#also gonna do the same thing i did in 2021 where i'm trying to do a different fandom each week. keep it inchresting yknow

[slydiddledeedee]

Light-tober, Week 1

Week 2 - One Piece Week 3 - Disco Elysium Week 4 - Pokemon Black and White

[hansoeii]

Hello! Hope you're having a great day/night! I absolutely adore your art, you are one of my favourite artists. I love the way you shade and do backrounds. Also everytime I get into a new show I immediately see your art for it??

I was wondering if you had any advice on drawing more realistically (backrounds, anatomy etc) but still keeping a style?

Hey hey!

Thank you so much!

I have a pretty good understanding of facial structures, because before I got into drawing more semi-realisticly, I heavily focused on realistic portraits. Here are some example, these are from around 2019!

(yes, I was really into danmei and kpop back then, haha)

I just always loved drawing/painting faces and it was all I did. But at some point I realized that I wanted to do more than that because just portraits felt super restricting. So it took me around 2-3 years to somewhat find my style. Thought it would be fun to show a little timeline! Advice will follow afterwards :)

2020

I began working on my OCs in 2020 and since I didn't have an exact reference to work off of, I struggled a lot. My art from this year is super wonky.

2021

Still wonky, but the Lokius obsession was the jumpstart into finding my style! My work from this year is all over the place haha, I was experimenting a lot.

2022

This first ofmd piece is pretty much the first drawing where you can see where my style is gonna go, which I think is pretty cool! This is the year I made the biggest progress cos I was drawing SO much. These two pieces are only six months apart. The one on the right was the first time I gave drawing a background a proper go, too! It was a good year.

2023

And this is where I am now! I'm still constantly learning and improving, but I'd say I have a style you can recognize now!

Now here comes some actual advice, haha:

What I highly recommend you to do is to study your favorite artists as much as you can! I have like 5 A4 sketchbooks all from 2020 that I filled with sooooo many studies, where basically all I did was look at artists I like and copy how they draw stuff, to try and figure out how to stylize certain things. Some of my favorite artists are Ami Thompson, Velinxi and TB Choi. But I also liked to just scroll through pinterest and study all the art I came across that I liked! For example, if I saw a really great drawing of a pair of pants I would copy it many times in my sketchbook and try to learn how they stylized the folds. Doing this for a prolongued period of time will naturally improve your own work! It'll be difficult at first, but you gotta push through, it's gonna be worth it!

I also highly recommend studying unique faces to try and avoid the same-face syndrome. Find some cool looking people and try to draw them as simple as you can! Maybe even draw a little timeline where you first draw them as cartoon-y as you can, and keep going until you end up with a more detailed, realistic drawing. Maybe in the middle of it you find a step that feels the most fun to you, so you can try to build on that! It's a great way to figure out what kind of style might be the best for you.

Here are some cool faces I found on pinterest!

I have a pinterest board with many more!

One REALLY important part of learning how to draw all kinds of things is to understand forms and shapes and how to manipulate them. I have so many pages in my sketchbook filled with just shapes that I drew from all kinds of angles without any references.

This is a great video on it:

6 Ways to Draw Anything by Proko

Learning how to do this is so crucial! Young artists often think they first have to learn all kinds of detailed anatomy before doing anything else, but all that's gonna do is make you tired and hate drawing. Shapes are where it's at! Once you understand how shapes work and which ones to use for certain parts of bodies or objects, drawing is gonna get so much easier! Once you understand them, you can get into details such as muscles and bones!

And honestly the most important point is to just absolutely love what you're doing! I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the fact that I get extreme hyperfixations on certain media that turn me into some kind of beast where I can suddenly draw 10 detailed illustrations a week, haha. Just be passionate about what you do, find something you REALLY love and go crazy!

I really hope this was somewhat helpful! My inbox is always open if there's any more questions :)

[absolutebl]

Hello ABL. First of all, let me just say, that I love your devotion to Seven Days. It was my very first bl and what got me to discover the genre. Of course it was all downhill from there lol. Just kidding. Maybe... Anyway. I've been doing this thing since the beginning of the year where I watch older jbls (usually before 2020, although that is not old by any stretch) to kinda get a broader view of the genre in Japan. I haven't been in this for that long so I'm still catching up. Some of the stuff I've watched so far. All the Pornographer series/films ; Dangerous Drugs of Sex; Takimu-kun 1 & 2; Junjou (2010); Athlete (2019) Udagawachou de Matteteyo (2015); Ai no Kotodama (2008) No Touching At All (2014) ; The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese (2020). I've also watched things like His (series and film), Restart coming back home, Life Love on the Line, and I'm probably missing a couple but not a lot. So I was wondering if you had more recs for me. Anything you can think would fit with what I'm trying to do.

Thanks so much for your time.

Rose💜

Hi darling!

You're missing Boys Love, both of them. If you can stomach it.

Did you see my History of Japan thingy? I'd say try to hit everything discussed in that post: (The top 10 is out of date tho)

And the ones I picked from Japan for the 101 Syllabus

Apart from that's I'm gonna just give you my list of older JBL stuff. I put a * next ones often referenced in the zeitgeist of weedy discussions here on Tumblr in particular, some of which you already mentioned but I just want it to be as complete as possible. These are by date (sort of).

Older Japanese BL (Live Action Yaoi)

* Boys Love 2006

* Boys Love: The Movie AKA Boys Love 2 AKA Schoolboy Crush 2007

Itsuka no Kimi e 2007

Asymmetry 2008

* Forbidden Love 2008

Gymnasium Baby AKA Taiikukan Baby 2008

Melody of Our Love AKA Bokura no Ai no Kanade 2008

Ai no Kotodama 2008

Ai no Kotodama 2: Sekai no Hate Made 2010

* Takumi-kun 1: And The Spring Breeze Whispers 2007

* Takumi-kun 2: Rainbow Colored Glass 2009

Takumi-kun 3: The Beauty of Detail 2010

Takumi-kun 4: Pure 2010

Takumi-kun 5: That, Sunny Blue Sky 2011

* Junjou: Pure Heart 2010

Fujimi Orchestra 2012

Shape of Happiness 1 AKA Love Place: Hakanaki Kata Omoi - Gaiya no Koi 2013

Shape of Happiness 2 AKA Love Place: Shiawase no Katachi 2013

Coming Out AKA Kamgu Auto 2014

* No Touching At All AKA Doushitemo Furetakunai 2014

* Same Difference AKA Docchi Mo Docchi 2014

Forever Summer 2015

* Wait For Me at Udagawachou AKA Udagawachou de Matteteyo 2015

Candy and Kiss 2015

* Seven Days AKA Seven Days: Monday-Thursday AND Seven Days: Friday-Sunday 2 parts 2015

* Double Mints 2017

* Silhouette of Your Voice AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru 2017

* The Novelist AKA Pornographer (Pornographer series) 2018

Mood Indigo (Pornographer series) 2019

Pornographer Playback (Pornographer series) 2021

* Does the Flower Bloom? 2018

* Ossan's Love (original) 2018

* The Shortest Distance is Round (Noir) AKA Saitankyori wa Mawari Kudokute 2019

The Shortest Distance is Round (Blanc)

The Shortest Distance 3: Fallen Flowers AKA Saitankyori Wa Mawari Kudokute: Rakka Ryūsui 2020

The Shortest Distance is Round 2: Rain and Soda AKA Saitankyori wa Mawari Kudokute: Ame to Soda Mizu 2020

* His the series: I Didn't Think I Would Fall In Love AKA His - Koisuru Tsumori Nante Nakatta 2019

Athlete 2019

* What Did You Eat Yesterday? AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? 2019

* The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese AKA Kyuso wa Chizu no Yume wo Miru 2020

* Dangerous Drugs of Sex AKA Sei no Gekiyaku 2020

* Love Stage!! AKA Rabu Suteiji 2020

The Reason Why He Fell In Love With Me AKA Kare ga Boku ni Koishita Wake 2020

The Reason Why He Fell In Love With Me 2 AKA Kare ga Boku ni Koishita Wake 2 2021

* His the movie 2020

* Life: Love on the Line AKA Life Senjou no Bokura 2020

* Restart AKA Restart After Come Back Home AKA Risutato wa tadaima no ato de 2020

* Cherry Magic AKA 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii AKA Cheri Maho 2020

Post 2021 - A few lesser knows that might be worth it

Given 2021

Kiss Kiss Kiss series

The 8.2 Second Rule AKA 8.2 Byo no Hosoku

[madamegemknight]

How about MOTU hot takes? From any iteration (the 80s cartoon, the comics, the cgi reboot, the other serious reboot)

rubs my hands together maniacally. boy oh boy crispy you are ENABLING me here we go >:3

The 1987 movie really isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It's not great, don't get me wrong, but the people who made it were clearly passionate about what they were doing and it's a fun (if somewhat aggravating at points) ride. Dolph Lundgren is a good He-Man who understands that the character is just as much about his heart as he is his muscles, the way it and the Power Tour serve as sister experiences to each other with their incorporation of music and Earth storylines is fascinating to examine, and while Julie's subplot about her dead parents is utterly pointless, I think Kevin and Julie are two genuinely likable characters who deserve a second chance in the grander scheme of things.

The Greatest Show on Eternia is the worst episode of the Filmation series and should have never been made, but the way Masters of The Multiverse chose to "address" it was immature, childish, and nearly tipped the comic into edgelord territory for me. If something is bad, you should take the time to figure out what went wrong, then try and fix it - you shouldn't murder the only tolerable character in that episode and then have an aside about how the Eternian Circus is being thrown into chaos because of that murder that does nothing to progress the overall plot!!! wadda heck!!!!

CGI!Krass did literally nothing wrong. She was a deeply traumatized kid who was absolutely correct regarding pretty much everything (especially wanting to guard the Tiger Tribe instead of running off and ignoring it forever like Adam did, considering the later reveal that the Dark Masters kidnapped Justine), and the fact that the show is more willing to blame her flawed behavior on "evil rock that makes you evil in her helmet" than acknowledge she watched her parents die and literally cannot be in enclosed spaces without Adam as a result is legitimately disgusting. CGI tries so hard to have their cake and eat it too that they end up portraying Krass as in the wrong for wanting things to stay the same with Adam while ALSO establishing in one of the tie-in books that if she'd never met Adam she would have never even partially recovered from her trauma.

Speaking of which, considering that this IS apparently a hot take outside of my own little circle of incredibly cool and correct mutuals: CGI Season 3 is bad. It is so bad it makes the flaws of the previous two seasons, which I could mostly ignore up until that point, painfully obvious. It is genuinely upsetting to me that a series where the SOLE SURVIVOR OF A GENOCIDE BRAINWASHED INTO BELIEVING THE PROPAGANDA HE WAS FED ABOUT THE COLONIZATION OF HIS PEOPLE is made into a villain will be some kid's introduction to MOTU, ESPECIALLY considering how tolerant and accepting the Filmation series was.

Orko is a good character and plays a vital role in the franchise overall! Wow yeah it's weird to remember how that used to be a hot take in any non-tumblr MOTU fan community until like...2021. Crazy that huh.

Maybe not a hot take per se, but I don't personally think that Trollans have that different of a lifespan/age rage from Eternians. As far as I'm aware, the only implication of that being true is from the UK comics, and even there it's said that "it has been suggested" that Orko is over 500, not that he is - and this is also the same comic that said that nobody knows what Trolla is like, something that is patently not true, so I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that maybe the UK comics have some slightly incorrect information and possibly shouldn't be blindly trusted when determining major factors about a character! There are several times in the Filmation series that he either flirts with or shows a very clear attraction to adult Eternians (something that would be Weird if he was aging at a different rate than an Eternian), and while he does call Adam "kid" when they first meet, that's just how Orko talks - he says "atta boy" unironically for crying out loud. I have always envisioned Orko being around the same age as Adam, if a little bit younger, and while Trollans probably do age at a different rate on account of being a different species, it's probably not to that extreme of a difference otherwise it would have been mentioned elsewhere.

Netflix She-Ra is not special for having Adora start out as a brainwashed soldier who has a crisis over realizing she's been fed imperialist/fascist propaganda her entire life. That is literally the plot of The Secret of The Sword, which was released in 1985. I love Netflix She-Ra dearly and always will, as without it I would have never become a fan of MOTU in the first place, but head in my hands if someone calls it bold and innovative for doing things that the OG series did back in the 80s one more time, I am gonna wind up on the evening news 🙃

[shopwitchvamp]

Ello!! Same person who was trying to emo-fiy his mom lmfao. (Just changed my username) but anyways, how exactly did this business start? It seems newer.

How new does it seem? I'm curious!

Witch Vamp has been solidly it's own thing since 2017, though it was originally "Witch Vampire" for a while and only on Etsy / at conventions. I think my first skirts hit the con scene in 2015, but at the time the vast majority of what I was doing was crocheted amigurumi plushies (which I'd been selling since 2008).

The most ancient of my skirts!

This is gonna be SO long sooo if you want a whole spiel, it's under the break-

How those first few skirts started was that a friend said, "Hey, I found this place called ArtsCow where you can get custom clothing printed! Wanna try making skirts?" And I was desperate for anything I could try selling that didn't involve me literally and actively breaking my body to produce it (I had multiple bouts of tendonitis in my wrist from crocheting a ridiculous amount to produce enough plushies for cons ✌️🥲), so I tried designing some patterns to put on skirts, zipper bags, lanyards, etc. After a time, skirts were doing really well in particular.

Between 2015-2018 there was a gradual shift from the focus of my time/work/con tables/etc going from plushies to clothing. By 2019 I gave up crocheting all together and had fully shifted my focus to Witch Vamp, and it's also when I set up my shopify so I could have a stand-alone site and start escaping Etsy.

Side note, 2018 and especially 2019 I was slowing down on cons a lot. I used to get sick all the time, be exhausted and miserable all the time, and generally had started feeling too old & weary to keep doing them at such a grueling pace. I also spent about 1/4 of each of those years having run off to Japan to do an English teaching/Japanese learning exchange program in a countryside town called Ojiya. Going into 2020 I thought I might be returning to Japan to teach full time and help the program director open an English school for adults in a nearby city.. But 2020 had a big surprise in store for us all, didn't it? As you can guess those plans got absolutely demolished. So 2020 hit and cons got cancelled, Japan plans got cancelled, thankfully I had already started up my shopify so I went fully online-only pretty quickly. Things started picking up quite a bit in 2021 & 2022, and in 2022 I left Fresh Hot Flavors (a group shop I was in with other artists, including the one that got a bunch of us ((as in me, FHF, Vetiverfox, and Maya Kern)) all started on this clothing journey) to only run Witch Vamp. Around the same time my partner quit his increasingly awful job and started helping me out with the shop instead. January 2023 is when we made the business part of our partnership official and Witch Vamp became Witch Vamp LLC. Up until then I'd been a sole proprietorship the whole time and doing all of everything myself. With my partner around to start taking on various tasks (like fulfilment and customer service emails) and with my clothing order schedule no longer being tied to FHF, things started to speed up a ton. This is when Witch Vamp fully coalesced into Witch Vamp as it is now, with the weekly restocks and more frequent new designs and preorders. If you consider the business as having started (in it's current state) as when the LLC was formed, then yeah it is pretty darn new! But depending on when you consider it starting it also goes wayyy back. It's been a long road, haha. PS: if you're interested in seeing old designs, plushies, and con tables from my past life, I made a big long post about it -here- :D

[genopaint]

Week 8 of Daily Dragons! I was INSANELY sick so the first 4 days had to be fused together lol. But I got through it!

As always you can follow me on twitter where they’re posted daily

And read more info on each of them below the cut

Daily Dragon #49/#50/#51/#52 - Bub, Bob, Peb, and Pab

You like that? You like how I got around the missed days? Pretty smart, right? You can give me props for it I don't mind. Yeah I'm starting to feel better, but I'm still a little messed up lol

I'll try not to make this and also not to make recolors so frequent as individual dragons throughout the year. But hopefully having them each be unique art makes it an easier pill to swallow. Cut me some slack, y'all! I was dying the past few days

Daily Dragon #53 - Berserkrunch

These impressively angry and aggressive dragons seemingly love proving how tough they are to anything that crosses their path. While they may seem scrappy due to their short stature, they do have some considerable strength to back up that attitude

This is a remake of this little guy! While it's not that old of a dragon, having originally come from 2021, for some reason I just kept thinking about redesigning it. And, dang it, it's my challenge, why not?

Also, I included fully raged (red) and fully calmed (blue) variants :)

Daily Dragon #54 - Glidrogon

Fast and ruthless, these dragons can dive bomb preys at incredible speeds, then tear them up with their claws. Sometimes they've been seen hunting in packs to take down considerably larger prey than themselves!

If Berserkrunch can get a redesign and a new name, it's only fair its brother can too! This is a redesign of this green pterodactyl looking dragon I made the same day as Berserkrunch back in 2021 :)

Daily Dragon #55 - Howl Gravwyrm

A mysterious martial artist that few people have seen, let alone actually met. He appears wherever opponents of great power are, and some people claim to have been rescued by him from danger. But he never accepts thanks, he just wanders on.

Very rough week, things are gonna keep getting rougher soon I'm afraid, so I figured I'd go ahead and do another redesign of an old OC! This is a reboot of a random buff dragon design I did in roughly 2016 I believe? Decided to make him even edgier this time around

[joeys-babe]

Someday We’ll Be Together

Chapter 11: Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain

————————————————————————

September 12, 2021

(joe's pov)

after y/n ran into the bathroom, i realized the severity of the situation.

i really fucked up.

my plan didn't go the way i wanted it to at all. after i kissed y/n, i panicked and thought that she only kissed me because she got caught up in the moment. the first thing i saw was lexie running out of the bar and i made a split second decision to take the kiss back and make an excuse for why i did it.

"i don't want to talk to you now, or preferably ever again."

my heart shattered when she said those words.

i waited outside of the bathroom door for 10 minutes, until i eventually gave up. even if she did walk out, i'd be the last person she'd want to see.

my first thought was to just get wasted, forget about the situation temporarily.

i made my way over to the bar asked for a bear, adding the "keep 'em coming".

i was three deep when i heard a female voice.

"hey joey."

"i'm not signing stuff tonight, kinda heartbroken right now-" - joe turned and noticed that it was lexie

"lexie.. what the fuck do you want?" - joe

"joe you're absolutely wasted, let me take you home. i remember where you live." - lexie

"where's your boyfriend? thought you'd be busy grinding on him." - joe

"you know he doesn't mean anything to me, you're the only one for me joe." - lexie

"fuck off." - joe

"okay fine. just at least let me drive you home, no funny business i swear." - lexie

"let me get one more beer and then maybe we'll talk."- joe flagged down the bartender

"okay, i'll come back in 10 minutes. i have to go find my boyfriend." - lexie

i rolled my eyes as she walked away, she was such a fake woman.

soon after i finished my beer, lexie walked back up to me.

"you ready to go joey?" - lexie

"yup" - joe

she grabbed my hand to stand up but when i tried to stand up i immediately tripped over my own feet, so i grabbed onto lexies waist.

"you look like an idiot." - lexie laughed

"just shut up and take me back to my house. the faster you get me to the car the faster we can never talk to each other again." - joe

"bro what did i do to you? you don't have to be a dick." - lexie

i scoffed at that, thinking of all the different examples i could use.

"what haven't you done? you've judged my body, used me for my status, cheated on me twice.. want me to keep going?" - joe

we were passing the table that the guys were sitting at, and i heard sam yell for me.

i hurriedly walked away from lexie and walked over to the guys.

"here's this.." - sam handed joe his sweatshirt

y/n had folded my sweatshirt perfectly and gave it to sam to give back to me.

"is she.. still here?" - joe

"i don't think so. she ran after she practically slammed this on the table. oh yeah, she also told me to tell you to go to hell." - sam

"i deserve that." - joe

"bro what did you do? and why the fuck are you with lexie?" - sam

"i- uhm.. i'll tell you later. i really fucked up though, and i'm really scared i just lost her." - joe

"lost her?" - sam

"lost the girl i'm fuckin in love with. it's all my fault too." - joe sighed

"woah woah, go back. joe, you're in love with her?" - sam

"sam, don't play stupid. you know full and well i've been in love with her since damn ohio state." - joe

i hadn't realized that my voice got louder out of irritation and everyone at the table was staring at me with their jaw dropped. jess and gracie having shocked smiles on their faces.

"but i really messed up. i kissed her, but i panicked thinking that she only kissed me back because she got caught up in the moment.." - joe

"so what'd you do?" - jess

"i pretended like i did it to make lexie jealous, like a damn jerk." - joe

"joe! that was such a dick move." - ja'marr

"i know! i've realized that! now i'm never gonna know if she feels the same way because she hates me!" - joe

"go see if she's outside, if she is you should try to explain." - tee

"she doesn't want to talk to me-" - joe

"go!" - the whole table yelled

i ran out the bar and started scanning the sidewalk. y/n was standing yards away from me, but i could still hear her sobbed words. it was pouring the rain, and i felt terrible seeing her stand there with no shelter over her head.

"i hate joe, so much." - you

a few seconds of silence, the other person on the phone was talking.

"mom hurry, i'll tell you everything that happened later. just get here fast, i don't want him to come find me." - you

moments later she said an "i love you too" and got off the phone.

even though she said she didn't want to talk to me, or want me to come find her. i had to.

"y/n.." - joe

i watched her head move in my direction, her crying getting even harder.

"i told you to leave me alone." - you

"please, let me explain." - joe

"i don't want to hear it. go find lexie for all i care. i've done nothing but supported you your whole entire life, joe and you use me to make some bitch jealous?!" - you

"y/n please!" - joe

"you- you're a jerk. you're like every other guy i've ever been around. i thought you were different, i thought you were my best friend. but you are nothing but a lier, player, dick, and you lead me on! i'm sick and tired of being your back burner for when you're girlfriends hurt you!" - you

by this time i was crying with her, she was the only girl i've ever truly wanted and now she'll never know.

"i am your best friend, y/n!" - joe

"no you're not. also, my moms almost here and i don't want you to be anywhere near here when she arrives. after tonight, don't try to contact me in anyway possible because i will not be answering." - you

i nodded and defeatedly started walking back towards the bar door, just as i was about to reach the handle i turned around. y/n was watching me walk away.

"just know this. i never meant to hurt you, and i'm so sorry. you're the greatest thing to ever happen to me, and i wish i would've showed that more. goodnight, y/n." - joe walked back into the bar

when i walked in, the table of my teammates were already looking in my direction. they waited for me to report back to them.

all i did was nod my head "no" and wipe the remaining tears off my cheeks.

i stood there for a second, my back against the door thinking about what had just happened when i realized i didn't have my sweatshirt with me.

i opened the door to see if i had dropped it, only to see y/n hugging her mom by her car that was idle in the road.

my heart broke even more at the sight, and when they pulled away that's when i saw it. my sweatshirt. y/n had it hugged against her chest.

(y/n's pov)

on the way home i explained to my mom what had happened, and as soon as we arrived i went upstairs to my room and cried myself to sleep.

i was sleeping rather peacefully till i got a call at midnight, my phone vibrating on my nightstand.

not even checking the caller ID, i excepted it and mumbled a "hello".

"y/n!" - gracie

"gracie? why the hell are you calling me at midnight?" - you

"aye i'm here too!" - jess

"what is it you guys absolutely needed to wake me up for?" - you

"we found out what happened and wanted to check on you." - jess

"i'll be fine, he's just a stupid guy. i just don't understand why he kept trying to get me to listen to him, there was literally nothing for him to explain!" - you

"you have every right to feel that way and to be mad, but maybe you should've maybe tried to listen. he explained the situation to us, and i really feel like you would want to hear what he has to say.” - gracie

“i mean this in the nicest way possible but i honestly don’t care. i don’t want to hear anything he has to say. he doesn’t deserve it.” - you

“so what are you gonna do? ignore him forever and forget that you were in love with him?” - jess

“that’s the problem. even after all of this, he’s the only guy i can ever picture myself with. i’m still in love with him, i don’t ever think thats gonna change.” - you

“then you should let him talk. you don’t have to today, or even this week. take your time, and then hear him out. i really do think you’ll like what you hear, y/n.” - gracie

“i will. just give me time, i’m still hurt.” - you

“we know. take all the time you need, and just know that joes really upset too. sam and i took him home and he asked us to stay while we he showered, just in case he fell in hit his head since he was still drunk, and we could literally hear him crying from downstairs.” - jess

“he’s such a man-child.” - you laughed

“maybe so, but he cares about you a lot.” - jess

our conversation went on for a little longer till we said our goodnights, but there was no way i was going to be able to back to sleep.

all i could think about was what joe was going to tell me if i let him talk. then came the image of his blue eyes crying in the rain.

what did jess and gracie know that i didn’t?

————————————————————————

authors note: i wonder what happens next????

hope you enjoyed! 🥰🥰

[thenanamisimp]

This isn't something I've really done much since I started this blog but I really wanted to discuss this week’s TGCF episode.

This is your spoiler warning!!

Heaven official's blessing season 2, episode 6 spoilers but there are also discussions of the respective scenes from volume 2 so if you haven't finished reading the novel, I'd suggest maybe not reading this post.

For context, I saw a user on twitter discuss how the donghua has been adapting Hua Cheng's display of emotions towards Xie Lian.

Source

I also saw another user discuss the difference between how the novel/audio drama and the donghua have been showing Hua Cheng expressing emotions.

(I can't share the source as the OP is now private on twitter)

While I haven't actually listened to the audio drama and I'm only on my first re-read of TGCF, these posts inspired me and I have thoughts and opinions that I need to share before I implode (one day it’ll happen I swear).

The scene the posters are talking about is after hcg saves xl from the heavenly Xianle palace, where they talk about what happened at paradise manor (aka xl apologising for burning down the armoury and lying to hcg about the earth master and hcg apologising for hurting xl’s arm).

In the donghua, we see hcg very obviously upset. He appears obviously and genuinely very sad about having hurt xl, even with the whole incident having been an accident. The distress in his eyes and voice is evident and clear-cut, seeming perhaps even a bit childish. In contrast, when reading this scene in the novel, while hcg definitely comes across upset, his distress appears a bit more calm and collected and he instead truly seems like a responsible adult who made a mistake and is sincerely apologetic for it to xl.

I believe that there’s multiple reasons why the dongua team chose to show hcg’s emotions in the way that they did. In my opinion, a reason why they could’ve chosen to do it this way is because of censorship. Now hear me out; clearly as a western fan I can’t speak much on Chinese censorship as I’m not highly knowledgable on the subject. However, I’d like to believe that the producing team is trying to work around the censorship laws in their own way. By making hcg’s emotions a little more over-the-top and obvious, it’s a lot easier for us as the viewer, especially queer fans that might understand queer dynamics better than others, to see and pick up on the subtext of what those exaggerated emotions mean while never having to be said out loud. And yes, we could argue that for those of us who have read the novel, it’s easier to recognise those subtle moments of vulnerability even if hcg’s reaction was made as ambiguous as it is in the book, because we have a lot more context. We have to remind ourselves that Hualian’s love story is never gonna be shown in the donghua in the same as the novel and people who are new to the story won't pick up on their relationship as easily.

As someone who hand’t heard of TGCF until Netflix licensed the donghua in my region (in 2021 I think?), I actually highly appreciate this difference in hcg’s character in the donghua. And while I don’t appreciate queerbaiting, watching season 1 made me search for the original source material and ended up with 8 very expensive books on my shelf (it took me 2 years to find volume 2 in stock somewhere…. 2 YEARS because I refuse to buy from amazon). San Lang (specifically referring to hcg’s form in volume 1 or season 1) is definitely slightly more aloof and energetic than hcg in his real form, so I do believe that his adaptation in season 1 was a lot more true to the source than season 2 seems to be.

My personal opinion is that, we need to view the donghua with a little more leniency as they have limits to the scenes they will be adapting later on (if the donghua doesn’t get dropped. Let us all pray together) and they have to make some things a little more obvious (but still no homo) to keep as much of the gay factor as they can without getting, you know, arrested. At the end of the day, it comes down to us what we prefer to consume and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people preferring one over the other. It's valid to prefer hcg in the novels and it's valid to also enjoy hcg's donghua adaptation, even if he's different and not completely true to the OG material.

Now when it comes to the whole “making xl seem oblivious thing”…. The jury is still out on this one I’m afraid. This was the final scene of the latest episode meaning, we don’t actually know how they’re gonna adapt the following scenes and this could very heavily affect the way xl reacts from here on. An adaptation is just that and like mentioned before, the donghua team has to make decisions on how to adapt things due to censorship. And at the end of the day, I think this is an interesting take on xl’s character as one of the biggest parts of his character is how he struggles to accept love and care from other people so one can argue that… He actually is oblivious in this scene? Especially at this point in the story considering he’s known hcg for like, a week, 2 weeks max (do not quote me on that, I haven’t actually calculated, I am lazy. Point is, he hasn’t known him for very long at this point in time). And while I would for sure be a bit disappointed if he still is presented like this later on in the story, we’re still too early into it to criticise the donghua over this and future scenes that haven’t even been touched yet. It’s not in any way fair to base our opinions on the upcoming scenes on a singular 2 minute clip of Hualian’s interaction.

So, I have said my peace. Please remember that everything I’ve discussed is purely my opinion and not fact, so take this post with a grain of salt. I’d actually love to discuss this further with people so please send asks if you have anything to add!

(This is also another good post to read about the censorship stuff I talked about in this post. I like how this user phrased it.)

Once again, thank you for reading a (lengthy for once) ramble!

theNanamiSimp

[pardonmydelays]

maybe there's more context but i noticed a lot of the time, public criticism for projects lands really heavily on lmm's shoulders. the reason why i'm saying this is because i binged his projects and its reception. apparently, when in the heights 2021 came out, there was a lot of discourse about the lack of afro-latino representation in the movie: this itself is completely justifiable and good. we shouldn't be scared to critique and start conversations about media. but i was a bit confused because all of the blame was put on lin and not the director? maybe you can provide more context here: i know he's the show's original creator and is famous, so he's reasonably gonna get more scrutiny; and he did have a role as a producer, but he talked about how they tried to take out the piragua guy, etc. so i assumed he didn't have full control, and usually, the director is the main focus, no?

and of course that period where people hated the song in the little mermaid and the movie being eh was his fault, and even the bad songs in wish somehow being his fault (despite him not being part of that lmao). i'm an international fan that recently listened to in the heights and was really impressed, so i wasn't aware of all of this.

and then the projects of his that were well received seem to have this begrudging energy. people liking tick tick boom (which he directed) but heaping the praise on andrew garfield (who deserves it!!) and not any for lin? like wtf i thought y'all love to make him the sole focus of critique.

these are just my impressions based on some heavy online surfing, and i wanted to ask your opinion!

i actually agree with everything you said here, anon.

let's start with in the heights (2021). i don't know if you're one of my mutuals, but if you are, you probably know already that i am not afraid of criticizing the movie. maybe not because of the lack of representation (i am a white woman so i feel like it's not my place to say anything about this but i totally understand why others can feel excluded), i have other issues with it tho. but, as far as i can tell, lin was not responsible for the casting & yet he was the one who apologized. so they basically said they were talking about casting afro-latinos but they ended up with actors who were just perfect for the roles in their opinion (also, leslie grace, the actress who plays nina, is, in fact, afro-latina). & yes, they were trying to get rid of piragua guy, mostly because they couldn't find anyone who could play him & they asked lin if he could do it (he wasn't supposed to be in the movie AT ALL & he only agreed cause he wanted to save piragua guy). so yes, they put all the blame on lin but those were not exactly his choices. also, speaking of lack of representation, did we already forget about what he did for people of color on broadway? cause i saw so many people calling him racist & it's just... are you sure we are talking about the same guy?

about the scuttlebutt, i have so many things to say. well, first of all, lin was only responsible for like, three songs in the little mermaid? wild uncharted waters & for the first time? damn, those songs are really good & i know most people agree. but there's also the scuttlebutt. so the hate comes mostly from people who hate awkwafina & her voice in general, they find it annoying. well, guess what: this song was supposed to be annoying. maybe it's hard to say when you just listen to it without any context, but damn, just watch the movie & then it makes a lot of sense. second of all: the main audience? kids. & as far as i can tell, the kids absolutely loved it. not every song has to be a masterpiece, some songs are JUST FOR FUN, let's not forget about that. i know a lot of people also complain because it's rap, well guess what, this is lmm we are talking about so what did you expect? it's just his thing, it doesn't have to be everyone's cup of tea, but damn, it's not gonna change just because some people don't like it, deal with it.

speaking of tick tick boom, i absolutely loved the movie & i agree, andrew garfield was incredible, but yes, i haven't seen anyone talking about lin, like??? he literally directed it. i saw one comment on polish website tho that goes like "lin manuel miranda, keep this name in mind cause he's gonna be huge one day" & i was like oh boy, i have news for you... (i'm sorry i hate my country so fucking much).

i'm not even gonna say anything about disney's wish because there's no point. he had nothing to do with it, absolutely nothing, & people still blame him... this is just ridiculous. come on.

i saw a twitter thread some time ago where someone was trying to prove that lin is a bad person in general & honestly, spending so much time online just to prove that someone is problematic is insane to me. go touch some fucking grass instead of being a hater.

honestly, i wish i knew why people hate him so much, yes, i know he is not perfect & he made some mistakes in the past (he even apologized for some of them) but there are so many celebrities who are much more problematic & yet they will hate on lin & try to paint him as evil. i will never understand this.

[blubushie]

Honestly it would be really hilarious to hear the crocodile story

also hi!!!! haven’t been able to catch up with you for a while so it’s nice to be in your askbox again!

You have chosen the [EGOTISTICAL BUSHMAN] route!

(Also hello!!)

A TALE OF BULLDOGS

In Sept of 2021, I did a couple-weeks-long job where I helped my brother and some biologists survey crocodile populations in Kakadu.

(This was how I ended up bitten by a crocodile. Twice. But that's a different story for a different time...)

On this day, there was eight of us. Me, my brother Jacko, a biologist chick I can't remember the name of who we'll call Offsider, and five other people--one chick and four blokes. Everyone that wasn't me and Jacko were biologists surveying crocodiles.

So we're on the boat, Jacko and I are shooting the breeze, the scientists are mostly ignoring him and paying attention to me. If they want to ask something it's directed to me. It seems they didn't think he spoke English or something, or maybe they didn't wanna pester him with whitefella questions, or maybe they were just racist or something. No clue, doesn't really matter to either of us.

I'm chatting with my brother about our plans for dinnie that night once we ditch these folks back in town. Jacko's got his hand on the tiller as he guides us down the East Alligator. I'm sitting at the bow of the tinny, pointing out birds and shouting back convo to my brother over the annoyed biologists.

I'm pointing out birds on the banks or in the trees, Jacko's cracking some joke back to me and that's when I spot him--a 5m/16ft croc lying on the bank.

It's time for some fun.

I shout back to my brother to stall the boat. He shut off the engine and guides the tinny over to the bank a little upstream of the croc. We all hop out, biologists get their equipment, I get my rope, and we break for the croc. Typically crocs will rush to water when disturbed, but this is a big bastard. He's not afraid of anything. He's the most dangerous fucking thing out here, what's he got to fear?

Nothing, that's what.

He turns toward us. He's watching us. Scientists look at me and Jacko. Who's going? Jacko looks at me, I look at him, we share this look. Fine, fine, ok. Send the short white bloke.

I coil my rope and head for the croc. I can feel this cunt watching me with every step. He's turning his head to follow me. I start hoping he just rushes for water and we lose him. But no. It's a standoff. I pull my balluk, stuff it in my mouth for luck, and hope for the best. Rope uncoils. I test the noose. It slides easy. Alright, fingers crossed. Wish me luck. If I die, spread my ashes at Gungkurdul.

I try to get to into his blind spot. He opens his mouth and waits. Come and try me, kid. Just what I need. I swing my catching rope and chuck it. It hits the end of his mouth and he snaps. Oh, that sound. Right on the loop. He's got a grip now and he's not letting go. I tug back--not that I'm gonna do much against a 700kg animal.

He rolls. I get rope burn on my wrists around my gloves. But hell, let him roll. He's wrapping himself up for me.

Rope gets shorter, and I get closer with it. When it's wrapped almost all the way around the snout, I rush him. Every person with us--minus Offsider, because she's bloody useless in this regard--jumps the croc.

I'm sat on the croc's head and shoving his jaw down into the mud to keep him still. My brother slides on behind me. Everyone else files in behind him. We've got this bastard covered from head to about 2m of his tail. He hasn't got enough free to hit us with it, but god is he trying.

Crocs are easy to deal with once they're restrained. Reptiles are easy to deal with once they're restrained. Cover their eyes and it's lights out. Birds are much the same way (unsurprising--birds are reptiles, after all). Crocodile jaws are also very weak. They can shut with incredible force, but their muscles for opening their jaws are so small that you can hold their jaws shut with one hand--provided you can get a good grip.

He's huffing and puffing and I'm slapping his mute button and he's still thrashing so I cover his eyes with my forearm while holding his jaws shut with my other hand. Finally he goes still.

We're all catching our breath.

I wedge the catching rope out of the croc's mouth and ask someone to get the duct tape from the tinny. Who else but Offsider comes to me to offer it. I tell her to stand back, because I'm a little crazy, so she stands right in front of me--right in the croc's blind spot. I slide back just a little and start tipping the croc's head up. His head from base of skull to the snout is the length of my entire torso, so this requires some stretching on my part.

But finally I get his head up, lean forward, and tuck the very end of his snout under my chin. I lean back and the croc tilts his head back with me.

And for a second there, I get cocky.

I throw my arms out at my sides and grin up at Offsider. 5'2" bloke holding a 5m croc in place with nothing but his jaw and chest. Apex predator, I am. Look mum, no hands.

I take the duct tape and wrap the croc's jaws with it. I let his head drop and cover his eyes with cloth and tape it down. We all file off of him and he doesn't move. We start taking measurements, they draw blood and get a biopsy, the senior biologist with us gives him a clean bill of health except for an infected snaggletooth on the left side of his face. The root's rotted, the biologist ends up pulling the tooth to speed up the replacement with a new one. He asks if I want the tooth. I ask if he'll give me a certificate to show it's ethically sourced. He says no and asks if I want the tooth anyway. Of course I say yes.

That's the tooth I wear around my neck now.

Eventually we cut the croc free and if you thought me narrowly avoiding being bitten by a brown and doing a gay little manoeuvre was funny, you haven't seen me shoot off a croc's head like a fucking gazelle after the tape comes off.

Anyway! Croc was released, we all made our escape back to the tinny, and I had my necklace made a few weeks later. That's the story. Blu, the bloke what once bulldogged a 5m saltie to impress a girl he didn't even like.

[yagamisdiary]

I have a love hate relationship with the fact that you enjoy making us suffer throughout the entirety of your books and making us think they will have a bad ending just to give us the best possible endings ever 🥲 ugh i love you so much youre my favorite author ever, while im here i apologize for the incoming paragraphs but i just need to say it:

1. Idk how you do it but the book covers you choose are always so perfect like?? Idk if im explaining myself but i feel like they capture the vibes of the books perfectly

2. Ok now this is kinda personal and i dont mean to sound like im venting, but have you ever read a fic that impacted you so much to the point where you find yourself still thinking about it to this day 😭 bc that's how i feel about both of ur books, they're so beautifully written and i'm always thinking about the characters or going back to read random parts of the books (edit: i had this paragraph written way before parasite was removed okay but i started rereading eldia yesterday because im truly heartbroken, devastated, downcast, miserable, dejected and inconsolable by the fact that its finished)

I discovered you in july-ish 2021 during parasite era but didnt actually read it until june 2022, i was devastated when i finished it but also had to cleanse my soul cause i accidentally burnt my self out during the last few chapters (i mean it in a good way lol, it was rlly hard to read the last 2 chapters 🙇‍♀️ they were written really well and i felt unsettled while reading the beginning of y/ns whole breakdown, i could feel the gloomy depressed vibe it had if you get what i mean), so anyway i moved on to Eldia. At that time, it was fairly new so there were only like 10 or 11 chapters, ive been keeping up with Eldia ever since and its truly bittersweet to see it end like i was literally full on sobbing for no reason 🥲 probably the sentiment of being a reader for 2 years idk lol. Anyway what im trying to say is that your books were one of the only things that helped me escape reality in 2022, i didnt really find joy in anything and hated my life, however ive definitely improved ever since, so im honestly rlly thankful for you Amara 💕

Edit: i just know it sounds stupid and youre probably tired of hearing the same thing over and over, but i've had this written out for like 5 months and was kinda scared to send it because i felt like it was corny, but with Eldia's resolution i felt encouraged seeing all these people tell you what they think :P so sorry for the long ass paragraph lmao, i just needed to say it because i know in 10 years ill be a grown ass woman and still thinking about these books, theyre attached to my brain forever (like a parasite, ironic)

Ok so i doubt ppl will read this (or that you'll even read all of it) so if you reached the end i must say that you actually ate with the baby names in Eldia 🤭 im saying it here to avoid accidentally spoiling anyone but Andromeda 😪 i remember in early july i sent you an anon ask saying that i pictured you as a girl mom and even listed a few names, i was gonna list Andromeda so its kinda funny to me 😭 and Elrose?? Andromeda is my fav name but Elrose grew on me and i actually rlly like it, idk why it just sounds and looks so satisfying OMG DAMN I JUST SCROLLED UP AND DID I REALLY WRITE ALL OF THAT?? IM SO SORRY AMARA 😭😭 i definitely had way more to say but i feel bad now, it was gonna be an anonymous ask but atp i'll just let it be public

to conclude i must say that whenever someone asks me what my favorite books are, i hate that im not able to say "Oh my favorite books are parasite and eldia" because they're considered fanfics and not 'real books', i think thats really stupid, not only because fanfiction is just as valid as what ppl consider 'real books' but because there are so many fanfictions turned into real books or movies?? Ok im done (for now) but as you can tell im not really good at going straight to the point sorry for writing about 10 paragraphs love you queen vivan las escritoras latinas 🤞

1. honestly i find a pic that fits the vibe i want the book to give before i even write the story then i just somehow find a way to incorporate the cover

ex) eldia’s cover is jean with wine all over him, iykyk there’s an exact scene in eldia that references the cover

2. thank u so much 🥲 the ppl who have stuck around the longest always say the most sweet stuff bc yall really have been alongside me for so many years now and were like growing together which is kinda cool

3. i wanted a name that had ambrose and elijah both in it and it was either elrose or embrose but i ended up liking elrose more, embrose was too similar to ambrose

4. i don’t mind the length of the message at all! i love love love reading all the stuff i receive and the ones that are the longest stick with me the most. 🫶🏼

[milkovichrules]

its tag game wednesday thursday!! thank you for tagging me lovely people ☺️ @iansw0rld @transmickey 🖤

if you could switch bodies with anybody for only one hour who would it be and what would you do? im a shortarse so someone big and tall would be fun... maybe a wrestler... probably baron corbin hes hot

what's your most trivial / dumbest hot take? mmm... maybe that every person should watch at least one animated thing (smth not made for kids like where the wind blows or arcane) and one thing from a non-english speaking country/with subtitles

if you had to teach a college course what would it be in? probably makeup artistry? its my one and only practical skill and I would've been a licensed artist if our teacher hadn't quit her job halfway through lmao

season 12 of shameless is suddenly happening and you've been out in charge! what plot point(s) are you gonna make happen? its the mickey and debbie show now and there will be various wholesome shenanigans but fr get carl outta the police force, maybe into college and that can be a nice bonding thing for him and liam studying together. oh and they definitely keep the house, maybe lip and deb get on good terms by fixing up the place together. debbie maybe runs into alex again and they give it another go? ian and mickey have wacky comic relief with their neighbours (the possibilities are endless) and probably think more seriously about starting a family and definitely get a cat or dog I just want to bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy

who would be your godly parent (can be any mythology)? I took a percy jackson quiz for this one and got Hephaestus, Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes, which sounds cool as shit (roman equivalent is Vulcan too?? hell yeah)

what's something you love about yourself? my eyes are really cool I think, they're mostly green but also have some blue and brown

describe your day in 5 emojis: 🥱👩‍💻☕️🎧📑

what shameless character do you think you could beat in a fight? mmmm either no one or the tiny social worker lady from season 3 lmao

tell us two truths and a lie, we'll try to guess the lie! I'm farsighted, I can speak a bit of norwegian, I love roller coasters

do you have a pet/pets? if so, how did they get their name(s)? I have two cats, artemis and athena, they're sisters from the same litter. my fiancé named them because she loves mythology (I'll put some kitten pics under the cut💕) alternate names were william the bloody and willow (if we got a boy and a girl, from buffy), april and miriam (from coraline), and teacup and lucifer (from the cat lady/downfall)

show us a meme (or picture) that captures your essence: middle one is irl only I love to be Perceived Online

what's your typical coffee / tea / beverage order? oat milk latte, iced if it's warm out

use a song to describe the last five years of your life: I really don't associate the stuff I listen to with my own life so these are just things I was really into that year:

2019: butterfly - loona 2020: lady wood - tove lo 2021: too late - the weeknd 2022: stayaway - muna 2023: hard times - ethel cain / death of me - pvris

Tagging: @softmick @golden28s @m4ndysk4nkovich @abetterdaaye @heymrspatel @stocious @callivich @jrooc @sgtmickeyslaughter @gallavichlover19 @depressedstressedlemonzest 🖤

kitten pics as promised (artemis/arti is the black and white one, athena/aggie is the tortie)

[samwise1548]

:o i am Looking (pun absolutely intentional)

THERES SO MANY COOL DETAILS IN THE BACKGROUND

YESS!!! Thank you Tumblr people for letting me rant about my own art for a bit.

I have to go to the city today which is about an hours away. Let's hope I can get through everything I wanna say before then :)) Already gonna say, this'll be a long post so I'll put it all under a cut.

For context, this is the piece I'll be talking about. It's a redraw of an older piece I did for The Magnus Archives podcast.

Ok so, where to start... I suppose just with setting up all the details in the background? That took ages!! Imagine having to cram 14 fears into one small box, where only 2/3rds of it are visible? I excluded the Extinction for my own benefit, and the Eye and Web were covered by the giant eye at the top and the webbing at the bottom of the piece. So only 12 fears, but still that was a real struggle haha. I'm glad I was able to do it tho. Here's some of the drafts I did:

[ID: Six similar rough drawings of Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood embracing as the cry while a giant eye looms above them. The artwork is rough as they are simply to lay out the design of the piece. A blue watermark of the artists signature is slightly visible above the pieces. \End ID]

I knew I wanted the Vast to be on top, because, well obviously. It's the Vast! And likewise, for the Buried to be on the bottom. But everything else was kinda mixed in wherever I had space. My favorite mini domain is the Strangers carousel!! I'm also particularly proud of the Slaughters war trenches below it.

Moving on, I wanna talk about the coloring now!! BOY HOWDY, DID THAT GIVE ME STRESS!!! For reference, here's some of the variations I made while trying to find the perfect colors:

[ID: sixteen variations of the same drawing, now with finished lineart. Each variation is colored differently than the next. The artists signature is watermarked over the drawings . \End ID]

GOING IN ORDER!!! first one is obviously not colored. That's just the lineart with a random color as the bg. Second and third ones I discredited cuz it didn't fit tma vibes. The fifth one is one I kinda still do like. The only problem with that one was that Jon and Martin were a bit too dark for my liking. The gold frames one next to that is one of my favorite ones. I color picked from the Mona Lisa for that one. I do like the gold frame but again, jmart didn't fit the vibe. The next few are random variations with slightly different color palettes and values.

What I ended up settling for in my final piece is honestly so beautiful in a symbolic way to me. The fear domains inside the frame were done in colors from the original piece from 2021. Kind of like an homage to my past self. Like I'm giving my past self credit for making a good drawing by including actual elements from that directly into this revamped version. I was so happy when I figured that out. It's especially lovely considering that I was struggling so much with coloring this whole thing. But looking back at the old piece made me realize that I just had to go back to my roots. I'm learning from a me that I no longer am and I feel so happy for that!

With that, thank you for letting me ramble about this drawing. It may not have came out perfect like I'd hoped, but I did make something I can be proud of while still honoring the original. And I'm happy with it :)

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals: If I Were A Rich Man/Girl

This video was released on the 24th of July, 2021, and is the first guest feature of the amazingly-talented miss Ashley Diane, as well as Cesar's first video as an actual Voiceplay member! I'm not entirely sure how much I'll actually have to say about this video, but there was no doubt in my mind about me making a post for it, so let's dive right in!

A few things right off the bat:

1. It's cool how the screen "opens up" at the start of the video; I believe Voiceplay did the same thing or something similar with In The Air Tonight iirc (and both videos end with the screen "closing back up" as well)

2. Definitely a bit more of a creative video format for Voiceplay, with the completely-white setting and the cuts between different shots of the vocalists - it's not got choreography or any overly-complex direction (probably), sure, but it's not exactly a "everyone stays standing or sitting in one spot" video either. Shoutout to Layne, who was in charge of this video as well as the arrangement!)

3. Oh my god Geoff is wearing a shirt that isn't just black, white, or blue! 😂 (listen, I make fun of him because I love him, but also you know I kinda sorta have a point!)

(Bonus note: Layne and Tony are credited with costuming in the description, so clearly there was in fact some deliberate thought put into everyone's outfits)

Okay but for real, everybody is styling in this video! (Also one could argue that technically Geoff has the most "simplistic" outfit overall in this video (which wouldn't be for the first time), but I shan't hold it against him)

Also, related to the first image and not the one above, but I'm pretty sure Eli is wearing the same hat he wore in Bang!

Oh yeah and Geoff has a lot of lovely smiles in this video, so, y'know, I'm a fan 😁

(Also peep the bit of grey coming through on one side of his fringe/bangs <3 )

"Please" (SIR-!)

This is a very random thing to care about but whose hand is this? I thought it might be Ashley's, but no, she's got yellow manicured fingernails in this one (very cute btw) (oh and also her top is long-sleeved). It's not Cesar's hand, obviously, and I'm 95% sure it's not Geoff's hand (especially since there's nothing on the wrist. it could be Layne's hand, but does he still have that wrist tattoo on his right hand? So basically, either it's Eli's hand, or one of their behind-the-scenes helpers (Kathy maybe?)

Queen. Love her

(Also shoutout to both Eli and Layne for the lighting design on this one!)

I'm assuming these are all fake dollar bills? (Also how do you do shots like this? It looks very cool. A fan/blower? Someone dropping/throwing them down from above?)

Cesar: *Looking all cool and suave with the dollar bills*

Geoff: Ooooo money! :0 :D (turn your brightness all the way up!)

(I love him)

Go off, Eli! (I like his outfit too!)

Get it, Cesar 💅

🤔

Crazy how lighting colouration can alter the perceived colours of things. Ashley's top doesn't look yellow at all here!

"what?" (girl you know dang well what!)

(I knew this moment would be worth at least a couple of screencaps and it did not disappoint! 😁)

Honestly between Ashley and Geoff in this video, serving Looks (different kinds, though both as powerful), and vocals, well, if I wasn't bi already...

And that's the video! Certainly not a standard Voiceplay video, but frankly does VP even have a "standard" these days? Their music videos can be literally anything, near impossible to predict. Also, this is a killer arrangement from Layne, and one so dang complex that even though I've by and large mastered the lyrics, this is one of the few where I've been trying to memorise the arrangement, but there are bits I forget or can't replicate the right way (not that I can go as high as Ashley can (that freaking riff! girl!) and definitely not as low as Geoff, but y'know). Stay tuned for my next Voiceplay Visuals post! It's probably gonna be a big one!

[xxk3vonicaxx]

This is a Part 1, because this post broke the 30 image limitt, prepare for some long posts aheadd:

TW: Possible ableismm, n*zi and CP mentionss

Soooo Blurry and his fans have done more stuff that you guys probably don't know aboutt, aaand I can't just sit back and take it like I've been doingg, 'cause this has been affecting not just mee, buut multiple people as welll, mmm

Zavrozo's probably gonna have to edit the doc laterr, buut oh welll For starterss, let's talk about the elephant in the room that most of you are probably unaware of existingg:

Blurry and his fans making fun of my typing quirk on Instagramm:

Noww, from what I believee, this is ableist behaviorr (I thinkk?), aaand also it's hypocritical coming from Blurry's partt (notee, the screenshot in the bottom left cornerr)

Likee, if I dare joke about Risk like thiss, it's badd, buut if Blurry and his fans make fun of my typing quirk like thiss, it's okk?

Worse thatt is that I'm a real person, for onee, I have feelings you knoww? >:'<

Aaand apparently Blurry has a history of doing this tooo, sooo that makes it worsee (This was from 2021, buuut stilll, it happenedd):

Aaand when I showed this screenshot to Blurry on the rightt, he acted like he didn't know what Miles was talking aboutt (Contextt: This was when Miles and Blurry were having a fight about Edgar's (A character from FON's) backstory as Miles had apparently changed some stuff without telling Blurry firstt:

I was talking for Blurry during this fightt ('cause back then me and him were still friendss). He had apparently banned Miles from the private FON discord I used to be apart of because he blew up at himm (Blurry was a mod back thenn, now he's the main adminn, this was the same server where Mobox was shown lying about the n*zi art not being hers aand making fun of Crying Blossomm)

(Notee, I was the one who say this sounded fine for Miles to dooo, not Blurryy, he still hadn't apologized even thenn)

At the end of that fightt, we went on a group chat on Insta so it could get settledd, buuut Blurry never really said sorry to Miless (The fifth screenshot happened while Blurry was talking to Miles in this group chatt, the joke thing Blurry was talking about was about Edgar and Baxter being adopted siblingss)

Miles had apologized during that behavior during that fightt, buut Blurry had never apologized for hiss. He had only said that "he had problems reading Miles' tone at timess", buut he never really said anything on how to fix itt, like using tone indication or somethingg, he only really cared on how to fix the character backstoryy, not to at least try to help Miles with thiss. Soo because of thatt, Miles stopped using his typing quirk around Blurryy

"Buuut Kevinn! Why are you bringing up that fightt?" You may askk

Welll, it's 'cause he did the same thing to mee (Tea.sammich is Blurry's altt):

Notee: He asked for his fans to tone it downn, buut he never apologized for his own behaviorr, 'cause he was apart of it tooo!

Aaand alsooo, Blurry is twisting the person's wordss, they never said it was ableistt, they said they could be exaggerating that it was ableistt

Aaand I know this because they confronted him on his behavior about thiss (Notee, the fifth screenshott):

Aaand this was Blurry's responsee:

Blatent lies and ignoring thingss:

Zombify had also confronted Blurry on his behavior with Mobb, aand Blurry lied to them multiple timess, basically ignoring the things Mob didd, particularly with the n*zi artt. Zombify had asked if Blurry had known about itt, aand Blurry ignored the question 3 timess! He had also ignored it with mee, tooo, changing the topic to me posting suggestive art in my server when I've already stated what my audience iss, it was shown in the docc (Not to mention Blurry defending Mob's gore art):

(Proof of Blurry knowing about the n*zi artt):

Aaand here's Blurry ignoring Zombify's questions about it tooo:

(The screenshots of these last two bits of the chat about this topic will be shown in the next part in a reblogg, 'cause I broke the 30 image limit with this postt)

[wellhalesbells]

In the teen wolf fandom, everyone only loves the people who regularly return to post content versus people who joined in the last few years.

As someone who has been here a while, what's your take on this? Do us new bloods really not compare? Should we stop trying? Because that's the vibe I get.

Honestly, I've been half-assed in Teen Wolf fandom for years now so I'm not sure if I'm the right person to ask but I will say as someone who's half-assed in the fandom (but who has been in said fandom for a while), I am definitely guilty of returning to the same people over and over and only glancing at their new stuff.

That has nothing to do with thinking that people who have been around longer inherently understand dynamics or plots better/are better in any way and everything to do with the fact that I stopped watching the show in season four. So I like sticking with authors who either stopped watching around where I did or whose work I'm familiar with as they're unlikely to add in characters I don't know and therefore don't care about. Though I definitely do not want to discourage new folks from joining the fun - because this remains the best fandom I've ever been in!

I will say a HUGE way I found out about those authors in the first place though is rec lists, which are still very much a thing but (from what I've seen, and this could be entirely biased by who I follow) they only seem to have older authors on them.

I think a BIG helping factor would be if we could get the fandom to make rec lists again, and maybe only feature works that were posted since 2021? It's a thought anyway. You know what, I think I'm gonna make a little mini challenge to myself that anyone else is welcome to join in on and I'm going to rec at least five new Teen Wolf fics from 2021 or later by May 31st. Because I, personally, haven't read new stuff in forever and for no other reason than that.... I haven't felt like checking tags for whether or not new characters are included. (I never claimed to not be super lazy.)

What do you think fandom olds? @andavs @mad-madam-m @clotpolesonly @yodas-yo-yo @callunavulgari @i-sveikata ??

Also.... make friends! Find people/authors you like, who post stuff you enjoy, and reach out, ask them if they've read 'x' and liked it or tell them what thing they made/posted that made you want to talk to them, etc. It's hard to feel isolated if you're making connections all over the place, right ;)