#I mean TECHNICALLY the materials make the art

[sailorpants]

serve cunt, not the bosses.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

What kind of bubble is AI?

My latest column for Locus Magazine is "What Kind of Bubble is AI?" All economic bubbles are hugely destructive, but some of them leave behind wreckage that can be salvaged for useful purposes, while others leave nothing behind but ashes:

https://locusmag.com/2023/12/commentary-cory-doctorow-what-kind-of-bubble-is-ai/

Think about some 21st century bubbles. The dotcom bubble was a terrible tragedy, one that drained the coffers of pension funds and other institutional investors and wiped out retail investors who were gulled by Superbowl Ads. But there was a lot left behind after the dotcoms were wiped out: cheap servers, office furniture and space, but far more importantly, a generation of young people who'd been trained as web makers, leaving nontechnical degree programs to learn HTML, perl and python. This created a whole cohort of technologists from non-technical backgrounds, a first in technological history. Many of these people became the vanguard of a more inclusive and humane tech development movement, and they were able to make interesting and useful services and products in an environment where raw materials – compute, bandwidth, space and talent – were available at firesale prices.

Contrast this with the crypto bubble. It, too, destroyed the fortunes of institutional and individual investors through fraud and Superbowl Ads. It, too, lured in nontechnical people to learn esoteric disciplines at investor expense. But apart from a smattering of Rust programmers, the main residue of crypto is bad digital art and worse Austrian economics.

Or think of Worldcom vs Enron. Both bubbles were built on pure fraud, but Enron's fraud left nothing behind but a string of suspicious deaths. By contrast, Worldcom's fraud was a Big Store con that required laying a ton of fiber that is still in the ground to this day, and is being bought and used at pennies on the dollar.

AI is definitely a bubble. As I write in the column, if you fly into SFO and rent a car and drive north to San Francisco or south to Silicon Valley, every single billboard is advertising an "AI" startup, many of which are not even using anything that can be remotely characterized as AI. That's amazing, considering what a meaningless buzzword AI already is.

So which kind of bubble is AI? When it pops, will something useful be left behind, or will it go away altogether? To be sure, there's a legion of technologists who are learning Tensorflow and Pytorch. These nominally open source tools are bound, respectively, to Google and Facebook's AI environments:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/18/openwashing/#you-keep-using-that-word-i-do-not-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means

But if those environments go away, those programming skills become a lot less useful. Live, large-scale Big Tech AI projects are shockingly expensive to run. Some of their costs are fixed – collecting, labeling and processing training data – but the running costs for each query are prodigious. There's a massive primary energy bill for the servers, a nearly as large energy bill for the chillers, and a titanic wage bill for the specialized technical staff involved.

Once investor subsidies dry up, will the real-world, non-hyperbolic applications for AI be enough to cover these running costs? AI applications can be plotted on a 2X2 grid whose axes are "value" (how much customers will pay for them) and "risk tolerance" (how perfect the product needs to be).

Charging teenaged D&D players $10 month for an image generator that creates epic illustrations of their characters fighting monsters is low value and very risk tolerant (teenagers aren't overly worried about six-fingered swordspeople with three pupils in each eye). Charging scammy spamfarms $500/month for a text generator that spits out dull, search-algorithm-pleasing narratives to appear over recipes is likewise low-value and highly risk tolerant (your customer doesn't care if the text is nonsense). Charging visually impaired people $100 month for an app that plays a text-to-speech description of anything they point their cameras at is low-value and moderately risk tolerant ("that's your blue shirt" when it's green is not a big deal, while "the street is safe to cross" when it's not is a much bigger one).

Morganstanley doesn't talk about the trillions the AI industry will be worth some day because of these applications. These are just spinoffs from the main event, a collection of extremely high-value applications. Think of self-driving cars or radiology bots that analyze chest x-rays and characterize masses as cancerous or noncancerous.

These are high value – but only if they are also risk-tolerant. The pitch for self-driving cars is "fire most drivers and replace them with 'humans in the loop' who intervene at critical junctures." That's the risk-tolerant version of self-driving cars, and it's a failure. More than $100b has been incinerated chasing self-driving cars, and cars are nowhere near driving themselves:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Quite the reverse, in fact. Cruise was just forced to quit the field after one of their cars maimed a woman – a pedestrian who had not opted into being part of a high-risk AI experiment – and dragged her body 20 feet through the streets of San Francisco. Afterwards, it emerged that Cruise had replaced the single low-waged driver who would normally be paid to operate a taxi with 1.5 high-waged skilled technicians who remotely oversaw each of its vehicles:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/technology/cruise-general-motors-self-driving-cars.html

The self-driving pitch isn't that your car will correct your own human errors (like an alarm that sounds when you activate your turn signal while someone is in your blind-spot). Self-driving isn't about using automation to augment human skill – it's about replacing humans. There's no business case for spending hundreds of billions on better safety systems for cars (there's a human case for it, though!). The only way the price-tag justifies itself is if paid drivers can be fired and replaced with software that costs less than their wages.

What about radiologists? Radiologists certainly make mistakes from time to time, and if there's a computer vision system that makes different mistakes than the sort that humans make, they could be a cheap way of generating second opinions that trigger re-examination by a human radiologist. But no AI investor thinks their return will come from selling hospitals that reduce the number of X-rays each radiologist processes every day, as a second-opinion-generating system would. Rather, the value of AI radiologists comes from firing most of your human radiologists and replacing them with software whose judgments are cursorily double-checked by a human whose "automation blindness" will turn them into an OK-button-mashing automaton:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/23/automation-blindness/#humans-in-the-loop

The profit-generating pitch for high-value AI applications lies in creating "reverse centaurs": humans who serve as appendages for automation that operates at a speed and scale that is unrelated to the capacity or needs of the worker:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/17/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs/

But unless these high-value applications are intrinsically risk-tolerant, they are poor candidates for automation. Cruise was able to nonconsensually enlist the population of San Francisco in an experimental murderbot development program thanks to the vast sums of money sloshing around the industry. Some of this money funds the inevitabilist narrative that self-driving cars are coming, it's only a matter of when, not if, and so SF had better get in the autonomous vehicle or get run over by the forces of history.

Once the bubble pops (all bubbles pop), AI applications will have to rise or fall on their actual merits, not their promise. The odds are stacked against the long-term survival of high-value, risk-intolerant AI applications.

The problem for AI is that while there are a lot of risk-tolerant applications, they're almost all low-value; while nearly all the high-value applications are risk-intolerant. Once AI has to be profitable – once investors withdraw their subsidies from money-losing ventures – the risk-tolerant applications need to be sufficient to run those tremendously expensive servers in those brutally expensive data-centers tended by exceptionally expensive technical workers.

If they aren't, then the business case for running those servers goes away, and so do the servers – and so do all those risk-tolerant, low-value applications. It doesn't matter if helping blind people make sense of their surroundings is socially beneficial. It doesn't matter if teenaged gamers love their epic character art. It doesn't even matter how horny scammers are for generating AI nonsense SEO websites:

https://twitter.com/jakezward/status/1728032634037567509

These applications are all riding on the coattails of the big AI models that are being built and operated at a loss in order to be profitable. If they remain unprofitable long enough, the private sector will no longer pay to operate them.

Now, there are smaller models, models that stand alone and run on commodity hardware. These would persist even after the AI bubble bursts, because most of their costs are setup costs that have already been borne by the well-funded companies who created them. These models are limited, of course, though the communities that have formed around them have pushed those limits in surprising ways, far beyond their original manufacturers' beliefs about their capacity. These communities will continue to push those limits for as long as they find the models useful.

These standalone, "toy" models are derived from the big models, though. When the AI bubble bursts and the private sector no longer subsidizes mass-scale model creation, it will cease to spin out more sophisticated models that run on commodity hardware (it's possible that Federated learning and other techniques for spreading out the work of making large-scale models will fill the gap).

So what kind of bubble is the AI bubble? What will we salvage from its wreckage? Perhaps the communities who've invested in becoming experts in Pytorch and Tensorflow will wrestle them away from their corporate masters and make them generally useful. Certainly, a lot of people will have gained skills in applying statistical techniques.

But there will also be a lot of unsalvageable wreckage. As big AI models get integrated into the processes of the productive economy, AI becomes a source of systemic risk. The only thing worse than having an automated process that is rendered dangerous or erratic based on AI integration is to have that process fail entirely because the AI suddenly disappeared, a collapse that is too precipitous for former AI customers to engineer a soft landing for their systems.

This is a blind spot in our policymakers debates about AI. The smart policymakers are asking questions about fairness, algorithmic bias, and fraud. The foolish policymakers are ensnared in fantasies about "AI safety," AKA "Will the chatbot become a superintelligence that turns the whole human race into paperclips?"

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/27/10-types-of-people/#taking-up-a-lot-of-space

But no one is asking, "What will we do if" – when – "the AI bubble pops and most of this stuff disappears overnight?"

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/19/bubblenomics/#pop

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

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tom_bullock (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/tombullock/25173469495/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[jellykyunnie]

˗ˏˋ Jinwoo x Isekaid! Artist! Reader ◛⑅·˚ ༘ ♡ ˎˊ˗

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕘 𝕁𝕚𝕟𝕨𝕠𝕠˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

・┆✦ Entry : 044 ✦ ┆・

[Tw: I think this fall under depictions of depression and panic attacks. Please, if you're not in the headspace, do not read this. ]

╰┈➤ ❝ [ My Muse] ¡! ❞

Isekaing to Solo Leveling is one thing, but living in this world is just... Way too brutal for your poor heart.

Why is that? Anxiety is a major enemy.

What do you mean everyone else is living normally not having little paranoid moments that lead to panic attacks with overtaking at the possibility of a gate opening somewhere near you and monsters would come out?

Sung Jinah's school wasn't even safe. How are you gonna live?

Anyway.

You have a job to do.

Even though you just wanna spend all of your time crying in the corner of your room and praying to god to protect you when technically you aren't even religious.

But what are you to do?

It's not like Sung Jinwoo will swoop in and save you from misery.

...Hahah, if only.

You are one of his more delulu fans, like every other girl in this country— You are a big fan.

Well, except the fact that you know far more things about Jinwoo since you came from a world where he is fiction.

The flex you have is that you know how awfully adorable that petty bastard is when he was still an E-ranker. Those Jinwoo simps will never know the fact that Jinwoo has the fluffiest and softest looking cheeks ever.

Not to mention, you have all of his powers memorized to even the titles those powers have. You can name a lot of his shadows.

Of course the easiest to name are Beru, Igris, Bellion, Kaisel, Tank,.... And the easiest,... One, two, three, four.... Yeah, you get it.

But why are you being so smug? As if you 're not the same fool who secretly buys Jinwoo polaroids. Coming from this country full of fangirls is a haven for you since there is quite... The plethora of Jinwoo trinkets.

And you, being a lovestruck fool, went all in and took "Take all my money" to the next level even though the man you're obsessing over is 10x more richer than you.

But ah, this isn't the time to fawn over your Jinwoo merch paradise.

You have work.

Thankfully enough, this world has given you mercy. Despite it preying on your paranoid self, it gave you the blessing of living the life you've always wanted.

And that is to be a freelance artist.

Not doing your average 9-5, crying about the lack of fame you receive that hinders the pathway to making a successful art career, not having to listen to family members berating your love for art as low as a drug abuse.

In this world, no one is going off about your craft, no one is belittling your passion to something akin to a crime.

Like it's just a pathetic hobby and there's no meaning to all the hard work you put in the past years improving your skills, there's no value to being able to draw squares and circles more impressive than others, there's nothing note worthy of being able to pick and choose colours— There's none of that.

To be honest, there were even lots of moments where you wanted to give up, where you realized maybe they're right.

Even if you had starved yourself just to save up for your art materials, even if you work hard micro-analyzing your artstyle, even if you spent hours studying the algorithms, even if you shed blood sweat and tears just for the glimmer of hope that maybe you can turn your art into something more— It's all just delusions.

Like how you hope to be one of those big artists who inspire other people to create their own pieces. Like how you secretly hope that maybe your artworks can bring a smile to anyone's face if they come across it. Like how you silently pray to every single star that may your wish come true.

You wanted to keep hoping, for the slim chance of having a single magnus opus that will instantly put you in the limelight— You wanted to keep having your hand outstretched to that tiny light.

But everyday, with each piece, you start to realize that your dreams are all for nothing.

You had been so focused on art that it's the only thing you have that defines who you are as a person and as an individual.

Art is what made you human.

Slowly, your innocent dreams molded itself into a twisted and vile poison that ate you from the inside out. Your love for creating backfired and now it's a blur if your passion stems from adoration or you just ran with it because it's the only thing that made you feel relevant in this world.

Maybe you should give up.

Even if there is a drastic improvement in your art with each piece, what good is it if it can't guarantee that career you oh so desperately want? The big artists say that you should make art for yourself, well yeah, they're right. But what if even if you do that it doesn't work?

Colour theory, shape language, line language, composition— All of those improved out of sheer love to learn. You've seen other people around you get careers out of it so it will happen to you?

Right?...

Right?

You're not a problematic artist, you don't make trouble, you don't make enemies, you don't participate in drama, you stay humble and eloquent.

Surely it will work... Right?...

Hahah.

In that world?

No it didn't.

It did not.

You died in your deathbed after being involved in a hit and run.

And after a long period of slumber, you have awoken in this world where somehow you are a renowned artist.

It felt shallow, really.

Suddenly having all of that in a snap of a finger through death?

Hah.

It felt like it mirrors Jinwoo's life. Except he had rightfully earned the glory of his powers.

Truthfully, you love him because of that.

What was it?

Ah yes.

"Because I was rock bottom, I longed for the highest peak."

That was the line that made you love him.

As someone who had no future in your art career, it was that line that made your heart yearn for him.

Two unfortunate souls who struggle in the same thing in different dimensions, except one managed to create that dream into reality.

Sure, you have the glory now. And although it made you so happy, it still felt so shallow because you didn't achieve this through hardwork. You just had to die.

You had to be dead.

It took dying to be given the mercy of having your dreams be granted.

And that just made you feel so... So awful.

⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ଳ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ⋆ ౨ৎ ˚ ⟡ ˖ ࣪

With a canvas on one hand, your painting materials neatly arranged in a bag in the other hand— You take a deep breath and enter the party.

Brilliant golden lights twinkle above your head coming from the magnificent chandelier hanging above. Cameras flashing, the clinking of glasses as hunters and celebrities discussed amongst themselves dressed in luxurious outfits and blinging jewelry.

The sight made your stomach sink and a lump in your throat forming.

This is an entirely different world you knew from the lonely greys and blues.

You look around frantically, almost panicking at the overwhelming chatter and blinding lights.

"Ah, you're here" A voice snaps you out of it.

You turn to see your sponsor, Choi Jong-in flashing a polite and handsome smile. You bow your head politely.

"Please," Jong-in simply shakes his head, "No need to be so polite. I am pleased that you have arrived in time. Champagne?"

He extends a glass towards you and you shake your head, sheepishly saying "O-oh... I'm not really an alcohol enjoyer. I'm fine."

"Ah, I see" He nods apologetically before gesturing you to a clearer space.

Jong-in escorts you to a less crowded area of the ball, the lessened crowd and noise calming your accelerated heartbeat down.

"If there is anything you need, please feel free to call me or the waiters" He says kindly, "You are also free to eat food."

"Thank you, Mr. Choi" You bow politely.

Before he could even reply, Jong-in was called over by a beautiful blonde girl you knew all too well.

Cha Hae-in.

She's as lovely as she was in the manhwa panels, with that red dress and her neatly tied hair— She was a sight to behold.

But as soon as you see a tall man clad in black, you feel a distinct thump in your heart, a twisting kind of small pain that made you feel like it stopped beating along with the way your lungs stopped breathing— You knew who it was.

"A guest?..." He inquires, making your heart thump even harder at the sound of that deep voice you only heard through the speakers of your phone and laptop.

"Mr. Sung, I'm glad you could make it along with my vice master" Jong-in hums, "This is an artist I'm sponsoring, I thought it would be a good idea to commemorate this important event celebrating humanity's win against the gates"

"Ah, I see" Jinwoo's handsome grey eyes would sweep onto your anxious form who is fidgeting uncontrollably in her hands. "I'm Sung Jinwoo,"

He extends a hand, making you look up at him with an even nervous look. It took you a while to extend your hand, and the moment your palm touched his— You felt as of you're touching someone from a different species. Something too unreal and divine.

You barely had even managed to speak your name out with how much of a nervous wreck you are. Shaking his hand didn't happen if it weren't for Jinwoo gently doing it and letting you pull your hand away.

Your palms may have been trembling, but now it's even more erratic as you step back, not meeting his gaze.

Thank gods Jong-in decided to start a conversation to pivot Jinwoo's attention away from you.

As you attempt to calm yourself with a persistent panic attack, you feel a soft tap on your hands.

"Thank you for coming, I-I hope you enjoy your time" Hae-in says in her hesitant voice.

And you, who cant mutter a single word after your very first encounter with Jinwoo— Only muster a polite nod at her as she turns away to join Jong-in and Jinwoo in their conversation.

You were on a trance for almost five minutes, before finally deciding to set up your easel and canvas. You took out two different mason jars and filling them up with water; the gouache paint you will be using as a medium; the ceramic palette you have been using for quite a while now; and finally gently arranging your brushes.

Jong-in didn't specify what you should be painting for this event. But decided to paint the stage. An hour into the event, Jinwoo would start giving his speech as he is the main hero of the war against the gates and monarchs—As well as the person this whole event is dedicated to.

You had to pause in your process of painting the canvas, just to give respect to Jinwoo.

Your idol.

Your role model.

The man of your dreams.

His words aren't even registering as you can't help but be lost in a trance as he continues with his speech. Unconsciously, your hand raised itself and started to paint carefully, your eyes fixated on the hunter as your hand moved with a mind on its own.

⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ଳ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ⋆ ౨ৎ ˚ ⟡ ˖ ࣪

Jong-in was extremely worried for the artist he had hired, he could tell from earlier she was having a panic attack with the hesitance. And when Jinwoo came into the picture, it seemed to frighten her all the more. He quietly called for his secretary to add at least 40% more of the initial payment that was planned to compensate for the unintentional distress he had put her onto.

While Jinwoo was giving his speech, he couldn't help but check on her by glancing from the distance.

In that canvas, he saw the stage, and in that stage was Jinwoo.

The artist was carefully painting Jinwoo.

Delicate strokes despite her eyes not on the cloth and brush. She was just mindlessly moving her hand as she looks at Jinwoo.

"Ah... I see it now."

Jong-in quietly smiles to himself.

It wasn't that she was frightened of Jinwoo's intimidating presence. No way does someone scared of a person have that same intense look with such dilated pupils.

With a determined hum, Jong-in knew exactly what to do.

⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ଳ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ⋆ ౨ৎ ˚ ⟡ ˖ ࣪

It had been three days since that event, and Jinwoo was attending to paperwork when he was informed of Jong-in's visit.

He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose with a bit of worry that his 'senior' might scold him for renting out gates in territory of Hunter's guild.

To his surprise, Jong-in entered carrying a rather large thing into his office.

"???" Jinwoo cocks up an eyebrow, silently inquiring Jong-in at what is the thing he brought in.

"Take a look, hunter Sung" Jong-in simply says and the hunter reluctantly stood up from his chair to approach the item his senior placed down.

When Jinwoo pulled off the protective cloth, he was met with a brilliant painting that felt like it was straight out of a renaissance era painting.

The red curtains were blood red and shaded softly. The wood is delicately painted, with even tiny specks that indicates the painter's exquisite attention to detail, but most importantly— His eyes were drawn to the middle, where a man stood center.

It was him.

His face was delicately painted, even his tousled black locks were intricately painted to imitate the way his strands behaved, his body language was painted in a relaxed but still managed to somehow translate the undertone of authority and power he held over the crowd that was purposely painted in a blurry manner to give more focus to him. Even the lighting of the stage was expertly imitated on the canvas.

The piece looked as if its goal was to put emphasis on his—the man who is standing in the golden limelight. As if it were trying to put him on a divine pedestal, to show him off as this some sort of god woth the painting.

"Who?..." Jinwoo finally manages to inquire.

"The artist chose you as her muse for the painting" Jong-in says, fixing his tie as he does so. "Quite the talent, no? Even us hunters who have quite the skill in the art of combat, are taken aback by such craft. It was as if she had magic on her very fingertips despite being just a civilian."

"Her muse," Jinwoo repeats, not knowing what to feel about it.

"It would be... Quite indecent of me to keep a portrait of a rival in my guild, no?" Jong-in coughs out, making Jinwoo awkwardly nod. "Consider it as a gift and a thank you for assisting my guild in jeju raid as well as your role in the war."

"I have quite the awards really, no need" He shakes his head.

"Yes," Jong-in glances back at the painting. "But I think that you, as the painter's muse, must see for yourself this piece created on your image."

"Mn...."

⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ଳ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ⋆ ౨ৎ ˚ ⟡ ˖ ࣪

Jinwoo quite frankly grew curious of the little painter he met and made him the centerpiece of her painting. He was honestly worried at first, she was so small compared to him and she was trembling at the sight of him. It didn't help that he noticed how she grew more shaken after they exchanged pleasantries.

Maybe he had gripped her hand a little too much.

Beru on the other hand, was visibly very pleased at the painting as well as the other shadows who wont shut up about it.

Throughout his monotonous days and hours, Jinwoo would often think of the painter.

It feels... Weird to be in someone's painting.

It's unreal even.

But ah... By chance, he met that pleasant little painter again.

She was in the bookstore, picking up several heavy books. When he approached her, she was flustered and nearly dropped the books she was purchasing if it weren't for him assisting her.

Just like their first meeting, she was clearly bashful and anxious. So Jinwoo made space between them and made small talk.

Somehow, their small talks would develop into long and meaningful ones with the days passing of them having frequent encounters.

There is this tiny, tiny warmth in Jinwoo's heart whenever he finds himself in the presence of his painter.

His heart whom he thought had lost its capability to harbor affection— Is beating fast whenever he crosses paths with her.

There is... Something about her.

Her little habits, her never ending curiosity, her childish habits and her love for everything beautiful. Somehow, everything in her eyes has the potential to be a piece of artwork.

Jinwoo was never a creative soul, he's only ever creative at insults maybe.

So to see someone so dedicated to her own craft, to see someone so full of love for something... It's like peering into a different world he never thought was there.

⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ଳ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ⋆ ౨ৎ ˚ ⟡ ˖ ࣪

Go Gunhee decided to visit Jinwoo, it was to thank the hunter again with coffee beans and two— Just to visit Jinwoo.

"Ah, hunter Sung," Gunhee smiles as the person he waited for appears. "I hope you don't mind, I just wanted to pop in"

"Not at all, director" Jinwoo smiles politely.

"That piece," The old man's gaze drifts to a painting hun by Jinwoo's side. "What a magnificent work of art. I heard Hunter Choi gifted it to you after the artist he hired decided to put you as the centerpiece. Truly such remarkable talent by a younger lady."

"Yes, hahah" Jinwoo awkwardly rubs his nape.as he serves Gunhee a cup of tea.

"My father told me that artists have a special kind of love" Gunhee hums, reminiscing. "He told me that having an artist love you is different. A writer glorifies you into pleasant words, a musician translates your beauty into compelling music and a painter immortalises all of you in a single painting. A blank canvas is a tool by painters that they use to communicate. All the ugliness of the world can be put into ink, and all the beauty into wonderful pops of pleasant colors"

He continues, "And through my years, this is one of the few most magnificent pieces I've ever seen that shows the painter's love for it's muse"

"Her muse," Jinwoo repeats it, "I've been told the same thing."

"A lovely feeling, no?" Gunhee chuckles, "To be loved by a person so full of love."

"...So that's what it means"

"..."

The old man's face wrinkles into a happier smile.

Young love, truly beautiful, isn't it?

⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ଳ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ⋆ ౨ৎ ˚ ⟡ ˖ ࣪

"That colour is really pretty" You mutter absentmindedly glance at the flowing water underneath, as if trying to ingrain the memory and behaviour of it.

"Thinking of a new artwork, again?" Jinwoo asks, glancing down at the direction you were staring at. "I can't wait to see what you'll make."

"Your pieces are always so beautiful"

It felt as if something struck an arrow at your heart, you glance at Jinwoo— Completely frozen in state.

When he noticed the heavy silence, his eyes would befall on you before his mouth going a little agape.

You're crying.

"Did... I say something wrong?..." Jinwoo asks and you panic, immediately tearing your gaze away.

"No, no, no" You shake your head, hiding your shameful tears from Jinwoo.

Compliments with your art were never really foreign, but you, being the insecure sad soppy excuse of a human being would always downplay it most of the time.

You were never truly satisfied with yourself and anything you ever made. Mostly because you came from a household where everything is never enough.

Ultimately, that system has been fully ingrained into your body that it became your personality.

Colors are muddy, the lines aren't steady or too thick or thin, the anatomy is off, the composition isn't fluid and the harmony is all over the place.

You were always, always, critical of yourself.

Nothing is ever enough.

Your works aren't beautiful enough, and you thought they never will be.

But when Jinwoo told you your art was beautiful, it caused something to crack inside and burst open.

Maybe it's because you loved him so much. Maybe it's because he is the person you admire the most in your sorry, lonely life.

It was always Jinwoo who was in your mind whenever you had those bad episodes of just having silent mental breakdowns.

It's his image that became your most beloved saviour.

Perhaps you're sobbing because you're finally able to hear the words you've imagined he would during the times you daydreamed about him.

Or maybe... Your body reacted because you knew deep down that Jinwoo was never a liar.

That he didn't say those words out of empty praise, that he said your crafts is beautiful because they simply are.

In your broken, shattered heart a heavy yet soft warmth swelled. Swelling so much that you felt so overwhelmed and couldn't control your emotions.

That kind of validation just felt like it washed away all the doubts that plagued you for years.

As you cried uncontrollably, Jinwoo would instinctively reach his hand out and pull you in for a searing kiss. His tongue gently nudges your lips before shoving itself into it.

One flick.

Two flicks

Three flicks,...

Until you yourself cant even count it anymore.

He pulls back slowly, but still not far enough for you not to feel his hot breath fanning over your cheeks.

"I only said your paintings are beautiful and yet you are crying like this, sarang?" He rubs his nose against yours, "Just what happened to you that you're this emotional, hm? Did you not think what you make is stunning? Did you never once think that your pieces are captivating? Why are you crying like this? How hurt have you been that it feels like you're crying out this kind of sorrow I can't seem to understand?"

"Why does your sobs feel like you've been dealing with such loneliness that a simple sincere compliment breaks you to this extend?"

"Everything about you is beautiful. All of you is beautiful." Jinwoo says in that ever so gentle voice of his, "Never doubt that for even a single second."

꒰ 🪼 A/N: what started as another simple fluffy idea turned into something more... Personal :'DD. Sorry guys hahahahsheshdg. Idk when I will have the free time to make the second half of the cai bots yet but please look out for when I do. ꒱

ʚ(੭´͈ ᐜ `͈)੭ .｡✧･ﾟ: ~♡ — All stories written by kyunnie; translations, reposts, plagiarism are strictly forbidden.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Rhetorical Devices

Some Examples

Anacoluthon - Syntactical inconsistency or incoherence within a sentence, especially: a shift in an unfinished sentence from one syntactic construction to another. ("you really should have—well, what do you expect?")

Anadiplosis - Repetition of a prominent and usually the last word in one phrase or clause at the beginning of the next. ("rely on his honor—honor such as his?")

Analepsis - A literary technique that involves interruption of the chronological sequence of events by interjection of events or scenes of earlier occurrence; flashback.

Antiphrasis - The usually ironic or humorous use of words in senses opposite to the generally accepted meanings. ("this giant of 3 feet 4 inches")

Apophasis - The raising of an issue by claiming not to mention it. ("we won't discuss his past crimes")

Aporia - An expression of real or pretended doubt or uncertainty especially for rhetorical effect. ("to be, or not to be: that is the question")

Chiasmus - An inverted relationship between the syntactic elements of parallel phrases. ("working hard, or hardly working?")

Dysphemism - The substitution of a disagreeable, offensive, or disparaging expression for an agreeable or inoffensive one. ("greasy spoon is a dysphemism for the word diner")

Epistrophe - Repetition of a word or expression at the end of successive phrases, clauses, sentences, or verses especially for rhetorical or poetic effect. ("of the people, by the people, for the people")

Hypallage - An interchange of two elements in a phrase or sentence from a more logical to a less logical relationship. ("you are lost to joy for joy is lost to you")

Hyperbaton - A transposition or inversion of idiomatic word order ("judge me by my size, do you?")

Pleonasm - The use of more words than those necessary to denote mere sense; redundancy. ("I saw it with my own eyes")

Syllepsis - The use of a word in the same grammatical relation to two adjacent words in the context with one literal and the other metaphorical in sense. ("she blew my nose and then she blew my mind")

Synecdoche - A figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (such as fifty sail for fifty ships), the whole for a part (such as society for high society), the species for the genus (such as cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (such as a creature for a man), or the name of the material for the thing made (such as boards for stage).

Zeugma - The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words usually in such a manner that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one. ("opened the door and her heart to the homeless boy")

As with all fields of serious and complicated human endeavor (that can be considered variously as an art, a science, a profession, or a hobby), there is a technical vocabulary associated with writing.

Rhetoric - the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion, and though a writer doesn’t need to know the specific labels for certain writing techniques in order to use them effectively, it is sometimes helpful to have a handy taxonomy for the ways in which words and ideas are arranged. This can help to discuss and isolate ideas that might otherwise become abstract and confusing.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Part 1 ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[weepingpussywillowtree]

for the hate of trendy fast fashion sweaters

Okay, I want to preface this that there's nothing wrong with liking the style of these types of sweaters, though I think most of these are ugly, I do like some of them, I just wanted a place to put down my frustrations with these sweaters from a sustainability and wear-ability perspective, as well as my frustration with people coming into knitting spaces asking for dupes of these sweaters and then becoming upset when experienced knitters suggest that these sweaters are not the best idea. be an aware consumer. If you really must own one of these kinds of sweaters, understand that it will probably be a short lifespan or incredibly high maintenance garment. Or realistically, both.

Have you seen the newest sweater? everyone is talking about it. It looks like this

Or this

Or this

Yes. They are very unique looking. they're striking and sometimes even cool (in a photoshoot at least), but lets take a look at some of the problems with these types of sweaters, and how I feel that they exemplify fast fashion culture, and that culture invading fiber arts spaces as well.

Ethics, Pricing, and plastic waste

Let's take a look at this sweater as a case study for some of the ethical, sustainability, and pricing issues.

I think it exemplifies a lot of the issues with this wave of trendy sweaters.

first, lets take a look at the website. 260 dollars + shipping, 94% plastic, and from a cursory research, there seems to be no evidence that any of that price is going towards a living wage for its factory workers. So, not to be rude, but what exactly am I paying for? I have seen similar pricing and ethical issues almost across the board with these trendy sweaters.

There's nothing wrong with acrylic yarn on an individual level, it is cheap, easy to care for, and easily available, but for 260 dollars on an item that already it dry clean or gentle hand wash only due to its construction? I would expect higher quality materials. also, not this sweater in particular, but in many of these types of sweaters/brands it really bothers me that they have been able to market themselves as 'vegan' as a form of greenwashing when all of their clothes are plastic or mostly plastic. So yes, while its technically true that they are vegan, are vegan clothes really better for the environment when most of the time vegan clothes means more microfiber shedding pollution and eternal piles of plastic clothes waste?

okay, so now lets get to some common issues with the actual wear-ability and construction of these types of sweaters.

Roving Woes

I think everyone remembers these massive, chunky sweaters or even the roving blankets (roving is wool that has been processed but not yet spun). I'm not sure if the tops/sweaters of very chunky yarn are in peak trend anymore but I do see them around.

Here's the issue. If you want a garment that will fall apart in one wash, these are for you. If you want to have a garment be a lasting part of your wardrobe, move on.

A good example is above. These kinds of sweaters sell like hotcakes on Etsy and go upwards of 300 dollars a pop, but see that fuzziness around the edges? the lack of any twisting look that you'd typically see in yarn? this is roving and will pull, snag, pill, and straight up fall apart at the slightest provocation because the thing that gives spun fibers their strength, is well... the spinning part. The woolery has a great video about this where you can see the roving fall apart over time, and also collect, dirt, dust and other grossness over time with no good way to clean it. Making that 300 dollars you spent a disposable purchase, not an investment. Like buying a 300 dollar disposable rain poncho, but with even less use.

Finicky detailing

Things like ribbons, charms, and other items make an item hard to wash. If they are not properly secured, or sometimes even if they are, they will come off and either need to be thrown away or somehow reattached. These items can also tug, snag at, or warp the main fabric of the garment.

Neglecting Weaving in Ends

Another trend I've been seeing is not weaving in the ends of a garment, as you can see in that flower sweater above. This may give a cool sort of ripped jeans effect for some, but it will ultimately lead to the garment coming unraveled, and you will have wasted, in this case, like 600 dollars on nothing.

...

Overall, all of these trends lead to more plastic waste, disposable clothing, difficult or impossible to wash items, or clothing that you'll spend a lot of money on only to have it fall apart.

Its frustrating to see this clamoring for dupes or this rush for similar styles take over some fiber arts spaces and lead to wasteful consumption of yarn, and trend cycles where these sweaters quickly get created and then discarded.

thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[blueikeproductions]

I’ve said before Transformers has struggled recently with its villains and recent material doesn’t change this.

Ever since this happened…

We’ve largely been stuck with poor man’s Vegeta Megatron.

And as such the series has lost its main villain, and become directionless.

The modern version of this trend started with Rescue Bots & RiD15, but it made sense in their respective series, and the replacement villains were treated like actual villains and are fondly remembered because of that.

It’s also not the first time Megatron was succeeded in leadership, as the Marvel Comics did this shockingly frequently.

With RatBat being the most unique case, in that he was the only one who largely succeeded in his efforts, and was a result of sincerely wanting to try something different.

I think that sincerity is long gone in favor of brand stagnation and “DEI” despite the later going out the door as of typing.

The usual replacement tends to be Galvatron, often depicted as an evolved Megatron through mystical means.

But Hasbro seems very reluctant to use Galvatron lately for whatever reason, instead usually having him as a (technically) separate character if he does show up.

Cyberverse kinda shows the current problem two fold. The bad writers convinced themselves they wrote a sympathetic Megatron when the writing shows him to still be certifiably insane and going through what is essentially an on the nose bad break up with Optimus. This extended to Megatron somehow being worthy of using the Matrix, and able to use it, despite Decepticons never typically being able to, and imply Optimus isn’t worthy of the Matrix, but never follow up on it.

To convince themselves and the audience that the regular CV Megatron was still a good person despite his atrocities, the writers pulled an Archie Sonic, and brought on their own Robo-Robotnik in Megatron X.

He too is apparently worthy of the Matrix and able to use it, despite completely destroying Cybertron and most, if not all, of its non Perfectcon inhabitants.

(To be fair, the idea of a Decepticon being able to use the Matrix goes back to Marvel G1 Thunderwing, but his actions helped corrupt the Matrix, creating the Dark Matrix Creature, but Cyberverse never states this is the case at all. This isn’t really a popular concept the series goes back to either, making Cyberverse the outlier.)

This ties back to Hasbro’s reluctance on Galvatron, as X was originally supposed to BE Galvatron in a Marvel G1 homage, but Hasbro said no.

So we’ve been left with a weird, but non committed, experimental phase of trying out different Villians to less than stellar results…

(Mandroid and Scourge are pretty good villains, but Mandroid quickly succumbed to bad writing, & Scourge was fairly quickly killed off, with no clear intent to go back to the Terrorcons and have a Movie Cyclonus based on the Armada version to take Scourge’s place.)

This feeds back into fan complaints about Hasbro’s unwillingness to try new things I’ve seen recently. In context the complaint was more wanting another Beast Wars like thing with new factions and new non G1 characters.

Like we HAVE been getting that with the Terrans and Terrorcons, but it’s clear kids aren’t that interested in them, and adult fans are as fickle as ever and not supporting it super well either. TFONE is pry the most damning, where it’s doing poorly across the planet theatrically, despite trying a new non-evergreen art style, and a much better version of Aligned/IDW caste system that simplifies it to Cogs & Cogless.

It’s not for lack of trying, but it’s also not grabbing kids well either.

This weird flip flopping recently came into play with Galactic Trials, the crappy looking racing game.

The game casts Nemesis Prime as the main villain, who tried to steal the relics of the Primes, but fail and cast the Chaos Emeralds, er, relics across the galaxy.

Here’s the weird part: this happens before the Great War began, with the Autobots and Decepticons now finding out in the present and scrambling to collect the relics for themselves. The story isn’t expanded and confuses things. Nemesis typically isn’t even a Prime, but a Decepticon clone of Optimus. Barring a few exceptions, the main deviation this MIGHT be referencing is IDW Nova Prime, who briefly became Nemesis Prime, powered by a Matrix like relic from the Dead Universe.

So does that mean in this universe the Matrix chose a guy literally named Nemesis to be Prime? Is this actually supposed to be Nova Prime via IDW? Is this Orion Pax’s black sheep of the product line? So many questions this game isn’t going to answer.

This is the frustrating part about all this. I like that they’re trying to branch out still, and I liked Nemesis Prime in IDW and back when he was Scourge in RiD01, but…

He’s kinda pointless here.

Why are we using a “new” character for a failing on launch, not-mobile game, when the plot would be much simpler in that Megatron or Starscream raided the vault of the Primes only for Optimus to intervene and launch the relics into space. Why is Nemesis the villain? For that matter, since it’s a racing game, shouldn’t the Stunticons be the villains?

This is where CyberWorld might be the make or break now.

I think slowly but surely, Hasbro is recognizing their past ideas on overusing antihero Megatron isn’t working, and that they need to properly commit to a successor if they don’t want Megatron to be a villain anymore.

Going by toy leaks, it appears they’ve decided to go BACK to Galvatron proper, but they also include Scorponok, who’s typically cast as a leader in some capacity (excluding Beast Wars).

(Until we learn more, I’m leaning towards their roles being similar to Superlink’s.)

So I think that’s a step in the right direction so far; going for Skybound’s aim of familiar but, they’re willing to pivot under better writing.

I think that’s where TFONE D-16 doesn’t work as a concept.

Like it if not, casual audiences and kids aren’t that invested in the idea of a wide eyed good boi Megatron who fell from grace or wants to redeem.

They want these kinds of power hungry megalomaniacal Megatrons, who are willing to go the extra mile just to upstage Optimus to stroke their own ego. Not high school bosom buddies with gay lover subtext that Stereotypical Tumblr-Twitter wants. And hopefully with what we’ve seen with Skybound, we’re going back to that Megatron soon. And if we don’t go back to Megatron strictly, then Galvatron might be the way to go cartoon wise.

[brainrot-goes-brrrrrr]

Savannah Squad Presentation Night Headcanons/Drabble [3/3]

I totally didn't forget about this, I don't know what you are talking about (I'm sorry, I suck at finishing things & I don't know how to write for these two ;_;)

Part 1: Taylor & Logan Part 2: Ben & Tyler Part 3: Aiden & Ashlyn

Start of the drabble:

Thankfully, with Aiden's good laptop, there were no more technical difficulties for the rest of the night. But that in no way means the rest of the night is calm, and that is simply because Aiden has gotten up to the front of the room drip drying while setting up his presentation. Logan is then left mopping up the previous puddle he left from when Tyler dumped the entire contents of the spray bottle on him. For the betterment of the final two presentations, and Logan's floor, the spray bottle was retired for the night.

When Aiden is finished setting up, the TV practically demands for the attention of the rest of the group for none of the right reasons. It is horrendous. Astronomically so; the title of the presentation is somehow even worse.

Aiden Clark

(off topic, looking at my old art makes me want to vomit)

You see the title. That's not the bad part. The bad part is the fact that the slideshow is like thirty slides with multiple images per slide. The worst part is the fact that it's volume one. Check this man's storage, I promise you there is absolutely nothing left.

I want you to imagine you are just in a dark room with friends only lit by the TV and a small laptop screen. Imagine that, and then imagine this flashbang of a presentation popped on screen and each slide only gets progressively worse. Aiden is capable of making good presentations, he strikes me as a more artistic type, this is poorly made on purpose. Because why not.

This presentation is pretty much just going through his camera roll, but its categorized by person and gets progressively more deranged as they're section goes on. Which means the person with the longest section gets the worst of it. Which means Tyler gets the worst of it.

Like Ash got off pretty easy, Logan too. Taylor, gets the next longest section because I can see her and Aiden enabling each other to do dumb shit (one of the videos is her stuck in a traffic cone trying to get Tyler to help her out (spoiler: he didn't)), he lives with Ben so he absolutely has material on him, mainly his shit cooking. Then there's Tyler... half of the photo's aren't even of him!!! He just made dumb ass bottom text memes. They're not even funny ;_;

Aiden put his photoshop skills to work cause he is pulling up pictures like this:

He also screenshots texts too. I want to give you examples, but everything I can think of can't be put here cause I don't want to be considered weird. It's nothing bad, it's just like teenage humor. like ironic stuff.

Just think teenage boy humor, but if it was made by a decent person and wasn't problematic. Like how people would jokingly flirt with their friends and the other person is like "bro, wtf 💀"

so the presentation is just Aiden avoiding things being thrown at him while he exposes the group

(I had to tone this down because teenage humor does not translate to written word without sounding like a creep! I'm banking on the fact that you've just seen teenagers interact with each other cause then you'd get it)

Group's Reaction

the only reaction that matter's is Tyler's and you know why. You know why.

Everyone is having a good, grand ol' time laughing at each other being dumb, then there is just Tyler being raked through the mud.

The majority of the group think "yeah, my pictures are bad, but at least I'm not Tyler".

tbf, I also headcanon that Aiden shares a PE class with Tyler so he has more material. Cause exercising is somehow more embarrassing in PE. It doesn't matter how athletic you are, no one looks good when you are struggling not to face plant when doing a wheel barrel because your partner is just hauling ass across the field.

Ashlyn Banner

I need Ashlyn to drag everyone. desperately. In good fun obviously, but it just goes to show how odd everyone really is.

These are teenagers. Even though they are in awful circumstances, they still do stupid teenage shit. This is mainly revealed in the arguments that take place during hang outs and study sessions.

Her presentation is split up by how dumb she considers each conversation. Most of the conversations involve Aiden and Taylor, not because they are dumbasses, though is does play a part, but because they enable each other's dumbassery.

Ben only makes up about a slide... for obvious reasons. Part of him is relieved, but the other part wishes that he could say more to be included.

One of her favorite moments that she put in the presentation is when she overheard Logan having to explain to Aiden that 1.) the North Pole does, in fact, exist and 2.) that it is not the same thing as Antarctica when they were doing pair work in science. It took... painfully long, for the point to reach Aiden. She's not convinced it has. (I had this argument with my friend during senior year...)

^^ The argument gets brought back up because Tyler started shitting on Aiden cause of it.

Another big chunk of the presentation is just when she caught the group baby-talking Logan's cat (he has a cat cause I said so). You'd think it be Taylor, considering her general demeanor, but Tyler's the one who talks to the cat most of the time. And the cat absolutely loves him. The cat is sitting on his lap as we speak.

Logan is a person to play first person shooter games. With mic. Need I say more. (He doesn't say anything bad, but he can shit talk. It's easier since they don't know who he is lmao).

Taylor gets off easy because everything dumb that she says is on purpose. She is absolutely the person to just go with the bit, so everything she says just goes with the flow of the group. What's that? It's because Ashlyn has more of a soft spot for Taylor! What, no! I don't know what you are talking about, Aiden. Such accusations. (he is 100% correct)

Group Reaction:

Since the presentation was pretty balanced with who got made fun of, excluding Ben (ToT), everyone's having a pretty good time.

Since Ben barely had anything in the presentation, Logan had the bright idea to scroll through this guys social media posts. Mainly twitter. He struck gold at the expense of Ben.

Regarding cat point in the presentation, Ashlyn had some videos as proof. Is Tyler embarrassed? Yes. Can he do anything about it? No, he has the cat on his lap.

[nekropsii]

Hello! First of all, love your work. Wonderful takes and analysis on the alpha trolls, and also i’m a big fan of sovstuck - both the text and the awesome cool art. I love that every character gets introduced with their own unique artstyle, each oozing with character :)

I wanted to ask, - and please believe that i’m asking in good faith, - about your proship dni. I’ve been seeing discourse about ‘pro/anti ship’ for ages now, but i cannot for the life of me understand what the hell either side stands for. First i hear it’s about abusive or problematic (pedo/incest) ships in general, then it’s about the difference of portrayal/endorsement of those things, then it’s something else entirely and i can never fucking understand what the hell the issue is and why it is so heated.

By no means i’m asking you to speak for the whole discourse or even for the entire ‘side’ of it - if there’s one thing i got, it’s that no one can agree on their definition of what ‘their side’ stands for. But i would like to know what meaning you put into the terms, and what kind of ‘proship’ you would like to not interact with you; i trust that you know what you believe in and are able to put it to words in a way that makes sense and doesn’t contradict itself or common sense, as i sometimes see :”)

I.. understand that since the topic is so divisive, you may get a ton of bullshit in your ask box and notes, should you choose to answer this, both from people who disagree and those who choose to misinterpret what you say. So feel free to ignore this ask if you don’t want to deal with that. Still, i do hope i can someday gain some clarity on this topic haha.

Best wishes!! thanks for what you do :)

Hello! Thank you so much, the compliments mean a lot! They really keep me going, lol!!

First of all, congratulations on formulating the most normal ask adjacent to this topic. Since it's so god damn touchy, people have a tendency to start throwing rocks no matter what "side" they're on, and no matter if they know what the hell they're talking about or not. Frankly, some of the ruckus surrounding this circus act is embarrassing. On both ends. Second of all, while this isn't something I'm an expert in, I do know more than I'd like, so I'd be happy to give my perspective, even if it's potentially a bit limited/flawed.

Thirdly, I'm putting this under a cut, for anyone who doesn't want to read all that.

Content Warning: Discussions of Shipping Discourse, Sexual Assault, Abuse, Grooming, Incest, and Pedophilia.

Let me start this by defining what the Relevant Terms mean:

Shipping: The act of pairing two or more Characters together. Though the term is derived from "Relationship", and therefore is at its core - technically, theoretically - a Neutral Term, it - conversationally, colloquially - carries extremely heavy Romantic Connotations, with a strong implication that said Romance is found to be appealing - typically in the sense of being either Cute, or Sexy. Defining this is not me trying to condescend you - One of the key questions in this discourse is what it means to "ship" something, and whether or not the term implies the shipper is condoning the material inherent to the ship.

ProShip: Essentially means "All For All Shipping". It's the personal, discourse-based identity label equivalent to the phrase "Ship And Let Ship". There's a common misconception floating around that the "Pro" in "ProShip" stands for "Problematic", rather than simply being the positive antonym to the prefix "Anti". While I find this to be a failure of basic deductive reasoning, I can also understand how the conclusion was reached - Proshippers are most commonly associated with "Problematic Content"/"Problematic Ships", and they do tend to take pride in being "Problematic" themselves. Either way, the word "Problematic" is highly associated with them and often reclaimed by them. They also call themselves "Anti-Antis" (horribly stupid label, by the way), and "ComShip(pers)", with the "Com" being short for "Complex". To my knowledge, ComShip is a sect specifically trying to get away from the baggage that the term "ProShip" holds, and away from the very real predator problem within the ProShip Community. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

AntiShip: Essentially means "Against Certain Forms of Shipping". It actually used to be a term for people who were against specific individual ships, rather than a blanket discourse label - for example, rather than someone identifying as just an "Antishipper", they would typically label themselves as "Anti-VrisMeen", or a "VrisMeen-Anti", or whatever their focus was. An important thing to note is that Antis trend Young, and they trend Traumatized. They are typically Teenagers, and their stances are largely informed by their discomfort watching Adults Sexualize Characters who share their age or younger, and discomfort watching people Sexualize some kind of Trauma they've been through - and considering their general ages, it's not unlikely that that Trauma is either Fresh or Ongoing. This is not always the case, but it's such a large amount of the AntiShip crowd, and it's acknowledged so little, that it's worth mentioning. It's a very important piece of context to me.

The general Belief Systems of both sides, as they currently stand, are as follows:

ProShip: ==> Never Harass Anyone Over Their Ships: This is the bones of their beliefs, and where everything started. Essentially, it's rude and unnecessary to send people Harassment over a Ship they enjoy, because not only could you be doing something better with your time, but also it can be pretty difficult to tell the "How/What/Why" of someone's interest in such material. ==> All Forms of Shipping Should Be Allowed, No Matter The Content: This is the meat of their beliefs, and also where the arguing starts. It's exactly what it says on the tin - Anything Goes, including Rape, Abuse, Incest, and Pedophilia. This is why the label is so touchy - many people are extremely uncomfortable with the idea of Fandom going back to its habit of uncritically normalizing + romanticizing Rape, Abuse, Incest, and Pedophilia. Part of this is due to the fact that this uncritical normalization has led to genuine, tangible harm on people in Fandom Spaces, particularly Minors. ==> Being Problematic Is Based: The skin of their beliefs. Many people wrap up Shipping Discourse in terms that make it sound like engaging in it is Political Praxis, somehow. While your stance on Shipping Discourse can certainly be telling of your Political Beliefs, in the way that your stance on literally anything can be telling of that, calling Shipping Discourse on its own some kind of Radical Political Stance is... Deeply silly, and also keeps leading to people saying "Being into Incest/Pedophilia is Queer Nature", like, unironically. I keep seeing this happen. This part of it tends to be very... Spite-driven. ==> Fiction Is Not Reality: Basically their catchphrase - nothing that happens in fiction is real, and therefore has no tangible effect on reality.

AntiShip: ==> Please Tag Your Content Appropriately And Keep It Out Of The Reach Of Minors: The bones of their beliefs. Self Explanatory, typically followed up with "and if you can't do that, don't post/make it at all". To further illustrate this, I'd like to spark any reader's memory of the times where you couldn't Google search "Fluttershy" without being lambasted with hardcore porn. No additions of "R34", or "NSFW", just "Fluttershy". There was no SFW Filters. You just had to fucking fight for your life. Being a child on the Internet is and was extremely rough. There wasn't any Official Tag Filtering on Tumblr until... I think 2017. It was dark. ==> Abuse/Rape/Incest/Pedophilia Should Not Be Considered "Shipping": The meat of their beliefs. Essentially, these are extremely heavy, delicate topics meant to be treated with respect and tact, or not handled at all. This is not possible in Shipping Content. At least, not as we currently understand it, and will likely remain understanding in that way for years to come. They argue that Fanfiction is not ever going to be on par with Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Which is true. They also argue that it's impossible for most Fanfictions to treat these sensitive subjects with any respect, which is... Dubious, but also fair, considering the Sturgeon's Law of it all. ==> Ewwwww...: The skin of their beliefs. Disgust. It's a whole lot of disgust. Again, worth reiterating that the bulk of AntiShippers are quite Young and/or Traumatized, and the content they are reacting to tends to be Extreme, so a gut response of disgust is... Honestly, healthy. No 15 Year Old should be stumbling upon art of a child getting frisky with their dad and going "hell yeah, brother!". Though I wish they'd handle their disgust with more tact, I find that it's just... A fair response, given their age, what their backstory tends to be, and what content they tend to be reacting to is. ==> Fiction Affects Reality: Not necessarily their catchphrase, but definitely their counterpoint to the catchphrase of ProShippers. They do not say Fiction is real, just that it does literally have a tangible effect on reality, and point to cases where this is observable. The impact Jaws had on real life sharks is a favorite, as is The Birth of a Nation, and The Turner Diaries. And, of course, the ways that the works put out by ProShippers has tangibly affected the lives of others, especially children.

It is worth noting, I am neither of these things. I do not identify as a ProShipper, nor do I identify as an AntiShipper. I identify as a Horror Writer. I have "DNI: ProShip" in my bio because their stances make me the most uncomfortable, and I have been victimized personally by members of their crowd and the result of their beliefs.

I was Groomed by an Adult ProShipper when I was 14 Years Old. She used her ideologies as a ProShipper to excuse herself and the (sexual) content she forced me to Roleplay with her, and used it to pressure me into writing more and more extreme content. I did not want to do it even at the time - it made me uncomfortable - but she made the idea of saying "No" to her... Quite scary, and like I was the one in the wrong for being uncomfortable with it. After all, Fiction Isn't Reality, right? I am not the only person I know with this experiences. I have met and spoken to countless - and I mean countless - individuals who have had similar experiences with that crowd. The sheer distrust kids and teens tend to have towards them is learned through that crowd's propensity towards grooming them. Because the celebration and normalization of that content breeds comfortability with "the real deal", and comfortability with harboring predators.

I'm sure some ProShippers have noble intentions, and don't realize what the controversy is about. I'm sure some of them are deeply out of the loop, and still think it only means "Being Anti-Harassment". But I do not care enough to give people the chance, just... For the sake of my own sanity. You understand, I'm sure. I do not think that this rift between worlds is ever going to get closed, or that these sides are going to experience amicability, because the question is nuanced and about morality itself, and one side is full of defensive, traumatized teenagers trying to keep themselves and their friends safe from what they are perceiving as legitimate threats to their safety, and the other side is full of people who just wanna jerk it to weird porn.

I'm not personally comfortable with, like, any self-identified ProShipper being near me, just due to my own experiences. Some might try to identify me as one against my will, due to the fact that I am Anti-Harassment and a Horror Writer unafraid to touch upon every single one of the aforementioned sensitive topics, but... I am simply not one, because I don't identify that way, I don't believe in their beliefs, and they creep me out, lol.

My beliefs are that people should be able to write about whatever they want, as long as they handle things with the appropriate amount of care, and as long as they keep things tagged appropriately. I think that harassing people for shipping Stridercest in fucking 2024 is lame because you could be doing literally anything else with your time, and I think shipping Stridercest in fucking 2024 is lame because you could be doing anything else with your time. Like, come on, man, it's not even interesting. They're not even doing anything interesting with it. Where are the themes? There are no themes. It's just brothers mackin' on each other whitely. Come on.

No topic should be off limits, but you should at least give it the care and respect it deserves, and you should make it interesting. Nothing is interesting on its own. Rape is not interesting on its own. Incest is not interesting on its own. Abuse is not interesting on its own. Pedophilia is not interesting on its own. Taboo subjects are not interesting on their own. They're mundane evils that happen literally every day to regular people. In writing, they need to be paired with themes, and, hopefully, with good writing. People who have been through these things deserve not only to have their trauma represented, but handled with care, and also for it to be interesting to read. They deserve to have options. They deserve to have good literature to chew on, to help them digest and cope with their own trauma. It's difficult to do that when you feel invisible to everything but the camera lens of a Fetish Pornographer, and I know many people who are suffering with the fact that their traumas seem to only ever be represented or referenced in shitty pornography.

Sure, some people cope with their own trauma by sexualizing it. I know that's the case for some ProShippers, and their reason for being within that group. But it's certainly not everyone's method of coping, and it shouldn't be the only option... Which is why I'm advocating for safe, non-fetishized exploration of extreme themes.

I think the reason why the discourse is so unclear is because "ProShip" and "AntiShip" aren't very tangible, definite belief systems, and also the talking points are evolving and maturing over time. A few years ago, the beliefs of "Antis" definitely broadly leaned more heavily towards total rejection of those themes being present in any fiction, but their arguments seem to have matured lately into "the problem is the nature of the depiction, not the presence of depiction itself".

That's all I can think of saying right now that wouldn't just be me walking in circles. And don't worry, I can definitely take the hit. I'm not sure what here could be very arguable other than semantics, or maybe a history lesson or two.

Thank you for the ask! Hope this helps!

[yesimwriting]

I absolutely loveddd your piece about iwtv! I feel like the characterisations of louis and armand were spot on, and as someone whose favourite character is armand, I'd love to see where the dynamic between him and reader is going👀

We all know armand loves a challenge *cough* daniel molloy *cough*. Do you think there's some sort of romance that could be simmering underneath his curiosity about reader?

i appreciate the characterization comment! i worked very hard on their voices!!

okay, i accidentally put so much thought into this in relation to armand's characterization/my interpretation of him, so this response is only thoughts on that. however, this did give me an actual idea for a fic in which armand is incredibly cutesy and manipulative to reader after she goes out without louis, so if you're interested in that pls let me know <33

disclaimer: a lot of this is based on how i see (show) armand, but the wonderful thing about media consumption is that people can see the same source material in different ways and i'm not claiming that my thoughts on armand (even in the context of bestie!reader verse) is the only viable way to see him :))

----

this is such an interesting concept and i've been thinking about it a lot.

it's also so cool that you brought up daniel bc i think one of the most important scenes for armand's characterization in the show is the fight in the 70's where armand is much more hurt by louis calling him "boring" than any mentions of his actual trauma.

to me, armand's such an interesting character bc he's an ancient, 514 yr old vampire whose so incredibly impressive, who doesn't need to make anyone look at him, who doesn't need validation, but he wants it, he'd never admit it, but that desire to be looked at and loved is so there.

i think louis, someone who armand really values, deeming reader as someone 'special' is enough to catch armand's attention (similarly to daniel) .

however, armand is being subjected to louis's love and interest in the reader much more consistently/openly than louis's relationship with daniel, which i feel like would only aggravate any subconscious insecurities on armand's end which would make him want reader's attention even more bc what could possibly make louis's 'special' human good enough to not want him??

this is such a side note, but i think it'd add such an interesting layer of tension if technically armand saw reader first. an 'origin story' i've been thinking about is armand and louis going to an art gallery, and armand seeing reader's painting, and then reader, and impulsively placing an anonymous bid for some crazy amount just for louis and reader to run into each other maybe an hour later and become besties.

okay, back to the main analysis--armand can't express his interest in reader too overtly bc louis would clock it immediately, so he'd be subtly manipulative by letting reader stumble dangerous situations just so he can be the hero, also i think he'd talk to reader about art to try to establish a connection/relationship outside of louis.

also once he's down this path he becomes almost overwhelmingly jealous (even though reader isn't with him in any capacity 🧍‍♀️). but bc he doesn't want to alert louis or shatter the carefully curated version of himself he's crafted for reader, he "punishes" her subtly.

his number one, go to way to hurt the reader for dating/upsetting him at all is to use louis against her. armand would plant the idea of reader falling in love with a human boy, settling down, and forgetting about louis to make louis insecure. this tension would eventually come up in front of reader, and reader would have to reassure louis and probably take a break from dating for a little.

armand would also be a little mean/snarky to reader after she goes out with others (romantically or platonically) in a way that makes him look like a concerned companion. you were out all night with some boy...and louis was left pouting in his coffin until sunset...how dare you leave them him? armand doesn't allow your friendship for you to hurt louis.

in this scenario, you might be wondering what armand's end goal is bc reader is much too loyal to be with louis's companion in any capacity, but i feel like this is something he's stumbled into accidentally and now it's a little too late. oh well, he deserves his matching set.

as this progresses, something armand swears is about simply proving that he can win reader over becomes less and less convenient. by that i mean that instead of getting reader wrapped around his finger, he's wrapped around reader's <33.

also, as a side note, i think if everything finally clicked for louis near the end of the interview, when their relationship is falling apart, he'd briefly be more worried for the reader's life than upset...and then maybe after dubai divorce armand threatens reader to hurt louis and louis is like 🧍‍♀️ she tells you she doesn't like your tone of voice and you change it you know damn well you're not touching a hair on her head unless it's to take her to the salon.

also another side note, i lowkey would love to find an excuse for daniel and reader to interact. it'd be a diva off for sure.

[justvora]

An appreciation post to Lady Shiva and Cassandra Cain body reading skills and why they should be the top tier in martial arts

Hello there :)

I recently saw a post that talked about Cassandra and Lady Shiva's analytical reading skills should not be a compelling reason to say they are the best martial artists as there are such things as feints, grappling and other 'techniques' as such….. So I do this not just as an answer anymore, but to explain why, in theory, this skill that both of them have is much more than it seems (and what actually ends up being represented in American comics).

Let's start with what I just mentioned: Within American comics generally hand-to-hand and martial arts fights are usually represented poorly when it comes to talking technical and realistic, but in terms of spectacle they are usually a delight, so this is mainly one of the reasons why this skill that mother and daughter share is not usually delved into, and neither do they go into the terms of grappling and so on.

Next up: Cassandra Cain and Lady Shiva are not only the best martial artists in their universe for that skill, but for their position, potential and narrative.

Cass general fighting performance

When talking about Cassandra Wayne (Cain) we have to take into account that she is still young, so she has a lot of potential for improvement to evolve... And yet, since she was born, she has received specialized training to become a great professional assassin (within the Post-Crisis continuity, she was trained by the entire league of assassins, including among her many trainers the Bronze Tiger; however, in the New52/Rebirth continuity she did not go to the depth of all this). The fact that she was raised and trained to kill means that she does not perform so well in non-lethal combat, since she is omitting and restricting an arsenal and naturalized instinct to fight against her own impulses, notoriously limiting herself - and this is something that has already been commented on several occasions.

Why Cass and Shiva are at the "top" of the martial arts tier list due to their narrative / and the powerscaling stuff from martial arts in comic books.

In this section I will not only talk about why I think that mother and daughter are at the top of the best martial artists, but also about how stupid it usually seems to me to do martial arts power scaling with characters that are very evenly matched.

To start I would like to attach the following screenshot from "LetsTalkLadyShiva's" "CuriousAsk", which I consider, in my opinion, deals with many quite relevant and interesting points about why these characters are above average beyond their own feats (although later there will be characters like Karate Kid whose martial arts are a power in themselves that take him to a level of literally cosmic surrealism).

Now, moving on to the topic of martial arts powerscaling… It makes no sense. It makes no sense because it's not something that can be quantified, and because many comic book characters present a dissonance between the hype, the statements, and their own feats. I think it's not a new complaint to say that many of us are fed up with reading "And he's versatile in all existing martial arts," when it's nonsense without logic due to the nature of these things.

The most that can be quantified in a general way around skill is usually: The number of martial arts that a character knows, and the level of skill around said martial arts - Their years of experience, which is what allows them to develop Battle IQ - And the win rate.

Beyond that, many characters exist for and by the hype, and by their own position within a universe. Lady Shiva was introduced in The Question comics as an alien force of nature, one who broke away from the material world to prove to Sage that he was just a fish in the big pond of his world. There she has narrative power, one as one of the most skilled characters by being a technically insurmountable barrier for combatants. And that's what matters: Not her feats, but who she is.

And... Cassandra? She is The One who is All.

Another thing I consider necessary for martial arts power scaling is the fact that many people try to do the typical:

"[x] character beat [y], who is extremely powerful and skilled And [z] beat [x], so he is even more skilled…etc"

All hand-to-hand combats that can occur are unique, and in many cases there are completely circumstantial situations that define the winner. These circumstances, such as the way and objective that someone seeks, the desire to fight, or how the fight began are defining, and may not mean that someone is, really, more skilled or a better martial artist than another.

In addition, there is a thing called "compatibility", where "A" can beat "B", and "B" can beat "C", and "C" will beat "A". And what is this due to? To the compatibility between styles, where striking can beat judo grappling, and judo can also beat a grappler specialized in BJJ who is capable of beating a boxer, but this will not happen vice versa.

Now… Let's finally get to the interesting part of all this…

The true potential of Cassandra Cain and Lady Shiva's analytical body reading ability.

In this case, and now, I will focus on talking mainly about Cass.

Cassandra was born and raised not to understand verbal language, but body language. In this way she would understand every micro-gesture produced by the human body to interpret it instinctively and naturally in order to understand people… And to predict what they are going to do.

There are several panels that explain this in depth, in short Cassandra reads body language, which is what we often do unconsciously, without realizing it, and this is something I have to highlight because it seems that there are people, both in-universe and IRL, who do not fully understand how this works and confuse it with telepathy.

Nightwing and Jason Todd, on one occasion, have believed that by acting erratically, and without knowing what they are going to do, they could surprise Cassandra, but this does not work like that. As much as they try not to rationalize their movements and keep their minds blank, Cassandra is not reading their thoughts, but the gestures that their bodies make, indirectly and involuntarily. These are micro-gestures, expressions and so on that even reveal some things that people do not know they do or feel.

Another thing I'd like to point out (as a rejoinder to everyone using her fight against Jason as an anti-feat) is that Cassandra wasn't fighting Red Hood - She was communicating through combat. She didn't want to defeat him, but rather explain a situation to him… While he was fighting bloodlusted —this is also a perfect example of how circumstances really matter in a fight—.

To give an example of what I was talking before: "Through telepathy you can read a mind, but when it is blank, nothing can be done. However, with body reading, you can read what the body, unconsciously, will reveal."

Secondly… This ability of Cass is based on an existing concept of martial arts known as "sensen no sen" (which I will call pre-initiative as it is practically the same thing to simplify it). What does it consist of?

Sen sen no sen (先々の戦, before the attack), or sensen no sente (戦線の先手, anticipate the movement), is a concept and a technique of the martial arts of Japan that consists of adopting a preventive behavior towards the opponent and, at the slightest trace of aggressive attitude, a defense technique is performed. That, however, does not simply mean that it is enough to act before the opponent or that you will act at any moment, but it means that you must be aware of the opponent's posture and, only when the blow is made, do you intercept his movement to obstruct his force.

Cody, Mark Edward. Wado Ryu Karate/Jujutsu (en inglés). Bloomington: AuthorHouse. p. 82.

In short: It consists of anticipating and obstructing an attack before it happens. Do you know that they are going to attack you with a straight attack to the face? Well, before it happens, you have already carried out your counterattack perfectly - It is done before, at the right moment, and not when the other movement is already being carried out, all to produce an overtaking effect with which the opponent can be cornered.

Within the Kengan Ashura and Kengan Omega manga, this is one of the skills that only true masters can use… And Cassandra Cain possesses it in a naturalized and instinctive way. So with this she can anticipate any feint that she can predict by reading her opponents and understanding what their intentions are. Is someone going to try to counterattack a punch of hers to throw it with a judo-throw? Well, she will predict it by anticipating and counterattacking in the most optimal way not only to surprise the opponent, but to punish him.

And this goes for grappling as much as anything else.

Again I refer to the nature of comics… This ability is so powerful in H2H, but it's often poorly represented, so characters like Cass or Shiva are never really given the credit to recognize the level of something like this.

[askthefamous8]

Even if I haven't been very active lately, 9 years is still pretty significant- happy birthday to the blog!

So like Percy up there I'm gonna do so dome reflecting. This blog's where I've often done that for some reason, but here's the tl'dr for blog related stuff.

• I would like to keep drawing stuff but feeling generally unsure in myself, and I'm wondering if all the years of fandom harrassment have caught up with me • I have one big project in mind, I've been dipping my toe into what I'd need to do it. No spoilers but it was one of the first things I played around with this series, so do with that what you will • If I can keep myself drawing, I want to use more of the original source material since I'm struggling with original ideas. So stuff like redraws, hOpEfULlY even animatics, just like what originally got me so into trains yknow? Because that's fun and sparks joy. And that always goes down a treat with you guys so bonus • As always I appreciate you guys not coming after me for being so inconsistent

The rest of this is me doing what Percy's doing in the drawing and reflecting, as there is indeed much 2 think about. It's also a little sad and venty so, there's your warning there.

.

Ok so obviously a busy year, we moved into our new house that we actually own, I spent most of the year planning our wedding, and then got married. Big stuff. Also! I came off antidepressants in the summer. I've been on them for...basically as long as this blog, 6 months after I started it I think. Which also means I'd been on antidepressants my entire adult life. Feels like a big deal and I guess I'm still adjusting.

Another big thing, but sad, is that my dog died about two weeks ago. If you follow me on twitter you'll have seen her but she did make an appearance here a few Halloweens ago

I got her when she was 13 and had her 8 years after that. So that's been difficult. Unrelated to that (probably), but I just feel...really mediocre. And before you point out the obvious, this has been present even before I came off antidepressants. But yeah just... mediocrity. In myself as a person, how I look, what I draw, my whole life really (barring my marriage thankfully). What have I achieved? I'm 26, I'm not working, I don't feel well, my art isn't good (I don't think so anyway- like yeah it's technically fine I guess but it's not, and has never been, very stand-out or impressive). And lately art doesn't bring me the same joy it once did, and I'm wondering if all the years of harrassment from this fandom (mostly the twitter side, tumblr's been pretty good to me) has finally caught up with me and put me off the whole thing. Or worse, that I just don't have as much of an interest in it anymore. I don't think I'll ever be like "ok yep I'm officially done with this blog" because I'm so stubborn but idk. I want to make things and be creative, I want to make more train art, but it doesn't feel the same. I don't know what's wrong. What do you listen to? What you want vs what you feel? I still enjoy train stuff, I love going to Awdry Ex every year. It's been like this for awhile. It's not even like I have a strong feeling of what I'd rather be doing as far as careers go. And even if I did, oh yeah I'm sure my two degrees in animation will be very relevant in another field (sarcasm). I feel adrift. My sails are open but there is just no wind. Planning my wedding gave me something to do and work on and just, feel useful but now that that's over I feel lost again. Losing my dog, who had become the center of my life because of how vulnerable she had become, hasn't helped.

On the more creative side of things, I also don't really know what to do with this blog's story either. The show's ended as far as most people are concerned, and I kiiinda wrote myself into a corner because once Thomas turns 18 he's going to leave for university, and that sets off this whole arc with James but basically the problem is it involves characters leaving and for some reason that feels like a no-no here. Don't get me started on the timeline lol. But Thomas works on a railway on Sodor, that's how it has to be...right? I guess I'm sort of at a crossroads of, ok do I want this to be close to the source material, and thus easily digestible to newcombers? Or do I want to make it more and more my thing and distanced from the source material? I doubt there's many new people coming since the series ended. And even then, there's a lot more humanization artists around now than when I started, so it's not like I'm filling a niche anymore. Just to be clear it's fine and also good that there's more humanization artists, variety is good, I just don't feel as "needed" anymore (which is 100% in my head and not an actual role that belongs to me or something). I started this blog when I was 17, so my interests and what I relate to have changed obviously. The character designs certainly have. It's never followed a super rigid story plan, but the core of it has always been the central cast doing things on Sodor. I however have always had a scene/project/animatic/whatEver in mind for when this 'series' would '''officially''' ''''end''''. But then what comes after that? I've always tried to run this blog like they are Real People that You interact with. But in real life there is no ending to the story, there's always more stuff to come. You get married, and it's wonderful, and then life goes on. The credits never roll. So maybe that's what I'm having trouble coping with...the progression of time. Ah, my old nemesis. I've always had trouble with letting go of things. There's nothing to say that I couldn't still draw stuff after the series "ends". I guess any story after Thomas leaves could be like... a sequel series or a spin off or something. Spin-off of a spin-off. Famous 8 All Grown Up. Famous 8 Qurter Life Crisis. Who knows. I certainly don't.

I've also been really into an original project unrelated to this but those don't get as much attention and while I'd like to do something with it one day, I don't feel very confident in being able to make that happen right now. But you know... as far my as art not being super spectacular goes... I think my individual talent has always been is my ideas, like the writing side of things. And then brought to life with my art, which normally isn't anything to write home about but is good enough to convey the idea and be not-awful to look at, lifts both of them beyond what they were individually. Maybe that's what I should focus on. Maybe that's wishful thinking.

So....idk. Idk what I'm doing but I'm trying to be gentle on myself and just let myself continue to drift, to heal from this heavy loss, and then in the New Year I'll try and pick myself up. Then there will be no more big once-in-a-lifetime events coming up, no more just-moved-into-a-house-and-oh-no-there's-a-bunch-of-things-that-need-attention-NOW scenarios, and no more big holidays for awhile. I guess we'll see.

If you read all of this I am so sorry but also thank you for reading my ramblings. And thank you for being around, whether that's been for a few months or for several years, but especially if it's been several years

[blakbonnet]

*DRUM ROLL* This AOTW is the podfic edition of our beloved weekend celebration of great artists in this fandom, and our featured artist this week is none other than @lindie-kninjaknitter ✨ If you're a lover of podfics, you've definitely heard at least one of Lindie's 265 fics either on your commute or because their voice is just so calming. Lindie also agreed to answer some questions for me:

Let's start with the technical: what are the programs you use to create your lovely podfics?

I use GarageBand to record with a ShureMV7 microphone, and I use Audacity for processing and post on SoundCloud.

How did you get into podficcing? Is this the first fandom you've tried it for?

I got into podfic making I knew what a podfic was. The story “No One Would Riot For Less” by sacrificethemtothesquid was a retelling of season one from Ed’s POV. I couldn’t put it down. So I recorded into the Voice Memos on my phone so I could take it with me on walks. When I found out that this was something that people do, I asked the author for permission to post and they said yes, and with the encouragement of some generous kind pirates in the comments I recorded more.

What made you fall in love with narrating stories?

This is the only fandom I’ve recorded although after I did a few stories, I auditioned for some books on audible and have recorded two stories there. It was not as rewarding or enjoyable as recording fanfiction. I love that the audio out there helps people in the ways it does. Folks tell me they listen while they do boring tasks or enjoyable art or their commute. I feel like I get to sit in the corner of a room in so many peoples lives, reading these awesome stories and it makes me very happy.

Any tips for beginners who wants to give podficcing a shot?

Tips for beginners! There are some good resources on AO3, the sapphires project, tree change project… These were designed to try to support new podfic makers as well as get those stories to audio. But I think the most important thing is find a story you want to live in! Something you really, really love, and then record it on your phone or whatever you have. I didn’t have a microphone until I started Hell or High Water.

Sound quality wise the two big things you need to do are to get your voice through a recording device and onto your DAW (digital work station – mine is GarageBand) While at the same time, eliminating other noises as much as possible. Echo is not your friend so a bathroom is your worst option… a place with soft walls blankets carpet on the floor in a quiet corner works great. Or a closet.

What is your favourite podfic that you've narrated?

My favorite podfic is which ever one I’m working on right now! There are some I am particularly proud of the vocal performance. Throat G.O.A.T. stands out… Constellationism, Baddy Zaddy have such sense of place! Captive of the Pirate King was the first one in which I really felt part of a community. I’ve made… 260 so far… each one was my favorite as I worked on it!

What are your personal challenges when it comes to narrating podfics?

I always want to do more than I can reasonably actually record. In choosing one it means I’m unchoosing several others.

I have dyslexia… sometimes I cannot get into the flow of reading which is frustrating.

There are some topics and materials I find difficult to narrate. Often that discomfort is offset by many other things that I love about a story and so I will narrate them anyway.

When I am approaching difficult material, I do a lot of journaling. I take breaks. I record sentences in pieces, then stitch it together and I am pretty sure you can’t tell in the finished recording.

We have a wonderful community of narrators who are there to listen and help each other with things like this.

Why OFMD? 🥹

Why OFMD? I think the underlying story of figuring yourself out later in life really appeals to me. I see myself in many of the characters, Ed, Stede, Jim, Izzy, Lucius… This story and the crew have really helped me understand myself better… feel less broken? (Chapter 25 baby!!!) feel less of an outsider? To recognize that parts of myself that I’ve had to tone down my whole life are worthy of being loud about.

Please head on over to @ofmdlovelyletters to leave your love for Lindie 💕

[donnerpartyofone]

What was the process like for writing the novelization for Splice? Would you consider writing a novelization of an existing work again?

Eek I'm being interviewed! I'M SO FAMOUS. There are a lot of parts to this answer. The shortest answer is that I really just watched SPLICE in tiny sections every single day for a very, very long time. I had a certain version of the script to work from, but it wouldn't contain the exact things that were said and done in front of the camera (no script would), so I just studied the movie. I scanned the sets for objects I could not identify, of which there are a LOT -- things I've never seen before, and things I've seen but couldn't name -- and searched online until I learned to describe things like hay trolleys and circulating baths. To me, the point of a novelization is that it produces an interior and sensorial experience not offered by a screen, so I tried very hard to expand on the material qualities suggested by the movie.

It never once occurred to me to change anything. Apparently this is an expectation of novelizations. I had a writeup in Fangoria that was very kind about my ability to make psychological sense out of the things people do in SPLICE, but that expressed disappointment that I hadn't added scenes or anything. I'm such an inveterate, pathetic sort of rule-follower, I didn't even ask myself about this. I did change one exact thing, regarding the kind of candy that Elsa eats, because it was meaningful and amusing to me to do so, but I don't think anybody will ever get it. I also included just a little bit of material from the script that didn't make it into the movie, because it was completely in line with my psychological interpretation, which was what I was most concerned with.

I never thought of SPLICE as a perfect film, but I had a lot of thoughts about it, and I think my main contribution was to explain what these characters are thinking and feeling as they wade into this life-changing and profoundly icky experience together. That became very personal very quickly and I was a little bit afraid that maybe this would be how everyone would find out how totally insane I actually am, but I'm told that that part worked out pretty good -- by Vincenzo Natali, among other people, who is SO NICE AND SMART AND SUPPORTIVE. Best guy! When I turned in my draft to the publisher I thought there might be a little back and forth, I did not expect them to send the raw document directly to Vincenzo and I was very alarmed when I heard from him before anybody else, but I really had nothing to fear. He's one of my favorite people now.

I would definitely do another novelization. Actually I think I'm uniquely suited to this because I have a good dose of aphantasia. I didn't even know until recently that it's statistically weird to think mostly or exclusively in words and to have a very hard time visualizing, like, almost anything. When I started telling people this about myself I was asked, among other things, "How do you do anything if you can't picture what you're going to do?" And I was like, uh...I don't know. Maybe this is connected to my extreme executive problems and my problems with goal formation and followthrough. I mean I think this is true, now. And I developed this sort of half-joking self-mythology that I have to be watching movies every second of the day because I suffer from an image deficit and I need external infusions. Like even when I used to draw (trauma took that away, long story, but I drew all the time for like half my life), almost everything I ever made was swipes -- and I think they're pretty good, like it's worthy as art. But I guess for me, art has to be made out of something external that I manipulate. All the art I've ever made without a reference point has been maybe technically OK but really lifeless, you can tell something is missing. So I think the novelization process was a lot like how I used to draw, where I had a completely concrete external referent and I would just sort of tour it very extensively until I had created a twin of it out of my interpretations. And the twin is like, the same but different, it's a clone made out of feelings and reactions. I think that's a worthy sort of art object to make.

There's a thing I'm working on now that I'm sure I won't be able to talk about for a long while, but it involves writing things from preexisting sketches and prompts, and that's a little bit the same. I don't have as much to go on, but I can tell what the shape of it could be, I just turn it over like, what if it's like this, what if it's like this, what if it's like this. And I know that what I'm turning out is really made out of tropes and archetypes, it's kind of a collage, but if the collaging is really earnest and you're feeling your way along with reasonable naturalness, it can turn into something. It's not that different from describing experiences you've had, if you really think about it. The following comment is NOT MEANT TO COMPARE MYSELF TO A GENIUS but I had this nice moment of synergy recently when I rewatched Kiyoshi Kurosawa's CURE, which to me seems so forcefully unique, but in interviews he says things like, "Well I just really wanted to make an American horror movie," and talks about how his starting point was not personal at all, he just wanted to play with the established tools and ingredients people use to build a certain kind of product. And I thought, I guess that's what I do -- not as intelligently or deliberately, but I get how you can work in a way that sounds so formal and empty, and have it produce something distinctly personal.

Thanks for your fun question!

*Virginia Madsen voice* Oh yes. I forgot to tell you. BUY MY BOOK!

EDIT: Oh I kind of lied, I changed *just some of* the music that Clive listens to, to something that would be easier to communicate to a reader. Like I wouldn't use the exact band on the soundtrack because it was too obscure and specific, but I would talk instead about his genre choices because they went with what I was trying to say about him as a person. I think all of it was still pretty in line with the sounds, and the Clive, that appear in the film.

[anniesilverl2]

CHARACTER STUDY: Darkwing Duck, Representation of the superhero or the insecure man?

INTRODUCTION

Good morning / good afternoon / good evening, whatever time you are receiving this, I hope you have been keeping up with your sleep schedule, and we are back with some loose ideas for characters in an animated comedy show. I apologize for the delay, it is difficult to have good plans to express the ideas that are lingering in my poor memory. I will probably mention some of my own ideas to explain some information. So be prepared for me to hide parts of the story or make jokes with double meanings among readers and acquaintances of mine who mentioned the entire plot. Without further ado about this post for the holidays, let's face the night duck!

IMPORTANT WARNINGS ABOUT SENSITIVE CONTENT: MENTIONS OF LIKELY COPING BEHAVIORS AGAINST BULLYING OR RECURRENCES SUCH AS GRIEF AND LOW CONFIDENCE.

DARKWING DUCK SERIES - Taking everything the show SAYS for itself

Darkwing Duck, aka, Drake Mallard, is the central protagonist of the series' story along with his social circle, both family and local criminals. The series will not have a direct say as it did with the rest of the characters, no, no, that would be too much luck. A conclusion, out of curiosity, of an art project by Tad Stones and Bob Kline called “Double O Duck”. Moving on to the story before, he became a considerably clumsy crime fighter. A visual sample is given in the episode entitled.

“The Secret Origins of Darkwing Duck” was nothing more than a parody of the great Superman, but to summarize the content. The young Drake was sent to Earth by the destruction of his planet along with Negaduck where the young duck spent his time training to face the opposing duck (it's a very short summary, sorry). The parody sequence was cut, in relation to the episode “Paraducks” where Darkwing made a paradox that made his younger self need help from his older self to face a group of troublemakers and shoplifters.

Ironically, this version reunites with the continuation of his childhood to adolescence, following the episode “Crash Reunion” where they confirm that Drake Mallard himself studied and was bullied for a considerable time by the former Megavolt entity, Elmo Sputterspark. In many parts that are searched separately will complicate to a difficult level and to put together independent material is worse Going, but hold on there because I will do you a favour with the notebooks (be careful, I had to cut the technical part so as not to give away spoilers that will be used in the Purple Union AU universe).

DARKWING DUCK FANDOM - Building everything that was formed for the fans together with the most indirect interpretations perceived in my participation when writing or drawing with lore

Darkwing Duck/Drake Mallard is a character as popular as the other characters in his cast. Of course, some more and others a little less, however, both the protagonist brings enough mystery and characteristics to attract all types of writers and fans, from the series to the comics from 2010 to 2024. I also love the dynamics and stories involving Darkwing, it has the essence of 80s-90s comedy, the animation is one of the few in Disney's transition period. The story behind the character, however, is what gets me because there is nothing to deepen his life before the series and the comics. All the events that readers get are after his entire life, even more so with some rumours that make you stop and think about what exactly happened to make everything go wrong for DW.

At this point, just like Megavolt, I have some points regarding the development and carelessness of the narrative in addressing some themes. For the character Darkwing Duck, it goes much further than what is done with any other character. The character suffered from what I call the “clean formula.” Why this name? The answer is simple: it is exactly every piece that leads to a direct influence on the character’s mind, and in the next episode it is partially or totally undone to continue with the script of a single episode, which is somewhat exaggerated? Yes, my explanation makes it seem that way, but going deeper, I might be able to convince you of this point.

IN DARKWING DUCK appearing in the episodes:

Darkwing Duck - Series (1990-1991, 3-4 Seasons) -

IN DUCKTALES 2017 appear in the episodes:

The Duck Knight Returns! (Season 2, Episode 16)

Moonvasion! (Season 2, Episode 24)

Let's Get Dangerous! (Season 3, Episode 12)

Escape from the Impossible! (Season 3, Episode 13)

The Last Adventure! (Season 3, Episode 22)

IN COMICS (Boom! Studios and Joe Books):

Darkwing Duck - Series (1991-1996, 48 editions)

Darkwing Duck: "The Quackshot" (1991)

Darkwing Duck: "Danger Time" (1994)

Darkwing Duck: Classics (2011) - IDW Publishing

Darkwing Duck: "The Untimely Terror of the Time Turtle" (2011)

Darkwing Duck: "The Duck Knight Returns" (2010)

Darkwing Duck: "F.O.W.L. Disposition" (2011)

Darkwing Duck: “Toy with Me” (2011)

Darkwing Duck: "Crisis on Infinite Darkwings" (2011)

Darkwing Duck: The Secrets of Darkwing Duck (2011-12)

Darkwing Duck Annual (2011)

Darkwing Duck: "Campaign Carnage" (2011)

Darkwing Duck: Omnibus (2014) - IDW Publishing

Darkwing Duck: The Definitively Dangerous Edition (2015) - Boom! Studio

Darkwing Duck (2016-2017, 8 editions) - Joe Books

DuckTales (1988) - IDW Publishing

Uncle Scrooge (1986) - IDW Publishing

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (1991) - IDW Publishing

Disney Afternoon (2013) - IDW Publishing

DuckTales/Darkwing Duck (2019) - IDW Publishing

Disney's Hero Squad (2019) - IDW Publishing

Darkwing Duck: Justice Ducks(2024) - Dynamite

DARKWING DUCK/DRAKE MALLARD - Story adapted without extreme spoilers, just adding the changes, ideas on his biological identity and influence:

With the introduction of the character in the Ducktales universe in 2017, there were many doubts. Not only him, however the other characters in his show suffered with the drastic change, involving all the participants and some actors such as Jim Starling, the former Negaduck. Drake Mallard is also an actor, replacing the original Darkwing Duck, who was Mr. Starling. And as we know, the character tried to get revenge and regain his great role of glory. The aspects related to his family are left open regarding the relationships before Launchpad, Fenton and Gosalyn. The changes were not that many, to a certain extent the changes make the character follow the line of his development as in the original series.

Focusing on his future, while the aspects that need to evolve arrive, positively or negatively, as the character has his moments as a hero. Or, in some cases, a not very responsible personality as a night watchman and experience will seek his responsibility as the criminals appear. In the description most often used in some of my or shared ideas, it is Drake Mallard working as a member of the acting team. Either directly as a protagonist or as an employee for effects and preparation for filming, involving everything from makeup, improvisation to editing after filming. When he is no longer active in the studios, since the events of Ducktales “The Last Adventure”, Drake Mallard came into contact with SHUSH due to some missions involving local superheroes and criminals. For now, he tends to work alone to face the big personalities of Saint Canard, he was just a vigilante until the arrival of new characters that can directly affect his way of thinking or acting (for now this part will be cut, but it is related to some future AUs with my help in the main art).

One point that was added is that Drake's childhood significantly influenced many things in his life. His family, especially, and being a little more specific about HIS ABSENCE in his life story, the character here carries many mysteries about how this happened. In the past, together with Elmo, Drake was tormenting so much that he continued in the current storyline. People hardly expect anything good from him. Although, he managed to have good influences. Such as his mention of the old show, it is an idea that I add that the series was originally presented by his father before the events that gave rise to his last events. It is a case of almost hyperfocus / a fascinating on the character, even with the near-death incident for Jim Starling, who previously became an idol. The meaning behind it did not disappear, as it was the memory that gave him his true motivation, even with everyone who does not trust him or sees him as useless (remembering that he had his ups and downs and is not confirming anything). There was a difference in Drake's portrayal of the character, who carries enough for his life and dealing with situations that put him down, very different from Elmo, who carried repressed anger until he exploded in full fury. The point is that the show would have meant much more family than directly the actors involved, not disregarding the event of nostalgia. Of course, Drake is an old guy, although the notes make him about 5 years younger than the original.

DARKWING DUCK/DRAKE MALLARD - Character Design:

Concept art Vs Final Design (Credits to User Acmeoop)

Canon Redesign

DEVELOPMENT:

One fact that I note as responsible for the brief evaluation of most DWD viewers goes far beyond opinion. Even though it influenced a good part of the critics of the time and even today, with how they deal with the program as a whole and even in the approaches given to recent writers (there were some situations of writers coming and going, I recommend doing more research if you are interested in the behind the scenes). The main fact is that I reached a conclusion after reviewing the episodes in English three times, the fact is the script style of the episodes, no, no, calm down! I'm not saying that the episodes made are bad. I love every questionnaire for the writers who didn't drink too much caffeine- I love the style, the fact that I enter is considered the atmosphere of the first pilot of the show.

“Darkly Dawns the Duck” was the first episode I looked for when I still didn't know the program. I initially came from the beginning of the release of Ducktales 2017. A fact that makes me only look for the episodes to review, it is directly about the atmosphere. The first episode mixes the tone of comedy and the tone of seriousness with balance. The scenes in which Taurus Bulba appears have always had an air of villainy worthy of a film by the studio, and without a doubt one of the few in the series that challenge Darkwing Duck's inner concern. Once again, this mood returns in a tone similar to the episode “Steerminator”. My sense of production is affected due to ADHD (and in the current situation I feel like I'm going to leave with another diagnosis, so get ready to deal with an imperative or “inattentive” young woman). Without losing the point, I say that Darkwing Duck could have followed the line of these episodes. Not just the constant continuity made from the comics and double episodes, in general, it would have been a big difference if it were remade in modern times. There is a fan universe that Beatriz (@zelda-cooper) and I made called “Classic” where we redid some changes in the 1990 Darkwing Duck series. One of the main ones was the mood of the episodes, of course, there are still great moments and development thanks to the tone of the comedy and some silly moments of family banter. However, one of the main differences is in the atmosphere and some changes in the events involving the character's life against crime. In the same way that he got some moments right, there were times when he was irresponsible due to his behaviour, an example? We have directly the degradation of his relationship with the main team of the Fearsome Five, there were ugly fights, there were threats. There were also events related to the appearances of these criminals and the main point that I will mention as a bonus is his origin story, yay! So will we have a mini Drake? Yes, my child, feel free to give an excerpt of the ideas that I wrote down in the notebooks for both the shared universes and the LYG AU.

Eliane and Musson Mallard are the names I chose for the characters that represent Drake's parents. The essential information is that Eliane had a job outside the home, and it was thanks to it that she met Musson. And, let's say, this job was not the most conventional for someone looking for a quiet family. Well, here is the first step towards a stubborn personality like Drake's could have been influenced thanks to a rebellious woman after World War II. She had a job, personal items, access to difficult equipment and had such a strong personality and was committed to bringing security to people. Hm? Was it golden with a young protagonist who would confidently lead her story? Yes, Eliane was a mix of a friendly, caring personality for a person who had high confidence and a desire to find solutions. Musson, he was created taking as reference the silliest traits of Drake, the real Darkwing Duck, besides the mask, he was a goofy, clumsy, not very mature or with a sense of being a common person. I hope the small excerpt I removed is understandable. One point I tried to make is that Drake directly had or could have had the influence of a person as eccentric as his future self, but without the “Paraducks” part. In this version, it was his own parents who inspired traits of his older personality. So, where were they both in the end? Unfortunately, as a good writer and artist, we must have the courage to put the blade to the fate of OCs, like Bruce Wayne. The Mallards' deaths are unknown. Drake still doesn't remember them completely, it was right when they left. In this space, so, created the participation of another character called Dap, Daphine Mallard, who was her little brother's legal guardian during his elementary years until the end of high school, and where is she? Unfortunately, the two don't talk to each other for a small reason linked to the X of all the character's relationship conflicts, LACK of communication.

CONSEQUENCES

The only point that raises doubts and raises some questions in the minds of fans is directly related to Drake Mallard's self-destructive personality. Individuals with events marked by high stress or lack of freedom to deal with things go through many things in their lives, and this goes from reality to fiction. Mourning, bullying, low self-esteem and anxiety are the main points that I found when reviewing the character's ups and downs. Maybe it's not so obvious, I thought at first that it was just an idea in my head until I became aware of some thoughts from Darkwing's own artists and writers. Officially or from fan activities, it is an essential fact to relate to the beginning and end of a journey. The problem that marked it was exactly this jump back to the passage of the character's development, the difficulties, and traumas were not completely resolved, they still remain in the imagination and vision of the purple duck.

What makes me believe this is reviewing episodes related to the character's mind. “Dead Duck” is the most famous and once again made characters free to work on these points for the vigilante, but let’s leave my opinions aside and get to the questions. Why exactly did Drake never have the courage to properly fix his past relationships? Who did this directly affect? We see this among everyone with Morgana, their relationship is often cut short due to the recurrence of the lack of communication. Darkwing does not respect his partner’s wishes, interests, and even requests at times, and we regularly see that situations lead both her and him to embarrassment. They think that Gosalyn could escape, in reality it is the complete opposite. Gosalyn clearly carries the hero’s motivational point, his reason for being rises and returns to the fight regardless of his original state. However, “Darkwarrior Duck” is not far removed from the imagination of some and possibly of the child who had to see his father as a worse criminal than the main cast. And it is hardly said between the hero and his insane counterpart. How do they deal with this? The answer is that we rarely have direct answers in the show, and this does not fail to bring thoughts for the fans to make.

RELATIONSHIPS

In the end, Darkwing Duck is a show chosen for children, as every company does with its cartoonish characters. However, here are some things from the point of view of a slightly older fan. The main characteristic of posts like this is to bring something original from a different line. According to the observations they left, whether serious or not. Between the lines of the show, those involved in writing Darkwing Duck still brought great things that can be used in the imagination for the present day. Feel free to disagree or correct some points, just like any artist. I am open to having opinions to develop and have better results. The character's relationships vary mainly according to the author's objective. One pattern, by chance, is the perception of how much could be deepened how much Darkwing Duck relates to his family and friends. How close he is and his strengths and weaknesses, even with all the duck's appreciation for them. Also, the parallel of his personality with the fearsome ones, there are some characteristics that have a sequence of being too specific with the opposing choice, some ideas below.

CREATIVE WRITING: What ideas can be worked and how can each one fit in?

RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE SUPER VILLAINS:

The best place to start is with the lowest expectations, when there is a group against the character's difficulties. Do you remember when I said that you could explore the superhero's similarities and differences with his villains? I'll give you a less visible example: Quackerjack. The character can be a counterpoint directly related to his stubbornness and inability to change, as he gets into his mind and is seen in episodes that require dealing with new information or new relationships. The same reasoning goes for Liquidator, and his greed. The mutant's character is directly related to greed for objects, but Darkwing could very well be related to indirect greed, the accumulation of things, his interests versus the needs of others. Did the examples help? In this regard, just take the opportunity to play around with how well his dynamics can work to maintain his stability and sense of duty. At the same time that he needs to face figures that remind him how close he is to being someone as crazy as evil, he has the strength and skills to his advantage in the fight. As far as it can serve for other points, such as the degradation or approximation of their dynamics, feel free to here.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH FAMILY MEMBERS:

Gosalyn is her daughter, despite being adopted, she is everything to her character, she is her motivation, her responsibility, and the fact mainly of some episodes. Her concern for her safety, from the smallest to the biggest troubles that she follows looking for help, her only relative, Drake Mallard under the mantle of Darkwing Duck. Their dynamic has many moments of comfort and affection, as well as learning over the course of some episodes. Sometimes, will she ever grow up, and how long will it take until she wants her independence? Will Darkwing/Drake be okay knowing that she can follow in their footsteps after so many arguments? There are many approaches to be made, from the adoption process, the trust being established, to the moments when both get into arguments due to lack of communication and. Speaking directly about this, Morgana Macawber was said to be the character's final romantic partner. Having only one problem that leads to many others, does Drake trust her? Does Drake really care about trying to bring her the comfort and trust that she deserves? Of all the episodes, inconsistency, and fights more than support and support, but how would it be working on its point? Did the two resolve it? Will Drake and Morgana be sincere enough to be reciprocally boyfriends, or a step further, as married? And what is the mother-daughter relationship between the witch and the hockey troublemaker like? Dig deeper! This is the best idea to play with, and there are no answers other than those I agree with when discussing with others. The dynamic also applies to friends, they can either have access or none of your identity.

NON-INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH STRANGERS:

The point that begins another similarity with some Fearsome, this time to the beloved Bushroot, Darkwing Duck is not great at keeping things private or completely safe unless necessary. One point that marks the attention sensor is his need for approval to a significant degree. However, what would it be like for the character when there are still no people who care about him beyond the closest ones, who are his friends and family? The development of a prepared hero is when he recognizes his ability as a guardian for people, but still knows what is important to keep everyone safe. Well, those he can reach, remember the brief end of Bud Flud, right? Of course, there wouldn't be all the responsibility of the character, however… if Darkwing Duck was responsible for some problem or mistake to someone innocent? How much would the common people not pull his feet? If all the attention and admiration he wanted to get were enough to make him worried and even panic about having his head on the news posts, “Is Darkwing Duck truly an ally or a threat to propagating these lunatics with powers?” Don't be afraid to be creative or a little dramatic, it is a point that allows for many points to be explored regarding the common personality and how one or the other influences the fate of Drake Mallard.

INTERESTING REFERENCES FOR YOU TO PICK YOU TO PICK UP FOR THE CHARACTER

Batman / Bruce Wayne of DC Comics

The Shadow of Detective Story Hour

Blitzo "Blitz" Buckzo of Helluva Boss

Rose Quartz / Pink Diamond of Steven Universe

CONCLUSION

For now, that's all, I got tired of editing again and, along with that. Unfortunately, I was out of ideas of how to organize this, especially having to remove all the points that gave too much revelation to the story in planning. I hope I have answered your request well enough, what do you think of the next Liquidator being? I have some ideas for revamping the future post. Leave your opinions open, I would love to see what you think of this clumsy vigilante, see you? BYE-EEEEE!

[myfandomrealitea]

Do you consider “cntw” or maybe “this may contain upsetting material” kind of warnings a valid one, as in it’s a “here be dragons” kind of thing?

Theoretically yes. (It is valid at face value, but I personally have a more nuanced view to tagging and content warnings.)

Technically no author has to include warnings (unless its AO3 and you're required to either use the given warning labels or choose 'chose not to use warnings') however there's a nuanced symbiosis with readers and authors, and if your deliberate intention is to put your art, especially triggering or traumatic art, out into the public, I believe you should be offering at least minimal safeguards for the people who may come across it.

'This may contain upsetting material' could mean anything from 'someone gets a medical procedure in this fic' to 'midway through the fic the MC is brutally kidnapped, raped, sold into human trafficking and tortured for years.'

Personally, vague warnings for content is fine over-all, but if I myself was going to be writing something extremely graphic or triggering, or if the 'content' in question made up the majority of the work, I'd offer additional warnings in some form. I know a lot of authors don't want to spoil future content or plots, but you could make an external document or Carrd page or spoiler-titled chapter with some warnings and information for those who are being cautious about their reading experience while also giving those who do not want to be spoiled the option of simply not looking.

Things like this are why I kind of hate the AO3 subreddit a little, because they get incredibly bullheaded about the blanket 'no obligation' rule. And while its true that authors have no obligations to their readers, its also true that people cannot actually do things like 'curate their own experience' or 'don't like don't read' if they never actually know what they're looking at until it turns into piss kink or domestic abuse midway through.

"I don't have to" become a kind of shitty stubborn tagline. If you actively want other people to read your stories and engage with you, you kind of have to also co-exist with those people. A lot of the time when I see people complaining about low engagement I check their works and the summaries are poor, they don't tag, and they don't use warnings.

To go back to my old Salmon Analogy, its kind of like warning for an allergy. You can choose to tell people that your dish may or may not have salmon. And you can choose to say no instead of telling them it has salmon. But then you can't be surprised or upset if they refuse to eat it or if they get pissed off because they wound up in hospital after eating it.

Ultimately, it is entirely up to you, the author, on how you present your work to the public, bu that also means accepting the results of those choices afterward. In the same way the reader is obligated to accept responsibility for choosing to read that work regardless of limited warnings or no warnings. However I personally find its just more effective over-all to be upfront about what a work contains.

As a reader, you should err on the side of caution and take CNTW or vague warnings at face value and assume the worst. Because the author isn't directly saying the content of the work is extreme, but they're also not saying it isn't. And if you suspect a lake may be infested with hungry crocodiles, you just don't jump into it.

[buwheal]

[You've Got Mail!]

You can now send your favorite salesman emails!! YAY!!

Here's some rules and information about the askbox.

First and foremost;

I will not answer every single ask. Sometimes I just cant do anything with it that will work realistically with the perimeters of the world, and I apologize!! Its nothing against you guys!!

(Unless you break the rules ofc.)

So if you dont see yours after a long while, it’s probably something that wont work, sorry! You can always send it again for a second try or send more than one ask whenever and see if that one works instead!

Besides that, here’s the rest of what you need to know!

[RULES] :

Spamton can only talk through the computer, so dont send asks that have a physical interaction!! Sorry! Thats just how i decided to set up the world/situation, and is not really anything against you guys :-)

(more of a request than a rule tbh) Preferably try to send real questions or statements. most "joke" asks are funny, but are surprisingly hard to create an in character response for. You can still send joke asks if you really want to, just dont always expect an answer X-P (i.e. asks that contain nonsense,, you can still be funny and make regular jokes, and i should probably specify that, but things that are like "you look like a worm" or smth i have no clue what to do with lol)

I know he may be a personification of spam emails... BUT DONT SPAM!!! It clogs the askbox and is a real pain!! You can send him more than one ask, though, as long as you arent repetitively sending a ton in a short burst!! Send as many as you'd like as long as they dont qualify as spam.

Dont be overly sexual or romantic, please! Even "As a joke". I dont like Spamton like that and it makes me uncomfortable, and I can't really answer that in character in a way that wouldnt provoke more of that. (You can be a flirt, but not much more than that.) Thank you!!

Be respectful and patient!! I am just one person doing everything, and this got far more popular than anticipated, so i will take a long time. I try my best to get at least one out every other day but i'll need breaks eventually!!!

I cannot give/spawn/materialize things for/to Spamton if you ask because of the way it’s set up. You are really just lines of text from a computer to Spamton, BUT... You can still do a lot if you think outside the box. or,, errr,, outside the computer. More like IN the computer. Kind of. Your words and your actions affect him and his reactions to you, so word it correctly and you can get him to do something or say something. Hes not stupid though, and he CAN usually tell when your intentions are... less.. than good.

Try not to do RP as other characters please.(Thats my job…!) I literally have no idea what to do with them and i feel bad leaving them in there :frown:

[INFORMATION] :

(Optional read :-P )

[YGM!] is technically an AU!!! not only do the events of the game not occur, but this is also set before then!

Asks are put out one a day, regardless if i have more than one, UNLESS i need to connect two(or more) to complete one event. Or i feel like it. a little treat.

I am one person doing every ask and every unique frame of art, so expect 1 ask (If youre lucky, two) maybe every other day Monday-Friday depending on my workload per day.

This is just for fun!! I am using the askbox to exercise my drawing consistency, Spamton's personality, and the way he speaks and responds to different situations! This is a way I am using to improve my understanding of him as a character, so it wont be always consistent as I am growing and learning!

Just a little disclaimer, he WILL be mean. He is a sour, nasty, grumpy, bastard and I am absolutely not opposed to him responding as such. Just keep that in mind when sending an ask if you dont want that!

If you want a common outcome, talk to other people about it! go crazy! I dont mind long threads on my posts if you want to create a plan. Infact, I can even help and tell you things occasionally!!

What you say to him DOES and WILL affect the way he responds. It is possible to regain his trust, but still a little hard. He is not a trusting person to begin with and being mean certainly doesnt help. BUT.. I am not opposed to being mean. Infact, they are quite fun to do. Either way is entertaining for me, so do as you will. YOU can choose to hurt or help him, because it’s basically always reversible in a way.

Using tone tags, while not required, are really helpful and assist me in understanding the intention in your ask if you think it may be interpreted another way! (i.e. sarcasm) :-)!!

I pick and choose asks depending on his situation, or if i have a good idea for a response, so you may need to wait a bit before i can get to yours!! Ones that i have an idea for take priority, especially when its to progress a scene. Or, alternatively, i am saving your ask for something i have planned.

I WILL reuse frames and poses to get these out faster and for my convienence :-) especially for the frames where there is no need to change his pose! So like.. dont think too hard about it lol.

Also, i prefer if you specify if the ask is for me /or/ Spamton. I do still do normal asks!! If its for me, just let me know!! I can usually tell, but most asks will be interpreted as for Spamton. I appreciate ones that start with his name before said thing is asked/stated specifically!! (i.e. "Spamton, __ __ __")

I wont be consistent with the way its answered. Sometimes it's one panel, sometimes its a couple panels, or sometimes they're animated gifs!! It varies depending on what i feel, so if youre lucky you can get a gif, lol. Those take longer usually though. Ive mostly switched to a gif format rather than multiple panels in a comic style, because its much easier to view! The animation quality can vary :-)

Thats about it!! Have fun!! ^_^