#<- does tumblr still only put the first 5 tags in search results. god i hope so i want this in my tag not the main one

[ashennightingale]

imo good character-establishing things to have for pcs are like

- the usual why are they on this adventure, why are they w this group, etc

- what's one personality trait that drives them to do the stupid but fun thing

- what's one aspect that might make them act in ways contrary to how they do normally (including Not doing the stupid thing if it wouldn't be fun)

that last one is beneficial for the collaborative aspect of ttrpgs: if everyone else wants to do x, & as a player u wanna cooperate but ur pc would be opposed, how can u navigate that? there's still times to dig ur heels in, but often I've found more value in establishing Why or How my character can be convinced to go along w smth anyway

also just. ppl contradict themselves sometimes, & having even a simple sense of that in ur pcs can both make rp richer & assist in collaborating w the other ppl at ur table

[creativitycache]

ngl asking for people who self-identify as "antis" is already biasing your results because the term originated from fans being defensive over getting called out (eg the types who sincerely think fandom culture is ""puritan""). fair number of people started to use the term ironically and it might be evening out but overall the post calling for responses on the survey still comes off as something written in bad faith?

I wrote a rather long and involved response and then tumblr ate it. Goshdarn.

Fair warning, this is a hyperfixation and I’m coming off of a migraine so this may not be very cogent. Please read this in the over excited tones of someone infodumping about emulsifiers, with no animosity intended.

So, tl;dr and with a lot fewer links, I’m incredibly interested by your perspective that “anti” originated as a derogatory term.

As far as I am aware, the etymological history of the word “anti” being used pejoratively is coming from some very new debates.

I’m also noting that you had no feedback regarding the content of the questions themselves, which I would be interested in hearing as I am genuinely coming from a place without censure.

The term “anti” actually is a self-descriptor that arose in the Livejournal days, where you’d tag something as “Anti ___” for other like minded people to find. (For example, my cursory google search pulled up 10 Anti Amy Lee communities on LJ).

I’m a self-confessed old. I was back in fandom before Livejournal, aaaall the way back in the Angelfire days. Webrings children! We had webrings! And guest books for you to sign!

I’m going to take a swing for the fences here Anon, so if I’m wrong please let me know, but I’m going to guess you became active as a fan in the past 5-8 years based of your use of the term puritan.

There’s actually a HUGELY new debate in fandom spaces! Previously, it was assumed that:

a) All fandom spaces are created and used by adults only.

b) If you were seeing something, it’s because you dug for it.

These assumptions were predicated upon what spaces fandoms grew in. First you had Star Trek TOS fandom, which grew in 1970s housewives kitchens. They were all friends irl, and everyone was an adult, and you actively had to reach out to other adults to talk about things. (By the way- a woman lost custody of her children in the divorce when her ex husband brought up to the judge she kept a Kirk/Spock zine under her bed. The judge ruled this as obvious signs of moral deficiency. That was in the 80s! Everyone is still alive and the parents are younger than my coworkers!)

Time: 1967-1980s. Is Anti a term? No. Who is the term used by? N/A Is fandom space considered Puritanical? No.

Then, when the internet came about, it was almost exclusively used by adults until The Eternal September. 1993 was the year that changed the internet for good, but even years after that the internet was a majority adult space. Most kids and teens didn’t have unlimited access if their parents even had a home computer in the 90s.

This is the rise of Angelfire, which were fansites all connected to each other in “rings”. You had to hunt for content. If you found something you didn’t like, well, you clicked out and went on with your day because you’d never see it again unless you really dug. This was truly the wild west, tagging did not exist and you could go from fluff to vore in the blink of an eye with nothing warning you before hand. All fannish spaces were marked “here be dragons” and attempts were made to at least adopt the “R/NC-17″ ratings on works to some limited success, depending on webmaster.

Time: 1990-1999. Is Anti a term? No. Who is the term used by? N/A Is fandom space considered Puritanical? No.

In 1999 LiveJournal arose like a leviathan, and here is where the term Anti emerges as a self descriptor. Larger communities began to form, and with them, divisions. Now, you could reach so many fans you could reach a critical mass of them for enough of them to dislike a ship. The phrase “Anti” became a self-used tag, as people tagged their works, communities, and blogs with “anti” (NB: this is at far, far smaller rates than today). Anti was first and foremost a tagging tool used and created by the people who were vehemently against something.

You could find content more easily than in the past, but you still had to put some serious elbow grease into it.

In 2007, Livejournal bans users for art "depicting minors in explicit sexual situations”. The Livejournal community explodes in anger- towards Livejournal staff. The account holders/fans view this as corporate puritanical meddling. The outrage continues as it is revealed these bans were part of a pre-sale operation to SUP Services. SUP Services, upon taking over Livejournal in 2008, proceeds to filter the topics “bisexuality, depression, faeries, girls, boys, and fanfiction”.

The Great LiveJournal Migration begins, as fans leave the site in droves.

Time: 1999-2009. Is Anti a term? Yes. Who is the term used by? People self describing, seeking to create communities based off a dislike of something. Is fandom space considered Puritanical? No.

Where do fans go? Well, in the last decade, they migrated to Tumblr and Twitter (sorry Pillowfort- you gave it a good try!)

What’s different about all of these sites? Individuals are able to create and access content streams. These are hugely impactful in how communities are formed! Because now:

a) finding content is easier

b) finding content you dislike by accident is easier

c) content you dislike requires active curation to avoid

d) truly anonymous outreach is possible and easy (for example, you anon! Isn’t it much easier to go on anon to bring up awkward or sensitive topics? I’m happy you did by the way, and that’s why I keep my anons open. It’s an important contextual tool in the online communications world!)

Now the term Anti gets sprightly. Previously, if you didn’t like content, there was nothing you could really do about it. For example, I, at the tender age of way-too-young, opened up a page of my favorite Star Trek Deep Space 9 fansite and pixel by pixel with all the loading speed of a stoned turtle a very anatomically incorrect orgy appeared.

I backed out.

1. Who could I contact? There was no “message me here” button, no way to summon any mods on Angelfire sites.

2. If I did manage to find a contact button, I would have had to admit I went onto a site that wasn’t designed to keep me safe. I knew this was a site for adults, I knew there wasn’t a way to stop it from showing something. There was no such thing as tags. I knew all of this before going in. So the assumption was, it was on me for looking. (Some may have argued it was on my parents for not supervising me- all I can say is thank GOD no one else was in the living room and my mom was around the corner in the kitchen.)

But now? On Tumblr? On Twitter? In a decade in which tagging is so easy and ubiquitous it’s expected?

Now people who describe themselves as antis start to have actual tools and social conventions to utilize.

Which leads to immediate backlash! Content creators are confused and upset- fandom spaces have been the wild west for decades, and there’s still no sherriff in town. So the immediate go-to argument is that these people who are messaging them are “puritans”.

And that’s actually an interesting argument! A huge factor in shaping the internet’s social mores in the latest decades is cleanliness for stockbrokers. Websites can become toxic to investors and to sales if they contain sexual content. Over time, corporations perfected a mechanism for “cleaning” a site for sale.

Please note there is no personal opinion or judgement in this next list, it is simply a description of corporate strategies you can read during the minute meetings of shareholders for Tumblr, Twitter, Paypal, Venmo, Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo Answers, and Livejournal.

1. Remove sex workers. Ban any sex work of any kind, deplatform, keep any money you may have been holding.

2. Remove pedophilia. This is where the jump begins between content depicting real people vs content depicting fictional characters begins.

3. Remove all sexual image content, including artwork of fictional characters.

4. Remove all sexual content, including written works. If needed, loop back to step 2 as a justification, and claim you do not have the moderators to prevent written works depicting children.

I would like to reiterate these are actual gameplans, so much so that they’ve made their way into business textbooks. (Or at least they did for my Modern Marketing & App Design classes back in the early 2010s. Venmo, of course, wasn’t mentioned, but I did read the shareholder’s speeches when they banned sex workers from the platform so I added them in the list above because it seems they’re following the same pattern.)

So you have two groups who are actively seeking to remove NSFW content from the site.

A) Corporate shareholders

B) People are upset they’re seeing NSFW content they didn’t seek out and squicks them

Now, why does this matter for the debates using the term “puritan” as an insult? 

Because the reasons corporate shareholders hate NSFW material is founded in American puritanism. It’s a really interesting conflation of private sector values! And if Wall Street were in another cultural context, it would be a completely different discussion which I find fascinating!

But here’s the rub- that second group? They're not doing this for money. If there are any puritanical drives, it’s personal, not a widespread cohesive ideology driving them. HOWEVER! The section of that group that spent the early 2010s on tumblr did pick up some of the same rhetoric as puritanical talking points (which is an entirely separate discussion involving radfems, 4chan raids, fourth wave feminism, and a huge very nuanced set of influences I would love to talk about at a later time!)

These are largely fans who have “grown up” in the modern sites- no matter how old they actually are, their fandom habits and expectations have been shaped by the algorithms of these modern sites.

Now HERE‘s the fascinating bit that’s new to me! This is the interpretation of the data I’m getting, and so I’m out on a limb but I think this is a valid premise!

The major conflict in fandom at this time is a struggle over personal space online.

Content creators are getting messages telling them to stop, degrading them, following them from platform to platform.

They say “Hey! What gives- we were here first. The cardinal rule of fandom is don’t like, don’t read. Fandom space has always been understood to be adult- it’s been this way for decades! To find our content, you had to come to us! This is our space! This is my space, this is my blog! If you don’t like it, you’re not obligated to look!”

Meanwhile, at the exact same time, antis are saying “Hey! What gives- this content is appearing on my screen! That’s my space!  I didn’t agree to this, I don’t like this! I want it to be as far away from me as possible! I will actively drive it away.”

This is a major cultural shift! This is a huge change and a huge source of friction! And I directly credit it to the concept of “content stream” and algorithms driving similar-content to users despite them not wanting it!

Curating your online space used to be much simpler, because there wasn’t much of it! Now with millions of users spread out over a wide age range, all feeding in to the same 4-5 websites, we are seeing people be cramped in a technically limitless space!

Now people feel that they have to go on the offense to defend themselves against content they don’t like, which is predicated upon not only the algorithms of modern websites but ALSO talking points fed from the top down of what is and what is not acceptable on various platforms.

Time: 2010-2020. Is Anti a term? Yes. Who is the term used by? People self describing,and people using it to describe others. Is fandom space considered Puritanical? Depends!

So I, a fandom ancient, a creaky thing of old HTML codes and broken tags, am watching this transformation and am wildly curious for data.

Also...I uh....I can’t believe this is the short version. My ADHD is how you say “buckwild” tonight.

Anyways...um...if anyone has read to the bottom, give me data?

[onychaos]

Observing Tumblr bugs

So I did some more work digging and observing around on tumblr wondering why posts are missing in on dashboard search tags, since you know? You have the power to search for terms in a post or tags on the dashboard. I also noticed that some posts don’t show up at all..

UPDATE 2/13/2020: Gonna update this post. As a warning, retweets of the post don’t have updated info

So, for WordPress when post don’t show up, you would change the date the post was made (The current time and date) and it would be added back to WordPress search where everyone can see it.

With WordPress, It’s a very easy fix to deal with. Not really a problem when you think about it.

Now with Tumblr, Dear lord. I can kinda see why Tumblr is seen as a hellsite.. Mainly for the issue, the site breaking search engine. It’s a mess..

So, for tumblr, it’s very different. Things I noticed.

A notice: Should go without saying but if your blog and posts are adult themed and not meant for anyone but adults, your posts will never show up. You can show a like of things but porn is a no go here.

1. There are some tags on Tumblr that will show your post for 10 mins+ before removing the post from the tags recent tab. If your post is popular (I.E. 3 notes or more) It will still show up there.

The tags I know where this happens is the tags “Twitter”, “WordPress” Let me know if you know of any other tags that act like this.

1.2 There are times when your post has 5 main tags but they won’t or don’t show up in search or tags. Retagging works in some cases but most of the time, it does not work.

2. Sometimes when you have 5 tags you want your post to be found in dashboard search, they just don’t show up. Sometimes if they showup, they show up on a new post (i.e. Re-upload) with the same tags will fix the problem.

2.1 Please remember this, as it may be another reason. If you have links in your post that are blacklisted, remove them. I can not say if having blacklisted links after the URL ban dropped may affect your post in the future or not.

Tags make it easier for readers to find posts about a specific topic on your blog. For instance, you could tag your landscape photographs with #landscape or posts about your butler with #butler. Tagging your posts is as easy as you’d expect. When you create a post, enter the tags in the field at the bottom of the post form.

Tips:

You don't need to put a tag in quotes or start with a hash symbol (#).

Hit enter to separate each tag.

Only the first 20 tags on a post will show up in searches. After that, you’re just tagging for show.

Tags on Tumblr can have spaces in them. They are the most legible tags on the internet. Hooray! - Tagging your posts

3 It also seems the URL ban + being able to search posts for terms in the post or tags has had a weird effect on posts. Reblogs don’t count, as they only show up on your blog and not searchable

I was looking in a part of tumblr called “tags not working” and I’m not the only one with this issue. Some post seems to suggest the election day and/or tumblr tag system is broken (No shock about it being broken)

Search for multiple tags or terms

To search for multiple tags or terms, all you have to do is use the right syntax. For example:

picnic lunch - returns posts with the terms “picnic” and “lunch” anywhere (e.g., #picnic basket, or #lunch break, or a post using the word picnic).

#picnic lunch - returns posts with the #picnic lunch tag.

#picnic #lunch - returns posts with both #picnic AND #lunch tags.

There is a 4th option that a user or bot may have reported your post for spam or  mass Automation by a user/bot. (If you post too much) If you use tags that someone thinks is not fitting for a post of yours or if you used any import tools to upload posts from one site to Tumblr. You may fall under this rule..

What I can assume is that Tumblr system for keeping spam like post out of search + the URL ban + being able to search posts by terms / any tags has hit a great number of posts made by users..

If that is the case, you have to re-upload the post to see in search or find it by terms.

I will talk about this later..

And there is a 5th option which I can’t prove to be true or false.. I have heard the porn bots that like or retweet your posts is another reason to why your posts may not show up in search / tags but can not prove this but something to keep in mind..

If you have a secondary blog account on your main that posts or reblogs adult things, be careful, I can’t say how much this may or may not affect you since there no way to test this but keep that in mind

I don’t know if adult blogs that like / reblog your posts will affect you or not.

There is one last option.. And this is a very extreme case.. but..

If your posts aren't appearing on Tumblr-wide tag pages, it might be because your blog is pretty new and we need to make sure you’re not a robot or a spammer.

Make sure you’ve verified your account via the email we sent when you joined Tumblr. Once you’ve used your account for a while (and done normal, human things with it like follow other blogs and like or reblog posts), your posts will start appearing on tag pages.

If you are a robot or a spammer, you should visit our article about account deletion.

On the help center page for Troubleshooting tags. The post I quoted worries me. There could be a chance your account is marked as a robot or a spammer. If, at that point happens.

You have 2 options. 1. Contact Tumblr support and tell them your problems and pray to god that they do something to help out, and hope they don’t send a automatic response which can amount to “we will try to do something but won’t“

2. Backup your blog, make a new account and re-post everything there by hand, and let your followers know of the new account. Your current account may be marked as a spammer account or a robot.

So… How do you get your post to show back up on Tumblr Dashboard search with the power to search for terms and any tag on your post, and tags that are after the 5th tag on posts?

ANSWER: Re-upload the post or posts that is not showing up in tags or is no longer searchable on Tumblr Dashboard. It’s the only current fix to the problem for why posts are no longer showing up in tags / searched by terms

Update:  

treygocray said: onychaos HEY! I got it to work. Delete all your tags on the photo and re-tag it. Mine worked so I thought I’d share! :D

This does work but if the post didn’t have a banned link. This is worth a shot but be warned that your post may fall under the 5 tag or less rule.

end update

For users who only reblog or like, this will not affect you. But those who don’t reblog and make posts, this affects us greatly. When our posts can’t be seen by other users besides followers.. I don’t man, not feeling it since most followers may / are no longer active.

Since the dashboard search engine is awful and tumblr @staff don’t seem to want to fix this issue or know how to fix the issue. This is the only way from what I tested.

If you have this issue but don’t want to re-upload posts to fix it. You have to go by the 5 tags can be searched, and you can’t term and your posts may or may not show up in tags. I could be wrong but I know there are people who don’t want to use a wrong around for this bug if you got more then 50 posts.

You can test to see if your posts are searchable by making an empty tag that has never been used, ever. Then go to mass post editor and add the empty tag as the 6th tag to 30 or 20 posts at a time and search the said tag.  If your posts that you tagged with the empty tag show up in that tag under the “most recent” search and not tagged.

A empty tag (Your username) seems to be able to hold 40 or 20 of your posts at a time. That’s why it is best to do 20 or 10 to test them. You may need to wait a bit as there is delay for posts to show up. Or you can add the empty tag to 3 of your post as the 6th tag or anything after the 5th tag works.

However, if the tag being used is brand new or barely used it can affect some post from what I tested.

Brand new tags (Never used aka no posts in the tag) Can hold 40 of your posts.. Sometimes it can hold more?

non-empty tags (Tags that get used once in a while) Can hold 3 posts and there is a post delay

Very active tags can hold 3 post but if you post a lot, your older posts in a tag will be hidden after a fourth post is made but will show back up after a week or so. Sometimes Tumblr may break and the post might not show back up if hidden and you probably have to reupload it or re-tag?

If you see the post in most recent or popular search, your posts can be found by terms / any tag but this is me just observing and testing about 20 posts

Now should say this. New tags that never been used can hold 40 of your posts sometimes more? But this is if you are trying to search by term and not tags

This means users can search for your posts by tags and tags after the 5th tag as well or terms in your posts on tumblr dashboard. (That is good, very good)

Because I tried to bring my posts from WordPress to Tumblr via a defunct import tool named wp2tumblr and as a result of my post falling under these  rules of spam here what I took note of.

Posts that don't show up or can not be seen working well in tags or at all and not coming up in the search terms. Out of 147 posts.  only 113* of my posts do not show up right in tags or search nor can they be searched by terms or tags (Some tags do not show these post after 2 weeks. You have to wait a week to see them but nothing happens..)

So only 34+ posts can be searched by tag / terms / seen in tags or searched by terms

113 posts have bugged / shadow flagged for spam / search from the effects of using wp2tumblr to import my wordpress posts to tumblr..

Only way to fix this is by re-uploading the post to allow it to be found in tumblr tags and search terms.

Again, if you don’t see your post show up in search or tags, you will need to re-upload the posts in question.

And for me, I hate having to re-upload posts to have them be seen again but I will have to do it if I want my posts to be seen. Even if that means re-uploading my rants, vents, talking about users, and other things. So you will be seeing me upload some posts that may be 2017 or 2018 related.

Your followers may or may not be annoyed with you as a heads up if you re-upload posts to fix this issue.

And even if you do this, there is no 100 % plan yet or there is a chance someone may see you re-upload a post as spam.. Or the post may not show up later

But I thought I share what I have been observing how things been working on tumblr. If anyone has a better way of dealing with this, let me know.

Because when you make a new post, it is seen in tags / search. And it is searchable be terms or tags after the 5th tag

Again, if your post is not showing up in tags, re-upload the post in question and it will be back in search to be seen by everyone

However, another issue came to me. If you reupload the post it can be found in search and by terms.. now however If you edit/delete the tags when having more then 5 tags on the post and go down to 5 or less. 

Your post may fall under the 5 tags or less rule and may also lose the right to search for that post by terms but something to look out for.

Update: It seems some of my new posts are not searchable by terms anymore.

I contacted Tumblr Support but got a fast reply but it was a copy and paste. I don’t know what Tumblr Staff is doing but it’s anything but helpful.

Here a list of my posts that got hit or don’t show up.. I added clear to the post name meaning it works / shows up. I need to look at all of them. I have since deleted some old posts so this list is outdated and this is not all of the posts yet..

Some post below don’t have the right name but keep that in mind

Nothing important below. :3

my plans for 2017 - clear 12:20 AM 12/11/2019

a new discord server archive it - 11:16 PM 12/10/2019

Twitch channel updates - archive it 11:16 PM 12/10/2019

Sonikchan update archive it - 8:08 PM 12/10/2019

Updates for Sonikmage twitch archive it - 8:08 PM 12/10/2019

Sonik muffins - clear 7:34 PM 12/10/2019

Future Update archive - 4:13 AM 12/11/2019

Shutting down Sonikmage twitter archive - 12:21 AM 12/11/2019

My little guide to streaming archive - 4:13 AM 12/11/2019

New twitch streams archive - 4:14 AM 12/11/2019

Twitch rant

mini twitch rant

one trick pony archive - 4:14 AM 12/11/2019

Sonic adventure SX 2018 clear - 12:02 AM 12/11/2019

how I been feeling

game progress

sonic speed R 2018

update log 6

The Tumblr purge

game dev update 2

game overhaul

kyle and lucy

Tumblr purge 2

Done with Pangya

Tumblr purge AM

Last speedrun to do

Twitch and youtube let's play

srb2 teleport

Sonic beta clear - 3:35 PM 12/11/2019

twitter rant

facebook update

srb2 update

Speedruns I plan to do clear - 10:03 AM 12/15/2019

Second Discord channel update

how to use twitter

Thoughts on SXSW

Thoughts on Sonic Speed 2017

What's next for me?

Thoughts on Pangya celebrity

Thoughts on Pangya celebrity big ann clear - 8:58 PM 12/17/2019

Thoughts on speedrunners

Why do you stream?

New personal discord channel update 3

Sonic adventure 2 livestream

New thoughts on Pangya c

A side project

Mini server update +

sonik rp story clear - 10:05 AM 12/15/2019

another twitch rant

birthday livestream

my thoughts on spinball

The future for sonic 1 hell

Zelda shine hunting

Sonic Forces custom character

Revio shutting down

new personal discord server clear - 9:32 AM 12/15/2019

SRB2 forfeit rules clear - 9:30 AM 12/15/2019

my forum

moving out update

duel link replays

Mario Maker 2 experience

My Tumblr experience

Gave Pangya debug one last shot

Frozen Snowman Land - clear 9:30 AM 12/15/2019

Images of my fan game

venting about video games

changes and moving forward

sadx question

Playing duel links on twitch

Hyper's quest 2

video of srb2 kart

srb2kart rainbow road

mini update about my posts clear - 9:31 AM 12/15/2019

levels i forgot

srb2kart darkvile garden

tumblr theme bugs clear - 9:32 AM 12/15/2019

SRB2Kart final fall

Beaten nep

Zelda BOTW master mode stream

My review sonic spinball

streams this weekend

Why I dislike twitch fight streams

Thanks for watching

A long vent / rant

A message to a friend

Cyberscore review

What I done in 2 months

Youtube planned let's plays

My goals for 2018

Final post on speedrunning

Clicker heroes 2 thoughts

final Pangya c post

Chaos realm race nights

My CyberScore Ideas

New Start

Sonic Gather Battle

Pantufa the cat dx review

SRB2 review

Dungeon Souls revisit

Sonic R review

update log

my new server updates

Sonic World R8 review

Pangya C tea time

Sonic and Shantae 2017 demo

Sonic ages 2017

Update on Sonic hell

Sonic Forces review clear - 3:51 AM 12/12/2019

Battle for the internet act 3

game mode ideas

New changes for this year arc - 2:57 AM 12/12/2019

Sonic Mania delay archive second account -

rant: twitter archive

2 rants for the price of one

Twitch bits

Sonic Mania stream today archive - 4:44 PM 12/11/2019

SRB2 testing clear - 9:29 AM 12/15/2019

Sonic Grand Adventure clear - 10:03 AM 12/15/2019

[mechanicalriddle]

Journal Time

HERE it is, my Exalted Secret Santa journal for this year! Sorry for being late on this, whomstever my secret santa is, I’ve been a little busy finishing my last semester of college but I had a spare couple of hours today to get this out.

BROKEN STAR is a day caste, and a loyalist under the command of the bodhisattva anointed by dark waters. In life he was the youngest detective in Onyx PD’s homicide division. He can never shy away from a good mystery, though if he'd learned some restraint he might still be alive...

Star is 21 years old, a goofy, immature try-hard who worships his boss religiously, despite the fact that his new un-life is kind of a deeply traumatic nightmare and all his coworkers think he’s obnoxious. With a little time and a more thorough brainwashing he’d make an excellent enforcer for the bodhisattva’s secret police, though whether he will even make it that far is questionable at best. Currently he’s lost in a distant corner of creation thousands of miles from home, after a detour through the labyrinth separated him from his company and also resulted in the neverborn being wired directly into his brain. He’s joined forces,  much to his master’s chagrin, with a pair of unaffiliated deathknights who had also gone in search of the invisible fortress.

Appearance-wise, he’s a little on the short side (5′5″) with a compact, athletic build, also the victim of some overenthusiastic necrosurgery. the little extraneous metal bits are the result of the artifact he wields, which are wings made out of knives, i don’t often draw the knives in detail because its a huge pain in the ass. No the wings do not come off (though the feathers can); neither does the mask, that’s holding his brains in! Overall he is just sort a nasty boy. He wears like two outfits because everything has to be custom-tailored but you can put him in whatever you want really. Also his anima is a writhing mass of frantic black birds dark enough to blot out the sun.

I have a lot of pictures of this guy. No really. Like a lot of fucking pictures. Here is his main, most updated ref; a lot of the other pictures I linked are from various previous iterations of his design. You can also look through his tumblr tag though it is mainly jokes about birds and also his mortifying dietary habits; he has an aesthetic tag as well though I don’t often update it.

---

TEPET JERAI is an ex-dynast wood aspect. He used to be part of the tepet legions, but bailed after some shit went down and fled eastward to spend a few decades as some kind of forest hermit. 

Jerai never really “got” his family’s competitive mentality, nor their taste for violence, conquering, and forcing the weak under their heel. Despite this he recieved instruction in the art of military strategy and wartime medicine at the House of Bells; it took many more years to unlearn what he had learned there. He has not been home since long before the Bull of the North laid waste to a third of the house’s scions, though he delights at his family’s misfortunes. Among the Tepets his name is spoken only in harsh whispers.

Jerai is real small (5′2″). Don’t let the dad bod fool you, he’s significantly stronger and faster than he looks. Clothes are mostly made of natural materials; he tends to wear and carry a lot of things, though his fashion still has a bit of a dynastic flair to it, it’s pretty subdued. Overall he has kind of a rolling plains-based schtick which shows in his aspect markings (dandelions in his hair in the spring and summer, dead grass in the winter) as well as his anima, a field full of tattered banners and broken, rusted weaponry. His horse (?) is a boon from a nature god; she is a baby and rascal.

Here is an updated ref I made of him for secret santa. I also have a bunch of older pictures of him you can reference as well: (x)(x)(x)

i have ONE more character for this writeup, which is one I don’t believe i’ve talked about on here before

---

GRIN PORTENT LOOMING OVER FIELDS OF WAR, or Grim, as she is known, was once one of First and Forsaken Lion’s most terrifying singular forces of military might. She is a Midnight and a war supernal, once as vicious, callous and cruel as they come. But one day, something changed. 

Grim exists in the Hour in Black universe (same as Star), set about 5 years after most games traditionally are. She has been on many-a-campaign, and conquered many-a-city at the whim of her Master. On one of these, a troublesome rogue appeared to thwart her plans. The trickster came back, again and again, always with some new wrench to throw into her plans. Eventually she confronted them, when the two stumbled into the claws of a Raksha, and were trapped in its reality-warping mind prison for several weeks. When finally they had escaped, working together with only each other as company, they had come to an understanding. 

The lunar, Prince of Strays (owned by @heedra​), became a frequent visitor of Grim’s personal manse. The satisfaction of violence and total dominion began to dull, and the fulfillment of her duties as a deathknight began to tire her. Even more, they disgusted her. Eventually she had made a slip-up which forced her hand, and the two ran away together to a remote forest in the northeast. There they live in a cabin, miles from any sort of civilization as a necessary precaution, and together raise their two mortal daughters.

Grim wears two faces- one she hid behind a helmet, and another she is still only just becoming comfortable with.  Tall and muscular enough to be intimidating to most, she converses in a curt, military cadence, though she is slowly learning to find softness again. She has locked away all her most dangerous effects in a place where tiny little hands can’t mistakenly grab them, but is still ready to don her dreadful soulsteel plate again should the need arise. 

She wears simple clothes in muted tones, loose shirts with long skirts or trousers. Here she is in a set of lamellar, this is sort of the nicest picture I have of her and it’s really a shame there aren’t more. Her anima is... ehhh, I think it may be a city in ruin, shrouded in darkness, under a looming crimson sky.

addendum: “where is tedeo what have you done to him!!” he is fine! he just got a picture last year, so I felt like some of my other Guys should have a chance. you can draw him if you want though you’re gonna have to dig up some refs for that yourself.

Feel free to take some liberties, if you want to design them a new outfit or anything like that, by all means, go nuts.

Good luck, and godspeed.

[commander-hanji-zoe]

Do you have any advice for a new blog?

🌸 Oh this is such an interesting ask, I’ve been thinking about it for a few days now, sorry it’s taken a while to get back to you but I was thinking how best to answer it! While this blog has only been around for 3 years and I’ve only really started posting in it recently, I have had my main tumblr blog for 10 years and several side blogs with quite a few followers so I’m hoping I can provide some insight! I do apologise as this turned into a bit of a ramble that I feel is about tumblr but beings to overlap into life advice lol - I blame my age. 🌸

1.) I would say firstly, enjoy it. I feel sometimes there’s a lot of pressure to get loads of followers, create new content etc. and you can forget why you’re here. I got tumblr to reblog photos of things that made me happy from bands to tattoos, movie stuff, art etc and occasionally I would forget that and end up getting bogged down in comparing stats and myself to others. So yeah, enjoy it and remember why you joined ^_^

2.) If you love work that others create (writing/art/gif sets etc.) show your appreciation not just with likes but with comments and reblogging where you can/feel comfortable doing so. Likes are great and always appreciated but comments help to inspire and reblogging means more people will see their work. It encourages content creators to continue creating, it’s also a really good way of gaining followers and make friends. If you support others they will likely support you in return. 

3.) Share the art/fan art/cosplay photos you love as per above - but don’t repost work. This was something I wasn’t really aware of when I first joined tumblr, a lot of people would just save photos from google or deviant art (it was a very different place back then) and post them on tumblr to show appreciation. But often there would be no artist detail or link to the artist, instead if you find something you like reblog it from the creator. If it isn’t on tumblr and you’d really like to post it here, contact the creator and ask their permission to post - then include a link in the post and explain you have the artist’s permission. 

4.) Talk to people :) - Okay like Alice in Wonderland here’s some advice I could really use sometimes! Through tumblr I have met some of the most amazing friends. When I first started out I started chatting to a girl who went to the same Uni as me, we met up to go for coffee, browse record shops and saw The Vaccines together. I’ve also met numerous people who encouraged me to go to Hobbit Con in Germany - I had the most amazing time, remained friends, one of them came to my wedding. I guess the message here is that internet friends are great and you never know what a friendship can blossom into. If there’s someone whose work you admire or blog you love, don’t be afraid to reach out and send a message, even if you feel a bit silly (I often do!). 

5.) Tags - My take on tags is pretty simple, tag correctly. I often tag things quite heavily but I make sure that I only tag characters that feature in a post or fandoms that feature in that post etc. You often come across posts where every character in the show has been tagged, I get why people do it, it means the post will come up in more results but it is rather infuriating when you’re looking for something specific. It also looks messy and can make things hard to find on your own blog. So yeah tag the show/film/book etc, tag the relevant characters, add whatever tags you want regarding your feelings/emotions about the post or thoughts on it. But ideally keep it relevant. On that note, tag ships (people often blacklist ships they dislike or that they find problematic) so doing this helps everyone. Anything that’s only really suitable for people 18+ tag however you see fit (due to Tumblr’s changes last year we had to revert to tagging things on the citrus scale again so I tag anything like that as lemon as well as nsft) Finally Trigger/content warnings - I do use them, some people put warnings on everything, some people don’t do at all. Again like with shipping it is helpful for people who have  

6.) Remember to take breaks - tumblr can be a little addictive and easy to pass time (like social media) so remember to take breaks, when you get back they’ll be loads of new stuff on your dashboard to look at ^_^

7.) Follow loads of blogs! I probably should have put this higher up. But have a think about the kind of content you want to see and spend some time searching for blogs that fit that, I also find it’s nice to follow some more aesthetic blogs or blogs that are calming/relaxing, seeing things like that on my dash is always a reminder to have a breather!

8.) Enjoy playing around with themes - decide what you want your blog to be about (and remember there’s nothing wrong with having a main blog that’s a little bit of everything you love as well as personal stuff!) and then have fun with the settings. There’s a lot of free tumblr themes, some of which are pretty neat and user friendly in terms of customisation. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you’re stuck. 

9.) Side blogs are also really great. I begun to create side blogs because I didn’t want to spam my main blog with Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, Red Dead Redemption 2 or Attack on Titan, so I created side blogs. I still post about all these things on main but not as frequently. A side blog can also be good if you want to create a blog you can share with employers - I have a side blog for my photography and one for my writing. Sideblogs are also a good way of keeping certain material away from the blog where people in real life are most likely to find you. Generally I won’t post 18+ material on my main blog, so smutty fan fiction etc. goes on the side blogs. As a side note, when you have a side blog you cannot like posts or ask questions as that side blog - it will be from your main blog. 

10.) Try not to get disheartened if you create original content and it doesn’t get a lot of attention at first. When you create a blog it can take time to gain followers/traction. But remember as per point 1, that Tumblr should be fun and creating content should first and fore mostly be for you and your enjoyement. But if you continue to create, tag appropriately but also show appreciation for fellow creators there’s no reason why in time you won’t flourish. And as per point 3, if you reblog others work there’s a chance they in return will reblog your art. 

11.) There’s extension kits you can get for tumblr, I know some people use them and find them helpful. I’m not sure they’re as poplar/needed now as they used to be. I used to use one but don’t feel the need now, however might be worth a google or asking someone more knowledgeable to see if it’ll work for you.

12.) You can blacklist tags through settings, if there’s any ships, characters, things you’d rather not see on your dash or that you find upsetting or triggering I’d recommend blacklisting them. If people tag correctly you shouldn’t much/if any of it. 

13.) Under blog settings you can also choose whether you want your blog to be searchable via the email address you registered with and on google. I switched this off pretty much as soon as it became a feature! My blogs, even my main blog are a piece of me which is only shared with a select few people in real life. I really do not need my colleagues, employers, certain family/friends finding this! 

14.) Use Queues! I adore a queue.... Once I discovered they were a thing I try to have around 100 posts in my queue on main at any time. You can amend how many times you post a day (mine is around 8-12 times, I change it when i go away). It just means your blog remains active even if you can’t really log on for a week or two or if you’re on holiday. Occasionally I’ll add original posts into my queue with writing, it can be nice to come back and see the feedback. A lot of people put ‘queue’ in the tag, but you’ll realise most people have a quirky tag. For example on main mine is - one does not simply queue their way through tumblr. And on my red dead blog it’s - I had a god damn queue! Sadly on here I haven’t got one yet! 

15.) Finally I would say engage in discourse as little as possible. It can be tempting and while drama can be fun for a while, even just to watch from the outside it can quickly escalate into something nasty and toxic. At first you might want to join in but tumblr can be, well it can be a lot at times and very noisy with everyone screaming their opinions and trying to be louder than the person before. I would say no fandom is inherently toxic, but it happens. A fandom I was heavily involved in last year had so much discourse and there was so much drama that even though I wasn’t involved in it my anxiety was through the roof, I had a panic attack over it and felt paranoid. After speaking to other older members in the fandom I felt much better (they too were annoyed with what was happening) and we realised that essentially a lot of it boiled down to a real lack of critical thinking. I’m not saying don’t get involved at all, sometimes I have seen things where I’ve felt things need to be said/action taken especially when it comes to intolerance and hatred. But I would say when you do engage - pick your battles. (I hope this last one makes sense). I started writing a lot more and going into the politics of it and ranting about bigots and then thought that’s probably enough! 😁

I hope this post helps! Like I said I’ve never been asked something like this so it took a bit of thinking but these are some of the key thoughts I had. 

edit - I meant to add that obviously the above is just my opinion and based on my experiences on tumblr/thoughts about things.

[transcendent-paras]

Basic Info on My Paracosm

Don’t interact if you are not a MaDDer or an immersive daydreamer

I’m using paracosm lightly cause it’s like... mirrored thisverse? mirrored and slightly to the left with my paras added in, you know? I went from having paracosms with whole galaxies and gods and languages to thisverse 2.0.

Background/About Me: I'm a closeted trans male. Recently I’ve been hyperfocusing on music - specifically "alternative" music like punk, metalcore, rock, emo, etc  as well as kpop - and it's affected my paracosm. My current paracosm is a Trans punk rock band focusing on one band named Transcendent, and has Incorporated many of the bands I listen to into it. 

Original Paras: 

Parame - Michè Valentino: Lead singer, Pianist, Song writer. Trans male in his 20s, adopted by a family in the UK and has two older brothers. His middle brother is highkey based off  the kpop group *XO’s (to avoid this coming up in the tags) leader Su*o, and he is also in a band very similar to *XO. Michè fell in love with one of *XO’s members but because of the large age gap it was unrequited. Eventually Michè went to study abroad and moved to New York city and met his best friend and later boyfriend Ashley Nolans. Shortly after high school Ashley and Michè moved in together.

Ashley Nolans: Backing vocalist and screams/growls, Lead guitarist. A year older than Michè, he is a former myspace & later instagram drag king when he saw a drag queen at a mall. Slowly he realized he identified as a trans male instead of a drag king. His family was supportive of his whole journey and let him do what he felt comfortable doing, though they did manage his myspace since he was very young. Michè moved to Ashley’s high school and they were in the same music class. Ashley took Michè to his first pride parade. Ashley is slightly insecure that Michè will leave him for the *XO member he had a crush on, but Ashley never brings it up or lashes out/acts on it.

Nikki Archer: Bass Guitarist, Composer. Nikki is agender and has always identified as such even with out knowing anything about gender identities as a child. Their uncle took them to many rock and punk concerts growing up, and bought them their first bass for their 13th birthday, that Nikki still has but has retired it so it doesn’t get damaged on tour. Nikki’s uncle is the most understanding member of the family about their gender, but their parents try to be accepting and not ignorant. Nikki and Emilynn were Vice President and President of their high school’s LGBT Club. Though they went to the same school as Ashley they never met him and graduated before Michè started going there. Nikki and Emilynn dated for a while in high school but decided they were better as close platonic friends.

Emilynn Kay: Drummer, Leader. Emilynn is the oldest member, 5 years older than Michè and is a trans woman. She grew up in the south originally and not only had to deal with racism as a poc, but didn’t even dream of coming out to anyone besides her parents. Eventually her parents decided it would be best for her if they moved. When they moved up to New York she was able to dress the way she wanted and easily took her gender in stride. Of course she had harsher comments and bullying than white trans kids or cis black kids at her school she never changed who she was to fit in. She did percussion in the marching band and acted in theater often. She naturally took on a motherly role to other LGBT kids in the school, especially but not limited to younger trans kids, and they voted for her to be president of the club. She met Michè and Ashley at a pride parade very nervous to admit to being trans and she took them under her wing. When she realized she had a group of trans friends who all were into the same type of music and could play instruments she suggested forming a band.

Alexandria Woods: Rhythm Guitarist, Violinist, Newest Member. Alexandria realized at the start of high school she identified more feminine than masculine and after research felt Demi-girl described her the most. Her friends in high school helped her express herself while remaining closeted, especially from her parents. Her family were for the most part very kind and she got along with them on every issue except for gender. Meanwhile Alexandria also had a youtube channel that she posted guitar and violin covers on, gaining a respectable fan base on various platforms. Michè discovered her when she did a cover of a Transcendent song and he followed her on twitter. One day when she was 16, a cousin discovered one of her skirts in her closet and outted her to her parents, getting her kicked out and they have not spoken since. Alexandria made a tweet that she would have to put a pause on covers until she could find a place to live, and Michè swooped in asking if she need a place to live. After living with Michè and Ashley for a while, the band had a meeting and agreed that Alexandria would be a perfect fit in the band. The fans and later the members joke that Alexandria is Michè and Ashley’s daughter. Fans immediately loved Alexandria as a member of the band, especially since many of them had know of her in vlogs with the band and members retweeting her covers often.

Celebrity paras (censored so it doesnt show in tumblrs search results, if you cant figure out the * feel free to pm me or ask me off anon!): 

*XO: Originally in a past paracosm they were as themselves and a slightly different parame was just friends with them, but over time i latched onto the leader Su*o and started to see him as a brother figure. Not wanting to do culture appropriation I warped them from kpop to western music and made it so Michè was adopted by Su*o’s family. Nearly everything about them is the same including names and achievements, past members, and music. Because I actually know Korean there is no language barrier in music so it doesn’t bother me that they are supposed to be a uk based band and they sing in korean in thisverse, but in paracosm it is ‘in english’. The member that Michè is in love with is Ch****ol

Bl*ck Veil Br*d*s: Ashley and Michè bonded over a love for the band, and later got Emilynn and Nikki into them. Transcendent went from playing basement shows to being signed under Republic Records and it’s subsidiary Lava records, the same labels as B*B. Since they do a similar style music under the same label they crossed paths a few times in company, at warped tour, and eventually Transcendent did a few opening sets for B*B. They became close, and have talked about doing some sort of collaboration. 

P*l*y* R*y*l*: Alexandria really looked up to them, and was beyond ecstatic meeting them backstage at warped tour. The two bands have hung out a few times and they are very supportive of each other on social media. 

Other bands here and there that show up occasionally: P**rc* the v**l, f*ll*ng in r*v*rs* (michè has gotten into verbal arguments with r*nn*e a few times but they don’t hate eachother), my ch*****l romance, as ** is, sh*n*e (kpop).

Transcendent’s Music: 

Respect Existence - First album: Overall theme of the album is celebrating differences and who you are, with elements of punk rock, speed metal, and experimental rock. Usually when daydreaming about this era I listen to B*B’s album Set The World on Fire and P*V’s Collide With The Sky which is sort of the instrumental vibe I picture this album being. After this was released they were sighed under lava records

Who came first - Album: cover album dedicated to bands that influenced Transcendent’s music style. First album with Alexandria. Most recent album, and brought them further into the limelight, being a more recognizable alternative band. 

I’m Not Okay (originally by m*r)

Misery Business (originally by param***)

But It’s Better If You Do (originally by p!*td)

I Don’t Care (originally by f*b)

21 Guns (originally by gr**n d*y)

Bulls In The Bronx (originally by p*v) 

If You Can’t Hang (originally by s*s)

Don’t Feel Quite Right (originally by p*l*y* r*y*l*)

The Drug In Me Is You (originally by f*r)

10 Miles Wide (originally by es****e the f**e)

Can You Feel My Heart (originally by b**h)

The Legacy (originally by b*b)

Expect Resistance - Upcoming album: companion piece to Respect Existence (not a repackage album). Not only does it celebrate your differences but also a call to action to be unapologetically you and to ‘form a resistance’ against those who hold you back. I usually listen to B*B’s album vale and Agai*** me!’s song teenage anarchist when thinking about this time. My paras are trying to see if they can get any collaborations with different artists, Michè especially wants to have his brother on one of the songs.

[drferox]

20 Questions with Dr Ferox #23

Whelp, time for another blast of 20 questions and comments from the inbox. If you were brave enough to use your username I’ve tried to tag you (Thanks Tumblr) but if you were on anon, you’ll have to look yourself.

Would you folks be interested in me answering these sort of short questions in a video instead? Let me know in the replies. Now here we go!

Anonymous said: do u play mobile games on your phone, like animal crossing pocket camp? :O

No, should I? I haven't heard much about it.

@trisaratops45 said: Dr. Ferox, First off I just started following your blog and love it! I'm stuck using mobile so I can't see your faq information. I was just wondering if the clinic you work at sees any exotic or pocket pets? Of so what is your favorite to see and treat? Thank you!

Welcome! We don't see a huge amount of exotics at my clinic, we're not well set up for them, but ferrets are probably my favorites.

Anonymous said: do you follow any medblr blogs? and if you do, are you ever like 'thank goodness i don't have to deal with that' or 'man i wish it was that easy'? question tax: what is your favorite depiction of dragons from fantasy media

I actually had to go check which blogs I was following. No active medblr blogs in the list anyway. I often see real clients, in the flesh, and think 'Im glad i don't have to deal with that', especially when they describe to me their own gross medical problems as though I want to know exactly what's coming out of their orifices. All dragons are good dragons. I don't think i could pick a favorite.

@the-noble-banana said: What style of nail clippers are best for trimming a cat's claws?

Whatever you're comfortable with. I like these ones

Anonymous said: Do dogs get acne? Is that a thing? Just curious! Question tax: if you could shoot something out of your finger, what would it be?

They can get comedones with certain hormonal conditions (black heads) and can get pimple-like lesions with skin infections. I would shoot icy cold water out of my fingers. Great for hot days, and for stupid faces.

Anonymous said: Do you typically bandage and cover amputations? At the vet I worked at (I was only kennel so everything I saw was in passing) every animal who had limb amputation left after a day or two with the incision fully bandaged. My dog had her hind leg amputated and the vet (different one) had her in and out in under three hours and sent her home unbandage. Just out of curiosity is it case by case that you decide to bandage? Gave my mom a little heart attack seeing her all bloody and swollen

We might but a light dressing over them, but in an amputation of anything more than a toe there's often not much to bandage. Limb amputations are typically very high up the limb in dogs and cats and it's hard to bandage something in that position. Also, sometimes dogs eat the dressing.

@crimsonrose95 said: I'm not vet med, but I am into chemistry and physical sciences and the ask talking about chemistry being inconsistent is so weird a thought to me. Biology is way less consistent than chemistry like chemistry is mostly math with elements and compounds while biology is mostly names. It's just really interesting how most people start to think a science they don't like and have trouble in is just the science being completely inconsistent to them. Me included.

I get what you mean. Chemistry has a fairly distinct set of rules, even if they're rules you've not encountered outide of chemistry before. I was never a fan of physics, but it is consistent. Biology likes to bend rules. Life finds a way.

Anonymous said: Why does my cat yell when I try to use the bathroom alone? Question tax: what's your favorite thing about Australia?

Possibly he thinks you need moral support? Or that there's demons in there. My favorite thing about Australia is our universal healthcare system and gun control.

@foxtrottarts said: How common is dewclaw removal in dogs, and what are the benefits/downsides?

Hind dewclaw removal is relatively common at the time of deseing, if they're the sort that flop all over the place and lack a boney attachment. Front dewclaws are usually left, unless removed for a medical reason. I've written about it before here. https://drferox.tumblr.com/search/dewclaw

Anonymous said: Can a dog still have the MDR1 gene if they have never reacted to those drugs in the past (lets says a dog that has regular flea prevention of selemectin)

If the dog has only had a popular flea product containing selamectin but has never had ivermectin, yes they could still have it. MDR1 dogs typically don't react to that product, nor do they react to the annual heartworm injection.

Anonymous said: Hello, I had a question as google only takes me but so far, and the results were iffy at best since it's difficult to locate a vet or someone in a position who would know the answer. How much of a danger is animal or human saliva to pet birds? Some people say kissing the bird, or having another pet such as a dog lick/groom them is an issue, but I'm just lost on if any is true, and would love to find the answer. Thanks a ton in advance since it's all pretty confusing.

It is a potential issue. Carnivore saliva contains many bacterial species that can be devastating to birds or other mammals even through relatively small abrasions. Carnivores should not be permitted to interact with prey species and birds. Cats are especially risky because they're so pointy and because they effectively coat themselves in saliva when grooming. You can find some more information here.

Anonymous said: Hi Dr. Ferox, we recently had to put our cat down due to health issues. We're pretty sure he had FIP as the last week of his life he had every symptom but one. A website we saw said the virus can live in the environment for weeks afterwards and I was wondering if you knew any sort of approximate time. We aren't ready for another cat yet but occasionally foster a kitten and don't want to bring one into the house and have it get sick

I typically reccomnd 4 months, and replacing bedding, litter trays and food dishes. While you are probably fine with 3 months, given the incurable and devestating nature of FIP (Feline Infection Peritonitis) I prefer to err on the side of caution.

@kumoi-no-hikari said: I got a couple rats a few months ago and the lady I bought them from mentioned that most vets don't know much about rats and will probably do more harm than good unless the situation is extreme. Is that true? They haven't had any issues, but I'm worried about traumatizing them or wasting money if they ever have a problem.

Some vets will certainly be better equiped or more interested in treating rats than others, but you'll only know if you call around and ask them. If they're not keen on seeing rats, they might know somebody who is. I think saying 'most vets don't know X' is unfair when you look at the diversity of vets in the world. Call around, plan for the worst ahead of time.

Anonymous said: Do you know how taxidermy works? I plan this route for my cat when she's passes, do I have to contact them before the body stiffens or position her first?

No idea. But I would contact them well in advance incase they have waiting lists or something. But I would think very carefully about whether taxidermy of a pet is something you definitely want.

Anonymous said: Hey there! What’s your favorite brand of stethoscope?

The Littman is what I use and have been very happy with my Classic II.

Anonymous said:Our poodle mix loved grabbing a mouthful of food then running to the living room to eat it - not necessarily to be near us, he just would eat over carpet. Sometimes we'd rearrange the living room so it wasn't a direct shot from the dining room and he'd still run around the furniture to eat there. He also once pooped one piece on each stair when we were gone all day for some unfathomable reason.

There is so much that could be going on there, but since you didn't seem to ask a question I'm not sure what you'd like me to say.

Anonymous said: On the topic if dog eating things they shouldn't. A shitzu swallowed the end of a large chew bone whole and when she puked It up it was about the size of my fist.

Little dogs often seem to overestimate what they can safely eat. Westies seem to be the worst for this though, and are a common breed to see for stuff getting stuck in their oesophagus.

Anonymous said: About people thinking vets are scammers, my family was so bad with this when I was a child. I remember I had a sick kitten, I was around 8, it had some lung issues and I begged and cried to vet it and my dad said "pray really really really hard to God every hour, and maybe he'll bring a miracle!" and the cat died the next day :( I get so LIVID when people refuse taking their pets to vets for stuff that cannot wait. Makes me wanna slap those people senseless!

Your Dad sounds like a lazy asshole and a cheapskate. Even if god existed, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't appreciate being dialed up for a miracle like a pizza delivery.

Anonymous said: i just wanted to tell you that i recently adopted an older orange tabby cat (dsh) and he is large. like not just fat (which we are working on), but unusually tall and long. like. maine coon size. he has so far used his size to swipe bacon off a kitchen counter and remain an effective roadblock. he's very calm and sweet, i love my big fat baby.

Congratulations on your new addition! I'm sure your big orange boy loves you back too.

@mise-en--place said: Thought you might appreciate this. We got records on a cat today and on a previous visit they stated; "BCS 5/9. Cat appears to be about 7lbs through the gloves and towel." We got a good laugh, cat was actually quite calm for her visit.

I received a history for my old cat Dippa who had once very badly bitten this other vet that only said "Appears healthy in cage. Vaccinated in cage. Dr Ferox is welcome to come and perform a dental on her own cat any time she likes." I took that to mean "I'm not touching this hellbeast. You deal with her."

[thisweekingundamwing]

Gundam Wing July 9th-15th 2017

Here’s this weeks round up! Enjoy!

(Okay, so I tried to get old art/official art love for this week in on this one... and just doing it for the day I had the idea... yeah, that’s a little much. So, if you would like things like that to be listed in the weekly recap, tag us or submit it please!)

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction:

@ahsimwithsake​ Chains (Chapter 6) http://archiveofourown.org/works/10884354/chapters/25733592

Trowa Barton has a secret--one he has kept his entire life. A single operation brings it all to light.

In which Une and Trowa handle the aftermath.

1X2, 2X4, 1X2X4, 5X6, 3XOC

@amberlyinviolet​ Knife in Hand (Ch. 21) http://archiveofourown.org/works/6068848/chapters/25668318

When Duo learns there's a hit out on him, he turns to the only person in Chicago he believes capable of helping him. But will the cost of the Broker's help be too high?

2X3

@anaranesindanarie, Death Unspeaking (Ch. 1) http://archiveofourown.org/works/11483196/chapters/25754169

What happens when a Gundam Pilot is mute? What happens when the other Pilots look down at him because of it? Will he overcome the odds or will the odds overcome him?

Duo Maxwell

Random Works (Ch. 7-9) http://archiveofourown.org/works/11011338/chapters/25760454

Duo Maxwell, WuFei Chang

Death, PTSD, M/M

@anaranesindanarie, @rhysgalentalcernunnos The Maxwell Twins: Shi and Duo (Ch. 7) http://archiveofourown.org/works/11026149/chapters/25320114

They didn’t know anything about their parents or if they were even related, but they couldn’t deny the fact that they looked alike. Or the fact that they only had each other.

NSFW, twincest, 2x2

@chronicwhimsy Saudade (Ch. 3) http://archiveofourown.org/works/11352189/chapters/25742919

Nice is nice. Except when Trowa and Duo start to wind each other up. Trowa considers Yogic Punching as a therapeutic method.

Trowa Barton/Quatre Raberba Winner, 3X4

Trowa Barton, Duo Maxwell, Quatre Raberba Winner, Catherine Bloom, Heero Yuy, Chang Wufei

Trowa is a good bro, Duo is a terrible bro, but he tries very hard, Confident!Quatre, circus shenanigans, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, thin line between being a good wingman and interfering, Mentions of Underage Sex, Underage Drinking, Duo and Trowa Bromance 5eva

@claraxbarton Offstage (Ch. 9) http://archiveofourown.org/works/7693540/chapters/25718937

Duo Maxwell/Zechs Merquise, 6X2

Warnings: Angst, language, sex (the usual)

Cypress (Ch. 2) http://archiveofourown.org/works/11110803/chapters/25689645

For Sunday Sinning on Tumblr… but then it got long… 3X6

Young Gods (Ch. 2) http://archiveofourown.org/works/11023167/chapters/25813725

A Phoenician relic finds its way into Dr. Relena Peacecraft's hands. An unexpected group must decide the fate of the world. Full of sex, adventure and sass.

Wufei Chang/Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton/Relena Peacecraft, Meilan Long/Hilde Schbeiker, Zechs Merquise/Quatre Raberba Winner

Duo Maxwell, Relena Peacecraft, Wufei Chang, Trowa Barton, Dorothy Catalonia, Catherine Bloom, Meilan Long, Hilde Schbeiker, Zechs Merquise, Treize Khushrenada, Quatre Raberba Winner, Lady Une, Lucrezia Noin, Heero Yuy

Urban Fantasy, Alternate Universe, Drug Use, Supernatural Elements

Gundam20012005 Anime-Corner-Gundam-Wing-Part-1 http://gundam20012005.deviantart.com/journal/Anime-Corner-Gundam-Wing-Part-1-691618137

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Part 1 Episodes 1-5

Anime-Corner-Gundam-Wing-Part-2 http://gundam20012005.deviantart.com/journal/Anime-Corner-Gundam-Wing-Part-2-692451860

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Part 2 Episodes 6-10

HatariHatari [Podfic] Put Up Your [Daisy] Dukes http://archiveofourown.org/works/11453445

3X4, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Original Characters

Summary from original fic: Quatre is a small-town, southern boy with aspirations that don't include spending the rest of his life as trailer trash, but for now, he's forced to wait tables at a dive in rural Georgia until he can save enough money for college. Though with a hot new bouncer on the payroll, maybe things are finally looking up.

18ish minutes. Original Fic by @noelleian.

@kangofu-cb​ Mission Redacted (Ch. 11) http://archiveofourown.org/works/10872516/chapters/25648503

The team is off to try and rescue Relena, capture Von Holck, and generally take care of business.

Pairings: 2x5, background 3x4 and RxD

Warning: none specific to this chapter.

@lifeaftermeteor Snippet Saturday (Unknown) https://lifeaftermeteor.tumblr.com/post/163034043541/location-unknown-presumably-still-honduras-date

WuFei Chang

Luvsanime02 Maneuvers (Ch. 2) http://archiveofourown.org/works/11385195/chapters/25684290

Heero and Relena are ready to start up their business. Their first client? Dorothy Catalonia.

This is the sixth story in Navigation, a fem!Heero series.

@morbidbirdy, @the-notorious-bhg Something About us (Ch. 9 & 10) http://archiveofourown.org/works/11333262/chapters/25780473

Five Years after Operation Meteor the fragile peace between Earth and the colonies is once again threatened when a beloved prominent political figure is assassinated. The former Gundam pilots come together again for a new mission, which forces unexplored feelings to arise between Heero and Trowa.

1X3

Where I Belong (Ch. 16-19) http://archiveofourown.org/works/10691187/chapters/25235595

In the year AC 205 the status of the Earth-Sphere remains relatively peaceful thanks to the efforts of the ESUN and it’s peacekeeping organization Preventer. The five young men who had once fought together for this peace now work quietly behind the scenes to maintain it. Despite their new roles in this world, Heero and Trowa struggle to establish a comfortable place in it. In the process of finding themselves they eventually realize that their place is with each other.

1X3

@nekoflashficcing​ Permission http://nekoflashficcing.tumblr.com/post/162497732412/gw-permission

Post-canon/future - To foster good relations with the public, Preventers came up with an idea.

WuFei Chang, Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy

genfic set in post-canon, Preventers

Curiosity Kills http://nekoflashficcing.tumblr.com/post/162537467540/gw-curiosity-kills

Archaeologist/Translation problem AU - They found a mysterious door to the rumored Fallen Paradise.

Duo Maxwell, Quatre Raberba Winner

archaeologist/translator problem au, swearing

On Edge http://nekoflashficcing.tumblr.com/post/162842503123/gw-on-edge

Their fight was bad.

Heero/Duo, unrequited Wufei/Duo

angst fic for an otp challenge, prompt “making up afterwards”

Late http://nekoflashficcing.tumblr.com/post/162844367216/gw-late

A late night visitor to Trowa’s bed.

Trowa/Quatre

a gen fic for an otp challenge, prompt “spooning”

Seraphiczero New Mobile History - Gundam Wing: The Sword (Ch. 1) http://archiveofourown.org/works/11455014/chapters/25677795

After the formation of the ESUN, Heero Yuy still finds that he cannot let go of his old ways, and he struggles to become an ordinary man. However, trouble is brewing in the background, and he may not be able to give up The Sword after all.

Heero Yuy, Quatre Raberba Winner

Post-Anime, Mecha, Canon - Anime, Post-Endless Waltz, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, Outer Space, Space Stations, Suffering, Peace, Soldiers, Veterans, Video & Computer Games, Protests, Psychological Torture, Dogs, News Media, Propaganda, War, Post-War

ShenLong Bound, Bonded, and Betrayed (Ch. 58) http://archiveofourown.org/works/7188593/chapters/25691214

Heero is the eldest son of the King of Colonia. His 21st birthday is approaching and as tradition dictates his betrothed is soon to arrive. However he is also bound by tradition to select his own personal slave. The events that unfold lead him down a path that not only tests his sanity but his humanity and love as well.

Heero Yuy/Duo Maxwell, Relena Peacecraft/Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton/Quatre Raberba Winner, Treize Khushrenada/Lady Une

Chang Wufei, Zechs Merquise, Hilde Schbeiker, Dorothy Catalonia, Lucrezia Noin, Sally Po

Sap, Angst, Bondage, Slavery, Yaoi, Lemon, Lime, Het, Violence, Fluff, AU, OOC. - Freeform

Signifying_nothing Live http://archiveofourown.org/works/11474925

“If it was anyone but you, Yuy,” he says, his voice rasping and hoarse. “I'd have shot you.”

“You're full of it,” Heero says, moving closer. Wufei is sweaty, his lips are chapped. “You can't even lift a gun right now.”

1X5

SkullQueen_Loritta The Trials and Errors of Memories (Ch. 1) http://archiveofourown.org/works/11196309/chapters/25002504

It's A.C 197 and our favorite gundam pilots are now part of society. For them life is calm.

Too bad calm never stays when it comes to them.

After several incidents of spacing out, Heero discovers that he is suffering from a form of brain damage as a result of his failed self detonation attempt during the war. A side effect is that Heero can't clearly remember his memories from before the war but he does remember two things: That he has a brother and that he knows a girl that he has a connection to. When a search ends up revealing a place called Kaweneshi City, the pilots decide to take a journey there to find answers. Will Heero find the answers he needs or will the trip be for naught? Or will the pilots find something else along the way instead?

1XOC, 2XOC, 3XOC, 4XOC, 5XOC, Lots of Original Characters.

Thehiddenbaroness Resurrecting the Viper (Ch. 9) http://archiveofourown.org/works/10938852/chapters/25805931

Following a routine visit to Vingolf, Orga, Mikazuki and Merribit are surprised by the sudden appearance of a practically naked, injured woman. Although Artima seems to have full recollection of who she is, she does not seem to understand the outside world. Against Orga's better judgment, the Isaribi is soon entangled in Artima's quest to find and destroy her old mobile suit - and discover both she and it are relics from over three hundred years ago that could hold the key to Tekkadan's future.

機動戦士ガンダム 鉄血のオルフェンズ | Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Gundam Wing

Orga Itsuka, Eugene Sevenstark, Mikazuki Augus, Merribit Stapleton, Norba Shino, Akihiro Altland, McGillis Fareed, Original Female Character(s), Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Naze Turbine

Action/Adventure, Crossover of a kind, Science Fiction, Cryogenics, Revenge, Drama, Political Intrigue

Crossover fic

@weiclown Dead End http://archiveofourown.org/works/11312295

Trowa and Quatre are sent in on a simple ‘infiltrate, get the data, and get out’ type of mission. Someone at Preventers was grossly misinformed, and things go FUBAR pretty quick. Will they be able to get out together, and in one piece?

Post-Endless Waltz, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Brief mention of attempted rape, Violence, Murder, Major Character Injury, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Preventers (Gundam Wing), Dark, Wilderness Survival, Forests, Blood and Violence

Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner - No pairings

xKamiixChanx Aunque no te pueda ver (Ch. 4) http://archiveofourown.org/works/8234525/chapters/25684680

1XRelena, 2XHilde

((It’s in Spanish, I literally have no idea, but I’m not gonna leave it out.))

Zennelia Hinter dem Horizont (Ch. 6) http://archiveofourown.org/works/10336529/chapters/25688181

"What do you see beyond the horizon today, Heero?" she asked.

"Our world," he answered solemnly. "Filled with so much mixed emotions of people."

She smiled, prompted, "Do you feel today?"

His voice was no more than a deep whisper, deep in thoughts when he answered, "Always. I have always been feeling, Relena."

A deeper explore into these notions; a struggle to a mutual peace. In the short time they were given, Relena and Heero found their love overcame the hardships they went through together; being each other pillars. But in the end, people die, and when the time comes, they both embraced the death with dignity - because their love was beyond death to be cheated, and it would last forever.

1XRelena

Family, Hurt/Comfort, Philosophy, Drama, Post-War, Preventers (Gundam Wing), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Action/Adventure, Medical, Fluff, Romance, Post-Endless Waltz, Post-Canon, Real Life, Friendship, Character Death, Character Development

Fanart:

@chronicwhimsy http://chronicwhimsy.tumblr.com/post/162747709402/trowa-likes-kitties-and-kitties-like-trowa

Trowa Barton, Kitty

Dairugger http://dairugger.deviantart.com/art/Taurus-Mobile-Suit-Crossbone-Vanguard-691912241

Taurus Mobile Suit Crossbone Vanguard

http://dairugger.deviantart.com/art/Gundam-Heavyarms-Kai-Zanscare-Empire-691908546

Gundam Heavyarms Kai Zanscare Empire

http://dairugger.deviantart.com/art/Gundam-Heavyarms-Titans-691679223

Gundam Heavyarms Titans

http://dairugger.deviantart.com/art/Gundam-Heavyarms-EFSF-691675520

Gundam Heavyarms EFSF

http://dairugger.deviantart.com/art/Gundam-Heavyarms-Kai-EFSF-691577954

Gundam Heavyarms Kai EFSF

@downwarddnaspiral http://downwarddnaspiral.tumblr.com/post/162729019471/downwarddnaspiral-relena-darlian-peacecraft-as

Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

@endlesschaosart https://endlesschaosart.tumblr.com/post/162988498976/so-its-finish-i-did-it-gosh-that-was-a-hard

Trowa Barton, Heero Yuy

Jack-stark http://jack-stark.deviantart.com/art/03-Quatre-Gundam-Wing-691841101

Quatre Raberba Winner

@lbro009 https://lbro009.tumblr.com/post/162994476920/preventer-water-sally-po

Sally Po

@maevemauvaise http://maevemauvaise.tumblr.com/post/163008966351/kangofu-cb-okay-so-here-hilde-is-only-a-week

Hilde Schbeiker

http://maevemauvaise.tumblr.com/post/163009892546/claraxbarton-so-um-rey-from-that-rxh-silver

Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

Soltian http://soltian.deviantart.com/art/13-and-5-691694756

WuFei Chang, Treize Khushrenada

Trav3000 http://trav3000.deviantart.com/art/XXXG-01D2-Gundam-Deathscythe-Hell-691914900

XXXG-01D2 Gundam Deathscythe Hell

Cosplay:

@shinigami-of-excellence Treize Cosplay, http://outofworkshinigami.tumblr.com/post/162402987842/more-photos-of-treize

Treize Khushrenada

Tigerofsnow http://tigerofsnow.deviantart.com/art/Gundam-Wing-691545026

Zechs Merquise, Quatre Raberba Winner, Trowa Barton, Duo Maxwell

Photosets/Screenshots:

@gundamwing-ellesmith http://gundamwing-ellesmith.tumblr.com/post/162901443984/heero-has-a-problemalso-how-come-hes-so-pale

Heero Yuy

@the-notorious-bhg http://the-notorious-bhg.tumblr.com/post/162922626916/the-notorious-bhg-trowa-asks-the-deep-questions

Trowa Barton, Lady Une

Photo Prompts/Prompts:

@claraxbarton http://claraxbarton.tumblr.com/post/162880110780/so-trowa-resigns-from-preventers-gets-a-van-and

Trowa resigns from Preventers and outfits a bus for camping/travel.

Photo Prompt, Trowa Barton, WuFei Chang

@laurathia http://claraxbarton.tumblr.com/post/162958492310/laurathia-claraxbarton-laurathia

@kangofu-cb https://kangofu-cb.tumblr.com/post/162748269162/14-and-2x5

Prompt response for @chronicwhimsy

2X5

Head Canons:

@chronicwhimsy http://chronicwhimsy.tumblr.com/post/162894399077/chronicwhimsy-i-dont-normally-write

Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

@mariana-oconnor http://chronicwhimsy.tumblr.com/post/162898264127/mariana-oconnor-chronicwhimsy

@renmaxwell http://renmaxwell.tumblr.com/post/162900455221/chronicwhimsy-chronicwhimsy-i-dont-normally

@gundamwing-ellesmith http://gundamwing-ellesmith.tumblr.com/post/162911392631/headcanon-heero-is-prone-to-panic-attacks-yeah#notes

Heero Yuy

@helmistress https://helmistress.tumblr.com/post/162895704609/helmistress-fuck-im-so-lame-just-realized

Waffle topping preferences

Triton Bloom/Trowa Barton, Duo Maxwell, WuFei Chang, Catherine Bloom, Heero Yuy, Mike Howard, Hilde Schbeiker, Sally Po, Lady Une, Lucrezia Noinheim, Quatre Raberba Winner, Relena Darlian/Peacecraft, Zechs Merquise/Milliardo Peacecraft, Treize Khushrenada, Dorothy Catalonia

@morbidbirdy https://preventeragenttrowabloom.tumblr.com/post/162881030530/trowa-headcanonquatre-has-been-teaching-trowa-how

Trowa Barton/Bloom

@the-notorious-bhg http://morbidbirdy.tumblr.com/post/162887618411/the-notorious-bhg

@claraxbarton http://claraxbarton.tumblr.com/post/162952453915/morbidbirdy-the-notorious-bhg

@renmaxwell http://renmaxwell.tumblr.com/post/162880492961/updated-thoughts-on-relena

Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

@the-notorious-bhg http://the-notorious-bhg.tumblr.com/post/162919864586/imo-you-cant-have-an-ic-heero-yuy-unless-he-cares

Heero Yuy, Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

Chats/Dialouges:

@softnocturne https://softnocturne.tumblr.com/post/162918654320/dialouge-prompts-you-loved-them-didnt-you

Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton

Calendar Events:

Gundam Wing Block Party!, @gwblockparty https://gwblockparty.tumblr.com/post/162765659606/gwblockparty-tropes-guidelines-what-a#notes

Entries due September 1st-4th!

Check out the blog for more info and prompt ideas!

Old Art/ “Official Art” that got Love this week:

(In retrospect... this one may be overkill.)

@01xr https://01xr.tumblr.com/post/154685968967/artwork-by-aeolian-harp

Heero Yuy, Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

https://01xr.tumblr.com/post/154641223625/artwork-by-kajika-ono

Heero Yuy, Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

@outofworkshinigami

@fuckyeah01x02 http://fuckyeah01x02.tumblr.com/post/8464953437/a-long-flight-home-by-subomouse

Duo Maxwell, WuFei Chang

@the-notorious-bhg, @rhysgalentalcernunnos

@heartcoma http://heartcoma.tumblr.com/post/108230219410/facetime-with-the-bae-3

Lucrezia Noin, Zechs Merquise

@lifeaftermeteor, @the-notorious-bhg

@luckyxiii http://mmatopgun.tumblr.com/post/88674377864/this-is-too-adorable

Duo Maxwell, Hilde Schbeiker

@outofworkshinigami

@ningyou22 http://ningyou22.tumblr.com/post/44409110068/todo-un-dia-pintando-con-photoshop-o

Heero Yuy, Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

@the-notorious-bhg

@noromax https://noromax.tumblr.com/post/155209544387/d

Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy, Quatre Raberba Winner, WuFei Chang, Trowa Barton

https://noromax.tumblr.com/post/154898140282/%E3%83%8F%E3%83%83%E3%83%94%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9B%E3%83%AA%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%BA-happy-holidays

Heero Yuy, Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

@outofworkshinigami

Original creator deactivated http://outofworkshinigami.tumblr.com/post/162959451497/althorein-but-my-heart-it-hasnt-changed-a

Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

@outofworkshinigami

@the-notorious-bhg http://the-notorious-bhg.tumblr.com/post/162959265281/the-military-use-of-children-takes-three-distinct

Heero Yuy

@remsyk-blog

http://the-notorious-bhg.tumblr.com/post/162959172921/lady-une-gundam-wing-endless-waltz-gol-scan-and

Lady Une

[mtg-weekly-recap]

MTG Weekly Tumblr Recap: May 01, 2017

Nahiri the Lithomancer, Sorin Markov and Ugin The Spirit Dragon, Cartoon style. | @pazmonx

This week’s edition of the Recap has dodged the Ban-hammer! Let’s take a look at all the different formats that have been affected by banned and restricted announcements, as well as the heavily symbolism-laden Magic Story and some nostalgic fan-art. Join us for more wrap-ups than an Anointed Procession in this issue of the Magic: the Gathering Weekly Tumblr Recap.

1. Emergency Banning In Standard

Saheeli’s Lament | @planeswalker-umbral​

In one of the more bizarre banning and restricted events, the powerful two card combo of Saheeli Rai and Felidar Guardian were conspicuously unaffected by the announcement on Monday, April 24, despite the infinite loop being missed by Magic R&D, and therefore not attracting the suite of answers that cards like Heart of Kiran and other standard powerhouses now have to face with the release of Amonkhet. 

This news (or more specifically the lack of news) set many tongues a wagging as the merits and demerits of Wizards declining to meddle in Standard versus getting down and curating the format, with debate raging as to how the current meta with two dominant decks appearing far more prevalent and leading to far less innovation than Smuggler’s Copter and Emrakul, the Promised End (which were sent  to the naughty corner last January) ever did. Just as the hand-wringing and bemoaning three more months of a bland Standard reached it’s peak, Wednesday brought an addendum to Monday’s announcement, Felidar Guardian was hit with the ban-hammer. It is interesting that one of the main drivers for both the non-action on the Monday and further action on the Wednesday was the earliest release of the new set on the digital platform, MTGO. This allowed R&D to see what a potential new standard might look like, and whatever data they drew, they felt it was big enough and scary enough to make the call. So what does this mean for standard? Well, the upcoming pro-tour should provide some answers, and like with many recently shaken-up formats, aggressive decks should see good representation (and some success) while the brewmasters work behind the scenes. Rakdos and Jund discard/hellbent seem to blend the best of Amonkhet and Innistrad themes, as well as many recursive graveyard strategies. Amonkhet also brings with it lots of interesting control strategies the might make more of a splash as the format goes forward, now that a Turn 4 instant kill is no longer a spectre hanging over it.

— Liam W, @coincidencetheories​

2. Bans and Unbans in Commander

Brewing when they unban a combo piece | @phyrexian-without-a-cause

Following the official B&R announcement from Wizards for Constructed formats came one from the MTG Commander Rules committee: Leovold, Emissary of Trest is banned and Protean Hulk is unbanned.

Those who have played with or against Leovold know how insanely powerful he is. With “wheel” effects like Windfall, Whispering Madness, Dark Deal, and Teferi’s Puzzle Box and plenty of control elements, Commander decks led by Leovold easily stripped apart opponents’ hands with efficiency and consistency, making him miserable to play against. It’s only been eight months since Leovold was printed in Conspiracy: Take the Crown, but it was enough to demonstrate his power. At the moment, Leovold, Emissary of Trest still holds its $50-price tag since it is a Legacy staple in many Sultai decks (Reid Duke took down GP Louisville this year with True-Name Nemesis Sultai, which ran two copies of Leovold in the main).

The announcement of Protean Hulk’s unbanning was by far the most surprising B&R change of the week. For those unfamiliar with Protean Hulk’s power level, Flash Hulk was a deck that won the third-ever Legacy GP back in 2007 whose main strategy involved Flashing in the Hulk on t2 or earlier with fast mana (yes, even t0), sac’ing it and tutoring up 4 Disciple of the Vault, 4 Phyrexian Marauder, and 4 Shifting Wall. The artifact creatures would die due to SBA and the Disciples would immediately dome your opponent for 32.

While Flash got banned in Legacy as a result of this deck, the combo dream never died: Protean Hulk returned to the limelight in 2015 when Lantern Control creator Zac Elsik among a dozen other players brought a Modern Hulk Combo deck to GP Pittsburgh. Here’s the basic strategy: after discarding Protean Hulk to a number of loot spells in the deck then reanimating it with and sac’ing it to Footsteps of the Goryo or Makeshift Mannequin, search out Viscera Seer and Body Double, copying the Protean Hulk that just went to your graveyard. Sac’ the Body Double with Viscera Seer’s ability to search out Reveillark and Mogg Fanatic, which you sac’ to ping your opponent for 1. From there, you sac’ the Reveillark to bring back Mogg Fanatic and Body Double, copying Reveillark. Because Reveillark and Body Double can continuously bring back each other, you can bring back Mogg Fanatic an arbitrary number of times until your opponent has been pinged to death.

While I doubt anyone will run this 5-color combo in Commander, the unbanning of Protean Hulk has got the community brewing up what creatures they can tutor up and combo off within their current decks’ respective color identities. Within an hour of the announcement, Protean Hulk shot up from below 4.00 USD to over 21.00 USD, with many eager EDH players scrambling to get their copies. My brother and I jumped on the opportunity and bought 5 copies within minutes of the announcement: I snagged two MP copies off eBay for five bucks total, whereas my brother bought three LP copies from his LGS down in San Diego, CA for about three bucks each. We’ll definitely be looking into making a profit when we sell some of them but not all of them—my brother plans to slot a copy of Protean Hulk into his Rashmi Elves deck and sac’ing to either Birthing Pod, Eldritch Evolution, or Natural Order, fetching six mana dorks and Dryad Arbor and swinging in for a buttload of damage, especially with Concordant Crossroads or Akroma’s Memorial in play. Can’t wait to lose to him like that…

— Vincent B, @the-burnished-hart

3. Legacy and Vintage Bans and Restrictions

Sic Semper Tyrannis (Thus Always to Tyrants) | by @phyrexian-without-a-cause

The most recent B&R announcement has brought with it the end of an era. In Legacy, the linchpin card of the Miracles deck Sensei’s Divining Top has finally been struck down, taking the most prevalent deck, in terms of overall appearances in major tournaments, in the format with it. The reactions to the ban have, oddly enough, been pretty reasonable. Even some popular Miracles players like Joe Lossett have been pretty quick to say that they understand and they saw this coming for a long time. The ban also makes Legacy event coverage a lot easier to do, now that commentators no longer have to try to make activating Top seem exciting. This just goes to show that if you make a road sign and put it at WotC Headquarters, you can achieve anything (please don’t actually make a big road sign and put it out front of Wizards Headquarters).

In the world of Vintage, Wizards has gone after Monastery Mentor decks and slapped Gitaxian Probe and Gush with a Restricted status. Much like with Legacy Miracles, Mentor decks in Vintage have been running rampant and the bans of these “free” draw spells are meant to weaken this Vintage powerhouse. Not much has been said about how these restrictions are being taken, but most people seem to be in agreement with Wizards, or are saying that Mentor itself should have been the one to be restricted, based on the power level of the card. Nevertheless, this seems to be a positive change for the format. 

These announcements have made people in the respective formats, or even outside of them that are interested in them, start experimenting to find the next powerhouse. In terms of how formats are taking their bans/restrictions, Legacy and Vintage seem to be taking their hits well, and, much like what Wizards hopes will happen whenever they make these announcements, the player-base seems to be growing and evolving with these new changes, producing more diverse environments for the people that make these formats their homes. One can only hope that these times of prosperity last, as this writer is trying to buy in to Legacy himself, and is excited at the prospect of jumping in to such a, seemingly, welcoming format. 

— Colin M, @delver-of-seacrest

4. Magic Story Recap

The Hand that Moves - Ken Troop

Decision Paralysis | Original art by Vincent Proce

The plot of this weeks Magic Story, The Hand that Moves can be told simply, Nissa takes Kefnet’s Trial of Knowledge. But it’s the details contained within that are the meat of this tale. Firstly, Nissa finds her way to the temple of Kefnet merely seeking answers to the perplexing questions that surround the entire city of Naktamun and the influence of Bolas. The Vizier of Kefnet tries to ward her away, but her resistance to his clumsy attempts at mind magic as well as her quite remarkable status as an outsider to the usual warrior-caste system allows her to keep him off balance enough to attempt the trial in order to interrogate the God himself. The first bombshell that hits is Nissa’s first vision is of an Angel, who appears to be none other than Emrakul herself. Now there is obviously much illusion and subterfuge within these trials so there is no clear inference as to whether this appearance is Nissa’s fear, or even something more sinister, considering in The Promised End Nissa appeared most affected by the influence of Emrakul, as well as Nissa’s formative years on Zendikar where the Goddess Emeria was revered even among her people. Who does this version of Emrakul represent, or is she not even part of the test and something Nissa had latent inside her since Innistrad? Equally as strange is the affirmation that the Angel brings: “I can do anything I want. Anything at all. Remember that.” Visions and symbolism follows, with very physical sensations and in the middle of it Nissa begins to study the leylines and see the fabric of the trial, behind the sights, sounds and sensations. The Test seems to fight against her, the closer she pries behind the curtain. Images that seem to be Bolas’s influence across the multi-verse appear, followed by further reminder that the five gods were part of a pantheon of eight. Three figures that might represent the missing deities scurry to escape the protection of the Hekma. A focus on the mining and collection of a strange, blue mineral. A series of images of decay and destruction that if they don’t related directly to the Gatewatch certainly follow their way around the color wheel, then more imagery of the approach of the second sun that is most definitely not a second sun, and then -

Emrakul returns

The angel that is Emrakul that might not be Emrakul ask Nissa if she would be a pawn or a queen in the game. Nissa sees the trap that no matter her power if she falls for this choice she would only ever be a piece to be manipulated. The phrase “Be the hand that moves”  echoes again from the Chess game Jace and ‘Emrakul’ played during The Promised End. Kefnet arrives full of pomp and circumstance demanding to know who was interfering in the Trial, scattering Nissa’s mental defences as Kefnet read her intentions. He declares that knowledge is not a gift to be given but a prize to be earned, and is about to dissolve Nissa’s mind, when “Emrakul”s advice stirs her to action, and she observes that Kefnet’s being is made up of leylines, something she has more than a little familiarity with, as well as noticing that there are several lines that are very off kilter. With a clumsy yet precise manipulation of those wayward leylines, Nissa is able to deflect the God enough that his attention wavered and she became to him merely an initiate who had passed his trial. Presumably the cartouche was waiting for her in the gift shop on the way out…

— Liam, @coincidencetheories

5. Fan-arts…

The Smallwatch | Original art by @erybiadraws

This weeks seems there’s been an interesting and wonderful trend towards the nostalgic, as we have been graced with many a fan-art of characters from our near, and sometimes not-so-near past. @alexgilbertart starts us off with the secretly unraveling Jace, Unraveller of Secrets from Innistrad. Another Innistradi visitor to be featured this week was @azami ‘s study of the studious soratami  Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

Stretching further back in the mists of time, @pandoraeve brings us the foremost Praetor Elesh Norn as she dodges the blue shells in a Mario Kart, and @erybiadraws shows us the undulating Ulamog in its full glory.

Finally, a couple of sketches from @dancing-sword, including Garruk giving Chandra animal handling advice, and a drawing of the Tarkirs planeswalking power-couple, Narset and Sarkhan

— Liam W, @coincidencetheories

6.Vanilla Matters.

Murganda Petroglyphs | Original MTG art by Scott Altmann 

The concept of ‘Vanilla’ in Magic is supposedly a simple one. A Vanilla Creature is simply on with no rules text (flavor text is allowed. Vanilla is a flavor, after all). Simply a creature type, a mana cost, power, and of course toughness. No effects on entering or leaving the battlefield, no activated abilities, and no keyword. Nothing. Mons Goblin Raiders, Grizzly Bears, Savannah Lions. The building blocks of a set, and usually filler cards for your limited or standard deck. But two topics have shone the spotlight on the humble Vanilla Creature this week, as @markrosewater​ ‘s Blogatog has been inundated with requests that if or when we travel to Murganda, we continue in the tradition of Murganda Petroglyphs from Future SIght block and have Vanilla Matters cards, or cards that bolster creatures without abilities. The trouble with this, as Mark Rosewater reiterates, is that the creatures themselves can’t grant their fellow vanilla creatures abilities, and there are only so many bonuses you can give to vanilla creatures before you’re giving them abilities, which make them no longer vanilla creatures which means they lose their abilities which means they are once again vanilla and oh no I’ve gone cross eyed. So MaRo has advised us all not to set our hopes too high on a visit to Murganda featuring Vanilla matters, especially as Murganda is already carrying the baggage of being the Dinosaur plane as well as somehow home to the Mimeoplasm. But that doesn’t mean that Murganda Petroglyphs itself can’t see a reprint…

Dovetailing with the discussion on Vanilla Matters was a check in with a recurring favorite of Blogatog readers, the Vanilla Mythic, which is precisely what it says on the box, a vanilla creature, at mythic rarity, that obviously has been subject to much speculation. Mark confirmed in a blog post that the mythic is doing just fine, and that we will see it later this year This has led to new speculation as to just what a Vanilla Mythic might need to be, to justify it’s rarity, starting with @sarkhan-volkswagen​ and continuing on in the various reblogs and replies. 

…and finally: Friday Nights

Noted Magic content creators Loading Ready Run released a new episode of Friday Nights this week, as just in time for Amonkhet’s release. Friday Nights is a series following the group’s misadventures into the world of Magic, which has been running since 2012. This month’s episode is notable for callbacks not only to the eternal conundrum of the proper creature type of the multi-headed Nessian Asp, but also to the fearsome reputation of Kathleen’s Cat deck which first made it’s appearance in the groups short, ‘It’s Magic’ which reflected their rediscovery of the game, way back in 2010.

Thank you again for reading this week’s issue of the MTG Weekly Tumblr Recap. Hope to see you next week!

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