#the new superwholock just keeps getting better

[awhimproned]

new niche just dropped

edit: there’s a pattern of something something wanting to protect their partners from what they know to be horrible

#stede bonnet #aziraphale #guillermo de la cruz #ofmd #what we do in the shadows #good omens #our flag means death #wwdits #nandermo #blackbonnet #gentlebeard #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #edward teach #blackbeard #crowley #nandor #nandor the relentless #the new superwholock just keeps getting better

[longeyelashedtragedy]

Frank James Lampard OBE 👀

ougughgh, you whipped out the order of the british empire? 🫡 😳 maybe i was wrong to judge them teaboos back in the superwholock days (that's a JOKE)

@protect-daniel-james i'll respond here but i might use your ask to post some more Photos cause i'm not sure how to pick just one photo of the Long Eyelashed Tragedy

favorite thing about them: uhhh...so much? he gets me right in the FEELS, man. he tells on himself constantly and seems to be completely unaware. sadboi footballer with pretty dead eyes who loves to Read and took a little notebook with him on the team bus. the intersection of having it easy/privileged childhood & traumatic things that shouldn't have happened--i relate. exhilarating to watch his old performances and he seems like he'd be fun to have a conversation with. fascinating to analyze, this all feels sort of reductive...i'm very Fond of him and some of it is hard to put into words, but i feel very "what's not to love?" about him lol. and he has such a Narrative. he's very easy to write about though it probably doesn't turn out well at all (sounds great and deep in my head though)

also i find a lot of footballers hot but don't really experience significant attraction to them but he is an exception you know what i'm just going to end this here

least favorite thing about them: he lost weight after everton BOO HISS

favorite line: omg, frank james lampard OBE is funny because he's often so intelligent and articulate and then just whips out the WEIRDEST/most cringe thing out of nowhere. some examples:

-his "fight" with klopp on the touchline

THIS wtfery:

these BANGERS:

this classic example of childhood trauma "too old when you're young and too young when you're old" (what some ppl would call "entitled male athlete" but like..i know better than that lol). it's also just patently RIDICULOUS he was like 36...bolding is mine for the classic lines

But it was while on a night out in Manchester during pre-season that the ex-West Hamer star showed his new American team-mates exactly how ex-Premier League stars like to party.

Columbus Crew centre-back Josh Williams was with NYCFC at the time and he told the story to the Athletic.

...“This place is packed, multiple levels. And as soon as we walk in, you could see everybody recognise Frank. And it’s just me, my teammate and Frank and all the energy is just on him.

"He picks up a bottle, this huge bottle of Grey Goose, picks it up, opens it, just starts downing it. Passes it to me and goes, ‘Boys, we’re not putting this down until it’s fucking gone.’”

The trio passed the bottle around three times when the rest of NYCFC showed up.

After about an hour in the club, Lampard approached Williams and asked him about 'that game you Americans play where you throw the little balls — he’s talking about beer pong.'

ok let's see...

brotp: random one but i recently learned that he and ian wright are friends? and i just love that so much both as a gooner and a person. wrighty complements him well and is very...respectful lol. if we consider lamperry to be only one-sided romantic, then definitely lamperry

notp: franko x steven gerrard...there's only One situation in which i've enjoyed that ship (and it was an au). it does nothing for me normally, and i personally don't find stevie g attractive, so! again, it's like an "ew get it away from me" notp, it's just not my vibe.

otp: i mean...lamperry requited. franko x cousin jamie jamie jamie ....maybe someday they can give romeo and juliet their happy ending. and of course, frank and mason...i just really like this ship so much and it keeps my brain so entertained...even though it's not "healthy" and doesn't end well. these ships are all SO good!!!

random headcanon: oh gosh idk...i don't think i have any "headcanons" because everything he says and does in public just kind of tracks. bet he's done coke lol. idk

unpopular opinion: HOO BOY!!! here we go!!! i am aware that i have a wooby nature, but i actually like that about myself. i'd rather approach someone--anyone with softness and then tone it down when i decide they're a dick, than be uncharitable for no reason. that's my way and that's how it's gonna be! so that said...franko gets accusations of "arrogance" and i...i don't see it at all. it might come from his disingenous press conferences at chelsea and everton, but i see that as a man who has horrid self-esteem, was used to being treated by media and fans like a Starboy, and once he started doing badly, had no idea how to handle professional failure--not one single idea. remember on "diary of a ceo" over the summer when he said his first chelsea sacking was the first time he's ever failed professionally? that's insane. Like, imagine making it to age FORTY-TWO and not having a legitimate school or career disaster. that's insane to me. so he just put up a front and got cranky and defensive and funky about where he placed the blame (and to be honest--he has not done a good job as a manager, but he also wound up in some pretty dismal positions. taking chelsea caretaker manager was really shooting himself in the foot because that season just needed to be put out of its misery lol). i'm not saying he's a bastion of humility, or some misunderstood coaching genius, but i don't see him as any more or less arrogant than someone else. idk--i see a weird level of contempt for him that doesn't really feel deserved? he's just a sad sack. sort of a hubris tale in a sense, but also a tale of a man who is still stuck as a kid in some ways...i need to stop before i write a really bad dissertation lol

uh that said...

song i associate with them:

finally a footballer i can give a good answer to this for!!!

name me a better combination than me x lamps x pink floyd x this summer! comfortably numb, shine on you crazy diamond (all of it, but particularly sections vi-ix), wish you were here...

(i know this sounds basic...i know there are more i'm not remembering)

"money" in some ways because i listened to it while writing "visited upon the sons" (it hit me afterward that the fic and the song are structured in the same way...the chicken or the egg?)

from the oooold first days of the lampardverse:

behind blue eyes/a well respected man

also! wouldn't it be nice kind of reminds me of him and cousin jamie loool

favorite picture of them:

dude idk! i really love looking at photos of him! this is granit levels of difficulty...i Cannot choose so let's go with this sad sack from the blessed everton days:

#anonymous #answered #long eyelashed tragedy #!!!!! #i feel like i just lost 78784 followers lol

[teecupangel]

Your vamp au made me howl with laugher.

And I get a stupid idea here:

Purrrfect@always_purfect

I don't know about m＊thrfuking vampires but I think this dude really has some power. It's the FORCE！People! Sith is real！

You guys are with me? Yes? I know this is not the normal shit I do or normal fake news I enjoyed so much to tear apart while laughing like crazy.

After 6 fuxking hours video comparison with 3 more hours debates with every SW YouTubers and VTubers we can gathered at the moment.

It's goddamned real.

The vamp lover's eye color changed from honeybrown to sith gold in the 48 different videos and photos we could found.

From 32 phones, 6 photos, 5 shop cameras, 3car cameras and 2 honest to force Polaroid photos. If you have more video, send it to me！

From his ehh passioned defense of his bestfriend-it's on the Brazil national News- we can found a base color and even then they flashed gold when surrounding lights didn't change at all.

Look at these [1：27 from video2][0：43 from video8][6：05 from video39]. You can see his eye color changed to gold even in the shadows, yeah they were totally glowing The first time I thought it's reflect too. But they didn't change back to honey when he turned around to face [3：14 from video 11] and they just keep going all sith-y when he decided to make a run for it. *[Check for more traditional sith eye color and video lights detail analysis]*

How could we be so sure it's force？

Our (probably not) young Sith Lord wasn't touched by any person when he raced trough the whole mob.

Turned left at third blue guard bar 0.23s early to avoid a grab from a redhood male from behind. Keep his pace and dance though at least 5 intentionaltripping without looking at all. Dropped back 2 inches so a kid next to him didn't lost his balloon because their parents were trying too hard to get a good angle. Dogged at least 12 throwing projects. And so on. I could keep going all day about how it's impossible for human to do what he did. Our pitiful brain just do not have the processing power and spatial awareness for this.*[Check for more kinematic analysis ]*

But the truth is:

Not a single soul could touch him at all. If he's not a chairvoyance, the Force will it is the only answer.

# First real time video record of eagle vision in the human history and it's Desmond running from Leovamp fans # # Sith Lord Eyes#

@fanworldbuildingfun Okay. I did not expect a Star Wars conspiracy angle but I'm all in.

=======================

@revengeofthesithwasagoodmovie reblogs @always_purfect

#anyone who has a better explanation to why his eyes glow like that step up #it's the camera setting is not a good enough explanation and y'all know it! #da vinci vampire lover #leonardo da vinci #da vinci secret lover not-salai #wanted da vinci boy #abstergo being shady af

=======================

We've done it, guys. The Star Wars fandom has joined our search for our Da Vinci Vampire Lover. We've reached main stream. - 39 minutes ago

I thought we reached main stream when news outlets were talking about him? - 37 minutes ago

Nah. We only reach main stream when the Star Wars or Star Trek fandom joins us. - 36 minutes ago

How many days do you think before the SuperWhoLock fandom butts in? - 35 minutes ago

- 35 minutes ago

HOOOOWWW????? - 34 minutes ago

=======================

yo @iamnotmyancestor you can clear this all up, man. Just send us a video of you saying you're not a sith. We all know you're a vampire.

hi @iamnotmyancestor are you a space vampire? (asking for a friend)

hey @iamnotmyancestor where do force lightning come from?

@iamnotmyancestor i swear this isn't star wars related, i need help with my term paper? halp???

"Can everybody please stop calling Da Vinci vampire lover space vampire? We call the white dudes from Stargate space vampire and he's too hot to be one" "I think Todd is hot" "Nobody asks, @toddthespacevampirelover"

=======================

"Hey, guys... Am I a Sith?"

"No, Desmond. You're just a space vampire."

#Da Vinci's secret lover Not-Salai #ask and answer #desmond miles #all the crazy theories are popping out #and shaun keeps pinballing from having fun and wanting to strangle someone

[oreolesbian]

okay—thoughts on the tennant reveal

for one: a lot of people are calling tennant the fourteenth doctor. he’s not. just…full stop, he’s not. he’s confirmed for only three episodes of the next season. ncuti gatwa is the fourteenth doctor.

two: for fans of jodie’s run (of which i would include myself!), i’ve heard of lot of people saying that introducing tennant takes away from jodie’s final episode and ncuti’s first episode. and while i understand that feeling—every regeneration episode is meant to be a fresh start, an overshadowing if you will. especially when it’s a switch between showrunners. as the head writer leaves, they leave open big gaps for the next showrunner’s planned storyline to keep viewers engaged. it’s smart marketing. think of the big switch from rtd to moffat or the switch from moffat to chibnall. huge tone shifts bc, as many dw fans consider, these are eras of the show—new starting points that basically soft reboot the show.

three: doctor who has always relied on references to its past material. even in ten’s run! there were callbacks to older seasons from the original series—they brought back sarah jane—they even did crossover episodes between companions. it’s not that shocking of a thing to see old doctors come and go

four: every regeneration scene is always trying to one up the previous. as an audience we know what to expect from regeneration scenes so the writers are constantly trying to think up twists to catch us off guard. the doctor regenerating into a past regeneration? yeah! i’d call that a surprise! do twists make for good writing—not really—but it’s not new for doctor who and it certainly isn’t done with some malicious intent towards jodie or ncuti. plus—most of this is set up for the 60th! the 50th had huge plot lines with old doctors meeting each other too!

finally: introducing tennant back and rtd as a showrunner is exciting for a lot of people. does nostalgia come into play here? absolutely. but it is undeniable that under rtd, the show was super strong. moffat ran during the infamous superwholock era, but the show notoriously lost a lot of viewership post-matt smith’s run. jodie’s introduction + the introduction of a new showrunner picked viewership up a bit more for sure..but once it became clear that chibnall’s writing was…subpar at best..viewership declined. hence why we saw them pulling out all the stops in series 12 to bring viewers back, and sadly giving jodie barely a final season and more a series of specials.

i do genuinely believe that under chibnall, regardless of who was playing the doctor, this would’ve happened anyway. jodie was a magnificent doctor, and her portrayal is by far not the reason why people have disliked her run and look forward to rtd’s writing. rtd has done more than just write a very beloved era of doctor who. he’s also just a very strong showrunner/writer in general. is he perfect? no! but he has a strong track record which fans know of and trust..which gets them back.

so he brings back tennant and catherine tate to bring people back in—for marketing security—and then he gets to go all out with a new era…starring ncuti! this fresh spark is exactly what the show needs, regardless of what you thought of the past three seasons. and does it suck that we have to draw on older seasons to make that happen? of course. but will it (hopefully) lead to some amazing stuff down the line? i do genuinely think so.

so please don’t take people the wrong way when they say they’re excited for the new era of doctor who. it’s not to undermine jodie in any way, and she will be missed. she, in my humble opinion, deserved a stronger showrunner for her run, just as i believed peter capaldi deserved better marketing for his season (cause there was some decent writing in there. series 10 is super underrated).

here’s to a new doctor! ncuti gatwa, i’m ready for you king! 👑

#doctor who #russell t davies #david tennant #jodie whittaker #ncuti gatwa #dw spoilers

[decadenceandrot]

Pinterest is a special kind of site that will probably exist past the death of our universe.

I’ve been on Pinterest (and tumblr) for a WHILE. Probably about a decade give or take, regardless of the account I use or if I’m lurking and just viewing things or posting myself. On one hand, Pinterest has all the expected “arts and crafts”, “interior design” inspiration, varying “aesthetics”, fashion, food inspo, and the usual inspirational quotes. But if you stay a while and start looking, you’ll see that almost every form of artistic form (or Fanart) has been uploaded there. I’ve known some artists say that they know they’ve “made it” when they see their art on Pinterest. Unless it’s 18+ cuz that site is fairy stingy with even HINTS of adult fun times What’s funny about this brings me to another aspect of the site: the COMMENTS. Now, comment sections aren’t new, and there’s nothing particularly amazing about Pinterest comments either. On art posts, a lot of people will who the artist was in the comments. What’s funny about comments on Pinterest is the time in between comments and ESPECIALLY responses. There are comments on pins from almost a decade ago with questions that got answered A MONTH AGO. No one says anything about it, and no one really cares either. It’s a liminal space of things just EXISTING, all simultaneously easy and hard to find. I also want to add that the translation feature in the comment section has been better than Twitter, Instagram, or any google translate I’ve used thus far and I find that HILLARIOUS

If you see the art, you’re one hop and a skip away from the full fledged Pinterest experience. This is where you see the memes, snippets of reddit posts, and ESPECIALLY tumblr posts. A lot of the tumblr posts are also in the original tumblr format too, which makes for a WILD viewing experience on a site that so clearly compresses the images so that some of these are too blurry to even read, yet people pin them anyways. There are the obvious biggest-gaudiest-patronuses, i-am-a-fish, the whole CATEGORY of superwholock, and so on, but ultimately there’s kind of EVERYTHING. I’ve found some of my best memes and most cursed images there, along with finding tumblr posts that aren’t even ON tumblr anymore.

This is where I get to my point: Pinterest is the catch-all. EVERYTHING ends up on there, one way or another. Pinterest acts as both a blank slate that can offer ANYTHING you seek, but at the same time is an archive that is void of any sense of time or space. Pinterest is the archive where things go to perish. If something is gone from the main web or social media or the like, so long as it can be an image or short video, it will somehow be on Pinterest in one way or another. FINDING it is the only struggle you will face. It serves as both a place to keep that which is archived there alive, but also as the digital tombstone of what was. Pinterest is where all things end up, and it is the place where all things die.

Pinterest is a wild place. You should visit sometime.

#pinterest #Pinterest is an archive #everything is there #and I mean everything #tumblr #reddit #this probably is more relevant now with all the stuff going on with twitter and Reddit and the flight to tumblr #so just know it’s ALL on Pinterest one way or another #Pinterest is limbo #thoughts #rambles #Pinterest haunts me #but FR there’s literally something there for EVERYONE #Pinterest is a social media if you can define ‘social’ as making expressions into the void and talking with ghosts across time #if the internet archive is of no help there’s always Pinterest #Pinterest is the cryptid cousin of the internet archive #Pinterest is a liminal space #internet history

[coraniaid]

Self indulgently, supernatural dashboard osmosis?

The main thing I know about Supernatural is that if I ever complain about something I don't like about the writing on Buffy, and it gets more than about twenty notes, there is a good chance that one of those notes will be somebody saying "oh, yeah, Supernatural also does this, but much worse".  Despite the criticism, this person will almost always be a fan of Supernatural, probably to the extent that their tumblr is about nothing else.

More generally, the relationship between tumblr and Supernatural is (I am led to believe) analogous to the relationship between tvtropes and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is difficult to imagine one existing without the other. (I have, unfortunately, watched several episodes of BBC Sherlock and I actually quite like what I've seen of Doctor Who, but the impression I get is that -- for better or worse -- the 'Super' part of Superwholock has had a much longer lasting impact on this site's culture.)

As for the actual plot:

Sam and Dean are brothers and they hunt monsters because ... uh.  I think it's a family business of some sort? Their father also used to hunt monsters, but I don't think he's around anymore. The show starts out as a Buffy/X-files-style monster of the week deal, but the show keeps escalating its threats and is never canceled, so by about halfway the 'monsters of the week' are Biblical archangels or Lucifer and the actual Big Bads are ... God, I guess?  The Demiurge?  Something more powerful than that? The world ends at least once.  (This might just be a Heroes-style Bad Future, but Sam and Dean definitely spend some time on the wrong side of an apocalypse.)

The show's writers are very sure that both Sam and Dean are straight.  Nobody who has actually watched the show agrees.  The few characters on the show that the writers admit are gay do not live for long.  

One of the brothers dies and goes to hell but he gets better.

At some point in the show's history, probably after one of them has been to hell, they adopt(?) a child called Jack who is basically the antichrist. He grows up  to be a moody teenager (like Connor from Angel).  Then he dies and everyone is mad about it.

Misha Collins plays an angel called Castiel who falls in love with one of the brothers at some point; I don't know for sure which but I think it's Dean.  (The actor who plays I-think-he's-Dean is Jensen something but I'd have to google to be sure of a last name.)  At least 50% of Supernatural fan discourse is about Castiel; people seem to like him.

Presumably women also exist in the world of Supernatural, as well as all the ghosts and demons and Biblically-accurate angels, but I could not tell you the name of a female  character on this show if my life depended on it.

In November 2020, in the final(?) episode of the show, Misha Collins confesses his love to presumably-Dean and is immediately sent to (super)hell, the show having already established that going to ordinary hell is basically fine whenever it was that one of the brothers went there. As far as large parts of tumblr are concerned this is the most significant thing to have happened in world history that month.  This gives birth to the only Supernatural meme I 100% know is from Supernatural, the "I love you" / "[news of recent horrific event]" one.

The show was on the air for about twenty years.  At the end of it everyone in the cast was utterly sick of it and never wanted to see each other again. About a year later, they started filming a prequel, which everyone involved in the original show came back for except for probably-Dean, who famously reacted poorly to this on twitter. (Screenshots of this meltdown are, I think, the only time I have ever seen the actor's name.)

Test my dashboard osmosis ability.

#supernatural #asks #thanks!

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 55

Malleus Maleficarum/Doomsday

“Malleus Maleficarum”

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: Oh fuck no. I’m barely surviving WATCHING.

Ew wtf…this is…one of the most stomach churning episodes I’ve ever watched. Between the lady in the opening pulling out all her teeth and bleeding out and now magic-ing maggots into this dude’s burger.

But then what killed HER? Was it the OTHER neighbor??

This is…this is a good way to get yourselves on these witches’ hit list.

People who are big shots in their neighborhoods making a big deal of their last names to complete strangers from outside their little circle baffle me

Dude…Sam. No. You don’t just…Oh. That’s that’s not an ordinary demon.

I don’t believe Ruby’s really …yeah, she wasn’t betraying the Winchesters. Because that was the most male gaze-y shit I’ve ever seen

Yo. Dean…aren’t you supposed to have a little conflict about stabbing the person the demon is possessing?? Just even a little hesitation?

I don’t remember how long we keep Ruby, but I’m gonna miss her when she goes. A demon who remembers what it’s like to be human is an interesting character

“Been On My Mind…”: Nope.

“Doomsday”

I love Mickey and the scientist pretending to know about the time war to save their lives for just a second but in the lamest way possible

You’re going to regret making that promise, Doctor.

Omg here it is. The moment I’ve been waiting for “our species are similar though your is inelegant” “daleks have no concept of elegance” “that is obvious”

“Daleks be warned, you have declared war upon the cybermen” “this is not war, this is pest control” “we have five million cybermen. How many are you?” “Four” “you would destroy the cybermen with four Daleks?” “We would destroy the cybermen with one Dalek. You are superior in only one respect” “what is that?” “You are better at dying” (someone on tiktok also used this audio clip with Shigaraki as the Dalek and the Hero Safety Commission president as the cybermen, and it was probably the most I’ve ever been into Shiggy in my life)

Note that I watched that clip like……eight times at least

Amazing. Rose sees the Doctor on screen and her heart rate rises, the Daleks point this out and Mickey’s just like “yeah, old news. Been there.”

You're not gonna catch me feeling bad or Yvonne.

Good lord there are some really good lines in this. The cybermen telling the Doctor that he’s proof emotions destroy you, and he agrees but then goes “mind you, I quite like hope. Hope’s a good emotion”

(FOURTH! FOURTH TIME'S THE CHARM, RIGHT??? ISTG I'LL END MY REWATCH TONIGHT IF I HAVE TO REDO THIS AGAIN. MY VILLAIN ORIGIN STORY WILL BEGIN BECAUSE I'LL HAVE NO MORE SUPERWHOLOCK I NEED TO WATCH. I have moved from my bed to my couch, I'm writing on my laptop IN HOPES THAT THIS TIME THE POST WILL GO THROUGH. I can't even find solace in watching my favorite scene any more.)

He really puts on those glasses every time he has void stuff to check out. You don't really pick up on it the first time, but it gets more and more obvious with every rewatch...

Where and when is Rose getting her hair cut??

The Doctor's so enigmatic in this scene where he meets Pete again. If I hadn't watched it so many times tonight, I'd be baffled by how swiftly he changes every few seconds. Now, I'm used to it.

Next time I watch the series (not any time soon because this episode is now CURSED for me), I want to watch out for THAT Note earlier in the series. It's ALL. OVER. this episode, but I wanna listen for it earlier.

The way Rose tells the Daleks what she did to their emperor. What a woman.

Poor Mickey. Like, yeah, the genesis ark had to be opened, but why did it have to be him who did it?? I still don't understand why the Doctor thinks of it as a good thing (but that's partly because he talks so fast I have a hard time understanding him occasionally).

The Jackie and Pete reunionnnnnn *sobs* and yet they still carve out time for levity "All those daft little ideas of mine. They worked. Made me rich" "I don't care about that...how rich?" "Very" "I don't care about that...how very?"

But then the desperation as they run toward each other and embrace uuugggghhhhhhhhh

Huh, the Daleks were right. The cymbermen ARE better at dying. It wasn't just an empty taunt.

I know it's supposed to be a scary prospect, but the way the genesis ark spins and spits out Daleks is just funny to me

THE MORE I WATCH THIS SCENE THE MORE I HATE IT. AT FIRST I HATED IT BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T KNOW THE HEARTACHE THEY WERE GONNA GO THROUGH AND TO SEE THEM SO GIDDY HURT ME. BUT HE KNOWS. HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S GONNA DO. AND HE LET'S HER PLAY ALONG AND HAVE HER FUN. HE GIVES HER A CUE TO ASK ABOUT THE GLASSES AND THEN PUTS THEM ON HER. AND THEY'RE LAUGHING THE WHOLE TIME BECAUSE SHE THINKS SHE'S GONNA GET TO STAY WITH HIM FOREVER. I HATE IT.

The argument over who's staying and who's going to the other universe is heart wrenching. I do have my criticisms of it, but that's entirely a personal thing.

Roses really love jumping BACK INTO dangerous situations for their boyfriends, don't they? Tyler...Dewitt-Bucater (I'll look up the spelling for that if I think of it in the morning, if tumblr doesn't eat this too)

Did they have to give the Yvonne cyberman a different voice than literally every other cyberman? Was it not enough to make her say her last words again? The ones she repeated over and over before she was turned?

It must be absolutely terrifying to have to hold on long enough to allow MILLIONS of both Daleks and cybermen to go through the breach, all while it's trying to suck you in, too. And you're RIGHT THERE. And if something goes wrong (which, of course it will), you're basically powerless, and the person you're with IS powerless to help you.

NO. No...

The way they can't even comfort her. They don't know what to do. They can't go to her, though Mickey's fighting the urge to. Because what can they even say or do??

And they way they can just ALMOST feel each other's presence across universes...it's not faaaaaaaaair

Reminder to google what the difference between a sun and a normal star is. Because...if he's burning up a SUN to talk to her...there's gotta be some space laws against that. If there are planets with life revolving around that sun?? Or is that after your first genocide, they just stop checking on if you've committed more?

I dunno if I'll ever decide if it's a mercy that he never gets to say it back. Is this an Empire Strikes Back situation? It'll hurt more if he DOES get to say it? Because it's futile? They'll never be able to be together. Also will never decide if he ran out of time or purposely ran down the clock. Which isn't to say that he's not devastated to not be able to. But he's done so much to protect her and her future and her future happiness, why would he stop now?

DONNA!!!!!!!! I love the surprise of her at the end. And she really does show up when the Doctor's at his lowest: after losing Rose, after TRULY (sort of) becoming the last of the Time Lords

#hellsite nostalgia tour 2023 #emphasis on the hellsite #i was burning up my phone's battery just to watch and comment on this episode three times #(I have spent the last FOUR AND A HALF HOURS WATCHING THIS EPISODE. MULTIPLE TIMES BECAUSE TUMBLR COULDN'T GET ITS SHIT TOGETHER)

[luciddreamslikeelectricity]

ykw I've been saying for a long time that Bucky Barnes has gotten shit writing & treatment from marvel since 2015 so finding out a bunch of guys on twitter noticed the same thing. it proves in not crazy LOL, ever since that alanna superwholock fangirl got out on something shifted

it's like marvel saw Bucky's popularity jump from a genuinely top tier TWS adaptation in the MCU, but then got some higher up(maybe after the exec shake up that happened then) got mad at his new popularity and decided to start sidelining & scuttling character in 2015. & what crazy is not even the MCU adaptation that popularized him stayed safe writingwise, something on an exec-level gotta be happening

2015 def seems like the turning point, all good ideas for him and actual depth of character got thrown out the window and they just ride the wave of popularity of ppl who just vaguely like the Winter Soldier character design and make a random ass OC that's just a white guy a long hair and put it onto actual official comic pages for only a certain type of fangirl to screenshot and act like it's the best thing ever no matter how worse the writing keeps getting for him lol

sorry I don't know who that superwholock girl is 😶

is 2015 the year brubaker stopped writing him? I personally don't think anyone else has written him well (except maybe a few moments here and there). I'm not even a huge fan of mcu bucky (mostly because of the fandom tbh & because he has overshadowed more interesting characters like Sam) but I definitely think they did him super dirty after catws - the foundation was strong & it looks like they didn't know what to do & making a civil war movie was the wrong choice for so many reasons, but also because of what it did to bucky's character (and literally everyone else's but this isn't about them).

I think the mcu was, ultimately, not the right fit for the character (disney, for one, and also the homogenous nature of the films does not really allow for any stories that are unique/ serious/ introspective to be told & this is why barely any of their projects are actually good, quality-wise).

I know they made some weird choices with 616 bucky (space, thunderbolts etc.) but the characterization always felt off to me & also, there are much better stories that can be told with him. I feel like lately, he's kind of just been there (I need him to be free of the "cap-fam") & whatever lanzing & kelly did and are still doing had some potential imo but unfortunately, they can't write & they don't know bucky at all.

I feel like they need to bring brubaker back or at least hire writers who believe in doing research before writing a character.

#anonymous #I mostly think he was sidelined because he isn't very interesting when he's steve's partner but they insisted on keeping them together due #to their popularity among mcu fans maybe?

[eebbapanda1]

Meeting La Squadra pt. 1 (Only Risotto, for now)  La Squadra x College!Neigbor!Reader

a/n: As a previous post mentioned I have severe La Squadra brain rot at the moment so this will be heavily self-indulgent. I have not written reader insert anything since the height of SuperWhoLock, so we’ll see how this goes. Also, please know that the reader in these stories is afab although I’ll try to keep things as gn as possible, they will also be short and chubby because again self/indulgence. Even so, I hope everyone likes it. 

genre/warnings: Fluff so no warnings. Reader is a new neighbor of La Squadra, also they are in college. All of the meetings are platonic for now. This one will only have Risotto because finals are kicking my butt, and I feel guilty about hyping this up a little and not delivering quickly. Don´t worry, I am working on everyone else. 

Risotto 

- A small known fact about Risotto, he tends to use Metallica to take walks outside of the apartment. Honestly, he loves his team like a family but they can all get be way too loud. Especially, when most of them are staying together.

 - Another small known fact, although this applies to everyone in his team, is that he knows about pretty much everyone who lives in the neighborhood. Not in a stalker way, more in a ‘we don’t trust any of you people’ way. It’s better to know who is Passione, who is in another gang, and who is a civilian that lives around you than not having any clue at all. 

- This is why, one sunny Italian afternoon, when he sees someone he had never seen around before trying to push a large box into an apartment two doors down from his own he definitely gets curious. And since Metallica has him cloaked and they can’t see him anyway…. well, it makes sense to stay and observe the situation. 

- It is honestly kind of amusing to see you try and fail so hard so many times. 

- “Ok, ok we have got this” he heard you mutter at least twice “We are strong, we are independent, and if we are gonna make it all alone in a new country we better move this goddammed box already”. 

- ‘They would get along with Proscuitto pretty well.’ he thought. 

 - This went on for some good fifteen more minutes in which Risotto learned some important things: you were not native to Italy at all, you talk to yourself out loud, whatever is in that box is way too heavy for you, and most importantly you’re not a threat to him or his team. 

- He thought about just going home until he heard your next idea “Maybe if I get a running head start it will finally move” 

- Ok, now he had to step in. Because that is a terrible idea for someone as short as you, there were more chances of you getting hurt than actually moving the darn thing, and after amusing himself with your misfortune for a good twenty minutes it felt wrong to leave you to it. 

- Thankfully, you sensed his presence right before starting to run. Not thankfully, he startled you so much you almost Jumped a foot into the air. “Oh God, sorry about that.” you chirped after calming down “I really did not see you there.” Unlike most of the neighbor civilians, you did not seem afraid of his appearance. That was definitely nice. 

- After some short introductions, Risotto helped you move the box which he found out was a bed frame that came in later than originally planned. 

- He also learned that you had already been living next to them for three weeks, which was a tiny bit disconcerting since he had no idea that whole time. He´d have to talk with Illuso about it. 

- Once the box was already inside, he was ready to leave. 

- You were very grateful for your tall neighbor who had recently been your savior and promised to pay him back once you got all of your stuff fully settled since that last of it had arrived that day. 

- If he was honest, he couldn’t wait to see how exactly you expected to pay him back. 

#jjba x reader #jjba x y/n #risotto nero #risotto x reader #la sqaudra #jjba #la squadra x reader

[welllpthisishappening]

AO3 Tag Game

Hey, guess what? I continue to wait for people to email me back and acknowledge deadlines they met weeks ago, and @optomisticgirl keeps tagging me in stuff. So I’m going to keep using that stuff as solid distractions and a means to avoid throwing things.

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 50! Which is just patently absurd, quite honestly. 41 for Once Upon a Time (although that doesn’t include the one-shot collections), 8 for The 100 and that 1 little Six of Crows fic.

2. What is your total Ao3 word count? 3,003,485

L O L

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Three, technically. But that one Six of Crows fic was more a product of like—crazed writing that I’m not entirely sure will ever happen again. So, really Captain Swan and The 100.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Tripping Over the Blue Line Out of the Frying Pan You Play Ball Like a Girl Melt Your Headaches, Call it Home The PyeongChang Triple

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not? I do! Or, rather I try to. I’m way better about it when I’m actively posting a story and I respond to the comments from the last chapter when I’m posting the new one. I know back in the day it was viewed as bad form™ to respond to comments (both on Ao3 and Tumblr, honestly) because it skewed your stats, but if you’re going to take the time to write something nice (or not so nice, honestly part two) I’m going to take the time to respond to it. Also, I’ve met people in fandom because they commented on my fic and I like...stalked them to tell them how wonderful they are.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? It doesn’t end angsty per se, but Where You Can Still Remember Dreaming was regularly referred to as AngstFest2k17 while I was writing it. It’s far and away the angstiest thing I’ve ever written. Like, stuff HAPPENS in that story. Organized crime sort of stuff. People get shot!

7. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve ever written? Nah, not really. Having characters from different universes or fandoms interact kind of...weirds me out? Sorry, SuperWhoLock.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic? Eh, I wouldn’t call it hate, per se. Snarky comments? Yeah, for sure. People had THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS about The Period of the Long Change and some of them were...let’s call them enthusiastic, huh? Also, person who called Emma a COW after the train station chapter of You Play Ball Like a Girl, I think about you regularly.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Timely question is timely! The subhead of this fic should just be: if you can’t banter with your wife while going down on your wife, are you really in love?

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen? We’re gonna gloss right over that one.

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I haven’t, but in theory I think it’d be fun!

12. What’s your all time favorite ship? I’ve written nearly a million words SOLELY about Captain Swan falling in love while also working and playing for a hockey team. So, like. Seems obvious, right?

13. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Aside from that self-insert fic that my fifth-grade self didn’t realize classified as fic where Justin Timberlake called me hot after I saved various musical star’s talent? Nothing until You Play Ball Like a Girl. I read a shit ton of fic before that, though. Like, an almost questionable amount of fic.

14. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? All Was Golden in the Sky — I know, I know. You may be asking, “But Laura did you not just post smut in honor of a fic anniversary only you were celebrating? And did you not JUST talk about writing nearly a million words about a fictional hockey team that almost always occupies some of your thoughts?” Yes, yes I did. But! All Was Gold in the Sky is like...the magical road trip story of my dreams. It’s got everything I love. Banter, kissing, more kissing, snarky mermaids, sword fights, happily ever after, EVERY BIT OF CANON I COULD TWIST TO MY OWN WRITING WHIMS. Honestly, I’m just ridiculously proud of this story and how everything fit together and I absolutely loved writing it and, like, yeah, if Blue Line is my fandom heart, then this might be my fandom soul. My fantasy-loving, overly-complicated plot-loving soul.

If you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged. Tell me things about your writing.

#laura rambles #how many times can i read the same articles over and over until my cover story sends its cover photo??? #we have to be getting close to a record

[bringmoreknives]

tagged by @awsugar and @iero to do this!! i’ve never done this one so ty :’)

1. Why did you chose your url

when i REALLY got into mcr in like january 2020 (i’d been a fan before but pretty much only listened to about half of revenge and then tbp and dd) sorrows was one of the very first songs of bullets i got into specifically the knives/sorrow demo on mdnsy. i was checking for canon mcr urls and i saw that this one was taken and i was DESPERATE to have it (also because it’s a bit more ~niche~ reference to our lady) so on the off chance i dm’ed the blog and its owner just happened to check tumblr for the first time in years a few days later and let me have it :) akdjfhksdjhf that was so long

2. Any sideblogs?

technically THIS is a sideblog because @wakemeupbeforeyouvangogh is my main (i didn’t understand how accounts work when i made this blog) but i also run @seaborns (tv, mostly criminal minds and the west wing), @njolras (les mis), i used to run @vsuvia (the arcana) but it’s inactive now, and i also make gifs and content for @daily-cm

3. How long have you been on Tumblr?

it was my ninth anniversary on my birthday ;____;

4. Do you have a queue tag?

yeah, it used to be #still into queue but now i don’t wanna use that bc ch*d so it’s #drain the fantasy of queue which is from pool by paramore aka THEEEEE song. i try to keep a pretty active queue but i forget a lot

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

my friend sarah had a blog in sixth grade and it was all about superwholock (of course) i can still so clearly picture the photo of the eleventh doctor she had in her sidebar. but my parents were super strict on the internet (and also i had just recently had someone creep on me on instagram) so they didn’t let me get a blog until i was 13 and it had to be about something educational (hence the van gogh theme for my main). until then i checked a few blogs like the morning paper. and i made this blog because my dad didn’t know how tumblr worked and i was getting into bandom and bored of not posting about it

6. Why did you chose your icon/pfp?

love of my life

7. Why did you choose your header?

it’s not the best picture of it but i really love the brand new eyes stage setup with the picture frames and it goes with my icon

8. What’s your post with the most notes?

it’s this hayley edit with almost 40k which is so embarrassing because i didn’t properly source either of the pictures and i think the second one is actually someone else’s edited pic that i just slapped a sepia filter over...... i was 14 i didn’t know better

9. How many mutuals do you have?

it’s really hard to tell bc mutual checker doesn’t work since this is my sideblog

10. How many followers do yo have?

3,160 <333

11. How many people do you follow?

okay please don’t lose your minds but 2,308..... a ton of them are inactive it’s just genuinely too many to unfollow with inactivity checker

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

yeah lasjfhlaskdjfhh a ton i think my best shitpost is the compilation of star wars actors trashing kylo ren

13. How often do yo use tumblr a day?

it really depends and it’s kind of less rn because i work a lot but i’m assuming i’ll be more active when im home in a few days with nothing to do but i tend to try to at least queue some stuff before i go to bed

14. Have you ever had an argument/fight with another blog?

yeah jdfhdkjfh multiple times. when i was younger it was dramatic but now it just tends to be arguing with reposters

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

if it’s like political or about something going on in the world then i’ll probably reblog it, if it’s one of those old-fashioned “LISTEN HERE FUCKERS LET ME EXPLAIN U A THING” then i will ignore it. unfortunately reblog bait (i.e. reblog this for good luck or you’ll have the worst day of your life) gets me because i have ocd

16. Do you like tag games?

yeah i love them i’m just so bad at remembering to do them

17. Do you like ask games?

YES i absolutely adore them but for some reason like EVERY time i post one i have to go do something else but i want to do more

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

i honestly have no idea. mack and kay both have a lot of followers but idk if that counts as tumblr famous... is tumblr famous even a thing anymore

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

i am in a healthy loving relationship with my polycule the bandom creators server <3

20. Tags

hm i tag: @dangersday @smileandasong @raytorosaurus @lolalovesu @girlfriend-frank @adamlazzara and @mikeywayinc! sorry if any of you have been tagged before i cannot read <3

#tags etc. #about me #.txt

[ephemeraltea]

TRC is my first and only serious fandom, so I have a Tumblr noob question. Could you explain to me what the hell was the deal with Superwholock. I read a Tumblr post about how those folks had been rightly shamed off Tumblr, which they 'totally deserved' apparently. I can't quite wrap my head around how the crossover of those shows got to be so massive, but why did that fandom get everyone's knickers in a twist?

hoooo okay, so full disclosure, i’ve been on tumblr in some capacity since like. june of 2012. i’d just graduated high school, got my wisdom teeth removed the following monday, and in my recovery was spending a lot of time on the young justice tv show (my gateway to comics) and homestuck (which i never got through).

it sure was a time in my life.

at this time, i was a big fan of Doctor Who and a critical but admiring fan of Supernatural, and periodically obsessed with Sherlock. i was one of those people who found the big pile-on-the-fandoms-and-see-what-sticks hugely amusing and not at all cringey. bear in mind, i was eighteen and this was my first internet community not centered around roleplay with fellow fourteen-year-olds. i was baby. i was learning.

(to be clear: i’m not ashamed that i was a superwholockian. i was, for a few years. now it’s just kind of a thing that i did in my past that neither terrible nor wonderful, like the spring i tried to do track pole vaulting. it didn’t work out, move on.)

i think.... i think a lot people were unused to being able to talk about fan stuff so passionately in a semi-public sphere, and when we found people who were as obsessed (or more!) with the same shows, it got really loud and repetitive. echo chamber of young nerds making connections awkwardly. there’s this one tiktok where a guy is saying, “hey, it turns out that history isn’t repeating itself, we just keep getting new fourteen year old kids on the internet.” i think this is a case of that: young, passionate fans piling on top of each other joyfully and not realizing that they are going to be embarrassed as shit in a few years.

of course, some of those people started to get embarrassed faster than others. a lot of those people turned heel really fast and made it their personal journey to ostracize their old club. some of them, like myself, kind of went quietly as they found new fandoms and people to create joy with. and some of them doubled down, but mostly i think those people simply found warmer welcomes in other domains, like probably reddit or facebook or some such. less a matter of shaming on a wide scale, i think, and more just. realizing you’ve got more friends somewhere else, and you’d like to join them there. 

were those fans badly behaved? yeah, kinda, sometimes. but very much in the way that little kids get furious when you tell them their favorite cartoon is dumb. just add on some pretentiousness (i cannot emphasize the fourteen-ness of many fans) and righteous fury, not to mention the desire to be seen as a Hero in your community.

i dunno, man, i think the loudest people calling superwholock dying down as a triumph were probably pat of it at one point and are wildly embarrassed. they don’t need to be - we’re all growing, and as long as you’re prepared to apologize, accept that the people you might have bullied don’t have to forgive you, and genuinely try to be better... that’s all you need.

#i wasn't here for a lot of it so im not a genuine authority #at least on the times when it was in its full heyday #but i bore witness to the breakdown #is this it? am i a fandom Old? has my time come??? #tumblr history

[musical-chick-13]

About that “Chibnall killed Doctor who post”

I’m kinda on the inbetween of that arguement, I remained a fan of Doctor who throughout this Chibnall era, but I definitely think Chibnall isn’t as good of a Doctor who writer as RTD or Moffat.

I think literally any episode he did (keeping the original concept) could’ve been done better with RTD or Moffat.

E.G. I really liked the Concept of the Timeless child and I the episode itself was pretty good, but I think if RTD had worked on series 11 and 12, the timeless child thing would’ve been something similar to bad Wolf, with a lot more hinting and build up throughout the series.

But again, I still watch it, and I’m still a fan since there were some good episodes in Chibnall’s era. But I am excited for RTD’s return.

Hey, fellow Doctor Who fan! Thanks for the ask! (And for being respectful and descriptive while sending it. I love, like...actual fandom dialogue and idea exchange, and I am always down to talk about Doctor Who.)

I'm sorry this response got so long (turns out I love to ramble about TV I follow), so I'm putting the rest under a "read more."

I totally get why people are excited for RTD coming back. Personally, I just like the characters and acting more in the other eras (sans Martha, who is my favorite companion forever and ever, but I still didn't really like the way Ten treated her?). They spoke to me in a way that many in RTD-era number one just...didn't? I'm not completely sure why, so I guess I'll have to work on figuring that out, haha. But I primarily care about characters/character arcs when I watch something because I've been a Theatre Kid™ (and later a Theatre Adult™) my entire life, and the reason why is because I like getting into the heads of fictional people and figuring out where they emotionally end up. Foreshadowing and plot concepts are often secondary to me. But for people who value those things, absolutely I get the love for RTD because he was (and likely will continue to be) good at it.

I think, ultimately, a big part of the problem in terms of how the Chibnall era was received stemmed, not just from genuine criticisms of or objections to the show, but also the fact that many fans would take every opportunity to talk about how every single thing was completely awful with no redeeming qualities and deserved no chances. People who stopped watching the show would still talk about it, even though they hadn't actually seen what was happening, and despite me seeing a lot of discussion about how people were willing to accept some of RTDs (and even, occasionally, Steven Moffat's, though that was far less common) because they got value out of enough other things in the show. But I...haven't seen the same grace extended to the Chibnall era. There were some episodes that fell flat for me, but I think Ryan's arc of learning what he wants and accepting the beauty of a life on Earth, and Graham's reflection on grief, and Yaz's ill-advised devotion and mental health struggle backstory, and everything about Thirteen, and everything about Sacha Dhawan's portrayal of The Master ultimately mean more to me than the episodes I find less-than-stellar. But many times when I've tried to go into Doctor Who-related tags or look for video essays on YouTube or skim the official Facebook page for news, I just see an avalanche of content about how the whole thing is worthless and we should throw it all out. Add in the fact that there were some infamous plotlines and fandom drama in the "Super" and "Lock" parts of SuperWhoLock (which as a totality has recently made the shift in cultural perception to "Cringe™"), which bled over into assuming Doctor Who would follow suit, and there's a lot of negativity that unfairly skews the perception of what people's relationship to and opinion of the show are. Many times, the people who hate something are the loudest about it. And a lot of times, that dissuades people who genuinely love the thing from talking about how much they love it. (Or, at the very least, prevents those talks from getting traction, because people who hate things, in my experience, are...very adamant about running people who disagree with them off of public platforms.)

I can get why the Chibnall era wouldn't hit as well for some people. And if it's not someone's thing, that is completely fine. (God knows there are lots of things that aren't for me.) I think, though, that if someone decides something isn't their thing, it's better for everyone for them to say, "Hey, it's not my thing" and watch something else that is. I don't think continuing to talk about how much they hate it is very helpful to anyone involved. Obviously people can vent and make posts about their feelings on the show, but there's a line and I've seen a lot of people (in unprecedented numbers) cross it. And, ultimately, I think that is the thing that's the most responsible for the public negative reactions to Chibnall.

#multi t(ASK)ing #doctor who #I'm really not sure if this belongs in the general tag. it's...not exactly about the show more about REACTIONS to the show #so if anyone objects to that just let me know I very much value proper tagging #and also thank you to the person who sent this in for allowing me to talk about a show I love 😊 #pro Chibnall #(in case anyone has that tag blocked and doesn't want to see this)

[charmedseoull]

The Aftermath of Fanfiction Authors with Reba Interview

Before You Read the Interview

I contacted Reba after she posted a Reddit thread titled “When a fic becomes too popular and the author deletes their account and/or work. Explained.” on a throwaway account. We discussed details of the interview during December over email, then started the interview in January. This interview is not associated with a project and is its own independent work. Reba has chosen to remain anonymous.

She provides insight on potential reasons to why fanfiction authors abandon their work from the perspective of a fanfiction reader. She also answered general fandom questions and questions about herself so readers could understand her background.

Charmedseoul is a BTS-focused anonymous historian who documents fandom history using Fanlore. If you would like to be interviewed to help document perspectives in fandom, please contact her on Twitter @charmedseoul or on Tumblr @charmedseoull.

Parts of this interview have been edited with links to Fanlore and Wikipedia pages for understanding. Any information in [brackets] serves for further clarity for readers and elaboration of information.

Now presenting the interview with Reba, long-time fanfiction reader and participant in fandom:

When did you first join fandom culture?

I joined fandom culture in 2014. I feel like fandoms really peaked during this time. [Presence of SuperWhoLock and other Tumblr specific fandoms.]

What fandoms are you in? How have your experiences in them been?

I will be honest and say fandom culture isn’t for me- so I can’t say I’m active in any fandoms (I’m just a silent consumer) but growing up I was a fan of music artists mostly; Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande… I loved the IT 2017 movie adaptation for a long time (I still do), and early 2020 is when I got into BLACKPINK, then BTS. My experience with all of these has been good, and maybe that’s because I don’t see any of the drama and arguments online- but I don’t regret any of my past interests because they all made me happy at one point in time.

What do you like about fandoms?

 What I like about fandoms is how happy it can make an individual; getting excited for a new music video, smiling at behind the scenes photos… it can bring someone a little joy if they are having a bad day.

What do you dislike about fandoms?

I don’t like stan culture at all; fandom drama, arguing on twitter with strangers to defend an artist who doesn’t even know you… it all seems toxic. While I'm sure healthy stanning does exist, I don't think it's easy to achieve at all.

How long have you been an ARMY? What are your opinions about the fandom? How has your experience in the fandom been? 

I became an ARMY in early 2020 when Map of the Soul: 7 was released, so only a year. I really do like the fandom; ARMY is the only fandom I’ve seen where there are so many fans worldwide of all different ages, and that just shows how BTS and their music really is for everyone. There is so much BTS content that there’s never a dull day, so my experience in the fandom has been enjoyable!

Did you ever leave ARMY and take a break then come back?

 I’ve never left ARMY, that being said, I’m a newbie and haven’t been here for long.

When did you first start reading fanfiction? 

I have been exposed to fanfiction since 2014, but I wasn’t in any fandom back then and started reading fanfiction in 2017.

What do you think the purpose behind fanfiction is?

 We mostly read for entertainment but there is definitely a purpose to fanfiction, as for all art. Fanfiction is a great thing for both reader and writers, it can be an outlet for many people, a way to experience things that you don't have a chance to experience in your own life. It also can be a good base ground for people who want to start writing, or for someone who finds reading huge paperback novels difficult. Fanfiction is so easily accessible, you can pull up a story to read or share your work at the press of a button.

As you’ve read fanfiction over the years, do you feel like anything about fanfiction has changed?

Yes! Fanfiction is taken a lot more seriously now, people who write fanfiction treat it like an actual novel with plotting and editing- the quality of fanfiction in general is a lot better. Fandom ships have also changed; when I was a teenager Harry Styles fanfictions were crazy popular, now the fanfics that seem to be more popular are BTS! So that just shows when music evolves, pretty much everything else does too.

As a reader, how do you view authors?

I'm always amazed by fanfic authors because they practically write whole novels for free. Writing can be such a personal thing, and it does take talent; there is a story the author wants to convey, and when a story is told in a beautiful way, it leaves a lasting impact on the reader. I’m sure that must be a euphoric feeling for the author- it means they told their story, and they did it well.

Do you think many other readers share the same view as you?

No, not at all. There are readers out there who don’t really think about the time and effort authors put into their stories. I’ve seen readers expect so much, and criticise something so little. It’s sad- people should be able to write whatever they want, writing is supposed to encourage creativity. Authors shouldn’t have to fear backlash for doing just that. Being creative. 

Why do you think so many authors delete/orphan their work after it gains popularity?

When a story gains popularity- it attracts good and bad attention alike. Unfortunately the negative affects us a lot more, it’s just human nature. While authors do put their work out there, I don’t think they are ever prepared for their stories to become so popular. I am sure it is overwhelming and that’s why authors feel the need to distance themselves from it all and delete/orphan their work.

What stories prompted you to start thinking about why authors delete/orphan their works? 

I read a story called mixtape (IT movie) and I was around long enough to see chapters be uploaded each week. I also saw the struggles the author went through when their fanfic began to rise in popularity, which eventually led to the story being completely deleted from the internet. So I thought this could have been a one-off since I hadn’t read many fanfictions. I then moved onto BTS fanfiction and decided to read the most talked about ones first, only to see a lot of them were by orphaned accounts (so not just a one-off occurrence!). House of Cards by sugamins was the one that got me thinking, I thought “why would somebody not want to be associated with this amazing writing?!” That’s when I began to do some research and stumbled across your interview with the author!

How do you think backlash for a work harms an authors mental health? 

An immense amount of feedback, positive or negative, can take a toll on one person. A lot of authors can be reserved people and they write because they are passionate, as an outlet or just a hobby. So when their work does receive backlash it can be very upsetting- it could make them doubt their reasons and capabilities and affect an author so much they might stop writing all together.

How do you think some authors manage their mental health and not delete a work? 

This is a hard question because everyone deals with backlash differently. I know some authors who are not bothered by backlash and they choose to ignore it and move on with their day, and then there are other authors who are more anxious and have to put a lot of measures in place to protect their mental health; from your interview with sugamins they explain how they didn’t want to destroy their work, just distance themselves from it, so that’s always an option.

Taking time away from social media and getting enough rest, it is important to not neglect your well-being. Finding a way to cope when you feel low; animals tend to ground me and improve my mental health- they are loving and don’t judge you for who you are. Maybe you cope by talking with friends, or listening to your favourite song. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it helps. 

At what point with mental health do you think authors start to consider deletion/orphaning?

I think an author starts to consider deleting/orphaning their work when it completely consumes them. It is not healthy to be fixated on something that is no longer bringing you happiness, you need to let it go. If you are an author reading this, just know you are not your feedback, it doesn’t define your existence, okay? Fanfiction should add to your life, not take away from it. 

Why do you think some readers invade an authors privacy?

Sometimes, people care more about the author than the work they have created. So when a fanfic has deeply touched a reader and helped them through so much, they want to reach out in any way and tell them so- this can be invasive if the reader is not careful about their approach.

How do you think authors manage this privacy invasion?

Stopping it before it happens; not using your real name, having a separate account for writing, don’t link social media accounts in your works etc. If privacy has already been compromised and a reader is making the author uncomfortable, then disabling comments on their works, making a new social media or changing their accounts to private would be smart. Just knowing how to keep safe online.

At what point with privacy invasion do you think authors start to consider deletion/orphaning?

When you are at risk of being doxed. I think when readers are going as far as finding authors’ personal accounts and messaging their friends- anything along those lines is scary and the reader is going from a supporter to an intrusive stranger real fast.

Why do you think anonymity is important for fanfiction writing?

When your full name is attached to everything you do, people have a very easy way to get back to you. This is why authors keep an anonymous profile, and it is important readers respect that.  Most authors don’t want their family, friends, employer etc to see that sort of stuff. It is completely okay to remain professional and keep fanfiction writing separate from personal life.

Do you think fanfiction writing should stay free? Do you think authors should be paid for their work? 

I do think fanfiction writing should stay free on the sites they originate from (AO3 for example). However, if the author wants to take their work elsewhere to earn money then I don’t see an issue in that. I am glad you mention copyright law with fanfiction in particular because the author of mixtape (the fanfiction I mentioned earlier) tried to self publish their work while keeping canon names, the author tried to justify it as a parody work and everyone was so concerned that they reported the book until it got removed. I have seen stories on Wattpad become published books to purchase, however, the names had been changed to original characters- I think this seems like a much more logical move to avoid any legal repercussions.

As a reader, how has an author’s work connected with you personally? 

I have had works connect with me on a personal level, one in particular is Somebody To Love by LOVERVMINS (orphaned). My standards are impossibly high after reading that fanfic and I don’t think I will ever come across something so beautiful again. Somebody To Love is a taekook fic that was uploaded to AO3 in 2019, the author ended up deleting all their works but thankfully left this particular story up. I was immediately captured by the incredible writing and unique plot; the story of two lovers who were never meant for each other, but destiny found its way anyway… I apologise in advance for how long this summary (with spoilers) is, but I think my thoughts are proof of how this story has connected with me so much!

(Spoilers for Somebody to Love by LOVERVMINS. Please feel free to scroll to the next bolded question to avoid spoilers.)

In this story, Taehyung is a successful lawyer while Jungkook is just a student, despite the difference in status and wealth, they are intrigued by one another from the very start. After meeting Taehyung, Jungkook is left feeling confused about himself, the internalised homophobia is strong to begin with but as the chapters progress Jungkook goes from someone who is afraid of society and what people may think, to strong and outspoken. Taehyung plays a fundamental part in this, because if Jungkook were to never meet Taehyung, he wouldn’t have realised who he really was, he wouldn’t have been brave enough to discover his sexuality and fall in love in a time where it was so unaccepting. Taehyung is bold and confident on the surface, giving little regard for anybody other than himself, but his concern for others soon changes after he meets Jungkook, he becomes a better man. He could have had his heart desires- but Taehyung was no longer selfish from those few months he spent with Jungkook, so he stayed with his wife to be a good father.

Taehyung makes Jungkook promise him he will find somebody to love (hence the title), and he does, Jungkook finds somebody to love and he is happy- Taehyung finds this out when they unexpectedly meet a few years later, this is the final time Jungkook and Taehyung see each other… but knowing Jungkook is happy, leaves Taehyung happy.

There are different kinds of love, some last forever, and some just for a chapter of your life. It is clear Jungkook was Taehyung’s forever. And I don’t think Jungkook’s love for Taehyung ever went away, he just found another kind of love like he had promised. Jungkook had to live his life; he couldn’t wait for Taehyung, to leave his marriage in the unforeseeable future, or watch him raise his kids from afar, this shows that even if society were accepting, their circumstances were too far gone- if only they met sooner, or in another life. It makes you imagine a world where they could have been together, it makes you think beyond the story even when it’s ended.

It has been a month or two since I read LOVERVMINS work, and I still feel a pang in my chest every time I think of Taehyung’s letter for Jungkook in the epilogue.

Why do you think others think they have the right to know an authors personal information?

I think in this day and age, everything about a person is on show, so people just expect that sort of information from you. Authors appreciate feedback- but they don't know the reader, their family or what they do for fun. Vice versa. You only see a small glimpse into the authors life, and the stuff you see is what they feel comfortable enough to show. That should be enough.

Do you consider writing an art form?

  I do consider writing an art form. Writing is like painting an image in the readers mind. I think it is better than visual art because when you are reading a story, not everyone is going to envision the exact same thing, it is up to the imagination. I think that is what makes it so beautiful- we all collectively love a story, yet, we somehow interpret it differently.

Why do you think Archive of Our Own is the ideal platform for fanfiction writing?

I think Archive of Our Own is ideal for fanfiction writing because they give you many options with your work so you are comfortable- it is easy to remove comments, delete an account, or orphan works while keeping your account etc. It is important authors get control of what happens to their work if they want to leave and go in a different direction.

Do you think other fanfiction writing platforms like Fanfiction.net and Wattpad are ideal or lacking?

I think Wattpad is ideal for younger audiences; it’s more visual with book covers and the layout in general is more appealing, I also feel like the stories on there are targeted for pre-teens. When I first got into fanfiction, I did start on Wattpad because it was easier to navigate. I look back now though and do think it is lacking in terms of quality, a lot of the stories are written for shock value and don’t really make much sense because of that. It is hard to find a story on Wattpad that ticks all the boxes (but not impossible). Wattpad also had a breach with data last summer and everyone’s emails got pwned so that made a lot of people move to AO3. I have never used Fanfiction.net so unfortunately I can’t speak for that one. Overall, AO3 has much more content, you can find a story with ease once you know how to use the site.

How has fanfiction writing affected the people in your personal life?

How did you find out that your sister is writing fanfiction?

My sister wrote a Harry Styles fanfic in 2014 which gathered around half a million reads on Wattpad, she got comments from people telling her how much her fanfic has impacted their lives pretty much every day. My sister and I are close and we share the same friends, I noticed when we would have sleepovers she was always on her phone and never paid attention to the movies we were watching. I think all the numbers did affect her for a moment and it wasn’t until my sister started her exams that she realised she had to put her concentration into those to pass, that’s how she came to the decision to delete the story. I asked her recently if she regrets deleting it and she told me she doesn’t at all, she now looks back and doesn’t think her writing was good back then. So I think that shows authors do know what they’re doing and what is best for them in the long run. 

My sister had a one direction fan account on Instagram that had 100k+ followers (insane!), she was always open with her interests and I found out she started writing fanfiction through that account.

What personal reasons do you think authors have for deleting/orphaning works?

The list is endless; maybe the author wrote the story in a bad time in their life and they want to delete it because it reminds them of that time, they could have left the fandom, or they simply do not like their story anymore- they grew up and know they can do so much better. It is okay for an author to grow apart from their work, it shows they are growing as a person too.

Why do you think authors get backlash from writing dark themes?

I think authors receive backlash from writing dark themes because it can be triggering for some and can bring up unpleasant memories.

What do you think are the responsibilities of an author when writing dark themes?

 A safe bet would be to tag anything relating to abuse (physical, emotional, etc), mental illness (eating disorders, self harm, suicide, etc), graphic violence and rape/sexual assault. That’s what comes to mind. And if a trigger occurs only in a certain chapter, then having an additional warning in the chapter notes would be helpful.  

What do you think are the responsibilities of a reader when reading dark themes?

If dark subjects are included in the tags, don’t read the story if it could trigger you. It is as simple as that. People decide to read the fanfic then get mad at the author for triggering them. I am not trying to insult anybody who has triggers, maybe they read a story and their specific trigger was never mentioned in the additional tags… this is what the ‘chose not to archive warnings’ box is for, with this option, it is handled in AO3’s FAQ that major tags are not necessary. In shirt, this means there may be triggering content in the fic that is not disclosed by the author. Plus, there is usually a pop up banner before you click on a story which reads ‘this work could have adult content. if you proceed you have agreed that you are willing to see such content’. There are so many warnings, you can’t miss them. It is a case of reading at your own risk, you can’t blame the author if you do not like the result.

Do you think authors are facing too much pressure from readers about what themes they write?

I do think authors face unnecessary pressure with the themes they write; they are put on such a pedestal that when they write something that isn’t what the audience want, they receive a lot of negative criticism. Authors, no matter what themes you are writing, there is no need to worry if you are writing for yourself and putting out the content you set out to create.

Why do you think authors write dark themes?

 Dark themes are simply an exploration of difficult emotions along with unpleasant events or consequences. Authors write dark themes because it serves a narrative purpose. And authors don’t have to be ‘dark’ people or experience all of these unsettling things to write such content. 

Why do you think readers read dark themes?

Dark themes are not for everyone, I personally don’t think there are enough dark works out there. I read dark themes because it interests me more, I want to know how the characters are going to cope with the consequences, or heal from the trauma. Other readers might prefer dark themes for the graphic content, this is fine too. Fictional violence is not real- we all know this, so there is no reason to be terrified. 

Why do you think so many authors want to have their work get popular?

 People may disagree, but I think it has a lot to do with validation. Subconsciously, authors want people to like their work- a rise in popularity means readers are seeing the authors work, and hopefully taking enjoyment from it. This isn’t a bad thing as long as you realise validation does not equal self-worth. There are people out there who write and do not gain much attention, but that doesn’t stop them from posting their work anyway.

Do you think a work’s popularity is important?

I personally don’t. I read a range of fanfictions- some are super popular, others are not. It is the content I am more interested in, not how many hits/views it has.  

Should we judge authors for deleting/orphaning their work?

Not at all! I am sure authors have thought long and hard before coming to their decision.

How should we view situations where authors delete/orphan their work? 

For a reader, it can be upsetting when authors delete/orphan their work, especially if there is no possibility of reading that story again. However, we need to show compassion and view the situation from the authors perspective; gaining popularity on a fanfic isn't as pleasant as it might seem, it is much more complicated than that. A lot of feedback, both good and bad, can be overwhelming. Mental health is important, and if that means distancing yourself from something so popular, then it must be done. Privacy can be compromised, people in your real life might find out you write these stories and not be accepting, or readers become invasive which is a scary situation to be in. And a mixture of personal reasons, people are allowed to grow and change and want to distance themselves from things they are no longer proud of. 

What do you think authors should be aware of in case their work does get popular?

This is a good question… I think authors need to be aware that with good feedback, also comes bad feedback. You cannot please every single person on this earth, but that is not your job- so do not take it personally. 

Do you have any last messages to readers of this interview?

 I want to thank you in particular, Charm. This interview is probably the coolest thing I’ll ever get to do for the BTS fandom and I’m so grateful that our paths crossed so we could create this interview together. You are such a kind soul and it has been a pleasure from start to finish. 

For the authors reading this interview; I am just a reader, but I do understand how it can be hard for you to continue on when you are going through so many struggles readers don’t get to see. Just know you are appreciated, and you are supported no matter what you decide to do with your works in the future. Having popular works shouldn’t feel like a burden, there are blessings hidden in there- you have made readers feel a rollercoaster of emotions with your talent, you are able to engage with readers around the world, and you have created a beautiful story from nothing… you did that! 

For the silent readers like myself: let the authors of your favourite work know how much you loved it (in a respectful way) before it is too late! I so wish I had the chance to tell the author of Somebody To Love how their story broke my heart then healed it again. Treasure the fanfictions you love because they very well could be gone tomorrow!

Thank you for reading this interview. Further below are reminders and information about this interview and Charmedseoul’s Fanlore projects.

Reba has chosen to remain anonymous. No social media or information about her will be released publicly.

This interview was conducted through email from January 31, 2021 to February 1, 2021 with Reba’s consent and protections under Fanlore’s Identity Protection policies and the posting website’s privacy policies. Unauthorized reposting of this interview is forbidden. 

Due to the casual nature of this interview, repost of this interview is strictly prohibited. Linking and sharing is appreciated. Translation and unauthorized repost of this interview is forbidden.

Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them.

#bts #bangtan sonyeondan #fandom #fandom meta #fandom interview #fandom interviews #fanlore #charmedseoul #charmedseoul interviews #fanfiction #fanfiction author #fanfic #fanfiction meta #fanfic meta

[mookittens]

“Whatever happened to superwholock?”

is a question that I’ve seen bouncing around here for a while. It also happens to be one I can answer! I know that for some there has always been confusion over how an incredibly active and central fandom can disappear overnight and that heritageposts has been airing all the dirty laundry is making people curious again. I’m hoping to clear up any confusion and help put many of those heritageposts into some context, so let’s get started!

First and foremost hi! I’m mookittens dot tumblr dot com and I was a Superwholock. That’s right lads I was THERE during the height of it all 2013-2013. The reigning years. I saw it all go down as it happened. It was really two big things that made the kingdom collapse. The first of which was the quality of the shows.

Now as we all know, fandoms don’t start from nothing and they don’t end after peak popularity so I will be opening up the timeline we’re looking at to run from 2010 - 2015. First we’ll look at quality by show and then how they all fit together to form the Downfall.

Supernatural

Going in Superwholock order we start off with SPN. The odd man out. The one american production in a sea of union jacks. I always considered this to be the last one to join superwholock regardless of the name as it has basically nothing in common with the others besides just being on at the same time but this could just be personal bias as supernatural was the last of the three I personally watched.

Now I just want to say now this isn’t even opinion, this is objective fact. The only possible bias is labeling season 6 as good instead of okay because I liked Balthazar. The timeline speaks for itself, and if like me you look at this and go “wait what even happened in season 8, 9, or 10?” I feel ya. I watched em all and had to look up the wikis so let me save you some time. season 5 Lucifer, season 6 last of the cool angels, season 7 leviathans season 8 closing gates of hell, season 9 ended with Dean becoming a demon. By season 10 supernatural was just a name whispered on the wind, but you might have heard about the fanfiction musical episode. 

Supernatural really faded away during season 9 after many of the most beloved characters were long dead, and though the hype of Dean turning into a demon seemed like it could lead to a revival, ultimately when it became clear there would be no follow through at the beginning of season 10 the fandom packed up and moved on to greener pastures.

Doctor Who

Out of all three, the one with the most staying power. Even today, there are a few posts here and there about 10 floating around. There are just as many posts about Steven Moffat too. This one was the first one of the group I watched and objectively I wanna say the best. The few good seasons it had are still good.

Being British television, most seasons only ran within the one year, meaning less content in general compared to supernatural. Also, the sheer drop in quality happened much more quickly and dramatically than supernatural. Everyone loved 10, and by the end of 11’s first season everyone was hype for more. Unfortunately, Moffat started to rule the scene. Slowly encroaching to become head showrunner and giving us all Clara.  

Sherlock

OH BOY HERE WE GO. Sherlock. Wow. This will go beyond our scope but I feel it’s worth it since this is Sherlock in its entirety. I’m just gonna ignore the special cuz I don’t even remember it.

PLEASE keep in mind these aren’t my opinions but what I remember the general fandom consensus being at the time. Sherlock was the perfect storm of having to wait YEARS for episodes to come out and then being hit by some of the worst TV I have ever seen. There was even the scene in the first episode of season 3 (which I swear was THE most anticipated episode of a television show I have ever SEEN on my like 8 or whatever years on this website) where Moffat (yep him again) and Gatiss make fun of the fandom. They have the most hated character on the show seem crazed and obsessed with making theories on how Sherlock could have lived with his fellow fanatics. Nothing like taking the fun fans of your show were having during the off season and showing them how stupid they were for even thinking about it! If you’re reading this and thinking “okay season 3 was bad but I remember season 1 and 2 being good!” then I highly recommend watching Sherlock is Garbage, and Here’s Why by hbomberguy on youtube. It made me rethink how I felt about the show entirely. 

When you put these timelines all together it looks like this:

Makes it pretty clear why it seemed to disappear, huh? It is worth noting, however, that besides sherlock, 2012-2013, despite being the height of superwholock popularity, was when the shows were Bad. I theorize it’s because the fandom was still riding the high of the earlier seasons and its passion pushed it forward, but it can only push for so long.

The second big contributing factor to the Downfall of superwholock is that a huge chunk of the fandom were young. I was in high school at the time, and so were most of the rest of the fandom. That’s why a lot of the heritageposts posts are so cringey or school centric. It was just kids having fun. This isn’t to say there weren’t fandom moms and the like in the superwholock fandom, there were, but chances are if you were following them for superwholock content then they’re still making superwholock content now. What happened in 2014 - 2015 is that a lot of the high school kids graduated and went to college. Now all of a sudden they don’t have time to watch TV so they have to be choosy and with how bad the shows were they weren’t making the cut, or they didn’t have cable at all and wanted to pirate better shows. It was a perfect storm that ended superwholocks reign. Now even the shows themselves are ending. Supernatural is ending its 15th and final season this year, hopefully we’ll never get a 5th season of sherlock, and Doctor Who is actually good again but with the new doctor feels like it did when it was good back in 2010. Doctor Who may never be over, but the end of a whole chapter in our history is about to close.

TL;DR Due to a significant drop in quality and a lot of superwholock kids going to college and realizing there are better shows out there superwholock basically dissolved as an internet superpower over the course of 2014-2015. 

#superwholock #heritageposts #look i know this is wordy and long but im not about to proofread it i wasted enough time making the timelines and graph by hand #listen i was there gandalf and it is my duty to answer this question to the best of my ability #long post #supernatural #doctor who #sherlock #spn #dw

[lazywitchling]

You know what’s scary? I came to tumblr in the height of fandom blog vs hipster blog, when superwholock was first getting started, before Disney had a choke hold on the entertainment industry, back when it was fun to get really really into tv shows and base our whole personality on what media we consumed. Looking back on it, it was... not a great way to be, but goddamn did it save me.

Not like in a dramatic “saved my life” way, but I mean.

I could go back on my main blog and find my pro-republican posts. I could find my anti-trans posts and my “well okay, gay people can be gay at home, but I don’t want them out where I can see them.” I could find those. They’re back there, years ago in my archive. Because that’s all I knew. That’s all I heard. My community - I mean my real life one, my local area, my friends, my church group, everything around me - is very... monoculture. There aren’t a lot of people around here who don’t look like me, have the same economic background as me, raised in the same beliefs I was... it’s just a whole lot of carbon copies of me. So I thought... “ew, how can someone be gay? That’s gross. They’re going to go to hell.” Because what the hell else would I think? That’s all I knew! And I thought “that boy wants to be a girl? What’s wrong with him? He should see a doctor.” And I thought “why do some people not go to work and the government just pays for them to eat? That’s not right. They shouldn’t be lazy like that.”

And then fuckin’ fandom. It wasn’t fandom directly, but when I got really into a show, I’d follow so many blogs that posted about it. Fan art, discussions, gifs, episode recaps, ask blogs... and inevitably, some of those blogs would drop the occasional political post. Mostly about how we needed marriage equality in the USA. And I thought “well. I don’t agree with that, but their fandom content is good, so I won’t unfollow them.”

It’s how I got exposed to more and more people. People who didn’t think like me. People who didn’t think like my parents. And they weren’t just political posts, sometimes it was just blogging. An artist I like would post about finally getting started on T. He was so happy that he was finally getting T. And I started to think things like “well, she— I mean, he sounds happy. So I’m happy for... him.”

More people. More stories. And I slowly stopped thinking about other people as political issues or religious problems, but as just... people who were trying to live their lives.

It was slow, and it was rocky. I still participated in church discussions that involved phrases like “hate the sin but love the sinner”. It made sense... until college, when I was face to face with people who weren’t like me. Looking at the man in my theatre troupe who was talking about his partner, I couldn’t make the “hate the sin, love the sinner” mentality work. I just couldn’t. I knew I was supposed to, but I just knew that trying to say “he’s a good person, but he just needs to stop being gay” didn’t work at all. I couldn’t hate what he was without hating who he was. And I just couldn’t, because he was my friend, dammit!

Marriage equality passed. My Facebook feed turned into the proverbial wailing and clothes-tearing from my church friends. And I very slowly... very quietly... started to post the “let’s remember that we shouldn’t hate other people” stuff. The very subtle nudging, still Christian-focused stuff that was juuuuust starting to lean left. Not too over the top, not overtly in support, because I was supposed to be one of them, a member of the church, I had to play along with the mentality.

Playing along got exhausting. Someone would deadname Caitlyn Jenner, and I’d consider for a moment that I should just let it go, that I should just pretend that it was fine. But... what about my artist friend? Would I be okay with someone deadnaming him? No, I would not. And if I was pretending I was onboard with deadnaming Caitlyn, would I have played along with deadnaming my friend? Just so I could fit in and be comfortable? So I corrected them. Her name is Caitlyn.

I learned to listen to more people. I learned why “I don’t see color” wasn’t as good a mentality to have as I thought. I learned that “feminist” wasn’t a dirty word, and it also didn’t mean what I thought it meant. I slowly learned that I was one. I slowly learned, and still learn, how to further expand all the things that covers. I learned about intersectional feminism. I learned about white privilege. I learned about so much and so many people because I was actively listening to them, I was hearing their stories, and I cared about them, wanted them to have good lives, wanted them to be able to make choices about their own lives without people like me saying “I know better.”

I learned about myself, too. At twenty-six years old, I figured out exactly why I was always so baffled when my friends talked about sex like it was this big important thing. Surprise: asexual. A second surprise a few years later: somewhere on the aromantic spectrum as well. (Where? Idk. I’ll tell you when I figure it out myself.)

The point is... it was less than a decade ago that I was exactly the type of bigot that gets chased off everyone’s blogs. I was the everything-phobe, the one who would specifically vote against any type of aid, because bootstraps, amiright? I was a whole-ass bigot. Bitch, I owned a confederate flag ring, and I’ve never lived in the south. (It’s in a landfill somewhere now.) I only learned because I first heard from people not like me, and then I learned to listen. I participated in communities that were diverse, not because I wanted the diversity, but because I wanted the content. The diversity was a side effect. And it’s what saved me.

And it fucking terrifies me how close I could have been to being some alt-right and/or terf radical new-nazi or whatever. Because if I had got on this site about two years later than I did, I’d have been caught right in that echo chamber of radfems and nazis preying on anyone they can get their talons in. I was so close. And now I see these radfems pop up in my notes, and it’s like... that could have been me. That was me at one point. I had the ideology, I just missed the identity of it all by a few years.

I don’t have a “byf” list on my blog for a reason. I don’t go through my followers and weed out the terfs and the nazis and the bigots. If they’re in there, fine. I want them to see my words. I want them to hear from someone who doesn’t think like them. I want them to hear from someone who used to be like them, but then learned (and is always learning) to be better.

And yet when I see them in my notes, I’m obliged to weed them out. I feel guilty when it’s a young girl who has clearly been targeted by the radfems on this site, teaching her that she’ll be stronger if she hates everyone they tell her to. Of all the people on this site, she’s the one who I most want to keep out of the echo chamber. But I also have a responsibility to make sure the people who follow me, the people who I follow and reblog from, don’t get caught by the shrapnel. A radfem liking my post just means I have to pay closer attention to what I say and make sure I don’t fall back on old mentalities. It keeps me accountable. But a radfem in my notes means she’s in the notes of my friends, in my reblog chains. And it is my responsibility not to turn a blind eye when people around me can get hurt.

But goddamn, if ever there was someone who needed a community outside of that circle of bigotry, it’s that fourteen year old girl who proudly calls herself a terf. And I really hope she finds one. I really do.

#also dont reblog this one please #goodnight westley ill most likely delete you in the morning