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not-poignant · 3 months

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Out of curiosity, when did the, 'fanfic doesn't need to adhere to canon, everything is valid and good, don't give concrit unless specifically asked for' attitude become the norm? Genuine question.

I was active in fandom back in the LJ days, when sporkings and comms viciously mocking Mary Sues were the norm, but then I sort fell out of fandom spaces for the past (checks notes) fifteen years holy shit. The current attitude seems diametrically opposed to what I remember fandom being like (kinda shitty, it was 'cool' to be an asshole back then), and I'm just curious as to when and how the shift happened. I mean, I assume it was a gradual thing, but is there anything in particular that stick out to you?

(Also, because tone doesn't convey very well through ask, and I don't want to leave you with a poor impression-- this is by no means a defence of the 2000s attitudes, nor an aspersion on the current ones. I'm genuinely only curious about the evolution from one to the other; I hope that comes across.)

Hi anon!

TL;DR because my response got LONG -> Anon this existed before Livejournal as an attitude, in fact modern fandom was literally born out of being not canon compliant (*waves aggressively to Spirk shippers*) and this existed on Livejorunal too and there have always been big pockets of fandom that really frowned on sporking even there, like that was not cool when I was on LJ, unless you were a certain age, or in certain spaces in fandom.

But also AO3 was its kind of final death knell re: making it cool to bully 13-16 yo writers (who were largely the victims of sporking) and killing dreams, which was born out of meta happening on LJ and in other places about like... not trying to make people miserable for writing a free fic out of the love in their heart that someone else didn't like or think was good enough.

Anyway, the longer version of this under the read more!

(For everyone else, welcome to some of the uglier aspects of 00s fandom!)

So there was actually criticism around all the stuff you mention 15-20 years ago as well. I was also on Livejournal during that time and there was a pretty big proportion of people in certain fandoms who recognised even then that like... setting up communities to mock say, Mary Sue writers, was actually a pretty weirdly cruel thing to do to people who were providing free labour and the literal only 'payment' they could get in a kind of energy exchange was people just not being complete dickheads to them.

So things were already changing, especially in many LJ communities and awards communities. There were a lot of big debates over whether concrit should be asked for, and a growing movement of authors who said they welcomed constructive criticism for example, instead of assuming it should automatically apply. There was also a lot of meta around the function of fanfiction and whether it should even be 'good' by published standards if the author was just doing it for themselves, and for fun (esp if they were just going to get punished for it by folks who were elitist, judgemental, grammar purists etc.)

Things really changed around the time of AO3 (2009-2010 - literally around 14~ years ago, you may have just missed the big change anon!), Strikethrough and the Dreamwidth exodus. There was a massive swing away from leaving concrit unless the author specifically asked for it, and fandom became a lot more generally able to recognise that a lot of labour goes into fanart and fanfiction and that paying with public criticism is shitty actually. Also people were just more able to recognise that like most fanfiction writers aren't trying to become professional writers and many don't want to be.

(I would actually say things changed around the time of fanfiction.net too - rude comments there were definitely noticed and could create some pretty forward 'hey why are you doing this on something you literally don't have to read' responses from fellow readers - idk what fic sites you were on. The small indie fic sites where you could often only comment via email for example, definitely drew a lot more critical attention than sites that tended to have public comments).

The 'fanfic doesn't need to adhere to canon' literally exists since the very first Spirk slash fic in modern fanfiction in the last few decades. Literally, as soon as you write Kirk/Spock, you're not adhering to canon. Our fanfiction 'ancestors' literally paved the way for a legacy which is about not adhering to canon in order to see the world/s and thing/s you want to see, be entertained by, by turned on by, or enjoy, from the very beginning. You may not have been in slash circles anon, but the foundation of queer same sex fanfic is in many ways the foundation of fandom. But yeah, this is literally where fanfiction started! As soon as you're shipping characters that aren't canon for fun (or for whatever reason), you're making it pretty clear that you want stories different to canon, and you have to change things to often keep those characters in-character.

So yeah! That's been there for decades. Idk what circles you were in on that front! While it was fairly common for a while to criticise characters for being OOC (Out of Character), imho, a lot of folks started to recognise that they literally weren't paying for what they were criticising, and they could just walk away and potentially not like...blast the fanfic. Some folks started to recognise more that people were writing with ESL, or were teenagers (some 40 yos in fandom realised they were mocking literal 15 year olds in their proto-podcasts and websites and realised actually that's just...mean? Really mean? Not the way to nurture new generations of fanfiction writers. Definitely in no way encouraging), or were writing for themselves, or writing for like one other person, or writing for fun, or writing for free, or writing for personal reasons etc.

'Don't Like Don't Read' wasn't just about political stuff, it was also about just walking away if you feel the urge to slam a fanfic in the comments.

I've been in fandom for around 2.5 decades anon, and there were so many spaces that were not actually as shitty or mean-spirited as the ones you were in? Or ones that at least had a lot of different thoughts etc. Like, sporking (mocking/bullying badfics and sometimes the folks who wrote them) was disapproved of by a lot of people in fandom even while sporking was at the height of its popularity (the Fanlore page goes into more detail about this). It might have just been the fandoms you were in, or the people you were hanging out with (and that might have been dependent on your age or just if you were around people who wanted to be 'cool' back then - in the same way that being an 'anti' is cool among certain crowds today. It's possible to spend years in certain crowds and never get an image of broader fandom for example - we can all end up in spaces like that! I know I have.)

When I started writing fanfiction (which no one will EVER find lmao), generally giving positive comments was normal. Constructive criticism was actually pretty rare and there were already fanfiction aggregate sites that generally disapproved of it in their Rules of Conduct. People were encouraging and polite. And this was around 20 years ago on Livejournal and private indie fanfiction websites.

I would actually say there was never exactly an evolution from 'one to the other' because like thousands of people in fandom already believed this and argued in defense of supporting fanfiction and transformative works via accepting that people are labouring for free and that not everyone wants to become a 'better writer' etc. - the meta was there on Livejournal in the 00s. There were communities where sporking was seen as hip/fun, and communities where it was literally banned or at the very least, super frowned upon.

There were meta fandom communities where sporking was the subject of discussion and you know eventually in a lot of those meta communities, that's where a lot of folks decided actually that calling out the fanfiction of 16 yos as 'cringe' or 'badly done' maybe said more about us as human beings and what we wanted fandom to be, than it did about the actual fanfic itself. By the time AO3 came around, people built it with this in mind.

To this day on AO3 it's mostly considered appropriate to say you want concrit in your author's notes, and to otherwise assume as a reader it's never welcome if it's unsolicited. That started during the LJ era. And it was talked about at great length. There's obviously going to be people who disagree! But for the most part I'm a big believer in compassion and 'not everyone is here for the same reason' and 'they literally gave this to us for free and it's meant to be fun' (like yourself! What we do/think/argue 10 years ago on LJ is sometimes different to what we do 10 years later lol, I used to be against trigger warnings pre-AO3! Times change a lot :D )

So yeah, this was definitely something that was around before you and I came to fandom, and it was something that continued to grow as an attitude during, until finally it kind of won out on AO3. But yeah fandom as we know it was born in people literally not being canon compliant to make some gay dreams come true (Spirk shippers bless them all), at a time when there was no representation.

Even in the earliest days of fandom where comments could only happen via email, one of the earliest phrases authors used were things like 'flames will be used to roast marshmallows.' For those reading who don't know, flames are hate comments, critical 'this fic is bad because' comments etc. Except you emailed them directly to the author, because there was no place for comments on a fic.

And this started because authors in part got death threats for writing gay stuff.

So you know, from the very beginning, authors in fanfic have by and large had a very low tolerance for criticism / hate over something they're doing for free and making no profit out of, when they're changing/altering the canon as they please to create representation (or hotness lmao), that is literally a labour of love in a world of very little representation. From there, things have just grown. The whole 'flames will not be tolerated' existed even before Livejournal did.

Honestly there are still people who love sporking and you could probably find groups and Discords dedicated to that even now (actually you literally can, there's a Dreamwidth group for it), it's kind of wild but it started to get cool again. Just like 90s clothing :D (Which is also wild because I can just take that crap out of my closet and wear it again).

But yeah it also sounds like you may have been in some pretty crappy pockets of fandom! When I was on LJ in the 00s I avoided those places and still got to experience fandom across multiple fandoms (mostly NCIS, Captive Prince, HP, Profiler, The X-Files and some others) and communities.

I was super active in some fandom communities and saw a lot of meta happening, and my view during the early and late 00s was that sporking was largely pretty frowned upon after a very brief (like 3-6 month) era where it was cool for only some folks, and then everyone (including some - but not all - of those folks) was like 'heyyyyyyy hang on a minute.' It was something that the bullies did, and enjoyed, and otherwise folks kind of stayed away from it, especially once they learned people were becoming too scared to write fics, which is the inevitable outcome of mocking/bullying folks and fics that have been made purely out of love for something.

Like, publicly making a spectacle out of what a 13 yo (they were often teens - and it's kind of sad how many 40 yo women were doing the sporking :/ ) wrote out of love, just for fun/clout was not considered cool by everyone even back then, because like, a lot of us saw that as killing new generations of fandom (some folks who sporked considered it a win if a fic or account got deleted, this is not based behaviour), not actually creating good writing, internalised misogyny (Mary Sue hatred and self insert hatred), etc. It's hard to explain because I do really think we were in different corners of fandom at the time, but I don't know anyone personally from my time on Livejournal who actually liked sporking as an idea or enjoyed it or enjoyed listening to it or reading articles mocking fic.

I knew about it from very lively 'is this okay' 'actually no it's not even if it's just for fun this is trying to hurt people and saying 'it's just the fic' is not going to be the bandaid a teenager needs to understand why older folks (generally) in fandom are mocking them for being new at a skill' discussions on LJ in meta fandom communities. So this is how much I could be in fandom and not be a part of it and also have like a wildly different experience to your LJ experience!

I think if I'd been a teenager during that era it would have seemed a lot more appealing (in the same way that many teens are antis now before they grow out of it), and fuck it if I was a more bitter person who was just around people who liked to make fun of what other people created, perhaps I would have enjoyed it too, I can see a lot of reasons why a person would fall into that in LJ -> but I was an adult on LJ trying not to be mean to people or what they were creating, so yeah I was maybe just in very different spaces! (Don't get me wrong, I have my giant fucking character flaws, but I was very scared of people hating me so like I didn't want to do things that would make that happen, lol, and also I was scared to put up fic myself during the era of active sporking. I know for myself that sporkers didn't just scare away writers of 'badfic' - they...intimidated a LOT of people).

Before AO3 I was on FF.net, posting fics on LJ, posting on Schnoogle, gossamer, and a couple of other archives. So I don't think my experience was that 'narrow,' I just think I wasn't around like... anime at that time or other places where it might have been happening. I also avoided like...Draco/Malfoy where CC drama was happening and I know sporking was popular in that specific arena / pairing for a while as well (er, as well as anything to do with Mary Sues).

So yeah! That's about where that is. Generally gatekeeping fandom is just seen as not a great thing to do to people, and that creates other kind of beliefs that are generally upheld as being more inviting/nurturing. After all, if someone truly wants to get better at writing, they can ask, or do courses, but as we all know, everyone has to write some bad stuff to get good at it, but not everyone wants to be good. Folks are in fandom for different reasons. I'm rambling now so I'm going to finish my lunch! :D

#asks and answers #pia on fandom #pia on writing #god i do not miss sporking #but it's still happening tbh in some sections of the internet #and it always will!!!#there will always be fics that piss us off or that are just written painfully #generally speaking it's just encouraged to share that with afriend privately #instead of creating a website and recording an interview or discussion or slam #or writing an article for fandom to see #and using BNF energy to chase fic writers out of fandom #it's wild that it was actually around for as long as it was #on LJ #i feel like that was the mean-spirited click-bait era before click-bait then came around #anyway it's grown in popularity again because of Tiktok!#such is life :D

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missmungoe · 26 days

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just wondering if you're going to update "Put it on my tab"? its one of my favorites and I just hoe everyone flocks to makinos!!!! this is not me trying to pressure an update btw!! take all the time you want but im just wondering where on the update list it is if that makes sense? Have a lovely day and I love your work so much!!!❤❤❤❤

Hearing that it's one of your favourites made me so happy, I went and finished the draft for the next chapter, so it's actually next on my schedule! Hoping to update it this week if energy allows, but in the meantime, have a little snippet while I edit!

From chapter 2 of Put It on My Tab, aka the fic where a lot of people show up in Makino's bar. First up:

The bar was like he’d described it.

It’s not your usual watering hole, he’d said, his gaze drawn inwards, as though picturing it. They'd been drinking in the galley on Moby Dick, all of them gathered together; the noise level had almost drowned out his voice as he'd continued, It’s really tidy, and she keeps flowers in her windows. I used to think bars were supposed to be seedy, or at the very least a little dingy. All the ones I’d seen in Goa were, so I figured it was part of the gig, but hers was different.

He’d grinned; the one he reserved for the good things from his childhood, like his brothers, and the bandits who’d raised him, as Ace had told them, simply, She’s different.

I take it you’ve never dined and dashed from your tab there, Marco remembered saying.

He’d laughed at that. He could still recall the sound, and the way he’d throw his head back. Oyaji had once remarked that he’d never looked more like his father than when he laughed, but Marco had never told Ace that.

I’d like to meet the person who could, Ace had said.

Their whole crew had been listening now, Oyaji included, a focus that betrayed a curious amount of intrigue, given the topic of conversation, but it was Izo who'd asked, She's that scary?

Ace's grin had softened, something almost bashful in it, as though he was suddenly a much younger boy, even if Marco had often teased him that he was young. And he’d given them a clear picture of the island where he'd grown up, and its inhabitants, Dadan and her family, and the villagers, but here he’d shaken his head, as though this couldn’t be described. Instead, all he’d said was,

If you ever meet her, you’ll see what I mean.

#opfanfic #One Piece Makino #extremely delighted by the discussion in the comments for who Shanks had called #there'll definitely be a few more “who??” moments in this fic #but ahhhh I hope you'll like the chapter!!#I'm working up the strength to continue my more plot-heavy fics but right now it's been nice to just write one-shots #but they're all on my list I promise<3 #on that note - thank you for being so lovely to me?#messages like this are the very opposite of pressure; it's always really encouraging to me to hear when someone is excited about a fic #especially if it's been a minute since an update - just the acknowledgement that someone is still excited about it makes a huge difference #(btw if you've asked me about an update for a fic and I haven't replied it's not because I'm annoyed!)#(it's because it's in my drafts for when I've got a more definite answer and/or a snippet to post along with it<3)

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statementlou · 7 months

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tbh as an israeli, i was so embarrassed that they put the flags there and i wish they didn’t do that. I don’t support that at all.

❤ and that's why YOU are my people, not those flag wavers- it's definitely my identity as a Jew that makes me extra outspoken about this issue in particular because like you say I feel personally embarrassed on behalf of my kin, and a responsibility by association to speak out against the israeli state's genocide. And it's made so much worse by the way people think israel= all jewish culture, or that to be anti-Israel is anti-semitism which, as @captainrayzizuniverse pointed out in tags (YES! well said and thank you!! you are also my people❤), is a tactic of zionist propaganda used to shut down criticism of the Israeli state. I think anon meant well and wants to keep an eye out for anti-semitism during this terrible time of its rise everywhere and I appreciate that! But that's why it's important to talk loudly and constantly about the fact that taking a stand against anti-semitism does not have to include defending the Israeli state- and indeed to be broadly anti-racist, one must call out Israel's colonization and genocide in Palestine

#I can't cover hundreds of years of history here but I will briefly reference (and encourage people to read about it more)#the fact that zionism and a lot of zionist propaganda has always come from goyim colonists who wanted to carve out space in the middle east #and have used our struggling people and exploited us at our most vulnerable times in order to realize that #NOT erasing the complicity of the jewish people ESPECIALLY in today- but follow the money #we were originally just fucking pawns as usual and to this day a lot of goy colonizer gov'ts #are a big part of that propaganda wing and it REALLY isn't because they love or support jewish people #and anon has a point too in that *I* know what I mean; but some people are just straight up anti semitic #so it's good to be clearer #blah blah blah #sorry not really what yall are at this blog for but anons manged to poke me in a Special Interest whoopsy #also you know: important #israel discussion #free palestine

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red-dragon-archfiend · 5 months

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I've been watching a lot of videos about competitive Pokemon lately, and I'm starting to think that maybe people shouldn't be allowed to express their opinions on it without playing it first

#musings #pokemon #like not to be elitist but if you enter a discussion you know nothing about you're going to have no idea what you're talking about #and you're going to sound like a total goober to everyone else #it's fine to talk about it but always ask questions instead of assuming your opinions are correct #smogon is flawed but considering it's more or less a passion project by unpaid fans trying to turn single battles into a real competition #i think it's very impressive and chances are things are the way they are for a reason #snorlax isn't uber in gen 2 because it's healthy for the ou tier #evasion boosting IS banned because why wouldn't it be #but the best part is this is all interesting to learn about! i encourage people to research it and learn for themselves!#there's some really cool people talking about it and chances are there's a tier you would like somewhere

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v-arbellanaris · 11 months

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tbd later but i keep seeing people just try to go on and on abt how ppl are morally reprehensible or whatever for Not Liking f characters and i just wanna say there's definitely. ABSOLUTELY. some people in fandom that need to fuckign check their misogyny. there absolutely is and ive been talking abt it on various different blogs and things like that since '09.

but.... idk is that constructive? or helpful? to attach morality to the gender of the characters that you like? idk! this shit fucked me up bc i would like... deny that i liked m characters. like i used 2 feel soooo guilty for liking m characters???? for YEARS??? and i rly felt it was my moral obligation to Like f characters and it was SO forced... and the truth is that a lot of the time ppl write f characters with v little depth and v little intrigue bc they dont want to make Statements abt women overall bc every f character written is somehow supposed to Represent multiple someones and even when theyre """"problematic"""" or """villainous""" or whatever its in a way thats designed more for them to be unlikeable instead of morally complex or morally compelling. ppl who write m characters usually dont bother to think abt the Optics (esp when theyre white m characters) and so all of the lovely complexities come through and its clear from the story n narrative that its unrelated to their identity, or if it is related to their identity, its because of how they relate to it (rather than the relation between identity and action being that being x means you do y or that BECAUSE you're x you do y). in all honesty there's v few f canon characters that have that kind of complexity (part of the reason im always writing my own - ive been writing ofc x canon character fics for actual decades, long before i joined this fandom) and the v few f characters that do have tht complexity are probably side characters or characters not directly relevant to the plotline. and bc theyre so preoccupied w writing these characters as like... a stand-in for Minorities or whatever, they're so careful to strip any potential conflict or moral ambiguity from them in a way that leaves me feeling not v compelled to care - compared to, lets say, m villains who almost always still have that shred of humanity left to compel me to care so much about them bc i can see myself in them, f villains usually dont get that. there's exceptions to this - i can think of a lot of comics characters for e.g. - and i love those exceptions, but they're exceptions.

and idk i feel like we should also acknowledge that like... ignoring that these f characters are badly written or lack compelling (notice i specify COMPELLING here like its not rly enough for them to have a husband or a kid or whatever that's not compelling???) humanising moments because ppl treat f characters like they're supposed to Represent All Womens and 2. this makes them less compelling than m characters like 80% of the time and 3. that these critiques should be anchored in "FUCKING DO BETTER". what could we change abt how we write and engage with f characters? talk about that as much as the critiques or whatever that we have for f characters in the first place bc people are much more willing to give up on trying to write f characters if theyre told "this was shit" vs "this could use with some improvement - what abt this? or that?"

like idk i think there's a more productive way we could be talking abt this

#fandom critical #i guess. i'll probs make this private or smth later but idk! im not a huge fan of 'if u like x why dont you like y'#with the intent of shaming rather than trying to encourage a discussion. is it rly misogyny or are the f characters here just badly written #and saying f characters are badly written IS NOT MISOGYNY. when m characters are badly written its rarely bc they're m #but when f characters are badly written it's usually contained to f characters only. and we should interrogate that and question it!#i dont think its BAD to say this f character was badly written to me and so i dont find her that compelling comparatively. like...#that's not always going to be misogyny? and the solution i think is to talk abt HOW we write m characters compellingly and #whats stopping us from writing f characters the same way. that's a more fruitful discussion to me #than just sitting there whinging that no one likes f characters. (which isnt true). DO SOMETHING about it.

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byeler · 10 months

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i generally agree with the sentiment of the post about liking v reblogging, but i think at its core the issue is about being able to get work out there and seen by other people. i mean this with all the respect in the world as a big fan of your work, but i’d imagine as the author of the number one kudos’d byler fic in the world (no small feat and a testament to your skill seriously) you have established a solid platform for yourself. i think overall it’s a very interesting discussion and like i said, i agree with you! no one is entitled to an engagement, regardless of the merit of their work. i just also think this adds an extra layer that’s interesting to explore. i hope this comes across as respectful, and my fr deepest apologies if not. all the love.

i do fully understand where you're coming from, but i also was not joking when i mentioned that i've said this before. if you can't tell by the date or the fact that post got a whopping three notes, i really did not carry the same presence back then that i do now. any reblog on any post or fic of mine was (and still is!!) incredibly valuable to me. i know how important it is to encourage and share fics you enjoy because that is what did and still does continue to help me. i promise i didn't post that because i want to stop people from interacting with things that they enjoy.

what really, really bothers me is the guilt trips. i absolutely endorse and support posts that say "hey, if you want your favorite authors/artists/theorists to continue to create more of what you like, reciprocate and interact with them". what i do not condone is posts that boil down to "this fandom is dying because YOU are not reblogging enough" when there are several reasons that someone might just not want to reblog. and i just don't feel like my desire for engagement overrules anyone else's desires for what they want to do on their own blog.

at the end of the day, if i post a piece of writing for free on the internet, it's already written. while getting feedback often feels like a reward for the work i've put in, i've already done the work. if someone wants to read it and enjoy it and then choose not to like or reblog or kudos or comment or acknowledge it in any way, i still don't lose anything from that. i might not gain anything, either, but that is not a loss, because i'm not entitled to someone else's time. and on the flip side, it gives me a huge amount of appreciation for those that do take the time to otherwise engage with my work, because i know it's not a requirement, it's something they wanted to do.

i know it might sound like i'm coming from a place of privilege (?) being able to say this, and i won't fully disagree with you on that, but it's something i've felt strongly about long before my writing really had any sort of traction. i also want to be clear that i can only speak for myself, and that many other authors and artists likely disagree with me on this topic. but i simply do not want anyone to feel pressured to force some sort of interaction with me for whatever reason, regardless of how much they like my fics.

#also pls don't worry you came across fine and i'm never gonna be upset for someone disagreeing/expressing their thoughts respectfully #there's definitely nuance to this #i always try to rb fics and art with detailed tags of what i loved/leave long comments because i know how important they are #but sometimes i just don't have the energy!!#sometimes i like a post intending to come back to it later but i forget about it and never do #sometimes i like a post because i like it but i don't want it on my blog #like. there are a thousand reasons. and getting upset with someone for not immediately spreading their work just comes across as so. nasty #i know it sucks when something you've worked hard on flops. it's happened to me!! multiple times!!!#but there are other ways to encourage engagement that don't include stomping your feet and demanding more from your audience.#ok i have rambled enough but i am open to more discussion on this if anyone is so inclined

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randomnameless · 1 year

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"even if IS just said she was the villain and needed to be stopped, clear as day, people would reject it." Let's be real: the moment people started using "death of the author" to reject the Nintendo dream interview where IS confirms Supreme Leader is the villain, that's when we should've realized that people have already made up their minds and don't care anymore. It's like telling a flat-earther that the earth is not flat or trying to debunk a conspiracy theory to believers of that theory.

Tbh, I agree sometimes with disregarding the author's intent, especially in some games where the "author" wants to push "feels" and tells the olayer how they should react.

Take Berkut for instance, for a reason I still don't understand, SoV wants to paint him as a tragic figure, who ultimately redeems himself dying. You're supposed to feel bad for Berkut and sad for what happened, to the point where Alm, the Hero - who was challenged on earlier opinions - plainly states Duma is the reason why Berkut turned sour, and no one is here to tell him "uh no sorry to tell you but your cousin was a bona fide asshole".

Ditto for the devs's lunar interview about Clout's story being a "heart-warming story", like no, sorry, no matter how much you push for it, I personally don't think his story is heart warming, rather it's blood boiling.

Does it mean I use the "death of the author" like the people we're talking about?

Yeah, maybe!

But what is more gratting about those people isn't how they use DoA to make up their own canon and story (everyone can make headcanons!), but how they push their headcanon on everyone's lawns and asking for everyone else to treat it as the truth - the Aeneid is the perfect example, people really rec this fanfiction to have a "better understanding" of canon characters, or some people said it understands the characters better than the canon does. For a fanfic, sure, it's cool and all*, but to treat this as canon?

Like, there is no discussion possible between people who argue canon and others who argue using headcanons and imo that's the crux of the discourse bcs FE Fodlan is vague about 70% of its worldbuilding.

I don't like Berkut and believe he toasted Rinea because he loved being Rudolf's heir more than he loved her, but FE15 makes it uwu clear that Berkut apparently loved Rinea a lot and apparently torched her just because Duma promised him power, which makes somehow Duma the reason why Rinea was Bernie'd.

But you won't see me pop up in a discussion about FE15 or people talking about their favourite ships in that game to point out how Berkut burnt his fiancée at stake for "power" on his own volition - canon is canon - even when it blows - I'd rather rant about it and have my own HC in this space rather than piss canon-lovers/users with it.

Saying in your hcs Supreme Leader isn't the villain of the game?

Sure, do whatever you want, have a nice day, eat a sandwich, whatever. Maybe some people will join you, share your sandwich and you'll have fun developping hcs!

Saying in canon Supreme Leader isn't the villain and disregarding the dev's interviews?

That's going to be more problematic, in a way that this specific interview isn't subjective or open to interpretation (thus hcs, like Sylvia being FE4!Claude's relative or not), so people are going to disagree and be more vocal about it.

Some other blogs already explained it, but it seems like FE Fodlan attracted a lot of persons who aren't used to fandom, as in a place with transformative works and where making OCs and fics and having headcanons isn't "BaD" - so they try to retrofit canon in their headcanons because "fanfics" and transformative works are BaD etc etc (insert the general dislike for fanfictions from the early 2000s (?) and the regular/usual insults towards people who write fanfiction from the same era (them being fujos, etc etc)) so they're not writing fanfictions or arguing headcanons, no, they're just writing "totally meta pieces that are better than the canon".

Imo, the second you're disregarding canon to write something about a work, you're writing a fanfic (let it be a "real fic", random hcs, etc etc etc) and that's totally fine! You're not a "fujo degenerate" for not liking the canon and "rewritting" scenes, or building more stories about a character your like!

What's not "fine" is forcing everyone to adopt your headcanons and fanfictions - if the flower is red, you cannot force people to admit the flower is blue, otoh, if you write a story where the flower isn't red but blue, it's your story and you can whatever you want with it! Ditto with fanfic writers when someone argues canon against them, dude, you're reading a story where the author wrote the flower to be blue, like they gaf about the flower's canonical colour to be red - it's a fanfic!

Don't like, Don't read!

*not withstanding with the actual quality and body of the Aeneid, which isn't something I'd personally call cool or "alright", but that's another debate.

#anon #replies #idk if I replied to you anon?#fandom woes #sort of #the games are so vague thus encourage headcanons and that's why we have some many fan content!#even if I really don't like 90% of the fics posted on Ao3 but again if you don't like just don't read #but there's no superiority or hierarchy in what is acceptable to like #you like canon sure good for you i like my hcs and some friends like it too and we discuss about it #forcing people to like something the same way you do though it's always a big no #so if they reject the interview okay death of the author or whatever let them enjoy their hcs #but it becomes annoying when they argue their hc is The Canon (tm)#i used to be an ass who commented on fics saying they weren't canon #but then i stopped being 15

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atsoomi · 6 months

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1) good taste in music 2) super sweet 3) very fun to talk to 4) easy to switch from joking to talking seriously about the State of writing fanfic on tumblr these days 5) always has an aesthetically pleasing blog theme 6) is SLAYING college 7) loves atsumu (better twin) 8) incredible writer 9) lovely presence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thx for coming to my ted talk this has been my 9 favorite things about elise

Lia I'm going to hug u to death if u don't stop this I'm so serious

#*sniffles like a pathetic little kitten*#I LOVE U!!!!#i love that u know like 2 artists i listen to and thats enough to testify for my taste in music #and ur right the state of the fanfic economy must me discussed...#the fact that u think im slaying college is so encouraging #like youre so right im going to beat that bitch up!!!#saying atsumu is the better twin is so controversial omg... (ur right) (he's silly and that wins him a lot of points)#AND LOVELY PRESENCE !!!!#heres why I love lia :#one of the few people i trust to write for mattsun #strawberries #i fucking love strawberries #always gives me the atsumu i need #reading about u and ur bf gives me hope for.. everything #hope for love hope for life hope for !!! everything #and lastly the fact that u were my favorite haikyuu writer at one point and you so coolly followed me back as if that didnt make my mind #explode.#thank YOU for coming to my ted talk #꒰ ⭐️ ꒱ lia #꒰ el.answers ꒱

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natsmagi · 9 months

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HIIII HELLO NATTT 💖 💗 💞 💕 i just wanna say that since i noticed that your fem mugi has her hands on natsume's waist/hips in most of your fem!tmnt art i just. can't stop thinking about it bc IT'S SO CUTEEEEEEEE ASJKDHSFJK 😭 😭 😭 💖 💗 💓 I can't help but imagine that tsumugi naturally does that all the time when they're close to each other, so natsume has to scold her when she puts her hands on her waist during a meeting or something ASKDFJFK 🥺 🥺 🥺 HAVE A LOVELY DAY, NAT!! you're awesome <3333

WAAAAAAAAAA HIIII LUMIII!!!!! 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!!!! i love to imagine tsumugi just constantly wanting to shower natsume with love n affection so alot of her physical touches are subconscious at this rate 🥹🥹 simple things like holding on to her waist or holding her hand while they walk...... love having her hold natsume close SNIFFLE.....

i think mugis physical touches would embarrass natsume alot though so there are many instances where she smacks her hand away and forces her to behave AHSJFKJ ESP DURING MEETINGS AND STUFF LIKE U MENTIONED!! bc there are other people around!! having people see that would be embarrassing!!!! but she does still enjoy the affection so in private she doesnt fight it as much and also grows more accustomed to it over time........ Still wont allow her to get TOO touchy in public settings though 💥💥💥 need to keep her in her place!!!!

#AND AUGH THANK YOU LUMI I HOPE YOU HAVE A LOVELY DAY TOO 🥺🥺🥺💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕#ur support makes me so unbelievably happy u have no idea #one of the kindest and most encouraging people ive met!! so truly thank u for everything!!!! ❤️❤️❤️#plus it makes me very happy to see ppl enjoy these two as much as i do 🥹#and it makes me so happy when u and others make little observations like this in my art wah...#glad to see ur on tumblr now too bc twitters chara limit does NOT do my comments justice #i am a very chatty person there is too much i want to SAY!!!!!#ask #oh and as per usual since we're mutuals if u wanna have more indepth discussions my dms r always open 🥺🫶

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tybaltsjuliet · 5 months

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whenever i see people talk about what they did or did not know about world affairs as children, i have to ask myself, was i smarter than my peers in this regard, or was i just an army brat

#my father and i have disagreed on probably 89% of things politically over the course of my life #but i am always grateful for how much he actively encouraged and fostered that awareness in me #and gave me the best foundation for knowing how to reason and defend my arguments when we would discuss them #;swan has a word.

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hazzzyrider · 5 months

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I don't think it's anyone's particular fault (jk, it's actually capitalism and a prison-depedent rehabilitation policy). But it's really important for a person to learn the difference between "I have boundaries on how far and who I can extend my help to" vs. "EVERYONE deserves support, help and firm accountability necessary to change for the better". These are not mutually exclusive beliefs to hold.

Too often and easily, a person can fall into the trap of thinking "I don't want to interact with assholes for my own health" equals "Abandoning a person with a history of alcoholism/abuse/violence/racism/harm into a pit of fire is fine".

If we want the world to be better, we need to believe and be hopeful for a system where communities and practitioners are given the funding and space and time they need to help encourage people to grow. This does not stop us from helping victims and seeking reparations for them either.

#nuance applies as USUAL #the first step on aiding people who are in a bad place or do bad is they need to have the TINIEST ounce of commitment and want to change #which means we often have to build resources to encourage #just wanted to write this because of a really extemsive group discussion at work yesterday about this same thing lol #this doesn'tmean you can't hate a person btw. i aint here to police. i just wanna encourage a better world of helping people.#assassinating war criminals is always OKAY

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sleepy-vix · 7 months

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also i wrote a haiku for my history teacher on the back of my exam because he says he liked haikus and since it was the last 5 seconds of the test i had no time to think of a good one but it essentially was like-

this test was too hard

please have mercy on me sir

or i fear i'll fai

AND YK WHAT HE WROTE BACK?? 😭 "mercy is for the weak *my name*. you don't need it"

(i ended up getting a B+ which is pretty shit in my book since i thought i was good at history but its my fault since i didnt study at all...)

its so not fair how i only have history for 2 terms because i had sports for the other 2 terms

#i love my history teacher im going to miss him :(#also idk why i felt it was necessary to say this but he has adhd!!!#and hes so interesting to listen to because hes very passionate and knows a lot of random interesting facts abt the most random interesting #things #and hes always encouraging debate/discussions!#the only thing i dont like is that he is always making us share our work and he picks on me alot which freaks me out since i dont like being #picked but ah well #sleepy vix #sleepy vix history

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acearohippo · 2 years

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Do you think espers like being referred too as their diety/benefactor? I often see people call Ling and Xuan Nezha and Wukong so it makes me think about how they'd feel about being called that

Depends. How do people, in general, feel about being called a name that isn't theirs? How is the name being used? What's the connotation of it being called out?

I think every individual esper would have different feelings on being referred to as their benefactor. Sure, if the intent isn't malicious or done in bad taste, I'm sure they wouldn't mind it, but a name is very special to people- in different ways. You have to account for level of familiarity, level of trust/intimacy, the situation, the connotation, the culture (group and individual), and respectfulness.

And all that cannot be answered in a blanket, generalised way. Irl, we have entire cultures that won't say anyone's given name, especially without honourifics, even within tight-knit family homes or being friends for decades. You have entire cultures where you name someone and just never call them by that name ever, outside of official/legal documentation. We have cultures with concepts such as deadnames, cultures where shortening names is infantilising, cultures where saying full names denotes a loss of intimacy, cultures where you choose your own name- either legally or a secondary name-, and cultures where you're born with, and/or given, multiple names. Cultures where you're named for positive abstract values and features, and cultures where you're named from physical properties of nature, and cultures where you just keep the same 4-ish names in cycle for generations with, maybe, slight variations in spelling here and there.

And all of those are just the tip of the iceberg for where you might stand on an individual level with someone.

Sorry this isn't a nice, succint answer, but I don't think this is a question I can answer definitively nor would I have the authority to.

My opinion: Don't call people names that aren't theirs. It's Tang Xuan, Mona, Lauren, etc not Sun Wukong, Artemis, and Seket.

Also, there's a reason the game lists family and given name for all the Chinese espers, in that order. I choose to only refer to them with both names and kind of flinch when I see otherwise, but that's my individual culture. I also find it easier to just call them something else entirely, but it would be nicknames like monkey boy and demon child or pet names, like my love (Lewis ❤)

With all that being said, these aren't real characters, so do what makes you feel comfortable and, also take a page out of lillithgames, and look at the cultures the game is based on to make inferences on who would be fine being called whatever :D

#culture #the hippo responds #dislyte #sorry #really had to mull this one over #always tricky discussing irl boundaries within a fiction setting #we want and encourage creativity but we also want to encourage cultural awareness #and just means anything a group of people belong to #could be religious or ethnic or an identity or movement or aesthetic etc

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