#edit: i mentioned this in a most clarifying what i meant -

[fizzytoo]

simblr mutuals i think you guys should indulge in more games (lovingly)

[starrynightsxo]

"jude and cardan had a toxic relationsh-"

no actually, they did not. there were reasons for everything that happened and just because everyone is so quick to judge things these days doesn't mean it needs to happen to them. whilst in the first book there was some initial behaviours that do support the claim, there were reasons behind them and also this is how enemies to lovers works !! they BECOME lovers. there is such a thing called a redemption arc?? not to mention we get an apology from cardan for everything he has done. toxicity is not what was in their relationship - it was ferocity. The ferocity of their love.

So let's all please stop labelling everything to ever exist toxic and focus on the people who actually need support from their toxic partners / relationships

EDIT: I would just like to clarify that I meant all this for when jude and cardan were in an actual romantic relationship together! This is by no means condoning what happened at the beginning of the books as that was most definitely wrong. I DO NOT condone any form of toxic relationship. I was trying to point out that once they were in an actual romantic relationship then they were NOT toxic and this is what some people argue they were. Apologies for any misconceptions!

[icearts]

A couple things about Sonic Prime that disappointed me

1. Shadow was in almost the entire trailer, but showed up for 3 out of the 7 episodes

2. An action scene that lasted for three episodes. It got redundant

3. There was an entire plot point where Sonic was dying from the prism energy being taken from him. This took 3 minutes of screen time and the risk felt minimal if it was there at all

4. No consequences = no stakes (literally there was no issue or "sacrifice" that came out of repairing the prism. Idk what i was hoping for, but the fact that everything was so easily fixed kinda hurt my feelings because it made the entirety of season 2 seem completely pointless and dumb)

5. Shadow was super protective of Sonic in the first episode, but never showed that same "Would kill and die for you in a seconds notice" energy he had in that first episode

6. The chaos emerald is mentioned again but never used as a plot point. Chekov's Gun is fake, apparently

7. It's said that Sonic can't exist in the Shatterspace without prism energy, but Shadow never had it in the first place. There is no provided explanation as to why this makes sense. The closest thing was "shadow wasn't there during the blast" but that only explains why he doesn't have the energy, not why he doesn't need it to live like Sonic does (I assume the others have at least a signature of it too which is why they cloned and Shadow didn't. Again this is unexplained in Prime. What does the prism energy even do for/to the supporting cast)

8. Why are there only 7 episodes? Why do they take up so much time in one place?

9. Rouge and Shadow only had one line of dialogue (this isn't a genuine critique I just wanted to see my favorite duo be a duo)

10. Sonic's Prism "Super Form" doesn't come back. Shadow doesn't get anything like that either. Another dud Chekov Gun. Why is this dumb little anecdotal metaphorical firearm never firing

I really loved the new season, and it was great and super fun, but those critiques really ruined some things because those were all things I thought would be a guarantee because of the trailer and because of how the other seasons were.

Why would they even bother to mention the chaos emerald, and this weird void thing if it wasn't going to be essential to the plot other than being an excuse to sideline Shadow. They could have just as easily said that chaos energy is neutralized in cyberspace because it's not connected to the world/chaos/master emerald. That works too!

Plus, why was Shadow sidelined so much? What's the reason? Why wasn't he allowed to use chaos energy and go apeshit? Why couldn't he take off his inhibitor rings in a desperate situation to protect Sonic and be able to teleport into shatterspaces even at the expense of his health?

I know it's a TV-Y7 show. It honestly did not need to be, but I'm sure it was a Netflix mandate to make sure their animation is all meant for kids and only kids, but they really ended up nerfing themselves by alienating their more passionate audience which would be teenagers and adults. Just make it TV PG that would've allowed you to work with higher stakes and a higher budget (oh wait that's what Netflix's intention was nevermind).

If you wanna see me make a list of things I genuinely liked, feel free to ask or comment that. I might do so anyway. I feel like the internet is too negative and critiques of shows tend to do too much of that, so sorry for contributing to that culture, but I really needed to get that disappointment out because it bothered me quite a bit. Feel free to disagree too, or say "bro it's a kids show. It's not that deep. Stop having passion and emotions for your special interests you dumb fuck" I get it. Anyways, good show, good season, highly recommend, it's very fun and enjoyable especially if you're a fan of Sonic

Last minute edit: I only saw the season once and my sense of media literacy isn't by any means perfect, and also, to clarify, most of my concern isn't quite "these plot points are 1000% absent and terrible" and more "I thought the distribution between the action scene in episodes 4-7 and the rest of the season's story was very poor and made the content I was more excited for seem watered down/unplanned/super easily resolved". Again the part of the show where Sonic almost dies because of the prism energy withdrawal was about 3 minutes long. Why did it feel so low-stakes?? I love action scenes. They're great, but when you dedicate over 30 minutes to one long fight scene, it becomes less interesting and there's still MORE OF THE SHOW TO GET THROUGH so those parts got super rushed

[mysticode54]

I stumbled across a Japanese article where Fumito Ueda, Yoko Taro, and Keiichiro Toyama had a publicized discussion about their careers and the video game industry as whole. This discussion was organized primarily to celebrate ICO's 20th anniversary in late 2021. So the folks over at Den Faminico Gamer requested concept art from all across ICO's development cycle to present throughout the 3 pages of conversation. And I don't know who was responsible for the task of transferring that, but they gave them A Lot of concept art. Many of these sheets have not been shared by genDESIGN's twitter, or really seen on any other site to my knowledge. There's some exclusive stuff in here. And even if they were seen somewhere before, I still want to translate them to the best of my ability and share the info. So I'm going to guide you through the sheets I found the most interesting. I'll also try to provide context for any cut content and musings on the lore elements being spelled out on the page. [Spoilers for ICO under the cut]

CUT AREAS

Jail

[I've decided to leave the original page untouched in all my translation images, and keep all added text to the black bars at the sides. I'm also including plain Japanese text in dark grey, just so everyone is clear on how I am interpreting the handwritten notes.] This area is titled "Jail" or "Prison" and it was to be put on the second story of the East Arena. This means that, in early designs, the leftmost door was meant to be opened on arrival. It seems you would navigate the diagonal water slope, make it up to this area, and briefly move outside for the sake of slipping into one of these locked cells. After doing so, you move a shelf aside, find the sword, enter a fight, and then use the sword on the rope holding the far right arena door. Having a jail cell next to the arena is very intriguing from a narrative standpoint. Were the cells for those who broke the rules set in place by the arena's organizers? Or was the arena always intended to be sparring matches between criminals and outcasts? Why is the only way onto the balcony found through one of these cells?

Boatshed

[In the black bars, text relating directly to the contents of the sketch will have drawn elements next to them, so you can better see what translation is paired with what part of the drawing. If it ever gets confusing, shoot me an ask and I'll clarify/edit the post.] The day after drawing up the concept for the Jail area, the team sketched the Boatshed, which was also cut. This area is reflective of an earlier, less bombastic ending to ICO, which Ueda briefly mentioned during Sony's "Great Scene Sharing" campaign in 2011.

Also, to be honest we weren’t planning to have the castle collapse entirely like that. We were originally thinking to have the ending of ICO be much more modest, but somehow it didn’t give you a feeling of resolution that way. And so we decided “Ok, let’s make everything crumble into the sea then.” (laughs)

The most intriguing aspect of this cut concept is a kind of Idol Fence Gate that reacts to Yorda in the same way as the Idol Doors, only in this case it is powered by a mask. The mask's face shape is somewhere between a man and a bull, with the moderately sized horns completing the animal resemblance. There seems to be a gem or circular marking embedded into the forehead as well. The text makes mention that the gate 'listens' to the mask (assuming I'm translating that correctly), so perhaps it had a specific auditory or musical cue planned for when it reacts to Yorda? But perhaps not. A concept page like this would be the perfect place to write that idea in clear detail, after all.

Heroine Room Connection

This is not exactly a cut area, but it is certainly a heavily altered one. This spot would later become the floor of Spiral Staircase, where Yorda is held prisoner in the first act of the game. We can see this intention by its proximity to 'The Heroine's Room' and the series of Idol Doors set up as the introduction to Yorda's unique power. (There's even a sketch detailing how this arrangement of four idols are supposed to part when opened, and it matches up with the movement of the idols in Spiral exactly.) The most notable feature of this area seems to be a set of stairs leading up into a small room with a trench in it. In the trench is a box and a small crevice in the wall. The crevice is labelled 'Heroine', which, to me, implies that Ico might have been able to see or hear Yorda through this crack in the wall. But since this room is a dead end, I imagine you use the box in some way to activate the other set of stairs, which seem to have both a upward and downward status depending on whether you've solved the puzzle or not. This is very similar in concept to a puzzle presented elsewhere in the final game. At either ends of the room are two doorways. One direction is labelled 'Ko Building', which we will discuss later in this post. But the entrance to this room is through the Ritual Room... which we also have concept art for!

Ritual Room

Similarly to the last sheet, this sketch depicts elements that would end up placed elsewhere, but the overall design of this room was cut. The Ritual Room was seemingly designed before the team had come up with the final design of the Altar Room. The Ritual Room bears many of its elements, but has a much larger scope and seems to serve as a junction between several parts of the building.

Common elements include:

The floor raising and lowering to open a path to the Stage 13 Elevator. The notes even clarify that this will only occur in the game's "2nd act". In this version of the mechanism, a handrail rises up when the floor lowers.

Capsules in which to place sacrifices. Though they aren't clearly depicted, they seem to be embedded into the ground, rather than standing up.

Restricted access to the high up Idol Doors. In the final game, they lead to The Queen's throne room. Here it leads to Proto, the earliest room designed in the game. It's unclear how you earn access to the doors, but the 'OFF' label indicates that the stairs must rise, or else it remains a vertical wall.

But one big difference that stands out is the palanquin-like structure at the center, which reminds me of the structure that surrounds The Queen's throne. Given the title of the room, we can infer this was meant to be the spot where the Queen's ritual would be held.

Notes in the margins indicate two innocuous, but fascinating things: - The note regarding what might open the Idol Doors for the village men likely marks the conception of The Queen's Sword. - Yorda's voice was meant to be heard from this room, and she would've been singing. She doesn't get to sing to herself in the finished product, though I think that characteristic fits her well.

Flowchart of the Second Half

Once it became clear to Ueda that the ending had to be more resolute and bombastic, they devised the Main Gate Event and laid out a plan for all the places you would traverse on your journey to the throne room. You might notice that locations like Cliff Cage, Cogwheel, and Pipe have different prototype names and some visual differences. The first location on the journey back, later known as Cage, is titled 'Ruins'. It seems to feature a series of overhang structures jutting out from the cliff-side. Presumably, these would catch Ico after his fall. The titular cages of the present incarnation seem to be absent, but we can see them close by, in the area that will become known as Cogwheel. Instead named 'Subterranean Lake' in this document, Cogwheel seems to lack any of its characteristic mechanisms. In this sketch, one of the cages seems to have fallen from the ceiling into the water below. In the final game, we move from Cogwheel to the outer edge of the island, where Ico clings tightly to the ridges of the cliff-side. But in this concept art, all of that distance is spent on a new area, completely cut from the final release, called 'Trolley Jump'. It seems the trolley would make a second appearance in the game's puzzle design and Ico would have to build up momentum to make it over a huge gap in the tracks. The Pipe area is named 'Ravine' instead. And the metallic platform is set far lower than it is in the final game, where you can just walk across it to make it to the elevator. Here, you must descend onto it and then climb up into a cavern, once you make it to the other side. You might've also seen that the the Old Bridge is titled 'ICO Bridge' in this document. This is especially interesting to me, as the name ICO seems to serve a different purpose here than you would expect.

What is “ICO (イコ)”, really?

Kenji Kaido has stated in the Japanese Guidebook for the game that the name 'ICO' was just the title, and initially, was never attributed to the boy protagonist (Page 82). He was nameless and only referred to as 'Boy', much like the protagonist of The Last Guardian is currently. The game's filenames, the concept art, and even Kaido's own presentation of the E3 2000 demo to PlayStation Underground, back this sentiment. The term 'ICO' is never attached to the boy before June or July of 2000, when US gaming publications reporting on E3 2000's demo started conflating the title with the protagonist's name. Seeing as this is dated in March of 2000, it's safe to say the use of 'ICO' here has nothing to do with the boy. So what is it about? Ueda did also say that the name was a shortening of the term ICON... but I have additional evidence suggesting that in this specific instance, it was not serving as an abbreviation for 'ICON Bridge'. Take a look at this rough overview sketch from the margins of a different concept art page.

Aside from the points that indicate land and sea, the labels that plainly stick out are "イ棟" and "コ棟".

"I Building" and "Ko Building". We saw that last label earlier in the Heroine Room Connection section.

Knowing this, we can safely infer that it's called イコ Bridge because it connects the イ and コ buildings... But then why are they split in that way and labelled イ and コ? I still don't have an answer for this, though I do feel like the divide is related to the separation of class. The イ building is dedicated to The Queen. It contains both her daughter and the sacrifices she needs to complete her ritual. It's where her throne is. It's where she resides and does her work. Meanwhile, everything on the other side of this bridge seems to have been built for a larger populous.

Benches, recreational areas, spectated arena matches, a waterfall, a courtyard, a ballroom with a massive chandelier! You don't build a front gate and a bridge to the mainland if you never wanted people to enter... This place undeniably once had people who lived and worked here. They were all designated under the コ building. I have to imagine this is why a distinction is being made, but beyond that, the reasoning for the titles remains a mystery. If someone has further insight into Japanese linguistics or culture, and have additional guesses as to why, please let me know.

Cut Boss Fight

In the West Arena (labelled 'R' for 'Right' in early development), there was going to be another raised cage event. Only this time it would take the form of a boss fight with a massive shadow that overtakes the floor and splays black tendrils through the air. Interestingly, there is already an overhead bridge in this image, but rather than magically appearing in stone segments, it's instead an ordinarily constructed wooden bridge. Here, the notes detail a different kind of puzzle element: Wire. Which, unlike ropes, cannot be cut by the sword. The same note indicates that wire is holding the left and right doors in place. While the concept art doesn't detail it plainly, I believe the only way past this room would be to pull on the "Idol Handle" that the boss is covering. Wire is also presumably being used for the zip-line running across the arena, which is an interesting component to say the least. The vision I'm gathering is that you'd ride the zip-line, hit X at the right time to drop down onto the overhead bridge, run over to the balcony where the 'Cage Switch' is labelled, and activate it to impede the boss. How it is then defeated is less clear. It's also unclear where Yorda would have been throughout this encounter, or if there would be additional enemies trying to drag her into a nest. Its possible the boss itself would be programmed to capture her with a tendril, and itself act as a nest by dragging her into the depths of itself. But we have no evidence one way or the other. [Ok, that's all the stuff I have to present for now. Keep in mind that there's more to see and translate in the article I linked at the very start. This post was only scratching the surface, despite the amount of material we covered. With that in mind, thank you for making it this far.]

Support

Now is as good a time as any to mention I've started up a Ko-Fi, so people can choose to support the work I do to uncover and present obscure info like this. There is, of course, no obligation to give me anything. The tips just help me get a bit of financial security in return for my efforts.

[thorraborinn]

I know you have done posts about the etymology of the name Sigyn, but what I was wondering was if you might know where the idea that she's a Valkyrie comes from? I see a lot of posts on here saying that her name means friend of victory and that means she was a badass Valkyrie serving Odin, which doesn't make any sense or seem likely to me. I honestly feel this way because of stanza 22 of Lokasenna, wherein Loki calls out Odin's treatment of humans in battle, which makes me question why he would marry a Valkyrie. I don't know, maybe someone else can answer this, if not. I'm going to write a post about my continued quest to find more fun books about Norse mythology and Loki especially, so I will most likely mention it in that.

I agree with you that the theory that Sigyn is a valkyrie is not correct. I'm not sure where it originated, but there are a few reasons that I am not surprised that people believe it.

Sigyn has been studied and debated for well over a hundred years, but nobody really proposed a good etymology for her name until 2017, and he did it in a very dense linguistics paper that's difficult for most people to understand. Especially in his second, more verbose paper on the subject, he also included a lot of comparative Indo-European mythology that most people rightly regard as speculative and outdated, and while it doesn't ruin his etymological argument, some non-linguists might object to it and find the author less credible because of it.

The element sig- or sigr- means 'victory' and is very common in Old Norse names in general, and occurs twice in Valkyrie names (Sigrdrífa and Sigrún). It's much more common in human names, but Sigrdrífa is an important enough figure to stand out and probably adds to the perception that sig- names are typical of valkyries.

We are now fairly certain that Sigyn's name is actually Sígyn with a long i, so it isn't 'victory' at all, and most likely originally meant something to do with pouring liquid, but again, this was only formally demonstrated in 2017 in a paper that few people have read. So the 'victory' interpretation prevails for now. It had a 100+ year head start, and it will take a long time for Ginevra's new etymology to reach people.

Since deity names usually have some connection to the deity's role, domain, or actions they perform in myth, it seemed for a long time like there was an unanswered question about what exactly Sigyn did that was victorious enough to be named that. Deciding that she must be a valkyrie is a neat solution to that question, because it would mean she doesn't have to acquire victory herself, but because valkyries pertain to granting or withholding victory in general it would make sense for a valkyrie to have that name.

The last thing that I can think of is that it could be an extension to a theory about why Loki is hanging around with the æsir to begin with. It's a common theory that Loki's mother Laufey was an áss and that's why he took her name as a matronymic rather than his jötunn father's. But it also makes some sense to propose that he married into the æsir. It's enough to suggest that Sigyn is an áss, but to say that she is a valkyrie ties up the previous two points and connects it to this one, because valkyries pertain to the æsir through Óðinn, even without really being æsir themselves.

So basically, it's a nice, neat theory that cleanly ties up a lot of loose ends, it's just that whenever you find one of those in the field of Norse mythology it's almost always wrong.

[Edit] I should also add that I understand that for some people this is really more of a gut feeling interpretation and that many people have found meaning in the 'victory-friend(fem.)' interpretation even while understanding that it isn't etymological, I'm really not trying to dismantle any of that, but just to clarify what's represented directly in medieval texts.

[redthefortuneteller]

Chapter 208 was both interesting and a little disheartening in terms of how we got such little backstory for Snake before the circus… we didn't even get to see Beast and Dagger give the owner of the freak show a good thrashing.

I'm making a post talking about the theory of Snake being originally a snake relating to this last chapter. But firstly I'd like to say some things that have nothing to do with my theory:

One of them was that there were children being loaded into a carriage in that freak show. I've read @abybweisse 's take on the chapter and she's already mentioned this. I agree that those children unfortunately probably went to Kelvin.

Another one is that I think these are small rats and not mice, judging by the body dimensions. I translated the price he was asking for each rat to nowadays and it gave me £9.77 each. Which is about 11,41 EUR and 12.40 USD. Edit: Apologies, I just want to clarify that the Japanese word for both mouse and rat is the same: ネズミ nezumi. So there is no clear way to distinguish what was meant through words.

Finally, I want to bring attention to what happens when someone buys one of them. Since he spits out the rat after the man leaves we're left with the sense that it's a make believe trick every time. I don't think it is, because the tray held 3 more pre-killed rats.

The owner of the "attraction" called the visitor a cheap skate for not buying another one. If he hadn't been a "cheap-skate" and had bought another one, what would have happened? You might be able to fit two of them in your mouth and pretend to eat them, but three? No chance. And if the spectator was to buy another rat at the price of 10 pounds, he'd want to make sure he had swallowed the first one before paying for the next. It's heartbreaking but there's no two ways about it… there were a total of 4 rats in the tray. I think most people don't realize how strongly a rat that is dirty and not in sanitary "pet" conditions can smell. Rats urinate all over each other to mark territory, eat their own feces… And from seeing the cage that Snake kept the mice in at the Noah's Ark Circus, I'm quite positive that this freak show wouldn't keep them in any bigger of a cage or less crowded.

It saddens me a little that we don't get to know just the extent of the abuse, the injustices that he went through and the possible beatings he took to reach this point in which he so compliantly eats those rats. As we've seen before, one of the owners had a whip.

I shall be posting more soon! Thank you for reading.

[krash-and-co]

wdym by the infantilisation of george? genuinely asking as I haven't rlly seen that myself ahah but could you elaborate/give some examples?

note: I edited this ask after posting bc i wasnt done and also didn't say stuff entirely the way I meant lmao. I probably got redundant but idek what I wrote anymore, also there's a tldr at the end.

oh hey !! yeah, something ive seen are karim's (specifically this version) autistic traits and how they were portrayed in his fanon. some people either reduce him to or focus his character heavily on his 'cute' or 'childish' autistic traits, and this kind of becomes his main identity. he's autistic, and his childishness is pounced on and multiplied by fandom, because they want him to be cute like autistics are. he's autistic, and therefore vulnerable and dependent. a baby, not as capable as Lucy and Lockwood, which is nowhere near true. see the problem? /gen not only is it an unrealistic depiction of autism, but it can make people uncomfortable and be harmful.

I will mention this is an unfortunately common thing both in general fandom and irl, not something I expect one post to change. I am just sharing thoughts here :] but anyways lol

yes we as autistics can be childish. yes it may even be cute to you. yes we may feel childish ourselves, comfortably so, and that's totally fine. but it's when our whole being is warped into that one stereotype it becomes a problem. it's when people forget the rest about us, and we're your fandom vessel for angst and fluff where cute tiktok autism is our whole personality and we're not really a person anymore but a little pet people coo over. objecitified. people want to embrace these 'dependant' characters and they mean well, but the treatment of autistic traits can be.... uncomfortable. because, I mean, where does that leave you if you share these same traits? you likely don't want to be treated in such a way; you know you aren't some child to be coddled. but these characters are, and it feels wrong.

in good portrayals of autism and its acceptance, we can have all our autistic traits-- yes even the cute ones you want to baby us over, and yes even the weird and negative ones youd rather ignore, and still be treated as an equal, like george is. we wont be coddled more than a neurotypical, not treated as lesser in maturity or awareness, or shoved in a box. lockwood and co is like that to George, which is wonderful. as is most of the fandom, which is even better.

however I have seen this in fics and hc posts most notably, and it's a glaring contrast compared to the most works, and I do wonder if others have noticed and it leaves them with a funny taste in their mouth too.

not to get all preachy on this fine Wednesday at 2 in the morning, though.

tl;dr: reducing an autistic person to vulnerability and a childish nature, with malevolent intentions or not, is harmful. george is capable and badass !!! and honestly? it makes me as an autistic uncomfortable, seeing people with my traits treated like that over them by fandom, even though they mean well. balance is key. not being a total freak over our cutie patootie autistic faces is also. <- /hj /silly

obligatory end message where I mention again this isn't something horribly common in this fandom around my side of tumblr, at least, but I have seen it and wanted to ask if 1) y'all noticed it with George too and 2) share thoughts lol

ty for the ask, always happy to clarify my posts for y'all !! :]

[taegularities]

i mean this in the nicest way possible because i truly love you, but i wish writers in general wouldnt try to force reader engagement. i often reply with feedback, but at the end of the day, you should be writing because you want to, not because you want validation. i dont know if its just me who feels this way, but when writers constantly mention needing feedback or they wont write/will stop writing a popular series, it feels like a threat. i dont want reading to feel like a chore, where i need to constantly be validating my favorites so they dont get taken away from me. i love you and your writing and i wish my likes were enough. sometimes i, as a reader, dont feel like engaging/leaving notes. sometimes i just want to read and move forward. i feel like many writers have turned appreciative comments from readers into an obligation.

again in no way is this meant to be hateful towards you, i feel like this can apply to many of my favs. i just needed to get it off my chest and hopefully assure you that we like your writing, even if there's less engagement. if you disagree with any of my points, please tell me/ask me to clarify. i dont want to hurt your feelings and i would love to hear from the writer's side!

hiii! no worries, thank you so much for being respectful and wanting to hear my opinion, as well. i know some people let these things out in the rudest manner possible, so i appreciate that <3

so, the reason i haven't been writing atm is because i lack the time and energy to write :') this year has been crazyyyy busy, so i just don't get to it anymore – and since i've been away/less present for a while, i guess i also drifted away from tumblr, too, and then felt like people might've forgotten about taegularities, and then i wasn't sure if the effort would still be worth it (i get insecure at times, but that's a me-problem). now, the reason i (and many other writers) have this worry is bc writing requires an insane amount of energy and brainpower – when i tell you that so many of us actually slave over just a scene or even a paragraph for ages 😭 (example: the last cmi update was far shorter than what i usually drop, but it took me days to just edit one scene). we ache to write all the time, but life also gets in our way – i barely get time to sit down and work on my fics these days… so when i do get time, i want to put it out there into the world and then see the reactions, too… i write for myself, ofc, but for you guys, too, so i can share that joy; or else i'd keep the fics in my docs, right?

and in that sense, when we write something in the rare free time that we get and that we hope others will love just as much as we do, we do seek some sense of validation, even if that sounds odd. it's like – imagine you studied for a test for like 2 weeks, but then don't get the results you hoped for (which might be a weird example, but effort-wise, it's similar, even if fics don't affect writers' lives in that sense). i know there are many who just write and don't care for feedback (even tho i've seen even those who say this be sad about reader engagement which – very valid), but i think that most who expose their soul and heart like this, do want to see people enjoying it/speaking about it/hyping it up. every creator, be it in the movie, music or art industry, loves to see reactions! and think about it – most writers get so genuinely excited when someone sends an ask that doesn't say more than "i loved this so much!! you're such a good writer!!" which is insane?! like, i know that i do – i get so happy and remember these comments 5ever, and it's a 2 sentence review as opposed to thousands of words. the effort here is unbalanced, but we still love it so much. and you don't need to write an essay, you never never do!! i swear, it's always enough to even get a few words or sentences <3 which, in the end, isn't a lot to ask for, you know?

i'm not saying i will stop writing my series. i would stop if it got 0 reactions OR if my life stood in its way too much; i'll keep loving what i write and write out of joy, no doubt. and tbh, i don't care about notes either. like, i remember "ruin you" getting way less notes than cmi but GOSH we had so much fun back then bc of the interaction and the craze made me so happy hahaha and yeah that's what it's essentially about – community. does that make sense? it's tumblr where likes don't make a post circulate – reblogs do, so yeah, unfortunately, likes are not enough :( i wish they were. i totally get what you mean, though. even feedback shouldn't be an obligation, but if you truly like somebody's work, it never hurts to send a tiny message. it really means the world to us when something we adore and are so proud of – creating art, sharing our heart, wanting everybody to see this love – is met with so much joy. and it's fics, you know – we love love love writing, but it's something that can be read. and we want people to read it and we're legit sitting there like "👀 and?? aaaand?" lol it's so nice to know when someone truly appreciates something… ofc you don't have to comment on my stuff, but i promise feedback makes a difference. it's why so many do leave :/ i hope that made sense!! once again, thank you for being respectful!! i love you, too, and am truly grateful that you're here and enjoying my stuff!! <3

[hotcheetohatredwastaken]

currently how long are bdor and its prequel when combined wordcount wise

you brought up 200k and i am both terrified and intrigued. like thats impressive. i am in awe. i can barely put a sentence together much less that many

Okay let me give you a lay of the land. And before we begin, I just have to say that I am so, so sorry. I gave you such a wrong number.

BDOR Arc 1, as of its official word count right now, is 152,892 words. It’s completely written and ready to be published save chapters 15, 18, 20, 24 (12,000 word chapter that has to go 😱) ch 27-29, and then it’s pretty much smooth sailing (with a few minor edits in there and a few scenes to add) until ch 75-76, which need some tweaking, and then the final ch 78 needs a bit of an adjustment as well, and I may delete it completely. All of these chapters specifically mentioned above are in various stages of editing, but generally the story at this point is solid. The final chapter count will probably be 80-82, because there are a few beats that need to be hit that haven’t been, some characters to flesh out more, and lovely beta reader @needfantasticstories revealed some logic errors that I need to spin up some bullcrap to cover💀. I have 9,000 words of notes for things to change in pages, and about that amount of changes in google docs as well. So I’m estimating 160,000 words for the final product there, if not more.

Arc 2 is where it gets SO dicey. My word count in my final doc right now is 44,424. I have another 6,000 ish words of notes in pages to change/tweak scenes/general scene layouts. I have another 15,884 words that have been digitized but haven’t made it into the final document because they need editing. Add onto that about 30?? Pages handwritten that haven’t even made it that far. I usually get about 600-750 words per page, so let’s tally that up to a generous 45,000 since I write front and back. There is leeway of about 20,000 words in there too, because there’s a big chunk of time (heh) I am considering only hinting at happening, but I have written out in their near entirety.

The thing is, I’ve probably written about half of arc 2 with all of that.

So assuming I keep that 20,000 chunk, and assuming I double my word count as I think I will, the final tally here is nearly 110,000 already, which will probably grow to an estimated 200,000 if not more. I am working on cutting this down XD, so stay tuned. The main plot is generally solid, but there’s a LOT of little subplots I need to wrap up lol.

Prologue: this is a little side thing I meant to just be cute little scenes from Twi and Wild’s past and it got away from me. An official 28,424 words of this are written. I’d say I have another 15 handwritten pages (front and back counted, i should clarify) in various stages of editing, so let’s say a generous 11,250. The thing is, I have a LOT of ideas, and once I finalize arc 1 and arc 2, I’m going to have a lot of free time to dig into this while the other story comes out (I probably need to start updating multiple times a week if I want to get this story out before I turn 90 XD). So this number will most definitely grow, but for now it is an estimated 39,674.

Final estimated word count (if I did the math right and also didn’t underestimate my ability to purple prose), everypony?

396,174 words!!

Oh Lord I don’t think I’d realized before I tallied everything up that it was actually this long. I think this project has run away from me. I just wanted to play with my blorbos not write the next Ancient Greek Epic. What the heck. I need to go lie down.

Also just took 3,500 from the final count because I realized I had double counted a chapter sorry ignore that.

But yeah I am hoping to cut down arc 2, so maybe 350,000? That’s being optimistic in my ability to not be longwinded though.

[hinakyuu]

https://www.tumblr.com/hinakyuu/751332964106895361/i-think-you-explained-yourself-well-and-i-do-agree?source=share

I am this anon and I want to clarify something. I saw a post from an o/lers fan probably in response to my message mentioning how every team has bad guys and I know that. Everyone knows that. But this person mentioned e/vander k/ane as the o/ilers bad guy and my message wasn't about him, I know none of them likes him, as they should. But I also know, and you can see for yourself if you go check their fandom lb tag and h/yman tag, that most of them loves that man. And I do find evil someone going their own way to make fandom content about a man that publicly supports an ongoing genocide. The same way b/lackhawks fans kept making content about p/atrick k/ane was evil and everyone also called them out on it.

If they don't support that zionist they shouldn't be so mad at people pointing out their fanbase supports him.

—

i hear what you’re saying and i understand why that would make anyone uncomfortable. i’d just like to also say, even if “most of them love that man” (which i was unaware/am surprised to hear) i don’t know that we can condemn the few people in that fandom that do not agree or do not interact with those showing him support. i’m not sure if i make complete sense, sorry. i guess what i’m getting at is there will be bad eggs and good eggs in any fandom and maybe it’s naive but i like to separate the good and bad. i think there are some nice people who genuinely do not stand by him and still root for that team. i am not privy to the positive content about him (nor what their regular content consists of) since i cannot call myself someone who participates in that fandom. if we circle this back to the post i made in the lb, i swear it was an innocent joke about the goal post making some saves, it was not meant as an implication in any way that i am a zionist sympathizer (edit: if you were implying that anyone rooting for that team is considered one just because he plays for them).

[theflyindutchwoman]

Eric still talks a lot about Chenford on the cameos now. But I did notice he slacked off there for a while about a yr, he really didn’t tag a lot of stuff or talk about Chenford and it all came down to when SOME fans got creepy and started shipping him and Melissa irl not being able to separate the two and tweeting Ros saying that him and Melissa should run away together. Making edits on TikTok, cutting Ros’s face out and putting Melissa‘s in to which I know Ros did not like that at all she tried laughing it off on the podcast, but you could tell it bothered her. I mean there’s always a few that ruin things for everybody else. So a PSA, if people love the show and these characters, don’t be disrespectful to anyone’s spouses or boyfriend’s girlfriends.

Thank you for providing some more context, dear Anon :) I just want to clarify that when I mentioned this issue in my previous reply, I didn't mean to imply that this was why Eric wasn't posting as much about Chenford (or tagging). I simply meant that it wasn't the first time that it happened. I honestly haven't followed what was going on over there since the summer hiatus.

And yes, you're absolutely right : he does still talk about them - or even hype them - a lot on Cameos, so I'm not sure that it's entirely fair to say that he is distancing himself from Chenford. That said, Cameos are quite different than Instagram posts since he is directly asked questions about Lucy and Tim. It's not quite the same as him posting pictures or videos on his social media for everyone to see, if you know what I mean. Not to mention that there is a transactional aspect to cameos that come into play. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he could always ignore them if that truly bothered him, which is why I'm not particularly worried about what his distancing means. On a side note, I don't think him not tagging posts #chenford is much of an issue either, considering that most will see them anyway, by virtue of following him in the first place.

As for the issue you're mentioning… It's unfortunately nothing new. I have yet to see one fandom where that type of issue didn't come up at some point. I'm not going to lie, I really love Meleric and their dynamic (or at least, the part that we see)… If someone wants to make edits and all, why not. What I don't understand is the need some feel to tag his wife in these… Or to be straight up disrespectful. What's the point?! Like you said, the only thing it is going to accomplish, is making Eric stop posting and sharing contents. Or limit the comments and interactions. It seems counterproductive to me… But that's just me :)

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

Marker, Woman with a Parasol, Cricut

Thanks! :D

Marker: what's one thing your character would never tattoo on their body, even if they were paid a million dollars for it?:

I can't imagine any of my OCs getting any tattoos, but I can imagine Karandren offering Diarnlan a million pounds to get some sort of embarrassing tattoo :D (And then she'd murder him of course, and the time loop would start all over again)

Woman with a Parasol: are there any moments in this fic that feel "blurry" to you? Is this a stylistic choice, or would you go back and clarify the descriptions if you were given the chance?:

Short answer: all of my WIPs 😬 Longer answer: I'm terrible at knowing where to put descriptions when writing. So when I edit I go back and add them.

Cricut: are there any characters you've had to "cut" from a story? Are there any moments/chapters/stories you've had to "cut" entirely?:

Yep! I mentioned Ji-hun from Like Snow on Hungry Graves, but I've also had to cut some minor characters from The Power and the Glory. The other tourists in Gracemeadow Manor were meant to play a bigger role, but most of them got demoted to extra.

I had to cut the last scene of Silver Glass's epilogue, but I've saved the cut scene in case I can work it into the second draft.

[echoesofadream]

i don't "ship my biases", since jin is my bias. it just seems to be a trend that people who happen to ship taekook also mysteriously happen to be overly critical of jimin and write huge think pieces about how they "don't haaaaate jimin, no, no... but-" yes, you can give constructive criticism but that's his voice. if you like it, great, if not, then why are you here? why are you listening to bts?

taekook love jimin so much and i feel as if none of you guys see that and it's frustrating.

ahhhhh here we go. i knew this would happen hence the overly clear explainations i wrote lest i be taken for an anti. but ill humor you because its fun for me too.

i should have been more clear in my wording, but i felt like i had already written too much to a very small audience to bother clarifying myself. What i meant is that when it comes to stanning artists you are bound to have favorites and for many of us, myself included, this is musically/artistically founded. But also based on things like attractiveness (which is subjective), personal taste, the artists personality etcetc. When you start to like this person more than the other it creates a kind of positive feedback loop; exposure to the person and the thing you liked about the person in the first place makes you like them more and more as you get to know them, and the things you liked you start to love even more because you start to love the person these qualities belong to more. So if i had liked jimins voice more in the beginning i would probably have liked him more overall by now and then his voice would have been even better to me. Basically!

And yeah i only have one bias as well, but taekook are my favorite members, so like i thinks its only natural that i like their relationship most, too, dont you think? So maybe thats not the case for everyone and maybe i overgeneralized but i do think that for most ex. jikookers that jimin and jungkook are their two favorite members. 🤷‍♀️ edit: at least they probably prefer them over taehyung which i feel is only natural due to the above

I am not overly critical of jimin i am critical of all members including taehyung and jungkook. You have seen one post of me where i said i didnt like jimins new song. Do you know my full history of what ive said or thought about the members? In fact i have probably said more critical things about both taehyung and jungkook simply because i am most invested in them. The fact that im even mentioning jimin shows i have an investment in him as well doesnt it? I wanted vibe to be good. I made a post about that tho i think its deleted now. I understand taekookers can be overly critical of jimin but you have no basis for saying that about me. Im just voicing my opinions on my own blog.

Not sure what taekook loving jimin has to do with any of this. Like it feels surreal that you are telling me that. Like i know? I talk about vminkook all the time. Especially vmin because i have a personal preference that makes me for some reason like vmin more than jikook. Oh okay cancelled! Cancelled for not having equal feelings about every single member and ship!!!!!!!<- you btw

Its so funny that you are asking me why i even listen to bts when i literally yesterday made a post about why i like bts and their vocal line especially and why they stand out to me as a group. Where i literally say that if any of the members were excluded their music would be emptier and that they complete each other.

[dominostodoomsday]

Agreed! And I think a lot of trouble also stems from the fact that having laws against bribery, lobbying, etc on the books is one thing, and the actual enforcement of them is another. So often a country's population is aware of the corruption going on and yet nothing gets done about it. And once one official has an in-group set up, even in countries that hold elections, it becomes difficult to get any viable choice that's not a part of that corruption, and the problems persist.

And in regard to the post itself- I'm not always aware of which terms most people are aware of, and I see so many people use "capitalism" and "corporatism" interchangeably that I didn't use it for fear of folks not knowing what it meant. Despite being an adult who only really interacts with other adults on this platform, I somehow still have to remind myself that the majority of users here aren't in middle school anymore! Using more specific parlance clarifies rather than obfuscates after a certain age.

So I supposed a better phrasing of my initial point would have been: "Do you hate the basis of capitalism or the corporatism which it can devolve/ has devolved into?" I just didn't care too much about my initial phrasing because I didn't expect any attention from it.

I *did* hesitate to respond just because of the tone, as you mentioned, but admittedly despite no tags, it started getting reblogged, so editing it has also helped me jump out ahead of it being misinterpreted. I didn't want to get dunked on for an argument separate from the one I was trying to make because I said it imprecisely! But I want to keep the original statement there so it can preface what follows.

WTF do you mean jailbreaking my "smart" TV to install Linux in order to run adblock on my TV would be "Felony Contempt of Buisiness Model" That sounds like a crime made up by The Board in Outer Worlds.

[confluence-and-drift]

Huh, so I'm going to be an uncle. I was just around at my parents and heard that the brother I don't get along with had in the last two years, divorced his wife that was rude to our mother all the time and he's now with someone else who my Mum really likes and they're expecting a kid. Apparantly my brother has matured a lot too in the last few years.

My Mum was weirdly apprehensive telling me this and she admitted that she thought I'd be angry, an answer that mystified me. Like, sure, my brother and I don't talk, but why would I not be happy for him getting out of a shitty relationship and being in a happy one? It occurred to me later it was likely because my parents don't exactly understand my reacitons to things. They don't understand the principles I hold and hence don't understand when he offends them so greviously; hence to them whenever my brother is mentioned I must randomly erupt into unpredictable rages. Or something.

But in any case, I am happy for him.

Hell, with his newfound maturity I've been thinking of getting back in touch with him, though the issue with that is...well, I'm not completely blind. I kind of disappeared from his life for most of a decade and made no attempt to reconnect or even speak to him. I don't exactly think I've got much of a right to be in his life now that he's less of a massive cunt than before.

Ah well. In any case, I hope it all goes well. My other siblings tell me that his new partner is really nice and that unlike with his ex he actually seems happy.

An old instinct makes me want to meet her so I can see if she's good enough for my wee brother; but that's a very small, very faint instinct. As I said, I'm well aware I have no right and she probably knows me as "that deadbeat brother". Hell, on a related point, I wonder if my brother still thinks I'm making up disability in order to exist on benefits? That, amongst other things, is what I meant when I said he was kind of unpleasant; but in any case, with a kid coming, I guess it's best I just stay out of it, let him deal with it without burden. The emotion that I've got left at the end of it is twofold I guess; one is that I'm happy for him; second is regret that the situation with my brother ended up how it is. I still remember when it was just me and him way back in the day. I mean, I was a shit older brother etc, but you know. Thirdly; I'm still somewhat mystified by what my Mum said about me being angry. I mean, I know I've got my theory up there, but I'm not sure. I keep finding myself going back to it. I guess a part of me is just once more shocked at how little my own mother knows me, but then again, this is the same mother who somehow missed my autism whilst growing up so it's entirely possible that she just got it wrong. I think a part of me just turning a few other possibilities in my head, like, did she think I'd be jealous? Na, that's too out there. She knows I'm content being alone. I once expressed horror at a friend of hers' daughter having a kid, but that's because said daughter and the father were like 17, so I'd hope she realised that it was that aspect and not the having-children itself that made me disgusted/agitated/angry , but it could have been that. I did ask my Mum why she thought I'd be angry, she did just say "I don't know" and she was getting a bit sleepy too so I didn't want to badger her with questions but huh.

Ah well. I guess this means I can be someone's Weird Uncle, which, admittedly, is something I kind of always hoped for the chance to be. I don't want kids of my own, that's be a pain, but I'd be a perfect Weird Uncle imho >.>.

*clears throat*. Anyways, I hope everyone reading this is doing well.

EDIT: Also, to clarify for those who've followed me for a while, the ex that my brother divorced is the anti-vaxxer who caught covid at least three times. I always thought it was fucking horrifying that he'd...fraternise with someone so dangerously stupid, especially considering he has a Masters in Biomedical Science, and as I mentioned, he never exactly seemed happy with her. But once again, I am happy for him.

[crqelsummer]

I want to hear more about Yuelle/Lightthief

i want to clarify before i even start that these two are both idiots.

edit: ok wtf is this formatting tumblr

elle is the most oblivious girl ever -- she didnt pick up on the fact that yuto was actually interested in her until halfway through their second term of first year.

yuto, is also the most indirect guy ever. his love language is quality time, so inviting elle to hang out with him was meant to be romantic! he even brought her snacks and helped her with her homework. elle didn't know this, she just thought he was being nice (her love language is acts of service)

(she calls him 'sweet!' all the time and yuto is DYING)

their friends figured it out a long time ago (moriko and rin have a betting pool going for the class, seiji and daisuke are winning)

he confessed to her on valentine's day with chocolate and she was a bit bewildered. and then gave him some french chocolate she had from winter break on white day. yuto has never heard of this brand. he is cherishing it nonetheless.

however! they do work together really well! yuto's learning to use the binding cloth well enough to save her if she ever gets caught, and her effective flashbangs keep people off of them pretty well. her blinding means he can usually steal people's quirks pretty easily because they're more likely to answer him.

theyre really good friends!! they started out as friends on both sides, yuto just fell head over heels after he saw elle do what she did best and elle pretty soon after their finals before summer break. still, they joke together and annoy one another just as much as anyone else

they hang into in the bottom five of the class for most of the year just because neither of them are super strong students. they gotta fight for it and adapt as necessary. in the academic rankings though, they compete there too. yuto's a little ahead bc he's like. native japanese speaker v. elle only started learning three or four years ago to attend UA in high school.

yuto is a pretty stoic guy, it takes a lot to shake him. elle is not, she is the most emotional person just about ever. they clash sometimes because elle will get really emotionally invested in something and forget to really think. yuto will occasionally only ever look at a situation through logic and forget about how his interactions are affecting other people.

elle is a really touchy feely girl too. once she and yuto start dating shes always got a pinky wrapped around his, bumps into him on purpose, rests her head on his shoulder, etc etc. yuto is only a bit taller than she is (5'5" to his 5'7") but she can and will try and climb him. like full, limbs wrapped around him like a spider monkey kind of climb lmao. yuto finds this odd at first but kinda just lets her at it. he prefers to just be around her, but this works too.

neito finds out bc aiko mentions it offhandedly to him, who then tells hitoshi who then brings it up during dinner. yuto is losing it.

yuga is actually pleasantly surprised that elle found someone she cares for dearly. monica thinks hes cute, to her chagrin.

theres a box of french cheese in the mail within the week

BONUS:

If Elle ever got into trouble Yuto is NOT responsible for how he responds to whoever knocked his girlfriend out. He almost choked a villain out once and will do it again.

Elle's hands can get hot enough to burn with her Light Quirk, and if anyone ever hurt Yuto she's using that to her advantage because goddammit you do not lay a HAND on him.