Im So Sick Of The Tiktok Discourse Around Encanto That Ive Gone Back To Every Character Is Straight And

When I was a child, I didn't see the importance of talking or having connection with people, and I spent all my time reading books. Everyone treated everyone as a friend, so there wasn't a problem. When I became a teenager, I suddenly found myself alone, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn't maintain a relationship that wasn't texting with some foreign stranger on the internet.

The situation hit me hard both academically and mentally; my family noticed but I never told them the reason. One of my aunts warned me "Don't be so sad all the time, or you'll regret it when you're grown up, asking to yourself 'why didn't I enjoy my best years while I still could'" What she said stuck with me through my adolescence, even at the lowest points when I wanted to dissapear. And now that I'm an adult, and I can tell you she was both right and wrong.

My phone's getting older. I'll have to buy a new one soon, so I've been selecting which pictures I should keep when I came across old screenshots. I've had this Tumblr account for a while now, I think I had it even before the NSFW ban (which is quite ironic as I have to block and report pornbots daily) and seeing people talking about their problems made me feel seen. I didn't posted at all, simply taking screenshots of the posts that gave this feeling of "I'm not the only one". I was thankful I wasn't crazy. And today, reviewing those posts, I laugh. Not because I think they're stupid, but because I don't need them anymore.

The hurt I felt keeps whispering at me. I'm still highly anxious, and I've yet to kiss someone. But I have friends now. My relationship with my parents has become better, and I'm more independent than before. I've learned that life is a mix of ups and downs, and you can't stay forever in downs. My aunt was right when she said I regret what could've been, but she was wrong when she said I'd wonder to myself why I didn't enjoy it. I don't care to examine the reasons of my sadness. All I can say about is that I'm glad that sad old me could survive long enough to be here writing this post. The past can and will hit me with nostalgia and what-ifs, but for now, all I want is to fulfill the hope that 13 year old me screenshoted for the future:

Many people on this new fandom have the audacity of demonizing Alma without even trying to look deeper into her story. Tell me, have any of you:

•Had your hometown burned to the ground and escaping within an inch of your life. Probably lost the rest of your family to the flames?

•Ran into the wild unknown for weeks while making sure your newborn triplets are all fed and healthy while constantly checking your surroundings and provisions, having little to no sleep?

•Had the love of your life stabbed to death in front of your eyes and being physically incapable of doing something, not only for the mere shock, but also to protect the lives of your children?

•Been saved by a miracle out of nowhere, and whoops! You, a newly widowed with 3 children, are now the chosen leader of a community of hundreds of terrified people?

•Had no option to give your beloved a proper funeral? Had no way to express your grief, pain or fear for the responsibility and image bestowed upon you can't allow any cracks? EVERY. SINGLE. THING. YOU. DO. is going to affect the people around you. You're the one that holds the magical candle. You have to be strong, for everyone, for the people, and for your offsprings

•Had no idea how to relate or help your magical 5yo, having no other guide but your gut instinct? Consider:

-One of your daughters can't feel negative emotions, otherwise someone will get struck by lightning. Better to teach her to repress feelings

-Your son seems to predict only bad things. Self-explanatory why people doesn't like him. Also, he strongly resembles your dead husband

-Your other daughter now has to wake up before the sun rises to make tons of healing food. There's no break, and you can't stop her from helping people. Why would the miracle give them gifts, if not for aid the community?

•Wrongly believe that your family's role in life, the only reason you were saved, was for helping others; and slowly accommodate and settle in that lifestyle. Silently burying your troubles behind a smile. Years start passing by, your daughters get married and you get grandchildren. The town gets bigger. Everyone has to work harder for things to go smooth

•Suddenly had one of your granddaughters turn up giftless. Why? What does this mean? The people are panicked, you're at lost of what to do. You can't move, just like that time many years ago. You ask your Brunito, the only sort of lead you have for an explanation, and he disappears, not even saying goodbye.

•Feel like you have to make up for it, like this is your mistake. You already lost your husband and son. You're not going to lose anyone else. You have to take control.

•No idea what to make of Mirabel. She made the candle flicker. Could she be a threat to the magic, to the family, to Encanto? It can't be, she's innocent, isn't she? But Luisa loses her gift. But the marriage proposal is ruined. But you finally get the explanation you asked ten years ago. But the cracks are appearing everywhere around Casita. But Isabella's plants invade town in middle of making amends with the Guzmán. But her perfect grandchild is a mess. Once again everything is chaos, and you're angry

No, you haven't, and it shows.

Does it justify the harsh treatment at Mirabel? No. Neither does it justify your attempts to dehumanise her.

Shot out to my therapist for gaslighting me into believing my emotions are valid. I think is working

i say i enjoy miraculous ladybug but what i really mean is i enjoy reading chloé bourgeois redemption fics

She's an icon, she's a legend and she's the moment. A thousand times better than Pikachu man, come on now!

I wish!!!

I...I have no words. This is horrible.

I got this comment on a story from my Other AO3 Account this morning.

(Info redacted because I prefer keeping these accounts separate but no one follows me on the side blog I have for that account.)

The story was posted almost a year ago and is relatively “popular” by my average statistics even though it has tropes and themes that are big turnoffs for a lot of people (hence separate accounts). This popularity is undoubtedly because it’s a Marvel Loki story and that fandom is massive.

So there is obviously an algorithm or a bot scrubbing ao3 statistics and leaving this comment on fics that meet a certain metric with the main character of the fic inserted into the comment.

I had a little time to kill this morning so I decided to investigate further. And y’all this is so predatory. Come on this journey with me. It made me mad. It may make you mad.

First, if you go to Webnovel’s website, you HAVE to choose between male lead or female lead stories before you can go any further. WTF?

And that’s weird, but this gets so much worse. This is basically a pay-to-read site that has different subscription models. Which… okay BUT! The authors don’t get paid! Look at that comment again. They’re promising a supportive and nurturing community, but zero monetary compensation. It’s basically, “post your stuff here so we can get paid and you can get… nice vibes?” I mean look at this Orwellian writing:

Using the phrase “pay-to-read model” in the same sentence as “qualitative changes in lifestyles for authors” deliberately makes you think that you can get paid and maybe even make a living on this website. But that’s not actually what it says and authors will not receive one red cent.

Oh but wait, the worst is still to come. In case this breaks containment (which I kind of hope it does) this is where I mention that I’m a lawyer in the US.

I don’t do intellectual property or copyright law but I do read and write contracts for a living. So I went to look at their terms of service. It was fun!

Highlights the first, in which Webnovel gets a license to do basically whatever they want with content you post on their site. This is how they get to be paid for people reading authors’ writing without paying them anything.

Highlights the second, in which Webnovel takes no responsibility for illegally profiting off of fan fic. This all says that the writer is 100% responsible for everything the writer posts (even though only Webnovel is making money from it).

Highlights the third which say that by posting, the author is representing that they have the legal right to use and to let Webnovel use the content according to these terms. So if a writer posts fan fiction and Webnovel makes money from people reading the fan fiction, and the House of the Mouse catches wise, these sections say that that’s ALL on the writer.

So that’s a little skeevy to start off with but the thing that is seriously shitty and made me make this post was that these assholes are coming to ao3. They are actively recruiting people in comments on their fan fiction. And they are saying they are big fans of the character you’re writing about and that they share your interests.

They are recruiting fan fiction writers and giving every impression that you can make money from posting fan fiction on their site and hiding the fact that you absolutely cannot but they can make money off of you while you try, deep in their terms of service which no one but a lawyer who writes fan fic and has some time to kill will read.

I see posts on here regularly from people who don’t understand how this stuff works, don’t understand that they (and others) can not legally make a financial profit from fan fiction. And there are tons of people who will not take the time to dig into the details.

Don’t deal with these bastards. Fuck Webnovel.

What the past couple days have felt like

Proving a point to my boyfriend.

PLEASE REBLOG if you (male or female) believe it is perfectly okay and natural for a guy of any age to cry