[ SECRET POST #6876 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6876 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.




__________________________________________________



02.



__________________________________________________



03.



__________________________________________________



04.
[Long Story Short]



__________________________________________________



05.
[Starbrew Cafe]



__________________________________________________



06.



__________________________________________________



07.



















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #982.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I'm confused about every part of this. I think the majority of people have had a crush on a fictional character...

[iff_and_xor]

That was my thought too. And if not an actual fictional character, at least a celebrity whose public persona might as well be a fictional character.

Of course school-age bullying can seize on the most stupid and irrational things, things that aren't even unusual or would be considered cool if they were associated with a more popular child.

[(Anonymous)]

DA.

Could be the difference between live action and cartoon/game? Because I know that plenty of teens in my school were into characters played by real people, but the teens who were attracted to cartoon or video game characters got ruthlessly made fun of. Which is obviously bizarre, but teens are mean as shit without good reason most of the time.

Things could very well be different now and it's not seen as odd-duck anymore?

[iff_and_xor]

Yeah, that's much more in line with my sense of things. I think there's a sizeable portion of the population that just doesn't get being attracted to an animated character.

I do think that's changing over time with the way that cartoons and video games are both increasingly mainstream forms of entertainment for older adolescents and adults.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT.

For sure, much like how fandom is known of in general online, but if someone isn't familiar with it then boy do they think it's the weirdest thing.

Yeah I've seen more what I'd call 'regular' people be less weirded out by it, perhaps that we're starting to see entire generations who were raised very online, so attraction to animated characters isn't so strange. But who knows really?

[(Anonymous)]

I have to say that I don't get the people who don't get being attracted to an animated character because, like... Aladdin and Jasmine sure as hell weren't designed the way they were for the sake of the kids watching the movie!

[(Anonymous)]

I am one of the people who doesn't get being attracted to an animated or drawn character. I would never bully someone over it, of course, but I just don't understand it except in a circumstance like the character looks very obviously realistically human, like, idk...Mulan?

[(Anonymous)]

I came into hot anime/video game guys in my 20s (which was still 1999 oof) when all of fandom had collectively normalized it. If Kids These Days are retrograding into anime hotness being weird, I weep for the state of imagination. Haven't we had tons of GC threads here about hot characters which were at least 50/50 LA/animated? We all accept that finding some drawn character hot (who was clearly drawn with the expectation that fans find them hot) is completely normal.

Kid bullies suck, but 40 year old fandom gatekeepers saying the same thing as ignorant children are even worse.

[(Anonymous)]

>If Kids These Days are retrograding into anime hotness being weird,

I see this retrograding in fandom more and more lately.. People (esp on tik tok/instagram) saying that anything other than attraction to a real life flesh and blood person is "weird"/"deviant" and/or a sign of mental illness.
I personally partially blame this on the increasing amount of normies (likely the same people who would have bullied "weird" kids irl) in fandoms and the rise of purity/Antiship culture

[(Anonymous)]

People will invent something to hate about other people. Country all the same color? You're gonna clash over religion or tribes.

[(Anonymous)]

It's not a sign of mental illness to be attracted to a fictional or animated character. However, it might be a sign of mental illness if you're completely incapable of finding a real person attractive.

[(Anonymous)]

DA
It's more likely a trauma response in my experience. Or someone is very isolated and hasn't been exposed to many people.
I'm someone who would've identified as "ficto" if it thd label existed, I used to exclusively be attracted to fictional characters for a long time. I developed PTSD from child abuse and SA, and became socially anxious and had no friends. Wasn't diagnosed as auDHD until later. I mentioned only being attracted to fictional characters to a therapist, she agreed it was likely from SA and not having friends growing up. I became employed as an adult and started working in the public, I started noticing people and had a crush on a coworker. Years later I had a crush on a friend. Now I'm 50/50 attracted to real people and characters, no need for a label.

Writing ficto people off as mentally ill is a bit cruel, it's often really trauma or neurodivergence.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT.

I have no idea about the kids of today as I am not one. I'm talking about some 20+ years ago where sadly the kids in my school specifically were mean about that kind of thing, for no good reason obviously, but teens can be rude and mean and the ones at my school were.

Making this into rant about 'kids these days' is sure a choice when I didn't even mention current teens as I am not one.

[(Anonymous)]

AYART

I get what you mean. I grew up in the mid 2000s (not too far from your time) and hoo boy were the kids were NASTY AF when they saw anyone/anything perceived as "weird". God help you if you liked anime, or (gods forbid) thought an animated character was vaguely attractive. I saw several kids (myself included) bullied for being "weird" in middle and high school. I think one kid was bullied into withdrawing from school because he liked anime girls (and drawing them)

[sabotabby]

In my experience it's generational. I'm older than OP and it would have been incredibly strange for anyone in middle school or high school to admit a crush on a fictional character, even if it were a common thing (which it probably was). Even the "wrong" celebrity crush was something that could be seized on for bullying. Nowadays, I see young people openly talking about it but it certainly would have been massively mocked in my middle school and treated as eccentric and awkward in my high school.

[(Anonymous)]

DA Yeah, I was at school in the 80s/early 90s and certainly wouldn't have admitted to any fictional crushes. There were correct celebrities to crush on (all male, all white) but it was also acceptable to be negative about them, luckily for me! And it changed rapidly which celebrity was cool and which wasn't - it was babyish and uncool to continue to like a celeb who was now less popular.

[(Anonymous)]

Same era, and I kept my *weirder* crushes very secret.

With no internet, we were alone in our like for weird little guys.