#and continue to put pretty pictures on my OC aesthetic blogs. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

full-course-identity · 5 years

Note

Give me your thoughts on uuuh Jake

wew boy

okay. gonna word dump this, and probably other interpretation asks, so I can get the words out there.

from my POV, there’s 3 types of canon Jake + 1 fanon vers + my personal interpretation. lemme explain what they are;

Book Jake, who I don’t have enough experience with bc I STILL haven’t finished the book… >_>;

2River Jake, who is kinda oblivious and very in-the-moment impulsive (not so bad he’s jumping place to place ADHD like Rich, but like, not considering that maybe dropping everything to seduce Madeline or Christine is a bad idea when he clearly really likes Chloe). these are debatably survival mechanisms bc of his family (and wealth, if you want to go into the “being rich actually traumatizes you and locks you into dissociation” theory–but to be fair, this is partially reliant on thinking Jake is Genuinely Rich. … well, not Rich as in… yeah); ignoring any pain he feels in favor of getting dicked down and forgetting about everything for a while. very “I’m not sad, I’m busy!!!!!”

Bway (possibly the new canon general for all Jakes since it sounds like London’s is modeled after him but just… toned down), who is still oblivious, but towards other people’s emotions instead of himself; he’s manipulative, a little impulsive but a lot more malicious about it, and he knows exactly how hurt he is about his parents. this jake’s awareness of himself makes him act worse because he knows this is the only thing that seems to help and it’s basically the only thing he actually has control of. his wealthiness is undeniably present and Bad here because the reason taking what he wants and not caring that it hurts people is his main coping skill is pretty much only because he’s been allowed that privilege all his life. i tend to think this version of him should be done by a white cishet dude (despite jake’s actor on bway being genuinely FANTASTIC) bc being marginalized in a high school should’ve curved a lot of the “endless power and privilege” he gets for being rich (Not That One).

[i… think this jake has ‘better’/more nuanced writing in BWay… but i don’t think it fits the musical nor is it the overall direction i think it should’ve gone. BMC feels best to me when there’s a heavier element of Dark Humor that briefly nods to a Larger and more Fucked Up world behind the bit we see in the musical. making it largely a twisted comedy, maybe even ramping that up further with more whiplash lines like jake’s “which means the house is empty, so that’s fun”]

Fanon Jake is… like most of the fanon characters in BMC, a bit… “bipolar” (like, radically shifting depending on the situation). the BMC fandom has been born with heavy engagement from minors in the current fascist climate of fandom as a whole. as a result, you have three general uses of jake that as “approved of” by somehow the exact same people despite being conflicting in a lot of ways. THIS IS NOT ME SHITTING ON FANON, i actually think most of this fandom is just a casual romp for most people and that shouldn’t be snatched away from them nor mocked nor treated like you HAVE to be logically consistent when this is just a fun hobby for most… but there are still trends i notice:

1: Jake the sweet bi disaster who loves their significant other and is just a little bit hopeless in their silliness and Down For Whatever-esque personality. this is often used for shippy pictures and memes and cute little oneshots, plus, of course, fluff.

2: Jake the tragic abuse victim who is extremely sad and has to learn to love again and has always been selfless, plus or minus a permanent disability post-fire. this is of course used for hurt/comfort, plus in combination kinda with michael in the bathroom-esque posts and tragic art, often also used as an example of the squip being the worst for jeremy or rich guilt trauma. also: aesthetic and moodboard posts.

3: the one I have the least good will towards: Jake the “why does everybody woobify mlm? You can’t portray him without flaws! queer boys aren’t your fetish!!!” with an attached, clunkily written reasons why he was an asshole that is also simultaneously watered down so you don’t think he’s a Monster bc then you’d be vilifying queer men (well, more like they’d feel bad about their cutesy-er ‘emotional support’ art and writing which is Totally Different from all the other cutesy emotional support art and writing).

basically, Meta Trying To Make Jake Reasonably Flawed But Not Evil in this fandom is RARELY genuine–it’s more often than not moralistic hand-wringing made so that they can wash themselves of the guilt for actually enjoying something with a character they portray as mlm, or otherwise the guilt of enjoying anything romantic or sexual involving men or queer people period when we’re apparently not supposed to do that anymore, as decreed by the radfems infesting our spaces.

and, well, or you’re an mlm writing this post, you’re probably young and still feeling extremely sensitive and scared about your identity. i once saw a very wise post by a trans person who had been trans for a long time, who said that when you first come out as trans (or queer in general, but especially trans people who are beginning social or physical transition and coming to terms with themselves) you are obvs on High Fucking Alert and so you’re insecure and scared of anything, ranging from “obvious transphobia” to “just trans people enjoying themselves and exploring transphobia in fiction or else their own sexuality”. again, this can relate to a lot of identities tbh, and as such young mlm either cis or trans can get very Itchy about people enjoying mlm content.

anyway.

wrapping it back around to me: i edit jake on a case by case basis (sometimes i even make him eviler or meaner based on what’s set up during Bway, he’s just not my usual go-to villain), but i tend to think of him as a tragic Mr. Peanutbutter-y sweetheart who kinda knows he feels like shit yet also knows that if he stops to assess it, it would make his life a lot harder in a time where he can’t afford that. his relationship with chloe is extremely toxic (chloe abuses him horribly, specifically), and so he tries to claw his way out of it only to be continually back in by chloe and her bullshit.

this is why he doesn’t really get... well. he genuinely thought the thing with christine was going to be permanent; he wasn’t jerking her around, he thought he was over chloe and wanted a girl as cool and fun and genuinely nice as her. afterward he Gets It, and so feels Really Bad--at a time where he doesn’t have his house, his legs are broken (i don’t tend to put him in a perma-wheelchair), his parents have abandoned him, and he best friend is in the hospital. guilt crashes in on him from all sides, and he just has to... pretend it isn’t, even as he can no longer stop himself from thinking about it.

if i was to do a jake focused story, it’d probably be a dating sim where you play as him and watch his life change in conjunction with his attempts to find happiness again; you can either choose decisions that help him greatly or ruin his life so ver much... hmm. lets file that under hashtag “story ideas i’ll never use even though they could be great”

to wrap this up: i like jake. i don’t... really enjoy most of the written content (fanfic, meta, sometimes even the storylines on ask blogs) in this fandom about him or... really, most of the characters, which i feel bad about--i’d enjoy it more if it was every in conjunction with my usual Wants in a fic, which is, like. extreme angst.

BUT

i do still like jake, and i can super enjoy his portrayal in memes and visual art

he’s just not my total fave, but like, the reason he tends not to come up a lot in my content is more what i’m focusing on and why. i’d be happy to use him in stories if his presence fit.

as a bonus

here’s the ships i’m happy to use him for, generally: deere, michael/jake, brooke/jake, toxic chloe/jake, and of course, different ocs/jake

his identities/labels: cis, bisexual/romantic... tho sometimes i actually go for bisexual and aromantic! outside bway and eviler jakes, i’m good with him being any race, and even then it’s just a matter of suspending disbelief re: privilege theory. also, PTSD probably, and maybe generalized anxiety as a result. maaaaaybe autistic too? adhd would be a hard sell for me since he seems super put together in a way that’d be extremely difficult for every form of adhd, but i can see him being neurodivergent on the spectrum + like dyslexia maybe. oh, and i sorta-kinda think he may be color blind? but really i’d drop that at a moment’s notice if it’d be easier to write him without it lol.

his interests: one is more or less sports in general, tho i think that, unless he went straight for track or swimming or something Olympics (which he probably can’t do now...), that’s a high school or some college only focus for him. so, besides sports, i think he’d kinda like the satisfaction and steady growth of Collecting Rare Things That You Have To Look For, like cool rocks, bugs, etc.

as for careers... some form of doctor something, maybe a businessman of some sort but he’d likely try to curve his power in that field as much as possible; he inherits his parents' assets and company or whatever, but he probably takes a backseat to that and only really has it out of a sense of ‘it’s my job as my parent’s kid to keep the company going--without engaging in the same awful legal issues they did--for as long as i can’. one of my fave jake-is-there stories, vanceypant’s spicy bis-focused fic 1999, has him owning a restaurant, and that was cool as hell.

also jake loves dogs. especially golden retrievers. yes.

#be more chill #bmc #jake dillinger #kadabralin #bmc meta #meta #character interpretations #wow this... is long #holy shit sorry about that

11 notes · View notes

rockmiyabideusexmachina · 6 years

Text

2019 Megaman Valentine’s Day Contest Rules Post

It’s year number 12 of lovey dovey-buku contest art, and I’m back at it again. No secret categories, no surprise themes. These are just the two options you all voted on the most, this time around. Let’s do it!

Two categories, in which you are allowed to submit one entry for each category, if you would like. If you place in one category, you will be automatically disqualified from the other, for reasons of fairness, and to give other people a chance to win a prize.

CATEGORY 1: The Way To A Mega Man’s Heart Is Through His Stomach (Talent)

Content Requirements:

* A pinup category focusing on Mega Man characters who are cooking, baking, eating, feeding their partner, lounging on or around supersized pieces of food, or creatively wearing clothing that appears to be made out of aesthetically appealing food products. Basically, some sort of delectable food must be drawn along with at least one character.

* As this is the talent category, judging will be based primarily on the overall composition of your piece and your artistic skills. How well can you bring delicious, appetizing food to life, along with your delicious, appetizing character(s)?

Who says robots can’t enjoy food? Certainly not Fully Charged Guts Man. XD

A popular proverb has long held that one can often fall deeper in love due to their partner preparing their favorite food or sharing a romantic meal with one another. There have been many instances of Mega Man characters who would likely operate in a similar fashion, due to their love for their fave dishes. Netto has his insatiable craving for curry, while his papa Yuuichirou’s palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, as he holds his fork waiting for mama’s spaghetti. Megaman Volnutt wants his sweets so badly, he’d kick a vending machine to pieces to get them, or bug the lady at Jetlag Bakery for those yummy confectioneries. Kelvin Stelar went a more healthy route and loved carrots as much as his wife’s homemade carrot gratin. And don’t forget the delicious cake waiting for Ashe or Grey in the fridge of Hunter’s Camp 4.

So, your task for this category is to draw the Mega Man character(s) of your choice tempting their Valentine with some delicious food. Some sweets for their sweetie, if you will. But the character you draw can be pretty tempting themselves, to go along with their treats. Create a tastefully seductive combo meal that will leave our mouths watering for more!

Now remember, as much as some of you out there might have first thoughts to draw some melons, bananas and glazed honey buns, this category is not meant to get explicit. No frontal nudity is allowed. So please follow tumblr brand censorship guidelines™ when creating your art, or it will be flagged, hidden from the public and not included in the competition. ;p

CATEGORY 2: Princess Sigmia Returns (Humor)

Content Requirements:

* A Megaman character who takes the primary form of another, opposite gender Megaman character due to a magical crown/mystery tank/navigator’s headset/biometal/battle chip/etc. This character is looking for love this Valentine’s Day. How they attempt to obtain a date/partner is up to you.

* As this is the humor category, judging will be based primarily on how funny your piece is. Consideration will also be given to a lesser degree on your creativity in combining your characters into a hybrid, and your overall design for them. But the point of this category is to make us laugh!

Following 2018’s hottest videogame art trend, that of the genderbent transformation of Bowser and crew into Princess Peach-looking alternate forms of themselves, it’s time to continue that spin with more Mega Man characters.

Looking to clean up real nice in the ultimate battle body for a night of love and romance, Princess Sigmia is ready to hit the club/restaurant/park/etc., and this time she’s brought friends.

Your goal for this category is to create the funniest romantic scenario this hybrid character can get into on Valentine’s Day. What made them use this magical, transformative item? What are the reactions of other characters to this newly made up character, who resembles someone they thought they knew? Let your imagination run wild, and draw most hilarious creation you can come up with!

There are no restrictions on what characters you merge, and no, you don’t have to stick with my combination of Sigma and Alia. You can base your transformations off of heroes or villains, minor enemies or main characters. It just has to follow the similar format of gaining the appearance of a familiar character of the opposite gender, while still retaining some characteristics of the original character. So, whether you create Mistress Ashebert, Mega Man VolBonne, Rainbow Cieldevil, Prince Praika, or Crimson Akane, the combinations are all up to you!

PRIZES:

It’s the usual, ‘get-what-you want’ option, for the top 3 artists in each category. As always, if you prefer a cash prize through Paypal, and just need the money, that’s typically the easiest and quickest option to get your reward.

But like normal, I will be flexible and work with the winners to purchase Megaman-related prizes, if there’s something you’ve really had your eye on and would like ordered. Be it a Roll Caskett 4-inch Nel, Fully Charged figures, artbook re-releases, Mastermix issues, or some other trinket. If I can find it within your prize price range and order it to be shipped straight to you, I will do all I can to make it happen!

The winners for both the Talent and Humor categories will receive the following:

*1st Place: $100 USD or an item(s) up to that value.

*2nd Place: $50 USD or an item(s) up to that value.

*3rd Place: $25 USD or an item(s) up to that value.

PARTICIPATION PRIZE RAFFLE:

Since they have gone pretty well in the past, I once again will be offering participation prizes. Some might say a few of these are quite X-cellent prizes, in honor of X’s 25th anniversary this year. In order to be eligible for the participation prizes, all you need to do is enter a pic for either the Talent or Humor Category!

Like previous years, if there is a prize here you are NOT interested in, please note that when you send in your submission(s) to me. Otherwise, you will be automatically entered in the raffle for a chance at each of these items.

If you draw a pic for both the Humor and the Talent Categories, you can double your chances to win! (Odds of course, depending on how many others enter and also draw two pics.) You will be able to add your name into the drawing a second time for just 1 of these prizes.

Raffle Prize #1 – Rockman 8 Anime Cel (with Genga)

Name a more iconic Duo. I’ll wait. This cel of Duo is a tight headshot from the midgame cutscene. After waking up, Duo sees the vial of Evil Energy by Doctor Light’s computer, crushes it, and proceeds to say “HE STILL LIVES!” before screaming in this frame and blasting off through the ceiling of Light Labs.

This is almost quite certainly your last chance to win a Rockman 8 cel from me, so best of luck to all who want to take it home!

Thanks to a generous donation from @silentally, there are also 3 other pairs of raffle prizes (*pictures to be edited in and added soon):

Raffle Prize #2 – Set of Mega Man X Official Complete Works Artbook and a beaded Zero keychain

Raffle Prize #3 – Set of a framed 3D sprite art piece of X’s iconic Vile battle, as Zero comes to the rescue, and a handmade Zero plush

Raffle Prize #4 – Set of Tamashii Buddies Zero figure and a Zero emblem wristband

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

When you submit, I would prefer you to include the following information in this format, along with your entry:

• (Your name/preferred alias) – As much as I usually know who you are, there’s always someone new or somebody who has a different preference from what their email name says.

• (Category this entry is for) – You can either say 1 or 2, or Talent/Humor

• (Participation Prize Eligibility) – Just write “All” if you are interested in the chance to win anything. Write: “Exclude from # __” if you do not have interest in winning a particular participation prize.

In the event you are submitting your second entry, please specify which prize # you would like your bonus chance in the raffle to be put towards.

Only submit your own work, as usual. Any character, major or minor, from any series is allowed. Pairing characters from different series is totally allowed. Same-gender pairings are completely fine. OCs are allowed, as long as your art contains at least one canon Megaman character.

As always, participants are allowed to submit from all over the world. It’s easier for me to get prizes to US entrants, because international shipping is complicated and pricey, but I’ll do what I can for you guys who aren’t in the States.

Paypal is still the preferred method for cash prize payouts. Please have a valid account to receive your winnings.

Youngin's, get your parents permission before entering.

Entries do not need to be colored, but it is preferred. The more effort put into things as always, the better chance you have!

Entries can either be e-mailed to me at rock2125[at]hotmail[dot]com, or you can just PM/note me a link to your pic.

DO NOT post your pics in this journal, your dA galleries, Twitter, tumblr blogs, other sites, etc. until the contest is over. This is the fairest way for competitive reasons. I prefer to keep them all secret until the deadline has passed.

I'll edit a confirmed entry list in this thread when I receive them. So you won't be in the dark about whether or not I've received your entry.

DEADLINE:

The deadline for this contest will be Tuesday, February 12th, 2019 by 11:59PM CST. *EXTENDED!* New deadline is Wednesday, February 27th, 2019. This gives you a little more than 5 weeks to finish your entry!

MISCELLANEOUS INFO:

As usual, If you don't plan to enter, but would like to help me judge, please let me know through DM or mention so here. Never hurts to have extra opinions on all the entries.

Bug me with questions if you have any. Please join in, and good luck to everyone who enters!

CONFIRMED ENTRIES:

Cat. 1 (Talent) - @prar-draws, @larytello, @drewblossom, @bracedshark, subzeroiceskater, @irischroma, @papillonthepirate, SockMonkii

Cat. 2 (Humor) - @drewblossom (x2), @bracedshark, subzeroiceskater,

#Rockman #Megaman #Mega Man #Rock Miyabi's 2019 Megaman Valentine's Day Contest

51 notes · View notes

daemon-knight · 6 years

Text

Well folks, it’s time for me to once again shake off all the conflicting feelings and nagging thoughts I’ve had about Tumblr RPing and the general community. Yup, another semi-off-the-cuff Rambling. And I’m using the tiny text this time, so you know it’s big.

I… honestly don’t feel comfortable calling it off-the-cuff given how many times I’ve edited and organized this, but it breaks my usual rules of a Rambling due to how blunt it is, so… here we are. I want to say this will be the last time I make an off-the-cuff post like this, but I also know I’m going to be doing posts like this for as long as I continue to RP, especially on Tumblr. My gripes will never cease, and I always have something to whine about.

But with that all said…

Nitpicks that Bug Allen

I’m going to just knock out the smaller issues I have with the RPC now before I really start rant and rave about the issues I want to get to. For those who have been following me long enough to know about my ramblings and gripes these are probably issues you’ve heard me talk about once or twice… or thrice. In any case here are the short ones, or at least the ones I can summarize in a sentence or two:

People still have very long bios and rules pages and it needs to stop. I’ve talked about these five times and I the fact I’m bring it up again just makes me mad.

Speaking of continuing issues, passwords are still a thing too. Get rid of them. You wouldn’t need them if your rules page was short to begin with.

Also gonna’ say this again, but musing and aesthetic posts do nothing to show your character’s personality, traits, or themes, you’re writing does.

I’m starting to see blogs with half-finished or non-existent about pages promoting themselves. No. Stop that. Finish the blog or drop it, don’t do it halfway and expect to be rewarded.

Probably gonna’ be its own section in this giant Rambling but stop trying to world-build outside of your character. That’s annoying and it makes more work for your partners that’ll be a wasted effort if you yourself only adhere to it when it works for you.

Dash Commentary. It’s either funny or it’s metagaming. If you aren’t making a comment about something happening to be funny, then don’t post it, that gets very annoying in more plotted storylines.

Pretty sure judolette/Lita covered this at some point, but canon blogs depending on wiki links for bios… no.

Power Levels are still a thing that piss me off, but I’ll go into this later, for now just watch this, this, and this to get an idea of what power levels mean in terms of writing. The short version is that you don’t have the luxury of a universal power scale on Tumblr, so you have to actually show strength instead of imply it.

…

Well, I just said the P-word, so I guess I’ll just get to meat of it now…

Power Levels and Fight RPs

Apparently, I can’t talk about this without going on a rant, so here we are. Okay, quick question for anyone that’s been following and reading Claudia’s stuff for a while.

How strong do you think Claudia is?

Take a moment to think about that. On a scale of one to ten, where do you think Claudia stands? Feel free to message me the answer if you want. If you want some context she’s canonically fought a dragon, a ninja, an alien mercenary, a monster hunter, a vampire-hunting vampire, and so on.

Okay, have your answer? Good.

You’re wrong. Claudia is as strong or weak as she needs to be for the plot to have stakes. Her strength in terms of value is irrelevant so long as its believable.

Claudia is strong enough to match her super alien girlfriend, but weak enough to be hard countered by the four-foot inquisitor. Strong enough that she can face off against the six-foot dragon gatekeeper barehanded, but weak enough for the creepy space witch from space to scare her despite her brave face. Strong enough to 1v1 an actual dragon, but weak enough to get overpowered by her little sisters.

You get the point?

Is it clicking?

I’m not even talk about things that happened off screen, Claudia has fought against all these threats and people in canon. When it comes to fight RPs my logic on if an attack hits or misses is simply what reaction creates the best reply. This is why Claudia consistently gets wrecked by Nero but is having an epic kung fu battle with Meiling, it’s interesting and cool. It’s why Temma and Claudia’s sparring matches are low-key and simple while Syn’s fights are bombastic and having them throw each other through buildings like a DBZ fight.

Again, is it clicking? This is basically how a lot of pro-wrestling works.

Granted, I’ll admit I don’t plot a lot of the RP fights on this site because I see Tumblr RPing as a lot more free-formed than in the forums where nearly everything is a plot line to an extent. This place tends to have a lot of on-and-off RPs that can go quiet and dead for weeks and months before getting started again. That… makes me hesitant to plot anything that isn’t silly or nonsensical because the chances of it truly playing a role in a plotline can get wrecked the moment someone goes dark for a month.

But speaking of Tumblr RPing...

How Allen Views RPing

I think this is the main thing that gets my goat for a lot of the things that go on with the RPC here on Tumblr. To me, role-playing is just that, playing a role. The main idea behind it being to make a character and write them in whatever wacky adventures you and your partners can think up while keeping some thread of continuity and stakes. To that end the biggest thing I like to see as a writer in this type of medium is convincing and interesting characters that would mesh well with the characters I’ve written, be it their personality, background, mannerisms, writing style of the writer, etc..

Or you’re a shipping/smut blog that just wants to kiss and bang. No judgement either way that’s just not what I’m into, at least not on Tumblr.

But back to my point, this type of writing is very character driven. It depends a lot on making an interesting character in background, premise, personality, and actions, as well as showing those things through the writing.

I know I make it sound complex, but for me, if I find a character that can punch Claudia in the face and will, in fact, do so if challenged then that’s enough to at least get me interested in a plot of some kind. Granted, there are some nuances for that, but I’m a pretty simple guy at the end of the day.

You see my point, right? A lot of RPing revolves around the character and making them feel real, or at least probable. This is a part of story writing too, but it’s not the only thing to worry about when writing a story, and it doesn’t have to be the focus unlike RPing.

This also plays into why I don’t partake in nor appreciate things like musings or aesthetic posts. Those don’t sell people on the character, what you write sells people on the character. Pictures, quotes, and other aesthetics do little to show how your character behaves and acts, they’re a shortcut to skip out on writing a character, and I refuse to partake in it.

Essentially, it’s a lot telling and not much showing, and that pisses me off.

I know I sound like a bit of a hypocrite since I occasionally post my drawings of Clauds and her musings, but in my defense most of my posts involve actual writing and her musings are writing in character to her specifically.

And on that note...

Allen’s Views on Canon Blogs

A lot of what I said about writing your character and show their personality and traits through said righting mostly applied to OC blogs and OCs. I won’t go into the nitty-gritty of character writing, but the basics are to just write a character, a premise/goal for that character, and keep the personality and behavior consistent with what you’ve previously established.

Canon characters are a different story.

Well, not completely. I see canon blogs in a similar way, but under much more scrutiny. With an OC you just need to make sure your character is within the grounds of what you’ve written in their profile. So long as it’s probable it’s not OOC or cheating.

Canon characters don’t get that much leeway.

The same principle of selling your character applies, but now with a character that already has an established background, personality, and expectations by fans of the series. This is the reason I think a lot of canon blogs in the RPC get into drama. The fact that these characters already have established backgrounds and expectations can cause a lot of people to get in a fit when those expectations aren’t met. When someone veers off too much from established canon without good reason it breaks the emersion and people get annoyed by that. This is also why when I use to be involved in Canon blogs I usually went with side characters or main characters from very small/unnoticed properties.

Like I said, the idea of selling the character still applies, but that also means the musing and aesthetic postings I mentioned before annoy me even more for canon blogs. The fact that there’s already a lot that we know about these characters to begin with means there’s no real reason to try and cheat by using musings or aesthetic post to get an idea of the character, we already know them or there’s a wiki page that explains them. Or your profile did what it was supposed to and gave us a basic idea of what the character is about. The only case I would see for a reason to cheat would be if your character was diverting from canon in an extreme way.

Which is a nice segue to…

Canon Divergent Blogs

I see two main types of Divergent blogs.

The first type are the blogs that pop up because a character was killed off in canon or put in some state of incapacity like a coma or warped to another dimension, or… just written out of the media for some reason. In this case I think a divergent blog is fine. There might be some narrative issues that would lead to certain characters not evolving or developing because of the sacrifices made or the attempts at realism within the story might ring hallow, but that’s overall harmless in the grander scheme of things and there are some writing tricks to make a fake-out death just as meaningful as a real one.

However... the second type has me worried.

The second type is usually some variation of “this character was written poorly by my standards and I’m rewriting them to what they should properly be.” As someone writing their own story and has attempted to write several stories in the past, I’ll tell you straight up that story writing is hard as hell and RPing is a cakewalk by comparison. Making a story from scratch with consist and entertaining characters that have unique character designs and personalities is probably one of the hardest things to do. And that’s just writing, I can’t even imagine the trials animators and professional comic/manga artists go through in order to do the same for all the work it takes to have a series, let alone a successful one.

This stuff isn’t easy, though I do understand the mindset. If character X got shafted and you want to give them a better shake, fine. But… be wary when you assume the version of the character you’re writing is the better one or what was supposed to be, especially for children’s media/anime. Just… remember that you’re writing for a character that was probably made for kids and not an older adolescence crowd, no matter how dark or deep the writing got. When a canon character deviates so far from the original Canon can you really say they’re the same person?

That said, as an OC blog that doesn’t follow a particular canon universe, I myself have no real stake if Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto starts acting like a happy-go-lucky ditz, or if Jin Kisaragi from Blazblue actually starts to visibly care about people other than Ragna and Tsubaki. Claudia has nothing to do with character, so what they do and her reactions to their interactions is... eh, negligent at best in the grand scheme of things.

…

I… don’t have a good segue to this next topic, so…

Shipping

A bit random, but I wanna’ get my opinions on shipping out the way while I’m here. This is something I’ve never really understood, neither in RPing nor in fandom.

From a writer’s perspective, a romantic subplot is tricky because it an easily become the focus and create a huge genre shift that will annoy your main demographic. As such, when two characters get together it’s usually at the end of a story and end it there, because writing a continuous relationship with ups and downs can be difficult when you’re an action series about explosions and punching people. However, the general rules of writing a relationship is usually to keep the character... well, in character. I’ve talked about this before as well, but Claudia dating Syn doesn’t change a lot about their personalities, or at least Claudia’s. She’s still a tomboyish girl that likes fighting, she still picks fights with essentially everyone, she still... acts like Claudia. The only addition is that she’ll occasionally mention she has a girlfriend, and even then she’ll admit that their relationship isn’t the greatest. Syn is always on missions or jobs off planet that just leave Claudia to hang out with her robot maids. Syn is noticeably stronger than Claudia and that ruffles her pride a bit. Syn does a lot of dirty jobs that could harm Claudia’s reputation further if political enemies learned about Claudia’s relationship with her. Hell, Syn is substantially older than Claudia by hundreds of years and that age gap itself creates issues of perspective. This is just a series of things to touch and write about.

Ah, but I was talking about how this played into RPing.

Again, from a writer’s perspective my main question is does the ship make some form of sense and will the ship create a genre shift that turns what I was originally watching/reading into some romantic series. If the pairing can make sense and the tone/genre remain steady, then I see no issue with it. In terms of RPing, so long as the ship doesn’t lead to you never replying to other RPs and keeping your character consistent with your original premise then I see no issue with it.

So I’ll never understand why people get so riled up about this. Folks need to realize that these are fictional characters that aren’t real. Who they date won’t affect you, and unless it cripples the writing, I don’t think it needs complaint. But then again, romance is my weakest point as a writer next to smut, so… who knows, maybe I’m off base with this one.

…

I… also don’t have a good segue for this one either, so let’s talk about…

Multi Muse Blogs

To every multi-muse blog following me right now. I want you to do me a favor and pick out your top five characters, the top five that you always like writing for and playing as. You got them figured out?

Okay, delete everyone else from your blog.

Take it from a guy that ran a Multi-Muse blog for three years, don’t just add every random muse that pops into your head. Figure your top five and if you need to have more then make them side muses and specify on your blog somewhere, they’re side muses. Remember all that talk I gave about keeping things in your profile short and simple? Well now you have +5 characters, so that because a requirement if you want to keep your blog running smoothly. Everything I said before about running a blog, aesthetic posts, and so on just become five times more important now because you making five times the work for anyone coming to your blog.

Here’s a quick rundown of how I managed my multi-muse blog:

It’d be best to keep every character within the same world/universe or following a similar theme, my OC mutli-muse was focused on mercenaries and my canon multi-muse had all the characters from the same organization for an example.

Make your profiles short and simple. This is very important because you have 5+ characters and we need to get an idea about them very quickly.

Again, try and keep the limit around five. If another OC pops into your head do me a favor and write a short story about it if you really need to write them, keep them away from your blog unless they’re absolutely needed.

Wouldn’t hurt to get a page code from theme-hunters and have a small blurb about each character either. I know that’s a lot of work, but it really helps when it comes to summarizing a character at a glance.

That’s all I can really say on the matter.

…

And yet another bad segue…

World Building and Verses

Pretty sure I talked about this several times before, but let me put it in basic terms:

If it’s not relevant to your character, it’s not relevant to us. Your world’s 5 deities mean jack if your character isn’t religious and not actively worshiping one of them while warring with the other four. That long 5-page essay about your world’s magic means jack if your character doesn’t use magic, and even if they do just describe it in a way that’s relevant to your character. Your character’s ancient sword passed down from the great hero king means jack if that king isn’t King Arthur or someone of actual world renown. Hell, this is why a canned the lore of Claudia’s spear in her profile, it wasn’t that relevant to Claudia as a character nor did a play a part in any RP, so it was pointless text and I removed it.

Again, I’ve said this before, but Tumblr RPing doesn’t work like a group/forum RP. Your character’s world is automatically fuses with everyone else’s unless there’s a specific verse for it like RWBY. That world has a lot of specific rules and systems relevant to it, but nearly every other universe is just a spin on modern fantasy, which I be glossed off with a bit of creativity. This is how Claudia’s Soul Eater verse works. Soul Eater is within a modern world, but has supernatural elements like people that can fly and shoot lasers and the like. Claudia’s canon world has those things too, but not cars and other modern devices. At the same time, the Soul Eater verse can keep Claudia as a normal human with some decent fighting skills and keep her skills relevant.

Let’s be real, being able to wield a spear or other melee weapons is pointless in our modern world, but if said weapons were the only way to kill demons and other monstrosities, then people that can master those weapons have worth and can beat up said monsters and other threats with melee weapons without people batting an eye at it. The Soul Eater verse isn’t there just for the sake of Soul Eater, but for the sake of Claudia interacting with characters in a Modern setting that won’t destroy her premise of low-born noble joining military to no suck dick.

Actually, I’ve been talking a lot about writing, and I think that’s the last of things that truly annoy me about RPing on this site, so I think I’ll concluded this with…

Something of a Disclaimer

Now that I got all that out of my system let me say this while I have your attention, because I know I probably ruffled some feathers with this post.

Don’t take what I said to mean I think Claudia is being written with the idea of exploring deep themes, complicated relationships, or anything like that. Claudia is a Black, lesbian knight from Medieval-RPG-Fantasy -France that wields a black spear that can transform into other phallic weapons and is dating a cannibal alien mercenary from outer space while sparring with her robo-maids. She is currently training/mentoring an android that was made/adopted by a hyper-sexual dimensional space witch from space. Her circle of friends consists of a ninja, two catgirls, a vampire, ghost skeleton, and her samurai uncle. And need I remind you of all the times I’ve even taken my potshots at her. Trust me, I’m not saying my character is a stream of good writing.

For example, I’m trying to write my own original story. It was originally going to be about forest ninjas solving a civil war/political schism, but that got canned when I started to work on the world-building and realized writing out a solid civil war plotline was too difficult for someone of my skill. So, I changed it over to kung fu girls and that’s slowly turning into a series of vignettes with an over-arcing plot about a turf war in the background, something in the vein of K-On in terms of structure (a little ironic given the main character is named Kyo-Annie).

This isn’t even my first time trying to write about the kung fu girls or the ninja girls, this is my third attempt at both over a year’s time. Writing, especially for a story, is hard. You need a well-made plot, decent world-building, entertaining characters, good sentence structure, unique writing style, and so on. Not to mention understand enough about the very language you’re writing in to make sure all the words flow properly. I honestly have no idea how you multi-lingual folks do it, I’m truly impressed by you guys.

But the point is, writing a story and writing a character are very different things, and I’m someone that’s been leaning more towards story-writing as time goes on than character writing. Writing Claudia’s character involves me making sure her dialogue and actions match up with what I’m presenting as a tomboyish, competitive jock that likes fighting and wants to maybe be a princess. Writing Claudia’s story involves me delving into things like upward social mobility, researching medieval politics and warfare, talking about themes of conservative tradition vs. progressive advancement at the cost of identity, whether losing oneself for the sake of their goals is worth it, and the list just goes on.

It's like I said in my views of RPings, I see this as a very different form of writing and when doing a story, especially on Tumblr. You don’t have the luxury of icons to show expressions, or a profile to get a basic idea of a character. A lot of world-building needs to be done properly and carefully integrated into the story. You can’t just randomly add character upon character without it getting called out as impulsively hopping POVs. There’s just… a lot to keep in mind, and as I start writing these stories and get more involved in writing off Tumblr, the more… Tumblr annoys me.

Ugh, this got depressing. I think I’ll talk about something positive next time. Anyway folks, this 3000+ word Rambling is done. Hopefully I’ll talk about something more fun later.

Like fight RPs and fight narratives, those are always fun.

#.ooc #.ramblings

3 notes · View notes

askkav-archived · 7 years

Text

I’ve Noticed A Thing

Recently - but seeing as I've only been active within this community (ask/rp blogs) for a while comparative to others, at times I feel as though I don’t have some sort of authority to speak about it.

Then I realized, after a second, I don’t care and I’m going to speak my mind.

And let’s get down to it; to the talk - THE talk about OC vs Canon, popularity, activity and your feelings!

Hi, I’m Kav and this is my own OC blog - with about 200 followers (as of right now, writing this) and have had this blog for about 2 months and a few days. Apparently that is a feat in this community, but I think I should point out that it’s possibility due to my activity, my art and also the guest that’s currently been hanging out with them.

And I need to point out something right now but don’t be offended/hurt. etc; it’s just an obvious thing.

Canon blogs will get the better treatment because they're established characters in this world AND have that spotlight that original content creators don't have.

But that shouldn't diminish one's determination to keep at it. People are not going to hand serve you the attention you think you rightfully deserve Because you think so well of yourself, which I'm not saying it's a bad thing but still.

Don't let that bruise your ego or your spirit. (Because god, if that does it - then you’ll just be meeting people along the way who’ll do a lot worse and say worse.)

Anyways let that sink in a little and now, what do you do as an original content creator or an OC ask blog?

There’s not much to say besides don’t give up! Don’t lose all of your hope because seriously, it’s well established that no one really wants to deal with a person who gives up hope and complains or is negative on a constant basis. (*Looks at self*)

Like myself, you need to work on that - that part of yourself that needs to start looking more of positives and other options, instead of being down or thinking negatively. People can sense it and they’ll start leaving.

Oh, you can say, ‘I didn’t need them anyhow’ or ‘I’ll find better fans or followers than those’ but really, stop making that excuse for yourself to feel better.

You lost them because of that sort of thinking.

Do better! Be better, not only for others but for yourself! As a content creator and someone who wants to have more interaction with others about your content! Don’t dismiss everyone because you feel like you are not good enough or you’re too proud or possibly anxious/shy. (I sound like I’m preaching to myself at this point...)

Also another elephant in the room; Art-based Ask/RP blogs vs Written-Only Ask/RP blogs

I hate to talk about this but let’s just be real; ask blogs - and ones where there’s constant activity and art alongside it, will always have more popularity.

Words are so beautiful, and strung along together - they can be amazing and well thought out ideas, stories and much more but... As they say, pictures write a thousand words.

It’s true and I feel bad for admitting that, as an ask blog - I’m not going to feel the same feeling as an RP blog because I don’t have the same frustration you have. I love your words and the image you can provide with them but it’s not for everyone.

It’s kind of tragic because so far, what I have seen and read - or at least skimmed through, the majority of those I follow are pretty great and incredible!

Please, don’t give up hope though - you’ve met some pretty cool friends and people who love you, either up front or afar! (Like me! And I love you, your portrayals and your blog in general)

Major vs minor characters and attractiveness

Not gonna lie; characters who are mains and have a huge role within a series will get more love and more attention - Also will get bashed too, for not having the right portrayal or the same headcanons as another. Keep doing whatever you wish, you’re good by the way.

But minor characters, that is somewhat tough - they needed to have a following, a fan base but they also can start attracting attention by being constantly active, possibly in character for most or some or just giving MORE to the character in question.

I’ve seen it happens and it’s pretty great! Some feel as though the captured the character even though there is so little information of them as it is. You’re amazing and are doing god or at least the level of the author’s work if they worked more on the character.

Not gonna lie either; physically attractive characters will always just get the glory and the good(?) asks - It’s just how the world works but please know, don’t let that put you down (or go make an ask blog for a possibly popular character for being attractive unless your heart is into it or else you’ll lose passion quickly for your own blog and really hurt others in the process because they always want more!)

Art styles and skills

I don’t really need to go on; people are attracted to dynamic and possibly (what they believe) is art styles that they are attracted, aesthetically, to or want to see more or.

It’s shallow and not at the same time - artists grow from learning from one another and wanting to achieve the same skills or skill level as those they place above them.

Don’t let that bring you down, keep practicing though. Keep drawing. Don’t stop either or lose hope, just keep at it. You’ll get where you wanna be! Practice and practice some more, look to tutorials, different brushes/pens/tools and whatever resources you can get over the internet to help you.

Art is a skill you yourself have to hone and keep at - as Arin Hanson says from Game Grumps, “Do you think I came out the pussy drawing Mozart?”

I know this post is just a whole mess; but I haven’t really done this in a while - I’m pretty rusty and can’t really be sure to keep this post about the point as much. I apologize for so.

And now I need to ask you, why do you do this?

I’m not trying to be or act as though I’m an authority of what you should feel or think or a judgment of your thought process, etc etc - I’m just here, trying to level with y’all. WHY DO YOU DO THIS?

Seriously, you need to ask yourself this.

I’ll give you my reason for doing this, for having an OC ask blog - my thoughts and what goes through it.

I do and continue to do this because I have always wanted to do this for the past couple of years but the problem was also me and what I was thinking, you see - I wasn’t at the skill level I wanted to be at, the last couple of years, to start portraying and putting out my own (very self-indulgent) self insert in this world.

And when the time came and I understood what my character was about, what were their goals, their intent and I was sure how to go about them - and that my art style was good enough for me to show them off in.

I made this blog though I’m still new to this and I’m still unsure which version I want to keep Kav as too - but I’m still happy with it, so far.

I get frustrated too because at times, I can’t still properly give details to what goes on in my head - it’s always been a struggle to put thought and ideas down into art, whether digitally or paper. Written or drawn.

But I’m going to continue this, whether I have 1 follower to over a 100+ followers. I’m not going to change either because I’m comfortable at this pace, at this level and what I’m putting out as it is - whether sfw or not.

I’ve grown to know that, I’m not for everyone and I need to keep reminding myself of this - a lot more than I let on. Granted, my need for validation and attention really puts me in the wringer but- *slaps self* - I need to keep trying and be active and keep going because if I stop now, I won’t forgive myself.

Kav, my character, as fictional as they are - won’t let me forgive myself for giving up when I know people out there, before this blog and letting people get to me, that they love her. Maybe more than I do, maybe not as much but they still love/like and appreciate her for existing!

She provides people with a sense of... strength; she gives people the drive and determination to put out their own content, whether OCs or self-inserts and for that. God I’m going to keep this up.

You should too.

But for whatever sakes you believe in, don’t give up! Don’t give in to that fucking bullshit that you are not good enough for all these people! Because if you think you deserve a bit of, what, attention or some other reason! Then keep doing this, keep being active, keep putting out more content, whether drawn or written out there because someone else, someone out there will love you and your character!

Doing nothing but feeling sorry for yourself or some bullshit isn’t going to do just that.

Though this is from my opinion and my standpoint but if you create a blog, more specifically an ask or RP blog hoping for popularity and followers - Well, I’m sorry to say but doing this for something like that won’t turn out to what you hoped.

And you’ll either grow tired or dislike for the whole thing and seeing that; isn’t always fun for everyone else when you decide dropping the character because you lost the passion or muse on account of not enough attention and the like.

If you’re in this, be really into your role - But also don’t let it consume you as well, update about things you feel important and be more open to your fanbase if you have any to your thoughts. It’s just easier.

Anyways I’m done, thank you all for taking the time to read this. Stay cool.

#// psa ; read if you wish to #// long post \\#permission to reblog? yes; permission to give your insight? yea sure - but no promises i'll respond

62 notes · View notes

aceofstars16 · 8 years

Text

Lots of tags!

So, I was tagged twice for two different meme things so I thought I’d do both of them in the same tag thing haha xD

Tagged by @book-and-comic-fangirl

Birthday: May 16th

Gender: Female

Relationship status: Single

Hogwarts house: Hufflepuff!!!!

Time right now: 8:20 (guys, it’s 9:03...it took me forty minutes to do this...xD)

Lucky Favorite number: 16

Last thing I Googled: “feel again lyrics” I though it could apply to one of my OCs so I had to look up the lyrics...xD

Nicknames: Ace, Aceo, Swaya, Spammy (though no one has used Aceo or Swaya in YEARS xD)

Siblings: Yup! I’m the youngest of three, four if you include my sister-in-law. It goes my brother, my sister, then my other brother and his wife then me! (we are like the Pevensies in birth order, though not personality as much, though I’ve always related to Lucy...)

Height: Like 5′6 or 5′7, I have 5′7 on my permit so...I go with that xD

Favorite color: BLUE!!!!

Pets: Three cats, Alex, Ginger, and Juliet

Wake up and sleep time: Ha....hahah....ummm...it’s really bad right now...like...it changes every day but usually in between 12-2 am and then I get up like...between 10-12....hehe...*flops*

Average hours of sleep: I try to get at least 8, but I prefer 9 or 10

Love or lust: Love always

Coke or Pepsi: Both are pretty....eh...so Dr. Pepper or Root Beer or Sprite...like any of those, if I have to choose, Pepsi...but eh...not my favorite...xD

Day or night: Night usually, but I do like the daytime a lot too, at least when it’s not like freezing xD (but it’s been pretty warm recently so, both? xD)

Text or call: TEXT, calling is stressful...

Make up or natural: Natural, I only wear makeup on very rare occasions xD

Met a celebrity: Depends on your definition of celebrity? I’ve met Barlowgirl, Coach K, Penny Chennery, Ronnie Turcotte, John Flanagan, and Marissa Meyer...so??? And I’ve seen Rick Riordan, but I didn’t actually get to like...talk to him xD

Smile or eyes: Smile ^^

Light or dark hair: Both, I mean maybe lighter hair? But I don’t mind dark hair either?

Shorter or taller: Taller

Intelligence or attraction: Intelligence

Chapstick or lipstick: Chapstick, I put on Burt’s Bees every night cause chapped lips are not fun xD

City or country: Hmm, I like both? Like, the city is nice because you are close to things, but I love the calmness of the country...but I also don’t like the bugs so...? Where I live is a good balance cause we live next to a greenbelt but we are like ten minutes away from downtown xD

Blankets I sleep with: Depends on the season, anywhere from one to like four (also depends on the kind of blanket xD)

Last song I listened to: Uhh, well “Live Forever” by Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors is playing right now (it’s such a calming song <333)

Favorite bands/artists: I like a looot, NEEDTOBREATHE is one of my faves but recently I’ve been listening to lots of Moana and Hamilton xD

Dream trip: Probably a road trip/just country trip to meet a lot of my friends! Though, I’d also love to go to Iceland, and Argentina, London, Italy, Ireland, and Switzerland...(okay but my list grew from last time because my family was actually talking about going to Europe so...yeah, but I REALLY want to go to Iceland...like...really, AND I want to go to the place where they filmed the last scene in TFA because my brother told me it was like in Scotland and I geeked out a little xD)

Favorite fictional character: HA! One? You want me to pick one??? Haha nah...that’s not happening...I have wayyyyy too many....here’s a few...there are like...a ton more tho...Obi Wan, Kanan, Ezra, Hera, Sabine, Ahsoka, Anakin, Rey, Finn, Jyn, Cassian, Bodhi, Chirrut, Chopper, BB8, Steve Rogers, Scott Lang, Peggy Carter, Edwin Jarvis, Sokka, Bolin, Percy, Leo, Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke, pretty much all of the Parks and Rec characters, Cinder, Thorne, Cress, Kai, Halt, Barry Allen, Cisco Ramon, Wally West, Felicity Smoak, Sophie, Dex, Fitz, Kefee, and Biana...Okay I’m stopping now! (okay but Alden too...and Elwin...and like...okay I love a lot of KoltC characters...xD)

What I’m wearing right now: Umm, my church shirt, khaki pants, fuzzy purple socks, and my brown jacket

When I made this blog: October 20th, 2013, I only know cause I made a post the day I made it xD

How many blogs I follow: 132

Posts:....206,009....dude...I don’t even...that’s a lot...xD

What do I post about: Lots of stuffs! Most recently Star Wars, but all of my fandoms really, and then some nature and faith things too ^^

When did your blog reach its peak: *shrugs* a few months ago I was getting like a lot of new followers but I don’t know? xD

Why did you choose your URL: I watched a movie called Ace of Hearts, I thought Aceofstars sounded cool, so that was my username on howrse and mweor. When I joined dA, that username was already taken, I added the 16 cause it’s my favorite number, and now I use it for like...everything...xD

Bonus question: If you are transported to the world of the book you are reading now, where would you be? Keeper of the Lost Cities world yaaass!!!! I mean technically it’s still our world? But with like, lots of cool lost cities and elves with cool powers and HEY I could be friends with Sophie and her friends! Even though I’m older than all of them....I SHALL PROTECT Y’ALL! Even though...they would do a better job of protecting themselves then I could...xD

Okay...that was long....NEXT TAG! xD

Tagged by @buurd

1. How old are you? 20, but I feel like I’m still 16ish...xD

2. What’s your current job? Ummm, student, occasional petsitter and fanfiction writer...even though I don’t get paid for that last one...xD

3. What are you talented at? Drawing and writing?

4. What is a big goal you are working towards (or have already achieved)? I don’t know, finish school I guess? I also want to finally rework my novel and write a rough draft for it and one day publish it. And I have some longer fanfics I want to write and stuff, and continue to improve my writing and drawing? Also, get my license....you know why I’m adding this Buurd...xD

5. What’s your aesthetic? I love a looot, but my main ones are the stars, the ocean (particularly pictures inside waves as they are starting to fall), autumn, and anything blue, but I like a lot of other things too xD

6. Do you collect anything? DUDE I collect movie tickets too! (though I may not have a place to keep them if I get a new itouch case cause that’s where I’m keeping them all...or a lot of them atm) And also stickers and socks...xD

7. What’s a topic you always talk about? Star Wars Rebels...and other various fandoms and my OCs

8. What’s a pet peeve of yours? I know one, I thought of another one a while ago...but I can’t remember...so, when people just stand behind me and watch when I’m on the computer...xD

9. Good advice to give? Go to sleep when you are tired...like...really, I was exhausted yesterday and I just kept not going to bed...also try your best not to procrastinate, reward yourself when you get something done if you need the motivation (even if it’s something small). I need to like...take my own advice..xD

10. What are three songs you’d recommend? “How Far I’ll Go” by Auli'i Cravalho (because MOANA), “Little Do You Know” by Alex and Sierra (I blame that SWR music video for my love of this song...xD) and “Be Here Long” by NEEDTOBREATHE (or “Great Night” if you want something super upbeat)

#tagged #about me #okay that was a long post...i'm so tired xD #but it was fun!

5 notes · View notes