#i had such a fun time making art of other's blorbo and getting our blorbos drawn

[sparkle--bat]

artfight was so fucking fun chat

[random-gamer1942]

With the year coming to an end, I wanted to make this little post to thank you all for the amazing times. 2024 has gone by faster than any other year, and for good reason. Particularly, because of an interesting combination of you doing more repetative tasks as you age, and each new year taking up a comparatively smaller portion of your life as you age. Psychologically speaking, this-

WAIT FUCK I GOT DISTRACTED OKAY BACK TO THE POST

This year. Yes. It was special. No, but actually. I met so many of you guys in this year alone, and cannot fathom the facts that I might meet this many more people in the coming years. Thank you all for all the art you've made, the stories you written, the blorbos you've created. Thank you all for the picrew and uquiz chains, for the mass reblogs, for the tag games. Thank you all for getting me into new fandoms - from webcomics to shows. Thank you all for interacting with my posts, and for making my own art and writiny feel like they're worth it. Thank you all for being my mutuals. Thank you all for being my friends

And then, to a handful of particular individuals:

@thatoneluckybee

I still remember the terrible puns I made that one day that caused us to meet eachother, lol. And the butterfly effect that caused. Shite. If you hadn't reblogged that post, I probably wouldn't have met about 90% of my current mutuals, and that's not an exaggeration. Thank you for being the 2nd mutual I ever had, for introducing me to sbg, nevermore, and homesick, and for turning me into a mass reblogger lol. No but honestly, I truly am thankful I know you. Here's to another year of me randomly bombarding your asks when reading webcomics or when thinking of theories! (I've started Marionetta btw, be afraid >:D)

@blue-eyed-moon-child

You're genuinly one of the coolest and most interesting people I've ever met, and in only a handful of months have become perhaps the 2nd closest person to me. I've always enjoyed talking to people older than me, since they're actually able to hold conversations on serious/interesting topics, and you especially are someone I feel I'm able to discuss nearly anything with. Thank you for listening to me ramble all those time. Thank you for helping me when I've felt down. Merci d'être ma sœur. Here's to another year of sibling hijinks, highs and lows, and a LOT more rambling :>

And last but not least, @afrogwhocantdraw and @primalmagic

It's a lot more recent, but being part of the benlor trio has genuinly been so much fun. I remember when I originally met frog when I was making some fanart, and how through sheer constantly interacting with Isa's (PHENOMENAL) fics we got her to become friends with us too. We are the 3 musketeers of the sbg community, and none browse the benlor tag without finding our names. To another year of fanart & fanfic. To the benlor trio. To benlor!

Yes I repurposed that drawing shhhhhh

And with all that, to the new year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

@thatoneluckybee @aceiscoool @moonbiine @quintessential-candles @haruu-luv

@kirexa @missrayofsunshine @onlyinitforthefandoms @indianatumbleweedjones @a-being-of-chaossss

@nina-the-ninth @sl33pdepr1ved @niredsw @simply-a-moth @fish-nailed-to-a-cross

@thurio-edau @sprinklina @lee1504 @whatsuplin @piigeonss

@blue-eyed-moon-child @afrogwhocantdraw @azulas-1-fan @primalmagic @ohquail

@floydetheflowerdragon @fly-in-amber @cherie-soup @artcher-artwork @junebug99

@corvid-collective70 @karmaajr @ldeedub @comatosequestionmark

[wrecked-cuticles]

aight, i dragged my feet long enough about this...

let's talk about him!!

as i've mentioned before i've been setting up @bosburningplace to be my new blog!

the short of it is this: i've had this blog for nearly a decade. i wanted to delete all of it's content and start anew with my following and followers intact but i could never get the backup file to download. so i figured making a new one is the second best thing.

if you want to read more about my rambling and what to expect check out whats under cut!

so why not delete this blog and start fresh?

im sentimental. even if it makes me uncomfortable to have all of my awkward teenage posting remain on the world wide web, i'd rather it be public than lost. sure it's mostly reblogs but even those are fun to look back at. what media was gnawing up my insides 8 years ago? what completely opposing opinions did i reblog within hours of each other? i just spent way too much time on here not to have a reminder going forward.

but doesn't tumblr send you a back-up of your blog?

they sure do! but i could never get it download fully and i could never see anything in the broken zip file that remained on my pc. i'm not tech savy so i just assumed it was too big for my poor puter to handle and gave up.

but since you are following almost all the same blogs what's going to change?

well you see my dear literary device i have 2 other side blogs! one i made not long after this and another in 2018. the first one was for ~aesthetic~ posts that didn't quite fit what i was reblogging and at first contained bit more original content. the second one was for fanart and fan content that i didn't quite feel spaming my main blog with. it holds a great deal more explicit content as well. with bo's burning place i intend to not edit the stream of conciousness that is my blog so here's what to expect on my new blog:

more original content. i need to start publically stating my opinion if i want to go back to academia and get my ba. i need to start getting used to making 0 note flops because as currently is i'm afraid that if i commit a single thought to writing i'll be ridiculed and exlied. will these be meaningful thoughts? ohnononoo! it's whatever mundane 30 note post doesnt sit right with me for some petty reason or ruminations on breakfast.

spam. i mean the same picture of the same anime blorbo, reblogged 47 times in a row. i see them when i close my eyes and so will you. i will see about making a spam reblog blog if this annoys too many mutuals

more(?) explicit content. i've already started reblogging everything i would've put on a side but i never fully commited to it.

regular smegular reblogs of art, funnies and animal videos as you've come to know this blog

occasional still life photo or painting that i want to lick

for this reason i miiight dip my toe into using tags as they were intendid. i hate typing out tags so no promises

why did i drag the transition out this long?

i thought tumblr would send me one of those "your blog is x years old" notifications and i could post it. according to my archive it shouldve been sent by now but i also have vague memories of getting one in april like years ago? i also vaguely remember making this blog on my pc alone after midnight on new years when i was 14... who knows when this blog was really made, ive surely given up guessing.

anyway i feel like i once more overrated my own importance.

we here at not a newspaper magazine thank our esteemed readers for (nearly) 10 years of being a weird shut-in with us!

[nagi-ddlcpolyblog]

The Genesis of nagi-ddlcpolyblog, Another DDLC Poly Blog

welcome one and all to my apparent attempt at killing my writer’s block. 

hi, I’m nagi (@miss-naginata), whom like five people total may know as naginata_gay_edition on the Archive of Our Own. simply put, polydokis has been on my mind recently. I haven’t had much energy for actual, proper writing even as the blorbos embed themselves into each ridge and crevice of my brain, and my solution appears to be this. I hope you have fun.

This polycule consists of all four girls plus a transfem MC. in here you’ll be seeing little dialogue bits, maybe a ficlet or two, and some occasional lore dumps extracted fresh from my friends’ DMs after I yap at them for long enough.

There will not be any NSFW content. I might get very mildly suggestive if I’m ever ballsy enough, but please don’t count on that or demand that from me. Feel free to send asks but also please treat me like a little glass doll if you do that ty /lh 

anyway, onto the summary, I guess

General Stuff

This AU takes place a good few years after the Literature Club happened (with some major alterations on that). In a sense, this whole thing is basically an alternate timeline to a fic I own - Of Wounds That Mend - and which I have not yet finished at all. Does this count as spoilers? I really hope not.

Everyone is in their twenties, are working jobs (except for one) and are all living an overall pretty normal life. They all have their complexes, occasional issues, but they love each other very much mwah mwah mwah

Monika

Monika works as an analytical chemist and part time girlfriend of five. Work is something that can be stressful (nevermind the work it took to get there), but her occupation is the one which brings the most income and she finds comfort in the fact that she’s dependable. She can be emotionally stunted and is prone to overworking, which has produced a kind of “girl who should be taken care of” title from her lovers. She learns to accept this and becomes all too willing to dive into someone’s arms the moment she gets home. At times she feels some guilt for accepting so much love and care, and it takes much elbow grease for her to realize she does deserve this, not for being the primary breadwinner, but because she’s loved and that’s all there is to it.

Sayori

Sayori is unemployed and, thanks to her self worth issues, feels very guilty for this, often attempting to “compensate” by doing work around the house (to Natsuki’s dismay, she really wants to help with cooking). She has the issue of being somewhat of a people pleaser, which takes some time to iron out as she accepts that she, too, is deserving of things she wants and needs. She’s treated as the oracle of love and affection in the polycule, not because everyone is bad at it in comparison, but because she has an Energy™ that draws everyone in for cuddles and head-scritches.

Natsuki

Natsuki works in a coffee shop with one of her girlfriends. She can be blunt and sassy and has a deep-knit urge to subvert her own feelings, but she’s very intimate and loving when given space. She once possessed a passion for writing that she eventually let go of throughout the years; this was soon reignited by two of her lovers’ shared enjoyment of the art. She enjoys getting into teasing fights with her girlfriends and play-wrestling with some (which, more often than not, ends in a ferocious make-out).

Yuri

Yuri is a trans woman who works entirely at home. She owns a literature critique YouTube channel with a microcelebrity following, but most of her income comes from her part-time job as a writer – every few months when a publisher wants her to work on a book. It is commonly hellish, but she, allegedly, does not regret turning her hobby into a career. Single copies of her books are in her bedroom, and they all have little notes from her lovers, ranging from “I’m so proud of you, love” to “missing hyphen.” She has a habit of being overly meek with her girlfriends, which is spawned from her reluctance to be forward with cisgender women due to internalized dysphoria and from the fact that she is the most recent addition to the polycule – in fact, the only one they didn’t meet in high school. It is, to them, very fun to fluster her and attempt to crack her shell.

Mabel

Mabel is also a trans woman. As implied before, she works a job at a coffee shop with one of her girlfriends, Natsuki. Unlike Yuri, she has not made a career out of writing, but she does do it recreationally. She once was extremely afraid of affection, but after years of prodding from her lovers she has grown to be very mushy with her fellow girls. She and Sayori have a strong bond that the rest of the polycule sometimes admires, sometimes feels jealous of, spawned from the sheer amount of time they’ve known each other for (almost their entire lives), and this is not helped by Sayori’s insistence on making jokes about having dibs on Mabel – and further not helped by Mabel’s insistence on being flustered by this behaviour.

*Mabel is a character originating from one of my fics and I have secretly spent the last few months being unhinged about her.

**also, this isn't exactly a roleplay blog and asks won't be answered in character. you can like, make asks in character if you want, but I won't humor that.

***if this becomes another short lived fixation i lose interest in then i have failed

[chromotps]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag @allthatmay :)

1) how many works do you have on ao3?

Apparently I just hit 50! The first was posted back in 2013, so that's about 4 fics per year?

2) what's your total ao3 word count?

218,852

3) what are your top five fics by kudos?

Oh, they're almost all Attack on Titan fics that I don't think are as relevant any more. AoT was such a huge, engaged fandom!! The top by far is Benvenuto, my tuscan-countryside-romance AU. lmao

4) what fandoms do you write for?

Right now, just One Piece. Before this, I was into MHA, Dorohedoro, BOTW, Haikyuu!!... My Luca phase was fun. 😂

5) do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I try to reply to every comment, especially on recent fics! Sometimes I can take a while—my energy levels have been really inconsistent lately. Sometimes I just don't know what to say to certain comments... And I'll admit, a comment on an older fic/for a fandom I haven't thought of in years is nice to get, but I'm mostly interested in engaging in my current interest, I guess? But I still appreciate them quite a bit!! (I got a really lovely one on Benvenuto 10 years later, about how the commenter read it when they were young and closeted, and now they're married to the love of their life bc the fic gave them the courage to do that, so!! I loved that...) I write fic for myself, but I post it so I can make friends, tbh. Kudos don't really do that, so I live for comments, and love talking about our favorite blorbos or about writing as an art!

6) what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

laughingggg bc I don't really do angst, only hurt/comfort, so they all end happy.......... EXCEPT for a critical role fic I wrote called A Filthy Lie, with some dubcon smoke demon/mentally unwell Percy action

7) what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think the happiest are the multichapter ones, so Benvenuto, Pink Summer (an MHA summer camp AU), We Start Where I End ( :} ) Or, if we mean "happiest" ending... "In Which Benn Wins 30 Berries Off Yasopp" winds up with Ace in an enviable position. :)

8) do you get hate on fics?

No, I don't think I have. My art caught a couple (literally like, 3) strays when I drew Ace/Luffy, but I just blocked em.

9) do you write smut?

I do, and tbh I think it's one of the more difficult genres to do well. But maybe I'm just picky. 😂

10) do you write crossovers?

Not really!

11) have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't technically think so. Did have kind of a weird thing where an author posted a fic with a lot of odd similarities to one of mine, just a few days later, and for a rarepair that made the similarities kind of... obvious... but it had enough differences to show they were attempting their own thing. It's just like, it would've been nice if they made some sort of acknowledgement of where they got their inspiration, or at least commented on mine.

12) have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I can remember...

13) have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No. It sounds sort of fun, but also like I'd need some practice with the RP world, for something like that to work.

14) what's your all time favorite ship?

It's hard to choose, I'm like others where my current ship is my favorite (Shanks/Ace!!!). 😂 I have a soft spot for my first D&D character and her partner, and for almost every other ship I've ever enjoyed.

15) what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I'm slowly picking away at this CMBYN-inspired shanksace fic... work and politics and life have made sitting down and focusing a little difficult, lately!

16) what are your writing strengths?

I like to think I'm getting better at smut. And then, I've been told I write fluff that even angst-fans/people who usually avoid fluff actually enjoy. So maybe that's based on good character work?

17) what are your writing weaknesses?

Ah, I think I've gotten weaker at a couple things as the years go by—like, less imaginative with plots and settings, I stay a little too simple with descriptions these days, maybe. Also, anything that requires complex research/planning is stuff I avoid—multichapter fics, fight scenes, medical accuracy, worldbuilding...

18) thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

My main goal is to do whatever it takes not to break a reader's immersion, so these days I'd avoid that kind of dialogue (and maybe do like May said, just describe the idea being communicated). I think one-off things like endearments, titles, or exclamations can be okay when done sparingly?

19) first fandom you wrote for?

Oh god. Oh jesus. The earliest I can picture is some self-insert Fruits Basket story that lived and died in a notebook.

20) favourite fic you've ever written?

We Start Where I End has a few favorite scenes/lines of dialogue, but I actually think Pink Summer is my all time favorite. The character exploration was both fun and grounding, plus I drew a lot on my real life experience of being a camp counselor for it. I still feel really happy re-reading it.

Thanks again for the tag!! I'm not really sure if you'd be interested, but @niichanism, passing your way.

[focusontheheart]

Meet the Team Lead - Campbell

Brimming with enthusiasm to match the Captain of the Vanguard, it's @maybirdie, Lead for the Erend route! You can find her on Twitter @ereloymb and AO3 as maybirdie!

Hi everyone, I’m Campbell! I had been out of the fandom world for YEARS until April of 2022, when Horizon (and Ereloy) pulled me in hard. I discovered the games completely by accident when I borrowed my friend’s PS4 to help her break her RDR2 addiction. I was brand new to gaming and did not intend to get so sucked in, but this wonderful game and its incredible characters didn’t give me much of a choice! Since HFW came out, I have found the most delightful community of people, made some amazing friends, and been more inspired creatively than ever in my life—particularly when it comes to writing and virtual photography. I’m especially inspired by the wonderful and talented people in both the Two Minutes and Everybody Loves Aloy servers! The writing, art, discussions, and ideas that swirl around nonstop have kept me engaged and inspired to create far more than I would have otherwise! I’m so thrilled to be involved in this exciting project, collaborating with so many lovely folks has been massively inspiring and I can’t wait to see the finished product!

Q&A with Campbell below the cut!

What is a favorite piece of work you've done (completed/ working on/ in-concept)? 

This is such a tough choice but my most recent fic, Kindling, is currently nearest and dearest to my heart. It was super interesting to explore demi Aloy’s reaction to having romantic feelings for the first time, and even though the angst just about killed me, it made the happy ending even more fun to write.

What are some of your favorite tropes (to read/ write/ draw)? 

Hurt/comfort, Fluff, There Was Only One Bed, honestly anything that gives my blorbos an excuse to kiss

What is an unexpected thing or fun fact about you?

I’m generally pretty boring, but I DO own an incredibly orange spoiled loaf named Gus

What has been your favorite thing about working on this project so far?

It has been so lovely to make friends across ship lines and find common ground with so many wonderful people I might not have interacted with otherwise! It’s been an amazing demonstration of how healthy, positive, and inspiring fandom can be when we come together to lift each other up and put our energy into something constructive. There’s room for all headcanons and POVs in this community, and this project has truly proved that to me.

[shannonsketches]

Hello friends, today I would like to hold myself accountable and address the other side of my PSA, which is to say that I complain about things All The Time, and call myself a hater of many things.

I don’t legitimately Hate the things I complain about. I work in entertainment, and I know that it all has value, and it all has cool things to love. More importantly, I know everything has an intended audience, and sometimes I scream when that audience is not me. Which is selfish. And fun. And good! Because it challenges me to write my thoughts and come up with the story I would rather have, which I then get to come and share here!

I got into this fandom when I was a kid, and I maintain that kids in fandom (especially fandom for kids media) should be allowed to play and enjoy and explore their own stories without feeling guilty for having an interest, and I don’t ever want a kid -- or anyone! -- to come here and feel like a stranger being mad about their interest on the internet means they’re a bad person. They're not! You're not! It's okay to have different ideas!

And because I talk an awful lot of shit about games, I'm gonna repost an older thing I had on another blog, because I stand by it:

My grumpy gamer takes should always be taken with a grain of salt asjkld  I’m a whole adult who has (for the most part, still making an active effort) grown out of  the ways of fandom elitism, and while my opinions might be screaming at the top of my lungs, I promise it’s just me letting myself be a kid and get mad about fiction for the catharsis of it.  Your gaming preferences and favored blorbos are never going to be used as a value judgement here. If I’m being a butt as a fan, as a person I definitely understand there’s a reason we love the things that we do, and I love that art can do that for us! Most likely if you see me yelling about something fictional, I am just having fun yelling, and you’re allowed, if not encouraged, to ignore me lol

#even stuff I don't like is an opportunity to ask myself what I would've done differently like. #it's all beneficial out here. #SS is not for me but it might be your favorite game in the whole world and that's totally fine! !#You're right! I'm right! Because art is subjective and that's the point. #anyway I just klasjd. #please know I'm just being a butt and it's not serious in any way

Anyway I am kissing you all on the forehead and reminding you to please not take fandom too seriously. Even if our little castles look different, we're all playing in the same sand ykwim? Be excellent to each other, and ignore or blacklist the stuff you don't vibe with, including my stuff! It's fandom! You're allowed to curate your experience, and you're allowed to be happy on purpose. Thanks for reading!

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

I vibe with hyperfixating w/ characters. To varying degrees I’ve fixated on: Armin from AOT for a while, 1D had a DEATH GRIP on me for a few years, (SEVEAL book characters through my teen years)I had an Alucard from castlevania fixation for maybe 3 ish years (‘ending’ only recently) and now Hobes lives in my head rent free ngl.

I get the “being sad cuz you can’t meet them” part, I’ve felt it. I try to not daydream TOO much cuz otherwise it takes over my life and I’m doing a considerable effort to live OUT of my own head, but BOI do I LOVE just daydreaming about my blorbos of choice.

I don’t speak too much about it (mostly the daydreaming) cuz to an extent it feels like a “me thing” (like something I don’t wanna share with anyone cuz it’s special to me), but if given the chance I DO info dump on my fixations.

I don’t think it’s cringe, not at all. These things are stuff that helps us process the world and our experiences with it. I believe everyone has sensitive weird shit that they don’t talk about, but if there’s something Ive learned is that we hardly ever have completely unique experiences. Most people just hide their oddness. Fandom being a prime example of how much our blorbos can mean to us. I think it’s okay and normal. (Until it goes overboard and people send idk violent messages to others because they headcanon something differently idk, the unreasonable stuff imo)

Can’t believe our of everything people would dare to make JOY and INTEREST the things with negative connotations. Being mean should be cringe, being a bully should be embarrassing. But unashamedly enjoying stuff?? That’s wonderful.

Anyone too embarrassed of their own vulnerability that they deal with it by making others feel bad about their interests are the most immature out if all of us.

Joy is everything that’s good with the world.

Even just seeing the letter 1D makes me wanna scream (in a good way!!) cause it takes me back to high school lol 1D was a bit older than me so my grade had Mindless Behaviour (does anyone remember them, where they even popular) but I remember the days where 1D was like the definition of summer songs

And I can totally understand the 'me thing'. Like I never really spoke about it but I felt like I knew my daydreams were more substantial or vivid than the 'average person' so to say.

Or when I spoke about characters to other people, I understood that neurotypicals likes characters, but they often didn't see them as fully formed 'persons' in the way I do - as to say, they didn't speculate or see emotional backstory, connections, or their behavior the way I did.

I never really shared any of my daydreams because like - I can't even get into it that's like asking someone to explain Star Wars to someone who doesn't even know space travel exists.

I grew up in a time on the internet where self-inserts and OC were seen as cringe, and someone would be very quick to call out 'Mary-Sue's (or flawless OCs) whenever they could.

It's not like that now - but in juxtaposition to canon x canon shipping, that bias is still there I feel like. Like it, as a work of fandom art has less 'value' that art or fics of canon only characters

It kinda bums me out still.

I think OC and daydreams and self-indulgent inserts are all the best part of fandom because it's the purest way of fans connecting with content on a personal level.

I'm happy that I see more people pushing back on that lately. Like after years of seeing people viciously hate furries when most of them seem like very nice, fun people, it's refreshing for people to be like 'nah, actually this thing is cool. and im gonna spend of time and/or money on this thing cause i makes me happy;

like you remember when the new Star Wars movie trailers came out and that dude reacted to it and he was moved to tears and people made fun of him??

yeah fuck everyone else that dude knows whats up.

Like yes, openly cry to your faves. Fantasize deep meaningful daydreams that help you process your feelings. Draw your OC with them, or learn every single thing their is to know about them.

That's why I wanted to talk about this. Because I've never heard it spoken about before. Maladaptive daydreaming, yes - and that can be harmful. But I hardly ever hear people talk about the basic mundane experience of it - or even how it can enrich our lives and help us emotionally develop of neurodivergent people.

When I think of it that way, it's something that makes me happy. I don't think I'll ever be able to describe it fully, and that's the point. Our stories are private to us, not because theyre embarrassing, but because they're so us that to even describe it would like describing a new world top to bottom

I love it. It's what makes humans humans.

[oathena11-writes]

Hi everyone! I'm Athena, pronouns they/he/she, I don't particularly care which one you use as I'm gender apathetic on top of being agender.

I'm married and a parent of two kids I adore, plus I have a cat.

I spend most of my time writing or thinking about writing. I have other hobbies too. 

This is my writing sideblog. It is primarily for writing, so I will be reblogging posts about writing or making my own about writing, or thoughts I have about fandoms. I may or may not post links to my fics there, I'm not very consistent about that. 

I have a Ko-Fi here. As a stay at home parent, any extra little bit helps. My current goal is to save up enough for a new laptop that I will be comfortable writing on. My current one is ten years old and struggling to keep up with my usual writing habits. Recently, we had some car trouble, so our savings are a bit lower than we're comfortable with for this time of year, so it would be a HUGE help if people could donate. But only do so if you'd like to support me and my writing endeavors and you have the money for it.

I help run an event for creatives- not just writing, but people who are into art, crafting, or just need the incentive to get things done. Bingos are a part of the event, as so some of the bingos I do are for the event. We're over in the Castle Cafe discord server. 

My main fandom at the moment is Star Wars, and all you need to know there is: I am extremely pro-Jedi. If you are Jedi critical or anti Jedi, stay away. I will not hesitate to block. I am here to vibe with my blorbos and have fun writing and connecting with others who share the same interests. I am not here to engage in debates or be told I'm wrong. Don't like? Go right ahead and block me. We'll both be happier that way. 

[lassieposting]

Oof excellent post i have feelings about this

I grew up in the early 2000s, constantly hearing older people bitch and moan about how kids were always on the computer, or plugged in to the mp3 player, or on the phone. And I get it I guess, because most of the kids I grew up with were exactly like that.

I wasn't.

We couldn't afford a computer until I was 8. I didn't get a mobile phone until I was 16. We had VHS tapes and VHS tapes only until long after VHS tapes had been replaced with DVDs and then blu-rays. I didn't have access to all that shit because we were poor, so we had to make our own fun. At the time, I didn't know any different, but looking back, holy shit am I glad about that.

As a little kid, I played with cardboard boxes and cheap-shit plastic toys. I was always out playing make-believe in the woods, drenched up to the shoulders in rivers, covered in mud, stuck up trees. I grew up making mud pies and potions out of every liquid in the house. And I did all that shit because even though I had an overworked, exhausted single mother who couldn't afford any of the must-haves, she wanted me to have the childhood she never got to have herself. So she read to me, and taught me to use my imagination, and let me go out and get filthy or soaked because it would wash out or dry, and encouraged me to Be A Kid.

The other kids at my school didn't have that. They had parents who would be annoyed or angry if they came home dripping with muck. They had parents who bought them the new gadget the instant it came out, but rarely spent any time with them. They had parents who never taught them to make their own fun out of their imagination, a cardboard box and some legos, because their parents' sense of fun had atrophied to nothing years back.

It is 100% on parents that kids are always on technology, and it's only getting worse. Now they're on instagram by 10, trying to look like 25yo influencers. The high school era of "bright orange foundation, clumpy mascara, pale pink lipstick", where all the year nine to year eleven girls just look like horror shows for three years because they don't know how to put makeup on right, has died out - kids now often have flawless contour in high school already. Childhoods like mine are a dying breed and it makes me so sad for the children of the future.

Those of you intending to inflict this shitty-ass world on children for some godforsaken reason, it is so important that y'all revive the lost art of Being A Damn Child. Teach them to go outside. Teach them to climb trees and play in rivers and ride dirtbikes and skateboards. Teach them to read for fun, not just for school. Teach them to use their imaginations, to be horses and superheroes and warrior cats and blorbos and whatever else they want to be.

Fill your child's childhood with magic and wonder, because they'll have an entire miserable unfulfilling adulthood to sit on their asses and doomscroll or compare themselves unfavourably to models on instagram.

They're only ever going to learn how to have fun from you. Society does not prize or encourage authentic enjoyment. Society wants you and your kids addicted, miserable, and enraged, and click click clicking on even more sponsored content to make you even more miserable and enraged in an endless fucking loop. Society will not give your children the childhood they deserve. It's all on you.

You're the ones having them. You're the ones forcing life - an all-too-brief childhood and then sixty years of struggle and graft in the capitalist hellscape we call a society - on them, for your own selfish desires. The least you can do is put down your phone for an hour and take them to make a damn potion.

Anyway this was not meant to get quite this ranty or emotional but here we are. Good post op

im so done with seeing articles about kids and screen time that doesnt mention parent behaviors even once. “kids are always on their phones” so are the parents! which the kids look to for how they should behave! ipad babies didn’t chose to only play on their ipads, thats what their parents gave them!

an anecdotal example: when i was a kid, all my parents would do in their minimal free time was watch tv and then they would be surprised when in my sister and i’s minimal free time we would also only watch tv/play video games. they scolded us for not reading books, but they never read books. they scolded us for not going outside but they never went outside.

“kids are always on their damn phones” my mom is in her 60s and opens up candy crush anytime she’s sitting — it isnt just the kids

[blashdafish]

Hey so I hope I'm not bothering you by doing this but I've been waiting for a person to infodump to about my blorbos so here we are!

There is a kingdom called Ecit at war with another, Antomaa. Ecit is surrounded by the Pasdi Forest, full of creatures and cyptids, few have come back from there alive. There is a war with another kingdom, and Ecit is losing, badly. Their armies were depleting, soldiers falling like ants under their enemies foot. And so the king turned to where no one has survived, where humans dare not go, and said:

This will be my army. This is what will let us live.

But the creatures that lived in the forest hated the king that had hunted them for so long, and the king realized he had to create other soldiers. Ones with their extraordinary powers, but more willing. more obedient. And this king had a daughter.

He started small in his experiments, insects, mostly, slowly working up to bigger animals. Arachnids, birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals- Until all that was left were the ones from the forest.

He sent out the people who had survived in the past, and they brought back the animals in cages and chains. The Loch Ness monster, a wyrm, a wendigo. More came each month, the kings experiments successful, and by the time he had amassed an army-

It was too late. The other kingdom took over, Ecit becoming a name only heard in history books, however they weren't very good explorers, as the basement of Ecit's castle was left untouched and undiscovered for years.

Eventually, the hybrid inhabitants died of starvation, lack of water, old age. Until nothing but their ghosts remained, haunting the castle.

These ghosts had varying degrees of memory, some knowing everything that happened, some none at all. Our main character is Polaris, one of the kidnapped cryptids who is still alive due to his... peculiar eating habits (it eats light). He seeks to discover who the mutilated body in the basement is, along with Ness and Ruin, also both ghosts. Ruin remembers. Ness does not. One person didn't become a ghost. This changes everything.

I have more about Ness and Ruin's backstory and side characters, along with art I made, but this ask is already too long and I don't want to waste moe of your time lol. but yeah i have a problem with making too much worldbuilding.

-🧵

HI I LOVE THIS SO MUCH THANK YOU FOR TELLING ME ABT IT??????

getting a forest of cool mythic creatures and shoving them into hybrids is SOO fun i love thattt, and the mc sounds so interesting!!!

if you ever want to I'd LOVEEE to hear more abt Ness and Ruin's stories and see your art!!!!

[mad-scientist-showdown]

Information masterpost

The Mad Scientist Showdown is an interfandom tournament gathering the most iconic (and underrated) fictional mad scientists! ⚡️

32 competitors; polls last 24 hours.

This goes without saying, but although I understand and encourage getting invested for fun, please do not seriously get mad over this. Rather, get 'mad' in a silly way! Like our scientists.

Reminder! Before sending me an ask around the type “was x character submitted”, check if I haven’t answered your question already by searching the name of the media they come from on my blog! (if it’s a long title, try with the abbreviation too. ex. hlvrai)

Propaganda: Propaganda, fanart etc. is happily accepted. Either send it to me in an ask, or (preferably) make a post and tag me in it so I can see and reblog it :)

Useful tags (most are featured tags):

#mad scientist showdown -> every post regarding the competition in general (kinda gave up this. didn't expect to have so many posts)

#showdown info -> posts i made that give current info about the competition

#not scientist showdown -> posts that aren’t either info or the polls directly (=> mostly asks) (for filtering)

#mad scientist polls -> all polls; except the ones for round 1 because I hadn’t made that tag yet. you can therefore find them using the #round 1 tag

#[round x] -> polls that are part of a certain round x (ex. #round 2, #semi finals)

#showdown art -> art people made for the showdown (thank you <3)

#batshit scientist squad -> every post about the donatello/doofenshmirtz/megamind/bubblegum mad scientist found family

#mad scientist propaganda -> posts (reblogs or asks) that are propaganda for a certain character, by fans of that character

#mad scientist shoutout -> posts that are about — usually relatively niche or underrated — characters (and their media) who were not nominated enough times to get into the tournament

#other competitions -> reblogs of other competitions to promote them

“Why are there 3 PEOPLE against Donnie in the final???"

In this tournament, when there is a tie, both contestants advance to the next round as a duo. Megamind and Princess Bubblegum tied so they went on as a duo, and then they tied again with Doofenshmirtz in the semi-finals. The bracket's image in my pinned post should be a good visualization. This last tie was intentional as a joke about how teaming up would be the only way to defeat Donatello.

“Why are Henry Jekyll and Victor Frankenstein, the ogs, not here?”

After much thought, I decided not to include them, precisely because they are blueprints. It wouldn’t feel right to have them be pitted against characters who are inspired by or even based on them. They just don’t belong in the same category, and that’s not what I had in mind when I started this competition.

“[complaint about the matchups] >:(”

Seeding a bracket is… complicated. Putting the fan favorites against each other will obviously make people unhappy, but putting the fan favorites against obviously less popular characters will make it unfair to the latter. Do you see the problem. I tried to make it fair without thinking about it too much either. Please don’t be mad for real. There are tons of beloved characters, and half of the contestants are going to the shadow realm by the 1st round! I assure you I have nothing against your blorbo in particular.

(every masterpost is available from my pinned post)

[r3xcorvus]

Getting out of the tags cause this is a lot dkdnnd but this is what I can tell you from my experience

Now I have settled partners to rp with so when I want I just go to them and ask, but when I was starting I didn't have thst luxury, I had to wimsy around sldksn. Fortunately for me, getting into rp and meeting people who were willing to do so w you was easier cause we had forums that were created w the sole purpose of rpying. We had a chatbox were we could get to know other ussers and plan things to post on the forum threads, and we could make plans for a story that involved our characters or for their backstories. When we wanted to just do things on the go we would post in one of the threads something like "Rp title [Open]" to let people know anyone was free to answer the post.

And from there, all of it was just improv. After forums died/started to die out, I moved over to Twitter, where the format was not like I was used to so took me a bit to get on my feet. Basically what we did was something like "tweet something - wait for like (this meant the person who liked your tweet was going to tweet an answer)/answer - tweet/answer back" but then the interface changed and now (for me) rpying there is not a possibility anymore (lot of usser drama that Im too old to deal with). For tumblr I don't know how it works, but Im guessing you can find comunities here willing to rp, same thing w bluesky.

For me, rpying comes very naturally, I guess the easier way to say this is that I get "into character" pretty quickly, because I know my characters well and (I guess) my brain is used to analyzing characters and "asigning" them a base personality from where I can work up the rest of it. Sometimes I do have to stop to think about how they would react to certain situations, because I have a type of character I like to rp and I need to make certain distinctions so they aren't exactly like another character I have.

As for the cringe, Im too old to care tbh, if somebody finds me cringe I know that they won't interact, and as long as Im having fun I just go shrug emoji about it. Mind that almost always there will be someone that finds you cringe, for a lot of people the sole act of rpying is cringe, doesn't matter if its OC, self-insert or a character from a series. If you are worried about what other people might think or say about you, you won't have fun.

I am not scared of rpying anything? BUT there are certain things I am not confortable with and thus I wont rp or I will take time to answer too because I am not in the right mindspace. Setting limits is important, if something upsets you rpying about it might actually hurt your mental health. You are in for having a good time, and if somebody tells you you should "get lose" and "just try it" well, shame on them— just take into account that the one responsible of curating your own experience, much like in the rest of the internet, is you, and you might stumble into upseting things, and the best you can do in this cases is block the person, talk to somebody if you need It (even write about it on your blog, without saying who upset you because we aren't here for a witch hunt) and move on, I assure you the positive experiences will be much more than the negative experiences :)

Also, we wary of people who ask you about personal info or ask for photos or videos of yourself, even if you've been rpying w them for some time

Now, for last but most important

Separate the character from yourself

Just like you separate fiction from reality, you have to do this with the characters you rp. Don't take what happens to your blorbo on a personal level, or as an attack on you. I have seen far too many times people getting mad at their partners because one of their partners OC was romantically involved with the OC of another person, as if their partner had cheated on them irl. Of course you are gonna find roleplays that may make you cry, or upset, or happy, because we are human and rpying in the end is an art, and art makes you feel things, but you feeling these things is not the same as being unable to separte yourself from the blorbo or your personal life from the things you rp

That would be all

What is the experience of RP-ing like?

Yupp, a genuine question from me

I've always been interested in what many of you do, that is roleplay ing as your ocs or fictional characters. I've Rp-ed before but that was a looong time ago and I Rp-ed as a dragon in ROBLOX hahah.

I missed it, it was fun. I remember there's a certain feel or headspace you have to tap into to Rp, at least in my experience. I've just been thinking a lot about how I could try it again because I'm just really interested.

How does it feel like? (⁠●⁠_⁠_⁠●⁠)

Do you naturally just start and continue the rp or you have to think hard about your next line?

What about the cringe, the fear of shame or you don't know what that is? /hj (I personally still struggle with embracing cringe, blame reality for that. I'm here on Tumblr rn literally because of that and my unhelpful mind. Mind-setting is a constant effort y'all know?ToT)

Do you have to be scared of anything if you're going to rp? Cuz I am scared of everything ahhahahsh

[lilliths-not-just-httyd-blog]

Hi I have an odd question I’ve recently decided to get back into my old personal Viggo lives comic: “Beyond the Horizon” after seeing/reading other’s rtte art, theories, fics, and head canons on it (tbh your VLAU fic was definitely the kicker that made me want to get back into my comic) but I don’t want to seem like I’m copying or stealing ideas so I was wondering if you had any alternate names for Viggo’s Skrill (also some writing tips would be very helpful since I’m very rusty ;-;)

i mean

this is how i named viggo's skrill to begin with. just a random fucking chapter of a fic i started in early 2022 and abandoned until recently. i justified my choice of name because this bitch from black butler is also called beast and i think she's hot

in VLAU that story viggo referenced liking as a child about the boy with the magic eye was a reference to black butler i shit you not. i don't even like black butler anymore i haven't watched it in years and don't plan on watching it again any time soon.

i find using the Wings of Fire format of names really helps when naming dragons. lets look at the character names in WoF: Clay, Sunny, Starflight, Tsunami, Glory, Moonwatcher, Kinkajou, Deathbringer, Winter, Peril, Quibli and Turtle are some of the significant ones. go for something weather/sky/space themed for a skrill. just like that. combine weirder shit for the viking feel like hookfang or stormfly. but then you've also got like skullcrusher and cloudjumper so it's good. and then just words like barf, belch, toothless and grump so that works. steal the name Thunder from NR out of spite.

you can also search for old norse words that we're aware of and just find one that sounds like a name with a nice meaning if you want to be fancy and preppy.

another way i like to do it is steal species names from the httyd books like i'll just open up my copy of the incomplete book of dragons until i find something nice like... stickyworm? no... vorpent? no... toxic nightshade... NIGHTSHADE that would be a good name for a skrill you can use that if you want. doomfang seems like more of a dagur name than a viggo name but thats still a bangin skrill name.

and uhhh writing tips uhhhhh. i mean i don't got nothing tbh. be as self indulgent as you want. not everything has to live up to the standards of Scholars Mate and Choosing to Forget not everything has to be that good. my VLAU is genuinely just 17+(?) chapters of fluff and angst and vigcup being adorable and its just me projecting a bunch of my stupid little OOC headcanons onto my stupid little adhd blorbos. my other fics were either me being angsty, me listening a little too much to the httyd soundtrack, me just fucking daydreaming about random shit, or me going HAHAHAHAHAHA LETS MAKE VIGGO'S LIFE A LIVING HEL. i find inspiration from the most random shit. i took a bath once and when i hopped in my cold little toes burned like fire in the hot water and then i tried this coconut shampoo and now i have an entire WIP based on that one experience. there's no fancy thought or writing process behind it there's no "first drafts" (probably cuz i edit as i go lmao) there's no immaculate planning every little detail of the fic. it's just little magpie me going "oh shiny oh shiny oh shiny oh shiny" and then making a mosaic out of all the shitty pieces of glass i've found and somehow a couple people find the mosaic pretty so i am proud because i worked hard on it. and lemme tell you, writing self indulgent fanfiction where im not trying to please anyone except myself is so much fun like i've literally written about viggo being the twin's cousin and i literally made viggo a soft poetry boi and its just fun. i know some people aren't into that or aren't interested and thats fine they don t have to read it. write for yourself you don't even have to be good at it just do it who cares. thats the best advice i can give. just do whatever the fuck you fucking want

[mathcat7]

Morgana’s 2022 Year in Review

So, another year comes to a close. Lots of interesting developments, as always, and I like looking back and seeing what's changed and what I've succeeded with, and what I want to do over the next year.

The Successes

So for starters, I think the biggest boon has been me getting to spend shy of a month with my girlfriend over the course of the year. I love her so much, and I'm so glad we got to spend so much time together, and that we reached our first anniversary together.

Secondly, I closed the year off getting promoted to a full time position, a big step towards achieving self-sufficiency down the line. This was a big goal of mine for this year, and I'm very glad I was both able to achieve it, and that I've been able to use that for pushing forwards other things I enjoy.

The Surprises

This summer kicked off an FGC arc for me, where I used P4U2's rollback announcement and implementation to finally learn how to play fighting games. I didn't become impressive, by any means, but I had a lot of fun, and I was honestly satisfied with how quickly I was able to catch on. As a bonus, this also resurged my interest in making and editing videos, which eventually culminated in my clip compilation, A Very S'okay Persona.

Unfortunately, this was cut short by my going full-time, but I still cherish what I learned and how it's shaped my creative process going forward.

I commissioned quite a bunch of art pieces this year. Most of them were Fire Emblem fanart, especially for beloved best girl Mozu, but I also some original pieces for my recently designed online persona. Writing design docs for sending to commission artists was a nice process for clearing the rust from some of my writing skills, especially where descriptions are concerned.

My transition is still going smoothly. Medicine-wise I switched to needle monotherapy earlier this year and it's been generally better for me, at least from my perspective. (A lot less awkward planning to take pills around mealtime, a lot less in the way of unwanted side effects.) I got really into my voice training, to the point where I was consistently passing over phone calls!

I’ve been bouncing around a few of the modding sub-communities and ended up becoming a server blorbo. Okay I jest, but in all seriousness I’m glad I’ve been able to make some new friends online without it being predicated upon someone else’s preexisting dynamics. I’m glad to not be a friend of a friend this time! (Now if only that could extend to irl)

Of course, it's not all sunny. I've still been struggling with the transition not being properly acknowledged by the family, with those feelings being further exacerbated by attempts of doing an official coming out seemingly falling on deaf ears. I still have hangups about this iust becoming my cross to bear, but it's clear that there isn't much else I can do/say at this point. It sucks, but it's whatever, and at least now I can put my energy elsewhere.

The Plans

As for my goals for 2023, I'm still sticking to not making full on resolutions and instead keeping on general directions I want to work towards, as such:

- I wanna continue making videos. Maybe not FGC related, but I do wanna pivot my focus back to FE. I like Excelblem's format of video style, but I'm not someone with challenge run smarts. I think I'd rather do summations that would appeal more to casual players, and talk about the little parts of the games that I love. I'm hoping that Engage's release in 3 weeks is a good catalyst for this idea, although I'll have an uphill battle with my job.

- I want to devote more time to writing Royals of the Tempest. My writer's block has finally broken again, and I want to use the time I'm not actively working (or making videos) towards trying to get as much done with RotT as possible. There's a lot to get done, so I'm unsure if a manuscript would be ready in one year, but I'm hopeful about having most of it done down the line.

- I don't think moving out is something that'll happen soon, especially since I'm waiting on my girlfriend to finish up college, so my hope is to keep building up my nest egg so when that time comes, we can be prepared. I know I'm not in the best living space mentally speaking, but I think I can bide my time until then.

- Of course, I will make an exception towards commissions. I love commissioning art, and I do want to keep that up. I'm hoping to get to do some bigger ideas this time around, especially now that I have better integrated myself with some artist schedules.

- And lastly, I want to be bolder about myself. I've joked with some of my friends about the start of the slut arc, and while I'm not so inclined to cross the en-ess-eff-double-u line just yet, I am feeling more and more confident that I could try doing saucier stuff, or at the very least stop tip-toeing around stuff I've been holding back on. What that looks like remains to be seen, but I will let my friends now when and if that happens.

So, that’s all I had to ponder on. Hope you all have a wonderful 2023 and I hope to see you all again.

(Enjoy this pic of me trying to clear out the twists in my hair lmaoooooo)

[asimpleram]

Hello!! Hi!!! Just gonna uh. Pop in and ask if you’ve got any dgs thoughts. Maybe susato in particular because my brain is incapable of not thinking about how capcom did her a wee bit dirty etc etc but that’s most likely me being snippy 💀

Hopefully this doesn’t seem weird out of the blue and all but I’d love to hear your thoughts!!!

OK I HAVE THOUGHTS ON BOTH HOLD ON. BUT ITS GONNA BE TOO LONG TO TALK ABOUT BOTH SO I JUST GOT RID OF MY GENERAL DGS THOUGHTS

���

Now you asked for my thoughts on Susato:

Susato is probably one of my favorite characters in the whole game. She’s so unique to most assistants (most games try to have the quirky upbeat assistant which often gets the “Maya clone” label, and even if I think that’s dumb and not the characters fault but the writing team and Capcoms fault for its mysoginistic writing choices, and also ‘Maya clone” is a dumb thing cause they are different), but she’s far more mature (we will get into that one..) but still has her various quirks, her very fun moments and she’s really fucking cool.

She’s great! She has so many cool little hobbies, such as martial arts and how she loves the Sherlock Holmes stories and is a little fan girl, how she genuinely has a big interest in law, and is really smart and just such a pleasant character with all her fun details. How she dresses up as a boy to save a friend and how loyal she is. How she has done stuff like tamper with a crime scene and evidence despite being so well versed in law. Augh. Her interactions with others are so fun; she should throw more ppl it’s funny.

Okay now that I’ve gushed about her. I feel like she is done dirty in the game. In terms of things that she goes through vs how much time she gets to spend on it vs other characters? Like her father left for england when she was born and had to shuffle back into her life 6 years later, her brother died and her literal idol FAKED HIS DEATH?? And she grieved him and he wasn’t dead her blorbo from the books just lost his still alive injured body in Hong Kong. Her father fakes an illness making her spend a month an a half on a boat for him not to be sick. That same brother was gonna take her to England on his assassination mission. What was she gonna do when he killed a man?? Idk!! She goes through it!!

And yet. And yet it’s like. Ah yes Susato our forgiving queen who doesn’t have any harsh angry feeling to anyone. Wow! So kind! Like I feel like she deserves to be angrier and meaner cause she gets a lot of things done to her that the male characters get to have moments about? Fucking absent parents is an ace attorney staple and it’s just kinda like. Well let’s brush it off now and let her kinda hang out while we talk to someone else! And I think there’s just some issues with the writing in general I did see a post that I will never find again. That made a good point how some of the later reveals would have been better if it were not Ryunouske who was the one to be confronting ppl or finding/revealing certain bits of info but do to Main Characterisms. And it might have hit harder if it were Susato or even Asogi due to familial ties in the story. I wish I could find the post they lay it out better

And I’m not gonna pretend this is Just a Susato problem cause alot of female characters tend to get the short end of the stick in ace attorney games. Think of the trilogy! Maya and Edgeworth go through very similar traumas and yet the writing let’s Edgeworth go through it while Maya doesn’t get the same treatment. She’s the assistant she doesn’t have time to grieve her absent now dead mom. She’s making quips and eating burgerramen!! Same happens with Susato.

But overall I Love Susato. I have a few post canon AUs where she finally gets to have her issues be front and center. They aren’t fleshed out they are just a few drawings ideas I have that work and my dumb wrist issues have been preventing. I complain a lot but I do love her DEARLY… best assistant. Best Dgs character. Underrated by everyone

And if you have other thoughts please tell me id love to hear them. These are just my thoughts but if you have some thoughts I didn’t notice. Please go ahead!! Thank you for asking :D