#don't know who to credit because I found it without reference to the source

[toothlesssoul]

[showrunnerihardlyknowher]

girl yeeeesssss spill the fucking tea 😫 don't go hiding that drama in the tags

Okay, so originally I wasn’t going to say anything because I did not have the energy or desire to rehash all of this to a community that I hardly interact with besides post-dumping every ~4 months. But then, ironically, two people DM’d me about this this week and now I’m feeling spiteful again, so let me regale you with the cringe tales of the Tumblr g/t community and why it gives me a headache to think about. And you know what? This bitch is being a pinned post, too, because I’m not going to let it be swept under the rug anymore. I’m rocking the boat, I’m naming names, I’ll be a little goblin starting dumpster fires.

Now, I will say there are definitely further issues in the community that I can’t personally speak on – rampant racism, transphobia, etc. That’s not to say these things aren’t happening or aren’t important to bring attention to, but I am not someone who witnessed it firsthand or experienced it. In my handful of years being active in this community, they are topics that have been brought up a fair few times, which is enough of a sign that it’s an ongoing issue. However, I also have not looked at any g/t related tags in almost a year, so whether or not these discussions are still happening or have been relatively resolved, I don’t know. It’s not my place to talk about them in depth when I would have no idea what I’m talking about or what to reference, in which case I implore others who have unfortunately dealt with this to please speak out about it. There’s other drama I am able to talk about because I went through it myself or by proxy, and so that’s only what I’m going to be relaying in this post. 

I feel like the most infamous implosion was the GTMS/Chamomile-g-tea debacle from half a year or so back, but at the same time based on the messages and DM’s I’ve received, it seems like…a lot of people have forgotten about that, or at least weren’t around/invested enough to know what happened. The quick recap is that @unicornofgt created a written series about giant mech suits that were actually powered by giant humans in a post-apocalyptic setting, inspired by a post made by our shared friend bolshoycorvid about Pacific Rim. It grew into a fairly well known series in the community, and while I had only read the first chapter, I still at least recognized it from my mutuals and some of the tags. 

And then Cham found it and became utterly obsessed with it, pumping out fanart left and right and opening the floodgates for its popularity. And that’s so cool! That’s great that such a talented artist with a large following genuinely enjoys someone else’s work that much, and is introducing it further to the fanbase for people to read! It’s amazing to get that kind of feedback to know people want to make art of your handcrafted characters because they adore them that much, it’s one of the best compliments a writer can get!

Except Cham really started getting into it. Like, helping-create-two-Discord-servers-without-permission, kind of into it. Like, posting-fanart-on-multiple-platforms-without-source-credit, kind of into it. Like, repeatedly-responding-to-messages-about-the-characters-without-consulting, kind of into it. And when I tell you her art for the main characters were everywhere, I mean they were everywhere, not just in the Tumblr g/t community. Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, they were posted, and they were never credited back to unicornofgt. I had friends send me her animatics of it, gushing about how amazing it was, totally unaware that it was a storyboard to the first chapter of GTMS (which I recognized and told them, at least).

And was unicornofgt mentioned in any of these posts, was their fic linked, was it even noted that these weren’t her original creations she was spamming to every platform? Nope. Not a word. They actually had to repeatedly ask Cham to credit them as she continued to drop the ball, and even so it was too little too late, finally coming in the few weeks before unicornofgt put a stop to it altogether. Some platforms would only allow an additional note to be added via comment, which was often missed or drowned out by the sea of other messages. Other places like Tumblr could allow a full body edit, however that did nothing for the hundreds of reblogs that were already circulating without a link back to unicornofgt, and are still out there, even if unicornofgt had Cham delete her GTMS posts. 

And naturally, if you’re not in the already niche Tumblr community, and even if you’re new to said community, you would have no idea! You would see her post these characters, answer questions about details for these characters, maybe even be invited by Cham to one or both of the two Discord servers for these characters (of which unicornofgt was a member of, but more often than not still not addressed for their story as Cham would take over and talk about GTMS when they were not online to agree/disagree) – Of course you’d naturally assume these are her characters and her story, and even if you knew different, you might become one of the many people swept up in the fandom environment created by Cham, which treated her as the forefront of it.

And please, don’t think I’m taking this out of context. Understand that unicornofgt DM’d me about all of this before they eventually abandoned their Tumblr a while ago due to this situation and the rampant bigotry in the community , and you can read their farewell post here. They told me about the growing anxiety and morphing disdain they felt when it came to their series, because it felt like that creative freedom had been robbed, pressured to morph their original vision to appease Cham, even  at the expense of their own passion for GTMS. They felt unheard, ignored, and pushed aside while Cham got to reap the benefits of their own hard work to bring it into existence in the first place. No matter how much they spoke about it in private with Cham or openly on the two Discord servers (they had never wanted in the first place), it didn’t matter. 

They told me about the instances in which they had multiple talks with Cham about this crossing boundaries, but ultimately not feeling  they could enforce them because as a meager content creator, they should feel grateful that someone so popular was giving their work as much attention as it was getting. Friends and followers agreed with that sentiment because more and more people were becoming unaware who the true creator was, and it seemed on the surface unicornofgt consented. They told me about how Cham had to be repeatedly told to stop and redirect any questions relating to GTMS to unicornofgt, instead of taking it upon herself to answer them, as a majority of the time whatever she said was at best a bad rehashing of unicornofgt’s own explainations that watered down unicornofgt’s characters to “silly stupid little incompenant man” and “big badass woman who loves him sooo much”, and completely ignored bolshoycorvid’s characters altogether. Sure, to Cham’s benefit, she would back down…for a little while, and then start those habits all over again and ignore what was previously requested, especially during the mini internet breaks unicornofgt would have to take since the pressure  gave them further fatigue, contributing to their pre-existing chronic health problems.

 Let’s not forget the free for all fandom that was created as well. Anyone with questions/comments/concerns all went straight to Cham and rarely to unicornofgt. Art requests, ideas or what-ifs, AUs – all to Cham. Her friends and mutuals straight up telling bolshoycorvid that they’ve never read their GTMS fics despite them being a fair chunk of the overarching universe, simply because they were hardly acknowledged in Cham’s art and frequent posting. The influx of underaged users coming in to join the fun and the Discord servers, which unicornofgt had already said they were uncomfortable with and had wanted the main server to at least be 18+ (a request that was, once again, ignored by Cham, who irresposibily never checked the ages of new users to the point any and all of her mod privileges were revoked and all invites were turned off). So many problems came from having those kids in an 18+ space, essentially taken over by Cham, that unicornofgt decided to pull the plug on the entire server and cut finally Cham off a week later.

From my understanding, this fandom behavior was even worse on Twitter to the point the GTMS characters were selected to be used in a roleplay tournament. The host reached out to Cham for her opinion of character authenticity during the rounds, while others were asking if they could use her art/comics for voice acting. Meanwhile Cham sent all of these to unicornogft because she thought it was funny, but  didn’t reiterate to any of these people that these were NOT her characters and if they wanted permission from the creator, they needed to reach out to unicornofgt. Even when unicornofgt tried to pass on this message, it was ignored by Cham’s little fandom, who continued to view her as the creative authority. 

But even worse than Twitter was the Tiktok, where many of Cham’s GTMS videos went semi-viral, still leaving her sitting pretty at 18k followers while neither unicornofgt or bolshoycorvid saw any of it. Hundreds of comments gushed about the art, meanwhile both the true creators were lost in it. Eventually Cham didn’t even ask permission before posting, not bothering to check if it was true to the characters, but why stop to think when those videos are getting views up to 250k, with all the comments telling you they adore you and your work? It is your work, right? 

What’s so insane to me is that you would think for such a talented artist, she would know the value of being properly credited for your work, especially fanwork across multiple platforms. But no, it had to be explained to her the importance of crediting the real creators of these characters in her posts, and the highly contrasting way people consume art, quick and easy to appreciate, vs writing, which takes more time to consume and appreciate. This isn’t some multi-billion dollar international franchise that’s universally recognized at a glance like DC/Marvel. This was a fun little series created between friends and shared with a small community as something new to enjoy for a little while. It’s not a licensed IP, it’s someone’s personal pet project that they enjoy. It’s completely unreasonable to assume a rando on Twitter is going to look at a badass pose of a giant woman and know that it at least came from an obscure series from an obscure fandom by a single person who was just trying to have fun on the internet. Hell, even 4chan users on the hentai board ask for sources all the time, to know who created these characters they’re jacking off to so that they can go check out their other work!! 

Instead, you try to get the source for a GTMS fanart, you likely get Cham, and from Cham you get…no one. Because she failed over and over to  make reference that it belonged to anyone else, via tags or in the text body, until long after it was too late with an edit. And there’s no sense in trying to beat around the bush, that’s borderline art theft. You took a character word for word, design for design, setting for setting, and sold it off as your own. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t your intention, that you were ignorant of the consequences – it’s what happened and it needs to be owned up to. This isn’t a petty squabble between two teens on fanfic.net about a demonsona OC for Sonic Underground, this is an adult making a conscious decision to post content of something that doesn’t belong to her and not give an ounce of credit. Not only that, it just furthers the divide between artists and writers in a creative space, with the latter hardly ever getting their dues for putting in their effort for a written piece that an artist can doodle in 15 min.

 It was like creating a spectacle out of smoke, a flimsy foundation that was bearing its full weight down on the mental and emotional health of the person who actually created it. In a matter of months unicornofgt had gone from a simple writer of funny size difference things to being forced to watch their vision be watered down for the sake of uwu soft giantess wholesomeness, none of it being done by their hand.

And I think the worst part about all of this, after this whole mess finally came to light thanks to unicornofgt finally finding the courage to put their foot down and cut Cham off completely (both as a friend and for having permission to make anything GTMS related in the future), is that it was unicornofgt who had to leave this platform. It was bolshoycorvid who had to leave, in part for other reasons, but because they were also snuffed during this fiasco as well as both a co-creator and someone who had their own canon OCs/fics in the GTMS world. It was other friends and mutuals who left because they couldn’t stand the toxicity of this fandom anymore, the hypocrisy, the sheer lack of critical thinking and the inability to hold people accountable for their actions. GTMS was essentially abandoned after the dumpster fire was put out and that was it. The series that everyone seemed to fawn over and adore was forgotten at the drop of a hat. 

Why? Because it wasn’t the written fics or unicornofgt that everyone was attached to; it was Cham’s art and her version of an OOC story she was pushing they loved. And once she stopped posting it, that was it. Dead in the water. Absolutely tainted. Can you blame unicornofgt for not wanting to touch their own creation that they had made from the ground up and put so much thought and energy into, all because it had been essentially stolen and ruined by someone with a much larger following? A following that hit over 20K during Cham’s GTMS reign across multiple platforms , might I add, while unicornofgt was lucky to see a fraction of that for the same concept. 

I also want to note again that these are retellings told directly to me from the persons involved, including unicornofgt prior to their leaving, former fans, and Discord members, that I am airing with their permission. I’m also not someone who has a lot of social media or who followed GTMS at all, this is almost entirely coming from the creator (the REAL creator) in the time before they left, their experience dealing with the fallout, and the sentiment that even still they don’t hate Cham, but just wish there was even a single legitimate consequence on Cham’s part (and that non stop self bashing at the rescue of yes-men does not count). And it hurts to see a fellow g/t content creator be so scarred from this, to lose all interest in the things they cared about most and only wanted to share with their friends, due to one person’s inability to stop and think about their actions. And sure, maybe this is old drama, maybe it’s small and petty to still bring up, but it doesn’t seem like anyone else is going to pull back the rug that this was swept under, so it might as well be the local menace to the community to make a long ass post about it. Chamomile-g-tea killed an entire series and drove the creator, the co-creator, several fans and several more friends who also made g/t content off of an entire website because she couldn’t be bothered to not feel entitled to other people’s toys.

I lost a lot of good friends as a result of this, and the g/t community lost a lot of good content creators as well, to the point this really was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me to say fuck it. To sit here and watch my mutuals abandon their Tumblr’s and all their works in favor of avoiding Cham and her followers who keep pretending  she did nothing wrong, acting like her excitement justified her “promotion” of the story, never holding her accountable and accepting at face value her claims  that she had no idea the distress she was creating, letting her act as if she’s the victim of this whole ordeal – nah, chief. It didn’t matter if it was on purpose or not, it still happened, and she was allowed to get away with it scot-free, so I will continually throw this in everyone’s face so that the g/t community never forgets its track record . 

Because I really don’t understand how this entire community can go through the same run around of “is fearplay/petplay morally wrong to create in a place full of minors” (which is another debate I am NOT getting into right now) and cause several blogs to abandon ship over the backlash they received…but a well known artist forces a popular series to be discontinued and runs off the original creator and their friends after she stole their concept, and everyone is just like “damn, that sucks, she just got too excited /:” and pretends it’s nothing? There have been plenty of former blogs that were called out for less and were forced to be accountable for whatever fuckery they were doing. Besides, I thought we were supposed to be thinking about the poor children here, the sweet minors, which was what her wholesome SFW blog catered to. Last I heard from one of her followers she started posting softcore GTS (I wouldn’t know, I have literally 0 desire to scout her blog), which sure, go ham bestie with your titties and light crushing, we all know I’m an 18+ blog. 

But then she continues to interact and mass reblog from minors and bring them into her inner circle, sooo…which is it? Are we worried about corrupting the kids or not? Do minors have the ability to use critical thinking about what concepts are right or wrong, or not? Are people accountable for what they post or is it the responsibility of the viewers who need to heed the tags? Y’all don’t get to have it both ways. Not to mention, I will reiterate again, she never verified anyone’s ages and let them in freely to what was intended to be an 18+ space on the GTMS servers, which created PROBLEMS to the point the servers had to be shut down.

Everyone else can sit around thinking she got off scot-free and never needing to address the fact she destroyed an entire series beyond a meaningless sorry, but I’m not going to forget, even if I’m still the only one left from that era and friend group to be able to tell this side of the story. That hurt my friends just as much as it hurt the community to lose such incredible writers and their beloved content, and that’s inexcusable to me. Writers in general are already treated awful, especially in the g/t community, to the point people have the audacity to complain there’s no new content to enjoy after all the good writers got fed up with the lack of recognition. Art and writing are two different mediums and they both require an insane amount of talent to pull off beautifully – just because you can enjoy a pretty picture in 15 seconds versus a plot-rich fic in twenty-five minutes does not make one superior to the other. But if those fics are continually pushed aside, then why would any creator waste their hours and days and weeks and months making a story for no one to see? 

Writing out concepts and ideas are a labor of love that are graciously shared to YOU to also enjoy. Trust me, I have no problem keeping an idea to myself or to be tossed back and forth to my friends for fun, it’s far less effort to still ‘see’ whatever story I would have jotted down for 20K words. If the community is going to continue treating writers like shit, as demonstrated through this hot mess, then of course no one is going to stick around to deal with it. A talented writer lost the world they built, the characters they developed, the story they were trying to tell, to one single artist, yet they were the one who had to pack it up and call it quits after getting hit with hate, while the other gets to roll in the second hand clout from un-credited posts across various platforms to further their own artistic career.

And frankly, I don’t really care about what kind of reception this post has; if it’s only seen by 5 people or if it’s seen by Cham herself, if people agree or disagree vehemently with it. This blog is also more or less dead aside from the few times a year I drop a new fic or art, so feel free to scream into its void as much as you want lmao

[alcowarlock]

Well this is upsetting. You apologized and promised to give credit, but now I'm just blocked.

I'm giving my screenshots a lot of my time and resources, making them, sometimes retouching and etc, and picking the best to share them with ppl for free. And in return all I'm getting is "huehue it's just a screenshot from the game don't be sour". Yes it is, and I have the right to be sour on that, because I'm not making money on them, I'm giving a lot of my personal time because I like screenarchering and sharing it. And then I see ppl doing this. I think that the "reference" doesn't mean lining 1in1 and picking colors right from the source... If it's your way to learn - this is fine. But making money on this? I don't know how low level of conscience such people have. And everything they can say is "oh I found them on pinterest". Good! But before using it for purpose to get money from this I think it is natural to find a first source? Not to say that there's a watermark, clear and readable. But this is callout for people who posting to s**tty pinterest without any credits and urls to original.

And same treatment with people's arts. Some smart asses picking them and selling as pins, cards, or else without any permission and don't even care for googling the source. This is so vile. Don't do that please. Such situations really zeroing any intention to share.

Upd: I'm not calling for agree with me, but if you consider my time and working on shots as "just a screenshot blah blah you don't own" then fu**ing leave my blog add don't reblog my shots. I don't intend to even thought about making money on screenshots, but I want simple respect too as base minimum.

[qwerty019283ytrewq]

at least credit those who made the gifs of max you posted.

Good morning, afternoon, or evening!

(Do I look like Gandalf? I tried to make a reference to him, but I'm not sure that everyone understood)

Okay, I'm sorry, I'm just nervous.

I've been updating my page all day and I'm shocked that someone clicks on the hearts under my posts, and even reposted twice. And so I update again and there is this message. I decided to answer in a very detailed way and speak out.

The first reaction to your message, dear anonymous, was...It hit me like an electric shock. The second reaction is "Run." It was in my head: delete everything quickly, it's not right; you've ruined everything; you've offended people; they'll come for you; there will be huge consequences. Because I am very worried about posting my thoughts, creating and formatting these posts. I thought to immediately stop everything, delete that I had failed again. There were positive reactions, and I relaxed, and I started thinking about other posts that I wanted to do tomorrow.

And then suddenly bang! No greeting, no explanation.

I may have read it in the wrong tone, but I'm typing it with trembling hands because I feel like a schoolgirl in front of the principal.

Maybe it's a mess...

That's what I wanted to say. There is a post on my page in which I said that I was just learning how to use tumblr. I don't quite understand publication etiquette yet. For example, someone posts a photo with the signature of the source, and someone does not. When making my posts, I used one gif that I found on my phone (I don't even know where I saved it from, from which social network) and I made one myself, but when I made a post about the Red Bull Ring, I inserted a link, as I took it directly from their page.

God, why am I doing this?

I'm writing all this to show how "rookie on tumblr" behaves. On your part, you're trying to restore justice, but from my side, it looks like a reproach. I was born in the year of the rabbit. I'm scared and uncomfortable right now. If you just said, "Hi, this gif was made by this wonderful person, it's not good to publish it without the author's signature," I think we would all feel better.

Please be kinder to the people starting their journey here. Guide us, help us fix mistakes, and don't try to shame us.

Dear anonymous, if I misunderstood your words, then I apologize to you for all of the above. If I understood you correctly, then accept it. If you know exactly who the author of the GIF that I used, then please send me the original post, and of course I will edit my post and sign the author.

Love,

Aisha

[zooophagous]

How does using photography for reference material fit into this? I would hardly count that as a form of theft.

The answer is really it depends. Given how individual each piece of artwork is, there's not really a way to say offhand "yeah thats totally copying" versus "Oh that's just a reference."

Sometimes you don't know if you flew too close to the sun until someone comes after you for it.

Which is obviously not ideal. The way I personally do it is like this (and I'm not a lawyer, just so we're clear)

1. Reference a pose and redraw it entirely but don't trace or use a grid or other tool to transfer it 1 to 1. Use the photo to get an overall feel, not an element to use, especially if the thing you're reffing is the ENTIRE thing you're drawing.

2. Piecemeal it. Maybe you got this eye from one photo but the mouth from another and the arm and hand pose from another still. The finished product would be something new and not a complete redo of one specific photo.

Or the easiest way to get around it and the one I usually go for- just use images that are already free use stock photos or otherwise photos you have the rights to. This can be tricky for niche subjects, but for a lot of common objects like furniture or various poses there are tons of fair use and free stock that exists without stepping on the toes of photographers who protect their own copyright.

If you know the source of the image it usually doesn't hurt to just ask nicely for permission. I haven't had a photographer refuse me yet, especially if they're credited.

It's a grey area. Nobody likes grey areas because they make it hard to take sides quickly and participate in drama but they still exist. Personally I'd find it weird and uncomfortable if I found someone trying to build a career and sell prints of a painting of my specific pet cat they found on tumblr lol

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

What do you think of bringing back the gold standard so our money is actually backed by something with real value?

this is something i feel very strongly about and so i might become a bit impassioned and i just want you to know ahead of time that when i talk about "you" i am referring to gold bugs in general, not specifically you anon. i mean, you might be a gold bug but i don't want to make any assumptions.

with all that said....

returning to the gold standard has to be one of the stupidest fucking ideas i've ever heard of and i've never heard a single convincing argument for why we should except for some vague gesticulating at this or that problem and blaming it on us getting off the gold standard without any real evidence.

i can't address everything but let me walk you through a few things so maybe you can get an idea of what i'm talking about.

first and foremost, i want to address what you specifically said in your ask. "actually backed" by something with "real value." i'm sorry but what "real value" does gold have? outside of maybe electronics, what do we do with it? where is the "real value"? we hoard it? wear it as jewelry? is that what "real value" means to you? maybe there are things i'm overlooking. i'm sure gold does have other practical uses. but it's not why people collect gold. people collect gold because it's rare and pretty and doesn't tarnish.

no. this is real value:

real value is found in your factories, the workers in those factories, the machines they operate, your farmers and the food they produce, the land they work, the transportation infrastructure, the guns and soldiers that wield them, etc. /that/ is real value. and i hate (read: love) to break it to you but america's got all of that in spades. and that's what backs the us dollar. all of america's /real/ productive wealth. and that, my friend, is of infinitely more value than a bit of gold. the us dollar is a religious symbol. a representation of not just america's near omnipotence, but also our trust in america's destiny.

seriously. spain was a tragedy. it had a world's worth of wealth in its borders. and what did they do? they didn't invest in their country's domestic production, i'll tell you that much. why bother /building/ things when you can just /buy/ them from other countries?? it's so much simpler! and just like that, spain (and portugal, as mentioned) gave way to england and the netherlands both of whom /did/ use their newfound capital to invest in domestic production.

"but gold prevents inflation!" you might be saying. sure, in a sense. though obviously there are historical examples of new sources of gold being discovered and destabilizing economies (like the ones mentioned above) but let's ignore that. yes. gold is supposed to prevent inflation. how? by being deflationary. and who does deflation benefit the most? creditors, that's right. deflation increases the value of money which increases the value of a bank's reserves, loans, investments, and other assets. it increased the real value of debt owned by banks making it more difficult for debtors to pay off their debt.

in the latter half of the 19th century this was one of the biggest debates in america. between a gold standard and the "free silver" and "greenback" movements. both the greenback and silverite movements were farmer-laborer populist movements who believed the gold standard benefited bankers and fought for more expansionary monetary policies. the gold standard was deflationary and constricted the economy. it was bad news all around, except for the bankers (who controlled most of the gold in case you thought your average joe did).

so farmers and laborers (read: the common people) instead advocated for unlimited silver coinage (whose real value was less than its face, essentially making it semi-fiat) and/or totally fiat greenbacks to counteract the deflationary effects of a gold standard by stimulating spending and investment, reducing the real burden of debts, making credit more accessible to common folk, increasing flexibility and independence of monetary policy, no resource constraints, minimal speculation, the multiplier effect, etc. deflation is absolutely catastrophic on the economy, but small and stable amounts of inflation mean the economy is growing.

the free silver/greenback movements believed that control of monetary policy should shift away from banks with large gold reserves to the democratic control of the people through government fiat. the government issuing its own currency would also mean the government would be less reliant on borrowing from banks which means banks would have less influence over government.

and i can keep going but this should be enough to help you understand why the gold standard is stupid as fuck. gold bugs will say "the gold standard prevents economic crises!!" but all it takes is a brief glance at 19th century america and the multitude of economic crises to know it's bullshit. the gold standard may be deflationary (which itself is very bad btw, for reasons i mentioned above) but it does not immunize economies from crisis like they want you to believe. meanwhile, giving the government a wide range of tools to flexibly deal with economic crises /does/ mitigate crises and bring stability.

when on the gold standard we were having a new depression every other decade or so. the last depression we went through was 100 years ago.

there is literally no good argument for returning to a gold standard except stupid nostalgia, delusion, and being duped by propaganda from people with large gold reserves (like bankers) who would benefit.

you would not benefit.

[ariapmdeol]

please be free and post your coe analysis i want to see it

OK SO. THIS IS THE METAFICTION THEORY/ANALYSIS, AND INVOLVES SPOILERS FOR THE MOST RECENTLY TRANSLATED PART OF THE DLC (part 5), ALONG WITH SPOILERS FOR. THE ENTIRE BASE GAME. it has nothing from beyond that, to the best of my knowledge (though it implies things for future content). This ended up as longer than expected oops. I will make another analysis post on specific moments that stood out to me at some point but this one is specifically for metafiction stuff!

I want to do character analysis posts at some point as well, so if you have any suggestions for who i should do first please lmk! :D

relevant image:

OK SO. METAFICTION is a type of fiction that consistently reminds the audience that it is, in fact, fiction. I've been also using this term to stories in which the medium through which it is told is relevant to the story and narrative. One example of this would be DELTARUNE. The soul (player) is separate from the protagonist (Kris), and the in game mechanics are relevant as well (re: snowgrave). it's Meta in the sense that it challenges the reader/player to reconsider what we see as normal from a gameplay standpoint vs what is a part of the STORY.

I BELIEVE that Cell of Empireo uses metafiction as a part of it's narrative, and that the structure of the game itself is relevant to the remainder of the game. Cell of Empireo, ESPECIALLY in the DLC, makes use of the fact that IT IS A GAME as a major plot thread (i predict this to be more relevant in future DLC parts/hermits room/interlude). I've talked about this a little in the other COE theory post but. this is a DEDICATED analysis so i can go into DETAIL.

one of the earlier and most explicit hints we get of this meta narrative in COE is in chapter 6 part 2 of the eng translation. THIS DOCUMENT HERE is in the Empyrean Heaven Research Institute, and is listed without an author.

I BELIEVE the author of this document is NONE OTHER than SEODORE RIDDLE. It's either him or Mutei, but Mutei was uninvolved with the EHRI so it HAS to be Seodore. I am pretty sure he's aware of the true nature of 'this world' (the ingame world).

specifically, by referring to the 'source code of the world', I don't think they meant this metaphorically. i think they meant this LITERALLY. LITERALLY THE SOURCE CODE OF THE GAME THAT WE ARE PLAYING.

I want to specifically point out the Purple text at the end of S, before S+. it reads:

"Oh, what a surprise. Well, congratulations! I hadn't thought it possible to come to this domain without going through anything else. ......Nn? Aah, who are you? Well, no need to act so defensive. That aside. It'd be nice if hope could be found in that 'this was a process'?" "Well, but this is a matter of will. No matter how God interferes. Without one to receive it, God's love can't be written out. So, please tell me. Your 'will'." "'Do you accept God's love?'"

By selecting yes, we see the three rings of light (i wonder if its relevant that there are THREE of them...) and get sent back to our first meeting with Hatsutori. This. this is META. the game itself plays with our expectations of a 'credits' scene and uses it to PUSH FORWARD THE NARRATIVE. it breaks what is expected as a PART OF THE GAME.

It's more than just a bonus scene too; the fact that S route happened is a PART of the story as well! Haruki specifically says THIS

Hatsutori: Once again, good day. Haruki Atou-kun. This is our first time meeting, shall I say. Atou: No....... This isn't our first time.

He IS AWARE of the S route. Hatsutori calls it "arrival."

Why is the term "Arrival" important? because that is what we call the endings! the translation calls them "Arrival Points"! This links us back to the SAVE FILES OF THE GAME. Haruki is AWARE of the S route on a subconscious level. This can also link to why the game has hidden timers and route info as well-- by playing multiple times, us the player AND Haruki the character know more of whats going on! That's why it's so hard to get the S ending first try, because it relies on the PLAYER'S knowledge of what to do! We are a PART of Atou's story beyond just controlling his actions!

The three rings of light.... Three books of the Divine Comedy (Inferno Purgatorio Paradiso).... Which connects us back to "the Divine Comedy is a reality left in this world." I need to think more on what this could mean. I think this has to do with accessing the 'source code' but either way it is meta.

Mutei's document (the only one we've seen so far) expands on this when we get to see it in DLC part 5. I will put the document below (note that this is the only mutei doc we've seen in the eng TL so far. i am so desperate to understand this man so fucking bad. the second i understand whats going on with him its over for all of you).

he says this AS A WRITER. SEODORE is using this info to REWRITE the definitions of the world, and edit the source code. This is why he has that glitchy effect whenever he uses Brugmansia: he is LITERALLY rewriting the code. I think Seodore is the only one TRULY aware of this whole world as a 'story', along with Mutei.

HOWEVER. I believe that these rewrites are limited to what is REALISTIC. I believe that each COE route is a different pseudo-universe as described in Mutei's document. The minor changes build up to a butterfly effect! It's like using save files to change your actions! to reset to try to save everyone! We still follow the world's definitions, but are changing the outcome using information we've gained!

The above screenshots... The line about playthings makes me think that seo is aware of the Source code. We the player are a level above the characters, looking into their little fictional world. I think seodore wants to 'end the game'. Make it so the player CAN'T keep looping things and playing over and over. Seo is right, from his perspective people AREN'T playthings. but to us? the player? These are FICTIONAL characters in a FICTIONAL world and seodore is RESISTING that. he wants the story to END.

I believe Sanemitsu and Atou both have the power to do this as well (Harada factor). I touched on this in the other COE post but I swear to god it makes sense. Atou SPECIFICALLY acknowledges that the scenario Hatsutori expected has been REWRITTEN (again calling back to the WRITER themes). Sanemitsu... i will write him his own analysis post bc i love him

ATOU SPECIFICALLY CALLS OUT THE META ASPECT BY ACKNOWLEDGING THIS WHOLE THING AS A 'FINALE OF A PLAY'. HE HAS HIMSELF HAS DONE THE BEST HE CAN. ITS META FICTION. ITS LITERALLY META. ATOU IS REMINDING US THAT THIS IS INDEED A GAME AND IS FICTION which is DOUBLE interesting bc HE KNOWS!!! ATOU KNOWS AND HE DOESNT AT THE SAME TIME!!

anyways i cannot wait to see where the story goes! i am sane and normal over this game (lying).

[debatenarutooocs]

FINALLY someone exposed tbld.jpg rottenness LMAO (Thx to u anon<3). I've been suspicious of this girl for a long time cuz every commission she made is always exactly the same as the official art and anime screenshots I've ever seen. At first I just thought that she was just using them as references but then I found out the truth here...OOOHHH WTF!!!

It's just silly when I see some ppl still support her or even defend her for what she has done. I mean, imagine the artists who learn to draw for years or even decades just so they can draw well, some of them opened commissions at affordable prices but don't necessarily get lots of customers, and tbld.jpg get lots of customers easily though she's just a tracer and a scammer. HOW UNFAIR...

Then, in her story, she said she didn't know if crediting the bases she used was necessary (what the hell is this, you called yourself an artist but you didn't know this? ).

And she will credit every base she will use in the future. HEY GIRL! You don't need to give credit, YOU JUST NEED TO NOT REPEAT YOUR MISTAKES. STOP TRACING FOR YOUR COMMISSIONS!:*

Dear everyone, supporting anyone is your right, and commissioning anyone is your right, but it would be nice for you not to commission tracers who use bases that they didn't make on their own. Because as far as I know using official art or anime screenshots for commercial purposes seems to violate copyright (CMIIW). And that's a crime, right?<3

Now her whiteknights are trying to say tracing is referencing wtf. It is not the same thing or maybe tbdlr really thought that what she was doing is" referencing" like it's a normal thing to do. Like you said it is not fair for other artists who learn to draw for years by eyeballing their source materials and referencing by using tutorials just so they can draw well.

"Then, in her story, she said she didn't know if crediting the bases she used was necessary" is she implying she wants to keep tracing without giving credit to original sources ?? Wtf. No sweetheart if you trace a base, pose or anything even eyelashes, yes you must credit to the original artist even if it's people at Studio pierrot.

For some weird reasons tracers and editors forget that there are human artists working at studio pierrot who horribly get underpaid. And she comes along and charges exorbitant amount of money to trace in her commissions.

Yes technically what she did is a federal crime and since she is using an U.S based platforms ( Instagram,twitter, deviantart) to post her traced commissions then she must abide by U.S laws.

[godisaknife]

Hello hi howdy 🖤 saw you asked for asks and discussion so some questions for ya

What was your number 8 on Spotify?

Favorite candle scent??

Your all time favorite horror movie and WHY?

That one poll that was like would you rather be splattered in blood, drenched Carrie style, drips/smeared around your mouth, or bloody hands/knuckles etc ???

Thoughts on ghosts?

And favorite hannibal headcanon/meta!!

Sorry you have to stay up, hope you're well and wishing you good times and good vibes 🩸🖤🩸

hi there!! thank you so much for sending in so many questions this is gonna be so fun

so first question! my number 8 song on spotify was "Honeywell" by Clem Turner! you should give it a shot, it's a lovely song

hmm i really like berry scented candles! i'm very picky with candles but any berry scented ones are fine because they remind me of the village i grew up in

all time favorite horror movie this one is a HARD question. im a huge horror fan so i have a LIST. if i had to choose one if would be "Gonjiam", it's a korean (sort of) found footage movie about a haunted asylum. the place is actually real and is considered to be the most haunted place in the country. the reason i chose this movie is because one of the most important things for a horror movie is to be scary (imo). i'm a scaredycat (funny thing to be for a horror fan) but nothing in my entire life has scared me as much as that movie. the first time i had seen it i got genuinely traumatized, it fucked up my brain for MONTHS. so i think for a horror movie to be so terrifying to have such an effect makes it deserving of credit. trauma aside, it was a great movie and ive even rewatched it a couple of times sfksfjlkfj. also i just really like korean cinematography

ooooh can i have more than one answer to that? first of all, definetely bloody knuckles and hands, bloody knuckles are incrediblyy attractive to me. plus, blood stained clothes, that would be perfect

ghosts. you know what, i'll share a very intimate story about this topic. ive never believed in ghosts, to this day i don't. however, there was a brief period in my life during which i was convinced that a ghost was haunting me, although not in a malicious way. i had a dog called Lucy, we had to put her down five years ago because she had inoperable cancer and was suffering. shortly after she passed, i started waking up every single morning for weeks with three neat scratches on my face. it would always happen after i'd have a dream about her (which was, and still is, incredibly often), and at night i'd use to hear scratching noises i couldn't find a source for. but it was the scratches that did it for me. the thing eventually stopped but for that brief period of time i did genuinely believe that her ghost was in my room. but as a general rule im a skeptical on the topic

hannibal headcanons oof we're opening a bottomless chest here. okay first of all i want to clarify that he is a top. this is such a stupid hc but everytime i see bottom hannibal stuff it's like,, you don't know him, i know him. i actually kin hannibal so my headcanons about him and the show are sort of blurry? i don't think i have a favorite one so i'll just drop a few here. first of all, will is way more manipulative than most people tend to see (referring to s3 mostly, he was a manipulative cunt in love). being a cannibal and having bloodthirst is something so engraved into hannibal that is makes no sense at all to talk about him in other terms (eg. people who write non-cannibal hannibal fics, everyone can do what they want but that's just nonesense) and even without what happened to his sister, he'd still be what he is. perhaps some things would be different, but his views on life and religion and his murder-sona would still exist. i'll also say this probably super controversial one but hannibal has issues with incest. whether it's a kink or just a thought in the back of his head, it's there. also he secretely writes poetry.

thank you so much for the asks and the nice message <333 i hope you have a good day/night!! this definetely entertained me!!

[dominateeye]

My thoughts (as if anyone needs them) on the issue about the painting of Mr. J and Kofu:

Legally, the painter doesn't have a leg to stand on. People have gotten sued for making things that look like other copyrighted things even just in passing. The guy is playing with fire, and that's just stupid.

I don't think it would be worth it for Landlady to go after the painter on legal grounds, though. Copyright suits are expensive by design, as copyright law is written to benefit the rich at the expense of the working class, and I doubt the painter is generating enough revenue to cover the legal costs. If he suddenly starts making a lot of money, though, it might become worth it for Landlady to sue.

Ethically, the guy made mistakes by not crediting the source of the reference work, by not asking permission beforehand, and by not setting up a royalty agreement with Landlady.

I think crediting sources in works that draw as heavily from them as this one does is an ethical requirement.

I think in general, artists should not need permission to create culture based upon other culture, because if they did, that would only stifle cultural development, which would be bad for everyone in society. But in cases like this, where the culture being built upon had a personal significance or was a depiction of an inseparable element of someone's life, like someone's pets, that personal nature overrides wider societal concerns, and the painter should have asked permission and not gone forward without that permission.

Was the painting art? Yes. I think there's enough variation in how the image was rendered in the painting that it's not a 1:1 recreation. Even if it was, that would be a skilled act in and of itself, and the painting would still be art. Art can be based on skill and/or on message, and I think this is a very clear case of skill-based art. The painter is an artist.

At the same time as obtaining permission, the painter should have negotiated a royalty agreement with Landlady since he was going to try and sell his work. As someone who put effort into the end product, he has a right to reap rewards from that end product, and profit is one such reward. But Landlady's effort should be recognized in the same way, so she should earn a cut of whatever profit is made. If Landlady didn't want the end product sold, the painter should have either accepted that he wasn't allowed to sell the work, or accepted that he would have had to paint something else.

I'm also concerned about possible harmful precedents that could be set if Landlady does sue right now. A legal decision could possibly end up narrowing the bounds of transformative work, which is probably not going to contribute positively to wider culture. I think non-legal options should be exhausted first. If the amount of profit the painter is making suddenly enters the hundreds of thousands or millions of US dollars, maybe the stakes would change sufficiently to insulate small artists a bit more. But it's not certain, and that uncertainty shouldn't be invoked lightly.

Do I think this was an honest mistake or a deliberate swindle? Not sure, but from what other people are saying about the artist's other works, I'm leaning more towards swindle. He knows what he should be doing, and is neglecting that. I'm just not sure how what he thinks he stands to gain is worth the risk of being found out. Unless he still thinks one can pull anything from the internet and pass it off as one's own and never be found out? Maybe one could do that in the 90s, but not today. The internet is too accessible and too easy to use for that nowadays. The gallery showing his uncredited work either didn't see a problem with it and is complicit, or they didn't do due diligence.

Basically, this whole situation is pretty clear-cut legally, but the law is rarely right on its own. There are other considerations to take into account to come to a full and reasoned conclusion, like effort and reward, and personal meaning. In order to resolve the situation, I think the artist should call this one a wash, take the painting down, stop profiting from it, and make sure to get permission and secure a royalty agreement the next time he wants to recreate someone else's image on canvas. He'd be covering his bases legally, and would be going the extra mile ethically.

[askstrangeweird]

(Reblogging to reply instead of sending another ask or etc because I've mentioned the situation to my small follower base myself already and want to be fully transparent.)

Thanks for getting back to me and thank you for being so understanding and reassuring about it! I will admit I was worried about being honest, and a small part of me considered just not even addressing it and casually changing the design without explanation, but that felt like a cheap or wrong way to go about things. I felt at the least I owed you an apology for it having happened this way, even unintentionally, as well as the credit your overdo and that I owed my friends, followers, and other artists who I interact with on here that honesty about it.

I will absolutely admit I probably beat myself up about it a little more than I probably needed to in the moment but people who know me know I take pride in trying to have influences but still stay as close to original with my art and ideas as I can possible be and often rewrite or redesign things that don't feel *me* enough all the time, so I took realizing the mistake hard. I've grounded myself now though, and already started working on a new design for my character that I'm already sort of loving and still getting the same feeling and vibes from and I can't wait to show people when it's done. (It'll take a little while cause I'm using a new super detailed/complicated reference sheet layout now and irl life stuff got me busy rn as usual unfortunately)

I am ultimately glad I found you and got to reach out about this, not only for the fact I would have wanted to take a design from you, but also because it does make me happy knowing exactly what artists have inspired my Artstyle and design influences over the years and tracking how it's impacted my work along the way and being able to follow those influences works and show them to people as well, and your not gonna be any exception on that front, especially now that I've seen more than just your outfit and know how strong your artist voice. As well as because I also over the years realized how backwards and misguided the culture of blind sharing online is and how hard it is to build a platform or base as any kind of creator especially when people don't give sources or credit, and if we all want that to change we gotta do better at it and highlight the people whose content inspires us in the right way. I'm wanting this a show of continuing effort in doing better in that aspect personally on my end.

I'll wrap up by saying both that I apologize for it happening, and thanks for the understanding and encouragement once again. It does mean a great deal and will make me only more excited to scratch at that next canvas. Don't be surprised if in the future I submit or show you the new design compared to yours as a mark of improvement and just to show you what your influence helped inspire! I hope the best for you, and that you get even more recognition going forward.

Anyone who follows me absolutely should follow this artist for your stellar art and design content and advice, regardless of this outfit situation lol.

Hi! I wanted to get in contact with you for a couple reasons. You can feel free to answer this publicly or privately, whichever you're comfortable with, and your welcome to DM me if you need to have me clarify or explain more about the situation.

1, sorry for the spam, and 2, I'm really glad I have finally found your blog, Because I've been looking for a minute now. For starters thank you for unaware and subtle influence to my art style and my own outfit designs, I've really become super into outfit design wayyyy more than I was years ago when I first saw your outfit meme, and better at it two and secondly, one of your outfits was the first set of clothes i ever drew when I was redesigning my first OC from being a fandom and animal character to being more stand alone and human, years ago, and that means personally a lot to me, especially since I'm hoping to make something like a webcomic or animation outta my own characters and story eventually.

Although, to be fully honest and transparent, the reason it took so long to find your blog is because I didn't find your meme through Tumblr, I found it on Google images on Pinterest and lost the image and etc when I moved phones (where I do my art on), and full transparency, I do suffer from some mental health issues and one of those unfortunately means I have a really bad memory, and admittedly, I must of at some point just forgot that I had drawn the outfit from your meme originally and have continued using it? Im actually embarrassed to admit that and I feel awful about using your design for so long before I actually remembered that it wasn't mine or just something I saw someone wear once irl or etc, and I wanted to let you know that now that I am fully 110% aware now, and are older/wiser enough to know better than to use even others outfit designs like it's no big deal and that I wanna do what I can to fix things?

I'm planning on redesigning my main OC, who rn you can see clearly in the outfit on my icon/blog to have a different default outfit, and trying to go back to everything that has the old outfit and give proper credit, but I wanted to ask if there was anything else I can do or etc to help mend myself forgetting the outfit wasn't mine and using it so long without permission/credit. Because as someone who ended up making my own outfit memes, and has had designs and art basically stolen or having others take credit for, I feel awful that I somehow got myself to this point where I was absent mindedly using your design this whole time. Your art and designs are really fantastic and I don't wanna contribute to you not getting that attention/credit as I have been doing, and I feel bad I even forgot that kinda thing in the first place. I'm just glad I woke up and realized that I had basically gaslit myself into forgetting it was your design/one from a meme and not mine, because the last thing I'd want is to continue being a design thief now that I'm aware, and I'm glad at least I caught it before I started making my own comic or etc and had continued doing it.

TL;DR I've been accidentally using one of your outfits designs as a default on a main character of mine for a few years now, unaware I was even doing it because of certain memory issues I have, and now that I am fully aware, I want to deeply apologize and try to fix things and tell you that I plan to stop and change their default attire completely and go back and credit you wherever I can wherever I have used it, and ask if there is anything more I could do to fix this mess I've made?

Hi! First of all: Absolutely no need to apologize for spamming me with likes! That was great, and really made me smile. Thank you for that!

Secondly, thank you for having the courage to message me about a matter like this. Of course, I feel sad to know that my outfits memes are floating in Pinterest and who knows where but that is something many artists these days have to face. The internet culture currently is about sharing and many people don't stop to think about the consequences, and that sharing images might cause problems for artists. Without sources people can't find the right artist or they may not know that the content was not for taking. Obviously I don't want people to intentionally take my designs or art, but I am aware that it can happen completely unintentionally: which I'm sure was the case with you.

So, please don't feel bad about the situation anymore! We all make mistakes, that's just life. The fact that you're choosing not to use the outfit in the future is enough for me. It actually feels great to be an inspiration and to know that my outfits are well liked, so if I can offer any further advice it's this: go forth and design more cool outfits! Be inspired by others but always create something that is yours. When you look at the old outfit on your character, think about what was it that made it seem so perfect for that character. Then take those parts and transform it into something new, something better, something more you. That's really the cool thing about designing, you really get to express yourself and your characters through outfits. It's why I love doing it so much.

I wish you all the best and good luck with your webcomic project! ✨

[whatspastisprologue-blr]

I'm not, and never have been, a fan of Henry Cavill. It's nothing against him, more just a lack of interest on my part; there's other actors who have just really impressed me. Am I still sad he's leaving Netflix's Witcher, though?

Yeah. Over the almost-year that I've been a Witcher fan, I saw how much he loves the story and I learned how hard he fought to get the role. I respected him for fighting as much as he could to keep the show faithful to the books (and I'm not saying a show adaptation has to be 100% 1:1 faithful to the books; Lord of the Rings, Good Omens, and The Sandman are all adaptations I love). I know he said that he'd stay as long as the show was respectful of the books.

And now he's leaving. That's why I'm disappointed. To have someone who fought so hard for a project, and fought for it to be good, walk away because at least some of the Powers That Be hated the source material they were adapting? That's harsh, if it's indeed true (I'm skeptical of the scheduling conflict claim).

I'm also concerned what this means about the quality of S3 and S4. How bad will they be that Henry decided to jump ship? (Again, of that's the real reason he left, which seems possible.)

But I'm still grateful for the show. I hadn't heard of The Witcher until after S2 dropped and it felt like almost every post on my Tumblr dashboard was about this show (and, often, about Geralt/Jaskier, tbh). Sometime in January 2022, I caved and decided to binge the first two seasons.

Knowing nothing about the source material, I liked it, even if S1 was a bit confusing and it did at times feel like a Generic Fantasy Show designed to be the next Game of Thrones.

At some point, I heard of the games and the books. I'm not really a gamer but I might try them eventually. I was curious about the books, though, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to read them because I'd heard they could be a bit misogynistic and there were racist fans who were upset over casting people of color.

Eventually, I gave the books a shot and I was hooked almost immediately. It was a struggle to put the books down once I started reading and I think I finished each one in about a weekend. It's not that I don't have issues with the books (so glad Jaskier respects women in the show!) but I loved the characters, how they're more than their appearances might suggest, found family, the themes in general, the deconstruction of fantasy tropes, and the humor. The books reignited my love of reading in a way that nothing had since I first read Good Omens, just before the first season aired.

Before I began reading the books, though, when I was browsing Tumblr re: The Witcher, I kept hearing about this band, The Amazing Devil. Slightly more accurately, I kept seeing parts of their lyrics as fic titles on AO3, usually credited but sometimes not (maybe taken for granted that readers would know). It got to the point that I could guess the title was from a TAD song without having heard them because there was something unique about their lyrics. I kept seeing the band be recommended, that it was just so good. I gave the band a try and fell in love.

So, even if the show spontaneously combusts and ends in a burning wreck, I'll still be grateful for it, because it introduced me to this universe and to The Amazing Devil. I'll still have the books, I might eventually play the games, and I'll listen to whatever TAD graces the world with. And I'll be even more grateful for adaptations that actually care about the source material (which broadly refers to Lord of the Rings and the Neil Gaiman Cinematic Universe).

[bigskydreaming]

Hi! I was reading a fanfic and it brought up Roy and Dick's fight, which I see a lot of in fics but never what they fought about and consequently why they don't talk. I thought it was a vague excuse/reason why Roy was Jason's friend not Dick's anymore but this fic brought up when Dick was batman so I was wondering if there was actually a fight between them? Btw I really enjoy your metas! They're v thought out and well articulated. Also it's v easy to separate what's your opinion and what's fact which is. Very helpful for me

Yeah this is one hundred percent a fanon thing that's kept deliberately vague to justify why Roy in his friendship with Jason seems to have no positive thoughts or concerns about Dick whatsoever. Now granted, Dick and Roy are not nearly as close in the New 52 as they were pre-Reboot. The lack of their friendship there is definitely one of the things I disliked most about the Reboot - and I actually don't care if Jason and Roy are friends tbh, its the total erasure of his history with Dick as if he can't be friends with both, that like, bugs most.

But so like, yeah, Roy and Dick aren't super close when they interact on the Titans in the New 52, but there's literally nothing in any of their interactions that explains the complete absence of him from Roy's life or a reason that Roy would like, hate him the way he tends to in a lot of Jason-centric fics.

When you factor in pre-Reboot stuff though, it starts to get a LOT more.....uh wyd? And this is why I have trouble buying that people just write Roy and Jason the way they do because its the only thing they know from recent comics. Like one, most fans talk about how they don't even read the source comics, so there's no reason their knowledge of the characters or events would be limited to just recent comics if they're going off wiki summaries and scans anyway. And second, most fans AREN'T limited in their knowledge to just recent comics.

Like, the second people start writing Roy and Jason and Kori but with their pre-52 characterizations and references to events from THAT timeline, it all gets very messy, the way they're like, completely antagonistic towards Dick a lot of the time. Because Roy and Dick were always solid. Yes, they fought. A lot. But they always, ALWAYS made up afterwards. They had conflict about Roy's drug addiction - it didn't stop Dick from being there to support him through rehab, or Dick being the first person Roy called to help him get Lian after he learned of her existence. Dick literally held Lian before Roy ever did? He's the one who first put her in Roy's arms for the first time.

(Which is the prime grudge I and most Dick Grayson fans have about Roy and Jason fics which make Jason like, the absolute apple of Lian's eye. If you want to expand Lian's circle of loved and trusted ones to include Jason as Roy's friend and thus her uncle, like go for it! But there's zero reason that should require invalidating and erasing the fact that Dick was this little girl's adored godfather and uncle for pretty much her entire life. And the way Dick is just shoved offstage from Lian's life entirely, to slot Jason into his place as though they're completely interchangeable, its like....THAT'S the kind of thing that gets people irey about how Jason 'steals' Dick's dynamics and character relationships.

Because there's nothing saying they both can't be major players in Roy and Lian's lives! But just that they're not interchangeable! You need to develop the specific role Jason plays there WITHOUT just overwriting everything Dick actually did in relation to the two of them pre-Flashpoint, which is what you're drawing from the second you write Lian, unless you're specifically going with the few appearances we've had of her within literally just the last year.

But I mean, when people just search and replace Dick Grayson in all Roy and Lian's pre-Reboot stories and act like Jason was the one doing all of that instead.....why wouldn't fans of the source material be annoyed by a character getting credit for interactions and things done for Lian and Roy that Jason literally NEVER DID, while at the EXACT SAME TIME, conjuring some mysterious, unnamed 'Falling Out' that Roy and Dick had, that was clearly all Dick's fault, and resulted from him being basically excised entirely from Roy and Lian's lives?

Same with Kori, for the record, and like despite being Dick's ex, she and Dick have NEVER been like, estranged? She and Dick have often been close even after their breakup. None of it makes any sense, and the fact that a lot of fans don't even try to make it make sense or justify it, and expect other fans to just be fine with settling for an inexplicable reversal of Dick's every actual dynamic with these characters while setting up Jason to occupy the exact same role Dick played in these other characters' lives, like.....lol. Its fun.)

Anyway, back to your question, like, there are fights you can go with pre-Reboot as the source of various conflicts between Dick and Roy - but again, I maintain its just as crucial that they're always written as getting past them. They have a very tempestuous relationship because they are the two people MOST likely to call each other on their shit, two of the two people WITH the most shit in common due to the parallels in their childhoods and the roles they've occupied in the Titans and the superhero community in general, and the two people most resistant to being called out on their shit by each other, lol. Mostly in that case because like, they do recognize that they have a lot in common and understand each other very well, so the second the other is calling them out for something, they're usually like "ugh, if HE'S saying this, its probably true and I am just not prepared yet to be wrong about this. I need more time being unjustifiably rawr about things." Its like that thing where they both look at each other doing something that feels familiar or calls back to their own reasons for doing something and they're like ugh I'm in this picture and I don't like it.

So they clash. A lot. But always with the implicit bedrock of like, there's nothing either of them can do or say to the other that will push the other away for good.

They fought over Roy replacing Dick as leader of the Titans when Dick's wedding fell apart, even though Roy actually didn't want to do it and was kinda pushed into it by the government, but again, Dick like, got over it and realized it was for the best and forgave Roy for it that very same issue. And on and on. It always went like that. So there's plenty of stuff that can be used or pointed at as a source of conflict between the two, but the part I'll always call unbelievable is the idea that they never make up after one of these fights. Why now? What fight, specifically, is so bad between them that despite everything else they've gone through AND gotten past, they can't get past this one? Y'know?

So yeah, that's my take on this. There is no definitive falling out between Dick and Roy as many fics like to point to in order to shove him offscreen and make room for Jason in Roy and Lian's lives, and personally, I just don't find it necessary and I actually think it makes Roy look REALLY bad. Because when you're not specifically detailing all the things that Dick has actually DONE for Roy, the lengths to which he's been there for his friend, and like, specifically invalidating each and every one of them as something that never happened in a particular fic, then literally anyone who reads that fic and has their own awareness of Dick and Roy's friendship is kiiiiiinda likely to be reading that and thinking wow what an ungrateful asshole, when Roy's just written as bitching about Dick with Jason and sandbagging him without any real explanation as to WHY, beyond just 'oh they had a fight years ago.'

(And coming up with some random awful thing that Dick did to justify Roy hating him now isn't like, a superior alternative, lmao, because again, its still just trashing one character for the sake of getting him out of the way of two other characters' friendship and people are going to think what they think about that).

Anyway, my now standard stock disclaimer that like, there doesn't actually need to be a canon fight obviously, for people to just write things this way and handwave that Dick and Roy had an epic falling out years ago and now they just hate one another or whatever, or just Roy hates him or vice versa. Obviously people are free to do what they want. They don't need a reason other than "I want to write it this way so Jason and Roy are friends and Jason doesn't have to 'share' him with Dick or have his friendship be overshadowed by their greater history together." That just happens to be a reason that no Dick Grayson fan is ever really going to be happy about, lol, for what should be perfectly obvious reasons, so it honestly shouldn't be surprising to people that fans of the source material often gripe about it.

Because yeah fanfic is a tremendous opportunity to transform the source material into something better, but if what's better for some fans actively takes away what was working perfectly well for other fans the original way, they're going to say that. Especially in a fandom where so many new fans take their view of the characters and their dynamics from fics rather than the source material - when fandom has that much of an influence on what new fans perceive to be 'canon,' fans are perfectly within their right to emphasize what is ACTUALLY canon and what isn't, so that new fans at least have the opportunity to determine for themselves what take they want to go with, instead of just accepting at face value that the nature of say, Dick and Roy's relationship is just that Roy hates Dick because of some mumble mumble ancient history vague mumble details not found mumble mumble fight.

[ladyvader23]

if i may ask, where do you write? is it on a google doc or a word document? laptop or phone? and how do you come up with your incredible ideas for stories?

i love your work! <3

Hello there, and thank you so much!!! 😘

Where I write depends on what I'm writing. I always write on a computer of some sort, phone writing stress me out and I'm endlessly in awe of people who can do it. If I'm home I'll use my gaming PC (added benefit of having two screens, one for writing and the other for research/previously written chapters for reference purposes), but I love writing on my laptop because I can take it to a library or bookstore and be surrounded by books as I write (plus if they have a cafe I can get my happy chocolate frappe drink!)

For fanfic I almost exclusively use Google Docs but for original work I usually use word, though I recently invested in a program called Dabble, which I've been enjoying. Google docs are beneficial though for sharing your chapters with a beta, and my main reason for using it, being able to access and write on any computer anywhere. I've noticed that Google docs is usually never blocked on school or company computers, and even if the computer doesn't have Microsoft office, I can access Google docs no problem. I do a lot of writing on lunch breaks, and for a while I lived in another country for my job and could only carry my work laptop, not my personal, so I used Google docs to keep producing content when I was done with work without clogging my work computer with non-work related word docs. It's kind of how I also view having a book at all times: have a Google login so that if the moment presents itself, you can pick up where you left off no matter where you are. Plus if you phone write, Google docs is accessible from there, too! So, if you have a beta, or you do a lot of travel in terms of what computers you're using, Google docs works great. Otherwise, word is just fine.

As for how I come up with stories...well having an obsession with a story/characters is definitely the first step lol. I may love Luke and Vader a little too much, haha! Otherwise, though, I've found my biggest inspiration has been the friends I've met in this fandom. They're all just as passionate, and I love hearing them talk about their favorite things or things they find cool. A lot of my ideas have come because we were talking about something unrelated, or watching something unrelated together, or someone posted a pic they liked, and as we talk about whatever the thing is, a little lightbulb goes off in my head and I go, "hey, I can add a Luke and Vader AU idea to this" and because we're all passionate about Luke and Vader, it's either gushing about how the idea is something they'd love to read, or they also throw ideas out to help flesh it out. If there was major contribution from friends I'll usually credit them in the authors note if the chapter I used it in. Fun fact, I wanted to write Luke and Vader fanfic for years, and it was friends I met who were already writing that stuff that gave me the push I needed to try it!

Point is, friends are great sources of inspiration, and in return, you'll be surprised how often your conversations with them inspire them, too. I'm a pretty introverted person, but I don't regret getting involved on Tumblr or in Star Wars fan creation discords. I feel blessed to know such lovely, intelligent people, and it may feel like a cheesy answer to that question, but it's the honest truth. This isn't the case for all of my stories, such as The Forgotten Outpost, which was inspired from all of the creature-horror I'd been listening to, but even that, I brought it to friends and said "I have this idea, what do you think?" Because I trusted them and valued their opinion and knew they'd genuinely give encouragement.

Thank you so much for the lovely note and for the thought-provoking questions!!!

[bbq-hawks-wings]

I want to express an unpopular opinion. I hope for your understanding, because such things don't like to listen. Why does everyone think that Hawks is a bird? I couldn' fit my logical arguments into the askbox :( (about how he sits on a pole "like a bird", supposedly likes jewelry and so on). Even his quirk is called Fierce Wings, not a Hawk, not a Red Bird. Do you remember the names of the quirks of Hound Dog and Tsuyu-chan? We haven't evidence to believe that Hawks is behaves like a bird.

I do believe very much he’s a bird, and if you would let me friend, I would love to try and prove it to you because I think the evidence is overwhelming. I’ll make a TL;DR at the end but I’d really like to take the opportunity to perhaps teach others at least one method for literary analysis since it can be a really dry and boring subject to learn in school but is SO useful not only for getting good grades but getting into colleges as well as interpreting both entertainment and genuinely important information like the news, history, laws, and scientific papers. Using fiction - especially such a rich, engaging one like HeroAca - is a great way to try it out without the pressure of a grade. I don’t have the qualifications to teach in any formal capacity, but as a “peer” tutor I hope I can be helpful.

I’m going to put everything under the cut from here because this is going to get LONG, but I promise the TL;DR at the end will be very easy to read. If you liked this sort of unofficial tutorial please let me know. I’d love to help make “academic” skills like this more accessible for those who might benefit from it and enjoy it, but it doesn’t make sense to put in all that effort moving forward if I’m garbage at it.

Before we get too into things, I want to lay out a few notes to keep in mind as we go.

I will only be using the official translations from Viz’s Shonen Jump website when available. Fan translations are more than close enough to casually enjoy and follow the story, but professional translators are paid to know and get various nuances correct and some of the trickier cultural background behind certain phrases (for example, the phrase “where the rubber meets the road” might make zero sense in a foreign language if translated literally, so an equal cultural phrase should be used instead) that give more exact information. Rarely is this too important, but sometimes it helps, plus it supports the source material.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while you might know I’m very fond of doing this kind of thing in my spare time and that I’m a huge fan of YouTube channels like Game/Film Theory, Overly Sarcastic Productions, Extra Credits, and Wisecrack that do this kind of thing with popular media as well. If you like this sort of content, may I encourage you to check them out after this to see how else you can apply these kinds of analytical skills to things that aren’t homework.

My writing style tends to meander, but I do my best to cut out the fat and only include relevant information so even though there’s a lot of information here, please know that I’m trying to be thorough and explain things to the best of my ability. If I seem to go off on a tangent, I’m trying to set up or contextualize information to explain why it’s relevant and then come back to the point. In other words, please be patient and bear with me as I go.

Now, to start, I want to explain at least my method for analyzing a text/piece of media. There is a set order and number of steps to take, and it’s as follows:

Read the material all the way through.

Come up with a hypothesis about something you’ve noticed when reading it. (In this case, it’s “Is Hawks actually supposed to be a bird?”)

Collect as much relevant information as possible and test the evidence to see if it supports the hypothesis we’ve made.

Step back and look at everything again with those points in mind.

Determine if we were right or wrong with the evidence we have.

If we were wrong, go back to step 3 to figure out what fell apart and see if we need to go back to step 2.

If that sequence sounds familiar it’s because it’s the scientific method! Aha, didn’t think we’d be pulling science into all this, did you? Don’t worry, we won’t be putting numbers or formulas anywhere near this discussion - the scientific method is just a way we can observe something and test if what we thought about it is actually true; and it applies to almost everything we as humans can observe - from the laws of the universe, to arts and crafts, to philosophy and religion, and so on! When you think about it that way, whole new possibilities can open up for you when it comes to understanding how the world works.

So with that set let’s (finally) begin!

Steps 1 and 2 are already done. We’ve read the manga and want to prove that Hawks is a bird. (We’re going to try and prove he IS a bird because in the context of the series there’s a lot that *isn’t* a bird and less stuff that *is* which will make our job easier.) So now, we’re onto: 

Step 3 - collect data and see what conclusions we can get just from our evidence.

Now, to pause again (I know, bear with me!) there’s a few different kinds of information and considerations we have to keep in mind as we collect. There are four kinds of information that are important to know about in order to determine if it’s good data that will help us with the testing phase in Step 4. The kinds of information to keep in mind are:

Explicit information - this is information that is directly spelled out for us. For example, Hawks says, “I like my coffee sweet.” and his character sheet says “Hawk’s favorite food is chicken.” That’s all there is to it, and it’s pretty hard to argue with. This is the easiest type of info to find.

Implicit information - this is info that isn’t directly spelled out but is noticeable either in the background or as actions, patterns, or behaviors that can be observed. For example, Hawks has mentioned in at least three very different places his concerns over people getting hurt while he tries to get in with the League:

Chapter 191 when confronting Dabi about the Nomu he says, “You said you’d release it in the factory on the coast, not in the middle of the damn city!”

Chapter 191 again in a flashback with the Hero Commission he asks, “What about the people who might be hurt while I’m infiltrating the League?”

Chapter 240 when discovering how much influence and power the League has gained, “If someone had taken down the League sooner, all those good citizens wouldn’t have had to die!”

Hawks never says in so many words, “I never want innocent people to get hurt under any circumstances!” but the pattern of behavior and concern is consistent enough to form a pattern and clue us in that this is a key part of his character to keep in mind.

Peripheral information - this is information that isn’t directly to do with Hawks or maybe even the series as a whole but is still relevant to keep in mind for his character and the questions we’re asking. This may include extra content that isn’t the “series” proper, but is still an official source like interviews with Horikoshi, etc. but it can go even further. For example, while we try to prove that he’s a bird, we should have some knowledge about what makes a bird a bird, some specific and notable birdlike habits/behaviors/features, etc. This is just to show how wide-ranging we need to cast our informational net.

Contextual information - this will be important when we get to Step 4, but it’s good to keep in mind now. This is when we compare evidence against the broader scope of the series and consider the circumstances under which we find the information. For example, if I told you, “Harry kicked a dog.” you might think “What a jerk! What decent person kicks a dog?”; but if I said, “Harry kicked a dog while trying to keep it from biting his kid.” suddenly it re-frames the story. “Is the kid ok? Why was that dog attacking? Harry put himself in danger to keep his kid safe - what a great dad!”

I’ll go chronologically to make it easier to follow my evidence as I gather and give references as to where I found that information. I’ll go through the manga first, and then any peripheral sources that are either direct informational companions to the series (like character books or bonus character information sheets) and interviews with Horikoshi. Please note the categories these details fall into may vary based on opinion/interpretation, but I did my best to list them out for reference.

Chapter 185 - Explicit Type: Feathered wings - regardless of the specifics of his quirk it’s undeniable his wings are made up of feathers which is a distinctly birdlike quality. There are many mythical creatures and even dinosaurs that also have feathered wings, but this is our first big piece of evidence.

Chapter 186 - Peripheral Type: Large appetite - birds have an incredibly fast metabolism because flying takes so much energy. They’re constantly eating. Plenty of young men are big eaters, but it was specifically pointed out and works towards our hypothesis so we’ll keep it in our back pocket for now.

Chapter 186 - Implicit/Peripheral Type: Fantastic vision - Hawks senses the Nomu coming before the audience even is able to make out what’s headed their way. It could be implied his wings caught it first, which might be the case, but he looks directly at the Nomu and brings Endeavor’s attention to it. Birds have fantastic long-range vision, especially birds of prey that mainly swoop in from high in the air to ambush highly perceptive prey. Also good to add to the pile.

Chapter 192 + Volume 20 Cover - Implicit/Peripheral type: Wears jewelry and bright colors - birds are well documented to be drawn to bright colors and are known for decorating their nests with trinkets. Scientists actually have to be careful when tagging birds with tracking bracelets because they can accidentally make him VASTLY more popular with the ladies by giving him a brightly colored band to the point they can’t resist him! Male birds are also known for having bright, colorful displays for attracting and wooing mates. While Hawks isn’t the only male character to wear jewelry in the series, he’s the only one (to my recollection) that wears as MUCH jewelry so often both during and outside of work. It may not be obvious, but the illustration on Volume 20 is actually an advertisement for his line of (presumably) luxury jewelry. In other words, Hawks on some level is synonymous with style and flair to the point he can make money by selling jewelry with his name on it.

Chapter 20 Volume Cover - Explicit Type: Hawk emblem on the watch face - If the name “Hawks” didn’t give it away, he’s very clearly trying to align himself with more avian qualities if his merch has bird motifs. In other words Hawk = “Hero Hawks” and “Hero Hawks” = bird.

Chapter 192, 244, clear file illustration - Peripheral Type: birdlike posture. Chapter 244 isn’t quite released yet on the official site as of writing this, but when Hawks swoops in and beats the kids to the punch apprehending the criminals trying to subdue Endeavor, his hands are clenched in a very talon-like manner similar to a swooping eagle. When walking with Endeavor in 192, he holds his resting hand in a similar fashion. On the clear file illustration he’s not only perched on his tippy toes in a pose that has been famously called “owling” (remember that trend/meme, y’all?) but his wings are slightly outstretched to catch the breeze to keep from falling over which a lot of birds can be seen doing when they don’t have great purchase on a surface in a place that’s a little windy. The fact that he seems to gravitate to high places like birds are often seen doing might also be a noteworthy indication.

Extra sources:

Hawks Shifuku: Horikoshi describes Hawks as a “bird person” and says that his initial design was based off of Takahiro from his old manga. 

Takahiro’s design:

Current character design: The banner image on my blog was commissioned from a friend of mine who doesn’t follow the series. When I showed her reference images of Hawks, you know what she said? “Oh! His hair is feathers!” Even his eyebrows have that fluffy/scruffy texture to them that his hair has. The markings on his eyes can also be seen on him as a young child in Chapter 191 which means it isn’t makeup meant to tie in a theme or look. He has those dark, pointed eye markings like many birds do. So on some genetic level he resembles a bird.

Step 4: Testing our hypothesis with the gathered evidence.

There’s already a lot of compelling evidence that already closely aligns him to birds which is promising. However, to really prove our point we should try to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt he is a bird. To do that this time around I’m going to see how the series treats people with animal-based quirks and see if it’s consistent with the way Hawks is portrayed.

You bring up Hound Dog and Tsuyu, and they’re fantastic examples. Let’s start with Hound.

He’s pretty straight forward - he’s like a dog. He has a dog face, has dog-like tendencies, and dog-like abilities. Superpower: dog.

And in Tsuyu’s case - quirk: frog, just frog. She’s stated explicitly to have frog-like features, frog-like tendencies, have frog-like abilities, and even comes from a “froggy family.”

So with these two very explicitly animal-like characters the common theme seems to be “If they’re considered to be like a specific animal, they have to physically resemble that animal, act like that animal at times, and have abilities like that animal.” Let’s see if another animal-quirk character matches up and then put Hawks to the test.

Spinner’s quirk is Gecko. Based on our criteria, is he a gecko?

Does he look like a gecko, even vaguely? 

Yes, he’s covered head to toe in scales, and his face is very lizard-like.

Does he occasionally act like a gecko? 

Unclear. We haven’t really seen any evidence of this, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t. For the sake of our argument, we’ll just say no and move on.

Does he have gecko-like abilities?

 Yes! Though most of his abilities are limited to things like being able to stick to walls, it’s still gecko-like in origin and qualifies.

Spinner hits clearly hits ⅔ criteria and our standards seem pretty consistent, so let’s see how Hawks stands up.

Does he look like a bird? 

Not all of his features may explicitly scream “avian” at first, but upon closer observation and with his clear previous inspiration this is a resounding yes.

Does he act like a bird? 

Many of the mannerisms and behaviors he displays can just be chalked up to him being a little eccentric, but with the sheer number of them that also parallel birds in some way this is also a pretty convincing yes.

Does he have bird-like abilities? 

While most of the emphasis is on his wings and what they can do, it does seem that he not only possesses things like heightened senses which could be attributed to avian abilities but he also very much possess high intelligence and incredibly fast reaction times which birds are also known for.

Even if we only gave Hawks a “maybe/half a point” for those last two, he still meets the 2⁄3 that Spinner did. So we have another question to ask: Does a character have to have an explicitly named “animal” quirk to be considered to be/resemble a specific animal? Let’s look at Ojirou and Tokoyami for reference.

Ojirou’s quirk is just “tail,” but he’s been described by his peers and classmates as a monkey and does seem to share some more monkey-like features. It isn’t lumped in with his quirk because the only notable monkey-like quality he possesses is a tail. He doesn’t have fangs or an opposable toe - he just has a tail. For quirk classification as far as hero work goes, that’s the only important thing to note.

Tokoyami, on the other hand has an entire literal bird head, but nothing else. He has a beak, feathers, and even in illustrations of him as a baby he had fluffier feathers on his head. Even with only those details, he just screams “bird!” However, his quirk is classified as “Dark Shadow” because that’s what sets him apart for hero work.

Back at Hawks we see his quirk classified as “fierce wings” but like Ojirou and especially like Tokoyami, the emphasis on his wings is what sets his abilities as a hero apart. Otherwise, he’s just a guy who looks and acts a LOT like a bird.

But astute observers may have noticed I’ve left out a detail that’s more or less a nail in the coffin on the whole matter, so let me ask a question: Tsuyu in particular has something else of note that solidifies in our minds that she is, indeed, a frog - she explicitly calls herself a frog. Could we say the same about Hawks?

Chapter 199 - Explicit Type

Bingo. Hawks has known himself for as long as he’s been alive. He knows his habits, his impulses, his family/genes, and so on. If he calls himself a bird, are we going to call him a liar? In fact, he calls himself a bird not once, but twice!

That’s pretty much it. With the evidence stacked to that degree, I’d be hard pressed to NOT believe he’s a bird.

That was a long amount of text to get through, so if you’re here at the end thank you for sticking out with me to this point. I really appreciate it. This is more or less the process I use when analyzing anything and everything whether it be HeroAca related or not. Maybe it’ll help you if you’ve struggled with literary analysis, or at the very least I hope you got some enjoyment out of it.

TL;DR If Hawks looks like a bird, walks (acts) like a bird, is based on a bird (character), and calls himself a bird, he’s probably a bird.

[coolnonsenseworld]

Hi guys! You might be wondering why I am reblogging this, and the reason is Crowscrutches (now cascrow1) and Crowscki on Instagram have treated me pretty poorly after plagiarizing my art. I've found their art randomly and noticed around 20 poses that were directly redrawn from my sketches (which I post on IG stories) and my original art from my WIP IG acc (which says directly "please don't reshare anything") and so I asked why it's there uncredited, and they just took a lot of it down straight away. But I've asked them to also publicly admit to the fact these were redrawn from my original poses, and they did that and stated to be on "hiatus". The whole thing happened ~3 weeks ago and: not all of it was taken down, the post have called it vaguely "irresponsible reference sourcing" and that post have disappeared since then and my both Instagram accounts have been blocked by them.

I don't know how else can I reach them and their followers like@crowscrutches-stan to ask to take it down and respect copyrights, so I am asking you for help to just spread the message, so their followers and that fandom know that art was plagiarized.

We didn't use the same references, because all of the poses were made up from start to finish by me, except one with a cat, which I redrew from my little sister's picture, and Crow's art didn't vaguely reference from them, the poses seem like exact copies. If you are in Hannibal fandom, know someone who knows this artist, please, just spread the message that credit - wasn't theirs to take. I will make another post with comparison pictures if you'd like to link them up TO INFORM OTHERS not to be rude. Here is the link. I want people to know this thing happened and it shouldn't happen again.

And I want to make sure I don't mean to ruin Crow's fun with art - but it is unfair to take further profit from this and to spread my poses without my consent and blocking me is a move that prevents me to further do it privately. I know people want to learn but uncredited mass redrawing without credit with so many followers (8k on IG) and lying to me (that they are on hiatus and saying they didn't mean to cause harm and also want it to be friendly but then blocking me) feels awful.

Here is my original art, with my OCs, originally posted on my Instagram WIP account:

Please remember and credit this sketch, not the plagiarism. I don't deserve to be ripped apart into pieces for others to use before people even knew me.

these bitches gay! good for them. 🚨