#I’m only here to make toxic fanboys uncomfortable

[darkherolovercroissant]

The Past That Haunts The Future

Simon Ghost Riley x Fem Reader

Library 📚

Warnings:Mentions death, Angst and honestly just my writing in general.

This follows the CODM timeline so if you don’t play Cod Mobile, you may not know what I’m taking about. Also this will be a venting post, cause this part in Codm lore really messed me up. Like I was a puddle of despair after that comic strip.

———————————————————————-

You stood leaning up against the doorway, watching as he walked forwards. Even though he always wore some form of skull mask, you didn’t recognize this man at all.

“So you done yet. Feel better now?” You dismiss as he reaches for your shoulder.

“I had no choice. It had to be done.” He sighs

“What makes you think, that was a good idea?” You hiss

“I’m not having an argument with you right now. Come find me when you’re not in a pissy mood.” He huffs and storms off.

“What about Sophia? You mean to tell me, you not only killed Templar, but you left his daughter there to die as well!?” You yell after him.

He just kept walking and you just scoff.

“You promised him that Sophia would be safe if anything happened to him!”

The door to his room slams shut as you feel a stray tear slide down your cheek. Two hands clasp your shoulders and spin you around to pull you into a big hug.

“I’ll never understand what goes on in that pricks head, but I promise it’ll be alright.” Price says

————

Many years down the road, life had seemed to heal for some. Others were getting treated much worse and you pity them, but praised them as they kept going on despite life being against them.

Your relationship with Ghost never fully recovered, but it was probably for the best. He tried to repair the damage, but you both knew he never would.

That poor girl was always on your mind and you wondered if she managed to find safety or if she died with her father. You understood her pain, being a child only with a father who you watched as he was killed by someone who he thought he could trust. You can’t imagine the hatred boiling up inside her, poor girl had her life turned upside down, one of the ones that life was against unfortunately.

“I just heard that you were discharged. Man it really is as bad as Price said.” Soap’s accent fills the once quiet room.

“It’s because of that bastard ain’t it?”

“A whole bunch of things. I just can’t find it in me to focus anymore. That one mission, I almost killed Price cause I wasn’t thinking.”

“No that was on me. I misread the codes, you weren’t this issue, lass”

Although he tried to comfort you, it didn’t help at all. The once lively office, was as cluttered as your brain. It’ll soon be empty as you head off to enjoy what’s left to enjoy.

What’s left for one that life is against….

——————

Call him creepy, but Simon kept tabs on you all the time. He hated himself for causing such turmoil within the group, but also within you. He saw your health go downhill and how you weren’t as alert as you used to be.

“First Mara, now y/n. God women are just dying to get away from you, huh?”

“Go fuck yourself, McTavish” he replied

“We’ll wait until you hear the information I just received from our little y/n”

————

A cold and dreary morning, you sat across from a familiar, yet so new face. You see those young eyes, but are thrown off by how she’s grown up. Short brown hair and a strong hatred in her eyes.

You seen the fallen knights mask attached to her belt as she sits across from you with arms crossed.

“We never really got to meet before, but I know who you are. Why you’re here now, but unfortunately I can’t help you with what you need. That’s not my life anymore.”

“I just want you to relay a message to him. Tell him that I’m coming for him and I will stop at nothing to finish what my father started.” She says before standing up and leaving.

—————

“So you see, Simon. You, got a fan” Soap announced

“Oh great.” He huffs

He felt eyes on him and when he surveyed the crowd, his met the eyes of the past that haunts the future.

Sophia Couteau the daughter of the fallen

Templar.

#simon ghost riley #x fem reader #angst #mentions of death #Sophia Couteau #Templar #codm lore #fanfic #codm fanfic #codm timeline #Templar deserved better #oneshot #short stories #if i see any hate for said character I’m punting your ass into the sun #darkherolovercroissant #I’m only here to make toxic fanboys uncomfortable

[starg1rlie]

BYF (Before You Follow)

I tend to do quite a bit of shit-posting (random, non-writing related; mostly art or sometimes funny posts / prompts / moot’s stuff), so don't come at me if you keep getting notifications about my blog reblogging random posts. If you don't like it, oh well. This is supposed to be my own personal space that makes me feel comfortable and have fun.

Writing is a hobby for me, NOT A JOB. Do not expect me to update just because a bunch of people are clamoring for it. I’ll do it in my free time and will. If I’m caught up with something, I’ll drop a notice, but I might work on it in between. I’m first and foremost a student. Remember that, please. I tend to update once every month, because I despise being rushed and deadlines. Depending on my mood and schedule, I might post every week or so.

I rant. A lot. So, just be prepared for it. Not only angry ranting, but like, fangirling/fanboying as well. So most of the time I might just be scream/crying about a favorite character/show of mine. If you’re into it, lmk, I love fellow ranters. We’ll have something to bond over!

I may come off as rude/cold or insensitive towards people, and I swear I am not trying to be mean, it’s just my personality. It’s, well, I guess you could say it’s a way of showing my affection towards people, including my family, friends, and fans. I might roast you someday, but don’t take it too seriously. It’s just to get a laugh from both parties. If I make you uncomfortable with any of my jokes/comments, let me know IMMEDIATELY. I am not out here to actively be rude towards people.

I follow adult/sometimes NSFW accounts. I might also reblog a few of the authors’ contents, so if you’re underage or are simply uncomfortable/triggered by that sort of thing, please properly block according tags (‘suggestive’ & ‘nsfw’)

This account will be mainly run by me (Leo), but my friend, Hyo-kun, also works on here, so it’s like a dual personality. It’d be funny if my moots can try and see who’s on the account judging by the way we talk, lmao.

As of 2023, I now block any and all blank blogs that interact and/or follow me. Please, for the love of God, it doesn’t take too much of your time to decorate your blog. Otherwise, I can never tell if you’re a bot or a real person.

DNI (Do Not Interact)

Basic dni criteria

Toxicity/drama inducers

Consumers/writers of non-consensual content, be it sfw/nsfw

Romanticizes of toxic relationships

TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist)

If you spam like/reblog on posts

Blogs that are: homophobic, transphobic (including people who discriminate those who identify as “illegitimate” identities), ableist, racist, sexist, pedophilic/MAP (Minor attracted persons)/lolicons, and/or incestual

Consumers/writers of dead dove: do not eat content or any of the above content

K-Pop/DSMP stans

Anti-multiship, proshippers, LGBTQ+ fetishizers, radfems (radical feminists)

Basic dni criteria

Toxicity/drama inducers

Consumers/writers of non-consensual content, be it sfw/nsfw

Romanticizes of toxic relationships

TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist)

If you spam like/reblog on posts

Blogs that are: homophobic, transphobic (including people who discriminate those who identify as “illegitimate” identities), ableist, racist, sexist, pedophilic/MAP (Minor attracted persons)/lolicons, and/or incestual

Consumers/writers of dead dove: do not eat content or any of the above content

K-Pop/DSMP stans

Anti-multiship, proshippers, LGBTQ+ fetishizers, radfems (radical feminists)

#ヾ(^▽^*))) leeo rants/random! #dni / byf information #PLEASE read this before you interact and/or follow me #(like if you've read!)

[lightns881]

DreamNotFound Shipper Demographics and the Question on Whether Encouraging the Shippers is Unhealthy

So a couple of days ago I ran a poll on DreamNotFound shippers to capture demographics because a Reddit post (I will link it below) discussing the potential harm of Dream’s fanservice tactics (I’ve talked about it on a previous post) made me very curious as to the kind of audience he was attracting. 

Here are the results.

The survey consisted of four simple questions asking for gender, age, sexuality, and what kind of behavior they engage in when it comes to DreamNotFound.

Out of the 174 DreamNotFound shippers who responded, here are the overarching demographics for them.

Statistics 

Overall (174 Responses)

- 85.6% of total respondents identified as non-heterosexual

- All heterosexual respondents were female

- There were 8 times more female respondents than male respondents

- 37.9% of respondents were under the age of 16

Male (14 Responses)

- 50% of male respondents were under the age of 16, 1 respondent was 12 or under

- All male respondents identified as non-heterosexual with 42.9% identifying as homosexual, 42.9% identifying as bisexual/pansexual, 7.1% identifying as Asexual, and 7.1% identifying as Other

Female (116 Responses)

- 36.1% of female respondents were under the age of 16, 21% were over the age of 18

- 21% of female respondents identified as heterosexual, the majority (47.1%) identified as Bisexual/Pansexual

Non-Binary/Other (41 Responses)

- Non-Binary/Other respondents had the largest under 16 population at 39% and lowest 18 and over population at 19.5%

- 73.2% of non-binary respondents identified as bisexual/pansexual, 7.3% as homosexual, 14.6% as asexual, and 4.9% as other

(I will post a link to download the google spreadsheet in the comments below if anyone would like to take a look at the data for themselves.)

Fanfiction/Fanart/Reader Statistics

- DreamNotFound creators (fanfiction and/or fanart) were most likely to be bisexual/pansexual females between the ages of 16-17

- 35.3% of DreamNotFound creators were 15 or under, 41.2% were 16-17, and 23.5% were 18 or over

- 65.2% of DreamNotFound fanfiction readers were over the age of 16 (34.9% were 15 and below, 42.8% were 16-17, and 22.4% were 18 and over)

Possible Shortcomings in the Data

Though this survey was conducted for DreamNotFound shippers, not everyone marked the option of Shipping DnF in the last question. Though it might seem as some stray non-DreamNotFound shippers could have potentially taken the survey as well, this is likely not true considering the individuals who chose not to mark the Shipping DnF option all marked either one or both of the other two options. A likely hypothesis could be that some people thought Shipping DnF meant shipping them seriously/for real.*

*A way I’ve heard the difference between shipping them seriously and not seriously be described is shipping Dream and GeorgeNotFound (not serious) vs shipping Clay and George (serious). While all DnF shippers engage in the first, not everyone engages in the second because it is more of an invasion of privacy. It’s sort of like the way some people might ship two characters in a show but not ship the actors that play them. In this case, Dream and GeorgeNotFound function as sort of personas, while Clay and George are the actual individuals behind them.

Discussion on Potential Harm of DreamNotFound

So onto the million-dollar question: Is Dream’s fanservice and encouragement for the DreamNotFound shippers harmful solely because of the fact so many of them are minors? Is it harmful for minors to sexualize creators by writing, reading, and creating fanfiction/fanart (that might or might not be NSFW)?

*Chuckles*

Look, since the age of the internet, fandoms, and fangirls/fanboys, minors have been sexualizing their favorite characters, ships, personas, actors, singers and creators. “Teenage girls,” specifically, have been obsessing over them for a lifetime now. Just take a look at the One Direction and K-Pop fandoms. Is it harmful? I’m sure dozens of people, articles, and researchers have tackled this question in the past.

But, of course, we are talking about Dream’s deliberate encouragement of this ship (because it sure does get him a heck of a ton of fan content, does it not?) Obsession to the point where it affects a part of your life is obviously harmful, but is Dream encouraging this sort of behavior? Besides the passing jokes and fanservice, there is not indication that he’s deliberately encouraging obsessive shipping. Wouldn’t he try a little harder if he were?

And sure, Dream should not take pleasure from a bunch of thirteen year old girls calling him sexy and/or writing smut about him, but even if they were to stop the fanservice now, I HIGHLY doubt these behaviors would stop. It never did stop with One Direction, did it? Or K-Pop Groups. And I bet you right now someone is out there currently reading Septiplier fanfiction and/or engaging in the fandom that’s left for them even after they’ve explicitly told the fans they’re uncomfortable with it.

I don’t think Dream telling fangirls to stop shipping DnF will prevent this obsessive fangirl behavior from those who have it. This issue is much bigger than just Dream and George and the Minecraft community. The only thing it would do is stop the respectful and more mature DreamNotFound shippers, and that isn’t really going to make a difference, is it?

Now, in terms of accusations of grooming, I think this is a vastly different scenario that shouldn’t be brought into the discussion of DreamNotFound shippers. As long as the Dream Team doesn’t actively engage on a personal level with minors, there shouldn’t be a fear of sexual allegations. And again, even if he were to come forth and tell the fans to stop shipping DreamNotFound, it does not make this kind of situation any more unlikely to happen.

Concluding Thoughts

Now, I’m not saying I don’t entirely agree with the whole of the post. I think it brings forth some valid concerns that should be addressed, but I also think not everything mentioned is under Dream’s control. And specifically dealing with encouraging DreamNotFound shippers, in my opinion, I don’t think it’s going to make a difference in the toxicity and obsessive behaviors behind some of their stans. Most toxic and/or obsessive stans/shippers will continue to be toxic and/or obsessive, and the others who aren’t are just going to be discouraged from engaging in a ship and fandom they might really enjoy.

A Note on the Second Survey Conducted on the writing/reading of NSFW content from DreamNotFound shippers

I know some of you know I also conducted a second survey that was a little more personal and contained questions pertaining to the engagement of shippers in NSFW DreamNotFound content.

The reason I didn’t include the results for that survey here are because there have only been 20 responses to the survey as of now, and I don’t believe it’s enough to offer a valid data analysis for it.

However, if you guys would like to participate in it, I will link the form in the comments as well. I apologize for all the links down there, I do not want Tumblr to delete my post from tag pages.

Thank you everyone who participated on the survey! I would also like to thank the dream team writers discord server who helped in spreading the survey and evaluating the second unreleased survey. I hope, at the very least, this data evokes some discussion about this topic.

Check out my Tumblr page for DreamNotFound Fanfiction reviews, my twitch link (I stream MC every Sunday 7PM CT with my best friend), and other crack content! Toodles! :)

#dreamnotfound #dnf #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #dreamnotfound study #this took me ages please someone read it #analysis

[davidmann95]

So... Crossover #1: any thoughts?

Anonymous said: You seemed not to think much of Crossover #1 on Twitter. Your full thoughts?

wcwit said: So Cates' Crossover #1, best bad comic of the year or just regular pretentious trash?

An incidental note upfront: What you’re seeing there is the apparently SUPER-RARE SECRET VARIANT COVER I unwittingly picked up at the store - at first glance indistinguishable from the standard cover, the kid getting four-color-fucked by mysterious comic book rays is in fact themselves reading a variant cover of the book, rather than the main cover again in an infinite painting-within-a-painting sort of deal that’s the standard.

So I wasn’t gonna get this: my initial post on the comic and what an obviously awful idea it was back when we only knew half the premise and it was known as Pray The Capes Away actually got some out-of-nowhere traction recently, and I’ve grown rapidly tired of Cates’ Marvel work. Even learning that it was going to be Image’s biggest debut in decades - Jesus fuck, how and why - mostly just made me wish it was Commanders in Crisis getting those kinds of numbers. But Sean Dillon/@deathchrist2000 and Ritesh Babu both got early looks at it and assured me that I, specifically, needed to see the last page, so in I dove. I’ll be posting my reaction to the last page below because I recorded it for their amusement, and below that I’ll talk about said last page. It may surprise you, however, that that wasn’t my main takeaway from the issue.

Let’s accentuate the positive first! This book is gorgeous. Geoff Shaw was terrific back with Thanos Wins, but this is an incredible stylistic level-up aided and abetted by Dee Cunniffe’s colors: it’s rote as hell to say “They mix the elevated and the mundane so well!”, but even beyond the obvious ben-day dots stuff there’s such a tangible sense that the comic book beings don’t belong here, that they’re of higher, misty, platonic stuff and we squishy non-paper-people inevitably crumble and break and bleed in their wake, communicating that big idea so much more powerfully than the actual loads of text on the subject. And if we’re talking good things, I’ll concede it’s possible that there could be subtleties that play out in more interesting ways as it goes on, and that not everything is meant to be taken at face value: a smart friend who actually did like it mentioned being interested in it as clumsy but potentially effective exploration of ‘what if the fun hobby you had inadvertently became contaminated and stigmatized by forces beyond your control?’ In a post-Comicsgate world where we recently ended up inches away from the Superman logo almost certainly becoming a fascist propaganda symbol ala the Punisher skull for at least a generation, that’s a defensible lens to view this book through.

For all Donny Cates’ legitimate talents however, I don’t think an expectation of subtlety is gonna work out with this one.

Okay first off getting into the rest of it the main characters’ name is Ellipsis because “Those three little dots...they can become anything”, so there’s that. More importantly, in the world of this story where comic fans face social oppression after superpeople materialize and fuck up Colorado, they face EVERY KIND OF OPPRESSION: there are clear parallels drawn in here to the violence and harassment faced by people persecuted for their religion, people seeking abortions, queer people, and people of color; this motherfucker even drops a “hates and fears” to let us know comic collecting basically makes you one of the goddamn X-Men. Which in theory could be a purely misjudged allegory rather than stemming from actual, obscenely inflated to the point of disgusting fears of ‘nerd oppression’, except that the book literally opens with a quote from Wertham. If Cates didn’t want to make the message “Hating comics? That’s bad. Like, racism bad”, he utterly, grotesquely failed by inextricably intermingling imagery of real-world bigotry with systemic, deluded fanboy paranoia, at least as of this first issue that’s supposed to meaningfully convey the premise. As a queer dude I think I’m somewhat in my lane to say it’s too blunt and broad and dopey to be particularly offensive, but the co-opting of oppression is what this is rooted in.

The idea of ‘comics good no matter what people think, ain’t it?’ extends to the last traditional local comic store standing in this world: much as superheroes are the primary cause of suffering in this world but the point of the story is still supposed to reveal the beauty in them, part of this is that the comics community isn’t perfect but it sure is great. Which is expressed here via Ellie’s boss Otto, a loveable asshole who yells at people coming in trying to sell the wrong kind of comics to fuck off, but at heart is we’re supposed to understand a good enough dude that the shop he runs is “the only home a lot of (the benighted nerds) have left” (because I guess in this alternate universe the physical stores are still the main hub through which comics fans talk with one another?).

So here’s a story of my very own! That’s me in 2013, it must’ve been some kind of special day because I’m wearing a shirt with a button. I’d at that point only frequented one of what would be my thus far four regular comic shops. The first was a great place, and while to say I had a sense of community there would be overstating it a bit, I was on really good terms with the owner and we regularly chatted when we had the time. When I left for college my store there wasn’t as well-stocked, and for some damn reason all variant covers were double-price, but I got along really well with the owner there too. The third I wasn’t so lucky; the guy regularly behind the desk was never overtly hostile, but clearly wanted to wring my neck every time I asked when a missing comic might get in or if I could update my pull list, and given I’m in the ‘ideal’ demographic for being a comic book store regular and was dropping a solid lump of money there every week, I wonder how others were treated there (the store nearly went under, was saved on the last day of operation by another store that wanted to incorporate it as part of its franchise, then shortly afterwards DID go under and is now I believe a beef jerky place). My current store is fine, I didn’t chat much with the folks behind the counter even before we all had medical incentive to get in and out of places fairly quickly but it almost always has what I’m looking for.

Just because those were my regular stores of course doesn’t mean those are the only ones I’ve ever gone to. About a year before that picture was taken - it’s the closest I could find - when I was 17 my store didn’t have something or another I was looking for, so I head across town to see if another place I had looked up had it. This other place didn’t have what I was looking for either, though I distinctly remember picking up a few issues of Hickman’s FF while I was there since I had foolishly fallen off, hence my remembering the year. I bought a couple issues, but hung around for a bit looking to see if I might grab something else out of a dollar box, setting my comics down. Without realizing it, I’d set my books down on top of another issue, and when I decided I wasn’t getting anything else, I just picked that up along with the rest of the pile and was about to walk out before the owner stopped me. He explained what I had done though assumed it had been deliberate, and because I was a good-hearted little geek I even recall thinking “Well, he’s gonna chew me out, but I guess I deserve it. I’ll try and take this to heart as a learning experience.”

Then he pulled up his shirt a little to show me the gun on his belt. He pointed at the security camera monitors at his desk, and explained to me that if I ever did something like that again, he would have it on tape, and he would pull that gun on me and hold me there while he called the cops.

As it turned out, the comic was free.

The whole thing was so sudden and bizarre and unexpected I didn’t actually freak out until the drive home. It wasn’t until weeks or maybe months later that I managed to tell my dad about the experience, because I *had* nearly stolen a (free) comic and my guilt was mixed in with my nerves and I guess I was somehow too close to register just how disproportionate his response was. It wasn’t until now, nearly a decade later and thinking about it for the first time in a long time as I write this, that I wondered if that might have gone differently - especially living in the midwest - if I hadn’t been a white, squeaky-voiced 17-year-old.

So, minor spoiler, when our cantankerous but well-meaning LCS owner yells to call the cops and grabs and yells at a small kid for pocketing a comic (and later displays fantasy racism towards said kid), I am not filled with nostalgic love for the brotherly safe space that is comic book stores, where this guy while not meant to be seen as perfect is still framed in part as a charming, witty representation of Why We Love These Places, And This Community, And This Genre, And This Medium. Cates is clearly drawing on real time at his local stores, but he equally clearly has a very different takeaway from those experiences than me. And I am, again, in a demographic - white, cis-male, abled, bi but more interested in women, disposable income, a lifelong collector - that the industry and a lot of the guys who sell it to us contort themselves around catering to, even if I had a single very negative experience and later an ongoing low-key uncomfortable one to help disabuse me of any notions of the purity of the dork community. In the world of Crossover as of #1, toxicity is intertwined, deliberately or not on the part of the creators, with what we love on the cosmic and small business scales alike, but at least in the latter case it’s the whole picture that’s beautiful, not any single kernel that needs to be worked on to be dug up.

So underneath is my video reaction to the last page of Crossover #1. Very minor spoilers because I mutter the last two words of the comic to myself, but under the video I discuss said final page and some other scattered thoughts. Whether you read that or not, my takeaway is this: I’m fascinated with wherever the hell this thing is going, I’m glad my dad liked it well enough to want to keep getting it because now I’ll get to see where it heads, but my first impression is that this is at heart meant as cheapass Oscar-bait for people who only read Batman. It’s big and high-concept but also small and intimate! It’s meta and about how great you, the reader are for your consumption, especially the consumption of this! It’s going to be in large part about a forbidden love between a couple divided across impermeable social lines (a couple where they’re a seemingly straight white man and woman, but one likes comics)! Maybe it’ll become Not That, and I’m sure it’ll do at least something interesting along the way because Cates has done good stuff before and there are some inherently interesting big ideas for him to play with here, but for the love of god if you’re thinking about getting this buy Commanders in Crisis too or instead, it’s another new book out of Image about superheroes dealing with the collapse of the multiverse but that one is really fucking good.

So the final page splash reveal is that when the comic book child discovered in here got out of Colorado, which has had an impenetrable energy shield erected around it by one of the heroes for years, she and others were ferried out of there...by Superman, as the narration declares that “This is a story...about hope.” They don’t say the word, but she sketches her savior, Ellie and Otto freak out and go “Is that---” when they see it, and on that last page we see that while a crude drawing it isn’t a rough analogue character, it’s a guy with a cape and trunks with an S on his chest. Surprisingly, I don’t have much to say: it’s just another blunt signifier that superheroes rule and are the best, paired with the most utterly devalued notion as of late of what makes Superman special in ‘hope’. I mean, I’m perversely excited to see whether this is building the entire series on a hook it can never deliver on, or if Cates actually has talked DC into an intercompany crossover; believable given they’ve done a bunch of those over the last several years, and why else would Mark Waid be supervising as ‘story editor’ on this? I guess it’ll shake out one way or another with #6 given Cates has said it “has one of the more epic and — I would argue historic — sequences in comic book history in it.” But I’m far less convinced this is gonna truly go into the meaty question of “What does Superman mean and what makes him unique in this world where superheroes in general are indisputably either failures or monstrous bastards given the scale of destruction their presence has brought about, and he himself failed to stop that?” than as some kind of holy grail of how great superheroes are despite how dang violent they’ve gotten these days for the crew to chase after, whatever additional twist will surely be placed upon it. At least he’s kinda helping an immigrant kid get over a wall, if that’s deliberate?

Random final thoughts:

* If I wrote the opening essay and turned it in in a college course, I would be expelled for plagiarizing Grant Morrison. This is not a joke.

* If mainstream American superhero comics ended January 2017 in this universe, its own last ‘crossover’ was Civil War II, which is hilarious.

* God, please tell me if it takes the dive after all that this isn’t somehow tied into whatever Waid’s Superman project is.

* I wouldn’t normally crap on issues with the finer details of worldbuilding, but A. This is rooted in a nominally ‘real’ world playing by recognizable rules, B. I’m ragging on this anyway so what’s the harm, and C. It’s really obvious. So: Why is one of the racists against the superheroes the guy who loves superheroes so much he’s the last holdout in the entire world still selling comic books about them? How does this modestly-sized shop exist long-term with apparently a significant regular customer base if there are no new comics or even reprints to restock with, ever? Who’s buying the serialized cop/cowboy comics that the U.S. government apparently created pretty much overnight (nobody, it’s just another Wertham dig)?

* The solicit for issue #3 proclaims “Don't miss this one, folks. If you do, it just might drive you...mad.”, so now I fear some kind of Ultra Comics riff.

* “Kids love chains” is the most metal-ass quote of all time and I hate that it’s being wasted as an arc title on this book.

#Donny Cates #Geoff Shaw #Dee Cunniffe #John J. Hill #Mark Waid #Me #Superman #Opinion

[ddaenqu]

Short and Sweet

Update Me Drabble - This is set before the events in Update Me

pairings: fanboy!jimin x idol!reader

themes: Non-idol Verse AU, Reverse Idol AU, Fanboy AU, Fluff, Angst,

tags: possessive behavior, obsessive behavior, overprotective behavior, unhealthy behavior, toxic behavior, sasaeng behavior, stalking

a/n: oh baby, this is for the love of my life, min (@jooniescupcakes). thank you for being my friend and happy birthday!!!! i love you so much :((( and would’ve stopped writing if it weren’t for you, my first friend on here that’s stuck w me during my weird 2am talks. you’re so sweet n cute n adorable and i only wish the best for you. i hope you enjoy this! just something i thought would be cute for update!jimin, especially since around the time you wanted a drabble with him. and i’m also freaking out because i don’t know whether i scheduled to post this when it’s july 22nd for you, or if it’s still the 21st, like i’m having such a trouble, so i’m sorry if i get it wrong :(((

Jimin absolutely hated it here.

The constant chattering filling the small room, feet that hit hard on the poor wooden floor, the constant buzz of energy that sounded like a white noise throughout the room, and the sweat that clung to the walls and skin of everyone.

He didn’t want to be here, as he always hates being at the dance studio, but today—especially—he did not want anything to do with this place.

Jimin looked around the room, beads of sweat forming at his forehead and then his legs aching, throbbing uncomfortably that he was always shifting his leg to get rid of the odd tremor in it.

Everyone was white and black to him, their faces blended into the same, their words and voices sounded like plain mockery when they spoke to him, their eyes downcast as if they bored with life, and he knew for a fact they were. They lived their lives in ignorance, he thought in spite, looking back at his phone, showing an event on the calendar with an event in capitalized words.

Just looking at it made his heart thump in an immense amount of infatuation, butterflies fluttering at the pit of his stomach, his body screaming with energy burning at his breaths, slow to comprehend a sudden rush of excitement that came and went.

Didn’t they know what today was? How important today was? Who in their right mind thought that having a lesson today would be fine?

They were obviously fucking stupid.

Usually, he’d be at home, retweeting, replying, and liking everything of yours, over and over. A cake, your favorite type, and flavor, sitting nicely in his fridge with newly bought wine sitting atop his counter with a nice ribbon he bought—in your favorite color—tied around it.

Instead, he was sitting in his dance studio, covered in, his words: grease. With people he didn’t like, neither did he have newly bought wine or a pretty cake sitting in his fridge, he doesn’t have anything.

Jimin already feels useless as it is, but now that he’s consistently messing up on the dances—he’s close to ditching or making up some half-assed excuse to get out of here.

He clicked his tongue, brushing his hair out of his face, and clicked on Twitter, hoping to lessen his sour mood.

Looking through to see all of your fan accounts, most in English, some in Japanese or Korean (that’s as far as he could understand). He can somewhat notice they were all making a mess of themselves over you, noting certain words like “I love you” in English. He couldn’t blame them though.

It was your birthday after all.

His holiday.

The one day he feels complete as if he’s celebrating something with you, being with you, knowing you’re going to be having an Instagram live, responding to birthday wishes—you’re going to be there—for him.

At one point, he thinks it’s unfair how everyone gets to celebrate it too. He wants to feel special when he congratulates you personally through a private message, email, even fan mail that he’s made sure to send in accordance to your time zone.

Although, you never reply, never text of it, or utter a word about it. He knows you must’ve read it. You had to.

You loved your fans. You love him.

He scrolls further and further through his feed, through tags that were related to you or your birthday, constantly switching through different social media’s just to look at photos you’ve posted hours ago, only to look at your face—your perfect smile that radiated everything. Everything he wants to have at this moment.

It’s a constant reminder, seeing your captions in English, never in his language, or you, rarely being able to tour, and when you do, it’s never Korea.

He detests it.

Couldn’t you learn Korean for him? It’s hard, he could understand that at least, but with his help, you could easily learn it. That way you could always understand his posts, his love and adoration for you, you could be with him and only him.

Life would be so much easier if you were with him.

A shy smile reaches his lips, only imagining what you would look like if he ever had to chance to meet you. He’d imagined you’d be shocked, that’s a given, but you would be happy.

The things he would do for you on your birthday. An unhealthy amount of dates to the park, the restaurants, the beach. Lavishing you with gifts he could only imagine were the best of the best, diamonds, gold—anything you looked at with interest, it’s there—and his hand, intertwined with yours, tight enough to leave marks.

The dance instructor walks to the front of the room, already ruining his mood. Jimin dreads their heavy steps and their obnoxious clapping to collect the students, to prepare them for another onslaught of useless dancing. The songs weren’t nearly as good and fun as yours, maybe he’ll have a talk with the instructor to change it.

“Five-minute warmup,” they state blandly, then going on to busy themselves with something or someone else, Jimin didn’t care.

Of course, he still listens.

He, slowly, goes to shut his phone off and toss it into his bag sitting in the corner of the room, obviously situated from the rest of the class’ bags. Until his phone vibrates and rings, a notification from Twitter once again. Your username popping up on the notification screen (he practically has all of your usernames ingrained into his brain, from every each app you use)

It’s a post. A thank you message.

It’s for him.

Jimin flushes with heat, his breathing becoming irregular the moment he opens it up, reading it over and over, and over. Eating up every word and letter you used, every smiley face, every emoji, everything. He doesn’t care at this point if his ears and face are red, sweat collecting at his neck—he doesn’t care at all.

He curls into himself in his awkward sitting position, his heart hurts and hurts. Muscles that were limp before, slack against the floor, were now building up with newfound energy.

Quickly, typing out a response to the thank you letter, knowing he will come back to it later and reply with something better than what everyone else is replying with under your post.

A simple “I love you” will suffice, for now, ending with a short and sweet, “Happy birthday :)”

(thank you for reading! and send birthday wishes to @jooniescupcakes please, and go all out with praises 🧸❤️)

#bts v #bts rm #bts jin #bts jungkook #bts suga #bts jimin #bts jhope #bts park jimin #park jimin #jimin #jimin x reader #jimin x you #park jimin x reader #park jimin x you #yandere park jimin #yandere jimin #yandere au #yandere fanfiction #yandere fic #bts yandere #yandere bts #bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #BTS au #bts au fanfic #bts aus #non idol au #kpop fanfiction #kpop fanfic #yandere kpop

[fangirlunderground-blog]

Meta Monday

I got involved in fandom in the mid-90s when I was around 14 years old. My cousin @lyndanaclerio sent me VHS recordings of the Sailor Moon dub, and I fell in love... I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before.

Since then, I’ve been in a lot of different fandoms: from manga to YA, Tolkien to Xena, Harry Potter to Teen Wolf, Star Wars to Marvel, and countless mini-fandoms along the way. And I’ve met a lot of cool people online over the years — older and younger alike, including my best friend of 15 years — on all sorts of platforms. I’ve built myself fandom homes on shitty GeoCities fansites and moderately less shitty sites I made from scratch; on Yahoo! Groups and LiveJournal; on AO3 and Tumblr... and that’s nothing compared to others!

But, last week, I turned 36, and according to some, I’ve already overstayed my welcome in fandom by at least a decade. I guess I’m supposed to put all my comics and collectibles on eBay, swap out my fanfiction with whatever the fuck a beach read is, and spend the rest of my life cloistered in my house where I won’t offend society. (I mean, I’m kind of a hermit, but that’s not why.) 

And let me be clear here: by some, I mean some. While there is indeed a frightening trend here on Tumblr, in which some young people have embraced bizarrely conservative views about women and sexuality, with the Trumpian rhetoric to match, I think the problem is bigger than that. I recently talked about the pressure I felt to abandon fandom when I was 25 when Tumblr was still brand new, and nothing like it is today. It’s clear there were (and are) more societal forces at work than just a toxic sub-culture on a struggling platform.

So, this post isn’t about the vast majority of young people in fandom, nor am I here to yell “get off my fandom, you pesky kids!” when no one ever said that to 14-year-old me. In fact, this post is as much for fangirls as it is for fanwomen because you deserve to know that getting older doesn’t mean giving up the things you love. But you don’t deserve to tell others to conform just because you’re uncomfortable that they exist. There are already enough toxic fanboys trying to keep women out of geek culture, so don’t help them hold the gates closed from the outside.

And if you are older, and already let that shit drive you out of taking a more active part in fandom, I’ve been there, and I get it. But you can still come back; not just on your private Tumblr, or your secret AO3 account, but for real and any time. One of the most freeing choices I’ve made is to stop pretending I think all of this is stupid. The world needs more quirky, eccentric women, anyways.

Sorry this one is so long, but apparently I have FEELINGS this month — especially after the Bog of Eternal Stench I had to trot through while researching this one — and there are a lot of people who’ve articulated them better than I did here (see the following meta recs). I promise we’ll move on next week! As always, let the authors know you appreciated their work by engaging however you can. And if you ever feel alienated on this site, please feel welcome to talk to me! 💛  

Fandom - Ageism

Adults in Fandom by @littlesystems, [...] There are a lot of different factors at play with the current fandom purity thing. It’s primarily being driven by minors, which is why I’ve used that as a stand-in, but there are older people who are obsessed with this and younger people who aren’t. Nuance! Exciting stuff. I think the two biggest drivers here are a genuine but misguided desire to make fandom a better place, paired with plain ol’ run-of-the-mill sexism. I’m not the first person to say this and I know others have said it better, but here are my two cents. (Mirror Link)

Age and Experience in Fandom by @tppfandomstats, This month’s @threepatchpodcast episode, When I’m 64, looks at fandom and aging. To go along with these discussions, here are some demographic stats from a few fandom surveys on the age distribution in our online fandom communities. (Mirror Link)

Age Appropriate Activities by @telesilla, So this post, another in a long series of “find a bridge club you embarrassing old ladies” posts, came around. And I adulted hard all day and it just really pissed me off and caught me at a bad time. (Mirror Link) 

Ageism in Fandom by @badtech-reblogs, Seeing yet another post about ageism in fandom and I’m trying to do some root cause analysis. That ageism in fandom is tied up with misogyny is a given. There is almost no age too young to start ridiculing a woman for her hobbies and interests, and even young girls are expected to have a maturity and patience beyond their years. The misogyny is coming in from the larger world outside of fandom like how misogyny, ableism, anti-blackness etc. seeps into all subcultures. (Mirror Link)

Ageism in Fandom: Too Old to Fangirl? by @ravenmorganleigh, @vulgarweed, et al. Most Fandoms are comprised mostly of women, young and old. It’s interesting to me when Young Women– who are the most likely to champion women’s rights can turn around and show their youth-bias when it comes to Older Women in Fandom. (Mirror Link) 

Fandom culture wouldn’t be where it is now if it wasn’t for Old Fandom by @thepalmtoptiger, I almost forgot that ageism in fandom is a thing. Apparently once you hit 25/30 years old you’re supposed to stop having interests in things. People need to freshen up on their fandom history and realize that fandom now wouldn’t be what it is if it wasn’t for older fans. (Mirror Link)  

Getting older doesn’t actually feel like anything by @catchmewhispering, The hilarious thing about growing up, that all the ageist people here are gonna very harshly realise, is getting older doesn’t actually feel like anything. You don’t “turn into” an adult, it’s just another year that passes and, sure, it might become easier to make decisions or figure out how to fix a sticky situation but overall, you don’t suddenly Enter Adult World and never have a goofy thought or a messy moment ever again. (Mirror Link)    

The idea that you will someday be ‘too old’ for the stuff you find fun by @freedom-of-fanfic,  [...] The idea that you will someday be ‘too old’ for the stuff you find fun now is a long-standing cultural message that I’m sure many anti-shippers - many adolescents of all stripes - have absorbed. that message caused adolescent me to think I would outgrow fandom, and I don’t think that message has particularly changed. (Mirror Link) 

If other people in fandom are older than you, by definition, they have been your age by @codenamecesare, [...] If other people in fandom are older than you, by definition, they have been your age. When fans write about younger characters, we’re not peering through a keyhole at young people now and creeping on them. We are drawing on our own experiences, thoughts, feelings and memories of what it was like when we were that age. (Mirror Link)

I’m old as balls by @warlordenfilade, [...] Just realize that with 30+ year old franchises there will be 30+ year old people who grew up with the franchise and still love it.  Tumblr may be a relatively recent platform but fandom as an institution is waaaay older than I am and the Transformers fandom in particular has fans in their 40s and 50s whom I am personally acquainted with, fans who have adapted from photocopy fanzines and snail mail mailing lists to bulletin boards, newsgroups, forums, and, yeah, tumblr, in their many years of fandom. (Mirror Link)

I wish we’d stop telling each other - and ourselves - that there’s a point at which we’re too old for fandom by @vantasticmess​, I spent every year from 14 to 25 telling myself that eventually I’d grow out of fandom: I would get too old to cosplay and I would write my own original stories instead of ‘just’ fanfiction. After all, adults don’t write fanfic and adults don’t make costumes for themselves. Adults get married and have kids and make costumes for their kids and write real stories and get published. (Mirror Link) 

“like, i’m not saying that adults don’t have a place in fandom.” by @porcupine-girl​, @melifair​, et al. [...] Fandom is vast and encompasses a multitude of interests and age groups. We all fandom responsibly, and those who abuse that at the expense of someone vulnerable or impressionable are not tolerated. This does not mean that anyone specific group of fandom should be limited. Nor does it mean that the only entertainment media created ever should be accessible to all viewing audiences. Young fandom will grow to understand this, not only in fandom but in life. (Mirror Link)

“Lmao 30-year-old women don’t belong in fandoms. Go knit or have kids or something.” by @rainbowloliofjustice, @the-salt, et al. [...] It’s the fact I don’t get what these people think happens when you turn 18 it’s not like the second you turn 18 you just immediately lose interest in everything you were interested in at 17 and from then on only like strictly ‘adult™’ things. A lot of people who were in fandoms as teenagers stay in fandoms as adulthood. Fandoms aren’t minor-only spaces and never have been and there’s literally nothing wrong with adults in fandom environments. (Mirror Link)

Older fans are crucial to the survival of fandoms by @muchymozzarella, [...] Not ONLY because they’re literally the ones keeping fandom afloat (AO3 wasn’t created or maintained by kids, let’s just say), but because older fans generally don’t attack or bully or fuck up a fandom by being aggressive or volatile or overzealous, destroying any enjoyment of a medium. (Mirror Link)

PSA by @bugsieplusone​, I’ve been sitting on this post for a while because it probably reveals more about me on a platform that I’d rather not reveal but here goes. I’d like to talk about fandom and ageism. If you are older, you are: Allowed to like things, Allowed to create fan works, Allowed to discuss things with other like minded fans, Allowed to participate. (Mirror Link)

Reblog if Older Fans Are Welcome In Fandom by @cameoamalthea​, For many fandom is a life long passion that starts young, but being a geek isn’t something you have to grow out of and put away. I didn’t start cosplaying until my 20s (I couldn’t have, and probably won’t be financially secure enough to do all the things I want until my 30s). (Mirror Link)

tumblr’s disgust for older people in fandom by @bai-xue​, @awkward-smiley​; [...] I’m young now, but I was scared that I wouldn’t be over fandoms when I got older. I’m sick of it, how about we all just like what we like and not judge people? (Mirror Link)

you are never too old for fandom by @hils79​, [...] You are never too old for fandom and if you think that’s true I pity you when you reach whatever arbitrary age you think is the cutoff point. (Mirror Link)

You are reinforcing a stereotype by @asocialjusticeleague​, @olderthannetfic​, et al; [...] Whenever you question a woman’s right to this space because of her age or parental status, you are reinforcing a stereotype that has effects that reach beyond that one situation. The expectation, for example, that 40 year old men be catered to when writing comics, but that characters of interest to 40 year old women are obsolete or unprofitable. (Mirror Link)

#meta #fandom #antis #ageism #age #women #meta monday #fangirlrecs #mm41

[hamliet]

So what are your thoughts on TGsubreddit? It's honestly becoming worse these days because of the influx of childish people, especially migrants from 4ch who purposely invade tumblr and reddit to shitpost apparently. People get defensive over silly arguments about Kaneki being in the right or Mutsuki being a female, just arbitrary things. You get downvoted to oblivion if you don't have a hivemind way of thinking and it's basically a circlejerk. They swear Mutsuki deserves to die there too, like??

Well, Reddit is gonna Reddit. Basically my opinion is that you can’t control what people say or think, but you can control whether or not you want to give their opinions weight (the “Mutsuki is irredeemable” opinions I don’t give any weight to; whether he is or isn’t redeemed–and I strongly believe he will be, he absolutely is redeemable) or whether or not you want to subject yourself to reading them. I usually don’t because after all, I’m human, and emotionally driven, so seeing cruelty towards characters can make me sad even if it logically shouldn’t, but sometimes I’m bored and go on. If other people enjoy the debates and discussion there, though, power to them, I’m not intending to criticize those people at all. To each their own.

For my salty feminist take on Reddit, which I basically think of as the onscreen id of the toxically masculine teenage boy, see below:

I find that the atmosphere of Reddit (which isn’t to say everyone on there is like this) is highly Fanboy centered, and they’re really unkind and dismissive of female opinions, and it’s prone to bullying and mods are more often than not participants in that rather than stopping it as they should. They also are populated by people who seem to be in stories for the entertainment factor, or specifically for the badass factor. Emotions? Yuck. Vulnerability? Why would you bring that up? Gray morality? Hell no, just badassery.

So suffice to say that the TG subreddit doesn’t seem that different to me than the Star Wars subreddit, the other subreddit I used to go on (never really participated though, I only lurked). The SW subreddit was full of REY IS A SKYWALKER/SOLO and KYLO IS IRREDEEMABLE after TFA and lol guess what the (primarily) female fans who studied stories were actually right about where the story was going (and, you know, actually paid attention to themes and statements in the film–Maz legitimately tells us Rey is not related to the Skywalkers in TFA but did anyone want to pay attention? Not on Reddit).

They don’t like Mutsuki because Mutsuki provokes conversations about things that threaten their “badass or useless” view of the world. I’m hyperbolizing here but yeah. Like, you can’t even use male pronouns for Mutsuki. You know I don’t believe Mutsuki is intended to be a transgender character, and yet I still use male pronouns to be respectful of Mutsuki’s wishes. It’s fine if others use feminine pronouns because he’s a fictional character, but there’s no room for nuance on Reddit, and there’s especially no room for discussions of what it actually means to be a man, gender roles, or different opinions. The fact that Mutsuki provokes discussion of toxic masculinity and it can’t be ignored with his character arc whereas it can be with Urie’s (well, not really, but they ignore it because he’s lucky enough to have a penis) AND discussion of sexual abuse AND mental illness AND he’s darker-skinned than most of the cast? Why would they want to like a character like that? Mutsuki’s uncomfortable for them.

Also, the way Reddit treats female characters–blech. It doesn’t shock me that they really want Femtoneki–they want badassery more than they want a thematically sensical story. And it’s fine there’s nothing wrong with that, but there is a lot wrong with the misogyny and sexism I see on there. Kaneki showing vulnerability and weakness? Nope. Mutsuki having a vagina? Die crazy b*tch die even though like who has he actually hurt? Basically himself and that’s it? I saw people literally arguing for fucking euthanasia of Mutsuki, comparing it to putting a dying cat down. Like that’s some next level ableism there. Saiko is stanned because she saved Urie, a badass (even though his badass facade is killing him) and because specifically she did it with boobs. The moment she gets an arc I expect them to unstan her faster than you can say Reddit. Touka is appreciated only because she gives Kaneki sex and not for her own character arc. I’m not sure if they think Touka has a character arc or if her role is just about what she can give Kaneki; she’s a flawless sex object to them who saved Kaneki with sex. Hsiao is a badass and sexy so she’s liked (I mean, I like Hsiao because of her badassery and sexiness lol, but it’s like a pattern on Reddit). Akira? She’s emotionally repressed and women can’t be like that so she’s clearly awful to them. Basically women are reduced down to their sexual organs and how traditionally feminine they are, to which I say: f*ck you Reddit.

And one more thing. Their lack of understanding how stories work means I seldom take the hive’s opinion as having merit. Some really good ideas do come from Reddit, and there are plenty of reasonable people on there, it’s just that collectively I want to rub my grubby feminist hands over every subreddit and horrify them all.

#ask hamliet #hamliet gets salty #feminism #sexism #fandom misogyny #ableism tw #racism tw

[darkherolovercroissant]

It Ends Here

Simon Ghost Riley x Fem Reader

Warnings:Mentions of smut. (I’m only here to make toxic fanboys uncomfortable) mature themes & Language. Minors please go away.

Library 📚

————————

“It ends here” he huffs after he comes down from the high.

I smirk and trace the tattoos on his forearm while resting my head on his shoulder.

“You always say that, yet you’re the one that jumps into my bed whenever you need a release. Seems as though you have a hard time following your own word.” I snicker

“I mean it this time, no more after tonight. It’s getting to Soap.” He growled

“That muppet couldn’t find his way out of a wet paper bag.” I huff and get up to retrieve my clothes.

“I thought you liked him?” He teased

“I did until he started being a dick.” I reply

“Get used to it. That’s soap in a nutshell.”

—————

“Where’s Ghost?” You ask as the team stands overlooking the explosion.

“Hopefully in the explosion” soap hissed

“Aww is little soap mad?” Roach teases

“Want me to knock your ass out?” He replied

You just laugh and shake your head. You could see Price was like an exhausted father with his many troubling children. Now he lost one somewhere and the rest were about to go at it like there was no tomorrow.

“Bring your kid to work days suck” the familiar deep voice sighs as they approach from behind.

“And where the fuck were you!?” Soap yells as Simon joins your side.

“Off smelling the roses.” He shrugs before following Price

“You are the biggest disappointment I’ve ever seen” Soap continues his bickering as he followed behind Simon.

“Y/n would have to disagree.” Gaz smirks

“Wait what?” Soap stops abruptly causing me to smack right into him.

“Oh yeah. Last night, I heard them going at it like rabbits.” He laughs

As we head to our evacuation point, Soap continues to ask questions, but Simon and I just ignore him while Gaz is the one that answers them.

“Can’t believe you’d sleep with that muppet” Soap mutters as he glared at Simon who just flips him off.

“Jealous?” I tease

“Pfft you wish lass. I just don’t want any little ghosts running around. Bad enough I have to deal with him, we don’t need any more.”

I just laugh as we return home from this mission.

————

It was 9:37pm when a firm knock came on my door. Pulling it open to see Riley standing there, I smirk as he rolls his eyes before pushing in the door and then carrying me to my bed.

“It ends here” I mock in a horrible English accent.

“Shut up.” He replies before removing any article of clothing.

————

Happily eating my lunch, Gaz comes to join me at the table along with Soap.

“Oh god Riley! Right there!” Gaz mocks what I guess I sounded like last night causing Soap to curse before leaving followed by loud laughter from both Gaz and I.

“He must be good if he can keep you going that long. I was wondering if you guys were ever going to stop.” He laughs

“I’m so sorry Gaz” I blush

“Don’t worry about it. It’s worth seeing Soap all pissy”

————

As I was about to head to bed, Soap yells from down the hall.

“I swear if I hear you two tonight, I’m gonna cut his dick off!”

“At least buy me dinner before you touch me you prick.” Riley huffs as he enters the room before me.

“You’re in a very calm mood for just being threatened.” I tease.

“I’d love to see that muppet take me. I’d break his neck before he could blink.” He replied

“So let me guess. It ends here?” I smirk as my hand reaches out for his bicep. They were very well built from years of training and the way his body had been sculpted from over the years makes your mouth water.

“It ends here” he says before pulling me closer.

“So I’ll expect you tomorrow in my bed as well.” I tease

“And the day after that and then the day after that.” He hums before lifting his mask up to kiss me.

“Can’t wait.” I moan as his lips latch onto my neck as I hear him undoing his belt before picking me up and carrying me to my bed.

#short stories #simon ghost riley #oneshot #reader is female #x fem reader #call of duty fanfic #I’m here to make toxic fanboys uncomfortable #Simon ghost Riley x fem reader #please enjoy #fanfic #darkherolovercroissant #fluff #mentions of smut #enjoy this before someone somehow finds this problematic