#meta: fandom

[padawanlost]

I've noticed it seems to be getting fashionable to call Anakin a "narcissist" and a "pyschopath" again.

Just when you think you're making progress in promoting understanding of mental health- you realize these people have learned nothing.

You know, i’ve been back to tumblr for like 3 months and it’s amazing how little it has changed. After over 20 years of fandom, time has taught me the discourse rarely is about an honest, open minded, adult discussion of the source material. It’s more about people trying to validate their own feelings about it. So, it’s not really about Anakin. It’s about people who don’t have a strong emotional connection with him, or who does not empathize with his character arc, trying to rationalize it. Or, at worst, it’s about being mad that other people like/enjoy something do not.

The Jedi discourse is a prime example of this. If say you anything remotely negative about them, like “they made a few mistakes”…suddenly your argument is automatically invalid and, on top of that, you’re a bad person who “doesn’t get it”.

So, in my old age, where I used to see an attack on my favorite character (or even myself), I see someone trying to justify or validate their own opinion with the tools they have. We have to remember not everyone knows enough about psychology to understand why Anakin is not psychopath or why it can be harmful to use real identity disorders mock fictional villains.

My advice is for you to ignore it. Trust me, fandom discourse is a bottomless pit. That’s why I prefer to spend my time discussing star wars with people who actually want to have a productive conversation about the material.

#ask #tragicfantasy-girl #anakin skywalker #sw meta #fandom wank #meta: fandom

[mycroftrh]

Far worse, in my opinion, than the famous “he wouldn’t fucking say that” is “he WOULD fucking say that, as part of his facade, but you seem to think he would mean it genuinely”

#not tagging fandoms for safety #fic meta #misc #mine

[anxious-m3ss]

“I hope this email finds you well”

First of all the only emails that ever find me well are from AO3

#fanfiction writing #ao3 #ao3 author #ao3 stuff #archive of our own #ao3 meta #fandom culture #fanfiction culture #ao3 etiquette

[sleep-deprived-person]

So apparently KOSA (2024 edition) is getting either thrown out until next year or put into effect in six days. That was a guesstimate based on a different person saying that's when Congress is back in session and may be false.

Update that's going in the main post at the top: it has enough support to pass Congress.

It failed the last two times because people were voting against it.

This time, KOSA has traction among the pro-LGBTQ parties. Because nobody is fucking calling their bullshit and screaming from the rooftops that calling it the "Kids Online Safety Act" is misleading.

What will it passing do?

Nothing much, only prevent any education on LGBTQIA+ (it's that stupid fucking argument about us grooming kids again), shut down nearly every fandom space on the internet, and make it required for most big tech companies to have your ID.

Want to have resources for kids to discover their identity readily available? Yes? Then fucking speak up against this stupid fucking bill.

Fandom spaces like Tumblr, Twitter (? I thought the MAGA assholes liked Musk?), Tiktok, Archive Of Our Own, and any other website that hosts fanfic or fanart? Either shut down permanently, forced to uproot to a different country and down for a while (best case scenario, and they likely won't be able to send any data, and therefore fanfics, to the US), or gutted so that you only get to put G rated cishet ships on there, if any shipping at all. How to avoid that? I've already said it: Call your fucking representatives.

Want to avoid the fucking dystopic task of being legally obligated to give big tech your government issue ID? Again, cause an uproar. Call your goddamned representatives.

If they can pass this, the ripple effects could be catastrophic.

So, for fuck's sake, any Americans that can impact this stupid fucking bill and see this? Do everything in your power to shut it down because you have until February twenty sixth (26th) to send this bill back to where it belongs.

And if you can't do that? Reblog, copy my tags, and boost the signal.

Sorry not sorry for ranting, making you scroll through that, and swearing a probably excessive amount, but KOSA is a bill with a GLOBAL IMPACT being passed by ONE COUNTRY because some old people are scared of two guys with who were told they were girls kissing within five hundred miles of a child. Fuck this shit, I shouldn't have to worry about bad bills in America but I fucking do because I use the internet and would like to avoid mass censorship. Fuck this, fuck conservatives, and fuck the fact that some boomers make your country's policies.

Now, if you won't mind me, I'm going to be up until three in the morning downloading fanfiction or copying and pasting them into a a text file if I can't so I can read them by the end of the week.

#kids online safety act #media preservation #kosa #kosa bill #ao3 #archive of our own #tumblr #tumblr meta #fandom psa #fandom spaces #fandom #important #psa #bad internet bills #twitter #internet censorship #internet #very important post #anti censorship #anti conservative #signal boost #fanfic #fanfiction #<- these tags are relevant because they will be lost for god knows how long if this stupid bill passes #stop kosa #stop kids online safety act #tiktok #i don't like that one but censorship is censorship dammit and it's on the list

[descendant-of-truth]

Shipping is fun and all but I swear every single time someone makes a comment, whether as a joke or in a legitimate analysis, about there being "no other explanation" for a pair's interactions, I lose just a bit more of my sanity

Like, no, you guys don't get it. Romance is not about the Amount of devotion, it's about the COLOR. the FLAVOR of it all. a character can be just as devoted to their platonic friend as they are to their romantic partner, and they don't love either of them more, just differently.

But because the majority of people still have it stuck in their minds that romance exists on the highest tier of love, I'm stuck seeing endless takes that boil down to "these two care about each other too much for it to NOT be romantic" as if that's the core determining factor to how literally any of this works

In conclusion: stop telling me that I don't understand the story if I don't interpret the leads as romantic, I am TIRED

#analysis #meta #miscellaneous #fandom #shipping #media discussion #amatonormativity #lgbtq #I feel like tagging any of the fandoms I was thinking of when writing this would be a little mean-spirited potentially #Disclaimer: no one has actually been telling me personally that I don't understand any story in particular #It's just that the way people tend to phrase their analyses feels unnecessarily targeted at the reader and that's just. not great #even if I agree with every other point they make

[phoen1xr0se]

What is love?

Well, according to Neil Gaiman...

And I'll just drop this here...

You know, just in case the Good Omens fandom hadn't cried enough today.

...

#good omens meta #crowley loves aziraphale #neil gaiman basically said so #i love you neil gaiman #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #good omens 2 #good omens fandom #michael sheen #david tennant #neil gaiman #good omens

[howdidthisevenhappenanyway]

ok I’ve talked before about how, if you don’t want what you’re reading and kudosing on ao3 to be associated with you as an author or whatever that a lot of people have reading accounts that are seperate to the fics they post and I just came across a delightful example. I hope they don’t mind me pointing it out, but when I saw this on a fic today I let out the most delighted laugh

their account just has bookmarks on it, so I’m guessing that they just read on this account, leave reviews that are exactly what the times would say about books and bookmark shit. king shit.

#ao3 #ao3 comments #fanfiction #fandom meta

[somehow-a-human]

DO NOT ASK NEIL ABOUT FAN THEORY

Michael babygirl, I apologize now for the close-up screenshots of your mouth I am going to put on the internet. Call Neil if you have issues with it, it's his fault.

Honey, why are you chewing on a ball bearing? I was going to be lenient and say it's a glint off of some saliva but nah she's suckin on a damn pie weight. I didn't see her take a bite of any dippin dots, did you? Who let her near my stash of Buckyballs that I was hiding from the Consumer Product Safety Commission? Just because you are bbgurl doesn't mean you get to eat bbpellets.

#good omens #good omens 2 #michael sheen #aziraphale #good omens meta #crowley #david tennant #crowley x aziraphale #good omens theories #good omens clues #good omens theory #good omens fandom #ineffable idiots #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #anthony j crowley #good omens crowley #good omens kiss #i zoomed in and gurl its just so round #like perfectly round #they really did the bullet catch 2.0 didnt they

[pocketseizure]

“I can fix him” okay but I can fix the narrative. I can recontextualize events and bring out depths of character. I can shift priorities and strengthen relationships and show that anyone can change with enough kindness and support, and that what you admired in him has been inside yourself this whole time.

#writing #fandom meta #(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

[thecoramaria]

Fanfic readers trying to find another fic exactly like the last one they read:

#cora's original posts #just fanfic things #fanfiction #fanfiction memes #fanfic memes #just fanfiction things #fanfiction meta #fanfic meta #fandom culture #two cakes #second breakfast

[padawanlost]

Since I came back to Tumblr i've been seeing a lot of posts about how fans (especially Anakin/Legends fans) believe the Jedi deserved to be slaugthered YET I have not seen anyone make such claim. I haven't seen any prints, blogs or meta that come even close to suggest the Jedi are villains and deserving of death.

I've been away for a few years so im just wondering: Are people making this stuff, greatly exaggerating the discourse or am I missing something? Seriously when did 'the majority of the PT fandom hates the Jedi" became a "known fact" because...i've missed that Memo lol

#sw meta #im confused #jedi order #meta: fandom #mine #txt

[emotionaldisaster909]

ALSO NOTICE THAT

Hua Cheng smiled when qr said that Xie Lian has him on a leash

AND THIS IS THE FACE HE MADE

AFTER QR SAID THAT XIE LIAN WAS LICKING HIS BOOTS

THAT’S

A L L YOU HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT HIM

#tgcf #hualian #xie lian #hua cheng #tian guan ci fu #tgcf thoughts #tgcf season 2 #tgcf donghua #heaven officials blessing #天官赐福 #tgcf analysis #tgcf fandom #tgcf meta #tgcf s2

[sighed-the-snake]

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This line hits differently after S2.

You two?

The Antichrist KNOWS ALL ABOUT THEM?

What did he do for them that he told them so confidently not to worry about their future? What did he change while he was in God Mode editing reality? WHAT DID ADAM DO?

#the antichrist knows the angel and demon are in love #Adam Young ships AziraCrow #so what if I'm writing too many fics at once THERE IS ROOM FOR ONE MORE #good omens #good omens meta #good omens fandom #good omens analysis #ineffable husbands #ineffable partners #aziraphale #crowley #adam young #aziracrow

[sorcerersandskillusers]

So im still in shock from the new episode but i want to point out that all of the skk angst that came out after 101 and 109 was just destroyed in one go.

all of the art and breakdowns of how much chuuya was suffering having to hurt dazai and it turns out he chose to shoot dazai like 3 extra times (I don't blame him, i love dazai but he does kind of deserve it)

This was 100% not part of the plan and was Chuuya relieving some pent up aggression

#bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bungou stray dogs dazai #dazai #bsd chuuya #chuuya nakahara #skk #bsd skk #soukoku #bsd meta #bsd fandom #bsd spoilers #bsd season 5

[avelera]

Man, there’s all these little beats in OFMD S2 1-3 where people keep EXPECTING Stede to be upset or horrified about Ed’s actions and then he’s just. Not. In a way that reminded me of how a lot of fanon kept softening Stede into someone who doesn’t swear and is horrified at Ed for setting those ships on fire when imo to my eyes he was horrified for Ed because Ed was still so clearly distressed about it.

- Zheng Yi Sao asks Stede how he’s doing now that he knows Ed did horrible things to his crew and there’s this beat and Stede just pivots to, oh yeah, sometimes Ed is troubled. Like it didn’t occur to him to be upset on the crew’s behalf he’s worried about Ed.

- Izzy keeps trying to spare Stede’s feelings and cover up Ed’s spiral, but Stede clocked what was going on with Ed immediately and wasn’t the least bit intimidated or bothered. The knives brought the room together. Of course Ed’s trying to burn the world down or die trying. Duh. And I genuinely don’t think the STUFF in the Revenge mattered even a fraction to Stede as much as the signs of Ed’s breakdown broke his heart. It’s just STUFF, who cares.

- Lucius had to SPECIFICALLY call out Stede for not being surprised or bothered by what happened to him. What Ed did. Stede has to almost consciously remind himself to express polite concern. He just doesn’t actually care, instinctively or automatically, about what happened to Lucius. Part of it is he blames himself more than Ed. Part of it is he just doesn’t care, Ed is the priority.

They’re little blink and you’ll miss it pauses in some cases. Micro-expressions. The absence of a reaction. But honestly, I will scream it to the end of time, Stede is not some nonviolent creampuff scared or upset by Ed’s evil ways. He wants to join Ed in the atrocities. The man ran away to become a pirate. He asked if Lucius was taking notes during a murderous raid.

Stede’s at least a little on some kind of whackadoodle pirate comedy neurodivergence spectrum to the point where he actually really actually struggles to empathize with people, even people he cares about!, if their feelings conflict with his hyperfixation (piracy) and the love of his life (Ed Teach). He’s always, ALWAYS going to pick Ed over Lucius or Izzy or his crew or even his own feelings, if the option is there. He will literally throw himself overboard to get to Ed’s side. No pause. No consideration of anyone else or even his own safety.

Stede sometimes seems to have to consciously remind himself things like, oh yeah, the crew, I need to see to them. Not because he’s heartless or doesn’t care, but because it takes a bit of conscious effort for him to see beyond the laser-focused spotlight of what and who he does care most about, he has to remind himself of social niceties and other people’s feelings (just see him running away in the first place!) when he gets an idea in his head. It’s as if he had to train himself to consciously care about some things other people care about and as a neurodivergent person myself, that felt very familiar in a comedically writ large sort of way. I’d even argue that’s where all his aristocratic social niceties come from. They were his guidebook for how to do things “right” in a world that otherwise made no sense to him outside his hyperfixations. He practiced being a person through the aristocratic training because it was all so foreign to him from the start, including caring, actually caring, about the needs of others. Not because he’s consciously evil or consciously a jerk. The instinct just isn’t there unless he practices at it until it becomes reflex to ask how others are doing, because on his own his brain just doesn’t really notice or care.

I just… hope the fandom notes and has as much FUN as I do noticing all the little moments where even people inside the story of OFMD expect Stede to act in a normal way and instead he remains unhinged, laser-focused on Ed.

Stede’s not just an Ed apologist, he truly doesn’t blame Ed for any of it. He blames only himself. He doesn’t always voice this but he really really only cares about anyone else including the crew as a DISTANT second and he has to consciously REMIND himself to do so. He is able to rally to take action, to care about their physical needs like safety during the rescue, but he still struggles, deeply struggles, to remember to show empathy in a non-performative way for anyone except his special person, Ed.

Stede’s not a creampuff, not a nice guy, not some emotionally or morally perfect angel. He has to consciously practice caring about literally anything else but what he wants to do and his special person. And to me that’s a thousand times more interesting than shoving him in a box labeled “the blond, pacifist do-gooder good guy” in their relationship.

#this rant requires gifs I don’t have but trust me those odd little beats are there #bless Rhys Darby for making Stede so very neurodivergent coded because it SHOWS #ofmd #ofmd spoilers #our flag means death #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd meta #sometimes fandom flanderization makes characters so DULL compared to canon

[my-castles-crumbling]

Reblog to see how chaotic we are!

#ao3 writer #ao3 author #ao3fic #ao3 #ao3 fanfic #ao3 tags #hp fanfic #harry potter fanfiction #fanfics #fanfic writing #drarry fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #harry potter fanfic #marauders fanfiction #fandom culture #harry potter fandom #fandom things #marauders fandom #fandom meta #fandom