When people complain about fanfics here on their public blog, because they're not into _________, I don't see the point. All it does is make the writer of said fiction feel bad. And/or attempt to shame someone for their kinks.
Just don't read it. It's fiction. It's only fiction.
I see no reason to put down other writers who put hard work, time, blood, sweat, and tears into something, and then people criticize it on here (unless the writer ASKS for criticism)
Just don't read it. Really simple.
I don't usually see negative comments on here but when I do I feel sad because that crushes creativity. Literally stops people who are considering trying to write fanfic.
We can be better. Most of the time Tumblr is a creative, judgement-free space.
I fucking miss 2000’s & 2010’s fandom. Fandom post 2020 is just not it (fuck all the normies that found their way into fandom during Covid, congrats on ruining a great community). I am now at the stage where I’m old enough to look back on the things I loved as a teen and the absolute bs opinions I’m seeing hurts my soul. And my god the passive aggressive (and aggressive aggressive) hate comment on ship content are off the charts. Enjoy how you want and let others enjoy how they want why don’t you. All the mega ships that ruled the roost then are now in some way “problematic”.
Oh it’s an age gap
Oh they’re not gay
News flash, WE DIDN’T CARE! And neither should you, BECAUSE ITS FICTION! A word to the newcomers (and the ignorant) the fiction you consume and/or create means nothing about your morality. Thought crime is not a thing. No ship is illegal (no matter how much it personally squiks you out). Please be cringe and be free.
DLDR - Don’t Like Don’t Read
SAKS - Ship And Let Ship
YKINMKATOK - Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That’s OK
First, in the interest of transparency: I'm squarely in the "Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That's Okay" camp, but I recognize people have valid reasons to differ on that.
Also, "messy murky manipulative vampires and the heroes who struggle to overcome them" is my absolute catnip, but in a 100% ace way, so notwithstanding my minor obsession at the moment, this is in part a Not My Kink situation. That said, I find the whole tongue-in-cheek "if Briarwoods bad then why sexy / oh help bi panic" thing highly amusing to observe, and the sheer fun people are having with it is infectious as hell... to me, a person neither triggered nor squicked by such things. YMMV.
With that in mind... there's some stuff swirling around Vax's encounter with the Briarwoods in episode 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina, and the general drift of fandom's reaction to it, that has some people talking past each other.
I first noticed a hint of it on Twitter in response to @nosnexus 's brilliant fanart, with this exchange:
[ID: Screenshot of a Twitter thread, as follows:
Terra: Is he being violated?
Corgi, Hound of the Internet: Darn close.
Valerie Meachum: I mean, Sylas has already whammied and bitten him, so yes.
Terra: Yeh was just curious if there was mind control stuff going on.
end ID]
There's a bit more beyond that, where Corgi and I poked a little bit further into the murky corners of the scene and how beautifully executed the adaptation has been overall. And with that much general agreement, I was struck that I grasped immediately what Terra was actually asking, while Corgi didn't right away.
The next example I noticed (but didn't participate in) is no longer there, as it was under a quote tweet that has since been deleted. So I can't quote 100% accurately, but it was to this effect:
Quote tweet: Is it hot in here?
[nosnexus's tweet with art]
Replying person 1: That's a bit cringey, isn't it? Vax is dominated, in the "removing consent" way, not the fun sexy way.
Replying person 2: He made the wisdom save and wasn't Charmed, though. And he was flirting with them!
Replying person 3: There's a big difference between flirting and consent, and he was trying to escape. This is basically sexual assault. Would you feel the same way if it were Vex or Pike or Keyleth?
I didn't see whether there were further replies in the thread, or to what extent it might have been why the first person deleted the QT. But it crystallizes the nature of the talking-at-cross-purposes I'm seeing, and how Twitter is so the wrong platform on which to try to clarify it.
Which is why I'm digging into it here. :-)
One thing I see getting lost in this discussion is that the primary reason Vax cannot consent is that Vax is not real. (Sort of the flip side of how certain media characters' "choice" to dress in a particular way is actually made by their creators.)
That first reply in the deleted tweet thread was a clever rhetorical flourish drawing a distinction between the kink and D&D definitions of "dominate," but left it hanging there with no acknowledgment of the fact that "the fun sexy way" is fun and sexy because it has safeguards in place... and fiction is in itself a safeguard.
One of the most exciting things about TLOVM is that it is entirely creator-driven and -controlled. Vax'ildan belongs to Liam O'Brien, full stop. That moment, and its (per Matt) "very intentional" erotic overtones, wouldn't be there if Liam didn't want them there. They were put there on purpose, in a planned, scripted retelling of a game session that ended on a cliffhanger and Liam declaring "I regret nothing" with a big delighted grin.
Roleplaying the stripping of a character's agency and its consequences is by no means everyone's cup of tea, but Liam's relish for it is evident every time it crops up. ("Light them up, pretty," anyone?) There's nothing "cringey" about a fan artist riffing on a moment (or fellow fans enjoying it) in a way that is entirely in keeping with the tone and intent of the source.
Does that mean there should be no consideration for those for whom it is not only not their cup of tea, but potentially triggering in a genuinely harmful way? Of course not. And I won't say there's no possible way the CR team could find to warn about specific content more effectively without giving everything away, but that's a much larger conversation that will no doubt be ongoing for years to come. Right now, though, what we have is the understanding that when they say "things get dark," that could mean quite a wide range of things; and the ability to proactively check in with trusted friends about whether a given episode is one you're prepared for before diving in.
Then there's the tweet later in the thread, asking whether people would feel the same way if it were one of the ladies in Vax’s position. Which is a valid question, and intersects with the discussion over the last couple years about where the line of objectification gets crossed when it comes to fanworks about male characters (and particularly m/m fanworks). And the answer for a lot of people is that it would be more uncomfortable, and there are a whole constellation of reasons for that, again well beyond the scope of this post.
But from where I sit, the main reason it would be wrong for Vex or Pike or Keyleth is that it wouldn't come from Laura or Ashley or Marisha (who has spoken candidly about her own experience of sexual assault, and who chooses to accept other players and their characters touching on aspects of it at the table with her, which has no bearing on whether that's the right or wrong choice for anyone else).
Without getting specific/spoilery, there have been story developments that involved the loss of agency and its consequences for characters other than Liam's, which explored that territory with zero sexual implications, and in which Matt trod noticeably more cautiously. The safety tools in place are subtle from our perspective because this group had been playing together for years before we ever watched them, but we can still see him nonverbally checking in with the players at each step on those darker paths.
One player's exhilarating catharsis is another's Big Bag o' NOPE, and the same is true of fans.
So there needs to be space for people to find the extremely fucked-up scenario also extremely hot, and not have their indulging in a bit of kinky fantasy equated with condoning real-life abusive behavior.
But there also needs to be space for people to be uncomfortable with the scene, the fan art, and the general avalanche of Briarwoods thirst in fandom spaces, and not have people invalidate that response by minimizing the fucked-up-ness of the scenario. (Especially with a stretch like the one made by Replying Person 2, referencing Liam’s successful WIS save in-game that doesn’t figure at all into the animated scene. He first failed against the Hold Person - which was cast by Delilah in-game - and that’s exactly what happened on the show.)
I don’t think they’re being dismissive on purpose, and in fact I get the sense it’s an attempt to relieve the discomfort they see some fans experiencing. But that’s... not how that works.
Just a casual reminder that its okay to say “Your Kink is not my kink, and that’s okay”
also fiction does NOT equate reality, yes, fiction IS harmless, and if you can’t tell the difference between fiction & reality and where to draw said line--that’s on you, as a reader, not on me as an author. And if someone read something I wrote, and decided to act due to that, that is a reflection of THEM not of ME.
But yeah, this is another warning post to plz take care of yourselves, cause lord knows I ain’t gonna take care of you.
Aka: feel free to block or ignore whatever tags u need to but don’t make it my problem <3
Minor anti after lying about their age to get on pornhub: THE TOON CATEGORY IS FULL OF ANIMATED PORN FROM SERIES KIDS WATCH! PEDOPHELIA I SAY!
Looool, but foreal though. These people have a lot of growing up to do. Antis, say it with me:
Your kink is not my kink, and that’s okay.
Also, irl kink spaces will NOT tolerate this kind of bullshit. For minors, I know that’s well down the road—if you decide to get involved with that at all—but like ??? They don’t give a fuck about random, unnamed man and woman engaging in a ddlg scene. But they will care about you giving aforementioned couple shit.
Just be nice and mind your own goddamn business. Like, damn.
