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emblazons · 1 year

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a bunch of people think st does a very poor job at acknowledging the characters' trauma and all the things they went through. what do you think of this?

anon here with the tough questions! lmao

Honestly—and this is just an opinion (though I have evidence for why I think these things, as always)—I would say that the criticism of not addressing trauma (or even queerness) openly is probably one of the most valid criticisms of Stranger Things I've seen leveled at the show....though I personally don't think it's because The Duffers are incapable or "don't want to." Let me see if I can explain.

cut because a text wall about networks, capitalism & america

From the get, the Duffers had to contend with the fact that they wanted to do a number of things many networks wouldn't let them—Netflix was like, network 15+ they pitched to, and while Netflix allowed them to retain some element of creative control (writing and directing their own story), there are obviously still points of contention that come up between network and creator that show a difference in desired intent / storytelling and network sensibility. One I remember clearly was the criticism they got for showing people smoking, and how the show after S1 completely removed the cigarettes from any and all character narratives (think back to Joyce talking about needing "a pack of camel's," along with Hopper and even Steve smoking in S1...only for that to never come up again).

Now...the cigarette thing is a bit minor, but still shows that there is a LOT of weight Netflix still holds over The Duffers and their creative sensibilities—and when I think about how this show has moved SO readily out of the "Duffer's intended audience" space and into "Netflix cash cow / cultural zeitgeist" space, it becomes clear why Netflix's love of money and their need to "keep the show palatable to as many audiences as possible" (😒) would mean they would keep The Duffers from pressing deeply into topics that would mean talking about and showing beloved 12-18 year old characters having explicit conversations about/reactions to their trauma, whether that be tied to abuse, psychological torture, kidnapping, CSA, racism or even queerness.

—I do think The Duffers have tried to accommodate this "stifling" of their creative vision with an wide array of very creative and sometimes absolutely hysterical subtext, but...as we've seen many a time in fandom, a lot of people are either not satisfied with subtextual reasoning or just miss it entirely, which leads to people saying things like "you should have made it clearer because the average person won't see that" (should sound familiar)...which is kind of the point. If you can build plausible deniability into the things you're doing, you can get away with them in front of audiences that aren't trained to pick up on them...and considering all of the stories that influenced M&R / their interviews, I think they're relying on subtext to shove their less delicate sensibilities into the "Netflix version" of their tale.

Basically: what you see is The Duffers vision filtered through the sensibilities of Netflix's desire to get as many people as possible to watch the show—and given that this includes both bigots and children...we're stuck in many ways with a "sanitized" version of the story The Duffers had to tell. The fact that they're cagey as hell about their slightly "freer" ending AND are finishing ST with Netflix and then moving all of their darker shows to their own production company makes me believe this even more, too—especially given that wanted to make this show on HBO...and we all know the sensibility difference between HBO and Netflix. That says enough about the "content filtering" aspect for me to believe its at least partially true.

All that being said: I do think they could have done a LOT more to show their positions on things like racism in Lucas and Erica's storylines, and do hold a lot of frustration about the fact that Netflix is asking them relegate queer character development to subtext—though anyone who saw the sociological changes in America and media after what we went through in 2016-2022 especially KNOWS why you would do something like that. It's been a deeply troubling and brutal time in the country Stranger Things is both set and created in...and given that capitalism still wants money from bigots, this is where we're a little bit stuck.

So, to finally answer your question, I guess: Yes. I agree they should have done more to make trauma clearer across the board in this show, and wish they would have in many ways, because it would have made the story stronger. That said...I understand almost entirely why they couldn't/didn't, and don't want to say Stranger Things having more subtext in several areas over explicitly stated makes the story less exciting to explore.

I do hope their caginess moving into the shows ending means we're gonna get the "darker stuff" explored more clearly though—and that, once we're done with the story, Matt and Ross get a chance to elaborate more on what they wanted without the filtering that network popularity placed on them.

Thanks for the ask!

#like...the duffers don't have delicate sensibilities. we all know this.#but...netflix does because they want EVERYBODY'S money. and everybody (unfortunately) includes bigots and fools.#because the duffers are beholden Netflix sensibilities for this show...we get it sanitized from a lot of more uncomfortable topics #ESPECIALLY because ST has been marketed as 'for everyone' AND makes them a fuckton of money...do you see where I'm going with this?#I hope so lmao #asks

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lilyginnyblackv2 · 2 years

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Pao-lin’s Gender Presentation, Gender Identity, & Sexual Orientation

First, I want to give a big thank you to @isleofair for providing me with this scan! Now, let’s get going. :)

Along with Nathan, who I also did a write up on the other day for both gender identity and sexual orientation, Pao-lin is another character who a lot of fans perceive as being queer. This is due to a variety of things, such the mention of her experiencing “amour” (read: a crush) on Karina in the S1 Drama CD #5 (I will link to the full translation in the comments, but here is the segment that mentions Pao-lin’s crush) :

Pao: [Karina looked so pretty as she applied it to my lips. It was almost like she was sparkling.]

Karina: Okay! Wow, it's sooo cute! Just perfect! Let's go!

[Karina runs off]

Pao: [I don't know why, but my heart was pounding like it never had before.]

Agnes: That look on your face...that's "amour".

Pao: Ms. Agnes, you were there?!

Anges: You guys looked so close, I didn't want to spoil the scene by calling out.

Pao: Um, just now...you said "amour"...

Anges: Don't worry so much. You were looking at Blue Rose so intently. Even if she isn't a boy, you can still fall for her, you know?

There are other small things in the series as well, like how Karina was angry with the old man for what he said about Nathan, but Pao-lin was definitely hit harder and was the one that actively spoke out, likely because she can probably relate a bit to what Nathan has experienced. There is also that scene where the girls are all talking (Nathan, Pao-lin, and Karina). Karina makes a (rather transphobic) joke about one of them “not belonging” and Pao-lin immediately thinks Karina is talking about her, rather than Nathan.

This was meant to be a “comedic” moment, but after The Rising and how they basically had Karina stop making transphobic “jokes” like that in S2 and such, I think we can safely say that this scene isn’t just a throwaway joke, but a serious aspect of Pao-lin’s character. Something that is also touched upon in S1 Ep 9, with the whole baby thing and the barrette, etc.

So, let’s break down the above Hero TV Vol. 2 page on Pao-lin and see what it tells us about her gender presentation and sense of gender identity. We are going to start with the title:

Translation: A unisex girl who uses the “boku” pronoun.

Okay. So, we want to take a look at three things:

1. The word ユニセックス or “unisex,” checking the Japanese Wikipedia on the word shows that both English and Japanese have the same definition for this word (you need to be careful of that, because English loan words in Japan don’t always share the same meanings). That definition is: a word used to describe something that has a lack of distinct between masculine and feminine. For example, a skirt isn’t considered unisex, because it is still heavily associated with feminine presentation, but something like Pao-lin’s track/body suit from S1 would be. Because that is a style, especially back in the 60s and 70s, that was worn by both men and women and didn’t lean too much in either direction. The same goes for Pao-lin’s haircut in S1, which is at a length that isn’t perceived as being overtly masculine or feminine.

2. The word 少女 (shoujo) or “girl.” This term is very straight forward. It means girl, doesn’t have any other secondary meaning, outside of like “young lady” or something similar to that. When someone uses this term, especially in regards to marketing for anime and manga, the age range is 7 - 17 years old. What this is telling us though is that the creators (at least at this point in time, about two months post the end of S1) view Pao-lin as a girl. So, her gender identity by the writers and creators is of a cis girl.

3. Last, we have the fact that she uses “boku,” which is a masculine way to say “I.” However, it should be noted that girls using “boku” isn’t super uncommon and “ore” is perceived as even more masculine, but you can still find some women who might use it. When I lived and worked in Toyama City, the secretary at my junior high school was a lovely old lady who used “ore.” I loved it! T0T

Bringing this back to Pao-lin though, we have to take into consideration that she is an anime character. And a bokukko (literally just a combination of the word “boku” + “ko,” which means “child” but is also often commonly associated with girls) is a very common anime trope. It even has its own TV Tropes page, where it mentions how often these characters are meant to be tomboys. Some other things mentioned in the TV Tropes page are:

Even with Japanese speech patterns becoming more gender-neutral over the years, this would be considered unusual in real life

And:

Although none of this has to be reflected in her appearance, bokukko are usually either flat-chested, athletic, or extremely well-endowed.

Pao-lin does check off two of these, her breast size isn’t as big as Karina’s (something which is discussed in the Drama CD as well, show below) and she is athletic (very focused on martial arts).

Karina: Whoa! Don't pat my boobs all of a sudden!

Pao: If you never eat, why are they so big?

Karina: Are you mocking me?

Pao: Huh?

Karina: [sighs] Just seeing Ms. Agnes's body makes me feel miserable.

Pao: If we're talking about that, I'm not that way at all...

Karina: You still have room to grow.

Pao: But I'm tiny! So short!

Karina: Ah, you thought we were talking about that?

However, this is not something that is totally exclusive to anime and manga. You can find real life Japanese women and girls who use “boku,” and a native Japanese nonbinary (they/them) Twitter user, who lives abroad now, called MishimaKitan wrote about this for one of their Ko-fi posts. I will be linking to their website in the comments. Here is what they had to say about minors (girls) using “boku” in real life and how that is often perceived by cishet Japanese and Japanese society as a whole:

If a person who is perceived as female (vocally and visually) by others who is a prepubescent minor and uses 僕, surrounding adults likely think that they are going through “a phase” (or being a tomboy) because usage of 僕 by girls (and children who are classified as “female” at prepubescent age by others and yet to determine their own gender identities) are quite common in Japan.

They then go on to mention the “bokukko” archetype that we talked about above, and also mentioned this in regards to adults who are perceived as women by others in society using boku:

2. Creating an “I use 僕 as my personal pronoun” public persona and has their own little world, perhaps because they were influenced by anime and/or manga.

So, now lets just recap and see where we might be with Pao-lin’s gender presentation, identity, and sexual orientation.

Gender Presentation: Unisex

Gender Identity (According to the Above Text and as of S1 of T&B): Girl (so likely Female)

Sexual Orientation: (Going Off of the Drama CD): Lesbian (or, at the very least, Not Straight)

Now, let’s continue with the actual text of Pao-lin’s character write-up:

Translation: Pao-lin’s forte is fighting, but she has little interesting in anything outside of that. And her boss tells her, “Be more ladylike!”...

This translation doesn’t tell us too much. But this is obviously talking about the struggle we see Pao-lin having in S1. The series does have her eventually put on a dress and present more feminine:

But, the series does make it clear that 1. Pao-lin is uncomfortable presenting in this way, a way that is decidedly not unisex, and is very clearly feminine. And 2. Pao-lin is very strictly doing this for her parents.

Still, I remember when this episode first aired - it left a really bad taste in a lot of the fans’ mouths, mine included. A lot of fans wished that Pao-lin’s story line had been handled differently. We could see Kotetsu’s advice and intentions, but we also hated the whole “make the gender non-conforming girl or unconventional girl look conventionally feminine” trope.

Of course, then The Rising happened, and that really changed things. But, before we get into that, let’s take a look at the last bit of text:

Translation: She is still young and has an androgynous body. So she is mistaken for being a boy...!?

Here “androgynous” is being used as a descriptive marker (since it has the descriptive marker 的 added to the end of it 中性的 and is being used as an adjective with the inclusion of な + 身体 (body)). It should be noted that 中性 on its own does means (from Wikipedia’s X-gender Japanese page) :

自分のことを男と女の中間であると認識する人の性自認のこと

Translation: A gender identity of an individual who identifies themself as being between male and female

And it falls under the X-gender umbrella term. All that being said, that specific term isn’t being used with Pao-lin here.

However, I do think we are seeing Pao-lin existing in a queer space and identity, and not just in a “tomboy phase” or existing solely as “tomboy character archetype” that you often see in other anime and manga series. The reason for that being 1. how T&B chose to handle Nathan’s character in The Rising - that was a very raw and genuine deep dive look into gender identity issues and 2. how they’ve chosen to present Pao-lin in the continuing movie (The Rising) and Season 2. In both of these, they’ve gone harder in having Pao-lin present more masculine.

Even though Pao-lin has gotten older (by S2 she is 16 or years old), and likely has developed a bit more in regards to her body’s development, we see her designs in The Rising and S2 placing less emphasis on her breasts and her hair cuts are also shorter (more in the masculine presenting shortness range, in a generally speaking “this is how that length is generally perceived” perspective) and styled more masculine-like as well.

That makes me think a lot in regards to Pao-lin’s gender identity, just as how the slight ship teasing between her and Lara makes me think a lot about that Drama CD and Pao-lin likely (possibly) being attracted to girls. But, as far as official identity goes, we don’t have anything new beyond what we were given in that Hero TV Vol. 2 fanbook and Drama CD (as far as I know). Pao-lin is definitely GNC (Gender Non-Conforming) though, and I would love it if we could get a new Hero TV Volume fanbook soon, one that is updated to include The Rising and S2 content.

#Tiger & Bunny #Taibani #Pao-lin Huang #Dragon Kid #Tiger and Bunny #TnB #T&B #long post #image heavy post

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jeremywhitley · 1 year

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May I ask what it's like to write for a character with the intent to explore their sexuality?

I haven't been a comic reader for a long time, and got into them by reading Excalibur because I was told from a friend that Rachel, Betsy, and Rictor were queer

And then that friend told me about the history of these characters and how a lot of older comics sort of play with the idea of them being queer but never explicitly is explored or stated until much later. Idk if it's just me but it seems like a lot of recent X-Men runs have kind of flirted with the idea of fluid sexuality with their characters.

So the crux of my question is really; what is the steps that are taken when you're writing about sexuality in a comic? Especially for new characters who are passed to new writers. Do you discuss the idea with their original creator or is there this kind of implied trust/understanding that that character is now in the hands of their new writer for better or worse?

Whew, this is a tough one, especially considering the point we're at in the story right now. I'm gonna try and answer it anyway, but do keep an eye out for the interview myself and the rest of the creative team did with Marvel.com which should be out later this week.

Part of the job when you work for Marvel or any other corporately owned creative entity is knowing and accepting that you have the time on the book that you have and that someone else may be writing that character later - or maybe even concurrently if they're on a team or guest staring in other books. For me, I know there came a point where I asked myself the question "would I rather someone else write this character and perhaps take their story in a direction I'm not thrilled about or would I rather this character just cease to exist and disappear from continuity after this?

Maybe it's that I'm not too precious or maybe it's that I have a tendency to fall in love with every character I write, but I would rather they continue to appear and that I see other writers pick them up and give them new stories to tell. There's not character I've written that I haven't been happy to see again six months, a year, or five years down the line. Al Ewing recently just reused a bad guy I created for Unstoppable Wasp and I was thrilled that anyone remembered them. I would be less enthusiastic if somebody decided to start publishing stories about the characters from say, Princeless, which is my creator owned comic, but when it comes to corporate comics that's the price you pay for getting to write Spider-Man.

As for sexuality, for me it's always important not to think of the discovery or revelation of a character's sexuality as "a twist". Everything you're doing should be backed up by what's already there, even if that means maybe adding the context of interiority and feelings to what was there before. Unfortunately, some audience members are never going to see or understand what experiences or relationships might shape somebody's journey and are going to have objections, but as a writer all you can do is lead the reader to queer water. You can't make them drink.

Just like with any decision characters make, you want to make it make sense. I have had the experience of knowing what I want a character's sexuality to be and not being able to write it as I wanted to, but in the case of Gwenpool I have been very lucky that there was an open editorial team with a vision for where they wanted this story to end and it was my job to make it get there in a way that's satisfying for Gwen and the readers. It's really nice to tell a queer story in the Marvel Universe knowing that a character will be able to say who and what they are and I appreciate the current Marvel team for making that possible.

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anamatics · 3 years

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Your opinion on old fandom forums vs, fandom today?

I didn't answer this one last night as I wanted to be able to type out a proper response, and one that's partly adapted from an essay I wrote back in 2016.

As a fandom old, I’ve spent a long time in fandom spaces. I did my time with writing slash and het ships, but I always loved writing stories for me about people like me. I have witnessed first-hand the rise and fall of listservs and live journal as places where people who liked femslash gathered to discuss their favorite shows. I know a lot of fandom history. When I comment on the events in fandom, it still comes from my position as a fan, not as a creative. I want to preface all of these thoughts with this.

Fandom used to be something that you didn't talk about. It was secret, never mentioned in public, zines and stories mailed back and forth across the country. The internet changed that, people's attitudes toward things like queer and trans identity changed that, people's want to see diversity on their screens changed that. Yet, at the same time, there is a whole new generation of young queer creatives emerging onto the writing scene who have grown up witnessing the rise and fall of these great, monolithic fandoms that exist beyond the space of shows themselves. More and more, networks, writers, and producers are paying attention to what the fandom says and to what they react to.

This is why I don't really like fandom these days, because I've seen both sides. I struggled with this working on Carmilla as someone who had been, and in may ways still was, a fan. I know fans have power, I've done things because I know fans have power. And yet, I felt like I'd lost my place in a community - in old fandom - because of this realization. And I myself asking questions about my place in new fandom. Questions that, most of the time, had no answers.

Is it valid to be both grateful for the acknowledgement of fan desires within the creative side of television and web writing and a little horrified by the amount of entitlement that any capitulation by those productions seems to engender within fans? Am I valid in feeling trapped by this feeling of wanting to be the best possible arbiter of representation and knowing that I can never be perfect because the perfection demanded by the queer community isn’t achievable? Does my voice even matter in fandom circles anymore because I’ve “crossed over” to the other side? Am I allowed to continue to speak critically about representation in shows that are not my own because I haven’t “fixed mine yet”?

I struggled with this when Carmilla was airing. I still struggle with it now, too, because I see how trolls on Twitter and Tumblr have reacted to folks like me speaking out about problems we see in our communities or within fandom. People like me aren’t allowed to criticize fandom, or fandom culture, because we’re no longer seen as truly a part of it: by being creators who can’t always live up to fandom’s sometimes unreasonable standards, we’re now considered just part of the problem. We can’t critique behaviors and call things out within this fandom community that should also represent us because when we do we’re hurting the fandom community.

Every queer creative out there has shouldered some of this hurt, I know I have. I stand by what I’ve said despite the backlash. If you cannot believe in the truth you speak, what good are you to a community looking to you for change?

Those who speak to the internal problems of fandom culture are shouted down. People with years of fandom experience, who are far more knowledgeable of the history of fandom (and especially the femslash corners of it) and presence in media than the present-day narrative setters, are shouted down and told that we are part of the problem. Creatives who speak out and criticize other works are treated equally poorly. The problem is that in refusing to look at the problems within our fandom spaces, and saying that everyone outside the group is to blame for the problems of poor representation, we are sticking our fingers in our ears and refusing to look at what’s wrong with us. We eat our own.

The queer community – and by extension the queer fandom community – functions like an ouroboros as far as I can tell. That’s the snake from Norse mythology that eats its tail, representing infinity but also representing the inevitable crush of our own bullshit as it comes down around us with the hopes of becoming a better community. There should be a place within this community for everyone, and yet it’s this same space that is preoccupied with gatekeeping characterized by constant infighting, identity policing, and silencing or invalidating opinions that don’t perfectly align with this vision of what is considered acceptable in the eyes of the thinking of the day.

Queerness is messy. There’s a lot of nuance to it. And there will always be people who want their own community within that umbrella of queerness. That’s a valid want. You want to be around people who are homogenous, because it’s when variety is introduced that feelings get hurt. But the existence of a community for marginalized people should not come at the detriment and degradation of other vulnerable people, nor should it come at the expanse of dismissing intersectionality within our community.

But instead, we eat our own. We dismiss trans headcanons like people in old fandom used to dismiss queer headcanons. We're doing the same bullshit, just rinsed and repeated, directed at a new set of people whose voices are smaller than the small specks of power new fandom has granted (cis, white) queer people.

We fight ourselves amongst because we feel as though we cannot fight the forces of our own oppression. We censor ourselves to make sure that we don’t say anything to upend the proverbial apple cart. We do this not because we’re afraid of the problematic elements outside of the community that could come into our community, but rather because we’re afraid of those within our own community who have the power to kick us out from under our own umbrella and back into the rain.

So when I think about fandom these days, I imagine this moment of losing community. I imagine the hurtful message sent, the dismissive post on the forum, the hateful tweet, actions that cost nothing when they are directed at creators, fan writers, fan artists. These people exist to create content that is to be consumed. They aren't human. They aren't even real. They're just the producers of content that fandom sucks up like a vacuum cleaner without bothering to engage with the creators except to demand more or demand better. Nothing makes you feel alienated from your community like realizing you only exist to produce for it and when you don't produce to standards, you are attacked.

What's worse is that a lot of folks in fandom don't even think about this these days. There's no risk in blasting off a message or a tweet. But social media is an echo chamber. It’s a hive mind, and it’s a place where people can get hurt, very badly, and very quickly. Social media should not be used as a weapon to badger the people trying to get into positions where they can create change, which is what I feel new fandom has done. But at the same time, new fandom has also become a space where voices can be uplifted, where people can be seen and heard who maybe weren't before.

So TL;DR, I think social media ruined fandom, I have a lot of baggage/trauma from working on a show as fandom was transitioning from old fandom to new fandom, and like... we have to be better to each other.

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #writing #fandom #some commentary that I'll probably delete

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kitkatopinions · 3 years

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honestly in my personal opinion, the weirdness around crwby's handling of queer characters comes back to their core sentiment of "queer people have to earn their rep," which was said by monty iirc. which is just an incredibly outdated & homophobic opinion anyways because like you pointed out in your ask, the heteronormative relationships didn't have to earn their existence. characters are assumed cishet by default, they're seen as the Standard & therefore don't have to earn their place.

queer characters & queer romances go against that heteronormative standard & have to be "earned" in the eyes of mostly cishet creators. kiersi is queer but well, she's not a point in the right direction for mkek considering her writing of nonbinary & asexual people.

it's even more disappointing to see this parroted by queer people in the fndm, that mkek are right, that we have to wait when ... why? cishets didn't have to wait for three separate heteronormative relationships in tandem.

Hey, sorry this has taken me so long to answer. My blood has been boiling over 'queer people have to earn their rep.' What a homophobic sentiment... and honestly, that really makes me think that Bumbleby was not planned from the beginning. Which of course isn't to say that MK was wrong to go with BB, but it's certainly annoying that people involved in the project are claiming it's been planned when the creator of the show was of the belief that 'queer rep has to be earned.'

Like... How? Someone please tell me how LGBTQ+ people can earn representation in media when I can't think of very many pieces of media (especially popular media) that doesn't display at least one opposite-sex relationship. I just looked through the collection of movies myself and my sisters have on our shelves, and outside of a couple of movies I don't know, every movie on our shelf but two depict opposite sex relationships (the two that don't btw are Bolt and Kung Fu Panda 1, which both include single parents, but no depiction of romantic relationships at all iirc.) I defy anyone to list one cartoon Disney movie that doesn't include a straight ship (even if it's just married parents.) How are queer people supposed to earn their fucking representation? Why are queer people thrown scraps and then told to shut up and stop complaining?

There's explicit bias in company's even like RT, who depict same-sex people, but always do it in comfortable ways or always in only small ways or always in hints. It's still homophobia, especially when it's very clear that their lack of inclusion isn't about the media just not being about any sort of romance (like Bolt or Kung Fu Panda 1 could say,) because they have relationships featured, just never LGBTQ+ relationships. RT has no problems forcing a love triangle between Jaune, Weiss, and Neptune despite none of that being believable or developed. RT has no problem introducing Sun with romantic theming for him and Blake, having them go on an explicit date, having Pyrrha in love with Jaune for who knows what reason and kissing him right before a tense fight scene to further the plot and freaking dying. RT has no problem with having 'boyfriend meets girlfriend's over protective and unnecessarily rude dad' esque jokes shoehorned into volumes 4 and 5 when it comes to Sun and Blake, or having Nora and Ren kiss in the middle of a high-stakes political rally right before a bunch of murders happen. RT has no problems making Ironwood flirt with Glynda in his first introduction, making Qrow talk about "the size of the waitress's skirt length" in like, his third scene, making Roman flirt with Cinder, making even characters like Penny and Ruby who have story plots that have nothing to do with romance or relationships talk about 'cute boys' at least once. Straight people get rep at every single turn, and yet gay people have to earn even an acknowledgement, even a passing comment.

What it is to me, really, is 'queer people have to prove we can get a profit out of their rep.' That's all I'm hearing. 'We're not ever going to do this because it's the right thing to do, we'll only do it if the pros of the money we can squeeze out of you outweigh the marketing risk of alienating homophobes who will turn off our show.' 'We'll only depict what we know is still comfortable to the casually homophobic viewers who are fine with a dash of gay here and there to appease people without 'forcing it down their throats,' or who are comfortable with seeing gay girls since that's been fetishized for straight men, but wouldn't be comfortable seeing gay men because they consider it a threat to their masculinity.' That's what I'm hearing.

It makes it even more annoying when I see fans talking about 'we should be grateful for the beautiful rep RT has given us.' NO THANKS. I'm not going to be grateful for the fact that MKEK are trying to queerbait me and other LGBTQ+ people into shutting up about the 'bmblb' song and Clover's death by trying to make us buy their fucking jackets and convincing us that Blake and Yang are already confirmed. I'm so sorry to get so heated over this. XD I'd thought I was calm, but this 'earn your rep' thing has gotten me so steamed. When have straight people ever been asked for the same? There are content creators fighting tooth and nail to be able to depict same sex relationships in their shows on bigger networks, and it really seems so very brazen of MKEK to still be holding back on confirming Blake and Yang and trying to convince us they're still champions of the LGBTQ+ community and our friends, and are selling pride merch with our favorite *non-confirmed* girls on it.

Adding onto that, the only rep we've officially gotten is girls. Ilia, Saffron and Terra, and May. And then heavily hinted Blake and Yang. The closest we've gotten for representation for men is Clover (a wink, a couple lingering looks, tweets suggesting he and Qrow will be together, only for him to be murdered,) and this picture.

This freaking nothing picture of two nameless guys with a heart shaped plant in the background of one shot in Mistral. Like, don't get me wrong, I'd like to know more about this unfashionable couple, and I'd like to know if one of them has a semblance that lets them control plants or if the heart-plant is decorative and was a gift from Sandy Hair over there... But my point is, no one should have to latch onto two rando background nameless punks and their fucking plant to be able to see themselves in media. This isn't representation for men in the LGBTQ+ community. It's honestly just tiring. I don't think I'm asking for too much to say that if companies are going to advertise 'pride,' that they commit to actually representing queer people and not just through the lens of what's comfortable to their homophobic or heteronormative audience members. May was a step in the right direction and I know that there are a lot of trans people who felt really validated seeing her in action and as a more important character during this last arc, and that the way that MKEK handled the in-universe confirmation of her being trans was respectful and well done. That's great. But it's 2021, if they're going to post 'pride merch' and claim to be for us and that they're trying to be inclusive, they need to stop queerbaiting Blake and Yang, and they also need to step out of the comfort zone of only portraying women on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Male LGBTQ+ and non-binary and genderfluid people ought to be able to get representation too.

#rwde #anti rwby #anti mkek #rwby bashing #rwby hate #canoncrit bumbleby #anti rt #anti rooster teeth #ironpines

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thinkingisadangerouspastime · 3 years

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I find it really intriguing how the ATLA writers could have gone a “brotherly love” route with Zuko and Aang, but they never did. Even in LOK, the only thing that I remember Iroh saying about their relationship was that they canonically became the best of friends and that Zuko knew Aang better than anyone, even more than Katara and their children. I find the direction of their relationship a contrast to how often the bond between the male protagonist and the male antagonist that are spiritually linked in other media is reduced to “they were like brothers” and put aside for the respective heterosexual romances of the leads, even though the relationships between the leads often have homoerotic subtext and can be interpreted through a queer lens. I guess what I’m wondering is: would you classify Zuko and Aang’s relationship as brotherly? Do you support interpretations where their relationship is viewed as brotherly? And finally (I’m sorry for all of the questions): why do you think the ATLA writers - who seem to mostly be composed of cishet men - never took the “brotherly love” route and left the nature of their relationship ambiguous?

This ask has been in my inbox for a Hot Minute 💀 my apologies, my friend. And since I haven’t seen LOK, I won’t try to speak on the front. Before I continue, though, @likealittleheartbeat has an AMAZING analysis here about the interpretation of Aang and Zuko’s relationship through a queer-platonic lens that I found to be an incredible read and arguably could answer this ask on its own, lol!

I guess the general “issue” that must be addressed to answer these questions is simply how we define brotherly. That “we” can be divided into the viewers and the writers, only adding another layer of complexity. Because the reality is that we can’t jump into the creators minds and see exactly how they intended Zuko and Aang’s relationship to be interpreted. We can make deductions, e.g. the existence of Kataang and Maiko suggests Zuko and Aang were not intended to have a romantic relationship within canon (duh, lol). In fact, you could even add another division to the “we” - the writers, the viewers, and the characters themselves (i.e. interpretation through the cultural lenses that inspired the show).

All of this is to say that there is not going to be one agreed-upon definition of “brotherly,” lol! Since you seem to be asking for my personal opinions, I’ll go with my personal definition. If anyone has differing thoughts in response to these questions, please feel free to add them in a comment or rb! I think there’s a lot to explore here and my sole opinion is Not the be-all and end-all, lmao.

So, what is my personal definition of “brotherly”? I’m not going to try to make a formal definition, lol, but the gist of my interpretation is a platonic relationship akin to that of siblings. To me, there is a difference between having a “brotherly relationship” with someone versus a “friendship” (I almost used “friendly relationship” but that didn’t feel right jskdfhakdls). I think these two can overlap and/or be the same, but - for example - I have friends who I would say without hesitation that I am incredibly close with, but I also would not classify that friendship as “sisterly.” (Again, these are strictly my personal thoughts, and I encourage further discussion in comments/rbs!)

I’ll take your questions one at a time:

Would you classify Zuko and Aang’s relationship as brotherly?

Personally? Probably not. To me, there is a sense of superficiality associated with the term “brotherly” that in my eyes can be reductive to platonic relationships between men (can be, not always lol). I think with Zuko and Aang, the relationship just runs much deeper than “brotherly” can connote. For one, they are the primary narrative foils of the show! The only relationship that comes close to theirs in terms of narrative significance is Kataang (which is a very different dichotomy, btw, I’m not trying to compare them lol). We have numerous episodes dedicated to the parallels between Aang and Zuko, including but not limited to “The Storm” and “The Avatar and the Fire Lord.” I mean, this is an actual quote from the latter episode:

Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?

We see variants of this line and the notion of friendship itself associated throughout that episode explicitly with Roku and Sozin, Roku and Gyatso, and of course the Gaang at the end, but implicitly we also know it’s about Aang and Zuko, too. Aang says, “Everyone, even the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, have to be treated like they’re worth giving a chance.” One common take with this line that I’ve seen is interpreting it as foreshadowing for Aang’s decision to spare Ozai - which obviously is a fair assessment - but we cannot also ignore how much it applies to Zuko joining the Gaang. Specifically, Zuko reconciling with Aang.

We all know Aang was the first person to extend friendship to Zuko back in “The Blue Spirit” and tbh, after he saw Appa licking Zuko, you can tell Aang was nearly willing to extend a second chance to Zuko then and there lol. Aang and Zuko’s friendship, them being drawn together, is a relationship that transcends lifetimes, transcends social norms/expectations, transcends a loss greater than anyone can imagine (for Aang) and offers a new opportunity arguably far more than deserved (for Zuko). I think ascribing a qualifier of “brotherly” to their relationship therefore limits this transcendence because of how much their dynamic encompasses.

Do you support interpretations where their relationship is viewed as brotherly?

Of course! One of the reasons I love A:TLA - especially my small corner of the fandom - is how many interpretations that every relationship presents, be it a small “difference” (such as calling Zuko and Aang’s relationship “brotherly”) or a more drastic one (exploring fanon possibilities with rarepairs, let’s go #AangRarepairWeek 😎). So even if this interpretation isn’t one I’m inclined to in the literal sense (i.e. it’s the “brotherly” qualifier I feel I dislike, because I do love platonic Zukaang as much as romantic Zukaang), I absolutely encourage others to make the most of their fandom experience and product/support content that they enjoy!

Why do you think the ATLA writers - who seem to mostly be composed of cishet men - never took the “brotherly love” route and left the nature of their relationship ambiguous?

I will say that we don’t really have any way of knowing the sexualities and gender identities of every single A:TLA writer, lol. I’m not saying they were all queer in some way, of course, but I just want to establish that we don’t and can’t know unless told. If that makes sense 😂

As I mentioned earlier, I have no way of getting inside the writers’ minds to determine their intentions when they were writing Zuko and Aang’s relationship, so all you’re gonna get here are my best guesses lmao! For one, there wasn’t really a need to outright label Zuko and Aang as having a “brotherly” relationship. The existence of Kataang and Maiko again speak for themselves. Most viewers - especially casual watchers - don’t need the show to state “these two only love each other in a brotherly way” to conclude that the relationship was platonic (or rather, was not romantic), especially considering that the show was made in the mid-2000s (i.e. sad but true, most people weren’t watching A:TLA with a queer lens 😔). So I wouldn’t say they left the relationship “ambiguous” so much as there wasn’t need to qualify it further than simply being platonic.

Of course, I do think there is an ambiguity that comes with Aang and Zuko’s relationship, which I love to exploit in my Zukaang fics 😌. Was that ambiguity intentional? Again, I’m inclined to say no. But I can’t speak with certainty and - as I discussed earlier - I truly think Aang and Zuko’s relationship would be limited by being called “brotherly” when their connection runs so deeply and is intertwined so heavily with the spiritual themes of the show. Thus, it’s possible the writers were purposefully emphasizing that spirituality by not labelling them as “brotherly”! But as I said, there’s really no way to be sure.

At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters how someone chooses to label Aang and Zuko’s relationship. I mean, I’m always a little horrified when a person completely overlooks their narrative significance as foils (because I personally can’t imagine dismissing either of their importance to the other), but hey, to each their own. Brotherly, queerplatonic, romantic, and hell, anything in-between - these interpretations are anyone’s for the taking. Have fun with it! 💛

(I hope this at least kind of resembles the answer you were looking for, anon 😂)

#aang #zuko #aanglove #zukaang #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla meta #the avatar and the firelord #amy answers #anon #amy analyzes

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fo-pinupzine-callout · 3 years

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What you should know before you support the Fallout Pinup Zine [MOD TEAM ISSUES]

DISCLAIMER:

The author of this post does NOT condone any forms of harassment to either the moderators, the artists, or the users who shed light on the issues surrounding the zine’s moderators.

This post is solely for the knowledge of the potential buyer and contributor. Contributors and customers has the right to know who they are supporting, even if all of the zine profits goes to a charity.

The author of this post is NOT affiliated with any of the users who made the posts that will be used as references here. This is an independent party. This throwaway account is created by a single author, and the views are the author’s. The author had not spoken to any of the post creators that will be cited below beforehand and this post is created unprompted by anyone but the author themselves.

DO NOT SEND ANY INFLAMMATORY MESSAGES TO ANY OF THE MENTIONED USERS, OR CREATORS OF ANY OF THE POSTS BELOW. THE AUTHOR WISHES TO MAKE THIS CLEAR AS DAY.

WHAT IS THE FALLOUT PINUP ZINE?

The Fallout Pinup Zine is a fan-run magazine featuring characters from the Fallout franchise illustrated in a cheesecake style pinup. It has two parts: Gentlemen’s Club and Ladies’ Night. More information can be read on @/falloutpinupzine. Gentlemen’s Club concluded September 2020. Ladies’ Night is currently underway, and submissions are open for artists. The latter zine is a charity event.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE ZINE?

There’s nothing wrong with the zine itself! Zines and fandom-run events are great way of bringing fans together to create content for the community.

However, there are issues with the moderation team behind the event.

One of the moderators who run the blog, @/yesjejunus (YJJ) had appeared in various community callout posts for racism and other unsavory content that users might want to steer clear of. YJJ had purged their blog and was deplatformed several times, but returned after four months of dormancy.

By extension, the other two moderators of the zine @/socksual-innuendos (Socks), @/sas-afras (Monty) and @/shishkamoosh (Shishk), condone their actions as well, having defended YJJ several times or reblogging posts with those sentiments. Several users who support or had contributed to the zine are affiliates of YJJ, such as @/fallout-lou-begas (Lou, close friend), @/tarberrymentats (Halk, close friend, is the one to suggest the charity for the zine), and @/coriandher/@/baidurii/@/dua-kali-lima (Fi, close friend, had made a callout post in defense of them). They also dismissed any form of criticism towards YJJ’s content, one of them even going as far as calling the criticism self-righteous.

This is despite BIPOC (black, indigenous, person of color), POC, and indigenous Fallout fans calling YJJ out for their hurtful depictions of indigenous folks and white saviorism, which is another pressing issue that they refused to address properly. It’s also worth mentioning that YJJ is not black, indigenous, nor a person of color.

However, there are also posts surfacing that attempts to explain YJJ’s side of the situation, especially the harassment they allegedly received from the community, mostly written by their mutuals and some cosigned by YJJ.

Most of these posts address issues surrounding the dark content in YJJ’s writings. In a callout post from their affiliates, they attempt to explain that those who had spoken up against the racist caricatures are the ones who are problematic, in a twist of events. (The author had personally read it, and refuses to acknowledge it due to the inflammatory and accusatory nature of the doc towards a BIPOC member of the Fallout community.) All relevant information will be linked below, to provide context.

Before you decide who to believe, please remember that BIPOC, POC and indigenous voices should bear heavier weight than white voices on issues that concern them.

Before you decide to support or denounce this fandom event, please take this information to create an educated decision on whether you want to support the event or the people behind it.

References and Relevant Information:

YJJ Callout (active, main source, originally posted in 2020. A comprehensive list of YJJ’s problematic content. Lengthy, but informative. Documents specific examples of racist content, including a MAGA hat illustration and a chancla joke. Take other listed YJJ affiliates with a grain of salt, verify for yourself.) [backup]

Blacklist 1 (deactivated, accessed through a reblog, originally posted in 2019. YJJ and a few affiliates are on the list.)

Blacklist 2 (deactivated, accessed through an archive, originally posted in 2019. YJJ and a few affiliates are on the list.)

Blacklist 3 (active, main source, originally posted in 2020. A list of YJJ’s known associates and supporters, including Lou, Halk, Socks and Monty.) [backup]

Post by a BIPOC member of the community, calling them out of their racist depictions of indigenous folks (active, main source, originally posted in 2020) [backup]

Post by a Latine member of the Fallout community, that calls out a racist comic by YJJ and the alleged insincerity of an apology they issued [backup]

Guide by an indigenous member of the community about writing indigenous characters, which references one of the native caricatures in YJJ’s fanfic, Passing Dawn. (The link provided leads to said fanfic, TW for Rape/Non-Con and abuse. Heed the warnings in the tags.) (active, main source, originally posted in 2020) [backup]

Posts and reblogs from YJJ’s closest affiliates in defense of them:

(1) (2) Lou/@/fallout-lou-begas (defense of YJJ’s writing, says that writing dark content in itself is not an endorsement of the problematic themes present, cites harassment of said user; said that YJJ is just being true to the source material of the fic in defense of the racist caricatures present in the work) [backup 1] [backup 2]

For context, Josh Sawyer himself had taken responsibility of the bad representation of native folks in HH, in this post. [backup]

(3) (4) Halk/@/tarberrymentats (reblog of Lou’s post, also citing harassment and claiming that the criticism directed towards their friend is a “false righteous crusade”; a RB of YJJ’s post with a statement in the tags that denounces the callouts made and the people who RBed them) [backup 1] [backup 2]

(5) Fi/@/coriand-her/@/baidurii/@/dua-kali-lima’s defense of YJJ and callout of several members of the community who shed light on the racism issue [backup 1]

(6) Socks/@/socksual-innuendos (reblog of Fi’s callout post with commentary) [backup]

(7) Monty/@/sas-afras (reblog of Fi’s callout post, no commentary) [backup]

I DON’T WANT TO SUPPORT THE ZINE ANYMORE. WHAT CAN I DO INSTEAD?

CONSIDER DONATING THE MONEY DIRECTLY TO THE CHARITY/BENEFICIARY’S WEBSITE. It’s as simple as that. If you wish not to support the moderators of the zine due to the information above, opt to skip the need for a middle man and give your money directly to the charity. If you still wish to make a positive change but cannot donate, consider spreading their platform instead, or volunteering in your local organizations.

If you are an artist who was considering applying for the zine and you are in disagreement with their views, DO NOT APPLY FOR A SUBMISSION. You can still participate in fandom space without engaging with them.

If you disagree with any of the mentioned users’ content and views, BLOCK AND MOVE ON. Don’t give their posts any attention. In a site like tumblr where posts are reliant on reblogs for them to circulate, the best way to deplatform them is to not give them any engagement.

OTHER QUESTIONS AND SENTIMENTS THAT MIGHT COME UP BASED ON PAST EXPERIENCES WITH THE FANDOM, BUT I WILL NOT ADDRESS AFTER ABANDONING THIS THROWAWAY:

WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HIDING BEHIND A MASK OF ANONYMITY?

This post involves prominent members of tumblr’s Fallout community. The author is choosing to remain anonymous due to the possible harassment or hazards to their safety from creating this post.

The author is of Asian descent, queer, neurodivergent, and hails from a former US colony. The author once supported YJJ, but had long since denounced support when callouts that point to YJJ’s racism surfaced. That’s the only information they are willing to divulge.

I STILL WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN FANDOM EVENTS, BUT I DON’T WANT TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH THEM. HOW?

Fandom isn’t owned by anyone. You are free to participate as you wish provided that you help keep the community a safe space, especially minorities. You can try creating your own events with other unaffiliated members of the community!

YOU’RE ASKING ME NOT TO SUPPORT A ZINE THAT SUPPORTS NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE OF COLOR. WHY WOULD I LISTEN TO YOU?

The author is simply informing the potential buyer of who runs the charity event and their views on sociopolitical issues. It’s as simple as that. If you still choose to support the zine after reading the information above, the author will not stop you, nor do they have the ability to. As stated above, it offers the potential customer an alternative choice of donating directly to the charity if they choose not to be affiliated with those who runs the zine. The author is not telling you to not support charities.

CALLOUT POSTS/BLACKLISTS ARE HARMFUL! YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO DEFAME PEOPLE FOR A CRUMB OF ATTENTION!

Callout posts and blacklists exist to inform members of a community of content that’s potentially triggering, harmful, or just plain squicky. If the author wanted attention for this post, they would’ve posted this on their main account.

THE ACCOUNTS YOU’VE GOTTEN YOUR CALLOUT REFERENCES FROM ARE PROBLEMATIC/HAS THEIR OWN CALLOUTS/HAS HARASSED OTHER PEOPLE, ETC.

You are free to create a post of your own about them if you have substantial evidence that aren’t limited to screenshots that can be manipulated or forged. Direct links with archived backups definitely help. This post’s focus is the moderation team behind the Fallout Pinup Zine and their affiliates.

YOU’RE A PURIST/PRUDE/ANTI/FANDOM POLICE. PEOPLE SHOULD BE FREE TO DECIDE IF THEY WANT TO WRITE OR CONSUME DARK CONTENT. FICTION DOESN’T AFFECT REALITY, ETC.

The author is adding this section in the post due to the pattern of how YJJ’s affiliates are defending them.

If you’ve read this post carefully, you would notice that the author did not even bring up YJJ’s dark content unless it was mentioned by one of their affiliates. This post focuses mainly on the issues surrounding BIPOC in their writing.

The author does not condone the themes present in dark content such as non-con. However, the author is not shaming anyone from writing dark content, especially if it’s being done as a coping mechanism for trauma, regardless on whether this is considered healthy or not. Their trauma is valid and should be acknowledged. This is another discussion altogether that would take another document to discuss with nuance.

This is, of course, assuming such content doesn’t contain blatant misogyny, racism or other forms of bigotry. Bigotry isn’t a valid or healthy coping mechanism.

The author is choosing to amplify voices of BIPOC, POC, and indigenous voices. If a said piece of fiction is affecting them personally due to their experiences as a minority and an oppressed group, people should listen to their criticism. It should be as simple as that.

#fallout pinup zine #fallout pinup zine ladies night #fallout #fallout community #fallout fandom #fallout callout #fallout drama #fandom drama #callout #callout post #fallout 3 #fallout new vegas #fallout 4 #racism mention #rape mention #non-con mention #abuse mention

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sailormoonandme · 3 years

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Why I think Sailor Moon lends itself so well to fanfiction

It’s no secret that there is a very active Sailor Moon fanficiton community.*

Whilst every fandom has its fanfic authors in my experience Sailor Moon fanfiction proportionally forms a far larger part of the fandom than in many other fandoms, the only exception I’ve encountered would be say Harry Potter. I do not for example find as many people posting or discussing fanfiction within Power Rangers, Lord of the Rings, Marvel, DC or Doctor Who circles.

Oh, there are plenty of people who talk about ideas and concepts they have. But there seem to be far fewer actually making stories themselves, or at least willing to post/share them, nor even discuss making them.

Why is this?

Well, I’m sure there is a discussion to be had regarding fanfiction, female authors, female audiences and obviously that’d tie into how Sailor Moon is primarily aimed at (and enjoyed by) a female audience.

But I’ve not really researched that so I don’t feel confident enough to dive into it.

To me though, when we break down the nature of Sailor Moon’s story, I very much feel it practically encourages fanfiction and taps very directly into the sort of things fanfiction writers and readers seem to like.

One stereotype of fanfiction that, in my observations, is absolutely true is that there is A LOT of romantic and/or sexual content. In fact it’s an open secret that professional erotic fiction pales in comparison to the breadth, quantity and quality of fanfiction ‘smut’.**

One might argue ANY story that features romance in it is therefore ‘encouraging’ such fanfiction. But the situation with Sailor Moon is a little different as romance is utterly baked into its foundation. The first story arc, initially intended as the entire story, revolves around Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask’s relationship. Between the manga and the anime the love life’s of almost every single major character is touched upon one way or the other. Minako’s affections for Allan. Rei’s disdain for men in the manga and romances with Mamoru and Yuichiro in the anime. Makoto’s sempai and her tragic string of men even vaguely similar to him. Ami and Ryo’s relationship in season 1 and her shyness about anything romantic thereafter. Even side characters like Reika, Motoki, Unazuki, Umino, Naru, Nephrite, Zoisite and Kunzite make their love lives at least discussed.

Then of course you have Haruka and Michiru, who’s relationship also clearly hints that they’ve become physically intimate.

Often with more sexually explicit fanfiction the authors are diving into parts of the characters’ lives rarely even discussed (if at all) in the original canon. Whilst Sailor Moon’s focus upon romance made sex a logical leap, the show plays a Hell of a lot with innuendo, symbolism and subtle hints to the point where it was giving fic authors plenty of ‘ammo’ to work with already.

This of course extends into the realm of queer pairings. Another stereotype of fanfiction (and again, I’ve not really researched this so I dunno how true it is) is that they engage in romantic or sexual stories where the characters have a different sexualities from their (apparent) canon ones. Perhaps the most famous (infamous?) example is Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Between Haruka and Michiru, Mamoru and Fiore, Zoisite and Kunzite and implications a plenty in the manga and anime (especially under Ikuhara’s rule) writing the characters as interested in people other than the opposite sex was a relatively easy and believable leap, hardly even breaking the verisimilitude of the canon.

Speaking of verisimilitude, Sailor Moon…didn’t make sense. I love it and adore it but we all know this is true. Even beyond the mindblowing miraculous magic it employed there was more than several instances where characters did not behave realistically or even consistently. Contradictions in the anime especially were rife.

Regardless of what that does or doesn’t say about the canon, for the purposes of fanfiction, this is something of a boon. It enables all sorts of wacky riffs and directions that aren’t going to create too large of a cognitive dissonance for the writer nor the reader.

Want to write a story that wouldn’t be realistic? So what? This was the story where the world almost ends but society is never fundamentally changed.

Want to write a story with elements that’d be anachronistic So what? Our heroes were named after planets that didn’t get those names until thousands of years later.

Want to do a story that unfortunately would contradict a canon fact or canon characterization?...Have you watched SuperS…?

The flipside to the messier parts of the canon is that it equally encouraged some authors to engage in fix fics, to address what they felt were problems with the characters and narratives.***

It’s very much a getting your cake and getting to eat it too situation!

Additionally, the ‘monster of the week’ format for the show enables all sorts of wacky riffs and spins to be imposed on the characters and narrative since these monsters each had their own gimmicks. Body swap characters? Make them shrink? Make them evil? Alternate Universe? Space travel?

Ostensibly anything and everything is on the table for fic authors to work with, just as it was for the official creators of Sailor Moon.

Alongside the ‘monster of the week’ format, the innate concept for Sailor Moon encourages the creation of original characters. There is no end of stories about ‘Sailor Sun’ and ‘Sailor Earth’ of course. But since any planetoid, celestial body or what have you in theory could have a Guardian authors could go nuts, drawing upon real list astrology or simply invent their own planets for whatever story they are doing. So the story is ripe for world building and expansion!

However, things need not go to that scale. Sailor Moon, especially the anime, revolves around the everyday lives of teenaged characters. Their ages means authors have the opportunity to write the characters growing up or having grown up and take them in any direction they like and again not create too much of a cognitive dissonance with the canon. And they can do that by drawing upon their own life experiences fairly easily without having to consider what the first day of college might’ve been like for someone on Middle Earth or whatever.

Furthermore, because romance was baked into the story, there was a greater focus in the stories upon the characters internal thoughts and feelings. This wasn’t strictly about their romantic feelings, but my point is a good 2/3 of your average Sailor Moon episode will be taken up with slice of life stuff before the Senshi go into action.

Why is this relevant? Because that kind of internal exploration lends itself far better to the prose format than action set pieces, especially action set pieces trying to emulate those of a visual format like a manga or an anime.

All the above actively encourages the creation of fanfics but there is aso something deeper going on.

After all, plenty of movies leave room for characters to be expanded. Plenty of manga offer opportunities for world building. Plenty of TV shows make the creation of original characters a synch. Plenty of comic books have contradictory continuity that warrants patching up. And romantic elements are present in the overwhelming majority of fiction, even fiction that isn’t predominantly about that.

What makes Sailor Moon a particular strong candidate for fanfiction though is that it has all those things whilst also having strong concepts, endearing characters and a rich mythology to hook people in the first place.

In other words, the fact that Sailor Moon was good made people love it. And that love I think is the essence of why they wanted to read and produce more of it.

*For the purposes of this post you should understand that by ‘fanfiction’ I’m specifically referring to prose fanfiction, i.e. the stuff you’d find on FFN and predmonantly on Ao3. Obviously audio plays, comics, art, cosplay performances can all fall under the label of fanfiction to one extent or another. And in some cases these are far more prevalent than prose fanfiction.

E.g. there is plenty of fan art in the Marvel fandom and there is a frightening amount of audio based Dr. Who fanfiction.

**Even I know that and I do not typically care for that type of stuff myself.

***Or expand upon characters they felt there was more to do with. I know many people who feel that way about the manga versions of the villains and the Senshi (sans Usagi), the anime version of Mamoru and the supporting cast like Usagi parents.

#My Essays #Sailor Moon #fanfiction #fan fiction #bishoujo senshi sailor moon #bishojo senshi sailor moon #pretty guardian sailor moon #pretty soldier sailor moon #ao3 #fanfiction.net #Doctor Who #Harry Potter #Lord of the Rings #Marvel #Marvel Comics #DC #DC Comics

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itsclydebitches · 4 years

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Is buying the new Harry Potter game supporting transphobes because I've been seeing a lot of that on twitter? Not playing it. Pirating is fine, but actually paying for it.

Hi, anon!

I’ve seen a lot of the same and had initially thought to post my thoughts on the issue… before I got a very angry ask condemning me for a post where I admitted that I thought the game looked great and was excited to play it. I can no longer link to that post because I deleted it: a late night, impulsive decision made in an effort to try and protect myself from further flaming. Thus, I considered ignoring this ask under the same justification… before realizing that it might not matter in the long run. The Harry Potter: Legacy trailer has been out for just a few days and already I have gotten that furious ask, been told off by a friend for mentioning the trailer, and was questioned (antagonistically) about why I had added a Harry Potter related book to my Goodreads list. They’re small and potentially coincidental anecdotes, but it feels as if any engagement with Harry Potter is slowly coming under scrutiny, not just the (supposed—more on that below) crime of purchasing the new game. Given that I will always engage with Harry Potter related media, if there’s any chance such subtle criticism will continue regardless of whether I make the “right” choice to boycott the game or not, I might as well explain my position. Especially for someone who asked politely! Thanks for that 💜.

Which leads to the disclaimer: Any anon hate will be unceremoniously deleted. This is a complicated issue and I intend to write about it as such. I ask that any readers go into this post with good faith and a willingness to acknowledge that this situation isn’t as black and white as they may prefer it to be. If that’s not something you can emotionally handle—which is 100% fine. Some subjects we’re simply not inclined to debate—or if you’re just looking to get in a cheap shot, please hit the back button.

Right. Introduction done. Now here’s the tl;dr: saying things like “Buying this game is inherently selfish/transphobic” isn’t the hot take people want it to be. Is boycotting Legacy one (very small—we’ll get to that too) way of showing support for the trans community? Yes. Is buying the game proof that you’re a selfish transphobe? No. This isn’t a bad SAT question. Legacy boycotters are to trans supporters as Legacy buyers are to ___? The argument that someone is selfish for buying the game is basically that you are choosing a non-essential video game over the respect and lives of trans individuals, but the logic breaks down when we acknowledge that purchasing a game has no real life impact on a trans individual’s safety, support, etc.

“But Clyde, you’re giving Rowling money. She is then using that money to support anti-trans organizations. Thus, you have actively put more harm into the world.” Have I? I’m not going to get into whether/how much/what kind of money Rowling is receiving from this project because the fact is we don’t know and we’ll likely never know. Suffice to say, she probably will get some portion of any $60/$70 purchase. The real question is whether those sales have any meaningful impact. Reputable information on Rowling’s net worth is hard to come by, but it seems to be somewhere between 600 million and 1 billion pounds. Or, to put it another way: a fuck ton. And money keeps rolling in from a franchise that is so, so much bigger than a single video game. It literally doesn’t matter how much money you might put in her pocket via Legacy because she’s already so goddamn rich she can do whatever she wants. If Rowling wants to give a million dollars to the heinous “charity” of her choice, she can. She will. You are not directly contributing to this horror because that money may as well already exist. Every person in the world could refuse to buy this game and she’d shrug, going about her disgusting life because it literally does not affect her in any meaningful way. You’re refusing to give the murderer a knife when they’re got direct access to a knife-making factory. Horrible as it is to hear, you can’t stop them from doing something horrific with that tool.

For me, this is the straw argument of the Harry Potter world. Not straw as in strawman, but literally straws. Remember how everyone was talking about plastic straws, swore off them, and subsequently deemed anyone who still used one to be selfish people who didn’t care about the environment? It didn’t matter if you had a certified “good” reason for using one (disability) or a “selfish” reason (carrying straws everywhere on the off chance you wanted a drink is a pain in the ass)—you’re a horrible person who wants the planet to die. Same deal here. If you can swear off straws, great! Do what tiny bit of good you can. But if you can’t or even don’t want to give them up, the reality is that your “selfishness” doesn’t make a significant difference in the world. The amount of plastic corporations are pouring into the ocean makes your actions inconsequential. It’s not like voting where every small, individual act adds up to a significant total. This is your lack up against others’ staggering abundance. It’s not adding a few drops of water until you have a full bucket, it’s trying to un-flood the boat with a teaspoon while someone else is spraying it with the hose. Have you, on the most technical level, made a difference by moving that teaspoon of water out of the boat? Yes. Is it a difference that holds any meaning in regards to the desired outcome? Not really. Now apply all that to Rowling. She is so phenomenally wealthy—with additional wealth coming in every day—that your purchase of Legacy is a teaspoon of water in her ocean of funds. It’s inconsequential.

“But Clyde, buying this game would support her and supporting her sends the message that what she believes is okay.” Exact same argument as above. JKR’s fame is so astronomical that no video-game boycott could ever make a dent in it. For every 100 people who swear off her work there are another 1,000 who continue to engage with both her writing and the writing related to her world because she is that prominent. Harry Potter is one of the largest franchises of all time, second only to things like Pokémon and Star Wars. This isn’t some indie creator who you can ignore into silence. The reality is that Rowling is here to stay and we have to take far more substantial acts to counteract that influence.

Even more importantly, buying the game is not evidence that you support her views and the black and white belief that it does is an easy distraction from those harder “How do we improve the lives of trans people?” questions. I started compiling a list of stories with problematic authors only to realize the number of incredibly popular texts with awful histories attached to them unnecessarily increased the length of an already long post. Everything from Game of Thrones to Dr. Seuss—if you love it, chances are one of the authors involved has a history of misogyny, racism, homophobia, etc. Which I don’t say as a way of excusing these authors, nor as a way to silence the justified and necessary call outs on their work. Rather, I bring this up to acknowledge that engaging with these stories cannot be concrete evidence for how you view the minority group in question. The reasons for consuming these stories are incalculable and at the end of the day no one needs a “correct” reason for that consumption (my teacher forced me to read the racist book, I only watched the homophobic TV show so I could call out how horrible it was, etc.) If fiction were an indicator of our real life beliefs we’d all be the most horrifying creatures imaginable. I may be severely uncomfortable with the queer baiting in Supernatural, but if a friend says they bought the DVD collection my response is not, “How dare you support those creators. You’re homophobic.” In the same way, someone purchasing Legacy should not generate the response, “How dare you support her. You’re transphobic.” There’s a miles’ worth of pitfalls in connecting the statements “You purchased a game based on the world created by a transphobic author” and “You yourself are transphobic.”

So if buying Legacy does not add additional harm to the trans community from a financial perspective, and it doesn’t make a dent in Rowling’s platform, and playing a game is not evidence of your feelings towards the group the author hates… what are we left with? “But Clyde, it’s the principal of the thing. I don’t want to support a TERF” and that is an excellent argument. Your morals. Your ethics. What you can stomach having done or not done. But the “your” is incredibly important there. People need to understand that this is their own line in the sand and that if someone else’s line is different, that doesn’t mean they’re automatically a worse person than you. For example, I have made the choice not to eat at Chick-Fil-A. Not because I believe that me not giving them $3.75 for a sandwich will make a difference in their influence on the world, but because it makes a difference to me. It helps me sleep at night. So if not purchasing Legacy helps you sleep at night? That’s a fantastic reason not to buy it. But the flipside is that if someone else does purchase it that is not a reliable reflection of their morals, no more than I think my friends are homophobic for grabbing lunch at Chick-Fil-A now and then. Sometimes you just want a sandwich.

“But Clyde, why would you want to buy it? Rowling is such a shit-stain I don’t understand how anyone can stomach supporting her—whether that support has an impact or not. Maybe someone eats at Chick-Fil-A because it’s close to them and they’re too busy to go elsewhere, or it’s all they can afford, or they don’t know how homophobic they are. There are lots of reasons to explain something like that. But you’re not ignorant to Rowling’s problem and there’s no scenario where you have to play this game, let alone spend money on it. So why?”

The reality is that I will likely be buying Legacy, second-hand if I can, but new if it comes to that, so I’ll give some of my personal answers here, in descending order of presumed selfishness:

5. Part of my work involves studying video games/Harry Potter and as a researcher of popular culture, my career depends on keeping up with major releases: good and bad. I often engage with stories I wholeheartedly disagree with for academic purposes, like Fifty Shades of Gray.

4. I find the “Just pirate it!” solution to be flawed. I’ve spent the last four months struggling to get my laptop fixed and I currently have no income to buy another if it were to suddenly develop a larger problem. I am not going to risk my $2,000 lifeline on an illegal download, no matter how safe and easy the Internet insists it is.

3. We’ve been told that Rowling has not been involved in Legacy in any significant manner and I do want to support Portkey. No, not just financially because I know many others have insisted that everyone good has already been paid. Game companies still need to sell games. That’s why they exist. There’s a possibility that a company with just two mobile games under its belt will be in trouble if this completely flops. Is my purchase going to make or break things? No. Same reality as whether it will put new, influential money in Rowling’s pocket to do horrific things with. But I’d like to help a company that looks as if they put a lot of heart and energy into a game only to get hit with some real shit circumstances outside of their control. Even if they’re not impacted financially or career-wise… art is meant to be consumed. I know if I wrote a Harry Potter fic and everyone boycotted it because they want nothing to do with Rowling anymore, I’d be devastated. Sometimes, you can’t separate supporting the good people from supporting the bad. Not in a media landscape where thousands of people are involved in singular projects.

2. I’m invested in reclaiming excellent works created by horrible authors. That’s fandom! We don’t know much about Legacy yet—this is pure, unsubstantiated speculation—but this new story could be a step forward from Rowling’s books, giving us some of the respect for minority groups that she failed at. That’s the sort of work I want to promote because Harry Potter as a concept is great and I think it’s worth transforming it for our own needs and desires. The reality is that as long as Rowling is alive she’ll benefit from licensed material, but if that material can start taking her world in better directions? I want to support that too.

1. I literally just want to play it. That’s it. That’s my big justification. I think it looks phenomenal and I was itching to get my hands on it the second the trailer dropped. And you know what? I’m not in a good place right now to deny myself things I enjoy. I don’t need to tell anyone that 2020 has been an absolute horror show, but for me certain things have made it a horror show with a cherry on top. Not a lot gets me excited right now because we’re living in the worst fucking timeline, so when I find something that makes me feel positive emotions for a hot second I want to hang onto it. I have no desire to set aside that spark of happiness in a traumatic world because people on the Internet think it makes me selfish. Maybe it does, but I’m willing to let myself be a bit selfish right now.

Which circles back to this issue of equating buying a game with active harm towards the trans community. It honestly worries me because this is a very, very easy way to avoid the harder, messier activism that will actually help the queer community. When someone says things like, “You’re choosing a stupid video game over trans lives” that activism is performative. Not only—as demonstrated above—is purchasing a game not a threat to trans lives or ignoring the game a way of protecting trans lives, it also gives people an incredibly easy out while still seeming ‘woke.’ Not all people. Maybe not even a significant portion of people, but enough people to be worrisome. “I’m not purchasing that game,” some people post and then that’s it. That’s all they do, yet they feel like they’ve done their duty when in fact they’ve made no active difference in the world. Are you donating to trans charities? Are you speaking up for your trans friends when someone accosts them? Are you circulating media by trans authors? Are you educating your family about trans issues? Are you listening to trans individuals and continually trying to educate yourself? These are the things that make a difference, not shaming others for buying a game.

All of this is not meant to be an argument that people shouldn’t be absolutely revolted by Rowling’s beliefs (they should) and that this revulsion can’t take the form of rejecting this game wholeheartedly. This isn’t even meant to be an argument that you shouldn’t encourage others to boycott because though the financial impact may be negligible, the emotional impact for you is very real. I 100% support anyone who wants to chuck this game into the trash and never talk about it again—for any reason. All this is meant to argue is that people shouldn’t judge others based on whether they purchase this game (with a side argument that we can’t limit our activism to that shaming). That’s their decision and this decision, significantly, does not add any real harm to the world. Your fellow Harry Potter fan is not the enemy here. We as a community should not be turning our visceral on one another. Turn it on Rowling. She’s the TERF, not the individual who, for whatever reason, decided they wanted to play the game only tangentially related to her.

If Twitter and Tumblr are any indication, I can imagine the sort of responses this post may generate: “That’s a whole lot of talk to try and convince us you’re not a transphobe :/ ” For those of you who are determined to simply things to that extent, there’s nothing I can say that will change your mind. Please re-read the disclaimer and consider whether yelling at me over anon will benefit the trans community. For those of you who are still here, I do legitimately want us to think critically about the kinds of activism we’re engaging in, how performative it might be, whether it harms the community in any way, and (most significantly) whether it’s actually moving us towards a safe, respective world for trans people to live in. Personally, I don’t think telling Harry Potter fans that they’re transphobic for buying Legacy will generate any good in this world, for them or for the trans community.

At the end of the day only you can decide whether you can stomach buying this game or not. Decide that for yourself, but make that decision knowing that there’s no wrong answer here.

#harry potter #mymetas #Anonymous

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levyfiles · 4 years

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I want to start a shyan blog but I’m so scared because I don’t know how Shane and Ryan actually feel about it which makes me nervoussssssss help

Ohhh boy, brace yourself, nonnyhunny. I’ve got some word vomit for ya

To start off with, I just want anyone and everyone who is currently new to navigating this terrain we call the internet to know one thing and that is this one very important concept. Embrace your own insignificance! The internet is a big place. I once read a post on here that encouraged new users to think of Tumblr itself like you’re walking into a Walmart. You’re not here to make friends and you’re not here to shop for everyone else; you’re filling your own cart with the things you need and like and if someone comes along and takes a long good look at the things in your cart and says, “WOAH there, eating trans fats is unhealthy for you! I never eat trans fats because of a big list of reasons! Stop buying trans fats!!” you’re gonna be both puzzled and annoyed because it’s your cart, your Walmart experience; why the hell do they care what you’re gonna get?

However! I get it, the internet is now comprised of six different websites/apps and if you’re on there, there is no way to avoid or curate a completely ideal sense that you’ve made a space that’s all your own. There are going to be people who disagree with you, people who decide they don’t like what you do, but ultimately, in the midst of all that, you’re going to find people who feel the same in whatever regard you express yourself and that’s why it’s important to just express yourself because otherwise you’re going to develop a lot of disingenuous connections with people who would likely try to ruin your life if you disagree with them on some subject or other.

Now with that whole disclaimer in mind, I also understand where you’re coming from. Putting myself in the shoes of someone just trying to participate in a new fandom where there is a lot of contention among the masses about the rights and wrongs of RPF and whether the concept fits in with a philosophical debate about human nature and the way we interact with each other, witness each other’s journeys. That’s simply it, however; it’s an ongoing debate and where philosophy and debate are concerned, I always hold the belief that an individual’s right to ground themselves and say “These are the principles I wish to abide by” is sacred and ultimately, no amount of anonymous hatred or shrieking messages of outrage is gonna change that until you yourself decide that the principle isn’t working for you personally. My principle is that it’s fiction; an AU to explore as valid and sweet to me as demon!Shane headcanons are, but moreso because I identify with queer love stories and friendships forged by strangely deep similarities and complementing souls. I also love personalities like theirs, love the idea of said friendship and what it would bring to a story about two human beings who meet by happenstance and end up building something world-changing together. Still, because I am just a writer and a consumer of media, that’s the nicest thing I can give myself, a fictional account of these things while witnessing the real version happen in parallel. I get to celebrate in the overlap of similarities the real world and my fictional account take and watch it inspire my friends and mutuals to build their own universes and it’s beautiful.

With that point being made, I also understand the reason a lot of people are nervous about being open about shipping. The backlash from a bunch of strangers seems to take on a note that would make even the nicest person sound like a puritan about to hold some extravagant witch trials. Nothing more interesting than a person claiming to do good in the world using words like “exterminate” “cleanse” or my personal favourite “purge”. I’ve read rumours being spread about shippers that take on their own life especially because it’s human nature to let other people handle the research; it’s human nature to just take a believable narrative at face value. One rumour being that shippers of this fandom write stories where we kill off Shane and Ryan’s significant others. Myself and my friends who are avid readers of the ao3 tag know that that hasn’t been the case since 2016/17 and by all accounts, I have yet to find the fic where this happens (barring a tinsworth fic I’ve only heard about). Mind you, not many of us check out Wattpad but even there it’s more self-insert friendly with themes I can’t even stomach.

Which leads me to the last point and the main reason you sent this ask, I’m assuming. Ryan and Shane’s personal thoughts on the issue. Now, it behooves me to supply screenshots and proof when I make a claim but let’s consider if instead from the perspective of two adult men who have operated online far longer than a lot of their audience. Given that I am the same age as Shane, I know what the internet used to look like and how far it’s come and RPF is not a brand new thing neither did it pop up out of nowhere when One Direction debuted. And just like fanfiction in and of itself had its pushback from media because of its demographic and absolutely because of its queer-leanings, RPF appears to get a lot of that same energy, but it’s not an inherently toxic past time. Much like any fandom activity, it can get bad because fandom is not a monolith; it’s a bunch of individuals enjoying a medium in the ways they have learned to. You’re gonna get some individuals who “do it wrong” and some who do it differently, but ultimately, just like the forums and the reddit threads Shane and Ryan trawl in their past time, there are circles you learn not to veer into and terms you learn to blacklist/block/mute. With that being an indication of where they’re coming from as internet creators, I am confident when I say that, as long as it’s not being mailed to them, linked or quoted at them, they don’t care. They would know something that gets popular on the internet summons a brand of transformative art and fiction but much like they tend to ignore thirst tweets in their mentions or the repetitive requests for the same things over and over. They’d see it and gloss right over it. Shane is the type who writes long essays on reddit addressing the things that bother him, Ryan is weird and vocal and an oversharer sometimes when it comes to things Shaniacs say to him (i.e. that Voice he did for the occasional Shaniac who approaches him). It’s just one of the incarnations of fandom that they choose not to engage with, which, good? Because it’s a fan-specific activity. Once in a while you get a creator who wants to interact with fanfiction and it goes sideways because not all stories are written for them, much like not all fanart is made with the mindset to share with them.

It’s just a regular old fan interaction and community habit that builds bigger followings.

All in all, I’m not gonna tell you what to do. Unless you mean to be in their @’s all the time or link them on discord, or put any of your content in their hands, they are not going to see it. They don’t care. What they do care about is that you’re watching, that you support them and send them encouragement because they’re creating their own medium of content and a bigger following means more people get to see it and extract something positive from it.

#shyan #discourse #Anonybae

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rpbetter · 3 years

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a vent (feel free to ignore if it's too much!): so recently i've noticed psd makers getting anon asks on whether they're ok with people who write certain topics (mostly rpf, incest, rape, underage, the usual "problematic" topics) using their recourses. now, i don't roleplay any of these subjects on tumblr, so even if a content creator said not to use their stuff, it's not even something i need to worry about - but, and maybe this is me overthinking it, what if i, someday, write a noncon fanfic on ao3? i'm still not using their resources on the subject or writing it on tumblr, but i'd probably feel weird about it, like i'm crossing some boundary. what if a psd maker whose content i've already purchased suddenly goes "actually don't use my psds if you rp abusive relationships", which is probably the closest to what people consider "taboo themes" of the things that i roleplay. it just feels like a fine line between personal boundaries and a shitty situation for a customer - not wanting to cross boundaries but already having PAID for something previously, when no such rules existed. it's making me want to 1. block everyone i see saying this, because even though i don't personally roleplay the topics above, i don't feel SAFE around people who tell others what kind of fiction they are allowed to enjoy and 2. just quit using people's resources and spend years learning to make my own psds so i won't have to worry about this shit. it's just stressing me out, as someone who has been harrassed and bullied online for speaking against censorship. i've had literal sock accounts made just to spew targetted harrassment at me on twitter. i've been accused of being a pedo and supporting incest and this is??? literally for saying "i don't think real people should be harrassed for fictional shit", i've not even shipped underage or incest ships. both make me uncomfortable. but fuck, antis make me 1000000x more uncomfortable than people who ship these kinda ships. i digress, this got rambley, i just. do you have any advice on what to do with the potential psd situation, or am i really just overthinking it? (always worried i accidentally send stuff like this off anon. help)

I need you to know that I actually had to rush-scroll back up and just double check that you did submit on anon lol! I always get worried I'll miss the one person who accidentally didn't use anon, if it makes you feel any better! When someone does submit with their URL attached, I message them first to be sure they are okay with them having it posted that way/it wasn't an accident ;) That's what I would want someone to do!

Alright, so, anyhow...

I've also noticed that becoming a more common thing and it's been on my (maybe huge) list of things to look into for a bit because I really do try to make sure I'm not just noticing things in my areas of the RPC/failing to notice things that do not impact me. Since I do all my edits and graphics, it falls into the first category for me. So, thank you for moving that up the list and informing me that it really is more prevalent and not my imagination!

My take on seeing it was a combination of business logic and anxiety, not going to lie.

On the first: charging to do a psd that is just that, just a psd file being used as a template/to act as an easier version of a photoshop "action" in a way, that's 100% legal and fine. Absolutely no muddy waters there. However, charging to do things like icons, edits, etc. that include images of celebrities and stills from movies (or gifs) is quite muddy. Legally, it's not legal. It's a thing we're allowed to do and use (on most platforms) because we're not making money off of it, we're not claiming to hold rights to the images, and so on - it's ignored but illegal. Charging money for it, however, even when phrased as "for my time" (which, absolutely valid feeling), is a more serious form of illegal and potentially attention-getting. This all gets more iffy though when we add donation instead of direct commission/purchase when working with these copyrighted materials. You can ask people to donate and suggest a donation based on your time spent, and that is always what I advise people to do.

Okay, so, that preface is necessary because the thing about stipulating use-rights is that they're iffy, too, there are variables present.

Often, these same people are charging for things like icon packs as well, meaning that even if they're only charging you for a template-style psd file sans imagery they don't own, they've kind of shot themselves in the foot. Not to mention, it's exceedingly damn hypocritical to pitch a fit about someone violating your rights when you're literally using other people's copyrighted materials lmao And that does tend to occur to me, yeah, it's a consequence of attorney friends and running businesses.

The other issues with this are that usage rights have to be stated at the time of purchase and morality clause-style shit, as pertains to products, is not legally binding.

When you purchase something like a psd file, that purchase acts as a sort of contract.

Think of like...buying a photoshop brush set - the person selling it puts very simple rules as to its use, such as: non-commercial use only, brush pack cannot be resold or distributed for free, separate brushes from the pack cannot be resold or distributed for free individually. Meaning that you own the brushes you bought, but you are not legally allowed to make real-life money from anything you use them in, and you cannot send the whole pack or files individually to friends for free or charge other people for them. By buying these, you have agreed to these stipulations of use and ownership.

If the person sells psd's and you agree to what they've stated about the use (you can't use them to do commissions you make IRL money from, you can't give them away to friends, etc.), that's binding even somewhere as casual as RP Land. The exchange of real currency makes it that serious.

However, there are limits to stipulations of use! One of those things is when you agreed - this person cannot, even one literal second, later change their terms of use and retroactively hold you to them. If they were okay with you not crediting them anywhere or using them in works you will gift others or charge others something like game currency for at the time you purchased, then that's it. Tough shit for them, not you, when they decide a month later that they want credit given where the work appears, that they do not want finished products gifted, or don't want you to make even in-game currency from them.

And that absolutely would apply to the morality wank, yes.

Except that this very morality wank comes with its own issues. Reality is not tumblr. In reality, at least in most instances and countries, you can't throw in a fucking morality clause regarding the buyer, use of item, or finished product.

Think of this in this way: Chik-Fil-A starts denying chicken and waffle fries to anyone suspected of being queer. They're legally allowed to run their business (as a private business, everything does have variables) with some things that are morally objectionable that they feel morally aligns with their religious beliefs. They're not allowed to deny queer workers a job or queer customers service, however, in accordance with overarching laws.

While "being gross" online in fiction is not like, making anyone a protected status person lol this is just an extreme example to drive home the point. Legally, when it comes to items/products be they digital or physical, your rights and responsibilities as the seller don't include your moral policing.

What your right is, is to make people uncomfortable to a degree, yeah. You absolutely can do that. You can state some nasty shit about prospective buyers you don't want. For example, they should (I mean, they should just grow up and get some real concerns, but) be stating that they would not like to see their psd's used by people on this following DNI list of idiocy, and they will block those users if possible to prevent interaction and purchase. That's really it, that's what they can do and the least immature way to proceed.

On the second: none of this logic would make me feel comfortable about interacting with them and their psd's in the future once they had outed themselves as morally objectionable and dangerous to me with this nonsense. And I would still feel anxious about using things I had previously bought because once harassed...it doesn't really go away, does it? It would just give me some ease about the latter with things I'd already made. Like, I could keep using the icons I'd made with those psd's with a little bit more comfort knowing that they honestly have not a leg to stand on outside of their harassment.

I might have the tendency to respond to harassment without much upset, but that doesn't mean I want to be harassed. Especially when I am not doing anything that draws that kind of attention. Not that harassment is warranted over anything, but when I make a PSA or answer an ask that I know is likely to get their attention and piss them off? That's an acceptable risk I am knowingly taking. When I'm just going about my life as a RPer, it isn't.

So, I don't feel like you're overthinking it or being too concerned! In no way did you sign up for getting unwanted attention, and because it has happened before, of course, you're trying to insulate yourself from having it happen again. That's totally reasonable!

Now, what you could do about it...

It's another of those situations in which we're only truly capable of controlling ourselves. Everyone else is kind of a NPC.

You don't have to do anything I'm suggesting, but these are things I would do!

I would block the shit out of anyone saying these things/trying to make them stipulations, yes.

By that, I mean that I would also visit blogs they appear to interact with and they'd be blocked as well. We can all reblog something like resources or a shit post from a user we do not agree with without realizing it, but when it's frequent reblogs, direct support, and friendly vibes going on, it's safer to assume that they are aware their friend sucks. More importantly, that they do not think their friend sucks and support their views.

Even if that is not the case, do you want someone else's repeated inattention to expose you to bad actors? Nope! So, don't run the risk of paying and otherwise interacting with the one resource blog in the group that doesn't express these views/"requirements," but does involve themselves with those who do.

Try to find people selling these resources, that are not connected to the problem ones, who do not have those views. Once a trend starts, it is very hard to stop until it has run its course naturally, so, this might be difficult and take some extreme effort. You might want to consider asking like-minded friends who use psd's where they got them so you can check those users out for yourself.

If they're all the same, problem, people...

Look for users well outside of your corner of the RPC(s) who are not asking to be paid. I know it sounds wild, but there really are RPers out there who just enjoy making things for others! I can think of at least one right off on my dash. They might not be advertising for doing psd's or psd packs, but either they might be willing to do so (especially if they do not appear policing-positive) if you explain what is going on, or they could at least fill some requests for you for fully made icons and such. Hell, people who love doing this work usually know others who do as well, and anti-policing people quite reasonably stick together. They could have suggestions for someone not vile selling psd's.

Depending on what it is you want your psd's to do, I promise you that it wouldn't take you very long to learn it. I know...I know lol that's both really easy for me say when I've been doing it for over twenty years and am about to piss some people off. The latter because the most common settings on popular psd's are extremely simple shit, a lot of that is the kind of thing you're expressly told not to do in design work. Like ramping up extreme contrast, pixelating the fuck out of an image, and turning up the primary colors only. Once you get to playing with photoshop or an equivalent, you will totally see what I mean. You can accidentally make an icon look identical to something that is on trend in the RPC. If that was what you were going for? You've hit the mark, and it's just repetition and tweaking it here and there!

Once you start playing with it, too, it's actually pretty intuitive when it comes to the basic things like resizing, adjusting colors and contrast, and doing easy effects like blurs and sharpening. Frankly, playing with it is better than half the tutorials you'll find because they get unnecessarily complicated when all you want to do is crop your muse's face, overlay some color, and add a damn dotted border. Listen, like I said, I have a lot of experience...and I find many tutorials frustrating and overwhelming!

It is not just you, you're not dumb or anything. People get very comfortable with something and when they try to explain it to others, they use terms and methods that are more advanced or specific to them than they realize. That's all!

If you have friends who make their own things, ask them some very basic questions about what you want to do. They know you, so, they'll know better how to explain to you, specifically. Just keep it simple until you've had some time to experiment! Ask things like, "I want to take this image, resize it to be an icon, and add an orange tint to the image while sharpening only my muse's features...how would I do that? Easy mode?"

And! You don't even have to pay for photoshop or pirate it anymore! Photopea is as an exact copy as possible entirely located in your browser for free. It's all overwhelming at first, a real case of too many options and ways to do the same thing, but the only way it gets less overwhelming is just diving into it. Dive in, get a little frustrated, have some successes, make some awesome discoveries, it gets a bit addicting in short order. Then, the tutorials and tips are so much easier to figure out and expand on, too.

If you'd like, you can always send me a pm here and ask me. I'm happy to try to explain how to do things, zero judgment or impatience. Just an additional option if you both decide to try learning and would feel comfortable doing that. Zero judgment as well on not wanting to do either of those things!

Okay, this one is much harder than learning PS basics because it's honestly a bit terrifying...the way these people are, they're going to take issue with you no matter what you do, and in the end, if they notice you and feel like bothering you, they will. There's literally nothing you can do about it. All you can do is try to buffer yourself, stay away from them, and be aware that you are not the problem.

Like with the AO3 thing or writing what could be viewed as toxic relationships. You can never write or be interested in a single, solitary thing that they're on about (and accusing you of doing in real life when the burning Eye of Moron turns your direction), but to them, you supporting the right of other people to do so is just as bad as doing it yourself. To them, the toxic relationships not only would be problematic, they'd be problematic enough. Being uncomfortable with their policing and feeling unsafe because of it is, to them, a red flag of how problematic you are. Writing anything they've deemed objectionable (or reading or viewing it, for that matter) anywhere, doesn't have to be on this platform or RP-adjacent, doesn't have to actually utilize any of their materials, is enough.

They're absolutely including you in who shouldn't use their shit. That's part of the "logic" and methodology of policing. Everyone is problematic, so, everyone can be labeled a pedo and harassed without too many people getting up in arms about it. No one is safe, so, everyone better behave. You don't actually have to be engaging with or enjoying things like underage, non/dubcon, rape, abusive relationships, etc.

It's gross, it's bullying, it's actually a problem...and there isn't much you can do.

All that is truly up to you is making an effort to avoid them, though, this is very often unfair and likely to get more unfair as resource blogs of all sorts deal in it more. At least, in this case, you do have some small bit of actionable power - by not ever buying from them. They wouldn't be charging if they did not either need or want the money, not giving it to them is a bigger hit than things like simply unfollowing/blocking, reblogging PSA's, and so on is!

Nope, it isn't like you're denying them some extreme amount of money by yourself, but every three, five, ten dollars is felt pretty hard when you desperately need money and/or are saving for something.

I know, I mean, I personally do know, that it's impossible to "get over" bullying, Anon. I'm in no way telling you to just get over it and move on, find some great well of not caring somewhere! What I'm saying is that there is power in not giving them power. The power to make you anxious, uncomfortable, unsafe, when you have every right to be here doing your thing and are not hurting anyone. And it might seem to be a deeply contrary sort of logic, but realizing and accepting that there are people out there who irrationally dislike you for literally no reason, that you cannot infallibly escape or avoid, despite doing nothing wrong is a bit empowering. Because it puts into perspective the things you can control, and when we know what is in our control, it's easier to just enjoy our time here without constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. If it drops, we can go put it back in the closet where it belongs.

It starts to put a positive spin on the whole, damned if I do, damned if I don't feeling, if that makes sense? I'm probably way too tired to try to be explaining this lol I'm sorry!

Anyway, again, I'm not implying you can or should do any, let alone all, of those suggestions! I just really hope that something will help you feel even a little bit more at ease. It's an unfair situation, it isn't right, and you have every reason to be uncomfortable and stressed. If I could make it happen, you better believe that every policing asshole out there would be writing heartfelt apology letters and sending donations to everyone they've upset lol but...since I can't make that happen, all I can do is say what I, personally, do, would do, or have done.

#answered #anonymous #purity police #resources #rp advice

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fallout-pinupzine · 3 years

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