#for example: this came from a shitpost song

[brain-empty]

thinking about this

[theoutcastrogue]

1) While I am personally repulsed by the influencer / self-promotion / instagram Type of Posting, and it's extremely off-putting when I see it on tumblr (the very place I frequent to get away from all that), I have THE GREATEST sympathy for people who just wanna share their work with the world, and discover that it's only feasible if you do the whole social media song and dance, and they happen to simply not be into this social media song and dance. Ideally, they'd want to set up a portfolio and let the work speak for itself. And most of the time they can't, because no one sees it. It's terrible.

2) On the other hand, on this very site, it WAS once possible to gain an audience with a portfolio of your work, and zero reblogs or memes or addressing said audience with your words. My experience on that was with #photographers on tumblr. I don't know how that tag is doing now, but I'll tell you how it worked back then, because that's why I came to tumblr in 2012: the ease of use, the custom themes, and the native image hosting made it surprisingly good for a photography blog/portfolio. (Extra surprising if you consider how atrocious the code was overall back then, and in the crucial matter of resizing images for display on the dashboard, STILL IS.)

I am definitely NOT into the whole social media song and dance. All I did was post each photo with a single-line caption (incomprehensibly obscure title / location / date), and tag it with said location, #photographers on tumblr, and maybe #street photography or #portrait or something. Almost all of them were black & white. I didn't maintain a steady flow, sometimes I didn't post for months and sometimes I unloaded a dozen at once. Fanart was not applicable. And I reblogged nothing, not even my own posts. I did everything "wrong", and I was not interested in doing it "right".

But there are other photographers on tumblr (often but not always amateurs), and I followed a bunch of them, and I interacted with them at least with Likes. I got a handful of notes on each photo (double digits), once in a while triple digits. Which was fine, I didn't whine about it. The OP talks about artists pointlessly complaining that the fandom site is not good for engagement (duh), but I very intentionally misused tumblr and regretted nothing. The main thing that got me here was "it's prettier than flickr". If that also got me 20 notes per post, great!

And then some of my photos got picked up by curating blogs (let's call them that), which are hardly a thing any more but were prominent back then. There was no smalltalk on these blogs, just reblogging art, making it clear that their job is to find art on tumblr and show it, and they might add a short comment on composition or something. E.g.:

"Very interesting point of view, lights and framing. I like the misty mood and the sky. Very well captured cityscape."

That definitely brought "exposure", and lots of photographers got an audience through such blogs. And they didn't need to fill their own blogs with memes and shitposts, or share their inner thoughts and feelings. Just their work. It speaks for itself.

Now, to be fair, a large chunk of that audience was other amateur photographers. But I mean, we're talking about black & white photography in the 21st century: how many people (other than goth teens) are into that without also being into creating some of that?

And here's something that doesn't exist any more, tumblr used to have Blue Tags. Does anyone remember Blue Tags? It was like Radar, the mods selected posts to promote, except it was themed, and there was a Blue Tag: Fashion for example, a Blue Tag: Black and White. That's the one I got, for several photos. (Not my best ones, lol.) And triple digits weren't rare any more.

Blue Tags

I started getting asks and replying poorly (i.e. belatedly or never, I am still SO bad at this), I got fans which was hilarious, I added words to a handful of posts (like a paragraph on the process, technical stuff, composition, musings on photography), I once posted a shout-out to other photographers and curators I liked, I technically did a fanart (lol) which also got a Blue Tag

aaaaand that summed up my concessions to the whole social media song and dance. I still didn't reblog, I didn't chat with anyone on my blog, there were no memes and no shitposts.

And just as I was getting traction, and we got to quadruple digits,

(which hardly made my blog famous or anything, not even in that small corner of non-fandom tumblr, but it got the job done of sharing my work, which only happens when there are other people there to share it with, whether it's 5 or 50 or 5000 of them), I got bored and kinda quit.

I might have made a comeback. Until the 2018 purge came, and FULLY sapped any desire I might have to share my photography, or even explore the work of other photographers (which, to be clear, I used to be VERY keen on, both for famous professionals and unknown amateurs) on a site that takes issue with female-presenting nipples.

Now the Blue Tags are long gone, reblog chains are the norm and non-personal curating blogs are declining, you shitpost or you die, and I am SO glad I don't feel the need to share my work on tumblr any more. Because if I did, I'd be fucked.

I sincerely hope others have found ways to accomplish that without having to do the whole social media song and dance, and without having to put on the spotlight their whole personality (well, a persona thereof) just to get their art seen.

I keep meeting artists who complain that Tumblr Is Dead then when I check their blog they've made four posts in six months and all of them were self promo lmao. Influencers whining that "tumblr is useless for engagement" tells me every part of the problem, like sorry you can't just show up and farm this userbase for clicks by waving buzzwords around the way you can on tiktok. This is the Excited About Stupid Things website reblog some shitty fanart or die

[atlasgoodwin]

Fandom meme by @/gehayi

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

I have a lot of them, but right now, my main romantics ships are AsoRyuu (TGAA), Edeleth (FE3H) and Amy/Virginia (CC)

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

My friends changed my mind on many things over the years, but I don't remember the ships :(

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

Russell and Amy from Criminal Case

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

Most of the ships that I don't like are like popular ships from fandoms, for example, in Fairy Tail, I really don't like the main ship Nalu, but I wish I did

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

Yes, I made some wonderful masterpieces there and there- But for real, when I'm inspired, I love making shitpost stuff

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

I have been in the Criminal Case fandom for 7 years and it's still going let's goooooo

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

My first OTP was Luigi/Daisy and to this day, I love them so so so so much <3

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

A little bit of everything to be honest, it depends on how I am feeling, but it's mostly video games, western animation and anime

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

Not Tumblr, but Twitter did multiple times :/ One example being Super Smash Brothers and if you know... you know rip

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

I guess Good Omens(?), is that the name? I have no clue what it is, but I know it exists because of Tumblr

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Stealing my friend Katrina's answer by saying Amy Young from Criminal Case, she went through some insane character development in one district and girl, I feel so bad for you :(

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

Okay, I don't like Jones (Criminal Case) as much, but I can say that he had an amazing character development in Season 5, I was actually interested to see him grow as a character, even tho I am not a fan of him

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

I would love to be friends with Marceline from Adventure Time, she is such a chill person, I wish to be her

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

Criminal Case: - More fanarts (that is not of the main characters, like suspects, killers or victims)

-More shitpost memes

-More fanfics (Of characters that I care about- even that, just overall)

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

Monster from Imagine Dragons AND Skillet reminds me of one of my favorite Criminal Case characters, Duncan Young

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

I have many AUs in mind, but it would be interesting to see a Victim and Killer switch to see how it would plan out and the different motives!

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

The first one that came to mind is Hetalia and it's literally because of Homestuck lmao, I got more interesting in Homestuck so I gave up on the Hetalia fandom

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

(Total Drama) I do not ship romantically Cody and Sierra at all, but I really love them platonically, it has so much potential to be an amazing platonic ship, until All Stars happened,,,

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

I need to do a list of headcanons for my favs, because right now, I have NOTHING in mind D:

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? 

idk rip

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Tess Goodwin (Criminal Case) - She is so intriguing as a character, at first, I didn't like her (that was like 9 years ago lol) but became so attached to her and I have a massive crush on her,,, I also love to analyze her so much

Kazuma Asogi (The Great Ace Attorney) - Wonderful well written character that I got attached to quickly, I won't spoil TGAA, but the only time I cried in TGAA was because of him aofbwoifbwos

Edelgard Von Hresvelg (Fire Emblem Three Houses) - She is a mixed feeling in the fandom, but I cannot stop thinking about her. Like Kazuma, so well written!! Love her design, love her personality and she is so fun to analyze!!

V - Which character do you relate to most?

Ivy (Carmen Sandiego 2019) physically and personality wise, I have a lot in common :)

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

hmmmmmmmm

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

hMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

The only one that comes to mind is Star Trek (Thanks Katrina), because I know the other fandoms very well sdoibgfobgoer

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

I love fanart so goddamn much, I don't care if it's not for me, I still love love love LOVE IT so much!! People are so talented, it's insane and I wish they could share their passion and motivation with me please i am desperate ;o; oadbfoiwebigfwer

[zzedar2]

On excitement, domesticity, and kinky sex

A little more than a month ago, I had a Very Bad Day. On my way back home from my father's funeral, I got into a serious car accident, totaling my car and leaving me bedridden for about a week; I'm still walking with a cane and probably will continue to do so for another few months. To keep myself occupied while bedridden, and to distract myself from this shitty situation, I started doing two things a lot more than I usually do: introspection, and shitposting. This post is a product of both.

As a result of one of my shitposts, I had a slight miscommunication with @loki-zen, revolving around a different interpretation of the word "tournament." The details aren't important, but it got me thinking about the way I approach life and the enjoyment thereof, and let me really put my finger on some things about society's default assumptions that I'd previously just shrugged off as incomprehensible. At first I thought it was about physical versus mental, jock versus nerd, but on further introspection it goes beyond that.

When I was a kid (I think around age twelve, but I could be wrong) I heard the song "Little Boxes" for the first time, and was completely perplexed by it. It described a scenario that seemed quite idyllic to me, but clearly thought of it as negative, and I couldn't figure out why. Something similar happened when I was in college and read Fight Club for the first time. The narration in Fight Club just assumes that everyone, or at least every man, has a desire to fight. It wasn't the morality that bothered me, it was that I couldn't understand the appeal -- I've occasionally had the desire to punch a specific person in the face, but I've never had a desire to just punch faces generally.

I once read Isaac Asimov talking about an argument he'd had with his editor over the story "C-Chute." They disagreed about an issue of pacing -- whether it made more sense to put a certain dialogue scene before or after the action scene. Both of them started from the assumption that the action scene was what would keep the reader's interest, and that they'd need that interest to get the reader to pay attention to the dialogue. This came as a surprise to me, because when I read "C-Chute," I skimmed over the action scene but really enjoyed the dialogue. It had never occurred to me that anyone would have the opposite reaction.

Here's the thing: for most people, "exciting" is a compliment. For me, it's a neutral descriptor. There are things I like that are exciting, but I can't think of anything I like because it's exciting. So far I've only mentioned examples from fiction, but this is true in my actual life as well. Let me give you an extreme example.

A few months ago, I was contacted on Fetlife by someone who traveled a lot as part of their job. They were looking for a quick hookup whenever they came through my town. It was what a lot of people would consider an ideal fantasy match; they wanted me to be selfish and unconcerned with their pleasure: "I love being desired, but I hate being pleasured. Even just that word, pleasured, gives me an anxious, squicky feeling."

What happened? Well, we had phone sex a couple of times, and once on video chat. Then we started talking about scheduling our first IRL meetup, and I kept coming up with reasons to put it off, reasons why it should clearly be next month, et cetera. Eventually, they decided I clearly wasn't going to ever do it, and stopped communicating with me. The basic problem is that having to be a hundred percent "on," as I did when interacting with them, was just tiring. Even before we started talking about meeting up in person part of me had started dreading our chats for this reason. And it wasn't like I didn't enjoy them! I did, tremendously -- but they were also draining, and there's a certain tradeoff between effort and enjoyment.

[hyperbolicreverie]

If you’re still doing the fanfiction writing asks, 22 and 25 please!

Absolutely! Ask away!

22. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process?  How do you come up with titles?

Almost entirely after they've been written and even edited. They are usually the last thing I come up with, and I pull from all sorts of places. I've used song lyrics, such as in the case of "Hear My Words That I Might Teach You," "Blessed Be" came directly from religious traditions and was a good reference to the fic concept in general, "From Your Lips To the (False) God's Ears" was a twisting of a common idiom, "All Points East" a reference to a way of indicating travel direction, and so on.

I do name every fic right at the outset with a bit of a shitpost title just to illustrate the general vibe I'm going for, though. For example, in order, all the fics listed above were previously known as:

Doflamingo Experiences a Well-Deserved Haunting(?)

West Blue Marine has Unwanted Religious Experience Outside Auction House

Tiny Gremlin Child Grills Bird Dad About Accents and Has Thoughts About Speaking a Now-Dead Language

Contrary to Popular Belief, Eastern Sea not Weak

...and so on. I save them even after the fic is published, because they make me laugh. 25. What’s your favorite part of the writing process (worldbuilding, brainstorming/outlining, writing, editing, etc)?

Ahahaha well, not editing. Editing makes me paranoid. It's extremely important and I refuse to not do it but this is why I didn't get a job doing it.

I am also, to put it mildly, a shit outliner. Most of my fics are written out-of-order, as I throw down whichever scene into words that my brain feels like focusing on at the time in the interest of actually getting the words out of my head. I have a multi-chapter fic planned that is going to need an outline and I am A F R A I D.

But my favorite part? The brainstorming and the worldbuilding. I am a stare-off-into-the-middle-distance daydreamer and I love just letting my brain go. I write entire scenes, entire sections of dialogue, even decided on the particular emotional tone in my head before a word ever gets written of the fic in question. Finding the different ways worldbuilding and character interactions fit together is such a satisfying procedure to me, and probably also why I love narrative and character analysis as much as I do.

[codecicle]

*the sound of someone rising from a grave* hey howdy i heard someone wanted me to talk about my special interest B)

This is my fourth FUCKING attempt at this tumblr kept crashing!! Anyway so sorry for adding on to this I just wanted to write the explanation to as many of these as i could if anyone wanted to see it. If I get anything wrong or I forget anything feel free to correct me!! ^_^ (I know nothing of br'aad vengolor im so sorry) ((also i'm doing this from memory))

*vine boom sound effect* FIRST LAYER

Dream smp: Charlie was a member of the dsmp!! He played an immortal slime who evolved to experience humanity (both the good and bad sides of it) and worked for Quackity in Las Nevadas!!

Smp live: Charlie was a member of smp live!! It's how he met the lunch club members originally I think and how he became a minecraft youtuber (past tense) ((derogatory))

Genloss: Charlie was in a project Ranboo is working on called Generation Loss!!! Watch it. Watch it. Watch it. Watch it. Watch generation loss. Watch the social experiments. Watch it.

Epic smp: Charlie was a member of Epic smp!! A big server that used the create mod, he joined and worked with his friends and fellow chucklers Ted Nivison and Jschlatt

Qsmp: Charlie is a member of the qsmp!! He plays a grieving father after his transgender minecraft egg daughter Juanaflippa died. He only has Elmariana left, who is his bitch wife that he forcefully assigned he/she pronouns (he hasn't logged on since the Brazilians showed up)

Origins smp: Charlie was on the origins smp!! A server where everyone selects an origin that gives them superhuman abilities. He was a slime that halved in size whenever he took damage (effectively making him tiny, but immortal) and bounced really high without fall damage

Chuckle Sandwich: Charlie was a member of Chuckle Sandwich, a podcast that originally consisted of Ted Nivison, Jschlatt, and him!! He left it a while back because he needed more time to balance other projects, but he still shows up for some guest episodes!!! Schlatt and Ted refer to him in the past tense and the running bit is Charlie fucking died <3

Corn video: Ah yes, the first example of this man breaking containment. You know the "come on down, and try some corn! Or we will sacrifice your newborn AAAAAAAA" video?? Yeah that's Charlie Slimecicle. He made it as a fake ad as part of a group school project and it ended up becoming one of his most viewed shitposts on his channel

Jort Storm: Charlie is in a d&d podcast, where his character Gillion Tidestrider had to go undercover as Jort Storm for a bit. Charlie decided to make a song on stream to intro the podcast episode and it spiraled out of control. anyway stream Jort Storm!!!!

Backrooms Installments: Charlie streamed a backrooms game with Tommy and Ranboo and edited it into a video on Slmmcl (his second channel). Said video ended up getting well over a million views, so he came back to the game with the intention to beat it. In what I can only describe as a series of baby sensory videos, it took a combined effort of 10 hours to beat a maybe 4 hour game.

Just Roll With It: (sorry I have to do the obligatory copypasta) Just Roll With It (or JRWI) is an absurdly powerful Dungeons and Dragons podcast featuring GrizzlyPlays, Condifiction, BizlyChannel, and Slimecicle available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, and anywhere you can find podcasts!!

Favorite Puppy: During Chuckle Sandwich, a bit started where anytime someone liked something, they would say the thing was Favorite Puppy. This stemmed from one of the members (I forget who) being a weird child and naming their favorite stuffed animal Favorite Puppy

Slimecicle Cinematic Universe: AUGUFHFHHH YES YES I GET TO TALK ABOUT THE FUCKING SCU!!!!!!! LETS GOOOOOOOO!!!! The Slimecicle Cinematic Universe (SCU) is an improv based story that takes place in minecraft with the Council + Jschlatt. You can find all of the videos under his "High Effort Minecraft Videos" playlist on his channel!! I recommend watching them in order to understand running bits, but if you don't want to you should watch the gods video (the worst minecraft mod) ANDDDDDD....

100 Days: THE HUNDRED DAYS SCU VIDEO!!! It's a mildly (mainly improved) planned out hard-core mod video which is staged as a first person documentary that takes place in logs Charlie has made as the apocalypse progresses. Without spoiling anything you HAVE to watch that video it took a year to make and edit and it will not let you down

Slime Story: This is Charlie's merch line!! High Quality affordable slime plushies, (with hoodies too but like they aren't as awesome as the plushie designs) with a portion of each sales profits going to an environmental effort. His most recent drop was the Anglerfish plushie, with the proceeds going to efforts to clean up the ocean and beaches :)

Lunch Club: Charlie was a member of Lunch Club, and he was a part of all of their videos before it disbanded. (He was also known as the guy who called the cops on a certain someone for being a groomer)

Slimecicle Buff Image: That image in the third layer isn't actually Charlie!! It was tweeted at him randomly and people mistook it for him. It got to the point people referred to him as "The Chulk" and Ludwig saw it and put it in a video with millions of views. Even though that image isnt of him, Charlie is actually extremely buff in real life!! (If you look at a couple Sorry Boys videos you'll see him picking wilbur up and throwing him around with ease)

Legally Blind: -2.5 and lower for a glasses prescription is considered legally blind. He has a -6. what the fuck

OG Glasses Lost: Charlie lost the rectangle framed glasses that he was immortalized in through almost every piece of fanart that exists. He lost them during his trip to Amsterdam for Tommy's old vlogs :)

*falling metal pipe sound* LAYER TWO

Eating Random Vegetables: Charlie was hungry during the first few Chuckle Sandwich episodes, so he ate literal leaves of kale off the stick because he didn't have anything else edible in the house. This started a running visual bit (audio listeners, love ya to death) where every episode he ate random vegetables that got more absurd each episode.

Smp Earth: Charlie was a member of Smp Earth!! He was Germany and he accidentally claimed France instead because he's stupid <3 (techno took over the whole earth so it didn't matter anyway)

Stingray: He's a little stupid sometimes but that's ok!! Charlie was swimming in the ocean and got stung by a stingray, and he forgot that you were supposed to pee on jellyfish stings and not stingray ones. So instead of getting medical help he took a shower and pissed on his foot.

Gay highschool:

[Image ID: A Gacha Character standing with green items imitating goop, it has text above its head for a nametag that says Charlie. He is speaking with a text bubble above him that reads: "it's my first day at gay highschool i hope they dont realize im straight" /End ID]

This image is Charlie Slimecicle. It has broken containment so many times. First posted on r/gachacringe, then tweeted at Charlie on Twitter, where he saw and replied to it. He knows this exists and I think that makes it so much fucking worse.

Drinking Uranium for 1 Month: When Charlie and Grace bought and moved into their first house together, their water filter didn't work properly, and it turns out their already high levels of Uranium weren't measured properly because the inspectors measured from the already filtered water in the sink. Charlie called separate inspectors to come and look at it and it turns out he had a shit ton more Uranium in his water than he thought and Grace and him had been drinking cancer-inducing levels of Uranium in their water for like a month!!

Crunchy Peanut Butter: did I ever tell you this guy was actually insane. because he is. I learned this through Spittake! but when the council was staying in an airbnb in Texas to film their first irl JRWI episodes, Charlie was in charge of the groceries. Bizly woke up in the middle of a night to get a snack and not only did Charlie buy crunchy peanut butter. but he bought the fucking NATURAL BRAND CRUNCHY PEANUT BUTTER. THEN HE PUT IT IN THE FUCKING FRIDGE

Dying Light: Charlie's favorite videogame series is Dying Light!! He has a whole playthrough of Dying Light 2 on slmccl that I recommend. He needs out the whole time and its really sweet :]

"Apple": Jschlatt was in the SCU playing god at one point!! He offers people apples and if you ate them you would get a horrible punishment. This is a running theme in the SCU

Hand Puppet: During a Lunch Club video, Charlie is at the zoo doing pre-determined tasks to try and win a race. He ends up buying a little hand puppet in the first few minutes and he wears it for the whole video. Pretty sure he still owns it to this day :D

300 Preying Mantises: This comes from a Twitter interaction him and Grace had where she posted "My Partner just came in the house and told me he released 300 preying mantises in our yard" and he insisted that there wasn't enough of them, it's a surprise tool that will help him later, and that they are totally fine don't worry:)

YLYL Cum Musical: During Tommy's you laugh you lose video, it took Charlie improvising an entire musical about cum on the spot to make Ranboo laugh once

Resident Evil: He played through the Resident Evil remakes on his second channel!! He's actually what introduced me to the series and got me obsessed with the games, but anyway. He already had a statue of one of the characters from the game that he bought on his own that sat in the background of his setup, but when he was shipped re8 for a partnered video, they sent him a second figurine, which used to sit in the background having self-cest gay sex with the other figurine (he made them kiss in the background)

I genuinely do not remember the screaming for 30 seconds one!! Sorry :(

My closest guess would be when he went on a ride at Disneyland and was the only person on the ride to scream with genuine terror and be completely afraid the entire ride

Slimecicle Job Interview School Project Video: Self-explanitory. He made yet another school project that broke containment and ended up getting millions of views again (rightfully so though I loved it)

Walking Dead Video: He played The Walking Dead in VR, which was fuckin hilarious and I recommend you watch it

Black Lung: Another running SCU gag!! It started from the blocks being alive video and kept going into the gods video. Anytime someone in the SCU mines coal, they get black lung!!

Skyrim in VR 500+ mods: Holy fucking shit this guys got a super computer btw. He beat Skyrim in VR with over 500 mods installed, and it was absolutely amazing it's definitely one of my favorite main channel videos by him and you should watch it. This is a threat /lh

269 Push-Ups: That one photo of him is fake, but he is crazy strong!! He had a subathon and for every sub he would do 3 push ups. He did 269 in a row before he stopped accepting the subs.

Into the End Music Video: A sick fucking animatic that was posted by yoshiiano that had the song Charlie made as an outtake for part of the Gods SCU Video

AUGUFHFHHHHHH LAYER 3!!!!!!!

"MEGA CUM BLAST!": This comes from older videos of him, but it started with the "Inside the mind of pokemon trainer players" video where he had a bit where he screamed MEGA CUM BLAST when he side b'd someone. This continued into his cuphead streams with Grizzly and then it became his sub notification (I think he changed it to the kazoo because of that one clip where Grace heard it LMAO)

YLYL Baby Bomb: During the Lunch Club's you laugh you lose with Smosh he improved a bit to make someone laugh and ripped a baby's head off to show a button that he pressed while saying "Do you like my song? Well guess what fucker this baby's a bomb!!"

"IM BABY": He had a running bit where whenever somebody would start it for him by calling him baby or whenever he would start it by calling himself baby, he would be forced to turn on his GOXLR and make his voice high-pitched while saying "I'm baby" I unironically miss this bit :((

Fireflies: There's a clip of him where he got donated the entirety of Fireflies by Owl City and he sung the whole thing ^_^

Gillions Speech: I'm only on episode 58 of riptide so far, but it's a pretty famous speech where he says I hate you a ton. Pretty fucking crazy and I cannot wait for it to emotionally destroy me

"We Haves Cookie!": A skit during one of his minecraft in vr videos where Schlatt and Traves were tax people and lied to him about having cookies to lure him out. Also broke containment and was clipped a lot

OwO *notices your bulge there*: fuck you for making me type this. Charlie made a tweet about furries. People said what the fuck, delete this please. He probably shouldn't have done that, that tweet was wrong but instead HE MADE IT A SONG.

Gigga Pudding: Yet another SCU joke!!! (kinda) This started with him getting donated the song on repeat and at a certain point Schlatt put it on his soundboard and tormented Charlie with it

Palcove: This was the house Charlie built with Schlatt, Ted, and Traves on Epic SMP. They named it the palcove because it was a cove and they are pals:)

Slimecicle Constant Set-up Change: Holy fucking shit this guy moves. A lot. He constantly travels with his set up and moves from place to place, he went from his collage dorm to the weird pool table place to his rented apartment(? I'm not sure about that one just his old and most well-known set up) to his parents house in-between moving to the weird narrow room to his current set-up

Anime Voice Camp: AUGHGHHHHH I MISS THESE VIDEOS MANN:(((( this was a series Grizzly did and Charlie was in every video. It was just a group of Grizzly's friends on discord that dubbed over anime and I recommend watching those videos!! Gives you a taste of Grizzly's humor :)

Karaoke Stream: Ah yes. The infamous stream. This guy sold a fucking youtooz based off of this, a stream where he played a Karaoke game on stream and fucked around :)

Inside the Mind of ____ Series: AUGHGHHHH I MISS THESE!!! Charlie used to make videos where he would dive inside the mind of a player of a certain character in games like Smash Bros. My personal favorite is the "Inside the Mind of Joker Players" video it fucks so hard

Until Dawn Series w/ Condifiction: I LOVED THIS MAN!!! Condi and Charlie played through most of the supermassive games together, starting with Until Dawn and ending with The Quarry. I miss these videos and I go back to rewatch vods of the streams all the time

Bees in my Mouth Song: Charlie and Grizzly played cuphead together and it took Charlie improvising a song about bees in his mouth for them to beat the queen bee boss (one of the hardest in the game)

"Coming Out" Video: Charlie comes out as a gamer to his parents. No I am not kidding. Yes I will give you the link to witness it.

FUCK HOLY FUCK IM GOING INSANE. HERES THE 4TH LAYER LOOK INTO CHARLIE SLIMECICLE'S BRAIN

Motivational Lizard: Charlie would get donated the clip of the Motivational Lizard but only the first couple of seconds before the clip would end. He only got donated the full thing once and he fake cried <3

Pool Background Being a Green Screen for only one stream: is self explanatory. He had his Pool Table Background greenscreened in as a bit

Kazoo Cover Donations: Charlie did a bit where he did a kazoo Cover for donators. This kinda evolved into his current sub notification being a kazoo!!

Br'aad Vengolor minecraft skin: Prior to dsmp, Charlie never had his own skin, instead his original skin was of his d&d character Br'aad Vengolor!! His ribbon from that skin is still somewhere on his current skin me thinks

I Play Your Gifts series: hey op this was 7 years ago and all of the videos have less than 70,000 views. How the fuck do you know about this. Anyway this was a thing he did where he played viewer submissions (games gifted to him)

"I want those two fingers shoved in my vagina!": Glad I'm not the only person who remembers this god awful quote. He does this a lot btw. A few more good examples that I'm not going to give context for is "*laughs* are- are you eating my fucking pussy??" and from litterally yesterday's stream him saying he is going to eat a character out multiple times before he remembered how that sounds and he specified he was going to eat a path out of the food they were stuck in.

LAYER FUCKING FIVE OH BOY!!!!!

I did not watch this campaign and I do not plan too!! However, Charlie played a character called Br'aad Vengolor on his first ever campaign for his absurdly powerful d&d podcast Just Roll With It. They used to have a 5th member that was the DM. Br'aad is famously extremely fucking queer and flamboyant and we love him so much <3 <3

WAR IS OVER. LAYER 6!!!!!!!!

Fuck you op. Smprompa is a fanfic that was posted during the Smp Live Era. It was about the Smp Live guys and the reason it's mentioned under Charlie is because he still fucking references it to this day, as does his whole community. I'm not talking about anything other than his death, which was ridiculous and he hated it /pos. Wilbur killed him with a guitar and stuffed his body in a fridge, which is where the slimecicle in a fridge jokes come from. I think it was originally meant to be a pun on slimecicle and icecicle

SLIMECICLE ICEBERG (made this for fun, suggestions are welcomed !!!) i know everything on this list

[hamueltobin]

behold! i didn't see any otgw icebergs, so i made my own :)

if you think i should add something, lmk!!

Explanations under cut :)

First layer:

▪︎Beast!Wirt au - very popular au in which Wirt stays in the Unknown, possessed by the Beast to some extent.

▪︎Bad End Friends - Crossover AU of Beast!Wirt teaming up with Ice Finn from Adventure Time and Bipper from Gravity Falls; sometimes other 'bad end' au characters are thrown in such as a glitched Gumball from TAWOG

▪︎Irl Copies of the For Sara tape - Limited copies of the For Sara tape were sold at two points. They have yet to sell for a third time. (🤞🤞🤞)

▪︎Tome of the Unknown (pilot) - The Pilot of the series. Can be watched on YouTube.

▪︎Wirt Staying in the Unknown - In a scrapped ending, Wirt was to stay in the Unknown, saying that facing your real problems was scarier than staying there.

▪︎Mystery Kids - Crossover AU with other child-late teens aged characters from sources based on mysterious and supernatural themes such as Gravity Falls and Psychonauts.

▪︎Quincy Endicott's grave - Quincy's grave can be seen in the graveyard that Sara and the others are hanging out in.

▪︎Original Beatrice Voice Actress - Beatrice had a different VA in the pilot, Natasha Leggero. Melanie Lynskey voices her in the actual series.

▪︎The Woodsman's Daughter is Named Anna - The comics have several issues focused on his daughter, in which her name is revealed to be Anna.

▪︎Jason Funderburker's Ax Murderer Story - At the gathering in the graveyard, Funderburker is telling a story about a man with an ax; this story is believed to have influenced the existence of the Woodsman.

▪︎Full Versions of Songs in the OST - A handful of the songs are cut down for their appearances in the series and can only be heard in full on the OST. The most notable example is Old Black Train , which is actually 2 minutes and 15 seconds long, but is only in the series for about 15-20 seconds.

Second Layer:

▪︎Sara is named after the Fleetwood Mac song - Listen to it here :) it is notable that it includes lyrics about "drowning in a sea of love" and that Sara is "the poet of [the singer's] heart."

▪︎OTGW Reanimated - a reanimated project for the first episode. Got taken off of YouTube, but can be viewed on Dailymotion.

▪︎Baby Wirt Audio - In the For Sara cassette, there is a small section of audio that can be heard in about the middle of the recording of Wirt's father talking to him as a baby.

▪︎Funderburker/Funderberker - The two Jasons's surnames are spelled slightly differently to avoid confusion.

▪︎The Brothers Never Ate or Needed to Rest - Although Greg expressed being hungry, neither of the boys actually ate anything (outside of one spoonful of bland potatoes and inedible items such as dirt and leaves) and never laid down to rest, only sleeping when night came.

▪︎Book on Interior Design in Wirt's Room - In Wirt's from, a book on interior design can be seen laying on the floor, backing up the knowledge he displayed when analyzing the interconnected mansions.

▪︎Mad Love was Based on a Dream - The plot of Mad Love came from a dream that Pat McHale had about house hunting. In the dream, while exploring one of the houses being shown, he ended up wandering into someone else's home.

▪︎Beatriceoftheday - A blog dedicated to our lord and savior Beatrice, known for its strange shitposts and intense praise of the titular bird girl.

▪︎Wirt is Jealous of Greg's Popularity - Shown in the Circus Friends issue of the comics, Wirt is jealous of Greg's ability to make everyone laugh and have fun. This may factor into his dislike of his brother.

▪︎Greg was Feeding Fred at the Tavern - At first watching, one may be confused as to where all the food Greg was gathering went, why Fred was wearing lipstick and why he was refusing to talk to Beatrice. Shown in a deleted scene, this all explained, as Fred tells Beatrice that he didn't talk to her because Greg was feeding him.

▪︎Elijah Wood Voiced the Crazy Driver - Exactly what is says on the tin, the nutty driver was voiced by Wood.

▪︎Cloud City is Heaven - A popular theory that Cloud City actually represents Heaven.

▪︎Greg is Greg Universe - A headcanon/theory that has mostly died out that Greg is the same Greg in Steven Universe.

▪︎Bee Beatrice - Beatrice was originally cursed to become a bee, but was changed into a bluebird to match better with the seasonal autumn theme.

▪︎Pat McHale Voiced Wirt's Voice Crack - Wirt's voice crack when asking the Beast Are You? was actually done by McHale, not Wood.

▪︎The Other Actors Harassing Elijah Wood When Singing Wirt's Song - In order to make the performance as awkward as possible, the other actors were asked to yell and demand Wirt to sing. This can be heard in the episode.

▪︎Come Wayward Souls Has the Same Melody as O Holy Night - The song shares a cadence with "O Holy Night", and can be sung to its tune.

▪︎Black Turtles Origin/Purpose - No one knows why the black turtles exist, and McHale has said that they're just one of the unexplainable things of the Unknown.

▪︎Anna Never Left the House - In the aforementioned comics, it is shown that Anna had never left the house, living on her own until the Woodsman's return.

▪︎Sailor Suit Greg - Greg originally wore a sailor suit, but was changed later on to his current, Johnny Appleseed inspired outfit .

▪︎Beatrice Missing Being Able to Flip People Off - In the Art Book, Beatrice's introduction states that one of the reasons she hates being a bird is because she no longer has hands to flip people off with.

Third Layer

▪︎Jason Funderberker is Visually Based on a Teen Pat McHale - As seen here, Funderberker was designed after McHale.

▪︎Babes in the Wood is Based on an Old Alice in Wonderland Cartoon - You can view the original 1923 cartoon here! Starts at 4:25.

▪︎Wirt and Sara are Dipper and Mabel's Parents - A popular AU/hc where Dipper and Mabel of Gravity Falls are the future kids of Wirt and Sara.

▪︎The Tune of Wirt's Song is Improvised - In addition to the aforementioned harassment, in a further attempt to make the performance as awkward as possible, Elijah Wood was not given a tune to sing, only the lyrics.

▪︎Wirt's Costume Origin - As said in the art book and on his tumblr, Wirt's cone and cape come from an attempted rock and roll persona from McHale's teen years.

▪︎Greg is Based on Pat McHale's Son - It has been claimed that Greg is based on McHale's son, but Greg existed before him. The similarities are simply coincidental.

▪︎Old Scratch - The original name of the Beast.

▪︎The Beast Killed the Woodsman's Wife - Shown in the comics, The Woodsman's wife was mortally injured, with her attacker implied to be the Beast.

▪︎Wirt and Greg Staying in the Unknown Until Christmas - Another scrapped ending, in which the brothers stay in The Unknown until Christmas, with their absence unexplained.

▪︎Tome of the Unknown (original plot) - Early concepts had the Beast ( then known as Old Scratch as mentioned earlier ) scattering the pages of the titular book for the brothers to collect. Each page would come to life and the brothers would explore each story.

▪︎Dante's Inferno Comparisons - Check out these videos for full analysis!

▪︎Wirt Panty Shots - In the aforementioned Circus Friend comics, Wirt dons a dress as part of a disguise. Later on, he rips off the bottom half off, revealing that he is wearing bloomers.

▪︎The Beast's True Form was Inspired by Trypophobia - As stated in the art book, The Beast's hole-filled appearance was inspired by Trypophobia, the fear of many small holes.

▪︎The Fight is Over is About Drowning - Give the lyrics another read.

▪︎The Beast Last Minute Design Change - The Beast had a very different design, and it was changed into the current one at the last minute.

▪︎Gnome in Cloud City Representing Wirt - Many people believed that the Gnome with the lantern in cloud city was a parallel to Wirt, or a glimpse into his future. However, this was debunked.

▪︎Send Me a Peach - This song is included in the ost, but isn't in the actual series.

▪︎Fred and the Highwayman's Backstory - The comics expand upon the story of Fred the Horse and his involvement with the Highwayman.

Fourth Layer

▪︎Babes in the Wood Title Origin - The name of this episode comes from an old story of a pair of children getting lost in the woods, dying, and being buried in leaves by robins.

▪︎poorlydrawnotgw - This was a blog created during the poorly drawn series meme period. It consisted of poorly drawn and very strange shitposts and has since been deactivated. I was a part of it as mod Goopy Wirt and only have a handful of images saved from it.

▪︎Read and Listen Book Lost Audio - A read and listen book was created, with the book being read by Greg's Frog, who would stop every now and again to talk about being a frog. The pages can be found online, but the audio is currently lost.

▪︎Skinless Witch - A scrapped episode concept involved a skinless witch that kidnapped Greg and rode him like a horse.

▪︎Gentleman Burglar Wirt - A scrapped concept in which Wirt breaks into a woman's home, who is charmed by this young man who has come to visit her.

▪︎Animal Transformation - It was originally planned for Wirt and Greg to be turned into a bear/dog and a duck and remain that way for several episodes. This was later used in the comics.

▪︎The Unknown is influenced by Wirt's mind/interests - The Unknown is influenced by those who walk in it, in this case, Wirt. This includes the old timey mystical nature of it, as Wirt has been stated to have an interest in old folk tales.

▪︎Good Guy Beast/Black Train Scrapped Concept - In an earlier draft, the brothers were on a train, heading to what they assumed was death. They jump off, ending up in the Unknown. The Beast tries to get them back on the train, which turns out to be heading back to life.

▪︎Evil Woodsman - At one point, the Woodsman was intended to be under the influence of the Beast and tried to sabotage the brothers's attempts to return home.

▪︎Lorna Reading the Tome of the Unknown in the Epilogue - In the epilogue, Lorna can be seen reading the titular book from the aforementioned scrapped plot.

▪︎The Beast was Originally the Devil Himself - The Beast was first designed as a devil-like character, the aforementioned Old Scratch.

▪︎The Brothers Never Went Home/The Hospital is Part of The Unknown - a theory based on the fact that the edges of the screen are still blurred at the end of chapter 10, the rushed narration, and the lack of consequences of nearly drowning.

▪︎Beatrice Seeing Wirt Nude - In one of the comics, Beatrice accidentally sees Wirt while he is washing his clothes in the river.

▪︎Sara is a Descendant of Lorna - A theory that Sara is a distant relative of Lorna.

▪︎Exists in the Same Universe as Clarence and Home Movies - The most well known piece of evidence is the overhead shot of the town matching the town that Clarence is set in. Wirt and Greg also have a cameo in another episode, and one of the final episodes shows Brendon Small of Home Movies runs a movie rental store in the town, connecting all three series together.

Final Layer

▪︎Beast x Wirt - Also known as Poetree.

▪︎Candycone - Greg x Wirt.

[troped-fanfic-challenge]

TROPED: JATP MASTER LIST

And for our encore, the Master List of all 53 (fifty-three!?) fanfics written for our FIRST Julie and the Phantoms TROPED event!! It was such a treat for us to see how a new fandom took on our prompts! We, here at TROPED, love it when our authors push the limits of what a trope can be, and this fandom kept us on our toes, and we loved every word! We hope you enjoy these trope bending, phantastic fics as much as we did!

New rockstar writers joined us for the first time for this event, which is the coolest thing for us! We love getting to see how different fandoms interpret our prompts and how you see these stories through the lens of different characters. We learned a lot about how to run an event this round, with new voices helping us to make TROPED better, which was so exciting. We came out of this event with new ideas, and we’re pumped for what’s next! We hope you’ll join us again soon ;)!

*Some summaries have been edited for length. Tumblr has a max post length. Who knew!

ROUND 1: ANGST FICS

The Tropes:

Character discovers they’re not human

Coffee Shop AU

Poorly Timed Confession

Character A catches Character B crying

————

the sky was gray and white and (cloudy) (Rated T) [Alex x Willie] by @screamin-amuseum

Summary: “I’ve got you,” Willie’s whispering over and over, panic creeping into his voice. “Alex, I’ve got you, okay? Come on, baby, come on, it’s okay, I’ve got you, you’re gonna be okay, I love you–”

Alex spits out what feels like a clot of blood and gives Willie a tired grin, probably looking completely insane.

“That’s pretty gay of you,” he says, just as his vision clouds over and he passes out.

Honey, You’re Familiar (Like My Mirror Years Ago) (Rated T) [Julie x Luke] by nik_knows_nothing

Summary: Luke works at a coffee shop, which is normal, quietly pines after his coworker, which is normal, and also occasionally steals people’s faces without really meaning to.

It’s probably that last part that moves him pretty solidly out of the “normal” territory.

But that’s fine, that’s totally cool.

He’s handling it super well.

You Can’t Value People Less Than a Good, Hot Cup of Bean Juice (It Just Seems Rude) (Rated T) [Julie x Luke] by nik_knows_nothing

Summary: Julie gets a job at a coffee stand in the middle of nowhere.

It’ll help to pass the time, if nothing else.

And if there’s a cute guy who works the shift after her and sometimes leaves her ridiculously endearing messages on an ancient tape recorder?

Well, that’s just a bonus.

honest to god I’ll break your heart, tear you to pieces and rip you apart (Rated T) [Julie x Luke] by @tonightthestarsalign

Summary: the siren!Julie AU no one asked for

new instincts (Rated T) [Luke x Reggie] by @comeonpeters

Summary: Reggie is fine with being the only human member of his band, Julie and the Phantoms (tell your friends!), just like he’s fine with being the only single member. It doesn’t make him feel lonely, and he’s only picking up more shifts at the coffee shop because he needs more money, not because he’s avoiding being alone. And picking up more shifts at the coffee shop is making the work easier! He’s only a little confused by the fact that he can now touch the espresso machine mid shift without burning himself… must be all of the experience.

you look like you’ve just seen a monster (is that what i look like to you?) (Rated T) [Bobby x Alex x Luke x Reggie] by @aroacethetic-shitpost

Summary: it’s angsty tiefling bobby time, folks!

We Are Monsters, We Are Proud (Rated G) [Flynn x Carrie, Julie x Luke] by @americanhoney913

Summary: Carrie finds herself at a college like no other in search of her dad and some answers. Julie’s not feeling good and maybe staring at roses wasn’t the best idea.

Monster College/Coffeeshop AU

sending forth their beautiful voice, and my heart was fain to listen (Rated G) [Julie x Carrie] by @madeline-kahn

Summary: Months after the death of her mom, Julie prepares to sing again and makes an upsetting discovery.

rise from the ashes (Rated M) [Alex x Willie] by @willexxmercer

Summary: At a time when everything was going wrong for Alex, the one bright spot in his life was the charming barista at the coffee shop he frequented. At least, it was the bright spot until everything went up in flames. All he could do was hope that they could rise from the ashes and figure things out together.

Siren’s Song (Rated T) [Ray x Rose] by hufflebibin

Summary: The Scopuli was never meant to be a permanent arrangement. Rose had taken the job straight out of school just looking to make a little extra money before the tour kicked off.

That was four years ago.

After a string of bad luck befalls Rose and the Petal Pushers, she can’t help but wonder if she is the problem. Or is there something more sinister at play?

Yellow (Rated T) [Julie & Reggie] by @tmp-jatp

Summary: Reggie just wanted to get some new guitar strings. A shapeshifter!Reggie au

Angels Like You (Rated T) [Luke x Reggie] by @sunsetcurveofficial

Summary: Reggie is having a bit of a weird day. It gets worse when he figures out that it’s because he died in his sleep and has somehow been walking around as a ghost without realising it. Meeting Luke helps. Luke says he’s a fellow ghost, and there is something about him that Reggie just feels drawn to. Falling for him is the easiest thing Reggie has ever done, but Luke is a little more than he lets on, and it turns out that their story actually started long before Reggie thought it did.

look into my eyes (it’s where my demons hide) (Rated T) [Flynn x Carrie] by @fanfics-she-wrote

Summary: Hiding out from demons was never a desirable nightmare. Of course, Carrie would much prefer a run-for-my-life nightmare than actually running for her life. Having Flynn around is a very welcome soothing balm, though.

Bring All The Monsters Out To Play, Let All The Red Erase The Grey (Rated T) [Bobby & Reggie] by @kennysbirthday

Summary: Mythologicals, Reggie realised, were kind of like queer people. Sometimes your Token Human friend turns around one day and admits that actually, there was something they were suppressing all along, and they hadn’t realised.

–

Reggie’s final exam has been pushed forward at the most inconvenient time. Bobby is sick, Alex is missing, and now he needs to help a selkie get their ‘Happily-Ever-After’ in order to scrape a passing grade. Oh, and if his boss catches him handing out more free coffee, he’s gonna get fired.

————

ROUND 2: FLUFF FICS

The Tropes:

Exes

Time Loop AU

Camp Counselors

Prank Wars

————

Okay, Campers, Rise and Shine! (Rated T) [Julie x Luke] by nik_knows_nothing

Summary: The Groundhog Day meets Gravity Falls meets Summer Camp meets The Author’s Own Distaste For Prank Wars AU that no one asked for. Ever. At all.

Starting To Forget (Just What Summer Ever Meant To You) (Not Rated) [Flynn x Carrie] by bi_magic

Summary: Last summer didn’t end on a positive note for Carrie Wilson - she and her girlfriend broke up on the last night of camp, and she’s been miserable since. But it seems that the universe is intent on having her fix that this summer. Even if that means she has to live through the same day over and over and over again until she does.

Creative B.S. Was No More, Was No Less (Look Around, You’re Gonna Miss What You Found) (Rated T) [Alex x Luke, Flynn x Reggie] by @americanhoney913

Summary: Alex and Luke go undercover on a mission to a summer camp in order to find a talisman that could endanger the camp and all the kids. While there, they bond with the kids and make peace with the fact that they broke up.

While Alex and Luke are away, Flynn accidentally fucks with time.

bitch but like romantically (Rated T) [Flynn x Carrie] by @screamin-amuseum

Summary: or: flynn gets stuck in a time loop. {for troped jatp round 2}

down by the bay (Rated T) [Alex x Willie] by @sunsetcurbed

Summary: Over time, Camp Phantom has simply become known as a selective summer camp: one that took only the kids that Caleb saw promise in. And Caleb wasn’t exactly lying. He really did take only the ones he saw promise in, he simply looked for different traits than others might.

For example, say, hypothetically, a boy who could see the future. Or, hypothetically, a girl who could interact with ghosts. Or, hypothetically, a boy who could summon objects to him with a simple thought. Or, and this is completely hypothetical mind you, a boy who could manipulate time.

Those might be some traits that Caleb saw promise in. Just, like, as examples.

Time will tell (But only if you do it right) (Rated T) [Flynn x Carrie] by @malecacidd

Summary: Carrie had been acting a little off for a week or so, but Flynn was pretty much known for seeing something in nothing, and that was probably what they were doing then. If something was going on, Carrie would tell her eventually.

OR

Who knew all it took was a little bit of miscommunication to mess up time itself?

and so it begins (Rated T) [Bobby x Reggie] by @comeonpeters

Summary: It’s the first day of their second week at Camp Carolling (they’re spending an entire month, and they’re getting paid to be there!) when Reggie gets a little lost in the woods. During this misadventure into the woods, he finds an egg shaped rock, an inhabited cabin that may or may not be riddled with signs, and something that might be magic. He probably doesn’t get paid enough to discover magic.

or, when they were thirteen years old, four boys met at camp carolling and eventually became a band that almost became something legendary. now, all four boys are coming back as counselors, three boys in one band and one boy in his own solo act.

so begins the reunion, though it doesn’t go how any of them imagine.

Porcupine Day (Rated T) [Bobby x Ray x Rose] by @wr0temyway0ut

Summary: It’s been fifteen years since Trevor broke up with Ray and Rose and they’re… not fine, but managing. But when Trevor to adds insult to injury and buys the camp across the lake from the one they once owned together, the two camps become locked in a bitter rivalry. With neither side willing to set aside their pride and work out their issues, the universe decides to settle their fates itself.

Day After Day (After Day After Day) (Rated T) [Alex x Willie] by hufflebibin

Summary: When Alex met Willie just after their senior year of high school, they spent a wonderful three months dating before their relationship ended in a blaze of glory. Now, four years later, they meet again as counselors at a summer camp. The only problem? Alex keeps reliving their first day together. The day that Luke had declared “Prank Day.”

This is not how Alex pictured his summer going.

clocks move faster (it’s all we’re after) (Rated G) [Julie x Luke] by @willexxmercer

Summary: Julie likes it when her friends are happy, so when she realizes she’s stuck in a time loop, she uses her knowledge to make sure everything works out for everyone… except she conveniently forgets to factor herself (and Luke) into the mix.

Touch of Magic (Not Rated) [Alex x Luke] by @williexmercer

Summary: When everything stands in Luke and Alex’s way of getting to be with the people they love, they have to repeat the day over and over until they can get the happily ever after that they want.

the play’s the thing (that goes wrong) (Rated T) [Alex x Willie] by @madeline-kahn

Summary: Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day for Macbeth, but not so for Alex and the production of Hamlet that he is directing and starring in. And while he’s stuck repeating the day of the performance over and over, mishaps of all kinds befall the cast.

anything, anything (for another run with you) (Rated T) [Alex x Willie] by @aroacethetic-shitpost

Summary: the camp counselor/exes/prank war/time loop fic of your dreams (unless you read all of the other troped round 2 fics lmao)

there’s a glorious sunrise, dappled with the flickers of light (Rated T) [Julie x Luke] by @tonightthestarsalign

Summary: ex-best friends Luke and Julie, working as camp counselors at rivaling camps, find themselves stuck in a time loop

the daughter of apollo (Rated T) [Julie x Luke] by @the-most-beautiful-broom

Summary: the JATP x Camp Half Blood AU that nobody asked for

maybe the world isn’t ending (maybe it’s been postponed) (Rated G) [Julie x Luke] by @tmp-jatp

Summary: It’s the last day of camp and Julie has one more prank planned for Luke. He just doesn’t know what it is.

Here We Go Again (Rated T) [Julie x Luke] by @kybee1497

Summary: Julie blinked as she stared at the place Euterpe had disappeared. What did that even mean? What journey? Old places and lost faces? What was she talking about? But before she could dwell on the questions swirling around in her mind, the sky full of stars began to move, shifting in place and descending until they were all around her. Julie felt her feet leave the ground as she rose up and up. One star in particular was burning brighter than the others, growing bigger in front of her.

It grew and grew, until the light was blinding and Julie had to throw a hand up against the harsh light. She closed her eyes as the light surrounded her and then she was falling. Falling down, down, down.

————

ROUND 3: CANONVERSE FICS

The Tropes:

Secret Places

Neighbors

First Kiss

Time Jump

————

Just say you won’t let go (Rated G) [Julie/Luke] by @fanfics-she-wrote

Summary: Hey, Julie

You're the heart and soul 'round here, it's plain to see

in which Julie has a second chance with her boys, and then a third

we will fight to shine together (bright forever) (Rated G) [Bright Lighting Guy/Rob from the Orpheum] by @screamin-amuseum

Summary: the rob/bright lighting guy fic literally nobody asked for but i wrote anyways. enjoy gays, bring ur tissues

what happened when (Rated G) [Alex/Luke] by @janaikam

Summary: Before Julie and the Phantoms, before the guys became ghosts, before Sunset Curve – they were Luke and Alex. Not 5 feet apart cause they’re totally gay.

who cares if one more light goes out? (in a sky of a million stars) (Rated T) [Ray/Rose] by @tonightthestarsalign

Summary: The first and the last time Ray ever kissed Rose.

we can forget the world (just you and me) (Rated T) [Alex/Willie] by @sunsetcurbed

Summary: “This was the first place I ever came out to someone,” Alex says, spinning around and taking in the tree house.

together we can take on the world (Rated G) [Alex/Reggie] by @comeonpeters

Summary: Alex Mercer meets Reggie Peters on October 8, 1983, which means that two days have passed since Reggie’s sixth birthday, because Reggie is a Libra according to the magazines that his mom reads when she gets Reggie to paint her toenails. He’s also just moved to Los Angeles, California from his hometown of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a small town in the mountains, and he’s told Alex Mercer about all of this in the three minutes that they’ve known each other, and he might be the loudest, most obnoxious boy that Alex has ever met, and he absolutely has to be Alex’s new best friend.

The Peters family moves in down the street from the Mercers in 1983, and so begins the rest of their lives.

Long Live (Can I start another life with you?) (Rated T) [Julie/Luke] by @smolfangirl

Summary: It’s all too much for one day: first a muffin, then more heartbeats. Julie just needs some time to think. If Luke runs after her to sit by her side so she doesn’t lose it, she won’t complain.

Except afterwards, he starts acting weird. Very weird. And months later, she’s tired of letting him keep his distance.

She can’t do this. Not right now. Not today.

She jumps back on her feet.

The excited grin falls from Luke’s face. She doesn’t try to catch it.

“I – I think this is too much. I need some time. Alone. Sorry.”

Then she runs. She runs past the calloused fingers reaching out to her. Past Reggie and the door, past carved pumpkins on porches and Cornelia Street.

She just runs.

Roses (Rated G) [Emily & Luke, Alex/Luke] by @americanhoney913

Summary: It becomes a sacred place she shares with her son. Mitch is usually off at work from dawn until six o’clock, but Emily’s working from home for now. She works as a florist’s shop right outside the neighborhood. So she brings home seeds and little flowers and other cuts from the store; she and Luke will spend hours out in the dirt, planting seeds and making mud pies and Luke will babble about whatever happened in daycare and make up stories about the different flowers.

Somewhere Only We Know (Rated T) [Nick/Carrie] by hufflebibin

Summary: A journey through Nick Danforth-Evan’s life as experienced in the safety of his backyard hide away.

The Itty Bitty Details (Rated T) [Alex/Willie] by @williexmercer & @futurearchaeologyprof

Summary: 5 times Willie knew Alex and one where Alex knew Willie

you’re the only one who makes me (my wildflower) (Rated T) [Bobby/Reggie] by @willexxmercer

Summary: The tree was Reggie’s safe space, and Bobby was his safe person. He could escape all his troubles there, except for one nagging thought - did he have feelings for his best friend?

Dying complicated things.

because i’ve known you so long, i know every cadence and what they mean (Rated G) [Alex & Julie, Julie/Luke] by @tmp-jatp

Summary: the Juke 5+1 fic from Alex’s POV.

Someday (I’ll See You Again) (Rated T) [Alex/Willie] by @kybee1497

Summary: They’re wrong. Alex, you are not a failure. You’re incredible. You’re smart. You’re funny, and the best friend I could ask for. You’re a wicked talented drummer and you have a beautiful voice. And more important than all of that, is that you’re you, Alex. And the you you are is wonderful, and lovable and perfect. If your parents can’t see that, that’s their own fault. But I swear, Alex. If you’re afraid of them, I need you to tell me. You have to be safe.” Willie’s voice had gone desperate by the end. Alex deserved to know how freaking amazing he was and the fact that his parents didn’t bother to tell him, and actively worked to tear him down instead, was infuriating.

But Willie also worried about him. He’d worried about Alex since the first time he heard Mr. Mercer shouting through the window, a worry that never really went away. Not with the way Alex automatically straightened up when his parents were mentioned, as if he could hear his dad lecturing him about appearances from miles away. Not with the way Alex looked when he was with them, perfectly pieced together and falling apart at the seams, eyes distant and shoulders tense. Willie was pretty sure he had worrying about Alex etched in his bones by this point.

The Energy Never Dies (Rated T) [Gen Fic] by @americanhoney913

Summary: Four moments across time in the loft of the Molina’s garage.

————

ROUND 4: FINAL!

Theme: Author’s Choice

Tropes:

Royalty AU

Soulmate AU

“Long Story Short…”

Author’s Choice

———

Look, Steal From the Rich. Do It. (Rated T) [Julie/Luke] by nik_knows_nothing

Summary: A Julie and the Phantoms Star Wars AU that kind of looks into the ramifications of soul marks in a turbulent society, but mostly just focuses on the gang infiltrating a fancy Core World party.

take my heart (and take my hand) (Rated T) [Alex/Willie] by @sunsetcurbed

Summary: The stranger smiles. “I’m Willie,” he greets.

“Alex,” Alex nods back.

“Sir,” Willie says pointedly, and smirks up at him as he bows exaggeratedly.

“The word sir is coming out of your mouth directed at me, but I don’t feel like you just addressed me as a sir at all. And please, call me Alex.”

“My apologies,” Willie hums, straightening back up. And then, pointedly, he lowers himself back into the same bow and makes deliberate eye contact with Alex. “Sir.”

Alex blinks. “You’re not going to call me Alex, are you?”

“Absolutely not, Sir.”

the princess and the lord (Rated T) [Julie/Luke] by @the-most-beautiful-broom

Summary: a JATP x Princess Diaries 2 AU

Diamond in the Rough (Rated G) [Julie/Luke] by @tmp-jatp

Summary: The JATP Aladdin AU

Okay, So You’re Interrupting the Political Guy Again, So Think About That (Rated T) [Julie/Luke] by nik_knows_nothing

Summary: Julie and the Phantoms meets The Goblin Emperor meets a soulmate AU meets the author’s stunning lack of what I assume is basic knowledge on how monarchies work.

i had the time of my life, fighting dragons with you (Rated T) [Julie/Luke] by @tonightthestarsalign

Summary: luke gets hired by some noble to bring back the princess that was kidnapped by a dragon

born to be yours (Rated G) [Alex/Willie] by @willexxmercer

Summary: “Hello. It feels strange, resorting to notes like this, but I couldn’t think of any other way. I know you’re here, somewhere. At the ball. I’ve tried to find you for the past few nights. My parents always told me never to believe in looped days and soulmates, but I think this just proves that they were wrong.

My name is Willie. I don’t know how to find you, but sometimes I feel like I’m drawn to you. Like I can just sense you nearby. I don’t know if you’ll find this, but if you do, I’ll try to wait for you on the balcony.

Until we meet.”

our best days are yet unknown (Rated T) [Alex/Reggie/Willie] by @aroacethetic-shitpost

Summary: When Prince Alexander of Sacuria meets his fiance, Prince William of Coterra, he’s astonished to discover that he recognizes his daemon. He recognizes it as one of the other shapes that his own daemon is able to take… as his soulmate. The only problem? Alex already has a soulmate: Reggie Peters, his childhood best friend. What should he do about finally meeting his second soulmate?

Panic and run away? Yeah, sure.

Little does he know he’s about to have a bigger problem than that…

————

Please take the time to read of all these incredible fics! Leave the authors some kudos/comments! They worked so hard this whole event. Thanks so much!

Just as a reminder, our non-anon collection is always open and we are always so excited to receive any submissions! The TROPED: JATP official collection has been CLOSED but if any of our prompts inspire you, please share your fics with us in our non-anon collection! Simple put ‘TROPED_Non_Anonymous’ where it asks for the collection name, and be sure to put what round you are writing for in your notes so we can be sure to tag it appropriately when we share! Also, just as a note, fics submitted to the non-anon collection do not have to follow the word limit and do not require the same strict adherence to the tropes, though we do ask that you comply with our other rules regarding no rape, incest, negativity, and things like that! Happy writing!

TROPED JATP AO3 Collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TROPED_JATP_1

TROPED Non-Anon AO3 Collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TROPED_Non_Anonymous

[fieri-arg]

How It All Began

It was 3am on a hot Australian night. 

I was getting ready to go to sleep, and did one last perfunctory refresh of my Tumblr dash. A mysterious banner appeared upon doing so. 

Suddenly I’m wide awake, and I excitedly jump onto my laptop to check if it was on the desktop version. Not only was it on there too, but in addition, there was this:

So obviously, I press the banner. It links to a blog: @fieriframes​.

Now at first, this just seemed to be a weird Guy Fieri-themed shitposting blog. Run of the mill for Tumblr, really. What was weird about it, however, was the fact that Tumblr linked to it in the same manner that they did with Ask Times with celebrities. So by that logic, it was important.

Tumblr staff have trolled us before (Top Hat April Fools Day, for example) so I (and many other people, most likely) didn’t take it that seriously at first - just a fun, quirky way to celebrate the birthday of an iconic, quirky man. 

But as I scrolled through, my interest grew more and more piqued. Stills of Guy Fieri’s show ‘Diners, Drive-in’s & Dives’ were overlayed with birthday related clipart, weird images from other shows, and subtitles from unrelated and ominous-sounding shows/movies/books/poems/songs. Underneath these images were captions, as well as photo IDs that were... well, not always accurate:

What came after was a non-stop journey through codes, hidden messages, cryptic convos with tumblr staff, and a discord server full of people all working together to find the secrets of Guy Fieri, and ultimately: find Flavortown.

[matpisound]

memes, and the role of music

Yeah, you heard me right. I'm gonna be talking about memes. Lately, I've been thinking about how much music has become intertwined with meme culture, and how certain songs can become memes on their own. Given that I write a music blog, I thought I'd write about my thoughts on the subject. How DOES music reach meme status?

Well first, we have to define what a meme even is. Obviously it's not just an image edited with a funny caption in Impact font or oversaturated to the point at which it's incomprehensible. Music has to be involved somewhere in there, or else this whole argument falls to pieces. There has to be a broader definition somewhere, right? Yes, there is, and it gives us a perfect grounding for establishing the meme status of music. According to Wikipedia, the term "meme" was coined in Richard Dawkin's book The Selfish Gene, and it defines the word as a cultural entity that can be considered a replicator; basically an idea that can be spread by people copying it and showing it to others, and it can include images, melodies, behaviors, and anything else that can easily be transmitted.

So why does this matter? We can now devise a way to categorize music memes based on what aspect of culture they appeal to. I won't go into every single meme song that exists, but I will go over some of the biggest meme songs in the past couple of years, and there are four main categories that all of them fall into:

Songs that have some sort of cultural significance on their own

Songs relating to shared cultural experiences

Songs that serve as part of a meme, without which the meme potential is lost

Remixes, typically of a sound that has cultural significance

For songs with their own cultural significance, we need look no further that January 2021 with the sea shanty craze; specifically, "The Wellerman". It's a perfect example of how social media has become embedded in musical culture and how sites like TikTok can bring people together through features that allow collaboration. Adam Neely made an in-depth video on this, but the gist of it was that the duet feature in TikTok allows people to come together with collaborative projects like singing sea shanties in a time when we're forced to stay apart. There are other songs that became memes through similar means. "Gangnam Style", "The Cha Cha Slide", and "The Cupid Shuffle" all became popular to the point of memes because they went viral on social media (mainly YouTube) and they were participatory in the sense they had signature dances, which were easy enough for anyone to do, solidifying them into a widespread culture. Some songs are memes due to their established presence in this culture, and they're songs people are expected to know either within a certain group or just in general. Just think "September", "Mamma Mia", and even "Renai Circulation" all became memes simply because of their existence within modern culture.

Culture also follows songs that are entertaining, i.e. funny, and funny songs are part of the epitome of meme culture. These come from the very early days of YouTube all the way to some of the newest TikTok audios. Take the keyboard cat on YouTube for example. Who doesn't love a cat in a suit playing some funky tunes on a keyboard? And Nyan Cat; an upbeat tune made out of synthesized meows while a cat with a PopTart for a body flies through space while farting rainbows. These random gems reflect the spirit of the internet in terms of creativity and just pure fun. There are also songs that are almost like musical shitposts; songs that have almost no meaning but exist for the sole purpose of entertainment through the random. Big Shaq's "Mans Not Hot" is such a fun song, and was really popular a few years ago because of its random lyrics and especially the verse that was just beatboxing. Songs that are so bad they're funny are popping up a lot as well. "Gucci Gang", sporting a laughably terrible sounding beat and 99% of the lyrics just being "Gucci Gang", climbed its way up to meme status just because of how bad it was. The meme status of these songs depends on the hilarity and ridiculousness that internet memes were founded on, and because of that, have embedded themselves into the worldwide meme culture.

Next is songs that relate to shared cultural experiences, so basically all of the movie tunes, game soundtracks, and just other experiences that aren't inherently musical, but contain musical elements. Everyone loves Smash Mouth's "All Star", and was popularized through none other than the hit movie Shrek. On its own it's a great song, but it's unlikely it would have reached the fame it has today had it not been for Shrek, which in and of itself has become a meme. Of course, the other one that everyone knows is "Megalovania" from the game Undertale. Its simple musical motifs combined to make it the insanely recognizable tune it is today, and has almost detached itself from its source entirely. Mario Kart has had several songs that have become memes, including "Coconut Mall" as well as "Dolphin Shoals", which gave birth to the famous Mario Kart Lick. And who could forget about Star Wars with its main theme, "The Imperial March", and "Duel of the Fates" among others. Lazy Town gave us a few gems as well, like "Cooking by the Book" and of course "We Are Number One". Most of these reach meme status because there are simple musical elements that make them instantly recognizable and can trigger pleasant memories of whatever media they came from, that media being a shared piece of culture among the majority of a generation. "All Star" begins that iconic leap from the the root to the fifth of the scale on the opening line, and "Coconut Mall" creates that frenzied feeling like entering a Macy's on Black Friday which just makes it so fun to listen to.

I need to take a minute to comment on the songs in this category that arguably had the biggest impact on the culture of this generation: Minecraft Parodies. Simply say "Creeper" in a room full of high schoolers and I guarantee you it will be followed by a chorus of "Aww man", most likely followed by the rest of the song. You probably already know what song I'm talking about. "Revenge" by CaptainSparklez and Tryhardninja was the song that powered a generation of Minecrafters, and its resurgence in recent years was met with a flash flood of nostalgia and overall good vibes. We had other hits that grew to immense popularity, like "Fallen Kingdom" and "TNT", along with countless others (and I really do mean countless). The parody craze was so prevalent, some people who otherwise probably never would have gotten into music began releasing hit songs. Not to mention all of the original Minecraft songs that came into the spotlight, like "Take Back the Night", "Creepers Gonna Creep", and so many others. This craze spread beyond Minecraft to some newer games like Fortnite, which allowed the creation of one of the most popular parodies today: Leviathan's "Chug Jug with You". Overall, these helped define a generation and not only allowed musicians to be involved in the things they like, but also allowed many people into the world of music.

This next category involves music that became associated with a certain format, as in there's little to no meme within the music outside of that format. The one everyone knows is the iconic Rickroll, the act of building suspense and breaking the tension with the beginning to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" rather than whatever else would logically release tension. Meme formats are tailored to the individual song, and this is no different. The song begins with a sudden electronic drum fill before going into an upbeat 80s dance tune. Often the video preceding the Rickroll will build up to something desirable to the viewer, and that sudden fill subverting their expectations invokes a sense of disappointment, having been cheated out of their reward. However, the fun sound of the rest of the song helps ease that disappointment. The Coffin Dance and Shot on iPhone memes employed a similar concept by building up tension and releasing it by cutting to the music. However, here the music played throughout to help build up that tension while a video, often depicting someone doing something risky or getting hurt in some way, cutting to just the music at the climax of the clip. This employs driving principle of EDM, building up tension and releasing it at the drop. The meme works by mirroring that suspense and resolution of the video with that of the song, and that resolution being different than what would otherwise logically happen is what allows the meme to spread. Obviously, this isn't the only way songs can be part of a format; songs like "Baka Mitai" and "Shooting Stars" have all had their time to shine. However, these memes that work to subvert the expectations of the audience arguably have the biggest impact of the songs in this category.

Finally, we have the remixes, which typically involve altering any of the songs from the above categories. One of the most popular forms of the remix is the mashup, and who better to bring up here than the legendary SilvaGunner, whose videos advertise a track from a video game OST, but end up being some other meme mashed up into it. The reason mashups work as memes is because it subverts our expectations, even when we know it's a mashup. Our brains know how each song goes, but when we listen to them together it creates something completely new that either sounds great or absolutely horrendous. Yet we still listen to them because they're interesting. Additionally, remixing a meme song in a funny way is a common form of musical meme. It can occur through, super heavy distortion, or repeating a section of a song throughout the song at a level far more than a mere motif, or deleting parts of a song leaving only the memeable parts, or simple pitch shifting, among so many other ways of remixing. The possibilities are endless. The reason remixes are such good memes is they take songs with cultural significance and change them entirely, giving them a whole new meaning.

Well there you have it. Music and memes have gone hand-in-hand since the very beginning, and as culture evolves and memes become more advanced, there's no doubt that these threads will entangle themselves even further. Thanks for reading and if you have any interesting thoughts on music memes or just wanna talk about your favorite ones, feel free to share! That's all, and I'll catch you at the double barline!

[ckret2]

So I've been deeply pulled into the Radiosnake pairing bc of your fantastic writing! Problem is, now I have fic ideas but no knowledge of the Hazbin background. Can you tellI me where I can get more Hazbin info? I've only watched the pilot and read your stuff. I heard there were comics??

That is an excellent question anon, because right now it is really hard to get Hazbin background easily.

Okay, so, the canon info on Hazbin Hotel can be sort of sorted into four tiers, from most to least canon.

Tier 1: The Definitely Canon

There is, of course, the pilot. And then there is an Angel Dust prequel comic, only seven pages of which have been released so far. We’ve been told it’s gonna be finished and we’ve had glimpses of in-progress prequel comics for a couple other characters—most prominently Alastor’s and Charlie’s—but so far that unfinished Angel Dust comic is the only one that’s been officially released.

Finding the in-progress comic pages is... a challenge. Nobody, as far as I can tell, has been specifically collecting all of the pages we’ve seen so far. I was able to scrounge up:

Couple more Angel pages

some Alastor pages

another Alastor page

a random Alastor panel

another random Alastor panel—I’ve seen the full page of this before, Alastor goes “Hello ladies!” and they go “HELLO ALASTOR~<3″ but I can’t find the full page now

There’s a smattering more canon panels on the artist faustisse’s twitter, but I haven’t dug them all out, and some of the posts I’m gonna link in a lil bit have a glimpse of another panel.

If you haven’t already heard of Helluva Boss, I recommend looking into it as well. It’s a second series being created by the same folks, different cast of characters but set in the same version of Hell, so any canon details we learn in Helluva also apply to Hazbin.

Helluva’s pilot is here. Plus a cute music video here.

Earlier this month, during a BLM charity stream hosted by show artist Ashley Nichols—she runs regular streams under the title “HuniCast”—they released a few sneak peaks of future Helluva scenes, all compiled here.

And that’s it for canon. Two pilots, a music video, a smattering of future scenes, part of one comic, a few WIP pages/panels from other comics.

Tier 2: Pseudo-Canon

Everything else we currently know about Hazbin (and Helluva) are things that the creators have told us. Consequently, they’re all pseudo-canon—and likely subject to change in the future as the shows and comics are further developed and released. Some details that were released/described in the past have been contradicted at other times, or else radically changed by the time the pilot came out.

(For example, when Alastor was first created years and years ago as an OC with no plans for Hazbin, he was a demon deer who could shapeshift into a human shape—now he’s a demonized human with a few deer traits. And Charlie and Cherri Bomb used to look very different.)

So until and unless they make it into canon, all these pseudo-canon details are subject to change and should be taken with a grain of salt—but, they also comprise most of what we know about the characters’ backstory and the as-yet-unaired characters.

Pseudo-canon info on Hazbin is scattered mainly between two sources: the creators’ twitter accounts, and livestreams where they take questions and talk about the making of the show. If you and livestreams do not get along (my ADHD and livestreams do not get along), or if you don’t want to wade years and years back into twitter accounts to dig up every scrap of info on the characters the creators have ever mentioned, collating all the pseudo-canon info is gonna be hard. (It’s gonna be hard even if you do want to sit through the streams and dig through all their tweets.) Lots of fans, me included, depend on the absolutely heroic work of various fans who are willing and able to watch hours-long streams and collate a list of canon factoids released during the streams. I’ve reblogged as many of these posts as I’ve been able to find:

Alastor’s sound design (on twitter)

Alastor's Sound Design (post I made with screenshots of weird—but very interesting—subtitles slipped into the aforementioned video)

Sir Pentious and Cherri Bomb’s sound design

Niffty and Husk’s sound design

Charlie, Katie, and Tom’s sound design

Intro song’s sound design

Happy Hotel’s sound design

details from Faustisse (including a pic of a couple costume designs. Most of these posts come from zatyrlucy, who’s been doing a fantastic job of going stream-by-stream to get lists of details from the regular streams by Ashley Nichols and by comic artist Faustisse.)

more details from Faustisse (including a pic of the Von Eldritch family dining room)

Faustisse 3 (better look at that table)

Dollymoon’s Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART ONE (Shoutout again to dollymoon for compiling these, we’ve never spoken but I am eternally grateful for this service. Dollymoon’s posts are THE single most reliable compilation of Hazbin Hotel’s nebulous pseudo-canon facts that I have found to date, including both links to the sources and timestamps where applicable. Dollymoon’s URL has changed since making this post so the “read more” link doesn’t work but the “source” or “reblogged from” links direct correctly to the new blog. Incidentally, the risk of other blog creators deleting their blogs/posts or changing their URLs is why in info posts like these, I always link to my own reblogs rather than their original posts—their original posts might vanish without warning, but I know I ain’t gonna delete my posts, so these links will still work in the future.)

Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART TWO

Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART THREE

Faustisse 4

HuniCast - Australian Wildlife Relief charity stream

I think this was a faustisse stream (the original source deleted these posts, so the comic pages that were originally behind that read more cut are now gone.)

Faustisse stream 6?

And those are all the masterposts of factoids I’ve managed to collect. If anyone has more masterposts, chuck ‘em at me.

Even this isn’t all the knowledge that’s been released about the show. The posts that dig the farthest back are Dollymoon’s, and even they don’t comprehensively cover all of Hazbin’s production. A couple of these characters, Vivziepop created as a teenager, so there’s some truly ancient concept art floating around out there that will have details that probably aren’t canon anymore... but might still be until something happens to actively contradict them.

Tier 3: The Wiki

The wiki is kind of an absolute mess. It’s a chaotic blend of things actually seen in the pilots/comic, things mentioned at some point in some stream somewhere, and wild fan speculation based on what they headcanon as plausible based on the above, all mixed together with very little indication for which is canon, pseudo-canon, fanon, or speculation. Most of the statements on the wiki don’t have citations.

(And, on top of that, half the main characters’ info gets split up into separate tabs instead of just having a normal-ass wiki page, AND their image galleries are on COMPLETELY SEPARATE pages that are linked to in one of the tabs, and the most important characters all have TWO SEPARATE GALLERIES. Which doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of the facts hidden underneath those tabs, but nevertheless drives me up the wall.)

Some things on the wiki were added according to info released so long ago it’s probably changed by now. Some are possibilities that got reported as facts. Other things on the wiki have unambiguously changed, or else are just flat-out incorrect. (For instance, at this moment Alastor’s page still lists him as an overlord, even though it's been confirmed that Alastor is not an overlord despite his power level because he isn’t interested in and didn’t pursue that position, per this stream. For a little bit, somebody’s fanart of their headcanon human Alastor got added to the wiki as concept art.)

tl;dr: the wiki should never be trusted as a primary source. The wiki’s better than it used to be. Even so, at this time, it’s only trustworthy to fill in the gaps of what you already know is true from other, better sources.

The thing it’s good at is it more or less compiles all the known info all in one place. Trying to figure out who the hell this Vox guy is is really hard if you’re reading for mentions of him in compilations of a dozen different streams, much less if you’re trying to comb through those dozen streams yourself, plus a dozen more, plus three different artists’ twitters. In comparison, it’s really easy to, say, just go look at Vox’s wiki page, where all the trivia is compiled. (And Vox’s page is actually one of the better cited on the wiki. Look at all those numbers!)

So, if you need to find out who this character is you’ve never heard of before, if you want to see a full list of the thus far named characters, if you don’t remember whether Alastor likes coffee or tea, if you want to know what Angel’s twin sister looks like, if you need a reminder of Sir Pentious’s death year... check the wiki. It’s an okay starting point.

But, if you see a “fact” on the wiki that you yourself don’t remember from straight out of the pilot, and it doesn’t have a citation that links to a tweet or a stream... regard it suspiciously. And do not trust it unquestioningly as fact until and unless you have seen the source.

Tier 4: Noncanon Creator Shitposting

I’ve mentioned Ashley’s HuniCast streams a couple times. The biggest draw of them is that she usually gets several of the voice actors in the streams, where they’ll happily say nonsense in their character voices. For the most part, they’re not sharing any actual canon info they’ve been given on their characters, just goofing around pretending to be their characters. Nevertheless, a lot of the things that happen in streams get accepted as broad fandom headcanons, like Alastor being into dad jokes. (My favorite, for obvious reasons, is this one.)

It’s easy to find the source audio for all this wonderful nonsense by searching youtube for “HuniCast highlights,” and then rummaging around for animatics people make out of the audio. The only one noncanon video of this sort I can think of that didn’t originally come from HuniCast is a lone one from Alastor’s singing voice (who’s a different voice actor than his speaking voice).

So, obviously, none of these are canon. But they do come from some of the people actually involved in the creation of the show, and they are in the characters’ canon voices, so a whole lot of people treat them as semi-canon anyway. (Even the wiki lists “dad jokes” among Alastor’s likes, which to my knowledge hasn’t come up anywhere except for HuniCast streams.) Since they’re so broadly-known, they’re worth knowing about as important sources of fanon, even if you don’t want to adopt them into your own headcanons. They’re basically the same level of canon as blooper reels.

[thefloatingstone]

If we are still on the anime topic, what’s your opinion of slice of life anime?

SLICE OF LIFE ANIME IS MY JAAAAAAAAM!!!!

And I’m gonna have to put this under a cut too because I can never shut up so this ALSO turned out really long.

My friend likes to joke I like watching shows “that are about nothing” and like... SHE’S NOT WRONG???

However, I don’t ONLY like Slice of life anime, which is important I think. because if Slice of life was the ONLY anime I watched, it would get pretty boring pretty fast. However, if I watch a balanced amount of shows, anime or not, having the slice of life anime as an added spice to my media salad that I consume and makes it all the more delicious!!!! (that metaphor came out from nowhere and I’m not 100% sure what it means)

I also find, with slice of life anime, even if there isn’t an overarching plot, I still prefer it when the slice of life story has some kind of thread through it that leads it forward to something.

I’ll use some of my favourites as an example for what I mean. (and I know these are super obvious but just bare with me.)

First, I’m a big fan of Azumanga Daioh! the anime. And Azumanga is masically as slice of life as you get. With no overarching plot whatsoever and even conflicts and situations changing up every few episodes or so as we literally just follow the girls around and the various school-related activities they’re in.

But there IS a through line to the whole show, and despite no major dramatic events happening, there IS character development as the show goes on. Most noticeably in Sakaki (who happens to be my favourite character) who starts off shy, reserved, and embarrassed of her interests and hobbies, and by the end of the show, has not only opened up about the things she enjoys to her friends, but has actually managed to use them to direct her life as she realises what she wants to do after school is to become a vet.

The series also has a through-line in that it follows the girls through their 3 years of high school, and so, it has a logical place its working towards, namely, it is working towards Matric graduation at the end of the series. So we are not left feeling as if we are in a static state regarding the Slice of Life nature. We are not trapped in limbo, we are progressing forward towards something. And I feel it’s this detail that stops a slice of life story from being stagnant. Even if there is no plot, there is forward momentum.

The other slice of life I really like a lot is Lucky Star, which is similar in many ways to Azumanga except with even LESS plot to it. As often times entire episodes of Lucky Star are just a random collection of events that sometimes have absolutely no connection to each other at all.

Which I think, is why Lucky Star works, ironically, even though it does not have a clear through line like Azumanga. Because Lucky Star, just like Azumanga, is based on a series of yonkoma manga, or “4 panel manga”. a type of manga much more like Garfield or probably more accurately, Calvin and Hobbes, with singular jokes and punchlines, sometimes with a situation or topic spanning a handful of strips before moving on to the next thing.

This means Lucky Star has no TIME to start feeling stagnant and in limbo because its just moving from joke to joke and situation to situation without any of it to linger for too long.

As a result, it also means Lucky Star can focus on small slice of life details to devote and entire joke to them, which means many situations end up being MUCH MORE RELATEABLE on a real life level than an anime that had to worry about plot or character development.

Things like Konata’s ongoing struggle with sitting down and actually studying for once in her life. Or Miyuki’s problems regarding her love for sweets and candy but her penchant for getting cavities and her crippling fear of the dentist. Or the character Hiyori who is an up and coming Yuri manga artist and who is already making her own comic strips (inspired by her rather problematic “I ship it” personality regarding two of her classmates, however she acknowledges that she is bad for doing this and honestly feels guilty for it. But she channels it into inspiration for her stories with her own characters)

(Please enjoy the most relateable moment in all of anime)

(also it doesn’t hurt that Lucky Star has shockingly good animation for an anime, which further helps the “Real life” situations, even though the characters themselves are hyper stylised. As well as it being clear the animators have a lot of life drawing in their repertoire, especially concerning hand poses)

Also just a side note; Lucky Star is absolutely my sense of humour in a meta sense. I can’t find out who exactly because the internet is garbage, but literally EVERY SINGLE EXTRA in the show is voiced by the same Seiyuu. Who himself was a very famous voice actor at the time. and he voices EVERYONE of the incidental characters. Doesn’t matter if they’re young high school girls. He has to voice them. It’s incredible.

Not to mention the ending credits which is different for EVERY SINGLE EPISODE, starting at first with the main characters singing Kareoke to famous songs from other anime, including Dragon Ball Z and Doraemon, before becoming live action as the crew went out to film the same voice actor who does all the voices for the extras just walking around tourists spots and being a weirdo, to which they then added things in post production to make it even stupider.

Lucky Star was making shitposts before shitposting was even a thing. And they put it into an anime that aired on television.

Also I am sorry I know I’m rambling but please enjoy my favourite outro EVER.

(this is my entire sense of humour in a nutshell right here)

However, I do want to mention an example I had recently of what I felt was an extremely disappointing version of a slice of life manga in this case;

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō

Kaidashi as I’ll call it for short, is a post apocalyptic manga about a robot girl who runs a coffee shop out of her house for any travelers wandering through the area, after an unspecified disaster has caused the earth’s enviornment to drastically change, specifically with oceans slowly rising each year and swallowing what was in the past entire cities.

But the post apocalyptic nature of the setting is not what’s important in the manga. It’s what I’ve heard call a “soft apocalypse”. There are no roaming bandits, or mutant animals or radioactive fallout or none of that. It is merely a world which the ocean is slowly encroaching on the land, and the human population has plummeted in numbers. Meaning the communities that remain are small and close knit, with “larger towns” resembling normal functionality, with us not even being aware that what we see as a middle sized town is in fact in the setting, the largest gathering of humans living in one place.

The manga follows our main character, Alpha (the robot coffee shop owner) and her dealings with about 3 or 4 other characters. Specifically an old man and his grandson. The old man runs a petrol station nearby and has more or less taken Alpha under his wing as she is otherwise on her own, her house sitting on the outside of the small town they live in (which we never really see as a result)

I started out really enjoying this manga, which is why I ended up reading all 100+chapters of it. But as I got near about the last quarter of it, it really fell apart for me.

The manga had set up certain things which would crop up now and then throughout its run. Like where Apha’s owner had gone and why, or who really developed the Alpha series of robots, or why Alpha has a strange quality to her that seems to ground other robots she meets into becoming more human, or why she dreams about fish so often, or who the strange immortal creature who lives by the waterway is. It sets up all these interesting ideas and mysteries as we follow Alpha in her day to day life... and by the end of the manga answers NONE of them. Not even one.

On top of this, whereas the manga started following Alpha with a very clear situation following upon situation, Her getting struck by lightning one evening and needing to be repaired by a local doctor, her reluctance to use her camera to take photos because she only has so much film she can use etc, and suddenly the timeline between events stops being a matter of days or at most a month, and suddenly YEARS are just jumped over. Turning the last quarter of the manga in a disorientating mess where we’re never quite sure WHEN we are, or what’s happened in the YEARS we apparently skipped over. Or where ANY of the characters now are because it’s suddenly 15 years later and somehow now characters are in a completely different place in their lives???

Not to mention the art started degrading rather shockingly by the end of the manga. It had slowly been turning to a more streamlined style as the chapters went on (the manga ran for 12 years) however, near the end there was a very jarring and sudden downgrade in quality. Robbing the manga of all its life and making the characters look flat and bland and unrecogniseable compared to where they use to be.

It just felt, overall, like the mangaka completely lost interest in his own story.

Art for Chapter 5

Art for chapter 139

It really soured my entire perception of the story as a whole. Because although I was reading it as a slice of life story, the story itself had presented situations and characters and questions I did not ASK it to have. But then at the end, it did not follow through on one single thing it set up. Coupled with the degrading art quality, AND the sudden fractured timeline where I had no idea when anything was happening any more, it felt as if every part of this story which had so much care and love put into it, was now just trying its best to get itself over with already. Because it had completely lost interest in itself, and was just trying to get to SOME feeling of conclusion so it could end, without taking time or effort to get there naturally.

I was supremely disappointed by what had started out as a very enjoyable series.

There are 2 OVAs adapted from the manga, one in 1998, and one in 2002. ANd just from looking at screenshots and gifs I can tell which one is the better of the two

And maybe the 90s OVA will do wonders for the story, without having to worry about the ending that I consider to be broken. And I can fully see how the slice of life nature of the show would be wonderfully suited to an anime adaptation, given that it gives the same care and attention to its real life honesty the first 3/4 of the manga did.

Because that’s what a slice of life story boils down to; How accurately it can capture the honesty of real life situations and experiences. Even in post apocalyptic settings. The setting is not important. What’s important is how well a slice of life story can portray actions, emotions and experiences we take for granted in real life. Things we do every day or things we have encountered and didn’t really think about as being anything special.

Slice of life stories’ strength lies in their ability to pump effort and care into bringing the mundane to life through art, and thereby shining a light on these taken for granted experiences, and showing it in a way that turns it into art. Which, in turn, then helps us look at our own realities a little closer, and we gain a deeper appreciation for our own lives and the every day experiences.

Even though his movies all have plots, Miyazaki does this a lot, in his glorification of the everyday mundane. Especially with food. But in other things as well. All the real world details he puts into his films, which is why they seem to breathe with so much life, and why I often find “ex Ghibli animators”, despite perhaps having the technical skill, are still not able to capture the living breathing feeling Myazaki and Takahata movies have to them. They understand what makes a Ghibli story and Ghibli characters, but they don’t understand what makes a Ghibli FILM.

Anyway this is an obscenely long post AGAIN. But that’s I guess “my opinion on Slice of Life anime”

[applegelstore]

Hey! Just wanted to drop by and say I really love your art and seeing your content! Along with the ideas you speak of sometimes. It's so nice to see because it looks like you enjoy what you do. It's an inspiration, really. I also wanted to ask, what's your inspiration? And what keeps you motivated? And this next one might be a bit personal, but do you have moments of self doubt? How do you deal with it?

Hi! First of all, thanks a lot for the ask, I don’t get personal questions about my art very often, so it’s very cool to see that some people are actual people and not porn bots, and are actually interested in the things I post!

Now for the actual ask, which I’ll totally have to divide into parts. I’ll also set a cut because it got hella long. Now, let’s go!

I have a very bad habit of word vomiting whenever I post art. It’s not only ever since I’ve started binge drawing Zesty fanart, I’ve pretty much always been like this ever since I started posting art on the internet about… 12 years ago at the very least?It used to be a lot of musing about the art itself (like, “what do you think, should I have tried this or that?” or “I had trouble with this thing” or “I actually like how whatever turned out”), which is probably due to the fact that teenage me had still a lot to learn and wasn’t afraid to admit that and ask for advice. I mostly posted my art online to get some peer advice.Nowadays, I am still aware of my shortcomings, but I don’t talk about the technical aspects of my art that often anymore. Nowadays, I have two reasons for posting art online: 1) I’m trying to make a living out of this shit, so naturally I’m trying to make as many people as possible aware of the fact that I exist. 2) I just wanna talk about the thing ™. Honestly. Never underestimate either of these points. That’s why there’s very often so much text and ranting in the tags. Because. I. want. to. talk. about. the. thing. I have an unholy amount of sticky notes on my desktop with ideas of things I’d either like to do because I think it would be subjectively cool, or because it might be a good addition to my portfolio. (spoilers: the former usually gets done like a decade earlier)I’m very glad that the sparks fly over and it shows that I love the things I love! ♥The result is novel-length descriptions for single sketches and tag vomit, though, lol.

“I also wanted to ask, what’s your inspiration?”

There’s no easy answer to that. First of all, it sounds a bit as if I was actively looking for inspiration. Which I am not. As I said, I rather have too many ideas and end up scrapping an unholy amount because even if I only do doodle shitpost sketches there’s no way I can do it all in a lifetime. I don’t know whether you had been implying that I actively look for inspiration or not, but if you did, let me tell you that I don’t. If you didn’t mean to imply that, no harm done.However, that doesn’t mean I don’t GET any. Because of course I get my inspiration from all kinds of places. I don’t watch a lot of movies, but I love going to the cinema and hearing the sounds and get eye candy (I love epic shots with the camera panning over landscapes and cool action scenes. Also, go watch The Secret of Kells, everyone). I always come out of blockbuster movies feeling like I wanna do something epic, too. I always listen to a whole lot of music, too, and there’s way too many songs that make me want to tell stories, and that plant pictures in the cinema in my head.(there was a time before Tales of Zestiria when I did original art and most of my paintings had some kind of musical inspiration lol. My stories, too).

Then there’s style and subject matter.Style first. I stopped aiming for a specific style pretty early on (like, late teens), and just accepted what came to me and works for me. The result is the weird anime not quite anime semi realism mixture that I have going, and the ratio usually varies depending on what I currently want to do. If I gave you a list of my favorite artists, you’d probably be surprised how little my own art has in common with theirs.Subject matter? WELLLLLL my original stuff comes from what I told you above, additionally, I studied medieval literature for a reason, and I loved mythological tales from my teenage years onwards. I’m much less enthusiastic about them now, but it used to influence my original art for quite a few years.…Also, I obviously like to do fanart. Like, a lot.

Also spoilers: I obviously love Zesty a tiny bit too much, because for no other fandom the streak of fanart has ever been holding up for two years and still counting without an end in sight, and I’ve never come up with any AUs, either. Usually my ideas went straight into original material, and this original material usually got top priority, but here it’s different, and I’m not sure whether it’s a good or a bad thing, haha. So basically don’t wait for my original stories* until I’m either a) done with the Zesty fandom or they’ve united and kicked me out or b) I’ve actually drawn at least four more full scale elaborate illustrations, have created the four or five AUs that I keep doodling for and ranting about, and I have finally run out of steam. Bets are up what happens first.

If you want specifics, it’s always easier to determine inspiration for a particular piece than in general. It can be so many different things.

* Although I still very, very much like some of my ideas and would actually love to do them. I just love to do low-effort Zesty fanart more XD. Shocking! But honestly, I am as surprised as anyone else that my muses shifted as much as they have, and mid-twenties me would never have guessed she’d fall into this rabbit hole in no time…

“And what keeps you motivated?”

I never… really needed to push myself to be motivated. It’s always been intrinsic. I had pictures in my head, I wanted them out. So I had to learn how, and do it. I have ideas in my head. I want to share them. I very much like this thing others have made. I want to tell the entire world how much I love it, so I do by drawing fanart. Simple as that.Positive responses (and asks like this!!) are a great motivator to POST art, but not to DO the art. The latter is intrinsic.Actually, probably TOO intrinsic. Because I keep drawing the things I WANT to draw and not those which would teach me new skills and thus help with “make money with art” thing. So I guess it’s a bit of a mixed bag, haha.I started drawing daily instead of just regularly at some point during my master’s studies, so roughly 8-5 years ago? Whenever I’m on the road or beaten by illness or bad feelings, I sometimes only manage very simple, super bad sketches, but it’s better than nothing. Luckily, it’s not like that every day (still more often that I’d like to, though).

If you’re wondering:Yes, I’ve had artblocks. Usually not in the sense of “I don’t have ideas”, but VERY MUCH in the sense of “I don’t feel like any of the ideas I have right now” and also “nothing I touch turns out the way I want it to turn out”. To all artists out there: it goes away. Believe me. Your stupid period will be over next week (to the guys out there: that’s not a joke. It DOES affect my general condition). It will be better the moment YOU feel better from whatever you’re currently suffering from.Yes, I’ve also scrapped ideas not because I didn’t like them after all, but because I tried and just failed repeatedly at executing them. Yes, I’ve had such bad times in life that I didn’t want to do ANYTHING. That included art. I just. didn’t. want. to. do. anything. Sometimes I still have these phases, but at least it no longer lasts for months straight without break.

“And this next one might be a bit personal, but do you have moments of self doubt?”

Pfft. Of course. Show me an artist who hasn’t. I’ve learned by now that you can acquire every skill you want. The question is whether you have the time and the will for it. If I had started drawing daily much earlier in life, and if I’d practiced more of the things I’m not good at instead of doodle shitposting, I’d be at an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT level than I am now. Even if I had STILL studied what I studied as I did (as I said, medieval literature, nothing art related). I’ve been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil and my parents have always been supportive, so that wasn’t a problem, I just wasn’t aware all these years that it could be something future me might want. Past me couldn’t have KNOWN. It’s okay, in a way. I can do the things I WANT to do by now. Not always as majestically as the ideas deserve, but it does the job. I don’t need to be able to do hyper realistic portraits, or hyper detailed interiors of space ships, for example. (it would be cool to be able to draw musical instruments tho. I’d love to learn 2D animation, too, but WHEN??) In short, am I aware that I’m not god and that my skills are limited in comparison to many other artists? Yes. Is that a problem? No.Do I doubt whether I can do my job, though? Very much yes. Because successful freelance artists don’t only need skill, they need to sell themselves, and I suck at that most epically. Do I miss the times when I didn’t even think about becoming better but simply drew for fun? Pretty much, yeah. Do I miss the times when I still had the ability to concentrate on elaborate, large paintings? Yes, I do. But I can’t turn my brain back to 10 year old. So I’ll have to deal with what I have now.

If you’re wondering whether I had moments of self doubt about my ideas, then, yes, very super much yes. I am convinced that the things you produce should be what YOU want to see. I want to draw what I want and tell the stories I WANT TO SEE AND READ. As I said, I’m doing it because I want these things to exist. Does it still hurt if nobody else likes these ideas? Yes, yes it does very much. It’s not even that I start thinking my ideas were bad, but that I start thinking “Nobody understands me and nobody will ever be able to like me because they don’t like my ideas, and my ideas are part of me”. Which is true, but it is ALSO true that you do not have to like every single idea some other person has to like them or be friends with them, I am aware of that, but if I may be honest here, it’s still a thought that I can’t quite get rid of, and still gets me angsty whenever I share some of my story ideas with anyone.

“How do you deal with it?”

I don’t. Ahem. Truth be told, I never really developed a proper coping mechanism for failures, and I don’t exactly like that about myself, but I still haven’t found a proper solution. As much as I stress that I do the things I do because I actually want to, I also told you that it scares me to see people disagreeing. It’s not only art related, whenever I feel I messed something up (school ie. marks, socialisation, whatever), it eats at me for days or even weeks until something positive happens (like, better marks, a compliment, anything). I don’t really like it, mostly because it starts a vicious cycle, but that’s how it is. I had surprisingly little problems with that during my university years because I had good marks, but I still mess up at least 50% of all the social interaction I do. It’s not always that easy with art, either.Story time.I remember one conversation with an artist who’s teaching art classes at my (ex) university, like, portrait drawings and flower paintings. So at some point when I started trying to live on art, I asked her whether she’d be interested in offering classes for other art styles as well, like comic drawing classes. She said she’d be interested, so I wanted to talk to her in person, but she never replied to that email reply. I decided to be bold for once, grabbed my portfolio, and went to her after one of her classes to show her what I’m doing. Put on the spot, she admitted that she didn’t reply any further because she didn’t like what I was doing. It was good from a technical aspect, but it seemed dull and uninspired to her, like something she had seen too many times already.I was devastated.I’ve always had to deal with underwhelming responses from peers and friends, too, but I also got some really sweet reactions and genuine support, so it was kind of a mixed bag, overall. I wasn’t used to that kind of harsh rejection of who I am.

Am I also very, VERY petty and jealous? Hell, yes. I get VERY jealous whenever I see people whose art is on my level or below but they still manage to make money with it, and have 10-100 times the amount of followers I have and/or get more enthusiastic responses online. It just makes me angry. The only way of coping I’ve ever found is stay the fuck away. I KNOW that it’s not these people’s fault if I’m jealous, and goddamn, freelance artist life is hard enough as it is. We don’t need to tear other apart. Surely they worked their asses off to be where they are. Heck, I’m friends with some. I keep away from those people so I can calm down and stop being angry, before I start lashing out at artists just because they get the attention they need and deserve. It’s not THEIR fault that I need money and also reassurance.

The only thing that ever worked for me to overcome any of these issues is just continue nevertheless. Keep doing what you’re doing. Remember what you love and why and JUST KEEP DOING IT. Even if you don’t see the point right now. Chances are you will see that point again. Maybe you never will. But IF you ever do, you want to make damn sure that you didn’t drop the ball in the meantime. There’s that saying that you can lose if you fight, but you can’t win if you never fight. It’s true. Be stubborn and show the world your middle finger.Spoilers: I’m teaching comic style drawing classes for the “rivaling” institute now. Always only in super small groups and it’s badly paid, so I don’t know for how long I’ll be able to keep it up, but it’s a start, right?

I hope that answered your questions!

Last remark: always remember, kids: you HAVE to produce the content you want to see yourself. Nobody is gonna do it for you unless you pay them. So. I’m doing it. Against better judgment, lol.…and watch The Secret of Kells.

[howling--fantods]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLIS!!!!!

today is my best friend/platonic soul mate @beachsequence‘s birthday!!! i’m not great at doing these posts, for some reason i feel like i am less able to articulate the way i feel in important posts than i am in casual posts. but anyways, here it goes.

when ellis and i started talking around xmas 2014 within a month i felt like i’d known them forever. i have always been cautious of the term “best friend” bc i never have had one for a long, sustained period of time, but now around 3.5 years later, ellis has been the only true best friend i’ve ever had. i now have a hard time remembering what it was like without them, it was so much more lonely for sure. i remember often wishing that i had someone in my life, just one person to be able to share what i love with, especially music. i remember wanting just one person to take a chance and love me enough to try and understand and see what i love in the things that are important to me, with an open mind. we initially bonded over zooropa, for YEARS all i wanted was to find someone else who loved that album as much as i did (and still do). they are obsessed with the details and found things in that album that even i hadn’t found. that is one of my favorite things about them, they give their love so openly and dive in without fear. zooropa was the first album we shared and since then most of the music i have found and loved i’ve been able to share with them and that means so much more to me than i can say. but also they have opened me up to so many other things too, and i guess this is what love does, bc when i listen to the albums/artists/songs they are into, i can’t help but listen to them knowing that ellis loves them, and knowing that makes me warm to them immediately, if that makes sense.

this is the place where i could really go on forever about how much i love ellis, and it is overwhelming having to edit myself hahahha. whenever we talk we just dissolve into the grossest love-fest and it is the best but disgusting. but honestly, ellis is the most amazing person i know. they have struggled a lot over the time i have known them, and i know how hard it has been, but watching from the sidelines i can’t feel anything but love and immense pride for the person they are becoming/have become. i think they have this effect on a lot of people, pretty much everyone wants to adopt them bc they are so wonderful, and real, and authentic and kind and funny and awesome. i think we all see how rare what they have is, and just want to protect them from anything that could possibly take that away. but what is so incredible about them is how strong and resilient they are, i have total faith that they will make it through whatever life throws at them (the bruce springsteen lyric: “i strolled all alone through a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched” comes to mind <3) i just feel so fucking blessed to know them and have them in my life.

in closing here are some things that i love about them:

they always, always, ALWAYS make me feel infinitely better if i am feeling down without even knowing a lot of the times (for example a message like last week about how they were watching a porn and the guy answered the phone AND IT DIDNT EVEN RING. me depressed, lonely, sees that message and it just reminds me that i am not alone at all :’))

we are like the two biggest shaun ryder fans and literally yelled SHAUN RYDER IS THE KEATS OF OUR TIME!!!! all day long when we were in ann arbor with sam and michael (i sent them black grape the first time i listened to it and they replied so quickly THIS IS AMAZING!!! honestly this is everything to me, they are the person i can share shit like black grape with)

i found a half-eaten bag of almonds in the bottom of my bag last week that i had bought at our u2 concert in detroit in august and sent them a pic and they were like “WHY IS THIS BAG OF ALMONDS ABOUT TO MAKE ME CRY!”

we sobbed through “i still havent found what i’m looking for” at that u2 concert together and then during “one” were resting our heads on each others’ shoulders and BONO SAW US AND RESTED HIS HEAD ON ADAM’S SHOULDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

they are the first person i want to tell pretty much anything that happens in my life

they wake me up with screenshots of graham coxon tweets

they come up with some seriously epic puns and shitposts (”here cum that boi” springs to mind)

SELFIE KING, STYLE ICON (me drunk, scrolling through IG while out with friends: LOOOK AT ELLIS LOOOOOOK AT THEM!!!!!!!!!!! THEY ARE SO FUCKING AMAZING LOOK AT THESE SELFIES LOOK AT THEM!!!!!!!!!)

a;ksdfjkalsdjf;a there are so many more things i cant even begin to go into THEY ARE THE FUCKING BEST

HAPPY FUCKING BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHH I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

[grumpysweetheart]

Some notes/behind the scenes stuff liveblogged from Barry’s first stream! (Note: these are paraphrased, please refer to Barry’s stream for context and his own words)

Barry said one of his favorite Grumps series to edit was Pokemon FireRed when Arin was yelling at common Pokemon like “IT’S A FUCKING ABRA!!!!” “HOLY FUCK IT’S AN ODDISH!!!”

He said he’s happy to have inspired people and made people laugh with his edits, but editing for GG by himself was really taxing on him and he’s glad to be where he is now.

He said that the “Our House” video was inspired by the “You Were Working As A Waitress In A Cocktail Bar” shitpost thing that replaces all the lyrics to that song with that (which they showed on the Burgie ad outtakes!) and it just spiraled from there. He said it also took about a month to make that video pfft

He says whether he returns on Dragons in Places or PBG’s Hardcore is up to the people running it (Grumps, PBG). He said that he’s absolutely willing to be if he’s invited and isn’t super busy!

Barry says he still loves everyone on Grumps and they’re practically family and that has not changed. The reason he left was because through 2017, he had trouble finding what he wanted to do and create. Examples, G-Club, World Famous, etc. And then when they did stuff like “Our House”, he felt like it had to fit into boxes, like where do they upload a video like that: main channel? Grump Out? And he feels that those questions stifle creativity, so doing stuff on his own, individual from Grumps gives him the opportunity to do whatever his creativity leads him to do.

Barry said he’s up to playing Earthbound if Ross wants to, but Ross has been working really hard on Gameoverse and doesn’t really have time for LetsPlays, he’s just too busy. Barry said he kind of expected Earthbound to not return and said we can enjoy the episodes that are up. He said something else about how he got vibes from Ross that he wasn’t as into it as Barry was, since he came to Earthbound from Undertale and that had to be a weird shift. He said that he knew Ross enjoyed some things about Earthbound, but it is where it is. He did say he could play it on stream though.

Barry also said that from the beginning of the channel, Grumps has always been two-thirds focused on Arin and Dan, so that’s really where the focus of the channel is, especially since they stopped(paused?) Steamcade, and now that they have GG Live shows, that’s where the focus of the channel is.

Barry said that World Famous had a couple mistakes that caused it to not be as great as they wanted it to be. 1) gave each other characters/names that weren’t theirs (like in their skits for commercials, they’re just being themselves albeit with some scripted stuff and some improv) 2) started with gross-out humor (Pea Soup) 3) first episode didn’t have Arin or Dan in it, if they were it would have done at least a little better 4) was supposed to be small things to do between big projects, and then turned into big things, and wasn’t as worth it for things that people didn’t like

“Will you ever go on Guest Grumps?” Barry: I don’t think so for the fact that Guest Grumps is for people outside of YouTube (actors/comedians, etc) Grumpcade is a possibility, but he said Barry and Ross were really the only ones keeping the middle slot going, and now that Barry’s gone and Ross is busy, probably not a lot of Grumpcade in the channel’s future because that’s not really the direction the channel is going. (I still personally think Grumpcade with other youtubers? And Brian and Suzy and Matt and Ryan and Vernon? I get that they all have other things but like ;-;)

He said there will be more Q&A streams like this in the next week

He’s thinking of the names for subscribers and followers, that subscribers are houseguests and followers are squatters because you’re in the house but not paying. Subscribers are houseguests and squatters can sleep on the floor but houseguests get a pillow.

[valyrfia]

hey friend! fello eurovision shitposter here :) first of all I want to say that im so glad to have finally found someone whos as convinced as i am that bulgaria should win this year! I had another question for you: so you post a lot of marvel as well and a lot of stony so i stalked your blog and im confused because you said you started to ship them more after civil war? idk im a huge stucky shipper and steve and bucky just seem to have the better dynamic no offense intended i just want yourview

BULGARIA. THEY’RE AMAZING RIGHT? I’m honestly almost more in love with this song that I was with Beautiful Mess last year (that’s a lie I still cry that my boy Kris didn’t win but I also adore Amar Pelos Dois so I’m not mad). Now with the footage of their AMAZING live performance at the London pre-party, I’m almost fully convinced that they are gonna clinch the top spot this year. I mean, imagine Bones with the camera work and lighting of Eurovision and the atmosphere of the arena. It’s going to be incredible I’m so excited. 

Moving on from my trash talk: why I ship stevetony and not stucky? Whoo boy this is gonna take an essay to answer, and it’s going to be difficult  a. because I can never remember all the reasons why I do ship stevetony (I always end up missing one lol) and b. because stucky shippers are…enthusiastic, for the lack of a better word. I love them, I respect a lot of them and I’m friends with people who ship it. But fandom is a tricky business. Stevebucky never did it for me as a ship. The explanation is long and complicated but it can be boiled down to a distinct idea: For me, adding a romantic element to Steve and Tony’s dynamic makes their interactions much more interesting and intriguing, while adding a romantic element to Steve and Bucky’s dynamic would almost subtract something quintessential from both of those characters. 

Friendships to me are almost more impactful on a person’s life than romantic relationships, god knows where I would be without my friends today. There’s a tendency in the media to push the obligation that the most important person in your life has to be your significant other. I hate that, frankly. Steve and Bucky love each other more than anybody else in the world, and for me, that’s beautiful. I guess I just never did understand the romantic connotations that people attached to what seemed to me, seemed to be a fully functioning, complete and beautiful relationship. 

Steve and Tony’s relationship however, you always feel like you’re missing some part of the story when you observe their interactions. From their respective monologues to each other, The Confession and The Oath to their familiar joking with each other right before everything goes to shit at the base in Siberia in CA:CW. You feel like you’re missing some part of their story. I, (it seems along with Jonathan Hickman, RDJ and Chris Evans) like to headcanon that this missing piece is a romantic plotline, but you can interpret it however you want. That’s the beauty of fictional works. It’s not the cold, hard canon that matters, but your interpretation of it. My experience is different from yours and to me that’s beautiful.

An essay is available below the cut, if you’re interested in how I actually stopped shipping stucky and started shipping stevetony (an origin story if you will.)

In my introduction to Marvel, a couple of years ago, I did initially read Steve/Bucky fics more than any other pairing, but incidentally it was a Steve/Bucky fic that made me start reading Steve/Tony ones (oops I guess?) The Man on the Bridge by boopboop on AO3 was the one that got me invested in the Steve/Tony dynamic, it was the fic with the highest kudos on AO3 at the time that I was reading Stucky. It’s a really great fic 11/10 definitely worth the read (I think you need an AO3 account though) but what kept me going wasn’t the ship I was supposed to be reading it for, it was the dynamic between Steve and Tony. For example: you get great scenes like Steve and Tony bickering like an old married couple over coffee at least four times and banter like this out of nowhere: 

““I sent flowers?” Tony asks, trying like hell to play it cool. He gives her a desperate look that she ignores by default.

“Tony picked them,” Pepper says, determined as ever to ruin Tony’s reputation.

“He did, did he?” Steve asks knowingly.

Pepper leads them all into the wide social space inside. “He spent a lot of time trying to find your favorites.”

It’s dark enough to hide the fact that Tony’s ears are a little pink, even when someone has as sharp a vision as Steve does. That doesn’t stop him wanting to crawl back into his suit and hide. “Really? Do we have to tell him that?”

“He might think you don’t like him if I don’t,” Pepper says with a knowing smile flashed in Steve’s direction.

“I don’t,” Tony says firmly. “I tolerate him. Barely.”

“Uh huh.” Steve chuckles, his smile growing warm. “Right. I get it.””

and lines like this

“We - Nat and I - figured Rogers would come to you for help once he and Bucky made it out of Florida.”

“You did?” Tony asks, stunned. He can think of a dozen people Steve would have picked over him, even with the resources Tony has at his disposal.

Barton looks at him like he’s an idiot. “Yes,” he says, simple as that.

“And that brings you here why?”

“Because neither of you idiots have a single shred of self preservation between you,” Barton says bluntly. “That’s why you’re good for each other.”

and general power couple stuff

She hardly looks a day older than she had appeared in the recording they saw before leaving for London - but Tony knows that file was dated 1991. Her sharp features are paired with dark eyes and unnaturally pale skin, offset by a razor sharp, almost masculine suit. “Mr Stark,” she inclines her head, “Captain Rogers.”

She had been given no other identification in the videos, other than being addressed by Lukin as ‘Synthia’. Since they don’t want to give away how much information they have, Tony tips his head to one side and asks, “Should I know you? Have we met?”

“We have not, Mr Stark. Captain Rogers and I do have a shared acquaintance, however.”

“Don’t you dare talk about him,” Steve growls, tense at Tony’s side. The fact that he hasn’t rushed forward and unleashed that brewing violence is something of a shock. He’s practically shaking with his rage, every muscle in his body tense and strained.

Tony puts one hand on Steve’s arm, steadying him. “Look lady, I don’t know who you are but I’m tired of games. What do you want with us?”

She tilts her head, “Why not the pleasure of your company? You are Iron Man and Captain America after all. An unstoppable force. The two greatest superheroes of our time.”

even the goddamn villains ship it I was supposed to go into this fic and not come out the other side shipping steve and tony come on

there’s a reason that this is the only non-stevetony fic i’ve read in three years goddamnit 

*clears throat*

But yeah that was the fic that got me interested in the possibilities surrounding the Steve/Tony dynamic. Then I started doing some research and came up with the canon content (like their respective love confessions in 616 and the actors fascination with the ship (shoot me I’m weak okay)), and it’s been a wild ride ever since. 

If you’re interested in seeing their dynamic in action through a romantic lens, may I suggest Disrepair by Tippet for MCU and  Belief Space by magicasen for 616. Neither have huge confessions of love or anything like that, Belief Space does have one kiss towards the end but the focus point is Steve and Tony’s dynamic during the incursion crisis in 616 and Steve’s POV remains largely platonic throughout the fic. Disrepair actually has no romantic connotations in it, as far as I remember, but it analyses the MCU dynamic in such a way that you start to see what I mean when I say that Steve and Tony’s relationship would be ten times more intriguing with a romantic element. Both fics are interesting character studies of both Steve and Tony and I would highly recommend reading them anyway. Also Belief Space is my favourite fic of all time, and does not get enough love goddamnit, so there’s that. 

Anyway, I’ll finish your lovely ask by giving you what is frankly my stevetony song for Infinity War and the only song I listen to nowadays. It’s my fave. What else would it be in the month before Eurovision? It’s Bones by EQUINOX.