Fancy That

The Future ~ 10 Years later ~

My take on the S&S crew ten years into the future, with some inspiration from the comic entries on MP100's comic contest a couple years back!

I'm also a fan of "Serirei gets kids shoved on them by the government"

Bonus:

NO bald. NO nuance.

#guy who doesn’t think other people are real is good in bed???? No. @lansplaining with accurate anti-propaganda for Our Winner Xue Yang 

#this is a grave misunderstanding of the term 'body count' @hydrofelicity HELP. 

Lan Qiren: repressed turbovirgin who would probably faint if he saw a nipple and is still hung up on the girl who pulled his pigtails in ninth grade. 0/10 nothing is happening here

Sect Leader Yao: misogynist middle aged dad. he can fuck but it won't be good. 1/10

Wen Ruohan: he's got that cultivator stamina, definitely fucks, and is very hot in every version of canon, but he's a wannabe emperor, he's not going to be a considerate lover. 2/10

Xue Yang: as has been pointed out, he doesn't think other people are real and is unlikely to care about your pleasure, and he also thinks SSC is for pussies. but if choking a goth twink is your dream and you don't prioritize survival you might have a great night. 3/10?

Jin Zixuan: he'll probably cry and be excruciatingly awkward the whole time especially if you hit on his mommy issues. but he'll put the effort in and be a gentleman, unless he doesn't like you and is only doing this out of obligation, in which case it'll be miserable. 5/10

Mo Xuanyu: I have to admit he's also likely to be a virgin but he's definitely fantasized about everything and would be thrilled to try it out. 5.5/10

Su She: 10/10 if you're Jin Guangyao. 7/10 otherwise because he's keeping his shirt on and thinking about Jin Guangyao while you do it, but he's competitive enough he'd still want to make sure he did a good job.

Wen Zhuliu: yeah he probably fucks like a machine. 8/10

Would he approach said treatises with grim determination? Yeah probably. Would he develop a goddamn exercise regimen for his tongue and practice it religiously? Hell yes.

When I was a teenager writing fic, I remember finding out that one of my favorite authors was in her 50s and that just was SUCH a revelation for me!! What do you mean, 50 year olds can write fanfic?!? Does that mean I can write fics when I'm her age?? That's AWESOME! I seriously looked up to her so much. And now I'm 35 with a husband and kid, and I'm still writing fanfic and posting fandom content - and I have no plans of stopping!

I don’t want to sound like I am hating on younger people in fandom, but god, y’all need to stop it with the ageism. You don’t have to give up what you love once you’re an adult. Honestly, the belief that you have to is pretty bad. It sounds like it would make people afraid of aging. Granted, modern society is so very afraid of aging.

Teenagers don't have the resources and skills to build something like AO3, it has to be people with degrees and money doing that, and that translates to a 30+ crowd. But teenagers especially need the protection and legal advocacy that something like AO3 offers them.

Part of the reason the then 30- and 40-somethings who built AO3 did what they did was so that someone with as few resources and as little support as the average 15-year-old fic author can safely and comfortably share their fanfic and find fic to read.

yeah that looks normal… yeah these are all— um. hold on. hang on.

And sometimes, you have a string of fandoms that are Actually Pretty Good. And the danger of this—the very great danger—is that when you have a string of Actually Pretty Good and even Actually Amazing obsessions, you start to believe that maybe you have taste. Perhaps you are now immune to the indignities of losing it over something mostly bad.

And frankly, it’s starting to really get on my nerves when people read “I think this thing is good. I wouldn’t change a thing about it and frankly I don’t even think there should be more canon added to it, but I am still going to write thousands of words of fic, make a cosplay, and draw fanart” and then completely misunderstand and respond with “yes I agree—I like things that are good too. But I never feel the transformative/creative fandom instinct for them because they are too good.”

compelling worldbuilding (invites interaction with the setting)

interesting gimmick (see: daemons, drift compatibility. subcategory of compelling worldbuilding)

shipping bait (duh)

original character bait (in-universe categories/factions and design elements that make it fun for people to create their own characters)

compelling narrative (invites interaction and tweaks to the storyline: AUs and fixits and so on)

basically anything that invites interaction and recombination. but fandom also has a sort of multiplying effect: the larger the interactive audience of fandom is, the more likely it is to generate ideas and works that draw in more participants. so:

rec request: "min 10k [20k/50k etc] words" "no wips" "longfic" "slow burn", general 'if you rec anything outside this it's lesser work' vibe

aside: [requester will not comment on any of the works recced to them]

your preferences are fine. but are your preferences limiting your enjoyment or engagement with creators?

some of the most impactful fanfiction stories i have read come in under 5k words. some WIPs stay with me and i'm glad to have read them even if they're unfinished and may never be. some of my best work is sitting around the 1-3k wordcount mark. i have told the beats of stories succinctly in under 1k word tumblr prompt fills.

you are denying yourself joy and pleasure and insight by being weird about demanding all fanfic is novella length or holding that only longfics are worthwhile fics.

suport for short fiction encourages creators - it encourages first time posters and writers. it encourages people who are trying to create for fandoms with limited time and spoons. it encourages variety in ways to tell stories. it creates more of the stuff you love.

healthy, active fandoms, no matter the size, have a variety. long epics, cracky aus, drabble collections, short pwp stories, high concept abandonned stories that will never be finished.

Weird Al is allowed to parody everything because he's operating under copyright law, not trademark law.

Trademark governs who can "trade" under what "mark" i.e. the brand identity of a company. Companies don't own their trademarked word forever, but they maintain the exclusive right to sell things under that brand in their specific market sector. Patagonia doesn't own the name of a geographical region, they just own the right to be the only company using that name to sell clothing and outdoor gear.

A drag queen name can be a parody of a clothing and outdoor gear company.

A company's trademarked logo can be used in parody creative works, with more leeway if it's not for commercial purposes. Trademark parody is allowed! Patagonia has been aware of and allowed Pattie Gonia's trademark parody for years.

Trademarks are specific to market sector. Actress Chase Infiniti could start a makeup line named after herself and her trademark would not infringe on the Infiniti car brand because they are different markets and there is no risk of confusion. Pattie Gonia could probably trademark her name to sell frozen veggie burgers and Patagonia would not care.

Drag queen Jan Sport did a collab with JanSport bags. What Jan Sport almost certainly did not do is independently apply to register "Jan Sport" as a trademark in order to sell bags on her own, because that would infringe on JanSport's own trademark in the bag market sector.

What Pattie Gonia is not allowed to do -- the thing that Pattie Gonia actually did do and is being sued for -- is apply to register "Pattie Gonia" as a trademark to sell clothing, because apparently Pattie is in talks with North Face and HydroFlask to sell "Pattie Gonia"-branded gear. These companies probably won't finalize anything unless Pattie shows that she actually owns the trademark. Unfortunately, "Patagonia" is already a registered trademark in the clothing market sector, and these two names are too similar to exist in the same sector (see: "likelihood of confusion" legal standard).

Your drag queen name can parody a clothing company. You can parody the trademarked logo of a clothing company. But you cannot use the same name to then go on to also become a clothing company.

In order to maintain their own trademark, Patagonia must sue for trademark infringement. If they don't sue, and Pattie Gonia gets her own trademark, Pattie could sue Patagonia for infringement on her trademark. You can see why Patagonia won't be dropping this suit no matter how much you harass them.

The new conflict is from Pattie Gonia using the Patagonia imagery and the Pattie Gonia name on her own merchandise. This is the email Patagonia sent, with the images they feel conflict with the 2022 agreement.

Pattie responded to that by disagreeing that she had broken any agreement, and also obliquely threatening to expose Patagonia for making tactical gear for the US military?

Pattie selling shit with her stage name on it Really Obviously isn’t going to have any negative effect on the continued lining of Patagonia CEO pockets, as if that even fucking matters, and no amount of waxing poetic about “well they have to 🥺🥺🥺” is going to make me say anything other than “fucking stupid if true then”.

In terms of whose pockets are being lined:

Rather than selling the company or taking it public, Mr. Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization. They were created to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits — some $100 million a year — are used to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe.

The unusual move comes at a moment of growing scrutiny for billionaires and corporations, whose rhetoric about making the world a better place is often overshadowed by their contributions to the very problems they claim to want to solve.

At the same time, Mr. Chouinard’s relinquishment of the family fortune is in keeping with his longstanding disregard for business norms, and his lifelong love for the environment.

(NYT Gift Link)

Since 2022, 100% of Patagonia's profits have gone to climate and environmental causes. They have completely restructured the ownership of the company so that this will continue in perpetuity.