#unsolicited fandom opinions

[ceescedasticity]

Idea I am rotating:

Did elves in Beleriand draw (or try to draw) a line between elves who were thralls and elves who were 'only' prisoners?

I feel like when you have groups who hold the policy "thralls are never trustworthy", it would be useful for them to have a separate category for, as an extreme example, someone who was caught by a raiding party and rescued after an hour or so.

And once you've allowed that not all prisoners are thralls, you've opened things up to arguing about what counts. Does it depend on where they're taken? How long they're held? Whether they broke — and how do you evaluate 'broke'? How they felt?

And if there was a distinction drawn — did The Official Story™️ of Maedhros's captivity say he was a thrall, or assert he was a prisoner not a thrall? Was Maedhros's private assessment any different?

So…

Did the elves of Beleriand try to draw a line between "thralls" and "prisoners but not thralls"?

If so, which side of that line would Maedhros privately consider himself to have been on when he was captive?

Also, which side of the line would the official story say he was on?

#a tolkien tag #my polls #unsolicited fandom opinions

[furoruisa]

The worst thing about me? My autistic brain, every time someone starts a sentence with

"Can someone please tell me...?"

I'm like, ME! ME! I CAN TELL YOU!!! And then I remember or realize they don't want my opinion it's just an expression people use to give their opinions

#my tumblr is for rambling #I'm sorry if i ever give you my unsolicited opinion #I'm working on it #i just get super excited #sorry sorry sorry #this is about every fandom I've been in #my autistic ass

[ohitslen]

Will always remain confused as to why people will fight over ships as if we weren’t all wrong about them, except for the incredibly rare occasions where the ship becomes canon, and even then you should just mind your damn business because in all seriousness. Why wouldn’t you.

#in awe at the thought that ppl will do death threats or dox others over stuff like this like— excuse me. #I have to admit. I get fixated with one ship and I get tunnel vision abt them #so any other kind I rarely ever consume. but when I see other ships I’m like yeah I can see it that’s cute just not my cup of tea #and then I just keep going in my life. because it Really Is Not That Deep #why would you get out of your way to give your very unsolicited opinion about something fictional that is #also. based from something fictional I’m just like #does someone know of a study or something that makes an analysis over that phenomenon bc it’s so interesting #like I’m sorry but none of us here is right about this stuff okay we are ALL making FAN FICTIONAL content here #the way some ppl consume their media seems so boring bc of how awfully serious they make it out to be in the worst possible way #boring as in. why would you bitter yourself over something that supposedly brings you joy #fandom is usually a place for escapism why make it another issue in an already complicated world with complicated issues cmon bro get real #lenssi rambles

[twilight-deviant]

Modern fandom is a place where you can nicely ask people not to put character hate in the character tag or on a post you made with the character, and they just block you.

#Haters will say “No it's literally impossible for me to not be rude in fandom. I'd rather remove people trying to ruin my fun.” #I think a lot of people forget that fandom is a community #And putting negativity into that community (tagging it to ENSURE others see it) is toxic #People who LIKE the character TRACK THEIR TAG #People who like the character make content with that character #They don't want to constantly avoid character hate #If you have something negative to say about a character THAT'S FINE #It's your blog! #I myself hate a fan favorite #But the last thing I would do is make a post tagging that character or reblog a post with them spewing my unsolicited opinion on it #People need to think “If this were irl‚ would I hate on this character right in front of someone wearing a t-shirt with their face?” #Just because you're on the anonymous internet doesn't mean you have to abandon courtesy #Think before you post please #Fandom

[tozettastone]

Honestly, it can be so comforting when a fandom friend reads the tags on something you just posted and goes, "I'm not going to read that because I don't like those things." You don't get to share your fic with your friend, but it means they know you won't be furious or passive aggressive at them for just being direct about it, and you can both do your hobby in a relaxed way.

And then when they do read a fic you made, you have a strong argument in your brain against any thoughts that they just feel obligated to you. You can tell your stupid brain: They do not feel obligated! They told you last time they didn't want to read it and they didn't. So now, they're reading because they want to. So there.

Like, when your fandom friends are up front and direct about wanting not to look at certain tropes, pairings, fandoms, ideas, etc., you can rest assured that they will simply tell you things in the service of taking care of themselves, without making you guess what they want, and without beginning to avoid you because they can't talk for themselves. Freedom! Safety! *tears shirt*

The only red flag is if you accept their 'I do not want to,' at face value but they treat your 'I do not want to,' like a comment on their entire personality. Then, they need to leave. :)

#unsolicited opinions #tozette.txt #fandom friends

[adhd-merlin]

I don't understand why my post on Gaius is being shared and liked so much, and at this point I'm too afraid to ask

#*me; entering a 15-year-old fandom to shout my unsolicited controversial (or popular??) opinions at people* #it seems like there's 2 kind of people reblogging it: 1. people who agree with me that gaius isn't the actual devil #2. people who hate gaius's guts #and I'm never sure which one is which #anyway I love him #I think he deserved to lie and gaslight more actually #as a treat. #just maybe not morgana #problematic fave #gaius

[tanuki1029]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

It’s actually very cool to give your fanfic ocs non-canonical abilities. It’s also really cool to try and stick as close to canon as you want. It’s your story and you should write it however you want and make the characters interesting to you because, if you aren’t interested in writing it, no one will be interested in reading it.

#fanfic #writing #ocs #unsolicited advice #unsolicited opinions #not really that important but I hope it got your attention #this is about my #pokemon #fanfic ocs #but it's probably applicable to any fandom #if someone says your character is too powerful let me know #I stole occam's razor and use it to commit heinous acts

[murdochia]

Thoughts on this ep of MM

- GEORGE IS INSPECTOR! Love that for him. I mean obviously everyone is going to return to normal if ( most likely) we get another season.

- louis watts solidarity we love to see it

- I almost cried when watts and Violet were talking about her drugging him but in the good way to keep him alive. She may be a bit of of psychopath ( I mean look at her husband and father storylines) but hey she still cares.

Absolutely insane storylines and how many bad guys are we gonna get with eyepatches?

Overall good episode and good season.

#mm spoilers #mm season 16 #i havent been very active in the mm fandom cus buddie brainrot fully enveloped me #but i do still love the show #lets see what next season brings because i doubt theyll kill it yet #dont know if anybody even follows for my mm content anymore but have my unsolicited opinions

[seoafin]

not to stir the pot or anything but seeing what constitutes "good criticism" of fandom versus "bad criticism" is pretty disheartening considering I think a lot of fandoms abide by the general views of "let's keep things amicable" and "everyone's just here to have fun" which I think is a very harmful way of viewing things. I fully support the right of people on here to bring up valid criticisms of fandom and others especially if it's an unfavorable opinion considering ppl would rather keep the peace than call out harmful things, but I also think it's very telling what kinds of discourses are acceptable (in that they will inevitable hurt some writers bc in the end what nobody wants to say is that these criticisms ARE in fact pointing to some writers) and what aren't

#obviously ppl raise valid concerns about fandom trends and declining interactions #which is bc of a whole new wave of ppl coming to tumblr without any idea of fandom etiquette #also the entitlement of ppl who read fics and consume consume consume without any regard for the writers #but this is also abt me regularly bringing up how racist fandom is and getting backlash #and how bc of how racist interpretations will overlap with fandom interpretation ppl are especially hostile to the idea of me bringing it up #someone left an annoying comment on one of my posts so this is my saying keep ur wrong unsolicited opinions to yourself #still on vacation my friends are just taking a nap before we go out clubbing for the evening LOL #discourse

[ceescedasticity]

Ship as in "I don't particularly care for these characters in a romantic relationship but I don't DISlike it enough to override how apparently shipfics are the only ones that are going to acknowledge how important they are to each other."

#unsolicited fandom opinions

[thisisadonaldduckblognow]

all the rise boys get done dirty on characterization by fandom in different ways i think. (not ALL the time every fanwork etc etc these are just like, trends i tend to notice?) every fandom suffers from losing character nuance.

- leo i’ve talked about plenty on this blog, how some of his canon traits (genuine belief in his skill and cockiness, capacity for joy, his manipulativeness whether for good or ill) seem to get watered down or wiped off the board and supplemented with generic sad boy. his struggles with purpose and identity and not wanting to fail somehow morph into “he hates and completely holds no value for himself”

- donnie’s canon personality gets blurred out and largely replaced with whatever list of Neurodivergent Traits. and i think there’s such a fine line to walk between exploring a character that’s been word of god confirmed as on the spectrum and overwriting what’s canonically there. it’s a hard needle to thread. it also feels like a lot of his canon emotiveness gets left off the table for some reason. bc he does have his moments of flat/deadpan delivery, but a lot of the time he’s honestly very emotive. he has the passion of a theatre kid and the vindictiveness of... also a theatre kid. and the mind of a scientist.

- raph loses so much of his rowdy teen boy energy it’s kind of wild? like interpretations sand off that he’s also impulsive and can be reckless and dumb and LOVES fighting and roughhousing and isn’t the most eloquent person. suddenly there’s this pitch perfect soft boy big bro who would never hurt a fly and always says the exact right supportive thing and singlehandedly raised his 3 brothers (which simultaneously sands off all the nuance of splinter’s issues emotionally connecting with his sons and how that affected all of them). and like i LOVE raph, he’s so full of love and care and anxiety, he clearly has learned to put a lot of work into being aware of his strength and size. but there’s a difference you know?

- mikey is like. where raph gets overparentified by fanon, mikey gets over “family therapist”-ed IMO. the impulsiveness, the goofiness, the powerful emotions including a VERY powerful temper, the flat-out dumb teen boy choices... they get ignored. suddenly there’s this only very sweet and earnest boy who has read a hundred psychology books and runs group family therapy weekly or something. he is crying in his room bc leo and raph are arguing about something. which is so. he IS very sweet and can be very earnest and is full of love! he HAS come in with his opinions and unsolicited advice a couple of times and life coached for the greater good. but there’s a difference between what he does in canon and the role he gets in fanon.

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #idk this is not a very eloquent rundown its very hard to explain exactly my vibe #ig the long story short is i feel like a lot of their most interesting and fun qualities get left in the dust #mikey as family therapist is getting under my skin the most rn i think its just so. #for as much as it seems like his brothers try to shelter him (esp raph with his overprotectiveness)..... i just dont see it #i dont see his brothers and definitely not his dad putting their issues on him like that... #him dragging donnie into that one dr feelings session and dragging draxum into a new moral alignment were different #than 'yeah everyone tells mikey their stuff and he has to do the labor of helping with it' #like it just doesnt vibe for me #i think he is very emotionally OPEN on all levels compared to his family #i think he is more likely to share when HE struggles #i dont think raph or leo is sitting with him at 3am like 'it all started when i was 4 and accidentally broke a plate' or what have you idk #it's all so ymmv i do just scroll past stuff i dont vibe with i dont drop hate on it i just #idk dudes its so hard to see the appeal in some of the choices made

[fairydustblossom]

losing control {part 1}

azriel x reader

summary: you and azriel have been best friends for decades. giving romance a chance takes some time to figure out.

category: angst, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers (kinda)

word count: 2.9k

warnings: none rly! some jealousy and sparring while training maybe

notes: hello! i’ve been lurking on tumblr for many years reading fanfics but this is my first time writing one! first time writing anything, really ◡̈  i’ve been part of the acotar fandom for only a year but it has absolutely consumed me and my obsession has not died down one bit. i constantly have a stream of fics i want to read and scenarios playing in my head so i figured i would give this a shot. go easy on me 😅 anyways, hope you enjoy!

{part 2} | {part 3} | {part 4} | {part 5}

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The sun was beating down on you, sweat was dripping down your body, your muscles were sore but you wanted to keep going. You had decided to join the Valkyries training today since you had missed your training with Cassian the day before. Waking up alone once again after a visit from Azriel had left you feeling unmotivated to train with the Illyrian general. The pleasant soreness throughout your body after a night with Azriel also added to the reasons why you had skipped training.   

No one knew about your relationship with the Shadowsinger yet. You had been best friends for decades and after years of flirting, loving gazes, and tip-toeing around romantic feelings you had finally crossed the line and become lovers.  It was a recent development and you were both taking the time to explore your blossoming relationship. For the past 7 months, you had been keeping your romance from your friends in order to avoid any external pressures, particularly your friends' unsolicited advice, opinions, and teasing that you would receive. To your knowledge, your friends were unaware of what was going on between you and Azriel… But you were starting to get tired of the secrecy. 

You wanted Azriel to claim you. You wanted him to proudly show you off. You wanted every single female in Illyrian to know you were his and he was yours.

But were you? Didn’t he want the same?

Doubts had slowly started seeping into your thoughts. 

What were you and azriel? You knew you were lovers, but describing what you had with Azriel as a friends with benefits situationship was not far from the truth. You knew it wasn’t just lust between you, there had been an emotional connection formed long ago and now a romantic connection, but what all did it mean if you couldn’t openly love one another like the rest of your friends did? 

Did he love you? You thought he did. You certainly loved him. For years you had kept your love for Azriel to yourself, and you were finally together in a way, but those three words hadn’t been uttered by either one of you. You were starting to wonder if he even wanted more, if he would ever want more. 

Your relationship was never really a topic of conversation. He never seemed to bring it up and you were too happy when you were with him to start a conversation that could potentially ruin what had slowly been unfolding. Your reluctance to talk to him about how you were feeling was also bothering you. Azriel was your best friend. He is your best friend. Telling him your thoughts, feelings, and frustrations had never been a problem. He had always been there for you, never judged you. But this… this was different. 

Questions of your relationship with Azriel, had been plaguing your mind the past two days and showing up to the Valkyries training had made it worse. You were annoyed. With yourself, with him, with everything, but especially right now, with Gwyn. 

You knew Azriel was pined after by many females. It’s something you learned to accept throughout the years. He was an attractive male. The most attractive male in all of Prythian, in your opinion. It was hard to miss the looks females sent his way, but it had been some time since you were around a female openly flirting with him in your presence. 

He was teaching some of the priestesses that had signed up to train as Valkyries defensive stances. At the moment he was correcting Gwyn’s stance, adjusting her arms from behind to correct their position. He was going down the line and doing it to everyone but Gwyn had been openly flirting with him all morning. 

You liked Gwyn. You considered her a friend. The friendship was nowhere near as close as hers and Nestas but you were always happy to see her at the library and you were excited when you found out she had signed up to train. Now, you were starting to regret the excitement you felt. You had suspected once or twice that Gwyn had feelings for Azriel, but you had never seen her acknowledge them so openly. First, you tried ignoring the shameless flirting, but the more comments she made, the more it bothered you 

You were sparring with Cassian on the opposite end of the training pit when you heard her say, 

“Azriel, I know you like to be alone… And I usually do too… but I don’t mind sharing the ring with you, if you ever need a training partner…”

And your step faltered. Cassian used this opportunity to advance on you and aimed at your torso with his fist. You swerved to the right at the last second, missing Azriels response in the flurry of movements.

“Maybe I can spend more time here and you can spend more time at the library.”

You heard Nesta chuckle at Gwyns blatant flirting and you sneaked a glance over. Azriels face was flushed and Gwyn had a smirk on hers.

Cassian swung once again and this time he actually made contact. Not enough to knock you over but enough to make you stumble a few steps back.

“Concentrate. Next time I won’t go so easy on you.”

You were getting angry. Your face felt hot, you could feel your heartbeat in your throat, and you felt sick at the thought of Gwyn and Azriel spending more time together.

Get a grip you thought to yourself trying to boost up your confidence. You had never let others affect you so much. And you weren’t going to let Cassian win after missing training yesterday. No way would you let him hold that over you, he had already given you enough shit for skipping. 

You took a deep breath to try and collect yourself when you heard the next comment, her tone a lot more sultry this time .

“I’m sure I can learn a lot from you Shadowsinger” 

At this, you reacted to Cassian's next advance by blocking his attack and countering with one of your own. A bit of your power leaking through the punch and making Cassian fall on his back and slide to the opposite end of the fighting circle. 

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the pair of you. Magic was not allowed in the training pit unless agreed on. Today was a no-magic-allowed day and you knew you had fucked up.

Nesta growled a bit and made to move over to Cassian.

“Shit I’m sorry Cass I- I don’t know what happened. I lost control.” you said, running over to him and extending your hand.

He accepted and rose with a chuckle. “Ouch Y/N. Didn’t realize we were trying to kill each other.”

You were glad he wasn’t seriously hurt and was laughing it off but you felt guilt clawing at your throat. Being distracted had resulted in you endangering one of your best friends. Cassian was strong and powerful but he clearly had his guard down, not expecting your surge of power.

You could feel Azriel’s gaze on you from the corner of your eye and your cheeks started to flush.  Gods, you hated that he saw that and you hoped no one pieced together why it happened.  

“I’m sorry” you mumbled again loud enough for only Cassian to hear.

“S’okay don’t worry about it. Now I know not to taunt you” grinning, he turned over to Nesta who was approaching him with a mix of concern and annoyance, at you you were sure, on her face.

“Please don’t kill my mate Y/N” she grumbled while fussing over his wings. You mumbled another apology, making a mental note to spend some time with Nesta later to gain back some friendship points, maybe buy her a new novel.

Resigning yourself to your embarrassment with a heavy sigh, you started getting ready to leave the training ring. You didn’t want to be there anymore, but you also felt like you had too much on your mind to head back to the house of wind.

“I’m gonna go on a run, I’ll see y’all tomorrow” you said to no one in particular as you turned away and walked off. 

Nesta and Cassian turned to look at your walking figure with a frown on their faces wondering what was going on with you.

As you walked away, you could feel Azriel’s gaze and his subtle attempt at making eye contact but you kept looking forward, not ready to face him yet.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After your run, you went back to the training area to change out of your attire and take a quick shower. You just weren’t ready to go back to the house yet and face Nesta, Cassian, and Azriel, or anyone else really.

You sighed as you removed your shirt to cool off your body, leaving you in a bra.

What would you say to Azriel when he asked about today? Maybe he wouldn’t… Although you knew that wasn’t likely. 

It’s not that you thought he would be rude, or press you on something that you didn’t want to talk about. You were just embarrassed and disappointed in yourself. You didn’t want to tell him you got jealous and lost your cool, Cassian being at the receiving end of it, and you didn't want to lie about what had bothered you. Azriel would know if you were lying, he was a master at interrogating after all. 

You sighed again and placed your hand on the wall, leaning your forehead against it and closing your eyes. The anger had left your body and you were left feeling tired and a little sorry for yourself. 

You were focusing on regulating your breathing and your heart rate when you felt the cool wisps of a shadow wrapping around your ankle, followed by two big hands on your hips. Azriel’s solid frame pressed up behind you, leaning down slightly to wrap his arms around you, a soft kiss placed in the crook of your neck. Your arms automatically followed his and immediately all the tension in your body dissipated. You leaned your head back on his chest, turning it slightly to give him more room. 

“Hey” he spoke softly, his deep voice vibrating through your back. 

You could just melt right into him at that moment. Just two nights ago you had heard this exact same tone of voice, reserved only for you, yet you felt like you had gone so long without hearing it. You kept your eyes closed, breathing in his scent and you felt your chest contract a bit at the reaffirmation that you were down bad for this male and you weren’t sure what to do. 

You hummed back a response, not trusting your voice enough to properly greet him back. He also hummed and kissed your neck again, this time placing the kiss right underneath your ear. His warm breath sent shivers down your spine and you let him hold you. Both of you basking in the silence, taking a second to appreciate each other's presence, embracing one another.

He ran the tip of his nose along the underside of your jaw and pulled you closer to him, shadows wrapping you both up to the waist. 

“I’ve missed you hanging around the past two days, where have you been?” He muttered. 

You opened your eyes, glancing down at your intertwined arms. You knew he would ask. You hadn’t necessarily been avoiding him, it wasn’t unusual for a few days to go by before you saw each other, since you both had busy schedules working for Rhys. But over the past few weeks you had been spending more and more time together, making time for one another almost every day.

Yesterday, however, you had woken up alone once again and a heaviness had settled over you. You could probably count the nights you had woken up next to Azriel with one hand. He always left at some point in the night after falling asleep wrapped up in each other's arms to avoid any risk of your friends walking in. They were known to barge in unannounced. 

You had spent the day before trying to distract yourself from overthinking everything about your relationship with Azriel and worked till late in the night in a private area in the library. And today, well, you guessed today you did avoid him a little. Not really acknowledging his presence much during training and jumping straight into your drills with Cassian.

You felt him tense up a little at your silence and you released a sigh. He leaned back a little, a hand coming up to gently turn your face to the side so he could look at you. You were met with a slight frown, his eyes narrowing slightly, a glint of worry in them. 

“You okay?” He tried again. The sight of him looking at you like that filled you with guilt and you turned around to face him fully, your hands locking behind his neck, playing with the hairs that were resting above his collar. 

“Yes, I’m okay” you nodded, forcing yourself to make eye contact with him. His eyes narrowed a little more and he took a slight step back. He was still holding you, but his hand came to rest at your sides instead of being wrapped around you and his shadows were slowly traveling up his torso, covering him bit by bit. A sign that he was cautious and unsure of where this conversation was headed. 

“Am I supposed to believe that? You didn’t even try to lie” was his response.

You bit your bottom lip and straightened yourself up, letting go of his neck and crossing your arms around your chest. His gaze drifted down slightly at your exposed cleavage and then quickly looked up again. 

Noticing his quick look down at you, you fought the flutters deep in your belly and answered his question. “I’m okay Az, I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately.” 

His brows furrowed and he stayed silent waiting for you to elaborate. When he accepted that you weren’t going to add to your response he pressed again. “About…?”

You turned your head to the side and breathed in deeply. You just weren’t sure how to go about this conversation yet. What you and Azriel had was special to you and you didn’t want to ruin it by scaring him off. But you were beginning to think late nights, sneaking around, and pretending you weren’t together wasn’t enough. You wanted more.

At your lack of response Azriel took a step further back, letting go of you, your body immediately feeling colder. His shadows continued to climb up his body, you couldn't see anything below his chest anymore.

“About us?” he tried once more to get an answer out of you and you simply just nodded. 

His jaw tensed and he nodded, a suffocating silence consuming the changing room.

You looked up at his face again and saw he had a distant look on his face. You knew you were probably making this worse by not saying anything, but it’s safe to say you and Azriel both preferred to bottle things up rather than lay out all your feelings in the open. Especially, while you were still working through them. It was part of the reason you became best friends. You both understood each other's need to take it slow when it came to expressing thoughts and feelings.

“Azriel” Rhys' voice came into Azriels mind.

“Not now” his spymaster grumbled back to him.

“Yes, now, we have a debrief in case you forgot, Cassian and I are waiting on you.”  

He hadn’t forgotten. He had chosen to stay around the training area hoping to catch a moment with you after your run. He could feel something was wrong today when you wouldn’t even look at him, but he hadn't expected this. What did you mean that you had a lot on your mind about you two? Two nights ago you had been wrapped up in his arms, purring sweet words into his ears, naked bodies pressed together all night. Had he missed something? He didn’t think anything was wrong between you and him. 

Azriel could feel himself starting to close himself off and his heart rate picking up. He wasn’t ready for you and him to fall apart yet. What you had was so beautiful, you were so beautiful, in every way. He wasn’t ready to lose you, not when he finally got you after years of convincing himself pursuing a romantic relationship with you, his best friend, wouldn’t work.

“It’s not bad. I just… I don’t know. Maybe we can talk later tonight? I’m so tired from training and my run…” You drifted off, unsure if he was fully listening. 

You knew you were making up an excuse but you needed some more time to gather your thoughts. Once you were cleaned off and had some time to think of how you wanted to approach the conversation, you could properly talk to him. 

He made eye contact with you again, the haze leaving them but his expression remained serious. 

Azriel cleared his throat, “Okay. Rhys just asked for a meeting. I have to go.” 

He held your gaze for a moment longer before looking away. 

And with that his shadows consumed him and he winnowed away. Leaving you alone, feeling like you had pushed him away more than you intended to.

#azriel x reader #azriel x you #azriel shadowsinger #azriel acotar #acotar #acomaf #acowar #fairydustblossom #azriel #azriel angst #azriel fic #acotar fanfiction #azriel fluff #losing control series

[celerydays]

Hi! I have been following you for some time and I notice you draw more and more Sebastian and Ominis doing stuff that makes me... uncomfortable.....

Sebastian and Ominis are best friends, why people are obsessed with drawing them into weird gay stuff? Seriously.... Why can't be friends.... without all Sebinis... Just stop it...

Normally I would delete messages or simply ignore the things that make me feel uncomfortable–

But, you're on anon and this is my ask inbox, so I can only assume you want an actual, public response. So alright. Fine.

Like I said: normally I would just remove odd, uncomfortable, or even outright rude messages without making a whole thing of it. I curate my own online experience and I try my best to live by that rule.

However, I've now gotten multiple unsolicited DMs over the course of a couple of months expressing the exact same sentiment (and nearly word-for-word as this ask, so I highly suspect I already know who you are). I have duly ignored or glossed over them hoping that the person/people would take the hint to simply stop engaging with the same message over and over again. But an anon ask is my last straw, I guess.

So if you are the same person as in my DMs, I'm finally giving you a response (and if you're not the same person – which I highly doubt – then I'm speaking to both of you).

Firstly, I want to say that I am sorry that your worldview is so limited that this is your stance and feelings on gay/queer ship content for Sebastian and Ominis.

Next, I ask that you please:

Don't make your homophobia anyone else's issue but your own. Don't come into DMs/ask inboxes/comments to make your discomfort with the content I create my problem. I don't know what you hoped to accomplish by sending this message but it's unlikely that you'll find the same feelings or sympathy from the person who is actively creating queer/sebinis content.

Curate your own online experience. Once again, do not make your content consumption anyone else's problem but your own. The "unfollow" button is there. Tumblr has a tag filtering system and I try to tag my art and content as accurately as possible. If you do not like something/it makes you uncomfortable, then do not continue to consume it. And if you still decide to stick around for whatever reason, then please keep your thoughts/opinions on this matter to yourself because I can promise that I don't actually care why you would continue to be here and looking at my art if it makes you unhappy.

Widen your worldview and try to reframe your perspective. Consider that Sebastian x Ominis is just as canon as Sebastian x f!MC or Ominis x f!MC. As much as we like to ship our various MCs with the canon characters, MC never actually amounts to canonically being confirmed as anything but being just friends with everyone. Using the "they are just best friends" / "why can't they just be portrayed only as friends" could literally be applied to just about any other non-canon/non-confirmed ship between friends regardless of gender. If even one of them, Ominis or Sebastian, was portrayed as cis female in canon, I would suspect that you would better "understand" why a ship between these two "friends" may exist. Then also consider a cis male MC; it's possible you may suddenly reframe all the interactions between Ominis x m!MC or Sebastian x m!MC in your head to be "totally platonic/friendly". Your issue is certainly not with their canon relationship vs. fandom portrayal (but I think we both know that).

Educate yourself. Go outside and meet and talk to people, I dunno. It is 2024 my dude. I don't even know how you're on Tumblr – the most queer-friendly social media site – with those kind of narrowed views and stigma.

I would like to finish by saying: I don't wish you the best. What I do wish is for you to learn, grow, and be better than this.

And also please stop sending me messages of this nature, because the next ask or DM I get like this, we're moving on to blocking at this point. And if your purpose was to get me to stop, I can tell you that these messages have only fueled the explicit sebinis smut maker in me. 😤

#I'm sorry for anyone who sees this and did not want a rant on their feed today #ask #anon #sebinis #hl

[comicaurora]

Lighting critique of a recent panel ! Dark ambient lighting is a favorite art subject of mine, so i figured this would be a good time to give some input ! ii say as if we havent been in the undergroound chapter for like a month in which it didnt occur to me to pay attention to lighting Oh well loool here it is nowwwwwwww hope you dont mind the input

Huh.

Okay, so first off, thanks - this is cool and your lighting looks very nice. I look forward to seeing what you make!

Second - I really hope sending this kind of ask isn't a habit of yours, because unsolicited artistic criticism comes across as remarkably rude.

Art criticism for the purposes of improvement is a social contract entered between two artists, typically in a scholastic environment. An artist presents their work to other artists whose opinions they trust and value, and those artists weigh in with their thoughts. Critical to the process is that the presenting artist is showing their art for the purpose of improvement, and they're prepared to receive that input because they're actively asking for it.

In contrast, I make this comic so people can read it, and while I certainly don't mind if they take it apart to analyze it or find ways the writing and art could be improved, I, the creator, am not asking for that and - more importantly - will not really benefit from it.

For instance, in this case, my style of background lighting and shading is optimized most specifically to accommodate for the fact that I need to make a lot of these pages quickly, and correspondingly cannot give everything 110%. Any individual panel could absolutely be more polished, but I often shade these backgrounds in batches of ten pages or more, each page with an average of six panels that need individual shading. So that's sixty individual backgrounds I need to shade in one go. It doesn't make your advice wrong, or even unhelpful for an artist setting out to learn this kind of technique - but it does make it unhelpful for me. This is something you realistically had no way of knowing, and I don't hold it against you! But this is why I have a short list of artists and writers whose input I actually ask for sometimes, and that list is composed of people who know me, my creative priorities, and how my process works. Because they know what I'm working with, their advice stands a much better chance of being actually helpful to me.

Criticism, like all art, has an audience it is designed for. In art school environments or artistic coworker situations, the audience for the criticism is the artist being critiqued and the other artists who are learning from the communal experience they are all agreeing to share. This is the exception and not the rule, however. Outside of this space, the audience for criticism of a work of art is typically the subset of the audience for that work of art that are trying to learn something from the experience or understand what did and didn't work for them. This group can discuss what they did and didn't like, what they would have changed, what parts worked for them that may not have worked for other members of the audience, etc. This space of critical analysis forms the backbone of most fandoms and can be incredibly interesting and rewarding to play around in.

The audience for that kind of criticism is not the creator of the art. In the same way a creator can never be fully immersed in their own fandom audience, this form of communal critique from the audience side of things does not work when directed at the creator. In the context of this work of art, we exist in very different spaces and operate under different parameters. If there's one thing I learned from back when I used to check in on the fan discord community, it's that most conversation in this space operates under the assumption that the creator will not see it or take it personally. I cannot be in the audience of my own audience.

All that to say, thanks for the thought, but please be careful doing this in the future - tumblr is the land of kneejerk hostility and poor reading comprehension, and I don't want to see you getting shredded for a kind intention. And I hope some people find this impromptu tutorial helpful!

#asks #aurora #art stuff

[artemisiamezzanotte]

Why both Jily and Jegulus make sense in the Marauders Fandom

Okay, so I have been seeing a few posts recently dismissing Jegulus as a ship and, although I am personally more of a Jily than a Jegulus girly, I thought I'd explain why both ships make sense to me in the context of the original source material.

We know that there is a direct link between the Marauders and the Golden Trio in the books, and that each member of one mirrors a member of the other.

James and Harry being the most obvious, as father and son and the perceived 'leader' of their group of friends.

Sirius and Ron, the 'best friend'. Both from pureblood families, although the Blacks and the Weasleys couldn't be more different in their beliefs. Both feel misunderstood and perhaps misplaced in their family. Both give James and Harry unadulterated, solid friendship that is fiercely loyal and unquestioning.

Remus and Hermione, the outcasts. Remus due to his lycanthropy, Hermione due to her muggleborn status. Both try to counterbalance this by excelling in their studies and are, by nature (again, this is in the original books) more rule-followers rather than rebels.

Peter and Neville, the astonished Gryffindors. Both from pureblood families, both equally surprised by being sorted in the house where bravery is valued most. They each deal with impostor syndrome, but whilst Neville's friends build him up and he eventually comes into his own thanks to Dumbledore's Army, Peter fails (or is failed by his friends) in doing so and betrays them for the dark side.

We know that Harry ends up marrying Ginny, who is, like Lily, a magically talented and strong-willed red-haired witch but is also his best friend's younger sibling. So, James falling for Regulus doesn't feel like too far a stretch to me.

Jegulus also gives the opportunities to explore a lot of interesting considerations for writers, such as (i) what is the difference between loving someone as a best friend and loving someone romantically; (ii) you can't choose the family you are born into but you can make your own family as you grow older; (iii) what are the differences in relationship dynamics between partners, lifelong friends and siblings?

I'm sure someone has more cleverly and thoroughly analysed these parallels before but I just wanted to share my unsolicited opinion with the tubmlrverse.

Overall, I would say if you enjoy reading something, read it. If you find yourself not enjoying something, DON'T. Freedom is fickle in this flawed world, so exercise it ruthlessly where you can.

Ok, rant over, Misia out x

#marauders fandom #the marauders #harry potter marauders #harry potter #hp marauders #marauders headcanon #sirius and regulus #james & peter & remus & sirius #sirius orion black #remus lupin #dead gay wizards from the 70s #jegulus #jegulily #jily #jily fic #lily evans #james potter #dead gay wizards #starchaser #wolfstar fanfiction

[maeve-occasionally-reads]

hi here’s my unsolicited opinion about all the marauders sexuality/ gender

(these are my opinions and ik people in this fandom are very opinionated but please be nice)

okayyy here we go

james - matey is a textbook bisexual disaster, i feel like he’s cis

sirius - i think he’s unlabeled, never considered he could be anything but straight until they met remus and then they just liked remus so they never really worried about who else they might like, also she’s genderfluid bc i said so

remuss- bisexual and trans ftm

peter - homoromantic, asexual, cis but uses he/they

reguluss- trans ftm cause it means the world to me, and just gay i think

bartyyy - what a they/he user honestly, pansexual and them and evan have an open relationship

evann- gayyyyy, non-binary (they/them user)

pandoraa - she/they user fr, pansexual cause girlie has a lot of love to share, prolly poly as well

lilyy - i’m gonna go w bisexual but she has a preference for women, cisgender

dorcass - trans mtf cause i say so, lesbian (she’s got that mean fem energy)

marlene - again what a they/she user, non binary, her type is anyone who’s mean to them, no matter the gender

maryy- she/they, lesbian

#marauders era #maruaders #the marauders #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #peter pettigrew #dead gay wizards from the 70s #regulus black #barty crouch jr #evan rosier #rosekiller #pandora lovegood #pandora rosier #lily evans #dorcas meadowes #marlene mckinnon #dorlene #mary macdonald