#and I'm surprised I haven't seen fanwork about it before

[janglingargot]

Turns out being HOST SYNCHRONIZED with a robot cat has some... amusing side effects.

(Peppermint accidentally figures out the laser pointer thing one day and it's free entertainment in the hideout all afternoon.)

Alternate 808 color scheme under the cut:

(@manekijinx set me off down this mental garden path with their post about Chai catching mice, and now here we are. You're welcome...? 😂)

[hello-eeveev]

Self Rec Tag Game

tagged by @spottedenchants thank you!!!

Rules: Share five of your own fanworks (fic, art, etc.). Then, tag five more people to share the things they've made.

1.something you absolutely adore

On the Nature of Attraction

T, Essek/Caleb, 7.5k

What more can I say about this fic that I haven't already? It's a very vulnerable fic that came from a very vulnerable place. It means a lot to me, and I love that it seems to mean a lot to other people. Sometimes art is sending out a call and receiving the answer: you're not alone. That, and I truly do just like it. I like the story, I like the pacing, I like how I wrote Essek's inner monologue. Unironically, it's a banger.

2. something that was challenging to create

All Things End, All Things Change

T, Essek/Caleb, 2.8k

Fun fact: this is an entirely different fic from what I had intended it to be at the outset. I had been planning an Essek POV romp through Aeor where the main tension was pining that would culminate in hand-holding that's not explicitly romantic but they both kinda know what's going on. Instead I got Caleb POV emotionally devastating choice in Aeor where the main tension is pining for power that you know isn't worth the risk and for a past you can never return to. Does result in hand-holding though, so good for them :) One thing I learned in this fic (and re-learning in the current fic I'm working on) is that Caleb's darker moods are more difficult for me to write than, say, Essek's. And once I get that internal feeling down, it's hard to figure out how much of that should be revealed through dialogue, what exactly should be revealed, and how should it be revealed. It requires some real intentional thought, a lot of brain power and brain space, makes my dopamine-starved adhd brain go noooooo lol That said, I am particularly proud of how I explored why Caleb chose Essek and Essek alone to accompany him to the T-Dock. I think I hit on some tasty stuff there.

3. something that makes you laugh (or smile, if that fits more comfortably)

oh, by the way (also on tumblr with a small coda here)

G, Beau & Caleb, 932

This fic gives me a chuckle every time. It's got all the hits: empire siblings, Caleb playing a silly little prank, Beau's over-the-top reaction to said prank, the "Yasha doesn't get how Sending works" gag. Beau is a fun POV to write. I don't swear much in my day-to-day life and I am not prone to irritation or anger much at all, but those are pretty key to Beau's voice, especially in this little scenario I've crafted for her, so it was fun to play around in her headspace during this low-stakes, overdramatic moment she finds herself in.

4. something that surprised you (in how it turned out, how much other people liked it, etc.)

The Shadowhand Becomes A Baker

G, Essek/Caleb, 2.1k

My first critrole fic! This one surprised me in a couple of ways. Before this fic, I had thought that a beauyasha wedding one-shot I planned shortly after the c2 finale would be the first critrole fic I published, then I thought that I would re-spec a ramble about the relationship between Essek and the Bright Queen and publish that as my first critrole fic, then Ephred the Shadow Baker showed up and my twitter moots convinced me it was Essek in disguise (still holding on to that belief btw) and then I wrote this fic in 2-3 days before anyone else had the same idea. And I was so pleasantly surprised by how kind and eager shadowgast fic readers were! I had seen it ofc, but it's different to be on the receiving end. Before writing critrole fic, I had written some Fire Emblem fics that existed in corners that were far less active than shadowgast in general, much less shadowgast in 2021, so I had not been expecting such an enthusiastic response. It also surprised me that several people complimented my descriptions of the baked goods because at least two of them involved citrus in pastries, which is something I actually hate. I just pretended that someone might like them for the exact reason I hate them and really leaned in to everything I hate about cinnamon rolls that have orange in them. Turns out when you do that, you get some really vivid descriptions. So... writing tip, I guess?

5. something you want other people to see

How to Rest Chapter 1

G, Essek/Caleb, 3.2K

Shadowgast first date! This chapter makes me so soft! Back in my rom-com era! They have a picnic! They stargaze! Caleb flirts! Essek bluescreens! It is one of the joys of my life to make the wizards be awkwardly in love with each other (or, in this case, not quite in love yet, but on their way there), and this date is chock full of it. The hello and goodbye are two of my favorite moments. I really enjoy the imagery and how I conveyed the very blush-y, awkward first-date dynamic. I also love their conversation and Essek's subsequent introspection while they're stargazing. It's sweet and tender and layered, and I got to make a subtle nod to one of my favorite Fire Emblem games and the role that made me fall in love with Matt Mercer in the first place because sometimes two of your favorite ships are about people finding each other against all odds and who knows why their lives are intertwines, but man, are we glad they are.

tagging: @awesomefrogofawesome, @astrasia, @esseekthelyss, @quinn-of-aebradore, @cogsandsprings

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

Actually let me elaborate on this a bit more- There's a big issue in the fandom with infantilizing Gonta, especially in stuff made before 2020. Like, this problem is super well known. But even though I'd say its greatly improved nowadays, the more I've looked through Gonta fan art, the more I've started to notice a weird lack of serious pieces.

Using Kaito as a baseline of comparison, you see a lot of stuff focused on him being dumb, a force of positivity, and brave, but also stuff related to his sickness, his inability to ask others for help, and ch5. There's a good range of work you can find with him. On the other hand, with Gonta, most of the fanworks you can find focused on him are usually centered around how kind and positive he is, sometimes about him being a gentleman, sometimes about his connection to animals/bugs. It is pretty rare to see him in anything focused on ch4. Which is extremely surprising, considering that's his big chapter! With Kokichi as another primary focus! You'd think at least Kokichi's popularity would carry more fan stuff of ch4, but I just haven't seen that much.

A large part of this Is definitely due to him being a minor character who is not as popular as Kaito is, and I understand that that level of focus fandomwide isn't really realistic, and I'm biased by my preferences to the point of maybe not thinking realistically. But I do also think another reason is lingering infantilization of his character. People who understandably don't spend all day thinking about Gonta like I do just don't usually see deeper into his character past his naivete and cheerfulness.

I adore cute/sunshiney gonta art, I really really do, I make it all the time myself and will take as much as I can get. but I also wish so strongly that there was more focused on the more serious aspects of his character. Like his desire to be accepted by his birth family and seen as useful to his friends, his canonical *very explicit* self loathing, his bravery and desire to protect everyone even at the cost of his own life, and most of all, everything that happened to him in ch4.

[measlyfurball13]

Fanwork creators self rec! When you get this, reply with your five favorite fics/art/podfics/etc. that you've made, then pass on to others. Let’s spread the self-love 🌼

Well, I'm a fic writer, so prepare for an esoteric assortment of fics in no particular order!

I'll open with my most recent, and the one I consider my best. This is a found family hurt/comfort fic starring Team Dark (comprised of Shadow the hedgehog and his two closest friends Rouge, and Omega, for those unfamiliar with the franchise.) Shadow is immortal, nearly indestructible, and saddled with some truly terrible PTSD around the ones he cares about dying on him, and it was interesting to portray that through a narration style I'd never tried before. This was also the fic where I really fleshed out how I write Omega, who is my all-time favorite character in the Sonic franchise. He's the most delightful blend of blunt and violent but also more caring than he lets on.

This one also deals with the unusually serious subject matter of post-mortem care. I remember waffling about posting this fic for weeks, worried that people would think a Sonic fanfic with such a down-to-earth subject matter would be scoffed at. Surprise! I was wrong. Once I posted it, this fic got a ton of positive attention, which I was grateful for.

Next up is a truly strange pick- it's a League of Legends fanfic, yet it's not about Veigar, the character I hyperfixated hard on for a solid year. I like the fics I've written with Veigar, don't get me wrong, but I like this one better. It stars Kassadin, a lone desert warrior who lost his family to the darkness he's trying to find the heart of, and Kai'sa, a woman who was consumed by said darkness but managed to wrestle back control of her body.

I really got to develop a unique character narration for the lead, Kassadin. It's a particularly strong, mature, and unique character voice, one that I enjoyed writing a lot and am quite proud of. I also leveraged some fantastic dramatic irony- anyone familiar with League lore knows that the monster he encounters is actually his long-lost daughter, Kai'sa. Yet his attitude towards that fact continually fluctuates, before ending on a negative-leaning note, something that was very challenging for me to do! (I'm a chronic therapy-speak writer, something I'm constantly working to avoid.)

I think it's underrated. League isn't a big fandom anyway, and I posted this onto an otherwise Veigar-focused blog. Perhaps I should post it on AO3.

I just had to mention one of my famous Sigma Overwatch fanfics on this list. I wrote a shitload of fic for this character, and almost all of it blew the fuck up back in 2019. I was the first person to post fic for Sigma once he came out on this website! (Not this fic in particular, mind you, but I thought that fact was worth a mention.)

Of my absolute deluge of Sigma fic, this is probably my favorite. The rest are good, but are a little simple. This one, though, has the thematic thread of "control" woven throughout it that I'm quite proud of. I also feel that this is the fic in which I captured the morally grey character of Moira the best- her emotions towards Sigma are complicated, but ultimately, she is his superior and the one responsible for a portion of his mistreatment here at Talon. This fic is essentially about her coming to that realization, and I think that's a powerful moment. It's a character dynamic I haven't seen anywhere else in media/fic. I'm proud that I wrote it.

Okay this next one is weird. By all odds, it should be my least favorite work, right? I'm not a romance writer. Doomfist is far from my favorite character. Hell, I'm not attracted to men, yet this fic continues to linger in my conscience as one that I'm immensely fond of.

I wrote it for and to evoke the writing style of the lovely amazing @ow-old-men. Gabe (op of that blog) has such fucking amazing imagery in his fics, and my imitation of that resulted in some of my favorite imagery and vibes I've ever written. I also think it's some rather strong character work- it's a moment where a confident, practically invincible socialite allows the mask to slip for just a second with a stranger.

Particularly, it's that singular moment that the entire fic was based around, the one that I suggested to Gabe in the first place. The idea that one of the proudest and most powerful men in the world would kneel for you without question so that you could kiss his forehead. Idk man, I still remain in love with the vibes of this one, even though it's so far outside the confines of my usual writing.

And finally, to finish this list off, I just have to plug my longest posted fic to date. This is my incredibly niche crossover of two obscure sci-fi shows that have my whole heart. It was also my first true practice at writing a long-form character arc, to which I think I succeeded.

Kitt, the AI from Knight Rider, wakes up far in the future and realizes that his closest companion is likely long gone. Over the course of this fic, he goes from wanting to deactivate to learning to open back up and allow a new person into his life. There's also some good ol' buddy-cop shenanigans between him and Garibaldi, the security officer aboard the space station that Kitt wakes up on, including a particularly fun scene where Kitt helps him cheat at cards.

This fic is showing its age just a tad with some of the writing and characterization of the Babylon 5 characters, but I'm still immensely, immensely fond and proud of it. Writing this fic taught me a lot that I'm applying to my current projects now. I wouldn't be where I am now without this one.

[yazzydream]

Yuta/Ishigori has to be a thing, but I've surprisingly never seen any fanwork for it.

is ishigori just not very popular? I can see that since the first time I read through the Culling Game arc I was mostly indifferent to the new characters. But upon rereading it, he's one of the ones I actually quite like.

Higuruma is my #1 of course. Loved him the moment we met him.

Kashimo is shockingly popular imo. And Hakari did place right under him in the last jp popularity poll... 18th and 19th respectively. So, I guess their fight was really well received... Actually, among the new characters, they placed the highest. (I mean, I know we knew of Hakari before, but I'm counting him as "new" since we only met him once the Culling Game began.)

Higuruma placed 20th btw.

Takaba is 31st.

Ishigori at a whopping 40th place.

Hana is 42nd.

Rokujushi Miyo at 43rd, then Kirara at 44th. Only 1 vote difference between them. Miyo is the sumo guy. I had to look him up because I didn't remember his name.

Allll the way at 57th we got Hagane Daido (the katana guy) and Uro with 13 votes each.

Reggie Star, Gorilla, and Kogane at 62nd place with 10 votes each... Reggie... I mean, sure I didn't like him, but he's not a bad character. His line about jujutsushi being con artists is one that's constantly brought up in the fandom, and one I personally think about too. The fact that he shares a place with Panda's imaginary brother who only showed up in one chapter and Kogane, the Culling Game's UI, is pretty sad. Lol. Not that Kogane isn't kind of cute, but...

Kurourushi (the cockroach curse *shudder*) is 66th with 9 votes.

ANGEL is somehow lower than that at 69th with 7 votes. (I don't understand jp fandom sometimes. HOW was the ROACH higher than Angel?)

Charles Bernard and Iori Hazenoki at 74th with 6 votes each. Kinda surprised about Hazenoki, tbh. Thought he had the kind of pretty boyish design that'd make him popular. Maybe his cursed technique is too offputting?

Remi at 78th. Deserved, but still a little surprising. She's cute looking.

YOROZU IS 84TH!!!! That's absolutely wild. I guess JJK fans like batshit women a lot less than in other fandoms??? I don't know! She just seems like the type of character that would be a lot more popular than is reflected in the popularity poll. Maybe it's because Megumi is consistently #1 in popularity? So people who like Megumi dislike Yorozu???

Or maybe it has to do with the timing of the poll... Let's see... The voting period ran from March 3rd to March 20th. Yorozu showed on January 28th and her last appearance before voting ended was in chapter 217 when her fight with Sukuna began, March 19th...

Honestly, that's probably where her last-minute votes even came from. So, yea, if given enough time to cook, I have to believe she'd be higher ranked. I mean, I don't even like Yorozu that much! But she feels totally misplaced!

A lot of the newer characters haven't reached the popularity of the older ones huh. Like, I think Ino (27th), Yaga (39th), Riko (47th) are fine, but I would've expected their places to lower more to make room for the newer characters. Then we've got, freaking Jinichi Zen'in at 46th. Or White Jade Dog at 49th! YUJI'S MOVIE TRAINING TEDDY IS AT 51ST!!!

Anyway, some of these new characters are super underappreciated. lol.

You can see the full popularity polls results here btw:

[awisetoad]

warning: 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ muy caliente, 5 million scoville post, be warned all ye who enter here 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️

this thread, tho. second one I've seen recently about moodboards, (even if it is old). and holy bazooka batman—

this is one of the strangest threads I've ever seen. truly wild. like, I said it before after I saw the first one of these posts, but where did y'all learn what moodboards are? it's like, tell me you haven't worked in a (visual) creative professional capacity without telling me. honestly.

tho i admit it's really interesting how fan spaces have effectively minted popularity/clout in lieu of any kind of currency with literal monetary value.

(DISCLAIMER: idgaf if I'm not changing anyone's mind, I'm not genuinely trying to join this discussion, I'm just noting my thoughts about this whole topic bc it honestly seems like the strangest take IMO; please feel welcome to ignore or disagree, I really do not care)

like the entire thing protecting fan spaces from litigation at all is the fact that it can't really be for profit (like real, big profit).

(isn't that the point of OTW? to protect poeple's right to make fanworks but that hinges on fan works not making real money at all, yeah?)

when fan artists make $$ of their work, they can absolutely still be taken to court by the owner of the original IP if they so choose (whether or not fan artists have a chance of winning that lawsuit using "transformative" and "fair use" arguments is another story, and not the point I'm making).

so truly, the fan spaces only exist by the grace of two groups:

groups protecting the rights of fan artists who create for 0 compensation and

IP owners who know even if a fan artist makes some money, the monetary damages aren't worth suing over, and who understand that one of the reasons it isn't worth suing over is because it's all basically free marketing for them & their brand, and the monetary value of this free marketing and brand loyalty far outweighs what they would recoup in damages.

(tl;dr, it's good business not to sue fan creators, usually, because what they gain is far more valuable)

so this post is just an interesting case study of how, in fan spaces, given the lack of actual monetary damages to sue over (and where there is no "good business" argument to make), we choose to perceive the value of social currency as if it equates to monetary value.

that is, social clout for its own sake holds enough "actual" value within our circles that we should be "afraid" of the social backlash that comes from creating unwelcome derivatives, or derivative-of-derivative fan works (or, in this specific case: curating inspiration for fan works?)

unless we create in a "legit" way— as in, a way that's acceptable by way of a collection of made-up, undocumented group-norms that we ourselves determine— we risk becoming a social pariah and excommunicated from fan spaces. (isn't that wild?)

if we take the moodboard in its regular definition— as a visual artifact created from various sources for inspirational/creative distillation purposes in service of creating something else— then almost literally everyone in a professional creative role (especially jobs like art director) is "stealing" or has "stolen" at some point in their career jsyk

not a single one of them has asked permission. really.

I can't literally guarantee it but I'd say probably in like 98.9% of cases, creative professionals do not ask permission to use anothers' work as inspiration/on their moodboard. (the idea of that is so unhinged it's laughable)

the only difference is they're not usually being public about their inspiration/moodboards or where their inspiration comes from, and in agency/commercial/professional settings it's not surprising to see "INTERNAL USE ONLY" stamped on those kinds of strategy docs. the exception is during the press tour when artists are asked in an interview about what inspired them and they can usually point to several specific works or name several artists directly— aka offering credit, which per above is "not enough".

but here, in fan spaces, the "rules" of the conventional professional creative process often don't apply. fan audiences are often encouraging, collaboratively making, and offering real-time feedback to fan creators; and, we're doing so on public platforms in public online spaces with (usually) 0 expectation of monetary compensation in any way. We're often deeply engaged with each others' process in a way that the commerical-to-consumer audience process is usually not. so, in these cases, should "INTERNAL USE ONLY" still apply?

(example: head canons spread to become so ubiquitous they've been absorbed into popular "fan lore" about an IP, such as the braiding/beads thing with dwarves in the hobbit. to the point where there's so many takes on this that giving credit isn't even wholly necessary. explain to me how that's different than a moodboard in its use as creative inspiration. I'll wait.)

what incentive is there to keep that stuff "private" when so much of fan spaces is public, collaborative excitement? and why on earth are we holding ourselves to a stricter standard than those who do the same to make real, actual profit?

(it really reminds me of the smooth-brain argument about using reference image to draw lol and how that's not "real art". not exactly the same, but these issues are definitely cousins a few times removed. like, these two issues could get married and they'd be accused of consanguinity, lmfao)

y'all might think I'm missing the point of "aesthetic moodboard" posts because they're "different" somehow, but I promise I'm not. two big reasons: 1) it does not equate to the same kind of influencer account as you might find on instagram or TikTok 2) IMO, what are aesthetic moodboard posts other than shared and effectively outsourced curated inspiration? (again, see widespread head canons and also fic prompts and imagines as non visual examples, but it's the same fucking thing)

The reasons it's different than what you see with influencers on TikTok is because usually here on Tumblr we're not actually aiming for landing sponsor deals which bring us income. On influencer-centered platforms, the size of the following and other stats about reach & impressions are grounds to negotiate better compensation for sponsored posts, and all posts associated with an account are created with the goal of usually growth or sales, and both ultimately directly impact compensation (in the form of cash or gifts). what I'm arguing is that none of that really applies here in ao3/tumblr's fan spaces bc in theory nothing is sponsored at all, even if posts are made to expand reach, the other half of the equation ($$$) isn't there.

and truly, I'm not arguing that these kinds of posts should be devoid of credits. obviously, including credit/sources is the courteous and right thing to do, but I have never once assumed that the poster of the moodboard made the images used in it, even if there are no credits, is the point.

bc mood boards are generally not made with your own images, lol. like, inherently. purely by nature of the thing (see above: a visual artifact created for inspirational purposes, etc etc). so, I don't think outright "theft" is exactly right; they may have curated the images, but they didn't create the images and I don't think anyone is confused by that.

(which is literally one of the arguments in copyright/trademark: public confusion about shit)

I think it's a bit ridiculous to think that you should only be finding and curating inspiration from the public domain. that's not how inspiration works, first of all. (and y'all aren't ready for how inspiration DOES work bc if this topic gets you hot you will boil about the AI part of that ted talk) and I think aesthetic accounts do a lot in service of other fan creators, by distilling creative direction to serve as a jumping off point. for the third time, non visual examples of this are literally imagines and widespread head canons, but I think the outrage about those is far less than with moodboards. and I'll even go a step further and make the controversial statement that moodboards could be considered derivative-of-derivative fan content, even when cropped and/or lightly edited.

(and I'll really go here and broach the philosophical topic: why should someone ask permission to make transformative works based off your edit/cosplay of sam & dean, when y'all didn't ask kripke, et al? is that not technically a double standard? again, not arguing that you SHOULDN'T ask permission, or arguing that you SHOULDN'T give credit. but, I'm posing the question of what is the difference, especially in spaces with no monetary gains? and I'll follow up by asking: should we be more cautious because social currency is all there is to gain, or should we be more lenient because we're all just supposed to be having harmless fun here?)

It's not really like the cake analogy. If anything, it's more like snapping a pic of the cake in the bakery shop window and using it, along with several other pictures of cakes you pulled off the internet, to maybe attempt to DIY a similar cake for yourself, or to send to your baker to explain what you want, or even to send to your friends' group chat or frame and hang on your wall bc you simply like the vibes.

(y'all be acting like these folks are claiming they are the dp of outlander or some shit, the way you believe they are "taking credit" for that fucking still of Jamie & Claire on the damn horse. and that's just laughable)

at the end of the day, you need to understand: you no longer have complete control over anything that gets posted publicly. online or offline. regardless of whether you actually see how it gets spread and used or not. once it's out in the world, it's free of your control.

(just like how artists can't control how others' interpret their works, ultimately. people will hold their own opinions regardless & often aggressively in spite of artistic intent.)

and then you need to ask yourself: is the inclusion of this work/fanwork in this not-for-profit inspirational moodboard actually causing harm to the artist/fanartist, and if they are, in what way? is it damaging to their brand? is it causing the artist to miss out on sales or opportunities? can they legally win statutory damages, and is going after all that going to be monetarily viable? is it worth it? and if it's not, should you care? especially if the moodboard isn't making money, maybe it's better and healthier to just… chill, maybe?

I honestly suspect that screeching and heated and generally overly-strict vehemence about these kinds of topics is alienating to people who may not pick up on social cues well (for example, some neurodivergent folks) as it ultimately ends up making the space feel unwelcome and unfriendly out of fear & anxiety of making a social faux-pas, so it's better to not engage at all for fear of social ostracization which is absolutely the nightmare timeline for a lot of people who may not socialize well in general, and may turn to these spaces as one of their few sources of community/inclusion.

I personally would rather have a relaxed, welcoming fun space to enjoy than another one I have to worry about getting yelled at in, lol

tl;dr: offering credit is plenty good enough and way more than what creative professionals actually do daily, what the fuck are y'all talking about

…fascinating subject and I also kind of hate it a little :)

(DISCLAIMER AGAIN: feel free to disagree, I MIGHT respond to a real discussion/counterpoint but don't bother trying to pull me into some kind of fight because you will not succeed. it's literally not worth my time & I guarantee you have not met someone who gives less fucks than I)

[soul-dwelling]

Yeah those questions that soul eater left open are interesting, but are there any specific fanworks that explore them in depth? I may have seen a few about Makas mother but not about the other things. But maybe thats just my own ignorance.

I'm not sure how much "in depth" some examples are I can offer, and I admit that I haven't done well at keeping up a list of fan works that I think have done really good exploring questions left open.

I freely admit that anything I recommend would suit my tastes more than it would some other fans: no two people probably will enjoy 100 percent of all content. But I think Soul Eater was most fun when it could be wacky and silly while having the relationships mean something to the characters, and characters who are developed with personalities and not bland. (Jeez, did Iris at the end of Fire Force seem bland, and did Harvar and Jackie seem so lacking in personality, whereas at least NOT made Jackie a more realized character.)

Let's go through the list I posted before:

Wes and Soul's family: In some cases, it's just nice to be able to say, "Oh, Wes is in this story--finally, let's see some Evans brothers interactions!" My friend @elliotthezubat and I write a bit of Wes in some content, and at least to me, I like to imagine, for how serious he comes across in Soul's flashback, there is something a little bit airheaded to him that helps make Soul come across, not as the more responsible brother, but definitely more grounded, as he has faced life and death situations, while Wes has been an accomplished musician largely removed from that sort of world. Wes comes into the supernatural stuff Soul deals with fascinated, with curiosity, and with a ton of good humor, whereas Soul has been glomped on by a magic cat so many times and almost died from Black Blood that he just doesn't see the same wonderment.

Maka's mother: When it comes to Maka's mother, I have thoroughly enjoyed @kamiscythemeister's approach. It does delve into some crossovers with other manga/anime and some ancient lore, but the ancient lore definitely enriches a lot about who Maka's mother is until she is her own unique character while still tying back, in a surprising way, to the history of another Soul Eater character.

The Death Scythes: I am guilty of not reading enough content that develops these characters. Tezca at least is fun to write, but he's already such a goofball that there isn't much more you need to do to get more mileage out of him. I have failed to look up good fics featuring Dengu and Jinn.

Arachne creating weapons: Again, I am guilty of not looking up those stories and sticking to my own headcanon of what that must have been like. There was a great post a long time ago (that I can't find now) pointing out how Tsubaki looks like Arachne (I failed to cite that post when I wrote this)--but after how annoying it gets when everyone thinks everyone in Ohkubo's various manga are related to each other, that's likely more a case of the style not changing significantly across his works (aside from the evolution of that art style) rather than Arachne and Tsubaki literally being related.

The many crimes of the Star Clan: Again, I have not looked up enough fics to find a story that really sells this. The anime tries to tell its own version, involving White Star versus Mifune, but that's "canon" rather than fanwork.

Lord Death's influence on international politics, where Death Scythes work, and Anya's home country: Again, I am blanking on other fanwork addressing all of this, aside from stuff elliotthezubat and I have worked on. And that's a lot to get into that is complicated and ends up crossing over with stuff not strictly from Soul Eater...Same goes for the other questions about Ragnarok's previous form, the Mizune Sisters' last form, and the fate of the werewolves.

Witch family structures: There has to be a fanfic about Angela's parents that would answer this...

How do souls and zombies work: I never completed the fic I had in mind for this, but I did have an idea how Sid could be made into a zombie without breaking the rules established up to that point about souls of the dead being retrieved.

[renah]

Hi Rena! I've always wanted to know why you ship BrazPara and how you view their relationship. I'm genuinely curious bc you can't really touch the topic a lot on your askblogs so maybe you can ramble on your personal blog better, I hope you don't mind the question ^^

Oh hello! Thanks for the message! ^_^

I absolutely do not mind rambling about my otps agsdsfdjs

I’ve never seen meta about this ship before, so why not give my hot take:

I think ParBra* has a lot of potential, either as a romantic pair or platonic I do like romantic more srry they are both nations with a long history and a complex relationship; and I guess I am a sucker for slowburn enemies, to friends, to lovers dynamics and there is a lot of potential for it in the ship as well... And personality-wise, I'm also a sucker for laid back/soft spoken person + energetic/fun-loving person falling for each other and complementing one another. Also I think they have a lot of similar interests ( like... love for food, for football, hating cold weather, both having big San Juan/São João celebrations in June... also they’re both procrastinators, do not seen either of them are really good at being on time lol)

I hardly see fanworks that focus on both nations relationship though unless the parbra stuff is very well hidden somewhere I do not know where asfsks, which was a bit surprising, considering both nations are founding members of the Mercosur, Brazil is Paraguay's biggest trading partner, Paraguay hosts the largest brazilian community outside Brazil in South America and, both nations just so happen to share the ITAIPU, one of the most important hydroelectric dams in the world, also a record breaking in the production of clean energy... so if we're talking about aph-related scenarios... I do think the two of them would hang out a lot.

I like to think that their friendship started to develop in the late 60s/ early 70s, around the time the construction of the Itaipu started, a personal headcanon that I have, is that neither of them really wanted this project go on, or to work together, but as aph has shown us in canon before, the nation-tans have to subdue to their governments and to what their bosses want,(and tbh, Itaipu is a complex subject... everything that led to its construction is worth of a book of its own, but lets save that for another day...) both of them saw each other at their worst in the past, they probably haven't had a proper conversation in centuries, and after such a long time, maybe they both start to realize they might have a lot in common... that they didn't knew much about one another, and maybe they do want to know more? more time passes, maybe they start to actually enjoy each other's company? maybe after decades of working together they start to realize their feelings might be a bit more than friendship? Although for romantic feelings, I can't really see anything happening between them at last up until the late 80s or the 90s.

All in all, I think it can work, and you don't need to gloss over their past history to do so ( the only thing I'd ask people is to be mindful, remember, whenever your writing nations, specially for a historical piece, research is everything).

Sadly... I feel like Paraguay is a nation that is underappreciated, it is often overlooked even here in South America, so I believe this lack of interest also reflects in the lack of aph-related fanworks, I don’t think there are much people interested in writing about/for the nation, but I guess somethings can’t be helped.

As a complement, I highly recommend the reading of "Una relación compleja, Paraguay y Brasil, 1889-1954" by Francisco Doratioto, it is a really good analysis of both nations relationship, how it developed and all its historical context, and it helped me figuring out  better placements for some of my own headcanons... it is sadly its available only in portuguese and spanish, sorry people who aren't fluent in these languages :( )

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*[ note on the name... ParBra... BraPar... ParaBra... BraPara... Parazil... there isn’t a right or wrong way to refer to them... it doesn't really has an "official name"... I tend to use ParBra because... it needed a name and this was the first thing I thought of agsdsfsgks...]

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TLDR VERSION:

I think ParBra has a lot of potential; they are both nations with a long and complex relationship; I think they would complement each other personality-wise and they have many interests in common, but brasiguayan relations doesn’t get much attention, mostly because Paraguay is a  criminally underrated country that not many people know/or are interested in writing about.

ALSO:

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

And  for now... this is it.

There are a lot more things I like about them, but I think I’ve talked enough already and this got longer than it should be...

Again, thank you for the question, hope you have a great week! ^_^