#another crosspost from twitter that my friends said to post

[mynnthia]

[spoilers for the ending chapters in dungeon meshi]

man it must be wild for yaad, having lived in the golden kingdom immortality realm for 1000 years and losing the ability to taste food/feel hunger. and then suddenly having to figure out how to eat and taste food again. but also now hes got an old mans constitution so he cant be that bold about it.

yaad getting heartburn for the first time in his life: kabru i dont feel so good…. i think im gonna turn to dust soon….

[romance-club-daily]

A little bit late, but I'm gonna jump in on the recent "RC uses AI art" bandwagon. I understand where you're coming from — I'm an aspiring translator and even before the whole AI craze I had no idea how tf I'm gonna look for a job once I'd graduate, but now the situation's even more dire. That being said, I think we really really REALLY shouldn't jump to conclusions about in this case because

do we actually have any proof that it's AI generated art besides "it looks like that"? Because AI... doesn't really have a "style", it's literally gonna look like the art you feed to it/what it finds on the web. I've already seen at least one instance of artists being told that their art is actually AI generated just because it looks similiar. CGs in all stories are usually more realistic-looking, imo, and showcase the biggest differences between different artists' styles. All of this is speculation is conjecture, but like, so is the whole thing about RC using AI art in the first place. So I'll just move on to more solid argument

just last month, on August 4th, RC announced an open call for hiring artists. I guess this vacancy was targeted at CIS countries since as far as I'm aware they didn't crosspost it to Facebook or Twitter or anywhere besides VK and Telegram channel. On 28th they stopped accepting applications from artists and are, most likely, currently continuing the tryouts. My point is: what kind of company would resort to using free AI and then go and hire real humans you actually have to pay? It just doesn't make sense

Here is my translation of these posts about the whole hiring business and screenshots. I'll send you links via another submission or ask because I'm afraid tumblr might nuke this one

translation, if anyone knows russian and thinks I made a mistake of some sort feel free to correct me, after all there's a lot of artist argot I'm not too sure about:

august 4th:

2D artist vacancy

Friends, we announce that we started hiring artists to Romance Club team. ❤

We're YSI, an independent game development sudio from Moldova, that creates interactive visual novels. We're looking for people who may become a part of our big family.

If you're a talented character and/or game locations 2D artist (or you're just great at drawing), then you're exactly who we're looking for!

✅ What do we want from the applicants?

- creativity and rich imagination;

- to be professionaly versed in 2D graphics softwares (experience with Adobe Photoshop is necessary);

- to be able to draw by hand using a graphic tablet;

- your portfolio is necessary.

❗All of the applicants will be given a test assignment❗

✅ Why you should choose Romance Club:

- friendly young team as well as modern office in the capital of Moldova;

- to work with experienced professionals in informal and inspiring environment;

- opportunity to realize your own creative ideas;

- exciting long-term projects;

- fair wage + bonuses;

- possible career development;

- game dev is cool!

If you're interested, send us your portfolio at jobs @ yourstoryinteractive. com and briefly tell us about your skills

August 28th:

2D artist vacancy, applications closed

Friends, we finished the hiring process for artists❗

Huge thanks to those who sent us their resume. Everyone turned out to be incredibly talented and interesting.

✅ Candidates that received an e-mail from us move on to the next stage of tryouts

Our apologies for not being able to reply to everyone personally. We received a great deal of applications and, unfortunately, couldn't possibly contact everybody.

Thank you for showing interest in Romance Club and working for our company!

With all due respect,

Your Story Interactive

As a side note, it is possible that some of the artists may use AI without their hire-ups and writers and so on even knowing that — unlikely, I don't have any proof of that, but it's a possibility. But I feel that the only thing we're doing here is treading muddy waters of conspiracy theories. I'm repeating myself, but it just seems unlikely that there's actually any AI involved when the company in question just started hiring new artists. You may argue that they had to use AI for the most recent update because of the staff shortage but once again: let's not dive into conspiracy theories. Okay, I took longer than I needed to, but I rest my case

_____________________________________________________________

I agree with you on some points, it could be the artist using it without the company knowing and it is a possibility (although I think would be naive of them). But I believe that hiring artists and using AI is something that can happen simultaneously, in the beginning. One thing may not have to do with the other either. That said, it has caught our attention because the style has changed drastically from one update to the next and is very similar to how AI-generated images look. The public used to complain that the characters didn't have realistic poses and out of nowhere they change some to something ultra-realistic (without being able to see a real evolution until reaching this point), almost like a painting which happens to be very similar to how the AI works with images. It's something to be suspicious of, we shouldn't straight accuse them, but being suspicious and sharing our distrust is valid, given that many companies have recently been doing this. And if an employee is using AI and they know about it, It has to be approved by someone at the company, and it carries the company name. I don't think they're that naive (an artist's style changes suddenly and no one wonders why).

Since when they see that using AI is cheaper (or costs almost nothing) and it's fast, they have to make a decision, ethical or not.

Let's see what will happen, but I hope for a good outcome! I love RC stories and would be shame if they go for this path.

And of course, this is absolutely my opinion on this, you can agree or not and that's ok for me.

[byemizumikahago]

Mizumi's Main Twitter (or X i guess now) account

Mizumi uses a variety of social media accounts to post her artwork online, such as tumblr, reddit, deviantart, instagram, and twitter (not calling it X because that's a stupid name). Specifically for that last one, mizumi uses both an art account, and a main, private account. You would assume that, because it's private, that mizumi wouldn't want anyone outside of very close friends to see it. Nope. She let me gain access to it through accepting my follow request. Yep. It was that easy. Because I know Mizumi lurks here, she will likely put two and two together and figure out who I am, and then subsequently block me. So, in preparation for that, I will be posting some of the more notable tweets from her account that I considered to be most important. So, without further ado, here they are:

1: A post she already crossposted to reddit a few months later 2: Arguing with Nagito stans, as usual. 3: A meme 4: Another reddit crosspost 5: The person she's tagging is an ex friend, so don't bother them. 6: Another meme. 7: Artwork that she crossposted to tumblr (unfortunately, the post is deleted and I can't find the link or an archive) 8: (Translated with DeepL) the text says; My pictures for the challenge "Draw cute animals" :) The first one is an OC of mine, seen that way. The second "fanart" And the last two, my cats at the moment. I think only the 1st and 3rd & 4th count then. ^^

So, overall, nothing too out of the ordinary. There are some memes and her replies to art posts sprinkled inbetween original posts, so yeah. nothing too out of the ordinary. Until I came across this:

(The image mizumi replied with is just a gif of that one scene from OHSHC where Haruhi's dad walks in on them and Tamaki)

Anyways, the person is 17 years old. 15 years old when these tweets took place. Mizumi is 26, and was 24 when she tweeted that.

Enough said.

[Onto another topic. Because Twitter is currently self imploding thanks to a certain letter-X-obsessed CEO, you cannot actually directly message people unless you're a verified account. I do not own a verified twitter account. So, if someone out there DOES, it would help a lot if you could DM the dropbox link in this blog's description to these two; mizumi's friends.

DO NOT go and harass these people. That still needs to be stated, because some people still think that's an okay thing to do. Whether you can dm them or not, still don't go out of your way to harass them. Just tell them about what mizumi has done (since they probably don't even know that she's a child predator), send them the dropbox link, and move on with your life. It's more simple to do that, than it is to spread more negativity.

(PS: once someone does that, I'll remove these people from the post, along with all the text instructing you to dm them. it wouldn't make sense to tell people to dm them about mizumi after they already know, after all.)]

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

MDZS Social Media Headcanons

Wei Wuxian has a Tumblr, is shamelessly horny on main, reblogs pictures of rabbits and various memes and shitposts, thirst posts a lot about his husband, has like 150k followers because he is funny, hot and has hilariously unhinged responses to anon hate.

He also has a TikTok that the juniors roped him into and they're exploiting him for views because he was a huge hit with that "small waist, pretty face and a big bank" trend a while back. Also he's a really good dancer.

Has made several videos playing the flute and people want him to collab with Lizzo.

Also has an instagram with one million followers because have you seen this man? Brands have reached out to him for collabs but he finds influencer culture "cringe" and doesn't do paid sponsorships.

Is thinking about making a YouTube channel for corny couple challenges and pranks.

Has a snapchat he uses to send...stuff to his husband.

Lan Wangji has a photography instagram where he posts very artsy pictures of Wei Ying and Sizhui, nature shots, animal portraits and etc.

Accidentally posted a shirtless picture once and it went viral with 100k likes and a modelling contract in his DMs.

The juniors once stole his phone to look through his DMs and it was full of people asking him to step on them.

The only active conversation was with Wei Ying in which they're sending cute bunny pictures to one another and the occasional memes.

His most popular picture was one of his wedding shots with Wei Ying, followed by a beautiful picture from their honeymoon with Wei Ying staring out at the ocean in bed (after he'd been railed within an inch of his life but the Internet doesn't need to know that)

He also has a WhatsApp for the family groupchat with the Lans and to talk to Lan Qiren.

LWJ also has a Facebook account from many years ago but it's mostly so he can use the Messenger feature and never uses it otherwise.

Lan Sizhui has an Instagram study account that's very successful.

Is brand ambassador to some fancy brand of stationery and regularly does giveaways that he refuses to rig in favor of his friends no matter how much Jingyi cries to him about it.

Occasionally posts a selfie with his friends or his dads. He has a tiktok account for aesthetic videos and is into light academia. Sometimes appears in his friends' videos and he's always a hit because he's cute.

Uses WhatsApp for the family groupchat and Facebook Messenger for the juniors groupchat.

Has extensive meme culture because he has been using Tumblr since he was 12 but he's lowkey about it.

Also has a Pinterest account and like 30 different neatly arranged collections.

Lan Jingyi has all the social media accounts you can think of.

His favorite is Tumblr because he likes talking shit about Jin Ling here without anyone knowing (except WWX).

Is a devoted user of kungpowpenis.

His posts regularly end up crossposted on Instagram and Twitter and he thinks that means he's famous.

Has blown his monthly allowance on Tumblr Blaze at least once.

He's mutuals with WWX and they send memes back and forth to each other constantly.

Only uses reddit to go on r/AITA and read the stories to his friends so they can judge strangers and gossip when they're bored.

Has made an "AITA for playfully calling my friend 'princess' even though he's a 16 year old male?" and everyone voted NTA except one single person who said YTA, with the username FairyPuppy63 but Jin Ling swears it's not him (it is)

Is famous on YouTube for his prank videos and gets sponsorships from every stereotypical YouTube sponsoring brand you can think of: Skillshare, Honey, Casetify etc. At the end of every one of these ad segments, his punchline is "you would do it too for a check!"

Has a lot of Instagram followers because he's too damn photogenic and his captions are really funny

Uses Facebook ironically

Has attempted to rename the Lan family groupchat "The Lan-ily". Lan Qiren was not amused.

Has given nicknames to everyone in the juniors groupchat. Jin Ling is "maidenless behavior", Ouyang Zizhen is "slowburn 300k coffee shop AU", Sizhui is "the Lan braincell" and his own nickname is "Swag-yi"

Loves using reaction images and gifs

Is tiktok famous for making funny skits and videos

Jin Ling has the stereotypical rich kid Instagram with a few million followers (because the aesthetic is amazing). Everyone thinks he gets his photos professionally taken every time but it's actually just Jiang Cheng with a Canon camera and a dream.

Loves posting pictures of and with Fairy and his fanbase adores her

Has at least one of those stereotypical hand-on-Rolls-Royce-wheel-with-Rolex-at-the-wrist photos and Jingyi is up in his comments in all caps saying Jin Ling doesn't actually kmow how to drive and that's his uncle's car (everyone thus becomes very interested about the uncle).

Posts pictures from business meetings he has to attend as soon-to-be heir and uses those cringe #thegrindneverstops hashtags

Posts OOTD stories from glass elevators every day

Has posted a picture with Jin Guangyao and Jiang Cheng once after a birthday dinner and his comments were so thirsty. The phrase "UILF" was the only discernible thing in a long row of heart emojis and woof woof bark bark awoogas

Also has a Tumblr and follows Jingyi but neither realize who the other is

Jin Guangyao made him create a LinkedIn and he loathes it

Has a Facebook to talk to Jiang Cheng and he gets constantly tagged in those pictures about being a good, grateful child

Has two Reddit accounts he uses when he's bored, loves looking at pictures of dogs there

Only has a Twitter account to follow celebs on it

He's TikTok famous because of his instagram and also because he's pretty. Mostly posts videos of Fairy and other random dogs he sees around, the occasional rant from a car that is probably not his to drive, has made a few fashion haul videos and his most popular one is a video of a night cityscape taken from a helicopter

Ouyang Zizhen has a very successful Wattpad account with thousands of likes and hits. His most popular original story is based on WangXian.

Has several tumblr accounts for all the fandoms he is in and writes a lot of fanfiction for each of them. Has made an AO3 too.

Has a book TikTok account that he's popular for. His reviews are unbiased and lowkey really funny.

Gains a lot of Instagram followers from this and converts his account to an aesthetic poetry one

Has started one of those businesses writing letters from comfort characters after he blew up on BookTok and he's making bank from it.

Uses Messenger for the groupchat with the juniors and to talk to his dad.

Jiang Cheng has a Facebook account. He doesn't post anything on it, shares pictures with random quotes he agrees with, stalks people on there every now and then and is prone to accidentally sharing fake news.

Sometimes posts shady things with this ‼️ emoji as a caption

Has several pictures of Jin Ling as a baby and toddler that he would rather die than delete.

Has gotten in heated arguments in comment sections of posts he sees and he invests too much time in trying to prove some Internet stranger that they're an idiot.

Also has a LinkedIn profile that's actually pretty well-kept. His profile picture is one of those professional, white wall behind, suit and tie shots and he looks surprisingly good in it.

Does not get the hype over that one picture Jin Ling posted with him and Jin Guangyao and he refuses to acknowledge the phrase UILF

Has a secret Twitter on which he rants about his life. He has gained a bit of a following and several DMs with links to therapy centers but he deletes them all.

Tried the reddit AITA thing and got told he was the asshole so many times he deleted it completely

Jin Ling set him a Tinder profile as a dare he got from Jingyi and let's just say, he did not have a fun time and now has the world's moat complicated phone passcode.

Jin Guangyao is the picture of perfect online self presentation. He has an Instagram page, a Facebook page, a LinkedIn profile and a WhatsApp account.

He doesn't bother to manage any of these himself, has a social media manager with a fat salary to deal with everything.

When he gets cancelled, the social media manager is the first person to get fired. Looks like he needed DaBaby's PR team to deal with all that

His accounts read like luxury brand accounts: obscenely rich and unapologetic about it

Actually has a pretty big thirst following but they're tame cause he's married

Has pushed the self-made man narrative a lot and always hints at it in his captions

Nie Huaisang has a very popular tea and commentary channel on YouTube called "The Headshaker News"

He has a golden button and makes bank in sponsorships

His videos are very well-made and entertaining and he has hilarious and often shady commentary

He's the first to report on the newest drama and everybody wonders how he gets such juicy intel

The first person to hint at JGY's shadiness but it was so subtle that nobody referenced him when JGY got cancelled

Has a second YouTube account in which he discusses art and has a popular series about the history of fans and how to use them to convey messages

Goes to all the influencer events and tweets all about it on his account with the same handle as his YouTube. People live for his reactions.

Also has side Twitter accounts that seem super legit and has used them to make the #cancelleddimples trend when JGY was exposed

Also has an art instagram account and a successful etsy shop that he's thinking to upgrade to a full-fledged business.

Lan Xichen has an instagram account with a huge following because he's hot. That's it, that's the reason. He tries to go for a minimalist luxury aesthetic but everyone is there to gawk at the First Jade of Lan (that's his username btw).

Has several sponsorships from gyms and his gym pictures are his most liked content. Go figure.

He also posts a lot about tea. Makes reviews of various brands and types and tastes on IG Reels and they're actually quite informative and pleasant to watch. His voice is really soothing and people enjoy these videos a lot. Has been recommended to try doing ASMR because of it but he finds it strange.

Has shared pictures of his calligraphy and it turned out to be a hit, so he made a YouTube channel in which he teaches people how to do it.

[charcubed]

Let's talk about Supernatural 15x07, "Last Call."

Or as I like to call it, "the episode that makes me go feral because it tells us so much about Dean's sexuality, character, and arc." 

YES others have written meta! YES I will talk about it myself for the satisfaction! I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

This post was originally a thread on Twitter and I am crossposting it to my blog.

Alt image IDs are included in that linked Twitter thread!

Join me on this journey.

What's the context of this episode? Dean's been kind of down/depressed, feeling hopeless in the face of the idea that they have to defeat God (and not really working towards that goal much), and he's mid-divorce with Cas. He goes out on this solo case to try to clear his head.

And he ends up at Swayze's Bar. 

 Look, there are many things to be said about this. Dean loves Patrick Swayze. Arguably has a CRUSH on Swayze. It's very tied up in Dean pretending not to like "chick flicks" but he secretly does, which is queer coding. This was a Choice™️.

Speaking of Choices™️: professional actors made many here. Deliberately. 

 Dean is smacked on the ass by a woman and then Lee smacks him on the ass too. Dean and Lee CONSTANTLY have physical familiarity and fond eye contact. I will limit myself to 1 paragraph about this lest I list it all.

My point is that I just really need every person to digest and accept the fact that this is textually bi Dean. Not subtext; it's TEXT. 

Dean and Lee had a relationship. Their history is alluded to in touch and in words. They had an orgy together. Dean's bisexuality is not repressed.

It's also now canon that Dean tries to hide that he can sing well. Most people don't know (like Sam) but some do (Lee). Hence "Eye of the Tiger" callback.

And so: that's also the implication for his sexuality. Dean singing ON STAGE with bi lighting is him being ready to be Out.

They dedicated an entire half an ep at minimum to emphasizing he's bi... and to Dean having a conversation with someone he (initially) trusts about potentially having a break from hunting, and what that could mean.

LEE: You're chasing missing persons, huh? I thought you'd be on to something bigger by now, like the Loch Ness Monster... Bigfoot.

DEAN: Trust me, uh, bigger doesn't always equal better. Besides, who's gonna look out after the little guy? God certainly isn't.

LEE: Damn, brother, that's dark.

DEAN: Yeah, it's been a rough, uh... it's been a rough decade, Lee.

LEE: Yeah.

DEAN: But that's a conversation for a different time, 'cause this, this right here, this is all right.

LEE: Well, I'm glad you approve. This is nothing you can't have, man.

DEAN: Oh, come on. Who's gonna kill the bad guys?

LEE: Somebody else. Dean, how many lives you think you saved, huh? Hundreds? Thousands? You deserve a break, bro. Hell, you might even deserve two.

"But Lee turns out to be a villain!" some might say. "Isn't the point that giving up hunting is bad?" 

Nope. 

Lee's a DARK MIRROR for Dean. He exists to exhibit the truths behind Dean's desires, and then what they'd look like if they turned bad. Take it from him: "I am you."

There are LAYERS here. You can't focus on the dark side and ignore the truths that take place in the (often bi) light. 

The singing? The conversations about taking a break? Throwing men out of the bar, which is framed heroically? "Road House rules" (another Choice™️)?

NONE of that was bad. It shows what Dean wants. 

Things only get bad–literally and visually–when Dean's tied up as Lee suddenly says wrong things in the dark. 

The contrast exists to show that maintaining Goodness is a choice, and Dean would have no problem upholding that.

LEE: It's called a marid. It's a freaky-looking little thing, isn't it? [Lee laughs, and Dean stares at him, incredulous] Ah. As long as you feed it, it gives you money, it gives you health, everything you dreamed of.

DEAN: And so, what, it just costs innocent lives?

LEE: Dean, you and I both know no one's innocent. After everything we've done, aren't... aren't we owed a little happiness, huh? Don't we deserve that much?

DEAN: Listen to yourself. "We're owed." "We deserve." Come on, man. You're not God. Hell, God's not even God.

LEE: Good or bad... the world doesn't care. No one cares, Dean.

DEAN: Well, I do.

LEE: Yeah. And that's what got you here. Now, takes a while to drain a man, but listen to me. Don't worry about it, all right? Don't worry because once you lose a couple of pints, you just fall asleep, and then it'll be over.

[Lee pats Dean on the shoulder]

DEAN: Lee.

LEE: This... this is not how I wanted this to go, Dean. When that blonde girl walked in here last night, I should've know, you know, Dean Winchester, the righter of wrongs, you were gonna keep digging, and you were gonna figure me out. And if it's got to be you or me, well, I got to pick me, man.

"No one cares, Dean."

"Well, I do."

It's a reminder to himself as much as it is to Lee. It's a re-centering of purpose that he sorely needs.

And what's also key? Lee is human, but is now a "monster" in Dean's words. Because Lee lost his ability to care, Dean can't abide by that.

(Side note: bonus for the fact that Lee dies up against a wall by being impaled and he coughs up blood. You know who doesn’t cough up blood in their very weird and unrealistic death scene? Dean in the finale.)

Remember: Lee is a dark mirror for Dean. "I am you." 

By fighting and (tragically) killing Lee, Dean "kills" the darker side of himself. The side that's struggling to keep going right now... AND the side that fears eventually wanting a break means you must be selfish and stop caring.

He can keep going. He can find strength to fight God–and in the end, take a break and CHOOSE peace. It won't make him dark. He's the most caring man on Earth, even when it's hard. That’s reinforced later. 

Isn't he owed a little happiness? And that's not in the having. It's in just being.

The bonus is what's going on with Cas in this episode. 

Dean's clearing his head and finding his center again while Cas is calling him. 

Come home. I need you. Remember what matters.

And again, contrast: Lee turns out not to be "real/true" in the way Dean thought he was. But Cas IS.

And after Dean goes through all of this... he's grounded again, he recognizes that even amongst questions of what God controls there are still choices to be made, he's reminded that letting his caring heart lead him is priority, he's lost another friend... 

He comes home to Cas.

It's awkward. They're still distanced. 

But this episode is a turning point for Dean. He's not angry at Cas anymore, he wants to talk, he's ready to move forward... he just doesn't know how to yet.

And if you follow the through-line... then you get Rowena saying "fix it"... and then after that is the Purgatory prayer.

I just !!! 

S15 is packed with Dean development to hone in towards the end of his arc, but "Last Call" manages to hit SO many buttons. 

• He's always been bi, & is ready to be Out

• He can want a break–& maybe run a bar like the Roadhouse

• Caring is at the core of who he is

It's about the CHOICE. It's about wanting to live your truths, and that "caring" can mean many things–from defeating God and saving the world, to making the hard choices when it counts, to maybe running a bar where people are safe.

14x10 and its matching Texan Star also say hello:

DEAN: How come you always have a boyfriend?

PAMELA: How come you only want what you can't have?

DEAN: Whoa.

PAMELA: Besides, you don't want me. You just like to flirt. I'm a psychic, so I kinda know.

DEAN: All right.

PAMELA: So, still not ready to sell the bar, huh? It's a lot of money.

DEAN: Sell? This bar? This is my dream.

PAMELA; Yeah.

And I recognize that rereading this info is sad(der) now because of what we got in the end, so uh... sorry. 

But that's half the point: it's repeatedly blatantly clear what we were meant to get, down to deliberate echoes in word choice–caring, happiness, deserve, even Roadhouse.

Dean was meant to choose to take a break, maybe run a bar–whether on Earth or in Heaven. At minimum, if Dean was meant to end up in Heaven, he was meant to choose it with eyes wide open. And the next time the phone rang with Cas' name (15x19), he RAN for him. He was VERY ready.

And the whole season tells you that. This episode is just my favorite.

So... thanks for letting me ramble on about it!!! 

DEAN WINCHESTER: BI ICON, ONCE-LOVER OF LEE WEBB, THE MOST CARING MAN ON EARTH WHO DESERVED TO CHOOSE PEACE AFTER GAINING HIS FREEDOM, & SOULMATE TO AN ANGEL

And a very big thank you to the talented kings Jensen Ackles & Christian Kane, and their longstanding friendship. They gave me many rights with their acting choices. 

Here's an iconic bonus for the road.

[bbnibini]

the thought of barbatos beginning the official distrust of demons in solomon's case (other than asmo being asmo--i believe solomon might've seen him as a lost puppy rather than an actual threat to himself) is so interesting and i can't believe i haven't thought about it before! barbatos had already been tricked into a life-binding contract with diavolo, so making another life-binding contract shouldn't be something he was excited about, right?

barbatos & solomon act pretty distant towards each other, too. the new event where barbatos brushes off the fact that solomon is human, barbatos changing the subject when solomon asked if he mentioned him in one of the hard mode lessons, barbatos agreeing with solomon when the topic of pacts being purely business-related during solomon's birthday ur...

maybe you're onto something! although i'd also like to believe that there is some inkling of trust between the two, given that they witnessed each other at their most vulnerable(?). solomon was dying and barbatos was summoned when no one else should've been able to, given his status.

in my personal experience, twitter in general just isn't as fulfilling as tumblr is? i don't mean to scare you off of there, but the drama that goes on there within the obm fandom is in far greater quantity than on here ;; so much so, many people have been leaving the fandom there left and right. don't get me wrong, it's nice to be there for art & writing inspiration, but sometimes seeing an abundance of ignorance & constant bitterness doesn't bode well for your well-being.

to truly enjoy (obm)twt i feel like you'd just have to post self-indulgent things and you'll eventually gain your circle of people who also enjoy it? even then, the algorithm there can be horrendous to newcomers...

the premise is similar to any social media site, only that i highly encourage to not look as deeply within the fandom there unless you're very picky with who you follow and are prepared to block a fair amount of people. so far i think you've been doing great! spam-posting is something that can get other peoples' attention quicker, especially if you're someone they enjoy receiving content from. ^^ if you're seen to be enjoying yourself then i'm sure others will enjoy that too!

Hehe you're welcome! I think Solmare purposely left these things vague for our own interpretation. There's some conflicting information about Solomon and Barbatos actually, because if you recall S3 in the Serenity Manor, I high-key remember Barbatos saying he trusts Solomon hence why they have a pact (this is also the same scene where he friendzones MC hard haha). Then there's Solomon who also shares a group chat with Barbatos and Asmo called Invocatio where they seem to talk like good friends who care about each other.

Twitter in general just has that vibe, I think. I did own a Twitter two years ago, but I didn't really know how to use it. Things update so quickly, it was overwhelming for me so I deleted it. Thanks for looking out for me though! (If you're not comfortable for us to follow each other back, that's okay! I just thought you wanted a follow back since some people followed me but I don't know which one of them are you). I prefer using AO3 for my fics. Crossposting in Tumblr is tedious but I find it a lot more forgiving (albeit annoying because coding is my nightmare lmaoo).

I don't really participate in drama nor entertain it so I don't really know much, nor care to know much. The worst that happened to me in the few days I remade my twitter was a random person who said they liked the black-haired Solomon I personally commissioned from an artist better if he had white hair but that was easy to just hide, block and ignore. I've had worse (getting weird HC requests that forced me and my friend to put boundaries in our old request box, getting plagiarised more than once,etc etc). Frankly, I'm just here to love Solomon in peace (pun intended). He's hated more than enough in the fandom. I'd be more than happy to find the 10 people who appreciate him in the bird app though if I find the opportunity. xD

[millsv2]

"Twitter" Ramblings

I just did a big thread on twitter that I'm gonna cross post here because idk I feel like it has some good thoughts. Sorry if it sounds a bit weird here since it was a bit disjointed and cause its Twitter posts™

For Context: I, in my immense worrying, decided to go through my entire following list on twitter and try to see if they had a tumblr or art station to follow in case Twitter really does truly burn to the ground.

---

Yippie! ive hit the point of worrying that im now actually scrolling through every person i follow to see if they have a Tumblr or Art Station or w/e the fuck

I ended up finishing this last night... all 1,527 people i follow... absolutely deranged behavior... but now i have the peace of mind that i follow a decent chunk on another social media...

I wont lie everything thats been going on with [Twitter] because of HIM is legitimately deeply concerning to me... No other social media works like Twitter does for artists seeking employment... Like i know im not popular [on Twitter], but it widens the base to connect with others

and having said base immensely increases job prospects. Literally my friend recently got a job with the assistance of Twitter connections (and i couldnt be happier for them). Its a very real thing, and unfortunately to my knowledge, no other true social media has anything similar

Like sure you could make the case that its on Art Station or LinkedIn too but to me those are far too professional and more just "gallery sites". Same with deviant art and New Grounds those are also just gallery sites I have a gallery, its my portfolio website.

I think if things really do go to shit, I of course still wont delete my twitter... but any actual interaction with people will be greatly reduced and mostly move to tumblr, even though my following is way tinier [on Tumblr]... It'll mostly become "i just share art [on Twitter] and thats it"

I know people are making Lists and such to keep track of people but like... when a site is becoming actively hostile to you for not spending money on it??? i dont want to spend my time here...

again this isnt the "im leaving cya bye forever" post im still sticking around till everything truly burns to the ground... but i definitely needed to set up alternate places to share my work far sooner (other than instagram cause lord i hate insta)

If thoughts do end up getting shared [on Twitter] after everything (stuff like this) itll probably just be crossposted from tumblr since it has a button to post to twitter (idk how it works though lol)

So again, to all the people that follow me and enjoy my work. Please follow me on other social media. My links are on my website at the top right.

I just hope it turns around for this site

---

I know following doesnt matter as much here on Tumblr (the site literally does not show your follower count to anyone but you)... but i genuinely hope i can get back to even my small twitter numbers... Like dont worry im not a massive clout chaser or anything...

but posting into a void to only receive interactions in the single digits really does fucking sting.

Like at least on Twitter or Insta i can post stuff and will average around like... 30-50 likes on a post... which of course isnt a lot, but its nice seeing my friends among them and the occasional new person and hoping that seeing my work at least made them smile to see it. anyways im just hoping anyone that followed me on twitter will find me here and that i can make some new friends with people here too.

[edzasks]

your page is literally a haven for toxic fans and tabloid gossip and you're complaining about drama on Twitter? you created it. what do you think speculating about his health and drug use is? your lack of self awareness is embarrassing.

This ask really pissed me rightfully off, so I’m just going to give you a brutal fucking response because of how disgustingly disrespectful you are, and the lies you’re spreading about me. So here we go. I never talk like this, but you can rightfully fuck off.

For starters babe, please shut the fuck up — respectfully.

My page is not a haven for “toxic fans” get the stick out of your ass — I barely come on here anymore, and I don’t feed into this apparent “toxicity.” Just because I post anons and stay neutral doesn’t mean “rumors are pushed.” Neither are those my opinions either. Just because I post them, doesn’t mean I agree or participate in them.

I didn’t create Jack shit either, you just want to bitch 😂😂🤣 and make up fucking bullshit. Cause you all can’t stand that fans have other opinions or want to discuss or chat about their fav which is Zac — that’s how it works every fucking time, there’s always one anon 🙄 who wants to bitch because (on every Tumblr ask blog, if they aren’t jerking off fav celeb 24/7. There are Taylor blogs out there 50x bigger than my blog about Zac and they get the same shit from cupcake anons like this who cry and bitch because they’re that obsessed in their fantasy about the celeb they made in their head. That’s why blogs like mine drive you insane.

If you ever actually spent time on my blog too — then you’d know the anons I get are mainly positive, or neutral. (Back when I was up Zac’s ass, and always stated my opinion firmly, I was still damned, so whatever I do whether ‘perfect’ or not I’m damned always .🤷‍♀️) They are completely mild compared to most ask boxes about bigger celebs. Majority of the time I’m also being neutral (therefore, not really a response) or denying, x, y and z.)

Lastly let me educate you on PR. That’s not how rumors are created you absolute fucking dumbass. Tabloids have never picked up a “rumour” here, ever. You need a fucking whirlwind of people to do that — and guess where those start on? Deuxmoi. One or two anons speculating whatever the fuck they like, doesn’t start shit, but platforms like Deuxmoi have started rumors daily about Zac that been false every fucking time. Why don’t you focus your energy there?

“Speculating about health and drug use” 🤪🤪🤪 yeah, okay anon. If you didn’t have reading comprehension and talking out of your asshole, you would know I never once said Zac was doing drugs, dumb fuck. People speculate all the fucking time and make headline news (there is nothing you can do about it because that’s unfortunately his past)— you also have his ex-girlfriend yapping to radio hosts and booking interviews crying about his issues with drugs and how he struggles. IF YOU used common sense and stop talking out of your ass, you’d be able to put 2 + 2 together (very simple math babe) and realize it’s shit like that reignites the gossip bird.

Additionally addiction is fucking black and white you dumbass — as someone who have family friends who work in rehabbing people, and have lost family & friends to addiction, you aren’t just “sober” and “addiction is over” … Life isn’t rainbows and daises and a walk in the park after. Sobriety is discipline and struggle — what can I tell you? Even Men’s Health magazine already got people speculating on Deuxmoi already, or mentioning his past cause they think he got plastic surgery.

Also next time — get the fuck off anon and speak to me directly and have some balls if you’re gonna shade me on Twitter.

I’m tired of fucking logging in every fucking time and hearing one pissed off stan with their panties in a knot acting like a knight in shining armour. By the way by crossposting to another platform and crying and throwing your hissy fit — you’re the one who WILL start rumors and giving more publicity to my blog, so thanks for the clout babes.

Keep on hating and being obsessed — love my fans 💋

[letting-them-take-liberties]

VolFes 2020 Shop Event Report

That got intense so fast.

Crossposted at Wanderlust.

Because of the current situation and the company probably not wanting to risk it, VolFes 2020 got cancelled and instead was turned into a pop-up shop so that they can sell the goods meant for the event.

Around an estimate of 99.5% of Japan events are mostly all about buying merch, so it felt like a bloodbath of sorts as everyone around me was spending money like it grew on trees (someone I know spent at least USD2,000 for merch alone). I’ve been attending Voltage events for three years now and it always amazes me how far the fangirls will go to spend for their favorite character (I’ll be calling them ‘oshi’ [推し]) from this point forward.

As mentioned in this post, it is always good to go to an event on the very first day to avoid disappointment and loathing when the merch you’re eyeing gets sold out.

I took a leave from work for Day 1 of VolFes 2020 Shop as I knew that it would get crazy; the last few merch buying events I’ve been to left me exhausted, even if all I did was buy. It can get pretty intense at times since the people I hang out with can really get wild with the buying spree.

It was announced in the website that they would allow a free-for-all-entry to anyone wanting to buy goods after 2PM. My friend Y and I took this opportunity to eat lunch and relax since it’ll take time; between her and I, she was more tense and kept checking Twitter for any announcements. As for me, I was a bit more chill, knowing that if they run out of goods, I could still buy online.

If you’ve read my past entry, Y is a huge Saizo fan, so she’s more into this merch buying than I since she has to compete with a lot of fangirls for Saizo goods. I’m happy that with Masamune and Ieyasu, the competition for merch for the both of them isn’t as tense as Saizo’s.

The Chara announced on Twitter that the free-for-all entry would be delayed by an hour, so we took our time to have some dessert, then head off to Ikebukuro Marui. While waiting for the distribution of the designated timeslot tickets, Y and I decided to go to the nearby bank so that I could get some money (thought to pay in cash to keep the expenses lower), and on our way back, Y met an acquaintance who was just on their way out as they were done buying merch.

The acquaintance started asking Y what she would be buying this time around, and Y confessed to not buying anything related to Ouji/Be My Princess series as she had gotten disappointed before with her merch pick. 

(Spoiler alert: her oshi is Ivan Chernenkov, she tried to get can badges of him by buying up to the maximum number of can badges allowed in one transaction (20 for that event), and ended up with no Ivan. That traumatized her that she swore off buying merchandise from that series.)

Acquaintance was with a friend, who then started asking Y if she could buy 20 (!!!) can badges from Ouji-sama no Propose EK (Be My Princess 2) 10th Anniversary art plus a bromide from MiraPuri (Kagami no Naka no Princess Love Palace), with 20 being the limit for can badge purchases.

At that point, Y turned to me, who was simply listening to the conversation, and said, “Kiyo isn’t buying any Ouji trading can badge merch, right?”

I gave her a confused look. “Yeah, I’m sticking to KoiRan and Ouji, with hardly any trading merch on my list.”

The acquaintance’s friend then straight-up asked me, “If you don’t mind, would you buy me 20 more can badges for Ouji EK 10th Anniversary art? I’ll give you some money to cover for the expense.”

I then took out my list (in Google Sheets); the acquaintance’s friend started dictating to me her wishlist. Upon seeing my list written in English, she gave me a look and then said, “Oh… uh, I can’t read English–”

“No worries, I got you covered and I wrote it down. So you want 20 can badges for Ouji EK…”

“Yeah, the ones with the grandsons! 20 of those, and one bromide from MiraPuri!”

Total cost of the merch was JPY9,020, enough for her to get three bonus postcards from MiraPuri.

We then promised to meet up after the buying so that we could hand over the goods, then off we went inside the building to wait for the ticket distribution.

This is the part when my friends and their other friends (at that point, I didn’t know them) got really disappointed and pissed at the free-for-all entry system that had a designated timeslot entry ticket.

If you didn’t know by now, if there’s one thing that sets off a local in this country, it’s the horrible queue/entry ticket system. It’s no exaggeration when someone says that queuing is a national sport/pastime, so if an event is crowded but has a good queue management system, a lot of people would be willing to put up with that.

However, if there are fewer people but the management is horrible, people would really criticize the hell out of it.

Which brings us to Day 1 of VolFes 2020: the website states that the entry ticket they will be handing out will be given at random, which means that even if you arrive late during the distribution of the entry ticket, there is still a chance for you to be able to secure an early timeslot.

Ex. Person A arrives at the venue at 1:30PM and has been waiting for the entry ticket distribution to start, which is an hour away. There’s a chance that they’d be given an entry ticket for the last time slot, which is at 7:40PM ~ 8:00PM.

Person B arrives at the venue at 2:30PM, the designated start of the distirbution of the numbered tickets. There’s a chance that they could get the earliest time slot to buy goods, which is at 3:00PM ~ 3:20PM.

What upset my friends was that when it was time to distribute the tickets, everyone made a run for it as soon as we were asked to queue, and when they gave us the entry ticket, we got a really late timeslot since we were positioned at nearly the end of the line. 

In other words, the entry tickets they gave us was based on how "late" we got to the line; the ones that got ahead of us got an earlier slot, despite the fact that the website mentioned that the time slot on the entry ticket would be shuffled and handed out at random.

Everyone around me was ranting about how half-assed (they all kept throwing the word 中途半端 [chuu’to han’pa]) the whole system was (they could have stuck with a full online timeslot reservation system for Day 1 and Day 2), and how they didn’t go through with the promise of giving out the entry tickets that shuffled the entry time of the attendees in the spirit of equality and fairness, while I figured out the loophole of the system. 

No matter how early you arrive, if you’re not fast enough to queue for the entry tickets as soon as they ask you to, high chance of you being given the last timeslot.

Since we had two hours and twenty minutes to kill, we all headed for dessert at a nearby cheap restaurant and just chatted with one another until it was time to go in.

Unlike last year, VolFes 2020 is smaller, more compact, and you had less time to have fun and enjoy.

Admittedly, the merch line up is better and much more gorgeous, but goodness, there’s just too many of them that it was difficult for me to decide which one I should purchase.

In the end, I decided to skip out on buying the maximum number allowed for buying random merch and stuck it out with getting 3 ~ 4 can badges.

To prevemt the spread of the virus, anyone who enters Ikebukuro Marui and the building had to wear a mask, sanitize their hands, and had 20 minutes to complete their shopping, from picking out the merch to paying at the checkout counter. They only allowed up to 8 people at a time at the shop so you had to plan your purchases. All of us shopping had a list that we referred to while searching for the goods because entry to the venue was controlled and you are not allowed to go back in anymore after paying. 

If you missed out on an item, you’ll have to ask someone whose timeslot to buy the goods is different from yours to buy your merch, you go back the next day, or you order online, which means there’s a three-month waiting period before you receive the item.

Day 1 of the shop was on a Friday so I still had another day to think about any additional purchases, so even if I missed out buying merch, it’s not really a big deal.

[I’m chill that way]

With the buying done, my friends and I headed to another cheap restaurant across the street. Just like last year, the majority of them used that time in the restaurant not to eat, but to open their merch in blind packaging to check and see who they got. If it’s their oshi, they keep it, but for the ones that are not their oshi, they carefully place both the item and the shining packaging inside a ziplock back so that they could trade it with the others.

After we ordered dinner, Y got a message that her acquaintance was at the restaurant we were at, which meant it was time for me to hand over the merch. The girl who asked me to buy for her was so thankful that I think I actually got really shy over it haha.

When I got back to my table, the food was there, so I ate dinner and continued chatting with Y, who also took the time to multitask by eating and opening the merchandise she got. Sad part was, not one of the items she bought for Day 1 contained Saizo, which made me feel sad for her. It’s really rough when you spend so much and end up with no oshi; it’s really the worst feeling in the world.

Y had an early day for Day 2 of VolFes 2020 Shop so we all parted ways early as everyone was exhausted from stressing out whether merch would get sold out on Day 1 and from simply buying goods.

Day 2 wasn’t that eventful, aside from us buying more goods (I bought Ivan’s goods this time around as my priority was Yakov’s), and I ended up trading all my Saizo goods with Y for other characters. Nothing against Saizo, but I know that someone who isn’t me would actually cherish him more than I will ever do.

———-

Not sure if anyone’s interested to see what I bought, but let me know if you’d want me to post photos of my haul.

———-

More event photos:

[paintedrecs]

@mad-madam-m​ tagged me in the “list 5 OTPs from 5 fandoms” meme a couple days ago, which I laughed at her for because (a) she knows my otps FULL WELL (b) our lists are very nearly an exact match (which i am by the way delighted about because half my list right now is full of rare pairs, and I have never before known the hell of treading that landscape alone)

but!

I’m gonna do the meme and double it up as an announcement of what I am currently into and what you’re likely to see on this blog if I start picking up my activity levels a little.

I honestly have no idea how active tumblr is at this point - how many of you are still around, and how many of you I might lose if I start reblogging my other fandoms in addition to Sterek - but after doing a Pillowfort experiment for a while, I think I’ve finally figured out how to use social media again in a way that works better for me.

My old method, before tumblr kinda imploded and fandom got weird (filled with antis and ship hate and constant infighting, ugh why), was to create a separate blog for everything I was into, which is why I have appreciatederek, appreciateshiro, appreciatejack, and...is that it? See, this is why I need to stop scattering myself into a zillion different pieces.

So I’m going to consolidate more (like I do on twitter and now Pillowfort), and also hopefully get back to my fandom roots: digging into more meta, like I did 8 years ago when I first fell in love with Sterek, and posting fic recs, like I also did thanks to Sterek. (And sharing my own fics as I write them. Guess which fandom pushed me down that path, too.)

So it’s fitting that the first ship on this list is...well, an obvious one.

1. STEREK (Teen Wolf)

Y’all know this one. Sterek will always, always be the OTP of my heart. I love their dynamic. I love the creativity and passion of the fandom. I love that they brought my writing back to me and introduced me to so many of you.

I still have dozens of Sterek fic ideas; quite a few of them are partially written or have significant outlines, so at some point I will still be writing them. Life is just, as you know, very busy and very tiring and it’s so hard to fit everything into my days. I’m working on it, I promise. 

I’d like to start doing more updates with snippets of my upcoming fics, maybe a lil Q&A if anyone wants to chat about what I’m working on/my thought process behind what I’ve already written/what you’d like to see from me, etc. Interactive fun stuff! Sterek fandom is still the best and most supportive fandom I’ve ever been a part of, and it makes me happy every time I’m reminded we’re all still around and thriving.

And here’s some of the other stuff I’m into right now...

2. XANATOWEN (Gargoyles)

I have been sailing this ship entirely by myself since January, recently joined by the aforementioned M, who also created this gif for me while she was still in the patient “I’m your friend, I will listen to you yelling about this show” stage. (ha ha ha look at her now, that’s what you get)

I’ve been genuinely holding myself back from spamming tumblr with my thoughts about this show and this ship, which I’m beginning to realize is...maybe silly. I’ll still try to keep it a little bit balanced, but you can definitely look forward to more Gargoyles on the horizon, including:

Fics - 30k so far, with another 4.6k that I’m hoping to post this afternoon, after I look over it and decide if I still like it (ha ha fic writing amirite). I also have a fairy tale AU that I’ve done a substantial outline for, so I’d really like to get that underway.

Episode recaps/meta posts - these are currently being posted over on Pillowfort. The goal is to get the last two episodes of Season 1 up there, then to start crossposting them here.

As long as it’s not a gigantic hassle to paste over all the screencaps, because I uh. I have a lot of them. And a lot of thoughts about the show as a whole, but particularly about the relationship between David Xanatos and Owen Burnett: the meta’s currently averaging from about 1.5k to 2.5k per episode, whoooops.

I love them. I love them a LOT. See my meta posts for very detailed explanations as to why.

3. TREVORCARD (Castlevania)

I honestly did not expect to get this deeply invested in this ship. I watched and liked the first two seasons of Castlevania and really enjoyed the dynamic between Trevor and Alucard, but it wasn’t until the lead-up to Season 3 (and then the devastation of how absolutely terrible that season was) that I realized how much I loved these two together.

So now I’m having a very Sterek Fandom moment of “eff you canon, they’re ours now” in regards to Trevorcard. 

I’ve written one fic for them - it’s a 20k coffee shop/modern/college/artist/musician AU because they deserve all the fandom tropes and so much happiness together..

I don’t currently have plans to write any more, although if I do, it’ll likely be some sort of neighbors AU with wolf!Alucard, since my vast experience with Sterek fandom has taught me the absolute joys of exploring characters who can canonically turn into a beautiful giant effing wolf. 

I’ve also been steadily reading my way through every single Trevorcard fic in the AO3 tag, which unfortunately is only ~200. (HOW is this a rare pair. I will never ever understand it, they’re perfect together, and the animators literally said they intentionally storyboarded moments like the one above with the knowledge that people would start shipping them.)

Once I’ve finished up my AO3 tour, I’m going to compile the ones I enjoyed into rec lists. There are some really wonderful fics in there, and I’m excited to see what the rest are like.

4. TAIBANI (Tiger & Bunny)

I really don’t talk about this ship much, but it’s so immensely close to my heart. I have...so much...official merch of Kotetsu and Barnaby; it makes me happy every single time I see it. If I used my Tiger & Bunny stuff as the standard for what sparks joy during a konmari, the rest of my apartment would probably wind up empty.

The show (which is finally getting a second season in 2022 - Kotetsu & Barnaby had better be getting married) is wonderful. I genuinely can’t recommend it enough. Great writing, wonderful character development, beautiful animation, and Kotetsu and Barnaby are absolutely perfect together. Here’s an old post where I talk about that a little bit.

I’ve only written one fic so far: a canon compliant established relationship future fic that focuses more on their family dynamic as Kotetsu’s daughter adapts to turning 18, becoming a hero, and living with her frustratingly affectionate dad & his new husband.

I have ideas for two AUs: a single dad mature student/young professor one and a sorta weird circus/steve irwin-inspired one. We’ll...we’ll see if I ever get around to either. What I end up writing always surprises me, so I sorta give up on planning what words will come out.

And oh wait! I totally forgot about the third idea, which will be roughly canon compliant, with “Kotetsu sets Barnaby up on a series of blind dates that Barnaby initially thinks will be with HIM” angsty/funny fic. Hrm. I should get back to that one, I’ve outlined part of it.

I haven’t actually read a ton of fic for this pairing, because the more I like canon material, the less I seek out fandom content to “fix” it, but I would like to start going through the AO3 tag after I finish my Trevorcard project. I did an initial rec list ages ago and would like to follow up with another.

5. SHEITH (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

Here’s the last pairing I write fics for. I have several more in progress that I’d really like to finish - including a dragon AU that I wish someone else would just finish for me so I can read it, hahhhhhhh sigh. I wrote 15k, did a ton of research, and basically intimidated myself out of continuing, because it’s one of my Big Projects. Not gonna be like, PDIW length or anything, but it should be a pretty hefty fic once it’s done.

Then there’s the roommates AU, the burrito shop AU, the....wow. I really need to get back to these, don’t I. A couple of them are super close to being finished, too.

I’ve also compiled a few fic rec lists, although I haven’t updated those (or my Sheith blog) in a while.

This fandom has been...interesting. Rough sometimes. Sliding into some of the other pairings on this list has provided a good break for me, particularly since they’re all such small fandoms that they’re relatively free from drama and hate. Once I’m fully refreshed and re-inspired, I’d love to get back into writing Sheith. They’re such a perfect, feel-good, extraordinarily balanced and supportive ship, and I am disappointed every single day I remember that Voltron didn’t stick the landing with making them canon.

Look at that almost-kiss. Just...look at it. And tell me they aren’t in love.

[the-prophet-lemonade]

do you have any advice on getting a story to be seen? i made an ao3 account not too long ago so no one has seen my fic at the moment but i was wondering if you had any tips on that, or would i just have to wait?

hello! i can’t claim to know what makes a fic popular as it’s 99% luck, but i can speak for the remaining 1% that has worked ~reasonably~ well for me in the past. 

i think there are three key elements to getting a fic “seen”: marketing, branding, and presentation, and they’re all very important. this post got very long, so please find everything under the cut! i hope it helps :-) 

i. marketing

fic marketing may seem a bit narcissistic if you haven’t done it before, but trust me on this: it’s the best way to attract readers and you deserve to promoted your story as something you worked hard upon!

drumming up hype for a fic is great. you can do this by posting on social media, providing sneak peaks on your twitter, involving yourself in the fandom community and discussing your wips with other fans, and just generally being excited about what you’re creating. engaging with other people’s writing is also a great method to help boost your own stats … get involved with reading other work and leaving comments for other people, because they will be more likely to return the favour! when someone comments on my fics, i often go and check out their profile and see what they’ve written, as it’s highly likely we enjoy the same things! 

making promos is one of my favourite ways to engage with people about fics. once i post a fic/new chapter to ao3, i also crosspost promo posts with links and graphics to my twitter and tumblr. you will need a good hook to get people interested, but also an eye-catching image that summarises the story pictorially can be a great asset (you don’t even need photoshop, just a nice moodboard will do!). when using images however, it’s always important to think how the image size will appear in tumblr’s dimensions and on your own blog … make sure it’s not stretched or the resolution too low, and create something with a good visual flow i.e. the title appears first, then the necessary information, then any teasers or extracts. you need to make your fic post stand out on someone else’s timeline, which may already be filled with a bunch of other fic posts, jostling for attention. make it neat, clean, informative, and professional.

make sure to use the tagging systems efficiently for your chosen social media platforms: only the first five tags count on a tumblr post, so choose them wisely (i.e. use the key fandom tags first and save your personal blog tags for after), and only two hashtags count on twitter before it’s marked as spam, so go for the ship tag!

creating your own fic tag on twitter can also be fun, and i’ve seen a lot more people doing it lately too. you can encourage people to tweet along with a specialised hashtag and then you can find their reaction and engage with them later, which once again expands your fandom circle and will increase engagement on tweets associated with your fic.  

another trick i’ve learned is utilising time zones and understanding the demographics of the audience you’re trying to reach. i am very careful to post my fics at certain times of day in order to reach key people e.g. i will try to hit either europeans or americans during the evening, as this is when most people are home from work and wanting to read fic. as a european myself, especially involved in fandoms with high levels of european fans, i usually post during the early evening for CET time zones i.e. 7 or 8 pm and i tend to find this works for me. 

with tumblr, i often delay my promo posts so that i post when it’s likely to get maximum interaction (you can see when your blog is most active using your tumblr analytics) … use your queue if need be! 

i also take care in reblogging/retweeting my promo posts at certain times of day too. i will usually bump the post just before i go to bed, so as to grab americans in their early evening, and then i will bump it again in the morning when i wake up, to catch australians and west coast americans still awake. i then usually keep bumping my promos once a day for two or three days on my social media to cast a wide enough net to catch as many people who might be interested, as not everyone checks their timeline every day and social media swallows up posts so quickly, especially tumblr which is not built for original content creators to do well (lol). i will usually bump a promo post 5 - 7 times before retiring it and this is a model that’s worked well for me in the past, especially for droplets, which would get 500+ notes per chapter!  if you’re anxious about this, know that most people will only see your post once or twice because tumblr moves fast and swallows posts up very quickly, and sometimes people need reminders to read if they decide to save things for later when they have more time

ii. branding

the benefits of branding mainly come from experience, so it’s a tricky thing to utilise if you haven’t published fic before … but there are still tricks worth trying! 

certain fic writers will attract readers to new fics just because their name is attached to it, and people know the sort of story they’re getting, they know how it’ll be written, the sort of tropes that will appear, that sort of thing. obviously, building up this sort of brand requires publishing a lot of work, and so it must be said that practice makes perfect: the more you write and publish, the more your fics will be seen and your audience will grow. people will regularly see your username in the tags on ao3 and be more inclined to click on you as someone who reliably produces good content. it’s important to remember that everyone starts from the same place and works hard to improve their craft; success doesn’t just come overnight (unless you’re in the right place at the right time) and any creator will tell you that compliments to their talent aren’t what matters, but instead, it’s compliments to their dedication and hard graft. 

another key thing about branding is how you present yourself online. the most important thing in my opinion is cohesion across your social media platforms e.g. having the same username on ao3 as you do on tumblr/twitter/wherever you promote your fic. having an easily navigatable blog with working hyperlinks and archiving of your fic work is also great. basically, building a clean interface for people to engage with your work is vital! having the same icon and username across all your social media makes it so much easier for readers to navigate between your fics and your promo posts … basically, the easier you can spell something out, the better

branding is mostly to do with how you advertise yourself, rather than the particular fic, although much of it overlaps. get your name out there by engaging with other writers and making friends and appreciating their work! this is often the best way to get inspired, plus you get to meet some amazing people. i recommend trying out for zines and big bangs and writing challenges, as these are good ways to show your work to already-established audiences. also, make yourself available by interacting with commentors or by opening up your inbox on tumblr to anons. try linking your social media and your inbox as hyperlinks in the authors note of your fic

iii. presentation

this is really fundamental and is often the main reason people will close out of your fic and not read to the end. people want to read fics that are easy to digest and have had care put into them. this includes a lot of things:

correct tagging i.e. are the tags coherent and not just rambling? are there appropriate trigger warnings in place? have you unnecessarily tagged every side pairing under the sun, rather than just the main relationship?

grammar and spelling. goes without saying … people are more likely to read things that look professional and have had care poured into their preparation. make sure you know how to use speech punctuation. revise how to use commas. avoid epithets (especially racially-aggravated ones). get yourself a beta if you’re worried, because betas are godsends!

paragraphing. so many people will close out of a fic if it isn’t correctly spaced. double spaced paragraphs look best on ao3 and i often won’t read a fic if the paragraphs are too long because it hurts my eyes to read. make sure you’re starting new speakers in new paragraphs. new ideas deserve new paragraphs. basically, every time the “camera” changes, you should be starting a new paragraph. not just a new line. 

summaries. i see so many fics on ao3 with summaries that are either apologising for being bad at summaries or apologising for a fic being bad/being a first fic, and like … stop this! own what you have written, no-one else will have written it the way you have and you should be proud of it. if you’re saying in your summary that it’s a bad fic, i’m not going to click on it as a reader. instead, utilise your summary to get people hooked … good hooks can be written a load of different ways, but the best ones i see often involved a snippet from the fic as a taster, and then a couple lines of blurb. get people excited! 

titles: i’m personally more likely to click on a fic where the title is either (a) correctly capitalised or (b) is clearly chosen for its aesthetic or meaning (i love long lower case titles with parentheses lol). choosing a memorable title is really helpful, especially one that can be shortened or abbreviated for social media (e.g. for hashtags)!

all this being said, traffic on ao3 is a crytpid at best and obeys little in the way of rhyme or reason. you can put blood, sweat and tears into marketing your fic, but sometimes, just being in the right place at the right time (writing for the right niche) is what does it, so being a fic writer requires a lot of patience. first and foremost, write for yourself. write what you want to read and enjoy doing it, because if you get sucked into obsessively checking stats, it’s only going to disappoint when you don’t achieve what you want to achieve. 

just keep persevering and keep writing and appreciating each and every person who takes time in interact with your fic and its promos … because ultimately, all it takes it that one reader to fall head over heels in love with your fic for everything to change. for now, just be proud of your work and keep writing!

[kynimdraws]

A little PSA: An explanation of Ovewatch Ana’s “Tal/탈” skin

I am getting tired of people hating on Ana’s Tal skin and while I have expressed my discontent over this unnecessary discourse on twitter I might as well crosspost on tumblr because of non-Koreans trying to spread misinformation about my home country’s culture.

(Ana voice): SHHHHHHHHHHHH calm down kids it’s grandma

Disclaimer: I am Korean. My mother is a Korean teacher who has taught me Korean history/culture. My uncle teaches in a University about Korean history. Chinese cultural appropriation topics will not be mentioned here, because I am not Chinese. Someone with better knowledge about that than make their own posts elsewhere (please).

A quick googling of “tal” or “탈” will give you the following definition (lifted from the all-accessible wikipedia page). I bolded the most relevant parts of this excerpt since I will go into more detail about it in the next paragraphs:

Korean masks have a long tradition with the use in a variety of contexts. Masks are called tal (Hangul: 탈) in Korean, but they are also known by many others names such as gamyeon, gwangdae, chorani, talbak and talbagaji. Korean Mask come with black cloth attached to the sides of the mask designed to cover the back of the head and also to simulate black hair.

They were used in war, on both soldiers and their horses; ceremonially, for burial rites in jade and bronze and for shamanistic ceremonies to drive away evil spirits; to remember the faces of great historical figures in death masks; and in the arts, particularly in ritual dances, courtly, and theatrical plays. The present uses are as miniature masks for tourist souvenirs, or on cell-phones where they hang as good-luck talismans.

The one Ana is specifically wearing is a type of 하회탈 (hahoetal), which describes a type of mask used during theatre (하회별신굿탈놀이) and dance (탈춤) since the 12th century. These performances consist of a cast of character archetypes, which are depicted by the masks. Many of the features in the masks are exaggerated for humorous and dramatic effect. Here are a general list of masks that commonly seen.

Fun fact, Ana’s mask is a hybrid of the Kaksi/각시 and Yangban/양반 mask. And maybe a little bit of the Halmo/할미 depending on the mask design.

These mask plays were performed in villages to ward off evil spirits and to convince the local gods to protect them and bring prosperity. A certain aspect of these performances are also comedic, and a chance for performers to poke fun of the ruling class and taboo subjects like sex. While this is not tied to the Lunar New Year specifically, such performances were done during special occasions like those holidays.

Now you may be asking “this is part of a religious thing! Isn’t that disrespectful??” And trust me, this depiction is FAR from being offensive to most Koreans.

Yes the tal was used for shamanistic rituals, specifically associated with “muism” (무교/신교). However, muism is not a popular Korean religion. While there has a recent uprise in people practicing it/being interested in it, Muism has always faced discrimination in Korean history. Confucianism, Christianity, and even Japanese colonialism has demonized this religion and it was nearly forgotten/eradicated. The most known incident of this is called the misin tapa undong (미신 타파 운동) describes a period from 19th century to the 1980s where various parties (both outside and inside Korea) tried to eradicate muism through various means, including burning down local shrines and villages that were known to practice them. People had to be in hiding so avoid persecution.

Fortunately the Korean government has indirectly protected Muism by making several aspects of their religious traditions as national Korean treasures, including the 탈 among other things. But it is important to note that whole 탈 culture is secularized now. It does not have the religious connotations that it was known for. Hell, the masks are one of the most recognizable features of Korean culture (and seen in many souvenirs). There are places in Korea that preserve this tradition and perform it to the public to spread awareness of its history (the 안동 village every September has an arts festival for all traditional Korean performing arts). FYI, Koreans who appreciate this are not muists themselves, and no one requires you to be one. Lunar New Year is largely a secular holiday, after all.

Now, do you want to see some of the reactions KOREAN FANS had about the Ana skin? Here are few I got off from twitter, with translations from yours truly:

BTW that Ana tal skin is my aesthetic - (x)

That Ana skin is really good ㅇㅁㅇ....tal is really making my heart flutter* - (x)

*간지뿅뿅 is not a really easy thing to translate since it’s a combo of a sound effect and an emotion??? It’s a positive response either way

Ana skin ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠtal is so good ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ - (x)

OMG Ana’s skin is tal LOL that is exciting - (x)

Many of these really are happy their culture is seen! And it’s not depicted in a mocking manner and the overall design is quite lovely, with Korean-design motifs in her clothes. The few relatively negative tweets about her skin are how the cloth may be too bright/gaudy compared to the mask, which is sort of true. The mask is supposed to be seen clearly to show what character the performer is playing out. But the color scheme really looks like those worn for the Bongsan talchum (봉산탈춤), another variety of tal (they are all within the same province btw). And a lot of Korean traditional color schemes are pretty gaudy too.

Alright, so I have told you all I can about the tal culture. Now the you may be asking the following question, summarized well by this tweet:

I think Ana looks awesome in general but what was the concept behind her new skin ???? She’s Egyptian so why wear a Tal? - (x)

To be fair, I was also fairly surprised by the choice for having Ana have the Korean-style skin before I became super ecstatic to see my culture be represented. I do agree it is odd to see a Muslim/Egyptian/Arabic character (two groups that don’t really celebrate Lunar New Year from what I can gather) to be chosen for a Korean skin, but that matter sort of falls into the “Muslim/Egyptian/Arabic culture is underrepresented in Overwatch and gaming media in general” topic and I am not knowledgeable enough to discuss that in detail. A Muslim Overwatch fan has written about this matter here if you want to check it out.

But back on point, is this skin an example of YELLOW FACE or CULTURAL APPROPRIATION? No! When did being Muslim/Arabic/Egyptian =/= you can’t celebrate/appreciate other cultures and their traditions? Did you only want Koreans to get the skin? I am all for D.Va getting more skins (and MAYBE more KOREAN OVERWATCH HEROES) but why restrict the Korean theme onto just one character? Cultural appropriation is when people INAPPROPRIATELY disrespect a culture by mocking them and disregarding the traditions of said culture. Ana is not doing any of this. Besides, Korean tal culture is not closed off to non-Koreans, and there are Korean cultural socities that are willing to offer classes on this and will even teach you how to do the dance/plays (i.e. Sejong University has a site for it). 

FYI because I am Korean, I cannot say how Egyptian/Muslim/Arab fans feel about Ana wearing Korean attire for Lunar New Year. I have talked to a few Muslim OW fans/friends about this and given their differing opinions on the matter (including the OP of the muslim underrepresentation post I linked earlier), I cannot really make a confident assumption on how these people generally feel about the skin. On Korean fandom’s end though, we love the skin! It’s great Blizzard took the time to research Korean culture and make a skin that isn’t mocking Koreans. And Blizzard does have some ties with Korea itself due to its HUGE gaming culture/fanbase, so it is possible BlizzKorea has gotten input there for this event. Being between two BIG Asian countries (Japan and China), Korea is often left out and this event was a really nice breath of fresh air. We are represented!! We are not some invisible culture between the big two!!!

And if you are not part of this culture, just PLEASE let other people speak out about the matter before getting on your moral high horse to talk about appropriation. 

Now, does that mean the Korean fandom thinks Blizzard is a perfect company? NO! Honestly the entire event is MOSTLY about Chinese culture (with some Korean stuff squeezed in between). Other Asian countries that celebrate Lunar New Year have been ignored (i.e. Southeast Asian cultures and some Indian cultures celebrate Lunar New Year and they are not included despite Symmetra being Indian, etc). These discrepancies are good starting points to discuss underrepresentation in media that Blizzard can learn about and hopefully include in their future updates. From what I can see, the Overwatch developers have been receptive to this feedback so it would be good to have that convo in their official forums too.

FYI, I personally feel like there could have been more Korean stuff for this event period. In America at least, it really sucks that Lunar New Year is ALWAYS called Chinese New Year despite other countries also celebrating it...RIP. But I appreciate that this game has made Korean culture more visible. Here’s hope to more visible Korean stuff in gaming and elsewhere! Where is my “새해 복 많이 받으세요” voice line for D.Va? I demand answers Blizzard!!!

Anyway, hope that has taught you something new, and Happy Lunar New Year to everyone!