i’m not “lazy” i’m just a fragile victorian maiden. i can only handle 1-2 mildly taxing activities a day before i have to put myself down for a nap until dinner
#nobody these days has any respect for a delicate constitution 😒#why is no one captivated by me i am literally a sickly pale artist who is prone to fainting and loves flowers and poetry#i need to have a tragic romance and then die of something absurd like too much rain (via @guinevereslancelot)
Somewhere in my notes in the last few days I saw someone add some tags that I've been thinking about ever since. I wish I could find them again (or that I'd just saved their post at the time) because I think they made a lot of sense.
They were talking about how fanfic is becoming more and more mainstream while still remaining largely transgressive. It's such an interesting dichotomy to think about!
On the one hand, you have sites like AO3 and realities like widespread high speed internet access being more and more accessible to larger and larger groups of people. This makes it incredibly easy for anyone at all to find and read fanfic.
On the other hand, you have the roots of fanfic. It was born out of marginalized groups such as women, people of colour, and members of the queer community deciding to take the stories that had been aimed at a largely male, white, heterosexual audience and inverting them into something they could enjoy and relate to. To this day, fanfic is a place where people write the kinds of stories that don't get made into movies and TV shows. The kinds of stories that don't get published or end up on the New York Times bestseller list.
Fanfic used to be written and shared in secret. People used to hide it. People still do hide the fact that they read or write it. But it's becoming something that more and more people are becoming more and more aware of.
So now there's a spotlight starting to shine on fanfic. People who aren't looking for transgressive works are finding them where they always were. People who think the status quo is fine are getting upset when they enter a place where the status quo is constantly being upended.
The tags on that post that I can't find made the point that popular media is curated and sanitized and stripped of most of its controversy in order to appeal to the widest possible audience. But that also makes that audience expect all media to be curated and sanitized in the same way. When they encounter the messy, controversial, ugly, radical, difficult things that people write in fanfic, they're unprepared.
Fanfic isn't big media. Fanfic authors aren't being edited and filtered and polished - and nor are their works. The clash between the expectations of people knew to fanfic and accustomed to popular media and the realities of what fanfic is and what it's being written for - that's part of this struggle that fandom is going through right now. It's been going on since the beginning of course, but it's getting louder every year.
I'm still thinking my way through this, but it really does make a lot of sense to me. If those were your tags, please let me know so I can credit you with the ideas at the core of this post.
And if you have any ideas for how we as fans can better introduce the newbies to the culture and expectations in fandom, I'd love to hear it. The better we can guide people into our space, the better they'll fit in when they join it.
And at last, the german Biscuithubby saga has reached its thrilling conclusion!
I've already watched the episode on monday but didn't manage to finish my review until now lol
What a goddamn ride this was xDD It started out kinda good, rendered me completely hopeless in the middle, then finished on a banger. Yep, Cracker sounded pretty good in the final episode! The dialogue was as usual rather abhorrent but I like what the VA's did with it👌🏻
BY THE WAY they changed the name of his final attack from "Crush Pretzel" to "Pretzel Fireworks" and in all honesty??? I kinda like that better fsgwgjekdkw it fits how Cracker's hair gets more intense as he launches the attack and all XDDD
Final verdict: All in all his voice reminded me a lot of Randall Boggs from Monsters Inc. That's not necessarily a bad thing 'cause the more sleazy tone did work in some places (and sounded great when he got angry) but I just wish they would have kept it more deep like in the beginning and that the VA didn't 'overact' in some of the episodes (don't know if I'll ever be able to watch 803 in ger dub again rip). At the end of the day it's not the absolute best top tier voice that makes love to my ears, but there's certainly a lot worse in german OP!!!! I'm giving this whole experience a hearty 6.5🍘/10🍘, will buy the dvd box set when it's released🙏🏻
To celebrate this special occasion I actually sat down and tried to write a little something,,,, it's been a hot minute since I last did that, so be aware that what's waiting under the cut is super cheesy and extremely cliché- hah, just how it should be XD
Also this was just meant to be a tiny drabble but somehow it turned into a small oneshot oop
Crachelle taggings: @star-doll-universe
Once upon a time, Cracker used to love celebrating his birthday. Back when he was still a young boy he adored all the attention and presents he and his twin sisters would receive on their special day. But as the years went by the excitement began to dwindel, and the annual birthday celebration turned more and more into just another mandatory chore. Being the child of a Yonko and a prince by default, Cracker had seen and experienced so much in his life already that only few things still managed to surprise him.
And that was exactly what he valued the most about his birthdays- the excitement of knowing that people would try to surprise him. Whether they'd succeed with it was a different question of course, but even if he already knew which presents he'd get (frankly, he and his sisters would always sneak around the chateau on the night before their birthday to to find any hidden presents) there was still something special about having someone anticipate your reaction when you unpacked their gift. But as time passed on any effort to surprise him was reduced, the presents got more and more stale, and once he moved away from Whole Cake Island only a handful of people continued to directly congratulate him as the main attention was switched over to younger Charlottes.
Not that he really minded though. As Minister he had more important things to worry about than celebrating the day he was born.
By the time he turned 30, Cracker was certain that he'd never feel truly excited about a birthday again. Now they were just another reminder of how he was getting older and older. The glory of his youth had long since passed, and in a way he almost despised how his birthdays would remind him of that. So for the past few years, he would usually just try to ignore them and pretend that it was just another day filled with the usual Minister/Commander work. Sometimes his sisters and some other siblings would pop in to spend at least a bit of time with him, and the citizens of Biscuits Island would of course congratulate Cracker whenever they saw him, and he'd politely thank them while flashing his usual arrogant grin, but deep down he truly didn't care about it anymore.
But then, out of nowhere, Michelle stepped into his life.
Ever since he first met this peculiar young woman his whole world seemed to change, to become more vibrant again, and spending time with her, no matter the occasion, always managed to excite him. Somehow she managed to make him feel youthful again, and after just a short amount of time Cracker began to feel things he never thought he'd be capable of feeling. Furthermore; since they got married, he even found himself looking forward to a lot of things he previously thought he didn't care about anymore- his birthdays being one of them.
Whereas Cracker's past birthdays would begin with him getting up early to prepare for his daily duties, this one started with his small wife softly waking him by covering his whole face in butterfly kisses. It was a million times more effective and immediately got him excited for the day. However, as soon as he started to return her kisses and tried to further embrace her, Michelle practically jumped away from him and rushed out of bed, quickly making her way over to the door where a small foodcart with a broad assortment of his favorite treats was waiting. She stood infront of it with a proud smile on her face, and Cracker immediately figured that she must have gotten up early to prepare this for him. That gesture alone was enough to warm his heart, and with an expectant grin he lazily crossed his arms behind his head and leaned against his pillow, waiting for Michelle to roll the cart over to his side so he could start his 'special day' with breakfast in bed.
Once he was done and there wasn't a single crumb left on the cart, the young woman joined him in bed once again for cuddles and to shower him with more kisses while congratulating him over and over again. Cracker couldn't help but bask in all of her love and attention. He never knew a person could be this adoring and affectionate, and the fact that she choose him of all people to show this love to made him feel like some excited little boy all over again.
After spending a few more minutes embracing his wife, it was time for him to get up and get dressed for real. Although he would have loved to spend the whole day intertwined in bed with her, there were still things they both had to take care of. While Cracker was busy slipping into his usual clothes his little wife disappeared from the bedroom, only to return with a big purple box a few moments later. Said box was almost half as tall as the young woman, and Michelle looked as if she had a difficult time carrying it by herself. At the beginning of their relationship he would have simply taken it from her and carried it himself, but after being together for so long he knew better than that. Despite her disability the young woman hated to be treated like someone who needed constant help, and unless she asked him for his assistance, he would let her do her thing.
And it didn't take long until she made her way over to his side and held out the box with a big smile. "Happy Birthday, dear! Here it is, your first gift of the day-!" her smile was practically beaming as she handed him the large present. To be honest Cracker was a bit dumbfounded at first, confused as to what kind of huge gift his wife could have gotten him (and how did she even manage to hide it from him until now?!) but suddenly he could hear some faint giggling coming from inside the box, and just like that he immediately knew what this was.
"Mh, I wonder what this could be...~" Cracker pretended to sound thoughtful as he forced himself to slowly untie the ribbon, his heart involuntarily began to beat faster and faster with excitement.
He was just about to lift the lid off the box when a tiny fist smashed through the cardboard, and with a happy cry his two oldest children popped up from inside the box.
"Happy Birthday Papa!" Pretzel and Trifle cheered in unison, their tiny hands thrown up into the air.
"Look Papa, it's us! Are you surprised? We were the present all along!" his oldest daughter giggled, she was clearly proud of this little scheme they hatched. A loud squeal then escaped from her as her father promptly lifted her up in the air. His smile stretched from one ear to the other, beaming with almost child-like joy as he enthusiastically nodded at her.
"Heh, of course! You really got me there!" Cracker grinned and tightly hugged his little girl with one hand while grabbing his son with the other, effectively holding both of his kids close to his heart.
"They really wanted to surprise you," his wife whispered and nodded at their children, who were playfully squirming around in their father's embrace. "But don't worry, that's not the only thing I have for you." Michelle added with a wink.
Cracker's smile softened a bit as he leaned closer to her and pressed a small kiss to her cheek.
"I can hardly wait."
He truly meant that, although it wasn't really the presents that he was excited for. With a content smile on his lips Cracker looked down at his little family. He already had everything he could have asked for right here.
Star Doll’s Universe @star-doll-universe - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
