#I appreciate the art and creativity of others but I genuinely just cannot do that myself.

[neverendingford]

.

[the-peak-tmnt]

Hey The Neon Void readers, quick update from the author's sister!

(art commission by @kaysdenofchaos)

Hi readers of The Neon Void fanfic. This is the author’s older sister. She’s been getting a lot of fan art and asks lately. She’s sent me screenshots of a few unanswered ones looking for advice on how to respond.

While all the love and support of TNV is genuinely appreciated, my sister @sugarpasteltmnt is not equipped to respond to a small handful of these asks/comments that are, quite frankly, inappropriate.

Sugarpastels is not a therapist, and she’s certainly not an internet stranger’s therapist.

She’s an adult with an extremely demanding and stressful job for a very large client. Some of you have already experienced and enjoyed her work IRL without knowing it. Her company is close to finishing another project that will bring a lot of joy to hundreds of thousands of people every year, but working on a project of that scale is extremely stressful.

She is writing this fanfic for fun. TNV is a way for her to decompress and put her creative energy towards something other than work.

What’s not fun is coming home to asks/comments from readers who are projecting their own struggles/mental health onto TNV, and even Sugarpastels herself, and demanding some sort of attention from her over it.

Let’s be real: it’s fun to watch our blorbos suffer! So much of fandom is just us putting our favorite characters in Situations because it’s fun. Simple as that. But I think another reason TNV has resonated so strongly with readers is because of the way Sugarpastels writes the internal struggles of these characters.

We are both aware that TNV deals with mental health topics. Since the early days of “modern” fandom, fanfiction has been a way for people to explore complicated, difficult and sometimes even taboo subjects. There’s no shortage of complex feelings being explored in TNV, which is why we’re all having so much fun reading it.

But that’s all it is; an exploration. Sugarpastels is not a mental health expert. I’ve read a handful of books on PTSD and mindfulness for research while writing my own fanfic, and I would never consider myself prepared to help someone else.

It’s okay if you relate to things from TNV. I know I do! Again, fanfic has always been a way to read about things rarely dealt with (or handled poorly) in published fiction/tv shows/movies. I will always argue one of the greatest things about fanfiction and other fanworks is being able to see ourselves and our own struggles through our favorite fictional characters.

But Sugarpastels is not a fictional character. She’s a real person. Most importantly (to me at least) she’s my little sister, and this big sister cannot handle watching some of her readers expect more of her than is appropriate.

So I’m asking you to please be mindful of what you ask/say to not just her, but literally everyone on the internet. Unless you’re chatting with someone regularly, they do not know you. Whether it’s friends, family, teachers, coaches, etc, there are people in your life who know you personally, and are therefore better equipped to help you than a stranger on the internet.

Sugarpastels is so full of empathy that it’s hard to not feel for you when you send things like this. But it just isn’t fair to put that kind of unnecessary pressure on someone who is, at the end of the day, just trying to have some fun writing about ninja turtles bein’ sad.

(That being said, PLEASE DON’T BE SCARED TO SEND HER ASKS AND FAN ART!!! They make her day every single time and are seriously so, so appreciated. She’s texting me about it constantly how much she loves all of TNV’s readers. This whole post is really directed at an extremely small percentage of her readers, but there have been enough I felt something needed to be said.)

[welcomehomediscordserver]

(joking) CW: AGGRESSIVE SUPPORT AND LOVE FOR CLOWN FROM THE MOD TEAM AND MEMBERS OVER AT OUR DISCORD SERVER !!

I have found joy in your little show that I rarely find in things. The overwhelming love and care I have not just for these specific characters but for your art and talent as a whole is astounding. I want you to know that your community, the good parts of it, support you in any endeavor you choose to take. Although this project may have blasted your popularity you are 3-dimensional, you are much more than the creator of welcome home. You are a multi-medial, skilled, talented, and strong artistic being. Throughout all of this I have had nothing but the utmost respect for you. I will continue to no matter what. Just know we over at The Welcome Home discord server have been following your art closely and appreciating every detail! Do what is best for you clown, and continue to do so! -Reggie

It's been a while since something has grabbed me like this... Welcome Home is one of the most precious things I have ever seen, the creation has and will it always have a place in my heart. Thank You creator for sharing this piece of you heart with us. But your safety is more important, I hope that you'll be safe. -Jax

"dear clown, from the heart of one fan to many others, i find so much comfort in your project that i hope that even when things just like now are awful, you know that there's people simultaneously supporting you in every step of the way! We can wait however long you believe is necessary, you deserve to feel respected with your own passion project! And with that to a close, i wish you well! Thank you for giving us a grand welcome home!" -gremints

dear clown, you don't know me. i don't know you either. but everything you've been working on? it's changed my life. and i know that sounds cliche and silly, but it's true. you've inspired me to keep working on my own passion projects, to keep going. because of you, i have found a little community to call home. because of you, i have rekindled my love of silliness and color and creativity. i cannot thank you enough. without you, i would not have found the friends i have now. whatever you do, i want you to know that we're here to support it. and i hope that wherever you go, you also find home. - moth

Hi you dont know me but im Bug, one of the mods^^, I just want to start my message with this, Before I found welcome home, everything for me was going downhill, I had lost so much that was important to me in less than 2 weeks, I couldn't get out of bed and I wasn't doing my favorite things anymore. I couldn't even smile, My eyes were tired and heavy from crying. But thanks to you, Clown. Wonderful you..and your beautiful vibrant creation. With characters I saw and adored right away. I've smiled, danced, sang my favorite songs again, met new and amazing friends & began to draw again. I felt happiness faster than I thought I would again. A peace from your life helped heal some of mine and I'm grateful. Your creations bring me and so many others joy, But even then it as not as important as you. Yes It brings many smiles to people and i hope that doesn't sound to overwhelming.. But although we can't fix the issue people have caused you, we can't apologize for those who don't respect the boundaries you've set and we can't take back what others have done we want you to know that no matter what, the good of the community will always Have what's best for you in mind, in our server we make sure all rules are followed and you're privacy and mental health is respected. Take as much time as you need to take it all in, relax, do what's best for clown. 💚 take care of yourself before aything else. We thank you for all you've done already. -Boogerbug

EVERYTHING BELOW WAS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS !!

Hi Clown! Just another rando passing through! While I have known about your artwork for a few years now, I never dove into it until Welcome Home became popular, and I genuinely love the vision you have. Your other artwork is also phenominal and genuinely inspires me, and it always has, even before I discovered the Welcome Home website. Your character designs are impeccable, the way you portray the muppets is genuinely awesome and brings back a lot of good memories, as I grew up watching puppet shows. Explains one reason I enjoy your work doesn't it?Despite making godly artwork, people forget that you are a human like the rest of us. Most people who become famous or popular because of something they have done experience this and it is unfortunate, but there are some of us that know you have a life and are already struggling. Take the time you need to rejuvinate yourself and try not to let these people get to you, as hard as it is to do, as even I still struggle with this daily. These are your creations, and you deserve to have control over what happens with them, and the disrespect this slowly growing fanbase has for your requests is terrible. Hoping that things eventually improve on your end, especially since you already aren't in a safe environment, something I also understand. I've already planned on throwing some bucks at you through Ko-Fi once I open my new bank account, and even if I cant, I still want to help prove that you are worthy and deserve better than this. You are incredibly talented and I hope to see Welcome Home and all of your other works of art flourish over time! - Sunnie/Mizo

Now onto the big reveal....

Our server members as well as a few mods all banded to together to create a collage showing our appreciation and support for Clown during these rough times. I hope this can serve as a reminder that despite the shitty people out there, there is a large community who still very much respects and enjoys every aspect of Clowns artwork.

An art collage put together by the moderators with art submitted by members.

Below are more signages as well as the usernames of everyone who participated:

Micah

Maximus

Beans

Wynn

Avery

Global

Vinnzhe

- and lastly, the rest of the welcome home discord server 🩷

@partycoffin

[homestuckreplay]

Webcomics at Day 100 #5: Bob and George

Pages read: 4/1/2000 – 4/5/2002; 718 pages (including author’s commentary)

Reason for selection: Bob and George was a pioneer of the ‘sprite-based’ comic genre, where video game sprites (or custom sprites) are used in place of original character art to reduce the artist’s workload. B&G is also famously meta, almost entirely disregarding the fourth wall.

Original run: 4/1/2000 – 7/28/2007; daily updates with 2658 total pages. Completed before Homestuck began.

Content warnings: homophobia and mild ableism (comic), cultural insensitivity, centrism, and severe ableism (author’s commentary)

Overall thoughts:

‘Now, there is something to say of the nature of creativity. How creating a fictional world makes you akin to a creator god. You could say that, sure - if you were fucking nuts. It's a fucking story. It's not real. I don't give a fucking dick's shit how many readers there are, how fucking huge it is - every fictional world is exactly that, fictional.’ – John S.

‘The jokes are bad, the art is plagiarism, and I firmly believe the only people that can appreciate this comic are 14 years old or younger.’ – Cesar R.

Some people on the internet like to spend large amounts of time talking about things they hate, and both of the above quotes come from Bob and George reviews on blogs dedicated to discussing webcomics the authors think are bad. I don’t personally have much respect for the Avowed Hater, but I cannot express how much I love these quotes.

However. I think this webcomic rules.

Here’s a brief overview. David Anez invents two characters – the titular Bob and George – in middle school. Aged 20, at the turn of the millennium, he decides to make a webcomic about these characters, despite having no idea how to draw. He plans to start on April 1, 2000, but can’t source a scanner by then, so begins making placeholder comics using 8-bit and 16-bit sprites from Megaman games, telling a potential audience that the comic isn’t ready yet – meaning that from day one, Megaman knows that 1. he’s in a comic created by an author, and 2. he’s not supposed to be the main character.

Months later, Anez sources a scanner and begins to draw Bob and George. They’re two college aged brothers who are also a superhero-supervillain duo. By this point the strip already has readers, and they don’t like this format as much. It’s also more difficult for Anez to make, so he returns to the Megaman sprite comics, but also edits some sprites into representations of both Bob and George, who become characters transported to the Megaman universe from another dimension. The story cycles through ‘retellings’ of the first six Megaman games interspersed with original storylines, dimension hopping, time travel, predestination paradoxes, alternate versions of characters, fan created characters, at least two characters who are explicitly the author, and other characters reading the comic they’re a character in. It goes from a simple story about George passing the days at his summer job before college, to a huge, whirling, spiraling mess of continuity and temporality.

In July 2007, after just over seven years, Anez brings the story to a conclusion, goes through the archives to add author’s commentary to each and every strip, and then… disappears. He focuses on his day job and his wife, and he never does another internet project again.

I genuinely love amateur art. I think Anez can be too self-deprecating in his author’s commentary – because he’s right, the jokes can be repetitive and don’t always land, the hand drawn art is ridiculous, the characterization is inconsistent and the ideas are unoriginal, but art can be all those things and still be meaningful. ‘I could have made this’ should be a compliment. It should mean: this makes me think I could create; you have achieved something and have inspired me by doing so, because this is within my grasp, too.

Unlike Cesar R. above, I don’t think sprite comics are plagiarism – these are firmly transformative works. Anez rearranges the Megaman sprites, gives them dialog and puts them in situations, and recaps and expands on the game storylines. He credits Capcom with the sprites’ creation, and wrote a homage to the games, not a substitute for them. However, due to the copyright issues, sprite comics are famously un-monetizable. Some original-art comics were occasionally able to turn webcomics into income, but even when Bob and George was at its peak of 25,000 daily site visitors, Anez wasn’t able to sell character merchandise or books and could only source small donations via PayPal. In this way, he sits among hundreds of big name fans who have created wildly popular fanfiction and fanart that’s almost entirely unpaid labor.

Anez’ author’s commentary is sometimes highly problematic but gives fascinating insights into his process. On October 19 2001, Anez included the Author - an established character - in the day's comic, wearing a helmet for the first time. In the author's commentary, he states that 'the Helmeted Author was never intended to be a new character' and that the helmet's inclusion was necessary due to artistic limitations with the sprites. However, the Helmeted Author stuck around and became a separate and important character. Similar instances recur in the commentary, where an accidental continuity error or an out-of-character moment ends up being folded into the overall story, becoming smooth and seamless in retrospect despite being entirely unplanned. It’s an open and honest look into how serial narratives work in practice.

An ice cream joke followed immediately by a self-deprecating joke is pretty standard issue for this drivel. Seriously, look at yourself. You're reading a sprite-based webcomic with Megaman characters, and they were just arguing about the merits of ice cream. I can't believe you read this stuff. Hell, I can't believe I wrote it. That being said, it's a fun way to waste your time, isn't it? – David Anez (author’s commentary for 10/23/2001)

Relevance to Homestuck: [ooc – vague spoilers for the entirety of Homestuck]

Bob and George feels like a rough draft for a LOT of things Homestuck would end up doing in (relatively) more artful, complex ways. It’s often painfully explicit about what it’s doing, hammering its own themes and experiments into the ground via the small amounts of dialog there’s space for instead of advancing a plot – but it’s the earliest webcomic I’ve personally looked at that’s actually testing what the medium is capable of. Anez begins with a simple four-panel strip, and primarily sticks to this style throughout, but from early on he thinks that some strips would look better animated and that the fourth-panel punchline format is a ‘severe restriction’, especially with battles.

As time goes on he begins to experiment with art size, style and aspect ratio, animate part or all of some strips, include interactive strips where readers can click through the panels at their own pace, and include panels in the wrong orientation or that aren’t physically connected as they should be – all elements that would become hallmarks of Homestuck. Characters even comment on the change in panels, and in art style (such as their own change from 8-bit to 16-bit to 32-bit sprites). In commentary for July 2nd 2001, Anez says, ‘I suppose these comics are my non-animated contributions to the infinite canvas nature of webcomics, huh?’

B&G never reaches the extremes of Homestuck, but it’s still a multimedia story. It recaps its own storylines, celebrates its own anniversaries, and folds fan contributions into its main arcs. Prominent fan creators have custom sprites made of them which are included in panels, including the Second Party arc, where a character ‘interviews’ fancomic creators and references their work and their activity in the forums and chatrooms. As such, to have a complete understanding of B&G, it’s necessary to also read prominent fanworks, and to understand its surrounding community – much of which is no longer archived. ‘Subcomics’ are differentiated and elevated from officially-hosted ‘fancomics’ which are again differentiated from fancomics which didn’t make the cut, and a hierarchy based on official recognition is born in the community, not unlike the elevation of Homestuck fanartists to official contributors.

B&G is similar to Homestuck in themes as well as form. From early on it asks questions about the meaning of ‘reality’ and an ‘official’ or ‘canon’ timeline, and explores ideas of what it means to have free will (or not) when you’re a character in a story, you know what’s going to happen next, you’ve met the guy who wrote it, and that guy may or may not be dead. It’s about physically two-dimensional characters who are in both a video game and a comic, and continually blurs the boundaries between those mediums. In both comics, an author – born in 1979 – has grown up witnessing the birth of technology that is going to change everything about how the world operates and break down our interactions with physical space and time, and they’ve made weird, longform, and often technically ‘bad’ art exploring what that means. These comics are holding hands as two links in a chain of a broader artistic movement.

Continue reading? I cannot WAIT to read the rest of Bob & George.

[elderscrollsconceptart]

Have you thought about showing off concept art from fan projects like Skyblivion/Skywind? Could be neat, and they definitely have a few concept artists. I think they'd be happy to let you show some of it off

Hello and thank you for your question!

Please everyone bear with me on this, as this will be a loooong reply, but I've got a lot to say on this matter and related matters and this ask is an opportune time to write all this 💜

I've given *a lot* of thought about this exact thing over the past few months.

Everytime I go looking on artstation, deviantart, etc. for TES artists I come across a lot of art from these and other TES community projects. The people working on these are super talented and alot of them are (IMO) on par with the in-house artists and creatives at Bethesda.

My main drive when creating this blog was to bring attention to the often ignored and overlooked artists behind TES. For years it frustrated me how comparatively little we know about the ins and out of TES games and art development. Everywhere you look online in TES and fantasy forums you see mods, fan art, fan projects etc, all worked on by brilliant and talented artists and creatives.

What is often missing however is the work and creative perspective of the official artists of TES. Take here on Tumblr for example. Follow the right tags or blogs and you'll see nothing but wonderful TES fan art from thousands of artists or fantastic mods and community passion projects.

But you know what you almost never see? Actual TES art posted by TES artists themselves, or at least their art posted by fans with the artist name attached for credit. Occasionally now and again a blog will post official TES art with proper artist credit, but there seems to never have been a blog or sub-community on here exclusively dedicated to just posting official TES art. There should be and elevating the artists of TES with proper credit is something I think we all know should be done. This blog belongs to the community and I try my best to fill this gap as I know for a fact others here feel the same as I do.

There's so much fan art online (which is a good thing!!!) but not nearly enough official TES art posted with artist credit. Thats what this blog is for.

I fear people here and elsewhere are so used to seeing fan art and trying to elevate fan artists, that when they come across this blog they will still just assume its posting fan art because thats virtually all they see on a day to day basis. This has happened numerous times. I will post a piece with full artist credit listed and someone will reblog:

"Wow! This is amazing!" #TES #Fanart

When that happens my heart aches.

It genuinely makes me feel like I'm failing my responsibility to ensure that it is clear that all art posted here is official TES art. All art seen here should be understood as the work of industry professionals working for Bethesda/Zeninax themselves.

It is really really important to stress that I *do not* personally perceive industry produced TES art as naturally superior to fan art.

Art is subjective, as is the merit of it's quality. What I'm trying to stress is that this blog is just trying to bring attention to the oft ignored or unknown artists who make TES. Fan art and projects should be praised and elevated, but I feel this blog is not the space to do so.

Almost daily I see TES fan art on here, Reddit, Twitter, etc. which gets thousands of likes.

Conversely I come across a TES artists on Artstation or elsewhere who will get literally less than a few hundred *views* let alone likes or shares.

That breaks my heart. Everyone's art should be fully appreciated, official art or otherwise. I can't imagine how it must feel to work your way up to becoming an official artist on a beloved series like TES only to have your work stolen or virtually ignored. Your work may be seen but no one will know your name or that *you* made it.

I cannot speak for them, but I'd imagine it is beyond frustrating for TES artists to see their portfolios going ignored or reshared without credit.

I really feel there *should* be a blog that shares TES fan projects art and concept art with full artist credit. That 100% should be a thing and I highly highly encourage someone in the community to make such a blog. Perhaps one day I may even make a side blog like that if I can find the time.

I hope this didn't come across as too long winded of a reply, but hopefully it clarifies the intentions and purpose of this blog for anyone who may not have know. I hope All artists who create art get the respect and exposure they deserve for their hard work and skill. This blog is my best attempt at helping official TES artists get at least a bit more credit and appreciation from the community.

Thank you all, and I apologize for not doing a more thorough job clarifying all art on this blog is official TES art by Bethesda/Zenimax artists.

Love you all 💜

[dandyshucks]

i have a whole rambling vent that I tossed into the garbage because I don't really feel like that'd be a good idea since I cannot tell if it's just attention/validation seeking on my part or if there's actually any productive point to me posting it

so I'll just say that I really do consistently wish I could interact with y'all more because I genuinely cherish the little circle of friends and mutuals I was lucky enough to stumble into here and I want to show that I appreciate you all so much, and I also struggle a lot with feeling like maybe I shouldn't post as much as I do since I do not often have the stars align to be able to interact with others the way that I want to so I don't feel "deserving" of interaction myself. there are several factors outside of my control that prevent me from interacting the way that I'd really like to, and that frustrates me very often.

if i miss reblogging your art or writing, I do genuinely apologize! I might have completely missed seeing it due to not being online at the right time and not scrolling your blog enough, or maybe I saw it and avoided reblogging because I have a very silly notion that I shouldn't reblog unless I have it in me to put together my words just the right way to properly cheer on your creative works (<- i am trying to kick that avoidance bc i think it's probably far better to rb with less eloquent cheering rather than not rb it at all. i've considered saving stuff to drafts or queue to rb when I have a clear head and energy but I don't want to make ppl nervous with ghost notes TwT).

I really REALLY appreciate that people self-rb because that means there's a better chance of me seeing it and rbing it !!! please do not be scared of self-rbing, I often wish ppl would do it more often (...hypocrite that i am LMAO I rarely self-rb bc i get too scared to jfdskl)

anyways !!! i am going to go find a dinner, i appreciate you all, and I'm desperately hoping that I haven't just stuck my foot in my mouth and fucked everything up somehow fdsjkl augh. As always, I am so very open to being corrected or told "hey man, that was kind of shitty" or anything along those lines !!!

[iztopher]

I keep seeing posts going around with the sentiment of "people need to learn to distinguish media they like from good media/media they don't like from bad media," and while I appreciate the sentiment and I'm sure I've reblogged them before, the more I think about them the more I think that's not actually a useful way to judge media. If you approach things that way and it works for you, that's genuinely great. But I don't find it a productive road to encourage other people on.

I'm one of those people who think good art and bad art don't really exist in any objective sense. I think creativity is way too subjective for that. I remember, when I was first starting to use the "just because I like it doesn't mean it's good" metric, saying about a piece of art, "my personal opinion is this, but objectively-"

The best friend I was having this conversation with cut me off. "You can't be objective about art," they pointed out. "That's still a personal opinion." Yeah, okay, fair enough.

You cannot actually fully separate your personal opinion of art from your thoughts on it. Deciding what "objectively" makes good media is still a biased exercise. Where did you learn what makes good media? Why do you agree with it? These ideas are still personal! So is deciding whose opinion you agree with. You are, on some level, making a choice to agree with your mom, or your best friend, or the critic you respect, when you think a movie is bad but they say it's good and you decide that means it actually was good, personal opinions aside.

Everybody's different, but I lived by "distinguish if art is good or if you just like it" for years. It didn't help me understand media analysis any better, as any of my friends who had to patiently explain the basics to me time and time again could tell you. It didn't help me be less judgmental of other people's tastes. It just made me more insecure about my own.

It does not feel good to love a piece of art deeply, to admire it and use it as inspiration in your own work, and feel the need to tell yourself, but this is objectively bad. It does not feel good to suffer through art you've seen loved and praised but don't personally enjoy and feel the need to constantly remind yourself, but this is objectively good. In my experience, it mostly just makes you doubt your own right to experience and share your own opinions on art.

I am personally sick of saying that art I hold close to my chest is actually bad, but that's okay, because I love it anyways. Especially when I can articulate the things I like about it! I would much rather say, "I've seen people criticize this game's level scaling for requiring too much grinding, but I like it because it gives me more time with the characters and helps me better immerse myself in the game's world."

If you genuinely love a piece of art and also genuinely think it's bad art, whatever that means to you, all power to you. But both of those are your personal opinions, and I think owning that is a way more productive way to approach media than pretending one is and the other is just objective reality.

[always-andromeda]

teehee hiii hello! :D im very new to the danonation community, despite being an admirer of mr paul for almost a year now,,, there's so many amazing people and content they make but, it's really overwhelming and a bit scary to explore on my own! you're one of the few people i instantly felt safe to approach so, would you be so kind as to direct me a little bit? which danonation blogs are active right now, or maybe even personal friends of yours, just to start my journey in this community? i really really wanna participate, but since i don't have a single creative bone in me and can't contribute in art or writing, the least i can do is give love to all of you lovely people!! 🥰 thank you for your time 💛

p.s. if you don't mind, i might have more questions later!

p.s.s. your blog themes are always so adorable and so so aesthetically pleasing it's amazing 😭💞

Hey hi hello, my friend!! Thank you so much!! I’m gonna leave all of my account recommendations under the cut because wHOO I went a little bonkers! Other than that, you’re always welcome to shoot me an ask whether you have a question or you just wanna say hello! Super glad to have you here and I hope that you have fun getting to know everyone and everything!!

@lost-in-sokovia

I couldn’t get through a post about talking about creators in Danonation and/or my friends without mentioning Soph. Not only is she immensely talented, but her ability to shift between writing the sweetest moments and angst is basically unmatched. Shoutout to her for warming me up to the concept of having kids tbh bc wOW I did not see that one coming! She’s also one of my closest friends on here and I would heavily recommend giving her a follow and sending an ask; she’s absolutely precious to me and deserves all the love this community can possibly give her (but that’s just my opinion 🙄).

@quietsounds

Now, if we're talking about my friends, I have to drag my wonderful Storm into the conversation as well since we met through Danonation. Storm has a wiiiide range of interests and gifs a lot of different things bUT his gif sets are fucking phenomenal. He hasn't been super active on here lately but I would still recommend dropping him a follow because lmao I am hugely biased (because I love and adore him) and because he's one of the most creative people I know and his work deserves to be seen by as many eyeballs as possible and fully appreciated.

@riddlersbimbo

Okay, I should preface that Bowie is on a bit of a hiatus and they’re kind of running on a queue schedule. However. I still adore Bowie with all of my heart. I genuinely cannot explain it; all I know is that I was born to be Bowie's biggest fan. Aside from that, they are such a pillar in this community. The work they put into giffing every Paul movie?? And furthering the Chubby!Eddie agenda?? And the bimbo agenda?? Listen, on this account, we’re all Bowie stans (lmao, new mandate, friends; we’re all Bowie stans now).

@puzzlekinq

It’s only been for the last few months that I’ve been following Ethan bUT LEMME JUST SAY. I cannot fathom how my dash survived beforehand. You can be sure that Ethan will always have something either slightly unhinged, horny, or downright hilarious to post. They also write a bit as well and it’s some damn good writing if I do say so myself!! Also literally every time they post this plays in my head (but that piece of information is more for Ethan's benefit than anyone else's lol).

@riddlers-den

I feel like almost everyone in my little circle has read or at least heard of Max’s Edward fic, Disarm. And I can confirm, Disarm is fantastic. But I also adore basically everything else of hers that I’ve read. Max’s interpretation of characters (specifically Eddie and Calvin) just makes my writing brain so happy. She is also incredibly funny, a massively talented artist, and a very lovely person to talk to and I couldn’t imagine this little community without her.

@finniestoncrane

I should preface this recommendation by saying that Finnie doesn't post purely Dano content and is more in the realm of the DC fandom in general. I would also give her content warnings a once over beforehand since they might not be everyone's cup of tea! But I still wanted to include her here because, her work and her personality has always inspired me so heavily and...goodness, I love being able to call her one of my mutuals. Her sense of humor is top notch; like truly, whenever she posts her little pictures where she draws herself as a stick figure wrapped around one of the Rogues, I lose my absolute mind. Anyways, stan Finnie too, Finnie is the coolest.

@bloomdolly

If you are in the market for a cutesy, coquettish aesthetic and Paul content wrapped up in one super sweet and kind person? Look no further than Ushuaia! I swear, every time I interact with her it feels like I’ve been hit was this pastel ray of light complete with lace frills and ribbons. She’s the absolute sweetest and the bits of her creations that she’s put out reflect that entirely and I can’t wait to see what else she can think up!

@the-odd-devil

Goodness, it feels like Odd and I have been mutuals for literally forever because they’ve been there pretty much since the beginning of this account?? I always love getting a chance to interact with them and it’s been so cool seeing them start to develop their own ideas (and I swear, Odd, I will get to your dark academia college!Eddie fic as soon as I get a chance to actually sit down and read it). Also…their 70s Pornstar!Jimmy Tree headcanons…god if they ever post about them, I will actually lose my mind.

@starlightsearches

Fun fact: Star was among the first fic writers I read from when I first got into Danonation! They are a multi-fandom blog but again, I just had to include them because their writing is fucking intoxicating and I'm sorry but I'll never get over it.

@danoberry

So this serves as apology to Wren for being awful at keeping up with fics lately because ages ago I know I promised to read one of her Calvin fics and then I never did sO I AM SO SORRY. But this also serves as me taking the chance to gush over her work. Like y'all know I will fawn over anything Joby Taylor related and her Joby fic, i'm so sick...GIRL I'M SO SICK ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEE. Like truly...I lost my mind for part of a day when she followed me because hahahah I'm a nervy little guy and I am always so hesitant to make new mutuals (especially when they're this talented goodness gracious).

@jeusschrist2005

Okay, I will admit that I'm also a little newer to their work! But goodness gracious, just from the bits I've seen of both their Joby fic and their Eli stuff, I love what I've read so far and I really wanted to include them on this list as well!!

[ranubd]

I would like to know what your boundaries are when it comes to interacting with you.

are you ok with requests or questions that don’t have to do with your works

are you ok with receiving headcanons that are not relevant to or may contradict with what you already have 

how many asks are you comfortable with receiving at one time.

Are there other things that you want us to know about fan interaction that I didn’t think to ask about

OK I AM NOW RESPONDING TO THIS THE SECOND TIME BECAUSE TUMBLR DECIDED TO BE A BITCH AND GOD UGHHHHHHHHHH OMG >:((((((.... SIGH

Hi, thank you for asking about my boundaries, and to anyone reading this, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to look at this! :)

I am super okay with any questions you have about anything. I might not come with the correct answer to these questions, BUT I'll try to answer them either way! However if some questions are uncomfortable for me to answer, I can't put my finger on what such questions would be expect for like, NSFW stuff, I'm really not comfortable with that on my blog so please keep NSFW material/questions/requests to yourself. :)

With requests, if we are now talking art requests etc, then I'll gladly draw most stuff!! I tend to only enjoy drawing stuff I'm fixated on, so if I'm going through a overwhelming time or something due to my undiagnosed and therefore unmedicated ADHD I will probably not be drawing your requests. :(( BUT I'LL GET BACK TO THEM AFTER THE OVERWHELMING PERIODS!! (At least I'll try to.)

I would like to add on this that when I'm in artblock, I sometimes will just draw anything... So I may make a post asking for people to send me their OCs and so on so that I can get the creative juices flowing!! :D

You are again free to send me any of your headcanons even if they contradict mine, because if anything, I can add on to my own HC by yours. 🤭🤭 However, if you do send me headcanons, try to mostly just keep yourself to Hermitcraft/Life Series headcanons or anything related to that because if it isn't about that I really won't have anything to respond to your headcanons. Hard to care if I don't know anything about the topic, yk?

I'm fine with any amount of asks. If you as a singular person have many questions that you feel won't all fit into one asks, then send them as individual asks, I don't mind!! :D

I try to answer asks as fast as I can, but sometimes it may take some time as I do go to school. And sometimes, LIKE YESTERDAY, I may have burnout or I may be over stimulated. If that is the case, I will not be active at all on social media, so don't take it personal if it takes a while for your ask(s) to be answered.

I would like people who view this blog to know that I most likely have ADHD, I'm mentioning this because it's something so recent and it is affecting me quite a lot.

I draw stuff when I feel like it, I genuinely cannot draw unless I get that certain flow going, it's a little hard to explain... But I haven't been working on the comic because I know it's better for me not to force myself to work on it because if I did that, I would risk losing interest in it completely, and that's something no one here wants. :(( So please do try to be patient with me, I may be academically smart, but I'm still a little slow. <33

I HOPE THIS ANSWERS ALL YOUR QUESTIONS!! If there is still something for you, the person reading this, that was left unclear or you didn't get a good or direct answer to, then send an ask to me or send me a message and I'll try to clarify myself. :)))

Also with ibispaints new animating tool... i might be going a little... Nuts... Hehe. AAAAAA 😝😝😝 Not saying anything but, like, well I'll just leave a few very very very fast doodles here.

Steady steady... Pum pum pudum dum dum..

[tyulezhik]

Hi! I just wanted to wish you an early birthday and tell you how much I appreciate you. Even though this isn't a question, Ahah, oops.

I also just wanted to say you're an amazing artist, and I really look up to you and your future artwork! Every time you post, it genuinely makes me happy, and it makes me a fangirl every time. It's truly breathtakingly amazing; every stroke I see is just a work of art itself. Your creativity is unworldly. Please continue doing what you do! Many, like me and others, enjoy your art! It's something that cannot be put into simple terms simply because it's so amazing to simplify.

Sorry for the random message; it's just that I've admired your art for so long that I thought to say it. Especially since right now you seem to be in a sad mood, I really hope you feel better when your birthday comes. Someone as talented and precious as you should really be happy, because you are an amazing artist who deserves all the good things in the world. Thank you for sharing your talents and simply existing.🖤

Sorry for answering so late,,,

I really appreciate your words, it warms my heart. I feel a little better, although I'm still a little tired. I may not draw that often, especially since I have college exam week coming up soon, but I'm glad you think my art is good, even if it's not that much haha

I'd really like my art to get better, so that it pleases more people and more people know about it, but I'm glad if even a few like it❤ I actually really appreciate all the messages of support that people write to me. I really miss this in real life (and praise is really important to me huh), so I'm grateful for every comment, even if I receive them so rarely🙏

[servitudeofsadness]

For those struggling with the contention of life and death; seek the help you need. surround yourself with your hobbies, with people you love. this isn’t a self help book but it doesn’t hurt to tell you to take care of yourself. trust me i would know.

For those who are queer in this school or are uncertain or entirely certain of your gender identity, be in celebration of your sexuality and your individuality. you love who you love, you are who you are; that is so beautiful. be with those who love you, accept you, and are like you. i’ll be there in solidarity.

For the girls sick and utterly tired of living in this world, I understand. let us continue tilting, killing, and impressing. dismantling the patriarchy, one after another. after all, a revolution doesn’t just take one person. i hope change is not beyond the lives we are living. first though, rest. live. contend with your worries. Revel in your years of girlhood. Take your needed break away from cityscapes and capitalistic warfare. i need it, you probably do too.

For the boys sinking in misery, who can’t separate emptiness and faking vigour. those who perhaps feel too much and can’t direct the storm except with curse words or wall punches. know it’s okay to cry. it is okay to cry —- WAIL, SOB, BAWL! i promise you, it’s the best coping solution. embrace masculinity all you want but stop at subscribing to the bald egg who spouts misogyny; he is truly distasteful in all aspects of man.

For my mum, thank you for being with me everyday of my life. you are an incredible person, an incredible mother to me and my brother. sometimes things get complicated between us, but know that i love you always.

For my dad, we don’t see each other much, but know that the fights are long over and that i miss you. please enjoy my art as it is, if you are able to make it.

For my brother, we scream and hurl at each other a lot. but in my dreams, I sometimes lose you and i die inside. I’m glad I have you as a brother. go chase your dreams. go tell off that bastard back in Taunggyi. Continue doing things out of spite. I am rooting for you.

For Laiya, thank you for supporting me in my creative endeavors by critiquing, praising, and reading my work with genuine honesty. I am so grateful we met, and appreciate our friendship all the way to the end; <3.

For Mr Brandon, my supervisor, thank you for giving me advice, critique, and poetry collections one after another. Words cannot express how much you have helped me with my writing, how much I have improved in allegorically analysing literature since G-8. This means so much to me on a personal level. Thank you.

For me of all ages, 8 years ago, 8 years later and there on after, I hope you remember me fondly, treasure these memories, pursue writing and poetry to its fullest. love dearly. be content with yourself and the world. i trust you to it.

[ariaste]

Here's the other thing, though, because I guarantee you that this reactionary whose ideology is a picture would not actually want any of the policies or political changes required to get us to a place where that picture is a reality.

Let's examine the picture so you can see what I mean.

A bright, sunny day. The trees, the architecture, and the Lambo say "Italy" to me. (We're ignoring the roman soldier cosplay for the moment, people do that everywhere) The Mediterranean has a lovely and pleasant climate now; will it continue to have a lovely and pleasant in the future, if climate change gets out of hand? Does this person want to us to do anything about climate change to preserve that? What about pollution? (I looked at his twitter; he's an AI junkie. He does not care about the ways AI is contributing to climate change and pollution) The spaceship/futuristic airplane(??) in the sky is not like anything we currently have. Does this person want to fund scientific research and technological development in order so that we can reach the place where that's real? Does he want to give funding to science programs in schools so the next generation of scientists gets a good foundational education?

The architecture is beautiful. Is this a historical structure, or is this a new building? If it's the former, how are we communicating the importance of history to the public and educating them about our past so that these structures are lovingly conserved for future generations? If it's the latter, return to the questions about science and make them about art and architecture. (And who is funding the building of structures like these? Is this an airport????? It has an airplane(?) flying very low next to it, so it might be an airport? How have we come to a culture where we care enough about quality architecture to take the time and money to build an airport THIS PRETTY rather than a hideous, barely-functional sprawl of concrete and glass?)

Here's.... a Roman soldier???? I guess???? Who is he? Is he a time traveler? (if so, return to the questions about scientific development) Is he a cosplayer? (If so, return to the questions about history and education) Also: who made that costume, and what social structures were in place to teach them how? Home ec classes to teach sewing, vocational classes to teach metalwork, a society that values the knowledge of these things?? (Those are, of course, the good-faith questions I have about the Roman soldier; I have a sneaking suspicion that its inclusion in the picture more of a white supremacist dogwhistle. :/ So uh. That sure is something.) I think this person looked at the image and genuinely did feel something. He clearly has an appreciation and yearning for beauty -- but when he says "whatever leads to this", I don't believe that for a fucking instant. He is a big-time AI junkie, and you simply cannot AI this photo into a reality. To make THIS PICTURE a reality would take REAL investment in and prolonged support of human education, human creativity, human art, human cooperation, and human craft and skill. It would require that on the social level, the legislative policy level, and the individual level. The AI bros do not value those things in the slightest.

But y'know what, I don't even disagree with him. I too want a future where we have cool high-tech air transportation, beautiful public spaces, a comfortable climate, and history nerds having fun in cosplay (at the airport??? ok yeah idk we're not interrogating that too closely). I just feel like we have to be realistic about the hard work it would take to get us there. But oh right, the AI bros hate reality and are allergic to things that are hard or which take a long time, because they've gotten literally addicted to the drug of instant gratification and they're actively destroying their minds with it.

[unmeiokaemasu]

FE:E first playthrough: thoughts

so uhhh. I guess I should write down my feelings about Engage?

My feelings about it have been pretty bittersweet. In a vacuum, I enjoyed it a lot:

it’s a story that fits in perfectly with some of the lighter entries in the franchise

that said there were moments that I found genuinely moving in the story

I’m glad it was a lighter entry because I mean it when I say games cannot and should not keep one-upping themselves, the games industry is terrible to its employees and they deserve to be treated better, which means trimming down on things like graphics and branching paths and whatnot is good in between bigger entries

the gameplay was fun, I like a lot of the new or new-ish features like the stuff in the Somniel

even though I didn’t overall like the art style, aspects of it did grow on me, especially seeing it animated

the cast really grew on me

Alear may be my favorite player avatar right after Byleth (and Mark the tactician from FE7, the absolutely hilarious non-entity)

the music is great and I’ve been humming it constantly

as dumb and gimmicky as the emblems were I think they did their job of seeming cool enough that some folks may want to go back and play their games

I enjoyed the game enough that I immediately started another run to try some different things.

So then, the things that’re bothering me...

I saw someone say that they liked Seadall “even though he wasn’t a very good unit,” and that kinda...well it’s a good example of what I feel like we may be leaving behind. Of course, if you were used to Three Houses, and even Awakening and Fates, you’d be a used to a dancer who fights pretty much on par with your other units. But with the earlier games, where dancers don’t even have the option of fighting and are completely support units, they’re still some of the most valued units within the FE community, and I’m not alone in saying dancer units are my favorite overall type. Recruiting them always feels like “ah yes, now it’s over for the forces of evil, now I can really play the game.”

...but to get that effect, you do have to play the older games. I know because I started with three houses, and my first playstyle was absolutely just sending in all my most powerful units and having them tank damage until they broke through the enemy. And that’s fun too! But after playing some of the older games, I really got an appreciation of what makes this series so special. I’m bad at strategy games. I’m not just not one of the elite, it’s very challenging for me to think several steps ahead. But Fire Emblem games are beautifully designed in a way that teaches you what resources you have at your disposal, and helps get you to a point where you can be making much more complicated decisions. I’ve yet to win a Maddening Mode in any game, but it felt great when I was finally able to beat a hard mode run of 3H, and when I beat my beloved Blazing Blade and Path of Radiance without all of the modern amenities like a rewind button. Maybe some day I will beat a maddening mode, or even beat the next chapter of FE4 that I’ve been stuck on for months! :D (haha, as if, I’ll never beat FE4)

I’m not mad that people may not like the older games, or sad that people may never play them. I’m not sad that people prefer Three Houses to the earlier style of gameplay, even though those same people would probably be good at / get enjoyment out of the earlier games. ...except that, if enough people dislike features, like, for example, less-combat-capable dancers, then those features may fall away...and then all the FE games will be about building your units they way you want, and not about being given a puzzle and saying “your tools are limited, but there’re lots of solutions, get creative!” ...and that would be a loss. I don’t want to get Old Man Yells At Cloud about this, so I’ll say I hope to be surprised. I guess as long as FE keeps bringing joy into the world, that’s enough.

SO, the one thing that really stung about the game itself was...no paired endings for units!!? What the actual heck!?!? Did I miss how to get that to happen or is there seriously now way to hear that two characters in particular work together / live together / fall in love / etc. after the war depending on who you supported people with?? Paired endings have been a thing for a long time in this series; Genealogy introduced the thing where depending on who you pair up romantically, you get kid units in the next generation based on those pairings, and the GBA games all had a variety of romantic and non-romantic paired endings for characters. I’m not asking for extra voices S-rank scenes, just little blurbs of text at the end of the game! I know I can write my own but that’s missing the point. It seems like a petty thing to miss, but like, if I’m not invested in these characters’ relationships, why would I care about supports at all outside of gameplay mechanics?

Also the ending I got for Alear’s ring support was extremely boring. I feel like they stripped a lot of the romance out of it because...idk cuz in the Japanese version they wanted it to be ok for you to ring-support the kid units or something. idk. And don’t give me any “Alear’s a dragon and will live longer than all of them,” Fire Emblem human characters have been marrying dragons all throughout the history of the game. What I’m saying is just because Ninian wasn’t in FE6 doesn’t mean she had to die early if you have her marry Eliwood instys you cowards--wait where was I. Oh right Engage pairings.

*sigh* so yeah, that was the biggest gripe I had with the game itself, and it seems like an easy thing to fix. My experience with it was highly personal, I mean FE’s been my hyperfixation for like two years now so I’m incapable of being Normal about it, and because of that I don’t want to really engage (...) in too much discussion about it, cuz I’ll either feel sad or say something I regret. Or let’s be real, both.

But overall I hope people like Engage, at least enough to keep the series going, and if the series does permanently change, I’ll just cherish the time I had learning about it and enjoying it.

[blvnk-art]

on the topic of how you answer asks, i really appreciate the kindness and patience with which you handle everything that comes your way. i always thought there was something very stoic about it, and it's really cool to hear that you have studied stoicism. thank you for being so patient with all of us, it really does brighten my day to see how kind you are in your ask answers, even when you don't have to be. not many people are so steady in the energy they put back into the world, and i so enjoy watching you talk to people on the internet (is that weird? it's just so out of the ordinary to see so much consideration on here). thank you so much and happy new year!

that is the first message I receive in 2022! Guess this means good things for the rest of year, I hope hahah

I have come to a conclusion that no matter what you do or say, there will always have people liking and disliking you, being super kind or just trying to put you down. What's in my control is how I react to them, and how I am as a person to myself and others that trully care about me.

I don't remember how I came across the book (I guess it was a recommendation of a youtuber), but Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" literally changed me.

It was not like reading about stoicism and being like "I want to be like this". It was a process of finally understanding things that I was already trying to improve about myself and mindset, as someone who needs to share creative things with people and clientes (in my job).

Philosophy is such a deep thing and I'm really interest in psychology as well, though all I do is to read and watch videos about it (I am graduated in Visual Arts, so I have come across those subjects with professors as well, just not as deeply as we should). and I genuinely like the subject!

The book also led me to a book which has an interesting title: "The courage to be disliked". I read it when I was on my "30 days without social media", when my confidence about myself and art was deeply low.

Reading about these kind of subjects (without going into that 'self-help' problem that we also encounter in books that just wants to take your money) help me personally, so I'm sharing this in case anyone is feeling like they are the worst person when they are not trying to be and still there are situations that make us feel we cannot improve, we are bound to be what we are now forever, when we feel like there are no room for redemption when we make mistakes.

2022 is here and I hope you all have a wonderful year (within your control!)

[thecandlesticksfromlesmis]

I found one of your YouTube videos then watched them ALL!, & I cannot thank you enough for the art you’re putting into the world. Things have been tough for me lately but your work has actually helped so much! Of course you’re super talented but there’s also just this kind of warmth in your projects that shows you love what you do and that makes everything even all that much better. Just wanted to say thanks so much and no matter what kind of a day you’re having or what you’re up to lately just know you’ve made a positive impact on the world that will last for a long long time, and think of that if you ever have a moment of doubt about what you do! <3 But yeah I really love the way you interpret E’s character as not being just robotic too, like he has flaws that are ideologically consistent with the rest of him (like his flaws are the distorted exaggerations of his ideals) and it’s just so compelling to experience as a viewer. And as an ace I really appreciate the good rep too (ace=/=Pure Perfect Innocent Cinnamon Roll; ace is when charming and capable of terrible things ofc haha). Especially in some of the more serious longer pieces, where we see the struggle E has as he navigates decisions involving both his ideals and his friends and the junctures where he has to make tough calls (….sometimes literally, like in the coffins sketch😭💀👍). Not to be too annoying or gush too much but seriously thank you SO MUCH for everything you’ve done, I genuinely feel like I have a more solid appreciation for the source text and characterization because of your work, plus videos like about how to do an accurate E cosplay made me laugh because the way you talk to the viewer just feels like? Comforting?? Anyway,, THANK YOUUU and have a great day!!

🥺🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭😭😭😭Thank you, thank you, thank you, friend, this is so sweet. I have doubts about my work all the fucking time, so I won’t be forgetting this message. I know I haven’t been all that active lately, but this fandom means so much to me, and it’s mostly because of people like you. Connecting with others through creative works is so special and exciting, and I’m so damn lucky every time someone sends me a message like this. So again, thank you 💙💙💙

[depressing-debbie]

Could you do the fluff alphabet for Armin? My favorite :) Loved eren's by the way

Aw I'm glad you liked it! Absolutely <3 

I had a lot of fun with this, but it’s very much unedited, so... yeah, hopefully it’s alright!

POST Time Skip as always

Fluff Alphabet: Armin

A ctivities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

He plans absolutely adorable little dates, like picnics or hikes. He also loves taking his SO to museums and art galleries, especially if it’s something they’re really interested in. He already has plenty of knowledge on the subject, and he definitely did some research before they left, so he’s fully prepared to point out every little detail and explain the meaning behind everything as they go. Most of all, though, he just likes getting to be with his SO, so he also loves lazy afternoons sitting and reading together.

B eauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

Armin thinks absolutely everything about his SO is stunning. He loves the way they carry themselves when they’re confident, the way their face crinkles when they laugh, the sparkle in their eyes when they talk about their interests: they’re just perfect. 

C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

Look no further, everybody, because we’ve found the most comforting man on the earth. His first instinct when his SO is upset is to make sure their surroundings are comfortable, meaning he’ll make sure to take them somewhere quiet if they are in public, or he’ll find lots of blankets and pillows. Then he’ll sit with them, letting them rest their head on his chest while he traces little circles into their hair. If they want to talk about it, he’s down. If they need space, he’s already out the door, checking on them once in a while with some water. But if they just want him there, he won’t leave their side.

D reams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

He’s really happy thinking about the future, even though it’s not necessarily specific. He loves the idea of building some sort of life with his SO and getting to spend it together. There’s no specific idea in his head of what that looks like, so he’d be happy no matter what as long as they’re together.

E qual - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

It’s entirely equal. He’s an absolute gentleman, but he doesn’t believe in the way society enforces roles on a relationship. Him and his SO are a team, and they work together in their relationship.

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

He really hates fighting, and he doesn’t really initiate a fight ever. And, unless it’s something really serious, he would be quick to find a compromise and make up. But, even if it is serious, even though he might be a bit hurt, he still wouldn’t want to fight. They’re a team, and that team is built on a foundation of solid communication, so he’d want to have a genuine conversation rather than just yell at each other. The last thing he wants is for either of them to get their feelings hurt accidentally.

G ratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

He is so incredibly grateful for his SO, and he makes sure they know it. He appreciates them and everything they do, so even if it makes him uncomfortable, he expresses it as often as he can.

H onesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

There are no secrets in his relationship. You can’t be a team if you’re not on the same page, and he doesn’t see any reason why he would want to hide things anyway. He would respect if there are things his SO just doesn’t want to talk about, especially if it’s something very personal, but his goal will be to make sure they know they can feel comfortable talking to him. 

I nspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

Armin is a pretty reserved person, and he has a lot of self doubt and general anxiety. But, he feels so much more confident and relaxed around his SO; they’ve helped him to become more comfortable with himself and his interactions in general. He can also forget his own worries instantly when it comes to protecting them, which shows him that he is capable of overcoming that fear. He embraces the sense of security they give him, and he allows himself to open up a bit more.

J ealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

He doesn’t get jealous often, but he does have some self doubt that gets in the way. It’s not that he would blame his SO or accuse them of anything, he just gets a bit insecure. It’s also not hard for his SO to notice, and all he really needs is a few words of assurance and comfort to relax.

K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Alright, unfortunately, their first kiss was so awkward. Armin was absolutely terrified of messing up, and he probably rambled when he asked if he could kiss them. It was honestly pretty cute, though, the way that he blushed, then got all smiley afterwards. He’s able to relax with it over time, and after a while, he’s a really good kisser. He probably gives his SO a little kiss as a greeting each time he sees them, and he’s absolutely a tiny butterfly kisses kind of guy :)

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

Okay, so if we’re talking about how he asked them out, he was SO awkward. His friends had to hype him up for like two weeks, and he definitely rambles when he’s uncomfortable, so it took him forever to actually get the words out. He absolutely did it in person, though, and it was pretty sweet. But, if we’re talking about the first time he said that he loved them, it was more relaxed. He just looked over at his SO one day and though about how amazing they are and how lucky he is, so he told them, and it came out as “I love you”. He was pretty embarrassed afterwards, but he definitely didn’t regret it, especially after they said it back.

M arriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?

I think it depends pretty heavily on his partner, and he’d be happy either way. He doesn’t rely on a piece of paper to show that they care about each other, so if they don’t want to, he’d be happy. But, if they do want to get married, he would be so excited. He would definitely plan the most thoughtful proposal, in a private place that holds some kind of meaning for the two of them, and it would be so cute. Their wedding would be stunning, he definitely has an eye for design. There wouldn’t be a big difference between dating and married life, just more excuse to be happy together.

N icknames - What do they call their s/o?

He has so many cute little nicknames for them. Definitely calls them “love”, or “sweetheart” when they’re upset. But mainly, his nicknames are super creative and meaningful to the two of them. If his SO speaks a second language, he did some research and came up with a nickname in that language. They probably also reference their inside jokes, so it makes no sense to anyone else, which just makes it that much more special.

O n Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

It’s sooo obvious when Armin is in love. He gets embarrassed every time someone brings up his SO, and he keeps getting caught smiling and staring off into space. He expresses his feelings to his SO in every way can, whether that’s through little acts of service, homemade gifts, extra soft kisses, or just flat out saying that he loves them. He never wants them to feel like he doesn’t appreciate them completely and utterly, so he goes out of his way to make sure they know how he feels.

P DA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

He’s really uncomfortable with PDA, at most, he would probably hold his SO’s hand or rest his hand on their back. Otherwise, he just gets super embarrassed and flustered. He doesn’t mind talking about their relationship, though, especially with people he trusts. He’s not going to brag or share specific details, but he enjoys getting to talk about the person he loves, and he’s honestly happy that people know they’re together.

Q uirk - Some random ability they have that's beneficial in a relationship.

This is very random, but he has an endless supply of cozy sweaters and sweatshirts, lots of which are oversized, and he LOVES when his SO steals them. Every time he catches them wearing his clothes, it makes him sooo happy. They’re the coziest couple on the planet.

R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

He’s incredibly romantic, but not in the traditional way. He just doesn’t understand the cliche romantic gestures and sayings, and he would so much rather come up with his own way of expressing his appreciation for his SO and making them happy. It’s much more personal, and he puts so much thought into all of it.

S upport - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

Armin is completely and utterly supportive; he is his SO’s number one supporter. In his eyes, there is literally nothing they cannot accomplish, and he will do whatever he can to help them get there. If they’re hesitant to pursue something they’re passionate about, he is going to encourage them to have faith in themselves and chase after it, no matter what, because he believes in them completely. And if there’s any way he can help them reach their goals, he’s all ears.

T hrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

Probably a mix of both. They probably have a routine of some kind set, and he appreciates the peace and stability of that. But, he also loves getting to add to his list of new experiences that the two of them have shared. He loves learning and seeing new things, and especially when he gets to share them with his SO, it makes him really happy.

U nderstanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

He knows them incredibly well. He can predict their reactions in different situations, and he can almost always tell how they’re feeling. It’s entirely due to how clearly they communicate, and the way that he observes everything around him. He took note at the start of their relationship of what makes them happy and what upsets them, and he knows so much about them. He can empathize so well because of this.

V alue - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

His relationship is very important to him. His SO means a lot to him, and he’s definitely started to build his routine around them, especially if they’ve been together for a while. He doesn’t really enter relationships without being serious about it, that’s just not his style, so it really is meaningful to him. 

W ild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon.

When he doesn’t get to see his SO for a while, they carve out time in their next meeting to just talk. They get nice and cozy together, and they just spent an hour or two talking about everything they can think of, how their week went, what crazy book they’re reading, some new fact about something they’re interested in, whatever they want to share with each other. Armin loves getting to talk about the things he’s learned and what’s happening in his life, but more than that, he absolutely adores hearing his SO talk about things they’re passionate about. He loves the way their eyes light up and their voice becomes animated. He could just sit there, in their arms, listening to them talk for hours.

X OXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

He’s very affectionate! Nowhere else does he feel as safe as he does in his SO’s arms, and he loves getting to be close to them. They definitely take naps together after a long day, and he loves to cuddle while they read. If they’re working or sitting together, he’ll rest his head on theirs, giving them tiny kisses on top of their head, or he’ll let them curl up into his side and run his hand gently up and down their back. He loves feeling like he can protect them.

Y earning - How will they cope when they're missing their partner?

He really hates when his SO is gone for a long time just because their routines are so intertwined, so he’s constantly reminded of their absence. He probably spends more time with his friends and writes down things he wants to tell his SO when they return, which relaxes him.

Z eal - Are they willing to go to great lenghts for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

Armin is the best example of going to great lengths in a relationship. Anything he can do to make his SO happy and keep everything going well, he is more than happy to do. He absolutely communicates with his partner to see what they need, and what they think the relationship needs, and they’ll work together to make sure they are satisfied. His relationship and his SO mean the world to him, so he would definitely do whatever he can for them.