#but I’ve started seeing the big fics getting fanart again!

[thisisahyperfixationnow]

Oh boy, you know it’s pride month when Klance takes over your dashboard

[booksandabeer]

Stucky, Fandom Longevity, and "Primacy Bias"

There’s this post that's been floating around the past few days about how the Stucky fandom in its heyday produced fic and art masterpieces like they were all collectively possessed by an unprecedented spirit of creative insanity. It’s a good, fun post and I agree with the person who wrote it. (not rb'ing because I didn't want to hijack their post with something that's only tangentially related).

It was indeed a magical time and the creative output in both quantity and quality in the two-year period following the release of CA:TWS is—with perhaps a few exceptions—unmatched by anything that I’ve seen before and since. However, going through the notes on that post, I noticed something that left me a little irritated and quite frankly sad since it is in congruence with, and to a certain extent the confirmation of something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

For one thing, there are so many people in the notes expressing sentiments along the lines of “it was such a wonderful time; I wish I could go back; I miss these fics; I want to read these fics again,” etc., etc., you get it. And it feels a little silly pointing this out, but…you can just do that? Almost all of these fics are still right there, waiting for you to be (re)read. Yes, a lot of people left the fandom after The Great Devastation of 2019, but their stories didn’t just disappear. It's not like there is now a big, black hole where the Steve/Bucky tag used to be on AO3. So, if you miss these fics and you want to revisit them—just do it. Chances are the authors will be delighted that people are still finding and enjoying their stories all these years later. And—since apparently this needs saying, too, judging from the notes on that post: A lot of people seem to be very concerned with losing ‘coolness points’ for openly admitting that they still miss the ship and often feel tempted to dip their toes back into the Stucky pool. I don’t know how to tell you this, but if someone tries to shame you for simply enjoying or missing something, they are an asshole. Not to mention that all this is happening on tumble.com—'coolness' doesn't exactly live here. And that is a good thing, to be clear. Fandom is not about being cool. It’s about being as enthusiastic, as silly, as absolutely fucking unhinged about the things you love as you want to be. So, stop caring what other people think and enjoy yourself.

The other thing is that there seems to be a pretty widespread misconception that the Stucky fandom hasn’t produced any good fanworks after 2016.

First, that is patently and demonstrably untrue. There is so much incredibly good fanfiction and fanart still out there. Not as much as back in the day, sure, but it still exists. And more is being posted every day! Even some of the OG Big Names are still around. One of the most beloved Stucky series that started all the way back in 2014 was updated as recently as December of last year. The artist, who I believe the op is referring to as creating ‘baroque’ paintings, posted their latest Stucky art not even two months ago.

Second, I find this “primacy bias” more than just a little insulting to the many hardworking and incredibly talented people who are still putting their blood, sweat, and tears into creating for this community. And it’s one thing if people who have long left the fandom believe or say something like this, but it’s frankly irritating when I see people who are still very much active—and therefore definitely should know better—feed into that same false myth. Yes, it sucks that the Stucky ship isn’t as big as it used to be, but that doesn't mean there isn't any 'fresh talent' to be found anymore. I’m also not saying we shouldn’t still celebrate and recommend older works—I do it all the time! And it sure as hell doesn't mean everyone has to reblog absolutely everything all the time, either. Your blog, your rules.

But maybe we should put a little more focus on the good things, on the creators and the community we have now, especially if we want that community to still exist in another ten years. I mean, imagine you’re a person who’s just gotten into the fandom (because yes, there are indeed still new people discovering Stucky all the time) and one of the first things you’re being told is “eh, nice that you're here, but you’re about 7 years late; the big party is already over.” Does that seem like a fun space to hang out in to you?

So. Let’s all—and I do not exclude myself from this because God knows, I love to complain—spend a little less time mourning the ‘good old days’ that are never coming back anyway, and instead focus our attention on enjoying and appreciating both the incredible treasure chest of an archive we have AND the wealth of high-quality art and fic that is still being created by this wonderful community every single day. With this in mind:

🥳🎊Happy Stucky Week 2023!!! 🎊🥳

*I want to make it very clear that this is a general thing that’s been on my mind lately and that I’m trying to work through here—probably not very coherently. I'm not trying to tell anybody 'how to do fandom' and I’m most definitely not vagueposting about any particular incident, person, or group in this fandom. This isn’t a callout post. It’s an I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this and I don’t know what else do with them post.

[steter-bang]

Steter Bang 2024 Q&A

What is a “Bang,” in general? A Big Bang (or “Bang” for short) is a specific type of challenge usually involving long fics and accompanying artwork. Read more about Big Bangs and their history on the Fanlore website here. What is the Steter Bang? It’s a Steter focused Bang! We’re big lovers of Teen Wolf’s Peter Hale/Stiles Stilniski round these here parts. If you’re here, you hopefully are too! 🤣 Since we want to spread as much Steter love as possible, we’re expanding on the exact definition of “long fic” and the exact definition of “accompanying artwork” for this event.

Expanding on? Yup! We’re doing two tracks again this year: the Big Bang track and the Mini Bang track. For the Mini Bang track, we’re asking for a 1,000-word minimum story. For the Big Bang track, you’re signing up for a 10,000-word minimum story (which is more in line with traditional “Big Bang” events!). And for the “accompanying artwork” part, we’re broadening that definition to include all sorts of transformative fanworks. Some examples could be: manips, mood boards, playlist, icons, vids, filk, podfic, embroidery, tarot cards, fanart, ficbinding, or remixes of fanfiction.

I’ve seen most of these but what’s a “remix?” Let me explain…“No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” (Sorry, couldn’t resist a Princess Bride reference.) A remix is a new fanwork that reimagines an earlier fanwork. This could be by role reversal, a POV flip, a sequel or a prequel, or lots of other things! It should stay true to the definition of a transformative work and “add something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the [source] with new expression, meaning, or message.”Check out the Fanlore page on remixes right here. Now give me the nitty-gritty details. Although every fandom runs Bangs slightly differently, we’re mirroring what we consider a more traditional Big Bang event format. Everyone will sign up and pick which track they want to do–Mini Bang or Big Bang–and whether they want to participate as a writer or an artist (don’t worry, we’re including all sorts of fanwork creators as artists–see above!). Writers will have a slightly shorter sign-up period so that they have time to get their summaries to us. We’re going to allow a slightly longer sign-up period for any last minute artists to hop on board. It’s going to be the same sign-up form, we’ll just edit it when we’re no longer allowing writer sign-ups. Writers will have just under a week to work on their summaries (including tags they feel may be relevant and info on anything that would be considered an archive warning). Once artist sign-ups close, we’ll send out the summaries to the artists. Artists then choose their top 5 fics that they’d like to create a fanwork for. We’ll do some Excel wizardry to match everyone up and send out info on partners the following day. We’re not setting a strict timeline for hand-offs this year (although, we’re more than happy to give you a deadline if you need one!), so you’ll need to work with your partner on your own timelines for getting both works done. We really want writers to consider that you may need to hand over your completed fic well before the event is done (possibly halfway through!). If your partner is doing a podfic or a ficbind or some other fanwork that requires a completed work, then you’ll need to factor this into your schedule. I’ve never done a fandom event like this, though… The best time to start is now!! If you feel you can’t draw or can’t write, then create a mood board & a playlist! Or make a vid! Or create a podfic! As Neil Gaiman once said, “[W]e can take joy in the act of creation.” Dive in and experience that joy for yourself. And we’ll be there every step of the way, if you need any help! Alright, I’m in. What next? Yay! We’re excited to have you join! Here’s what to do next:

Review the rules here

Check out the schedule here

Sign up here (Opens June 1)

[viperwhispered]

hi hi ner!! 👻💕🎨 for the ask game !!

Aaa Ian here you are again coming in with the questions that I really have to think about (it’s fine don’t worry but oof these aren’t easy ones for me to answer).

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

I mean all my opinions are factually correct so… Jk, jk. Kind of a tricky question, tho 🤔

I know I’ve said this before but I kinda never know when character / canon interpretation or interpolation crosses over into headcanon territory. Plus I generally do try to be pretty canon-compliant and base my interpretations on that.

Basically, for all those folks making headcanon lists and stuff, my brain just does not work that way and not sure I'd ever be able to produce one of my own.

Hmm…

Honestly, I’m totally drawing a blank here, sorry 😔 I guess if I’ll ever throw something wild into a fic, you’ll find out?

Only thoughts I can even kinda grasp rn are nsfw and uhhh some of those are definitely more personal wish fulfillment than actual headcanons.

💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Aaa how can I even choose.

I mean also a big chunk of it is smut and a lot of it isn’t widely available (and I probably can’t remember the existence of half of it off the top of my head), so…

I suppose in some sense Of Cows and Curses and Consequences (Hatsuharu x reader, Fruits Basket) is my magnum opus, at least as far as longfic and plotting is concerned. Yes, it is very unfinished and I haven’t touched it in ages, but I worked so properly on that one, outlining my chapters and the story (like, I’ve got notes like 10 chapters ahead of what’s been published), which makes it stand out. Plus it was one of the first if not the first fic I ever wrote (if we don’t count the beginnings of a young teenager self-insert for Earth’s Children that never made it past couple hand-written pages). So yeah, a bit of a “go big or go home” start to my fic writing journey. 😅

Also whatever was the first fic I wrote with a friend’s tastes specifically in mind. Always love it when I can get someone right in the feels (definitely a big reason for why I write in the first place, but that’s a story for another time before I get even more off-track).

Honestly there’s so many pieces I could consider notable for being a first in something or otherwise meaningful but I really can’t pick just one.

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Oh boy so many Jamil scenes coming to mind. Fixation would have so many tasty bits (some of them even sfw, oop), some whump for the Kali & Shiva analogy thoughts (it could be so cool even if it also would hurt me so bad 😭), Jamil’s first realization moment (or any flustered bit, really) from How Not to Be Swept Under… All of them would be lovely ngl.

Though honestly, if anyone ever were to make anything (draw, write, whatever) inspired by my works, I would probably just combust and live off the high for a week (or a few).

I’m afraid my answers for these ones are kinda rambly and not super definitive but alas, it is what it is. Can’t pick just one for many of these. Still, ty for the questions Ian! I hope my answers weren't too disappointing.

(ask game here for anyone else curious)

[babkaboy]

Hi! Big big biiiiiiiiig fan of your obikin work over on twitter, both for the naughty bits :3 and your art style like omg I love love loooooove the angular character design and the way u colour with scribbles hidden in it to look like it’s pencil coloured and the double lineart over (is it intentional or aesthetic thing?)

I wanted to ask a question: I noticed whenever I see your twitter art and tumblr art even tho it’s the same fan art some of the stuff on tumblr is slightly different like obi-wan/anakin’s face is more structured on tumblr version or slight change of pose or adding new things like obi-wan’s red lingerie in your obi-wan’s history of bras/lingerie while he’s naked on twitter version. Do you purposely change it for tumblr?

Hi there!! What a wonderful message to receive 🥺🙏 First of all, thank you for such kind words ❤️ I hope you don’t mind I answer both of your asks here!!

My art-style has been mutating through the years since I graduated and nowadays I’ve found a nice balance with this sketchy one I’m currently using (definitely influenced by Mikael Ross, his traditional cartoonish style is a huge inspo for me when i do comics). but I love trying new methods and switching things up every now and then. And yes, the double lineart is intentional!! I like how it gives some dimension and dynamism to the anatomy and makes it feel like animation 💞

And you are very observant!!! Bc I definitely change things in my art when I post them to different sites. part of it is because I’m kind of a perfectionist, and once i post something on twitter i start noticing all the mistakes and tangents and I just know i won’t post it on tumblr until i feel satisfied and fix things or re-do them. on the other hand, tumblr is very strict with the nudity stuff and i keep getting flagged every time i post something slightly suggestive (or maybe someone is reporting me 👀 won’t be the first time tbh) so i gotta tone things down, like adding obi-wan’s red lingerie in that one fanart while on tumblr he’s showing ass and cock HAHAHA. so yep, twitter gets ass and tits while tumblr gets the fixed 2.0 stuff. but in some way i kind of like the idea of posting different things on each site, like little easter eggs 🥰

I’m so excited for you to participate on the #UnderTheJediUniform tag 🙏 also tag me if you do it cuz my shadowban sometimes hides some of the art in the tag 😭 it started as a little idea and it warms my heart seeing people doing their drawings or fics or hcs about obi-wan in lingerie 💘 But take it easy specially if you are coming back from a creative burnout after uni, i was there too and it was no fun at all. sometimes is a way for our brain to tell us to take a break and nurture ourselves from different things other than drawing, like looking at different artists or photographers, watching movies, reading books and from life itself. and when you less expect it, you will suddenly get struck with the need to grab a pen 😊

thank you again for this lovely message, it really made my day!!! as you said, there‘s always shit happening and disgusting losers trying to drag you down in this fandom, but messages like this and the wonderful people that i have met through obikin is an enough reason to stay and keep doing what i want ❤️

[lunanoc]

Shipper tag game

tagged by @sunriseverse (thank you for tagging! <3)

What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care about anymore?

uhh probably sakura/syaoran from cardcaptor sakura? very original i know i continue to be Very Basic. to be fair i was 13 and i’d just discovered what fanfic was so there’s that. now it’s more of a nostalgia thing? they’re cute but yeah not much else

Which ship would you consider your first one?

probably sakura/syaoran or link/zelda from the legend of zelda, again very basic but technically i discovered fandom through zelda forums so

Your first fanfic was about which couple?

still sakura/syaoran, and yes it was terrible because i was still like 13

Do you remember the first couple you saw fanart of?

i honestly have no idea but i’m going to assume it was probably link/zelda just because of the forums (i keep repeating the same two ships over and over rip)

Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?

no. not in a public setting anyway. i tend to keep to the ships i like and steer clear of the ones i don’t, and if for some reason i come across one i don’t like enough times that it starts to annoy me i’ll bitch about it in private because i’m a big believer that occasional bitching with your friend group is healthy, or at the very least while not tagging it/censoring it so it’s not going to end up somewhere the people who do ship it can see it

Did you use to have any NOTP or have one currently?

i don’t think i ever had genuine notps before dmbj really, at most 99% of the time it’s not really what i’d qualify as a notp, more just ships i don’t really care for? but i don’t have any strong feelings about them either way. dmbj fandom is particular for me in the sense certain spaces and people have pushed certain ships onto me enough directly or indirectly i just immediately get annoyed whenever those ships pop up so i avoid them like the plague now. i’m not going to say what they are (even if if you know me you probably have an idea) but they do exist

Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

pingxie from dmbj the brainrot is very real 😂 though for lack of food i mostly read chinese language fics these days (reminds me i should also make myself some more food one of these days too)

Currently, do you have any OTPs?

absolutely no one is shocked it is once again pingxie my beloveds who’ve had me in a chokehold for the past two years now atp i am literally here forever help

Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

uhhh you know what i was going to say not really but actually. and it’s weird i have such strong feelings about this since i never hardcore shipped them anyway but ichigo/rukia from bleach i just refuse to perceive that is not the endgame

Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

not really? if anything the closest i can think of is zhongchi/tartali from genshin that i initially didn’t really understand the appeal of but i got curious and ended up liking it. i’ve drifted away from it now because i don’t really enjoy the genshin fandom in general, and i don’t agree with a lot of the takes on them but that happened i guess

Do you have any ship that, in the past, would've been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

honestly i can’t really think of anything besides hopelight from ffxiii? and i guess kaeluc from genshin but i also don’t super actively ship those it’s more of a casual thing. oh wait i thought of this coming back but i kinda vaguely like ardyn/noctis from ffxv also casually but that is definitely cancellable over material oops

What is your favorite crack ship?

i don’t do crack ships really because i’m Very Basic and have zero imagination so i need substance to connect dots 😂

What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?

i can’t tell if this is past or present tense so i’ll just answer both. if it’s purely the amount over time it’s probably a toss up between destiel from spn and soukoku from bsd. if it’s currently what do i read about it’s pingxie

What do most of your ships usually have in common?

this is such a loaded question, weirdly a lot of them start off with differing degrees of antagonistic or challenging/playful relationship going on (on the surface anyway) and it progresses from there, and the care is both intense but not so easily expressed. there are clearly exceptions to this exhibit a: pingxie but those tend to pop up more for some reason. this is not discourse by any means but for example it’s why i preferred klance over sheith and that’s all i’ll say about voltron because that’s a can of worms i refuse to open ever again. what i’m saying is sometimes i wonder why i’m not a heihua person because on paper that’s what i should be and yet here i am with the old married couple 500k slowburn of a ship instead 😂

What you absolutely hate in a ship?

i wasn’t sure about what to put here but @sunriseverse is right, anything that fundamentally changes either of the characters for the sake of the ship or a trope. fanfic by nature is ooc to a degree anyway, but there’s a difference for me between when people make the effort to understand the characters and how they work/would work together, and when they either reduce them to two-dimensional cardboard cutouts for the sake of smashing them together, or make them out to be something they’re not. even more so when it then becomes the Universally Accepted Fanon Characterization

tagging @shaish, @tatchling, @tiesanjiaoshenanigans, @kelly42fox, @thatlittlemouse and uhhh honestly anyone else who wants to do it

[rainintheevening]

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Oh, man, I would LOVE some fanart for After All, my 'Qui-Gon is Obi-Wan's real dad' fic.

I would LOVE some art of Qui-Gon and Rae-Lin, like maybe in a field on Stewjon or kissing in the rain or something. Would love baby Obi-Wan with his parents.

And particularly the last chapter, maybe this scene after Obi-Wan gets rescued...

Obi-Wan didn’t look at him, just lowered his fist, clenched it once, then stiffly unfurled his fingers.

A thin braid of red hair lay on his palm, folded over once, held together with coloured threads, sweat-stained and grimy.

Oh, my son.

Qui-Gon sank to his knees in front of Obi-Wan, cradled the boy’s hand in one of his, laid the other over top, folding the severed braid between their palms.

“We will simply start again, Padawan.” He looked directly into Obi-Wan’s blue eyes, faded behind a sheen of tears. “A new braid, a new lightsaber. This quarrel is between him and I. You should never have been caught in the middle.”

Obi-Wan nodded, let out a shaky breath. “Yes, Master,” he whispered. There was bravery in the way he held Qui-Gon’s gaze, and impulsively the man reached up, pulled the boy’s head down to kiss his brow.

The other big one would be the drawing I describe in my Sherlock fic Even Soldiers Have Heroes, of army doctor John Watson with angel wings.

It was Doctor John Watson, worn, weary, surgical mask dangling from one ear, sleeves rolled up, surgical gloves spotted with blood.

In his arms he held a young girl, her long dark hair draped over his arm, her head resting against his shoulder. Her dress was traditional Afghani, with little embroidered things around the waist. The hem was ragged, and her one bare foot dangled.

Springing from John’s shoulders were huge feathered angel wings, curving down behind him, probably reaching to his feet. The girl was cradled safe in his arms, one small hand resting against his chest, over his heart.

John remembered that, he remembered it well enough.

“You had to take her leg off above the knee. But you did it, you saved her. And I kept seeing that in my head.” He pointed to the paper. “I’ve done lots of sketches in Afghanistan. But that’s the one that means the most to me.”

All the other scenes I want art for are from Broken Constellations which isn't available for public consumption yet.

[Fanfic Writer emoji asks]

[aquaflora17]

Thanks for tagging me @gigantomachy1916 ! Sorry it’s so confusing with all the sideblogs😅 my irl friends know my non-fandom tumblr (@earl-grey-skies) and I try not to inundate them with fanart of shows they don’t watch… you may also know me as dandelion(+some variation)

:readmore:

1. Three ships

I love enemies to lovers and hurt/comfort and I think that’s reflected in my ship choices lmao

Snarry (Severus Snape / Harry Potter from Harry Potter) I got into this ship over the pandemic when I first started reading fanfic again as an adult. There’s such a wide range of fics for these two and I have so many favorites. In Perpetuity, a storm across time, soulmate flowers, and the courtship of Harry Potter come to mind.

Hot wings (Dabi/Hawks from my hero academia. I’ve been here since there were fewer than 200 works on AO3. It’s super blown up since then!!)

Lawmane (L Lawliet/ Misa Amane from Death Note). I just reread Liability by gigantomachy the other day and I really love the art too! They’re just the right amount of touch starved and fucked up for my taste haha.

2. First ever ship

First ship that I was like “yeah they should date” is Zutara (Zuko/Katara) from avatar the last airbender. 

First ship that I rabidly consumed art and fics for was Bixanna (Bickslow/Lisanna) from Fairy Tail. It’s a rare pair, but I saw @blanania’s fanart of them a billion years ago and they’ve been one of my OTP’s ever since. I love them with my whole heart.

3. Last song

Clean by Taylor Swift! Big swiftie energy here.

4. Last movie

Banshees of Inersherin. Gross. Terrible. I can’t stop talking about it.

5. Currently reading

Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I’d always thought he was for stuffy people but he’s actually hilarious and his ideas still ring true today. I laughed when he was making fun of old people, because relative to us today, he is old people!

6. Currently watching

Physical 100! I’m looking forward to the finale next week! I’m actually really bad at watching long tv shows with plot. If it’s more than like 12 episodes, I get distracted by the fanfic.

7. Currently consuming

A glass of water. Maybe I’ll go get some cornflakes.

8. Currently craving

Springtime! Warm weather! I’m sick of the cold.

Tags!

@ac1d6urn @givereadersahug @sneverussape @danpuff-ao3 @anti-bright-places @gullibert @scribbledoctopus @sharlockart and anyone else who sees this and wants to do it :)

[nobleriver]

I was tagged by @doctortomyriver a loooong time ago, but I never saw it til now because I was on hiatus. But it’s too much fun to pass up because I love the questions lol

Out of curiosity I’ll tag @benoitblanc @thebadtimewolf (love reading your tags btw) @beingshakespeare @autisticwho and @wibblyowzah

Tag Game: Doctor Who Edition

The rules are simple - answer the questions, then tag other Whovians to get to know each other better/find new people to follow, message, etc. If there are any questions you don’t have an answer for, feel free to skip them!

Doctor you started with: Nine. Ten. Eleven. Long story, but I watched all of them in same month or two. 11 was airing once a week. 10 and Martha were marathoning. And a friend gave me the Series 1 boxset which I devoured in a day because 9′s her favorite doctor. It was such fun to experience Who that way. Would do it again. I got them all at once.

Favourite Doctor: The Doctor

Favourite companion: None

Favourite episode: Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. The Girl in the Fireplace. School Reunion. 

LOVE LOVE LOVE Sarah Jane and Moffat wrote a classic when he did The Girl in the Fireplace. Those two eps are why I love S2 so much. I can literally quote from each of these episodes:

“Are you alright?” “I’m always alright.” “Say it.” “Goodbye...MY SARAH JANE!” 😭😭😭😭😭😭 She’ll always be important to him! HELPPP! And of course, “Stay with me. C’mon! You and me, one last run!” That’s the title quote on my blog!

DW OTP: Doctorriver

Favourite line/quote: “Stay with me! You can do it! Stay with me! Come on! You and me, one last run!” - 10 to River 

ALKHSFASJHKFJHSLJFALJF I’M A PUDDLE ON THE FLOOR.

Favourite character that isn’t the Doctor or a companion: River Song. She’s my favorite period. She pulls me back to the show again and again.

BrOTP: 10 and Martha. If found family counts, Doctor x The 3 Ponds and River x TARDIS

Favourite DW fic (if you have one): None. Just started last year. Haven’t read enough. I am writing one though. And if we count Big Finish as official fic, then, The Tenth Doctor and River Song. It’s insane how good that is.

Favourite DW fanart/blog (if you have one): Currently @expelliarmus and @tenriver 

But special shoutout to 3 of the greatest colorist I've ever seen @borntosavethedoctor @doctorwhoblog (aka @amywiliams ) and @tillthenexttimedoctor The way they color remains an inspiration. 

If you could pick anyone to be the next Doctor, who would it be? (Why, if you feel like explaining.): This question is outdated because I received this before the new Doctor was announced. Now, we have two new Doctors lined up to go, and I’m excited for both of them!

So I think I’ll change the question to 

Who are you most excited to see in the next series? The Duchess! She’s screaming female Time Lady and I’m curious, curious, curious.

[hetalia-themagicalmanac]

in request to someone to put this anonymously out of respect:

I have a confession to make. I'm a hater...or atleast I THOUGHT i was. I did not particularly cared about your blog Until tonight where I was scrolling through Ao3 and saw one of your bed time story fics. I decided to say "fuck it" and read one of your fics. I then went to read the origin comics, thinking it would be a hate read...but...I was laughing. Smiling. And giggling over how cute it was. My favorite parts of the comic was your author notes, being really proud of your small accomplishments in bettering your art. It made me, a fellow artist, proud.

I was once a hater but now fell in love with Mary and your AU. My problem was that I couldn't sleep tonight. I think because I feel like the grinch who's heart melted away and I just can't get this off my mind. So I typed this all up and drew some fanart cuz we have the same comfort character I think.

So uh. Sorry I misjudged your AU and OC. It reminded me of a children's show I use to watch and I liked seeing your progression with your art skill. sorry that this was so long. It's 3am and I literally can't sleep until I get this off my chest

Anyway here's a little something something as a apology. Idk how cottonball would've gotten damage. I'm thinking maybe freak dog/bully encounter on the way home from school

Uh anyway thanks and sorry again

hey! there’s nothing wrong about not liking something at first! sure my comics at first aren’t the best (After all, I was 16 when I started to write this story and i’m almost 24! the reason why my digital art looked like absolute shit was because my mom thought digital art was “fake art” and i was still learning how to master digital art with a newly-acquired tablet at the time) but I am so so glad that even with the flaws of my earlier stuff, it still manages to bring a smile to your face!

about the children’s show stuff...i did take a lot of inspiration from shows like that! some i can name off the top of my head were Heidi (the pre-ghibli adaptation), Bear in the Big Blue House, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood (my beloved) and now most recently, Bluey!! I think it definitely has in part from the fact my childhood was a mess and wanted to create something that fosters wholesome vibes to heal and reclaim my childhood, especially from the fact i’m the only autistic person in my family :’)

but hey! at least though you were honest! i’ve had to deal with people in the fandom who said I was either “sanitizing” hetalia as a whole just because it was wholesome or a well-known artist (name redacted) who was vagueing about me in a gc when i was at work saying that they hated ocs like Mary because they were self-insert mary sues. but otherwise, i forgive you plain and simple :D

i apologize if this was definitely a tangent but this made me really happy! i probably think petunia (rich girl asshole bully in school) snipped cottonball’s leggy and germany saw that mary was in distress since cottonball is a comfort item for her since she had him since she was a lil baby, and he is a good dad who will fix him up!

[m1ckeyb3rry]

HAHA NOOO MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR REST!!! Honestly im so prone to just passing out if im somewhere comfortable and I’ll wake up and be like “…..shit” but hey naps happen for a reason too sooo ok but as inspiration keeps striking im just mentally visualizing your “to write” list LMAOOO honestly its such a feat how you’re able to keep track of all the different storylines and ideas if it were me id probably end up accidentally making the crossover of the century HAHAH actually im kinda curious (besides the inspiration striking) what’s your process of choosing what to work on/how to get things started?

Ok yeah there’s definitely worse parents than the itoshis but wow it’s very interesting seeing the difference between parents who really act like devoted parents to their kids and others who are…stumbling…let’s just say LOL I really hope we see more of everyone’s family at some point or another…I see fanart of this all the time but imagine all of their sisters just bumping into each other on the street it’d be so cute and funny!!

Omg no because I think everyone got baited by that Bible ranking poll but people forget that’s it what the BLLK characters ranked them and their opinions/impressions NOT what is actually fact according to the creator (tbh I was confused at first too especially when naruhaya ranked for most generous and least generous)

If we keep following Isagi so closely we’re gonna need more episode (insert character here)s LMAO hoping that doesn’t happen though because I think it’d cry if I found out we were just watching only Isagi Noel ness and Kaiser for a whole 50 chapters

-Karasu anon

i love sleeping LMAOO plus so much of my writing i do at night right before bed so if i feel sleepy earlier i have less time to write 😓

hmm in terms of what i choose to work on it’s pretty much what i’m having ideas for!! so usually it’s whatever i’ve consistently been working on for the past while as i’m more “in” that storyline!! so like it’s easier for me to keep writing for hollyhock vs going back and writing for peregrine as it’s been some time so that storyline isn’t as fresh for me. but then once i get some momentum for it it’ll be easy to write for again!! as for what i choose to write…definitely some characters are easier for me to write for than others (ex karasu vs yuki) so i tend to gravitate towards those characters, and then within that i’ve noticed that some tropes flow better w my writing style than others so if i have an idea that shits that i will typically go for that first!! and then too i’m not immune to validation so if a work is getting a lot of comments (or even just a couple detailed ones) and feedback i’ll be more inclined to work on that!! it’s made writing bllk fics on ao3 hard as the fandom isn’t super big yet so i don’t get many comments (if any) esp compared to my jjk works

i can’t even lie getting stories started is difficult for me i usually have to rewrite my beginning few paragraphs a few times before it morphs into something i don’t mind/like!! so i don’t really have a set process besides trying to start in the action…if you start too far in advance (which i always do at first) the beginning gets to be very wordy and info-dumpy!! in my experience it’s good to start like that and kinda orient yourself in the story and then cut to the action for the ACTUAL beginning

the itoshis are def leaning towards bad but they’re not AWFUL like some parents (hiori’s and kaiser’s parents come to mind) definitely not as good as isagi’s though!! and yeah i do wish we could see more interactions between the families but considering how we hardly get to see players that aren’t in bm that might be a tall ask 😭

yeahhh i do think that the bible poll def made things confusing especially because there’s no official english translation afaik so if that’s not made super clear in the version you’re reading online it’s easy to miss!! haha i think it’s funny how reo got voted for like all of the positive ones…he truly is mr perfect and we love that for him

NO FR if it’s just the german people + isagi w occasionally hiori/yuki/kurona/kunigami cameos for the entire next arc i might cry 😩💔 though i don’t think they would do that because it would mean taking away the focus from soooo many popular characters (rin, bachira, nagi, chigiri, barou) for even more time 🤔 i suppose we will just have to trust the process and see what happens!! for now it seems like bm vs pxg is going to go on for a bit longer so at least there’s karasu cameos to look forward to (as long as we don’t keep getting backstories…imagine a shidou/wildcard flashback is next lowkey that would be hype af)

[sugareey-makes-stuff]

1, 10 and a wildcard of your choice for the questions pls and thank youuuuu!!! xox

Hey neighbor! I’m just catching up on things, so forgive my lateness. These look like some fun q’s, so I’ll give it a go. Be prepared for some long, rambly answers! 1. What are 3 things you’d say shaped you into who you are?

Fandom: Okay, so I’ve been in fandom for a longggg ass time. I think we’re going on to 19 years soon? I have no idea where I would be without fandom because the person I was before that was unsure, lost and intimidated. Fandom has helped me cultivate so many long-lasting friendships and that was what turned me into a creator. I don’t know how people know this, but I started off as a fic writer before becoming a fan artist. I used to write weekly drabbles, long fic and I did write a BB (44k!) once upon a time. The community I joined then was super wholesome and welcoming. The writing from those days makes cringe like hell now, but I really appreciate what I learned from that time. Then a couple of years later I jumped into making art, and for a while I was writing and drawing at the same time (don’t ask me how I did that while in uni either). I actually made my first HP art pieces while still in school, and I was thinking about pursuing art for uni. I had one piece that was accepted into an art gallery for a HP convention, and that was when I also made my first Drarry piece for a fest. I have not looked back ever since. Since I recharged my batteries and I’m now writing and drawing at the same time again, it’s amazing to see how much has changed and how my styles have matured. Processes have changed, and quality is way more important than quantity. But also, seeing how all of these things have reached other people and brought them joy has been pretty awesome. Art: See above. I am 10000% sure if it wasn’t for fandom, I would not be making art right now. And I know that would be super sad, because art has been part of the reason why I’ve always gotten hired for jobs, even though it’s not the premise of any of the roles I’ve had/have. But it’s the methodology and thinking out of the box that counts. Taking risks and seeing what sticks. That’s what has made me stick out every time I meet new people and I tell them I’m an artist.

Original art (which I do make too) is fun, but fanart has always given me a liberty to play in one or multiple sandboxes and has allowed me to take things to the next level in some crazy ways. I’ve found that it’s almost like journaling or milestoning things and ideas whenever I make something for a fest/event. It’s super different from making art to be sold for online or at conventions. Since I’m part professionally-trained (traditional) and part self-trained (digital) and I’ve been making art for quite some time, I also can’t see myself not making art. That’s just how I express myself...when visuals are easier to portray than words are. Life without would be like be cutting my limbs off. Tea + Tumblr: Okay, so here’s a fun story! I got into loose leaf teas and became a tea blender because of Tumblr back in 2013. Yeahhh. Adagio Teas introduced fandom teas at the time (where you can make your own blend of teas), and since I was using Tumblr to promote my art biz when that was the thing to do, I met some other artists who were making teas and I jumped on the bandwagon. It was such a pleasure meeting some amazing tea blenders (like Cara McGee or Aun-Juli Riddle), because we all were putting so much love in making these dumb teas about characters we loved. We’d illustrate all the labels and figure out tea percentages that suited each person. There’s actually some strategy around this (feel free to ask more if you’d like :P). Sooo, yeah, I’m still making teas to this day. Selling fandom teas somehow became a big foundation that has kept my art biz going. Local cons know me as the tea person, I have regulars who come back for more, and when I do come out with something new, people get really excited about it. I’ve sort of turned tea into an experience for people. And you can probably guess it...mentioning this in job interviews has gotten me some major kudos. :D 10. Would you say you’re an emotional person? YESSSS. 1000000% This doesn’t need a long answer, but I’ve always been a sensitive person since I was a kid (my mom actually had to read books on how to deal with that), and given my answers above, I pull from emotions when it comes to creations, listening to music, and pretty much everything. 6. What’s the best and worst part of being online/a creator?

Best: Ummm, I have to say, seeing people lose their shit about something you’ve had to keep quiet about is kind of fun and amazing. I’ve been participating in anon fests for a long time, and it’s always fun to see people guess who made what. I know that my style for art has changed a lot over the years, and it’s way more obvious whenever my art does get posted (since I have yet to find someone who draws so crosshatchy like I do). I’ll take that as a win though. People will either leave comments of squee, or they’ll reblog the crap out of it (something that wasn’t as easy to do back in the LJ days).

Worst: Imposter syndrome is so realllll. I know we’re our own worst critic, and sometimes, it’s difficult when I have days where I think my work sucks, or I have to ask why I’m making something. I’ve definitely learned over the years that it’s super important to enjoy not just the end result of something but also the process of making it. Because at the end of the day, we should do what makes us happy.

Thanks for the ask! ___ Previously answered: 11 and 17 Want to know more? Ask a q for questions I think would be fun to be asked!

[igotanidea]

Just an apple... <?> - a Sandman fanfiction

I dedicate this to @wickedly-grim who inspired the story by this post:

Can anyone do a fic or a fanart of a clueless reader tossing/handing Morpheus an apple and then Dream automatically thinking they are engaged now so he’s way more touchy and friendly with them (due to the fact that he thinks they are in a relationship now). All while the reader has no clue about anything, and is wondering why (maybe her boss) the scary king of nightmares is being kind and touchy with her?

If anyone doesn’t know, giving an apple to someone is basically a marriage proposal in Greece.

JUST AN APPLE

Ok. Let’s make thing crystal clear. Being human is hard. Being human who’s familiar with some supernatural power beings (yes, I mean the Endless) is ten times harder. Imagine riding the biggest rollercoaster in the theme park. And then add to it riding it after eating a really big dinner. It’s the greatest recipe for catastrophe. Or at least gastric catarrh. I mean, if you think about it – these being are eternal. They existed long before human race and will be around after any other living thing become extinct. They are powerful, knowledgeable, teasing and have undeniable effect on the human world. But then, it seems like it works the other way round too. No matter how smart the Endless may be one second, they are completely oblivious to customs and habits of people. And that can sometimes lead to some unexpected situations. Serious situations.

I’ve been around the Endless for quite a while now. No matter how crazy that may sound my best friend of them was actually Death herself. From the outside we must have seemed like an unusual besties but it worked quite well. I was rather quiet and observant with a bit of a snarky and sarcastic attitude while she was more of a motherly approach and love-for-live vibes. I suppose I was just telling myself we were complementary to one another. Then one day I get to meet her brother, Dream. Oh, god, what a meeting that was. At the time being I had a job as a waitress and their appearance out of nowhere almost caused me to drop the tray with the dishes.  

-What are u doing here? – I hissed as I spotted not one, but two of the Endless just casually sitting at the table.

-Just having fun, y/n – Death flashed me one of her widest smile.

-Fun? – I raised my eyebrow – you surely do, but your friend here seems like he is about to get crucified.

-He’s not my friend, he’s my brother Don’t mind his broody attitude, he’s going through a lot of things.

-Ok, well, ok. Nice to meet you….? What was your name again? Or more like what do you represent.

-I’m Dream of the Endless.

-His true name is Morpheus – his sister added – you can call him that.

-Under no circumstances ….

-Pleasure, Morpheus– I nodded and reached my hand towards him. For a second he was eyeing it with no intention of shaking so I just put it away awkwardly – right, is there anything I can get you two? We got delicious peas soup as a main course today.

-What is the purpose ….. – Dream started, lips pouted, still grumpy, but Death cut him off.

-We’d like that very much, thank you, y/n – she smiled again. As I left them to collect the order I was able to hear muted conversation.

-Behave Dream, be nice. She’s my friend and a really nice person to be honest. Besides, you are supposed to taste a bit of humanity to understand it better, so stop brooding.

-I am not brooding.

-Oh, come on, brother, you are scaring everyone here. Look around – she waved her hand and as a matter of fact all of the guest in the restaurant seemed a bit intimidated by Dream’s presence.

-They should be scared. I am the one who can give them nightmares after all. And trust me, some of them truly deserve them.

-Dream! – Death clipped him round the ear gently and got a sad and confused look in return – just observe. See how they enjoy their time together, please, for God’s sake just try to do the same.

-Here’s your soup. Enjoy it – I smiled returning and serving them their dishes.

-Thank you, y/n. This looks delicious. Dream? Is there something you’d like to say to our friend.

-She’s not … - he started but a cold glare from his sister made him change the sentence – thank you, I guess.

That was a year ago. Even since I was trying my best to warm Dream up to human race and show him that we are actually not that bad. Not of my own volition, but only because Death asked me too. She was worried about her sibling becoming some sort of eremite, detached from everyone and everything, denying any positive feelings that came his way. I couldn’t say no to her. So, I was balancing my job, crumbles of my social life and a relation with some certain Endless. If you can call it like that.

-Why are you always like that? – I asked him  one day while we were walking in the park.

-Like what?

-Distant. Cold. Black – I hesitated pointing towards his coat.

-Why should I be anything else?

-Because you are dream. Aren’t they supposed to be more vibrant? Emotional? Lively? What’s with the sad attire?

-I’d rather not speak about it.

-Of course not – I sighed. – But fine, let’s not talk. How about we get some ice cream instead.

-Ice cream? – he was dumbfounded

-Yes. Come on – I grabbed his hand and draw him towards the ice cream stall. I only stopped when I reached it, and then noticed the inexplicable expression on his face.

-Dream? Are you all right?

-You touched my hand.

-I guess I did….?

-Why?

-Why? – I repeated not quite understanding what he meant by that – Oh, you’re seriously asking me that. Well, I suppose I was just trying to … make you move?

-And taking my hand was necessary for that?

-I… - God, he was really hard to be around sometimes. – I guess not. I’m sorry.

-Don’t ever do this again. It’s courtesy enough that I tolerate you and your presence.

-I’m sorry? – his simple sentence stroke a nerve in me. – tolerate my presence? Believe me if it wasn’t for the promise I made to Death….. – I shook my head – unbelievable – it’s not like I kissed you or something – Dream eyed me when I said that – whatever. Can we just get those damn ice cream and move on with our lives?

-I would accept that offer.

So, yeah, it was that kind of relation. We would meet every week to introduce Dream to every other human attraction. Sometimes it was something simple, like hiking sometimes something more complex (in Dream’s own words) like a visit to the cinema (which only happened once as we were kicked out of the movie theater). However, he was still pretty hesitant when it came to forming a bond. I felt him warm up a little but it was taking him literal ages. After all, what is time if you are an eternal being? Sometimes, if she was not busy, Death would join us. And since she was a foodie those meetings usually took places in my restaurant. Ironically, the place where me and Morpheus met.

-What can I get you today, my friends? – I asked and pretended like I didn’t notice Dream shudder at the words

-Surprise us, y/n. I’d like something new. And Dream will take the same thing as I.

-I am fully capable of deciding for myself.

-So what can I get you then, Dream? – I turned towards him

-I… I will get whatever my sister gets- he looked down almost shyly.

-Delightful. I got something special coming for you two right away.

If only I knew what kind of situation I would get myself involved in… I suspected nothing when I gave the Endless apple dessert. It was a hollowed-out fruit filled with creamy and a bit sour stuffing.

-Bon appetite – I obliviously smiled but it quickly faded away as I saw Dream’s face. – Is something wrong?

Death was quick to catch up on the situation but obviously she said nothing just sitting there trying to suppress her laugh.  

-Is that really what you’re giving me?

-Yeah, you said you wanted whatever your sister takes. Don’t you like it? I can take it back if…

-No. Thank you. I understand the message.

-What message? – I was confused beyond recognition but decided to let it go since it was Dream. – You know what, I don’t want to know. Enjoy your meal.

-Did she really just… ? – Morpheus asked his sister when the girl was out of sight.

-I know nothing. I do not interfere in your affairs dear brother. You go and figure this out on yourself – she answered with her mouth full with the dessert.

To say the next couple of day were crazy would be a serious understatement. Dream, who was unapproachable for the past year suddenly became more touchy. Wherever we were going he found every possible excuse to brush his hand against mine or stand closer than usual or even trying to grab my waist when we were walking. Not that I was complaining but that was highly confusing. One day when we were sitting on the bench he awkwardly moved so our thighs were touching and that was the breaking point.

-What the hell, Dream? – I jumped from the bench – what do you think you’re doing?

-I don’t understand what you mean, y/n.

-You’ve been acting bizzare for the last week. All that touchy-feely? All the affection? This is not you. I would risk saying you’re making fun out of me, but again… it’s you, so what is this about?

-Is this not how I should behave?

-Should behave?  Why?

-We are betrothed now, so the situation would require a bit of closeness.

-Come again? We are what?

-Betrothed.

-Where on Earth did you get that idea?!

-From you.

-Dream, I swear to God, elaborate on your sentences or I’m going to explode – I was rubbing my forehead in pure frustration.

-You gave me an apple and I accepted.

-I gave you…. Oh my god, do not tell me I got myself in some sort of Persephone situation here.

-In Greece giving one an apple means a proposal.

-IT MAY HAVE SUCH MEANING IN SOME ANCIENT TIMES! – I yelled but quickly calmed myself after receiving some damning look from the pedestrians. – Damn it, Dream. I don’t know what century you’re living in, but I;m definitely a XXI century girl. No fruit, vegetable or plant means engagement here. Do you understand me?

-But…

-Do. You Understand. Me? – I grabbed his coat and looked him straight into the eyes. – Do you?

-I do. Now, you might want to let go of my cloak – here it is again.

-Great.  I missed your warning tone. We are not and will never be engaged. Betrothed, if you like. But I got to admit that was a great development. Last Monday you wouldn’t even say we were friends and now this. However irrational it seems, I’m proud of you, Morpheus. You are growing.

-Maybe you are the reason of it – he smirked and for the first time it actually made me blush. Perhaps there was something new coming for this relation after all.

[gallavichthings]

Gallavich Week 2022

Hello, everyone! It’s that time of the year again! Are you all ready for Gallavich Week 2022? I’m so excited for this one! We’re doing things a bit differently this year, as you might have noticed. More details about the prompts as well as full guidelines after the Read More. Quick reminder that all kinds of work are welcome, as long as they are original. Please read the guidelines before posting.

DAYS AND PROMPTS

Day 1 (June 12) - Theme based (choose 1): Celebration (birthdays, anniversaries, festivals, holidays, random celebrations, anything goes) Trials and Tribulations (problems, big or small, it doesn’t matter; may be between them or something they face together) Day 2 (June 13) - Quote based (choose 1 - anything loosely based in one of these quotes goes): “I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.” - Elizabeth Barrett Browning. “I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.” - Rita Rudner Day 3 (June 14) - Painting based (choose 1 - again, anything loosely based in one of these paintings is enough; may be the general atmosphere of it, the situation in it or even them actually interacting with it somehow):

Stag at Sharkey’s (George Bellows)

Nighthawks (Edward Hopper)

  Day 4 (June 15) - Album based (choose 1 - it can be based in the album atmosphere, Ian and Mickey actually interacting with the album or one of the songs, or based on a piece of lyrics from one of the songs) Rumours (Fleetwood Mac) Born This Way (Lady Gaga) Day 5 (June 16) - Film based (choose 1 - again, feel free to use your imagination and do anything from vaguely inspired by to actual crossover): Love, Actually Fast & Furious Day 6 (June 17) - Based on Gallavich fanwork  Here’s your chance to redo one of your old works or to make something inspired by somebody else’s work - just remember to ASK FOR PERMISSION first. If the person says no, if you can’t find the person to ask or if you don’t know who made the original, DON’T DO IT. Also, you have to CREDIT the original when posting.  Day 7 (June 18) - Free Day  Got a fic or fanart or whatever that you’re making and want to post, but don’t think would fit with the other days? Post it here! It’s also a chance to do whatever you want if none of the other prompts appeal to you. Don’t know what to do? Try the Writing Prompt Generator and the Art Prompt Generator.

CREATING AND POSTING GUIDELINES

How do I participate?

You don’t have to subscribe to anything or announce what you’re doing, you just have to post your work on the appropriate day and tag me using @gallavichthings. It’s important that you tag me properly so that I can be sure to see your post and reblog it. For those days with more than one prompt option, please make it clear which one you’ve chosen.

What types of works are accepted?

Any kind of original fan work is accepted, including but not limited to: fanart, fanfiction (no minimum words required), graphics, gifs and gifsets, videos, and fanmixes.

When can I start posting?

I’ll always make one initial post for each day, at 12am GMT (check here to see when that is in your time zone). After that, post away!

Can I still participate even if I don’t have a Tumblr account?

Absolutely! Just submit something here (http://gallavichthings.tumblr.com/submit).

Can I post on Twitter or Instagram?

You can post anywhere you want! On Twitter and IG, we encourage you to use the hashtag #GW2022 and I’ll RT you. You can also mention @gallavichthings if you want. I do not have an IG account though, sorry, but you can post there and send me a link for visibility. That being said, we do encourage you to post here as well, so it can be seen by more people (all gallavichthings reblogs get cross-posted to Twitter automatically anyway).

Can I post something that I’ve already posted before?

No, sorry. The works should have been created specifically for GW. You can, however, create a sequel or a different version of a previous work.

Can I post something that is not in English?

Of course. Just make sure that it is original, or that you have the original author’s permission (and, in that case, link to the original too).

Can I make R-rated works?

Yes, just please give any necessary warnings and tell us the rating at the very beginning of the post. If the post is visual (like a fanart or a gifset), it would be nice for you to also tag it accordingly. It's not mandatory, but if possible put it under a Read More here on Tumblr and under a spoilers mark (so it's not instantly visible) on Twitter. Please remember that Tumblr now has stricter rules regarding that type of content, so if the post is really NSFW I’d suggest hosting it somewhere else and just posting a link to it, maybe along with a safe version of it.

Can I post something that’s AU?

Sure thing! Tag it accordingly though, both for those who want to avoid it and for those who'd like to find it.

Can I post supernatural works, mpreg, or genderbends?

Yes! But if it’s a fic, please include it in the warnings.

Can I post more than one work?

Definitely! The more, the merrier. You can post as many works as you want, on as many days as you want, be it one post per day or ten on the same day. Anything goes!

Can I post on more than one day? Do I have to make something for each day?

Again, the more, the merrier! You can post on only one or all days if you wish!

Can I make one work that fits two or more themes?

Sure thing. I only ask that you post it on the day of the last theme included. For example, if you are posting a work that includes the theme from Day 1 and the theme from Day 4, post it on day 4 (just make sure to tell me that it includes both).

Can I write a multi-chaptered fanfiction?

Yes, and you don’t have to post everything either. When you do, just be sure to include either a masterpost, or the links to the previous chapters in the beginning.

Can I include other characters/pairings in my work?

Yes, as long as Gallavich is still the focus.

What if I can’t finish on time?

The Gallavich fandom is ALWAYS happy to see new fan material, so just post it when you’re done and tag me, ok? The same goes for people who can’t finish a work on the assigned theme day; you can still post it on a different day during GW, just make it clear which day it was made for.

Is there a contest?

No. It was an idea once, but most people didn’t want it, and felt a bit intimidated by it.

[sineala]

How would you say fandom culture has changed over the years? What are some differences you notice between older and younger fandom folks?

I’ve been thinking for a while about how to answer this, and I’m not sure I have a really good answer, but I’m going to try.

I’ve been in fandom since approximately 1995. Maybe 1994. At that point, the world wide web was a relatively new part of the internet, and the fandoms I was in had most of their activity on privately-hosted mailing lists (predating eGroups/OneList/Yahoo Groups) and on Usenet newsgroups, with fiction beginning to be available on websites as part of either fandom-specific or pairing-specific archives as well as authors’ individual pages. Fanfiction.net did not yet exist. LiveJournal did not exist. AO3 definitely did not exist. If you wanted real-time chat, there was IRC. I was coming in basically at the tail end of zine fandom; zines were no longer the only way of distributing fanfiction, as fandom started to move online. So I have a selection of zines from 90s-era Western media fandoms but even by then zines weren’t where I was doing most of my reading.

I think in terms of generally “what it was like to be in fandom,” the big-picture stuff hasn’t changed. Fandom still produces creative fanwork and likes to, y’know, get together and talk about fandom. Also, almost every fight or complaint that fandom has about something is a thing that has been going on for actual years. People complain that, say, the kudos button is ruining comment culture because back in the LJ days the only way you could comment on a story was, well, by leaving an actual comment, or sending an email on a mailing list, and this might mean that people who would have otherwise commented have left a kudos instead. But back in the LJ and mailing list days, people were complaining that commenting was going downhill since the days of zines, when in order to comment on a story you had to write a real paper letter and mail it and because you had to do that, the quality of feedback was so much better than you got nowadays because people could just dash off a quick email or comment. You get the idea. Top/bottom wars are not new either. Pairing wars are not new. If you’ve been in fandom a while, you will pretty much have seen all the fights already. I think one thing that is new, though, is the fandom awareness of things like privilege and intersectionality and various -isms, as well as things like “providing warnings might be nice” (do you know how much unwarned deathfic I have read? a lot!) and I sure won’t say we’re perfect at any of this now, but I think fandom is trying way way more about all that stuff than it used to.

There are some fights we actually don’t have anymore, as far as I can tell. I feel like it’s been years since I’ve seen the “real person fiction is wrong” battle, but also I don’t hang out in a whole lot of RPF fandoms, so it’s possible that’s still going and I just don’t see it.

There also used to be a recurring debate about whether gay relationships that were canonical were slash or not. When slash started, obviously this wasn’t a question because there weren’t canonical gay relationships in fandoms, period. But as gay characters began to appear in media, people started to wonder “does slash mean all same-sex relationships, or does slash mean only non-canonical same-sex relationships?” Now, you may be reading this and think that sounds like an incredibly weird thing to get hung up on, but that’s because what appears to have happened is that the term “ship” (originally from X-Files Mulder/Scully fandom) has, as far as I can tell, come up and eaten most of the rest of the terminology. Now people will just say, “oh, I ship that.” For any pairing, gay or not, canonical or not. Fandom seems to have decided that for the most part it no longer actually needs a term specific to same-sex relationships as a genre.

Similarly, there are a few genres of fic that we used to have also pretty much don’t exist anymore. There are also plenty of genres that are well-entrenched now that are also extremely recent -- A/B/O comes to mind. But there are some kinds of fic we don’t write a lot of now. Like, I haven’t seen smarm in years! I also haven’t seen We’re Not Gay We Just Love Each Other in a while. There was also a particular style of slash writing where you’d basically have to explain, in detail, what made you think that these particular characters could be anything other than straight. You’d have to motivate this decision. You’d have to look at their canonical heterosexual relationships and come up with a way to explain why all those had happened in order to reconcile how this one guy could have romantic feelings for another guy. When had he figured out he wasn’t straight? Who might he have been with before? How does he interact with people in ways that make you think he’s not straight? That kind of thing. You had to, essentially, show your work. And these days a lot of fanfic is just like, “Okay, Captain America is bisexual, let’s go!” It’s... different.

Fandom also used to skew older, is my sense. A lot older. I don’t know, actually, if it really was older, but I get the sense now that there are some younger people who are surprised that adults are still in fandom. I have seen people saying these days that they think they’re too old for fanfiction because they are not in middle school anymore. And I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that the barriers to access fandom are a lot lower than they used to be. You used to basically have to be an adult with disposable income (or know an adult with disposable income who was willing to help you out; but even then if you were reading explicit fiction you also had to swear you were 18+, usually by sending in an age statement to whoever you were buying the zine from or to the mods of the list you wanted to join, so a lot of fandom was very much age-gated). Internet access was not widely available. Even if you had internet access, you maybe didn’t have your own email address, so you couldn’t sign up for mailing lists; free email providers didn’t exist. If you wanted to buy zines, you had to have money to buy them. If you wanted to go to cons, you had to be able to afford the cost of the con, travel to the con, et cetera. If you wanted to have a website you had to know HTML. Social media did not exist. You want to draw art? Guess what, you’re probably drawing it on paper! You might be able to upload a picture to your website if you have a digital camera or a scanner, but both of those things are expensive, and also a lot of people don’t have the capability or the money to download pictures from the internet (some people have data caps with overage charges, and some people have text-only connections!), so they won’t get to see it. Maybe you can sell your piece at a con! You want to make a fanvid? We called them songvids, but, anyway, you know how you’re doing that? You’re going to hook two VCRs together and smash the play and record buttons very fast! If you want anyone else to watch them, you are either making them a tape personally and mailing it to them or bringing your vids to a convention. Maybe you can digitize them and upload them, but it’s going to take people hours to download them!

(Every three hours my ISP would kick me off the internet and I’d have to dial in again. If it was a busy time of day, it might take me 20 or 30 minutes to get a connection again. And that was assuming no one else in the house needed to use the phone line. Imagine if your modem went out every three hours now.)

And now, for the cost of my internet connection, I can read pretty much whatever fanfiction I want, whenever I want it. I can see all the fanart I want! I can watch vids! Podfic exists now! Fanmixes exist! Gifsets and moodboards exist! If I want to write fic I can write it with programs that are completely free, and as soon as I post it everyone in the entire world can read it. If I want to draw or make vids that may require some additional investment, but I may also be able to do it with things I already have. Do you have any idea how good we all have it?

There are a couple of kinds of fan activity that don’t seem to exist anymore, though, and I miss them. I know that roleplaying still goes on, but I feel like these days most people who do real-time text roleplay have switched to things like Discord. I know that in the LJ days, RP communities were popular. But I really miss MU*s (MUDs, MUSHes, MOOs, MUXes..), which were servers for real-time text-based RP with a bunch of... hmm... features to aid RP. There were virtual rooms with text descriptions, and objects in virtual rooms with descriptions, and your character had a description, and they could interact with the objects as well as with other characters, and you could program things to change descriptions or emit various kinds of text or take you to different rooms, and so on. Just to, y’know, enhance the atmosphere. It was fun and it was where I learned to RP and I’m sad they’re pretty much gone now.

I also don’t think I see a lot of fanfiction awards in fandoms. Wonder where they went.

Going back to the previous point, the barriers to actually consuming the canon you are fannish about are way, way, way lower now. You can pretty much take it for granted that if right now someone tells you about a shiny new fandom, there will be a way to read that book or watch that show or movie right now. Possibly for free! Of course you can watch it! Why wouldn’t you be able to?

This was absolutely, absolutely not the case before. I’m currently in Marvel Comics fandom. If there is a comic I want to read, I can read it right now on the internet. I have subscribed to Marvel Unlimited and I can read pretty much every comic that is older than three months old; the newer ones cost extra money. But I can do it all from the comfort of my own home right now. I was also, actually, in Marvel Comics fandom in the nineties. If I wanted to read a comic, I had to go to a comic book store and hope they had it in stock; if they didn’t, I had to try another store. Not a lot of comics were available in trade paperback and they definitely weren’t readable on the internet. I used to read a lot of Gambit h/c fic set after Uncanny X-Men #350. I never found a copy of UXM #350. I still haven’t! But I did eventually read it on Unlimited.

Being in TV show fandoms also had similar challenges. Was the show you were watching still on the air? No? Then you’d better hope you could find it in reruns, or know someone who had tapes of it that they could copy for you, otherwise you weren’t watching that show. It was, I think, pretty common for people to be in fandoms for shows they hadn’t seen, because they had no way to see the show, but they loved all the fanfic. The Sentinel had a whole lot of fans like that, both because I think it took a while for it to end up in reruns and because overseas distribution was probably poor. So you’d get people who read the fic and wrote fic based on the other fic they’d read, which meant that you got massive, massive amounts of fanon appearing that people just assumed was in the show because it was a weirdly specific detail that appeared in someone’s fic once. Like “Jim and Blair’s apartment has a small water heater” (not actually canonical) or “Blair is a vegetarian” (there’s an episode where his mother visits and IIRC cooks him one of his favorite meals, which is beef tongue).

Like, I was in The Professionals fandom for years. I read all the fic. I hadn’t seen the show. As far as I know, it never aired in the US, and it certainly never had any kind of US VHS or DVD release. I’d seen a couple songvids. I eventually saw a couple episodes in maybe 2003, and that was because my dad special-ordered a commercial VHS tape from the UK and paid someone to convert it from PAL to NTSC. I didn’t get to see the whole show until several years later when I got a region-free DVD player someone in fandom sent me burned copies of the UK DVD releases and then I special-ordered the commercial release of the DVDs from the UK myself. But if I were a new fan and wanted to watch Pros right now? It is on YouTube! For free!

I think also one of the things about fandom that’s not immediately evident to new fans is the way in which it is permanent and/or impermanent. There are probably people whose first fannish experience is on Tumblr or who only read fanfic on FFN and who have no idea what they would do if either site, say, just shut down. But if you’ve been in fandom a while, you’ve been through, say, Discord, Tumblr, Twitter, Pillowfort, Imzy, DW, JournalFen, LJ, GeoCities, IRC, mailing lists. And sure, if Tumblr closed, it would be inconvenient. But fandom would pack up and move somewhere else. You would find it again. It would, eventually, be okay. Similarly, if you’ve been in a lot of fandoms, if you’ve made a lot of friends, drifting through fandoms is like that. You’ll make a friend in 1998 because you were in the same fandom, and then you might go your own ways, and ten years later you might be in another fandom with them again! It happens.

But the flip side of that is that I think a lot of older fans have learned not to trust in the permanence of any particular site. If you like a story, you save it as soon as you read it. If you like a piece of art, you save it. If you like a vid, you save it. Because you don’t know when the site it’s on will be gone for good. I have, like, twenty years of lovingly-curated fanfic. And I feel like people who have only been in fandom since AO3 existed might not understand how much AO3 is a game-changer compared to what we had before. It’s a site where you can put your fic up and you don’t have to worry that the webhost is going out of business, or that the site might delete your work because they don’t allow gay fiction or explicit fiction or fiction written in second person or fiction for fandoms where the creator doesn’t like fanfiction, or whatever. Because all of those things have absolutely happened. But, I mean, I still save pretty much everything I like, even on AO3, just in case.

So, basically, yeah, fandom is a whole lot more accessible than it used to be. I think fandom is pretty much still fandom, but it’s a lot easier to get into, and that has made it way more open to people who wouldn’t have been able to be in fandom before. There is so, so much more now than there ever was before, and I think that’s great.

[k-sci-janitor]

Newmann fic recs - The AU’s

Okay so I've been meaning to do this for awhile but I'll just do it now with no particular plan in mind. I've obviously read a lot of Newmann fic and I've decided to drop some suggestions!

Disclaimer: Please remember to look at the tags on ao3 if you continue onto the link, I'll try to add more tags or description here if I think the ao3 tags leave something out but also read those first to avoid any unwanted content for sure.

The AU's 🧑🏻‍🌾🧑🏻‍🏫👨🏼‍🎤🧜🏻‍♂️

These suggestions will all be AU’s I find really interesting or hot or just super fucking creative. I love getting people to read these even if they don’t care about the ship whatsoever because the story is just that fucking good! I think a good AU can hook any reader in.

“Sea Swept” by cypress_tree (11,995 words, 1/1 chapter, rated E)

This was probably one of the first AUs I ever read and every reread has been a delight. Written by one of my favorite fic authors ever, it’s a fun high seas fantasy fic where Hermann is a boat navigator and Newt is the sexy mysterious man that they find lost at sea. If you’re currently drowning in Our Flag Means Death nonsense right now, this is definitely a fun fic to check out.

D=S*T by seabass (6332 words, 1/1 chapter, rated T)

God I am just as obsessed with this fic as I was reading this 4 years ago. It’s weird and eerie and honestly just reads like a particularly strange sci-fi short story. Basic plot is that a hole is found in the desert and it’s weird and Hermann and Newt are two scientists brought out to figure out what the hell it is. I’ve done fanart for this in the past and I should do it again quite honestly, lol.

An Enthralling Holiday Abroad by Jay Auris (nighthawkms) (35,438 words, 13/13 chapters, rated E)

What’s funny is that this will definitely not be the only vampire fic I suggest for readers but it will definitely be the sexiest, dear god. Like, it's sexy for sure but the overall plot and story is super mysterious and cool and it's just a fun read!

Meet Me Across the Water, And We'll Start an Endless Storm by skepticamoeba (35,515 words, 15/15 chapters, rated T)

Oh man, I haven't read this one in awhile but if you want a wholesome lighthouse keeper au, please check this one out! I remember it being very atmospheric and wistful for the most part.

Vow of Silence by blairrabbit (35,686 words, 1 chapter, rated G)

This is less of a total AU as it's still dealing with the main plot of kaiju coming to earth but it's got enough AU elements that I'll include it anyway. GOD I love this fic tho, one of the only soulmate au's I fully jive with and it packs such a punch. Basically, it's a love language soulmate situation, you'll find your soulmate when you both speak and understand your special love language to each other. I like how the fic fleshes out other languages and it's just a really strong look at both their characterizations.

It Was Love at Second Sight by rednights (35,046 words, 3/3 chapters, rated T)

AU where they're just academic colleagues who have the worst first meeting of all time. Ugh, this is a another fic I'll revisit all the time because it's just that damn good. Lots of good pining and good Hermann characterization, probably my favorite depiction of his relationship with his sister.

Ghost: A Romance in Six Seasons by Skull_Bearer (15,255 words, 2/2 chapters, rated M)

OKAY BIG WARNING FOR MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH. As you can see from the tags, Hermann has MS and he meets Newt who's a ghost and just to warn ya, Newt is NOT the major character death in the story. It's cute, it's incredibly melancholic because you see where the story is going but it's still very romantic and again, if you're uncomfortable with major character deaths, I'd probably avoid this. Otherwise, it's cute read if you're in the mood for something sad but hopeful!

The Prince and The Frog by curiumKingyo (5,758 words, 3/3 chapters, rated E)

Man, just a fun, straight-up fairytale au where Hermann's literally a frog who's found by Prince Newton. Also, there's sex once he's, you know, NOT a frog, lmao.

Witchy Hermann series by lazarwolff (multiple fics at 11,315 words, rated G-T)

Oh these are just fun, Hermann's a witch, Newt attracts all sorts of weird creatures to him since he's medium, chaos ensues! I think I'm just a sucker for a fun witch au...

Question: How Many Mathematicans from Cambridge have pen pal working at the biological engineering faculty of the MIT? Answer: Exactly One by JaredKleinman (8,001 words, 1 chapter, rated T)

Lmao what a title. Anyway, this cute non-kaiju universe au has possibly the best use of footnotes I've ever seen. It rivals Pratchett for SURE. Totally fun and definitely rec!!

It's All in the Hands of the Lazy Projector by patster223 (10,589 words, 1 chapter, rated T)

Another light AU where Hermann is cursed and can't remember anything from the day prior so he meticulously writes his day down every day. Naturally this leads him to question whether he's falling in love with this "Newt"....

Cafe of Light by orphan (9,954 words, 1 chapter, not rated)

I know next to nothing about Final Fantasy but still thoroughly enjoyed this fic where Newt and Hermann meet over FFXIV and the rest of the PPDC make appearances. It's not rated but I believe Teen would be fine!

Among Mountains by cypress_tree (27,244 words, 13/13 chapters, rated E)

My favorite dragon kingdom/arranged marriage fic! Super fun, super hot. By the same author as the sailing fic mentioned at the top!

Carcasses Lie Like Lovers by holyverse (13,244 words, 2/2 chapters, rated Teen and Up)

WOO BOY, so this fic knocked me out. If you happen to have watched The Strain, you'll probably like this very gritty vampire hunting fic. I will strongly suggest those who do not like gore or depictions of characters transforming into something inhuman to avoid this one.

Newton Geiszler: Doctor of the Great Unknown by buckgaybarnes (2,698 words, 1/1 chapter, rated M)

I'm going to restrain myself to just one of Maria's au fics and pick the only one I read aloud to a friend during a car trip. Fun and great for those who are into Victorian spiritualism! She has a bunch of other great au's but this has a very fun setting!

That's it for now! I'm sure I missed some but I already listed too many! Thanks for reading!