someone has probably already done this before but i think about this image a lot

Casadei Flora Jolly sandal🤍

staff logging on to tumblr dot com today

reminder/tip, particularly for newer pjo fans: do not crosstag!

for those who don't know, crosstagging is tagging irrelevant tags on a post, usually popular tags to try and get more views on the post.

Tumblr doesn't work the same way instagram or tiktok or twitter does. Crosstagging is considered spam, and your blog will be flagged if you do this.

particularly in pjo fandom, crosstagging includes tagging characters that don't actually appear in the post, tagging books or series unrelated to the post (like tagging "TSATS" on a post not specifically about TSATS, or tagging HoO on a post about first series specifically, etc.), tagging "pjo fanfic" or "pjo headcanon" or similar on a post that, obviously, isn't that, and/or tagging irrelevant ships. More recently, this also includes tagging the show (PJO TV, etc) on posts that are completely irrelevant to the show.

This mostly only applies for original posts - Tags you put on reblogs only apply to your own blog's organizational system, and has no bearing on the original post itself. But it's really annoying to the original poster if you spam tags, because it will appear in their notifs. It's pointless to spam tags in reblogs for these reasons regardless, so it's best not to.

just remember: crosstagging is not allowed on tumblr, doesn't work that way here anyways, and is just generally rude. so don't do it.

rip farleigh start you would've loved tumblr dot com

This post wasn’t supposed to get notes and the main focus was on the tags so I’m leaving those intact in case anyone clicks through to the original

Been thinking about Shinji and Momo and specifically abt them in relations to the system or the ideal of the system that kind of screwed them over. With Shinji being unjustly thrown out and no one rlly fully unpacking how much of an HR concern was Aizen’s weird boundaries with Momo. You once mentioned in one of ur posts abt Shinji that the Vizards for sure do not come back with full trust in the soul society again and have their own agendas. This makes me wonder how Shinji and Momo navigate that system together now that both of them have made the decision to continue to serve under it? Momo, herself does come across as duty bound but has shown instances of acting against it when she feels the need to for the sake of the greater good (like disobeying orders to save hisagi, or admitting that not all laws are good laws even if she’s technically quoting Aizen) Sorry for the rambling! These two just fascinate me cuz I feel like aside from the whole Aizen thing, they’re like two diff flavors of being back on the job after being screwed over. The somewhat jaded mentor and the eager beaver who got the rug thrown under her.

We joke about Gotei HR all the time, but honestly in the context of their own world and worldviews would Aizen and Hinamori come across to anyone as having weird boundaries? I’m not saying it didn’t get weird but I kind of feel like part of the nature of the thing is that it’d be hard for anyone in Soul Society to point to anything Aizen did that was notably weirder than anything else everyone else does. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be an HR violation somewhere (I just completed my state-mandated sexual harassment training three days ago, so it’s all nice and fresh, LOL) but even if the Gotei had HR I doubt it would have helped in Aizen and Hinamori’s case.

I know there are people who get very deep into canonicity debates about whether Aizen and Hinamori ever slept with each other, but I’m not personally all that interested in the genre as a whole—like, the nailing down of what is or isn’t canon. In fanfic, I figure anything goes if you can make it work for you in your story. For my part, I think Aizen would take pride in not having to have sex with Hinamori in order to make his plans work. Like an *everyone* does sexual manipulation but he doesn’t even *have* to and that’s the *beauty* of the game kind of deal.

But to the question itself!

My take on Shinji is that he is, of course, very well aware of the ways the Gotei fucked him and the rest of the Vizard, and has no illusions about that. But he’s not someone who simmers in that in the same way that Hiyori does.

Honestly, maybe a good comparison might be that Shinji treats the Gotei the way he treated Aizen as a vice-captain. According to Aizen, that was a mistake, but Shinji knows the Gotei better than he ever knew Aizen. Arguably, the Gotei is more knowable than Aizen. Shinji has a certain savvy about him with respect to the Gotei as an institution, and if you now how it works, then there are degrees to which it can be managed, and perhaps even made to work for you. And if you want that to happen, the only place you can do that work is inside it, as one of its Captains. Shinji’s known that since even before TBTP, probably since before he was even himself a Captain the first time around.

But I think another key element here is that Shinji is very, very good at separating the work from the institution from the people. He can engage his octopus brain and hold the meaning of what shinigami effect in the world separate from the ethical and bureaucratic conundrums posed by the Gotei, separate from the personalities that make it up (which are the problem and the best part about the Gotei in turns). He reminds me of this guy who’s been in my toxic-ass profession for AGES but still has a ton of energy and capacity for wonder and enthusiasm and being smart in ways that make everyone smarter, and he manages this by being absolutely ruthless about not getting all sopped up by departmental drama or overly precious about ~the profession~ and making very intentional decisions about what matters and what absolutely doesn’t. I think having that as a model was incredibly useful for Hinamori, as someone with a propensity to care deeply for and about everything.

I mentioned in the tags of another post that I envisioned Hinamori as having a healing justice orientation to the world, part of which is about locating “evil” outside of individuals. It is not inherent, but made. While this does not absolve Aizen of his actions or their supporting worldviews, a path to forgiveness is at least partly about recognizing the bigger picture that produced the conditions for the fomenting of these views/plans. (And that’s before the many ways the system failed them in ways that didn’t come directly through Aizen.) Which means that moving past Aizen is also about moving past the Gotei/Soul Society, while also continuing to work for it—in a major, responsible way.

Like, Hinamori is not clocking in to sweep the floors and then leave to her wife and kids. She’s leading the thing. So what’s the journey there? We see her reclaim her role as 5th Division Vice-Captain in the Winter War (as distinct from being Aizen’s Vice-Captain—ymmv on this, like Matsumoto’s does). In that role, Hinamori has not seemed to have much of a problem with challenging authority when she felt it just to do so, even in moments of more even temper (shouting at Byakuya over Renji’s unconscious body lol). Which I feel like lends credence to the idea that Aizen’s betrayal was probably not her introduction to the world being often an unjust and deeply painful place, or even to the Gotei being these things. Like, I think she understood that. Maybe Aizen even talked to her about that, and part of why she liked him so much was the opportunity to have these long, intellectual conversations about philosophy and governance. And what do you do at the end of these conversations? You can be bitter and angry about it; you can be angry and want to burn it down; you can drink the Kool-Aid and become complicit in it; you can naively deny it and either become complicit in it or get destroyed by it; or you can—

Do what Shinji and Hinamori do about it together, which is to resolve to be the energy they wish to see in the world, which in their interpretation also requires some complicity—being officers in Gotei—and, having made that choice, periodically needing to process that. I mean, I think that’s part and parcel of being involved in any kind of institution (I know I think about it allllll the fucking time), but I imagine the experience is further magnified by the particular histories Shinji and Hinamori have with the Gotei.

I imagine sometimes—a rough week at the office, or in the aftermath of a Blood War they wonder if they aren’t being too complicit. Or, conversely, if they aren’t echoing Aizen too much, in their resolution to craft a world of their own devising. But they were different people, both from each other and very much from Aizen; their devices and visions are different, too. And so the fear falls away.

It will come back. It will probably never leave. But sometimes it’s better to be haunted than not, and ghosts can be welcome reminders.

THIS IS SO EVIL. if its from the same user then spam reblogs are something unique to this site and can be used for fun or to get a point across. but even worse is if that it targets the same post from different blogs. i follow the blogs i follow for a reason. i LIKE to see their posts. even if ive already seen it from someone else. because they could have something new to say. or i know who likes what. literally dont do this its the worst decision

TUMBLR DOES NOT HAVE AN ALGORITHM*

TUMBLR DOES NOT HAVE A "FOR YOU PAGE"**

TAGGING AS "FOR YOU PAGE" OR "FYP" DOES NOTHING BUT ANNOY PEOPLE

STOP TREATING THIS SITE LIKE TIKTOK OR INSTAGRAM IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT

ALSO STOP CENSORING TAGS JUST WRITE THE STUFF OUT IN FULL SO BLACKLISTS CAN CATCH IT I PROMISE YOU CAN SAY KILL AND DEAD HERE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES

*There is an algorithm to put stuff people you follow liked on your dash, but you can turn it off. Most people do. It's better that way.

**There is a part on the trending page with posts you can scroll through pretty much infinitely, but tagging with "fyp" does nothing because it's less of a tag-generated algorithm and more based on posts and blogs you've interacted with. It doesn't work like that here. To populate your and other's dashes, you actually need to follow people and reblog stuff. Liking is a bookmark and an acknowledgment, not a way to actually provide engagement. Reblog shit you cowards

Be under my heel.

It really sucks because I've run this blog for like eight years and I really love the community here and the culture, but idk how much longer I'm going to be able to put up with tumblr given the series of recent events

i mean it when i say we've gotta bring back askblogs. bring back making character chat posts with poor choice text colors over random backgrounds. bring back blogs dedicated to what outfits you think characters would wear.

fandom is an ecosystem, not a numbers game. these types of blogs/posts/etc still exist in concept, because people still want to make them and they're a great way to get your thoughts of an idea out in a simple format, but most people make them on like tiktok or instagram reels and that's where the problem lies. Those videos don't go anywhere. The format doesn't allow for the discussion to spread through the community and they're less likely to be engaged with in general. And to make them most people have to either show their face or figure out editing software, so the barrier to entry is higher (editing) and/or they have to forfeit an amount of privacy.

those types of posts/blogs are the first rung of the ecosystem. they're the perfect environment for younger members of the fandom to begin safely interacting with the larger community and putting their own thoughts and ideas out there. roleplay is the other major spot for that and those communities are diminishing as well, honestly (if you know of an rp forum board site, cherish it. and if you can make one, make one). they allow younger fans to begin engaging with the source material on a different/deeper level, but still at a very low barrier to entry, and begin conversations with other fans, which also helps them build skills which in turn may encourage them to pursue other avenues within the fandom (fic writing, other formats of askblog - which itself usually leads to art, cosplay, also fic writing, etc). Without those places to build those skills, they might feel discouraged from trying to begin when surrounded by curated people who have built their skills up for years.

And those conversations they foster also in turn help the community, by offering ideas to artists or fic writers to extrapolate on or building community jokes. And that text/blog format specifically is extremely beneficial, because it allows younger members of the fandom to remain anonymous and keep their privacy without concerning themselves with having any platform or having anything attached to them (very important for young fans figuring themselves out and navigating online community spaces for the first time, since they can remove themselves from spaces easily if they decide they don't like it and they're protected, rather than PUTTING THEIR FACE ON THE INTERNET). And those posts they make will spread a lot more into the community since they're in a significantly easier format to be reposted (few people are gonna be reposting tons of random short-form videos versus spamming their instagrams with reposts of 10 random fandom images yoinked from tumblr, or reposting to pinterest or something). Like, don't repost art, at the VERY least don't repost without credit, but also I am not ignorant to the fact that my art is not just the first google image result for "pjo pride" and related searches, but also the 4th, the 6th, the 9th, the 10th, the 11th, etc etc., and pops up in the search results before the official ReadRiordan does simply because people reposted my work more (most with credit, thankfully).

For fandom to be a community, it needs to perpetuate itself. There needs to be engagement with one another and conversation. If that bottom rung is cut off, then new fans won't be able to grow into the other niches of the fandom, and the fandom will be solely reliant on the source material and die out extremely quickly, and there won't be a community. There's no conversation! There's no reason to stay beyond the original material! But if you don't have points of entry for new fans, they won't have any way to build the skills needed to move into those niches, or engage with the community in a healthy way.

tl;dr: Bring back askblogs and character-based text post blogs. They are vital to fandom ecosystem.

jjk 251

Megumi is a background character to his own tragedy

Chapter 251 dropped, and a certain character is not coming out unscathed. Our cast is trying to seperate Sukuna and Megumi, and after a few tries, Yuuji finally reaches Megumi. But Megumi denies Yuuji's help, having lost the will to live, allowing Sukuna to launch a counter-attack once more. For this, Megumi is called a bum and slandered all over the internet. Yuuji and Megumi's suffering is pitted against each other by the fandom. Part of it is memes, sure, but it's clearly more than that.

Realistically, Megumi and Yuuji are going through very similar events. Megumi lost his sister and teacher while under Sukuna's possession. Yuuji lost his friend, his mentor right in front of him in the span of minutes. Sukuna killed an untold amount of people in their bodies. Both went fetal after it happened. So why is the response so contrasting?

Yuuji's trauma in Shibuya is front, right, and center. His relationships were developed on-page, the reader is just as shocked by the loss of his loved ones, we're grieving right along with him.

Meanwhile, the events Megumi goes through aren't given the same care. Ever since he got fed the Finger Special, at no point does the narrative slow down so the reader can digest what's happening. Megumi's plot and struggles gets glossed over, skipped, or is a complete tonal disconnect to what's actually happening.

Tsumiki wakes up: the only on-page interaction is Megumi telling Tsumiki to go back to sleep, even though she woke up from a nearly two-year coma. She doesn't show up the entire Culling Games arc even though Megumi's participation was to save his sister

Tsumiki turns out to be an incarnated sorcerer: Megumi's reaction to his sister being dead and possessed is practically non-existent because Sukuna takes over Megumi right after

Tsumiki gets killed by Megumi's own technique: This is the worst one, imho. Yorozu is completely in control during this fight, we learn nothing about Tsumiki. There is almost no acknowledgment on how horrifying this situation really is. The narrative focuses more on Sukuna trying to kill Yorozu, creating this disconnect where Tsumiki is seemingly already dead but she has to die again for Megumi's angst. Does it really matter that Tsumiki's body needs to be killed by the 10 Shadows? Isn't the fact that Megumi will forever remember her dying by his own hand not enough? There is accidental pseudo-incest in this arc and it's completely unacknowledged. The tone is just all over the place.

Megumi takes the damage of 5 Domain Expansions: Is he brain dead? Was his soul damaged? Is he fine? What are birds? We just don't know

Gojo, Megumi's guardian, gets killed while possessed: Megumi and Gojo's relationship is a hotly debated topic amongst fans. Is Gojo Megumi's father figure? Are they even close? Did Gojo hold back from trying to kill Megumi or did he think Megumi was a lost cause? Is Megumi even aware of what's going on?

And the ultimate kicker to all of this: Megumi has shown up for a handful of panels for most of the events described. His story is absolutely horrifying and would cripple any man, but it's all off-screened or shrouded in vagueness.

But to large parts of the fandom none of that matters. If Megumi's friends put aside all their pain, why can't Megumi? Setting aside that Yuuji very definitely did not when it was him, I believe this is a direct consequence of the lack of character work. For months now, character after character dies, and no one reacts to it. Gojo, the biggest hope to most of the current cast, died and the story moves on to the next contender in the same chapter he kicks it. They all just jump into the fight like they're swapping party members in an RPG. It's no wonder Megumi gets disrespected for being the one guy who breaks down to the shit he goes through like a real human being. Why should the fandom care when the story itself does the same thing?

There's a lot of parellels Gege could have drawn between Yuuji and Megumi, and while that might still happen, the way Megumi has been treated as a plot device makes the entire experience incredibly unsatisfying.

I'm in the process of porting over to thejakeformerlyknownasprince.blogspot.com if folks would like to look me up there.

link

hello it is i, your very own russian tumblr psyop. blow up the nearest wall mart. for communism!