World of the Imaginary

23/She-Her/ENFP/<3................................... Living happily is the best f-you.

[thesoftboiledegg]

What makes JKR's shitshow even harder to process is that she didn't just ruin a book series. Harry Potter was an entire subculture. Like Star Wars and Star Trek fans, Harry Potter fans dedicated their lives and careers to the series. I don't know if I'd call it "underground," but liking Harry Potter got you beaten up when I was in school, so it was more of a dedicated indie culture than a mass-appeal fanbase.

Harry Potter was so huge that fan works developed their own followings. Potter Puppet Pals racked up hundreds of thousands of followers and was nearly as relevant as the series itself. For fanfiction, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality got so big that it has a Wikipedia page. The band Harry and the Potters spawned the wizard rock music genre. A Very Potter Musical developed a fanbase and launched Darren Criss's career.

Harry Potter also has extensive ties to fandom history. Everyone in my generation (millennials) remembers coming home from school to read Harry Potter fanfiction on the Internet. Today, most people just post their stories on Wattpad or Archive of Our Own. But at the time, the fanbase was splintered between fanfiction.net and dozens of individual websites and forums, some made for specific ships. Since they all had individual hosts, a lot of those sites have been lost to time.

And there's the infamous My Immortal fanfiction, which is an Internet legend with people still searching for the author. Everybody read that one (and laughed at it) in middle school.

Pre-social media, fan sites like The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet had massive followings because they were one of few sources for news, theories, essays and fan content. Some of these sites still exist after being around for over a decade and building their own legacy.

Before Deathly Hallows came out, fans were so desperate to know what happened that Mugglenet published a book called What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Falls in Love and How Will the Adventure Finally End? Yep...Harry Potter was so big that people wrote separate books about what would happen in an upcoming book.

And that's not mentioning all the book release parties, Harry Potter-themed events, monuments, fan films, restaurants and even a theme park. A lot of fandoms have those, but Harry Potter infiltrated every aspect of popular culture.

Today, there's a thriving culture of "Harry Potter adults" with themed weddings, baby showers and Etsy stores. Putting your Hogwarts house in your Instagram bio is pretty much a prerequisite for joining the "bookish" community. Warner still produces new content, like the Fantastic Beasts series, although we've all seen what a disaster that's been.

Everyone has at least a few memories associated with Harry Potter even if it's just watching the movies. I had great memories associated with Harry Potter. But looking back at the subculture, history and thousands of fan works, it doesn't seem fun anymore. Studying the fandom or being part of it comes with an awkward tension because you don't want to seem like you're condoning JKR's bigotry but can't divorce her from the series. This subculture was spawned by a woman who turned her legacy of magic and wonder into one of abuse and hatred.

I don't expect people to write paragraphs about how much they hate JKR every time they post about Harry Potter, but it's still uncomfortable to see people make new content or wear their Harry Potter Etsy tote bags like nothing happened. Even if they clarify that they don't support her, it's just a weird, tense situation for everybody.

People dedicated years of their lives to running Harry Potter fan sites, writing fanfiction, cosplaying characters and making fan movies. If I were in that situation, I'd have a mild identity crisis. I'd ask myself "Did I waste all those years? Should I delete my content? Where do I go from here?"

So ultimately, JKR didn't ruin "just" a book series or even "just" a fandom. She tanked an entire culture, which inspired people to look at Harry Potter more critically. The issues that people brought to the light tainted the series's legacy even without JKR's personal issues.

Once, Harry Potter was a series for generations. Now, former fans hope that the series fades into irrelevancy. Unfortunately, JKR didn't just tarnish her legacy--she took decades of history, millions of fans and a worldwide subculture along with her.

[thatdisasterauthor]

Harry Potter bookended my childhood, and I mean that literally. The first book was the first Big Book I ever read when I was seven-years-old. My parents promised me a new bike if I read it all the way through, which I think was just a way to not have to buy me a new bike, but the joke was on them, I read it in a day and discovered an Obsession with getting more books. Woulda been cheaper to just get me the bike.

And then the last movie came out the summer before my senior year of High School. I still remember that movie premier. I went to the all afternoon/evening marathon of the previous three movies before the last one. But it wasn't a normal marathon. They only dimmed the lights, and they kept the volume a little lower than normal, and we all just hung out. People were in costume. People had blankets and pillows. One girl brought in a huge BAG of Harry Potter uno cards and at one point half the theater was playing. We all swapped seats and walked around and made friends. Fuck it was fun.

And when the movie ended, and everyone left, I discovered that literally half my high school and been there for at least the last movie (because every screen in the theater was showing it). People who generally didn't give two shits about Harry Potter came, and after the movie ended we all stood around outside and just hung out and talked for ages. This was pre Aurora so it was actually a midnight premiere, and I don't think we left until dawn.

And now that's all tainted.

People ask me what the first book I ever remember reading was, and I don't want to say. But I don't have anything else TO say because ADHD has stolen away most solid memories of my childhood. Movies don't even do midnights anymore, at least here in Colorado. I think that may have actually been the last real midnight I ever did, because Aurora was almost exactly a year later.

Just. Bah.

Fucking her.

[dnd-apothecary]

all of this. I used to be the kid in my friend group where someone would say a book and a page number, and I could tell them all the relevant info on that page. Over 7 books. Every single page. It was a fun pre-teen/teenage party trick I had. I was The Walking Harry Potter Encyclopedia.

I have had a few other book series that I have read all the way through, but none of which I had devoured quite like I did with Harry Potter. My mom had to beg me to read the first book, and I fell in love with the series.

Only when I got older did I start to piece together exactly how problematic the content was, what the context was, and just how much of a shitty person the author was.

As weird as it is to say that my identity was tied to a specific book series and culture, it's even weirder now to know that the experience itself has both become nostalgic and tainted. While I enjoy other fandoms and series, I have not been able to really thoroughly enjoy them like I used to with Harry Potter. Because I don't want to lose it all again.

I remember being so excited that I could introduce my son to Harry Potter. And now I don't even want to let him experience it.

[mollystealeafs]

I can’t believe I get to wake up this morning, knowing Mollymauk is, in fact, fine.

[lilbittymonster]

Me, waiting for everyone who ever shat on Mollymauk to apologise when he comes back

[donmicherone]

I remembered why I don't read the Critical Role tag anymore.

[bookwormguri]

OFFICIAL MOLLYMAUL FIGURINE BY MACFARLANE?!?!

[bookwormguri]

I'm telling you this right now that as soon as I have a full-time, well paying job with disposable income where I don't feel crippling shame everytime I spend some of it, one of the first things ya girl is gonna do is make a Mollymauk itabag.

[bookwormguri]

I'm serving up high-key Mollymauk-Chaos energy going out to see Hamilton tonight!

[bookwormguri]

Them: Stop inserting Molly into every plot point! He's DEAD. Stop mentioning him every time something happens!

Talks Machina for C2E72, over 40 EPs since Molly died: *Cast mentions Molly a few times and Travis even talks about what he thought Molly would think of the sword now and it's mentioned as one of his last ties to Molly*

Me: I'll just be over here. Sipping my tea.

[bookwormguri]

I would like this to be the last thing I say on the subject.

There's such a difference between "letting go" of Mollymauk in the context of the CR show itself and letting go of Mollymauk while still creating for and with him. The latter does not hurt anyone and is encouraged by the cast.

Immediately after Molly died, Taliesin asked that none of us ever stopped creating Molly fanart as long as we wanted to.

Talks Machina after his death (GenCon 2018 I think?) Had Matt waxing poetic about how Molly's death was a catalyst for great change in the other characters and the fans.

Another interview, forgive that I can't remember which, had Taliesin saying how he didn't lose Molly like the rest of us, and how the flamboyant little priss was still bouncing around in his head (not implying that he'd bring him back, just that he can still slip into Molly-mode).

Talks Machina at Wondercon(?) called Molly the "Phil Coulson" of CR and gave blanket permission to use him in other D&D games.

So don't let people make you feel bad for liking a character, having a fave. It's not "disrespect."

And also a PSA, if someone online starts to call your interaction with fandom "unhealthy" give that the BIGGEST side-eye. Talk to a professional if you are really worried, but inflammatory words like that are a manipulation tactic that is used as an effort to co-op your mental health (sometimes unknowingly) to suit particular agendas. Don't let others define your worth as a person and fan.

[spooky-dice]

There’s only five types of tumblr DnD content:

TAZ/Critical Role/insert actual play fandom here

Pretty dice (must eat)

Actual DnD campaign advice

Tired™️ DM memes

Monster fucking.

[moonybear]

bookwormguri replied to your post “People say Taliesin is their favorite cast member and then proceed to…”

Honestly, get this out of the Molly tag. It’s incredibly rude. Your frustrations are valid, but execution is not. Let people have their fun with a character they enjoyed. I love Cad personally and think he is one of the best things that happened to the M9. Content of either character doesn’t reduce the other’s worth?? And re: bringing Molly up when he’s already dead, the cast already does that for us? They also have so many instances mentioning Molly post-death.

bookwormguri replied to your post

“People say Taliesin is their favorite cast member and then proceed to…”

The cast put out a Molly T-shirt recently. They are coming out with a M9 artbook in the fall which WOWZA will have Molly art. Things like this keep a character alive and thus fans keep celebrating them. You trying to crap on that is really uncool. Also, about the “Molly would have reacted to this like BLANK” thing being annoying… Ever heard of an AU? They’re pretty common in fandom from what I’ve seen. It’s just harmless fun that you view as annoying.

@bookwormguri Alright you’re like. Completely missing the point of my post by miles. It’s astounding. Let’s go through everything you said: “Let people have their fun with a character they enjoyed” does my post say anything about people not being able to have fun with Molly? Does it say anything about how people shouldn’t draw Molly? Does it say anything about how people can’t be allowed to like him? Nope! Try re-reading it again. “Bringing Molly up when he’s already dead” yes, the cast can bring him up in the context of Oh, Molly, [tears]. Like Calianna’s letter, for instance. She left a present for Mollymauk in it. They can’t just skip over it? That isn’t how it works in the slightest. They can’t just ignore he was ever a member of their group. Yeah, they can keep bringing him up because he was a member of the Mighty Nein that died. My concerns are with the fandom bringing Molly in for every bit of character growth, most recently Yasha being pulled to Obon and Fjord throwing away his sword. There were numerous posts concerning What Would Mollymauk Do, how he would feel, ect ect which fine you can have fun with AUs, but this has been an ongoing issue since he died of WWMD. He can’t do anything, he’s dead in a literal ditch. The current character’s growth is not at all dependent on Mollymauk nor do they owe it to him.  “It’s just harmless fun that you view at annoying” Re: the point above this one. Did I say in my post it’s annoying? No. Did I say people have to completely wipe Mollymauk from their heads? No. I’m pointing out the fact a large part of the fandom is in denial about his death. If you take offense to this (which you clearly seem to), then maybe re-evaluate your priorities of the characters.

[bookwormguri]

You complained that Molly gets 10x as much content as Cad, which, to me, came off as bitter that one character didn’t get as much attention as another. Sorry if that wasn’t your intent. No, you never said that people can’t do stuff with Molly, but the point of your post seemed to be “Molly is gone so anything to do with him should stay in that lane.” That doesn’t make sense to me because ALSO get so much content sans Molly for these awesome moments in the campaign.

I completely understand the frustration of having him brought up (by fans) in contexts that would seemingly minimize other character’s arcs. For the example you used like with Fjord and his sword in recent episodes. It’s frustrating because there are these other rich characters apart from how they connect to Molly. That’s the point, no? But I also think you’re being short sighted. Personally, after the recent ep I went to my friends and mourned the loss of Fjord’s accent, but was excited about the way his development was going. I can do that while ALSO being a Molly stan and going “Rip Summer’s Dance.” That may not be your experience with vocal fans, but I think it’s worth mentioning because why would people like myself keep watching if we didn’t enjoy the other characters?

In your post and some replies you keep reiterating the fact that “Molly is literally dead in a ditch” and have touched on the mourning process and how it should be a time to move on. I don’t quite agree with 1:1 applying IRL mourning to a fictional character, but the reason I brought up the cast and the official merch is because when things like that are continually being mentioned and put out OFFICIALLY there is a lack of true closure. I have a theory that that is partially a driver for people still clinging to “This is how Mollymauk can win!”

If you don’t find it annoying I don’t understand why you would make this post in the first place an put it in the Molly tags. What does it accomplish? You also used antagonistic language and called certain fans “exhausting.” Maybe it’s me reading the context wrong, but that seems at least peeved by it. It reads like you’re cross that people have a fave that died which is… Pretty standard in fandom tbh.

Don’t get me wrong. Like I said, I think you’re completely valid to roll your eyes when people say “Molly would have totally been best buds with the Bright Queen!” I would too! What is rustling my jimmies is that you put a post that (to me) read as “Your fave is dead, get over it” in the tag. It’s very rude form.

[moonybear]

looks like im going to have to condense your replies again: “That doesn’t make sense to me because ALSO get so much content sans Molly for these awesome moments in the campaign.” I mean yeah, obviously specific moments post-Molly have absolutely no reason to include him because Molly was not in them? My complaints are with group shots of people just drawing the Mighty Nein, no specific character moments, just those of “hey here’s the M9!”. Leaving out Caduceus and putting in Molly in group shots is disrespectful “It’s frustrating because there are these other rich characters apart from how they connect to Molly. That’s the point, no? But I also think you’re being short sighted.” and yet, Mollymauk stans cannot stop bringing him up in connection to But it was HIS sword! It was a sword he had for a week and a half in-game and used in two battles. But Yasha’s evil, she would be fixed if Molly had been there! Completely trivializes Yasha’s personal growth and how she’s doing things. Any bit of Beau’s growth is trivialized because of the conversations she had with Molly, and how he would be so proud to see how far she came with his advice. As if Beau couldn’t have grown up on her own, like she has been. I have absolutely no idea what angle you’re trying to play with the whole mourning process. “A lack of official closure!” Matt (or Taliesin, I can’t recall) recently tweeted once Season 2 wraps they’ll release all the Molly backstory that didn’t come up. If people are going to drag him through the mud until the literal ending of Season 2, whenever that may be, until there’s “proper closure” you are being absolutely ridiculous. At some point people need to give up the ghost. It’s already been one year, I don’t know how many more people need.  “I don’t understand why you would make this post in the first place an put it in the Molly tags … used antagonistic language and called certain fans “exhausting.” “ Because I made a post about Mollymauk, for stans of Mollymauk, what tag should I be putting this in hm? Beau’s tag? Jester’s? No, it’s about Mollymauk so I put it in his tag. It’s just that simple. And yes, I called them exhausting because it’s exhausting to see every major tipping point in the character arcs be related back to Molly in some way shape or form. Knock it off. He’s not their crutch. He’s dead.

[bookwormguri]

Look, I tried to reach out to you halfway, but you seem very set on your viewpoint and don’t seem to want to give me the same courtsey. I mentioned this post to a friend and she just taught me about a thing called the Locus of Control and the differences between an internal locus and external locus. I am going to exercise my Internal Locus of Control and end this conversation, so I can focus on enjoying my own fandom experience.

Last thing I would like to add though:

“Knock it off. He’s not their crutch. He’s dead.”

Molly was dead before the campaign started too. Look how that worked out.

[moonybear]

bookwormguri replied to your post “People say Taliesin is their favorite cast member and then proceed to…”

Honestly, get this out of the Molly tag. It’s incredibly rude. Your frustrations are valid, but execution is not. Let people have their fun with a character they enjoyed. I love Cad personally and think he is one of the best things that happened to the M9. Content of either character doesn’t reduce the other’s worth?? And re: bringing Molly up when he’s already dead, the cast already does that for us? They also have so many instances mentioning Molly post-death.

bookwormguri replied to your post

“People say Taliesin is their favorite cast member and then proceed to…”

The cast put out a Molly T-shirt recently. They are coming out with a M9 artbook in the fall which WOWZA will have Molly art. Things like this keep a character alive and thus fans keep celebrating them. You trying to crap on that is really uncool. Also, about the “Molly would have reacted to this like BLANK” thing being annoying… Ever heard of an AU? They’re pretty common in fandom from what I’ve seen. It’s just harmless fun that you view as annoying.

@bookwormguri Alright you’re like. Completely missing the point of my post by miles. It’s astounding. Let’s go through everything you said: “Let people have their fun with a character they enjoyed” does my post say anything about people not being able to have fun with Molly? Does it say anything about how people shouldn’t draw Molly? Does it say anything about how people can’t be allowed to like him? Nope! Try re-reading it again. “Bringing Molly up when he’s already dead” yes, the cast can bring him up in the context of Oh, Molly, [tears]. Like Calianna’s letter, for instance. She left a present for Mollymauk in it. They can’t just skip over it? That isn’t how it works in the slightest. They can’t just ignore he was ever a member of their group. Yeah, they can keep bringing him up because he was a member of the Mighty Nein that died. My concerns are with the fandom bringing Molly in for every bit of character growth, most recently Yasha being pulled to Obon and Fjord throwing away his sword. There were numerous posts concerning What Would Mollymauk Do, how he would feel, ect ect which fine you can have fun with AUs, but this has been an ongoing issue since he died of WWMD. He can’t do anything, he’s dead in a literal ditch. The current character’s growth is not at all dependent on Mollymauk nor do they owe it to him.  “It’s just harmless fun that you view at annoying” Re: the point above this one. Did I say in my post it’s annoying? No. Did I say people have to completely wipe Mollymauk from their heads? No. I’m pointing out the fact a large part of the fandom is in denial about his death. If you take offense to this (which you clearly seem to), then maybe re-evaluate your priorities of the characters.

[bookwormguri]

You complained that Molly gets 10x as much content as Cad, which, to me, came off as bitter that one character didn't get as much attention as another. Sorry if that wasn't your intent. No, you never said that people can't do stuff with Molly, but the point of your post seemed to be "Molly is gone so anything to do with him should stay in that lane." That doesn't make sense to me because ALSO get so much content sans Molly for these awesome moments in the campaign.

I completely understand the frustration of having him brought up (by fans) in contexts that would seemingly minimize other character's arcs. For the example you used like with Fjord and his sword in recent episodes. It's frustrating because there are these other rich characters apart from how they connect to Molly. That's the point, no? But I also think you're being short sighted. Personally, after the recent ep I went to my friends and mourned the loss of Fjord's accent, but was excited about the way his development was going. I can do that while ALSO being a Molly stan and going "Rip Summer's Dance." That may not be your experience with vocal fans, but I think it's worth mentioning because why would people like myself keep watching if we didn't enjoy the other characters?

In your post and some replies you keep reiterating the fact that "Molly is literally dead in a ditch" and have touched on the mourning process and how it should be a time to move on. I don't quite agree with 1:1 applying IRL mourning to a fictional character, but the reason I brought up the cast and the official merch is because when things like that are continually being mentioned and put out OFFICIALLY there is a lack of true closure. I have a theory that that is partially a driver for people still clinging to "This is how Mollymauk can win!"

If you don't find it annoying I don't understand why you would make this post in the first place an put it in the Molly tags. What does it accomplish? You also used antagonistic language and called certain fans "exhausting." Maybe it's me reading the context wrong, but that seems at least peeved by it. It reads like you're cross that people have a fave that died which is... Pretty standard in fandom tbh.

Don't get me wrong. Like I said, I think you're completely valid to roll your eyes when people say "Molly would have totally been best buds with the Bright Queen!" I would too! What is rustling my jimmies is that you put a post that (to me) read as "Your fave is dead, get over it" in the tag. It's very rude form.

[shoeboxgoblin]

“stop inserting molly into everything he’s dead!!!”

Hm no it’s my fan content and I’ll do what I want, thanks

[bookwormguri]

What a great day to play Curse of Strahd and adjust and edit it however I like because I’m the DM and I do whatever the fuck I want <3

[bookwormguri]

Your reading comprehension is lacking if you can't understand why someone thinks changing a LITERAL PERPETUAL RAPIST into a sympathetic character is just... yikes. Reexamine your priorites

I come on tumblr once every few weeks now and I'm not about to waste that time on you. You're free to believe whatever you want, person-I've-never-met-or-interacted-with-before.

😘

[dungeonmastersconsortium]

I think people should be allowed to alter a campaign however they want, that IS the point of D&D after all, to have fun and have your own adventures. If a DM wants to alter Strahd to be more likeable, then where's the harm? Saying "you should just make your own campaign at that point" sounds a little contradictory to the point of D&D. If you force a campaign to be precisely how it's supposed to be, nobody has fun.

Making Strahd more likable (he’s actually pretty likable until you find out who he really is) fundamentally alters the point of the story. I’m not saying people can’t alter them, but to do so changes the whole campaign to the point where you might as well have a totally different villain? The whole point of Strahd is that he’s not redeemable, and that his abuse of Tatyana and her reincarnations and the murder of his brother and unrepentant nature has trapped not only himself, but the object of his obsession and everyone in his land in a never-ending reincarnation prison where only Strahd remains constant, and that he must be destroyed to free everyone else. The whole point is that he isn’t redeemable, and even the writers of the sourcebook agree that he’s abusive and toxic. If you don’t want to play that kind of game, then cool! Don’t! But my point is that if you don’t want to have Strahd as a villain, don’t. It’d be like saying “I used Vecna as my villain, but in this game I changed it so he’s just a book nerd with no social skills and he’s just a sad boy.” So you made your own lich and put the name Vecna on him, which is fine. You were inspired by Vecna, but you didn’t really use Vecna. 

Again, I’m not saying people can’t alter the modules, but when you edit the titular character to make him more likable when the point of the story is how evil he is and how poorly he treats everyone, are you really playing through that adventure? Again, how you do it at your table is fine, but there’s something squicky to me about taking a character who was written to illustrate the evil of obsessive desire and the misogyny inherent in laying a claim to a woman against her will, and making him more likeable so your characters can bed him. Why would you want to take what is essentially an incel given power and make him into something likeable, when you could just make a different vampire story?

[bookwormguri]

Gonna have to hard disagree with you here. I understand at the end you’re not saying that people can’t change things in modules, but the underlying stigma against it is still there in your answers. I agree with anon that changing things and using your creativity is something that is a core concept in D&D.

I agree that at some tables making Strahd into more likable could VERY easily edge into excusing his actions territory. I would probably leave that table personally unless it was with friends that I trust with the narrative. But just because it is squicky to you and I doesn’t make it wrong.

I’ve actually run two CoS games and while one ended prematurely and the other is still ongoing, I changed Strahd significantly in both. In the first, one of my players saw the cover and was basically like, “I wanna fuck THAT.” I shrugged and decided to make that happen and softened some of Strahd’s edges so he wouldn’t just take this PC as a thrall so they could continue the adventure (it was everyone’s first campaign so I admittedly went easy on them) and by the end it could culminate in a heart-wrenching betrayal.  If you are making the comparison in incels, that insidious kind of play is right in line with him as a character. In the second, I’ve just decided to make Strahd 110% fuck-boi. (Also, in both campaigns I made Ismark and Irena hella gay. Do recommend.)

I think if done well and done right, a more sympathetic Strahd would be something I’d love to see (presuming he is still the villain). It reminds me of the Brooklyn 99 quote:

Grey morality and sympathetic villains are very interesting and fun to play for me. And more fun for my players to play against and with.

For example, going off your Vecna idea, in my current homebrew campaign, I have a setting where occasionally gods are incarnated onto the Material Plane. So for this setting, I have them as extremely less omnipotent and more akin to greek gods with how they meddle in mortal affairs. I’ve used Sune, Cyric, Loviatar, Ilmater, ect. They aren’t 1:1 their base lore, but that doesn’t make them any less of that character. They are those gods for my setting. I’m pretty sure the D&D writers didn’t intend for Ilmater to end up smoking a blunt with an elf rogue, but here we are. That’s D&D to me.

I think laying the bottom line of if you don’t want this kind of story, don’t play it, is stifling and short-sighted for the creative platform of tabletop RPGs. D&D is a form of escapism for some people and maybe there is a table or two that wants to play a story that has a happy ending for everyone. If I were trying to make that kind of ending for my players I would change thing around. Maybe I’d make the Vistani the real villains. Or make the final battle with Strahd part of a ritual to have him be reincarnated like the rest of his people, give him a second chance to be a better person and raised with kindness (see: Star vs. the Forces of Evil- Meteora).

Just because people alter the modules doesn’t make them any less playing that module. For me, it is the difference between playing vanilla Minecraft and Minecraft with mods.

[rwby-analysis]

The thing you need to understand about us ranting about Adam stans is that we’re only complaining about a certain kind of criticism, coming from people who don’t seem to be able to understand or accept a few very important things about him:

1. Yang and Blake have always been the main characters of this arc, not Adam, and therefore them finding closure is more important than Adam getting character development. Adam has never been anything but a side character to their arc.

2. Adam isn’t just a villain, he isn’t just Blake’s abusive ex-boyfriend, but a character who’s specifically meant to portray abuse, and that portrayal is painfully accurate. Adam is an abuser. Adam is in the wrong when it comes to everything he did to Blake. Blake is the victim here, and she isn’t to blame for anything Adam did. She didn’t abandon him, she escaped him. Their relationship is abusive, he uses the power he has over her, physically and mentally, and at that point his feelings don’t matter anymore, and it doesn’t matter anymore if her escaping him has hurt him. Adam is the bad one here, because not everything is a washed out shade of grey, sometimes there are situations where it is black and white.

3. RWBY is a show about female characters, with arcs written to empower women. The show just doesn’t have the typical sword-wielding male character who is manly and badass and never shows emotions. Adam was never supposed to be that kind of character, and his purpose was never for viewers to project their power fantasies onto him. RWBY was never that kind of show.

4. Only because people expected Adam to be this or that doesn’t mean this is what he was originally supposed to be, and using Monty’s name to excuse your hate against Miles and Kerry is really fucked up.

The issue is that people play down or excuse Adam’s abuse, and therefore also excuse what happens with real people out there. The issue is that people make the story about him and take it away from the female main characters. The issue is that people can’t accept that their male power fantasy got his ass kicked by strong women. The issue is the misogyny and homophobia involved.

So no, we’re not complaining about every single Adam fan out there, but we have every reason to complain about those we do complain about.