#as a side tangent for a different blog

[saiwola]

Useless Headcanon of the Day:

Alys is yeu-li. Which are a rare, mostly female, race of fox-shifters with a reputation of either being these ethereal beauties perfect for wife-ing up or dangerous seductresses that drive men insane (And in some stories, eat their organs. Mostly hearts.). Sometimes a mix of both but nothing in between. This is due to a natural mood effect they have that can influence how people feel about them. Typically, making people like them more. But this ability, when they haven't learned to actively control, is affected by the yeu-li's mood. Positive mood yields positive effects, negative moods yields negative effects. It's very ... "You'd be prettier if you smiled more" .... And Alys is almost never in a good mood. So she usually has no effect or people generally dislike her more (treat her worse). Depending on how pissed off she is. Though being around dogs or kids generally put her in a good mood. Some people seem to be immune to these effects (like Bastien and Zandros). Some gain resistance over time and getting to know her (like Adon). And then there's Cardan who seems into it...??? I don't know what his deal is.

[writers-potion]

Storyediting Questions to Ask

As You Read the First Draft:

Are there place that surprised you as you read your first draft? - Why do you suppose that is? - Is there material there you'd like to expand?

What are the character really doing in this story? - Might they have issues you haven't explored fully yet?

Look to the places that drag. - These might be scenes where you have avoided dealing with something deeper. - What are the characters really thinking in these places? - What are their passions, frustrations, and desires?

Imagine alternative plotlines. - How might your plot be different if ti headed off on another tangent from various points in the story? - You don't have to follow them, but they might suggest other streams that can flow into the main plot.

Think About Structure:

Does you story play out naturally in three acts?

Is there an immediate disturbance to the Lead's world?

Does the first doorway of no return occur before the one-fifth mark?

Are the stakes being raised sufficiently?

Does the second doorway of no return put the Lead on the path to the climax?

Does the rhythm of the sotyr match your intent? If this is an action novel, does the plot move relentlessly forward? If this is a character-driven novel, do the scenes delve deeply enough?

Are there strongly motivated characters?

Have coincidence been established?

Is something happeing immediately at the beginning? Did you establish a person in a setting with a problem, onfronted with change or threat?

Is the timeline logical?

Is the story too predictable in terms of sequence? Should it be rearranged?

About Your Lead Character:

Is the character memorable? Compelling? Enough to carry a reader all the way through the plot?

A lead character has to jump off the page. Does yours?

Does this character avoid cliches? Is he capable of surprising us?

What's unique about the character?

Is the character's objective strong enough?

How does the character grow over the course of the story?

How does the character demonstrate inner strength?

About Your Opposition:

Is your oppositing character interesting?

Is he fully realized, not just a cardboard cutout?

Is he justified (at least in his own mind) in his actions?

Is he believable?

Is he strong as or stronger than the Lead?

About Your Story's Adhesive Nature:

Is the conflcit between the Lead and opposition crucial for both?

Why can't they just walk away? What holds them together?

About Your Scene:

Are the big scenes big enough? Surprising enough? Can you make them more original, unanticipated, and draw them out for all they are worth?

Is there enough conflict in the scenes?

What is the least memorable scene? Cut it!

What else can be cut in order to move the story relentlessly forward?

Does the climactic scene come too fast (through a writer fatigue)? Can you make it more, write it for all it's worth?

Does we need a new minor subplot to build up a saggin midsection?

About Your Minor Characters:

What is their purpose in the plot?

Are they unique and colorful?

Polishing Questions:

Are you hooking the reader from the beginning?

Are suspenseful scenes drawn out for the ultimate tension?

Can any information be delayed? This creates tension in the reader, always a good thing.

Are there enough surprises?

Are character-reaction scenes deep and interesting?

Read chapter ending for read-on prompts

Are there places you can replace describing how a character feels with actions?

Do I use visual, sensory-laden words?

For a Dialogue Read-Through:

Dialogue is almost always strengthened by cutting words within the lines.

In dialogue, be fair to both sides. Don't give one character all the good lines.

Greate dialogue surprises the reader and creates tension. View it like a game, where the players are trying to outfox each other.

Can you get more conflict into dialogue, even emong allies?

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

[lgbtlunaverse]

What kind of saber is baxia anyway?

I love my bloodthirsty princess of a cursed blade, and in my heart of hearts i am nothing but a sword nerd, so i've been extremely fascinated by Baxia and how we know frustratingly little about what she actually looks like!

I mean, look at bichen, right?

Bichen in the donghua:

Bichen in the drama:

They're clearly not exactly the same. The scabbards are different, and the guards have a different shape. But these are recognizably different iterations on one theme, right? Thin jian with a white grip silver guard, light blue tassel and silver mounting accents on the scabbard.

Now this is baxia in the donghua:

And baxia in the drama:

????????

THAT'S A COMPLTELY DIFFERENT WEAPON

it doesn't stop there either, the audio drama is kind enough to give us ANOTHER COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BAXIA

pretty! But how is that he same sword??

And when we go back to the novel, we get very little information on her appearance other than the fact that her blade is tinted red with all the blood she's absorbed. Which none of these designs incorporate.

This is not a dig on the designs itself, they're all quite gorgeous in their own right and i'm going to spend a while discussing all of them! Because isn't it fascinating how, since we know little about novel baxia beyond "saber" all of these designs ended up so different? What kinds of sabers are these, anyway?

So, a chinese aber, aka a "dao" (刀) just means a sword that has only one cutting side. As opposed to a jian, which has two.

You can see how that leaves a LOT of room for variaton.

I've actually seen some people get confused because Huaisang's saber in the untsmed is thin and quite straight, making it superficially resemble the jian more than drama!baxia, but it is still clearly a saber!

See? only one cutting blade!

This, to me looks a lot like a tang dynasty hengdao

credit to this blog for providing his image and being a great source for all this going forward.

TANGENT: during all this I found out the english wikipedia page for dao is WRONG! Ths is what they about the tang hengdao!

So that sounds like the hengdao was called that during the sui dynasty, but then, after that, started being called a peidao, right?

WRONG

I LOOKED AT THE SOURCE THEY USED AND IT SAYS THIS:

IT WAS CALLED THE PEIDOU UNTIL THE SUI DYNASTY, AT WHICH POINT IT WAS CALLED A HENGDAO. Which would carry over to the Tang dynasty. This was the source wikipedia linked! and it says something else than they say it does!

Anyone know how to edit a wikipedia article?

ANYWAY

BACK TO BAXIA

Since we're already at the drama, let's look at drama baxia: She's also straight! the general term for straight-backed saber is Zhibeidao, but that's a modern collector's term, and doesn't really say anything about which historical kind of saber baxia could be based on. Another meta i found on the drama nie sabers already went on some detail here.

I'm gonna expand on that a little: The kinds of historical straight-backed sabers we see resemble the hengdao a lot more than they do baxia. They don't go to their point as harsly as she does (she's basically a cleaver!) and they're all way skinnier.

No, my personal theory is that instead of being based on any kind of historical sword, drama!baxia is based on a Nandao.

I mean, come on, look at it!

Baxia!

The Nandao... isn't actually a historical sword. It was invented for Wushu forms. There's a really fascinating article about its conception, but that's why the swords in the images look a little thin and flimsy. Wushu swords are very flexible and light, they're dance props, not weapons to fight with. There are actual steel versions of Nandao, but they're recreations of the prop, not the other way around.

So That's one way in which Baxia differes from the Nandao: she's actually a real weapon. The other is that, as you can see above, the nandao has an S-shaped guard. Baxia doesn't. She's also much more elaborately decorated, of course. Because she's a princess.

Now: audio drama baxia!

This is much easier. with that flare at the tip?

Oh baby that's a niuweidao, all the way!

There are more sabers with that kind of curved handle, but the broad tip is really charcteristic of the niuweidao. The Niuweidao is also incredibly poplar in modern media, often portrayed as a historical sword, but it originated i nthe 19th century! And it was actually never used by the military!

That's right, the Niuweidao was pretty much exclusively a civilian weapon! That makes its use here anachronistic, but so is the nandao, and considering that the origin story of the Nie is that they use Dao intead of Jian because their ancestors were butchers, portraying them with a weapon historically reserved for rebels and common people instead of the imperial military is actually very on theme!

Finally, Donghua/Manhua baxia. These two designs are so similar I'm going to treat them as one and the same for now.

Unlike both previous baxias, The long handle makes it clear this baxia is a two-handed weapon, though Nie Mingjue is absolutely strong enough to wield her with one hand anyway. Normal rules don't count for cultivators.

Now, this is where things get tricky, because there are a lot of words for long two-handed sabers. And a lot of them are interchangable! This youtube video about the zhanmadao, one of the possible sabers this baxia could be based on, goes a little into just how confusing this can get. This kind of blade WAS actually in military use for many centuries, making it the most historically accurate of all the baxias. But because of that it also has several names and all of those names can also refer to different kinds of blades depending on what century we're in.

So here's our options: i'm going to dismiss the wodao and miandao, because these were explicitly based on japanese sword design, and as we can see manhua baxia has that very broad tip, so that won't work

(Example of a wodao. According to my sources Miaodao is really just the modern common term for the wodao, and the changdao, and certain kinds of zhanmadao... do you see how quickly this gets confusing?)

Next option: Zhanmadao.

Zhanmadao stands for "horse chopping saber" so... yeah they were anti-cavalry weapons. meant to be able to cut the legs and/or necks of horses. That definitely sounds like a weapon Nie Mingjue would wield. But if you watched that youtube video i linked above, you'll know the standardized Qing dinasty Zhanmadao looked very different from earlier versions. It was inspired by the japanese odachi, and more resembles the miandao than its ealrier heftier counteprarts.

Earlier Ming dynasty Zhanmadao on the other hand were... basically polearms. the great ming military blog spot, another wonderful source, says these are essentially a kind of podao/pudao (朴刀) which looked like this

Now that blade looks a lot like baxia, but the handle is honestly too long. Donghua!baxia straddles the line between sword an polearm a little, but while zhanmadao have been used to refer to both long-handled swords and polerarms, this was undeniably a polearm, not a sword.

If you want to know what researching this was like, I found a picture of this blade on pinterest-- labeled as a "two-handed scimitar"-- and the comment section was filled with people arguing about whether this was a Pudao, Wudao, Zhanmadao, Dadao, Guandao, or a japanese Nagita.

So... that's how it was going. This has kept me up until 2 AM multiple times.

However! Thanks to this article on the great ming military blog I found out there have historically been pudao blades with shorter handles!

Specifically, Ming dynasty military writer Cheng Ziyi created a modified version of the pudao to work with the Dan Fao Fa Xuan technixues-- aka technqiues for a two-handed saber, which would alter heavily influence Miaodao swordmanship-- thereby, as the article points out, essentially merging the cleaver-polearm type Zhanmadao with the later two-handed japanese-inspired design.

This is the illustration for the Wu Bei Yao Lue (武備要略) a Ming dynasty military manual

This blade shape in the illustration doesn't match Baxia exactly, but since it's a lengthened Pudao-like blade and we've seen above that those can match Donghua Baxia's shape, i'm gonna say that calling Baxia a Zhanmadao with a two-handed grip isn't all that innacurate!

However, because all of these terms are so intertwined, there are a dozen other things you could call her that would be about equally correct.

To show that, here's a lightning round of other potential Baxia candidates:

Dadao (大刀)

Which are generally one-handed and too short. However!

Another youtube video i found of someone training with a Zhanmadao that resembles baxia a little also calls it a "shuangshoudai dao" (雙手带 刀) shuangshou means two-handed, and while 雙手带 seems to refer to a longer handled weapon, when looking for a shuangshou dao or shuangshou dadao (双手大刀) we find a lot more baxia-resembling blades like here and here

I also found that, while the cleaver-like Dadao is strictly a product of the 20th centuy, since dadao just means big sword or big knife, it has been used to refer to loads of different weapons! Some people could've called the zhanmadao and pudao "dadao" during the Ming dynasty as well.

Another potential baxia candidate that mandarin mansion classifies as similar to the later dadao (though longer, as seen in the illustration below) is the "Kuanren Piandao"

Which piqued my interest because this diagram classifying different tpye of Dao:

Claims that a Kuanrenbiandao (diferent spelling, same sword) is the same as a modern day Zhanmadao.

(So once again, all of these terms are interchangable)

Another opton Is the Chuanmeidao/Chuanweidao (船尾刀) below you can see a diagram, based on the Qing dynasty green standard army regulation, of blades all officially classified as types of "pudao"

The top middle is the Kuanren Piandao, and bottom left is the Chuanweidao.

Both of these have a lot of baxia-like qualities.

So there you go! live action baxia is based on a Nandao, audio drama baxia is based on a Niuweidao, and Manhua/donghua baxia is some kind of two-handed Zhanmadao/Pudao/Dadao depending on how you want to look at it.

I'm honestly surprised no one has made the creative decision to portray Baxia as a Jiuhuandao, aka 9 ringed broadsword yet.

I mean look at it! Incredibly imposing. Would make for a great Baxia imo. (@ upcoming mdzs manga and mobile game: take notes!)

[the-summ0ning]

Sleep Token HC: being in a relationship with III

NSFW elements, fluffy ideas that have been ruminating in my head the past couple weeks… to the point I abandoned my main blog to create a side blog for my fav masked men

Easily having scary dog privileges w iii as your man w the slasher-esque aesthetic about him

But we all know that’s not the case

III the bf you lets you play with his rings on his hands when your anxious

Playing with his hair all. the. time! I’m talking twirling the ends, head scratchies, all of it! He hated how much it had an affect on him

He could be going on a tangent laying his head in your lap on the couch after a long day, and he’d instantly shut up melting into your touch once you started playing with his hair!

III the bf who’s love languages involved gift giving, and physical touch

would most likely buy you the most cheesiest, corniest, tourist of tourist souvenirs from each city he went to just to show you how much he thinks of you and misses you. Even if your apartment is overflowing with his little treasures and you had to invest in an a P.O. Box

Receiving ‘Daddy’s Little Meatball’ and ‘I love ___’ shirts all the time, snowglobes, and hats (you definitely got a cheesehead hat when they played in Wisconsin and a cowboy hat with feathers and a tiara when they were in Texas)

Sending you postcards with the most embarrassing, filthiest things written on them like the post men wouldn’t see it

Including but not limited to

‘Hi love, here Down Under thinking when I can I be down under you :( ”

“Visited one of the 7 wonders of the world today, you should be the 8th ;)”

“Can’t wait to show you my Big Ben again <3”

The most fashionable one of the members, every show you attend, he would try to coordinate your two outfits.

Including hairstyles… matching space buns or french braids?!? Are you kidding me?? Or even matching hair colors once in a while??

Speaking of hair, you would have to help him dye his hair, or shave his undercut late at night in the bathroom. Vice versa if you wanted the same color. Indulging on your favorite beverage or a little joint, giggling every time you would get a speck of dark/bright dye on each other. Or jokingly act like you buzzed too much hair to rile him up

He also solely has a folder on his phone dedicated to pictures (including a lot of candid off guards of just you two in your own little world backstage) taken by Adam and crew members of the two of you matching/coordinating

His phone background is of you sitting criss cross on a large equipment case looking down at him leaning against it trying to tune his bass, but his head is leaned back gazing up at you through his mask instead… both with space buns in your hair

Since your relationship couldn’t be public and be blaring obvious to most people you knew, III would get you two permanent bracelets. Yours would have a tiny ‘iii’ on it and his would have a tiny initial of your first name.

Even though he would have to profusely clean it after shows from the red body paint. It was something he was willing to do to carry this cheeky secret.

And somewhere in his favorites folder of his phone he has a picture of your tinier hand trying to wrap around his cock with the dainty chain hung displaying ‘iii’ clearly around your wrist

And ofc a pic of you two facing a mirror with his hand wrapped around your neck displaying your initial proudly on his

Which leads me into

He definitely has a size kink in all different types of aspects

Him loving the fact he was so significantly taller than you (lets face it he’s a a long fuckin string bean), and letting it be known

It always (not so) subtly came out

In his pet names for you: doll, bunny, kitten–anything small and cutesy really…even if they became so unserious or cringe

When he would just casually walk by you, and ruffling your hair calling you ‘squirt’, making you roll your eyes and scoff. (The other band members may have started to do this as well bc of III)

His adrenaline still rushing after a show, great rehearsal, or recording session barreling over to you to give you a bear hug, lifting you off the floor swinging you around profusely

you would be doing something or talking to someone, he’d catch you off guard by coming up behind you resting his chin on the top of your head, giving your shoulders a light squeeze or massage

Watching you struggle for something on a higher shelf, and waiting until you would almost give up in defeat to come up behind you making sure to press his body against the back of you as he did so to leave you flustered

Despite him being a giant, and perfect big spoon material–he wants to be lil spoon most times.

Loving your arms around his waist, feeling the soft heave of your chest pressed against his back as you slept, providing the comfort and peace he needed after a day in his busy life

He’d be in a drunken/high haze and when it would be just the two of you, he would compare his hand to yours always, smiling lazily over at you adoringly

Admire how his hand practically encapsulated the expanse of your throat when you were up against a wall or underneath him.

A small growl leaving his lips, when he tried to fit inside you loving how you squeeze him

“Fuck doll, are you gonna be able to take all of me?” He hisses, pushing your legs further apart

Or watching how’d you have to use two hands and barely fitting him into your palms when you gave him a hand job

“Baby you’re squeezing me so good.” He tries his best to not let his eyes roll to the back of his head, watching you struggle to jerk him

In conclusion, I need this man biblically.. and I got carried away and could have kept going if you guys want me to keep going I can 🤭🥹 I do plan on doing one for the others too. Reblogs, likes, and replies are always appreciated and fuels my validation

[hopalongfairywren]

HElllo hi i heard you were willing to ramble about egg lore? (<- knows nothing about egg lore but somehow ended up writing a fic about the egg and i need to pay for my sins)

Oh boy. Where do we fucking BEGIN! (This answer will be late and probably go on so many side tangents) Alright, so I'm just gonna recap the "smaller" events leading up to and surrounding the early part of the egg lore first. The Egg arc was so long I could probably make several long posts JUST for recapping the general events that happened in roughly chronological order as well as important tidbits to the egg lore. That's assuming either the ADHD spurred motivation fuel I'm running on while writing this doesn't dry up, or that I get the kind of motivation to write more posts this long from other asks like this. I'll also try to do more seperate posts on the more lore analysis-y side of the egg arc. So like how the egg's story was impacted on a more meta scale by the way the dsmp's story over all was being played out at the time by its' creators, the implications of its existance in both dsmp fanon and canon... IF I'm motivated to that is.

The Egg arc began when c!Badboyhalo found the "egg" in his statue room, which he was digging out to make way from the Dreamon Hunters (totally different lore plot, but that's for another niche dsmpblr blog) He soon showed it to c!Sam and c!Dream, and for context those two had been terraforming a part of the SMP close by the Badlands and therefore the statue room in order for Sam to complete the giant mega prison Dream had hired him to construct.

Bad was immediately drawn to the "egg" (which was called that because of it's shape and not because at that point it was confirmed the thing was an egg), where as both Dream and Sam were immediately weirded out by Bad's sudden affinity for it and the own bad vibes it gave off to both of them. Shortly after leaving the statue room, they spotted red vines growing by first by Hutt's Pizza - and then shortly after at Bad and Skeppy's mansion. This was extra concerning because they reasoned no player could have spread those growths up there on the surface, to those two different locations, in the time they were all down in the cave. This creeped Dream out enough he tried to manually remove the growth at the pizza place. This caused Bad to become agressive and he attacked Dream for 'hurting it', reasoning that the vines were beautiful. And it spread even more rapidly after that, with red vines being spotted growing around Jschlatt's grave, even on the Power Tower in L'manberg. Bad became even more attached to the egg and it's various offshoots, even nicknaming the egg "baby".

At this point most people on the server who interacted with the egg were, understandably were uncomfortable with the rapid spread of the vines and Bad's weird devotion to it. (Execptions to that being c!Puffy, c!Ponk and c!Antfrost who agreed with him) Bad and Ant eventually both started hearing voices from the egg, commanding them to spread the vines even further, while Puffy also started exhibiting the extreme fawning and obsession over the egg at that point. (She nicknamed it Eggy) Bad and Ant actively started spreading the vines; at c!Punz's tower and Sam's base. They also started urging other people to follow them back to where the Egg's main structure was, presumably in order to persuade more people over to becoming obsessed with said Egg. Sam tried putting a stop to this by trying to move the egg's structure physically, but he was stopped by Bad and Ant. The conflict was broken up when Punz came over, and remarked that he found the egg strange but "ultimately harmless." (Punz later elaborated that he was actually neutral on the egg and leaning towards viewing it as a potential threat, but to avoid direct conflict just wanted to see how everything would unfold. He also refused a proposal from Sam to fight Bad and Ant should the need arise.) Ponk was yet another case of someone initially opposing the egg but coming to view it favoriably. He had seemingly mixed opinions for a while, admiring the beauty of the vines but also being creeped out by the degree of devotion Bad, Ant and Puffy were showing to the egg over all. Ponk Eventually went to visit the Egg's main room and actually touched it. Like Bad and Ant, he reported hearing the egg make audible noises. Unlike Sam and Ant, he did not apperantly hear distinct words but rather "growling". Overtime, Ponk started referring to the egg as beautiful as well. Also he too began pushing for Sam to "join the egg" Leaving off here, with the next post (if it happens) being on the canonical timeline of events leading to most of the egg's followers disinfecting at that point, until probably the establishment of the proper eggpire. And then the red banquet of course gets it's own special post.

[nouearth]

joy-cons.

pairing ; barry allen x gn!reader. fandom: ; dc, the flash (cw) genre: ; fluff. rating ; pg. note ; it's been a while since i've written, so pls spare me the pain! just wanted to write a little drabble to start off my blog!

it took a lot of convincing for you to play mario party with barry. forty pleases and multiple interrogations on why you didn’t want to play to be exact.

are you scared? afraid you’ll lose again? come on, babe. i’ll go easy on you!

it’s not that you hated the game or anything. they’ve become a party favorite for years (except for the tenth game, we don’t talk about you) and you’ve always enjoyed how those games made you feel afterwards. whether you lost or won, cheated or played fair; mario party made you (and everyone) laugh and bond together, and you’ll always credit those games for bringing you and your family closer.

with your boyfriend… not so much.

“barry… listen…” you respond with an insecure smile, hesitant whether you should really bring this up with your boyfriend right now or suck it up and play a round if it makes him happy.

“oh no… are you still mad that i stole all your stars the last time? listen, we can play the other games! i’m sure one of them have an option to turn it off or something…” barry playfully rambles, his signature smile that made you fall in love with him still remaining. “which really defeats the purpose of the game, though. because then it becomes all vanilla and if everyone is given a fair chance-“

“barry- no.” you cut him off with a small peck to his lips, a gesture you often do whenever he goes on a tangent.

“then what is it?” he repeats the same gesture back, following up by leaning his forehead on yours to gaze into your eyes a little closer, his hold on your hands tightening to keep your balance and his upright.

“well… uh… okay, you know that mini-game where you have to button-mash the hammer into the little sand cactus thingies?” you describe the mini-game that made your thumbs sore in aftermath. in all honesty, you were great at it. until barry came along.

“the pokeys? yeah! you know i got a world record on that?”

“uh-huh. i was right there.” you lead him to the couch where both you and barry sit, reaching over to grab the red and yellow joy-cons on the table. “less than a millisecond…” you mutter to yourself.

“what about it?”

“well…” you clear your throat and open your palm that’s been holding the red joy-con for barry to take. “you broke them again.”

“oh- i can just pay you back, you know that-“

“no… barry. that’s not the problem! i’ve been noticing and this always happens whenever we play those type of mini games where we have to break our thumbs until they’re beating red!”

“hey! we don’t have to play those! we can skip and… and we can-“ barry fumbles over his words and you can tell something’s making him nervous. it’s quite comical, this entire situation. you weren’t mad, sad, disappointed, but suspicious.

“barry, did you even look at the joy-con.” you shut your lip tight, almost wanting to laugh, but remain serious as your boyfriend looks like he’s in a state of panic.

“wha-“ barry averts his eyes down to his palm. a singular joy-con, the one that he always uses whenever you guys play together, except it looks a little different than usual. “it doesn’t look broken to me- OOOOOH MY GOD.”

barry’s eyes register to a burnt joy-con. well, the other half of it. one side still maintains its signature red, but barely. he looks up at you with wide eyes and an expression akin to edvard munch’s the scream painting.

“yeah- can you tell me how you managed to smoke literally half of the controller? and out of all the games, it’s mario party?!” you take the controller back from his hand and examine it closely. one of the buttons is also smashed in. no wonder he had to get a different controller mid-round.

“listen- i don’t know how that happened! i mean, i told you i’ve been lifting more recently-“ barry attempts to grab the controller back from you as if withholding it would take any more suspicion off of him. the struggle has him rolling on top of you while both you and barry’s arms extend further away from each other.

“oh my god, barry. are we seriously doing this right now-“ you breathe out from under him.

“and that world record?! i blink once and suddenly you win first place with less than a millisecond to your name?! i’m not even sure if it registered how fast you were, barry.” you struggle through your words as he pushes his weight on top of your lungs in a continuing attempt to retrieve the joy-con, but a sigh of relief exhales when you drop the controller and barry rolls off of you.

“i’m good at games! great at them! i thought we talked about this, y/n!” you take a minute to catch your breath and watch barry desperately retrieve the joy-con as if his life depended on it.

“barry, you literally only win when we play those mini games-“ something catches your eye when he loops his finger through the joy-con’s wrist strap and the edge of the controller knocks an object out from under the couch.

another red joy-con.

you take a closer look and in midst, catch a glimpse of barry’s ‘oh shit face.’ before he could swipe it back under the couch, you hop off the couch next to him and crouch down, taking a closer look.

It’s burnt, just like the one you confronted barry about it. you pick it up and examine it with your hands. same damage.

“I can explain-“ you cut him off when you begin pushing the couch away. “oh my god, y/n. no, no, no, no!” he dramatically pleas, but barry knows he’s in too deep as what has been his worst kept secret, is finally revealed.

a clutter of broken joy-cons, all red with similar burnt marks and smashed in buttons reveal before you. it must’ve been at least fifty controllers scattered in a pile. at least four thousand dollars’ worth of product. he’s broken a few joy-cons before, which is why you brought it up to him in the first place… but that’s only been four or five times. not over fifty?! you could tell barry was in desperate need in saving money too because you also saw some third-party brands that resembled the joy-cons.

“okay, so… you aren’t going to believe me… but i have these amazing superpow-“

“barry..? w-what the hell?!”

© nouearth. please do not repost, plagiarize, or translate my works. and if you like this story, please reblog and leave a like!

[kit-williams]

The Spider Suite

Apothecarian Imperial Fist: Astel Redlane

Sickly/weak darling named Mouse

I need to say the biggest shoutout to @bispecsual because a good CHUNK of the yandere boys had her help involved. The small mood boards had her help as well in helping me pick out pictures. 100% helped with getting a plot for the White Scar, helping pick out music for both Azazel rework; the imperial fist; and the white scar as well. They're been an amazing soundboard to work off of and have given me ideas for more short stories/au's etc. Like they have been such a big help that I can't thank them enough for giving me an ear to just go off on tangents about "what if the boys but chaos" and other such just random stuff that during fluffuary I didn't want to write about just yet. (And also keeping me on track with writing all the insane stuff)

Tag List: @egrets-not-regrets @moodymisty @bleedingichorhearts @liar-anubiass-blog @thevoidscreams @barn-anon

Thank you to @squishyowl for the Dividers

tw: SMUT, non con/rape , somnophilia, drugging, yandere behavior

Astel was one of the few brothers suited to taking care of others. Now that did not make him less of a fighter but he could handle returning from a battle covered in the gore caused by tending his battle brothers. Perhaps such a burden and weight upon his shoulders and to keep such a smile and tenderness in his person... perhaps such a thing is what turned his hair white. He entered his room and his eyes settled upon the chapter serf resting upon his bed, his Mouse as he had taken to affectionately calling her. Chapter Serfs were different from most baselines... but Mouse?

Sickly thing... and he could not help but take such pity on her, he wasn't heartless so how could he not take pity upon her? She had simply gotten the short end of the genetic lottery as he had studied her predispositions and she, for a chapter serf, was weak. The laborious lifestyle she was born into did not help her completely while hardier to baselines but compared to her peers she was such a sickly thing. Such a hardy stock serfs were, his fingers danced over her arm as his grey eyes looked over her body, but she tired easy... she was often sick or unwell... out of breath often... just she was just unlucky... if he was a crueler man one might say she was a burden even. His fingers trailed over her back and gently rubbed circles as she let out a small cough.

This is how Astel kept sane... he would find himself a pet project for him to feel good about. He made sure his door was locked and that he wouldn't be disturbed... he looked over the work orders that he had convinced Mouse to give to him to ensure that there would be a nice chunk of time that her companion was busy. He hummed softly as he opened a medical cabinet and pulled out a special mixture for her, making sure there were no air bubbles in it before he injected his mouse. She sighed and relaxed at the cocktail of medications and relaxants entered her veins. Things to help her and try to strengthen her and to help her body relax for what was to come. His fingers ran through her hair as he pulls her messy bun out looking at her hair cupping her face with a loving look in his eyes.

Astel undid his body glove, a part of him wishing she was awake to watch him so he could watch her eyes move over his body. His fingers running through the white happy trail on his stomach as his balls felt heavy... it had been awhile since he had some relief. His fingers pushing back the skin around his cock as he lazily strokes himself to half mast. A grower he's been called and far too girthy as well. He cocked his head to the side with a smile on his face as he just watched her nuzzle his pillow. He did his best to help her with her aliments and make her feel good. He always made sure she left his presence well rested and feeling better, if not slightly sore sometimes.

The bed, made for a man like him, had hardly any impression made by her body and it groaned as he sat on the bed and starts to undo her clothes. He can't help but lean down and press kisses to the back of her neck, wanting to suck on her skin and leave marks there, but his fingers work her robe free from her body. It didn't start like this... he just was a weak man for her weak body... it just started with touches to help soothe her as she slept... and then his hands roamed and she made such irresistible noises as she slept... and finding out that she could take so many of his fingers in her without waking up and just mewling instead is what drove him to this. She had to like it if she mewled right?

He rolled her over... his hand caressing her cheek and moving a strand of hair away from her cheek. His fingers made quick work of her breast bindings and freed her breasts. He leaned in as he wrapped a mouth around one of her nipples and suckled. His tongue caressing the hardening nub as his own member hardened slowly between his legs. The scent of her arousal spurring him on as did many things... he learned how to touch her and make his Mouse feel good. He just had to make sure... she didn't wake up for what he was going to do.

He pulled his mouth away from one overly wet nipple and trailed kisses in the valley of her breasts whispering to her flesh, "Do I make you feel good, little Mouse?" Astel asks before pushing his fingers between her folds and he hears her whimper of pleasure in reply. He always made sure to prepare her, like he did with any lover, but she always took him so well its what made him focus so much on her. Her soft whimpers become akin to an earworm for him haunting him throughout the day as he wrote down medical notes or sketched organs... and the way her face emoted with such soft pleasure haunted him that he has a book full of sketches of such soft faces.

He cannot wait for the day that he won't have to make sure she wont wake up but for now its for her own good for her to be so relaxed. He pulled his fingers out of her sex and pushed them into his mouth as he licked them clean as well checked on her health, she tasted so good. His cock, now fully hardened, twitched in excitement as he could see it as her body being willing to be taken by him. He pulled her up and into his lap as her head rested against his chest as he could hear her whimper as he positioned her over his cockhead. As he eased her down he couldn't help but let out soft moans... he couldn't get relief as often as his brothers due to his girth and he could feel how her walls tried to push him out.

He moved a hand down to her hooded bead and played with it feeling her walls flutter and the waves of her natural lubricant coat his cock to help him sink in till her hips touched his. Astel flexed his thighs as he resisted to thrust up as he had to give her body her time to adjust to his size. He wonders how she would let him know to move? Would she play coy? Would it just be a simple word? A nod of her head? A trail of her hand on his chest? Down his arm? As she looked up at him blissed out in pleasure upon his bed.

His lips touch her forehead and some part of him wanted to see her eyes open and her judge him in this moment... would she look at him as blissed out and lovingly as he wanted or would it be the disgust and horror that he probably deserved for what he was doing to her. He furrowed his brow at the shame that washed over him and he pushed it away by thrusting up into her body and hearing that soft pleasured whimper from her. Her hair tickled his chest and his arm as he held onto her hips as he had her leaning on him, his hands sliding her up and down his cock. It started innocent... touches to help soothe her... a stolen kiss... trailing hands and more intimate touches followed by suckling marks upon her skin where she would not see them easily. The backs of her thighs and close to her ass is where he marks as how else can she see behind her easily?

He did have some competition... her overseer was a failed aspirant and while he didn't like her weakness... it too charmed him and he was trying to court her in his own way. He knew what charm she had... but he made it clear to him that she was his Mouse. And like a good aspirant he listened to his betters but he wasn't a mean peer to his lesser... he just turned the aspirants gaze to his Mouses' companion, someone who was overly concerned with how long Mouse spent in his bedroom, and thus he solved 2 problems.

He felt adventurous tonight as he stood up and continued to thrust into her willing entrance. Hot tongue confessions in gothic left his lips as drool escaped from the corner of his mouth. He so badly wanted to hear her gasps of pleasure and her screaming his name as her walls spasmed around him. His mind raced at what positions he would take her in as they fucked, no not fucked but as he loved her properly. She wasn't as weak or as sickly as many made her out to be... she could handle his cock with ease and it was always so hard to find serfs who could. Usually he was so pent up and perhaps he had a bad habit of always clinging to a serf that can handle him... and with that being also his pet project... well that's how she was both a project and a sexual release. He was so close... he played with that bead and felt her strangling his cock and he came with her name slipping from his lips.

She woke up to the scratching of a stylus to parchment which meant that Brother Astel had returned. She rubbed the heel of her hand into her eye wiping away the sleep. She felt tired but in a good way... and that was more than what she normally got in her bed. "I hope you had a good rest, little mouse." She heard Astel finally say as he turns in his chair looking over at her with his usual warm and kind smile.

"Yes I did." Mouse said finally noticing her hair was now braided and she smiles as she always appreciated how Astel would do this for her, "I really shouldn't sleep here." She says softly.

"Nonsense. You need this my dear and I'm happy to offer my little serf some help." Astel said with his usual mirth.

"Your serf?" Mouse said with a laugh, closing her eyes and missing how Astel tenses and the distress in his body. She stopped laughing but still smiled at him, "I suppose I might be."

"Do... do you not wish to be?" Astel says softly in a curious tone... unknown to Mouse this was a question he wasn't ready to hear rejection too. He was just taking things away from her... giving her all of the time and freedom she wanted with him... Astel stopped his racing mind... he would give her back all her freedoms soon, just he had to make sure she wouldn't leave.

She kicked her feet as she sat in the bed just thinking, "I doubt I'm cut out to be a personal serf, Lord Redlane."

"I think you could be." He says encouragingly to her and she always appreciated how Astel, while it might be pity, still did not think of her as being overly weak.

She hopped off his bed looking at those charming grey eyes of his and that smile... that encouraging smile, "I'll... I'll think about it at least." Mouse said before making his bed and cleaning up a few things before slipping on her shoes and leaving his room to return to her duties. Astel let out a sigh as his eyes returned to the parchment as again there she was once more drawn in the nude laid upon his bed with such a beautiful peaceful look upon her face and for now Astel had to live with this vision upon parchment... and he could for now at least do that.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

something something something about how both inej and wylan manage to escape their abusers at 15 but get stuck in the barrel while doing so something something I love your blog

Thanks so much! And ohhhhh Inej/Wylan parallels my beloveddd

You've made such a good and interesting point about them here and it also makes me think about how they both wear the grey imp costume when they dress as the Komedie Brute (I've talked before about how I think that all of the Komedie Brute characters have different symbolic relevance, such as Nina being the Lost Bride and Kaz being the Madman) because they both battle with a changing perspective on themselves after escaping their abusers. At different points early on in the POV chapters we receive from each of them (ie early Six of Crows for Inej and early Crooked Kingdom for Wylan), both express a want to disappear, a want to be unnoticeable in a crowd, a want to blend in and never feel seen or perceived again; this is where I like them to the Grey Imp, which alongside the orange madman, the blue bride, the red mr crimson, the black and gold scarab queen, and so would easily be lost in the wild, frenzied, brightly coloured crowds of West Stave where the costumes are worn. Inej wears the Grey Imp cloak at the start of Six of Crows, when they travel to Hellgate to break Matthias out of prison, and Wylan wears it near the start of Crooked Kingdom on the way to the boat that will take him and Jesper to St Hilde, where they will find Marya Hendriks. But later on in the books Inej and Wylan both undergo a change in this feeling, finding that the need to disappear was a product of their abuse and finding ways to overcome it. Inej describes the intent to "carve her name into [slaver's] bones" and Wylan acknowledges that Van Eck wanted the world to forget that he had ever existed and so chooses instead to make his mark and never be forgotten.

I love them both so damn much

But also, and sorry this is really more linked to your point and less rambly than the above I promise, but it's definitely such an interesting point that both of their initial escapes only lead to them being trapped in the Barrel. I can't find the right words to articulate it and I'm sorry but there's something about the Barrel's existence exactly the way it is that is both the saving grace and the oppression of almost all of the main characters (??) and I think that's absolutely fascinating. When Kaz buys out Inej's indenture with the Menagerie he tells her that he can't offer her safety and that he isn't sure that even exists in the Barrel and Inej accepts that, but I think that Wylan arguably saw it in a slightly different way because the Barrel wasn't the original source of his abuse, the upper echelon was. Ketterdam, and arguably Kerch society as a whole, is a world where everyone is taught severe polarities and each side is raised to judge the other. So in a world where Wylan had been abused and betrayed by the upper classes and by his own family, the belief that this side is wrong and the other side, being alone in the Barrel, was 'right'. And this is hard to explain without it sounding like I'm saying I think Wylan agreed with everything that happened in the Barrel because obviously we know that he didn't, but I'm trying to say that someone who believes everything in the world exists as either one thing or its polar opposite would subsequently believe that if one place wasn't safe the opposite place had to be, or had to have some semblance of safety somewhere, and that's why it's so much more jarring for him than it is for Inej when Kaz shouts at him "There is no safe!" particularly because Wylan finds it incredibly difficult to trust people and his line right before Kaz shouts this at him is "You said we'd be safe on Black Veil" and I think that this is such an underrated, painful moment but sorry I'm on a tangent again

I've lost track of my point now I won't lie, but hopefully this made some semblance of sense and thank you very much for the ask! <3

This has been another episode of DK Finally Gets It Together And Answers Her Asks Because It's About Damn Time (Working Title) thank you for joining me <33

[curio-queries]

I think AYS definitely found its flow post-US trips. Compared to the later trips, you can tell their time in the US really was more spur of the moment, less thought out. I think that's probably why the editing and filming were better in the other places and they had product placement. I wonder if they originally had something else in mind for the content, such as making it just a bangtan bomb kind of like some of the solo adventures we got during chapter 2 (like jungkook's camping vlog), but then they decided to do more trips or pitched it to Disney or something so they put more money and effort into it.

About the behind the scenes content, I do think whatever was kept out of the main episodes was primarily for pacing reasons (despite the fact that I don't think the pacing was super great until Sapporo) and/or some content that was kept for the purpose of making money off the behind the scenes package. Weirdly I don't think bts cares at all about 4th wall breaks. I saw another blog complain about this a while ago, about being able to see staff in the background and ruining the vibe of AYS or messing up the illusion from a production standpoint, but I think bts themselves never try to put up that 4th wall. Obviously the content is supposed to stay focused on them, but the boys have never had a problem talking to their staff on the other side of the camera even during things like run episodes and even in AYS, the last night Sapporo, jikook are sitting around the table drinking and talking with their staff. Beyond what takes focus off the members or respecting that staff aren't public figures, I don't think the members ever care to create that illusion that they aren't filming something or surrounded by staff. I remember reading parts of bts' book and jungkook talks about jikook's trip to japan in 2017 and mentions how the company was worried about their safety if they went and when they arrived in japan, staff was already waiting for them. Even in a private trip that was meant just for the two of them, because of who they are staff were involved and they don't try to hide that.

Also side tangent, but their book was more interesting than I was expecting based on how I'd seen people talk about. A lot of it is summarization of events with bts' thoughts thrown in throughout, but there were some interesting tidbits I didn't know. Like jimin listening to Army sing-along of Young Forever and that's basically what made him come out of a dark place regarding the band's future and contract renewal tensions. Reminded me of Wembley when he cried and said that song had helped him a lot. Also the book and reading things as a timeline really emphasized how much jikook helped each other through that dark period from 2017-2019: the japan trip when they needed to get away from everything, then jimin showing up at a bar for jungkook and them both crying together (the crying together seems to be a theme for them LOL).

Anyway, back to AYS. For the title cards, we can see in Sapporo that they already edited most of the US trip, so the title cards were probably an idea they thought would be good when editing that, but then they didn't really fit as much in the editing of the other trips. Like the Sapporo vibes are just different from jimin's silly little title card recordings.

I really hope we get more AYS when they come out of MS. I expect group activities will be back in full swing, but since they seem to really enjoy traveling together, I think it'd be nice if we got to have future seasons. Its obviously still work, but I do think its on the more enjoyable end of work for them. I want to see them in Montana, US on a ranch riding horses, or in Venice, IT doing a romantic gondola ride, in the Australian outback where jungkook can finally fight a kangaroo.

Hi anon,

You definitely hit on many of the points we'd been discussing here through these posts so it's nice to see I'm not the only one with some of these thoughts.

After seeing the I Am Still documentary though, it's do feel more confident saying that this team's production engine likely gives very little control to their distribution partners. Again, I still need to do an album watchthrough of most of the Disney documentaries but for now, I'd wager that Hybe fully completes their product and then only sells it for distribution. Maybe there's some back-and-forth if there could possibly be any content censorship for brand cohesion but BTS content as a whole is already very low-risk on that front. I'd even go so far to say that the product placement sponsors had more of an impact on the actual end result of the content than Disney did. But that's purely supposition on my part.

Regarding the 4th wall breaks, I don't think i worded my viewpoint very well previously and I don't think i have much better to say here but I'll try. While I agree that BTS's content isn't trying to shy away from the fact that they have staff around them, I do think there are very specific methodologies behind how they've approached it in the past and likely will continue to.

Take Run BTS for example, at the beginning, they attempted to rely for more in on-screen graphics and having the members themselves deliver the necessary exposition. But...I've said this before and I'll say it again, their production actually really sucks at delivering content that needs to be informative. In my opinion, they realized they weren't doing a great job of this and it was a lot more effort to try to mask, when the episodes that they left in a disembodied staff member explaining didn't have any noticeable drop so they decided to just go with including it.

I know i haven't really talked much here about the Run Jin episodes (as I'm likely going to do review posts as well once I'm done with Run BTS) but one of the main things I've been keeping my eye on is how they're compensating for there only being one member. It's seemingly to fall into relying on guest cast and the staff to give Jin the necessary foil, sometimes successfully and other times less-so.

Anyway, back to AYS, it seems to me like they were absolutely still trying to find the line of staff inclusion. Honestly, I wonder if there was a version of the edit where them watching the first cut of episode 1 would have been only included in the bonus content. Without it though, that episode woukd have been much shorter so I think they kept it in the main release purely for time. It fits so well with the overall tone though and I'm so glad they included it.

Again, wondering about the future. I'm sure they will try to revive this show again after military service and I genuinely hope they try to stick to the format of several mini-trips compiled into one 'season'. It will take a skillful team to be sure there's cohesion though. These episodes worked because there is the overarching tjmeline of their solo projects as they prepare for their service that ties the little trips together. I still think my idea of scheduling trips while they're on tour could work but again only if the tour schedule is a little more relaxed than it has been in the past.

It's all theoretical at this point! I would love to see our guys traveling around to some of the less-dazzling destinations as well. I am from a very rural area in the western US and could not even comprehend what it woukd be like for BTS to even be aware of some of those places, let alone actually visit. That was some of the charm of the USA section. They were out in the middle of nowhere seeing just a little bit of Americana. (But I also completely agree with you and want to see a JK / Kangaroo moment as well!)

I'm remembering now another point that I'd wanted to delve into a little more with AYS, which was how they balanced luxury vs the simple life for this show. It's definitely something I noticed shifting over the episodes and I think that had more to do with those sponsorships as well as wanting to give JM and JK some comfortable experiences prior to their enlistment.

Sorry, i went on quite the tangent anon. If I didn't respond to any of the points that you'd like to further discuss, please point them out in another note. I've already rambled far too much for this one!

[sophieinwonderland]

this dni I just ran into is just the wildest thing to me. No way they're pairing up endos with some of the most disgusting shit on the planet are you serious????

Honestly, seems pretty average to me. Lol!

They do this a lot!

I made a parody blog a while back that was pretending to be an anti-endo, and I used the following DNI as a joke:

It just felt properly over the top, but it's making fun of a real thing that sysmeds tend to do.

I absolutely hate DNI culture on the internet, mostly because of how performative it is.

Like, what is the Venn diagram of people who are publicly identifying as anti-semitic and will also be respectful of your DNI? Because I'm pretty sure it's going to be too completely separate circles!

But also... Why are you trying to drive people further into echo chambers?

If people who I strongly disagree with decided to follow my blog because they like my content, or at least were interested in my point of view, that gives me a chance to change minds.

This blog supports trans rights. But I would never tell somebody to not interact because they are a TERF. Because there's a chance that if one of my followers had a transphobic belief, then reading pro-transgender content could change their minds.

If everybody just decides to not interact with anyone who doesn't share their exact viewpoints, you are never going to change anybody's mind. You are never going to make a difference. You will spend your entire existence preaching to the choir.

And if the only people who interact with people with different opinions are the bigots, then only the bigots will be changing people's minds.

Sorry for going off on a side tangent. But gods do I hate DNIs!

[oscconfessions]

I will unironically ship cross-show host ships. Not just the ones from the smile crossover, things like AirCorn too where they've never met and have no chance of meeting.

People take issue with literally any ship Airy is in within his own show, which to some extent, I get. But I'm not saying I support actual irl relationships like any Airy x contestant ship, I literally ship BatJokes for God's sake. Having a host x host ship is good because usually their crimes are somewhat on level footing (even though most are treated like jokes), WHICH SIDE TANGENT HERE, I hhhhate people who will call me weird for trying to have a discussion about some of the character's immoral actions from less serious shows. Airy hfjONE for kidnapping and manslaughter is treated so much worse than Popcorn for SPREADING INFECTIOUS DISEASES. Just let me suspend disbelief a bit, ok. Yeah, so anyways, I think AirCorn is good bc Airy to some extent doesn't understand the severity of his crimes, whereas Popcorn does and would commit those crimes again.

I'm an avid lover of toxic ships, not an avid supporter.

I'm a sucker for the other host x host dynamics, too, and I just think we're so lucky to have gotten any crossover content we did, canon or not. TwoPhone has been fed?? I no joke started shipping AnimatiClock like three days before sacri uploaded the crossover, and I had no idea.

I'm trying to think of something else worthy of confession here, but I've already confessed a lot in different sessions, and this isn't an NSFW blog.

I still refuse to watch BFDI and affiliated shows, and I will say I find the writing utterly disgusting in the most literal sense. Gross-out humor is for children, but so is most of the stuff JnJ makes. I just think they could respect their audience's intelligence more. Even kids want well written humor in some ways, and I personally think object shows would do best as 'all ages' media that respect their audience. But JnJ makes so much money that I don't think it matters to them. Side note, I watched a livestream of theirs recently, and they seemed very tired. I could be reading into it, but seeing your audience is only children and that they've been doing this for over a decade, I wouldn't be surprised if they quit sometime soon and leave TPOT etc to be produced without them. I don't know if they have already or if they've talked about it, I don't plan to watch anything else from them, save for the specials with algebraliens in them. Needless to say, I won't keep track of it, and the only reason I'm not an outright JnJ hater is because of how close they work with AnimationEpic and the xfohv content. Other than that, grr.

Love you loads, thank you to anyone reading for your time, I hope you have a joyous day!

- (🫳🫴🦷) (mundane object show ranter, previously untagged)

.

[prettyoddfever]

i was poking around on crystal city clothing's old site (johnny whitney from the blood brothers' clothing brand) and apparently he designed shirts for panic?? definitely these two but there's more and the images just weren't saved </3

I don't think I've ever see that yellow one before which is super cool. Anyway I was wondering if you knew how that happened? it doesn't really seem like they would run in the same scene lol but idk. Or anything abt the other unsaved shirts? And does the version of the speakers shirt with the pink (not yellow) text actually exist? Sorry for all the questions haha I just think this is really neat :p

random side tangent first: back then there were SO many graphic designers selling shirts on various sites and posting about their projects too... I guess I sort of took that whole art movement & culture for granted and thought it would always be around. But from the bits I saw, it seemed like people would share their designs on their blogs or in forums & places where you could have a portfolio and then they'd say like which designs were picked up by bands or companies and which ones got rejected. Sometimes they'd complain that a band's management said they wanted a certain concept at first, but then switched directions. Stuff like that. I know at one point in 2008 Panic's label asked that submissions have a hand-drawn look.

I don't personally know if Johnny Whitney had any connection with people at FBR beyond designing in a style that they ended up liking. His style looks like he might have been the artist behind some of the summer tour shirts as well but idk for certain who did each shirt.

I never saw the yellow shirt you shared get used, but the first shirt pictured above was an official piece! The design was shrunk in the end and the text color got changed. Many times FBR would accept a design and then change aspects. I remember seeing some designers surprised that their art showed up on an entirely different colored shirt. Some examples of changes that were made:

AJ Dimarucot

Chris Rushing

Brandon Herbel

Geoff May had some of my favorite designs! The two at the bottom of that post were rejected and never became actual merch, though.

Sometimes even the stuff that got picked up by the band didn’t end up getting used. And other times a design didn't become official merch sold on tours and/or in the FBR webstore, but instead got handed off to other sites & stores that sold the same repetitive band merch. Other times those retailers got a slightly modified version of official designs, like on a different color shirt (like how the speaker shirt you shared got switched to be on a red shirt).

But yeah often designers would have a whole page of designs they submitted to a certain band. Several might have been used while many others were left over. Even Eduardo Recife (who had a TON of accepted designs) still had a couple that weren't picked up.

[peerreview3d]

Talking about the parallels in my stancest art/fic because this is my blog & I get to do what I want.

The art itself is directly based on the infamous hospital scene from End of Evangelion (down to the cum splatter position, yes) but the fic is then based on the art so there will be some difference.

Tangent, I hate that the hospital scene has been memed to death because it contained so much but "haha what a nice friend visiting his coworker at the hospital I sure hope nothing bad happens"

Asuka was critically injured, Stan was experiencing the lingering effect of the memory wipe (figurative death), the only people so close to Shinji/Ford, basically dead. Shinji/Ford were at their lowest point, they're both barely holding onto reality by a thread, nobody could even fathom what they went through, it all so fantastical that Ford would sound insane to anyone else, and Shinji is bearing a burden so special that no one can relate to.

They are both scared and helpless, uncertain about their future, everything, but they had to keep going, because they're born with a "gift", a burden. But the person who should be by their sides aren't there.

Shinji wanted Asuka to relentlessly mock him and make him feel like he is something real and alive. Ford wanted Stan's affection, to feel loved by the only person in the world who's capable of it, to make him feel alive.

This is the only way they can form a human connection with the ones closest to them, expressing their unrequited love for other in the most primal way with mock intimacy they could never experience, because they both couldn't get themselves to open up to others, living in this self imposed emotional isolation and continued to hurt the people they love in the process.

"I'm so fucked up" A repulsive display of an act of love, something they can only express through vulgarity. It is the physical that connect them because they are too scared for emotional connections.

[phoebified]

ooooobliiiiigaaatory sso post because new dark rider design dropped! erissa (not sure why they didnt just keep elise or change it to eris? but that's ok!), the remake of chiyo, just dropped, and... she's white! interesting. there were a lot of ways sso could've saved the dark riders fumbles. there were a LOT of those fumbles, but the one i hammered on the hardest was chiyo, because i myself am japanese, and immediately know a bad design when i see one. likewise, i'm pretty spot on with calling how that character will most likely be written, and can make a few good solid guesses. i will say, i feel lots more in common with sabine, and am against the way they designed someone i could relate to and then painted them staunchly as a villain; likewise with all the dark riders, this may be sso's most diverse group yet, and they are villains. HOWEVER. at that point, they had already put them in-game, and now all i can hope for is some good old fashioned childhood "everything ends up fine" writing that shows these characters some love and perhaps sways them from their homocidal ways.

back to erissa.

why was chiyo's design racist? well, it wasn't just her. most of the dark riders were handled poorly. to be honest, i've talked SO much on this blog about why chiyo was such a bad design that i simply don't want to rehash it. was it the worst i'd ever seen? no. but putting in those stereotypes to a game children -- WHITE children -- play is like teaching children to hit bees nests for fun. it's pointless and hurtful to everyone.

SO: what do i think of erissa? she's cute! i like this design way better than the last.

that's it. whole idea. i think the colors are more comprehensive, i like the crochet details, i think the hobby horse looks a little silly but i kinda like it. overall, i am happy.

now you're probably wondering, "what, so sso can't make non white villains!?" and the answer to that is 1. don't be stupid and 2. of course they can. but they better put just as much effort into the rest of sso. they don't, though. our only buff woman is alex, who barely counts because she's kinda small as fuck in game. that leaves Sabine, who's more buff. her character is nonwhite, visibly has arm hair, and until proven otherwise, is nonhuman. not only that, she's evil. that sends some pretty strong messages, and, side tangent, but to anyone too goofy or too stubborn to see how that's a problem, i'm excited to see how the children in YOUR family turn out, be it yours or other family member's. will YOU teach them what racism is and why it exists and the complexities of it that people scoff at that allow it to continue to exist day in and day out, or will you let them play all the other games that DONT revise their writing, where the good characters are straight and white and every other type of "normal" and the enemies are gay or nonwhite or both? anyway. i hope you see my point.

"children will experience this stuff ANYWAY!" sure. why add to it?

"oh, so you're pulling a save the children thing? so what, you want everyone to be th3 same?" no. i want them to take chiyo's design, make her clothes look better, make her default state not like a mouse, and put her in the game as sso's like. only japanese character. i'd fucking love that! do you know how little representation there is for weird japanese girls? we dont got dick or shit. it'd be so fun to have a slightly redesigned chiyo as an npc, i'd totally fucking adore that! different clothes bc i think her past design was a little. ourgh. it'd be fun and cool if they made her like, a budding emo? omg that'd resonate with so many people i'm sure, and the purple hair is already suited to it. black hair would also be cool, though. do you see what im saying here, though? context is everything. im sad sabine is a bad guy. im sad every white girl who plays this game gets someone to relate to. i guess i too really relate to and like anne, but that's where the similarities end. it's easy to say "why does race matter?" in a sea of white people if you're white, but it can get lonely playing any video game if you're not white. sso is one of the best games ive found in terms of trying to really add diversity (although im still waiting for updated fat npcs), and that's why i weighed in so heavily. it matters to me. i love this game. i think they've done so much good with it recently, i'm really just beyond impressed and in love.

i think erissa is a good design.

[killemwithkawaii]

Welcome back senpai!!! Good to see you (⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

Sliding in your ask box bc I have a nsfw-ish Sally confession to make (⁠♡⁠ω⁠♡⁠ ⁠)⁠ ⁠~⁠♪

So, I saw this edit of his recently with a song that goes "let me play to you like I play guitar" BUT, where I'm from, "playing to someone" doubles as slang for fingering/jerking off so I was just (O/⁠//////O｡⁠) "SAL???"

(but he would. he so fucking would!!!! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) and I'd let him)

p.s. can I be kaomoji anon? (⁠｡⁠･⁠ω⁠･⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♡

[CW: NS/FW lemon, mild unsanitary, mild death/suicide for canon screenshots. Minors DNI!!!]

>Aw thank you, thank you my sweet kouhai~ 🥰💕

>YUS it is TIME ns/fw asks/hcs fucking SUSTAIN ME lets get this shit rollin again >:3c 💖💦

>Threw this together for some canon visual reference (u welcome) ☝

>Sally FACE??? More like Sally FINGERS amirite 😏🥁

>His proportions are inconsistent but we embrace the Meaty Mitts on this blog (i mean just get a load a them sausages and tell me you ain't hungry 👀🌭💦)

>Sal being a seasoned guitarist means his skillset includes: -dexterity -finger strength -hand independence -multitasking -patience -stamina -keeping rhythm (all of which can be utilized whether its his guitar or your junk in/around his hands) 👌💯💦

>I would also like to add 'performs well under pressure' (since he can use his guitar as a weapon in battle) to the list, as well as mention that he's probably got some hard-earned guitar calluses that could offer some very interesting texture variations if he uses them right... 😳🥵💦💦💦

>Okay but Sal literally playing his guitar to you as foreplay is just... so fucking sweet (and would give him the opportunity to give you a taste of the skills listed above before you get a much more hands-on demonstration once the song is finished) 🥺💞💞💞

>There is an ask around here somewhere about Sal strategically playing his guitar while [y/n] sits on his amp and enjoys the vibes..~~~ (it's not listed in my masterlist bc i didn't add much to it, but I wanted to mention it while we're on the subject and will link it if I ever find it ;3)

>Nerdy Side Tangent: I've very curious about where you're from and if those lyrics/ that phrase is a non-English euphemism translated into English? Or maybe it's like British English slang vs. American English slang? 🤔 I ask because I (an American) have always heard the phrase 'play WITH someone,' which sounds like you're treating someone/ their body like a toy/object mostly for your own amusement without any serious thought put into it, while 'play TO someone' sounds like doing something for/to someone for their own enjoyment, and to me suggests that whatever body part(s) involved is more comparable to an instrument being played with purpose, skill and care (much more romantic!!). It's fascinating that such a small difference in wording can make such a huge difference to the mood and implications of a phrase!! (and I'm sure Sal would much prefer your version, too!) 😮✨✨✨

>Thanks for putting all of these these specific thoughts in my brain, kaomoji anon!! You have officially been added to the anon signoff list 🤗✅💖

[nighttime-tea-party]

since you say youve been in the kuro fandom even before BoC aired, could you tell me about how it was back then? :D ive always been interested in learning how internet culture used to be, how things eventually changed, how they improved/declined etc, more so when the current community is pretty much dead. was there an experience that marked you, what do you remember most fondly? was there an event that excited the fandom more than any other (like the release of a chapter or smth)? which blogs were the most popular? Its okay if you dont want to tho, i understand!

Super interesting question! I hope I can provide some equally interesting information in return.

Before the fandom had reached Tumblr, much of it centred around a forum, or at least much of what I knew. It wasn't originally a Kuroshitsuji forum but a sub-forum of a Bleach forum, actually. I think it was called Bleach Asylum? And I don't know exactly how it came to be but I think that Bleach forum had lots of sub forums for then-popular anime and manga but Kuroshitsuji gained so much popularity and the fandom happened to gather there, so that sub forum really took off and it ended up being an anchor point for the fandom. I used to always look for the most recent scanlations there, back before we were able to buy them legally.

I didn't actively participate in that forum but I lurked occasionally. It was full of wild discussions, one of which was the "two Ciel(s) theory"/"2CT" as it was called back then. It had a strong following on the website back then already. I sadly don't remember any of the other theories that were making rounds back then...

I didn't really participate in much fandom stuff back then, limited my art posts to deviantArt and my personal facebook... but eventually, I made a tumblr specifically to interact with the fandom.

As for blogs, I don't really like doing any name dropping, especially because it would go into some people who used to ship sebaciel and turned anti, and other stuff I'd rather not talk about. I do feel like back in the day, there were a couple of gigantic Kuroshitsuji blogs with massive followings that got a LOT of asks every day (to the point where it seemed like a full time job to keep up with them). Discussion around sebaciel was very different, there have always been people who disliked it but unfounded rumours like "did you know that Kuroshitsuji was supposed to be a yaoi" made rounds without people questioning it. That always annoyed me a little tbh haha.

There was one fan artist on deviantArt whose name I sadly don't remember but I think they were THE kuro artist in Western fandom back then because their style looked very similar to the anime style. I still see their art sometimes.

And fun fact on the side, I grew up in German fandom spaces and we had a big website called Animexx (I think it's still around) that was dedicated specifically to all things manga, anime, and related stuff. They had really convenient ways of browsing on-site fanart, fanfic, doujinshi, cosplay, and other fan creations, as well as forums and ways to host your own fan events. Until the early 2010s, I hung out there a lot so until then, my perspective is distorted by that German lens. I used to post my early Kuroshitsuji fanart there too.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! I feel like I could go on tangents for much longer but idk how interesting that would be.