#(beyond fanworks I mean)

[regicidal-defenestration]

Easy to forget the EDAs are fanfiction that got published but don't fear, The Scarlet Empress is here to remind you

[ainulindaelynn]

@staff

After reading the strategic plan posted today, I want to offer some constructive criticism about retaining users from someone who's relatively new around here.

I joined Tumblr less than a year ago and agree that there’s steeper learning curve than other social media sites... but am a bit baffled by the disconnect. I want to be clear about what made this site hard for me as a new user and propose some easy fixes, because I think it’s pretty straightforward.

Suggestions in blue.

1. Confusion about Reblogging

The etiquette for reblogging was the most anxiety-inducing part of getting started. The language was a bit confusing, coming from non-tumblr blog culture. It also took me a while to understand that there was a difference between reblogging and reposting. There's (rightly) so much animosity for reposting, but to an outside perspective, they seem like the same term, which discourages engagement. Once I realized reblogging is the norm and creators ENJOY reblogs - that it's not theft and their name stays attached, linking directly to them - everything became simpler. There are always three names floating at the top of a post, but who the extra two are is something you pick up along the way without explanation. Understanding earlier would have been a game changer. A few more tutorials at launch would have made a huge difference: This is your blog. You REBLOG things here - that's normal. And here's the basic structure of a post. That would have made the transition a little smoother. Also, if you want to go above and beyond, adding a quick blurb about the difference between reblogging 👍 and reposting 👎 would probably ease tensions on a few fronts.

In short, Tumblr is ahead of most other mainstream SM sites when it comes to prioritizing creators > content and long-term, that's a strategic advantage. Keeping that culture in place requires a little more explanation on the front end though.

2. Confusion about Interacting

Another thing that baffled me in the beginning is that on other sites, hashtags are largely ignored except for organizational purposes, so I didn’t even notice people were leaving their commentary there at first. Now that I know, I actually LOVE that quirk of this site. It’s an introvert’s dream. Every other social media site is pushing other people's opinions in your face all the time. It’s exhausting. Here, I only see people’s comments if I CHOOSE to. If I want, I can interact with the content directly without being distracted by the noise around it. This is a huge draw, not only as a scroller, but also as a poster. I never (NEVER) post on any other site, because I know it’s going to bring it to the top in everyone’s feed and I don’t want to bother with everyone else’s opinions ABOUT my opinions - the endless cycle that inevitably leads to conflict in common spaces like this. Every post will be scrutinized and picked apart on other sites. Here on tumblr, I can put my thoughts on a post and no one sees it except the original poster and people who are *actively* curious about what I think. It’s a system that allows less pressure around posting and fosters more diversity of thought. It creates an environment that makes contributing easy. It’s very, VERY freeing and very, VERY rare in social media.

I wouldn’t mind seeing some rethinking about the way tags are handled if it supports the search engines, but now that I understand the way Tumblr uses them, I actually find this to be one of its greatest strengths and can’t imagine a way to preserve that quality while rearranging the tag system. As is, adding an ‘Anatomy of a Post’ tutorial like I mentioned would clear confusion about this and point new users toward the easiest way to interact with a post.

3. Confusion in Connecting

I did struggle to connect to content and communities at first, but it stemmed from a basic lack of understanding about how the site works. Once I found the pathways, other users pulled me in. Connection actually happens more easily here than on any other site I’ve EVER been on. Tumblr has incredibly useful tools for this; they just aren’t explained to beginners. The tag system is a great entry point. When I realized that I could search a tag and chronologically see EVERY SINGLE POST that had ever existed for it, it was magical. Now that I follow tags (and know the Your Tags tab exists… 🙃), new creators pop up in my feed all the time and get pulled into my communities seamlessly.

A quick tools tour at launch would solve this. And the ‘Anatomy of a Post’ tutorial I mentioned earlier would highlight the spot you can see other people who reblogged the same content. These connection points are easy to use, they just need to be more visible at the start.

That’s all, honestly.

Those are the only barriers that slowed me down in the beginning. They can ALL be solved with a few beginner-friendly tips on launch:

Intro to Dashes (Following, For You, & Your Tags + a brief personalization suggestion)

Intro to Search Features (basics + following tags)

Intro to Your Blog (basics + encouragement to personalize if the bots issue isn’t going to be resolved, because let’s be real… being mistaken for bots is probably why most people quit early these days😉)

Anatomy of a Post (basics + ways to interact)

Restricting the algorithms to the For You tab is really refreshing coming from other sites. It’s there if I want it, but , I can breathe here in a way I can’t on any other site. And honestly, the other reason I’m still around is that people are fucking weird here, which means I have freedom to be too. Any changes that don’t take those two strengths of this site into account risks losing the center and disintegrating the core. Foster a personalized experience. Prioritize avenues that let people interact at whatever level they’re comfortable. Support creator culture. Those are the things that make this better than the competition.

Oh, yeah, and if you're still reading... the organizational tag system needs some upgrades and these pornbots are killing us. Thanks, bye xD

[castielmacleod]

Let him heal from his own issues or else <3

[alastors-antlers]

Being someone who sees a lot of talk about shipping Alastor (sexually, romantically) in fanworks, I just want to take some time to talk about both sides of the issue. It's long, I know - please, please bear with me until the end, and I hope you'll understand what I mean in a bit.

I hope this helps someone, but as an aroace person who understands the frustration and hurt, this is often how it feels to me:

Alastor, being one of the limited cases of aspec rep that I've seen and one of even fewer which I actually enjoyed, means a lot to me.

That being said, his canon rep establishes that he's aroace but not much about how this factors into his life or relationships at all -- and when there's a gap in canon, I turn to fanfiction, which tends to spotlight characters' queerness even when the source material doesn't or can't. Don't we all want to see ourselves in the media we engage with?

When I pull up AO3, there are already a good number of fics about him. Great! Some of them are definitely incredible; but as I read on, it starts to seem like a lot of fics I see acknowledge that he's asexual or aromantic in some way but don't really factor that into the story. It reads like you could have written the story without keeping his queer identity in mind, and it would've come out the same.

Even when representation that does resonate with me exists, it starts to be exhausting to pick through the slash tags to see which ones are written in an aspec-coded way, so I wonder if it would be easier to not read anything with slash at all. On the other hand, when you filter ships out completely, only a tiny fraction of the fanworks are left.

People often respond that aspec people can have relationships, and I think we tend to know that. They can have sex, some can experience sexual attraction in select situations, they can romance others beyond romantic attraction -- any combination of things. But some aroace people don't want either, and sometimes we're struggling to see ourselves in how Alastor is typically portrayed.

Out of all of the fics, sex-repulsed, totally aromantic Alastor isn't seen much. And when Alastor's limited canon seems to be pretty supportive of a reading where he is those things...

Sometimes, you start to feel lost. If fics were evenly distributed along the aroace spectrum of experiences, wouldn't you expect more fics of him being the "totally uninterested" brand of aroace? But there aren't. People seem to have a preference toward seeing him in relationships. Even if they mean well, it can make you think: what does that say about how we view asexuality/aromanticism as a whole?

Is there something less interesting about Alastor, when romance is taken out of the picture? Do others find him less appealing as a character if they can't see him dating, or in love, or having sex or wanting it? Why do we need romance, when romance is already everywhere else, when it doesn't even feel like he was originally really interested? It brings to mind a struggle to be societally accepted, even today.

Even when it's not technically wrong to write Alastor as you see him, being told that we should all be able to ship him however we want can feel like this:

It brings to mind people who try to swing in with misinformed good intentions, telling us "oh, you're aromantic? but you can still have romantic relationships, right? so you can still be normal." when all we want is to be okay outside of the normal.

Or trying to find a partner who can be with us, out of everyone who tells us "I know you don't enjoy sex, and that's okay, but I can't have a romantic relationship with you without it." and being so tired of hoping for someone who gets it.

Or talking with peers, and hearing them all commiserate and fawn over their experiences with love, then telling them about someone you like non-romantically and getting "aww, it sounds like somebody's got a crush!" but not being believed when you tell them it's not like that at all.

Alastor is not a big deal, not really, not in the grand scheme of things. But in an allonormative world, it can feel like a sudden splash of cold water when we were expecting a warm fire to sit around. Even within this ecosystem, we squint to see ourselves reflected.

Society isn't built for us. It can be exhausting to be reminded of that.

~~~

I hope to support people writing Alastor as any variation of aspec, or not even aspec at all. At the end of the day, I think that fanon is really whatever you want it to be, and everyone has their own reasons for writing what they find enjoyable. They should be allowed to do so, and I want to believe that people do what they do with good intentions.

They want to imagine scenarios with the templates of characters they love, and that's okay; even beyond sexuality/queer identities/etc., fan interpretations of characters can be incredibly, wildly different from who they really are in the story anyway, and that's what I try to remind myself. But still, I also can't help feeling disappointed about the aroace representation we could have seen.

(Is Alastor canonically sex-repulsed? Uhh, maybe. If I had to guess, that'd be my top guess, but this might be a hot take: I wouldn't really say there's enough to go off of considering that this view is supported by Angel propositioning him both times, and it's not like Alastor is a particularly big fan of Angel at those points anyway lol)

To my fellow aroaces struggling with Alastor's fandom rep: if you need a break from it all; if you need to block the tags that you hate; if you need to talk to someone about how you're feeling; that's okay. It makes sense that you'd want more representation in a way that helps you feel seen and validated and less alone. I can't speak for everyone, but I think I get it.

I don't have any solutions for how you're feeling, because sometimes I'm feeling the same way. I understand that you want others to get your position and you have the right to express your feelings, but even if you're correct, often being angry or frustrated won't help change others' minds, so let's try to save our energy and take care of ourselves.

Something that helps me to think about is that even now, asexuality is gaining more visibility. We're gaining support. Real change is happening in the world that's helping incredible amounts of aspec people feel freer to be themselves. And maybe one day, we won't be reaching to protect our scraps of representation.

Let's fight until that day together <3

[ramblers-lets-get-ramblin]

I’m confused about the app thing. I currently use Speechify to listen to fanfiction for accessibility reasons. It’s not uploaded and published anywhere for anyone else to access. I listen to it privately and it’s stored on my phone until I delete them when I’m finished. I still leave kudos and comments on AO3 and reblog fics on Tumblr. I took a look at the TikTok page and she said it does not host peoples work publicly, that it’s just a text to speech app that you can use to listen to fanfiction. It sounds like essentially the same thing I do now. There are also already lots of other existing apps/programs/websites that do the exact same thing. We all have text to speech we can use in the accessibility features on our phone right now. I have a disability and would not physically be able to read the amount that I currently do without text to speech technology. I feel like I’m missing something? I don’t understand what the issue is.

the main issue is not the TTS feature of the app.

per lore.fm Terms of Service they have the right to "utilize, retain and share" anything that is uploaded to their app.

They also have the right to make "unauthorized alterations to any content uploaded"

So this means that anyone with a registered ao3 account can go to my profile and download any of my works and upload them to this app. that user is innocently thinking that this app will do nothing more than read the text aloud to them. But by them uploading my work to this app they are giving the app permission to share and alter my hard work.

The creator of this app has been linked to several other apps including one that uses AI software to generate self-insert stories.

By someone uploading my work to this app they are giving the app permission to share my work, which includes feeding it into the AI software of the other apps owned by the parent company.

Beyond all of that, the only way to deny permission for your work to be used is to send the company an email opting out. but again, anyone with a registered ao3 account can download a pdf or epub of my fic and upload it to this app.

i wouldn't have an issue with this if it were in partnership with ao3 perhaps, or a browser extension or something like that. but this app is touted as being completely free and also ad free. the money for that has to come from somewhere and this creator being linked to shady AI apps makes me very suspicious of their motivations. I believe that I, as the writer, have the right to say how and where my work is used. I don't like the fact that someone else is able to give permission for my hard work to be shared or altered.

i don't like the fact that fic writers are increasingly seen as "content producers" and people are constantly trying to profit off of our hard work even though we legally cannot. we don't create fanworks to profit we create them out of love for the fandom and to foster community.

i would love for fic to be accessible for everyone and I would be supportive of something similar to this if it weren't tied to other AI story generating apps and perhaps made by someone within our community that would have the desire to maintain the integrity necessary to operate in accordance with the legal gray area that fanworks exist in.

i hope this helps explain why people are upset. I can guarantee you it is not because they don't want their work to be accessible to everyone!

[bg3ficreviews]

Thunder reforged: Rolan x Dammon - #BG3 FanFic Review

Review by Aivu (@aivuthedragon)

Happy timezone, dear readers! Today I'm happy to bring you this incredible series of works by velocitross on AO3. What's hotter than a tiefling wizard with a knack for a well-timed thunderwave? Said tiefling wizard having a rendezvous with his tiefling blacksmith paramour, of course.

A note from the BG3FicReviews team: The entire BG3 community was been rocked by the recent controversy surrounding Dammon's VA, including the various fanwork creators who've fallen in love with Dammon, included him in their work, and are part of the LGBTQAI+ community themselves. We want to express our support and love to Dammon fans, Dammon fan work creators, the LGBTQAI+ community generally and all those adversely affected by what's happened. As such, we have decided to feature such works in our reviews this week. Make your love louder than the hate. 💜

As always, mind the tags! Our review is continued below the fold due to the NSFW nature of the content in these works.

This incredible artwork by @arczism was inspired by velocitross's Rolan x Dammon fic Working Steel, which is included in today's review.

Working Steel, the first of velocitross’ three works that include this rare pair, is a masterwork in character portrayal. The author adeptly captures the at-a-glance somewhat incompatible personalities of the two tiefling refugees who fled Elturel together and now reside in Baldur’s Gate. In this work, the relationship between Rolan, the ever-surly wizard and the newly ‘appointed’ master of Ramazith Tower, and Dammon, the gentle yet infernally talented blacksmith of the Forge of the Nine, has grown far beyond mere friendship.

Rolan, frustrated by his attempts to catalogue the mindless chaos remaining after the untimely death of the tower’s former owner, approaches Dammon to ask for his help and visits him at his forge. But what could a blacksmith possibly offer a wizard? Well, a good fuck, for one thing. Rolan is pent-up, impatient, and needs a good lay. And, it turns out, so does Dammon. The smut that ensues is not only blazingly hot but also beautifully captures the tender affection between the two tieflings through not only their words, but small, unique gestures of love and care. (Mind the tails. I mean, tags. No, tails.)

In Up in the Tower, it’s Dammon’s turn to visit the wizard’s domain. But the blacksmith receives a less-than-warm welcome, as the ever-grumpy Rolan becomes highly annoyed at having his work interrupted. But considering Rolan is dressed in little more than his underwear and an open robe, I’m more than willing to forgive him for his surliness. Dammon, however, being the sweet, gentle soul that he is, insists on taking care of Rolan beyond his carnal needs alone. In this work, the relationship between the pair deepens, and the author has wonderfully captured the intimacy of the pair. Lastly, we have Within the Storm. This work takes us back to the Shadow-Cursed Lands as the tiefling refugees attempt to cross its desolate lands on their way to Baldur’s Gate. When the Absolute’s forces ambush the group, Rolan expertly wields his magic to stave them off. But when something happens to Zevlor, the battle takes a turn for the worse. In the chaos, Rolan’s siblings, Cal and Lia, are kidnapped and several of his friends and co-travellers are brutally murdered.

Once at Last Light Inn, Rolan is a fucking mess, devastated by his siblings’ capture. Lost in the depths of his despair and way too much drink, the tiefling wizard finds comfort in the arms of a fellow refugee he’d known since childhood - Dammon. And thus the gentlest embers of affection between the pair begin to spark to life. This lovely one-shot serves as a prelude to the author’s much-anticipated long fic about the pair, their growing affection for one another and what looks to be a truly beautiful love story. If you would like to follow velocitross’ incredible work about the love between a tiefling wizard and blacksmith, please be sure to subscribe to the author on AO3 and follow their work and the pending long fic. We have included a snippet of Working Steel below for your enjoyment. As always, please support the writers of our incredible fandom by leaving kudos and comments on their work. 🫶

------------------

Working Steel

By velocitross on AO3

The ring of his hammer fills Dammon’s ears and his attention as he works. A soft frown of focus curves his lips. It’s a simple enough repair—restoring a blade for the halfling woman standing outside the forge watching him work. Still, there’s a satisfaction to it: the rhythm of his strikes, the heat of the day in Baldur’s Gate warming him beneath his layers of apron and clothing. The ordinary busy noise of the city goes on just outside his focus, a subtle, stabilizing comfort even months after the Netherbrain’s defeat.

When he glances up from his work, a distinct figure catches his eye amongst the passersby. Rolan, with his proud bearing and his regal blue and red robes, coming toward the smithy with a tense, bothered scowl and his tail lashing behind him. A smile touches Dammon’s lips. He knows that look.

“I’ll be with you in a moment,” he says as Rolan comes to a stop an awkward few feet from the halfling waiting on her sword.

“Well, don’t take too long,” Rolan snaps, and then reddens further when Dammon raises an eyebrow at him. “Sorry. I’ll just—I’ll wait.”

Dammon lifts the blade off his anvil to study it. He smiles at the halfling as he passes her the sword.

“Give that a try. Come back if you need anything else.”

She moves off to the side to examine the blade, allowing Rolan to step up to the forge. He stands, arms crossed, his face flushed as he fixes Dammon with his bright yellow stare.

“Anything I can help you with, Rolan?” the blacksmith prompts.

Rolan sighs. He places his hands carefully on the edge of the anvil, glances again toward the halfling woman, and leans in toward Dammon.

“I need . . . Steel.”

Dammon breathes a good-natured chuckle.

“Come on,” he says, nodding over his shoulder toward the building. “I could use a break, anyway.”

[ghostalservice]

Feedback Fest 2024: OFMD Recs!

It's International Fanworks Day next week, and @transformativeworks is asking for fic recs! (for more information check out their post!)

Here are ten OFMD fics I have read and reread and love very, very deeply <3 This is not all my faves, of course—check out my faves tag in my bookmarks on ao3 for SO MANY MORE.

Does the Body Good (zemph147/@gaypiratebrainrot) - THEE touch-starved, pining while fucking fic in the fandom. Have reread it a troubling number of times.

Don’t Tell Mama (Fyre/@amuseoffyre) - Modern AU, burlesque/drag, SMAU elements and so much more. Had me on the EDGE OF MY SEAT FOR UPDATES.

My Father’s House (fake_geek_boy/@trans-top-stede) -  Modern AU, theatre professionals, but really about gender and history and what it means to grow into yourself.

Something Timeless Going On (@bizarrelittlemew) - Canon Era, what if they met before canon. Sweet, full of heart, super satisfying.

Blood Under the Skin (CartoonMayor/@zombee) - Medieval AU, arranged marriage, fun fantasy-esque romance.

Synchronicity (ClaireGregory/@clairegregoryau) - Olympic diving AU, super spicy, fun twisty plot.

The World Beyond (veeagainst/@veeagainsttheday) - Post-apocalyptic AU. ASTONISHINGLY GOOD WORLDBUILDING.

Throat G.O.A.T. (nomadsland) - Modern AU, superstar Ed and voice specialist Stede. The realest relationship—and coming out journey—in the fandom.

not pickles (smallestchurch) - Modern AU, neighbors. Feels like going to therapy and also getting a really good hug.

When He’s Given Something to Keep (@adhduck) - Modern AU, trans Ed, childhood friends. This feels like the end of a fic you’ve been waiting for your whole life.  

(pssst if you liked these, you might like my animorphs au or my modern au pride fic)

[ao3commentoftheday]

Uhh, maybe this is more of a situation than a question but to summarize: I just told my Cultural Studies Professor what AO3 is, because I posted a story on there that connected to something we talked about in class, and he said "I'll go check it out tonight". Addfgn fhjbgjnm!!!???? Like, yes, the place is filled with millions of stories, which would all be considered cultural texts in their own rights, and it's a wonderful place, especially to find queer stories and the like....

BUT ALSO, I ONLY INTRODUCED HIM TO THE CONCEPT OF WHAT AN AU IS EARLIER THIS SEMESTER AND I DON'T WHAT FANDOMS HE'D BE LOOKING AT OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT AND JUST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The entire conversation lasted like 5 minutes after class and I mentioned using the tag system to filter results and searches but also I have no idea what idea I put in his head about the site and I don't see him again until Thursday.

Any advice I could pass on to him? Any advice on what to do in this situation? What do I do now???

lol it's going to be fine, I promise!

First of all, he's a cultural studies professor. That probably means he's fairly open-minded. Second of all, he's a fully grown adult, so even if he runs headlong into kink fic, I doubt he'll see anything he hasn't seen on the internet before. If he does run into something that makes him clutch his metaphorical pearls, it's not something he's likely to mention to one of his students. I speak as a former teacher-of-adults here when I say that.

Second of all, he doesn't have an AO3 account. If you're not logged into AO3, then the homepage tells you about the OTW and the fact that it's a fan-run, nonprofit, non-commercial archive. It explains what you can do when you have an account. It shows the lists of media types where stories can be found. It links out to the Organization for Transformative Works site.

He'll probably check out the About section. Maybe Browse recent works. Depending on how curious he is, he might even click into a fic and give it a read. Unless he's actually interested in fandom, he won't go much beyond that. More likely, he'd just google AO3 to see what articles there might be out there about it.

If he (or you!) wants to continue the conversation, you can discuss the concept of Fan Studies and reference the OTW's peer-reviewed academic journal, Transformative Works and Cultures. You could reference academics such as Henry Jenkins, Joanna Russ, Louisa E. Stein etc. There's been a lot of study of fans and fandom over the past several decades, and it's a rich source of research. There are also university programs in Fan Studies.

Like you said, fanworks are cultural works in their own right and fan culture is a culture worth studying. Don't worry that he's going to judge you, personally, based on some random user's smut fic. There's way more to AO3 and fandom than that. ❤️

[hms-no-fun]

🔥homestuck but you can't talk about the post 2016 fandom

EXCELLENT caveat there anon

probably my hottest anodyne homestuck take is that you shouldn't remove the slurs and acting like they're a "flaw" in the text is disastrously wrongheaded. you're talking about a comic that is existentially steeped in early 2000s internet culture, full of highly specific memes and mannerisms, i mean the trolls themselves are just explicitly just Types Of Guy You'd See On AIM And Forums. oh but the slurs aren't part of that? you want to remove the slurs but you don't want to remove the "it's over 9000" jokes?

i think it's genuinely *pivotal* to homestuck's resonance that the characters start off saying slurs and then slowly stop as they get older. i get if younger readers just don't understand this but like, if you were on the internet in the 2000s chances are you said the r-word on the reg at the very least. is that a good thing? absolutely not. that's why we stopped doing it. part of the homestuck cast's narrative arc is about them evolving beyond their youthful teenaged edgelord roots, which are inextricable from the peak-webcomic postmodern irony they operate on. i LIKE that the cast grew up in a way that mirrored my own maturity, as i and a lot of other (white, probably amab) millennials started to realize that oops uhh actually other people with different experiences exist and when you say slurs (even "ironically") they're probably not gonna share a laugh with you. it's an ugly part of our history but it IS the history, and i don't think you can talk about the social justice movement of the 2010s without an awareness of the culture it was reacting to. and don't even get me started on how the dancestors fit into that equation!

there are plenty of legitimate criticisms to be levied against the representation in homestuck, particularly its infrequent bouts of racism vis-a-vis HIC, and the sadly more frequent bouts of ableism vis-a-vis tavros-- criticisms that were the bread and butter of the Perfectly Generic Podcast back in its day. but to approach these deficiencies as flaws in the text that need to be "fixed"???? i just don't get it. we're perfectly capable of looking at "fixes" of roald dahl and mark twain books as flagrant historical revisionism, but because homestuck came out in living memory it's a different situation?? and this opens the door to the broader tendency of fix-it fanworks that seem to have this attitude that like, "homestuck" as such exists beyond the limitations of andrew hussie's imagination and can be "rescued" from her clutches. in practice i have a very live and let live attitude about fix-it projects, i'm done with discourse and drama, i just personally don't get it and feel like it's a misuse of creative energies. but then i'm sure they'd say much the same about godfeels, so,

wait i kinda ended up talking about post-2016 homestuck fandom anyway didn't i. oops

[andsomemaniacgotridofthewheel]

Btw can I just say how much my heart rejoices whenever I see Good Omens related posts or fanworks dated pre-2019?

I mean, I read the novel around 2007, but I was never really part of the fandom (I rarely participate in book-fandoms in general).

But I remember what it was like hearing that there would be a show, and being excited for it, and then hearing that David Tennant had been cast* as Crowley, and I was like 'OMG that's great I love David so much and I miss his Doctor – but I really can't see him as Crowley...!' (And now I wouldn't want anyone else to play him... 😊)

And even though I missed most of it at the time, it makes me so glad that people were making so much stuff about that Angel & his Demon even back then, before the show boosted their popularity, before Crowley had (dark) red hair, before their relationship was shown as explicitly romantic.

And I love that, whenever I come across one of them, they are all still relevant, valid, and reblogable enjoyable.

Anyway. Shoutout to the Good Omens book fan creators from 1990 until 2019 (and beyond). The fandom today wouldn't be the same without you! 🫂😇💙❤️😈

(*=and yes, I remember the drama about the casting, too)

[microchive]

gideon's butch portrayal is so fucking important to me i've always been really protective of butch characters in media, just because i so often see them forced into the "confident, predatory masc" who is basically a cishet dude written with no regard for butch history box. often fanworks will suddenly put them in makeup and a dress and all their friends marvel at how they clean up nicely if they put some effort into it, as if lesbian masculinity is in any way inferior or a lack of effort. gideon being so well written (with understanding of queer history) as a young butch genuinely means the world to me and i love her beyond words

[sordidbask]

My thoughts on the announcement of Life is Strange: Double Exposure

I'm going to preface this by saying I am incredibly conflicted about this title.

On the one hand, I am excited beyond belief that a new Life is Strange is coming and that MAX CAULFIELD HERSELF IS COMING BACK. The OG, the protagonist, the hippie photographer, the main character we fell in love with all those years ago. Her return to the franchise is something the fandom has been asking for (with varying degrees of toxicity) ever since Life is Strange 2 was announced back in 2016-2017. In the middle of all the fanart and the fanfiction, we always thought a new Life is Strange with Max and Chloe was an impossibility and that was something we had to come to terms with for years. Past Sordidbask had resigned himself to a timeline where any piece of LiS media featuring Max and Chloe outside of the first game was only possible in fanworks and too troublesome to bring to canon. Not anymore, biatch. I am one of the Bae over Bay supporters but that ending was noticeably lacking in development and felt way too open-ended to give any sense of resolution to a storyline that spanned five chapters and dozens of different choices. As such, seeing her return (even in a brand new unrelated story) is the perfect opportunity to tie up loose ends from the first game and to see how Max has evolved as a CHARACTER given everything she went through in the original and to which exciting new places will Double Exposure take her.

This leads me to my main gripe with this new chapter in Max's life: Deck Nine.

Not gonna lie, when I watched the trailer and saw their logo instead of DONTNOD's, my initial excitement at seeing Max (once again voiced by Hannah Telle, let's go!) died down way too much. Beats me why DONTNOD has given up on their baby franchise but whatever reason it may be, Deck Nine is now at the Life is Strange helm. If it were up to DONTNOD, the franchise would have ended with Life is Strange 2. That said, comparisons are ugly but clearly DONTNOD's titles are superior to Deck Nine's.

Life is Strange 1 and 2 and even Captain Spirit, for all their flaws are more cohesive, well thought out and overall charming stories with more interesting characters than True Colors or Before the Storm (and at least some choices matter at the end of LiS 2, that can't be said for LiS 1, TC or BtS).

And I don't mind Deck Nine doing their own thing in this universe (True Colors) but them taking a fan favourite and a loved by all character from its original creators and from the place we initially met her scares me way too much. I don't mean to say they will ruin Max's character because that would be unfair but Deck Nine's games always seem to follow the same formula, a lackluster murder mystery where our choices ultimately lead up to a binary choice at the end. I guess I am terrified that D9 is hyping up Max's return after so long only to 🤡 us and put her in a lazy, drab, boring or uninteresting place.

To be honest, the most exciting part about that trailer was Max and Hannah. I did not care for this new friend character that gets killed off or any other D9 character for that matter at ALL. That may be unfair but given D9's track record with unremarkable, unimpressive and not bold enough stories, I have come to expect very little of them (other scandals not withstanding).

I can't help but wonder, since Max is going to use her powers again, is this going to be another time-travel story? Does D9 know how to pull those off? DONTNOD showed masterclass storytelling regarding time travel and it's consequences developing the themes brilliantly and with the amount of tragedy, inevitability, heartbreak and acceptance these stories always carry. That was imprinted all over LiS 1 and it's characters, Max's power was an ironic echo of her character flaw, she couldn't move on, she was nostalgic, she lived in the past. Her power is who she was in LiS 1 and I'm very interested to see how will Max using her powers again be handled in Double Exposure character-wise, story-wise and theme-wise.

Regarding Max's design, it's okay. I think people overreacting saying it doesn't look like her and calling her ugly are just trolling. She does resemble Steph more this time around. Deck Nine's style has already worn me out (this game looks too much like True Colors) where I wanted to see an improvement to the engine or even a brand new style, more handcrafted and more akin to the lighting in a bottle style and charm that LiS 1 had.

I believe it all comes down to that, the lighting in a bottle that was LiS 1 and Max with which we fell in love that I'm afraid D9 may not be able to live up to.

Regarding the elephant in the room: Where's Chloe? I'll choose to believe Deck Nine is keeping their cards close to their chest and not showing anything remotely associated with Chloe until the game releases because if they don't fear success, they will find a way to incorporate Chloe into this story in a way that feels essential, important and coherent to Max's character development as well and not just an afterthought or a cameo/mention when looking at an item. All of this taking into account all the theories we're seeing regarding the "parallel timelines", the Double Exposure title and the binary choice at the end of LiS 1.

If they don't mention or include Chloe at all, it would be a gigantic wasted opportunity and personally, a game-killer for me.

All of this makes it seem like I'm just spewing pessimism. But I want to be excited for this title, I love seeing everyone happy and glad Max is back and I love seeing how passionate and loving this community can be (mostly) every time a new chapter is announced for this little franchise that has changed our lives. I love Max, I love Chloe, I love this franchise and these characters.

If D9 is the only reason we are getting new Life is Strange games with our beloved characters in the first place then I am grateful to them but I won't settle for anything less than this franchise and these characters deserve. The bar set by the first game:

A rich, well crafted, engaging and meaningful story with deep and charming characters and themes that resonate in the audience. A memorable installment.

Not another stab which is uninteresting, unremarkable and forgettable but with Max as the MC.

D9 can choose which they want to make but by including Max they sealed their fate and are now forced, OBLIGATED to make the former option. This game may be superior to True Colors, I want it to be so much more than True Colors was and I hope D9 are able to pull it off.

Max and Chloe deserve it.

Thanks for reading.

[genericpuff]

lore rekindled looks really interesting, but i wanna ask if it can be understoood by someone who never read lore olympus? Like i can't get into LO for ReasonsTM (mostly of triggers that don't seem to exist/or are less prevalent in your work) but i know fanworks often rely on the pre-existing knowledge of the reader since its presumed they read the original, so some things don't get expanded upon or foreshadowing is there that only fans pick up on. I don't normally read fanworks of stuff im not even into because of that but i really like ur art style in rekindled so i gotta ask!!

There are some things in Rekindled that may rely on pre-existing knowledge of LO, but I'm also trying to write a version of LO that's retold from the beginning, meaning you should hopefully be able to read it without having extensive knowledge of LO beyond the fact that it was attempting to retell the Hymn to Demeter (i.e. the Abduction of Persephone). It's still trying to be a cohesive story from start to finish. So if you're into Greek gods and want to try reading Rekindled, by all means don't let it being an LO rewrite stop you! Worst case scenario if you wind up not being into it, then all you've lost is maybe twenty minutes to an hour of your time :' )

[starhaloeklypse]

Ladies, Gentleman, Those who identify as neither or both, It is FINALLY here. I am so excited to bring this comic to you all and I hope it resonates with many of you out there. Here is my cover of the Undertale Fan Comic I’m working on; “JigsawTale : The Ascension of the PuzzleMaster”. A Post-Pacifist ending long-running Undertale fanwork that centers the perspective of Papyrus. He’s our main character, and we’ll get to see how well he integrates into life on the surface in the human world , along with all of his friends and found family. How difficult is life for monsters who are perceived as even stranger than the average monster is ? He’ll have many obstacles to overcome because Papyrus just isn’t like most monsters. I’m very excited to share my work with you all, this story means so much to me and so much of it is inspired by and informed by my own lived experience. Papyrus is the character I relate to the most in pretty much all of fiction and I feel like I’m telling my story through him, sort of, but also his own at the same time. He’s my favorite for a reason and I think it’s time we give him a moment to shine. The story may contain some potentially triggering topics and events , but when the time comes I’ll be sure to give multiple detailed warnings for anything that needs it. It’s also meant to be viewed by older audiences as such, I’m not really intending for this story to be viewed by kids, it is a story that centers the perspective of an adult who doesn’t always get to feel like one and not only do I think it’ll resonate with that audience more, but it may not be suitable for those who are younger at all times, so I’d proceed with caution. Also I feel I should clarify, I don’t personally see this as much of an “AU”, To me it’s not an alternate universe, so much as it is an extended timeline that asks “What happens to everyone after the end of the ‘pacifist’ run, and what if we looked at all of that from Papyrus’ perspective ?” It’s closer to an epilogue story. Outside of Asgore and Toriel not being immortal in my version of the story and closer to middle age, there are no major differences to the original game, not enough to be considered an AU anyway, but if you see me tag it as one, that’s just to make it easier to find. Regardless , I hope everyone who’s interested gets a chance to read my story when it’s out, it’ll still probably be a while before that happens as I have a lot of things to work on and art skills to improve , but when the day comes , you will know. I plan to continue trying to update when I can. This is just to promote the comic and I hope it reaches as many people as possible. Thank you all for your time and patience, I’m beyond excited.

If you’re interested in the comic and would like to support its development financially , considering I’m a one-man band working on all of this by myself, I’d really appreciate it. If you’d like to request art from me I’d be happy to do so in exchange for donations as well. Any amount helps, and I’d be eternally grateful. Of course however, do not feel pressured to donate. I appreciate you tuning in either way and I hope you all enjoy the story.

[mostlymaudlin]

not responding directly to that post abt Neil’s demisexuality bc i have no ill will toward op or anyone reblogging it but also I have thoughts. it’s a very slippery slope to put rules on what’s ooc or not in fanworks. its nice to be able to see ourselves in characters and it’s totally fair to not enjoy portrayals of said characters that we disagree with. but when we find a connection with the source material, then imo that’s the end of where we get to claim any type of ownership of a character — fanfiction is the wild west and there’s no point in introducing morality to it when so much exists and it all caters to different audiences. to me, “ooc” is not a real thing, because every fic writer is going to portray the characters different than the source author does, because that’s how art works. so if people want to make neil more sexual in fanworks then that’s their right — we have the power to grimace and close the tab when we find fic we don’t like. it just means it’s not for us. but it’s not inherently wrong. esp with neil, his backstory and relationship to sexuality are so complex. he literally avoids thinking abt it at all in the books except for what’s happening right in front of him with andrew. there’s actually so much wiggle room! like, he literally says allison is “hot but off limits” at one point before spiraling into thoughts abt his mom — im not at all saying this proves he’s not ace/demi, or that he’s attracted to allison, but there’s lots of ways to interpret that. and there’s plenty of things about neil that people might connect with beyond sexuality — like, that’s not the only reason to be writing about him. fic writers might be more focused on exploring other aspects his character and that’s their right. and ofc worth mentioning that the aspec experience is soooooo vast like for me, i am aspec but if i vibed w someone even on a platonic level right away and they wanted to, i might smash bc im sex-neutral & it could be fun even if I’ve got a different relationship to attraction/arousal.

ANYWAY fanfiction is a contribution to a community, but individual works are not community-owned… we’re free to dislike anything, but i think it sets us all up for failure to make claims abt what’s a right or wrong way to portray characters in fic

[bestworstcase]

Hi, just joined Tumblr earlier today as part of an unrelated thing, thought I'd check your page out on a friend's rec, and... wow. Just, wow. This is practically the nine-dimensional chess of media literacy. I would have so many question, but everything you discuss is promptly explained in such great detail that I can't even say that. One question remains, though: *how?* Where do you get the absurd amount information and brainpower required to connect the show's many, many dots at this high of a level? It's something I struggle with myself (though that may be due to there being over a year between watching V1-V8 and seriously starting to reflect on the show beyond "well, that was a fun sequence of events"—thank you, newish fanfic writing brain—but that's besides the point), and I was wondering if you had any tips for expanding one's thinking in this direction, as the show still means a *lot* to me—there's a reason, however unexplainable, that I stuck with it so long before the reflections started—and I'd love it if the deepest parts of my brain could reflect it as such.

...Unless that's too much to ask, in which case, whoops! Either way, thank you.

really fundamentally the most effective thing you can do to practice is make a deliberate effort to cultivate a sense of curiosity toward the text. and what i mean by that is, get in the habit of asking yourself questions as if you’re in a high school english lit class: what happened in this scene? why did this character say or do that? does this conversation remind you of anything that happened in an earlier scene, and if so, what’s similar? what’s different? what did you learn about the characters from this scene? what did you learn about the world they live in? why do you think this scene was important enough to be in the story? what changed in this scene (something will always have changed)?

it may feel a bit patronizing at first BUT over time if you’re consistent about it, doing this will train you to approach reading or watching as an active participant. analytical interpretation is a skill and like any skill it takes sustained effort and practice.

after that it’s sort of just pattern recognition. this is true of all stories but it’s especially true of theme-driven stories like rwby because they tend to be very deliberate about repeating and refracting their ideas and often develop rich symbolic vocabularies. so you identify a pattern and then examine the text until you can develop a compelling argument for what it means.

one thing to keep in mind if you’re generally familiar with fandom is that fandom encourages a lot of practices that are cool and fun in fannish contexts but will poison analysis because they are (by nature of being transformative) untethered from the text. headcanon, for example, is things held to be true irrespective of the text—one could have as a headcanon that ruby is allergic to bee stings or that qrow is her father or whatever and it doesn’t matter that there’s no textual evidence or that the text says otherwise because the text is not relevant—but analytically, you must be able to back every part of your argument with textual evidence. so it is useful to practice compartmentalizing to keep headcanon strictly separated from the text in your mind.

(that’s also a practice i recommend in general because being able to say “i like this idea and i have it in mind when i create fanworks, but it isn’t canonical” is healthy)

a good habit to get into is arguing against yourself and holding yourself to a high standard of proof. the reason my argumentation tends to be so thorough is that i try to be as skeptical of my own theories as i am of other people’s. if i have an idea that seems right but doesn’t withstand textual scrutiny, i discard it. (or i might toss it into the headcanon/au idea pile, if i’m very fond of it.) i will often develop more than one argument about a given subject and then lay them all against the text before i commit to one. being skeptical will push you to pay closer attention.

cultivate curiosity about your own emotional reactions, too. what did this scene make you feel? why? how do you feel about this or that character? what draws you to your favorite characters? what distances you from the characters you don’t like? what ideas come to mind when you think about the story and what it means to you? if you have a strong reaction to something—good or bad—try to trace that feeling to its root. what sparked it and why?

once you start digging into that you’ll find that your intuitive reactions to the story are non-arbitrary—you’re subconsciously picking up on certain patterns or themes that resonate with you. so paying attention to what the story makes you feel and asking how and why it incites those feelings will guide you to conscious discovery of things you’ve already noticed without noticing.

and another good point of entry is to look for recurring symbols / imagery—for example, silver-eyes get associated with death and reincarnation through a combination of harvest/reaper imagery (scythe, sickle, ‘the grimm reaper’) and butterflies (ruby’s first glare resembles wings, butterflies everywhere when she and maria discuss her eyes, butterflies symbolizing ascension in the ever after). adding this pattern together with the white light in the liminal void between realms (the threshold of life and death!), the implication that silver-eyes came from ozma (who dies and reincarnates cyclically), the stated purpose of the glare (to preserve and protect life), ruby hearing pyrrha’s final words in her dreams (which she didn’t hear in reality), and the glare having destroyed the hand cinder used to kill pyrrha, is how i got to “silver-eyes are psychopomps,” because both the symbolism and the narrative facts about the power line up in that direction.

the one thing to be careful with in relation to symbolism is not to treat it like a secret code! symbolic meaning isn’t universal so you should always consider symbolism in context with the narrative. the first question should always be “what idea does this image appear in connection to, when it appears?” i.e. the burning rose in rwby symbolizes mourning. think of symbols as more like trail markers that the narrative has placed to help you understand the story by connecting dots. we see the burning rose on summer’s grave and then we see it on ruby; she carries her mother’s absence with her. she gives the brooch away in the ever after right after the blacksmith shows her a glimpse of summer, and then in the storm her reflection is summer but ruby doesn’t look, doesn’t see: she’s avoiding her grief, trying to pretend it isn’t there. and then the brooch returns to her once she faces what the blacksmith wanted to show her about her mom: now it’s a symbol for acceptance of loss.

and with a story like rwby that uses allusion to develop its thematic narrative it’s really helpful to read the texts it alludes to! the core narrative allusions are the marvelous land of oz, maiden in tower fairytales (petrosinella, persinette, rapunzel), cinderella, and the little prince, plus alice’s adventures in wonderland & through the looking glass for the ever after. and then every major character has a specific character allusion. both kinds of allusion are symbolic/thematic (you can’t use allusions to predict specific plot events but they help tie together emotional arcs and character relationships cohesively, and the narrative allusions are pretty good weather vanes for very broad-strokes things like ozma’s symbolic blindness being ‘healed’ in the end).

rewatching the show a couple of times will also help, especially if you take notes. i’m not sure how many times i’ve rewatched v1-8 but it’s a lot and i’ve watched v9 in full twice, plus rewatching a lot of specific episodes or scenes for reference. rewatching will help you spot patterns that you missed before and increase your familiarity with the text in general, both of which help tremendously.