#I also wanted to do this cause i never post any fanart whatsoever so it's like killing three birds with one stone

[aweirdbugcreature]

The... The trend...

Based on this:

[cookii-moon]

Ninjago has social media so why not share some headcanons

so I was chatting with a friend and this came up and I wanted to expand on it and talk about it

Basically... how the ninja interact with the canon social media. Yeah. Twitter- I mean Chirp... is a thing in Ninjago. Canonically. And then never brought up again. So uh

What better to do than explore how the Ninja's social media life is going in relation to them being celebrities. And then post it on a social media at 9 pm. Headcanons under the cutoff yayy

Ok so first off Cole because he started this mess and I want to get him out of the way because I want to get to the other's.

He's... I mean are we going to deny he's popular... He was kinda already a celebrity before becoming a Ninja thanks to his family history. Either way, he is very afraid of the omnipresent conglomorate known as a fanbase. They scare him so he just does not interact with them whatsoever, yet he still somehow manages to remain VERY popular with fans for... a variety of reasons... his lack of interaction means they feel like they can get away with a lot of things. Despite this Cole does still have exactly one active social media account and it is an anonymous (Insert Ninjagan equivalent to Instagram here) where he quite literally just posts art randomly and daily and says absolutely nothing. By anonymous, I mean he pretty much just has an online name and profile picture that he made up that has no connections to his personal life or being a ninja. The other Ninja are aware he has an art account, but not of the name or any other details, so they've made a secret game out of finding his social media identity. It remains yet to be found, which is either a relief, to Cole (though he isn't even aware of it) or sad, to the people who are betting on it.

Lloyd!! Little candy loving goblin man!!! Lloyd is awesome I want to draw him more often hhh

Lloyd kind of just talks about funny things, posts memes, and shares cool fanart. He tries to steer clear of negativity in general because good lord knows he's far too exhausted from his own trauma and stress to fight the internet. He just tries to turn a blind eye to stuff but he still gets caught up in the web that is social media sometimes, what with fame and all that, which often ends in him getting emotional. And subsequently having Kai offer to punch somebody. His socials are public but he doesn't advertise them much at all for the sake of a peaceful atmosphere, so he has like a decently small follower/sub/whatever count for how popular he is. His fanbase is pretty tame for the most part, though there are a few overbearing young children who don't quite understand things just yet.

Kai, the guy who made chirp canon by posting about being in the hospital and causing a break in that probably violated several laws and frightened the children.

... I mean it's kind of canon that he uses socials. Since he's likely one of the only two Ninja with public and advertised accounts, people flock to him a lot over that fact alone, so not all of them are necessarily there for Kai. He has a pretty dedicated fanbase of people who like him for his charm and personality, but he also has a few people who find him annoying and pretentious. Some people kinda don't mind him and just follow him for Ninja news or snippets in general, even though he doesn't just post about Ninja stuff. Since it's kind of hard to convey a personality in.. you know... text... unless you know someone REALLY well, he tends to have a bit of a divide in the community over how he comes off as arrogant or full of himself sometimes.

Nya our local girlboss who's movie counterpart rides a straight up motorcycle through hallways endangering hundreds of children- look I love Nya but principal where are you.

She does have a social, but she rarely uses it. When she logs in every month or so it mostly just consists of roasting Kai or answering curious fans. Despite this she does look at the fanbase every now and then because she finds it equally parts heartwarming and, when it comes to the idiots and trolls, amusing. She's pretty popular because of her general attitude and girlboss vibes.

Zane, robot man with infinite access to the entirety of the web.

So hear me out here... I don't think he has an actual social, but I think he edits wikipages. Like not fandom or anything just straight up Wikipedia. In every language. (or, well, regional dialect?) I know it's really specific but that just seems like something he'd enjoy. It's a secret hobby. He'll be up at night facing the wall in his bed, eyes open trying to finish this wiki article because new info about prehistoric dinosaurs and their connections to birds came out and he has to document it right now oh my god, and the others think he's just like asleep or smthn. It just makes him really happy. His fanbase isn't as large as the others, but he's still very well liked by the majority of the ninja fans, even though he rarely interacts with social media outside of interviews (because Jay is actively trying to stop him from getting anywhere close to it so that he doesn't have to explain certain things)

And last but not least... Jay... the social menace of the internet.

He's the second ninja with a public and well known account, and he's very popular. He talks about everything. Funny memes. Fanart. Silly thoughts. And he loves gossiping about the other's in good fun. His sole purpose is to entertain both others and himself, and he is very good at it, even online. He's also really involved in the community and likes giving shout outs to talented people and such. Being really involved also means he knows their secrets. He knows about the more sus parts of the fanbase. He knows about the secret Benedict cult. He knows about the real reason Cole and Nya are so popular. Sometimes, he'll deliberately mention these parts of the fanbase, randomly and oftentimes months apart, and just set the place ablaze because he finds it funny. Nowhere is safe from him and they all know it. It's become a meme at this point with some even people making up wacky conspiracy theories about him being omnipresent or the account being run by a robot with very well programmed bad jokes. But his sheer presence in the fandom and his personality makes him very popular. And the social he uses is probably YouTube, but he also streams sometimes. On YouTube. Not twitch. He never changed. Ever. The others love coming in during a stream and messing with him or teasing him in chat. Mostly Cole and Nya. They're subbed both to be supportive and so that they get the notification whenever he's live or uploads so that they can leave a comment. Because of course they would. Cole's YouTube account is the only account he ever uses that's public, and he made it for the sole purpose of teasing Jay. If that doesn't say best friends, then I don't know what does.

[ladyluscinia]

Ok, several helpful people in my replies and one very helpful link later, I at least know what people were talking about.

For anyone else confused, curious, and too checked out of Twitter (or just bored of fandom drama) to look into it...

Here's the tweet at the center of it all:

The opening definitely has all the pieces needed to make a bad first impression: "The Rat Man", "everyone loves to hate him", "want him to suffer horribly", cutting off just after the "racism, colonialism, classism" but before actually saying what the essay is about (thankfully not any of that). Let's sum it up with I'm not surprised that fans saw this tweet and were immediately under the impression that their fanzine was going to have an Izzy discourse essay in it breaking down how he sucks.

People are not exactly known for going to check the full article before responding to the headline and excerpt, especially when you only (maybe, if it had shipped) had the full thing to consult if you paid for it. This apparently went over predictably poorly as soon as people started asking questions.

The essay itself is here (also viewable in this (more Izzy critical) post which has a link to the original tweet as well):

EDIT: apparently the op of that post decided that two Izzy fans defending the essay and saying both sides needed to calm down was unacceptable and turned off reblogs, so glad I put a copy here too

I think it's fairly shallow and makes a number of interpretive assumptions that it doesn't acknowledge or defend, but both of these things are more artifacts of brevity than anything else. For a meta arguing Izzy's role and POV across the entirety of Season 1 it's only 11 paragraphs long (not counting intro lines or odd formatting breaks), while my meta probably most comparable in scope is my main Edward one at closer to 40 paragraphs + 5 direct quotes, and that one still doesn't fully back up its points because it leans on another 14 (?) linked posts in the body of the text.

I'm on the wordy side, but I feel like you could have covered just 1x10 in this word count and not hit everything, so not surprising that condensing to just broad strokes had people going "Wait where's the counterargument???" Like, the meta itself is not particularly hostile or offensive. Mildly annoying if you disagree with it, and with an intro / title that maybe should have been revisited, but not an act of staunch anti-Izzy warfare.

The core of the complaint from the Izzy side, btw, seems to just be that there wasn't any other argument. There wasn't any other meta submitted at all, actually, which does seem like an oversight on the mods' part. No other views on Izzy, and no risk whatsoever of someone having to read a show analysis they didn't like about Edward / Stede / Jim / etc. Everything else is just fun fanart or fanfic. Which still mostly seems like a "get a bit annoyed" problem and not a "how could you let them publish this and I would never have given you money if I knew" problem, but what is fandom without overblown situations?

On the anti Izzy side (which I'll admit I've seen very little of because of my Izzy liking crimes 😔) I've seen a few mentions of harassment of the mods and author because of this, which it is Twitter so I wouldn't doubt it. I do avoid the cesspool for a reason. There are a lot of replies just mentioning and / or being dramatic about their arguably legit annoyance, and in terms of numbers I don't exactly use Twitter but it doesn't look like the post was that big...

...so I'm feeling like the "oh look how many whiny Izzy fans it caused to have a meltdown" and the "huge unjustified backlash by Izzy stans" mentions are also being overblown. This seems like more of a "got annoyed with fans I don't like already" thing, too.

My final conclusion:

Twitter kind of sucks, a bunch of people got annoyed, the fanzine maybe should not have published just one meta in the first place, and they definitely should have realized that their tweet excerpt looked like the opening to 50% of the "Izzy is pure evil and fans who like him are suspicious as fuck" essays and changed it.

Also the meta itself is a pretty meh overview and not an anti Izzy manifesto, the idea that the author should have been censored because their meta counts as some kind of attack is absurd, and, again, Twitter sucks.

Has anyone actually broken down what all this "anti Izzy meta in a zine" drama was off Twitter? Or at least in one place that can be linked and viewed without a Twitter account?

I keep seeing references to it, but they are all so disparate that if I wasn't fairly confident there was only one recent zine drama...

[babycharmander]

If you think you have never stolen artwork, read this post.

So, art theft. If you've been a follower of mine, you've heard my barely-coherent rants about this before, but I thought it might be more productive to make a more coherent post on the subject.

If you're wondering about the title of the post here, it's because I feel like a lot of people aren't really grasping what exactly art theft is, and a LOT of people, even well-meaning ones, do it without even realizing it.

"But wait," you say. "I would never STEAL from an artist!! I never claim it as my own!" And that's all fine and good, but you're missing something here.

To start things off, what IS art theft? (It's not what deviantART said it was several years back, I'll tell you that much. *cough*)

We all know what art is, so let's talk about theft. Dictionary.com defines "theft" as "the act of stealing; the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another; larceny." Okay, makes sense, but what about that other word there, stealing? Dictionary.com defines "steal" as "to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force."

From those definitions, we can go on to define art theft as, specifically, "taking art without permission or right." In the context of art, that typically involves reposting it (not reblogging--reblogging is different) or using it for other things.

And there, my friends, is the issue.

If something is taken or used without permission, it is stolen. Permission is the important thing here--if an artist says "oh yeah, you can go ahead and use this!" then it's not stolen. You have their permission. But if you DON'T have that, then it IS stolen. It IS theft.

"But I'm not claiming it as my own!" you say. But you don't have to claim it as your own--the act of taking it in and of itself is an act of theft.

"But I said 'credit to the artist!'" The "credit" thing is a whole other conversation, but here's the short of it: The entire point of credit is to direct people to the source of something. If you are not directly linking to where you got the art from, you are not giving credit. "Credit to the artist" is not actually credit of any kind whatsoever. (Also, Google and Pinterest are not sources.)

"But I DID link back to the artist!" Okay, now this is where it may get confusing, because you may think you're covered because you actually did give credit. Here's the problem: if you reposted it or used it without permission, regardless of whether you gave credit or not, it's still stealing.

I'm bolding this because it's a point that a lot of people get tripped up on. Let me explain it this way: If you went into your neighbor's house and took something of theirs without their permission, but you told people "oh yeah, I got this from [neighbor]'s house!" that that would still, of course, be stealing, and it's no different for art.

Another thing is that even when you credit, people don't always check the source. Very recently I found a case where someone had reposted a piece of artwork of mine to Pinterest that was deliberately made to look like it came from the source material (it wasn't meant to confuse anyone, though--the description of my original post made it very clear that it was fanart). The person who reposted had linked back to my original post. The problem? The comments had people asking if this was official, where it happened in the source material, etc. Despite the fact that the source was right there, no one thought to look at it.

Even if you link back to the source, if you did it without the artist's permission, it's still stealing, and still causes problems for us artists.

"But I just posted it to my Pinterest--" DO NOT DO THIS. DO NOT POST AN ARTIST'S WORK TO PINTEREST IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THEIR EXPLICIT PERMISSION TO DO SO.

"But this artist friend of mine says they're okay if I post their work to my Pinterest so long as I link back to them!" Good for your friend! But the fact that your friend is okay with it doesn't mean that all artists are okay with it. For me, personally, I am very not okay with my work being posted to Pinterest, and say as much on my art blog description and posts (which people tend to ignore).

The problem with Pinterest--and reposting art in general--is that we artists don't know when it happens unless we're told, or unless we find it ourselves. It causes us to lose control of our art. And because of this, our art can spiral further out of our control, because when our works get posted to Pinterest or other similar websites, people who have no grasp whatsoever on how art works will just take it as "free art" and then use it for whatever they want.

That's how a piece I spent 20+ hours on was used as a poster for a paid event, without my permission, and without any payment or credit to me.

If an artist has said nothing about Pinterest (or other similar image sharing sites), your default should be to assume that they don't want their artwork posted there.

"Well I didn't repost someone's art, but I did use it for my avatar/RPing icon/video/fic cover/photo edit--" That's still stealing. If you're using it without their permission for any reason, that is stealing. Not to mention, the artist may not be cool with what you're using their art for anyway. (Looking at you, people who use platonic art in your shipping videos.)

“I MEANT to ask them for permission, but I forgot!” This can ONLY happen if you used the artwork BEFORE you asked for permission. You can resolve this by asking for permission BEFORE you use it, rather than assuming the answer will be “yes” and using it before asking.

"But it took me a really long time to make that icon/video/cover/edit!!" How long do you think it took the original artist to draw their piece? It doesn't matter how much work you put into modifying someone else's art--if you're doing it without their permission, you're still stealing.

"But I couldn't find the original artist! I tried to find them, I really did, but I couldn't. Is it okay to use their art then?" No, because you still don't have permission, and by reposting it anyway, you’re continuing to make the artwork spiral out of their control.

"What if I found the artist, but they speak a different language from mine? I can't ask them for permission, so is it okay if I repost their art anyway?" NO!! DO NOT DO THIS!! If there is a language barrier, use Google translate or find someone to translate for you and get a hold of the artist that way to ask them for their permission. The language barrier is NEVER an excuse to steal artwork. There are plenty of non-English-speaking artists who have taken ALL OF THEIR ARTWORK OFFLINE because the art theft was completely out of control. (And this isn't just exclusive to English-speakers stealing art from people who don't speak their language. It happens artists who don't speak English stealing art from English-speakers, too, but as this post is written in English it doesn't do much good for me to rant about this here.) If you can’t ask their permission, do not use it!!

"But what about reblogging?! Isn't that the same as reposting?? Should we not reblog art at all then?" No, reblogging (or retweeting) is not the same as reposting. If you reblog art, you keep all the information that we attached to the art, including our blog name and the description attached to the art. Reblogging/retweeting actually helps us artists A LOT, so as long as you're reblogging from the original artist (and not someone who's reposting their art), by all means, reblog our art!

"What if I just want to share someone else's artwork on Discord or show it to a friend?" This one's a bit different and is not actually as problematic. If you want to share our work on Discord or whatever, just link directly to where we posted it. Please don't post the art itself, unless you're doing it alongside a link because Discord won't show a preview or something.

"What about a forum or a site like Reddit?" This one's a bit different, since due to the way Reddit functions, if you LINK to the art, you have to go directly to the artist's original page to view it. (At least, that’s what it’s like the last time I was active there.) In a way it's roughly the same as with Discord--be sure you're linking directly to the actual post rather than just uploading the art on its own--but I would also ask the artist if they're okay with it, because they may be a member of the subreddit or forum and want to post it themselves, or they might not want their work shared to specific communities. (Some communities have a function where a bot will repost the artwork to Imgur, and some artists don't want that done with their art.)

"What if I'm saving it to my computer/phone to look at later, or making it into my desktop/phone wallpaper?" IMO this is fine, since your computer/phone files aren't public, and neither is your wallpaper. It's only a problem when you post it to public places without our permission.

"What if it's art I commissioned?" Well... like... in that case, it's art you paid for, so unless the artist you commissioned laid out very specific terms for you, you should be good to use that art. Like, at most, the artist may ask you to credit them somewhere in your blog description if they drew your icon or something, or credit them in a fic description if you commissioned a fic illustration from them, or something to that effect. It's really something you should have already worked out with the artist beforehand, but for the most part you should probably be fine to use art you paid for however you like.

"What about art I requested?" This is a bit different from commissioned work. Just because the art was drawn at your request doesn't mean it's explicitly yours (unless it's like, a drawing of your original character or something). Some artists take requests more as suggestions, so the art they draw in response to a suggestion or request is still theirs. Treat this as you would any other artwork and ask the artist for permission first before you do anything with the artwork you requested from them.

“What about NFTs?” ... Okay this one I can’t really go over too much because I barely understand it in the first place, but NFTs are BAD for artists and are a form of art theft. Do not turn people’s art into NFTs. This is a crappy thing to do. (If you want more information on this one, you’ll have to look it up yourself. It’s a form of cryptocurrency and it’s confusing.)

“If you don’t want your art stolen you shouldn’t post it in the first place.” This is fascinating logic. Try applying it to something else and see how it holds up. “If you don’t want your merchandise stolen, you shouldn’t open a booth.” “If you don’t want to get poisoned you shouldn’t eat food.” “If you don’t want to get punched in the face, don’t walk outside.” Yes. Flawless logic. Truly.

"Why do you care so much, anyway?! I'm sharing your art because I like it! That's a compliment! Shouldn't you be happy?" Well, we're certainly glad you like our art, but the problem is... as I've said before, reposting our art causes us to lose our control over it. When we lose control of our art, that damages our livelihood. As I said before, other people have made money off of my artwork. As well, some artists lose jobs because when their potential employers check out their portfolio, they may find artwork that's been reposted everywhere online, so they cannot hire the artist because they believe they may have stolen the artwork in their own portfolio.

Your reposting an image you thought was cute to Facebook or Pinterest could cost an artist their job. Think about that.

So, tl;dr, keep this in mind: you need the artist's permission to repost or use their artwork. If you do not have it, it is stealing, even if you credit the artist.

I know this post is really harsh in places, but this is such an important thing for all artists, and there's so many misconceptions about art theft online. And I feel like one of the biggest problems is that when some people see posts on art theft, they ignore them, because they think they've never done it or would never do it, so that's why I worded this post the way I did. I'm not trying to hurt anyone--I just want people to understand what art theft is, how it affects us artists, and how you can avoid it. Thank you for reading.

[lutrain2020]

Meet the Creator!

Introducing: Aprici / Soybean or Lili!

Commission:  I don't do commissions because I don't have a way to transfer payment, but I do take requests.

Social Media: AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Japo_Chan23

Tell us a little bit about you!

My name is Lili, but online I typically go by soybean or Aprici. My favorite color is blue/pink and I really enjoy playing video games and writing. Despite how long I've been writing, I've always dreamed of being a psychologist or therapist, so once I graduate high school I'm going to have a double major in psychology and social services. I might keep writing when I get older, but it would be more as a pass time than anything.

Is there someone who inspires you and your writing?

Barry Lyga and Neal Shusterman, for sure. They are both phenomenal writers and I want my style of writing to be similar to theirs because it just makes everything fit so well. Lyga, in his I Hunt Killers trilogy, was able to capture suspense perfectly and had very good pacing, and Shusterman was able to tell a great story with diverse and well thought out characters. I aspire to be able to write things that are well paced and have fully thought out characters one day. Lyga and Shusterman were the main reasons why I started writing again after I dropped it for a few years.  

What got you into writing?

I was looking at fanart of Gravity Falls on Deviantart and I found this one fanfiction and it just seemed really interesting so I read it. It then led me to fanfiction.net and then I decided that "why don't I wrote my own fanfiction?". So I did, and this was when I was in 5th grade so it was REALLY bad haha, but I ended up reading a lot in middle school and got a better grasp on storytelling and overall just how to write. I was writing constantly during middle school, and I got better once I entered high school.

What's your favorite part of the writing process?

Oh boy, I don't really have a writing process, so I just lack any outline whatsoever.  Sometimes I just get struck with some idea to write a story and then I'd go and do a livewrite immediately without a plan in mind. It makes me happy when I just start writing and then I don't stop. I like the ideas I get out of nowhere and then having the ability to execute that ability it just my favorite.

What's your least favorite part of the writing process?

I absolutely HATE editing and just rereading everything. When I think about what I'm going to write I end up losing the inspiration to actually write what I wanted, or if I do write it it just lacks the emotion or detail that I had originally wanted. It just doesn't work with me if I write something that I actually thought out. In the fanfiction I'm writing right now, "Pick Your Poison, Love" I was originally gonna just have it be like five chapters, but on the third chapter I was like, "hey, how interesting would it be if I just killed a character and made a murder mystery of sorts and then that's how the characters become closer?". I hate making a plan or thinking about what should come next. It ruins my flow, so whenever I decide to make a plan or something, everything I write ends up losing the love that I have for what I was writing because it just doesn't turn out like how I expected.

Whats your favorite type of scene to write?

I looooove writing characters bonding. It comes easily to me. I also love writing scenes of just detailing the world around you or the actions a character is doing. It just comes easily for me.

What's the hardest for you to write?

Fight scenes, anything super extreme, and adult content. I just struggled with writing the simple details that come with it. It's hard for me to write because if you miss one detail everything falls apart and it doesn't turn out well whatsoever. I'm very inexperienced in these areas because I just lack the detail in writing it out. It just comes out bad and bland.

What's your favorite genre to write?

I like to write a general hurt/comfort kind of thing, or something modern/realistic. I like the balance between fluff and angst. I never really enjoyed writing full on angst because I just lack the motivation to write someone getting hurt and then just not having support, and sometimes fluff is hard to write as well if it's just too much, you know? I just want to write something the embodies both elements of angst and fluff.

What fandoms do you enjoy writing for?

Right now I've mainly been writing for Legend of Zelda, hence why I'm doing this train. I used to write for a multitude of others fandom that I soon dropped. I've only wrote for Legend of Zelda right now, but I enjoy writing Twilight the most. He's just simple and I like writing him with Midna.Twilight Princess was one of my first Zelda games, so once I replayed it I just fell in love with the character again. The Linked Universe fandom is also really sweet and I love talking to everyone in the discord! I really appreciate everyone there because they all have so many ideas and they're all so creative, and I love just hearing what other people have to say about it. I used to write for Marvel a lot (specifically some Spiderman stuff), but I haven't recently, but I really like writing Peter Parker because it just came easily to me. Peter's a nerd who went through a lot of grief, and after my grandmother died I projected a lot onto him and wrote a lot of stuff relating to him and Gwen Stacy or Harry Osborn because it just came easily to me.

What's the work you are most proud of?

I wrote this fanfiction recently called Sunkissed (https://archiveofourown.org/works/24318283) and I ADORE it. I love it so much, it was fluff, but it wasn't too much, and I added some humor to it as well. It was just all the boys having fun and acting like a family and it just made me happy to write because the scene at the end where they're all playing in the river is literally just how I act with my friends sometimes. I just like this piece a lot because it just gives me a warm feeling. I'm also super proud of called It's Complicated (https://archiveofourown.org/works/14798700) which is based on Peter Parker trying to make amends with Harry Osborn. I really like it because I feel like this was the one time I was able to really capture who these characters are and it just had a good balance of emotions that these two had over everything that happened between them.

Is there a specific scene you are particularly proud of?

There's this one scene in Pick Your Poison, Love when Midna and Twilight are about to go and meet Dead Hand that I'm fond/proud of because it just seemed like, such a Midna thing to do. Cause Twilight fell from a ladder and instead of catching him she just let him fall. They just met so I tried to make her act more like how she did when you first meet her in Twilight Princess. Also I'm proud of the opening scene I had for Secret Agent W, when they all met Wolfie for the first time. I really enjoy that scene and I find it funny, even though I wasn't really intending there to be too many in your face jokes, you know?

Is there something you had to work through that forced you to grow as a writer?

I had to go through some things in real life relating to my family and my relationships, but going through everything made me grow as a person, which then impacted my writing as well. Growing as a writer was hard because a bunch of my super old works were REALLY bad, but it was just the act of writing them continually that helped me grow as a writer. I know what I was writing was bad, but I did it anyways because I liked it. I became a better writer when I got older because of how often I was writing.

Do you have any fics inspired by real life stories?

I wrote this one story that was just making a bunch of metaphors, but I just included this one scene I was asking this guy, Rick, if Italy was pretty when he went there and when he said it was beautiful and I was almost in tears haha. I include a lot of moments from my life. In Sunkissed, at the end when Warriors and Twilight are throwing Wind back and forth towards the other, that was what my brother and my dad did to me when we were in Florida! We were in a pool at night and they were just chucking me back and forth! It a memory I'm really fond of. There might be a bunch of references here and there in any of my stories that have happened in my life, but I can't think of any off the top of my head, and I have like 45 works posted on my ao3, so I don't really want to go check, haha.

Where do you post your finished works?

https://archiveofourown.org/users/Japo_Chan23

[sisterdivinium]

"Yeah, I don't really have any theories as to the dearth of content about other ships"

Trying to think of some was kind of the point to the post, though ;)

But I do agree with you that it's probably due to more than one single cause at work. If it were simple, we'd just have quickly pointed out a solution to the equation very early on in this conversation, after all, but we know it's more complex than "fans are X, they want Y".

The main character draw certainly must be a factor, at least for some people, although the triad of traits is arguably easily distributed amongst the others as the adjectives "hot" and "badass" are par for the course in this show -- and there is currently nothing in canon that could contradict any other characters' as having a sexuality other than straight (Camila mentions and reacts to a man she thinks attractive and Lilith kisses Adriel, sure, but so did Ava make out with JC and that never stopped her whereas Jillian and Superion haven't even had past relationship histories hinted at. Yasmine is also out in the open. Mary and Shannon have common history constantly alluded to).

But supercorp is an interesting example where a canon f/f pairing gets less attention than the non-canon one -- however, as you say, it involves the main character so that might be a clue. Of course I can't tell for sure and someone from the Supergirl fandom would be more qualified to speak on this, but as someone who has known of Katie McGrath since her Merlin days, well... I think she might just be the answer here, lol.

Back to WN, I wouldn't say AUs are meant to better canon. If anything, they're a sort of concurrent to it, a reimagining of it, a dialogue with it, perhaps, only from another point a view, another setting -- unless we're talking canon divergence, which I tend to think of as something else rather than a full-blown alternate universe. I also wouldn't say the motivation for writing fic in general is bettering canon; maybe it is for some, regarding some stories, in some occasions, for some reasons, but I hesitate to say it's the overall tendency -- first, because there is quite a good deal of fic out there that just makes life even more miserable to the characters, and secondly because we're actually branching out from the subject at hand since the fic stats on AO3 were merely a springboard to ponder on shipping rather than fic writing in itself and shipping isn't necessarily dependent on that (regardless of how central fics usually are to it). It's just that trying to understand fandom behaviour is easier when you have some sort of data to fall back on and that data is more promptly manageable when there is an organised archive the likes of which are unheard of for, say, fanart.

(Even if we must also take into consideration that AO3 isn't the end-all be-all; it's a reflection of those WN fans who use it, numerous as they may be, but not necessarily of the entire WN fanbase. This might not be as crucial to keep in mind as it was for older fandoms which were more widespread in the more "wild" times of fan culture internet, but it's still a variable we shouldn't wholly ignore.)

As for CamLil being "popular" but not being as present all by itself, that's also part of the issue I'm trying to get at. I'm not sure it is all that popular -- one would have to sift through the fics tagged with it to see if they really feature the ship or not, especially those where there is avatrice too. That's why I talked about "spam" in my initial post and what I also developed a bit more in the reply to the anon ask I received because of it, because there have been instances where a pairing is marked down as being a part of the story and yet having no real space in it whatsoever, only mentioned as a footnote to the monolith of avatrice. That hardly qualifies as being popular, surely.

As for a necessary quantity of fans to get a ship going, yes, I do agree although, on the other hand, those are things that feed into one another. Excitement might spread because of some group of enthusiastic/talented/popular fans proposing a pairing and creating works for it even if the ship is small. That can be a matter of chance, too.

Popularity does seems to be a concern. There has been quite a conversation on the topic in general terms here, which I think is worth taking a peek at. It's disheartening to think some people would go through the trouble of writing something for numbers rather than for themselves, but then I can't speak on that as I am literally the person who writes shit she knows few people will enjoy without caring a fig for that. I'm a bit too old to worry about being ~popular (on the internet of all places...), though I can see there might be a large portion of fans who feel differently. It's a pity, but alas.

Not to mention the other side of being involved in rarepair fandom business, which is that the community that forms around it might be smaller, but it will likely also be more passionate and faithful -- the big ship people can come and go through hundreds or thousands of fics, but the rareship people pretty much only have you and a handful of other creators (if they're lucky) and they will probably hover around you for longer and support you in ways that those who can lose count of how many authors they follow won't.

To end this at last, I'm also rather picky about ships, despite it all, but those I like I really like. I'm just not opposed to visit some other playgrounds from time to time, also as a way to challenge myself as a writer, to write something fresh and new. I just probably won't ever do that for the Very Big Ships to which I end up overexposed thanks to fandom, regardless of my careful curation -- and that includes the one whose hegemony more or less sparked this whole discussion to begin with :)

You know, for a show with so many female characters that so many of us love given how they all get time in the spotlight one way or another and they fill that time up rather wonderfully since they are deeper and more developed than what we're used to seeing in general media, it is peculiar (to say the least) to see so few "alternative" ships to the main one.

I'm not saying the canon ship doesn't deserve its attention -- I'm wondering instead why the canon ship and it alone seem to guide the WN fans who just so happen to enjoy writing/reading fic or fanart or whatever.

You'd think all these cool women would inspire more ships or combinations thereof, but those of us who aren't invested in avatrice just... Float along, around one another, ignored (and, yes, mostly undisturbed too; being unpopular does have its advantages and that includes a lot less weirdos leaving you strange or awkward messages -- it does not, however, shield us from people flooding our goddamn tags on AO3 with fic that has nothing to do with our little ships and I do wish such negligence of the pairing itself meant we didn't have to deal with this spam...)

I am also not saying that fandom activity should be based solely on shipping (and recently someone on Reddit was rather confused by the fact that a lot of it is, which is quite an interesting topic to discuss in itself -- after all, there is more to fan creativity than shippy fic... Or there used to be), merely that, here, it appears that a canon relationship can outshine interest in the other, non-canon ones. It's already there and it was doubtless well-done by the show, so it's natural that it should claim people's attention, sure. It's just that being canon was never the parameter for whether people were interested in these or those two (or more) characters maybe being involved and trying to explore what that could mean through fanwork.

There has always been a complaint haunting fandom spaces concerning the minuscule amounts of f/f fic, art, discussion, w/e based on how few (interesting or sympathetic or relatable) female characters there are in media at large. So what I'm curious about is why fan creations made around WN -- a show that finally gives us a whole cast of female characters that are what we have been craving for decades -- don't also reflect its diversity.

There are alternative ships (I'm here, all happy in my tiny Doctor Superion bubble, and I know there are Camila/Lilith, Ava/Lilith, Mary/Shannon, Mary/Lilith shippers out there, so a warm hello to you if you're reading this), but go on AO3 and compare the numbers of things tagged with these proper pairings to the grand total of WN stories. Better (or worse) still, do so with the "otp: true" trick or simply by excluding avatrice from the search to see how many are left.

It's... A considerable difference. And a mystery, at least to me.

[quicksilverlightning]

The All Might Fan Forum Discussion Board, Part Two

ALL MIGHT FAN FORUM General Discussion All Might Battles Meeting All Might      Rescued by All Might      All Might Encounters      >Small Might Encounters (New!) Fanart and Fanfiction

Gone4-a-Jog

Small Might Sensei

I like to go jogging. I started recently and I’m not very good at it – I can’t run very fast or very long. But I like taking different routes and discovering new places when I stop to catch my breath. It was during one of my longer runs that I bumped into All Might.

I’d heard someone behind me a few minutes before I stopped to put my hands on my knees and try to gulp down as much air as possible, but didn’t hear that he stopped when I did so I jumped and nearly fell on my ass when I got upright, then nearly fell again when I saw who it was and this long sentence doesn’t begin to cover the comedy of errors that was my life in these few moments.

He stopped cause I was running wrong. Sidenote: there’s a such thing as running wrong. Apparently, you want to land in the middle of your foot and try not to land on your heel at all cause that can cause problems. He also taught me a few breathing rhythms for different intensities of runs.

He ran with me for about twenty minutes, correcting my bad posture and seriously I know every post on this forum says it, but All Might is super, super nice. Like, you’d think he’d have at least a little ego or something, but he doesn’t. He just wants to help everyone. He said hello to everyone we passed and doubled back to throw away a bottle someone dropped. He’d so nice you guys.

I’ve been using what he taught me for a few days now, and haven’t gotten a stitch in my side once. It’s so much easier to run now. Thanks Sensei!

Pepper-oni

Seatmates!

Small Might sat next to me on the bus. Pretty sure he could have had any seat he wanted no matter how crowded it was, but he was really polite and kinda awkward about asking if he could sit with me. Meanwhile, I’m internally screaming while trying to keep it cool on the outside.

He was texting someone on his phone – I tried not to stare, but it’s All Might, you know? I didn’t catch much, just that he was proud of someone, which, hello, is so frickking cute. He looked happy.

m0toroildrmz

A brief conversation with my mother:

“Mom, do you know who that was?”

“No?”

“That was All Might! All Might, mom!”

I leave my mom alone for five seconds to use the bathroom, and I come back to ALL MIGHT helping her with her English crossword puzzles. She didn’t even get an autograph for me.

oba-san581

the beach

I don’t know why it took so very long for it to click – after his last battle, I couldn't shake the feeling that I’d seen that tall, skinny man somewhere before. And he is such a distinctive gentleman; I was sure I knew him, somehow. It wasn’t until I met him on the beach that it finally fell into place.

I’m retired these days, so I have a lot of time on my hands. Every day, I take a walk from my home to the library and back. Sometimes I stay a few minutes, sometimes the entire day gets away from me. For months, almost every day without fail, there was a man and a boy cleaning the shoreline near my home. They would be there when I left for the day, and were still there when I came back. The boy was a scrappy, freckled little thing, cute as a button. The man was slender, but undeniably strong – he would step in to help with some of the bigger appliances, but mostly directed the boy and cheered him on.

I stopped to speak to them a few times; the boy was such a polite young man, and All Might was genial and humble. I never would have known. I could never have guessed had I not met him again, returning from the library with a book to enjoy near the waves.

It’s strange; heroes are so flashy these days, hustle and bustle and fight and move. And we appreciate them, need them. But there’s something so very special about the little things. All Might personally spent almost a year helping clean up a beach. Would anyone else in the top ten have done that?

He was every bit as kind as I remembered. He doesn’t accept praise very well, insisted the beach was all the boy’s doing. Which is fair enough I suppose – he did most of the heavy lifting. Even so, that man was out there almost every single day, with lunch and water and cheer and kind words. It warmed my heart, watching the two of them progress across the sand. I’m so glad All Might is a teacher now; those kids are in good hands.

spite-and-aesthetic

again with the cats

small might plucked my cat out of a tree AGAIN – same cat same tree he even fucking remembered me is this guy for real?

MKPlusUltra

All Might does not skip Leg Day

So I’m minding my own business, checking messages on my phone, waiting on my drink order, when there’s some commotion across the street – lotta loud noise, people screaming and running, standard-issue villain-tries-to-rob-the-till-at-the-combini sort of afternoon. It’s a tall guy with, like, I guess it’s a stretch Quirk off some kind? He looks like he walked out of some old-timey cartoon, all wiggly limbs bouncing everywhere, running from what looks like some rookie Pro – I don’t even think they were a rookie yet; maybe an intern? Anyway, Noodle Arms is booking it, Intern is after him as fast as his short legs can manage. Leggy clears the street in one jump and starts twisting his head around like he can’t decide where to go next.

It’s at that moment when All Might himself exits the building next to mine, one hand leaving his pocket to check his watch and Noodle makes a decision.

Now look, I’m gonna break this down into slo-mo for ya, cause seriously, it was a thing of beauty. It was one, smooth, impossibly cool-looking move, and every piece of it needs to be appreciated. This DUMBASS, who clearly had no plan whatsoever beyond “grab a hostage,” honestly thinks he can take on ALL MIGHT, I guess cause he’s skinny now or something. He wraps his stupid noodle limbs around him and All Might doesn’t even twitch when Dumbass constricts his arms and waves a gun around. Dumbass is yelling something, I don’t know what, who tf cares. All Might kinda tilts his head, wriggles his shoulders a bit, then lifts his arms up and slides out of the jacket so fast the fabric doesn’t even lose its shape. I’m not even kidding, it looked like it was on an invisible mannequin, this move came straight from the Acme school of How To Defy Physics. Dumbass has just enough time to look shocked before he’s eating a size 13 leather shoe – All Might dropped to his haunches, made a quarter-turn, and kicked his leg up and back, straight into the jaw of Dumbass. He kicks him so hard his feet actually lift off the ground and he flies backwards into a streetlamp.

All Might doesn’t even look angry; he just looks Annoyed, like someone forgot to put sugar in his coffee. He picks up his jacket and slings it over a shoulder and waits around a few minutes for the police to catch up and haul Noodle McDumbass into custody while Short Intern babbles away with stars in his eyes. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

AM_FAN0112

HE’S BACK

HE HASN’T BEEN TO THE SHOP IN THREE MONTHS TOSHINORI YOU USELESS SUNFLOWER I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU. I LEFT SO MANY TEARS ON HIS JACKET

YOU FUCKING SWEETHEART. YOU ABSOLUTE RAY OF LITERAL SUNSHINE. I WILL SAVE EVERY COPY OF SUGAR SUGAR CAT CAFE FOR YOU I WILL READ EVERY SINGLE DUMBASS ROMANCE MANGA I CAN FIND I WILL WORK IN THIS TINY BOOKSHOP FOR THE REST OF MY STUPID LIFE JUST NEVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN YOU AWKWARD JACKRABBIT DON’T EVER LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THAT AGAIN

I’M SORRY FOR SCREAMING I JUST MISSED HIM SO MUCH HE’S MY FAVORITE CUSTOMER EVEN BEFORE I KNEW HE WAS ALL MIGHT. HE’S AN ADORABLE OLD MAN

RedRibbon

A good man

Perhaps it’s a little unfair for me to comment since I work in the Tower. Still, there are some things I wanted to share with the world and this is a good place to do it.

I’ve been at the agency for three years now, mainly doing secretarial work. My direct superior is a man named Yagi-san. Yagi-san acted as All Might’s personal assistant, right hand man, concierge, whatever you want to call it. Telling something to Yagi-san was as good as telling it to All Might directly. I, along with everyone else in the Tower, learned why that night in Kamino.

I’ve read many, many posts on these discussion boards and if I were to identify a unifying theme that everyone seems to mention, it’s that All Might is a nice guy. That he really, honestly cares. That he worries about the little things just as much as the big things. I’ve worked with Yagi-san for three years and can confirm that none of it is a show for the adoring public – it’s all 100% true.

Let me tell you something, I worked with Miruko’s agency before All Might’s, and Wash before that, but unless the two of them also have secret identities, neither one of them was on the ground floor pushing pencils with the rest of us like All Might was. I’ve seen Yagi-san escorting new hires around the building when they get lost. I’ve seen him roll up his sleeves and change a busted printer cartridge, ink all over his shirt. He knows everyone’s birthday. He’ll do coffee runs, answer the phones, make deliveries, grab lunch, whatever you need. I’ve seen him as All Might, shutting the press down when they start getting pushy with the employees, or dropping by the daycare and making the kids light up.

I’ve never seen him complain. I’ve never seen him brush anyone off. I’ve never seen him be rude, or arrogant, or insulting, or aloof. I’ve never seen him treat anyone as lesser, as if they weren’t worth his time. Yagi-san lifted morale just by being in the building, the way All Might cut crime rates just by existing. Everyone in the agency loved Yagi-san just as much as they loved the hero; everyone had a story about All Might, and another one about Yagi-san. I’ve seen a few of those stories on this very board.

But this one is mine:

Ever since high school, I’ve used a ribbon to keep the hair out of my face. I love my curls, but they can be a nuisance waving around at the edge of my vision, so I keep them pulled back. I like using ribbons because scrunchies often get caught in my un-tameable mess of hair.

My ribbon snapped one day at work. It wasn’t a big deal – just a minor annoyance to have to keep pushing my hair back. But Yagi-san noticed. He noticed without anyone saying anything, and came back from lunch thirty minutes later with a beautiful red ribbon that he tied into my hair.

It really is the little things that matter the most. This tiny little gesture made me feel seen, acknowledged, valued. Not just as an employee, but as a person. All Might cares about those kinds of things – his employees aren’t subordinates, they’re people. He doesn’t rescue victims, he recuses people. He doesn’t pull you up to his level; he gets on yours and puts you on his shoulders.

I’ve worn that ribbon nearly every day for two years. It’s gotten thin in places, kinda frayed at the edges, but still doing its job faithfully. A bit little like the man who gave it to me.

[jaaswolfen]

Format Ch4

Hello hello! Wolfn here with anew update. It was so long, But I hope you enjoy it!

As always, thanks to @yuukazuto for inspiring this piece of work, and everyone else who work in fanart, fanfic, and the such to keep this ship alive.

Read it in AO3

The following days were torture for the Korean, in more ways than one. The mission had gone public, for the better or the worse. And while MEKA was aware of D.va’s involvement with the newly (re)founded Overwatch, it did not mean they approved of unauthorized tempering with their technology. That blow was taken by D.va herself, claiming that she did the tempering herself, and that was purposely done as to leave no evidence whatsoever of her involvement. Which worked. Kind of. She had gotten an earful of her team and friends, but ultimately knew just how much of a wild card she was sometimes and resigned themselves to saying it was “just D.va being D.va”. Nothing was mentioned to them about her relationship with the hacker. And while it broke her heart to lie to her team again, she knew it was for the best.

Secondly, she had to answer to Overwatch herself. Of course, the fact the two of the more prominently figures in the institution, that being Angela and Winston, were aware to some extent of her shenanigans played in her favor. But there were others, particularly on the more traditional side of Overwatch that were at cross with her actions. Torbjorn was not a happy man. Well, he was never happy, but even less happy with what had happened. Claiming that Hana was indeed not ready for a place in the organization, and that she should face the consequences of her actions. Once the emotional high left him, Commander Morrison also took a more professional approach to the incident as well. “Professional” meaning he was deciding whenever she should kick D.va out and execute Sombra, or, execute them both altogether. Thankfully, the older Amari was quick to shoot that idea down, on the grounds that they both were guilty of using similar tactics as mercenaries. And who knows, maybe one of them had used the hacker’s services themselves.

Worse of all, Hana had been prohibited to enter Sombra’s resting room. This sent the pilot into a frenzy almost immediately, but was subsided just as quickly as it appeared when it wasn’t Morrison, but Angela who alleged that it was ill advised to have her absorb so much shocking information at once.

The truth of the matter was that they had to make a choice. Not an easy one at that, but a choice. What had happened to D.va was absurdly tragic, but she nonetheless betrayed the trust of plenty of her teammates. And even though Sombra had saved one of their own, was one right enough to forget of her previous wrongdoings?

Winston knew that something like this could spell tragedy, so in an effort to clear any lingering questions, he summoned a post-mission meeting to all and everyone who wished to attend. Unsurprisingly, pretty much everyone confirmed as soon as they could. And before he realized, what was intended as a meeting became a trial.

Factions were quickly formed in the base. The younger generation, led by Lucio, firmly believed that both D.va and Sombra had already redeemed themselves by virtue of their actions. And that there was no way in hell that them “Heroes” would leave to die someone who had saved one of their own. They also believed that Sombra could prove herself even further once she was fully healed, and some even dared to say she could one day form part of the team.

The complete opposite, leaded in part by Torbjorn and Morrison believed firmly that while Hana had been a valuable assent, proven to be too much of a risk to continue serving under the name of Overwatch. And instead should return to the MEKA force back in Busan, if they would have her. And Sombra, while a helping hand this one time, was still a criminal and a terrorist. And should be prosecuted and punished as such. Which would mean life in prison, or even worse.

Surprisingly, a third party was formed as well. This led by the Older Amari. She, alongside others like Mc Cree and Genji, claimed that things were not as black-and-white as everyone claimed, and that both deserved a chance to prove their case. But doing so safely and with the necessary precautions taken. They would never question D.va’s loyalty to the cause, but love made us do stupid, stupid things. And this they knew maybe better than anyone.

Hana, now fully healed up, stood anxiously with her arms crossed over her chest. Her determination irradiating from her slim body. It was just a couple of days since the incident, but she already looked ready to pick a fight with whoever dared to look her way. On the opposite side of the room, stood Zarya. The Russian was imposing as always, but ever since the arrival of their unfortunate guest, her mood seemed fouler than usual. Alongside her also stood the swede, if only opaqued by the fury of the one besides him. Little by little, the room began filling up. And indeed everyone had confirmed assistance except the usual. That being Orisa who returned to Numbani, Brigette who was yet to join Overwatch in their base, and Bastion who…

Well, his opinion as a team member was valued, but the language barrier imposed quite the predicament.

They all stood in silence as the last member entered the room. Tensions high as all factions huddled together, wordlessly announcing their thoughts on the matter. Once McCree graced everyone with his presence, Winston’s baritone voice called everyone’s attention.

“Everyone, thank you all for coming in such a short notice.” He called. “I’m sure you all have your own personal duties to attend to, but today’s matter is something that needs to be discussed.” He stopped. Quickly glancing around the room, pretty much everyone knew exactly what today’s meeting was about. Even those who didn’t hear the complete story did not miss their enemy just chilling in their infirmary.

“Today there are two subjects that are to be discussed. First: the consequences for Agent Hana Song, A.K.A. D.Va for her actions leading to the mission in Monaco, and whenever she is fit to continue as a member of Overwatch.” He started. Everyone casted their sights towards Hana, yet she stood firmly. A twinge of guilt crossed her chest, but was completely drowned for what came next.

“And Second: The course of action regarding the ex-Talon agent Olivia Colomar, formerly known as Sombra, based on her actions leading to the same mission previously mentioned. Since both incidents go hand in hand, I ask of all of us present to speak in an orderly fashion, and address the matters in that same order.”

Immediately, Lucio raised his hand, and it wasn’t Winston, but Athena who acknowledged him.

“Yes, agent Dos Santos?” She asked.

“Ok. So the deal with Sombra I can get. But you all still are giving Hana a hard time? She already came clean with you guys!” He claimed. Hana was about to stop him, before Torbjorn answered from the other side.

“So what? It doesn’t change the fact that she lied to us all. She is not a child anymore, and she needs to pay her dues, whatever Commander Winston and us decide!” He claimed. This turned several heads towards him, and some others couldn’t help but nod in agreement. To this, it was Angela who intervened.

“It was not her responsibility alone. She felt confused, scared and alone. If anything, it shows that we were not trustworthy of her, and not the other way around. What about us others that were aware of their relationship and kept it to ourselves? What about Winston? Or Athena? Or me?” She called.

“Bah! If everyone here had a tenth of Winston’s intelligence the world would be a better place! And Athena is a robot. And robots follow orders. It’s just a matter of making sure it can’t pull a stunt like that again!” He claimed again. 

“I am an Artificial Intelligence Module created by Dr. Winston. I can assure you Agent Lindholm, I am far more than a mere ‘Robot’.” The voice came from the ceiling. He didn’t grace her with an answer.

“And me? Don’t you trust my judgement? My medical opinion?” Asked Angela.

“You, child?” He stopped. His eyes wondered unconsciously to Ana. To the patch that decorated her eye, and the reason behind it. “You have been wrong before.” He said nonchalantly, adverting his eyes. Angela’s widened, and her pale skin took to a fiery red. It was a rare sight to catch the good doctor angry, and Torbjorn’s words made her livid. While not all knew of the implications of what Torbjorn had just said, those who did could not help flinch a bit at the hidden meaning. Before Angela could lash out, Jesse took the opportunity.

“That was a low blow Torb, even for someone as “low” as yourself.” He chuckled. Jesse still did not understand the concept of “Time and Place” for jokes. At the silence of his audience, he continued. “Fine then. What about everything else hmm? All of the missions, all of the missed opportunities?” He walked around the room and came face to face with Hana. “You know exactly just how much damage her mech could do, yet she has never dared to even point the damn thing at us. She had literally a bomb capable of tearing down buildings for months stationed right here and yet she never used it.” He lit a cigar, and rested his arm around the Koreans shoulder. “My opinion? Lassie is as trustworthy as any of us. She had her partner, like any of us. She screwed up, like any of us. And yet she always puts the team above everything.” Not like any of us. He wanted to add. But he was trying to defuse the situation, not blow it up. To this, Hana smiled. She didn’t like the situation. She didn’t like that the team was split like this, but she was grateful that Jesse and the others had her back.

To this, Winston once again took the lead. “Ahem. Yes, I do believe that if she wanted to harm us she had had plenty opportunities to do so. But I wish to remind you all that we are to discuss D.Va, the past mission, and Sombra. And Not past incidents regarding the team. Is that clear?” He said as he turned towards Torbjorn. This one only grumbled, but ceded the point. Angela seemed less angry as well, but you could see the mixture of anger and guilt on her face. Others, like Zenyatta and Ana took the stand, but ultimately it was Wintston’s call. He was their commander, and treated his words and experience like such. Both the old Overwatch and the new one. Everyone had a fair point, and he needed a swift resolution.

“Regarding what Angela said, it is true that others, including myself, were aware of the situation. I personally took the proper actions in order to keep Overwatch activities confidential and everyone’s safety to the best of my extent. D.va has been a member of our team for quite some time, and I dare say she has added nothing but good things since her arrival. Therefore, I also believe that D.Va’s loyalty is something we cannot question. Anyone objections?” A low rumble of mumbles went around the room, but no one dared to speak up. Ana and Soldier, the only ones that would be able to speak up to Winston kept silent. Torbjorn let his frustration show, but refused to continue the train of thought, and Zarya simply checked her nails and readjusted her gloves, completely uninterested in the Korean.

“Right. Well then, we will take this matter settled then. However,” he turned to Hana, “The fact that you did lie and use Overwatch resources for other activities is undeniable, and there will be a disciplinary action to be decided. Is that clear?” That improved Torbjorn’s mood significantly. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the Korean, but he had been used and lied to for far too long. Internally, Hana wanted to argue, just for the heck of it. But there were more important matters to settle, so she managed a professional “Yes Sir” and that was the end of that.

Winston took a deep breath, and prepared to address the elephant in the room. “With that settled, it is time to address the second theme of our meeting today. Athena, if you please.” He asked. As per his request, a hologram appeared in the middle of the room. On it, the complete file of one named “Olivia Colomar” with the pseudonym “Sombra” written right above it. On it, a flash of pictures, documents, and clips from several encounters with the hacker on the battlefield appeared. Glitched images and blurry security footage accented just how difficult was to record anything regarding the person in question. And some could even go as far as to argue that the person on the images was a different one each time. Except for the obnoxious tone of purple that served as a dead giveaway. Afterwards, a brief image of the scene in Monaco appeared. As well as a rather graphic image of the aftermath.

“Around 21:00 Hours Monaco time, intel of what it seemed to be a Chemical weapon arriving in Monaco was leaked to us by an anonymous source. Because of the small timeframe, an impromptu team consisting on Agents Soldier 76, Mc Cree, Pharah, Mercy, and D.va were dispatched in order to destroy the cargo and eliminate the Talon forces surrounding it. This would be an oversight of our part, since the so called “leak” was, in reality, a trap set by Talon.” The images turned to a video recording of a nearby security camera depicting the harbor. “During the operation, the modifications made to the self-destruct mechanism in D.Va’s mech malfunctioned after a surprise assault by Akande Ogundimu, better known as Doomfist. This trapped our agent inside the still self-destructing mech, and with the surprise elements of Talon Agents Widowmaker and Reaper, they attempted to use the mech’s power against us.” Once again, the hologram in the middle of the room turned, now to depict a text message, written in a particular shade of purple. The text read as follows:

Mono,

Don’t let them go, It’s a trap.

I’m on my way, pull them back.

S

Murmurs appeared once again in the room, but Winston’s voice silenced them in a polite fashion.

“As you can all see, this is an encrypted message sent by Sombra around 25 minutes after the leak was sent, and 20 minutes after the team parted towards Monaco. Thanks to this, Agent Reinhardt and I were able to arrive as backup for rest of the team, but because of the situation we were not able to reach agent Song in time before the explosion occurred. Luckily for all of us, Sombra did. And she managed to take Agent Song to safety moments before the explosion.” And with this, he changed the image to an aerial shot of the Harbor, now a crater filled with scrap metal and water. After allowing everyone a moment to observe the scene, he then took a deep breath, and change it again to a photograph of Sombra after the explosion. D.Va just closed her eyes and looked away, but the image was forever burnt in her memory. Loud gasps could be heard in the room, and even Zarya had to swallow hard at the scene.

“This. Is the moment after the blast. In saving D.Va, Sombra took the blast full force, and only survived thanks to Doctor Ziegler’s prompt aid, and a genuine miracle.” He took a moment to thank the heavens for that, and to let everyone take that image in. “But by all means she should have died that day. And was prepared to give her life forfeit in order to save out agent.”

A thick Russian accent interjected Winston’s voice. “And the Enemy?” Zarya asked. Winston turned to her and answered.

“Unlucky, the main perpetrators of the ambush managed to escape via dropship. Everyone who got caught in the explosion was either deceased or unable to continue fighting. Local authorities arrived shortly after our departure, but official data tells us that there were…” No survivors.

“They left her to die..?” Mei whispered.

Winston nodded his head solemnly. No one dared speak after that comment.

He then continued the explanation for the rest of the team, but it all became word salad for Hana. There was nothing she didn’t knew about that day. She had replayed the memory time and time and time again. But she needed to move on. For her. For Sombra.

“In strict theory, this was a huge achievement for us. We were able to stop the ambush, cut enemy lies, and strip Talon of one of their greatest assets. Yet it is a bittersweet victory if any. We fell into an enemy trap, and almost lost one of our best agents. If it wasn’t for Sombra, we would have five less agents now. I want you all to think of this before you decide how to proceed with Sombra.” Winston called. Angela walked besides him, in order to continue his train of thought.

“She is now at a physical level enough to engage in some physical activity, and records show both her skills in and outside the field are outstanding. But her mental state is still greatly unstable. If we were to release her into society again, there is a high probability she will end up in Talon’s clutches. If that was to happen, I have no doubt that we would all suffer the consequences. Including herself.” She said.

“Is it possible to for her to regain her memories?” Mei asked.

“We are… Unsure, to be honest. The damage is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, but we theorize that a backup of her memories exists somewhere.”

When she said this, something inside Zarya woke. “A backup? Like a computer?” she asked.

“Yes… Well, basically what she has implanted in her body mostly resembles a computer, but there are other factors we need to take on account. We are unsure if said backup even exists, or how it can be accessed.” She continued. Zaya entered deep in thought. If something like that existed, then she could get her answers herself, without having to rely on that liar of a woman. And depending on what she would find, it may become a great asset to have in the future.

But she would need to find it first. If the rest of the team got their hands on it, who knows what they might find. If they found about Volskaya and her underground deals, would they make her fight her motherland?

No. She would not allow it. She would get her answers first. No matter what.

“Where is this backup?” She asked. This time, it was Winston who answered.

“We do not know. We have been assured is not within Talon, but would they know of its existence, they will surely aim to acquire it first. Therefore, this information stays inside these walls, and will be treated as top secret information. Am I clear?” A resounding Yes was as good as an answer he was going to get.

Winston nodded, and unraveled the plan. “Team! This is what we are going to do. Dr. Zhou, you, Efi and I will continue working in Sombra’s neural system.” Mei nodded frantically, letting him know he had all of her help. Winston appreciated the gesture.

“Agents Genji, Mc Cree I want you two to investigate this backup. Use your own information webs and see what you can find. Anything regarding Sombra is good, but we mainly want the Backup. Work alongside Agent Hana on this, and leave no stone unturned.” Jesse tipped his hat, and by the time he was finished Genji had already disappeared.

”Cpt. Amari, Dr. Ziegler, Agents Lucio and Zenyatta, you two are to assist in trying to help Sombra get her memories back and monitor her mental status. Depending on what she remembers, it could spell trouble. Specially for you Zenyatta. Be extra careful.”

“Please, worry not Dr. Winston. She will be made whole in the warmth of the Iris.” He answered.

“Everyone else! You will continue to operate as normal.  We still have missions, we still need people. And please be careful from now on regarding last minute intel. Today we are all here. I’d like to keep it that way.”

Hana could not believe her ears. They were actually gonna help her? They were gonna help Sombra? “So that means…” she called to Winston.

And Winston answered, a small smile on his features. “Yes, she can stay. And she is not our prisoner. However, you will be responsible for her at all times. That means no missions. And please, don’t sneak out the base anymore.” He said, perhaps a little bit more exasperated than he needed. Hana rushed him and tried to tackle him with the biggest hug she could muster. She couldn’t believe this was going so well. Even Lawn-Gnome kept his mouth shut! Oh boy, she owed him big time for this one! Little did she know, that favor was already payed for.

Winston fondly returned the hug, and with the other hand, dismissed everyone. Hana bolted outwards, rushing towards the Infirmary. And eventually everyone left. Their orders were clear and after such a display, the felt compelled to do something. The moment Hana arrived, she became family, and seeing her like that, it just made everyone feel a little bit better.

  But in the room, now all alone, stood Zarya. An uncharacteristic chill growing on her spine. And after debating for a moment, pulled her communicator, and imputed a very specific number.

“Доброе утро, Volskaya Industries Main Desk.”

This number was the direct line to Volskaya Indistries CEO, Katya Volskaya.

“I Need Katya on the line now. Its Important.”

“Of course. Who is speaking?”

Zarya hesitated for a second, before finally speaking out.

“A Friend.”

[insertvisualinput]

Artist Asks Meme (Long Post Alert)

I took the questions from this post, and decided to just answer all of them without waiting for prompts, because... why not?

Also, apologies for the long post. I could have put all this under a cut, but I want it to show in its entirety on my blog page. I will tag from now on all posts like this under “long post”, if that is something you would like to blacklist from your dashboard.

1. When did you get into art? As soon as I could hold a pencil. Sure, I may have held it like Beast initially held his spoon in Disney’s The Beauty and the Beast feature film, lacking the finer motor skills due to me being barely out of diapers. That didn’t stop me from drawing thousand legged potatoes and trying to pass them as horses. However, I suppose art became to hold a deeper meaning to me during my last years of elementary school, and all the way through junior high. I had finally become deeply depressed due to bullying and being ostracized by my fellow children. My family was having a difficult time as a whole, and I decided to bottle everything in, thinking I’d only cause more worry otherwise. I would eventually come to harbor suicidal intentions. During that time drawing became an outlet for me to both express and process my emotions, so it naturally became an important necessity in my daily life. It may very well be that was something that ultimately gave me just about enough strength to keep moving forward. Unfortunately, l would later lose my passion to do art. I didn’t really see eye to eye with my high school art teacher, and that really ate at my love for doing art, seeing as it had always been something very closely linked to myself and my enjoyment rather than that of other people. I got tired going about my art as I was expected to. It would take years for that passion to rear its head again. So here I am now, learning everything all over again! 2. What art-related sites have you ever signed up for? I started out on Elfwood in my teens, then also signed up for deviantART. I eventually deleted both of these galleries, once I stopped making more art and checking the activity on these sites started to feel like a chore rather than something fun. Now I have a gallery on deviantART once again, which I update pretty much whenever I have the intention to put something up on Tumblr as well. But I definitely consider my dA account more of a means to keep in touch with a couple of cool people and their artistic endeavors. This Tumblr gallery I consider more my “real gallery”... for no particular reason really. 3. Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand. FEAST THINE EYES.

This is not the oldest one I have on hand, though. That one has already been posted separately on my blog. 4. What defines your artistic style? That is ridiculously hard to answer to be honest. I experiment so much it becomes difficult even for myself to pinpoint what exactly it is that defines my style. There are certainly some recurring elements, like how my humans tend to have elongated, exaggerated bodies (which is something you can already see in that older drawing above). I suppose that’s one thing that defines my style - a type of exaggeration of proportions and lines. I don’t really give a shit about the dos and don’ts regarding how to make art. Legs for example bend in ways they shouldn’t, and it’s a purely artistic choice from my part. I think it adds a layer of expression to my work, without which the piece would be a lot more boring to look at. I suppose the fuckton of experimentation I do is also something of a defining feature in my art, but it’s more of a personal element than something others can recognize my art by. 5. Do you practice other styles/have you tried other styles in the past? Welp, I think I pretty much brushed on this already above there on question four. Yes, I do, and yes, I have. 6. What levels of artistic education have you had? I have no formal education whatsoever. Though, I did take one course at my local adult education centre. It assembled only about once a month for half a year. It was an alright course, but the teacher’s tips felt very blatantly influenced by her own personal tastes in art. I felt like I was being pushed to express myself in ways that didn’t really feel like me at all, so in the end I never showed up for the last gathering. 7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site. This practice picture drawn with ink didn’t make the cut mostly because I used the exact same perspective and general composition as for my Cheap Art Supply Challenge piece. But also because I am not that fond of it.

8. What is your favourite piece that you have done? A lot of times I just like the newest piece I’ve made the most, but there are certain works that hold additional value to me even when time passes. It’s been four years since I made it, but I’m still fond of this painting. It was the first time in years that I took up watercolours again, so the piece holds certain personal value to me. For that reason, I could even go as far as calling it my favourite. 9. What is your least favourite piece that you have done? I’m not sure I can decide. Not because I’d have so many not-faves, mind you! I can look back to the pieces I’ve made and think the ideas weren’t as cool as I thought back then, or that the techniques are horrible in comparison to what I’m capable of now. But I still do not really dislike them, because they remind me of how far I’ve come, where my foundations are, and which elements I decided to stick with. They remind me of the steps I’ve taken, and so I can’t really dislike them. 10. What do you like most about your art? Hmm, I think my favourite element in my art is just how unpolished a lot of it is. Like I have no qualms about leaving details vague. For example, a lot of times I draw less details on hands if the body shape is my primary interest in a piece I’m working on. Detailed works are very cool to look at, but there is also nothing wrong with leaving things to the viewer’s imagination, or leaving certain parts simple in order to encourage the viewer’s gaze to move where you want it to. 11. What do you like least about your art? I can’t really say. Despite all my artistic shortcomings, I am rather fond of it overall... Maybe just my lack of readiness to draw more diverse body types? Which is more of an occasional “Should I be doing that?” type of thought, rather than something I perspire over every time I draw and see I have once again created something of the lean and mean variety. 12. Have you ever considered taking commissions? Yes, and I have done some commission work in the past. Currently I have no particular drive to take new ones, however, as I’m more interested in experimenting different things as I see fit. 13. Are you looking to pursue a career in art? Not really. There was a time when I entertained that thought, but realistically speaking, I don’t think I’d work too well under the constant pressure of having to be as productive as possible at all times. I would quickly lose what art means to me, and with that, the joy it gives me. It’d just become another thing I must do to make ends meet. That, I do not want. 14. What do you like drawing the most? Human faces and animals are the most relaxing thing for me to draw, and looking at my sketchbooks, drawing them seems to be bordering on obsession. Other things I enjoy drawing, though less often, are unnecessarily long legs, skeletal figures, and armour.

15. What do you like drawing the least? Backgrounds. I have yet to figure out how to get them to look like they are actually part of the picture and not just their separate thing that is there. Environments overall are rather tricky for me, though I have made some brave attempts. Buildings are hard. Drawing lush vegetation is hard. Having very little patience a lot of times doesn’t encourage learning either. 16. Do you draw more fanart or original art? If fanart, what fandom do you draw the most of? Original art, which you might not guess looking at my blog here, since I started it just when I was about to go on a fanart loop for quite a few months. Wanting to draw fanart comes to me in certain intervals. Overall, however, I find it way more fun to draw whatever comes out of my head and hand, rather than following an already existing example. 17. What would you absolutely refuse to draw? Smut. It’s just not something I feel compelled to create. 18. What is your purpose for drawing? It makes me happier. I was going to go on a tangent about how it calms me and how meditative drawing is, how it gives me that feeling of having accomplished something, etc. - but what all that really boils down to is that simple statement. Drawing makes me happier. 19. What medium/program do you use the most in your art? Ink and watercolour are what I use the most by far. There’s something lovely about watching them spread and mix uncontrollably on a wet surface. Every now and then I get into the mood of trying other types of traditional media, though, like acrylic paint and oil pastels. Right now I’d really like to try my hand at encaustic painting... but getting the necessary equipment is an investment of over a hundred euros. That’s far too much for me in my current situation.

20. How would you rank your art? (poor, mediocre, good, etc.) I am sorry, but I will flat out refuse to answer this one. Ranking one’s art encourages comparison to people you admire. I am really hard pressed to see how this could be anything but toxic. 21. Do you believe there is such thing as “bad art?” Maybe. Art that never evolves anywhere, in any way, but remains absolutely stagnant? Be it on a personal level, or on a more encompassing level that challenges already existing traditions of art. On a personal level it doesn’t need to be very visible evolving either. In my mind, it’s enough if it’s something as small as “I have come to use this one colour I never before felt I could use with success.” If the question comes down to something as mundane as “Do you enjoy the art you see or do you not” being the defining element that discerns good art from the bad... Then my answer would be no, there is no such thing as bad art. I could never claim there is with good conscience, based only on my subjective likes and dislikes. 22. List at least one of your “artspirations.” Oh, I have so so many! And not all of them related to visual arts, even. But there is no point in making such a long list, so here are but a few of them: Gustave Doré and his many illustrations. I am particularly fond of the ones he made for Don Quixote and Orlando Furioso. Yoshitaka Amano. I find myself rather drawn to the elegance displayed in many of his paintings and drawings. Albrecht Dürer and his highly detailed woodcuts. Ayami Kojima and her masterful use of traditional means. She is self-taught too, which in and of itself is inspiring. Lian Quan Zhen and the beautifully lush colours in all his watercolour works. Paul Koudounaris and his absolutely gorgeous photographs of the lovingly decorated catacomb saints. (Picture below from his publication Heavenly Bodies, Thames Hudson Ltd, 2013.)

23. What do you think you could stand to improve on? Everything. I’m not really the type to stop and think I shouldn’t strive to improve more on a certain area just because I happen to like whatever I’m already doing. There are always elements I can refine, new methods of expression to test, and just plain something I could do better or at least differently enough to keep things interesting for myself. 24. Do you have a shameful art past? (recolour sprite comics, tracing art, etc.? Oh no, why end on such an embarrassing note! Cruel, cruel person, that came up with these questions. The short answer is yes. The long answer is, well, I would copy other people’s artwork, making only about just enough changes to replace the characters they drew with my own ones. Just thinking about it now makes me cringe! In case you were left wondering: None of those pictures were ever published anywhere, and have long since been burned with fire. And that’s an accurate description of what happened to them. All of them.

--- Turns out some versions of this meme also include: 25. Draw a picture! So here’s a quick pooch. Thanks for reading!

[semi-sketchy]

the-gitz replied to your post                                                                                

Gee, thanks for that generalization there! Nice to know I, and anyone else who actually do like him, apparently don’t exist at all, and then backpedaling. Thanks for continuing to help assholes feel validated for constantly giving people like me in the fandom shit for actually liking him as a character. Also, fuck you with that whole, “HE CAN’T FEEL LONELY BECAUSE HE’S GOT MONEY AND PEOPLE AROUND HIM” manipulative bullshit.          

Many people who suffer from depression(like me), or feel like they have no one to truly confide in, have friends and family with them, yet they still feel like they want to put a bullet through their temple! Being called “attention seeking” or told to just suck it up because others “have it worse” than me is the same shit people told me growing up, and I was not financially well off and still not!                             

It’s still a valid emotion or personal problem, and you and the rest of the fandom can take that shitty fucking mindset and shove it! Next you’re going to tell me there’s starving children in Africa!                             

Alright, so thank you for leaving that long comment chain and thank you even more for messaging me. I gotta answer this because this is honestly amazing.

Dude...you need to calm down. I don’t like Chris, alright? I made a joke about how Chris is a generally hated character and referenced Sonic Boom. Me saying I don’t like Chris isn’t giving you any shit. I stand by that he’s not a great character, but that’s also my opinion and the fact that I formed a negative opinion on a character you like has no affect on your life whatsoever and is not a form of attacking you. You project onto him? Whatever, I said in my post that was probably his purpose, which is seeming why we aren’t getting along right now.

I never said that he couldn’t feel lonely, just the idea to go to such an extreme as to ruin the universe to avoid losing a friend. Even Eggman scolded Chris for being selfish and wanting to keep Sonic around. What Chris did was wrong and it was outlined in the show.

Alright, I gotta show the messages you sent, this is incredible. I hope you don’t mind me sharing, after all you seem pretty passionate about proving your point.

Gee, thanks for that generalization there! Nice to know I, and anyone else who actually do like him, apparently don't exist at all. Thanks for continuing to help assholes feel validated for constantly giving people like me in the fandom shit for actually liking him as a character.

Also, no. Amy Rose is the terrible character in Sonic X, for reasons I stated before in the past and still stick to. She's a god awful one actually, and was much worse and insufferable Chris and Cosmo ever were.

There were so many links I couldn’t put them here, my god you sure are passionate about how bad Amy is in X and having to prove your opinion is fact when you’re going after me for the exact same reason. I like Amy in X because she has spunk, alright? I miss that in her modern day counterpart. Amy is one of my favorite characters while I noticed on one my the many links you sent, she’s in your top 5 hated characters. So, differing opinions there.

You can especially take that, "Well he had school friends and family members, so still feeling like he had nobody is invalid!" and shove it! It's basically, "But there's starving children in Africa!", manipulative bullshit people use to shut down others when. Just because someone may have it better than others doesn't make their emotions or personal invalid! That's the same shit people would say to guilt me into feeling like I had no right to vent my emotional problems, whenever I actually tried to speak up on how I felt growing up. And my family was not that financially well off! But because other people "have it worse" than I did, that apparently my problems didn't matter!

And that's exactly what Cream did to him, when he dared tried to be upset over his mother leaving early to shoot a last minute role during a time where she was actually at home with him. Yet you're all shocked and butthurt when he inevitably snapped when someone he felt like he could confide in was about to leave forever!

I never said his emotions were invalid, I said his actions were uncalled for. He had a supportive group of people to fall back on.

God forbid a child character actually be flawed and not act like a miniature adult or a mini-Satan for once!

Yes, I agree we need better child characters, however I don’t think Chris is that.

I'm projecting? Probably. You bitter ass Sonic fans clearly are whenever you use Chris' financial status against him for why he should have just continued to keep things pent up and continued to wear a false smile, so I think it's fair when I see people like talk about things you clearly haven't personally experienced in your life or childhood.

I never did though? I said his parents were rich sacks of shit and that him being rich was a plot device so the cast could basically do whatever without the question of “where are they getting the funds?” That’s not anything against him at all and I don’t think Chris being rich was a bad thing.

Also, assuming I’ve never had to fake a smile, tsk tsk, you aren’t special, sweetie. I get you’ve had a tough time, but degrading others without even knowing them. I don’t have to expose my entire life to the internet to have my feelings validated nor do I want to. It’s my business and nobody else’s.

And I'm not saying any of this as a matter of opinion, either. I'm saying it as a matter of fact.

Oh boy let’s get the popcorn I smell a rant.

Oh, but NOBODY in the Sonic fandom likes him, according to you. So I guess I'm just some computer program, or you're just going to call me a "fan brat".

No? I’ve seen lots of people who like him. That’s why I put “some people like him” followed by “I’m not one of those people.” Look, you’ve got your own opinion and I might be able to respect it more if you didn’t come and yell at me, assuming aspects of my personality and life based on my dislike of a character.

How about you, and everyone else, stop writing about your personal problems online and just shut up and suck it up? According to you, you have no right to ever feel depressed or emotionally down for whatever reason, or act out, because there's that have it worse than you.

A. Someone asked me and I answered. I didn’t vent about personal problems, I gave my opinion when it was asked. B. I have never said and never will say that people can’t be upset because someone has it harder. The people who say that use it to invalidate and shut down people and it doesn’t solve any problems. There’s a quote I like that goes: “You almost drowned in deep water and I almost drowned in shallow water, but in the end, we both almost drowned.”

Oh, but woe is you to be disappointed by something in a piece of media, and not be constantly given a hard time or not be acknowledged by the fandom for it! Poor baby!

Maybe people wouldn’t give you a hard time if you didn’t come and yell at them about their disappointment in said media.

At least fucking wait to actually know things about a character before I decided if I like them or not, unlike you going all "PWOTECT THIS BABBY" about an upcoming lemur character that we know absolutely nothing about outside of superficial details!

I’ve watched the show since I was like, 12. I’ve seen it a good 6 times now, I think I know what I like and don’t like in these characters.

And yeah, I like Tangle so far. Her design is appealing and I fail to see how being excited for a character and reblogging a piece of fanart, tagging it “protect this baby” is wrong. It’s a thing people say, heck I might end up hating her, I don’t know, just I’m enjoying myself and enjoying what the fandom is creating with the news of this new character. Ya gotta be a spoilsport?

Yeah, no. Chris and Cosmo are the ones who actually need protecting, or hell, need to be armed!

Shhh! You’re bringing up guns on Tumblr! Don’t you know that’s a bad idea?!

But again, the average Sonic fan only likes and dislikes characters based more on what they and not who they are. So thank you for continuing to prove that point of mine.

But like...I never said that or even talked to you before.

Alright, that’s where the messages end. I might have had some respect for you if you didn’t block me immediately after you sent all this. You make allegations against me, both publicly and in private chat, then don’t even give me the courtesy to talk it out with you? That’s low.

Also, you’re far too involved with this. I understand you’ve had a rough time and some people might’ve attacked you for liking Chris, however that’s just as wrong as what you did here. Seeing parts of a character in you and relating to them is fine, although when that character becomes your identity it underlines a problem. You need to take a step back and disconnect yourself from this because it’s clearly causing you grief.

You sent me an entire paper about how you’re right and I’m wrong, but... I actually think I was pretty fair on Chris and gave a mostly constructive opinion. I don’t like him, I stated why, and this act of yours was entirely uncalled for, a lot like Chris stopping Sonic from going home. So you like him, okay, good for you, I like unpopular characters too, but I don’t send people essays about how they’re shitty because they don’t like Marine the Raccoon. You can’t present your opinions as fact and I never did.

All I said is I don’t like this character. You act like I threw a grenade in your house and kidnapped your wife. Just learn to chill out, stop taking these things to heart. Someone’s opinion on something you like doesn’t define you.