#I've been thinking about the way that I feel about it and why lich's writing doesn't bother me

[cardentist]

apparently there's discourse (not in the bad way, just the discussion way) surrounding lich and trans headcanons because of how he talks about michaela in the books

so here's my opinion as a trans person (other trans people are allowed to have different opinions but this one is mine):

I believe that mothy himself is well meaning about his trans and gay representation, but is unfamiliar with what We'd consider problematic. I'm not familiar enough with either mothy or the general culture of japan to say if this is the result of mothy himself being out of touch, or japanese queer culture just being different from the US's. but either way this is my read on the situation.

and so I engage with evillious with that in mind. it's a series that means well but has problematic elements. and that doesn't have to be a Bad thing, it's just something that needs some awareness while taking it in.

so when mothy writes lich openly acknowledging and accepting that michaela is his sister but then Also has him refer to her with her dead name I don't see that as mothy intentionally portraying lich as transphobic or unaccepting of her. it is, after all, how mothy chose to reveal that she was a trans woman in the first place (introducing us to "lich's brother michael" and having it revealed that she was michaela all along, and having lich acknowledge her as his sister now).

and I think there are two ways to go about this with this understanding.

we could simply gloss over the issue, because at the end of the day we're not going to be able to sit mothy down and explain why it can be hurtful to trans people. we don't have that direct communication with him. and it's not being written with the intent of being read as malicious on lich's part, so it's simply easier to smooth it over.

Or we could translate mothy being well intentioned but misinformed onto lich as a character trait. this works best within the context of him having to learn what he's doing wrong and grow, but obviously it's up to personal interpretation.

as for trans headcanons, there's nothing wrong with that in the first place. trans people are misinformed sometimes, nobody comes out of the womb socially conscious and fully aware of modern sensibilities.

having lich realize that they aren't a man could be tied into lich gaining a better understanding of transness. having lich be transmasc already and just not knowing any better because He doesn't mind these things and hasn't stopped to think that other people may feel differently. having lich be whatever flavor of trans you want in whatever way you want just because it's fun and you'd like to. it's all fine and doesn't hurt anybody

I would Also like to point out that levia has been making fun of behemo for wearing dresses and make up since she was introduced as a character, and people tend not to call her transphobic or highlight this as transphobia.

yes, there is more ambiguity in behemo's case as mothy has never stated outright what behemo's identity is, but calling someone you interpret as a man disgusting or weird for wearing dresses Is Transphobia (and was specifically highlighted As transphobia/bigotry that behemo has faced during barisol's child) regardless of what that person's gender actually is.

I personally like levia a lot, just like I like lich and behemo and michaela, and Personally I think they're all trans Because I like them. and I'm not saying that we should Start defining levia's character by this trait.

but I Am saying that it's an obvious double standard to hold lich as a character accountable while Not doing the same for levia when arguably levia is intentionally written as being harmful while lich isn't.

anyways, I think it's funny if levia realizes he's a trans man that still likes to wear dresses and make up, and I think lich is seth's boyfriend and banica's girlfriend and eater's -̴̱͔̫̭̎̆͆-̴̠͚͘͜-̶̺̰̙̦͗-̸̡̻̽̅-̴̢̹̰̠͐͑̃̈̑friend, and equally trans no matter what

(also potential lich and carlos dynamic intrigues me but I think it's much funnier if they aren't dating each other. banica's husband and banica's girlfriend silently and awkwardly eating brunch together because they figure they're supposed to hang out but between the two of them there isn't one drop of social intelligence)

(they do this every day, it never gets any better)

[rivilu]

You know. Now that I've finished it I can say with some confidence that about 90% of the criticism this game faces that I have seen (not counting the anti-woke crybabies- those will die out in time. as they have with every installment of this series.) is sort of. Not missing the point, but missing the reasoning as to why some choices were made?

Heavy spoilers ahead for everything pretty much.

[And also I mean I'm going to speak as an inquisition hater here so in case this breeches my tiny bubble on this site you can stop reading if you enjoy any tiny aspect of that game at all. I am not kind.]

Yes. This game is not Origins or 2. This Thedas is very wishy washy about the core topics they tackled. Some things are straight up not mentioned at all when they REALLY SHOULD BE. Being an elf has you facing 0 negative interactions in TEVINTER for example. But. A lot of these choices were clearly made as a patchwork. Because of how much inquisition shat the bed. Yeah you can't easily bring back the chantry in a critical way when the last game spent 100+ hours bootlicking it against your will. There is a tiny nod to the mage- templar conflict being one sided and cruel in a side quest? But you can't elaborate and examine mages and how they're treated when the last game had a very clear bias and set them up as unreasonable/ pathetic/ willing to shell out to slavers etc. Similarly with elves how the fuck are you meant to move on from. Anything at all inq set up. Without wiping the board on a few to many places.

I'm looking at you, "the Dalish abandon mage kids above a specific count" NPC.

And the gods themselves. Solas himself. I still consider the most absolute dogshit, stupid, horrible, downright deplorable on a coding aspect writing decision in the series. One that I thought was impossible to create ANYTHING of value around before I got to this game. And. Let me tell you. For once the retconning is the glue that holds this thing together instead of being the thing tearing it apart. - Because it leads the game to feel like an au- in a decently good way. It's not recognizable as the Thedas we know - but it's close enough if you squint, and LEAGUES above the inquisition, which also felt like au fanfiction but in the "religious imperialist 100k essay on why minorities are suckers and the status quo rules actually" sense

Yes. We sort of elaborate on the nature of the blight here and the arch demons being?? Essentially lich phylacteries for these blighted gods. Which directly contradicts established information from awakening of the archdemons not being blighted by default. But I played through that and didn't blink because frankly none of this world feels anything like the one awakening takes place in. And the plot point works for the purpose it serves so really? It's fine. Or something like Bellara being able to do what Merrill spent 7 years attempting in a day or so. It works in a self contained way, but if you're trying to view this as a whole- it creates a dissonance.

An that's the thing. It's not a whole. Trying to view it as such is setting yourself up for failure. The devs said that this would be sort of a blank slate- a reset installment. But it isn't.. quite? Inq was. Inq was the one that decided to change the entire genre from dark to high fantasy, botched the transition, and watered everything down until it was an unrecognizable centrist pile of slop (at best). This is working with the horrible decisions made there- and trying to make something good out of them. It is a VALIANT effort. And I do think they mostly succeed. For what it is- it's good. I don't think it's fair to this game that's been in development hell for 10 years to blame it for not keeping things that its predecessor ruined just because they were handled better in origins or two or whatever. Trust me. Origins is still my favorite and always will be. But if you want origins, give bioware- which is currently half laid off- a break, and start barraging EA with interest for a faithful remaster/remake (i'll gladly join). Or do literally anything other than complaining about this not being that. It helps no one.

[kolapon-art]

Girl, i feel like you have some personal things against Philip I mean, most of what I see from you on Twitter is you insulting him and talking about how bad a person he is, and so on, at least three pages long in each tweet, to the point of a little annoying but with great details, so it is clear that you hate him as person, but what about him as a character ?, as a villain? And why most people hate him even though a lot of other characters in other franchises with far worse goals and far worse actions didn't get this hate ?, like lich of adventure time

Well ofc I hate him as a person,,,he is bloody awful in every way and we are meant to hate him. And I'm sorry but I will be pretty concerned if someone tells me they like him as a person when he's someone who's been shown to murder, abuse and manipulate.

But as a character? I wouldnt be talking about him, analyzing his actions and his place in the narrative if I hated how he was written. I find him compelling. And I'm never stating in my analysis stuff that is not canon, so me pointing out he is bad in this and that way is literally just things that happened in the show. Idk how you want me to analyze him in other ways.

So theres a very clear distinction here. And when theres similar villains in other franchises? I hate them as people too. You should have seen me talk about Bill Cipher when I was more into that show back in the day. Awful person but well written character who did a good job as villain.

(Also you said you saw me analyze him, why would you ask if I like him as a character. Cause who the hell will waste their time writing down stuff for a character whose writing they hate unless its to complain about said writing which I dont think I've ever done when it comes to Belos...😭)

[illarian-rambling]

Thanks for the tag @kaylinalexanderbooks!

Wip Questionnaire

Rules: answer as few or as many as you'd like!

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

For Honor's Outcasts, it was the Trench. There was this game I played a lot while waiting for my sister to get out of cheer practice called Seashine, and I guess I just imagined what would happen if people were trapped down there and how they'd survive. That's where Izjik came from. When I decided she needed a friend, that's how I came up with Sepo. (If any of you want to play the Trench simulator, Seashine is free on mobile)

For Mortal God, the first thing I came up with was the villain, Vermir. I needed a villain for an arc in my dnd campaign, and I figured some crazy lich trying to encase her body in steel while experimenting on the local population was threatening enough. Mashal and Astra were created as a way to get my... less than clever party to her hidden layer. I liked them enough that I decided to write a book about their story.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

Honor's Outcasts' intro would be War Pigs by Black Sabbath. I think the intro sequence would be a bunch of their battles stitched together chronologically, so you could see everyone's abilities change and grow. Maybe some short sequences from End's siege of the Watchtower mirroring that too.

Mortal God intro would be Night of the Living Ted by Hillbilly Moon Explosion. It's got a country sort of vibe and even though the lyrics don't match at all, I think it fits the chaos of the story.

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

Good lord, that's a tough question. I like all my characters. If I had to choose though, I'd pick Izjik for Honor's Outcasts. She was the first one I made, and it's mostly her who drives the story forward. Also, her POV is just really fun to write.

Astra is my favorite from Mortal God, despite all the difficulties I've had with refining her character. She's just a lot of fun, and she's also a sort of plot catalyst like Izjik.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

I mean, any high fantasy books. I think Honor's Outcasts and the Lies of Locke Lamora would share fans because of the pirates and found family vibes, though Locke Lamora is a lot grittier and less magical.

Mortal God would have a place with the steampunk crowd. A lot of people also compare it to Star Trek? I've never seen Star Trek, so I don't know how accurate that is. In my own mind, I compare both series to Mistborn eras 1 and 2, in that they take place on the same planet, but the second series is some time in the future.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

The making of the Honor's Outcasts plot was an absolute roller coaster. Every book I wrote like it was the end of the series, only to go, wait no, this doesn't feel done.

With Mortal God, I had more trouble with the characters. I knew I wanted a romance, but I'd never written one before, so setting up that early chemistry between Astra and Mashal was rough. Also, riding that edge of making Ivander a likable jerk wasn't easy.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Uh, I don't really like to write pets. I always forget about them and my characters move around too much. Case in point, in Honor's Outcasts book 2, Sepo has a horse. When they teleport post haste to Unity, they leave poor Landhorse behind, and we never see her again. (She just ends up with their neighbors, don't worry)

Similarly, Astra has a cat named Mercher's Day. In book 2, she leaves him with her parents so he's not in danger when they travel north. The meta reason for this was because I knew she was going to have to leave her vardo behind at the end of the story and I didn't want to abandon poor Mercher in some icy city.

7. How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

Transportation changes between the series due to the time jump. In Honor's Outcasts, the quartet's main mode of transport is by boat, at least until Twenari learns to teleport people. Even then, she can only do it once per day, and only with a physical piece of the place she intends to go, so they're still walking a lot.

In the time of Mortal God, trains have been invented and are a common mode of transportation for rich city folk like Ivander. Astra prefers her vardo. The DuClaire Extraordinaire is a steam-powered, steel crocodile-legged, self steering vardo wagon covered in bright paint and electric lights. It isn't fast, but it's her home and it can make it over almost any terrain. It's very much based on Baba Yaga's chicken house.

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

The Honor's Outcasts series (still gotta come up with a real name for that) is written. I'm working on finding beta readers, saving up money for professional editing, and working up the courage to query.

Two books of Mortal God are written, with plans for a 3rd under way. I need to find readers for the first two and maybe a developmental editor before I finish the series.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

People eat found family up, so hopefully that'll mean they like Honor's Outcasts. There's so much found family in those books. Also, queer characters, no romance, and some spooky eldritch horror.

In Mortal God, I think the slow burn between Astra and Mashal will make the romance subplot people happy. There's also robots and I love robots, as well as some themes of classism and empire.

For both series, I think it's my worldbuilding that really shines. I read a lot of high fantasy with super detailed worlds and magic systems, so it's my hope that my books approach some of that.

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

I want to publish both of them. Not really for the money, but I just think it's the best way I can get my stories out there, you know? I long for the day when I'll be able to read fanfic someone wrote of my books.

I'll tag @mk-writes-stuff @somethingclevermahogony @nbwriteschaos @autism-purgatory @cssnder and anyone else who wants in :)

Blanks under the cut

1. What was the first part of your wip that you created?

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

3. Who are your favourite characters you've made? Why?

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fan base for your story?

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your wip?

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

7. How do your characters get around? (ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

8. What part of your wip are you working on rn?

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

[blingblandfanfic]

Lup and Barry clone Taako

i've been dabbling in taz fic lately, and i started this and realised i only wanted to write this scene, and thus didn't want to flesh it out further LMAO

one scene isn't enough to post on ao3, but it is enough to post on tumblr ;)

It starts with Lup’s hovering.

Her metaphorical hovering, that is, not her literal hovering. It’s been a month, maybe a bit more since they’ve defeated the Hunger, and on account of being a lich with no legs, she’d have to drift from place to place for all that time.

Taako doesn’t know why she and Barry haven’t made her a new body, but whatever.

To be honest, it takes a while for Taako to even notice her metaphorical hovering, let alone be bothered by it. There’s something about being separated for over a decade that’s made it so that neither of them can be apart for too long without getting panicky about it. But as Taako soaks up sister time, his Lup quota fills up a little bit faster every day until it’s almost back to pre disappearance levels. 

He’d expected it to be the same for Lup, but she’s still clingy. Still hovering. Metaphorically. It’s obvious that there's something she wants to tell him, and he’s never known her to be shy about anything, so he’s waiting for her to spit it out herself. 

One night, when she’s decided to ‘sleep’ in Taako’s bed instead of Barry's, she finally plucks up the courage to ask whatever she wants to ask him.

“Taako. How much do you love me?”

“What do you want?” his eyes are closed, but if they weren’t, they’d be squinting suspiciously. 

“Seriously, babe, just answer the question.”

“You’re my heart, duh,” if this is what she’s been worried about the whole time, then Taako’s gonna be pissed. 

“How would you like to make that literal?”

He finally pulls open an eye to see his sister, floating ominously above him, “and what the fuck do you mean by that?”

If Lup had a face, she would use it to give him a bashful smile. 

“Well… we need like, a lot of DNA samples in order to create a clone, and it was easy for Barry because he always had access to his body but–”

“But your body is dust,” Taako closes his eyes. 

“Hey, we’re already technically clones of each other! We just need to do it manually this time!”

“It’s still fucking freaky, though!” he sits up on his elbows, “I don’t wanna go about my day knowing there’s a version of me growing in a test tube!”

“Then don’t think of the clone as you, dummy, it’ll be my body, I just… won’t be in it, for a while.”

“Oh my god,” he slumps back onto the mattress, “when the fuck did this become our life?”

“I think we were pretty much locked in the moment we got the IPRE acceptance letters,” she floats down to lie on Taako’s body, her not-face propped up by her hands. “Seriously, though, if you really don’t wanna do this, then it’s fine. We’ll figure something else out.”

“Oh yeah, like what? Possess some poor schmuck and spend the rest of your days running from Kravitz? No way, this is the easier option.”

“I have a feeling you’re not fully 100 percent on board with this.”

“Yeah, of course I'm not! Who wants to be cloned? But I’m doing it anyway because you’re my sister, and I want to fucking hug you.”

“God, same,” Lup sighs, “and I want to bang my husband,” she ignores Taako’s retching, “it’s just that we have to be really careful about this, now that me and Barry are working for the Raven Queen and all, we have to make sure this is super duper ethical. Cloning is super light necromancy, and she’s barely willing to let us do it.”

“Fine,” Taako raises his hand, “you have my full unequivocal consent to clone my body and bang your husband with it. I just don’t want to see the fucking thing until you’re in it. Do you need that in writing or what?”

“Actually, yeah. Like I said, the Raven Queen is being super strict about it. Kravitz says we’re lucky she’s letting us do this at all. I guess being the saviors of the universe helped us out there.”

“She also has a big soft spot for Kravitz. She’s like his Mom.”

“Aww, really?”

“He can deny it all he wants, but I know the truth. He blushes like a motherfucker when I bring it up.”

“Ha!” She barks out a laugh and sits up, “I'm definitely gonna bring that up the next time I see him,” she floats off him and makes for the wall– doors are obsolete to a lich– but she pauses, turning back to face him. He can almost imagine her face in the empty darkness that is her hood, a reflection of his own, but far more open and gentle than he’s ever allowed himself to be. “Seriously–”

“Seriously,” he raises his hand, “I'm cool with it. Now can I go the fuck back to sleep?”

“Yeah,” she says, soft, with a hint of a smile, “you can.”

[fixfoxnox]

Hi I am the Sweetheart/Baby and Ed Prosek Anon. I gained sentience, so you get a face now.

I literally cried reading your response on Roach's brothers. I myself have only just started as an adult getting to be a real sibling and stepping up like I've wanted to, so it hits.

As for the songs, Yes!

They were intended for SitO. I have been listening to "The Otherside" nonstop since I've started reading SitO (Somewhere at chapter 4/5). I do think it reflects the work as a whole at face value. I looked into meaning behind the lyrics; because my partner was super convinced this was about some Liche trying to convince people to die, and its really about your future self looking back and encouraging you to keep on moving forward, because once you get through all the tough shift, the rewards are totally worth it. So honestly with that context, I feel like it could sit in a lot places.

Two more song recs:

Chainsmoking by James Banks - This is coming from where my head went post chapter 20. The idea of Roach realizing his attachment to Past!Simon and Past!Ghost isn't healthy for him and its dragging him down but he's conflicted on letting them go.

The Hardest Part by Olivia Dean - Though behind this one is that Past!Simon and Past!Soap notice the changes in Roach and Roach coming to understand that he's moving forward, while they're not and has changed from who he once was, and waking the fuck up.

Sorry for the monster dump! Much love.

-Glitter

Ah hello!

I loved the sweetheart/baby idea its so good and just such a good read on the characters and everything. Sibling relationships are one of my favorite things to write, and these three are just such an interesting case! A brilliant idea!

Chainsmoking by James Banks is such a good song choice for chapter 20 and chapter 21. You literally hit the nail on the head with what's going on currently. Roach has to come to terms with the fact that he's focused so much of his new life on getting back to something similar to his first life. He's been so focused on the past that he's not ever been able to truly join the present.

He loves his first life, loves Past! Simon and Past! Soap so much. He's kinda placed them on this pedestal in his mind. He doesn't ever remember any of the bad from that life because he's so focused on the fact that he lost his chance there. In a way, because of that, he's never let himself truly mourn what he lost.

And he knows that, deep down in his mind, he knows that holding on so tightly to his first life, comparing everything that he does to his first life, never seeing the bad from it, isn't good for him. He's never allowed himself to fully process his feelings, which is also part of the reason why Makarov was able to pick him apart so well. He was being forced to face things that he'd buried in his mind.

And now? Now his mind has decided that its done letting him shove all of these things down. He knows he needs to process these things, so he's forcing himself to see the truth in this dream version of his first life.

Excellent song choice!

[song-of-the-rune]

To anyone who does OC writing of any kind -- essentially, how do you decide who a character is?

Thinking aloud, please feel free to answer without reading all of the rambling below, which is more about a specific character than the question in general:

I found this in my drafts. I don't need advice on this particular character anymore, but I am still curious to hear about others' processes!

I have a character who I know a little bit about, but he's relatively undeveloped, and I'm trying to make him the protagonist of this short story I'm writing. I have a vague background, and I know how he typically handles things in the moment -- but I'm not sure how to have him react in the longer term. Partially because I know he himself is conflicted.

I guess part of my problem is that I don't want him to be too similar to the antagonist/deuteragonist, or if he does end up being very similar, I want to keep it clear that that's a corruption of his old self or it's otherwise forced on him.

I guess, partially, I am torn on -- do I want a happy ending for my protagonist?

I like happy endings, but I also like torturing my characters a bit and exploring pain through writing. I know I shouldn't worry about what others think of my writing in general, but when this is done, it's going to become lore for my tabletop setting, so... it does need to be a little bit consumable. (Or, I guess not? It's not like this is all happening on-screen.) It's also not like he's particularly... relatable for most readers, I'd think, at least not for my players. He's established in the setting as not a fantastic person, though I've started sympathizing with him when I started writing this. On the other hand, he's also a great candidate for a redemption arc, and I'm a sucker for redemption arcs. On the OTHER hand... It's very much against his own sense of self-preservation at this point.

Okay, I guess let me explain some things to help clarify the question:

(Spoilers for a story about my OCs I want to post here later if I get around to finishing it)

How do I decide how much Kaz values self-preservation?

High-fantasy setting. The man has been murdered and forcibly turned undead to grant him immortality. Why? So he can serve as a soul cage for the now-lich Rik who forcibly turned him -- essentially, he is the key to someone else's immortality. But he needs his own soul cage, and in an attempt to make things "even", embeds it in Rik's body. So, the two need each other to survive in order to keep surviving -- almost, I'll get back to this in a moment.

However, uh... obviously that's not a healthy relationship. So Kaz wants out, because he trusted Rik up until this happened. However, he didn't come prepared like Rik did, so he's actually at a bit of a disadvantage. Basically, Rik could replace Kaz at any time, taking away his immortality, so he's essentially at Rik's beck and call if he wants to survive. Not only can Rik take away the thing making Kaz invulnerable, but because of the way they're bound, Kaz can't put distance between them to keep himself safe from Rik; there's essentially always the option to teleport directly to Kaz. The best option in terms of survival is to make himself indisposible, which means cooperating, even if minimally. But, he knows that Kaz is going to be psychologically manipulating him the whole way and it probably won't be minimal.

What does he do? Does he just... die? Or does he keep doing things he doesn't want to do in order to survive?

How do I decide what a character lives for?

He's undead. He doesn't want to be. He misses food and feeling the sun and being able to be around animals without them being terrified of him.

[anistarrose]

🦋🎀💝💥

🦋what are you most insecure about when you post a fic?

just, like, whether I'll get any feedback at all, honestly... but I've been blessed enough to never have a fic go without at least one comment, which means a lot to me :')

🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing

this is specific as hell and I'm only bringing it up because I think you, fex, might be the only person from whom I've ever gotten a comment catching onto the fact I even do this, but I think I'm really good at writing romance in an arospec way >:)

most specifically, I love taking my little amnesiac blupjeans AUs and using them to explore weird feelings about romance and especially confusion about "love at first sight," to drop hints that I see them as demiromantic, and that they're only falling in love "at first glance" because they spent a very, very long time falling in love at their own personal pace before. ghosting, and a lack thereof is probably my favorite example of this, but there's subtle hints in practically all my voidfished blupjeans fics tbh

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

I really did not at all expect leaving, as an injustice to get anywhere near as popular as it did, because like, Merle is probably the least popular of THB, to speak nothing of Mavis herself being such a minor character, but I was really happy to be wrong about this one! I was really proud of the themes I pulled together in it so I'm really glad it found an audience of far more Mavis Enjoyers than I expected!

💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

okay so I have a few potential qualifiers here that are so old/such niche AUs that I barely remember what they're about, but of the ones I've actually written within like... the last three years, Malaise is probably the least popular. which, for the record, I know why — it's basically just a canon compliant but slightly speculative character study, so it didn't get as many shares as some of my wild and wacky AUs.

but still, I don't dislike it nor regret writing it! I think I did a great job weaving together a lot of the Balance arc's themes about pride and mistakes, and the premise — that all liches can see the essence of suffering, and that it comes up during the Relic Wars — is pretty creative, if I do say so myself. I think I had some really great imagery in there, too!

[sometipsygnostalgic]

When'd you get into Adventure Time the first time, and how'd it happen? Been thinking of giving it a watch (especially after all the good stuff that's been said of Obsidian and, admittedly, all the stuff I've seen you post and reblog), and it got me curious

This is like my favourite story, and it is the only good one I remember from being a teenager (life from back then has been super foggy since I moved out of my mum's but it is all good now):

When I was 15 I made a new friend who wanted to write a comic about Teen Titans with me as the artist, TT being my second-favourite childhood show after DBZ.

I started bingewatching Teen Titans because I now had a computer and was able to do so. I learnt about the voice actors.

Starfire was played by Hynden Walch. I learnt that Hynden's latest role was Princess Bubblegum on Adventure Time. I checked it out on wikipedia. It seemed kind of cartoony for me.

One thing that caught my eye is when the wikipedia page said PB "may have had a past relationship" with Marceline, the vampire girl with the really pretty hair. I was confused by this, and rationalised it to myself as they must have had a history as friends or enemies. It didn't say what kind of relationship and I thought there was no chance of it meaning "romantic".

For the time being, I didn't look into AT further.

A couple months pass. After several months of tension, I get a text while in school telling me that my dad was breaking up with his fiance, and I would need to move back into my mother's place immediately. This was smack bang when I was about to start my GCSE exams - the timing couldn't be worse. My mother's house is a shit hive and I went between having a tiny box room to myself or sharing a messy bedroom with my sister and mother. There were no standards for hygeine and there wasn't a stable supply of food.

I decide to finish my binge watch of Teen Titans. I spend all day doing this every day. I rewatched it once I was done. It was what I did to cope.

At the same time, my Teen Titans comic friend confides in me. She tells me she thinks she might be a lesbian, and she is scared her parents will reject her. I sympathise deeply. At the time, I was waist deep in the closet to the point I couldnt accept certain things about myself either, but having a friend come out to me made me reconsider LGBT matters.

I looked on deviantart and saw some art for "RaeStar". I thought it was wrong to ship them (I shipped RobStar hardcore) but, well, the art was so cute. Their interactions were healthy and sweet. It was nice. This became my low key first gay ship.

Then, I start bingeing RebelTaxi's Teen Titans video reviews.

Once I am dry on Teen Titans content, I see RebelTaxi did a review on Fionna and Cake, and on Ryan North's Issue #2 of the Adventure Time comic.

The first video, Fionna and Cake, was appealing to me. The show had an amazing art style, and a decent sense of humor. I loved that they did something for the fans, making a genderbent fanfic episode based on popular fan characters. It was unprecedented and very post modern.

....But it was the SECOND video that made me take a very sudden interest in the show.

RebelTaxi was referring to a scene with PB and Marcy in the bottom of the Lich's bag. There is a joke where Marcy turns into a tentacle monster. RebelTaxi always makes hentai jokes when tentacle monsters are involved, but he interpreted this scene as referencing the characters' "lesbian undertones".

...Wait, WHAT? Hynden Walch's character and the pretty vampire have Lesbian Undertones?!?! Haven't I heard this somewhere before?!?!

A quick google search of "Adventure Time Lesbian Undertones" later, I discover the Mathematical! Controversy - how an episode with some incredible songwriting seemed to imply they had been girlfriends in the past who have residual feelings for each other. A podcast had been made by the producers fangirling about this possibility, but it was taken down, and the director fired. Nobody had outright said the subtext was not there, but they said they didn't want the podcast to sound like word of god. There had been a lot of upset in the gay community over this. Oh, by the way, there's a gay community of cartoon fans who really ship PB/Marcy.

With a combination of everything, from how my friend had just come out to me and was struggling with homophobia, to how I was a Hynden Walch fan, to how the show had already impressed me with what little I'd seen, I became IMMEDIATELY invested in finding out as much as possible about these potential LGBT characters and their relationship.

So I checked out a ton of Adventure Time videos on youtube. I checked the vids that had Marceline's backstory in, vids with funny moments from PB and all the other characters, I checked Deviantart for fanart where I made my first engagements with the fandom's gay community, I checked the Wiki talk pages to get ALL of the discourse. It changed who I was basically overnight.

I decided Adventure Time was a fun show with clever writing, and absolutely worth my attention. During the break for exams, I binge watched it all day, and then I would cram for my GCSEs between midnight and 3am on the day of the exam. I was addicted!

When I caught up, Goliad aired. This was the first ep to come out with me being in the fandom.

At the time, even though Hynden had drawn me to the show, Marceline was the character I was most invested in. She had the amazing backstory and music and character design. PB was fun, but there was relatively nothing to her character.

Oh boy, that ALL CHANGED with Goliad! People were intensely debating what the episode was saying about her. Is she a good person, a bad person? Why was she so troubled in the episode's opening, and why was Goliad corrupted?

Discourse only escalated with Princess Cookie. The top post on the wikia was "Is Princess Bubblegum evil?"

Thinking about her character was so interesting for me. These two episodes made me realise PB was a character with her own internal battles, who was struggling with the responsibility to do what was right for her people vs what is the Right Thing, with her own psychological wellbeing caught in the middle. My interpretation of Goliad was that PB was a naturally neutral person who had decided to be good, whereas Goliad had been corrupted by Jake's anger, and this contrasted with Finn who was a pure good person. The Princess Cookie episode reinforced my ideas, because she was doing something that was neither objectively good or bad but was a result of her own morality, and it went against Jake's morality. The idea of the "good guys" having such different values was so engaging, and they managed to come around at the end, with baby-snaps being submitted to rehabilitation.

Princess Cookie was also the first episode where PB was shown to be an adult while a currently adult character was a child. Either candy people age quickly, or - more likely - Pb is keeping her age a mystery. After thinking about this, I opened up a page on the wiki forums saying "Is Princess Bubblegum Old?"

This is what sealed my position in the fandom. I became a well known regular of the community after that, on Wikia and then Tumblr. It was my first fandom. So many good memories of theories, debates, analysis and fanart, the satisfaction of my theories being confirmed in season 5 onwards.

The most important thing to me, about engaging with the AT community, was how those initial interactions around the LGBT content were the groundwork for me being comfortable coming out of the closet. If it wasn’t for that, if it wasn’t for speaking specifically to Thisfreemind and Illeity about how gay relationships are perfectly fine and healthy for kids to see, and no less clean than straight relationships, I might be a person with far more conservative views today, and I might have fallen out with several of my closeted friends over internalized homophobia.  

I would have also probably failed high school. My grades improved drastically over the next year, because my online community life had made me happier.  It was comfort and stability during a difficult couple of years. 

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

To Do List:

What's up, my Herd of Nerds?

Anyway, as you can tell, tomorrow is AU Sunday. But, because it's one after a 'my input' one, it's a follower input AU day! Yay!

So, send me your AUs and I'll put all of em in a hat to pick one randomly. The winner is picked and posted and we'll all try and make headcanons about your AU.

Done:

Zombie Apocalypse AU :: (https://hermitcraftheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/618314308275863552/zombie-apocalypse-au-masterpost)

Pirate AU ::

Currently In The Raffle:

-Toy Story AU.

-Ever After High/Descendants/Vaguely 'nex gen priness' AU.

-Eldritch Horror AU :: Or if that's a bit too out there, a more normal Monster AU. I don't care, but in my heart, I know Cleo is some kind of eldritch horror. Zombie is far too easy.

-Eldritch Monster AU! Hermits are all Lovecraftian horrors who all individually decided that they wanted to pretend to be normal and are all trying to hide their otherworldliness. I also feel like Mumbo or X or someone as the one actually "normal" player on the server would work well. Most hermits don't know that everyone else isn't normal either, but some find out about friends maybe.

-Rabid Debate Club AU :: Random weird au idea where it's basic hs/uni au but like two of them try to start a debate club, then invite some friends just so there's enough people; cut to like two months later, it's all the hermits just fighting over whether or not pineapple should go on pizza or not lol it isn't very good i'm sorry but ya know rabid debate club AU.

-Animal/shapeshifting AU :: (Suggested Twice.) Every hermit can shapeshift into one token animal. (If it's something like "dog," they can only turn into one breed and color of dog, EXAMPLE: doc can shift into a black sable belgian malinois, but not anything else.)

-Wedding Planners AU :: Hermits work in various unrelated businesses such as a bakery, flower shop, etc., but see each other semi-often bc they're semi-often called upon to work together by another hermit's wedding planning business (obvs if you couldn't tell i know absolutely nothing abt wedding planning & businesses n shit lol but it's the /concept/ of it yannknow)

-Avatar: The Last Air Bender AU. (Suggested Thrice.)

-Fusion AU :: (Also suggested by Anon.) (Suggested Twice.) What if Hermits could fuse with each other? (Viva and Jumbo fused into MumboJumbo.)

-SCP AU :: The hermits have spooky powers and are kept locked up bc of it (or they have to keep the world safe from monsters and cursed objects!)

-RPG AU :: I feel like someone already thought of that but I am just wondering about it lately :p -🍋

-Adventure Time AU :: The hermits live in a post-apocalyptic world and the Lich (bad guy) is making everything decay. They need to gather all the gems (belt colours) to unlock the Enchiridion (a book) and have one wish each granted from Prismo (multiverse wish granting dude) before the Lich does. Only 4 elements can enter the multiverse: Slime (The Lich & Jevin), Redstone (Tango or Mumbo?), Ice (Stress), and Dirt (Grian, much to his dismay). Only the elementals can see the book. Grian's the protagonist with his sidekick Scar. He originally started collecting the belts because they were shiny but eventually decided to read the book and find out what they were for when Scar said he didn't see it. Doc, False, and Iskall are major obstacles because they don't believe the book exists.</p>

-Total Drama Island AU.

-Magical Girl AU :: Zedaph's the lead magical girl and rounds up a bunch of other magical girl hermits.

-Pokeman AU :: What are the Hermit's roles in this world? Who's the Champion, Elite Four. Are they scientists? Trainers? Do they compete in competitions, do they specialize in types? Who's everyone's starter? Has anyone encountered any legendaries?

-College AU

-High School AU

-Wizard101 AU :: I (🦊) recently got this AU idea and recently started going off somewhere with it in terms of writing, but, like, Hermitcraft meets Wizard101. Tons and tons of magical shenanigans, monster hunting, and idk what else.

-Magic AU

-My Hero Academia AU :: Headcanons can be about which hermits would have what quirks and occupations based on them.

-So I'm writing an AU where there's a second game of Demise but 5 years later. So far the first 2 hermits (Joe and Xisuma) have died, and their dead forms are cracked with an arrow in his chest (Xisuma) and cyborg (Joe). So since it's Saturday, I'm looking for what some skins would look for.

-City AU :: I mean this is really just a normal everyday AU.

-School AU.

-Terraria-Minecraft Fusion AU :: Who chooses what class? what events do each hermit prefer? how to they deal with the world infections? preferred biomes? Favourite NPCS? It has potentiallllll.

-70s/80s Teen Horror AU :: (like Stranger Things, Carreie, The Lost Boys, Halloween, etc.) -🦇

-Demi-God AU :: Sort of like percy jackson (everyone being the children of different gods from all different cultures.)

-Supernatural AU

-Marching Band AU :: Xisuma is the band major and all the show music is the remixes. I need to come up with some ideas for uniforms. Outfits and flags for the colorguard too.

-Different Eras AU :: (Suggested Twice.) All the hermits are from different time periods or eras. Like Wels is from the mediveal/dark era, Mumbo is from 1890-1920's, Iskall is from 2030, TFC is from 2020(?), Cleo is from 2130, etc!!! Like the mobs/animals became feused with humans, is when the mob players came from.

-Star Trek AU :: Like maybe they could be on one ship and each have different roles like engineers or doctors? I don’t know if this has been suggested but hope you enjoy! - 🐦

-House Mates AU :: ApartmentAU but scaled down?

-Atlantis AU :: (Could be merged with Mermaid AU???)

-Fighting Game AU :: Some influences would be Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Ultra Instinct, that kind of stuff.

-Time loop AU :: The hermits each have to deal with their own time loop.

(All those above in red are from our community's lovely Anons!)

-Superhero/superpower AU :: They each have a unique power/powerset that is in some way connected to their personality. (ie Mumbo *could* control electricity because of his love of redstone) Some Hermits may even choose to be "villains" and prank their other servermates. If you need power ideas, I've got a couple. (12u3ie)

-Daycare AU :: The recap peeps are the caretakers :P (-@tikauniverse.)

-Incredibly Long Cross Country Train Ride AU :: they all are in the same train car, telling stories of where they’re going, backstories.)

-Stuck In An Airport AU :: pretty similar to train au but they can be going diff places.

-Doctors AU :: they’re all doctors working at the same hospital.)

-Circus AU (Also suggested by an Anon.) (Suggested Twice.)

-Spy AU (Also suggested by @shadeswiftdraws.) (Suggested Twice.)

-Runaways AU :: The hermits are all teenagers who have run away from home, they all live on the streets until TFC takes them in. Head canons can be about backstories, living on the streets, or when they’re with TFC.

-Criminals and Police Officers AU

(-@lookitsspacekween)

-Dancer AU :: I mean, I already got a list kind of planned out, but headcanons for why specific styles are chosen would be appreciated! :) (usedtobelucythefallenangel)

-Broadway/Musicals Hermits AU :: The hermits are all casts of various musicals and when this newly-built theater opens up they all fight for which musical gets to play in it first (they have a riff-off maybe?) musicals mainly included are Hamilton, BMC, DEH, SiX, Beetlejuice, etc (feel free to add more!) (-@heyitsroby.)

-DnD AU (Also suggested by Anon.) (Suggested twice.)

-Mermaid AU :: In honor of the end of Mermay

-Space exploration AU :: There could be different ships, command centers, aliens.... Maybe someone could even get stranded/crash on a new planet? Who knows, could be fun.

-Paranormal/ghost hunter AU :: A couple Hermits could be the ghost hunters going to haunted locations to prove/disprove their hauntedness, others could be camera crew, owners of haunted buildings, or even the ghosts themselves.

-Camping/Vacation AU.

-Summer Cottage AU :: They all spend summers/weekends along the same shoreline and do different summer activities together. Outdoor fun and shenanigans!

-Space AU :: like star trek or similar.

-I would say evil clone au but I think that's pretty much the entire Hermitcraft tumblr right now lol. (Suggested twice.)

(-@shadeswiftdraws.)

-Magic AU :: Magic exists and all the hermits have powers. They can also summon a weapon but what that weapon is depends on the hermit. I'm thinking it'll take place in a sort-of Demise 2 in S7 with a big war. So far I've got: Grian - Cloning himself to his different personas (each has a different power). Xisuma - Making barriers, teleporting, and transforming into different mobs. Scar - Making mutant plants & boosting other hermits' attack & health. (-@datsaltyperson.)

-Demon AU :: Something enters the overworld and turns into a supernatural style-demon through Dimentional Distortion. Who gets posessed first, who goes crazy, and who actually kills it? Honestly I think that, if anything, Tango would know how to gank it, for obvious reasons. (-@fireflower-dusk.)

-High Street AU :: Everyone owns a different shop on the same street or some run a shop together (-@violets-arepurple.)

-Cat AU :: Either they're were always cats, or Hels turned everyone, including himself, into a cat, and they have to survive and overcome challenges in the Season 7 world. An example of a challenge would be Cub's a Sand Cat(the cats that always look like kittens no matter how old they are and live in deserts), and everyone's not sure if he can actually swim, so they have to find a way for him to get around without involving water. (-@scp10000.)

-How about a secret AU.. Every hermit has their big secrets and when Grian joined. He doesn't really know anything about those secrets even till season 7. Not many hermits talked to him in S6 anyway.. Mumbo was the closest to him so they would have regular chats For Iskall is mostly business related things Grian wants to know why so he set out on a quest to force the others to at least talk to him so he wouldn't be lonely. (-@babylightstudentbiscuit.)

-Hermit Family AU :: Xisuma is very busy dad but when he isnt busy the kids and younger hermits annoying the hell out of him. Grian once asked to use Xisuma's computer and crashed the whole thing trying to download illegal gamesites and get money off the internet. Mumbo and his trains run through the entire house and Xisuma trips on them daily. (-@gamerutx.)

-College AU!! But they are not students. THEY ARE THE TEACHERS (-@ivi-prism.)

Ones I planned to do anyway but Hermitblr Hivemind and all that:

Battle of The Bands AU: i believe u once mentioned a bands/ battle of the bands au... thats my jam... (Anon.)