#Quite diverse fandoms if you ask me

[iggy-hands]

I only watch the ofmd fandom from afar but some people give the impression of not conciliating well how the show is light hearted and comforting but also deals with heavy subjects in a general violent contex. the fact I've seen people say there's no homophobia when it's the central driving force of the plot is the most exaggerated example. but it's also in this attempt to flatten characters into "uwu baby" and "who's right vs who's wrong" (or at worse who's an abuser) when the show clearly does its best to create a likable flawed cast. Stede is extremely insecure and a horrible father/husband even before he abandons his family. Ed is an abuse survivor and he struggles with anger. Izzy is an asshole and it's funny- I mean he's a brit working class caricature. those things interact and its what makes the show human and interesting. why try to smash it into a simplistic dichotomy. it won't work 😭😭

and obviously you know all of this. so I guess it's: thanks for having braincells 😘😘

I don't actually know how old this ask is, but, it's been in my inbox for a while lol, sorry!

I think observing from a distance might be the most enjoyable way, it's been years since I was this close to the centre of a fandom and it's wild.

But yes, you're absolutely correct, it's a show about flawed characters and their ability to realise they're in the wrong, and change themselves - if that's what they want! Obviously not every character is given this opportunity, nor should they be, but I think my main issue with people coming down on the characters either way is that currently, they're unfinished!

...maybe Izzy will get worse next season, maybe his racism/general abusiveness and manipulation will become his main character traits, maybe his arc is that he rejects offers of kindness and belonging because of his own prejudices/self-importance and in the end this destroys him. I'd love to see that play out, but I'd love to see whatever they do with him play out too.

Taking a break for a while really made me realise that actually, this is a comedy show about pirates? What Are We Doing??

I love the meta and the drawn out explanation - I am an English Literature and Media Studies graduate, like literally I dedicated years of my life to this stuff! But one of the main reasons for these analyses is that it's supposed to be a discussion, there are supposed to be disagreements and alternative theories, and you should look at whether the evidence is actually in support of what is being said.

It isn't about deciding what is moral/immoral content to consume. Especially in a comedy show, where the character people are angry about is so cringe-fail within the show itself, and who's worst traits seem only to be evident through close-reading.

One of the first things you learn if you take Lit/Media in higher education is that you can be wrong about a text. You can't just say whatever you want without actual textual evidence (and, pet-peeve, but I personally do not count interviews etc). And sometimes, completely contrasting information can be true - because of the ambiguity! Whether these meanings are intentional or not - this is unknowable. And of course you can have your own personal opinions or readings of a text, but it's weird to decide that because you are right, everything else must be wrong.

I also see posts that essentially read - "this character is deep and multifaceted and we should look closely at them. But this character sucks and if you engage with content that looks closely at them then you suck too!" And I can't help but feel that that's worse than if we weren't to engage with textual analysis at all. Ignoring the actions of "evil" characters, who shape the narrative, feels very dismissive to me - disrespectful both to the text itself but also to the real world issues that it draws from.

I suppose in conclusion, everyone continue to think critically, consume media critically, but also, touch grass sometimes. and maybe read a book too.

#woes of emily #hhhh should i main tag this?? #ofmd #is that. was that. a mistake? #long post #thank you for this ask/ a reason to say all of this essentially lol #i probably am wrong about some of this and that's fine. a lot of it is quite simplified and not universally true #thats because this is a response to an ask on tumblr and not an academic essay #i do think that fiction can affect real life. i think this is why things like copaganda exists #media is also a reflection is real life - whether we intend it to be or not. it's impossible for it not to be #but i also think the only way to combat this is to consume critically #and not write things off as problematic and simply ignore it like it's not there? #but i ALSO understand that engaging with a text in this way takes extra energy that we don't always have #especially when its for a silly. comforting. diverse. comedy show #that also just happens to deal with some big issues in a really engaging and often subtle way.... #it's a complex issue!! #im a big fan of giving people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to things #and maybe that's one's on me but #I'd personally rather assume that other people also. have braincells. as the anon worded it here #than swathe entire sections of the fandom in accusations of supporting racism/homophobia/abuse etc etc #🤷‍♂️ idk #it's a complex issue i guess and i dont have the answers #and ive not even been actively looking for them #I'm just a guy #ask #anon #ask to tag

[olderthannetfic]

One reason the "why not f/f" discussion doesn't go away is that it's paired with the Kool-aid that Fandom made for itself. "We do what canon doesn't! We write what canon refuses to give us! We do better than the patriarchy-driven industry, because we are the ignored minorities doing it for ourselves!" And in the context of all of that trumpeting, I think it's fair for people to ask "but do you really tho"

You can't have it both ways, throwing around claims of having better diversity because Fandom isn't the industry shackled by the patriarch executives, but also wehhh of course you shouldn't expect diversity, the industry refuses to give us canon diversity, there's no way we could do better than the industry, if only there was a diverse canon anywhere that would definitely fix me

--

Yeah. Some of the early theorizing, especially around slash, has really overstayed its welcome. The most tiresome and least nuanced versions of these talking points tend to recirculate and recirculate on social media.

I think a better way of analyzing it is to say that fandom adds id.

We bring the horny, and that means we're endlessly creative and will do things the industry won't... in certain spheres.

It doesn't mean we're striking out on our own to develop terminally underdeveloped canon characters. It means we're adding a tentacle monster.

--

But ultimately, a huge portion of the howling on this topic boils down to a lot of AFAB people, including quite a few who identify as women, saying "In my fantasy life, I see myself as a man" and other people losing their shit over that.

[callsigndragon]

Mistrust

Captain John Price x gn!reader (Reader is called Mace)

Warnings: typical COD violence and gun stuff, Price being wary and protective over his team, Soap being a little shit (like always, but we love him)

word count: 1.3k

A/N: This is my first time writing for Price and actually writing for this fandom so bear with me, I'm still learning heheh

As a captain, it was Price’s job to make sure that every single man or woman under his command is not only in their best shape to perform a mission but can also fit in with the team. So when he gets a call from Laswell in which the CIA agent explains to him that she has sent a new member for his team, his first instinct is to grunt a dry ‘no’ and hang up. Which he does.

But then you appear at his office the next day, and he has to restrain himself from picking up the phone and calling Laswell. She must know something that he ignores. Price knows that Kate is one of the few people he can trust without question. So if you’re here, it’s because you are a valuable asset for the team, right?

“What’s your name, Sergeant?” He asks, getting up from his desk, and walking slowly around it, sitting on the edge in front of you, without once stopping to make eye contact. 

“Y/n L/n, sir. But everyone calls me Mace.” You respond, looking at him. He had seen many men shiver under that same gaze that he is using to look at you—a test that he had perfected over the years. But you don’t move. Not even an inch. 

You’re tough. Point for you. 

“Let me introduce you to the others, Mace.” 

When he introduces you to the other members of the unit, he is quite surprised to see you exchanging words with Ghost. Riley, with his skull-covered face, turns his whole body in your direction, listening intently to your every word. That’s not an everyday occurrence. 

“Ghost.” Price calls the Lieutenant, watching as he approaches and you move to talk with Soap, who cracks a few jokes that make you smile. That’s a cute smile. 

Wait, what?

After a few moments, Ghost, who had been standing next to Price, raises his voice a bit to make sure that the Captain hears him. “A penny for your thoughts?”

“What do you know about ‘em?” 

Ghost turns his head in your direction, chuckling when he sees you holding Soap in a headlock. “Mace is good, Cap. I worked with them a few years ago, and like you, I didn’t trust them much at first.” 

“And now?” 

“I’ll trust ‘em with my life.” Ghost’s words make the captain look at him, with an eyebrow raised. “You won’t regret it, old man.” 

“Are you vouching for them?” 

“Yes.” 

Price takes a deep breath, stroking his beard while patting his pockets and looking for his cigar. “If they do somethin’ dodgy, you’re dealin’ with it, Riley.”

“Trust me, they won’t.” 

A few weeks later, Task Force 141 gets deployed for a simple mission. In and out. Get in, don’t get caught, get what you need, and exit the building as quickly as you entered it. 

It was easier said than done. 

Because, as simple as this mission was supposed to be, the information that was given to Price, was false. And the room in the basement that was supposed to be empty and unprotected, was full of enemies who were not very glad to see you. 

In the heat of the battle, Soap, Ghost, and Price create a diversion so Gaz and you can get closer to the computers and retrieve the information from them. That was the main objective of this mission. 

“You get the data, I have your back.” You tell him, raising your voice to be heard over the sound of the weapons being fired. 

“It’s gonna take me a few minutes.” Gaz says, typing on the computer like a madman. 

“We don’t even have a minute, Gaz. Make it count.” You respond, changing the magazines in your pistol and your rifle. These are your last magazines. 

It doesn’t take long for you to run out of ammo. It seems like whenever you take one man down, two more appear, cornering you more and more into the farthest place in the basement, where there is not even a fucking window you can use to crawl out of here. You’re trapped, you’re low on ammo, and you have to protect Gaz. 

“Mace, you copy?” 

“Yes, sir.” You mutter over the radio once you hear Price’s voice. “I’m out of ammo.”

“We’re movin’ to your position, hold tight! We'll get you out of there.” 

“Sir, I don’t think we have all the files.” You protest, grabbing the knife once you hear someone moving closer to your position. 

“Those files are not worth two lives, Sergeant.” 

“But- Fuck!” You grunt, running towards the man who has just turned the corner, tackling him down, and driving the knife up his throat. 

“Mace? Mace, you copy? Gaz, where the fuck is Mace?” Price is practically yelling now, and you can hear Soap swearing under his breath because of Price’s tone. 

“Mace was protecting me while I got the data. But I can’t find- Oh shit.” 

“What now?” Ghost groans, already tired of this mission and the amount of things that are going wrong. 

“Mace took out three enemies with just a knife.” 

“Fuckin’ hell, Mace.” 

“I think what you mean to say is ‘you’re welcome’. Room clear. Can we fucking leave now?” You get the pistol from one of the men lying on the floor and make your way out of the room, with Gaz close behind you. 

Later that day, when you knock on Price’s door to give him your report, he glances at you with a mixture of pride and tiredness in his blue eyes. 

“Sir… is something the matter?”

“What you did today…” 

You interrupt him before he can finish his sentence, feeling his reprimanding tone. “Captain, I know that I should have answered when you called, but I was a bit occupied. It won’t happen again.”

He chuckles, watching as your whole body tenses up while you explain your actions. “Next time, let me finish first. I was going to say that you did a hell of a job and that I’m sorry for mistrusting you when you first came in. You proved yourself to be a good asset.” 

“So…you’re not mad at me” You say, trying to make sure that the captain is not messing up with you. 

“Quite the opposite.” He chuckles, and you’re sure it’s the first time you've seen him show that emotion. At least with you. Is he letting his walls down now that he trusts you? 

You smile a bit, ready to tease Price. “You didn’t trust me, huh?” 

Price lights up his cigar, a shadow of a smile over his lips. “I didn’t. Why would I? I didn’t know shit about you.” 

“Fair enough. But now that you know me, do you trust me?” 

Price flicks the ashes onto the tray after a few moments of deliberation. “I do. You might have to teach me some of those moves you did.”

“Knife training sessions with you? Are you flirting with me, sir?” 

Choking on the smoke of his cigar, Price coughs a few times while blushing profusely. “Get the fuck out of here before I kick your arse.” 

“Kinky, aren’t we? You want to spank me in the ass. Do you have a rank kink too, captain?” You tease him, clearing your throat so as not to laugh out loud.

“Out. Now.” He grunts, covering his face with his hands as you leave the room. 

And just when he thinks he’s safe from your antics, you appear at the door again, leaning against it. “Don’t worry, sir. I can keep a secret. Nobody will know that you have a tiny little crush on me.” 

“I don’t have a-” 

And as if the stars had aligned against John Price, Soap and Ghost appear behind you, their reports in hand. 

“You have a crush, cap?” Soap smirks, moving his eyebrows in fast motions. “It was about damn time, I really was starting to think that you were an emotionless rob-”

“Get the fuck out of here. All of you!” Says Price while walking to the door and closing it. “Bloody hell, these three idiots are going to be the death of me.”

#price cod #call of duty #call of duty modern warfare #modern warfare imagine #modern warfare 2 #call of duty price #john price #captain price #john price x reader #captain price x reader #captain reader x you #price x reader #captain john price #john price x y/n #john price x you #john price x male reader #john price mw2 #john price fluff

[beepbeepdespair]

hello tmagp fandom please come to my office as i require your assistance <3

i have a con next weekend and i'm cosplaying alice dyer to one of the days. don't get me wrong i LOVE the diversity in alice designs it's wonderful, but it does mean my cosplay will be quite difficult to recognise as alice

and so i wanted to ask, can anyone think of any objects i could hold/anything i could do with the cosplay to make it as obvious as possible that it's supposed to be alice??? thank you so much ily all <333333

#beep beep gets personal #personal #textpost #text post #tmagp #the magnus protocol #tmagp alice #alice tmagp #alice dyer #tmagp cosplay #cosplay #cosplayer #magpod #convention #beep beep asks

[iersei]

okay. let's talk about black terry jr.

-

TL;DR: terry jr is black. that is something that should not be erased. regardless of your access to or willingness to search for the canon material that confirms this, you should not be depicting him as white. whitewashing terry by refusing to think of him as black creates an unsafe space for our black community members, and you should re-examine your personal biases if you choose to insist on continuing to see terry as white.

-

terry jr is black. point-blank. and if terry jr is canonically black, then he should be depicted as such.

i will concede that it is something that you might not spot if you listen through the podcast casually. it's something that i didn't know was actually official in any capacity until recently. and i would like to note that i do not have and have never had access to the dndads patreon. i have not listened to any of the teen talks in full (even the ones released to the public. it's just not my jam.), and any information or spitballing contained within is something that i have either been told second-hand or am completely unaware of. i also didn't look at the official poster (the "everything is alright" poster) that depicted both terry jr and samantha as black.

but the fact of the matter remains that terry jr and samantha are black and have been acknowledged as such within the source material.

once again, i myself didn't seek this information out enough to know it was official canon. so then why have i always depicted them as black anyway?

well when i started engaging with the fandom, i saw what was being presented to me in the fandom was overwhelmingly that terry was indeed black or at least popularly interpreted to be black. and my first and only thought was that that was nice. so i decided to roll with it.

if i really wanted to check if that was canon and it being canon was important to me, i could always have asked around. i could've sought out information from official sources. because if they were black and i just missed it in some way, i would've wanted to check myself. especially because doing so would lead to whitewashing.

but i didn't feel the need to do that because i think that just the added racial diversity was really cool to see on its own.

for argument's sake, there is still the possibility that you'd think it is simply just popular fanon. let's say you chose to not check for yourself whether or not he was canonically black. or let's say that, for whatever reason, you think that what is available isn't enough to sufficiently deem him canonically black. so let's discuss why terry should still be depicted as black even if it was "just" fanon and there were no official artworks to go off of.

i am not of the opinion that fanon in general should be taken as gospel. in fact, there are quite a few things within dndads fanon itself that i personally disagree with and choose not to engage with. the reason why this interpretation in particular is a sore spot is the question of why, after seeing the popular portrayal and recognizing the ability to create racial diversity in a space where a good amount of appearances and identities can be up for interpretation, someone would still choose to depict him as white.

why do you choose to depict him as white? do you have any personal biases that make you think that he would or should be white? do you think that it is unimportant or inconsequential to not depict him as a person of color?

what would be so compelling about making him white that you would choose to go against this interpretation? why is it so important that you continue to see him as white?

who are you ignoring in the process?

i do not think it is deliberately malicious to initially think that terry jr is white. it is the unfortunate truth that white tends to be considered the default. but it begins to rub me the wrong way when anyone chooses to stick with that idea when presented with any evidence or argument to the contrary.

though i will admit that i am not black, i am still a person of color. and i think that creating a fandom space where we can highlight, create, and celebrate racial variety means creating a space where people of color feel safer. and because i would like to uplift the black fandom member who tried to voice their own personal take on this matter, i would like to link back to [this post from vivalapersistence] as the reason why i felt compelled to talk about this in the first place.

i don't want to talk over him, but i want to point out his statement that having this kind of solid representation is important and means something to him as a black person in this community. erasing terry as black means that you would be, intentionally or not, erasing and silencing black voices. it takes away that element of representation within the fandom and does real harm to the black people within when you decide that that representation isn't important. there are real racial connotations to the argument here, and it's frankly a little callous to pretend like there's not.

so maybe let's be nice to the BIPOC in our community spaces, okay?

and i want to make it clear right now. if you want to discuss what i say here, you can discuss this with me.

#sigh. i typically don't fuck around in quote unquote “fandom drama” #but i really wanted to make my stance clear #dndads #idc this goes in the main tag i want my stance heard too

[trojanteapot]

The writing blindspots in Infinity Train with respect to race

To get this out of the way, I love Infinity Train! It’s one of my favourite shows! I started writing fanfiction because of this show, and it still inspires me every day. 

I really do think that Infinity Train as a whole is a very thought provoking children’s show and I applaud it for exploring darker themes relevant to psychology and psychological well-being, which are topics often overlooked not just in children’s media but for adult media as well. However, I do want people to acknowledge some of its shortcomings, especially because it is a show that is dealing with such heavy and complex topics, and also positions its human characters as coming from a world which is pretty much a stand-in for our own.

Now I know that the storyboard artists for Infinity Train were quite diverse, but I don’t really know if it’s the same for the writer's room. The reason why is that as a POC viewer, it really does seem obvious to me from the way that the POC characters were written pre-season 4, that their race was mostly an afterthought.

Okay and to be perfectly clear, this is NOT A BAD THING. This is just a neutral thing. Obviously we don’t need every single story with POC characters to have to be about their experience as a specific racialized person. There are experiences that are shared among everybody no matter what race they are. I am not saying that you need to do super in-depth research into every single cultural nuance of every ethnic minority before writing them. It depends on if you really want to delve into how their heritage or traditions or specific life experiences inform their character arc. Not every character arc is about that. And it shouldn’t be!

With that being said, I do think that perhaps the writers should have tried to consider asking themselves very basic surface level questions on how being non-white would inform the problems and conflicts their characters would face. They don't need to know the ins and outs of each culture for each of their characters, but they could have just asked “How would I feel/react to others if people made weird assumptions about me based on my race? How differently would my parents raise me if they were afraid of prejudice or discrimination?” I think they should have reflected on that before setting in stone the backstories for their POC characters, especially with respect to Grace.

Part 1: GRACE'S PARENTS

So I am not Black myself, but I have had many conversations about Grace with one of my friends in fandom who is Black, and we both do get the sense that Grace’s race was very much just an afterthought to her characterization. To be clear, this is NOT because she has very wealthy parents. I am well aware that there are Black Americans with generational wealth. However, knowing what we know about affluent Black people in the real world, how Grace’s parents treated her makes absolutely no sense.

For example, among extremely wealthy people of any race, networking and knowing the right people is of the utmost importance. This is why so many rich people send their kids to prestigious private schools so their kids can get a heads start on knowing the progeny of other one-percenters. If you look up famous people with famous kids, chances are you’ll see a list of all of the very exclusive private academies that they all went to (looking at you, The Strokes). This is the case for wealthy people of all backgrounds, not just white people. And honestly, I imagine that the pressure is at least double for the kids of wealthy POC parents to get to know the right people as early as possible to be able to open as many doors as possible, in order to mitigate the inherent disadvantage of being a racialized person.

But what did Grace’s parents do? According to her, they never sent her to school of any kind, only having private tutors teach her, and her ballet instructor only made her join the other kids in her class once for a recital or something? This is, for lack of a better term... buck wild.

In addition, her parents are American diplomats. Diplomacy is an extremely people-oriented position. If anything, her parents would want her to not only be in the best private school, but to be the best student in school, to know the best people, to join the school clubs that all the other diplomats’ kids are in, and train her from a young age to be a social butterfly. Yes I know that diplomats will often leave their home country and be stationed somewhere else for long durations, and yes their kids could be taken out of school then, but some diplomats just enroll them in a different institution in the visiting country, or not take them out of school at all. This is what the IB Program was invented for, actually. Her parents being diplomats does not justify never enrolling Grace in school. In fact, it makes it less justifiable. 

The fact that they did the extreme opposite of that is so illogical to me that I wonder if perhaps the writers just cobbled together a whole bunch of tropes that they think apply to rich people without actually checking if any of it makes sense, doubly so for rich people who are non-white.

I think the reason why is because they wanted Grace’s parents to stifle her growth and her natural social skills, but on the Train, she can be who she truly is. I definitely agree that Grace finding herself and being able to truly blossom into the girlboss she is on the Train is a great plot point from a characterization perspective. However, I do not think that it should be because she was being stifled by her parents. The solution is staring the writers right in their face, but they can’t see it because it’s a blindspot for them.

What they should have gone with is: Grace's inability to become a social butterfly and a queen bee in her daily life is because she is a dark-skinned Black girl!!!

Her parents have extremely high expectations for her socially. They could have pushed her to make friends with kids she didn’t like just because they wanted to be on better terms with their parents for networking or diplomacy purposes – which they could have shown with that one girl from her ballet class. Missed opportunity! But no matter how hard Grace tries, she will never be seen as the perfect girl because of other people’s assumptions about her just based on her race. 

Once she’s on the Train, Grace then uses her people skills and finds that they’re a lot more effective there, because it’s no longer Earth’s society, it’s a different world, literally! Plus this even allows her to be a little bit more mean, a little bit more honest, something she wouldn’t be able to get away with in the real world without being punished for it harder than her white peers. We already see hints of this with how she interacts with Simon, a white guy who is the same age as her. 

CAVEAT: The dialogue where Grace reveals that she never went to school was something that she told Hazel in a private conversation. So it could be that she did go to school, but lied about it to seem more relatable to Hazel, who had never been around other kids before. Lying is in character for Grace because she would pretty much do anything to get on somebody’s good side. But the way that they had her voice actress deliver those lines, and the way that her expression changes when she talks about how lonely she was indicates that she was telling the truth. To be charitable, I suppose we can land on the reading that Grace told Hazel a half-truth. She did go to school, but she was frequently taken out of class or skipped semesters because of her parents’ jobs as diplomats. So her loneliness in that instant is at the very least truthful. Your mileage is going to vary on this interpretation of course.

This points to a weakness that I can sort of see in Infinity Train in general, where they push societal problems into purely the realm of personal failings. “It’s not because of society that Grace couldn’t succeed, it was solely due to her abusive parents” being just one example. 

Never forget this monologue from a Black father to his daughter in Scandal:

Part 2: JESSE'S ARC WAS PRETTY GOOD THOUGH

The thing is they actually did write a POC character having to deal with a problem that was society-oriented quite well, at least in my view. Although, I am still pretty sure it was still coming from a race-blind method of writing the characters. Otherwise I feel like Jesse’s status as an Indigenous American would have come up more than a grand total of one time. That they could do this well for Jesse makes the fact that they didn’t do the same for Grace quite disappointing. 

Jesse’s main issue that he had to overcome was he kept caving to peer pressure and had trouble saying no to others for fear of disappointment. Now, this problem is universal, and it’s not solely something that is specific to Jesse’s race or ethnicity or cultural background. In fact, I am quite certain that they wrote Jesse as a character without even considering that this problem he faces is relatable to POC experiences. But I definitely know a lot of POC in my life who do take on more responsibilities than they can manage, or feel a higher pressure to fit in with their peers. Hell, I’m that POC in many cases! It’s kind of like background radiation to us as minorities that we just have to do more emotional labour in order to be seen as equals. That’s just the reality of the situation. You can understand and relate to Jesse’s problem without being Indigenous/Native American, but at the same time it feels like a natural problem for him to have, because he is non-white!

I will admit that a personal blind spot of mine is I don't know and haven't had the chance to speak to too many Indigenous people, so there could be aspects of Jesse's arc that don't really make sense. If you are somebody who knows more than me, please feel free to correct me! I would love to hear how you felt about Jesse's characterization and arc as an Indigenous person!

Part 3: SEASON 4, THE ASIANS 

Alright now it's time to tackle stuff that I actually could have any ounce of authority talking about? Which is how they wrote Ryan and Min-Gi in Book 4. I myself am Asian-Canadian. Specifically, I am a first generation Chinese-Canadian but I've been in Canada since I was six so I find a lot of the experiences of second generation Asian-Canadians more relatable to me. In addition, my partner is fourth generation Japanese-Canadian, so his dad would be the same generation as Ryan's dad. (I also am really really into rock music, but that's besides the point.)

What they got right:

So first off, I could tell that they really did consult Asian people in writing this season, so good on them! The difference in how Ryan’s parents raised him in contrast to Min-Gi’s parents felt very natural and realistic to me. Ryan’s family is more westernized and has assimilated more into broader Canadian culture. 

The fact that Ryan has an English name and not a Japanese name immediately shows that. Min-Gi’s parents not choosing an English name for him is a bit of a surprise; very few Asian immigrants go without an English name back in the 20th century. Even nowadays it’s extremely common for us to go by English or Western names that we, or our parents chose, instead of names in our native language. But there are good reasons to not choose an English name. Perhaps Min-Gi’s parents wanted him to have a closer tie to his Korean roots, or perhaps if they travelled back to Korea to visit family it would be easier for them. 

Also, Min-Gi’s parents not supporting his dream of becoming a musician and want him to get a stable job in… I think it was finance? Definitely true back then as it is today. I’m not entirely sure how Ryan’s parents feel about his life choices, and we’ll get into that later.

The character arcs for Ryan and Min-Gi are excellent. This dichotomy of wanting to do the good, responsible thing that your parents want for you because they want you to have the best chance at a good life, and doing what your heart tells you to do, is an extremely relevant character arc. It’s a life decision that is not just an Asian thing, but something anybody can relate to. However, in East Asian cultures that were generally influenced by Confucianism, which includes both Korean and Japanese culture, upholding your duty as a child to not disappoint your parents in any way is something that Asian cultures are prone to emphasizing to a great degree. We see this in other media centered on the Asian immigrant experience as well, such as Kim’s Convenience, Turning Red, and Everything Everywhere All At Once.

What was a bit puzzling to me:

So I'll start off with the thing that definitely raised many many eyebrows if you were an East Asian or Southeast Asian watching the show: Why were Min-Gi's parents so friendly with Ryan's parents when they're Korean and Ryan's family is Japanese?!

So like, not to bring politics into it but… World War II happened. It affected, you know, the world and stuff. And in the Pacific Theatre (god I hate that term), the Imperial Japanese Army… invaded Korea?? Among many other countries??? And did a bunch of war crimes?????

Like, Japan was invading other countries well before WWII even started… This is common knowledge… for Asian people that is.

Yeah I know what you're gonna say. “But Ryan's family is Japanese-Canadian!! They wouldn't have done those war crimes! They would have been sent to internment camps!” Yeah dude, I know! My partner is Japanese-Canadian, remember?! And even if I didn't know him, we learned about the internment camps in history class. It's pretty common knowledge among progressives in Canada and the US. George Takei did a whole musical about it. 

But that's not how racism works. I can speak from personal experience that the scars of WWII trauma in Chinese and Korean communities run deep. Even my own parents needed a bit of convincing to be okay with me dating my partner, and my parents were born two decades after WWII ended. My partner said that one time when he and his grandmother got into an elevator with an elderly Korean woman, and at first she was friendly, but once she realized they were of Japanese descent, the elevator ride became deathly silent afterwards. 

So when you have Min-Gi’s parents, who were probably born during or slightly after WWII, immigrate to Canada, and then be like… totally okay and hunky dory pals with Ryan’s parents just because their kids were born the same day in the same hospital…? I mean sure, anything can happen. But it definitely speaks to how abnormally accepting, forgiving, and welcoming Min-Gi’s parents are. 

To be clear, this isn’t something that pulled me out of the experience, personally. Yes, it is strange, but it’s not impossible for a Korean family to be super okay and friends with a Japanese family. Maybe it’s because their small town has very few Asians and so they have to stick together due to solidarity or something. Maybe Min-Gi’s parents are the type of Christians that believe in the inherent goodness of everyone and giving everyone a chance. Maybe they are just extremely progressive and see Ryan’s family as Canadian more than Japanese (highly unlikely), or they know about the internment camps and that was enough to get over their biases toward them (also unlikely). I dunno, anything can happen.

The other thing that bugged me was that they really didn’t explore Ryan’s relationship with his family to the same depth as Min-Gi’s relationship with his family. 

They already set up the contrast of like, you have an immigrant who is more connected to their cultural background, and a third generation descendent who is less connected, and more alienated from his cultural background. That kind of stuff can really weigh on you as somebody who is a minority. You feel like you simultaneously aren’t Canadian enough because you aren’t white, and that you’re not enough of your cultural background because you had to assimilate, or were forced to assimilate. 

Yes it makes sense why Ryan would throw himself into his music, and be disconnected from his family. But they didn’t take the time to really explore why he is that way. Ryan barely talks about his family except randomly mentioning that they don’t care what he does with his life. I don’t even know if that really makes sense that they don’t care what he does? Maybe Ryan thinks they don’t care, but his assumption is wrong? Either way they don’t explore this point that much. Even if his parents were more assimilated they would still care if Ryan had a non-standard job, such as being a musician. There is a gap between Ryan and his family/parents that was alluded to, but not explored. Feeling like you come from two worlds but not neatly fitting into either is so quintessential to the immigrant experience of Canadians (and also Americans) it’s a shame they only paid lip service to it. 

I mentioned in a different post that Ryan would be monolingual while Min-Gi would be bilingual, and how this could cause tension between them. I imagine Ryan definitely feels inferior to Min-Gi in that sense of loss and disconnect with his heritage, just as Min-Gi is jealous that he feels he doesn't have the freedom to pursue his musical career in the same way that Ryan can. This is all stuff that can take a psychological toll on people, and is something which the Train as a metaphor for therapy should have been primed to tackle. But unfortunately we didn't really get that.

There is a term among the Chinese Diaspora known as “Hollow Bamboo (竹杠)” or “Rising Bamboo (竹升)” [more info]. It's an insult tossed at kids of Chinese ethnicity from judgemental adults for being unable to read/write Chinese or who cannot speak Mandarin/Cantonese/other Chinese languages fluently because they've been “too westernized”. They say we “look Chinese, but are hollow inside, like bamboo.” I don't know if there are equivalent terms for other Asian diaspora/immigrant communities but there must be. This term is controversial, and in my own opinion very unfair, because it blames the kids for this loss of cultural identity when there are so many different factors at play that makes them lose it, all of them outside of their own control. 

Again, I think this is a blindspot from the writers just not understanding how much this loss of cultural identity is such an integral part of the experience of being an immigrant, and that it's not only felt in first or second generation Asian-Canadians, but also third or fourth generation, and beyond. It's scary to go out there and redefine what your culture means to you, and how to pass it on to the next generation.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it, a summary of the strengths and the weaknesses in Infinity Train as it pertains to writing about racialized characters. Just want to restate that a lot of what I pointed out is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things and I do overall think the writing is solid. I am not going into this to say that I expected the writers to do a good job, because generally my expectations for media and pop culture to portray POCs respectfully is quite low. At least they didn’t fall back on tired stereotypes, which is a low bar to clear, but it is where the bar still is these days.

If on the off chance Infinity Train does get uncancelled and renewed for more seasons, I hope they take these lessons and craft better narratives for their POC characters. Maybe hire some more non-white writers while you’re at it!

#infinity train #infinity train book 2 #infinity train book 3 #infinity train book 4 #infinity train book two #infinity train book three #infinity train book four #writing poc #writing black people #writing asian people #writing indigenous people #poc representation #black representation #asian representation #indigenous representation #grace monroe #jesse cosay #ryan akagi #min gi park #rymin #analysis #character analysis #media analysis #cultural identity #olivia pope #rowan pope #immigrant parents #long post #raceblind writing

[wikifuck]

Writeblr intro

Hello! I'm KAKi, I go by he/him and I write original fiction (I suppose if I were to find a fandom I liked I would write fanfiction too)

About my writing:

I like writing character-based stories, so my main genre is romance, but I love learning and branching out. I like having a "gimmick" in my work, so I often write fantasy because magic gives more variety.

I like writing short stories and novellas that usually turn into series. I want my work to be easy to jump into and satisfying to put down once you are done reading. This is probably a bad marketing tactic, but I don't mind being unmarketable.

I generally strive to write stuff I would myself want to read. This means grounded, soft and cosy stuff where most conflict comes from the world and not from the relationships. I don't really care for melodrama. I had a traumatic childhood, so I like seeing the characters I like happy and thriving. I also try to keep my casts of characters diverse and nuanced, feeling more like real people than characters. Is this an impossible task? Maybe, but I like having a goal to work toward.

You can find my Wattpad and my first book here. I have so far published a fantasy romance novella, a collection of fantasy short stories and some standalone horror short stories.

My WIPs:

You can find the post containing my WIPs here

Genres:

-Fluffy Romance

-Fantasy

About me:

I was born in 2002 and I live in Finland

I started writing regularly in 2020, but I have been a storyteller all my life. I lost quite a few friends as a kid due to info dumping to them about my stories too much ^^'

I'm neurodivergent and part of the lgbta+ community

I have a fascination with psychology and families/family trees, and I incorporate both into my writing

I would like to be a director of my own show one day

Why am I here?

I started this blog in hopes of finding new friends, finding mentors and peers who like reading/writing and getting feedback on my writing and how to improve the way I write characters from different groups and backgrounds.

I would like to encourage constructive feedback on this page as much as possible. As an autistic person, I find the lack of feedback in my normal life frustrating.

Suggest me things, ask me things, infodump to me about the shit you like, introduce me to your fav Thing and get me to make it my whole personality for a week!

When it comes to beta and alpha reading, I'm of course always looking for new ones as my projects move forward, and I will also do it for you in bite-sized chunks.

For anyone worried about spam liking/reblogging/commenting, don't be. Give me all of it. And feel free to tag me in any games, tho maybe DM me how they work first in case I'm too chickenshit to ask.

#intro post #blog intro #introduction post #soft romance #fluffy romance #introduction #introductory post #writer #writeblr #creative writing #writers block #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #writer corner #fantasy writer #romance writer #fiction #about myself #about my blog #about my writing #looking for moots #lets be moots #writing #reading #romance #fantasy #lgbtqia #acearo romance writer #ace romance writer

[the-unpopular-opinion]

Fan fiction writing and why you as a reader and writer need to care that what happens now is not right

And here is What The Popular WRITERS from THAT fandom taught me about fanfiction writing, and why I won't try that again

And The 10....More Than 10 Lessons I wish I knew earlier about fanfic writing in a fandom

Let me tell you my story....

I wish I've never posted, and if I knew, how the general new author is being treated around I most definitely would not. Or at least I would think twice....or more times.

I thought, that people are genuinely so supportive, to all and every author, by observing interactions between people.

Turns out .....They. Are. NOT.

THERE IS NO SOLIDARITY TO THE FELLOW AUTHOR ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE NEW.

NO ONE CARES TO CHECK YOUR THING.

NO ONE CARES TO HELP.

NOTHING.

THEY GO TO THEIR FAVORITES AND PRAISE THEM PUBLICLY and all the time AND THAT’S ABOUT IT.

A LOT OF PEOPLE GIVE UP AND QUIT BUT THEY COULDN’T CARE LESS.

* I have seen authors write anonymously to other writers blog, asking for advice, after they have been trying a long time but have been ignored, discarded and etc. despite doing their best.  Trying to get into the writing guild, or telling their pain of being exhausted trying.

I never wrote to another blog, but it's horrible that there is not even a way to tell how disappointed you are. I wrote on mine, but none of my followers gave a f*, neither whoever else from the fandom, so I quit trying.

At the end: I got 2 kind messages from people, who were not even my followers. I'm greatly and forever thankful to them!

But nobody else cared anyway.

That's the most horrible part of it.

After being ignored for long, at the end there is no one to talk to about it.

-- Here what I've learned though. Go there on your own risk.

The following post contains: cynicism, sarcasm and correct facts. With a pinch of salt. If you are under the age that grants EMOTIONAL MATURITY  and critical thinking you may as well skip.

I would advise you to read it if you are a new author and want to post your thing or an author that had seen it with their own eyes....

AND IF YOU CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF FAN FICTION AS SUCH AND THE DIVERSITY OF IT, YOU NEED TO TRY TO ACT DIFFERENTLY.

OTHERWISE...THAT WON’T BE THE FIRST OR THE LAST FANDOM THAT WILL SEE THE CLIQUES AND ALL THE ELSE THAT COMES WITH IT.

One of the places I saw.....Not the fandom I come from but you get the idea.....

SO HERE.....

The 10..... More Than 10 Lessons, I wish I knew earlier about fanfic writing in a fandom

Lesson One

It doesn't matter how good you are.

You might be the finest author out there and write great and all......

and STILL get nothing under your fics ( or 10 to 20 notes mostly likes), no comments or engagement - no matter how good you are.

I say this,IN CASE you posted and got nothing, SO YOU to know that probably, 99,9% probably, IT’S NOT YOU.

And in  A LOT OF CASES - it DOESN’T GET BETTER WITH TIME.

I CAN’T TELL YOU IF IT WILL GET BETTER....because SOMETIMES IS DOESN’T AND SOMETIMES IT DOES.

That’s how most of the authors ( new authors and not-seen but good authors) GET TREATED IN GENERAL.

Lesson Two

The ONLY thing that matters is, who are your ...."friends".

And to make the right kind of....."friends", you need to BECOME A PROFESSIONAL SYCOPHANT, AND go on popular blogs TO EXERCISE EXCESSIVE FLATTERY, in hopes that you and your fan-fics will get noticed.

The hard truth:

You only become seen and/or  popular if popular blogs - the more popular the better - reblog you and recommend you.

Or if you have many ENGAGED WITH YOUR WORK friends and/or followers.

The catch is....that your followers and/or friends NEED TO CARE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WORK, and reblog, comment and engage with it.

Otherwise it all empty numbers in a list that does nothing!

Side note: I, personally, would recommend going to REDDIT.

Those people know the truth, and we talk active authors, who fic write 10 years and more. The name of the fandom does not mater, because all this is in every fandom on tumblr.

Yes - it does happen. And no - it's not right but...no one else cares. Except me, and may be someone else I don't know personally.

However - I'm no part of any fandom, and am practically free agent with no moral obligation to sugarcoat s***t.

Here is me, leaving you clues. Anyways, I base that all on research that took a year and a lot of googling....so ...yeah

Back to our program:

So if you want to make....”friends” on the right places......

You need to heavily socialize, leave long sophisticated comments as if it is your day to day highs paying job in case you want to be an author.

AND IN CASE YOU HAVE ANY LIMITATIONS such as:

sensory overload

social anxieties

making friends is hard for you for one or other reason

anxieties of any kind

and etcetera

You have got yourself a problem.

And now about the writers guild here.....Ah, the writer guild - here what I have seen:

Lesson Next

The Other authors treat you like competition

*If that's not how you got treated - good for you.

In all other cases:

Unless you are in one of their friends circles they won't:

engage with you and/or your fics

even try to help in some way

They will keep to themselves and their groups.

And if you sink - you sink.

They couldn't care less about:

you being new, and needing the most of support only to gain some sort of visibility, other than 20 likes/ notes.

In fact - the less competition with fics, the better

99 % Silent treatment , 1% Else

If you get lucky.....You will know it.

Lesson Four

A lot of authors use their free fan fic writing, as a stepping stone to original books....which would sell.

And that means they try gather a following, that will probably buy their original books only because they were fans of their fic.

You will feel it.

That's why they treat you like competition in a first place.

Otherwise no one, could be so cold hearted, and just ignore cries for help by a fellow writer.

Unless it is a business or about something people need.

Unless you want to get rid of those people, and have less competition.

Not to mention that comment I read under someone's writing "If someday you publish a book I will buy it...."

And then watching that ALREADY HAPPENING as Someone else “published*”a book ( *welcome in the era of self-publishing), and now offered the said book, signed and etc.it as a “reward” in a “follower CELEBRATION” EVENT.

Yeah, it seems.

I will wonder no more why people act like they do.

Well I thought it's for fun....

There is no fun in stepping on others because you need to to do marketing for your (future) writing endeavors.

Some of us were there just for fun and sharing with like minded people.....But ah well.....

Lesson Next and even the last point aside....

As someone else mentioned,  some people may "reject" you simply because they secretly envy you.

Or perceive you as a "threat".

Or simply because...they don’t like you...or your avatar

( *shrug*)

No one however would tell you how they feel, they will "smile and nod" and then stab you in the back.

So BE AWARE.....

Lesson

A lot of authors will ONLY INTERACT WITH YOU, and your writing, no matter the quality of it, and with respect and consider you, IF YOU ARE A POPULAR  BLOG....especially popular writing blog.

It does not matter how good you write, or what good you do.

You may be a great writer, and a person, and they will still ignore you.

Because they ONLY need the POPULAR BLOGS SUPPORT.

BECAUSE....THEY ARE POPULAR.

Your support as  not-popular, means nothing to them.

Because, the only way to get higher in "fandom hierarchy" is to ...FLATTER and CATER TO POPULAR  writing BLOGS, in a hope than they will become friendly and/or recommend  your fic.

That's THE ONLY WAY  your fic to be read and seen.

And Unless you have a lot of engaged followers and friends is the other option.....

But the usual way is the fic/ fics to be recommended by others...and most importantly POPULAR OTHERS.

So that that type of writer blogs/ people -

will rather compliment, and flatter a bad  fic and writing BUT POPULAR author, THAN to  tell / recommend  anyone who is NOT.

As those authors aim to get seen themselves that's what they do.

Lesson

Being  POPULAR  does NOT guarantee a good writing or a GENUINE E PERSON BEHIND THE NAME

That's was the most disappointing of it all.

Lesson

BEING  POPULAR AND BEING GOOD IN WRITING, ARE TWO SEPARATE, AND COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS to start with.

As I mentioned earlier....

I personally have seen "bad" writers get more notes. attention, a$$ kissing, and love by the fandom than good ones.

And if you ask why....I can't tell you because I don't have a clue.

-- On the questions of how to get into the writers circles--

There is NO guarantee that you will succeed though.

NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO.

Lesson

You need to be proactive in "making friends".

IMO - That "you must do this, or that or else" demand, is not a fun thing.  That "making friends because otherwise no one would read, you" is NOT a friendly activity.

It's more like mutual benefits. and that is not a friendship.

It becomes a barter - "read mine I will read yours" kind of deal, or authors gives what the crowd needs, because they do not read otherwise.

Once you go there, once you go to the barter side of it -because it's a barter-a fic material/s for engagement... and it becomes a "business".

Yes, no one pays you ( fanfics must be free copyright and all in mind).

But the time investment still stands. Both sides.

The readers though invests time for enjoyment.

And the writer......THE WRITER DOES THE WORK

THE WRITERS do all the work, including activities such like but not limited to:  

cold pitches = reaching to other blogs* not knowing what the outcome will be * mainly popular blogs*

marketing = bringing your fic to the attention of your readers

design = designing your dividers, mood boards, fic covers and etc.

investing time in it = writing  ( for free *)

And the problem:

if you can’t even get some attention - comments, reblogs, some talk or anything at all on your work - what's the point?

Investing time, no one will return you, in something that gives nothing back? Not a wise "investment"* (* fanfiction is free taking in account copyrights and al that. And should stay that way.)

Also such writing for online posting becomes:

Dull

Time wasting activity

It becomes HARD WORK

And hard work for nothing is NOT "fun"

No engagement = no fun

You may become bitter, and quit writing altogether

and etcetera

And it's supposed to be fun.

And as added bonus:  Business is where people would play dirty, if they need to. AND THEY DO.

P:S Don't get me wrong though. I'm sure that some people could find friends like that. But at large - it is not the right way to do it. And in general - not a good idea.

Lesson

Unless you are (already) popular, or have many friends, or belong to a large group, in which people support each other's writing, mostly  based on personal internal relations and friendships, or have exceptional people/social skills - you are doomed.

That's about it.

And in case you have any sort of social anxiety, get sensory overload  by too much online interactions, or have any other limitation...No one cares.

In general they do the silent treatment.

They may also rather discriminate, and then marking and covering  that up as "I owe no one nothing" if you try to say something. Or they would simply ignore all legitimate complains, or worries you may have.

Unless you are popular, have many engaged followers/friends and etc.  Then you get the special treatment.  

Ah, well. That leads to Lesson Next.

Lesson Next

There is no place where a new, or not so new authors can voice their concerns.Nothing organized and no one will show you to one even if it existed.

You either write ANONYMOUSLY on other blogs, preferably popular, or the fandom may exile you and other pleasantries, if you even try to point a problem.

Otherwise, if you are not popular, and you write on your blog, your posts would most likely:

get ignored - unless you have engaged followers

get no notes - unless you have engaged followers

Lesson

It doesn't matter how good you are, it only matters if you are at the right place, at the right time.

In other words, AT THE END,  if you have got the lucky, is all that matters.

And if you are lucky, you will know.

--And now and more lessons - fic wise--

Lesson

The only fics that are being written are x reader content.

Want to write OC?

Tough luck.

You try. Prepare for disappointment.

Don't theorize about it. Don't EVEN think about it.

DON'T.

Unless you are already popular, or have many engaged with your writing friends, or belong to large group in which people support each other writing...sounds familiar ?

My case: I wrote with not described, not named OC btw. I used "she" instead of "you". Got 10 likes, and people not giving a fuck. Based on other fics that were getting 90 and more notes and interaction mine was not bad. Nevertheless. No one cared.

Even popular writers, when writing with characters, and not 'x reader' fics, were getting less notes on their writing, compared to their x reader fics.

Lesson

No one wants to write what's not popular. And that leads to.....There is No diversity.

Because it would not be read, because the "almighty" readers, who  have the power to "praise and punish" with their attention.

And what for an author would write hours and hours only to be rejected.

Anyways here it is...

And that lead to LESSON NEXT

Lesson

EVERYONE WRITES TO WIN

also know as being seen fanfic author in a fandom. ( also as - Getting more than 99 notes on your writing)

There is no organic, natural interaction.

It's either mutual benefiting friendships

....quid pro quo AND only if you are lucky. A lot of people CAN’T even get that no matter how many times they recommend and read others...

Also servility and sycophancy

or you are on your own.

It's either praises on popular blogs, and in friend circles or complete silence.

But you may get lucky if you like gambling with the unknown. In that case - good for you.

And as winning - being seen and known author - is the one goal here, despite the fact what they will try to make you think.....

They will play DIRTY, if they need to.

AND THAT OFFERS NEXT LESSON ON ITS OWN:

Lesson

Sycophancy, Servility and Flattery  or

How to get into a writers friend circle as a new author

If You want to get in writers friend circle, a.k.a become a seen fanfic author, you do that by exercising general and/or high level sycophancy, servility and extreme flattery on popular blogs.

And it does not matter whether you really like what you read or not.

Note : You may, in fact, enjoy popular writers, some are very good. Some of them are genuinely good people too. But you need to be careful.

In the most cases. though.....

You need to:

write sophisticated comments

interact for hours, and as if it is your high-end paid everyday job -- 'cause authors love that s**t,

And if you don't do that - you don't exist, and they will forget about ya.

Also - you need to write ungodly amounts of fiction, BUT only one that fits their taste...otherwise...or ELSE.

And in short:

if you want to be seen as an author, and/or to become popular, you need to do it and be very social about it no matter if you have limitations of whatever kind. Otherwise no one will help.

Though.....There is the downside......

You may never get in one of those circles, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, and  for one reason or another.

EVEN if you do the sycophancy and flattery and servile stuff.

Even if you sell your soul, it may not happen and have the desired effect, because it's a question of luck.

So - choose wisely. Wanna play roulette with a loaded gun with all bullets present but one?  That's the odds.

Anyways, and in case you don't succeed to enter one of their circles:

Then you get ignored, because no one gives a f***** otherwise.

And you write, create and put efforts and time into nothing.

Unless you don't mind to be ignored, or you create and write nevertheless, and not for any attention.

Side Note: It's not about popularity as such  by the way. It's about a normal amount of attention, every creator needs now and then.

LESSON

EVERYONE  in the fandom is a “WRITER”. ALSO AVID READER AND WRITER COMBO

Which you may or may not be.

And even if you comment under other people fics and recommend, you may NOT get anything back.

( I saw many people say that while I was searching ....)

That’s why I said that all that sycophancy and friends with benefits is bad....

It becomes work you need to do for some reason other than enjoying writing and reading fiction and communicating, and it becomes messy.

._.

--Lessons about characters--

Lesson NEXT

The People in the fandom, have and are entitled to a group, fandom-shared, pre-conception of what behaviour certain characters of the actor NEED TO EXHIBIT in the fiction written, in order to be acceptable in writing.

You either write a lot of what they need, want, crave and etc. otherwise - no one reads you, if you do not comply.

And never, in no case, don't you dare to forget. that you the writer MUST, in all and every case, to write ALWAYS and ONLY, with "YOU"......or else.

They punish by ignoring, exercising their "right" to do whatever, and in this case exercising their "right" to ignore, and do the the silent treatment, because what for ill-meant audacity is you- the writer, to offer something for diversity.

( /sarcasm intended. And please think for yourself why such behaviour is UNACCEPTABLE).

It does not matter, if you have an interesting story.

Unless you are lucky, and get the jackpot like that one person I followed.

Or unless you only create what they think the character should be like, and a lot of it.

(Or unless you are backed by a lot of people who love all you do.)

In all other cases - you are doomed to fail.

Here more about the characters.

Examples:

* Markus Pike is a sweetheart.

I saw a fic about a "bad "Marcus once. It had 42 notes. The usual amount of notes, that this same author was getting on their fics was about 800 and more.....

Next - The EQ 2 character.

Oh dear. I can talk about that for hours. Don't even get me started.....

He is usually perceived as rude and mean. And is always like 99,9 % always dominant. The mean, rude, heartless dominant kind of them.

He usually spits....on things, cheats his wife, bangs the babysitter, calls you a wh******, and he is possessive and all that.

And sometimes he is abuser and that kind of thing. And sometimes there are fics about him being submissive. And they allllll ( except some) are in some sort of Pit.

And that's it.

No other men on tumblr.'s fanfiction All Dominant. The rude kind. All into BDSM dynamic. That's it.

--

Side Note: I don't have problems with dominant characters!!!!! And I don't have problems with personal preferences and kinks.

I do however have problem with the lack of diversity. Because there is NO diversity.  

People from the dominant spectrum, come in varieties as  everyone else. Also people as a whole are different.

Lesson Unless you follow the unwritten rules of THAT writing fandom, you are doomed as new writer.

Or unless you get lucky...whatever you have, and get.

Have an genuine author need to write something out of love or whatever ?

You better be popular, or have a large friends and/or followers circle.

And last, but not least:

CLIQUES.

Cliques everywhere

Wanna genuine high-school rejection feeling?

You are on the right place.

So that's that.

If you did any of those, and you've succeeded, you are probably:

already in a writers friend circle and you "enjoy" fics and friendly talks with your writer friends

and/or are seen author.

Good for you. Congratulations for things working ot in your favour

----------Otherwise--------------

Welcome to The Void of The Ignored -- We don't have fun here.

-- Thank you for reading my observations and  for the utmost patience. Thank you for not getting offended by my cynicism and sarcasm. My intention is not to "offend".  I don't like to be rude.

But to point out things that need fixing

In conclusion -

I don't think that this way of behaviour is welcoming to new authors or authors who may have limitations - like social anxiety, sensory overload for one reason or another, or anything else on that note that makes it harder for them, to be authors under your ruler ship.

I personally won't ever post fan fiction online, especially in this community.

But if you, whoever read this all, think you can handle the rejection and the pain that comes with it - You are welcome to try.

Your time, your life.

And If you are lucky, you may have it better.

I however won't do that again. I only felt like my duty to leave a warning.

Because no one warned me, and I needed counseling because I got PTSD because of all that ( and not only). That's what they told me.

So my rating personally:

- 10000000 stars Would NOT recommend.

--

Disclaimer :

As I mentioned, that's how I was treated and what I saw. Also apparently, that's a standard way in which the writers on tumblr behave as a whole. ( by doing some research you find some very interesting and unsettling things. )

P:S I put so many disclaimers and side notes, because the last time I tried to states something politely, that was my opinion, and my feelings, with me being in a state of depression because of that "fine treatment" no one warned me about,  it was taken as "offense" - which it was not.

See my rules of online conduit and behaviour here. Ones I adhere to, and I never go against.

I believe in common courtesy, thank you.

I apologize, if that is too old-school to you.

That resulted in me being dumped by my EX-fave, content creator. Because their bestie got "offended", that they were no longer able to use my deleted content for their fic. And they were a heavy user of  my content. I wonder though, and what if I was the one who had 2000 followers, not the other way around....what it would be then?

And for the record - I DON'T PARTICIPATE IN friendship triangulation. Whoever wanted that, was NOT me.

--

Also - I won't tolerate to be "punished" for having an opinion.

One, stated in not rude manner. I ALWAYS try my best not to be rude.

But seriously, some people get offended, if you do not think like them, and that's childish at it's best.

#fandoms #fanfics #fan fics #writing fanfics for fandoms be like #toxic #cliques #writers guild #10 lessons I wish I knew earlier #tumblr fanfiction writers #THERE ARE PROBLEMS AND THEY DO KILL FANDOMS LOOK THAY ARE ALL AROUND #Save Your Fandom #Be a responsible fanfic reader #be example #reblog fics with less notes for visibility #help a fanfic author to be seen #writing on tumblr #It should have been fun but it wasn't #fanfiction #fanfiction writing #fanfction problems #writers on tumblr #writers problems #writer problems #writing #writing fanfics #writing fanficiton #writing fan fiction #fandom elite #toxic fandoms

[belong2human-kind]

Hey guys, Clara here!! How are you??

I'm here to talk about something more serious right now. But don't worry!

As someone who is deeply in love with the SW Rebels saga since even before the first airing and someone who has accompanied all of the development of this amazing expansion of the Star Wars' universe, I want to say that this is one of the most diverse community I've met, and this makes me really happy about how so many different beings share the same interest and passion for this show as I do 🧡

So.. my profile won't lie huh? I'm down for a ship of this show so so bad, and if you, person on the other side reading this, still don't know what I'm talking about, let me tell you: I'm a biig sabezra shipper and fan! Since the first time I saw these two interact, I feel in love with their dynamics. And as the show continued, the sentiment that they could be one of the healthiest pairings of the entire saga only grew more. I love both characters individually, Ezra and Sabine, and also love them as a couple.

Joining tumblr and being active here about them, I entered the community and even dared to share my weird thoughts and stuff and own creations about this universe I love so much. I was so so so motivated by amazing people who gave me support to show my little creations, and I made truly wonderful friends here on the ship community that I'll cary for life. I won't lie that I am very eager about this ship so whoever I see engaging in Sabezra, I tend to follow XD (I hope this isn't too weird heh ^^)

I'm here to talk about two things.

1. I am very thankful for the friends I've made on the ship community and the series community as a whole too. Also, the majority of people I interact with are absurdly amazing, kind and sweet, and as I said, it's really touching and heartwarming to me to know that such a different and diverse community is united by one specific passion about SW. You guys are amazing, stay awesome 🧡💜

2. This being said, unfortunately, things can get a little heated up about some topics, specifically the ones involving pairings. So, I'm here to talk/ask, all of the people who, like me, are part of this community, to just remember that, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter who you support your character with or without: we are still united by the same interest, this one being the love for those characters with such deep, unique and touching stories.

The Ghost Crew is a family, and we, the fandom, are kinda like a big one too. So what I'm here to ask is: Hey, be kind to each other 🌻 Different opinions exist, but this is not only fine, this is amazing. It'd be boring if everyone on earth loved Rebels or even my favorite ship, sabezra, because if everyone did then it wouldn't be something so unique and especial, and it is. As I said before, this community is so diverse! We can enjoy different things, we actually should do that! But, by the end of the day, we're just a bunch of people who love star wars. I think we can all agree on that ^^

That being said, I also apologize. I try to not engage with any hate spreading messages, and I know that there are quite a few here on both the shipping communities and the entire community too. Nothing can really justify being mean to someone (at least that's what I believe and try to hold myself on) but I know that we never know what's really happening behind the screen for someone, even if they share. Life can be tough, I know this myself. So I apologize for all of my friends and community colleagues that might have hurt on others, and also, apologize on myself as well if I did let this happen too. As much as I try always being kind, I'm still a human, with ups and downs and one that can make some mistakes too. I try my best to make people around me (physically and virtually) to feel comfortable and embraced because I think everyone deserves that. But at the same time, we can hurt people intentionally and unintentionally so easily :( So yeah, I apologize for that. And I hope we can interact with each other with kindness and respect. I think this is one of the most important things to do as a human: be gentle to others and the nature around you.

Uhh I speak so much :'n It's 2am now and I have class tomorrow, my adhd brain is still running on circles on my head LOL so I'll be off for now. Keep awesome guys! And stay safe 🌻

#about sabezra #sabezra #star wars ships #sabine wren #ezra bridger #be kind #i hope things get better soon #i hope we can all enjoy our shared interest with kindness and respect for each other! #stay awesome guys 🌻

[copperbadge]

I know that it’s been a Very Long Time but do you ever get terribly nostalgic for old/less active fandoms? I confess I recently came back to tumblr and saw that I followed you. I was like, of course Sam storyteller, the Bucky guy. But then I got a hankering for my older and dearer by far love Ianto Jones and went back to reread some of the greatest hits and I remembered. You are not the Loki guy. You are the Ianto guy, to me, and I can’t believe I forgot that. I miss that fandom so much it was so fucking. Toxic. The Gwen bashing, I simply cannot romanticize it in good conscience. But the fic quality and diversity was, dare I say it, nearly unparalleled (in my heart). Like when it hit it really hit you know? A golden age of trashy sci fi indeed. I miss my dead welsh son. Sorry to ramble in your ask box about the dubious old days

Anon, I am so sorry, a bunch of my asks got pushed way down in the inbox and then I forgot they were there, so apologies this is MONTHS late in getting posted.

I, eh, I don't really get nostalgic for old fandoms. Usually I leave them for a reason, but even if I just drift away, my experience of a fandom is pretty fundamentally different from most because of my higher profile. There are things I can't do or say in a fandom that other people could, and there are things that happen to me outside of my control. They're not even necessarily bad things, just stuff like...I'll write a fic in a new fandom, and people from my previous fandom will start engaging with the canon because I did. So often, rather than just falling away from a fandom, I'll leave a fandom and drag a bunch of people with me. They might not even leave the older fandom, but they come along to the new one too.

And often the wanks that pull people in without their consent simply don't touch me because there's a portion of fandom that is either scared of me (or my readers) or just doesn't want anything to do with me. I can't determine which.

Torchwood's a pretty good case in point -- the Gwen bashing was extreme. I wasn't a fan of Gwen but what I saw from the antigwenallies was really, really gross. Still, even though I wrote fic about Gwen and engaged in meta around her presence in the show, I avoided them and thus had exactly one interaction with them ever, which was when they posted up a fic of mine as "anti-Gwen" and I asked them to remove it and never recc anything of mine again. They did, and that was the end of that. Nobody ever came to my posts to attack her or me. Likewise, there was one really, really aggressive anti-Ianto wanker, but she never engaged with me or even as far as I know talked about me, despite the fact I was a huge Ianto fan and wrote a lot of fic about him. I really hated the shit she said, but I also didn't see any value in arguing, so I left her alone and she left me alone. (I won't name her because I checked up on her a few years ago and it turns out she was struggling with serious mental health issues that she'd gotten a lot of help for, and felt really terrible about the things she'd done, so I'm actually quite proud of her. But if you know you know.)

I also just...have a bad memory, so I often don't remember what happened in a fandom, or even sometimes that I was in a fandom. Most of the memories I do have are either vaguely warm and friendly, or "avoid this fandom/person at all costs" based in a negative interaction (which I sometimes don't remember the details of).

So yeah...I mean, Torchwood ended pretty terribly so I don't miss it in part because I try not to think about it. Generally if I have a good time in a fandom and then leave it, it's because I simply said all I had to say there. But I'm usually looking forward, not back, just because the past is a bit of a fog bank for me, most of the time.

#fandom #meta

[epicspheal]

Hi! Congrats on making it through your first year of med school, I know that's hard to do so make sure to take some time for yourself 💜

I wanted to know if you could write something for Gordie? I'll take anything, but please take your time before doing this.

Hi there anon! Thank you so much for the kind words. Medical school has been an interesting challenge to say the least I also have to apologize for the delay in getting to this ask! When I first got this I was like "Oh Great, I'm actually working on a Gordie fic right now and I'll let them see this" Only school and writer's block got in the way So I'm going to bend my own rules for this an actually just do a character analysis for Gordie instead. So here we go... GORDIE NEEDS MORE LOVE FROM THE FANDOM Admittedly, I didn't know much of Gordie because I first played Shield. But since I loved SwSh so much I decided to go back and get Sword and there I actually fell in love with his character. He breaks the mold in a number of ways. Let's start off with his name. In Japanese his name is Makuwa which is the name of fruit called muskmelon (or just melon) which is very similar to Melony's name which is also derived from melon. So that's an easy tie between the two's familial connection. But Melons have interesting symbolism of their own as they represent prosperity, good fortune, and abundance in many cultures. And despite the rift between him and his mom, Gordie has abundance, prosperity and good fortune.

He's a major gym leader in one of the strongest gym circuits to date (minor gym leader if we're talking Shield but that's still huge), he has plenty of adoring fans, and his league card talks about how he's highly suspected of becoming a champion one day. Which is something that I don't see talked about much even in SwSh circles that absolutely should be. One for any trainer to be strong enough to considered a future champion is huge as there's only a handful of trainers who can even attain that rank. Even moreso as a type specialist. As we can see in the list of established champions in the series, the vast majority are multitype trainers with only a handful specializing in one type. And of those who specialize in one type only two of them (Wallace and Peony) that solely use Pokemon of their specialty while the others have at least one Pokemon not of their actual type. Gordie is a rock type specialist where all of his Pokemon are at least partially rock. And let's not forget that of the type specialist champions all of them are either Water, Dragon or Steel (yes Alder could count as a Bug type specialist but he's currently listed as a multitype champion). Rock however is often the specialty of the first or second gym leader on a gym circuit with so far only one trainer (Olivia) being representative of the type in the Elite Four. So for Gordie to be a rock type trainer who is strong enough to be considered a future champion is a huge accomplishment that I think bears mentioning.

Now let's take a look at his team. You can see while he does specialize in Rock types, only one of his Pokemon is pure rock while the others are dual type. The typings not only on the Pokemon but the moves he has are quite diverse allowing him to hit multiple types super effectively and cover 3 out of the 5 rock weaknesses. His team and movesets show he prefers an offensive approach prioritizing speed with Shell Smash, Tar Shot, Sticky Web and Coalossal's Steam Engine. In fact one of his in-game quotes alludes to the fact he prefers quick battles "I'll be bringing my matches to an end in a heartbeat—you'll see. No one who sees them will ever forget me."

He also heavily prioritizes breaking through physical defenses with Body Press and Wonder Room, as well as weather and entry hazards like Stealth Rock, Sticky Web, G-max Volcalith and Tyranitar's Sand Stream. It's a very solid set up that shows why in Sword he's the 6th gym leader challengers face and it shows how this team is very well designed to defeat Melony's.

As I've played through Sword at this point more than Shield (as I've decided for the purposes of cactusverse the Sword line up are canon) as I've gone through his gym, I really appreciate how encouraging he is to the player as they try to avoid the pitfalls in his gym. It's a nice touch to have him do that shows despite the fact he is a strict trainer he does have a soft side.

We know he does get frustrated after losing and unfortunately some people take that to mean he's a sore loser but he's not. Yeah he sulks in his locker and openly talks about his pride being bruised but there have been far better examples of actual sore losers in the franchise and he's not one of them. His fans honestly find his sulking sessions endearing and he even apologizes whenever he loses his cool.

"Sorry to lose my cool... I'll be sure to challenge you again."

And let's talk about the fact that he canonically is very popular and has a large fanbase. As a chubby character that's huge because unfortunately fatphobia exists and chubby characters are rarely portrayed as being popular, desired and highly skilled like Gordie is. Oh and he does backflips too showing his size doesn't mean he is unathletic? There are just so many positive subversions here and it's wonderful to see.

And Gordie cares a lot about his fans. He's stated to take the time to do autographs and meet and greets. He's seen in Twilight Wings opening fan mail in his hotel room. And a lot of what he discusses in Pokemon Masters EX involved him talking about how to best please his fans. It's obvious he cares so much for those who support him and it's heartwarming to see.

Now to get to the main talking point about Gordie...his strained relationship with his mom. I've seen people say that Gordie hates his mom but that's simply just not true! He's frustrated with her for trying to push her training style and preferred typing onto him. He wants to show he can succeed without her methods. But that frustration doesn't mean he hates her and quite frankly it's tiring to see how fandom portrays frustration as hate with Gordie and others. You can be frustrated without hating and I wish people would learn to use that nuance when talking about characters with strained relationships because usually when a narrative wants to display feelings of hatred...it will be very obvious.

In fact when Gordie does talk about Melony it's actually very tame. He mentions wanting to surpass her and how on Pasio the cold nights remind him of her. But nothing that signifies hatred. Sure they aren't on speaking terms but families sometimes go through rough patches. I'm sure at some point they'll begin to mend the rift. But yes, Gordie's a wonderful character that shows how even little details can signify so much. And once again I must say...Gordie deserves more love from the fandom!

#ask epic spheal #gym leader gordie #gordie pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon masters ex #character analysis

[aprocessionofthoughts]

Exchange Students

ectoberhaunt2023 day 23- magic fandom- Harry Potter crossover TW- none summary- Harry, Hermione, and Ron visit the strangest wizarding school in America

ao3 masterlist

Harry wasn’t sure why they had agreed to this. Sure, it had sounded fun and interesting, but now they were in America and were going to be going to what had to be one of the strangest magic schools in the world. 

Most people would probably consider it normal. And sure, from a  muggle standpoint it was. But that’s what made it so strange for a wizarding school.

It looked like a normal high school. There was even functioning electricity! Harry wondered how they had managed that since magic and tech didn’t work well together.

At the front door they were met by an older woman who Harry assumed was the headmaster.

“Hello, I’m Principle Ishiyama. Welcome to Casper High.”

“Thank you for having us.” Hermoine replied.

“Yeah, thanks.” Ron said.

“If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to your home rooms.” They followed her into the building, and yup, htis definitely just looked like a regular high school. “I know this must be very different than Hogwarts, but since Amity is already a magic heavy town it didn’t really make sense to send the kids to a boarding school.”

“Is it true that squibs go to this school too?” asked Hermione. 

The principal tensed but replied with a smile. “Yes, we welcome all kinds of pupils here. Though I have to ask that you refrain from using that offensive term. All Amity Parkers know about magic and we consider it important to teach them the principles. However, since Casper High caters to a more diverse student group, we also teach all the regular classes. Classes rotate between muggle and magical with students placed into the ones that will help cultivate their talents yet at the same time give them a taste of everything. It’s important to have a well rounded education. Now, about your schedules. We’ve done our best to match you up with classes that you were already taking though I’m afraid you’ll also be required to take some muggle classes as well. However, there was one class for which you’ll have to choose a replacement.”

“Which one, miss?”

“Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

“You don’t teach Defense Against the Dark Arts!” Hermione said scandalized.

“We teach similar classes but nothing quite the same. So, I have a few different options you can choose from. First there's a class on blood magic.”

“Isn’t that illegal?” Harry asked.

“Not in the states.”

“But–”

The principal sighed. “It’s only if you’re using someone else’s unwillingly given blood. But if that makes you uncomfortable you can take Spiritual Connections.”

“What’s that?” Ron asked.

“Its a study on temporarily imbuing an object with part of your spirit.”

Harry’s cringed, his mind jumping to horcruxes.

“And if neither of those sound appealing, you can also take beginners Necromancy.”

“Ummm…”

The principal sighed again. “I suppose you can take a History of Dark Arts Through the Ages. Though that one isn’t hands on.”

“We’ll do that.” Harry said.

------------

Thankfully today had been a muggle studies day so all their classes were pretty normal. Well, except for Ron who had never taken a math class beyond basic arithmetics.

They were sitting at lunch when three students approached them.

“Hello, I’m Danny and these are Sam and Tucker. We were curious about how things worked at, where is it you attend? Hogwash?”

“Hogwarts.”

The boy, Tucker, snorted. “Sorry, that's just such a silly name.”

“And Casper is any better?” asked Hermione.

“True.” Danny answered.

“Is it true you don’t have any technology?” Tucker asked.

“Tech doesn’t work with magic.” Hermione answered.

Tuckers furrows browed. “Yes it does. My phone works fine. You just have to imbue the object with some of your spirit.”

“But that sounds terrible. Isn’t that like giving up part of your soul?” Harry asked.

“No? It's just like sharing your magic. It's what I study, magic and tech.”

“What about you?” Hermione asked, turning toward Sam.

“Magical biology and runeology. I focus on plants and their properties as well as rune blood magic.”

“But–” Ron started but Harry elbowed him. 

“Look, it's very simple.” Sam took a piece of chalk out of her pocket and drew a circle with a rune inside it on the table. Then she reached into her pocket again, took out a needle and pricked her finger before placing it on the run. It glowed briefly before a flower sprouted up.

“See.”

“But you’re still using blood.”

Sam opened her mouth but Danny interrupted. “Sam, you can’t blame them. That’s just what they’ve been taught.”

She sighed. “I suppose. Their education is controlled by an old white man who wears a bathrobe.”

“But Dumbledore's incredible! He defeated Grindelwald.”

“Maybe, but he refuses to meet with our magical president because he says that Americans are backwards and that we must adhere to his rules before he’ll speak with us. I mean, isn’t your school still illuminated by candlelight? He won’t even let you use electricity.”

“Sam, that's probably enough.” Danny said.

They were all silent for a moment before Harry turned to Danny, “So, what do you study?”

“Necromancy.”

“What!” Hermione squeaked.

“Yeah, I’m naturally inclined since its what my parents studied, and then I was in an accident and I became even closer to the spiritual world. I can temporarily call up ghosts and interact with the ones already present. You've got ghosts at Hogwarts, right?”

“Yes.”

“Oh! I can also separate from my own spirit, like this.”

Danny closed his eyes and a moment later a ghost appeared next to him. He looked like Danny except with white hair and green eyes. Both Danny’s grinned at him.

“I’m not sure how I really feel about all this.” Hermione said.

Danny shrugged. “Welcome to Amity Park.”

#ectoberhaunt23 #ectoberhaunt #day 23 #eh magic #magic #harry potter #Danny phantom #dp x hp au #crossover #fanfic #Danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #ron weasley #hermione granger

[abyssal-debonair]

hey Sky community, you have a racism problem

look at this

these are officially released promo art depicting the in-game spirits. I am also going to gesture at a few stills from the animations.

not even touching on that the spirits in-game are all various shades of blue, but yknow what, I will touch on it. they’re blue. the ancestors spirits are all various shades of dark blue, sometimes with darker brown wisps of skin or explicitly dark brown when portrayed as alive. likewise the skykids are various shades of brown or darker colors. I know y’all can see that.

so with that out of the way

why the fuck would you draw them white?

see, this has always bothered me for the year I’ve been playing Sky and interacting with its online fandom – seen it speckled in Skyblr, in the art channels of Skycord, throughout Twitter, disconcertingly prominent on Instagram – but given how immaturely the Sky community handles confronting any amount of discourse, I never wanted to say anything publicly cos I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a deluge of harassment this oh so positive and kind playerbase is known for.

then TGC Twitter retweeted a piece of art that whitewashes the ancestor spirits.

deep breath.

I don’t want any of you racist shits to take this as confirmation that it’s somehow acceptable to make the ancestors and skykids white. sure, TGC says a lot of things in this game are “up to interpretation,” but it strikes me so strange that some of y’all look at these darker-skinned characters and immediately go against canon to give them light pink or paper white skin. why is it so hard to draw these darker-skinned characters with the dark skin they have both in game and as how TGC officially depicts them?

I’ve seen several excuses for this:

“I’m humanizing them.” okay and why does this humanization necessitate making them white? why do you have to make these nonhuman characters human? why does your brain immediately go to “white” when considering “human” and not any other palette for the many people of color who make up the majority of the human population?

“I’m projecting onto them.” you can’t project onto characters with dark skin? you don’t find characters with dark skin relatable? that’s quite racist. I, as a black child, often projected or saw myself in pale-skinned characters that dominate the entertainment media I watched growing up. surely it shouldn’t be that hard for white people to see themselves in non-white characters. surely.

“it doesn’t fit my artstyle / I’m not used to drawing POC.” then you are a terrible artist unwilling to challenge yourself or your own biases, unwilling to improve your skills or explore other palettes you may find favorable and attract a larger diverse audience. drawing with another color is not that difficult. if you do find it hard, there are a monumental amount of tutorials on illustrating people of color and darker skin tones out there online for free. you can even color pick from your reference! the only thing stopping you is your racism.

"they’re not human so it can’t be whitewashing.” true, the characters of Sky are not human, they likely don’t have human conceptions of race to them. I’ve been asked before “why are you bringing race into this?” as if I’m the one racializing non-raced characters. look, I wasn’t the one who drew them white. believe it or not, white is a race – it isn’t the “default,” it isn’t a non-race, white is a race. making these non-raced characters white is racializing them, putting race upon them that they do not have. it’s weird. for all you complain about “making everything about race these days,” why go out of your way to portray these humanoid characters with dark skin as white? fun fact: it’s still whitewashing even if the character is not a human being, especially if said character resembles humans of color.

however, I will add that is particularly insulting to see characters with explicitly black hairstyles drawn white. if I see another ancestor or skykid with an afro, afro poof(s), or dreadlocks with pale skin, I am going to bite someone. likewise, the Enchantment spirits take inspiration from Arabic cultures, Flight crew have influence from Inuit and other Northern American indigenous cultures. no, I am not invoking cultural appropriation to condemn your skykids with Lively Navigator’s hair or Cheerful Spectator’s afro or Fire Prophet’s short dreads or Indifferent Alchemist’s turban – that is perfectly okay. it’s the far too many Sky fanartists whitewashing skykids and these ancestors that is the problem.

I’m not demanding you to be canon compliant, I’m asking you to stop whitewashing, to stop erasing the little representation the players of color have overall. we do not often see people who resemble us in Western media very often, especially as the majority of the characters. it’s the same for those who ascribe gender onto these canonically agender characters, contributing to nonbinary erasure, though that is a story for another time.

and this doesn’t even touch on the afro chibi trend (how come this black hairstyle is only ever “cute” when it’s on an infantilized character? and for fucks sake do not call it clown hair or broccoli or, god forbid, cotton) or how Vault Elder’s headscarf is used to make “eggs” or “chickens.” why can’t you appreciate our hair and our headcoverings as just as fashionable as uncovered white hairstyles? why do y’all keep calling POC hair fucking food? if you do it as a joke, it’s still a racist joke. do you know how hard it is for me to exist without white people nonsense as a Black person with an afro irl? don’t get me started on the bullshit hijabi Muslims have to deal with. the best you could do is not mock their appearance.

now there are those of you who have been doing these racist things without really thinking about it. you just drew the ancestors with pale skin cos that’s where your mind goes or you’ve been a silly afro chibi for a while or you drew your white self as a white skykid. reading this, you’re doubling down now cos you don’t think you’re racist, you’re not a raging bigot, you can’t be a *gasp* bad person!

and, yknow what, I don’t think you’re a bad person either. I condemn the actions, not the person (unless you’re an asshole). like you, I grew up in a white supremacist society participating in racist institutions down to the micro level, not questioning what I was taught or socialized even if I was often on the receiving end of microaggressions. but I learned to confront the prejudices that have been socialized in me because they maintain an unjust world that hurts  people unnecessarily. even now I am still confronting prejudices that have been ingrained in me because I understand the harm they cause and the oppression they perpetuate, how bullshit have and continue to make the world a hostile place for people of color like myself. I stop doing bigoted things. it���s the least I can do.

surely, you can too.

and for those blokes who are aware of how racist you are and continue to do this shit anyways? fuck you.

sincerely, a Black Sky player

#sky: children of the light #sky children of the light #that sky game #thatskygame #sky: cotl #me speaking #tw racism

[dtblrawards]

Official Statement

This wouldn’t be the myct community if an organizer didn’t have to make at least one statement.

first things first: i do not endorse doxxing, i do not support people who bring negativity into this fandom. plain and simple.

this project relies heavily on community influence meaning there will be people involved who i don’t like or others don’t like and unfortunately even people who do not deserve community recognition.

as someone who has a passion for making people smile and spreading positivity my goal with this project was to make sure it was equal opportunity. As I’ve stated before I know polls are a popularity contest i understand generally people with larger follow counts are going to have an easier time getting in and winning. which is why one I try create diverse categories that allow more of the community to be recognized and two I include all nomination graphs on the bottom so everyone has a chance to see if someone submitted their blog.

i allow everyone to be included even if I personally have a bad relationship with them because this isn’t about my experience in the fandom it’s about the collective community. I want this project to bring people together. I want this community to have good positive fun things to enjoy.

the last 24 hours have not been fun. despite my personal struggles right now I decided to go forward with the awards because people were looking forward to them. without throwing to much of a pity party I will just say I’ve been struggling majorly with mental health the last year and I took the very scary step of getting emergency and professional help a couple weeks ago. seeing the asks I’m getting right now has been really tough at this moment.

yes people slipped through the cracks because I don’t check every nominees blog I don’t even know most of the nominees deeper than their url looking vaguely familiar if that. I keep a tight knit friend group in this fandom to allow myself to have a good experience here. I have a full time job including a side business. On top of making time to better myself and really trying to enjoy life again I don’t have much time.

I also don’t want to play judge/jury/executioner. Minus the one person who apparently has a dox tag right in their pin every other name thrown around in my inbox is just interpersonal fandom shit that I have no clue about how do I make the decision to include/exclude people from this when I don’t know the situation and quite frankly do not care to know.

at the end of the day these are silly polls. we don’t have to play morality king of the hill. If you don’t like someone don’t vote for them don’t follow them fuck block them.

understand that i didn’t include these people in the polls knowing any of this shit ahead of time and plain and simple if you dox/literally have a dox tag and you win a poll im just picking the next highest person

im not dwelling on these negative people and neither should you.

I don’t posts doxx’s, I don’t interact with people who do, I did not nominate these people I simply committed the crime of sorting an excel sheet and putting the 5 highest names in a poll. Please keep this in mind when you are sending me anons upset at this situation

[briar-ffxiv]

10 fandoms, 10 characters, 10 tags

Basic rules: choose 10 fandoms that you are part of/support, and choose a favorite character from each of those. Then, tag ten folks!

Tagged by: @miqojak

This isn't in any particular order and I honestly had to think really hard of fandoms because I don't tend to be a 'loud' fan about the things. I just kind of enjoy taking in the movies/books/whatever and definitely have my favorites.

So long story short, I had to eyeball my Steam, think about my favorite games, and some of my favorite books that are actually fandoms and not stand-alone. Also, because I can't ever pick just one, I did include an honorable mention (or two) in each of the fandoms. And I will try not to gush too much about each character.

Tagging (so you don't have to scroll all the way down): @actualanxiousswampwitch @ainyan @calico-heart @seasaltandcopper @ythealleycat @airis-ray @valdiis @avashnea @starrysnowdrop @lost-harts @mimble-sparklepudding @pinxli

1. Haurchefant Greystone, Final Fantasy 14 - Probably no surprise to anyone who knows me, but I've always had a soft spot for Haurchefant. He was one of the first characters in the game who really felt like a friend to my character in a 'pure' sort of way and who never asked the Warrior to do anything he wouldn't do. He was brave, honest, loyal, and full of heart despite a very difficult childhood and upbringing. And he died protecting someone he cared about. Whether or not he's considered romantic about the person's particular Warrior, he was always their friend and someone who supported them when few would.

Honorable Mentions from FFXVI: Thancred Water, Emet-Selch, Tataru, Estinien, and probably a bunch of others. Lots of good characters!

2. Kaladin Stormblessed, Stormlight Archives - Love or hate Brandon Sanderson, it has to be admitted, that he puts out a lot of books that are interesting and full of diverse characters and worlds. One of my personal favorites is definitely Kaladin from the Stormlight Archives. Kaladin is someone who battles openly with depression and PTSD (like actually acknowledged and mentioned in the story) but is also kind, caring, determined, brave and does his best. He's flawed, moody, and damaged, but also battles to help both himself and others. He is one of the few people who is an advocate for veterans like him to get proper, kind care in the stories as well, which is a rarity in fantasy novels.

Honorable Mentions from the Stormlight Archives: Adolin, Dalanar,, Szeth, and Shallan.

3. Samwise Gamgee, Lord of the Rings - I don't know how anyone can not at least like Samwise. Yes, he's not always the brightest but he's the bravest in my opinion. He's constantly afraid, yes, but he never lets it stop him from doing what he knows in his heart is right. He loves deeply and unconditionally and without him, they would never have succeeded. He takes the worst moment and finds some good, some reason to push past. He's, to me, the kind of person I hope I can be in life. Sam is just a really great character in the movies (the books are not quite the same, but he's still pretty dang good).

Honorable Mentions from Lord of the Rings: Legolas, Aragorn, Eowyn, and others.

4. Reth, Palia - Palia is a fairly new little "cozy" MMO and has its flaws, but the characters are pretty good! So since I've been playing, I'll mention some of my favorites. Reth is a chef who is kind of bad at cooking, but he's funny, sassy, flirty, and charming. He also hides a lot of issues due to the story (that I can't really spill without so many spoilers). The more you get to know him, the deeper he gets and he's actually a really sweet person who values you a lot the more you get to know him.

Honorable Mentions from Palia: Hassian, Jel, Eshe, Ashura, and Delaila and others!

5. Rolan, Baldur's Gate 3 - Look, I know he's barely more than a side character, but I really love Rolan. He's grumpy, he's brash, and he's an absolute jerk...but he deeply loves his siblings, he's very loyal, he's brave, and he has some deep self-worth issues. In short, he is a delight and I love him and I would throw a certain someone off a tower a hundred times for this tiefling.

Honorable Mention from Baldur's Gate 3: Halsin (no surprise), Astarion (look, he's damaged and I love him), Dammon, Karlach, Wyll, and...oh my goodness, so many others. I don't have one SUPER FAVORITE, but I wanted to pick a slightly unusual favorite for my list.

6. Shane, Stardew Valley - Again, no shocker that depressed chicken-man is my favorite. Granted, I think the mods that give him more help him so, so, so much to be a better character, but even at his 'vanilla' version, I find Shane a sympathetic character and one that touched my heart quite a bit. I very much can understand Shane's feelings toward his depression, his life, and how hard things can be. And mods certainly help your story with him to help him become a somewhat healthier person. And I really like that.

Honorable Mention from Stardew Valley: Abigail, Elliot, Marlon, and a bunch of others!

7. Arcade Gannon, Fallout: New Vegas - He's a sassy gay nerd that I'm totally into. He's brilliant, he's witty, he's charming, he's a bit of an ass, but he's also vulnerable, surprisingly deep, and very kind when he can be. So he's definitely one of my favorite New Vegas characters.

Honorable Mentions in Fallout: New Vegas: ED-E, Boone, and Rex!

8. Arthur Morgan, Red Dead Redemption 2 - I understand that the player's choices have a big effect on what kind of character Arthur Morgan is, of course. That said, I found him really well-written, full of depth, and the story overall very moving, especially if you go for high honor.

Honorable Mentions from Red Dead Redemption 2: Dutch, Abigail, John Marston, and others.

9. Zenith, Star Wars: The Old Republic - People think I'm nuts, but I actually love the Jedi Consular storyline. And my favorite companion is Zenith. He's an interesting balance to the Jedi Consular (at least if you play the Light side), and I always enjoyed that he had a strong personality and wasn't easy to budge. He wasn't completely unreasonable in most cases, but I liked that he didn't always let himself be swayed by the player character. He was a deeply damaged, but incredibly loyal and strong-willed person. Also, Troy Baker does amazing voices.

Honorable Mentions from Star Wars: The Old Republic: Theron Shan, Koth Vortena, Lana Beniko, Corso Riggs, and a lot more!

10. Dogmeat, Fallout 4 - So I did two Fallouts. Because I love Dogmeat that much. Dogmeat is the goodest boy and my best friend in the game. Yes, occasionally, Dogmeat blows me up...or ruins something entirely. But he is adorable and precious and my good friend. He makes the wastelands bearable.

Honorable Mentions from Fallout 4: Nick Valentine, Preston Garvery, Piper Write, John Hannock, and more!

If you read all this, thank you for doing so. I tried not to make it too long or include a bunch of spoilers.

#ooc #10 fandoms #some of my favorites #enjoy!

[studiesof-fandom]

hey! this is a method question more than anything, but i wondered whether you would have any advice re tackling how a researcher should approach ‘selecting’ sources (specifically fanfiction) in an instance where there are too many texts for a researcher to realistically read. i appreciate it depends on what you are looking for, but if you have any theories or research that discusses how to manage volume and gauge significance - and even just advice on how best to track and log notes on whats been read - I’d really appreciate it!! thanks so much

This is a very difficult question, because I didn’t quite understand if you’re asking me about how to select fic (as in the story) for you to analyze and study or to find theoretical texts about fanfiction that fits your research. I’ll answer both because I have enough knowledge to do that.

If it’s about selecting fics - you need to choose the ones that fit your research. Personal advice: stick to the ones you really like because you’re going to deal with them for a long period of time. For example, let’s say I have to write a research paper about omegaverse (pls keep in mind I study literature) and I want to explore the diversity that omegaverse can be presented by ficwriters. I’ll pick 5 different fics that I really like - it can be different from fandoms and feature different couples because you’re working with the theme omegaverse and not a ship itself, for example. Then, I’ll show how in which one of them the omegaverse works - the differences, the similarities, etc. The biggest mistake you can make, in my opinion, is to choose the fic first and then choose what you want to research. Sometimes our connection with a story is very deep, but it doesn’t mean that the fic has enough material for you to analyze depending on your topic of research. Seriously, choosing a fic is all about what you read and enjoy and if you can pick the things you can get to do your research. As I have no idea what you’re researching, I can’t help much, sorry! 

Ok, I just realized you didn’t specify if you were researching specific fics or like a whole genre/theme of fics. If it’s the first, then what I say applies, but if it’s the second, disregard that. I don’t have any experience researching a large amount of data aka quantitative research. I can suggest two books for you to read about it that I believe it’s trustworthy: Quantitative Methodologies using Multi-Methods and Analyzing Media Messages.

It seems to me, from what you’re asking, is that you’re lost dealing with doing research itself. My advice is to read about academic research. Those are books from trustworthy publishing houses that might help you:

Doing Academic Research (Routledge)

A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (This one is really popular)

Evaluating Research in Academic Journals

Doing Academic Research (Cambridge)

I found this Research and Publications Planner: The Graduate Student's Guide to Publishing Academic Research - reading the reviews it seems to be a notebook that helps you organize your research and keep track of things. 

About the organization of your research: it’s very personal. The way I keep track of mine is like this. I have a folder for my research  in my Google Drive and I created a few separated folders within it. I’ll give you an example: how I deal with the references I use in my research and the theoretical foundation. First, I separated by topic, in my case is autoethnography (the methodology of my research), fanfiction (the academics texts I use to talk about fic that aligns with my perception) and creative writing (it’s a topic I might touch in my research but I’m not sure yet). Then, I pick the articles and books - for you to do this you’ll need to start with the forefathers and foremothers of the field. Any research on google will tell you who are the leading researchers in whatever field you’re working on. Usually when I’m reading the academic texts, I create a doc and copy and paste the bits I find relevant for me, taking notes of the page and chapter so I can put it in my references later. 

As it seems you’re studying fanfiction here are the authors you have to know for doing an incredible work for fanfiction: Henry Jenkins, Sara Gwenllian Jones, Kristina Busse, Karen Hellekson, Abigail Derecho, Francesca Coppa, Louisa Ellen Stein, Judith Fathallah, Anne Jamison and Ika Willis.

Recs about theoretical texts related to fic as a genre:

A Fan Studies Primer

In Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet you can find those two texts: Archontic Literature and Writing Bodies in Space

Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World 

Introduction of The Fanfiction Reader

Framing Fan Fiction 

The Fan Fiction Studies Reader

If you want to talk to me, send me an email to [email protected]. I hope I helped a bit!

#flowerofknights #replies