here for a long time, not a good time

if anybody asks them why they are in a fandom that makes them so miserable, or why they engage with a canon that they don't even seem to like or take any joy from, they respond with "oh so now we have to love everything like unthinking idiots? we have to accept all the garbage given to us? we have to endure the way the writer/showrunner/company mistreats us? stop forcing your toxic positivity on everybody!"

a classic and obvious example from mdzs/cql fandom are the jiang cheng antis whose entire fandom experience is defined by aggressively hating a fictional character and berating other fans as morally bankrupt and delusional, and insisting to outlandish degrees that they understand the real meaning of how terrible the character is, and therefore the themes of the book/show, better than all the rest of the foolish, unthinking fans who lack their insight.

another classic and obvious example from kpop are the akgaes/solo fans, or the subset of fans obsessed with mistreatment narratives. a big part of this is always claiming to have special knowledge about real intentions or motivations, and they will state those claims in superior or self-pitying ways that sound like "oh i wish i could mindlessly love this the way you do. i wish i could be uncritical. but i can see the truth of how bad it is so i just can't. it's so unfair that i'm not allowed to love things, but that's my burden to bear."

that's two examples but these people exist in every fandom. they are the ones who make you earnestly wonder "why are you in a fandom that makes you so unhappy?" then you see how much engagement they get, how actively and completely they submerge themselves in the echo chamber they've created, and it makes sense.

the thing is, it's easy to shame people into feeling bad by claiming to know better, even if what you are saying is nonsense. that's a foundational principle of the internet. (and religion. and politics. and the worst kinds of online activism. etc.)

this was supposed to be a simple comic and then it took endless hours to finish rip. i love their summer flirting across timezones.

i also cross-posted to ao3 if you'd like to leave a comment!

based on something tim stützle said about training with claude giroux:

Domestic boys!!

(I'm not sarcastic, I really do love it)

It will take a few times before my hands learn how actors actually look so it doesn't really look like them. But I'm always conflicted about making characters look like actors or not.

"From the corner of his eyes, Pete looked through to Porsche as he reloaded his gun. A fluid motion. Pete, with a weapon in his hand and intent clearing through the black of his eyes, was blood in the water. Somehow, he never contradicted himself. He was always in context until he chose to step out of it." sift through the ashes by @wretchedamaranth

Hollanov 💔