#all my original posts are but sometimes I know people look for tags specifically so there it is

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! I’m working on an original character project that I want to include a lot of casual representation in (“casual” meaning that the characters don’t need a justification for being disabled/fat/POC/etc, they just are because people can and do exist that way in reality!)

I was wondering if you had any suggestions for finding resources for drawing facial differences(and maybe other visible disabilities), especially in a cartoony style. I’ve looked through the Facial Equality Week tag but would like to see more examples, and since my art is so… goofy, for lack of a better word, I would love any help I can get in integrating differences without being offensive or upsetting.

Sorry if this is a bother, and thank you for all that you do!

Hey!

I'm not aware of any guides for drawing facial differences specifically (or at least, good ones. There's 1 billion tutorials telling you that scars are just a Singular Line, always, but that's not... correct), but perhaps someone in the notes could help out?

For my own advice, you could check out this old post I made. Because you mentioned your art being cartoony, I would specifically urge you to not overexaggerate facial differences the way they often are. A prime example would be how a lot of cartoons portray strabismus;

It's just a funny gag to them rather than, IDK, how some of us look like. Not to mention that one of these is also a mockery of intellectually/developmentally disabled people with "Derp" in the name, but that's beside the point here.

It's the whole "the character is crazy/stupid/wild/whatever and that's why they have it" that's the problem with how it's often shown. You can also see it in how characters who don't even normally have it will be shown with it for a scene where they're saying something nonsensical, etc.

Another example that's nowhere near as rampant is the split-face thing with various facial differences being used. Mostly vitiligo but sometimes also facial palsy. I'm talking about this weirdly perfectly halved face that looks extremely different on each side, often used to imply that a character is two-faced but mostly just signals that the author doesn't know how vitiligo looks like.

[note: vitiligo also shows up on lighter skin. I wanted to make sure it's visible here for tutorial clarity purposes.]

This one is just weird because it straight up doesn't look like that. I have no idea where it came from, but it should go back there. Facial palsy doesn't make someone look like the antique comedy/tragedy theater mask.

Unless I'm forgetting some other annoying cartoon trope, these would be the big ones that you should stay away from.

Outside of that, it's really on a case by case basis on how a specific FD should be drawn because they're so different. A birthmark can just be a differently colored patch of skin, but a craniofacial difference would require some more changes to be included. Alopecia is well, lack of hair, and can be done very easily but ectrodactyly can be more complicated to show properly because of the limitations of a cartoony artstyle when it comes to hands. And while I do think it would be great to see more of those facial differences that tend to not be included in art at all, there's nothing wrong with deciding to go for the things you can represent more faithfully, especially if you're just starting.

I will say that if you're making an honest attempt at being respectful and trying to get it right, most of us will still be excited to see your work. Even if it's not perfect or has some inaccuracies. I will take a "'yeah more or less' correct with a happy, human character" over a "Very Technically correct but tagged as #tw burns and with blood splattered on them" any day.

Lastly, I wanted to share some art featuring characters with facial differences (and other visible disabilities) that are done in a cartoony, or at least somewhat simplistic artstyles (I'm using both terms very widely here) - maybe it will give you some ideas.

Man with Treacher Collins syndrome (also one of the first pieces online where I saw a character with an FD portrayed in such a lovely way. A fav of mine.) Girl with Pfeiffer syndrome Too many characters to count Woman with burns Woman with a limb difference Multiple characters again Animation featuring people with Down syndrome [youtube] Multiple characters, including a girl with neurofibromatosis, a burn survivor, a girl with a cleft lip and another with TCS [twitter]

If you have a more specific art question ("how do I draw a person with XYZ facial difference?") you can send me an ask on @saszor. I prefer to stick to the writing theme on this blog but would still like to help if you need it.

Hope this helps,

mod Sasza

Edit: apologies for the lack of alt text on one of the images, it has been fixed.

[fivewholeminutes]

How to avoid being spoiled with ST members' identities

A not so short guide for tumblr newcomers

Hello new fans and (probably) tiktok refugees! This is a guide on how to enjoy sleep token online without being spoiled and also, a guide on how not to be a twat at the same time.

It is rather long, but please give it a chance. If not for you, then for other people who do not want to be spoiled.

I was thinking about making a reminder post about it for ages and recent post from @zelink-stan02 inspired me to make it sooner!

Tumblr is one of not many places online where the chances of you getting jumpscared with the guys' faces and names are minimal. You're not completely safe here, but it's still way better than on other platforms. And a lot of users try to keep it that way.

So, the basics for people who want to avoid spoilers online!

No twitter. That is a place of no honour. No exceptions. Nothing good ever comes from ST twitter. Also i am not calling it x.

Tiktok is also not safe. But most of you probably know that.

Pinterest is a super quick way to see all their faces.

Idk about facebook, but i bet there are morons commenting with their legal names there too. Like on twitter.

Googling is very tricky. Image results will most likely show you their faces among 20 first photos and if you do google them. Well. The main search used to show the names as suggestions up here before; I'm glad to see that for now this is fixed:

BUT LO AND BEHOLD. Pictures tab gives you a treat (derogatory) of a full vessel's name RIGHT THERE:

First suggestion. They're not even trying. So yeah, googling is very tricky.

I didn't scroll further to the right, but i bet ii's name is there too. (Their names are spoiled most often, cause they're writing the songs.)

7. If you look for the lyrics, google sometimes shows vessel and ii's legal names in songwriters' credits. I haven't seen it recently, but it doesn't mean you won't see [redacted] instead of "Vessel 1" and so on in the credits. Try not to scroll too far when checking the lyrics. I think Apple music shows their names in lyics all the time, someone correct me if I'm wrong though.

FORTUNATELY,

if you want pictures, band info, older rituals' shenanigans etc. etc., we have real mvp's here on tumblr!

@sleepanonymous has it all. Including an archive of band-related stuff and also older (mostly) vessel's stuff without any names or faces revealed. Just older songs, if you're curious! Sleep Anon has a neat google drive archive too. Please check the tags and other links in their pinned post!

We also have another pillar of our community here, @thesleeptokenarchive, who shares older rituals' details, song release dates and many other important information and dates.

My dear friend @a-s-levynn created this beautiful archive with band pictures for people who want to find that very specific picture without having their faces spoiled. Behold, the Sleep Token Reference Archive (STRA). Perfect for artists, but not only!

Beautiful people @kaddyssammlung, @vulcanette and @chaosandchaos are posting cool band photos they find regularly. Others too, but these three are the most active! We're also lucky to have @hecetas here, posting their original photos of the band (and not only!)

Also, The Choir is not anonymous. The band itself shared their actual name, Espera, and the ladies are not faceless. It was their decision, band supported it, so you don't need to worry to keep them anonymous.

Last but not least! How not to be a twat in the sleep token fandom space on tumblr:

Do not tag any band-related stuff with their names or older projects' names.

Do not post photos of their faces and tag it as the band or band members.

If you want to sceam about the love you have for that one older Vessel's project, the not solo one, you can do it here: @wings-of-clay

If you are a curious being and face/names reveals don't mean much to you, you can always scream about their past projects with your closest friends in the DMs. Or ask literally anyone here if they want to talk about those things without revealing those things' names publicly. Most of us have their faces and names spoiled anyway. But trust me, you don't need to put any names for us to understand what you mean.

Not exactly a tumblr thing, but! One of the band members streams on twitch. It is an unspoken rule to NOT mention anything band-related in the chat. No "worship", no band name, other members' names, nothing. He wants to keep those things separate. You get blocked there or he stops streaming for everyone if you're too pushy.

And remember folks, digging too much into their personal lives guarantees a court case against you!

I'm not joking. There is a person who is going to face charges for being way too parasocial and stalker-y about them. Do not be like that person. This applies to all public figures, not only sleep token. But some people take anonymity as a challenge to dig even deeper for all their info.

Last, but not least! I have the names spoiled and i don't mind talking about old projects and stuff. So I'm here for you if you want to google something, but are afraid of a face reveal, or if you just wanna talk about the older stuff (tho i admit, i don't know much about previous bands/projects of all of them). However, I will not be engaging in anything related to their private lives or families and I will block you on spot if you mention anything like this to me.

[unforth]

Danmei and Baihe C Novels and Manhua Officially Licensed in English

Things are getting licensed fast enough that keeping a list like this up-to-date is basically impossible, but I saw someone asking in the tags so I figured I'd try. All titles are danmei unless otherwise noted (very little baihe is licensed so far). I've included Chinese titles, but sometimes publishers change the original titles so much that I can't track them down, apologies. I've hit the link limit on this post so I've had to remove NovelUpdate links, but they're still in the version of this post on Wordpress. Note that Taiwanese titles are not included on this list.

This is everything I know of as of December 11, 2024. There might be more. I tried. Resources used to compile this list: Danmeinews.com; this Carrd, last updated in March 2023; this other carrd last updated October 23 2024; list of danmei with official licenses on NovelUpdates; a similar list on Goodreads; danmei-specific list on Reddit that to my eye looks accurate for the larger publishers but isn't thorough for some of the smaller ones.

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Seven Seas:

The full list of danmei novels licensed by Seven Seas is here. The full list of danmei manhua licensed by Seven Seas is here.

These titles are in various stages of publication, from "entire series released" to "license literally announced less than a week ago." As far as I know, all Seven Seas titles are available world-wide, through major distributors and libraries, and in e-book and print formats. Seven Seas translation quality varies but the editing is general strong and the editions are sturdy and nice. Note that Seven Seas isn't without controversy, especially for treating their contractors poorly resulting in them unionizing. Some people have also been unhappy with the fidelity of their translations compared to the original Chinese (I've been satisfied personally but ymmv).

Mo Xiang Tong Xiu titles:

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zu Shi)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zu Shi) manhua

Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu)

Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat titles:

Case File Compendium (Bing an Ben)

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (Erha he Ta de Bai Mao Shizun)

Remnants of Filth (Yuwu)

Meng Xi Shi titles:

Thousand Autumns (Qian Qiu)

Peerless (Wushuang)

priest titles:

Guardian (Zhenhun)

Silent Reading (Modu)

Stars of Chaos (Sha Po Lang)

Fei Tian Ye Xiang titles:

Astrolabe Rebirth (Xing Pan Chongqi), written under the pen name Arise Zhang

Dinghai Fusheng Records (Dinghai Fusheng Lu)

Dinghai Fusheng Records (Dinghai Fusheng Lu) manhua

Joyful Reunion (Xiang Jian Huan)

Legend of Exorcism (Tianbao Fuyao Lu)

Mu Su Li titles:

Copper Coins (Tong Qian Kan Shi)

The Unseen Immortal of Three Hundred Years (Bujian Shang Xian San Bai Nian)

Lv Ye Qian He titles:

The White Cat’s Divine Scratching Post (Shenmu Nao Bujin)

The Wife Comes First (Qi Wei Shang)

Other titles:

After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine (Canji Zhanshen Jia Wo Wei Qie Hou) by Liu Gou Hua

Ballad of Sword and Wine (Qiang Jin Jiu) by Tang Jiuqing

BAIHE: The Beauty’s Blade (Meiren Jian) by Feng Ren Zuo Zhu

The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish (Canji Baojun de Zhangxin Yu Chong) by Xue Shan Fei Hu

I Ship My Rival x Me (Wo Kele Duijia x Wo de CP) manhua by PEPA

HET: Love Between Fairy and Devil (Cang Lan Jue) by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang

Mistakenly Saving the Villain (Lun Jiu Cuo Fanpai de Xiachang) by Feng Yu Nie

My Husband and I Sleep in a Coffin (Wo he Laogong Shui Guancai) by Wu Shui Bu Du

Run Wild (Saye) by Wu Zhe

There’s Something Wrong with the Chief (Du Zhu You Bing) by Yang Su

Thrice Married to Salted Fish (San Jia Xianyu) by Bi Ka Bi

The Villain’s White Halo (Fanpai Baihua Guanghuan) by Hao Da Yi Juan Wei Sheng Zhi

You’ve Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post (Fei Ge Jiao You Xu Jin Shen) by Blackegg

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Rosmei:

Rosmei licenses are Singapore distribution rights only. There is a list of international partners organizing group orders here. I've personally placed my orders through Yiggybean, as discussed in reply to this ask. Most of these titles are only being released as print editions, tho titles that weren't originally on JJWXC (of which there are several here) WILL have e-book editions. My first book from Rosmei arrived, and I found the translation and editing to be very strong. I can't speak to how accurate it may be to the Chinese original, but it read smoothly and had very few errors. Overall, though they've made some mistakes, they've been communicative and responsive.

Huai Shang titles:

Breaking Through the Clouds (Po Yun)

Hunt for the Leviathan (Po Yun 2 Tun Hai)

Ning Yuan titles:

BAIHE: At the World's Mercy

BAIHE (I think???) The Creator's Grace

priest titles:

Coins of Destiny (Liu Yao)

The Defectives (Can Ci Pin)

Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire (Lie Huo Jiao Chou)

Other titles:

Albert, from Earth (Aerbote Laizi Diqiu) by Jie Mo Jun

Art Thou Ailing? (Jun You Ji Fou) by Ru Shi Wo Wen)

The Bat (Bian Fu) by Feng Nong

Beyond the Snowstorm: A Windborne Love (Wo Cheng Feng Xue) by Qi Wu Gou

Don't You Like Me (Ni Shi Bushi Xihuan Wo) by Lv Tian Yi

The Earth is Online (Diqiu Shangxian) by Mo Chen Huan

Everyone Loves the Cannon Fodder (Chuan Cheng Wan Ren Mi de Paohui Zhuma) by Qie Zai Shan Yang

Global Examination (Qianqiu Gao Kao) by Mu Su Li

Gold Class Enforcers (Jinpai Dashou) by Pao Pao Xue Er

How to Survive as a Villain (Chuanyue Cheng Fanpai Yao Ruhe Huming) by Yi Yi Yi Yi

Kaleidoscope of Death (Siwang Wanhuatong) by Xi Zi Xu

The Killer of Killers (Sha Qing) by Wu Yi

Love at First Thaw (Wang Chun Bing) by Fu Li

Nan Chan by Tang Jiuqing

Obsessed (Ki Ma) by Wu Chen Shui

Tailhook (O Gou) by La Rive Gauche

Tales of Zijin Temple (Zijin Si Ye Hua) by Yun Tun Tun

Wine and Gun (Jiu yu Qiang) by Mengye Mengye

You're Too OP! (Nimen Nansheng Da Youxi Hao Lihai O~) by Yi Xiu Luo

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Peach Flower House:

Unfortunately, Peach Flower House has gone out of business. Peach Flower House titles were primarily for sale through their website and through some distributors, such as Amazon.com. Whether titles are e-book only, print only, or both varied by title. In my opinion, Peach Flower House has inconsistent inconsistent editing quality, but the books are very readable.

Da Feng Gua Guo:

The Imperial Uncle (Huang Shu)

Peach Blossom Debt (Taohua Zhai)

Other Titles:

Golden Terrace (Huang Jin Tai) by Cang Wu Bin Bai

In the Dark (Zai Hei An Zhong) by Jin Shisi Chai

Little Mushroom (Xiao Mogu) by Shisi

University of the Underworld (Yinjian Daxue) by Ziloi

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Via Lactea:

The partial list of danmei novels licensed by Via Lactea is here, but there are titles I've seen them selling that aren't on this list.

Via Lactea titles are primarily for sale through their website and through some distributors, such as Amazon.com. All titles are either print-only or e-book + print. Only a handful have actually been released, the rest are licensed and presumably in progress. I've now read three titles published by Via Lactea and while the translations are decent I could wish the editing was more consistent. Everything reads as if it would have been improved by one more thorough proof read.

Jing Shui Bian Titles:

Salad Days (Jing Jiu)

Silent Hearts (Mo Mai)

Qing Lv Titles:

Painting Against the Natural Grain (Huahua Ben Shi Ni Tian Er Xing) by Qing Lv

Raising Myself in 2006 by Qing Lv

Other Titles:

Apocalypse (Quanqiu Jinhua Hou Wo Zhan Zai Shiwulian Dingduan) by Qi Liu

As I've Told You Before by Sheng Jiang Tai Lang

Dawning (Liming Zhihou) by ICE

Embrace You Till the End of the game by Hu Yu La Jiao

Euthanasia (Anlesi) by Feng Su Jun

The Fall of Summer (Ting Shuo Ni Hen Nan Zhui) by Jue Chu

Falling (Luo Chi) by Yu Cheng

I Can't and I Won't (Zhen Bu Xing, Zhen Bu Ke) by Yan Gui Kang

Psycho (Feng Zi) by Xiao Yao Zi

Limerence (Wo Xichen Ni Nan Pengyou Henjiule) by Jiang Zi Bei

Lingering Game (Chanmian Youxi) by Tao Bai Bai

Lip and Sword (Chun Qiang) by Jin Shisi Chai

May I Touch Your Spirit? by Qing Mei Jiang

The Missing Piece (Maoheshenli) by Kun Yi Wei Lou

The Omega Who Wants His Baby Back by Yao Yao Yi Yan

Rose and Renaissance (Wo Zhi Xihuan Ni de Renshe [Yule Quan]) by Zhi Chu

Killing Show (Sha Lu Xiu) by Fox

Soul Vibration (Linghun Saodong) by Dr.solo

To Rule in a Turbulent World (Luan Shi Wei Wang) by Gu Xuerou (pen name of Fei Tian Ye Xiang)

A Tyrant's Cover-up Plan by A Ci Gu Niang

Was I a Scummy Bottom? by Cheng Zi Yu

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Aloha Comics:

A tiny, Hawaii-based press focusing on manhua. Titles are available through major retailers such as Amazon and Bookshop.org. I've purchased one of these titles - Nirvana in Fire - and was please with the quality despite a couple minor errors.

All these titles are manhua!

Day Off by Qing Cai

Heaven Official's Blessing Animation Manhua by Bilibili and Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (this is a manhua made based on the donghua, using donghua art)

Here U Are by DJUN

Link Click by Li Haoling and Haoliners (not technically danmei!)

Nirvana in Fire (Lang Ya Bang) by Hai Yan (not technically danmei!)

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Monogatari Novels:

Monogatari Novels is based in Spain. These titles can also be ordered from at least some major retailers. Note that there has been some controversy about Monogatari Novels. I'm personally not ordering these works until more information is available.

Due to a lawsuit between Monogatari Novels and BLoved Publishing, How to Survive as a Villain and The Legendary Master's Wife are currently on hold.

BAIHE: A Clear and Muddy Loss of Love (Jing Wei Qing Shang) by Please Don't Laugh

BAIHE: Female General and Eldest Princess (NuJiangjun he Zhang Gongzhu) by Please Don't Laugh

How to Survive as a Villain (Chuan Yue Cheng Fanpai Yao Ru He Huo Ming) manhua by Yi Yi Yi Yi

The Legendary Master's Wife (Chuanshuo Zhi Zhu de Furen) by Yin Ya

The Silent Concubine (Ya Nu) by Qiang Tang

BAIHE: Soulmate manhua by Wenzhi Lizi

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BLoved Publishing:

ngl I can't figure out exactly what is up with this, and there seems to be some controversy related to them and their relationship with Monogatari Novels. Their website is depressingly low on details. However, this list is for completeness, so here we are.

Due to a lawsuit between Monogatari Novels and BLoved Publishing, How to Survive as a Villain and The Legendary Master's Wife are currently on hold.

How to Survive as a Villain (Chuan Yue Cheng Fanpai Yao Ru He Huo Ming) manhua by Yi Yi Yi Yi

The Legendary Master's Wife (Chuanshuo Zhi Zhu de Furen) by Yin Ya

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Chaleuria:

As far as I can tell, Chaleuria has not updated their webpage since April 2023, so the current status of in-progress titles is unknown. All titles are digital and/or e-book, and I'm not sure how to purchase them as I haven't tried.

The Complete Guide to the Use and Care of a Personal Assistant (Zhuli Shiyong Zhinan) by Why Radiance

Deep in the Act (Ru Xi) by Tongzi

Fake Slackers (Wei Zhuang Xue Zha) by Mu Gua Huang (no longer available)

From Body to Love (Leng Yan E Nan: Xian Shenhou Ai) by Wan Wan Yi Xia

Interstellar Power Couple (Xingji Qiangli Lianyin) by Kun Cheng Xiongmao (no longer available)

Intoxicated Friends (Zui Qing Zhi Pengyou) by Ye Shu Ying

The Long Chase for the President's Spouse (Zongcai Zhui Fu Lu Manman) by Three Thousand Crow Language

No Money No Divorce (Mei Qian Lihun) by Shou Chu

Reborn into a Hamster for 233 Days (Chong Shengcheng Cangshu de 233 Tian) by Yi Shu

Records of the Dragon Follower (Cong Long Ji) by Yueren Ge

Urban Tales of Demons and Spirits (Dushi Yaogui Lu) by Qie Er

World Hopping: Avenge Our Love (Ni Wufa Yuliao de Fenshou, Wo Du Neng Gei Ni Song Shang) by Xiaomao Bu Ai Jiao (no longer available)

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Webnovel:

When I first made this list, I heard that Webnovel had a few titles but couldn't actually find them - but now I've found them, thanks to a list someone else put together. I'm including direct links to them, since I had so much trouble finding them at all.

Comrade: Almost a Cat-astrophic Love Story (Jintian ye Yao Nuli Dang Zhimao) by Demonic Fire (link)

My Boyfriend is a Dragon (Nanpiao Shi Tiaolong) by Chubby Strawberry Sauce (link)

The National Sweetheart Livestreamer is a Pro! (Quanmin Zhubo Shi Duiba) by Mo Shang Wang (link)

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Honorable Mentions:

There are a handful of titles I know of that are official translations of C Novels. These are not books with contextual queerness, but for folks with an interest in Chinese history and culture, they are worth checking out anyway, especially because understanding these stories can help understand the above books. Also, some have active shipping fandoms (for example, I've written for Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Daomu Biji). I've included two above under the entry for titles from Aloha Comics (Link Click and Nirvana in Fire) and here are a couple others I currently know of:

Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong Lou Meng) by Cao Xueqin, available in translation for free from Project Gutenberg

The Grave Robbers’ Chronicles (Daomu Biji) by Nanpai Sanshu (six volumes are available in English from Things Asian Press)

Journey to the West (Xiyou Ji) by Wu Cheng-en, in four volumes from University of Chicago Press

The Legend of the Condor Heroes (She Diao Yingxiong Chuan) by Jin Yong, in four volumes from St. Martin’s Press

Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi), attributed to Luo Guanzhong, available in translations for free from Archive.org

The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants (Zonglie Xiayi Chuan), attributed to Shi Yukun, available in translation for free from Archive.org

Water Margin (Shuihu Zhuan) by Shi Nai’an, from Tuttle Publishing

RESOURCE: List of Chinese speculative fiction in English translation

RESOURCE: More Chinese speculative fiction in English translation

I will add to the "Honorable Mentions" list if I find any other more mainstream titles with official translations.

-

Rumored Licenses:

Sometimes, I hear rumors about titles being licensed before the license is announced - and thus before we know which publisher has licensed them (assuming the rumor is even true). I thought I should note these somewhere. Titles I know of rumors about currently are:

A Certain Someone (Moumou) by Mu Su Li

Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know (Mozun Ye Xiang Zhidao) by Cyan Wings (a Spanish edition of this has been formally announced, which might account for the rumor)

The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua (Chenghua Shisi Nian) by Meng Xi Shi

Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating (Wanglian Fanche Zhinan) by Jiang Zi Bei

Immortal Koi is Going to Debut (Jinli Daxian Yao Chudao) by Mo Xi Ke

Mist (Bowu) by Wei Feng Ji Xu

-

A handful of other licenses are mentioned on the Carrd I linked at the beginning of this post; I have no idea the status of those titles and wasn't able to find information on them while putting together this post other than what was listed on that Carrd, so I've omitted them.

Now go forth, and buy some books!

[doberbutts]

So I'm going to ask an honest question here and ask you please explain in layman's terms. Every trans person I know irl has no concept of the transandrophobia discourse but every time I see more of it online I'm...unsettled, and it takes a lot to power through all the terminology.

I initially was really receptive to transandrophobia because the rationale behind being against it sounded stupid and akin to label discourse in the queer community. I saw "being a man is not an axis of oppression therefore you don't get your Own Word" and thought that was pedantic nonsense, that language doesn't need to adhere to that rule, and that it's helpful to have a term designated towards transmasculine experiences so people can find those experiences easier. Not that trans women's experiences aren't also beneficial! But that, well, obviously no matter how similar the experience birds of a feather and that sense of comfort of sharing identity still matters. This is true for other issues of identity too, I find, weather that's a good thing or a bad thing idk, but it is human.

The thing is I follow a lot of transwomen and have been seeing some alarms being raised about the community being formed around this word. You blocked one of the most egregious offenders so I trust you (which is why I'm asking sorry) I've seen a lot of misogyny and essentialism from people using the term "transandrophobia" and more egregiously "transmisandry." Idk your opinion on the latter term (I haven't scrolled down far enough on your blog, sorry if you talked about this before) but to me it's unconscionable. I was taught that transandrophobia existed as a term specifically NOT to use that term, that elevating misandry to a legitimate issue was dangerous for obvious reasons and it was one of the reasons why I was so supportive of transandrophobia. To me, it seemed like an awareness that misogyny was the prevailing issue behind all issues of gender oppression, but when I actually look at the tag I...get uncomfortable.

Blogs I follow have repeatedly been upset at misogyny from this community, and have been using the term "transandrobro" to describe behavior they find akin to cis MRAs. I've truly seen horrible things with hundreds, sometimes thousands of notes to it that do, unfortunately, feel like women are being blamed for the plight of trans men. I've seen cis people say they were originally on MRA reddits and then came to tumblr to "confront the misandry directly" only to wholeheartedly adopt transandrophobia into their worldview. It's hard because I KNOW I shouldn't judge a community based on a few crazies but it truly does feel sometimes like "transandrophobia" gives misogynists a venue to air their woman-hating to an eager audience, kinda like how "Karen" has been co-opted beyond the og meaning of being for racist white woman to any woman being mildly rude.

So like, here it is: can transandrophobia exist without being co-opted by misogynists? Is there a threshold of proliferation for misogynists destroying this word until a new one needs to be made? Or will every word trying to identify the transmasculine experience be inevitably co-opted by misogynists because misogynists are just that powerful, so people should double down harder on the word and work to push misogynists out?

(Also am I going crazy, or did this word a year ago used to have a WAY better community than the one I see nowadays. Back then I could find your blog and really compassionate people easily, and now it's just...bad.)

It is a little hard to understand some of this post but I will do my best to answer what I think is being asked.

To put simply, I think the reason why it was better a year or two ago is because the majority of the people who were actually trying to further the conversation and not just circle jerk in the echo chamber got chased off. Transandrophobia, anti-transmasculinity, transandromisia, transmascphobia... the guys who coined these are largely either not posting at all anymore or post far far less than they used to. They were harassed and the constant exposure to transphobia made them shut down their blogs for their own mental health. Not all of them, but a lot of the so-called "big names" had this happen.

Even I stopped posting for a while and shuttered the doors for a bit outside of a long queue of dog photos because of how much it was affecting my mental health.

In their place remain people who are not committed to the same conversation. Perhaps they are younger, or less familiar with the building blocks of theory that really should be required reading, or are still stuck in their "everything sucks and it's YOUR fault" phase. Maybe they do come from different places, like 4chan or reddit, which are less prone to this sort of discussion. A lot of the original crowd had been on tumblr long enough to remember when we could still edit posts, and I keep seeing people who would have been in elementary school at that time posting to the tag nowadays.

I was discussing this problem on discord with a small group of friends and one of them- a trans fem- called it second wave transandrophobia discourse as a bitter joke. I think she is more right than wrong, regardless.

I'm not sure who you believe I've blocked- in general I don't air out who I block on this blog because at nearly 12k followers there are too many people who would love to dogpile someone for the sin of disagreeing with me and I do my best to prevent that. I don't want anyone to be harassed, after all. There's a lot of assumptions that have been made about my block and follow behavior that vary from "hilarious but untrue" to "outright offensive slander".

People are people, and some people are shitheads. Trans mascs and people who want to support trans mascs are not exempt from that. I say this all the time- Kayne West is objectively a shitty person but his existence doesn't prove the concept of antiblackness to be a myth. Caitlyn Jenner is objectively a shitty person but her existence doesn't prove the concept of transmisogyny to be a myth. So why do shitty trans mascs prove our own theory to be dangerous or nonexistent? Why hold us to a higher standard than any other marginalized group?

I could ask you the same question- there are posts on here with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of notes made by trans fems and cis women who blame their problems with transmisogyny on trans mascs. There are people coming from reddit, Twitter, 4chan who are being actively transphobic and misogynistic and claiming they're doing it for the good of transfeminism. There are posts filled with misogyny and bioessentialism and gender essentialism and even interphobia and racism and transphobia being left completely unchecked. Do you think it would be acceptable for me to ask if that means transmisogyny theory should be abandoned or if we should just accept that it will draw people with bad intentions?

Or do you think the better answer is to focus instead on finding those with a good head on their shoulders, and making sure it's them who has their voice heard? Do you think we should maybe not judge entire demographics because there exists some shitty people who claim the same identity?

[luna-loveboop]

Wait...

It's November. It's November first. Yesterday was October 31st, so October is over. ...it's over. Is it over?

Inktober, artober, whumptober, flufftober, linktober, every tag ending with -tober that's been circulating for the past month... is it over? I don't know why it's just hit me but...

This matters. So I will try to get the message across, even though I'm not the best at it sometimes

Fanartists, fan writers, artists, fic writers, people making comics, every single one of you that has created art for the past month...

Thank you

This is my first October on tumblr. When I started seeing the "tober" tags, seeing the posts from artists with wips, saying they were going to make something every day to a prompt, making masterposts to update with each day, I thought "cool"

But every day this month, I have gotten on here and smiled.

And I don't mean smiled. I mean I smiled at least 20 times every time I got on the app because I saw all the art and fics. I got to see artists/writers connect stories through different day prompts. I saw people having the most brilliant ideas and creativity, flowing from their hands into their posts. I saw artists responding to continuous asks, telling them how amazing they are. I saw artists getting behind, and keeping going.

I saw Free. Beautiful. Emotional. Amazing. Original. Creative. Art.

Every day

I haven't committed to anything of this before, so I can't directly relate to what you guys were thinking and feeling. But I'm willing to guess; I think you probably enjoyed it, because most won't do such a huge project unless they enjoy it. I think you probably saw it as a challenge you were willing to fulfill, and an opportunity to grow and develop your skills.

... but I'm also willing to bet you did it for us. For people like me, who love art, but don't do this specific type, who are in fandoms, who love tracking and watching you art and sending you compliments, who take joy in your work. For the other artists (and writers!) who admire each others styles and love to learn from each other.

If anyone ever tries to tell me that humans are inherently evil again, I will strap them to a chair, pull up these posts and say look. Look at what these people did. Look me in the eyes and tell me these sorts of actions don't come from the most loving hearts. Tell me these people don't want to make others happy, that they aren't inherently good. And I will tell you you're wrong.

I have so much going on, yet somehow it slipped into my life that I was constantly looking at your art for the joy of it without me even noticing.

And how is it possible. That we have such a beautiful community of people here that we will share. And communicate. And exchange compliments. And literally do things and send asks solely for the purpose of making someone smile.

I'm almost crying by now. God I can't express it well enough! But I am so. So. Grateful

You guys brought me a month of joy! You gave headcanons, and art, and stories!

Even yesterday, Halloween, I was blown away. Because I had expected... I didn't expect anything. And then I log on and see people sending happy halloween asks, exchanging doodles of candy, and headcanons and gifs.

And some are still catching up to the schedule or whatever, and that's ok! But at the beginning of this post, when I was simply realizing it was November, I asked myself "is it over?"

Is it over?

... I don't think so. I've seen artists say they're going to continue and expand on a piece they made and especially liked this month. Some people are still continuing, catching up to a voluntary deadline. All those masterposts with your whump/fluff/link/ink tober art? I know many as well as myself will be going through, looking over your posts with smiles, catching up on some things they missed this month... it will continue in the people and artists I didn't know existed before, but now follow. In the skills and growth in creativity! In the community we've grown, and art you've made, and the art to come, at a normal rate like every other month, even if it's not October anymore!

But my artists, writers... thank you so much. I don't know if you guys know how valuable and amazing you are. How incredible it is that you exist! People say it's amazing we exist under a sky of such stars, but how incredible is it that you made a stranger on the internet smile every day! Your life is so. So. Valuable. I can't even express how grateful I am that you exist, that you somehow are selfless enough to share the most beautiful parts of yourself simply to create, and to create joy. Thank you so so much.

(And this applies to all artists, in any fandoms, not just mine. And I'm just as grateful to people who couldn't do something every day, or only one day! You still share your art, you're just as... incredible. You are incredible.)

Okay.

So I'm gonna do this, and if others want to do it in the reblogs that's great! I do not care at all about reblogging or likes, but I want to make the people that have brought me such joy some appreciation- I hope I can bring you even a smidgen of the light you have brought into my life. So I'm gonna tag all the artists/writers I know of/can think of that have done any sort of October challenge, all of you creators that have made me smile. If people wanna want to tag others in the reblogs or replies to spread love that's cool.

(Basically I don't know social customs or anything at all, so if you don't want me to tag or if I was supposed to do something different or something let me know I have no idea what I'm supposed to do)(if I like accidentally tagged someone who isn't an artist/writer or forgot someone I follow... sorry)

@skyward-floored @kikker-oma @adrift-in-thyme @blueskittlesart @zeldaseyebrows @smilesrobotlover @bahbahhh @soso-dedeck @lennsart @arecaceae175 @illcamp @breannasfluff @solarfire-art @26kabeuchi @cathianemelian @truffeart @scribbly-z-raid @uniquevoidflowers

To all the artists and writers out there: thank you so much!!! You are amazing and I'm glad you exist. Your life is precious, and you matter. Thank you so much for sharing your beauty with us, we love you too!!!!!

... yeah. Just want yall to feel loved... because you are. Again, thank you. Thank you so so much to my beautiful creators who create joy as well as art, who keep storytelling alive. Just... thank you.

:)

[lesbianralzarek]

tumblr in reddit terms

blogs: personal subreddits where the theme/topic is 99% of the time just “me and whatever the hell i feel like at the moment”. for reference, the most common other theme rn is “wizard roleplay that never breaks character”

reblogs: crossposts. these are crucial to maintaining tumblr’s ecosystem. due to blogs generally having fewer followers than subreddits have subscribers, this is the way that posts get seen and passed around. the vast majority of posts on a person’s blog tend to be reblogs, so if the people you follow dont reblog a whole lot, your dashboard is gonna be a ghost town. post limit (combined total of reblogs and original posts per day) is 250, so feel free to go hog wild

tags: this one is complicated. theyre a combination of flairs and Comments But Low-key. you can use them for organization and to avoid seeing content you dont want to (go to your blog, settings, account settings, content you see, and then add tags you want tumblr to warn you about before seeing it). if op tags the post #reddit (in the tags, not the body of the post), itll show up in the #reddit tag when anyone searches that tag. tags are also used for comments that dont really add anything to the post. you know how a jpeg gets kinda gross when its been through a million screenshots and has ifunny watermarks and shit? thats what adding “lmao same” as a comment does to a post. comments stay on reblogs, while tags show up in 4 places: op’s notifications, the notifs of whoever you reblogged it from, when someone clicks on the “notes” button of a post and actively looks for the tags left on it, and when people view your specific reblog of the post (like a follower would on their dashboard)

likes: upvotes but weaker. almost everyone turns off all the algorithms (settings, account settings, dashboard preferences, toggle off the first 3 options. also, make sure your dashboard is on "following" and not "for you". this is highly recommended), so leaving a like doesnt boost the post in any way. they still matter to some people. you can also use them to bookmark a post and go back to your likes later

enthusiastic and/or hyperbolic tags: reddit gold. you wanna let op know you like their art? leave something like ”#printing this out and stapling it to my forehead #op you wanna get married?” in the tags

pornbots: both reddit and tumblr have an issue with them. we block and report them on sight. they usually have hot women as their icons, no posts or reblogs, and a description like “22, brazil, nurse <3″. try to not look like that if you dont wanna get blocked by everyone you follow

blocking: you have this as well, but it seems like a bigger deal on reddit. the reason we are not twitter is because we block bitches who annoy us and move on with our day. do not feed the trolls

things we dont have:

karma: clout-chasing is The Most embarrassing thing you can possibly do on this site. we are all in this circus together and the clown who gets the most laughs is still a clown. popular users will literally deactivate sometimes because clout is a burden. no one here makes money

[anistarrose]

This is my online accessibility (especially image description) masterpost, which I update periodically whenever I find a new resource or guide. I worry this has the side effect of looking overwhelming in scope, so if you're learning about IDs and/or Tumblr-specific accessibility for the first time, I recommend you start with the first six posts, under "The Basics". All post titles are clickable links!

The Basics

[Plain text: "The Basics". End PT]

Why and how to write image descriptions

Accessibility on Tumblr for new users (has templates, also talks about how to tag for flashing lights to accommodate photosensitive folks)

I see an image and want to describe it: a step by step guide

Fanart-specific and Tumblr-specific advice for image descriptions

How to describe screenshots of tags

IDs versus Alt Text, from a visually impaired Tumblr user (spoiler alert: sometimes it makes sense to use both)

Level of Detail

[Plain text: "Level of Detail?" End PT]

Why a short ID is always better than no ID

Blind people discuss the level of detail to include in IDs

The key word for writing IDs: "Relevancy"

Helpful Communities, Tips, and Tools

[Plain text: "Helpful Communities, Tips, and Tools." End PT]

I want to make my posts more accessible, but can’t write IDs myself: a guide

The People's Accessibility Discord sever (also mentioned in the previous link. It's a friendly server for crowdsourcing image descriptions, with description requests and feedback requests both welcomed)

Google Doc full of template descriptions for memes

Online image to text converter

Describing skin tone and describing hair (heads up that the posts themselves are undescribed and were written with fiction writers in mind; potentially still very useful)

How to remember to write descriptions (spoiler: by putting yourself in situations where you see descriptions more often)

Related, a Google doc of described blogs (almost all the blogs linked earlier in this post have tons of described posts and resources too)

(In my opinion, writing IDs is easiest to learn by doing — but especially if combined with watching other people do so. So follow some described blogs!)

Miscellaneous

[Plain text: "Miscellaneous". End PT]

Alt text vs IDs vs Captions with examples

Why not to put image descriptions in small fonts/italics (also, some non-definitive thoughts on IDs vs alt text)

Special characters read by all screen readers

Brief Intro to Transcripts/Video Descriptions

Myths That Harm Blind People

How to make your blog's colors visually accessible - one of the easiest thing on this list!

Other easy things: show love to artists who describe their work, edit descriptions into your original post when someone provides one in the notes, and copy-paste inaccessible (eg, small text or italicized) descriptions as plain text when you reblog!

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, how to continue writing image descriptions while avoiding burnout.

Let me know if any of these links break! I personally don't describe nearly as much audio/video (got those audio processing issues), so this list is sparse on those resources, but if anyone has good guides/blog recommendations for that too, feel free to add on!

[moghedien]

So someone is in your inbox asking for money

I'm not going to say that every single instance of this happening is a scam, but in my experience, random people following you and then sending you an ask to ask you to reblog a post or donate, they are almost always a scam.

You may feel bad about ignoring them or deleting the ask, but doing so is probably going to be the best course of action. Not only so that YOU don't lose money but so that you don't give the scammer access to you followers.

But how could you know that the person is a scam and not the one instance where someone really needs help? Let's go over some ways to check for signs of a scammer.

this is the post I got in my inbox today. I've personally never dealt with this particular version, so I didn't immediately delete. I probably wouldn't have reblogged anyway, but I wanted to look into this specifically.

The first thing to do is go on their blog. In this instance, the post they want me to reblog is pinned, and it also has a donation link. I'm NOT going to click on the link because there is no indication at all to what this might lead to and I'm going to instead hover over link and see what url pops up

in this instance, the url shows me that I'm going to be redirected to paypal. IMMEDIATELY a sign that this is a scam. people can still scam with gofundme and other sites like that, sure, but at least with those sites, there is some accountability in that you can see if the donation goal is being met or not. with paypal, you're just blindly donating, assuming that this donation amounts are what the person says they're at.

And also this is not to say that honest people can't use paypal for donations, sometimes that's the only option. But if you're going to donate to someone via paypal, you should at the very least be personally aware of who you're donating to and that they are an actual person.

But let's look deeper just in case. The next thing to do is look for other sketchy signs on the blog. So I scrolled through to see what they were blogging about otherwise, and there were red flags here.

Just glancing through the blog, I could see that they almost exclusively posted about Taylor Swift and the Mandalorian. They posted A LOT within the past day (this is why you should have times enabled btw) and exclusively from the same four or fives blogs.

But maybe they just post a lot. You can actually very easily see their posting habits by looking at their archive.

We're going to go to the three dots and click "view archive"

You can also just type in "[username].tumblr.com/archive" for any blog and access anyone's archive as long as they have a public account. But what's the point of doing that. Well, in the archive, we can get a very quick overview of someone's posting habits.

And here I've circled in red the first and last thing this blog has posted in the month of February 2024 (the month I'm writing this). You can see that both of those posts were posted on the same day. Meaning all of their posts in the entire month of February happened on the same day.

But what about posts outside of February 2024?

Well there are none

You can sort posts by month and year and doing so for this blog shows that they ONLY posted in February 2024 and ONLY one day in February and it happened to be the day before I got an ask in my inbox asking for donations.

These are the most obvious tells, but there are other signs you can look out for.

For instance, all of their posts are without any sort of tags. They never comment on anything and their only original post was their one asking for donations. If you click on the search function in their blog, nothing comes up

There's also the fact that the blog is clearly targeting at making the people who WOULD care about someone needing insulin sympathetic. The fact that they use BLM, identify as a black man, have pronouns in their bio all are on purpose to make people who might care feel like this is a person who deserves help. the scammer is using your empathy against you. DON'T LET THEM. Be smart and always always think before you act, even if that action is just posting. You can help people in need without feeding the vultures that want to take advantage and want to use YOU to steal from your community

But let's just be REALLY REALLY sure this is a scam.

On whim, I copied the text straight from the ask in my inbox and put into google and then added "tumblr' at the end. You'll be shocked to know there were immediate results and not from this blog

First one was a reblog from over a year ago. the exact same wording minus the cost of the insulin and the call to action at the end

I clicked on the original poster for this and the blog was cleared out!

Minus them using the exact same photograph in their header as the blog that sent me an ask today, of course.

The second instance I found was slightly different wording, but using similar enough wording that it can be assumed came from the same scammer. This came from another ask in an inbox, but the receiver rightly called them out as a scam. The post is from two months ago and the blog that asked it as been deleted outright

All of this to say, there are always scammers on tumblr, but there have been a lot recently. This one happened to not be posing as Palestinians in need, but a lot are (in that instance, Palestinian bloggers have been vetting who is and isn't real so you can always check to see if they're getting support or getting called out from actual Palestinians). They won't always use these methods and won't always been this obvious, so even if you don't donate to someone yourself ALWAYS be thorough in your checking before you reblog a donation post. Make sure the charity its collecting for is REAL and if its a person asking for money, make sure that person is real as well.

You can help people without getting scammed or giving scammers access to your followers, and not reblogging every donation post doesn't make you a bad person or mean you don't care. Its important to be careful, and not being careful can do more harm than good. it makes actual people in need look sketchy and takes away resources that could have been given to them. So if you aren't sure if something is real DO NOT REBLOG IT

[yunieful]

continuous symphony (ver 1.1)

synopsis: referring to the actual tender moment for sylus. it's just written differently to fit with this specific AU/original character he is around. it wouldn't leave my mind. it demanded to be written.

tags: some violence in the start, wanderer shit u kno, angst, hurt/comfort, emotional hurt/comfort, named main character, autistic character, alternate universe - canon divergence, idk how much divergence there is (a bit, a lot, a bit), implied/referenced self-harm, reincarnation, aware of past lives, aware of different universes, "if the men find out we can shapeshift, they are going to tell the church", we're in mc's head A LOT sorry, sylus may be ooc ehhh pairing: sylus/original character, sylus/main character (?) (genuinely the age old question for this au) word count: 4.8k

posted on ao3 too.

a/n: you don't need to understand all of it (there's more detailed explanations on the ao3 one). i just wanna cross-post or w/e it's called

Sometimes, Nova swears, Captain Jenna doesn’t want to give her the high-risk missions. Not that she doubts her captain, but it’s almost like it’s expected of her to do something reckless and dangerous. Maybe there is a possibility if it’s a mission to do with Aether cores. But she’d hope with high-risk missions—that have nothing to do with those—it is just some worry that has nothing to do with her being reckless because, well, they’re high-risk missions.

Maybe in another life I was this reckless, but I didn’t have a kid in those other lives, I’m sure.

This isn’t the best time to think of recording what lines up and what doesn’t, however. Besides, if Xavier is practically MIA, there is always Saph who can come with her. The others have…things they’re doing, that she’s aware they can’t pull themselves away from right now.

With a sharp zing, the Wanderer crumbles to nothing with her sword clutched tightly.

She glances up to see a familiar white raven fly, before glancing down and using her hearing and smell to determine if there are any more Wanderers.

With another quick glance back and forth, left and right, she shuts her eyes and looks deep within. Her core isn’t needed for this, but something else behind the curtain. A gentle bark is heard next to her, and she’s not surprised. She heard the padded steps run after her once he likely cleared his own enemies.

She crouches down. “Good boy.” Fidelis pants and wags his tail as she pats his head. Her eyes keep note some of him is becoming misty. So she mutters something, and from her view he looks completely solid. (Or as normal as a dog can get, probably.)

Her stamina is different from regular humans, but she still has to rest and take a moment before continuing on. Judging by the continuing flight of the white raven, she doesn’t have to be mobile for the time being.

Though, even if Fidelis is going to keep watch as well, none of her body can relax. There is always the potential of a Wanderer having, well, literally wandered away. That they were just licking their wounds before making another attack.

Or something else could manifest that she’s very familiar with that not many people are. She hopes nothing dark will form around here, but she can’t deny it’d be easier to handle here with no civilians around.

Still, if they did manifest, it’d just tell her that this place is dangerous for a different reason.

Fidelis barks gently again, and she grumbles.

“I should answer it.” The phone that’s been vibrating in her pocket for a few seconds now. “But also? I don’t want to.”

Yet she pulls it out of her pocket and stares at the caller ID. With her free hand, she checks the results of a Protofield scan. After doing that, she finally decides to answer the phone.

“What took you so long?”

She glances up, fixated on something, and then she turns herself around as she slowly stands on her feet. “Oh, I don’t know.” The smallest of smiles fight to leave her face but stays where it is. “Maybe I have this thing called a job.”

She likes to think he’s smirking on the other end. “I see this job leaves you vulnerable.”

Right. Something’s up his sleeve. “Does it now?”

She turns back around, fixating where she looked before, quietly noting the red dot near her leg.

Immediately, the red dot forms circles around her. Yet her eyes don’t follow it, knowing it's just to make her dizzy and irritated. That he’s messing with her.

Instead, she clutches her phone tightly, feeling something slowly prickling her spine and making something deep within vibrate and hiss.

“Very funny,” she says softly, at least, to try and be a good sport.

But then, the next few moments happen slowly. At least, it feels like it. She conjures a throwing knife hidden on her person, quick to turn around. Fidelis barks sharply and runs behind her.

A red laser beam barely breezes past her cheek at something that growls. There’s a shrill scream only a raven could make, certainly not a crow.

When everything sets back into motion, she makes a noise in discomfort.

“Sorry, Fidelis,” her leg stings, which has her slowly crumpling to the ground, “but I think Sylus wins this one.”

Her reflexes, to her shame, were just a few seconds too slow. Fidelis hadn’t fared much better.

And the white raven releases a few croaks that one would think sound like laughing, but she knows well enough they’re the grumbles of self-chastising.

“Are you done gawking? Stand up.”

Not that she enjoys following anyone’s commands, but even if she could, her leg gives resistance. Her lips form a thin line and she can’t help but growl slightly, hoping it doesn’t sound too animalistic. She tries her hardest not to get hurt or injured in any way, for Nyx’s sake, if not because of a certain doctor.

But with high risk missions—

“Your leg is bleeding,” his words stop her before she can fully reprimand herself.

He can’t prevent her nails from digging into her palms, though. At least for a second.

“I should have moved away instead of attacking.” Already she can hear the lesson about the importance of dodging run through her head. “And reacted faster.” Strive to be better, stronger.

His footsteps continue until he’s in front of her. Some part of her wonders if he wanted to help her up or just pick her up, since she has difficulty standing—who knows how it’ll be once she tries walking?

Yet he does nothing except crouch to her level. No black and red mist taking over her to force her into his arms. No rough tugs and pulls that, at one point, made her snap and bite deep into his arm—

“You’re a good hunter.” He extends out a hand, silently asking for her permission, her consent. “Not a perfect one, and that’s fine.”

With the way he says all that, she can’t help but narrow her eyes. They narrow further when inspecting his hand. Funny how I almost bit that once.

“Maybe to someone like you,” her words don’t hold much bite, with how soft she says them. “But it makes all the difference to someone else.”

Someone who’s had to be merciless, as the Viis teach with combat, especially against anyone not of their kind. Someone who’s lost a dear friend, and caused another to lose an eye. Someone who’s had heart problems since she was young, fighting to live as long as possible, so that her child could have both parents instead of one, unlike herself.

There’s a high-pitched whine, and she blinks before glancing at Fidelis.

She doesn’t even need to guess what he’s thinking.

With a small grumble, she grabs Sylus’s hand, and he smiles.

Strange.

Only because it feels, maybe, that he’s thanking her for taking his hand. So he can now hoist her into his arms while she does everything in her power to not explode from the calamity of emotions she experiences just from being this close to him again.

Leather and blood fill her nostrils, along with…it’s not exactly something burnt, but it reminds her of ashes and fire both. A part of her hates how it’s not repulsive—it’s comforting. It bothers something else behind a curtain of hers she always forces closed whenever possible. Why must his being threaten that curtain? Why must anyone threaten that one? Any more that are added as potential threats just make this all the worse, particularly for them. 

Sure, it hurts her, but she’s used to it by now. She has to be. Then maybe what rattles her ribcage so violently will stop, and she won’t ever have to remember again.

Instead of struggling to get out of his arms, she clings to him. She dares to be selfish, when she knows she shouldn’t be, and that it’ll only make it worse. But he’s warm, and she even feels…safe.

The fact he’s made no remarks about how he’s clinging to her or anything else to tease her with is strange. Sylus is not the type to miss an opportunity to tease anyone. What? Does he just know she sometimes has absolutely nothing to say? That there are always chances she can become nonverbal? Is he expecting her to say something?

Social situations continue to confuse me.

“I have a question,” she mutters, eyes fixed on the moon in the distance.

The response is quick, casual. Inviting. “Ask.”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere. Did you come all the way here to help me?”

His steady footsteps are listened to for a beat, while her jaw tightens.

“Are you really that important?”

God, I hope not.

She can’t be. Shouldn’t be.

Her sharp ears pick up the flap of wings. Already she knows based on the speed and what she senses, that it’s still the white raven keeping up with them. Mephisto’s wings make a different sound to her. (Not to mention he’s also a crow, not a raven.)

“Today, I attended a jewelry auction.”

A breath of relief escapes her, and her jaw relaxes just a bit.

“I didn’t know jewelry auctions were your thing,” she says.

At times, she thinks no auction is “his thing” unless he gets to blow it up in the end, like the time she and Saph were with him in the N109 Zone.

“They aren’t. I returned empty-handed.” Before she can even attempt to quip with something about any explosions, he continues. “And then I stumbled upon you. I would think that’s more surprising.”

It would have been surprising, up to the point she could sense him from afar. From the exact mark his red dot from his laser beam came from. And it’s highly likely he knew that she could see him or knew where he was. Being able to sense others' auras and the like has never been difficult. His gaze burns, but it’s an exact spot, and it doesn’t hurt. Not like other looks that truly burn her in some way. His gaze is always at her, but sometimes she thinks it’s past her. Again, towards that damned curtain she truly has to keep shut, unlike others.

He shouldn’t be looking there, just as much as she’s trying not to look at his own curtain.

Hard to do when she swears he wants her to peek.

“I guess it’s destiny.” Her words are dry and flat for the most part. There’s maybe a hint of humor, but it’s bitter for her. Destiny. Fate. Such laughable words. They mean everything and nothing. Even the white raven croaks, this time in genuine laughter. Any bitterness sensed is either slightly or just imagined by her.

Sylus catches on immediately. “Do you think it’s easy to make me feel touched?”

Of course not.

If it had ever been that easy…a crow and a dove would not fly together.

“No.”

That’s all she says out loud.

The longer they walk, the more time passes. Exhaustion starts seeping into her bones. Her leg isn’t really bothering her, however. Not totally surprising, as Viis have learned to be resilient and have higher pain tolerance than humans do. They’re made to survive, from what little is known about their history (and she is very aware humans know little about Viis).

Just because she can’t feel it, though, doesn’t mean it’s alright. In fact, it makes her wary. If she had trouble standing, there is no way her leg is in great shape. She’ll probably have to do desk work again, and she feels like she’s barely had any time out on the field since her last injury.

Her nails dig into her palms again, and she doesn’t care if they bleed at all.

(They already have, many times before, even not by her doing.)

“Your dog hasn’t been trailing after us for a long time now,” Sylus notes, making her stop digging her nails into her palms. “Just the raven.”

It’s hard not to roll her eyes, because he knows very well who that raven is. And he dares pretend to just notice them too. Tch.

She doesn’t even bother to be completely irritated. Just releases a sigh that’s irritated.

“Can I ask you another question?” Because she’s not going to answer about Fidelis. The raven is enough.

Without even having to look, she can imagine he’s smirking at her annoyance. “Go ahead.”

“I’m tired. Do you mind if I close my eyes for a bit?”

“If I say I do, will you stay awake?”

Her eyes are alright shut while leaning against him. “No.” Her question had been asked out of politeness.

Suddenly his voice is extremely soft, bordering on vulnerability. “A wounded person might never wake up again if they fall asleep.”

That has her eyes snap open, chest contracting tightly and sharply.

“Why are you so worried? I just want to rest for a bit. I won’t die.”

“In your current state, you might not wake up at all!”

It’s only for a few seconds, but it’s enough to make her feel like she’s forgotten to breathe. To have cold, icy needles spread throughout her fingers and up her arms. To flash back to that open field, to those different times.

To peek through that curtain, just for a few seconds—

Put it back.

“Nova.”

She straightens in his arms. If he tries to talk about the way she trembles or is unevenly breathing, she will ignore it. This is a line she refuses to cross or let be crossed. Not with him. Not with them. Only others that know are allowed. Not. Him.

“I’m going to get some rest,” it’s forced out, so it comes out sharp. But she doesn’t care. She doesn’t even want to imagine how he’s looking at her right now. What he’s feeling. “Stop messing with me.”

As she shuts her eyes, she can’t decide if she’s pleading or commanding him to stop.

His chuckles lighten her heart, perhaps even soften it. Soften it from the world that is hardening her and making her feel cold and containing no light.

“That song you played…. It’d be nice if you could play it again.”

She can’t remember too well if she had been silent, or if she quipped something in return. Something like, “You always have impeccable timing.”

Either way, she takes those solemn steps towards the pipe organ. The halls echo, and she slowly, delicately moves her hands to rest on top of those keys.

And she plays.

She plays the beginning of a song, born from her mind and soul, as many things are. And she lets it flow, feeling at ease, finding it much easier to always demonstrate and show and play—so much easier than speaking, talking. Words can be much harder to say than letting her fingers touch the organ keys and play. Play what she feels.

It is easy to recite what she’s been taught. What’s been ingrained since the beginning of this her life. Yet she wanted to play what was hers.

Deep inside her chest, it makes her darkened, hardened heart soar.

Nova’s ears ring, and her eyes shut tighter behind her eyelids till she sees stars.

She swears it just makes her ears ring more, and she’s forced to open her eyes with a grumble while covering her ears. (She’s thankful to realize that she’s still a human and the disguise didn’t fall apart.)

Based on the intricate decorations accompanied with specs of dust, they’re either old or haven’t been given much cleaning.

There are also murals along the walls and prayer candles around too.

The damned bell ringing finally stops, and she lets out a small breath of relief, struggling to sit up.

“Did you sleep well?”

She sharply turns her gaze to him, which is better than acting spooked by him perceiving her being awake immediately.

Sylus smirks, like he knew she was really spooked more than anything else. “Then again, I probably know the answer.”

There is a strong temptation to throw something at him. But all she clutches is a blazer draped over her. Past that, she can see her wounded leg has been bandaged too. Making sure she wasn’t cold in the night, taking the time to bandage her when she was out. Her jaw tenses as she swallows thickly, hoping she doesn’t look as flushed as she feels.

“You—” You didn’t have to do any of this. You could have just dropped me off somewhere to get help and been on your way. I’m not….

He raises a brow at her, waiting patiently, and that just makes her stiffen further. It’s hard to be around people who don’t push her to say what she wants to say. With others, that just makes her want to clam up instead of saying anything at all. Meanwhile, he just waits.

How long do you keep waiting?

She swallows thickly.

Waiting for me?

“Thank you,” she finally gets out. It feels too loud in this church, especially with the bells no longer ringing.

“Formalities?” His tone is slightly amused, and it takes so much—once more, with feeling—to not roll her eyes. “I’m not exactly used to them coming from you.”

With a retort planned, the words die before she can even speak them.

In the distance, she sees a pipe organ, in the center of the church.

The good news is it seems he didn’t expect her to say anything back at all. So his focus turned back to the pipe organ. It gave her time to close her mouth and try to hide any bit of shock or dread shown on her face.

Is this where fate laughs at her? Is it perhaps punishing her for her failure in not becoming injured? Sure, it could be argued all the Wanderers were killed in the end anyway. They won’t hurt anyone else, but it just doesn’t stop her critiquing herself.

When she stands, thankfully she’s able to put weight on her leg now. The blazer slides off, and she’s quick to grab it and make sure it doesn’t touch the floor. Instead, it rests carefully on the pew where she’d been sleeping.

It’s like the dream all over again. Almost.

Her steps are slow when she makes her way down the aisle. The faint morning rays peek through the window to outline Sylus’s figure. Something flashes through her mind, bringing back that obsidian, the red, the scales—

She blinks, and clears her throat quietly as she continues on, quietly noting how the golden glow makes Sylus look like divinity. Which is very ironic, considering.

It’s just the two of them within this church, so either the white raven is hiding here somewhere, or she’s outside. Nova knows she doesn’t always keep an eye on her 24/7. That’d probably drive them both insane.

She runs a hand through her hair, keeping her gaze on the pipe organ. “Were you playing a song?” Sometimes it’s not hard to put on some type of act. This reminds her she has to keep her distance, to not peer in or let them do the same in turn. So she pretends there was no dream, that it wasn’t her, and that she heard him playing here. “I like it. Makes me feel,” she bites the inside of her cheek, “nostalgic, for some reason.”

And yet, a singular part of her dares to hint. Trying to ask without asking…does he know?

“...Was I?”

He certainly sounds confused, like he didn’t expect this at all, when she’s known him to practically expect everything.

Yet, in the same breath, it almost sounds like he’s testing her.

She refuses to turn around to look at him, though, because what if she accidentally gives herself away? He seems to look through her to the depths of her soul, and she doesn’t like how bare that leaves her before him. Even if he won’t do anything to harm her, it’s terrifying. There’s too much with her, and it’ll just overwhelm him.

“I wasn’t playing anything.”

Oh, no.

Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything at all.

He walks over to the pipe organ, and she merely stands there while wringing her hands nervously. What if it’s not the same song? Then you shouldn’t be worried, her mind tells her. That it’d be a relief, actually. Maybe it was someone else, or something else.

But how would it be better to bestow that fate onto another?

The question isn’t considered anymore, however, once he starts playing.

The exact same song. From a dream that was never just a dream.

She walks quietly over, hands stilled and now just clasped together in front of her.

“Was it this song?”

Such a simple question to anyone else, but to her—

“This might be hard to believe,” her voice is hoarse and she has to clear her throat to continue, “but you appeared in my dream again.”

Might as well say it, since there’s no going back now. It doesn’t mean she’ll ask the questions she’s been selfishly wanting to ask. There is no point. They shouldn’t know. It’ll just make it worse—knowing for sure will just hurt everyone.

Won’t it?

She hates having any semblance of doubt about this creep up uninvited.

“What was it about?”

Her fingers lightly touch the keys. She steadies herself with a deep breath and shuts her eyes.

Then, she plays.

He plays a few notes that she easily finishes, while her mind wanders to another place she wishes was a dream. Just a dream.

Someone placed flowers in her hair, gently singing the words to accompany the notes of the song. She listened and hummed only a little, since she knew the song enough herself. After all, they made it together.

Giggles follow after, and Nova sees a smile that could brighten the sun, if needed.

“I love when we sing together!”

She loved it when they did too.

“Hmph, you actually remembered it.”

Then she feels something trickle down her cheek, and quickly she turns away to wipe it away, ignoring the heaviness in her chest.

“I’m not sure how the song goes after this,” she mutters.

Did we ever write an after?

“There is no ‘after.’”

Such finality, with melancholy following, that has her look over her shoulder at Sylus.

“No ‘after’?” Her mind flashes with screams, cries of mercy. Fire burning every piece of happiness and freedom she held at the stake. They burned the light. “Why?”

Despite those hands being made to kill or intimidate most of the time, his touch is delicate and gentle against the pipe organ’s keys. “You didn’t want to keep playing.” Missing details fill only a little of the gaps. Tear drops falling from her eyes, hitting the keys. Heart threatening to burst from her throat with anguished cries, back then. “The song would just,” his voice catches, “end.”

And if it ended…she’d be gone for good.

They were meant to write the ending together.

Why is it that people like them must suffer this fate? So that others may live their lives in peace? Why are they doomed to remember? And, if not all memories, it’s piece after piece after piece. It all eventually sticks together with blood and tears—kept preserved by pain, heartache, and loss.

Why do they even exist?

These are specific questions she laments to a particular entity that she and others revere, but it isn’t the time or place now. Still, it’s hard not to ruminate, to have her mind wander to close companions that also must suffer the same thing. If nothing else, she’d do everything in her power to not let them suffer ever again. Even if it meant she’d be the only one suffering, or the one taking the brunt of it—her companions deserve happiness.

“Dare I ask,” her voice is quiet, but it still feels loud within these church walls, “what happened between us, Sylus?”

Slow, sure footsteps are heard, and she doesn’t even have to look to know he’s dared to get a little closer. His warmth radiates next to her, encompasses her, and a part of her relaxes just the slightest bit. Having his mere presence be a comfort at all—it’s not surprising, shouldn’t be surprising—after everything that’s transpired….

She sighs quietly, knowing she has to look up at him, when it wouldn’t be much of an issue if she wasn’t wearing her disguise.

His red eyes almost look as if they’re glowing. Her eyes rest at his nose, because otherwise the direct eye contact will devour her senses—Aether core in his eye or not.

He smiles at her knowingly. “I think you know already.”

She narrows her eyes. “What makes you say that?”

A breathy laugh escapes him. He shakes his head.

“Well, if you don’t know anything then,” her breath hitches when realizing just how little space left there is between them, “I’d rather keep you in the dark.” His voice lowers, making the hairs on her neck stand up straight and her skin tingle.

Then, he swiftly leans back and turns on his heel to walk down the aisle of pews.

These are the moments where she can’t help but stand there and not know what to do. Does he know that she knows? And he’s pretending? Or did he believe that she truly doesn’t know a thing? Believes that she is clueless to their history?

And yet, if he knows she knows…

Why taunt me like this?

“And what if I told you it’s important to me?” Her steps are swift in following after him. She curses mentally, though, because his legs are still much longer than hers when she’s like this. Catching up is difficult. “That I’d feel more at ease if you just...answered that?” There is no response, and this next growl of hers she fears is animalistic, because he just continues to be so…so—

“Sylus!” He doesn’t even stop, and she stomps her foot with teeth bared. Then she scoffs at herself. Stop slipping with your Viis habits!

“You vex me.” She seethes those three words, teeth clenched together.

That gets Sylus to look up, his blazer picked up in one of his hands. “Oh?” He smirks widely. “Your words are music to my ears.”

Nova scoffs again loudly. “Let me guess, the only words that sing to you are those three?” Three fingers are held up for emphasis.

At least the air is less stifling around them. Maybe that’s what he was going for. But did he do it for himself or for her? It brings it all back to wondering about if he knows that she knows or not.

“Many of your words sing to me,” he says, throwing the blazer over his shoulder, gripping it with one hand. “It’s just fun when they sing with a certain,” his eyes glint with mischief, “passion.” Then his gaze softens, and she can’t help but tilt her head slightly at the mood change. “Sincere feelings are hard to forget, Nova.”

There are few times Sylus says her name, it feels like. It’s usually “Miss Hunter,” “Miss Sempers,” “sweetie,” but definitely not “kitten” anymore after a certain series of events happened. (She needs to be careful on what friends she brings to the N109 Zone.) Though, when he does, she knows they’re not playing any games. Not following a song and dance that sets up a wall between them (though she thinks that’s more her doing, not his). And he says it with a weight that feels gentle and—something else she can’t quite name.

Or, maybe she can…she’s just afraid to.

He turns to look out the window, eyes narrowed. “The sun’s up, which means it’s the start of a brand new day.”

Some of her ire has dissipated, especially when catching a view of the rising sun.

If you exist again in this life…could we watch the sun again together? All of us?

A fleeting thought, but she knows it’s one of many things she dares to wish (when she shouldn’t).

“Come on. I’ll take you home.”

How he’s able to carry on like there’s nothing weighing him down, not even from this conversation—it’s something she envies. That seems to make him glow even brighter within the morning light.

She follows after, trying to soothe herself by reminding herself this is how things must be. That she doesn’t know what the truth would cause if revealed to those involved. All she can assume is the worst. Enough people carry this burden already.

It weighs as it should.

[daiourage]

TFO Other Prime AU (Concept #3: Design)!

[The rest of the AU!]

⚠️Deja vu warning!⚠️

Concepts #3~#10 are all drawings I've uploaded before, but I deleted the original post because it was an intimidating wall of text lmao. So, I've decided to repost all of my drawings but separately, because I want to show the concept sketches(?) I worked on in between breaks from doing schoolwork.

(Also because I want to post my own art but I can't since I'm recording music rn)

(For the other drawings, this note will be at the end.)

Also, there's a comic where someone's getting choked at the end, and I wanted to separate that so people that don't want to see it don't have to.

Another reason I decided to split this into individual posts is because of the tag limit, to which desktop doesn't tell me when I hit the limit until I edit the post? Unless it's just my specific computer but;;;

The indented notes under the cut of each drawing are the same as my deleted post (albeit sometimes a little different because days have passed). The non-indented notes are written chronologically after the fact.

Also also, concepts #3~#10 have been drawn in a span of two months I think? So you can see me clearly fighting against myself in them and I think it's funny!!! Please feel free to laugh along haha~~~I've written down some extra notes if the change/callback is significant.

Also also also, all concepts post-#3 are very horror vacui, and it's so hard to read the paper, but that's what the notes are for!!! Feel free to read them though ofc!!

(I don't like doing this because it looks like I'm fishing for notes I promise it's not; but this could also just be me overthinking haha)

Be warned, drawing D/Megs is NOT my strong suit, and it was very apparent in these proceeding drawings. I promise to strive for better 🥂

As always, press/click for quality!

1. I couldn't tell what color scheme I wanted Shockwave to be, but I wouldn't know until I actually colored him in, so I just went with something that still resembled his Decepticon design. I'm proud of his design/silhouette though!※ 2. Will Other Prime be a nerd? I don't think no's an answer since he stans Megatronus, so he's not ignorant/oblivious to history.

※I change Shockwave's color scheme later!

[sparkleobserver]

Since you worked on an early version of karmageddon and did some partial work on Sparklecare do you have any advice to aspiring webcomic creators like myself? I’m not really good with writing or coming up with complex ideas

Hello!! Advice on webcomics and just in general… I think people have asked Kittycorn before and from looking over her blogs recently it feels like she kinda gave fucking nothingburger advice at times. So here's my advice, under the cut mainly just because it’s long. I will tag the main Sparklecare tag with this specifically because I know there are a lot of people who want to take elements of it for themselves and make their own things, too. :] Other than that, I've stopped using the main tag and won't be using it.

So, not even webcomic specific related at first:

Don’t be afraid to take inspiration! Don’t be afraid of seeming unoriginal! If there’s an element of something that you like, steal it! Obviously try not to do it 1:1 or whatever, but if you’re working on your own original story, chances are that it will end up different than its original inspiration anyway. 

To quote a common proverb: “There is nothing new under the sun.” 

People get super hung up on making something 100% original. You can’t! As harsh and blunt as that sounds. Don’t worry about it. As long as you aren’t maliciously lifting huge chunks of things, it’s okay.

Okay, so, another thing. Not every idea has to be super complex. If you want it to be, sure! But not every story has to be something sprawling or deep. Sometimes your ideas may not add up into something massive, and that’s alright! Even simpler stories can be very engaging! 

I do think, if you’re making something much more complex, it is probably helpful to try and work out at least some base things before you start. Some people can get away with coming up with things on the spot, generally I just don’t think it’s that easy for everybody. Having at least a skeleton structure of what you want to happen will be very useful.

Do not be afraid to get feedback from people on your ideas! Don’t be afraid to ask people, “do you think this makes sense”? Fanfiction writers tend to have beta readers, for example. I think it can help to have people you at least check ideas with now and then. Having fresh eyes helps so much with catching things you might miss otherwise.

Okay, so onto actual webcomic advice:

I mean first of all, I think the big overarching sentiment is that like.. do what you want, yeah. That's valid advice. Don't be afraid to make what it is you want to make within reason (gestures to KC), don't worry about an audience right away. The right people will find you eventually, although you should definitely consider what audience you’re aiming for and what boundaries may be needed ahead of time. Try to be patient, yeah? A lot of things don’t explode completely overnight.

BUT like. Kittycorn said squeak never expected Sparklecare to get so big or whatever. Not her fault, but I think there’s something to keep in mind with that. I really think it is important to be aware and remember that anything on the internet that's public can get popular or viral. like. At least mentally prepare yourself for the possibility. Especially because there’s a real chance that people will go against your wishes or interact when you don't want them to/create context you don’t want. This reminds me of anecdotes about Disney show creators getting shown porn of their stuff and being told “hey, this will happen” ahead of time.

This is all I really have right this second. I know damn well later today after I’ve already posted this, something will hit me that I haven’t said, haha. I may make a bigger post later on if I think of more to say, but for now, I hope this stuff is useful! And I wish you good luck and fun in your endeavors!

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Ok. It's pretty clear you are more welcoming of AI, and it does have enough merits to not be given a knee jerk reaction outright.

And how the current anti-ai stealing programs could be misused.

But isn't so much of the models built on stolen art? That is one of the big thing keeping me from freely enjoying it.

The stolen art is a thing that needs to be addressed.

Though i agree that the ways that such addressing are being done in are not ideal. Counterproductive even.

I could make a quip here and be like "stolen art??? But the art is all still there, and it looks fine to me!" And that would be a salient point about the silliness of digital theft as a concept, but I know that wouldn't actually address your point because what you're actually talking about is art appropriation by generative AI models.

But the thing is that generative AI models don't really do that, either. They train on publicly posted images and derive a sort of metadata - more specifically, they build a feature space mapping out different visual concepts together with text that refers to them. This is then used at the generative stage in order to produce new images based on the denoising predictions of that abstract feature model. No output is created that hasn't gone through that multi-stage level of abstraction from the training data, and none of the original training images are directly used at all.

Due to various flaws in the process, you can sometimes get a model to output images extremely similar to particular training images, and it is also possible to get a model to pastiche a particular artist's work or style, but this is something that humans can also do and is a problem with the individual image that has been created, rather than the process in general.

Training an AI model is pretty clearly fair use, because you're not even really re-using the training images - you're deriving metadata that describes them, and using them to build new images. This is far more comparable to the process by which human artists learn concepts than the weird sort of "theft collage" that people seem to be convinced is going on. In many cases, the much larger training corpus of generative AI models means that an output will be far more abstracted from any identifiable source data (source data in fact is usually not identifiable) than a human being drawing from a reference, something we all agree is perfectly fine!

The only difference is that the AI process is happening in a computer with tangible data, and is therefore quantifiable. This seems to convince people that it is in some way more ontologically derivative than any other artistic process, because computers are assumed to be copying whereas the human brain can impart its own mystical juju of originality.

I'm a materialist and think this is very silly. The valid concerns around AI are to do with how society is unprepared for increased automation, but that's an entirely different conversation from the art theft one, and the latter actively distracts from the former. The complete refusal from some people to even engage with AI's existence out of disgust also makes it harder to solve the real problem around its implementation.

This sucks, because for a lot of people it's not really about copyright or intellectual property anyway. It's about that automation threat, and a sort of human condition anxiety about being supplanted and replaced by automation. That's a whole mess of emotions and genuine labour concerns that we need to work through and break down and resolve, but reactionary egg-throwing at all things related to machine learning is counterproductive to that, as is reading out legal mantras paraphrasing megacorps looking to expand copyright law to over shit like "art style".

I've spoken about this more elsewhere if you look at my blog's AI tag.

[justagalwhowrites]

Get to Know Your Moots

Thank you for the tag, @burntheedges! I know it's been a minute but this one looked so interesting I just had to go back and do it when I had time.

what's the origin of your blog title?: Title is from when I was talking with a friend of mine about how Leia is the only consistently competent person in the original Star Wars trilogy and how she has to tolerate Han and Luke being dumbasses on the regular and one of us (I can't remember which) said "They may as well call the original trilogy Leia's Intergalactic Tour of Ineptitude" and that seemed like a great fit for the stuff I post here.

OTP(s) + shipname: Han and Leia were my first ship but hell if I know what their ship name is. Ron and Hermione (I would throw down over this one back when I was a bigger HP fan before JKR ruined the fun for everyone) aka Romione. Richard and Kahlan from the Sword of Truth series (deep cutttttt!)

favorite color: red! Also a big fan of emerald green and yellow.

favorite game: I think this means video games but I don't really play those SOOOOOO board games it is! Wingspan for sure. Takenoko. Clank Legacy. Everdell. Brass. Abomination.

song stuck in your head: Francesca, Hozier.

weirdest habit/trait?: I feel like I'm a poor judge so I asked my husband and he said it's the fact that my mom and I have a secret language that we use with only each other lol. I think it's also probably the fact that I sing to and about the people and animals I'm closest to. I also need to eat my food in a specific order otherwise I enjoy it less.

hobbies: writing is the big one obvs! Reading, D&D, baking, cooking, playing board games, hiking.

if you work, what's your profession?: Corporate communications. I handle environmental communications for a major corporation.

if you could have any job you wish what would it be?: Writer. I want to just be able to tell my silly little stories and send my imaginary friends on adventures in my head all day.

something you're good at: very little lol I'm an OK writer, an alright cook and baker. I'm not sure that I'm GOOD at it but I'm very comfortable speaking and presenting in front of large groups. I think I'm good at decorating and organizing my house? I like how I did it, anyway. I'm good at empathizing with just about anything.

something you're bad at: most things lol honestly if it's a basic human function I'm probably bad at it. I'm incredibly clumsy, I'm very bad at sleeping, sometimes if I try to breathe too deep I choke on my own spit. I'm very bad at being purposely aggressive or mean to people on my own behalf. I'm not great at really aggressive board games because I don't like being mean to people I'm playing with. I'm terrible at singing but I love to do it so I sing constantly so everyone send pity to my husband!

something you love: writing! Making people food they really love. Hiking where I can really hear the trees. Sex in the water.

something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: Joel Miller (obviously.) U.S. media law. The gentrification of cultural foods. Star Wars. Board games. The patriarchy.

something you hate: Besides the obvious (Trump and the right wing, Zionism, bigotry, etc.), something that's very minor that drives me crazy is when movies give away the whole plot in a trailer. Let me experience the story dang it!

something you collect: Swatch watches, mugs, postcards.

something you forget: how much I like almost any specific fruit until I eat it again for the first time in a while.

what's your love language?: Being noticed and remembered and treated as though I matter. That whole to be known is to be loved thing.

favorite movie/show: TLOU and The Mandalorian of course! Arrested Development. The Sopranos. New Girl. Family Guy. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Star Trek: Voyager. Inglourious Basterds. Elf. Baby Driver. It's a Wonderful Life. Star Wars. 500 Days of Summer.

favorite food: A really good burger, fresh pasta, fudge-y chocolate cake, my grandmother's chicken paprikas, caprese made with perfect summer tomatoes.

favorite animal: cats of all sizes (the fact that a tiger will just go chill in a box makes me so happy) and horses.

are you musical?: I LOVE music but I'm not remotely musically inclined. I can play piano and flute but not terribly well. I love to sing but I'm VERY bad at it. I do (I think) have a sense of rhythm though so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

what were you like as a child?: obsessed with books lol my dad was digitizing old home videos and found one from when I was two years old on Christmas morning and there was a book by my stocking and I immediately did not care about anything else. My mom tried to get me to pay attention to the toys Santa brought but I just kept looking at the book. I've always been sensitive and an easy crier, that was true then too. I really liked to pretend, I was very imaginative.

favorite subject at school?: English in my younger years, eventually journalism. Theater was another favorite, as well as psychology. I loved science before it got too math heavy.

least favorite subject?: MATH. I'm very bad at math.

what's your best character trait?: oh I have no idea. I think I love really hard and I hope that's a good thing?

what's your worst character trait?: I'm very big emotionally. I get very excited, I can be very loud without realizing it. I'm just a lot as a person. I very much wish I wasn't, I wish I didn't have incurable and chronic cannotshutthefuckupitis but I do. I feel like I'm probably pretty insufferable as a person honestly, especially for anyone who has to actually spend time with me in person. I just haven't really ever managed to change that about myself!

if you could change any detail of your day right now what would it be?: My in office desk chair is kind of trash on my back so my upper back is just mad at me. I'd love for that to go away!

if you could travel in time who would you like to meet?: Such a good question! Maybe Oscar Wilde?

recommend one of your favorite fanfics (spread the love!):

I had a slight inconvenience last week so I ended up back reading @netherfeildren's Fear of God for the umpteenth time, no regrets.

I'm loving Falling by @damneddamsy, her writing is so wonderfully vivid and I think her Joel is just fabulous.

Cherry by @mirrormauve has be in a complete chokehold right now and I'm in love with them your honor.

NP tags: @dundienominee, @interdimensionaldrey-blog, @dancingtotuyo, @whocaresstillthelouvre, @mysticnightmarewrites

[tbb-appreciation-week]

PABU'S FESTIVAL OF LOVE 2025

Info, Rules, and F.A.Q.

Tomorrow, I'll send the first batch (no pun intended) of prompts to those signed up (join here!). This is how I picked them.

In one word: randomly. I made several lists (with over 70 prompts in total), divided by types and ratings, and put them in a picker wheels. I left everything to chance. Specific lists aren't that long (about 6 prompts each).

It means that two (or more) people could get one repeated prompt. But like most of you selected a unique combination of prompt types, nobody got both prompts the same. And it wouldn't matter if you did; y'know, the "Two Cakes!" scenario.

Once received, you have a month to work on the prompt(s), and will be due on February 14th, 2025.

When uploading your content to your Tumblr blog, be sure to mention this blog and add the event hashtags: #pabu's festival of love 2025 and/or #PFoL 2025.

Any relationship is acceptable (platonic or romantic) among the Bad Batch, as well as other clones. Of course, original characters and readers are acceptable.

PLEASE BE DILIGENT WITH YOUR TAGGING (both by mentioning the blog and putting on the necessary tags, especially concerning NSFW). That'll ensure that your post will be reblogged on this blog.

I'll do my best to reblogged everyone's posts, but if I miss yours, please let me know. Just give me a few hours before you panic 😆

If you want, you can also add your work to the Ao3 Collection (closed at the moment, but I'll open it in due time). Use the same event Tumblr tags when posting to the archive. When adding the tags, it might appear tbb-appreciation-week's Pabu's Festival of Love 2025 (Star Wars) on the dropdown. That's the canonical tag for the event. You can click on it, but it's way too long and complicated for anyone to remember, so don't worry about it. By me, being connected to high places, I'll make sure that however you tag it as, it'll be attached to the right place.

If you are posting NSFW fics or art on Tumblr, I ask that you use the Keep Reading break to hide the NSFW portion of your work; and please, give the proper warnings. On Ao3, please use the correct rating and warnings as well.

In this place, we're all for minding our own business, Ship And Let Ship, Kink Tomato, and all that, so everyone is free to create whatever they want. Participants are expected to hold judgment of others and their works to themselves, even if they don't agree with or find it repulsive. This event isn't for you if you disagree. Harassment to participants for any reason is NOT TOLERATED!

Show support to other participants by reblogging, leaving likes/kudos AND comments. If an author or artist has asked for constructive criticism (not the same as a comment, and with constructive being the keyword) you may give it. However, refrain from giving any of the unsolicited kind, as it is discouraging for the author or artist.

But most of all, HAVE FUN!!! This is a lay-back event, to show love for our favorite characters.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

If you have questions, send me a message to the ask box or a DM, either in this blog or my fandom blog @nimata-beroya.

Thanks for reading, and happy creating!

Mod Mare ❤

--

PS: There's one person who signed up on Jan 10 and didn't leave their URL. I don't know who you are but I need you to contact me ASAP! Otherwise, I won't be able to send your prompts. HINT: You requested songs!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is [fill the blank] allowed?

When in doubt:

And how about…?

Yes, that, too. Give total freedom to your creativity, and don't worry about whether or not it's allowed. Most things are okay, barring anything inciting or glorifying harassment, hatred, or discrimination of any kind.

Do I have to use both prompts?

You can use one or both. It's up to you.

Can I post late?

Yes, that's totally fine; I understand that real life gets in the way sometimes. I'll also reblog posts from latecomers.

So, when should I post?

According to your time zone, during the day at the most convenient time for you, on February 14th.

Will you reblog my post?

Yes, I'll reblog everyone's posts during the day. If I miss yours, please let me know (but wait a few hours before you do).

Can I combine PFoL's prompts with other creation challenges?

Absolutely! If you have a bingo card to fill or another event to complete, go for it. That’s like shooting two mynocks with one bolt, using one of Crosshair's reflective disks!

Can I upload/repost my work to other social media platforms?

Of course! You can post your own content wherever you like. Additionally, I’ve created an AO3 Collection to archive any work posted there. (It's closed right now, but I'll open it in due time)

If any of the prompts fit well for an existing fic/art I am currently working on, can I use it?

If you are currently working on this fic/art with Valentine's Day in mind, the answer is yes. In the case of using a work retroactively (meaning: already published and complete), then please, don’t.

Where can I post my work?

Post where and however you want. You don’t have to cross-post it to Tumblr. Just keep in mind, if it’s not on Tumblr, I won't be able to add it to the blog archive. You can post a just link to anywhere else you've posted if you don't want to put the entire work in your blog.

Do I have to finish a fic I started? Can I post a work in progress?

Yes, you can post WIPs. And you’re not obligated to finish it. It'd make me happy that this event prompt you to create something longer. Let's appreciate the Bad Batch all year around!

Is co-creating allowed?

Yes, absolutely! Encouraged, even. Not just the usual writer-artist or co-writing collaborations, also any kind of medium combos: fic-podfic, fic-playlist, art-art, etc.

Is there a min/max limit on word count?

None. If you want to write a 100-word drabble or a 50k fic or anything in between, it's all up to you. You're the only one who knows how much time you can dedicate to it and how high/low your level of inspiration/energy is. You can even write a snippet for a fic you'll write later when you have the time/energy. Remember that this is lay-back-type of an event. Do as little or much as you want/can.

How do I tag triggers?

Just tag the word/phrase, e.g., blood; main character death. (DO NOT add "tw" either at the beginning or at the end. That makes it harder for readers to block the right tags). Here it's the list of the most common warning tags you should use when appropriate.

Also, it would be prudent to add warnings in the post's body, giving the readers another layer of protection before they do the actual reading.

Can we @ you?

Yes, please DO! It's the safest way for me not to miss your posts. I'll also be following the #pabu's festival of love 2025 and #PFoL 2025 tags, just for good measure.

What are the forbidden topics for our writing?

As I said before, anything goes, EXCEPT anything inciting or glorifying harassment, hatred, and discrimination of any kind against anything or anyone. THAT WON'T BE TOLERATED. For anything else, please tag your trigger warnings properly. And keep in mind Tumblr’s policies if you are posting it here (or the policies for whatever other site you use).

Can I cross post on other blogs?

Yes, sure. That's fine. You can also post different works to different accounts under different names, without posting them everywhere at once.

[deadkraker]

i think you're really cool and was wondering if you had any headcanons for c!tommy or c!ranboo? theyre great (and traumatized)

OH DONT GET ME STARTED

I have a full tag for my semi-au which is basically just me smashing all my headcanons together into a canon diverge mess of a rambling,

You can find a lot of cTommy hcs there, I haven’t really talked about cranboo too much, though there are like, a few posts where he’s mentioned. So here’s some semi coherent hcs I have for him bc I actually adore him.

He 100% has a ‘comfort grassblock’ and by that I mean he just has a cube of dirt he holds when he gets stressed out. He’s odd like that.

He doesn’t really get cold, the end is naturally very chilly due to the lack of any kind of sunlight other than the faint glow of the chorus plants (a lil world building hc) so first generation endermen are naturally more durable in cold environments (a reason why he also just wears a flimsy suit when staying with ctechno and cphil)

and the reason why I call endermen “first generation” is because since the end is canonically sealed off during most of the dsmp timeline, I hc that endermen have divided to two sub categories, first generation endermen and second generation endermen, sometimes called netherborn endermen.

The first generation are the classic endermen who originate from the time when the end was still open and are endermen born in the end and thus adapted to that environment, they are the ones with green eyes. second generation endermen on the other hand are endermen born after the end was sealed off, and are usually found in the nether, they are more adapted to hot environments because of that, and also are the ones with purple eyes. cRanboo is a first generation endermen. How that is possible is a mystery since he’s so young. (Cough resurrection COUGH COUGH)

his night vision is very good, but that comes with the downside light sensitivity, he’s gotten used to the Overworld’s brightness over the years but he still sometimes gets headaches during sunny days.

He can’t teleport because he’s still just a half endermen, more specifically his ender pearl is deformed meaning that it doesn’t function as it should, he still emits particles but that is all he can do.

Sometimes when he’s stressed his body tries to teleport but he obviously can’t do so it just results in him getting very bad ‘heart burn’ as he calls it.

He doesn’t know why, but even before he met cdream, he still knew him. He tries not to think about it.

Extending on his memory issues, while he doesn’t remember a lot of stuff, he still feels emotions and sensations that his brain has connected to places, people or words.

A lot a pretty straight forward, cTubbo makes him remember the taste of honey and the smell of firewood

ctechno is the sound of clashing swords and the smell of broth

cPhil is the blisters on his hands that came from hard work and laughter

Stone walls smell like ozone and taste like blood. He doesn’t know why.

He has eyelids similar to reptiles, so he blinks side ways, it freaks everyone out lol.

His cheeks are scarred from crying.

He gets really nervous and uptight when people look at him in the eyes, bc he’s cranboo he doesn’t exactly get hostile but he does get a little snappy.

He can somewhat understand endermen, not fully but to an extent that he can have simple conversations with them. Ender is a very complex language for a very complex species, endermen’s brains work differently to humans and other species and that reflects in their language making it very hard for outsiders to learn. Most endermen see cranboo as just a child due of his kinda primitive understanding of the language, a lot of how and why’s of endermen are taught to them while growing up, so most just assume he’s just too young to fully communicate yet.

His other half is a farlander, more specifically an altered version of it that lives in my head rent free, might talk about that later.

He actually has a double circulatory system!

Uhhhh that’s some i have! I honestly could go on specially about what I hc happened to him before the smp, but I’ll save that for later when I got more ideas yada yada. I hope this was at least readable to you lol

[mermay-forever]

MerMay FAQ 🧜‍♂️🧜‍♀️

💧 Is there a word count restriction for fics?

No, there’s absolutely no word count restriction, write as little or as much as you want. 100 words, one shots and multi-chapter stories are all appreciated! WIPS are welcome here too! ♾

💧 What kind of art can I create?

Any kind! Sketches, paintings, comics, mood boards, gif sets, videos, fiber arts… you have an ocean of possibilities! You can mix mediums, art one day fic the next, throughout the event too! 🎨 🖼 ✏ 🎥 📸

♿️ Image Descriptions - We encourage you to include a worded description of your art (no matter the medium or where you post) for all our blind and vision impaired fandom friends!

💧 Can I create a podfic of an existing fic?

Yes! In that scenario, your podfic is the new creation! We just ask you make sure it aligns with a prompt. Please remember to ask the author for permission to use their work first! Sometimes permission is given in the tags, but you can always comment or look for them on social media platforms. 🎙📚

💧 Do I have to commit to one fandom or ship?

Of course not! We actually encourage you to play with multiple fandoms, ships and characters... but we will hardly discourage 31 posts of a OTP 😏

💧 Are reader-insert fics allowed?

Yes, and those will be reblogged as [character name] x reader (romantic) or [character name] & reader (platonic), for example, Finnick Odair x reader.

💧 Is RPF (Real Person Fiction) allowed?

YES! RPF is a fandom in itself therefore it is allowed in this fandom event!

💧 Can I write for my OCs or even enter original works?

Yes, absolutely! Original works as well as OCs in fandoms are always welcomed! We only ask that you mark these clearly - either in the tags or the post itself. We're not familiar with all fandoms out there so we're not always sure what might be an OC and what might be such an unknown side character. The best way to help us reblog accurately is to add tags like #original work, #original characters, or even #OC [name].

💧 Does my entry have to be in English?

No! Other languages are very welcome here! People learning a new language may enjoy your contribution greatly! We just ask that you write the name of the fandom and prompt in English so that we can easily reblog your entry. 🇩🇪 🇪🇸 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇨🇳 🇰🇷

💧Does my entry have to be a Merpeople AU?

Mermaids, merman and merfolk in general are the first thought when thinking of MerMay but that's far from what our creative minds and muses are limited to!! 🤯

You want to take your favorite character and make them a merperson? Go for it!

You want to do a Little Mermaid or Luca fusion? Enjoy it!

Have you thought about just covering your entire fandom with water making all characters merfolk? Let's see it!

Is a new planet home to half-human aquatic creatures? Cool!

What is the life of a selkie, cecaelia or shape-shifter hiding in the sea like? We want to know!

Honestly, saying creature AU may be more accurate, but we are specifically focusing on water based ones here in MerMay! 🌊🌊🌊

💧 Can I combine your events with others?

Yes! It actually might help more people interested in your ship or fandom find your hard work! Bingos are very popular and I know of a few other events in May! All you need to do is make sure the other event allows crossposting as well. 💗

💧 Can I post prompts in any order?

We will be reblogging posts in order of the days as they come. So if you post the 27th on the 5th, we won't reblog you until the 27th. If you post the 5th on the 27th though, the day has already passed so you will be reblogged as soon as we see it. Please consider this because there is a chance you may get forgotten in such a wide time span too. 🗓

💧 Once I start, do I have to commit to all days?

No, you can participate in as many days as you like! One other all thirty one, it doesn't matter! You are also free to create multiple entries for one prompt.

💧 What if I don't get done before the event ends?

Late entries are always welcome, even months or years later! So don't feel rushed about that WIP that manifested 😘 You just need to remember to MENTION US (using the @ in your post) when posting to Tumblr because we will stop checking the event tags shortly after May 31st! Reblogs will still happen just slower until next May. The AO3 Collection will always remain open!