#this may or may not be because i deeply dislike the fandom's general interpretation of Patton right now

[fangirlwriting-stories]

What Happens When You Assume

Summary: The others approach Patton with the idea of Remus coming to live with them.  But why are they so surprised when Patton is thrilled by the idea?

It wasn’t exactly a secret that Patton and Remus didn’t get along.  Patton didn’t love the ideas Remus came up with, and Remus didn’t like how uncomfortable Patton got at his ideas.  The two kind of gave each other a wide berth, but that didn’t mean Patton didn’t pay attention to Remus at all.

He saw when he started getting along better with Virgil, and how happy it made both of them.  He saw when he started doing experiments with Logan, and the way they both lit up at their breakthroughs.  He saw the way he started growing closer to and working with Roman again, and how much better Roman was doing as a result, and how much less stressed he was about his job.  He saw Janus being very happy that almost everyone was getting along with someone very important to him.  And so, with how much Remus was helping his family, Patton found himself very happy too.  He still wasn’t the biggest fan of Remus, and they didn’t spend a ton of time together, but Patton appreciated him.

He’d kind of thought that was good enough.

But he was apparently proven wrong one morning that he’d decided to make cookies for everyone.  Each of them had a favorite kind, and as he finished he put them on plates to cool.

On the left of the counter were Roman’s snickerdoodles, followed by Logan’s jelly cookies, Janus’ lemon cookies, Virgil’s double fudge, and finally Remus’ plain old sugar cookies, with the salt and sugar amounts swapped (Patton had asked Janus a while back).

He was eating the last of the few regular sugar cookies he’d made for himself, when a gentle knock came on the wall next to the entryway.

Patton turned and spotted Janus, who was leading the group of four that also included Logan and Roman and Virgil.

“Oh, hey guys!” he called happily.  “Perfect timing, I made everyone cookies!”

A dark look that Patton didn’t understand passed over Janus’ face for a second, and then he shook his head.  “Maybe later, Patton.”

“Are you sure?  I gave everyone a plate of their own, you can eat as many or as little as you want.”

“You didn’t give everyone their own,” Virgil snapped.  “But that’s not the point.”

“I… didn’t?” Patton turned to count the plates again.  One for Roman, one for Logan, one for Janus, one for Virgil, and one for Remus.  Had Thomas gained a new side while he wasn’t looking?

Or maybe they were thinking of Thomas?  Because unfortunately Patton couldn’t make him cookies, being imaginary and all.  He understood, though.  He was mad about that too sometimes.

“That’s actually exactly the point,” Janus said, and Patton turned back around.  “And we’re here to talk to you about it.”

“Oh, okay,” Patton said.  He headed over to the sink to wash his hands, since he was done baking.  “Is something wrong?”

“Yes,” Roman said, and Patton turned again in alarm.

“Oh no, what is it?”

“We’ve all been considering,” Logan said, slowly and seeming calculated with his tone, “having Janus move up here permanently.”

Patton lit up.  “You guys, that doesn’t sound like something wrong, that sounds like a wonderful idea!  Oh, you’re worried about moving everything.  Well, it will be a lot, but if we all pitch in, I think we could get the rooms cleared out in a day—”

“Patton,” Virgil snapped, and Patton jumped slightly in surprise.  “Janus coming up here means Remus comes up here too, you know.”

Patton blinked.  “Of course I do?” he said in confusion.  “That’s why I said get the rooms cleared out?  It wouldn’t be fair to leave him down there by himself.”

“Patton,” Roman said.  “I don’t think you’re understanding.”

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Patton said, feeling even more confused.  “What am I missing?”

“Remus would be up here all the time,” Logan said.  “He’s not going to be doing some strange routine where he comes back and forth.”

Patton gave him a baffled look.  “Right,” he said.  “That would be a really strange thing to make him do.”

“Patton,” Janus said, crossing his arms.  “We are warning you that you cannot kick Remus out the second he does something you don’t like.”

“What?” Patton asked in alarm, taking a step back.  “My goodness, of course not!  Why would I do that?”

“Because you don’t like him,” Virgil said, crossing his arms too.  “And you can’t treat that like it’s his fault.”

Patton stared at Virgil.  “What?”

“We’re aware that you don’t exactly love Remus,” Roman said, looking away slightly uncomfortably.  “But you can’t treat him poorly if he lives here.”

Patton blinked.  He blinked again.  He looked slowly around at everyone’s faces.  Roman looked a little uncomfortable and Logan looked like he was trying to seem understanding, but all of them looked completely serious.

“I— hang on,” Patton said slowly, stepping forward again to where he’d been before.  “Are you telling me you were all worried I was going to kick Remus out if he did something I didn’t like?”

“That’s what we’ve been saying,” Janus said, narrowing his eyes.

Patton turned to stare at each of them in turn.  “You… are you serious?”

“I believe we’ve made that clear by now,” Logan said, gesturing at his necktie.

“I—” Patton laughed slightly in shock.  “I don’t believe you.  You— you’re accusing me of—”

He stared at them all a second longer, and something in his chest pinched.

“You really are,” he said quietly.  “I don’t believe you.  Is that how little you think of me?”

That seemed to finally startle them.

“I… I’m sorry?” Logan asked.

“You really think I would treat Remus poorly just because I don’t like him?”

“You— you’ve done that in the past,” Logan said.

“Oh, so that means I learned nothing from your lecture about how trying to force Remus to stop doesn’t work?” Patton asked, and Logan’s eyes widened in surprise.

“And that was also when I thought Remus was dangerous,” Patton said.  “He tried to kill you onscreen, Logan.  How was I supposed to know that wouldn’t hurt you?  And now I’ve learned that Remus isn’t dangerous, and is just someone I don’t particularly like very much.  Am I not allowed to dislike someone without you all assuming I’m going to be cruel to them?”

He turned and looked around at everyone in turn, who all now looked thrown off guard.

“You know what else I’ve learned recently?” he said.  “I’ve learned that you all love spending time with Remus.  Virgil likes to watch horror movies and do spooky stuff with him, Logan likes to do science experiments and go down research rabbit holes with him, Roman finds it much easier and more fun to do his job if Remus is included, and Janus has loved Remus and has loved doing things with him for years.  Integrating him into all of our lives has made our lives better, and Thomas’ life better.  Why would I not be absolutely thrilled at the prospect of him coming over here and that trend continuing?”

Everyone was staring at him now, and Patton was trying to think of something else to say past the very sudden lump in his throat.

“I um,” he said, turning around to face the cookies.  “I think I need some time alone.”  He grabbed Remus’ plate of cookies and moved over to hand them to Janus.  “Here.  These are for Remus.  They’re his salt-sugar cookies.  I was going to give them to you to bring to him, and now they can be a welcoming present.  Please tell him I’m happy that he’s moving over here.”

He sank out to his room before anyone could say anything else, and locked his door for good measure.

…

“I really don’t want to talk to anyone right now, I’m sorry,” Patton called in response to the knock on his door.

“Well, unfortunately for you I’ve never cared about that,” called a voice from the hallway that wasn’t anyone from this morning.

Patton climbed up from his bed in surprise and walked over to the door, opening it to find Remus standing there.

“Hey Patty-cake,” Remus said, walking in without an invitation and sitting down on his bed.  “I heard what happened this morning.  Thanks for the cookies.”

“Um,” Patton said, sniffing and locking the door again after Remus.  “You’re welcome.”

He turned to face Remus and found him with a surprisingly serious look on his face.  “I’m sorry they did that,” he said.  “I would have stopped them if I knew they were going to.”

“It’s not your fault, Remus,” Patton said.

Remus didn’t say anything in response to that, but he did look curiously at Patton.  “Hey not that I give a shit Pat, but are you okay?”

“I mean,” Patton said, walking over to his bed and flopping down on his back next to Remus.  “It kind of hurts to know my family thinks that little of me.”

“Eh, they don’t think little of you,” Remus said, joining Patton in laying down.

“Yes they do,” Patton said.  “I just— I know I need to work on being more open-minded with things that make me uncomfortable.  That’s why I started doing it?  Did they just… not pay attention to that?”

“Who knows?” Remus said with a shrug.  “I don’t understand half of what you normies do.”

“Janus counts as a normie?” Patton asked with a curious look.

“Everyone’s a normie except for me,” Remus said with a grin.

Patton chuckled a little despite himself.

“Hey,” Remus said, and Patton glanced over.  “Trust me, when you let them talk to you again, they’ll be falling all over themselves with guilty apologies.”

Patton hummed in acknowledgement but didn’t say anything else.

After a minute, he looked over again.  “Hey, Remus?”

“Yeah?”

“If I ever did make you feel like I didn’t think you were worthy of taking up space, you’d tell me, right?”

Remus snorted.  “As if you could make me feel unworthy of space.  I own every space I’ve ever walked into.  And I’m not even Jeff Bozos.”

Patton wrinkled his nose.  “Ugh.”

Remus cackled.  “I know, right?  I hate him too.”

“I don’t hate anyone,” Patton said immediately.  “He’s just… not very nice.”

Remus cackled again.  “You’re priceless, you know that?”

Patton smiled at him a little.

“Yes, I’d tell you,” Remus said.  He grinned.  “Still don’t like you very much though.”

Patton bit his lip, but judging by Remus’ smile, he was okay to say his response.  “You’re not exactly my favorite side either, Remus,” he said, with a small smile of his own.

“And that’s okay,” Remus said, patting Patton’s shoulder firmly.  “We good?”

“Of course,” Patton said.  “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“And I never do.  Thanks for the cookies.  See ya!”

Remus gave a little mini-salute and sank out of his room, and Patton smiled as he went, realizing he felt a little better.

How about that?

#sanders sides #patton sanders #janus sanders #virgil sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #patton really is trying it's not his fault no one else can see it #this may or may not be because i deeply dislike the fandom's general interpretation of Patton right now #enjoy my sort of venty fic on the matter #my fic

[saintchaser]

good morning! today i want to talk about james potter.

(note: this is solely based on my interpretation of him, thr very same way other writers write james in their own way. this is the essay on how i see him, as a person, a writer, and someone who relates to him, and i am not implying that my characterization is better than someone else's; just my five cents on this!)

we're all aware of the general fandom consensus and characterization for him; sunshine boy, always willing to help everyone around him, never has any sort of problems and is often see through the prism of his relationships.

to start off with my last point, with him being seen and characterized through his relationships, i think it is tied to the fact that he, himself, sees himself that way. the relationships that he has with characters are often strong and intense, either like or dislike, and therefore, said relationships take a toll on him. he always surrounds himself with people, in order to not be alone with his thoughts, and have the time to see deep within him not what the world sees him to be, but what he really is, as imperfect as everyone else.

i also consider james to be the kind of person who runs away from his problems, and this is one of the fundamental differences that he and sirius have (while sirius confronts his problems — and the fact that he ran away from home is not running away from his problems, but actively confronting them. he ran away from home, his home life being a problem, which is exactly confronting it — meanwhile, james never confronts his problems because he's scared of the feelings that might be triggered in him in that case, he's scared of how deeply he feels things, and therefore he like busies himself with other people's feelings and other people's problems in order to not work on his own.).

this also plays into euphemia and fleamont's funeral. james was more focused on comforting the people around him about the death of his parents and not sitting down and thinking on his parents' death and allowing himself to grieve, because he was scared of the impact that it might have on him. (he had a son, and he had to be strong for him; which is also the tying himself to his relationship and putting other people above himself, his feelings, and his needs). after he did sit down on his problems, he started taking more missions and becoming more rash and being more reckless in general as a coping mechanism, which, in turn, hurt him.

moreover, him running away from his problems and helping other people instead of himself often times leaves him seeking something else in order to protect himself and to make himself forget everything he's thinking about; in some cases it may be quidditch, music, pranks, and, sometimes, more dsngerous things. he's a man of stability, in this regards, so therefore i don't thìnk he would do something as dangerous as to put the lives of himself and others in danger. (we see this with the prank; sirius is the one who takes rash decisions, james is the one who puts everything back together.).

james also suffers from savior complex. the criteria and definition for it is as follows "they only feel good about themselves when helping someone, believe helping others is their purpose, spend so much energy trying to fix others that they end up burning out", and "a savior complex, or white knight syndrome, describes this need to “save” people by fixing their problems". i see this more often than not played in jegulus fanfiction, but this behavior of his expands to other characters, too.

last but not least, and this is something i only see being talked about with sirius, respectively regulus, is the pressure put on one's shoulders to perform well when part of a circle of upper-class and talented people. his father invented multiple potions which significantly helped and improved the everyday lives of the wizarding world (i.e.: pepper-up). whether this pressure is put on by parents or yourself, the need to achieve as much as your parents did can both mess up the aspiring young person and burn them out. despite james being naturally talented, much like his parents, i feel like james definitely related to this pressure to perform.

so, in order to sum up; i believe that james potter, too, is a deeply complex and flawed individual, the very same way we believe of other characters to be. being a good person with a warm heart does not mean that one is always happy and that they are inherently a morally white character.

#wow this post was like a fucking. punch to the gut #never felt more exposed on tumblr!! :'))) #this is just my five cents so feel free to not believe me #this is why i'm a james kinnie #anyways i'm going to maths class and i wish i didn't have to but like it's my last day before my match exam so yeah #anyways i'm gonna shut up now and just like. add the tags #james potter #james potter meta #meta #my writing

[sleepy-shutin]

May I have context please?

if you're talking about that i just made about the fictive stuff, i saw a post on my dashboard earlier where someone was saying that fanart was weird and made them uncomfortable because they're a fictive and 'you don't know me'. someone else in the comments/reblogs of the post was agreeing with them, saying the art was cool but that it was still weird/made them uncomfortable.

it was a deeply weird and anti-recovery post that displayed people with entirely too strong and unhealthy attachments to their source material, and i didn't feel like going onto their post to directly shit on them for it or anything because people like that hate being told what they're saying and the way they think is maladaptive and unhealthy, so i made my own post saying this kind of behavior is weird.

i disliked that post for a lot of reasons, but the biggest one is that all too frequently these people are just dickheads to fans of a piece of media in general, for having interpretations different to how a fictive of a character behaves.

i've encountered people like this in the wild before in my own system spaces or even in fandom spaces, where someone tries to assert that their fictive is the authority on [insert character here] and that by drawing the character, you're drawing THEM specifically. there was one person i knew who kept attacking one particular person who liked to draw their self-insert character shipped with [character] and this guy who was a fictive host of a system kept yelling at them for it, because he [character] was *actually* a gay man, because he himself [fictive] was a gay man. he kept yelling at her about it and telling her how uncomfortable it made him to be shipped with a woman.

like, this kind of behavior is weird, unhealthy and deeply shitty. don't be that guy, man.

#ask #anon #syscourse #being a fictive does not make you any more of an authority #on a fictional character #than someone kinning a character lol

[alicedrawslesmis]

Yo Alice, I just wanted to let you know that I don’t see anything you post as highly negative or always complaining at all. I think basically everything you post/talk about is immensely insightful and merely just pointing out and discussing things you disagree with or dislike as opposed to whining about something saying every single part is bad and terrible and if you like or agree with any of it you’re a morally bad person (which is how a lot of peoples “insightful fandom analysis” is online). Like in your last post you literally said like “discuss this with me, I want to know if ppl have different opinions.”

I think you dare to think deeper about stories as opposed to just following along the fandom norms, and question the various biases that tend to influence fanon interpretations. I think you present everything in a constructive and actually informative way, where probably a lot of people see it and are like “oh wow i never thought about it that way, interesting. I’m glad they pointed this out.” Or adding more detailed information from the canon to the musical that also a lot of people may not know.

Anyways, I think you’re great and super cool and smart, and I actually look up to you a lot kinda, and just also deeply enjoy literary analysis. I think it’s so much more fun when people point out challenging things, and also hold it open for discussion rather than just shitting on other fans/fanon/canon.

💚 :)

Aww

Thank you so much. I do try to curate my posts this way because irl I tend to be more stubborn and like. Let's say mean? I do think I can be very mean about my opinions in real life. I try not to, but the impulsivity... I'll only realise it after the fact

I'm not saying I think I'm morally bad I just don't like to post things that sound like they're wallowing in negation. I don't think this spiral of talking only about things you dislike is a healthy way to be

Healthy is not the right word I'm looking for. This isn't about mental heath. I guess like. Ethical. It's weird to talk about ethics this way, but I think living in negation is in general Bad. Bad vibes.

but asdfghjkl I wanted to talk about Eponine because she's maybe my favorite character and it's weird because OMO is usually the song I skip. And I wanted to understand how this reality works in my head, why is Eponine so great but I don't like her parts of the musical? What's going on there! I want to understand!

But uh yeah if people have other opinions please tell me I want to know what people think. Obviously Eponine in the musical is one of the most beloved characters in musical theatre of all time. We have an entire self published novel where Eponine is a vampire queen written by a child that is maybe my favorite book of all time? I'm obviously in the minority here

[utilitycaster]

this is fully hitting the wasp's nest so if you don't post it, i get it but like...i wish more of fandom was open to interacting with the material as presented than forcing into their preferred narratives. I like imodna as a concept. I've been interested in it since c3e1 and I'm intrigued to see where it may or may not go. But I would absolutely rather read your takes after an episode than the imodna fans because you're not trying to force every character action so its fit a specific narrative

Hey anon!

I really appreciate this! I hope you don’t mind me using it as a jumping off point to talk about a lot of general fandom response thoughts that have been percolating for a while, but I do want to answer you specifically which is that I’m incredibly grateful you told me. I do this too! I like to follow people who have different favorite characters or ships but who are engaging thoughtfully with canon. I genuinely have a much, much better understanding of Veth, whom I always liked but often struggled to get, because over time I've followed a number of people for whom she was one of their favorites and who write good meta about her.

With that said, people can engage how they want! It’s entirely valid to interpret things through shipping goggles/only watch because you want two characters to kiss (and you can want them to kiss for no reason other than "it would be gay”), or to like or dislike characters based on surface details. It’s just that like…to me, meta based on canon, or talking about the narrative and themes is saying “this is what I see, and I’m explaining it to you in the hopes that you can understand what I see, even if you don’t see it the same way” and shipping goggle interpretations are, ultimately, preaching to the choir. Like, honestly, I was never terribly into it, but I gave Imodna a shot! It hasn’t delivered on anything that specifically interests me and I’m more invested in other relationships for them right now. I'm also still open to things happening in canon in the future that would change my mind. But I'm not personally interested in forcing them to be together at all costs. Honestly, even for things I really, really ship, I never feel that way, because in the end I'm more interested in watching a story.

This could be a whole treatise - honestly the starting point for a lot of these thoughts is that masters’ thesis on toxic fandom behaviors w/r/t shipping that went around - but I’ll keep it relatively short here and if anyone wants me to elaborate on anything here, they can ask.

Basically, as I said above, there are lots of different ways to engage with the text, and the vast majority are valid, but looking at the canon and writing about conclusions drawn from it, or even writing fic that is deeply based in canon and makes smart extrapolations from it, are a way to make your own feelings about the text accessible to others. Saying “I think Blorbo 1 and Blorbo 2 should kiss with tongue” is not. It’s just as genuine and valid to say! I take it in good faith that the speaker truly wants Blorbos 1 and 2 to kiss with tongue! But If I don’t already agree, it’s not going to convince me because it’s not an argument. And, to be honest, if that’s a really common fandom feeling, and I don’t particularly care for Blorbo 1 and Blorbo 2’s dynamic, I might write about the limitations I see in it from canon (on my own blog, to be clear, not as a reblog or anything obnoxious like that). And, if I do that, I don’t mind if someone looks at what I wrote, and says “anyway, I think Blorbo 1 and Blorbo 2 should kiss with tongue”, and continues along their way, and ignores or blocks me and finds like-minded people! I only mind if they start directly engaging with me with the intent of convincing me, without putting in the effort to provide arguments tailored specifically to me. And even then…does it matter if I don’t want Blorbo 1 and Blorbo 2 to kiss with tongue? I don’t have any more control over this happening or not happening in canon than you do.

I think there are two big reasons why discourse can get so fraught and vicious. The first is that  I think a lot of people who aren’t writing in terms of narrative, canon, and argument have very personal feelings about characters, which is good and valid! But they then see a dislike of that character as a dislike of them, which isn’t actually true, both because what makes a good character or interesting ship is not the same as what makes a good real-world person or healthy relationship (insert Anna Karenina line here); and because one person’s dislike of a character can be for different reasons than why someone else relates to the character (eg: the reasons I didn’t vibe with Molly were because he was often flaky and manipulative. If you relate to Molly but it’s because you’re genderfluid and do circus acrobatics and tarot readings, then our feelings are not in contradiction; we’re just responding to different things about him). I also think some people see a preference for one character over another, even if the person expressing the preference likes both characters, as an attack on their favorite. That, to be honest, is just really stupid and they should work through that.

The second, and this is where this does get more judgmental, is that I think that sometimes, people who are responding to surface things or relatability attempt to make arguments that inappropriately co-opt the language of social justice (not that it’s inappropriate to use social justice language when apt in fandom, but like…keep it systemic and about patterns), or which are inconsistent. To use an example, during Campaign 2, I remember receiving two different anons, one in which someone basically said “funny how Essek is granted the grace that Astrid never is; fandoms hate women”; and one in which someone said “funny how Astrid is granted the grace that Essek never is; fandoms hate characters of color”, and the real answer is that Astrid and Essek are very similar but do have key differences and if the criticisms of Astrid or Essek are rooted in misogyny or racism, respectively, then that’s worth pointing out, but I think it’s really unhealthy and unkind to assume people don’t like something because they’re bigoted (and indeed, this demonstrates a no-win situation with two characters each of whom is a member of an oppressed group, so that no matter whom people prefer you can always make this accusation, which means it’s meaningless without evidence.) And, if someone says in your inbox “well I don’t like Essek because he’s a wizard who is interested in power”, then it is valid to say “ok, well, then why are you arguing that I should like Astrid, a wizard who is interested in power?” because you’re pointing out the flaws in their argument. (sidebar: I, personally, like both Essek and Astrid. This is purely for illustrative purposes.)

Anyway I think the conclusion to be made is like, everyone may like what they like, but if it’s important to you that other people like what you like, you need to put in the work, and also, it’s worth examining why this is important to you...but it's that kind of thinking that makes people insist on certain narratives rather than just watching the show, because they are trying to prove themselves right rather than providing predictions and opinions, sitting back, and seeing if they come to pass.

#answered #Anonymous #cr discourse #more in the sense that it is discourse on the discourse #long post #i am going for the vibe of that bourdain post I just reblogged tbh #on fandom

[anghraine]

Hey, maybe you have spoken on this somewhere, and I just missed it, so if so my apologies, but I would love to know why exactly you dont like 1995 p and p, my family and I have always loved it

I've talked about it many times over the years, but only a little lately, which may be how you missed it since I can be fairly tedious on this point. There are so many different things I dislike about it that it can be difficult to summarize (though I particularly dislike its approach to Darcy).

To attempt it, though:

Taken on its own terms, the 1995 P&P is quite good TV and a good period drama. Taken as an adaptation of Austen's P&P, I think it combines a superficial appearance of fidelity with variously caricatured, over-simplified, or simply bad interpretations of the characters and relationships. This is so consistent across the entire production with the exception of Jennifer Ehle's Elizabeth—who I don't love as Elizabeth but who doesn't seem treated with quite so heavy a hand—that I don't see this as an acting issue, but more of the vision of the creators which is executed quite well by the actors, but which I dislike.

For instance, Benjamin Whitrow's Mr Bennet is well-acted in terms of what I think they wanted him to be, it's a good performance, but also, a lot of the bite of Austen's approach to him is minimized (all the more by contrast to the very OTT Mrs Bennet).

So when I say that I hate Colin Firth's Darcy in particular, it's not that I think CF does a bad job as an actor (though I do think he was miscast for other reasons), it's that I think the production's fundamental approach to the character is ill-conceived and that carries over into writing, direction, framing, all kinds of things. Even when I first watched it as a teenager and liked a lot of it, the presentation of Darcy always bugged me. I don't like the treatment of the Darcy-Elizabeth dynamic at Netherfield, I don't like how they handle his letter, I don't like the wet shirt scene, I don't like the general humorless oversexualized brooding.

On top of that, the fact that its very specific interpretations are often regarded so completely uncritically makes it difficult to be impartial. You get things like Elizabeth's lines about marrying for love and joking about ending up a spinster—a moment invented by the 1995 P&P and not necessarily true of Austen's character, but re-created over and over in subsequent adaptations because of the 1995's enormous influence on perception of what P&P is. As a consequence, it can be intensely frustrating for those of us who disagree with its interpretations and dislike the P&P 1995-inflected fanon that permeates Austen fandom, because we can't get away from it.

I got into Austen fandom just a couple of years before the 2005 came out and so many 1995 fans were so offended that anyone would ever make another version of P&P because most of the fandom took it as an article of faith that Austen's vision had been perfectly distilled and represented in the 1995, and that everyone agreed with them. Even before the 2005, that utterly uncritical perspective on the 1995 was so inescapable that it was deeply aggravating for me as a fan of the book who didn't much like Andrew Davies's whole deal and would only dislike it more with time.

So I'm not pretending to be unbiased, but I truly believe it is very flawed as an adaptation of the novel, that its portrayal of Darcy is especially flawed, and that the issues in Davies's approach to Austen, which would become more glaring in his later Austen adaptations, are already present in the 1995 P&P and it's far from the one true version of P&P that so many of its fans present it as.

#being a teenage lesbian darcy fan in 2003 with EVERYONE reducing interest in him to het women loving 34-y-o colin firth #when i passionately hated the 1995 and especially hated the wet shirt scene #was one of my formative fandom experiences #getting corrected on ff.net because i didn't go with 1995-based fanon was also part of it! #so yeah i am not at all unbiased but i do genuinely dislike a lot of it #eamonorus blog #respuestas #austen fanwank #austen blogging #anghraine rants #andrew davies critical #lady anne blogging #every time i see posts having meltdowns about rop specifically for doing things differently than our lord and savior peter jackson #not even that differently! just sort of differently! #i just. flash back to 2005 lol #long post

[latibvles]

ok well i am extremely curious now—what’s the notp ship?

... I will bite this time, my dear secret friend.

I'm really not too crazy about Speirton.

I have a bit to say on this topic so I'll throw in a read more link

Now don't get me wrong — I do get why people ship it! I really do. However I think my general indifference towards the ship mostly stems from the way it's written, which in turn ties back to how I (to no one's surprise) have a very specific idea of Ron in my head that really only a handful of fic writers/friends of mine share. So it's not that I dislike the ship entirely but more that I don't like how it's commonly written and thus I really may only read it to support friends of mine. I'm not actively going out of my way to read fic of it.

For me, personally, I'm not especially partial to the "automaton Ron" interpretation that a lot of people have of his character. So many people view him as this bloodthirsty, innately violent, emotionally inept robot of a man — and in turn Lipton feels less like an individual and more like Ron's "leash" and his handler. We make jokes about the "Look at me! This isn't the ___ we all know and love!" 'I can fix him' trope — but in my experience, Speirton falls into this trap continuously.

It does a great disservice to Lipton, too. I had a conversation with a friend a few weeks ago about how fandom tends to not let Eugene Roe get mad despite him Getting Mad In The Show and honestly I think Lipton falls into a similar category. Yes, Lipton is a great leader and a pillar of support and loves Easy Company deeply, but he's not their babysitter. And I just... really don't like how Lipton is consistently characterized to be Ron's babysitter in a way.

Back to Ron — Ron cares about people. Ron is not this emotionally inept rock of a man who doesn't know how to express his own affections in his own way. Ron can keep a lid on his temper. These are all things that we've seen and have been shown.

My biggest pet peeve, which is not exclusive to just Speirton but any relationship with Ron (be it x reader, OC, or otherwise), is when people depict Ron as someone who is just completely out of control. That he just snaps and resorts to violence or killing or what-have-you because he can, and not because it's the direct solution to a problem. Ron has an acute understanding of military hierarchy and the advantages of rank, yes. Ron has resorted to violence and doesn't hesitate to enact it when necessary, yes. Ron isn't just this bloodthirsty GI who solves every single problem with violence.

I'm just overall not here for the "oh that crazy angry goober Ron and his lovely Lipton the only one who understands him !!" except there is no /j because they're being 100% serious.

There really isn't any ship that I feel like... especially strong contempt for (too much energy for that and I am a college student I got bigger fish to fry than pouring energy into hating a ship on the internet) but you just... won't catch me going out of my way to read Speirton fics unless it's to show support to my pals, in similar vein to how I may not go out of my way to read work for fandoms I'm not apart of — but if my friends post it I'll read it because I enjoy their writing.

So I guess it's more accurate to say I don't like the tropes that Speirton commonly displays.

#poet’s secret friends #poet’s mail box #not gna tag the ship bc that's mean #but also I meaaaan other Ron ships need more love #like hello ?? Ron and chuck ?? #I also saw Ron/Liebgott once which . yes please #RON AND NIX ??????!!!!!!! #good shit right there #I was gna write some Ron/Nix/Daisy once but got lazy #~*the more you know*~

[spaceorphan18]

SO’s Cup of Sunday Tea

Just a list of my thoughts that I often find myself repeating, so I’m gathering them in one big list that I should probably pin.  

1. Blaine does not commit assault.  Blaine’s a character who would end up hurting himself before he hurt anyone else.  If you think the car scene is assault then you either have some deep rooted issues relating to assault (which is fair - but I hope you’re taking care of your mental health) or you want a reason to dislike Blaine.  

2. Every character who had a romantic partner (except maybe Beiste) cheated.  That’s how Glee writes its romantic couples.  The show is in a hyperreality, and while it leads to some interesting discussions about fidelity and how the show portrays relationships -- the show does not adhere to the rules of reality, and we shouldn’t judge it as such.  

3. Kurt loves Blaine.  It’s canon.  Kurt made his choice.  The end. 

Blaine doesn’t love Kurt more than Kurt loves him.  They have very different styles of showing affection and presenting their love.  And Kurt deeply loves Blaine.  

4. Blaine loves Kurt. It’s canon. Blaine made his choice.  The end.  

5. Blame the writers, not the characters.  This show was heavily unevenly written.  It’s not a character’s fault that they’re written badly. 

6. Liking one ship, character, etc does not mean another ship, character is bad.  It’s not a competition.  There isn’t one true couple, character, etc.  People are going to gravitate to different things.  Like what you like, and don’t worry if someone likes something else.  It’s not a judgment on you for liking the thing. 

7. The show was definitely a product of its time.  It’s racist, biphobic, fatphobic, and just generally mean in a lot of ways.  There’s nothing wrong with calling that out. 

7.B That doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the good parts of the show, the parts that helped people in their lives, and the parts that were meaningful and hold value to someone.  

8. At the end of the day, it’s fiction.  Canon is canon.  But if you want to write your AU where Blaine and Santana get married and raise a farm of squids to partake in BDSM - then you can totally do that.  

Fiction is always going to be interpreted through the prism of our own experiences, and no two people are going to experience it the same way.  Let’s respect that.  

9. Chris Colfer isn’t more or less anything in Season 5 than anyone else.  There’s a lot that goes into making a TV show.  A lot of the cast and crew were tired by Season 5 -- after a grueling first few years and the death of their friend.  On top of that, there’s more than an actor’s performance that goes into a TV show -- the production plays a big part.  Writing, directing, editing, and the Network play a big role.  Let’s stop blaming Chris (or glorifying him) for what you may or may not like about Season 5.

10. The actors are people with complex lives that we are mostly not privy to.  Some of them aren’t that great.  Some of them are wonderful.  At the end of the day, though, we don’t know the relationships they have with each other beyond what they show us.  Let’s not judge them based on gossip and rumors.  And your fav will probably screw up at some point.  That’s how it works.  

*

At the end of the day, we’re still in this fandom because we love something about it. Let’s respect each other.   And if you find you don’t or can’t -- maybe it’s time for you to move on.  

#that's how s.o. sees it #ooff i wonder if i should turn off asks after this #don't send wank - i won't respond to it

[literateleah]

the paradox of emily prentiss’ audience perception and character design

some of y’all about to be real mad at me, but it must be said:

emily prentiss’ character design makes no sense: my personal opinion + an objective analysis

i think it can be challenging to separate the versions of characters we have in our little brains from actual canon content, but doing so is important for understanding what those characters are truly like, especially within the context of their environment and in contrast to others around them. plus developing a deeper understanding of the media we consume is super fun and interesting! with that being said: emily prentiss should not work for the fbi and here’s why (in three parts regarding who’s responsible: cbs, paget, and fans) (sit down and grab a snack i promise this is over 3k words)

quick disclaimer: i don’t dislike emily at all! that’s my girl, i just looked closer and realized some funky things the writers did and felt the need to analyze her of course: so let’s get into it

part one: what cbs did

cbs set the stage for emily’s introduction on the heels of the departure of lola glaudini as elle greenaway! lola has clarified that she decided to leave the show because filming in los angeles was not the best environment for her personally, and after one successful season on a major network (but not much established long term plot or drama beyond elle’s departure as a character) a consistent ensemble cast was required- particularly because the bau had been criticized for being predominantly male in the first few episodes of the show and not much development was given to penelope or jj yet. enter emily prentiss.

for the duration of seasons 2-3ish, emily was framed as a chip off the block that was elle greenaway, just slightly…richer? in her first few episodes emily was hesitantly polite but ambitious, clean cut, intellectually concise and held her own within the team. she seemed equal parts intimidated and frustrated by her male superiors (gideon, hotch) but certainly proves herself among other profilers. her childhood was explored only within reference to her strained relationship with her mother (which was only ever referenced once more after the fact) and we received a short overview of her educational and career history in her first few episodes. emily fit right into the hole elle had left, and didn’t have many major storylines yet.

seasons 4-6 brought a bit more development and depth to emily’s character! she begins dropping more snarky remarks, one liners, and socially deepening her relationships with the other team members. this seems more within the lines of elle’s design, but emily arguably took more time to grow into her place within the team. during the foyet arc she was vulnerable and supportive, and the doyle arc gave her some independence and agency she didn’t have previously. this era also solidified her appearance and persona as more edgy, which falls in line with general fanon perception of her character (especially when compared to jj or penelope). i can’t address this era or season 7 without mentioning that cbs was actively trying to remove paget from the cast, similar to how they did to aj cook as well. paget has spoken about this instance before, and i believe it slightly affected her portrayal of her character, and “lauren” was somewhat of a goodbye for both paget and emily (thus why she wished for mgg to direct since they were best friends).

season 7: in my opinion, one of the best seasons for emily. she was wisened and deeply wounded by her experiences with doyle, which was understandable of course. she returned to the team she loved and learned to appreciate life in a different way, remaining mature during this time period as well! though her departure was a bit less than graceful and sudden at the end of this season, it made sense compared to some other exits the team had seen.

now *sigh* all the rest.

paget as emily appears in two separate guest appearances (once in s9 and once in s11, and she is referenced offscreen as well) before permanently reprising her role as unit chief of the bau. these appearances were most likely to boost ratings and get the team back together (i.e. 200) or just to pepper in international cases (tribute). emily’s personality remains pretty consistent here, just more mature and comfortable in leadership positions (seeing as she is running an entire branch of an international law enforcement organization). then season 12 hit.

upon the departure of thomas gibson as hotch, cbs reached out to paget to see if she would be interested in fulfilling her role as emily within a longer term unit chief position. i’ll get into why this is wack in a few paragraphs, but the remainder of her time on the show is spent on a mature portrayal that seems very distant from her previous versions. emily is more authoritative, gives orders with ease, and has no qualms about leading a team of agents or even receiving promotion offers as director of the entire bureau.

thus concludes a general summary of the canon content cbs gave us as viewers. now let's talk about what they didn’t give us, regrettably

the primary aspect of emily’s design that comes to mind for many is her queer coding. though not much was to be expected from cbs, a prime time cable tv network, each of her relationships on the show (all with men) seemed oddly forced, and without much chemistry as compared to the SOs of other main characters. rumors of scrapped plotlines have floated around about what may have been, but the ultimate lack of acknowledgement of any queer characters in the main ensemble still leaves a feeling of disappointment to audiences, and leaves more to be desired as for how emily navigates social bonds.

part two (sidebar): what paget did

i think it could be agreed within audiences that paget brewster’s portrayal of emily made the role what it was! her dry witty delivery and emotional prowess combined with sitcom acting experience made her performance a mainstay for years. i think she did the best she could with a confusing and at times flat characterization, and brought the role to life.

paget also heavily contributes to fanon indirectly with her comments outside of the show (press, cameos, twitter etc). her general continued interest and fondness for the role post production affects fan perception, particularly in what she chooses to elevate and comment on. she and aj have both spoken about viewing jemily content, and paget and thomas have both also commented on hotchniss. most cast members feel free to comment on their characters in the appropriate timing, and seem open to discussing fanon ships and theories outside of canon!

part three: what fanon did

as we can tell from this fan space as well as the presence on insta, tik tok and twitter, fans LATCHED onto emily super quickly. she’s remained a favorite over the years, and this fan persistence is what brought her back so many times after leaving (so many times). in my opinion, queer coding and a bolder female trope (in contrast to her female counterparts) are the main pulls because they resonated with so many fans- new and old. with that being said, newer fans of the show in the past year in particular have been heavily influential in fanon, solely because of the large influx of fan content and popularity of it.

fan content began to take coding and bite size moments and snippets from the show as canon, and cemented it into much of the content and discourse they created. these small pieces of emily’s character are significant, but have become magnified by how easily they are to share and edit. for example, a collection of catchy one liners from emily over the seasons makes for a great video edit intro, or gifset! there’s absolutely no problem with this content, it just all combines to create a certain fanon perception no character escapes (this isn’t a phenomenon limited to emily or the cm fandom!)

these droves of content also solidified emily’s personality as much more defined, but at the same time, simplified it in a way that’s slightly harder to explain.

fanon: more emo/goth than canon basis

fanon: more introverted/anti social than canon basis

fanon: more violent/chaotic when canon emily is relatively well mannered and doesn’t start many conflicts (particularly in the workspace)

fanon: much less maternal when canon emily displays desire on multiple occasions (even crossing professional borders) for children, particularly teenage girls (possibly projection)

(again, nothing wrong with this interpretation at all and it still varies! This is just a generalization based on most of the popular content i have seen)

part 4: why it doesn’t work

let me start with this: emily prentiss does not like her job.

we don’t receive much in depth information about emily’s internal feelings and thoughts towards her mother beyond resentment. this stems from wanting to make it on her own, as a professional and as an individual (cough cough college deposits). this makes emily’s insistence on proving herself to authority figures in her earlier seasons is interesting to watch in different circumstances. she cites her experience and denies help from her mother when justifying her placement in the bau to hotch, she is extra vigilant about being helpful on her first case with gideon, etc. nevertheless, emily forges her own path outside of diplomacy and becomes a successful profiler and agent, with the help of her privilege, wealth and name whether she likes it or not. but if we read between the lines and fill in the blanks cbs neglected, these ambitions may subconsciously be oriented towards pleasing her mother.

example one: emily’s authority issues go further than just “rebellion” or “anarchy”, she frequently questions the ethics and sustainability of the work that the bau does. every team member does this, but emily much more so than anybody else.

in “amplification”, emily almost breaks federal protocol to inform civilians of anthrax threats. she butts heads with both hotch and rossi on this front, and ends the episode with having a conversation with rossi about the ethics of lying in their line of work. emily resigns to a solemn “it be like that” and moves along, accepting this reality.

on multiple different occasions emily laments to derek about the darkness she sees on the job, and it’s shown that this gets to her quickly on particularly bad cases. this is another contradiction of the design that she can supposedly “compartmentalize” better than others on the team, when she cannot unless the lives of others are at risk (doyle arc, s7 finale).

emily also responds in this way to many cases involving children, a similarity to jj many don’t notice upon first watching the series. “seven seconds” and “children of the dark” come to mind, during the latter in which emily is prepared to cross multiple professional lines to adopt a teenage girl left orphaned by the case, until hotch stops her and establishes that her emotions can’t rule her judgement on the job. regardless of hotch’s thoughts about her attempted caretaking abilities, these actions and impulses deeply contradict the typical bureaucratic pathways of the work the bau does.

the looming reputation of her mother’s diplomatic history hangs over emily, and after going to law school and working for the cia, she most likely did want to forge her own path as far away from being a socialite: being a spy. her inner nature doesn’t always reflect this profession, and leads me to believe that with her knowledge of psychology, law procedure and care for children: emily prentiss might be more inclined to working in social work, placing suffering children and teenagers in homes they deserve.

and finally, the hill i will die on: emily prentiss was an bad unit chief

this wonderful post touches on my general sentiment, but there were many reasons as to why emily prentiss’ career arc makes little to no sense (plot holes included).

first: her background. emily attended chesapeake bay university as well as yale and achieved a ba in criminal justice. keep in mind that though timelines evidently don’t exist in the cm universe, emily prentiss is ONE YEAR older than aaron hotchner (for context). in her first episode, she professes that she has worked for the bureau for a little under ten years in midwestern offices- something the audience laters knows to not be true. emily worked with the cia and interpol as a part of a profiling team and undercover agent up until roughly TWO YEARS before her canon introduction. plot holes and time gaps aside, this makes me wonder, why didn’t she just say the cia was a backstop without revealing the highly confidential nature of her work with doyle (similar to jj’s state department backstop and cover story)? penelope or hotch could have easily accessed her file and seen that she did not in fact have experience with the bureau in midwestern offices recently, and given the fact that erin strauss set up her bau placement, i’m presuming these formalities or references were overlooked.

second: her experience within the team. emily worked as a part of the bau with the bureau for roughly 6 or 7 years. after this, she is invited to run the entire london branch of interpol, one of the most renowned international law enforcement organizations. i’m surely not the most knowledgeable on requirements or standard timelines for such matters, but with the fact that emily had never led a team in her life (not in the bau or interpol previously) and had roughly 10 years of field experience, i don’t believe she would have ever realistically been considered eligible to run the whole london department.

third: her return to the bureau. fanon depiction of their relationship aside, if you believe aaron hotchner’s last wish before going into witsec was to entrust his team to emily prentiss, you’re dead mistaken. bringing emily back was clearly a pull for ratings after the loss of two main characters (hotch and derek), but logistically a bad decision. let’s suppose emily has had 4 or 5 years of experience in london now, this established authority position would be unlikely to change at the drop of a hat, even for old teammates or friends. also considering how close they were after a decade of working closely in bureaucratic and field contexts, i firmly believe hotch would have referred jj for the job of unit chief but that’s another discussion for another time.

emily’s reign as unit chief is odd, because of the many chaotic storylines crammed into it. but amidst bad writing and viewings plummeting, emily’s character is completely flattened. completely. emily is unrecognizable, both in appearance (that god awful wig) and personality. at times she acts as a complete wise authority, giving orders and delegating local authorities as hotch did. but at other times she makes multiple illegal, emotional, and incorrect judgement calls based on personal circumstances that lead to further chaos (deleting the recording of her and reid’s mexico conversation and reprimanding luke in “luke” for the exact same thing she did in season 6 even though she enabled her to do so come to mind).

i’m not sure if this is due to paget trying to find her footing in the role again, or the writer’s bad decisions towards the end of the show wrecking any previous design for their ensemble. then, there’s the infamous “wheels up” scene in s13e1. notoriously cringey, this seems like a vague caricature of something rossi would say many years in the past (the same goes for her pep talk in “red light” in the hunt for diana reid). these moments are meant to mature emily in the audience’s eye, but instead completely removed her from who we understood her to be, and made her an unreliable leader.

part five: and why it does

in theory, emily was a bolder foil to jj, similar to elle who she arguably replaced at first. she came into her own, and stands as a more uniquely developed character than almost any other in the main ensemble. she isn’t as maternal or domestically inspiring as canon jj, less bright and sunny than penelope, not quite as stoic or intimidating as derek or hotch. And yet at the same time, she’s a fairly blank slate. stripping fanon content away entirely, canon emily has few defining traits (all of which are constantly changing), and that may be the key to why we love her so much.

#long post #emily prentiss #ITS HERE #and its a doozy #read if you'd like #leah writes #if there's typos i apologize #this was a fever dream

[filipinoizukuu]

I saw your post about the FA's translations, and I totally agree. Sometimes, when they do not translate accurately, is to make it sound better or cooler in English, but it just ends up taking away a lot from the context and characters. We know how one of the most affected character interpretations is Katsuki's, a main character, no less. And Izuku and Katsuki's relationship too, which is something super super wrong, considering is deeply intertwined with the main plot of the series, thus if someone misinterpreted their dynamic, this person would miss a bigass chunk of the message the story has.

Here is the panel you mentioned before btw

I remember when I read this, only 10 or 11 chapters into the manga (?), and I was like "...I'm...pretty sure this guy didn't say that" khshsjdhs

OK FIRST OF ALL LMAO HELLO MANG!! THANK YOU SO MUCH AND DW ABOUT IT I TOTALLY GET WHAT YOU MEAN !!

(this is your warning for a long post ahead!)

In any case, I still think you're very correct on this! Not to ramble a bit, but Horikoshi's particular talent in developing the plot of MHA is actually very very brilliant and there are a lot of blink-and-you'll-miss-it details that together, assemble the big picture of what MHA is.

Translations are such an integral part of being able to understand foreign media. MHA or otherwise. The simplest of details say a lot about a character and often times make or break a series because everyone knows that strong character dynamics are what carry even the shittiest of plots.

First and foremost, I want to clarify that because of the nature of fan translations and the fact that most of it is volunteer work/ written out of pure enjoyment of the manga--we shouldn't judge these fan translators too harshly (if at all) for interpreting it the way they want to. FA, as far as I can tell, is a fan-based group that works out of donations.

The first thing I wanna bring up is that when it comes to fandom and its works, there are two types: Curatorial and Transformative. Now, the transformative part is something that must be very familiar to a lot of you. Fanfiction, fanart, and most headcanons fall under Transformative Works (i.e. AO3) because they are all about transforming the canon world to fit each individual's personal preferences. Meta-analysis posts and Character Breakdowns are also classified under this.

Curatorial on the other hand are fandom interactions made with the explicit purpose of being as close to canon material as possible. This is working out the logic of quirks, for example, or memorizing as much canon content about your favorite villain as possible. These are more cold, hard undeniable facts that lend themselves to the DIRECT VISION the creator/author had while making this media. If you were to ask me my opinion on this, this would be the moment where I tell you that the Curatorial side of fandom is where fan translations should (for the most part) fall under.

What people need to know though is that oftentimes, fan translations do not.

Translating isn't and has never been a one-is-to-one process. There are hundreds of thousands of aspects in a language that make it so that it isn't perfectly translatable. Colloquialisms to sayings to dialects, to just plain-out words that don't have a proper English translation to them! Manga is made by and for a Japanese audience, so obviously in a lot of instances, there will be cultural nuances that will not be understood by anyone who hasn't immersed themselves in Japanese culture/language.

So what does this mean then for fan scanlations?

It means that a vast majority of translators teach themselves to only get the essence of the message. They take the dialogue as they understand it and translate it to something of their interpretation. When language and cultural barriers exist, translators do what they can in order to make it understandable to the general populace. This means making their own executive decisions on how they see a character speaking. In example, if they see Todoroki using very direct and impersonal Japanese--one translator might interpret it to mean that Shouto is stiff and overly formal, while another may see it as him being rude and aloof.

The problem is, translators are fans just like us.

Like with the image Mang posted above, the translator based the usage of curse words off of their understanding of Bakugou's character. The lack of foul language in the original Japanese might have made the translator think "Oh. There just aren't enough Japanese cusses for his character." And took that as an initiative to make Bakugou's lines more colorful and violent because this was working off of the image Bakugou had had at this point in canon.

But Codi! You may cry. Wasn't it proven multiple times that Bakugou prefers concise and short lines? They should've known better!

Yes. Maybe they should've known better. But tell me honestly in your first watch-through of MHA, did you perfectly understand Bakugou's character either? Did you catch the whole 'direct and no flowery language' aspect of his language when you first saw Season 2?

Most people don't. I only really understood this fact after I'd read multiple discussions of it and even double-checked the manga myself. These are the kinds of things that only become noticeable with a sharp eye and some time to scrutiny. But the fact of the matter is that when it comes to fan translations, the clout and recognition are always going to go to who can post the quickest.

Am I excusing erroneous translations? A bit, I guess. It's hard for us to go in and expect translators to catch all these errors before release when we ourselves only catch these errors like 4 months in with a hundred times more canon context than these scanlation groups did at the time of its release.

Still, there are plenty of harms that come with faulty translations.

When a translation is more divorced from the original's meaning than usual, it creates a dissonance between what is actually happening versus what the audience sees is happening. This looks like decently-written character arcs being overruled and rejected by most of the readers because of how 'jarring' and 'clumsy' it seems. By the time translators had caught on to the fact that Bakugou was more than just a ticking time bomb, we were already several steps into showing how significantly he cares for Deku.

The characters affected most by these translation errors are often those with the most subtle and well-written character arcs. A single mistake in how the source material is translated can make or break the international reception of a certain character to everyone who isn't invested enough in them to look deeper into the canon source.

It creates hiccups in plots. Things that seem out of character but really aren't. Going back to MHA in specific, the way that inaccurate translations hurt both the 'curatorial' and 'transformative' parts of the fandom is that people have begun to cite them as proof of the main cast's characterization.

Bakugou and Todoroki are undeniably some of the biggest examples of mistranslation injustices.

Katsuki, in a lot of people's minds, has yet to break out of the 'overly-aggressive rival' archetype box that people had been placing him in since Season 1. One of the most amazing aspects and biggest downfalls of Hori's writing was that at first, nearly every character fit into a very neat stereotype for Shonen Animes (Deku being the talking-no-jutsu sunshine MC, Uraraka being the overly bubbly main girl, Todoroki being the aloof and formal rival). He made the audience make assumptions about everyone's characters and then pulled the rug beneath our feet when he revealed deeper sides of them to play around within canon.

What made this part about Horikoshi's set-up so good though were the many clues we were given from the very beginning that these characters were more than what they acted like. Even from the very first chapters, for example, we learn that Katsuki (as much as he acts like a delinquent) dislikes smoking because it could get him in trouble.

That is just a single instance of MHA's use of dialogue to subtly divert our expectations of a character.

Another example is when they replaced 318's dialogue of the Second User saying that Katsuki "completes" Deku with him saying that Katsuki merely "bolsters" him. This presents a different situation, as that line was meant to reinforce the importance of those two's relationship as well as complete the character foils that MHA is partially centered around. By downplaying their developed connection, it becomes harder for the MHA manga scanlations to justify any future significance these two's words have on each other without mottling the pacing of the story.

AKA, it butchers the plot.

With every new volume, there are dozens and dozens more of these hints and bits scattered around! So many cues and subtle foreshadowing at the trajectory of everyone's character arcs--yet mistranslations or inaccurate scans make it so that we don't notice them. This is what I mean when I said that some character arcs are being done great injustices.

Until now, many people can't accept that Katsuki Bakugou cares for anyone other than himself (much less his rival and MC, Izuku Midoriya), nor can they accept that Todoroki would ever willingly work by Endeavor's side. The bottom-line then becomes that because of people missing heavy bits of characterization that become very plot-significant in the future.

When it comes to the point where people can no longer accept or fit their interpretation of the earlier manga events to what is happening in canon, the point of a translation fails completely because it has lead people to follow an entirely different story.

TL;DR - Fan scans are hard. Translating is hard. Don't get too mad at fan translations, but also maybe don't treat them as the catch-all for how characters truly operate. Thanks.

Side note: DO NOT harass FA for any of these things. FA is actually a pretty legit and okay source for scans (they've been operating since like 2014 ffs), but regardless of that they still don't deserve to get flack for their work. You can have any opinion or perspective of canon that you want, I don't care. These are just my two (more like two million tbh) cents on translations. I suggest reading takes from actual Japanese audiences tbh if you wanna know more about the source material of MHA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#IM SO SORRY MANG I RLLY WENT ON A RAMBLE FOR THIS #asks #mang #bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia

[fedonciadale]

Hi there! I'm a SanSan shipper who messaged you once before, and you were very kind in your response. I hope you won't mind me messaging you again about something I see often in your reblogs about SanSan (I'm not saying it's something you've personally said, just something I see a LOT): namely, that all the shippers are really just Hound stans in disguise who don't care about (or worse, hate) Sansa and just want her as a trophy for our fave. This is categorically untrue.

There may be some vocal shippers to whom this applies, but it most certainly doesn't apply to all or even most of us. Many of us actually prefer Sansa over Sandor (I would know, being one of those shippers). Even many SanSans who love Sandor the most also genuinely love Sansa too! One character in a ship being your FAVE doesn't mean you can't truly care about the other character too.

I don't know where this idea came from that all SanSan shippers hate Sansa, and why it's become so accepted as a fact among Jonsas (I don't say "Jonsas"  in a hostile way, as I enjoy shipping Sansa with Jon too), but it's way off the mark. So many of us love Sansa, and it bothers me to see us accused of hating her by other Sansa fans, just because we ship her with a character you don't like, or because we foresee a different endgame for her than you do.

I know Sandor is an awful person; I know the ship is deeply problematic. But I still love him as a character and still enjoy shipping Sansa with him, because it's fiction. Jaime and Theon are (were, in the latter's case) also awful people with a history of treating women terribly, yet strangely I've never seen the Jonsa fandom accuse Jaimsa and Theonsa shippers of secretly hating Sansa and only wanting to punish her and "get her out of the way for their real faves." I also love a QITN endgame for Sansa, but I think she could be happy living a quiet life in a small holdfast outside of the North, too. Many SanSan shippers feel the same. You don't have to agree with us, you don't have to understand why we like the pairing, but us shipping Sansa with someone /you/ dislike, or envisioning a different endgame for her than /you/ do, doesn't mean we hate her or that we're not "true" Sansa fans like you are. It just means we see her differently.

I know it won't happen (the vitriol against SanSan shippers in this part of the fandom is too great), but I would really love to see an end to this attitude that anyone who doesn't ship Sansa with a very short list of preapproved characters, or anyone who sees an endgame for her other than QITN, is just a lying Sansabut who really HATES Sansa and wants to punish her. It's unfair and inaccurate.

Sansa, just like everyone and everything else in the series, is open to interpretation and to being enjoyed in different ways and for different reasons. No part of the Sansa fandom has a monopoly on loving her and being the only true fans.

(I would also like to acknowledge that I do know the negative stereotypes go both ways. SanSan may be my OTP, but I like Jonsa too, and I have definitely messaged one or two SanSans about inaccurate statements they've made about Jonsa shippers).

Hi there!

I agree with you in principle that we probably shouldn’t generalize all shippers of a certain ship, because obviously we don’t know these persons and their reasons for shipping.

For my answer I would like to differentiate, to explain better how this idea came about and maybe explain to you why Jonsa shippers might come to the conclusion that SanSan shippers do not care much about Sansa. Under the cut for length

a) There is shipping: Someone sees two people and thinks: What an interesting dynamic, I want to explore how these two people could work together. Shipping is not necessarily about ‘nice’ ships. People are allowed to write and read what they want. They can explore toxic ships if only for the reason to write a creepy story. I don’t know their reasons and as far as I am concerned, you can ship about everything as long as you tag accordingly and as long as you do not mix up ‘fluffy’ and ‘toxic’. On the other hand, while anyone can ship what they want, others must be allowed to dislike a ship. Anti tags exist for a reason. Fics and art for shipping in this sense can be from very AU to very closely to canon, sometimes characters are almost unrecognizable. It’s about exploring, letting your imagination play etc. Sometimes it's about improving canon, because canon sucked.

b) There is canon-shipping: In this case, people think they know where character’s arc lead to and they are excited about this because they want these characters together for various reasons, sometimes because they are happy to have guessed where the story goes, sometimes because they think these people are a good option for each other and sometimes because they like one character especially and want this character to have the best (it happens).

c) There is seeing where a story goes and being neutral about it (or even disliking it). This is not shipping, it’s rather guessing where the story goes.

d) There is liking a character, because you think the character is sympathetic, you think they are relatable, you vibe with them.

e) There is appreciating a character, because you think they are well written, you like the depth the author has given them, maybe you love to hate them.

and finally f) there are ideas about how important a character is for the story in general.

So, now I can only talk about me and where my difficulties lie.

I canon-ship Jonsa: I think this is where the story goes, I like both characters as in like-like, I think they would be good for each other and that is why I want them to be together in canon. I am excited about this ship because I think I have figured out part of the story and because I think they would be good for each other (well not Jon from season 8, but I've wiped season 8 from my mind).

So, in theory, I can ship Sansa with anyone who makes her happy, I read an AU and crossover with Sansa and Eomer just because I think he would be good for her and I liked it. I don't really ship Jon with anyone else, but in a way this is how I ship. With my ships I can usually see the one person with others that make her happy, but not the the other. I decided that Sansa is just the best for Jon and that's it.

Now, as for SanSan. Again I cannot talk about others and their reasons to dislike the ship. Imho, as long as it's about shipping I couldn't care less. I don't know the reasons people have for shipping them. I would never read a fic, because of the reasons I will explain in a moment, but nobody forces me to see it. I blacklisted the tag and that's it.

Now, let's go into the territory of canon. The fandom has unearthed some hints about SanSan. I don't want to go into detail here. I've talked about this on my blog several times. I think the hints are misinterpreted or do not point towards SanSan but towards Jonsa (like the Beauty and the Beast trope). What I get from the hints in the book is that the Hound will probably die for either Sansa or Arya in a single act of chivalry. You can read this as romantic, but I don't think you have to. To me this story is more about Sansa and the magic that is in her singing and her kindness than about the Hound and his “redemption.” So, this is not shipping, but guessing where the story will go.

That is obviously my interpretation of the books of ASOIAF and of course it is connected to how I see the characters. I like Sansa, and I really, really dislike the Hound, and although I can appreciate what GRRM did with his character, he’ll never reach the level of “I love to hate him”. So, I’m definitely not villain-stanning the Hound.

To me that means that I could never ever canon-ship SanSan as in “I want them to be together”. I think their relationship in the books is depicted as toxic and abusive (not to mention that the Hound is a grown man and Sansa a teenager) and I don’t want Sansa with a character I don’t like, a character who lusts after a teenager, and I don’t think the Hound is even important enough to end up with one of the mains. He is a fully fleshed out, but he is a secondary or even only tertiary character, not more.

Now, obviously I am not GRRM, but if he would take the story to SanSan I would hate him for it - I would hate him for it because it would either mean that he a) takes a deeply problematic relationship and romanticizes it or b) that he has an unhappy end for Sansa in mind.

Maybe, you do see, where I am getting with this?

I think it is possible as you say that SanSan shippers like both characters, and I think it is possible to ship them (not my cup of tea, but after all it’s ship and let ship).

What I cannot understand, not at all, is canon-shipping SanSan as in “I want them to be together and they’ll be ever so happy” in the books. Canon-shipping SanSan means blowing up a secondary/tertiary character’s importance, it means romanticizing a highly problematic relationship, that has abuse, mistreatment, violence and pedophilia. It means putting Sansa with an asshole. I cannot wrap my head how that could in any way become less problematic, even if the Hound made a 100% turn. I cannot wrap my head around people who want Sansa - a character they like - with a man that would be decidedly bad for her.  And this is where my suspicion about SanSans comes from. I just don’t see how you can like Sansa, as in like-like, and at the same time want her with a brutal, violent man who lusted after her as a teenager. So this is where the suspicion comes from.

I want Sansa with someone who is good for her. Since there are only very few characters in ASOIAF who are nice and I ship Sansa with happiness, there are only a few options I can ship. And canon is too prevalent in my head for me to just ignore it and ship Sansa with someone I dislike in a complete different AU. I cannot overlook canon in that regard. For ASOIAF my shipping preferences are defined by canon.

I suppose this is not what you wanted to hear, but you also wanted my opinion and an explanation.

As for Sansa as Queen, I think that the foreshadowing is all over the books and I honestly can’t see how anyone cannot see that this interpretation has a sound basis. And we’ve seen enough Sansa antis to ridicule that notion.

Thinking Sansa might not become Queen in the North doesn’t make you a Sansa anti but there are enough Sansa antis out there who say that it will never happen. So, I side-eye anyone who claims that Sansa will never be Queen because this opinion takes them into close proximity to real Sansa antis. So, yes, it makes me suspicious.

So, as far as shipping goes, I say: Ship and let ship.

As far as the interpretation of canon goes, SanSan is not a thing nor should it be a thing and if GRRM goes there - I don’t think he will, he said, that the ship surprised him - , it won’t be a happy ending for Sansa.

I hope, I explained in such a way, that you can understand - at least where I come from and maybe some of my fellow Jonsa shippers and why we are suspicious.

It’s not directed against you, nor against the rule of “ship and let ship”. It’s how I see the character of the Hound, GRRM’s arcs and Sansa’s character in canon. It’s about how I think canon will go and how I want canon to go. How I think canon will go has a connection to my analysis of the text - which speaks against SanSan being a realistic endgame. And how I want canon to go has much to do with the fact that I like Sansa - which again speaks against SanSan if you look at how both characters are depicted in canon.

How you ship them in your fanon can be and probably is completely and absolutely different.

Thanks for the ask!

#anon ask #Anti Sansan #Why I could never ship it #Ship and let ship #That does not mean that we have to agree on interpretations #Sansa Stark #canon shipping #is different from shipping #It's about how we interpret the characters

[daggerfall]

Why people hate meridia? Really i don't know what happened about her and Daurien Gautier, i would be glad if you could explain to me :)

I have a paranoid suspicion this is bait but whatever, fine, you can have it.

There’s like two general reasons, the first being her in the lore and the second being her actions in eso.

In the lore, going all the way back to the time of the Ayleids, Meridia was the one who backed them in their fight against the humans they were enslaving. Particularly, she backed Umaril the Unfeathered (who you may remember from the Oblivion DLC) in his fight against Pelinal Whitestrake. Pelinal also sucked, but he was fighting alongside Alessia the Slave Queen to free her people. The Ayleids sucked and were an incredibly cruel people, so Meridia helping them is not great.

In the lore as well, Meridia is known to “purify” her servants, making them immortal but also taking away their free will. She also does this as a punishment to those who break their vows to her, and just in general. We see this in the dungeon “Depths of Malatar”, where she enslaves the Imperials who went to loot it, as well as keeping her Ayleid worshippers “alive” for thousands of years in service protecting half of the Wrathstone for some unknown reason. I believe it is implied she wished to use it someday, but dont quote me on that.

And in the lore again, Meridia has been known to “collect” people, being called the Daedric Prince of Greed in the Illiac Bay. We can arguably see this again with the Purified Imperials in DoM.

And finally in the lore, Meridia’s feud with Molag Bal has resulted in her sacrificing the lives of her own worshippers on the regular just to spite him. When Molag Bal’s forces were attacking a city of her worshippers (the Hollow City), she used the portals they were coming in from to move her city into Coldharbour. Molag Bal could not touch the city, but she moved/displaced all of her loyal followers into another princes realm just to stick it to her enemy. Every single inhabitant of that city either died from being placed outside the protection of the city, or eventually left the city due to being sick and tired of being trapped in there/Oblivion and eventually died. The only survivor was the last Ayleid king, who had been being held and tortured the entire time before his rescue via the Vestige. So a few thousand years.

Now in the games, particularly ESO, it is a popular belief that Meridia was the one who originally led the Vestige to the Worm Cult where they were killed, and is the kickstarter for the events of you being the Hero. The Hooded Figure looks shockingly like the Groundskeeper, has the same voice, and has a vested interest in getting someone powerful to have a deep hatred of Molag Bal and the Worm Cult and be on her side. A lot of people don’t take kindly to being led to their torture and death. Though this is a theory, not confirmed canon, but fandom interpretation is powerful.

Meridia also did not tell the Vestige she was Meridia until just before the fight against Molag Bal, playing with the Vestige like a chess piece in her own fight against her enemy. A lot of people don’t take kindly to being manipulated and used, even if it was against a common enemy. 

As for Darien, Meridia created Darien to be her champion on Nirn. She let him believe he was just a normal Breton his entire life during ESO. At the end of the main quest, Meridia does not return Darien to the rest of the group, and instead takes him to her realm and keeps him there. A lot of us players, as well as NPCs, cared greatly for Darien, and very much dislike Meridia for that. 

Darien writes from the Colored Rooms that he wanted to come home, a letter we can show to his friend Gabrielle (who it is strongly hinted he loved and who loved him back).

We don’t see Darien again until Summerset, when Meridia sends him there to help stop the daedric triad. Meridia did tell him the truth about who and what he was, to some degree, but not everything. When Meridia first talks about Darien, she expressed distaste for how he had changed having met the player. He had a singular purpose, but now he... cares. Meridia does not like her servants having their own freewill and thoughts. 

Darien has to sacrifice himself at the climax of the main story. Once that quest is over, you can find a letter again from him, warning us not to trust Meridia. Just one tiny bit from “Words of the Fallen” “I need to tell you something about Meridia. She's a deceiver. She promised that if I served her faithfully, I'd earn my freedom. She never told me that freedom was just another word for the void. Don't trust her. Don't trust any of the Daedric Princes. Not ever.” I highly recommend reading all of Words of the Fallen btw. 

So! Meridia promises freedom to her most loyal champion, and then takes it away after he does his job. Those who like Darien once again very much dislike Meridia for this.

In Dragonhold, there is a sidequest where you find someone dead next to what looks like Meridia’s Beacon. A letter on him implies that Meridia is looking for a new champion, one who will not betray her, implying that Meridia thinks Darien betrayed her. We know from Words of the Fallen that Darien sacrificed himself for the player, not Meridia. Meridia does not like that Darien cares about the player. 

You can bring the letter to the dead khajiit’s wife, who says she is going to throw the stone in the lake. But if you talk to her again, she says that she thinks she’s going to hold onto it now, implying that she thinks she will be able to hear those same voices as him, and that she might take up the champion mantle.

The world boss quest giver in Southern Elsweyr talks about his own issues with Meridia, being a people collector and possibly having some past trauma with her/her cult.

And in Greymoor, Meridia's temple (mount kilkreath) is attacked by the Icereach Coven's harrowstorm, which steals the life energy of people and either kills them, turns them into mindless passive zombies, or feral vampires known as harrowfiends. It was mostly her priests and pilgrims that were attacked. Meridia did nothing to protect her followers or purge this corruption from even the inside of her temple. Many followers lost their faith that day.

All of this together, and the sneaking suspicion that she is not done with yet in ESO, makes a lot of us not only dislike her, but not trust her at all. Zenimax brought up Darien for Valentines Day, keeps bringing him and Meridia up in DLC, has her featured greatly in the main quest and a major chapter DLC...

It’s less an outright hatred of her. Believe me, I hate Molag Bal significantly more than I “hate” Meridia. I tend to take on my OCs beliefs and feelings as I play them, and my own main character was in a relationship with Darien and hates all daedra. Also she gets brought up more in recent DLC and thus is more of a relevant topic than Molag Bal. So I tend to post a lot about Meridia in less than positive lights. It’s more than I take issue with her being so connected to slavery and manipulation of mortals, yet being painted in a benevolent or even good light by a lot of the lore. I take issue with people who ignore the fact she is featured very prominently in recent games and accuse anyone who talks about disliking her of misogyny for not being equally or more loud about their dislike of other, worse daedric princes, regardless of if they do or do not. I take issue with people who romanticize her slavery or call her a “feminist icon” solely because they don’t like Darien (or me. That’s another reason). But that’s more of a specific tesblr community issue rather than “legit reasons in game or lore to not like Meridia”.

Overall, Meridia is a daedric prince. They’re not good or bad by mortal standards because they don’t ascribe to mortal defined morals. They do what they do because they must. It is their realm, their sphere of influence. Meridia started out as the Daedric Prince of Greed in early games, a collector of people, and her hatred of undead and Molag Bal are extreme. The fact that she is more present in ESO, a game I play on the regular and that gets updated multiple times a gear, means that people will talk about her more. When I was deeply into Skyrim, I talked about my dislike of Hermaeus Mora a lot. When I was deeply into Oblivion (for a short while), I talked about my dislike of Mehrunes Dagon. And when I am thinking about Morrowind, I end up talking about my dislike of Azura and the Tribunal. She isn't necessarily better or worse than other Princes, just more of a hot topic in the ESO side of the fandom than other Princes.

If this was sent in good faith then I apologize for saying it felt like bait. If it is bait, then here. Take it and start raving about what an awful misogynist I am. I await my callout post. 

#disc horse #long post #anonymous #asks

[baby--spinach]

Breakdown anon here, I thought I'd clarify that when I said fandom I didn't mean you. I don't think you've said anything ableist so far and I also don't want to assume anything, I was just talking about fandom in general and what I've been seeing in the tags and on my dash.

Re the breakdown, it's not rare for writers in general to put stuff like mental illness into their stories without knowing that they're doing that. So while I don't trust them either and I agree we shouldn't give them credit them for it, I also don't think it's right to deny that the mental breakdown happened at all when many of us found it to be realisticically portrayed and relatable to our own experiences. It also doesn't erase the fandom's ableist attitude towards said breakdown.

Thank you for your message. I am loathe to contribute conflict to the Dean stans, considering there are so few of us left, but it did rub me the wrong way when I came across the implication that anyone who disliked Dean’s writing in 15.17 was ableist and hated real people with mental illnesses. That idea hinges on the assumption that Dean’s behavior representing real-life psychology is a universal and objective interpretation. For me, personally, I’d lost my emotional investment at that point in the episode because I knew that this was not the writers’ intention, and that no proper catharsis would come of it. 

That’s why I used fairly harsh words with Dean’s behavior as written: not because I was minimizing or dismissing mental illness or bashing his character, but because my suspension of disbelief had been broken and I, personally, could not attribute Dean’s behavior to anything approaching real life or devote any emotional energy/investment to it. This may also apply to other Dean stans who are angry at the writing, but aren’t actually criticizing Dean within the story despite how their posts may read. 

This, of course, does not mean that fans who still connected with him and defend him are wrong or invalid. I gladly read your takes and am grateful that Dean is still deeply loved and given the consideration he deserves (that the writers, on the other hand, do not). But in this case, for this episode, I just can’t bring myself to participate.

#ask

[questionablygourmet]

I Like This Show A Normal Amount: Will Graham As Autistic Representation

In a previous meta post about Will, I briefly alluded to my appreciation for Will as good autistic representation, and for Free-For-All Friday, @tin-can-paladin prompted me to do as I’d said I might and write a Thing about that.  (Hopefully today is the day I actually get this post finished and up!)  So here we go.

First of all, this post will be starting from the premise that Will is an autistic character.  I don’t particularly care if Hugh’s said he’s not; whether or not he meant to, he and Bryan gave us an autistic-coded character and I reserve the right to be delighted about it!  (Actually, that’s not quite true - I do care, in the sense that I wish he hadn’t said that, because acknowledging portrayals of characters on the spectrum that aren’t a walking fucking stereotype played for lulz *cough BBT COUGH* or as a tragedy inflicted upon their neurotypical family members as being on the spectrum is Important.  But whatever.)

This post will address aspects of Will as a character, but also to an extent how he’s handled in the wider context of the show, and why that matters.

Agency

This was my primary focus on that previous Will meta post, but in context of autistic representation, I think it’s an important thing to highlight in this post as well: Will Graham is a whole-ass adult in control of his actions even when other characters don’t think so (see: Alana, Jack, et al in late season 1) or are actively trying to subvert that (see: Hannibal, You Asshole).

Autistic characters in various media are all-too-frequently infantilized and handled as though their environment/circumstances completely dictate their behavior.  Will both implicitly and explicitly (“You can’t reduce me to a set of influences” - ironically for a later part of this post, the next thing he says mentions behaviorism), resoundingly rejects this, and I love that as part of his narrative in general but also as an autistic character in particular.  

Empathy

This one’s gonna be a doozy.  There’s a lot to talk about here that all generally falls under the heading of “autism and empathy,” so I’ll do my best to stay organized.

First, the simplest: He cares!  So!  Deeply!  And complexly!  And we know that throughout the show!

Frankly, this in particular massively exacerbates my irritated wish that the creators would explicitly acknowledge him as autistic because holy shit the stereotypes he combats with this.  Autistic people in the real world have widely varied, diverse relationships with empathy and compassion (which are different things, and I have some beefs with the way the show uses the word “empathy,” but that’s a digression and this is already going to be a long post), but media largely erases this, conflating difficulties with normative, neurotypical-passing social behavior with inability to empathize, and/or display compassion, and/or even feel emotions (FFS).  

There’s a related point about “normative-passing social behavior” that I want to expand on a bit, here: we see a lot of profound differences in demeanor for Will over the course of the show, and that’s something I’ve seen interpreted as manipulation sometimes when it really isn’t.  (Not to say Will is not manipulative/capable of being manipulative, because he is, very!  But not everything calculated is necessarily manipulative, and I see the two conflated a lot and that annoys me.)  Will has, to my eyes, four basic social “modes.”  

I’m Dealing With Most People With Whom I Have No Particular Antipathy Or Affection - Aloof, and either standoffish or polite depending on how his boundaries are being treated.  He’s not particularly interested in making people comfortable when they’re making him uncomfortable (and being a white dude generally enables him to take this attitude without big repercussions), and people frequently make him uncomfortable.

I’m Dealing With Someone I Perceive As Vulnerable - Exaggeratedly calm, kind, careful.  He’s trying to connect and provide comfort and support.  He’s minding his every move and word because he doesn’t want to cause harm incidentally.  (Abigail, Peter, Walter, etc. and to some extent, Margot, though with her it’s mixed with other attitudes.)

I’m Dealing With An Enemy - This is where the manipulativeness (and even, particularly in the cases of Bedelia and Hannibal, cruelty) comes in.  He’s minding his every move and word because he wants to elicit a specific response from the person he’s interacting with.  (This comes into play with Jack and Alana at various points even though they are rarely full enemies.)

I’m Dealing With A Trusted Friend - Has neither the deliberation of 2-3 nor quite the standoffishness of 1.  He’s neither projecting an image appropriate to a specific kind of fraught social situation, nor actively trying to deflect attention and interaction.  In my opinion we really only see this with Hannibal (in season 1 and then with flashes of it in 2 and 3) and Molly, though he gets close in a handful of moments with Alana, Beverly, and Jack.  

All these modes deal with a) to what extent he is acting, and b) why he’s acting.  And I love that we get to see this breadth of social interaction modes from him, because that is an accurate and sensitive portrayal of an autistic adult, reflecting the often-dramatic differences in “difficulty setting” of an interaction - how and to what extent are we expected to (or otherwise have a need to) mimic neurotypical mannerisms?  What are the stakes of the situation?  These are explicit considerations for a lot of autistic people, and Will demonstrates that vividly throughout the series.

Another way in which empathy and social interaction come into play in terms of autistic representation is that Will can and does form strong social bonds - not very often, because the way most other adults treat him isn’t conducive to it, but with people who display acceptance/a lack of judgment for his non-neurotypical reactions and behaviors, and importantly, who don’t treat him as Other for the way he can reconstruct crime scenes, we see that can form very strong bonds.  Hannibal is obviously the prime example of this, but also Molly, and to a much lesser extent, Alana and Margot.  (Though Jack refers to him as a friend and they have some friendly interactions, their bond is not a strong one and not at all marked by the kind of humanizing acceptance it takes to get truly close to Will.)  People who accept who he is, and who are neither threatened by his skills nor dependent on them.

Finally, in this section, let’s look at the crime scene reconstructions and “getting inside killers’ heads” bit.  

I have complex feelings about this aspect of the show, or more precisely, how other characters talk about his reconstructions and serial killer profiling - they (even Hannibal, to an extent) talk about it in mystifying terms, and I thoroughly dislike the term “empathy disorder” that gets thrown around so much in seasons 1-2 to explain what he does.  Will is apt to testily correct people that he just interprets the evidence, and that is exactly what he is doing.  His vivid imagination coupled with years of active study of criminal psychology allow him to take that interpretation a lot farther than anyone else would, and sometimes make intuitive leaps that the other characters can’t follow.  But it’s clear that this intuition is founded in concrete evidence, as we frequently see him stymied when he doesn’t quite have enough of it, much to the frustration of Jack, who is particularly shitty about treating him like an oracle.  

I like that Will gets to stick up for himself and correct people on several occasions, but I wish the ableism and the Othering was less pervasive amongst the other characters because it makes me want to slap them.  I find that I really appreciate how most of the fic I’ve read since entering the fandom thoroughly and often explicitly rejects the pseudo-magical divination and/or Crazy Person With Magic Brain angle.

Perspective

There was something I was reaching at that was eluding me in my first attempt at this draft, and then I ran into an excellent article about writing autistic characters that suddenly and thoroughly solidified it for me.  It’s really brilliant; it discusses and illustrates the strong difference between a behavioristic (see previous reference) approach to characterization and a humanizing one.  Behavioristic analyses divorce themselves from the actual mindset and experience of the subject, whereas humanizing portrayals display the subjective experience of the person who is perhaps behaving in a way other people may find confusing.  

Since Will is the main point of view character in the show, we get front-row seats to his subjective experience and can therefore more properly empathize with him.  An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.  The behavior that Jack and various other characters are exasperated, impatient, and/or unnerved over all looks pretty reasonable when we know how Will is experiencing the crime scene, or are seeing his nightmares and hallucinations along with him!  And while the nightmares and hallucinations in season 1 are a matter of encephalitis and trauma rather than neurotype, it still matters that we’re led to understand something of what he goes through, from his own perspective rather than an outside one.  

It’s incredibly necessary emotional context moving forward in the show, giving us an autistic character who is flawed but deeply human and whose darkness we can understand.

#hannibal #will graham #my meta #meta #thanks for the nudge to actually write this #it was difficult enough that it probably wouldn't have happened without said nudge #but i really wANTED to write it so #I Like This Show A Normal Amount

[millennialzadr]

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Hello~! Thank you so much for visiting my blog! My name is Koya, I’m 25, I’m pansexual, my pronouns are she/her, and I’m a full time freelance artist! My main blog is @koyakyuuun, so I’ll be liking and following from there!

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Content Guidelines!

The focus of this blog!

So this blog is a mish mash of a couple different themes, but above all it is an adult oriented Invader Zim fan blog!! I grew up with the show and and was a BIG fan during highschool, and after rediscovering it this year I have been DAZZLED and DELIGHTED by the fan content being produced today!! I have a deeply nostalgic yet completely new perspective on the show now that I’m in my 20s, so alongside of celebrating iz content and fan content in general, this blog will center around my niche fave: the iz cast + millennial culture! in other words, the characters depicted as if they lived in the real world and aged in real time! I loved and related to the characters as a kid, and I still love them dearly to this day, so to see people experiment with character interpretations and create adult versions of them means I can still relate to them even now, and even make my own versions! and as a queer neurodivergent millennial who loves niche culture, my favorite versions of the characters are queer neurodivergent millennials who love niche culture!! (and by niche culture I mean MEMES, AESTHETICS, BAD FASHION, GAY CULTURE, CRYPTID CULTURE, DARK CORNERS OF THE INTERNET, CREATIVELY WEIRD SELF EXPRESSION ETC!!)

And of course the other main theme which fits into the first: ZADR! while I don’t ship Zim and Dib as they’re canonically presented in the show, I DO adore the idea of the two growing up together, eventually becoming friends, and eventually falling in love. I’m a Big Gay and I love romance and lgbt content, and ZADR holds such a soft place in my heart 😭 I wrote a big post about why I love it so much which you can see here if you’re curious about my interpretation of the ship!

And now, some guidelines!!

Things I enjoy and will be posting/reblogging!

- general IZ content! because holy SHIT I love the show and ALL the content the fandom creates is awe inspiring and amazing!!!

- millennial culture/humor! I FUCKING LOVE IZ + 2019 POP CULTURE REFERENCES AND MEME CONTENT OKAY

- POSITIVE CONTENT! IZ is my comfort content and I deeply admire the positive impact the show has had on so many people. I also interpret Zim and Dib as having hard lives and mental problems but eventually recovering and finding happiness (and making each other happy!!). I do also love vent content and gritty/dark themes from an artistic standpoint (and of course comedic Depression™ memes) but I will be focusing much more on comforting and uplifting content!

- character development/relationships, fluff, comedy, domestic content, daily life, sci fi, conspiracy/cryptid content, fashion portraits and camp horror!! these are my favorite themes!!

- friendship, romance, and found family!! I adore the relationships between the characters and they ALL DESERVE LOVE!!!!! JHONEN CAN BITE MY ASS

- the IZ creators!! speaking of Jhonen LOL I LOVE seeing content about the creators themselves!! I genuinely have such affection and admiration for the wonderful people who brought and continue to bring the world of IZ to life, they are such amazing and inspiring human beings and I will be celebrating them alongside their creations!!

- IZ characters + aesthetics!! some of my MOST favorite IZ content depicts the characters being stylized with or sporting the fashion of vaporwave, goth, grunge, pastel, spacecore, cryptidcore, future funk, 90s disastercore and any and all things strange, niche, glittery and neon, and I FUCKING LOVE IT. GOD

- and lastly, I talk a fuck of a lot, as you can probably tell by this post lol. I’ll be screaming in the tags constantly and am liable to write the occasional super long text post! for those who are into that, I invite you to have discussions with me! and for those who aren’t, feel free to ignore them!

Things I will be staying away from!

- romantic content that depicts the characters as minors AKA underage zadr!! there will be no kid ships here! I’m an adult and only enjoy shipping adult versions of the characters! kid content will be either canon, wholesome, or friendship content! while I do find adult versions of the characters attractive since they have qualities I find attractive in real life, I see the adult versions as almost completely different people since they’re so far removed from the source content, and the love I feel for the canon kids is HIGHLY maternal and very nostalgia centric. this would probably be more clear if I didn’t lump the two types of content into the same blog, but I really do love both the adult fan interpreted IZ world and the canon IZ world in equal measure, just in different ways!

- content that fetishizes or ‘yaoi’-fies gay relationships! I am a queer person and I enjoy queer content made by queer people for queer people, you’re not gonna find any “B-BUT WE’RE BOTH BOYS!” shit here 😂

- content that depicts abuse between friends or partners!! while violence is an active theme in zim and dib’s canonical relationship, I very much dislike zadr content that depicts the two being aggressive or malicious towards each other while they’re supposedly in love. complex relationships are certainly interesting, but while toxic and abusive relationships are realistic, they’re not okay and should not be romanticized. I understand some people use that kind of content to cope, but for me it’s nothing but bad feelings. sparring and play fighting is fine and good, consensual violence could be interesting to explore, but hatred will stay separate from romance on this blog.

- discourse and long conversations about negative topics! I acknowledge the importance of discussing problems within the fandom, however I wish for this blog to be a positive and comforting place, since iz content in general is positive and comforting for me! there may be an occasional post that touches on real life negative topics but overall this will be kept to a minimum.

- explicit content!! while I DO both draw and consume nsfw adult zadr content, it will not be on this blog! since tumblr decided to be idiots and remove any way for minors and people who don’t wish to see nsfw content to hide it, this blog will remain pg-13. I will also not be providing any links to my other sites because of this (I am a nsfw artist and I sell porn commissions for a living, not trying to shove that in the faces of my minor, ace and sex repulsed followers, but by all means seek out my art if you DO wish to!). similarly, I will not be releasing my nsfw zadr art publicly anywhere, since aged up characters are controversial and my career, being online, could suffer if someone wanted to use that against me. HOWEVER, for fellow adult fans with extra cash who take a shine to my art, paid content could be a possibility in the future 👀

Interaction Guidelines!

Things I’m okay with!

- tagging my posts in any way you wish! kinning is fine! any ship interpretation is fine! any gender/orientation interpretation is fine! sharing your thoughts/opinions is fine!

- as long as you CREDIT me! using my art for icons/headers etc, drawing my iz designs, referencing my art, and reposting my art on other sites is all okay!

- asks or anons of any questions you might have about me or my content!

- asks or anons popping in to share thoughts, opinions and ideas! it’s always nice to hear from other fans!

- leaving comments in the tags/replies/reblogs of my posts makes me very happy!! tumblr is the only place I post my fanart and I love seeing what people think of it!

Things I’m not okay with!

- messages, reblogs, tags or asks that are blatantly rude or disrespectful! I really do not care what the subject or reason is, if you act like an asshole, I will not respond and will block you!

- asks or messages that say only ‘hi’ or ‘how are you?’ I have no problem with people trying to be friendly but I never have a single idea of how to reply to these kinds of messages, I’m so sorry 😂 please talk to me about fandom stuff though!!

- pressure to produce content! I like any other creator adore comments and compliments, but things like “DRAW MORE!!” “MORE ZADR!!” “WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO DRAW MORE!!” are not compliments!! it is in fact very off putting so please don’t do that! it will mess with my motivation! consider commissioning me if you want more content!

- if you are considering trying to be my friend, please be 20+!! I am not comfortable being friends with teens! nothing against my teen followers, I respect and appreciate you, but please understand I cannot relate to you on a personal level, and besides that, being friends with someone over 20 can be harmful and even dangerous for minors! I am an adult and only wish to have adult friends! please respect my wishes!

About my content!

So since what I like to draw is usually pretty different from the show, here are the basic headcanons for my interpretations of adult Zim and Dib~! Basically they’re queer 2019 millennials who are damaged but doing their best and enjoy niche interests and subcultures. Zim is the type who’s tough to handle but it’s worth it because he’s an amazing and colorful person underneath it all and only those he’s close to get to see that, and Dib is an eccentric but completely reliable, intelligent, passionate, and loyal friend whose company is a familiar comfort and a total safe space. They live together and are mutually beneficial allies to friends to lovers!

I HAVE A FIC, or at least an idea for one lol and when using my designs for the characters, my drawings will most likely be set in its context! Affectionately nicknamed the Soft AU, it’s centered around rest, recovery, affection, care and bonding… bc I’m SOFT OKAY 😂 You can read the full summary here, but here’s the gist!

A little over a decade after arriving on earth, Zim’s banishment is reinstated and as a result his entire base and all his equipment is confiscated, leaving him stranded on Earth with no way off the planet and in danger of being caught and killed by the humans. Dib offers him a deal that he’ll hide Zim instead of turning him in in exchange for letting him study Zim. They live together in Dib’s apartment and eventually get used to each other. Loneliness induced affection ensues. Hooray!!

And now for the boys themselves!

My Dib!

- 25, 6′2″, Mexican, cis boy, bisexual, bilingual

- is recovering from depression and anxiety and has ADD and insomnia, has had a nicotine addiction

- has a ton of ear piercings and a few facial piercings, as well as a few tattoos

- is still just as obsessive about his interests as he was as a kid, just with more curbed enthusiasm due to, yknow, depression. researching Zim however brings his enthusiasm back full force. he still sucks at taking care of himself when enthralled with his work but he’s getting there

- runs various blogs, forums, and youtube channels making content about cryptids and conspiracy theories, the ad revenue of which is his main source of income (he dislikes using his father’s money to support himself, but will dip into the family account occasionally)

- is very patient and can communicate and problem solve very well, and is skilled at handling various conflicts and mental issues

- still has his ‘I hate people’ attitude but is more open minded and understanding than he used to be, and more compassionate. he has difficulty trusting strangers but his friends and family are very important to him

- can be moody and dramatic but he’s a big sweetheart at his core

- being friends with Zim has made him more willing to enjoy acting like a huge dork and total weirdo, even in public

My Zim!

- young adult, 5′5″, androgynous presenting demi boy, panromantic demisexual

- has PTSD and anxiety, is recovering with help from Dib

- displays inhuman behavior such as hissing, growling, chirring, chirping, scratching/biting, screeching, territory guarding and dominance displays

- is a demi boy, meaning he identifies as mostly but not completely male, and is more nonbinary than cis, but he’s never given it too much thought because gender is stupid. he has little to no concept and zero regard for human gender roles

- is a SHIT who’s main entertainment is annoying Dib and ‘winning’ arguments, but Dib seems to get harder to piss off as time goes on, much to his confusion

- pitches a fit when he doesn’t agree with/doesn’t want to do something but can be swayed with rewards such as food, sweets, new clothes, video games etc

- rambunctious and high energy, he gets stir crazy often, but since he hates the city he and Dib often take car trips to more fun/nicer places outside the neighborhood

- moody and bratty with skewed logic but smart and more intuitive than he used to be, he’s more than a handful to deal with, but this also makes him the most entertaining person Dib knows

- after having the free time to discover the world of aesthetics, he becomes very much into clothes, make up, accessories etc (be they masculine or feminine) and enjoys making a hobby out of creating a unique self image using fashion (thus also subconsciously asserting his individuality)

- is much more dependent on Dib than he admits (or even realizes)

- his beliefs in nationalism, fascism and genocide are direct results of brainwashing and personality altering programs run by his PAK, and are not actually part of his core personality (these programs will be overridden and deleted eventually)

Side Note: I haven’t thought as far with the other characters but my Gaz and Tak are definitely lesbians 😂

And finally, my tag list!

#my art - things that I drew!

#my post - any post that I posted!

#asks - asks!

#text post - any text post longer than a couple lines!

#video - videos!

#audio - audios!

#canon - content from the show/comic/movie etc!

#creators - any content featuring the IZ cast or crew!

#memes - memes, shitposts, short comics, comedic posts etc!

#friends - friendship art between any characters!

#family - family bonding between the membranes/found family between any characters!

#ships - ship art between adult characters!

#suggestive - any content that could be considered sexual in nature!

#positive - fluff, friendship, wholesome content, uplifting content, characters being happy/cute/having fun etc!

#negative - angst, vent art, violence, mental illness, dark themes, characters fighting/being sad/getting hurt etc!

#kids - content depicting characters as kids/irkens as their canon designs!

#adults - content depicting characters as adults/irkens with noncanon designs!

#millennials - content depicting adult characters that includes any modern culture! (personal fave)

#aesthetic - highly stylized or surreal portraits centered around aesthetic themes!

ship tags!: zadr (zim and dib romance), tagr (tak and gaz romance), rapr (red and purple romance)

friendship tags!: zadf (zim and dib friendship), tagf (tak and gaz friendship), zatf (zim and tak friendship), tadf (tak and dib friendship), zagf (zim and gaz friendship), zag (zim and gir)

character tags!: zim, dib, gaz, tak, gir, red, purple, membrane, skoodge, gretchen, keef, spork, miyuki, recap kid, bg chars, ocs

#i wrote an about since this blog is growing FAST #and i intend on staying active for a long time!! #i'll be using all the new tags from now on! #about #faq #my post

[piccolina-mina]

My apologies @witchwolfmouse. I realized I kinda hijacked your post regarding M*ribel:

Y’all there’s room for people to ship Isobel/Maria and there is room for other people to be critical of the ship considering Isobel’s treatment of Maria and how deeply Maria dislikes Isobel because of how she treated Rosa... If you’re going to ship the two of them, considering what’s unfolded between the two of them onscreen thus far, then you’ve got to be prepared for some people not to be about it, especially fans of color and wlw of color and especially black fans who fall into either or both categories.

And I admittedly got in my feelings and droned on more than anticipated, so I made my reply into a post, since it was so long.

I'm ship and let ship. I have been that way from the beginning. The only reason I even became as vocal about shipping in this fandom in the first place was because of how unwelcoming it was for anyone who shipped anything alternative from the canon ships. There should be equal space for shipping and for those critical of it, and for a long time there wasn't equal space just all of one or the other depending on the ship.

Ironically, now it's slightly more equal but ridiculously divisive for silly reasons, but I digress.

I do think that an inability to take shipper goggles or whatever goggles off to actually understand certain criticisms about race and its relation to shipping, fandom, and within the show and how it's handled there has led to a lot of defensiveness by some who only see criticism as negative attacks, then respond in defense, which prompts defensive responses back and a host of others feeling genuinely invalidated and unheard, especially when what they are pointing out is skirted over.

There are genuine people who ship maribel, and hey, if you like it, I love it for you. I don't have to ship it or agree with it, but for those who genuinely love it, more power to them. Flood the tags for them. Make content.

Ironically, that's literally all I personally wanted from the beginning. Diversified content and discussions even if it's not my thing. By doing so, it makes me smile. It's all I ever wanted so it's not a nuisance for me personally.

Plus in this case, while I don't care for Isobel or the ship, I'll never say no to more Maria content. Fk it up!

Regarding M*ribel and discourse. To put it bluntly, and to go back to where some of the original friction and frustration stemmed in this fandom. The beauty of it is how much space there is to discuss in detail all angles of the amazing queer representation which I love, but the inability to discuss the race representation and issues and even the intersectional aspect of race and queerness, not without it always somehow stepping on the toes of queerness.

A wlw ship would be amazing. Hell, if it's done well, maybe this wlw ship could be amazing. Ship away, but also, please, know that someone criticizing it for legitimate reasons doesn't have to mean they are invalidating you or the wlw representation, especially when someone's criticism may be coming at it from an angle of a POC, or WOC, or QWOC who also feel invalidated. Quite damn often.

There are a lot of racial aspects of this show where despite the show's diversity, are very problematic or uncomfortable (a diverse cast does not mean all diverse issues disappear, if anything, it highlights them more so). And fans of color who voice them or have a different take than you should not have to be lambasted because they are approaching something from a different angle you may or may not have the experience with or know about.

LGBTQ fans some of whom may not be of color can look through their lenses of their own representation and what that means good or bad. But fans of color also do the same. We're always going to do the same. We can't shut that off as it's our identity and how we see the world through our experiences. Just like many of you, and those of both do it from both angles too.

There's a heterosexual bias willingly acknowledged frequently in fandom "the straights" or "the heteros" and that's fair and valid. Rarely does anyone enter the space and get pissy about that and not without being checked directly or indirectly. But you can't enter the tag and present something from a POC viewpoint or a WOC viewpoint without being directly or indirectly checked and often by people who honest to goodness aren't in the position to do so and show that based on how they choose to address or frame something.

Why? Why the "I don't see it that way so it must not be true?" Or "prove it or your lying" angle? Why do fans of color--too many to be dismissed as a fluke-- have to explain or otherwise be invalidated? That is what that is. Invalidation.

A racial bias being acknowledged or even a gender one makes people defensive or uncomfortable or unkind. That isn't fair. That isn't awesome.

And it has been a problem for a very long time.

Now if we're talking about m*ribel. Where some may see a wlw ship, a classic enemies to lovers ship, two beautiful women who could be something magical... Maria being in on the alien secret via Isobel... snarky personalities and sniding becoming something deeper ... hot hate sex ... two badass women who have been through some sh!t being a badass couple together... I do get the angle.

Where some people see that, I personally see a ship that makes me uncomfortable. I understand not everyone will see it as I do, and that's okay, as I said, ship and let ship.

But for me, when I think of Maribel, I think of Isobel violating Maria and her mind without her consent. I think of how disturbing it is that another woman did that to another woman without thinking about it as a violation (you don't have to agree, but much like what Noah did to Isobel at more extreme levels, it makes ME think of the rape and power dynamics and abuse dynamics).

I see someone who has had a total disregard for humans outside of her presumed husband violating them at will with powers she has yet to fully gain control of thus putting herself and those she violated at risk. I think of how unusual it is that she doesn't even have friends she hangs out with and doesn't know how to be one, or to be nurturing, or kind, or considerate.

And I don't know if I would like to see her with someone who is snarky and such, but also all of those things too. I see someone who is selfish in general and selfish in all of her relationships, and it's troubling (to me) when someone so inherently selfish is ever combined with someone who isn't because of how draining that is.

And to me, Isobel is the most selfish character with no give, and I don't care for the (far too common) trope of a black woman having to guide her into the light as a project and build her into a better person.

I think of an unfortunate history of women of color being violated not just by men but also white women that goes back centuries.

I see Isobel's total disregard for Maria's life and agency. I see Isobel's sense of entitlement she cannot seem to shake where she thinks she is entitled to Maria's acceptance and attention and her anger that Maria has the audacity to dislike her because apparently people are supposed to like her even when she treats almost everyone terribly. Which is a very subtle but very insidious barely noticeable dog whistle type of example most people of color can attest to as an example of white privilege.

I see someone who has clung to Maria specifically despising her on behalf of Rosa (and maribel shippers are welcome to interpret it as confirmation of a crush or attraction, and they can do so I understand that take, too) so much so that her primary reason for believing that Maria was an evil alien killer was the fact that Maria didn't like her nor as a psychic with legitimate abilities didn't allow Isobel to violate her.

The racial context of that scene alone was bothersome because of two cops jumping to a conclusion and sharing their theory with citizens with no concrete proof before speaking to their suspect (Maria) and using the word of a known racist and an entitled white woman with a grudge (Isobel) to support their theory, which if that doesn't parallel real life and how POC can find themselves at the mercy of the criminal justice system due to this, I don't know what is.

I see a woman who didn't have the slightest grasp of mind violation until she was violated by a brown man (who subsequently ended up being the presumed big bad of the season). That's what I see with M*ribel.

Where some shippers are able to see the chance for more LGBT rep and that's valid. I see troubling racial undertones that genuinely make me almost as uncomfortable as Noah and Isobel, and that too should be valid, and considered, and respected, and not dismissed, or misconstrued deliberately or otherwise.

There should be space for the criticism too, and the different takes, especially takes deeply rooted in another form of disenfranchisement. Just, consider and respect that sometimes. Not all fans of color will have the same take, we're all different people, so no one person can speak for the others, which means sometimes there will be opinions that differ on reasons that relate to race, and that's okay too.

From the first episode until now. Through Maria sidelining, and maricael/miluca shipping, and Malex angst, and Echo obstacles, and Liz decentralization, and the demonization of Noah, and Rosa injustice...through all of, there are things that should be discussed freely without being invalidated, dismissed, or made into something else.

There are many ways in which there will be race perspectives and things fans of color will present and ponder that other fans may not consider at all. And sometimes it will spill into something you like or enjoy, but those feelings especially about something so personal and specific and real ... even if you don't like them, or agree with them, or they make you uncomfortable or defensive, they matter too.

#that's literally it #but if all of this is misinterpreted or gets lost in translation and the only focus is on not shipping maribel #or whatever angle i won't forsee where this post is called out for something or another i got nothing #i'm kinda tired #roswell new mexico #roswell nm #maria deluca #i won't tag isobel since it could technically classify as anti #rnm discourse #rnm notoriety #rnm fandom fkery