Me seeing some old yet familiar usernames showing up on my feed

In all honesty, idk what happened with the fandom recently for it to suddenly shit out a ton of crappy takes in ATLA most especially for Zutara. I often find myself defending Zutara because a lot of its antis say the most racist and sexist stuff against it. I'm not even a Zutara fan! I'm a rareshipper.

Can't just antis simply say they don't like Zutara and move on to enjoying their own ships instead? No more stupid holier art thou morality takes that just backfire on their faces.

If they want discourse, then use canon material NOT HEADCANONS, FANONS, OR FANFICS as "evidence" to back up their takes. Antis that do that makes my head spin in exasperation. Then you point that out they start whining how you hurt their feelibgs and get all offended as a "minority".

Actually, let's focus on that last bit. It's pretty rancid too how sometimes they pretend to be part of the "minority" so they can use it as a shield for themselves when their bad behavior gets called out. In fact, this tactic hurts the actual minorities who have valid concerns about Zutara. They get drowned out by all the insanity toxic shippers say and get lumped in with them.

Well, with the new live-action coming, there has obviously, been a revival, making the fandom way much more active. Which leads to people having more time to pay attention to the show and all its intricacies.

This is where ship wars come into play. And in all honesty, atla’s ship wars have definitely left a legacy in a way I don’t think we’ll have to ever witness. With the creators perpetuous jabs at zutara solidifying antis need to hate on it and the fans, fuelling the whole thing to another level. To this day whenever something avatar related gets announced or released you start to see a revival of a not so dead ship war. And while they (probably, not sure) aren’t as brutal as they used to be, they have took another turn, with this faux-progressivism being used to fear monger zutara shippers as well as casual listeners about the ship’s legitimacy. I recommend @i-d-e-g-a-f ‘s post about it to get more insight.

On my part, if I were to pin point the moment where this faux- progressivism started taking space in a lot of anti-zutara takes, I’d say that the atla renaissance isn’t innocent for this phenomenon happening. You need to understand the context in which atla’s release on Netflix took place in. One where the blm movement took the entire world by storm. Resulting in people not having the reservations they’ve probably had in the past when it came to talking about racial issues. This was followed by the emergence of numerous movements involving similar cases (not identical, tho). As well as media and the people consuming said media being ready to offer commentary on and call out harmful depictions of racial minorities as well as the rethorics they carried.

Suddenly, anyone and everyone could offer their piece of mind on harm being caused to racial minorities. And while good, it also came with its downside.

When you take into account this context, I think it exacerbated the already existing phenomenon of people saying things in order to put on this front of being good and virtuous, yet failing or simply not wanting to realize how these things are perpetuating the very harm they claim they want to undo. You know, people perceiving and claiming zutara to be a colonized-colonizer ship. As well as comparing katara to Pocahontas, when talking about these two. Which, if these people actually cared about progress, they would know how incredibly racist and sexist it is to make that comparison.

When it comes to antis obsession with hating on zutara, I think it stems from a certain insecurity. You gotta understand that unlike any other non-canon ship, zutara could’ve legitimately been canon. It was constantly talked about in the writers room, many of the team members seriously considering it (head writers, voice actors etc..) Hence why, the creators felt the need to throw numerous jabs (ie. the ember island play, (2008) comic-con) at the ship and more specifically, its fans. Since they themselves were insecure. @burst-of-iridescent perfectly explains it in this post.

oh no i'm not a melvin anon, but i have been experiencing some byler doubt since david harbour said that thing back in november last year. so i guess i got kinda paranoid when i saw that pic and looked a bit too deep into it.

Yeah I understand! I think we’ve all been there before where doubt seems louder than normal. David’s comments definitely didn’t spark joy, and they came at a time where the fandom as a whole was in a dark place/in shambles/going through it, so that added to the general sense of negativity.

That chaos has mostly dissipated, and Byler tumblr is a place where confidence is expected and vocalizing doubt is frowned upon (or at least it goes against tag norms), so if you find yourself in a place of doubt, it can be isolating for sure. But it’s important to keep in mind that the actors lie and tell half-truths all the time. They shouldn’t just be taken with a grain of salt. They should be taken with the whole Red Sea. Remember DH himself once said that Hopper was dead following the S3 fake-out, and look how that turned out.

What’s most important is to trust the show itself. The vast majority of Byler doubt cases have nothing to do with the narrative arc of the show or its characters, which overwhelmingly point in a pro-Byler direction. Sure, occasionally people get doubt because of the monologue or because of early-ST Mleven, but the vast majority of Byler doubt is caused by external factors such as what the actors say (or don’t say), the way the show is promoted on social media, feelings of negativity caused by the barrage of name-calling from toxic Twitter Mlevens and anti-Byler Redditors (delusional, fetishizer, sloppy seconds, etc), and just the general fear that Byler is too good to be true and that the show would never “go for it.”

But none of that is “real.” None of that should supersede all the careful analysis that has been done. None of that should challenge the media literacy we are simply applying. None of that should erase what your eyes see when watching the show, especially in S4, which is filled to the brim with Byler momentum and evidence. The show is the thing, and if something like the out-of-context brozone pic generates paranoia, it’s a sign of misplaced faith and energy.

Remember that we all watched Byler flirt multiple times in the real text of the show:

Hi, I need someone else’s opinion on Leo’s ending in BoO cause personally I hate it. Like Leo’s entire reasoning for why he would die out of the seven was that he was the least valuable member and like. He’s right? Cause he does die, so his assumption was correct! And also him believing that no one would be near him/ capable of (willing to) save him is why he gave the vial to feastus instead. I know it’s meant to be like Leo defies fate and everything but it’s got to be so shattering to have your extremely low self esteem essentially be given a thumbs up by the universe.

I hate it as well, for a multitude of reasons. Let's start with the obvious: Unbelievably low self esteem.

His entire life, he's been a victim in one way or another. He was called a diabolo by his relatives for simply being born different, and his entire life he'd been going from orphanage to orphanage, being abused and bullied the whole way through. There's a high chance he's also been homeless for extended periods of time, which can give you so many different mental issues, one of the most common being a feeling that you don't exist due to how people ignored you in your time of need.

And then, Piper and Jason happen. He finally has friends!... except he doesn't. They treat him awfully, half the time wishing he wasn't there or insulting him in their minds. And as stupid as the fandom portrays him to be, he IS smart and perceptive. He definitely notices but won't bring it up because he knows what might happen if he does: they might leave him again. He'll be alone again.

People who haven't experienced long-term involuntary isolation don't understand what that does to someone. He was terrified, I can be sure of that.

How do you think he felt when he realised the friendship he had was just a product of the mist? Fearful? Helpless? He definitely wasn't happy, and I'm almost certain his heart sank at the realisation he was alone once more. The one time he wasn't only being a lie.

And then Frank and Hazel happened.

People seem to forget that Frank was an antagonising asshole WAYYYY before Leo ever insulted him or made fun of him. Why? Because Hazel treated him nicely, and Leo didn't treat her like shit. It's ridiculous. "He was trying to steal hazel1!1!" No, he wasn't. BFFR. He spoke so many times about how he'd never do that out of respect for someone else's relationship.

The reality of the situation is that he was once again isolated. He can't be friends with Frank or Hazel due to Frank's jealousy issues. Voila, he's once more alone. The 7th wheel.

Not to mention the underlying thought that Hazel only likes him because he reminds her of Sammy.

And THEN there's Percy Jackson. The saviour of olympus. Boy wander and popular as all hell. And Percy doesn't like him. Remember that? It's explicitly said that Percy didn't like Leo. Bam. There goes his last chance to make any friends. If Percy doesn't like you, then Annabeth doesn't like you. Yeah, Annabeth and Leo have been mentioned to talk about engineering with each other, but it isn't even implied that they're in any way close or talk outside of projects for the argo 2.

Why SHOULDN'T he have low self-esteem? Nothing and no one have shown him he's anything more than a tool. A thing to fix stuff around the ship. And this isn't even with me mentioning the guilt he feels for firing on New Rome, or his guilt for throwing Annabeth and Perry into Tartarus, or the MILLION of other things that have made him believe he was expendable!

His one "friend," Festus, is torn into fucking pieces!

So really, no fucking wonder he clings to the idea of a girlfriend so fucking tightly. The prospect of someone who won't leave? Who'll like him? Who'll LOVE him?! Of COURSE he wants that! And that explains why he's so eager to get back to Calypso!

I'll say it, I believe that the only reason he went back was because he thought that he and her had 1 thing in common, and that was loneliness. I genuinely believe he saw how toxic the whole thing was and didn't care because she was just as alone as he was. It's codependency in its purest form. They fought at the start, they fought in the middle, and at the end, the last scene we ever see of them together is them STILL FIGHTING. Say whatever you want about the age gap, even if it wasn't there this STILL would have been a bad relationship for both of them!

But back to the original point. Leo sacrificing himself. Personally, I think that he did it not out of a feeling of inferiority, but because he was suicidal. Straight up. And as a last ditch effort to prove to himself that the others cared.

And he was proven wrong, as they didn't care.

He was right at the end of the day. No one cared for him.

The entire story feels like a giant "fuck you" to Leo. His happy ending being losing Jason and being unhappily married to Calypso.

And on a meta level we have how the fandom treats him, basically being ignored in fan content unless they need a Comic relief.

People talk all the time about how hard the others got it in life, and I agree, but they had 1 thing that helped them make it through: a support network. Leo had it the hardest out of all of them, for the single reason that he didn't have that.

Not only was his suicide basically applauded and rewarded, but his gift for saving everyone was to be miserable for the rest of time.

We never did find out what happened to the 7 after the Trials of Apollo, but in my mind, Leo Valdez only ever talks again to Nico D'angelo. Why? Because after years with Calypso, he stops pretending, and with a gun in his right arm, he's dead.

This miiiiight be oversharing personal sentiments a little bit but...

Ever since I changed my rules to include an explicit list of what I'm going to write on this blog instead of just a simple, brief statement saying "dark things will be present here" and started actively following people or mutuals of mutuals whose muses or writing I am genuinely interested in/have spiked my interests, I've grown a lot happier about the contents and people I'm seeing on my dash.

I felt like tum.blr rpers have grown incredibly judgemental and incapable of minding their own business. People all around me seem to have shifted their energy onto focusing on offending as few people as possible instead of trying to actually have fun, and the rpc has become a weird circle for activism when it shouldn't have been used as a medium for (false) activism in the first place. Not all of us are here to make a point or to establish a legacy. In fact, most of us are just here to have fun and scratch an itch in the brain or fill in gaps that canon source materials haven't been able to provide. But the idea of this is incomprehensible to some people who are actively ruining the rpc and making everyone fear that they're walking on eggshells while they spiral into a depressing state of existing to not offend anyone instead of existing to have fun.

I've lost count of the number of times people tell me that I'm on a DNI for "writing with pro.ship.pers" or "writing romantic ships with an adult and a minor" (<- said ship is between a 17 y.o. and a 19 y.o.) sometimes it's also ships about fake incest.

(Just as an aside, I've grown so desensitized by being on DNIs that it's no longer something to feel anything about. I'd just go through their rules with a very confused expression if to see what they took issue with. Most of the time I don't even know the mun personally.)

I've gotten more hate directed at me for writing fake in.cest rather than real ones, which is not only baffling but also incredibly ODD bc the fandom "decides" what is good and what is bad, which reeks heavily of manipulation and toxicity in my opinion. Fandoms aren't governed by a single party or a monolithic authority that decides its rules. Fandom rules are made by the community, and in every community, there should be different rules, made to ensure everyone is comfortable and feel inclusive. That is what makes fandoms special and detached from reality. Yes, you're entitled to not want to interact with certain content for reasons no one else is entitled to know unless they have your consent, but you're definitely not entitled to silence/stomp out everyone to cater to your whims or risk getting hate/harassment. Which is why I heavily encourage tagging content as-is instead of denying the nature of said content and praying that no one notices because that is the best way to make it difficult for people with different preferences and tastes to co-exist.

And ever since I changed my rules and actively followed people again, there has been a variety of content on my dash with varying tags. It's honestly very stimulating and uplifting, and if I firmly believe if a mutual were to take offense to anything I write or choose to interact with, it's on them as they clearly did not go through my rules when they followed/followed back. Additionally, I tag all my things.

A few months ago, my dash was exhausting, and boring, everyone (or most of my mutuals) was scared. Now I see posts getting tagged "necrophilia cw". I'm very happy for both my mutuals and their muses for striving for the peaks of how far fiction writing and the imaginative side of the mind can go.

I'd highly recommend anyone who has been in a similar situation to list down your dos and don'ts so your mutuals will know what to take to your tables and what to not. Personally, it felt like my dash had curated itself and it's been very pleasant to be on tum.blr lately even if I still have to vanish for a few more days due to inrl.

I think about my dash very often this week and I love all of you guys for being here and showing me your brainrots/muses! 💗💞💓

Not canon, not non-canon, not even semi-canon, but a Secret Fourth Thing

I've seen some stress on here about the canonicity of Purgatory. Both with Purg1 and 2, though moreso with 2. There's been a lot of good analysis of how player and admin choices have shaped and often confused what exactly is going on with Egg Island. These are great as art critique-- as ways to learn from storytelling in order to tell better stories in the future. I'm not going to do critique in this post. I want to do fandom-- I want to explore ways to take the most joy possible from a story.

For me, the most satisfying way to explain Purgatory is with the idea of Unreliable Narrators. Here's how it goes: The Island Residents really went to Egg Island, a hostile land under the control of the Watcher, full of both natural and artificial hazards. It's a land that we know to be sick (even when no disasters are active) from the unusual way the food rots. And I think that the second the Islanders got there, even before the toxic gas and acid rain were apparent, the poisons of the island started affecting their minds.

They got paranoid and aggressive. They started to have bouts of disorientation, suddenly feeling clumsy or mixing up what they were holding. Interspersed with more tangible dangers like earthquakes and snowstorms, the Islanders were all dealing with a mental onslaught. As it progressed, the deadly mix of poison and fear got stronger: they started having such extreme vertigo that they imagined themselves shrinking or being flung into the air. I think we the viewers weren't watching the literal events of the island-- I don't think the Watcher can change peoples' size and control gravity at will-- we were watching what the characters perceived was happening to them.

And then they got out. And the effects dissipated... mostly. The Islanders were conflicted about how to take the events-- some laughed it off, some couldn't remember clearly, and others couldn't forget. Then, eye-infected workers showed up looking for Luffy. I think the sight of them (or maybe even the contaminants they carried with them) caused several players to have a severe flashback, and start imagining themselves back on Egg Island, trapped in a new game.

Meanwhile, the Islanders actually still trapped on Egg Island are a month and a half in to drinking, eating and possibly inhaling all that shit, and have fully lost it. It's entirely possible that the Watcher found new victims for his games and set Baghera and Cellbit loose on them. It's also possible those lost Bolas members never left their cave at all, merely imagining the slaughter.

Any information mysteriously gleaned from the events of Purgatory 2 could be the Islanders' addled minds finally piecing together something they saw during Purgatory 1, or a vision that just turns out to be right. Stopped clocks are right twice a day and all of that.

Is this all a cop out? Sure! But the willing suspension of disbelief makes the story more fun for me. I hope others can also have fun with this particular method of suspending disbelief.

I've had a lot of people interacting with my post yesterday about wishing there was more fandom meta discussion and exploration of "missing moments" with... huge amounts of fear and insecurity.

And I get that it's hurtful to share stuff in a fandom space and potentially be met with silence. It's easy to feel drowned out or get overwhelmed in a big fandom. It's terrifying to be in an online space and potentially get harassed by assholes who think anyone who looks at canon differently from them are evil.

I have definitely left spaces before where one or both of those things were so prevalent that I didn't feel like it was worth it trying to be part of that community. Your feelings are valid, they're legitimate fears. But it really hurts my heart to see so many creative people be so afraid.

Based on what I've seen, I assume that many DO want a more interactive fandom experience, in spite of that anxiety.

I can't tell anyone what they should do. I can advise you that fear and insecurity usually come from the inside - from past hurts, and that understanding them and deciding you don't want to be afraid anymore, that you deserve a space and a voice, is an important step in being able to reach out and form healthy, genuine connections with people over the things that you love.

But you are the only one who can decide what's good for you. Maybe you need therapy, or a different fandom, or a different environment. Maybe you need to cut some toxic people out of your life. I'm a stranger on the internet and I'll never be able to answer that question for you.

In lieu of that, I'll share some tips that have generally helped me feel safe in fandom spaces even though I have sometimes have anxiety attacks just trying to talk to friends.

Block people. I am dead serious. This bit is extra long because of how serious I am. 1) You're deliberately putting your comfort first, and that's a good thing to practice and 2) You won't have to worry much about those people invading your space

You don't have to hate them, they don't have to be evil, you just have to decide this isn't someone who's opinions you want in your corner of fandom. If they keep posting way off base critique of your favorite character, or imply liking a ship/character is somehow evil, or are just generally negative and you feel worse after seeing their posts most of the time? Take care of yourself. Block them.

If you really don't like their takes, you can go into your settings and use the filter tool to hide posts that their username is mentioned in from your dash. You don't have to see them or deal with them. Ignorance is bliss.

This is not being mean, it's not being an asshole, it's not being insensitive.. It's telling yourself "My comfort matters." We're in a hobby space, here to enjoy ourselves. You can always unblock someone later if you want.

If someone sends you anon hate. Block anon. If you MUST reply to the ask to show your friends or get the last word in, screenshot it and post the screenshot to respond to. But click that menu beside the actual ask and block the shit out of that Anon. Afaik they'll be IP blocked, it will be much harder for them to send you additional hate. (Not impossible, but harder, and most will move on to easier targets.)

You are not "winning" by leaving them unblocked, you're not proving that you're brave or that they don't matter, you're just leaving yourself open to more abuse. Block anon hate.

Unfollow people if the content they put on your dash upsets you. You don't have to dislike them personally. You don't have to justify it. Being "mutuals" is often overemphasized on here. You can be friends, you can read their fics or send them asks and be supportive without having to see every single thing they share. Following is about curating your dash, not picking friends.

Don't post when you're angry. I know that person bashing your fav character is an idiot but do not vaguepost or call them out in a fit of rage. Take a step back, remember it's fandom and not the entire world. If the other person seems interested in discussion, you can have a good-faith talk about it, but don't go into it determined to change their mind. You're just exchanging information, and you're allowed to disagree. If they're only hating and clearly not interested in talking, then write something positive about your character instead, in your own post, and focus on maintaining a space with people who you actually like talking to.

Hopefully you're seeing that the above advice is about building a safe, manageable fandom corner for yourself, and feeling powerful enough to enforce it. That's important. You don't owe people online interaction.

Fandom acquaintances can certainly grow into strong friendships, but not everyone, or even MOST of the people in fandom, deserve to be your friend and all the social obligations that entails. It would be exhausting and stressful to do otherwise, and it's not practical.

Now for positive action!

Nurture a handful of good friendships. If you brought some to fandom with you, great. You're a book club now. Each other's main "support", who (hopefully) do genuinely enjoy talking together. Fandom at large might not always give you affirmation, but a few good friends who know you giving you that support will be much more meaningful and sincere.

Talk to people you like! Say nice things about their art, writing, or characters. Reblog from them. Show a genuine interest in talking to them and seeing their creations. I know it's scary, but if you're trying to make connections, you do have to reach out! Lots of us are scared and most of us don't hear that we matter to someone else often enough. Be the change you want to see. You may be surprised to find that opening a door allows others to come through it, too, and they'll often try to connect back.

Not everyone will reciprocate the interest, for a variety of reasons which won't usually be your fault. That's ok! If you like their stuff, keep supporting them because that's part of what keeps fandom alive, but look for friendship elsewhere. Even if it doesn't work out and you don't hit it off, you tried!

More people agree with your takes than you think. A lot of them might be scared, too, because going against fanon mainstream is intimidating. But you'll have a much harder time finding like-minded folks if you never share your takes/writing/art/etc for people to find. Putting your voice out there is an investment that might take some time to pay off, but if it makes one other person out there feel less alone and more validated, surely that's worth it?

You're allowed to change your mind. About characters, about people, about fandom, about yourself. You are not beholden forever to your first or second opinion about a topic.

Context:

I remember when was younger and weirder. When got into the Minecraft fandom, even though Herobrine wasn't my first crush as a whole, he was my first crush in later shipped with my oc, Gloria.

Gloria, in case you don't know her, is a very attractive woman, with attitude, sarcastic and brave. An oc what indeed lately I don't use her, because, now my attention to draw the existing masculine characters.

But well! the point is I'm fulfilling what was the dream of that young! who in her time wanted to make her canon x oc, but she was afraid of being hated by the fandom, because before it was very frowned upon :D

WARNING: Toxic love, non-canon fictional relationship. So do not take the reading seriously. Minecraft fanfic, Canon x Oc

And to make a long story short, the rp was longer than expected.

Basically it's about Gloria finding herself lost, not recognizing such a place, there isn't her world.

And the worst part of her experience, felt someone was stalking her, from those trees, she saw white eyes. Although she didn't feel fear at once, it was uncertain to see.

Confused, she continued to ignore that presence. But within seconds of turning around, LITERALLY those same eyes appeared IN HER FACE.

Now looking at his appearance... Being tall, highly muscular, dark-haired...

It was obvious was quite attractive for the protagonist. But it gave her a bad feeling, was from seeing his expression, so cold, not showing expressiveness per se, not even speaking when he was near, just... watching.

Gloria tried to pull away, having her personal space, which the other prevented from doing so, grabbing her arm with sudden abruptness. From the danger she felt now, tried to pull away and scream for help, but she didn't succeed, her strength was immersed. Being able to know... that man is more powerful than thought.

From so much resistance, the white-eyed man slammed her against a tree, wanting her to stop resisting and agree to what might happen. Although Gloria was clearly still in denial. So in her limit of irritation, she pushes with all her strength against his chest and screaming with all her might "MONSTER!!!".

That moment, there soulless entity, didn't move, just staring at her without expressing himself for a moment, until a tear came dazzling out.

Gloria was perplexed, confused and surprised, apparently that word hurt him a lot, even though had said worse things to him. Seeing him cornered in a tree, with his back turned, as if were a small child being scolded. It made her laugh a lot, so the situation became less tense.

Gloria claimed, making him assure him would not fall for it. Knowing that pathetic tactic of men to give pity. But that won't work, won't fall for it...

will she?

Herobrine headcanon: Although it looks creepy in appearance, and many legends and myths have established its reputation. As the most terrifying monster you should fear.

In reality, if you dare to meet him, he is a quiet and mocking ghost. He is used to being feared even though he has not done as many bad things as people say. Although he keeps his great distance and has no contact with other people, Gloria is the exception.

Even having a small obsession...

This feels like a weird thing to ask someone but I greatly respect your ability to speak your honest critical opinion (and in such well spoken terms) in an internet atmosphere where you can get crucified for saying anything less than full-throated praise--and that's exactly my issue. I run a small, fandom-oriented Youtube channel and despite knowing that I'm entitled to critical opinions, that I don't even want the attention of delusional reactionaries anyway, etc etc I'm finding it incredibly difficult to share what I really think of some shows + aspects of fandom and shipping. I've become weirdly terrified of saying one perfectly logical thing that does not align with the elaborate fantasy some people have built in their heads and getting canceled/losing the small base of followers I've managed to cobble together. The real nightmare is sharing something harmless like a shipping opinion and having purity culture come for me and call me a p*dophile for absolutely no reason. But at the same time I feel like a spineless coward for letting the toxic side of fandom win by scaring me into silence, especially when one of my goals for the channel from the beginning was to create a place where level headed critical opinion could be shared without fear of gross overreaction and slander. So I guess my questions are: is it as easy for you to speak honestly as it seems? Have you ever flinched before? Is it just about not caring what irrational people think or is there something else to it I'm missing? Sometimes it feels like my fears are valid and sometimes it feels like I just need to grow a backbone and get over it already.

Hey anon,

So I think there is one really big factor here: I am posting anonymously and facelessly and I don’t mind if I alienate people on the basis of an opinion I genuinely hold. If you’re actively trying to build a following and/or if you’ve made yourself identifiable, then I do in fact understand holding back more for reasons of trying to keep that following, or for reasons of personal safety.

But yeah: it’s mostly just that strangers who send anon hate don’t know jack shit about my life or me as a person; they just see an opinion that, as you said, challenges the elaborate fantasy in their head and attack the person who said it. I have, genuinely, been told things that I know for myself to be demonstrably false about my life (not even opinions about me I reject - demonstrably false things) by people who are ultimately just mad that I don’t like their characters or ships. I would obviously feel terrible if a person I knew in real life accused me of something terrible, and I’d still feel bad if it were someone I interacted with online with any sort of regularity, but someone hiding behind complete anonymity? They’re not calling me names because they genuinely think I’m bigoted. They’re calling me names because they are willing to use tools to try to drag me down because they cannot accept I don’t feel the same way they do about a character. They’re like when conservatives claim that denying service to queer people is religious freedom - they are using what appears to be a legitimate appeal to ostensible shared values, but really they’re exploiting the system and people's desire to take things in good faith because they can't stand not getting their way.

The other thing, and I recognize how much I sound like my parents here, is that your bullies are thinking about you more than you think about them. Anyone who sends hate desperately wants you to agree with them. Show them you are not thinking of them.

And finally, some of the hate I’ve gotten has genuinely been about the most anodyne things, which ironically helps because once you realize that no matter how bland an opinion is, some asshole will foam at the mouth about it.  Like, again, I definitely talk plenty of shit about ships or characters or choices I don’t like, but I got some wildly out of pocket shit from people who apparently could not tolerate the completely random example I used to illustrate a fairly uncontroversial and popular opinion re: ship tagging on ao3. And once something like that happens you realize that there’s no point in avoiding the spicier stuff.

I don’t know if this helps, and I recognize that I happen to have a particularly contrarian and not remotely conflict-averse personality. I respect the many people who are not willing to put up with hate and I don’t blame you if you’re one of them; at points in my life I have not been in a place to put up with it and was much less outspoken. But in the end, the thing about people who harass you is that they care so, so much about you agreeing with them, and if you tell them a flat firm no while also making it clear you don’t give a shit if they ever agree with you, they do tend to eventually give up upon realizing how one-sided their obsession is.

Riki, can I ask, what do you think about Zuko/Mai? For me, I don't really ship them, but I just got rude dm by someone that basically said I don't have any understanding because I don't ship the above (I ship zukka). And they sent me essay of why Zuko/Mai is the best ship in ATLA..... Like, even if I don't ship MaiKo, i never said anything negative about that ship or to those who ship them....

Sorry for my rant, Riki....I really love your Zukka fic, thanks for sharing them. Also, love reading your metas....🌻🌷

I don't personally ship them either. This person sent. An ESSAY????? WAIT THAT'S HILARIOUS what??? I'm so sorry that happened to you though, what the hell??? This person has no internet etiquette, like it is the most basic thing you can do to NOT interact with people who you have these kind of fanon disagreements with. Forcing others to ship what you enjoy is plain rude. Block and mute, like, come on. And if you weren't rude, this is even more unwarranted. This person who DM'ed you just wasted their own energy and time and yours too. Why would they voluntarily get into such a negative fandom experience?

No worries on ranting at me, I get how frustrating those kinds of interactions can be so you can rant at me all you want to vent frustration in the anon box.

Zuko/Mai never appealed to me, but I really like Zuko and Mai individually as characters. I think Zuko's too toxic for her, and Mai is too emotionally closed off for him. The Beach episode just, fully turned me off from them as a couple. They don't communicate and I think Mai getting with Zuko kinda defeats the point of her arc a little?

So Zuko in S3 being with Mai is seen as a return to status quo, this is what they're all supposed to be doing; Zuko's a prince, Mai's his girlfriend, they're going to be future fire lord and lady probably. But there's this sense of....wrongness to it. We get far more of Zuko's side on this- he doesn't belong in this setting anymore after all that he's done and witnessed.

I think MAI had that too. I know people don't like the comics but they broke up there, and Mai is running a flower shop with her mom and brother. Her father is a power-hungry noble trying to get back on top. Zuko often felt like a part and parcel of the "be the perfect nobleman's daughter, everything's planned for you, just follow". This slow, predictable drain on her personality till she went numb to cope with everything.

Her defiance of Azula is not just ABOUT Zuko. Like she's properly known Zuko for a couple of years as a child infrequently and then jump 3 years, they spend a month or so together. Then he just fucking up and leaves with a shitty ass letter. No explanation. She's spent FAR more time in Azula's presence (even though the gang got together as a trio only for hunting Aang).

It's about how she doesn't fear Azula as much anymore. The Fire Siblings, to Mai at least, represent the system that's controlling her(in my opinion). She's quickly followed by Ty Lee in this defiance. That is the only Zuko-Mai interaction I enjoyed tbh. It's the one time we see them working somewhat like a team and to me, it makes me curious about a Zuko-Mai friendship where they defy the expectations placed upon them. Also, gives more info on her relationship with Azula and Ty Lee.

Idk, I think Maiko as a couple had too little build-up and they spent most of their time doing like, surface-level lovey dovey stuff instead of more meaningful interactions so I don't get it.

NOT HATING ON MAIKO this is my personal opinion ;_;

Thanks for the ask anon!

hi, how are you doing? :)

getting right into it: you made a comment a while back on where you could possibly write an entire essay on how Larry and Larrries changed the 'landscape of fandom'.

this post: https://at.tumblr.com/larryalbum/709204686830452736/t5742yilryne

(hopefully the link works)

Gaylorlikeme continued onto your post, going further with a real-world application, and I'm thankful that it was really put into words as such. Homophobia is the root cause of a lot backlash when it comes to anything other than a W/M relationship.

Back to what you said, it got me thinking a bit more of what that means. I just wanted to ask if you might keep me in mind if you ever write more about it or actually write an essay one day. I love to read other's thoughts, especially on this topic. As well as having a conversation about it.

I'm really new to being aware of Larry and everything that the ID Fandom has to offer so your sentence just got me wondering about how Larries could have changed Fandom as a whole when it comes to speculation and shipping versus like characters. For example: Kirk/Spock and Dean/Cas or Sherlock/John.

Yeah, it's just really fascinating. Am I on the right track of what you meant by that?

thank u so much! hope you're doing well

hi, i’m alright, thank you 💕

i was kind of joking about actually writing an essay but a lot of people have actually expressed interest so you never know lol. for now i am open to talking more about it because i find it super fascinating.

you’re pretty spot on about what i meant. i think the major backlash that larries have received (spearheaded by 1d’s team, the members of 1d and everyone associated with them) for believing that harry and louis are gay and together has affected every corner of the internet. if you interact with any other fandom, you can almost guarantee that there will be people imploring you not to act like larries, meaning not to speculate on any real person’s sexuality under any circumstances and not to “ship real people.” and of course by that they mean to never speculate that anyone is queer or in a queer relationship, because people have no problem shipping men and women together based on pap pics or brief interactions or them being literal toxic exes lmao. i mean, just look at what happened with andrew garfield and amelia dimoldenberg after that one red carpet interaction: they went viral and fans, news outlets, and other celebrities were openly talking about shipping them.

and i think this deep fear of being perceived as larrie-adjacent has created a weird and honestly harmful status quo where people refuse to acknowledge people who are very clearly queercoding but are not out/haven’t literally said the words “i am queer.” so if you’re not out, you get accused of queerbaiting, of stealing queer roles from “actual” queer people, etc. people think they’re being respectful but they end up harming other queer people and creating this pressure for everyone to come out if they want to live their lives the way they want to. that’s what happened to kit connor (and yet people still misunderstand that situation and turn around and use it as evidence to not speculate on people’s sexualities, when the whole problem was people thinking he was STRAIGHT and playing a bi character, not people thinking he was queer).

and on the topic of heartstopper, people in that fandom are literally telling each other not to say that joe locke and sebastian croft are dating when they very clearly are and it’s just hilarious to me. you can’t tell me that if they were a man and a woman, people wouldn’t immediately assume they’re dating. we can use louis’ most recent stunt (or really any stunt, especially most of harry’s) as an example here: he was papped holding hands with this girl once and there are already update accounts about their “relationship” even though there’s been no official confirmation of them dating.

and i absolutely think this attitude is because of larry. one direction became a thing right as twitter was really taking off, and the band used twitter as their main source of interacting with fans and cultivating their image online. never before had there been something like larry, where people were believing that two male members of the same hugely popular, mainstream band were legitimately dating each other and compiling evidence to support this fact. and the subsequent reaction from their team was so uniquely aggressive that it made larry even more widely known. and so, cut to today, even though 1d hasn’t been a band for almost 8 years (jesus), anyone who’s been on the internet for any amount of time knows about it. but the main thing they know, if they never look any deeper, is how utterly hated we are and how we supposedly ruined harry and louis’ friendship. and they of course don’t want to ruin the relationships of their favorite singers, actors, etc, so they’ve created the environment i previously described.

it’s pretty awful, really. especially because a large amount of larries are queer themselves. but that’s where we are.

thank you so much for your message! i hope that answered your question and i hope you’re doing well as well 🥰

Another Get to Know Me

thanks @sleepy-night-child for the tag!

a band that you don't like that many others do:

I'm pretty amicable for music. it'd take a song I really hate for me to not like a band. on the other hand, I will like any song that will get me to sing along with it

least favourite animal and why:

bees. when I was a kid, someone told me to not move around bees so that they wouldn't bother you. outside during recess, I froze still cause a couple of bees landed on my shoulders/neck. the bell rang for us to go inside and I had to make a mad dash for the doors despite the fear I'd get stung. hindsight and common sense now tell me bees are generally harmless and wasps are the enemy, but I'm traumatized now and treat them the same

hot fandom take:

head empty, I don't really have any takes, especially ones that aren't already out there. also not really in fandom land, I'm just on my own island.

do you wear any jewellery, if so, what's your favourite piece:

not super devout, but I've got this necklace from elementary school that's a cross with a dove on it that I still wear. otherwise, the owl ring I got a couple years back that I wear as a necklace is the one

a movie others liked but you didn't:

honestly I watch so many movies with my friends nowadays and a lot of them are really bad lmao. I think a recent movie we watched was The Killer and I didn't like it, but it's rated highly for who-knows-why. like it's not even a comedic mess-up, the assassin was just bad at his job and it's not entertaining

three things you love about yourself:

I'm a relatively positive person, or more like I don't have that much hate in my soul. will try to be the best supportive friend you've ever had. and I've got a lot of creative outlets to use!

a place you hope to visit in the future and why:

Japan! I wanna see so many gamer things there. plus the tourist-y landmarks/activities. life-sized gundam is also on the list, if that's still around. and the food! (that I've been seeing because I follow this one guy on YouTube)

an actor that gets on your nerves and why:

the first name that came to mind was Dwayne Johnson for whatever reason, but he's doesn't actually get on my nerves that much

things you're excited about in the near future:

(slowly and surely) getting back to writing!! reviewing some of these games that I've been playing recently, because I've got Opinions on some of them. and getting used to this fancy new limited edition 8BitDo controller that I got. if this was a week ago, I could've said watching my friend finish the main story of Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but that's already happened

least favourite ship in a fandom you're in:

again, not really in fandom land so I have no idea about what ships go around.

what's the most toxic fandom you've been in:

as a gamer and basketball fan, those are wildly toxic fanbases. gamers are so mean to the devs (sometimes rightfully so, other times not so much) and to other players. like literal death threats sometimes, it's insane. and then fans of basketball would literally boo their own players at times, like what.

list three things you find beautiful about life:

Space science (thanks Kurzgesagt)! Other people's works (art, writing, games, or otherwise)! Family, friends, and pets!

any dreams for the future:

finishing and publishing any of my works so that people can (hopefully) enjoy the experience I made for them

how are you feeling today?

another day of writing, gaming, etc. but it's grey and gloomy outside and it's sucking like half of my energy away, especially because I need to walk the dog later. and the NBA Trade Deadline is at 3pm so I might be spending more time than usual paying attention to player movement/trades between teams, especially because my team is Not Good and I'm expecting them to make moves this deadline.

no pressure tagging @talesfromaurea, @moonluringfrost, @ettawritesnstudies, and sleepy friend already tagged @oh-no-another-idea and @drippingmoon, but I'll tag as well if you'd like :)

Ten characters. Ten fandoms.

Thanks for the tag @theradioactivespidergwen 🖤 I love this!

1. Aemond Targaryen

I don't think any of us are surprised by this. Aemond is...the boy is everything to me. He's let himself become so warped and tortured by his trauma that recovery and self betterment were never an option. He's full of rage, he's cutting off pieces of himself to stay Mommy's good little boy, he's begging his father via his actions to notice him, notice him, notice him. The toxicity is off the charts and I would give my life for this scared child in a man's body.

2. Nesta Archeron

Nesta is a stone cold bitch and I would die for her. This woman, barely not a girl, was ready to sell her body to ensure a better life was possible for her sisters, and the entire time she was denigrated by Feyre for "doing nothing" because what she did was woman's work. Who do you think did the cooking? The cleaning? The clothes mending? She helped end a war. She was violated. She had her autonomy stripped from her. She was not allowed to process her trauma in the way that came naturally to her because it was a mirror that Rhys couldn't handle looking in. Very few people deserve a happy ending as much as she does.

3. Kylo Ren

Give me a character that is tortured by their actions and the legacy of their past and I will show you my favorite little baby in the whole world. He's so alone. He doesn't know his way in the world. He can't live up to his mother or uncle or father or grandfather and it's eaten away at something vital inside of him, leaving him rotting. The mental torture and abuse he's endured at the hands of Snoke have twisted him into something unrecognizable. And I love him, damn it.

4. Ophelia

She is hope. She is madness. She is full of life and love and all of the things the people try to chip away at as we grow up. This rendition of Ophelia stands above the rest for me because she was finally given the opportunity to set aside her suffering and continue on, even if it's with the knowledge of what genuine pain feels like.

5. Zuko

Are we really surprised by the addition of another angry young man searching through vindication and the reclamation of his honor by living up to the expectations of people who never truly cared about them? This list has a theme apparently. Zuko had one of the best and most rewarding character arcs of all time and his journey is one I literally watch over and over. Also Zutara forever.

6. Sansa Stark

Sansa is all of the things that were conditioned not to like when it comes to a character. She's feminine and a little whiney and naive. She's fodder for torture. And yet she's also one of the strongest characters in this entire series, both book and show (boo hiss). Sansa Stark turns her fear into hope and her hope into strength and I will never not love her.

7. Fleabag

I am her. She is me. Fleabag will never fail to rip my entire heart out and feed it back to me. She's awful. She's incredible. She's in pain. She's stumbling through life in the dark and using her suffering as a marker on the map.

8. Astarion

The theme continues. Suffering? Check. Insurmountable pain? Check. Using his body as a way to ensure his safety? Check. Saved via the power of love and friendship? Check. Astarion's arc follows a typically feminine-coded route and I was obsessed from the get go with this cunty little man. I want to wrap him in a blanket burrito. I want to sink my teeth into him. I want to spray him with a hose.

9. Eddie Munson

I'm not sure I've ever loved a character quite like I've loved Eddie Munson. The absolute heart of gold inside that poorly tattooed chest literally fuels me. He's insecure. He's an asshole. He's kind. He's angry. He's unsure of his place in the world. I will forever ignore the senseless tragedy of his death. It never happened. Nope. No. If I loved him less, I could talk about it more.

10. Dani Clayton

Dani Clayton, the love of my life. Though she weeps and trembles and avoids at all costs, there is no one stronger than Dani. She's suffered since the beginning and never let it stop her, not until she had to save the woman she loved by giving her very life. Tortured, haunted, so full of grief that it had nowhere to go. I would literally die for her.

No pressure tags: @jadore-andor @emilykaldwen @massivecolorspygiant @corrabell @cheesybadgers @ladylannisterxo @niocel @middimidoris

People fear Nettles so badly and you can see it cause they can't stop talking about her and the theory of being Daemon's daughter as if with that the rumor of an affair could becomes less probable plsss lmao. They do not understand that if Nettles plays the fundamental reason of their break in the book, in the show it's only gonna be the last straw, im sure of it cause the main reason is already there in front of their eyes and it's Alicent Hightower. It's not a case the way they promoted the season with that photoshoot of Matt Olivia and Emma. They're not a trio nor a love triangle and then why? Cause since in the show Rhaenyra has a bond with Alicent, she is gonna be the reason why Rhaenyra is still holding back, plus there the prophecy, and Daemon hate the Greens and the prophecy, so won't accept other cry or weakness of Rhaenyra which is almost certain is gonna happen in S2. Ryan is sly, he knows what he's doing. He knows where he wants to go. He set up Daemyra to fall from the very beginning, but not only cause of their toxic aspects, but cause Viserys made sure after he died, he plasmed another him by telling Rhaenyra about the prophecy, add Rhae caring for the Hightowers cause of Alicent, maybe a bit of Otto too? Cause Emma said Rhaenyra saw him as father, and Otto is Daemon's archenemy, and voilà, Daemon will end up hating her. He will realize she still stuck to the childhood friendship and dreams of peace and is that why they're going on separated paths. Daemon meeting Nettles will only push him far from her further eventually, as consequence, but i repeat, the reason of their actual break is gonna be Alicent.

Anon you get it. I can't say I'm happy with everything on this show(I'm not because of what they did with Laena and the fact that it appears they are majorly downplaying Nettles), but the fact people are ignoring what's in front of them to push their headcanons, which are not supported by the book, is ridiculous.

Don't even get me started on how they treat Nettles and her relationship with Daemon. She's definitely not the cause of their woe, but she's an easy target to attack (most of the fandom doesn't even actually like her and they hate Dettles so they don't receive much pushback for their bullcrap).

Is the krakoan era X-Men the most unlikable interation of X-Men?

"I - don't think that's fair to say about them. From what I understand, they put all of their hopes on the establishment of a new country, joined everyone together under one roof, and then . . ."

He'd never seen anything like it. The sheer amount of carnage. He didn't even know most of the people he'd seen being torn apart in the footage, but that hadn't stopped him wanting to throw up when he'd seen them being . . . God, and then, when Bobby . . . he'd dragged his hands down his face and wanted to wail.

Who could do that to Bobby of all people?

The short, glib answer is that Chuck Austen's run of X-Men continues to exist, so by default, no-one can be as unlikable as them.

But the long answer is that the Krakoan X-Men aren't really the X-Men for a lot of that era, and, in their hurry to enjoy the fanfic-esque tropical island paradise setting that Krakoa presents, the fandom forgets just how . . . weird, and culty, the island actually is.

Hey, do you wanna know something semi-embarrassing about me? I only read House of X yesterday. I've only ever read the finer details on other Wiki pages and the occasional plot synopses, never actually read the issues themselves, and . . .

It's fucking creepy, man.

I had an instant negative reaction to the weird shit to do with resurrection, and I just, was not comfortable. The way Cyclops was all creepy about Franklin Richards, acting like they have more claim on him than his actual birth family? I'm sorry, dude, that's fucking whacked out.

Like, I'm sorry, I think that mutant sovereignty is an absolute must and a mutant nation is a narrative necessity, but Krakoa's been fucking creepy and weird and cult-y since moment one.

The weird rituals about resurrection, the whole dying in combat to earn your powers back bullshit, the vilification of Scarlet Witch, everything that went down in LaVelle's Sabretooth books, the Quiet Council and X-Force (full stop, just - in general), the casual sex leading to popping out babies you just LEAVE ON THE FUCKING GROUND?

It's a fucked up society. It's dystopian. You conquered death, and guess what? That never ends well. Suddenly you have to redefine life's meaning, and they chose to make it just fucking around and being weirdos, and, like, sure, that's a mood, but it's also not particularly heroic, and it's very significant that it takes a while for the X-Men to reform as an actual hero team because, well, they decided to give up on protecting a world that hated and fear them for a bit there.

But that's in-universe. Out of universe?

They just aren't putting in the time to service the relationships between the characters properly, and a lot of the time, when those moments do happen, it's become extremely clear that almost everyone on Krakoa is a self-obsessed narcissist with increasingly toxic levels of coping with it.

Think about Kate Pryde just completely fucking flubbing her chance to spot that Piotr Rasputin was under mind control, think about Storm just fucking off to Mars and abandoning everything on Earth, think about what happens to Orphan-Maker at the end of Hellions, think about LITERALLY EVERYTHING to do with X-Force - this is not a healthy society.

And that's a good story.

But it feels like at some point, they just kinda forgot about the fucked up shit and decided nah, this is just paradise, this is great, let's sand off the edges. Like, when Jean tells Firestar to just throw X-Force Beast under the bus to make her cover better during the Hellfire Gala, it's read by so many people as this girlboss OMG SLAAAAAAY moment, but . . . you . . . guys do realise that, like . . . that's fucked up, right? You do realise what that moment means?

"You should invoke Beast's reputation as a butcher of humans and a genocidal maniac and a massive lying piece of shit, WHICH I KNOW ABOUT AND HAVE DONE NOTHING ABOUT, and in fact, I'm going to validate his work because it's useful to me now!"

Like, X-Force Beast would tell Jean that she did EXACTLY the right thing in that moment, would welcome it, compliment her on her cunning, and if that's not a sign that you fucked up, that your moral priorities are completely and utterly fucked, then I don't know what to tell you, man.

Honestly, this is something that's been on my mind for a while now almost ever since about episode 3 of the show, but now with the recent episode out, I honestly fear for the show's future and how people could end up viewing it, at least when it comes to its love triangle. So, it seems the show is now definitely hinting at a love triangle (Which is something some fans have hinted at beforehand, but it seems common now) especially after the events of episode 5, and that does worry me when it comes to MD..because I really don't want the show to be ruined by romance and shipping, and I especially don't want shipping to overshadowed the show and the stuff we're supposed to be focusing on.

I've never been a fan of love triangles and it's a trope that has honestly annoyed me and something I've never been a fan of. I'm sure everything will be okay and Liam knows what he's doing, but I'm worried about how it'll be handled and how people may view the show, I mean I remember back when Episode 4 was released, some on Twitter admitted to wanting to leave and stop watching the show because of Nuzi being hinted at and the many scenes with the two or there was just more shipping wars happening which made the fandom more toxic and such a mess.

But anyways, I know it sounds like I'm complaining and worrying too much but as I've said this is an issue I've been fearing for the show and it's future for quite some time now, I'm worried because of how shipping has ruined other shows in the past and dragged them down and can often be frustrating and can take away from the elements from what we should be focusing on or just end up taking over the show completely. There are many examples I can name when it comes to shipping taking over a show like Regular Show, Miraculous Ladybug, Legend Of Korra and TDI, but the main one that's a huge example of this and what most people talk on when it comes to this topic is Star Vs/Star Vs The Forces Of Evil. That show started out so well and good in the beginning and had good elements in it from its characters, and world-building and it just had so much potential and could've even been up there as one of the best cartoons, maybe on the Gravity falls level...but sadly, things took a huge turn sometime after S2 and they really started to drag things down with not only other things that were causing the show to go downhill, but it's shipping especially and it felt like a fanfic. I mean seriously, the shipping wars for Star Vs were the most toxic and brutal l've ever seen for a show and in the end, I don't think anybody was happy. I've even seen Starco fans feel unsatisfied for how their relationship was handled and forced at the end and let's not forget the show had one of the most underwhelming and rushed finales I've seen for a show. To this day, People still shit talk and rant on how horrible the show was handled in the end and how forced it's romance was, it still saddens me for how Star Vs was done because the show did have potential and could've been better!

Now let me just say that I've got nothing against shipping and see no harm in participating in it (Just as long as it isn't problematic)(I'm a shipper myself and have a love and adornment towards shipping, especially when it comes to Oc's + Oc X Canon) and finding investment and wanting to see certain characters together and be something more and I've seen some people state that the love triangle is common in Liam's work and it's not something new, so maybe I'm just missing something, I didn't know much about Liam and what he's done before he did MD.

But overall, I'm just worried and fear that this love triangle between N, V, and Uzi could end up pushing people away from the show and dragging things out and taking away from what we should be focusing on in the series. I mean, some are already losing hope for the show for other reasons and the shipping wars in the Murder Drones fandom are already toxic and out of control, so that doesn't help. I just fear for how this will be handled because most love triangles I've seen in media are handled and done poorly and terribly, and just end up causing unnecessary drama and same goes for other romances I've seen.

Again, this is only MY OPINION and something I wanted to discuss about, this isn't me trying to hate and shit on the show or the crew, I've adored and love Murder Drones since the Pilot and the show has kept me more and more invested and interested with its story and characters and it's honestly a comfort show for me, I truly love MD very much, I'm a huge fan of the show and consider it not only as one of my favorite shows, but also one of my favorite webseries. But I do wanna admit that the show is flawed and isn't perfect and some things can improve in the future, this post was just me wanting to give my thoughts on this situation (I've seen some fans also give their thoughts and concerns for the show when it comes to the romance) and none of you have to agree with me. You can disagree and give your own thoughts and opinions, but please try to be respectful in the comments though and don't be hateful and rude to each other, please. ♥️