#but i don't think i've ever connected to art from where i'm from the way i have to manga and other aspects of japanese art

[shanastoryteller]

why isn't shanastoryteller's tumblr writing on ao3?

i've been asked this before, and i've gotten asked this a handful more times in just the past week, so

i'm going to link this post in my pinned post so it hopefully comes up a little less. i'm going to go through my answer in a detailed way that isn't necessarily all directed towards anyone who has asked some variation of this recently or ever, i'm just trying to be thorough to answer this for the (hopefully) last time

first there's the issue of formatting. there's pretty much no way to move what's at this point about 2,000 prompts over to ao3 in a way that isn't deeply annoying to myself, other users, and anyone who's subscribed to me. i'm not interested in making a new "chapter" for just a couple hundred words, i'm not going to tag 100 fandoms on one work, i don't want have to go to ao3 after every prompt cycle and copy and paste the prompts into the fic, whether that be as a new chapter or just editing a story to contain new material. the masterlist and updating the google doc already takes a decent amount of time and having to do this on ao3 would be both finnicky and time consuming and there's no way to set it up that i wouldn't find myself irritated with the prompts being on my profile period

however, most importantly, it just doesn't jive with how i use each of these websites

ao3 is an archive and dumping all my random prompts on there is an appropriate use for it. however. it's not how i personally prefer to use each site and just because something can go on ao3 does not mean i'm required to put it there

tumblr is my sketchbook and ao3 is my art gallery

the prompts and snippets and random crap i post here isn't thought out, don't necessarily have an overarching plot, or any real substance to them besides the scenes. they're fun, they're usually low effort, and they're things i work on without any real expectation that they'll spawn into a full, fully plotted story or at least not one i'm committed to writing out. i don't like having unfinished works on ao3 and i try really hard not to. if i'm posting something to ao3, that's me making a commitment to eventually (EVENTUALLY!!) completing it and having all my random, messy, incomplete prompts and scraps on there would 100% stress me out

like how sketches often become full pieces, it's not uncommon for a prompt series or random writing to turn into a full fic that gets fleshed out / expanded and put on ao3

The Great Puzzle, wing bones touching, Snakelet, Here Be Dragons, Become Tomorrow, shrine or scar, that is a door, Cartwheels in Cloud Recesses, Ghosts Shouldn't, Little Lion Boy, and Despite the Abundance all started on tumblr

but even in cases where i found a big chunk of the tumblr writings usable and worth keeping, it's not a matter of just copy and pasting it over and calling it a day. a full fic and and a series of random prompts or whatever scenes i've written on here isn't necessarily how i would choose to tell a longform story, so transporting them over always entails a fairly large amount of work on my end

in the case of the great puzzle, i used all that i'd written, it was just the commitment and plot to writing the story through. for wing bones touching, i'm using most of what's already been written, but there's a lot of connective tissue and build up to earn the payoff that i hadn't bothered to write when it was just a prompt series that now has to be put in

there are some series where this is easier than others. the azula and zuko series, for example, would have to be written almost entirely from scratch. it encompasses a huge amount of time and action and earns pretty much none of it - because the format means it doesn't have to.

living blood is one that i'm thinking will probably end up on ao3 at some point because i've written a lot of the connective tissue and build up into it already so it's not such a huge effort to polish it up

"but you don't have to polish it up!" i can hear you saying. "you can just post it as is!"

i said it above and i'll say it again: i could. but i don't want to

i'm saying this with all the kindness and appreciation for your interactions and your comments and your readership but: not everything is about you

i link all the previous prompts in the most recent one. i make a masterlist after every prompt cycle. i have every prompt linked out in the google doc

i'm not opposed to making things easier for your guys, and have spent a lot of time doing so, but i'm completely uninterested in moving my prompts and random writings over to ao3 for all the reasons laid out above, and being asked repeatedly isn't going to change my answer

if you think those reasons are stupid and inadequate and it makes you mad, the good news is this: you don't have to follow me and you don't have to read my work. you're completely and totally free to opt out of this experience

if you find navigating prompts as i have them laid out to be too cumbersome and difficult then, kindly, don't read them

i'm not a professional, a company, or a celebrity. this blog and my writing is neither a product nor a service

the point where prompts are more stressful and irritating than they are fun, the point where sharing scraps of my writing becomes something that turns into an obligation or a drag or too much work, is the point where i stop doing it

[late-moonie-thoughts]

bless the japanese cosplayers who made it into my manga growing up because i swear to god they're one of the reasons i'm not christian anymore, and also why i have taste in clothing now.

mana sama is the most beautiful person i've ever seen.

bless the queers who were queer before it became as normal as it is today. bless all of them. thank you for expressing yourself even when the time period did not support you. i love you. i appreciate you. i value you. you have changed my life. i may never meet you but i love what you have done for me

[eliashirsch]

Fly High, Val

there's been a lot on my mind since i heard the news about val kilmer's passing. i've been reflecting, overthinking, being stuck in nostalgia. it's the first time in my life where i've genuinely cried after hearing a celebrity pass away, i'm not one for parasocial relationships. but well, that's what legends do to you, i guess.

i can't say enough how much top gun and tg:m have impacted my life. genuinely. i am not who i am now without it. all that is thanks to mr. kilmer. his potrayal of iceman is memorable, genuine, and incredible in it of itself. his way of bringing a character that barely has anything as a source into something that feels sincere is a mark of a great talent. like many others, top gun has changed my life in ways only art can. it's amazing what effect the desire to create does to people. val simply wanted to make art, and in doing so he left behind a great legacy.

as i've grown older, the prospect of death scares me more and more. val kilmer's death just feel like a sucker punch to my gut when i heard it (through a tumblr post nonetheless). i remembered i just felt like nothing was real. i knew he had been sick, i knew he was old, i know people die. i just never thought about the day he would. in my mind he's kinda always been invincible.

like many of you, i've chosen to ignore iceman's death. i mean, characters live on forever, right? i just think it's an even bigger sucker punch now that his death aligned with that in the movie. i'm probably gonna be sad every time i watch iceman's funeral scene from now on.

i kinda wished i could meet him once, just to say how much of an impact he's had on everybody's life. seeing everyone's responses to his death was comforting, telling me that i'm not alone in feeling this way. i'm glad i get to be reminded about the beauty of human connection every now and then, it truly is what makes life worth living.

this drawing wasn't the first one i did. i actually did another thing, but i don't know. the emotions wasn't there enough. with this drawing i just...let my hands feel. i'm sort of surprised by how it came out actually. i don't think i've ever done this kind of lighting before. he kinda looks like a statue, frozen in time.

anyway, i just wanted to leave a little something for me to remember this moment, this feeling. it's bittersweet--more bitter than sweet now. but i want to look back to this post and think about the sweeter things. time will soothe the wounds.

thank you for everything, mr. kilmer. hope you rest easy now<3

[meraki-sunset]

so your crow strider au gave me inspiration for my own au, but i've built up the idea in my brain so much that now im scared to try to put it to paper (oops) did you ever deal with this while making crow strider? (and if you did, how you got over it would be much appreciated thanks fhdjks) also your art is cool :]

Hi, sure, i encountered a few blocks when writing CSAU and other projects. I think my method comes down to a couple rules

You need to know how the story ends from the start, so everything in the story leads to the end. Things can change about the contents of the story as you write it and you change your mind about the events that will transpire in it, but you need an end goal you can build your story towards. Most importantly, this is what allows you to add foreshadowing for said ending and structure the narrative in a clear direction. Otherwise, you might come up with a cool ending too late and regret some choices from past chapters that now don’t help this new ending you want

On that same note (and i’ll proceed to copy and paste from an old post) You need to have a Word document with a rough timeline of the events from start to finish. You need to know how it ends from the beginning and how they get there. It can be really, really vague, but it has to be there. It can go like

. They start the game, the trolls bother them.

.both games go to hell

.scratch

.trip, develop relationships

.new set of kids/teen drama

.old kids they get there

.to hell again

.John retcons everything

.new timeline

.they win

And that's homestuck simplified, Those are your Acts. With them, you will know where you're going and if you need to change something earlier. Everything will be constantly up to change of course, but you will be going from point A to point Z more easily.

From there, you go to every point in that list and create a Word document for all of them. I have them in different folders to have every act separated and in order.

A folder for each Doc for every Act, Numbered, and in each one make more lists like that one telling what happens, for example

WordDoc1 - ACT 1 "They start the game, the trolls bother them"=

.John needs to get his game

.introduce Rose

.introduce the trolls on pester chats

. John gets the game

.introduce Dave

.etc

And those are your chapters. Now you can know the extent of what you want to do and if it makes any sense.

I addition to that, every Folder can contain not only the Word document for the Act but also relevant texts and art that are connected to the Act, so evey folder is all about that specific act and any inspiration for it.

Another piece of advice I can give you is to hint at anything important. That's a rule of comedy; actually, the comedian usually closes the show with something related to the first things they said.

That works for everything, and makes people go, "Oh the thing! The meaningless thing they said earlier, it was a clue all along!"

Interconnect it like a web, and that web will stop the story from falling

Homestuck is so ridiculously interconnected that you lose track of the stuff and objects that repeat that have no way to be where they got to be, songs and people and events that are too similar to not be connected but nobody addresses, things like that make it feel like you're dealing with a universe and not just a line of events.

3. Yet another thing, it's something I'm still trying to assimilate, and is that less is more, sometimes things don't need to be said, specialy not bluntly, and an expression, a gesture, a flinch can summarize them. Backgrounds can be reduced, and ideas can be conveyed.

one example is, In homestuck, it's never said that Dave was raised with lack of food. He never sais it, but it's shown in how happy he was to find a warm bottle of juice in his closet, how there is only weapons on the kitchen and no sign of food, how he later sais he never learned what the purpose of a fridge was until he saw it on tv. If someone is lacking something, don't have them say, "i grew up without X thing" show what filled that space in the absence of X thing.

Instead of some character saying, "My dad was never there for christmas" have them say how they thrited for presents at the local goodwill, payed with their lawn mowing money and put the presents under the tree themselves for their siblings and mom.

4. Something that I always have in mind when writing the dialogs and sketching the scenes, is

"I have an idea; what's the easiest way for someone to get the idea, to get the feelings i want to transmit from the idea?" I made the art something I could handle drawing hundreds of times, simplified the coloring, the aspect symbols, the way I draw backgrounds, the way I write dialogs, etc.

That will save you time and work and could prevent you from getting stuck with a project too big to handle

5. This is the most important one: The first draft’s only purpose is to exist.

Writing is like playing darts sometimes; you only get closer to hitting the center by missing it and learning what not to do. That’s an actual rule on animation and a motto on the Disney office. “Get it wrong as quick as you can,” because when you learn what you’re doing wrong is when you start learnign what doing it right means.

If it helps, title your first draft “the dumb version,” because that’s what it is—the version to get the idea out of your head, and then you built over it.

On the same note, once you write "the dumb version" don’t correct it. Rewrite it. It’s annoying, I know, i know, but fixing and fixing a text only carries the mistakes from the first draft, and everything looks kind of disconnected, because it ends up being a Frankenstein text of all the versions of the story mixed together.

This also applies to art; that’s how I handle both writing and drawing; if it’s not working, hold onto the core idea, new page, restart.

Rewriting it puts it in perspective; it feels like a text of its own, with a clear intent in mind.

I think that’s all I have. Making a story is mostly about managing your strengths and weaknesses, organizing and not being scared of it not being perfect.

Hope this helps.

[ckret2]

Hey I was the anonymous ask who asked about the pit of hate (location where Demongo was summoned) being a nightclub for demons and stuff I just wanted to know what is your take on it if it ever was a nightclub?

oh i'm saving that ask for an art, don't worry. it's gonna be silly.

But for my realistic/serious answer, i think this is the pit of hate:

Not that specific geographical location in Long Ago Fantasy Japan, but the goo itself. The pit filled with the cosmic darkness-evilness-hatred from which Aku was born.

After his birth, that pit & forest remain. Not all of it was used up to create Aku.

I think, when he built himself a fortress, he just pulled together the trees of his forest and sculpted them into a tower. (Or perhaps grew new trees; we don't know what happened to that forest in the eight years of Aku's imprisonment, but the emperor implies they might've got rid of it.)

Compare this tower to the pictures of the pit above. Same thing, just compacted all together.

And then he gathered up all that space tar and stored it inside his fortress. The tower extends as far down into the earth as it does up into the sky, and the bottom half is the pit of hate. It's like 1/2 tar pit, 1/2 magical void that psychologically torments you.

Aku's still psychically/spiritually connected to the pit. Like the pit is a tree, and he's a single leaf—the only leaf the tree has ever grown. It's one of the reasons he spends most of his time in his fortress: he's literally "rooted" there. Every time we see him get summoned and he shoots up from the depths like the world's meanest sunflower—

—he's extending out of the pit, exactly the way he did when he was born.

There are locations in his fortress where he's not directly connected to the pit (his throne, his bed), but his audience chamber where he seems to take all visitors? The core of his fortress, his forest, his empire? When he's there, he's rooted in the pit.

He CAN leave the pit behind indefinitely, he's not dependent upon it. He just doesn't like to.

And so if he teleports somebody into the pit of hate, like that alien from the water world? He's tossing them in the tar pit. Before Aku's birth this would be an automatic death sentence; but the pit's magical, Aku's magical, Aku controls the pit, if he says a victim survives then the victim survives, he can extract them later.

For most people it's a torture worse than death. You've gotta be pretty messed up to actually enjoy the Pit of Hate.

(I've seen someone headcanon that Demongo was a normal dude who was trapped in the Pit of Hate so long it physically/mentally turned him into a demon. idk if I share that specific headcanon or if I wanna headcanon Demongo was wicked from the start; but I think there's merit to the idea the pit could do that to victims.)

[h-sleepingirl]

Dolly in the Art Gallery: A Charmed 2025 Scene Log/Recap

“Art is how we decorate space, and music is how we decorate time.”

I first heard this Jean-Michel Basquiat quote in a rope class from Barkas, in the context of how we play within both space and time in a kink scene. I think about it frequently, especially as I feel more and more passionately about the brutally human impulse to create art.

I have been coming to hypnosis events since 2013, before Charmed existed -- my first event was packed with my own manic energy, held in a dungeon where people could hypnotize me basically at will. No hotel staff, no sneaking back to a private room. I developed a reputation as an aesthetically pleasing subject, often put on display in subtle and overt ways.

I have grown up in this community. Essentially my entire adult life has been spent involved in going to events and cons. I'm 33 now, and as Charmed celebrates its 10th year I've perhaps been unconsciously influenced to reflect on myself aging.

I feel so much older than that 21 year old exhibitionist. I'm more reserved, quieter, more selective, and certainly smarter. I like who I'm becoming, but I do miss parts of who I used to be -- that confidence, that energy. 

On Friday evening I looked at the schedule and saw there was going to be a Gallery of Living Art -- it's been a staple at Charmed for a number of years, but I'd never done more than peek inside.

I thought to myself: “Why not try to get in touch with that playful younger self? Why not show everyone who I am nowadays? Why not live out a fantasy?” 

Surely I’m not too old. Surely I haven’t grown out of this.

The time comes and I connect with my partner about it. He knows that one of my absolute favorite things is being totally frozen. We decide against anything complicated. No one will touch me or trigger me or anything like that. It’s the most “negotiating” we've maybe ever done, but I still leave all details to him. I tell him: “I was really just thinking this is an opportunity for me to sit blank and still for a long time.”

We walk into the room, and it’s overwhelming. People are setting up intricate exhibits with lots of creative interactions. There is a sheet we need to fill out to describe what our “art” is, which my partner writes on cryptically.

“Dolly can't talk. Duh…”

“Dolly is precious -- don't touch!”

Under “Artist”, where he is meant to put his name, he writes a question mark.

I am so in love with him, watching his mind work on the spot.

We find a place in the loud room and look at each other. We are a fluid force of nature in a bed together, spontaneous and wild. This planning doesn't feel like us. This hypnosis isn't a formality, per se, but it just feels sort of like “We both know how this is going to end on some level -- so how do we spend this time?”

He gingerly removes my name tag and starts murmuring to me. 

Being a dolly is such a luxurious treat that the moment he suggests it, I crumble, gripping his shirt with my weak little fingers, moaning too softly to be heard by anyone but him.

He poses me. He fixes my gaze blank and forward. He lets me practice standing and sitting. This kind of rehearsal is unfamiliar for us, and I almost relish doing something that feels a little awkward.

I am a dolly when he leaves me, frozen and posed, but I know it is going to take a couple minutes to settle in. I am a dolly getting comfortable, a dolly with twinges of self-consciousness. After a couple minutes he walks me over to a different chair, one that is highlighted by empty space around it, and I sit, and I know this is truly where I am supposed to be on display.

Finally, total stillness rushes over me like pure relief. 

I sit, and I stare, and I don’t do anything else. My mind is blank, and sometimes all there is inside my head is “I’m a dolly, I’m a dolly,” in my little dolly voice. It is pure, simple bliss.

People begin to come up to me to look at me. I am a good dolly and I am silent and I do not move even my eyes. They patiently read my sign and then observe me. I cannot change my body position to be any more or less appealing to them, I cannot hide nor flaunt myself.

Some people say things to me, little compliments and appreciations, and I can’t really process their words. The little dolly voice in my head screams in pleasure when I’m spoken to and given attention.

I have ADHD, I’m addicted to my phone, I’m a fidgeter. But there is nothing that carries the unique pleasure of being frozen and still. It reminds me of Quaker meetings, of spiritual silence and meditation that makes one feel time itself as though it has a sensory texture.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel talks about the Jewish sabbath as proof that it is not intuitive for us to sanctify time. But nevertheless as Jews we must learn to do it to make shabbat holy every week. Shabbat is “a cathedral in time,” he says, and I’ve been thinking about how much that applies to my experience of hypnosis. Hypnosis is not a physical object. We may sometimes have props but we cannot touch trance and it leaves no marks. It is time that is the sacred dimension in hypnosis, the time that we set aside (“kadosh” in Hebrew) with another human being.

Heschel says we are slaves to space and material things. And in this moment I feel like I have gotten as close as I can to releasing that. I am not even moving my physical body within the physical world. I am just relishing each passing second of stillness, building my cathedral in time.

Of course, sometimes I think sacred space and objects are very important. After all, I am in a space that is incredibly rare, that only exists very briefly, that I had to travel at length to get to.

And I am an object -- art -- inside of it. I am literally decorating the space, as Basquiat would say.

Am I thinking all of this as I sit there motionless? No, not with any sophistication. I truly feel blank. But I am feeling flashes of this as abstract mental sensations that I will untangle later.

Something else strikes me very quickly that I observe within. When people walk up to look at me, something inside me tenses up. I realize that I am unconsciously preparing myself to talk to them. I have been coming to cons for so long, and especially since beginning to write books I always meet a ton of new people every year who come up to me to talk, which I adore. But right now I am in a space where I literally cannot have a conversation with anyone. I don’t even have my nametag on anymore -- my partner was so clever to remove it.

It is the opposite of vending books, where I sit in a chair and am helpless in the sense that I must engage in conversation with the people who come up to meet me. Now, I literally cannot talk to anyone, and they cannot talk to me, and most people may not even know who I am.

It is a hit of extreme objectification, more real than it has ever felt. I am not sleepingirl -- I am a dolly. “Who” I am doesn’t matter. I am art.

My partner also is not sitting there receiving compliments for me. He is nearby, in eyesight, just watching. But he’s anonymous too. And there is something about this mutual anonymity that makes me feel even prouder about us as a couple. There is no performance of who we are. I don’t know how to describe it, but obviously it feels more authentic than public play usually ever does. Like a little secret we are sharing a corner of.

And he looks ever the artist, sitting back and watching me. I feel very strongly that this little scene isn’t the art -- it’s me. Our relationship is what’s really on display. All the work he’s done over 7 years of brainwashing me, real work on my personality and identity, my wardrobe, every single way I express myself and who I am. The people coming by are seeing his bimbo, his dolly, his [x] -- without necessarily knowing who either of us are.

The rhythm is addicting. My mind babbles my self-given dolly mantra over and over, I luxuriate in the stillness, and I stare. I only can sort of half-see with darkened vision, though my eyes are wide. I love when people notice me sitting there -- their expressions change as they observe me. They step into my metaphorical space, which is eerily silent compared to the revelry of the creative demonstrations that fill the room. They are no longer “being entertained,” and no one can communicate to them what I am doing -- they must engage with me out of their own curiosity.

Sometimes they decide to talk to me. I can’t process most of it, but I remember a few interactions.

Someone says, “What an excellent dolly.”

Someone else notices that I’m wearing a bracelet that says “bimbo,” and says, “Even the details on this one are exquisite.”

Someone else says, “Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen sleepingirl play before.”

That last one hits me in the gut with memories of a time now long past: Play in public spaces was universal at cons; I couldn’t move from one place to another without someone dropping me into trance; absolutely everyone knew what I looked like when hypnotized.

Even now as I am on display, I have a mask on, and the people can’t see my gently parted lips.

It is a rush of emotion that is very complex for my simple little dolly head, but it goes away.

For a long while, I just exist as a thing in bliss while the room -- the whole world -- bubbles with activity around me. 

Eventually even as I sit frozen and blank, a little timer starts ticking in my head -- I could sit here for much longer, but I don’t want to make him wait for me, and I have other things I want to do tonight.

Reading Heschel has been helping me release some of that odd panic that bubbles up when I awaken from trance -- the feeling that magic is slipping through my fingers, memories are slipping out of my mind, and I can take no memento from it. I sometimes write, draw, or make music to try to capture the things I feel in hypnosis with my partner. I think it is from that impulse to be able to touch and hold hypnosis, to make it a “thing” in space as opposed to something of time.

But I do think there is something else, just a human drive to create art about this transcendent experience that we engage in together. I need to create art to try to communicate the perfect way I don’t move and my eyes go glassy. I need to express my emotions, my desires, my dreams, my love. I am only human, a human blown away by this very human thing we do that we call hypnosis.

Only my partner sees it, and he does see so much into the soul of it for me. But this is exactly what I have wanted -- a chance to publicly communicate the beauty of what he and I do. To make this art by performing it, living it. To engage in a human act of creativity by having my humanity stripped away from me.

I am a bimbo, a dolly, I am art -- and that doesn’t go away when I get up to tell him I am done sitting here. I am his art. I am a manifestation of his creativity in this world, and he has a beautifully creative mind which I love so dearly.

This is serious for me, this is real for me, this is so highly personal and jealously guarded as my own precious identity.

Ten years ago I laid my head on his lap and he transformed my eyes into dolly eyes and told me that someday he would turn my whole body into a dolly body. And as we laid together in a bed after the Gallery on Friday he talked about how I had those dolly eyes again in that room. But to me, it’s not about being a dolly, or even being a bimbo. It’s about creating art together, art with a power imbalance. And fucking respecting that as sacred and exciting.

I don’t have much else to say except extreme heartfelt gratitude to Mazirian for running the Gallery, and everyone who came by to look at me and said nice things to me and joined me in my world for just a little while. 

(If you’re curious, I was sitting there for about 30 minutes.)

[accirax]

DRDTtober Day...... uhhhhhh......

Given that we are (*checks calendar*) now half a year out from when DRDTtober 2024 was meant to begin, I think it's finally time to admit... yeah, I don't think I'm ever going to go back and make art for those prompts 😔✌️

I did, however, draw this back in September, in accordance with my original plans for the event! For those curious, below the cut is a (hopefully) brief explanation of what these designs were intended to be for, and why the comics ultimately never came to fruition.

As you may or may not recall, librariansrose kindly shared 2024's DRDTtober prompts to Tumblr well in advance of October's beginning, on August 22nd. Because I had so much fun making all of the comics for 2023, I definitely wanted to participate again. However, making the comics for 2023 took a lot of time, so I resolved that, if I was going to commit to these comics as a fairly big time investment, I might as well go all-in and make something nice that I could ideally use as a portfolio piece in the future. One polished, paneled page per day, in a 31-day overarching story. That idea also aligned with my personal desire to do something different than I had done last year, just for spice.

"This will be so easy!" I thought. "I have the end of August and the entirety of September to make my designs, write out my script, and get well ahead of drawing the comic itself so that I'll have plenty of buffer for the beginning of October!"

A few days after the prompts were shared, it was announced that DRDT Chapter 2 would resume on September 6th.

Suddenly, all of the time that I had mentally blocked to work on my DRDTtober comics was absorbed into watching the series itself and writing up my episode-by-episode dissections, as well as reading and responding to other various theories. It was awesome, obviously, but by the end of September I had done basically nothing other than make some very loose notes and draw up these first passes at character designs. At the beginning of October, I played with the idea of doing 7-page bursts at the end of each week, but when the first week ended, that turned into starting it mid-month and finishing in November, to starting in November, until it devolved into where we are now.

The biggest reason why I never wound up making this comic is because, to this day, I still don't have a clear idea of what its ending would be. With the comics being one connected story instead of 31 largely separate jokes, I needed to know what the ending would look like in order to properly set up the beginning. And, as I quickly found out, trying to make up a satisfying story that has to feature 30 random prompts in a specific order and feature 17 different characters when you only came in with the desire to make a comic instead of to share a story, is really, really hard 😅

What I can say about the story is that it would have had David as the protagonist, with Xander and Teruko starring as fellow main characters. They would go on a quest throughout the kingdom and into the wilderness, encountering the rest of the cast (themed to various prompts) at various points along the way. For instance, you might be able to recognize Hu, Eden, and Min as representing the "magical girls" prompt, while Whit and Charles exemplified the "coffee shop" prompt. There was also a lot of lore, the details of which were also never fully fleshed out. If people are interested in hearing more about the story, maybe I can share the beginning of the script that I wrote out, and the layout sketches I made of what the first few pages would look like.

But yeah, unless I wind up reviving this story in some other form in the future, I don't think I'll ever wind up circling back to 2024's prompts. I'd be much more likely to either just wait until 2025's prompts come out, or continue making my own events, like the Secret Santa and Valentine's Day series I've done. I guess I could maybe try to combine 2024's prompts with 2025's prompts to do two prompts per day? That sounds kinda interesting. But also really hard. No promises!

I have no idea if anyone was still anticipating these from me at all, but in my mind I did promise that I'd do the prompts eventually, and leaving that dangling thread was bothering me. Plus, I did like these designs, and hopefully you do, too! Probably so, if you're still reading this. Thank you for reading this! It's not a month's worth of comics or illustrations, but hopefully it was interesting regardless :)

[genericpuff]

I'm not sure if anyone else has made this connection, but I've never seen it mentioned before. I think, similar to Lolita, RS was also inspired by the art of Trevor Brown. His work has a lot of young girls and medical fetish themes (to put it lightly) in a style reminiscent of RS's earlier stuff.

sigh

CW: medical fetish art often depicting children / child-like characters and medical equipment such as needles, gas masks, etc. seriously don't hit the jump if medical equipment or young girls in nurse's outfits or with open wounds makes you squeamish, I will not blame you for turning around now LOL

OP I was about to just... dismiss this. Wave it away as a funny coincidence that is indeed funny, but doesn't have any real evidence to back it up. I had a post typed up in response already declaring this, after which posting I was gonna move on with my day, work on Rekindled, play some XIV.

Because sure, there are a lot of resemblances between Trevor Brown's work and Rachel's old art, but nothing that can't be dismissed in good faith as a simple coincidence of being within the same genre of fetish art (first three are Trevor's, last three are Rachel's).

But then that little voice in the back of my head whispered in my ear, "Puff. You should double check. Just to be sure. Do your due diligence." And I once again found myself on the precipice of the rabbithole that somehow becomes deeper every time I jump. This time though, I knew it couldn't be that bad, I mean, I had enough confidence in knowing that there's no fucking way she listed Trevor Brown as one of her favorite artists-

God fucking dammit. How in the world did I miss this? I mean, I suppose I missed it simply because I'm not familiar with the works of Trevor Brown, but you can bet your ass I became familiar with it in my digging. Yeah, this guy is a supreme creep.

Again, I am not going to accuse Rachel of being a pedophile because that's just not an accusation that should be thrown around without undeniable evidence. What I will say, which has largely remained the same - though even more confidently now than ever before - is that she's clearly someone who took a lot of inspiration and influence from very problematic artists when she was young (I'm talking in her late teens which has me wondering if she started making medical fetish art when she was still a minor-) and then, BEST guess, she started to drop the medical fetish stuff around the time she went to college (which was also the same time she dropped The Doctor Pepper Show, which later got reworked into The Doctor Foxglove Show which was a lot less reminiscent of her medical fetish style from the early 2000's, but still had some of her usual preferences at play) and that's led up to today where she's drawing comics that look like they're for kids but tackle heavy adult subject matter in the worst way possible that straight up perpetuates grooming.

No matter how much experience I have with this already, no matter how much I think I've already seen, I always find more, and this time was no different. In fact - though unrelated to the original topic - thanks to this one fucking ask, I even found the full Mads Mikkelson comic with the completed caption. You know, that one.

And apparently Mads Mikkelson did very much replace her crush on Jeremy Irons.

Who's Jeremy Irons?

Oh yeah.

I just... y'all I can't. This is un-fucking-real. I'm gonna go take a shower, I need to scrub myself off of this 😭

[yukidragon]

Moving Forward with Sunshine in Hell and Sunny Day Jack

For the past several months I've been giving a lot of thought about Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack, the fandom, SnaccPop, and everything that's transpired as of late.

I'm still not comfortable discussing details about what happened. A lot of my friends were hurt and are still hurting. It's up to them to decide when or if they want to tell their stories. The part I played in things is minor in comparison, and I don't want to dig open painful wounds that are still trying to heal just to talk about my own experiences.

I will say though that it's been hard to enjoy the SWWSDJ game or fandom the same way I used to. The awful incidents and conflicts have left real scars behind, and I think anyone with a passing involvement in the fandom has noticed at least hints of them. It's created so much concern and reservation in a space that used to be so freeing for me.

Before anyone starts worrying, I'm not leaving the Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack fandom. You'll still see me pop up on occasion over here on tumblr, my bluesky, and even twitter if that damn ex-bird app doesn't delete whatever I post there. I still love interacting with other members of the fandom and encouraging them to keep on creating their art, stories, and such with my comments and reblogs. That's not changing any time soon.

Despite everything, this story and fandom still mean a lot to me. If I never chose to play that first demo way back when and took the plunge to be active in the fledgling fandom, I never would've come out of my shell as much as I have. I've grown so much these past 3 years, and I'll always be grateful for Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack, Sauce, and the fandom for giving me fertile ground in which to bloom.

But after everything that's happened, I think it's important to address how things have changed and where I personally will go from here when it comes to the story of Sunny Day Jack and Sunshine in Hell.

I know a lot of people come here to read my theories about the game. I've had a lot of fun combing over the small teasers we've gotten over the years and figuring out how they might connect with the overall story. I've made transcripts for the audio, analyzed artwork, and dug deep into the game's potential timeline of events.

But with all that's happened, including Sauce quitting and passing over the IP and the story of Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack to those still remaining at SnaccPop Studios, I don't think I feel comfortable discussing the game itself anymore, or using their/official artwork for the game in future posts. The same goes for DachaBo, the Groom of Gallagher Mansion, AphroDesia, and their other IP, as well what's going on with SnaccPop as a whole.

This isn't to tell people not to support SnaccPop or the game itself. Plenty of my friends have been a part of or worked with SnaccPop and still have close ties to people working there. Whether or not you support them and/or join their patreon is up to you to decide for yourself, and I highly encourage you to do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

I sincerely hope the best for everyone who has ever been or will ever be involved with SnaccPop. May you find joy and success in your creative endeavors and bring others even more joy.

This is all just to say that I, just like many others, need to take a step back from SnaccPop itself. This is for my own comfort and wellbeing. I will not be discussing any official games, audio dramas, announcements, or the like for the foreseeable future. That means I will not be making any new theories about the games.

If you want information as it relates to the game Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack or its related spinoffs from SnaccPop like Sleepy Time Jack, I urge you to look for it on their official pages for tumblr, bluesky, twitter, toybox, patreon, or anywhere else they have directly linked. Always go to the source for information first.

From here on out, I'm going to focus all my headcanon rambles on just that - my headcanons. Jack, Ian, Shaun, Nick, and all the rest are still going to appear on this blog, but I will only be discussing my personal interpretations of these characters as they apply to Sunshine in Hell or any AUs I have derived from it, which may or may not align with the game's canon. I will not be referring to the game anymore, but instead focusing on the story it inspired that I have personally built on over the years.

Sunshine in Hell has been diverged from the game's canon for a long time now, and the differences in the characters and story have become more and more noticeable as time has gone on. Sunshine in Hell's Sunny Day Jack is very different from any demo's version of Sunny Day Jack, even if his initial roots and name remain the same. It is the same for all the characters, really.

That's one of the things I've loved about this fandom. We've all come up with our own versions of Jack and the other characters. Those of us who have been in the fandom a long time have built on our headcanons and they've grown to have their own distinct lore and quirks that make them unique and recognizable even when compared to someone else's version.

That's why I'm going to focus on my interpretation of Sunny Day Jack exclusively from here on out. I'll still throw out fun "what if" scenarios, alternate universes, and thoughts for generalized sunshines on occasion, but it'll always be through the lens of Sunshine in Hell's story and its characters, rather than the official game's continuity.

So while I'm distancing myself from painful drama for my own mental health and wellbeing, I'm going to continue to embrace the parts of the fandom that I love. My telling of Sunny Day Jack will live on in Sunshine in Hell, along with Alice and all the other characters I've been working on these past three years. I invite you to continue to read along with me as I continue to build on these characters and their stories and make them my own.

I encourage you to do the same. Embrace your own telling of stories you love. Uplift and encourage others to tell their stories too. Find what brings you joy and nurture it to grow into something bigger than the initial seed of an idea. Whether you find it in this fandom or another, I always encourage you to find your passion to create.

Fandom allows everyone the freedom to tell their own version of the stories they love. Sunshine in Hell is mine, and I am forever grateful that so many of you love it like I do. I hope you continue to enjoy it as well as all my other stories and rambling ideas.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have fun indulging in the stories you love in whatever way brings you the most joy.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

[minas-linkverse]

I'd love to see your though proseces for Finding the Founding! (I love that whole mini arc so much! Even if I feel really bad for wild...)

This is the earliest update anyone's asked about, so I'll be starting here. ALTHOUGH... I kind of dread to, because looking at old art is incredibly difficult. I'll do it-- I'll do it for you all and my love for yapping.

Director's commentary: Finding the Founding Full update <-

I was still far from good at comic making, but I was very ambitious, so although the visual story telling in this update isn't up to my standards now, there's some neat things past-Mina did.

The establishing shot is both telling and cryptic-- I'd say it leans too much towards the latter but she tried. The goal was to have enough hints to clue the viewer who knows skyward sword into the fact that this was the Goddess statue courtyard-- Which would ideally build tension. However past-Mina was too waaay too subtle. I took the liberty to edit how I'd do this panel today: having a part of the statue loom over the panel. This way even the viewers who don't remember the courtyard's birch trees can tell something big is waiting.

Altho I do like the detail that there's some wood planks in the background. Reminds the reader that this is post-game and they're doing building 💪

Groose :) The lore with the accessory that Link, Zelda and Groose wear is that he made them for the squad. The motive was actually polyamorous yearning but he's too insecure to admit it yet. You can see he wears his different and it has alternate feathers, it's like. A metaphor for self isolating or smth.👍I love Groozelink but they're not established in the time the comic takes place, so we get a longing flustered groose instead... Not that I've gotten to show that in the comic yet. Er.

At this point in the comic I hadn't settled on a consistant lineweight, and hadn't started using bold outer lines yet. So although the art isn't bad, it looks chaotic and unfinished. You can also see I was using WAY too thick of a brush for the panels and made the text too small. Gotta start somewhere, I guess!

Another ambitious panel, I was trying to have Groose's dialogue make it more poignant that the statue is BIG and STARING DOWN but the art REALLY didn't work with it. The statue looks tiiiny and besides the clouds curving into a halo it's all just a very boring image.

I super quickly threw a fish-eye-lense distortion on the panel to show something closer to what I'd wanted it to look, but didn't have the skills for at the time.

In the last segment of the update Wild has a panic attack type-o-deal which is again made less effective by the art, but past-Mina did try real hard and I respect that.

These two sets of panels were meant to be kind before-and-after transformations.

Wild going from seeing a family talk -> to the wall being torn and the tree destroyed with a guardian on the move. THEN Groose -> melting into a malice skeleton. I really don't think past me did a good job with that. I should've included more details that stayed between the two panels so they'd be more clearly connected. It's a cool idea tho, and in later updates I started to figure out how to execute cool ideas, so... Practise for the win.

Also nobody ever pointed it out at the time, but Wild's hair actually goes from the hairstyle he has in the comic to a hairstyle much closer to what he had back in the war. That and the colour fading from his eyes are deets I can still get behind whole-heartedly.

In the final page of the update there's a massive tonal shift where the art goes simple and the dialogue silly. It really depends on the tone you want for your comic, as this kind of a move can completely undo any tension you built, but in this case I think it's a very well done whiplash feel-good(ish) ending.

I think LV's updates started very amateurish, but I did seem to have a pretty good grasp on pacing and tone since the start. I'm very proud of that.

_

You can probably tell I don't much like this update anymore, haha. I appreciate what it meant for me back then and have nothing against people who still like it. To me its just a great example of all the things where I was falling flat when I first started.

Besides the panic attack wasn't an idea I even liked back then-- It felt like sudden unnecessary melodrama that could've easily been replaced with more nuanced emotions. However I'd seen people hype up all sorts of angsty art in the fandom at the time and felt like if I didn't put in something intense people wouldn't care about my comic. It's silly looking back-- You should be true to yourself when you make art, that way you'll like what you make and it doesn't age as poorly.

Never-the-less, the journey of making this webcomic so far has been really good for my comic skills and although I cringe at the past updates: they're still valuable stepping stones on that journey and I'm happy to look back and reflect! Thanks for requesting this update for analysis, and hope others can get something out of it too!

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Hiatus Update

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is ready for the next year!

I'm really sorry that I keep falling into a hiatus status, but I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about some things.

No, this isn't an announcement of canceling my AUs or that I'm dropping Twisted Wonderland! I still love the series very much and I still have far too much in mind with the AUs to stop thinking about them so soon! I just wanted to get that out of the way since I realize my lack of content creation lately seems to have worried a few people, and I'd like to apologize to everyone for worrying you all.

That being said, that brings me to my next point, and...it's going to get serious. No TW, it's nothing like that! Just...me speaking my thoughts and realizations. TLDR at the end if you want to skip the ramble!

I've been writing for this blog for...gosh, I think about three years now? It feels less than that for me, but that's a lot of writing done over the years. So many AU ideas, so many asks, so much love for the AUs I've created that--honestly--I almost didn't even start this blog had it not been for some encouragement from a good friend. And I'm glad I did! These past few years have been some of the most creatively liberating times I've had before I ever discovered Twisted Wonderland (would you believe it was originally Leona that made me want to play it despite Malleus being the one that kept popping up in my feed to the point I had to try and figure out what his name was? XD).

Yet despite all that writing and hyper-fixating, I've come to realize and accept that I'm experiencing quite the huge burnout...and I have been for quite a while without realizing or accepting it.

It's not because of any particular wip fic or art that I've been slowing down. The burnout had been happening for a while and just boiled over, and I think as a result...I started doubting myself over time. Doubting that what I was writing was going to be good, or that I'd be able to fulfill everyone's requests or asks in a way that makes them happy or feel that I put as much effort into the writing as I do with others, feeling like I'd be letting people down if I don't make something as long or detailed as some of my other responses, or making promises of grand ideas and not being able to deliver on it. I didn't feel connected to my writing, that it wasn't meant for me to enjoy or feel like I could be part of.

To put it simply, I put far too much pressure on myself, and the lack of feedback or reactions beyond likes on some fics I spent a lot of time and effort on didn't exactly help my mind's relationship with my own writing. Because of that self-imposed pressure, I'd...forgotten what it was like to love my own writing, to enjoy the process for what it was and to feel like I can just write what I want and feel included in my own adventures. Writing consumed me to the point that most days...I'd only be able to stare at the blank screen or my notebooks, the words and scenes in my mind yet unable to string them together in tangible form and yet I felt terrible NOT sitting there trying to write.

It was a pretty vicious cycle I couldn't break until now.

Lately, I've been focusing more on self-care. Not just physical stuff like hygiene or cooking better home meals (though I am doing that), but I mean giving myself other things to enjoy on my self-care wheel.

This is what I mean by the self-care wheel (link to instagram post ). It puts it in a way that makes sense, and I hope it helps someone else as well! Here's a screenshot of the post for those who don't have Instagram.

I've been watching more anime and other shows on streaming services lately, I've been playing other games like World of Warcraft (which has become my current obsession!) among others, and just...essentially breaking up the routine I had where I did nothing but writing, so I could take a break. And honestly? I've been able to write other things again. But this time for myself.

I feel like I'm able to enjoy the process again.

I love my writing again!

But I know better than to just assume that things are okay now and I can jump back into the blog so soon. I don't want to repeat what I had been doing when I thought my burnout was gone and just silently falling into hiatus again. Healing isn't a linear process no matter what it's for, and things won't get better if I don't start being kinder to myself.

So to bring a long story short:

I'm okay. I'll be okay, I just have to remind myself to enjoy more hobbies and interests in my life to make each day more fulfilling--more rounded. And when I come back to Twisted Wonderland, I'll go at my own pace and remember to write for myself too. I'd still love to chat and ramble about it or even about other fandoms or things to try! I've spent far too long building this blog to let it and the wonderful people who have followed and commented and even sent asks and fanart go away, and I want to connect in a way I feel I hadn't been able to in ages. ;;v;;

Remember to take care of yourselves, and find other things to fill your self-care wheel! It'll take time and effort, but I promise that things will start to feel better the more you realize you've got other things to make life worthwhile. 💝

TLDR: I'm okay! I'm just going to be on hiatus for a while longer and working more on self-care to remember to enjoy life as it should be enjoyed. Writing and concept art will resume at my own pace when I feel I'm able to consistently enjoy the process of writing for the fandom again. Would love to ramble and chat about other hobbies and interests and interact with the community though!

[wigglesdtuff]

Alright so I have to admit that I am a Frobin shipper so I have quite honestly never thought too much about RobinxBrook before you mentioned it, but it did get me thinking about the RobinxFrankyxBrook relationship. Personally I've always loved them as a platonic trio because I really just think they're hilarious together, they're just the three adults of the crew who manage to be the most mature and also the most enabling towards their captain. I also think it's very heartwarming to see the three of them, who are already grown up, who have already had their adventures get a second chance with the strawhats.

Because I don't generally really think about Robin being involved with anybody except Franky, I am curious about your thoughts on a RobinxBrook relationship, because I think they're a great duo, definitely one of the most fun, but I don't see them as a romance very often! And also what makes Robin be the most compelling part of the trio for you!

And getting a bit off-topic, do you ever think about RobinxJimbe? She did call him handsome in fishman island haha. Sorry this is so long, I just like knowing more about people's opinions on ships I'm not usually inclined towards, I like seeing different perspectives! Hope you're having a nice day!

You activated my rambling and I'm not really sorry. I love all three of them so much and I love playing with them like dolls. Frobin to me has the most narrative potential. The three of them have something freaky going on together, I just know this because Oda told me. In all seriousness though, to answer the question about what makes Robin the most compelling, I think the simplest answer is I'm a gay woman and she is my everything, but I also just see a lot of everything to explore with her through art and fics.

My thoughts on Robin x Brook (or Hanahone, which I've been calling it for a while now) are that these two have both experienced the most catastrophic and sudden loss of those around them and isolation that followed to a degree that only they would understand, and they've both come back from that on the other side of Luffy with smiles and love for life that I think is really beautiful. They're both morbid in their own way, and they both cope with their tragedies usually with humor. Wano really cemented the ship for me with Brook performing as a support bard to her big fight where she accepts the moniker the people who hunted her bestowed on her, and carrying her after to let her rest and keep her safe. Obviously he would have done that for any of the crew, but they're both so connected with their trauma and getting that chance to heal. (There's a reason Oda picked the two who would IN THEORY be the most vulnerable to memory/dream mist, but they're both thriving so much that it was a fool's errand on Black Maria's part). I don't think they would have a very traditional relationship, it feels very "something with out a name, but it's something," to me.

They make me insane that's all... There's also a lot of banter between them and they're just cute.

(I do have a fic i work on on occasion but you've been warned its nsfw but you can read it here if you're curious)

Robin x Jinbei is cute I just don't really have any particularly strong feelings about it. Jinbei is great and I love him, I just don't have a particular attachment to their interactions so far. This could change! She's a girlie who knows what she likes, and I love her for that.

[elis-corner]

gerard way transed my gender

this is essentially just one big ramble about how music as a whole shapes how i experience myself and the world (but with a focus on mcr and gerard)

Addressing the "title", I guess he simultaneously did, and did not, and did the opposite of such. I was well aware of my gender identity before I became an MCR fan (in fact, I discovered them because of hearing "Mama" in the background of trans TikToks), but I've found that, despite this, their music shapes how I view my identity.

Music holds something extremely unique; it has the power to convey things auditorily, through sounds, through volume, through pitch, through tone. They can be things you simply can't put into words that become something you feel on such a deep level and connect with so strongly.

Music has better helped me understand my gender by giving me another sense to describe it with. While I love and relate to MCR as a whole, there are certain sounds, certain songs, that describe my identity in a way that no words or writing could ever explain. They paint a beautiful picture that nothing else could.

When I hear music, I feel things within myself. I see art and colours and shapes in my mind. There is something so intrinsically human about music. I don't study music theory, or label what genres I like, because I feel like music can't be broken down and categorised, and that so directly translates to the wild mess that is gender. You can't use something tangible to describe something that is not, but two things that you have no way to explain? Those can correlate and explain each other so beautifully.

There's also something about the way that musicians manage to capture something visual with their music. I think a lot of people would understand when I say that Danger Days sounds like pop art, that Hesitant Alien sounds like chromatic aberration, that The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars takes me back to an era in which I wasn't even close to existing, that songs off The Normal Album like "2econd 2ight 2eer" sound like spirographs and kaleidoscopes, that "Joyriding" sounds exactly how the numbness of my depressive episodes feel.

Music is essentially a xenogender to me, but with something auditory that my brain then turns into something visual.

As I'm writing this, I'm realising this sounds like I have synaesthesia, but I'm not diagnosed so I can't really speak on that. I'm not diagnosed with anything, actually. Maybe I should be. Who knows. My psychologist kinda sucks. Anyway.

So obviously, there's the music itself. But there's also the people behind it.

There's something that so indescribably describes my experience of gender through aesthetics and presentation. There is something I can connect with on such a deep level when I see Will Wood, Bowie, members of MCR or Queen. In layman's terms it's gender envy, but if you ponder on it, it's something so much deeper. What makes me look at an ensemble, a colour scheme, a single accessory, or even a person, that makes me feel like I'm looking into myself and seeing who I want to be?

And then, there's how their ability to express themselves impacts your understanding of yourself. Here's where the focus on Gerard starts.

I'm simply queer, but to explain myself better I say I'm nonbinary and transmasc. Note how I don't align with binary gender, in a world that mandates it. I was very feminine when I was younger, and when I accepted that I was trans I was so desperate to feel more masculine that I denied everything feminine about myself. Now, I'm kind of just letting myself exist. And it all started with Gerard.

Picture this. It's 2023, and over the past year you've been getting into a band. You've enjoyed the music, but never really ventured into the fandom or learning more about the people behind the music. When you do, you not only discover that the band you thought was broken up is not only back together, but that they performed in your city just a few months before. So, you look up photos and videos of the concert.

That band is My Chemical Romance, and at that concert their frontman was in a skirt and heels. This intrigues you, so you look into the band more.

The Secretary. Cheerard. Party Poison. Hell, even Catgirl Gerard.

That was me, what feels like insanely long ago. I fell in love with the band fully, not just for their music and their messaging, but for the people---the members and the fans. I stumbled upon a group of people rejecting society and being themselves. And I learnt that, fuck presentation, I'm still me.

Seeing MCR as Killjoys, seeing Gerard during the reunion tour... it all had such an impact on me. I can wear skirts and makeup and things that make me feel feminine---the antithesis of what I am in so many ways---and still feel like I'm being true to myself. Music is what unlocked those doors for me.

When I heard Hesitant Alien for the first time, I saw myself in it in a way I hadn't seen myself in music since I discovered Bowie. There was something so dreamy, so hallucinogenic, so out of this world, that described me so perfectly. That I could hear the music, see the visuals, look inside myself, and go, "yeah, that's me".

MCR has helped me embrace more than just femininity, though. I hated having curly hair, but Ray showed me I could love it. I was raised to be against unnatural altering of one's appearance, but Frank's piercings and tattoos showed me what an art form it can be. The "gender" of clothing was so tied to my ability to see myself as masculine, until Gerard showed me I could just be myself and have fun with my appearance, and that I didn't need labels or to restrict myself. I felt like femininity and masculinity could never coexist, until I saw Mikey rocking a balance of the two.

Music is so intrinsically human, describing us in ways that words never could. And I think that's beautiful.

[tubbytarchia]

do you have any thoughts on lizzie & pearl as a duo? do you think they have interesting similarities or work as character foils ? :0

anyway, love your art and animatics !! hope you're doing well !!

Thank you, I'm doing better!

Lizzie and Pearl are AWESOME I do not ever stop thinking about that bone scene in SL. Joel basically on his knees begging for her heart and Lizzie doesn't even hesitate to give it to Pearl instead for fulfilling her demand. I'm actually henceforth mostly regurgitating the thoughts of my friend Wildcatcargo because she was able to verbalize their appeal much better to me, which to boil it down: Lizzie is drawn to the same characteristics in Pearl that she is drawn to in Joel without any hindrance of bias (Joel being her husband)

I hope I don't get burned at stake for this but I'm personally a big aro Lizzie truther, especially in Jizzie as that's the most prominent source of examples. I do not doubt that there is affection and love there, but in situations where it matters, Lizzie values what she can be given to aid in her survival foremost. She is much more selfish than selfless (and good for her) imo, and I think that shows in her relationships, like the way she gets protection and valuables out of Joel by merely asking or appealing to him even when she is the sole beneficiary of the exchange

Pearl in that bone scene, in trying to accomplish her secret task, put greater health at risk than what Lizzie's heart could have healed and got the bone first as a result, where Joel had been less brash and more careful before also losing more health than redeemable. Pearl so quickly doing as told and showcasing a protective quality probably appealed to Lizzie a lot. She had also chosen Pearl to aid her in Decked Out after finding out about her "biggest deck" lol, and she stuck with Pearl in Impossible SMP for protection, because she could ask Pearl to walk in front to avoid potential risk to herself and Pearl would just do it. Again this is all stuff Wildcatcargo pointed out to me so thank you Cat

Pearl and Lizzie have really been to my liking ever since SL and I do think a teamup of them two would be awesome but possssssibly not ideal for Pearl? Lizzie even in being selfish is not usually malicious and I highly doubt she ever would be towards Pearl, it's in her best interest to keep Pearl around but Pearl is also someone who really needs healthy connection (especially after WL) and I think Lizzie would need to be prodded a bit for that. BUT Lizzie is also often brash and blunt which I think would encourage Pearl to be more carefree and them messing around would be healthy for her. I also see no reason for Lizzie to not remain loyal and a stable allyship would also do Pearl a lot of good. Not that her last allyship wasn't technically stable but it certainly tested her for her place within it constantly to the point of others' faults often being relegated to her

I don't really see them as foils though, I've been told that some people see a parallel in Pearl's loneliness in DL and Lizzie's in SL, but there's not much meat there for me personally. I can definitely see the connection being drawn but without anything else to go off of, I don't personally see much else to it aside from the coincidental similarity, but if you do, feel free to tell me about it!

[captain-gillian]

thank you to @thisbuildinghasfeelings for starting the fandom memories tag, i am, as always, late to this.

i've been procrastinating making this post for two reasons; firstly i didn't want to admit the show was ending, which i know sounds silly but this show has brought so much joy into my life over the last five years, i don't think I'll ever be ready to say goodbye. and secondly, some of my fandom experiences recently have been, to put it lightly, negative and unwelcoming, but I don't want to let one coward sending lesbophobic anon messages stop me from apprecating what has otherwise been such a welcoming joyful fandom experience.

while I didn't find the fandom until 2022, i've been watching since the first episode aired, and this show has brought me so much happiness (and heartache, it is a drama afterall) over the years.

anyways these are some of my favourite memories from this fandom:

finding community

the thing for me that will always stay with me from this show and fandom is the community built around it. this show at it's core celebrates diverse imperfect characters, and the queer community and on the whole the fandom does too. from the moment i started interacting with the fandom, both here and on twitter i felt welcome and accepted and safe to be myself. this fandom came into my life in a difficult time when i was quite isolated and i will forever treasure the connections and friendships i've made through this show, whether we've never talked one on one or whether we talk every day, I'm so grateful for all of you. it's so beautiful that this silly little firefighter show has brought together so many people from so many walks of life all over the world and brought friends into my life I couldn't imagine my life without (shoutout to @nancys-braids & @fallout-mars) thank you for being a space where i feel free to be myself, even while i'm not able to be irl.

getting back into writing

in june of 2022, I wrote my first 9-1-1 lone star/tarlos fic after a long break from writing, and instantly realised how much I missed it. i'd been a bit hesitant to share the fic, but the kindness from this fandom was an incredible confidence boost. i've now written 23 lone star fics (and counting) and connected with so many people over writing, wether it be my fics or theirs and grown so much as a writer and honestly as a person in that time.

the creativity and talent of this fandom

i've never been part of a fandom as creative and talented as this one, it's been such a joy to read so many incredible fics, see so much beautiful art (from pencil drawing to digital art to anne's creative cross stitching) and watch so many great edits and so much more.

live watching/re-watching

being an international fan i can't always live watch, but the times i've been able to live watch or rewatch with friends, here, in dms or on twitter have always made the watch experience so much more enjoyable. these stories have so much more impact when you can share them communually and react together. watching the tarlos wedding live with friends on twitter will always be a cherished memory.

queer nancy being canon

this moment meant so much to me, I saw a lot of myself in nancy from the very first season, and I always saw her as queer but never expected it to be confirmed in canon, especially in such a beautifully casual way. the way this show treats queerness as something expected, and casual instead of the big dramatic reveal it so often is on television will always mean so much to me.

and finally nancymarjan

not to be dramatic but finding a community of likeminded people who understand and also love my favourite rarepair wlw ship was life changing. the fandom experience can be lonely at times as a lesbian and when shipping femslash ships and i'll be forever greatful for nancymarjan nation <3 the best part of fandom will always be sharing the things you treasure the most with people who treasure them the same way.

thank you @everlastingday @nancys-braids @welcometololaland @reyesstrand @tellmegoodbye @bonheur-cafe for the tags, I loved reading your favourite fandom memories.

open tag because i'm so late <3

[on-a-lucky-tide]

Curious what you'd say about Soap for the character ask game. You haven't really spoken about him as much as the others so I'm curious :O (id love to hear about every single character tho i wont lie to you but i have a feeling you'll get asked about those lol)

@nekrosmos asked for Soap too.

Honestly? There is unfortunately a reason. I lingered around fandom for a good few months before I got involved at all. I saw some behaviour from his fanbase that I didn't like and so I made the conscious choice that he's not a character I'd probably be creating much for. I love the art, happy to support creators, etc. Besides, there are so many delicious, delicious rarepairs to love and create for and plenty of gallant, productive, devoted Ghoapers.

He's quite compelling though, and I've got quite a few thoughts and headcanons, and I'm happy to write prompts with him. A few friends on Discord really love him and I like to create for them too, cause happy friends give me the fuzzies. So, you know, a story idea might grip me by the balls and I'll wack out a long form thing.

favorite thing about them

His journals.

Reading those finally gave me a connection with his character that I hadn't developed previously. But they really show how driven he is, how much he wants to be the best he can be, so he's not a burden, so he doesn't let anyone down. He's constantly striving to earn his place to the point that it kills him in the end.

I think he genuinely struggles with wanting to be liked (as part of 'earning his place'), and I think he is often too much for people. Ghost giving back as good as he gets is a comfortable relationship because the line for Ghost is way, way in the distance; Johnny doesn't have to worry like he does with 'normal' people. Neither of them is fuckin' normal.

Price giving him a chance would have been the first step towards the hero-style worship he has for him. "What? Me? Ye want... me? Aye, aye I will be the best fuckin' dog ye ever had, I will bite my own leg off for ye." Everything Soap does is to prove that Price didn't make a mistake. That he was a good investment. And Price, the sly fucker, knows it. He sees himself there.

least favorite thing about them

I wish they had given him a stronger accent and leaned more into that in the games. In fact, I wish that for all of them.

I also think that Soap has capacity to cause great harm without even realising it. Like, we get glimpses of it; he's nearly court-martialled for punching out a copper. In his single-minded pursuit of something, I reckon there could be a lot of collateral damage.

He lacks confidence but will cover it up by being an arsehole and doing arsehole things (such as smuggling a girl on base to impress The Guys). I say I like "least favourite"; I think this makes him compelling as a character. He's not all sunshine and rainbows. He's just as gritty, professional and flawed as the rest of 'em.

favorite line

"You sick bastard..."

"My kingdom for a suppressor..."

"Price?... This belongs to you, sir."

brOTP

Gaz & Soap

OTP

Uh... none really. Ghost/Soap?

nOTP

Don't have any strong feelings on any.

random headcanon

He's really bad at team sport. He showed no interest in any when he was growing up. Gym? Running? Swimming? Anything where the only competition is himself and his own limits? That's where Soap's head is.

unpopular opinion

Honestly? I don't know which of my opinions would be unpopular. Probably the 'not sunshine and rainbows' one, maybe?

song i associate with them

favorite picture of them