#excited to start this blog . no reason other than its funny

[agency-against-he-hims]

FEMDITOR PINNED POST

welcome to the femditor roleplay blog, i have a fewthings to iterate before we have fun with things;

this is a ROLEPLAY blog; nothing we do here is meant to be taken seriously were just having fun with it.

this is based off of a list of headcanons which you guys arent required to agree with so have fun

feel free to interact with your other roleplay blogs yayayya: just know, this exists within its own universe of wildly wacky things, including liberal quo (status quo but liberal)

below is the rules, tagging system, headcanons you should expect, and "about the admin" or whatever

RULES

DONT BE A BIGOT. i know my entire roleplay blog centers around auditor being a "men suck, feminism for the win" joke blog but you should under no circumstances endorse this; so, KEEP YOUR RACISM, FATPHOBIA, ABLEISM, MISOGYNY/MISANDRISM, HOMOPHOBIA, TRANSPHOBIA AND GODKNOWS WHAT; OUT OF HERE!

we dont do nsfw here. this is a sfw blog, and we will probably softblock any "interaction" (asks, comments) with nsfw accounts. there will be mildly suggestive jokes but nothing bad, just kids humor

hey. if you ever feel like a joke is being taken too far, or you dont like certain content on this blog and think it isnt kind or respectful; do let us know! sometimes we can say things in joking ways that arent actually funny. its not a rule, but id love to have people just be cool with that.

do not bring discourse to this roleplay account. blinks my beautiful eyes at you

be respectful to the people who interact or i will smite you with my swords.

TAGGING SYSTEM

#reblog -> reblogs

#askaudi -> asks

#ooc -> out of character

#slayteraction -> interaction with other rp blogs

#womentalkinghere -> genera talking

#femditorforpresident -> blog tag

HEADCANONS TO EXPECT

ladytor. the gimmick of this entire blog is that auditor is a woman and will kill you because shes cool

divorcee twice to phobos and voltrix

does a nasty trump impression

dog named gestalt (yes that one)

thats it ill add more as the lore builds

ABOUT THE ADMIN

WAVES!! hi we're Kyforyel, you can find our blog at @kyforyelsystem i make cool art and even cooler fanfics.

we are cool

we like the beatles

we are a did system, an autistic narcissist so i apologize if we come across as weird sometimes

we use they/it/mer pronouns and would prefer masc/neutral terms

if this blog dies feminism dies with it

[theminecraftbee]

being in true sexyman nostalgia mode today (on account of. IT'S BEEN ONE YEAR BABY.) i think one of the most fascinating things about it is that we will never manage to do that again. like, not in a "we couldn't organize it better" way; there were better ways to do the spreadsheet, we would just turn off comments on posts and anon asks from day one so that we wouldn't then get people accusing us of censorship while we tried and failed to control the tide of things that ended up in the comments and inbox, we'd definitely have a WAY higher non-hermit contingent, both thanks to qsmp and thanks to the sexyman blog and medusa now having MUCH wider reach to other corners of the fandom and the original spread not all rooting at me, etc.

but the reason we couldn't do it again is that i don't know if we could ever replicate the exact circumstances that lead to it blowing up quite to the extent it blew up.

it was while tumblr polls and doing tumblr poll brackets on tumblr itself was still new-ish, and people were still excited about them. the idea of a mcytblr bracket was basically brand new; i won't claim we did it FIRST (because i have no idea if we did and doubt we did), but certainly we did it big first. so there's that; we can never again invent in real time "shit people are sending us threats about fraud lets legalize fraud because its funny, we can't stop it, and that neutralizes that drama as a thing anyone will take seriously", and then in turn accidentally invent a fandom culture of. um. wide-spread voter fraud.

(i don't know if we should apologize for, uh, causing the specific way mcytblr voter frauds. i still think it was better than the alternative at least, especially after seeing how so many other polls crashed and burned after us. there were MANY things we could have done better but i have seen SO MANY ways we could have done things worse since then so i think we came out looking pretty okay.)

but also: february 2023 was a very different time in mcytblr. we were in a hermitcraft dead period, where most of the hermits were either on vacation or playing tcg (which was fun, but didn't end up generating that much fandom activity by that time in february). the former dsmp crew was very much doing Nothing (and in that awkward space when the entire fandom knew dsmp 2 was never happening, but also people were still claiming it would happen, so it was just... busy waiting). qsmp didn't exist yet. there was no ongoing life series and wouldn't be for some time. i think even the dominioners and lifestealers were in a fairly dead zone. there was very little new for people to be excited about, mcyt content-wise.

enter: our poll. our poll which cleo then thinks its funny to call out on twitter. our poll, which was not only new mcyt content for the fandom to interact with (thanks to the fact we KEPT GETTING CC INTERACTIONS???), but participatory.

for about two weeks, we were the mcyt event de jour.

and like. the thing is. now we're in february 2024. mcyt is BOOMING. a new hermitcraft season JUST STARTED. we came off of vault hunters before that. meanwhile, qsmp just restarted and is, if i'm understanding correctly, booming. they just added a new guy! the two current juggernauts of the fandom are in FULL SWING. i honestly think we'd be somewhat overtaken by the fact things are actually happening in fandom. there's stuff to do that ISN'T go insane about a poll.

and it's not new, and we've seen it all before now, and frankly, it's hard to cause a mass hysteria event TWICE. lightning in a bottle, as they say.

i think part of the reason we all just REMEMBER mcytblr sexyman so much is that we could never, ever recreate it, so it remains crystalized in a single moment in time, impossible to replicate, forever memorable.

anyway: HAPPY ONE YEAR TO THE JOE HILLS SWEEP BABY,

[devotion-disorder]

Hi!! I don't know if anyone has asked this before, but-- How did you go about posting your yan OCs for the first time? I absolutely LOVE yours and would love to share mine like how you post about yours, but It's soooo nerve wracking to start it... Lol, sorry if this is weird! ^^;;;;; Do you have any advice or anything?

Hihi!!!! I understand it is kind of nervewracking like oohhhh these are my silly Original Blorbos if any of you guys care. but the world could always use more yanderes!!!!!! so we do in fact care !!!!!!!!!!1

I will say that a while ago my blog was mainly DoL-centric with the exception of the occasional yan post reblog- but i honestly wish I branched out into that more early on, for some reason i was really fixated on keeping my blog centered around one thing only. At some point I just realised that. it's my blog. i should just do whatever I want lmao. and I think that's a good mindset to have tbh - its your house your rules babey

I don't know if there's anything in particular with how I did it that's remarkable in any sense, but I suppose I just tried to make sure i was presenting my oc's in a way that leaves a strong impression and is easy to digest: so a list of facts about them, some are just basic info, some are lore-motivated and some are just things i think would be funny LOL. and yanderes at their best are when they are being their most creepy irredeemable selves so I drew something extra for that too (in fact it was kind of a last-minute addition lol). but anywho i was just hoping to establish a strong impression of their characters ig.

but yes! the only real advice I stand behind is to do whatever you wanna do and have fun with it. that is easier said than done, but I think that my enjoyment of drawing and posting has really took off ever since i just stopped caring what others might think. Good luck to you and your oc's, im sure many people will be very excited about more yanderes in this world!!!!!!!!!

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 24/06/2024

YO-Kai Direction

Season 7 Featured on: Now That's What I Call Quality! 3

Ripped by DonnieTheGuy

Y'know, funny story: a part of me genuinely thought I'd made this post already, and I had to double-check my posting archive three times over just to make sure. Because for as much Season 7 glazing as I've done on here, YO-Kai Direction is the kind of rip that absolutely deserves that love, as such a perfect rip from one of SiIva's most surprise breakout events in recent memory. Hell, last time I was covering the event in question, this rip only barely lost out from being covered instead of Beautiful Dreamer - but, in earnest, I believe two legends should indeed be able to coexist.

I've learned a lot from running this blog, but one of the biggest breakout surprises to me was learning just how incredible of a ripper DonnieTheGuy truly is. He joined the team around when I was paying less attention to the channel in general, and didn't exactly have a loud internet personality for me to learn of otherwise - yet rip by rip, from the blog's very first in Running Through Cookie Country to later-covered examples like Epic Rap Battles of History: Funny vs. Funnier and Remember when this song was the one related to toilets?, I began realizing just how powerful the guy is. A master chef that works in the background, even working to provide tons of assets to help people get into ripping themselves, sharing samples, samples and much more. But even if I wasn't aware of all that, even if I wasn't aware of just how much of a menace he is even off of SiIva when it comes to Twitter shitposts (the Digital Circuit edit trend where he made like 20+ edits on his own for instance), YO-Kai Direction would've likely convinced me on its own of DonnieTheGuy's prestige.

I recall saying to myself back when I wrote Beautiful Dreamer that one of the reasons that I picked it over YO-Kai Direction was just due to how much I'd already featured YO-KAI Disco, and Yousuke Yasui's music in general, on here. 【＝３】e-MUNO Disco (vs. 音MAD AGENT) was effectively the rip that made me INVESTED invested in the art of high quality ripping, WA-HOO DISCO shows just how much Super Mario 64's sound can and has been pushed by the SiIva team, Siiva Lining just outright slaps - you get it. But we're now in the golden age of ripping quality, where it feels as if every rip made is touched by some benevolent gods ensuring that it does WAY more than it necessarily needs to in order for its proposed joke to work. Because like, YO-Kai Direction is an incredibly simple premise on the surface, mashing up the all-too-known YO-KAI Disco with What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction as part of the One Direction event. Back in, say, Season 1, that would've been the end of it, but there's so many small touches added by DonnieTheGuy that shows just how invested he was in utilizing One Direction's sound to the fullest.

And honestly, when the One Direction event began, I was initially a bit disappointed, as it took the place of the channel's annual "9/11 event", which had previously given us incredibly bait-and-switch events like what brought us SUNGORE in 2020. Initially I figured that I had no stake or familiarity with One Direction and so the event was completely out of my wheelhouse...but not only was I SURPRISINGLY familiar with What Makes You Beautiful in particular, I also had no clue that the team was so excited and ready to start using it. It gave me flashbacks to Season 6's Big Time Rush event which brought us Famous Surprise, only with even more people firing on all cylinders for it. Because again - in many other eras, YO-Kai Direction would've just been a mere mashup, but DonnieTheGuy goes the extra length to pitch-shift it all to something absolutely heavenly.

Without ever leaving that original pitch for the rip, YO-Kai Direction masters the art of escalation in a way that's so well done, it's hard to even notice with how well it fits in. It begins as a seemingly normal mashup with a slightly increased BPM speed of YO-KAI Disco being used as to match the One Direction song, but then at the second go around at the verse's melody it becomes more YTPMV-esque, editing soundbytes from What Makes You Beautiful into the melody of the source track, as if to communicate the two tracks merging - "You're insecure, but you walk-walk through the do-o-or!" is pulled off with just a slight stutter and pitch-shifting that's immediately noticeable if you're paying attention to it, yet fits so well as to initially sound just like an extension of the initial mashup. This then carries on into the bridge, before finally exploding in the chorus - wherein every part of One Direction's vocals are pitch-shifted to amazing effect. It's hard to put into word without repeating myself just how well done this build-up is, but the end result is obvious - a genuinely amazing listen.

All the while, slight elements of What Makes You Beautiful's instrumentation seem to be sprinkled into the rip, sounding almost as if they had just been dug out of the mix of the original YO-KAI Disco. That's the theme of the whole rip, and to be clear - ABSOLUTELY not meant as a negative. The way in which DonnieTheGuy managed to make YO-Kai Direction sound almost as if it was a natural collaboration between One Direction and Yousuke Yasui is actually insane, yet it still subtly honors the traditions of what makes the greatest SiIvaGunner rips as good as they are. I won't sugarcoat it - on many days, humming YO-KAI Disco in public, THIS is the version I'm humming.

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (06/23/24)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (8/10)

This was my first ever Octavia E. Butler book, and it didn't disappoint! The way this story used Anyanwu and Doro's relationship to comment on power dynamics and issues in the world at large blew my mind; I found the discussion of eugenics particularly interesting. They were both such intensely flawed yet compelling characters. This book skirts the line between fantasy and sci-fi (something I'm looking into for my thesis as a peripheral issue), and it definitely made me wonder about the world. I wasn't aware going in that this was a prequel situation, but even then I do think I was a bit dissatisfied with how things left off. That's just my personal taste though.

Haikyuu!! Vol. 41 and 42 by Haruichi Furudate (10/10)

It usually takes me around half an hour or so to get through a volume of manga, but these took me a couple of hours. Why? Because I had to keep putting it down because I was crying so hard I couldn't breathe. As someone who has read a plethora of books ever since I was young, it takes a lot to get me to cry, especially that hard. I was sobbing. Furudate has created such wonderful characters and then puts them through so many struggles that I can't even be mad about because it's highly realistic that someone pursuing a sport would run into this! Seeing Hinata break down followed instantly by the third years graduating and the Brazil arc had me miserable in the best way possible. I usually never rate manga or graphic novels five stars because they're usually super fast-paced and so much relies on writing style for me when I read novels, but this just broke me.

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter (46%)

This is a very cute book so far. I could probably tell you exactly what's going to happen from this point onward, but it's a genre convention for romcoms to be predictable. Liz is a fun protagonist; she's quirky in a way that has a reason and isn't annoying. There's good chemistry between the leads with some great banter, and you really can't ask for more than that. However, I will say the constant song references are starting to irk me, especially with the lyrics included in the writing --I don't know, it just reminds me too strongly of my early fanfiction years.

Moon Rising by Tui T. Sutherland (45%)

If there's one thing about me, I love a mind-reading protagonist. Moonwatcher is probably my favorite perspective of the Wings of Fire series, even if I wish she'd speak up sometimes. Sutherland did a great job making her similar to Starflight, since they're the same tribe, without being a carbon copy, and while mind reading might seem a little too omniscient, her inexperience and general social ineptitude keep it from becoming overpowered. I'm thrilled to see the return of Peril, whose story is left open from the previous arc, and I'm excited to learn more about the other new characters (Winter, Qibli, and I believe Turtle) who have their own interesting introductions.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (43%)

Despite my fantasy obsession, this is my first time reading The Lord of the Rings (though I have read The Hobbit). While it is definitely much slower-paced than the average modern fantasy, I'm enjoying myself so much. If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know I'm a worldbuilding nut, so this is like my dream book. There are so many tangents to tell stories about the history of Middle Earth and all the goings-on of the world, and I keep noticing little details and wishing they'd talk about those too. Tolkien is also a rather funny writer; Bilbo's passive aggression in particular made me giggle. While this a bit of a dense story, it's definitely living up to its reputation so far.

Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell (42%)

This is a project for my part-time job, so I'm not sure how much I can actually divulge, but let me just say this: this book is compared to The Raven Boys in its summary, and it's living up to that.

Her Wolves by G. Bailey (7%)

I won't lie, the writing of this book so far does not give me hope. However, it could still be a fun read even if the grammar and syntax aren't the best. Also, funny thing, this book is set in the future on Earth. I did not know this. I thought it was a high fantasy. So imagine my surprise to see a landmass labeled "America Court" on the map. My misunderstanding was cleared up soon, but it still made me laugh.

[dani-says-stuff]

✧ Blog Info ✧

❥ Back to the Control Center

General info, Requesting Rules, and Tag Navigation

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

__ General __

❥ I will only write x readers on this blog, and will post longer stories with original characters on my wattpad account (the exception, is my fic graveyard)

❥ Most of my stories at the moment are fem!readers because it's the default way I write, however I am trying to change this and start having more gn!reader fics available

❥ Each fic has an individual dialouge key at the beginning, and the rest of the fic's dialouge will be color coded to match the person or character indicated at the beginning (this is usually only for my youtube video based fics like the Nate Hardy ones so the fic doesnt end up being 12k words explaining who is saying what)

❥ I dont have the time or extensive knowlege of grammar to sit down and edit most of my fics... so if errors bother you, this may not be the best experience, or place, for you to spend your time

❥ If you wanna be moots just send in an ask or message me to lemme know! I love talking to y'all! This also applies if you just want to be an anon, I don't think I have a big enough audience yet to have emoji anons, but I'm not against having some :)

__ Request Rules __

Requests are open !

❥ I can't guaruntee I will take every request and I can't guaruntee the amount of time it will take. It depends on how good of an idea i get at the time

❥ Please don't spam my ask box with the same request over and over

❥ Include a detailed explanation of what you'd like, plot point's you'd like me to hit, quotes, prompts, etc in your request. I will not be taking any that only say "(insert person) please!" or "can you write ____ smut/fluff/angst". I need somewhere to go with the request.

❥ Please be reasonable with your requests. All I'm saying, is I will have differing rules on if a fic is for the HoTD/GoT fandom than if it is for any other fandom. I am willing to be more lineant on those because I am brain broken like the rest of the fandom, iykyk.

❥Tbh I'm willing to write pretty much anything if I get a good enough idea for it, just give me details or its a guarunteed ✨no✨

__ Tag Navigation __

aka my attempt at organizing my chaos

#rambles - The random thoughts I have in a day, including but not limited to: everyday random stuff, potential fic ideas, funny things that go down... basically just my diary tbh

#just dani complaining - Usually accompanied by the ramble tag, but on the ones that are, as implied, just me complaining

#updates - New info on wips, fics, and requests. (for example, update schedules, changes to a plot, etc.)

#my hyperfixations - Basically the things i'm promoting out of pure excitment, the "go check out ___ bc it changed my lifeee" type beat

#fic recs - Pretty obvious and self explanatory, but its just my favorites :P

#mutuals - Things my loves and besties who i got the courage to ask to be mutuals are doing , i'm too afraid to just randomly start adding all my mutuals so this one may be more unreliable

#fic graveyard - There's nothing in here yet, but its the fics I have like one or two really good chapters for that I've abandoned. Snippets, ideas, etc.

#control center - All nav posts will be under this tag

I believe everything else is pretty self explanatory (___ masterlist, reblogs, ___ x reader, asks & requsts, etc.)

[djinnandtea]

When I was in high school, I stumbled across an artist that really grabbed my attention and held onto it tightly. His work was gorgeous and fantastical and gory and also more than a little…salacious. All things that teenaged me love. This artist’s name was Luis Royo, and his works often involved some variation of beautiful, thin, light-skinned, half-naked women looking moody and forlorn covered in blood or boning some buff dude in some dystopian wasteland of a universe. But sometimes, Royo’s women didn’t settle for boning random men. Sometimes they preferred something a little more…inhuman. Yeah, baby, I’m talking about monsters.

Now, eventually I stopped buying Luis Royo’s books. I don’t remember why—I mean, I don’t even remember how I started buying them in the first place considering all of my mail was routed through my mother, because again, this was high school—but I stopped. But that didn’t mean that I also stopped thinking about ladies banging monsters. That never stopped. I didn’t have a vocabulary for this interest. I didn’t know what it was called, I didn’t know if other people liked it. I was consuming Royo’s work on my own and forcing it on my high school friends who were considerably less interested in the monster stuff than I was. So I kind of learned to just keep it quiet. But the interest certainly didn’t go away.

As I got older and started to explore different types of art and media and ways of telling stories, I found myself continuously drawn to some version of humans and inhumans connecting, falling in love, getting it on. Sometimes that looked like a really intense vampire phase and an appreciation for all things Anne Rice and Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse. Sometimes that looked like a really deep interest in folklore that involved humans marrying animal brides and bridegrooms. Sometimes it looked like a fixation with the movies of Guillermo Del Toro. And sometimes that looked like accepting there was probably a strange and unconventional reason that Beauty and the Beast was my favorite Disney movie growing up.

I mean. Did y’all see the beast?

It wasn’t until late 2022 that all the dots started connecting. I had decided I wanted to read more, specifically more romance. I added some BookTok accounts to my TikTok feed. I started talking more about romance books with a friend. I started exploring the world of spicy adult paranormal romance and joining Kindle Unlimited, which was very exciting all on its own. And that’s when I found it, my holy grail: the book subgenre known as monster romance. You know that saying, “All roads lead to Rome”? It was kind of like that, except all the roads I took lead to the city of monsterfucking. Monsterfucking was my Roman Empire, if you will. And what a glorious empire it was.

As I’ve engaged more directly and consistently with the monster romance genre, it’s inspired a lot of thoughts for me. That’s why I’ve started this blog, because I can’t stop thinking about fucking monsters, and I want to explore the idea in a lot of different ways. For today, I want to talk a bit about why I think monster romance holds so much appeal for me and for the many others who enjoy it. That seems like as good a starting point as any.

When I was thinking about this question, one of the first things that came to mind was a blog post I read a number of years ago that never really left my head. It was written by Cleolinda Jones over on Livejournal. If you’re an older millennial viewer, Cleolinda’s name might sound familiar, as she’s the author of some very funny movie recaps she called “Movies in 15 Minutes,” which was my introduction to her. But Cleolinda is also known for her Twilight recaps that she posted to her LJ account. These recaps fused a summary of the books with her own observations, and man, her observations were good.

In Cleolinda’s recap for the first Twilight novel, she gets into why she thinks the series has had the success that it’s had. She specifically talks about how she feels Twilight is just an extension of the “good girls wanting a bad boy” trope.

I actually don't think girls like a guy who treats them bad. But I do think they--we--get off a little on the idea of changing someone for the better, or the idea of having the power that someone loves us so much that he'll change or sacrifice something for us….A nice guy doesn't need to change, and, most importantly, he's already nice to everyone. How do you know that you're special if he treats everyone else with as much kindness and respect as he treats you? The "bad boy" type, though? He may range from simple, garden-variety jackhole…to appalling psychopath…, but you know he loves you because he's completely different around you. You are an exception to his very nature….That's the fantasy.

Now, I’m not saying every male lead in a monster romance is a jerk, because a lot of them aren’t. (Don’t worry, Sol, I’d never let anyone accuse you of being mean.) But I do think by virtue of these monsters being, well, monsters, there’s a given understanding by readers that a human should not be fucking one. Monsters are predators, monsters are dangerous, monsters are not made for cuddles and smooches. But these monsters in these books? Especially the ones who are a little rougher around the edges? Seeing them soften for their human partners is deeply satisfying and scratches the exact kind of itch that I think Cleolinda is referencing.

But long before Cleolinda was musing on bad boys, writer and literary critic Hélène Cixous was posing something related in her essay “Love of the Wolf.” This essay has a number of interesting things to say on the tension between love and fear, using the metaphor of loving “the wolf,” aka loving a thing that can harm or destroy us, to make her point. Cixous writes about the thrill of fear when in love, and suggests that we must have that true fear to experience true love.

But happiness is when a real wolf suddenly refrains from eating us. The lamb’s burst of laughter comes when it’s about to be devoured, and then, at the last second, is not eaten. Hallelujah comes to mind. To have almost been eaten yet not to have been eaten: that is the triumph of life. But you’ve got to have the two instants, just before the teeth and just after, you’ve got to hear the jaws coming down on nothing for there to be jubilation. Even the wolf is surprised. (Stigmata, pg. 77)

It’s the idea, once more, of the person that we care about changing their very nature to be with us. The bad boy will treat us with kindness. The big bad wolf won’t eat us. The monster will love us tenderly. We humans are special, something to be cherished, even by something traditionally seen as negatively as monsters have been.

It makes me think too about the popularity of dark romance on BookTok and Bookstagram. Monster romance is kind of like dark romance taken to a different sort of extreme. In dark romance, there is often a baseline threat of violence or a disregard of consent. The male leads are often cruel, unpredictable, and inconsiderate. Their love of the other character drives them to stalk or kill or harm others, and even to be deeply, toxically controlling and possessive of the main character. And this is why folks like them. These are the real bad boys, and I mean the really bad boys, that Cleolinda’s talking about. And with the monsters in monster romances, there can be a lot of overlap. The monsters can be cruel and controlling for sure, but even when they aren’t, their very existence as monsters makes them a super unconventional choice for a human person. If the mafia boyfriend with anger issues who you know you should avoid is appealing, than the entirely different species with claws and fangs and a tail who you’re really not supposed to want to bone is that appeal taken about three steps further.

At some point I’d like to explore the different sorts of monster romance book covers that are popular with authors and artists, because I think they get at the last topic I wanted to touch on today when it comes to the appeal of monsterloving: aesthetics. Size kink can be fun in every genre, but monster romances really understood that particular assignment. The monsters in these books are massive in every possible area. Their muscles are chiseled, their tails are long, and their eggplants are otherworldy. Not to mention, a monster may even have more than one.

There’s also the contrast of furry or scale-covered monster bodies embracing soft, fragile human bodies. Monster bodies are foreign and unique; they’re a fantasy that can’t be found anywhere else, which makes the fantasy inherently more interesting. There’s a lot more that can and should be said here about the gender dynamics at play in the design of these monstrous figures and their human partners, and even possibly the racial dynamics too, but for now I just want us thinking about how the physical depiction of monsters and humans together holds an undeniable appeal to a large number of people. I’m thinking again about Luis Royo and the success of his art that explored this very thing. And that’s really interesting to me.

I’ll stop there for today, I think. See you in the next post!

Currently Reading: Devoured by Monsters - Katie May & Ann Denton

Monster Joke for the Road: What was the dramatic monster’s favorite play?

Romeo and Ghouliet.

Until next time, monsterfuckers.

[small-screen-superman]

Superman: An Outsider Among the Justice League? (Inspired by Superman vs. Meshi)

This post is also on my independent blog, Small Screen Superman - go there for an even better experience!

Superman vs. Meshi is an official Superman manga that I greatly enjoy – not just because it’s cute, funny and well-drawn, but also because its depiction of Superman is actually really interesting. Like most of my favored depictions of him, he’s very humanized and very personable. It makes sense to focus on this side of him in this manga considering the book has a very human, small-scale focus: each chapter is a short story about Superman going to lunch in Japan, with lots of descriptions of the food he’s eating. There’s nothing too exciting going on – in fact, it’s implied that Superman has apparently done such a good job in this universe that the whole world is fairly peaceful. But the manga is far from boring, at least to this Super fan. I really enjoy getting to know this version of Superman, and it’s also surprisingly fun to read the detailed descriptions of Japanese food – they always sound quite delicious and bring back good memories of any times I’ve had similar food.

But more to the point, let’s talk about a specific trait of this Superman that is somewhat rare among Superman depictions. In Chapter 3, he meets with the Justice League and does some introspection about his relationship with them. I’ll go ahead and share the relevant pages.

There’s a lot to talk about in these three short pages, but the main thrust of it is that Superman doesn’t feel like he really belongs in the Justice League. That’s not what people expect from Superman. Superman is supposed to be the friendly and confident guy that everyone gets along with and looks up to, especially his fellow superheroes. He’s one of the first characters, if not the first, anyone thinks of when they think about the Justice League. So naturally, it makes sense that he would fit in with them perfectly – in fact, he should define what it means to be a Justice League member. Right? Well, not necessarily, in my opinion.

Now, let me be clear: I don’t think there’s such a thing as the “right” or “true” or “correct” version of Superman, since he’s a fictional character who has been portrayed in a wide variety of different ways. But an aspect of him that has showed up in many forms over the years is the idea of him being a bit of a self-contradiction in terms of his connection with others. He has many friends and allies, yet somehow has a sense of loneliness to him too. He’s different from others – an alien from a now nonexistent planet and either the last of his kind or one of only a handful of surviving Kryptonians. And the mere fact of being a superhero who has to keep a secret identity disconnects him from the majority of people.

Now, it does seem natural that therefore, perhaps Superman might be able to connect with other superheroes more easily than other people because they know what it’s like to be a superhero. But there are reasons this might not be the case, which makes me think this is a reasonable direction for the character. I’m going to be talking in generalities and across continuities looking for reasons why this can mesh with traits generally given to Superman.

Superman’s Origin

Most superheroes, including those in the Justice League, started as normal humans, and became superheroes because of an unexpected event. You could maybe interpret this as applying to Superman in terms of Krypton’s explosion being the unexpected event that “gave him powers” by leading to him being sent to a planet with a yellow sun, but I think this is a bit of a stretch.

As far as Clark’s life goes, there are many times he’s not depicted as having all his powers from the get-go and instead needing to grow in order to get them. This still feels pretty different from starting as a normal human and getting your powers from something external. In a way, Superman is fundamentally different from the majority of Earth’s population in a way that most superheroes are not, due to not being human and never having been human.

And yet, on a psychological and personal level, it’s perhaps more accurate to say Superman is human…but he might not be perceived as such by people who see him as Superman rather than Clark Kent. This leads me to perhaps a more important divide between Superman and his fellow heroes.

How Superman is Perceived and Revered

Superman is almost always perceived as a really big deal even among superheroes. Is he THE first, most honorable, most successful, most popular, most powerful superhero in every universe? Not necessarily, but his perception is something like that. And I think those expectations might have the potential to make things more difficult for Superman. People probably assume that they can’t relate to Superman before they even try to get to know him. Even accomplished, powerful superheroes don’t necessarily see him as a peer, but as someone above them.

What’s also awkward is that Superman doesn’t see himself this way – he’s generally confident, but humble. And he lives much of his life not reveling in his fame or power, but as a mild-mannered reporter. I see this a lot in those Superman vs. Meshi panels, and it warms my heart. But Superman knows it’s important to inspire others, including his fellow heroes, so while he’d want people to know that he doesn’t see himself as high above them, he might feel reluctant to shatter his myth altogether.

Seeing this awkwardness be overcome, possibly requiring character development from both Superman and the League members, could be a very satisfying story.

This might explain why Superman tends to have closer friendships with his fellow members of the “Trinity”, Batman and Wonder Woman. Since those two are also rather “legendary”, they aren’t as awed by Superman.

Superman is More Used to Working Alone (Well, Sometimes)

OK, this point is a bit dubious because Superman does work with other people and other heroes even outside the Justice League, but he’s at least closer to working alone than many other Justice League members (in most depictions). He may have “Super-Family Members”, but they’re somewhat independent from him – he doesn’t have long-term, “true” sidekicks. So maybe working with a lot of other superheroes doesn’t come naturally to him to the point it might be a bit awkward.

The big problem with this is…the Legion of Super-Heroes. If Superman was part of a superhero team when he was young, before even meeting the Justice League, than naturally it should be more normal to him, right? Of course, the Superman being part of the Legion as a teen is something that keeps coming into and leaving comics continuity, and it rarely makes its way out of the comics, so this isn’t even applicable to many versions of Superman.

Back to Superman vs. Meshi Real Quick

Before I conclude this article, I’m going to circle back to the manga that inspired it. It’s interesting how little relevance most of this article actually has to Superman vs. Meshi in particular. Unlike this article, Superman vs. Meshi didn’t seek to justify why Superman doesn’t fit in with the Justice League with detailed reasons based on the general traits of how he’s portrayed. It just did it rather casually, treating Superman as basically a normal guy. And I like that.

Still, I think it was worthwhile looking at some reasons why I don’t think this depiction of the Man of Steel is at odds with his character in general. I hope I can find more stories which depict Superman’s relationship with the Justice League in an interesting way. If you know of any, please feel free to let me know!

[linklethehistorian]

You know, being around Tumblr for like…5 years now, I’ve seen a lot of silly, goofy posts from fandom peeps making jokes and memes about themselves having to pretend to be ‘normal’ about a certain topic or thing they’re passionate about when around their friends, or wishing that someone else cared about their fics or OCs or whatever-else-have-you as much as they do themselves, so that they’d have a reason to share their trivia and go all out on the subject without being labeled as ‘cringe’, and like…yeah, they’re kinda funny, and don’t get me wrong, they’re definitely relatable to an extent, but…most of all, I just find them sad.

I know there are a lot of people — especially when making posts aimed towards fic writers — that’ll be like, “just do it for yourself!”, or “write/draw/create like no one’s watching!”, and that is genuinely good advice; I’m glad that it’s out there, because it is a very important step in being able to enjoy your hobby and/or your passion.

…But at the same time, something I never hear being said that I think really should is: while yeah, you should be able to create for yourself like no one is watching — in the sense that you should try to tune out the naysayers and just do what you love above all else — you should also allow yourself to be free enough to create like everyone is watching, in a good way.

Yes, realistically speaking, most people in the world right now probably don’t care that much about that super niche fic you wrote, or that OC you made, or whatever else it is you created or saw that you’re so excited about, but…so what? Who cares if not that many people have noticed it and given it the attention it deserves in your eyes? Why are you letting that stop you?

Go out there and make that ‘official blog’ dedicated to that creation you love, build that music playlist of perfect vibes for your OC or your favorite character, create hundreds of drawings and drabbles and fics and edits and posts and whatever else that you so want to do, talk like the whole world is listening with bated breath for your next statement about an update or interesting tidbit about that thing you made!

What is anyone going to do about it? Call you cringe? Send you hateful messages or make nasty comments? Delete them. Block them. Cut them off. They’re just a bunch of losers who have never learned a better way of coping with their own personal misery and unhappiness besides trying to drain the joy out of other people’s lives. And if you’re afraid your friends would do that to you — guess what? They’re not really your friends. There is a time and place for everything, sure, and there are going to be some people who enjoy doing different things with you more than others, but if you genuinely can’t just be yourself and have fun around the people you love without fear of being judged over something fictional or otherwise harmless, then you’re not in a very healthy situation.

And I’ll tell you something else, too.

When I started writing my most beloved fic of all, I had no idea that it would ever possibly get more than maybe one reader at best — if that — because of how extremely specific and niche the plot and the main pairing (and even the secondary pairing) was. I thought that it would at best sit on AO3 in silence forever and at worst receive massive backlash from a certain part of its primary fandom.

And I’m not gonna lie; it has received a few nasty comments over the years — but you know what it has mostly received? Love. Love, and appreciation, and support, and all of the things that in the beginning I never would’ve thought was possible.

I made an official blog for my fic, and it actually has a few dedicated followers that aren’t all just my close friends. I have playlists for it, I’ve made art, animatics, development notes on each chapter, I celebrate milestones with actual polls and events! I talk like people are listening, even when I’m not always really sure that they are, just for the fun of it, and you know…I’m happy.

And personally, I think that kind of obvious love and joy and dedication for what you do sells itself more than any type of attempt to appeal to the so-called ‘critics’ ever could.

Do what you love like others already love it just as much as you, and the rest will eventually fall into place.

[clairelsonao3]

Happy STS!

I haven't gotten a chance to read what you've written so far, but I'm curious as to your process. What was the source of inspiration for your current WIP? Did you start with characters who wouldn't stop talking in your head? Flashes of moments? Images inspired by music? What do you fall back on when you need to be re-inspired?

Happy STS and thanks for the ask!

No worries, my ongoing WIP on Ao3 is over 100K posted words, so I by no means expect you to. 😂

Good Slaves Never Break the Rules is the long-time-coming perfect storm of three main influences.

First, I started writing it almost eight years ago to entertain myself on a transatlantic sea voyage (that's worth another whole post altogether), and some of the characters and early situations (I won't say specifically which ones!) were inspired by the unusual dynamics that pop up when strangers from vastly different origins and roles onboard are pressed together in a small space with no choice but to work and spend time together (very soon, my imagination wildly diverged from what actually happened however 😂).

Second, for a long time, I've been an avid reader of pretty much any and all slavefic (there's a lot on Ao3, both fanfic and original) and much of it is good. I always especially liked the alternate universe ones that had slavery transposed to a modern setting. But for all of that time, I could never find THE story I was looking for, the one that uses many of the common whumpy slavefic tropes (although this was long before I was in the whump community, that was just a happy accident) but is also a preferably M/F romance, using a very different type of male MC who, despite being a slave and the target of pretty much constant abuse of all kinds, has much more in common with conventional romance heroes than the perpetual helpless victims that slaves tend to be in fiction. And the female MC, rather than being some powerful dominatrix type who can do whatever she wants, is an ordinary girl who is also oppressed in a way by the society she lives in, is blind to its wrongs, and has to have her eyes opened to be brave enough to stand up for what's right. And though power dynamics are always at the forefront, the MCs come to see each other as equals. So this was also one of those "I guess I'll write it myself" moments.

Third (and I don't think I've ever had a chance to discuss this on this blog before, so thank you!), having studied the classics, for many years I've been enamored with the ancient Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, who tended to use slaves as main characters -- and I do mean main characters. They're active, clever, funny, charming, often manipulative (but always for the right reasons), perpetually involved in zany plans and schemes, and they're anything but victims. I'd written a few things inspired by these plays previously (including a quasi-historical short story and my very first novel, also historical and of a writing quality typical for an 18-year-old, many years ago), but now that my writing skills are far more advanced, I thought it was time to try again, using a modern alt-history setting this time. Plus the plays themselves are just really fucking funny, and my story incorporates a lot of humor (and a lot of really dark stuff, too, but that's usually how it works with me).

As for getting re-inspired? I also had to do that quite recently after writing and posting a monster chapter and needing a break. What helped was rereading some of those earlier scenes that I was really excited about, and doing some tag games on Tumblr (including the Q&A I tagged you in) that allowed me to just have fun writing in my characters' voices and kind of re-re-discover them.

Thanks for a great ask!

[hiro-doodlez]

HELP I can't see my therapist for a couple of weeks and am currently having something i like to dub "yet another hiro autism crisis" where i contemplate if my therapist gave me the right diagnoses (she has told me she is not certified to give autism diagnoses, and instead more things like depression) Right now, I am diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety/ Social anxiety (its still up in the air, DPDR, and depression. idk if that matters SO NOW I LIST RANDOM THINGS that could be considered symptoms or not I DUNNO HOW TO DO THISS feel free to ask questions about some of the crap i say here half of it doesn't make sense

First off, I have a general trouble understanding most social situations, and struggle sometimes when talking about practically anything. For example, earlier today my step-mom basically said she wasnt going to finish her food and let my brother have it. my brother said he would leave 2, he didnt (BOZO) and later after he left she found the empty container and said something along the lines "HAH! I thought he said he was gonna leave me 2!" and immdeiately without thinking i went "hey! you said he could have as many as he can! and hes working 10 hours a day and needs his energy!!" half jokingly and she got mad at me for it, we got into a mini argument over that.

When saying something thats serious, i tend to make a joke around it and i have NO CLUE why. I just CANT be openly upset around people. For example, when being told about something that happened to me as a kid that NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED RAGRHAGHAG, instead of having a breakdown and being reasonably upset, i burst out into giggles and laughs while my brother was just so fucking confused on what was wrong. It was kinda like i couldn't stop and it fucking sucked

The TINIEST things can upset me, and other HUGE things can have little to no effect. Its so incredibly annoying

I have INTENSE fluxuations in interests, hobbies, and motivation for certain projects. I will start on this huge project that im INCREDIBLY excited for, and then a week later have little to no interest in continuing it.

I make everything about my personality a joke, i dont know why. EVERYTHING i tend to say or do has to be funny. it's like i dont want people to see beneath that

I fluctuate in personality A TON, especially depending by the people i am around. At school, I'm the quiet kid. I don't talk to anyone except maybe 5 people, but other than that i tend to stay completely silent. It could be a mask? i dunno. but when im at home, ask my brothers, i am BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS. it might also be me just getting some of my energy out? RRAHHH I DUNNOOO

I will simply forget to do very important things to the point of endangering my health. Like forgetting to eat for a day straight. my step-mom thinks i have an ED AND I DONT. i literally just keep realizing suddenly at like 6 pm all i have eaten is a couple of skittles and pringles.

i have no clue how talking to people works and im constantly winging it. I forget how to have friends especially how to even talk or interact with them and its so stupid. I can't ever start a conversation with someone without having at least 5 minutes going "am i weird for this am i being annoying am i being clingy".

If i say even one thing wrong i WILL be thinking about it for DAYS thinking about how they probably hate me now and im a terrible person ect. ect.

I tend to hide many of my traits (especially good ones) because i am incredibly embarrassed and never want anyone to EVER compare themselves to me.

im a people pleaser does that count

i tend to get extremely upset if i get told one bad thing about something that i like or just a project i have. For example, I had this fandom silly man poll because i just wanted to find out who was silly. Then one of my friends just posted something like "i hate fandom polls theyre the worst" and i just lost complete motivation afterwards. I haven't touched that blog in WEEKS at this point becuase i simply have no more interst

I have had a meltdown or 2 before, and they both stemmed from being told about how i was a bad person. i don't know why the hell thats a thing

I can't stay focused on one thing for long periods of time (ADHD cough cough) Like literally earlier i was watching this video about autistic traits and i kept having to back the video up because i would get sidetracked in my mind to the point where im just not listening anymore

if im not paying attention to people sometimes I SWEAR theyre saying "ffajaleifnanamzmaldafjkjeffnma" and as soon as i start noticing it suddenly theres words again. hate that.

i have times where it can kinda seem like i cant speak, and if i do everything comes out wrong and jumbled. Like when my autistic friend would have a sensory related meltdown, i would never know what to do and end up going dead silent because of being so mad at myself for not knowing how to help (any tips actually hahahahaHOW DO I HELP)

i have little idea who the hell i am. had a mini-crisis because i didn't know what my favorite color was because before, it was the color my friend with synesthesia said i was and i just went with that (i think its purple or blue i have no fucking clue JFALJK)

i will have spikes of random motivation on one thing. like learning lanugauges, i will have a week where its so easy to get like 10 lessons on duolingo done a day and then the next week its a struggle to get even one done.

i focus better with distractions ??? I can't focus without music and tend to do better on reading tests if everyone else in the class is talking ???

i remember the most random things about certain things. Like, i could not for the LIFE of me remember what color that one persons hair that i was talking to for 15 minutes straight. but i can remember that they had pink socks on. WHY IS THAT WHAT I REMEMBER??

I hate organization and doing the same thing every day. i NEED chaos. My brother a little bit ago helped me out and got me to make a personal to-do list. i couldnt do it a single day even though the things were extremely simple like "brush hair, make bed, eat breakfast ect."

i zone out a LOT. especially when people bring up topics im uncomfortable with or conflict with my current feelings. i go into a kinda little talking (not nonverbal, i can still talk) or just confused state that freaking sucks.

when im in a high energy mood i tend to not feel.. reall???? I do many things overboard and annoy the heck out of my brothers. i always feel terrible afterwards.

Idk if this is weird to say but i tend to get really off put when people im comfy with get haircuts or major changes in their appearance. I never like the change no matter what the hair cut looks like. i dont have any clue why

i have no clue whether or not any of this is real or if I have managed to make it all up in my head. (bascially when i was younger i wanted attention and ended up faking depression for a year straight and was an absolute ass to my friends and blah blah blah)

[driluth]

hi it's been a minute

i have officially deleted my public tw*tter account, even before its "downfall" it just became too anxiety inducing and ultimately felt like a lot of people were being meanspirited and i simply do not have the energy for it!! fandom twitter, for whatever reason, is just so draining and i cannot keep up with all the hype for every new tv show that comes out lmao. it is also insane how much time i have without it.

i've read 50 books this year, and have currently listened to 40 something albums?? i'd like to make a list of my top 5 for both categories but i'm too sleepy for that rn. and i have a few more albums to listen to first!!

oddly i have not watched that many movies this year but it's probably bc i've spent so much time watching twd (11 seasons) and the spinoffs!! truly it is one of my favorite show of all time and rewatching it has been a very emotional journey.

it's funny bc back in 2020, she-ra was the only thing i'd watch on repeat bc i needed something lighter and happier and now my current fixation is one of the darkest tv shows of all time. (it's called range.) but as dark as it gets i'd argue that a lot of it IS about the love and hope that's still in the world. it's characters choosing to be kind to each other and doing whatever it takes to fight for each other bc that group of people love each other so much!! (wish it wasn't As dark tho and there are definitely some creative choices i would have handled differently but that's for another post, maybe. i have too many thoughts about that show i nearly made a side blog for it but i am too lazy for that haha.)

i moved in w one of my oldest friends and we live next to a lot of deer and it just such a peaceful and quiet place. i have a new job that still gives me plenty of time to write which i am so so excited about bc i have so much to do both in terms of original content and fanfiction!! (tho who knows how long that will last bc $$ wise i might need to take on a second job or find something else but it is Rough out there i'm just grateful to be employed at all)

i do have some catra/adora fics in the works (one goes soooo hard but i'm probably gonna save it for something special like valentine's day or something) but admittedly some of what i'm the most excited about is twd fic, was not expecting daryl/connie to have my whole heart but here we are. they currently have less than 150 fics on ao3 and it's a crime.

the book i started writing last year i want to turn into a screenplay and i have a new book i'm drafting and every day i am so excited to sit down and write for it these characters are everything 2 me. can't wait to share them one day!! got some very fucked up lesbians as i should!!

anyways, i've had a lot more space to myself and have been able to do a lot of reflecting. i feel older, i feel confident in what i'm doing, and i mostly feel grateful. i feel very grateful to live this life i have created for myself, grateful to live close to my friends and close to my family and close to my favorite area in my city!! and as many problems as there are w this site i am grateful for this lil space on the internet!! been through many different stages of my life on here and it's nice to have something consistent.

lots of love to you all 💕 

[loved2]

Guess who is starting (another) (new) business in the new year lmao who is surprised. Its funny bc i spent this entire year working on another new business (which i had 3 launches for this year 💀) which i am so passionate about but for some reason things kept getting in the way so i finally took it as a sign after a very random convo with my gay friend 2 days ago. I am so excited about this tho bc i actually have the educational bg for this and also a bit of experience in the field so i feel like i know what i’m doing this time around. The other business i dealt with imposter syndrome every fucking week eventhough i am very qualified to take on clients etc but i just felt lost often. This new thing is actually an old thing but i am finally taking it seriously now. There is a LOT of competition tho and i have to work with a lot of suppliers which i can only hope execute my projects to my standards. Creating an investment plan for the year bc i am about to make some very big purchases and i’ll also (finally) be hiring a team (very scary) but that’s luckily not until like 3 months into the new year bc of testings and lots of legal work. Very relieved tho bc it takes the pressure off of me a bit bc i don’t have to have things like my website, templates and original content ready for jan 1st like i was planning for the other business. Also no need for a studio as of jan 1st (yet) but i REALLY want one so might just go ahead and still manifest it lmao it would be so fun. This is veryyy out of my comfort zone. I backed out a year ago bc this requires me to be in the limelight all the time, have lots of in person meetings and also just the fear of not being exceptional enough in the industry. But this time around i am more ready than ever. I feel confident about it. Might even start a blog to document this bc i feel like that would be so fun to look back at lol. So excited for the new connections i’ll be making. This was my passion all along i was just so nervous to pour into it but it’s time :) Finishing up my 2023 overview, Q1 plans and maybeee i’ll get started on the branding. Already did the strategy work + creative direction and it’s looking SO good. Ahh can’t wait to see how this unfolds!!

[violence-as-a-love-language]

I posted 4,378 times in 2022

That's 3,198 more posts than 2021!

96 posts created (2%)

4,282 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@commandrogyne

@eggyleg

@crack--attack

@skullscramblies

@vesper-thejester

I tagged 3,777 of my posts in 2022

Only 14% of my posts had no tags

#wwdits - 986 posts

#our flag means death - 693 posts

#nandermo - 394 posts

#blackstede - 328 posts

#ofmd spoilers - 315 posts

#guillermo de la cruz - 300 posts

#q - 274 posts

#nandor the relentless - 255 posts

#blackbeard - 210 posts

#good omens - 206 posts

Longest Tag: 126 characters

#and he gets so many followers who keep commenting on how cute and sad it is that he's trying to hard to get his ex's attention

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Gotta say, i'm getting real tired of seeing Oluwande drawn skinny in every fan art I see of him

41 notes - Posted March 24, 2022

#4

[I.D. A picture of the book Spitfire by Maya Kern sitting on a desk /end I.D.]

Thank you @mayakern for writing a book so beefy, it should last me through most of my top surgery recovery lol. I just got it yesterday and I'm excited to dive in once I get some sleep.

64 notes - Posted May 18, 2022

#3

Rewatching Dimension Jump and wow, its so fascinating to see Ace's arrival for two reasons now.

1) While Ace is more successful and lusted after, he's still not very secure in his sexuality. He keeps playing up how macho he is and making references to not 'being a sissy.' He's still a repressed version of Rimmer and thats so fascinating to me, since you'd think he would have gotten more secure in his sexuality considering.

2) Rimmer immediately starts insinuating Ace is queer in multiple (obviously degrading) ways because he feels threatened by him. But considering Ace is, well, him, it makes the situation all the more telling. And Kryten confronts him on this, but doesn't get to finish pointing this out to him, which I think is such a shame.

As a bonus, its even more funny to me that Ace immediately becomes best friends with Lister. Like, I want a fic where Lister tries to get with Ace to make Rimmer jealous, only to find Ace is just as repressed as Rimmer.

102 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

#2

Ace and Rimmer are both so similar. Yeah, Rimmer is extremely bitter and insecure, but Ace is just as insecure. He just swung the other direction to complete selflessness.

He has no concept of care for his own well being. Hell, Lister mentions he's fuckin up for 36 hours with a broken arm (which he still hasn't taken care of), fresh off of Cats surgery, and he's teaching Kryten to play the piano.

This man wants so terribly to be liked and loved he will never put his own happiness first. Everyone else comes first. Yeah, he may be a 'hero,' but at what cost?

120 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Okay I'm gonna make this it's own post cause it's important.

Good Omens, WWDITS, and OFMD are all queer rep. But I really do think the main reason why ofmd feels the most 'real' for some people is it scratches a particular itch a lot of people on Tumblr have been trying to get for years.

Good Omens has two characters who appear to be men. Both characters spend thousands of years pining after each other and falling in love, but it's not 'explicitly states' not is there a kiss. There is rep for nonbinary folks, AroAce folks, but it's not 'gay.' The rep is purely 'queer.'

What We Do in the Shadows has a romance between two men. Both, while confirmed to be gay/bi, have not kissed or hugged or been 'romantic' on screen. They've been intimate and have had arcs to show care, jealously, and whatnot but nothing very romantic. At least, not from a classic standpoint. The creators are pushing a 'will they/won't they' arc. This is normal in many TV shows, but for many queers who are used to queerbaiting, the expectation is to be let down. Even if all the signs point to 'they will' it still hits that traumatic 'queerbaiting' tone for many.

Our Flag Means Death has a romance between not only two men, but a side romance between two men that has a kiss scene. The two main leads are romantic towards each other. But not only that, the creator has made it explicitly clear this is a romance. He has pushed again and again that this will happen, it's just a slow burn. There is explicit 'gay' rep on screen and promised future 'gay' rep.

The reason ofmd resonates is because of what other posts have pointed out. Supernatural, Merlin, Sherlock; over and over two men have been shipped together with such fervor, it feels like a betrayal when it's ignored. Or teased and then ignored. We don't want to be traumatized again.

But also, they all represent one type of rep. Romantic, gay rep of two cishet men finding love. Even though in the case of Destiel, Cas is rarely viewed as anything but a cis man (even though that's very not true). The expectation that those previous failures are being redeemed by this one show can make the queer rep in other shows seem less desirable.

Good Omens, WWDITS, and OFMD are three different types of queer rep, but ofmd has a specific trauma reaction being healed tied to it. And it's okay to recognize that, but also, it needs to be recognized that does not take the queerness away from other shows.

None of these shows are queerbaiting. Acknowledge your trauma and enjoy them all for what they are, not what you want them to be.

3,016 notes - Posted March 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[dashawfrostart]

This Week In "Time & Again" #12: It's Alive... Alive! Honest! And A Little Sour, And A Bit Sweet!

Guten Fhtagn! It's been... a while again.

(this is just a colourful teaser for you now, because it feels silly to make a post that starts with a wall of text - even though I personally love walls of text. Keep reading and you'll find out why those weird empty rectangles are here! And as I often do: there's an animated GIF in the end of the post!) Lately, life has sucked me into a giant cycle of great and lush eventfulness. Kinda as if I hopped into a funnel and then swirled around a bit. I might even say it was fun (haha, fun funnel 😁 What, not funny?.. Lame?.. Aah, well then). So, below goes a straightforward chronological report on what happened to "Time & Again" during this long looooong period of my blogging hiatus.

2 weeks ago I've actually spent only a few days working on "Time & Again" - much less than anticipated. As I always say, life usually takes away so much time from art!.. 🤣 However, it's always a choice. Because I'm not drawing 24/7; never did, and perhaps never will - because otherwise I'll never go birding, among other things. And birding is love. Birding makes Frosty happy. I wanna see more nuthatches and northern flickers around me, preferably every day, when possible. Too much to ask? Yes! But life is always about setting priorities straight and meticulously balancing the things you love and want to do. Because something always goes first, and something other goes second (third, fourth, etc.). So that is what I'm trying my best to do here.

But that was only half of the problem. The other half of the problem was about my futile endeavour to relight the creative spark that was seemingly extinguished over the course of the previous 2 weeks - perhaps due to the reasons mentioned above in this post. I'm always very hesitant to take breaks as I work on my projects, because it breaks immersion - and getting back into the mood again might pose a serious challenge. That is exactly how some of my novels/stories failed to see the light of day in the past. Now, since the work on Chapter 5 is nearing to its end - yes, it's almost done!!! - it's just very disappointing to slow down and having to look for the spilt marbles on the floor (however, Lothar, personally, will definitely benefit from at least TRYING to find his own marbles 🤦‍♀️ dear goodness, that man is indomitable). The work still went well, but without excitement I previously had. And I perpetually have serious problems trying to figure out a personal cure for the "lack of spark" issue: not even once in my entire life have I found a resolution that works wonders like a panacea for me in situations like that.

That said, with all of the distractions and not-exactly-creative events with myself in the epicentre, I managed to keep my word and created a Krita forum thread featuring majority of WIP screenshots from Chapter 5, which you can view following that link. Now, my only objective in this regard is to keep updating it 😁 (what I'm kinda failing at recently)

While not being exactly productive with "Time & Again" - that is only up until this week (read ahead) - in the meantime I have reconsidered a couple things that are related to the artistic part of my existence. One of the decisions was to take down the links to my DeviantArt account sometime after this post goes life. The reasoning behind that decision is as simple as an egg: because I don't post anything on DeviantArt anymore. And I keep forgetting to do it anyway. And I keep forgetting simply because it doesn't really matter. In the recent years I perceived DeviantArt to be nothing but a sort of a personal sketch/art dump simply for the sake of gaining more exposure [not really - read an UPD note ahead]. Let's be honest here: DeviantArt is not a good place anymore. It used to be awesome in 2008-2010 or around - for me anyway. But nowadays... Not so much. I don't think I want to delete it yet, for I still want to pop up, perhaps, once or twice a year and dump all the new artworks in there for the future archival purposes - and in case if somebody might be still interested. But for now, I view my DA account as an almost completely dormant collection of trash masterpieces of yore. So I will stop promoting it for the reason of it being obsolete like the morning dew beneath your feet in its current state. (holy effing smokies, that song was very difficult to find to provide a link to! 😱) [UPD 2024/03/12]: my aim with this was originally a bit off - which I realized only now. Aside from it being a random artworks dump, my decision to keep my DeviantArt account alive was precisely for linking back to it: meaning, I was thinking about uploading artworks on there in order to specifically use them in my posts and on the websites. So, yes, it is a relatively dormant collection, but also a convenient stash of art things to utilize elsewhere (thank you, id Software, for teaching me this word! 🤣). I'll see if that really works out in the future tho.

There's also something else that I don't to reveal just yet, and I'll keep it a secret for now 😉 I must try something before I jump to conclusions.

HOWEVER!.. This last week has changed the tides considerably, in my favour. Again, having only a very hypothetical and a rather unclear clue on why that happened - what, I must admit, mesmerizes and puzzles me to a great extent - that long-longed-for spark I thought I had lost along the way somehow magically returned back to me after I spent a few hours (and 2 days in total) of writing an arch-important "Notes & Commentary" section for the reissue of all the previous "Time & Again" chapters that is nigh (here, I teased ya. Now live with it 😎🤣). I really like "Time & Again". Even while it's still incomplete. Even if Lothar is just a stubborn a**. Even if a certain other character has quite funky fetishes. Even if Jeanny is perhaps dealing with her own little pinky demons. I really like "Time & Again", and I really enjoy its style, so revisiting the whole thing for the sake of writing additional materials for it quite possibly worked in a positive way on my spark. I love you, my spark. Let's keep it this way for as long as we can from now on. So now the work goes quite well, and I feel very good about it. There's still something troublesome that needs to be dealt with... but that'd be a painful tale for yet another post.

And, of course, I experimented with some Krita stuff again - for it seems, Chapter 5 really marks a period of great technical discoveries for me.

For example, finally, after all these years 😅🤣, I learnt and made a very good use of the toggle "All Layers" and "Current Layer" settings of Contiguous Selection Tool (that'd be your Magic Wand tool, ya Photoshoppers around - including my past self). That helped me to speed up flood fill of the certain areas. Speaking of flood fill and all, I experimented more with the "smart fill" as well. In the previous post, I was dreaming about an advanced AI algorithm to automatically recognize and colour the characters according to a user-prepared colour pallete. I might be exaggerating a bit, but flood-filling flat colours on every page felt almost stupefying - and, in short, not fun. I've read a little about the potentials to automate the process in Krita and have discovered a few neat tricks that I might use to speed up the process of colouring of the next Chapter. But right now - that's a story for another day in the future. And at last, let's talk about the backgrounds. I find it that the backgrounds that are just, let's say, "placeholders" and don't contain the surroundings of the characters are sometimes challenging. And in Chapter 5, there's gonna be plenty of those - because oh boy do I love long conversations! (strong self-awareness and self-mockery go here) And most of these conversations don't even require detailed environments for the backgrounds! Because people are just friggin' talking! And their surroundings don't matter on those particular panels. I've looked through quite a few graphic novels and comics at the local book store to get extra inspirations - but very often I see that the artists simply fill the panel with a solid colour. Completely flat. I must admit, I'm deeply hesitant to do the same, because I like at least a little texture on storywise-insignificant solid colours. It gives... depth.

So this is what I've been doing so far (and yes, you guessed it now! the picture in the very beginning of this post is very relevant here!):

While the "flat solid colour" on the background just seems... too flat, I decided to utilize a gentle gradient as a base, and then to apply additional brush strokes on a separate layer with special blending mode in order to create the effect of imperfection and ever so slightly visible texture to it. After a few sessions of trial and error, and thinking about how it feels and if it matches the mood of the chapter, I ended up using a couple of watercolour and splatter brushes together, in black, and the layer blending mode that I figured worked best for me was Soft Light (SVG). As illustrated by the following GIF:

And LAST (but as usual: not the least, but I won't cover "the least" in this current post for now, for the post is already a fatso - typical, innit?!), I've learnt how to use Filter Layers for the quick colour correction on the go. And this might be extremely useful in a long run for the future chapters of "Time & Again". I might cover this in one of my next posts.

That should be enough for now. So let's summarize: I most certainly did NOT disappear because "Time & Again" ceased to exist, or because I've been abducted by aliens, or because I got carried away giving belly rubs to pinky demons, or anything alike. I disappeared BECAUSE I was working hard on my story, even though at times it didn't go as smooth as I wanted to 😉.

Well, folks, let's wrap it up for today, and see you next time in another blog post! Take care! You will see Lothar in action again soon enuff! 👋

[i-rationality]

Hello! for the longest time I've thought that I'm just "not good" at math, and that I'm just a creative type or something, but for the past few years I've been trying to brute-force my way through math drills and stuff to improve because I want to go into a STEM field. I've found that it doesn't work. I have, however, gained a kind of Stockholm syndrome for math, and I find myself wanting to know *more*. I feel like I'm missing out on something way beyond myself but idk where to even find that. So here i am. Asking a blog on tumblr for the secret math knowledge. If you have any resources that i could read about math that isn't just "here's how to do this" i would really appreciate it!!!

First of all, complete props to you for giving something that doesn't initially appeal to you, in this case, maths, a chance. Mathematics can be frustrating and even annoying, being an oftentimes nit-picky field. You can quickly realize that these are also the traits that grant the satisfaction and euphoria of mathematics. So don't forget to be proud of yourself for not disregarding mathematics as a whole and actually giving it a go.

Second of all, creativity is very necessary for maths. It is a shame that the educational system doesn't do maths justice (A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart is exactly about this). Mathematics is presented as something mechanical, force-feeding formulas and having students repeat them to find adequate results. That is not a fair portrayal of mathematics.

Different people will have different conceptions of what the learning of mathematics is or should be - I mean, for god's sake, mathematics hasn't even been defined properly and one expects people to know what to do with it. I can only tell you what I conceptualize mathematics, and its learning, to be. For me, mathematics is the boring work of examining multiple results and cases of the same formulas, it is the finding of patterns and attempting generalizations, it's the excited scribbles of formulas and the necessity of looking at a particular scenario from multiple perspectives. Most likely, the generalizations won't come easily, a minus sign will be forgotten making the following calculations obsolete, an approach to a problem will prove fruitless, and laborious work will be done only to find out there was a specific theorem that would have shortened the whole process. Patience is required for maths, and hopefully, you can now see that creativity is too, there is no shortcut to knowing where to look or what technique to utilize. As is the case with most worthwhile pursuits, and as you know from experience, mathematics is endlessly frustrating, but that also means it is endlessly fun.

Now, I do not have any secret math knowledge (or do I), what I can do is present you with some things that fascinate me and have led me to love mathematics as much as I do, outside of the conventional mathematics curriculum. 

Maths really comes down to practice, practice, practice... as many other things. I heavily encourage you to start playing around with mathematics a little bit. Olympiad mathematics kind of do that, (I, very conveniently, have a lot of posts about that.) as do many other math competitions. Maybe try out some exercises from your national olympiad and, with no judgment, because this is just to have fun, play around a bit. Disregarding the conventional maths you know, test out your logic, laugh at mistakes and losses of time, and feel that happy rush when a conjecture you reach, or part of it, is correct.

In terms of the resources, I opted for a mix of funny math history moments and some actual mathematics, in no particular order. Prepare for confusion. ↓

0. How Mathematics is enjoyable

No better way to start than with the reasons mathematicians decided to dedicate a good portion of their lives to the subject, or why some people just enjoy mathematics. This is something that greatly interests me, I always love to see people’s passion for their interests, hence this post, where you’ll find many people’s reasons for enjoying mathematics. 

Andrew Wiles answers “What does it feel like to do maths?” - (video) - Andrew Wiles is a mathematician who proved the theorem which had been taunting mathematicians for centuries, famously known for being the subject of the third point of this same post, explains peoples’ distaste for maths and his own experience with the subject.

YouTube Stories: Learning Mathematics with Wootube by Eddie Woo - (video) - Eddie Woo is a wonderful mathematics educator as well, who videotapes his lessons (available on Youtube). This serves as an introduction to him and his channel.

Mathematics is the sense you never knew you had by Eddie Woo - (video) - In his TEDx Talk, Eddie starts by explaining his distaste for maths in his school years, mentioning his low scores and lack of interest, and how, despite this, he ended up as a maths teacher.

Reddit asks: “Why do you love maths?” - Another compilation of people’s explanations for their mathematical interest. Wholesome content ahead.

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1. Intro to a new perspective on mathematics

Taming, claiming and reframing the beast that is mathematics  by Vinay Kathotia - Small article related to the portrayal of mathematics by most and by mathematicians themselves.

On proof and progress in mathematics by William P. Thurston - Mentioned in the previous article, 17-page 

Anyone Can Be a Math Person Once They Know the Best Learning Techniques by Po-Shen Loh - (video)

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√2 . The Pythagorean Cult

I’m sure you’re aware of Pythagoras and his fetish for right triangles, but do you know about his weird cult? That’s right, Pythagoras was the founder of Pythagoreanism, a cult based on the teachings and beliefs held by him and his followers, the Pythagoreans. - very original naming ik.

Here’s and article about them. A really popular myth related them is the throwing of Hippasus into the sea as a punishment for “believing” (i guess) in irrational numbers.

The unreasonable man by Vinay Kathotia, further explores the irrationality of the square root of 2, allegedly identified by Hippasus, providing some proofs of it. 

Proof: √2 is irrational by Khan Academy (video) - Because Khan Academy rarely misses.

The Madness of Pythagoras by Kayla Mahoney - Did you know Pythagoras refused to eat fava beams,  because he claimed they contained the souls of the dead? Now you do, and there’s no going back >:).

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2. The base tools of mathematics

Introduction to Mathematical Thinking by Alexandru Buium - Pretty self-explanatory title, simplistic and general apprach to mathematics starting with the essential, logic.

The Five-fold Path to Mathematical Wisdom by Vinay Kathotia - Article about five different approaches to mathematical problems/representations.

How to think like a Mathematician by Kevin Houston - Really useful book, starts with certain study skills and develops to the logic involved in mathematical thinking, explains theorems, definitions and proofs! Highly reccomend.

How to Think Like a Mathematician by Eugenia Cheng - (video)

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3.  "I have a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition that this margin is too narrow to contain."

Yup, this is about Fermat’s Last Theorem, which took 350 years to be proven.

I’m guessing you’ve come across some jokes about it, how could one not. Essentially, in the 1630′s, our man Pierre de Fermat jotted down the conjecture (fight me, no proof no theorem) that states that no three positive integers a, b, and c satisfy the equation a^n + b^n = c^n for any integer value of n greater than 2, along with the sentence "I have a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition that this margin is too narrow to contain.". The paper which contained this was only found after his death, and, as far as we know, he never got around to actually writing the proof. Because of this, we call this statement Fermat’s Last Theorem.

Andrew Wiles was who ended up proving Fermat’s Last Theorem, in 1993, after six years of working secretly on the problem. (Imagine your dirty little secret being working on revolutionizing an entire field of study, what a guy honestly.)

Fermat's Last Theorem - The Theorem and Its Proof: An Exploration of Issues and Ideas [1993] - Documentary about the theorem and its proof, as told by Andrew Wiles himself.

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4. Functions

Honestly functions are just a very needed side of mathematics that can be applied to pretty much everything. You’ll find them in your average mathematics curriculum and in your everyday life, if you know where to look.

Introduction to functions 

Introduction to Mathematical Reasoning - Numbers, Sets and Functions by  Peter J. Eccles

Functions in the Real World - Education World

- This is definitely a more theoretical part of the list, I am sure you’ve encountered functions before and the resources you have musn’t be terrible. Look into these if you find the necessity, but again the “math secret” really is practice. They can be interesting reads though.

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5. Möbius strips and Klein bottles

The wondrous world of ✨one-sided objects✨.  Learn about these cool looking objects and the field they originated, topology.

The Mathematical Madness of Möbius Strips and Other One-Sided Objects by  David Gunderman and Richard Gunderman 

Intro to Topology by Alex Küronya - Decently advanced maths, I don’t know what level of maths you’re learning, but honestly only read this if you have a pretty thorough backgroung in maths and you’re enrolled/very interested in the field.

Möbius Strip - Cool graphics, cooler maths.

Klein Bottles on Numberphile - Because Numberphile never misses.

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6. The Chicken McNugget Theorem

Yes, you did read that right, No, this is by far not the only theorem with a weirdly funny name*. This theorem derives from a 1800′s math problem.

Explanation of the theorem by Xavier Lien

Chicken McNugget Theorem - Art of Problem Solving

Another explanation, if needed by Mike Beneschan

*Proof: Reddit asks: “ What's the funniest theorem name you know? ” - Literally a gold mine, read this. 

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7. Godël’s incompleteness

One of the essential works of Modern Logic. His theorems destroyed the search for a mathematical theory of everything, at the mere age of 25.

Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems -  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The paradox at the heart of mathematics: Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem by Marcus du Sautoy @ Ted-Ed (video)

How Gödel’s Proof Works - Quanta Magazine

Gödel: His Tragic Life Story by Aimee Lamoureux - (TW: Sensitive themes)

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8. Mathematics is an art, actually

I’ve seen many people stray away from the sciences because they’re “creatives” or “arts people”. Hopefully you’ve gotten at least a glimpse of the creativity needed in mathematics - if you didn’t, that is totally on me and I’m sorry. 

I don’t doubt that you may be a “creative type”. We actually need creatives, more than anything, in this field. I thought the perspective of mathematics as an art mignt be a good ending note.

Why Math is an Art, Not a Science by Peter Flom

Why the history of maths is also the history of art by  Alex Bellos - He also wrote the book  “Alex’s Adventures in Numberland”, which I own and have read. It’s a pretty sweet book, it has my stamp of approval if you’re interested.

Math and Movies (Animation at Pixar) - Numberphile - On the mathematics behind the art of animation.

Art and Math: Aesthetics of Calculations by Rute Ferreira (DailyArt Magazine)

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Besides this I’m also leaving a list of youtubers/authors that are worth looking into. :) 

∞. General resources:

Math-related Youtube:

Numberphile - Have different concepts explained to you in a seemingly personal and almost always funny manner.

3Blue1Brown - Maths explanations paired with excellent visual representation of the concepts.

Reducible - As they put it “Reducing problems to their simplest form.”. Also paired with really good animations.

Websites:

Art of Problem Solving

Blogs/Articles:

Cantor’s Paradise - I’ve linked a few articles published there throghout this post. Essentially, different authors publish math articles in this online space, varied and generally well-written about topics.

Alex Bellos for The Guardian - Puzzles and mathematical articles.

Mathblr Blogs - Check the notes of this post to find a lot of them.

Games:

Nerdle - Math Wordle

(...) - Please reccomend more resources below, I’m not the most well-versed on these subjects.

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Hopefully, you now find maths a little sweeter, funnier, or comprehensible. As with most things, people lead math discovery, and there’s absolutely no reason you’d be unable to be part of that group. 

Mathematical problem-solving is something really frustrating but also immensely fun and rewarding. Please look into it, be it olympiads or general problems you find online, don’t take yourself too seriously and have fun with maths! Mathematics doesn’t judge, people do. I wish you well on your math journey! Hopefully, you’ll love it.

P.S: Feel free to add to this post with any math stuff you think is interesting. The more, the merrier!