#reposting this myself because the other post I've seen on here is by a big terf

[phantomseptember]

The Tug of War Edgar Hunt (British ,1876-1955)

#painting #lovely! #baby animals #animal art #reposting this myself because the other post I've seen on here is by a big terf

[yooniesim]

honestly for your mental health you should probably not be so invested in every. single. bit of drama in this community. every time there’s drama you’re a big player in it. you’re usually not wrong haha, i’m just saying it seems exhausting for you.

Apologies for the book I'm about to inflict on you, nonny. No worries if you don't read it.

The thing is, I'm honestly not. And haven't been for a long time now.

If you'd said this to me six months ago, i would've actually agreed with you, nonny. I've said myself that that is a hole of negativity that is easy to fall into, and it is an exhausting one. I've done it before, I'm aware of that, and I'm sure as hell not going to do it again. So I can't quite agree with you now. There's so many things on my dash I just pass by & don't comment on. My drafts are full of text posts that I write that I purposefully save and delete rather than post. There's so many incidents and receipts of them I just try not to remember. And I've blocked so many people now to keep it all away, and thankfully for the most part it's clear now. Just scroll through my blog through the last few months- I've barely said anything. My first long post of the year was a few days ago and it wasn't even about "drama" lol. And you kinda sent this while I'm coming back from a break taking myself away from tumblr for the most part, for the sake of my mental health.

But if I ever say one thing... even if it's just one thing... somehow everybody and their mom is suddenly making a vague post about me, or lying about something I never said or did despite there being proof otherwise. I mean actual bold faced lying. I've even seen my own totally unrelated personal text posts (not about simblr or drama whatsoever) being commented on/manipulated/reposted. Even when I was on hiatus and posting 99% sims content. But I haven't been talking about it. I've been blocking the blank blogs and the anons that send me asks without replying (except the two from Thursday), I've been blocking people here that are clearly just trying to goad me into arguing, I've been ignoring the vague posts. Y'all don't get to see all of that, because I don't show it anymore, but it's been happening.

With this last shit that happened, I made only a few responses, and 1 of those was to immediately disengage with the person when they seemed upset, and I wasn't even the main person speaking with them- and yet my name was still the one in everyone's mouth, I was the one put on everyone's dashes, the one lied about and then subjected to white supremacist rhetoric. My childhood abuse was brought up like some quirky throwaway comment, for no justifiable reason. No one else was mentioned. Despite me barely being involved. Why? If you ever take a moment to notice, it's always the same people doing this. Because they constantly watch me/stalk my blog for some reason I can't comprehend. And analyze anything I've ever said, comment on my every move. In "private" and publicly. Even though I've blocked them, they continue to do this over and over again. One of the people that started this recent thing about me? I blocked them a while ago for trying to coax me into an argument and cursing at someone else in my replies. One of the others blocked me just for unfollowing them, and has been angry ever since. Another has been emotionally invested in my every move for about a year despite me barely knowing anything about them besides their username. They have an axe to grind, I suppose. I truly can't comprehend their motivations.

But sadly, whether I comment or not, whether I try to be positive or not, it honestly doesn't matter at this point. And I don't think it's right for me to just... never be able to comment anything of my own opinion on my own blog. So I'm still working out how I need to proceed with this. It isn't fair for me to have to be afraid of it something I said is going to be twisted and misconstrued- but going out of my way to comment on every issue we have here wouldn't be good either, just like you're saying now. Hell, that's never something I wanted to do- y'all didn't see any of the actual hundreds of asks in my inbox about drama and people here that I've just ignored or deleted, after all. My inbox is going on 500 deep because people still send me these things. I even still get criticism for not "using my platform" to address issues here. But like I said in November, I don't want to be that type of blog. I don't want to focus on negativity all the time. It's a freaking simblr and I wanna play sims! But I'm still a person, and this is my blog. I should be allowed to have emotions and to speak sometimes. The problem is balancing what should be posted and what shouldn't- that is something I'm working on.

As far as mental health goes, I don't think anyone here knows how absolutely crushing it is to not only be a target for the usual suspects (racists, transphobes, etc- I can deal with those, they're expected) but then also be attacked by people I considered reasonable, normal. For those people even to side with bigots just to attempt to "one up" me for some strange ego fueled reason. The people that have said I'm not even a bad person in their eyes, just annoying to them. Yet they throw such hatred and contempt my way, wish for my "downfall", and for what? A few more likes on their hateful text post? To feel better than me, better than people like me? To win some imaginary high school game they never could in real life? I know even this post you're reading now will be screenshotted and posted in a server or two, and someone will send me the proof within a day or so. Even if you do it in "private", I still see it- maybe especially if you think it won't get back to me, it will. Nothing on the internet is private. But I don't even share the proof, I just look at it and think, why? If you don't even think I'm that bad, then why? Why are you stalking my blog and making fun of me and calling me out of name? Do you honestly feel good about what you're doing? Does it make you feel satisfied somehow? How do you justify it? Is it just because I'm not your friend? Or is it really because I've simply disagreed with you in the past? Is that worth the resentment you're holding in your heart and then putting out into the world? It's not even hurtful to me, it's just confusing at this point. I don't understand it. I can't comprehend it. And that's one of the most influential reasons I don't comment on many things here anymore; I just don't understand simblr. Other than the fact that it's a social game parading as a moral one. And perhaps I'm bad at navigating it because of that.

But I guess what I'm saying ultimately is, no, I'm not invested in every drama here. And you're right in saying I shouldn't be, I agree wholeheartedly. But sometimes it feels like it doesn't matter, it'll come to me anyway. Like if maybe someone else said the exact same thing I did, they wouldn't get the same reaction, because they're not me. I'm aware of it now, and I'm honestly not sure if it'll ever stop, unless the people doing it move on. Until then... I suppose I've decided to just not care, to do and say what I want as long as it isn't harming my own mental health or happiness. I'll play the sims, I'll have my opinions, I'll post them. And just see how I feel, I guess.

#asks #anonymous #ceci speaks #negative

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP, it's good to see you back. I have missed you and your insights.

I have been Stan twitter for a while and I have always noticed how the so called fans treat Jimin. At first I assumed it was because of shipping business but I have since come to realise it's so much more that that. I have seen Taekookers hate on him, but I have also seen most of the members if not all of the members solo stan hating on him. I have also noticed other fandoms targetting him. I fail to see why. I have been watching BTS religiously and he comes across the most sorted one in the group to me. He comes across as someone who is fully aware of who he is as a person. I find him the most genuine one in the group. That's not to say I find the others fake but there is something about him. Even now, I have come from twitter and he is being hated on for just existing. What is this all about? I have been to their concert and honestly at the concerts, he gets the loudest cheers, like much louder than the rest of the members so it really confuses me. Is it like a trendy thing to do or do people actually dislike him that much? I have noticed that his content views are lower too even though he seems to be one that everyone seems to talk about. I find myself really confused with the whole thing.

**

Hi Anon, 💜

My very first 'post' on this blog was about hate. I've dug it up and reposted it here just so I can reference it for your ask. It's really long, but please take the time to read it because the meat of what I want to say is in that post (in the second section). I'll say a couple more things specific to Jimin since that's why you're here, but if you’re interested, you can send a follow up ask or DM me for some general examples that I hope show the wider context, beyond BTS.

(Je prie pour que la maquilleuse de Jimin se réveille avec des croissants fraîchement cuits tous les jours)

*

I want to say I sincerely think that contrary to popular belief, Jimin doesn't get that much hate compared to other members. The hate he gets is a bit peculiar in how vulgar and graphic it is and I think there's factors driving that. Perhaps he gets the most of it, but I don't think some other members are so far behind. Not that this is a competition, but I think there's this perception that Jimin is hated everywhere by a massive wide margin compared to the rest of BTS (or others in k-pop for that matter), when instead it's possible the group as a whole is hated and anybody deemed to be the face of the group, is persona non grata. And if his abs reveal during debut era didn't immortalize him as a face of Bangtan, he certainly accomplished it with Blood, Sweat & Tears in 2016. BTS would be nothing without any of the members, especially Jimin, so if you want to come at BTS, you come at Jimin.

(J'aime bien cette photo de lui. The new ARMY recruit sent it to me. She's Jimin biased.)

Let's also get the obvious out of the way: a lot of people don't need a reason to hate. Some people genuinely enjoy hating other people, especially hating someone who is loved by a huge amount of people. And it's no secret that even in 2022, people are homophobic, racist, and generally disgusting towards other people at the slightest provocation - and this is where Jimin's perceived gender presentation and orientation, perhaps influences (or compounds) the hate directed at him - he could be perceived by the lowest sort of people, to be some kind of acceptable target.

Jimin is a man who to many people, looks like a woman. He is objectively drop dead gorgeous and sometimes cute. But the flip side is a lot of the hate directed at him is misogynistic in tone, and nasty in the way only the violating sort of hate directed towards women is nasty. I've noticed a similar thing with hate directed at Yoongi as well.

Another big reason is that k-pop is extremely and dysfunctionally competitive. Participants in k-pop spaces take the worst of internet culture and weaponize that against any perceived threats. They will use racist, sexist, disgusting and dehumanizing language at the slightest opportunity, as soon as they pick a target or identify a threat.

(Je vous promets à tous, cet homme n'en a rien à foutre.)

Now, I've not said this anywhere before, but I think the most threatening person in k-pop is Park Jimin.

…

Well, yeah.

I won't get into the 'all of k-pop' comparison in this post, but within BTS, if you're watching a BTS performance and anything impressively acrobatic or virtuosic is happening, chances are Jimin is the reason. His vocals are stratosphere high - one would be lying if they said they cannot hear Jimin on a track he's on. If he sings, you will hear him, you will know it is him, and you will react to his voice. That's what his voice is designed to do. Whether that reaction is positive or negative is irrelevant imo, what matters is that his voice causes people to instinctively react. Spend anytime watching him and if his wit doesn't get your attention, it's likely his eye-smile, laugh or good manners hiding a sardonic sense of humour is what eventually does it. Or so I've been told (lol). It's impossible to not notice him. Anon, around the time I got your ask, I received another ask wondering why Jimin stands out not just in BTS but in k-pop. All the above are reasons why, and these reasons are identical to those for why people hate Jimin. I said before BTS would be nowhere without him. The thing is everybody knows it, **especially** many people who hate him.

This is a summary of how many solo stans (and some ARMYs) perceive his conflicts with their goals/faves in BTS:

Namjoon - General popularity vs perceived contribution to discography

Seokjin - Vocals, Visual

Yoongi - General popularity vs perceived contribution to discography

Hoseok - Dance, "most caring member"

Taehyung - Vocals, Dance, Visual

Jungkook - Vocals, Dance, Visual

Any discrepancies with views could be due to algorithms discounting his views (he trends too easily), or due to solo stans and their diet versions. K-pop is competitive and there's no referee - this is unavoidable context for anything that happens in this space.

*

The short answer to the question of why so many hate him, is that Jimin is special. In my humble opinion. He's special to his team, to most everyone around him, he is special compared to the general male population in- and out-side Korea, he is special in every way.

(I miss the bowl cut days)

Anon, I rambled a lot in this post, but I think it's important to remember that Jimin seems to be fairly insulated from all of this. It's easy to get sucked in to fandom and think the reality here aligns with the one out there, but that's not necessarily true. In the real world Jimin of BTS is a respected virtuoso and master of his craft, he laughs with his friends and drinks with Jungkook et al, he gives to his old/former school and invests in real estate, he travels the world and makes music with pretty dope (and now viral) music producers and works hard on his solo debut album. He comes online occasionally to laugh with ARMYs. He said recently that he's happy. I say let's celebrate that and him more, rather than worry or wonder about why losers are the way they are.

#jimin #jimin only #ask #fandom behavior #kpop fandom #park jimin #kpop #fandom behaviour #bts #bangtan #bts army #bts fandom

[thelittlemermage]

yeah ok i guess i see where you’re coming from, but intent is a big part of what separates the two. again, i’m not here to attack wimsie by saying this, there’s nothing else that needs to be said about them since we dealt with that problem. what I’m saying is that you made a bad move reposting art without permission, and that comparing art somebody created to be suggestive to that of someone who does not want their art perceived that way, and continuing to sexualize their work when they’re clearly not comfortable with it is a really shitty thing to do. Hany asks that nsfw blogs don’t interact, so I don’t really know how you came to the conclusion that he draws it, but i do know that he’s uncomfortable with the way you’ve been talking about him and his stuff, and i really think it’s in your best interest to just take the post down.

You guys assume a lot of intent tho. Like assuming the intent of that art is incest. And assuming the intent of the hypno art is noncon. That may be your interpretation, but that may not be the author's intent. I've been on the receiving end of this too and I get once you put something out there people will interpret art how they will. But sometimes people take art in bad faith, particularly when they already don't like someone.

Right now, I'm assuming the intent of that art is sexual in nature because two people are laying on top of each other in bed. I'm dubious that he doesn't know it will be seen that way. Maybe you're right. But what I'm saying is those images look very similar in the suggestive meter. Things he does make me uncomfortable too so the feeling is mutual. I'm very certain he likes nsfw art. He was gushing over the ahegao post before he remembered where he was and deleted it lol. He's friends with nsfw artists. And I'm fairly sure he draws it too but you know what, I have no real proof so I'll give you that one. I'm not saying he's bad for any of that aside from being a hypocrite btw. Art about sex is not worse than art about anything else.

Listen, I know those posts are in bad taste. It's possible I will take them down. But I know none of those posts about Wimsie are coming down. Not one of you have ever been decent to me or them as we have been to you. Idk if you know this or even if he knows this, but we had a tentative agreement that if Wimsie keeps the art out of the main tag, that side of the fandom will leave us alone. I consider this agreement void due to recent events. Did it come directly from them? Apparently not. But they're liking/sharing/supporting it. And I know they never did shut up about Wimsie anyway. There's only so many things I can let slide. I'm not going to once again be the only person keeping my head down in this fandom. That hasn't solved anything for me. It would be so easy for them to just mind their business. I don't do anything to anyone unprovoked. All I want is to defend myself and my friends. I don't think letting this sort of thing happen over and over again is how I protect them.

#Anonymous

[jenroses]

Remember back in 2016 when I wrote a Big Bang thing for Merlin and I got randomly paired with @procoffeinating and the art was 100% amazeballs?

Well, after spending a couple months writing 180k worth of story for Pocketful of Soul, a CQL-based, Mo Xuanyu-centric time travel story, I decided to reward myself by commissioning art. There are three pieces, this is the first.

This is from Chapter 3, and depicts Mo Xuanyu holding a hand out to Jiang Yanli's ghost, while Wen Qing looks on. They're surrounded by the spirits of the Wen Remnants. They are in a field near Nightless City and you can see the Fire Palace in the background.

Jiang Yanli has one hand full of pieces of Wei Wuxian's shattered, scattered soul.

I am absolutely enchanted by the depiction of Mo Xuanyu, wearing WWX's robe that is a little too big, a little baggy, a little tattered, his face softer, a little rounder in the cheeks and chin, but still closely resembling WWX. It was possibly the most challenging part of the assignment, to make him look different but not-too-different. This is forever what my mental image of him will be.

Anyway, Procoffeinating, as always, understood the assignment absolutely perfectly.

Because this work was for Fandom Trumps Hate, and I not only wanted Procoffeinating's specifically amazing art, but I wanted to use this to help directly support several artists related to causes dear to my heart, I'm asking that if you like this or other of Procoffeinating's work, and you are able, that you go offer some kofi love. If you do, let me know via DM here or on Twitter how much you gave, and I'll match that with some more art for the story. Even tiny donations will get something from me, I have a very long list of places small art could be added. (I did pay for this piece, more than asked, but it deserves more, and I'm willing to put my own effort toward that. Mostly I want to see lots of people tell J how amazing the art is.)

From J's Twitter:

j/queer/ broke fanartist and cat owner, https://ko-fi.com/procoffeinating

I hit an alt text limit, for those who are using screen readers, in addition to everything mentioned in the alt text, over this misty, moody image, on the left side, is a hazy lighter panel (it only covers someone in a dark robe seen from the waist down, it was a requested title space). And over that panel is the title, Pocketful of Soul in a font that seeps black curling tendrils like resentful energy, limned in red. Under it, in a less curly but still decorative font (think rapid brush strokes, almost cursive, kind of pointy, with long downward strokes but minimal ornamentation) in a drop-shadowed black, it says "by Jenrose, art by Procoffeinating."

I highly recommend trawling through @procoffeinating's Tumblr for amazing art in many fandoms. Just keep going, there's Merlin and Good Omens in there, among other things. Twitter has some newer stuff.

Please reblog, do not repost. Posted with permission. The graphic design elements are mine, the art is 100% Procoffeinating's.

The next image from Procoffeinating will be up in about a month, give or take, and will knock your goddamn socks off. It involves culturally accurate babywearing but also absolutely perfect character drawings. Y'all, I cried. (I have the final version in hand but it's for Part 5, and like, 20 chapters from what I've already posted.)

#mdzs fanart #cql fanart #PocketfulOfSoul #commissioned art for fanfic #pay artists #gift to myself #gift to the fandom #fandom trumps hate

[servicetopping]

Enjoying Fatness

originally posted on my fet, i doubt anyone here would be interested but reposting it here just cuz

I wasn't always fat, though I've always had a complicated relationship with food. Before top surgery, I had a very big chest (even after an insurance covered breast reduction).

I once read a short story about a trans man who was trying to live as a man in order to qualify for HRT and surgery, and while he himself doesn't do it he thinks of a friend who managed to do it because he was fat, and so his breasts didn't stand out. This was a fictional story so I don't know if anyone like that exists, or if that would even actually work, but I remember it stuck with me. While there wasn't a conscious effort on my part to "get fat," I think this sat in the back of my mind for a long time and, in combination with the general body neutrality my parents raised me with, led me to be more open and happy to see myself gain weight.

I still felt insecure, mostly in interactions with others when I would get teased for my weight. One moment that still stands out to me is when I wore a dress to school, just a simple bodycon dress made from a stretchy fabric I had got from Hot Topic, and as I was walking to my lunch table a girl I had almost never interacted with before told me derisively that I looked pregnant. I didn't buy or wear a dress for probably about 5 years after that, outside of a prom dress I got from the free clothes closet at school, and I spent a long time picking the right dress that wouldn't show my stomach.

I still get uncomfortable and fidgety when I wear dresses, especially anything that's made from a bodycon fabric. I now have a couple dresses, and I enjoy them, but I wish I had more. But I get very 'in my head' about dresses and how they show my stomach, so I don't often try them on or buy them even though I want them. I do better with skirts, and especially enjoy skirts that sweep all the way to the floor, and accordion pleats.

I've had top surgery now, and I don't feel at odds with my body every day. It has been such a relief. Now I pass as a man, I've found that I'm not and don't want to be 'just some guy' - at least as far as clothes are concerned. I want to wear bright colors, swishy fabrics, fuzzy coats, shining and jingling accessories, the whole nine. If being a fat man wasn't hard enough, now I was finding that being a fat femme is even harder. Especially if you're a fat femme who isn't a woman or isn't always a woman.

Dressing, presenting as, and/or being feminine while fat when your body is hairy and seen as masculine is terrifying. Even within fat spaces queer bodies are disliked, even within queer spaces fat bodies are disliked. Embracing, loving, and celebrating myself as a hairy, 'masculine-bodied' person who enjoys wearing feminine clothes and presenting in a feminine, gender bending, campy way, can be difficult at times. It's radical and transgressive and it's sexy and fun as hell.

Even though it's mostly online following and not always personal connection where we talk to one another, I have been bolstered to being able to feel this way and be loud and proud about it and about my sexiness by surrounding myself with other fat, queer people who are loud and proud themselves. A stretch-marked, hairy stomach overhanging flabby hairy thighs that are bulging out of ribbon adorned, ripping thigh highs that were made without fatness in mind... Is beautiful and sexy and fun.

It has taken time. A few years, surrounding myself with people who were fat. Queer fat people who unabashedly loved other fat people, and not only that, but loved fatness. Months of my main online feed being filled with professional photoshoots of fat models, amateur thirst traps from other fat users, and posts waxing poetic about the glory of a fat, hairy bear. To see fat people being loved and celebrated (not as a show of progressiveness or tolerance, but as a wholehearted and genuine love for fatness) and being seen as sexually attractive in part for their fatness rather than in spite of it - has been perspective changing in the best ways.

I've always been generally neutral on my body, I don't think about it as separate from me and I don't sit in the mirror and stare (especially not since top surgery). I don't hate my fat or hate myself for being fat. But I would still feel insecure about my fatness - not because of my own feelings, but because of what I knew about how others would see me. But now I was seeing other people who didn't see it negatively, or even neutrally, but saw fatness as something beautiful, something to celebrate. I took those perspectives, alongside the fat activism that was in my feed and that I seeked out to read, and it's been changing the way I think of myself.

When I step out of the house and my shirt rides up over my stomach, or I drip ice cream on my shirt, I still get a ping of insecurity. But then I stop and I think of all these things. When a skinny person's shirt rides up over their stomach, it's sexy, it's a thirst trap, people reply with a hundred comments of keysmashes and drooling heart eyed emojis. So when my shirt rides up, I know I deserve that same reaction, and that there are a lot of people out there who would give that reaction. When a skinny person eats something messy and drippy, it's sexy, it's innuendo. The same can be true for me. My body is simply my body, but it is neutral. It is fun, beautiful, sexy, and confidence-giving.

I struggle with eating - not out of any desire to be skinny or to control my body, but out of a tendency toward restrictive picky eating that evolved into something more pathologic. Combined with a neurodivergent brain, medication that interferes with appetite, and a fatigued body that often forgets or doesn't want to eat, struggles to plan and prepare food, dislikes changes in routine or exploring new things, & struggles with the sensory side of eating... It's difficult. It has been, and still is. I have found ways that have made me feel better, have helped me onto a path towards healing, but every day is another fight.

Enjoying fatness not just as a tolerance of fat bodies, but as a celebration of fatness and the sensory joy of eating food and feeling yours and other people's fat bodies, has given me a new avenue to explore food and heal my relationship with food and eating.

I am not a feeder or feedee, or particularly aroused by weight gain, and I know the communities have their ups and downs. There are plenty of people in those communities who fetishize fat people and who dehumanize us, all while arousing themselves to our bodies and to their abuse of us. I understand why so many fat people draw a strong line of not wanting to interact with anyone with those kinks or with chubby chasers as a whole. I have had the fortune to fall into a place near the fringes of these kink communities, where it is fat people enjoying, celebrating, and being aroused by their own and other people's fat bodies.

I enjoy focusing on my fat body, my stomach, and the pleasure and sexy-potential of eating in my play, but I only do it with my long term partner who is also fat. If I ever did something like that platonically, I think it would have to be with other fat people. I cannot stand any hint of degradation or humiliation within this play. Me and my partner have experimented with 'hucow' ideas, but that was approached from a petplay perspective, and is more of an intertwining of previous petplay establishments we had made along with celebration of fatness and body worship.

Body worship means to me, as a fat kinkster, fat worship. Not fetishization or dehumanization, but worship of a fat person as a fat person, and not just as a person who happens to be fat.

#personal

[anotherwritersblog]

Title: Happily Ever After

Pairing: Chris Evans x Reader

Rating: Anyone/Everyone

Word Count: 1.6K-ish

Warnings: some fluff, mentions of anxiety, some language (writing and posting to tumblr is new to me, so if I ever miss anything that needs to be mentioned, please just let me know)

Summary: Facing your fears leads to one of the best days of your life.

Author's Note: Hi. First time posting to Tumblr (as well as writing Chris), but not a first time writer. I've got a thing or two in progress on other sites, but I think I'm going to wait and see how this one pans out here. Thought of a few drabbles pertaining to this as well, so I might add on with those later. I don't know. We'll see. This story is beta'd by myself, so any mistakes are my own. I would also like to admit that I’ve made moodboards before, but with my own pictures. So this edit was also a first 😅 I’m still working on it. Lol. No joke. I remade the damn thing at least five times.

Any and all reblogs/likes/comments are appreciated.

In no way, shape, or form, do you have permission to repost this anywhere.

____________________

Growing up, Disney had always been a big part of my life. I'd come down for breaks during my school years, over summers to visit my family, and then weekends when I was an adult and I finally moved 15 minutes away. It was always a dream of mine to live so close, but also to find someone who loved it as much as I did. Someone to enjoy the food, festivals, and rides with.

And that's where Chris comes in.

I had been in the Expedition Everest Single Rider line one afternoon. I told myself I was going to finally try it. Was I excited? No. Terrified? Absolutely.

I sat in the last row of the roller coaster, when this tall brunette slid in next to me. We were instructed to lower the bar and 'Enjoy the ride!'

Everyone ahead of us was chattering quietly as we ascended the track to the top. I was grabbing the bar with my life, my knuckles starting to turn white. I heard a soft chuckle and glanced to my right.

"First time?" he asked.

I nodded my head. "Unfortunately. I'm used to rides like the Haunted Mansion or the Little Mermaid. Those are more my speed." This time he laughed a little harder.

"I"m so glad that my pain and suffering can bring a stranger so much joy," I rolled my eyes.

We get to the top of the track and stop. Soon an announcement comes on that the ride will start back up shortly and to stay seated. "Mother fucker.." I mumbled before I heard the man next to me say "Language!" I whipped my head around and looked at him a little closer. He dawned a pair of sunglasses, a Patriot's cap, and a beautiful full beard. He pulled his sunglasses down a little, and I was soon pierced by the most beautiful eyes I've seen on screen before.

"Shut the front door," I gasped as he shot me a wink before pushing his glasses back up. "Stop. What are you doing here?" I asked, finally realizing who I sat next to.

"Just wanted to get a quick trip in before I..." he hesitated for a moment "before I go back to work." Obviously, he wasn't going to tell me what 'work' entailed (but a few years later, I found out it was Avengers: End Game).

"Of course. Just my luck. The day I get stuck on my first roller coaster, and sit on the verge of an anxiety attack, it's with you," I buried my face into my hands.

"Hey. At least I can relate to that. Been there. Done that. Bought the t-shirt." This time, I was laughing until I heard another announcement. The ride was starting up shortly.

My heart dropped and I went back to white-knuckling the bar. I soon felt a large hand engulf mine. "You'll be okay. I promise." And soon, we were off.

My heart was racing the entire time, but I think it was also because Chris' hand never left mine. We screamed, albeit for different reasons, but it was...exhilarating.

Soon after, the coaster came to a stop and everyone was getting out. I was still sitting when I heard "You coming?" and turned to see that Chris was holding his hand out. I took it, stepped from the seat, and we walked towards the exit.

"So, what'd you think?" he asked, as we stepped off to the side, just outside of the exit.

"Well..my heart is still pounding, and I can't decide if I want to go grab lunch now, or after riding that again," I smiled as I look up at him, greeted with a smile of his own.

"Well..how about we ride it again, and then I'll buy you lunch?" he asked.

"Oh. You don't have to. I'm sure you have other plans for toda-"

"I did," he cut me off. "But it'd be more fun to do them with someone than by myself. Besides. You deserve a good lunch for facing your fears today."

And from that day on, everything was history.

I gave him my number that night, and told him that if he were ever at Disney again, to contact me. And to my surprise, he actually did the next time he was in town.

And he did it again.

And again.

It went on for about a year before he asked to make it official between us. I was in shock, but I couldn't say no. I had fallen in love with my new Disney friend, so I gave it a shot. It was hard at first, with him always away filming or in Boston, but we made it work.

I found myself flying a few times to see him and he would fly down to see me when he could. We kept everything strictly out of social media, both for his sanity and my safety.

After almost two years, we were sitting down at his kitchen table when we decided that I would move in with him. He said he'd take care of me, that I wouldn't have to work anymore, but I enjoyed my line of work. Yes, I had hard days, and sometimes came home complaining, but doesn't everyone? I told him I'd continue working if I moved in with him, and he was fine with it.

He was actually fine with a lot of things. And so understanding. He was always there when I was dealing with my anxiety, when I was home sick and needed to visit my family, or even when I just needed to be near him. Not in an affectionate way, but just being in the same room as him made some of those hard days better.

Whenever he was away filming, he always made a point to call or FaceTime me once a day (he said he tried to because he loves me; I think it's because I always had Dodger pictures ready to send, or to have on screen for him).

When Chris finished his most reason film, he promised a short vacation. I was over the moon when I found out we were going to Disney World.

It was a relaxing trip, and something that we both needed. We visited all of the parks, rode all of our favorite rides, and even got to enjoy the flower festival at EPCOT (he said he made the plans for exactly that reason because he remembered it was my favorite festival). It was such a magical few days but of course, all good things must come to an end.

The last night of our trip, we were standing at the small bridge in the Italy Pavilion. I was standing against the railing, with Chris right behind me. His arms were wrapped around my stomach, while mine were placed over his. EPCOT had just started their nightly show, but all I could think was how truly happy I was at that moment in my life.

I leaned back a little more into Chris, and squeezed his hands a little tighter.

"Everything okay, baby?" he asked as he kissed just above my right ear.

I turned my head to look up at him and smiled. "Everything is perfect, my love."

"Good," he said, as he leaned down to give me a slow and sweet kiss.

I turned back to watch the fireworks when Chris started whispering into my ear. "You know how much I love you, baby, right?"

"Almost as much as you love Dodger," he chuckled at my response. "Baby..Dodger may be the moon that brought light to a dark time in my life, but you are my world and sun. You…You are my everything. You've allowed me to be me, and been very accepting of my lifestyle. You have never questioned any choices I've made, and you've been with me every step of the way for these past few years."

I turned my body to look at him. My hands running up and down his arms, as his hands laid on my waist, and my eyes catching those beautiful, ocean blue eyes.

"I do all that because I love you, Chris. You know that," I said before I leaned up to kiss his cheek, his nose, and then his lips. I lingered for a second longer, before I pulled back to look at the man in front of me.

"And I want everyone to know how much I love you, baby."

I was a little confused, as we've done anything and everything to keep our relationship to ourselves and family. But everything soon clicked when he took a step back and knelt onto one knee. He had reached into his pocket to retrieve a small, red box.

When he opened it, my eyes flew from the ring to his face. He was starting to look a little blurry, but that might have been due to the tears that were starting to run down my face.

"I'm willing to take on anything life throws at me, as long as you are by my side. Y/N..will you do me the honors of marrying me?"

I couldn't get a word out, but I was soon nodding my head, getting down to his level, placing my hands on either side of his face, and kissing him.

"Yes," I was finally able to say and the few bystanders around us started to cheer. There was a Disney photographer capturing the entire moment, and I was elated to see the pictures later on.

But at that moment, after he had slipped the ring on my finger and kissed me under the fireworks, nothing else mattered.

Because I was finally getting my happily ever after.

#chris evans #chris evans x reader #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans series #chris evans x you #chris evans imagine #chris evans one shot #chris evans blurb #chris evans fluff #mentions of anxiety #chris evans at disney #chris evans fic #chris evans x female reader #chris evans x fem!reader #chris evans x y/n #chrisevans #cevans #christopher robert evans #anotherwritersblog writing

[cupcraft]

Hello New Twitter Users coming to mcytblr: Here's some tips I have for some basic tumblr etiquette things to educate you. Other mutuals and users please reblog with additions and correct me on things (these are from my experience). I am very lazy and also not good at making well organized posts. (and if you're on IOS get that bug fix for the tag ban!).

1. Filter out tags you don't want to see. You curate your on experience on here. And if you still see it just block or don't follow the person. Some people don't tag things at all, and that's fine, some blogs like myself tag a shit ton, and that's also fine.

2. People liveblog on here. It may clutter your dash. If you don't like it, or don't want spoilers, again block the tag or don't follow livebloggers.

3. We don't trend "neg" on here. We tag neg, for tone indicators/people that block those tags. You might also find that some the things neg was trended over isn't usually discussed here unless it is serious incidents, or to discuss it respectfully (at least in my experience). Sometimes, you may see things critiquing twitter's response to situations.

4. There is no fame, no clout, no check mark. Yeah, i mean people are aware of the "big blogs" in the fandom to some extent, but they aren't really given big blog treatment as it's kind of weird. Any excitement you see is likely just because someone likes that blog they follow or is their mutual. Don't bring celebritism here...we don't like that. In fact most of the time you'll never know who is a "big blog" anyway. Someone can have banger posts that succeed and have 400 followers, someone can get small note posts and be a big blog.

5. Don't repost art. Reblog art. Reblog fanfiction (unless you do a rec list), reblog everything really. Likes don't do anything, and searchability is based on reblogs I believe.

6. Back to tags, learn about what tags are. I think it's the first 6 that contribute to searchability(? fact check me?). It's good to do tw tags, or crit/neg tags for people that block those things. Also people communicate in the tags, often reblogging the same post over and over with <- Prev [insert message] to communicate.

7. Ask etiquette: be polite. If you send hate what will happen is you'll either get roasted by op, or just blocked. It's not really worth it.

8. DM etiquette. Don't be weird, always check DNI lists first, again if you are weird you'll just really be blocked.

9. BACK TO TAGS THIS IS IMPORTANT! Do not DO NOT censor tags like do not say t0mm31nn1t to avoid saying tommyinnit. This actively is harmful. People BLOCK tags they don't want to see, and censoring it will actively ruin this process. Again, censoring does not help you if you're worried about trending.

10. Tumblr's search feature sucks. I'm sorry...

11. you may find some of our DSMP lore opinions are a lot different than general twitter's. Personally i've seen a lot of wildly different lore takes there than here. Just warning you all.

12. Don't get annoyed if your followers "spam like or reblog". It's quite normal, especially for those online and actively refreshing.

13. As much as we enjoy cc's learning about tumblr, we don't want cc's to treat it like twitter. We want it to stay chill and sort of reserved and private. Do not try to get all your cc's to come over here.

14. Tumblr is to build community not followers.

Please again add on, correct, send me straight to the plinko. I can't think of any more right now I am very tired.

#mcyt #mcytblr #dsmp #dsmpblr #twitter #psa

[helloamhere]

Oh thank you for the heads up, I’d love to make sure I have your beautiful writing downloaded (for personal use only of course, I would never repost). I don’t mean to pry but does this mean you’re thinking of leaving the fandom or don’t want to write Larry anymore? I’ve so enjoyed your writing and it will be a real loss if you leave (though of course you must do what is best for you). I hope you’re well! Xx.

Thank you so much for the kind words!! xoxo I'll still be here on tumblr for sure! Where else am I going to get my shrieking reaction gifs and memes and cottage pictures!!

Honestly I didn't intend this to be a big old leaving announcement -- this hobby still brings me so much joy -- that's not really my plan. I have slid more and more out of this fandom/thinking about larry plots, but that's not been a plan as much as a quiet transition. I still love the versions of these characters I like to write but the fandom doesn't feel very active for me, ya know (overall, sending nothing but love to the specific creators I still follow and see gorgeous work from) .

Perhaps planning on writing more broadly for other fandoms if I maintain the space to write fic. Lately it's been hard, there's a lot going on in my life!

Really what started to freak me out? Was I've followed a number of stories about recent authors who have had old fanfic of theirs dug up and have gotten super harassed about it? I know that it's probably DEEPLY paranoid to ever worry about something like that. It's so far from a possibility in my life. Yet it got under my skin. And it just KEPT getting under my skin. (still tho, while I would be wretchedly embarrassed to have, say, people in my professional life know I've written these stories....I still LOVE my fics lol so I am hopeful that nothing in them would really be that bad. Lord I do not want to explain ABO to my mom tho). Some of my professional writing is getting more and more out there. As it does, I've just been on a big personal journey to ask: Look. HOW serious are you about wanting to publish original fiction? Do you really want to take writing more seriously and if so, why are you spending hundreds of thousands of words on fic? And you know. I deeply love and cherish that we have created a non-monetized creative community here. It has given me so damn much. I am grateful. But STILL, fic kind of pulls that energy away from original fiction. I started to feel weird about it. Again, I love these stories? I am profoundly grateful for the community here? I WANT to share things? But then as I'm doing a lot of original fiction writing, I'm starting to come back to similar passages or turns of phrase or scenes. I can hear myself try to work out the same themes I write in fic. I wonder if I've poured too much of my own thinking into fic. I've been chewing over whether I would need to delete my longer fics if I ever tried to pitch original fiction, because I've seen people get hammered for that too. This is one of the reasons I don't like orphaning fic, because losing that ability to control it and have authorship to it feels wrong to me somehow. Particularly with how much negative scrutiny 1D fandom comes under, I don't know. I also though, hey, most of the people who would've read my fic already have. Fic doesn't get a lot of new readers once you post it--at least not for me! So I just started to feel really anxious about all of it. What was the benefit if I'd already shared it once, of keeping it up? What if I accidentally repeat myself in ways that tie me to this fic? Or worse, what if I worked something out in a fic and I can't replicate it in my fiction and I shouldn't have "spent" it on my fic? (I know creativity probably doesn't work that way but....the fear!) Should I have really taken a story like TMOP, which I felt so deeply connected to and spent so much intellectual thought on, and should I really have just dumped it online? IDEK. I worry that all this sounds self-aggrandizing. I know my fic are imperfect and nowhere near the quality I ask of myself in other domains. But I still love this writing and these ideas. I want to value it. Again, I'm cognizant that this might be totally wild thinking re: getting punished for having fic out there, but I also just feel so much anxiety over writing, creation, and my own work right now. After going through the last year facing a lot of hostility and bias in my job and having a lot of my own professional work taken away from me, I feel like my mind is full of the need to protect and own the things I've created.

I suppose it's just a pervasive feeling of vulnerability that continues to dig into me right now! Even sharing all of this, well -- this wasn't exactly what you were asking for, but I suppose it's nice to chat about. I feel in community with the readers who have given me so much, but also, kind of......lonely lately, when I think about my fic. I don't know how other fic authors feel around here. It can be a lot, can't it? Still taking the decision slow and wanted to send an early warning. So I'll be back and share more advance notice if I do pull the trigger on it, I am not going to chop anything down without telling you again <3

#that's the long and short of it!!! #personal #the life and times of helloamhere #honestly if other creators feel these struggles I would love to chat about how we all deal #the world is hard and monetizing creative work is hard #love to you all #this is all really imperfect and raw and messy #I'm sorry

[fencesandfrogs]

weird to think i am a Prominent Creator in my fandom. i was doing some survey for something and it asked me about it and.

my instinct was not to say no. because like. i've got a fic approaching the first page when you sort by hits or kudos. i've got. i don't know what a lot of ao3 subscribers is but i think i'm at it. i thought my tumblr was relatively small but then someone else posted their followers and i'm Not.

so i did the good thing and said yes i am, because yes i am, but like. damn. that's. fuck. like -- i don't know. it's a lot of things.

it's me being like. wait no i feel good about myself. it's the 29 asks in my inbox, at LEAST one of which is highly questionable. it's the 22 unresponded to ao3 comments. it's the 5 fics that were inspired by mine. it's a lot of things.

i dunno. like. i'm not really.

i made a survey and 30 people responded. 30 people. and it wasn't even from my main fandom blog. what do i do with that information. i don't know.

i don't know i don't know! it's weird! it's a good feeling i'm HAPPY abt this but at the same time it's weird!

do people think about me? if i left a comment on someone's fic, do they care that it's from me? should they? do Others think of me as big? i don't know! do i want to know? i don't think so. i don't know what i think of myself as. prominent is a good word. that's measurable. my fics show up on a lot of ao3 pages.

but. i dunno what does that mean about me. am i gonna say something that's going to lead to a lot of people getting the wrong idea. is there.

fuck. i saw something -- i can't remember what it was -- and i remember thinking, this sounds like something i said. not in a "repost" way in a. i don't know. i don't know how to explain it, honestly.

someone sent me an ask pulling in one of my friends. what's that about. i don't know. it was cool like my beloved <3 i'm so glad our friendship is known but also what is it that our friendship is known.

do people have parasocial relationships with me? do they care what i think about things? i don't know. i don't want to know, i don't think.

things sure are weird. i started my warriors blog about six months ago, and Wow it sure has taken off. sometimes i don't get it. i'm just a college kid. i'm just. here. i don't know.

if u told me in february, "hey, this thing you're about to do, the thing you're going to throw yourself into to get through a terrible break up, that thing -- people are going to see it and know and care," what would i have thought?

i don't know.

i started writing six months ago. maybe not exactly, i don't know.

i wrote 10k words for icbtyssm because i wanted to think about dovewing for the first time in years. i wrote another 40k in three days over the summer because i needed to -- not.

my friends send me pictures of their cats. i love them all.

i get an ask i can't figure out what the hell to do with. i post it, confused, and get another.

how many people have seen my cats? do my cats know i miss them?

someone asks a question about something i'm working on. i write over a thousand words in response. i get another ask about it and respond with an emoticon.

i write in second person when i am stuck. i was a homestuck writer first.

it rained yesterday. i walked until i was soaked because i wanted to feel something again. it worked. i could cry. i am alive again. how is this related? i'm not sure. but it is.

#mine #if u follow me on mallowstep and u don't have my discord #pls dni #i'm doing this on main for a reason

[mechanicalinertia]

The STMPD Holiday Smacktackular: Where to now?

Look, you follow this tumblr even though I treat it more like a blog instead of an image-reposting engine like I could, even though that would make me much more popular in the internet nanoniche I occupy. So I'm going to wall-of-text pretty hard here, and re-evaluate the various writing projects I'm working on, both talking to myself and others. I might even throw in an idea or two I will likely never write, but which you, dear reader, can nab - that's how generous I am.

Also I'll be doubly nice and not tag this too aggressively, so feeds of old-timey anime will remain mostly pictures and nothing else. Let's get to it.

The Bubblegum Crisis RPG

This was one of the few megaprojects I can say I finished in earnest, probably the first one. And now it's out! And I don't know if people are actually playing it, but I doubt it. It had its fifteen minutes of fame on reddit, and now if I want it to be cool I need an excuse to repost it. In other words, I need expansion packs.

And it's not like I don't have plans for expansions! But they require a lot of mental energy to do, especially building the mecha and whatnot. And I'm not sure anyone is invested in my behemoth of a book to want more of it the way I do.

So I doubt any will be coming anytime soon. Rather, I'll work on them when I feel like working on them.

But I'll just tell you what expansion ideas I do have:

- Post Launch Support: A cityless expansion. I've got a few 10-pack lists of products and services one can expect in their cyberpunk city (a popular format I've seen on reddit and in the old haunts of Blogspot), new mecha (other second-generation hardsuits, Sylvie's old mecha, Largo, et cetera), new character sheets, just a bunch of miscellaneous content. I also was playing around with the idea of a Theater Of Mind sort of combat system for those too dumb to draw up terrain maps (including me!), but I'm sort of stuck on that...

- Chicago: The Last Great American City: New York's seawalls failed, the West Coast dried up and burned down, who else is left save the American city with limitless fresh water? As I've already said, the Saber Team here would be based off of Gunsmith Cats, and so the rule / content expansion here would be all about new wacky guns for work on-the-street. New Boomers and stuff would be included, of course, but the best part would be the bad guy's lakebound Ekranoplan (look it up!).

- The Nine Cities: The Last Dynasty: Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan, and so much more, the bloody heart of the 'Sinosphere'. Still a Saber team here - the Sages, I'm calling them as a placeholder name - but they're fighting Ghost In The Shell-style cyborgs instead of Boomers, so the general amount of damage thrown around is significantly less. So new upgrades for the 10-pack list of cyberware in the base game would be the big content addon.

- Anchorpoint: Where The Earth Meets The Sky: A mighty artificial island in Southeast Asia where a massive space elevator is being built, accelerating the timeline forward to 2070, closer to GENOM's fall and to the violent, abortive birth and death of a Kurzweilian Singularity. So the tech is a bit more magic-ish, and the big content addition is both more Martial Arts, and Unique Maneuvers for them a la Cyberpunk Red.

- London: Revolutions Without Glory: The world's financial / data / infohub, besieged by a UK that no longer wants it, a sovereign Emirate unto itself, run by money for money. So the big rule expansion would be deeper-level hacking. This one might come sooner, because I feel as though a hacking expansion is important...

- The Desolate Places: Sabers Travel Light: Rural wastelands beswept by war - Antarctica, Russia, the American West, the Sahara, you name it. Would significantly restructure the game to be more of an 'open world' where players wander from town to town to solve problems and fight military forces, where scarcity of material for fabrication would be a factor formerly unnoticed in the megacity versions of the game.

...yeah, you see how much content that is that I'm on the fence about writing? It'll be a miracle if I even get that first expansion out.

Ranma: Divine Patronage

I just posted a new chapter, and now I've cleared 2,000 views on AO3. Ha! I'm in the mid-tier leagues, suckers. Next up, I'll be able to match the motherfuckers who write nothing but Worm inflation kinkmemes or whatever.

It is only part 1, not augmented much from various attempts to make it work over summer and autumn, but I was at a good break point and I thought what the hell, might as well put something out. The responses so far have been good, so I'm going to keep doing it for a bit, see if I can finish the latter half of Ranma and Makoto's date before winter break ends.

This was hard to write! It really was. I was never quite sure how to make these two characters be engaged with each other in a way that didn't feel sleazy or cheesy or just-so. It had to feel authentic in its uncertainty. And I... think I've got it? This feels like it's worth working on.

Bubblegum Crisis Megatokyo 2068

Reader, you likely have never seen this project, and that's for good reason. It's a screenplay, you see, written on chunky screenplay software which demands you create an account to view it. Which none of you want to do, I suspect.

In spite of that, it's quite good. It's set in the same reboot universe as the RPG, but is an origin story where the Sabers must assemble and fight Mason, so Celia (yeah, she's got her proper name now) can stab him in the throat at the climax.

I'll admit I'm only really in act 1 breaking into act 2, and I'll admit I'm not totally satisfied with where it is right now. I need a better Sinister Plot for Mason to work with, I need to make the whole thing shorter so it fits the 110-page limit real-ass screenwriters use (this being an exercise, you see, in plot-building within limits) (I think I have too much dialogue), but all the same it's a blast to write.

Bubblegum Crisis Fanfic Reviews

I really should can this project. I'm coming up against the limit of fic I remember distinctly enough on the good side, and I don't really want to do a bunch of re-reading when I want to do more reading of real books. And I'm coming up against the limit of bad fic that I have anything to say about that would be interesting or at least funny. If I go further, I'd have to do more work than I want to for this project.

Also, it's not like the project is getting a lot of response, so... Maybe I could just do full-throated recommendations? For BGC and for other stuff, too. Ranma, maybe even kick it way back and do some Dirty Pair... yeah, that'd be fun.

The Book of Open Wounds

This is that FSN-Monogatari-Toaru triple crossover idea I had awhile back, and which I've punted down the road for the most part. I know FSN, I know Monogatari, but I don't think anyone but the deepest zealots know what's been going on in the Toaru LN's and how to track all of it (the wiki isn't helpful), so it would be difficult to do - especially when I think setting it in Academy City would be the most reasonable thing to do, because it's infinitely more exciting than the anytown of Fuyuki, and the corner of Tokyo Monogatari presumably takes place in.

My best idea on that front, besides how to get the three boys together, was that the villains should be like the Monster Squad, a Shane Black 80's movie where all the Universal Movie Monsters (Dracula! Frankenstein! Wolfman! Mummy! Black Lagoon Fish Thing!) teamed up and had to be stopped by some Stranger Things-ass kids. So the bad guys are lead by a Dead Apostle Ancestor, the Mummy is a character from Toaru, the Frankenstein is a Shikigami like Yotsugi from Monogatari or something... Yeah, you get the idea. 2 from FSN, 2 from Toaru's lore, 1 from Monogatari oughta do it.

That's it, though. I have no desire to actually write this one, just read it. Maybe I should post the concept on a forum and watch someone run with it? Hrm.

Oh, the other idea was a Zone of the Enders cross with Metal Gear Solid, where Psycho Mantis is resurrected in the Sahlenthropus centuries into the future. Sounds funny? It might be. I'm not sure.

That's... it? I think it is. That's my list of ideas kicking around in the head. I need to read more, but I'd like to write more, too, just consume more media in general. So we'll see how things go, I suppose.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Repost: Ask on BTS Paving the Way

Anonymous: Hey bpp. You talked a little bit about the 'BTS paved the way' discourse on your pinned post but I'm curious to see - read? lol - more on your thoughts about it. If youve talked about it before, can you pls link? Since you might not want to discuss/rehash this at all lol. I got curious because this discourse seems neverending and i just watched a yt video essay abt it. Imo, both sides of the spectrum - army and kpop stans -seems to be missing each other's points. Like, i think a lot of kpop stans havent paid attention to what bts have contributed to kpop and theyve dismissed armys arguments entirely and i think a lot of armys havent been into kpop and kpop history to definitively say the stuff I've seen them saying. A lot of the arguments and statements are very inflammatory too and while I agree with what armys are saying, the language they use isnt going to make kpop stans listen - i mean, the ones who arent blinded by their hate for bts/army anyway lol like a lot of kpop stans think when army say bts paved the way/bts popularized kpop, they always think army mean popularized it in the west. When we have receipts of them doing spectacularly globally, especially in places like india where they seem to have exploded since dynamite. Theyve also broken a lot of records in japan, where kpop is already popular but still seem to have a lot of trouble penetrating mainstream bec theyre very insular. They also think that we mean 'first to xxx', which isnt really what we mean at all. And a lot of army seem to dismiss what older kpop groups have achieved too and just like to prop up bts while putting down other groups and dismissing what theyve achieved for the genre. I just think since a lot of armys are in kpop only for bts -same tbh - we tend to be ignorant of the genre as a whole, which isnt good bec we're always arguing x member is the best in the industry or even bts is carrying the industry on their backs, which dismisses a lot of great artists that are doing great work like solo artists like taemin. Like, I'm an army and I'm not a "stan" of any other kpop artists but the whole argument just makes me v v uncomfortable. I guess i still haven't adjusted to stan culture since i've never been a fan of any artists like i am of bts - to the point of joining the fandom and really immersing myself in it - so the intensity of it is still jarring to me. I know it happens with big western fandoms like taylor swifts too but i think i'm still old school when it comes to being a fan of a musician, you listen to the music, rave about it to friends and buy/stream the music and go about your day.

**

Hi Anon,

Anon, I sympathize completely and not to harp on you here, but my first instinct reading this was “who cares?” - this is generally how I feel about this topic whenever I see it, so not knocking you specifically here. And I’d just like to remind everyone there’s an active, senseless, and deadly war raging right now in Ukraine. Please donate and/or pray for Ukraine if you’re able to.

(And then there’s the leader of Stray Kids who is probably a bigger ARMY than me at this point)

This is not me dismissing the gripes of stans of 1st and 2nd generation groups (the usual suspects), this is me saying that what I’ve seen of this discourse is huge swarths of people engaging in an elaborate exercise in collectively missing the point. And yes I’m also referring to those splitting hairs over the semantics of what it means to pave a road. (Heaven help us). And you already allude to this in your ask, anon.

The phrase: 방법을 만들다 which is what a lot of Koreans have used to describe 'paving the way’, is colloquially used to mean 'chart a course’ or someone showing how something can be done.

If this were a normal conversation with normal people and not k-pop stans, it would be enough to point out that yes, BTS was not the first k-pop group to step foot outside Korea or in the US, but BTS is the one group that has gone farther than any k-pop group has before i.e. created the new path. It’s really that simple. BTS has become a household name globally without doing a single show at Coachella nor having any of the mediaplay seen for other groups that attempted to fully break into the US market. The fact that Korea’s military enlistment laws (which before BTS were enshrined as basically unchangeable) have been modified at least partly on their behalf (and for the benefit of any idol who meets the criteria) and that BTS is the first k-pop group to receive a Grammy nomination, has created a new tier, the highest one yet, of what is possible for k-pop artists.

BTS is the biggest group in the world. They rival Coldplay according to Coldplay. Before BTS, the reality is that this ambition was not even within the realm of possibility for much of k-pop. Even with BTS breaking the records and gaining the influence they have, k-pop is still considered to be niche in some circles, though there is undeniably more visibility and investment brought to the genre since BTS started snagging headlines. Some people still hope BTS will go the way of Psy and BoA who were a fad on the Western landscape for a minute then essentially faded into obscurity. But so far, that’s not what has happened, and everyone is paying attention to see what BTS is doing right, that perhaps other groups can emulate.

BTS won’t be the biggest group in the world forever, but the chances that the next biggest group is a k-pop group, is significantly higher now because of BTS.

La fin.

It’s true some ARMYs can be downright disgusting with how they throw around BTS’s accomplishments and sometimes ignore, dismiss, downplay, or just straight up shit on older groups who made the first moves into Western spheres, whenever this topic comes up.

But a part of me understands them. When BTS won the TSA award in 2017, it felt like hell to be on Twitter and I wasn’t even an ARMY at that point. I did a search through my old screenshots and found more than 15 k-pop fandoms spent weeks shitting non-stop on BTS and ARMYs about how useless it was to win at the BBMAs. It was a non-stop barrage of racism, xenophobia, misogyny, all the -isms you can think of related to POC musicians. Though of course BTS was not the first group to go to the US, all of a sudden, k-pop stans were convinced BTS had 'sold out’, abandoned their heritage and were pandering to 'white colonizers’ (sound familiar?). I started calling myself an ARMY the next year (2018) and as I’ve said already, I was reporting things almost constantly. It was hell.

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You’re right this discourse seems never-ending because it is never-ending. Remember you’re dealing with k-pop stans who will argue with you that water isn’t wet if it means something positive for their group and some ARMYs are just as bad. Whenever I see people arguing about what paved the way I just mute that whole conversation. I sympathize with you feeling uncomfortable about this topic. I’d like to suggest doing what I currently do which is to not waste a single moment of a single day worrying about something that’s already obvious and settled. This particular discourse is the perfect example of a time sink imo, because really, who cares?

Originally posted: March 18th, 2022 1:35pm

#bts army #fandom #paving the way #bts paved the way #repost #kpop #kpop fandom