Pinball Wizard

Black Phone sideblog Fanart, musings, fics etc Asks open

[beehindblueeyes]

Hi :) I've been a pretty big fan of the black phone since it came out, however I'm fairly new to the actual fandom. If I'm being totally honest I was one of the 16 year old fans who had a crush on Vance (to be fair to myself, I also had a huge crush on Brady Hepner was my age) but that's besides the point. Anyway, to get to the question. I saw your post about the boys ages (thank you btw I needed it for a fic I plan on writing) and I wanted to ask about Vance's age. In the movie it said he was held back twice, I always assumed that meant he was 14/15? I don't really know how the American school system works, I myself am Australian, but have I missed something? Sorry about the rambling in this, it's actually my first ask ever and I have no idea how to write one of these.

Hi! Yes sorry! I haven’t been active on this blog in two years so forgive me if I’m totally off as it’s been a while since I’ve watched the movie/delved into things but — I believe he’s 13-14. Likely 14, it’s not really stated what grade he is in or was held back to so I’ve assumed he was held back at a younger age/grade.

Also 13 tends to be 7th or 8th grade depending on your birthday. All the characters are in middle school, but it would’ve been called like junior high in the 1970s

[beehindblueeyes]

I was one of those people super duper against a Black phone two because it doesn’t need a sequel or make much sense but

“You of all people should know dead is just a word”

OH. And Colorado snowstorm? OH.

However the grabber fucking ice skating is so funny please don’t do that.

[random-incorrect-quotes-boi]

Finney: Chat, what do we think?

The ghost boys: Don't call us that.

[dykealloy]

enough with the reader x fiction flooding every tag I Do Not want to be railed by that man

[imperial-nuisance-rudje]

#always so out of character I would not fucking say that

[f1inl3ey]

“Vance hopper is a bad person he literally carved numbers into someone’s arm” you do realise he’s a made up character right? That did made up things? He was literally controlling Gwen’s dream. AND MAY I REMIND YOU AGAIN THAT HES A FICTIONAL CHARACTER

[beehindblueeyes]

14 year old is mean 😱😱😱

Why do people lose their mind when a bully character is a bully??? Especially in the 1970s kids were fucking brutal theyd call you more than “stupid” and beat the snot out of each other

[f1inl3ey]

Fr like I understand not liking bully characters but it’s really not that deep. They’re not a real person.

I also don’t understand the people that hate the bully characters ACTOR just bc of what their character did. It’s so stupid. Get a fucking grip dude

[beehindblueeyes]

A lot of it’s not a reasonable hate either it’s more an inability to recognize not everything is sunshine and rainbows and some people are simply… mean. Additionally being mean or a bully foesnt mean a character is pure evil, they’re still human. There’s a weird… just burning hatred for characters who aren’t pure good and milquetoast people like to blame it on covid but really it’s a “I only watch kid shows and characters who aren’t nice are burned at the stake here 💕”

And yeah, as you said they aren’t real. It’s not that deep. Very similar hatred with Billy from stranger things and his actor. The character is another bully character but people project and make him out to be far worse than he is to justify their hate and it’s borderline parasocial

[f1inl3ey]

“Vance hopper is a bad person he literally carved numbers into someone’s arm” you do realise he’s a made up character right? That did made up things? He was literally controlling Gwen’s dream. AND MAY I REMIND YOU AGAIN THAT HES A FICTIONAL CHARACTER

[beehindblueeyes]

14 year old is mean 😱😱😱

Why do people lose their mind when a bully character is a bully??? Especially in the 1970s kids were fucking brutal theyd call you more than “stupid” and beat the snot out of each other

[beehindblueeyes]

Long rant on how Cool you are

Dude.

I just wanted to say that you are one of my favorite Black Phone fic writers(& just fans in general, really). This fandom is filled with what I feel are literal children(like 12 yr-olds) and you are one of the very, very few mature people that genuinely care about having good fics with good plots that aren't chat fics with so many spelling errors I can hardly understand them at all(I cannot stress how much I hate all these chat fics. The way they all stereotype these poor kids hurts so bad!)

And don't even get me started on all the Character(KID/MINOR/UNDERAGE/WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE) X Grabber fics there are, or the Y/N X Grabber, or Character X Reader.

And I love all the research you do on the 70s and how Ghosts act!! I come here often to see what your expertise is when I'm unsure of what a living-room should look like or whether Finney having a therapist makes sense or not lol. Not to mention your analysis on the Ghost Boys(I love them so much!! tbh I kinda follow your view on them when I'm writing them).

And seeing you care so much makes me do my own research knowing that there could be more people like you reading my fics that care about those kind of things((I am one of those people lol I love when fics are consistent with the source material!!))

Dude you have no idea how much this means to me, a lot of the time I feel like I’m putting my posts or my “time period guides “ out into the void. Sure they’ll get likes but no one ever says anything? It’s hard to know if people care and if I’m actually making a difference/people take my advice. I’m 🥺

I’m glad you like my writing! While also sad to hear chat fics are still a major problem. I went semi inactive in this fandom about a year ago and that sort of thing was rampant then— I get it’s a bunch of kids but it’s the refusal to try to actually get the characters or the world they live in. Idk I’ve just never been comfy with wackyyy texting modern AUs for…a bunch of murdered preteen boys… the fandom somehow infantilizes them and makes them too mature? How do you do that.

There was a real tendency to age up Vance in particular because a lot of people find him attractive like he isn’t 14-15 MAX.

Never been a x reader person but the grabber ones in particular is… weird. I know Ethan hawk is good looking but why do a bunch of grown women want to get with a canonical pedophile serial killer? … I uh… I don’t think he’d be into you.

No but again I’m just a huge puddle on the floor rn man I’m so glad I influenced you to care and all that? That I touched at least one person, y’a know? Aaa

[beehindblueeyes]

Was at the antique, this made me think of Gwen I think she’d be all over these serial novels

Especially since her future husband is Danny Bonaduce lmao

Seriously antiquing can help writing in this fandom so so much, especially as 70s is “retro” and vintage now there’s a lot in stores. Such as:

[beehindblueeyes]

I may need to get back into it, purely from how good my writing was for this fandom? I don’t meant this in a bragging way but holy shit I don’t know what possessed me when I was more into it.

There’s a sequel coming out, dunno what the hell they’re going to do. Ghost killer seems to cheesy but idk, or maybe a separate situation in the same universe?

[randalltier-deactivated20230711]

[dumpy-dump]

[beehindblueeyes]

Fandomization: IT , a similar story

So I’ve talked about fandomization several times on this account, it’s still pretty prevalent and ive now seen some other people calling attention towards it…. In ways that miss the mark. They’re right there. Right on the issue. But then call it something other than what it really is. Blaming some other factor of fandom. Basically I’m here to ramble again so sit tight

Let me take you back to 2017-

The IT remake is at its absolute peak. Content is being pumped out every few minutes. Fanart, fics, little analytical pieces on clothing , scares etc! It’s great… but as months go on… it’s a very similar picture. Fandomization settles in. Characters are reduced to tropes and singular personality traits. Ideas and fears are gone in place of high school AUs set in the modern day. One ship rules them all and if you even dare to think you’d get content about anyone else? I pity you.

A similar thing happened with Stranger things. It was also brand spanking new at the time and set in the 80s the same way. I think it’d be season 2 or at least filming it. Same situation of deteriorating. there was not a singular ship to rule them all… there was two and they are still fuckinh fighting to this day. However with it also being set in the 80s there was crossovers with IT…. Without taking into account that It takes place in 1989 and season one and two of stranger things is 1983-84 …. Guys the IT kids are like Holly’s age.

What are we seeing with the black phone? Starts out same. Fanart, fanfics, analytical content, gifs, screaming and fanning over characters and background details, soon? Characters slowly Start getting reduced … content becomes a X reader only, one ship immerges on top. However Black phone is unique because it’s without a doubt the first time I saw it almost exclusively x reader and not have at least a few ships more popular than that.

Same with IT and stranger things there’s a LOT of sexualisation of the underage cast, either by adults are kids the same age… which, is different but not all the much better. Point is. Circle

Kids-

Here’s something… back in 2017 a good majority of us were kids! I know I was making wildly ooc stuff trying to keep up with my friends in the space no matter how frustrated I was with bad characterization (Richie is still fighting to this day rip fam). It’s understandable, and for me to judge a bunch of us when we were 13-16 wouldn’t be fair? I feel like the same is sort of similar with the black phone, it makes sense the kids are around the same age 13. I get it

As Much as I can understand it doesn’t mean I can’t be annoyed a bit. The issue is that’s all their is. Analysis, gif sets, background detail posts, none x reader fics are …. Almost non existant now. All the other content that I like to engage in now and did back then is just.. a drop in a huge sea. And if your like me and you complain a little bit but then don’t make the content you want to see? Cmon now….

Confronting bad criticism-

Going to keep this Anonymous and vauge as this is not a call out! It’s more a look at fandom cycles as a whole. But this is me looking at and addressing that criticism I was talking about at the beginning so close but so far. basically It was talking about the “It-ification” of the black phone fandom. Which, I agree with…. But then said “by making into a gay rom com” and compared Brance to reddie - sit down we have a lot to unpack.

1.) The problem was never Reddie as a ship in itself. It makes sense and it’s sort of backed by every version of IT.

The problem was the fandom wide characterization. It’s when they become so universally ooc that it might as well be ocs. This is the “owo softboy” and “edgy talkative bad boy” thing comes from. It’s the oocness AND the fact that was all there was. Soon there was nothing for anyone else in the movie- if there was they were in the background or a mouth to talk to in relation to Reddie. It was rare to just see something of all the kids hanging out and being kids.

2.) Brance is not remotely comparable

The number one criteria Is that it has to have taken over everything. It has to be all there is. It has to meet that certain level of almost fandom wide ooc characterization. Brance just… doesn’t. Hell it’s relatively popular but again it’s a small drop in the sea to X reader or Rinney. If we are going to compare anything it’s Rinney. I can already see hints of them doing the “Finn is a soft owo boy” robins the “bad boy” thing… but the black phone is a unique case that comes with a lot of modern horror in that most actual character content goes to the wayside for X reader.

3.)softer content not automatically bad

Now I hope you can see where I’m going with this If you sat here long enough. None of this stuff is automatically bad or a problem but it becomes so if that’s all there is. I can’t blame kids for writing something fluffy and more care free about characters they love, but at the same time… hey it won’t kill anyone to have some dark and more serious content about a movie that’s like 90% dark and serious. You know? Like I 100% get where the criticism is coming from… I didn’t enjoy fandom being 99% fluff piece for one ship either but “gay rom com”?? Idk something doesn’t fit right with me with that wording.

All there is-

So stated again before but back to my whole point. The problem isn’t x reader or ooc characters but that it’s the only thing out there! Kids and younger fans should be able to go as wild as they want, I or anyone else shouldn’t dictate how they relate to the movie or just have fun but it becomes annoying and a problem when there’s nothing else. When there’s not a lot of in character, non x reader , fics , art, analysis , rambling etc for there to be a balance.

There’s no balance! Is that I’m saying. This isn’t to say there’s not other stuff out there but there’s more people with the complaint then actually making that other content! I can’t work alone I’ve said this a million times, make what you want to see and we can have a wide array of content and stuff to engage with and everyone’s happy.

* brief note-

I have nothing against x reader fans or people who like x reader but I’ve just never been a fan. It’s awkward to me and I’ve never had a thing for a character in that way and when it’s the only content out there? Well I get really annoyed and sort of paint a broad brush/pin issues. I’m sorry, it’s nothing personal but I want to talk about horror movies every once and awhile and not just that? You know? Idk

[sourlemonsz]

Had to do it to em’

Also my headcanon for the arrest is arson and trespassing 🤭

[beehindblueeyes]

. . . Hello?

This was installed in my basement, it’s not connected. There were plans too but it’s hard to get phone lines down here and especially hard considering most people no longer own house phones at all.

Did I come back to this account after all this time just to go “haha black phone”? Yes. Yes I did.

[themidnightridersideblog]

Maybe I'm extreme but I almost feel like people who are unwilling to engage with a piece of media in an intelligent way and are only concerned with shipping should be excluded from fandom spaces.

There was no reason for self-insert shipping to pop up in the Black Phone fandom, when the movie is a disturbing horror film about a sexual predator murdering teenage boys. There's nothing to sexualize or romanticize about in a movie like that, but weirdos with no comprehension skills did it anyway.

What are people worried about with the final season of Stranger Things? Not the story, not whether the characters will live or die, but whether Mileven or Byler will become canon. Fans give no fuck's about the show itself, they only care about shipping between fictional kid characters.

People don't care about how Ghostbusters Afterlife is a loving tribute to one of the best movies of the 1980s, but they wanna ship themselves with one of the main characters because he's a skinny pretty white boy™️.

Fandoms are just depressing and honestly that's why I don't have a lot of motivation to interact with these properties' fanbases. I love these movies and shows because they're fun, and drawing fanart, reading/writing fanfics are fun, as well as shipping. But I know there's more to life than shipping and it's frustrating to see people just...Not get that. And I feel like if you don't get it then I think you're a fool and you shouldn't be involved in a fandom.

[theonlygamesiplay-deactivated20]

some of y’all forget that the tbp cast is mostly minors!! “Pov: you’re dating [cast member]” you’re weird bro shut the fuck up!!

[t4timekeeper]

if you’re ever jaded by really bad fanon interpretations it helps to revisit the source material so you can go Oh thank god. t’was all just a bad dream

[beehindblueeyes]

Please do not use my gifs on Grabber X anyone. Especially “little” reader. I don’t know what that means but the implications aren’t spectacular.