what a great day to remember that calling asian characters rat is something you shouldn’t do

thank you

Today’s aesthetic: people who are like “this anime could have been good if it weren’t for one specific detail that totally ruins it”, and then that one specific detail is, like, the thematic foundation of the show’s core premise.

Republicans say ‘fcuk your feelings’ then whine that they are unlikable.

Archive your fandom stuff

As we sit on the cusp of changes to the Internet, after your other activities to support Internet freedom, archive your fandom stuff.

Save the electronic files of your favorite online fandom works. Consider print-outs of your favorite online material. And save paper ephemera from fandom events.

Why save? Because you put the effort into a fanwork. Because you may be surprised when a fandom stays alive for years, or gets revived, or when an academic asks to cite your work. Because it’s stupidly hard to find items on Tumblr. Because, lo, in ages past, many fandom archives have risen and fallen, taking favorite fics off the ‘Net. Because it made you happy, makes you remember. Because you never know.

What can you save?

Behind the cut…saving from Tumblr and AO3, delving into lost web sites, how to save computer files for the long term, and why I’m glad I saved physical fandom items from 10+ years ago.

Keep reading

So I am going to add onto this because there is, in fact, a professional archival interest in preserving fandom as well.  I’ve spoken with some people about this before, but here’s the bottom line: PROFESSIONAL ARCHIVISTS WANT TO PRESERVE YOUR STUFF!  HELP THEM DO THIS!

There are pre-existing fandom archives.  Where are they?

These are the big institutions doing collecting, but the archival profession and fandom need to start talking more.  Born digital material is always at risk, and at present, it is mostly Western fandoms being preserved!   Moreover, some facets like cosplay are currently overlooked, and that is something that needs better documentation!

If you’re interested in archiving of fannish material, especially in relation to the OTW and it’s Open Doors project, I highly recommend reading this transcript from 2016.

The transcript is from a chat between Peter Balestrieri (mentioned above, curator for the Science Fiction and Popular Culture Collections at U of I), Jeremy Brett (curator of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection at TAMU), and Nancy Down (head of the Browne Popular Culture Library at Bowling Green). It’s a really interesting read and they give a lot of information (and links!) about their archival work, how fans can get involved, pop culture and fannish history, and more.

To quote Jeremy Brett:

Archive all the things!

The term “filler episode” is blatantly misused in fandom spaces and it's really goddamn annoying.

In the book "Manga and Anime Go to Hollywood: The Amazing Rapidly Evolving Relationship Between Hollywood and Japanese Animation, Manga, Television, and Film," by Northrop Davis, Davis explains the that concept of a “filler episode” in animation comes to us from anime adaptations of manga. Anime is frequently produced at a faster rate than manga, which means that anime adaptations of manga often have to come up with their own “filler” stories to slow down the pacing of the main narrative, because the manga isn’t finished yet.

"Filler" does not mean "low-stakes episode that doesn't progress the main plot." Filler does not mean "character moments that you did not like." "Filler" does not mean "anything that isn't breakneck-paced main plot."

It's a specific term and you are misusing it.

[ID: A screenshot from Futurama showing a scene where Morbo looks at the news camera and yells, "Windmills do not work that way! Good night!" The subtitle has been crudely edited to say, "Filler episodes do not work that way! Good night!" End ID.]

Go read an old fic.

There’s such recency bias in fandom. As an author you post something, get a few reactions, and then it goes off into the bin. As a reader you check the tags, see what’s new, and move on. But a lot of old stuff is really good. It’s just sitting there, gathering dust, waiting for someone to take a peek.

So go on. Treat yourself.

Read an old fic.

I’d argue there’s a bias against like… middle-aged fics in particular. A lot of people sort by kudos or bookmarks, but that’s going to be strongly biased toward older fics, which have had more time to accumulate them. Then there’s people that sort by date and read the newest. But there’s so much good material in that middle area.

A friend taught me her trick for smaller fandoms, which is to sort by kudos and use the published date filters to go through the fandom in 6-month increments. Within a 6-month time span, you’re not really going to get the kudos-over-time bias. Basically, you end up reading the best fics of each 6-month period until you start hitting fics below your quality threshold, wherever that is. You’ll find so much good material that way that would never have crossed your line of sight otherwise.

This is a clever idea, and I’m reblogging it so I remember to do it.

"The magic system is never fully explained" yeah that's how life works. Imagine having a story set in modern day America and the characters have several pages of exposition on combustion engines and telecommunication networks before we get to the plot

someone actually did a parody of sci fi featuring exactly this and it's still very funny imo

being in a fandom for more than a few years is kind of a surreal experience, honestly. you see fanart that you’ve sent in texts years ago, you see posts that you qualify now as ‘classics’ because of how old they are, you see people getting excited over new information that, honestly, you’ve known for a long while… you see one of those same-old same-old arguments bubbling up between people in the fandom and you just think to yourself “oh not again”, and then you lean back in your rocking chair, watching from the sidelines like your joints ache too much from all the battles of your past. a fuckin fandom grandparent. someone get me some applesauce

I feel like this is an unpopular opinion, but more people should read incomplete/unfinished/in-progress fanfics.

I've noticed this huge trend where creators on tiktok and tumblr who will be explaining how to use Archive Of Our Own to new users and they always say "and make sure to scroll down and click completed only" or how people will go out of their way to mention they only read completed fics 'because they were traumatized when they forgot to check the dates and didn't realize this fic hadn't been updated since 2012'.

The thing is - I think by not engaging with and/or actively avoiding writer's WIPs readers are potentially adding to the aggregate of abandoned works. Now this obviously isn't the case for all abandoned fics, anything from major life events, to loss of interest, to getting busy can be a reason for a fic getting abandoned - but at least on some level I just know that writers are quitting while they're ahead when they aren't garnering any response or feedback because reading WIPs has become unpopular. If you're worried about reading something that hasn't been updated since 2012 then you can use the date updated function to sort out old fics.

Anyways, support your favorite fanfic writers by engaging with their WIPs.

Stop making fun of your past self for liking things you’ve grown out of. They brought you joy and comfort and entertainment, and that’s something to be celebrated. You don’t have to tear them down just to prove you’ve moved on.

You shouldn’t make fun of a kid’s interests and hobbies. It’s mean. That’s still true even if the kid is your past self.

I need people to stop blaming the death of movies on “quips”. A quip is just a funny line of dialogue. That’s all. Like I just saw a post talking about quips and the death of movies and brought up Pirates of the Caribbean as an example of a better movie and yes it is but also that movie is FULL OF QUIPS. I just rewatched The Princess Bride. It’s all quips. Every single line. And it’s a masterpiece.

Movies suck when people don’t care about the art they’re making. That includes them not caring about their quips. Which is why a lot of comic relief dialogue ALSO sucks now. But the problem isn’t that funny dialogue exists.

#it’s not the quips it’s the complete and utter fear of showing any kind of sincerity#honestly it’s almost the equivalent of saying ‘no homo’ after a moment of being genuine

The Princess Bride is almost all quips, but it’s all sincerity. Every aspect of the plot is ridiculous and yet no movie dialogue has ever gone as hard as “I want my father back, you son of a bitch”

— Zadie Smith, Their Eyes Were Watching God: What Does Soulful Mean?

Ok, I'm gonna pop off for a bit because this has been driving me nuts for like a decade now - I'm real tired of seeing people (who either don't understand how show production works or are willingly choosing to ignore it) going after showrunner's throats when who they're really pissy with are the corporations that host those shows.

Stuff like plot, internal continuity, and character development are writing issues that can be critiqued in a vacuum, stuff like pacing, representation, and runtime are not.

If you are mad that a show was too short, that it's pacing was shitty or it's representation wasn't good enough, that is an issue with the higher ups in the network, not the writers and showrunners.

You need to redirect your anger at CN, Disney and Nickelodeon, go after them for holding animation back, and leave showrunners the fuck alone.

Do you really think that Infinity Train would end on an awkward fourth book, that Korra and Asami would only hold hands, that Legend of Korra would have such a bizarre second season, that Steven Universe would reduce it's final arc to five fucking episodes, that Gravity Falls would hide it's LBGT characters in the background, that The Owl House would end after three seasons, that so many shows would wait until their last episode to confirm their character's sexualities, if they had the choice to do something else???

Take your torches and pitchforks to capitalism's doors, not creators'.

if someone tells you that your OC or your fave is a Mary Sue, tell them they shouldn't complain about a character when they can't even get their name right

when they try to explain that a Mary Sue is an unrealistically powerful or capable character, tell them that you think the term they are looking for is "main character" and that all forms of storytelling have abundant examples of them

if they're still going at that point, just block them because they are clearly incapable of taking hints