Because the situation keeps being brought up, I've decided to create a post here to pin. Especially as I just decided to maybe actually use this blog. I have detailed my perspective of the situation here on a free WordPress site, for those interested.
I created this blog in September of 2022, after an ongoing situation in the 9-1-1 fandom that started in August of 2021. Among the people harassing me, there were two who had shown a pretty big obsession with hating me, and I had started wondering if they'd eventually create an account using my name to create "proof" of my bad behavior. I didn't plan to do much with the account because three years ago, I had no interest in joining any part of the fandom here on Tumblr.
The situation keeps being brought up, though. And it's always the same: A person I've had contact with or a mod of an online space I joined is contacted by someone about the situation from 2021/2022. They're told what I am accused of. They make a decision about my person. They inform me they'll not have any contact with me any longer, without asking me any questions, without opening any kind of communication with me. And fine, we all curate our own online spaces. But it speaks of a great ignorance to blindly follow what others tell you about a third person without talking to that third person.
It's been like that from the start of 2021. The two people who began the harassment campaign back then never talked directly to me or anyone else they put on their list, except for the very first hateful and lecturing comment they left on someone's story. And no one who joined them ever bothered to enter into a conversation with me or anyone else on their list. It's always only been talked about us, based on incomplete or outright wrong information. But I guess that's what bullies do, otherwise, they'd have to confront their own prejudices.
If anyone ever decides they want to talk to me instead of just about me, after all, my DMs are open.
Do you ever think about the controversy that probably surrounded the Game Changers Camp the summer after Ilya and Shane were outed? The summer they got married. The summer of Shane leaving Montreal.
We know that in the same summer another two openly gay hockey players, Troy and Scott were also added to the staff.
Even if the camp was already inclusive before, with Ryan (a retired, and much lower profile gay player) and Leah and Max.
But I do wonder if any of the kids get pulled out of the camp after the Hollanov Outing. I imagine there must be some low-key homophobic parents out there, who were willing to put up with some "inclusiveness" in exchange for their kids getting instructions from living hockey legends. But once they are openly gay?
How many pissed Montreal fans who still blame Shane for Tripgate and leaving the team and blame Ilya for corrupting Canada's hockey prince pull their kids last minute?
I mean probably their waiting list is a mile long, so there is no problem filling the spots.
But I also think, how many of those kids, maybe ones who have been at the camp every year try to sneak in despite their parents wishes. How Ilya and Shane see them and want to help them but also know that doing something behind those kids' parents' back would put the entire camps in jeopardy.
I could imagine Jordan's dad (the hockey coach who favored his own son for the A-team) pulls him out of the camp, while Ben gets to still go. Jordan trying to show up and ask to join from his own savings. Being turned away because they can't without parental consent. But then Ben maybe meeting up with him after the camp to practice with him what they learnt. Ilya and Shane finding a loophole to give some feedback to Jordan.
Idk, I feel like the 2021 Camp is so full of drama. It would be such an interesting setting.
I saw this post a couple of days ago and was struck by the muse. So I'm going to share the link to the story here that was inspired by this post.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/85761711
Title: Summer Camp and Life Lessons
Summary: Ben and Jordan are looking forward to the Game Changers hockey camps in 2021. They won't let anyone ruin the best week of the year, not even Jordan's father cancelling his registration after the video leak about Rozanov and Hollander in the spring.
"if u hate x that means u have internalized (thing) btw so u better reevaluate urself uwu"
how about, consider this, i just don't like this character? have u thought about that? quite a shocker, i know. that people can just dislike a thing without it being some sort of internalized ism or phobic or wtv? sometimes ppl just don't like a character because they don't? not every person who dislikes a character is because they're some secret bigot like u think they are
hey sorry if this isnt true i forgot exactly where i read it but this person should be brutalised and subjected to some of the most horrific acts of cruelty humanity has ever seen. it might be nothing though i might have the people mixed up
Damn, I already had a feeling about them since... I’m not sure when. Their fashion sense really threw me off and I hated their takes on video games. I’m glad that my impulse to find out their identity, uproot their career, and destroy their life was justified after all, at least based on what I can remember!
you want proof that it happened? well, check this out, after we filled their inbox with accusations, they didn't immediately roll out a full PR statement on why they're sorry for doing the things I said they did and how they'll do better in the future. they acted as though they had never even heard of any of the people or events involved, and they even got angry once I insisted they were actually the scum of the earth and deserved to be hunted down and shot for the rumours I kinda half heard about them. why would they double down like that if they WEREN'T guilty?
They turned off anonymous asks after posting responses to fifteen anons, which is good enough evidence for me that they know they have done indefensible things and are facilitating crime. If they were innocent they would take the abuse and respond to every accusation with a unique acknowledgement of every bad thought they have ever had and abject apologies for ever having dared to be on the internet, where countless people have been harmed by their 1,000-follower blog.
never heard of this person before, but all the previous posts must be right! people wouldn't try to mislead others on the internet, especially knowing how easy it is to start a dogpile!
Can we just please stop normalizing fucking STALKING in fandom? Someone said something, you don't like about your favorite character, so your gonna spend week after week crashing out and having public meltdowns over them, stalking their posts and harassing them
OVER FICTION
STALKING IS A CRIME
(I'm currently being stalked by someone in one of my fandoms it's been TERRIFYING)
Summary: Every year since Buck settled down in LA, he leaves in the summer for two weeks without anyone knowing where he goes. In the summer after he met Tommy, he invited him to come along to introduce him to the friends he met long before coming to LA. Tommy has no idea he is about to come face-to-face with someone whose courage changed his own life quite a lot.
Words: 11,159
Rating: Gen
Warnings: a little critical of Maddie and the 118
Prompt: Romantic Getaway (Day 3) - @bucktommyfluffebruary
I wrote a little meta piece about character bashing in reaction to a conversation on a Discord server. It turned out pretty long, I still posted it on the Discord server. And someone pointed out it could've been a Tumblr post. Probably should've been one.
That's maybe true, but as it was a conversation that was happening on that server, I didn't see why I should bring that conversation here. But now I thought I could still share it here for the wider fandom, too. (With some edits at the beginning, so I won't bring other people's words from the server here.)
It all started when people complained about the fact that Character Bashing exists at all. While at the same time claiming they're anti-censorship. Which, in my eyes, was a very huge contradiction.
So, under the cut is a meta piece about Character Bashing, nearly as I posted it on the server. I've cut out most of the first paragraph, but otherwise it's nearly unedited. The examples I discuss are all about the TV show 9-1-1 on ABC.
This is probably me stepping on a soapbox. But I can't not do it with this topic.
Gonna start with a clarification: I'm talking about fiction and fictional characters whenever I talk about bashing. Because I wouldn't call talking about real people bashing. There are other terms for that that are more fitting. (Which, of course, might be a language problem on my side, because English isn't my first language and communicating in English is a hard-won skill.)
I stand by my point: Character Bashing in itself is neutral. As is every other trope and literally structure or method used in the art of creating fictional worlds.
Fanlore defines Character Bashing this way:
Character bashing is defined in different ways by different fans and communities.
1. any expression of hostility towards a character by fans
2. the portrayal of characters in fanworks as worse than they are in canon
3. characters in fanworks being hated for or facing consequences for actions they did in canon
I'll argue each point in a separate message for the sake of conversations about each point. But the biggest problem is already in the first line: "It's a question of which community you're in to determine what definition is used." That's one reason I went to fanlore to look up the "official" definition. I think in this case, it's also that people sometimes deliberately use an unfavorable (twisted) definition so they can justify why they use someone bashing a character as an excuse to harass that real person over their fandom interpretations.
"any expression of hostility towards a character by fans"
I argue that the first point is absolute rubbish. "Hostility" means acts of aggression, right? Acts intended to cause harm. You can't cause harm to a fictional character. They're essentially dolls, but only in our heads, so you can't even destroy them like you could an actual doll. Even if you kill or otherwise harm the character in a story, it's not causing any actual harm to the character.
Can bashing under certain circumstances be used as an act of hostility against the fans of that character? Yes. We've been going through this with Tommy for nearly two years now.
But there is much more character-bashing around that's not supposed to be aimed at the fans of that character. Things that are tagged correctly, so anyone who doesn't want to see or engage with them can avoid them, are not an act of hostility against other fans. Even if some fans do take every negative word about their fav as a personal attack. But that is very much a problem of interpretation, both in fan fiction as well as in fan art.
An example: Imagine there is a drawing of your fav out there where they're hurt, or even killed. You look at it, and you might see the depiction of your fav character being whumped. You feel the pain of the character's injuries, and it might be cathartic because what you think about is the healing process. Or maybe the death of the character is the end of a hero's journey, and you feel relief because they're finally free of their burden. Or you might look at it and be horrified and appalled because you can't stand seeing your fav hurt. And you might think the artist set out to cause you this pain, and they drew this art specifically to harm fans of the character.
But the thing is that you don't know. Maybe the artist drew it because they hate the character. Or they wanted to work through something with drawing this pain. Or they enjoy seeing their own fav in pain (as so many people in fondom do, this discord included). Whatever you see looking at this art or reading this fic, it's your interpretation, born out of your own life experiences. You don't know the person behind the art or fic; you don't know their intention. You don't even know their full intention if they left a one- or two-line note with this piece of art, indicating one or the other, or one of the plethora of other possible interpretations.
In any way, just because that art exists and floats around fandom spaces doesn't make it a hostile act, especially not against a fictional character.
2. "the portrayal of characters in fanworks as worse than they are in canon"
Yeah, that definition does make a lot more sense. Sometimes you need a villain for your fanfiction. And this one character fits it perfectly. (Especially if it comes in relation to the third point of the definition and the story takes off based on a canon event by that one character.) Or the author just doesn't like the character and enjoys writing them as the villain.
Which is perfectly valid, by the way. It is stupid to assume an artist or author has certain beliefs because they use one character or another as the villain in their stories. It's also stupid to assume everyone has to like a specific character. That's never going to happen. And that's just human nature. No one can expect you to like someone else or something else. In real life, you learn to avoid people you don't like. In fiction, you can also avoid. Or you can explore things you can't explore in real life, because in fiction, you aren't causing anyone harm.
Not very surprisingly, this only becomes a problem with characters people like. It's not a problem if it's a character that most people don't like because they were intended by the narrative of the source material not to be liked.
Like, I've made Vincent Gerrard into a murderer, even a serial killer, on more than one occasion. No one will come at me and start harassing me for this. Because no one cares for Gerrard. I didn't even bother tagging that bashing because I know no one will blink an eye about it. Though, according to the definition above, it is bashing, because he isn't a murderer in canon, so I portrayed him worse than he is in canon.
On the other hand, writing a story about Maddie or Chimney behaving just even slightly worse than in canon (e.g. Chimney not regretting the punch and even being proud of it, though we don't even see him regretting it in the show; or Maddie acting just a little more obnixious than she alread did with forcing their parents back into Buck's life) will get you harrassed immediately, no matter how carefully you tagged bashing and critisims and even made sure to mention it in your author's note a second time.
"worse than in canon" is also, once more, very much a question of interpretation for every single person. I'm a little hesitant to use this as an example because it's such an explosive topic in the fandom, but I'll still do it: In season 5, Chimney punched Buck. And afterwards, there was no resolution. We don't see on screen an apology. We don't even get much of a mention of it. Chimney says to Hen that he and Buck hashed it out (mind you, after we watched him tell Hen weeks after the punch he'd like to kill Buck, then revive him, so he can kill him again). Buck says to Maddie that he owes Chimney a punch. Some people interpret that there was a conversation between those two at one point, including an apology. Other people interpret that there was no conversation about it at all, and they both went on ignoring it. Both interpretations are valid from what we see on the show. One interpretation is certainly more favorable than the other. But we don't have an apology or any kind of resolution in canon, so neither of those interpretations is "worse than canon" because there is just nothing in canon here. (But because of the mood in this fandom, I've never seen the second interpretation at last explored in fanfiction without the bashing tag for Chimney. Can't talk about Tumblr because I wasn't on Tumblr at that time.)
3. "characters in fanworks being hated for or facing consequences for actions they did in canon"
I'm going to circle back to something I already said earlier: There is no problem in hating a character. Not a single one. Even if it's a character that others dearly love. The problem begins if you make it a problem of the other people by harassing them over your dislikes and your likes. Because it does go both ways.
Sure, I make fun of people who hate on Tommy, too. But I do that in safe spaces where I know people who hate him won't necessarily see it, like this server or a friend's DMs. Or places others can easily avoid, like a Tumblr blog with appropriately tagged posts, or my AO3 account with appropriately tagged fics that also have author's notes with warnings for fan fiction. (I know at least one person on this server who celebrates any spite fic born of something I saw in fandom spaces I thought was stupid.) That provides everyone who doesn't want to see it every chance not to interact with it, and using those chances is their responsibility, not mine.
The same goes for fics or fan art dealing with the actions of canon and the consequences. As long as it's tagged, it's not an attack on anyone. It's a tool for the creator to work through whatever they feel about that canon action. And everyone is allowed to have whatever feelings they have about events in canon.
For a third time, it comes back to interpretation, mostly based on personal life experiences. Everyone is allowed to have whatever reactions they have to events in canon. Their interpretations are valid. Talking about those, exploring them, isn't a problem, no matter what shape those interpretations take on.
Like when Eddie got into Buck's face in 8x17. Most people here on the server were horrified. Other people barely shrugged about it. And other people again somehow saw something romantic in it. Can I understand the last interpretation? No, and I also don't want to go to the effort to try to understand it, while I might do that work with other canon events. But okay, the only thing I'll take from it is that I won't want to interact with the person with that interpretation a lot or at all in the future. As long as they don't accuse me of whatever because my interpretation fell into the first group mentioned above, there is no problem.
Bashing Eddie based on 8x17 and having him face consequences, and if those consequences are only that his friendship with Buck falls apart completely, isn't a problem. That's my freedom to work through the emotions that canon scene caused in me. It would become a problem if I sent this person, who saw it as a great moment between Buck and Eddie, any kind of Eddie bashing story or interpretation on anon or in their DMs or whatever. Or if I wrote a story with tags drawing in this person and conveniently forgetting the Eddie bashing tag.
As another example, I think Buck's baking away (and failing) the heartbreak after the breakup with Tommy is deeply painful. And that everyone else's reaction to it feels cold and dismissive, and that they're letting him down. Others interpret it as a sign that everyone else sees a truth that Buck isn't able to see, and that they're really great friends and supportive of Buck by taking his phone away to stop him from calling Tommy. That's their right, as long as they leave me alone and I don't have to interact with their interpretations.
To summarize a very long post of taking apart three (of probably even more) different definitions of "character bashing": The bashing in itself is always a neutral expression of interpretation.
Both of these things are true about it, though:
It can be used as a tool to attack others.
It can be misinterpreted as an attack.
Everything can be used in an attack, in the end, which doesn't make that thing in itself an inherently evil thing. And in my very personal experience in this fandom, it is much more likely that it is misinterpreted as an attack. (Because even if there is an outrageous number of Tommy bashing fics, most of them are tagged so we can avoid them. Those tagged fics aren't an attack against us, even if they make us feel uncomfortable. And even though I have been accused otherwise, I wasn't even aware of the Madney defense squad until they started harassing me after I had written several--carefully tagged from the very beginning--Maddie critical fics.)
Summary: On Halloween night, Buck and Tommy are out dancing and enjoying themselves. Until another vampire tries to take what's Buck's and learns to regret it. In the end, it just makes Buck and Tommy learn more about each other.
do you think you could do a gif set that's Buck's speech to Harry about being afraid and giving up on things but it's offset with Tommy in the breakup scene? bc I am having ~Thoughts~
Welcome to our December event: 9-1-1 Lone Star Snowcember! While we are still sad Secret Santa isn’t panning out this year, we hope you’ll all really enjoy Snowcember.
Snowcember will follow the same formula as @lonestarspooktober. Each week has a theme with loose prompts and tropes to inspire you, but you do not have to stick to these prompts. We only ask that you stick to the overarching theme for the week you post during.
We have more information about our AO3 collection and event guidelines coming soon. Please feel free to send us an ask if you have any questions about the event! We are so excited for snowcember! Bring on all the warm and cozy holiday vibes! ⛄️❄️🎁
October is over, and I've managed to nearly get through both lists of the BuckTommyween prompts. It was a lot of fun to work on these prompts, and I want to thank @bucktommyween for creating this event. The prompts were great and so very inspiring!
I also want to thank everyone who supported me through comments and kudos and cheering on in the various Discord groups. I managed to publish 116k words of Bucktommy stories during October and learned quite a bit about myself as a writer in those days. (Among other things, I learned that writing spooky or creepy stories is doable, but not my comfort zone at all, lol. Most of the stories for the Trick prompts didn't end up very spooky...)
There are still a couple of prompts missing to complete the list. Four of the Trick prompts (Monsters, Slasher, Hounted House, and Time Loop) have turned into story idea that will probably between those four stories double the word count of the project so far. So those stories will just need a little time to get written and edited. The story for Masks of the Trick prompt list just didn't work, and I need to figure out what's gotten me stuck there. Those five stories will probably take some time to write. But I'll post here, too, as soon as I'm done.
For the Halloween prompt in both lists, I just ran out of time and also a little bit out of energy. I assume I'll write both of those stories soon.
Summary: Two days before his requalification test, Buck is invited to a masquerade ball. There, he meets a stranger who might change the course of his life, if he had just gotten more than a nickname before he lost sight of him again.
Summary: After spending all of October making candy together, Tommy invites Evan to be part of giving out candy to every child who is brave enough to venture into the dragon's lair.
Summary: For the past three years, ever since Evan moved in with Tommy, they have spent the Halloween evening giving out treats to everyone who came knocking on their door. This year, they both end up on a shift. The children of the neighborhood don't appreciate not getting any treats from them.
