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teruthecreator · 11 months

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(tw for racism, pedophilia, transphobia, child impregnation mention)

yeah idk why y'all read this

i was originally going to just post this and have some tags with my reasonings, but i realized that opens me up to too much bullshit from people who may think i'm being unnecessarily mean or whatever. so i'm going to explain exactly why the screenshots above are something i hold issue with.

firstly, and i just want to get this out of the way, this post is not intended to be a hit piece against the creator. i've seen how she reacts to any mild-mannered or slightly joking criticism, so i know this post is probably going to not land well. but it isn't my intention to make her mad or anything--she's writing a piece of content for the internet, which means she is just as open to criticism as any other poster. and what i intend to go into in this post is criticism. i'm allowed to do this, as that is the nature of the internet. people are allowed to critique whatever they please, and if you don't want critique then you shouldn't post. simple as!

i am also making no attempts to posit myself as better than the creator. i'm not doing this for clout or moral superiority or any of that dumb shit. i simply want to discuss something that's been bothering me for a bit, while simultaneously warning people who haven't read this yet (who may be sensitive to the issues above) to steer clear. if things like casual racism or transphobia aren't properly tagged, then readers who are affected by such things run a risk reading this! same goes with people who are triggered by lewd content involving minors. i wanna make sure people are getting a more critical scope of this work than what has been hoisted up by others.

okay, now that i've gotten that out of the way, i'm going to get into my points.

firstly, the subtle and not-so-subtle racism throughout this fic, especially in relation to serizawa. i'm white, so there is only so much i can speak on without trampling over the words of other fans of color, but some of this feels so blatant it's odd it hasn't been noted earlier. it's important to note before i go into it that serizawa is specifically written as half-black half-japanese for this fic, in case the screenshots don't make it abundantly clear. but there are just too many moments of casual racism in this fic. i'm not talking about the plot point of serizawa being bullied as a kid for being mixed; i'm not mixed, so i can't speak on the accuracy there but it is well-known that black people face a lot of racism in japan. i'm talking about how it seems everyone else has these racist moments that aren't acknowledged by serizawa or the narration as being bad.

reigen hypothesizing over serizawa's exact ethnic background is just strange. yes he's a fairly observant guy (he has to be, with his job), but there is no canonical evidence to suggest he would immediately jump to theorizing whether serizawa is american or not. and the way it's posed in that first quote--"he has darker skin and the kind of hair texture that would likely indicate African ancestry"--is not great. that's an extremely inappropriate way to bring up someone's race. i don't think most people would stare at someone and be like "hmmm well your nose shape and hair texture would suggest you're of this race". it's racial essentialization that is only slightly covered up by the excuse of "oh he tweets in english". there are some other smaller moments of questionable wording, like calling serizawa's afro "sloppy" when it isnt (which btw there's another issue with the creator only referring to an afro as a "fro". it's a hairstyle; you're allowed to use the actual name of it). even if reigen cuts his hair in canon, he never states it's because serizawa's afro looks sloppy. (also there's something to be said about the casual racism baked into making your employee cut his natural hairstyle for a job, as that is a very real issue many black people face when wearing their natural hair or even protective styles in the workplace.)

i'm especially bothered by toichiro's very casual racist remarks. toichiro in this fic is a general bother of mine (most of which can be boiled down to "he would not fucking say that"), but the way she chooses to characterize him in relation to serizawa feels gross. calling a black man a slave should be a very obvious red flag, but also saying serizawa (again, as a black man) has a "brutal masculine appeal" is also extremely stereotypical and racist. and really there is just no need for it; toichiro's actions in canon prove how shitty of a guy he is without the need for him to be racist (along with other things i'll get to in a bit). as my girlfriend put it: he doesn't need to be a member of the fucking kkk to show he's a bad guy.

there's also, again, the very casual racist remark of calling serizawa a "dog". i don't care if that isn't the intent; when you are writing a character of color you need to be aware of your wording, even in insults (unless she intended to make tsuchiya racist, which i don't think she did).

secondly, the eugenics/child pregnancy bit. it is surreal to even have to write this, but i seriously do not understand the purpose of either of these bits in the story. they are so minor yet so jarring you can't help but wonder why they're there. once again, i do not think you need to have toichiro doing esper eugenics just to prove he is an evil guy. he has nuance, and by making him casually reference child pregnancy (like that isn't an INSANE thing to say) reduces that nuance to nothing. that's the only reason i could see why that bit was included: to make toichiro look worse. but, even still, the author is running the risk of potentially triggering victims of csa or people who don't want to see that by not properly tagging the mention of it (or, at the very least, warning readers in the intro notes). the only other explanation for it would maybe be shock factor??? but that's a pretty shitty thing to use for shock factor, if i'm honest. also the fact that the esper eugenics was referenced again in a more recent chapter just has me very disturbed and confused. there isn't a canonical explanation for why we see less espers who are women than espers who are men, but that doesn't mean we need to jump to fucking Eugenics. it's weird!

thirdly (and this is probably one of my biggest problems and the main reason i wanted to make this post), the weirdly lewd/sexual language shou uses constantly, along with referring to reigen as a pedo or a creep at several points. frankly, i think it's pretty fucking gross for someone in their near-40's to be writing a 12-year-old talking so casually about sex like that's normal. which, i'm sorry, but it's not. yes, teens know about sex and like to joke about lewd shit. but a 12-year-old is not about to make references to a grown man's virginity. 12-year-olds draw dicks on their desk bc they think it's funny. 12-year-olds say the word "buttfuck" because it has the words "butt" and "fuck" in it, and those are the two funniest words on earth to a kid that age. i literally do not understand the purpose of having shou be so lewd all the time. for one, it doesn't make sense for his character. shou is shown time and time again to be extremely mature for his age, but that maturity extends to shit like assembling a counter-terrorism unit and extending a hand to his father to allow him to try again. and even then he's still just as naive as any other kid his age! the omake where he's telling his guys to go to the "far right corner" based on ritsu’s advice proves that he still has plenty of blindspots that are indicative of his age. leaning into this raunchy, lewd version of shou is just weird. and, again, i think it is made a bit weirder given the author's age!!! not ageshaming or whatever--i'm 23 and i write fanfic, clearly i cannot judge there--but it is just extremely inappropriate in my opinion. also having shou be more versed in sextalk than serizawa is odd too and speaks to a larger issue of serizawa's infantilzation throughout this fic, but that's something i can get into in another post if people want an explanation.

also, the way she constantly calls reigen a creep and even has him being accused of being a pedophile during the twitter cancellation is extremely inappropriate when, again, there is NO CANONICAL BASIS FOR THIS! everyone just calls him a fraud and a scammer during separation arc; there is never a reference to reigen being seen as a pedophile in that arc. and, yes, while there are versions of mob psycho where reigen is very clearly written as a creep (looking very specifically at the netflix adaptation), that doesn't mean it's good. honestly, the creep mentions all just feel like really poor jokes that do not land in the slightest.

finally, the transphobia (aka WHY IS SHIMAZAKI A CHASER). i literally do not know what else to say other than: why? why is this a thing? why is he a chaser? what is the purpose of this? is it a joke? i feel like it's supposed to be, but seeing as the author is cis i don't think that's a joke she should really be making. it not only comes out of left field, but it's just kind of a weird thing to ascribe to a character for no reason. not to mention, it's uncomfortable! trans women deal with enough creepy antics from cis men in real life--why must they be accosted by this guy too? it's just weird and uncomfortable.

i wanna round out this post by saying, once again, that i'm not trying to attack anyone with this post. but i do hope people come away from this with a new perspective on this work, and maybe think twice before recommending it uncritically to someone. to the author specifically, i hope you can read my post without rage or indignance blinding you. i might be a little blunt or rude in parts, but it's only because i'm passionate and i don't mince my words when it comes to things i'm passionate about. to the readers, understand i am not judging you for reading this fic without noticing these things. your own life experiences will give you certain blindspots and there's nothing wrong with that. i have plenty of blindspots of my own! it's what makes us human.

there is more i could say, but this post is long enough. i ask that if you come to me in my inbox or in dms about this that you treat me with respect, as i will do that for you. writing something like this took a lot out of me, as i'm usually not so open about my opinion on shit like this.

have a good day :-)

#mp100 #side quest #yeah this is all from <- that fic btw #ive been sitting on this for about a week or so bc ive been nervous abt posting something like this #i dont want people to think im making a callout post just to call shit out #im doing this bc i dont want people to get triggered by this content and because i want fans to be more critical of the content they consum #media literacy is something A LOT of fandoms struggle with and it leads to things being praised uncritically #i simply want people to have perspective when going into a thing #anyways uh. goodbye <3 #edit: took the tw tags off bc tumblr was suppressing the post bc of it #so PLEASE heed the warning at the top if u have specific triggers and things

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embervoices · 10 months

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With gratitude to @cuubism for letting me borrow Bookstore Cryptid Dream's Library.

The phone rang.

Once he had determined that it was possible to have a phone only ring at certain times, or for certain people, Aziraphale had seriously considered disconnecting the landline for his bookshop in favor of having the number forwarded automatically to the device Crowley had acquired for him.

This sufficiently worried his vintage phone that it promptly began call filtering for him to prove to the angel its continued worth. Aziraphale hadn't so much noticed, as determined that the landline wasn't really enough of a bother to be worth altering.

Thus, when the landline rang well after the bookshop's (admittedly dubious) business hours when Crowley was already sitting across from him in the back room, Aziraphale nevertheless did not hesitate to answer.

"Aziraphale, I need your help!" Anathema explained in a very slightly (read: incredibly) distressed tone.

"Whatever is the matter?"

"I lost the book."

Aziraphale blinked. Anathema's hands weren't exactly audibly flapping, but Aziraphale had no trouble picturing them nevertheless.

"Well, not lost, exactly. I… burnt it."

"You what!?"

"I burnt it!"

Aziraphale's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought it was already burnt in the fire-that-wasn't? I still have the little slip of loose paper from the final prophecy here in my desk."

"Oh! No, not that one. That one is fine. Yes, singed still, that's true, but I have all the index cards so it's ok." She kindly didn't mention that she'd noticed the missing prophecy. She was a touch relieved to know whose hands it had ended up in. "No, what I mean is, the next day a whole second book arrived, and Newt helped me decide I didn't want to be a professional descendant for the rest of my life. So I burnt it!"

"Oh dear."

"YES 'Oh Dear'! Now everything has gone strange again and I don't have the book!"

Aziraphale nodded to himself, peeking out the windows into Soho. "Things have gone rather strange, haven't they?"

Crowley snorted in the background. Aziraphale waved him away with a hand.

"Hmm. I may know a solution. How soon can you get to my bookshop, Anathema?"

She hummed. "Well, I suppose Newt could drive me. So, what, an hour?"

"That will do nicely. He always did keep late hours."

"Who, Newt?"

"An old friend, of a sort. Or a rival."

"Crowley?"

Aziraphale laughed. "Of course not! Well, perhaps he is a bit like Crowley in some ways, come to think of it, but not in any personal sense, anyway. This is more of a professional rivalry. You'll see."

"Okay, we'll be there soon."

Aziraphale hung up the phone, and turned to his beloved demon.

Crowley raised an eyebrow.

"You're taking her to the Library? At this hour?"

"It's not as if his hours are any more coherent than mine."

Crowley snorted, nodding. "So what's she looking for? An impossible grimoire? You know he won't give those out to just anybody."

"And nor should he, considering what happened last time one of them got out!"

"Right. So you're introducing the known, actually-rather-talented hereditary witch to the Library because…?"

"Oh come now, you know she can be trusted. Besides, this is more a matter of family business."

"Whose family?"

"Hers."

Crowley grinned. "Oh, this should be interesting."

Aziraphale gave him a mischievous smirk. "Indeed!"

#good omens #bookstore cryptid dream #cuubism #Aziraphale #Crowley #Anathema #crossover #riffing #side quest

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darkfictionjude · 7 days

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Imre please forgive me but I’ll have to kiss someone else so I don’t embarrass myself when kissing you it’s for your benefit!!!!

Hahaha I can’t believe you’re planning to not save your lip virginity for Imre

Oh well the amount of people that boy has kissed could fill up a small army it’s really only fair

#although I don’t think the kiss for the side quest will be much in terms of expertise 😭#Imre #kisses #episode 4 #side quest #we wretched creatures

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korva-the-raven · 8 months

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Trying to be a productive creature and get some of my creations listed...but my baby is "helping" me..

Im not complaining, but I trying really hard to work on my side quests. 😭

#furbaby #witchs familiar #side quest #ravencore #crowcore #gremlincore #corvidcore #goblincore #witchcore #witch #fairycore #cryptidcore

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degin00 · 1 year

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"Here, Kitty-kitty!" (Cait x Piper x Curie)

Curie rescues Ashes!

Protecc Curie at all cost!

Correction: It's ERIN, not EREN. 😭

#fallout 4 #fo4 #cait #piper wright #curie #fo4 cait #fo4 curie #curie fo4 #cait fo4 #fan art #yuri #gl #curie fallout #cait fallout #comic #side quest #poly #poly ship #cat

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storybook-tiles · 10 months

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inspired by this post

it’s the end of the world and vickie is seconds away from a breakdown. spores rain down from the sky like ash from a wildfire. holy shit what has she gotten herself into.

Her family’s gone, having booked it out of town the second they were given the go ahead. Her mom had begged her to go with them. Vickie has a sinking feeling in her gut that maybe she should have. At the very least it would’ve saved her from the monsters and the horrors that have apparently been terrorizing Hawkins right under her nose.

Dan’s gone too. Part of her wishes she cared more. He had been sweet to her (despite his awful taste in movies), but deep down Vickie knows that it’s been a while since she’s felt the same spark she did when they first started dating. The same spark she feels now for—

It’s terrifying a little bit, watching Robin across the room. Robin with the giddy smile and the funny jokes and the jean jackets that swallow her whole. Robin who gets her weirdness in a way Dan never did.

Vickie is alone and terrified and it’s possibly the end of the world and yet she could’ve run. Turned around and left with her parents, left the only home she’s ever known.

Yet, she stayed. She stayed to protect the town— her town that would turn on her in an instant if it knew the first thing about her. She stayed and maybe just maybe—

(Robin laughs at something Steve says, giggly and bright. There’s a smear of blood across her cheek that hasn’t been wiped off yet. She looks warm and soft, like the remnant of a nice dream. She looks real in a way that almost nothing else does these days)

maybe Vickie can be brave.

#Not proofreading if this is a mess i’m sorry lmao #vickie stranger things #st vickie #robin buckley #rovickie #rockie #robin x vickie #everytime i remember vickie is bi i just :))))#side quest

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turns-out-its-adhd · 1 year

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Check out the OP KBComics and give them a tag if they are on Tumblr so I can follow them 👀

#adhd memes #neurodivergence #adhd mood #neurodiversity #adult adhd #neurodiverse stuff #adhd things #adhd #executive dysfunction #adhd brain #neurodiversesquad #side quest

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werewolfsister · 3 months

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”Special Delivery!” COMPLETE

Part 1 Finished! Stay tuned for the next quest!

#Zora #zora oc #loz #botw #totk #esis #loz quest #side quest #Comic

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arianaofimladris · 27 days

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The "I'm not crocheting" project is going well so far. I ordered one ombre ball and got it on Thursday evening.

It's Monday morning and I'm here:

For an idiot-proof pattern this is giving quite a nice result.

#Side quest #One time project #Trying crocheting

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la-pou-belle · 10 months

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normally I would just put this in the tags of a critical post to keep it concise, but sadly rbs have been turned off! I guess dogpiling sucks when it happens to YOU, right? anyways,

just wanted to say that, yeah, it's proper fandom etiquette to tag things. even if they are only mentioned and then later confirmed to not actually be happening in the fic. That said ,, and before we forget, it is not a REQUIREMENT. Just as it's not a requirement for fic writers to post and share their products at all. Just as it's not a requirement to read and consume then. When people provide completely free services (like, say, writing, editing, and publishing and entire novel), and it's entirely up to you on whether or not to consume those services, it's a little weird to make extra demands, no? And especially to inflate these demands to the point of character assassination; not only dogpiling on the author, but all of the authors fandom friends, leading them to delete all of their soc med and hard crafted works in the process.

so you didn't like someone's fanfiction. and it was POPULAR fanfiction! that sucks. But arguments about transphobia, racism, pedophilia, etc. have already been well disputed in the very post I can't reblog, and I think it's abundantly clear that the author should not be punished for following established canon (i.e. Claw's canonical torture of children and Toichiro Suzuki's openly proclaimed eugenicist goals in taking over the world for "superior" ESPers) to a logical conclusion and for adding a layer of realism to the work.

It's not their fault you, quite frankly, didn't think very hard about what you saw and understood in both S1 and S2 of mob psycho. it sucks that it makes you uncomfortable. But it's not a stranger's job on the internet to completely wash their works of anything that reflect messy and uncomfortable reality to coddle you, a voluntary consumer of their media. And a fan writer absolutely should not be punished for producing a canon-universe work, when you yourself are a fan of the canon. The fan author, very obviously, does not condone transphobia, racism, pedophilia, or any other accused thing, just by depicting it in their freely made and voluntarily consumed fanwork. Just as ONE, very obviously, does not condone the torture of children, or child abuse, just by depicting it in Claw's organization and in Shou and Toichiro's relationship.

All of what I've said is about Side Quest, but it's absolutely disgusting that for some reason, the backlash over that specific fic went over mere criticisms of the work to harassing the author. Not only this, but to use the final chapter of Side Quest, and all of the produced fan art within it, as a blacklist of Twitter handles and social medias to then ALSO harass the authors fandom friends is purely unacceptable behavior. If you want an author to tag their works better, simply ask them to do so; do not harass them and their friends. If you want your "fandom" and "ship" to stay alive, you MUST learn how to dislike things normally and respectfully; otherwise, how can you expect people to continue to produce novels for free? At a minimum, you need to recognize that your fellow fans are real, live people and do not deserve targeted harassment, and if you truly believe them to be dangerous, contact a moderation team and avoid their fanworks.

on a personal level, I'm offended that you think I, and many others who genuinely enjoyed Side Quest, lack media literacy. I've always been a fan of canon compliant and divergent fics that follow canon implications to their logical conclusions, especially when that involves recognizing the problematic and uncomfortable aspects of reality. You may have watched mob psycho uncritically, but I did not, nor did I read Side Quest uncritically. I'm frustrated that these projections have led to more of my little joys and favorite thought-provoking fic becoming inaccessible to me, but mostly... I'm sad that these authors shared their works while not fully understanding how uncritical, reactionary, and ungrateful their audience truly was.

#side quest #kintsugi #silvercistern #mp100 #spicychibi #honestly the world is literally on fire and you guys cant find a better use of your time?#kintsugi was 100k words of PERFECTION and on a personal note. im pissed that you guys are interfering w my little joys.#touch grass. call a legislator. read something else. GET BETTER MEDIA LITERACY YOURSELF.#i spend so much of my day to day doing climate advocacy and organizing and i cant even enjoy updates bto my favorite works #or to reread them #yes. my tags are me personally venting.#xan talks a lot #serirei #mp100 fic

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