#your faves making out doesn't make them less problematic

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

it still makes me laugh how "c//a is canon, cry about it" is the go-to insult for c//a shippers. like wow, i didn't think of that. if it's canon then i guess it's not complete trashfire.

#/s #there have been plenty of horrible “canon” ships in media #your faves making out doesn't make them less problematic #spop #spop discourse #spop critical #spop salt #spop criticism #she ra #anti spop #anti catra #anti catradora #anti c//a #antic//a #anticatra #anticatradora #anti stans

[project-sekai-facts]

Here's a fun little Project Sekai fact! Almost all of your faves have appropriated other cultures as costumes and some have even done blackface. If you're supporting this game and refusing to make a meaningful statement about it beyond "b-b-but i said it was bad! 🥺", you are fucking racist.

You're either anti-racist, or you're a pro-seka blog. Choose one. You can't be both.

Basically everything is problematic and actually I have criticised the cultural appropriation and racism present in the game multiple times, at no point have I refused to acknowledge it (and you’re not the first person to send an anon in). You can play the game and be anti-racist actually it’s called being critical of the media you consume and having social awareness, we’ve been over this. Everything is problematic you probably like problematic media too.

Yeah the game did revival my dream and that was fucking racist, the costumes are stereotypical and they didn’t research into any specifc native culture they just wanted to make something that would get them money. it’s not princess mononoke put the trained costumes next to each other, the trained costumes are heavily stylised to look "pretty and fashionable" and forego accuracy. I’m aware of that, I’ve said this before multiple times but you wouldn’t know that because you just randomly came here to send me this message.

Then there's also the kamikou sports fes set. Luka's qipao is very obviously altered for the sake of fanservice which is just so wrong, do not sexualise other cultures for money. Rui's I think is meant to be some sort of military hanfu? But quite stylised, which again for someone outside the original culture to stylise a traditional outfit just is a no-go because you will probably get things wrong. Mizuki's outfit seems to be based on Qi-lolita and there's a whole thing surrounding that about whether you should wear it if you aren't chinese.

and then there's the island panic cards which are both orientalist. yes, not just the boys, the girls too. the outfits aren't based on any specific culture and just mishmash different swana and south asian cultures and stereotypes together to make something that looks "exotic".

If you notice a recurring thing is that all of these are in some way wxs related, and wonder why that is, it’s because they’re the theatre unit. They wear costumes, these are just cultures being appropriated as stage outfits, because the devs don’t care they just want a quick bit of money.

all of these are horribly common in idol games and gacha games, not just project sekai, and it's important to recognise the problems rather than just blindly consuming it. If it makes money, devs will continue to include ca, recognise that.

and yeah puchiseka episode 6 happened at no point have i ever denied that. it should have never happened but it did and at the very least the fandom was able to rally together and get sega to take it down. even after they did that sega and clpl should still be held accountable for even letting it be released. while they didn't make the episode, that was entirely handled by an external company (who should also be held accountable for their actions - we're never getting a second season for a reason), sega still released it knowing full well the contents. it wasn't ganguro like people said it was extremely clearly based on a very racist and crude interpretation of african tribes, and for part of a joke no less. It was disgusting. And it’s not ganguro like how people defend it; ganguro is part of the gyaru subculture and the outfits in that episode were not that. there is no defence for what happened. at the very least, it was impressive that the fandom called out the episode and actually got staff to listen and learn. that doesn't happen in other games, and we managed to do it again with rmd. the fanbase is calling the game out and actually educating staff. It’s just critical consumption - fans of the media were able to recognise that the episode was racist and correctly called out management with enough of a voice to make staff correct their mistakes. They apologised, it’s not my apology to accept, and I still hold them accountable for the fact it even happened.

This probably all makes me sound like a white saviour, and I don’t want to speak over the people affected by this, but that’s what you wanted, isn’t it? You probably have me blocked already and never followed me in the first place, but if you really wanted to call out racism, then maybe you should’ve sent this to blogs that do turn a blind eye to the flaws in this game, not one that calls them out. Why just me? Was it because of the username, because you’re not the first person to make that quip. I know you won’t see this anon, but a word of advice. Most media is problematic one way or another, you can enjoy something but still be aware of and acknowledge its problems. Project sekai is not made with the intent of encouraging or funding harmful behaviour, yet it still includes some harmful content. Call it out, educate staff and tell them not to do it again, they listened once they can do it again.

#asks #if anyone wants to add then you’re welcome to

[saintsenara]

How are you able to enjoy toxic/unhealthy/“problematic” ships/characters without feeling weird (for lack of a better word) about it?

I ask this because I want to be able to do this myself as it seems like a much more enjoyable way of engaging with fiction to me. I can get over some ships just being toxic and the characters not being good together and still enjoy their dynamic but I have trouble with the other ships that feel morally wrong. I know it’s just fiction but I can’t seem to get over the ick feeling I have when I think about those ships/characters. I feel like I’m being too puritanical about these things but I don’t know how to stop feeling like something is gross when I feel it’s gross…

Do you have any tips to stop jumping to moralizing ships/characters?

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

i'm going to be upfront that this reflexive gross feeling isn't something i've ever really struggled with - both in fic and more broadly. this is due to various personal idiosyncrasies, above all the fact that i've got disengaged boomer parents who didn't police our media consumption [my favourite book when i was eleven? lolita...] and that i'm a doctor, which is a profession which requires you to develop a very high threshold for what you find disgusting. the human body - at all stages of its life-cycle and its cycle of decomposition - produces a lot of different fluids... and it's also the case that [just as if you can think of it, there's porn for it] if an inanimate object exists, somebody somewhere has got it stuck inside them...

and so the situation that i find myself in is that i consider it infinitely less weird that i enjoy the odd bit of hot tomarrymort action than that i actively enjoy cutting through bone with a saw...

but, obviously, "get a medical degree" isn't particularly helpful advice...

i am a ride-or-die fan of the concept of stepping outside of your comfort zone. this is why i'm such an avowed multishipper - i think it's good for us as fandom citizens to examine the potential of our faves in relationships [romantic or otherwise] which are either not their canon endgames or which aren't our preferred pairings, and in situations which don't align with their canon experiences [whether that means making them suffer or giving them full-on fluff]. it draws out the multiple aspects of a character to consider them from these different angles - and it prevents us from getting so stuck in one interpretation of a character or configuration of a ship which means that it puts our backs up to stumble across stories which approach things differently.

but stepping outside of your comfort zone doesn't mean that you have to go enormously far. it may be that a reader decides - having only ever read teen-rated fics where characters' sex lives don't extend beyond hand-holding and forehead kisses - to take the plunge into an explicit piece filled to the brim with watersports and age play. it may be that a reader decides - having only ever read teen-rated fics for one canon pairing - to read a teen-rated fic for a non-canon alternative. both of these are entirely valid approaches.

by which i mean, our comfort levels and our thresholds for discomfort are subjective, they're personal. if there are ships or themes or characters you don't want to read about because they don't feel good... you're not doing something wrong if you avoid them. exposing yourself to fics you expect to make you uncomfortable can be useful - and fiction is certainly a way to explore discomfort which gives you much more control over the experience than encountering it in real life - but it's not something you're obliged to do to be active in fandom.

the thing you are obliged to do to be active in fandom is to be nice to other people, no matter what their tastes in fiction. this means, at its fundamental level, that when you see people who ship pairings or like themes which make you think "ew"... you keep it to yourself/the group chat rather than putting it on the timeline.

but, once this is something you've got the hang of [which takes a bit of time! but practice makes perfect!], something i feel can be a really useful way of overcoming a tendency towards knee-jerk moralising reactions is to just vibe in the vicinity of people you know like the content you instinctively feel is gross.

this doesn't mean you have to read any of this content - but you'll learn just by hanging out near them that the people who do are just... normal. one minute they might reblog a rec for a pairing you think "absolutely not" about, the next they might reblog a cat picture which makes you squeal with delight. you'll like some of their content, but not all. you'll agree with some of it, but not all. you might like progressively more of it as you spend time in their orbit - maybe they'll explain why they like the pairing or character in question and you'll think "huh, i've never looked at it like that" - or you might not. this is absolutely fine.

all of us - at one time or other - have made a black-and-white moralising pronouncement: people who think x are gross; people who like y are fucked-up, you'd never catch me doing z. and these pronouncements are different from our wider, societally-influenced moral codes - which are good things, otherwise we'd live in the purge - in that they're fundamentally ways for us to feel good about ourselves and our families and our friends by defining ourselves as better than a faceless other. we say "you'd never catch me reading that, it's foul" when we know [or think we know] that the friend we're talking to would agree with the statement. we are far less likely to say it if we know that the friend - whom we see as a human being who is beautiful in their imperfection and inherently worthy of love simply by virtue of being alive - was reading and enjoying that just the other day.

and so the best way to train yourself out of reflexively moralising ships or characters or tropes is to put a face to the faceless other who likes them. be intentional in sharing a space with fans of the stuff you feel uncomfortable with and, eventually, it just becomes background noise. you'll scroll on tumblr, say "well there we are, jane's written some more of her sirius/harry piss kink fic - although i'm not interested in clicking on it" and go on with your day.

because the other thing i think it's really useful to do is to train yourself into reframing your disgust as disinterest. there are plenty of things which i don't seek out to read - and some of these topics are completely benign and some are darker [i don't enjoy reading explicit non-con, for example] - but this is because i try to frame it as that i don't think these things would interest me.

this is still the maintenance of a personal comfort zone, but thinking of the content outside this zone as something you are disinterested in turns it into something neutral. when you think of it as something to be disgusted or grossed out by, it naturally provokes a visceral response which makes you look through a moral lens. thinking in terms of disinterest, instead, gives you sufficient detachment from this visceral response to recognise, interrogate, contextualise, and control it.

and - in time - this neutral reframing may result in you feeling more interested in taking the plunge into the ships and characters and stories you currently don't vibe with, once you don't have an instinctive disgust response as a barrier.

or it may not. and this is absolutely fine.

#asks answered #on fandom

[ofgoldenfools]

of golden fools, a writeblr intro and the company they keep

hii, im mouse! im nineteen, african and queer as hell. i've been around writeblr many times, under many different names, but now i'm back, and would love to make some writer friends with stories to share!

i'm currently writing a gothic horror novel, titled run rabbit run, and the wip intro for that should be soon floating around on my page.

i love writing about grief, family that was once lost, and redemption arcs. nothing better than your problematic fave getting called out on their shit.

when im not writing, im usually still writing research papers for work (working with frogs atm!! picture above is mine) or for uni (animal behaviour/zoology students rise up!!)

my wips

run rabbit run; draft one gothic horror; wip intro

charlotte oberon has a penchant for lying, and getting herself into trouble. but for once, it's not her fault. her brother lies dead, and stretched thin from holding her family together, she is naturally relieved when oliver oberon comes back from the dead. but all is not as it seems. when strange things start happening, charlie must begin to face the truth, before she drowns in her own lies, alongside those she loves. set in an oppressive autumnal heat, in the hinterlands of queensland, australia, can a family crumbling from inside out ever heal from the grief haunting them?

when siren blood runs; draft two, on hiatus fantasy

tahjuddin youssef doesn't know how to face his family. 5 years ago he ran away, seeking fame and fortune on the red sea. well. he got one of them. luckily, his family welcomes him back with open arms, and as he relearns the motion of life off of the high seas, he begins to enjoy life again. less luckily however, is the fact that there is a bounty placed on his head. and the sirens are ready to have their pound of flesh. when tahjuddin is ordered to stand trial beneath the waves, and enemies are circling, waiting for the first sign of weakness, tahjuddin must learn who his real allies are, and in doing so, heal the wound in his family's heart.

please feel free to follow along if you like what im up to, and also to reblog, so that i check out your works too :)!

#writeblrgarden #wtwcommunity #writeblr introduction #writeblr intro #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing #my writing #amwriting

[aldieb]

I wish to learn things about the vagus nerve (my enemy, my ally)

AMAZING. and that's a mood lol... the vagus nerve really has a lot to answer for given its contribution to the hyphen in the gut-brain axis

i'm mostly interested in this topic as it relates to the neuroscience of trauma, so lately i've been reading people arguing about whether or not polyvagal theory is bunk (probably). the theory builds on the foundation of the autonomic nervous system (which regulates involuntary processes like breathing and digestion) as split into the sympathetic (which activates our bodies and gets them ready for fight-or-flight type stuff) and parasympathetic (which calms our bodies down) nervous systems, with the vagus nerve being part of the latter.

but the psychologist/neuroscientist stephen porges further proposed that the parasympathetic nervous system is itself split into two more parts: one "more evolved" part associated with mammalian impulses to regulate ourselves through social connection, and one "less evolved" part that follows reptile and amphibian impulses to freeze when stressed. (he proposed this theory in 1994, but this paper from 2011 was fairly readable for me as a non-scientist.) this got people who study trauma (like my problematic fave bessel van der kolk) excited because a big issue with ptsd is overactivation of the autonomic nervous system--what if we could hack the vagus nerve and make it settle down just by making and nurturing social connections? unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence for the evolutionary or physiological mechanisms behind the theory (check out this review from 2023 roasting the whole concept). porges still has like, many books published by norton (one coming out this august) and plenty of influence in the field, though.

also, this definitely doesn't close the book on the vagus nerve as a potential site for trauma treatment--now it seems like vagus nerve stimulation is the hot new thing (either using an actual device to do this or through ~self-care stuff like meditating and splashing cold water on your face).

i... don't know if any of this is something you wanted to know, but i had fun writing it instead of packing for my flight tomorrow so thanks

#ask #highladyluck #that which resembles the grave but isn’t #<- tag partly for collecting trauma scholarship but mostly for memes and angst posts #you guys need to be meaner to me bc i just realized that in the original post that inspired this ask i accidentally swapped a word so the #whole thing made no sense. but fixed it now

[takaraphoenix]

I came across a post that, paraphrased, went roughly "Every time you see someone speak up against censorship, it turns out to be about incest or something problematic".

And. Yes, that's kind of the point, because nobody is trying to censor the 100% wholesome, morally upstanding vanilla ships?? That's not where the conversation about censorship starts, and for a reason?

The way the point just COMPLETELY goes over these people's heads.

Censorship starts out with the "problematic" content. That's how they get their foot in the door with EXACTLY these people like that OP. Show them that no, no, we are just concerned, just want to take out this Clearly Morally Wrong stuff. That's fine, right?

No. Even if you yourself find the content horrible and would never want to touch it, it has a right to EXIST because the moment you open the door to censorship, you lose control of what gets censored and why.

And the really pathetic part about this is that most antis operate from a place of utter hypocracy, to begin with.

In every single fandom I've been in where there were antis, judging and harassing others for the "problematic" content they consumed, the antis themselves were hiding behind ships just as bad, if not WORSE.

It doesn't even take much efford to list things about antis' supposedly morally superior ships that makes them problematic. Heck. Most ships have something about them that constitutes unhealthy or toxic if it were a real relationship. Throw a ship at me, I'll tell you why it's problematic.

But these people's false assumption is that their personal interpretation of morals is the one that will be applied in this purge and only the content they dislike would then be censored while the thing they love would NEVER fall victim to censorship, so a bit of censorship would be fine, to clean up fandom.

That's not how it's going to be. Your own problematic fave gets censored too, because no blind eye and bending over backward to explain why this particular thing is somehow ~different~, despite being the exact same.

And once we're through with the biggest offenders? The search for problematic content will be widened, more things will be targeted and deemed problematic, based on a definition of the term even they may no longer agree on - but it's too late, because the door's wide open now.

It's less about protecting one specific fetish to get your rocks off to, it's about acknowledging that these are the conversation starters used to convince others to open the door and let censorship in and we need to stop it before it gets in, even if that means defending other people's right to create fictional things that we, personally and individually, may dislike or even find disgusting.

Because once you start limiting something like art, free speech and fiction in general, how those lines will be drawn becomes blurry and that power WILL be abused by the wrong people.

So let's not give them that power.

#Censorship #Purity Cult #Discourse

[bestocship]

Eva and River (@mothpile)

Hoo boy. river (she/her, 33) and eva (she/he bigender, 30) bonded over being haters at their workplace 10 years ago and have been inseparable cunts in crime since. they call themselves just friends despite both knowing that they feel something for the other that's far mushier and genuine than the light-hearted insults they'll use in the place of giving these thoughts any acknowledgement. Pretending like they're not each other's most important person in the world, given they both aren't quite popular with others, it's easier to just be keep things as they are now and not risk being (gags) awkward. Emotions, right? Loser behaviour.

Of course nothing ever challenges this nope there is no workplace (different than the one they met at) event that causes everything to go to shit and now a bunch of different horror genres are happening at once and nearly everyone is dead or turned into some freaky monster, this life threatening circumstances certainly does not make them have to confront on a deeper level how they feel about one another. River's busy calling Eva "a fucking stupid idiot" for venturing out of the safe zone and into danger "for no fucking good reason, we're all doomed to die here anyways, why the fuck are you trying to speed things up". Because it's easier to say this instead of admitting she doesn't want to lose him, much less have him die somewhere where she'll have no way of knowing he's dead. Eva is equally blunt in terms of rudeness back to her about this. Fail situation. Probably important to mention somewhere that River does get death powers and (accidentally) rots her brain and other core functions so Eva has to deal with that (getting blood to River in a way that does not involve Eva dying in the process, as river is akin to a large frog when it comes to getting blood out of people in this state of being.)

tl;dr fail bisexuals who jackasses to everyone including each other who """care deeply""" (100% not in love guys we swear) about one another. 

their relationship is already bad enough, let them have some kind of win for this suffering.

Edwin Montrose and Giovanni Pantucci (@twinkrundgren @greengartside)

Rivals from childhood, after a long time of being cross continent penpals, the two starcrossed "rivals" reunite after Edwin, an esteemed poet from England, is forced to move to sunny California. Immediately they fall into a routine of annoying and pissed off each other, heightened by the burgeoning sexual tension when a fight ensues. Both repressed bisexuals, neither wanted to admit that these feelings were love until fighting turned into undressing.

Now, after turbulent fights, almost murder, and skin tingling sexual encounters, the two realized that their continued trysts would only lead to mutual self destruction. It was either they burn each other out, or try to make it last, a challenge for the morbid sadomasochistic Edwin and the depressed chronically self-sabotaging Pantucci. Despite both of them trying to make each other worse, their love for one another is the one thing that keeps them afloat.

The hedonist and the ascetic, constantly at odds with each other, yet they are the only two who truly understand one another. Whatever is going on between them would kill the average person, but it's only these two awful people who's flaws seem to complement each other perfectly who can create a relationship so toxic that it wraps back around into being true love.

your problematic fave ship.

[triviareads]

Tastes Like shakkar sounds so good! What are your top 5 books with brown or desi characters?

I enjoyed Tastes Like Shakkar a lot more than I was expecting, and have relentlessly been shilling it ever since. It's such a solid romance, the sex was good, a lot of the desi family stuff (the concept of being a "family manager") really hit, but it never took away from the main romance. Also, it's always nice to feel "seen" in the books you read even though it's pretty rare for me, but since this was specifically about Indian-Americans in the NY-NJ area, I really felt that.

Here are books with desi rep apart from Tastes Like Shakkar that are in my top 5:

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai: I debated putting my other fave by Alisha, Serving Pleasure, on here but Wrong to Need You portrayed a less-troubled desi family dynamic than Serving Pleasure so I'm picking this. Sadia is a widowed single mom grappling with her attraction to her brother-in-law, Jackson who's just returned after a self-imposed exile related to a mysterious fire. The restrained tension between these two is so hot (ok maybe not entirely restrained; she doesn't recognize him when he first returns and nearly has sex with him lol). Also, Sadia, like Jiya below, subverts the passive Asian woman trope on multiple levels, and based on the dynamic between her and Jackson.

I also liked how Sadia's large, close-knit Pakistani-American family was portrayed; they may not see eye-to-eye all the time, but they love one another and are willing to learn and compromise.

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert: Zafir Ansari is truly a prince among men; him and Dani go viral for his rescue of her, and they start fake dating so his football charity can get some positive attention and donations. I like how Zafir was the romantic one among the two of them (and is a Bollywood romance fan, predictably), and is also great in the sack so... a winner, basically.

Also, Talia wrote this lovely exploration of grief (Zafir lost his dad and brother) and this really sweet relationship between Zafir and his SIL, and his family as a whole which I appreciated.

Sink or Swim by Tessa Bailey: I know Tessa has gotten a lot of flak for her portrayal of Latinx characters (which, deserved imo), and she's otherwise by and large stuck to writing white characters, but I can't deny she did pretty damn good job of writing Jiya and her family, who are desi, in this book. Here are my full thoughts on this.

The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert: Friends to lovers AND probably one of the only unrequited love books I'll ever recommend only because I love Jasmine so much (even while she's STRUGGLING to figure out that yes, Rahul has had feelings for her ever since she deflowered him on the... I wanna say library floor), and Rahul Khan is adorable and a stern, stern man who can absolutely get it. Similar to Zafir above, Rahul's dad also dies during the book (there's a lot of flashbacks) and Talia portrayed Muslim funeral customs and just the general family dynamics thoughtfully and in such an emotional way.

Hard Way by Katie Porter: lol my problematic fave because there are a few things that are just so weird in terms of rep: For one, the author keeps putting Sunita, the heroine, in "indian inspired" clothes, for example, some kind vaguely described professional suit inspired by a saree? Like, this woman is an attorney who works for a United States congressman. She's probably wearing a regular-ass suit like the rest of the people in that office. Also, her nickname in law school was the "Ice Queen of Bangalore" which was meant to be microaggressive, but the nickname literally makes 0 sense to me since she was raised in AMERICA, and considering half the Indians I know can't make the connection between being Kannadiga and possibly being from Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka, what are the chances these white mfs can, right? And the weird thing is, she narratively sort of "reclaims" her nickname, but it was such a cringe one to begin with and I don't even know why the authors bothered to put it in in the first place.

BUT Sunita is the only Kannadiga heroine I've ever read (I am. kannadiga, to clarify), she's a martial artist, she's struggling to work out her marriage with her husband (I'm a sucker for that shit), she's good with being kidnapped and zip-tied straight from the grocery store by her husband because it's a mutual fantasy, and she attends yakshagana performances (also very personal to me and my family)! Do you know how rare it is to see any of these things as far as brown heroines go? Maybe I have a lower bar for South Asian rep because there are so few romances that have South Asians who don't hate themselves/the culture AND have good sex scenes, but hopefully that will change as time goes on.

#talia hibbert #alisha rai #nisha sharma #katie porter #tessa bailey #book recs #romance novels #ask

[yellowloid]

what do u think about louise

LMAO i knew this would happen

i don't really think that much about her tbh. i mostly think that as every other girlfriend she gets a lot of hate for literally just existing which is mostly rooted in misogyny. you have to be deeply delusional as a fan to believe you could ever have a chance with your fave lmao and just because she managed to do it thanks to the right connections it still doesn't mean you get to hate on her just because she's your celebrity crush's girlfriend. be so for real and touch some grass

of course she did some problematic stuff in the past (though still """less""" problematic than what taylor did, at least from what i know), but that still doesn't justify people going on her socials and bashing on her every chance they get. you are entitled to your own opinion about her and obviously you can dislike her - but still, without sending her hateful comments/messages.

personally i don't really love her, but i don't hate her either. as i said, she did some problematic stuff in the past - although cancel culture is a problem in and of itself; she deserves at least a chance to redeem herself, and i want to give her the benefit of the doubt and believe she understood what she did was wrong and learnt from her mistakes. still, that doesn't mean we should forget about her wrongs and defend her at all costs like cringe amtwitter does

but strictly speaking of her relationship with alex... the reason i don't like them that much is that from what we've seen of their relationship it doesn't exactly seem to be the healthiest thing. first of all because of the nasty way it started, and by that i mean him cheating on taylor - which i think is safe to say is probably what happened, and if it is, then that was very very yikes of both alex and louise. also the fact that she used to be a fan and idealised him as well as his relationship with alexa (huge power imbalance + her most likely trying to hide her true personality to fit his "aesthetic") and in general the fact that they really... don't seem to have that much chemistry with each other? they look cute together, sure, but they really don't seem to bring out the best in each other, if that makes sense. there are like three (3) pictures of alex where she's in close proximity and he doesn't look like he wants to be kicked in the balls and die on the spot. they just seem very... boring. and bored with each other, also.

but then again, we really don't know what they're like in private. we don't know them personally so we don't know how their relationship with each other works. maybe it's perfect and straight out of a fairy tale! maybe they're actually in love even if they usually look miserable when close to each other! who knows, right? my point is: alex is a grown man and if for whatever reason he chooses to stay with her, then so be it, regardless of what we as fans might think. if she makes him happy, then as a fan of him that's all i care about.

#do i think he looked so much happier when he was with taylor (and miles)? yes 100% ofc #i'd do anything to go back and see him being so happy with the loves of his life #do i also believe he's a full adult capable of making his choices for himself? obviously #and whether i/you/we think said choices are right or wrong doesn't matter lmao it's not gonna influence what he does or who he dates #so yeah don't come for me if you don't agree with something i said. this is just *my* opinion. peace and love #alex turner #louise verneuil #answered

[blairwaldcrf]

Caroline, Lexi, Rebekah

Caroline:

1: sexuality headcanon

somewhere on the queer spectrum, but less so than some of the other characters imo. also very demiromantic.

2: otp

stefan. i mean day one pilot episode it was him, and she got her june wedding just like she wanted which is Queen shit. (i do also have a soft spot for other ships with her though as i think she's one of the most shippable characters created. ie forwood, baroline, katholine, carenzo, klefaroline)

3: brotp

I think Bonnie, but like. as with every other character in the show she could have treated Bonnie so much better and the wedding invite was some bs. That being said, they were still both so much better to each other than the other half of the barolena friendship

4: notp

Other than the extremely obvious daroline? this used to be klaroline back when the show was airing, but since i don't hate them anymore, I'd say matt/caroline. he was just always pointing out her flaws in a "I'm so great for accepting you despite you" nice-guy way, while not bothering to hide that he was still in love with her best friend??, that was gross.

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

she doesn't let stefan sacrifice himself and after whatever finale fix alternative they run the school with klaus lol (idk if i like klaus as a school board figure or as a history teacher ala the hilarious bodyswapped!alaric scene but that's a different post)

6: favorite line from this character

not a line so much as an exclamation, but I adore her "Seriously?" every time. favorite quirk.

other badly paraphrased highlights off the top of my head while high: "lesbian friend necklace because we're freakly like that?" "if someone says I can't, I prove them wrong" "no one's more dangerous than who you're inviting into your bed" "come to me. whenever you need. i won't let you lose control" "I'm a good vampire. i don't go around killing people!"

7: one way in which I relate to this character

lol only one??? I'm the type A control freak, her favorite blood is B+ and that's indeed my blood type (caroline suck on me please), i was the insecure highschooler who got with an abuser, my mom died of cancer after i got close to her in adulthood...

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

this quote specifically makes me cringe every single time: "girl likes boy, boy likes girl. sex."

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

I'm probably the problematic one for thinking this considering her body count if nothing else, but cinnamon roll

Lexi

1: sexuality headcanon

bi/pan

2: otp

I don't really have one? I think she and Sheila would be adorable after reading the comic but Sheila knows better than to mess with vampires lol

3: brotp

Stefan!! ❤

4: notp

her & damon obvs

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

when stefan goes to the other side in the finale she berates him for at least a year non stop for sacrificing himself on his wedding day for damon.

6: favorite line from this character

"She was, and she will always be an epic love. Contrary to popular belief, there are actually multiple ones, especially for a vampire."

7: one way in which I relate to this character

i too ship steroline and think Stefan needs to stay off his bullshit

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

she liked damon for a second :/

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

cinnamon roll

Rebekah

1: sexuality headcanon

probably bi but I doubt she cares about labels after millenia

2: otp

her and Marcel. granted I didn't watch more than maybe a season of the originals, but still

3: brotp

Hayley

4: notp

Damon, per usual

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

at some point she finds the letters klaus sent elijah while pretending to be her while she was staked and she teases klaus relentlessly for his flowery descriptions of stefan (once the anger subsided)

6: favorite line from this character

I'm not sure I have an exact line but I did enjoy the breakfast club esque episode where she said plenty of on point, petty, hilarious things

7: one way in which I relate to this character

like she does for nohumanity!elena, i too support women's wrongs

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

weirdly, her thing for stefan? i'm not sure I could even pinpoint why tbh

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

sinnamon roll

#it took me till rebekah to realize this was a list of blondes #stefan would be ashamed of me XD #ty lau! #mutuals #ask games #tvd #anti damon salvatore

[evyisaks]

I hate whenever the tag has a resurgence of people trying to defend M*leven shippers. They will absolutely never do the same thing for Bylers. Obviously every single M*leven isn't a raging homophobe. But crying over how unfair it is to say negative things about them when a lot of their fanbase is very vocally homophobic just screams pick me behavior.

Also, I'm sorry. But if M*levens don't see a problem with the gay kid's feelings being used to fix a straight couple's problems, that is really sh*tty of them. Wanting people to get queerbaited and the plotline of the show to be homophobic just because "my ship is cute and I Iike them 🥺 " is not a stance that many Bylers will get behind.

Hii! :)

Yes exactly! And I honestly have no issues getting started on how annoying and problematic parts of the Byler fandom can be. There are people in the fandom that are so hateful, and not for not finding Mcflurry cute or for thinking that Mcflurry's aren't watching the show right, but they are downright hateful.

However, this isn't what's being discussed when talking about the issues in the fandom. And I'm sorry but there's a difference in saying that someone isn't watching a certain piece of media correctly, and then being called slurs. There's a difference in saying that you don't ship Mcflurry and think that they were never in love, and then people calling Bylers homophobic slurs and wishing Will's death so that he doesn't come between McFlurry.

And most of the posts about Will from Mcflurry's is almost never positive- even if it's outside of Byler. Will is a loser. He's annoying. He's a cry baby. He's a crybaby. He's a bad friend and brother. He's creepy for liking Mike. You are creepy if you ship Byler. You hate El if you ship them. You are ableist against El if you want her brother to steal her boyfriend. But gay people having unrequited love stories and ending alone is realistic. It makes sense for Will's character to end up alone. Will realising that he's not a kid anymore and ending up alone makes sense. You need to read these bible verses because shipping Byler is a sin. The social media didn't queerbait with Byler, Bylers are just throwing up that word for nothing. Will dying would make sense in S5. Will dead and Mcflurry as endgame in S5 is the perfect ending.

I get it that people have friends who ship Mcflurry and they are nice, I'm mutuals with people who share different ships and fave characters than I do, and that's okay.

Do I agree that Bylers need to be nice to each other? Yes. Because at the end of the day we only know what the writers tell us and what is confirmed. Ones theory about Henry isn't the correct one and it doesn't make your theory any less valid than the one posted by a popular blog. People speculating about Mike's sexuality need to stop and think why bisexual Mike offends them so much, and some goes to people having bi-Mike as canon. Why does Mike being gay offend you?

Calling out people from your own fandom is so important to do because hey, Bylers aren't perfect shippers. People go too far. People don't always separate real life from fiction. Some Bylers are hateful. That's facts.

I think what bothers me is that we aren't telling some Bylers to back off because they are being hateful and disgusting. No we are telling Bylers to take all the hate and slurs from Mcflurry's, because saying that they are interpreting the show incorrectly is bad. And how can you say that Mcflurry aren't cute??? So sit back and watch the homophobic replies to a post that was "Mcflurry aren't cute. They were never in love and they bring out the worst in each other" because how dare Bylers not like Mcflurry?

#byler #you wanna talk about problematic and hateful bylers? #lets do it #but not for not liking mcflurry and making anti post about them

[frankenfossil]

for the space related asks, ⭐️ & 🛰?

whee!! thank you!

⭐️ Star - Do you have a favourite character? If so, why are they your favourite?

Oh no a very hard question actually... Probably the answer is evidently Emily and Dee since I spend more time thinking and writing about them than any of my other characters. POSSIBLY if I had to choose out of the two of them I'd pick Dee because I am kind of a sucker for a sad sack loser with emotional problems and I deeply enjoy thinking up situations to make him happy and/or traumatised. I also enjoy overthinking his powers and what kinds of things I have to tweak about physics for him to exist with the functions I've given him. (Such as recently I've thought of new objections to the plausibility of time travel but I think I've also thought of a way to resolve them storywise which I personally think is very funny, but if I learn more about physics before it comes up it might change.)

I love Zoe a lot but she is much harder to write and to draw for some reason? I feel like she is clear in my head but never comes out right somehow. It's weird.

I have other characters from other stories that I love too... another favourite who is unrelated to this story is a guardian angel whose first guardee died prior to the story beginning; clearly the angel fucked up a bit with that but gets a second chance, but then is pretty lousy with the second person too!! Trying to push them to fill the shoes of the first person.

Recently I found out that the person who inspired my first 'canon nonbinary' character (I didn't know that was a thing at the time tho) has since come out as for real nonbinary, which obviously makes a lot of sense lol. It was mostly about this one very cool jacket they owned. But that character was a strong fave for a long time... the story was terrible and really problematic lolol but ah well. Probably all the good parts of that character have gone into Dee and Zoe anyway.

I LOVE THEM ALL ;_;

🛰 Satellite - Do you have a character who is very dependent on another character? Is it healthy or unhealthy?

WELL. Again... Emily and Dee are each other's most emotionally intimate relatinship... Dee again is more dependant on Emily than vice versa, and less healthy about it, although I would say it's overall good for them both (but I would say the healthy/unhealthy balance varies over time and may be affected by external factors...).

Zoe is still on the periphery a bit but.............. well there are/will be some dynamics of questionable health there. She doesn't have particularly healthy attachments and is still not exactly over her previous friendship dynamic of being the second best friend of two besties who were shitty to her, and is still kind of stuck in the mode of 'trying to be exactly what the other person wants so they will like me'. Which Emily is not really aware of because she doesn't ever do that. Although the kinds of things Zoe plays up to try to be friends with her probably aren't as bad as what she has done to get OTHER people to like her, and she's relatively confident that Emily isn't going to use any of the stuff she knows against her.

Again, in terms of OTHER characters I have a couple where they are both disabled in various ways but one has more problems with mobility and communication than the other, and also had to be rescued from a kind of slavery by the other, which naturally gives the rescuer some pause for thought about the power dynamic there and whether she's ~taking advantage~ by falling in love with her at the same time (I mean by the time she even gets aware enough of her feelings lolol, gotta sort of pine without realising first!!)... but I'm trying to write that one as pretty healthy tbh, they're just trying to support each other through a difficult world yknow. And anyway the one who used to be a slave deliberately tried to square that debt immediately so it wouldn't be hanging over them both and is now mostly consumed with a quest for revenge lol. But also love.

I am going to.... stop rambling for now lol!!

#ask games #tysm for sending me some!! #sorry for late reply i tried answering on mobile desktop but either tumblr or my phone doesnt work very well #or a team effort to make me unable to type #so had to wait for laptop time #fun fact i looked up codependent because i always thought i knew what it meant but suddenly was like 'what if i've been using it wrong' #and SURE ENOUGH the definitions that came up did uhh... not align with how i thought it was used!!!! #i don't know if people want to hear about my other stories; gappy plotted and unfinished beasts that they are #anything i write outside of a given story text is subject to change #also tbh my 'word of god' doesn't even really count... this is like. my reading of the dynamics and what i'm more or less aiming for but #i'm super interested in how other people read it #they all live in my head full time i don't always have the clearest perspective #like when people were like 'that was a huge dick move for dee to not tell emily that markus liked her' #rly interesting to find out what other people make of their goings on!

[glassprism]

I've seen many on YouTube denying that the phantom is a murderer saying that Buquet's death is an accident in the musical because presumably Buquet commited suicide in the novel and wasn't actually murdered by Erik.Though it is clear in the musical that Buquet was murdered.Was it really an accident/suicide in the novel and the phantom didn't really kill anyone there including that the chandelier falling was also an accident?Although I find it really baffling how easily Phantom's murders in the musical are handwaved as accidents while Raoul's slightly controlling nature and his motive to capture the one who's causing all the murders are unforgivable and therefore proven to show he's bound to became abusive towards Christine in LND.

I think that's just a very common thing in fandom psychology, heck, human psychology - we are way, way more likely to downplay someone's flaws if we like them, and way, way more likely to see the negative parts of someone we dislike. That applies to characters as people in real life, and yes, sometimes, those flaws include murder. Some might also argue that it's part of this trend of people wanting to whitewash their faves (Erik can't be a murderer, because I love Erik, and murdering is problematic, and I can't love someone problematic, therefore Erik didn't murder anyone so he's no longer problematic!), but eh, this has been a trend since way before the "your fave is problematic" era and will continue way after it's over.

As for whether he murdered people, the musical makes it pretty clear he killed both Buquet and Piangi; versions like Las Vegas, the RAH concert, and the restaged tours actually make it more obvious by showing the Phantom doing it right onstage instead of using shadow doubles. I'm rather surprised that people don't try to handwave Piangi's death more often, since we don't see the Phantom do that onstage in most versions, though maybe it's because it's harder to say things like "No, no, see, the Phantom only meant to strangle Piangi into unconsciousness, not kill him!" with a straight face.

Within the book, it's a bit more of a gray area, since technically, he doesn't kill Buquet, he killed himself after getting caught in Erik's torture chamber. In fact, I think a couple of deaths or near-deaths could count as Erik technically not doing it, because those people died (or almost died) due to his traps. That said, I certainly don't waive him of responsibility for those deaths, and I don't know how well that reasoning would hold up in court: "No, your honor, I didn't kill that man, he killed himself, in the torture chamber that I built, to keep people out of property that does not belong to me! You see, it all makes sense now, I'm an innocent man." That being said, there's plenty of other stuff you can lay at Erik's door.

And ultimately, and on a narrative level, Erik should do bad things, because that's part of his own redemption arc, his character arc. If he doesn't do bad things, why does he even need to be redeemed? He should explain to Christine, "Oh no, I didn't kill those men, it was an accident." So trying to handwave those incidents is a disservice to a character, one that IMO makes him less interesting as well - a sad boi in a mask, not a tragic anti-villain / antagonist, made monstrous by society for something he could not control and so forced to become that monster, both abused and abuser, but who still possesses some spark of good and must face the consequences of his own actions.

But ultimately, you can logic and reason it out all you want, it still won't change some people's minds because *points to first paragraph*. People will be people, fandom will be fandom, don't read the YouTube comments.

#GP gets asks #anonymous #suicide mention #abuse mention

[cool-island-songs]

11 and 25 for the dangerous game >:3

thanks mal! <33 (from this ask game)

11. number of fandom-related words you've filtered

just 3 on this account cuz it's my personal, none on my fanart archiving blog, and 7 on twitter though funnily enough half of those are stranger things-related from a period where i really couldn't escape stranger things. nothing against it—i just only want to see sp stuff and i guess there was a significant enough overlap for a bit

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

generally a lot of things that annoy me stem from the trend of complaining about "fetishization" (yaoi or just shipping culture i guess?) or acting like people are doing anything wrong or in need of pathologizing for interacting with fandom in a way that was totally routine a decade ago. that they need to show they're sufficiently queer and not focused on sexuality in any ~weird way. honestly, i find that sort of thing easy enough to block out on its own (there's more of it on twitter but i just look at art over there). young people often have shame about sexuality and it's none of my business or anything i would ever argue with someone about. i just disengage

it's more the reactions people have to being told they're doing something problematic. there's this endless chain of moral rationalizations for why it's ok to like the thing that piques one's interest because actually it's woke and you don't get it, i'm gay enough to like standard yaoi tropes. some real gay people are like this! you know.. like, why engage this in the first place? why lend any credence to this viewpoint by debating it on its own terms? you don't need to justify yourself to anyone. just keep yaoifying those fake guys

people end up making really weird generalizations about gender, sexuality, mental health, drug use, etc. in an effort to enjoy the old 00s yaoi tropes. to all those who do this, I'm here to tell you you can just enjoy whatever and no one can stop you. personally, even as a smut writer, i like when characters feel whole and often enjoy a fic less if i feel someone is being reduced to gendered stereotypes or flattened in some other way that doesn't interest or challenge me. but those are my own personal feelings and highly subjective besides

i also don't think sharing some broad identity marker with the character you are writing actually shields you from poor characterization. people can "fetishize" themselves easily (and sometimes that's what people want to read/write, and who cares), and it can be hard to write well-developed characters! i just like to read and view things i enjoy on the merits of the work alone

general "you can't ship that" and "he would never top/bottom" sentiments are similarly grating. people can and do ship literally anything and it can't be stamped out so idk why people waste their time streisand effecting ships/dynamics they don't like. with both of these, there's a sense of deluded entitlement, like if people weren't making stuff for their ship/dynamic, they'd be making it for yours. i promise you that that type of hectoring actually just drives people away from what you like. in general, people are often quite fixed in who their faves are and how they like them in romantic/sexual situations. but for those like me, who really can potentially like anything if sold in a way i find compelling, this stuff really confounds and frustrates me. people are bad at getting what they want because of this need to emotionally react without thinking through the way it might impact others. sad stuff to see from adults in particular tbh

#asks #shortkingkenny #thanks for the ask and sorry it was long as hell 😭 #south park #discourse #shipping discourse

[sezja]

For the character ask: Guydelot!

Character Ask Game

1: sexuality headcanon Bisexual! Doesn't tend to flirt with men unless they initiate it, and sleeps around a lot less than people think he does. He's had his share of casual one-night stands, but he doesn't usually flirt with intent.

2: otp I don't think anyone'll be surprised to learn it's Sanson.

3: brotp It's a close three-way tie between Eve (my partner's WoL, the one I refer to in my fics), Okhi Chelawae (my OC and Guydelot's childhood best friend), and Jehantel... but I think Jehantel takes it. We don't get to see them interact much, but I love how they talk about each other, and I love the sense you get of how much Guydelot looks up to the old man. He wants to make Jehantel proud...

4: notp Basically anyone but Sanson, honestly. I'm not interested in looking for any other ships with either of them.

5: first headcanon that pops into my head He first took up training to become a bard because he wanted an excuse to get out of doing drills - it was kind of a whim, not something he was taking seriously. But after only one lesson, he realized this was genuinely something he wanted to pursue, and he had a knack for it, which came as much as a surprise to Guydelot himself as it did to anyone else.

6: favorite line from this character "Your music is bad and you should feel bad!" is a strong contender.

7: one way in which I relate to this character We both love Sanson Smyth more than breathing No, maybe it's in that we're both wordsmiths of a sort, but fail at communicating how we feel.

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character He has never done anything wrong, ever, in his life.

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave? Sinnamon roll <3

#guydelot my beloved

[talkingbl]

KBL v. Thai BL: My Two Cents

So, I see the Thai BL v. KBL discourse on twitter and thought I'd chime in on it.

Most common KBL stan arguments I've seen:

Thai BL is bad. Bad acting, bad direction, bad editing, etc.

Most, if not all, Thai BL actors and stories are problematic.

Thai BL is just porn with no plot.

Thai BL actors are 70% jumpscares.

Most common Thai BL stan arguments I've seen:

Most KBLs are boring.

KBL stans are xenophobic and/or fetishize the Korean look.

Even if some KBLs are good, they're not all that much better than Thai BLs.

KBLs are just het kdramas w/2 men instead of a het couple (i.e., little actual LGBT representation).

Arguments I see from instigators who're pretending to take the high road:

Taiwanese BL better than them all.

"Only good LGBT content out of Thailand are the ones starring [insert their favorite femme actor here]."

My Take.

Both sides have some decent points and some completely idiotic takes. I agree with KBL stans that a lot of popular Thai BLs feature terrible acting and plot. Not all, but maybe 7 out of every 10 Thai BLs I've watched (mostly popular ones) either lack significantly in the acting or the editing department (with some lacking in both). Few are outstanding pieces of cinema (though I don't think those ones that aren't are meant to be).

Not only are so many Thai BLs just poorly made (and no, I'm not talking about looking expensive, I'm talking about hiring looks/nepotism/name recognition over talent), so many of them are just ill-conceived to begin with. Most popular Thai BLs are adapted from light novels which are just straight up erotica. And when you take the sex out, there's nothing of substance left. Nothing wrong with that (IMO). But I do see the argument from KBL stans as I, like many others, watch media to immerse myself in an entertaining and sometimes profound story (not necessarily just to get my rocks off). Obviously, a story can do both but it needs to be done well and be well-balanced.

Next, relative to actors in other industries a lot of Thai BL actors have been exposed for being homophobic/rape apologists/colorist/etc. Thai BLs also feature harmful tropes such as making darker skinned characters the bad guys all the time (while pale-skinned characters are innocent angels who can do no wrong), or actively shun darker/less eurocentric features. THAT BEING SAID, there's a couple of caveats I want to point out with this line of thought:

Thailand is by far the biggest producer of live action BL content and is simultaneously the most visible. Of course, there's going to be more instances of abhorrent behavior that make it to the twitter trends than that of any other industry.

Korean men are also not angels? Lol. Like did we learn anything from all the one hundred eleven million times kpop idols have been exposed for racism, anti-semitism, homophobia, and all the other -isms and phobias out there? Just because your fave KBL actor isn't hitting the media circuit like the Thai BL actors are (thus, giving more opportunities for them to expose themselves/be exposed), doesn't mean it's not happening or that they don't think that way.

Point is, both can be horrible with regard to the problematic aspect lol.

As for the Thai BL stan arguments, I agree that most KBLs I've seen are not that interesting beginning-to-end. Many of the ones I've watched are either just as bad as the worst Thai BLs plot-wise or horribly mid with no camp/kitsch factor to save it. Very rarely do I come across a KBL that gets me hooked either due to outstanding production or outstanding story (or both, ideally). A lot of this, I think, is because I hate the kdrama-style of production/directing that can suck the soul out of a heartwarming story.

Now, don't get me wrong, I hate the Thai rom-com style of production/directing with the heat of a thousand suns but the rare saving grace is usually its camp "so bad it's good" value. Either way, both take many Ls in the production department, regularly.

That said, I agree with a lot of Thai BL stans that a lot of KBL stans are reformed kpop warriors who simply prefer the Korean look (which is where we get so many KBL stans calling non-kpopified Thai actors "jumpscares"). I want to be clear here that I don't think all or even most KBL stans are xenophobic, but I said this a long time ago that many KBL stans who talk about the superiority of KBLs and the "inferiority" of Thai BLs move weird to me. You can like something and not use xenophobic dog whistles basically calling Thai BLs (and, come to think of it, even Filo BLs) poverty content and Thai actors ugly for looking too non-Korean.

Please understand, I'm not saying folks can't like what they like. It's about how you express that that changes things (e.g., saying X actor is not attractive is very different than roasting a certain skin tone or virtually unchangeable physical feature across swaths of people). Also, I hate when Thai BL stans use this argument as a way to get out of addressing poor quality we get from Thai BLs that prefer a marketable face/name over good acting/story. Exposing latent Korean superiority complexes is not the way to win the argument about Thai rom-com quality being piss poor.

Finally, the so-called bench riders who are really just anti-Thai BL (rather than pro-KBL): Taiwanese BLs are not magically superior to all just because you want to pretend to be better than the other KBL stans while also simultaneously hating on Thai BLs. Don't get me wrong, I love some Taiwanese BLs but 1) those folx using Taiwanese BL as a crutch are usually not being genuine, and 2) Taiwanese BLs have the most suspect incest relationship-to-socially acceptable relationship ratio of all time lmaoooo. Taiwan is not stranger to terrible concepts and questionable acting. We cannot continuously pretend that all non Thai BLs are the Citizen Kanes of our time whilst this fact persists.

Worst of all are those who stan ITSAY/BkPP (claiming that it's not BL and they're ~serious actors) but roast every other Thai BL (and hell, all BLs in general). Like girl sthu, ITSAY is a BL and BkPP are full time singers now. /j but forreal, I have a lot to say about this group of stans that I'll save for another post. (a/n: I adore ITSAY and am seriously impressed with BkPP but some of their stans are just...yeah)

#kbl korean bl boys love #thai bl taiwanesse bl #itsay bkpp i told sunset about you ipytm i promised you the moon semantic error cherry blossoms after winter to my star tms 2 blueming #the director who buys me dinner the new employee the eclipse not me my school president never let me go msp nlmg big dragon kinnporsche kp #love in the air lita cutie pie unforgotten night star in my mind secret crush on you scoy war of y between us to sir with love triage