#go forth enjoy with your blorbo

[goodluckdetective]

Concept: redeemed durge casting darkness around themselves during their confrontation with bhaal because they know there’s only one way this is gonna end, and they don’t want their friends/LI to have to watch.

This anything?

[leothil]

fic recs: archive edition 23

Well, everyone. It's mid-season hiatus time. Three long weeks (well, two and a half by the time I'm writing this) until our blorbos return. But do you know what you have time for during this hiatus? Reading some long fics!

I'm going to recommend one 90k and one 150k fic today. Both are absolute staples of 911 fanfiction, in my opinion, to the point that when I recently saw someone comment that they didn't know one of them I was genuinely surprised and a bit envious. To be able to experience these for the first time again would be amazing! So if you haven't read them yet, go forth and enjoy, and if you have, now is an excellent time for a reread!

Previous posts can, as always, be found here! Without further ado...

Your Fingerprints Smeared on My Heart (Lead Me Back to You) by @letmetellyouaboutmyfeels Or, the cowboy reincarnation fic. In 1880, Evan Buckley is sent out west to oversee his family's railroad project, and meets Eddie Diaz, a cowboy who resents the way railroads and other modernities slowly are making his job impossible to do. In 2018, Evan Buckley walks into the 118 firehouse and meets Eddie Diaz, new recruit. Do I even need to introduce this more? The gilded age, soulmates, and a wish to find each other in every life - what more could you ask for! 88.5k words, rated E

tell me about despair by @hattalove Or, the unrepression fic. Eddie is trying, he really is, to tick off all the boxes of what's expected of him, but it turns out simply existing can be too hard when your heart actually wants to live. But both falling apart and healing happens in increments, and sometimes confronting yourself in the process of getting better can the hardest thing you've ever had to do, but it's worth it for the way you can breathe more freely afterwards. Not enough good words exist to be said about this fic. Eddie's journey to accepting himself is anguishing and makes me cry, and is so, so good! I can't accurately describe this fic, so if something about this doesn't sound appealing, rest assured that is my fault and not the fic's! 148.9k words, rated M

[tobivos]

PLEASE HELP ME PAY MEDICAL BILLS (and groceries)

hi hello i dont have a very big platform here but i am an art student going through medical transition and because of a bunch of insurance bullshit i am forced to cough up a lot of money that i do not have! i aim to set up a proper commissions post in the near future when i am not travelling back and forth across the country but for now heres an EMERGENCY COMMISSIONS POST:

for a limited time only you too can enjoy drawings of YOUR OCS, YOUR BLORBOS, YOUR FURSONAS, ANYTHING YOUR HEART DESIRES for the low price of 15 EUROS!!!

some choice examples include:

WHAT YOU GET:

a COLOURED FULL-BODY SKETCH of your CHARACTER OF CHOICE

AND if you so fancy, for an extra FIVE EUROS i will SHIP THE DRAWING TO YOU

if you wish to commission me, please either DM me or hit me up on email @ tobiahspringer@gmail.com

payment will be exclusively through paypal for international payments, and through tikkie for dutch payments

SLOTS OPEN: 2/5

sharing is hugely appreciated please and thank you ❤️

[peachyfnaf]

I'm sorry but "MY BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS WITH A DISORDER<3" really made my day and I needed you to know

🤣🤣🤣

I can't believe Nexus is bullying peepaw war criminal.

Do you think Nexus is going to be stopped by big bro Sun or do you think the lil guy is going beyond the point of no return?

(Please talk about baby cringe Lord Nexus, I want to hear about your blorbo 🙏)

That's because Nexus IS my beautiful princess with a disorder, I'll have you know <3 they're diseased but it's okay I can give them their tetanus and flu shots and it'll all be better I GOT THIS

But. ahem, okay, blorbo yapping time. I'm not even gonna say "I'll try to keep this short" because I know it wont end up that way HAHAHAHAHA

"Do you think Nexus is going to be stopped by big bro Sun or do you think the lil guy is going beyond the point of no return?"

I... have absolutely no idea!!!1! (and also it took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize peepaw war criminal was Ruin KJDFHSDF)

The most frustrating thing about canon Nexus is how his morals, motivations, and goals seem to see-saw back and forth all the time. at first, he became how he is now due to Solar's death. he spiraled in his grief, identity-issues, and abandonment. but... now his motivation is to become an all powerful god??? while it's most likely that NSP is at play and affecting his thought process, it's... well, it's really hard to take him seriously as a villain because of it, lol. for an audience to enjoy, and even sympathize in some cases, with a villain, their goals and motivations have to be concrete. they have to be relatable, or at least understandable, but Nexus' whole thing is... not, Imho. and I know I'm not the only person who feels this way!!!

I see a lot of people calling Nexus "cringe", and the thing is, when it comes to canon Nexus, they're not really... wrong??? The worst thing Nexus has done so far is make Old Moon see his past victims, which is fucked up of him to do, but.. so far, that's kind of it??? other than that, his "villainy" consists of saying empty threats and cheesy evil one-liners. hell, he was supposed to kidnap Sun yesterday but instead spent the whole episode yapping and venting to him, chasing Sun around in the worlds darkest game of tag before getting some lead right in the face dkfjhsdfsd

Also, notice how he's only targeted Old Moon when it comes to actual physical violence? not Lunar, Earth, Solar, or Sun, but Old Moon? yeah, I did too. we already know that Nexus does everything because he's lashing out, but as of rn the only target he's gotten his hands on physically being O.M...? well. I think it says a lot. cause' yeah, he sure as shit scared the life out of the other Celestials, but he's never put his hands on them!! the only other one of them he harmed physically was Earth- and not only was he not aiming for her, she was just in the way- he felt immediate regret for his actions once in space, and has yet to even see Earth ever since that day.

So, I really have no idea if he's going to be "redeemed" or not. one second he's showing signs he might be, and the next he's falling further down the "pretty badly written villain" rabbit-hole. if he does get something akin to a redemption arc, he'll prolly mostly be accepted in the eyes of the viewers, considering a lot of peeps sympathize or at least understand where he's coming from, but I seriously doubt the other Celestials would take him back. the only one's who might see him as family/a close friend again are Sun and Solar, but even then, nothing would ever be the same.

I hope he gets redeemed, or at least freed from the hold Dark Sun has on him and he's able to live his own life, I really do. at his core, Nexus is a good person. a good person who was crushed under the weight of the shadow of the man he was born under. and we know this because he used to be New Moon. sweet, dorky New Moon.

New Moon, who made inventions like sentient knives and whoopee cushions. New Moon, who had matching My Little Pony stickers with his best friend. New Moon, who bought a whole ass island-luxury-house for Sun because he wanted to make him feel better and give him the proper space to heal. and New Moon- the poor freshly-baked A.I who gave his all to make sure he could do everything that Old Moon could, but it just wasn't enough. he tried and tried and tried, but it wasn't enough.

So yeah, idk if he's getting one in canon, but to me, he more than deserves a good ending, for the life he was given. let him be at peace.

[bonefall]

Just curious, is Russetfur still Raggedstar’s half sister in this universe or are they completely unrelated now? Also do you have anything on Boulder? He was always one of my favorite background cats

If they are half-sibs, it's not relevant! They won't know or care.

Chelford cats are matriarchal. Sires don't inherently play a role in the lives of their children, and seeking that sort of company is something a parent keeps discreet. Uncles and brothers fill the role of "father" in raising the kittens, with cats tracking their lineages through mothers

So Russet has no idea who her father is and doesn't care. Ngl, I also just... don't care about Hal lmaooo

(Imagine writing a super edition about one of your most popular characters, with a story that people have been begging to hear in detail for years, and then dedicating the entire opening to her shitty husband's daddy issues. Couldn't be me.)

Instead, Russetfur is related to the leader of BloodClan at that time. Brick is her sister. I might make Hal her uncle or older brother.

The conflict that occurs between BloodClan and ShadowClan at this time will cause the leader to be killed suddenly, triggering the Frenzy, the period of time during which a new leader is chosen. Pinestar is already having issues over in ThunderClan, and starts seriously thinking about leaving to go help out.

(Though it's certainly not his last straw.)

In any case... if Russetfur and her buddy Boulder had been having second thoughts about Clan life, getting the BloodClan Leader killed and burned the hell out of THAT bridge.

Anyway.

Russetfur and Boulder are in danger during TigerClan. Serious danger. They were loyal to Brokenstar and were safe as long as they were good warriors, but Tigerstar had his eye on them.

So, I feel they may have supported Deerfoot's Rebels, but deniably. I want Blackstar picking Russetfur to be heavily based on her participation, but I also need her to stay safe.

(Might end up having her escape and take refuge with Mistyfoot...)

Boulder is a lot more passive. I like him a LOT and want to expand his role a bit, just because... I Like Him. Literally just blorbo lmao. It's funny how the fandom consensus is just, "this guy's cool!"

I go back and forth on when Boulder's kids are born, and who they are. But he WILL be having kids

I'm set on Whitethroat being one of them, and leaning towards Wetfoot being another.

If Wetfoot is one of Boulder's kids, Firestar knows Boulder as a concerned dad. Wetfoot is going to get a bigger role as a friend in ShadowClan and Deerfoot Rebel.

In my head, Boulder likes the community of Clan life more than the violence, but because he's huge and served under tyrannical leaders he gets forced into battles he doesn't enjoy.

He massively regrets following Russetfur, honestly. He doesn't want to leave and go rebuild his reputation in BloodClan... but he also wishes he never came here.

In my heart, TPB is like the WORST period in this poor guy's life. Background character going through an absolute WRINGER

He's anxious for himself, anxious for his friends, anxious for his kids. Loses Whitethroat. Might lose Wetfoot to the Plague. Serves under TigerClan, terrified that if he isn't a perfect warrior he will get killed.

(And he's right. His fear is warranted. If Russetfur does something, like if I go with her being a refugee in ThunderClan, HE is going to get punished.)

And, of course, he is eventually used by Tigerstar to open up talks with BloodClan.

Even though he has Sasha, Nightwhisper, and Jaggedtooth to serve the same purpose... Tigerstar chooses Boulder.

He doesn't trust Jaggedtooth after he "fails" to contain the prisoners that escape to ThunderClan. He "proved" his loyalty by following his order to execute Deerfoot, but Jaggedtooth is now at the bottom of the pecking order.

Sasha is being reduced to a mate Tigerstar can control, even though she served as one of his mercenaries. He doesn't give her ANY agency.

Nightwhisper is a stupid tool, in Tigerstar's eyes. He does not respect his intelligence, just his eagerness.

So Boulder is chosen. He's smart enough to translate properly, fearful enough to do what Tigerstar says, has lived long enough as a Clan cat... and if he HAS any remaining kids, there is the implicit threat that if Boulder tries something funny, his child is who will pay for it.

After TigerClan ends, I feel like Boulder is desperate to retire early, but also feels like he can't ask for it. He's only survived this long because of his usefulness. It would be hard to trust that he can just... not serve, anymore.

If I can scrounge up more kits for ShadowClan (IT'S SO SMALL), I also would like him to end up having another litter mid-Po3.

Hopefully one of the kids of his first survived, so I can play around with the harrowing dynamic of, "Our dad is so much happier while raising you... I envy my younger sibling's childhood."

And on a final note, Boulder is probably going to get a Warrior Name during TPB. It doesn't really make sense that he just keeps his old one, unfortunately, when Clan Culture is at its most xenophobic and he's in active danger. He'll get Boulder back as a request between TPB and TNP.

[gffa]

The thing I really miss about Star Wars novels is exemplified by being two-thirds of the way through Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade and how I think I'm legitimately enjoying it, but in a very specific way, and I think there's actually a ton you could dig into the structure and bias of the narrator that I think is done on purpose and that I can find sympathy for a character actively falling to the dark side and what she's going through without validating the people she's demonizing in her head because I've been there, I have had my brain lying to me all my life, telling me things I know aren't true, making me believe them despite all evidence otherwise, and do you guys KNOW how much I love hot messes of a disaster lady? I fucking love a woman who is just an awful mess and doesn't have to actually be perfect or nice and maybe just once or twice says a kind of catty thing, NO, SHE IS A WHOLE ASS MESS and I LOVE HER!! But also I'm kind of in the position of how I'm tired of getting stories of characters falling to the dark side being the vast majority of what stories explore with the Jedi, I enjoy them, but not when that's all there is, and I have spent YEARS AND YEARS going back and forth with the discussions about the Jedi and I am so tired of it, I DON'T WANT TO ANYMORE. I just want to write my commentary and thoughts down in the vein that I have them and have that be it. I want to say, "This is a really glorious unreliable narrator here, because everything she says is contradicted by what the Jedi actually say/do, and she is explicitly a character designed with neurodivergent/mental health issues aspects in mind and you can't divorce that from her character." and like I don't even want to discuss with other Jedi fans about what the author may or may not have said (I read one interview from her at the beginning, enjoyed it fine, and AM NOT INTERESTED in knowing or hearing anything further) or how annoying it is to have a book like this, I JUST WANT TO DIG INTO A STORY and not have to worry about bracing myself for combat. (And also the thorny issue of how this isn't precisely a recommendation because I'm not sure others would enjoy it, like even if you agreed with me, I'm not sure it'd be something in your wheelhouse, but I don't want to even get into that, it feels exhausting, like, just I want to talk about how I'm enjoying it, but not have to articulate why I think others possibly wouldn't, just leave it at "nah, I don't think you'd enjoy it".) I know this is some IRL stuff spilling over onto my reading of this book and I'm aware of the state of a lot of creators in SW right now hold opinions that have made me stop reading their works because I am no longer interested in anything they have to contribute, but also like. Sometimes I just want to enjoy a book on my own terms and not have to feel like I'm arguing a case, but instead reveling in the glorious hot mess of a central female character that maybe I relate to and have sympathy for even while recognizing that she is painting a very unreliable portrait within the book, because I Have Been There. Idk, I'm not saying this very well, and a lot of it is outside factors, but I have this giant tangled ball of "I just want to enjoy something for once, not examine why it might actually be doing my Blorbos all wrong", like aren't we supposed to be in fandom for the enjoyment of things, not to constantly argue with people? /tired and hasn't been sleeping well and has been thinking about this instead of wrenching irl stuff

[council-of-beetroot]

I left this in the tags but the thing to remember is that fandom is like an ecosystem there's lots of niches to fill and many remain empty, different areas with different habitat differences create a fandom ecosystem with greater biodiversity. example of island biogeography. You arrive on the fandom island and you want to make your blorbo or ship known just as a species wants to settle in the new ecosystem. There's a few ways to go about this. One compete with the other established fandom creatures that have occupied a niche for quite a while (this takes a lot of work) , two share the same niche to the benefit of both (this may or may not work), or three if there's an unopen blorbo niche fill it!

Technically the forth would be to drive others into the fandom equivalent of localized extinction but that can topple ecosystems so yeah don't go the whole invasive species route

I need to study for my biogeo final but enjoy this

[yuebings]

fic writer meme

thank u @fruitdaze @uhuraisgay @cairoscene @englishsub for tagging me!

How many works do you have on Ao3?

44 currently! double 4s? during MY lunar new year? i gotta change that up quick

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

315,042 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

my most written-for fandom is mdzs, but i don't really write for it anymore...if you look at my ao3 profile u can kinda tell i'm a sporadic one-and-done type when it comes to fic hehe no one can predict where i'll go next. my latest fandom is jujutsu kaisen!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

so you've been robbed by a musuem

the stone-filled sea

the family-dodging bathroom-dwellers association

and his wanting grows teeth

diving blind

it's like a wangxian sweep except for the last sambucky lol

5. Do you respond to comments?

i am trying to get better at that! sometimes i don't have the energy to go through and respond to every single one but trust me when i say that seeing the wonderful comments people leave truly makes my day

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

tbh i don't think i've ever written straight-up angsty endings (or at least the way i see straight up angst). every 'bad' ending has a ray of hope in it, or at least an acceptance that like...yes, this is the way it was meant to be, and to reject the outcome would be to reject everything that came before it. sometimes things were meant to go to shit. there was no other way to go. we were doomed but at least we loved each other. i will suffer but at least i can remember you. so on so forth.

with all that said, it's a toss up between the longest journey (di feijing & lei chun), or all things in pain (wen ning character study). 'angsty' endings, if only in the way i described above

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

a lot of my happy endings aren't super-sweet happy endings per se, but rather a promise or hope that things will get better. idk what that says about me lol like maybe i have more interest in the "how to become happy" part than the actual happiness itself...? but ANYWAY i'd say the sappiest ending is i have is uhhhh feel like a brand new person (msr take edibles together) because 1) their mutual attraction is finally acknowledged 2) they're making out 3) they're high as balls. what's better than this

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not any time recently! i've rarely had negative comments before and all of them have been of such a ridiculous nature that my only response was like "lmfao ok"

9. Do you write smut?

nope! not yet, at least. maybe some time in the future i'll feel like it

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you have written?

haven't written any, don't really read them either! i keep my blorbos locked up in their separate cages. siloed.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

yes! kind of. if this counts, a couple years ago someone on wattpad stole over 100 wangxian fics (including mine) from ao3 and reposted them onto their own account without credit. we got their account taken down tho so all is well...but this is why i say in my ao3 profile that i do not allow reposts. please tell me if u ever see my work reposted anywhere........

i've also come across a fic in a diff fandom that was VERY clearly "inspired" by one of mine (lifting certain scenes and lines beat for beat) and gave no credit. so there's that as well.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! it's always an honor when someone wants to translate my work :)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope! my creative process is so erratic that i feel like i'd be a nightmare to co-write with, so this is probably for the better

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

this is a hard question to answer. i don't have an ultimate favorite that always stays at the top of the pile, cuz my interests change all the time! right now i'm really enjoying platonic yuuji & megumi & nobara & gojo. in terms of what i go to most often when i want a comfort re-read...finnpoe.

15. What is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

omg. you want a DEEP CUT? i have a wip for a rarepair in an already sparse fandom...yeongshin/seobi from kingdom on netflix (the historical korean zombie drama). i LOOOOVE that show i comfort re-watch it all the time. i love their bonded-thru-trauma-frenemies healer/warrior dynamic and i have this wip going for yeongshin getting bitten and seobi developing a zombification-reversal cure through sheer willpower and spite alone........there's maybe 2k written and i was relying on a season renewal announcement to motivate me enough to get the rest of it out but uh. fellow kingdom warriors if you're out there. i think we may be losing this battle............kingdom season 3 announcement save me..............

16. What are your writing strengths?

as a haver-of-siblings, i think i do general family dynamics pretty well! someone has told me in the past that i am good at packing meaning into very few words. i also think i'm good at angsty emotional beats (i sure like writing them, at least)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

bro if there is any action scene in my work, writing it is like pulling teeth. what do you mean he's getting hit. what do you mean i have to think of an interesting way to describe punch #1 and punch #2 and punch #3. STOPPPPPPPP I CANT DO THIS.

in terms of technique i used to struggle with this thing where i NEED to perfect the writing i'm working on before i can move on. like i'd waste huge amounts of time rewriting a three sentence paragraph over and over and over again until it was perfect before i could move onto the next scene. i'm getting a lot better with that tho!

18. Thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics?

i've never done it myself, like, full on written-in-a-diff-lang dialogue, but i think it's cool as long as context clues/some form of translation is provided. and if proper research is done if the writer isn't a native speaker

19. First fandom you wrote for?

the man from uncle (2015). lol. napollya could have won in an alternate universe where armie h@mmer wasn't a piece of shit

20. Favorite fic you have written?

HOO. i gotta say it's my sambucky ghost fic the boy who cried ghost. it's by far my longest fic (even tho it isn't actually very long compared to others ive seen LOLLLL) and it took me AGES to write and ended up being quite personal!! part of the reason it took me so long to finish was bc i couldn't bear to write about sam struggling with grief/guilt when i was also going through something similar, so when i finally got around to writing the moment of catharsis i kinda felt like i was helping myself, too! which was a very interesting experience, and definitely served to lodge this fic in my heart forever and ever. it's not exactly popular but i'm proud of it :)

tagging @tantai-jin @bluecrystalrainingdaggers @vinelark and anyone else who wants to participate!

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/732189573952700416/i-still-for-the-life-of-me-do-not-understand-what#notes honestly and in good faith, the first time I ever saw queerplatonic used was in one of those tumblr reblog chains where "queer pals" was exactly what it sounded like. I think the post that started it all was like "imagine having a queer friend but you like to go out together." and then someone was like "so friends" and then the OP and this person went back and forth and each response by OP just made it sound like completely normal friendship, or best friendship; Going out together, talking together, spending time together, chilling, chatting, telling each other secret, actually enjoying each others company. That must have been 2017 or so, and it's literally only in 2022 I saw it mean something more partner spouse-ish to some people. I think the use of specifically platonic also doesn't help rely the idea of a partnership beyond friends, and the issue with people these days apparently not actually even liking their friends, so in 2017 it sounded like queerplatonic was just a different word for friend, because "you actually like your queerplatonic friend, while you might not even stand your friends."

--

I mean... Yeah, I've seen a lot of people insisting that their very special relationship or their very special preferred dynamic for their blorbos needs a special word, and their actual description boils down to "I don't value best friends at all". But dumbasses with stupid opinions are a problem common to plenty of terminology.

[jasmancer]

diving back into reading comics so here are some tips from a former comic store employee:

There is so much more than superhero comics out there. Seriously. The comic book format has been host to groundbreaking autobiographies, subversive fantasy and sci fi, experimental horror, mysteries, romance, barbarian babe booby comics, you name it

If u do really want to get into Marvel or DC superhero comics I'd recommend that you pick a character with a smaller catalogue to get started, and/or find some writers you like and look through their catalogue. A lot of comic writers for the big 2 have great original stuff that gets overlooked. There's also a good chance an author you like has written a comic series!

If you want to read a certain character and don't know where to start just look up (character) reading guide !! a lot of comics Tumblr make them and you'd be surprised just how obscure our blorbos can get.

If you can think of a property, there's a 90% chance a comic of it exists. I have stocked Three Stooges comics before. The industry knows no bounds

If ur USAmerican your library probably has access to the service Hoopla which has tons of comics on it. Seriously you can read them for free in a legitimate way on your phone or computer and all you need is a library card. The app is even set up so you can read panel-by-panel instead of having to zoom way in on text boxes and speech bubbles

KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOURE READING. I seriously cannot tell you how many times I've started a comic and really enjoyed it only to leave it unfinished because I found another series and got so excited I forgot about the other one. I personally use a spreadsheet I found by looking up a book tracker on Google sheets and modifying it to suit comic books.

If you want to buy comics, I'd recommend you get them in TPB (Trade Paperback) volumes AKA ~Graphic Novels~ instead of individual issues. Typically these will collect a series and each book will be 5-6 issues of a comic apiece, and you can even find some that collect important appearances of certain characters or events that arent necessarily held together by one series. Saves money, time, and space

Good places to get secondhand comics in any format include thriftbooks(dot)com, secondhand book stores with comic bins and graphic novel sections like Half Price Books or Vintage Stock, and mycomicshop(dot)com. Looking through comic bins can be kinda daunting, especially if they're not well organized so I mostly recommend going to the graphic novel shelves instead. If you do want to go digging it's definitely fun though and I'd recommend bringing a buddy so you can show each other weird obscure comics you find and giggle

9/10 times comic books are NOT the investment you think they are. The industry takes advantage of this misconception a lot to try and boost sales that have been falling for decades at this point. I personally wouldn't recommend buying individual issues of series unless they're like a short miniseries or oneshots. I could get into what actually makes a comic book go up in value but this post is already long as hell so I'll just leave it here

Now go forth and read!!!

[bvckandeddie]

Tumblr Fandom: A Year in Review 2023

i was tagged by @captain-hen, thank you! 🥰

i was tempted to skip the top five blorbos/fandoms/pairings section because let's be honest, it's really only been buck and eddie for the entire year, but i do have other interests even if i'm not as involved in them as i am in buddie. so enjoy learning more about my ao3 history, i guess? 😂

top 5 blorbos:

evan "buck" buckley (9-1-1)

eddie diaz (9-1-1)

roy kent (ted lasso)

clint barton (marvel)

billy butcher (the boys) (i literally started watching this show two weeks ago but y'know what? i'm adding it. butcher is just so blorbo shaped.)

top 5 fandoms:

9-1-1

avatar: the last airbender (for anyone who doesn't know, my atla sideblog is @zukkababey!)

marvel

ted lasso

teen wolf

top 5 pairings:

evan buckley/eddie diaz (9-1-1)

roy kent/jamie tartt (ted lasso)

clint barton/bucky barnes (marvel)

arthur/eames (inception)

billy butcher/hughie campbell (the boys)

shoutout to some new friends:

i've talked to so many new people this year who have really made me feel included in the 9-1-1 fandom, namely @devirnis, @colonoscopys, @shitouttabuck, @housewifebuck, @eddiebabygirldiaz, @vampbuckley and @buck2eddie. i love seeing you all in my notifications, and so many of you have been so encouraging, especially during my writing drought that's been persisting for months. y'all are great 🥹🫶

shoutout to some old friends:

i'm kinda new here but @eddiediaaz, i'm pretty sure you were my first ever 9-1-1 mutual that i talked to and you really made me feel so so welcome in the fandom when i posted my first buddie fic back in 2022. i will always be grateful for that and you!!! ❤️

favourite creation you posted this year:

it's definitely gotta be what a heart can do. i love dad buck so much, i had such a fun time writing it, and i think it's some of my best storytelling. it makes me really happy that so many people have read and enjoyed it!

favourite creation posted by someone else this year:

THIS VIDEO by @butchdiaz. holy fucking shit. i'm sure everyone reading this has already seen it, but ohhhhh my god. this video rearranged my molecules. i can't listen to ceilings without thinking about it. the way you edited it to match so many important buddie moments, it genuinely makes me feel so insane. i re-watched it last night and i'm still vibrating just thinking about it.

people who brightened your year:

so many people!!! @negansmiith made a graphic for hurt locker that basically made my whole year! it is saved in my camera roll and i look back on it frequently. 🥰 @housewifebuck made a beautiful hat that i am genuinely obsessed with. check out their shop!!! anyone who has ever read my silly tags on a post i reblogged and dm'd me to chat about it—i love you.

anyone else you'd like to mention:

everyone who has read my fics or commented on them telling me your thoughts, thank you. seriously. just know that when i read your comment(s), i was twirling my hair and kicking my feet back and forth and squealing and smiling so hard my cheeks started to hurt. every single comment made 2023 that much brighter.

five of your favourite authors this year:

@gayhoediaz - every time i get an email that you've posted a buddie fic, i know that i have a bedtime story for that night. i know it's gonna be a good one, every single time.

@devirnis - i read your fic about buck and eddie ring shopping and getting caught up in a robbery and i've never looked back. i've read so many of your fics this year (and tbh, thank god i still have more to read) and i'm looking forward to reading all the ones that you have in the works!!!

@colonoscopys - i’m pretty sure that i binged basically all of your fics this year and i don’t regret a single thing (except maybe going through them too fast). god, i love your writing.

@rewritetheending - gosh the way you’re able to get to the heart of emotions and describe them in a way that puts an ache in my chest makes me want to claw the ground until my fingernails break off. my fave fic of yours is still while we do what lovers do and i know it wasn’t posted in 2023 but i needed to shout it out here because goddddddd. i still think about it all the time.

@letmetellyouaboutmyfeels - i enjoyed reading your halloween fics this year so much, particularly your dark buddie au. sometimes you just gotta imagine your wholesome, already in love blorbos be absolutely unhinged and crazy about each other, and that’s perfectly normal. i actually remember looking for a dark buddie fic when i first joined the fandom and there were none, so i’m glad my wish was fulfilled, especially when it was done so damn well.

five of your favourite artists/gifmakers/podficcers/etc. this year:

@try-set-me-on-fire - you could have gone under fave authors too, but i fucking love your art style. i don't know art terms so forgive me, but something about the messiness and abstractness scratches this itch deep in my brain and they evoke such unnameable feelings that want to burst out of my ribcage. ugh!!!!!! if you sold prints i'd be checking out in two seconds flat.

@butchdiaz - i know i already waxed poetic about your ceilings edit, but i love your edits/gifs too, particularly this one. it's so simple but so beautiful and fucking devastating. the gif aspect is subtle but intentional (buck fading to black and white while the blood stays red?????? KILL ME!). i'd eat your gifs if i could.

@shitouttabuck - you could go under fave authors too (hello i love you like a dog fic) but i wanted to shout you out here because you are so fucking funny. every single edit you post makes me giggle out loud. tbh i didn't even realize they were all from you until i started scrolling through your edit tag looking for this post. i can't get over it. i literally laughed at it AGAIN when i found it.

@eddiediaaz - you are constantly feeding the 911 fandom. you make so many gifsets on so many different sideblogs that i'm sure no one actually knows how many gifs you're constantly making. and every single one is so goddamn good??? and they're so creative. like this one??? there are so many things going on, i can't even fathom how the hell you did it. gifmakers are magic, i swear.

@iinryer - YOUR ART FUELS ME. your style is so *clenches fist* fucking cool. the lines are simple but they still look like the characters?? i admire that so, so much because i know if i ever tried that they'd look so wonky, lol. i think about juice box chim all the damn time and i don't know where i've been lately but this one with buck and chris??? it's so soft and sweet and vulnerable, with the way buck is holding him and chris is nestled. GOD. everything you make is gold.

three (+1) things you're looking forward to in 2024:

getting my masters degree!

getting a job, maybe???

posting more buddie fic 👀

+ season 7 of 911, obviously.

i’m sure i’ve missed some people inadvertently but this was really fun to do! at this time of year, with the short days and cold weather (at least for some of us), i think we could all do with a little bit of joy and a brighter day. i really love this fandom and i'm so grateful to be a part of it!

tagging everyone i mentioned in this post, if you haven’t already done it and want to participate! ❤️

[detectiveforfree]

oh hello! I love your art and I feel like I haven't said that yet! also thanks for spreading all the Flash love, Bart might be my all time favorite character (him and Tim Drake go back and forth) and I have a special place in my heart for Wally, Jay, Jessie, and Max, and always want to see more of the West twins and Wallace West

hi! :D thank you, im glad some people seem to enjoy my stuff!

wally might be my blorbo but flash fam in general quickly became dear to my heart (closely followed by batfam if only by the fact i read too many fics about them lol) so ye im alway up to

[maribatserver]

THE SERVER IS MINE!!!!

Weep, you woeful followers of Maribat, for I have done what no other rogue has yet accomplished and taken over the Maribat Server! From this day forth, you shall kneel before my brilliant evil and serve my every whim! Wallow for the days whence you were free to enjoy your silly little fandom in peace, for they are now long passed!

Should you wish to retain the right to continue using your server for things like "art" and "headcanons" or whatever else you witless fools do for fun, then you must pay a ransom to me of:

ONE MILLION JOKES!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Your ransoms can be submitted either on tumblr as an ask or in the special ransom channel I'll be making in the server. Everyone must contribute at least one joke a day to access the server going forward.

NOTE: I will only be accepting jokes that are FUNNY. That means NO JUMPSCARES and NO SCREAMERS. Be creative. Be hilarious. If that's too much for your pathetic brains, try being hit in the face with a pie, because that's the only way you'll get me to even snicker.

Join my army of comedy writers or languish without your silly little blorbos! The choice is yours!

Sincerely,

THE FOOL

[desultory-novice]

I just gotta ask... Does Dreamland have a licensed therapist? Because it sounds like a majority of the characters need one!

Dream Land is a really LOVELY place. The food is fresh and healthy for you. Even the fast food and the sweets, somehow! Lots of nature. Life is leisurely paced. The only jobs are the ones you want to work. There's plenty of activities for those who need some socializing and plenty of alone time for those who need their space.

There may not be a licensed therapist, but as long as you're open to your heart and the caring words of your friends, you can find your way out of the bad places on your own, in your own good time!

...In Dess's AUs, on the other hand...

Everything is bad. For everyone. I'm sorry. I feel very bad about it. :cough: ...That is, speaking frankly, as a creator, I trust that since everyone else does such a good job writing Kirby-verse fluff, no one will mind too bad if I have this little corner of the fandom where everyone can be sad and sometimes life does beat you down.

Now...

It probably doesn't come off this way, but sometimes the reason I hop back and forth to several different AUs is that in a few cases, characters DO get better! Marx and Magolor in the Branch AU? They're actually very happy right now running a theme park together for lost Souls! (Well, happier once Marx gets his body back.)

White-Haired Noir in the AU AU verse? He's...well, he's never going to be the same after the loss he suffered, but he is on the mend.

Adeleine, post-Apologies, is doing okay.

My personal Dark Meta Knight is a huge, incurable mess of issues but he gets to duel with his counterpart on occasion and loves it.

Some of my versions of the characters have REALLY awful, messed up traumatic backstories and yet they came out shockingly alright, re: Daroach. (And Elfilin too. Rats stay winning!)

I do enjoy fluffy things, a lot, but I don't write a whole lot of "pure fluff." Which arguably means, if you're not seeing me draw or write anything for someone, they're probably having a GREAT time! Take Taranza. Taranza is often characterized as the forever sad, "I miss my wife, Tails" character but I think he really is doing okay!

...Not great as could be. He lost his friend (and crush) of...some long period of time but he's healing. Dedede's probably got a whole routine set up for getting over possession trauma at this point!!

For my two favorite trauma puppy standbys, Marx and Magolor, I mostly write about them having lingering trauma side-effects because... it's just my favorite sub-genre to write in, I guess? Most of what I write are physical impossibilities anyway: curses, magic-induced ailments, body-snatching, etc. But I think they can be interesting metaphors for what I or others might feel in RL, so I like to write about them as a way to come to terms with those feelings.

-

[Warning: Things Get Personal Past This Point]

-

I almost went more indepth about this in an earlier ask this evening, but my favorite character from my last major fandom was a purely good character who, in the backstory, had his personality shifted 180 degrees by an evil god, driven to cuckoo levels of crazy, and possibly (at least, it was a fairly popular HC) trapped inside his own mind for a large chunk of time as he was made to commit atrocities that shattered every vow he ever made and everything he believed in.

(Mad Emperor Vector, my beloved... :sob: )

An anime backstory if I'd ever heard one! But one of the reasons he rose from character I loved to MY blorbo was because I was just understanding my autism at the time, and part of how I understood it for myself and how it affected me was through this character's traumas. You might think it was silly but it was shockingly useful!

Around when I started suffering from long-term insomnia is when I started to get really, really obsessed with the "Marx is a sleep-deprived Noddy" theory. When (not to get depressing but...) many of my dreams and aspirations started to fall apart, I became really attached to Magolor + the false promises of the Master Crown...

Noir's creation coincides fairly closely with my feeling massively overburdened with life's pressures and trying to support my loved ones, keeping a chipper exterior attitude despite home troubles while feeling like I couldn't tell ANYONE how much it hurt inside...

That's not to say that I only make these sweet characters have bad days because I'M having a bad day or that I'm "using" them like emotion sponges in place of just seeing a therapist.

It's more that, having experienced some of these things myself, I feel like I have a closer understanding of them. And I want to understand more. Or I want to explore avenues I didn't personally take.

...Or I want to celebrate my own life, shambles and all, by seeing how much worse it could be if only E~vil~ Magic had been involved...!!

-

TLDR, the actual Kirby characters probably don't need a therapist at all. Dess's versions are more likely to need one, but I'll probably write about the ones that haven't gone yet because that path is where I personally find the best and most meaningful stories...!

[mistergandalf]

ULTIMATE TOLKIEN BLORBO ROUND FIVE: SECOND CHANCE BRACKET IS COMPLETE!

Here’s who won:

Aragorn vs. Bilbo Baggins

Éowyn vs. Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck

Boromir vs. Elrond Peredhel

Peregrin “Pippin” Took vs. Fëanor

Truly a gripping round. Check the tags on the races because they are an absolute riot. The fact that so many of you cried SO MUCH about having to choose between Merry and Éowyn, only for her to stay in the lead the entire time, is killing me. It sounds like it was SO difficult for you. Sooooo difficult.

AND NOW, we’ve created a 🔔REMAAAAAATCH 🔔 between Aragorn and Éowyn! They last met ten days ago in Round One. Will people vote the same, or will they switch their vote? Will it be a close match yet again? Will the increased popularity of this bracket create drastically different results? Guess we’ll find out tomorrow…

And now we must say our last goodbye to some of our beloved blorbos. Eliminated this round were the following:

Bilbo Baggins

Meriadoc “Merry” Brandybuck

Elrond Peredhel

Fëanor

I’m a little heartbroken, not gonna lie. We’ve lost all our Silmarillion characters now—even Elrond, which hurts. AND, finally, some of our Hobbits! I can’t believe it. You guys eliminated Blorbo Baggins.

Round Six (Second Chance Bracket) will start at 12PM EDT (GMT -4)! Once that bracket is complete, we’ll need the results from the main bracket to continue. So Round Four on the primary bracket will start Friday, May 5th, at 12PM EDT (GMT -4).

And now, for some analytics...

Who got the most votes?

ONCE AGAIN, Pippin smashed the competition with 1,909 votes. That’s insane. But also it’s not—I get it. He’s been my blorbo for 20 years. You’re all valid. For reference, though, the person who received the second-most votes this round was Éowyn, and she had 1,117 votes. Pippin had 732 more votes than she did—but of course, her match was more evenly split.

On the losing side, Elrond gave the bracket over to the race of Men with 962 votes. This seems to keep happening to him.

Who got the least votes?

Fëanor has been eliminated with 347 votes this round. I mean, hey. When you’re up against Pippin, there’s only so much you can do. And besides, as many of you pointed out, he’s more of a poor little meow meow than a blorbo.

Which races were the most contentious?

I genuinely didn’t know who was going to win between Boromir and Elrond until the very end. It went back and forth SO many times. But after a very contentious battle, Boromir emerged with a 4% lead.

Aragorn vs. Bilbo was close, with Aragorn winning by 10%... but also, that race had like. Half the number of votes as all the other races. What’s up with that? Every other race had over 2,000 votes total, but this one didn’t even break a thousand.

The race between Éowyn and Merry was close the entire time, but Éowyn managed to hold onto her 12% lead from pretty early on. Did you like the pictures I chose? I thought that was a stroke of evil genius. 😈

Which races were the least contentious?

There were only four races this round, and I’ve already mentioned three of them. The only race that wasn’t a question mark at all was Pippin vs. Fëanor. The creator of the Silmarils, shaper of the First Age of Middle-earth, got absolutely bodied by a four-foot-tall 28-year-old. Great job, Pip.

That’s all for today. Enjoy your rematch. See you tomorrow!

[true-blue-sonic]

💛, 💚, 📖 (can be a game or a spinoff media) :>

We're going with Sonic XD

💛: What is a popular ship you just can't get behind, and why?

Hmm... I'm not at all opposed to reading Sonadow fics because I like the dynamic often shown between them (aka FLUFF I adore myself some fluff :>), but I do think that canon Sonic and canon Shadow could never pull that off together. And if they were in-character, I wouldn't want to read a fic about it: I feel like most of it would be racing and trying to one-up the other when there's no adventure going on as opposed to more romantic stuff, and that doesn't interest me much. It's the same problem I have with Sonjet, actually, but I don't know if that is a popular ship or not, haha.

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

I think the main core of what people get wrong about Silver is that there is zero indications Rivals!Silver grew up in an apocalypse, and '06 Silver did grow up in an apocalypse yet was remarkably well-adjusted through it all. Silver doesn't have any social skills because he was all alone in his future? Disproven with literally the fourth sentence spoken in his intro in '06. He doesn't tolerate being made fun of (Rivals 2), only got deceived in '06 and has shown to be remarkably shrewd and suspicious in later games (e.g. Rivals 1, Generations), and is honest to a fault but also won't let people not believing him stop him from fulfilling his goals (Rivals 2 again, Sonic Channel story). Silver is weak and feeble and cannot run two meters without immediately collapsing from lung ailments? He can run for literally hours in '06 and the Rivals games with zero indication of problems, and his only "ailment" is that he is just slow on foot, which gets solved just like that through him being able to fly. And so on and so forth, haha. Silver is more friendly when together with companions or when not on a mission... but he's brave beyond belief and also still highly opinionated and not afraid to speak his mind or tackle the root of problems head-on (e.g. Forces, TSR). In short, he's not a poow uwu blorbo who needs to be handheld by others because he can't do anything by himself or because he's feeble. He does better with a companion (Blaze in '06, Espio in Rivals 2), but he can handle himself just fine without it.

📖: If you had to remove one book from the series, which would you choose?

Does IDW count as a book? That one for sure XD The Tales Of books absolutely suck when it comes to characterisation, but nobody knows of them, haha. But I find it such a shame! I remember truly enjoying IDW and looking forward to new issues, and the faults I see now were much easier to ignore or to chalk it up to a slightly differing characterisation. (E.g. I like myself a plot wherein Silver needs help from other people and he in turn helps someone like Whisper find security in the world! But the incident of him getting his ass handed to him by an Egg Pawn then became him being clumsy, incompetent, infantile, poor at using his powers, unable to stand his ground, getting immediately overrun by someone with zero seniority over him... and so on and so forth.) But those faults in combination with the fact I think the characters have become increasingly more poorly-written as time went on, plus the storylines mostly focusing on original comic characters I no longer care for or never cared for to begin with, just make the comic entirely unenjoyable for me now. I don't read the new issues anyway, but I wouldn't be mournful if the IDW comic got cancelled.