#I tend to use Tumblr to look up inspo for designs especially if it's a character design/redesign.

[otiksimr]

You can really just tell what I'm currently working on just by seeing my reblogs.

[sillyandquiteawkward]

Hey Silly I just wanted to ask if you had any good resources for clothing references. I love your character designs a lot especially your Pokémon trainers and Gijinkas but my dumb ADHD brain is struggling to try and figure out how to find a good place to get references that are idk accurate? And have different styles and types of clothing I suppose?

unfortunately i feel like i struggle with clothes very often. my strategy involves lots of google, and browsing my limited selection of screenshots of outfits ppl wear on tiktok that i like or find inspiring. sadly in the case of jules i did just type in "electrician" and see what came up.

usually i have a vague idea of the clothes i want a character to wear, and then i scroll around on google images trying to find Vibes and bits and pieces of fits i can yoink and smash together. so even if im not familiar with a clothing style, i can see what ppl tend to do and go with the flow. sometimes i even find myself on wikipedia articles of clothing genres. kinda is just whatever research i need to do to feel satisfied.

other places i hear ppl do this with in pinterest, but i kinda hate pinterest as a website. but i do hear really good things about finding cool fits there. you can also use dress up doll maker sites like picrew for inspo, but also keep an eye on what the artists ask in their descriptions, as some dont like it when you copy them. i know there are also blogs here on tumblr that are fashion collections, and there are websites that catalog fashion and older clothes. you kinda have to look around and see what youre looking for and whats out there.

i guess when it comes to sorting out good/bad references, try to see where the source is coming from. since i use google a lot, ive been getting ai images a lot more often, even when theyre from stock image sites. if you see something you like, you can take it into another tab and look into the context of the image and see if its not just like. for something else. you can also still use "bad" references, but you have to be smart using them and not take them at face value.

the only website i personally keep in my bookmarks is tokyofashion which are those street photos of places like harajuku where people dress up in sick fits.

[i-did]

Do you know when the racism and ableism accusations against Nora started? Because back when I was active in 2016/2017 and don't think they were a thing, or were very low-key. Was it something she said or are people just basing it off the things she wrote in the books?

From what I remember, the first time I heard the blanket statement of “Nora is racist/fetishizes gay men” blanket statement was early fall 2019 (which is so ironic for the fandom to say on so many levels lmao). There wasn’t a catalyst or anything, just she went offline 2016 and no new content was coming out and the aftg fandom is such an echo chamber that… an accidental smear campaign happened.

 Before then, I would see occasional “Nora used ableist slur” which… is funny (not that ableism isn’t serious) to me people care more about that than Seth saying the f-slur. IMO this is because with Seth, it clearly shows the character thinking it and not the author who is writing about what will be an end game mlm relationship. 

But anyways! Long story short, it's the fact that she’s an ace/aro woman who wrote a mlm book, and based off of the events in canon. There is no “Nora called me/someone else a slur” it’s “Nora wrote a book where slur(s) are used” and “the Moriyama’s are Japanese.”

Below I put my own opinion on these claims and go into more detail:

CW for discussions of: racism, ableism, mlm fetishization

Fetishization: (and mentions of sexism at the end)

To one question in the EC about her inspo for aftg she jokingly responded how she wanted to write about gay athletes. On other parts of your blog you could see she was a hockey fan and an overall sports fan (anime or otherwise) but I've seen this statement taken out of context and framed as “she's one of those BOYXBOY” shippers. Considering how… well-developed both Andrew and Neil’s relationship is, and it takes them until like the 3rd book and there is a whole complex ass plot going on around, you can see how that's just. Not really true. And considering the fandom is like… 85% women (queer women but still women) and I've gotten into a discussion with someone who is a woman and called Nora a fetishizer and was ignoring my opinions as a mlm, and I really just wanted to say “well what does that make you?” it's a very ironic high horse. She didn’t write 3 all 3 books to put Neil in lingerie pwp or crop-top fem-fatal fashion show, fandom did. 

Also, I talked to an ace/aro friend about this, and she talked to me about how AFTG spoke to her very much so as an ace/aro story. Neil is demisexual, Nora didn’t know of the word at the time of reading it, but she did get an anon asking if Neil was demi after, and she said “had to look it up, and yep, but he doesn't really think about it” (paraphrased). Obviously it would have been cool if andreil were canonly written as wlw by Nora instead, (which would have increased the amount of wlw rep and demi rep) but tbh I don’t think tumblr would have cared about it nearly as much and everyone would just call Neil a cold bitch–like people do with Nora’s other published book with a main character who's a woman. Plus they're her OC’s, not mine. 

The fact is that 50% of all LGBT+ rep in literature is mlm, mostly white mlm, and not written by mlm. I’m not going to hold her to a higher standard than everyone else, she already broke a shit ton of barriers in topics she discusses that otherwise get ignored. I’m grateful to these books for existing even if it's a mlm story written by a woman. I still will prioritize reading mlm written by mlm–and vice versa with wlw– in the way I prioritize reading stories about POC written by POC. But credit where credit is due, this is a very good story, and a very good demi story. 

Ableism:

To me, AFTG is a story about ableism and how we perceive some trauma survivors more worthy than others. Neil and the foxes using ableist language shows how people actually talk. Neil thinks shitty things about Andrew, like the others do too, and thinks he's “psycho”. The story ultimately deconstructs this idea and these perceptions of people. Wymack, someone who says the r-slur (which is still not known by the general population as a slur even in 2021 much less the early 2000s when the book was beginning to be written and what the timeline is based off of) is a character who understands Andrew better than most of the others do, and gives him the most sympathy and understanding despite using words like the m-slur and r-slur. Using these words isn't good, but it is how people talk, and this character talks. Wymack is a playful “name caller” especially when he’s mad, the foxes think Andrew is “crazy” and incapable of humanity and love because of it. They call his meds “antipsychotics” as an assumption and insult in a derogatory way, when really antipsychotics are a very helpful drug for some people who need them. Even Neil thinks these things about Andrew until he learns to care about him. All the foxes are hypocritical to am extent, as people in real life tend to be. Nora herself doesn’t use these or tweet them or something, her characters do to show aspects of their personality and opinions and how they change over time.

Racism:

As for the racism, I've seen people talk about how racial minorities being antagonists is inherently bad, which I think lacks nuance but overall isn't a harmful statement or belief. However, Nora herself said she wrote in the yakuza instead of another gang or mob because she was inspired for AFTG by sports anime, (which often queer-bait for a variety of reasons). I haven’t seen a textual analysis acknowledging the racist undertones surrounding the Moriyama’s as the few characters of color who are also major antagonists, but instead just “Nora is racist”. Wymack having shitty flame tribal tattoo’s is just… a huge 90’s thing and a part of his character design. Her having a character with bad taste in tattoo trends doesn’t mean she's racist. There is the whole how Nicky is handled thing, but that's a whole thing on it’s own. The fandom… really will write Nicky being all “ai ai muy spicy, jaja imma hit on my white–not annoying like me–boyfriend in Spanish. With my booty hole out and open for him ofc.” and as a Mexican mlm I’m like … damn alright. 

I think there is merit to the fact that she writes white as the default* and unless otherwise stated a POC a character was written with the intent to be white is another valid criticism, as well as the fact that the cast is largely white, but everything Nora is accused of I've seen the fandom do worse. That goes to the debate of, is actively writing stereotypes for POC more harmful than no representation at all? And personally I prefer the lack of established race line that lets me ignore Nora’s canon intent of characters to be white and come up with my own HC’s over the fandoms depictions of “zen monk Renee with dark past” “black best friend Matt who got over drugs but is a puppy dog” “ex stripper black Dan who dates Matt” vague tokenism. I HC many of the upperclassmen as POC and do my best to actively give thought behind it and have their own arcs that also avoids the fandom colorism spectrum of “darkest characters we HC go to the back and fandom favorites are in the front and are the lightest.” 

*I however won't criticize her harsher or more than… everyone else who still largely does this in fanfiction regarding AFTG as well as literature in general. This isn't a Nora thing, it's a societal thing, and considering the books came out in like 2014 I'm not gonna hold her to a higher standard than the rest of the world. She's just someone who wrote her personal OC’s and self-published expecting no following. I don’t know her race and I’m not gonna hold her to a higher standard than everyone else just because. 

The criticisms I've seen have always been… ironic IMO, and clearly I have a lot of thoughts on it. I think most people say those things about Nora because they heard them, and it's the woke thing to say and do and don’t critically analyze their actions or anything, but just accept them. 

[gunpowdergelatine-katsu]

Hey there! Just wanted to reach out as someone else who was also new to Tumblr a few months ago with just a few tips!

1) If you haven't, look for xKit for cutting posts! I recommend the xKit Rewritten version, as it's designed for the new blog format, and the old xKit can be really glitchy, especially if you make use of threads. StitchRPH (meme/resource blog linked below) reblogged a really good guide a few days ago for the rewritten xKit you could check out!

2) RPThreadTracker is your friend (you can google it, it's easy to find). It is a godsend. It makes it SO easy to track your replies and what you owe, you just have to be vigilant about adding each thread as you make it. It's actually specifically designed for Tumblr.

3) Most people, in my experience, interact via memes or prompts. Check for whatever their prompt tag is, and send in a quote and a thread can start from there. Also make sure you reblog them! Asks can turn into nicely short threads which can get interactions going, and make for a nice icebreaker. Generally, if someone sends you an ask, they're usually willing to roll with whatever idea you come up with for it, so be ready to do the same!

4) Have mobile-accessible content. Have a link to your rules and any relevant about info for your muse in a pinned post. Pages don't work on the Tumblr mobile app, and there are quite a few mobile users. This'll just make it easier to find your stuff. If you really want to go the extra mile, check out Carrd and consider just making an entire Carrd for your stuff.

5) Have a good tagging system! Since you're a single-muse blog it's probably not as important, but if you were a multimuse, people tend to like to block tags that aren't relevant to them, i.e. stuff from another verse or that kind of thing, using Tumblr Saviour. It helps keep their dash clean.

6) Check out some resource blogs! @stitchrph is a personal fave, honestly. Stitch is really good at explaining things to people new to Tumblr when asks are sent, and has always been incredibly polite any time I've sent asks (anon or otherwise)! @poohsources also does a lot of similar guides/helpful asks, and also has some really great meme prompts as well (and literally the most adorable layout, like hello???)! I also recommend @soulprompts and @soulmemes for some really good prompt lists, and @leneemusing for a variety of prompts/inspo/psa's if you need them. There are others that are just as awesome, but those five blogs are ones I know are really active and very helpful! @neurodiverserph also has a really good PSA on RPC accessibility/help as well that I highly recommend you check out!

I hope some of these help!

//I don't know who you are, Mr. Anony Mous (inside joke, sorry not sorry), but thank you, so, so much! I'll be looking into all these resources and using them to improve. First being the mobile thing since I legit didn't know that, being a filthy PC user. I just downloaded xKit Rewritten too.

(sorry for answering like this but I just really wanted you to know how much I appreciate you!)