There are people who have thrown massive fits because, eg, someone made a fan-ask-whatever that doesn't coincide with their mental image of a character. More commonly there are people who argue for days on end about how Character A is a canonical feminist (or isn't) and the anger comes from associating too much with that character (and being afraid of seeing oneself negatively), pretending the characters actually have minds of their own instead of being fictional tools of an author (and thus feeling like they're, I don't know, your friend or something), or being afraid of losing face in the cabal that has formed around some piece of fiction on the internet, because you're supposed to be knowledgeable and insightful about Homestuck, dammit. The internet can bring people together but these communities, when too focused and dedicated (as they often are), become very socially-stunted.
ok I agree but your post didn't really...suggest that? Like, most character-ask blogs I see are just people having fun RPing characters they like. It's tumblr so I wouldn't be surprised if what you're describing goes on a lot but I've never seen such.
Homestuck cosplayers have been issues before, both because they cover themselves with paint and because of other things. See the post. They warned us at Anime North one year that they were considering banning Homestuck cosplays in the hotel beside the venue.
This guy's blog is actually has a bit of responding to Bad Fan Kid Behaviour. Of course, it Can't Be Verified because it's Tumblr, but just as an example of the stuff you say that you never see.
Like I was saying about maturity. The shit is mostly shit that kids can be expected to do. But once you're older...
Homestuck cosplayers have been issues before, both because they cover themselves with paint and because of other things. See the post. They warned us at Anime North one year that they were considering banning Homestuck cosplays in the hotel beside the venue.
This guy's blog is actually has a bit of responding to Bad Fan Kid Behaviour. Of course, it Can't Be Verified because it's Tumblr, but just as an example of stuff.
Like I was saying about maturity. The shit is mostly shit that kids can be expected to do. But once you're older...
im pretty sure that like, 90% of awful fandom shit being a product of that face that fandom consists mostly of teenagers being enabling towards one another
which is something that teens do, y'know? it's just more recognizeable when everyone's in grey facepaint or has a Steven Univere screencap tumblr avatar or whatever
the other 10% is like the sort of adult who never really left high school having access to a community of teens and then like not behaving properly because it enters this cycle thing (to be clear im not talking about like pedophiles here, im just talking about adults who should know better than to do dumb kid shit but havent quite caught up yet)
like, Homestuck fans are sometimes bad, but they're bad in exactly the same way numerous other fandoms are bad, and not always to the same extent, either
I think stuff like "askblogs" are indicative of people who basically want whatever piece of fiction they love to be a reality; or to pretend it's so much bigger than it actually is, so they can spend more time in it. There's rarely another reason to wonder what a character's favourite food is.
don't see anything wrong with that
Mostly it's annoying to think about; it's normally just a collection of minor vices. It can be indicative of obsessive tendencies, if you're no longer a kid, for example. Some people need that sort of super-focused, extended escapism because they're miserable and/or damaged; I'm sympathetic to that, but at the same time, it could become harmfully immature.
There are people who have thrown massive fits because, eg, someone made a fan-ask-whatever that doesn't coincide with their mental image of a character. More commonly there are people who argue for days on end about how Character A is a canonical feminist (or isn't) and the anger comes from associating too much with that character (and being afraid of seeing oneself negatively), pretending the characters actually have minds of their own instead of being fictional tools of an author (and thus feeling like they're, I don't know, your friend or something), or being afraid of losing face in the cabal that has formed around some piece of fiction on the internet, because you're supposed to be knowledgeable and insightful about Homestuck, dammit. The internet can bring people together but these communities, when too focused and dedicated (as they often are), become very socially-stunted.
EDIT: Page-bottomer, niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
i don't actually disagree with any of the content of this, but at the same time there is a part of me that would like to indulge in fandom stuff more often and feels that the reasons for not doing so are fairly arbitrary
like, it's not ok for adults to do this stuff because something something it's just shameful and bad ok?
i dunno, you listed like a bunch of things that demonstrably are bad, and i guess crossover fics and askblogs feel tainted by association, but i feel like, in so far as these things are intrinsic to fan stuff, they're not demonstrably harmful, and so far as they're harmful, they're not an intrinsic property of crossover fics or askblogs
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
It's not that fan stuff is intrinsically bad.
It's that teenagers are still learning how to control their environment, themselves, who they are, what they are, and it's a terrifying, scary time. And so they fuck each other, and fuck themselves up.
Like, say you put all the teenagers in charge of a project. And then they all start fucking each other, they've formed alliances, and some friendships and other relationships have been ruined forever. It's not the project. It's that this is what kids do.
Which is exactly what Naney said, yes, but wordier.
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
I was never a fan of things. I wanted to interact in those forms of crossover and fanfiction and all those things, but I couldn't figure out how to get in. And so I never went there.
I still hurt other people. I still did stupid fucking things. Because that's what a kid does.
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
Of course. That's why I said "a project," because adults can work with each other without horrible things happening. Adults also play with toys too, and that's as "childish" a thing as you can get.
There are similarities between adults and children as stages, but also just as many differences.
I think stuff like "askblogs" are indicative of people who basically want whatever piece of fiction they love to be a reality; or to pretend it's so much bigger than it actually is, so they can spend more time in it. There's rarely another reason to wonder what a character's favourite food is.
don't see anything wrong with that
Mostly it's annoying to think about; it's normally just a collection of minor vices. It can be indicative of obsessive tendencies, if you're no longer a kid, for example. Some people need that sort of super-focused, extended escapism because they're miserable and/or damaged; I'm sympathetic to that, but at the same time, it could become harmfully immature.
There are people who have thrown massive fits because, eg, someone made a fan-ask-whatever that doesn't coincide with their mental image of a character. More commonly there are people who argue for days on end about how Character A is a canonical feminist (or isn't) and the anger comes from associating too much with that character (and being afraid of seeing oneself negatively), pretending the characters actually have minds of their own instead of being fictional tools of an author (and thus feeling like they're, I don't know, your friend or something), or being afraid of losing face in the cabal that has formed around some piece of fiction on the internet, because you're supposed to be knowledgeable and insightful about Homestuck, dammit. The internet can bring people together but these communities, when too focused and dedicated (as they often are), become very socially-stunted.
EDIT: Page-bottomer, niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
While there are people like this out there, applying it to even the majority of people who run stuff like askblogs comes off as a piece with that presumptuous policing of expressions of enthusiasm thing that you see in certain corners of the Internet, and that pisses me off. It also perhaps inadvertently equates having a weird hobby with mental disorder, which is somehow insulting to hobbyists, the mentally ill, and those hobbyists who are indeed mentally ill.
That said, flying off the handle because someone doesn't share your interpretation of a work of fiction and expresses their relationship with it differently is pretty cloddish all around, and actively getting mad about it is an unhealthy way to interact with the world. And, of course, like seeks like, and these people tend to cluster about one another. But confusing the activity with the sort of groups that favour these activities is unfair.
It's the simple difference between Homestuck bucket-spitters and those weird but innocuous folks you see congregated together in similar garb.
I'm sure they exist and undoubtedly echo chambers develop and perpetuate each other in various corners, but otherwise I'm pretty much with Vash. Like unless you're trying to "help" them (which is how I read it), it strikes me as something that is not really anyone's business, and rather patronizing, no less when you go in assuming negative traits. Even if they're off their rocker. There are so many other angles you could go at it if someone is actually not the best in the head, anyway.
And I'm not sure about you, but I've literally never had to worry about losing face for not being into the new hip thing, or for have dissenting tastes.
It's a shame that the few Lamezone askblogs I encountered were already defunct. The whole premise of asking questions to the kid from Punc is just such fun.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
I wish I could blog about personal crap like I used to in 2012-13 instead of just reblogging a bunch of fandom stuff.
But, like...I don't feel like my blog is a personal space anymore? I have 200-some followers and I don't even know who a good chunk of them are...how do other people handle this problem?
Just blog about personal stuff anyway, but maybe in a more politic or sensible way than you normally would phrase it. I mean, if they like you for you, they'll get it.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
Tumblr is the only medium I've seen that actively enforces the euphemism treadmill. Like, the terminology has to be maximally inclusive, but the medium itself rejects any sort of solidarity and a lot of people like to encourage forming increasingly narrow factions because the alternative is- gasp- people being lumped in with groups they don't fully identify with
I dunno my painkillers are wearing off and it's like tripling my ADHD so I can't keep any of my thoughts straight, ignore me
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
I navigate what I post and how I post with the people I know who are viewing it, and I'm okay with that, and every request about what I post is totally reasonable.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
My favorite mass-reblogged Tumblr post is that one with the gif of a firefly
People from other parts of the world, where there are no fireflies, commented on it like "oh my god, it's a little bug but he LIGHTS UP, how amazing!"
And somehow that really felt good, seeing someone look at something that's so mundane and ordinary to me and view it as something magical and unique...
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
Imagine if, every time you go outside at night during the summer, there are these short little bursts of green light flying though the air. That's what it's like to live somewhere with fireflies...you stop even noticing them after a while.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
isn't that what the post is complaining about? the problem being described as a dilemma?
It feels like sort of a strawman, though. I haven't actually seen anybody say "no fandom bloggers should ever be called out for bigotry", what I see people say is "oh god please lay off and stop harassing teenagers over minor stuff."
isn't that what the post is complaining about? the problem being described as a dilemma?
It feels like sort of a strawman, though. I haven't actually seen anybody say "no fandom bloggers should ever be called out for bigotry", what I see people say is "oh god please lay off and stop harassing teenagers over minor stuff."
isn't that what the post is complaining about? the problem being described as a dilemma?
It feels like sort of a strawman, though. I haven't actually seen anybody say "no fandom bloggers should ever be called out for bigotry", what I see people say is "oh god please lay off and stop harassing teenagers over minor stuff."
it wouldn't surprise me if there were, like, a gamergator who believed the former or something
isn't that what the post is complaining about? the problem being described as a dilemma?
It feels like sort of a strawman, though. I haven't actually seen anybody say "no fandom bloggers should ever be called out for bigotry", what I see people say is "oh god please lay off and stop harassing teenagers over minor stuff."
it wouldn't surprise me if there were, like, a gamergator who believed the former or something
There is, though they don't hang out with the people who would read the above dilemma post.
Also a lot of this is related to a Steven Universe fanartist attempting suicide because of hatemail, recently.
I did actually read one of the hateblogs in question. They weren't wrong, per se, but yeah, "oh god stop harassing teenagers for minor stuff when there's Arpaio-level a-holes running about" was my reaction too.
Comments
This guy's blog is actually has a bit of responding to Bad Fan Kid Behaviour. Of course, it Can't Be Verified because it's Tumblr, but just as an example of the stuff you say that you never see.
Like I was saying about maturity. The shit is mostly shit that kids can be expected to do. But once you're older...
which is something that teens do, y'know? it's just more recognizeable when everyone's in grey facepaint or has a Steven Univere screencap tumblr avatar or whatever
the other 10% is like the sort of adult who never really left high school having access to a community of teens and then like not behaving properly because it enters this cycle thing (to be clear im not talking about like pedophiles here, im just talking about adults who should know better than to do dumb kid shit but havent quite caught up yet)
i am fairly sure this isn't true
like, Homestuck fans are sometimes bad, but they're bad in exactly the same way numerous other fandoms are bad, and not always to the same extent, either
also i agree with naney
i don't actually disagree with any of the content of this, but at the same time there is a part of me that would like to indulge in fandom stuff more often and feels that the reasons for not doing so are fairly arbitrary
like, it's not ok for adults to do this stuff because something something it's just shameful and bad ok?
i dunno, you listed like a bunch of things that demonstrably are bad, and i guess crossover fics and askblogs feel tainted by association, but i feel like, in so far as these things are intrinsic to fan stuff, they're not demonstrably harmful, and so far as they're harmful, they're not an intrinsic property of crossover fics or askblogs
surely?
I dunno my painkillers are wearing off and it's like tripling my ADHD so I can't keep any of my thoughts straight, ignore me
People from other parts of the world, where there are no fireflies, commented on it like "oh my god, it's a little bug but he LIGHTS UP, how amazing!"
And somehow that really felt good, seeing someone look at something that's so mundane and ordinary to me and view it as something magical and unique...
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead