#I love talking about webcomics and could talk about them all day feel free to ask me anything about them

[polarseven]

So I read an IMPOSSIBLY large amount of webcomics, and one day I’ll post a megathread of every webcomic I’ve ever read, but until then I’m gonna do a short post of what I consider to be some of the BEST webcomics I’ve ever read.

First off, boosting Dumbing of Age, Paranatural, and El Goonish Shive: these were listed earlier in the thread already, but are absolutely astounding webcomics. Paranatural has some of the funniest visual gags (and later, writing) that I’ve ever seen in webcomics (I still say “Act your archetype” to this day.) Dumbing of Age can be rough at times but it’s got an incredible story, and if you need your comic fixins’ regularly, it updates daily, which is quite ridiculous. EGS is rough in the beginning (what comics aren’t?), but has become an amazing story with some character arcs you really wouldn’t expect, and has a TON of science-magicy worldbuilding, so if you love exposition, go read it.

As for some of the best webcomics out there that aren’t already listed:

Go Get a Roomie! - NSFW and impossibly gay and sex-positive, this comic is an absolute masterpiece of character development, following a TON of loveable and relatable characters as they grow closer together. Tackles issues on gender, sexuality, trauma, addiction, and does so in a beautiful way. One of the only comics that's actually made me cry, I recommend this to anyone and everyone who wants an lgbtq comic. Fair warning, it does start out rough, and has a few jokes that aren't great, but they're retconned near the end to try to make it a healthier experience overall. Is also a FINISHED COMIC, so can be enjoyed as a complete story right now. Is currently being reran with additional commentary (in similarity to Girls with Slingshots), and the commentary can be really insightful and is a great addition to the comic.

Love Not Found - Set in a future where human touch is considered obsolete and inappropriate, follows several different interconnected characters as they discover love in a post-touch world. Has some of the best representation I've seen in any webcomic, from gender to a huge amount of diverse relationships. Does a great job at showing how struggles in relationships can be worked through to make everyone happy and healthy, as long as you communicate what you want and need. Super sweet and sappy, doesn't keep you waiting forever for something to happen, instead letting everything feel natural and easy.

Bittersweet Candy Bowl - Just a funny comic about cats and dogs A drama comic that focuses on a group of teens as they go through 8th grade onwards. One of the longest running comics I personally read and probably my favorite on the list. Goes from a slapstick comic to one that covers struggles with depression, unrequited love, familial trauma and grief, and what I feel many things don't do: what happens after those things happen. Isn't afraid to pull it's punches and throw the characters through some incredibly rough situations, but everything feels realistic and down to Earth. Interesting to read as an adult because you realize that while some of the problems they deal with are just teenage drama, it helps you feel the weight of them how you did when you were younger. The stakes are sometimes low but they feel insurmountable. If you read this one please remember that the comic is about kids and they can be horribly toxic idiots, but they can still learn from it.

All of the listed comics are completely free to read online, though BCB is rereleasing the first three volumes of their comic on webtoon canvas right now. I read a lot of other webtoon comics as well, some of which are absolutely phenomenal pieces of work, but since I hate webtoon's daily pass feature and think that it's harmful to the works as a whole by throttling how they're consumed, I've refrained from listing those here. If anyone's interested let me know and I can talk about some of the best ones that are worth it despite the hassle webtoons causes, or can give even more recommendations outside of webtoons that I love!

actually im just gonna make my own post about it: please read more webcomics. please try them. every time people make posts about “aw man i wish SOMEone would WRITE about FLAVOR OF QUEER THING/TRAUMA OR ABUSE BUT IN SPECIFIC WAYS I CAN RELATE TO/WHATEVER” and then it gets reblogged into a giant thread of people agreeing with it and demanding Content i die because whatever it is is definitely being painstakingly created by an indie author who would really like for people to consume it and every time i point this out people suddenly can’t read lmao

it is out there it is free it is being made from firsthand experiences by people who care very very deeply who would be DELIGHTED to hear that it’s resonating with anybody at all, please throw some of that enthusiasm and support at people who will actually appreciate it

if you’re an indie comic person and any of this applies to you i encourage you to reblog this with a link to your comic and a short synopsis so people can browse the notes and find shit they’re looking for. or make your own post on your own blog if you don’t want to fool with other people i don’t care this is a sign from the universe that you should be louder about what you’re working on because people can’t fucking find it apparently.

i’ll go first i make kidd commander and it’s about an ensemble cast of queers on their way to kill god, they live on an airship and they’re all too pissed off to die. it’s free to read and it’s in the middle of its third arc right now. it lives here http://kiddcommander.com/

go go go

[starsfic]

Fluff 49 is someone jealous

Mei (could be taken as platonic, romantic, or QPR, hell it could be dark)

while I'm not sure if Eastern dragons display hording/possessive tendencies like there western counterparts. But I wanna think Mei due to her dragon instincts gets somewhat possessive over things and people she highly values. From objects like her bikes, and stuffed animal collection to living people like her parents, pigsy and tang who may of been like second parents to her at this point and of course her best friend for eternity MK.

So when red son joins there friend group shes happy at first when him and mk start getting on surprising well. But starts to grow jealous when redson starts cutting into her personal time with mk. Heck at times she feels like he's deliberately trying to hog mks attention.

As much as she loves red she feels the need to assert some boundaries, and remind him or even both of the boys who was here first.

Long Xiaojiao felt sometimes that there was a great big fat divide between her and Qi Xiaotian sometimes.

It wasn't a divide that couldn't be crossed. But it was there. Between her and Red dealing with the Samadhi fire and Xiaotian dealing with the whole "Harbinger of Chaos" stuff with Wukong, there was stuff that they couldn't share because the other wouldn't understand. It sucked, but there was still things to talk about. Especially when Red started tagging along!

Red, like she thought, was a great friend when he finally relaxed a bit. He knew cool demon spots to hang out with and could rattle for hours about different topics. He was fascinating. Xiaojiao's favorite hangout was when he led her and Xiaotian to a secret demon fighting ring and they spent most of the day placing bets (with food) on fighters. Then someone got the bright idea to challenge her to a fight and Xiaojiao enjoyed watching Xiaotian's eyes darken with desire as she fought the guy barehanded.

Xiaotian was her best friend. Hers since the day they met at the park, playing in the mud. Red was also hers, although the desire to hoard him was much less due to the new nature of their friendship. They were happy, all three of them.

And then Red tried to make that divide wider.

At first, she didn't notice. She had been delighted when Red suddenly had a free night on Saturday night, an old tradition of hers and Xiaotian where they had a movie marathon. It was nice to have something that was just them even in the craziness of their lives now. She thought it would only be once.

Except "one free Saturday night" became "every Saturday night was free". It wasn't a problem, not at first.

Not until she looked over to realize that Red had wrapped an arm around Xiaotian to cuddle close and realization struck her like a fist on weird behavior she had noticed from Red. The ability to remember Xiaotian's favorites, the insistence on sitting next to him, oh my gods all the touching.

She loved Red, really. But she loved Xiaotian more.

Her breaking point came when they were at a bar, drinking in congrats for Xiaotian's webcomic finally being published. Of course, most people would be interested because it was the Monkie Kid writing it, but Xiaojiao knew his art style and storytelling would win.

Red leaned close, smiling at Xiaotian like pure sin. "So, Noodle Boy..." The nickname was sweet as sugar, no longer containing a disgusting note. "I had to notice some things about the love interest. They mentioned knowing how they kissed. Unfortunately, I don't think I've won something like that from you before..."

"Oh," Xiaojiao said before Xiaotian could answer. "It's because of this." She patted her lap and Xiaotian stood up, a sweet smile forming across his face. Red raised a brow and then his hair floomed into flames as Xiaotian straddled her, the motion easy.

"Hey," her best friend cooed.

"Hey," she cooed back, her fingers settling in their favorite spots before Xiaotian leaned down and kissed her.

For a few glorious moments, it was just him and her. She didn't need to steal him or lock him away. He gave himself to her, his best friend in the whole world, willingly.

Finally, though, air had the nasty need of being needed and Xiaojiao pulled away. Xiaotian instead settled his chin on her shoulder, sighing contently.

Red stared at them with wide eyes. Then his eyes narrowed.

It was a secret challenge. Xiaojiao answered it back.

(Xiaotian hid his smile in his best friend's shoulder. Hopefully, she and Red got the worst of the instinctual possessiveness out of their systems before his preparations were done.

He intended for them both to be his.)

[thephooka]

Happy Webcomic Day! My webcomic White Noise is a labor of love--according to Procreate, this page took me 15.5 hours to complete.* Here's a look into that process!

Some other notes:

The thumbnails are done on graph paper and I script while I do them--there is no separate written script for White Noise. I usually spent a couple hours on weekends as needed thumbnailing, sometimes at a coffee shop or at home listening to records.

I then set up the file in Photoshop, so I can lay in the text and use the template I have with bleeds already set up. The text is rasterized and I shuttle the file over to my iPad via Airdrop.

The bulk of the actual work is done in Procreate, which records timelapses that I sometimes share to my Patreon. I usually spend a couple hours most nights after my day job or on the bus commuting doing this.

Once everything art-wise is done, I shuttle the file back over to my desktop to re-set in the text, add a stroke around the speech bubbles (Procreate doesn't have that took fsr) and do the resizing/exporting for web.

On Sunday mornings I get up, queue the page and write the page descriptions. I don't spend any time on the page descriptions outside of that.

Also, this process goes for the whole first arc of White Noise. I'm done with that arc (which means you can binge the whole thing I'm js!!) and am experimenting with some different methods these days, but my workflow is still generally the same.

*Some more talk about the labor (and burnout) involved below the cut:

This particular page (and most of the pages I did in 2023) took a lot longer than normal because I was heading into a burnout period that I'm still lowkey in/recovering from. It's obvious to me now in retrospect watching the timelapse here and seeing how much noodling I'm doing and how much I'm struggling with the process, but at the time I was just very frustrated generally. When I'm not burned tf out pages take maybe 10 hours max.

2023 was a pretty stressful year--lots of big life changes, uncertainty, pet death, health issues--so it's no wonder it propelled me into burnout, but it just goes to show that even the slowest and steadiest pace is not sustainable forever. I've been doing one page a week following this general process for over a decade! And I stuck to that pace because I knew it was one I could maintain. But even so, by the end of this arc I found myself working more and more slowly, not really looking forward to the work, feeling anxious about being behind, unhappy with the finished work, and extremely annoyed with myself for not being able to give it my all right there at the finish line.

I did stop for a while after the epilogue and took a more or less complete break from drawing for about a month--the longest I have EVER gone without drawing, much less working on White Noise--which did help, but these days my ability to work is...inconsistent. I should probably take another total break, but I'm reluctant. What if my passion never comes back? What if people forget about WN? It's already pretty obscure, and with the general social media collapse, it's harder than ever to get people to read my work. Now that I've left Hiveworks, WN doesn't even get the benefit of being linked to other comics (although objectively very, very few readers actually got referred to my comic that way.) And frankly, I'm also just too proud to go too long without comic updates. I've always told myself, I might not be the best artist or the fastest worker or make a popular comic, but I'm consistent. Difficult to let that go.

This is all to say that webcomics are hard. We do them because we love them, we have stories to tell, we are seized with the human compulsion to create. We spend hours of our time, almost always on top of the paying work that allows us to eat, to make something that we then give away for free. It has consequences on us that the reader doesn't often see, no matter how careful we are about it. If you ask me, webcomics deserve to be valued more.

Happy Webcomic Day! Read webcomics!

[spaceraceart]

ocs and coding ramblings

i dream of one day making a webcomic for my planet ocs since i love them so much and i have so many ideas, but writing and comic making is hard lmaooo. it would probably be a slightly-educational slice-of-life thing with a focus on earth. i've been calling this project "Geocentric" hehehe (a close friend helped me w picking that name).

but yeah, while im unsure when/if i'll get the motivation to do it, i HAVE already put together a place to post comics when i do hahahaha.

i'm not really interested in dealing with webtoon and all that, and i value customization and control (one of the reasons why i love tumblr, its theme customization is a thing i wish other social media sites had, and a thing i wish tumblr promoted more often nowadays).

so, after some research i decided on comicfury! it has a decent userbase and lets you kinda do whatever you want w layouts and comic stuff. very fun! i'm currently using a modified version of one of the default layouts, but once i get a better idea of how i want the site to look, i hope to fully make my own layout.

this is always something i love, combining my passions for characters and tech hehehehe. for example, for my toyhouse, ive been using a script i made myself to generate their bios from json files. also made my own lil tool to test out heights of character. i can even drag them around a stand them next to each other hehehe. of course i could do this all manually in an art program, but this feels more fun and easier to modify heheh.

just gotta feed in an image (i name them the same as the character name), a height (true_height is unused, its just for fun if i want to see how these guys would look with the same dimensions of their planet lmaoooo), and then some bottom and top cropping to make sure the hair and such are properly accounted for.

but yeah, thats some stuff ive been working on. ive also been trying to update some of the planets' designs. saturn is getting a new outfit, mercury's face looks a lil different, and neptune is officially light blue/teal now (the image im using in the height tool hasnt been updated yet).

but yeah, if any of yall are interested in learning more about my "geocentric" project, feel free to ask! i always love talking about them hehehe

[askdeserteagle]

On the uneventful day of November 12, 2012, as a 15-year-old sophomore in high school, during my math period, I doodled a pony in the margins of my notes. That afternoon, I went home, drew up a digital reference, and made a blog for her. I thought it’d be a fun thing to do in my free time.

I had no idea how important she’d become to me.

(The rest of my rambling reminiscence on the past decade is below the cut.)

Thank you all so much for 10 years of Ask Desert Eagle. I wouldn’t have lasted this long without you. Hope you will stick around!

The last decade has been... a lot. I mean, when you’re going from 15 years old to 25, a lot happens anyway--but I had a bit more going on than just growing pains. It’s why my update schedule suffered so much.

It is a very weird feeling to think about how someone could have grown up with my blog in the same way I did. 15 to 25 sounds like a lifetime, and it certainly felt that way. During my time in the ‘Tumblrpon’ community, I forged friendships that last to this day, and many more that I’ve since drifted away from or lost contact with, but remember fondly. I experienced the death of a friend for the first time; rest in peace, Rusty Nail. I graduated high school. I graduated college. I moved out. And now I’m here.

The glory days of Tumblrpon are over, that much is evident, but I’m glad I was here during them. I’m likely never going to get more eyes on this comic than I did back then. I have no idea how many of you 5,300 people are still around! I would understand if you weren’t; a maximum of two years between pages is a very long time. I harbor a lot of guilt over maintaining possibly the worst webcomic update schedule I’ve ever seen. What an achievement!

Surprisingly, though, I’m not blaming myself as hard as I used to. I used to think it was my fault; that I was lazy, or that I just wasn’t diligent enough to work on such a long-lasting project. But then I started getting treated for ADHD. Turns out, I was tired. I was tired for so, so long. There was a layer of fog on my brain I didn’t even know was there, less hours in the day than anyone else because of my energy levels. I’ve been forcing myself out of bed at noon for my entire adult life and now I don’t even need an alarm to be up at 8 am. That’s crazy!! It’s like magic!! If all this sounds relatable to you, talk to a psychiatrist! It could change your life.

The problem isn’t 100% fixed, of course; my chronic illnesses do still affect my life, but this is the closest I’ve felt to being a normal, functioning human being in more than a decade, and I very much hope the effect lasts.

Because--unsurprisingly--I still feel deeply for this story and I want to see it through. I thought I’d lose interest eventually, but I haven’t. My love for Deagle has endured years of burnout, self-esteem issues, and guilt about my update speed, and come out unscathed. So I figured at this point it’s safe to say I’m probably not going to change? Like, it’s been a decade. So many people have moved on... but I’m still here. What’s a few--perhaps several--more years to complete this comic? I’m game if you are.

I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. See you next page. :)

[mythsandheather]

I've been pretty curious about the LO Critical side. I'm asking genuinely but what are the reasons why LO has such a strong anti Fandom.

Do people not like it? I was curious because it seems like a lot of lo critical/anti lo blogs seem to enjoy certain aspects and characters. Is it the author people don't enjoy?

Like I said I'm really being genuine. I think people have the right to have like their own critical space for a free webcomic. It's just interesting because it's like. This Fandom has a second Fandom of people who seem to hate the comic.

The anti community for any fandom is sure to be a complex place that’s usually, in my experience, more built on pain and disappointment than anything else. Pain because something important to you no longer provides comfort, maybe even perpetrates harmful themes for your own personal experiences, and disappointment because this is something you used to love and you wish could be better.

There’s two parts of the anti community for LO. There’s one part that, as you said, still holds some affection for the series, for memories attached to it and for some characters. There’s also another part that, again as you said, straight up just hate it.

I’ll briefly touch on the first part. They can see so clearly how LO could be infinitely better and that’s frustrating. They can see all the flaws they didn’t notice or didn’t want to see before and are exasperated by why it’s allowed to continue this way. Let’s not forget that a significant number of LO’s critics are people who were young teens and read it in their formative years without realising what they were being so carelessly exposed to.

With that realisation, there’s a level of anger and horror at learning what was put in front of them, marketed as safe and heavily promoted at every turn, and it’s only gotten worse over time. That must be an absolutely gut-wrenching thing to feel over something you loved once.

So in that sense, you’re correct; a big part of the anger comes down to Rachel herself and her choices.

Then there’s the other part of the anti fandom, the part that just out and out hates it and always has. This is where yours truly fits in.

Now, I was super active on tumblr during 2014-2017, when fandoms like Steven Universe, FNAF and Undertale were at their peak. I had to learn, trial by fire, how to be real critical of any media I consumed. There is certainly a downside to this, I tend to see the negatives of anything I enjoy first and then find positives later. The upside is it’s certainly been one helluva way to improve my media literacy and spot the bs from a mile away.

A lot of people don’t believe when I say I got skeevy, uncomfortable, gross vibes from LO from chapter one, but I did. I don’t know what it was, but it set me off so bad that I couldn’t get past “her butt is shaped like a heart” and never read it again.

Now I’m willing to admit that this part of the fandom, like me, are the way we are because we were never the target demographic for LO.

Therefore, when it came out and got popular, we were the ones who were absolutely baffled and the ones who got dog piled and called every name under the sun by fans for a long time…that is, of course, until a lot of those fans grew up, realised what they were reading and turned on the series.

As I said, the critical side of any fandom is complicated and this is just my two cents.

I could do a much longer post about how fucking angry I am at Rachel personally for the fact she’s from my country, a country who constantly gets ignored, and given this amazing chance that so many of us wish we could have, yet chose to peddle her self insert x celebrity crush jailbait fantasy.

I could talk all day about how physically sickened I am that she’s taken so many aspects of trauma experiences by myself and millions of others and used it as ignorant, glamourised, fetishised shock-material.

I could go on at length about what a racist, misogynistic, homophobic piece of baggage she is and how she’s permanently done damage to another culture while completely misrepresenting ours…but I won’t.

I’ll just draw more mean art of Persephone’s giant lips and Hades accidentally letting the air out of them with his mosquito nose instead.

What’s Rachel going to do? Draw a goofy, technicolor caricature of me in her comic that’ll blend into the background, be only half finished and look like a recoloured Persephone in her otherwise pristine and totally professional looking masterpiece that’s definitely not losing readers? Oh wait—

[teeth-cable]

Hey. I've seen some of your HB rewrites and their pretty cool. I even like some of the ideas you came up with (ex. Stolas & Stella being political enemies rather than a married couple, imps being intersex & following a binary gender system, etc).

I was wondering if you could give me some writing advice with rewrite stuff. See, I have this portfolio-like series called 'Let's Reimagine', where I revision (i.e. rewrite and/or redesign) a piece of media (be it a show, movie, webcomic, video game, etc), whether it be something I like, or something that while I'm not a fan of, believe that it could've been great (or at least decent) had it been handled better, while also integrating my OCs (including self-inserts) into my revisions as if they were canon characters in said media. This is one of my passion projects that I'd love to bring to life someday, as I wish to make YouTube videos about them when I create my YT channel (which doesn't exist at this point in time) in the future, so for now, I'm starting small by making posts talking about my revisions on Tumblr & Reddit as like a practice run of sorts (like for ex. creating a manga and then having that manga get an anime adaptation, or creating a comic (like a webcomic) and having that be adapted into an animation of some sort (ex. series, short(s), etc), or creating a book or novel and having said book or novel being adapted into a movie and/or series).

I'm also an aspiring writer who wishes to share their stories with everyone for them to enjoy, including 'Let's Reimagine' (where Helluva Boss is one of the shows I plan on reimagining, due to the many issues it's got, especially with the increase of them in Season 2; as much as I like & enjoy HB, I do have to agree that it's kind of a mess, and I get where fans are coming from with its criticisms, especially towards Season 2). However, there are some issues of mine that I feel could detriment my writing abilities & projects (including 'Let's Reimagine') in general (ex. not thinking about potential plot holes, inconsistencies, worldbuilding/lore issues, & questionable/weak/bad writing choices/ideas, rushing into things before thinking & planning stuff out, worrying about my stories not being good enough for anyone to enjoy, feeling inferior compared to other artists & writers, people hating what I make, and thinking the worst possible outcomes; apologizes if that got a little too personal and if I (potentially) made you worried; I suffer from anxiety and have a tendency to get anxious and worked up too quickly, especially when thinking negatively, and trying to be a perfectionist, worrying that if I or my content aren't perfect, then I come across as a failure; but I assure you that I am trying to work on these issues and getting past them for the better).

So, with all that said, do you have any advice in creating & doing rewrites/revisions (ex. planning stuff out, character arcs/development, worldbuilding/lore, plot points, fixing & covering plot holes & inconsistences, fulfilling wasted/missed potential & missed opportunities, avoiding questionable/weak/bad writing choices/ideas, integrating ocs/self-inserts into said rewrite/revision, etc) to any writers out there (including aspiring ones)?

Feel free to respond back to me whenever you get the chance. Thank you and have a wonderful day/afternoon/night. 🤗💕❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💖💕🤗

This is very late, I'm so sorry it took me this long to answer your ask.

Things has changed sufficiently from when this ask was submitted. My HB rewrite is on currently on pause so I can focus on my Hazbin one instead.

I do like the concept of your Let's Reimagine series. It sounds like a fun passionate project in which you experiment with your writing and show tough love for the shows you're rewriting for. I hope soon you'll be able to release your first rewrite for the series.

I have some general writing advice and one specific advice for rewrites I personally use.

Create the world building first

If your rewrite takes place in a fantasy world, I suggest fleshing the world building first before the characters. This is a different world from our, so their rules and lore will affect these characters differently, and you should know why first to explain the certain elements of the both the characters and world. Fleshing the world building first can help create plot ideas and external conflict easier.

Have a Beta Reader

This one is standard. I suggest having a beta reader to review your rewrites and concepts. As writers, we think our stories make sense because we know the context, but to readers who don't know anything, our scripts realistically be confusing at first. Along the same vain, they can help you realize that an idea is underdeveloped or useless. Another good reason is they can offer new and improved concepts and ideas you didn’t or wouldn't think of before.

Be open to criticism

Criticism will help you grow as a writer. You don't have to like them all or listen to every piece, but still keep an open mind because they can and will help you. I heavily suggest being open to criticism specially when you’re writing a topic you have no experience in (Ex: mental illness, addiction, a specific identity). Again, not only will it help you improve, but also portray those topics better.

Rewrite

My only rewrite specific advice is to expand and flesh out ideas and characters, you felt the original show skimmed over. In both of my rewrites, I'm putting a greater focus on the world building, dark character concepts and how they intertwined with each other because the shows barely touches on them. It's your rewrite so do whatever you want with it, don’t feel limitless.

I hope this helps!

[eli-writes-sometimes]

Eli Writes Sometimes - Updated Intro/Masterpost

Last updated - 22/9/24

Hi! I'm Eli! I write sometimes (as the name would suggest)! I'm trying to be more active here on writblr, so I'm redoing my intro so it's more up to date with what I'm writing now.

About me

My name is Elias, but I go by Eli most of the time

My pronouns are it/he (interchangeable, but please don't just use he/him)

I'm a minor, so please be respectful of that

When not writing, I play the flute and the piccolo

This is the picrew I made my icon with

@ev-enhotterthanyou is the best no 1 fan and husband I could ask for <3

Where to find me

I have a shitpost/fandom blog at @eli-is-an-idiot

My AO3 - I only really post about my fanfic on my other blog, but my fic masterpost is linked below if you're interested

About this blog

As you might have guessed, this is a writblr!

I'm aiming to read and reblog other's writing, as well as posting more of my own original writing

I primarily write fantasy, with a focus on queer characters, found family and magic, as well as stories based on my own experiences

WIPs under the cut

I have a lot of old ideas and rambles about stories on here, so if you see something from a few months ago and don't see it here, I've either given up on it or just not had any ideas for it recently and it felt wrong having it in my intro

Ok with:

Being tagged in tag games - I love these, and I want to try and interact with other people in this community more, so if you want to tag me in anything, please do!

On a similar note, feel free to send me asks or DMs about your WIPs or OCs, or just anything you want to talk about, I'm always happy to listen!

On the other hand, if you want to ask questions about my WIPs, I'd love that :)

Not ok with:

Any kind of hate speech or prejudice

TERFS, transphobes, homophobes, ableists, racists or anyone that doesn't respect other people's existence - unkindly fuck off

Bullying

Entirely NSFW or 18+ blogs (I'm a minor)

Wips and navigation under the cut:

Tags:

There is quite a noticeable pattern in my tags, if you couldn't tell

General writing things - #eli writes sometimes

Things that don't include my writing (including games) - #eli doesnt write sometimes

Tag games - #eli tags sometimes

Ask games - #eli answers sometimes

Art - #eli arts sometimes

Reading- #eli reads sometimes

Each WIP has its own specific tag

FANFIC MASTERLIST

WIPs:

I have a lot of old, dead or on-hiatus WIPs, so if you see anything about God of Chaos, Face the Music, For All In-Tents and Purposes or Jason King's Guide to the Supernatural, then those are all old stories of mine that I do want to go back to someday, but these are my main ones:

CURRENT WIPS

Five Man Band

A collection of ocs and story ideas that i'm planning on writing short stories around, and that I'm considering turning into a webcomic one day when I have the skill!

Here are the current stories in the Five Man Band universe I'm working on!

Shifting Faces

(used to be called just Five Man Band, when this was just an idea for one novel)

Phoenix Hunter is different - labelled an Anomaly, their ability to shapeshift has always been a guilty secret. But when they are recruited to the Anomaly Rehabilitation Agency, a place that promises to train them to use their powers for the better, it feels almost too good to be true.

Their suspicions are almost confirmed that once they meet their new team - a self-proclaimed "five man band", with only four disillusioned members left and one crucial member missing, leaving only an empty hole where she used to be - a hole that Phoenix is meant to fill.

With a threat bigger than all of them approaching, can Phoenix gain their new team's trust in time to stop it?

Intro post HERE

wip tag - #five man band (older posts) #shifting faces (current posts)

The Almighty's Angel

The story I'm writing for the 40K in 42 days challlenge, based around Kai's backstory and his past catching up to him.

Kai Allen has been free of the cult that he was raised in for 10 years, and short of the god he once worshipped occasionally showing up to taunt him, he's managed to put it all behind him. But just when he thinks he's finally escaped, a figure from his past suddenly reappears, searching for answers about what happened to the girl the cult revered as the chosen one, his childhood best friend, a girl apparenntly killed by the A.R.A. - a girl that Kai is far too familiar with. Kai must grapple with his former and current loyalties as he tries to keep his past from his teammates, all while a drama-mongering deity hangs over them all, pulling strings for his own entertainment. Will he overcome his inner conflict, or will it consume him?

Intro post HERE

WIP tag - #the almightys angel

OLDER WIPS

The Princess, the Pauper, and the Pirate

My main WIP, currently working on it the most and doing a nanowrimo-like challenge where I try to write 50000 words in three months rather than one

Three strangers. Three stories.  When Kai, Vera, and Rune’s paths cross in the middle of the forest, the three of them share stories and swear to help each other, come what may, as allies in a world out to get them. Together, they face everything from pirates to cruel parents, and work to try and take down the system that stacked the cards against them from the start.  Will they succeed, or will they be crushed like everyone else? 

Intro post HERE

Genre - High fantasy

Status - First draft

Specific WIP tag - #wip ppp

Face the Music

My NaNo WIP, I hit 50K and then immediately started working on something else, so there will be stuff about it, but not as much as PPP

When Miles Baldwin, a quiet kid who keeps to himself, is sent to a three-week long music camp, it sounds like a death sentence. But as he meets new friends, including trans boy Finn who is loud and proud about his identity, he starts to come around, even beginning to question his own gender. Irritatingly, not everyone is as open to change as Miles and his friends, and as the music swells and tension builds before the final concert, can Miles come to terms with his identity without falling victim to the bigoted nature of his fellow players?

intro post HERE

Status - First draft

Specific WIP tag - #face the music (I also used #eli does nano 2023 for other nano stuff)

Superlosers

Four roommates, each with a unique power, each with their own set of wildly different personalities. They barely know each other, the rent is due, and an egomaniacal villain is threatening to destroy everything they hold dear - and only they seem to care or want to do anything about it. For the sake of the world, let's hope they can get their priorities straight.

Intro post HERE

Genre - Urban fantasy

Specific WIP tag - #superlosers

The Remnants of Shadows

When beloved Alya Maxwell, renowned pillar of the small community of Blackburn, disappears with only shadows swarming around her house to give any idea of her fate, no one really seems to care, giving up on her as a lost cause.  But two teenagers, both from totally different background and both with their separate reasons for trusting her, don’t accept this, and they begin to dig into what really happened. But when old, buried secrets begin to emerge, how far will any of them go for the truth?

Intro post HERE

Genre - Fantasy

Status - First draft/having a crisis over the plot

Specific WIP tag - #wip tros

That's all for now, thanks for bothering to read this far :)

[deldeldel90]

 Frederick always paid interest in his mother’s dresses. He just thought they looked pretty, long and swishy and, in general, cool. He liked the different patterns and lengths, if they were frilly or smooth, the different colors and looks and materials. It got him thinking, wondering, maybe even dreaming —

 But, 

 Boys couldn’t like dresses, it was wrong and abnormal and feminine (what was so bad about that, anyway?), so he stayed in his uncomfortable, bland pants and didn’t talk about dresses or skirts anymore. 

 It’d been a long time since he was a kid, believing whatever his father told him. His father, the man who used to hold his strings and toss him around like a ragdoll, isn't even the king anymore — barely anymore than a distant memory that becomes a discussion in how his upbringing affects him today. 

 He's nothing to Frederick, really. He's grown from that. He's healed, mostly, gotten help and attended groups and whatnot. 

 It’s absurd, he knows, that his hands are shaking, trembling, from him just holding up the skirt. All because of words he'd heard from when he was seven, phrases that stain the dreams — a tailor, a knitter, a dressmaker — he used to have. 

I won't let you control my future, he tells the King, his father — Mister Leland, with the same vomit-colored hair as Fredrick, the same blood but he supposed that wasn't enough to be decent. 

 It feels nice to wear a skirt. Something about it makes him inexplicably happy; it's a long skirt, going down to his ankles, the kind he sees described in fairytales. Long and practical.  

 And, yes, he does twirl around a fair amount, feeling like a rock was just lifted off him, making him elated and light and free. 

 This is his future… their future, him and Gwen's and his mom's and his brothers and Gwen's siblings and their kingdoms and, and— 

 They're going to make this out alive. They're going to rebuild and replant and make more libraries because books are great and, sometimes, books are enough. 

 Enough. 

 Just like Gwen is. Well, actually, she's more than enough. Describing Gwen is like trying to tell somebody what the stars look like. 

 The stars shimmer and burn and are apart of a world so far away, a world you long to touch and be with. You watch the stars dance every night, form constellations, and fall from their place. 

 The stars stay twinkling in the sky, there every last time — always present, always there and comforting — when you watch them. Billions upon billions of them, shining and living and dying. So interesting, mysterious. Effortlessly loved. 

 A friend, a protector, maybe, within the darkness. The night is smiling back at you with its stars, glinting with joy, watching over everybody else, keeping them safe, just as you watch them in wonder.

 As long as the stars shined, you knew you'd be okay. Those stars would cradle you to sleep and sing lullabies in the form of wind shaking tree leaves, the night only going to bed when you were awoken by the new day. 

 But, you don't know how to explain all that. So, you say that the stars are bright instead. 

 That was like him with Gwen. He could put it into words — make whole essays about her, even write corny poetry, and drabbles. But he couldn't whenever he saw her. 

 It was like he was left breathless, wordless, in love. 

 And that was why he was unsure about this, going on a date dressed as he is. 

 He knows she won't judge him. She's too kind, too sweet, for that but even the idea she might dislike this makes him sick to his stomach. 

 He likes her. 

 He really, really likes her and he doesn't wanna screw this up again, especially after the tide has just calmed down. 

 Frederick takes a few moments to reason with himself, which turned into about ten minutes and with five minutes to get to his date. 

 Without a second thought, he rushes out the door. He can't be late, he knows, going as fast as he can to get to her — to be with her at last.

 (It feels like an eternity since he's held her hand… and that was only five hours ago.) 

 He’s still nervous when he meets Gwen’s eyes — her eyes that shine with light and hold so much kindness Frederick wonders how he could’ve ever missed it before — and it only increases when he sees a change in her expression. 

 Her eyes shine with mirth, her sharp teeth flashing with her smile. 

 Is this… is this a joke? 

 Frederick's heart skipped a beat. Or several. "Um." He pulled at his sleeve, his posture slightly hunched over. He stood up straighter when Gwen came closer. 

 "Frederick…" there's a moment of uncertainty in her expression, as if she doesn't know what she's saying. 

 He waits, braces, for her to tell him he's weird for this. Tell him he should go change before they continue. 

 But she doesn't. Her words sound honest when she speaks, as if she's telling the truth. 

 "You're stunning." 

 The world stops for a moment. Halts. 

 It's just them, together, as it should be (as it was meant to be). Their history is all there is. He can feel a thank you rising up his throat but it doesn't come out. 

 He can't think. Can't focus enough to speak. 

 Frederick bites down on his tongue, as she moves closer. 

I love you, he wants to say. 

 I love you, he needs to say. 

 Gwendolyn’s hands fell to his waist. She smoothed out the wrinkles in his skirt absentmindedly, humming to herself, lost in thought. Her smile is soft, dark lips spread wide with a sharp edge, unbashful and accepting. Loving, even. 

 Frederick — well, he probably doesn’t deserve this. Any of this, really, but he can’t bring himself to loathe this situation. In his mind, there’s no rambling thoughts, no worries, no comparisons or doubts — it’s just Gwen and the quietness. 

 She pulls him closer, gets on the tips of her toes and presses a kiss, light and feathery and tasting like sweet honey, against his lips. I love you, Frederick kissed back, the weight of his silent words not yet hitting him. It was just the truth, the basic fact of life, almost seeming mundane, an average part of himself. 

 Frederick fiddled with the frill of her dress, gripping her hips as she ran her fingers through his hair. Together, in this moment, they stand and together, with some luck and wishing on every shooting star, they will fall, one day — and Fredrick is more than alright with that. 

 Underneath the moonlight, they embrace, becoming one, becoming nothing but each other’s. 

 (The stars are bright and Gwen is beautiful.) 

[mrwiseandshine]

Sharing the core strategy is helpful and positive, and it speaks well of Automattic's leadership that they're willing to maintain the kind of transparency we've seen recently. But yeah, there are good reasons for people to be concerned about several of these goals. Basically everything in this strategy is compatible with a healthy Tumblr that retains its current userbase, but it also feels like the writing is on the wall for core features that long-time users love.

Some comments on each principle:

Improving conversion rates generally means making the experience worse for logged-out users. That does sometimes matter for logged-in users. It used to be that webcomics sometimes used Tumblr for hosting, so Tumblr users could follow them directly on the dashboard but the comics were still accessible for anyone. I recently sent someone a link to a blog and they had trouble accessing it because they didn't have an account. Moving away from conversion rates would make the user experience better on both of these items, but yeah, it's basically a lost cause. People screenshot content when they want to share it these days. It sucks but there isn't much room to make things worse for current users by requiring login.

Prioritizing non-chronological feeds in development is, as sabakos says, equivalent to relegating the chronological dash to a legacy feature. This makes users nervous, literally. It puts me on edge, makes me worried about Tumblr's future. It's certainly possible to maintain the chronological dash as a first-class feature alongside an expanded "Best Stuff First", but retaining trust about it actually happening requires taking active steps to show the chronological dash remains a priority, even if they're a little silly or wasteful.

In particular, a lot of this talk about improving conversations sounds like it can work great on the chronological dashboard too. In particular, deduplication of posts on the dash would be great, I'd love to have a chronological dashboard where the first appearance of a post has a number with how many times it shows up in the last 24 hours of my dash. Adjacent identical reblogs should be collapsed into one, and later identical appearances of posts I've already seen should be minimized or hidden. This should be optional, but I'd definitely like deduplication. It would also be great to be able to see all comments from anyone I follow on a post, so I can know I've got the full context on the most recent addition.

Creators already like Tumblr, so changing core features to prevent users from avoiding content they don't follow is super dangerous. Using language like "the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs" is terrible, don't talk like that about core features central to the value the site provides to current users. That said, yeah, there's lots of ways the site could work better for creators. Revenue sharing with users that generate significant original content is an obvious but expensive one. The ability to forcibly put source headers linking back to the artist on posts by other users would probably be popular. A dedicated feed or dash config slider for "art I'd like" would be neat, there are probably people who'd appreciate extra art even if they don't want generic non-chronological content.

Maximizing attention and engagement is also dangerous. On other websites, this generally means "make the website more addictive to make your users' lives worse". Tumblr knows that, of course, but it's an obvious point of concern for users.

No disagreement on the importance of stability, though. Tumblr bugs have often been fun, they're a part of the local culture, but clearly stability improvements ought to be a major goal.

I'd also just be really interested to know how much a user costs Tumblr, on average. Does an ad-free subscription pay for a whole user's costs?

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

[shinyflareon]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers (ू•‧̫•ू⑅)♡

Ah, what a fun ask - thank you anon!

Music makes me super happy! I've always loved music in pretty much any form, and I've been wishing I could pick up the clarinet again. In the meantime, either jamming out to old favorites or listening to classical orchestral music just hits me right in my happy place.

Snuggling up under a bunch of blankets and just being cozy in bed with my husband and all our plushies - that's the good stuff right there, I don't even think I need to elaborate.

Pokemon! To no one's surprise. I've been with the series since the RBY days and even though it's changed a lot, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, it still always brings me so much joy. I've met so many amazing people throughout it all - including my husband!

Hanging out and playing D&D with my friends is always a great time. I don't do nearly as much prose writing anymore as I'd like, but D&D is still a great creative outlet, and hanging out with my best friends, getting to yell about all the shenanigans and drama that our group of gremlins get up to, man, there just really isn't anything better than that.

Listening to Youtube videos makes me super happy! I discovered OverlySarcasticProductions during Covid and the combination of getting to hear Red and Blue talk about every single one of my interests, from mythology to literature to history, and be passionate about them, while still being entertaining is incredible (and you should totally check out Red's webcomic @comicaurora! ). I also enjoy several Poketubers, including Mah-Dry-Bread, Scott'sThoughts, and FlygonHG, and even though I've never played a single one of the games, oddly enough listening to FNAF videos is a lot of great fun, especially RyeToast's videos! I also really like things like PBS Eons and MinuteEarth, just having nice stuff to listen to and learn things makes me super happy.

Anyone who sees this, feel free to reblog with things that make you happy!

[ask-the-chaos-creation-crew]

I'm probably the last person who follows this blog to found out it's discontinued but I just wanted to say I'll miss it. I enjoyed the journey and the story. Even if I was a bit, or probably "bit", scared to participate much. I wish I knew sooner so that I could bid you guys farewell and safe travels and all that fun stuff with everyone else, but instead you guys are probably all packed up and ready to go and you guys are just finalizing everything and finishing up the final responses to questions like these.

I truly do wish you guys the best of luck with... whatever you guys plan to do next. What are your guys' plans now that this isn't giving unnecessary stress?

Also why do I feel like, throughout the entire story and even now, the a could just be screaming from all the chaos? Seriously I kind of just felt like it would make sense. Like all the newbies freaking out and all the characters just walking freely or something and the people the have been working there for a long time sip on some coffee or similar beverage and do paperwork like it's an average Tuesday.

Sorry if it's long. I just wanted to get everything out since I'm making this on October 30th and it felt like a "speak now or forever hold your peace" thing. ^^'

This might have been the last thing I was expecting to see in the inbox, but we do appreciate your words. Even if you weren't here long, we're still happy to have you.

We genuinely did like the story that we had come up with, so I might give a summary of each of the acts tomorrow as a sendoff before the final post. I actually have written out parts of the CCC(a) plot or generally things about it in my free time, such as a creepy instructional type piece, and I'll likely continue to do so.

None of us have any concrete plans for things to do, at least content-wise (I mean, it's been two years, some of the mods are in college or are in the midst of applying, so those are their plans). We still write stories all the time, coming up with new things every day. It's one of the ways we bond. There is the desire to make a webcomic, but the problem is that we're mostly writers rather than artists. I'd say "feel free to ask about them", but it would take ages to even give brief descriptions of all of your options, no matter how much we'd love to talk about them. If you really want to hear about some of them, hit me up at @owo-whats-bliss , since I kind of have a lot of it saved in my brain.

The A in CCC(a) didn’t stand for anything, and I can't remember why we chose "A" in the first place (it was merely to differentiate the canon CCC). I did occasionally put "the A in CCC(a) stands for AAAAAAAA" as the blog description, so I think your interpretation holds weight. There were horror elements, after all.

Thanks for your kind words. This blog did so much for me, helping me form bonds with others, learn how to manage stress and, to a lesser extent, manage a small team. I ended up being a sort of manager/errand boy by accident. It did a lot for all of us, even if, in the end, all it did was bring us together. I'm grateful for how my life has changed because of this.

Sorry if this seemed kind of "me me me", it's just that I'm usually the one to answer and I had a lot to say. Other mods are free to share their thoughts.

- Mod Bliss

[crumpled--notes]

Puppy Love

AmeLiet Week Human/Idol AU ao3 Rating: G Words: 1474 Summary: Tadas takes Alfred to a puppy cafe before he has to go back to dance practice.

*

 Tadas didn’t look up from his book as he tossed the water bottle previously sitting on the small table next to him. He smirked when Alfred let out a hissed curse, but it sounded like he’d managed to catch the tall, pink-and-green bottle.

 There were white lines along the side, but instead of measurements in liters or fluid ounces, there were statements Alfred called Girl Boss Proverbs: Don’t dream, do; Remember your goal; #Hussle; Make expectations, not excuses; Keep feeling awesome; Sore today, strong tomorrow.

 Tadas had bought it as a joke (plus, it had only been three dollars) two years ago, but Alfred still used it everyday. He had even added some vinyl stickers, most from their friend Feliciano’s Etsy shop.

 “Done for the day?” Tadas stuck a Pokemon card into the book to mark his place. “Don’t drink so fast, širdelė. I added ice cubes earl—” He stopped as Alfred groaned and leaned against the wall, head bowed.

 Sighing, Tadas took off his reading glasses, taking his time as he fished the green case out of his backpack. Once his glasses and book were packed up, Alfred was fine again and rubbing his forehead with the cloth draped over one shoulder.

 “Just a break,” Alfred muttered, but despite the displeasure in his voice, he was smiling. “Artie says we’re behind schedule, so it’s going to be a late night to make sure we’ve all got the moves down for the music video this Saturday.”

 “The puppy café’s right next door,” Tadas suggested, laughing at the huge grin that spread over his husband’s face. “You can eat something light and unwind with the dogs before coming back…”

 “Three hours,” Alfred said into the spout of his water bottle as he held up three fingers. His red nail polish was chipping, but it would be taken off and replaced with silver holo polish on Saturday, anyway.

 “That’s enough time.” Tadas intertwined his fingers with Alfred’s, bringing another smile to the idol’s face.

 They’d have to stop holding hands when they left the building—the manager wanted all the guys to look available—but Tadas enjoyed the warmth of Alfred’s hand while he could. They were still together in every way that mattered; he didn’t like the idea of ending up partially in the limelight as Alfred Jones’s Husband, anyway. This was just fine for him.

 As they walked, Alfred finished his water and handed the bottle back to Tadas, who slid it into the holder on the side of his backpack. With his other hand now free, Alfred waved it around as he talked about the dance number, the previews he got to see of what the special effects would look like, the interview coming up, and the webcomics coming out that his company partnered with.

 “First one’s just gonna be about me, Yong Soo, Francis, Carlos, Romano, and Feliks before we came to the company—fictionalized, though, to make it more like the whole being discovered thing, not months of applications and sending in videos and sitting through interviews.” Alfred frowned a bit as they approached the door, but he smiled when Tadas squeezed his hand before letting go.

 Alfred moved first, so he could hold the door open for Tadas, who nodded gratefully and asked, “And to help set up a backstory for your and Carlos’s ‘rivalry?’”

 Chuckling, Alfred scratched the back of his head. “I swear, sometimes I think that guy enjoys roasting me a little too much.” He let go of the door and caught up with Tadas with only a couple strides.

 Tadas wasn’t much shorter than Alfred, but the idol had longer legs and had a faster stride when he wasn’t walking with Tadas or down a red carpet.

 “It’s fun to watch, though,” Tadas said, thinking of the planned dance battle between the two during the group’s last interview.

 Alfred losing had not been part of the plan, but the interviewer had thrown in a song at the end to try tripping them up, and while Alfred was a good dancer, Carlos was much better at improvising and thinking on his feet.

 Laughing at the memory, also thinking of that interview, Alfred shook his head. “That bastard’s face… trying to trip us up to show how manufactured everything is—probably pisses me off, so much ‘cause he’s right. Carlos definitely deserved that win, though, and I know the Carmano shippers loved seeing Romano actually break through his ‘bad boy’ image and give Carlos a hug after.”

 “They’re going to go nuts when they finally learn they’re married,” Tadas said, keeping his voice low out of habit whenever he mentioned any relationships of the guys in Alfred’s group.

 Alfred laughed and opened the door to the puppy café for Tadas, bowing dramatically as they heard the sound of kids laughing and dogs barking. “After you, my good sir!”

 Shaking his head, Tadas entered and waved at the host, Ludwig. He’d looked up from his textbook at the sound of the bell attached to the door, and he gave a small smile around the pen in his mouth. Ink dotted the scruff on his chin, and there was an uncapped highlighter behind his left ear, marking his hair with pink spots.

 “Got a table for two?” Tadas asked. “Sorry for being a bit early. Alfred needs to get back to the studio in a few hours.”

 Moving the reservation book out from underneath his textbook, Ludwig took the pen out of his mouth. “It hasn’t been too busy today, so you’re lucky.” He made a note. “Table in the back behind the fern good?”

 “Perfect,” Alfred breathed, and Ludwig nodded in understanding.

 He’d tried the idol thing already at his older brother’s pushing, but he hadn’t been able to handle the stress. He also hadn’t enjoyed the contract that had made it so he wasn’t able to tell anyone about dating Francis, the two now engaged. Francis would be leaving the group next once his contract was up, and Arthur wasn’t sure if he’d find someone else or leave them as a group of five.

 Despite the circles under his eye and the five o’clock shadow when Ludwig was usually clean-shaven, Ludwig honestly looked happier. He smiled easier and opened up more, especially when one got him talking about veterinary medicine.

 Ludwig guided them to their table, promising that Marie would be by soon with their drinks.

 He started walking away when a bloodhound puppy bolted out of the puppy room, tripping over her own ear before Ludwig could catch her. Alfred gasped and cooed as Tadas laughed while Ludwig smiled and scratched the wiggling baby behind her floppy ears.

 “This is Pepper, by the way,” Ludwig laughed as Feliciano stumbled out of the room, shutting the door behind him before more dogs could escape. “She’s a bit of an escape artist, even if she doesn’t look it at first.”

 “Sorry!” Feliciano gasped, and he took Pepper from Ludwig. “Me and Erzsi didn’t notice Arik trying to open the door until it was too late.”

 Distantly, Tadas heard a woman lightly scolding someone. “No harm, it looks like.”

 “Yep, no harm.” Ludwig nodded to Feliciano, who nodded, smiling. “You’re fine, Feli. My dad isn’t going to fire you just for one puppy escaping on your first day.”

 “Yeah….” Feliciano gave a nervous chuckle. “Thanks, Luddy. I’ll head back in.”

 Ludwig waved at Tadas and Alfred as he left, and Marie arrived soon after with Tadas’s coffee and Alfred’s water. They already knew what they wanted, having come here enough times to have the menu memorized.

 “Do you think Hero’s still here?” Alfred asked as he sipped his water through the metal straw Tadas handed him (he kept a case of them in his backpack).

 “Y’know, we could always adopt him,” Tadas suggested slowly, nervous and already anticipating Alfred’s answer.

 Looking down at the table, Alfred said, “Um… I’d love to, but…”

 “I wouldn’t mind caring for him,” Tadas assured, tea eyes soft. “I love the little pittie, too, and I could use the reason to start getting active again. My knees popped when I walked up the stairs to class this morning.”

 Alfred chuckled, cheeks dusted with red. He bit his bottom lip and slowly looked up. “You sure? I’m starting to have to travel more, and it’s already…”

 “It’d be nice to have a dog while you’re touring, especially one that reminds me of you,” Tadas said. “He’s      almost     as whiny as you are, too.”

 Alfred tried to glare but laughed, glasses slipping down his nose. “Okay… then… if he’s still here, we’ll ask Ludwig for a form!”

 “I called ahead,” Tadas informed his husband, smiling and muscles relaxed now. “He’s here, and I already sent in the money. We just need to sign on the dotted line.”

[onewordshy]

Other good places to find independent comics are Hiveworks (a long time independent webcomics collective with some impressive series in its catalogue) and the comics tag on itch.io (which is hit or miss but does have some hidden gems and is very "punk").

Also as a longtime webcomics reader I'm about to rant.

Putting aside the massively insulting ad campaign Webtoons ran and how bland their interface is (I think it’s the laziest version of the “infinite canvas”), what skeeves me out about Webtoons is transparently business focused they are.

They love to flout how polished and professional their comics are, and how so many of them draw in huge numbers of readers, how their stories have been adapted into shows on Netflix, how they’ve pushed creators on to bigger and better things, and that’s all cool and I’m happy for those people but like… isn’t creating art a validation in itself? 

Is it about the comics, or are the comics a means to an end?

It’s like, the profile of webcomics as a medium has been steadily rising in recent years (for example, the library of Congress has a small collection of webcomics) but I think that for a lot of people there’s still this mindset of “how can we prove that these comics are real instead of just random internet junk” when random internet junk is something that can be so valuable.

Webcomics have, historically, been free and as we shift into an era where they’re increasingly monetized I think we’re experiencing growing pains that push the art form further away from its roots, and I think that we’re losing something in the process. 

I don’t want to like, glorify the olden days of webcomics (which could be pretty dire, here’s a quick post about it) and artists definitely deserve to be compensated for their work, but the way the Webtoons model pushes for numbers above all else (payments are based on subscribers and view counts, which isn’t unique to their platform but also isn’t how most webcomics used to be monetized) feels like it directly disincentivizes things that aren’t safe, things that aren’t marketable, which are traits the webcomics scene has always thrived on.

I saw someone talking on twitter about it in a way that connected some dots for me, I think that I don’t like how the Webtoons style sands down the rough edges of the medium. Granted there’s been a movement towards webcomics being more professional/polished for years now, but that was more of a symptom of rising interest in the web and more professionals moving into these spaces. Now it's because everyone wants to hit it big.

This feels like same story we see with basically every nascent medium: the safest stuff with the broadest appeal gets the most exposure so other people begin to try to capitalize on that market and the genuinely interesting and inventive stuff is pushed to the side.

(As a sidebar, a lot of the best examples of comics that cracked the mainstream were “gag a day” style comics created by intelligent writers who were able to slip easily into other mediums such Cyanide and Happiness, Hyperbole and a Half, Hark! A Vagrant, Dinosaur Comics, SMBC, Axe Cop, and honestly everything those people have done has slapped so good for them, but those were all super long running and their paths to success were kinda different than what I’m talking about. Plus they have their own soulless imitators and have kinda been pushed out by the abhorrent “relatable comic shared on social media” trend anyways.)

(There’s also Homestuck but, uh… that was a unique phenomenon I don’t think anyone could try to replicate.)

And to that point, one thing that saddens me is that I don’t see fans of Webtoons becoming fans of the webcomic scene as a whole, which is a rich subculture with its own history and norms. Webtoons comes across as a content farm, they want to keep you coming back to their platform because that’s what fuels them; they don’t want you to be fans of comics, they want you to be fans of Webtoons. It’s difficult to say if this is harmful because, like, webcomics were already niche, but it is frustrating to see this platform dominating the narrative like this.

If you’re unfamiliar with the webcomics scene, there’s kind of a barrier to entry because a lot of the good comics are a pain to find because they’re mostly hosted independently on sites set up by the creators. True there have been webcomic hosting sites like Smackjeeves (my childhood favorite which shut down in 2020), The Duck, Comicfury, even Deviantart, but in my experience who was really serious about comics posted solely there, they just used them for exposure. Most comics blew up by word of mouth (remember web rings? crossovers? promoting your friends in the author's comments?) and support from the community rather than, I don’t know, algorithms.

The runaway success of Webtoons feels like the rumblings of the same sort of grand centralization that’s for the most part killed off individuals forums and archives and pushed everyone onto the same five sites and labelled everything “content” no matter what its purpose or intention. 

It's especially concerning since Webtoons recently launched an app called Yonder targeted at web serials (a field even more niche than webcomics) that has already begun swooping in and offering the juggernauts of the scene money to put their stuff behind a paywall– another example of the service using their corporate capital to corner the market on a developing artform.

This will come with benefits (increased exposure, more compensation for successful creators, easier access) and drawbacks (decreased creativity, unconventional creators get pushed out, a harsh content policy) but on the whole I'm not a huge fan.

stop calling indie comics webtoons for the love of god

[pseudofaux]

👉👈 pegging headcanons for your favorite Men of the Harem characters

I LOVE YOU FOR THIS.

Not in order, all faves: Ranamun, Sir Sonnaught, and Prince Klein. He’s not on here but I have high hopes for Guesta, too! The merchant and mercenary may also board at this time. 👀

No pegging for Hyacinth because he did Latrasil so poorly. >:[ You may not be evil but you are looking dumb as rocks, Hyacinth, you get ZERO strap.

All art is directly from the webcomic, by Alphatart and Yeongbin. Read it on Webtoon (current episodes are free!) and support these hard-working creators, please!

(Requests are closed, readers, but there are a lot to be filled in May and likely June, too! Feel free to follow along or just check in and enjoy as many as you like. A masterlist will go up when they are all completed.)

Ranamun read about this in the third volume of Sex and Sensuality! He practiced as best as he could!

His practice was not exactly sufficient but his dedication is, as always, appreciated. Any position is fine, he just wants to please and be the very best peggee that he can. He’ll get on his hands and knees on his bed (he would not DREAM of having her hurt her knees on the FLOOR), reach back to open his freshly, perfectly cleaned cheeks for her, and ask politely for her majesty’s pleasure. If she takes him in hand while she’s pegging him, he whines and shakes... but of course he will glow under any praise or pets. If she strokes his hair and breathes by his ear his cum will be all over those nice sheets he picked out in SECONDS. He’ll do anything to be her favorite, so while he has minimal experience, he’s got maximal flexibility and a mighty will to experiment. He will have to be taught to do a few practical things his studies did not cover, like greeting the strap and how to best express his gratitude, but he’s a quick learner. And he actually has some good sensual instincts once he goes through things a few times!

Probably cries a little the first few times because he just didn’t know how it was going to feel. Eventually loves to lay her down, massage up her legs, and sink himself down onto the strap so she can just relax and enjoy. 💙🖤✨

Sir Sonnaught craves close, tender pegging— he’d love to be on his back so she can touch his chest or position his legs the way she wants, and then fuck into him while admiring him. He’s not vain, but he wants to be beautiful for her. In his fantasies he pleases her orally and then helps her put on the strap when she indicates she’s ready.

Oh my god this part made me WEAK. Look how good Devotion Juice is for the skin...

For him this is an act of devotion and love, he’s not really willing to be intimate with anyone else so with this chance he will go entirely belly up (or ass up, if she likes) for her. He’ll never get loud but he will be constantly moaning or thanking her or murmuring that he loves this, loves her. When she first presses inside, after that tense ring is breached, he probably gasps, says her given name, then apologizes. When she laughs it gives him the most pleasurable goosebumps.

Has an especially sensitive prostate and can come multiple times, especially if she kisses or touches his nipples or neck, or—heavens— talks to him during. Her attention and care go straight to his heart. And his balls.

When he has a hard day he would really, really benefit from laying on his back and being made love to and stroked at the same time, slow and warm, full of affection. He can live on the love of that for weeks.

Prince Klein is like FINALLY, ALRIGHT, LET ME UNCOVER ALL THE MIRRORS! Drops to his knees at possibly well before the very first sign, and gets handsy with her hips while she’s fastening her strap. She probably has to swat his hands out of the way, but he’s just eager is all. He’s quick to love her strap with his mouth while he oils his hole for her (some concentrate of his perfume so she can’t forget who she’s about to be fucking) and he is noisy about it. Sets himself just right on an angled pillow on the floor, in front of another to cradle her knees so she doesn’t have to be on her feet.

Not joking about the mirrors. He wants to see himself, and he wants to see her, and he really wants to catch her eye in the mirror and grin and preen for her.

Will die a little death of delight if she grabs his hair or licks the sweat off his shoulders. He is absolutely ALL IN THIS and is definitely the first of the bunch to try fucking himself back as she pegs him, he may even reach for her hips.

Absolutely wants her to peg him in that first night outfit, the trousers and white blouse, with her hair all undone. Absolutely wants her to do this in the imperial garden in Karisen. It’s a happy memory for him!

Do not tell them I said this but Ranamun and Klein would do so well together, if she ever felt like it. Ranamun can teach Klein some manners and some neat things he read in footnotes, and Klein can teach Ranamun how to have fun a little more easily, and how to let go of those whines in his throat. Sir Sonnaught is perfect exactly as he is.

[silvermoon424]

So how do we all feel about the monetization models of webtoon sites? I've been getting back into reading Korean webtoons and while I'm trying to support the comics legally in some cases it's hard. I wholeheartedly believe these artists and translators/editors deserve to be compensated for their work, but I also think it should be affordable for consumers (especially because- and I say this with love in my heart- it's very obvious from the comments on the comics I read that many of these readers are teenagers and young adults who don't have a ton of disposable income).

I'm only going to talk for webtoons.com because that's the site I use the most but I wish they got rid of the coin/daily pass system. I will say that it's not horrible, and could be a lot worse. But I wish that they replaced it with a Netflix-like subscription service where you pay a monthly flat fee (anywhere from $5-$10) to have access to their entire library. You could still use coins to get access to webcomic chapters early (which I do think is a good system that incentivizes buying coins while not penalizing people for not buying them).

But right now, I really don't like how you have to either wait a day to slowly unlock every chapter (which will only be available for 14 days) or spend 3 coins to unlock a chapter for a series that's hidden behind the Daily Pass feature. Especially when you consider how long some of these webcomics can get. I did the math and for a series with 150 chapters, going by if you bought a combination of the $4.99 and $9.99 coin packs and for 3 coins per chapter, you'd have to pay around $45 to get the entire series unlocked (probably closer to around $40 because the first few chapters are always available for free).

While on the expensive side I don't think it's that bad for the price of an entire comic series, but the problem is that 1.) you don't actually own the media and it can be gone from the site at any time and 2.) this is the price of just one series. Going off point one, it would be one thing if this were a Kindle download or some other ebook and you owned a digital copy, but it's not. You're paying a lot of money for something that can just disappear someday. And going off point two, like I said before, a way more efficient (for the consumer, at least) business model would be to have a monthly fee that you pay so that you can access every title, not so that you're having to shell out tens of dollars for multiple series you want to read.

Idk man, it's tough. Like I said I wholly believe in supporting artists and the work of translators but I just feel like current webtoon monetization models aren't it. I know they need to make money and I'm willing to pay for a monthly subscription, I just don't want to have to pay at least $30 for every single Daily Pass series I want to read... which will only be available to read on one specific app that may close or lose the rights to the webtoon at any point in the future.