Tumblr’s combative interactions, in-action and assemblage in anime fandom posts

This article uses multimodal discourse analysis to address responses to perceived sexualization on Tumblr through the explication of a specific post and its reblogs. Tumblr’s particular affordances in the period around 2018–19 prevented (and continues to prevent) discussion between and among fans, in contrast to other online spaces, such as message boards. Instead, this post, utilizing content from anime Kill la Kill (2013) serves as material for a process of digital assemblage, by which Tumblr users reblog these posts, sometimes appending additional content and sometimes without adding anything, as part of an online construction of self, steeped in conflict. Rather than participating in a discussion about sexualization intended to persuade or influence, these reblog chains instead become the materials of an online assemblage of self, always subject to transformation based upon the context in which they appear.