I Lowkey Forgot Just How Bad Voltron Fandom Was About Characterization I'm Watching For The First Time

Shoutout to everyone telling Liam for 2 seasons "you're okay, you're okay, you're okay" and then this tragic, complexed, slutty gay guy comes along and looks him straight in the eye and says "you're not okay, you're not okay at all and there's no reason why you should be" and Liam BELIEVES him.

Liam has spent his whole life thinking he has to change and be different to be accepted and joining Scott's pack hasn't changed that: Liam still feels like he has to appear okay because that's what everyone expects of him.

And what happens is Theo comes along and is like "it's okay, you can stay here with me, just for a little while, you can stay here at rock bottom and catch your breath and then you can start climbing again, you can rest in my absence of expectation" and Liam BELIEVES him.

And what happens next is that Liam catches his breath and then stands up and takes Theo's hand and says "let's go back up" and when Theo tries to object because he is obviously convinced that he has no right to go back up Liam is like "it's okay, you can come with me, just for a little while, you can come back up and feel the real air and then you can go back down, you can breathe in my trust" and this time it's Theo who believes him.

Liam and Theo are at their lowest point and that's what makes everything happen: at least at the beginning it's not respect, or esteem or need, it's understanding. They know each other on a deeper level and understand each other like the reflection of a mirror. And this seems unable to change anything but actually changes the whole course of the narrative because Theo UNDERSTANDS Liam and Liam TRUSTS Theo and I want to die

Deeply tormented by the fact there's only 4 chapters left of MHA and

Remember how deku was chasing Bakugo even if he had nothing in return? Bakugo is in that position now and what if that is his biggest punishment. He had this dream, this lifelong plan, crushed, not by deku not having a quirk anymore or bakugo needing rehab, but just himself.

"what did I do to you?"

This endless sense of loss and grief because of his own actions, that seem to have been forgiven, but what can he do for izuku to stop controlling his damn heart and put it all on the table?

Be it utter rejection, be it accepting bakugo's dream of fighting together for the rest of their lives, WHAT IS IT, IZUKU?

Truly WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN?

I believed I was gonna feel at ease with a damn handhold but now that bakugo is so so forward and out there with his care for izuku, HOW CAN I BE AT EASE WITH A FUCKING HANDHOL-

Please my child cannot have this stress on his heart rn, and by my child I mean myself (and also katsuki but MYSE-)

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!! I'M 20?!?!

I changed my age on my carrd and it feels weird. I also decided to add my age to the little description on the top of my page.

Y'know, I haven't been a minor in 2 years but it only feels real now, that I'm no longer technically "A Teenager", does anyone get what I'm trying to say? And thank god for that too. Changing that 1 to a 2 feels good. I finally feel like an actual adult, it's nice. Does that sound weird? Idk

Blah, I'm rambling. Anyway happy birthday to me, I haven't cried yet which is a win in my book. Here's to being in my 20's!

I don’t like wading into Ao3 debates, but I want to give my professional opinion on Ao3 with regard to archives vs. libraries.

I am a professional librarian (MSLS) and I have worked in both archives and public libraries and a lot of the confusion and concern I see surrounding Ao3 is a fundamental misunderstanding of How Archives Work.

An archive is a collection related to a subject. That subject is often a person but sometimes a field or concept or project. And the purpose of an archive is to keep everything. And I mean everything. I was going to say “short of biohazards” but since I know there’s a sealed R. Crumb Devil Gal chocolate bar in the UNC Chapel Hill archives, we really do mean everything.

When a collection of materials–which are usually unique and original and can be photos, manuscripts, letters, recordings (audio and/or visual), notes and notebooks, objects, published books, whatever–on and/or from the subject arrive at the archive, they are examined, preserved for longevity, accessioned and cataloged (added to the archive’s records), and added to the archive. You measure collections in linear feet. As in, once it’s all preserved and boxed and secure, you note how many feet of shelf space it takes up. And some of y'all on Ao3 have a lot of linear feet to your name (and I’m proud of you).

This is an archive: it is designed to preserve the original materials related to a subject. That is its purpose. Archives are how we have the original scroll manuscript of On the Road, for example, or the Lomax recordings of American folksongs, or Tijuana Bibles, or James Joyce’s loveletters to Nora.

Now you, a member of the public, can access some archives. Some are easier to access than others. The one I worked in was open to the public; good luck getting into the British Archives without a good reason.

So now apply this to Ao3–which is an archive both in name and in purpose. It is intended to preserve fan-created content long term. And this means everything, whether you personally like the materials or not. It is a repository for as much as possible.

And the “whether you personally like the materials or not” is important, hence why I mentioned Jim’s loveletters and Tijuana Bibles in particular. (RIP Jim, you would have loved pegging.)

If it’s made by fans and it exists, we should keep it to document the history and progression of fandom. That is the point. We have lost enough materials related to the subject of fans of media and we don’t need to lose any more.

The fact of the matter is that Ao3 is only one facet of the OTW, which preserves other fan-related materials (convention booklets and zines, for example). Somehow Ao3, an archive on the subject of fanfiction, has been divorced from the rest of the project, mostly by way of “purity culture” and panic over “dangerous” fiction.

The fact that you can go through an archive and find interesting information is the other side of archives. No, they shouldn’t be like the banker’s box of old letters stuffed in my closet. Yes, they should be organized and as accessible as is appropriate for the state of the materials.

It’s really, really cool to find stuff in an archive, I’m not even going to lie. I have done it before and I will do it again. And yet there are other items in an archive that I might not want or need or be interested in at all–but they’re still there. That’s the cataloging and accessioning: to keep up with what’s there, to stay “on topic” with collecting, and to be able to find things in that archive. Bless the tag wranglers who are doing the cataloging at Ao3.

The pearl clutching seems to come from 1. the creation of “dangerous” fanworks and 2. public access to those “dangerous” fanworks. These are issues of “purity culture” and opinions on censorship and should not involve Ao3.

Ao3, under the umbrella of the OTW, is a documentation and preservation project first and foremost.

so, accurately, house bailed out this wilson;

and wilson first saw this house;

tumblr where are they

Laios, we need to cook

If you think about it…. the acronym KYS isn’t saying “kill yourself,” it’s saying Kill Your Self. Three words. As in, kill the concept of the “Self” - your consciousness’s perception that it is an individual, that it has one meaningful isolated identity that is “you,” that it is not but a droplet in the grand ocean of interconnected souls of all living beings in this universe. I think this is beautiful. Embrace ego death and become one with everything. Everyone should KYS

I’M NOT GONNA BE NORMAL ABOUT THIS