I wanna talk about something Iâve been seeing lately (outside of the Byler community) - this whole thing of people saying, âoh, well, Stranger Things was always badâ, or, âall of season 5 sucked actuallyâ , or, âI knew it was going to start sucking, so I stopped at season 3, so funny watching everyone else cope lolâ
The fact is, we all got enjoyment out of this show. We kept coming back, season after season, because we were interested to see where it was going to go. We felt things, we experienced things, and it was all real.
Even back before I was a Byler (which was most of the show), I loved these characters. I loved getting spooked, I loved the soundtrack, and I was overall entertained. I didnât need the show to be perfect. I say a lot that season 3 is the worst one in my opinion, but back when I first watched it, I was there for the whole thing.
It was an investment. I wasnât making fanart or writing fanfiction back then, but I took time out of my day to watch this show. It was something I always came back to.
I feel like, when the conversation shifts to whether or not a piece of media is âactually even goodâ, we forget that it was something people experienced in real time. You can say a show is bad, but youâll always have your experience with it.
Obviously we were going to care how this show ended, and obviously, it was always going to hurt if we suddenly felt like we werenât getting that same joy out of it (which is what a lot of us are healing from now) - I canât just stop feeling my emotions because logically I âshouldnât even care about Stranger Things cause itâs dumbâ, thatâs not how it works.
Back when GOT ended, I felt for everyone who was upset over the ending. Iâd only ever seen the first episode, and had no context for any of what people were complaining about, but my thought was, âdamn, that sucksâ, not, âwell, I never even *cared* about it, it was so overrated, cry moreâ
You could go through all of GOT and point out things you thought always sucked, Iâm sure you could pick this show apart if you *really* wanted to, but that wouldnât take away the fact that people had a passion for it, and spent hours enjoying it.
Itâs just so dumb to me that people want to make fun of people who are unsatisfied with the ending of a show. Okay, you never thought it was that deep, thatâs fine, but why is our emotional experience invalid? What makes you better than us for not being a Byler, for not watching past season 1/2, for not having faith in this last season? Nothing - and you could be out there enjoying what makes *you* happy, but youâre focusing on other people being upset because it makes you feel superior?
"Mentos shippers are assholes!!" "Kingdon shippers are assholes!!" How about we go outside. How about we remember this is a fandom, and there's gonna be different ships that contradict yours. Have some whimsy. They're both cute ships, but everyone is entitled to their own preferences.
Iâm tired. Tired of seeing Astarion pushed into this one narrow niche
- Cause the vampire genre is always pushed into that narrow niche -
Tumblr was always my place to freely share my thoughts about my favorite fandoms. Nothing that spreads massively like on Twitter. Just my thoughts. My mid-30s, adoring-a-pixel-vampire-in-my-free-time thoughts. And yes, sometimes I received positive reactions, sometimes negative ones. Thatâs life, we don't always have to fully agree with one another. Now I want to let my thoughts wander one more time. As a kind of conclusion, and I wonder how others think about it.
In the end, discussions about which of Astarionâs endings is the âTrueâ one are pointless, because everyone favors one for their own reasons. That's also not how the game is supposed to be. Talking about it, yes, talking about what's the true one, nope.
It was never about kink-shaming for me, since Astarionâs story was never just a kink to me but more to it later.
But for some people, thatâs exactly what the vampire genre represents. But it's more complex. I love goth aesthetics, moral grayness, the mysteries surrounding vampires and what they symbolize on a deeper level - the liberation of inner âsins,â sexuality.
The vampire, in a sense, represents the sins suppressed by society, mostly the sexuality of women and quere people, and the breaking of conservative norms. I could talk about it for ages. But back to my problem.
What I didnât like was claiming one ending as the correct one.
Yes, I prefer the Spawn ending. I have my reasons, but Iâve never claimed any ending to be the âtrueâ one. I simply wanted to consciously exist in that particular bubble, to talk with others about it, to see more content centered around that ending. But I want to emphasize that both endings have meaning and are logical, depending on how you play. An Astarion who, through a good-aligned player, experiences trust, opens up, and becomes sincere with himself and the player will reach different conclusions than one with an evil-aligned player who also sees power and dominance as survival strategies.
Astarion is an incredibly well-written, complex character who doesnât belong in a box. Not by WotC, not by HBO, not by me, and not by a bubble that advocates so strongly for one ending that it makes others feel like the other is only for idiots.
When I joined the fandom in 2023, I was overwhelmed by the discussions and noticed a tendency to present the ascension ending as the perfect, superior one. Essays, fan art, TikToks. So I started creating content for the Spawn ending, because the themes that interested me were getting drowned out on those platforms. I focused on rare dialogues about his backstory, about Cazadorâs manipulation, on why Astarion is the way he is. On trauma, coping mechanisms, redemption, healing, desire, humour and on why the Spawn ending isnât weak or wrong.
Again and again, I noticed that content centered on Spawn Astarion received fewer views, fewer likes, and fewer passionate supporters. even insults in the comments - from both sides btw - because it's either too babyfiing or too sex positive.
Watching other content creators move ahead with more arguments about why the one ending is better. More romantic. More authentic. Happier, more based.. With more views and likes. Without necessarily showing the downsides of that ending, because itâs framed as the perfect one.
I donât want to whine, âOthers have more followers than me.â Thatâs not the point. I donât make much money from it anyway. I genuinely enjoy video editing and Iâve found people who share my perspectives.
What matters to me is that Iâm tired - tired of seeing Astarion pushed into this one niche: the sexy vampire. (And again, Iâm not blaming vampire lovers - I am one myself.) And yes, Astarion is sexy, and I enjoy NSFW content tooâŠ.
but heâs more than that. Because the vampire genre is more then that
Like I said before, the vampire genre is often about sins, dark desires, Trauma and breaking free of conservative norms, most on a moraly grey way.
And you get to decide: do you want ultimate revenge, that one taste of boundless power. Bonnie and Clyde against the rest of the world? Or do you ultimately want to leave it all behind and look toward a different future, whatever that may be?
but it's important to see both sides of the coin. both sides of Astarion. he's not only evil but he did things wrong. he is an arsehole but he is also a victim. you are allowed to hug him but also to question him.
But I see a trend - maybe itâs just me - that Astarion is becoming whatever sells best for WotC or other companies. That the other themes are being silenced.
The sexy, traumatized vampire who seduces you. Because thatâs what gets the most clicks.
What this little rant of mine is really about is which version weâll continue to see in the future. And I hope they keep portraying him as complex, morally gray, but also goofy and lovable. A vampire who, in a way, wants to break free from that very niche himself.
I don't know who needs to hear this in the tags I'm tagging, since we're usually the ones on the receiving end of the harassment, BUT
If someone harasses you under your posts/vids/whatever because they hate the ship/characters in it⊠remember they're bumping up the engagement.
But not only that, they're telling the algorithm they enjoy the very thing they're hating on! And the algorithm brings them more of THE thing.
So they're essentially the ones getting screwed by their actions the most by: 1) promoting your work, 2) asking for more of the same in their recommendations
Once again, for all the hateful antis in the back who feel the need to police people & their creativity & might come across this since they tend to lurk in the ship tags:
đ BY HARASSING PEOPLE, YOU'RE BASICALLY PROMOTING THEIR WORK, THEREFORE THE SHIP/CHARACTER YOU'RE HATING ON. đHope that helps. ;)
And to the normal people: it sucks getting hate, but the haters end up getting the short end of the stick eventually, so there's some comfort in that. I guess hate asks are another thing, but if you're the creator and they interact with your content directly, they're essentially helping you and screwing things up for themselves. You can, of course, always block the haters, but I think it's hilarious to set them up for fuming over the same kind of content they detest by not doing that. Let them get the algorithmic karma. đ
But overall I'm just virtually holding hands with everyone who is sick of this shit; let people ship whatever they want. If you don't like something, scroll past it, close the tab, block the tags, create an anti tag and post in it, literally do whatever, but don't come at real people over fictional characters and act holier than thou about it. You'll just come across as unhinged jerk.
nahhhh cuz I think the steddie side of the fandom is misinterpreting Steve and Dustinâs argument soooo bad. I argue, it WAS in character for Steve to say what he said.
Yk the character who frequently speaks with his emotions before he calms down and realises what he said wasnât okay??
I mean come on weâve literally seen it before - the car scene with Dustin and Steve in season 4 anyone? He lashed out and then immediately apologised once he realised what he said, and this is what weâre seeing once again.
Can we also not forget that Steve only knew Eddie - REALLY knew him - for like what, a few days at most? Of course he isnât going to react like Dustin.
Plus his argument is super valid. I mean the fans watched the show and reacted the same way, Eddie did die for no fucking reason. They couldâve escaped from the upside down but the whole him running in was to show the character change - from running away to running in.
To summarise, what Iâm trying to say is, Steveâs reaction is totally fucking normal. He didnât know Eddie as well as Dustin did. Heâs SCARED of losing Dustin, his best friend. Theyâre fighting for their lives constantly and adrenaline is a hell of a drug. We always knew steddie wasnât going to be cannon but thatâs the fun of it. We can write fanfiction and make art of whatever we want because thereâs no fear of making it cannon relevant.
Steddie will always be my top ship for this show but come on guys, cut Steve some slack.
