#this is one of the most toxic examples of fandom I’ve ever seen

[artist-issues]

Reblogging this because ya’ll still want to run your mouths.

Okay, you know what, "HellCheer" fandom?

Grow up.

This site is FOR looking at all types of media, fan work and professional, mainstream and indie, and then SAYING HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT IT. Doesn't mean you have to like what people say. Doesn't mean you have to agree. Doesn't mean you have to be offended.

What, didn't anybody ever cook a meal, and you decided to inform them that you didn't like broccoli? Didn't anyone offer you coffee, but you don't drink coffee, and in fact you think it's an unhealthy beverage? Because that's all Doverstar did. She looked at your coffee and said "personally, I'm not a coffee drinker, and I think coffee is silly." And you wanna get bent out of shape?

how insecure do you have to be to find one person in a sea of like-minded individuals who happens to not agree with you, and then spend time typing up long, nasty responses? You don't have anything better to do?

You wanna be the kind of fandom that says "everybody is entitled to their opinion...unless I have to see it and I disagree with it, and heaven help you if you DARE dislike something I MADE."

That the kind of fandom you wanna be, "HellCheer?" You don't claim Doverstar? Thank God. Because who would want to be claimed by that kind of fandom? What rank company you're so thrilled to exclude her from.

Guess what? In the professional industry, where adults work and pour their actual souls and livelihood into their art, they get rejected. They get told what they've done isn't what the studio is looking for; the producer doesn't like it, the execs want to go in a different direction. Then, if they're successful with their execs and it gets produced, the critics don't like it. The critics and the fans hate it, too. If this is the kind of hissy fit you're going to throw when one person makes a list of traits they don't like in one particular niche of fandom, no wonder a fandom is the only place you're creating. Your skin isn't thick enough to turn this into a craft.

So here's MY opinion, and I'm throwing it into the water for the sharks to shatter their teeth on: Doverstar is the best fanfiction writer to ever put anything under the "HellCheer" tag. When she uses the tropes she hates, it's tasteful and it's built up and it's salt on a strong, delicious foundational meal of good storytelling. It's not just a plate of salt, all taste, no substance. UNLIKE what Doverstar claims, I have actually read the majority of non-M and unrated fanfic for HellCheer that has accurate grammar and some grasp on paragraph breaks. I have only made it through a handful of them. Because Doverstar's is head-and-shoulders above the rest.

So keep tossing crap in her inbox and spending all your time defending yourself against an imaginatedly-personal attack that wasn't directed at you, and came from someone who actually has something great going for her. Someone who remembered that PEOPLE are on the other side of that post you don't like, and that nobody with class or a basic understanding of mature human decency spends so much time typing up mean-spirited crap and high-school drama text posts to directly attack an opinion she simply disagrees with.

Doverstar has class. She's kind. So she took her post down because it offended some of you.

I do not have that measure of class or kindness. I am a full-fledged hypocrite in this matter. You want to argue, come argue with me. I don't get tired. I don't get hurt over this crap. I have time.

Doverstar has nothing to do with this reply, did not ask to be defended, and would not want me to stir the pot, but I'm stirring it. so y'all can direct your subsequent ferocious responses to me if you've got the nerve.

#this is one of the most toxic examples of fandom I’ve ever seen #HellCheer #pheonixwrites #a-strange-inkling #makingatomlette #anyone else? #come on #Actually STAND UP #STAND UP for what you believe. Straight to my face. #if you support something it either looks like defending it well or being confident enough to shut up. #it does NOT look like talking crap on anon #it does NOT look like passive aggressive posts that leave you plausible deniability but everyone knows who you’re talking about #LET’S. GO. #It’s not just doverstar #HellCheer fandom

[minniiaa]

Sorry if this seems repetitive but I haven't been active on social media in yearsss

Is it true that there's a lot of lawlu hate on tiktok and Twitter? I'm so confused because there used to be so much love for the ship back in 2017/2018 from my perspective (Amino era).

The short answer: yes and no. Let me start by saying I'm not the best person to answer this since I purely consume on twitter. I made my personal twitter in 2007 like it's everyone I've ever known irl and has nothing to do with shipping or hobbies and I follow approx 0 accounts related to anime, manga, or lawlu. I just looked up lawlu a few times and browsed and suddenly it's my whole fucking timeline and there’s no going back and now I have a lawlu twitter (This makes me very happy).

So if anyone else has an opinion on this that is more in the community, please feel free to comment away. Otherwise, below are my observations.

First off, there IS a ton of love for the ship. Most of what I see is beautiful art (they got the nsfw ayo), memes, fanfics, and headcanons just like tumblr. There are tons of comments of people swooning over these posts, Lawlu IS one of the most popular OP ships after all.

There's just a vocal minority that are very against the concept of shipping and in that subset there are those who are very against Lawlu. There people out there that will literally list accounts to block that ship lawlu or write lawlu DNI in their bios. The same can be said for other ships, it's not just this one it’s any they deem a ‘pro ship’ (problematic ship) and Lawlu is generally considered one of these. Below as is an example:

The biggest issues I’ve seen with Lawlu are the following 1. luffy is aroace and cant be shipped period 2. law groomed luffy and the age gap is gross. IMO I think most of these people are just infantilizing Luffy as some goofy autistic kid that doesn't know what love and sex are when in reality he's very self-aware and happy does not equal stupid. Also he's 19 he’s not underage. He met Law twice when he was 17, one of which was saving his life as a doctor and Luffy was unconscious most of this time. Let's not forget Luffy's a war criminal kicking the asses of people 4x his age in a pirate world, age doesn't really work the same as irl.

BUTTT Not that any of this matters because you can ship whoever the fuck you what because guess what? It's ~fiction~. I could rant about how people can ship whatever the hell they want all day but I'll save my breath for now. (my opinion of course)

Also there are just mentally ill people who enjoy telling others to kys if you like something they like do. Lawlu shippers are just their chosen target demographic. Creators get foul messages in their inboxes, rude comments, just general hater behavior. Twitter is just a firey cesspool and all fandoms have 'fans' who do nothing but hate. We live in an age of negativity where being a hater is the cool thing to do.

HOWEVER, I see more people posting about why those people are wrong and stupid than the actual negative tweets but maybe that's because I actually support the ship and the algorithm sees that. Not sure how twitter works, nor do I want to know about that dumpster fire there's a reason I came over to tumblr.

As for tiktok, I don't really consume a lot of tiktok so I can't speak on it besides seeing cosplayers and cute animations/art. I'll leave that to the tiktok people to look into.

For argument's sake, I went through the lawlu tag and picked some lovely tweets to share with you so you can see the toxicity for yourself. Sadly only 10 images per post but I think you get the point. Thanks for the ask hope this was informative. :)

#Lawlu #anti shipping #shipping #asks

[13thdoctorposts]

has anyone else noticed how reactions and consensus on 13 has been RETROACTIVELY negative? I know there's been an intensely misogynistic hate campaign since Jodie was announced but I also noticed that when you look at old posts from when s11 especially was freshly aired, there was a lot more good faith engagement with the show and genuine excitement in fandom. It seems like covid gave the bad faith actors the opportunity to take over fandom and force their narratives on everyone.

Yeah a really great example of this is if you look back to tweets from the night Rosa aired the praise was very very high, now if you bring it up in the fandom you would think it was terrible and racist.

On YouTube I was told the writers, both of them Chibs and Malorie Blackman were incompetent because they doesn’t show how bad the racism really was, yet the episode starts with one of our companions being physically assaulted and told to be careful so not to end up like Emmett Till, some one who had just been murdered acting as if the show was sugar coating what life was like back then. Oh and of course with the Chibs slander that he’s racist because he may have hired a woman of colour to write the script, but she is English not American and he should have made sure it was an American or not done the episode at all

Malorie Blackman is an award winning author claiming she’s an incompetent writer is pretty incredible accusation.

Here’s some of the tweets from articles praising the episode.

I think 2 things hurt 13 era who and they weren’t Chibs and Jodie. It was the unhinged toxicity the fandom constantly spewed and then even after things got praised as you said people would go back and nitpick to a level they never ever do with any other era and 2nd not having a big enough marketing budget and brand manger series 12 and 13 suffered most from this because the BBC did put the marketing money into series 11 even if they didn’t have a brand manager, and Chibs mentions this in the Radio Free Skaro podcast from last year that the BBC put a huge marking budget into series 11 but series 12 and 13 basically the budget was… you can only advertise on the BBC because there’s no money for anything else.

Rosa is just one example but there was a lot of praise for the work at the time of release and it’s quite possible general public viewers may have just stoped engaging on social after series 11 because they would then be piled on, and people in the online fandom knew they couldn’t go to social saying they loved an episode so they started picking it apart before putting their thoughts out there so they could be on trend with the haters who were gonna pile on if they didn’t fall in line.

Seriously if there’s ever a down fall to doctor who the ‘fans’ will be it because they would rather hate on the thing they supposedly love than love it. And ever era has its super questionable moments but if you bring them up for any other era you just being petty, or it isn’t that big of a deal, or ‘it’s of the time’ it’s just excuse after excuse.

I’ve seen people upset about the fact that RTD dead named Rose in the star beast, something very legitimate because now all the right wing idiots of the fandom use that name and the people who were upset get piled on if they say anything because they should be happy that RTD is trying to give them representation… but these same people when Chibs tried to give rep though a female doctor, or an episode like Rosa or Ryans disability, say Chibs is a right wing capitalist, sexist, racist, ablest, you don’t hear them saying hey he was really trying by getting people of colour to write their stories, by getting directors with the same heritage to direct episodes, he work with a dyspraxia organisation to help write Ryan, brought in the first 2 female Doctors and the 1st Doctor of colour who was also a woman, the 1st master of colour, the first Doctor who admitted to having feeling for a companion of the same sex and the episode where the doctor admits those feeling is co written with a queer woman, oh no Chibs gets no grace for tryi neg he did everything wrong but RTD everyone should be thankful for.

I don’t understand the level of hate. Not liking something is one thing but a part of this fandom has made 13 era who seem like the anti christ of Doctor Who, when really it tried a lot harder to involve more people in it then ever before.

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

fiona gallagher and debbie gallagher.

something i’ve noticed in the shameless fandom is that some (a lot of) people hate debbie and love fiona, and others hate fiona and love debbie. what honestly confuses me is why more people don’t love them both so much?

so, to start off- they both share three important things about their characters. grew up/matured far too quickly, constantly self-destruct, and are the only girls. these three things make it so that they’re more similar, but also make it so that they are always fighting with eachother and the fandom is always putting them against eachother.

in fiona’s case, she had no choice but to grow up too quickly. actually, that’s the case for every gallagher, but especially her, since she was first, and the second that lip was born (when she was 5) she became a mother. she had no choice, it was either raise her siblings, or let them die. she further started self-destructing by having sex at a young age, and once she started doing that she did it frequently, to the point where she connected it to her worth. she got into toxic relationships, and jumped from relationship to relationship without every catching a break (that’s a direct quote from shameless) and throughout the show, fucks herself over whenever things are going well. for example, going on a bender while on probation. and, a lot of the people who hate her (irl and in the show) are misogynist’s or people who don’t bother to understand her well enough to hate her.

in debbie’s case, she grew up too fast also not by choice, except there came a point where she started to mature quicker on purpose when she no longer needed to act 23 at 13. one of her first lines is, “you’re almost nine, carl. you’re going to need to start pulling your weight.” she’s a year older than him so clearly she has already done her part and stepped up, and throughout the first two seasons you see her acting so mature, yet so childish. she goes from kidnapping a child to innocently playing with a baby doll and naming her “gin-gin”. then, there comes a point where fiona has taken legal guardianship of the kids, and has a good job. she has an opportunity to relax, but she doesn’t. debbie is traumatized, and abandoned, and scared, so she confides in the comfort she’s seen work for her older sister, older guys. she dresses a certain way, sleeps with a twenty year old guy (whatever your thoughts are on that situation doesn’t matter in this case), and ends up getting herself pregnant and carrying the child to term. this is all pure self-destruction. then she continues to self-destruct, ruining friendship’s, relationship’s, even her bond with her family members. all of her hurt and trauma from childhood led her straight into the depths of hell. and what’s one of the major reasons she’s hated in the show and in real life? you guessed it! because she’s a woman. and like her sister, another reason she’s hated is because people refuse to read into her character and only see what’s on the surface.

fiona and debbie are two hurt girls who didn’t recieve enough love and so they self-destructed. but, do you want to know the most ironic thing? that’s what every single gallagher ever has done.

frank is a drunk and a drug addict who never bothered to attempt to recover, even when it was for his kids, and even when it was for himself.

lip is an alcoholic who has purposefully ruined his relationships and his schooling just because. he, unlike his father, has tried to recover, but fails.

ian also ruins his relationships to destruct himself, and like his sisters, starting having sex with older guys at a young age. we even see him burn himself “just to feel something”. in ian’s case, though, he gets a happy ending. not everybody really gets that.

carl doesn’t self-destruct as much, but at one point with kelly, he did. he gave up on west point, he gave up on becoming a cop, he gave up on everything and just decided to work at fast food until the alcoholism, substance abuse, and mental illness came to him.

liam honestly didn’t get the time to destruct himself… he was so young throughout the entire show. however, there was that part where he found this potential family for him that were all black and related to monica, and he felt seen by them. but then he robbed them all and ruined it. i’m not sure this really counts as much, though.

but the boys never get as much criticism, because why would they. they’re boys.

fiona and debbie should feel more connected. when fiona leaves, debbie takes on her role and tries to hold everything together, but instead, everything falls apart. debbie has really always wanted to be like fiona, and i always see people on tiktok saying “debbie’s really trying to be fiona💀” and shit, but it’s honestly true, she is like her. just not in the best ways.

anyways, that’s my rant. i have more to say but this is all that’s really important.

#shameless #shameless us #shameless rant #shameless analysis #character analysis #shameless meta #fiona gallagher #debbie gallagher #frank gallagher #lip gallagher #ian gallagher #carl gallagher #liam gallagher shameless #i also mean NO HARM to the boys (except frank) i’m just saying #feminism #i know that nobody will read this entire thing lmao #i just have a lot to say #franny gallagher

[jalshristovski]

List of Hetalia ships I cannot fucking stand and why, in no particular order ✨

UsUk: I don’t even think I need to explain this one but I will. They call each other brothers, England raised him, they call each other brothers, ENGLAND RAISED HIM, THEY ARE BROTHERS, ENGLAND RAISED HIM, THEY A-

DenNor: This one I don’t see as problematic, more just my personal views. I see the Germanic Nordics as brothers. All 4 of them. And to add onto that, they have referred to each other as brothers, and I just think it makes more sense for them to be brothers, and not lovers. So this includes DenNor, SuDen, SuNor, and ESPECIALLY ships with Iceland. He is too young. He is a child. Anyway

PruAus: They’re… canonically… cousins… no… just no… they don’t even get along…

TurkGre: No. Absolutely the fuck not. 1. Turkey killed Ancient Greece, aka Greece’s mother, would you date your mother’s murderer? I thought the fuck not. 2. Greece is SO much younger than Turkey is. 3. I am Turkish and we and Greeks do not get along in the fucking slightest so even if the first two weren’t relevant, we literally just don’t like each other

RusPol: If you ship this I will actually avoid you like the plague. Russia has done so much bullshit to us, so the toxicity level in this ship is unreal. It’s toxic AND abusive. Historical context makes this a HUGE no no.

Spamano: No. No. No. NO. Romano was a CHILD. Spain made a child do hOUSEWORK. He was a CHILD. A TODDLER. A TEENY GUY. HE WAS LIVING WITH SPAIN WHEN HE WAS STILL WETTING THE BED. WHY. WHY.

TurkIce: I don’t think this one needs much explaining but here we go: Iceland is a child. He is a minor. His country may be old but he is physically 17. Which means developmentally he is 17. He has the mind of a 17 year old. He is 17. He is 17. He is 17. Turkey is OLD. EW. WHAT IS WRONG WITH Y’ALL???

RusLiet: Have y’all ever read about what Russia has done to Lithuania??? This is abusive as fuck. Period.

RusAme: I just can’t see it. On a world stage, America and Russia are enemies, and have been enemies for a long time. I cannot see an “enemies to lovers” type deal either. I just can’t

LietBel: This one I used to not hate until I figured out what kinda relationship Lithuania and Belarus actually have. I’ve yet to see one Lithuanian person who doesn’t claim Belarus rightfully belongs to Lithuania. Not only that but most of them refuse to call it “Belarus” and will usually call it “Belarussia”, or even more often, “White Russia”. This would be abusive, not from Belarus to Lithuania, but from Lithuania to Belarus.

PruLiet/PrusPol/PrusPoLiet: The only reason I categorise these as one is because I usually see them all lumped together anyway. But anyway, abusive. Abusive. Abusive. Abusive. Prussia had a TERRIBLE history with both Poland and Lithuania, especially when they were one country. The commonwealth and the Teutonic Order were constantly fighting each other, not to mention when you read up on how the Knights would talk about Lithuanians especially, it would be highly abusive. Read any part of the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. The Teutonic Knights were literally read pro-Teutonic, anti-Lithuanian propaganda poetry to increase morale.

Germano: This is just eh to me. Could not care less. These two haven’t had near enough screen time (both in the show and manga) for this connection, and when they have communicated it wasn’t super pleasant. I wouldn’t call this ship abusive or toxic, not that far, I just don’t believe they’re close enough for this relationship.

BelaLiech: I am BAFFLED at how popular this ship is. Definitely not as popular as UsUk for example, but still concerningly popular. Belarus is 19 in canon, and Liechtenstein doesn’t have a canon age, but the fandom site says 12. I’ve seen people say 15, so she’s 12-15 years old. Aka: A MINOR. A CHILD. A C H I L D. NO.

EstLiet: Not much of the fandom knows this I think just because of his appearance and his mannerisms, but Estonia is 17. His physical age is 17. He is the same age as Iceland. While Lithuania’s canon age is 19, he is still an adult. Estonia I don’t think should be shipped with anyone older than 17, or younger than 16. My personal opinion.

Here are the ones from Balkantalia, aka not canon (mostly) but still relevant enough to include here

BulMace: This shit makes my blood fucking boil. It makes me want to commit a crime (for legal reasons that is an exaggeration). Bulgarians are so fucking terrible to us. Not even as a joke, Bulgarians hate us. They want to claim our country, they want to eliminate Macedonians as an ethnicity and a culture, they recognise Macedonian as a dialect of Bulgarian (we don’t even use the same letters???), and there is laws that prohibit us from identifying as Macedonian.

GreMace: I don’t know if that’s the correct ship name but regardless, this one is CONSIDERABLY worse. I haven’t seen it too much, but the fact I’ve seen it at all disgusts me. Did y’all ever hear about the Macedonian genocide? Did you know Greek neo-Nazis just tried to march in Lerin (the city my Macedonian family is from) to protest our existence? Did you know Macedonians are regularly attacked for being Macedonian on our own ancestral land? That we are not legally recognised as people in Greece? That Macedonians face police brutality in Greece? They want us fucking dead. My family did not flee genocide in Macedonia for you to make cute art of them kissing. Fuck you. Personally, and with full disrespect.

SerbCro: I am appalled at the amount of Serbs and Croats who actually ship this. Serbian and Croatian history is FULL of violence and bad blood, and the things they’ve done to each other historically is disgusting. Not only with the Ustaša and Yugoslav massacres. Not only do I HC the Serbo-Croats as brothers, but brothers who cannot go 5 seconds without fighting. Why? Because that’s how they are in real life. They cannot get along. If I had a dollar for every time I saw a Serb and Croat not fighting, I’d maybe have 50¢.

SerbMonte: No. No ❤️. Absolutely not. At least from the POV of one of my Montenegrin friends who used to live in Belgrade, Serbs do not like Montenegrins. They get bullied, harassed, and they’re considered to be second class Serbs. So no. Absolutely not.

I’m here to remind you guys this isn’t a show like most others, where the characters are fully made up and have no actual context. Hetalia, while a comedy show, is still based on history and culture of actually countries personified to be people. You cannot erase historical, cultural, or social context.

When I see my countries being shipped with their aggressors, or being shipped with people they aggressed, it doesn’t make me feel good. I don’t just “Ope well they’re characters oh well” those are representations meant to show you a little bit of the history.

They’re not always accurate, because one man from Japan who writes manga about countries he isn’t from will not always be right, but these are still representations.

Historical context in Hetalia is crucial. ESPECIALLY when it comes to shipping.

#Hetalia #Ships #Hetalia Ships #Ships I literally cannot stand #Most of these if you ship please stay at least 50m away from me

[dazais-secret-smut-stash]

1 Thru 5 by SapphicPandaBear

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Ship: BakuDeku

Tags to Note: panic attacks, happy ending

Explicit? Yes

Words: 26,513

Status: complete

Summary: “Katsuki proposes a way for him and Izuku to get sexual relief while staying comrades, using a level system of one through five. Izuku agrees, but maybe shouldn't... after all, his affections are one-sided, and this can bring nothing but pain.”

My Review:

OH MY GOD I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS FIC.

Most of the time when I look for fics to read, I don’t really expect to find healthy relationships. But that’s fine; it’s not what’s most important to me anyway. I’ve gotten used to unhealthy or questionable relationship dynamics at best (especially since I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers).

BUT THIS FIC? GUYS. It is ACTIVELY healthy. I swear, I could rant about this forever, but for some background: I’ve been in a fuckton of therapy in my life, a good portion of which was teaching about healthy communication and how to improve/avoid toxic relationships. So I’d say I have a pretty good understanding of that sort of thing, given that I’ve essentially sat through classes on it. I can tell you right now, this is the healthiest relationship I’ve ever seen in fanfiction. It’s not that the relationship is easy or without problems, it’s that the problems are addressed and they WORK ON THEM.

There was one scene in particular where (without giving spoilers) Bakugou got really frustrated and left to go on a walk to cool off. It was kind of a surprise to Deku when he came back, since in the past he had a tendency to run from his problems. But no, this was him stepping away from a situation that was escalating long enough for him to cool down and gather his thoughts, after which he came back and continued the discussion rationally.

HEALTHYYYYYYY!!!! THAT IS THE THERAPEUTICALLY CORRECT THING TO DO!!! SO PROUD OF HIM!!! And that was just ONE of the many examples in the fic! Their healthy communication and the way they address problems isn’t even really dwelled on that much; like, it’s just natural for them to do it.

Of course, the main conflict in the fic is miscommunication, but the way that conflict is overcome is through healthy means. The problems are addressed and worked on. AND it’s also addressed that there isn’t going to be a “magic fix” for the problems they continue to face- part of being together means working on combatting conflict when it inevitably arises. There is no such thing as a relationship without conflict. Every single couple in the world argues and disagrees at some point. The line between successful and unsuccessful relationships is how that conflict is addressed. And this fic captured that BEAUTIFULLY.

And all that is just ONE aspect of the fic that I love. The smut is also so incredibly well-done. At one point while reading, I started mentally making notes of how differently types of intimacy are shown. There are several sex scenes, but they all bring something different to the table. That’s range.

As a whole, the fic was also just generally well-written, in terms of stuff like characterization, plot development, and even grammar (which I can be really picky about).

Just absolutely fantastic work. I recommend this to anyone who will hear my pleas to read it.

#fic rec #smut #bnha #mha #my hero academia #longer fic

[sakuracentric]

1.Hi! Do you happen to have any ideas about Sakura's parents? I'm new to the fandom but wanted to write a Sakura-centred story, but I'm not sure how to handle them. Most stories I've read portray them as abusive/neglectful. I'm still reading manga (and watched anime; prefer manga) but as far as I know, they never appeared there. In anime and RTN they didn't make a good impression on me (borderlying emotional abuse, and her dad seems to be dismissive of her feelings and always makes stupid jokes)

Hey, no worries, anon! Now, for your question, I understand perfectly where you’re coming from. 

I will confess that I’m not an anime watcher and don’t intend on being one, but I understand your frustrations. One consistent thing about SP we can ‘depend’ on is their rather annoying penchant for portraying her as horribly as possible and taking her flaws and dialing them up to unbearably high levels. If her portrayal was more congruent with how she is in the manga, I doubt the bandwagon of hatred for her would be as severe, but I digress. 

On to the topic at hand, but as a fellow fanfic writer who frankly loves Mebuki and Kizashi but hates how SP handled them (considering how Kishimoto-sensei designed them himself, it feels like more salt in the wound for us manga fans), I do have some workarounds on how to approach them, and how their inclusion can actually enhance Sakura’s potential with some Sakura-centric trope staples.

Now, with what we’re given, we do approach some problems with them:

Characterization: One of the biggest issues I’ve been able to discern is that both Mebuki and Kizashi seem to tag-team in being horrible to Sakura. Not only is Mebuki pigeonholed in the domineering, naggy, bossy personality trope that almost every Naruto woman has or eventually comes to exhibit by the time they become a housewife, but she also seems to be quite big on devaluing Sakura, too. We see her rag about how much of a slob Sakura is (let alone how she can’t cook; keep your headcanons, SP, I don’t want them) in front of others, but that doesn’t necessarily make Kizashi much better. Why? Well, he seems like he’s whipped in the bad sense of the word, often agreeing with Mebuki and not speaking out against what she says. His redeeming quality is that he seems more laid back and likes to crack puns/dad jokes (I like it, at least), but together? Well, it doesn’t add up to parents that seem to support their daughter. Hell, if canon is anything to go by, it might not be that ridiculous to assume Sakura might’ve cut ties, if it least is alienated and distant. Not what we want here!

Background: Or rather, the lack thereof. Now, while I see this as a huge positive, others don’t. Why? Well, there’s next to nothing on them while almost all of the Rookies have fleshed out backgrounds. Mebuki and Kizashi, meanwhile, are just run-of-the-mill civilians with no real past. Kizashi seems to be a genin while Mebuki is simply a housewife. Whether she was an active kunoichi at some time or not, I doubt we’ll ever know. 

So, how do we fix this train-wreck? These are just my solutions, at least, and how I’ve come to work around these glaring problems.

Kizashi and Mebuki’s dynamic: From what I’ve seen, I really feel that these two’s personalities could actually be really amusing if redirected, so that’s my first piece of advice: redirecting where their vitriol goes, or distributing it more evenly could really salvage their characters without making them OOC. Mebuki’s a nag? Well, I find softening her blows or inserting some humor can help diffuse any potential toxicity. For example, if Mebuki feels the need to carp at Sakura at how messy her room is, maybe Mebuki can toss in some humor and mention that her pile of dirty laundry is starting to become sentient and that she heard it growl at her while she was vacuuming the hall. With Kizashi, I like to have her actually take part in his jokes as the straight man (like manzai that exists as a form of Japanese humor). As for Kizashi, I think the simplest fix would just not o have him take part in any degrading. However, if you eliminate it entirely (which I do and recommend), he can become an active, jokey participant instead of a doormat (which I absolutely do, too), would help loads. 

Mebuki: Like I stated above, you can keep most of her personality while removing the sharp, jagged bits and not have her be unrecognizable. Instead of making her the one who devalues Sakura, make her the tough love, realistic/brutally honest advice parent. What this means is, for example, having Mebuki sit a pre-series, young Sakura down and tell her that being a kunoichi is really tough and that she won’t have an easy time in the Academy. For Interlude-era Sakura when she’s training under Tsunade, make Mebuki snatch away medical textbook Sakura was cramming at midnight and tell her she needs to sleep and has been looking like a zombie in the morning. After one of her deadly spars with Tsunade, have Mebuki blow up at Sakura out of worry, not because she doesn’t think Sakura can’t do it. Have them get into quarrels about how stressed Sakura is, that she should ask Tsunade to ease up a little. Stuff like this, where it’s still flawed but not toxic.

Kizashi: Like I said above, Kizashi is a little rough, but with a little polish, it doesn’t take much to make him shine. Personally, my favorite thing to do with him is make him the parent Sakura confides in and receives really tender advice and assurance from. I see him as the more affectionate of the two, for sure. The one who gave tiny Sakura bear hugs after really rough treatment by her bullies, who tells her they were probably jealous of her. That kind of dad, really. However, what I really love doing is playing with Kizashi’s background as a Genin and make him the one who actually helped train Sakura in the basics. We know Sakura was really adept with shurikenjutsu, trap setting, genjutsu identification and dissolvement, chakra control, and the like? Well, have Kizashi be the one who helped his kid out! Maybe he helped her memorize the Shinobi Rules, who coached her on her aim, who taught her how to expand her chakra control, stuff like that. 

Background: Now, I know this one is a big head-scratcher for many creators, but it’s what I find to actually be the biggest strength and source of inspiration for Sakura-centric AU’s. Why? Because fleshing out her background is oftentimes a massive component, if not plot point! I go into a lot more depth with it in this meta I wrote awhile back with one of the chapters that explores specific tropes, but some of the most fun you can have with Sakura’s lack of background is fleshing it out. And keep Kizashi and Mebuki as her parents because they, too, like Sakura don’t have explored backgrounds. This can entail everything from fleshing out a clan for her (Haruno clan, anyone?) to making Kizashi and Mebuki the descendants of another (Senju and Uzumaki are popular choices) or even inventing kekkei genkai or other cool jutsu unique to their family. The sky’s the limit, really, with where you can take this!

In conclusion, I hope this can be of help to you, anon! Mebuki and Kizashi are a tricky subject to handle, but with a little patience and polish, can be better reflections of themselves instead of the distorted mess that SP warped them into. 

If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

#Sakura Haruno #haruno sakura #mebuki haruno #kizashi haruno #pro sakura #pro sakura haruno #pro haruno sakura #scask

[missjanjie]

How bad do you think the drag race fandom’s problem with parasocial relationships is? Because I find myself regularly wanting to tell people to touch grass.

Okay, this is a valid feeling but kind of complicated/nuanced to answer. So it’s very long and I put it under a read more. TL;DR it’s not that bad of a problem if you know what to compare it to

I think a lot of these issues can be traced back to the cultural fixation on celebrity worship and how many people become famous for putting their whole lives out in the open and bank on people getting invested in it (the Kardashians are an obvious example here). We’ve created, essentially, a market for parasocial relationships to be encouraged as if they were fictional characters whose lives we feel like we have earned influence on.

Additionally, this not just happening to reality stars, so before I get into Drag Race I want to talk about one example turned into one of the ugliest cases of parasocial relationships taken too far that I’ve ever seen, and that is the case of Darren Criss. There is a reason I actively avoid talking about Glee outside of the safe space of my groupchat and a lot of it is tied to how a chunk of the fandom acted in regards to him and treated others by proxy. For starters, these fans were relentless in their insistence that Darren was secretly gay or bi, that his girlfriend (now wife) is a beard or even an emotionally abusive monster who is holding him back from his one true love and needs to be disposed of.

This also affected their treatment of Chris Colfer. Chris quickly became uncomfortable being shipped with Darren, as fans began sending him explicit fics and art without his consent, and doubled down when he expressed his displeasure. And don’t get me started on the treatment of his boyfriend during this time. These fans’ toxic parasocial relationship with Darren caused damage to the mental health and possibly even careers of those tangentially involved because of this gross lack of boundaries.

Comparatively, the Drag Race fandom really isn’t that bad, at least on tumblr. We’ve drawn a hard boundary of not sending fics to queens without consent, and even with consent most of us would rather shit in our hands and clap than volunteer our work. Do I think some fans emotionally invest too much in the queens? Yes. Do I think some fans project onto queens and/or their real life relationships and friendships in an unhealthy way? Yes. Would some people benefit from the occasional content consumption break? Probably. But I don’t think it’s as big of an issue as it may appear to be.

Drag Race might be your first fandom, I don’t know. If you haven’t experienced fandoms, especially toxic ones, you don’t know how genuinely horrible these parasocial relationships can be. That’s not even a bad thing, I’m glad you were able to pick up on something that understandably rubbed you the wrong way. But yeah, the problem exists, but it’s not terribly concerning.

#gen asks

[lhrry]

Speaking of Olivia, I have no idea why it is like that but she just affects me quite a lot. I mean, I’ve been around since the end of 2017 so Camille was here but I wasn’t really deep into the fandom back then and I barely knew about her existence so holivia is technically my first stunt if you know what I mean. And whenever I see she is around and will be at the show I’m like "shit, here we go again" and I don’t know, when they’re somewhere together like it was with Italy, I find myself being kinda upset about it. This woman is just so toxic and everywhere, I can’t look at her and I don’t know how to cut her out which I see many people doing. I can’t really stay away from social media to not check the updates but it’s not really doing anything to me anyway, ugh I wish it could end already

oof, i get that first stunts like that are difficult and HO is something that is difficult to stomach even for most of us who have been here since.. forever. I’m not saying I don’t ever get affected either - I do and I do for example dread dwd promo and think I’ll just disappear for a bit around that time. but ultimately i am able to put some distance between myself and the stunt/her and just cut it off a bit, I rarely ever see pictures where she’s not cut off or pictures of her at the shows (thanks to my dash) luckily. Also I’m very aware it’s all part of a job, it’s contractual and there’s actually probably very little time they spend together. I try to keep myself from projecting - I don’t like her, I don’t think she’s a particularly good person, I’m not a fan of many things I hear, do think some of the reports and rumours regarding her are uncomfortable to say the least, but I also think the fandom projects their reactions and anger to and at the stunt on her a lot and I try to avoid that because if I villainise her to that level without having solid info on what’s happening there etc. I’m not really helping myself handle this and rather making myself more anxious about it all and not helping anyone really, so I stay away from that as well as talking about her in general. And also, it’s just one of the most obviously PR relationships that i’ve ever seen, it’s so incredibly transparent and many people outside the fandom see it as well, so it’s good to always remember that, there’s some kind of a transaction going on and it’s just really obvious. But if it does affect you a lot, I’d still advise you to try and take some kind of a break, it helps put things into perspective and that’s healthy!

#talk time with agnes #holivia

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

I want to start this off with that I support trans head cannons broadly they are a good thing and that Trans women are allowed to see themselves in any character and headcannon them as trans women and it’s none of my business when they do that This is a vent post. I just want to put my feelings out.

Any evidence I talk about in this post is stuff I have seen be used as evidence for this head canon. If it don’t apply let it fly. BUT I actually hate the Ed (our flag means death) is a trans woman head canon and I’m gonna talk about it. Part of the reason I hate it is personal. I really relate to him, He is in fact the most intensely relatable character I have ever seen on screen or in books or anywhere really, and I’m a trans man, so that’s part of it. But part of why I hate this head canon is because I feel like it rests on a very fundamental misunderstanding of the character and also of masculinity. Please stick with me when I say that.

Now any reason is a good enough reason to head canon any character as trans, and I am not here to beef with trans women who see themselves in Ed. What I do beef with is the idea that because he likes Stede’s fancy lad clothes and he doesn’t want to be the monster that Izzy (The character with the most toxic masculinity) wants him to be, that those things make him less of a man. You get how that’s harmful, right? The idea that he can’t be a man because he rejects toxic masculinity is harmful and it implies that the only masculinity there is to be found is toxic and that anyone who rejects toxic masculinity is not a man. When really I think Ed has the most advanced masculinity of any character in the show. Because Ed is a man and his masculinity is never seen as in opposition to anyone. Izzy is the most obvious example of defining his masculinity in opposition to others on this show and Ed is failing to live up to his ridged definition masculinity and instead of being like oh Izzy’s a shitlord don’t worry about him a lot of yall have taken that as a way to emasculate ed. Then theres the thing with Stede’s clothes. I truely think some of yall heard as kids “Pirates are for boys, Princesses are for girls” And just internalized the fuck out of that. So when Ed takes interest in rich people shit (not gendered) and desires the finer things (Not gendered) and gets yelled at by Izzy for being a good enough Pirate for engaging in these things (Ching Shih/Zheng Yi Sao is literally rolling in her grave if you think piracy is gendered) you take that as evidence that he’s not a man? Like I just want you to analyze why these things add up to him not being a man for you, that’s all. Again if it don’t apply let it fly. Ed’s interest in frilly shit is because he as a poor indigenous man has been systemically excluded from comfort, and it feels weird when people gender that. Like men aren’t allowed to desire comfort.

There are of course ways in which Ed is feminine, he’s a complex character and no complex character is all one or all the other, but he presents a non toxic masculinity. He’s in touch with his emotions, he allows himself to be vulnerable, he doesn’t put anyone else down to prove he’s more of a man. and yet he’s still masculine. His beard is his whole brand, he cracks open a cold one with the boys, ect. (I know women can have beards but you understand my point)

I feel like this also fits into a larger problem this fandom has on taking Izzy’s word for things even when we know Izzy’s the worst. Like Ed is autistic and there’s oodles of evidence in the way he moves the things he says and does and stuff like that but I’ve seen yall bring up the way Izzy talks about him like he’s insane and cant take care of himself as evidence for it anyway when that’s not even true.

Now I feel like the most valid piece of evidence for the trans girl Ed headcanon is the scene that makes me headcanon him as a trans man. Which is the scene with Izzy at the end of the show where Ed “comes out” and asks him to use his “chosen name” Edward instead of Blackbeard, and then he “goes back into the closet” because Izzy threatens his safety. Fair enough. This is why I said at the beginning that I’m not here to beef with trans girls who see themselves in him, but I do kinda want to bring it up to point out that I can use this as evidence for him being a trans man. It’s not gendered, it’s just not cis.

And finally the underlying reason why I don’t just let it go and why I made a big long vent post about it. I relate to him. I find his brand of masculinity relatable, and when people dismiss this brand of masculinity I find that super invalidating. And I know that’s my own personal shit to deal with but you will note that this is my own personal blog, so, you know, that’s sort of what I’m doing by making a vent post. I just don’t like it when people see him stimming on Stede’s clothes (autistic and something I do) or being theatrical or crying or writing poetry or wearing a robe around the house and declaring that feminine. I hate it when you guys do that. I know I don’t control how other people interpret media and I don’t control what the vibe on this character is but the evidence I’ve seen pulled out for this particular head canon rubs me the wrong way. I don’t thing I would have as much of a problem with it if the evidence I often see get pulled out didn’t feel like it was reinforcing harmful ideas about what a man isn’t. There is also something to be said for Stede’s sexuality in relation to this head canon but that doesn’t rub me the wrong way quite as much.

#vent post #Our flag means death #ofmd

[junotalksaboutstuff]

What is a Fan if Not a Mini Wind Turbine?: The Power of Being a Fan in [PRESENT YEAR]

note: this blog post is probably going to be a lot more touchy-feely and a lot less ‘academic’ because i just finished my fandom essay pls let my potato brain give way to my cringe heart for a quick 500 words

I have something difficult to confess: I… like things.

I’m a fan of media and video games and music and movies. I also like talking about the aforementioned things: whether it be The Front Bottoms’ latest singalong folk-punk song about being uncomfortable, Jacob Geller’s recent video essay somehow tying together a 60s alternative song with a 2022 interactive movie about immortality, or a quirky indie game’s pivotal exploration of trauma, I can’t stop myself from shouting about it from my rooftop (metaphorically, not literally, though I’ve come close).

In that sense, it’s kind of nice that the Internet exists. It’s like a neighbourhood where everyone is constantly shouting. All of the time.

now, not all fandoms are black holes of content, but they do become those, surprisingly often. it's kinda concerning ngl

In my years of being a fan of things, I’ve done many things: I’ve been in Discord servers discussing the finer parts of why Kel from Omori is actually the Most Affectionate Golden Retriever Brick of a character in the entire game; I’ve both read and written fanfiction about my favourite ships and laughed/cried/emotionally reacted to them on both sides of the author-reader divide; I’ve bought actual merch from games and content creators I love (no regrets, easily one of my favourite statement tees I’ve ever bought).

In a more substantive, more objective way of seeing it, through fandom, I’ve been able to interact with so much more people through the lens of fandom. Through being in online fandoms for games like Valorant and Omori, I’ve connected with people around the world over a shared interest that I would have never had the chance to otherwise. In the thriving fanart communities on Twitter, I’ve seen how artists from around the world take the basis of the works they have before them and use it as a springboard for their own ideas, cultures and identities: the sheer depth of intersectional Valorant agent OCs and Pokemon headcanons are a topic due for their own long-form video essay alone. Especially as someone still trying to figure out who or what they are, the positivity and feedback that one can get while exploring identity through the lens of fanfiction and fanart communities (either as viewer, creator, or commenter) can be an enormous source of relief and perspective.

i'm not aroace, but pretty good example of the uniqueness that the queer half of Valorant's fanbase comes up with as OCs!

In short, I feel fandom has been a pretty good part of my life for a pretty good part of my life. Of course, not everything is perfect: toxicity exists as in any online community, and bad actors are always a concern in an anonymised setting. These concerns aside, I find it easy to say that fandom in many different communities has played a substantial part in making me who I am today.

Live long and prosper!

#mda20009 #week10 #fandom

[goldenharmony]

Looking at Korra from LOK, Mabel in GF, and Marinette in ML, I realize how all 3 of the girls were unfairly scrutinized by their fandoms that was largely fueled by some attachment and excessive comparison to a male character, with a weird Him vs. Her mentality.  

In LOK, Korra’s the successor to Aang. The fandom felt the need to constantly emphasize Aang as the better avatar and complain that Korra had it so much easier than him, downplaying her journey because she had a support system early on. The point was that the two had different character arcs, and Korra had different struggles. 

In Gravity Falls, everyone was super into the mysteries and conspiracy-aspect of the show. Since Dipper was trying to solve these conspiracies, a lot of fans were attached to him, and felt personally upset whenever it seemed like he had to give up stuff to just to keep Mabel happy (even though the examples Bill used to manipulate Dipper were cherry-picking and biased). 

In ML, Adrien’s heavily tied to the mysteries and Agreste plot, which are some of the most interesting parts of the show. People are also very attached to his abuse storyline. Because of this, many people constantly downplay Marinette’s struggles as “not being as bad”, get angry at her for not picking up his “obvious signs of abuse”, get upset at her for being the leader/guardian even though CN has never had a problem with that (his issues are about feeling needed/included), etc. 

Also weirdly, no one ever complained that Mabel didn’t have an exact 50-50 relevance and screentime to the main plot as Dipper, like everyone does for ML where they claim “Um, girls and boys should have equal screentime/importance to the plot!”🙄

Another common complaint I’ve seen for Mabel/Marinette is “Being 12/14 isn’t an excuse! Dipper/Adrien are 12/14 and they don’t act like that!”, without taking into account that Dipper’s flaw is him wanting to grow up too fast or that Adrien’s toxic homelife has forced him to adopt certain habits and mannerisms. Obviously, both girls aren’t going to be like them. Mabel shouldn’t be expected to act older than she does nor should Marinette be expected to keep all her emotions constantly in check, because both boys shouldn’t have been expected to act in this way in the first place. Also the fact that I recall Mabel and Marinette sometimes doing the same shit as Dipper and Adrien, but for some reason, only the girls get scrutinized for it. 

I’m not saying everything about these girls’ writing was executed to a perfect T, but it’s just a suspicious pattern I’ve noticed. Both the girls and guys are great characters so they shouldn’t be pitted against each other like this. 😔

(And no, don’t reblog/reply to this post on why YOU specifically hate any of these girls or think they deserve their scrutiny)

#miraculous ladybug #gravity falls #marinette dupain cheng #mabel pines #legend of korra #korra #lily watches ml #my analysis #analysis

[anevolutionarynecessity]

No, Killing Eve is not “just” a television show and Yes, your pain is totally valid

Killing Eve’s finale has devastated our fandom.

From the moment the last episode aired, I’ve been in shock and despair. In the immediate aftermath I was numb. Then I’ve been alternating between shutting down and feeling such crushing tidal waves of emotion. It’s hard for me to eat properly. I’m having trouble sleeping. I still burst into uncontrollable tears.

I cannot get the horrific images of Villanelle’s death out of my mind. They flash behind my closed eyes. I also cannot keep Eve’s soul-shattering scream from ringing in my ears. I have not re-watched the final minutes of the finale and I refuse to.

Over these past few days, I’ve seen similar effects on others in our fandom: I can’t go to work, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I’ve withdrawn, I’m crying, I feel hopeless, I feel sick, I feel physical pain, I feel like I’ve lost my family member, my best friend, my partner. I feel betrayed. I feel devastated.

The common thread of these experiences is that we’ve been traumatized. Literally.

I wish I could hug you all. Over time, I know that we will all get better. The outpouring of support already, of us celebrating Villaneve’s love and happiness, of us creating from a place of defiant positivity, has helped immensely. So we will all be here for each other as we get better.

In the meantime though, we must process our pain. We must grieve.

It’s okay to mourn the loss of fictional characters. It’s okay to lament the death of possibility. It’s okay to be enraged at what happened and to be disturbed by the disgusting homophobia in the post-finale interviews.

Most importantly, it’s important to not minimize and dismiss your own feelings.

Because no, Killing Eve is not just a television show.

Killing Eve is a lived experience. It is a show embedded in popular culture. It is a point of reference for women around the world, from all ages and walks of life. It is an artistic statement-now a troubling one, at that.

Along these lines, Eve and Villanelle are not just fictional characters. And their relationship is not just an imaginary one. Eve and Villanelle are a frame of reference, a piece of our identities, a possibility for self-recognition as well as interpersonal recognition. Eve and Villanelle represent the power and the freedom of women to live on their own terms. To be messy and complex, and to still find whole acceptance and unconditional love. To believe in soulmates, in fate.

So the implications of Killing Eve killing Villanelle (and Eve, in a horrible sense) then gaslighting us into thinking their relationship was only ever toxic and obsessive is deeply disturbing.

So yes, your pain is totally valid.

And your pain is important. Because it’s calling attention to the harm of queerbaiting.

Make no mistake, Killing Eve’s queerbaiting is deeply harmful. It has traumatized us.

The harm of queerbaiting is very real. It’s been studied and presented, for example, by Ricky Hill, PhD. He’s a research assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and a faculty member of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing.

Hill outlines the real harms of queerbaiting as follows:

“When we're talking about communities that maybe don't see themselves reflected back a whole lot, these relationships mean something," Hill says. "And they are not simply characters, they are possibility models. And so when you have those possibility models taken away from you, it is a loss."

These types of bait-and-switch tactics compound mental health issues, like depression and anxiety, that queer folks are already more likely to face. "To never see yourself reflected just is another form of social isolation," Hill explains. "We know that social isolation just increases depression, increases anxiety, and those have very real biological implications." Queerbaiting can also continue the stigmatization of the LGBTQ+ community, as it prevents society as a whole from seeing "LGBTQ people as just normal, everyday folks operating in a culture where they can live happy, healthy, normal lives out in the open," Hill says. In baiting but never fully showing queerness, media creators "imply that there's something not worthy there of being fulfilled, that there is something not valid about these expressions and these identities."

So I emphasize: do not let anyone, from Laura Neal to someone in your own life, minimize the pain you’re going through, the love you have for Eve and Villanelle, and the emotions you’re feeling in the wake of Killing Eve’s finale.

The ending of this television show is a historical event in television, in pop culture, in our own personal histories. It is intrinsically important by virtue of its impact and especially because it has been part of our lives for years.

I just want you to know that your pain is totally valid. And vitally, that it will pass. Please be kind to yourself in the meantime and remember that, just like Eve and Villanelle, you always have the power to shape your own destiny against all odds❤️

#hang in there darlings #we'll be okay ❤️ #Killing Eve #Villaneve #Season 4 #Villanelle #Jodie Comer #Eve Polastri #Sandra Oh #bbc #bbc america

[remythologise]

important question: which media properties would you cash in your "gay ships go canon" chips on?

Truly one of the most wonderful questions I’ve ever received, thank you so much anon.

So to begin our analysis let’s revisit our portfolio positions from June 2021 to see how our economic landscape has shifted. So obviously I’ve personally made new investments in Nandermo and TedTrent stocks, for example, and we’ve more broadly seen a big shift towards what I’d call ‘second-wave queerbait’ in the last few months. But that’s a pretty good overview of the market overall.

To start this analysis I’ll need to have a baseline fund to be investing from, so let’s say I have the equivalent of 5 ‘chips’ to cash in. I’ll also slightly modify the question to factor in likelihood of canon (if there was no likelihood of canon factor involved, for example, I’d invest more heavily in Geraskier). So let’s go bait by bait based on the ones I engage with or at least know about:

1. Destiel: Probably the trickiest one but also the most obvious to start with. In a very real way it’s already ‘gone canon’ and fandom stocks have already probably hit an all time high. Would I want Destiel to go fully canon? Absolutely. However, this show is functionally ‘over’, so investing here feels like pushing for a company that’s already declared bankruptcy. I would not invest in Destiel*.

2. Hannigram and Villaneve: Whether or not shows continue, these ships are already essentially canon in any meaningful way to the fanbase and audiences. I would not invest in Hannigram or Villaneve.

3. Aziraphale/Crowley: I don’t care for Neil Gaiman’s particular brand of bait-excusing, nor do I really think this being canon would alter the fandom or culture in any real way. I would not invest in Ineffable Baiting.

4. Nandermo: This is heading towards, if not already, canon, and stocks have already jumped accordingly. Minimal returns on a sure bet. I would not invest in Nandermo.

5. Supercorp: Genuinely WOULD have invested here if the show hadn’t just ended (bankruptcy). Despite never having seen the show, I think the cultural win here would have been huge for everyone. Disappointed that investment here is now pointless. I would not invest in Supercorp.

6. Any MCU Ship At All: bankruptcy and/or insufferable fandom. Wouldn’t put my money in Disney if you paid me. No chance of any big ship going canon. I would not invest in the MCU.

7. Symbrock: Functionally the ‘MCU’ but already about as ‘canon’ as they’ll ever be. I would not invest in Symbrock because stocks have already jumped into canon territory.

8. Cherik: Functionally not the ‘MCU’ and functionally not ‘bankrupt’ since there can always be new films and properties, though it’s unlikely, and even more unlikely to ever be pushed into canon in the near to mid-term future. I would not invest in Cherik.

9. Merthur, Hilson, SilverFlint, XenaGabrielle, FinnPoe, and any other historical ships: Functionally bankrupt. Let’s just talk about the ones with actual possibility.

10. Sterek and Johnlock: have to be mentioned separately as tumblr tentpoles that I feel differently about to the above, and for the fact that revivals of these seem more possible. Almost tempted by how fucking funny the fallout and drama and fandom revivals would be but I’d rather die than invest my canon chips here.

11. Buddie: Deep down I think 911 is too ridiculously popular and Mainstream-America to make it canon. Nor do I think the results would be particularly game-changing, even if it were. Call me a cynic, but I would not invest in Buddie.

12. Geraskier: Unfortunately the odds on this one being reciprocated are insurmountable because of existing canon and core demographics. I would not invest in Geraskier, though I dearly want to, it’s already as canon as it would get. (As much as I dream of the total havoc that Geralt/Jaskier canon would wreak on reddit. Oh, if I were a billionaire, with enough chips…)

13. Tom/Greg: This is not a ‘ship’ this is a toxic, complex relationship on a well-written show that I trust to be engaging no matter what they do with it. I would not invest in TomGreg.

14. MacDennis: Don’t watch this show but overall from what I hear from those who do the ship vibes are Yikes. I would not invest in MacDennis.

15. Harry/Kim: Likely to be bankrupt as the sequel won’t feature them as protagonists. If it somehow isn’t bankrupt I’ll find more chips to use because we absolutely deserve any potential sex scene to be about them specifically.

16. WB Holmes/Watson: This is EXACTLY the perfect kind of investment opportunity you dream about. The odds here seem impossible because of how mainstream these films are, but the actors would be willing, the bait keeps increasing towards the canon singularity, and it would fundamentally shift culture in a huge way. I WOULD INVEST IN WB HOLMES/WATSON.

17. Kotetsu/Barnaby: Now I know a lot of you will ask ‘what are you talking about’. But this isn’t about you, this is about me and my personal chip supply. In a post-Yuri-on-Ice world, anything is possible, and I firmly believe in those possibilities !!! March 2022 I believe in you!!! I WOULD INVEST IN TAIBUNI.

18. Ted/Trent: While I don’t care for this ship as much as others on this list, I think culturally I want to cash in my chips here. The impact of having the Apple TV+ show EVERYONE is watching go for Ted/Trent rather than anything else? You Want To See It. Would improve the show monumentally, too. I invested here when stocks were barely worth anything, and look at me now. Big Risk, Big Returns. I WOULD INVEST IN TED/TRENT.

19. Kirk/Spock: It’s What They Deserve. After all these years.. if there’s any true logic to the universe, Star Trek would embrace its legacy of boldy going where no franchise has gone before. Now THAT’S a ship that deserves to be canon. I WOULD INVEST IN KIRK/SPOCK.

20. *Destiel, again: You know what. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter how low or high the odds are. There’s a CHANCE there will be a continuation one day and a CHANCE it will be reciprocated. We have to put our money into what we believe in sometimes, no matter how risky the odds… after all, who would have believed we’d get this far to begin with? I WOULD INVEST IN DESTIEL!!!!

#ask #kira for ts #anon incredible ask thanks so much. #shame this ask is already so long or I’d put in projected performance graphs #well. someone can always ask for that I guess. haha no don’t I have so much do to— #and other asks I DO need to reply to eventually (apologies ted lasso anon I HAVE gotten halfway through yours—) #don’t need to ts anything because every ship has been mentioned. great. #anonymous

[koolfrogz]

Misconceptions Regarding MCC14

Recently there have been a load of misconceptions regarding many of the controversies that happened this MCC, especially on Twitter and Tiktok, so I thought I would make a giant post detailing these and why they are wrong so I can scroll through my dash in peace.

1. Hbomb purposely abused a glitch in HITW that got Illumina and Mefs banned from MCC on the practice server. 

This one can easily be broken down into three components: 1. Misinformation about the glitch itself 2. Misinformation about the Mefs and Illumina incident 3. When does abusing a glitch count as cheating?

Firstly, the glitch Hbomb used is actually very common in HITW and has been around since the game was first introduced. The devs know about it and have not made any complaints about it because the usage of the glitch itself is heavily luck based (depending on the ping of the player) and does not guarantee a win to any player who does get it. Take for example PearlescentMoon who has used the glitch repeatedly throughout many competitions (i.e MCC 11), yet has not gained any significant advantage through it because, again, there is still an element of skill required to use it. This glitch is not only known by the devs, but has been used before in HITW. It is not something new that Hbomb exploited as a means of getting ahead.

Secondly, the Illumina and Mefs situation is not at all comparable to the Hbomb one. Illumina and Mefs were using a completely different glitch which did guarantee a win to the player because it allowed the player to afk on the platform and allow the blocks to pass through them. They were not banned for exploiting this glitch, but rather reprimanded by Scott and the devs for not reporting it to them sooner. Mefs and Illumina are still allowed in MCC and only didn’t compete this time because the teams had already been formed.

Finally, in regards to the idea of cheating itself when using such a glitch, the idea that what Hbomb did counts as cheating is absurd considering past MCCs and the various glitches which have been abused as well. I’ve seen a lot of people mention the infamous Wilbur Glitch and I think its a perfect example. The Wilbur Glitch is from the game Rocket Spleef which was not played this MCC but certainly will be in the future. The glitch involves the player becoming stuck in a block and seemingly floating in the air allowing them to basically secure a win without admin intervention. This glitch is much more OP than the glitch Hbomb used, and we have even seen admins purposefully try to kill players for using it (i.e Philza MCC11). However, even when players have purposefully attempted to get it (Wilbur, Phil, Quackity, etc.), I have never seen the fandom react so negatively as to accuse them of cheating. It is not fair to accuse Hbomb of cheating when he abuses a glitch which has been in the game for ages and not do the same with your favourite creators who do a much more busted glitch as well. Personally, I don’t consider either of these cheating, but that’s my opinion.

2. They removed Parkour Warrior because Dream was too good. That’s not fair.

Okay, this one is very simple as its just not true. This falls under the assumption that Dream was the only player to finish Parkour Warrior which is not true (PeteZahHutt completed the course twice and was the first to ever complete it in MCC 6). While the reason the Parkour Warrior map was destroyed in MCC 11 is said to be that EpicLandlord destroyed it because “he was annoyed at how good Dream was at it”, this is mainly a joke (think of the Ranboo being banned from MCC situation, while Ranboo isn’t in MCC there’s no actual beef and he’s not actually banned.) Secondly, if you weren’t around for Parkour Warrior when it was still in MCC, or have only ever seen Dream or Pete’s POV, you might not know, but Parkour Warrior was a miserable game mode (think Build Mart/Bingo but ten times worse because there was no chance to improve your placement other than just being good at Parkour). The game was 10 minutes of pure rage and frustration from competitors, which while entertaining at times, wasn’t the best for content when only two POVs in the entire competition were deemed watchable. This also wasn’t good for a competition because it meant that only two teams at most were progressing (and by a large amount) due to one player while the rest lagged behind. It gave the teams which had Pete and Dream a huge advantage and made the game unfun and unfair to everyone else, so they revamped the game (to Parkour Tag) to make it an even playing field where everyone had a chance to win (in the spirit of MCC). 

3. Scott had an unfair advantage in the competition and should be removed from the Dev Team or the Participants List.

This one is slightly more nuanced and may not have a definitive answer. Yes, Scott does have a slight advantage due to being a part of the dev team in every MCC. However, this MCC was definitely an outlier in that fact. Scott has been known to share info and tips with his teammates in past MCCs, but it has not truly impacted their performance on a significant level because the players knew a majority of the information anyways (the game rules, maps, etc). This MCC was unfair because Scott had a bigger advantage than originally assumed (it doesn’t mean he did it with malicious intent, it just means there was a severe oversight when designing the maps and explaining the rules to players). Also, the idea that Scott was guaranteed a win because he was part of the Dev Team is ridiculous and untrue. 

Scott has always been treated on the same level as any other player and has not been giving special privileges because he helped work on the tournament. Take for example MCC 8. Scott was teamed with Tommy, Philza, and Wilbur, and they were doing very well! Then came (wait for it), Ace Race. Scott experienced a glitch which allowed him to remain with his Elytra activated for half the course and allowed him to skip over multiple checkpoints and placed him in first. However, by skipping over these checkpoints the game corrected his placement and put him in last. This was seen as not fair at the time and the Red Rabbits did complain, to which Noxite responded that there was nothing they could do and Scott would just have to finish the round as normal. This glitch severely impacted the Red Rabbits standings and possibly led to them not being able to compete in Dodgebolt that MCC. Yet, Scott was never treated differently than any other player throughout the glitch despite being a part of the Dev Team.

For the next MCC, I certainly think that Scott should be allowed to play as normal. I truly believe this MCC was a fluke, and although I too felt a little salty seeing my favourite go from 2nd to 30th, I believe that it is not worth getting up in arms about it because at the end of the day there is a whole season of competitions where any team has a chance to win. 

4. They should have restarted the round and allowed the participants to retry the map.

While I too would have loved to see a rematch for Ace Rae, I would like to say that I, and probably many of the people playing, knew that it wasn’t going to happen. Noxcrew is very strict about the way MCC is run, it’s why I think it works so well. However, this means that they will not budge on these rules even in the face of something such as this competition’s Ace Race debacle. In the entire time of MCC, Noxcrew have only once ever restarted a round. This was in MCC 7 during Battle Box after there were server issues causing extreme lag for everyone (and Wilbur and Magistrex blew up their own teammates). It was unlikely that they were going to restart the round due to the mistake, and honestly, it might’ve caused more trouble than good to reset the points and the entire round of Ace Race. 

5. The Spirit of MCC

This last one is more of a general statement than a misconception, but I would like to say that I have seen a lot of newer fans confused and upset about this MCC’s outcome. However, I would like to remind everyone that at the end of the day MCC is a for-fun tournament which brings MCYTs of every background to compete and have fun. Yes, there is an element of competitiveness as it is a competition, but it goes against the very spirit of the competitions to be toxic and rude in spite of not winning or placing lower than you expected. At the end of the day, it is a MC tournament that has no monetary prize other than a golden coin. It is immature to slander, spread misinformation, or send death threats and harassment over such a tournament and I wish shame upon anyone who’s first reaction to not winning or their team not winning was to do such a thing. MCC is a brilliant tournament that has changed the game for how MC Competitions have been done, and it is disheartening to see the hard work Noxcrew and Scott have done be disrespected as such. I hope next MCC the fandom can come together and make this the lovely fandom event it once was. 

#MCC #scott smajor #hbomb #dreamwastaken #mcyt #wilbur #tommyinnit #philza #quackity #sapnap #georgenotfound #tubbo #mcc 14

[homo-sex-shoe-whale]

Online shipping, the fetishisation of gay men, and the romanticisation of queer trauma

An essay by me!

Word count: 2.8k

A link to the Google Doc version of this essay.

A big thank you to my friends Nathan @themeerkatnate, Mav @not-mavv , and Duke @dukedark-ness for reading this essay and giving me their thoughts as mlms on the topic. Make sure to check out their blogs and give them a follow!

So I was on a lovely website by the name of Twitter.com yesterday, just scrolling through while having my afternoon cup of coffee, when I saw that viral post of a girl reading a Larry fanfic through a classroom projector. I'm sure most of you have seen it. It's gone viral on Instagram, TikTok, and likely Tumblr too, and if you haven't come across it I'm positive you will soon.

Now, after getting through my initial reaction to that post which was, holy fuck, that's so embarrassing, I had a second reaction of... wait, this ship is still around?

And after I had some thoughts on the incredible permanence of some online ships and the weird obsolescence of others, I did get to thinking of how lots of these popular ships seem to stem from the same types of perceived relationship dynamics and homophobic stereotypes.

These online fandoms often seem to have an obsession with objects of queer trauma, such as having to hide a relationship, lying about sexuality for self-preservation, and even social rejection. So, after some opinions from my followers and the great archive that is the internet, I've decided to discuss some of the most popular examples of online shipping and the particular nuances they came with.

NOTE: Out of respect for all these people, I won't be sharing viral images or videos of them in perceived romantic proximity (or even kissing, as is applicable for some examples), but I will be describing certain moments I deem to be relevant. So even if you're unfamiliar with them, you won't be confused as to what I'm talking about.

NOTE 2: Although not all people within these fandoms were/are toxic, this essay is focused on the overall toxicity of the fandoms, and how they are toxic more so as a "hive" than as a group of individuals. When I refer to a fandom I don't mean every person involved in the fandom, but rather the collective impact of the group.

 1. Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson 

This is arguably the most popular example of online shipping. The absolute permanence of this ship, and how its fandom never seems to fully die off even beyond the lifespan of One Direction as it once stood, is downright impressive.  

I'm going to be the first to admit I was never in the loop with this fandom. My childhood best friend was actually a massive Larry shipper and asked me to beta read one of her fics, but that was before I even knew who tf Harry and Louis were! Not because I avoided the fandom or even because I rejected the online shipping, but just by coincidence, I delved into the world of pop punk music right when One Direction began gaining its popularity. I bought my first ever album, Riot by Paramore, in 2011- only a year after One Direction made their X-Factor debut. So, this fandom just bypassed me by a sort of weird coincidence.

But I don't need to be in the loop with this fandom to know the astronomical obsession with these two men, no, these two BOYS, was extremely toxic. In 2010, when One Direction made their debut, Harry Styles was only 16 years old. And Louis Tomlinson wasn't much older at 19! This made the two of them incredibly young when this unprecedented wave of shipping hit the internet, and although that must be traumatising for anyone, I cannot even fathom how overwhelming it must've been for two boys that young.  

I'm 18, almost 19 now, and I cannot begin to imagine how scary it was for the two of them to have their every interaction nitpicked within an inch of its life by thousands upon thousands of people online. I do not know this myself, but from numerous recounts by some of my followers, this massively impacted Harry's and Louis' nondescript relationship in real life, seemingly driving the two previously close friends apart. 

Now, before we move on, there's something we need to talk about. And that is the obsession with the dominance/submission dynamic within the world of gay shipping. 

With almost every popular mlm (an acronym meaning man-loving-man) ship based on real people, it seems that fandoms have a particular fascination with power imbalances in these relationships. You don't even need to look at the insane amount of fanfictions based on BDSM to figure this out. In almost all of the examples I'll be citing today, there is an age gap within the perceived relationship and a person the fandom has seemingly decided to be the top/dominant figure. 

Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson are 3 years apart in age. Although it isn't all that relevant now, an age gap of 3 years when you're in your late teens is a lot more significant. In 2012, for example, when this shipping really started gaining traction, Harry Styles was 18 and Louis Tomlinson was 21. That power imbalance, albeit not that significant, is enough for a fandom to latch on to. We'll see this a lot more in the coming example with Dan and Phil.

 2. Dan Howell and Phil Lester

It's impossible to have a discussion about internet shipping without talking about Dan and Phil.

 Dan Howell and Phil Lester, although being popular YouTubers individually, are arguably one of the internet's most iconic duos. The two creators published their first videos together in 2009, and while their relationship was already a motive of speculation back then, the peak of the "Phan" shipping definitely came in the 2013-2016 era of Tumblr.

Now, I'm going to admit… I was actually on Tumblr when that happened. 

The 2013-2016 period perfectly aligns with my middle school days (I started middle school in 2013 and high school in 2016), and I was not only on Tumblr back then, but I was on Wattpad too! Again, this wasn't a fandom I had much contact with as I had a huge anime phase in middle school and I was on Tumblr posting mainly photography and Soul Eater content more than anything. 

But I did watch some of Dan and Phil's videos! And the occasional "Phan" content did not completely evade me as one of my closest friends in middle school had a fanchat for them. I wasn't involved in the fandom myself but they were actually one of the few English-speaking YouTubers I watched once in a blue moon (back then I watched mainly Brazilian YouTubers). One thing I did in fact notice over the years, around 2014ish perhaps, was that the two of them seemed to grow increasingly "awkward" around each other, in a way that many folks on the internet thought was reminiscent to Markiplier/Jacksepticeye, two YouTubers who also dealt with extraordinary amounts of shipping.

I'm not the only one who thinks this. The change in Dan and Phil's relationship, at least to the outside world, was clear to almost anyone who watched their videos for a while. I cannot blame them at all. The shipping was nuts. Between the countless fan videos, speculative comments, and insurmountable number of fanfics, there's no way the two of them didn't feel the weight of the shipping. The term "demon phannie" made its way into internet vernacular and there it stayed for years. Even Shane Dawson, who was one of the largest creators on the platform at the time, made several videos speculating on the nature of Dan and Phil's relationship and their sexual orientations. 

There was even porn made in which actors with similar appearances to the creators were made to have sex on camera. 

Now, this is actually a rare example where the two people involved in the ship actually came out as gay once the shipping seemed to die down. I'm incredibly happy Dan and Phil both reached a point where they were comfortable being publicly out, but I hate to say I'm shocked this day ever came. If I'd gone through what the two of them did, I don't know if I'd ever trust the internet. 

And again, this ship's fandom definitely had an obsession with the power dynamics they thought existed between the people within the ship. Dan Howell is 4 years younger than Phil Lester, and was only 18 in 2009, when they started making videos together. From my personal understanding, the shipping was often quite focused on this dominant/submissive dynamic especially in discussions from their early relationship. And this is in no way exclusive to Dan and Phil.

This general fascination with the older man/younger man dynamic, in my opinion, plays into the homophobic stereotype that gay men are predators. The idea that gay men usually seek younger men, and somehow "convince" them to engage in homosexual relationships, is popular homophobic rhetoric. The popularisation, exaggeration, and fetishisation of these power imbalances, in age and/or in relationship dynamics, is directly harmful to the mlm community. 

Not only that, but the romanticisation of a "hidden/forbidden relationship" is also detrimental not only to gay men and the mlm community, but to queer people as a whole. Queer people face huge trauma having to hide their relationships; queer attraction is already a societal taboo. And acting like this is good, or even desirable, is harmful to queer people as a whole, regardless of whether or not it's actually applicable to the people being shipped. It normalises this trauma not only to cisgender, heterosexual people, but to impressionable queer youth who grow to believe this type of trauma is to be expected. 

3. Frank Iero and Gerard Way

This is another example where the perceived power imbalances between the two subjects of the shipping were directly exploited online. Now, this ship did precede the others mentioned above. If we're looking at this topic chronologically, this particular ship did come first in the shipping timeline. It's closer to the origin of the shipping extended universe, if you will.

In case you aren't familiar with them, Frank Iero and Gerard Way are both members of the American emo band My Chemical Romance. This ship is the first one here of which I don't recall the full popularity. It really peaked in popularity around the late 2000s, circa 2008. And I don't remember this moment online as in 2008, I was only 6 years old and believe it or not, I wasn't really all that concerned with rumoured homoeroticism as a first grader. 

However, the popularity of this ship did carry over into the 2013-2015 Tumblr shipping boom. The emo fandom (or "bandom" as it was called) involving not only My Chemical Romance but other similar bands such as Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, and Pierce the Veil, found its hub on Tumblr. 

During this time, I did in fact listen to this style of music, but was focused a lot more on the anime side of Tumblr as mentioned earlier. Of course, I wasn't 13 years old like, "hey, this type of content might be harmful and can inadvertently perpetuate homophobic stereotypes," I just happened to care more about my silly little anime and ended up not getting involved. 

This ship does involve a discussion that the others don't, however. With Frank Iero and Gerard Way, there is quite often a certain sentiment of, "Oh, they brought this upon themselves!" as the two band members very famously kissed during a show in 2007. In my opinion, though, this doesn't really justify all the obsessive shipping. If you look at Green Day, a band often grouped in with MCR as another famous pop punk group, the members don't follow too different of a trajectory. Billie Joe Armstrong has, on numerous occasions, kissed both of his fellow band members onstage- particularly Tré Cool, the drummer. And Billie Joe Armstrong is openly bisexual, which none of the members of MCR seem to be but some, or even all of Billie's bandmates, are too. 

You'd think Green Day would face a lot more shipping as the more persistent onstage homoeroticism and Billie Joe's openness about his sexuality would warrant more "substantiated" speculation. However, Green Day faces nowhere near as much shipping as My Chemical Romance. Why is this? I actually don't know. It might've been because Green Day has been around for over a decade longer and generally has an older fandom, but I really am not that sure. 

 It could also be because of the lower lack of potential for forced relationship dynamics. The members of Green Day are all less than a year apart in age and are even similar in height. However, Frank Iero is 4 years younger than Gerard Way, who is not only the frontman of My Chemical Romance, but also considered to be the group's intellectual and creative "leader". Even beyond that, Gerard Way is quite visibly taller, and the perceived power difference between the two of them definitely did not elude their fans. 

This difference could even be partly due to the lack of a "mystery" with Green Day. There's not as much to speculate as, well… the members of Green Day are already open about their sexual orientations. It might be that shipping in the Green Day fandom has less of a forbidden appeal for most people. 

Of course, I won't just keep repeating myself, but my previous points about forced relationship dynamics still stand.

4. Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch

Better known for their roles in BBC Sherlock as Sherlock and Watson, Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch unfortunately had their roles follow them well into real life. This is the example I know least about, so have these thoughts from a follower by the name of @indubitably-a-goblin, who had the following to say:

"the main issues i had with it were:

a) they were both married at the time, freeman to amanda abbington and cumberbatch to sophie hunter (in which both had children)

b) the main reasoning for it was their chemistry in the many projects they've done together. which is, shockingly, their Whole Job. They're actors! That's what they're supposed to do! if they weren't good at interacting then they wouldn't be good actors! i don't know how people can't understand this.

c) they're real people. we don't know them. we aren't friends with them. we aren't their family members. we have zero right to be pushing this onto them and ruining their friendship by doing so. (this one relates to most of the ships you've mentioned though)

d) healthy friendships between two men are ignored so plainly in most medias and in fandom. its obvious that these two men have a relationship, but that doesn't mean it's a romantic one.

e) its fine to ship their characters, but actors shouldn't be treated as less-than-human or some sort of prop. they're doing a job, and once they are off-screen, they aren't here for your entertainment."

I believe she did a great job of summing it up on her own, and for the sake of avoiding redundancy, I'll leave it at that!

5. Corpse Husband and Sykkuno- an emerging yet subtle example

I am absolutely positive you remember how popular the game Among Us was a couple of months ago. And with the popularity of this game, some of its most prominent content creators became the targets of online shipping- as is the case with YouTubers and streamers Corpse Husband and Sykkuno. 

Although the shipping involving these two creators is nowhere near as strong as it was/is with the examples above, I do think there is once again a reemergence of a common theme here. Whilst Sykkuno is known for his happy-go-lucky, almost "innocent" persona, Corpse Husband is the antithesis of this, known for his much darker and moodier personality. 

Do I even have to mention what the common theme seems to be?

Again, although the popularity of shipping - at least with real people - seems to have died down a bit since the Tumblr shipping boom of the early to mid 2010s, I do believe this example is worth mentioning. Even though the creators are still close, they have in fact expressed discomfort regarding the shipping, and I can only hope the internet as a whole lets their friendship blossom and exist naturally without obsessive speculation. 

My final thoughts

As explored in the essay:

The romanticisation of objects of queer trauma as a part of online shipping normalises queer trauma to both cishet and queer youth. 

Online shipping, especially at a high intensity, can end up negatively impacting the very relationships they pine over. 

The relationship dynamics often forced on mlm ships perpetuate homophobic stereotypes about non-heterosexual men. 

If anyone else has thoughts on this matter, do share! This essay is moreso an opinionated observational piece and isn't meant to be taken as fact but rather just as my thoughts on the matter. I hope it was useful as a reflective piece regardless!

Date of posting: June 16th 2021

#lgbt #lgbtq #gay #mlm #I cannot believe I said the phrase 'shipping extended universe'