#and they start making their callout posts like the people liking these characters are… unaware of their terrible actions? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ourflagmeansgayrights · 6 months

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Hey so idk if you would know this but where did the term canyon in reference to Izzy fans come from? I feel like I just started seeing it like three days ago but everyone seems to already know what it means

lol so disclaimer that this ask has been in my inbox since september 23rd and alsoooo i might not be the best person to ask bc i am belothed by many who consider themselves part of the izzy canyon (which is their right). so if you asked an izzy fan about this you would probably get a different answer. also from what i can tell the term originated on twitter and i don’t go there.

the tl;dr that i heard secondhand from someone who identifies as izzy canyon is that at some point last year (summer or fall-ish i think) a lot of izzy fans were blocking so many people who didn’t like izzy that a lot of them ended up being unaware of general fandom trends and it became a running joke among them that izzy fans were isolated from the rest of the fandom in an "izzy canyon." and then allegedly the term expanded to just mean "if ur not a dick abt ppl liking izzy u can be in the canyon." THAT BEING SAID there are other ppl who had a very different experience with how "the canyon" originated and what kind of fan space it tends to be.

(slightly longer explanation below)

the thing with The Canyon is that to understand its origin and also why some fans have a problem with it, you gotta know two things:

there are annoying puriteen anti types on the internet who think liking certain characters make you a bad person. from what i can tell theyre mostly on twitter and tiktok. these people are annoying but also in my experience they're usually pretty easy to block and ignore.

the popularity of izzy hands is disproportionate to his narrative role in the show, and the popular fanon interpretation of izzy hands casts him not only as a principal character but as a much more sympathetic, righteous character than he is in canon. THIS DOES NOT MEAN I THINK ANYONE IS A BAD PERSON FOR LIKING IZZY. this DOES mean that i think ppl who think ed is izzy's domestic abuser are wrong. and also this is part of an age old fandom trend of fandom favoring a masc white guy who is often a side character and also often an antagonist.

so from what i can tell. in the early days of the ofmd fandom (spring-summer 2022) there was a lot of #1 going around on twitter, screaming about how if you liked izzy hands then you're a racist abuse apologist or something. at one point a throwaway account tweeted a callout for a popular izzy fan and said "we know they live in this area and work for this company, so these are the locations where they might work. everyone should call these numbers and tell their job to fire them. also we're gonna target these izzy fans next" and like, obviously this account was pretty quickly taken down. but it was a pretty scary thing and left a lot of izzy fans pretty paranoid, hence the blocking everyone who didnt like izzy.

(there was also a "izzy hater group chat" twitter account that was literally just a small group of mostly minors posting memes and also abt izzy that got accused of being connected to that whole mess. but afaict those guys have nothing to do with harassment of izzy fans they just dont like izzy)

so the thing is now that all of that has been used to justify shutting down any type of conversation about #2, or writing off anyone who posts meta about izzy that isnt like, "he works so hard and is so unappreciated despite everything he's done for ed" as an "izzy anti." analyzing izzy critically and posting this in the #izzy hands tag on tumblr is likened to genuine harassment.

oh lol and speaking of harrasment: there was also a problem with ppl on tumblr getting anon hate, and izzy fans will tell you that the anon came from an izzy hater who was targeting izzy fans bc the anon messages use "izzy critical rhetoric." however as someone who has posted "izzy critical" metas or whatever, i have actually gotten the same harassing messages accusing me of being an izzy stan and a racist abuse apologist. that's not what a targeted harassment campaign looks like. that's all been less of a problem ever since tumblr made it so you need to be logged in to an account to send anonymous messages.

anyway my stance on all of this:

i don't hate anyone for liking izzy. i am critical of certain comments/behaviors i often see from ppl who identify as izzy fans, but izzy fans are rarely the only ones who have this problem. from what i've seen tho, a lot of it comes from izzy fans.

before i ever saw even a hint of harassment against izzy fans, i saw izzy fans coming onto my posts and to posts by fans of color trying to argue that these posts were contributing to their harassment. from my perspective, it looked a lot like fans of a white character were trying to shut down conversations abt their favorite guy, especially when those conversations were being had by fans of color. i was very skeptical and oftentimes pretty dismissive abt the existence of this harassment.

since then tho ive done a pretty deep dive into the anon harassment on tumblr, and also looked at takes from different perspectives on the whole thing, and my conclusion is that there is harassment of izzy fans, however it is on the same base-level shittiness that most people experience from just... being on the internet. death threats and insults and slurs are literally just part of being on the internet. and yes, it SUCKS and it's wrong and nobody should have to put up with it, but izzy fans are not victims of specific targeted harassment. theyre victims of being on the internet and having to put up with general internet shittiness. and im sympathetic to that up until ppl start using "ive been harassed for being an izzy fan" as an excuse to be incredibly nasty (check out this tumblr acct for examples of what i mean lol). the ofmd fandom is annoying and parts of it are toxic but like, by no means is this the most toxic fandom to ever exist. we're not at "undertale fan giving out cookies with needles in them at a convention" levels just yet.

finally, tangentially related: i am inherently wary of fandom sub-groups that like, name themselves?? in my experience, the more people make being a Type Of Fan part of their identity the more it tends to lead to problems. this goes for fans who label themselves "antis" or "anti-antis" or whatever the fuck. i've personally been called an "izzy anti," an "izzy hater," and an "izzy critical fan" but like, i dont really call myself that?? it just seems weird to me idk. it gets to be very "us vs them" on default with little nuance and ive never found this kind of thing to be like, productive in fandom spaces. but that's just me.

#ask #anon #mine #txt #link #og

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pengychan · 3 years

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Look mom, I'm making a callout post!

Well, not a callout as much as a warning to the entire Coco fandom, given what we found out about the piece of work that goes by "hobbyartist01", and what she has done to several fans for the past few months. I'll try to make a very long story short.

Be warned, there is mention of heavy homophobia and continued harassment.

I'm going to start from... near the end. When, a few days ago, this exchange between hobbyartist01 and some other users was brought to the attention of several people in the Coco fandom.

(Could I have blacked out the other people's names? Yes. Did I? Absolutely not.)

I will not link you to the video in question because I don't think that pile of shit should get any views. If you're too curious to resist, you can find it on YouTube but be warned - it is vehemently homophobic and the arguments in it are absolutely vile.

As hobbyartist01 was in a Coco Discord server called The Marigold Bridge, this screenshot was brought to the attention of its admins and some users. Not only did it show a new side to this user we'd been unaware of, but it suddenly presented us with a possible solution to an issue several people had been dealing with.

Starting in January this year, several Coco artists and writers have been dealing with an especially malicious anon. Hateful messages were sent, harassing comments, and in some cases even personal information the anon had been able to uncover about them (though mostly outdated); this person has quite literally gone back years in one user's Internet history to dig up information they had posted as a young teenager. The mods were sent a link by a blog which turned out to be an IP tracker; the blog later deleted itself. This anon tried rather hard to doxx one of the mods, and expressed frustration over being unable to do so. Another Coco fan received an anon message with a link to their personal Facebook profile.

Due to some very specific conversations in the Marigold Bridge server being referenced in the anon's comments, it was clear this piece of work was among its users. However, the mods had no idea who it may be.

Until the conversation above was brought to their attention.

You see, a lot of the messages and comments the anon had been sending had very clear homophobic undertones, with some being straight-up slurs; and some, which was most puzzling of all, had some really weird fanatical comments about going to Hell for worshipping a character "like he’s a god". So, once we saw the ugliness behind hobbyartist01's cutesy art and facade... we began looking into her a bit more. And suddenly it turns out that clues were there all along as to the anon's identity, we just needed to know who to look at.

A combination of peculiar wording in the messages, timing, people who just so happened to be their friends being brought up in said messages and more, made us strongly suspect hobbyartist01's was the hateful anon who'd been harassing people for some seven months. None of it was proof, but as it turns out, there was a smoking gun: while we knew how the anon was able to doxx one person, the other - the one who got a link to their Facebook profile sent to them - had no idea how they may have possibly been doxxed.

They had been very careful not to leave anything online that might point to their identity. And yet somehow the anon, who just so happened to be in the same server, had managed to find it. It was a real mystery... until they remembered a relative’s email exchange over some gift art with another user in the server, which contained information one could easily use to figure out their full name and find their Facebook profile.

And guess who the user in question was.

As we put all this together, hobbyartist01 realized several of us had unfollowed her on Tumblr (we immediately hit the unfollow button after becoming aware of the homophobia, before we really began putting two and two together on the rest) and blocked us all, before creating a very obvious sock puppet account and inviting it in the server, to be able to stay in case of a ban. She clearly did not know that the mods could tell exactly who created each invite link. Not suspicious behavior at all, eh?

At this point, the mods confronted hobbyartist01. All the evidence pointing at her was laid down in detail, including the fact no one else in the server had the information needed to find out a specific user's identity, and hobbyartist01 was asked for an explanation. The chance to defend herself was there, but it was not taken; despite the mods waiting for days before enacting a ban, hobbyartist01 never responded - though in that time, she did delete her DA and Ao3 accounts. Not at all suspicious, again - this just about obliterated any doubts that may have been left.

So yeah, there you have it. We feel everyone in the fandom should be warned about hobbyartis01, ESPECIALLY any LGBTQ+ people - she is a malicious homophobe who has harassed people for no good reason for seven months, going as far as to bring up family members' names in her messages to create as much anxiety as possible in her victims.

Keep away from this person, she cannot be trusted and we suspect she may have fake accounts.

Keep safe.

#pixar coco #coco #pixar #homophobia

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happysadyoyo · 2 years

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Wanna know the worst and most unintentionally racist thing I’ve ever done?

I have a half Jewish (Austrian), half Korean character that I RP to this day. He’s magic, and he gets some of that from his dad’s side.

I made his dad a god of greed at one point. Yep, I made the white passing Jewish guy a god of greed.

What’s worse is I actively RP’d this online, on tumblr for a year before I realized what I’d done and entirely scrapped that. Now the Jewish character has magic ancestry that makes him long lived instead.

The only reason I realized what I’d done is JKR got roasted by the Indigenous community on tumblr for what she’d done to the USAmerican magical society she created and older arguments I was unaware of came to light. Like the goblins coming strongly across as anti-Semitic stereotypes. This is around the time I stopped seeing JKR as a leftist and someone to admire and started seeing all the holes in her world and logic.

This is just a dumb little anecdote about something really dumb I did and how dumb white people are. I am no better than anyone else. I can only learn and grow from my experiences.

But it’s wild how no one called me out because at the time I was a pariah in the tumblr rp community. Had my own callout post and everything.

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megan-is-mia · 3 years

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Callout Post on yanderebloodlust

I really didn’t want to do this but I feel I must, if not for my sake then for someone with less bravery. Late 2019 and Early 2020 I was in two different discord server run by someone who goes by the tumblr handle of @Yanderebloodlust (who has blocked me for good reason). I did not show very good behavior in these servers, I was rude and very unfiltered with my speech as well as possessive of characters I liked. With the perspective I have now I am very ashamed of how I acted and blamed people for my bad behavior instead of owning up to my actions. I was rightfully banned from the sever with this last message

After that time I didn’t interact with anyone on discord for about a week in order to force myself to cool down before I did anything rash or made things worse for myself with the people I was still in contact with from the server. After the week went by I confided in one of the people I was still on good terms with from the server.

I found out shortly after this talk that my friend was also banned from the server. Today with her permission of course, here is a copy the message she received.

At this point, I decided to just put the whole matter behind me and not worry about it anymore. I had made my mistakes and would have to live with them. I’d make an effort in the future not to be so unsettling with my words and try my best not to comment on stuff without my opinion being asked. I also made a promise to myself not to go after Yanderebloodlust or anyone in her friend group. They had done what they thought was right with the situation and as they said the subject was non-negotiable so that was that. Since then I’ve been mostly doing my own thing on tumblr and discord, and thought nothing more would come of this matter. Fast forward to this year when I received this message from a fellow tumblr user by the name of (Green TEXT).

All seemed okay at this time, and I was kinda excited about it to be honest. I’m not very good at making new friends and this new server might give me a chance to get to know some more writers/artists/fans in TWST! So I joined and when I did I was greeted to this sight.

I will not lie I was a little nervous to see Yanderebloodlust on discord again but I was open-minded about it. It had been over half a year since we spoken and I was ready to let bygones be bygones. Maybe this time we could become friends and she’d know I was not as mean as I used to be. Only for me to receive this message on Tumblr a few moments later as Yanderebloodlust left the server.

To which I answered

At that time I couldn’t really think of anything stand-out to mention. I knew I had been a total cunt towards Yanderebloodlust and her friends when I was in her servers but since that time I had been trying to make an effort to be a more thoughtful person. The conversation then went in this direction

So at this point in January of 2021 to my knowledge the situation was, Yanderebloodlust had warned (Green TEXT) that I might be trouble and to be careful of me. All that was fair enough action in my eyes and I didn’t say anything else on the matter. Come this most recent Thursday March 13, 2021. The server is kind of in disarray and I want to help fix it but (Green TEXT) tells me no and then we had this exchange in DMs

My thoughts were immediately towards Yanderebloodlust being the author in question but I didn’t say anything on the matter.

Out of curiosity I asked (Green TEXT) to send me what evidence they had gotten on me which went as follows

With this in mind I feel that I am being badmouthed here, Yanderebloodlust has not interacted with me in over 6 months and I do not feel that what she had said is fair to me. If it was at one time a fair assessment of me it is no longer accurate. I am tired of feeling like I am constantly on the cusp of pissing off the wrong person and that it will be held against me. She says that people shouldn’t avoid me if we already friends yet and I should be kept unaware of the situation. This would go against her statement of not wanting interaction with me by making this the first thing she told someone (to my knowledge). It feels unfair for her to start bring up past major grievances as the first thing she does upon joining a server with me before she then leaves the server claiming I started the drama. Such statements would imply Yanderebloodlust’s experience with me is universal and that she gets to dictate whom I can and can't be friends with. Another word from my friend who got banned, she was on the same mod team as Yanderebloodlust for a time before things went sour and she had this to tell me.

#MIAmusings #TWST #Yandere TWST #Twisted Wonderland #Yandere Twisted Wonderland #Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure #Yandere Jojo's Bizarre Adventure #JJBA #Yandere JJBA #Yandere Jojo #Jojo #yanderebloodlust

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saltpepperbeard · 4 years

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An Open Fandom Discussion

Hello hello! Goodness, I haven’t made one of these posts in 84 years. Even though I have not been around as long as some others, I consider myself to be quite the Fandom Veteran. I’ve been here since 2013, and with that, I have seen all walks of unrest/drama over the years. Shipping wars, character debates, story policing, you name it. Some have been lighthearted (coughs at aPPLESAUCE 2K14), and others have lead to individuals actually leaving the fandom.

And of course the year of Satan 2020 would have drama starting up ‘round these parts once more. But I’m here to say that it doesn’t have to be that way at all. It SHOULDN’T have to be that way.

I know I speak for nearly everyone when I say we’re simply here to enjoy a franchise we love. We’re here for the friendly discussions, the artwork, the gifsets, the manipulations, the meta, the fandom-wide events, and the fanfiction. We’re here to share joy and merriment and solidarity over something we can all relate to. Many of us come here to escape, to relax and enjoy all the content this fandom has to offer.

That’s not to say there may be some differing opinions. Some people may be more into the debate side, and that’s totally fine! If you’re all for calling out inconsistencies within the series, or pointing out the nuances in a character, then go for it!

But I absolutely draw the line when those opinions start shifting towards singling out others. When people begin to feel alienated, or people begin to feel ashamed for what they enjoy, that’s when it starts to get unacceptable.

Now, don’t get me wrong. People are allowed to enjoy what they enjoy, and dislike what they dislike. They are allowed to post opinions on their own blog if they so please, or rant to others privately if they find certain topics bothersome. But the reason behind my post today, is that a blog has been created that falls within some sort of grey area, and has definitely lead to unrest/hurt feelings/damage over the past few days:

@hungergamestea.

Yup, I will directly call it out. Because in talking about it passive aggressively/indirectly, it furthers the problem this very blog is presenting.

In case you’re unaware, this blog runs entirely on anonymous submissions, with people posting their opinions about a range of topics. That’s all fine and dandy, and I actually followed the blog initially, thinking it was sort of like the tea sessions I have on my own blog. Ie, talking about characters, headcanons, what people like/dislike about aspects of the movie and books, etc! But I was instead stunned to see that it was a platform for people to anonymously point fingers at individuals in this fandom, and utterly crap on certain fanfiction genres/topics.

“But Jodi! You said people are allowed to say whatever they want on their own blog!” I did. But that’s why I believe this blog falls into a dangerous grey area. Yes, people are entitled to rant. Yes, people are allowed to dislike certain subject areas. But to post about them anonymously? To callout individuals directly in their asks? To shame people for liking something they read/write? What’s the point of that? How is giving a platform for anonymous hate okay?

“Jodi, people are allowed to hate things lmao.” True, but then...isn’t it way easier for those people to...avoid what they dislike, then? Or rant about it in their own, private spaces? What good does it do to anonymously rant about it on a blog allowing such? It does nothing but hurt the others who enjoy it. If people were off anon saying those things, it could perhaps allow for discussion/debate. But the anonymous wall detracts from any sort of discussion, and simply makes it a more hateful platform. It also gives people the more cowardly route of avoiding a blog/individual in question, and posting their contempt in an even more passive aggressive way.

It’s done nothing but upset people. It’s hurt people/made them feel ashamed for what they enjoy, and it’s lead to fiery fights between individuals. Many of my friends are hurting because of this, hence me feeling inspired enough to bring forth an ESSAY TM. I cannot stand for it when I see people I care about hurting/uncomfortable.

So then. I propose that, instead of reblogging or replying to the anonymous asks being presented there, we all just carry on with what we enjoy. We all just stick to our more positive things, and continue supporting one each other instead of dragging each other down. I know, it might be slightly hypocritical of me to give this blog attention when I’m calling for inattention, but I felt it was necessary to make people aware.

I’m also not 100% sure of the intent of this blog. I’ve been told some reasons, and if it was indeed created with the intent to stir up drama/harm others, then that really saddens me. If not however, and it was indeed created as nothing more than an “everything platform,” then I believe a bit of “screening” is called for.

To the creators of hungergamestea, I implore you to turn the blog into a place of more friendly discussion. I feel as though individuals should be allowed to discuss things they don’t like, but in a more passive, eloquent manner. And also, NOT anything that harms another. Something like, “I personally feel like Katniss is characterized this way, even though it’s a bit of an unpopular opinion,” as opposed to “LMAO SOME PEOPLE ARE SO EGOTISTICAL” kind of thing. So yes, continue to take anonymous discussions by all means, but please filter out the ones that are intended to be callouts/attacks.

I know it could be viewed as “silencing” opinions/voices. But goodness, whatever happened to the mantra, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all?” What good does empty negativity do?

If individuals are so upset by something, they should take it up with the creator in private, or start a public discussion. Not post anonymous generalizations/assumptions on a blog, which more often than not prove to be FALSE anyway. Again, the anonymous wall proves to be nothing but hateful and damaging.

And, seeing as I titled this as an open discussion, I would like to hear other thoughts! And would also like to extend my support and care to everyone here. I’m not writing this to further any fighting. Rather, the opposite. I hate to see people upset here. I hate to see people fighting with each other. This is supposed to be a happy space, and a space of artful escape. Not a space where we tear each other down.

thank you for coming to my ted talk

#Jodi rambles #*WRITES AN ESSAY #Jodi GOES OFF lmao #Listen #l i s t e n #I really don't want to stir the pot more #I really don't #But I've seen people getting progressively more and more upset #I'm seeing FIGHTS y'all #I haven't seen fights since like what #2014? 2015?#I know I've missed quite a heaping helping of drama between those years and now but #My dude #We don't NEED this type of negativity in 2020 #We really really don't #Tumblr NEEDS to be a positive escape space right now more than ever #It NEEDS to be a place where people feel safe secure and happy #It does NOT need to be a place where someone comes on only to feel immensely disheartened and saddened by negativity #ANONYMOUS at that #Like dude #D u d e #This very much as the same energy as an anon I received a few years back #I had just published a story and someone came into my box and went #'I was so excited for your story! But then I read it and it was just okay. You've done better lmao'#Like...why #WHY #WHY SAY THAT #People don't REALIZE what they're saying #Because considering I can remember it all these years later...lmao #There's just NO reason for such negativity

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rpbetter · 3 years

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You make some really good posts!! Can I ask something about DNIs? I know it's not directly RP-related, but I have trouble as an RPer with how many DNIs, with urls, there are now. I try not to interact with muns who have them, I block them, because it feels manipulative? But I'm also tempted to block people who follow those muns, because they probably think their DNIs are okay to have, so they're still "bad", just not as bad? Do you think that's overkill, am I shooting myself in the foot?

Oh, thank you! I'm very happy you've enjoyed them!

And, of course, ask anything at all!

I think, ultimately, the answer to whether that's overkill is entirely dependent on what your experience is and if you're happy with it. I don't think it is overkill at all, but if you feel like it is costing you too many mutuals, it might be overkill for you.

I'm a pretty insular RPer, I like a handful of close writing partners that I write a lot of threads with, so, having something like, under ten writing partners is great for me while it's miserable for other muns. I can go wild on blocking and not have it negatively impact my enjoyment, but I know that's not the case for everyone!

And I do, actually, I do go pretty wild with the blocking when it comes to things like DNIs. If it comes off as policing to me, not just something like a difference of opinion or a strong opinion on something, I'm going to block. Otherwise, it's just recognizing that this isn't a mun I'm going to work out with, but no hard feelings. With policing though...I don't want that anywhere near me or my mutuals, so, it's going to be a block.

Because they do tend to be in these odd, like, nested situations lol I totally will spend the effort if their DNI is bad enough to look at the muns they interact with and make sure I don't have future contact with them either. The RPC is such a big place, making it easier to forget URLs than to remember them, but it's also a place where we establish circles of contact, making it easier to run into the same group repeatedly. I feel like it's better for my peace of mind to be a little more certain than not at all that this isn't going to happen as easily.

If that DNI etc. has been so awful, I definitely don't require their mutuals professing the same beliefs as loudly as they are. If you interact with someone, maybe you don't know their pet fish's name or the obscure lore in a headcanon they posted five years ago or the rule they updated without telling anyone, but you do know what is on their pinned post or blog description or rules. At some point, we all visit each other's blogs in dash-view if nothing else when we're getting replies or checking for memes they might have posted, going through their tags, whatever. I do not believe that you're mutuals who reblog from each other often, reply frequently to each other, ship each other's muses and so forth, and all this time, you've somehow failed to notice your bestie mun is telling proshippers to die in their DNI lmao

No, you've seen it. And I find it extremely hard to believe, too, that it's never come up in conversation OOC either.

So, this hypothetical mutual is so oblivious to others, completely agrees with the other one's views while not feeling confident enough to share them publicly, or is scared enough of the other one that they won't disagree...and no matter which/which combination that might be, they're not a mutual I want.

Especially when it comes to a DNI with someone's URL in it. Hard pass on anyone who is okay with that!

If I visited a writing partner's blog, let's say this person is also my closest friend, I value them and the threads I have with them so much, and I saw that in their DNI they had dropped someone's URL? We would have to talk. I'd have to bring it up because it's the right thing to do (and would also be highly out of character for any of my friends, thus very concerning). There would have to be a question posed about what happened here, why did you feel like this was a good choice, and do you think it's increasing or lessening the problem to have that there?

Honestly, sometimes people do get so upset about something that has happened that their worst impulses are let loose freely. When you ask someone you have an established relationship with about that, unless you're being really hateful about it right off, it can help them settle down, take a step back, and see that this is maybe not the right action to take. To me, silence says you're okay with it.

When muns started putting more elaborate DNI's in, that alone rubbed me the wrong way because I genuinely do not think that the majority of that information is at all necessary. It's something I can see and fully understand minors doing, not because they're terrible or anything but because the impulses and rationale are just different. You're very much geared to be as loud as possible about things that are important to you, making them a part of you in a huge way, as a teenager. Shit just is unreasonably intense! But as an adult, I expect that behavior to be different. You don't actually need to say on your RP blog's DNI that "transphobes WILL be blocked!!!"

Well, yes, I should hope so lol we're a community filled with muns who are trans, I'd certainly hope you were not cool with that kind of thing. It's one of those assumptive states, it goes without saying because, in a group of legitimate adults, it literally doesn't have to be said that a trans mun in a group of trans muns in a RPC filled with trans muns would be intolerant of transphobic assholes.

And, no one likes a damn transphobe, it's not like this stunning, fresh information, here. Not making such a statement does not, in fact, act as a welcome.

Saying that, and I do not mean literally just that, it's just an example of the type of things found in a common DNI, is a little immature for me. Some of those things are, in addition to being purely self-validating: playing into the fear created by policing, virtue signaling, policing, or baiting. And all of them are pointless. Telling someone who would already be bigoted toward you and others to not interact if they somehow miraculously ID as whatever label that takes for them to not interact with your posts is waving a metaphoric red flag in front of a bull. Kind of like tagging a post as either "antis don't interact" or "proshippers don't interact." Actual quickest and most assured way to get that interaction!

I totally understand the age thing, it's self-protecting. Most people do respect it, but when they don't, you've clearly stated that this is not for whatever age group. Things pertaining to your writing and/or muse I also understand and think are great for a quick glance before someone even gets to the rules. Having in a DNI something like "muns who are easily triggered by gore" when you write a horror muse, for instance. You're advising them that this isn't a great idea for them, and it shouldn't be expected that you change your muse and topics because they decided to follow anyway.

But it became excessive very quickly, and there is the expectation that blogs have a DNI. The further expectation is that there be a specific list of things found in that DNI, if yours does not include it, you obviously don't have a problem with those things. I really cannot be okay with that, you know?

However, when it wasn't being used as a callout or a way to police, that was something that could just be ignored. Once URLs of other RPers started to appear, it was a whole other problem.

It used to be the pervading rule of the RPC that it is not alright to force other muns to chose between you and another mun that you had an issue with, but now we have DNIs with other muns' URLs in them. Now, it's the opposite take - if you have an issue with a URL being dropped in a DNI, or if you continue to interact with the mun, you're likely to get a callout or be on the receiving end of other bullying.

So, I very much think the self-insulating thing to do is to avoid those mutuals as well as the RPer with the URL-laden DNI. They could just block you, but is someone who was so juvenile as to put another mun's URL in their damn DNI going to be mature enough to do that? Will their friends once they complain about you? For me, it's too high of a risk of being around muns I wish would take a very long break from RP and only come back once they've grown up some.

I would never advise anyone to do something that is erring on the side of getting them into harassment water unnecessarily (as in, not something that pertains to digging in your heels and writing what you want or not tolerating bullying where you see it happening), and I feel like not doing what you are is that. However, I also am a firm believer in agency, even to make mistakes.

So, if you genuinely feel like blocking mutuals of someone with a URL-dropped/callout/other highly offensive and bullying thing in their DNI is costing you so many chances to RP that you're no longer enjoying yourself here? You might want to consider adjusting how widely you are blocking.

If that's the case, try going for mutuals who are what I call Casual Mutuals and leaving them open. Those are mutuals that the mun doesn't write with often or at all, they're technically mutuals because they both follow each other, but that's it. There might be some liking of posts or even comments or non-committal, OOC style memes sent in by Casual Mutuals, but that interaction is sparse and, yep, casual. These mutuals might legitimately be unaware of the mun's hateful, bullying bullshit in the DNI, or they are actually afraid to unfollow/block them at this point, so their option feels like staying around as quietly as possible.

With that last deal...you could even be doing someone a favor, Anon. When I've encountered that situation before, it's come about because the other person's Casual Mutual is painfully anxious, shy, and a previous victim of bullying. They feel isolated, they don't have many or any writing partners, and they really, truly, are terrified to distance themselves in a way that might be noticed. It's a type of toxic interaction that rarely gets mentioned in PSAs, presumably because it is so low on the actual interaction scale.

Giving them someone else in their corner, especially if that other mun is more open about their intolerant stance on bullying, can go a long way toward giving someone else confidence. I've had other people's Casual Mutuals become my Casual Mutuals and wouldn't you know it? After a while, they get braver. They see my friends and mutuals doing our thing without any of the bullying going on, they see us supporting anti-policing and not tolerating bullying, and they get brave enough to unfollow the hateful mun. It feels nice to even inadvertently help someone, and over the years, some of those Casual Mutuals have become great writing partners, too. People I would have missed if I had made the choice to block them by the association of a hateful mun they were trapped in the orbit of.

Just try to exercise caution! You seem like a reasonable person who doesn't mind truly thinking on things or doing the work required to be cautious. Assume the close mutuals are a problem, too, and block away. Build a wall with some razor wire on it with those blocks! Don't assume the low-interaction, very casual mutuals are, though. Check out their blogs for signs of agreement with Hateful Mun, and if they don't have any, give them a shot as far as just leaving them unblocked goes.

I also have to say, here at the end, that it's extremely nice to see that people out there are doing this. Honestly would have thought I'd be the last person to encourage a ton of blocking, but that's the environment of the RPC now, and it's really the only way we can deal with this issue. You can't reason with these people, you can't stop them, you can only stay away from them for your own good and send a message that this isn't benefiting them. Not everyone agrees with them, they're not going to keep having people left open for their attacks or their RP entertainment. And if enough people are just walling them off, that is a message they'll have to receive because RP runs on interaction with others.

They might think they want every "nasty ass" xyz Problematic RPer to block them, not interact, or vanish from their view of the RPC, but I don't think they realize what that really looks like. What it looks like is a huge percentage of the RPC missing, including people they didn't realize were "problematic." We tend to be quieter, wanting to stay in our own lanes and actually enjoy the hobby and each other. That's why they have to resort to shit like making everyone pre-guilty, or setting up traps to catch people out on being "gross."

So, I genuinely do not think they're prepared for the rude awakening of silence that would happen if we all actually vanished, but I am dying to see it lol and do sometimes have to wonder if the complaints about the RPC being dead/dying/empty, not in a fandom but overall, are coming from the purity police some of the time. It's quite active over on the Leave Folks Alone Over Fiction side of life :D

#answered #anonymous #policing #dni lists #blocking #rp advice #rp problems

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notdirk · 5 years

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A mini guide on Dirk’s mannerisms

A mini guide Part 2: Electric Boogaloo Wanted to do a second one, if you haven’t already you should totally check out my Jake guide. It’s pretty cool.

So here we are, where making this HAPEN. I obviously am not a Dirk Strider expert but I hope the shit I have to say clears things up, or helps you with roleplay/writing a little.

Dirk is a tough cookie to break down, he’s wordy in 2 main ways. Roseways: He’s wordy like Rose in the sense that he has a very extensive vocabulary. Daveways: He’s wordy like Dave via fruitful metaphors. Both of these combine to form being wordy in ways that I can only describe as Dirkways, he’s like the Verbal Antichrist.

I’d describe it with a Dirk translator, being: INPUT: "What you're doing is stupid."

OUTPUT: "All I can tell you is that the artifice you're performing here, is absolutely farcical."

So Dirk swears. He swears a lot, holding the title for the alpha kid who cusses the most. Thing is with his cussing, he doesn’t have a tendency to cuss people out (excluding Hal/AR but he only calls him a dumbass and a jackass), it’s more to just add expression to sentences, a little fuckin’ emphasis never hurt anyone. Dirk isn’t as polite to people as Jake is though, if he doesn’t wanna talk to someone, he’ll make it clear. The dude has a fairly low tolerance for bullshit.

When it comes to writing for Dirk, you need to take into account the circuitous vocabulary, one big batch of fucks and shits, the little passive aggressive and catty jabs, an arguably cold tone, the colorful analogies and the snarky cynicism.

I’ve read a lot of fanfiction involving Dirk and seen a lot of Dirk roleplayers in action, I’ve also noticed a few miscalculations and misjudgments of his character. (Yet again, I’m not spared from this, as someone whose actually written for Dirk before, I’ve made a lot of mistakes. Call this a self-callout if you will but yet again, these are from personal and secondhand experience).

I’d like to add before I delve into the list, in most of the Dirk-related fanfics I have read he's usually like.. The Background Dude who does and says nothing important, just kinda stands and nods his head as the main characters prance around. Either that, or he's The Boyfriend™ who does nothing but exist to be Jake's boyfriend and contributes absolutely nil to the plot. He just also kinda stands there, does some romance shit, then fucks off back to his apartment or whatever.

The mistakes I usually see people make are:

Making Dirk extremely boring, monotone completely and never expressing literally anything, not even frustration. Dirk isn’t built like a robot, he does emote through his text (usually in ways that come off as a little passive aggressive, I really doubt it’s Always intentional). He has a personality and he isn’t a plank of wood, he has his interests and he’ll humor your thoughts. If he truly does not give a shit about whatever you’re talking about to him, he’ll make it clear, he doesn’t just sit there and go “Uhuh. Yeah. Yep.”

Unlike the problem in the Jake tips, Dirk is usually pelted with a shitload of bros, mans and dudes, he does use that language quite a bit but it’s sprinkled generously throughout his pesterlogs, it isn’t jammed into the apple crumble. That’d be greedy and also pretty monotonous to read. Seriously, be careful with how many times he says bro and dude in the span of 5 sentences.

This one is biased and is more due to my qualms with Old fanon Dirk, the 2012 teenage boy who was a weaboo and a brony. You can say it’s in the past, and I wish it was true, but I’ve seen it crop up a little. Seriously, you’re allowed to run around being all like, “Well my Dirk likes My Little Pony and anime, so fuck you!” I’m not here to gatekeep, I’m just saying. People tend to focus on these things a lot, like.. maybe too much. Also the gay thing, I’m gonna get to that.

One thing I see way too much is people making Dirk extremely rude to the other alpha kids. It’s fine if it’s fitting with the scenario, maybe something awful happened and he’s holding resentment, but just your regular Dirk isn’t gonna belittle his friends like that, he does genuinely like and care about his friends. The first pesterlog we have with Actual Dirk starts off with him asking Jane if she’s alright, he gives a shit. He’s expressed frustration towards his friends before (trickster Roxy) but he’s never been inherently rude or mean towards them, he has their best interests in mind but he just goes about it in the wrong ways. Something that kinda ties in with 1 is that he displays sentiment/affection in a strange way, he doesn’t actively go about hiding the fact that he gives a shit about his friends or specific things, he just cakes it in a layer of irony, except the irony is to Display that he gives a shit, instead of Repress it.

Oh boy. The gay thing. Ok, the problem with a very vocal minority of the fandom’s views on Dirk’s homosexuality are that they either erase it or they hyper-focus on it. Hyper-focusing on it being like “Oh look at this smol gay bean, he’s just megahomo.” and in their writing, they’ll emphasize on the “gay” things that he does, as if that’s his only personality trait. That and the whole DirkJake thing, now listen. I do like DirkJake, it’s my OTP but honestly man, people make him way too sexual towards Jake. There's more to his personality than loving Jake, I mean. He didn't even want to talk to a version of himself about it. You think he'd broadcast those feelings to everyone else?

Strider analogies? What Strider analogies? Dirk’s metaphor usage is often overlooked too, sometimes it’s completely forgotten, which kinda baffles me seeing as it’s a more than once occurrence. He uses analogies in a similar way to Dave, they’re usually fairly obscure but still somewhat relevant to the topic at hand. When Dirk strayed away from the topic at hand with Jane, he caught himself immediately, he knows when to shut up but not always.

Dirk isn’t an “uncultured swine”, he’s fairly up to date with pop culture, even being described in his introduction page as a “PRETERNATURAL POPCULTURE ACADEME.” You can look to the Detective Pony rewrites for better examples of his up to date Internet knowledge, arguably dated but that’s just because of the early 2010s, I’m sure if the alphas were introduced this year, he’d.. well. He’d know his shit. He’s considerably book smart but not as socially perceptive, this isn’t to say that Dirk is completely unaware of the consequences of all of his actions, but he makes a lot of mistakes. He’s only human.

Grammar, seriously. It’s strange making this the last (for now) point but I’ve seen a lot of Dirk roleplayers just completely forget about his perfect syntax and grammar, he does remove the g from words occasionally and he does break his text into lines, occasionally using ellipses. But that’s really it. It’s harder to convey emotion through typing in this way but it’s a part of his character.

Yet again, a long post, probably even longer than the Jake one but I hope this helps with writing or roleplaying as Dirk, or just if you’re curious really. Again, if there’s anything you think I got wrong or should add, feel free to let me know, I’ll update it stat.

If you’d like any personal critiques on your writing then I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to pinpoint everything wrong but I’d be happy to assist/see what you’ve got.

#homestuck #dirk strider #not art #roleplay tips

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

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I mean, here’s the thing....

I’m more than capable of writing positive Batfam posts, meta deep dives that don’t dwell overlong on negativity, serious content, light hearted content, content about each and every one of the Batfam....anyone familiar with just a few different samples of my posts knows I do not lack for topics to happily ramble on about for absurd lengths. Hell, I’m pretty sure there’s a direct correlation where like, the less negative emotions I have about the content I’m writing, the LONGER it ends up being.

So its not like I particularly need or want to be the ‘loud angry scary adult cis white man yelling at kids’ to have something to say or talk about. Or that I particularly like that state of mind. I’m certainly not unaware of my privileges or that I can be off-putting or not someone everyone wants to be around on here. Its actually something I put a lot of thought into regularly, as personal accountability is such a big deal to me, and that certainly includes my own. There are times where I’ve looked back on something and thought yeah, I definitely could’ve dialed it down there.

But not gonna lie, given that personal accountability is kinda My Theme and I DO put a lot of time and effort into being self-aware and taking care not to cross certain lines, whether you believe me or not or agree with where I draw my lines or not....

Its more than a little obnoxious to regularly see my positive posts and my emotion-neutral meta posts and even my negative critical of canon posts take off and get hundreds of notes in just a couple of days....

But without fail, any time I so much as suggest that fandom’s perpetuating some of the very same toxic tendencies I criticize canon for, with the extension of that thought being hey fandom, unlike canon and how its written, we actually can do something about how we write these very same matters and slowly but surely normalize reader resistance to canon still perpetuating those ideas in the future, and maybe someday even they might buy a vowel and realize hey, our audience does not like what we’re selling here.

*Shrugs* Or maybe not. But even SOME changes to how specific problematic tropes and dynamics are being written in fandom currently could still only be an improvement, is all I’m saying.

Except, every time, without fail, no matter HOW I go about saying it, how polite, mild, civil, non-accusatory....its either crickets or immediate heels dug into the sand as often the very same people who commented on my neutral meta with variations of ‘this is pretty insightful’, like at the mere SUGGESTION its worth taking a more critical look at their own content to see what they might unknowingly be perpetuating and like....the very idea of asking fic writers to be more accountable for what toxic tendencies we perpetuate within our own creative works, even just among our own far more limited platforms....

Its like... HOLD UP! I AM BEING ATTACKED! WITHOUT CAUSE! WHY DO YOU HATE THE FANS? WHY AREN’T YOU SAYING ALL THIS STUFF ABOUT THE ACTUAL COMICS???

And its just like....uh....I did. I do. You were there. You were saying I was making some really good points. But without calling any individuals out or making specific insinuations or personal attacks....I am suddenly just the most unreasonable of the unreasonables, because I dared say “hey, we can’t do anything about what canon writes, but we can do something about the things we write, and actually transform some of the more problematic tendencies and dynamics from canon into things that benefit all the characters and all the fans.”

But nah. Without exception, those posts either get nada or they get vitriol, no matter my own linguistic volume....and meanwhile, posts I made just before them and just after them are now hitting the thousand notes mark. So I kinda can’t help but wonder, is the problem really that I magically lose all ability to grasp supremely basic concepts and start spewing irrelevant gibberish anytime I’m critical of fandom specifically? Or.....just spitballing here....is it at ALL possible that maybe I’m not as much of the problem there as you want to make me about to be?

Like, say what you will about how toxic my more negative, angry posts can be, but personally, I think artificial positivity is just as toxic....plastering a ‘I see nothing wrong here’ sign with a smiley face over a bunch of mold doesn’t actually accomplish anything but allow that mold to fester and grow even further, without notice, until it becomes too widespread to ignore anymore at which point its usually rooted so deep its impossible to get out.

So yeah. I get angry, the all caps come out, and the volume level of my posts on those subjects rises. Its something I’m aware of and something I’m okay with and stand by with certain posts and that I decide I’m not okay with and keep an eye against repeating with certain other posts. Its a process, it doesn’t have an endpoint or finish line, and I’m okay with all of that.

What I’m NOT okay with though, and never will be, is the heat I draw for that and the condemnations and criticisms of my behavior and how toxic and unpleasant I make fandom with those posts....as though the tendencies I’m pointing out in them, by virtue of already being present throughout fandom, don’t already make it toxic and unpleasant in a lot of ways, for a lot of people.

But for all the times I have someone respond to me or call me out specifically for one of my angry posts that very deliberately are made with no specific individuals in mind, just generic references to fandom wide tendencies as a whole....there’s a whole lot of ‘helpful advice’ for all the things I should do different or better to avoid making fandom a more toxic place.....and not a hint of awareness that there’s anything at all they could be doing differently to make fandom less toxic than it already is in various ways.

So just saying, I’m kiiiiiinda not super keen on being lectured for my shit by people who are committed to the belief that their own shit doesn’t stink....WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, I have a good half a dozen positive or neutral meta posts still making the rounds through fandom and consistently picking up notes that according to the tags, generally seem to be viewed as adding positively to fandom in their own respective fashions.

Which basically from my perspective, makes things look like this:

Me: regularly contributes positive content that’s received positively by lots of different parts of fandom, not just the Dick Grayson stan corner of it, with zero negativity attached to these posts....regularly contributes meta content that’s deemed insightful and adding fresh viewpoints by lots of different parts of fandom, not just the Dick Grayson stan corner of it, again, with zero negativity attached because it doesn’t rely on putting down any other characters to make whatever points I’m after.....

....but then contributes posts that are critical of certain specific characterizations and viewpoints within fandom itself, without actually having a twelve step powerpoint presentation attached detailing ALL FANS MUST DO THIS INSTEAD....and instead I usually just include a spectrum of possible alternative takes.....

But wait! Nooooow comes the pushback. Which usually sounds like various forms of this:

Stop trying to police us! La la la la can’t hear you over the sound of your moral superiority complex! You just want us to do exactly what you want us to do which is gaslighting and the very same abusive behavior you talk about which makes you abusive!

And also, a bunch of changing the subject or avoiding addressing various points I raise completely.

Maybe you see my issue? I don’t need tips on how to be a positive fandom presence, I actually don’t have any trouble creating positive content or meta, a large amount of which is deemed insightful and humorous and otherwise well received....but the second I make a criticism of fandom and suggest there’s things fans could be doing differently to address the toxicity existing around various characters in various respects, instead of just keeping everything about DC’s flaws which none of us including me have any kind of platform to even reach DC with......

Suddenly I have ZERO idea what I’m talking about, I clearly don’t get the point of fandom, period, I’m obsessed with my own moral righteousness, and am like, so out of the ballpark misguided its not even funny, and I need all of this explained to me like a five year old, because everyone obviously should get that ‘we’re just fans, why are you blaming us for things we write specifically instead of DC who are getting paid as if that’s even the point?’

So yup. I get ticked off, I make more posts venting about being ticked off, rinse and repeat and my volume goes up.

And that’s it by the way.

You’ll notice, that’s kinda the worst that ever happens, because I literally have never done anything but....type posts with lots of capitalized letters. I don’t target specific individuals, I don’t harass people, I don’t @ specific fics or fic writers or urge people to flood their comments or ask boxes with callouts. I’ve never called anyone in this fandom names or made personal attacks other than the posts various people have felt targeted by because my description of specific tropes or tendencies I have a problem with apparently made them think I was talking about them I guess? Hmm. Weird.

So what’s the point of this post? Idk. Nothing really. Not trying to accomplish anything, just putting my thoughts out there as a way to work through them because like....that’s literally what I have this blog for, lmao. And FYI, I super don’t appreciate the tactic of condemning me for my quote unquote rage issues and framing all this as me yelling at kids on the internet....kids, specifically, and oh right, just screaming at people rather than addressing my own abusive behavior.

Since abuse is a hugely personal and important topic to me, let me just say accusing me of abusing generic fandom in general (since again, I haven’t actually made any of this personal about any individual with my fandom criticisms)....like, I’m quite willing to consider and address flaws in my own behavior when raised, but I’m not a fan of being called abusive in a context that demonstrates a complete lack of awareness as to what abuse actually is.

You don’t like me yelling on my blog? Fine, you don’t have to like it, or me. But abuse is the exploitation of a power differential, taking advantage of power one person has over the other, or that the other person just doesn’t have period. The fact that I am an adult cis white man does not make me aggressively capitalizing stuff in my own posts the same as “the same triggering position of the cisgender man who screams and makes kids feel scared and wince and hide from your posts.”

Like, lol, nice. Classy. I mean who cares right, that yeah, even acknowledging that we can legitimately sense tones and moods through even written text.....a person ranting on their internet blog is not remotely interchangeable with the physical presence of an adult cis white man loudly screaming in your face and with the potential for immediate consequences and harm. Does that mean the tone of my posts is above criticism? No. It means exactly what I said. The one is not the same as the other.

Secondly, the repeated insistence on me yelling at kids...and this person I’m quoting isn’t the only one who’s done this, FYI, and its crap. Am I unaware that there are a lot of minors in fandom? No, I absolutely am not. Its why I make a point to check the blog of someone I’m replying to heatedly before I respond, to make sure they’re not a minor, and if they are, I don’t engage. So that I can categorically state, with complete certainty, I have never yelled at a kid in this fandom. Do my generic yells about ‘fandom’ not include kids then? Yeah, you could say kids are included there, though again I’d have to question why my criticisms of specific handlings of specific subjects somehow equates to me yelling at specific individuals, whom apparently are all kids and only kids. Like, framing my posts as being all about me screaming at kids specifically is a deliberate choice with a clear aim of making me look as bad as possible. This isn’t subtle.

Third, as an abuse survivor I’m keenly aware that doesn’t exempt me from being abusive myself, but it does mean I find it really fucking gross to be labeled abusive because my posts make kids feel scared and wince and want to hide from my posts. As someone who as a kid absolutely had to hide from their abuser in fear, I really, dearly would love to know what exactly it is about the capitalized sentences written by a man who couldn’t even pick a stranger’s URL out of a lineup, that’s so scary that kids, specifically, want to run and hide from the big bad posts. No, seriously. Go on. Please tell me what exactly it is about my screaming rage issues as conveyed by my posts, which pose any kind of threat or even the potential of threat for someone who I’ve never interacted with and only feels personally attacked by my posts by virtue of associating themselves with the behaviors or tendencies I’ve centered in those posts as the things I’m specifically angry about.

I also apparently am abusive because that’s what you call it when I gaslight or attempt to gaslight a fandom....which is apparently what you call it when my fandom policing tries to get everyone to do exactly what I want them to do. Which again is pretty interesting to me given that I’ve literally never told even generic ‘fandom’ at large to do anything in specific other than....’hey this thing I think is shitty and thus am criticizing shouldn’t be a thing, stop doing it.” Oh wait, I’m sorry, I also ask people to consider their creative impact and not insist on pretending everything we write exists in a vacuum and has no potential to carry harm, and just keep this in mind when making our creative choices. Still not sure how that’s demanding everyone do things exactly the way I want them, since the only clear and actionable request or demand in all of that is...omg....HE ASKED THAT WE THINK ABOUT THE STUFF WE WRITE, HOW COULD HE???

Like, literally, that’s the furthest any of my angry, rage-borne DEMANDS have gone: I’ve asked people apply more personal accountability to their own creative works and not take their potential impact for granted just because they’re a fic writer rather than a published one....and oh yeah, not engage in perpetuating certain tropes or dynamics I consider toxic.

Now, anyone is certainly welcome to disagree with my take on any or all of those tropes, tendencies or dynamics being toxic....but to do so, like, you need to actually DISAGREE AND MAYBE EVEN TELL ME WHY. But the overall refusal to engage with any of my posts criticizing certain fandom tendencies regarding the characters, other than to make it about my overall toxicity and RAGE.....like, that means that I keep making posts that include specific examples for what I’m describing and why I think they’re toxic, and nobody’s actually made any kind of case for me being wrong in any of those posts? So.....its not actually gaslighting to try and convince people these things I bring up are toxic....when I’m actually including reasons and examples of the things I’m talking about in order to convince people, and I’m not actually ignoring, evading or misconstruing counter-arguments....because nobody’s actually making counter arguments in the first place!! That’s not fucking gaslighting, that’s called EXPRESSING MY VIEWPOINT ON A MATTER.

And for the record, like I said earlier, abuse is the perversion or exploitation of a power differential. Try all you want, but you can’t claim I have power over myriad specific individuals I don’t even know EXIST without them interacting with me directly....power that I’m then exploiting just by yelling at stuff on my blog. Yes I’m aware of my overall privileges as a cis and white man. But none of those change a damn thing about the fact that I’m not actually yelling at anyone in specific and people reading my posts have to decide for THEMSELVES whether the thing I’m pissed about is a thing they do before they can even CLAIM to feel at all ‘targeted’ by my RAGE (with me still not being able to tell from that who any particular individual this might apply to is, and also, THATS NOT EVEN THE POINT OF ANY OF MY POSTS)....NOR do any of my privileges negate the fact that every single one of you exists in varying physical distances from me, unknown to me, and I have ZERO power to compel you to even read my posts in the first place, or to keep you from exiting your browser or app or even just going ahead and blocking me to be sure you’re ‘safe’ from the big bad abusive boogeyman and his posts of Gaslighting and Rage.

Me venting on my own damn blog, even knowing that other people can see what I post and share it if they want, is NOT the same thing as screaming in your face and making you want to wince and hide, no matter WHO you are. It just literally isn’t. Doesn’t mean you can’t have a problem with my posts or my tone, it just means what it says. Its not the same thing, they’re not interchangeable or even comparable, because NONE OF YOU ARE A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE. There are NO possible consequences to ignoring, disagreeing with or just scrolling past my posts, firstly because THERE’S ZERO WAY FOR ME TO EVEN KNOW THAT, IF I EVEN CARED. Nobody, kid or adult, can ever HIDE from my posts, because that would first require MY POSTS EVER BE ABLE TO FIND THEM. Whatever the hell THAT even means.

You’re not my prisoners. You don’t have to be here. You’re not even ACTUALLY HERE. Nobody owes me an audience, and honestly, the lack of one wouldn’t change all that much because I babble on all the time about shit none of my followers actually care about, because I post for ME first and foremost, and people from there are welcome to do whatever they want to do with my content, or do nothing with it at all. I literally don’t care, other than thinking its shitty that so many people find my content worthwhile except and until I get critical of fandom behaviors at which point they only engage with it to make it all about ME and MY toxicity instead of anything I actually posted about. Which I then...gasp...vent about. How dare I be angry in the space I cultivated for myself online and other people chose to look in on by their own choice because rather than being threatened or bullied into doing so, they found at least something I’d said interesting enough to be worth listening to hear what else I might say.

I HAVE ZERO POWER OVER ANY OF YOU. At most my posts hold some weight for the people who think I generally have interesting or insightful things to say, but that’s literally it, and that’s the result of me having said things they find interesting and insightful overall. I can’t MAKE anyone do anything, if I’d ever even tried to make anyone do anything other than actually LISTEN to what I ACTUALLY am saying on certain subjects and CONSIDER IT. So if we’re going to throw words like gaslighting around so carelessly, we might want to hold that one up next to the phrase ‘fandom policing’ I so often get accused of....as though I’m any kind of actual authority with actual power to actually enforce any actual agenda I even actually have.

Which brings me to the last thing I want to touch on, which is my supposed moral righteousness, that oozes all over everything I post and drowns out any good points I have to make, which again, apparently is just in terms of fandom criticisms, since every other point I’ve ever made in fandom seems to come through just fine.

Like.....tbh, I don’t really know what to do with the many times I’ve heard people say I’m self-righteous and obsessed with my own moral righteousness. Considering like...I’m not shy about acknowledging my flaws, I know perfectly well I can be loud and angry and aggressive in my posts and have talked plenty before about not being super proud of that, I’ve never claimed to be a saint and I don’t think my actions and choices are the gold standard everyone should adhere to. In fact, the only time I make a point to state what *I* do or did or what *I* think or believe....is when its directly relevant to something critical I’m saying.

And you think that’s because I want everyone to be aware of how moral and righteous I am? Fucking please, if I were as self-absorbed as you people make me out to be when giving me shit, I just wanna know when you think I’d have time to squeeze out 10K of random Batfam meta every other day, instead of being busy finding new things to say about myself.

Literally the only reason I make a point to bring up my own behavior or choices when criticizing others is because PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY IS THE CORE THEME OF LITERALLY EVERYTHING I SAY IN THIS REGARD.

And you know what personal accountability requires? A willingness to acknowledge and address your own behavior. Which is why its kinda hilarious the consensus seems to be I’m too up my own ass to even be aware of my own behavior or actions, given that the literal actual reason I bring up examples of what I did or think when making posts about personal accountability....is to stress that REGARDLESS of what those things were, I think its important to not just be talking out of my ass. But rather to emphasize I hold myself to the same expectations I’m asking other people to consider, I’m putting it out there and on the record, here’s what I did relevant to this matter I’m talking about and why I made that choice....see, I’m not asking anything of anyone else that I don’t expect to be held to myself. ITS NOT ABOUT TRYING TO IMPRESS PEOPLE WITH MY MORAL RIGHTEOUSNESS, ITS LITERALLY JUST ME TRYING TO ESTABLISH I’M NOT LOOKING TO BE A HYPOCRITE IN THIS REGARD, SPECIFICALLY.

Like, is maybe that unnecessary and counter-productive? Could be, its something for me to think about some more, but gotta tell you, its a little hard figuring out what will and won’t work when I’m STILL waiting on the first time someone actually engages me on an actual criticism I’m actually voicing about fandom.

*Shrugs* Whatever. Like I said, I don’t even know if this post has a point beyond just getting this all out of my head, so whatever. Make of it what you will. People will likely still just keep viewing me however they already do, for better or worse. Oh well. C’est la vie. Its not the end of the world anymore than any other post I make is, no matter how much RAGE I imbue it with. As I’ve always said, that’s literally the only reason for any of the posts I make ever...I’m just getting them out of my head and down on paper, so to speak, in whatever mood I’m feeling while thinking about that topic. Yeah, I phrase things for a generic fandom audience most of the time, other than when I’m talking to someone directly, but never have I made a post with an entitled and expectant belief that people will take every word I say literally and regard it as a directive for what they should do and how they should live their lives. Since, y’know, I don’t actually think I should be the ruler of everyone’s choices.

Over and over I keep repeating, I just want people to put more THOUGHT into their choices, and keep in mind various contexts that yeah, I think are relevant to certain topics, sue me. Because the vast majority of creative choices I take issue with, I actually fundamentally believe are just the result of a lack of thinking critically or with a broader awareness of various implications or repercussions. Shocking though this may seem, I’m actually a big believer that humans are inherently good or at least have the capacity to be.

The thing that amps up my frustration and ticks me off so often is how much time and effort I end up wasting trying to get people to address the actual things I’m asking them to consider, instead of dancing around it and evading it in every way possible, not even like, as an attempt to counter it, just willfully refusing to let it be about the topic I ACTUALLY raised.

And yeah, just FYI, to whom it may concern, since this is so often relevant it seems.....gotta say, I find it particularly odious that WITHOUT FAIL, the very same people who carelessly throw out ‘don’t like don’t read’ as the catch-all solution to every issue anyone ever might have with something in fandom, as though its that simple.....

Time after time demonstrate a COMPLETE refusal or inability to take their own damn advice, since NONE of this would ever even come up if the loudest advocates of that system actually APPLIED it themselves.

And simply....didn’t read my posts.

I fail to see why I’m expected to do what they don’t consider worth doing themselves, to spare themselves the aggravation (or fear) from reading my posts. Let alone interacting with them.

But whatevs. When do I ever know what I’m talking about anyway, lol, on account of all this RAGE I’ve got mucking with my head and objectivity.

Oh well, gotta go. KALEN SMASH!

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rainbowloliofjustice · 5 years

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Okay, that article anon might be on to something floating around because I seen a post about how creators and animators are gross and always horny and can't control themselves adding dirty jokes citing Gumball eggplant scene and someone on OK KO sharing drawings of their favorite character giving suggestive stares. Plus the notes of the post are full of people just saying people defending are p×rn addicts. Soooo I dunno what's new going on in the anti atmosphere over there

It’s some next level shit but also the same shit. That article reads like the “callout to the animation community” post where they basically called out animators for drawing NSFW content.

I’ve finally seen the article and it’s just a fucking mess lmao. It puts so much blame and emphasis on NSFW artists and writers for exposing children to porn, but doesn’t even mention how parents should be curating and supervising their child’s internet experiences. It “calls out” and mentions Zone-Tan several times for his NSFW content but only mentions Dan Schneider, who actually abused kids, like, once.

It puts the responsibility on writers and animators and basically alludes to or implies that they’re wrong for liking NSFW content and having adult interest and hobbies because they work on children’s media. Like, just because they work on children’s media doesn’t mean they have to scrub their twitter and personal accounts of anything child-unfriendly.

Just because they work on kid’s media, doesn’t mean they suddenly become the guardian of whatever kid stumbles upon anything. One of the biggest rules for internet safety was parents curating and supervising their children, not entrusting adults on the internet to do it. Hell, that was probably the original internet safety rule and now it’s just being forgotten, unaware of how putting the responsibility on people on the internet could just lead to more cases of grooming and abuse.

Dirty jokes have always existed in kid’s media, hell, it’s even Disney content.

And yes, a lot of animators and writers have NSFW and dirty content on the side they like because surprise surprise... adults are the ones who have money to actually buy shit. So it’s no wonder a lot of animators and writers have made NSFW content because it isn’t a terrible way to get started and if you’re good at it, you can make money on the side with it in between doing contracted work.

Because a lot of animators and writers do the job because they enjoy the work, not because it’s lucrative.

#rainbow answers #anon #ask #like it's so bizarre #it's almost like teachers who get fired because they used to be strippers #or getting fired because they went out for drinks or whatever because it isn't a 'child friendly' image #or parents got pissed off about the fact that a teacher that teaches kids is having an adult life??#like that article reads like that and it's a whole mess #Anonymous

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yannasunflower · 3 years

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let’s talk about biphobia in fandom & queer coded spaces

I really didn’t want to write this. Like, I really, really didn’t want to. But I think it’s time we started having this conversation, with each other and with ourselves.

I am a bisexual, cis woman. I am in a wonderful relationship with a straight man. I’m still bisexual. Loving a man does not make me straight, it doesn’t erase my sexuality in any way. And lately, the amount of subtle biphobia infiltrating fandom spaces I had previously thought were safe is...alarming. Sometimes, I don’t even recognize it as I consume it, and it’s not until days later it clicks for me. Ah, I’ll say to myself, that fanfiction was biphobic. That’s what bothered me.

I’ll provide an example. For decency’s sake, I won’t provide titles or author names or even the platform this content was consumed on. This isn’t a callout post for one particular author; it’s for fandom in general. And I’m not so young or naive to believe that if I write out the title of the work I’m referring to, but say pretty please don’t send hate, you will all be civilized and leave this person alone. Anonymous hate and bullying is, and always will be, unacceptable. Not in my society.

There is a fanfiction I read recently. The male lead character (let’s call him Jerry) was previously married to his female childhood best friend (I dub thee Jane) - they marry young in order to get her out of a truly awful home situation. Jerry is - surprise! - gay as the devil. This is a fact he believes Jane, and everyone in his life, is blissfully unaware of. Jane eventually gets pregnant with their child, has their son, and dies soon after due to health complications. The audience learns that Jane did indeed know the entire time that Jerry was gay, married him and had his child with this knowledge, and before her death pleaded with him to “be free and be happy”. Years pass, Jerry eventually moves across America with his young son for a fresh start, where he meets a man (uhh...Will? sure) and steadily falls head over heels for him. Jerry is, of course, devastated by the death of his best friend and the mother of his child, as well as harboring some pretty intense guilt over it. At one point, Will, who knows Jerry was previously married to a woman, questions if he is “actually gay” because he had a whole child with a woman 5 years previously.

Now, on the surface, this well-written, emotional fanfiction doesn’t seem problematic in any way. At least, it didn’t to me. But look deeper, closer. Why couldn’t this fanfiction have simply been about a bisexual man who loved his wife, lost her tragically, and is now feeling immense guilt over the possibility of moving on? Is it not, even just a little bit, fucked up of Jane to knowingly marry and get pregnant by her best friend who she absolutely 100% knows is gay? It was a marriage of necessity, some argue. Ah yes, don’t think I’ve forgotten that - the narrative is set up in a way where marrying Jerry is well and truly her only way out of her situation. But it would have been completely doable, in fact easy, to have them married on paper and best friends, but nothing sexual or romantic between them. Even better, it would have been incredibly meaningful for them to truly love each other in every way and for the central struggle of the story to be Jerry not knowing if he’s ready to move on from his beloved wife and struggling with his role as a single father. It’s still just as potent, still just as emotionally conflicted and intense and poignant.

And just to be clear, there are places in the story where the narrative gets wobbly and unstable because the author is trying so hard to push this “poor gay man married his best friend to help her and stayed closeted for her sake and the poor woman knew but had no choice but to have his child and be happy with him and now he’s sad and traumatized and uncertain about loving a man for the first time in his life” story. It almost becomes homophobic, at a point. Just toes the line but it’s there, in the undercurrent. Honestly, I think the fanfic would actually be so much better with the biphobia/homophobia thrown out. All content would be better without those in it.

Biphobia. It’s this biphobia that has started to flourish in the recesses of queer coded fandom spaces, like bacteria in the dark. Biphobia that doesn’t scream loud, that isn’t written in the summary - it’s not something you notice right away. In fact, even when you do notice it, it seems almost harmless! Almost. But not quite. M/M and W/W ships are not the only good and pure ships that can be written or drawn - bisexual people are here and loud and proud! We see you, all of you, doing cartwheels and acrobatics to exclude us. Bending over backwards to justify why your character is gay instead of bi, why them being gay just makes so much more sense than them being bisexual.

This isn’t the only fanfiction I’ve consumed like this. There is so much content out there that would make so much more sense as an ode to bisexuality instead of w/w or m/m ships. There are so many characters out there that have so much more complexity to them when you allow them to, when you move past the biases you may not know you have, and allow them the space to be bisexual, or trans, or ace, or autistic, or disabled! This post is about biphobia specifically, but we need to do better for everything that doesn’t fall under the m/m and w/w umbrellas.

This is a wake-up call, a signal for attention, an SOS. We need to do better. We should always strive to do better and be better creators and artists and writers and fans. To be better humans.

#tw//biphobia #tw: biphobia #fandom #fanfiction #art #writing #tw: homophobia #i just feel strongly about this #it needed to be said #long post #text #yanna speaks

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salytierra · 7 years

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On fandom: free content and entitlement

In light of recent events (read: that kid that took on a personal vendetta against the aph hub) I started thinking a lot about how the coddled tumblr mentality is killing all the current fandoms in general more than the emergency of new shows to fawn over does.

Let me explain. But first I’d like to link some of my favorite posts:

(1) About the hyper-sensitivity and censorship on this site.

(2) About minors invading adult places on the Internet.

(3) About passive consumption of fanworks

(4) My own rant about self-diagnosed mental issues

Let’s make one thing clear first: I was a smartass, whiny teen once too, completely unaware of how ridiculous I was being. Remembering myself at 16 - I want to crawl under a rock, let alone at 14!

In 10 years time I will probably be embarrassed of how I am now, at 24, too.

So this is not meant to pick on kids. That would be hypocritical and useless. This is about how this website glorifies a particular aspect of a dependent and self-centered state of mind, and how coddling and not-addressing it (links 1&2) affects the creation and consumption of fanworks.

The key is to understand two basic truths:

A) EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE B) THE WORLD IS NOT TAILORED TO YOU

A) This is simple: the world works by equivalent exchange - you receive a service when you pay money for it or give something of equivalent value in return. And you have to receive money or goods in return for your work.

(in fandom - these goods are feedback, but we will get to that later)

Now, that is something you learn when you grow up. When you are a kid in your parent’s house, they and the rest of the family do everything for you. You live, eat, receive medical attention and education for free. The only thing you are asked in return is to study and do some house chores from time to time.

Of course not always it’s perfect, and some kids are put under a lot of pressure to do these two things right, but honestly? - It’s appalling how many posts complaining about setting the table I’ve seen around here. Children are more spoiled and consented now than they’ve ever been. And being as coddled as they are, when they grow up they don’t understand that, unlike their parents, the world doesn’t exist to make their life easy and that they can’t expect to receive perfect services without giving anything in return.

Strangers on the internet just don’t love and care about you enough to do that.

Nobody is going to sacrifice themselves specifically for you without receiving anything in return.

B) So whenever you see and receive free services; such as a group of fans running a page to help out other fans, dedicating hours and hours of stressful work to it; or an artist that draws your favorite character, or a writer that just wrote that particular AU that you always wanted... you CAN NOT EXPECT IT TO BE PERFECT. Specially perfect FOR YOU, in PARTICULAR.

You want something to be done perfectly according to your tastes? - Do it YOURSELF.

And see for yourself how hard it is. Get off your ass and force yourself to work for free, for yourself and others, and then try not to care when you start receiving callout posts and anons complaining about how something that you did, doesn’t sit right with them.

I already spoke out about this once, but basically, as a free individual: You can make constructive criticism, you can complain if you’ve been wronged and ask for a reasonable explanation, but you can’t demand changes. You can’t expect others to take your words into consideration just because it’s you.

And if you don’t treat people with the respect that they are due, you will only wrong yourself.

Why?

Because there’s nothing as discouraging as working your ass off just for the sake of doing a service to others and receive callouts, demands and bullying in return.

It’s almost as bad, or even worse, as the silence.

Silence:

And here’s the other point: if you consume free media or services, the least you can do, is show appreciation.

We live in an age when kids seldom thank their parents for making them food or buying their clothes. And if they do, it’s rarely sincere. There’s a collective sense of laziness towards showing gratitude. Everything is a given, as if these commodities just appeared out of thin air.

Well, hours, sometimes even days, of people’s work is not a given. As a quote in Link 3 goes:

“We create for ourselves, but we post it for you”

There’s nothing more discouraging for a writer than feeling like they are shouting into the void - except, of course, outright non-constructive criticism.

There’s nothing worse for an artist (again, except said criticism) than when their work is faced with indifference. And that also applies to half-assed acknowledgement. A freind of mine once said “when people like but not reblog my art, I feel like they are telling me it’s not good enough to be shown in public.”

It’s very simple to leave a review or a singe word of praise when reblogging someone’s work. Just give it a try and you’ll light up their world.

And if you feel like it’s some soft of effort on your part, think about the effort they put into making it for you.

If you don’t appreciate the effort of others... people will just stop making that effort. Stop drawing your fanart and stop writing your stories.

And finally: all these community blogs that work their ass off to help artists and writers, to help keep the fandom active and provide information and promotion services: it’s hard work too. They deal with a lot of people and a lot of stupid issues every day.

The least we can do is, from time to time, show some appreciation and understand that they are human, they make mistakes the same way that you do. So if they make mistakes, don’t whine and insult them like a spoiled brat, get off your ass and help out or have at least some respect and accept that not everything is ever going to be to your taste.

TL;DR: if you consume free content

a) Don’t make demands: you are entitled to nothing except what other’s are willing to give you.

b) Accept that not everything is going to be perfectly tailored to your tastes.

c) Show some appreciation in return!

That’s your part of the exchange.

#saltytierra #tumblr issues #hetaliafandomhub #hetalia fandom #hetalia #applicable to all fandoms actually

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foxcassius · 4 years

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okay y’all, opinions on love by chance vs uwma, scroll past if u dont give a fuck

uwma is the 4th thai drama i’ve ever seen, love by chance was the first, and these are the only two that really really stick out to me. the other two, 2moons and sotus, were good and i liked them, but this post isn’t abt them bc today i’m talking about my, current, favorites. editing to say that i should mention for anyone reading who’s unaware that lbc and uwma are also made by the same studio and share a director, so comparing them makes more sense than comparing shows made by different studios and people.

uwma embodies my favorite trope, and no it is not necessarily the soulmate trope. while soulmates does, as a trope, usually embody the aspects of my favorite trope, my all-time favorite bl, sekaiichi hatsukoi, wouldnt fall under soulmates, and sekaiichi is where my favorite trope comes from, it was the first thing i ever watched that has this trope. my favorite trope is people who once knew or dated each other reconnecting years and years later, sometimes in a different life counts if they have memories from the past life, and ultimately everything works out the second time around. idk why it’s my favorite trope, i just know i went hard to some sekaiichi in 2012, and ever since anything that reminds me of sekaiichi even a little gets a big fucking thumbs up.

because uwma has this, it has obviously stuck out to me. i also really enjoy the main couple—even more, to be honest, than i enjoyed ae and pete in lbc. i also absolutely ADORE the soundtrack, the instrumental background music is very very good, though i don’t think any theme song will ever trump the lbc theme for me bc that shit just. goes too hard. i also feel like the acting in uwma is very very good. dare i say? better than lbc. which honestly may just come with more experience from the director and studio, but seeing as the actors are not the same, it’s hard to tell what the cause is. but the crying scenes in uwma are almost bearable, whereas seeing a person cry in lbc always made me like. idk, uncomfortable?? which might have been the point idk but if it was purposeful then that was a bold move. there has also been so much improvement when it comes to the camera shots. lbc wasnt bad, but the shots weren’t really artistic or daring imo. uwma has so so so many shots that are just LOVELY to me. particularly, the first one that comes to mind is the shot of sin on the phone with dean when dean is asking him to look for info on korn and intouch. the purples? the oranges? the perfect balance of shadow? and jesus fucking CHRIST don’t even get me STARTED on the chasxter design for sin, so absolutely fucking *chef’s kiss* where’s the spinoff about sin and sorn i need it fr does it already exist i know nothing about thai dramas.

okay well since i started now i have to go off about the character designs and casting choices. idk the names of these actors well bc i’m not following any of them on social media (yet) but the actor they cast for pharm is fucking phenomenal. he pulls of those awkward smiles and cringes so much better and more convincingly than i’ve seen other actors do with his character type. i love that he like genuinely seems like he could be a college freshman (but don’t even talk to me about how dean looks 30) lots of shows, like 2moons, seem to be “what college freshmen think their life is like while they’re in the middle of it” and others, like lbc and uwma, are like “what college freshmen actually look and act like, you weirdos.” of course, i would, can, and will die for sammy melanie coates, she’s officially my favorite actress in the thai drama world and i didnt even know she was in uwma but when it started up and it was eyes on manaow i almost died!!!!!!!! i love her she’s an amazing actress. and it was super fun to catch glimpses of actors i do know from lbc in secondary and tertiary roles in uwma, tho i’m sad that mean gets typecast as “other guy” so much bc i genuinely love him. and finally, the character design for sin can just strike me down where i fuckin stand, talk about callout post for me in the middle of this thai drama i’m just. i love it.

this is a side note, but i also like that pharm is on the less waifish side. bl is terrible about the set DYNAMIC of big seme willowy uke, even lbc had me like :/ with saint playing pete and playing him In Such A Way like idk i know that plenty of gay people ARE effeminate and all but i do very much enjoy castings, specifically in bl dramas which have such a track record, that break that stereotype.

i don’t think it’s over yet, which i didn’t know when i started it, but the most recent episode was posted like 2 days ago so i hold hope for another episode or two. if not that, it clearly needs another season. seeing as how it is definitely not over, i can’t judge for sure what my overall impression of the series as a whole will be. however, as it stands, i don’t think uwma makes me doki as hard as lbc, and this is 10000% bc of tin and can.

what can i say bro? tincan is one of my favorite couples from anything ever. there is something so fucking good and entertaining about their dynamic, and the way the characters grow and their emotions develop is so so good to me, and the scene where can turns tin down For Real at the end of season 1 absolutely blows me away every time, i cry irl bro!! there is something ABOUT tin and can, something about the actors, something about the way theyre played that i can’t get over. when i think about lbc and i Die, it’s not dying over ae and pete, even though i like them very much. it’s dying over tin and can. i literally can’t think of how to put my opinions on this into words, they just genuinely affected me. they’re a gem in the dumpster fire that is bl.

so anyway, long story short i think uwma is overall? a better series. but lbc owns my ass specifically bc of tincan.

#long post #uwma #uwma the series #until we meet again the series #lbc #love by chance #love by chance the series #anyway i know this post makes zero sense and i’m not In the thai drama Circles enough to have good info but #these r my thoughts

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