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n7punk · 2 years

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It’s kind of a shame that your most popular fics are the more expkicit ones. I mean, I get it, but still! All your fics are great, you can just really see where ppls priorities are in the hit counts lol

this is super long sorry i had Many Thots.

honestly that could be a false correlation. at the top of my views are my long form AUs, and a lot of those are explicit (the non-explicit ones being ditm, the greys, 3m2, lotd, wdtfd, mnohl, tdhfy, & reflection - and only 3 of those are T, with the rest being M). long form fics get recommended more and they naturally have a higher view count because for one person to read to the end of one with 10 chapters, they have to view it 10 times. a lot of my T-M AUs are shorter (longest being 7 chapters) than my E AUs (the longest being 23 chapters....) so they get less views.

additionally, i think all of those T/M AUs except ditm, the greys, & maybe 3m2 were posted after ao3 changed how it counts views (only counting them from logged in users, not guests), so all fics posted after that date have a lower view count because a lot fewer are registering. i dont remember exactly when this happened, but thats a factor. a lot of the lower rated stuff is newer, so it has had less time to rack up views (not to mention the number of engaged fans in the catradora fandom naturally shrinking some as time passes from the end of the show).

for all these reasons, i would mostly look for correlation when it comes to one shots. There, you do see a lot of the explicit fics near the top, but i think you see something interesting if you sort by kudos instead. one shots are put on more even footing with long fics and you get an idea of how many individual people liked a story (now, you no longer get an idea of how many times they went back to reread it, which is a factor in enjoyment, and there's still the "sharing" bias for long fics, but i digress).

if you sort by kudos, you suddenly see a lot less bias for explicit ones (in fact, i would say its gone, given like a third of my fics are explicit). for instance, 3m2 becomes my 5th most popular fic.

this kind of leads to my final theory, which is that people are more likely to "reread" an explicit fic. because, well, they already know the plot, so they are less likely to randomly decide to reread that, but they are drawn back to the smut when they want to... be horny. anyway, ive suspected this is a phenomenon for a long time and looking at the view counts now, i definitely feel it has weight.

this makes the explicit fics seem more popular, and i guess you could argue they are, but if somebody is coming back just to read the smut, i dont know that really counts as them "rereading". its possible they'll then be like "oh yeah, i like this" and reread the whole thing, but it all depends what you put weight in personally.

so yeah. fic popularity is hard to rate. i kinda went off there but tldr, i don't think it's so much a correlation in popularity as it is in hit count.

now (i know, more after the tldr, i have a lot of Thots), i will say i think there is a bias in writers (me, at least) to make long form things explicit. i know for a fact there are people who look at an 80k fic that's rated T and go "why am i gonna get that invested and they dont even fuck at the end", so they skip that fic. this can be solved by including just one smut scene and not a bunch of them, but i also know for me personally, i would rather have multiple or none, because it feels like a waste to rate it E for one scene knowing that's also boxing out the people who dont like to read smut.

I'm also not so interested in writing "smut for smut's sake" so i usually only include it as part of a larger narrative where the plot just happens to include fucking (or it allows me to explore the characters in a new way). In general, i've really been feeling M fics lately because I feel like I can write whatever I want and still get most of the plot impact of smut, but I don't "have to" actually write it, which I just haven't been interested in.

I dont know if people who dont want smut also filter out M fics (i know before i started posting myself i didnt know the difference between M and E), but as i've said many times, i'm writing for myself, so how much i care runs out there if they do lmao. the fic that's upcoming is T, to be clear, this is just where i am generally.

#ask #anon #also im mostly making asks not rebloggable #because people would always reblog the weirdest random asks and it just made me go ??#asks are usually a lot more of me just talking and not usually intended to be shared outside of my audience/readers #so that was always kind of weird to me because i was like who cares about this except the people who follow me?#ficmeta #fic rambling #all fics

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everythingsinred · 2 years

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002 Two contrasting friendships:

KaoruYuka

YukaLuna

oooOOOh very exciting!!!

002

Kaoru & Yuka

When I started shipping them: we'll just address this whole thing thru a more platonic lens even tho i can also ship them romantically lol. i loved kaoru from her entrance and wanted more and more scenes with her so when yuka befriended her i was really happy. my favorite scene with them is when kaoru graduates <3

My thoughts: kaoru was such an important friend to yuka, who always supported her and wanted to help her. yuka also loved kaoru so much that she left her. and neither of them ever stopped thinking about each other: kaoru thought abt yuka so much that she named her son after a fruit to match yuka's daughter <3

What makes me happy about them: their kids have matching names <3 they found each other again <3 they never forgot about each other <3

What makes me sad about them: yuka cutting her hair after finding out about kaoru's death ;-;

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: lol i have RARELY seen fics where kaoru exists at all let alone where she interacts with yuka. i have nothing to base an answer off of. mostly i just dislike when ppl characterize yuka as negligent or abusive to mikan in fics. i guess i see where earlier fics are coming from, when they were written before yuka's backstory but still. it makes me sad. that has nothing to do with kaoru though

Things I look for in fanfic: if a fic has kaoru and yuka present at once and they interact at all PLEASE drop a link i wanna read

My wishlist: i want to see them as cringe, embarrassing moms <3 they shouldve had the chance ;-;

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: im fine with them not being romantic. it wasnt ever a conviction i had, i just like the idea. i like papa hyuuga for kaoru and shiki is my favorite of yuka's love interests so those options would leave me content.

My happily ever after for them: theyre both happy and hanging out in heaven. if they had both lived, id have loved to see them hanging out and embarrassing their kids <3

Yuka & Luna

When I started shipping them: i always tear up when yuka says "nobody has ever asked me to be their friend before" like they were so cute as kids

My thoughts: i genuinely think their friendship is so realistic. middle school absolutely IS the time when that sort of fall out would occur. and luna's insecurities about yuka not really liking her back make a lot of sense and are sadly relatable. they were each other's first real friend and as a result they were immature about their feelings. the esp manipulated luna and encouraged jealousy in her until she hated her with her whole being. he twisted the facts abt yuka's last night and im not okay with luna's actions at all bc (as ive said before) i hate child abusers. that being said, i start to ugly cry when yuka gets caught in the explosion and luna stops using her alice on the fuukitai so they can help her. no i dont approve of u luna but damn ur good at making me cry

What makes me happy about them: i find it so funny how clingy luna was bc she didnt know how to behave with a friend

What makes me sad about them: i am so sad abt luna cutting yuka out bc she didn't know how to behave with a friend

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: not rly anything for them specifically. luna is such a plot device character in most fanfic so im not rly invested in making sure shes not ooc or anything. ive talked abt luna being used to make mikan jealous (and how shes just stretched and bended to fill a specific role) in all sorts of aus and i genuinely have no problem with it like who else are u gonna use? i get it. ive done it too. ive read it and found it enjoyable. go luna as a plot device! u stole the show in the sports festival <3 but again that has nothing to do with yuka and luna as a pairing lol

Things I look for in fanfic: if an au fic EVER had luna and yuka the same age id be genuinely so shocked.

My wishlist: idk if i could ever expect them to be friends again the way they were before, but it would be nice to see them make amends. though im sure luna's more recent actions, like at the sports fest, might further complicate things

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: i dont ship luna with anybody bc im a reasonable person and she doesnt deserve to be with her groomer/abuser.

My happily ever after for them: it would have been nice if yuka and luna had made up before anybody had to die.

#thank u for sending me this!#truly contrasting friendships lol #i still enjoy both lol #but lunas way more problematic lmao #koizumi luna #azumi yuka #igarashi kaoru #ga #answered #ask games #heartsostrings #if anyone is wondering if i forgive luna.... no :)#i just think shes relatable as a kid

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thedreadvampy · 2 years

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opinions on the mechs becoming a bigger fandom?

I'm glad people are having fun! I'm bad at big fandoms though so my involvement in the fandom has historically been inversely proportional to the number of people in it, but that's a personal taste thing not an 'I think it's bad that the fandom is big now' thing

um it's been interesting though since the post DTTM explosion I think, less from a fandom perspective and more from a friend perspective. you really get a solid sightline on the good the bad and the weird impacts of Being Internet Famous when it's people you know.

also like my relationship to Mechs fandom has always been weird bc it straddles the line between 'this is a very cool piece of art I'm invested in and want to talk about' and 'this is a Thing My Friends Are Making that they want to talk about and I want to encourage them in' and sometimes there's a weird clash between those things. and back in the early 2010s when the fandom was small and mostly either their friends or friends of friends or ppl who'd seen them on the Fringe and chatted to them after, that was a much more statistically common way to experience the band. now that the vast majority of the fandom is people who may never have seen them play let alone had preexisting relationships with them that clash is a lot more pronounced. they're two different beasts, you know?

the 2012 fandom was largely enthusiastic My Friend's Band enjoyers who had some degree of one on one interactions with the performers, the 2021 fandom is a much more conventional fandom which is much more connected to the characters than the performers. both are good and fun but sometimes I personally sort of miscalibrate and get suddenly surprised by things like people making guesses about the performers' offstage experience or shipping characters together in ways that feel weird compared to their performer's real lives or whatever. basically behaving like a normal fandom but I'm used to it being like 'and how do you know these guys? oh I'm Morgan's little sister, and you? oh you went to uni with Tim cool cool cool.' and it's. not that now.

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midnyghtmadnes · 3 years

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Thoughts

So... I finished SVSSS. Gonna just stream out my thoughts. Will be long cause I wanna cover all my final opinions. Then I’ll shut up about it lol.

So, all in all, the novel was enjoyable and fun. Definitely can't say I have the same emotional investment in the characters as I do in MDZS though, except SY, he's my favorite.

To start, I guess this is where fanfics will come into play, but I want more SY and Airplane interactions. They're the only two that can truly understand the other's situation and I think that’d make for a lot of interesting and fun interactions. Though at the same time it's also funny how they have that understanding but their current relationship is basically just like, not a love-hate relationship. But a.. somewhat camaraderie I'll help ya out maybe if you need it-but I also don't particularly like you, relationship. Still, I am falling onto the Cucumberplane wagon (not in a shippy way though).

As for MBJ and Airplane.. I just wish the novel went into the status of their relationship after everything that happened. SQH was constantly stressed out by him and seemed to have had his share of beatings from MBJ. I saw shipping stuff with them as I was reading it and I was like.. ehhhh? At that point the only connection I knew was that MBJ was the one who was supposed to kill him, so I was like ?? Where did that come from. By the end of the extras, I wanna say I'm on board with it lol, but I just wish we saw more.

Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang... :( I love them and am really sad for them. And yes, I do constantly forget that ZZL killed Gongyi Xiao (who I liked a lot), but come on. He's snek Wen Ning and you can't tell me otherwise. I also actually like Shen Jiu's character. Which is kinda funny thinking about it, cause for example I know many ppl find JGY to be a sympathetic villain, and while I can understand, I still hate him lol. But SJ, who feels very similar to JGY in some ways, I find him really interesting and want to explore him more (that's what fanfics are for ayyy). Funny how all the antagonists of this story caught my eye lol. I didn't care for any of the villains in MDZS in terms of nuance (not that they were poorly written, but they just weren't the Type™ I fall for). But SV managed to get me to want to know more about all of them.

Bingqiu final assessment.... complete indifference. It wasn't as terrible as it could've been, and the extras did make it better, but idk. I flipped flopped a lot as I was reading regarding whether I was okay with it. The 50s chapters, no. Then it got better. Then chapter 80 happened and I was just.... it was genuinely painful getting through that chapter lol. I was constantly pausing and just.. collecting myself. Then the extras and I was like, hmmm it seems.. ok I guess. But I still think it's not the healthiest relationship. You can’t tell me his spiel in chapter 79 isn’t still a total guilt trip. Xin Mo exacerbates his negative emotions, it doesn’t make them up. He’s also constantly jealous even in the extras, making comments of suspicion on the slightest things and just wanting SQQ’s attention for himself. His whole world revolves around SY, and that’s just not a healthy thing for any relationship. It’s undeniably obsessive, and while I don’t see LBH acting on his jealousy, I think that’s only because “it’d make Shizun sad” and not because it goes against his morality. I think LBM is just as capable of doing messed up stuff (murder, torture, etc.) as LBG.

I also just feel like there's something that just doesn't connect between SY in the whole novel, and SY in the extras. By chapter 78 he still did not seem particularly reciprocative of LBH's advances. And even within the extras he's very no-touchy and anti-PDA. He tends to refuse LBH’s requests for intimate moments (until the crocodile tears guilt him into doing what LBH wants) and overall is easily embarrassed, like he's not confident in this relationship. I think at the least more lines of buildup should’ve been added, particularly in moments where it was just the two of them.

And you know what also kinda bugs me about it? I dislike how much the story pushed on that SY was confidently straight since birth. If you want to convince me that the initially ‘straight’/uninterested character ends up falling for another guy, just don’t push it so hard in my face contradicting that. Wei Ying flirted with girls, cool yeah. But the novel never gave the impression he was completely closed off to the idea. With how WY is written, I can totally see him being bi. But SY is more like, well I somehow ended up raising the ML as gay but hey that’s not so bad I guess, at the last minute. I can't say I ship LiuShen either, but I can definitely see the appeal when the canon alternative may easily not float your boat. Nothing beats Wangxian in my heart though 💕

As I expected, am sad with how the relationship with Cang Qiong Mountain ended up. I mean I guess it wasn't necessarily on bad terms, but basically his other disciples are left without their shizun and the sect's whole familial relationship is scattered. I guess it's because I appreciate Wangxian staying in the Cloud Recesses, having this space of theirs and the Jingshi that they can call home. I read the fanfics that have LWJ making WY a lotus pond out front and just their beautiful domestic post-canon life. I love that they can go out night hunting with the juniors. They can go out and travel, just the two of them, when they want. They could retire one day if they wanted. But they'll also always have a family to come back to. LQR begrudgingly accepting WY in time. The bread and butter that is Yunmeng bros reconciliation. Bingqiu.. doesn't really have anything like that. For instance, Liu Qingge and LBH are on terms that I don't feel could ever be recuperated the way WWX and JC could. I don't think Bingqiu could ever stay at CQM in complete comfort. So that's just a little sad.

Also is it just me who, when reading, would always imagine TLJ with short hair, even tho nobody ever has short hair in these novels lol.

Anyway lol, I think that about covers everything I can think of. If you got this far, you the real one ✌🏼

#svsss #scumbag villain #scumbag self saving system #shen qingqiu #luo binghe #liu qingge #shen jiu #yue qingyuan #luo bingmei #zhuzhi lang #tianlang jun #mobei jun #shang qinghua

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sophsun1 · 3 years

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i just joined qaf tumblr / real fandom and im soooo surprised to see ppl wanted brian and justin to get married / end up staying together seriously🙃i ALWAYS imagined the consensus to be otherwise - my take of them having marked each other in such an important and serious way and that being what remains of their relationship rather than a relationship that continues - seems to be a controversial / hot one… same for me generally not liking 511-512 but liking 513… AHHHH im so confused

Hey anon !

Firstly welcome to what remains of the tiny active qaf fandom, it's nice to see new fans of the show and britin.

Well this is just my take on it but I guess it's not really that controversial imo that the fans would want them to stay together ultimately, I mean when you invest in a ship and root for them you want that happy ever after yk ? I know for myself it's all I wanted especially as we followed both their characters journey's and how they developed individually as a couple. I loved seeing Brian go from a hedonistic, no fucks given, anti love warrior into someone who grew to believe that not only was he capable of loving someone outside of himself, that he also wanted to be loved in return and no longer saw it as a weakness. We saw Justin go from a naive 17 year old, coming out and trying to navigate his way through this new world he's introduced into by Brian. Gaining a new community and friends but also the harsh struggles, trauma and prejudice he faces from his own family and at school. To finally grow into a independent, strong and confident young man who loves fiercely but also knows his worth and isn't that starry eyed young teen we meet at the start.

To see two characters I love become soulmates, helping each other grow, facing heartbreak and angst to ultimately find their way back to each other because they don't belong anywhere else but by each others side ? You bet your ass I'm gonna want them to stay together as much as they do.

I mean I didn't enjoy season 5 as a whole for them anyway, it wasn't well written and the story direction they took them in was not an enjoyable one to watch. I did enjoy the moments of 5x11 and 5x12 of course, we got the long awaited I love you from Brian which led into the most gorgeous proposal and declaration of his love and how much Justin meant to him not only in his actions but his words. We got to witness all their friends and family be overjoyed for them, and see them excited to get married and be together, it's all a fan could wish for after a sketchy season.

Ultimately they don't get married and yes I have opinions on that, but this is already such a long response lmao, I'll just say 5x13 was heartbreaking and yes I wanna cry the times I do watch it. But their goodbye and final time together was beautifully shot and acted by Gale and Randy so it's a fave moment for me amongst the sadness.

At the end of the day anon, everyone has a different takeout and opinion on the shows and ships we support, if you enjoyed the ending they got that's great because you got enjoyment out of it and I'm sure there's others out there who felt the same.

#britin #soph asks #lmao #another ramble #ultimately if you #enjoyed it #thats what mattered #everyones gonna #have a different viewpoint #its what makes #a fandom #brian kinney #justin taylor

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2ndblogg · 4 years

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Hey! Just read your hot take on novel!wangxian and I absolutely agree. I'm gonna have to say here that I believe it boils down to the fetishization of homosexual men in a lot of the fandom culture that surrounds mlm shipping, as you said it's a space for a lot of women to experiment with their desires and whatnot, but I think therein lies the breaking points between reading novel!wangxian as a good, healthy relationship vs. reading it as a very flawed and toxic one. As an LGBT person, reading the way the author dealt with their relationship made me extremely uncomfortable, it just really feels like something that is written by someone who is more invested in using her queer characters for satisfying her and her reader's own pleasure than a well-built, strong relationship between two characters. Not to take away from the novel in some other aspects, I believe that novel!wwx is a much better, much more nuanced character than what he is in cql, but when it comes to wangxian, I think the intentions are very different for each of them. To each their own, I guess, but I do find it very troubling that some people in the fandom have a really hard time admitting that novel wangxian is not even remotely healthy.

Absolutely.

And can I just say how glad it makes me to see that not everyone is praising this book for it’s lgbt representation...

But I guess that’s also why I just occasionally feel the need to scream my frustrations into the void or try to make sense of the novel.

And why I try to be understanding and accepting of people’s opinion of the novel and not take it ‘personally’ (in the sense of sitting there thinking “holy shit this is how they view ME, this is what they think of ME” etc).

I was in fandoms back when they were really a place dominated by straight (homophobic) women and realism or lgbt representation wasn’t on anyone’s mind (and the occasional dude butting in to say that’s not how sex works or bottoming is experienced was ignored or told to get out). I experienced this change to fandoms being more of a lgbt space, of people becoming aware that media can shape your views of groups of people, of people becoming aware of their fetishizing of fictional gays vs. their prejudice against real life lgbt people etc.

And tbh MXTX just writes like one of those, she writes wangxian like everyone wrote their gay relationships around 2005 and earlier; clear power imbalance, clear roles and attributes that are divided into ‘manly’ and ‘feminine’, certain physical attributes (like the female self insert character aka the bottom being pretty and slight and weaker and shorter), men/the penetrating partner can’t really be raped so anything the woman/bottom tries isn’t really ‘bad’, the male love interest is forceful and self centered but ONLY because he’s so in love and since he’s emotionally stunted he has to express that through sex, men/tops NEED sex and it’s rude/mean to deny them that, the girl/bottom isn’t THAT horny or in charge of their own sexuality but wants to please their partner and what they really get out of it is the emotional aspect, decisions need to be made for them because the dude/top just knows better, the girl/bottom is childish and flirty and the guy/top suffers through it until he finally snaps and shows the girl/bottom who'sboss etc etc. (honestly homophobia and misogyny is so tightly knit in this kind of fiction, if it wasn’t so frustrating it would be very interesting).

Tbh I disagree with novel!wwx being more nuanced (despite a lot of ppl whose opinions I really respect also feeling this way), because I simply cannot seperate him from the wangxian relationship. All I see are tropes and stereotypes applied to make him ‘work’ in the context of the wangxian relationship instead of an actual personality...

To me, in CQL WWX is clearly the main character and you love his interactions with LWJ and want more of them and value them, wheras in the novel most of the time WWX plays second fiddle even when a scene should technically be about him and LWJ’s presence is incredibly suffocating, because he’s always being controlling or at the very least influencing WWX.

I also don’t feel like WWX has much of a character arc/growth. We’re essentially told he had one but the only thing that really actually changes is him hating himself a bit more and letting LWJ smash..., and I guess: he’s less independent than ever, he’s more isolated that ever...

I’ve called novel!wangxian a relationship between an abuser and his victim, because you can find evidence of that in the text. Not because I think the author wanted to portray an unhealthy gay relationship. Like you said, she was fetishizing and wrote for a similar crowd. But to me that ‘realization’ helped...I still don’t see how people can call it a masterpiece but I can at least understand hyping something you like up...

And like, badly written gay relationship or not; gay/straight,man/women, I see how people can find it hot. Exploring your sexuality through fictional characters isn’t necessarily a strictly straight girl phenomena. I probably have read fic that was exactly like this, I can’t judge anyone for it. But no one prints out the last PWP they read and goes, “this is ideal lgbt representation and nothing will ever be this good, the fact that it includes rape makes it so realistic” like????

(Is that part or an effect of the woke and purety culture? you can’t say ‘i like this book but it has flaws’ or ‘i’ve enjoyed this but it’s not up the feminism or lgbt acceptance that i preach/live’ so you have to pretend it’s flawless?)

And like, I do think novel!wangxian is a nightmare when it comes to lgbt representation and I do believe this is largely due to a cishet woman writing about gay men and fetishizing them (the fact that a lot of peoples arguments why novel!wangxian ‘is better’ boils down to ‘there’s kissing and sex’ is also pretty telling). And I am frightend and worried by some peoples response to it.

But is it really fair to see it as just that? It’s a problem sure, but that same thing happens in straight media (which I am admittedly not well versed in). Stephanie Meyer didn’t set out to write Edward Cullen to be a creep and non of the teenage girls that went crazy over him viewed it as such...Reylo fans (aside from some of them proclaiming Finn to be the real villain and saying it’s racist and misogynistic to not find Kylo Ren hot) found a way to view him threatening her as romantic and sexy, Loki fans that didn’t ship him with Thor usually fell into the camp of “he would be a perfect boyfriend” or “what if this OFC was his slave and he raped her everyday <3″... like ignoring/glorifying/romanticizing behaviours or exploring what kinks you might have through the safety of fictional characters and fictional settings isn’t JUST happening when it comes to ‘the gays’...

And not just specifically in fandom spaces either, a lot of ‘romantic’ movies include inappropriate touching, the boy/guy knowing better than the girl what she wants etc. And I absolutely do believe that that’s something that normalized these things for a lot of young girls and guys (I don’t want to get into this too much, I’ve really seen a change in the past few years, but before that it was pretty common for young boys to believe they need to keep pursuing and pressuring a girl that has said no, girls truly thought boys could die of blue balls, girls thought it was their duty as good girlfriends to let their boyfriends fuck them even when they weren’t in the mood, that they couldn’t talk about what they want in bed or what they don’t find enjoyable because ‘sex is for boys and girls get a relationship in exchange’ etc.).

And in much the same way movies have only relatively recently begun being called out for that, it’s also still pretty recently that they’re being called out for having their one queer coded character be a pedophile and a murder or whatever...Like, society as a whole becoming aware of these issues.

But do authors that publish their work with a specific target audience in mind have a responsibility to think about the effect it might have on them? (And I can already hear loud screams of ‘no way, it’s not your fault if your audience isn’t smart enough to understand that this bad thing is bad’, but I actually do believe in a way they do. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t write whatever you want, just maybe take a look at HOW you bring your point across. (We do KNOW people are influenced by what propaganda they’re consistantly fed. I mean, you wouldn’t write a pro-drugs childrens book...) )

What if the author isn’t aware of their bias and prejudices? Or their target audience isn’t their actual audience?

And do we, society and media, judge female and male authors differently when it comes to romance and sex in fiction? (The answer is yes btw) But also, where do we draw the line at calling something ‘badly written’ and calling it toxic? Can it be both? As I’ve said before, a lot of people claim that only the physical intimacy scenes of novel!wangxian are bad, because they’re badly written and OOC, some say the book as amazingly written and only the wangxian relationship is bad because the author doesn’t know how to write gay men. In my ‘hot take’ I essentially said that’s not necessarily bad writing so much as it’s simply an (okay, unintentional) toxic relationship. And would this relationship still come across as toxic (or badly written, whichever you want) if we didn’t know the author to be a cishet woman? Or if a gay man had written it? (my personal, eloquent answer for this is: yes, but differently.)

Which was really all just a rambly way to get to my point of: it’s not just fetishizing of gay men, it’s also the homophobia and self-inserting in a safe situation.

You can literally replace WWX in the novel with a female character and it wouldn’t change a thing. The author takes such an effort into building up this power imbalance in every aspect of their life that if WWX were a heroine nothing would change in this (sexist/ancient society) setting.

(And clearly this is something that appeals to people if you look at the amount of female!WWX fics...)

Not even the sex scenes. There are maybe two allusions in all of them combined that WWX might also have a dick but like, you can’t be sure and it sure as hell doesn’t need stimulation.

(and again, that could be written as a kink...but it’s just not.)

CQL is a gay love story. MDZS at it’s core is none of that.

But I also very much agree with your ‘to each their own’, like here I am criticizing and trying to find explanations and whatever, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter why someone might like (or write) a book like this, I vastly prefer CQL!wangxian but people have their own reasons for not doing so.

The ‘problem’ really only lies in, as you said, people not being able to accept that it’s not a healthy relationship. Or claiming it to be perfect lgbt rep.

And because my brain can’t shut up today:

I also can’t stop thinking that the way some people ‘glorify’ the book as due to their age and ‘inexperience’.

When I was a pretty young kid and got into fanfiction, there was nothing but completely OOC!whump to be found in the first two fandoms I was in. And I loved it. It was YEARS later that I thought I might like to read something with the characters being...in character. What I’m trying to say, in different stages and phases of your life you might enjoy different things, for different reasons...and obviously, in that moment, you won’t think about ‘what appeals to me here/should this appeal to me/etc’.

I don’t mean inexperience as ‘sexual inexperience’ here, though of course that could be part of it, but also like, inexperience with this genre (is this the first book like this you read, or did you just read 50 in a row that all had the same unhealthy vibes?), with lgbt people and issues (do you know any lgbt people or is your only image of them either the cute boy you can’t have and don’t want to see with another girl or grown men in full kink gear in front of children during CSD? and also: do you think ‘i like this’ and that’s the end of it or do you notice how many people idolize this objectively unhealthy relationship and won’t allow critique on it...)

I...just wanted to say thanks really.

I just can’t stop rambling apparently and I know I mostly just repeated what you said or what I already said but in longer... I just really do feel very strongly about novel!wangxian and the perception of them and have actually at times felt very personally...worried/affected, by people’s acceptance and love of them and I just... have to try and make sense of it...

#i'll be honest rambling like this is very therapeutic and I'm glad some of you read the last one and send asks and agreed #and it's why i'll (try to) put this in the tags too...i like discussions but seeing ppl NOT going 'it's true love/perfect rep' love that #mdzs #mdzs meta #mxtx critical #i guess

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tonyglowheart · 3 years

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Trying to semi-organize my thoughts on what exactly I am wanting out of spn fic and hm let's see. If I remember this post in the future, I may update it as I think of/on things and use this for reference so I, also, don't forget lol

Okay so, wants/likes:

Cas prominent. He is my, as I believe the kpop kids say, bias, so he is kind of non-negotiable. Sorry I am just not interested in fics where he is not prominent

Destiel not required but a good plus. Slight preference for intricate courtship rituals over ones where they figure things out ridiculously easy, unless it is established relationship. If the revelation comes too quick and easy then I get taken out of the moment :')

Optional: Angels treating Cas like their baby brother :3 Cas can be somewhat put out by it or not. Actually maybe bonus if he IS, bc they are all angels of the lord and relative by rank and experience, And Yet [whoever] just cannot help but be *points* Baby

canonverse is plus. canon divergence is okay but idk how close to canon I'm looking for, if it's too close to an episode rewrite I may not be into that either

casefics are cool. If it's got that canon-typical vaguely racist sht then pls warn me going in 😔

Found family. Family don't end in blood!!! Spn may forget this but I never will!!!

Any exploration of the whole fucky destiel thematic dichotomies, the whole free will vs destiny shit, stuff like words of prophets are written on subway walls, like.. idk, something that is intricate-rituals-gay and also makes me think of the philosophy of thehuman condition

corollary: slow burns ig?? or like mutual pining? canon typical thinking they are not worthy or that it is something they cannot have? canon typical did not realize until later but even then they have their individual canon-typical reasons for not acting on it, until they do bc it's fic so they can get together for realsies?

trope: Cas and/or Destiel being parents. I read one recently where it was like single dad Cas (to Claire and Jack) and then Dean came (back) into his life recently and I rly liked it

AUs are fine but highly subject to mood so we'll see. I did read a Star Trek-y AU I liked

I'm down for a lot of various other kinds of plot tropes and stuff, tho I want stuff that's more character and plot and less, like, pwp or fuck or die or that kinda thing

trope: curses maybe? I've found a couple curse-focused fics which were interesting

trope: Hurt/Comfort of the Cas whump kind but not necessarily have to be just Cas. But like.. u know when Uriel is beating him up and he looks all bloody and beautiful, or when he flexes his sexy angel powers and transports the Winchesters to the past but then collapses bc he overtaxed himself, or when he had that blanket on when he was suffering from the attack dog spell.... yeah,,,

trope: Anything with like the Winchesters caring about and caring for Cas. I just rly like Cas being taken care of :') pls wrap him in a blanket and pat his shoulder brusque-softly in ur emotionally repressed way Dean

bottom line my emphasis tends to be more on character and plot. I can't do plot without character, the relationships - whether ship or gen - are important to my enjoyment of a fic. I can sit thru a lot if the characters/character dynamics are good and chewy lmao like u can rly sink ur teeth into it

Bonus features:

eldritch horror angels are a bonus. Give me unfathomable trueform angels, I feel like I don't see that enough

wings* but.... caveat I like my spn wings more metaphysical than literal unless they're literal for a point, but this isn't set in stone either. I'm just... slightly tired of the physicality of the wings I guess. Like it's not the physicality that's the issue, ig, but when it's not treated as metaphysical (as well)

wouldn't mind some good endverse fics to chew on altho that might also make me sad

Cas being cute, a la crazy!Cas (who is.... so soft.... his innocence.. *clutches chest*) or like when Cas and Dean went to talk to that police guy and Cas was like you tell them it's angels and demons warring and he will tell you what he knows, or when Cas was like I'm gonna become a hunter :3, or interrogating the cat, or this is his serious face, yes

Powerful af Cas?? I miss season 4/5 Cas, when he was powerful and self-assured and wasn't "mentally deficient puppy" as Metatron meanly put it Cas. I feel like we get less of that as the seasons go on... I miss Cas being powerful and exuding energy that I'm sure is what had ppl assigning him as top energy. Like yes flex ur sexy sexy angel powers pls. There's one ep where my notes just say "ANGEL SMITE ANGEL SMITE / HEAAALING." Season 6 Cas where he is more out of touch with humanity and more brusque was also intriguing even tho he was like that bc of extenuating circumstances. But him flexing his sexy angel powers sure was sexy

Do not wants :(

Endgame human!Cas. Sorry I like short-lived Cassidy am more into feathered Cas than human!Cas. endgame human!Cas just isn't a good solution/happy ending to me, I don't think Cas needs to change to be able to live happily, and also I like to chew on the like philosophical underpinnings of an immortal/mortal pairing if that does get called into question lol

Human AU* but like asterisk bc I will take human AU if the plot is compelling and/or the characterization still manages to capture that je nais se quoi of canonverse. If they are, like, middle age dads being domestic, as an example, tho, then I can probs do that, I just like.. have limited capacity for career-based AUs for the sake of it, if that makes sense... But character/character dynamics trumps all, like I said lmao.. I've sat thru scenarios/setups that lowkey dealt me psychic damage bc of the nature of the set dressing, bc I checked it out out of morbid curiosity but the way they did the characterization ended up working for me

A/B/O - I am not seeking A/B/O at the moment

Hurt no Comfort - it would make me too sad :(

fics that treat angels like literal physical feathered beings. Idk I just like... want the whole angel thing to be treated more metaphysically. They are multidimensional wavelengths of celestial intent in holy corporate/business attire visages but they are still very much multidimensional wavelengths of celestial intent the ballpark size of our Chrysler building. If the wings are treated too literally I find I start getting bored, ironically. This is ironic bc I'm a slut for wingfic. But with spn I find that a conventional kind of wingfic/angel conception where the wings are just limbs with maybe some slight handwaved dimension-shifting stowing is.. slightly passe for my tastes. Unless it's like a forced manifestation or sth. Just like.. get the metaphysics involved, tie it to angelic grace. Something. Make is racy. But not too racy, the whole wings-as-erogenous-zones thing I'm a bit over too, xenobiology to humans would just be biology to these beings, it doesn't make sense to me to be like "oh they have a tail and it's EXTRA sensitive," like are you suggesting your arm/armpit is an extra special species-typical erogenous zone too?

deaging unless it ties to some other kinda plotty deal somehow ig? Like... I got invested in this fandom for them as they are now I'm not too interesting in unseasoned nibling vers

this maybe goes with the human aus tho that's a slight asterisk but hard line no high school aus. pls I cannot take the psychic damage that would deal to me personal

I have no conclusion even tho I feel like I need one. here's wonderwall? ig I can stumble around looking for reclists and see if anything sticks out, trawling thru tags so far has been a mixed bag

Anyway haha lol, stand-up-style-tone I mean I'm not asking for a lot amirite. Just a nebulously specific set of intricate rituals wrapped around a plot and also found family or something, like you know, just a trifling

#supernatural cw #I had a tag for things like this before maybe #idk what #personal reference #hope I remember that in the future lmao...#long post

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arethereanyoriginalusernames · 4 years

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Fanfiction review : Unexpected

Disclaimer: Do not send hate to anyone mentioned in this post. If you plan to respond in anyway to this post, I ask that you remain civil to everyone. Also, this review is an opinion post. Do not take what I say here as fact. Thank you.

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I like sorbet. I do! I prefer it to ice cream, and I would gladly eat half a tub without hesitation. But if I were to eat it every day? I'd get sick of it. It's always bothersome when something like that happens. Especially in literature. Sometimes, a short story is more enjoyable than a lengthy saga. Good things can come in small packages....

... what was I talking about again? Ah, whatever.

Anyway, let's talk about zoophobia fanfiction.

*****

Those who have had the misfortune of reading my last fic review may recall that I went through each and every chapter of TDL's story. This time, however, this will be structured in a sort of ramble. I will be discussing things in sections, and I will give my overall thoughts at the end. This is a review of "Unexpected " by a "Kalum16" , who, if my memory serves me correctly, goes by @kartoonluv on Tumblr. Now, this review was not requested by anyone, so if Kalum (who I'll refer to as KL for brevity's sake) wishes this review to be deleted, I will comply with his wishes. Also, I suggest that you read this on fanfiction.net before continuing with this post.

******

Something I would like to get out of the way are my views on romance and the story's pairing. I'd like to bring these up now as I will be mentioning them later on.

Firstly, I have never been in a romantic relationship. However, I have been in love before, and I know people who are or who have been in relationships. That being said, I have considered that perhaps my lack of experience will mean that with certain things... I might not get it. The importance of certain events may be lost on me, and I may not be able to connect with things couples do.

I would also like to confess that Kayla x Damian is one of my least favorite ZP ships. The idea that after Damian basically harasses Kayla, manipulates her and Zill, and basically makes their lives miserable for his own gain, that he can be rewarded by getting the girl? Not exactly something I jive with. Also, (and this is my interpretation) I do not think that Damian's feelings towards Kayla are genuine. By that, I think (due to how little they know about each other) Dame is more in love with his idea of who Kayla is. Or, if we weren't going to look to deep into it and say that it's because he has a thing for Christians, it would make Dame's attraction pretty materialistic. Neither idea really screams "good ship!" to me.

********

That being said, let's discuss how the pairing is handled here. I'm actually on board with this depiction of the relationship. For one thing, it seems that Kay and Dame have become friends. They clearly care about one another before starting a relationship, and the story makes it so that they can relate to each other. This takes away my issue of these characters not acting knowing each other well, and thus the feelings they have towards one another come off as genuine.

I think that the story makes them out to the a cute couple. However, I still have a major issue with it, and the story as a whole.

Basically, (after a while) I think it's boring.

To best explain why, I would first like detour and discuss Damian and Kayla individually.

*******

Ladies first. I have mentioned in previous posts that I enjoyed the first chapter of this story. Back then, I had not read beyond chapter 1, as I hadn't realized that the story had been updated. And you know what? I still stand by that. In chapter 1, Kayla feels a lot more interesting than she is in the comic. It's interesting to see Kay in a situation where she basically gets what she wants, but she ends up hating it. She struggles with writers block, self doubt and regret. It's sad to see how apathetic she's become, and how she no longer holds the ambition she once did.

I also liked that she still had some internalized prejudice against demons. It made sense, and it made what was going on more interesting as it created inner conflict. Now, if the story was just the one chapter, I would have bought that her falling in love with Dame would have made all her prejudice go away. I mean, you would need to wrap it up by the end.

But we got more than 1 chapter, and thus the evaporated prejudice feels kind of contrived and like lost potential. Hell, it would have been interesting if an ongoing subplot involved Kayla conquering her prejudice by learning about demons and debunking the stories that I heard as a kid. Her just yeeting away her prejudice because she falls for one guy feels kind of lame, and going forward, Kayla feels less interesting in the fic.

Originally, she had all this regret and self doubt. While it's great to see her doing good, her issues feel like they've almost all been resolved by a makeout session. Throughout the story, Kay doesn't grow or develop in any way. Her only real issue is "I'm in love with Dame and ppl don't like it, woe is me"

There's this chapter where Dame meets Kay's parents, and I feel like I should be invested, but I'm more confused than anything. The story points out that Kay's parents were ok with Zill (who's part demon, part whatever the fuck), but they're not ok with Dame. I mean, yes, he's the antichrist, but have they not figured out that their daughter is into some weird dudes? Like, they're perspective is painted as "oh, Kay was such a good girl, and yadda yadda", but, again, they were ok with Zill. You'd think that that relationship would at least make them question that idea? Also, why are Kay's parents deer? Am I missing something?

Kay serves really only one role here. She's Dame's gf, she'll defend the relationship to the grave, and she cares about him. She doesn't become much more than that, and every chapter feels like it's redundant in reinforcing that idea. Like...ok, we get it, let's move on.

*******

Does Damian do much here? Not really. He's mainly the inverse of Kayla for the most part, being "I will defend this love, no matter fucking what". The issue being constantly brought up about how he's the antichrist, so "oh no, that makes things difficult ", is always resolved in about a chapter.

The story feels like it's trying to give Damian some development. I mean, I guess he stands up for himself against Kay's parents, and defends her from his? Oh, and there's that moment where he's like "Yo, I have no control over my life, I don't wanna be a prince, you make me happy ", etc. But not even this really does anything. The meeting with his parents feels like a repeat of meeting Kay's parents. We even get the one parent approval, one on one talk, and it's the mom, just like before. Oh, and Dame's emotional "I will reject prince-y ness to be with you " speech? All that leads to is them having sex.

Ok, well, that last one I might give a pass. I don't find sex to be that big a deal, but I know some people view it as this super important thing, so maybe through that lense, I could see sex as being an emotional payoff.

*******

One thing I won't give a pass is chapter 2, which really didn't need to be here. Jack never shows up again, Kayla can be subtracted from this chapter entirely, and the only build up to this was a couple lines in the previous chapter. The chapter itself is alright, but it feels like it should have been it's own separate story. My only idea as to why this chapter should stay is that, apart from Kayla in chapter 1, this is the only chapter with development. Damian owning up for being a shit is great, and it shows some of only god damn growth for anyone here.

Another chapter that didn't need to be here was whichever was the chapter when Zill showed up again. Admittedly, I skipped this chapter almost entirely. Look, he and Kay broke up, and they're dating different people. That's it. That's all we need. I read the first few paragraphs and the last few. I feel like I don't need to read the entire chapter to know that it's just reinforcing the idea of how great a couple Kayla and Damian are. You know, like basically every chapter in here.

*****

My biggest issue overall with this story is the relationship. As much as I've been ragging on this fic, KL is very gifted at writing. There were some instances where a reread or two could fix some wonky sentences (sounds like me reviewing my posts), but overall he does have a good grasp on it.

That being said, the relationship, the core of this story, is not interesting enough to warrant all six chapters. The only issue Kayla and Damian face are the opinions of others. They never have any reason to question the relationship, question themselves as people, or think about how to handle things. It would have been a lot more interesting if we saw them develop the close relationship the story portrays them as having. It would be interesting if we saw them learn more about each other, or discover ways to deal with each other if one of them is being a dumb bitch. We get it. They love and care about each other. The world around them think it's weird. Every chapter just reinforces the same idea again and again.

I think KL could easily make this better. There's a bunch of plot points that are never brought up more than once that could be interesting. For instance, Kayla struggling to write new songs. We could see more of how she and Dame deal with that instead of having them mention "oh yeah, the problem is fixed now ". Does Damian ever earn Jack's forgiveness? Does Kayla learn anything new about demons?

KL, I believe you when you say these two care a lot about each other. And yeah, seeing how they make their relationship work in spite of what others think is an interesting idea on paper. But the characters don't become closer to each other or anything. Why would I be concerned about the issues presented in the story when I know that they're just going to be resolved in the same way?

You know it's kind of like sorbet...

I would still nonetheless recommend this story tho. Again, as much as I've ragged on it, I still think that the story is good. As mentioned before, I don't have much experience with romantic relationships, so perhaps something here could be lost on me. I'm curious to know anyone else's thoughts.

I apologize for wasting your time

- Spooky S Skeletons

Ps. Yes, quarantine is messing with my head :) just bear with me

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magical-agatha · 4 years

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i like sword art online fatal bullet somehow despite it doing so many things wrong and even more things that make me personally annoyed. mainly just like. kirito. and like. the inscrutable unbalanced gameplay. and the terrible menus and general failure at telling you what you need to do and where to do it. but the bits i like i guess i really really like. like, if u can ignore the terrible qualities, its a game that rly wants to let you like, put yourself in the world, it has a lot of escapist qualities and i guess its rly like, an isekai game? it lets u have an isekai adventure without getting hit by a truck. i made a self insert whos an idealised version of myself (tho shes missing the muscles and fat), and im using her to have adventures and flirt with girls and make friends. its not a good game but i guess ive figured out how to make it fun for myself by investing in the characters i like and rewriting context. like, kirito is annoying and sucky but he also just feels like someone ud meet in an mmo. every character feels like that actually. kirito sucks but he's also like, 'that guy i met in an mmo who doesn't realise he's made a polycule and also he adopted an ai and treats his mmo marriage to his mmo wife as tho its a real marriage and she does too and they seem genuinely happy and loving to each other?' like hes annoying but he doesnt seem like a bad person or even an asshole. i havent seen the anime. but he just seems like a str*ight person who loves his wife and wants to be friends with you. i dont want to be his friend but i also dont totally hate him. idk, i think im rewriting him a bit in my head so i like him more but even so.

i think i also like it bc im an mmo playing dweeb who is kinda lonely and met her girlfriend thru an mmo which we play together a lot. so im enjoying this story about reuniting with an old friend in an mmo and spending time with her bc its relateable?? also it helps that im 90% sure u can actually romance her over the course of the game and develop a relationahip. and so far most of the characters have felt rly fleshed out and real. so like. im expecting that to be done well?? im not playing this for the gameplay but for the story i guess? but the gameplay is still cool and fun even if its deeply flawed. its. third person shoot the gun but you have a grappling hook, dark souls roll, and mmo abilities. you explore dungeons and fight robots and other 'players' (pve disguised as pvp') and you do it with your fake mmo friends and your fake mmo child and its like. fun and terrible at the same time. like its so easy to get stuck in a death spiral and run out of ammo but it's also like. pretty fun. the companion ai is pretty solid. not gonna astound or win awards but like. its decent. itll get you through things. they hold their own and feel like team mates. you get annoyed when they make mistakes and excited when they do well and worried when they go down. its a decent simulation of what an mmo actually feels like. i like it.

i think im just good at seeing nuance in game design/quality. a bad game can have rly good qualities that still make it enjoyable. and maybe also its like. something i like bc i went into it expecting a shitfest and was pleasantly surprised to find a game with a relateable story, characters who feel real, and like, innovative gameplay. i try rly hard to approach games as a game designer and examine them and try to understand why the designers made them the way they did. i want to learn from every game i play and i like seeing how different games approach similar things and take inspiration from each other.

the other thing too is. it plays really weird like, its stepped pretty far outside the shooter box. and theres clearly a lot of thought put into making it fun and interesting and finding the balance between like, skill based gameplay and a power fantasy. despite that it still has some rly glaring flaws but you can still see that the ppl who made this were sincerely trying to make a good game and genuinely cared about what they were making. the story is rly unique for a game to. its a game about playing a different kind of game. its a singleplayer rpg about playing an mmorpg. its neat. they rly tried and i appreciate it.

#hashtag blogging with aggy #dont reblog ploxx

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kxlance · 5 years

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when i started watching voltron, in july 2016, it was a weird moment in my life. i didn’t believe in myself, i had no friends at university (and i still don’t ahha...) and i was homesick shitless. the only way of comfort i had was the tv shows i was watching at the time to distract me from thinking how miserable i felt. at that time i was into miraculous ladybug a lot, and soon i noticed that a lot of the blogs i followed started posting about this voltron show. it wasn’t quite clear to me what it was at first, i had no idea it was a reboot or whatever, but the fanarts seemed pretty cool and funny, and i immediately noticed there was a lot of focus about a certain duo in particular coughcoughcough and i sorta understood what type of ship those two were: the type i like.

anyways, i started watching this show out of mere curiosity because no one couldn’t shut tf up about it, and at first i was only mildly invested. the characters were enjoyable, the animation was gorgeous and it felt to me like it was more of a “yay the power of friendship!” kinda deal. i didnt feel strongly towards klance, or even at all. yeah at the beginning i was like “it’s ok but i guess i’m here for the found family trope more”. then i don’t know what happened, i gave season 1 a quick rewatch because i felt like my viewing of it had been a tad too superficial, and then i got swooped in. and klance became so quickly, so so so so quickly, probably one of my fave ships of all time. i dont watch too many shows nor i get invested in ships that much unless they cover all the peculiar aspects that i personally like. i can count on one hand the ships that i’m truly passionate for, and klance is one them. and it’s important to me and it was (and still is!) very comforting to have something i could enjoy so deeply in all of these years my mental health was in really bad states. to be fair this whole show and fandom affected my mental health as well but whatever lmao, i’m not here to mention all the discourse and all of the bad stuff the show did or i’ll get a fucking headache before i finish.

this is getting way too long so i’ll get to the point immediately. voltron as a show went downhill season by season and most of their writing choices have been bad, careless and problematic. so bad that as i was saying it affected me (and probably other ppl too) mentally. but what i will always take with me from this whole experience are a lot of things. this is the fandom i personally made more posts about. it really sparked my creativity and not only that, i learned a lot of news things. life is a constant learning experience and you never stop learning something and i’m glad for that. i got to know a lot of new people, some who i can proudly call my friends. and just in general i admire the passion of every creator that contribuited something to the fandom, whether it’s with art, or a fan fiction or even a simple post. i admire your passion and talent not just about the voltron/klance content created, but in general. it’s inspiring to see and i wish you all the best in the future. so a big thanks especially to these people because it’s what made it worth staying.

everytime the show would fuck something up, there would always be some piece of fanart or a fic that would make me smile immediately. and it still is that way and probably will be that way after season 8. this was meant to be a goodbye but it more turned into a thank you to the people who created the content in the fandom that we all know and love. and it’s thanks to you all that the true potentials of this show have been explored like they should have and DESERVED TO, it’s thanks to y’all if something like klance will live on and i’m happy about that. i dont even have an opinion on s8 nor i do care that much, (there will be ofc be spoilers on this blog for it) but this is the final closure so yeah that’s all i have to say. bye voltron it was a ride, but at least i got something to take with me even though i only care about your characters, the animation and klance than I will ever care for your stupid ass plots ❤️❤️❤️❤️ maybe let the gays be happy next time xoxoxo

#idk how to tag this...#anyways #farewell voltron #season 8 is tomorrow so this is the right time to post this whatever happens #idc #klance outsold #my post #i’m about to go on my flight so i’ll Queue this or something idk #but I wanted to put it out there #if you’re not gonna watch s8 ur valid #i’m dreading it as well #but we need closure

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pidgezero-one · 7 years

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saving y'all another tweetstorm about sm rando tourney shenanigans

context: in top 8 losers' bracket matches of the super metroid randomizer tournament, cfb vs zoast mutually agreed to do 100% instead of any%, and then cfb and foosda visited all save points. chat was not pleased. cfb posted this compilation of screenshots from the second match, see for yourself: https://twitter.com/CruelFancyBaron/status/927751861016367104

my thoughts on the situation: what the fuck is there to be mad about? cfb, zoast, and foosda are all extremely talented players. there is no money on the line in this tournament and viewers have no material investment in it. it is just a tournament that will end up having a winner.

i used to be a tournament organizer in the competitive smash bros community. smash bros is divided up into sects: melee and smash 4 are the "esports" titles with enormous viewerbases, sponsorships, and decent money on the line, and professionalism is expected to some extent. professionalism includes consistency in player effort and ruleset administration. this means that "hard" rule violations like changing set rules (such as the old tradition of "gentleman's rule" where both players agree to play on a banned stage) and "soft" playstyle deviations (like a top player using a character they don't seriously train with) are discouraged and bound to start a tidal wave of drama and accusations of bracket sabotage. 64, brawl, and project M are smaller and more tight knit, and while these communities do try to keep up professional practice, there is less lashback when something spontaneous occurs.

i can think of a few examples of this difference: a few years back, hungrybox and mew2king were in grand finals at a tournament (I think it was MLG?). hungrybox had a wide match lead, and m2k decided to go puff and ditto him. puff is by no means m2k's strongest character and he likely was not expecting to win the ditto vs the best puff in the world. most likely they did this for fun. some ppl were livid with this decision and wanted m2k to finish the set playing one of his mains instead, although the result most likely would have been the same.

contrast this to smash 64: isai, one of the most talented and historically significant players of all time, is known for just doing what he wants to do. this means that we've seen many a top 4 set with players like himself, superboomfan, and tacos doing DK dittos instead of using top tiers. for the most part, nobody who actually plays 64 gives a shit when this happens. they're obviously just doing it for fun, and we're having fun watching them have fun. ppl who aren't invested in the community are irked especially when isai isn't going his "full potential" with a top tier, but he doesn't feel like doing that.

and IMO that's what's most important. isai, boomfan, tacos, and mew2king are not breaking rules by choosing characters in top bracket for fun. it's a video game, it's supposed to be fun! at the top level these players are at, it's not unreasonable to think that perhaps viewers can enjoy what the players are doing and especially the fact that the players are putting their hearts into it.

what cfb, zoast, and foosda did IMO is closer to this than it is to an actual ruleset change like gentleman's stage select would be. any of them could have violated the stipulation at any time, but they chose not to, because they wanted to do something spontaneous and have fun. these 3 players are incredibly fucking good at sm and sm rando and their modified matches were entertaining, but this evidently was not what some players wanted to see, i guess.

i'm personally not down with viewers being mad about that. imo a tournament with nothing on the line should be primarily about the players. i don't like that ppl can't derive enjoyment from players doing silly on-the-fly things like this. back when smash was grassroots we lived for that stuff. it was fun for everyone playing and watching. many speedrunners feel this way about these matches as well.

that attitude seems to have changed with the popularity of livestreaming having exploded the way it has. there's no hiding that sm and alttp randomizer have exploded outside the confines of the speedrunning community, and are popular now even with people who don't speedrun at all as well as mainstream twitch viewers. mainstream twitch viewers want esports. that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it also demands seriousness that isn't always fair to expect of players who join events for fun. i see this as analogous to ppl being upset about 64 players doing DK dittos just like being upset with m2k and hbox's puff dittoing, it's a whole lot of mad for no reason. speedgaming's other content primarily attracts speedrun enthusiasts and shenanigans are not a problem for anyone in those streams.

there's another perspective to consider outside of players vs viewers, though: straevaras, the tournament organizer, was also not pleased, and posted his thoughts here:

https://pastebin.com/HeFZxE4Q

i definitely do agree with his sentiments that doing things just to piss off viewers is in poor taste, but i'm also pretty sure these 3 jokers would have done these altered matches regardless of whether or not chat hated it. i'm also very sympathetic to his frustrations in later tweets about having to deal with chat being shitty about it. when things don't go as expected in an event, it almost always falls down on the TO ultimately moreso than it does on the players, and few ppl really stop to think about that perspective. i've definitely been there.

i don't agree that the runners in question necessarily violated the integrity of the tournament, though. as a TO you have to be prepared to expect some of your players to mess around in their sets. bracket upsets happen all the time when a player goofs off. that's just part of the package that comes with being a TO, you will never get all of your hundred or whatever entrants to all want the same objective. that's something you're more likely to get out of running an invitational. some of these players joined because they think the game is fun and aren't invested in the outcome. you could argue that that's not the point of the tournament, but it'd be impossible to mandate runners not to get X number of items or not to visit Y number of rooms. TOs can always make a DQ call based on suspicion of collusion in these instances, but that's not something that should be considered in an event that does not have anything on the line. you could also argue that it's disrespectful to the eliminated entrants who really did want to do well, but the only thing you can really say about that is to make better plays next time so you can be the one to turn down the offer to do whatever stipulation in your match next time.

i got shit for years for allowing my tournament attendees to play on hyrule castle, but i kept it legal because my players wanted it. the viewers didn't and they would complain, but that mattered less to me than my attendees having fun. most viewers who had actually run tournaments before saw no issue with my reasoning, and that's important. i see speedrunning as on this level right now, players should be able to do things for fun and it's sad that viewers don't get enjoyment out of that bc they've been spoiled by a very very different culture of gaming. speedrunning at the end of the day should be for fun, so either have something on the line or just let the speedrunners have fun...

just my IMO

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asteroidtaker · 6 years

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My NDRV3 Boys’ Ranking List(spoilers for whole game)

8. Korekiyo - He's an okay character but he's too intelligent for me to understand what he's saying quickly. His design is interesting, very camo-like. He really weirded me out in Chapter 3, but it was pretty funny imo. All the memes!

7. Gonta - He's a real sweetheart, but after seeing other people's playthroughs and opinions on chapter 4 his ranking lowered for me. His character is sweet but pretty repetitive after a while. Also I don't deal with child-like characters very well since I find them slightly annoying. I love Gonta, don't get me wrong though. He's just not as awesome as the other guys.

6. Ryoma - "I've got a ways to go~" I love his personality and story(plus a total edgy badass). I thought he'd be an overhyped character since ppl in the beginning really liked him for his deep voice and design and I thought that was his gimmick so I wasn't impressed. I was wrong in the end though. He deserves a hug and a friend!

5. Rantaro - Didn't think I'd like him so much tbh. I think I'm the only person who thought Rantaro was a hippie when I first saw his design. I really wasn't crazy about him for a while until way late into the game and his FTEs. He turned out to be a very smart character and a total sweetheart. The avocado took my heart *dead*

4. Kiibo - Another character I was unsure about. His design is pretty cool, but personality-wise pretty meh. What won me over in the end was chapter 6. I saw Kiibo fight and feel emotions like a flawed human and it was awesome. At the end we saw how much he cared for his friends and saved them in the end. He truly is the Ultimate Hope Robot.

3. Kaito - The Ultimate Bro. I don't get why people dislike him, he's such a bro to Shuichi and his speeches got to me too. He's not the smartest, but he's always has your back. I am so surprised that I like him this much especially since I dislike his dumb goatee so much. He's just the bestest friend ever and I have great emotional investment in his simplistic nature. He's not number 2 though because he's a bit too naive, but he's still very awesome. I would fist bump him if I could.

2. Ouma - Obvious choice. He's a confusing, but a very fun, enjoyable character. He's an adorable little shit that makes me second guess everything he does. He's a controversial character for a reason, but he's an awesome smartass character with an awesome design. The only time I disliked him was a few minutes in Chapter 4(though I'm pretty sure most people felt that way, maybe worse), but I believed in him and it paid off. I'll never truly understand Ouma and his actions but he's the funnest character in the whole series tbh.

1. Shuichi - I loved this cinnamon roll emo boy since I first saw him. I kind of hoped he'd be a dark detective in the beginning(since I love that kind of shit) but he ended up being a baby detective in the end. I love his growth and while he may not stand out the most, he's very logical while also being irrational at times, the epitome of truth and lies. He grew so much throughout the game that I think he's my favorite protagonist of the series(sorry Hajime). I liked his way of thinking and his interactions with everyone. Honestly thought Ouma would be #1 while starting the game but Shuichi was just too precious to me. It's like having a baby Kirigiri, too cute <3

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #new danganronpa v3 #spoilers #ndrv3 spoilers #ndrv3 spoilers //#ndrv3 spoiler

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missingnine · 7 years

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6 minute review of:

THE BEST HIT

damn ummmm this drama had me shooook with emotions like i was tearing up in some scenes lmao but in the beginning i wasn’t even planning to watch this drama, i was just bored and the plot seemed interesting enough. idk any of the actors at all (except for ji hoon since he was in goblin ha lol) but now??? i love them ahhhhh i was soo fucking invested in this drama like holy shit, i binge watched this in like a day and i finally caught up with the updates and had to wait just like ruler master of the mask the waiting was worth it damn

the plot was nice, i wasn’t that bothered by it lol but can i say that hyun jae is so fucking attractive holy shit he has the nicest smile ever i loved his chracter so much he had a great sense of humor and truly appreciated jihoon like i know ppl were complaining about the hyun jae x woo seung love line but hyun jae gave ji hoon multiple opportunities and pick up lines to help him?? and even made sure to not swerve into his lane but you know what ji hoon sucks at romance.

alsoooo ji hoon kept trying to go after woo seung even tho she stated that she only sees him as a friend and not as a romantic partner but ji hoon couldn’t comprehend that??? he was so damn adamant on getting woo seung like y’all can’t be just friends??? doesn’t he see that woo seung treasures their friendship so fucking much but he’s only satisfied if she’s his gf ffdsjfkd idk that irritated me a bit about his character but he’s a humble guy i guess i honestly wished he would have developed sooommee feelings for the trainee girl (who debuted lol) or realize the value of fucking friendship but oh well

annnnd all that bullshit that hyun jae x woo seung ship is weird bc hyun jae is ji hoon’s father can y’all stfu ji hoon doesn’t even see hyun jae as his dad and he’s from 1993 before he even banged bo hee??? so technically he’s not ”””””his father”””” also the ”””””age gap”””” between hyun jae and woo seung umm he’s still the same age he just time travelled so he’s not gonna age +20 years so fast they’re the same age jfc uuuughhhhh

well i’m glad that they got a happy ending. tbh i thought he was gonna stay in the past but this worked out well enough lmao u know i nearly cried when hyun jae confronted his 1994 self in the car like fjdkslfjdklf the feels the pain omgkdjfdf that was sad hyun jae was gonna die bITCH I WAS KOKOSHOOOK uuuuuuhghhdfkjdkjfdf and i also cried with the grandpa aaahhhh his story line is so fucking sad;; when he found out about his alzheimers and wrote mal sook’s name in the journal mY HEART WRENCHED HGOJDF and the scene with his daughter UGKHFHHHH do u guys know how sad it is to see an old man cry>????? also where was he in the final episode??? he just disappeared lmao

alsoo an underappreciated character would be gwan jae idk everyone was focused on the love line with hyun jae / woo seung / ji hoon but what about gwan jae and bo hee??? umm props to him!!! he cares so much for bo hee and the fact that they raised ji hoon together is so fucking cute i’m sooo glad that they got married (or will get ??) goals !! and now they registered mal sook in their family as well awwww and when mal sook called bo hee “mom” mYYY HEART i’m so happy

lllloooll i didn’t know that eun woo was in this drama i was so sh00k when i first saw him in the drama i was like, “he looks hella familiar damn he’s cute” i thought he was an actor i saw before but he’s actually just from astro lol i used to be into them but ehhh i gave up i’m sorryyy lmfodsf his character was enjoyable and he made the right decision to switch to gwan jae’s agency!!!! fuck young jae or watcherveerrr his name is, i know there shoyuld be some pity with his chracter since he was the lesser known of the j2 duo but idkk i didn’t like him that much buuuut i loVED MC DRILLLLLLLLLLL BOI HE WAS A++++++ he’s the comic relief in the drama but they managed to add in some bits of a sad story in him and i’m soooo fucking glad that he debuted he deserves it more than anyone and he did look so similar to taeyang lol who knew they were brother lmao

N E ways,,, overall the drama was nice i had my fair shares of the so-called fangirling because hyun jae and woo seung were so damn cute together and they made me very happy. it’s my favorite 2017 drama so far wooooww!!! the romance, humor, sad stuff :((( and storyline was nice (eeeeven tho it was a bit rushed in the end) also the OSTs were nice af since my favorite person in the whole world the god the artist changmo rapped an ost for this drama (check it outtt it’s the song that plays when hyun jae helps woo seung after the lighting fixture falls and she hurts her wrist) i love changmo so much and i’m glad he’s doing more stuff and featurings sooo i’lll give this a 10/10 lollll i will rewatch it one day ahhhh bye ((also i started saying “da-bong” and i hate it))

#uuuughhhh #the best hit #review #wooowoowowoowwo #my heart is shook

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paradoxspaces · 5 years

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actually here are more 3 am meat feelings

my prevailing thought about meat, which will probably sustain throughout candy and probably the rest of this week if not my life, is that john egbert died and none of his friends (beyond terezi) know about it. none of them know. he fucking died and his last words were a love confession to a girl who he doesnt even really know. john egbert died. he is probably not coming back and, even if there was a ‘’chance’’, he has been summarily dismissed from the narrative.

john egbert died trying to be a hero even after we were told he wasnt special and he is dead!! he died and he didnt get to reconnect with the betas or the alphas even, didnt really work through any of his depression. he fucked terezi (suRe?) and tried to tell her loved her and fucking died. i am, literally, never going to be over it.

hgshss aside from that i actually liked the ending more than I thought? The middle was extremely touch and go for me--there were moments I liked and then something would happen that I’d get upset about and the cycle continued-- but I thought the last few chapters were interesting and genuinely enjoyable. basically i love kanaya maryam so fucking much and i was so glad to see her be herself again ashjsj i lovE her.

Seeing the characters get motivated to work together and stop Dirk was a surprisingly optimistic conclusion for an ending that was clearly obsessed with misery. I didn’t expect that kind of ‘call to action’ that occurred, but I was glad to see it. Despite that and despite the post-scripts, I don’t think theres going to be anything after this. Alt-Calliopes last words in meat made it seem, to me, that any kind of additional work was to fall into the reader’s hands, in fanwork or w/e. or, at least, I supremely doubt hussie will be involved in anything going forward. there are still things left open, and new questions wrt dirk and the bots and the new session, but I feel like this was all meant to stir up investment in hs as a property, as a place to think about and create work for and pay attention to (and buy friendsims), but not as a piece of ongoing media. we have been compelled to think about homestuck for a while longer, but I’m not sure we will be reading new content again--or at least not for a while. (maybe candy will change my mind, though? so many ppl seem SO sure that there will be more and I dont know why besides wishful thinking)

not even sure if id really want more, unless it was like a 10 chap sequence about a secret middle route where john doesnt die, vrisrezi 4 real, and a normal dirk receives therapy and like chains ultidirk to the ocean floor or something. all the betas hang out regularly, but specifically rose and jade have one fucking conversation at least.

(actually the concept of a like theatre of coolty-esque all-dirk showdown is. good. ultidirk/teen dirk/hal/brain ghost try to out-monologue each other and then fight)

(actually actually jake kills ultidirk with his bare fucking hands to get some retribution for the bullshit that happened to him)

obviously obviously obviously I still have big issues with stuff. i hate that jakes main character trait is being sexualised and manipulated and the narrative still just makes him out to be the fucking dumbest shallowest idiot. why cant jake get like.....any depth at all....why cant there be an acknowledgment of how fully traumatized he must be at this point?? also i cant get behind johnrezi, tbh, tho i think theyre written well. beyond my full devotion to scourge sisters, they didn’t even talk that much, and most of their convo was tz dictating her plan to john to get the love of her live back. it isnt like they hung out all that often???? before that, their most notable interaction was when terezi tricked john into dying for a joke. why is john obsessed with these two girls he barely spoke to, who are both in love with other people?? (might be worth thinking about further) i dont like that 99% of the time roxys transness was brought up only to have someone near by be a fucking dick about it. Jane: become fascist is still really bizarre to me. i still think some of the HEAVY focus on meta commentary is a bit of a drag.

overall i think this whole ‘exploration of the ugly bad awful shit’ was certainly that. we got meat, we got high plot/action/drama. bad things happened and everyone was miserable and disconnected and awful to each other. narrative relevance through trauma/pain/violence. I really thought it was going to end with some kind of tpk, so this kind of vaguely optimistic pseudo-cliffhanger was better than I really expected it to be. I’m holding off on like sweeping estimations until after candy, but I still am not sure what the point of having everything be THIS open ended is if not for a sequel and im not sure what the focus on ‘releasing narrative responsibility from the singular author/interpretation’ is doing if not directly precluding a sequel. so idk. onto candy, i guess. we’ll see how this all goes.

(I hate ultidirk as much as the next girl ESPECIALLY for what he did to kan and for being just like....the worst during johns death but like. im dumb im dumb and bad and part of me wants dirk redemption in some form, ideally in another splinter obvi. i was extremely horrified and resistant to big villain dirk but after reading his later thoughts i get it more than I thought I would and its all very interesting. I also, like a lot of others, am entertained by the image of him cavorting around like a sailor moon villain or something)

(i don’t love the weird convo that was kind of trying to excuse/react to the Incest Commentary Drama and I would have paid to have it removed but w/e)

(ALSO THE FUCKING ‘COSMIC LOVE’ VRISREZI BIT I. I !!?! TEREZI LOVES VRISKA SO MUCH. SHE LOVES HER S MUCH GUYS. SHE LOOKED FOR HER FOR FUCKING YEARS IN HER POV AND ALMOST DIED BC SHE DIDN’T WANT TO GIVE UP HDSHA LET THESE GIRLS KISS IM SO FUCKING SAD.

HOMESTUCK IS ABOUT VRISREZI RIGHTS ONLY. I ONLY CARE ABOUT TWO GIRLS AND HOW MUCH THEY LOVE EACH OTHER. GOD IM IN HELL GOD GOD GOD THEYRE IN LOVE!!!!! )

#this has been a text post #homestuck #homestuck epilogue #im cralwing through this epilogue bc im busy but also bc i ahve to take lengthy breaks to fucking calm down

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