#gonna start adding things the sims did to their posts.

[ivorysodapop]

A3! But in their fits from our Sims game

#5: Citronn — Prev

[moyokeansimblr]

Update

Not feeling so hot and I'm not going to do anything impulsive at 8PM on a Friday evening but

here is a link to a sfs folder with ALL of my content that's currently only hosted on patreon.

I want to add individual sfs links to the tumblr posts but that's a lot and I'm now regretting never adding alt dl links this whole time... and sorry I don't think the downloads in the sfs folder are in order... it also might be some other things, like fixed meshes or stuff. tbh I just added everything I've made after April 3rd 2023 since that was the last time I uploaded anything to sfs.

I guess while I'm here... I was going to wait until after I finish up the last of my active requests (probably by Monday, I'm almost done) but I desperately need a break from CC. I sent a group message on the 17th to my $4 and $6 patrons encouraging them to cancel, but I know not everybody knows patreon even has dms so maybe you'll see this post and I'll reach out again in the coming days so nobody is wasting their money. I am so immensely burnt out and I need to not create for a while. This is completely my own fault, nobody made me work on CC for 8-10 hours 5 days a week for the last several months and I fully knew it wasn't sustainable ages ago but I kept doing it because it made me feel good, until it didn't. Quite honestly, even before I sent the group message the instant wave of relief I felt just having made the decision to take a break... that caught me off guard but just confirmed I need this. I do feel really awful about it because I feel like I'm letting people down but at the same time I don't want to hate creating which was already happening. That being said, I don't know how long the lull in CC is going to be, and if you're only following me strictly for CC I apologize. As said I am still finishing up one request I still had, I'm about 75% done with that as of this post. But that's gonna be it for a while.

There is a part of me that wants to stop using patreon completely and unpublish my creator page (which is what I'm not going to impulsively do tonight without properly thinking it through...since there are positives like how easy it is to download files and whatnot) but I'd again encourage not only those who joined the $4 and $6 tiers but also the $2 tier to cancel so that you aren't wasting your money. If I did do this I would definitely do the individual sfs links on everything first. I'd not just leave you guys unable to download my stuff.

So, what does that mean for this blog? I'll spare ye, impatient readers, who have already read a lot because I ramble⬇️

Well, as of posting this I still have THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FOUR Strangetown posts in my queue. And I'm not tired of playing that.

I'm looking forward to having an opportunity to do all of the things I've been neglecting. I'm finally going to go through the subfolder within my downloads of everything I'm downloaded the last few months and decide if I wanna keep it in my game or not. And finish default replacing everything. And all my other various little projects I haven't been doing.

Also, I want to start playing Veronaville 😮I've already started downloading lots from kattaty to replace the in-game ones, and I found a cool replacement for the neighborhood map. I am leaning towards making a new sub-blog for this so that you don't have to try and follow Strangetown/LFT posts and Veronaville/ALT posts at the same time. I've only ever played the Veronaville sims for like one day as part of a super failed megahood years ago so I'd like to get to know them.

So basically, I guess I'm a gameplay blog for now? Until I want to create anything again anyways, but I don't know when that will be.

I don't know how to end this post... I'm sorry for the disappointment, but thank you so much for enjoying my stuff 💛💛

[still-a-morosexual-help]

@🌹anon asked about my ocs sometime back and as I was answering it rn I accidentally deleted the entire thing😭😭😭😭😭

I'm gonna try and write whatever I remember again✌️:

Yes I did it again (shut up);

I'm such a fucking idiot, I found the "deleted ask" hidden deep in my drafts - apparently it went there when I lost my internet connection but instead of getting saved at the top of my drafts it got saved on the day anon first sent me the ask so somewhere in the middle between other drafts??? Anyway:

!!!You asked for it!!

They were all created for some game or another (characters I'll be able to toss away once I'm done playing the games) But I ended up falling in love with all of them🤡

I can't draw people for shit & I don't wanna describe appearances so I'm gonna use picrews (with links added for anyone who wants to use 'em too)

Starting from first created to last & answering it like I'm making them character profiles for a dating sim (but leaving out the three from Choices 'cause I don't know if they can be considered proper ocs rather than just characters the game handed us? Also leaving out the others from fictif because they're not as well developed)

1. "Lex" Alexandra Lane

(Lex after Lex Luthor and Lane after Lois Lane because I think I'm funny)

[1] , [2]

Origin: Love Island the Game S2

25 at beginning now 26 years (Birthday: November 16th)

5'5"

She/Her

Bisexual

Professional Cellist

English/British because the game didn't give me a choice

Married at 26 (because the game gives you no option), will definitely have a couple kids at some point

No gross out factor - probably ate bugs as a kid. Probably will still eat a bug off the ground if dared to. Biggest point of pride is that she can do a backflip in heels. Loves fashion/beautiful clothes that are usually stupidly expensive. Biting her lip and making bedroom eyes at every single person but really just wants to fall in love and settle down. Hates confrontation/any sort of fight but also really wants to know everything about everyone's business. Good at being the mediator. Always the big spoon. Actually pretty buff - can absolutely bench you.

2. Eliza Ramskin

(Eliza after the official name of the porcelain apple doll sitting in a box on my cupboard but then I decided I didn't want it to stand for Elizabeth so now it stands for "A Lizard" after the rubber gecko pasted on my bedroom wall. Ramskin: a bad pun because of the game)

[1] , [2] (yes the little frog is supposed to be me)

Origin: Obey Me!

23 at beginning now 26 years (Birthday: April 21st)

5'10"

They/Them

Queer

Wildlife Photographer

Has chronic pain

Has a scar over one eyebrow - will smugly tell you a cool story for it. In reality dropped a jar of peanut butter on their face. + top surgery scars

-> Essentially just om! gen MC with a background and name. Have you read my post about gen MC's canon facts? Have you read any of my gen MC theory posts, where I take individual canon facts & connect them to see what happens? Have you read any of my obey me! fics? Can you remember what general MC was like in them? Then you know exactly what Eliza is like. But still, here are some of my favourite parts:

Ambiguously human. Would fight God at 2am in a Denny's parking lot and WIN. They're very lowkey an asshole but underneath that they're kinda nice but underneath that they're a bigger asshole but underneath that they're even nicer and so on and so forth. Surprisingly down for murder. 0 self preservation + 0 shame + 0 fear + max drive & determination + max stubborness + max can do attitude + unconsciously charming + actually pretty strong + danger kink + horny = the world's greatest monster fucker.

3. Len

(Len's short for Lenora which she no longer goes by but irl named after my Lenova laptop, No surname.)

[1] , [2]

Origin: The Arcana

31 years (Birthday: June 7th)

5'11"

She/They

Bisexual

Same occupation as the game's MC

The only one who has a defined body shape in my mind and that body shape is plank of wood

Pitch black eyes that reflects no light. Vague cryptid energy. Stoic, cold yet thin polite smile that seems very surface level. Posture's so good just looking at her makes your back hurt. Warms up once you get to know her; is caring and gentle and understanding and soothing but also stuborn and tough/harsh/strict. Responsible but also has no problem breaking the law if needed. Dreams of travelling the world. Gives off black cat energy but is a dog person. Sadistic in both the sexy and unsexy way. Bad puns. So much untapped potential to be a super villain. I think I accidentally just created a female version of om!'s Lucifer...

4. Vale Knight

(Vale after welcome to night vale which I hadn't watched at the time, Knight from the same place but it's also a pun because of what happens to them in the game)

[1] , [2]

Origin: Last Legacy

28 years (July 10th)

6'0"

They/Them

Queer Polyamorous

Same occupation as the game's MC

Not only are they a weeb they're an ASSHOLE. The kind of person to get stabbed because their first instinct was to mock the mugger. Decided to dye their hair for cosplay once and then went "wait a minute -" A shameless flirt until someone flirts back and then they're a flustered annoyed mess. Had a lot of jobs over the years, currently a barista - doesn't want to be a barista forever but doesn't know what they want to do (other than gaming, watching movies/shows/anime, reading books/comics/manga) until they accidentally discover a passion for medicine and go to nursing school

5. River Bouwmeester

(River after Lake from Infinity Train which I've never watched, Bouwmeester because it's a Dutch surname meaning "master builder" because they work as a home renovater)

[1]

Origin: Monster Manor

27 years

5'1"

He/They

Queer

Same occupation as the game's MC

American (because the game gave me no choice) with probably Dutch origins from their father's side

Couple of big scars here and there

BIG "I can fix him energy". Moves around a lot = not much possibility for a long term stable relationship = oblivious and shy when it comes to romantic attraction. Strong, patient, practical. Very little can rattle them. Came from a long family line of home renovaters/builders (of the magic, strange & weird) but no close living family. Unironically loves bob the builder. Trying very hard to forget about the fact that they're extremely lonely by keeping up a very positive optimistic attitude. Their truck is their pride & joy. Absolutely loves their job even though it's what causes them to move about so much and so makes it hard to form close connections. Very friendly from the first moment but isn't tolerant of anyone's bullshit.

6. Roo Kidd

(Roo after the baby kangaroo from Winnie the Pooh, Kidd because the baby kangaroo was a kid. Surprisingly the actual meanings behind both names fit with their character/circumstances)

[1] , [2]

Origin: Twisted Wonderland

16 years (Birthday January 10th)

5'7"

He/They

Gay Demiromantic Asexual

Wears reading glasses

Lots of small scars from scrapes and scratches all along body

Always cold + loves cute clothes = wearing summer dresses and instantly regretting it. Head in the clouds 7 outta 10 times. Has never felt romantic attraction before - believed they never would and was 100% okay with that - so the one time they did start feeling it went "wow I'm really into this friendship" and stayed oblivious for an annoyingly long time. Also similarly oblivious to romantic attraction directed at them. Kinda klutzy. Big wet eyes. Big bright smile. A ball of sunshine but also really snarky. "This might as well happen" energy. Fast with quick reflexes and a sharp eye for detail. A cunning edge that comes out only during emergencies. Strength of a wet noodle though. Gets a shitty impromptu/accidental haircut that leads to him buzzing it all off and having to grow it back.

[thegoldenshi-shi]

So, I have been busy making poor monetary choices again, in which I now own two different types of tablets specifically for art (ONE WAS VERY MUCH ON SALE, THE OTHER HAD A 50 BUCK COUPON, BOTH GOOD REVIEWS), and the first tablet I bought, that's honestly just a way of adding a touchscreen to a computer to me, cause like. It's a sensor pad? Well, it's proving that I can't mentally make myself apply a lot of pressure to technology, which my younger self with a ruined dsi touch screen would gape at. I have also gotten all my shelving units up! Not sure if they're staying where they are, or if I'm gonna move them around again, but I do know two that are staying where they are, mainly cause I am /not/ lifting that shelf all the way back up to chest level to take it back down again. Nuh uh, no ma'am, it will not be done. It's also gotten all my collectibles on it already, which has proven that I need to devote more of my budget to the Twins than Screamer. My frenemesis would be delighted to see my failure to my simpees.

Work has been better! Still hot, but we've slowed /way/ down, which means my supervisor has been letting me goof off on my phone or writing, cause we physically can't work too hard in the heat, but we also have no orders anyway, so... And because we've been able to get paid Not Working, I have gotten back into a werewolf story I started writing months ago! I'm setting it up one shot style rn, and posting the chapters as my brain accepts my pleading for their creation, but I also intend to make it a full and proper story once I've worked all the one shots out. I will openly admit to it being complete self service, cause I want a best friend who's 8 feet tall, fluffy, and has a crappy sense of humor. And is a cuddle monster, though that one is mainly cause I love glomming full force onto my people and displaying my awkward affection. I'm like a peacock, but instead of flaring tail feathers, I hug people in front of other people, whilst not actually really knowing socially accepted norms for hugging friends, tbh.

I also went through and completely reorganized my phones gallery, and got a very stupid laugh outta it. I have 461 transformers related pictures, and almost 400 writing prompts. Just. Saved on my phone. If I ever lose this sim card my writing career that i don't actually have will be over. On another other note semi related, I have been asked to design a friends tattoo! I don't know if I mentioned that in my last ask. He asked me to draw him a dragon to get tattooed, which, to be fair, dragons are among one of the very scant things I can draw well reliably, but also, dragon proportions curled into a ball sleeping are kicking my ass, and I am debating getting out my giant sketchpad to be able to completely control every tiny eetsy beetsy detail, cause my close friend wants me to do this thing that will permanently be on his body, and I really desperately don't wanna mess it up... Cause like. No one has ever asked me to ///draw/// for them before. I've gotten asked to paint, or do some small stuff with watercolors, but never /drawing/. And he knows I love dragons, it's part of why he asked. I just. It's a thing that happened that made me really happy, like hide in my pillow crying happy tears happy.

And then, on the fifth, I found an exactly 8 year old video of my childhood dog that we had to put down... it was from the summer before he was put down, which happened during the school year. He had been all that I'd had growing up, so, it hit kinda hard seeing something of him that moved. Even after 8 years, I still cry every time I think about him. He was the best dog any little kid could've ever been raised with, and probably helped boost my immune system against my allergies to boot, hehe. I cried for like, two hours, cause it was a video taken 7/5/2015. And, I thought I had lost all my images of him. It was a happy thing, just. A very sad type of happy. I wish I could tell him that I did love him, even if I didn't wanna lay on the ground and cuddle like he preferred. He was a dog that was born old, haha, never wanted to play or bark, he just wanted to lay on you and be loved. I was always running around on imaginary adventures though, but I did love him. If I was upset, he was my safe place. I promise this is a happy thing, it's just that I'm gonna be legally allowed to drink soon, and sometimes I forget that it's been so long since I got to see him. Especially cause sometimes, I still have dreams about playing with him in our backyard, right next to a giant pine tree covered in cicada sheds, laughing as he dug a little groove to lay in under the old rusted out trampoline. He was the most patient, tolerant dog, and it's because of him and the cat he raised with me that I'm not afraid of so much anymore. Ma and dad weren't there when we had him, but... I'll admit to giving them up forever if it meant I got to have him back

~Smooch

Hello there Smooch~

Sleeping babee dragon sounds so cute! I've never designed a tattoo, so I can only imagine the pressure (and of course the touching part of him asking you to draw his tattoo design).

Interestingly enough I too spent a loooong period of time where drawing was a dragon-only zone. I think it was back in like middle school? If you're struggling with a traditional four-legged two winged dragon, have you considered another type? There's Asian Lung dragons, Wyverns, Wyrms, or even a Quetzalcoatl style dragon that can all be very cool and might be easier for you to draw as a sleepy loaf. If your friend doesn't have a strong preference of course.

How exciting, on sale art supplies. It's kinda hard to decide sometimes between art supplies and if you're new to it, it's not a BAD idea to try multiple different types and/or brand names until you find what you like. I own two different art devices, one Wacom Intuos bought in High School and a Huion art monitor bought like four years ago. I was a traditional artist at the time I bought the Intuos tablet, so I quickly found that I prefer drawing on an actual screen I can look at instead of drawing on a tablet, BUT I had to try the tablet first to know that. What that all amounts up to is I hope you like one if not both of them ^J^ It's good to hear that your job is calming down. I'm sure that you're enjoying having the down time to work on your creative pursuits. At the risk of sounding too much like a hippie art teacher, I say it's very important to have some sort of creative outlet in your life. So it's wonderful to hear that you're getting to write on your werewolf story. I send you my best wishes that your muse stays nice and cooperative for the whole process hehe.

And lastly: The bittersweet memory of a good pet that has passed is something that I feel blessed to have as well. I hope that you can continue to enjoy your memories of a good animal without being bogged down in the sadness of their passing.

It's good to hear from you again Smooch, glad to hear you are doing well~

[youredreamingofroo]

📩 Simblr question of the day: It's time to appreciate the small things! What's a small detail from one of your posts that you love? Could be a small tattoo on a sim, specific clutter in a sims' room, a little detail in a render or screenshot, whatever is applicable to you (p.s. I've been scouring simblr, and I've noticed people don't like how picky SQOTD feels, so please! Share around SQOTD asks, anon or not, I'm only one person and can't find and ask every person on simblr ~ 💛)

Thank you to SQOTD Anon and other Anon for the asks!! (I'm presuming we're gonna start seeing dupe asks with this getting passed around now LMAO)

I RELIGIOUSLY put small details in my renders and stuff, so take a shot (or sip of juice) for every small detail i point out /j LMAOO

- -

starting off with my most recent post, whether u wanna call these small or not, im still gonna point them out - the next panel after "I'll see you in a weeks time" you can see the text box is still there, which is just a play on perspective, you can also see the lyrics from the Beabadoobee song in frame on the ticket close-up shot AND finally (for this post), a more subtle detail, is the fact that the box with the "-$158" casts a shadow! I gave a before and after, thats how subtle it is and how subtle i wanted it to be :)

That's the one I wanted to share the most, but if you want to see and read about more details (small or just overlooked/overlookable), I'm adding a couple more under the cut :)

- -

- -

Lighting isn't so much a small detail, but a detail that I think is important and am sharing a couple (not all) moments where I used colored lighting to create contrast or just to outline characters or where I just felt it was important to use specifically-colored lighting:

Just gonna speedrun explain these: Leo's colors are red/red-ish pink and green is the opposite of pink, which I used in that specific render, so it was a nice contrast Hero's colors are a range from Red - Orange - Yellow-ish Green - Green Vanella's (A sim I havent talked about before!) color is Blue and I used blue both as lighting for the walkie talkie and to make her stand out from the background Leo and Roo's colors are [respectively] Pink/Red-ish pink and Purple, I like to, especially in these kinds of renders with no background, use these colors to highlight them and their favorite/representing color Same as the last, I used yellow and purple/pink to contrast the two, with blue as a sort of undertone(?)

Also if you look at the W.A.S Teasers, Green, Yellow and Blue are meant to highlight the different characters and sort of set them apart from each other

- -

in this post/render-set, I wanted to show (whether u see it as a big or small detail again idk, i see it as small/medium) just how exhausted Harvey/Younger Roo was and how sorry Roo was/felt, hence the slumped over body and Roo tightly hugging him

- -

you wont see this for a bit (until i muster up the energy for a flashback Hiraeth render), but Leo DOES wear this sweater again after Roo said he loved it :)

- -

I will never get enough of this panel, i always eat it up everytime I see it... but anyways LMAO The small detail here is just the hair strands... I feel like I did SO well on not making them look exactly perfect but not exactly like... fake hair, kind of representing the "I cut my hair myself" look- also the fact that I managed to perfectly remove his glasses (via model editing in blender)... *chef's kiss*

- -

shoutout to you if you remember the first nirvana post... anyways, Obv the text isn't small but it's just the fact that you can interpret these two frames in two different ways (that I know of): One is that it's saying DONT. (as in dont grab her hand) and then she does her hypnotizing shabang and it says "DO IT" a bunch (like yk,, do it, grab her hand-) The other, is that it says "DONT. DO IT." (basically just saying DONT DO IT, with a period/comma however u see it) Not necessarily a render detail, but something i realized a while ago while looking at this

- -

And thats it! Thank you again for these asks!!! I love putting in small details or just details that might get overlooked SOOOO much :)

[chilipowder9]

I'M LOW ENERGY, SAD I CAN'T SEW YET, AND TERRIFIED OF MY DEPRESSION CAVE

I'm going to ignore EVERYTHING and be creative in a lazy way that still makes me feel good!!

I'm going to give a preset sim a makeover!

I respect real people's style choices...

...BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN I HAVE TO RESPECT SIMS' STYLE CHOICES THIS IS HIDEOUS!!!!

Context: I have a sims world were my sim has a industrial diy shack that's a repurposed warehouse with a bunch of cheap or upcycled things, and I allow friends and other sims I make to be friends to move in, often just adding yet another bunk, or even a tree house

so let's start with the first sim who asked to join our little punk found family (even though I've been working on making my best friend in the sims, I would show y'all my current sim but she is literally me built into the sims - my name included - and I do not wish to show that around the internet, the little portrait in the corner is too much to me anyway but I'm too lazy to do anything about it

I'm not messing with her outfit one bit yet, I'm changing her first, I love what they tried to do, but they failed to do it, so I'm going to try and make Lilith Vatore still Lilith Vatore, but more to my liking... oh yeah, the eyebrows are gone

okay maybe I like them just a bit toned down

now remember guys: I don't want a model, just someone I don't mind seeing every in game night (vampire sim)

her lips don't need to go but they do need adjusting

basically just make them wider, she's already almost model in my opinion

while I understand some people may be in love with her hairstyle, I am not

this is a similar hairstyle that doesn't throw me off for the perfectly square bangs (seriously, if you have perfectly square bangs good job idk how y'all do it)

and literally with that her physical existence is done! Now I'm gonna mess with her makeup!!

I already can't remember what she had so I'm gonna wing it!

I'd say I did good since I never do makeup

now....the outfit...

got an upgrade!

I'm antsy to get this posted so I'll just update when I do Business

[simulated-inkydoc]

Whimsy Legacy Expanded - Gen 1 random update (1)

a while back I posted a random picture with my me-sim in the corner, announcing that I'd try to play a legacy challenge - and I indeed started it! and against all expectations I made it past one year!!

me-sim, your hopes seem to be not misplaced yet :D

originally I wanted to do one big info post at the end of gen1 but tbh I play in short sprints with long pauses so decided to go about it a little different. still gonna make the big summary post by the end, but also gonna make random update posts ranging from very smol to slightly longer, depending on when things happen ingame. some of them will have fancy graphics, some won't, we will just have to trust the process. the only thing that's sure is that I'll tag them #Tem plays Whimsy.

anyways, this is the first update, so let's jump right in :3

started out with a pee bush, a tent, and Rosalie Salisbury - then she only had a few walls, some scavenged/fabricated furniture and dumpster appliances, like this:

I think I only ever bought her the counters, the fridge, the candle table and the fabricator, the rest is pretty much self-made or fished from trash :D (well yes also bought the meditation cushion and the tarp, that's Ravasheen's cool stuff, just for decor)

but we quickly got together a lot of money and built a proper micro home, Rosalie had some insane luck with dumpster diving :D like finding, fixing and selling a research machine, those are expensive lol)

i imagine that she will repaint/expand the house as she grows older, but in the beginning this was perfect, a place to call home :3

also the boyfriend sighting - yes Rosalie met Knox around one of the dumpsters and they had amazing compatibility, so yea, love blossomed! idk why but for a while Rosalie had the whim to break up with him and then like a day later she wanted to marry him, and seemingly nothing changed, so don't know what that was about... but it was engagement and wedding time! they got engaged during Harvestfest and invited friends and family over to announce it, then got married next spring, thus marking me sticking to this playthrough for a whole (sim) year!

yes I very much love how the gnomes crept around the table while everyone was eating :D wedding was a bit bugged, but otherwise fun (used this very cute venue by Lady Chaos). had Knox's mother Blossom officiate the wedding amd I think Lilith was a flower pal,but never found out what that did... also poor Lilith almost burned, but it was aight, she is a big girl capable of taking care of herself XD but I guess that's the price of being besties with a vampire...

anyway I think that's all for this update, see you next post with hopefully a bebby added to the family :3

bonus Rosalie and Knox being cute in the snow :3

[aurically]

CC Creator ARCHIVEFACTION/TERFEARRENCE

Gonna put a big ole TW all over this post for w*hite supremacy n*azi imagery and iconography.

Hey, Sims community. It's been a while, I know.

I felt the need to pop in from the Second Life community to let you know that a creator working on both the TS4 platform and the SL platform has been outed over here as a n*azi sympathizer/supporter. This creator is known as ARCHIVEFACTION and TERFEARRENCE.

I'm still compiling all the evidence of discussions and evidence surrounding the situation at hand, but below you will find screenshots of ARCHIVEFACTION/TERFEARRENCE using neo-n*azi imagery in his SL product ads for his product The Confluence Pearl Necklace, which he had released approximately 2 weeks ago at the Access Event in Second Life.

What started it: I'm unsure of which came first, the Twitter post or the Virtual Secrets post, however, they were both found around the same time when Facebook and Twitter started discussing this.

The original Twitter post and the original Virtual Secrets post.

It has been discussed at length within the Second Life community, and the creator was called out. They altered their event photo for the second time.

The blog site Seraphim goes around shopping events in Second Life, and takes photos of all the vendor booths. When Seraphim took their photo of his Access event booth, this was the ad display:

At some point, just prior to the Access Event opening, he changed his booth ad to the image that included the "w*hite power" text and neo-nazi symbols, which appeared on his Flickr until yesterday:

Yesterday, he cropped his ad photo at the physical Access event, and deleted the Flickr post (as well as other undetermined photos from his Flickr feed), issuing an "apology".

This is not his original apology/statement. I read the apology when it was first posted, and it was only a few sentences saying things about a language barrier. I do not currently have a screenshot of the original apology, but if I find one, I will update this post.

That said, the general consensus is the apology is BS, and it is not being accepted. Many people feel that if you are a content creator primarily selling to a western audience, you should be making damn sure you're not using any foul language or offensive material; that "language barrier" is no longer an acceptable excuse.

Another SL creator has been very vocal on social media about ARCHIVEFACTION, and has apparently been watching them for quite some time. Asserting that ARCHIVEFACTION has on multiple occasions produced products with w*hite supremacist and neo-n*azi words and iconography, and has been disseminating it throughout SL for some time. I've not seen any screenshots of these things, but I did take a look at his Flickr before the apology/statement, and saw some concerning dog whistles for w*hite supremacists and neo-n*azis.

Another user also pointed out that one of his pieces of jewelry had neo-n*azi symbolism to it:

Lastly, it appears his whole "brand" is a rip-off of Raf Simmons' book, The Fourth Sex, and a real-life brand "POST ARCHIVE FACTION":

His Tumblr homepage + Raf Simmons' book "The Fourth Sex", where ARCHIVEFACTION has clearly ripped off the artwork.

While no one owns a certain aesthetic, the brand name is clearly being ripped off for a virtual iteration that is not associated with the real-life brand.

All this said I'm putting this out to the TS4 community as it seems his skins and looks are widely popular for its hyper-realistic, high-quality, edgy take. I would hate for the Sims community to also support someone who clearly has been stealing and perpetuating hateful ideologies in our beloved spaces.

I am purposefully leaving out any links to his socials and websites, as I do not want this POS to gain any further traffic. I hope these screenshots suffice in my desire to share this issue. I will try to fill in any missing gaps of information when and if it becomes available, but I am definitely coming here in good faith.

I hope the Sims community is well. <3

[requiemforthepoets]

you just pulled a verstappen! 𖦹 LN4

PAIRINGS: lando norris x female!reader

SUMMARY: you played a sim racing before, but not really on an actual sim racing setup like lando’s. so when you had the chance, you decided to try it out.

REMINDERS: this is purely fiction, the way how the character is portrayed in my story does not reflect the person that is portraying my character in real life. always separate fiction from reality, and do not repost or copy my work in any way.

WARNINGS: no use of y/n, fluff, and a little bit of cursing

WORD COUNT: 820

AUTHOR’S NOTE: found this on my drafts. i have a lot of lando one shots, but never really posted it bc i think it was poorly written, so i decided to fix this one up and post it. i hope you’ll enjoy this one!

Your and Lando’s apartment was unusually quiet. Lando had been out all day, caught up in a string of meetings, and being alone in a big apartment, the boredom had started to creep in. You sighed, glancing over at Lando’s pristine sim racing setup, which sat there like a tempting invitation calling out for you. It wasn’t like you had not played sim racing before, but using his rig, specifically with Lando’s custom settings and all his tweaks? That was something else entirely.

“Eh, why the hell not?” You muttered to yourself with a mischievous grin.

You quickly booted-up Lando’s setup, and you were off. You found yourself in the middle of a tense Grand Prix, the roaring of the virtual engines filling up the headphones as you become very absorbed with the race. Time flew by, and you were too focused to even notice when Lando came home.

“Hey, baby! I’m back!” Lando’s voice echoed faintly from the hallways as he called back to you, and you never responded. All you could hear and think about was the hairpin turn coming up on the circuit, and nailing the turn. “Babe, where are you?” He called out to you again, but you were still glued to the screen, the intensity of the race drawing all of your attention.

A few seconds later, Lando still got no answer from you. So when he checked every room in the apartment, and saw that you were inside his gaming room all along, he entered immediately, but when he saw you, he stopped dead in his tracks. There you were, fully immersed in sim racing, eyes locked on the screen with his headphones on and hand deftly handling the steering wheel. He blinked, half in disbelief, before grinning like a little kid on christmas morning.

“Are you on my sim setup right now?” He asked, voice full of shock, but you were too busy overtaking another car to reply.

“Okay, that was a decent corner,” Lando said with a playful smirk as he walked over to you, leaning against the back of the chair. “Not bad at all.” He added, folding his arms, and watching in awe as you navigated through the pack of cars.

You heard him, of course, but you were in the zone. The next thing you knew, you pulled off a move that would have made Max proud, sliding past two cars with precision that even caught Lando off guard.

“Whoa, that was a Verstappen move!” Lando exclaimed, wide-eyed. “You just did a Verstappen! Are you sure you don’t want to join F1? Because honestly, what the hell was that?!”

A smirk just tugged at the corner of your lips, definitely proud of yourself, but you remained focused, determined to finish the race without breaking concentration. Lando couldn’t help but laugh at your intense expression.

“Alright, I need to record this one,” Lando chuckled, pulling out his phone. “No one’s gonna believe me if I told everyone on Thread that my girl just pulled a Verstappen move, unless I post it.”

“Look at this! My girl’s out here stealing my setup and driving like she’s been on F1!” Lando began as he started filming, making sure to capture the moment as you powered through the final lap, and zooming in on your face, grinning the whole time. “Guys, I’m telling you, I’m not really making this up. She’s actually faster than me on some of these corners!”

You barely heard him as you crossed the finish line, finishing in P1, and the sound of the crowd roaring through the headphones as you finally relaxed in the chair. You let out a squeal of happiness and looked over at Lando, who was still recording and shaking his head in disbelief.

“Okay, what was that?” He laughed at you, turning off the camera. “I leave for a few hours, and suddenly you’re doing Verstappen-level moves on my rig? Are you secretly practicing whenever I’m not home?”

“Maybe I’m just naturally talented, ever think of that?” You looked at him smugly, and wiggled your eyebrows as you teased him.

“You know what?” Lando grinned at you, gently pulling you out of the seat and wrapping his arms around you. “I believe it. I’m just saying, if McLaren ever needs a backup driver, you should really think about it.”

“Babe, that’s Pato’s job, and I won’t take that away from him,” you joked, causing Lando to laugh, and you leaned into his embrace. “I’m just kidding! But…I might steal your sim setup more often.”

“Deal,” Lando chuckled, kissing your forehead. “Just don’t make me look too bad, alright?”

“No promises.” You said cheekily, then grinning up at him.

“Alright, alright,” he smiled at you. “Now where’s my kiss.” You leaned in, and kissed him softly on the lips.

[winter-spark]

Me w/ Orange & Navel:

(So that poll I did, ⅔ of you who voted were uninterested in seeing my Sims designs for them & like I was struggling w/ their outfits anyway & I flipped 3 coins to decide if I should post them anyway & that went like:

>Should I post my Orange & Navel Sim designs? •No >Like ever? •Yes >For clarification, should I post them later(rather than today)? •No

So. I guess I won't be posting them but let me share the important details of their designs. And then if you like them maybe you can draw them yourself. (If you do feel free to at me or send it to me or whatever, I will reblog.)

For starters, I thought it'd be neat if the Princes were a gradient so From Citron to Tangerine they get more blonde. (So they're not as blond as Tangerine but more blond than Citron, & Navel is more blond than Orange.) I do also imagine their hair a bit on the longish side like Citron & Tangerine, possibly longer but *shrugs*.

Orange:

(Again I was more confident for black!Orange's hair than notblack!Orange but I'm gonna do my best to get the gist down.) I think Orange has a very pulled-back hairstyle, like one where his hair is generally out of his way. While playing around with hairstyles I did sorta prefer the bang ponytails to the non-bangs ponytail but they didn't swoop the right way & because this was the Sims 4 I didn't have the flip bangs option(how I miss that option). (But it's not mandatory for him to have bangs because when I started thinking about him as black it was never a thing, the hair being out of the way thing tho yes, which is what affected my current mental concept for him) So anyway yea, hair pulled back, completely out of the way, probably low hanging or just directly back.

Then we have his face... I had drawn him before attempting shape language but like that's different from the style of the game so I'm gonna ignore some stuff... erm. Oh! He has glasses, at least I'm pretty convinced of him having glasses (but I do forget sometimes lol) they're boxy/rectangle or something. Then I did come up w/ moles for him if he had them and thats one at the inner end of his right(our left) eyebrow & one on his left(our right) cheek.

Then a note I have down for him as a possible hobby(I was trying a character design thing) is accessorizing. And like there was this one hairstyle I gave him at least for formal wear in the Sims because (w/out remembering my not) I thought the bun/beehive type thing a jeweled up felt like something I can see for him. I mean he's royalty and kinda... ya know? I think accessorizing fits him. So in that I think a couple of necklaces are good at least that's how I drew him, I also like to believe he has a long/dangle earring. I can't decide if it gets added after he starts studying abroad or if it's always been there but it's either an owl or a cherry blossom. Owl because I know in my soul he's a fan of owls, cherry blossom because he's wanted to see them and they're pretty and yea words. (tho looking back at my notes/explanations seems I was leaning more towards the owl, thus probably the idea that he'd always had it,) Only problem is should it become stud earrings or at least be a pair, in my initial design he didn't have his hair pulled back so his hair covered one of his ears, and the other ear had this dangle earring but would it look weird if it's just one ear? I don't know.

I think that's eveything besides clothes. I have thoughts. I'm not sharing them.

Navel:

Navel has a high ponytail (black or not lol), held up by a (probably gold colored but maybe silver) ponytail cuff with a star/star design on it. Bangs? Yes, definitely but they swoop to either side and don't cover his eyebrows... Well I mean I guess they could get close but it's debatable. He has glasses that lean on the more round side and a gap between his front teeth. Also he wears a choker that likely has a silver(maybe gold) little circle tag thing on the front.

At least that's how I see him. And I won't say much about his clothes, but I'd really like if he had a collar like almost like a popped collar but not, it just stands up like making a cylinder ya know? Idk if that makes sense but yea. Those are the important details I suppose.

I know that was a lot more solid thus a lot less worlds than Orange's category but like I do actually like my initial design for him more than my Orange design. Not that I dislike dislike my Orange design just it doesn't stick with my brain when I try to picture him, so it's definitely off in some regard.

(Note: I didn't delete my inital designs & outfit "moodboards" for them so if you wanted to see those designs feel free to check my blog. Check the tag "Character Design" or "not my characters". I have them posted twice because I did mean to delete the first time I posted them but like I forgot/am lazy. Also the posts themselves are riddled with the fact that I'm lazy, and I don't feel like editing them so they're just gonna have to be like that. Hence why I'm not linking them, I have no problem with you going to look at them but I'm not like proud of how I did the reposts of them so I'm not gonna link them.)

Anyway thanks for reading to the end lol, I appreciate you.

[jungfamilysims]

Road To Fame

"Superstar" is one of the packs I did not own growing up. I remember playing it a bit over at my friend's place, though. But my memory of it is vague. It's time for generation 7. I decided to let Maya live on her own, to make sure I only had to focus on her career.

I'm going to be honest with you guys... At this point, I was kind of fed up with this game. The micro-managing had started to take a toll on me. But the show much go on. Literally, considering what pack e are on. It's time to climb the celebrity ladder, aiming for 5 stars!

To being our journey, we have to sign up with an agency. It was fairly easy, you just check the magazine that is delivered to your door every morning.

In said magazine, you can also check who the most famous sims in your town is. The names are pretty cute, not gonna lie.

One fun thing to mention is that there are a few cameo NPC's added in this pack. For example, Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera and Marilyn Monroe. I think I only saw Monroe while playing, though.

This pack introduces a new neighborhood: Studio Town. Here, you will find anything you need to become a star.

Before we got to work, I decided to let Maya relax at one of the spas in the neighborhood. Spas are a new thing in this pack too, which is nice! And that's all for this post. Seeya ~

[theposhperyton]

Frick yeah! TBH, I kinda wanna collaborate with @isfd (i still can't believe that MFer got that handle, lucky duck) and make a bunch of larger posts about it, especially considering I've seen several new people show interest in it recently.

Also, those are both really good questions! I can't believe I didn't address either of those on my own in my first reply, I really just went right to infodumping huh 😭😭 sorry mate, but it's unfortunately not gonna get any more concise the second time. I'm so sorry, but I am a chronic yapper 🫡 Also, my deepest apologies for the lateness of my reply, I have barely been on tumblr this past month and only just started trying to be active again this past week. The money that comes with employment is nice, but then there are the horrors :[

First off - ISFD doesn't actually stand for anything as far as I know? It was the primary/original creator's username back on the old site and adjoining forum too (riiip). It might have a larger meaning, but tbh, I don't know what it is. It was what they signed all their original works, and all the collaborative stuff or stuff by other creators always credited ISFD as the original source. I think it was actually the fans who made calling the collective media ISFD the norm, but whatever the case, it works.

As a continuation of that last question, ISFD the media was a collection of mixed media works posted on the creators' site. It was just one main author making stuff about their OCs at first, but they brought in more authors/artists and were doing a co-creator/multi-creator thing later on. I think it was a group of their friends that they got involved in it? That's how they acted anyway.

As for the media itself, it was mixed media - some comics, some written fics, a couple of really simple point-and-click games, and there was even a dating sim in the works towards the end of things. They all took place within the same fictional continent, and even though the different media would focus on different places or groups or characters within the world, there was a sort of interconnectivity and cohesiveness that was really cool? And while the individual stories were mostly smaller and self-contained within their own narrative or character group, there were shared themes throughout a lot of them, and it kinda seemed like they were all hinting at a larger story. I think it would've been really cool to be able to see what they were leading up to with everything.

After a while, the creators started posting new content less consistently and even less frequently, and their activity and presence on the site and forum eventually dried up completely.

Tbh, while the lack of official content did suck, the fandom was pretty chill with a creator break, just because of how rare it was for new creator content to get added to the site anyway. The creators would go through phases of consistent posting, and phases of content drought, so we were kinda used to it. We were all pretty self-sufficient, lmao - Fanart, fanfic, and forum shenanigans were like, a good 40% of the content anyways, so we stayed winning. (I remember vividly doing ISFD RP 😭 Thorn was my go-to for RP, I love that girl. I also had a couple of OCs that I will **not** be bringing back to tumblr. I'm okay with those dying with the old forums.)

Speaking of dying! (Terribly segway, I know) - yeah, the creators' distance turned out to be a little more than a simple hiatus or break. One day, I tried to get back on the old site and forum, and oops! They were no longer there. The creator(s) kept their personal life pretty far removed from the ISFD page, so there wasn't any warning or explanation on the site before it exploded, or anywhere else.

We still don't know if the creators just decided they were done with this project, or if something happened irl, or what.

Which absolutely sucks, as it was really one heck of a microinterest for me and a lot of people, but there's enough stragglers on Tumblr that I know the fandom isn't completely dead.

I think the suckiest part is that all the media went down with the ship. As far as I know, the canon comics, fics, and minigames weren't posted anywhere else, so it's as good as lost media, short of tracking down the MIA creators or whatever any fans may have saved on their own devices. (Speaking of! I actually have a couple of pieces of official character art and some comic panels I saved as reference when I was making fanart back in the day. They're all on my parent's home computer, though, becuz I didn't think about saving any of them to my own devices before I moved last year :[ I'm hopeful that I can get ahold of them next time I'm out at my parent's house tho🤞My mom is really bad about deleting other people's stuff when she "cleans" the computer, but she **usually** leaves what's in my personal files well enough alone, lmao)

Several of my friends and I are still terribly obsessed with this stupid niche fandom, so nowadays, I fuel my need for ISFD by talking about it with them and making fanart, as well as chilling with the mini ISFD crowd on here :]

It's more than a little bit of a pipe dream, but I would love to keep a piece of ISFD alive with my fan content. ISFD was a big inspiration to my own art journey and really intensified my interest in making comics. I've actually made several short ISFD comics already, and it's been a big dream of mine for a while (pre the nuking of the site) to illustrate some of the old RPs and fics from the heyday of the website. Bring em to life graphic novel style, ya know?

That's part of why it's been so exciting reaching new people here on tumblr. Part of me is hopeful that if I keep plugging away at it, maybe we'll even reach some of the old creators. I really wish I could go back in time and let them know how special their work is to us, but because that's not possible, maybe there'll come a day sometime down the road that they'll get to see how their work continues to inspire and excite us few fans :]

Lmao, I hope they'd get a kick out of their characters basically being the fandoms OCs at this point. ISFD was always such a sandbox type media, and I'm pretty sure the creators of ISFD know that better than anybody.

(I'm nicer to Kepri than they were anyway. 🙄 My man don't deserve none of this )

If you've made it to the end, again, I am so, so sorry for the absolute length of this one. But hopefully this answers some of your generalized questions about the media itself! If you have more questions about character or story specifics, I'd love to ramble about absolutely any or all of it :)

if you have the time could you tell me literally everything you know about isfd?

I found your blog through the one piece posts and now need to learn anything I can about this obscure fandom

An ISFD ask from someone who isn't already lost in the sauce? (<-Self call-out) O glorious day!

Gosh, there's so much, I don't really know where to start. I've been following this micro-fandom for YEARS now, and it's one of those things that just keeps on giving. The amount of lost/missing content and the frickin nuked forum (I'm a survivor, baebee!!) really does sometimes make it feel like the universe is trying to wipe us out, but hey. ISFD fans are basically cockroaches. Killable in theory, but surprisingly hearty in an actual life or death of a fandom scenario.

As for the actual content of ISFD that I engage in, I'm a rare(?) case where I kinda dabble in everything. I can confidently say I'm a member of the ** original ** gen of fans, so I've been around for the noteable eras, and have obsessed over every major character group at one time or another, as well as some niche characters (Cyan and his 2 other fans, rise up 🔥🔥)

I gotta say though, I am currently obsessed with the mafia portion of the universe (and, tbh, by extension, the Marama family. They are to me what the Kardashians are to some)

In particular, Phillip Varic has been my consistent blorbo since last September. It is not an exaggeration to say I've averaged about 40 drawings of him a month since then (my friends and I have counted. I should be on my strange addiction at this point, tbh. Or seeking other professional insight)

Here's some of the doodles in question! I am not terribly good at finishing art of him, I just sketch him loosely and rotate him rapidly in my head

I just think he's so neat. And I think his stupid, codependant, and mildly dysfunctional mafia found-family are so neat. And I think his husband (seraphine) and wife (abram) are so neat. And all his kids, both the legal kids and the ones whom he mostly just pays college tuition for, they're neat to. And the echos of Magnolia throughout his life and the larger narrative, even decades later. That's also very neat (my heart doesn't hurt at all!)

I realize I kinda derailed from answering your original ask because the mafia brainrot is debilitating and chronic, but I'm not entirely sure how I'd go about answering it anyway because there is just. So, so much world and lore to glean from ISFD, and none of it in any easy or direct way. Honestly though? The mafia might not be a bad place to start? If you want, I can tell you as much as I know about the cast and dynamics of the mafia, because I feel like a lot of the mafia character's lore and backgrounds act as a good segway to other noteable aspects of the larger ISFD narratives and the in-world political climate as a whole (Especially Mask and Howard. Not to single those poor souls out, but genuinely. How are they both gonna be so afflicted by the narrative like that)

If you're still interested after I practically talked your ear off, I could totally make a larger post about the whole mafia :3 They're my special blorbos ❤️ I would not feel safe around them IRL, but trapped within the confines of fiction, they're all free for me to babygirlify with almost no consequences

[llazyneiph]

Can't believe I'm making another post about Adf*y in 2021 but here we go...

I'm sure you all know the new adf*y page which (i'm pretty sure) adf*y skipper can't skip anymore, the one where it asks to send notifications and won't let you proceed until you let them send notifications.

I accidentally just allowed one of these notifications (not at home and using a janky mouse on a pillow, keeps going crazy), so I immediately headed to my chrome settings to get rid of it.

I'm going through blocking everything before I delete it (just so I feel better about it truly being gone lol) and I see this:

I'm thinking, what the hell is a payment handler and why is it set to allow?? That super doesn't sound good... And after some googling I find yeah, it's probably not great.

So, what's a payment handler? Basically, it's when google saves your payment details to autofill later on when you're making an online purchase. So that includes your credit card, debit card, paypal, ect, details. (Source - askcybersecurity.com) Now these are usually fine on legitimate sites but this site specifically:

You just google 'christianivory.pro' and every result is how to get rid of it because it's malware. (That picture was after I cleared the cookies it had already stored, no idea what they were)

(btw, I wouldn't recommend clicking on any of these since malware/viruses are often hidden behind fake anti-malware ads/programs)

Luckily I don't keep any of my payment details saved so I'm pretty sure I'm fine after deleting it and MalwareBytes or Windows Defender hasn't detected anything. I can't say for sure what it would have done if I hadn't of deleted it, it seems to mostly be notification spam but the fact that it was trying to access my payment methods doesn't sound all that great. Even if having the payment methods allowed doesn't do shit, I've had money stolen from me through an adf*y virus before (source - my tumblr)

Like I said, I'm pretty sure I got lucky because I don't save those things but I'm going to offer a hypothetical situation which could be extremely likely in our community specifically;

Lets say I'm a 14 year old simmer who uses their parents computer to play the sims. I've recently discovered custom content and my favourite creator uses adf*y, but since I'm young and new to the community I have no idea that adf*y can be bad and I trust this creator so they would never link me to anything that could harm my computer... right? So I accept that adf*y notification and don't think anything of it, I get the CC I really like and I'm happy. But that notification I just accepted has saved my parents credit card details. I'm sure you can guess where the rest of this situation goes.

So this is me, creator to creator, telling you need to stop. I know finding a source of income can be awful right now, but your source of income could be coming at the expense of someone else who did not agree to this.

If you think your content is worth a price then I urge you to start a Patreon, Ko-Fi or even a paypal because these are platforms that are safe for both parties and are OPTIONAL. Adf*y is not optional for the downloader.

Stop putting the younger and more susceptible people in our community at risk. As creators it is likely that we gain a larger following so stop taking advantage of that. Especially if you're older or are someone who preaches the safety of our younger members in this space, step up and actually practice what you fucking preach instead of just saying it for likes and reblogs.

I am genuinely sick of this, I've been in this community for over half a goddamn decade now and I've posted before about adf*y, as have dozens of other people and this shit is STILL happening.

I am so close to wiping my old laptop and recording myself going through creators adf*y links and downloading as many malicious things as I can JUST to prove to people that adf*y is not safe. And no, I wouldn't blur out blog names, I would specifically be calling people out on their shit. This isn't just petty simblr drama, this can actually affect peoples lives.

TL:DR;

It's Adf*y?? We all know it's bad, stop using it for the sake of our community members!?? I'm gonna start calling people out for pretty soon?? STOP PISSING WHERE YOU EAT

how to remove notifications on chrome:

Checking/removing payment methods on chrome:

I'm sure there are some of you who will take issue with my post for whatever reason so:

1. Don't comment saying that we should just keep downloading however many adfl*y skippers or avoidant addons or be careful about what we click, that is not the point of this post. We shouldn't HAVE to do that just to get cc, and new/young community members DON'T KNOW THIS.

2. SimGuruDrake explicitly saying creators cannot use permanent paywalls

source (sims forums)

video on adf*y (old but still relevant info)

video (this dude basically just speedruns getting malware from link shorteners and the ads on the sites lol)

[fordarkisthesuede]

I got tagged by @fractualized - and I had to think about this for a while. Sorry for the delay, frac'! I pretty much felt like this all week (lol):

GIF by lostwithoutmyboswell

Ok, so we're gonna start from #5, because I decided to rate these like a loon:

#5:

Birth. Starting off on the disk horse topic of HP fanfic. Listen, regardless of how I feel about the series now (which is messy, to say the least), there's one thing I still can't help but love about it...and it's not only tiny, but half of the reasoning behind it is of my own making. It's Peeves the Poltergeist. I LOVE Peeves. He's my favorite character type - short, temperamental, powerful, 90% humor and fun, inhuman, and neither a Good nor Bad guy. I rarely used to read HP fic back in the day, but I noticed that for such a big fandom, he never had much to his name. (And what I did find was...disappointing for me.) I reread the series in 2015 for the first time in a while and did some Deep Thinking about him. What his limits are. How he's presented. Where he even came from. The bare scraps of canon and Word of God (distasteful) material pushed my buzzing brain to write about him, and eventually churned out this little origin story. I wrote several one-shots surrounding him, but this is my favorite of the bunch. In my eyes, it's simple, short, and effective in storytelling. So I like it. (^_^)

#4:

The Whole Nine Yards. Yes, my current WIP is on the favorite list. It started off as a sex-romp list, because I had too many positions and kinks I wanted John and Bruce to try. It first grew into showing Bruce/John as a couple at home, because my main fics in the Perseverance Project series don't get to show them being all lovey-dovey as much as I'd like. Then I added a few dashes of angst for character building. Then it evolved into including what AtBoM skipped over (for various reasons) - visits at Arkham showing their [growing] love and trust rebuild post-S2, and showing different sides to them.

So what we have now is: "Two guys in love met in an asylum 2.5 years ago, and less than one year after they first met, one keeps coming to visit the other. The visits' subjects are then related to current day, where they finally live together like a real couple, with all it's ups and downs, and sexy results". It's a mouthful, I know. ;D But I think it works!

It's great to explore all these things and essentially back-track a bit versus rewrite any part of AtBoM. Plus, I get to mumble about something that always interests me in this 'verse: Bruce's relationship with his parents. To go from loving them and putting them and their deaths on a pedestal to look to for inspiration to keep going on being Batman, to learning they were the biggest criminals in the city and a key reason while he's even having to be Batman... That's gotta affect how he looks at things. Like, I mentioned Bruce's dislike of his house in AtBoM and TToJ, but here it's full-force. It was a mausoleum for their memory and now it's just a means to an end. He doesn't consider it home, or even rightfully his. But John living there with him makes it a home. Their home. :')

Also, I feel like I'm playing a decorating game and a dress up game with it! Kind of like The Sims, I guess. xD John's room and summer wardrobe are fun to craft as I go. (Don't worry, you'll get to see John's classic outfit at the end. For...reasons.) Plus, soon* you'll see Bruce's bedroom revamped!

#3:

A Ghost Too Far. Disk Horse, part two. Peeves is the one thing I still wistfully sigh over and go "ah, what could have been"...all while knowing that I took the bones of my blorbo and crafted him a full body myself. It's been 7 years since I started writing this particular story, and it clocks in over 230K words. As things are now, I have no idea if I'll ever actually finish it, for a myriad of reasons. So to make a long story short (HA!):

Out of the hundreds of thousands of HP fanfics, and the handful that had Peeves as a character, I found Peeves had no proper big epic romance story of his own and decided to make him one, combining it with one big exploratory setting of How He Is, all set in 2003/2004. His destined romantic partner is an American witch (queue eyeroll), acting as a one-year-only DatDA teacher (queue harder eyeroll), who I can describe in modern** terms as a gender-non-conforming adult punk who is absolutely fascinated with ghosts. She makes it a point to study the castle ghosts, especially Peeves, as poltergeists are super rare and physical ones are apparently unheard of outside of him. She makes a deal with Peeves that he can break just about anything she owns and annoy her all he wants, in exchange for information on how he works. Which I worked out via the aforementioned HP reread and lots of Deep Thinking as literally by feeding off of (aka absorbing) magic from humans, like his "relatives" the Dementor and Boggart. Unlike them, he primarily eats high energy feelings of "anger" "sadness" and "excitement", because he was created in a castle with children who can have powerful feelings of all three very easily. Is this theory of mine presented in canon? Who fucking cares anymore, the author's dead in all senses but literal.

It might not be finished, and it might never be, but writing out this monstrosity of a theory while getting a guy like Peeves to fall in and explore love for the first time holds a special place in my heart. Because not only does Peeves reside permanently in my brain (I'm pretty sure he's the Writing Gremlin who suggests those "this is what goes painfully wrong" scenarios), but so does Dandrane, who I hand-crafted to be Peevesy's romantic partner. I love her. I owe her. Her favorite color is hot pink; because of her, I have gotten over my old feud with the color pink. I wrote her to be 30 while I was then 24; after a while, nearing/turning 30 no longer bothered me. I wrote her to be cool, confident, and a little horrible. Because we all have that bitchy little voice in our head sometimes... The desire to break something without consequences... The need to have our anger recognized rather than ignored or attempted to be placated... Dandrane is a wonderful vessel for these feelings, even after all this time.

She's my cool girl. My tall bean. My silly little flamingo. I want to put her in an enriched enclosure and watch her with a set of binoculars.

#2:

At the Brink of Midnight. My most popular fic is second-place in my heart, at this current hour. (Ha!) For reasons I'm sure you long-time readers already guessed, that I have mentioned time and again in it's author notes: this fic was FUN to make!!!

The Halloween setting! The fresh takes on Scarecrow and Poison Ivy! John recreating Joker! Bruce rescuing John! Bruce finally hugging John! THE CONFESSION SCENE! A rave scene in a graveyard!!! Batman and Joker teaming up to kick ass!!!!!

It's! So! Great!!! It's not too long, but still a big novel-length! Easy to read and get lost in! It presents an original character who carries the possibility of redemption! It hits all those story beats I craved to see for a Season 3! Hell, even now I'd be hard pressed not to expect to see Dr. Crane in any potential sequel we'd get IRL!

Are there things I'd change? Sure. But nothing major. I'm still happy with it, even 4 years later. Maybe part of my love for it is also a desire to be able to pump out 110K words within a few months again...

#1:

The Tolls of Justice!

Is it my most popular fic? Nah, it's #2. But it's my #1. The king of my heart. It took 2-and-a-half years to finish, in no small part because 2020 was a bitch. And despite the frustration at writer's block, despite the silly errors that I still need to go back and fix, and despite the time it took...God, I LOVE it.

Whenever I reread part of it, I get sucked in and read more than I meant to. I know the majority of the little notes I made, but whenever I read one of the tarot hints I can't help but go ehe he he. I read John's breakdown in Arkham, and his transformation into what is his final form of vigilante!Joker, and I still tear up. I see the theme of a writer playing God, of having a defined inescapable ending but proving that choices still matter, and just sit with it in utter delight.

I have many favorite moments: Tiffany and John's day out, the entirety of the Wayne Gala, John and Iman's investigation at the theater, Batman's descent into the Court of Owls' secret lair with Robin... But I have a favorite bit. It's the kind of thing I giggle over while kicking my legs in my seat.

So in Chapter 12, Batman and Joker are having a few moments together before the Big Battle in the high tier of seats above the main floor/"stage area", able to watch the Court of Owls' mock-trial below. In theaters, the highest tier is sometimes known as "the gods" seats.

As my version of the CoO has their whole thing built on "our God wrote down our destiny exactly and the Evil God keeps causing chaos to interfere", and considering the DC multiverses and that Batman and Joker are constantly in them, and as Bats and Jokes are generally simplified as "Order and Chaos"... They're figuratively 'gods' in "the gods" seats watching the show below. ౧(*മ് ധമ്)੭ु⁾⁾

As for WIPs, I only have 2 at the moment. I use OneNote to write all my ideas for it (when I'm actually writing them down):

As you can see, I have sections for The Whole Nine Yards (abbreviated "W9Y" in notes only) and the untitled "BtTTS S5" below. (The "After Hours" is just IRL work notes, when I had to use my personal PC for work in 2020, and "Noir "is literally a list of film noir movies I'm keen to watch. I've been really into them lately!)

Right now S5's notepad only has 2 sections - the Thinkbox and "J Tech". The Thinkbox pages are pretty much the brainstorm dumping ground...but TWNY's is actually laid out rather nicely, like this. I'd post a screenshot, but then this post would...uh, turn nsfw... (; ' o' )

Right now, the only WIP word docs are here, in my "BtTTS - The Perseverance Project" folder:

As for tagging...hm. Um... Since it was frac' who tagged me... I choose @distort-opia, if they're so inclined! (And anyone else who wants to!) Edit: I am a fool who does not reread properly. 😭 Sorry hun, you already did it! So field's wide open!!!

*at the time of this posting, TWNY Chapter 7 is still in progress. It's 2/3rds of the way done! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

**at the time of writing the story in question, the term "gender non-conforming" was not known about as widely as it is now; basically, I knew what it was without knowing what it was called.

[chelseasasimmer]

tl;dr: plumgo legacy on hiatus until eaxis gets their shit together and fixes mws

Longer explanation under the cut

So you may or may not have noticed that I haven't posted anything related to my Plumgo legacy challenge in a little while (since the 22nd of February at 12:00 pm AEDT, to be exact). The reasons for that are twofold.

Firstly, I started my first semester of university last Monday (21st of Feb), meaning, obviously, I have a lot less time to play the sims than I had previously.

However, the second reason is the fact that the last thing I did in my Plumgo save was get Matt and Soleil engaged, fully intending on having them get married to play through all the new wedding features added with My Wedding Stories.

But then, well, you all know what happened with My Wedding Stories. Eaxis dropped the ball, big time, and the entire fucking pack is virtually unplayable.

The Sims team has made a post on twitter stating that they intend to try and fix the bugs (read: every feature that came with the new pack), but God only knows how long that's going to take, or even if it will actually fix the bugs. Knowing the Sims team's track record, I have my doubts.

But, until then, I'm going to put my Plumgo legacy gameplay on hold. Soleil and Matt are already halfway through their adult life stages (oops spoilers), and I don't want them to die before they can have a semi-decent wedding.

So yeah, there's not going to be anymore Plumgo legacy posts for a little while. I'm sorry gang, I know I already went on a semi-hiatus a little while ago, but again, I'm still gonna be on here everyday, interacting with other people's posts and what have you.

Also, I uhhh have some st*ry ch*racters I've been working on for a little while that I want to get around to posting. So, maybe I'll do that. But I'm a coward so if I don't end up posting anything, then pretend you never read this.

[tainbocuailnge]

fgo criticisms have been flaring up in the wake of dw’s sakura wars mobile game quitting after only half a year but I have a disease that makes me get defensive when people try to rip fgo apart as this uniquely terrible game with uniquely terrible devs so i’m going to complain about people who are complaining for a bit.

i hadn’t heard of the sakura wars game before it shut down but from what i’ve been able to find it suffered from a lot of the same problems as (launch) fgo, terrible gacha rates with no pity, slow ap recovery rates, barebones repetitive gameplay. so i guess seeing how fast sakura wars was shut down people feel like it’s only the fate name holding up fgo and in the early launch days of barely playable fgo that was definitely the case but I don’t think it’s fair to fgo to act like people only continue to play it because it’s fate, and “being like fgo” wasn’t the only problem with sakura wars either. sakura wars is a vn/dating sim series that attempted to revive the series with a mobile game that featured none of the original cast that fans cared about while fate was already a series with new characters and a new setting every instalment and the thing that stood out in this new game was actually that it DID have characters from previous fates available. hell, it’s not fair to sakura wars to claim that its series name is simply weaker than fate’s when there were other factors involved in its failure beyond “being a delightworks game”

fgo DOES improve, launch fgo is unrecognisable compared to current fgo in a good way. events have become more streamlined (events have mid- to lategame enemy hp scaling but feature damage ce’s to let newer players keep up, mission events are set up so that they basically clear themselves just by farming the most recently unlocked node), they experiment with new game modes and gameplay mechanics on the regular, they’re taking more care to make viable permanent servants and buff the older ones, and the past few months there’s also been a noticeable effort to throw out random banners for minor things as an excuse to rerun old limited servants more often. I’ll admit the bar is on the low side (strengthening quests are a ridiculous model, there shouldn’t be this many limiteds to need reruns in the first place, etc) and progress is slower than many people are willing to put up with, and I’m not saying anyone Has to put up with it or they’re a fake fan or whatever, but like, granblue fantasy is seven years old and still doesn’t have the ability to uncap a weapon multiple stages at a time when its entire gameplay loop centers around farming and uncapping weapons and they’ve buffed heles like 7 times but she’s still shit, none of fgo’s problems are exclusive to fgo.

i LIKE playing fgo. i like tapping the cards and watching my little guys go and coming up with different teams to make them go harder or just look good together or even lean into the Themes. and this is going a little bit on a tangent but i have this post window open anyway i was talking with friends earlier that one problem that a lot of mobile games seem to have is that they use “making the game play itself” as substitute for “making the game fun to play”. the only game with autobattle functionality (out of the ones I play, i don’t know everything that’s out there of course) that I feel DOESN’T do this is arknights, where you solve the puzzle that the stage presents in order to earn the right to not have to solve the puzzle every single time you play the stage and coming up with different efficient or perhaps ridiculous ways to solve the puzzle is part of playing the game. the worst case I know is dragalia lost which upon realizing that playing it sucks implemented an item to just let you skip playing stages altogether. “this game is good because you don’t have to play it” is not the selling point some people (and devs) think it is, and fgo refuses to fall into that trap - something I believe is an intentional decision because of their explicit refusal to implement NP skip.

one big advantage that fgo has over the other mobile games i’ve played is that it’s entirely turn based with no real time elements beyond start and end times of events. fgo doesn’t NEED to continue playing itself when you look away because looking away has no bearing whatsoever on your ability to clear the quest, fgo doesn’t give a shit if you look away for six hours and then close the game and only reopen it another ten hours later, you can continue right where you left off. the problem is not that you have to manually play the quest, because as far as the system is concerned you can take as much time as you like to clear that quest, it’s that the greater structure of the game wants you to repeatedly manually clear the same low-stakes quest for disproportionately small rewards. this one’s easy enough to solve by just increasing material droprates across the board. repeat clearing a low level quest is much less frustrating if you actually get drops every other clear.

but that’s a bandaid solution, because related to the issue of having to manually farm low-stakes quests is the lack of high-stakes quests to do when you want to do something a little more engaging than routine farming. outside of event challenge quests with their time limited availability, certain main story chapters that you can’t replay, and recently on JP the permanently available kiara challenge quest in the main interlude, there simply isn’t any difficult content to play. you could argue about fgo’s merit as strategy rpg in the first place i suppose but if you ask me it does have that merit and there is a clear effort from dw’s part to improve the depth of fgo’s strategy elements, the issue is that there is simply not that much content available to unleash those strategies on. of course you’re gonna get bored if all there is to do is either brainlessly repeat the same quest for minimal rewards or play the specific challenge quest that the game hands you right this moment regardless of whether that’s the kind of challenge you feel like facing right now. the solution to this one, although it’s likely going to take some significant effort on dw’s side to implement, is to make main story quests replayable.

you want to flex your brain muscles but there’s no challenge event right now? you stomped on a boss by using overpowered servants the first time but want to challenge yourself with some 3* this time? or the other way around, you beat a boss by the skin of your teeth the first time but want to stomp all over them now that you rolled some bitching 5*? you rolled a servant that’s not that suitable for day to day farming but would really shine in more difficult content and you want to try them out? you have a silly strategy in mind that would only work against certain story enemies? you’re like me and just really crave the shimosa duels? all of this involves content that already exists and is available in the game, dw would just have to figure out a way to let you access it again after clearing the chapter. and of course ideally this extends to event story quests once they’re added to the main interlude

i guess another way to put it is that i think the reason a lot of people say fgo has bad gameplay is not that its gameplay system is actually bad, in fact it has the potential to be very engaging, but rather that it’s a system that is set up to respect your time through the ability to put down the game absolutely whenever you want without being penalised, only for the game around it to go and penalise you for putting it down anyway. if you don’t diligently spend all your ap farming this quest you won’t get single damn material drop, and if you don’t play the event while it‘s happening you’re going to miss out because you can’t be sure when if ever it’ll return. so the number one way to solve the problem of fgo’s “bad gameplay” is not to make the game play itself whenever it tells you to play, but rather to make content more easily available so you don’t have to play if you don’t want to and CAN play if you do want to. thank you for coming to my ted talk i suppose