#fun to develop! but I don't have many ideas

[tixdixl]

Is there anything specific that you really love about your ocs?

Thank you so so much for asking this? First, I'm honored and incredibly appreciative of you for asking. And second, you really got me thinking about what I *do* love about them and why I continue to explore them even after 11 months of being in this fandom space.

So this is going to seem like a generic, generalized response, but it is something that applies to all of them.

I really love how each of my OCs, at least in my perspective, very very clearly can be traced back to their source materials while simultaneously being their own characters.

Starting with Oisín, Oisín from the get go was always meant to align both with "The Headless Horseman" and also dullahan mythology (specifically Irish and Scottish folklore). And yet, because of the way they evolved and the way I developed them in alignment with the narrative of "Twisted Wonderland", they became their own being. --- idk if folks even knew this. I never set out to have them shipped with Lilia. It entirely developed naturally and on its own. And it has turned into arguably my favorite ship out of all of them. The Headless Horseman??? Married to a Vampire???? Incredible. Amazing. 10/10

Then you have Kingsley and like... he is so at his core the Horned King, and every which way you look at his narrative, even his character development? It aligns itself in the way that the narrative of the "Chronicles of Prydain" unfolds. Even when he has his seige on the castle, it feels on par with the actions of the Horned King or any of the other antagonists from the series. His temperment and his personality? 100% - and yet his choices are his own. His narrative is his own. He gets the Cauldron. He gets to KEEP the Cauldron. Its HIS. Not Tarran's!!!!!

René, Rémi, and Eve are so painfully the main trio of "Swan Lake" (the ballet). And yet René's entire narrative and personality is contingent on a question that the ballet NEVER answers or even considers: "Who is Odile without Rothbardt?" And so the Odile we get in NRC, René, is my interpretation of who Odile would be when alone. How she would act if functioning on her own and without the evil magician. So sure, René is Odile. But René also is René. And only René.

Emil holds an incredibly special place in my heart where this theme is concerned. I don't think many people are aware of the anti-semitism in "Tangled". So when I thought of the idea of a Dame Gothel expy, I went in with the idea of creating a Gothel who just was Jewish coded but not a charicature. I incorporated elements from the original Rapunzel tale, the adaptation of "Into the Woods", "Tangled", and added flavor in the form of jewish beliefs and jewish customs. It's resulted into a character who is very very clearly Gothel in his narrative and in his personality and in his relationships, but he isnt restricted by the narrative or characterization as depicted by Disney. He has grown beyond that just like the beanstalk that ended up in his bestie's backyard. Also-- his Overblot? Chef's kiss.

Xiáng is ESPECIALLY fun here. Because when I originally created him, I didn't have a Disney character in mind. He showed up an amalgamation of different ideas and themes from stories I've read recently that I really enjoyed. And then @inmateofthemind popped into my DMs and asked me if Xiáng was twisted from Crikee from "Mulan". And I sat there. And i looked at all the drawn comparisons. And i couldn't deny.... the parallels were to strong not to lean into it. And the more I leaned into it? The more and more he showed himself to BE Crikee. And yet he so ISNT!!!!!! It's honestly so fun.

Sefu is also really fun, because they came from a rewatch of Lion King 2: Simba's Pride with @ramshacklerumble . And I honestly just gave myself permission to take the idea of Zira and REALLY LEAN into the yandere, creepy territorial fan aspect of her character. It also gave me the opportunity to explore how I personally think Zira's dynamic with Scar looked like, based on the implications set out by the film. We never get to see it in the media, which means that Sefu does have the opportunity to expand beyond the scope of Disney, and I do get to determine how much Leona actually can't stand them lol.

Alphonse too is such a fun one. Because his source material depicts the Wellies as incredibly static and yet emotionally driven characters, I get the opportunity to explore the question "What would allow the Wellies (from "Giselle" the ballet) to actually move on and rest in the after life?" It's also a fun opportunity to explore the very blurred lines between fae and ghosts in older Anglo/Irish folklore, as the Wellies were supposed to be inspired by the Otherfolk.

If you're still reading this- thank you so much for sticking around?? Genuinely, I appreciate it and I hope you enjoyed the read. If you want more specific details about any of the things mentioned, please don't hesitate to ask!

Tag list: @ramshacklerumble @the-trinket-witch @starry-night-rose @elenauaurs @rainesol

@cyanide-latte @winterweary @theleechyskrunkly @thehollowwriter @boopshoops

@lumdays @twstinginthewind @inmateofthemind

[clone-wars-retteyo-au]

I think sometimes I get so caught up in the concept of how clones connect with each other, I forget how they might have very different perceptions of community and clone-to-clone relations (it's just one random thing I find kind of neat about the concept of clones as a whole).

One concept I don't explore quite as heavily in my AU (though I honestly should more often) is that while they do get there own planet, there are factions of clones who refuse to live there and decide to go off and do their own thing. They have automatic citizenship, but personally do not identify with this new planet and society. They still identify as clones for the most part, but do not consider themselves to be a part of this new specific society.

So I repeatedly switch back and forth between using the term "Retteyans" (the planet in this AU is called Retteyo btw) and "clones" because they become two separate identities. "Clone" is categorized as an ethnic/racial identity that verges on being its own species due to the major biological differences between them and humans. "Retteyan" is a national identity with ties to ethnicity.

Someone may identify as a clone, but not identify as a Retteyan, and its considered somewhat offensive to assume all clones are Retteyans, because there are plenty who do not identify with the planet. Plenty of clones make spaces for themselves outside of Retteyo across the galaxy, though those are smaller spaces. While Retteyo is seen as the main representative of the clones as a species(?), it is not the default one. There are plenty of specific ethnicities within the broader clone identity. Retteyo is just the biggest and loudest and lowkey established itself as the "official" homeworld for all clones (which could be its own source of conflict).

A major influencing factor in my AU is that the vast majority of clones are unable to reproduce. This will play into the reason they start cloning on Retteyo in the first place.

The reason they begin cloning on Retteyo is actually a bit complicated yet simple: they have created their own culture, and many of the younger clones who never fought in the war develop a sense of cultural pride/ethnic identity that they grow very attached to. When people begin to realize that the clones will eventually die out, the younger generation of clones on Retteyo is horrified at the notion that they will all eventually die out, and with it, a large portion of their culture (not fully realizing that certain elements of culture will fade either way due to it being affected by the trauma of the oldest generation). Even if they did pass down their culture to natborns, there is an inherent terror in knowing one's ethnic group is dying out.

(Note: This might get a little heavy as it touches on notions of ethnic purity and fears about ethnic erasure. The AU generally does end up covering some pretty heavy topics at points because I couldn't help myself and wanted to explore a variety of stuff)

One thing that's also fun to write in this AU is the acknowledgement that cultural flaws and problematic mindsets exist and would develop. Even if the clones were able to reproduce with natborns, this would still occur due to a complex and slightly darker reason. The clones are unable to reproduce with each other, and so while it goes unstated, some clones who were raised solely by other clones and aren't as close to natborns hold concerns over the idea of, to put it bluntly, "pure" clones dying out. Clones with the 100% traditional clone DNA.

Some have wrapped up the idea of being a clone with the aspect of all sharing the same DNA, which also may have small ties to Kaminoan eugenics. Because lets be honest, not all clones will fully reject Kaminoan ideals, and even if they reject Kamino, their mindset is still influenced by the lowkey brainwashing they've received since childhood. I am mixed race myself (half white, half black plus maybe some other stuff but mostly black), and am aware that there are a lot of complexities related to this overall topic.

I am a primary example of the fact that just because someone is mixed race doesn't mean their identity is invalid. However, I also have sympathy for some marginalized minority groups fears about being erased in a specific way. The concept of gradually being "replaced" until the only people left who are a part of that ethnic group share more DNA with their original oppressors than they do with the marginalized group. It's a kind of personal topic that would be tricky to touch upon, and I might not even add it to the AU, but it could be interesting.

The purity mindset as a whole is pretty gross, but again, the AU does not just explore culture and what their society would look like. It actually tends to explore the issues that would arise from the clones gaining freedom and independence, among other things. It is about the culture, but also has become more and more about the conflicts and evolution of culture as trauma is either passed down or fades away with each generation.

One major plot point is the oldest generation of clones (those who fought in the war) suddenly all developing severe mental health issues later on in life due to the intense amounts of trauma they faced coming back to bite them. The biggest conflict in the story is the generational differences between clones who fought in the war, clones who were born on Kamino but never fought in the war, and clones who were born on this new planet post-war.

Not all the clones have the same mindset, and in fact develop very different mindsets on a lot of things (between generations, between battalions, between individuals, etc.), which ends up being the driving force of the AU's plot.

I've decided that Rex is the one who paints Kanan's eye mask with his bird of prey design.

Kanan's feeling pretty low still just after Malachor, he's still distancing himself from everybody, and Rex decides to go try to talk to him at one point and the first thing he comes up with to say is to point out that his new mask is pretty plain. It's awkward, he regrets it immediately, but then Kanan says that it gets the job done and Rex is abruptly reminded of himself so so long ago back at the beginning of the war.

He sits Kanan down and tells him a story about how, at the beginning of the war, only a few of the clones had paint on their armor, to designate things like rank and battalion in order to make it easier for officers to find them in the middle of a busy battlefield. The paint was practical and it was limited to a very select few. But the Jedi almost immediately started trying to encourage the clones to utilize the paint less sparingly, suggesting that maybe everybody could wear at least a LITTLE paint and use more individualized designs so that it was still easy to tell the commanders and captains apart from the others when needed.

Some of the clones had taken to it with gusto, but others had been more hesitant, and Rex remembers having been one of them. He remembers telling Obi-Wan that there was no real REASON to paint everyone's armor and especially not to come up with personal designs. The armor was practical and it served its purpose with or without the paint and special designs. But the Jedi had insisted on at least TRYING to come up with his own design and if he didn't like it, he could always take it off, so Rex had given in and chosen something to paint on the armor. And, somehow, it felt a little lighter the next time he put it on. It didn't erase the horrors of war or the pain of loss or anything like that, but it helped.

He tells Kanan that the mask right now is just a reminder of the pain of the injury and whatever other feelings he's still got all caught up in the Malachor mission (guilt over what happened with Ezra, grief over Ahsoka's loss). But if he puts his own design on it, it might turn the mask into something other than a constant reminder of something bad. Instead, it's a reminder of who he is, the combination of the person he once was and who he's become. He is more than just his injury or this mission and he can use the mask to declare that if he wants to.

Kanan says he never realized Rex and the other clones had cared so deeply about their armor and Rex says that the armor itself was meaningless. It's better than what's being handed out to stormtroopers, but not but a LOT. It was the design on it that had meant something and, more than that, it was what the design REPRESENTED: having a choice about how you were perceived by others.

Kanan asks why Rex had chosen his particular designs, the bird of prey eyes on his helmet in particular. Rex explains that he chose it because he liked birds and thought it looked cool, but he's kept the helmet for as long as he has because it's come to mean something ELSE now. It's not just a cool-looking design, it's a reminder of a better time in his life. It's a reminder of when he'd been a part of something greater than himself, with the other clones and the Jedi. It's a reminder of a time when he'd had hope that he and his people could one day come out the other side of this war towards a brighter future.

Kanan looks at the mask he'd grabbed from storage somewhere or something just to keep light from hurting his eyes as they recovered and to cover up the injury from other people's stares (even if he couldn't see them staring), then hands it to Rex and asks if Rex minds sharing that symbol because he'd like a reminder of that, too. Rex remembers the 332nd and their helmets that they'd painted to look like their chosen Jedi, almost blindly giving away their individuality in favor of that loyalty that had been stripped from them anyway. And then he looks at Kanan, choosing to make himself look LIKE REX, someone who had shared his face with millions once, because he wants to honor both the connections he'd lost as well as this new connection the two of them have built together now. And Rex says he'd be happy to share.

[altblock-tm]

OC Fact #62

Happy mermay! Let's talk about my lil' guy!

Affectionately called Guppy (a nickname from @corrupted-tale that just stuck since I can't come up with names lmaoo), he's a little ghost mermaid that accompanies Myrie :)

He's based off a lamprey, and therefore is a parasite! Unfortunately, his body wasn't found by other mermaid communities, so his soul couldn't be released, so he lives as a ghost. In order to thrive, he feasts off happiness.

Cut to Myrie, the angstiest teen ever, maybe.

Guppy is able to cause strong visions that make people feel happy, and then he feeds off that. That's what he did with Myrie for so long.

He's just a lil' guy :) lil' baby boy little kid did nothing wrong in his life little meow meow

[silusvesuius]

this tree from my new drawing looking goated afffffff 👑👑

[aurosoulart]

the CEO of NIANTIC liked my art on twitter?!?!?!?! 🫠 I am passing away 👻

[comfortlesshurt]

2024 Fic Masterpost - Voltron

Realizing I used to have a nice clean Tumblr page for this, but I figured I should have SOMETHING to put all my recent fics together somewhere!

In case this breaches containment, I write hurt/comfort pretty exclusively, and most of my works have minor TWs. I'm a Keith stan at heart, but I've been trying to branch out on how much I involve other characters.

Short Chapter Fics:

5 Times Lance Doesn't Matter +1 Time He Finally Does

15k - complete

Lance-centric with a strong focus on Keith later

mid-canon to post-canon timeline & canon plausible

gen platonic paladins & Lance; implied pre-Klance

TW for short-term alcohol abuse & emeto

14k for the main story, +1k at the end as an optional bonus chapter (how I was originally going to write the fic before it turned into a 5+1)

Smiling 'cause you're used to it (a house that's always haunted)

12k - complete

Keith-centric

pre-Kerberos & canon plausible

Broganes

lots of TWs! emeto, implied child abuse, implied off-screen alcohol abuse by an OC, description of injury, implied bullying, implied self-harm, implied eating disorder

chapter 4 has art!

Chemicals, chemicals in my brain (where'd you go, where'd you go anyway?)

7k - reads as complete, but may get one more chapter

Keith-centric

early canon & canon plausible-ish

Broganes & implied pre-Klance

TW for forced drug use & emeto

5 Times Keith Relies on the Blade +1 Time...

10k - 5/6 chapters published

Keith-centric

mid-canon, during Keith's time as a Blade

mostly Keith & Blades, some Keith & paladins

TW for injury, but it's not super detailed

intended to follow On it, yes, indeed (on it, watch me bleed) but like... I'm not gonna stop you from reading it on its own

Oneshots:

On it, yes, indeed (on it, watch me bleed)

2.5k - complete

Keith-centric

mid-canon, just before Keith joins the BOM full-time & canon-plausible

gen with some implied Kuron fuckery

TW for injury, not very detailed

art in progress for this one!

Ficlets:

Nowhere to call home (so I'll pack and run away)

5k - complete ficlet collection (though it's the basis for a longer fic I'm working on, so you'll see more in the future if you want to)

Keith-centric

pre-canon, post-Kerberos launch, up to you whether you consider it canon plausible because I took some liberties (but it converges back to canon episode 1 by the end)

gen (it's Keith alone in the desert; kind of hard to explore relationships in isolation)

the most TWs I've ever put into one work, so don't feel like you HAVE to read this fic! it's not for everyone; it's mainly for me. recreational drug use, vehicular accident, basic description of injuries, my personal experiences with poverty (which may not match up with yours and that's okay), starvation, emeto, mentioned animal death, slight suicidal ideation

it has a playlist linked in the first author's note!

art is also in progress

What are you wondering? (What do you know?)

<1k - may get a second chapter, but reads as a complete ficlet now

Shiro-centric

pre-canon, post Galra capture, & canon plausible

gen

TW for body horror and human experimentation maybe? it's not super detailed

[vegaseatsass]

you ever think about how vegas and kinn’s (and tankhun’s) age differences play into their rivalry, esp during their formative years? i am obsessed with/heartbroken by the notion of vegas being born essentially for the purpose of competing with his 4-6 years older cousins and no one acknowledging the inherent developmental disadvantage because, well, he is gun’s heir.

I DOOOO think about this! I'm so obsessed w/ trying to figure out what their age difference actually is, and how old Tankhun was when he was traumatized out of his role and Kinn took over, because I think a lotttt about Vegas being taught to hate and undermine Tankhun (and how clumsy he probably was when he was young, and how that impacted the overt cartoonish ire between Tankhun and Vegas-Macau), and looking up to his cool, and possibly even NICE!!!, older cousin Kinn before he was taught to view him as a threat. But yeah! As soon as Kinn becomes the heir!! Suddenly Vegas goes from encouraged to undermine his much older cousin, to expected to clone and displace his old-enough-to-have-skills-and-capabilities-Vegas-lacks, but-not-so-old-it's-patently-insane-for-his-dad-to-act-like-Vegas-should-somehow-overcompensate-for-all-of-those things, cousin. What a ridiculous situation... Gun acts like he's a failure for his natural developmental disadvantage, and Kinn/Tankhun/the main family act like it's a hard-earned win for Kinn every time Vegas fails because of expected age gap foibles, and I would headcanon that any of the wins he does get are not because he successfully overtakes Kinn in strength or intelligence before he's at least 20 or so, but probably through sneakiness or cruelty or both, so he internalizes early that those are his special talents, but talents that get him treated with pathologized disgust/disdain/resentment by his entire family...

:)

[spaceratprodigy]

thinking so many thoughts abt iris fresh out of the vault so scared, confused, vulnerable, alone, grief about to hit in full force, and still malleable, just for poppy to be the first person to find her and she has iris wrapped around her finger for a while

[zelda-posting]

tears of the kingdom could have been so good if it were built around like, its story or its characters instead of being a clunky shell to show off the mechanic no one asked for that it forces you to use

[askshivanulegacy]

Except they're not all wrong and they're not "paid fanfiction." They were written with Lucas' approval and they developed the Star Wars universe in a dry spell that lasted years. The only reason they're claimed to be "not canon" now is only because of the decision Disney made ... and that was after it passed out of Lucas' hands. He never claimed any such thing. So as far as Lucas is concerned, they're as canon as anything else.

And it's true that at the same time there are story points that conflict. All that means is that you get to explore how they might or might not still fit with other pieces of the universe, such as the movies, and which pieces you think make more sense.

There is no hard core "this is wrong" statement that you can apply to published material. The EU books are just as valid as anything else. The Star Wars universe is NOT just the movies, whether anyone likes it or not. It's a bad faith move to blockade off totally valid discussion points just because you want to gatekeep the fandom. The books exist, people read them and like them, and they get to talk about them, and no one is capable of undermining that. You don't get to invalidate real SW resources just because you don't like the conclusions some people make from them.

At the point that you want to keep your headcanons informed only by the movies, that is certainly a choice you can make. But in the wider fandom, people can and do use all the material available to them. And they will have different opinions. You don't have to like them, but there's also nothing you can do to wipe them out or to somehow magically trump them because you like your resources better than theirs.

If you don't want to see those points come up in discussions then don't have those discussions. Or frame the discussion properly up front, and it can be a fun little exercise to only consider the movies.

This is just how fandom works.

I really dislike it when anti-Jedi and Jedi-critical crowd uses EU books as a prove for their points. Why they’re all wrong:

a) The books were written by various people who didn’t consult George Lucas about what they’re going to write. Everyone understood SW as they did. When an original author has never claimed such art as canon and actually refused it – this is a definition of fanfiction, isn’t it? Paid, yes, but fanfiction nonetheless.

b) Most of these books were created way before PT. They didn’t know about the Jedi things what we know now. It becomes quite hypocritical – I mean, in the EU the clones were enemies, not allies, but somehow I don’t see any claims ‘but the clones are enemies! The EU says so!’. Even in Karen Traviss books not all the clones have a personality, but we all ignore it now, aren’t we? She wrote her books before the TCW, not knowing how the series would spin the story. So EU retcon works for the clones, but not for the Jedi?

[seagullcharmer]

still haven't properly Drawn my lorule map yet but oooh the ideas........

[inkskinned]

even 2 years ago people still said autism with a whisper. it was also how people sometimes whisper lesbian, like they're afraid of uttering a slur. autistic was either an insult or it was something terrible, a horrible burden only select people endure. "select people" were usually 9 year old boys and skinny white men.

they are not hispanic young adults with a dog and a life and friends. i can make (sustained, calculated, painful) eye contact. with certain people, i don't even have to count how many seconds i am holding their vision - i can just look at them. i can wear clothes that bother me, i will just have a worse day than usual. i might cry about any changes to my schedule - but change is scary! this is normal!

when i was 16 it was OCD. i mean that was the thing everyone said. i totally have ocd. they would arrange 6 colors of gel pen in rainbow order (no worry for indigo feeling left out) and they'd be "so ocd" about it.

if you struggle with intrusive thoughts, be careful at this next paragraph, but. at 16 i developed a compulsion that involved self-harm. my ocd was convinced i was simply forgetting that i'd hurt someone terribly - a thought that persisted for no clear or delineated reason.

at some point i will probably write about how the idea of "morally pure thoughts" was hell for me and others with ocd, but this was the odd dichotomy for many of us: they liked our "aesthetic", but were genuinely repulsed by our lived experience. "intrusive thoughts" now means "cutting your hair in the sink" instead of talking yourself down from believing horrible things. "so ocd" is a label without any true understanding.

it's something i've talked about before - in multiplicity - but i firmly believe in the veracity and necessity of self-diagnosis. i think it saves lives and it saves tragedies from occurring. as someone raised in a house that wasn't safe, self-diagnosis was, for many years, the only viable option. 15 and honestly googling: am i depressed or are there demons affecting my behavior.

but it is not genuine self-diagnosis anymore, most of the time. it is a strange, blanched version of that whispered word autism. now certain traits are constantly seen as "autistic" - any passing intense interest. any flubbed social interaction. people say it while laughing - a touch of the 'tism.

and i like the acceptance! i do. i like that people are talking about it. i like that if i self-identify, more people speak up and say me too, bitch. but there is something-else quietly happening, the way it happened to OCD. the quirky, "fun" parts have been washed and sanitized and removed of all suffering. now it is just something that makes you "a little bit silly."

it took me 27 years on this planet before i learned to make friends. something about me just seems incredibly odd, i guess, some kind of radiation monitoring. someone once (in a way that was almost friendly) told me i am doing the right things, but in a way that's off-putting. i have scoured myself raw attempting to be charming.

someone on tiktok does a deep dive into their particular passion. the top comment says "what kind of autism is this lol". like we are a breed of animal. like it has no influence on our experience. like our life is a fresh breeze, an open meadow.

more often for me, life was a drowning.

[esoteric-goblin]

on worldbuilding, and what people think is going on

there is one facet of fantasy worldbuilding that is, to me, the most interesting and essential but i don't see it come up in worldbuilding guides or writing prompts or anything, and that is the question of:

what do the inhabitants of your world believe about how the world works, and how are they wrong? a lot of fantasy media will set up their cosmology, gods, magic systems, planar systems, concepts of the afterlife, &c., and proceed as though the inhabitants of the world know and understand them.

from someone whose entire academic career is focused on studying human culture in various regions and time periods, with a focus on belief systems (religion, occultism, mythology, folklore): that sort of worldbuilding is unrealistic and missing out on so much fun.

people are always seeking new understanding about how the world works, and they are mostly wrong. how many models of the solar system were proposed before we reached our current one? look at the long, turbulent history of medicine and our various bizarre models for understanding the human body and how to fix it. so many religions and occult/magical traditions arise from people disagreeing with or adapting various models of the world based on new ideas, methods, technologies. many of them are wrong, but all of them are interesting and reflect a lot about the culture, beliefs, values, and fears of the people creating/practising them.

there is so much more to the story of what people believe about the world than just what is true.

to be clear: i think it's fine and important for the author to have a coherent explanation for where magic comes from or who the gods are, so they can maintain consistency in their story. but they should also be asking what people in the world (especially different people, in different regions/nations and different times) think is happening when they do magic, or say a prayer, or practise medicine, or grieve their dead. it is a rich vein for conflict between individuals and nations alike when two models of the world disagree. it is fascinating how different magic systems might develop according to different underlying beliefs.

personally, i think it is the most fun to spawn many diverse models of the world, but give none of them the 'right' answer.

(bonus points if you also have a thriving academic system in the world with its own theory, research, and discourse between factions! as an academic, it is very fun to imagine fictional academic debate over the topics i'm worldbuilding. sometimes i will be working out details for some underlying mechanic of the world and start imagining the papers being written by scholars researching it)

[teaandspite]

The Great Goodreads Diss List (Part 1)

Context: For many years now, I have been collecting funny lines from Goodreads reviews to share with my coworkers. (I do collection development, reader's advisory, and weeding at a public library, so I read a LOT of reviews)

Are some of these, perhaps, rather mean? Yes, but they are also very funny, and come from a place of honest frustration. In the tradition of Bargepole threads and lists everywhere, names and titles have been censored.

"First, I want to say that I understand how hard it is to write a book and how amazing it is when it is actually published. Congrats to the author for that accomplishment. That said--"

"Warning: This review will be lengthy due to pure hatred."

"I found myself feeling really, really annoyed with the world that this book is allowed to exist. We live in a universe where the passenger pigeon is extinct but this book goes along merrily being read by unsuspecting lovers of words and ideas and stories? It just seems like too much, you know?"

"Don't do it. Don't spring the cash for the hardcover. Instead, eat an entire bag of Twizzlers, spend some money you don't have at a high-end department store, look up on Facebook the shady college boyfriend that made you cry, research the current value of your home or 401K and then read all about how the big hedge fund managers are faring during the economic crisis. You'll feel about the same stomach pain if you waste your time reading this book."

"This wretched novel begins with the mugging of an old lady and it appears I may be in the process of repeating that loathsome crime as [author] was 78 when she wrote it. It is not nice to put the boot into such a poor defenseless old creature lying there with only a damehood, a Booker Prize and a few million quid. It’s a nasty job but somebody has to do it."

"I think this is the way dead people would write, if they could."

"I am considering setting up SPABB: Society for the Protection of Accurate Book Blurb. This blurb appears to have been written by someone from the publishers who met [the author] the night before, got very drunk, lost his notes and then constructed something in a fug of hangover the next morning."

"I congratulate [the author] on the early half of his book, which was thoroughly fun and made me laugh and think. I congratulate [the author] on the second half of his book, for finishing it. It reads like that was difficult."

"…a woman whose taste in contemporary literature has roughly the same batting average as a pitcher in the National League."

"The author is a pompous windbag."

"Recommends it for: No one. Recommended to me by: A friend who apparently wished to cause me great suffering."

"Makes me wonder: is it possible to obtain similes at a volume discount?"

"The repeated phrases made me want to mail a thesaurus to the author."

"I'm disappointed in myself for finishing this book."

"if the author described [character's] eyes as "obsidian" one more time I was tempted to write her and ask if her thesaurus broke."

"They say that an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters would, if given infinite time, eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. [This book], on the other hand, would probably take the average monkey just under two hours."

"I can't imagine what the author had to do to get this nadir of Western literature printed on innocent trees, but he does seem to know a LOT about being well-connected in New York."

"This book is so bad it is almost worth reading just to make you appreciate the other books you are reading."

"Reads like it was written by a brilliant author, the night before it was due."

"raises interesting questions, like: can a book be so bad as to constitute an act of terrorism"

"has this author ever spoken to a human woman"

"This acorn has fallen so far from the tree that it can’t even see the forest."

"I’m guessing they are touted as ‘beach reads’ because no one will care if they get dropped into the ocean."

"This book begins with all the energy of a hand vacuum near the end of its battery life, and the pace doesn't quicken much from there."

"At least everybody’s eyes stayed the same color this time around.”

Part 2

Part 3

[silusvesuius]

i legit love when a character's gender is so integral to their personality (and perception obviously.) like so concrete that if genderbent their whole shtick would just be absolute dookie. anyways i'm just writing this text so i can talk in the tags (My beautiful safe haven)

this 14 minute song is soooooooooooo FYRE

[pankielovesfan]

How would Fan react when learning about the reveal? Read my fun long ramble!

I need to put this down somewhere. Here is my fun not so structured analysis!!!! this is something i think a lot about. of course I do.

I doodled a small little graph of reactions I think he would go through that I will elaborate on further in the paragraphs below. I'm not sure about the order but it'd be something like these stages when processing it - most likely.

This is analyzed from the idea that Fan did not previously predict this in any way or expect it, but I do also suspect he might know! (Which, I'll explain later for his reaction to that.)

Fan's an incredibly emotional and impulsive person, he would definitely have a strong outer reaction to the information. This may be biased coming from me since Fan is my favorite to analyze but aside from Suitcase he would probably be handling it the worst after being told about it, OR just having the most notable reaction! This is considering he was not made to be a contestant but to devote his love, identity, and purpose to the show, which makes him revolve around the show much more than anyone else - since it is a built-in interest in him that he's dedicated his entire existence to, even when he tried to build himself beyond it- he still surrounds himself with Inanimate Insanity even after his elimination. It is forever tied to his mind and interests contrary to many contestants who try to separate from the show and competition entirely.

Fan's most substantial development in Hatching The Plan was the fact that there were many possibilities out there for him to discover for himself (and that others were there for him through that change and discovery). While he recognizes this and states on Fan's Fantastic Features that he's trying to test his limit and push past his comfort zone (notably while in a safe controlled environment where this change can occur comfortably for him) he is still "stuck" in Inanimate Insanity whether he recognizes this or not. He is at Hotel OJ, surrounded by the contestants, and he is still on MePhone4's island, like any other contestant. While Fan has convinced himself that he is more than just a fan of the show and that he is improving as a person, this development is still slow (obvious, coming from a person such as Fan who struggles with it) and he is still heavily attached to the core of his personality - the core which he was built to be in the first place. His love for the show is so clearly his own dedication and passion, and it truly does feel like his own CHOICE to love the show as much as he does. Even if he was created for it, it is a part of him that he loves and puts confidence into.

I swear these earlier points play into this bear with me,

So once Fan is told he was created by MePhone4, after the initial shock dies down, he would be in denial of it, of course, as Fan would react to any new information he had not considered about the show. Some "It can't be"s and some "There is absolutely no way"s being said by him, especially if he had not foreseen this coming. An instinctive reaction coming from Fan (which would also apply to Test Tube) is immediately questioning it, wanting answers- most definitely from MePhone4 himself. I don't think he'd believe Cobs if he told him, maybe not even Suitcase or Test Tube, he'd need to find the evidence for it and piece together if this even made sense at all.

Once he starts to consider it and all the pieces fit together for him as he looks back on everything, he'll let go of that denial. That's when it first really hits him. One of his first reactions is positive. He'd find validation in the fact he was created specifically for the show, he'd be honored and glad he was an actual piece of the show- not just a viewer or contestant, he was actually part of the show he loved so much. Fan puts a lot of his confidence into being the number 1 fan of inanimate insanity, as everyone knows, and being questioned on this or having people challenge him always strongly shows his insecurity over it. But knowing that he quite literally is, without a doubt, the biggest fan of inanimate insanity- and that he actually had this purpose and that he was made for what he loved to do- that would validate him immensely. He would thrive on his notion for a while until the existential crisis started to leap in.

He'd try to be acceptant of it, and this time around he would be in denial of his own emotions. He'd try to show how well he was taking this and to pride himself in being the biggest ii fan ever, so he puts up a confident front which is obviously not normal to anyone who sees him. He'd try his best not to think about the other implications of his existence being made for reality TV. He would try his best to appear in control and unburdened to prove to both others and himself that he was taking it well. I don't think this stage in his realization will go on for long. I think this would fluctuate a LOT depending on his mood.

At one point he does start to question himself. He overthinks his existence and his emotions, and if they are genuine- what if what he feels is fake? Just generated love? What if he truly doesn't like Inanimate Insanity? What's a real feeling from him and what's a fake one?! A million thoughts that some may not even make sense but this is where the existentialism really gets to him. Every time he felt excitement or love for the show, was that even his own emotions? Was that just made by MePhone4 so he could get some appreciation for his show- and maybe he'd get mad that MePhone4 kept dismissing him. Maybe he'd wonder why he was made if he's not being recognized and rewarded for how much dedication- if it was even his own- that he put into appreciating MePhone4, a dedication that was going unnoticed or deemed annoying by him.

Something I mentioned earlier, about Fan learning to embrace new opportunities for himself and about how he was still trapped in the show. He realizes he is forever tied to the show, and all his attempts at making changes for himself and being more than just a fan suddenly feel... meaningless to him. All he was ever made for from the start was to be a fanboy of the show, and he had tried to build himself around that. But those efforts were for nothing if this is all he ever was- just a fan. That was his entire identity, he was never anything other than that. This is all that could ever come out of him. So what was the point in trying? His shell might've been the only place he'd ever felt safe in anyways- and once he remembers it, his old coping mechanisms seem incredibly tempting. Fan would retreat back into his shell. Things just seemed so much simpler if he did, he wouldn't have to deal with all this overthinking if he just stuck to what he was made for, something he already had found so much comfort and significance in. He uses his shell to cope once again, regressing, turning back to his purpose. This would be how he copes with this new information, by embracing what it taught him that he was. He'd be in this state for a while, he'd probably try to pretend he never even learned anything and creating a false reality of his own security. Being a fan is still important to him, and something he feels so deeply about that he's urged into fully embracing it again. early season 2 fan is back babyyyy!

Not sure how long it would go on for, or even how long it would take for him to go through these stages, but this is somewhat of the process I believe he'd have! I think Suitcase and Fan should have a talk about dealing with all of this. possibly. I feel like it will boil down to "if it feels true to you, that's all that matters." for Fan dealing with this. I could definitely see Suitcase saying something similar to him.

As for him reacting to it after already having theorized this would happen or at the very least suspect it, I think it would go similar to that one drawing I made. He'd be proud at first, and it wouldn't sink in as fast because his pride comes first! But to have it actually confirmed to him would then send him into that same realization as stage 3 of processing it. Something something, it goes the same after this.

Anyways i love fannnn i could talk about him for hours boy i love you i wonder if we'll even get everyone's reactions to the reveal or if they'll even tell anyone else but if we do Fan would definitely have a prominent reaction to it <- guy who loves fan saying this. look at this bias