#I queue most art posts after liking them

[ambeer6]

Things in your likes also don't die, because you can visit your likes and look at those posts whenever you want. Just think for a moment if you want to let others see the post or not and decide from there whether you want to reblog or just like it!

Once more for those in the back.

[kyri45]

✨ShadowPeach Bio Parents Bio AU Q&A! 12/09✨

Welcome to the Q&A! A space where I can answer related or similar question about the Shadowpeach Bio Parents AU! If you submitted your ask anonimously, then you’ll have to check the whole post if it’s answered here, if it’s not, worry not! Your asks might have been used for a future comic or just in the queue~

@snsp6 I really hope that this won’t change MK’s view on his bio dads :( Anonimo Hello! Wanted to ask or more so I am wondering, will MK start seeing Wukong differently after finding out he literally killed Mac and even after seeing their past and how close they were, dam the trauma, anyhoo I love your art and the Shadowpeach bio parent au! Keep up the great work! >:D

Oh it will. (In a good way? a Bad? that's for me to know and for you to wait a week to know)

@hopefulbelievertimemachine Imagine if MK found someone who recently found out that they were a demon and he comforts them cuz he had a similar experience.

Oh that would be sooo wholesome!!! It's one of my fav trope when there's another character who go throught the same exact thing as another character and the two of them bond over this.

@zammy357 Hello, hope your day/night is going well. I wanted to ask since me and a friend like your bio parents blog and wanted to know if we can use it for an arc? Our blog is called @amnesia-wukong-au. We wanted to ask before we started doing it.

Hi!! Yeah sure as long you tag me and the masterpost of the shadowpeach au

Anonimo Wait what is a glamour (in context of Sun Wukong and Macaque)

A glamour is a magic spell that changes/cover your appearance. Like in the show macaque should technically have 6 ears. for animation purposi I guess they are not drawing all of them, but we say he uses a glamour also for covering his scarred eye.

@clueless-simp ha chiesto: What if PIF, BDK, Sun Wukong, and Macaque (and most definitely Mei) did a "parent trap" tactic to get MK and Red Son together? Setting things up, getting them alone together, pretending they are all busy, and the only option is for them to spend time together under the sunset XD XD XD

Oh no that would end bad. like-comically bad.

@honeylavender27 ha chiesto: Imagine red realizing mk doesn't know about court napping and just invites him over one day. Red son: so I'm sure your wondering why I invited you here.. Mk: yeah it's kinda weird you didn't want Mei to come. Is everything ok? Red: perfect actually, I'll explain everything just enter here first please. Mk: oh ok -walks into the prepared courtnapping room and gets locked in-.....uh red? Redson: consider yourself courtnapped...

Ahah poor MK. I think they would make a disastrous courtnapping that would be the equivalent of the phrase "task failed succesfully"

@artgurusauce ha chiesto: ARGGGHHHH, they're SO CUTE! I love your bioparent AU so much! Altho I am wondering: When MK turns back to normal would he retain some subconscious paternal attachment to our ol boys here? Maybe he even calls Macaque "Mom" without realizing it...

@blazerratbluefire-blog ha chiesto: Plot twist of the century for the oblivious monkey men. MK remembers ~everything~ when he was a cub! I'm not sure if that is what is planned, but! It would be really funny! Especially if he just calls Macaque 'Mama' all casual and just walks away. While Macaque EXP. has crashed and is rebooting. Gosh, that would be so cute! I absolutely love your artwork, by the way! It is so adorable!

Can't answer yet. He does NOT have memories, but he will remember ONE thing...

@daniellemarvel4 Hi, fist off I love your work and can't wait to see what you do next! I was wondering who is more protective of MK when it comes to Red Son? Whether that would be Pigsy, Wukong, Macaque, or even Tang (mabye Mei but I don't think she could stay serious long enough). Also, can we see what Sandy's doing?

mmmmmm---- I think Wukong. Freenoodle is pretty chill with the DBK family after everything that happened. Mac is also quite alright since he was always in good relationship with them. I would say Wukong would just want to be sure his kid doesn't get hurt by the fire in any way

Anonimo I've been squealing, grinning, and kicking my feet going through the Shadowpeach Bio parents AU. Baby MK has been SO CUTE and fun. I wonder if he's going to remember or be embarrassed about it. Another part of me hopes that river is still in play so Sun & Mac can fall in and suddenly MK and everyone has 2 chaotic super-powered Baby Monkeys to take care off 😭 😭 😭

Anonimo ha chiesto: I almost cried they are sooo cute. I hope that we get more sweet family content. Loving the comic thanks for making it 💕💕💕💕

Anonimo ha chiesto: I don’t want the cure to work ! Or could it be like that: MK is such a powerful being that the Dosis Pif gave them, just wasn’t strong enough. Instead it only aged MK up a bit so now he is a small kid or a teenager but not a grown ass money man again. I am not ready to leave the monkey family stuff behind 🥺

unfortunately the river has been close untile further notice. (dw this wont be the end)

@cutvdo ha chiesto: Mei bribing Red Son with baby MK pictures

@luciferapollyon ha chiesto: I hope Mei, Red Son, Macaque and Wukong all got pics before they turned MK back

Anonimo ha chiesto: DHJSJDJDH LIL BABY BEAN! I wonder if Wukong and Macaque took any pics of lil MK while he was smol baby? She would keep them and use them as blackmail. (affectionately)

Anonimo ha chiesto: Your shadowpeach bio parent au is just perfect!! Thankyou for feeding the fandom with the nectar of the gods!!! Especially the one where mac slips into the bed after wukong waits all night. Like Mac would wake up in the morning and see him fast asleep and think of Peng asking 'is there anything Wukong could do that would break his hold over you?' and just seeing him at his most vulnerable right now he's like 'no, not when he always gives me a reason to stay.'

MY HEART

@queen-of-purple-roses Wait if MK is experiencing Macaque’s memories then does that mean that Macaque can experience MK’s? Are they able to dive into each other’s minds?

So the thing is that MK is hearing the past from both POVs. Macaque by definition can hear ANYTHING so yeah he could definitely experience MKs memories. But the thing is-does he want to? I headcanon that his future-present-past hearing abilities are something he only used a couple of times, and because what he heard from them was so traumatic, he decided to NOT use them again (like wukong laser eyes)

@sillygothpartykid ha chiesto: I know everyone is asking you to make the gay monkeys kiss but I actually like how you are developing their relationship. You letting them work through their problems and feeling first giving us that sweet, sweet slow burn! Love your art btw!❤️❤️❤️

awwww ty!!!! yes pls slow burn for life.

@kraytherandomchick ha chiesto: Hey, love your ShadowPeach AU! (Started rereading it after crying from the season 5 finale hehe :'D) But there's always something that's kinda stuck in my head, if MK's no longer immortal, would Macaque or Wukong get sad at the thought of getting older and forced keep going without him?

So- *sigh* technically, we don't really know MK immortality status. it's a grey area for now. Because on one side, he's a stone monkey, who, by nature like Wukong, can perfectly age and grow like a normal monkey. On the other hand, he's technically died already, and by the time he was created by Nuwa, both his biological fathers were already immortal (Wukong bc yes, Macaque because he's a demon, and he can die from wounds and illness, but can't age)

So to answer: we don't know yet what's with him. we will see (I promise that)

@lmk4ever ha chiesto: I LOVE THE SHADOW PEACH BIO PARENT AU SO MUCH!! Mk boi is so lucky to have a artist like you and fathers like them. I want to ask, will shadowpeach ever get into a fight out of anger in front of Mk? Or did they moved on from that phase?

If they will fight it will be more of like- the 2 dads grounding MK. If they need to fight they learned that they need to go on another mountain to do it so they don't bother their child

Anonimo ha chiesto: Will we get a traffic light trio ship?

Probably not, but I'm all for dragonfruit/spicynoodle and having MK and Mei NOT dating each other at the same time.

@yuk1yun ha chiesto: If lmk season 6 isn't like your au, then I don't want to watch it

BRUH THAT'S THE NICEST THING I HEARD ALL WEEK

@conniescialla ha chiesto: HIIII!! ok scusa l'italiano ma letteralmente trovare artisti italiani ispira sempre quel momento patriottico alla YES ONE OF US MUAHHAHAH Scherzi a parte, il comic Shadowpeach bio parents Au è meraviglioso, si approva soprattutto l'hurt/comfort ;p

Tanti kudos!!<3

AAAAHHH CHE BELLO UN ALTR* ITALIAN*!!!!!

Anonimo ha chiesto: I really wanna see jelous wukong!!!!!! I dunno maybe some random demon trying to flirt with emo monkie or something and wukong is like oh hell no!! He is mine!! I think it would be so cute

he would become incredibly possessive and start hissing and growling like a tiger. NOBODY TOUCHES MY SOFT PILLOW

Anonimo ha chiesto: I think it would be so cute if Wukong would take care of sick Macaque! It would show Macaque that Wukong changed and is no longer like he was before. I wonder if Macaque got sick, would MK help or would Macaque be too stubborn to let anyone know.

I know everyone says Wukong is this great sage with incredible abilities in every field (and he is) but I would like to imagine that, since he needs to do these thing for Macaque specifically, he's so stressed over the fact he needs to do them perfectly that he fucks up lmao.

Like, he would try his best to take care of him and almost burn the kitchen in the meantime, while Macaque was only hoping the two of them could just stay more in bed cuddling each other

Anonimo ha chiesto: im just imagining Mac getting anxious becouse he cannot find baby MK and Wukong is there to calm him down

@shadowpeachera ha chiesto: Heyy I absolutely love your shadowpeach bio au, the drawings, the text its perfect! Did Mk every run off or get into trouble now that he’s a cub or even play games with Wukong and Macaque like hide and seek? That would be really cute. I can imagine them playing hide and seek while Mk discovers he can make shadow portals, meanwhile his parents are stressing and scared as they have no idea where he is.

i think both of them would freak out.

WAIT I HAVE THE PIC I HAVE THE PIC

I'VE BEEN SAVING THIS PIC SINCE 2017

@nyx-daughterofchaos98 ha chiesto: Hi! For LMK, I watched a nature documentary on Monkeys the other day and a lot of monkeys correct each others behavior by doing something called “Disciplinary Nips” or “Discipline Bites” (This isn’t a sexual ask I promise) I think it would be absolutely hilarious, if Macaque and Wukong are napping together, and for whatever reason, Wukong keeps moving around, unable to get comfortable. And in his sleep-riddled state, Macaque gets annoyed and bites him. 🤣 Like; I’M TRYING TO SLEEP! KNOCK IT OFF! 🤣🤣🤣 And when Wukong does stop moving, Macaque does actually fall asleep. Even better is if Macaque wakes up and has absolutely No Idea he bit Wukong because he was half asleep at the time. Or he thinks it was a dream and ensue the shenanigans when he realizes it wasn’t.

OMG THAT'S SO CUTE AND SILLY AAHHHH!!! EVEN BETTER: what if they do this without noticing BEFORE they are like-actually romantically back together, and someone sees the mark bites AND THEY START TO ASSUME CERTAIN THINGS BRUH.

@tabs-tabi-tabby  Can Macaque help with MK’s clones? Or would that be Wukong’s area?

MK can't make the same clones macaque has. He can control a little bit his own shadow, and use that as a clone. so as long as it's his own shadow, it's more Mac area, if it's his own hair clone then it's Wukong's

@startdustmonkie ha chiesto: Does Mk and or Wukong know about Savage and Rumble? (If so how did they find out about them?) — (also: do Savage and Rumble see Mama macaque as a parent?)

@mushrum-soup ha chiesto: Hi just wanted to say I absolutely adore your shadow peach au it's literally the highlight of my week 💖I was wondering tho are rumble and savage just shadow clones in your au or similar to their Lego counterparts :O?

Yes they know about them. No they aren't his kids let's say. My own personal headcanon for the Au (or the show in general) is that they are both Macaque shadow, like- clones with a little bit of personality just like MK clones represent specific parts of his personality. He has 2 of them because he lived 2 lives, one before and one after he was brought back to life.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Just read the latest Shadowpeach bio kid comic, and i cant help but giggle a bit at how MK’s chirp woke Wukong and Macaque up lmao just the “and they snoozing- OH SHIT BABY CHIRPING WHATS WRONG-“

HE IS BABYYYY

@hellobur ha chiesto: Did you base when mk was reaching fr macaque after he was walking away because mk called him mama after this or was it a funny coincidence (mk also doe the pose but I can't find it lol)

Also I absolutely love this story and your art your work is incredible! ^^

Omg LMAO NO I DIDN’T BUT NOW IT’S 100% MORE FUNNY

@dragonaboni-blog ha chiesto: Hi! First off, I love your art and your Shadowpeach AU, it's the reason I'm reactivating my own Tumblr account lol One of my favorite tropes in this story is "A gets sick and B takes care of him" so I'm wondering… What would that trope be like in the AU? What would the monkey trio be like when they got sick? Do any of them sleep through their illness? Or are any of them extremely dramatic like "These will be my last words…"? CoughcoughWUKONGCoughcough

Aaahh I’ve seen a lot of asks asking this one but honestly I don t know If I’ll ever draw that trope. Maybe bc Wukong should technically have canonically too much knowledge about general illness to be worried about normal daily life illness. If it was something more life-threating. Maybe yes, but I still have to cook.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Counterpoint: wukong can't handle spicy foods because he has no impulse control and his monkee brain wants him to only eat fruit and peaches

Ouch. Yes that seems about accurate for him lmao

Anonimo ha chiesto: About the lmk bio au.... we have seen that MK can manipulate certain parts of his body in the 72 transformations... so..... Wukong and Macaque could technically have children.

I’ll be 100% honest I have no idea if stone monkeys are…fertile?

Anonimo Hey there! I am in love with your art. LMK is something that came into my life recently and damn I love it so much! Love your AU, and I can't wait to see more of it. Funnily, since the baby MK incident I imagine this later on becoming a somewhat spark of many funny arguments later on. What I mean is I see baby MK has a favorite parent (*cough-cough* MacCRACK *cough-cough*) [Sorry with the name joke, couldn't help myself]. XD. And I imagine Wukong be a bit jealous at times and go 'Anything you can do I can do better XD' Also see lovely Redson have a thing for MK, and then I imagine him ask his parents about advice on pursuing his crush. "So who is the lucky girl?" "Well, you already know him-" *Spits out water* "You got yourself a husband?" "What, no I haven't yet-!"

Aww I don't think MK would have a favourite but definitely there are times where he wants one parent more than the other (play time with Wukong, nap time with Mamacaque)

Anonimo ha chiesto: Yknow what they say… like father like son! In the sense that they’re all gay /j

Oh yeah absolutely it's genetic/j

@wolfasketch ha chiesto: Mac being on the sunny side and Wuwu being in the shadows

I know I'm looking into it too much but- AHHH!!!

That was unintentional but HOLY SIT U R RIGHT

Anonimo ha chiesto: Poor Red Boy never got to see baby MK! Imagine him just staring at the adorableness that is baby MK and being like 'I hope our future children look just like you OH MY GODS YOU'RE ADORABLE'. Baby MK: :3

Their child will literally be Kai from Ninjago so I guess THEY ARE RIGHT HE WILL BE

Anonimo ha chiesto: And then MK will wake up back to normal, confused, but proud that he managed to get them even closer?

100% yes

@drowning-in-webnovel-chapters ha chiesto: I can't imagine how the monkey dads are gonna try to go back to sleep after that, oof. Also Wukong definitely knows all that from when he used to help Macaque through visions, right?

Yup! He does indeed!

Anonimo ha chiesto: I’m guessing MK is getting a mini version of Macaque’s “can hear the past/present/future” thingy, did he managed to hear it accidentally or was he trying to learn more about his powers/Shadowpeach’s past ?

Yes, he was just wondering since last time that he found the sleeping cuddling with him, what exactly happened for them to rift away. Guess curiosity killed the cat

@aurabooboo ha chiesto: So. I'm rewatching season 5, right? I noticed that they almost had a yelling match with MK right in the middle. Would Wukong apologize to him for that?

These 3 have so much to talk about… i wont draw everything, but they definitely apologised offscreen.

@elianaroselight ha chiesto: It is quite telling how Wukong immediately knew what to do to help calm MK, but also, Macaque coming in with the perspective of having gone through it himself. The need for them to remain close by and wait until Mk is asleep before trying to leave. This means Mac has been through exactly what he is telling them not to do and knows the pain, sorrow and trauma that comes from feeling abandoned like this. They may be facing their past hurting their own kid through proxy and try to help him fight against the trauma. Luckily they have good people to help when they themselves can't. *looks at Freenoodles*

Yup! Their response is exactly related to what they do to calm the other!

@thenerdycupcake ha chiesto: So, does MK’s gold vision combine with his hearing sometimes so that he sees some of what he’s hearing from the past?

Oooohhh i guess he does! So he can literally see and hear the past!

@frogsfandoms ha chiesto: Omg why can I see after MK wakes up he thinks that it isn’t the past he’s hearing and that it actually just happened. Rushing to see if Wukong and Macaque are hurt and or trying to stop them from fighting 😭😭😭

Oohhh our baby still doesn’t want to believe it actually happened :(

Anonimo ha chiesto: Adult MK: OH MY GOD A SPIDER *desperate scared monkey noises* Baby MK: what's this? A 5 starts meal? *Tries to chomp said spider* He's gonna be sooo disgusted when someone tells him he tried to eat one fkdkdlfmfl

Oh poor MK. He’ll be teased about this for the rest of his days.

@sailera ha chiesto: Hello I have question about you Shadowpeach bio dads au- How would Pigsy react that his only employee turned to a baby? And hadn’t answered his phone in few days? Also love your art!! And your ISAT comic got me again interested in playing Sky ✨

Mk only became a baby for like- 20 hours. Mei told him that he stayed at FFM because he was ‘tired after training’. As of now Pigsy didn!t found out

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

That's all for this week! Thank you a lot for all the asks!

[bunnithechubs]

Episode 10 - A-R-T pt 1/3

We kick off episode 10 at the Art Gallery for a mini solo date for each bachelor! I picked 3 random friendly interactions and left them alone and then about halfway through their time I queued up 3 random romantic interactions. The rest of the time was all autonomous! Nothing too crazy happened this time around cause production was watching closely after the Raiden incident. Since this was a mini solo date most of the guys were WAY more affectionate with Penny than I thought. However, Penny did randomly queue up "child talk" with Darius and I just know he was GAGGED. Girl you thinking about babies after he gave you that good lovin, huh? Raiden still played hard to get but Penny was tired of his bs and just kissed him. He liked that a lot ;) The rest of the boys just loved on Penny (as they should) and she got more horny the more dates she went out. Our girl is on another level, like babes give yourself a rest! Next post will be the challenge! See ya tomorrow loves :3

(sorry for lack of editing... i got exhausted after date #7 ;-; )

[hermitadaymay]

That's a wrap!

An enormous thank you to everyone who created, donated, or even just enjoyed the art for the month! This was truly an event like no other before it. Doc shouted us out in two videos. Joe reblogged Juppet Little Mermaid. And we raised $1,222 for Gamers Outreach in a totally fan-run fundraiser! That's more than a third of all the purchase, assembly, delivery, and running costs for a GO Kart!

Final shoutouts

Not Alice (who will be receiving a commission reward!), sefif, Kat, and blabberwock all donated on the final day of the fundraiser!

And thank you once again to the rest of the 32 individuals, plus anons, who donated this month! Whether you donated one dollar or a hundred, I promise all your contributions were seen and appreciated.

What's next?

While the event itself has come to an official close, there's still more to be done in this next month:

After a short break, I will begin the June Queue, automatically reblogging all missed or late submissions at a queue rate of 30 per day. As I will not be leaving specific commentary on any June Queue post, I encourage everyone else to keep leaving kind words for the artists in the comments and tags :)

Rae will be finishing up the commission rewards over the next couple weeks - keep an eye out for them!

Maybe most excitingly, Belmarzi will be starting work on an 80-second animatic in celebration of reaching our $1,200 milestone! It might take a while, but we'll keep you all in the loop, I promise.

Once all that's well settled, probably in July or August, I'm going to be releasing another survey to hear what you thought about this event and what you want to see for next year. But you don't need to wait until that to send me your thoughts! Please ping me in any wrap-ups or retrospectives you post, and feel free to send me asks with any other thoughts you'd like to share (though I will say ahead of time not to worry about me; I will have another mod next year :P )!

Thank you

It's been an honor and a pleasure to hold this event and celebrate the Hermits with all of you for the second year in a row. As always, you can reach me at any time through the year in the inbox, on my main blog @as-if-unreal, or through the Welsknight Patreon discord.

With all the love,

-Mod Luna

[skyrislunaflower]

I Love Us

Honestly, I'm so, so very glad AvA is the first fandom I've actually been an active participant in.

LONG RANT INCOMING

Throughout the years, I have "been in fandoms", but I never felt like posting my own art or works, commenting on vids (i didn't have a youtube account back then, still don't), or being anything other than a silent observer.

Back in March, when I came home from that math competition, and found AvMath in my recommendeds, and just clicked on it, I did not expect to get dragged into a fandom about stick figures, of all things. I remember watching AvPhysics directly after, then finding "Wanted", and watching it with no context. I remember going to the wiki, seeing all of the content that was made, and and binging AvM and the actual shorts and literally everything else.

And most of all, I remember thinking, "I wish I could just erase all of this from my mind and experience the magic all over again."

-

In May, I took a chance and went to Ao3. I knew it was a site to post fanfiction, but it had never been something I was interested in. But I was just curious, to see if fanfiction about this amazing fandom really existed. I didn't have an account, no; I think I just wanted to see.

There were about 1600-1700 fics on there about AvA, during that time. I didn't know how hits worked or kudos worked, but I just remember scrolling down until I could find something that looked like a lot of people had liked it.

And even then, I clearly remember the first fic I touched. "Identity", by LeenaFreeBird (I'll link it at the bottom). I absolutely loved it. I spent the rest of the month simply reading, and consuming all of the cool hcs, learning what fan terms meant, having an idea for my own fic that I thought, back then, I could never write.

Because I didn't.

I never made an account or wrote. I never left comments because part of me though people without an account wouldn't be able to, and that was just habit, at this point.

And even though I stepped slightly away from there in the months of June and July (we were in the process of moving halfway across the country, I had just watched the new Demon Slayer season, and upon recommendation had binged all of Haikyuu in a week), I always made sure to keep updated on whatever new AvA/M videos had been posted.

In August, I went back on Ao3.

SO MANY AMAZING FICS HAD BEEN WRITTEN IN THE SPAN I WAS AWAY.

I remember binging all of them for the month. I sat alone at lunch (as I was new I didn't have any friends), just reading them on my phone and getting sucked back into there.

In September AvI began. On a whim I logged back into my tumblr account that I had made like 5 years ago in 4th grade to post random rambling stuff about my life (I tagged nothing but my username wth), and redid my entire blog. I was sooo happy when one of my posts reached 100 notes.

I felt way stronger, and way braver. I joined the invite queue for Ao3, because I decided I DID want an account, and I DID want to post my own fics.

And everyone was (and is) SO NICE about it. They love my fics and posts (which I still consider really crappy, btw) to pieces, and always give me good comments. Even my bad fanart (another thing I got the courage to post during this time). Shipping wars never happen here (if they did, I wouldn't know about it). Rarepairs are appreciated, and we unanimously know the ships that should be completely illegal (not naming ship names here).

Everything and everyone is loved, and this is like the one little corner of the Internet where mostly all is safe and your opinion is valued. Sure, your fan theory may be wrong, but people here don't go and tell you "that's so stupid lol, no way that's true". They'll give you actual feedback, explain the evidence that falsifies it, or add to it because they like it.

Even on YouTube, if someone posts a yellue ship video, for example, they'll get hate, or "the color quad are just siblings lol", or "they r stickmen why are u shipping them". If someone HCs Blue as a girl (ik that's been debunked where we are at rn), they'll get a comment saying "it's stickman for a reason".

Like, let people have their opinions. Alan has never confirmed the color quad as siblings, or their origin story. I know he has said that he would like to avoid romance by not making female characters, but it's not like the people who ship yellue or grapeduo barge up to his door and demand he makes it canon. They're just peaceful, and everything that you're saying is fanon. For all we know, four different animators could have collabed on the sticksfight website and each animated a different character (not saying that's true, but we don't know).

And even with hollowhead pairs. Alan created them, yes, but how does Creator transfer to father in this scenario? We don't know, because he hasn't confirmed the hollowheads as siblings either. They still get hate on YouTube.

But Tumblr just loves everyone. The AvA community, for example, will always make you feel like you posted something good. They lift you up, not put you down. They appreciate your headcanons because it provides a new way of looking at things.

They appreciate you.

I feel so much better about putting myself out there, and I know I will do so more in the future. I now cannot comprehend how someone can see all of this content and think "they are just stick figures". No they aren't. They are stick figures with trauma, feelings, pain, heroic qualities, fatal flaws.

You, tumblr, makes me feel this way.

Thank you so much.

(I did not expect to rant about my entire journey when I was supposed to be talking about how amazing the AvA tumblr fandom is, but now that I have I'll just keep it. Here's the fic I was talking about)

[twiniverse]

Temple Redesign for Twiniverse fan project thingy

Since I'm redoing a lot of old pages, it's probably time to update the Temple Fusion. Considering it's just an Obsidian made with Rose, Pearl, Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis... and then I just took out Jasper's gem and added Amethyst and Ruby... that's kind of boring. She's beautiful imo but she's just not unique to Twiniverse.

Sooooo I'm going to be redesigning her. And her name will be Onyx, based on black onyx with white and golden markings. She'll have some kind of crown that has both Pearl and Peridot's gems... and I'm thinking of maybe making her somewhat... cryptid-ish? Like a mothman kind of thing but less... animalistic?

Anyway I'm telling y'all this because... I am not good at designing monsters lol. That's a big reason I didn't redesign Obsidian to begin with. Soooooooooo what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna ask you guys for ideas.

This is not a contest. There will be no prizes. But I WILL reblog every "entry" and show them off later in a livestream.

Just kind of a fun thing. I most likely won't choose any one design, it will just really help me solidify a design by having lots of new ideas from fans!

All you need to do is make a post with your ideas, which can be something you've drawn or just a bunch of reference pictures and a description of what you think Onyx would look like. She does NOT have to be based on Obsidian or the Twiniverse Obsidian. She also does NOT have to have any design components I mentioned above (the crown, the cryptid thing, etc). Just whatever you personally feel like the fusion would look like =)

@ me in the post and tag it 'twiniverse' and I'll add it to a list of all the ideas I've got! And when I start getting the feeling I've gotten an idea of what the final product will be I will do a livestream and feature all of the suggestions as I work on the concepts for Onyx.

Just as a reminder, here are the five components! (Technically six lol). The outfits aren't important, so don't feel like you have to tick too close to them. And, just in case you want it, here's the OG Twiniverse Temple, but remember any design you might have does NOT need to be based off of this.

I just thought this all would be fun! Something to let people feel like they're apart of Twiniverse in some way. I understand that without prizes a lot of people won't want to join, and that's completely fine. I get it! And I won't be upset whether I get "entries" or not.

Thank you all once again for your patience and all that jazz. I'm trying to still be active even while I'm swamped with a million other things, and throwing myself into Art Fight on top of it, lol. Love all my followers! See you soooooon!

(AND IF I DON'T GIVE YOUR POST A LIKE/REBLOG AFTER A FEW DAYS PLEASE MESSAGE ME, I MAY HAVE MISSED IT. The like will signify it's in a queue)

[hazbinsponsoredbyvee]

Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!

Welcome to the ask blog for the Hazbin Hotel, featuring all of the residents, along with their newest sponsors - the Vees! They're here to answer all of your questions, and might occasionally reblog things they like. Vox runs the website and handles most things around here, but the others are here too. Also me - hi, you can call me Mel (she/her), liaison between the hotel and the Vees. But I'll mostly let the others do the talking.

So, send in an ask! You can request to talk to someone specific, or someone (or multiple people) will reply at random. As I said, you can expect to see Vox the most, but Lucifer, Alastor, Charlie, and Angel Dust are all decently active here. The others might pop in on occasion.

THINGS TO KNOW

This blog is set not long after Season 1 of Hazbin Hotel. It is canon-divergent in that anything that happens in canon after this blog was established is not canon to the blog, unless I choose to make it so. The blog has its own lore, and all asks exist within the same continuity. All major story arcs are tagged on the navigation page to easily keep track of plot developments.

Here you can find the rules for how the universe of this blog works.

NSFW themes are allowed, but I'm unlikely to get graphic with anything. 

Due to the nature of this, this is an 18+ blog - MINORS DNI. This is for everyone’s protection - these characters will say inappropriate things when responding to asks, so I can’t risk a minor being on the receiving end of such things. If I find out a minor is sending in asks, you will be blocked.

OCs are welcome to interact, but please no children and no one who's related to/has history with one of the characters.

Canon characters sending in asks will be treated as though they're from a different universe, since this blog has its own lore for the characters that other portrayals of the character might not fit.

RP is done through asks, not reblogs.

If you send a link, please include a brief description of what the link is to. (It can be as simple as 'an edit of Lucifer and Charlie'.) I ask this because I've been sent links to leaks, and I'd like to avoid that, so I won't open links unless I know what they are.

The majority of these characters aren't good people, so don't expect them to always be nice. (Similarly, just because a character says something doesn't mean I, the moderator, agree with it.)

I will answer most things via queue, which posts 10-15 times a day. There will also be exceptions, such as if the asks are connected to a current situation that’s happening, a limited time event/game, or you know, if I feel like it.

Be kind and respectful! Giving the characters a hard time is fine, but spreading hate to anyone who interacts with the blog is a blockable offense.

NAVIGATION

A navigation page can be found here, where you can find posts tagged by character and ship, as well as art, fics, and lore. 

This is also where you will find all of the story arcs in chronological order!

MODERATOR

Mel is my OC name that I go by here. She is a demon who works for Vox as a liason with the hotel, but I'll also talk about my normal life under that name. A few facts about me:

30

AuDHD

bi/ace

Married

2 Cats, 1 Dog

CST time zone

Also here is where you can find my triggers/phobias, if you could pretty please avoid sending in anything involving them - thanks!

Personal Blog -> @ineffableslytherinking AO3 -> songofhell

[on-this-day-mcr]

So long and goodnight ✩

Today is the one year anniversary of the day after the swarm tour ended, which also makes it the one year anniversary of this blog. For the most part, there are no more scheduled posts in the queue.

A couple of dates had already passed by the time I could verify them - I will schedule these as they come up, as well as making posts for anything new I find, updates/corrections to existing posts, and new events or releases. My inbox will stay open for any requests for dates to be added, as well as any corrections or sources to be added (thank you to the people who have sent these through in the past!). I'm not currently planning on scheduling reblogs of existing posts for future anniversaries, but I'm open to it if enough people would like that :)

I'm going to get a bit sappy now, so this last bit is really optional reading material. I truly wasn't expecting this blog to be anything more than some silly fun when I made it, but reading through people's memories of shows, releases and announcements in the tags has been more touching and meaningful than I expected. My Chemical Romance is a band, but like most things worth caring about My Chemical Romance is also an idea built out of human connection and shared experiences. The swarm era would never have meant as much as it did without every person who reached out a hand to share a piece of what MCR means to them, through their tags or art or jokes or song covers or archives or webweaves or 3am liveblogs of 12 pixel instagram livestreams. Thank you for being here with me, and for making something beautiful. 🖤

[halfusek]

as i'm gonna delete most of my art off twitter i think i'm gonna upload some of it to bluesky but also i was thinking of reblogging it here so it can be seen again

so for a couple of days everyday i'll have some of my art in da queue

maybe i'll also decrease my queue cuz rn its at 15 posts per day to like 10 posts per day

dfnfkdgjfd i'm a little sentimental about my posts and it upsets me a bit to have to delete them but i don't want them to be used for ai training sooo

i am from the eu so we still should have the option to opt out here but tbh i don't have any trust for the shitter + there's been other shit with musks ass that kinda wants me to abandon it altogether

tho i'm still gonna keep my twitter account and i'll keep some of the posts there like event announcements and gifts/rewards i made for other people

maybe i'll upload art there again after i glaze/nightshade the fuck out of it lol

[lick-me-lennon22]

How they'd comfort you after losing a pet

(hey, guys!!! this is the final request in my queue, so I will make a post announcing request are once again OPEN ♡ I apologize for the lateness, I've been dealing with heart issues and some complications with work but I didn't forget about y'all!! I hope these headcanons bring peace and comfort to those who need it 💕)

John

John would be straightforward, but empathetic

He would sit with you, offering a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on

Though he's not the greatest at comforting words, he would express his understanding of your feelings and emphasize the validity of your emotions

After hearing you describe your pet's unique features and seeing the photos you showed him, he surprises you with a (somewhat crude, but very sweet and personal) art piece of them

John might recommend adopting another animal companion together when the time is right

He would also share his own experience with loss and how he found comfort in memories and shared love

Paul

Paul would be very nurturing and comforting towards you, as always

He might bring over a sweet treat or make you some tea just the way you like it, knowing that simple gestures can mean the most to someone who is grieving

He'd share comforting words and reassurances, emphasizing the unconditional love that pets give and how their memory can live on through stories and shared experiences

Paul would share stories about his own pets and how they inspired some of his songs (think "Martha My Dear")

He would sit down with you and help you write a song about your beloved companion, composing a gentle and soothing melody on the guitar, understanding the healing power of music

He would likely bring you a small gift as a token of remembrance, such as a charm bracelet with their name engraved

George

George would talk about the interconnectedness of all living beings and how our pets leave a lasting imprint on our souls

He would offer comforting words about the eternal nature of love and memory

He might suggest meditation to sit with your feelings or calming music to soothe the grief

Above all, he would encourage you to release your emotions when they overwhelm you - whether it be by crying, journaling, or whatever eases your pain

George would help you create a small memorial space/altar in your home, complete with candles, flowers, and a favorite toy or photo of your pet

He'd gift you a flowering plant as a symbol of growth and renewal, offering hope for healing and moving forward

Ringo

Ringo would be incredibly compassionate and understanding, and create a supportive environment for healing

He might lighten the mood by sharing anecdotes about his own pets behaving in amusing ways, sharing how they brought joy into his life and reminiscing about heartwarming moments

He would encourage you to take time for a favorite hobby or comfort activity to take your mind off of your grief and sadness

He'd also provide physical comfort at a time when it's needed most

Ringo uses his crafting skills (if you can call them that) to help you a photo album or scrapbook to immortalize your favorite memories

He would invite you to watch a sweet and funny movie together, offering distraction and a chance to share a cozy moment of connection

[foldingfittedsheets]

Hello! Just wondering out of idle curiosity, why do you often reblog your own posts very soon after posting them? Is it to have a version without the tags?

I love reading your blog, you have such a charming storytelling voice as well as an exceptional memory. Wishing you many more wonderful moments (that may or may not become their own stories in the future)!

The short answer is I try not to! This morning I goofed because I reblogged a story, then my wife added a reblog to it. I deleted the first one and reblogged their addition but I’m sure it still popped up twice for some folks.

The longer answer is I have a whole autistic little system for how I post with several scripts I run in my brain for what’s acceptable. I’m aware my stories and comics are long and I get self conscious about gunking up peoples dash.

So my typical system is to let my queue post at around 7pm. Around that time I might reblog additional stories or art because it’s the Peak Engagement time. If I write a story that I feel like could get more love I’ll put it on a Friday or Saturday evening slot which is the highest tier of getting eyes on it.

Then when I wake up in the morning I’ll usually reblog the stuff from the night before because other timezone folks might have missed it the first time. That means my stories are typically only appearing at most once every twelve hours, which seems reasonable.

In cases of new comics or art I’m excited to have made I might do several rounds of every twelve hours, like the gryphons I just made? I think they’re so cute and they’ve gone around several times in both morning and evening timeslots but never more than twelve hours apart. Because even though it’s pride I have restraint.

Throughout the day I check my notes. If someone leaves a comment on a post I haven’t shared in a while I might reblog it on the spot in the middle of the day or whatever time it is.

But as a last note, if I seem to pop up on your dash a lot, you might consider following more people!

I have time stamps active I think everyone should turn on time stamps. When I notice I’m scrolling from morning to afternoon really quickly it usually means someone I was following or even several someone’s has stopped posting and I might need to look for other folks whose content I enjoy to fill out my dash!

[expanding-hyrule]

Expanding Hyrule - Story Spotlights

It's time to kick off Expanding Hyrule's first community project: story spotlights!

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

The very fun thing about Expanding Hyrule as an collection and the Original Legends niche is that we have a whole swath of amazing AUs and genres featured; from dark fantasy to sci-fi to slice of life, there's a whole gauntlet. But that can also make the archive feel a little daunting. So our first community project is aimed to help with that!

We're going to be rolling out a series of posts to highlight individual works from both our art and fic archives. The posts will include summaries on the work, featuring the genre and synopsis for a quick look, as well as positive reviews* from the community on those works.

I have an original legends work, do I need to do anything to be included?

Nope! As long as your work is in our archive, everything else is on us. The aim of this community project is that the community is supporting our creators. At most, I'll reach out for socials when we have a drafted post ready to go, as well as get final approval on the spotlight. It may come from @amelias-hart instead of this blog because of how Tumblr likes to work.

What if my work's not in the archive?

You can reach out to this blog, @amelias-hart, or @amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet or on EH's community Discord to get added so long as your work is original legends. Projects can be any size, though currently we are only including strictly Original Legends works, not works that are Original Legends and some other fandom niche (i.e. Links Meet, sequel/prequels, "coffee shop" AUs, etc). This is to help establish what "Original Legends" is as a tag within fandom first and will likely change in the future, but we're still happy to reblog and support other projects on the blog even if they're not included in the archive!

For fics and single link projects, we just need to know where you post. For comics and multi link projects, we need a selection of posts you want included in the archive list (we cannot unfortunately link every post). You also don't need to post on Tumblr to be included, the archive will link to any reputable website people post to. This is just the easiest social media for me to compile the lists.

How do you pick which works to feature next?

We have a running list on the Expanding Hyrule Discord of works that have not yet been featured. When a work gets enough reviews in (between 3 to 5), then that work will be drafted to be featured next. A version of that list will be available on the blog shortly after this post releases, to include how many reviews works have gotten. Be sure to check out the list to see what works are close and what works are in need of reviews!

The only exception to this rule is if my own works get enough reviews, I'm holding those posts until more members have been featured as to avoid using the archive as a means to spotlight myself. While I do include my works and share their updates, I want to use this platform to boost others first and then myself. But I am reading the reviews as they come in and will post them once we've done some more posts from other creators first. I also will aim to break up back to back posts of works from the same creator if the queue ends up that way.

Where are you getting the reviews?

From all of you! You can submit your own reviews at the Google Form below. There are only three questions: the name of the work, your review, and your signature (optional). You can submit as many as you'd like too if there are multiple works in the archive you'd like to support. Reminder, we are only going to be featuring works in the archive, but we're happy to help make duplicates of the form we have set up if other groups would like to replicate this project for their own communities.

Will more reviews be included after a post has been released?

The archive is fortunate to have some very popular individuals who are actively supporting Expanding Hyrule with their works. However the vast majority of works in EH have not received a lot of community support since there's never been any real organization to find fanworks like this (that's part of our goal in running EH). While all reviews are available for creators to read moving forward, the spotlight posts will cap at 5 reviews to encourage sharing support with our smaller creators as well, and so no one in the archive is taking over discussion.

*We are going to remove negative and critical reviews. While some creators do appreciate feedback like this, the goal of this community project is to highlight and showcase creators for what people like about their works, and to help motivate them to keep making.

[kyri45]

Time for Lmk Q&A post ??

it is!

✨ShadowPeach Bio Parents Bio AU Q&A! 15/12✨

Welcome to the Q&A! A space where I can answer related or similar question about the Shadowpeach Bio Parents AU! If you submitted your ask anonimously, then you’ll have to check the whole post if it’s answered here, if it’s not, worry not! Your asks might have been used for a future comic or just in the queue~

Anonimo ha chiesto: I gotta know. How many times were you tagged during that take over? x'D

I THINK around 700. I didn't count but there were more than 850 posts that day.

@pines-thoughts ha chiesto: (bio parents au) do you think shadowpeach is gonna have to go through the courtnapping again since they broke up (rip mac)? My bets are on wukong doing it this time Anyway, love your art!!

Ahaha I guess WUkong wouldn't let the opportunity to revenge himself for when Macaque courtnapped him.

Anonimo ha chiesto: WAI-!! If heaven is afraid of mk and his powers he has from the gay monkeys...THEN!! Damn how will they react if spicynoodles HAVE A KID!!!! Like broooo all mk's powers AND red son's!!!!

I think we said at one point that Kai (from Ninjago) could theoretically be a spicynoodle fanchild and I stand with this even though it wouldn t make sense since Kai already have a set of parents but IT'S MY AU AND I GET TO BREAK CANON FOR MY CONVENIENCE.

@pan999flo ha chiesto: Three questions! 1: Since when did you knew Lmk etc? 2: Would you ever draw the Brotherhood in the future?( Like Azure,Peng and Yellowtasks) 3: Why are you so lovely? (I heard that many artists's arts remind of their artists) Thx for your time 😍

SInce uhhhh this July.

Eh, maybe.

aawww I'm not so lovely honestly I look like a mess (as most artist do) but all my friends tell me that my cheeks are really soft and squishable so maybe that was translated in my artstyle, who knows.

@bookworm-octavia ha chiesto: I have a question! Did/do you plan out how the Shadowpeach bio parents au comic goes or do you just wing it ? (Sry if already asked)

I've know how everything will happen/how it would end since this July/august.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Hi! I was wondering if I could make an animatic where MK meets my OC. (With credit to you ofc)

Sure?? I don't own the MK character so you're free to do as you please.

@inkycarrot ha chiesto: Hey! I’m like super new to Tumblr and I was wondering what canvas size do you use for your comic panels? And do you resize em at all? (Like a file crunch)

1600x2100 more or less. no I don't resize them I don't have the patience ahah.

@nanomarion ha chiesto: why does monkey MK look so damn cute in your style?!

because he IS cute by default.

@ketho484 ha chiesto: LMK bio parents question: What personality differences are there in Rumble and Savage?

mmmm I would guess that Rumble is a little bit more mischevious and Savage is slightly more physical when it comes to messing around.

@buxiee ha chiesto: do you have any hc about Macaque singing or smth similar? 'cus i totally can imagine him singing lullabies to MK and Wukong...

yes macaque is 100% a singer

@zeetheartist0-0 ha chiesto: What got you to do the bio parents au?

Monkey MK

@vanilla41718 ha chiesto: I wonder what the gangs reaction to MK and red son dating gonna be ?

probably something along "it was about time" ahah

@astro-lmk-enjoyer ha chiesto: Since both Macaque and MK are technically dead, neither of their body’s work right all the time. These apply to both of them: • There are the small things like being cold all the time, some times to the point of blue lips etc… • And bigger things like they will forget to breath at times and only realise when they go to speak and it’s like ‘Hello?? No oxygen? CAN’T SPEAK???’ • And other big things like MK/Macaque’s heart just stoping while they sleep causing everyone to freak out when it happened for the first time, but don’t worry! It usually starts again after half an hour of being awake, usually. Idk, just a funny little headcanon of mine <3

ahah my poor baby is traumatised (I'm sad)

Anonimo ha chiesto: will red son ever stop having his hair go flaming when MK kisses him? No? Good.

no.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Would Mk find Red boi try to do pickup lines or are both of them too much dorks?

yes they would, and be terrible about it. (they love each other so much that they just don't care though)

Anonimo ha chiesto: bro, you made so many pages of the comic, it's both cool and bad!!! I'm translating your comic into Russian and haven't even translated half of it!! I'm only on page 70!!!😭

ahaha good luck!

@keyblademastermonkiegirl ha chiesto: Hey! Just wanted to ask! When MK was changed into a baby monkey (so cute!!!!!!) How did everyone else react? Like Mei and Red Son? And then, did anyone tell Pigsy and Tang?

When it happened only Mei knew.

@grubbzygo0p ha chiesto: IF THROWN how far would MK go before caught by A: Mamacauqe B: Baba Wukong C: Pigsy D: his wife (Red Son)

I would say Macaque, because teleportation. BUT then again I bet Red Son would beat everyone, scream "MINE" and teleport away.

Anonimo ha chiesto: WAIT... MK was kidnapped in his sleep but it looks like he got his normal clothes on while kissing Red... what happened?

he was wearing his normal clothes when he got to sleep (exept his bandana)

Anonimo ha chiesto: Y did Red B look kind of angry when the spicy noodles kiss?

because he was irritated that the first "kiss" lasted so little.

@anxiescape ha chiesto: Okay so first off, hi! I love your art!! It's so beautiful!!! ✨(And you're also super cool!!! (And you also got me into Sky COTL how dare D:)) Secondly, I have a question about your Shadowpeach Bio Parents AU. Specifically, MK's staff... What happens if he loses one of the cuffs? Is he still able to form the staff, or is he just out of luck?

mmm yes he can still summon it, it's just- half as powerful and it's really really hard to keep it in a physical form.

@arrow-shotz ha chiesto: I just wanna say love your art and the ShadowPeach comic! but a random thought popped in my head even tho we are past point lol With Mk's staff, if it were to break in half or shatter- would it return back as brackets on Mk or would it be able to morph back because of the shadow magic Mk now has?

The shadow part can't be broken, it can be splitted yes but it would just reform a little later.

Anonimo ha chiesto: *raises hand* question, how did sun Wukong felt when macaque courtnapped him, (when mk and macaque talk about how mk wants to “kidnap” redson) like did he felt flustered or something and how heavy is sun Wukong because I can pick him up because he is very much short and I also want to hug him…..so can I carry and hug him please🥺🙏

Wukong:*head in hands covering the face* (omfg i can't believe this is happening. I'm being put down by TICKLES*)

Anonimo ha chiesto: Ok so my question is what are you gonna do after season 6 of lmk comes out like how will you progress the story?

when is S6 even coming out? Like I think the Au will be almost done before that happens ahaha.

Anonimo ha chiesto: I have a question: please correct me if I am wrong about anything: If Monkey King and mk were born female, does that mean that they can still use their reproductive organs and can get pregnant or is there something i missed about it?

If MK and Monkey King are fertile to begin with, yes, i think, by someone who isn't a stone monkey though.

@galaxy-rose99 ha chiesto: I get the feeling that after the whole 'Heaven Kidnapping MK' ordeal. Spicynoodles will end up going through a mushy/gushy stage of their relationship. Throughout the whole thing many of the characters will: 1. Gawk. 😶 2. Squeal. 😍 3. Cringe. 😫 Only for Shadowpeach to be reminded that they did a very similar thing in the past.

yesss the honeymoon phase!!!!

Anonimo ha chiesto: Every time I go back to look at the Spicynoodles kisses (Which has been several times a day) I think about how one day MK is gonna grab those horns mid kiss.

omg it's true. I bet Red Son has been dreaming of catching his tail-*gunshot*

@healingwordswriter ha chiesto: Hiiii so I’m back asking here So seeing how the bio dad’s AU has some inspo in Taylor’s songs and I have seen mentions of the TTPD songs in previous comments and as a fellow swiftie I just have to say this. I’m not a spicy noodles fan but! reading on how Wukong at first wouldn’t accept MK’s and Red Son’s relationship all I could think of was the song “But Daddy I love him” Like just MK just having his first fight with his baba because he wants to be with red son even if he doesn’t like it because that’s HIS man. And screaming the famous “But daddy I love him!” And Wukong just having to accept the relationship for his son’s happiness. Without mentioning is funny to imagine MK’s parents except Macaque trying to talk him out the relationship for his “sake” but MK won’t “come into his senses” Because Red Son may be crazy but he is the one he wants AND he rather burn his whole life down rather than keeping hearing his parents bitching and moaning over this. (Who understood the references understood) But in the end I know they would support MK’s decision to date Red Son as they want him to have his happy ending. Still this is funny to imagine.

ahah I personally alwasy imagine Red SOn against DBK with that son. But alas in the AU the bull family isn't against them since they know MK is one of the strongest demon (and it makes their son happy so)

And also Wukong, while he isn't the happiest about the situation, he know he would be an hypocrite if he wouldn't allow his son to now be with someone who he once was his enemy.

[jolyneart]

This'll be a long-ish post about my The Locked Tomb themed MTG deck and how I made like 20 versions of it before I decided to build it (and how I'm still working on it).

(I want to do legit art for this card)

If you are part of the Venn diagram of these two interests, or you want to see my slow descent into madness ovear a year of trying to put cardboard together, check the spoilers below.

So, I haven't been playing Magic for too long (a bit over a year). Weirdly I have owned cards since original Ixalan, but I never bothered learning to play until a friend invited me to play commander. I just wanted them for the pretty pictures, I have always admired Magic artists and they have been a huge inspiration on my art career.

Anyways, not too long after I started to play, I got this idea into my head that I should do a Locked Tomb commander deck.

"That'd be fun!" I thought

Well

All of these are over a year old (and are not my only first attempts, but I'll talk about those later).

I had two main issues when starting to build this deck:

1- I have never been interested into deck-building before in a card game

2- I have no fucking idea of what I'm doing

The first commander I chose to lead this deck, that I still think thematically fits within TLT universe, is Ratadrabik of Urborg

This Rat of a man has given me so many headaches, I'm sure that now I'd be able to do make a half-decent deck with him in the lead, hell I do have a black/white aristocrats deck that he could command just fine.

But my issue was that I had no idea how to balance his legends theme and zombie kindred theme at the same time, in the same deck. I was just incapable. And all of my results, budget or not, were jank piles that did very little or exploded into an infinite combo with cards like Boromir, Warden of the Tower or Nazgul. It just didn't feel right and the Locked Tomb theme was barely holding on by a thread with the things I was putting in there. There were barely ANY skeletons in any of these! (this will keep happening)

Anyways, after giving up on Ratadrabik (which btw I think would make for a great Ianthe proxy) I moved on to find some other commander and color combination that'd enable something else that wasn't a pile of legendary creatures.

Queue in Varina, Lich Queen

It's a Zombie Wizard! She cares about zombies, those are kind of early skeletons! She raises the undead herself!

Well, I do think Varina is great, and in other world where I knew how to build decks back then, she might just have been my Harrow commander deck

I don't even think the decks I made for her were that bad at all, just extremely expensive. And also the zombie theme, while much better supported mechanically, I didn't feel really represented the kind of necromantic powers we see in the books at all.

Shoutout to Mikaeus, he'd make for a great Jod if anyone wants to make a deck about our lord and savior the undying emperor.

Ok, now I'm going to take a bit of a detour to talk about what I actually like playing in mtg (not just commander). I predictably really enjoy playing black and graveyard strategies, but also really love putting big idiot beaters into the field with those strategies .I know, groundbreaking. But it is what it is, two of my favourite decks do this in one way or another.

God's perfect deck, my Sauron deck, was my first precon, that has left the lands of preconstruction long ago and is my dearest possession. Is it my most powerful deck? nope. Is it unbeatable? Not really, I almost never win with this deck.

What BIG Sauron does is, in an extremely thematic way, become a problem for everyone at the table, do evil things, and have everyone beat me down for my reanimation crimes.

If you are interested, you can check out that deck here.

Anyways sorry, back to the locked tomb, SO I like the graveyard right? Wouldn't it be nice that there'd be a famous woman necromancers in mtg? What if she leaded the deck?

Well, the most that I can say is that there really can be too much of a good thing. I'm talking about swamps.

Initially I had these two running around in the Ratadrabik deck. I still stand by the idea of having these flip walkers be young Harrow/Gideon and flip them into their "First House" versions. The Gideon/Kiriona and Kytheon/Gideon thing still drives me insane.

I was too sad discarding them, so I grabbed the Lilly card and tried to make it work, I really tried, I put on a lot of effort and care. But it didn't work, it wasn't her, it was me.

I built a pretty generic aristocrat shell, but I think that type of archetype really benefits of having more colors to work with (specially white).

So, with three commanders locked in the tomb (I also tried a Gut rakdos deck but I'm not even going to talk about it), what was next? I spent months on these and still had nothing to show for it. Was I the problem? Was I cursed with bad deck dissease?

No, that cannot be. I'm building other decks while this is going on and those are doing just fine. Lae'zel//Master Chef, Gandalf Big Artifacts. The issue might be that the head of the deck is always caring for just the one thing, there was not much diversity. I kept making Necromancers but had no Cavaliers to back them up.

If there could just be a way to have two little guys up there in the command zone. Wait a minute...

So, this was truly a jank fest. Partner is an extremely strong mechanic in commander, and Tymna is specially strong as a card to have access early. So I decided to justify using these to make the biggest pile of nonsense happen.

Equipment? check. Initiative? check. Skeletons? check. Zombies? check. Graveyard? check. Lifegain? check.

While goldfishing I realized that while the commanders do a great job to sustain the rest of the deck, the ammount of themes and archetypes made this a pile of cards that I can barely call a deck. And worst of all, they enabled two pretty strong commanders, and that didn't feel that'd be satisfactory at all in actual play.

I even prepared proxies for these! Feel free to use them if you want.

Also, I tried the whole partner thing swapping out Tymna for Ikra Shidiqi. Bringing out another whole color didn't help with the theme soup I was working with.

So I wholy abandoned the idea of both partners, and maybe even making this deck.

Maybe my hopes and dreams of having a functional silly lesbians and skeletons deck were doomed (yuri) from the beginning.

Months pass, I built 3 or 4 other decks in the meantime that work, can compete and be fun, sometimes all at the same time if you'd believe it. I had completely lost faith in this deck idea.

All until one day, were I was checking out a pile of cards I had pulled from the recent MH3 set to put them into my binder. And then I see it. There he was, this fucking guy with a shovel(?), looking at me.

I read again his fairly big wall of text, what does this guy do again?

Oh, he does necromancy stuff? attacks? wait wait, he draws POWER from the GRAVEYARD?? in JUND?

He really saved it. Not only I feel this perfectly represents the dynamics of Cavalier is in charge of creating enough thanergy for their necromancer, but ALSO does the necromancer thing, and ALSO loves having like 10 power and beating down face. This was a message, the dream was still alive.

So, I make a list, I order cards, I scrounge cards from my other black decks. And there it is. It's real

The Locked Tomb Griddlehark Commander Deck

But... that's not how my list looks right now. Yeah I know this deck is cursed into being always changing I think. But, the main issue here was what I said before. It had to pull cards from multiple decks to sustain itself. And I learned quickly that I don't like having my baby, my Sauron, being not functional, and that keeping track of what cards are where and swapping them out constantly sucks tremendously.

So, I pulled back most of the cards to their original decks. What was left was a corpse, a beautiful incomplete deck. So I selected cards from my collection, lower powered ones, niche ones, weird ones, and put them in for their more powerful counterparts.

It's function is extremely simple, it fills it's graveyard quickly, ramps, and with Coram on the battlefield, you turn that self-mill into card advantage, the graveyard into a power source and bring back powerful creatures like the Resurrection Beasts (Eldrazi)

There also are skeletons in there, of course.

This deck needed to die many deaths to exist. But isn't that the theme?

I'll make sure to put up the new decklist on my moxfield whenever I get a few upgrades.

[skysometric]

i didn't really click with Cohost.

i joined Cohost when it first opened registrations to the public. back then, the devs were manually activating accounts so as to not overload the servers, and the activation queue numbered in the thousands. it could take a month or two before your account would be activated for posting – but i was lucky to skip the line, through the good graces of somebody with an invite code.

that invite code came from a little community on Discord, a group of talented and interesting people that i had just joined a couple of months prior to Cohost's grand opening. keen on getting to know them better, i joined in on group conversations in their general chat, commented on their creations in the art channels, and shared my own creations, as i would with any other community. i felt pretty confident that we were getting along well, and i was excited to join them together on a new social media website, where we could all connect in new and exciting ways.

Cohost is how i figured out that i had not actually connected with them whatsoever.

——————

the first thing i did when i got my account (besides sneak in a couple of shitposts) was follow as many people as i could find from this community, considering i didn't know many other people on Cohost at the time. i found about two dozen of them to follow, and of those two dozen, a grand total of three followed me back.

that by itself isn't a terrible thing, i guess. nobody is obligated to follow me back, and not everything i post is to everyone's taste. i get that much – i'd never want to turn social media into a game of connections.

so i brushed that off and kept going. i commented on their posts, just as i was already doing with them on Discord. and as i kept at it, i eventually realized… none of them were replying back to me at all, or even so much as acknowledging that they read what i had to say.

part of this is a problem with Cohost – in the spirit of being a site without metrics, comments had no Like button. this did a great job of not turning every comments section into Reddit, but it had the dual effect of leaving no way to just acknowledge somebody's comment. maybe they were reading my comments and just didn't have anything to say?

by now i was starting to have my doubts… but i wrote this off as a minor issue with Cohost itself, and kept going anyway. their Discord was still lively enough, after all. but enough seeds of doubt had been planted that i slowly started to see my interactions with them in a new light.

i slowly realized that those same people who weren't replying to me on Cohost… weren't replying to me on Discord either, and never had been.

in the group conversations i was part of, where i would drop in messages to contribute to the conversation? none of them directly replied to me. they talked around me like i wasn't there, and kept going with their conversation.

when i posted my creations, none of them commented on them. and when i commented on their creations, none of them said "thank you" back, or even left so much as a heart reaction.

the only people who were actually talking to me in that community were the three folks who had followed me back on Cohost, and a couple of others who never made Cohost accounts. the rest practically treated me like i didn't exist.

i had completely misread the room, and in the process created a parasocial relationship with the entire community. so i left, and when i did, i unfollowed most of them on Cohost as well – save the ones who were actually interested in talking with me.

still, this soured my opinion of Cohost as a whole, and i left it alone for a few months.

——————

i resumed using Cohost when more of my own friends and mutuals started using the platform. only a few folks i know really got into it, but those who did were diehard supporters, enough to prefer it as their main platform, talking up how creative and welcoming the community is. i completely understand why they jumped on it, given the slow death of Twitter has practically forced people to rethink their relationship with social media – and Cohost made a compelling case for a healthier social environment (regardless of my own experiences on the matter).

that said, should i really support a fourth website for the sake of ten to twenty people? i counted it out, and realized that's more than the number of people i actively keep up with on Mastodon, so i gave it another shot.

and while this second attempt lasted significantly longer than the first, i did come to another slow realization: i didn't actually like reading my dashboard on Cohost for some reason?

ostensibly, it comprised a lot of the same mutuals that i've followed for years on other platforms. on a surface level, all the posts they shared (mostly shares rather than original posts) were about the same interests and ideals that i liked seeing them share in other places. but, on Cohost specifically, all of these shared posts were just annoying! i didn't want to read them at all, and every time i did, i felt burned and exhausted by the end – like i had wasted my time.

i shook it around for a few months. maybe i'm still bitter about last time? maybe i don't like Cohost's presentation? but i eventually realized that, while all the posts were similar to what i was used to on a surface level, one thing had changed: the way they were written, the "voice" of Cohost.

——————

so many of the posts that came across my dash were written a certain way. here is a great big title to my great big essay. i am now talking to you, dear reader, and you should listen to me. you should believe this idea that i am telling you. if you don't agree, you are mistaken, and here are all the reasons i think you're wrong.

then somebody else would chime in with a reblog, with its own title and its own essay, and by the end i had finished reading one post that was several times larger than my screen.

essentially, each post was written like a group of teachers talking down to a child for half an hour. which… doesn't make sense to me, because everybody reading the post agreed with them. all the reblogs agreed with them, all the comments agreed with them, i agreed with them – why were they talking down to the reader, when the readers already agree? it just made everything more exhausting to read!

as i was disseminating these thoughts to my partner, she taught me a new word: didactic. i asked her what the word means, and she replied, "exactly what you just said."

the vast majority of the posts i was seeing on Cohost were written in this didactic voice. i realized i was barely seeing any art, or shitposts, or CSS crimes… all while my friends were talking up Cohost for all of its art, shitposts, and CSS crimes. instead, somehow, all i got was sociopolitical essays and dry technical discussions of old computers.

so i unfollowed a bunch of people who were clogging up my dashboard with junk, even some longtime mutuals – and in the wake of my decluttering spree, i realized i was barely following anyone anymore.

——————

finally we arrive at the final nail in Cohost's coffin, one that i can actually attribute to the platform instead of my own misfortunes: a complete and total lack of discovery features.

once i had cleared out all the junk, my dashboard was very slow. i would see about seven new posts a day on average, most of them original posts from friends who didn't really use other sites. i had yet to see this creative side of Cohost that my friends were promising, and i didn't really know how to find it.

on Tumblr i would look at tags, but on Cohost people weren't really consistent with tagging things. a good piece of art might be tagged as its series, or just #art, or it might solely be tagged as #The Cohost Global Feed (which was an "if you know, you know" sort of global tag). and that's assuming it was tagged at all!

tags were a dead end because nobody used them consistently, and worse yet, nobody browsed tags either – creating a negative feedback loop of tags seeming useless. (i was very excited for tag "synonyms," a system where e.g. #gaming and #video games would count as the same tag. unfortunately, it launched a month before Cohost announced its closure, and never got the chance to take off. hey Tumblr, if you're reading this… 👀)

Cohost's stance against numbers and algorithms, while noble, also created a problem where there was no other way to discover new things. you could either browse tags for people to follow (see above), or browse shares in your dashboard for people to follow (which i just got through paring down significantly), and… that's it! there were otherwise no ways to discover new folks on the platform, not even so much as a random post button.

…i did try though! there were times that new folks would jump into my likes or replies, especially via my pet project Now U Know Gaming – so i would check in on my notifications religiously, starving for people to follow. i did follow a handful, but most folks fell into three categories:

they had "piss on the poor" reading comprehension. (this was unfortunately common.)

they shared a lot of the same dry, didactic essays that i was trying to avoid.

they shared art and shitposts!… 50 times a day, which would flood my dashboard and drown out my mutuals.

so my dashboard remained slow until the day Cohost announced its closure, whereupon it lit up with activity for one last hurrah… before closing for good.

——————

in writing all of this out i find myself making comparisons to Tumblr, whether it's reading comprehension or didactic voice or the spotty nature of discovery via tags. the trouble is, i have never once had this much issue with Tumblr on these things. on Tumblr these are occasional annoyances; on Cohost they were defining traits of my time with the platform.

what drives me up the wall is that nobody else seemed to struggle with these things as much as i did. everyone i talked to either loved Cohost, or simply didn't spend a lot of time with it. surely i'm not the only person who tried, and tried, and tried so hard, just to ram into walls at every turn. i would've loved to have seen more CSS crimes… if i didn't also have to live with didactic lectures every other post!

i know there were people out there on Cohost that i would've connected with. i know they exist! but i have no trouble finding people to click with on other social media platforms, while on Cohost it was an impossible task, soured by so many previous attempts. perhaps it is for the best that i can no longer try, even if i wanted to.

to wrap up my long story of Cohost and missed connections, here's one last memory: i made a post about Xenoblade and plurality that i ended up crossposting to several sites, including Cohost and Bluesky. one person found it on Bluesky, and since it didn't have DMs at the time, they decided to send an ask about it on Cohost… to my partner, thinking she was me.

i never once received an ask on Cohost.

[escapetothelake]

Mr Crow & Mr Owl for the ship asks ;)

when i say this is one of my absolute FAVORITE dynamics (remember when i said it would be toxic? i made it way too sweet oops)

i'm gonna tag @callmegaith for this one as well because ik they are also an evil bird husbands truther >:)

btw sorry this took so long i'm on vacation and have spotty internet :,)

who made the first move: i think mr. owl likely first contacted mr. crow. we know that they were working together since at least the events of roots, so it's been a very long time.

who kissed who first: aldous started by kissing jakob's ring, and then graduated to his bare hand (it's about the homoerotic tension 🤌). eventually, jakob kissed aldous on the lips. aldous was all too happy to kiss back.

who started the relationship: mr. owl did, as mr. crow is technically his underling, and aldous is a man who is concerned with propriety.

who remembers things: both of them remember EVERYTHING.

nicknames for each other: jakob strikes me as a "my love" user. i think they both say it, actually. i don't think "darling", "dear", or "dearest" is out of the question. also "beloved", "precious", "my treasure", "lover", and "dumpling" cuz these bitches are OLD.

who is more likely to pay for dinner: i feel like they'd be the kind of couple to fight over the bill, calling it "my treat".

*they're eating out together and the bill arrives* "ah. let me get this one, darling." "no, you got it last time. it's my treat." "no, it's my treat. you know how i love to spoil you." "alright dear, but next time..." "hah! we'll see."

that said, usually jakob is more persistent.

who normally cooks: have i ever actually answered this question with "x person in the couple does it"? yeah, mr. owl runs a hotel, and he has mr. toad to cook for him. though jakob knows how to cook, considering that he was on his own for a while and we saw it happen onscreen and everyone else at paradise is incompetent. i'm sure aldous knows how to as well. i think aldous likes to cook for jakob, and he makes an art out of it, incorporating expensive wines and fancy herbs and the like. only the best for his beloved.

who remembers anniversaries: both, of course. they have minds like steel traps when it comes to each other.

what would they get each other for gifts: suits, expensive jewelry and pocket watches, taking each other out to eat, all kinds of stuff! i imagine they're the kind of couple to share a glass of wine to a job well done after they successfully harvest souls.

most trivial thing they fight over: i wouldn't call it trivial, but i think jakob was at least a little upset with aldous for fucking up that one time. i think that incompetence of any sort exhausts jakob after his experiences at home (like this post haha). not that he views aldous as incompetent in any way—after all, he chose him to be his right hand—but, i mean, he goofed in a pretty big way. regardless, jakob can't stay mad at aldous for long.

how often do they fight: they don't really fight much. i think aldous finds shouting disrespectful, and they mostly work in tandem, so it doesn't happen often. when it does, though, i feel like it's a big deal. i mean, a long time without speaking and a lot of pining, because both men can be stubborn. eventually, though, they can't stand to be apart.

who uses all the hot water: both.. together :)

who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: aldous. he doesn't want jakob to have to deal with that shit

who leaves their stuff around: they're both rather organized. mr. crow meticulously folds his clothes after washing them, even though it takes forever, and both men keep their suits nice and pressed.

who remembers to buy the milk: aldous gets it! he never lets jakob want for anything—the fridge is always stocked before jakob even has to ask.

who controls the netflix queue: i think they watch netflix together, cuddled up in bed or on the couch. aldous asks a million questions. jakob always answers, even if that answer is "i know the same amount of information as you, dearest".

who steals the covers at night: no one really can, since they sleep tangled together.

who cusses more: jakob when he was younger. now? neither, really.

who does most of the cleaning: aldous, or he sees that someone else does it. he doesn't like to let jakob worry about such things.

what’s their favorite non-sexual activity: talking! they really, really enjoy each others' company, whether that's over a glass of wine surrounded by candlelight, in the bath, or in bed. both of these men have had very long lives, so they have much to talk about.

who’s the cuddler: both! birds are cuddly :>

source

who’s the big spoon/little spoon: usually it's jakob big/aldous little. aldous likes to rest his head on jakob's chest (i hc that jakob is taller).

who’s more dominant: mr. owl.

who is the dirty talker: their brand of "dirty talking" imo is more like pillow talk. idk they're just pretty affectionate and like to praise each other. however, i'm gonna lean aldous for this one. i think aldous absolutely WORSHIPS jakob, and he makes it known both in and out of the bedroom.

what do they do when they’re away from each other: miss each other. a lot. both are mutually reliant on each other—aldous makes sure to make jakob's life easier, and jakob in turn gives aldous a sense of direction. therefore, their separation can be hard on both of them. they try to busy themselves with other things (there's a lot of work to be done), and remind themselves that ultimately, they serve the lake.

what would they do if the other one was hurt: both would be very worried, but the injured one would try to put on a brave face for the other. of course, both of them are seemingly immortal, but they also know what it's like to be mortal men, and the memories are all too fresh. they're very protective of each other.

a headcanon: i think that they both struggle to adapt with the times, even if they feel that they need to. for instance, they don't like to give up their old-timey pet names for each other, and mr. crow doesn't like the new-age suits. of course, he grins and bears it because it's part of being immortal, but he still believes that it doesn't matter because.. i mean.. they can turn into birds. being inconspicuous isn't exactly important to him. on the other hand, jakob kinda likes playing different roles to suit his needs. we see this in the white door, for instance. i think it allows him to live out some of the things he missed out on in his youth, whereas aldous got to live out a full life. regardless, as the times change, the biggest constant they have is each other.