#hp aesthetic text post

[wisteria-lodge]

And now for a HP fandom question - do you have any thoughts on queercoding in the series and if JKR ever actually intended it, and then backtracked, or if it was always completely unintentional? I'm thinking specifically about Lupin and Tonks (as individuals, not as a ship) Inspired by your post about the intention vs how fans perceived Draco Malfoy. Thanks!

So the first thing I want to do is make a distinction between femme-coding and queer-coding. They're tropes with very similar histories, and a lot of works treat them as the same thing. But Harry Potter doesn’t, and I think we can chalk this one up to JK Rowling’s habit of grabbing aesthetics and visuals without really thinking through the history behind them. 

(Like - the goblins. She says she didn’t mean to write an antisemitic thing, and I actually do believe her. But did she use a lot of tropes and images with a long history of being tied to antisemitism? yes.)

So when I say “femme” I mean giving a male character traits stereotypically associated with femininity. Heightened sensitivity/emotionality, an interest in hair, clothes and being attractive, a love of lace/pink/frills, a dislike of violence and physical confrontation, and a preference for the soft power of manipulation, character assassination and poison - versus the hard power of direct confrontation and physical prowess. Are these things super stereotypical? Yes. But they’re ALSO traits you see all the time on male villains, especially ones that you don’t want to seem that threatening. Femme-coded villains show up a lot in children’s media, or as the Big Bad’s #2. They’re not meant to be heroic or sympathetic (since all these feminine traits are not desirable, especially for guys.) But they also aren’t scary, and you can pretty much always play them for comedy. 

For example: see almost every male Disney villain. And JKR was writing children’s literature in the 90s, so of course she’s pulling from the same zeitgeist as the Disney Renaissance. 

JKR loves herself a femme villain. The absolute gold standard is of course Lockhart - who wears pink, wants to start his own line of hair care products, is self-centered, vain, obsessed with popularity… but he sucks in a fight. His entire MO involves manipulating people into thinking he has these traditional masculine qualities when he just doesn’t. But there’s also fussy, prissy Percy wearing his prefect badge on his pajamas. Bitchy, emotional mean-girl poisoners Draco and Snape (especially early book Snape - which is Snape at his most villainous.) Draco, Percy and Snape are also unusual for being male characters who we see crying for reasons other than grief (apparently the only truly acceptable reason for masculine crying). 

Lucius Malfoy is an interesting case because he starts off quite masc. He’s threatening to curse people, the governors are scared of him, etc. But, as the books go on… and he gets less powerful… he also gets more femme. When we meet him in Book 5 he’s no longer threatening people, but bribing them, spreading rumors, and giving interviews to the Prophet casting Arthur Weasley in a negative light. He's also getting really into peacocks. In Book 2 he was a major threat, but as he gets recast as Voldemort’s #2 he becomes a more femme, soft-power villain. When he leads the attack on the Department of Mysteries, he absolutely bungles it, which defines his character (and relationship with Voldemort) for the rest of the series. And it makes sense that Lucius is given this kind of treatment! It’s a way of communicating that there's a new villain in town, a real villain. 

So, are any of these femme-coded villains additionally queer-coded? I’m actually going to say no. Queer-coding is (like it says on the tin) finding ways to imply that your character is specifically gay. Like maybe giving them a same-sex relationship that is written romantically, but not explicitly called out by the text. Or pairing up all of the characters except them. Maybe have other characters joke about them being gay, and use that as a way to talk about the subject with some plausible deniability. Or they could just play suggestively with a cigar, or a walking stick. There are different strategies.  

But Lockhart doesn't get any of that. Honestly, I think that if JKR actually thought of him as gay, she would have been a lot more wary about a scene where he keeps Harry alone with him in his office for way longer than he’s supposed to. And she might have skipped this joke: 

“Harry was hauled to the front of the class during their very next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, this time acting a werewolf (...) “Nice loud howl, Harry — exactly — and then, if you’ll believe it, I pounced — like this — slammed him to the floor — thus — with one hand, I managed to hold him down — with my other, I put my wand to his throat (...) he let out a piteous moan — go on, Harry — higher than that — good —” 

Like. At least she would have picked a different word than “moan,” right? Which unfortunately has slightly sexual connotations. Especially if she wanted to keep Lockhart a buffoon, to properly set up the twist at the end. 

Slughorn also gets femme-coded in a similar way: he loves his candy, his parties, his smoking jackets, his lilac silk pajamas, his web of connections he can use to get stuff (Lucius style.) We are introduced to him squatting in specifically a “fussy old lady’s” house. He’s also unusually emotional, getting weepy at Aragog‘s funeral. But I don’t think we’re meant to read him as actually gay, or else his relationship with Tom Riddle might’ve read a little too close to Tom seducing/trying to seduce him. Which is a beat JKR does subtly play out with Hepzibah Smith, but idk. by that point at least Tom is a legal adult.

(As a side note - the Harry Potter series got so lucky that all of its adult characters are played by absolutely top-shelf actors who are aware of the connotations and history behind various symbols, and do consider these things in their performances. Kenneth Brannagh and Jim Broadbent are good enough to make sure there’s not even a hint of iffy subtext when they play Lockhart and Slughorn. Also, Emma Thompson took the potentially very problematic character of Trelawney and made her cute and sympathetic… and not Romani in the slightest.) 

Draco, Snape, and Percy all have a case of the not-gays. Percy has a girlfriend (we don’t really see her or anything, but we’re told she’s there.) Snape of course gets his whole thing with Lily, and Draco… after one too many beats where it’s clear that Pansy is into him, but he’s not into Pansy…  gets a scene where he’s talking to his buddies with his head in her lap. (JKR uses “no one‘s good enough for me” beats with Blaise, Draco and Sirius, and the idea there seems to be more that they have undeservedly high opinions of themselves, and less that they don’t like girls.)

But, I do agree that a lot of JKR's characters do come across as a little more queer than intended. It boils down, I think, to the general lack of any kind of romance in the Harry Potter books and JKR being generally bad at/uncomfortable with writing male attraction directed at women, BUT being perfectly happy writing attraction directed at pretty guys. And because of that… yeah, it can sometimes feel like maybe Harry has a thing for Cedric. Especially when Dudley goes on to tease him about Cedric being his boyfriend, which I believe is the only actual mention of gay people in the entire series.  

So is there any intentional queer-coding in the book? It’s really subtle, but yes. I think Dumbledore is queer-coded. He is unusually emotional/cries unusually often for a Rowling guy. He is also given a scene which emphasizes his “flamboyantly” cut plum-velvet suit, and his relationship with Grindelwald is implied to be romantic for one book and two movies before being actually confirmed in Fantastic Beasts 3. (With the line of dialogue “I was in love with you.” Big step up from “We were closer than brothers.” which is an odd thing to say about someone you are interested in romantically.) 

But you brought up Tonks and Lupin, two characters very commonly interpreted as queer. So let’s get into that. JKR has said that she considers Lupin’s lycanthropy to be a metaphor for stigmatized diseases like AIDS. And… as incredible as it is to say… I actually do not think that she made the jump from there to thinking that maybe the character suffering from AIDS should be gay.

Because the narrative places so much weight on Lupin being bitten young and then on maybe not being allowed to attend school, I’m pretty sure that he’s not intended to be queer so much as he’s meant to be Ryan White, the literal poster child for AIDS activism who got infected via blood transfusion when he was two. Tragic, absolutely. But not gay. Honestly, I hope JKR was thinking of ‘lycanthropy’ as a metaphor for stigmatized illness in the abstract and not as a comment on gay people specifically. Because otherwise, Greyback’s thing about biting children becomes a mash-up of two of the biggest homophobic boogeymen from the 80s: gay men infecting people with AIDS on purpose because… idk, they hate the world or something. And the influence of gay men somehow “turning” children gay. Both absolutely real, if ridiculous, moral panics.

On top of that, Remus and Sirius do get a pretty clear case of the not-gays early on (“He embraced Black like a brother.”) Buuuut Alfonso Cuarón did think through those implications for Movie 3, absolutely saw Lupin as gay, and directed David Thewlis to play him accordingly. No reports confirming or denying whether Alfonso Cuarón ships Wolfstar, but I think that if I’m an actor trying to make sense of Lupin’s motivations… and I know he didn’t show Dumbledore the Marauders’ Map and didn’t tell anyone Sirius was an animagus… and then I’m told my character is gay… well. Anyway, I think there are absolutely hints of Wolfstar in that performance. 

And there's Tonks. Tonks is introduced during a very spooky segment in Book 5: Harry has been going through it, been left alone at the Dursleys while having what sounds like a depressive episode. It’s dark, he hears intruders. It's a really good piece of writing. But JKR knows that it’s the good guys who are coming and thinks, okay. Let’s make that as clear as possible from the word go. And so the first thing Harry sees is Tonks' pink hair. And what kind of person has pink hair? A young adult. A punky young adult. And what power would a teenager think was cool? Well, the ability to change the color of their hair at will. That, by itself, would have worked perfectly fine for this character.

But then (for reasons best known to herself) JKR goes further. Even though Tonk’s hair changing color is easily 90% of the transformations we see and there is no plot reason her appearance needs to change more than that, we see her drastically change her age and body type. When you think about this power for more than five seconds, it becomes kind of OP. For worldbuilding reasons alone, my instinct would’ve been to tone it down a bit. 

But no, we have this counterculture character who seems interested in her career and not in a relationship, who can easily change anything about her body, and (if her ability works anything like Polyjuice) that means she should definitely be able to change her gender. Cool.

Then, in everyone’s least favorite romance, Tonks and Lupin are paired up. I have heard the argument that this was meant to walk back queer-coding, or to punish people who thought they were queer... but I don’t think that’s the case. I don’t think JKR expected these two to be fan favorites, and then was kind of surprised when everyone wanted to hear about their continuing adventures. 

(There are a handful of characters who JKR clearly really enjoys - and really enjoys writing - that fandom honestly could not care less about. Mundungus Fletcher and Ludo Bagman spring to mind. But the reverse is also true. She had one story for Lupin and people wanted to see more. Tonks is probably supposed to be her comment on immature young adults: she is loud, in your face, causes mild destruction and is “a little annoying at times.” But the fans fell in love with her.) 

So JKR has these two fan favorite characters and nothing for them to do. A romance is something for them to do. JKR also has a kind of weird pattern where good people need to either have kids or take care of kids. It’s not good to be a woman who isn’t involved with taking care of children in some fashion: see Rita Skeeter, Dolores Umbridge, Bellatrix Lestrange. This is also (I think) why Harry names his kids specifically after Severus, Sirius, and Albus. Since they’re good men, JKR had to find a way to give them kids after the fact. 

So yeah. I think we were meant to read Tonks and Lupin having a kid as kind of a reward, or at least as proof of their intrinsic goodness. There also just isn’t another guy in the right age range to ship Tonks with. The only other option is Sirius. 

(Harry in the books and Lupin on Pottermore both suspect that Tonks/Sirius is a thing. Completely forgetting, I guess, that they're cousins.)

[raining-tulips]

hi! i just found your blog :) love your commonplace book scans! if you don’t mind me asking, could you give a more in-depth explanation of what commonplacing is exactly and what your process is? i’m intrigued and considering getting into it but i wouldn’t even know where to start! thanks a lot xx

Absolutely! So my commonplace is specifically all movies, qoutes, articles, tumblr/Instagram posts, book excerpts, etc. that either resonated with me or I think I'll want to reference later. That is the heart of what common placing is - saving things for later physically rather than digitally.

Some of these just pop up in my feed, and I'll hit the like or save button. If it's an article, it usually first pops up as a preview on my Instagram and I'll open the full article on my desktop than bookmark it in a specific folder for common placing.

Sometimes, when I want to actively find something out (say, about if perfume is really bad for the environment, or I want to look at author interviews because I just loved a book) I will go out and search for that information.

Then, usually once a week I compile everything I'd like to print - i print the sources bc my handwriting is messy - into a word document formatted for two columns. I try and hold off printing until i have a full page worth, or two full page worth.

For images, I have another word document (these are printed in color, and i usually have to jigsaw to fit as many images on the page as possible, so different word document). Same thing, I try and wait until I have a full page to print. Usually x2 a month. I sometimes will print with an HP sprocket but the quality is really bad and the pictures are thick so, it's for when I'm out of printer ink or I think a photo will look okay with a sorta...uneven look.

I use just a Staples brand journal, TruRed. Cheap and easy. I draw a line at the top so I can write the date, and in the future if I want to tag it with a colored sticker or something, I can. My layouts usually include divided space on either the left or right of a page. The article goes in the bigger open space, and then the source (always write your source!!) and any commentary goes in the smaller margins.

Commentary is usually why I wanted to print it, what it reminds me of or makes me think about, etc. What I think the argument was missing, etc. Can be as little or as much as you like. As emotional and deep or as plain-jane as you like. There are no rules!

I trim printed text and images with a 12 inch trimmer bc I've got wobbly hands, but some people just use a little (blanking on the name) exacto knife? Any 12 inch trimmer will do mine is expensive but I also scrapbook so I use it all the time.

I paste things in using a tape runner (again, because I scrapbook and found a tape runner and my mom sells scrapbook supplies they're very accessible to me). Some people use tape, washi tape, glue sticks (liquid glue I've never seen).

And yeah, then I just decorate and play around. It doesn't have to be pretty. It can be really pretty if you want - I'm motivated by aesthetics, so, I like mine to be a little pretty.

If you'd like to see how I actually put it together and why I print certain things, my YouTube channel is the place to go.

Some people tape in movie tickets, receipts from where they shopped or ate, pictures from daily life. Some people mix common-placing and journaling, so including diary entries about their day or about a topic they love, or their thoughts and feelings (I keep mine in a separate journal, explained in this video). Some people mix common-placing with bullet journal or planning. Some combine all three!

At the end I just use a printer scanner (HP Envy 5500, cheap) and post them online that way bc I love the look.

People who have other styles you might try and look at are @petite-gloom (an OG who inspired me and many others) @fakelavender , @teddybearsticker .

[hananoami]

˗ˏˋ ♡ 𝓪𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝓵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝓾𝒑 ♡ ˎˊ˗

Here's Xavier's photo haul of his most recently level ups! His affinity level went from 107 -> 110!! We managed to gain affinity points by leveling up his new memory, [No Restraint], as well as completing all of his Directional Orbit: Light Deepspace Trials.

Affinity unlocks include:

108: Unlocked Moment Post: I Don't Want To Clean

109: Unlocked Text Message: Bait Biter

110: Unlocked Video Call: Good Morning + Affinity Bonus Stats: +200 HP +100 ATK +5 DEF + Leaf Wallpaper, Leaf Shelf, Leaf Bunny Ornaments + Star Whisperer: Fluffy Bunny (sole)

I'm really excited to have finally reached this affinity level so I can slowly start to re-decorate his desk space with some cottage core aesthetics! My eepy bunbun...

[firefullofcorpses]

INTRO POST

Hey traveler, let's start with...

THE BASICS (about me)

Please call me Ben, Jeff, Shel or Tay

I'm using he/him pronouns( they/them also acceptable)

I am arospec bisexual ftm.

I am a therian/factkin/fictionkin

I am a part of a lot of fandoms ( mainly helluva boss/ Hazbin hotel, gravity falls, MLP, Sherlock,HP, Sally face, Eddsworld...)

Some favorite bands: My chemical romance, msi ( music), tally hall, the cure, nirvana,

PEOPLE INTERESTED IN THERIANTHROPY, I HAVE OTHER BLOG

@waterfullofbubless

That one is safe for minors without adult themes.

MY OTHER MAIN BLOG (not nsfw just my more personal one)

@firefullofblood

Account INFO(basic):

Please DNI if you're not at least 15+ years old thank you

AND DNI IF YOU'RE MAINLY PROPAGANDA BLOG THX

Main POSTing

My posts will/does contain:

× Drawing/painting

× sharing/ "venting "

× pictures I took ( not about me but about my life, aesthetic)

× sharks/planes/deer/criminology/authors/taxidermy/ lost media

× about my paraphilias/fetishes

+ I have nondiagnosed pica so please be respectful towards it

(chalk eating)

!!! I might post about G0re, necrophilia, Splanchnophilia and more themes which might be familiar!!!

I am a NON practising necrophile :)

I also have an interest in taxidermy, anatomy, true crime and collecting stuff ( especially bones and feathers), also love vinyl records and 1920/30's, might post about it too.

THIS ACCOUNT IS SAFE FOR ANYONE

I'm open for conversation/ texting.

Just be respectful, if you won't be respectful I won't be respectful towards you either.

Not that I Care, I love fights.

Also, I have the right to block you no matter if I wish to do so.

I'm willing to convo/ talk about ANYTHING.

I'm not an account to talk about any real war, I hate it, please leave it to politics and not on this blog.

What I DON'T support:

homophobia

Transphobia

Racism

Hate towards therians and furries

Practicing maps and zoos ...fellow Necros, please don't practice either

Also please, don't flirt with me I'm taken and I love my boyfriend with my whole ass.

If you don't like this account, then just move on and don't waste your time, it's not worth it. ( If you'd be mean to me, I would just enjoy it)

Don't report, just move on.

(no idea who did the blinkie, but it wasn't me)

[hp-femslash]

Welcome to hp-femslash!

We are a blog entirely focused around the lovely sapphic content in this fandom.

This blog follows the Ship and Let Ship mindset, meaning that there will be content including incest and age gaps. Both of which will be tagged appropriately with the type of cest (i.e blackcest) or the warning of an age gap (cross gen). NSFW content is also tagged.

All of our posts are organized by character, common ship names, character x character (in alphabetical order), the era, and the type of media!

We're tracking the tags hp femslash, hp wlw, sapphic marauders, and marauders femslash!

Common tags: founders era, golden era, marauders era, lightning era, next gen, cross gen, polyship, individual characters, sexuality headcanons, art, fanfiction, headcanons, text posts, moodboards and aesthetics

[thedemigodoracle]

Please read:

Ok, so as I jokingly said before “I’m back.” - I’m not joking, I am back.

Not entirely yet but here are some things to wait for in the near future.

Before I list it I need to browse fast through the real life stuff first so bear with:

- one of the reasons I did go missing from art and fandoms in general wasn’t just the ammount of books but also family situations, depression, relationships and in the last few years I lost grandma, grandpa and even my mother to a disease they don’t have it diagnosed yet because it was so rare.

Obvsly took a major hit to my mental health and the ability to write and just have energy kinda left me. I’m handling it I’m in therapy. This is all we need to talk about it.

- it’s been over ten years since some of your fave fics have been updated and while both Clichesbullet on ff.net and thatu on DA will be there and won’t be deleted HERE are what’s to expect:

1. My endgame here is reading the books back and forth again, as well as other source

Material for other fandoms I will

Be publishing for.

-updating the old fan mixes and uploading it to Spotify so it’s more accessible and going back (when possible to art).

- I will use AO3 some new aesthetics and user name (though probably just thatu) and edit a lot more to fit what I believe is better not because the world changed in general but because so

Did I.

Some of the racism and homophobia will still be there are these are the characters having flaws whose arcs weren’t complete but lots of it will also be changed because I’m 34 now I also the world is changed and some stuff just wouldn’t fly and I kinda hate it (but the old material is still there available on the old

Accounts).

- I’m not sure technology will be adapted but some references will here and there and I can clearly deliver something better now that I’ve taught English for over half of my life and am taking a masters degree on translation studies.

- real life will get me too busy sometimes so please I hope you’re excited but I know lots

Of you also have jobs or even families. So leave reviews and keep

Me company but also understand I was bad at updating before even with better time

Management this is will be a ride.

- I’m doing this to prove myself I can do and make good things.

- This site as well as the thatu blog will be updated.

- if you were a follower and have deleted your tumblr or changed usernames please leave a reply with who we were because I’ve had an eventful few years. I remember most of you, but I may need a nudge.

- both my writing and art style have developed and so did my world views - stuff will look different but hopefully still bring you comfort. And laughter.

And tears…?

- there will be some one shots posted focusing on stuff like grown up characters and new knowledge

We now have though the characterization will still follow the book ones as that’s how I kinda got used to it.

- I’m back but I’ll be getting back slowly and posting updates here. Tell ur friends who haven’t been here in a while but used to be part of our group of

Weirdos.

- I missed being a fandom person and hopefully now I can find solace in you guys back again.

- some new fandoms will pop up, as will

Some

Ships (see what I did there? Find solace? Will some ships? Hehe).

-Some extra texts will be added to whatever adaptations I make especially regarding transphobia and HP though I do intend to finish my Hannah/Neville story.

- maybe I’ll write original

Stuff too who knows?

Also, I missed you, spread the word. There’s a brand new old me in town. New ships, new views, new one shots, edits, a very different music taste (actually no I just added more stuff) and a lot of improved knowledge of vocabs and world geography.

Please spread this to whoever you think might be interested. It’s not popularity or anything, I’m trying to get back some pieces of me I lost along the way and writing and drawing used to be FUN and help me make FRIENDS.

I’ll keep u posted once everything is at least remotely ready to go.

And omg you’ll finally know what Silena had on clarisse.

Oh and I’m still not for writing smut but there will be more Adult/Mature like material as some ships require it and I am older. No minors having descriptive s*x

Of course but u know it’d feel weird to talk about these huge ass long relationships and not bring it up naturally.

Anyway, reply to this with whatever. Leave a like or something too but mostly leave a reply so we can start this journey together -

New younger fans are also welcome I’ll make my best to keep this space as safe as possible!! I teach kids and teens and I’d kill for u to have a place to be you safely.

Also there will now be additions on author notes for whether a ship is canon or fanon what I adapted and new fandoms new ships and trigger warnings before sensitive chapters that deal with stuff that before I wouldn’t.

Love, I’ve missed this,

thatu.

[scandalouslyawake]

Welcome traveler

Ray / 19 / any pronouns / agender

unlabelled sexuality Ig, I like all genders

Not very updated on all the lingo, so excuse me for that

Tags:

#hp ocs/#memes for Ocs: stuff about Harry Potter Ocs

#100% Emmathiel: rbs that fit the ship Emmett/Nathaniel

#tw ed: ana memes/vents

#tw sh: sh memes/vents

#《◇》: Aesthetic pictures (not mine)

#《♤》: writings (not mine)

#~♤~: writings (mine)

#~◇~: Aesthetics (mine

#haha hehe: memes

#dn shitpost: Death note memes/other rbs

#:') <3: positive rbs that made me :')

#Ray has thoughts :0 : text posts/random bs by me :)

[ectoamerican]

WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN INTERACTING WITH MY BLOG - Customizable Edition

BASICS !

Name / Alias: Spooky Pronouns: he/they Blog type: single muse | Multi-muse | non selective | semi selective | selective| mutuals only | private | other (specify) Type of muses: canon | OCs | both | other (specify)

GENERALITIES ! Triggers people MUST tag: animal death Interest tracker / checker: I have it and it's mandatory | I have it, it's not mandatory but I'm more likely to follow bad / interact with the people who fill it | I have one and I prefer it if people fill it in | I have it but it's to people whether to fill it or not | I don't have one | other (specify) Reblog karma: I practise it | I practise it sometimes | I don't practise it | I always reblog memes from the source | indifferent | other (specify) Rule passwords: I have one and it's mandatory | I have one and it's optional | I don't have one | I send passwords | don't sent passwords | I have to hype myself up to send one

3-5 ESSENTIAL RULES PEOPLE HAVE TO RESPECT

please read my rules

please be patient with me. irl stuff can get in my way or leave me too drained to do stuff, even if i WANT to write

the basic stuff, no metagaming, godmodding, infomodding, etc

3-5 IMPORTANT PET PEEVES TO KEEP IN MIND

I am 100% okay with my rp partner not matching my reply length. Be it shorter or longer. (heck, if they make it longer then I'll feel better abt my next reply being longer.) HOWEVER, if I give a paragraph or two, I will expect more than one line. which is what I actually got one time.

if my rp partner goes into a thread with me assuming something about my muse even though I make it clear that my muse is canon divergent. I'm absolutely free to IM if you have questions! I'm friendly and don't bite, i promise. QwQ

when i can't figure out your blog. please, readability is the most important thing to me. which is why the most I do is small text. I will change my theme if I think even one thing is making it unreadable or even slightly harder to read. bright harsh colors as well, makes the blog a mess to read anything on.

not trimming your posts. it makes it hard to follow whats going on sometimes. even if tumblr now makes long posts auto readmore. (at least it does for me)

i do prefer that ppl tag their posts most of the time, but that's not really a requirement if it's not like for a trigger or something. it just helps me search for stuff on their blogs if i can't find it through our notes.

2-5 THINGS THAT WILL LEAD TO INSTANT (SOFT/HARD)BLOCKING

if the blog looks like a bot in some way

if it's a personal who has repeatedly reblogged something after being asked not to

if it's someone i've known in the past to make me uncomfortable

2-5 THINGS THAT LEAD ME TO UNFOLLOW / SOFTBLOCK A MUTUAL / SOMEONE I INTERACT WITH

ooc drama between people, vague posts, bullying

minor/adult ships

very rarely, if they're spamming TOO MUCH ooc stuff, untagged or other wise, in a short amount of time. I mean like, many posts that are actually ooc not having anything to do with their character. not like aesthetic posts, headcanons, or art. I'm also not talking abt like, PSAs or updates on the mun's health/lack of energy. i get that it's your blog. but i didn't want to follow a blog that's being treated more like a personal blog.

also very rarely, if my dash is going too fast and it's clear someone isn't going to interact with me i might unfollow just to make things easier for myself to keep up with. but again, that doesn't happen very often.

if it's clear a blog has been abandoned. if they show signs of activity later tho, i may refollow. bc i know irl stuff happens, u kno.

2-5 REASON YOU DON'T FOLLOW (BACK) SOMEONE

if their muse is from a series i am uncomfortable with. (used to love HP, but i can't look at anything from it now. for example.)

if they ASK why i haven't followed them back. just feels weird, man. I will then not follow out of spite for how uncalled for that question is. nobody is owed a follow. not even me.

[vergilsfavoritebee]

I posted 4,229 times in 2022

16 posts created (0%)

4,213 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@clubolive

@phoenixyfriend

@decisiontoleave

@storylinecaroline

@tartrazeen

I tagged 141 of my posts in 2022

#heartstopper - 11 posts

#charlie spring - 9 posts

#nick nelson - 9 posts

#eeaao - 8 posts

#nick and charlie - 7 posts

#heartstopper comic - 7 posts

#heartstopper tv - 7 posts

#mine - 7 posts

#heartstopper netflix - 7 posts

#so true bestie - 4 posts

Longest Tag: 99 characters

#but it’s so important for queer ppl to have other queer ppl in their lives outside of relationships

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I think people crush on Nick Nelson so hard because most of Heartstopper’s audience identifies way more with Charlie. But I really hope there are people who are like, “Where’s my Charlie Spring? 🥺”

Because wishing for a person who is out and proud, supports your coming out journey, is really smart and thoughtful, has badass music taste*, and built-in amazing friends is just as valid a thing to wish for as a goofy, sporty, golden-retriever partner with heart eyes.

🍃🍂🍃🍂

*you may disagree about Charlie’s taste, but I’m sorry, Charlie liking Radiohead and The Strokes matches my fantasy, sorry about it. And from the comics we know he likes Chloe Moriondo, The Vaccines, and Muse.

318 notes - Posted May 9, 2022

#4

I made this just to gauge what people think. Is this accurate?

tumblr eras

2010: beginning of mainstream

true microblogging platform

fuckyeah! blogs

there were actual celebrities on tumblr

2012-2014: twee “tumblr girl” aesthetic and peak fandom (superwholock & homestuck)

“sides” of tumblr (i.e. “science side of tumblr, explain!” and hipster vs. fandom sides of tumblr)

I feel like viria’s and burdge’s PJO and HP art was especially big

“I like your shoelaces”

2014-2020: peak “tumblr discourse” (think Steven Universe and the rise of TERFs); kinda faded out after the kinning wars and that whole rabies thing

2015: John Green/fishingboatproceeds C*ck Monologue and end of post edits

2017-2019: peak musical theater fandom (Hamilton, Be More Chill, etc.), Voltron fandom

2018: p*rn ban and mass exit

2020: ATLA revival (fr that’s all I remember from 2020 tumblr)—jk remember November 2020? election results, Stacey Abrams, destielgate/superhell, et. al.

2021-present: collective memes that are only important on tumblr (e.g., horse plinko, it’s me i’m the ps5, slug reacts, blorbo, bug ass)

lots of general celebration of queer media (very different from early tumblr where it was all speculation and shipping)

Elon bought twitter, so kind of a new era for tumblr

also, of course, Dracula Daily

960 notes - Posted May 19, 2022

#3

To the Nicks who will likely never see this post:

🍃🍃🍃

Most of the pre-existing Heartstopper fan base and certainly most of the fans on Tumblr are the Charlie Springs of the world. And for them, this show is about the possibility of healthy romance (i want to believe in romaaance) and creating a loving queer community.

But, gosh, I hope the Nick Nelsons of the world find this show. Now that Heartstopper is in the mainstream, I hope the people who have more marginalized identities, who never thought about being anything other than straight but for whom straight doesn’t feel *quite* right, those who deal with toxic masculinity/femininity and don’t feel like they have real friends, this show is for them as much as the Charlies.

And I hope the Nicks who watch this show seek out their Charlies, Taras, Darcys, Elles, Taos, Isaacs, etc. and find a community that loves them for who they are. And I hope one thing you Charlies, Taras, Darcys, Elles, Taos, Isaacs, etc. take from this show is to reach out. This show is so good at demonstrating how being yourself makes others want to be themselves, too!

Much love to the beautiful people on this hellsite:

💖💜💙,

💖💛💙,

🖤🤍💜,

💚🤍🖤,

💖❤️🧡💛💚💙💜,

❤️🧡🤍💗💖,

💛🤍💜🖤,

💙💗🤍💗💙.

1,143 notes - Posted April 28, 2022

#2

[ID in alt text]

1,292 notes - Posted May 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Joe Locke Appreciation

Listen I know Kit absolutely BODIED Nick Nelson but Joe Locke also absolutely killed it.

Like his nervous giggles? His chemistry with the entire friendship group? Every interaction with Tori? And he’s already portraying Charlie’s mental illness so well and subtly. That boy is killin it.

3,174 notes - Posted April 26, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[anotherfantasycardgame]

Blog Update #06 - March 28 2024 - Game Evolution, Game Aesthetics and Progress as a Designer

Last time in my blog I briefly mentioned how it took years to develop the "system" for playing Mirror's Game as it is played now. "It can really only be a culmination of playtesting and finding solutions. I guess back then I was more willing to throw away hours of work, or more willing to try things and fill in the gaps until something was whole."

At the time of writing this blog post, It has been about a year and a half since I designed what has become the default template for cards in Mirror's Game. The game has had many iterations over the years, but it seems that because so much has been done in the newest template that moving away from it would bring difficulties. Lets look at the frames and discuss the evolution of the game.

Frame 1 - Created in 2018

This is a bare bones frame because there was no intention to produce this game in any serious capacity. There was no art or anything. Looking at it now, it is a really amateurish concept. It was made in MS Paint to no specifications for any printer. There are some things to point out that stuck for many iterations, as well as things that had to change. Let's discuss the positives of the frame before the negatives. From the beginning I knew I'd want a frame that had some details overlap the black border of the card in some way, and it is hard to see even in this image but I cut out some of the black to subtly let the area for the card name box appear to be a layer above other things. It is a simple design trick. I also like the placement of the ATK and HP. I think this is the way Hearthstone lays out its ATK and HP, as well. I used Red for ATK and Green for HP. I like this decision but I'll mention why I wouldn't do this nowadays in a moment.

The negatives are pretty obvious if you're a game designer, or at least I think they should be if you want to produce a quality game. First of all, all the important info is poorly placed. If a right handed player had their cards fanned out in hand, there would be no way to easily discern what cards were worth playing. They'd have to meticulously comb through the cards, adding some friction to game play. I didn't have a reason for doing things the way I did besides I thought it looked nice, but sometimes you have to make compromises in design for function. Another major issue with the design is that the ATK and HP use two colors that are not easily visible if someone is colorblind. This can cause some confusion, and creates a problem rather than a solution when trying to simplify the legibility of the game. It was a failure in design overall.

In this first design, cards would cost stars (mana) and meter (life) to play. Meter was also a stat, not just a cost. Cards did as much damage to the opponent as they cost in meter. This system was not sustainable at all, because life was tied to play costs and power. This had to be reworked heavily. I was trying to create a system where any card was playable from the beginning, but There were too many costs involved and the power of cards was so high that a lot of choices started to make less sense over time, and the outcome of games was determined very quickly by opening hands. There was also no types for creature cards, and no spell cards. Everything was a generic creature that's strength was simply coming from the cards text. This would become difficult to work with really quickly, and I think a desire to make a simple game was too strong. I should've started with just a little more complexity. The next design tried to address some of these issues. My idea was to introduce "colors" for cards, so certain cards could interact with certain colors. I also changed the stars from 4 to 5 stars per turn, which has stuck since then. I began with four because I liked the implication of "2 stars is half my turn, 3 stars is more than half my turn." However it was a little bit difficult to play more than one card a turn. This also meant there was really just a few combinations of play per turn. a 1 and 3, a 2 and a 2, four 1s, or one 4. Changing this to five added so much room for design, while still keeping the idea that "3 stars are more than half your turn." Now players could get more creative with cards played together in a turn. This design was short lived, and all the issues of formatting remained. It took a long time for those to go away. The next template was the same just prettier, and the fourth one was on track to be a good design for once. The fourth design, It shared issues with the past designs, but finally at least the name of the card was in a good position. I decided to emulate Yu-Gi-Oh! (Something that should never be done.) and layed the star costs out instead of forming any sort of cluster. I used a gray border even, like YGO does. I put the battle stats all along the bottom like YGO as well. At the time, I wanted the style of the game to evoke a nostalgic style. Around the time I had made this design is when MetaZoo came along, and I completely scrapped any ideas of going for a nostalgic style. In practice, I didn't really care for it at all. As for mechanical improvements of this frame, I finally ditched the "colors" for creature types. It would also be the first time the game included "spell cards." or cards that didn't fight on the field. I made them playable once per turn, like Supporters in Pokemon and they have remained that way to this day. I decided to give every creature card two types, a primary type and secondary type like YGO. I even amde it so a card couldn't be two primary types. I did avoid repetitive types for the most part, except for some I felt justified in giving a similar subtype. For example, Mirror's Game has an Undead primary type and a Zombie subtype because I don't think those would be mutually exclusive. Like should a Vampire inherently be a Zombie? It's debatable. But what if I wanted to design a Fire Zombie or something? Some of the creature types in YGO are confusing, like Beast-Warriors not being Warriors. I tried to avoid these sorts of designs. Finally, the bottom two designs are where I think I got my sh*t together. I was looking at Japanese card games, and I found a game called Precious Memories. I realized that game had a lot of the things I needed for my game in their frame, so I used it as inspiration. I even named a card in the base set after the game as a means of "paying respects" to the game with the frame that showed me the light!

The first thing was that I gave up on trying to find a cute way to organize the stars on a card. It was never that easy to understand, and could lead to misconceptions from YGO players (these misconceptions ended up happening anyway, but at least I tried to minimize it!) So now the cost of a card was simply a number with a star beside it. Stars would go on to indicate costs of cards throughout. This time, I placed the cost in a legible spot, and made sure the most important creature stat was also visible when cards were fanned out by a right handed player. I think it took me so long to realize this because I am left handed. The name of cards were also right aligned so some of it could be read in this situation. In the fifth iteration I intended there to be an "orb" in the corner of the card like YGO and Pokemon to indicate the creature type, but this was scrapped by the sixth design. I looked at Precious Memories once again, and I decided on the gradient style for the name plate similar to that game. There is a lot more flashiness to the Japanese game, but I thought this looked really nice. Because the gradient was from the center of the plate, I decided to center the name of cards. The names aren't always perfectly centered, though. This is because sometimes it looks better if the name "plays" with the rest of the art somewhat. It's hardly noticeable. Another big change for the sixth frame was using royalty free fonts. I was accidentally using fonts I didn't know I didn't have the rights for in the past, whoops.

I don't know where else to mention this so, I'll mention the little dragon guy that surrounds the cost of creature cards. I wanted to create a generic "monster" to represent all monsters. It was a fantasy game from the start, so I decided on a dragon. I like it when games have creatures in them that aren't really creatures, like the substitute doll in Pokemon. I considered designing a new symbol for each different creature type, but once I designed a symbol for spell cards I decided that this ornamentation would work better as a symbol representing card type than for the creature type. This can be seen as a carry over from when the game was influenced by YGO. YGO uses the orange frame for any effect monster, then green for spells and purple for traps. We use Blue for spells, and red for the special "bound" creatures. Bound creatures were introduced much later, after the segmented life total was decided upon. The frame for this came after the dragon, I decided that an angry dragon would invoke that these cards are no regular creature. I also created a "sub cost" symbol just for bounds, that picture a stock breaking instead of just the star so players could easily tell the card was not normal. This was also in the fifth iteration of the game, but in that iteration the additional cost symbol was just as big as the main cost and i wanted to keep it open for possibly using to describe other additional costs. It would be sort of like how old MTG cards that had effects in the graveyard had a tombstone symbol. MTG seems to be really good at making minor changes to the template of a card to indicate minor mechanical differences of the card. MTG stands as a great source of inspiration for aspiring card game designers.

[gertlushgaming]

Trinity Trigger Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

For our Trinity Trigger Review, where we get caught in the middle of a divine clash of epic proportions that has left gigantic weapons towering over the landscape, Cyan and newfound allies Elise and Zantis set out on a quest to save the world…and defy the gods. Claim your fate in this fantastical adventure inspired by classic JRPGs.

Trinity Trigger Review Pros:

- Decent graphics. - 2.9GB download size. - English or Japanese voice. - 3 save slots and a fourth autosave. - Minimap can be turned on and off. - English or Japanese text. - Action RPG gameplay. - Cutscenes and interactions are a mix of animated shorts and in-game scenes. - Brilliant voice work. - Powerful soundtrack. - 90s aesthetic. - Tutorial pop-ups as you play. - Full 3D world. - Consumables have four types - HP, status ailments, buffs, and boosts. Handy radial menu for quick selection. - Walking in one direction for a set time causes your character to run. - Handy shiny notifications of Interactive points. - Runs at a fast pace. - Auto-advance text conversations button. - Can skip the cutscenes. - Shrines act as save points. - The mini-map will show how many remaining treasure chests are in the current area. - Buy and sell items/resources at shops in towns. - Full crafting mechanic where you need recipes, materials, and cash. - Overall the game is snappy from clicking menus to moving around. - Stamina-based hack-and-slash combat. When stamina is gone you do hardly any damage. - Earn EXP from fighting and completing tasks, leveling up replenishes your health. - Items can drop from enemies and parts of the world like pots and bushes. - Feels modern yet old-school. - You see the enemy walking around and fighting takes place in real-time. - Dodging is self-explanatory but if you dodge at the perfect time you get to automatically refill your stamina gauge. - Set up your shortcut radial menu. - The encyclopedia fills in with enemies as you defeat them, reviewing them shows their weaknesses and drop rates and what items they drop. - Do combo attacks for bonus damage. - Red shrines can be found in dungeons and these can heal you aswel as save. - Weapon aura is where your weapon turns into flames and does crazy damage. Full the bar by fighting and near-miss dodging. This is all handled with your familiar called Flamme. - Trigger strikes are where your weapon starts glowing and then does a one-off big attack. - Big boss encounters. - Earn and equip Manatite charms to change stats and buffs on weapons and gear. - Enemies and items like crates, boxes, and shrubs respawn when you leave the screen/area. - Bossew drops boss chests with bigger loot. - Shrines act as fast travel points. - Customize your own trigger attack combos and equip them with a radial menu for quick swapping. - Find items by searching the sparkly Interactive spots. - Recruit team members and change character with a button press. - You can set it up so your party members are auto-heal. - Every party member has unique stats, Weapons, abilities, etc. - Party members will auto-follow and auto-attack. - Funky fungi are colored mushrooms you hit and they either heal, glow, or explode. - A lot of fun to play. Trinity Trigger Review Cons: - Cannot rebind controls. - Slow starter. - You have no camera control and it can make seeing chests or specific parts hard to see. - The first hour is very stop-start with cutscenes and pop-ups. - Annoying you can't save at any point especially when playing handheld. - The menus for handling missions and tasks are less than perfect. - Can kind of break the game by farming exp and items by leaving and re-entering areas. - When you are full you cannot pick up or have chests opened count towards the amount. - Not always great at showing objective markers. - Setting up shortcuts is a pain. Related Post: Apex Legends: The Board Game Now Live on Kickstarter Trinity Trigger: Official website. Developer: FURYU Publisher: Marvelous Games Store Links - Nintendo Read the full article

[jellycolors]

𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘴𝘥

𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞/𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞

𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐥

[bi-snape]

Happy birthday to this loser!!! We know nothing about him and I just absolutely love him!!!💙💙💙💙💙

[stevie-kicks]

Why is the 6th Harry Potter movie so good I will fight u if u disagree x

[asureshwar]

You know he's only starving

[prancerrparkerr]

Remus: It’s the Christmas holidays, I’m going to go home and celebrate.

Lily: Me too I can’t wait to see Petunia again!

James: Wait-

Sirius: Hogwarts-

James: -is our ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒