Fandom - Blog Posts

A proposal

Sometimes, in fandom, we just want to write id-tastic fic that rolls around in tropes that might be viewed as problematic. But we don’t want to address the problematic side of things in this particular fanwork; we just want to roll around and wallow.

It is considered courteous to give readers a heads-up via use of AO3 tags. I propose a tag that signals that a given fanwork is for rolling around, not giving a measured evaluation of anything. The MCU has carved out a space for this sort of fic with the “HYDRA Trash Party” tag, for which I commend them. Trash Party is a bit too specific to cover all of the ground I’m thinking of here, though; I propose “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat.”

For those of you not familiar with Arrested Development, Michael Bluth finds a paper bag in the freezer labeled “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat.” He opens the bag, finds a dead dove, and reacts as follows:

[gif of a white man saying “I don’t know what I expected” in a deadpan manner]

The “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” tag would essentially be a “what it says on the tin” metatag, indicating “you see the tropes and concepts tagged here? they are going to appear in this fic. exactly as said. there will not necessarily be any subversion, authorial commentary condemning problematic aspects, or meditation on potential harm. this fic contains dead dove. if you proceed, you should expect to encounter it.”

(more at KnowYourMeme: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-dont-know-what-i-expected)

Periodic reminder that you are not immune to reactionary radicalization through fandom.

We all know the "jokes" about how old bronies either came out as queer or became fascists - except they're not really jokes, and a lot of the queer ones admit to having been in the pipeline before they came out (some in a way that implies they never totally got out of said pipeline and don't understand the gravity of it),

GamerGate was an entire right-wing reactionary movement that was - and this is not hyperbole - partially responsible for turning fascism into a "legitimate" position by the American Overton window, composed entirely of people who feared losing their fan spaces,

We've had terfs right here on tumblr dot com BRAGGING about how useful fandom is as a recruiting space,

TJLC was a big pipeline for acephobia on this hellsite in particular, when people argued that headcanoning Sherlock as ace was inherently homophobic because it was denying a TOTALLY GONNA BE CANON (while the creators were promising that it wasn't going to be canon) gay pairing, and puritanical, and just HAVING that headcanon was saying that people COULDN'T ship Johnlock, all in the interest of a "fake" sexuality and "pretending to be oppressed" and oh whoops there you went,

We see people who all but center their fandom activity and identities around figuring out which people in predominantly queer fandom spaces are SECRETLY PEDOPHILES AND GROOMERS, acting consciously or otherwise under the assumption that predominantly queer fandom spaces are just massively infested with them in a way that other spaces are not for SOME reason, who twist the definition of "pedophilia" in these spaces until it covers shipping a 17-year old fictional character with an 18-year old fictional character, or a 30-year old with a 45-year old, or including an autistic character in a ship, and drawing two 17-year old characters kissing constitutes "child porn", and who unironically say we should bring back the Hays Code and Censorship Is Good Actually And Our Problem Is We Don't Do It Enough and this often becomes a pipeline to "sex ed is child abuse; people shouldn't even know what sex is until they turn 18; you need my consent to wear certain outfits in public if I see them as sexually charged, and Pride SHOULD be an assimilationist sideshow for our corporate overlords family-friendly party with no sadness or anger or ESPECIALLY acknowledgement of sex allowed",

We've seen otherwise progressive people defend literal hate symbols in fanart when pushback against the above brand of reactionaries gets corrupted into zero-nuance "it's us vs. them so anything they don't like is Good",

Even outside of those examples some of the most vicious, unapologetic, blatant queerphobic abuse I've seen in recent years hasn't come from right-wingers but from LGBT+ people, dressing their deep, violent, seething hatred for queer people who aren't exactly like them in a thin veneer of progressive language, who have become so convinced that they're the main character of the fucking universe that they think writing or enjoying a queer story that doesn't resonate with them is more queerphobic than sending a queer person who writes or enjoys such a story countless rape and death threats and denying their identity,

We've seen these examples again and again and again, and we keep seeing it again and again and again, so I am once again on my knees BEGGING people to recognize that this is not Something That Happens To Other, BAD People, or Something That Happens To People In BAD Fandoms, or Something That Happens To People On The OTHER Side Of Perennial Drama; this is something that CAN happen to you.

These things are the result of the fact that fandom is, by nature, a place of heightened emotion and if you don't know what to look out for that is very exploitable; you need to know the methods people use to do this, simply Being In The Right Fandoms or Liking The Right Ships is not enough.

So, if you see someone trying to convince you that you have the ONLY valid approach to any specific character, or ship, or show, or whatever, that your ship is activism and your fanfics are praxis, and liking something else or liking the same thing differently is Only For Bad People, that is the single biggest red flag that YOU NEED TO RUN, THEY'RE TRYING TO SELL YOU SOMETHING THAT YOU DO NOT WANT

starting to suspect that tech bros actually just don’t know what reading is

purge of 2002? of 2012? what ARE those?

Oh, how quickly the past is forgotten. 

They are part of the reason A03 is a thing now. Not the whole reason, but part of it. 

The Great Purges of 2002 and 2012 are when ff.net got a wild hair up their ass about THINK OF THE CHILDREN and nuked any fic posted on there that was explicit. Thousands upon thousands of nc-17 smutfics were lost.

It’s what led to the creation of alternate hosting sites for smutty fic…AdultFanfiction was the one I went to…but thousands of fics would never be recovered. 

When I was a kid, maybe 14 or so (which is, you know, 20+ years ago), I belonged to a Yahoo! mailing list for an anime called Gundam Wing. It was mostly populated by other teens, of varying ages, as it was started by a teen and her friends. Eventually it migrated, when Yahoo! groups started as forums, and even branched off into non-GW related stuff in a second forum.

One of the things I remember the most clearly is the oldest person in the group. Her name was Steelsong. She was a 40-something Dom with a sub whose name we knew even though we knew nothing else. She ran her own fanfic archive because the web was still handmade HTML and navigated in webrings and I’m pretty sure Google didn’t exist or was only barely, barely launched and not well known. She was kind and patient and we loved her. She treated everyone on the group with the respect given any adult, even though most of the rest of the world was still treating us like we were children. Not teenagers even, but children. She never once condescended to any of us, never made our youth a barrier to her respect, never treated us like we were incapable of being full people or like we were less than her because we were young.

I remember that she hosted our fanfiction, as absolutely terrible as it was (and I still have some of it, I am WELL aware of how cringingly terrible it is, just absolute nonsense garbage), right there alongside of other fic that was soul-achingly beautiful. Not a separate section for her friends or for kids, just right there like we were good enough to feature alongside other authors. I never once received crit from her that I didn’t ask for, only support. Only love. I am still writing today partly because Steel was so kind about our fic, fanfic and original.

I remember that when I started doing clay sculpture, she commissioned a tiny pair of dragons from me, to support me doing artwork. She sent a check my mom cashed for me, and my mom helped me mail it when it was finished. It broke in transit, and Steel assured me that she mended it and that it was still beautiful. It was a small gold dragon curled up with a small silver dragon.

I remember that her patience knew no bounds. I remember that she was there for us, regardless of reason. When we wanted to know silly things like what to do with a single AA battery, she answered. When we had serious questions about sex, she answered.  When we had questions about writing, she taught us. When one of our group members, a young gay teen in Australia, ended up in the hospital and then stopped making posts, and we all knew what had happened, she let us talk to her about it because we couldn’t go to our own parents, even though we had just lost a friend.

She was not a replacement to my parents, but she was an extra parent, in some ways. A friend, certainly, but someone that had been through more life than we had and was willing to pass on knowledge if we asked for it. Someone older that we trusted with things that were too uncomfortable to go to our parents or teachers or whatever about, because we already knew she wasn’t going to judge us or something, and that we would get an honest answer.

I don’t know why I’m remembering this so hard tonight, and I’m not sure if there’s a point to sharing this, except that I know she’s gone now. She was ill the last time we spoke, and her site went down a long time ago, and I miss her. She was a huge influence on my life, then and now. She was hope, for me, that life as an adult didn’t have to be boring, it wouldn’t have to mean giving up the things I loved and Becoming Only Responsible With No Fun. Her presence meant I had hope I could still write and play with friends even when I wasn’t ‘a kid’ anymore. And she’s gone, and I miss her, and I wanted to share her from the perspective of youth, and the perspective over twenty years later has provided me.

And I think of her, when people go off about older folks being in fandom with younger folks. I’m an older folks now, or at least middle aged folks because there are certainly folks older than me still, but I wasn’t always. I’ve been here since i was a younger folks, and I know how much Steel’s presence and support meant to me, how much she helped not just me but everyone on that group. And I think of the people saying older folks don’t belong in fandom, and that they shouldn’t interact with younger folks at all, and I just think… I can’t agree. I needed that kind of solid presence in my life back then and even at the age I am now, I need the folks older than me to stay. I want them here.

So I guess, like, if you’re here and you’re 40 or 50 or 60 or 70 or 80 or whatever, I want you here in fandom with me, still. Your presence here is a comfort. It is hope. It is a reminder that life will continue to be fun, even as I get older, myself. And if you’re younger and you have this sort of elder in your groups, I hope that they are like Steel. I hope they are kind and patient and supportive, and that knowing them gives you hope for your own future. I hope in twenty years you look back and remember them fondly.

we remake Harry Potter movies

everything the same

But

house elves are replaced

with sexy Elves

Puto 🗡️

Récemment j'avais écris que j'étais toujours un peu restée dans mon coin avec mon amour de Kaamelott et que de finalement trouver d'autres gens qui l'aime autant ça m'avait vraiment rendu heureuse.

Je sais que c'est tout con, mais me faire dire que je pourris le fandom, ça me fait un peu regretter le coup. Pas par une idéologie à la con de 'les gens y sont michants'… mais l'idée de pourrir la joie des autres.

Bref, faites pas comme moi, pensez avant de balancer des trucs dans l'univers. be good people, take care, think twice before you speak.

That whole "I was one of their first fan"... it's kinda bullshit. As I recall, I stumbled upon their music without the help of anyone, especially not you, danielleaddison. You ain't the Giraffe Jesus, so pipe the fuck down and have a good day!

In the year 2013, people found Steam Powered Giraffe.

I really hate to be this person. 

But….

Where have y’all been?

Just sayin’, I listened to SPG before it was cool.

Sorry

Sorry.

I am speaking the truth.

I tried to tell people about them. No one believed me.

Now they have a fandom.

And I’m starting to “tumblr savior” it all.

Ah.

Sorry.

[manifesting as hard as i possibly can] please, please god, please, please, please let more people get into my extremely niche and somewhat dated hyperfixation ship 😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏

URGENT!!

i really need you all to mass report this account for being underage. she didn’t do anything wrong but we need the account deleted ASAP for important reasons, she is a victim so please don’t send her anything!

i really appreciate it, thank you all, please share if you can

My design of Valentino

I do not own Valentino, He Belongs to Vivziepop (Owner of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss)

"I hate (insert media here) because of the fando-"

Anyone noticed that when people draw future au art for fandoms they always make the character's hair longer.

irl no one has time for that shit, cut it OFF. Adults even more so, no reason to make gray hairs even more obvious.

WHY would I waste time on styling and taking care of long hair when I could be sleeping???

Anyway, we need more short-haired future au art. 

To the person behind me on the bus, craning their head to stare at my phone screen in disbelief: yeah asshole that’s right, I AM reading wild kratts fanfiction right now. Yeah I’m a fully grown adult and yeah I have the entire internet at my fingertips and what I want to do right now is read this almost-100k-word-count Chris/Zach unfinished slowburn and you know what?? Its fucking fantastic!!! What do you have to say to that huh

PSA!!! This applies to all fandoms!

Ok so I’ve seen a lot of people posting things that are against certain Headcannon/ship things. If it’s a safe headcannon/ship please don’t do this!

Safe do Not include things that:

- glorify pedos

- glorify abuse

- are racist

- are sexist

- just generically hateful towards a group of people

I get it’s supposed to go against toxic people but there are other ways to do that! It ends up hurting people who use that ship/Headcannon for comfort or enjoyment. Saying things like ‘it will never come true’ or ‘that character isn’t gay’ doesn’t help anyone. We know, you’re just making things more toxic.

Raising awareness about a Headcannon or ship is not being hateful. An example is clarifying something about a culture or illness (mental and physical) for writers or to dispel rumours and harmful stereotypes around something. If you aren’t sure whether it’s raising awareness or hateful, don’t post it!

This has been a PSA!

Lotus Casino: We have the power of the Lotus flowers to make people forget that we have been perfecting for years. What do you have?

Percabeth: We have the power of......✨️Friendship✨️

percy and annabeth resisting the magical powers of the lotus flower through the Power Of Friendship ™️

Istg im gay but calling a trans-coded person trans for the lulz is stupid

She's not trans it's been confirmed

the kids are alright 🏳️‍⚧️

Mr. Funky here or Funky demon (however you wanna call me)

I wanna say real quickly as a someone who doesn’t post much of their own content or posts. I wanna say rn as a trans male(questioning), I’m SO SO proud of you for being here right now. I’m so proud of you being the funky, rad person you are today. “But funky, I didn’t do much today or nothing much.” That’s ok! The fact you decided to be here with us is amazing and your gonna be ok. That fact you decided to keep going or seek help is wonderful. Or your recovering from SH or whatever it may be, your doing such a good job and keep going!

Trans, All fruits, autism and ADHDs, Systems and Fictives, Other abled, ethics, natives and so so much much more.

You are some the strongest people I know and Ik it’s hard being here now but I want you to know that you loved by Mr. Funky, by so many others. Please don’t stop fighting please.

Stay Funky💗🏳️‍⚧️

Saw this post, guess who has a book they want to talk about!?

Please, I beg of you tumblr people to send me questions about the Drowned Woods and let me Rant about how I hate Romance books!

no you have to contribute to your fandom if you don't want it to die. most fandoms die because people say 'it's so sad watching the fandom die when the hype dies' without doing anything about it. I'm not saying you have to push out 100k word slow-burn fic, I'm not saying you have to make fan art or gif sets or edits or anything. I'm just saying we as a community should contribute to our fandom if we don't want it to die, and by contributing, I'm talking about giving kudos, commenting on your favorite fics, reblogging your favorite art and just talking about your favorite characters. that's enough to keep a fandom alive. that's the most effective way to keep a fandom alive in my humble opinion.

fandoms die because people stop talking about it, fandoms die because people stop engaging with fan content once the hype is gone. what I'm saying is, mainstream media's hype may be gone, but our fandom can stay alive and thriving if us as a community don't let it die.

You know, “canon is fake” and “reducing every vaguely sympathetic character in every piece of media to one of the same three generic archetypes for ease of shipping is a poor foundation for critical engagement” can both be true at the same time.

So I was thinking to myself about a lot of things and

I miss when content creators were just that. People who created content. When there were no (or at least less) huge controversies and huge reveals of “turns out one of your favourite internet people is secretly a terrible person!”. I miss when I could watch/read/listen to/enjoy the content I like without feeling bad for liking it. I miss when I could watch people’s channels and be subscribed/following/whatever without being criticised. I miss when we could just be happy to like what we like.

And even with all this, I still try. I want to enjoy my content in the same way I used to, without anxiety and fear of constant judgement and hatred following me. I’ve had to learn how to separate the art from the artist quickly, lest I shut myself off from it entirely or become a stan for someone who doesn’t deserve my energy.

But it’s hard. Many of the creators I once loved are either terrible, still friends with the terrible people, creating entirely different content from what I used to enjoy from them (I’m glad they moved on to something they’re happier with btw, I just miss their old content), or dead. The people around me cringe at the mention of many of their channels/names, making it difficult to say even so much as “I used to like this” without being harshly judged and criticised.

All in all, I think it’s important to understand that you shouldn’t be cruel to someone who likes something with a problematic creator. New controversy about an influencer you like doesn’t mean you’re terrible for liking them. And definitely don’t believe that you either have to support them completely or shut yourself off from their content.

Don’t bully people about their likes or dislikes. If you don’t agree, then accept you have differing opinions. If you don’t understand, ask them about it before condemning them to your judgement.

GET. AI. OUT. OF. FANDOM. Stop making headcanons with it, stop making fanfic with it, stop making fanart with it. If I see one more "asking chatgpt *blank* about *character/characters in a fandom* I'm going to lose my goddamn mind. Use your own fucking brain, stop asking AI to do everything. You could even ask other real people what they think. Just. Stop. Using. AI. In. Creative. Spaces.

LENA BOSKO IS A LESBIAN‼️‼️

canon is irrelevant lena bosko is a lesbian

When your ship is def acting suspiciously coupley but they aren’t canon so you just scream „STOP BEING GAY AND START BEING GAY‼️‼️“

Yeah.

Me: Okay! I'm gonna work on all my old wips and shit!!

Also me: guess who started a whole new fic for an old ass fandom that is close to dead lmaoo

Please. I don’t care if you thought my writing was trash. You can tell me everything’s out of character. The reason why I post stuff is for the vague sense of human connection. Spam me with questions about the fandom. Write an essay in the comments about how I’m wrong. Send an ask just geeking out about the fandom with me. I literally don’t care just saying anything will make my entire week.

Do y'all ever read a fic so good that it makes you want to elevate your own craft and also befriend the writer? It's almost like, "Hi! You write so well that you've inspired me to embark on a creative training arc. Also, can I yell about the character in your dms because you get it?"

I think Prodigy is going in the direction of "medusans are so beautiful that they break your mind" rather than hideous. Eldritch beauty. I mean just look at Zero - prettiest orb in the delta quadrant

god i need to know beyond anything else what age zero is emotionally. or physically. like no matter what age they are being taken from their hivemind and being used as a tool to brainwash slaves would be extremely traumatic but all i can think of is that the last time we saw a medusan on star trek, they had a name. but all zero has is “fugitive zero”. do they remember their hivemind? do they know what happened to it? do they miss it and wish they could give up this new family to go home?

how old is this orb

falling headfirst and knee-deep into a new fandom when i have exams right around the corner is crazy work actually (GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HEAD GET OUT OF MY HE)