing! this is mostly so that i'm able to keep track of things happening on my dashboard, too, and as for dashboard commentaries - i don't mind if non-mutuals interact with me in that way. it's fun!

VII. formatting. i use little-to-no formatting with small text and a few icons. there are times where i'm entirely iconless, as blaine's more or less a fanon-accepted character in mystery room. i will change urls to character names, but not the hyperlinks.

VIII. magic anons. they're always open! i've missed magic anons so much, in the past few years of discord, i haven't been able to mess around with these prompts. please have a set time for them when they're submitted. if i love your spell so much, i may as well have it as a permanent feature!

IX. plotting. i tend to wing my plots, but i don't drop my threads if they don't happen to "go my way" as the youth says. if you want a pre-established relationship with blaine, let me know through ims and i'll respond to you asap. if you want to do a plot-related thread where we progress our characters' stories, fuck yes. just know that i kinda suck at plotting, but i do wanna get better…

X. threads. rapid-fire replies on tumblr are my favorite thing to do, they'll only be slow if i'm sick or fatigued as i do have seasonal depression. we can drop as many threads as we like, move onto new ones, finish old ones, have live threads… like the old days! i just want to be loose and free in this community.

#[ pinned ]

[golden-redhead]

If that isn't a mood tho. Kaito is the exact type that I tend to be "meh" about, let alone in media where sometime personalities or quirks can be exaggerated. Let's just say I was rolling my eyes at him early on in Chapter 1, then by the time we got to the middle of Chapter 2 I was so invested in him that I always had to pause and gather myself every time the game had me scared for his life. Get those death flags away from my son or so hELP ME!!

I actually don’t know when exactly I started to love Kaito, I think I truly realized my love only after I finished the game, mostly because I was so invested in Kokichi and just overwhelmed by the story. But I remember in chapter 5 this moment of ‘oh god, they are both dead… no matter which one is the victim, they are both dead please no, why would you break my heart like that’.

But yeah, Kaito has no right to be as likable as he is. Normally he would be this kind of character that I just can’t stand, either because of how annoying he is or because of the fact that he steals the spotlight that I wish was on other characters. Also, his design, his character type, his extroverted nature, the fact that he doesn’t contribute that much during the trials… Yeah, normally all of that would be just distracting and boring and wouldn’t appeal to me at all, but. Somehow it isn’t.

I think part of the reason is that his positivity and trust in others is so completely different from Kaede’s, for example, and I always find it interesting. Many people compare their role in the game but I don’t think Kaede would achieve what Kaito did. He genuinely believes that everyone has something worth and good inside that they can offer to the world and he wants to get that out. He has his insecurities and one could argue that there is some underlying manipulative element to it all, since he builds his hero persona on this act of helping Shuichi and Maki to get out of their shells, but even despite that he truly believes in what he’s saying and his personal wish to be perceived as a hero isn’t his only motivation, it’s more like a bonus. I think what makes Kaito so unique is his good intentions and the fact that his heart is always in the right place. He has many flaws but he has an equal amount of good traits that form an interesting balance and make him realistic. He has this ability to learn and change and I think this is not something you see very often in characters like him. Also, he’s a walking shonen protag stereotype in many aspects but… he’s not a protag. That fact alone creates a very interesting narrative and what is even more surprising - he actually works as a supporting character. Also, I think the story makes very good use of him and makes a good point about how he’s the only person who could have done what he did. No one else could have sacrificed their life, even if they were already dying. And even if they did - their reasons would be completely different. And that’s something I really respect about both Kaito as a character and about the way he was written.

Also, his flaws are actually explained in the story, they don’t just appear out of nowhere. Many people dislike Kaito accusing him of homophobia and sexism and it’s kind of funny because they essentially focus on a line or two while ignoring his actual actions. I am not going to pretend some of Kaito’s problematic lines didn’t happen, because they did and I do remember cringing hard at his comment about girls and how they shouldn’t use guns. But the thing is that there are so many elements, like Japanese culture (and how normalized this kind of thinking is there), translation, the context, etc. that many people who hold it against him ignore to prove their point. Does Kaito have some problematic lines? Yes. Does he actually do anything harmful/problematic in the game? Well… no? What I like about Kaito is that he has the potential of growth. He was raised in Japan, surrounded by old people, of course, he would pick up some problematic ideas. But we also see him trying to be a better person throughout the entire game and his story arc ultimately ends up with him sacrificing himself so Maki and others could live. And yes, his argument with Shuichi is unpleasant and painful to watch but in the end, Kaito realizes his mistake on his own and tells Shuichi to not worry about it anymore. He knows that what he did was wrong. And earlier in the game, he went to apologize to Shuichi for yelling and punching him and offered him much needed support.

Kaito is not perfect. He’s loud, over-confident, has a tendency to be aggressive and is very prone to jealousy. But in all his flaws he’s also very human and I find it extremely relatable. I consider him to be a very good role model because despite all that he still finds this strength to work harder, to improve himself, to put others and their needs before his own. Some people say that Kaito doesn’t have a character arc but I personally adore his struggle with jealousy and insecurity and how his hero complex is both a source of his strength and one of his greatest flaws. It’s honestly so refreshing to see a character who is actively trying to be better and actually succeeding. Sure, he never reached his full potential but this is how Danganronpa works. One could argue that he has no character development but I really have to disagree here. It’s just subtle and connected with the fact that he’s a work in progress, he never reaches this moment of ‘ah yes, my development is complete’. We are used to watching characters in fiction whose character development is just going from point A to point B and ignoring the fact that it never works like that in the real world.

There’s always room for improvement and Kaito is a good example of that. Does he still have a lot to learn? Sure! But Kaito from the first chapter would never admit that he was wrong the same way Kaito in chapter 5 does. In his eyes, at the time it would have destroyed the persona he was trying to pretend to be. This is not the kind of character development characters like Kaito usually go through. If anything, characters like him usually just tend to grow more and more self-absorbed, self-righteous and become more aggressively dominant as the time goes. Kaito, when confronted, takes a moment to re-think his behavior and realizes where his actions are coming from and apologizes for them and/or actively tries to make things better. He does his best to empower Shuichi and help him overcome his insecurities. He’s genuinely proud of Shuichi when he’s making progress. He jumps in front of a fucking arrow to save Kokichi, even though he was arguing with him a few minutes earlier and after being kept captive by him for days. He accepts his execution and even spends his last minutes trying to encourage everyone and help them move on.

Kaito Momota is an amazing character and I love him so much. Sorry for all this rambling but I got very emotional and I think this is something that I wanted to say for a really long time.

#kaito momota #ndrv3 #danganronpa spoilers #danganronpa v3 #character positivity #analysis #ask #anon #shuichi saihara #ouma kokichi #maki harukawa