#i find that joining new fandoms tends to really help out with my art block

[ethereallroses]

no longer human (人間失格)

[fandom-necromancer]

Getting lost together

This was prompted by a lovely anon! I hope you enjoy, this one is fluffy XD

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

‘Nines, that was the last bag, come on! We’re going to be late!’ Gavin closed the trunk of his car and looked over to where Nines was standing right between the house and the car. ‘Tina will look after the cats alright, she loves the little beasts, don’t worry’, he tried to comfort him, opening the car door and leaning against it. ‘We’ll come back, and they are at least a kilo heavier’, he joked. Nines straightened his back, but avoided his eyes as he walked towards the car. ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’, the Detective asked softly. ‘I thought you looked forward to this.’ ‘I do!’, Nines quickly replied. ‘It’s just my first time leaving Detroit. I… I’m not sure what awaits me.’ ‘That’s what travelling is about’, Gavin explained and stepped past the door to take his hand. ‘Don’t worry. You will love it.’ ‘I hope so’, he mumbled far too insecure for a war machine and entered the car.

Gavin sat down too, leaning over to press a kiss to Nines’ cheek and start the engine afterwards. ‘Come on. Let’s go on a road trip!’ He handed Nines a case full of music CDs and gestured him to choose one. ‘Passenger decides the music’, he explained and started pulling out of their driveway. The android frowned at the disks, contemplating whether he should tell Gavin he could always just connect to the car and play whatever song he wanted. But he guessed this was part of the experience, so he pulled out one of them without researching band names or titles written on it. ‘Excellent choice’, Gavin cheered as the first heavy guitar riffs came up. Nines couldn’t really say something to that as he had no idea what else he could have picked, but seeing Gavin grin and drum his fingers on the steering wheel he found he didn’t really care if it made his human happy.

They drove through the streets and Nines traced their route with his GPS. He got increasingly worried as they made it onto the highway and finally left Detroit. ‘All good, love?’, Gavin asked, seeing the red flashing LED. ‘Yes, just… I lost connection to an android network.’ ‘That means?’, the man asked concerned. ‘My scans won’t be as effective anymore as I can only detect what I see. I can’t supplement it with information from the internet or databanks.’ ‘Should we turn around?’ Nines thought about it. It was their first vacation since the revolution as work had kept them busy with anti-android crimes, retaliations and the rising Red-Ice trades. He had looked forwards to it and still did. He would spend time with his human somewhere neither of them had been before, just the two of them. What about that wasn’t exciting? ‘No. It’s just weird loosing a function you never paid much attention to.’ ‘I can imagine’, Gavin hummed, unsure what to say. ‘I guess that at least makes us equal?’, Nines contemplated. ‘Neither of us knows Providence. It’s a new place for you and I have no way of acquiring more information than you could.’ ‘Heh, a full-on human experience, then?’ ‘You could say so.’

They drove down the road and the longer they were on their way, the less worried Nines became. If anything, partially loosing his scanning abilities made it even more interesting. He simply couldn’t know some things and others passed too fast to get even a little bit of information. ‘How do you live like this?’, Nines couldn’t help but ask as he could see buildings to his right that might have belonged to a town called Sweaburg, but could as well be something entirely else. ‘How do you live, seeing things and having no idea what something is?’ Gavin laughed. ‘Learning to ignore what isn’t important, I guess? I mean, do I have to know everything to survive. And it can make it all the more interesting if you do find out someday. You can always learn something new, even if you lived your whole life in just one city.’ Nines frowned and tried to understand. ‘I mean, isn’t it boring knowing everything? What about curiosity and the joy of discovery?’ The android had to nod to that. ‘That’s why I like our work this much. And I’m starting to like this new perspective, too.’

He found himself smiling as he watched the world pass by, details appearing and disappearing before his programs could even try to gather information. He had become a passive onlooker and it was a weirdly relaxing experience when at the same time his eyes darted from one fixing point to the next trying to take in everything at once. Gavin found he had a difficult time concentrating on the road when Nines sat in the passenger seat almost pressing his nose to the glass like a school child on their first but ride. Sometimes he wished he could take photos like the android could, just to remember this sight forever.

They had to stop for gas soon and Nines took over for the rest of the ten-hour ride. Gavin, understandably exhausted, had tried to stay awake, but when they were an hour away from their destination, he was peacefully sleeping leaned against the door. Only as Nines left the highway and had to stop at a red light, the man woke up again. ‘Oh, we’re already there?’, he asked and sat up. ‘Sorry, I’m just really tired.’ ‘Our hotel is just down the road. Then you can sleep properly.’ ‘Nah, I planned to go take a look at the city first!’ ‘Gavin, I doubt we will get anything else done. And it’s supposed to be a vacation.’ ‘Okay, I’ll take a short nap then and afterwards we go for a walk in the evening, but that’s the only compromise I’m willing to accept.’ Nines sighed. ‘Fine.’

They checked in to their hotel and went to their room to stow away their luggage. Gavin’s nap ended up being longer than expected and with an amused huff, Nines slipped under the blanket too to join his human in this unknown place.

-

Maybe it had been the night spent in stasis, but when Nines rose to see Gavin in the light of the rising sun in this foreign room, he could barely contain the happiness that he felt. No deadline, no case that had to be solved, no clear mission to follow. Just himself and Gavin in a city neither of them knew; time reset to a new schedule counting down the days of their vacation. It was almost… liberating.

He snuggled closer to Gavin and wallowed in his warmth. The human grinned and turned around, still sleepy but slowly waking up. ‘Morning, Nines.’ ‘Morning darling.’ Gavin buried his head in his shoulder. ‘Jeez, Nines, if you keep this up I’ll never leave the bed.’ ‘We can do that if you want’, the android murmured, kissing the top of his head. ‘Nah. Let’s get ready for breakfast and then go see the city. I have something special planned for tonight and you can’t research it! It will truly be a surprise.’ ‘I can still do normal research via the internet, Gavin. Just slower.’ ‘Don’t you dare’, Gavin laughed, pointing his finger at his nose, before standing up and getting ready for the day.

After leaving the hotel, they walked through the streets without any real plan in mind. Nines followed Gavin, who seemed to take random turns and stopped at random places. Watching the people around them and the different sorts of buildings, Nines was quickly feeling weirdly at home. In the afternoon they stopped at a park near the river and Gavin got himself something to eat at the many food carts around. They sat down at a bench right at the riverfront and enjoyed the sunny day. ‘This is perfect’, Nines couldn’t help but voice the content he felt at watching the water lazily pass by, a few ducks swimming on it. A few joggers passed them, faces without names for the first time in Nines’ short life. ‘Got over that lack of information?’, Gavin asked, mouth still half full of the hot dog. ‘I’m actually considering shutting off that program completely when not on the job’, he shrugged. ‘You were right it is more interesting to not know and wonder. If I really need to know something, I can always switch it on again.’ ‘Nice. Good to know it’s not too bad for you.’ Nines looked down on Gavin and put his arm around him. ‘It’s never around you.’ ‘Aw you damn romantic android. I would hate you if I didn’t love you.’ ‘Sure.’ Nines looked out over the river and cocked his head. ‘Gavin, what did you wanted to show me?’ ‘In the evening, love. Has to be dark for it. Patience.’

At least time passed quickly with the human around to guide him around town. As the sun set, they returned to a different part of the river. Nines frowned, as he saw several people blocking his view on the water. ‘Gavin, what-‘ ‘Shh, come on, follow me. I looked this up beforehand, there should be a good spot over here.’ Gavin took his hand and pushed through the crowd, not even thinking of apologising. Pulling Nines right to the front, the android was indeed blown-away. In all his preconstructions, he hadn’t expected this: Several bonfires were lit on the water and lit up the walls in soft orange and hot white yellow. Music played and the masses stood and watched as people tended to the fires and gondolas passed through the flames. ‘Gavin, what is this?’, he asked in surprise. ‘They call it Waterfire. A festival that began as art is now celebrated annually. ‘Thought it would be something fun to be part of. Do you like it?’ Nines couldn’t pull his eyes away from the reflections on the water, the thousands of people at the shore and the flickering fires cracking on the surface of the water. The smell of burning wood filled the air and managed to overpower the different smells from the food stands. ‘Gavin, I… I never experienced something similar. Can we… Does this stretch the whole river? Can we see all of it? Can we ride one of the gondolas? I… For how long did they celebrate this? Why-‘ Gavin’s loving smile made him stop, feeling awkward for asking so many questions and letting his excitement overwhelm him. But Gavin only rose to his toes and pulled Nines head down into a kiss. ‘For you? Everything.’

[punwolf]

A PSA for New Followers

I post a lot of odds and ends. There’s a lot of animals on here with a smattering of LOTR, Harry Potter, and the odd pop culture reblog.

I rant once in awhile, but there’s not much personal stuff. I mostly run on a queue so your dash isn’t flooded.

I love Dragon Age and reblog a lot of it. The character content depends on what the people I reblog tend to post. Lately there’s been a lot of Cullen but it doesn’t mean I don’t have a deep and abiding love for 98% of the characters in the game. Blackwall is another big favorite, but due to his problematic back story a lot of people don’t like him. I get that, but when I see art or things for him, I usually reblog - it just seems thinner in the fandom.

I avoid character hate. This is one of the few commentaries where I’m critical of the fandom, but I have a hard time understanding it. There’s entire blogs dedicated to how much someone hates a character. There’s detailed meta ripping into and dissecting the writing on a character the blogger doesn’t like. It’s their time and energy to be spent how they want. I also feel like too much of it is toxic to a fandom. If newbies drop in having just discovered Dragon Age... Do you remember what that was like? Do you remember the giddiness? The excitement? How new it all was and how you grinned like a fool at some of the dialog? You may remember heartbreak and frustration, too. It was a glorious ride either way, and we jumped in to share our experiences with fellow fans who went through the same things we did. Now imagine you walk into the fandom and a lot of what you find is people bickering, ripping apart characters you may have really liked, and generally promoting an overall negative atmosphere. Add that to the fact a lot of people on Tumblr are depressed and have anxiety. I wouldn’t want to stay around and be more depressed and get screamed at. Personally, I’d leave.

I’m not saying people don’t have the right to put what they want on their blogs. If you have the time to spend and want to tell the world how much you hate a character, go for it.

I’ve just got better things to do with my time. Yes, I know that sounds judgemental but I’m allowed an opinion just like everyone else. If you disagree and want to unfollow, that’s fine. Do what makes you feel good and be happy. That’s what Tumblr should be about.

My blogging is mainly going to be positive. There’s a few sticking points in the stories which will always bother me. I mention them once in awhile and tag it #character name critical or #fandom critical. Feel free to blacklist and post block.

I want people to join us. I want to find common ground in things I enjoy rather than what I hate. I’ve got plenty to hate in the world around me already - things which are real and deserve it. I’ve got plenty to bring me down in real life, so I’d rather enjoy the escape into Dragon Age with good stuff rather than dwell on everything that’s wrong with writing, characters, etc. Sure, there’s problems. Lots of problems. There’s no such thing as perfect game, world, setting etc. Sometime those things need to be discussed. If nothing else, the developers listen once in awhile to the fans who point out errors.

At the end of the day, it’s still a game and I’m here to celebrate it with people who like the same stuff.

So come on by, share some OCs, talk about the characters you love like life, how much you love your Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor because why wouldn’t you! I don’t chat much because of time constraints but I’m around when I can be to lend an ear or offer help if there’s something I understand (like Windows Movie Maker. Don’t judge me, LOL)

But it’s doubtful I’ll share in a gripe fest about how terrible a character is. Problematic? Sure! That’s basically 98% of them on some level. If they were perfect they’d be boring. I won’t be tearing them down, though, or complaining about how stupid, boring, misogynistic, racist, hateful, etc. etc. etc. Unless of course they’re meant to be. I love Tim Curry’s voice work, but you’re really not supposed to like Rendon Howe.

[noxiim]

(1/3)Okayyyy so i mightve sent a few asks abt this before but this topic is really now bugging me cuz i have depression and im sensitive to like everything. Im starting to take this "not getting notes on my art" thing really personally and i know it sounds childish (and i laugh at myself for it) but i cant help but get upset when i spend so much time and effort and get like no feedback. And i know people say not to draw what u love and not for attention but honestly i dont even know what

and i dont even know if im drawing what ilike sometimes. Yeah i love bts but i dont know if i like what im drawing or ifim just doing it for notes???? And i have a lot of anxiety too and thats wherei feel like im taking this too personally. Cuz im starting to think that my artdoesnt get notes cuz its straight up not good which leads me to think ishouldnt even try to pursue a career in art anymore. But im not good atanything else so wtf am i gonna do if i dont succeed in art???? Like i said i laugh at myself for thinking like this and iprobably sound like a fuckin child but i cant help it???? Like i think my artis decent???? But maybe its not???? Idk like this was really hitting me todaycuz i feel like im wasting so much time and im probably gonna be one of thosepoor college students cuz i decided to focus on art more rather than taking ajob cuz i thought i could make money off of my art but yknow clearly its notgoing so well and im scared for my future U dont have to give advice to all of that i just needed tolet that all out 

Aw dude don’t worry I get what you mean,I actually experienced something similar when I first started posting my art totumblr, and even recently when I first started posting bts fanart. It’sperfectly normal to want recognition (in this case in the form of notes) forsomething you worked so hard on!! I think one of the major issues with postingto such a big fandom such as bts though is that there’s so many peopleproducing content at any given time, that it’s incredibly easy to get drownedout. Especially since tumblr changed how search and track tagging worked, itmade it that much harder for people to get noticed for their content.

When I first switched to drawing for bts,I found it hard because I also focused a lot on my note count. For someone whowas originally well established in a previous fandom, the move to bts was quitea jarring experience. I had built my following on tf2 art, and used toconsistently get a couple hundred notes, but one of main reasons why I left wasbecause of the dwindling of note counts. When I first left, overwatch had justcome out and a lot of attention shifted towards that game away from tf2, andalthough I still love the game, the dramatic decrease in notes on my art fortf2 really made me sad and I ended up deciding to leave the fandom after 3years of drawing tf2 art. I hopped around a bit, before eventually getting intobts. Even then, my first few pieces (they’re not on my #bts fanart tag so mostpeople wouldn’t have ever seen them) either got no notes at all or only two orthree. It was easier for me to establish myself in a fandom such as tf2 back inthe day since it was such a small, tight knit community with limited contentcreators, but now with bts there are so many more people and it just seemedhopeless for a while and I lost motivation in my art. I stopped wanting todraw, since it felt like nobody cared. Art is the biggest hobby I have, solosing my confidence in my art was crushing.

Now you might be wondering how I got towhere I am today. I’ll be completely honest with you. For me, I highly doubt Iwould be anywhere near where I am if it weren’t for networks. I had neverjoined a network before, but decided to join armiesnet and jimin network one daywhen I saw that applications were open. I got accepted, and I joined theirrespective group chats too. I met lots of great people on those chats, and madea lot of new friends which was nice after having moved fandoms and lost touchwith many previous mutuals. I’m so glad I joined networks, because not only doyou have the chance to make mutuals who will support you and your art, thenetwork blog itself also reblogs all its members’ content which gives youexposure to members of the network through both the network tag and through thedashboard. It’s a perfect way to get started, rather than hoping that somebodywith a decent following will happen to stumble across your work in the tags oneday and reblog it.

That being said, unless you’re like somesort of godly human being I don’t think we can ever get over how note countsfeel as an artist. We need something to gauge people’s response to our art, andthat tends to default to note counts. I can assure you that the feeling of disappointmentwhen your post doesn’t get as many notes as you want/expected it to is a thingpretty much all artists on this site shares. People always say “you should drawfor yourself, not for other people” but that’s the equivalent of like say themona lisa being painted and then left to rot in Da Vinci’s closet or something.The whole point of art is sharing your ideas/love for something through yourdrawings with other people, and so it’s perfectly normal to want therecognition you deserve for working so hard and putting so much love into yourcraft. When it feels like you’re all alone, you have to remember not to giveup. Creating art in such a big fandom can be unforgiving, but just rememberthat your art is never the one at fault. It’s all about finding that littlegolden window of exposure, whether it be through one big blog or a couplesmaller blogs reblogging your work. Those kind few people will be what helpsyou grow, and you have to keep posting for that to happen. If you water a plantbut it doesn’t bloom the next day, abandoning it will get you nowhere. If youjust keep going, keep watering it, results will come. Keep reminding yourselfthat you’re doing well, and you can compare older art to your current art tosee the progress and keep you motivated. Don’t force yourself to draw if youaren’t feeling it – art is something that should make you happy. I used to drawbecause I felt the pressure to put out content, but that just resulted in mefalling into a negative spiral of art block, limited motivation and generalunhappiness with my art as a result. Remember that there’s no such thing as adeadline when it comes to posting art on tumblr – work at whatever pace suitsyou and if anybody tries to rush you, shut them down. You’re the artist, youget to choose what you do with your art, how you do it, and how long you spendon it.

If you truly have your sights set onbecoming an artist full time, then by all means go for it! I can’t give muchadvice in that area since I only plan on keeping art as a hobby, but justremember that art school is always optional. In the end, working as an artistis all about the portfolio, not where you graduated from. It’s more importantto work on your art than it is to get in to an amazing art school. Sure, artschools can be useful, but in the end they are simply tools, sort of like atutorial rather than something that will magically turn you into an amazing artistwith amazing job offers. At the end of the day, it’s all up to yourself to workhard and promote yourself. Since art is all about reaching different audienceswith your work, promoting yourself is essential, even if it’s just casualfanart on tumblr. Feedback can’t come without exposure, and exposure can’t comewithout self-promotion.

Lastly, remind yourself that there’s nosuch thing as ‘bad art’. That might sound like a stupid statement, but inreality art is a constantly changing thing. There is no pinnacle of perfection,no model artwork that represents the most perfect drawing out there. Everyonehas different styles, everyone has different approaches, and most importantly,everyone is still improving. I’m still learning and trying to improve my ownart, and there’s no shame in that. It’s easy to perceive someone else’s art asbetter than yours which would lead to some self-critical thoughts, but you haveto remember that the other artist is probably looking at their own art andpicking it apart, thinking “aw man there are so many mistakes here.” It’s fineto make mistakes, after all, that’s how we learn. Just because we see mistakesin our own art doesn’t mean that everyone else will too – nobody looks at artand their first thought is to list all of the mistakes present. As long as youare aware of what you are less confident in and actively work to improve it,you can quickly surpass even the people you look up to.

So yeah, sorry that this is hella longlol, but in all honestly I can understand what you’re going through. It’seasier said than done, but even though it might feel hard - don’t give up. Youmight feel like you’re not getting anywhere at the moment but I assure you thatif you just keep going, things will only get better. That’s the thing abouttumblr, if you keep posting art your audience can only grow. For now, I would definitelyrecommend joining some networks, and making some friends. It’s not uncommon forpeople to promo their own work in the network chat occasionally, as long as youdon’t spam haha

Anywho, I wish you the best of luck withyour art journey. If you need me you know where to find me 💕💕💕

[princeadams]

The Ultimate BATB tag

Rules:

- Always include the rules.

- Answer the questions as truthfully as you can.

- Tag at least 3 people at the end of the tag.

- You don’t have to be tagged to paticipate, you can do the tag even without       being tagged.

- Tag the post “#BATB Tag” so we can keep up with the tags.

- That’s literally all there is to it! Have fun!

You can use this as reference:

https://gastt.tumblr.com/post/160009844702/the-ultimate-batb-tag

When did you start your blog, and why? I started right before I saw the movie because I knew I’d be obsessed and wanted an area away from my  main multi-fandom blog where I could freely fangirl and shitpost and whatnot. Also, my “likes” on Tumblr were filled with four years worth of BATB meta, fan art and fanfics, and I wanted to clean my likes out so they would actually be a specific place for bookmarking. I had 14,00 likes before I made the blog, and now that I’ve almost completely cleaned it out I have about 900. Still not great, but it’s getting there.

Where did you get the idea for your url? Obviously the growl at the end. I decided I wanted daysinthesuns for my main blog, and I'd had danstevensgrowl saved for a little while. For daysinthesuns, I saved it when the titles for the new songs were announced, I think that was in late summer.

Where did you get the idea for your icon? I didn’t make my icon, I just got it from an icons post by someone on Tumblr. I like the color pink and I love 1991 Belle, so I went with it. 

What was your first choice of url? dayinsthesuns was the first one I had for this blog, then I switched to danstevensgrowl. If you mean what my ultimate choice would be, I’d really like to have daysinthesun or princeadam. On my main blog, my first URL was weareteenageheartsforeveryoung and it stayed like that for 3 years or so.

What was your first icon, or the oldest you can remember? And if you can, post it. This is the one I’ve always had, but on my main blog I had a picture of Miley Cyrus from the movie LOL once, a picture of Elvis once, and my freshman year of high school I had my favorite fan art of Adam hugging Belle from behind with his chin on her shoulder while she’s reading. 

Would you die for the person on your icon? I mean, I consider myself to be Belle, so that’s a bit weird. But if my icon was Adam, yes, in a heartbeat.

Which url of your mutuals are you most jealous of? Hmm. I don’t know, I honestly like my URL. However, if we’re talking about @gastt‘s mutuals…you know who.

Which icon of your mutuals are you most jealous of? I love @ohstaythisway‘s icon, I would use it if she wasn’t already.

Do you have any sideblogs? And if you do, what are they about? And if you don’t, what would your sideblog be about? I have a ton that I made while cleaning out my likes to get meta and fanfic out of there, I have an Anakin Skywalker one and a Pride and Prejudice one. I also run the Tally Hoes Archive, and I have a professional blog to showcase my articles and other things I’ve written.

Are you satisfied with your blog currently? If not, what would you change? I guess, I mean, it’s a trash blog so I don’t aim for the content to be high quality. 

If you weren’t in the BATB fandom, what would you post about? Star Wars, Doctor Who, basically everything I post about on my main blog.

What fandom(s) did you belong to before BATB? BATB was actually my first fandom, but after that, Divergent, Once Upon a Time, Doctor Who and finally Star Wars. 

Which blogs do you regularly check up on? @je-suis-em-jee and @theteaisaddictive because they’re my favorite fic writers.

What would you say is your most common tag? “Prince Adam” because I reblog gifs of him a lot.

How many people are you following, and how many people follow you? I think I follow around 300, my main blog has 1,700 followers and this blog has a little over 200.

Who are your current top three fans on Tumblr (for this month)? For this blog, it’s @trippsykes, @lee-lee-ed and @snipandsnail. Thank you guys :)

What is your top post (for this month)? It actually won’t show for some weird reason, but I’m guessing it’s my Ultimate Fic Rec post. 

Which post are you most proud of? Probably my meta about the enchanted object’s part in The Mob Song.

Which post are you most embarassed by? The Meme Queen Adam fic and every time I’ve self-promoted (which is a lot of times.)

Weirdest message someone ever sent you? When I posted my selfie for the Introduce Your Self(ie) challenge, I immediately got a DM from some girl with a weird URL saying I was hot. I assumed it was a porn blog so I marked it as spam and blocked them, but then I looked at their blog and it was kind of normal? So I hope that wasn’t one of you guys lol. 

Weirdest message you ever sent someone? God I don’t even want to know

Have you ever received anon hate? And if so, for what? When I was 13 I got a ton but I honestly deserved it. I had this ongoing joke where I acted like I was really self-absorbed and snobby ironically, because I actually hated myself and had been struggling with an eating disorder. But either way, I took it too far and I was really obnoxious and people called me out on it, some less gracefully than others.

Do you have any blogs blocked, and if so, which? I’m sure I have a lot blocked for spam and stuff. 

Have you ever thought about quitting Tumblr? If so, why? Not really, because I’m kind of terrified of ever deleting anything. I hate the idea of erasing any part of my life, even if it’s a part I’m embarrassed by or don’t want to think about.

What device do you use Tumblr the most? (e.g. Laptop, Tablet, Phone, etc.) Probably my iPhone, since I’m always in class and stuff.

What was the last thing you searched on Google? Meme Queen Adam bc I was too lazy to go on my profile on Archive of our Own and click on my fic, I just wanted to get the link the quick way lol.

What time is it currently as you make this post? 11:45, I really should go to sleep after this.

What are you wearing currently? Star Wars pajama pants and a black camisole. 

If you had to legally change your name (in real life) permanently, what would it be and why? Belle, because I’m a dork.

What kind of characters and/or pairings do you tend to turn to? Is there a recurring theme to it? I feel like in terms of male characters I always love the brooding, angsty, damaged guys with tragic backstories, like Prince Adam or Anakin Skywalker. For female characters, I always like strong, witty, outspoken women, like Belle and Elizabeth Bennet.

Tell us a favorite of yours and why? (Literally any favorite, something that touches you and you’re passionate about.) I guess Beauty and the Beast in general, honestly. There’s so much to love about it, but it really changed my life when I fell in love with it all over again the summer before my freshman year of high school. I was doing a Disney movie marathon alone, because I really didn’t have any friends at the time, and I actually skipped Beauty and the Beast because I figured I remembered it well enough from my childhood that I didn’t need to waste time re-watching it. However, I still had some time to kill before school started, so I watched it again, and not only was I struck by the Beast’s character and how deeply and unconditionally he loved Belle, the message of Beauty and the Beast really got to me. After I recovered from my eating disorder and dealt with (deserved) backlash on Tumblr for my crappy sense of humor and coping skills, I’d become really tough and rigid and pessimistic as a default. Suffering from such an awful illness really kind of stripped me of the usual kindness and warmth I held. Belle kind of helped me get it back, helped me find myself again, and the movie in general helped me to believe that maybe it was okay that I was fat or my voice is weird or that I’m short because I’m eloquent and I’m kind and true beauty is found within. Maybe my words and my heart is enough. I still struggle with believing that today, but I would’ve given up on believing it and given up on myself a long time ago if it wasn’t for Beauty and the Beast. When I started at a new high school after becoming obsessed with Beauty and the Beast, I was both a new person and my old self at once, and the optimism and kindness and open-mindedness I’d regained helped me to finally let people in a bit, and I made a ton of friends. My love for the musical also inspired me to join theatre, which I never would’ve given a thought if I hadn’t loved the musical.

Tag 3 or more blogs to do this tag, and also add what you associate them with and tell them what you truly think about them.  I can’t tag @gastt because they already did it and literally made the tag, but gatt, you are such a loyal and supportive person. I don’t even know your name or your face or anything like that, but I don’t have to to know that you an amazing person and all us Tally Hoes are so lucky to know you.  I tag @mmedegarderobe, my sin sister and fellow Mass Communications major, my other fellow mass communications major @thestanfoubrew, the mother of the Heelys meme @uncledisney, and my two favorite fic writers - one I’ve loved since I first fell in love with BATB, the other more recently, @theteaisaddictive and @je-suis-em-jee. You both are so talented and wonderful and portray the characters that are so close to my heart perfectly.