#I've still been stuck in art limbo

[gadzooksgalore]

Another potato bug plushie? On my blog? It's more likely than you think.

I once again used this lovely pattern (with some personal modifications) to create a new buggie pal, this time for a good friend of mine! We're doing a craft trade, which means I'll be sending her this potato and she'll send me a little crochet creation in return. I've never done a craft trade before but I'm very excited :>

My friend loves purple so I used a periwinkle fleece for the shell this time around, and I think it turned out very cute!

[higherhell]

Popping on to say sorry for the extended absence once again and that I'm not sure when I'll be back in full capacity. To paraphrase that one old newspaper clipping about life being one damned thing after another being an understatement, The Damned Things Are Overlapping, quite a lot right now. Miss you all and I hope to catch up at some point but I don't know when exactly. One would hope soon, but everything feels like shaky ground right now, so no promises. Love you though 💜

[hummingbird-games]

2024 in Review (Indie Games)

2023 | 2022 | 2021

Helloooo gamer friends!!!

I'm so tired.

Lol.

Anyhoo, y'all don't care about that!!! Y'all are here to see what games I played and what the heck I have to say about them! Reminders: I don't bash games I didn't like, and I try to post more in-depth thoughts and reviews and general yapping to Gem's Game Gems.

DEMOS

When Stars Collide - I am by no means a sci-fi girlie. I need a HEAPING dose of fantasy or fantasy elements to help me out. That said, y'all might remember how I went feral for Gilded Shadows, so I am locked in for this journey with WSC. It's just as mysterious and lore intense as GS, but also just as intriguing and engaging!

Love Me, Love Me Not - I looooove when a game charms me to pieces??? Our MC Addie, the introduced LIs, the story, the art??? Where do I begin?? Anyway, please check this one out y'all! I'm impatient for the full game (shocker, I know).

Threads of You: Beyond the Bay - So my thoughts and reactions for this one are on the side blog, but I really enjoyed the demo and I have eyes for Chris, Vince, and Alex hehehe.

Lost in Limbo - While I'd been keeping tabs on this game for what seems forever because of the character art that originally caught my attention, I almost didn't finish the demo because it was lowkey disturbing (I'm a wimp and not all horror is made equal). But!!! BUT!!!! I push through to the end, had a good time, noted that I need to play the full game in the daylight with the music turned down low. And I absolutely adore Ara and Xal so, so much.

A Simple Twist of Fae - Absolutely no one cares, but I read a lot of manga this year. Like, a lot-a lot. Like, ~180 books and 1/3 of that was manga. Anyhoo, When JMB announced she was cooking up this game, I was impatient to get my grubby hands on it. AND THEN I PLAYED IT AND IT WAS THE SHOJO INSPIRED GAME OF MY DREAMS?!?! Like.....I wish I could both have it on my computer and also on my bookshelf. Final build dropping when??? (Also the UI design is utterly delightful, I cry.)

The Summit Library (FULL DEMO) - The last time I reviewed this game, we got chapter 1 as a taste, and I was. Locked! In!! The full demo gives us the first 2 chapters as well as the previews for all the romance routes and while giving everyone a whirl I'm *still* undecided on who to go for in the future, I must mention this: TSL is so aspec friendly???? I do love a game with smut, don't get me wrong looks at College Craze but sometimes I have my moments of being overwhelmed/sliiiiiiightly repulsed and the variety of options you have to choose how you react and interact with the various LIs in this game is amazing. (I have more thoughts on this, so I'll try to remember to post to the sideblog, but please understand that this game is totally worth your attention and time imo!!!)

Fully Released & Played (at least 1 playthrough)

Rabbit Trail - This. Game. Is. SO. Cute. *punches the air* 😭🥹(Copy + paste of my review on the itch.io page -> This was so charming, so fluffy, so cozy, just delightful all around??? I've only reached one ending so far, but René is just the cutest protag to play as, and his interactions as he delivers his mail made me cheese so dang hard! (Also, I wanted to fight his parents for not properly appreciating their kid LOL))

Stuck by Design - I checked this game out because I was looking into games that fellow programmers had worked on, and this cozy game stumbled onto my lap. The music was perfect, the UI is beautiful and clean, and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of the VA for the LI, Yuki.

Wake Me Up If You Need Me - I called this game older!HSDJY MC x Ryan coded and I'm still right. The voice actor MAKES this game, and the interactions the player has with Reed is so flippin' delightful?? All my love and adoration to the game developer. May they make more beautiful games.

CTRL FREAK - The developer team brought us The Faithfulness of the Universe which is a banger in its own right, and CTRL FREAK is the team's commercial, finished project that I also found delightful. The soundtrack and the animations are chef's kiss 💛

Breathless Winds - Ooo, baby, ooo. So. If there is only one game you play from this list and you have some spare cash to spend (at the time of writing, the game is on sale!!!) please, please, check this one out. It left me absolutely spellbound, both the orginal demo, and then the full game. While I didn't get to blog fully about this one, and I only tackled 2 of the 4 routes, this game is absolutely everything. This is my indie game of the year. Poppy and her journey resonated with me, and between the music and the art, everything just came together so perfectly.

Wake Up Magical Girl - Listen TF up, if miseri creates it, I'm gonna play it, idc, idc. That being said...this game had a kick to it that when I finished my first playthrough, I had to stare off into space and gather myself. It takes the concept of magical girls and heroism and gave me a teeny tiny existential crisis, but other than that, I'm fine, it's fine, play this game, thank you.

Sleeping Under Spells - God, I love me a game where I get to argue with a LI. I love it. Bonus points if it's lowkey stupid stuff we're bickering over LOL!!

Our Wonderland - Yeah, uh huh, you thought you'd escape me talking about this game this year, didn't yah???? Too bad. The fifth and final arc dropped this year and I played it and I cried and felt for the briefest moments that life was okay. To say something different than my review of last year, I love that this seems to be the game that helps fellow ace devs find and flock to each other, I'm not kidding 🤣 so thank you Carrot for helping us fellow aspec peeps feel seen and validated and understood!

I Watched a Full Game Playthrough and Highly Recommend

Replay Boys - Okay so technically at the time of posting, there's still one more video I'm waiting to watch (Naja of BlerdyOtome uploaded her stream to YouTube) but my Godddddd. I've had my eye on this game for FOREVER but I was lowkey waiting for it to move to itch.io (I'm still a lowkey Steam hater 🥹) anyhoo, watching this absolutely wild game made me go ahead and buy a copy for myself to replay at a later time, but it's just great. The summary only scratches this surface of what the game entails 🤣

Gemi���s Gushies

(a list within a list of games that have devs trucking along in the background and I want to spotlight for y’all)

Save the Villainess - Life got away with me and unfortunately I never finished my play of the demo BUT what I have played was fun and I hope to return to this in the new year!

Woman of Xal 2 - Plot Twist Studios is on that Sequel Train with the next installment of WoX!!! Which I'm VERY excited for!!! I've unfortunately only completed one playthrough of this game, but the first game is definitely a masterclass in replayability, and I hope next year I'll be able to do a second playthough as I wait for game 2's Kickstarter!

...

And that's 2024! Any shared favorites?

- Gemini 🫶🏾

[hephaestiions]

author reclist: wolfpants

over the last few months, i've been devouring @wolfpants' works. ever since reading pages of you in two days, their rendering of harry, draco and a vast array of incredibly compelling side characters have irrevocably hooked me.

wolf is an author in enthralling motion. their fics often feature places, temporalities and contexts far removed from where canon holds & leaves us, while simultaneously being tenderly familiar, like coming home. wolf's sense of & grasp over setting leaves me breathless and dumbstruck. their different spatialities inform & infuse character in admirable ways, at various levels of craft, enjoyment and inspiration. this fandom knows and loves the draco and harry they give us, but we delight in discovering new dimensions & aspects of these characters. it's always done brilliantly believably, especially in the framework of the worlds they construct— a breath of fresh air in a forest where the trees still know your name.

wolf's works also demonstrate, sometimes explicitly, sometimes implicitly, a really significant political sensibility. most of their fics are set against backdrops tight with political tension bleeding into the characters' circumstances and interpersonal dynamics. whether through a spectrality haunting the narrative or the crucial central diegetic thread, wolf's works are layered, interrogating and collapsing delineations among private, public and political, between history and contemporaneity and between narrative and commentary.

in the interests of length & theme of this list, i've specifically selected some fics that, for me, showcase wolf's mastery & playfulness with setting, understood as deviations in place, time and universe. the broader recommendation is, of course, to check out everything wolf has ever written!

nightcall (E, 1k) ft. a long distance phone call

On a top secret Unspeakable misson, Harry calls Draco from a remote phone booth on the Isle of Skye.

a stunning portrait of desire, longing and familiarity that uses distance as a device to intensify every element. it's unbelievable how much character & context 1k words of (mostly) smut can pack in. the slivers of backstory demand your investment, inform the dynamic in crucial ways and set up some delicious stakes and tension. and some absolutely fantastic dirty talk. see also: @getawayfox's gorgeous art for this fic!

long haul (E, 8.6k) ft. plane rides, mile high club, nyc

The last person Harry expects to run into on a long haul flight to New York City is Draco Malfoy.

the way wolf writes movement— between places, between people— strokes its way up your spine, warms you, walks with you. draco and harry, buoyed in the air, let preconceived notions fall away, to be replaced by startlingly rapid and exquisite intimacy. the liminal settings, specifically, allow mature, open-minded, desirous characterisation & some of the most glorious, soft, tender sex to fall into like a warm bed.

look for me in the sun (M, 8.7k) ft. americana, roadtrip/on-the-run vibes

Harry and Draco are on the run in America after a mysterious string of werewolf-like attacks in the Muggle community causes the Ministry to impose new and harsh anti-werewolf legislation.

atmospheric writing dialled up to eleven, like the smell of ozone in the air before a thunderstorm. the sense of limbo— transience, out of place and time, the complication of home— that afflicts the circumstances of draco & harry here is heart-wrenching. a taut rumination on otherness in a variety of ways, rendered through some of the most tense and subtle writing i've encountered.

under giant mountains (E, 33.7k) ft. norwegian dragon reserves & rampant escapist tendencies

Harry doesn't know where he's going. Everyone else has their life paths figured out; he doesn't even know where his map is. Who'd have thought Draco Malfoy bathing in a Norwegian forest would be the guidepost Harry needed?

opens with harry, stuck in the same place for far too long, and draco, avoiding fixity like the plague. this fic looks at both stagnation and escapism as iterations of each other & treats them with the gentlest empathy. the norwegian dragon reserve setting, whose visuality wolf's writing captures beautifully, becomes the canvas to explore both. desire, here, was simultaneously so evident from the outset and took its time to build— longing tinged every interaction & payoff, in the form of a sequence of some of the most emotionally fraught sex scenes i've ever read, was that much sweeter.

romp and circumstance (E, 35k) ft. a historical au set in the 1800s, regency era england

Since the war, Harry Potter has gone from Saviour to Scoundrel—not that he’s complaining. With a schedule full of gorgeous men, alcohol, and late nights, why would he want to change? Enter Draco Malfoy: beautiful, sharp, and completely untouchable. When Draco comes to Harry with a proposition to help him attract an engagement, Harry’s up for it—after all, how hard can it be not falling for his former nemesis? Very hard, apparently.

the very first wolf fic i read, in a brief little fandom interlude back in 2022. i remember thinking, then, what an author, i'm really missing out these days. one of my favourite post-war harry characterisations— raucous, promiscuous, messy and at heart, a hopeless romantic. also one of my favourite draco characterisations— pristine, a little uptight, cool and distant and untouchable, except what he really wants is to be unbuttoned, messed up. the transforming sentiments of their relationship were so compelling, the build of harry's feelings was perfectly achey and tender and this draco was a complex, nuanced, frightfully sexy version that i just couldn't turn away from.

pages of you (E, 101k) ft. a 1980s non-magical au

Summer, 1980. Harry is floating between university and becoming a Real Certified Adult. He's not ready. He really isn't. In a desperate attempt to have the Best Last Summer ever, he takes a casual job at his godfather's bookshop in London, starts an illicit pen pal affair with a wordy posh boy that he's catching feelings for, all while dealing with the son of Sirius's business rival, one Draco Malfoy, insufferable know-it-all extraordinaire.

gosh, what a fic. sensitive and sprawling, this work brings the spatialities of london, sirius and remus' queer comfort of a bookshop and harry's room at the residence halls to pulsing, colourful, splendid life. i can still close my eyes and imagine the spaces this fic occurs in, how important they are to the push and pull, ups and downs of the dynamic between harry and draco. a coming-of-age/sexual awakening & exploration story, summer romance and queer political fiction rolled into one, this is a fic that's hard to summarise and easy to obsess over. perfect characterisations, writing that burrows into your soul and a plot that unfolds with the slow and steady depth of gentle lake.

and lastly, a fic that's on my tbr:

terrible people (E, 52.7k) ft. cruises, beach holidays and more of @getawayfox's masterpieces

What happens when Harry and Draco end up on the same Muggle gay cruise? They certainly didn't plan for it to happen (but their friends might have). They're stuck with each other for a week, they might as well make the most of it, right?

in conclusion: vivid, descriptive, immersive storytelling from an author who understands the intricacies of different narrative elements and leverages them masterfully. can't wait to read the works i haven't, and for everything wolf writes in the future!

[roseofhybrids]

i put a microphone near your face

how are you feeling after that md stuff huh

Well, the fact that it'll be the end of the series makes it a bit bittersweet, but it had to end at some point. If the story can be told in 8 episodes then so be it. 8 is a lot more than what I had a little over a year ago when I first decided to watch it

I've been invested in quite a few projects that I've never seen get a conclusion to (mostly webcomics, so so many unfinished webcomics). Which is probably where I got the patience to wait as long as I do for these sorts of things. It's easy to wait a few months for an episode to air after waiting multiple years for things that never came to be

Having an ending is much better than the limbo of always being stuck somewhere in the middle, just being left to wonder forever what was meant to happen. So I'm overjoyed that we'll get to see this story get a proper ending

But it is still bittersweet. The show will end, and for a lot of people that means the fandom ending too. I don't believe that's the case, no matter how old something is or how long it's been over for, I see no reason to stop getting as invested as one does with a brand-new piece of media. But still, not everyone can stick around forever. So I'm preparing myself for people to move on. It's sad, but as inevitable as the show itself ending. No matter how long-lasting a fandom, members will move on to other things eventually. Personally, I don't see myself stopping the fan art any time soon. I've never had a reaction to a show like this before. I've gotten really invested in things the same way before, but all those instances it eventually died down after a few weeks and I could stop binge-watching/reading the thing over and over and just be normal about it.

Murder Drones on the other hand. It's been well over a year at this point. I managed to pull my shit together after two weeks like I usually do, but a fraction of the intensity lingered. Now I'm here, with 109 post tagged "murder drones fanart" and 623 just tagged "murder drones" according to the Tumblr archive

I still get giddy rewatching the episodes, still have a long ever-growing list of drawing ideas, still think about the little robots on a daily basis. So yeah, I think I might just be stuck like this the same way I'm stuck forever liking animals, ghosts, and roller coasters. Eventually I'll have to get back to drawing my own characters and one day make my own comics and such. But as things stand, I can see myself still drawing MD art for years. One can only hope I can balance the two out

So yeah, how I'm feeling, Excitement for another episode and finally seeing how this all ends. Dread for the inevitable change, not looking forward to that part, (the joys of living with an anxiety disorder am I right fellas? c'est la vie, c'est la mort) and just a touch of nausea, because this is a lot of excitement after just waking up

so anyhow, gunna go watch the trailer on repeat a couple times and then see if I can't calm myself down a bit afterward

[anarchictemptation]

So, I've had a bit of an emotional journey when it came down to getting these trolls uploaded and, uh.I'm sort of in a venty mode, so I'm doing a read more cut just so I don't bother people (TW for Drug Abuse and Suicidal Thoughts mentioned)

It became less of "lol, look at all these trolls I've had over the years, let's sell them" to a bit of a crippling "I did this to cope with what was happening to me and this is the financial repercussions of that"

When I joined the Homestuck fandom, I was 16. A long ago ex-friend had gotten me into it because he was an obsessive fan and I REALLY liked astrology at the time, so obviously what was gonna stop me from getting into this silly little webcomic? (Nepeta my BELOVED! Leo's for life!!!)

I've never really shared this with anyone outside of my CLOSEST of close friends, but I was in a really nasty situation. My parents were on drugs, deeply into it at the time of me joining Homestuck, and were basically nonexistent at that point of my life. They'd disappear for days at a time with no sign of them coming back anytime soon, so, while looking after my little brother, I'd get lost in this fandom and obtaining fantrolls was my own sick little kick

I wasn't creative at the time to really make my own, I'd just use sprite bases and all my own guys were basic as hell, but, when I found out troll adopts were a thing, I was OBSESSED

Some oldies might remember me being EVERYWHERE back in the day on DA under the unusualKitten alias. I was on every single page I could find trying to get at least ONE fantroll that someone had posted newly in the groups. It was amazing! I could drown myself in these guys I was getting and bury myself in art of them so that I could avoid the world that I was stuck in

Honestly, without that "distraction", I probably would've killed myself years ago

It was all I had in a shit world, it even led me making a short-time friend in my final year of high school, but it was fun

And then I grew up

Some things happened that involved me being the fucking savior of my family by dragging them out of that hell with my own two broken hands only for the sake of my brother. My mom got clean, my dad died because he couldn't get clean, I had been working a job in which case they'd have stolen my money almost every time I got it (like THAT was anything new), and we were just sort of stuck in limbo for a long time after that

I was still a part of Homestuck, but I wasn't A part of it anymore, if that makes any sense. Most I done was win a spot in the For Fans By Fans design contest with my Heir's Tears submission (Only 1 or 2 people bought the shirt and, two those people, I FUCKING LOVE YOUUUU, y'all are so cool), but I was pretty much dead in the water

Until I reconnected with my bestest friend

She helped me to regain the love again, as we'd rp a lot with all our different versions of canon characters bc we're maniacs (Which will ALL be featured in MSCOTT once I get back on the ball for writing it!)

And, as I sit here today, looking back on everything that happened 11 years ago, I've realized that things are a lot different now. I'm no longer the heavily traumatized kid I was back then, I have a life outside of the fantrolls I've hoarded over the years

And, yeah, it hurts seeing a lot of these guys go, it feels like a bit of myself is leaving with them, but that's not a part of my life anymore, that was a part of HER life

Don't get me wrong, I STILL love fantrolls and still have a handful of my own that I'll fight ANYONE over, but. I think it's time to let go of a past that I don't really want to be haunted by anymore

(But I hope this explains why I generate a LOT of fantrolls and then suddenly they're being given up as soon as something's done with them, hha, old habits die hard)

Thanks for readingggg, time to go cry a bittt!

[zepickiddzan]

Status Updates Regarding Uploaded Hetagames:

Night of the Legion

Night of the Legion's currently stuck in development limbo since around 2021, possibly even earlier, reasons being that since it's a jam entry, looking back on it there's a bunch of things writing, graphic, and gameplay wise that I wanted to change.

Also the Romania sprite resource that was used in the original game ended up getting disallowed from editing (AFTER I uploaded the demo, what luck), and I did end up making my own. Though I started updating the maps in XP, before porting it to VX Ace, and now I want to get a copy of RPGMaker MZ before continuing on the project.

Archmagi: The North's Light

Archmagi: The North's Light is what I'm currently working on, for an update in graphics, the worldbuilding, writing, and gameplay, and I'm still making notes and art about it even now.

For example, I've improved on making custom sprites. So here's some silhouette concepts as well as poses for the new battlers! (For some reason the current Mathias battler gives me the urge to punch him).

This year's been slower when it comes to updating Hetalia fangames (though I believe it's the result of a post-COVID world and the developers have had significant life changes and new schedules since their previous updates) so I wanted to get a new demo (with more story progression from the original demo) out in the coming months.

Bioterror

This October unfortunately didn't give me enough time to work on Bioterror (due to an unfortunate case of the COVID, then catching up in uni, and birthday & Halloween-related preparations. Though I did move my notes over from OneNote & Twine to Obsidian, which is a bit more efficient for me. Also I wanted to update the game menu graphics, so that it looks more cohesive.

[lunarneo]

If your mind feels like its walling up, like is getting tangled, sizzled in static or deformed to every which way, don't let it define how you see yourself.

I've been on my meds for a while, but it still happens, and is frustrating to feel as if the world, as if your skills are slipping from your hands, as your mind and senses fog and blur and the rug is pulled under you, and I committed the error many times to put the fault, the guilt and even shame on my back, but is not my fault. What I've accomplished, that's mine, that's my doing, and when I can't, that's not my fault or the culmination of my errors.

I say this because I hope it makes you feel a bit better to know you are not alone in that and because I hope you don't fall in the demoralizing cycle I've fell in before.

Because your work, that that truly displays you, is fantastic, is welcoming and relatable for me and my friends that for years have enjoyed what you've created.

I assure you, is not what detail, what shape or proportion, what colour or technique you use, but the things you've told, be it just a passing thought, or an emotion rooted deeply that you want to pull out, that always made itself shown no matter what, and even if now things are so hard, so blurry and frustrating. You are still great ^^

And, I might have completely missed the point here, but if I didn't, I hope that my words managed to ease the stress and frustration a little little bit, because I really wish you success and happiness, as I find your work, and the little I've known of you as a person over the years, to be fantastic, and deserving of much more ^^

Also, I sent this as an ask as to not send it like a DM, as I've done that before and I feel makes things a bit less awkward, with that I mean that I just wished for you to read this in hopes that I might be able to help.

I wish you good luck!

I really appreciate this message a lot. That drawing was a cry for help, but a very indirect one. I needed to hear every paragraph here- I'm on new meds that i can't tell are helping or making it worse. I was blaming myself for fucking up all over the place. And felt i couldn't create good enough art while I'm stuck in this limbo. I shouldn't let it define me. I'll allow myself to feel frustrated and upset, but not AT me. It's not my fault. That part, saying it's not my art, but my message, that's going to stick with me for some time. Like holy shit... that's deep, and helps me feel more powerful to just let art flow how it's gonna flow

Thank you for this message, truly.

[mathmusiczelda]

Legend of Zelda Fic and Comic Recs

Guess I've read enough fics and comics to do one of these now

(General warning for strong language and canon-typical violence)

Comics

- @linkeduniverse (LU), a fandom classic, excellent art, intriguing story

- @ovegakart's stuff is awesome--there are several ongoing series and lots of LU references

- @bonus-links, a Links meet AU, lovely art, I'm interested to see where it goes

- TOTK "Eternal" by @/blueskittlesart, two-shot, very pretty and poetic

- Time Twilight Tears by @/jhoca-art, non-LU comic where Time and Twilight follow Wild/Tears around during TOTK, also featuring all their Zeldas. Very fun, very pretty art

Fics

Uncategorized fics:

- Dimensional Links by ChangelingRin. A Links meet AU that isn't Linked Universe. Very fun and chaotic

Twilight Princess fics:

- Dear Hero by @/thecagedsong. A post-canon Twilight Princess rom-com that's not only hilarious but insightful, packed with lore, and has excellent characterizations. I'm not usually into rom coms but this one was fantastic

- Wolf Boy by Bookwrm389. A pre-canon Twilight Princess fic where an orphaned Link comes to find and trust Rusl and Uli, told feom Uli's perspective. Very well written, lovely and soft

- A Tale Past Twilight: Forked Tongues by GrayGuard06. A post-canon Twilight Princess fic where Link goes to help a village with a monster problem and walks into a whole can of worms. Note the violence tag, but it's got plot and a good ending

Breath of the Wild fics:

- The Girl at the Museum by wavebreeze. Modern AU, sort of a meet-cute, short and sweet. I don't usually go for these but it was surprisingly fun

- Feast by webcomix. Tw grief but super cute/heartwarming way for Link and Zelda to meet as kids

- Hold Your Destiny by webcomix. Long fic, basically a novelization of pre-calamity BOTW, loved the characterization (sequel is LU-related)

- A Hero's Spirit by SilvermistAnimeLover. Long fic, Link basically dies defeating Calamity but his spirit gets stuck in a limbo state so he's still able to help Hyrule start recovering from 100 years of destruction (sequel is LU-related)

Linked Universe (LU) Related fics:

- all of @/zolanort/Cullhach's fics are delightful

- Willow Bark and Chamomile by schrodingers__cat. The Chain gets separated and confused. Legend has never been more prepared for anything in his life

- Rain and Mountain Climbing Don't Mix by Isti-Tanu. A fun little one-shot of Wild being wild and everyone reacting as expected

- Whistling on Deaf Ears by CrimsonRavioli. A hurt/comfort fic (heavier on hurt but has a happy ending) where Twilight's sensitive hearing works against him

- Running with the Wolves by alternatemind. The Chain wonders if Wolfie is lonely and decide to do something about it. Light angst, mostly fluff

- Dog Days AU series by alternatemind. Twilight-centric AU where Twilight gets stuck as a wolf just before he meets the Chain. Hilarity ensues

- The More Things Change series by Iffondrel. The Chain compares and contrasts references to their own worlds while they explore Wild's Hyrule, includes TOTK content

- Language Barriers by Kastaborous. The Chain meets Wild fic where the 10,000 year gap between other heroes is acknowledged through language drift. Interesting and entertaining read

- A Home for Flowers by faufaren. The Chain meets Elderitch!Wild. Charming characterization and storytelling

- What Hero? by AimeeLouWrites. (tw gaslighting) The Chain meets Wild fic where Wild thinks they're Yiga and pretends that there is no hero, and then never quite really decides to tell them when the game is over. Borderline crackfic, very fun read

- Child's Play by AimeeLouWrites. The Chain meets Wild fic, de-aged Wild and Flora meet the Chain and decide to be as confusing as possible

- Level One by LightBlueScrubs. Linked Universe Hospital AU where everyone (except Wild) is a doctor working in a trauma unit (where Wild is the patient). First couple chapters are a bit squeamish due to being very medically realistic, but a great fic overall

[billiemilou]

I've been posting all my old art on Cara for the past few weeks and it's been a wild ride just going through my art and seeing how much I've drawn.

I've been stuck in art limbo since last year, so it's wild to me I used to draw like every other day sometimes. I'm still drawing, just posting less of it because I don't really have any finished pieces to post. But here's some random old work from various years that I remember fondly that I thought I'd share here again.

Thanks to those who keep finding my work and reblogging it, it keeps my spirits up!

[fabdante]

Another one for the "Where the fuck are you getting your information?" list:

In the art gallery that you can enter for Secret Mission 4, some of the art looks like either places in Limbo, or its got a similar color scheme to places in Limbo, in particular the fair pier in the first mission. Some demons, too, maybe, with one picture looking like it's depicting the conflict between angels and demons, maybe with humans caught in the middle. Which I know isn't saying much, since Limbo is just a bunch of vivid colors, and most of the paintings we see are pretty smeared, and the shapes are more suggestions that solid pictures, but still.

The main reason I bring it up is because of the one picture that we DO absolutely get a solid picture of: That of a young man, shirtless with blood smeared on the lower half of his chest, in black pants, holding a sword in one hand, and resting his hand on a Tyrant's severed head on a stick or maybe another sword. The arm that's holding the sword (the one that doesn't have the Tyrant's severed head impaled on it) is colored black up to the shoulder, and the young man's face is completely smeared out. The sword he's holding looks nothing like Rebellion, but I'm willing to bet that's a picture of Dante, possibly when he was in his mid teens.

I know its probably just a bit of concept art they wanted to toss into the game for funsies, but given all the weird graffiti we see in the twins' old playground and even on the walls of Limbo City, sometimes (which I know could've just been done by Kat, but if it WASN'T, then that begs the question as to who DID?), I couldn't help but notice it, and it stuck with me. I love the idea that there are other psychics like Kat running around, just not aware enough of the truth post-Limbo collapse to really do anything about it. Seems like good material for fic.

Idk if it's the same art gallery that Dante runs/slides through in Mission 4, but it could be? It looks vaguely similar, but I haven't checked it against screenshots or anything.

Admittedly, I'm bad at video games and despite playing it often and liking it's gameplay the best, I've never been like...Great at the reboot and tend not to collect most things. So I usually don't get the key's for the secret missions and usually don't go in to play them due to that.

I guess, as a result of that, I just also never consider them a very literal part of canon. Like they're not really a part of my gameplay experience and what is and is not canon is very subjective and all that, but further then that the fact that they're added in the series as such a primarily gameplay focused thing, I've never really thought about them being canon before. So, I don't have much to add about what the art in the gallery might be asdfghj

If we do take it literally though, it does beg the question who is painting all of these things and that would be fun to explore in a fan fic. Like a psychic who's powers are more based in recall and divination who doesn't really understand what they're seeing but has to get it out somehow.

[radley-writes]

Hi there! I'm a fanfic writer who has been suffering with burnout for the past, um, three months and I was wondering if you had any advice. Thank you for the writing tips!

I dug back into the dark, mulchy recesses of my inbox to find this ask, because dang, if it ain't relevant at the moment. I'm sorry it took me so long to piece together some relevant advice!

Sweet nonagismus, if you're still stuck in burnout limbo, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to find a mirror.

I want you to look yourself in the eyes.

And I want you to say, 'I have poured my heart and soul into my creativity. I have given my breath, my energy, my life to my art. And I deserve to rest.'

Because we do. We really do.

Burnout is not something that can be cured with a few bulletpointed tricks on a Tumblr post and a flex of your self-discipline. Especially if you have any mental or physical disabilities, burn-out is your body and mind crying out for mercy. If you don't listen, all you're going to do is make it worse.

I burned out hard during university. Seriously, I didn't write a word of original fiction for years.

At the time I remember being so frustrated with myself. I didn't want to write; I couldn't write - I couldn't even bring myself to read. Still, I felt like I had to be creative. Everyone knew me as a writer, an artist, a wannabe-novelist. It felt as if creativity defined me as a person, and I was nothing without it - worthless and lost.

This led to me continuously trying to pressure/threaten/cajole myself into writing - which, in turn, made the overall problem worse. I never gave myself permission to lie back and absorb the world around me, rather than constantly translating it into art.

So, my advice is:

If you have a professional creative deadline coming up that you need to meet, it is worth forcing yourself through the burnout to make money, as we live in a capitalist hellscape and food is kinda important. But know that you are likely to crash hard after, and if you can, prepare. I'm talking lots of easy-watching films, snacks, warm blankets, etc., and minimal responsibilities.

In literally any other scenario, embrace the burn-out.

I finished Liesmyth last weekend. I have spent the last week reading very little and writing nothing at all.

Instead, I've been catching up with a few shows I've been meaning to watch. I've been tending to some household chores that were neglected while I was in creative hyperfocus-mode. I've been baking and experimenting with new dishes, going on long walks, putting in a few extra hours at work. I've been paying more attention to the world around me, embracing every experience, and letting myself be present in the moment rather than lost in a writer's dreamworld 24/7.

It's incredibly hard. I have not always been able to do this, and I am still learning how to let myself rest. But I have burnt out, poured gasoline over myself and set myself alight enough times to know that eventually, all that's left is ash.

If you have rested and regained your energy, but are struggling to figure out how to return to fanfic, I would reccommend returning to your source material and watching/reading/playing it again! Or, if you're an original writer, read a few old favourite novels. We're talking a gentle, familiar reinduction to the craft.

Take it slow. Take it gentle. And remember:

You are under no obligation to create. Don't let creativity become subconsciously associated with stress and misery. You owe yourself that much.

As the old saying goes, if you do not schedule system maintenance, the system will schedule maintenance for you.

[mathmusic8]

Legend of Zelda Fic and Comic Recs

Guess I've read enough fics and comics to do one of these now

(General warning for strong language and canon-typical violence)

Comics

- @linkeduniverse (LU), a fandom classic, excellent art, intriguing story

- @ovegakart's stuff is awesome--there are several ongoing series and lots of LU references

- @bonus-links, a Links meet AU, lovely art, I'm interested to see where it goes

- TOTK "Eternal" by @blueskittlesart, two-shot, very pretty and poetic

Fics

Uncategorized fics:

- Dimensional Links by ChangelingRin. A Links meet AU that isn't Linked Universe. Very fun and chaotic

Twilight Princess fics:

- Dear Hero by @\thecagedsong. A post-canon Twilight Princess rom-com that's not only hilarious but insightful, packed with lore, and has excellent characterizations. I'm not usually into rom coms but this one was fantastic

- A Tale Past Twilight: Forked Tongues by GrayGuard06. A post-canon Twilight Princess fic where Link goes to help a village with a monster problem and walks into a whole can of worms. Note the violence tag, but it's got plot and a good ending

Breath of the Wild fics:

- The Girl at the Museum by wavebreeze. Modern AU, sort of a meet-cute, short and sweet. I don't usually go for these but it was surprisingly fun

- Feast by webcomix. Tw grief but super cute/heartwarming way for Link and Zelda to meet as kids

- Hold Your Destiny by webcomix. Long fic, basically a novelization of pre-calamity BOTW, loved the characterization (sequel is LU-related)

- A Hero's Spirit by SilvermistAnimeLover. Long fic, Link basically dies defeating Calamity but his spirit gets stuck in a limbo state so he's still able to help Hyrule start recovering from 100 years of destruction (sequel is LU-related)

Linked Universe (LU) Related fics:

- all of @zolanort/Cullhach's fics are delightful

- Willow Bark and Chamomile by schrodingers__cat. The Chain gets separated and confused. Legend has never been more prepared for anything in his life

- Rain and Mountain Climbing Don't Mix by Isti-Tanu. A fun little one-shot of Wild being wild and everyone reacting as expected

- Whistling on Deaf Ears by CrimsonRavioli. A hurt/comfort fic (heavier on hurt but has a happy ending) where Twilight's sensitive hearing works against him

- Running with the Wolves by alternatemind. The Chain wonders if Wolfie is lonely and decide to do something about it. Light angst, mostly fluff

- Dog Days AU series by alternatemind. Twilight-centric AU where Twilight gets stuck as a wolf just before he meets the Chain. Hilarity ensues

- The More Things Change series by Iffondrel. The Chain compares and contrasts references to their own worlds while they explore Wild's Hyrule, includes TOTK content

- Language Barriers by Kastaborous. The Chain meets Wild fic where the 10,000 year gap between other heroes is acknowledged through language drift. Interesting and entertaining read

- A Home for Flowers by faufaren. The Chain meets Elderitch!Wild. Charming characterization and storytelling

- What Hero? by AimeeLouWrites. (tw gaslighting) The Chain meets Wild fic where Wild thinks they're Yiga and pretends that there is no hero, and then never quite really decides to tell them when the game is over. Borderline crackfic, very fun read

- Child's Play by AimeeLouWrites. The Chain meets Wild fic, de-aged Wild and Flora meet the Chain and decide to be as confusing as possible

- Level One by LightBlueScrubs. Linked Universe Hospital AU where everyone (except Wild) is a doctor working in a trauma unit (where Wild is the patient). First couple chapters are a bit squeamish due to being very medically realistic, but a great fic overall

[hoshigumayuugi]

heres whats happening rn on my twitter situation

i've had an account for over 5 years now that i've used pretty much every day. this account is heavily nsfw, but i haven't had any problems with it regarding breaking rules or being suspended

as of early january i decided to make a second account to have a sfw space so that i could interact with other fans of pomu rainpuff to show love around her graduation around that time. also just to have a separate space for irls who don't wanna follow a nsfw account

note: on neither of these accounts have i broke any rules. i don't send death threats or attack anyone or anything like that. my main interactions are telling people i like their art or encouraging people's personal posts outside of just retweeting art

about 8 days after making second account, it is locked and suspended with seemingly no notification. email stating i was suspended said i was "reported for evading suspension"

i dont know what that means so i look it up in the rules. theres not really anything about it other than "you made a new account to not be suspended." still don't know what that means

also says my account could have been marked because it's considered spam which i could see seeing as its brand new and posting hundreds of times a day about one specific thing (pomu cuz she's graduating duh)

submit an appeal explaining my situation and being as clear as i can be (note: the appeal form is partially auto-filled with your account @ and email linked to the account)

get an automated reply saying "reply to this email with your appeal." okay well i just did that in the form you provided but okay

get another automated reply saying "we can't confirm your email to this account", despite it... auto-filling in both of these things with information on my account... and me replying with the email account you just sent an email to...

same email also states "use the form for hacked accounts to proceed"

go to "hacked account" form and fill it out

get automated reply saying "you have access to your account this case has been closed"

repeat submitting an appeal and same situation happens

so now im stuck in a limbo of "did they receive my appeal? are they waiting for me to reply to that email that says they can't confirm my email? are they even looking at this at all? are they going to throw my new one out cuz i sent too many because they sent me in circles?"

[bottledelysium]

🗑️ ⚖️ 💚 !

Scrapped idea: God, so many. Newt went through like a million revisions before I ended up with this story. I made him for an OC server I'm no longer in and his story was completely different. The cyberpunk thing was actually an AU that I decided to run with once I had to revamp him because I stopped talking to the people from that server. He was originally from a plain modern universe and wasn't nearly as heroic--his original story was that he saw a serial killer murder someone and was forced to stay quiet, eventually falling in love with her. Once I stopped writing with the other person's serial killer OC, the idea became Violetta, but Newt reacted much differently. (His personality honestly didn't change that much, but I had more freedom over the outcome of the story, so his actions could be more impactful.) Camille is actually my partner's character because they saw all my old vent art of him smoking pensively and wanted to comfort him, LOL. (That's also the reason I don't write Camille on here even though she's a major character in the story. She feels more like Rose's character than mine, even though we share custody over her.)

Newt wasn't originally a documentarian but that development did come while I was still writing with the other person's OC, and it always bothered me that she just got away with murder and Newt helped (even though she did stop murdering for him). It felt out of character, but I'm much happier with his story now. It feels much truer to what I want the character to be.

Something stuck in limbo: Androids in this universe. I pretty much only develop them when I think about my OC Ken, an android con artist, but he's like the protagonist of a completely different story from Newt set in the same universe.

(I do love Ken though. I'll definitely add him as a muse on here eventually.)

I do know that androids are a very new technology, mostly found in Japan. There's going to be a specific company that manufactured Ken (I love my corporations) and they'll probably be the antagonists of that story, since Ken is a rogue android going around conning humans out of their money.

An upcoming idea that still needs development: I've been thinking about a new character but I'm shy to talk about her because it's always the same shit with me 👉👈 All of my plots are about obsessive love and it's getting ridiculous, and I know it's getting ridiculous, but, like, as a personal web of OCs, it's fine. It's once I start explaining it on here that I'm embarrassed by how I sound.

I separate Newt plots by documentary in my head and the other two were like, "what if a powerful person got obsessed with you?" and this one is "what if someone with no power became so obsessed with you that they'd go to any lengths to have power over you?" I was thinking about how famous people have stalkers and I started wondering what would happen if someone thought the only way to get attention (not just from Newt, attention from anyone) was to make themselves the kind of person that people make documentaries about. So I've been thinking about this new villain, even if I end up keeping her story to myself. Her name is Marnie and she kidnaps Newt to kill people on camera, and forcibly make herself the subject of a documentary people will be talking about long after she's gone.

[liliallowed]

you don't feel weird enough to be autistic

vs

me visibly recoiling from the whiplash of someone touching my stuff as the supess screaming into the void.

guy's I'm starting to think I'm not neurotypical.

okay like in hindsight this hindsight that... when you don't really know what autism is untill you're in your 20s LOTS of shit you did were always part of life.

suicidal thoughts? normal. disorganized organization? sensitivity to stuff? I'm just being whiney done worry.

I can't actually take myself seriously because I've been raised to invalidate my own experience and just after having a mental break down I have to stop myself from beating myself up over how much of a fragile whimy weakling I am to get mad at trivial things...

like packing... and like... preparing an art museum thingy to show off as a portfolio out of your ass in 24 hours...

like you would imagine I'd give myself the right to be stressed but no. since I always default into emotional suppression no matter how extreme they are even normal stressful things don't stress me in the present because I save it all for later to combust...

can't afford to dall apart yet.

the moment and I mean the moment someone told me it's not necessary to push myself I'm not kidding when I say I started to cry and scream as if the dam just fucking exploded.

I'm.

I'm at least glad I'm facing these things now instead of my later years like in my 30s...

so that's a w.

I tried to calm myself but that only happens with me avoiding doing the thing and not doing it stresses me out but then doing it also freaks me out so I'm just stuck in limbo until my brain decides to put a function into the thought "do it" and clicks it into action whenever it pleases.

or just fucking explode and do nothing and paralyse myself. it's a 50/50 I still don't know how that works.

anyways... I always doubt that because I'm not... like idk "retarded" enough that I can't be...

fucking hell it hurts you know? it hurts to suddenly realized you've been beating yourself with a brick all your life treating yourself with a carrot and a stick except the carrot is disassociating and the stick is fucking mentally yelling and abusing yourself...