#something is deeply wrong with that fanbase

[mariebloodymoreau]

white artist: “I will date a racist man and you will fucking deal with it!!!!”

fans:

#lmaooooo #something is deeply wrong with that fanbase #because how the fuck y’all cheering her on for defending her relationship with a man who’s racist??? #this just proves my point that she could murder someone #and her fans will defend her no matter what she did #anti taylor swift #anti swifties

[cosettepontmercys]

I truly can’t pinpoint when/what exactly changed about Taylor’s fans/fandom but the last few years (especially the midnights release) has really soured things for me and it’s honestly quite disappointing as someone who genuinely enjoys her music and thinks she’s a great artists. how did we get to the point of not even being able to voice an opinion about taylor without being crucified online. or if heaven forbid you dislike a song/album or enjoy the work of one of her exes (john mayer, the 1975, calvin harris, etc)

i’ve always been very fascinated/intrigued by the relationship between celebrities and their fans. and i think it’s really interesting to look back and think about how taylor built her fanbase by making herself as palatable/relatable/approachable as possible. like secret sessions, t party/loft 89/rep room, swiftmas, lover diaries, etc — all of which allow for fan interaction — but also relies on people getting noticed which then in turn encourages people to be as vocal? extra? whatever it is. which then feeds into the "who is a bigger / better fan" competition. i'm speaking from personal experience here, as someone who has liked her since debut — but i think a lot of this is also rooted in how much of the world hated taylor swift prior to ... i want to say folklore, really — like it was deeply uncool to like taylor swift, to be a swiftie, etc. and because a lot of that early criticism was rooted so much in misogyny, i think fans felt the need to (over the years) defend her — and i was one of those! i still am, when i feel like people are criticizing her unfairly. but i think that lends into the "taylor swift has never done anything wrong, and she's perfect and if you disagree then you're against us and you're a fake fan" mentality.

and then i think there's an element of ... not necessarily a superiority complex, but a something among fans who have met taylor. it's a genius marketing move, intentions aside. taylor's music is very personal — and taylor's marketing, and persona is very personal, in a way that other artists prior to taylor weren't, i think. relatability sells. you can see it in the way that people talk about her, and her music. which is very different from the way people talk about other artists — and obviously there isn't anyone else out there with the amount of fame/popularity as her, but you don't see the same amount of fanfiction-writing personal-life-speculating-projection onto other artists' lyrics as you do with taylor. and i think that when someone is that vulnerable with their thoughts, it makes it easy for people to think that they know them personally.

and i think that — as much as i love taylor — it's important to talk about her white woman feminism mentality. and i think that also seeps into how her fanbase interacts with her. the ginny & georgia "joke" is what comes to mind the quickest, but there are countless instances of taylor's white woman feminism — and her benefiting from it. and obviously it was in her right to call out a misogynistic comment, especially one directed at her, but not saying anything when the actress got so much hate for a line she didn't write ... made me feel a bit 🥴. it's interesting to see who taylor will choose to align herself with, i guess is all i'm saying.

i've really taken a step back from taylor — not just because the fandom is exhausting ( the amount of things i've seen about her, joe, travis, etc. is ... something! it's all projection! we do not know anything about these people other than what they choose to show us! ) but also because of her saying that she wanted to be on the right side of history and then over and over again choosing to be increasingly passive and silent. she will call herself an ally but won’t even talk about queer rights; she won’t talk about the literal genocide that’s going on. gun control, abortion rights, anything at all. it's just "go vote" but even that is incredibly passive. but she will take time to remind us to buy new variants, and to stream her music, and that her ex sucks.

i think there was a huge shift that started with folklore/evermore, just given that there weren't a lot of albums being put out during that time, the overwhelming public reception to it — a lot of people who previously didn't care for (or disliked) taylor started to like her, to give her a second chance, etc. then we get into the rerecordings era/midnights/etc., which started off with fearless and nostalgia and then became "how quickly can i put out the next thing". and bailey @placeinthisworld posted this earlier, which i fully agree with. it's about the next award, the next milestone. it's just all quantity. it's overexposure.

and then we have the joe alwyn breakup and the public response to that was also ... interesting. like i saw people crying over it, or saying that love is a lie, removing things from their playlists, acting like they were the ones who had been broken up with. which is just ... odd, given that we aren't the ones in the relationship. and now there are all these comments about being a "joe defender". and then with taylor dating travis, it feels almost like some weird american pipe dream unfulfilled fantasy for so many people — the singer and the american football player. and obviously, i want her to be happy! i don't care who she dates! but i do think the public reception about her and travis has been ... incredibly odd, and i think that the way people talk about her and travis is just ... very ... off-putting and is very rooted in some weird ... stuff. "she finally gets to be small :(((((" is such a weird thing to say. it feels like there's even more projection and self-insert-y stuff with her dating travis, which is a level i did not think was possible from her fans (and more so, the general public).

i have not felt this ... detached and impassive about a taylor release, ever, and it just makes me incredibly sad because i love her music, and am excited about the work, just not excited about the public reception, the public autopsy of her and joe's relationship, or the noise, and i know that internet spaces (and spaces in general) are what we curate, but it's also difficult when she is everywhere.

#so sorry this took so long to reply to! i was out of town! #post: answered #ts critical

[chucksalamone]

Hi, I wanted to privately reach out about your album, Absent Moon. I first listened to it earlier this year and I loved the music and singing and story. It made me deeply empathize with the characters and feel a connection to their world, and I was very curious to know more. I especially loved the characterization of Wayne and Dedusmuln, and the music of Seasons. They creatively inspired me. Later I joined the Hylics Discord server, and shared some of my crazy "what-if" theories for fun. But to my surprise, you saw my message, and told me I was overthinking it, which would have been fine, except you also said my ideas made you feel nervous? And it broke my heart that my creative exercise had such a reaction. I was only trying to show how much I appreciated your work. And although I try not to think about it, I still feel guilty that I was being creative in a 'wrong' way that you seemed to find hurtful. That's why I want to clear things up. I hope this is okay.

Okay, I found it, sorry. I remember this exact interaction. My reaction wasn’t to make you feel disparaged. Not a lot of people know about the origins of absent moon, and where I was at mentally and emotionally, but for those that do you’d understand why I was taking great pride and still take great pride in that project. I’m all for fan theories, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this, but the purpose of absent moon was to tell a definitive story, and being that Mason and I have been dragging our feet on, revealing what the story is about, I didn’t want any fan theories to Develop into something that would consider canon. I’ve seen this happen a lot and I’d be lying. If I said, I didn’t want to maintain complete and total control of the narrative of absent moon. Again, that’s not to say I don’t appreciate fan theories. They are most certainly welcome, however, in this instance, the story of absent moon is a complete bridge from the events of Hylics 2 to the events of Hylics 3. I’m not one for tone indicators, as I’m a bit older, but I have nothing but warmth and love for this fanbase. If you were made to feel like your ideas weren’t good, I apologize. As long as the idea is relatively nonviolent/non-sexual/etc. I’m fine with most things. I won’t speak for Mason fully on that, but he also loves looking at fanart! The best I can do is ask for you to trust that we have crafted an incredible narrative, and that I took a lot into consideration, while writing absent moon, even Moonage lobotomy. I’ve grown very close to these characters, especially because of the fanbase. In time, I hope that you can understand this explanation. I’m not asking you to forgive me I’m simply providing you with more details, as this particular instance/project has extreme personal nuance, that can only be applied to my experience (unfortunately). Perhaps one day when it’s all behind me, I’ll be able to talk about it more openly. Even after over a year, I’m still looking to absent moon to gain more insight into how I was processing things. Please feel free to reach out again.

[66sharkteeth]

Hi! I just want to say that I absolutely love your writing and your art. City of Blank is my favorite comic by all reasonable measures (not counting my special interest) and your art style is so cool and unique that it’s inspired me to learn how to use half tones and rougher lines.

Mostly the point of this ask is that I wanted to tell you that you’re not alone.

Webtoon comic sections (and webtoon readers in general) are famous for their complete and total lack of reading comprehension. Maybe it’s because of the format of short episodes every week, which leads to reading spread out over time and in tandem with literally dozens of every series.

If I’m being less generous it’s because the vast majority of people are absolute idiots who believe the first narrative they see and parrot it forever, without ever caring to check the facts or learn new ones.

This is part of why Claude supporters are so vocal compared to the rest of the fandom - most readers simply see a clingy villain who almost definitely has a personality disorder. The people who care enough to actually read the comic see him as an apathetic but deeply relatable person, who is misunderstood by the world and has seriously messed up priorities. These same people are the ones who make fan art and cosplay because they actually care about the story.

My point is, don’t judge your comic off of the comment section. If you’re feeling generous, don’t even judge your fanbase. The people who care enough to donate on patreon, make fanart, cosplay, and post about CoB. Those are the people you should listen to. Someone once said “If you wouldn’t ask them for advice, don’t listen to their criticism.” That person clearly didn’t have anxiety and they make it sound easy. It’s not. But try to judge with the people who care over the people who don’t.

And even if your comic sucks (which it doesn’t)

You are still amazing as you are.

Thank you! ;v;

Tbh one thing I need to get better at remembering is......every WT comment section is like this haha. It doesn't matter if the writer is modern Shakespeare. Nobody is spared. I should just be grateful mine is (relatively) less toxic than some. I'll take confused people missing blatant details over biggots using slurs any day (tho don't get me wrong. I unfortunately get always at least 1-2 of those any time something remotely gay happens lol. But at least it's just one here and there).

Thank you for the kind words of reassurance!

[defiantdreemurrs]

kismesissitude is actually good

i just saw a garbage take about how having a kismesis is apparently "incredibly unhealthy" and never before have i so quickly into someones garbage little essay realized that they have absolutely no idea what theyre talking about. as someone in a genuine kismesissitude i figure i should set the record straight. lets dive into why kismesissitudes are actually pretty healthy and good to have.

for starters, what even *is* a kismesissitude? the very first comparison were given to human relationships is "an especially potent arch-rivalry" (p. 2395). in fact this is basically the *only* explanation of it were actually given aside from an example of a kismesissitude in the form of jack noir and the black queen in their various incarnations across timelines and universes. over time it would be compared to "hate-dating" with caliginous sex often being referred to as just "hate-fucking", but arguably the fanbase has focused primarily on the "hate" aspect.

thats a valid thing to attach to as its the simplest way to explain it to humans. the red quadrants are like love and the black quadrants are like hate. the problem is, the simplest explanation isnt always the most accurate. this is especially so when the very first explanation of it within the text explicitly states that its more akin to an arch-rivalry, without any real mention of just plain hatred, unless you count the initial acknowledgement on page 2393 explaining the quadrant system as a whole expressing that blackrom is "rooted in the strongly negative [feelings]".

so then, if the spades quadrant *isnt* about just hate-fucking and hate-dating, what is it about?

i dont think i need to say it a third time, but i probably should: its a rivalry. your kismesis is not your enemy. they are your rival. they are not just someone you direct all of your negative feelings and emotions towards. they are someone you might *hate* but someone you also *respect* (p. 7490).

this is why gamzee <3< terezi is expressly described as an unhealthy example of blackrom. gamzee doesnt respect terezi. his actions in their relationship are not an example of a healthy kismesissitude but rather a deeply abusive one. in contrast though, vriska <3< tavros is also *not* a good case study of why kismesissitude as a concept is unhealthy but rather just yet another example of an unhealthy spades relationship, though one less due to a lack of respect and more due to karkats likely accurate diagnosis of tavros as being unable to actually summon enough hate for a kismesissitude to even work.

so let me properly explain what a kismesis is. a kismesis is a romantic partner who you in some capacity harbor negative feelings towards who you see as a rival. and what does a rival do? a rival challenges you. a caliginous relationship doesnt have to be particularly hateful even, just focused on challenging each other thru your negative feelings of each other. having a kismesis is about committing to mutual improvement, both of yourselves and each other, by continually providing a challenge for the other to overcome.

this is even supported by the text. look at karkats explanation to june about how having a kismesis who *didnt* "possess any qualities you [admire] on some level" is both boring and wouldnt work. the "essence of black romance" is in how you would honestly really like and get along with your kismesis if it werent for all their "infuriating flaws, and the incredible sense of frustration that causes" (p. 7490).

implying that blackrom is inherently unhealthy and pointing to the literal actual examples of *bad* spades relationships as your evidence is as flawed as pointing to an abusive human relationship and therefore deciding that all human romance is inherently unhealthy and abusive. it betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what youre even talking about. its factually incorrect on a level beyond just being wrong about something. hell its honestly kind of insulting.

kismesissitude is beautiful and healthy as long as you understand what youre getting into and dont rush headfirst into something you genuinely dont even get. its not enough to just hate someone. its not even *about* hating someone. its about *why* you hate them. *why* you feel so strongly negative about them. its about *daring* each other to rise above your faults and learn from them so you can be a stronger, better, healthier person (or non-person if you are not in fact a person).

#homestuck #home22tuck #kismesis #kismesissitude

[night-city-netrunner]

Y'all know what time it is, Neo is gonna stir the pot a little bit (again lol).

So, Bad Omens fans, what the absolute fuck is wrong with you? No, seriously. What the actual fuck is your problem?

You have a band that plays incredible music, and instead of being normal about that, and appreciating THE MUSIC, you sexualize the fuck out of Noah until he's uncomfortable and is asking to stop?

Then, when V.A.N comes out, you spew vitrol because Noah isn't the one singing. You hate on Poppy, who is so fucking talented, and act so entitled to Noah's voice, like it's your property. Disgusting.

Then, to top it off, when they play live, and NOAH COVERS HIS FACE (hmm, I wonder why he did that, its a fucking mystery!) Y'all turn around and CONTINUE to sexualize him, despite his obvious and vocal discomfort.

Let me get this super clear. You do not own him! He is not your property, and you are not entitled to his face, or his voice, or this band's music. You are going to make this poor man quit because you act like horny children. Stop it. It's disgusting and shallow, and I am tired of seeing it.

Learn how to spot and dismantle your parasocial relationships, or we ARE going to lose this band, and it will be your fault. The same shit is happening with Sleep Token, and I don't want to lose something important to me because y'all don't know how to fucking act like adults.

To the Bad Omens fans who are normal, reasonable people; Hey, thanks for making being part of the fanbase tolerable! You are becoming a rarity, and I deeply appreciate you for behaving like rational people.

#like i wish I didn't have to be so angry about this shit #but as someone who spent their teen years being sexualized to a point of losing my identity #this really fucking grosses me out #its not okay #just because he's a guy #it's just #so gross #please stop #you are not entitled to him because he's hot #it would never happen #leave him alone #bad omens #noah sebastian

[olderthannetfic]

I wish there was less of a culture of forcing recs onto people and getting butthurt if they hate something you love. For instance, I hate Discworld. It's deeply unfunny and tryhard even for fantasy satire, which is nearly impossible to pull off (Adams does it far better than Pratchett and he's no fave). But whenever I tell someone who loves Discworld that it's a lost cause, they claim I tried the wrong books in the series or didn't finish. No, I won't read multiple books cover to cover until "it gets good." The worst is the person who thinks Pratchett is for intellectuals, and non-enjoyers are too dumb to get him. That kind of person invariably reads nothing but genre fiction and quotes Monty Python in social gatherings.

--

You should hear the undignified snort of laughter I just let out. I think the disease of excessive Python quotes goes far beyond this particular fanbase, but I know exactly the people you mean.

[nekrotiize]

Speaking again on the Blue Robot Twitter RP thing. Putting this under a cut, since it’s a bit long, and I’m writing this a little more formally than my last rant. I didn’t expect many people to see that, on account of community size, but it occurs to me I should’ve at least put a little bit of protective measures for people to be able to more easily tap in or out of the conversation. It is a triggering one. I apologize to anyone who was negatively impacted. Rectifying it now, though.

Content Warning: Discussion of Fandom Toxicity, False Accusations.

For those unaware, I was the writing team lead from the revival a few years back, and wrote several characters myself (10 mainly, 11 later, co-wrote 01). I was a late teenager for most of that, and I became something of a scapegoat for people’s complaints of everything wrong with the revival, despite not actually being the one who penned most of the things complained about. Whenever a comparison to the good of the revival was put up, it was almost always my work. (I’m allowed to brag, I was put through hell.)

I was not allowed to clarify that the people that were being spoken of as if they were me were not actually me, because the writing team essentially had code-of-honor-enforced NDAs on them. You just didn’t tell people you were the writer of a character due to the ARG elements. Any sort of hinting at you were the writer, or even outright saying it, was “dropping the curtain”. So, I basically had to just deal with the fact that several targets were put on my back that weren’t even actually mine.

Several people were violently, hatefully obsessed with me, and this lead to me getting constantly vagueposted, shittalked, accused of things like child predation/being a pedophile/supporting pedophilia for zero reason, despite being a victim myself (this got so bad that David, the CEO, had to get involved), et cetera. It was extremely nasty. A lot of people in that community were very deeply angry people, and would stop at nothing to make everyone hate whatever they hated. Assuming the worst in people was a reflex to many. It was extremely volatile and toxic.

I tried to keep everything in order as best as I could. I poured in countless hours of work to this community that seemingly hated me, a job that did not pay me, and completely ruined my mental health (I think I’m mostly recovered now, though, which is a big victory). I was the guy who did most of the work on the wiki, planned a bunch of fan favorite arcs, made a fuck ton of music and art, et cetera. Nothing I ever did was enough for people.

I know some people are confused as to how such a small community could be so toxic. I really want to address that, since it was something that confused me at first, too. I thought, naïvely, that less people would mean toxicity was easily to quell and manage- and in this case, I was wrong.

In this case, less people meant toxicity spread faster, and was less diluted.

Everyone knew everyone. I thought this was a pro, an objectively good thing that would stop- or at least hinder- people from crafting up petty drama and stirring the pot. After all, accusing someone you know of something is a lot harder than accusing a stranger. It’s easier to assume the worst in someone when you don’t know anything about them.

What instead happened was that the “everyone knew everyone” aspect made for the absolute ripest conditions for a panopticon I’ve ever seen. Everyone knew everyone. Everyone had a weapon trained at everyone. If you didn’t have a weapon trained at somebody, you’re getting shot yourself. I didn’t like the idea of pointing guns at people for no reason, so I got shot. Like, a lot, lol.

I think at least a solid chunk as to why this was the case was, like… The fault of the construction of the fanbase in general? As in, the kind of people that composed it. It wasn’t something you knew about unless you were deeply online (red flag one), on Twitter (red flag two), and super into the vocal synthesis fandom (red flag three). “Deeply online Twitter users super into vocal synthesis as a fandom” is a very cursed sentence, because… Frankly, not a lot of people who are even just one of these things are very hinged people. Being deeply online desensitizes you to the fact that the people you interact with online are people, Twitter functions very literally on an algorithm that very enthusiastically enables and emboldens outrage, and the vocal synthesis fandom as a whole is very… Weirdly discourse filled, and generally just not a very nice group of people to be around.

In retrospect… It’s kind of a no-brainer that it would be a pretty toxic place to be, full of hateful, angry people who don’t understand that their actions have weight and consequences. I just couldn’t see this when I was younger.

… Because I was the guy who accidentally revived the fandom to begin with. I just… Started making a bunch of art of my own mental image of the story, and a pairing I thought would work really well (I made 10/01 as a ship). I didn’t expect this dead-for-years fandom to come back to life, just because I was drawing things for myself.

I didn’t expect it to be this way. I didn’t expect any eyes on me. I didn’t expect that vile little corpse to come back to life, and I didn’t expect that it contained a hideous, hateful miasma of rot and venom in it that would ruin lives, including mine.

It almost makes me feel a bit guilty. If I hadn’t drawn those pieces, this fandom would’ve never been revived, and all those people would have never gotten hurt.

It sucks.

It really does suck a lot.

I am so deeply sorry to those who have been hurt. You did not deserve this.

#nekro.txt #ok to rb #it is also ok to tag as the thing this is vaguing #for clarification: I am not maintagging it because this is heavy and I don’t go in that community anymore #that’s not my space- it’s yours. #wishing you all love luck and healing

[qqueenofhades]

What is the purpose, I wonder, of Bernie continuing to shit on the Democrats while not offering plausible solutions for the progressive ideas he has? Surely he’s not naive enough to not realize that splitting the Dem vote or even threatening it, with what we’re up against, is a good idea? I’m just very confused because leftists hold him up as some kind of example for where we should be heading and I wonder how possible it is for him to even be that if he can’t recognize the realities of the dire situation we’re in and direct his supporters to do the thing that’ll get us out of it.

Here's the thing about Bernie. I think he does care on some level, and that he definitely does prefer having Biden/the Democrats in office, rather than Trump and the Republicans. But if he's built his entire brand on criticising both of them endlessly (and he has), then it is, personally, no skin off Bernie's nose, or damage to his brand, which one is in office. Either way, he can earn cred points on criticizing them and positioning himself as the Morally Superior Outsider (despite, as I said, being a senator for 15+ years and accomplishing nothing significant, despite all his righteous talk).

That, I think, is the biggest problem with both him and his supporters who think in the same way: if it's essentially meaningless to you who's in office, whether an outright authoritarian fascist narcissistic con man and his band of anti-everything religious zealots, or a flawed liberal democratic political party that, despite mistakes, generally tries their best, there is something deeply and profoundly wrong with your ethical and moral philosophy. Because everything is just a thought exercise to you, and you're automatically presuming that you're always right, you're totally ignoring or making false equivalences between the moral choices available to you -- which, at this point, flatly do boil down to good and evil. You can talk all you want about Third Parties and Alternatives to the System, but none of those exist in any meaningful way and trying to act like they do will only hasten the impending and very real violent fascist white supremacist takeover. And doing anything that increases the likelihood of that outcome is, in fact, NOT a moral, ethical, or defensible choice, no matter how many thought experiments you want to play and no matter how much Woke Jargon you know.

Bernie has made a few desultory gestures toward telling his supporters to get behind the Democrats and vote for them, but still not as much time as he spends criticizing them, and certainly not as much as he could have, given his immense platform and influence (good or otherwise) on segments of the American public who view themselves as leftists. That's because Bernie has built his brand on being an anti-establishment contrarian and (like Ralph Nader also used to do) openly equivocating the two parties as "equally bad" or painting the Democrats as only barely better than the Republicans. If he's put himself in a position where he can't tell the truth without his fanbase turning on him, then it's time to take a good hard look at what exactly that fanbase believes and if it is indeed anything other than the leftist version of Trump's Big Lie. Because the grievance, the paranoia, the insistence that elections must not be fair or otherwise their candidate would never lose, that people have to be forced to make the Right Choice and all would magically be solved if they did, sounds, frankly, an awful lot like it.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts

[sanasanakun]

I was reading your post about how Gortash is so polarizing in how people respond to him and while I don’t have an answer, I can weigh in on the side of thinking he’s attractive and not understanding some of the complaints people have. I try to see what it is that makes some people go ewwww no way but I don’t see what they do. For example a lot of people will say he looks dirty and I feel like I’m missing something completely. He looks unkempt but his hair looks shiny and clean and there’s no stains on his clothes. There’s scars and age marks and stubble on his skin, but I don’t read that as dirt (maybe I’m wrong)? His teeth aren’t perfectly white but thats the case for anyone who drinks coffee or tea so that doesn’t mean anything about hygiene. It also feels like people mistake his skin for just being dirty instead of not pasty white. Also when I see comments about “this guy must smell bad” and I immediately think of that journalist who made a remark about zendaya smelling like patchouli and weed because it feels like it’s coming from the same mindset and is sometimes word for word literally just that. This isn’t even touching on the fact that he’s got wrinkles and dark under eyes and signs of age and trauma that aren’t cute or superficial. I’m saying that the haters are all racist or ageist but I think there’s some biases at play and no one feels like they need to think about it too deeply because he’s an antagonist.

Yeah, I definitely agree with your takes here. I’m also someone who thinks he’s attractive and never really had a problem with his design. I don’t really care for the hair and think it’s a little goofy, but overall he’s very handsome (and the outfit is drippy af).

I will say that his model actually DOES have dirt on his face. Like those spots are the in game dirt feature (idk if that’s the right word). I’m not sure if that’s to have age spots or show that he’s a little disheveled, but yeah he is actually dirty in game lol but I’m with you in never thinking that he was dirty or smelled bad. But he doesn’t look like an archduke and I think that’s the point of his design; he’s a fraud and a tyrant (aka a bad leader).

And I definitely think a lot of the criticism for his design comes from racism and ageism. And I’ll preface this by saying that I’ve always read Gortash as being inspired by Turkish and Bulgarian people looks-wise. The constant insults of calling him disgusting or dirty make me side eye cause I do think it comes from his darker complexion and “unconventional” features that are more common in Türkiye and the Balkans.

Like I can only speak as a Bulgarian, but people in Western Europe treat us like shit. They call us dirty, untrustworthy, mafioso, ugly, etc. like Western Europeans fucking hate us. In America, it’s not as bad but we still have a negative image (in my experience. I’ve been told I’m poor and from a country that shouldn’t exist before). And I’m very white, so I can’t even imagine what it’s like for those with darker skin tones. So, I think people carry this bias against people that look like Gort and don’t think deeper about it when they say these things (or redesign him). I find it very hurtful tbh because I really loved seeing a character that looked like him. He’s very unique amongst the other character models.

And obvs, ageism is a huge problem that people also won’t confront with themselves. And all this combined with bad media literacy (imo) like they cannot get over the “young and handsome” part for some reason and it’s so annoying.

Anyway, I’m rambling and prob not making a lot of sense cause I’m tired lol but yes! I agree with you. Luckily, it seems like Gort has a pretty sizable fanbase and a lot of people love him! So, it’s not all bad. But I wish people would maybe think a bit longer about some of their opinions on him. Cause he’s a horrible person! But we don’t need to constantly call him dirty or disgusting or whatever. But that’s just where I stand on this whole thing.

#asks #anti Eastern European sentiments are very strong still so seeing that in the bg3 fandom hurts my feelings ngl #and I’m prob reading too much into it but feelings aren’t rational but yeah #bg3 #Gortash

[burr-ell]

while I've been a cr fan for a while now, i've only recently started to interact more with the fanbase after completing campaign 2 and starting to go through campaign 3(i will hopefully catch up before it concludes but who knows lol) and man is the fandom strange. never have i seen a fandom have both a toxic positivity problem as well as a toxic criticism problem at the same time. people both viciously defend the show and attack it depending on the time of day it feels like lol. that being said I do want to know about what you enjoy about the show? I feel like most of the posts i've seen of yours are meta/takes about the fandom, which i do enjoy don't get me wrong, but i'd love to see things you like, especially if they're niche things! sorry if its a question you've been asked before! much love from another, what i would say, sane critical role fan ahhah

ah you want to see me be annoying. bless you anon <3

-mr lord percival de rolo and ms lady vex'ahlia de rolo and their sister/in-law ms lady cassandra de rolo and their bear son trinket de rolo and their baby quarter elf de rolos and their bear grandson charles de rolo and

-listen, i don't know what made me such a lunatic about perc'ahlia and their family but i am, that will never change, they've both suffered so much loss and they could have gone dark so many times but they didn't! they both chose the light and each other and chose the light because of each other and they have a FAMILY, whitestone is a city of rebirth and i want to gnaw on something every time i think about it

-i also just! love vox machina as a whole! it's classic, archetypal fantasy adventure stuff and that's why i love it. i love the chroma conclave arc especially, i really enjoy the stakes and the traveling across the world and the absolutely ridiculous moments that grew out of it. vox machina is, in the metanarrative, the living legend—the group that started it all and began breathing life into the world of exandria, and i've always enjoyed those kinds of stories.

-EXU CALAMITY. if you haven't seen it you absolutely should, i highly recommend it. it's an amazing story, the characters and setting feel so realized and alive in the four episodes they were around, and the actual players are incredible. i love the lore it introduced, i love the specter of vespin chloras over the narrative, i love how much presence asmodeus has and how well brennan plays such a master manipulator. and the INTRO??? why isn't the intro released as a single it's so good

-i've only had fy'ra rai and morrighan for a day and a half. if anything happened to them i'd kill everyone in the crown keepers

-i love the kinds of concepts and narratives that taliesin considers for his characters and how deeply he thinks through their presence in the world. he's thought so much about whitestone and both what it used to be like and how it's changed since C1, and while i've only watched the m9 twoshot, lucien/molly/kingsley is such an interesting idea (and i just really like kingsley). ashton is also an absolute joy to watch, and i'm so curious about their backstory and lore. taliesin has a knack for portraying characters who have very strong moral and personal beliefs but would rather coexist in a world with others' than enforce their own, which is probably why i like percy and ashton so much in particular. i also really enjoy his sense of humor; it's very dry and snarky with just the right amount of gothic whimsy.

-simply put. Travis Good. even back when he was playing grog, who is on paper a pretty simple character concept, he just couldn't help but give him a compelling and interesting backstory—and when he had to show off his acting chops, he DELIVERED. the depth that he gives his characters and the enthusiasm he has for the lore of the world are so burr-coded. cerrit in particular was an absolute tour de force and just watching travis go for whatever decisions he's going to make is incredible. he's also absolutely hilarious and his comedic timing is underrated. i mean, southerner to southerner, game recognize game.

-laura bailey!! i'm so fascinated by her consistent narratives about masks and coping mechanisms, and i love the fact that she's willing to make her PCs unlikable. she embraces their flaws and their virtues and just plays them so naturally. you have to read between the lines sometimes with her characters or you risk falling for the fronts they put up, and i love that kind of subtlety! she also doesn't feel the need to walk anyone through those choices, which i also appreciate; she simply plays them as they are, and however you react to that is up to you. i admit i'm interested in the alternate universe where laura played a character in calamity—marisha absolutely nailed it as patia, but i'm also interested in what laura would have done at that table.

-welcome to tal'dorei? oh my GODS that album is spectacular, especially the title track

-lastly, i genuinely enjoy the fandom experience! i've met some really cool people and made some really good friends here, and i love the creativity, especially of fanartists. i've learned so much about narrative and storytelling from reading different people's analyses, i've learned more about art from the fanart community, and overall i feel like the people i've met and the experiences i've had have helped me grow as a person.

anyway thank you for encouraging some positivity! i enjoy writing meta and critical analysis is really fun for me, but it's nice to take a step back and remember all the things i love. <3

#asks #critical role

[seasurfacefullofclouds1]

Sea pls don't ever put the 1D reunion energy out into the universe😭. With the way Louis has turned down that question in the last year I am glad to say that I doubt it'll happen any time soon. He seems to be sick of the idea. I have faith that Louis and perhaps some of the others can evolve their career to the point where that won't be necessary. Even in 10-15 years, I have faith he wouldn't stoop so low to go back to that, yk? It's just too embarrassing, and he's the type to catch onto something being too cringe for a grown-ass man. He has some shame unlike literally all the others (except Zayn who also knows to not act like a fool).

Even h*rry keeps a 1D song on the setlist when he truly has no reason to, numbers-wise. But something tells me that if Louis grew his solo fan base enough, and he kept making music that he's even more proud of than even FITF, I somehow doubt that he would be the type to still put a 1D song on the setlist. Bc right now, it's clearly a matter of insecurity (will I sell out these shows without pondering to 1D FANS?) Once he has no reason to cling to that insecurity, I don't think that many covers will remain on the setlist. And lets be honest, the songs he cuts, he clearly just doesn't like that much. Which is unfortunate because some are fan favourites, but like I said, he'd have to make music he's even more proud of to truly let go of those annoying 1D songs and the good but still unnecessary rock-band covers.

I’ll just clarify that I don’t think any 1D reunion would happen in the next ten years, mainly because Harry wants to capitalize on his looks before they’re entirely gone (okay I know I know, but some people still find him attractive).

Louis has a deeply sentimental streak. After how he talked about 1D in AOTV, the betrayals from people closest to him in 1D, he still covers those 1D songs. Louis has felt slighted and undervalued by 1D/ Sony for 13 years. Yet he covers 1D songs on tour, even the ones from LTWT (Drag Me Down), although he doesn’t routinely play the FITF songs that fans love or he loves.

The core marketing strategy of Louis’ team is 1D nostalgia. Louis is convinced that this is how he needs to/ wants to maintain a large enough fanbase to fill arenas and stadiums, since no radio play is possible. He feels most of the fans’ loyalty is to a sugar-coated version of 1D, because 1D is the only version of his voice we hear on the radio.

He’s not wrong. His team hasn’t figured out a way around the blacklist, and they believe there’s no feasible way for big audiences to hear him. If they have this attitude, they will dump the marketing responsibility back on fandom.

This strategy has led most venues and reviewers for the FITFWT to present Louis as a leftover guy from 1D. His solo music is rarely described more than perfunctorily, as vaguely Britpop. His audiences are described as teenage girls screaming for a 1D cover band. Sometimes the band gets more favorable coverage than he does!

As a corollary, the solo fanbase that has been loyal to Louis’ entire solo career really hasn’t felt nourished. We don’t have an opportunity to feel appreciated or to grow.

So going forward, I really do want Louis to make his 5 solo albums (and many, many more), and I want him to have the longevity and creativity of his favorite musicians. I want him to believe in himself the way we believe in him. I want his team to believe in real excellence and to grow that. I want them to know that their marketing isn’t conducive to growth: it’s stale and it’s embarrassing. The marketing goes against the bravery of Louis’ solo songs, of his solo aesthetic, the graphics on his merch and the FITFWT stage designs. It goes against the ethos of Bigger Than Me. Louis knows he’s charismatic; he knows his power. The strategy needs to match that confidence.

[lamphoera]

i'm sure the fsn fanbase has had this discussion countless times already but i think the problem with characterizing shirou as a simple misogynist and leaving it at that is that it takes about two seconds of effort to see that 1. his misogyny is pretty shallow and he barely believes any of what he says and 2. it's a very revealing character trait when it comes to what it tells us about how he actually thinks

his remarks to saber come across to me as, more than anything else, a defensive reaction to avoid confronting his own self-sacrificial behavior. an overarching point of saber and shirou in fate route is that they're incredibly similar people; by making a mental division between himself and saber through a familiar lens (as in "she's a girl and i'm a boy and that means We're Just Different" which is a pretty unremarkable thought process for a teenage boy circa 2004) he tries to justify why his discomfort with her martyr complex is correct while his own is fine (saber also has this mindset with shirou but from the "as knight and master angle" although she's merely stubborn about herself and not disrespectful to shirou because her assessment of their standing is pretty much correct). if he engages with her life and ideals as a peer instead of as something that doesn't relate to him then he'll be forced to truly think about what it means to take responsibility for his own, which is... his whole character arc? both shirou and saber have to grow a sense of self-respect and meet each other on the same level to accomplish what they really want.

i won't say the writing is perfect about how it handles gender or that there's absolutely nothing to criticize about the ways it utilizes gender to articulate its message, or that it's wrong to think shirou is an annoying character for Being Like That, but i think it's impossible to appreciate fsn on more than a surface level if you decide to write off shirou entirely as a character there just to facilitate the story. that said, the point here is that i think the writing in fsn is incredibly empathetic to its female characters and places them on the same level of importance and humanity as its male characters (something i cannot say about f:z...) and the divisions it likes to bring up between genders are mostly to just subvert or break them down in order to serve its humanistic themes. shirou is a deeply flawed but at the core incredibly caring person with an idiosyncratic perspective and the vn doesn't hide it at all; that's what i think is fun about him

#tw: kelly #fate stay night

[evansbby]

he has pretty privilege fr ///

Bruh I swear I've been meaning to say this for a while like he is sooooo pretty privileged in this fic- everybody is like I've 2 terrible person to choose between but one is just slightly better just a tad bit so what we'll do??? We'll chose the pretty one. And as renne rapp said in her iconic interview- I get it , I get it. Honestlyy he is Ari I get that people chose him over steve🙂

[bro also I just wanna say ik every one thinks that Ari and Steve are equally terrible - but in my mind like I see ari in a much bad light him leaving her in the bathroom that night like - sir that really broke me heart no kidding and Steve has just met reader . Him treating her shitty is completely different from ari treating her like shit and he has also given her a bunch of insecurities. And a serial cheater who is so nonchalant about this topic is much much much worse to me like personally in my eyes than someone who is actually accepting that he did something wrong . Ari is just giving the energy like he didn do anything andddd without even registering once he wants to move on and paly house-house with reader?????? Like that is beyond immature to me! This is like getting very practical and real lifyyy but honestly that type of delusion is only equals to lack of emotional intelligence . Bro this got serious I didn't mean to take the ask in this direction but oh well - I'm sorry ik this debate is like moths old, sorry 🥲 I can't believe I'm saying this but rn poyt Steve seems better than ari like- atleast bro made her his girlfriend the next day they fucked wg !Steve bro please take notes but not the part whe he cheated on her tooo helppp why are all these boys sooo terrible 🥲😭😭]

Bestie you are like the number one wg!Ari hater 😂😂😂😂 I admire it!!

And yeah, when you really deeply think about it… wg!Ari is awful 😭😭😭 like the serial cheating and lying and leaving reader in dangerous situations…. HE IS JUST… wow… now I’m shocked that so many people hate Steve more bc they are at the VERY LEAST, equally bad 💀💀

Bestie your words are ruining my daddy Ari for me 😭😭😭 but tbh that’s ok bc even with poyt!Steve… he did extremely awful things but then he had his redemption arc. And I still think poyt!Steve did worse things than the Wicked Games Boys! (Forced mating, bullying, cheating etc) so yeah!! I’m sure the wicked games boys can redeem themselves!!!

But tbh Ari is just so fucking unbelievably hot and sexy and handsome and beefy that it really DOES help his case bahahahaha so I don’t blame the girlies preferring him lol sorry Stevie (wg!Steve has a pretty big fanbase too tbh)

#anon #wg ask

[skepticalarrie]

Hi allie! re: holivia x my policeman. I saw you mentioning a few weeks ago about this as well, and how much better is this comparing to the gay stuff? like, what is happening rn is very damaging for his image. there's no way gay rumors would be worse??

The thing is, this entire thing with Olivia and Jason... yes, it comes across like Harry is a cheater and homewrecker etc etc and for us, when we know it's all lies, this is devastating and awful to watch it. But to be honest, this is nothing new to his image, Harry is a womanizer and cheater since Haylor. So IMO people who like Harry and his music but it's not deeply involved in all this stuff and only know about stuff superficially - which is most of his fanbase - they won't stop liking him and his music. I think the fact he's associating himself with Olivia is a bit more damaging because I think everyone is starting to see how fucked up she is. But again, people who will stop liking him because his girlfriend is a bitch, I mean- this is such a small percentage of people right now. He's not *directly* the one being cancelled, although if he's with her, it implies he agrees with it. So it's certainly a dangerous game to play, why would they want that for him? Why take risks? Get him the fuck out of there, ffs.

Now, comparing that to the gay rumours... it's complicated. Because let's think about a hypothetical situation, here. If Harry came out, right now, people would be homophobic and all the stuff, he would lose fans because of it. They would be destroying the wet dreams of thousands and thousands of fangirls, the way women fantasize about Harry is very relevant to his image and to the way he's currently marketed. He would lose a lot of his "appeal". Plus, there's something else, that I think could be even more damaging in his case which is not necessarily the people who would be gone, but I think it's more about the fact he would be forced into this box of "queer artists". There's a massive issue with artists being acknowledged as simply artists instead of gay artists. Which is so limiting. Not to mention the acting career as well. I believe Lil Nas X talked a lot about this aspect when he came out. But yeah, it all comes down to the rooted homophobia, which IS a bigger and deeper problem. And that's devastating! I just can't get my head around the fact the year is 2022 and artists still need to worry about it and are advised to stay in the closet, it's revolting.

Either way, I don't think that's how they should be playing this game. If a beard was a condition for him to play a gay role, what a fucking terrible deal that was! It doesn't justify the fact they should have given up on this stunt the minute they realised how much of a leech she was. It's all wrong!

#ask #holivia #harry’s image

[frumfrumfroo]

(Sorry if I am belabouring the point, so feel free to ignore this ask) no yeah I'm definitely the same way and you're never wrong for having personal reasons not getting into something immediately - I think some of the fandom anxiety comes from the fact that things get cancelled so quickly without sufficient viewership (or even with sufficient viewership, which is a whole other nut). It puts a weird amount of onus of a show's success on the fandom, which is even stranger in the time of broken trust and active resentment of audiences/audience engagement with a text/trying to 'outsmart' us. But ultimately there is something severely rotting at the root that I don't think we have any control over.

And yeah the popular perception of TD season 1 is that it's grimdark because its protagonist is deeply wounded and many a fanboy is butthurt about its celebration of redemption. It's an incredibly, incredibly dark show, and so that tragic beginning is hard for a lot of people to get past, I think, when it's not the final conclusive thematic remark*. I would say that Dark is similar to this if you want an idea of the tone. Somehow we have ended up where the children's modern day fairytale is grimdark and nihilistic and shows inured in tragedy are idealistic and redemptive.

Anyway, very thankful for your blog in keeping me sane in the time of psychedelic narrative rules, and being Principled, because sometimes I feel like a stick in the mud lol.

And the asterisk is there up above because I have heard this exact description of a popular book series (A Song of Ice and Fire) and I disagree with this conclusion, partly because the series is unfinished, partly because I think the fanbase on Tumblr is overly optimistic, and also because TD has an absolute conclusion which is idealistic. So I just want to note this so it doesn't seem like I'm misrepresenting or overstating the show lololol.

It's also extremely unsavoury the way big name fans and the former twitter cabal, wherever that hangs out now, will take advantage of this anxiety and use it as a bludgeon to make a captive audience feel like they have some 'duty' to support the financial success of giant evil corporations. Giving Disney more money and bullying people for not giving Disney more money is not a moral victory, I think we should all be able to agree. Abusing calls to support artists by co-opting them into the service of mindless consumption of branded refuse is fairly repugnant. Saying 'vote with your dollars' between a choice of Disney Extruded Movie Product A, B, or C is both hilarious and sad.

eg: that tie-in comic, I think it was the TLJ one? The one with the terrible art. It's a commissioned product, the artist was paid once and as little as possible to create it for solely marketing purposes. Applying fandom etiquette to it or saying it should not be criticised because of high turnover times is frankly fucking ridiculous. It's a professional commissioned product they were selling for profit. They had all the time and all the money in the world, there's no excuse for it to be awful and absolutely no one should have felt obligated to buy it or keep quiet about how bad it was. Maybe the artist could have done better under better working conditions, but that doesn't make the actual product we're being asked to purchase acceptable. Giving Disney your money is not going to improve those conditions and it's not going to help that artist.

The same with the tros defenders saying they tried therefore you can't criticise them. A) they did not try B) this was not a sincere piece of art and pretending otherwise is just insulting and C) it's a corporate product made by a near-monopoly who employed alleged professionals. Nothing could possibly be more fair game for harsh criticism.

Ultimately putting this onus on fandom of you must throw your money away on this thing or be a free shill for this brand or maybe they'll stop throwing us any crumbs... like it's debasement. Given all the many recent examples of how public support doesn't matter unless it's that first weekend a show drops on a streaming platform or the opening box office, how being the 'wrong' audience makes you irrelevant no matter how many of you there are, how even very successful shows are dropped after two seasons because producers don't want to pay actors, etc. etc. it's even more silly. We should be demanding better, not propping up this nonsense. Creative people are being profoundly fucked over by this system and are often still fucked even if they make something successful.

If people want to support artists, buy independent and small label media. Go see original, mid-budget movies at the cinema (if you live in a city where you have any chance of one playing, that is).

And see, I have no problem with darkness, angst, and tragedy if I know it's going somewhere positive. Having to really go through it can make the journey and the ultimate conclusion feel even more rewarding. As long as it's not angst for angst's sake, but is doing something meaningful and necessary, it only enriches the hope at the foundation of redemption or recovery stories.

Idealism is brave, challenging, and requires sincerity. When the modern fairy tales are being produced in cynicism and by committee to meet a quota for the shareholders...

Thank-you ❤️