#ask me anything: CoS

[imagineitdearies]

Two things~ A comment and question!

I was out on a first date with someone yesterday and we were fangirling over bg3 and our love for Astarion. She's a big fan of drow, and knows all the Drizzt books. So I suggested Perfect Slaughter to her. Gave her the rundown and she seemed to be onboard. Hopefully a new fan for you~

But also, I'm super curious about Circle of Sixths and if there's been any updates~ No rush at all! From the plot basis on your profile, it looks definitely intriguing!

Just looking forward to more writing! Love the PS drabbles and learning about the boys after everything. They're too sweet~

Hey ramenhokage 🥰

First off, my goodness, you're out spreading the good (bad) word of Perfect Slaughter, and on a first date no less?? This has to be one of the coolest, most niche compliments a fanfic author can get 🤣🩵 Thank you, I hope she enjoys!

And on top of that, another thank you for asking about Circle of Sixths!! It's super exciting (and encouraging!) to me that some readers from Perfect Slaughter want to hear about my original fiction. This project definitely is moving slower than fanfic, simply for the fact I can't go to a wiki for lore, I have to make the wiki to some extent lolol. Also last month was a whirlwind with a vacation, big things happening at work, and starting a new relationship. But I have made progress!!

Right now my goal is to finish 10 out of the 15ish chapters I have planned for Part I: Mellifluous, hopefully by the end of the month, before I send the first three chapters to a few beta readers. Currently I have 8 chapters fully written, so I'm getting close to that milestone! I've shared a bit on my author discord already (join if you haven't, lots of fun discussions!!), but here's another rough, unedited excerpt for you all:

At the moment, I'm thinking I might go the route of posting on Patreon--subscribers would get early access to each chapter (amongst other things), but it'd be free to followers a week later too! And then once Part I is fully out, offering it as an ebook and possibly print-on-demand, if I can get enough income to pay for a cover/formatting help. We'll see, honestly. If people have opinions or advice on this, I'm willing to listen at the least!!

Thanks again, hope you're keeping well friend 🩵

[genericpuff]

Tbh at this point you should just make your own webcomic app/website because it would probably be 100 times better than whatever going on with webtoon right now.

hahaha it wouldn't tho, sorry 💀

Here's the fundamental issue with webcomic platforms that a lot of people just don't realize (and why they're so difficult to run successfully):

Storage costs are incredibly expensive, it's why so many sites have limitations on file sizes / page sizes / etc. because all of those images and site info have to be stored somewhere, which costs $$$.

Maintenance costs are expensive and get more so as you grow, you need people who are capable of fixing bugs ASAP and managing the servers and site itself

Financially speaking, webcomics are in a state of high supply, low demand. Loads of artists are willing to create their passion projects, but getting people to read them and pay for them is a whole other issue. Demand is high in the general sense that once people get attached to a webtoon they'll demand more, but many people aren't actually willing to go looking for new stuff to read and depend more on what sites feed them (and what they already like). There are a lot of comics to go around and thus a lot of competition with a limited audience of people willing to actually pay for them.

Trying to build a new platform from the ground up is incredibly difficult and a majority of sites fail within their first year. Not only do you have to convince artists to take a chance on your platform, you have to convince readers to come. Readers won't come if there isn't work on the platform to read, but artists won't come if they don't think the site will be worth it due to low traffic numbers. This is why the artists with large followings who are willing to take chances on the smaller sites are crucial, but that's only if you can convince them to use the site in favor of (or alongside) whatever platform they're using already where the majority of their audience lies. For many creators it's just not worth the time, energy, or risk.

Even if you find short-term success, in the long-term there are always going to be profit margins to maintain. The more users you pull in, the more storage is used by incoming artists, the more you have to spend on storage and server maintenance costs, and that means either taking the risk at crowdfunding (ex. ComicFury) or having to resort to outsider investments (ex. Tapas). Look at SmackJeeves, it used to be a titan in the independent webcomic hosting community, until it folded over to a buyout by NHN and then was pretty much immediately shuttered due to NHN basically turning it into a manwha scanlation site and driving away its entire userbase. And if you don't get bought out and try your hand at crowdfunding, you may just wind up living on a lifeline that could cut out at any moment, like what happened to Inkblazers (fun fact, the death of Inkblazers was what kicked off the cultural shift in Tapas around 2015-16 when all of IB's users migrated over and brought their work with them which was more aimed towards the BL and romancee drama community, rather than the comedy / gag-a-day culture that Tapas had made itself known for... now you deadass can't tell Tapas apart from a lot of scanlation sites because it got bought out by Kakao and kept putting all of its eggs into the isekai/romance drama basket.)

Right now the mindset in which artists and readers are operating is that they're trying way, way too hard to find a "one size fits all" site. Readers want a place where they can find all their favorite webtoons without much effort, artists wants a place where they can post to an audience of thousands, and both sides want a community that will feel tight-knit. But the reality is that you can't really have all three of those things, not on one site. Something always winds up having to be sacrificed - if a site grows big enough, it'll have to start seeking more funding while also cutting costs which will result in features becoming paywall'd, intrusive ads, creators losing their freedom, and/or outsider support which often results in the platform losing its core identity and alienating its tight-knit community.

If I had to describe what I'm talking about in a "pick one" graphic, it would look something like this:

(*note: this is mostly based on my own observations from using all of these sites at some point or another, they're not necessarily entirely accurate to the statistical performance of each site, I can only glean so much from experience and traffic trackers LMAO that said I did ask some comic pals for input and they were very helpful in helping me adjust it with their own takes <3).

The homogenization of the Internet has really whipped people into submission for the "big sites" that offer "everything", but that's never been the Internet, it relies on being multi-faceted and offering different spaces for different purposes. And we're seeing that ideology falter through the enshittification of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. where users are at odds with the platforms because the platforms are gutting features in an attempt to satisfy shareholders whom without the platforms would not exist. Like, most of us aren't paying money to use social media sites / comic platform sites, so where else are they gonna make the necessary funds to keep these sites running? Selling ad space and locking features behind paywalls.

And this is especially true for a lot of budding sites that don't have the audience to support them via crowdfunding but also don't have the leverage to ask for investments - so unless they get really REALLY lucky in EITHER of those departments, they're gonna be operating at a loss, and even once they do achieve either of those things there are gonna be issues in the site's longevity, whether it be dying from lack of growing crowdfunding support or dying from shareholder meddling.

So what can we do?

We can learn how to take our independence back. We don't have to stop using these big platforms altogether as they do have things to offer in their own way, particularly their large audience sizes and dipping into other demographics that might not be reachable from certain sites - but we gotta learn that no single site is going to satisfy every wish we have and we have to be willing to learn the skills necessary to running our own spaces again. Pick up HTML/CSS, get to know other people who know HTML/CSS if you can't grasp it (it's me, I can't grasp it LOL), be willing to take a chance on those "smaller sites" and don't write them off entirely as spaces that can be beneficial to you just because they don't have large numbers or because they don't offer rewards programs. And if you have a really polished piece of work in your hands, look into agencies and publishing houses that specialize in indie comics / graphic novels, don't settle for the first Originals contract that gets sent your way.

For the last decade corporations have been convincing us that our worth is tied to the eyes we can bring to them. Instead of serving ourselves, we've begun serving the big guys, insisting that it has to be worth something eventually and that it'll "payoff" simply by the virtue of gambler's fallacy. Ask yourself what site is right for you and your work rather than asking yourself if your work is good enough for them. Most of us are broke trying to make it work on these sites anyways, may as well be broke and fulfilled by posting in places that actually suit us and our work if we can. Don't define your success by what sites like Webtoons are enforcing - that definition only benefits them, not you.

[phenomentastic]

jpw and sph <3

Doodle dumping while I work on their main designs

[telesodalite]

Never getting over Fulcrum being a project manager...

Idk why, but something about that is so funny to me. Not just because the title of "project manager" is inherently kinda funny for a Decepticon, but also because-

1. It's vague sounding and hard to explain irl because it technically exists in multiple fields, like healthcare or manufacturing, which surely translates into canon in some way.

2. In canon, it's simultaneously a really mundane, innocuous sounding job, yet it's also a super morally awful position to reside over depending on the context. (*cough* forced colonization and cyberforming *cough*)

And 3. It solidifies the fact that behind all the surface level militaristic work we get with both the Decepticons and Autobots, there's also Cons and Bots with "normal" jobs in both factions.

Like, sure yeah we get scientists and doctors, engineers and programmers, but usually in big important or warfront positions. (For plot reasons, understandably.) But it's also really funny and interesting to think of those that worked background positions, or minor jobs.

Like an Autobot working in their equivalent of an HR department, or a Decepticon who runs one of their outpost's or starship's kitchens.

Just all the pre-war jobs that didn't just disappear with the war, but instead evolved to exist within the factions.

It's particularly funny with the Decepticons though, because it could be a super mundane job or situation, but because it's them, it has to have an air of ~e v i l~ to it, either legitimately and/or merely for the vibes, like Tarn's "performance reviews".

[lqfiles]

50 chapters in and nothing changed STOP DRAGGING IT

oh okay. my bad.

[your-unfriendlyghost]

for transfem Soda au, what would she think of girl guides (I think they’re Girl Scouts in America?)

I dunno, by the time she figures herself out I think she’s about 16-17 which is too old for Girl Scouts I think unless ur a counselor, and unless you were a Girl Scout as a kid then idk why you’d want to be a counselor?

idk, the extent of my Girl Scouts knowledge are the stories my grandma has abt being a counselor as a teen in the late 1960s-70s. (She thought she was very edgy at the time for having “Grass” as her fake counselor name which was funny cos weed and all ig)

Uh ig Soda would think that thin mints are pretty nice. I guess maybe Girl Scouts’d make her feel a bit sad at the lost theoretical girl childhood she coulda had, one where she got to do that stuff. Idk what stuff they do tho other than sell cookies and not smoke grass, so feel free to share if you’ve got any better thoughts lol

[dobson-from-joja-pr]

Please see this post for reference to what art may more accurately look like for answers. I appreciate all the support in this adventure.

[charmac]

Well I’d like to throw MY hat in the ring and say that it’s obvious to my gay eyeball that Mac is being autistic as shit and he doesn’t understand that he’s flirting. That, or he DOES know he’s flirting, because he wants something from her, and he thinks there’s no way anyone can tell he’s gay, and he thinks he’s SO smart and conniving and he’s very proud of himself.

I truly do not think rcg would ever walk back his coming out like that’s actually fucking crazy. They would not make his ass bisexual in the Abbott Elementary crossover and if they do I’ll eat my hat

PLEASE people I’m BEGGING you have some faith they’re not that stupid

I just wanna clarify I don't think (nor do I think anyone else here thinks) that Abbott or RCG are making Mac not gay in this episode or giving him a romantic and/or sexual storyline with Ava.

I'm simply just complaining about and frustrated with the outlets and reporters who clearly don't watch Sunny and don't care to just, like, look up the fact that Mac is gay, before posting stupid articles claiming "Mac is crushing on Ava" or saying that there's "clearly a vibe" between the two of them.

It's just annoying, but then again it's always expected that the articles we get on Sunny are way off base so idk why I would expect anything less... lmfao. (*Flashbacks to all the early reports saying Frank vs Russia was the worst episode of 16*)

Here's a great one about Dennis, the only character on Sunny who actually has had positive plots with random kids:

Awesome reporting, everyone!

[xvampbxyyy]

I was scrolling through Tumblr when I came across an image of Sherlock & John and I had a moment. A brilliant idea.

Here is my brilliant idea..

I promise i spend my time on useful things guys

[puppetmaster13u]

Thinkin' of WOF Au for DC, but like, it's a Gothamite and Fawcett thing. (And Amity Park if crossover)

Like those are the most magical areas in the world, even if Gotham is cursed as fuck. An unspoken secret of sorts that while they present themselves as human to outsiders, they are all Very Much Not.

Which means hilariously in the league, when everyone expects Batman to be suspicious and short with the new guy- even made bets on it- they are then shooketh when both visibly relax and start talking. And half the shared complaints don't make sense!

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Now Gotham technically has no Queen, nor does Fawcett, but Batman and Captain Marvel are the closest things. Not in the traditional sense of back when they were in separate tribes (& maybe from a different dimension but shh that was millennia ago) but in the sense of, they're the ones patrolling and protecting the cities along with calling the shots in disasters.

Which does sort of change the dynamic they both have in their city. If one of them calls to arms, the city would follow them. They could declare war, and their cities (begrudgingly in Gotham's underbelly's case of strongest is in charge) would follow. And while Billy is oblivious, both Marvel-the-not-hivemind and Batman are. They know they have to be very careful.

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I'm sure we all want Nightwing Bruce but no. Bruce, like both his mother and father and father's father and so on before him, is actually an Icewing. The Waynes however, have a case of melanism running in their bloodline. Thomas Wayne? Only his quills and part of his back were darker, but Bruce? Practically pitch black scales that shadow his eyes.

Now Alfred on the other hand, is a Nightwing. No special powers there, though you would hear many a child protest with how he seems to know everything.

Commissioner Gordon is a Mudwing, big stocky and very tired, which translates to his human disguise as a large trenchcoat. He finds this very amusing. Barbara similarly, is half Mudwing. Her mother was a Hivewing, making her a hybrid between both. Which does ironically mean that Batgirl does in fact have insectoid wings. Though that does ponder the question on if they'd all go by their original vigilante names.

Dick is a Silkwing. Wingless as he watches his parents fall and unable to do anything despite this place supposedly being safe for beings like them. He grows into his own, and his wings, when they come in, are dark Gotham colors through and through, with the deep blue of the sky he's come to crave.

Jason is a hybrid between a Mudwing and a Skywing. He's also an animus- not that he knew that. He doesn't find out until he's dying, telling himself to not die, to get back to Gotham, to his dad, his family- And then he wakes up in his Coffin, alive.

Now Cass, raised to be the perfect killer, is also a hybrid, just one between a Nightwing and a Rainwing, egg set out under the moon. Which succeeds, partially. She can't straight up read minds, but combined with her talent in reading body language on both human and inhuman bodies, it's a near thing.

Tim is a Seawing, borderline abandoned by his parents who seek treasures and more wealth as he's trapped back in a city where the water is dark and poisoned. But he's Gothamite, through and through, and he adapts. Scales darker than the original blues he was born with, and glow shifting to that sickly white of the Gotham's Bats.

Now Steph, is a full-blooded Rainwing, and can in fact change her scales, but can mostly be found in purples and golds. Though for a short time she was in another set of colors, thought dead before she slithered out of the shadows older and wiser than before.

Damian is his father's son, but he's also an Al-Ghul. The not-quite dragonet is half Icewing, and half Sandwing. And struggled to adjust at first, to a place so different from his first home where the only other dragons were blood related. But like any Wayne before him, he adjusts, and he adapts.

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Billy wasn't a Beetlewing originally, and perhaps he would have hesitated if he'd known it would change him, would change his body and the last thing he had of his parents. But his friends, his Team and new family help. And he can pass as a Silkwing like their sort-of foster mother. All six of them can do so now, even if the others look more like hybrids themselves thanks to not being the Champion. They might not be, but they're his family. And that's enough.

[imagineitdearies]

How’s the writing? 😊

Hey braintwin 😊🩵

First, the abridged version: It’s getting somewhere!!

But this question comes at a great time, because I’ve been wanting to give a more in-depth update for you followers anyway! After finishing Perfect Slaughter, I took about a month break from intensive writing, outlining, or even much brainstorming, though I already had the idea for Circle of Sixths by then (hopeful prostitute meets world weary vampire in a suck-for-hire situation, lol). And when I got back into it at the start of August, there was just so much world building to do that my actual writing came at a snail’s pace, and for way too long a period for my liking. Fanfic really spoils you in that regard 😮‍💨

For the last 2.5 months, however, I finally had my world established enough to start getting into the good shit. I completed my goal (10 chapters) so I could start the beta process, and over the last 3 weeks have started getting great encouraging but constructive feedback on the first six chapters! It’s been super cool to finally share it with a few people, even if for the purpose of curbing my excessive comma usage lol.

The goal is to have the first draft entirely done by the end of the year, which means about 6-8 more chapters according to my outline. Though I’d settle for just knocking out 5 chapters before my girlfriend flies in post-Christmas and my attention goes out the window lolol. I’ve been stuck on chapter 11 for the last two weeks thanks to work + holiday travel (at this very moment, I’m writing on my phone whilst laying on an air mattress in my sister’s living room 😂), so we’ll see. The good news is I’m not writing any more major articles for my day job for the rest of the year, so I should in theory have more bandwidth for my personal goals and bigger dreams🙏

Until then, I’m typing a couple paragraphs on my phone each night and hope to sneak in some progress on my flight home Sunday! A writer’s gotta write 😉

Thanks for this ask my friend 🩵🩵

[genericpuff]

You’re . . . Married?? Puff, how old are you?

old enough to bully gen z'ers, young enough for millennials and older generations to bully me /hj :'D

but if you want an exact number, here's what it was as of posting this

[y-a-w-p]

Dame Gwen Lestrade is my favorite, she is always right and everything she does is justified and I love her

[ropasart]

Your sfms are so lifelike, I’m obsessed

↑ 4 years old wip gif hahahah

Hi! I'm happy you like them, they are sort of.. my children. My goal was making the characters' movements plausible so that's such a big complement. Thank you for the message! 😊

[your-unfriendlyghost]

it feels so…… weird… seeing a cishet dude be so chill with queer themes lmao your soda-in-drag moment, the stevepop of it all, even guys with queers in their friend circles can’t bring themselves to partake sometimes lmao 😭 but it’s cool !! refreshing even sjksksndks this is a /pos statement I promise

Thanks lol! I think it’s cos I’m fairly secure. Sorta. (I’m still prone to compensating for things and being a stupid teen boy, but like, I’m aware of it, at least when I stop to think. Yk I’ll still join in on dick measuring contests, but deep down I’ll know it’s dumb and performative.)

I guess I feel a kinship to queerness. I go to art school where I’m sometimes the only guy in a class of girls, and I’ve been the token straight guy in every friend group I’ve been in since freshman year of high school. Beyond that, growing up I was frequently mistook for a girl- I had long-ish hair (post bowl-cut era 😭) and I’m part Asian, I was pretty androgynous lol. People irl have thought I’m gay, or a trans man on testosterone (I mean fine, I guess I am pretty short and hang with a lot of trans guys.) Hell, I did drag on a dare once, back when I was even more secure. (And I was hot asf in drag lemme tell ya. It felt lousy and it’s definitely not my thing, but man if I had a clone who was a girl-) All this to say, I say I’m straight, but honestly I don’t really know. I like girls a lot, but I have seen a buddy of mine in drag, and lemme tell ya I felt something but I’m not gonna examine that rn lol. Straight just feels comfortable, safe, and it’s good for interacting with folks who ain’t so progressive, so it’s what I’m sticking with…but I’ll admit there’s a gray area.

I relate a lot to the guys in the Outsiders, and irl I like to present myself as a tough, cool, Very Masculine guy. Hell, sometimes I play dumb about stuff because it’s “feminine” and a guy like me shouldn’t know about it. I act a lot like how I write Steve Randle, he’s my guy I like to project on lol. Honestly, I’ve got a fair amount of internalized toxic masculinity. But I think because I know how silly it all is deep down, I can interact with queer themes in art without feeling like I’m not “man enough”. Idk, I suppose it’s an outlet in some ways. Who knows maybe in 2027 I’ll come out as bi or something, but don’t wait up.

idk, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I like exploring queer themes, not because they’re queer necessarily, but because they’re human and I relate to them. And that’s hard not to partake in, y’know?

[dootznbootz]

Diomedes appreciation ask :3

Ohoho >:3

Let me preface by saying that Diomedes to me is not like how most of the fandom view him

The Boy King who is basically like the TV Trope of "Small child with Propeller hat, lollipop, and tricycle" but instead of that, he's "Young babyfaced man" and replace all those items with a helmet, a spear, and the tricycle with a chariot :D AND THEN COVER HIM WITH BLOOD!

That's Diomedes to me. :3

As idk I kind of imagine him being around 20-21 while most of the other Achaean Kings are late 20s to mid/late-30s

He's young and incredibly experienced in war and that's basically where he feels the most comfortable. He is one of the youngest kings there, who VERY much looks up to his elders and respects them while also wanting to "be a proud king" as well. He's just a child soldier among these actual warlords. As, let's be real, Diomedes would probably suck at Diplomacy. Because he never really got to DO it. Even when he told off that messenger from Troy about how Paris was willing to give back the treasure he stole, that wasn't...very tactful. lol) I love that he has this almost "Notice me, Senpai" energy around the older guys lol

I love that he's basically the embodiment of Athena's "war" side. He follows orders very well (basically too well (Yes he mouths off and that time Zeus had to yell at him. I know. but he was in a battle frenzy)) He's very respectful of Athena despite already being favored by her. There's a lot to unpack for this poor guy with being a child soldier ;~;

AND I FUCKING ADORE HIM AND STHENELUS. THEY ARE SUCH FUCKING BROS. STHENELUS IS BASICALLY HIS LIL CHEERLEADER AND I LOVE IT. They're like a Traumatized bonded pair. Epigoni guys!!!

To me I always imagine him being short af because I really love the "Oh, he's so young and small! What's he gonna do?" only to get annihilated stuff. Smol rabid dog energy >:3

Also, bit of a headcanon but you know he thinks that Achilles was fucking pampered and spoiled xD "You think you're hot shit? Try being in wars since you could walk, Centaur boy >:( "