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[comicgeekery]

I feel like everything with Neil Gaiman and the Good Omens finale has broken something about my ability to love fandom.

Tonight I went to a show for some creators of a different fandom, one that's been over for a while but meant a lot to me once.

It was a good show. They were funny. Seemed kind. Told interesting stories. But the whole time I kept thinking, "This is a performance. These people don't really care about me at all. They just want my money."

Which, yeah, obviously. But it didn't feel so cold before, so completely cynical. I feel like I can't love fiction anymore. Or any mainstream media. Because now it feels like there's no genuine love of the audience from any creator. Just people waiting to exploit us.

In my head, I know that isn't true. But in my heart, I really feel it is.

I got an autographed book tonight. I saw minor celebrities that I've admired for years and who, as far as I know, have done absolutely nothing wrong. I still left feeling like a sucker.

[inkandaethyr]

You're right. Some artists/authors don't care about their audience... which is a shame! But I have a relative who was once a semi-successful artist, and they are so egotistical and terrible to be around. I don't think they actually care about ANYONE. Even if they pretend like they do...

But there are also plenty of artists and authors out there who DO care about their audience! They tend to be more niche, but being a part of their fandom spaces has been rewarding!

[eff-ablefics]

who has the sexiest hands?

aziraphale

crowley

Remaining time: 2 days 13 hours

propaganda

aziraphale’s hands: plump and broad, well-manicured, strong due to carrying books around, familiar with gripping swords (wink).

crowley’s hands: long and slender, potentially more dexterous due to snake-like qualities, nail polish, claws and/or scales.

[iforgiveyouprime]

Why does it feel like this finale was intentionally made this bad?

From a thematic standpoint, from a writing standpoint, in terms of staying true to the characters, in terms of all the Chekhov's guns that were never paid off, and so on, everything that I and many others have already analyzed countless times.

Because to mess up absolutely everything that was possible, you either have to be a genius who knows exactly what they're doing and is deliberately ruining every aspect of the show, or a complete idiot.

There's nothing left in this movie that resembles the Good Omens we fell in love with. I don't understand how it's possible to screw up absolutely everything unintentionally.

[inkandaethyr]

I remember a professor once saying that if you get a 0% on one of his tests, you will get a 100% because it is not statistically possible for someone who answers every question and who knows nothing about the content to get every multiple-choice question wrong. Especially as the number of questions goes up!

[vivi-theakuneko]

OOC: Drew this as a warm up before I draw sth else.

[iforgiveyouprime]

Only Aziraphale could react like this to his goth demon friend-slash-almost-boyfriend calling him a bastard.

[vivi-theakuneko]

Change that end up hurting Aziraphale's character after GO3:

Book: Azi persuaded Crowley to stay and protect the humans from Satan with him. Show: "Crowley, do something!"

Without GO3: the show version is cute!

With Go3: Wow he has to rely on Crowley for every important moment

Like, seriously, I loved that scene in the show but Go3 left a bad taste now.

[inkandaethyr]

Screw canon! I'm making my Aziraphale an independent, strong angel!

[iforgiveyouprime]

The autistic Aziraphale headcanon will always be my Roman Empire.

*runs away* 🏃

[inkandaethyr]

I'm autistic and totally made him autistic in my fic! But I'm scared now because I'm worried I made the readers uncomfortable by giving him a real autistic life experience (he's incredibly scared of rejection, and he's living in a realistic human AU as a human and doesn't know the man he's dating is a snake demon). So, like, I gave him an extreme RSD moment over a misunderstanding because he has interpersonal trauma.

Should I have labeled him ND for this fic?

[inkandaethyr]

I really hope it wasn't weird to make a middle-aged man sensitive to rejection. I'm still rather young myself, but not that young. I'm also autistic. I actually feel like rejection is becoming a more common theme in my life as I get older. Although I think, in some ways, I'm becoming indifferent to it. At the same time, I'm also less open to deep relationships and can't vibe with anyone who cold-approaches me at all.

Is it weird to make human Aziraphale sensitive to rejection?

[inkandaethyr]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[letters-to-good-omens]

Letter to the fandom as a whole,

I know we are all having strong opinions right now. I would like to remind you all that we are fighting each other while leaving the terrible people who ruined the story get away with it.

The real villain is not the other fan on the other side of the fandom who you disagree with.

It is the original writer of the script, the new lazy writers who didn't bother doing homework, the cash grabbing merchs that were marketted like an important plot point, the heartless Prime accounts who shared kissing video to hype people up despite there being none of that in the Finale, the ragebaity wallpaper album that included Joshua & AziCrow's moment of annihilation as if that's not images of beloved characters dying...

I can go on.

The big corporation doesn't care, and they are pitting us against each other for views/engagements.

Keep that in mind.

I hope the fandom gets better eventually.

[inkandaethyr]

Even with an air purifier, the smoke from the forest fires is messing with me :(

[ouidamforeman]

Hey did you guys know that the good omens novel is supposed to be about the Cold War

[gayvampyr]

it really pisses me off when adults sit there and drill it into kids’ heads that their youth is fleeting and tell them things like “enjoy your childhood while it lasts because this is the best it’s gonna get”. why are you telling children that adulthood is the worst thing they can experience? seriously what the fuck is wrong with you, why are you trying to make them feel like growing up is a fate worse than death? trying to convince them their life is over before it even begins? i’m tired of that shit. because tell my why my 12 year old cousin told me when she turns 30 she’ll be so depressed she’s just gonna cry all the time. what the fuck. kids don’t need to hear that their already stressful and overwhelming lives are never going to get better, that the abuse and lack of autonomy they face is apparently the highlight of their lives. they need to hear about adults who are happy to be alive and happy to have made it to their age. they need to know that growing up rules, it’s a gift and life does not have to suck for them, that they have a future that’s worth sticking around for. this rhetoric is so damaging mentally and i’m about to start hitting the adults who parrot it. i’m sorry you hate your life but you don’t get to dump your issues on these kids. don’t piss me off and leave these babies alone!

[inkandaethyr]

Stuff like this is probably a big reason why I chose to be an immature adult and ended up not having kids. The adults in my life looked so miserable and made adulthood seem like an inevitable Hell. They also made having kids seem like something that just... HAPPENED to them, rather than something they chose. So, like, I'm not going to speed-run milestones: having kids, getting married with a house, backyard, a picket fence, and a pet dog that doesn't technically belong to my parents by the time I'm in my late 20's because those things honestly seemed to cause a lot of stress for the adults in my life. And the young adults I see pursuing this the hardest also seem really depressed. Of course, I also know happy adults who have all these things, but... eh.

As a kid, I watched documentaries about the Earth, dinosaurs, space, Antarctica, etc. Now I'm in school to become a geologist. I never grew out of the "I wanna be an astronaut, paleontologist, adventurer!" phase.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

[inkandaethyr]

It's still sad, though... good stories need to be read! And these hidden gems become so much harder to find when your fandom has lots of fics! Like, there are some fics you want to read that fit a niche trope, but you have zero clue if that trope has a particular tag. And even if it does, did the talented author think to tag it as such?

[maryn-fell]

silly angel in love💛

from a headcanon on twitter!

[inkandaethyr]

You know you had a good sleep when your pillow (or in this case, your angel) is soaked in your own drool!

[lookingatacupoftea]

Genuine question: how do we know the new universe is *our* universe? Because I feel like, even in Soho present day and most definitely if this is supposed to be set in the 1980s (which is the vibe I get from the costuming and the Cyndi Lauper and the fact that no one whips out a cellphone), it is simply not a good idea for a male-presenting person to run after another male-presenting person who is not (to me) giving off obvious signals of interest to ask for their number.

I mean, wtf do I know, I'm a cishet allo lady who lives in USAmerican suburbia. So I'm open to being corrected about this!

[inkandaethyr]

I'm young and queer, and it's still not safe to be openly queer. I'm not sure why the talk about homophobia seemed to almost cease after gay marriage was legalized on the federal level in the U.S. back in 2015, but gay people still face TONS of challenges! Maybe it doesn't help that I'm surrounded by people who only come from rural settlements and that I go to a college in a small town, but I've definitely had to worry for my own safety in the past when someone found out I was attracted to the same gender. It was a roommate, and they went from quietly tolerating me to having obsessive, ragey meltdowns about my existence. They'd randomly make homophobic comments about me in public. I started avoiding them as much as possible, and got so sick of their shit that I started giving the same energy back! Slamming doors in their face with all my force and everything!

Creepy men have no qualms approaching me. And people even encourage them to do so. Lacking attraction for men is apparently not a good enough excuse to reject them...

I've also met plenty of other queer people who hardly seemed comfortable at all acknowledging their queer identity and wouldn't bother giving anyone of the same gender a chance when it comes to dating. Then, one day, they find someone of the opposite sex who sticks around, and all of a sudden, they are straight and cis! I don't even want to talk about how "reformed gays" have bullied me and stabbed me in the back...

So realistically, a lot of us queers don't have a whole lot of success in the dating world. I have spent most of my life in the closet and only express my queerness where it's safe. At most, I have quiet signals in my appearance that will hopefully send the message to other queers and will also hopefully get overlooked by homophobes. I'm well into my 20's, and at this point, I would be SHOCKED if I found a healthy partner who was actually attracted to me! Someone willing to walk the talk and be queer with me! I can understand why people fall into comphet. It genuinely seems like the "better" and "safer" option... but I don't have it in myself to be something I'm not! And let's be for real, it takes a lot of strength and bravery to be that way.

[inkandaethyr]

Right, maybe my situation is different. I'll admit, I do also know gay people who find partners easily and have no problems maintaining healthy relationships. I could just be looking in the wrong places, or it could actually be my autism deterring people (diagnosed fairly young, and even with therapy, it's still a pretty bad case...), or I could just be a loser that people don't like by default. Oh, well!

I only answered this based on my own personal experiences. I certainly don't announce to the world that I'm queer irl. I don't go up to random people of the same gender and ask them out. It's just not hard for me to imagine why it's not a good idea for a man to walk up to another man and ask them out on a date during the 80's. Maybe it'd go down a little differently these days. Personally, I would NOT do that! Looks like people have made some good points about why that might be scary. I was not around for the context.

But yeah. Maybe my take on this actually wasn't accurate? It did seem like that one roommate was bullying me because I was queer, but it's equally likely that they could have been going after the autistic traits instead. For instance, they walked by me once in the hallway and mockingly said, "I want to date that girl!"

And her friend laughed and said, "She's right there!"

Was that homophobic? Or were they just calling me repulsive?

Either way, I don't bother asking people out, lol! I don't even talk to people about dating or sexual orientation anymore. I've instead chosen to put my mental energy into academia. It's been very fulfilling so far, even if it comes with its own challenges, and I've made friends with some very interesting people! And no, the guy with a PhD who lived and studied in Antarctica doesn't care if I'm queer and autistic. Tbh, once I found work I actually like doing (a purpose in life, I suppose), I stopped caring that I don't share my life with anyone else. Okay, the pang is still there at times, but these academic types are genuinely so much fun to hang around! And they helped me realize I have unusual talents that can be useful in this world.

[vivi-theakuneko]

At first I wanted to say something about this. But then I realize that they might be right. I just needed to see from another perspective! My media illiteracy has been cured!

Such horror!

[inkandaethyr]

I think I saw that take yesterday and got so confused by it that my brain stopped having thoughts. I don't remember OG Good Omens being cosmic horror? I know eldritch horrors aren't a requirement for cosmic horror, but there's also no interdimensional weirdness or anything either! If anything, the book makes fun of common existential themes and doesn't take itself seriously at all! Same with S1. It treats those things like they're stupid! It's literally a normal teenage phase to suffer an existential crisis from these philosophies. At least, that's how my adolescence went. I was an edgy nihilist because my dog and grandma died, and that was the first time I actually had to experience DEATH. Now, I'm an absurdist because I've emotionally processed these things and matured.

I still like writing cosmic horror, btw. I just take a more absurdist angle. I am both cynical and optimistic, if that makes any sense.