Fandom Rant

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:14:39 GMT

Who sets up a kinkmeme without having any idea of how to run it? The code of conduct was all spiffy and shiny, and I appreciate having it, but seriously, if the first comment on the site is 'where do the prompts and fills go?' then you're missing an important part.

Oh beta wherefore art thou (like this?)

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:42:25 GMT

The woes of changing betas :( It's exceptionally hard to find betas in some fandoms than others (especially if you're a no-name fan). J-rock is one of them.

My old one is busy with RL, so I tried and found a new one.

I barely know my new beta but she volunteered and she seems nice. Well. She *is* nice. But since I told her I'm ESL (actually it's ETL) she seems to go from talking to me normally to seemingly wanting to hold my hand and talk to me with small words. It's frustrating. English being my third language is a fact, but it says nothing about how long I've used the language and how comfortable I am with it. I still make stupid mistakes with the language, but to tell you the truth, when it comes to writing I'm most comfortable with English than I am with my second or even my first one.

I really don't want to say anything to offend her about this, because frankly I should be grateful that somebody took the time to check for grammatical errors that might escaped me. And I am grateful, but when she questioned my use of 'dissipated' because she thinks "it's too much of a big word, I think I should warn you about using them, 'cause it makes you sound pretentious. Why not use 'disappeared'?", to say that I was ~~flummoxed~~ ~~discombobulated~~ confused by that was an understatement. Especially because in this alternate universe that's highly IC. (and what's wrong with 'suffusing'?)

Love and frustration,

Gero

And while I'm in the topic of J-Rock: Fandom, just because the band you like makes louder music, doesn't make other bands 'instantly shit' just because they're not as loud. Really. Variety isn't always bad. *grumbles how when she first got into the fandom, hide was still alive and those kids know nothing about climbing up mountains in the snow both ways to get to buy 'Final Act' and should really stop whining*

I Know, I Know...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:34:29 GMT

Dear Certain ex-WoW Player,

I know. I *know*. You don't like Cataclysm. We get it. You spent the early months of Cataclysm sucking the fun out of it for me because every time you posted, regardless of why, you always had to get your digs in about how terrible this expansion was.

I liked parts of this expansion. Less and less of it, as time went by, but I still did, and at every point when I felt like it wasn't so bad, there you were to whine about how much you missed Wrath. Well, guess what? I miss Warcraft III. I want Warcraft IV like a wanting thing. I want all of the stupid lore from this expansion and last expansion to just go away.

But I can't get that. You can't go back to Wrath.

Let's all just take a deep breath and stop constantly bringing it up at every given opportunity, in the most passive-aggressive ways possible.

Signed,
Me

(And it's either this or make a highly sarcastic reply to their post, sorry guys.)

Female lead? WAH, THAT'S BULLYING THE MALE LEAD.

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:54:32 GMT

Dear Fringe Fan-Person,

So you love Joshua Jackson, that's great. Really, that's just dandy, I'm happy for you but do you have to express that love for him by constantly bashing Anna Torv? Is it really necessary to big up Joshua Jackson by calling her a bad actress, complaining about her "ugly face," and going on and on about how stupid she is?

Yes, the fandom focuses on her a lot but that doesn't mean we "hate," Josh, it doesn't mean we ignore or devalue him and it certainly doesn't mean we're "bullying" him (bullying? Really? Most of us have never met the guy). Having a woman in the traditional action hero role and having her save the guy from time to time doesn't mean that his character is worthless (how dare that uppity woman have agency and take charge, I mean, how DARE she?).

If we do focus on her, there's a good reason for that: SHE'S THE MAIN FUCKING CHARACTER. The others are important, of course, but at its core, this is HER hero's journey, it's about HER discovering the secrets of her past, HER coming into her power, HER saving the world. If you can't handle the idea of a show with a female lead, kindly bugger off and focus your attention on one of the other kabillion shows or movies out there that focus on the menz.

No love,
Me and probably just about everyone else who follows the Anna Torv tag on tumblr.

It's time for a change of venue.

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:10:07 GMT

AGH, WHY DO NEW RP GAMES EVEN BOTHER OPENING AT LJ ANYMORE?!

It is now the glitchiest site I've ever had the displeasure of using, and I use Plurk on a regular basis, so that's saying something. I can understand not wanting to ship an old game somewhere else because of history and convenience, but for a new game, you have options now. Insanejournal only glitches for about 15 seconds at a time these days, and then it's back up on its feet. And it gives you a shitton of icons, so you don't have to pay for the privelige of the site dicking you around. I get that those kinds of journaling sites might seem risky after so many have collapsed in the past, but the payoff of (supposed) security just isn't enough to outweigh the annoyances.

Dreamwidth has the code issue (and I don't know how they feel about RPs), but I see codes floating around the internet like flyers dropped from an airplane whenever LJ does something stupid, so they're not that hard to come by. Some people are even RPing on Tumblr, although I'll never really get that, because I'll never really get Tumblr. BUT IT'S ANOTHER OPTION.

Asgard, you sound wonderful, and I am deeply excited to app to you. But getting my character journal up and running this morning has been about as pleasant as a root canal without freezing, and if the site keeps being this terrible, I may not stay long. Next time, take the game elsewhere and I'll be right with you.

EDIT: Apparently the recent glitchiness is another DDoS attack, so that's what I get for getting my sick, cranky rant on without checking the facts. I thought it was still issues around that last disastrous software update. As you were, everyone, the fail is all mine here.

She's more awesome than you anyway.

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:37:52 GMT

It's not cool to police someone's sexual orientation. If they say they're bisexual, you shouldn't go through their entire known sexual/romantic history and everything they've said to prove they're not bisexual and thus a total poser in the gay rights movement.

Yes, even if they're Lady Gaga. If she came out as bisexual in order to be sensational she's been subtle about it, and even if she had (and she would hardly be the first) it's still not cool to police anyone's sexuality. Okay? It's her business. So don't do that.

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:13:22 GMT

Hey, small but very vocal sect of the Tiger & Bunny fandom.

You know the whole recent shitfit you're throwing over Karina/Blue Rose having a crush on Kotetsu/Wild Tiger? Knock it the fuck off

Teenage girls are allowed to have crushes. Yes, even on dorky-but-smokin' single father superheroes. What do you think the entire fanbase has been doing all this time?

And, yes, he can still have his gloriously slashtastic bromance with Barnaby while she crushes on him. Fuck that's exactly what he's been doing since episode 7 (what, you just noticed she had a crush on him now? Boy are you late to the party). Karina's crush has done nothing to stop the bridal-carrying, hand holding, and drunken midnight parties where one of them winds up with his shirt off. It's probably not going to start now.

So remember: hating on characters for totally asinine reasons?

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 17:32:04 GMT

Okay, truly I get that you're hurt by the fact that the biggest site in the fandom rejected your fic. I understand that. It must suck. But given the site inquestion, they must get hundreds of fic submissions a day. That's why they had to set up a team of pre-readers. Perhaps, just perhaps, the fic you were submitting really wasn't as good as you say. Perhaps, just perhaps, there were just too many errors. Whatever. Could you please just, I dunno... let it go? We don't need a reminder everytime you comment a post of how terrible and wrong said site is, how mean and terrible the people there are. Even in a fandom devoted to "love and tolerance," there sometimes has to be someone being firm, and someone who has to say shit people don't want to hear. I'm sorry your fic was rejected, you say rudely, but it's time to put your big girl britches on a deal with it.

help me, f_rant, you're my only hope

Thu, 26 May 2011 02:50:40 GMT

How do you deal when a friend - a long-time RL friend, even - thinks that a certain notorious wanker is just the most amazing person ever and keeps saying so in their journal? Do you bring up this person's past misbehavior (in a comment or private message), or just stay politely silent? (Heck, maybe they know already and don't care.) How do you stay friends with someone who idolizes someone you find odious... or do you?

EDIT: Thanks, everyone. I guess I'll just keep quiet and try to let it go.

gross

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 05:02:45 GMT

Dude, the fact that you keep complaining about "NTR" in an anime series (because the main female character is getting sexually molested by her male guardian - only insinuations of this are shown, however) is creepy as fuck. Stop it.

*NTR: Netorare: apparently a porn (?) fetish where the wife (or husband, I guess?) is fucked by someone else while the spouse watches/is forced to watch. Could be just a girlfriend, too, I guess. Can be consensual or not.

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:33:03 GMT

So I was trying to find a source for something someone said about Elisa Maza from Gargoyles, and stumbled across this:

i just

i just can't even

Look I know Disney has its problems and that the princesses are not always as feminist as one could wish, but way to both be factually inaccurate and dismiss any positive messages, dude!

The one that makes me rage the most is Belle. I mean what in the fucking hell! Belle is a fucking badass nerd, she fights off wolves with sticks and teaches Beast how to read and tempers him because she simply does not put up with his bullshit, and all she does is use her sexuality? Fuck, her sexuality is her only asset? Where the hell do you even get that. DO YOU EVEN WATCH THIS MOVIE. Belle is probably the least sexual woman in the movie, she's too oblivious to social norms to rely on her boobs and prettiness to bend things in her favor. ADFDKJHSADJFH *RAGES*

The others are pretty bad, too, though! Like Belle, both Ariel and Jasmine want to find adventure and love, and both of them do, through defying social expectations and rebelling against their fathers. Again, "beauty" is the "only" asset Snow White has, despite being a loving, caring, and kind woman who brings some joy and order into the lives of others. Aurora's prince apparently "owns" her??? >:\

I... don't actually have anything to say about the Cinderella one, but that is because I haven't seen it since I was like seven.

I just. UGH.

ETA:
AIMfriend: Cinderella was a hard worker
AIMfriend: She kept that house clean
AIMfriend: and did all the chores
AIMfriend: and waited on her family hand and fucking foot
AIMfriend: That girl wasn't just pretty
AIMfriend: She knew how to do shit

Me: yeah.

AIMfriend: She took care of EVERYTHING

Me: BUT GOD FORBID A DUDE FIND HER BEAUTIFUL AND LIKE HER

AIMfriend: And rose about the nastiness and jealousy of her family

Me: AND GOD FORBID THIS MAKE HER HAPPY

AIMfriend: They tried to put her down and they COULDN'T
AIMfriend: WHAT IS THIS EVEN

Because I don't know where else to post a PSA to the entire Internet

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 23:34:21 GMT

I must say, I am truly astonished. I had no idea that so many people here were members of royalty. And what liberal monarchs too, to offer control of your kingdoms to so many subjects! It was as if the word ‘rein’ never existed! Perhaps the idiosyncrasies of my low-born, working class background are showing. How should a peasant as hideously revolting as me expect so many kings and queens to be familiar with the business of rearing horses or driving carriages? A monarchy of my own devising would be marvelously interesting indeed if I reigned in my horses as some of you people here seem to do. I imagine that is the reason no one can seem to use their keyboard properly. It must be very dark, wet and full of distressingly squashy noises where you are.

-a pencil topper

A very short RP rant.

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:21:39 GMT

Call me crazy with the Earth logic, but -

If you (general 'you') complain about not having enough interaction with other characters, and then virtually all of your posts are locked/closed to characters your pup is already close with?

YOU MIGHT BE THE PROBLEM.

Just saying.

Dear Being Human UK Fandom: No, Just No

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:04:33 GMT

A summary of events (skip to the double linebreak if you've seen the episodes):

Being Human is about four housemates who happen to be a vampire, Mitchell, a ghost, Annie, and two werewolves, George and Nina (Nina joined the household when she and George fell in love and he turned her into a werewolf through a series of unfortunate events). It's generally a very down-to-earth show about a group of people just trying to live as well as they can and trying to be as human as they can. At the end of season two, Mitchell was betrayed by a human woman and snapped, deciding to declare war on humanity. He then proceeded to kill 20 innocent people in a train carriage with another vampire. Season three shows the reactions of the country at large as it tries to come to terms with what happened and catch whoever did it.

Mitchell's since mostly come back to his senses and is horribly guilty about the whole deal during the season, but the fact remains that just by being himself he's a hair away from murder. The show starting hinting last season but this season has REALLY started hitting us over the head with the idea that Mitchell's violent urges are not just because of his vampire bloodlust. He was turned because the vampire who turned him saw darkness in him, he was famously cruel and excessive even for a vampire before he started trying to be good, and even he's admitted that it's the power he's addicted to more than the blood.

The other housemates don't know he's responsible for the massacre that's all over the news, although George, his best friend, does realise he's done something terrible and is pretty much turning a blind eye to whatever it might be. But in last week's episode Nina found something that pretty strongly implies Mitchell was behind it. Her reaction? Throw up in shock, then phone the police to tell them they should talk to him.

Sounding reasonable so far? You discover your boyfriend's best friend (who you KNOW is a killer and who you've never found any particular reason to trust) is probably responsible for the most senseless massacre the country's seen in recent years, you tell the police they should look him up.

Nope, not according to fandom! The official BBC twitter for Being Human retweets responses to the episodes as and after they air, which has brought to my attention that fans seem to be splitting into camps, calling themselves Team Nina and Team Mitchell. It's kinda like Twilight, except in this case instead of two corners of a love triangle it's a mass fucking murderer and quite possibly the most moral person on the show. They think that Nina is evil for not wanting Mitchell to get away with it just because he feels bad about it (and is really easy on the eyes). Clearly she must just be doing it because she wants George all to herself! It's not as if he's made it clear that he doesn't support Mitchell's desire to kill things and will absolutely choose Nina over him if necessary! Yes, she must definitely have an ulterior motive for wanting a murderer off the streets.

Now, I'm not character bashing here. Mitchell's been my favourite character for the last few years. I have, on occasion, described myself as a "hopeless Mitchell fangirl". I think he's absolutely fascinating. But even I can recognise that he's fascinating because he's really fucking screwed up and he really shouldn't be allowed out on the streets. I could accept it when it was him repenting his long horrific past, but the end of last season showed that it takes practically nothing to set him off and this season's done nothing but emphasise his violent streak.

So congratulations, Being Human fandom, you're officially worse than Twilight fangirls. I'm not even going to get into the sections of fandom who think Herrick is cute and innocent this season...

But I'm a published author!

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:36:44 GMT

So, this latest fun and games as reported on <A HREF = "http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1269225.html">fandom_wank</A> made me think:

Why the everliving f*ck do some people think that saying "I'm a published author" trumps all other arguments? It seems to assume that the other people in the argument aren't published authors - never a safe bet on JF or LJ - and that it confers some kind of automatic intellectual superiority. Well, I've seen published work (fiction and non-fiction) that quite frankly I wouldn't use to clean my shoes with, by people who are scarcely the intellectual superior of the average cheese sandwich ... and I have no doubt most of us here could say the same.

I know that in academia being 'published' is a serious matter and considered a professional milestone, but in the rest of the world is it actually such a big deal? When you see some of the crap that does get published, maybe not being published is a more accurate marker of status? And I for one reject the assumption that everyone in any given LJ or JF community is a failed author desperate to be published and actively resenting the success of anyone who is.

Plus, what defines a 'published author'? A few magazine articles, a short story here or there, a self-published novel, an idiot's guide to grooming your Pekinese, the screenplay for the latest blockbuster movie? Authors of all of these could rightly claim to have been published; are we to assume they are all intellectually superior to those who simply don't choose to spend their time that way?

I honestly can't understand why anybody still believes that they can pull out this card as if it was a gold-plated ace and everybody else will automatically accept that they know what they're talking about on all subjects and defer to their every pronouncement. In fact, it has precisely the opposite effect on me; it shows me that they're not self-aware enough to realise that their wondrous achievement of published author status, whatever form it may take, is impressive only to them - and that's when I start to pity them for their incredible naivety and wonder if I have a spare bridge anywhere I can sell them.

Well, there you have it. I feel a lot better now. It was either splurge it all here or steam until the top of my head flew off, and it's hell getting the dents out of the ceiling. If you have been, thanks for listening!

Dear frequent poster,

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 09:02:12 GMT

When over 75% of the posts in a given community since January 1 are yours, perhaps you should take a break for a while. This goes quintuple if everything you post is unfunny in a community people read for lulz. Your personal hobby-horse is monopolising a comm I used to enjoy.

tl;dr: STOP POSTING

Pop idol group RPS is SRS BSNS.

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 21:24:29 GMT

Tons of us in the fandom for this non-fictional idol group ship certain members together. There’s almost no English language fanfiction for this fandom, so it mostly consists of us squeeing over pictures of the members we ship together and professing our love for the pairings. This has worked for us for years already. We were happy.

Then fans of a new pairing came along, one that involves one member of one of the most popular pairings among both domestic and foreign fans and another member of the group. Okay, cool, people are allowed to ship whatever they want; ship and let ship, right?

Well apparently, that doesn’t make sense to you guys, the shippers of the original popular pairing. Not that the other side is guiltless. There are shippers of the new pairing who will bash one of the members of the original pairing in her fans’ territory, unprovoked, and that’s not cool. But you guys are making yourselves look crazier by the day. It makes you seriously mad that one half of your ship is spending more time with another member of the group, now, and that other members of the group are jokingly calling them a couple in blog entries. It makes you so mad that you’re doing two things. You’re putting together posts and screencaps to serve as “evidence” that the half of your ship involved in both pairs loves your girl more than the other girl. And you’re bashing the other girl.

Okay. This fandom involves real people. Lots of us ship pairs, but I don’t think any of the rest of us take our pairings as seriously as you guys. Most of us don’t actually care if they’re dating in real life. I mean, RPS is the kind of thing you really can’t take too seriously without crossing some kind of batshit line. We’re just content to collect pictures of them looking cute together. But you guys are so jealous that one half of your ship is spending more time with someone else that you’re calling for the other girl to leave the group. You’re claiming that you dislike her for reasons that have more to do with her personality, but the rest of us can’t seem to see any of these traits in her that you’re pointing out. Moreover, if anyone says anything bad about the half of your ship that most of you are the most crazy about, you’ll attack them, but you can bash other girls - like the other woman in this “love triangle” - all you want. Have you ever thought that she might be important to other fans, just like your girls are to you?

I just find it insane how far you’re taking your rage over an RPS ship. They’re REAL PEOPLE. They’re pop idols who have to keep their private lives private. Even if they are somehow actually dating, you’ll probably never know that. And regardless, who they date is none of your business. What if the new ship is actually dating IRL, because they’re actually in love with each other? Would you hate the “other woman” then?

tl;dr: I miss the days when my non-fictional pop idol fandom didn’t have ship wars.

May I see your employees' badge, please?

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:33:44 GMT

Dear certain overzealous fans of a certain videogame franchise:

Speculation about new details is one of our favorite hobbies right now. The company is stringing us along and having WAY too much fun doing it, so we're having a great time guessing who and what is coming next. Here's the thing, though.

It's guessing.

Yes. Guessing. That means you don't know what will or won't happen any more than I do. The only entity who actually knows what's fact and what's speculation is the company itself, and until I see you fork out photo proof of employment at that company -- which I know damn well you don't have -- then I'm going to be forced to conclude you're talking out of your ass.

We're all guessing. All of us. That means everyone else's guesses are just as valid as yours. So could you please shut the fuck up about what WILL or WON'T happen? You don't know any more than any of the rest of us, so stop presenting yourselves as almighty authorities.

Christ. Can't we all have fun guessing without anyone trying to be more right than everyone else?

No love whatsoever,
Tez

Not to mention that one of your pieces of 'evidence' as to why X item won't happen was never officially announced anyway so even THAT is speculation...

1/2 Rant, 1/2 Rec

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 01:18:54 GMT

Dear Ryan Sohmer:

This is how you write a fantasy webcomic that actually treats its female characters like people and not vehicles for the male ~~author's~~ characters' desires. By the way, it also manages to be funny and epic without breaking its own rules and spiraling into meandering, Robert Jordan-like plots.

Considering dropping you like Dominic Deegan,
Keleri

Hypocritical slash fans make me sad inside

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 21:14:57 GMT

All right, I have put up with your incessant whining about how eeeeeeeeeeveryone writes your fave character as gay homg how can they do that don't they see how very heterosexual he is? I have put up with this for MONTHS. While it gets a little tired, I can see where you're coming from. It annoys me when you rail on people who play him otherwise mirrored to canon, but whatever. Everyone has their little ticks.

No, what's cheesed me off is that you actually do ship him with one of the other male characters.

Pretty hard.

Just for the porn.

But you want IC porn.

But no. They're all doing it wrong. Only you can do it right.

Eat a steaming bowl of dicks. You have no right to say your largely subjective opinion is any more correct than someone else's, especially when you spend so much time complaining about them only to do basically the exact same thing.

Online gaming rant and question

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 06:36:26 GMT

YOU! YES, YOU! LISTEN TO ME YOU LAME-ASS, MOTHER FUCKERS. WOMEN WHO ARE GAMERS ARE NOT HERE TO BE YOUR PLAYTHINGS.

Ahem.

I love playing a pirate online. When Pirates of the Caribbean Online originally came out I was running to join up. Then school got in the way and without a paid account it's hard to do anything past level 11. But LO - I recently got back into the game over the summer and I am now in a position to have a paid account. So I bought one and quickly leveled up because I love shooting ships and sword fighting the undead. Who wouldn't?

NOW THOUGH - I am a level 28 female pirate in a game dominated by teenage boys. I knew that going into this. That's cool. BUT WHEN I JOINED YOUR GUILD IT WAS NOT TO BECOME A MEMBER OF YOUR HAREM. FUCK. YOU. I joined because it was nice being in an active guild. And it was drama free. I LOVED THAT. And then you had to start with the creepy, possessive behavior of constantly e-hugging me and telling me how I was your best friend. WTF?! IT'S A GAME, YOU MORON. I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU. HELL, I'M PROBABLY OLD ENOUGH TO BE YOUR MOTHER.

What did I do? Well, in the interest of just wanting to play the game and have a reliable guild that I could call on to help me with quests I kept my mouth shut. I figured it came with the territory. That and I figured you were a middle schooler and it was harmless.

AND THEN WE STARTED WITH THE 'SO ARE YOU SEEING ANY OTHER PIRATES' CRAP. WTFBBQFSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! NO, ASSWIPE. JUST NO. When I continually ignore you or change the subject that should be a hint. And then we had other males in the guild hitting on women and you got possessive of us. WTF?! The final straw was when one of the females in the guild was asked by male to be his girlfriend and she turned him down flat, telling him that she didn't do the online thing and she thought it was pathetic. RIGHT ON, LADY.

And what happened? The female player was harassed and asked if she couldn't take a joke and tricked into going to a place because she thought she was going to be helping with firing cannons and instead was stuck battling one of the highest level bosses in the game. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? And then what does our illustrious guildmaster do? Nothing. OH WAIT - HE DID SOMETHING. He reprimanded the female player for using capslock.

That was when I had enough. I didn't want to get involved in the petty politics of online gaming but now I really regret not chiming in with the other female player on calling the behavior 'pathetic.' I guess I didn't want to get involved in fighting on the internet because we all know who wins in those fights. I wasn't going to waste my time on people who were probably not even out of high school.

And then I realized how I had been not dressing my character a certain way because I was afraid of unwanted attention from you and the men in the guild. WTF?! I paid for the account and I use beating the crap out of things as a stress relief from studying for the bar exam. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO DRESS MY CHARACTER HOWEVER I WISH AS LONG AS SHE IS COVERED AND COM'ON IT'S A WEBSITE AIMED AT KIDS FOR THE MOST PART - OF COURSE SHE'S COVERED.

That was it - I broke all my friendships and left the guild. And then I find out tonight when I log on that YOU had been sad and kicked out the main offender from the harassment of the other player. Well, okay, fine - EXCEPT FOR THE PART ABOUT SENDING A SEARCH PARTY OUT FOR ME. EXCUSE ME - I DO NOT BELONG TO ANYONE AND I CAN LEAVE A GUILD IF I WANT TO. BESIDES, IF YOU WERE SO AGAINST THE HARASSMENT WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP IT? YOU WERE ON AND HAD THE TIME TO TELL THE PERSON BEING HARASSED TO KNOCK OFF WITH CAPSLOCK. I WOULD HAVE KICKED THE GUY MYSELF EXCEPT YOU MADE HIM AN OFFICER LIKE ME SO I COULDN'T.

FUCK. OFF. ALL OF YOU. LEAVE ME ALONE AND STOP MAKING ME FEEL ANXIOUS PLAYING THE GAME I ENJOY FOR FEAR YOU'LL FIND ME AGAIN. I wish I had taken screencaps of some of the shit you all said so I could submit them in a report to the website. You best believe that I will if you bother me again. And then your ass is getting reported to the moderators.

And now for the question -

Do any of you play Pirates of the Caribbean Online and, if so, are you a member of a guild? I'm looking for a new one that doesn't involve me being harassed and stalked into being someone's 'girlfriend'.

Homework? What's that?

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:06:24 GMT

So. You are trying to address the unfortunate trope of women in anime/manga getting power and then going crazy from it, implying that women are too weak to hold on to power and should stay in the kitchen. Yes, this trope is unfortunate.

However, when you start using characters from Ace Attorney as examples, either misinterpreting their characters or pulling things completely out of nowhere (Franziska stops prosecuting after admitting her love for Edgeworth, the HELL?) I'm going to step in and correct you.

And when your only reply to my complaint is that you'd already admitted a mild error relating to Franziska (by which I mean a gross mischaracterization that makes me wonder if you've even played the games) and that all I'm doing is nitpicking your comments, then I'm going to nitpick it further out of mere annoyance.

Mia Fey - lawyer, spirit medium - is murdered when she confronts a criminal alone

If it weren't for the references to Misty Fey I'd wonder if you'd even played Trials and Tribulations. Yes, Mia died when she confronted a stronger criminal alone, technically speaking. But this was to set up Phoenix needing to work on his own and it's not like it took her long to come back. I also think the game clearly invalidates the point that she needed a man to protect her, since Godot's chauvinist opinion on the subject is so brutally proven wrong during the course of 3-5. She was her own woman who made her own choices and Phoenix wasn't responsible for what happened.

This is rendered even more pointless by the fact that Mia Fey is a goddamn badass and doesn't let a simple thing like dying get her down. Her advice to Phoenix kept him going through some very tough cases and her takedown of Dahlia Hawthorne counts among the Crowning Moments of Awesome for the entire series.

Maya and Pearl Fey - spirit mediums - both go through incidents wherein they think an angry spirit took over their bodies and killed someone; Maya is repeatedly threatened by female relatives jealous of her power

Pearl never thought an evil spirit took over her body. One very nearly did but Pearl had no idea what was going on and her attempts to channel that spirit completely failed. You could make the case that she was manipulated by others but that doesn't make her evil. That just makes her nine.

Maya's gotten in a bad habit of needing to be rescued but most of it is tied to Kurain and Morgan's attempts to kill/disrepute her (also relatives, plural? Are we including Dahlia in this?). The actual channeling is often what saves her, either through summoning Mia for advice, using Mia as a go-between with Pearl to transmit messages, or hiding from an evil spirit in the last place that spirit would look. In addition Morgan was jealous of her position, not her power. Pearl clearly is the more powerful of the two but Maya is the last daughter of the Fey main family and holds the position purely by virtue of birth.

Phoenix Wright: Misty Fey - matriarch, spirit medium - is murdered by a female relative jealous of her power, because that is what women do to each other

Misty Fey wasn't murdered by someone jealous of her power. Technically she was murdered by Godot to protect Maya from the evil spirit inside her. More generally, she was killed because of Morgan's attempts to kill Maya and make sure the Master position went to her daughter Pearl. Nobody besides Godot, Bikini, and Iris even knew that Misty was at Hazakura to begin with (which brings up a few plot holes in itself but let's not go there.)

I'm a little annoyed at the final comment, by the way, because it's not like the men in the series are any better about jockeying for power and struggling against each other to the point of murder. Unless there's something Mr. Engarde hasn't been telling us.

Phoenix Wright: Morgan Fey - matriarch, spirit medium - conspires to frame family member for murder to preserve her power

Preserve? Morgan has no power, that's her entire problem. She wants to get rid of Maya so Pearl can take over as Kurain Master.

Dee Vasquez - television producer - following accidental death of her boyfriend, turns evil, blackmails people, accidentally kills someone, and gets caught

I haven't played the first game in a while but I recall Vasquez being a mafiosa and evil to begin with. The wiki also doesn't say anything about the dead actor being her boyfriend.

Phoenix Wright: Celeste Inpax - actor's manager - commits suicide following betrayal by managee fiance

Okay, yeah, so Celeste is in the fridge. Death by Adrian's origin story. But does she count if she was dead long before she was even introduced and her death had nothing to with her power?

Phoenix Wright: Adrian Andrews - actor's manager - Shameful Secret Love for Celeste Inpax; secretly co-dependent and seriously depressed; is much happier when she takes a job that intimidates other people less

First off, I don't think her love for Celeste was any great secret. It was her depressing and suicide attempt afterwards Adrian tried to cover up. Secondly, you're greatly oversimplifying the situation. Adrian was never very intimidating to start with, she was just cold and withdrawn. I can't imagine that her job at Lordly Tailor is any less stressful than managing Matt Engarde (personal issues aside) and the fact she could even find a good job with a criminal record speaks to her continued prowess. The co-dependency is an issue but again it is completely removed from her managing skills and was there before she took on the job with Engarde.

Phoenix Wright: Franziska von Karma - lawyer, person who has a whip - becomes distraught after losing a case; Shameful Secret Love (Edgeworth); never practices again after confessing her love to him

I put this at the end because it's simply the most 'what the hell' of the bunch. Franziska comes from a family where imperfection and failure were capital crimes. Of course losing is going to mess with her but it doesn't irredeemably break her. After her loss she bounces back immediately to keep prosecuting against Phoenix Wright and doesn't truly break down until she sees Edgeworth and Wright caring less about winning than about the truth. I'm not sure where you're getting the 'confession of love' thing, possibly from the scene at the train station (her single moment of obvious weakness), but that is definitely not the end to her career. At the end of that conversation she even vows to be a better prosecutor than before, so as to outdo Edgeworth.

And it's not like the incident scarred her for life. She goes back to prosecuting in Europe, which is what she was doing before she came over to Japanifornia to start whipping poor Mr. Wright, and she was doing a good job over there. In the third game she comes back to cover for Miles to protect his identity as a prosecutor but still prosecutes to the best of her very aggressive ability and doesn't let any budding emotional connection hold her back. By Investigations she's running with the Interpol crowd and she's still her classy arrogant self even though she's not in the courtroom at that particular moment. If one takes into account Miles' time spent studying foreign court techniques and pretending to be dead she's probably done more prosecuting than he has. Franziska has her issues and most of them are her father's fault, but she's anything but a wilting violet in need of protection.

Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't include Lana as a powerful Chief Prosecutor taken advantage of by a male figure and rescued by another male figure. It would still be a gross oversimplification of the issues but it would make far more sense than Fraulein Whiplash.

It's very annoying to see a bunch of strong women trashed like this, especially when they make up half the list of examples of female characters laid low because of their attempts to gain power. It's not nitpicking if you're blatantly wrong on everything.

Something that came to me out of the blue

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 00:25:34 GMT

Dear fandom at large,

Shipping some incest/slap slap kiss/slash/femslash/May-December/interspecies/etc type of pairings =/= being obligated to embrace them all. A fan who ships Sokka/Katara is not a hypocrite if Zuko/Azula squicks them. You can ship Hector/Eliwood without feeling obligated to ship Kent/Sain or Lyn/Florina. Being grossed out by Brian/Lois doesn't mean a person is no longer allowed to ship Bowser/Peach or Bowser/Mario.

And yeah, I know there IS hypocrisy in such contradictions; people might say "this incest couple is fine but this one is icky" for some shallow reasons, claim Ranma/Akane "will never work out" while praising the glory of Keitaro/Naru in the same breath, squee over Shuichi clinging to Yuki while going "ewww icky!" over Miaka and Tamahome. But that's not ALWAYS the case with people who ship one pairing of a certain type and squirm over another.

In short: Not all pairings of a certain type are the same. Including incest.

Homos have precious childhood memories too

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 06:37:36 GMT

Suggesting that a (never even vaguely identified as straight) male character might possibly reciprocate his (canon gay) best friend's (canon) crush is not any of the following things:

1) Destroying your childhood
2) Revolting to the point that you are in danger of vomiting
3) A personal affront to you, the creator, or the character in question

I don't give a fuck if you don't like yaoi or whatever, but if you fly into a flailing rage because someone interprets canon as more gay than you do, then yes, you're a fuckhead. Congratulations.

Also, it's amazing how literally the exact same lines are sweet and cute when applied to a boy and a girl, but gross and perverted and destroying your damn fragile childhood when applied to two boys.

Of course it goes without saying that we're talking about stuff that is as G-rated as it is humanly possible to be and still be identifiable as romance. I could see the logic in having a strong reaction to smut in a fandom you loved as a kid -- not that I personally care about porn in beloved childhood fandoms (hell, I've read some decent smut in plenty of them), but I could see it. However, if you think a picture of two boys sharing a blanket and drinking tea is the height of debauchery, either you're a homophobe or you REALLY need to get out more. I know which one I have my money on.

This is especially appalling when the creator of the canon has gone on record saying that he added a gay character because he wanted to portray a normal world, and a normal world will have gay kids in it. That statement continues to fill me with warm and fuzzy feelings every time I think about it, because I'm queer and I had a fucking childhood too, but unlike yours I didn't see myself represented in every single book, movie, and video game I touched, so that statement? That's like a one-in-a-thousand precious memory for me.

You know what destroys MY childhood quicker than the purplest piece of depraved dicks-in-every-orifice pornography the internet can vomit up?

BIGOTS.

Sorry about the length of the rant...it's been a long time coming.

not funny.

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:41:07 GMT

Okay, so I know that the community I'm ranting about is kind of made for people who are obsessive and/or compulsive about lists and correct data and having everything Just Right. That means there are going to be jokes and comments about OCD, since a lot of what appeals to people of this community might come across as OCD-type things to people who don't give a shit.

But, seriously, folks? It's getting old and Very Unfunny. The first time I saw the "CDO is like OCD, but better: it's alphabetical, like it should be" "joke", I thought it was dumb, but made sense for people who don't really know about OCD except for media depictions. But people keep using that joke. And it is not funny. It's not funny the same way the "dog = god" dyslexia "joke" isn't funny. It trivializes a very real disorder and creates misunderstandings of what it really is.

Also? It doesn't fucking make any sense. Why "should" an acronym be in alphabetical order? if you unpack it, the word-order doesn't work, and besides, not everyone with OCD insists on absolutely fucking everything being in alphabetical order, even if there is a preference to shove every little thing into some arbitrary ranking or order, because there is an understanding that language doesn't work that way.

Mostly, though, I'm sick of seeing this "joke" all the time, when it's not funny, and it's kind of insulting, and people keep persisting in using it, even after other people spoke up and said "please don't" the first few times it came up.

Someone has even created a little graphic for it, because they trot it out so many times.

This isn't really something serious enough to wank about at said community, and waste everyone's time, but I really needed to bitch about it today. :/

Maybe I'm a bit sensitive because of all the "jokes" I already hear too much of, about my gender or sexuality or asperger's syndrome or hobbies or just about every other aspect of my life (it seems, some days), and now this OCD one is just too much. I don't know, but it's irritating the hell out of me.