#i get we're on tumblr where most of the interactions we see are people saying the most batshit things

[arts-i-enjoy]

Something I've noticed from subbing to just a couple of very small patreons (like fewer than 50 members) is how SHY people are about talking to the creator that they are paying! What's up with that? I wonder if it's because most of these patrons come via tumblr, where there is the culture of talking in the tags/reblogs and comments being your "outdoor voice"/basically it being RUDE to talk to people.

I think that's fucked up, especially in the context of artists (just to be clear every time I say artists that is inclusive of writers). Like these are people that are making a thing and showing it to you, they don't just want silent nods of approval by way of reblogs/likes. They want FEEDBACK. They want CONNECTION. I think a fundamental part of creating and sharing art is the goal of connection. And I don't think people realize how truly disheartening it is to post something and then get completely silent likes/reblogs.

For the love of God they are TALKING TO YOU. TALK BACK!!!!

#i love you arts-i-enjoy where i can post thoughts direct from my brain and trust that no one will ever see it 😌 #this post brought to you by: me #i get we're on tumblr where most of the interactions we see are people saying the most batshit things #but literally just be nice and respectful and i swear to you i promise you people will be happy you commented #talking in the tags is good!!! i do that a lot on art and stuff! but also on platforms like ao3 or patreon where the only option is comment #DO THAT. THAT IS WAY BETTER THAN NOTHING. #maybe im projecting but i Always love it when people talk to me as long as they are kind #i just. think we could be nicer to each other. and make each other happier #also thinking about the times ive trained people are my job and my friend who is a Trainer for their job #and how absolutely soul crushing it is to talk and talk and know that people are there and are choosing not to talk back to you #like the people in training that just. laugh at my dumb little light hearted comment. i owe them everything #oof throw back to the day i spent 8 hours training 15 people in a class together and i think the whole time 2 of them came of mute ever #destroy your voice and also your enthusiasm with this one easy 8 hour trick! you will want to sleep for three days! #god im such a fucking people person how did i ever think i was a hardcore “”“”introvert“”“” #nooo baby youre just completely socially isolated and depressed meet some people you actually like and you will see the light baby girl #this week is gonna fucking kill me. my last local friends are moving to a different state. im gonna be alone. in florida #gahhhhhhhhh #anyways yeah talk to people about the stuff they make itll enrich both of you <3

[theminecraftbee]

being in true sexyman nostalgia mode today (on account of. IT'S BEEN ONE YEAR BABY.) i think one of the most fascinating things about it is that we will never manage to do that again. like, not in a "we couldn't organize it better" way; there were better ways to do the spreadsheet, we would just turn off comments on posts and anon asks from day one so that we wouldn't then get people accusing us of censorship while we tried and failed to control the tide of things that ended up in the comments and inbox, we'd definitely have a WAY higher non-hermit contingent, both thanks to qsmp and thanks to the sexyman blog and medusa now having MUCH wider reach to other corners of the fandom and the original spread not all rooting at me, etc.

but the reason we couldn't do it again is that i don't know if we could ever replicate the exact circumstances that lead to it blowing up quite to the extent it blew up.

it was while tumblr polls and doing tumblr poll brackets on tumblr itself was still new-ish, and people were still excited about them. the idea of a mcytblr bracket was basically brand new; i won't claim we did it FIRST (because i have no idea if we did and doubt we did), but certainly we did it big first. so there's that; we can never again invent in real time "shit people are sending us threats about fraud lets legalize fraud because its funny, we can't stop it, and that neutralizes that drama as a thing anyone will take seriously", and then in turn accidentally invent a fandom culture of. um. wide-spread voter fraud.

(i don't know if we should apologize for, uh, causing the specific way mcytblr voter frauds. i still think it was better than the alternative at least, especially after seeing how so many other polls crashed and burned after us. there were MANY things we could have done better but i have seen SO MANY ways we could have done things worse since then so i think we came out looking pretty okay.)

but also: february 2023 was a very different time in mcytblr. we were in a hermitcraft dead period, where most of the hermits were either on vacation or playing tcg (which was fun, but didn't end up generating that much fandom activity by that time in february). the former dsmp crew was very much doing Nothing (and in that awkward space when the entire fandom knew dsmp 2 was never happening, but also people were still claiming it would happen, so it was just... busy waiting). qsmp didn't exist yet. there was no ongoing life series and wouldn't be for some time. i think even the dominioners and lifestealers were in a fairly dead zone. there was very little new for people to be excited about, mcyt content-wise.

enter: our poll. our poll which cleo then thinks its funny to call out on twitter. our poll, which was not only new mcyt content for the fandom to interact with (thanks to the fact we KEPT GETTING CC INTERACTIONS???), but participatory.

for about two weeks, we were the mcyt event de jour.

and like. the thing is. now we're in february 2024. mcyt is BOOMING. a new hermitcraft season JUST STARTED. we came off of vault hunters before that. meanwhile, qsmp just restarted and is, if i'm understanding correctly, booming. they just added a new guy! the two current juggernauts of the fandom are in FULL SWING. i honestly think we'd be somewhat overtaken by the fact things are actually happening in fandom. there's stuff to do that ISN'T go insane about a poll.

and it's not new, and we've seen it all before now, and frankly, it's hard to cause a mass hysteria event TWICE. lightning in a bottle, as they say.

i think part of the reason we all just REMEMBER mcytblr sexyman so much is that we could never, ever recreate it, so it remains crystalized in a single moment in time, impossible to replicate, forever memorable.

anyway: HAPPY ONE YEAR TO THE JOE HILLS SWEEP BABY,

#mcytblr sexyman #sorry i'm in nostalgia mode and feel like rambling. o7 happy one year to joe's victory

[gougarfem]

i know this is cliché and there are a million posts like this but i'm getting so tired of the pointless infighting on here. and before you accuse me of anything, i'm a lesbian who practices complete female seperatism with the exception of having to interact with male healthcare staff. yes, i'm far from a perfect radfem, and yes, we should all try but I don't think anyone on here meets that ideal. seeing misogynistic slurs and insults thrown at women who are bisexual, het-partnered, or god forbid need a fucking abortion is so saddening when tumblr is one of the only places i feel a sense of community with other feminists. most people on here have at some point been isolated and ostracized for our politics. we're lucky to have a space on a site like this where we can express our beliefs and form a community and have nuanced discussions (look at what's happening to other apps! look how quickly radfem pages are termed on instagram and tiktok!) and instead of using this platform for constructive discussion some of you are spending 4+ hours a day in petty arguments over semantics, attacking vulnerable women for needing medical procedures and cyberbullying anyone who happens to feel attraction to men. we are not going to form a movement like this. no progress will come from this! outsiders see us picking each other apart and are discouraged from radical feminism, men use the holes in our community to tear us apart and make us look like a joke. people go back to liberal circles because their first day on radblr gets them an inbox full of insults and slurs and they quickly see how other women are treated on here.

i can't believe this needs saying but spending your day online calling osa women traitors/c*nts/c*cksuckers/brainwashed, telling detrans women we're deformed and damaged goods and throwing around the r slur is not activism nor is it feminist. some of you need to watch a primary school cyberbullying powerpoint about how there's another person at the end of the screen because i know no one on here would say those things to a woman's face. radical feminism fights for the liberation of EVERY woman, no matter if you personally dislike them or disagree with their choices - and even so, it's common sense that people will be more open to conversation and willing to change if you treat them with kindness, instead of denouncing and dogpiling everyone who doesn't meet your standards. i'm a radfem because so many women aren't. i'm a radfem for the women who wear makeup and insist it's for themselves. i'm a radfem for women who have been "happily married" 10 years and still do 100% of the housework. is that you? are you fighting for these women? or are you on here to boost your superiority complex and put others down? because if that's the case our movement doesn't fucking need you.

i hope some of you think about why you're on tumblr and how exactly you're aiding female liberation or even helping women to begin with. where the majority of other communities are toxic echo chambers, we need to be able to accept differences of opinion and fight for the bigger cause. anything else will alienate the same women we claim to be fighting for.

#lav.txt #long #radblr #radfems do interact #radfems do touch #radblr drama

[autistichalsin]

In light of all the bitching about the upcoming patch, I was so happy to hear you’re also not… mad at Larian, I guess? I was wondering if I’m missing something, because for all its bugs, the game is fine the way it is, to me. More than fine, it’s a great game, the first that really means something to me since Dishonored. Idk, I’m literally over here just vibing, glad I’m not alone in that 😌

I noticed there's been a trend in recent years, I think started by those media that truly DID become horribly disappointing as it went on (last season of GOT, for example), and people started just... like

There is a phase most media get where they are the Best Ever, they Can Do No Wrong. And then one day that phase ends, and suddenly, that media Can Do No Right. Everything is a mistake, everything is wrong, everything is an attempt to cater to one group of fans (who are, of course, the wrong group to cater to) and/or an attempt to spite one group of fans. I think that in this day and age, people sometimes don't understand the difference between consuming media critically, I.E., using critical thinking to understand the themes, plot, and characters, and consuming media critically, I.E. criticizing everything the creators say and do.

So instead of looking for simple explanations, I.E., "different trainings and specialties mean that the division of labor at Larian has a team that works on new animations, but that team is not the same team responsible for bug fixes, so getting new animations from the former isn't why the latter hasn't repaired Polearm Master or Shield Bash or Raphael and Mol's scene yet" they instead assume "Larian only cares about Astarion and Halsin* and are catering to their fans again at the expense of literally everything else"

*The idea that Halsin fans are receiving any kind of special treatment is laughable, but that is very much the accusation being made- i want to see their reaction when they open up patch 6 and see that their fave has new kiss animations too tbh. As for the new scenes datamined for Halsin, those are all in response to complaints made by people who HATE Halsin, not complaints by his fans. A platonic confession scene? A version of the post-breaking the curse scene that doesn't involve flirting? The only two that were made for Halsin fans were fixing his post-Drow dialogue and the ability to go with him at the end, and the latter hasn't been fully implemented yet (you can get a flag saying you chose him, but you don't get to tell him and have him respond yet). But I have seriously digressed.

IDK, it just seems like we're in the phase of fandoms where, since the initial joy of discovering what the game has to offer has worn off, people are getting their dopamine from getting angry instead, and that means making a game of who can have the best hot takes, who or what is the most problematic and deserving of shunning, what have the creators done to fuck over us poor fans, etc.

There are many legitimate criticisms to be made against Larian, I want to be clear here- their treatment of Wyll's character has been horrific, and the interactions between Durge and Astarion should have been given for ALL characters. It is appalling that they have let Minthara's romance be bugged to the point that some people can only trigger it by modding the game because the flags are bugged and that they have allowed Halsin's voice lines to be bugged SINCE LAUNCH causing many to think they don't exist. All of these things deserve to be criticized. But ascribing malice to things like having separate work teams on the game, or the pile-on people started over that "we fixed it so a glitch can't cause Gale to leave your party" patch... Yeah.

It's never a good sign when a fandom starts to collectively chase the high that comes from being The Angriest. It doesn't seem to be as prevalent on here as on Twitter, thankfully (ironically, speaking as someone who was on this site since before Superwholock, the most toxic parts of Tumblr moved to Twitter after the porn ban, and now it's mostly rational people on here) but we are rapidly sliding towards the "do you people even like this game or do you like the version of it you created in your head?" phase of fandom that everyone dreads.

[iren-n-ire]

Astrology Observation 10

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🚩 Take note that I'm not a professional astrologer, I just share what I experienced (or observed).

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┈┈┈┈․° ☣ °․┈┈┈┈

👁 Where Scorpio is where you want to dig deeper or what you where you want to know the most about

👁 Scorpio in the first house is a living simp of themselves like they want to know everything about themselves whether its good or bad or neutral.

👁 They said that 12th house is where are hidden enemies at but, I think its like a updated version of the eight house where people also say that your enemies are at.

👁 Cancer suns... I never saw a classmate of mine that is not white skinneddd (I'm from Philippines btw)

👁👄👁 Cancer sun & Libra rising in draconic astrology, I don't know why I lowkey want to be in these two besties friendship (they're Libra Sun & Cancer Sun) in my school 💀 It's like I'm a fan of them whenever we had interaction (I treasure the our moments lol) 💀

👁 Taurus in the sixth house...we're either sleeping or sitting on our potential and once we come out of our house...ya better be ready because our shitz is about to get real

👁 If your Saturn is with Gemini in your natal chart, age gap maybe wide and there is also a potential to be the eldest?

8th house Gemini Saturn here, I'm the eldest in the pack

┈┈┈┈․° ☣ °․┈┈┈┈

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❤️‍🔥FOLLOW ME HERE❤️‍🔥

Facebook Pages: IREN & IRE

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✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

❤ Thank you! See you on my next post! ❤

💋 Be you, Do you, You are You! 💋

#astrology #astro observations #astrology observations #astro placements #astro community #scorpio #cancer #gemini #libra #ire #iren #iren n ire

[faithfromanewperspective]

gotta say it now bc i've been spending so much time in the 5sos fandom where we're all super protective of our creators: I know supporting an author isn't the same. I know cassie doesn't put herself out there in the same way as zillennial musicians. and I know there are things people in the fandom disagree with her on and I'm not here to minimise that.

but everywhere I interact with the fandom and it's been like this for years now, jokes and things about how old we'll be when the series is finished and yeah it's funny to some extent but as someone who knows what pressure to create does to me, who knows how much it dries my creativity, she's on tumblr. she's seeing some of this. and we gotta tow this line and be careful: careful as to how we're treating her and also careful for the sake of fans ourselves--we don't want to be acting in ways that incidentally result in content being delayed and lower quality because she's been burnt out for ages and we're just giving so much pressure to read twp, read tbvotd and read whatever else she'll doubtless come up with after because she loves the shadowhunters world, she always ends up writing more for it even when she says she won't. and aren't we lucky for that? we love the tsc universe. and if we're old by the time it's all finished, that's the result of her loving this universe she created so much that she just kept writing for it. it's a blessing.

and maybe i sound like an aussie who grew up under a rock in the middle of the bush (which I am) saying this but. when my only queer representation was a singular jacqueline wilson book until i was 14 and read malec's story in tmi, when i've never seen another author portray such a diverse range of realistic neurodivergent characters, when i'm a half white poc with grandparents from borneo which is partially in indonesia and magnus is indonesian, I do find in myself some appreciation for her: the author who created a world of characters I see myself in and I do hope she's okay and I want her to recover from burnout, I know how much it sucks, and it still kinda baffles me how she'll share bits and pieces of her mental health experiences (and she's my parents' age!! and a lot more emotionally aware than most gen x's I know which I so appreciate) and we don't, largely, as a fandom, seem to care. like i get we're in a fandom for the characters and stories she created not her, herself, but like ???

I love seeing the artist behind the art they create. I love it when they're human and imperfect and yet we can still see the good in them that they put out to impact the world with, a legacy, and when we see their imperfections and we can acknowledge this all together, acknowledge and come together for the fans who have been hurt by these mistakes, oversights, harmful views, that are mixed in with the good. and I love it when we can still come together after this and be like, I support this creator, I want them to be okay, I want them to keep discovering love and I want to see it in their writing. and this I don't think should only apply to conventionally attractive twentysomething men who sing! maybe i'm biased in the observation that it is usually where I see the most artist support. or maybe it's actually a trend and as feminists, as people who see our dignity in more than being fuckable and more than being Perfect Leaders, we can do better.

and so i don't care when the wicked powers come out. i'll have finished my masters' degree before I finish that book series and hear the rest of kit and ty's story i started reading in high school. but that's okay. if that's what it takes to get a good story. i don't care when we get the final tec book, even though i've got two copies of the other two on my bookcase and don't know if the cover art will even be the same when the third one comes out. because we love pretty timely things but we're not owed them. and I have to say, this isn't completely true. I do care. I do want to know. I do want to experience that joy. but much more than that I want cassie to write at her own pace and I want her to enjoy it and I want her to keep discovering her own creativity and the proof is honestly in the pudding that every artist I've seen decide to do things at their own rate has ended up way more productive than before they decided that. and artists are people after all. it's what makes their art so good and forms the basis for the fandoms we're in. so I hope she knows it's okay to take her time.

#cassandra clare #tsc #tmi #tid #tda #twp #tec #the wicked powers #tlh #kit herondale #ty blackthorn #again. i really don't want to say 'she's perfect and can never hurt people' #but the point of this is that she still deserves to have freedom over her schedule and we can do our part by not being demanding to the #extent that we forget that she's human. that she's poured so much of herself into the characters and worlds she's made and she deserves to #keep looking after herself even when that means we don't get what we want as soon as we want it. we can be a loyal fandom

[swords-of-a-soilder]

Remove Problematic CCs

Section 2

"The Qsmp is problematic"

So fun fact twitter hates this fandom and everything it stands for, I'm not kidding when I say the amount of people I saw calling the fandom, toxic, racist, misgontic and ableist is interesting to say the least.

So of course when the SulhasSpace issue happened some people ran with it as proof that the fandom is the problem. Now I've show you guys an racist account before in the last account of interest (burnbook Qsmp) So I'm not here to pretend it's not a problem, it absolutely is.

So yes I get where these are coming from to some degree but Twitter doesn't forgive or forget, and there's of course the fact that not ever "fan" is actually a fan.

That being said they are two sides to Qsmp twitter right now,

1)Chill fun time, drawing your faves.

2)your faves are problematic and if you don't push for them to be kick out your a terrible person.

A common discussion I see on the twitter is often, "oh you're defending your faves, you call out any creator but your faves" completely ingoring the fact that most the stuff their holding said faves accountable for are ages old.

They call us parasocial but then make post after post advocating for members to be removed from the SMP, it's making rounds, so I want to clear any misinformation on Twitter and make it clear when creators apologize.

I bring you back to this tweet (please don't even interact with this person Thank you.)

You might remember them from the bonus section, this was posted jan 5 2024 with 1.3K likes (Jesus) so allow me to clear the air on some accusations.

In the reply of this they link a thread stating all problematic behaviors of creators, however MAJORITY of the this thread is just attacking the fan base I'm not even kidding.

Here's the thing, the bad apples aren't the fandom, it was this same behavior that had people attack dsmp fans.

Say what you want about Dream but you can acknowledge the dsmp fandom got so much hate for simply existing because a few of them were bad.

Because as someone who's been in both, and left both oddly who was previously a full on dream Stan and just sorta grew out of him. People hated us just for liking the dsmp.

They attacked minors in cosplay called us fatherless and cringe (and like yeah but still) overall make fun of Nurodiverst kids for having hyperfixations, and their justification was we're all terrible people.

Here's my thing, you don't actually care, you don't care about the alleged victims or the people who's lives are at risk; You want to make the fandom look bad.

You could have easily said "A person on twitter told another they hope the us gets bomb" and yeah I understand it was in the context of the Qsmp but people are not their interset, don't water people down to the things they like, then you're just making stereotypes.

How is it any different than saying, "a kpop stan did this, a furry did that,"

Also while I'm on this compersion of both I've noticed a constant conflict in regards to the Forever situation vs Dream situation with the parties on either side the other cc is guilty but theirs isn't.

I noticed this as soon as the accusations dropped actually a lot of people even here on Tumblr, where saying "this is what we deserved" and at "least dream didn't actually do it"

Tô be honest I noticed the fandom was at odds before that even, they were sudden talk here on Tumblr which means the topic likely came from Twitter of the dsmp compered to the Qsmp.

And I'll be honest dsmp was getting dragged, I read these thinking, 'why are we comparing them, they're clearly different with their own stories.' I still wonder that.

I don't want to fight with dream SMP fans, I use to be one of you , I had a freaking fan fic plan that was just c:! ranboo getting teleported into the Qsmp.

Why don't have to fight, but I guess with dream being unlikable, that makes things very hard.

Anyways I'm getting of track, when this person does have a important Calm it's often.. wrong

Ok no, to both of these.

1) she was not the only woman on the server, Jaiden joined the server at the very beginning, so unless I miss an noticed that Jaiden actually used macs pronounces that's a fuckin lie.

You can see Jaiden right there behind Foolish, on the very first day. This isn't hard to confirm, it doesn't even take a second.

I read the tweet and immediately went, nah that's not true I remember Jaiden, And what do you know Jaiden was in fact a member at that time.

(looking at this image gives me so much Nostalgia omg..)

2) she was not the only one being harassed, in fact they literally contradict their own statement with proof bad was receiving hate at the same time

Political lore, as in election season? I mean it must be I can't think of another political Qsmp event that bad was involved it huh crazy but If thats the case then Baghera wasn't the only one receiving hate thats... that's crazy, you're crazy.

Non of the tweets that screenshot are misogynistic, it's just people who believe the dream accusations criticing her attendance to his concert.

Also let me be clear real quick, I am AFAB in fact tmi I haven't even gotten on T, it's difficult to here and I'm afraid of getting hate crimed.

So I understand misgony, I live it, this is not what this is; Criticizing a woman isn't inherently misgony.

When you guys said "Qsmp had a misgony problem," is that what you guys meant, a woman gets hate and it's automatically misgony and not a section of the fandom being toxic..? Ok

#qsmp #qsmp investigation #qsmp discourse

[thequeenofthewinter]

In the Midst of Winter has turned two.

Actually, it's my "writer-versary" in general. I hadn't written anything before this. (I didn't start posting until a few weeks later, but today's the day I started tapping away at those keys.)

730 days. 253,968 words. And well, now we're working on a sequel.

Two years ago, I opened up a Word document, and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Still don't quite know what I am doing if I am honest with myself, but in that time there have been a few things which I have discovered for myself. Idk, I am feeling cute, and I thought maybe I would share some of those thoughts here. There's nothing mind bending or earth shattering here. I'm just a girl with a keyboard who writes fanfiction.

In the time since I started writing, there are a lot of things which I have learned and even more which I will continue to learn in the future. The most important of these things is: you write for yourself and you write to have fun. If you are having fun and if writing makes you happy, that is the only thing which is important. Yes, yes. I know, I know. Comments and kudos are nice. I like them too, but they are not what keeps you going, not truly anyway. It's a love of a story, a love of your craft and what you're doing, and the joy you get from creating. Yes, but Winter, lack of engagement is a writer killer. I hear you, friend. I see you. I am also you. I do not deny that a lack of engagement can definitely feel demotivating. I'd be lying if I didn't say that sometimes I feel a wee bit sad when I see my story just kind of sits there. But it's more than that. The comments, no matter how nice they are, will not keep you going when you have no love of what you're doing and your heart isn't truly in it. (There. I said it.)

We make fanfiction because we love something so much that it moves us to words, and taking the spirit and soul out of it and turning it into a comment machine, won't keep you afloat forever. Nor will it give you quality writing.

Conversely, something else which I learned is that negative comments can go straight into the TRASH where they belong. You cannot please everyone, and there will always be someone who doesn't like your writing. Haters are going to hate, and if they don't like what you're writing, that does not mean anything is wrong with it. All writing is good writing, and there are many different styles. More than that, we improve over time. It's what all the writing blogs say, but it's true. I'd invite you right now to go look at my first posted chapter and then read the last one. There is a difference. If you're new out there, keep writing. Keep creating.

The last thing which I'd like to share is that community makes a huge difference. When I first started writing, it was me, myself, and I, and I know I have said this before, but was scared shitless to post anything at first. I was also (still am at times) a little nervous to interact with others because of what I write. However, I did it anyway, and I am so grateful. I posted my story, and eventually, I did join Tumblr. People found me, and I found people. Don't be afraid to reach out. (Be cautious, as always. This is the Internet, after all.) Find some people whose writing/art you like and reblog it, leave some notes, or comment on it. You'd be surprised about what turns up.

Most people I have interacted with here have been lovely and beautiful human beings and have been nothing but encouraging. They've both keyboard smashed with me in the good times and helped push me along the way when I have been in a rut. They've helped fuel me and supported me and if it weren't for them, who knows where I'd be now.

...And well, if you get a negative response...they weren't really worth talking to to begin with. (If you're looking for someone to talk to, here I am. Hi, I am Winter. It's nice to meet you.)

#how writing a fic works #winter rambles #it's my writer birthday #should I get cake?

[prismatoxic]

yo gimme 11 and 12 for the ask game for chilaios :3

11. What's your favourite piece of fanart for [ship]?

UHHHHHH

god. good question. ummm

there's several that i think have earned that distinction... i'll start with the very first chilaios fanart i ever saw:

nick and i had never so much as interacted before when i saw this, but like... i took one look and went ah, shit. that's My Kind Of Ship. and eventually this led to me getting into dunmeshi. (yeah, i keep telling this story--here's the art it's about!!) of course we went on to not interact beyond me resharing every chilaios it posted for a while, but we're mutuals now so!!! the chilaios cycle continues

past that, it probably goes without saying that every fanart i've ever gotten for my fic is my favorite. so i won't be including those. but here's a few that rattle around in my skull very often (you will have to click through to properly see them, sorry):

sorry for how long this list got. go reblog those

12. What's the funniest or craziest AU idea you've ever come up with?

does imposter syndrome count

or perhaps the one i want to write where chilchuck from the past shows up and they have a threesome?

sorry i don't think most of my AU ideas are that wild 😔

#tox answers #long post #s. sorry.

[laylabahiti]

HSHQTASK059: FAREWELL SEE YOU LATER!

when did you join ? what made you join ? what do you remember from the plotlines that were current at the time ? where were you in life when you joined and where are you now ?

i joined september 2016 when this was vikrp! i was a junior in college and had been writing indie rp for a minute before that kinda died down, so i took a peek at the tags. vikrp/haisociety/highsociety had the pairs aspect to it back then, so i fulfilled someone's jade thirlwall wc but they went inactive like right after i was accepted asjdfka. i believe the revamp to haisociety happened in december/january, truly a time to be alive. i started as a junior back then and i'm ending as a junior in my second bachelor's degree💀, a homeowner, and within the next couple years, i'll be married and have a kid*. *tbd when we're both done with school and onto other careers

which characters have you written over the years ?

layla, cameron (early days), tobias (early days), katalina, gabriel, mikolas, alaina, dmitri, juliana, ettore, emerson, tamiko, kaira

what is your favourite plotline that you've been part of ?

too many to choose from! tbh the aslan/layla/olivier triangle was fun just because of the silly ic drama it caused. i'm pretty sure it was during haisociety when i messaged e about layla/olivier, because layla has the "he helped me, i love him" mentality and we just went with it askdfa, not really planning anything or knowing what would come of it. also love the egypt plotline and anytime those siblings interacted. and the early days of barbie and layla's friendship, how barbie pretty much took layla under her wing and got her out of her shell.

what about other people's plotlines ?

definitely the chaos of england and the murder mystery event. if i remember any more i'll edit this jaksdf

who is your favourite character from the ones you've played ? why ? what made you love them ? what made them so fun to write ?

no surprise here but layla. in the early days, layla was meek to the point she hardly spoke, took everything literally, and asked too many questions. she developed her voice and learned to be a little selfish in the later years, but she's still a crier.

if you could relive a plotline, which would it be ?

the greek invasion. it might have been one of the most well-constructed events i have been a part of. i remember traveling during it and writing replies on my phone just so i didn't miss out. every character was affected one way or another, and that event was a turning point in layla's personality.

is there a plotline that you'd edit now if you could ?

i wouldn't necessarily say edit, but it'd be interesting to see how things would've panned out if layla kissed olivier back and still felt guilty enough to tell aslan.

what's a plotline you wish you would have been able to finish before closing or just write more of ?

egypt<3 getting to see amon's coronation and both of them trying to rectify the family's image. life got way too chaotic over the past year, but i love mine and lina's headcanons

what is your favourite ooc memory ?

late 2018, someone kept sending rude/hateful anons to muns and the main, and everyone banded together to keep hshq alive and well. i submitted a whole essay to the main with my comments not thinking the admins would actually post it and they DID, 2018 was an interesting time here. also in the early days when we started listing how all characters were connected and making full circles of connections, simpler times.

where can others find you if they want to get in touch ?

you can always reach me on discord! i'm in the hshq server so feel free to add me or message anytime. i have a few socials if you want those as well - if this is farewell, you've earned my real name ajkdlfj. tbh this is probably my tumblr exit, i don't have much time or mental capacity to write full threads and join something new, but this blog will remain.

what else would you like to say ?

hshq is truly the only reason i've stuck around tumblr this long. almost 8 years of my life has been spent communicating with you all! in some of my worst moments, i was able to turn to hshq and escape reality for a bit. i feel like i'm missing a lot but trying to dig up memories from 8 years ago is difficult lol.

#hshqtask059 #my brain is not computing. i did my best <3

[predvestnik]

Knowing your partner well can potentially make writing together a lot easier.

Repost, don't reblog!

(PEN) NAME: Vênus

PRONOUNS: You can't misgender me in a way that I'll care

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION: DMs always. 

NAME OF MUSE(s): Childe Tartaglia Ajax (you're here!). Kaveh over @vohunara and Neuvillette, tentatively, over @leviudicator

BEST EXPERIENCE: Having joined the RPC on Tumblr over ten years ago, honestly. I'm way more recluse now than when I started, but how stories are written on this platform is collaborative in ways no other is. It was on Tumblr where I've had the pleasure of developing storylines that were intertwined with multiple people's muses and that will never stop being a goal to experience again. Multiple muses being affected by the actions of others? Referencing in their threads for better or for worse? Chef kiss.

RP PET PEEVES / DEALBREAKERS: Begging is not a dealbreaker, but it's a major pet peeve. For anything: interaction, ship, meme, art, etc. It's not always easy to get traction, more often than not we have to look back to what we are providing to find the solution to our struggles — am I respectfully reaching out to other RPers? Am I engaging with the community? Am I putting out content that makes sense for other people to add to? So on and so forth.

Littlest most inconsequential thing, mostly because I don't understand at all: seeing "not affiliated with the Genshin fandom" everywhere. What in hell is that supposed to even mean? We're in the RPC, which is a subsection of the fandom. It tells me nothing.

MUSE PREFERENCES: I have a history of thriving with muses who are part of the antagonist force in their source material, from the most extroverted types to the stoic ones. I like conflict and opposition, even when (specially, I'd go so far as to say) my muse is the one who's wrong.

PLOTS OR MEMES: I prefer plots but my routine only gives me enough resources to engage with memes, mostly. Plotting with me nowadays kind of require OOC closeness due to the immensurable patience we will need.

BEST TIME TO WRITE: Night time. Alas, eepy. </3

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S): I don't think so. There are elements I inject into my portrayals that relate back to me as a natural consequence of interpreting a character, but I see close to nothing of myself in their canon. c: If anything, I'd say Neuvillette is the one I think comes the closest and, ironically enough, is the most challenging muse I have currently.

tagged by: @ccaptain Because of COURSE. <3 tagging: This bloodline ends with me (jk, take it!)

#✦ DASH GAMES. #✦ OOC.

[opinated-user]

indeed, anon. i'm sure it means a lot for LO that you're willing to lie so blatantly. 1. that user they mentioned? not one of my followers or regular users who interact with my content. if you go to their blog, literally the only one that reblogued from any of us was this post. for the record, it was the post where i posted the screenshot of LO using the r-slur against her critics and Brittany commenting that LO later changed it to "crackhead".

i can't speak for the other blogs though. at least they didn't ring any bells for me. just in case it's needed too: i'm stubbornly clear about how i don't want anyone reading my blog to go interact with LO in any sort of way. the goal here is deplatforming and you can't deplatform someone if you just keep validating their platform with more social interactions. not to mention that anything you say to her is just more for her victim narrative. 2. one reblog post. zero likes. the rest of their interaction are miscelanious posts that have nothing to do with either LO or our blogs. is that what "regularly interact with" means now? but even if they did "regularly" interacted with any of us... again, we're all pretty adamant about not harassing or bothering LO because it'll always be useless. so clearly this person is not listening to us either and went out of their way to go against what we try to do. i'm not happy about this person going off on LO like they did either. 3. let me get this straight. when we say that some anons write the exact same as LO does and we can recognize the tone, or it's just pathetically obvious in some other way, that's us building conspiracy theories because we can't accept that someone might actually like LO. those two things have nothing to do with each other in the first place, LO is capable of using sockpuppet accounts and also there being people who for some reason think they like her, those are not mutually exclusive, but that's what LO has said before. but when this unconfirmed anon that nobody know who they are say that they recognize the writing style of some of the anon messages we get with this other random tumblr user who only wrote something by themselves once, oh, now that's a valid thought process. to clarify, they might be right for all i know. i have no clue. i just know that this user went against LO in the most unnecessary way possible and it did nothing but anyone, so i hope at least it was worth it for them because certainly it wasn't for us. they might have also send us some anons for all i care. i just question the double standard here. when we do it, it's a conspiracy. when other people to it to defend LO, no, that's just being a smart person who just notices this kind of things. 4. "showing people 5+ instances of you being directly contacted by the blog"... what is this even talking about? what other 5+ instances are they refering to? i only just found out about this one user going on their own. this one user i might have seen once in my activity notifications and never again. where are those other blogs who are part of this side of tumblr doing this? 5. "everything going on with Poppy last month has also been very helpful." i'm so glad, anon, that you're able to be so honest and say that you're glad that Poppy violated the consent of a survivor of CSA to the point that she destroyed his trust. i almost respect that. or do you mean the multiple allegations of abuse against her that have nothing to do with us or LO? the ones that LO has majorly ignored? while treating Poppy like a potential victim only after she put the testimony of Courtney behind a paywall? truly, i'm fascinated with how you see a sex pest harming people, using them and discarding them as "helpful" to keep the good reputation of your favorite youtuber. indeed, the sign of a well adjusted and moral person with their priorities in the right places. thank god that all those people were negatively affected by Poppy so it could serve you to keep protecting a proven groomer. i bet all those victims will be delighted to know that their experiences were useful for you. but really, what i can expect from a fan of the woman who has said more victim blaming things that are more aboherrent than that? you two truly deserve each other.

#lily orchard

[rainbowsky]

Hello, rainbow! hope you’re doing well!

i feel really silly asking this, but how do you view dd’s relationship with his fans? what do you think about it?

i’m new to the fandom so i’m kinda confused, and really don’t know if this has been addressed already.

i feel like every time i see him interacting with fans he looks really annoyed? maybe fed up?

i know lately there has been a lot of instances where he got his privacy invaded by “fans”, and that strains the relationship. but i don’t really know how it was before.

i really really like and support him in everything he does, and i know my thoughts might be misplaced. but i wanted to know your thoughts, if you’re willing to share.

Hi Anon, hope you're well too! 😊

Sorry that I'm so late in answering some of these asks. I've been very busy IRL and haven't had much time lately for Tumblr. I'm trying to get to the ones that are still somewhat relevant.

I got a few asks along the same lines of this one, after DD's recent Chunzhen live (more on that event here).

Disclaimer: This response is for all the anons who asked me this question, not just the Anon above. In fact, the above ask is the least judgmental/critical version of this ask I could find, which is why I'm answering it and not some of the others.

This question comes up a LOT whenever new fans see DD in interviews or at fan events, and especially at live endorsement event fan meets, which I believe he mostly hates (because they're boring and contrived and call upon him to be fake, and he's not fake).

Here is the Chunzhen event with Eng Subs.

People seemed to have an especially big reaction to his response (at 50:15) when he was asked if there's anything he wanted to do with his fans and he said, "Nothing." Which is just a very honest answer, quite typical of the DD we know and love.

And let's face it, what a STUPID question. What on earth would DD want to do with his fans? They don't treat him like a human being. What does he even have in common with most of them? As a star, what's he supposed to want to go camping with them or something? They'd spend the whole time screaming and fawning over him.

Anyway, this sort of response always gets negatively interpreted, and fans read a lot into it and often he gets painted as harsh, ungrateful and mean.

I think a lot of it comes from the toxic positivity that is rampant in most cultures - the idea that we have to come across as exuberantly pleasant or else we're being negative or bad.

DD is a very honest, straightforward person who tells it like it is. That means that sometimes he comes across as harsh to some people, but that's just the cultural judgments/assumptions talking - it's not an accurate assessment of who DD is or what he's really like.

There are expectations around how people should look and behave, and when those expectations aren't met, their behavior is interpreted as negative.

As an autistic person I get this a LOT in my life, and I absolutely hate it. It's one of the things I most loathe about interacting with neurotypical and mixed groups of random people who I'm not familiar with and don't have a trust bond with.

Because I don't have a lot of facial expressions, because I don't deal in subtext and I am forthright and honest, I very frequently get interpreted in negative ways - as 'harsh', 'cold', 'rude', 'blunt' or 'intimidating' - when in fact I'm just talking normally, and when in reality I'm actually happy or cheerful about what I'm talking about. People misread me entirely and take everything I say as having a negative tone, and project all these negative ideas, motives and subtext onto me about what they think I really mean or what they think I'm thinking about them. (More on all that here).

It even happens here on my blog.

It's a big part of why I identify with Lan Zhan so much. In fact, that's how I first learned about GG and DD - because my sister saw The Untamed and thought Lan Zhan was just like me, and urged me to watch the show.

We can hopefully all agree that Lan Zhan isn't a hateful, mean, harsh person. We can agree that he's actually a kind, loving, noble person with a lot of deep emotions and a compassionate heart. It's just that his way of expressing that is different from most other people's way of expressing it. Wei Ying is one of the few people who can see and accept Lan Zhan for who he is, and in return he gets the gift of seeing how funny Lan Zhan really is, how soft-hearted and kind.

DD is like this. He's sweet, charming, funny, kind. And he's also very unique, not like everyone else. He has his own way of expressing himself, and he has never been one to put on a fake face for fans - at least, not in his solo career where he's been at liberty to be himself.

We shouldn't read anything negative or judgmental into this.

Whenever DD has a live fanmeet for an endorsement brand my inbox fills with asks about his supposedly being 'off' or 'upset' or even 'angry', and I think if he is any of those things, it's not about what fans seem to assume. It's not some personal thing or some beef he has with fans. It's quite simply discomfort about being put into an event he doesn't enjoy and feels bored by.

DD isn't a salesman. He's not that kind of guy. And these events, they really call upon those kinds of skills and behaviors. They call upon the star to be a cheerful, up-beat shill for whatever ware is being hawked, and that's not something DD seems to feel comfortable with.

If it was a cool Lego set or some skateboard parts and accessories or a motorcycle helmet he'd probably light right up and knock it out of the park. He'd probably sell the shit out of those things. But drinkable yogurt or massage equipment or facial masques - not really something he's going to get fired up about.

DD isn't fake and isn't really capable of pretending to be interested in something he's not interested in. That's a feature, not a bug. That's a good thing, not a bad thing. HE'S SINCERE.

Once you've become more familiar with DD as a person you'll start to see that it's just his personality. And his fans - the ones who've been with him for a while and know him well - they see him for who he is and they love him for it. They know that he's not going to blow smoke up their ass or give them a bunch of fake sweetness. They appreciate his honesty and accept him for who he is.

Someone is likely to ask me if maybe he was upset about the way Chunzhen was handling the event/the situation with turtles, or if he was sticking it to solo fans after the fucked up demands they've been making and the way they've been abusing his team, so I'll address that here as well:

I doubt it, but it's possible.

Whether solos accept it or not, DD does care about turtles. At the very least, turtles are an important part of DD's fan base (and are not involved with the demands and other BS), and I doubt he would appreciate seeing them mistreated by one of his brands.

Turtles aside, I doubt he enjoys dealing with controversies, or with fan demands or with the way they've been slandering his team online. It's possible either one of those issues - or even both - impacted his demeanour in the event.

But like I said, I really doubt it. He was behaving how he usually does at these things - bored and eager to get it all over with. I didn't see anything unusual to suggest he was particularly upset or angry. He was just doing his job, earning his pay. Nothing more.

#ggdd events #savage dd #ggdd in the public eye #ask

[athousandbyeol]

"it’s because they take care of each other and they are a source of comfort to each other. especially when they’re feeling nervous, you’ll see that they’re the clingiest." - this what you said is so true remember the bungee jumping where they kept confessing their love for each other I cried

"but it’s very rarely flashy or exaggerated. and 97% of what people think is fan service is really just how their friendship is." - you literally just took the words out of my mouth and of am not wrong they even mention this in one of those abaab interview that what others/fans think is a cute lovely moment between them is actually normal for them just their genuine deep loving friendship showing

i will never get tired of saying how very PROUD i am of them after everything they've been through together their every growth ups and downs with their relationship with each other their career and their success i love them with my whole heart and i've never been in love this much i am in love with them being in love with each other be it whatever kind its pure its genuine its beautiful its heartbreaking its celestial its destiny its a match made in heaven and i will never shut up about this its some soulmate/twinflame shit right there

sorry for the rant i just wanted to share it

op, these words are spoken by @laowen actually. as the president of forcebook society here on tumblr, she's very spot-on :) //i'm sorry if you thought it was me ㅠㅠ i'm not that good at expressing my feelings. i'm just a mess in this forcebook discourse hahaha

but yes. yes to everything. forcebook's interaction is organic and homey. although i do believe some gestures are spiced to taste (because let's face it, they're in the entertainment industry. of course there's in need of some ✨️pizzazz✨️), those touches, every word, the loving stare, comes from the heart and are sincere. i believe what they have even before they're in the industry plays an important role in their sturdy relationship. because whatever it is, forcebook are friends before everything. they've known each other half of their lives. what more can we ever say about them? love and trust are an understatement. they're so much more.

i dearly hold onto that notion because friends— good friends— don't come by all the time. but the universe somehow aligned these two souls to reunite again. and they've become inseparable, it seems. somehow, they're soul partners that would laugh at each other, record all those embarrassing moments, but will stand up for each other whenever things get messy. forcebook aren't meant for people who crave grand gestures. what they do every day is normal to them and i think it's what most foxmochis adore about their relationship. the normalcy. the quietness. the tender assurance. whatever forcebook have; it's beautiful. it's behind the scenes. it's sincere. it's home.

also, i personally think, if shippers that go beyond the comfortable context of 'liking two individuals', and start having weird ideas about them, they will definitely nitpick everything forcebook do as 'romantic'. everyone is open to ship or support their favourite artists. but there must be boundaries set. after all, we're all humans. p'book and p'force are humans. i hope these people won't hyperfixate whatever's inappropriate about forcebook's beautiful relationship and expect more than what they're willing to share with us.

yes, i can't deny, they're quite sugary together. people might have ideas. but i humbly hope, for as long as forcebook don't categorise or say anything about their relationship, we don't assume instances that could make them less comfortable with us. it takes so much guts for p'book to open up, and more trust for p'force to shed tears in front of the fans. i can't imagine if they start feeling icky once these 'so-called fans' go overboard. forcebook are each other's safe zones, and we are their family and friends, so, we should treasure this trust between us. don't break it.

the bungee-jump episode really got me shed happy tears. i questioned, just how much they love each other? it's crazy to imagine they're so emotionally dependent on each other— especially during hard/stressful times. that already speaks a lot about their relationship. they're just... they're just so soulmate-coded, don't you think?

op, it's ok. i totally understand. forcebook's genuine relationship is so fresh and heartwarming. of course, we can't get enough of these chaotic and idiotic besties! they spread so much joy and sincerity to everyone. it's so precious. they're so precious and loved. you can love them and cherish them and support them all you want. the door is always open. some of my friends here, mj (@/laowen, @forcebookish, @ellasaru12 and others) are very cool and they love forcebook too so, welcome aboard! <3

to more happier and glorious days with forcebook, op! ✨️

#op. you're very cute #this warms my heart so early in the cold rainy morning #forcebook really make foxmochi happy #thanks for this ask <3 #forcebook #personal #na answers

[boblittlepage-blog]

I'm Confused About Something...

A brief update for the uninitiated, which probably means everyone. Sometime back, I attempted to strike up a friendship with noted online semicelebritytype Indigo White, who you may know from her many productions of video entertainment not intended for younger viewers (do the math). Yes, I first came across her the same way most guys do (let's just say my prostate has never been healthier), but then I started watching her YouTube videos, and was very impressed with her intelligence, sense of humor, and levelheadedness. I'm very drawn to intelligence, and decided this is someone I'd actually like to know. And through chats during live streams and interactions on Twitter and Fansly, things seemed to be proceeding nicely. I'd like to think that I made it clear that I wasn't just another dweeb who'd parasocially bonded to some e-girl, that this was genuine affection for her as a person. Seeing that in writing makes it sound weird, but so be it, let's move on.

Some time ago, Indigo came out as trans, and was now a boy. Despite the change in personal pronouns to he/him, and now sporting shorter, Beatle-ish hair, nothing much was going to change content-wise, no plans for surgery or hormones (which begs the question of just how trans was Indy actually, but we'll not deal with that here, or anywhere else for now, it's largely irrelevant).

Okay, fine, I'll play along, so long Indy didn't feel the need to undergo anything permanent, (again, usually an indicator that something else is going on, not gender dysphoria), so no harm no foul.

In the meantime, I've gotten to know several detransitioners online, and heard their horror stories about how they'd been suckered into the whole gender ideology thing (which, by the way, is the creation of a very sick man, John Money, a pedophile who should be listed right alongside Joseph Mengele for the work he did directly with a couple of twin boys, both ending in suicide, but also for his sham "work" being baked into the psychiatric and medical industries before the true horror of his acts were finally made public. The result is that actual gender dysphoria, the kind where major gender reassignment surgery is the only workable treatment, has largely been pushed aside for people who are suffering from other, less serious issues, generally from some childhood trauma, like puberty in general, and turning garden variety identity crises into reasons for these sufferers, largely teenagers, who we must remember are still highly impressionable are generally stupid, to permanently wreck their biochemistry and mutilate their bodies).

So, during one live stream, I get wind of Indy trying to work up the courage to get what is euphemistically referred to as "top surgery", i.e., a double mastectomy, for no other reason than a long time hatred of them. Turns out Indy got those DD tiddies pretty much full force, virtually overnight, and besides being literally painful, anybody who's been to school between the ages of 9 to 15 can fill in the blanks of what the reaction of the other kids was. Also keep in mind that the amygdala, the lizard part of the brain that handles trauma and triggers the ol' fight-or-flight response, doesn't differentiate between actually life threatening situations and a snide comment from a 4th grade teacher at the wrong time, trauma is trauma, and can have life altering effects, especially in kids. We're generally not even aware of this happening until pointed out to us. Digging through Indy's Tumblr, apparently there's some additional trauma back there, that is triggering enough that I'm not going to even try and ask about it, but we're still talking a response to trauma. One day, it'll have to be dealt with, not just painted over with a big ol' "Congrats! You're Trans!" label. That's not therapy, that checking a box so somebody can make a boat payment. Since lives are at stake with this nonsense, I get very pissed off.

Anyway.

Back to the case at hand. I, hoping to spare Indy the kind of life wrecking pain I've seen others going through, began pushing for the alternative of breast reduction. Less invasive, faster recovery, and coming to the conclusion that, yes, Indy's tits WERE too big (5'4", 110 lbs, shouldn't be any bigger than a B, maybe closer to an A).

Enter the Affirmation Brigade, standing by and cheering Indy forward to go forth and be sliced up like a Sunday roast, to advance the cause of TRANS RIGHTS! Which I see as an attempt to validate their own sorry existences at the expense of someone else's health and well being. Well, during an engagement with one of these ghouls, things got rather heated, and more than a little ugly. I don't particularly regret anything I said, I would've preferred it didn't have to be in the form of calling out the other person as a butcher. Not because it was inaccurate (it wasn't), but because it was somewhat undignified.

Cue another set of angry DMs with Indy, demanding that I knock it off or get banned. I'd said everything I felt needed saying, so feeling no need to press the issue any further, certainly not publicly, I agreed. And things got more or less back to normal.

However, I reached out to a noted doctor who deals with the whole trans issue, and, with a couple of links, one to Indy's Twitter profile, the second to the coming-out video on YouTube, and asked for a professional opinion. Mainly, I wanted some guidance on whether I was doing the right thing by trying to be the lone voice against the affirmation chorus, trying to make the point that major invasive surgery over a personality issue is probably a very, very bad idea. Had I pushed too far, or should I stand my ground? One of the recurring themes I'd been hearing from detransitioners was that nobody ever challenged them, made them stop and think it out, WHY did they think they were trans? Could it be something else? Let's figure this out BEFORE we start lopping off perfectly healthy body parts, and see if we can find a less bloody and traumatizing solution. We live in a world where unless you blindly affirm the choice, you're a (fill in the blank). Well, sorry, but if the Emporer is walking down Broadway bloody starkers, I'm gonna say something.

Fast forward to a couple days later, this has gotten back to Indy, and the response in DM was thermonuclear. What right did I have to do this, I'm insane, etc., etc., and that was it, I'd been given too many chances already, I was banned, with the final shot being, and I quote, "Unblocking you to say one final thing. If I didn’t have the support i have and live where i do, what you did could have gotten me killed. Think about that. Fuck you."

Okay, back that up a little.

I posted a link to a PUBLIC Twitter page, with a link to a PUBLIC YouTube video (which Indy posted herself/himself TWICE, and has pinned to various other social media sites), disclosed no information, and only asked for "a professional opinion." (For the record, the only response I got back from the doctor was "Nope.") How in this, or any other reality could that endanger anybody? Did I overstep? Okay, I'll grant that. Wasn't the first time, pretty sure it won't be the last. But possibly getting Indy killed? Sorry, but I need to hear the twisted logic that comes to that conclusion, because I ain't seeing it, and I took Logic in college, I know a thing or two about false premises and the strange places they lead.

I would like to rebuild this relationship, if possible, but I'm not holding my breath. Clearly what I did incensed Indy, and it's not likely it'll be easy to walk that back. I would still like to have that explanation, though. If you're gonna throw down something like my being responsible for possible manslaughter, I think I'm at least owed that much.

Again, Indy (if you've read this far), my DMs are open, and I did give you my phone number, provided you haven't deleted the DM (doesn't seem like it, because I've still got 'em on my end). I'm ready for peace when you are.

#itsindigowhite

[celestemagnoliathewriter]

Feel free to ignore, but-

Do you think it's wrong or hypocritical to be excited for the HP reboot? Like, I am beyond excited and really hopeful that it will turn out well since they can go in depth more for the books, but of course, JKR has kinda... gone off the deep end. again, I want to watch this show unironically, and I am so happy we get new content, but I hesitate to show excitement because of JKR and her opinions. IDK it's just something I've been thinking about a lot recently. I don't want to seem like I support her, because I don't, but at the same time the idea of a reboot fills me with a lot of joy and excitement.

Hello, anon, and thank you for your question! I have been thinking about it as well, and it's a discussion I've seen on Discord, here on Tumblr, and elsewhere in the world. To answer your question, I am going to give you a long-winded answer. I will provide you a short tl;dr of my opinion and then get into it below the cut.

The tl;dr: I don't think it's wrong or hypocritical to be excited about the reboot, as long as you're conscientious about the way you engage with new merchandise and media. I see it the same way as how we interact with most evils of the world. Is it cheaper/easier/faster to buy on Amazon? Oh yes. Does it line Jeff Bezos's pockets? Also yes. Is it avoidable? For most people, yes. Not for everyone, and not for everything. Ditto for Walmart in the USA. The key difference I see with the HP reboot is that it's associated with HBO Max and Warner Brothers, so there are these two entities involved, that, if you truly wanted to boycott and not support any finances going to JKR, you'd have to cut off these services. That being said, it can be done. No one needs HBO Max or WB to live. However, because it's part of this bundled service that provides other media/goods, it requires closer examination. Moreover, there is value to engaging critically and conscientiously with the intersection between institutions, cultural phenomena, and social justice. The world isn't morally black and white,* and our engagement with it shouldn't be black and white either.

And now for the essay, below the cut.

Have you ever seen The Good Place? It's one of my favorite shows. There's this one clip about the point system, meaning the way people go to The Good Place/The Bad Place, or a Heaven/Hell equivalent, and one of the issues is that no one has been good enough to get to The Good Place for hundreds of years. Why? The world is smaller and more complicated. This clip will show you what this means.

Why mention this? Well, it helps to explain what our role is, or could be, in a world in which cooperation with one entity or person necessarily means cooperation with more forces around us. Take HBO Max, whose parent company is HBO, whose parent company is Warner Media. WM also owns CNN, CartoonNetwork, DC, TNT, TBS, Warner Brothers, adult swim, etc. If you choose not to see the HP reboot and dissociate yourself completely from any entity that puts money in JKR's pockets, you need to avoid not only HBO, but anything Warner Media produces. I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't do this - it's up to the individual to determine what they deem acceptable and morally good.

We have to go further. Take CNN: their money goes to Warner Media, which helps to fund the HP reboot. Does this mean that any establishment that plays CNN in the background (hotel, restaurant, bar, etc.) should be avoided? If we're going to be very strict about this, then yes. CNN isn't a necessary good. You can get news from other sources, and you can stay in hotels, go to restaurants, etc., that don't play CNN, or just ask them to change the channel.

But then, where's CNN getting their money? We ought to look at their advertisers and see which companies we should boycott. Among such advertisers: Humira and GEICO. Now you can say - wait, Humira is an important medication for lots of people. GEICO you could do without, there are other insurance companies. I haven't even touched who the CEOs are for these companies and what money they're paying lobbyists, consultants, and other entities to keep their market share. Humira keeps getting new patents and indication uses on it so Abbvie can charge a premium and not give its formula away for generic production. They're making shitloads of money to keep the product patented.

Now you may say, Celeste, what does this have to do with trans rights? Abbvie makes money, pays money to advertise on CNN, CNN gives some of that money to Warner, Warner uses that money to make HP reboot. Money flows in and out. I will grant you this: it is very remote, but think about every entity that flows in and out of this cycle.

I ask my students about this all the time: is there any possible way to be completely free of ethical or moral complications in a world like this? The answer is obviously no. So the question becomes what can we do about it, other than retreating to the mountains and living as hermits (and by the way, that's actually a terrible decision, because if you subscribe to the belief that I do that we have a moral duty to help others, you're certainly not helping anyone by disengaging from the world and avoiding problems because they make you feel uncomfortable.)

So what is it that we can do? Let's think seriously about what it is we struggle with. We don't want money going to JKR, but as I just demonstrated, you'd have to go to various possible lengths to do this. It's possible, but let me ask another question: is the time, effort, and energy you're putting into this actually improving the lives of trans people? Is it actually improving the local laws and policies that put trans people's lives at risk? It's easier to pinpoint one person as our problem and the face of evil, but that gives too much power to one person. In fact, the power sits more with you than with her.

That doesn't mean it's a bad thing to feel uncomfortable. It doesn't mean it's a bad or even a pointless thing to avoid the HP reboot and all its associated entities at all costs. You are most welcome to do so; you are also welcome to watch the show with a very critical lens/eye on the world around you.**

I would ask, if you're of the inclination to avoid all the associated entities of the HP reboot (CNN, Humira, GEICO, and all its other associates), what would happen if you invested the same time and energy into local groups, charities, and organizations that support/help trans rights? it may seem smaller, but consider the impact you as an individual can have on a real-life human being in front of you, who needs help, rather than spiting someone else who lives an ocean or more away. You're welcome to spite and help the person in front of you. However, as a comment on human limitations, we all do have to decide our own most personal important issues.

For many of those on Tumblr and younger people on the internet, it can be trans rights. For others, it might be workers' rights. For yet others, nuclear disarmament and peace. Clean water. Clean energy. We all have our pet projects, and that doesn't mean we should neglect other issues, but if we take on everything so strongly, we will not be able to act.

This brings me back to The Good Place and the character of Chidi Anagonye, the moral philosophy professor who cannot act because of his anxiety. He ruins his life, and others', by his indecision over moral quandaries, which appear everywhere.

No, you're not going to be perfect. That's ok. As long as you are trying, in my opinion (which is based on years of studying morality, philosophy, and ethics), you are moving in the right direction.

My on-the-ground moral recommendations: it's OK to see the HP reboot if you're already subscribing to HBO Max or plan to for other things. I might also recommend doing on the ground, in person or monetary efforts to help trans people with basic human rights like housing, food, and personal safety. That, the personal connections and improvements we make, will be far more effective at making the world a safer place for trans people than continuing to center the argument on JKR. She is but one person, and so are you. You may not be as wealthy, but you have a voice, and using it in your own locality/context will do far more good.

You're most welcome to send questions or ask for clarifications.

*(I will add, as an aside and more of my own opinion, that the black and white thinking I find among people of all backgrounds is more or less a defense mechanism against having to critically reflect/think deeply about what makes us uncomfortable and navigating confrontations or things that challenge our worldviews. Human beings are really terrible with cognitive dissonance and we don't like looking at ourselves in a bad light, and I mean that in the way that white people can sometimes get uncomfortable with the concept of white privilege. It's not a slight against the individual white person but rather a phenomenon to sit with, reflect on, and pledge to improve.)

**I would also like to address the contrast between the HP reboot and Hogwarts Legacy. Unlike the HP reboot, HL is its own entity and far easier to avoid, because you have to buy the actual game. But again, if you want to avoid any/all money going from Hogwarts Legacy and its makers to JKR, you'd have to avoid gaming systems, stores that sell the game, and all those involved in creating it. That being said, HL and the reboot are QUITE different because one must be purchased as a separate entity while the HP reboot will presumably be available via streaming, which means it's bundled with other shows and services, which is what complicates this. If the HP reboot were only available as a DVD or online purchase, I would have further questions, and I think it wouldn't sell for that reason exactly, based on the backlash to HL.

Edits, a few hours after the original post:

After doing some discussion with valued fandom friends, I thought it important to add a few considerations.

First, an immediate consideration: deeply consider the way you and others are discussing the show. Though it might not seem like a big thing, enthusiastic support, without considering the ramifications the show has for people in the trans community, and/or trans allies, will distance those people in the fandom. One way to do this is to keep discourse private among friends, and/or to refrain from discussing it at all in public spaces. Think of the message it potentially sends to trans folks/trans allies to be enthusiastic without considering the underlying messages you are sending in support of JKR and her views.

Second, a longer term consideration: one way to curtail or curb the success of the show (though highly unlikely) is to wait to see it until it is cancelled or complete. That's a long wait, potentially, but it would reduce the immediate views and support for the show. That's not necessarily a perfect solution, but it might be the one that says "we're not going to give this our immediate attention, and we are willing to wait until it's not as profitable or important." This isn't necessarily a perfect solution, but it may be one of the most ethical ones if you're very interested in seeing the show.

Please do send questions and comments if you have them.

#asks #send asks #harry potter #hp reboot #harry potter reboot #philosophy #morality #got my professor hat on