#ask and answers

[cruilty-ink]

I come bearing amenities for our little AU competition. Good luck in the preliminaries ;)

- REBOOT: Second Chance AU Donnie

Leo will happily take your uranium :)

@tmntaucompetition

[theecholegend]

ECHO

ECHO GUESS WHAT I SAW IN INSTAGRAM

1. This adorable drawing of them alslajdkldnl

2. JOJO LIKED THE DRAWING?!??? JOJO???

JOJO. THE JOJO

LIKED

THIS DRAWING

AAAAAAAAH THATS SO CUUUUUTE!!! He really used all his precious rupees and bought the best of the best for her 😭😭😭 I actually read a fic once where this is literally what happened!

YES! YOU GO JOJO! Jojo is a person of impeccable taste!

[epic-arc]

A boxer au.

I got this idea from watching a trailer for the game "big boy boxing."

In this au jaune runs away from home and is adopted by his great aunt Salem. Soon with her help he begins training to become the world champion of boxing in all 4 kingdoms.

As jaunes boxing style is the grimm style a fighting style his aunt taught him.

Well I've never been very interested in boxing but this is a pretty interesting au idea. You did a great job with that.

[ghost-bxrd]

Ok so I’ve seen your thoughts on Talia being a good mom to both Jason and Damian and generally being a better person vs when she’s morally gray and really only good to Damian, but how do you feel about Bruce being a bad dad? Like personally I don’t like him being abusive but unfortunately…canon does not disprove it 😕🫠. Like do you have hcs or prompts where he switches from one interpretation to the other? Genuinely curious bc my thoughts on him going between these two have me conflicted bc I don’t LIKE him being a bad father, specifically in regards to Jason, but it does kinda fuel some ‘Jason leaves the batfam to go find himself’ stories I’ve seen, but you could argue that Bruce doesn’t NEED to be terrible for that to happen. Idk maybe modern comics have poisoned my ability to ignore Bruce’s history of abusing his children in some way by cranking up that abuse to a solid 20/10 (I’m sure I don’t have to mention what I’m referencing lmao), but it just makes me think. So much would be nicer if he was just a flawed father, but that’s not what his character fully is y’know (this is why I brought up Talia, just realized I was rambling without making that clear lol)

Phew ok, I’ll try to answer this to the best of my abilities!

So keep in mind that these are my personal thoughts and I’m actually not that well versed in comic lore (the comics I’ve read can be counted on one hand sadly but I’m trying to get my hands on more ksksks), and majority of my knowledge comes from research and fanfic.

Okay back to the topic at hand!

Generally I write/read fanfic for some fluffy family feels (and angst) and the occasional romance, hence why I prefer to write Talia and Bruce as being good parents and likable characters in general. I enjoy reading about it, so I enjoy writing it that way.

In regards to Bruce and his canon actions… well, that’s a tough one to answer ngl.

On one hand he’s displayed as a loving adoptive father who absolutely adores is children, on the other hand he’s shown to be ruthless when they violate his no-kill rules (reference to the Batarang incident).

To me this kind of juxtaposition makes little sense, but I’m afraid there are quite a number of character inconsistencies in the franchise from what I’ve seen so…. I don’t know. It’s just such a 180 turnaround to the early concept of the Batman who considers everyone to be redeemable regardless of their crime. Why would that suddenly not apply to his child?

I don’t think I could ever stomach writing him as a genuinely bad father, most I could do to mix it up a little and have him struggle to reach an understanding with Jason regarding his rule over Crime Alley and dealing with his own inability to communicate properly.

Batman was always supposed to be a protector, the “good guy”, but he’s also human. A human with significant trauma that he’s never properly worked through which… can screw with your people skills significantly.

So that’s usually the way I try to look at it whenever I want to write a Bruce who isn’t the World’s Best Dad at the moment. He’s trying, he just doesn’t know how to show it in a way that others can understand, especially his kids. (Yes tho I take full liberty with the more heinous stuff Bruce pulls/pulled in the comics and discard them as if they’re expired candy >.<)

To sum it up, I’m afraid you won’t ever find a fic where either Talia and/or Bruce are genuinely, irredeemably bad. Simply because I personally don’t think that’s how people work in general and because… well, I’m soft and I need some soft parenting in there somewhere. Sorry dear 🥺

Phew ok I think I was rambling a bit here, but I hope that answers your question somewhat? But if you’d like I could totally cook up a prompt for you that deals with Jason and Bruce struggling to come to an understanding and making compromises to be a family again. Feel free to let me know or send another ask if you’d like to stay anonymous 💚💚💚💚

[kinsey3furry300]

I have no ideas what animorph is but I already seen it mentioned on at least 5 different blog which have nothing to do with each other (you being the 5th) what the hell is it???

90s/early 00s young adult sci-fi book series of around 60 short books, published once a month, by K A Applegate.

The books were distributed cheeply by the Scholastic book fair, and could be found in most school libraries thought the Mid 00s.

The plot was 5 normal kids have to stop a secret alien invasion by turning into various animals, and the books were known for starting off with quirky humour and very rapidly decending into utter existential horror with body horror, possession horror, and the ptsd you'd get if you were actually a teen super hero and had to fight an actual war with real stakes aged 13-16, and the fear of never knowing who your real enemy might be. The series ended about a month before 9/11 with a disastrous final battle and a grim warning about how war never really fixes any of the underlying problems between rival nations or peoples, and just destroys good people, so... yeah, ooof.

Due to the content, beloved by horror fans, super hero fans, Sci fi fans, furries (the kids have the power to turn into animals for combat and it gets real weird real fast), and the queer and the trans community, so it turns up on a lot of unrelated blogs.

The audio books are still readily available and are pretty well done, and the cover art of the books was gloriously 90s.

Behold!

There was also a tv show we dont talk about.

The main cast were:

Jake: the leader. There is an evil alien slug living in his brother's head, and this causes issues for him.

Cassie: Jake's crush. The moral center of the books. Also her parents are veterinarians at a zoo, with is very fucking convenient if you need a ready sourse of animals to turn into.

Marco: Jake's best friend, the smart one. Also uses inappropriate humour to cope with trauma (relatable).

Rachel: Jake's cousin. Uses turning into a grizzly bear and committing extreme violence to cope with her trauma (relatable).

Tobias: perminantly turns into a bird to escape his trauma (most relatable) but then has to deal with extreme body and mental dismorphia as a result. Has a star-crossed lovers plot with Rachel. He is my favorite.

Ax: an alien teenager they just adopted and hide in the woods. Is also my favourite. He's a bright blue centar with stalk-eyes and a sythe tail, and he loves Cinabon and warcrimes. Due to his extreme alien mindset, he's been taken as a metaphor for Neurodivergance, but it's unclear if that was the author's original intent.

The books are awesome, and still available as e-books, comics and audio books I'd you want to check them out.

Here is a video essay that does a far better job of explaining:

[evax3]

Hello there! I’m at a loss right now and was hoping you may know something. I was going to read Forget the World by Wolfmaid and found that they deleted their AO3 account and I’m devastated and hoping someone knows something! BTW I love your work!

Oh, anon, thanks for the kind words and sadly I have no clue what's going on...

It seems they deleted all their fics but I can only speculate about the reason for this. In any case, it is a great loss. I love all their stories. Especially Brave & Gentle I've read countless times. So if anyone in this fandom stays in contact with Wolfmaid, please tell them how much they're loved and how much they're missed!! ❤️

[erisenyo]

9, 13, 16, 25 🫡 godspeed

9. worst part of canon

The Great Divide lol? Jk, I generally like canon a lot, actually! I think it is such an amazing framework to play around in. But I do wish they had grounded the Southern and Northern Water Tribes in research/real-life cultural roots to the same degree as they did for the other nations. From what I've seen from circumpolar fans, it seems like it's more of a stereotypical and surface-level referencing vs the attention to detail given to the Fire and Earth and Air cultures. I wish canon had built that out more fully and deeply (or at least, built the North out if there was a theme being threaded around cultural loss due to the impacts of war).

13. worst blorboficiation

I feel like awkward turtleduck Zuko is the easy answer here...so I'm going to say Katara. I really like her, for her anger and her heart and her sense of justice and her sense of care and her dorkiness and hunger to learn. It feels like a lot of times she's boiled down to 'group mom' with no other layers, or to a girl boss/girl power fantasy that doesn't actually engage with her trauma and responses to it, or her ssensse of justice. She's a really great, complex, human character and I hate to see her filed down to just the one facet that lets her slot into the background of someone else's story.

(Which is maybe like the opposite of blorboification, to be put into the background lol? De-blorbified haha?)

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

I see a lot of headcanons/characterizations of Zuko as incredibly anxious, frequently to the point of paralysis and distress and needing rescue, and it's one of those things that feels totally divorced from his actual canon characterization to me. He is all action in canon. He throws himself at every problem face-first and he'll figure it out on the way. He has a big emotionally painful revelation that he was raised with lies and he goes to yell at his dad and point swords at him about it. He has an identity crisis so he does some vigilante stuff. A more experienced, older firebender gets in his face so he challenges him to a duel--three times.

He is not paralyzed by anxiety. He is a perpetual motion machine. He broods, he doesn't ruminate, and there is a difference.

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Oh man lol. Ignoring all the purity wank stuff (which. what a big thing to ignore.), how about when we complain about how other shippers are rude and mischaracterize us and come at the Zukkas, when we don't come for them. Which just goes to show how uniquely terrible and rude and awful and wicked and ignorant and mean those other shippers are, and how they don't know anything about canon either, and also their ship is stupid and racist and phobic and--

But don't worry, we don't come at other shippers.

(For the choose violence ask game!)

[not-poignant]

I apologize if you have been asked this before, but do you know the ending to your stories? I've been wanting to start writing my own books, but I've been struggling to plan them. I heard people say that it's good to know how the story ends first before writing, and I was wondering if you do that as well? Or if you can give any more tips/things you do to prepare for writing? Thank you!!

(also i've been trying to catch up on underline the black, and i'm loving it so far! thank you for all that you do)

Hi anon!

I do generally know the endings to my stories. I might not know the exact details, but if I'm writing a romance, I know the two main characters have to be together and happy or hopefully looking forward to their ever after.

And that makes things pretty simple because that's often what I'm writing. Sometimes knowing your genre - i.e. if you're writing a romance - can help. Because it gives your ending to you: It must be a HEA (happily ever after) or HFN (hopefully for now) for it to qualify as a romance.

And if you do know your genre, you can research the formulas of other books within that genre to get an idea of endings you personally find interesting or appealing.

However if you're wanting to plan stories, I'm the wrong person to ask, because I don't like planning. I do like worldbuilding, and researching, but I don't like to plot anything.

It might be good to get an idea of the kind of writer you are first, and the best way to do that is to practice! Look for writing prompts and writing exercises, try planning a short work and writing it, or see if you have more fun just starting writing something with nothing more than an interesting character, or work on a skeleton plot.

Tbh my preparation for writing varies from 'literally none at all - I sit down and just start' to...spending a lot of time researching what horses ate in Victorian times. Every story requires a slightly different path, which is kind of normal with writing I think. Or normal for me!

[scullys-scalpel]

Get to know you ask game! Answer the questions and tag 9 people you want to know better.

Thank you for the tag @randomfoggytiger and @into-the-merry-wood

Last song I listened to: C.O.T.A - The Cult

Currently reading: nothing to list at the moment

Currently watching: True Detective series, I started off with the new episodes then went back to season 1 (which was amazing) I skipped season 2 bc I heard it's not (but I probably will go back to watch it) almost done with season 3 (which was filmed where I live 😃) and it's been very good so far.

Currently obsessed: wanting to move to Green Bay, WI 🤣

I tag anyone who wants to join in 😊

[marvelstars]

Hey, I thought your take on snarky!Obi-Wan and the potential issues that could have caused between him and bby!Anakin was really interesting. Do you have any more thoughts on their relationship and what was the biggest cause of miscommunication between them?

Hi

I am glad you liked my post.

I have many thoughts, I will share some of them here:

I believe Obi-Wan and Anakin´s main problem is the fact they were expecting very different things from each other and how they meet each other as well as their upbringing didn´t help matters.

Anakin needed a father figure because he didn´t had a father, a father figure that supported him and loved him with unconditional love just like his mother did with him, because that´s what any human being needs to grow up happy and emotionally centered and stable, the main reason why Anakin didn´t snap with his powers as a slave, with so many opportunities to do so or even as self defense, was pretty much because of his mothers unconditional love and moral guidance. Qui-Gon was on his way to become this but he died too soon and then Obi-Wan become his main father figure.

The problem is that this new parental figure openly told Qui-Gon he thought Anakin was dangerous and that everybody on the council thought the same, this didn´t affect Anakin too much while Qui-Gon was alive, at least he seemed to care for Anakin but once he died, with his mother still a slave on a different planet, I believe Anakin truly felt alone and lost in the world for the first time ever. He lost his footing, he didn´t know what to do.

Obi-Wan saw Anakin as his little brother and saw Qui-Gon as their father figure while Anakin was used to his Mom style in parenting firm but understanding and with verbal reassurances, Obi-Wan style was more of the kind in which he thought criticizing and barely admiting Anakin´s advances would be enough to motivate Anakin into becoming the best Jedi ever, because that was what a chosen one was supposed to be right? Obi-Wan believed in the chosen one prophecy because Qui-Gon believed in it but not because he understood it.

This made Anakin believe he had to show Obi-Wan with actions, missions or his powers he was worth it, that he wasn´t dangerous and that while he wasn´t sure he was truly the chosen one, he could become a Jedi and then maybe, some day, Obi-Wan would love him as his mother loved him and Qui-Gon apparently did. I don´t believe Obi-Wan noticed this ever until in one of their missions from the clone wars, Anakin conffessed to him he was right, Anakin was dangerous before that Obi-Wan just thought Anakin was arrogant in the use of his powers and he regretted ever saying that in front of Anakin and apologized but it was too little too late, at that point in the clone wars, Anakin indeed had become a dangerous warrior but he wasn´t a Jedi, not in the way Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were.

Obi-Wan also didn´t want to be Anakin´s father, he was his brother, not his father because as a jedi father isn´t allowed but a master is totally ok and "I can´t take Qui-Gon´s place Anakin ok? I believe Obi-Wan felt like an impostor to be called a father when that goes completely agaisnt his beliefs and culture and subjectively, he would be taking Qui-Gon´s place in his mind.

So this miscomunication led to dissaster in the form of Anakin´s other main father figure, Palpatine.

Palpatine knew better how to tackle Shmi style of parenting, I don´t put it past him reading Anakin´s mind/memories and getting information on the Skywalkjer family to get this right but while Shmi intention was to raise and support Anakin´s sense of wrong and right, as well as his own will and sense of justice so he would grow up healthy and happy.

Palpatine used his good relationship with Anakin to attack Anakin´s sense of self and belonging since he was 9 until he became an adult. "Nobody understands you" "The Jedi council doesn´t trust you" "Such a shame your mother is still a slave" "Only I will ever support you unconditionally" "I could do so much for the galaxy if I had more power" etc. The problem is that he wasn´t wrong truly, the Jedi council was wary of Anakin´s origins and thought it was better if he grew up away from his mother, not for the reasons Palpatine said but because that´s what they did in the culture they built to help a Jedi cut off attachments but they didn´t talk openly with Anakin about this either and didn´t really consider that Shmi by herself needed help and helping her wasn´t agaisn´t their non-attachment rule.

Palpatine didn´t do this because he wanted to spoil Anakin, he did this because he wanted to isolate him from everybody so he would be loyal and obedient only to him with his emotional support and given how differently Jedi showed emotional support, Palpatine being ready to give it to Anakin just like his mother did was like giving water to a man dying of thrist in the desert and we all know where that went.

So while Obi-Wan grew to love and appreciate Anakin as his own person, not just as Qui-Gon´s last wish or as the chosen one, Anakin grew frustrated and angry, lonely and sad at never being enough for Obi-Wan or the jedi Council, never being enough of a Jedi to be one of them in the same way they were to each other. Anakin thought the reason for this was because they still saw him as someone dangerous and were still wary of him, which was maddening to him because he went from having his mother and many friends to be part of a community that was wary of him and didn´t seem to accept him just as he was.

I believe this is why symbolically/emotionally the day Anakin´s mother died after having many dreams of her dying and 13 years to rescue her, years in which he felt guilt at not being able to do so, was the day Vader was born and also the day he gave up on being a Jedi in the way the Jedi Order wanted, Anakin didn´t just lost it with the tusken raiders that night, he gave up on what Obi-wan expected of him, he regreeted deeply his actions of that night but could not bring himself to feel bad about avenging his mother who was cruelly killed and tortured for weeks, his mother who teached him to be good and that the biggest problem in the galaxy was that no one helps each other, especially since he knew there would not have been justice, Jabba is non-officially in charge of Tatooine as far as the republic is concerned and the Jedi showed for decades they don´t involve themselves on these matters

When Anakin trusted him with his dreams Obi-Wan didn´t give much importance to Anakin´s warnings, he just made him remember his compromise to the Jedi, almost as if to be a Jedi he had to give up thoughts of his mother and that lead to her death, because he could have come to help her the very first night he dreamed about her, weeks earlier. I don´t believe their relationship ever recovered from that on Anakin´s side, Obi-Wan didn´t even know about this until the rise of the Empire, Anakin didn´t told him and while Anakin still loved Obi-Wan as his father with all his heart and this love was the reason why he stayed on the Jedi Order, his heart/soul was with his dead mother and with Padme, this is why he didn´t need much to decide to give up being a Jedi in order to become a father at the beggining of ROTS. The creators of ROTS said that Obi-Wan´s last rejection, his "I loved you but I could not save you" on Mustafar after Anakin non-verbally asked for help before burning alive, was the moment Vader completely took over Anakin.

The rest as they said is history.

In an AU where Palpatine didn´t exist, I believe they could have patch things out but only after Anakin left the Order, maybe over Padme and the tusken debacle and Obi-Wan was forced to admit openly he loved Anakin, not just as his apprentice or as a Jedi or for the prophecy or for Qui-Gon but because he was Anakin, his little brother and he loved him.

Hope you like some of my thoughts. I have some others but those are the main ones when it comes to their relationship.

[crownleys]

10, 11 and 45 for Kira? 🫶

Thank you for the ask!! 10. What fact do they excitedly tell everyone about at every opportunity?

Most likely the fact that whatever article of clothing she's wearing is something she made herself. Perhaps not a like... general information/knowledge fact, but a fact she'd be very very proud of. Her absolute pride and joy would be a beautiful full-length Victorian-style wool winter coat she made for herself that's all hand-stitched.

11. If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference?

HMM... I feel like the like, angsty dramatic version of this answer would be something about missing her father, because real Kira would have a rather ambivalent answer -- "I never knew him well enough to miss him", etc, where a fake Kira might ham up the tragedy of it all. ... And then I feel like the real answer has to do with sewing techniques. Like that one scene from Legally Blonde at the beginning where Elle's shopping for a new dress. The half-loop stitched low viscosity rayon of it all.

45. What’s something unimportant / frivolous that they hate passionately?

When things she needs at the grocery store are at the very tops of the shelves U_U Alternatively, when she accidentally leaves change in her pockets when she washes her clothes and has to practically crawl into the top-loading washing machine drum to get them out (she's short)

[cruilty-ink]

MUAHHAHAHAHA *runs away*

( art not 100% mine )

Byeee

Run faster.

(@tmntaucompetition)

[magicaldogtoto]

what should i watch / read if Im beginning to get into the wizard of oz??

ive watched the movie and a weird black and white sequel when i was younger.. idk if the latter was a fever dream or not though.

Sorry for the late reply! I got your question just as I was heading out to my night shift. I wanted to wait until I got home to answer, since doing so on my computer would make linking things easier.

The main Oz canon is referred to as the Famous Forty. Those are the main books that others are inspired by or reference. Of those forty, fourteen were written by L. Frank Baum. Of those fourteen, only the first six (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz) form what could be considered a single overarching story. These books are:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Marvelous Land of Oz

Ozma of Oz

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

The Road to Oz

The Emerald City of Oz

This is important to keep in mind, because after those six, continuity in the books gets really contradictory and surreal. If you want a good place to start reading, start with these.

You can find pretty much all the original fourteen books online for free, since they are in the public domain. The links I posted are all from Gutenberg. Gutenberg has online versions of them, complete with the original illustrations. Here is the online version of the first book. Gutenberg has multiple versions of the same books, though, so you may have to search through a couple versions before getting the ones with pictures.

It's also worth noting that Baum connected a lot of his stories together, so there are quite a few non-Oz books that are worth checking out. These include:

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, which introduce the Forest of Burzee, a location that is home to numerous Immortals and fairy folk that influence the world of Oz. You can watch the Rankin-Bass adaptation of this story, too.

The Sea Fairies and Sky Island, which introduce Trot and Cap'n Bill, who become regular characters in Oz.

Queen Zixi of Ix, which introduces the Land of Ix. Zixi herself is an interesting character--a centuries-old witch who rules over her own land and leads her armies into battle wearing golden armor (despite being centuries old, she uses magic to remain physically sixteen).

The Enchanted Island of Yew, which is about a fairy girl who becomes a boy and goes on adventures as a knight. The island is located near Oz.

It probably goes without saying that these are old books. As a result, they have not aged well in places. It's important to keep that in mind when reading them.

The black-and-white movie you're thinking of is definitely a thing. There were a lot of black-and-white Oz movies before the famous musical. I don't think it was a sequel, though--not a sequel to the musical, at least. There is a sort-of sequel to the MGM film by Disney called Return to Oz, which adapts the following two books after the first one. It's honestly a pretty good movie, though it may be a bit more intense for younger viewers.

Hope this helps! Anyone else who sees this, feel free to add on.

[epic-arc]

Jaune was nervous. His Mom was meeting his Boyfriend(s)/Girlfriend(s) for the first time, and he had no clue how it would go.

"Okay" Mama Arc said "I have just one question to start off with. How many children do you want?"

How does your Ship answer?

(If you want, send this ask to a mutual/friend/Etc.)

Weiss and ruby ​​hear that comment and blush jaune would notice that and was going to comment about it but at the same time ruby ​​and weiss stand up and look at jaune's mother with determination on her face.

Weiss: Ruby and I promised ourselves that we are going to have as many children like you miss arc!

Ruby: And we hope you support our decision!

Mama arc stands up with a big smile on her face and hugs weiss and ruby ​​which would make both of them extremely happy and jaune would be watching this with a smile on his face

[kalechipslives]

I love your style in those colorful kinda cubist illustrations you make (like the one in your banner), can you talk a bit about the process like how you pick the colors or how you plan the composition?

Oh, thank you kindly (╯▽╰ ) They're all things I make in mspaint, I will try to explain it although I might be sort of messy.

As you can see for the one in my banner, it doesn't have all the details yet. I first collect a bunch of reference images to the side. I have a collection I draw from. I wish I could talk more about composition but I just eyeball everything 💁🏽‍♂️ The most important thing is that the colors are balances. The focal point here will be the glowing stone between the two boys with the duller herons wrapping around them. The skin color for the boys looks very dull until you add the light. I like looking at animation cells especially since the colors of those tend to be not what you expect at all.

I start adding patterns from reference images. It creates a quilted/stain glass look that's very pretty. The color of the lines for this part isnt as dark as the normal lineart so it's softer to look at.

One of the most important things I add to my art is ribbons of light. As the starlight threads through, the color changes as it reaches the center. It flies overtop the boys but under the herons, creating some nice layers. I try to add layers wherever I can to make the image complex! Also, I try to reuse colors to keep things cohesive! The apples bob around in the background to balance out campanella's hair.... Hopefully this makes sense. It's just a lot of fussing with colors and making sure everything in the image is balanced well ^_^