#i also saw all those creator's post on your blogs it makes me so happy to see everyone feeling proud and good and positive

[sitp-recs]

Hello!

First, I hope you're doing quite well and having a good day!

Second, I haven't been able to stop thinking about the post re: the writer who felt discouraged about not getting comments despite readers loving the works in quiet and gushing in other places (and would likely leave their fandom). More specifically, your tag about how your blog may fit in to all that.

Like you, I'm not a writer, in the sense that we don't come up with a story and put it out there, heart in our hands, hoping for someone to see it and enjoy it and maybe even to say as much to me. I won't discount OP sharing their friend's very valid feelings of seeking some validation and connection with their audience. I think that's a very human thing to want. And it's okay to be so disappointed that you stop interacting with a thing that doesn't make you feel good.

But I also don't want you to discount what you bring to fandom. Your blog is a big reason WHY I read in this fandom, and I think that's true of a lot of people, just based on the asks you get. Personally, your insight has helped me find some of the most beautiful stories and insanely talented writers and artists. For those of us old enough to remember a world without social media/smart phones (or even the internet as an easily accessible thing), one way people often found new media (and artists) is by reading reviews. And they weren't always kind. Reccers like you only share kind reviews. And they often say that one way to consistently find media you enjoy is to find a reviewer whose tastes seem to match up to yours and follow their lead when looking for new things to enjoy.

You (and all reccers) are a valuable part of the fandom ecosystem, helping introduce new fans to fandom as a whole. And your blog also often encourages being a better human in fandom. Because the reality is that newer, younger fans won't know the etiquette to being in these spaces. And that's just as important.

Thank you to all authors and artists for being brave enough to share a part of yourself through fandom. And reccers, thank you for your work on helping us find them. May we all go forth and treat each other very kindly.

Thank you so much anon, this was really special to read! To be completely honest I am just coming back after a fandom break, and I was not in the right headspace to interact with that kind of post (that’s on me!). I regretted reblogging it as soon as it was out as I did not want it to come across as “Liv’s self-pity party” because the discussion is much bigger and layered, but @eleadore’s ask triggered a very interesting discussion with great insights (strongly related to @garagepaperback’s comment about how some of us who have lurked for years might have a different understanding of fandom, and how the introduction of kudos etc by ao3 is re-shaping this culture at large 🤯)

I think it’s a nuanced discussion because of how fandom is structured and the way stats influence newcomers (both authors and readers) but I was talking with my friends last night and one key takeaway for us was what we saw in someone else’s tags: “don’t outsource your happiness”. I think it’s important to validate our craving for interaction and belonging, after all this is a social space! I love making friends with people who are just as obsessed with these two idiots as I am! But the moment this craving becomes our primary motivator, the moment we link our self-worth to external validation, we’re giving someone else the power to ruin our experience, our relationships, our passion. There’s nothing wrong with taking a step back when something that’s supposed to be fun and chill starts making us miserable instead. I wanna cultivate a healthy relationship with my hobbies so that I can still find comfort and refuge in them. That’s something that resonates with both creators and readers, I think, and something I wanna keep in mind as I move forward with the blog, in whatever shape or form it takes ❤️‍🩹

I appreciate your love letter to all reccers and the kind words about my recs. I’m so happy to hear that the blog had a lasting (and positive!) impact on your fandom experience. Thanks again for taking the time to write this message. Take care!

[stormblessed95]

Thank you so much for answering me Storm!

When I sent that ask I had just come from twitter where some ARMYs where claiming that dropping Muse and Who to support Yoongi is what Jimin would want, that his album has been out for a month already so it not a big deal to move on.

I saw you reblog that post about Jimin standing with Yoongi, along with not seeing you post much about the hate Jimin has been getting lately, and my frustration towards those that are dropping Jimin to support Yoongi may have been projected on to you.

I don't expect you to be a "content creator", I'm very grateful for the time and energy you give to answer our questions and make thoughtful posts about Jikook and BTS. I have seen you post asks with reporting links before, so I was under the assumption that was something you allowed on your blog (especially for serious issues). If that has changed (which is fine! some people want their blogs/accounts/fandom spaces to be free of reports and anti discussion), I'm sorry for not knowing or not remembering!

It was not at all my intention to victimize Jimin, as I said people have resorted to saying things like "Jimin would want us to do this" and thus using Jimin's loving friendship with Yoongi as a way to justify not supporting Jimin anymore (or as much).

I have noticed that you hadn't posted about Yoongi! I was actually wondering if you were doing alright seeing as he is also your bias. I had even wanted to ask you if you knew some good sources to get information on what was happening, because there was a lot of misinformation and I was genuinely scared for Yoongi.

Seeing as this was a misunderstanding on my part, I don't wish to unfollow you if that's okay? Chapter Two and this recent year has made finding actual ARMYs who support ALL SEVEN members hard. I'm sorry if my ask made you uncomfortable in any way, and again hope you and your loved ones are happy and healthy 💜💜

I know we are all under the assumptions at times that our personal moral panic is unique and unprecedented.... But I promise that it's not, and it's important to remember that too 💜

Like everyone else, I'm not really okay with seeing all the hate and slander that's been happening lately. I want to cry if I think about it too long or hard.

To make things a little more clear, if you send me "what are your thoughts on *insert essay length ask or paragraph length ask over hate x member is experiencing*" I probably won't answer it. I'm not sure what it is I'm expected to say in response? Yeah, it fucking sucks. And I can say "report and block silently, do not engage" until I'm blue in the face, but that's not what those asks actually want. They want my rage, for me to be emotional about it. I'm not inclined to perform that for anyone here. I follow my own advice.

Which leads me to, the asks I'll post are from reporting links. If you see hate, and you want to ask me to help spread the word to report and block an account or ask for help in the best way to go about reporting something, please send it in and I will post it and/or give advice over it. And that is what you've seen me post here before. That is how it will stay

As for following me or not, you do you boo. I'm not here for the numbers or the followers. I didn't ask for anyone to be here actually 😅 the fact that the follower count ever made it anywhere over 20 is something I'm baffled at constantly. I've been on Tumblr for years solely as a lurker lmao so I still sometimes don't know how I ended up here... I blame Jikook. 🙃😂

And honestly though. Thank you for coming back and walking your first statement back and apologizing. Almost no one here has ever really done that before, so it's greatly appreciated.

Have a good day 💜

[eliounora]

Good grief, I don't know how someone could have read your last post and responded with the amount of dismissiveness that last reply did. Apart from the whole thing smacking of Calvinist bull****... that's just not how humans work. We're not meant to function in total isolation, and I've never met a creatively-inclined person who *didn't* hope to see their work connect with people. Part of the joy of making things is sharing them with other people, and even if nobody owes you their time or attention or validation, it *is* disheartening to feel like the things you share in hopes of people connecting with them aren't acknowledged for whatever reason. Please do whatever you need to for your own mental health, but I hope you won't delete your blog here; I'm someone who's generally too shy to interact, but I've adored your art for years, and was beyond thrilled when you opened your quick comms a little while back (I now have an Eliounora original and it makes me so happy every time I look at it <3). Your latest Thranduil piece is gorgeous (and immediately became my favorite visual interpretation of the character I've seen so far) - I saw the Bilibin references in the frame right away and was delighted to see someone marrying it to Middle Earth! It gives the whole thing a perfect old fairytale feel. I hope it helps a little to know that your work has at least one quiet but sincere admirer here.

CALVINIST BULL is the perfect way to describe that mindset hahaha! you're so right, like even when you draw or write or create anything as a kid you often run to a caretaker or a sibling or whoever to show your work! and even when I was a kid, if my scribble did not get the reaction from my mom I was hoping for, I'd be super sad, and I think that speaks to our need to have our work appreciated!

of course you should primarily create for yourself, like writing, knitting, drawing, painting, singing, playing an instrument, all that should be first and foremost fun for you, but I think it's also important to remember that it takes guts to share your work, and when you put yourself out there like that and don't get the reaction you hoped for, of course that feels disheartening. we are bound to believe that the more work we put into something, the more recognition we get!

I know many other people feel like this too (I mean look at artists on this website begging for reblogs), and I think it speaks for the content creator.....isation? of artists and the change in fandom culture which has resulted in lack of community. while disappointment is bound to happen from time to time, like maybe your fic did not get as many comments as you wished for or your art got less notes than you expected, for me it feels like disappoinment is the norm.

I really hope this does not come across as whining about how I don't get the recognition I think I deserve (although that's what it is I'm not going to lie), because I do appreciate every shy and quiet person out there who loves my art, like you💗 and of course nobody has to interact any more than they are willing, but I think the general trend that interaction with people's works is lessening will dishearten many artists, especially those who don't have a large following. and oftentimes even a few excited words about your work will take you a long way! like yours right now, I FEEL SO SEEN!!! my thranduil, your favourite? FUCK YEAH!!!

[coff-in]

I feel like whenever I’m having a bad day (or in this case, few months), I see other people have bad days too. It’s crazy how the world works and we all unite together to have either crappy or happy moments; it’s kind of wholesome that we all are brought together through our experiences and can share those vulnerabilities. It makes me feel a little better knowing I’m not isolated or alone, and that I’m not the only person with problems or struggling to get by.

I saw your last post, you said to ask about pressure, so I’m asking: How do you deal with pressure?

This is what I do when I feel stressed (maybe you’ll find some relief in this too): It’s a rule for me to always cry when something goes wrong, because crying released happy chemicals!

If I’m still bothered, I sleep for a few hours, take a Power Nap or just sleep and see if it still bothers me. If it still bothers me, I eat strawberry mochi. I also like coloring in those coloring books with flowers and a inspiring quote, it makes me feel better. When I’m sad, I always put on some Lo-fi or old love songs.

I always try reading Andrew Graves x reader content—or, at least what I haven’t seen. It’s a small fan base for separate Andrew Graves content. It’s how I discovered you a few months ago too! I enjoy looking for your work on my dashboard and I’m excited to see what you do next.

I hope thing’s get better for you, Coff-in! Never be ashamed or feel guilty about your own feelings or mental health. Don’t worry about time or rushing things, rushed work is never good work. Always remember to take breaks and worry about yourself; it’s your life after all. From one human being to another, take care of yourself. 💜⭐️

hi stellar :D when i asked ppl to send me questions about pressure, i meant the roblox game pressure ^^; this is ok tho!! no harm no fowl! (or is it foul? fowl is a bird, huh)

when i get stressed i usually get take a nap, maybe eat something, or watch youtube to distract myself. crying sounds really nice but i can't cry easily, sadly :( i also just try to draw! i like drawing and i find it easy to just pick up a pencil and doodle something :3 i also do it when i'm bored

its a tad bit hard for me to realize that "oh this blog is my blog, i can do with it what i want". or maybe i do realize that but still feel like i can't do certain things. hm. hm hm hm. so neat, such whimsy :3 i also relate to you seeking out andrew graves x reader content, but recently for me i've been searching out sebastian solace x reader fics. idk if people know this but im mostly a selfshipper, so seeing the whole zerum drama happen in that fandom is like... idk kinda silly to me. tldr: people were mad that the co-creator of the game (zerum) shipped her oc (zerum) with the shopkeeper sebastian. there's obviously more to it than that, but it reminded me when i was younger and i made a boyfriend oc for my persona (who i also sometimes wrote/referred to him as her brother... huh)

i'm going to be busy with work again, so hopefully i'll be able to write more since i usually start writing when i'm trying to avoid work or just to get away from it ^^; i hope that you're still doing well despite these hard months! i think it's a bit too easy for some to cur inward and isolate themselves from others. it was kinda nice being away from my coff-in blog. i do not say this as in 'i want to leave', but it was nice to just... idk feel like i didn't have to write? or take my time. i felt kinda bad tho, like there was a lingering thought in my head that i was deceiving you all. i was still able to write, so why wasn't i writing? stuff like that i guess

thank you for sending your ask, please take care of yourself!! <3

[idv-ask-the-showman]

Guild to ask blogs/RPs!

Idk, I felt like I wanna make this for the shake of it for anyone who is new to ask blogs and RPs, those are from my own experiences from doing RPs for 11-12 years and ask blogs for 7-8 years. They may not be perfect since I myself still learning and have my errors but hey! We are all humans no?

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When making a blog you have to actually interact with ppl yourself! Not waiting for someone to notice you. I made that mistake a lot more then I like to admit so my advice is to make a promo post and then make yourself known one way or another, for me I joined a discord server where other bloggers are also there!

Try to write down some mini stories or make some events here and there to make your blog more fun and interactive if you want :3

Try to reblog one of those ask games post to break the ice!

Do not think too much about the followers or likes in your blog, we all want attention yes but it would come in time so try to just have fun then focus on how many ppl are following you

Try to make friends with other blogs! It always more fun to have friends and rp with them then stranger, make rp more meaningful in a way

Set up some rules in your blog to avoid unwanted troubles

Pls do not try to take advantage of a popular blog to get yourself to be famous too. Sure you can try to interact with them here and there to just make the ppl know you exist but to only befriend or simply interact a lot with that blog just so you can be famous and not actually think about how the blog itself has a person behind it is just sad… it happens a lot where ppl just interact with a blog just so they can be famous and nothing more so hope you understand what I mean since I am bad at explaining-

OP characters:- look i genuinely do not mind characters being op if that their whole idea but if it got out of hands that it started to effect how you rp with others maybe you should either tone it down or just find different ways to rp with said character. I understand you don’t want your character to be weak but it doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be ever a more powerful character then them in some aspects so do not be that one person who just want to proof a point about how Powerful their character is, it would just ruin the fun and make the rp so dull so allow your characters to have weaknesses and is okay if they failed at times

Do not force your own OCs into other people’s OCs such as ships or lore or whatever without talking to the creator first, that simply rude and I do not think I need to explain why :/

Do not take it personally if someone refuse to rp with you at times, maybe the concept of the rp make them uncomfortable or some other reason or simply they just don’t feel like it.

When you want to make a rp that can be a huge deal first talk to the creator you gonna rp with and tell them about your idea and see if they agree to it or not.

Do not spam too much rp/asks around all the blogs just to make yourself known, I know I said you should interact with ppl but be civil about it and calm.

Try to make your OCs 3 dimensional and not just 1 dimensional. Now that something i myself struggle with, is hard to make your character not too dull or just simply known for one thing such as only being known as “the too happy” or “the too cold” or whatever but is best to try and make them have more personality then just focus on one aspect about them and make it their whole personality alone.

You do not own another person OC! Idk why I need to even mention that but I saw many ppl in my old blogs somehow just thing just cuz their own oc either ship or simply has some kind of connection to another person oc it automatically make them have rights to the other’s ocs and even in a way also own it so any changes or new ships is a big no no unless they allow it

Too much angst, that is something I am also guilty of a lot of times too but as much as we all love angst having it 24/7 and even while rp can be so suffocating and dull so try to make things brighter here and there and the same can be said of other themes sooo yeah!

Do not judge other blogs by simply how many followers they has, their art, their OCs or overall everything else. Everyone start somewhere!

Thai is not really a big advice or anything but I just wanna mention something I noticed ppl sometimes worry about and that is the times where blogs are so calm or silent for awhile then how it used to and I just wanna say that is okay! Ppl have their own lives or they simply burned out and need a break to focus on themselves, so do not worry about it too much, they would come back at times if they wanted to :3

Depends on the themes that ya blog gonna have make sure to mention about the ages that allowed to see ya blog cuz I did see blogs that for 18+ but minors interacting with it.

And finally, support other blogs from small to big!

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There is probably more I missed but meh! I think ya all get the idea, if ya have any more advice it be nice to share it :3

Again those are from my own experiences so they may not be perfect sooo~

[strawglicks]

Sorry for the ramble in your inbox incoming- I'm a really huge fan of your analysis type posts like the ones about Cathal and recently Flint ;A; So I hope its ok to maybe throw in my own 2 cents about Cogs/their society- (Sorry this gets rambly I thought about this last night and writing this like an hour after waking up lol)

I think what alot of people kind of (I wouldnt say ignore- more of:) don't really get is that I dont believe characters like Cathal or Flint have bad tendencies because they really want to in a way, (I kind of worded that poorly but point is) but because their society rewards and encourages that type of behavior. I think you said something kind of similar on Cathals post- But especially for Flint, whose a Bossbot (Who are literally the embodiment of a toxic workplace and elitism. I believe a old snippet from the TTO magazines says "They have no real skills of their own, just the ability to push down others and stay on top!" Or something to that nature.) he has to be demanding and imposing. There is no benefit to him in being kind. (Like looking at Misty for example) And don't get me wrong I don't believe that if Flint and Cathal were removed from Cog society they'd be better/objectively nicer (Like Flint not being condescending to Toons and Cathal not making people do things for him and being encouraged to try) But I do wonder how much of it is pressure, or how much of it is egged on and rewarded. Atleast in the aspects it relates to how they treat others.

(..And also I wonder what happens to Cogs that don't get jobs and are seen as ..not functioning. Since Graham was freaking the hell out in "Meeting Of Two Minds" over the possibility of not getting the job. I have a whole thing about this actually in my oc lore but thats another thing entirely I'll write about someday I swear)

Also I gasped when I saw the doodle of Graham in the MSI shirt finally a MSI listener Graham truther. I think he'd like the album "How I Learned To" and of course "You'll Rebel To Anything". I associate him mainly with the songs "Lights Out", "On It", and "You're No Fun Anymore" :p (This has been my favorite band since I was like 13 and now I get to spill all my opinions xD) I always imagined him doing the guitar backbend their bassist does! And my final hc is that Flint plays bass and Graham plays the main guitar. I think it fits them .. some people overlook bass when its actually pretty hard to learn from what I hear and vital to the song. (Like heres Feel Good Inc w/o the bass.. feels wrong x_x)

Anyways thanks for reading ;A; take care and happy new year!

RAHHHH EATING THIS UP YUM YUM YUM YES YES YOU GET IT

THe biggest issue with Cogs Inc is that it REWARDS and ENCOURAGES these poor behaviors, worsening these characters as people. ESPECIALLY cathal considering the position of power they’re in. I’m sure it applies to a ton of other cogs too, but unfortunately I haven’t gotten to them yet bc I’m not as insane abt them . LMAO

And yeah since cogs are literally built for work, it’s a wonder what happens to those who can’t find a job as easily as others. Hoping that gets built on since it’s clear in MOTM that these cogs have to actually apply and go to interviews and probably face some trial and error to land a job, just like people IRL.

ALSO. THE BAND HCS. I love it and you’re SOOOO RIGHT about the backbend that is so grahamcore. And yes I’m pretty sure Flint does play bass, I think his creator mailman said smth abt that on their blog . AND IM SO GLAD YOU BROUGHT UP FEEL GOOD INC bc i did draw flint in a demon days shirt in that same animatic . And ive def drawn them in the same shirt a couple times in the past too . I’ve always imagined him to be a Gorillaz fan, maybe graham too

Anyway ty for these thoughts im eating them up and leaving no crumbs . I love when ppl come to ramble in my inbox bc discussing this stuff IS SO FUN and a good outlet for me esp when i might be having art burnout rn .

[timemachineyeah]

Hi, I really appreciate your points on Madoka! Thank you for providing that insight that is so desperately needed! Because I am so sick of dudebros acting like it's better than female-empowering Magical Girl works aimed at girls, or how whenever I or somebody else critiques the storytelling and message we just get told "Madoka is perfectly feminist actually and if you don't think so then you're just too stupid to understand how DEEEEEEEP it is go back to your stupid sweet and fluffy anime that's for GUUUUURLS" or alternatively "oh so female characters can't ever suffer ever and have to be happy all the time ever or it's misogynistic trash?!?!?!?! check and mate bitch" like I am just so tired. I'm glad to see your posts even though some of them are quite old. I have to say thank you once again for your genuine critique of Madoka because at this point I feel like I'm being punked whenever I talk about what's wrong with it.

Sorry! I saw this earlier and completely forgot to answer!

My few posts have given me a reputation as a Madoka hater (and, fair enough, because I certainly don't blame anyone who is. Please hate Madoka all you like). The truth is I really do like the original show quite a bit, but YEAH.

YEAH.

I think the thing that gets most exhausting for me, over and over, is bringing up these criticisms and being told, "No! Because Madoka fixed all that!" and even ignoring Rebellion (which I am inclined to do anyway), the girls still die.

They die.

The happy ending is a montage of girls dying. Which is a happy ending only because what they were getting before (specifically as a consequence of choosing to be a magical girl) was a fate worse than death.

And it's worth noting how the incubators are portrayed. They aren't portrayed as malicious. They aren't "evil" in that sense. What they are is practical and indifferent. They are taking advantage of inherent factors in the universe, not creating those factors.

Which means that there's something about PMMM that is saying, this is reality. At least in this fiction, this is the reality of femininity. And it is inherent to femininity! Kyubey even explains - it's weird! But only teen girls are like this! That's why we use them!

I think it's fair to be like, hey, that's fucked up. What kind of gender essentialist fatalism? Bro?

And it's also just denial to pretend it isn't about fanservice or a male audience.

As anyone who's been on my blog recently will know, I'm kinda super into Love Live! right now. It's cute. It scratches an itch.

And there's a lot of plausible deniability built into it, and a lot of pushback from English speaking fandom about it, but, uh, Love Live! is an idol game but it's also a waifu collector.

It's also a catalogue of nonthreateningly sexual anime teenage girls specifically designed to appeal first and foremost to lonely awkward Japanese young working men with disposable income.

And, idk, knowing that doesn't impede my ability to find it cute and wholesome and fun and escapist. The fact that it is that does lead to some of creative decisions that make the series less fun for me (it's not very diverse, for example. The yuri elements are subtext for another. And I either wish the girls were less sexualized or older, personally). But I'm not going to deny what it is.

I'm not even particularly interested in shaming the men its aimed at for liking it, or shaming the creators for making it that way per se (well, okay, sometimes I am interested in shaming the creators a lil bit). But I do think most the things about it that read as feminist to me as an American read that way because I am so far outside the original intended subculture. And I think the same is true about Madoka. You can absolutely read feminist messages in it. I certainly do. But placing these works in their original contexts tells a very different much more... regressive? picture. They were not made for women and girls. They are not made to uplift women and girls. They CAN! And they DO! Both in Japan and elsewhere! But that's anywhere from (at best) a secondary market to (at worst) a complete accident.

It's hard for some people to wrap their heads around because in America at least I think the idea of a "cute" (even if that's subverted in Madoka) media starring a large cast of only girls being for men is pretty alien to how we do stories and marketing. Here we understand playboy magazines and swimsuit editions, but we don't understand men collecting merch of a cute fictional girl they like. It would be seen as emasculating.

We understand the reverse. We get that boy bands and anime like Free! can be aimed squarely at women while being comprised entirely of men or male characters. Which is part of why I'm not shaming the male audiences, because... desiring anime tiddy isn't inherently predatory anymore than a lady desiring anime ass. And that's a crass way of putting it anyway. We don't frame hanging a boy band poster up that way, or playing a game like Mystic Messenger. It becomes more complicated because we live in a complicated patriarchal structure that protects and empowers men and women differently and unequally, but that seems like a poor reason to try to tell individual men they aren't allowed to enjoy things in a way that is obviously natural and parallels how... most humans like to enjoy some things sometimes.

But that also doesn't mean we can't look at those broad cultural patterns and... make observations. And have criticisms. And talk about how it affects people, and the back and forth between media and culture.

But, Madoka is for men first. The girls' suffering is a form of male gaze, and pretty unambiguously a kind of very very softcore torture porn for male gamer types. That's not a judgment against it, that's just its literal intended share of the market. It's a pretty easy read if you understand the context in which it was released and the culture it is coming from and catering to. My Little Pony is a little girls toy franchise. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sells toys to boys. Home & Gardens is for housewives. Top Gear is for car dads. These are true even if other people like them. When an adult fan of children's cartoons (I say, as an adult fan of children's cartoons) tries to say, "But it's not really a kids cartoon!" I feel about the same way I do when a feminist fan of some clearly male-centric media says, "But it's not really!"

And that's - own your shit. Own it. It's fine. It's fine to like it. It's fine to love it. It's fine if it means the world to you. It doesn't mean there's something wrong with you if you like a media that maybe isn't the most mature or progressive masterpiece out there. Just don't pretend there's no validity in obvious criticism. I love some real garbage made by real garbage people. I have survived.

Madoka exists in a fictional universe where the laws of that fictional universe are that 1) girls are uniquely emotional, 2) that emotion and their own aspirations can easily be harnessed against them in such a way that in the best possible universe all it does it kill them. In the normal universe it turns them into evil witches. That's just true. That's the world. I'm allowed to look at that, especially in conversation with magical girl media that came before, and go, "you know what? in that context, that's pretty fucked up" and it doesn't even mean that I stop liking the show, so I don't see why everyone else has to get so defensive about it.

(Y'all have no idea. Those posts are old now, but I got so many asks. I had to block so many people. I'm not trying to take your precious anime away calm down.)

Idk if I completely agree with the tone of my original posts - there's a little bit of offhanded vilifying of "men" as a shorthand for... all the bullshit... and I no longer love that language. I love men. Men are people. Some men can be shitty, but shitty individual men and patriarchy aren't the same. But I do still agree with all my broad points.

Plus, yes, also. The thing of a new (often male) fanbase getting into something you've been into for a long time with some new entry and acting like it both invented and fixed everything about the genre (PMMM and magical girls, Friendship is Magic and girl cartoons, Stardew Valley and farming sims) is frustrating, and to hear many an incurious nerd tell it, magical girls were floundering before Madoka! And I hate that.

Anyway, oops, I went on a little rant. That still makes it look like I don't like Madoka. I actually really do like the original series. I have rewatched it multiple times and probably will again. I even tried to play Magia Record (briefly - I couldn't really get into it). I can't speak to the many many spinoff media - but those have so many different writers and so much different lore that I think it'd probably be hard to try to pin any kind of single ethos to the franchise as a whole any more. But while I couldn't get into Magia Record I'd bet there's a short manga story or something that I'd love at this point. When you make like 200 magical girls or whatever that's bound to happen.

Thanks for the ask. Sorry Madoka fans are still so hyper defensive apparently. I hope you are able to survive them and find some better magical girl series out there. <3

[letters-to-rosie]

(I know you're already tagged, but here's mine anyway) Fanwork creators self rec! When you get this, reply with your five favorite fics/art/podfics/etc. that you've made, then pass on to others. Let’s spread the self-love 🌼

lol yeah I was gonna do it since I got the tag from @lullabyes22-blog but I will consider myself double-tagged

I only have 8 works on my ao3 lol let's go

bloom (Arcane; Caitlyn/Vi) CaitVi, 750 words, short and to the point. I like this one because I wrote it in like 20 minutes and it really did come out nice. Also, there is a pun, and what can be more me

Guardian Revisited (Fullmetal Alchemist Manga/Brotherhood; Lan Fan/Ling) Also a very quick write. There's just so much potential for yearning with this ship. They're like RoyAi but somehow even more emotionally stunted. Anyway, I think this one came out pretty. It makes me happy to read.

The Fire Next Time (Arcane; Ekko-centric, background Caitlyn/Vi) This is the story I started writing pretty much right after I watched Arcane, though I didn't post it for some months after. I was just feeling really emotional about Ekko lol and how much he must've been through. I was also reading James Baldwin at the time, hence the title lol. While it doesn't really get too deep into the politics, I think the relationship between Ekko and Jinx came out well, and since Ekko willingness to look out for her after everything is the heart of the story, I think it works.

talk revolution to me (Arcane; role-swapped Jinx/Ekko) The big one. It just keeps growing. I don't know. Anyway, after doing The Fire Next Time, I wanted to keep exploring political themes in the setting. I also happened to be wondering at the same time if a role-swap between these two was possible (because we all saw the Mush art okay), and I decided to put those ideas together. I do think it's been lagging a little, but in general it's actually pretty good. I'm working on my self-esteem this year. I can say that, right? Well anyway, I'm really glad a lot of people have found and loved it, and I'm extra glad people really love Powder. It's a lot of fun letting her be the hero of her own story and watching her grow, and the audience participation in terms of helping me write has been a blast.

heir (ap)pparent (Arcane; role-swapped Jinx/Ekko) So where the big story is Powder's, this is Ekko's bonus content story. It all started because I was having such a hard time writing him that I needed to experiment getting in his head, and here we are. I've said it before and I'll say it again lol writing a role-swapped Ekko is a pain in the ass. He's probably the hardest POV character I've ever written, but since the main story is over on Powder's side, I really get to just play around in these chapters and that is certainly very fun. Definitely pushes me to grow as a writer, and I'm having a lot of fun with the prose and style.

okay tag time @shokuto (wanna see your fave pieces) @jackalmeat (dude I didn't even realize you were an artist until we'd been mutuals for a while plz share art lol) @typewriteringalaxy (really curious as to your faves) @hungryistrying (same; also curious as to what your faves are)

also I did this q&a tag yesterday lol if anyone wants to see it

[chaotic-aro-incarnate]

10 BL BOYS I WILL THROW HANDS FOR

Was tagged by @scarefox for this (technically my main blog but I post my bl stuff on here lol) and am very excited

I imprint on characters like nobody's business so this is a list made for me

EDIT changed the gifs because apparently the way I did it didn't properly link to the creators (only on desktop at least). should be properly credited now

In no particular order

1) Sound (My School President)

Starting the trend of lonely queer teenagers that I get a little too attached to, it's of course Sound. Like I was already a fan of Sound and intrigued by the concept of SoundWin (at the time people didn't know it was going to be the main secondary ship) but when the medal scene happened and Sound gave this so sad ans soft "oh no" look I was gone. That is my son and I WILL fight anyone and everyone for him

2) Nuengdiao (Never Let Me Go)

Another lonely queer teenager I decided to protect. I loved Never Let Me Go so much and Nueng was my special little babygirl and then Our Skyy 2 came out and it was like oh...... I will kill for him. Look I love Nueng and he did nothing wrong and also that scene where he's forcing Palm to put the gun to his head while screaming at him to shoot him leaves rent free in my mind. He's so traumatized and lonely and he's like 18 I would do anything for him especially throw hands

3) Typhoon (Star in My Mind)

Fun fact! I had to stop watching Star in My Mind because I got so unreasonably attached to Typhoon that I couldn't bear the thought of him not getting a happy ending. I wanted him to end up with Dao so bad because it would make him happy and I knew that if I kept watching they would either break his heart OR show that he's actually not that great of a guy, both which were unbearable to me. So I simply cut my losses and live in the fantasy that he got everything he ever wanted.

4) Bai Lang (My Tooth Your Love)

One of those "he just like me fr fr" characters who I would do anything for. He's my specialist little boy and I love him so dearly. Here's to having your trauma swag bewitch the local hot autistic dentist body and soul.

5) Han Ying (Word of Honor)

Talk about my specialest boy. Ying'er is my guy through and through. He deserved so much better and in every WoH fic I have written (they are all still in drafts) he lives and is happy no matter what. He IS my sweet cheese, my rotten solider, my good time boy. I will continue writing him getting railed to the high heavens by Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing like he deserves. He is incapable of being anything other but the goodest boy possible and I will die on this hill

6) Boston (Only Friends)

He is the worst. I would move mountains for him. Enough said.

7) Pluem (Ghost Host Ghost House)

Look this man has been going through it AND he manages to be the like the most flirtatious and romantic guy around? Give me your secrets sir. Also say the word king and I'll do it. This show broke me on so many levels but a lot of those levels were tied to anytime I saw him break down

8) Ye Huo/Fire (Guardian)

A recent (and somewhat obscure) pull as I am currently watching Guardian and was just exposed to his character today but he is my guy and I will defend him to the death. The only weaker point for me than a lonely gay teenager is a self appointed older sibling who sacrifices everything for their younger siblings. I was really like man this guy is an asshole for so long but then the truth of how he was saving the boys at the fighting ring came out and I was like oh no that's my son now and I need him to live and be happy. I have not finished his arc yet so I am scared that it'll be a tragedy BUT he is my wonderful son all the same and I will throw hands for him in an instant

9) That (Manner of Death)

The return of troubled teenagers I need to adopt and protect against all costs. I WILL fight anyone for him even though he's like a rebellious teenager who does crime and I am a strange looking college student who he would not respect but it's the thought that counts

10) Mark/Village Head Ma (Love Tractor)

Why is there a random white man living in rural South Korea? I don't know!!! They never address what he's doing there. But I literally love this man. There's a reason I made him to be my pfp for bl-bracket. Seriously he's the best and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Best character ever written. In my heart he's got the spirit of Quincey Morris form Dracula in the long tradition of just having a random American man in your story with no explanation

Tagging others!!!!! @saturnskyline @non-binarypal7 @supernovasimplicity @vegussy and anyoen else who wants to!!

There's been so many of these types of challenges/tag things lately that I have not kept track of who has or hasn't done which ones so sorry if you've already done something similar

[alphaofdarkness]

Hi!

Just wanted to say that youre an amazing artist! You're really inspiring ❤️

Maybe you have some tips for an artist (who draws a lot of oc content) about how to develop his account or such?

Omg howdy there! I admit I was taken aback when I saw this this weekend (°ヮ°) I was admittedly very busy as family and friends were over to see me graduate with my masters! Still so,,, much in befuddlement but am extremely happy and proud of myself for making it! (◕‿◕✿) 🎓 I've gone and done it y'all! ✨

Me? Inspiring? (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀) imposible ah （〃▽〃）

I went off on a ramble just based off information that came to mind, I hope this helps. My advice is always so scattered and everywhere, I do apologize if I have missed anything! Everyone does these things differently and this is just based off my own experiences and what I've seen over the years!

As for your question my friend, first of all! Amazing to know a fellow artist, I hope I have a chance to see your artwork and oc content some of these days ahead! ^^

Second of all, I had to think a lot about this because I've essentially had random bursts and moments when it comes to trying to focus on my personal stories and oc content. I have many Oc's and self inserts in different fandoms that kind of boost me in some relevance within those areas of interest and followers too.

However, for my own personal stories Ocs, I love posting and putting my content out there and I have been doing it for a fair amount of time since I started using tumblr; posting most, if not a lot of it, on this main blog of mine. I later started a side blog specifically made for that content to post and to look through aesthetics and inspiration for my characters and world building -> @wewillbelegendary. I will say it has been hard to keep up with posting directly there as it is like starting a blog from scratch and love using my main blog. Honestly, I tend to alternate a lot it just depends, I reblog it on there at as I have more traction on my main.

But I do highly recommend you at least considering having a separate oc blog, if you are still growing a blog in general, I highly recommend it as it will be a nice concentrated area for all of your art on oc content. That can grow into world building, character inspirations, art development, so on and so forth! Also using appropriate tagging system to help guide others to your content and so people can see it in those specific tags! There are plenty out there especially those like #digital art #artist on tumblr #original content #original characters, etc. I am sure there are many more that I have used or others have and it just depends on the subject of the content entailed.

You may have to reblog several times through your main blog to gain traction from your followers or audience, engage with other posts and other people content to gain some relevancy with them too! Follow other content creators like them too!

If you have been drawing them for a long time, post artist development of your characters over the years to show their initial concept to where they are at now! Post your sketches in all their bare bones (I fail at this sometimes~ but I highly encourage you!), you can be direct with your wording or give a hand full of sentences to explain the post to give others insight. Post about what inspired you to make that specific content for your ocs like song or quote inspiration.

Overall, a lot of it relies you posting consistently, if you really want to gain attention to your work! It won't all happen in a day or a week, even months. I don’t think there is a set time people post on here, I tend to do so in the mornings during the week to Saturday and tend to spread my posting after two days when I have a handful of art to post! Also double or triple reblogs in the afternoon or following day depending on interation!

You have to motivate yourself to post about your work and gain others attention to notice you! I have since calmed myself down from such a mindset though (sometimes I get anxious because I haven’t posted or done art and that’s okay, don’t stress or push yourself over if you haven’t!). I post my oc content because I am proud of it, if it gets noticed then I am happy, even by a few or handful of people. I am giddy when people reblog, more so when small tags are added in 🤍 sometimes my content isn't always liked or reblog and that is okay! There is no shame or worry about deleting and reposting again another time too. Hell, I know some people often tweet or repost on instagram their works again so others don't have to search all the way down to the initial post!

I also recommend posting on other socials as well! Instagram is such a good place for that! With similar tagging systems! Maybe on twitter too, but it just depends and you are also limited on the tags and characters you use. Everything kind of cumulates when you have more at hand!

Honestly, it has been a while since I have posted oc content in general, I had some burst inspirations earlier in July and recall rambling about it to my fellow mutual on here about it 🥺 she is such a dear friend and love rambling about each other's ocs, self inserts, and f/os. Make friends who will indulge in your creations and in theirs!

I sincerely hope that this information helps you some! Again, I have always been more of a self insert and shipping fandom artist with a healthy handful of oc content posted over the last,,, 12 years overall,,, oof (；・∀・) and more or less 4 years for self shipping content.. I, personally, have always just safeguarded my ocs because I wasn't the best at talking about it/them? I suppose? Gradually, overtime, got out of that mindset and became more confident about showing my characters and bits of information about them, at least in main story. Especially, with the encouragement of others I consider good friends here on Tumblr 😌

I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day and that you steadily grow your content overtime! I hope to see some of your oc content one day! 🤍✨

[tisalovestory]

Hello. How'd you been? I'm just a typical user who read and just go, then forget blog names, fic names but you really sticked to me (see how amazing you are) . My all time favourite fic of yours is 'Return of Spring', second is 'Gift of Nature'. I was one of those people who persistently asked for the sequel. I reread it every now and then. You were one of my first writers that I came across in tumblr. I'm not really one to interact with anyone on this platform but I just want to say that you're such an amazing writer and I really appreciate your works. I once read a series of yours. The Ghost!Shinsou one. I finished it in one night, and I absolutely regretted it. I fast-read it, now I can't enjoy it without feeling guilty. I don't like seeing writer — artists or any kind of creator — losing motivation or inspiration to create. So I really hope you keep on writing. Even if you don't post it. I would love to see you bloom. I also want to write but I don't know how to improve myself, which is why I'll just support you because you're my role model, the one I look up to in writing. Thank you for sharing your creativity. (Sorry for this long.. idk wat dis is)

Hello anon! I hope this reply finds you well😌

First of all, thank you for remembering me even though I’ve been gone from this site for basically more than a year now. Although I don’t really write or do much on here anymore, it still makes me happy to know that somewhere out there someone still remembers the little pieces of writing that I did pour my heart and soul into.

Ngl it’s kinda weird that I read your message almost with a sense of nostalgia LMAO like… I haven’t thought about the things I’ve written or even writing in a while. Obviously I did burn out a little at some point but now, I’ve probably just lost interest for the things that I used to write about because that’s just how things go sometimes.

I’m still doing other things though so don’t worry! I finally picked up cosplaying after watching my friends do it for so long and I’m also in the process of crocheting myself a sweater🫡so safe to say that I’m still creating things, just different things!

I came onto tumblr randomly exhausted from work and saw this anon which honestly, felt very nice to read and made me all warm inside🫶🏼so thank you anon for taking time out of your life to send me this, I hope you’ll also find something that you wanted to write about the same way I did!)

[pinkbalrog]

I posted 22,990 times in 2022

That's 1,654 more posts than 2021!

63 posts created (0%)

22,927 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@lokidokeyartichoki

@moonchild-starlight

@mikkeneko

@merinnan

@bdigfreakingwooper

I tagged 6,831 of my posts in 2022

#dracula daily - 449 posts

#the untamed - 389 posts

#art - 359 posts

#tma - 257 posts

#dracula - 241 posts

#obi wan kenobi - 192 posts

#star wars - 185 posts

#critical role - 183 posts

#jonathan harker - 152 posts

#fanart - 149 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#he's a very strong man to still be going after all the shit that's happened to him but humans are squishy and soft beings and he is a human

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Not sure honestly why the Mighty Nein are apparently so many people's favorite campaign? I mean, I'm not going to judge the players. It's their game, they're having fun. It's whatevs. That it's not my favorite is fine, the chaos just doesn't appeal to me much. Anyway, I'm glad first and foremost that the players had fun and shared it with us. It just will never be my cup of tea. Caduceus totally is (I love all of Tal's characters) but alas I adore structure.

12 notes - Posted March 6, 2022

#4

Okay, so Malevolent isn't in the same tier as TMA, so there's that (and that's okay). I'm a sucker for the poetry though. Another blog called its use "earnest" and I have to agree. I kind of love that. Poetry is absolutely about conveying humanity. Also, the podcast is bringing into play something I saw in the Lucifer comics, where a man's memory of murders he committed is excised, and the reader is asked to consider if that was right, if forgiveness and punishment both or either achieve anything. The podcasts structure and pacing could be better, but I am still engaged. So good job, Harlan! Props to you for making an excellent podcast with great sound. That's a massive undertaking and very admirable. Thanks to @donnovien for the correction! I shouldn't assume all podcasts have large casts etc.

15 notes - Posted August 29, 2022

#3

So, that short story. It's sad. I'm happy to have read it.

24 notes - Posted April 10, 2022

#2

Officially a child of the night for re: Dracula! Woooooo!

41 notes - Posted October 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I think you can say what you will about The Legend of Vox Machina regarding the difficulty in translating a massive live improv campaign (notably a campaign that is fun for the players first and foremost). Characters and arcs will not be the same, some humor won't translate, and game mechanics won't contribute the structure they do in the live show (which can be good or bad).

But it is a darn good adaptation full of love. Everyone involved appears to be appreciated and acknowledged, or atleast they do a far better job of it than most. There is skill and consideration for both character development and the preferences of the Players who created and played those characters. Side note, from a creator stand point, seeing how they chose to portray these stories in a new medium with different constraints and benefits is FASCINATING.

Also, it's really fun, and really pretty and I love it. Do I like everything? No, and that's okay.

What I really really like is that it is a show for table top players full of recognizable moments and that just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Also Percy my beloved. You know, because.

186 notes - Posted February 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[arcanavoid]

Wanted to tack some tags on (from other ppl) because They're very true, as well as add a little bit to what I've already said.

I've seen a new post this morning about the whole situation and I don't think enough people realize what happened during the Nyx Hydra-Dorian shift.

I've also not done any research as I just woke up (oof gotta stop making these posts in bed) so please please please correct me if I am wrong but it's basically this:

The Arcana was no longer making Nyx Hydra enough money (through coins and merch) and so they sold it to Dorian, and they didn't have to.

You can see the quality drop in tales and routes closer to the transition, such as Muriel's love confession CG having wack torso proportions, and the fact Nyx Hydra barely finished Portia's route, having to hold several campaigns to bring light to her route being possibly dropped.

Which is a little hard to side with. It's understandable sure! Less money means it's harder to get good quality stuff.

But to me, less money means you need to work hard at what you can do and take longer. Take longer to get Muriel's love confession out, and take longer to finish both Muriel and Lucio's routes so you can keep updating them with Portia's.

The last three routes always feel rushed (and id like to possibly talk about that later in the future) they have only one chapter per book where as the main three have three chapters per one book until halfway through the story.

All this to simply say Dorian (while messing up the characters' tales) is definitely trying their best to keep Arcana alive, and that means letting Fans make Fan content with official sprites. Which is wonderful!

The tags I was previously tacking on:

These tags speak the truth, it's so easy to simply scroll by someone you don't like or to click out if you find it's not to your taste.

So I have a challenge to anyone hating on Dorian or Dorian fan content: make it yourself, go out there get the app and make a story you would be happy to read!

I think I also saw someone indirectly respond to these tags saying (or asking?) if the creators actually get paid by the company, and I may be wrong again but they do. The heart system is much like a uh casino more specifically card games.

You give money to a desk and get chips in return, you spend those chips, and then go back to the counter and get whatever money you won or you walk out with no won money.

You pay to get hearts (or get them free from events etc) go and spend the hearts on stories, and then those creators go and turn in the hearts for actual money. Except it's all automated and I don't actually know if this is how it works. Educated guess if you will.

Granted, a lot of the fan content is being made like anyone on ao3 is making content, the thought of money isn't there. They're just making it for fun, and Dorian is like "Look at you go! Have some money for your fun!" I think I've seen multiple Dorian fan creators say they have jobs outside of Dorian and just like to post the content there, the money is nice but it's not their job/main source of income.

A bit of an uh off-topic thing here, so feel free to stop reading here it's just about possible future posts 💖

I love talking to my friend about the different things I see in the fandom. The mischaracterization of Julian and Asra, the ramped shipping of the two, ignoring of some characters (looking at Portia my sweet girly), and a big doozy but Asra's gender presentation. I would possibly love to talk about these in the future in a very factual way and less opinionated.

But I did say that I wanted to keep this blog from being ranty, I mostly just meant things like this which are more "come in guys lay off" and less "This is what I see happening, let's have a friendly discussion about it and why it could be happening, as well as how to handle it in the future"

Sooo if you guys like these posts I might keep posting them in a Voide Talky Talk tag (seen below) so you can just mute that if you'd like to just see the reblogs and art I sometimes post.

Have a nice day, guys! And please be nice to one another.

About Dorian

I've been seeing a lot of people talking about Dorian recently, from drama to just being disappointed in them, so I wanted to give my two cents on them

But I also don't want to be a ranty blog so I'm gonna keep this below a cut. I'm also tired and about to go to bed so probably shouldn't be making this lol.

Dorian is Wonderful, its a great concept but sadly not too well executed.

The last I checked (since I had to delete Dorian for space) they haven't made new content for the Arcana, the most they did were side stories that were poorly received but then they started uploading the routes kind of directly from the Arcana app.

A lot of criticism I've seen and also a lot of Arcana content coming from Dorian I've seen has all been about stories made by the fans and not the actual Dorian team. So a lot of what people are saying about the characters being off is true just not what they're saying about the Dorian team themselves.

Yes, surprisingly, fans constantly misrepresent characters. I was just talking about this with my friend but people always seem to dumb Julian down to a "horny hack doctor who doesn't know what a medical school is" and Asra always seems to be reduced to a "lazy calm guy bro dude" or "horny enby who cant show a spec of gender" whereas other characters are also miss-characterized Asra and Julian being the most popular means its more noticeable with them.

I haven't consumed any Dorian fan stories but I have consumed content in other ways and this is my general consensus of the Arcana fandom.

So seeing people harshly criticizing Dorian and people making fan content on the app for being out of character seems very hypocritical.

I'm not saying don't point it out and be like “Man! That seems a bit out of character maybe try this response instead!”. I am saying not to harass people over a mistake that accidentally slipped through a totally fanmade project.

When in doubt just... Click off the story, maybe send a quick dm being like "Yo! Fyi I think there's a mistake here!" but just stop hating on Dorian and the fans making stories for what I assume is free. Treat this like ao3

Now if it does come out that the Dorian team is making more stories off-character or they are blatantly erasing character aspects then yeah we have reason to complain. But for now, they're a relatively new app and are simply trying to get their bearings, the Arcana App didn't use to be as pretty and polished as it is now so we just need to give the team time.

It does suck that they are shoving Dorian down the Arcana Apps throat...

[inheritorofmemories-archive]

Creator’s wrap 2020

Only an hour left to this year, just enough for one a last post to beautifully end 2020. Thank you @cryhardanddanceharder and @mortt-artsy for tagging me! It was really cool to reflect on what I’ve made this year!

It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works (fics, art, edits, etc.) you’ve created this year and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2020. If you don’t have five published works, that’s fine! Include ideas/drafts/whatever you like that you’ve worked on/thought about, and talk a little about them instead! Remember, this is all about self-love and positive enthusiasm, so fuck the rules if you need to. Have fun, and tag as many fellow creators as you like so they can share the love! <3

1 - If music be the food of love, play on, or as I like to call it my Oud Fic. I’m just really proud of that one, it’s the first time ever that I follow through with a multi chapter fic idea and I’m really happy with how I managed to blend history, canon, and my interpretation of the characters as well as a healthy dose of self indulgent music talk. Having the opportunity as a guitarist to rant about the instrument I love so much for thousands of words was truly one of the biggest highlight of this year. It also helped me work through some of 2020 bs, looking at you chapter 7 that is nothing like I planned thank to an imprompu quarantine.

2 - Lost and found again out there among the paths. My gift for the Andromaquynh Secret Santa, The entire time I was writing the fic I felt really unsure of where I was going with it, I never write hurt/comfort so this really was a challenge for me and I’m happy with what I did. It’s not until a couple day before posting that it clicked for me. I feel really proud of the way I wrote them, I usually have a hard time writing character study but here I think I did it right. But my favorite part is the last one where they dance together, I could just see it happening as I was writing and it was very gratifying to have this easiness back after struggling for the hurt/comfort, felt like I did something right.

3 - The careful craft that is love, the beauty of choosing it over and over. it is rare for me to love all of the main ship in a fandom but I do for TOG and there’s something about Book of Nile that really does it for me. Entirely based on a cool gifset I saw, I just decided to go full fluff and tenderness with this one, just wanted to write something comforting for the hard day and I think I succeded for that. Almost put the first Book of Nile fic I wrote but this one wins thanks to the very snobby title I chose. As I’ve known for a while now, I’m a big believer of building love not stumbling upon it by luck. It happens because you want it to and I think that’s the main message you get from this fic, which I’m proud of too.

4 - A burden shared is a burden halved. I wrote this one in a day half asleep and out of it after a particularly hard migraine and I was overwhelmed with how much support and kindness I got from other migraine sufferer in the comments. I felt really good to know that my work connected with them on a deeper level, that some detail I wrote like the painful smells and the sense of guilt that being taken care of induces was felt by them, and that they felt true and real. Nothing like being seen and understood by other to make you happy.

5- Special mention to my first ever gifset that I’m pretty proud of. A really angsty Andromaquynh gifset after I spent an evening info dumping about a childhood fantasy series on tumblr and going through all the quotes I could apply to TOG. I think it’s pretty neat for a first try and it’s definitly making me want to experiment more with gifs, after years of hesitating I’m finally starting so yay! The TOG fandom has been a great place for me on many points this year, least of them boosting my motivation and creativity and the feedback I got. I’m not used to many comments and so many kudos on my fics.

Also, here’s to all the wips and ideas in my head that I’m not even sure I could post one day but that are there for sure. My five-part Natasha character study I see you in my drafts, as I do this very self indulgent Quynh lives au series I’m working on, one day you’ll see the light of the day and I’ll post you.

I’m tagging for this (but a no pressure tag): @themoonwheniamlost, @rupzydaisy, @polarcell and anyone else that see this and wants to do it. It feels really good to look back and see all you’ve done, a great ego boost I recomend it even if you don’t post it, you deserve to feel prouf of your work and what you’ve created

[mblue-art]

Even if I really love OG Nightmare if I ever saw him? I'd run as fast as I could not caring about things left behind.

But /then/ while Strawberry Nightmare looks hotter and se- I mean cuter, in the back of my head there's that alarm constantly ringing DANGER... But if I ever saw him I don't think I would be able to run. Honestly, I feel like he is bigger danger than OG, but at the same time I just want to give him whatever he wants.

It's the first time for me. I'm scared lol

The amount of power he has by existing alone is terrifying.

(And just something for thought- Nightmare's goop is supposedly liquid(?) negativity if I remember correctly and around internet there's headcanon that his goop tastes like apples, 'cause what changed him was corrupted apple. (-I think you even wrote about it)

Then what does it say about Strawberry...? Both taste and what his tentacles are from)

(And if Nightmare's were negativity then??? I'm sorry but the only thing I can think of that would be also pink is lust ;-; and his creator's blog is deleted so-)

(I'm sorry if you are tired of people constantly talking about Strawberry Nightmare here 😅)

I hope you're doing fine, have a good day!

Good thoughts, op. Good thoughts!

He appreciates your praise.

(Ramblings under the cut qwq;;)

Well, I think he's supposedly a food-themed (specifically strawberry) NM by design, so his goop would taste like strawberries, like how OG/Classic NM's would be apples. (Canon NM? Stinky. Stinky stinky old man. Sorry, Nightmare, your garbage scent is replaced with apples now. /j)

Maybe S!NM’s goop either tastes like sweet strawberries or something weird that makes you feel bad; you’ll never know! :]

Thinking back to the 2p! thing, he does feel like an opposite to NM, with all the cute, happy smiling and the brightness- as opposed to NM's dark edginess. If he wasn’t food-based, and if he’s actually designed to be an opposite of NM, is there some swap thing going on with his twin brother? I haven’t seen anyone else draw his Dream, but I have found an artist on twt who drew their pink NM with a blue Dream. I think it’s also interesting to see a happy-looking guardian of negativity next to a grumpy-looking guardian of positivity.

And since we don't have much canon info about him, I kiiinda went ham on the S!NM posts in the past sfjndfks It's fun to think about what headcanons I should slap on this guy.

Speaking of, I have a headcanon that S!NM has the choice to either feed off of your negative emotions and do nothing else, or actually 'take' those negative feelings away- still feeding himself- and you would end up not having those negative feelings anymore. (I saw this comic on twt and I like the idea.)

Oh haha, just realized he could do the latter so he could let you feel at ease around him. (Either done with good intentions or not, depending on the situation...) (Man, look at this evil man with his evil plans. insert stock photo of goofy scheming hands or whatever)

If NM wants to rule the Multiverse, maybe S!NM just wants to have fun terrorizing people. Classic NM? You bet he'd visit him just to annoy him. He has a simp army? Neat! More people to play with. Who knows what goes on in that skull of his. You want him to be soft? Oh, he can be. After a tiring day, sink into his arms as he takes your worries away… What happens next is all up to your imagination.

(Oooh, him having his own strawberry/fruit/sweets gang or whatever... Hmm- ah- nah nope no I’m not going down this hole lmao I’ll stop here LOL)

I’m really just throwing these ideas out there, bc idk what the man’s background story is, if there even was one.

(And it’s alright, I like seeing what people think of him and what headcanons people have; it shows the fandom's creativity ^u^ I just don’t think I’ll be able to respond to every ask yk;;)

thank u for the well wishes, i appreciate it very much. i hope you have a nice day too <3

[lnc2]

I've been on tumblr since 2014. I have severe social anxiety that inhibits my ability to interact with people in my day-to-day life, but even more so online. (Any kind of attention- good, bad, and neutral - can send me into a panic attack.) Naturally, because of this, I only scroll. I've been seeing a lot of blogs making posts about rebloging. New users not respecting etiquette and whatnot acting as they do on other platforms. I don't use/have any other social media, so I can't say that I picked up my non-interaction habits from them.

I don't know why. Maybe its because I have a positive view of and experience with your blog? But I was convinced. I saw a post without any reblogs that made me happy and I pushed the button. It took 20 minutes and some fretting But I did it. Felt good. Hopefully I can do it again. Thank you Today was my first reblog (And this is my fourth ask. not you specifically, just in general)

I'm so sorry that it's taken me a while to respond to this but I want to let you know that I'm really proud of you for stepping out of your comfort zone! And to also reassure you that most of those posts are about the overall culture of liking as interactions on other platforms like insta/twitter/tiktok where that kind of engagement is rewarded by the algorithm whereas tumblr is all about sharing via reblogging and for artists/creators in order for their work to be seen it needs to be shared and not just liked behind an empty blog. The anxiety you feel about any kind of attention is completely valid and understood but I just wanted to say again that that's such a big step and I'm grateful you not only felt comfortable doing it but that you felt comfortable enough to share it here <3<3