#i think we as fandom don't appreciate this joke enough

[velvet-lounge]

Why the TF2 Defense Trio deserve more recognition

The people have spoken, I have decided to create an essay disguised as a post on this godforsaken website because it's a free country goddammit! (I would have done it either way lmaooo, I have a lot of shit to say about these maniacs) To start this formal essay glorified very serious shitpost, why should you as a tf2 fan care about these 3 men? They're so "boring" and there's not much going on with them. If ya took a second, let's pause with what was being said. YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN MIND to think such thoughts, we must shake you out of cuckoo land by giving you an in-depth look into these three so that you understand where I'm coming from. Let's start in order:

Demoman:

After being in the fandom since 2019, there's always one character I always thought wasn't given much anything in the fandom at all. Even taking ships out of the equation, there's barely any fics I've that focus on Tavish Finneagan Degroot specifically that I've seen that isn't a compilation fic (I read a lot of x readers, don't judge me). Believe me, I checked ao3. I went through Demoman's tags and I tried very hard to filter a lot of the crossover and relationship tags, yet there's less of Demoman himself, than there's him just existing as a side character of a story. Which is honestly sad, I honestly think Demo is one of the more kinder mercs compared to a lot of the team. This man made friends with the BLU soldier, despite knowing that they were supposed to be killing each other. Sure, it's unclear whether or not Demo did actually go through with it and it's just a ruse, because the voicelines in WAR! don't have a set timeline. But I do think that Demo would have tried to keep his friendship with BLU soldier. He's very chill. I've never actually seen him get violent against his friends and family, despite being a drunkard. I honestly think he's one of the sweetest people in TF2, he takes good care of his mom and haunted sword lmaoooo. Jokes aside, he seems like a genuinely good man and I barely see anything that suggests he's sadistic. He's a chaotic and loud, but not bad. Not bad at all. The fact he can still do his job well, even after drinking so much that his body created a whole distillery, is even more impressive. He is damn good at what he does and works very hard. He's had multiple jobs, even as wee little lad. Despite what people think of him, the fact he's getting paid 5 million dollars a year, is proof he knows what he's doing. He loves his job and couldn't bear the thought of not working. I feel like his backstory isn't talked about enough in the fandom either. When you think about it, it's kinda fucked up that he was put in an orphanage by his biological parents until he was in the right age to be blowing people up. Not only that, his eye socket was haunted by the Bombinomicon so that every halloween a giant eye would manifest, attacking him and his friends. Even Medic couldn't help him and instead resorting to scooping the part of Demo's brain where he remembered so he would stop asking. He most likely has a lot of stories for you, I see him as the type that has a lot to say. His past is the most fleshed out and complete out of all the mercs, which I really appreciate, you can do a lot more with him. Also another thing, during Unhappy Returns, he took the time to reassure Soldier that he wouldn't think he's a civilian. He didn't brush Soldier's worries aside and instead comforted him. I wish I had a lot more to say about Demo because I am baffled that he isn't being gushed about as a potential partner. He has the excitement and like zero baggage. A thing I also wanna point out is that he seems to be insecure of the fact he's a black scottish man with only one eye during Meet The Demoman. I may be reading into things a bit too much, but it makes me wanna be like "NOOOO don't talk about yourself like that, bro. You're so cute UGHHH" Also also he's handsome. Sure looks can be subjective, but I still think Demo has a face I would kiss hehe. He looks great with his beard and his cheeky ass smile. GOD I could gush about him all day, but I have to move on rip.

Heavy:

Honestly, I'm having a hard time just finding the words to describe this amazing man without giving him the respect he deserves. But I'll sure try. Heavy has had a difficult life and I've always admired how strong he was. Not just of his muscles, but he endured one of the toughest situations and still kept moving forward with his life even though it was traumatizing. You see why I'm even having a hard time talking about him? I can't really get down into the weeds, without getting serious for a min. I feel like the fandom doesn't give him much credit for being able to deal with so much. He's the rock for his family after his father disappeared (atp I think he's dead, which is the cherry on top this depressing sundae) and I wouldn't doubt that he would be the same for his team. He's a man of few words, but that makes him all the more intriguing. Just because this man has a lot of brawn does not mean he's dumb at all. Despite how he acts in the battlefield, Heavy is observant and clever. Although, it's implied that Spy being Scout's dad is an open secret between the mercs and Miss Pauling, the fact he figured it out without saying it directly must mean he has a lot more going on. He's also educated, getting a phD in Russian Literature. It's not a STEM program, but he actually got a doctorate and went to college, that's a lot more than half of what the mercs did lmaooo. Also he has a bit of a softie side, not just for his mom and sisters, but also other creatures as well. I respect him so much for avoiding violence against those dogs during the Showdown comic. Not only shows what an absolute sweetheart he is, but also how much he's able to think quickly on his feet. Heavy is very direct and blunt, I don't see him as the type to lie about his feelings. I appreciate that he doesn't feel the need to sugarcoat anything, he'll get the job done and he ain't playing. There's no fluff, he knows what he wants and that's to rev up Sasha and ram through sons of bitches without any worries.

I feel like I wanna point out, his story seems the most unexplored in the fandom, even though it has a lot of potential for ANGST factor. I already broke down how sad it is, but I just feel like it isn't said enough. Can I just say how cuddly he looks?! GAH, I feel like he would give the warmest hugs! The way he smiled in Unhappy Returns when he finds out his family doesn't need to live in fear anymore, just melts my heart! He's so protective over his family and friends! I wish I had a lot more to say about this guy because I just can't stop finding more things about him that go unappreciated. I had to literally edit this part so many times before moving on, he just has those little details you don't notice until you take a second and have that OH MY GOD moment

Engineer:

I was getting so hyped, when it was finally our resident southern nerd's time to shine. GOD I have so much to say about this man. It's been over 5 fucking years and I have never stopped simping for this man since 2019, I think I'm gonna go insane from how much I've been repressing, I go feral when he's around. Anyways enough stalling. I don't ever think a fictional character has ever made me swoon quite like Engineer, I really mean that. I have ask and pleaded to whatever god was listening to give me a man like Engie. To me, he is everything I ever wanted and more.

First, I wanna talk about what makes him attractive to me. His accent. His southern charm, UGH he's killing me with that smooth voice and chivalry! I swear this man could make me faint just from existing. The way he smiles is so warm, his insults are so corny I love them. That five o clock shadow GAHH! I'm getting butterflies all over again. I swear I love all three of the defense bois, but Dell Conagher has my heart wrapped around his gunslinger metal finger. All those personal reasons aside, I've always thought Dell Conagher was a very interesting character in the world of TF2. He might not have much screen time or goofy shenanigans like the other mercs, but that doesn't mean you can ignore him oh no no no. This man is important within the whole story of Mann Co and TF industries, his grandfather being the catalyst of the game's events and the comics going forward. The Conaghers are the SOLE REASON why Team Fortress 2's story exists. I find it strange that the fandom hasn't done much with this fact because you can do a lot with this idea. Engineer knows a lot of shit and would be the biggest threat to Helen, if not for the fact that his family has been helping her for years.

Like his backstory, he's not seen much in the battlefield, but he has a lot more going on behind the scenes. Imagine the possibilities. He is damn intelligent and he knows it. While Dell is very sweet and has a southern charm, this is a facade to hide his God complex and sadistic tendencies. If you think this man is just your boring gentle engineer, you've got a big storm coming. It's heavily implied that he sawed off his own arm so that he could use the gunslinger. This man works on projects with Medic and doesn't question the moral implications of putting a human brain in a pumpkin. Hell, he threatened his own employer, even if he was an old man (Granted, Blutarch dug up his grandpa's grave, so he probably should have gotten something a lot worse than just Dell telling him to fuck off). Engineer is more than the texan egghead sweetie pie, he is a mercenary for a reason and I would argue that he might be as insane, if not more than, the rest of the team. No sane man would willingly work with a bunch of war criminals if he wasn't also crazy. That's the thing I really like about him. I love playing as him in the game because it represents his character very well. He technically serves a supportive role to the team with his buildings, but he is a killer with a lot of tools in his disposal, With the right amount of training, he can absolutely dominate in the battlefield.

I feel like he's one of the people that underestimate and assume that he's an easy target, but he's a lot more than that. He has a lot of layers that makes me want to learn more about him and what he has to offer.

In Conclusion:

These guys are cool. Lmaooo okay I won't just end it there. I genuinely believe that they're not getting the recognition that they deserve, they've got a lot more going for them if you pay attention. Sure they might not always be the loudest or most prominant character in the story, but what they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality TEN FOLD. They don't have to be your favourite, but you should at least give them a chance. You never know, they may surprise you.

Okay so thats enough of that, I couldn't find a divider above this message, so you're getting this grainy ass gif. Honestly, I put way too much effort on this shitpost lmaooo, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out in a more concise manner. If you want to add more stuff about these three that I didn't mention, feel free to do so. Anyways thanks for reading

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #tf2 demoman #tf2 engineer #tf2 heavy #tf2 engie #tf2 demo #tf2 mikhail #tf2 defense #i spent way too long on this post than I should have bruh #enjoy the ramblings of a thirsty idiot #defense nation rise up

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Do you think all the characters are assholes?

Because i think they are despite their tragic backstories and i also don't think they appreciate Yuu enough, except for maybe the first years

I mean, the TWST characters are (mostly) inspired by Disney villains... Plus, they’re immature high schoolers still in the process of emotionally maturing. Of course they're not going to be perfect balls of sunshine. They're all going to be rude or have faults in their own ways, but they also have their strengths and charm points. I do call them assholes (lovingly), but I would hesitate to slap a singular label on any of the characters when they're all very well-rounded and morally ambiguous.

On the topic of Yuu, I think it makes sense that most of the cast doesn't really "appreciate" them. To begin with, most of the characters are not the openly sentimental types; they wouldn’t overtly express that gratitude even if it were present. Then we have to consider that Yuu isn't directly involved in their character growth or arcs in most cases; it's often the other characters who are confronting the OB boys or instigating, physically battling them to snap them out of it, and then comforting them afterwards.

As early as book 1, that pattern holds true. Ace is the one that initially pissed Riddle off. Adeuce are dueling Riddle. Ace decks Riddle and claims his last straw. Trey is the one calling out to Riddle as he's losing it. It's the members of Heartslabyul who gather around Riddle when he reawakens following the OB. (I'm not going to go through and list off what happens in every single book, but I'm sure you can think of many other instances... Lilia insulting Leona, Deuce and Epel having the heart-to-heart on the beach, Octavinelle's plot against Jamil, the twins checking up on Azul post-OB, etc.) To me, it feels like it is the boys and their bonds with one another responsible for the change, not Yuu's involvement. Yuu is usually along for the ride and actually does and says very little despite all the fandom jokes about "being the school's unpaid but overworked therapist" or Crowley's shallow claim that Yuu can help the boys learn to cooperate (which feels more like a vague ruse only shown in the prologue to shoehorn Yuu into the plot). There's actually very little in-game that shows them being active in helping the students change for the better. Much of the time, the boys can resolve their own struggles to get along without Yuu being there (like all those pair-ups in book 6–sure, it may have taken a while, but the fact remains that they did eventually resolve their own issues and cooperate without Yuu having to orchestrate for them; this also happens many times in events like Port Fest, Wish Upon a Star, Ghost Marriage, the Halloween events, etc). A very common complaint (at least among English speaking players) is that Yuu isn’t “involved enough” or that they don’t have a big impact on the events of the story. Therefore, most of the boys not feeling close or indebted to Yuu makes sense from their POV. What has Yuu actually and explicitly done to help them? Not much. It’s mainly in individual fan interpretations where Yuu/a Yuusona/an OC in Yuu’s role is actually able to play a more substantial part in each characters’ life and growth. In general, the standard in-game Yuu is more of a "fly on the wall" character that witnesses events unfold rather than someone who plays a large role in each book. The boys are seemingly the main characters, not Yuu. It's just convenient to have Yuu/a blank slate in the story because they, as an outsider, need TWST concepts explained to them (thus making it easier to give exposition to the players who may also be unfamiliar with the information). The first years, by comparison, are closer to Yuu simply because 1) Yuu is implied to be in the same year level as them (so they're more likely to be exposed to one another) and 2) their preestablished relationships with Grim, Ace, and Deuce opens them up more to first year interactions. "Friends of friends", if you will. It makes more sense than Yuu being appreciated and loved by everyone/most people in the main cast of 22ish. (How many people do you know irl that have 22ish significant friends?) They spend the most time together. Everyone else tends to stick to their own groups (with maybe the exception of Heartslabyul, since Yuu is already close with Adeuce). They’re just... not as intimate with Yuu, and therefore not as inclined to find much appreciation for them.

I want to clarify that this doesn’t mean there are zero instances of the characters outside of the first years expressing gratitude toward Yuu. Like, of the OB boys, it’s only Vil who consistently apologizes for the trouble he caused (note though: it’s not specifically to Yuu, but to everyone in the VDC/SDC squad. Yuu is then given prize money from most of the other boys as thanks for letting them crash at Ramshackle… Of those, only Kalim cites being grateful that he was able to stay and have fun with everyone because of Yuu green lighting the decision. This makes sense, as Kalim’s one of the few who wears his heart on his sleeve and is friendly to most. It just isn’t true for the majority of the cast, and we shouldn’t expect it to be.

As late as book 5, you can see characters like Leona not being so happy to be called out to or for Grim to act all buddy-buddy with him. That indicates to me that the rest of the cast is not that close to Yuu + related parties and doesn't have a real reason to be. (Note: I'm not counting character voice lines here as proof of friendliness with Yuu, as it can be argued that the relationships and events explored in the cards don't run in tandem with the main story and are meant more as fanservice for the players.)

Again, while it's not that fun to read in a narrative, it does leave things open-ended for anyone who wants to self-insert or to expand on those blank relationships for their own characters. I believe this is by design to appeal on an individual level to players. You get out of it what you put into it!

#twst #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #Leona Kingscholar #Ace Trappola #Deuce Spade #Yuu #Dire Crowley #spoilers #question #notes from the writing raven #Riddle Rosehearts #Epel Felmier #Jack Howl #Sebek Zigvolt #Lilia Vanrouge #Trey Clover #Jamil Viper #Octavinelle #Azul Ashengrotto #Jade Leech #Tweels #Floyd Leech #Grim #Vil Schoenheit #twst en #twisted wonderland en

[masonreds]

mason mount x reader

Summary: Mason putting up with drunk Y/N. That’s all really!

word count: 3,0k words

a/n: this is my first fic I’ve written in a while (used to write for a different fandom but we don’t talk about that) and it’s all over the place really. I don’t know where I was going with this fic. Going into hibernation now 🙈

Once Mason had stopped in front of your best friend Laura’s house, where he was leaving you for the night, Mason turned to face you. The walls were alright slightly shaking because of the music that was already loud enough, it was blaring through the windows. The multi-coloured lighting was dancing and flickering around the room, matching the music beats at times.

"Are you certain you don't just want to drop by?" You asked, looking over to your best friend's house before returning your glance to Mason. "Yes, babe, I'm sure," Mason responded, smiling. "I've got training tomorrow and I want to be alive and healthy for that," he joked. You cocked an eyebrow at him, a worried glimmer in your gaze.

You were secretly concerned about Mason. In the days and weeks since you two arrived in Manchester, all he could think about was work. There is no problem with staying focused, but the problem is that he didn't take any breaks during the process. There was no doubt in your mind that he needed a break from work. However, you didn't want to bring it up in case you argued and weren't in the mood to dispute tonight.

"What?" Mason chuckled, his brow furrowed. "You need to give yourself a break, baby," was the only thing your throat could say. You wanted to let him know that you are always there for him in times of need. You reach for his hands and squeeze them gently to encourage him. "Y/N, I'm alright. Also, I am not in the mood to party." He grinned at you, lifting your hand to press it to his lips, the sweet gesture that always made your heart skip a beat.

“Have fun, alright?” Mason continued. “But not too much??” You joked making Mason let out a chuckle.”

“Well, maybe, but make sure you don't drink too much. In terms of how much alcohol you can handle, you know how much you can handle.” He reprimanded, shooting you a serious look, knowing well enough that whenever you go out the night before, you always complain about a hangover the next morning when you wake up. With a groan, you rolled your eyes, shoulders slumping like a child listening to her mother continuously say the same thing over and over again, and you rolled your eyes with a groan. “Yes, Mase.”

Your response made Mason giggle, and he felt the urge to tease you even more. “And please don’t put your phone on mute just in case there’s any emergency or anything, okay?” You sighed, “Yes Masonnnn.” You longed out his name playfully. Mason laughed. “Don’t forget your coat either, It’s cold outside and I don’t want you catching anything. And before having a drink line your stomach with something, don’t drink on an empty stomach. And-“

“Mason! I swear to God. I am not a child. He burst out laughing clearly enjoying this, which earned him a glare from you. “Okay, okay I’ll stop. But seriously babe, don’t put your phone on silent in case something happens. I don’t want my girl getting hurt.”

“Yeah, yeah I won’t,” you gave him a soft smile, appreciating that he cares about you so much. He gazed at your beautiful face, sighing with contentment and appreciation. That smile will never fail to melt his heart and make him fall even more in love with you than he already does.

Mason bent down and planted a passionate kiss on your lips, both of you closing your eyes to relish the love you share for each other. Taking a step back from the kiss, you smiled as you pulled yourself away from it.

"I love you." You whispered. “I love you too" He gave you one last peck before reaching for your door handle, opening it for you. You got out of the car and waved at him one last time.

Mason didn’t drive away until he saw your best friend greet you at the door. You both looked back in Mason’s direction, “You sure you don’t want to stop by?” Laura called out. “Nah I’m good thanks, make sure you take good care of her for me, alright?” Your best friend gave him a quick nod to assure him that he’s got nothing to worry about. Mason have one last wave a blew a kiss in your direction before speeding off down the road.

Mason received a message from Y/N not even a few minutes later. He made sure he stopped at a red light before reading the message knowing that if Y/N had discovered that Mason had opened a message while he was driving, he’d get an earful from you.

Y/N: Don't be so hard on yourself, you deserve a break babe ❤️

Mason was unable to control the smile that was developing on his lips. Mason will always be grateful to have you in his life because you are his biggest supporter and you never fail to show it to him every day. Mason quickly typed in his response and continued his way home, the smile never leaving his face.

The fact that he allows you to attend parties with your girls so effortlessly has always raised a lot of questions in the minds of people, but to be honest, it is not a big deal to him. Mason is confident enough in you to allow you to leave without him following you around like a bodyguard. He will gladly acknowledge that he occasionally feels too protective and that he has his fair share of insecurities, but he has never been the kind of man to prevent you from living your life to your fullest potential out of selfish motives.

He won't ever attempt to take away your freedom or your beauty from you. Although Mason is aware that there will be men at the party, he is not in the least bit frightened. He doesn't need to worry because he knows he can completely rely on you and that you are sufficiently responsible. He will always be certain that you won't do anything to jeopardise your relationship or even harm him.

In order to keep a relationship for as long as possible, you need to be trustworthy and honest with each other. It is very likely that things will become very complicated if either of these two are missing.

As soon as Mason returned home, he began to watch past matches, reflecting on how much had changed since then. He began to wonder what went wrong, but he was still relieved to be starting over with a new team and teammates.

A few hours later, Mason got up to get himself a glass of water, that was until he suddenly felt his phone ring out of nowhere, startling him in the process. Glancing down at his phone to see your picture, he didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Hi baby, everything okay?” Mason asked, making his way to the kitchen to get himself a cold glass of water. “Hey Mason, it’s Laura.” Mason knitted his eyebrows in confusion surprised to hear your best friend's voice. “Laura? Where’s Y/N? Is she okay?” Mason panicked because he found it unusual your best friend was calling him from your phone. “Well, it’s nothing serious but, Y/N drank too much. And I offered to drive her back to your place but she keeps declining saying she wants to go with you and you only.” She spoke, sounding completely and utterly defeated.

Despite the slight murmur in her voice, Mason could hear his girlfriend's voice in the background, “Nooo I don’t talk to strangers, Mason will be maddd. Go away, you’re not Mason.”

Laura sighed over the phone. Mason could already imagine her shaking her head in disbelief. “Your girlfriend is extremely loyal when drunk Mount.” She added knowingly, which earned a laugh from Mason. “Okay, just get her outside, or at least try to. I’m on my way.” Your best friend mumbled a quick ‘okay’ and hung up. Mason grabbed his keys and headed back to where he left you hours ago.

Mason parked his car in front of the house where he saw Y/N, Laura struggling to keep you upright. You looked bad. He knew you were going to regret this the next morning.

"I'm so glad you're here! Take your girlfriend now." Your best friend exclaimed, a look of relief on her face as if she was finally done with you. "Nooo! I do not gooo with strangers!" You slurred, your eyes barely open. "That's Mason, you idiot." Laura rolled her eyes and pushed you towards him.

"Mason? Where?" You whispered, seeking in every direction as you fought to open your eyes. You staggered forward, tripping over your own feet. Mason’s reflexes were so swift that he caught you just in time.

He laughed a little and pulled you close, wrapping his arms around your waist. "Don't worry, it's me," he said reassuringly, doing his best to keep you steady on your feet. You looked up at him, squinting your eyes as if trying to make sure it was him. "Are you really Mason?" you asked, poking him playfully in the chest.

“I swear to god Mason, she only had two drinks, nothing else. I promise I didn’t give her drugs or anything like that.” Laura raised her hands defensively, This is her first time seeing you this drunk. You had never been drunk in front of her before. “It’s okay I know. Alcohol affects her a lot, more than the average person to be exact.” Mason chuckled, glancing down to see you glaring at him.

"Oi! "Are you talking about me?" You questioned in a playful tone your brows knitted together, your eyes narrowing, and your lips pouted cutely. “Only good things baby" He responded by shaking his head at you.

“I’ll take care of her from here. Thank you so so much.” He gave your friend an apologetic smile. "Of course Mason, now get home safe you two." She gladly returned the gesture before turning on her heel and went back inside to tend to her other guests.

“Hi, Masey.” You said after kissing him, Mason tasted the alcohol dancing on your lips and laughed at how that simple substance had changed his girlfriend's behaviour throughout the evening.

“Hi, my love.” His eyes get lost in yours as he whispers, drawing closer so that your foreheads touch. His smile was wide as he touched the tip of his nose to yours, and you giggled softly in response. “Let’s get you home,” before unlocking the car door and getting into the driver's seat, kissing you on the lips once more. He put his keys in and turned on the engine while giving you one last look before taking off as you drove home.

You and Mason finally arrived back at your place. Mason looked at you to see that you are still peacefully asleep. He got out of the car and made his way to your side, opening the door and slowly getting your seatbelt off. You hummed, your eyes still closed.

“Come on you, let’s get you to bed,” Mason whispered hooking his arm under you to lift you. As you placed your head on his chest, your arms immediately encircled his neck.

Mason’s grin just wouldn’t stop spreading. He probably looked like a lunatic but nobody can fault him for being overjoyed to have a girl like you.

Whether you think he's cheesy or not, he truly believes he is the luckiest man alive.

“Baby.” Mason whispered as soon as he reached the front door, “Wake up for a moment please, I need to open the door.” Mason chuckled, slowly placing your back on the ground, keeping his arm wrapped around your waist.

"Okay." You huddled into his side, your cheek resting on his chest, and your eyes were still closed as you held his torso. Mason felt his heart melt there and then. "You have no idea how adorable you are right now." He whispered to himself, dropping a light kiss on top of your head before swiftly pulling his keys from his pocket, unlocking the door and pushing it open.

He crouched and took you back inside, kicking the door shut and walking directly into your shared bedroom.

"I need to puke." You mumbled as soon as he placed you back on the ground. You ran towards your shared bathroom and emptied your stomach right in the toilet, Mason following closely behind.

He knelt behind you as he held your hair back, rubbing your back softly with a concerned look crossing his features. “Do you feel better or do you need to puke more?” Mason asked in a soft tone. You nodded, slowly standing up and walking towards the sink to reach for your toothbrush. You knew he wanted to lecture you but also knew now was not the time.

Mason kissed you on the forehead before leaving the bathroom to bring you a drink of cold water, and when he returned, you were already splayed on the bed, face down, clothing and shoes still on. He put the glass of water on the nightstand next to your bed and sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. “You need to get changed Y/N.” "Mason, I'm too tired to get changed, I just want to sleep." Your voice was muffled when you whined because the covers were pressing on your face. He adores you with all of his heart, but he can't deny that you can be a handful when you're drunk.

“C’mon, sit up.” He spanked your ass playfully. Mason was glaring at you over your shoulder with the same intensity as you were, an eyebrow raised, and his arms crossed over his chest as if to challenge you.

You groaned and slid over, reaching out to him with your hands. He grabbed them gladly and lifted you up, forcing you to sit on the edge of the bed. "Drink it all, please. Your hangover tomorrow will be lessened by it. He gave you the bottle of water and then went to get some clothes for you to sleep in, choosing one of his shirts that was too big for you.

You finished the water glass just as he arrived back. He took it from you and put it back on the nightstand. You murmured a sweet thank you in return.

Mason placed his clean t-shirt beside you on the bed and knelt in front of you, grabbing your feet to take your shoes off. He then went back up to undo the button of your jeans, unzipping it and slowly tugging it down your legs, making you giggle. “What?” He looks up at your face with furrowed brow

“You’re going to see me naked.” You pointed out, giving him a cheeky smile. “Well, I’ve seen you naked plenty of times before.” He shrugged with a smirk.

He was given a raised eyebrow from you, "Touché." He laughed while pulling your jeans fully off as he shook his head. He turned around and stood up straight, dropping your jeans on the ground before saying, "Arms up."

Mason grabbed the hem of the corset you wearing and pulled it off of your body, leaving you only wearing your underwear as you complied with his command while keeping your eyes closed and raising both of your hands above your head.

Before he could realise what you were doing, your hands reached behind your back, unhooked your bra, and hurled it across the room.

Mason took a quick breath and stepped back to thoroughly observe you. Oh boy, what a sight it was to see his beautiful girl standing right in front of him.

“Fucking hell.” He muttered under his breath. Yes, he’s seen you like this plenty of times but he has never gotten used to how breathtakingly beautiful you are. And every single part of your body is so gorgeous, from every scar, every beauty mark, every imperfection, every curve, to just, everything.

“Hey, no staring.” You warned, pointing an accusing finger at him. “Can’t help it,” Mason says with a smirk. He knelt until his face was level with yours, put both of his hands on the edge of the bed next to your exposed thighs, and touched your nose with the tip of his nose.

“You are just so fucking beautiful.” He whispered before closing the distance between you. While you both grinned against each other's lips, he gave you a tender, loving kiss, moulding his mouth to fit into yours.

You put your hand on his shoulder to pull him closer, biting on his bottom lip and making him moan softly as you both wanted nothing more than to deepen the kiss.

But reluctantly, Mason pulled back, pressing his forehead against yours, your chest rising and falling with the deep breath.

"Even though I would love to fuck you right now, I can't because you need to rest," Mason said causing you to pout. "But..." Mason shook his head with a small smile.

"Tomorrow baby, you can have all of me." He even kissed you one last time before asking you to raise your hand again. Mason took out the shirt he had placed on the bed earlier and put it on you. He patted your right thigh, gesturing for you to get back in bed and get comfortable.

Mason quickly stripped off his clothes, leaving only his boxers before crawling into the blankets and snuggling right next to you. You rest your head against his bare chest as he wraps his arms around you, pulling your body closer to him.

"Mason?" He hummed in response, eyes closing at the sudden feeling of fatigue. “Thank you for always taking care of me, I know I'm a handful sometimes.”

"Oh, most of the time you're definitely a handful." He teased, opening one eye to see you pouting at him. He smiled softly, leaning down to kiss you.

“But I will never get tired of taking care of you. I will always take care of you, drunk or not because I love you so much.” He added hugging you tighter. You sigh, smiling softly at him, placing a light kiss on his chest before snuggling into the crook of his neck, "And I love you too, so much."

Nothing can compare to the feeling of having the love of your life in your arms.

#mason mount x reader #mason mount #mason mount x y/n #mason mount fluff #mason mount x oc #mason mount imagine

[dichromaticdyke]

SKWISGAAR DOESN'T HAVE A TYPE AND I'M TIRED OF PRETENDING HE DOES

yeah, yeah, he's the guy who loves fat women and gmilfs. but he's not. fandom greatly overblows skwisgaar's "type" in women, and as the CEO of skwisgaar i won't stand for this anymore.

reminder before we get started, i'm not denying that skwisgaar is attracted to fat and elderly women, because he is. instead, this is a response to the way in which fandom acts like those are the only women he's attracted to.

because i have no life, i scrubbed through every episode and kept track of every woman who skwisgaar expresses interest in, whether with sexual comments, sexual encounters, making them his groupies, or giving them children. (no screencaps because i WILL go above tumblr's image limit). i might have missed some, but this is a large enough sample size to prove my point.

01x01 "The Curse of Dethklok": 1 (elderly/fat) 01x09 "Mordland": 1 (elderly/fat) 01x16 "Dethkids": 2 (1 elderly/fat) 01x18 "Girlfriendklok": 2 02x07 "Dethwedding": 2 02x10 "Dethgov": 3 (elderly/fat) 02x13 "Klokblocked": 4 (1 elderly/fat) 02x14 "Dethsources": 2 (elderly/fat) 03x05 "Fatherklok": 48 (8 elderly/fat) 03x06 "Fertilityklok": 54 (6 elderly/fat) 03x10 "Doublebookedklok": 18 (7 elderly/fat) 04x06 "Writersklok": 2 The Doomstar Requiem: 3 (1 elderly/fat)*

TOTALS: 142 young/thin women: 111 (78.17%) elderly/fat women: 31 (21.93%

*note: for DSR, since so many of the visuals are meant to be taken non-literally, i only focused on the ones that seemed to be direct representations of reality or of his genuine feelings. in this case, i focused on the beginning of Partyin' Around the World with the band at mordhaus and his fantasy in How Can I Be a Hero where he dreams about being married.

so. what does this tell us? more often than not, in canon, skwisgaar is depicted as having sex or sexual feelings towards thin women who are closer to his own age. despite this, even in canon, an emphasis is drawn to his attraction to gmilfs and fat women, most notably with him demanding to be put in charge of "dems old ladies" in florida.

i wanna draw attention to this interview, notably at timestamp 2:14

transcript:

Dethklok Minute Host Graham Hartmann: What is it exactly that you love about the-the larger and more elderly ladies? Skwisgaar: I thinks beautiful womens—what peoples calls "beautifuls womens"—amn'ts, uh...gets uglies after a whiles, you gets sicks of them, like eatings the same meals everydays, and you starts to turns to more exotics things that ams nots on the mains menus. So, uh, that would explains that. [underlines added for emphasis]

he doesn't have a type for fat or elderly women. he just can get any woman he wants whenever he wants, and since he does see beauty in all women, he wants to appreciate all women lest he get tired of them.

so, why is there such this hyperfixation on the elderly and fat women as objects of skwisgaar's attraction? as evidenced by both canon and his own words, he doesn't have a preference for them, he simply enjoys them as he would any other woman.

i'm gonna put it bluntly, this is where my silly skwisgaar analysis goes into actual feminist critique: it's because people still find it unusual at best or fetishistic at worst to be genuinely attracted to older and/or fat women. that's the whole thing. everyone—from fandom to interviewers to even the show (by making his attraction to older and fat women an inherent joke aspect of his character)—focusing on this aspect of his attraction does so because, on some level, they cannot fathom a young(ish, depending on what age you headcanon him to be), thin, conventionally attractive man being attracted to women who don't fit that mold.

and, in some ways, there is some reality to this—women's beauty is still held up to an insanely high standard, and generally it's more accepted for average-looking men to have attractive female partners than for average-looking women to have attractive male partners. societal standards for women's beauty and expectations for what men should find attractive is what this joke hinges on, and honestly? it's really frustrating to see this reiterated so often in the fandom. because skwisgaar never really acts particularly fetishistic towards any of the women he's attracted to. you could argue the "exotic" comment was, but he was still talking in terms of his food metaphor, and he's not exactly the best at expressing himself in english.

he loves all women. he genuinely does, his attraction to them has no size, race, or age—any consenting adult woman is game. i don't know about you, but it's fucking refreshing to see any kind of character like that. lesbian skwisgaar rights who said that

#dichromaticdyke.exe #Metalocalypse #Skwisgaar Skwigelf #written in a fit of divine madness #this one's not that good but i've been meaning to get this out for a while so. here we go.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Aita for blocking a friend on instinct? So i (f16) have this friend, (m16) we can call him D, who i've been friends with since kindergarten.

About a year ago, i started growing very close to D through our friend group's dnd campaign we held every friday. I knew him for a long time but that was the first time we had started hanging out out of school. We were talking on snapchat every night just chatting and after a while he started to send much more... revealing snaps. Just his bare shoulders but like without a shirt. He said it was because he had to let his medication for his back dry. I was a little uncomfortable, but we were friends so i didnt think that it would escalate into anything weird.

After about a month, D starts sending snaps in a towel and pictures of his chest which made me very uncomfortable. I kind of let the chatting die down after that because it was the only way i could think of that would be enough to gently let him down easy (i was wrong). I stopped going to the hangouts with that group and kind of distanced myself because how uncomfortable D made me. This only made D try harder to get my attention.

I was still friends with the others in the group so i would often have one-on-one hangouts with the others and watch tv. One thing we watched was Miraculous and we laughed and joked about it all the time. D overheard us or something and went home and binge watched the entire series in a week. Then everytime i ate lunch with that friend group, D would always make direct references to Miraculous or sing the theme song really loud. This wasnt once a day, D would make miraculous references every single minute. He became obsessed with the show (which, for reference of how weird it was, D is a very religious Christian boy. He gets upset if he gets an A- and never drinks caffeine (no problem with any of those things but just understand that kind of guy being deep within the fandom of Miraculous out of all shows 😭)). It was so bad, and it once again was making me very uncomfortable.

Eventually, it got to an insufferable point where D changed his route to go home and made sure to pass me every day after school and wave. I started avoiding him in the halls, he would always ask obscure questions that werent that important. I couldn't understand why he couldn't get that i didnt want to be friends with him anymore so i set boundaries.

A text i sent to D: i apologize if i ever caused any misunderstanding, but i would like to make it clear that im not romantically interested in you. i can see that you have been trying to grow closer, but i dont feel the same way. i don't appreciate being followed around, and i dont like when people force themselves to like the same things i like. its not attractive to be a copy of someone. i enjoy being your friend but it's difficult to disregard these things. if im being totally honest, when you do things like this, it makes me really uncomfortable and borderline creeped out. i know crushes wont disappear overnight but i would appreciate more space. if youre looking for a girlfriend, this isnt the right person, nor the right way to get it. and i wont tell anyone about this so dont worry about word spreading or anything. thank you

D's response: Oh, I'm so sorry I made you think that! I don't have a crush on you, I just noticed how you don't hang out with our friend group as often and I just wanted to make sure that I was being as nice as possible to make sure you weren't mad at us or anything. I did start to think that maybe me trying all that made me seem clingy or annoying, so I'm really sorry for all of that. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I'll try to do better now!

This didnt sit right with me because after all of that i cannot fathom how that translates to "i wanted to include you". This made me question a lot about the situation.

Reasons i feel like i MBTA: i'm over thinking things and D could be a genuinely a nice person. Its hard for me to read the room and i need to work on that and probably apologize to D.

Reasons i feel like i MNBTA: i should trust my instincts rather than ignore them. I've had a psychological abuser in my family before and the situation could be a stalker behavior that i've learned is not ok to have.

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[the-rollerchloster]

Parasocial relationships are strange. Parasocial relationships in a fandom like this one can be even stranger.

I want to preface this by saying that everyone is entitled to their feelings, and feelings are sometimes completely irrational. I am also aware that sometimes our feelings are driven by incomplete thoughts, and have a tendency to overwhelm us and those around us before we can process them. In saying that, I have seen a lot of conflicting emotions and reactions to the reveal that Misha Collins has a "serious" girlfriend (and a large cock apparently, but that is a whole other thing), and I know I shouldn't be surprised by it, but part of me is.

There was a conversation in my discord server over the complicated feelings people have about this news. As a cockles-friendly space this was to be expected, as any new development in the lives of either half of JenMish often spurs these kinds of conversations, but as it started to get emotional I was thanked for bringing some perspective. I hope that I can help anyone who also needs a different way of viewing this situation by making this post, while also helping myself to organise my own chaotic and complicated thoughts.

As I understand it, during the It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time event at this weekend's Burbank convention, Misha told a fun anecdote about gift-giving with his new girlfriend and her daughter, wherein Misha got some things delivered to said girlfriend directly from Amazon, and girlfriend wrapped them for the daughter including what she thought was a microphone but was actually another similarly shaped item not intended for children at all. He continued to say that this "microphone" was for his girlfriend so she wouldn't need to go searching elsewhere for intimacy, as they are currently living in separate states. Now, I was not at the event, and the lack of recordings (recording was strictly prohibited, so if you've got one shame on you, I don't want to know about it!) means that everything I will ever know about this story and the way it was told to the small audience who were lucky enough to be able to attend this event comes as a form of the Telephone game, and therefore lacks a whole lot of body language, tone and context. We, as a fandom, have been severely burnt by this kind of missing nuance before - think DenverCon'21 - and it's these kinds of kneejerk reactions that have the potential to spiral out of control and limit the things we get told at future events - think bishagate.

Think for a second about your personal perception of Misha Collins. He's chaotic, he can be a little self-deprecating or self-effacing, he likes to turn serious anecdotes into jokes. He is also a passionate and caring man, who has a lot of respect and appreciation for his fans. Think about the way he tells anecdotes at standard con panels - it's often a bit tongue-in-cheek, a bit sarcastic, a bit exaggerated - so why would his behaviour at this event, which was specifically set up for Misha to tell stories he wouldn't normally have the space to do in a convention setting, be any different?

I am going to go through my thoughts on some of the things I have seen mentioned about what this all means…

First off, the elephant in the room, what does this mean for Cockles? To me, absolutely nothing. Whatever Jensen and Misha have going on completely transcends a standard sexual and/or romantic relationship. Misha was in his relationship with Vicki for the majority of his life, including when he met Jensen, and we all know she literally wrote a book on polyamory; his perception of relationships is literally shaped and moulded by this, and it's not something he's going to just switch off. Danneel has been a permanent fixture in the cockles dynamic this entire time as well. The JenMish panel at Burbank this weekend will hopefully alleviate any of the doubt anyone is having here, and give us some knowledge that regardless of how Misha defines his relationship status, things will continue in the same chaotic, loving and ridiculous nature we've become accustomed to.

Which segues nicely into the implication that the vibrator was purchased so she wouldn't stray, and therefore their relationship is monogamous. See above thoughts about tongue-in-cheek, exaggerated and self-effacing - when I imagine him telling this story, I see that cheeky, gummy grin going the whole time. Without the nuance of watching this unfold, I think we are all safest to assume that this was a joke, not a firm declaration that he has left his polyamorous attitudes behind.

On thoughts of him "moving on too soon" from his marriage and subsequent divorce, this is where my own feelings get complicated as well, but also where we need to remember that the key feature of a parasocial relationship is that we only see and know what he wants us to. We don't actually know what the trigger for that dissolution was, so in terms of the actual calendar timing it might seem soon, but emotional development and change doesn't run on a standard calendar. We don't know how long the process was before the decision was made to separate. I am currently working through a messy separation, and while I can pinpoint the decision to somewhere in the past 6-12 months, my marriage has realistically been dead for 3+ years, and we're a (supposedly) monogamous couple. As a poly couple, I can imagine that Misha and Vicki worked through every alternative option possible before landing on the decision to formally separate, and had probably well and truly been through the mourning period before it was even all over. Adult relationships are complex at the best of times, and no one ever truly knows what is happening in them except the people involved. I also think that as a man who is nearing 50 and just come out of very long term relationship, that he doesn't actually know how to be "alone", nor does he want to…

Lastly, for some of us, this is someone important in our lives who has found happiness in another person when perhaps we don't have that for ourselves. When those feelings hit, they can be extremely disheartening, and I want to send all my loving thoughts to anyone who falls into this category. It's difficult when the envy turns your stomach in knots and then your thoughts spiral into all the things wrong that mean that no matter how much you want to you can't just be happy for someone. Love and life are complicated, human beings are complicated, society is complicated. There is this hugely widespread and toxic mentality that we are all raised on that says we are halves of something that is destined to find our other half in order to feel whole, and it's utter bullshit. We shouldn't need one singular significant other to feel complete, and sometimes we get so determined to find that someone that we end up sacrificing ourselves to make them fit. (see also; Daniel Sloss' thoughts on this subject in his stand-up special Jigsaw)

There are many different kinds of love, many different kinds of relationships, and many different kinds of people. If anyone proves that to us, it's Misha Collins. He is walking evidence that human life is chaotic and unpredictable and indeterminate and we can make our own fucking rules. I hope that we can collectively be respectful of him, no matter what (or who) he chooses, and feel grateful for everything he trusts us enough to share.

#thoughts #this is probably a mess #i don't really know if i have a point #but i needed to collect it somewhere #misha collins #burcon 24 #it seemed like a good idea at the time #cockles #misha's gf #misha if you're lurking in your tag go away 😅 #long post

[wildpeachfarm]

I feel like as a fandom we don't talk about snf enough. Like ppl always talk about how pretty George is and they're right but he's also like insanely smart?? like he's the only member of the dteam with a degree(not that that's necessarily indictive of anything but u get my point) and it's in fucking computer science??? he's also insanely well spoken when he needs to be . I also appreciate how timely he is when faced with serious accusations (the gituation but also the racism accusations from I think last yr) and they're really well written. he's also has proven himself to be incredibly empathetic and caring. Listening to him talk about reaching out to technodad after that stream because he's the one who's opinion really mattered to him had me just ☹️☹️☹️.

And sapnap!!! I love sapnap sm. he's so fucking funny it's insane. and he's so so so very loyal. Dream has said before that Sapnap is a ride or die type friend and it shows. he loves his friends so much. Like him hearing that George was depressed and lonely and IMMEDIATELY renewing his passport and going to see him??? I also feel like we just don't appreciate his beauty enough. Like he's insanely attractive and I refuse to be told differently. He is just so lovely and sweet and funny and just skdktk

And when they're together?? They're so funny that they've literally almost made me piss my pants. The two of them love each other sm even if it is different than the way they both love dream. imo them making a conscious effort to change the way they treat each other and their friendship as a whole proves that more than anything.

The dteam as a whole love each other so much its honestly disgusting and it's probably really parasocial but it bothers me sm when ppl try to say otherwise. Especially when it comes to George. Like saying otherwise about Dream or sapnap is gen fucking stupid. (Dream has literally gone on and on about how much he loved them both and said that they're a package deal. And sapnap has repeatedly refered to them as his brothers) but ppl love to say George doesn't love them because he doesn't say it publicly. But like??? He literally moved continents to be with them??? He put his whole life on pause and uprooted himself because he wanted to live with them that fucking badly. Personally I wouldn't do that for anyone I didn't at least care very deeply for. And dream made it a point to bring up George's soft and loving and serious side when everyone else was just talking about him being funny and goofy. Also the Dteam is just so Boy™. idek how to explain it. they're all goofy and love dick jokes and ur mom jokes but are also so loving and well spoken and sweet.

sorry for the parasocial rant I'm just feeling very loving and mushy and I love them sm. ima channel this into the fic

-baby fever anon

YES MORE LOVEPOSTING ABOUT SAPNAP AND GEORGE!!!

They are both so special and dear and I love george's brain and I love sapnaps loyalty and aaa 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

#ask #anon

[a-moth-called-mof]

Me rambling about the fandom atmosphere during November 16th:

With November 16th hitting the corner, I thought now would be a good time to finally post this post that's been in my drafts forever

I genuinely am of the personal belief that November 16th is one of those things where you had to have been there to fully appreciate and experience it at least in my opinion. I feel like the tense atmosphere leading up to the actual event is something that is not widely talked about in the fandom. A brief reminder for the fans that are new here or that missed the stream where the November 16th War was announced: during stream C! Dream revealed that there was a traitor hiding amongst Pogtopia and said it was someone that you wouldn't expect. This one line lead to multiple fan theories going around the fandom ranging from plausible to very far fetched. The fandom turned into one big game of Among Us and EVERYONE was a suspect.

Here's an old post of my mine that I think does a good job showing the mentality of most fans going into November 16th:

There were so many theories and speculations leading up to it and you genuinely had to be there to see everyone's different theories about who the traitor would be and the couple aus I saw come out of it. It made it so that when the event did happen, no one in the fandom knew who trust and NEITHER DID THE CHARACTERS. It was amazing watching characters debate whether or not to trust eachother live. It made it feel like any discoveries or possible leads that were made were realised by the character and the fandom at the same time, especially love that one scene where C! Tubbo and C! Quackity decide they sort of trust eachother and talk about who they don't trust. I distinctly remembering switching between povs and watching the dashboard lose their shit and how current character mains would be like "OH [CHARACTER] IS ACTING SO SUSPICIOUS :0" or just liveblog whatever characters were doing and it was a really fun way of keeping up with most of the characters even if I couldn't physically watch all their povs at once

This is less about the atmosphere but more something I feel like people don't talk about enough: Phil wasn't on the Dream SMP before November 16th and we had no concrete indication he would be there. There were a lot of fan theories and headcanons about him joining and I remember seeing all the art of him joining on November 16th and at the time thinking "Oh that's really cool but I doubt they'll actually do it" SO I CAN'T DESCRIBE THE SHEER EMOTIONS I FELT WHEN HE JOINED?

I honestly still don't think I'll ever forget watching C! Wilbur press the button and watching everything go to shit at once after such a tense buildup. Whenever I tell my irl friends I once stayed up till 5am on a school night to watch a live minecraft roleplay event, most of them joke or express (VERY UNDERSTANDABLE) concern but I honestly don't regret a thing. I'd do it 30 times over just to experience that again and watch my dashboard go apeshit. November 16th will always be one of my favourite events in any media ever.

#ME? FINALLY POSTING THIS? MORE LIKELY THAN YOU THINK #dream smp #dsmp #November 16th #wilbur soot #philza min3craft #mcyt #mof speaks #retrospective or whatever #is this a #dsmp meta #post now?

[starflungwaddledee]

do you have any tips for leaving compliments on other people's art ?? your tags are always so well phrased !

oooo oooooooooooooo uuhhhhhhhh hmmm!

firstly, thank you!! i'm rather glad to hear that! i try quite hard to leave meaningful comments so it's nice when folks notice or appreciate it!

outside of commenting on the work, i first consider the tone of what i'm saying and who i'm saying it to.

i always try to make sure that what i'm saying will be appreciated by the person! that's the point. for the most part i leave comments to bring joy to the op, and thank them for their hard work, for being here and sharing art that made me happy! if i'm speaking to a mutual or friend, there's gonna be inside jokes and probably an amount of casual yelling. possibly even a little friendly roast, if i know them well enough. if i'm speaking with someone i don't know as well i try to keep it a little more professional, but i keep in mind that this is a fandom so an amount of yelling and screaming is expected. i tend to think about what i would like from someone else.

also if i notice that a caption or a blogs about is not in english i double check. if english is not the first language of the artist i make sure to construct tags that are easily translated and i use only and exclusively positive phrases. saying things like "delete this!!!! /pos" or "eating my own hands" can be totally lost in translation. i also keep in mind the age of the OP. don't tag as though you're Looking Disrespectfully at the art of a minor, even if that's your favourite blorbo.

as for how to comment on art or storytelling itself, this is indeed a learned skill, and it can be helped by training your eye to understand different things in artwork. but it's easy to start practicing! this is intuitive to me now, but an easy way to begin is to pick out one or two things that really stand out to you on a piece. (examples could be line quality; is it smooth? neat? textured? full of emotion?, shading: is it crisp? atmospheric? realistically rendered?, or colour choice: is it vibrant? is it moody? is it perfectly on model?) and draw attention to them and how the artist successfully used them to make the piece work.

if the piece includes design-work, pick something of that which you like as well. (clothes, colour choices, abilities, parallels to other characters, totally new or unique concepts that you haven't seen before. if you see your favourite colour combos or notions, let them know, but if it's a stranger remember they made the design for themselves, and you just share (good) tastes!) if you really want to make an artist/designer/storyteller's day, try to find the Little Thing that they've snuck into their art or design that ties into the story or lore that they are telling. even guesses to this end tend to be appreciated!

generally useful things you can also comment on are how well an artist has utilised a medium for its strengths, especially if the medium is a little unusual. if someone @'d me in particular i make sure to acknowledge that too because they probably read me for something and i should acknowledge the effort!

another thing i also always, always encourage, is to try to periodically share and comment on the work of people who are either less experienced or who have less visibility than you. especially if you have more of a platform! if you want to keep your blog clean of too many reblogs for aesthetic or professional reasons you can even go through and remove them later, but sharing the work of smaller accounts- even temporarily- makes such a huge difference! and encouraging + supporting younger or beginner artists is something we should be endeavouring to do as much as possible!

at the end of the day, i always just try to be very earnest in my tags.

there is generally no reason to withhold any praises i can think of, because it's usually nice to have your work perceived and appreciated! i personally loooovvve long rambling tags, screaming tags, stuff like "AAHH NOOOOOOO (THE BLORBO)" and so on. i try to leave the kind of thoughtful comments that i like (and am lucky enough) to receive, and i try to share artwork from a wide variety of people!

#asks #it's something you can get better at with practice and with training your eye to see Little Things in artwork #at understanding the components that an artwork is made up of; and picking the bits that are actually Popping Out to you in the moment! #i hope this helps?? it just takes a bit of Time. moreso than just hitting the reblog button! so i understand why not everyone can do it #i tend to shove stuff into my drafts for weeks/months and will go through and add tags when i have some downtime. #but all my stuff is also queued for the most part. #also if i ever tag something an OP is uncomfortable with; i am trusting they would reach out to me!! #sorry to all the folks who's pictures of galacta knight i have reblogged just going like UHHHHHHH because my brain short circuited #starflungs personal tag #<- sorta?

[olderthannetfic]

A few days back I started seeing fan stuff about that "amazing digital circus" show in my periphery and I had a gut feeling that it was gonna become one of those shows that seem to attract toxic folks like moth to flame. I can't pinpoint what quality makes it so. But I had enough self-awareness to admit that that came from a very fandom jaded part of me so I didn't look further into it.

Queue today. I'm scrolling through ig and watch this reel by a 3d artist modelling a character from that show. The artist had that semi realistic stylised anime style. Cool, looks great! I bet the comments think so too!

Where do I begin.

Some where upset and said that "this isn't what the character looks like" apparently because they cannot comprehend that a 3d artist like that one would adapt the cartoonish appearance to their own style. Why would they bother recreating the exact same model anyway? Should artists recreate the art style of the og work now?

Some where asking the artist (and other commenters) to be "normal" about the character. You see the stylisation involved thicker thighs. Not too sexy in my personal opinion but some were making jokes about the "dumpy" (as is common as soon a someone's behind is remotely curvy online). Of course how dare you crack sexual jokes about the 3d clown lady. But also interesting choice of words ("""""be normal""""").

In response to the supposed sexualisation and "the character is short and thus childlike" (nevermind that the og art style is, again, cartoon, where even adults have big heads and tiny bodies sometimes) some where responding that the character is 25 so she wouldn't have the body of a kid. More discourse of the "what's the difference between a flat tiny woman and a preteen" sort.

There was more inscrutable complaining over the 3d model that I hope I didn't comprehend because I don't have an "everything is sus and problematic online and fan artists are all degenerates until proven otherwise" predisposition.

This type of comments do occur semi frequently in every fandom, nothing new, but this is the first time that I've seen such a quantity of them. Like it was every other comment and only a handful were appreciating the artist's work.

I feel we are going to hear more from that fandom in the future.

--

It's animated and brightly colored. The wikipedia article says something about "dealing with their own personal traumas". That's enough to know the fandom will turn to shit instantly.

[panharmonium]

What do you think about this: "Kakashi was never interested in Sasuke as an individual, he only projected himself into him and saw a smaller version of himself on Sasuke, Sasuke was never Sasuke to him, just a little Kakashi". I wanted to know your opinion because I miss your meta posts and I feel like lately people are hating Kakashi for things that aren't real :/, also you are really good at explaining and I feel that both characters need love

Hello! Thanks for the question!

The answer to "what do i think about this" is, honestly, that I don't think about it X) I watched the whole show without engaging with the fandom at all (for fear of spoilers, initially), so I was able to experience it without being exposed to anyone else's thoughts, and now that I'm done I generally still avoid poking around, because devoting mental energy to opinions that I find bizarre/not supported by the text doesn't enhance my fandom experience.

Kakashi and Sasuke's relationship is one of the most compelling things about the series to me. I was very surprised when I finished the show/manga and first exposed myself to the fandom only to find so few people invested in them, but at this point I've (mostly) stopped asking myself "what show was everyone else watching" and just settled into enjoying the show that I watched, because that's more fun for me. I can't convince people not to dislike Kakashi if that's what they want to do. I do find it a little weird, because I don't think that's what the story is asking from us, but as long as people mind their business and aren't bugging me on my own blog, they're free to do what they want.

I know it can be frustrating when there are people hating various characters for "things that aren't real," but the fact that these criticisms aren't "real" is precisely why I generally avoid engaging with them. For Kakashi, specifically, there are certain things people can say that will immediately make me stop taking them seriously - "projecting" is one. "Bootlicking" is another, but again, these terms are so wildly inaccurate that I'm not interested in talking about them. The manga and the show are easily accessible; if people want to rewatch/re-read them, they can.

In general, I just prefer to avoid engaging with most of the fandom negativity I see. I think overall most of the rancor I've stumbled across boils down to people engaging with the story in very ungenerous ways, if that makes sense, and that's not how I prefer to read/watch things. Like - back when I was still in the middle of watching the show, I remember someone sent me a message saying that they loved seeing me talk about the story with earnestness/joy, and it was such a lovely message to receive, but it also made me pause and wonder for a second if this was really an uncommon enough thing to be remarked upon. Wouldn't that be the default? Aren't we all here because we love the story and the characters so much? But the truth is that sometimes it does feel like large chunks of fandom spaces (not just Naruto, I mean; I've certainly experienced this elsewhere) are very focused on being negative about "things that aren't real," as you said. Like - people calling Sakura "abusive" for bopping Naruto on the head when he says something rude, when this is not something the text is even remotely trying to say about her. People writing off Jiraiya's entire storyline because of the non-consensual spying on women - which, yes, of course, is disgusting and wrong. Obviously. I am very aware of that. However, I can simultaneously recognize that the story isn't really interested in that or intending me to read it like that; the voyeurism is written as a joke (yes, I understand how gross that is) and there are a hundred potential personal and/or patriarchal and/or genre-related and/or cultural factors that may have gone into Kishimoto writing this particular fail. If I want to understand and appreciate what the story was ACTUALLY trying to communicate with Jiraiya (that he's an idealist who gave up on the world when everything went wrong, who turned to shallow pleasures of the flesh to distract him from the pain of his disillusionment, and who was finally restored to his former faith after meeting Naruto), then I have to mindfully set the voyeurism aside and go, "This writer wrote a gross thing, and I recognize that, but I'm also not going to fixate on it, because I can simultaneously appreciate/find meaning in what he was really trying to say."

I think some of the Kakashi complaints out there very much fall under this umbrella. If I have to see one more person frothing at the mouth about Kakashi briefly tying Sasuke (a qualified ninja who has already demonstrated his ability to escape rope restraints and whom Kakashi has been individually mentoring, sparring against, and connecting with for a month) to a tree for approximately sixty seconds - honestly. I don't know how to tell people they're missing the point, so I don't bother.

Ultimately, the fact of the matter is that people are entitled to dislike any character that they want, even for contrived reasons. As long as they're doing their own thing in their own space and letting me do my thing in mine, we're good.

#now - don't get me wrong; my sister and i vent to each other all the time about the bad takes we've seen #a vent session can be extremely satisfying #and sometimes typing up a complain-y rant is good for the soul #but ultimately when it comes down to what i spend my time posting about #i'd rather spend most of my time writing about the stuff i love instead of refuting all of the opinions i don't agree with #it's just fandom in the end #i'm here to enjoy myself and connect with other people who enjoy the story in a similar way #i assume other people are here to do that too - even when our modes of enjoyment look very different #as long as we're chilling in our own spaces and not hopping onto other people's posts to start arguments #everything's good #naruto #replies #fandom

[touchoffleece]

Reflecting back over the last few years of AO3 and why it was made in the first place (to archive fan works) and older fanfic enjoyers trying to warn about purges of days gone by

It feels ironic that we're now experiencing a new fanfic purge in some sense. Either authors are trying to hide their works for a sense of control over unwanted AI Scalping in AO3 because of it's success as the best place for fanfiction hosting. Meaning unregistered or people not logged in won't be able to find fanfictions because they are behind a curtain now essentially "purging fics" from the public. Not that I blame any author who chooses to do this, I actually am pro authors doing what they feel they need to. I've decided to private fics because I really don't even like the idea of it possibly happening to my shoddy drabbles if it hasn't already and feeding into the misuse of AI by people looking for easy money. Or we see this other type of 'fanfiction purge'. New generation of fic readers being more demanding of free passion projects to the point of being rude, and driving the authors to stop writing, or even have authors publicly state the increase in considering just deleting their works because of the shift in attitude in what fic readers decide to comment under works. This observation made from looking at comments of newer fandoms (be it ao3 comments or social medias) and seeing more and more comments just be "update soon!" (and those comments only ask for more) or some veiled demand for more content under the guise of 'a joke demand for more'. And while there is nothing wrong with letting a author know you like the story and would like to read more, when it's just constant "more" comments with no acknowledgement of anything that goes on in the story/update it comes off as dismissive of the work someone put into an update. It sucks to see people act entitled to demand more from fanfic authors who are generally associated with distress but willing to put updating a fanfiction above irl commitments because of the love they hold for their fanwork, only to get asked for more and more. We have seen and know of the memes, but hey: fanfiction writers are humans, humans with emotional limits regardless of outlandish sounding some author's notes come off of to people without context. Entitled comments more likely then not lead to burn out, or authors just deciding to stop writing or decide to take their works down to not feel harassed by people asking for more. I really don't know many creative oriented people who take constant demands for more and more work without some type of reward well; and while some might try and ask "Aren't comments in themselves a feel good reward for the authors? Isn't that enough?" It probably depends on the author, but when the comments are just constant "more!" "I need the next update now!" ect, it doesn't give much feel good vibes after the initial "oh someone liked what I wrote" because more often then not they will wonder "I wonder what they liked about it" only to see the comments are just people rushing to order more free fanwork to be devoured as fast as possible without appreciation to what was already shared to the public for free. This has turned into a venting rant from what I originally had thought when I got the thought in my head late at night, but I do want to include that this probably can be linked back to people underappreciating or being apathetic about comparative literature, media literacy, or just appreciate taking art and doing some deep thinking on it, and it's a damn shame it seems it has lead to what feels like a new fanfiction purge in a place meant to be a safe space for fanfictions. Another example of history repeating itself because of complacency and forgetting or choosing to ignore our past mistakes.

#rambles #shower thoughts #archieve of our own #ao3 #ao3 discourse #fanfiction #fandom #fandom meta #fandom history #pop culture #internet history #media literacy #it's a bit sad ao3 is experiencing a 'fanfiction purge' despite so many older fic readers trying to prevent it from happening #we live in a society #anti ai #anti ai writing

[annabelle1901]

Lost Frank Castle x Karen Page fic

Hi! So I don't really interact with anyone on Tumblr but I don't really know what else to do, so here we go. I'm back on my Kastle bullshit <3 and I've been trying to find this old fan fiction on AO3 that I started reading years ago. Stopped reading after a certain point but had the tab open on my phone and I thought I'd continue reading eventually.. And then my phone got stolen, and I forgot the title & author name. Not great. I've dedicated the past few days to looking for it and so far I got nothing.

So what I'm gonna do is write down everything I remember like a mad woman in the hope that this jogs someones memory. Please help me this fic haunts me. ANY sort of reference or whatever could potentially help (Tumblr posts, links, screenshots, Google history, etc)

Fandom: Daredevil/ the Punisher obv

Pairing: Frank Castle/ Karen Page

Rating: probably explicit (canon typical violence and eventual smut)

Published: 2016-2017 (started post s2 Daredevil but pre The Punisher s1 because I don't remember any of the plot or characters from that show showing up) might have been deleted in 2020ish

Length: has to be +10 chapters (long chapters as well, don't know if it was finished)

Characters: Matt Murdock/ Daredevil, Foggy Nelson, Claire Temple, Elektra Natchios (I vividly remember them making some sort of appearance)

now let's get really unhinged...

Plot:

Pretty sure the story starts on Karen's birthday but her mood is meh.. She's on her way home or something, gets in her car and Shining Star starts playing which let's her know that Frank was recently there. Something else must have alarmed her because she goes looking for him and finds him in like an alley around her building. He's in really bad shape, bloody practically dying. She carries him to her apartment and either helps him herself or calls Claire Temple.*

*Don't think it was in this part of the story but she helps Frank and makes a joke about him not being healthy enough to be sleeping with Karen anytime soon which makes them blush. Don't think they were intimate yet but tensions were rising.

For the next couple of chapters I remember it was mainly beautifully written angst between them in this contained space while he's healing. Karen doesn't want Frank to get killed while being the Punisher, he resists her care and tries to hurt her by saying "You aren't Maria and could never be" or something.

I also vividly remember a scene where he's grieving and keeps like tugging on this necklace Karen has on while he cries in her arms. She leaves her necklace at his family's graves and the groundskeeper or something tells her not to do that because it'll get stolen but she knows that but does it anyway as a sign of respect.

They sort admit their feelings eventually but don't sleep together yet because they know they can't go back after that. For some reason Frank needs to leave the city for a little while to re-home a dog I believe he found while on a "mission" and the idea is that the time apart will help them decide whether or not they want to be together. They reunite on a sunny, lovely day in the city and go back to her apartment and lots of smut ensues. Daredevil shows up at midnight/ morning to get Frank. Something's going down he needs his help. It doesn't end well somehow Karen gets involved and they both go to the same hospital. Frank is in a coma and Karen visits him when she's allowed and urges him to live sort of mirroring when he first got shot in the head at the carousel. He wakes up but needs to go back to prison. Everything is really bad. The press somehow knows about their relationship as well. Last scene I remember is Karen and Foggy talking about all this and a newspaper printing a picture of Karen's legs with the caption Keys to the Castle? or something. Gross everything sucks and that's where I stopped reading.

So that's about all I can remember, feels like a fever dream. If anyone could help me out I'd really appreciate it. Thx!!

#Kastle #frank castle #karen page #the punisher #daredevil #nmcu #daredevil netflix #foggy nelson #claire temple #fanfic #lost fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #fanfiction #ao3feed #ao3 link #ao3 stuff #help #kastle ff #kastleedit #kastlenetwork #nelson murdock and page #fic finder

[incarnateirony]

The censorship of Persona 4 has always been a fascinating topic to me.

Not only the whole "deleted queer romance dating paths with full dual language audio on disc still" part, which is over discussed.

But the margin writing. In 2007, the amount of queerness achieved seemed impressive, but SMT had intended more, far more. Kanji needed a "maybe it wasn't about gender but fear of rejection" buffer despite the gay hot tub and split queer self weilding gender signs.

And Naoto?

Boy, Naoto got taken for a ride.

Naoto was first designed as a cis boy, and yes, Kanji x Naoto, and Kanji's bisexual panic. However, the transing and detransing of Naoto began all at once. After all, it can't be censored as gay if ~he's actually a ~she, right? Nevermind maintaining masc presentation and shit but okay it's 2007, we get it. No need for the body alteration procedure with the shadow WE GOT IT OK.

But then like, Golden and later content came out. And while I love me some Chad Yu, I'm less fond of the direction with naoto.

Every fandom in the history of ever has some self interested douchebag that literally refuses to let people debate things like queer cultural limits by era, design intent and changes, it's just What They Can Argue In Hard Canon, rather than What People Might Appreciate In Context Of The Show Paradigm.

So like, that kind of arguing already happened but everything that came in the reboot CLEARLY came with a new command from ATLUS international to Girl Up Naoto. Tittydance butch queen was apparently more marketable than dorky lil trans guy in the sidebar, so all the new content added eyelashes, changed Naoto's face shape subtly, shoved them in naked positions and bathtub scenarios and things they were clearly uncomfortable as hell in, and just left me sitting there squirming.

Even before I had unpacked my own trans shit it made me INTENSELY uncomfortable because NAOTO, regardless of what pronoun or gender you see on them, was intensely uncomfortable and nobody around them cared. And then the animation changed for the design change, and it just kept skewing further and further and further until by dancing spinoffs the character is barely recognizeable beyond color pallate.

Like, I would never buckle down and really argue, "it is 100% hard text canon Naoto is trans and there is no other interpretation." But on the other hand, it's just as silly to argue it from the other absolute. Looking at the game history, a mix of intent, adjustment, barriers, dubs, translations, international marketing limits and whatever else completely recontextualizes the discussion in a way I don't think the average discourse really holds up to in meaningful lit crit, everyone's just yelling NUH UH at each other, as happens, in every fuckin' fandom.

Naoto, if anything, is more an interesting landmark historically IN queer and gender issues, with a flavor of Gold Star Attempt Totally Butchered Trans Stuff circa 200X. Was there stuff that is. Not. Great. Modernly? Yeah. All around. There's still lolgay jokes even in a game this gay, there's some dated elements all around, so it's just weird that this part of the debate is expected to be frozen in time and not discussed in the context of both the series and cultural evolution.

Anyway dems my thoughts.

(WHY DOES NAOTO HAVE A TITTYCUT BUST LIKE THIS IN THE DANCE GAME. THE GOLDEN OUTFIT ADDITION ON THE RIGHT WAS BAD ENOUGH)

#persona 4 #naoto shirogane

[cosmicbash]

I’m not so new to emgk-fics, some have been quite good on here-(I’ve done likes on page for these) to some on AO3..

What I still feel I’ll never get over the most is that ppl love both guys together, like, music-wise before ship-wise; having ppl grow up an be civil and say ‘these are two cool artists to me, these are two similar/different ppl in life relations that can be understood’ is something that needs more attention..

😊

I'll say it a thousands times, there is no Fandom that I've been in that's more POSITIVE and like almost completely lacking in negativity/toxicity than the Emgk fandom

everyone in it genuinely just is a chill person who looks past the beef and enjoys both artists and supports them super hard.

the ship itself mostly a silly little joke that's evolved into a very fun outlet for alot of great people and I love that.

I always try to encourage people as much as I can that find their way over here to draw or write or just create in general because there's not a safer space to grow in imo. I've grown so much as an artist and a writer and I don't think I could or would have somewhere else. You're not gonna have ANYONE shoot you down here or smother your flame.

I also feel like compared to some Fandoms I've seen, our ship portion and xreader portion of em and Kells Fandoms are really chill together too. and I don't think that gets enough appreciation, cuz I've seen some people get nasty with eachother in other spaces.

at this point Kells and Em are kind like two quirky barbie dolls we communally pass around and then hype up whenever they drop an album and I love that. Idgaf if its weird.

#sorry if im rambly im playing yakuza #but saw this and wanted to reply right away #cuz #i love asks #emgk

[tamelee]

Draw what you want to draw Tame! I mean, I’m not particularly a fan of Sasunaru in general because I often associate it with a side of the fandom I had a pretty bad experience with, but I like your Sasunaru drawings because… they’re yours. You communicate so much trough you art, it brings me so much joy, and I get so inspired from you… We feel the love you hold for Naruto and Sasuke trough your pieces, it’s the most important thing.

+5 (long post)

Thank you for sending me messages like this 😭💕 I feel like I don't deserve it, but like, honestly, it's a bit strange how your brain automatically focusses on this negative, invading thing but some of you always remind me to redirect my attention elsewhere, does that make sense? I don't know if it does, but in short; I appreciate it A LOT! 🥰 1st Nonee; I think I understand what kind of bad experience that may be.. I'm sorry to hear about it ;-;- I'm extra grateful you can still connect with my art despite it <3

Yes… I’m aware. 

This… sorta feels like I was having a conversation with someone about different kinds of apples and then you walk by, linger to listen, sorta cough for a moment, tap me on the shoulder and say, “I overhead and found this hilarious, honestly. Why the hell do you refuse the existence of banana’s? They are real and you should take into consideration that some people may prefer them over apples. Are you just pretending there’s just no other fruit?”

And I’ll frown in confusion, hold up a rotten apple and explain I was talking about this (I’ll point at it) very specific moldy, apple. That, it doesn’t matter whether it used to be red or green, it shouldn’t be consumed anymore after it passes a certain limit. 

But then you come over to lecture us about banana’s because it’s also a fruit, and you feel strongly about the fact that both are great for baking and just because they have these similarities, it doesn’t mean they are the same thing. 

And I agree because I just said that I didn’t care what color it had but… it’s rotten. 

Anyway, either you missed the point completely, or I haven’t been clear enough. In which case, I probably made it more confusing, but since you found it hilarious I wanted in on the joke 🤷🏻‍♀️

“I feel like taking that into consideration it's understandable that some people prefer to stick to just one dynamic, whichever that might be. This obviously does not justify harassing creators for doing a different dynamic you don't prefer.”

On the other hand, I think you did get the point somewhere. This is literally what I said. 

So, this was very informative, but I’ve talked about it before. In the post I also mentioned preferences and that I had one as well. Don’t you think that by itself acknowledges the possibility of a distinction between options? There’s no use for a preference otherwise, yes? It means there are choices. And the people in the comments talked about heteronormativity which has largely to do with the characterization you’re talking about. That means people aren’t blind at all, because this characterization in fandom has a lot to do with heteronormativity which, in turn, is often the reason they start attacking each other. And just because it’s true and real, or a phenomena as you say, doesn’t mean there aren’t any rotten apples and we aren't allowed to throw those in the bin. 

And so, yes, I am very much going to “act” like people who attack other people for something so silly and ridiculous- are crazy. Because the point of my post was specifically about them. 

Aka, the rotten apple.  Have a blessed day as well, Nonee.

#asktamelee #fandom talk