How the Pin Community Functions

 

The pin community is a totally different beast from any other fandom I've ever experienced. 

I'm used to ignoring flame wars and not even stepping into grounds that I know annoy me. Curating your fandom experience is better than nothing. 

At the time of writing, there is a lot of shit going on. Fan merch makers are always treading on a wire regarding IPs. 

Hoyoverse is a-okay with fan merch, but that's not the case for everyone. Disney and Nintendo are the hard hitters of this one. Heck, even stuff like Steven Universe and Avatar: The Last Airbender have been known to be hits. 

Even in Disney fantasy pinmaking space, there is always a chance that one of them could be struck down, no matter how big or small. 

Nuwa kept the Disney pins behind a paywall, so if you want her Free to Dream series or any Disney designs like the Landscapes, which are available through other means via the secondhand market, you can buy from her through her pin club personally. Or if you are going to a convention, she'll have them there too. 

Fanmerch space is very trend-heavy. The art that was churned out for Kpop Demon Hunters and Arcane are just one of the many examples to be made in so many fan merchandise. Stickers and art prints are the easiest so if any artists have conventions, you will see them and can buy them then. Pins take months in production. Who knows what will come in once this post is up? 

That means any rare pair, less popular, or dormant fandoms will not be the focus. From a pin collector once said, Shounen is the stock market in the pin community. 

This is still a business, and fan merchandise has to go with the trends because that's what it is. 

There are pinmakers who create original art. For example, Nuwa has a line dedicated to original art. They are at least not harmed by the waves of the trends because they created a fanbase for their original art. 

Consistent fanmerch that always sells are Disney and anime like Sailor Moon and Pokemon. Heck, I don't think there is much drama in the Pokemon pin space except for Shinnoyume who has horrid customer service and I don't recommend buying from because buy with caution. He won't even ship out and refuse to entertain concern from customers. He won't update any preorders and for the pin club as well so I won't recommend him. Buy from him only at conventions only. 

I wish I could avoid just how personal the drama is. The money is personal because it's their hard-earned money, and they haven't shown shit. 

Scamming is apparently easy to spot now. But it's not always clear that they would be a scammer. I did miss a spot for a pin I wanted from a maker who would wind up being a scammer, which is disappointing. I really did like the Saturn pin, and people got theirs. 

Most of what I read about scammers used to be big makers, but one way or another, they mismanaged funds or refused to take responsibility and ran away with the money. 

I know that for some, it's a hobby or a side hustle, but they still have to treat it like a business. Being able to make it a full-time business like Mamobot and Mualcaina isn't the case, nor is it easy for everyone else who prefers their full-time jobs. 

However, even if some businesses have questionable policies, they still need to show themselves to be trustworthy. Honestly, it's better for anyone's sanity that you actually show manu updates. 

Mintyxpins, for example, has awful updates. Even when she eventually delivers on the products, she still has pretty terrible updates. I still think her pre-orders every month are way too much, even with LE. Heck, I didn't bother getting the Shugo Chara specifically of Ikuto because of this. 

There are businesses that do pre-orders every month, but they really have to limit themselves because they can't overreach and bite off more than they can chew. This is a business with lots of money involved. 

Sometimes I'm just wary of Minty doing preorders every week of the month. At least I can trust HFP and Liu because their turnaround is relatively short and timely, never exceeding three months. Minty takes a long time and still 

There’s so much drama that I feel I’m in the crossfire of flames. At least I feel I don’t need to have an opinion on those things. I understand the gripes and the ickiness of wrong actions and what was said. I simply don’t have to buy them or those particular items. 

Honestly, there is always drama, but I've seen more than I have in my more than twenty years as a fandom lurker. 

It's saying something when artists, pinmakers, and customers are fighting, I feel more at peace in my other fandoms I'm in. Again, I usually side-step anything volatile or anything that makes me take psychic damage because I curate my fandom experience. It's much more difficult, so the best I could do aside from reading up on scammers and troublesome businesses, I try to avoid pin community drama as much as I can. 

It’s a necessity to at least have a pin collection for at least a few posts. If you really want to involve yourself in some of the practices, at least have some pin posts of some parts of your collection or in your stories. It's much easier for pinmakers and other collectors to semi-relax around you. 

It’s actually easy to get pins and build a collection. Etsy and artists have storefronts on Shopify, Big Cartel, and other platforms. Put collections together on a board or try photography and plaster them on your Instagram, posts, reels, and stories, and they should grant you at least that much leeway. 

Certain artists might swing your side. Crowd pleasers like Mamobot's video game designs are always great and have lines everywhere he goes. I experienced such a line at AX. 

Considering the tariffs, if you are in the US, best shop US pinmakers for the time being, who have the deal with the burden of tariffs themselves. 

The supposed point of the tariffs was to shop American-made things. Considering how America is still unwilling to go into manufacturing and that this stupid administration is doing everything in its power to punish the American people while stealing from the poor, that's not going to happen. Businesses are still going to rely on other countries to better make them rather than being isolationist to the point of destroying allies' relationships that will take decades to recover. They're destroying everything in their path to keep their power, regarding everything that opposes them as terrorism to their 'values'. 

There is nothing wrong with relying on other countries for things America cannot do. It's okay that manufacturing is something difficult for America to even do because the infrastructure is not there. Largely, if you look at my Notion, you see mostly American-based pinmakers, but that was a thing even before the tariffs. 

Tariffs and getting rid of the de minimis are just heartbreaking as it's been the flow of so much relief for everyone. Of course, Trump had to get it of it for lining his own pockets and he's a guilty coward who loathes laws and will do everything in his power to be king. 

Anyhow, building a collection and showing some of it must be done. I have monthly pin mail that I usually show off at the end of the month. That's a great way to provide some level of semi-trust in a fellow collector. It's not much. I mean, you don't even have to be that active in your Instagram account as long as you have pins on your account to be at least semi-trusted. 

It's gatekeeping in a way, but when the small businesses have to protect themselves from losing their businesses from bad eggs reporting to the large IPs, it has to be done, unfortunately. Even Mamobot has to deal with this because he ain't making ATLA and SU pins anymore after that experience. Nuwa was able to escape, as all she puts up fanart and explains they are preorders in the post itself and as I said before, puts her Disney pins behind a paywall. 

It's an unfortunate situation for anyone unused to such things to even want to be part of a commitment group just to buy that one pin, so the best approach is to feature pins in posts or stories. It's only that much. 

There's not much that one can do besides show pins. Collectors leave every day just as pinmakers come in. This is a hobby that can be easily exploited by scammers more so than others, as frauds can utilize good artwork and open preorders, requiring no self-funding on themselves. That's a red flag and making no effort to show updates is also another. I know people are pressuring Minty to showcase more updates in the clubs I'm in for her. 

Unless they are already in the community and can be trusted, as I know is the case with one, they must self-fund. There's this one new guy who's making pins now who only opens preorders because people wanted it, and since he wanted to do good, he took a lot of advice from those in the community. He consistently updates his clients and always ensures that he showcases trustworthiness in handling business finances. 

There are lots of scammers in this, so really be careful to place your hard-earned money in the right hands. There are smaller makers out there doing their best while scammers are using art to scam people and ran off. I wasn't able to get into the Facebook group that called out pinmakers, but I've been in enough Discord servers to avoid pinmakers. 

ORV Live Action Mini Review

 

Was anyone surprised that the actual movie was shit? 

I personally wasn't. Maybe I was more tempered in my expectation, with mediocre being my guess in the end. 

I was not expecting outright bad and incompetent writing and filmmaking in general. 

The initial premise just seems like a run-of-the-mill apocalypse movie with superhero shit. There is none of what made ORV so great in the first place. Heck, the Star Stream scenarios were supposed to be humanity's punishment for some goddamn reason by the universe, I guess. Yeah, that's a thing. 

The cinematography felt more like a commercial than an actual film. I feel like the medium of film is not used at all. There is no love in the frame, not any love for anything but the director's own misguided beliefs, revealing repulsiveness. 

The dialogue is completely stilted and unnatural. There is no love in this. 

The characters are OOC if not outright in name. What the hell happened to everyone? No, KDJ won't do that. No, that's no Yoo Sangah. No, that's no Heewon either. No, that's not Gilyoung. No, that's definitely not Yoo Joonghyuk. No, that's not HyunSung. I feel like a broken record. Fuck, the villains aren't them either! 

The women's struggles and their experiences are completely erased. I mean it, SA, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and the sexism the women experienced are rendered null. There is no interior to them, only them serving the main character's 'growth'. This is misogyny revealed by the director and production team, who, at best, merely reviewed a Cliff Notes version, rather than one that required critical thinking. Or, at worst, they didn't bother and just read a summary, deriving everything from there. 

Kim Dokja's victimhood of bullying was also erased because this is something they also refused to touch. There is absolutely nothing about domestic violence here, folks. Nothing about his dad being a piece of shit, and that he literally rewrote his own reality for killing in self-defense. Nothing that his mom took the fall and any of the complexity of their relationship. Honestly, the backstory of KDJ conveyed so much about KDJ's character, and they butchered it. No, KDJ is not this heroic figure who is this altruistic about the world. He would sacrifice the world for his friends and is a manipulative fucker. 

The misguidance of the roles of the reader, writer, and protagonist in this movie is a trainwreck. Those roles are of fucking importance in the original, and what do you mean KDJ is the writer??? There is no YSJ because all her stuff is going to KDJ anyway. What do you mean that YJH isn't KDJ's favorite character and it's Heewon instead? Heewon, who is only revealed to be a canon character way later? YJH is now reduced to a side character, a disservice to his protagonist status as well as one of the roles as the three main characters. 

There are no skills that made KDJ the reader here. There is barely a mention of the Constellations, if at all, honestly, because it feels like they erased them either way. What do you fucking mean that he hates the novel he's been reading since that pivotal point in his life? He's not Shen Yuan!! That removed an important part of KDJ, and they fucked it up! 

There is a removal of characters that takes away a significant portion of the story. LSH is not even here because her role was taken over by YSA for some reason, and that reason is obvious. 

Every character is a disservice to their original characterization. I feel that if I discussed more of the SA and the sexism that the female characters experienced in canon and compared it with how they are portrayed misogynistically in the live-action movie, I'm gonna explode and rant. At least I kept KDJ as a paragraph, and I was trying to not go on because I refuse to give the movie more thought than it deserves. 

It feels more like they are attempting a power fantasy because how else can the women, with the loss of their interior service nothing more than the male fantasy? Getting rid of any queerness and making everything just another matter of power fantasy for dudebros and idol fans. 

They eliminated important arcs and skills that are prevalent in future arcs and the story as a whole. There are literally no character arcs for anyone, as they are reduced to power fantasy for the dudebros to project and pretty things for eye candy because that's what they essentially reduced every single character to. 

It was not even an adaptation. How could it be when it couldn’t adapt basic elements? And the changes aren’t made due to time constraints or easier adaptation from words to the screen. It’s made because the director and production crew couldn’t be bothered to read and actually understand the source material in a meaningful gesture. As misguided as the FMA live actions are, at least they try their hands at the source material. 

Godoka, you know as well as I do that KDJ’s actor would’ve nailed the novel characterization. What glimmers we had of him were just that glimmer, but otherwise than that, he was so changed that it couldn't be helped. Of course, they would get rid of any arcs for the women. YJH’s actor tried his hardest to be as close to the original as he could, but there were so many changes that his acting didn't change a thing. 

For Arceus’ sake, this was supposed to be a five-movie franchise. With arcs that they eliminated for no good reason (they couldn't even bother doing the theater dungeon if that gives you an idea of just how fucked they are with storytelling), there is no fucking way I see them tackle any of the arcs well, seeing how they got rid of established worldbuilding and character writing to get this mess. 

I’m putting this all at the feet of the director and the production crew. The actors are hired for the shit. Yeah, it’s bad that their first introduction was to a badly written slop; they were blended from a basic summary and a horrid interpretation of said summary. Those who read the novel had fought but failed to win against an apathetic director and production crew who only used the ORV name for their own benefit of revealing everything ORV stood for. 

It is disappointing that a large part of the cast did not read the novel, but I'm firmly blaming the director and the production crew here. They are in charge of writing the shit for the silver screen and failed in adapting. There was no communication of important info such as the master-disciple relationship, but considering how much the director and production crew 'care', I doubt they were thinking about anything else but their own arrogance. 

It wasn't even their first rodeo of badly adapting either. Their previous contract had the writer in tears. 

SingNSong is diplomatic about their views on the movie since they can’t say anything bad about it. They are damning it by faint praise, and really, the faintest praise I can give it is…some actors tried their best to be as close to the actual characterization. 

Had it been original, it would just be d-tier save the world power fantasy mediocrity, which it still is. 

However, with ORV slapped on it and the ORV is in name only, then it's just stupid, mediocre, or even just plain bad leftovers that aren't even good. 

There is a part of ORV fandom that I think is toxic positive about this movie. I have to make it clear: This movie have it been a standalone and not associated with ORV would be a second-rate underwhelming apocalyptic film that does not stand out from its brethren other than having some interesting things that isn't explored that much anyways. However, it has ORV's name slapped on it, and SnS has been diplomatic, not outright approving of it but not outright hating it either, because they have to be neutral. Do you really want this KDJ associating with our KDJ? Do you really want any of the movie's superficiality associated with the novel's complexity and themes, because I hope fucking not, because the movie isn't HTTYD! The movie can't stand on its own, other than being a high-profile but lacking camp in name only movie that displayed cliché tropes that did nothing to stand out. 

Do you really want outsiders to think that this is a good taste for the source material they could take a dive into? I'll recommend the One Piece and Bleach live actions for appetizers if they really want to tackle the actual thing. I would not recommend the FMA live action to anyone to even consider watching FMA that way, nor would I recommend Death Note 2017 for that either. Fuck, even the new dub for Detective Conan is a great appetizer if they really want to tackle the series as well. Again, adaptations are great as a sample for the real thing. If people see these bad adaptations, they might not take the dive either way. The movie has the chance to show the world why ORV is so loved, and this is not it. Being toxic positive about the movie is not going to change the fact that most people won't understand why ORV has such a large following if this is the reason. 

Why else is there so much happiness when newbies come in from the OPLA and fans welcome the newbies? 

ORVLA is in the same status as these live actions. They could be appetizers for the real thing, which in this case is the novel. The live-action adaptation is never supposed to be a substitute for the real thing, but at the very least, it could've been more than just in name only and driven interest in those who would be genuinely interested in what ORV actually offers. Instead, what it looks like is that all the movie offers is a power fantasy of the lowest grade. Heck, at least Solo Leveling earns that power fantasy on the same level as SAO, admittedly, but at least those have something while this movie has nothing. 

It's not even a good movie by standards. It's just bad with all the worst elements of what ORV fought against to write their story. Do you want to be positive about that when ORV wouldn't want their themes and what they have written their characters to be associated with something so clearly misogynistic and lacking love for anything? 

This movie lacks love everywhere it has. Nothing is going for it, and why should you want to defend something that is going for the easy route of K-drama and idol fans instead of making quality films and actually using the language of filmmaking, just as ORV used the language of storytelling? 

I know the novel said that even the worst of storytelling has its own place in the world, and people use that. I would like to point out that it does not excuse the movie for being everything ORV stood against. Really, this movie's flavor of bad isn't even a so-bad-it's-good kind, just bad, with a clear display of misogyny and a misunderstanding of the source material, all on full display. I'm sure it has its lovers, but when people are putting the novel to elevate a mediocre piece of work that is the movie, then shouldn't they know the point was to adapt, not to change so radically that it's in name only? The movie production crew and director have been putting down the novel because they skimmed it instead of bothering to read it deeply. To them, it's a power fantasy that they see and change to their will. 

Do not watch this movie. It's utter trash and an affront to the novel, the very concept of storytelling and filmmaking. 

As SNS-nim said, please read it. You know it's bad that the only praise they could even utter is that they like the opening scene, and that's it. 

AI ‘Art'

 

AI ‘art' isn't real art. There is no humanity in it, no slight imperfection or emotion, just robots stealing from artists everywhere. 

Art is something to be learned with patience. Why use AI when you can use your fucking imagination to make the cinema in your brain work even if you can't make it to the paper or tablet? 

I always have fun imagining scenes in my head as I read. I also have fun 

AI bro logic is insane. How is putting in the work and developing your art through learning is being ‘lazy’ and not being ‘real workers’ when mashing a myriad of art from a prompt that spits out in seconds makes them ‘artists’? There is so much projection there, it’s sad. 

So what if your first attempt is bad? It’s not perfect, but it’s yours. 

There is no such thing as imagination, apparently. People using AI want immediate results rather than working hard for the creative process. It’s really bad to use it for basic fandom things. Come on, use your mind as a theater once more than expecting immediate results from a computer. 

These AI guys are the ones trying to prove something to actual artists that they are artists who could ‘produce’ art within seconds. It’s never more embarrassing to see these guys try to act like they are artists. 

The rise of anti-intellectualism, lack of media literacy, isolation, hyper individualism to the point of lacking community, are just many of the things the far right conservatives wielded as a weapon in their utter ignorance and incompetence to walk back centuries of progress and move forward to the future. Every day, it feels like we are going back to the era of kings and peasants thrown into so many wars. 

What AI is being fed and spitting out information. All the AI 'artists' want is so their 'art' to be drawn from the pool of actual artists. 

They think they are actual artists when one of the analogies was that they are basically ordering from a list of available add-ons to a burger. Sure, they can add extra pickles or leave out the mayo, but you're not actually cooking it. 

You are not suddenly a five-star chef just because you order from a fast food joint. 

Shadiversity is so embarrassing for insisting that he's a great artist when professional artists don't even do that. 

For fuck's sake, seriously, even though I knew my drawing is shit as I come to prefer traditonal art over digital art at least in my domain, when I sketch out my Rapunzel fairytale canvas board on a piece of paper, that's me and no one's else. 

God, it was easy enough to draft it with the basics. I know I would eventually paint it on canvas for my pinboard. Honestly, the most challenging is the rampions and especially the Sundrop rampion because I do need some Tangled motifs in there, as the general Rapunzel board is supposed to be. Still unsure how I'm going to add a forest or even if I want to add lanterns and turn it into a night scene. I still want to add the Corona insignia but also the sun, so... I think I’ll stick with sunny skies because if I were to get the lanterns, it’s either part of the pin or a filler I like. I mean, I could make a single flying lantern, but again, a night sky. Have no idea how to implement Barbie Rapunzel ideas on there but I'm considering a silver paintbrush. 

There is a thought process because I want to honor the Rapunzel retellings, but at the moment, I am unsure how big I want the canvas and how many pins I'm gonna pin on it since I didn't intend to collect Rapunzel pins, but here I am. I, however, am restricting myself to open pre-orders and LE pre-orders going to Silvy.

The issue is that I know what I’m doing with my Rapunzel pins. When I tried to sketch out Cinderella, it was simply not satisfying, so I have no clue what I'm going to do with my Cinderella pins. 

I still am unsure how to display my Aven and Kaveh pins as well. Starting an unwitting Rapunzel collection and knowing how to display it first is just bad. I'm slowing down on Pokemallows and focusing on the Fashion Gardes and Eevee Fusions. Again, I don't know how to display those. 

I have even more of an idea how to display my fucking Kpop Demon Hunter pins than I do my favorite character pins. At least I have an idea about ORV with book pages as an idea. 

I'm not write down a fucking prompt and allowing of what my imagination comes to. 

Like most people, my art was not that good when I was a child. It has gotten to the point of taking any passion out of it, outside of writing. Sure, I'm still a suffering writer suffering from an eternal writer's block, but at least it's my imagination writing scenes and playing house with my ships as dolls. 

Art is incredibly accessible. The thing is that art is an ever-developing journey. There will be places where there is doubt. However, the thing is to learn and grow. Art is not this lucky thing granted to a few. What looks like talent to others is something they love and continue to love and learn. 

The artists I buy from practiced really hard to make it where they are. Fuck, it's fun to see how their art evolves through consecutive collections. I mean Mamo's wave 1 of Pokemallows compared to whatever wave that had been released. Look at Nuwa from when she started out to now. She worked damn hard to get the landscapes to eventually the puzzle pieces she's working on as a new series. It's gratifying to watch. 

I loved seeing the gratification of hard work and learning to create more art that speaks to them and to so many of their fans. I fucking loved Mamo and Nuwa at Artist Alley last summer. I cannot wait to meet them again next year. Maybe this time I’ll gather up courage to actually talk to Witchxing’s artist this time. 

Don't any of the AI bros want that? The hard work and the creation of developing something over a long period? 

To see their art style of whatever they are thinking of comes to life through practice and discipline developed over the years...

Obviously not when we're here now with these AI bros insisting they're artists, refusing to do the dirty work of actually practicing and discipling themselves over a period. 

AI is apparently the shortcut towards everything, including education. But when I have to fear future doctors and lawyers' knowledge on practical and critical matters when they knowingly use AI? 

It's all about the instant results, not the work to get to it. 

These guys calling themselves artists aren't artists. They are scammers who think they can actually make it in the art world, who let them in and display their 'masterpieces' to the public when their pieces aren't even good or passionate. It's downright embarrassing to see art galleries defend AI 'art'. To them, even welcoming, it's money. 

Seriously, a French AI 'artist's 'art' about New York is just unfailingly awful because they don't even get New York's popular foods, actual popular foods. Tiger and Bunny get that right more because Kotetsu's favorite foods includes pizza and hot dogs! We see the duo and their friends actually going out to get hot dogs! 

Even when I'm not following AI 'art' accounts, AI 'art' still pops up in my feed on Instagram, which isn't my following account. It's pretty bad that I can't block it as easily as I do on Tumblr or Ko-Fi, where I can just follow accounts and not expect to see AI 'art' anywhere. Heck, I easily block out the tag of ai art. 

I scream internally just seeing misinformation just on Tiger and Bunny AI overview. Yes, Kotetsu loves hot dogs, pizza, and fried rice but Barnaby’s sponsor definitely didn’t include or exclusively Pepsi Nex! You would think Blue Rose seen with only sole sponsors and Barnaby having fucking Bandai on his armor chest that AI would’ve guessed from photos. 

Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. Like the federal judges that stopped Trump’s unconstitutional efforts, laws, and huge corporations with massively popular IPs are taking aim at AI that dared to use their IP. 

Listen, Disney is a monster in so many ways, in just how much they consume and destroy, and how much they create with their art. Their LGBT rep is slim to none and getting closer to none by the passing second due to the extremely conservative environment, but again, I'd rather side with people who want my money rather than people who want me dead. 

Disney is in another dork era with failed movies under their belt that they are doing everything in their power for short term profit. 

AI needs to be regulated as it has so many concerns, and it is just bad for creativity and critical thinking. No shortcuts. 

Suppose people in the past have to suffer writing an essay at a shitty hour and using Wiki references at the far bottom of the page of the wiki. In that case, these people who wish to graduate should have the decency to realize that future work demands more than relying on AI. 

Seriously, I see AI ads for something that should have been done with a quick wiki search, or just seeing patterns in their loved one's behavior, or something as simple as what shop you went to. It's bad and just distressing to see how AI is advertised as something quick and easy when again Google search without the AI shit is still useful. Misinfo aside, AI should not be a shortcut for basics. 

It's not even useful that day when something as basic as getting the brain going for something as basic as the last shop or the last thing you did, or even something that could've been achieved with Google search. Though with Google search, please ignore the AI up top please, because they'll spread misinfo and just get the wrong info. 

It's always the tech corps and the tech bros spreading that AI is the dawn of a new era. Their marketing was enough to make those susceptible believe that it would be great, never mind the consequences. Godoka, there were stories in the Mamo Discord of many pin collectors' workplaces singing the praises of AI, heck, even their loved ones. 

It's bad enough in the group chat I have with my cousins, who have one cousin AI faces onto stuff, making things uncanny with another following. It clearly wasn't photoshopped, and it was just uncomfortable to sit through. At least it was just that conversation, and they didn't do it again. 

Can we just go back to photoshopping faces onto other stuff? Can we go back to Photoshop rather than relying on AI to do everything basic editing? 

I get why people are stressed about not getting a job after college, but for the love of Godoka, does that mean to sacrifice critical thinking and learning in general just because you couldn't score a job after college? No, media literacy is at a low time, and having that for necessary knowledge and practicals for future lawyers and doctors is just a no, thank you. We do not need more people who think they can skate by with AI. AI bros and their insistence that they are true artists is just one of the many examples. The fucking administration is using AI for everything even when it's clear AI fucked up everything with their incompetent hands. The tariff percentage is a result of AI, never mind that the administration does not take care to learn because they are anti-intellectual and anti-science. Republicans really pride themselves in their ignorance and conspiracy theories. 

Having an imcompetent yet cruel Trump adminsitration who obviously promised shit if you know common sense that Trump is nothing more than an amoral raving lunatic out only for himself and winning in the moment rather than thinking of the others. Unlike Disney, who at least wants my money and only leans hard onto anything that will make them money because even the slimmest of rep will get them money, Elon Musk has no such presumptions about presenting himself as one of the hateful human beings alive because Trump is up there, alright. Trump is going down in history as one of the worst, if not the most awful, POTUS ever due to his dictatorial behavior and doing every unconstitutional act ever. Our Founding Fathers would've hung him and would not have taken it lying down to have another king running them again in any capacity. 

Honestly, anybody then would’ve hung the entire administration. 

Going back to the topic of AI, I do want to point out a flaw in Answer in Progress' video. 

What Jess is doing is not the norm. What she is doing is ethical and uses the previous generation as a reference. 

It's disingenuous to not portray generative AI as something that isn't easily abused or stolen. Because, for the most part, it really is that when AI is used as a shortcut for everything from education to the joy of the creative process, even if that means blood, sweat, and tears but you are creating something of your own nonetheless. 

AI can have its purposes, but the issue remained that the artists of all sorts are getting dismissed and devalued over money because that's what AI has essentially determined these art forms as. 

The way society sees creative works and creativity in general is something that should be noticed, not when every artist is being tossed aside for money. 

Women in Fandom

There have always been women in fandom. In fact, I think they are often an indicator of taste. 

They are the first to know that the Beatles and Star Trek are good. Zines are created from them after all, as well as the Premise. 

However, no matter what women do, men come in and take the credit as if it’s them that made it credible. 

It’s obvious that creators like Steven Moffat are often disappointed by their female fans and do whatever it takes to be credible to their male peers. They don’t care that they are alienating female fans by playing with their hearts and crushing them. 

I have no clue why women are being hammered against now openly in anime spaces. Female fans have been a thing forever. 

Again, why the decrying now when women have always been shipping and creating fanfics and fanart in their own free time? 

Fuck, housewives are the reason why Star Trek gotten as big as it did even before the boys came in and took it as their boys' club. 

The backbone of so many fandoms is built on the backs of paying female fans with disposable income. 

So what if we squeal that was mistaken for hysteria? 

Hating everything that women like seems completely justified from the world's perspective. Anything girly has been justified, as seen with the case of Princess Tutu. 

Princess Tutu, an underrated series, is praised for all its storytelling, but all the praise seems to ignore that it's girly with the romances and pink. 

There is nothing wrong with a series intended for girls and consumed by women. 

There's a reason why people begged to give shoujo and josei a chance outside of shounen and seinen if they even know about it. Just because Shounen Jump is the biggest name out there doesn't mean that other names shouldn't be given a chance. 

Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice from her female lens. Mr Darcy is admired not because he's a man who was tall, dark, and handsome, he did the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing, not to win Liz's heart. 

Women are allowed to do what is usually done in fandom before this. To say that women are ruining porno just because they are open with their fantasy porn likes is just stupid. 

I'll shield them than against someone who say they are ruining things just because of liking fantasy porn. 

I don't particularly care for the romantasy as it's called, but I will make this clear: I'd rather have these women have their fun. Just like many things, there is so much trash to go through to get to the gems. There are so many trash animanga that came out that when something becomes popular, it's usually for good reason or not. Sometimes the trash is so bad it's so good. 

TikTok is a messy place. There is some truth in badly written romances with all the tropes, but considering it's moreover a woman's hobby that has more backlash. 

There is so much generalization of what women like that, therefore, anything they like equals nothing good. 

Oh, wow, if this itches men, then about the smut in fanfiction spaces? I read fanfiction porn a lot with a stone face. if me reading porn with a stone face isn't enough, just the fact that women are getting off of fantasy porn is enough for them to say that they are ruining fantasy, never mind that these tropes have been a thing since forever and women are not ruining anything. 

Women are allowed to wear things that any character would wear as cosplay. This also puts into the thing that 'women should dress conservatively because wearing sexy means that men are allowed to sexually harass and assault them just for existing' when women wearing perfectly normal clothes have and will continue to have such horrific things to happen to them. 

These characters are written by a man or a team of men, so why blame women for wanting to cosplay these characters when they want to cosplay their faves? The obvious answer is misogyny. 

Misogyny means not acknowledging or learning fandom history and the place women have in general from all walks of life, of colors, and sexualities. 

Because, of course, fandom is a boys' space, never mind that women are the majority of it. 

Fuck, in the pin community I am in right now, there are more women than there are men. Though there are famous male pin collectors in the community, as I can tell from you. One always makes pintography for his pins. 

It's obvious that for these men, women shouldn't be involved in fandom because they aren't as conservative as they would like it even though fandom is ultimately a hobby space where people share in their love and joy in something they like. 

That's what fandom is all about in the end: sharing in the love of something and having the right to all these things. 

No gatekeeping shit. 

Avoid what you don't like and don't police others, especially women, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and all the intersectionality there. 

Fandom has never been perfect. 

I am fully aware that the most popular ships are usually the white characters. Steddie, as much as I love them, gained more of a following than Jonathon and Argyle. Reylo is more popular than Finn x Poe. 

And that's just one example of the racism and misogyny in fandoms. 

We do not need all this BS. 

Fandoms are gaining momentum in the public eye, and being geeky about something isn't something to be bullied about anymore. You can be collecting TCG cards openly, and nobody is batting an eye. 

To deny fandom history and how it has now led to all this is just dismaying to witness. 

It's really a collision of the conservative values being more openly accepted and forced upon them when so many fought for their rights. They deserve to have a chance even when fascism looms over and destroys everything in their path, in their utter lack of creativity and joy, reveling in their hatred. 

Rare Pairs, Crack Ships, and the Joys of Small Fandoms

Honestly, this has none of the shipping rants I've done before. It has nothing to do with throwing a brick at stubborn people who are fundamentalist and conservative, whether they realize it or not. Because these young people literally don't know better than to try to prove themselves worthy of purity through purity culture, that is toxic to them and everyone. 

I mean, it's slightly up to a point. Antishippers would likely still not understand crack ships, and rare ships aren't ever on their radar. They are up on their asses about purity culture, failing to see they are spewing out rot that Christian conservatives spoke all the time about porn, especially LGBT, and sex. 

They don’t do shit about rare pairs because they live in the fridges of the fandom. Crack ships vary in popularity depending on the ship. 

Antishippers want everything to be pure without drama and pain to show they are good people. Crack ships are not just crossover ships but ships that again don’t have any bearing on each other. The characters could’ve died in separate times, and having never ever met, and still be called crack ships. The characters could’ve never met each other in their lives, and still viable because it’s fun. 

Shipping can be as easy as looking hot together, to wanting to scratch an itch on what was known about them, to develop the ship to pure character analysis through romance. All shippers do was watch their OTP fall in love again and again. I sigh with all the small gestures and care from every meaningful love they share, and falling in love. 

Ah, rare pairs, the ones that, of course, get the rare fanfics and fanart that barely last a page, two at best on AO3. 

The videos up there don't exactly display in some form my rare pairs: Akihiko x Minato from P3, Shirlulu from Code Geass, and Kyoraku x Aizen from Bleach. 

All of these convinced me from fanfiction, no less. Yes, fanfics on AO3 that barely took up two pages alone in their tags. 

It's hilarious since reading the fic that got me into Kyoraku x Aizen, the theory of the father-son just doesn't make sense. It makes sense at a surface level that doesn't require too much brain power. It's a theory that doesn't and does make sense, but considering Bleach has ended, I'm happy to have any theories with Aizen's Bankai than any of this. Fuck, Kyoraku is a better match for Aizen than anyone could expect. That is something Aizen's personal enemies like Urahara, Yoruichi, Visords, and Yhwach didn't see coming: that there is a romantic match for Aizen out there in the world that he would happily go into the institution of marriage just so he can finally have him officially as his husband. 

Kyoraku is laidback, but he hides his competence behind an effective facade. Aizen likewise has a facade of calmness and affability, but make no mistake that underneath it all hides someone who distanced himself from his own humanity to the point that he achieved his goal of immortality. His true personality is a fiery and passionate control freak who has issues three times the size of the afterlife with his emotions, including his pride and bonds in general, due to his sheer independence and feeling he should do things alone, and zero troubles with committing atrocities for his outcome. 

Shinji and Kisuke, as much as Aizen admits Kisuke's wit and smarts are equal to his, have too much baggage (normally, I like baggage in ships, but I never shipped Aizen with these guys, even when I was watching and reading Bleach; something about these guys didn't call to me. Notably, UraAi also counts as a rare pair, considering it's 128 fics on AO3, but we still have more than the 31 for KyoAi. I believe the most popular Aizen pairings are either with Ichigo or with Gin, which is more power to those shippers.) and clashing personalities. Aizen needs someone laidback and calming, whereas Kyoraku needs someone fiery and unpredictable. Kyōraku and Aizen felt more plausible. 

Again, this is fanfiction. We can get any pairing we want as long as we write it right. Aizen is a difficult character to write. I simply want Aizen to drop his mask and involve himself more on an emotional level that he couldn’t comprehend. 

Like I said, I do have my preferences, but I don’t ship all of them. If I could find THE Seishiro x Subaru pin for my OTP board, I’m gonna be so happy. It’s the ship that got everything going, so I have to find a pin for that. If a ship calls to me, it comes to me. I wouldn’t be a Dabihawks shipper had it not been for the warehouse meeting after the Nomu fight. 

Getting convinced on a ship through fanworks is no easy task. Like most things, you have to get through the trash to get the gems. Believe it or not, not everyone will be swayed. 

Even today, people stubbornly hold onto popular fanon beliefs that clash or negate the canon. Canon is not the end-all, but for the love of Arceus, there should be a balance, as well as the knowledge that canon has its place and basis in the fandom. 

Sometimes, fanon simply isn't enough or is so pervasive that it damages the actual intent. Fanon Tim Drake doesn't come close to the crazy canon Tim Drake is capable of. Heck, even adaptations don’t even come close to the insanity YJ98 is capable of. Give me my teens with no adult supervision. Even Red Tornado went along with it. 

Rare pairs are exactly that. They have so few crumbs in fanworks that people do it themselves. I’m pretty sure that in one fandom, can’t remember what it was, there was one writer who basically wrote all the fanfics for the rare pair and it’s amazing dedication for such few people but awesome for the love poured into it. 

Heck, there was one Dabihawks writer who was outright surprised by the reception of her Dbhks fics when she wrote for rare pairs before writing for a popular ship. 

I’m not even sure that Kyoraku x Aizen counts as crack shipping when the father-son theory isn't even that pervasive enough to be fanon. I saw YouTube Shorts (I did not actually watch them, but the theory is spelled out by the title), but it's certainly not enough to be a popular theory. Seriously, I've seen more theories that became so pervasive that it became fanon, such as what happened with so many things I'm not a fan of. Even Dabihawks was once a crackship for no other reason than they look hot together as nobody at the time would think of Hawks meeting Dabi as his contact for infiltration or that Hawks would be a spy at all. 

KyoAi counts as a rare ship primarily because of the TYBW arc, where we see them interact at a certain level. Those are crumbs that a shipper can extrapolate and build upon. I mean that aforementioned theory is well known, but that has been called into question, not helped that we know nothing of Aizen’s mysterious past. They have chemistry there that is tantalizing now that I see it. 

Unfortunately, it’s rare. At least ShirLulu has close to 90, but I’m also adding where the ship is included in some capacity. It is not at the crush level, but Lelouch actually sees Shirley as a love interest and pursues her. As for KyoAi, even with the fanfic series I’m into (it would definitely have multiple arcs which include the relationship landmarks for KyoAi, including their daughter's first birthday and their wedding, possibly) wouldn’t even scratch 50. We haven’t reached the canon arcs yet, so until we reach the drama of the canon arcs, the fic will remain in Marked For Later till further reading; honestly, I do look forward to the Zanpakuto Spirit filler arc because that's the most salivating considering Aizen's character development and relationships with others. Akimina is so close to 200, but it's still a rare pair that isn't getting any names on par with SatoSugu or at the very least MiyuSawa. 

The popular ships will always get regular updates on their tags, food everywhere for everyone, sharing in the love of the ship. I know this so well. 

The rare ships, on the other hand, have crumbs, if even that. I also know this. 

Crack ships have zero crumbs, and they go off based on imagination. At least that's a fun place to be. I think the crack ship I am fond of is Jim Hawkins x Melody, the crossover ship from two Disney films, Treasure Planet and TLM2. 

Unfortunately, the one that people would remember the most is Jelsa. I'm decidedly not a Jelsa fan, never mind the fact that I'm not a Frozen fan. I believe the popular one now at the time of writing is Cinderella x Sukuna??? I mean power to them. I don’t particularly care for Disney ships that much or JJK outside of some in that series but more power to the shippers, go and ship to your heart’s content. Outside of confusion upon seeing their sudden art, I just shrugged and moved on with my tasks. I see no reason why I should have an opinion on a measly ship, nor would anyone else, except apparently antishippers who cannot see reason. Even non-seasoned shippers shouldn’t be expected to give opinions on every damn ship in a fandom. I don’t have the time to give a blog post the time and dedication to every ship in a fandom. I don’t think I can make a tier on that level. I care so little about that, I’d rather focus on better stuff than that. Unless a ship caught my interest, I usually don’t care much. I’ve been focusing more on story potential than shipping, which is just a bonus if I love the ship. 

And I still don’t think anyone outside of those who understand fandom gets it. If they cannot understand even a basic ship like Sterek, they are not surviving. 

By AO3 fics from lowest to highest, it's KyoAi, Shirlulu, and Akimina in that order in terms of my rare pairs. 

I should note the caveat that it depends on the size of the fandom, too. Akimina is definitely a rare pair in an extremely popular fandom. Bleach, too, is extremely popular, and we can definitely say KyoAi is a rare pair, never mind that the fics aren’t approaching 40 fics anytime soon. 

It’s just that the rare pair, as it often does, make us feel like Charlie with his Pepe Silvia rant. I'm picking at the crumbs like a bird and trying my best with the fics and fanart I do have. All rare pairs shippers have to deal with that. While they do have the benefit of having fun, the fact is that it's not popular enough. 

Even in rare pair fandoms, there'll be famous fics and authors that are only known to the fandom. Some are the result of one being there to write them, and couldn't draw them. I admire the dedication of rare pair writers, where they are truly the ones baking the bread to the hungry small base or no base at all, considering some I've seen are on a canoe or a paddle boat alone in a lake. 

Non-seasoned shippers or worse normies wouldn’t understand the difference between a popular ship to an actual crack ship. Seriously, the answers of Sterek, Zutara, and Wincest show that these normies wouldn’t survive mild weather in summer fandom. Seriously, here I am knowing the popular ships, and they see it as crack ships. By Arceus, at worst, they don’t see shipping as fun but as some sort of lab experiment for research from the outside. 

Ships certainly aren’t the be-all end-all of fandom. Again, shipping can happen for various reasons, but seeking validation from the creators isn’t the way to go. Shipping is fun. 

To devolve a piece of entertainment to shipping is pretty sad. Given how focused I am on stories, it's a given that I would love them and their themes. 

Fandom is about a community brought together by a piece of media one loves and shares. Shipping is just one part, but it shouldn’t take over as much as one seeks validation for their headcanons that somehow in their mind overtook canon. Seriously, I see people decry canon just because their headcanon isn’t canon, instead of either ignoring it or accepting it and evolving their headcanon, they decide that it doesn't make sense with their fanon. 

It’s not substituting with interesting ideas, but rather forcing in where it shouldn’t with no balance or effort to understand to be transformative. 

I hardly ship anything nowadays unless it’s within my purview, does it shoot up, such as Joongdok. Look at me watching Bleach and you hardly see me ship anymore than Death Strawberry and KyoAi. I certainly don’t need canon validation. You can just write the damn thing. 

I feel off recommending rare pair fics since all writers from rare pairs are trying their best to feed their small, hungry base, but at the same time, they are so small and deserve all the support they need. If I could convince you to ship them through these fics that did to me, then here's to hoping that you can enjoy them. I think I'll be better off recommending the fics that got me shipping them and the fic I'm currently reading. For KyoAi, it's an ongoing series. 

Besides, getting into rare pairs or small fandoms will humble people who had spent time in popular fandoms. There is nothing more humbling than just having a small group discussing and making fanart and fics for the series with all the passion and love, without all the drama of a huge fandom that you feel people visibly spend time on. Yeah, all fandoms have their disagreements, but since it’s small, they have to acquiesce. 

The Galavant and Schmiga-(doon/go) series is this for me. Nothing is more than sharing in the love of the musical comedy series that is cut too soon. Not even Crazy Ex-Girlfriend could've saved them even though I love CEG too. However, it doesn't help that people barely know that those series existed in the first place. I knew that it existed from YT ads. I mean, even Blue Flag is unlikely to get an anime adaptation because of its LGBT roots, but it's still a small fanbase. The fics in total at AO3 are 70. Galavant on AO3 has 321 fics. 

Even with Daiya no Ace and KHR, both reasonably sized fandoms, are considered medium-sized by comparison to truly larger fanbases. MiyuSawa is without a doubt a very popular ship, but by comparison to even the most popular influential ships or ships that people at least heard of, Daiya no Ace ships aren't that widespread by comparison. 

On a side note, since I'm not gonna find pins on the smaller fandoms I'm in (I already accepting I won't find any pins from them the moment I was putting down a list of potential collections and they were an immediate no), I am forced to find separate pins for KyoAi if I want them to be on my OTP board. But for now, Seishirou x Subaru is the foremost one primarily because I can put that collection in the backburner and that would be hardest to find, so I guess I could find others, but definitely not my rare pairs at the moment because I don't have money for two pins. I paused my Cinderella collection until I got Abigeyedowl Ever After Heart first before getting original/adaptations. I would love Abigeyedowl's Cinderella 2015 if they ever consider making it because I need something to represent that. 

What shines doesn’t always need to be seen by Nai_asobrab:

Reborn from the Shadows: Aizen's true motivation was absolute control. Having power was not enough; it was essential to shape beings, manipulate lives, to create something that was entirely a product of his own will.

Yet, as his cold eyes observed her, a shadow of disappointment clouded his thoughts. She was not perfect.

"No... not perfect," he thought, a silent whisper laced with subtle bitterness. Hinamori had indeed been shaped, but not from the beginning. Her mind and heart had already been touched before he intervened, formed by other hands. She was an incomplete vessel, a useful tool, but limited.

Perfection... True perfection would be something he had crafted from birth, something pure and malleable, like clay in the hands of a sculptor. A life that he could shape in every detail, free from external influences, without prior marks. A life that existed solely to serve his design, breathing only to fulfill his will.

A child.

Twilight of Truths: Aizen Sousuke sat on the engawa of the Eighth Division’s traditional house, watching the garden bathed in pale afternoon light. Nearby, Sayuri played on a mat, laughing as Shunsui entertained her with clumsy but charming fan tricks. To anyone looking, the scene was idyllic—the picture of a harmonious family. Yet, within Aizen’s mind lingered a restless void.

He had always had plans, intricate schemes that bent situations and people to his will. Even in chaos, he thrived on direction, on the clarity of his goals. Now, for the first time, he found himself adrift and unanchored.

Now, he lived on autopilot: caring for Sayuri, addressing trivial matters with Shunsui, and occasionally advising his companions. But beneath it all, he felt like an actor reciting lines he hadn’t written.

"Is this what normal people do?" he murmured, gazing at the sun’s reflection in the calm garden pond. "Do they simply... exist? No plans, no goals, just moving moment to moment?" 

Mini-Review: I'll probably put this in another fic recs alongside my other OTPs, but considering this is focused on long-time OTPs, this rare pair fic recs still count as the same, even if they are only one fic out of everything. Given the small base, I believe anyone can jump in and consume the limited food we even got in the first place. 

It's still ongoing and very long, considering it will tackle arcs way later in the series. Also, whatever theories I said are on a previous post I made, so I won't do it here. I barely said what I liked about the fic. 

If you know my preferences, you know why this fic made Shunsui Kyoraku and Aizen a compelling ship. I'm hardly a friends-to-lovers type, hence why I'm not all over those types, even though some ships could be called friends-to-lovers that I do ship, even though there are several factors I don't count them. 

Technically, this could be called a work military romance, with both of them as captains, one of them more technically high-ranking due to him being the choice of the new head of the whole military. Heck, Aizen didn't even choose him because he was the next Commander, or because he could use that inner circle to his advantage. He realized it afterward, but I do think by then, he had fallen hard for Shunsui. 

Shunsui might not be as crazy intelligent as he, Urahara, and Mayuri, but he's intelligent and perceptive enough to impress with their verbal sparring, giving him a challenge. He recognized that Shunsui hides behind such an effective mask that it starts to affect him. Their chemistry is really good as a result of Shunsui giving Aizen both the challenge and the love he longed for. Shunsui could get under his skin that Urahara cannot do in those terms of closeness. 

Urahara is always adaptive to these plans because his chess game with Aizen is complicated now, particularly since Aizen became Shunsui's husband. Even if he is essentially demoted to Vice Captain, he still has major influence as the future Commander's husband. Ironically, it's better and easier to convince Shunsui of anything lax than his husband, who is learning to relax and take things slow. 

A major part of it was a character-centric approach based around his relationships with others and his character development with major therapy and friendship. 

And it's not just Aizen. It's Momo, Shuhei, and anyone who has a chance of getting character development. 

It’s like Icarus’ Dilemma, where characters get character development and their paths change as a result of a character getting what they needed. 

Yes, it’s Mpreg, but that only sets the stage where Aizen gets the love, friendship, and therapy he needs. Sayuri is her own character, growing throughout the story since her conception. 

Given the expansion of the whole series including some fillers, I'm considering to build a progress review of it. 

New Game+ by EmpyrealFantasy: Given a chance to start all over again, will Minato be able to make a difference in his future?

[When you start a New Game+, you retain your levels, your inventory, and the items that you get from maxed Social Links. This stands to reason that the memory would remain for the MC as well. What if gameplay wasn't linear…? An exploration of what a New Game+ could really mean.]

Review: This is the fic that got me into the ship. I read the FF.Net first version before the AO3 edition added new stuff. 

Our protagonist and Akihiko had been distant. Friends as we can say hang out together with the rest of the group but never quite alone. Reload fixed that but obviously not enough to get the ship out of rare pair. Shinjiro x Kotone is still far more popular. 

I don’t quite put down my finger why exactly I love it and why it started my love for the ship, but the chemistry of the two, as well as what Akihiko does, was so amazing. The path in which we see the characters change from canon allowed for such good. 

I think that it has well-written changes as well as the development of the main pair vibed with me so well, it remained a favorite. 

Talent in the Arts and the Good or Niceness of People

Since the whole Gaiman debacle, I should say something. 

While there has always been the issue of the death of the author and how the support meant funding them, the revisionism of ‘of course all long they were a terrible artist’ going on is very degrading to art in general. 

This mentality will not help you at all. Yes, you could look back and see now red flags that foretell their thoughts. But creativity and imagination are a thing. While you can put down your own experiences, there is nothing wrong with imagination written from the heart. 

Dungeon Meshi is written by a woman who is admittedly not a good cook nor an adventurous eater but her imagination is so well done. She still loves the series but being the opposite of the creation does not negate her as a creator especially when she didn’t experience these in the so-called right manner such as being a good cook and adventurous eater. Having the imagination to provide a fantastical world with its own ecosystem and overall world makes good fiction. 

Art is subjective. ORV and Princess Tutu hit the things I love but it might not sway others. Code Geass regardless of nationalism claims is still a classic series that still deserves its place in history. Kenshin is still excellent despite knowing that the author had actual child porn and got off scot-free because of his connections. Yes, the connections do include Eiichiro Oda because we cannot let Oda slip by that he supports a pedo and is a known sexist and racist man (I mean Usopp from 'Africa' and partook in the whole Arab racism in Studio Tomorrow and Netflix). I don't even care that much about author worship, just authorial intent. After being burned by just one, I'd rather not worship again or put on a pedestal because admitting flaws in favorite writers is better for one's sanity and health all just because to put them and you on the same moral high ground. 

People have to reckon that talent is not a measure of being a good person and good art from bad people. Simply connecting with the good art written by bad people does not automatically negate you as a person trying to uphold a puritanical view of yourself. 

Neil Gaiman has done horrible things to people from women to fans to colleagues to BIPOC people. He is still a very talented writer whose art has impacted a wealth of people. 

John Lasseter is well past his prime but he’s still well-known for actually having a hand in his creation. Film is a collaborative work and Lasseter is not the only voice just as Butch Hartman was as Thomas Astruc was. They might have called most of the shots and controlled the general story but they literally weren’t the one. 

Talent is not meted out to the purest. It’s simply a skill. 

Bad people make good art as good people make dark art. Good people can still write all those triggers in stories and still be good. Bad people can make creatively impactful art and it’s still aged well. 

Vic Migogna is a very good actor and his voice for Ed Elric and Tamaki are perfect. HP Lovecraft managed to make a whole new genre of his own. 

I haven’t met any people in the pin community who are personally bad people. I only ever heard of their bad business and the jerk attitude they employ. I won’t be naming any names but using a business as a side hobby is not a good way to make business because people buying the art are your customers and you would want to establish that customer base’s trust in actually getting the products. Money is involved and the moment you have the money, you must make and deliver the product as a business. 

Still those are businesses. Outstanding small businesses will take constructive criticism and mobilize their business to actually have great customer service. 

Just because a person you admire and even like is nice to you does not mean that you are bad for not recognizing it. You might not even be the intended target yet you were treated so nicely. 

The point for these criminals is to hide. Blaming others particularly fans for their creator's secretive nature is not good. 

Just let people and yourself off the hook for simply having flawed judgment. We might never know literally everything about the person who interacted with us nicely. We won’t ever know and that’s alright. 

To say after the fact when it’s all revealed and it’s obvious you didn’t catch the hints that you never liked it in the first place is disingenuous to the time you spent on it. You shouldn’t have to take the way out by not admitting just how much it hurts you and owe up to it instead of making a proud face. 

Having pride just to keep from the feeling of hurt is valid to some extent but still feeling hurt from something you love that you didn’t ask for 

A large part is to uphold a puritanical view of oneself by wanting healthy and pure relationships with no drama. 

What is bad about wanting all those things without acknowledging the flaws. These people want the sake of literally everything they consume to be good and pure. 

This is a bit of an extension from the ship rants I did before but these people shouldn’t be expecting that for their own self-congratulatory puritan. What they spewing is what conservatives used against anything they deem horrid.

Grappling with these thoughts in regards to creator and creation has been a thing forever. Meting out cowardice like saying it was bad when reading comprehension and media literacy are a thing. English classes teach you these things. 

There is nothing wrong with admiring art but there is zero need to idolize the author too when it somehow connects to your politics and whatever you see fit. 

My cousin still loves Harry Potter given how she asked our niece a question relating to it. I don’t think she’ll ever support the transphobe in any way. 

This is just one case. 

I don’t really read up a lot on the author’s thoughts too much. In the case of SBS, I cannot know everything. I’d rather have compiled links so I can make the decision myself whether I appreciate the intent versus the interpretation. I rather not misinterpret the text but extrapolate meaningful readings from subtext and text. Shipping I see is again fun and derived from whatever is there or not at all to have Barbie dolls playing. 

JK Rowling’s intent very much differs from her execution and worst yet the things that are foreboding to her radicalization. She speaks of bravery and such but the execution speaks that she’d rather not change the status quo. 

Neil Gaiman’s style leans more into headcanon territory where the actual canon answer can waver and isn’t set in stone. Again, this is a perfectly fine applicable way without forcing headcanons into the canon. Acknowledging canon without letting the image of whatever is in your head take over. 

It’s okay that you cannot or no longer interact with the art you used to love because there is so much baggage associated with the creator in question. It’s okay that you can divorce yourself by other means such as buying them a third party and making sure your money doesn't go back to them. 

What we ultimately interact with art that has been damaged by cruel creators is to find in ourselves not cowardice but to confront what we wanna do in the face of it. 

While the creators are ultimately unwelcoming, the space created by fans and the circle thereof is better than anything a big creator might say to hurt people. 

Hurt fans can gather up their spite and pour it into their fanmade merch. Fans who refuse to contribute to the creator's money often go for fanmade merchandise. For some, it’s completely guilt-free. 

Personally, if I ever buy Harry Potter and Twilight fan merch which I never will, I’ll donate to the trans community and the Quileute tribe. For me, it’s not guilt free at least when it comes to those. 

I completely understand that the media I love is not without flaws. That’s why I say Aven is Romani rather than to use the in-game word which is a real Romani word. 

It’s another when the work isn’t tainted not by flaws intrinsic to the storytelling but by the fault of the creator who used the prestige the works grant access to for their horrid cause or to victims. 

For others, the thing they have loved since forever will forever be tainted and they can’t ever see them interact positively again. They can try with other fans reckoning in their shared grief and rage 

I roll my eyes whenever I see news regarding JK Rowling. Since in her mind is anti-trans to the point it’s all she ever talks about, she of course never brings attention to serious matters women are facing except her own. She is only about Neil Gaiman now because he supports the trans community and nothing else. 

Anybody who tried to bring attention to that woke crowd going after leftist Neil Gaiman is stupid. Wokeness was the buzzword they used to get attention without any nuance or empathy toward fans. Usually, the 'woke' crowd has more legitimate criticism than that crowd because it's down to something as simple as empathy. 

Godoka, while Trump will be having some infighting dogs and that his Executive orders are nothing more than force, there will be ways to fight back than roll over and comply with fascism. They want us to give up on the onslaught of laws that Trump is in a hurry to act and harbinger as a king rather than a functional governing body that only won not by a landslide. 

Remember that Democrats don’t even broadcast their wins they absolutely have to. We are heading into a dreadful conservative era in which the dominant white Christians are relishing their supposed take back of power from their supposed oppression and persecution. They have always been in power and the clear division of BIPOC was their gains to divide. These guys felt so safe in their bubble that even a demand for rights for BIPOC people was seen as a threat to their privileges. Even now these guys still feel they can trademark the word pho and go after actual Viet for it and trying to appropriate Agua Fresca and boba is just sickening. 

I know both sides are always bad things but for the love of Godoka, which of the lesser evil will you pick? Complaining about how both sides are doing bad things with such cynicism would not help the movements. We need to stick together and be loud in every available route we can to tell our government that we don't want this and they will be forced to change their tune with the overwhelming lawsuits. We'll be hurt on the way to our future but it's better than seemingly declaring everything is bad because both parties' actions are bad. It is unhealthy and we must focus our energies on gaining ground on what we can do. 

It's harsh now in the conservative fascist era we're entering but we cannot let this get us down. Go and be involved and do something instead of just dumping it all on a story and expecting the worst from it instead of actually doing something such as putting up links where people can actually help against the said disgusting act from the government administration.  

Characters Reactions to Canon Fics and Fic Recs

 

I don't have much fondness for these types of fics. These characters reacting to canon fics are often repetitive instead of doing something. Often these characters are trapped in a dark room or somewhere with the canonical media for them to watch and read. Very rarely they are allowed out of that so it's often a good thing that these characters are actively trying to change amidst watching/reading/playing the canon events they have access to. 

I'm big on stories, particularly if a story is so well-written about the meta of the story they are writing hence why Princess Tutu is in my top three favorite magical girls series and why ORV became one of my favorite stories ever. It’s to the point that when it comes to my favorite stories in the world, I’m more so focused on grabbing the books or getting things that better tell the story in pin form. 

Particularly if they know enough about the main characters to realize the guy they are following has loads of potential. 

I wholly recommend Advanced Release wherein Sephiroth received the original FFVII in his mail and began playing it with his besties Genesis and Angeal only to discover that it's not an inside job but rather a scarily accurate game that foretold the future. Little did they know whatever insanity and stupidity they deem is actually true to what Future Cloud who gave them the games can testify. 

They aren't the only ones to receive a game, however. Reeve received Dirge of Cerberus, the Turks are hilariously playing Before Crisis on their flip-phones, Zack got Crisis Core, Tifa got the light novels, and who knows got the movies? The author has noted that one person would not be the only one to receive a game or novel as seen with the Turks so it’s likely the main cast will get the scoop. Future Cloud is maximizing the people who can save the world and it’s only a matter of time young Cloud learns about this. 

All the while tiny young Cadet Cloud Strife found himself with interest from everyone who played the games. The Turks think of him as an interesting NPC who definitely made an impression on them while not knowing the reason why he made an impression in the first place was because he's the main character, Sephiroth and soon enough Angeal and Genesis begin to see the potential in him. Zack outright declared that he would be stronger than all of them combined. Considering they haven't seen the ending of the game where Cloud killed Sephiroth and in the movie where Cloud killed him again, all they see now is potential. Genesis probably will see Cloud having the potential to be the strongest magic caster that is not a Cetra. Tiny Cadet Cloud has no idea what is going on where his idol is offering him mentorship, Turks offering him a spot, why Angeal is treating him so kindly, and Zack wants to be besties with a random cadet. Confounded but ecstatic.  

I guess that's what Cloud gets as the Planet's chosen Champion because tiny Cloud has no idea that's his destiny. He's the main character so he's basically chosen to have so much potential to be the strongest man in Gaia with his sword and magic skills. 

Cloud doesn’t have main character syndrome obviously as he’s the main character who just happened to be chosen even if it might not look that way. He’s stubborn and self-loathing yet his wishes were granted in the most awful way possible. 

I just wonder how much young Cloud is going to get heckled moving forward now that a lot of people are growing more aware that he’s extremely important. 

Given that only Sephiroth met Future Cloud, I wonder how Tiny Cloud would react to Future Cloud, someone with so much power and capable of killing Sephiroth twice. 

I wonder if anyone from Nibelheim should survive this and learn about this including learning Cloud became Sephiroth's protege for no other reason than Seph seeing potential in him that Seph could see that Cloud even beat them and indeed Cloud can defeat him when Angeal and Genesis cannot. 

I wonder how the fan clubs would take this because this is Sephiroth after all taking on a random cadet for no reason other than Seph saying he saw potential in him. Seph can't exactly say that other than potential, he knows what Cloud would become just by meeting his future self because again Seph can be defeated if only because Cloud is capable of such a thing. How would fans take Seph's eventual dethroning of the strongest man by Cloud, his protege who is both impressive in his swordsmanship as well as magic? 

Honestly, anyone who didn't think Cloud would make it would see that with the right guidance, Cloud could become the Planet's Champion he was always destined to be. 

To be fair, Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis, and Zack are training him up to be stronger than they could ever be, and not least they got evidence of just how powerful Cloud could be by his future self and the canonical events they saw. 

There’s still so much story left. We haven’t even gotten to Cloud’s actual mentorship yet, nor has he even told Zack about the light novels. We haven’t seen what Hojo plans to do to Cloud. Genesis has yet to know about Deepground. 

Heck, the Turks got their game in one go so they have to know things now and further investigate the Vincent case. In a comment, the author comments they will once they get to a certain scene with Vincent. 

Everyone who has gotten a game or a piece of media relating to FFVII should know by name that Cloud is the main character at this point and side-eye him basically as young Cloud just thriving under Seph's tutelage with added help from Angeal, Genesis, and Zack in their effort to make him the most powerful man that the Planet has literally chosen as their champion. 

Honestly, what about characters not in the know about the games but still knowing confidential details like Kunsel? Kunsel could potentially play a larger role than in canon wherein he acts as the tutorial guide. Kunsel has been portrayed as a Turk-like SOLDIER but how would he react to these events after the mission he had with Seph? Kunsel would want to leave Shinra after all after learning the dreaded secrets. However, he would never see Cloud coming after the mission. 

And what about the process where Cloud is just thriving under the tutelage of Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis, and Zack? From what seems like a mediocre infantryman's fast learning turning him quickly to potentially the most powerful magic caster and swordsman who might have the chance of defeating the Silver General and indeed he can and will lest they stay and watch his spars against his mentor? What about Cloud just vibrating as he creates the fusion sword and uses that against Seph in the future? The Omnislash and its eventual versions until Cloud creates his ultimate sword? 

There’s confirmation and honestly, it’s a fact that Cloud will find out about FFVII. He already has an inkling with Tifa but he has no idea why he is suddenly the biggest target among the higher-ups at Shinra. 

And that's one of the top examples of characters watching/playing/reading the series that do something beyond knowing the future. It's dull and repetitive just from watching reactions. Sure, it's fine from isolation but when you're not doing something like Peggy Sue their timeline, then what are you doing?

Take another Final Fantasy example, this time entry number 15. 

The Basis of Reality has Ignis be taken to another world entirely where his world is but an entry of a popular series much like how Future Cloud grabs the consoles and games from our world to give to those trusted in another. 

Ignis found out several truths as well as the game forcing and glitching to make way for a new ending or in the same track depending on the change set. 

Now they haven't played the game since the beginning. If anything, they only watch some cutscenes and learn secondhand information from the gamer herself. They play some portion and learn some game mechanics so they can become savvy enough to write their golden ending. 

At least they knew the future and reacted to canon appropriately by actually changing things instead of just reacting. 

Not least they can see the visible changes in their extended absences and the visible glitches. 

At least these guys know they are living in a video game world so Noctis and Prompto used their video game know-how to level against the rails and ease towards a golden ending. 

Now, these two fics are essentially fix-fics when fics that contain the trope of characters watching canon have not been done to fix their future. 

The closest I see in this kind of trope even happening was a series summary of a Twisted Wonderland fic series where the Overblot villains became a strange group of friends after what they had watched and even then, in the main body, the TWST characters are still mainly locked in a black room with the game in front of them. 

Very rare I've seen these characters keep secrets of these canon franchise material and try to fix it. 

Heck, I doubt I would see a fanfic of the MHA cast, UA specifically, try to matchmake Hawks with Dabi after seeing their sizzling sexual tension at that meeting because to them, they are heroes who shouldn't get into illicit relationships with villains and this is well before character development. Because in the eye of the law, heroes getting together with villains is very bad. 

Though the idea would be planted and they don’t know every time they read and watch the interactions before the betrayal, the sexual tension is striking. 

Anyhow, can’t we get more creative works with the characters interacting with canon and changing it at the same time?

The two Final Fantasy fics above had them interact with all bases of the franchise, some more then others regarding how far along they are in their designated media. 

They are even changing it even when they haven’t finished it. Cloud is Sephiroth’s protege! The chocobros saved Ravus’ life! 

Just do something if these characters are gonna know the future! 

It’s repetitive if it’s just the reactions. There isn’t any creativity. 

I mean it wasn't much to the TWST fic series either. The summary events happened after they watched the events so I have no clue other than working together to get Yuu home and Grim his goal, I don't know how else other than maybe changing the events that went on like the Ghost Bride and everything else. 

But we still have to get through the watching first. Sure there are intervals of taking breaks albeit not much since they can’t leave. 

Probably expecting too much as fanfiction is a medium, most times there aren’t good writing and you have to sift through the piles of uninteresting to get to the interesting. 

You can find your typical tropes in fanfiction. In fanfiction, it’s the fun of imagining these characters in these scenarios. 

The non-fandom people who try to entice random people through tropes not realizing they are literally tropes and what makes fanfiction. The Harry Styles fanfiction to original literature pipeline is so stupid. Why the hell would it attract these girls into reading these when these guys just advertise fanfiction-like tropes? 

I love complicated pairings with tension and making their divorce everyone’s problem. I love pairings that are definitely foils and therefore compatible. The intensity in OTPs is my bread and butter. Like, Joongdok hit everything and surpassed even my intense OTPs through sheer weird intensity. Do you know you gotta be deranged to surpass Wangxian, right?! 

Do you see me falling for every ship that has this trope? I love complicated pairings the most hence why Honkai ships rapidly go up the ranks of OTP levels that only a few Genshin ships ever had. Even though I like Zhongchi and still read them, it's still not too close to the OTP levels that Haikavetham rapidly reached the endpoint and became an OTP. Joongdok shot up the ranks so quickly that it rivaled Dabihawks on its pace which Dabihawks got me in at their flashback meeting after the Endeavor battle with the Nomu. 

While ships have always been subjective, you do not see me falling for every ship that has that trope. 

It's a trope that in fanfiction is used as an imagination playground for characters they love. 

Fanfiction is its own medium that is unlike original literature. 

If that was the case, I would've been a Reylo fan, right? Nope, I am so not and not the least that these characters are so badly done with one of the characters is a white boy Neo-Nazi who shouldn’t been the focus at all or even be written into existence at all. It’s not even one of my hated ships EndHawks or simply uncomfortable for me like NaruHina. Reylo is designated as an annoying ship, pesky enough as a fly when I’m forced to deal with them in troves in the pin community. At least I sufficiently filtered out any EndHawks on Instagram for my peace of mind. Reylo I can deal with because I don't bother getting it into the way I did MHA hence why Endhawks ended up the way it had whereas my refusal of interacting with any SW Sequel Trilogy led me to see Reylo as a pesky fly. In the pin community, NaruHina and Reylo are extremely popular so I just gotta deal less so if I’m forced to deal with EndHawks which I quickly filter in all social media. It was sheer dumb luck that I saw the hashtag but not the picture in an account because I knew I saw an NSFW EndHawks pin from another pin maker which gave me psychic damage so I quickly figured out how to filter out anything regarding EndHawks. If I was on Twitter/X, then I’m gonna be in trouble unless I follow someone’s advice to get them out of my Dabihawks feed but I don’t have one because I refuse to be on that platform. 

I’m the ship and let ship, having been in the fandom for nearly two decades. I don’t bash ships as I already explained in previous posts about my feelings about certain ships. Interacting with ships that give me lots of annoyance would not do me good in actually curating my fandom experience. I refused to step on the grounds of ships I don’t like or care for for the sake of my sanity. I already suffered an Endhawks share on an instastory once and my brain broke so again for the sake of my sanity, it's better for me to even unfollow someone who would show Endhawks on their feed than have to see more of it. 

There are also ORV and Alien Stage fics that do have enemies or higher beings in power watching the series too so I don’t know what will change. All I know is that Secretive Plotter won’t be able to snatch up Dokja ASAP until maybe they leave the scenario. But even that's debatable considering the case of when Dokja will realize his feelings for his Joonghyuk over his obliviousness. Again, he'll learn who the fuck is Secretive Plotter in the first place anyways. 

From what I have seen of the ORV fic, there is an intention to show everyone this. If you know, you know. I don’t know how the fuck are going to change things because the reveal shows that it’s supposed to change things.  

I don’t know what will change when they finally leave the liminal space but at least we know there are changes. 

The ORV fic is Dramatis Personae and the ALST one is spectating our future. 

However, I do not know much of the latter fic to say that it will diverge outside of why letting the oppressors in on the future too? Let's hope and see something done because even in canon, I have yet to see how humans can reclaim their world from the aliens. 

For what it's worth about canon character watching canon, I have yet to see much that isn't just mediocrity.

Mini-Review: Cherry Magic

 

I haven't done a review in a long time so why not with Cherry Magic?

For all that it looks like with the virginity concept front and center, you would think toxic concepts would be all over it. 

I feel I should discuss the history of the ongoing manga. I’m shocked that it’s still ongoing. You would think it’ll end by their wedding but nope. I’m shocked that it’s still ongoing. 

It was originally a Twitter one-shot that was picked up for publishing and was supposed to end when Adachi loses his virginity but extended due to the success of the Jdrama and now it’s just going. Now the story is so beloved that it would up creating a whole new trope for fanfiction. 

The manga is by far the best one obviously. I scoff whenever I see the Thai version get praised as the superior version. Read the damn manga. The Jdrama is influential just for its success and its virality but it stood on its own feet when it had to deal with anime are forced to make things as they go when they don’t have the source material. At least the anime is giving the manga direct attention. 

So if you want to go, read manga first and foremost, and go to Chinese radio drama. then Jdrama, then anime. The Thai version should be your last priority if you can't find a way to watch the 2.5D version aka the musical. At the time of writing, not until people and fans see the play itself, the 2.5D stage play is in a nebulous position. At the very least, we're going to get a proshot which is hilarious to me because Broadways refused to get their proshots out there out of fear of money even though so many film successes have shown that people are willing to buy tickets to see the actual damn play. I know many animanga fans who want to experience a 2.5D musical for real instead of just seeing the proshot. At the least, the 2.5D people knew where the money was. The problem is that the plays unless made for an international audience are only sold in Japan and relatively Asia as a whole. Once I have enough information, I will edit to see what the general fan reactions are and the placement. 

From what I heard from people who was actually crazy enough to get livestream tickets, it’s campy fun. Apparently, this Kurosawa have been pining for six months and their first date went perfectly fine in comparison to their counterparts. Kurosawa of course get love songs to his name ala first date song.  

Ultimately, it’s actually the concept that is a conduit for a character-driven story. The only remaining one who has not popped his cherry is Tsuge in the manga. Cherry Magic is just an artifact and is used as magic realism for character development. And it's not like it's hurting what is in the end relationship hurdles of a committed gay relationship. 

Adachi, a bitter (because let’s be honest, his assumptions and judgments about others are very bitter and toxic) 30-year-old virgin, found he had telepathic powers and quite accidentally found out his most popular coworker’s deep crush on him going on a year or seven years depending on the adaptation. 

Adachi’s boring life was very eventful as these powers gave him the courage to speak up and take up space. Even after he lost his powers, a point of the series was his character development. I really like the edge of the original Adachi. Snarky and an ass, in the beginning, he’s brutal. No other adaptation came close to that. The Thai version of Adachi is the worst, being the stereotypical BL uke with nothing much at all. What was changed did little favors. We see Adachi grow in confidence and even take the initiative several times canonically with his relationship with Kurosawa both romantically and sexually. Fuck, their first time together was a result of Adachi kissing Kurosawa first out of passionate love he’s finally communicating in words. Adachi even denied sex when he saw Kurosawa having problems of his refusal to rely on others at work. Where was the bite in the Thai Adachi? It’s the same way that I feel anime Eiji didn’t have enough teeth for him in comparison to his flawed manga original self in Banana Fish. Is it bad that I want teeth for characters? I’m grateful BF got an anime adaptation because anime is the promo for the manga and what BF fought so hard for to get their name out there. It’s just I want the biting depths that might not even be called good. 

An otherwise invisible introverted guy who prefers not to talk back but in his head turned into a quiet steely man. He still has his self-esteem issues and sometimes fails to speak up but he’s not a pushover anymore. 

Kurosawa is hilariously unhinged. Outward placid, his thoughts can run racy and absolutely normal. Godoka, I love how unhinged he is. Even before he becomes friends with his love interest, his imagination goes wild. That imagination did not tone down upon marriage because marriage made it worse. Even when Adachi doesn’t know the exact thoughts, he can tell what kind of unhinged thoughts his insane placid husband is thinking. If he had to deal with the fantasies and whatever gifts he had for Adachi, he knew just how insane Kurosawa would go. The gap moe is also a factor too. Kurosawa is genuinely in love but for all of his obsession, he’s a sweetie who wants Adachi to experience everything. 

Kurosawa does want himself to be the man for Adachi but he seems willing to acquiesce if it comes to women for Adachi as long as he makes sure there are no advances. He’s otherwise a gentleman even when there are chances to sneak a full-on mouth kiss. Considering he’s been pining for so long, Kurosawa probably believed even after Adachi made it clear he doesn’t exactly hate it that Adachi sees him as a friend. He confessed, not expecting a reciprocation, only as a way to finally get over him. For as long as he knew him, Adachi had never shown interest in men so it’s pretty obvious it would shock him of the reciprocity. 

Kurosawa wants to know everything about Adachi. His virtues and his flaws are equally ensnaring to him. 

Each iteration often characterizes the jdrama first because that’s the popular version that utterly overshadows the original piece. The Chinese radio drama is the closest I can get to the unhinged Kurosawa and snarky ass Adachi. We do have to give the jdrama thanks for helping the manga not end shortly but we really need to give the original manga its flowers. 

Still, regardless of adaptation, all were made of love. The Thai version never even picked up the manga or even the original jdrama, probably watched the trailer and that’s it. I want to be kind to it but it just didn’t display anything that I like about the original in the first place. I have my misgivings for the weaker adaptations but I do like the better parts of the Thai iteration such as the localization (house, transport to work, etc) which is only up to a point, unfortunately. But the Thai version was made of love regardless of quality. 

I really like the jdrama fleshing out the side characters more due to its slower pacing. The jdrama might not done well when branching on its own stuff well that isn’t the side characters except Minato but it’s adequate. While the original Fujisaki inhabits the Yaoi fangirl shipper, the jdrama iteration is her own fleshed-out character who is firmly AroAce. 

The friendships Adachi has been fleshed out beyond just Rakakou and a little bit of Fujisaki. It’s about the relationships Adachi makes beyond just his romance. The point is to live life and there is nothing wrong with experiencing all of that in their quarter-life. 

I’ve been drawn to protagonists in their late twenties to thirties lately because they show there is nothing wrong with experiencing the life you supposedly have at a young age and don’t carry it into the quarter life. The story of ORV is ultimately about love written with love. Any kind of love is written with romance being ambiguous. ORV isn’t BL but the ambiguity of it as well as the queer subtext seems almost text. It got to the point that the queer subtext was outright erased on the ebook version. 

As someone who has trouble socializing but wants to reach out to the rest of the world, Cherry Magic and ORV and their themes are always comforting that life is still going for me and there is nothing wrong with experiencing love of all kinds at this age. 

People have written Cherry Magic off both in the BL and at large in general due to the title alone and what they feel is a dime a dozen. 

BL has so much denigration and is under fire even though the topic of discussion is more nuanced than that a blanket statement the entire genre is entirely rape. Not to mention, there is always a popular mxm ship in every single fandom 

If Cherry Magic retold the story so many times including a fucking musical version, there has to be something special to Cherry Magic, don't you think? More than just being a relatively mature shounen-ai at best? There has to be something special that created a fanfic trope. 

I don't think dismissing it alone when fans are willing to experience the story over and over again. 

I believe the character development, that the story is well past the main character in the main romance losing his virginity and thus his powers, and that it's about the love of all sorts and the building of relationships to experience the world is what made Cherry Magic a standout in the crowd. 

Yes, these things exist in other BLs too. Whatever Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, language there is for BL, it is still BL. And in BL, you must stand out lest there wouldn't be adaptations in other mediums. However, Cherry Magic isn't even the most popular thing ever even the Jdrama had done a lot for the manga but it's still not even some of the most popular danmeis' level of popularity. Sure they are translated and have a big fanbase but whereas MDZS is a deconstruction of xianxia with BL, Cherry Magic is essentially a slice of life BL that explores love in all its forms as well as the hurdles of a committed relationship that does deal with the societal homophobia. 

There are many different BLs including affectionate parodies. Like any other romance, there are many different kinds of romances that tackle all kinds of things. Cherry Magic's magic is its gentleness in depicting the love of all kinds and that no matter what the brain thinks those who care for you do care for you. 

The BL and the LGBT stories that do stick out in the crowd deserve to have eyes on them, the ones that are good anyway. 

At the moment, I’m in deep with Blue Flag and Gambare Nakamara. 

The likes of Emilia Perez, a supposedly LGBT story that does not showcase any topical subjects meaningfully, failed hard in their performative activism and was safe enough for elites to get behind. Oh, so the song is about political corruption even though the movie never acknowledged that Rita is colluding with corrupt figureheads nor was the subject of the song ever brought up before the song. That’s not even the worst thing regarding the writing. If anything, that’s a minor footnote to the list of misdeeds. The movie was already rotten to the core but to know just how putrid it was through each rot in the lead-up to the Oscars 

The Death Note US live-action is just horrid because when the original Japanese series criticize the Japanese justice system, this one doesn't do shit about the American justice system and how it impacts the BIPOC community. Just nope. L being black could be a thing to connect the dots from there but nope. Of course not. The thing for the guys behind this adaptation is not the themes or even attempting to emulate the cat-and-mouse play in a good way, it's about the imagery of Kira the cult, and the grandeur of the death. No fun for the cast and crew will ever wipe away the loss of potential. I can't even enjoy that much when everything else was horrendously written so flat. 

That's the process I feel with the worst of performative LGBT media that are hailed as legendary when it's not. For every Moonlight or I Saw the TV Glow, there is always an Emilia Perez or Girl. 

While the story is officially a BL, there are LGBT themes present. The author supports gay marriage in Japan. 

I’m happy that it exists happily. The series itself is not as groundbreaking as YOI and Utena; or in the mainstream where there definitely be more thought put into it like FMA. However, not all art is supposed to be high art to be enjoyed. There is a heart there with a power of connection that allowed its staying power in so many iterations. It’s powerful enough to get a fanfic trope. The last I remember was Seven Days.