#i haven't posted a fic since my days on deviantart

[minty-mumbles]

Linked Universe Survey 2023

The long awaited results of the survey. Sorry it took me forever, making graphs is hard.

There were 452 responses to the survey as a whole, which is almost double what we got last year, so thank you to everyone who participated!

If you want to see the raw data, you can find that here. I had thoughts about the data, but compiling that into another post would be too much of a hassle. Feel free to send me asks about it though!

The rest of the post will be under a read more as it it large

Demographics

Other: Demigirl (4), Transmasc (3), Grey genderfluid, Unlabeled, Demiboy, Demiagender

Other: Omnisexual (4), Poly (2), Trixic, Abroromantic or Bellusromantic, Demisexual

General Questions

Other: Quotev, Discord, their own google docs

Other: Discord, Variations of "I haven't posted yet, but I pan to" and "I haven't posted my fics in ages",

Other: Wattpad, Deviantart, Discord

Other: Crochet dolls, Custom dolls, Roleplay blogs (2), Fan translations, Headcanons (2), Piano music

The purple section in the “Warriors vs Warrior” chart is supposed to read “Warrior.” I made a typo.

Favorites and Least Favorites

Selected Free Response Answers

im sorry warriors i just can't play your game (it is very very hard. i am stuck very early on in the game)

I love cats meow meow meow

was extremely tempted to put twilight for least favorite. unfortunately he is my favorite to write from the perspective of (he has taken over most of my wips. help) and that probably counts for something. WILD on the other hand. hooo boy how the hell do i characterize this gargoyle. why is he Like That. least favorite it is

Twiddy

very good fandom to be in :) everybody is very nice

It's a straight up crime that Wars lost the aesthetics poll so quickly. He has such a peak Link design with the best colors. Ugh I'm getting wistful.

FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. ALSO HAPPY PRIDE MONTH. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS.

I will fight Hylia herself and the next person who implies Twi can't handle spice. If we're going to lean into him being southern/Midwestern, which is an alright stero type for our rancher, please keep in mind the culture you're basing him off. The south and midwest can handle their spice, I assure you. Have you ever had authentic Louisiana gumbo? It will melt you tongue off. Or some good old fashion spicy fried chicken? I promise the real stuff has quite a kick. (In all seriousness, though. It's more important that you're having fun. And even I can admit the idea of Twi being an Ordonian who can't handle his spice is more than a little funny.)

I am an OoT Link edgelord and have been since early 2017. So, in September of that year, when an artist by the name of jojo56830 puts out a lineup of nine different Links and the Hero of Time is there – the oldest, no eye, Hero’s Shade armor? I saw that one sketch and just thought “oh this is gonna be bad.” Yeah of course he has the coolest design. By the way, it’s only a matter of time until Fierce Deity shows up in the comic and I have reason to believe it could be this current Dawn arc. Dawn … Dawn of a New Day … and who brought about the Dawn of a New Day? Fierce Deity. Twilight is recovering but still injured and what will happen if he falls again? Fierce Deity is coming and we need to be prepared. In this essay I will—

Remember that time when someone put the whole script of the bee movie in here? I’m not that dedicated, and I don’t have that time, but let us remember and hope someone else does it again this time. Cause someone is bound too. We’re all crazy enough to do it. Alright, love you and stay hydrated pls!

Hi! I joined this fandom really recent but i’ve always seen LU stuff on pinterest and elsewhere. Only recently have i actually took the time to understand the fandom and get back into LOZ stuff and i adore the characters and story! The more and more fanart, fanfics, and comics i see about the different Links the more i love them all. It’s such a pain to pick just one i like or one i don’t like because they’re all so unique. I love this fandom and hope to get more involved!! Have a wonderful rest of your day :]

Epona is an underrated queen

your mom

I really don't get why Zelda is called Artemis. Athena makes more sense???? It perplexes me

Anyone seeing this should check out Breanna’s E!Wild AU

Something something queer every Link into oblivion!

[queenofbaws]

as someone who is SO GOOD at forgetting i was tagged in stuff immediately after being tagged in stuff, i thought i'd go ahead and fill this puppy out while it was fresh in my mind ;)c hehehe thanks for the tag @phenanthreneblue!!!!!!!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

156 😎 and hopefully no sign of slowing, lol. i've been writing and posting fic since aboooooout 2007 though, so. do with that as you will.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

it's. um. it's. uh. a lot. ahem. it's a lot.

(1,923,174)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

currrrrrrrrently the supermassive universe and dragon age, but i'm slowly adding the remedyverse in there, and silent hill pops up from time to time!!! and in ye olden days, i wrote a LOT for kingdom hearts. i've been CONSIDERING adding horizon to the list too, but...only time will tell, hehehe ;P

4. Top five fics by kudos

the (almost)s; who ya gonna call? not these creeps.; my fav part of summer camp [not clickbait!]; lipstick stains & coffee cups; yes, no, maybe so: circle one and let me know!

5. Do you respond to comments?

i do! i figure if you took the time to read AND let me know how you felt about my work, then by golly, i'm gonna tell you how much YOU made me smile :)c i've met some pretty cool people thanks to the comment section, hehe

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

aw man, probably alone time, right? probably alone time. i'm sure there was some extremely angsty stuff in my kingdom hearts days, but lord help me i am old and i have forgotten a lot of that

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

well, the durellion affair ends with everyone getting to eat as much cheese as they want, so i think that fits the bill!!! 🧀

8. Do you get hate on fics?

nah. i've been crazy lucky that, aside from the occasional (and likely unintentional) insensitive comment, people have always been super kind with my stuff <3 the deviantart days were a slightly different story, but why relive THAT time period, i ask you?????

9. Do you write smut?

nope. i'm not, like, opposed, i just don't think it would be good, and i've yet to write something where i felt it would add anything, so. nah. there are so many other things i can do to earn that m rating ;)

10. Craziest crossover?

for sure did an organization xiii/sweeney todd crossover once, in the long-long ago asldkjflsakdjf recently, though, i guess i'd have to say reading & other fun rituals was a VERY self-indulgent way for me to smash the remedyverse and supermassive universes together!!!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

eh, every time one of those "this site is scraping people's fics!" posts goes around, i end up finding my stuff, but in terms of bumping into an individual nabbing something i've written? not that i'm aware of! (i like to believe anyone reading would recognize the overabundance of adjectives and come tell me, ha!!!)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

i've had people ask, but i've never seen a finished product, so probably not! i tend to write pretty long stuff, though, and i wouldn't wish that kind of work on anyone alsdkjflaskdjfksljfd

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i have! none that are posted currently, but i've for sure co-written in the past. i'm also slowly but surely co-writing a fun little thing over here with my buds where our (totally cool and DEFINITELY not overpowered) self-inserts have fun being npcs in the federal bureau of control, so...keep your eyes peeled for that, heheheheh

14. All time favourite ship?

right now? varric tethras and f!hawke 🥺 at this point in time, i only have eyes for them

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

sigh. soft reset 😔 it's a big ol' silent hill 2 timeloop fic that i started back in 2015 i think, and as much as i WANT to finish it...i haven't felt the silent hill muse strike in a hot minute. maybe once the remake comes out.

16. What are your writing strengths?

oh, i like to flatter myself that i'm pretty solid when it comes to character voices/interactions 😉 it's why i do so many character studies, honestly - i just *clenches fist* love studying characters!!! i also think my dialogue's fun

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

how much time do you HAVE??? hehehe i feel like i flounder when it comes to straight up-and-down fluffy/shippy stuff, like if the focus of a story is, for example, some sort of romantic gesture, i'm fairly lost. i'm also HORRENDOUS when it comes to keeping things concise, and god help me, every time i have to delete a passage and kill my darlings, i am miserable, so i tend to just...not do that

also? just putting it out there because i do consider it a weakness in regards to writing: sometimes my self-esteem with posting stuff is just. MISERABLE. so i have a tendency to get anxious before, during, and after hitting the post button, just really wallowing in those good, good I'M A FRAUD feelings, lmfao. i'm working on it, though!!! i love writing so much, sometimes the irrational part of my brain just worries i'm not Doing It Right, hahahaha

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

no one's done it better than the thing (1982) and no one ever will

19. First fandom you wrote in?

proooooobably kingdom hearts??? don't quote me on that, though, it very much could've been x-men: evolution asdlkfjsalkjf (those just never saw the light of day)

20. Favorite fic you've written?

c'moooooon. the (almost)s :)

i'm gonna go ahead and tag...hmm... @love-fireflysong @jadedsunshine @unicornaffair @big-ass-magnet @mrs-theirin @theartofdreaming1 @icequeen-07 @chris-hartley and anyone - yes, i mean ANYONE - who wants to talk about their stuff ;) especially YOU!!!

[breadtheft1796]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

thank you for the tag @palettesofrenaissance <3

1. How many works do you have on ao3? 91 (with 8 of those posted anonymously and 26 current hidden).

2. What's your total ao3 word count? 316,689

3. What fandoms do you write for? i currently write for marvel and good omens. previously i have written for doctor who, hannibal, harry potter, hetalia, interview with the vampire, les misérables, and the walking dead (occasionally i dip back into writing those). and some other one-off fics for other fandoms.

4. Top five fics by kudos: quips and endearments (t, 1.6k) aragorn and legolas flirt to keep morale up acts of service (t, 4k) aziraphale falls nothing but theatre (e, ongoing) bucky/zemo fake dating and time travel au behind the make-up (t, 1k) the grandmaster exposes loki's mouth scars hannibal, it's tinsel (g, <1k) hannibal/will fluffy hissy fits over xmas decs

5. Do you respond to comments? i like to and try to but i've got behind on it lately. i need to catch up.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? angst is my thing so most of my fics end angstily. maybe either: uncovered secrets (e, 5k) bucky recognises heinrich in one of zemo's family photos lithium (e, 3k) zemo's first look at the latvian apartment since his family's death

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? definitely this, it's very hopeful for the future: falling leaves and apple pulp (g, <1k) bucky and sarah go apple picking

8. Do you get hate on fics? i used to but not so much anymore. i've had a couple of hate anons on here related to fics though.

9. Do you write smut? yes, occasionally but i'm not very good at it.

10. Craziest crossover: i haven't really done many crossovers but i mix adaptions a lot.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? i had a couple stolen off deviantart and ff.net back in the day but nothing off ao3 that i'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? no but i had one of my anonymously posted fics podfic'd, so that was nice.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? i'd say so, yes, because even though it wasn't a back and forth thing some of the babes from the winterbaron discord have plotted and contributed so heavily to fics that i refuse to take full credit. also me and @palettesofrenaissance are going to be co-writing something soon so that's exciting!

14. All time favorite ship? usually i would usually say peggy/steve from mcu because i've loved them fiercely since 2011. but i'm going to say england/spain from hetalia because i'm feeling nostalgic at the moment and i always fall back into writing fic for them when i'm feeling particularly stressed or down.

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? i don't often write multi-chapter fics so only have one wip currently up. it would be good to get that finished, since i'm only 1 chapter away from an epilogue.

16. What are your writing strengths? angst. character studies and introspection. oneshots. i've been told i'm good at setting the tone and atmosphere, and i keep getting comments saying i'm good at conveying emotion, which makes me insanely happy.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? worldbuilding in general. multi-chapter fics. spelling and grammar. knowing how to end fics. smut. i'm also very quick to get discouraged and abandon fics all together.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language? i love it. other languages are often so beautiful and i like looking up commonly used phrases and contexts for how they are used. i've used other languages in most of my mcu fics.

19. First fandom you wrote in? i have hazy memories of this but i think it was twilight, where instead of going to italy to save edward, she and alice got together instead. i stand by 15 year old me's taste in ship. the first fic i posted online was for hetalia though, the twilight one stayed in a notepad.

20. Favorite fic you've written? i couldn't just pick one so: the last of fine days (m, 15k) zemo's old family home plays tricks on their minds -> my first attempt at gothic domestic/horror and i'm proud of it. migraine aura (m, 5k) aziraphale and crowley are exes stuck together at a party -> i wanted to write the most claustrophobic, overstimulating environment i could and i think i succeeded.

no pressure tagging, in case any of you felt like it: @zsparz, @milarca, @zemos-bathrobe, @fuddlewuddle, @yolkinthejump, @captainjimothycarter

[busyasabbey]

I have many questions!

1) how/where did you guys meet online?

2) how did you approach letting her know you liked her? How did she react?

3) what tips do you have for anyone who has a crush online and wanting to express it but unsure of how to go about it? Tips?

Hello! Some great questions and feel free to inbox if you have any more 😊

She lives in America, I in New Zealand. She was looking up Fireman Sam fan art, specifically Sam x Elvis and came across one of my very first Sam X Elvis art I posted a while back on my deviantart. She was the first to message me on there on (for me) was 9th October 2023.

We mostly message on Instagram, but we occasionally message on Facebook and are friends on there. We also share things on Google docs like fics and art and videos that are too long for Instagram.

When I actually sort of told her I liked/loved her was the day of my daughter's 8th birthday party which was Sunday 3rd December. I had made fan art of us and posted it on deviantart a few days before telling her and was freaking out thinking she had seen it, though she hadn't.

We had told each other we would take each other on dates and I told her I wasn't joking about that and that one of my ficlets were about she and I and that I was praying with everything I had that she felt the same. We're basically the female versions of Sam x Elvis. Turns out we were hiding behind the characters, using our fics to tell the other how we felt, but not wanting to read too deeply into things in case it was just us writing about our ship and not using it as a disguse.

My ficlet was based on her calling me beautiful and me wondering if she meant that as a friend or something more.

Let me tell you, I was a sobbing mess that weekend and even after I told her, I bawled my eyes out.

Turns out she had been gushing about me to one of her friends who I've since messaged.

While I'm out to my family and friends and therapy people, unfortunately people in her life aren't so accepting and was the reason for her longest, most serious relationship which was also long distance.

I think it's best to be upfront about your feelings. You never know, they might feel the same way. I was just so scared of losing her, even though I knew she's pan and more into girls than guys. She's not someone I could happily live without so I'm extremely grateful she felt the same!

Telling a friend you love them is scary because of what it could ruin, but it's also kind of scary when you haven't had the best run in relationships and a healthy relationship doesn't seem like it would really happen.

Things tend to be "I wish you had told me sooner" in my case, though I was worried it'd be too soon to tell Emily I love her, but I mean, life is too short to waste your time wondering "what if?"

Feel free to ask anything else if you have any other questions 😊

[valarioncy]

Yes. Look, I used to be a frequent and heavy user of DeviantArt back in the day (uh oh, old person alert), when I was in junior high and high school. I'd probably still be using it if people had actually continued to engage with me on that platform. But they didn't. They stopped. People left the site and I lost that community. Spent years lingering around screaming into the void. Haven't found that sense of community since.

Early fandom to me was like this:

You posted your works because you wanted to share them with a community. People, often likeminded people of a similar skillset or mindset, would engage with your works. Just as often you would engage with them and their works too, and spur each other on in whatever art pursuits you and your mini-community were on.

I had a friend who didn't draw, he was only interested in perfecting his coloring skills. More power to him. I hope he got a job coloring comics.

I had a friend who drew art behind his parents' back because they believed it was a waste of time and would punish him if they found his drawings. This guy loved art enough to keep drawing despite the risks. More power to him. I hope he got out of that situation and is thriving.

There was one person who hated their art so much every time they'd post it, and I was just sort of like "dude what are you talking about your art is peak". I still think their art was peak.

(ART TRADES!!! Oh my gosh art trades. You know what people on DA would do if they were both moneyless but liked each other's art and characters? They would draw each other's characters for a mutually agreed upon Art Trade! Community!!! Friendship!!!)

I met people who became my closest friends, and if we were all still using DeviantArt we'd probably still be in regular contact.

In another fandom I frequented a chatroom (pre-Discord era, it was on a site called Chatzy) with a group of other writers within the same fandom. We'd just talk casually about our day to day lives, the fics we were working on, and it was SO down to earth. No discourse, just vibing. To think it happened 10 years ago. To think that fandom 10 years ago was so different. Gosh, some of you were actual little kids 10 years ago. ;0;

(Obligatory "Cyrokin feels old" mention)

Anyway it feels like in modern fandom there's this extra barrier between people who make the stuff and people who enjoy the stuff. I don't like that barrier, I think it sucks. Fandom, and internet community at large, is about social relationships, not parasocial ones. Drop the pretenses and let people be people, view all experiences as worth listening to and learning from, it's a good way to live.

Anyway thanks for letting me be a nostalgic old coot on main. :>

Passionate reminder to The Hollow Fandom, and honestly to any fandom on this website that’s currently struggling to stay alive, that fandom is a community of various creators and non-creators supporting each others’ interest in the same show. It is not a secondary source of consumer content.

“Our fandom is dying!” Have you recently reblogged a post where you shared your thoughts in the text or in the tags? Have you posted anything about the show yourself? Have you actually engaged with the fanbase? A fandom isn’t dead when there’s only a couple people in it, a fandom is dead when no one is talking to each other or supporting each other.

“I don’t need/want to reblog!” Tumblr does not have that kind of algorithm. If you don’t reblog a post, it doesn’t get spread out there. Yes, you need to reblog if you want a thriving fandom. Don’t call yourself a part of a fandom if you’re not even willing to reblog content that the members of that fandom create.

Stop expecting “top dog fandom creators” to constantly feed you the content you want without any sort of encouragement from you. They are not showrunners making a huge profit off their work. They are not gods. A lot of them have lives of their own and/or are struggling with their own issues, and usually they’re very approachable. If you like what a fandom creator is doing, pay them back with reblogs and engagement. Posting in a fandom where its members refuse to interact with its community in a meaningful way isn’t fun, so everyone needs to step up here and start supporting each other.

Talk to your fellow fandom friends. Ask them about their interests regarding the show you all like and what headcanons and AUs you all have of them. Create content for each other. Can we please bring back old fandom culture, folks? Does anyone here remember the old days of fandom where we were passionate and we made connections with each other? What happened to that?

Remember: the word “fandom” is a combination of “fan” and “kingdom”. This is a fan kingdom, not a fan restaurant.

Fandom isn’t just about content. It’s about connection. You are allowed to reblog a post and compliment someone and start a conversation with them. That is actually what you SHOULD be doing!

[goodoldaisies]

I caved and made an Inside Job-sona pt. 2: The Fic

It was after that fateful day that Pax learned what “the news” truly were. Sure, you go to college and study Journalism, you learn about how journalists must “strive to be unbiased” and “focus on the facts.” However, it’s all a distraction. Every news cycle, engineered in one department in one company for the world to see. Memes, social media, dating apps, scandals, all of it was developed here. For the sole purpose of keeping people distracted from the New World Order. Of. Course.

I wrote a fic for Pax!! If you haven't seen my Jobsona, you can find a little bit more about her here, but under the cut-off you'll find out the story behind her hiring. How did she attract the attention of one of the most powerful companies in the world? Hmmmm click and find out, lovelies hehe

Please feel free to use my OC in your own works (just make sure to tag me so I can see it!) or to message me about my own fic! I do plan on posting another part of the fic and more info on her as well as some headcanons since I did write more, but for now, this is what we have!

Also, thank you @ummmmandy for the picrew, as always!

[Redacted][Redacted] (codename Pax) was a journalist for a number of years before realizing there was something bigger at play. Or at least that was her hypothesis. She wasn’t able to put her finger on it, but it seemed like no matter where she went or who she worked for, the agenda was the same. She would try to talk to her coworkers, friends, even her family back home about it, but to no avail. No one went along with her. They told her to “relax”, that it “wasn’t that big of a deal”. It was during one of those conversations when Pax decided enough was enough. She stopped bringing it up to the people around her. She was sure there was a bigger conspiracy at play and didn’t want to have too many people pointing fingers at her.

While working at CCN, she kept her head down and worked on the stories they told her to work on, but after getting home is when she actually started the “real” work she wanted to do. There was some sort of connection between every major news network. There had to be. She’d spend nights chugging coffee (energy drinks are too strong for her) to try to keep herself awake through her research. Dead end after dead end, she kept digging - using that useless degree for something, finally.

That’s when she was sent something by one of the moderators of a conspiracy message board: Years and years ago, CCN and NCB had cut a deal with an advertiser she’d never heard of before: Cognito, Inc. They had to have the answers. This Cognito, Inc. had to have something to do with this. Upon further research, Pax realized that Cognito, Inc. had not only cut deals with networks like CCN and NCB but also their competitors. Nearly every news outlet had a similar deal with them. Pax was able to dig through archives of files at the CCN office, searching for any record of Cognito. Even going so far as to dig through classified files - which she promptly got fired for.

They’re just looking for an excuse to interrupt my research. They don’t want me to know. They’re hiding something, I just need to figure out what that is... And then what?

With no distractions like a “proper job”, Pax now knew something was wrong. She’d noticed the dog-washing van that had parked across the street yesterday still hadn’t left. Something had to be wrong, or else all of this had been for nothing. She continued digging, trying to find any sort of advert for Cognito, Inc. in any network’s past but there was nothing anywhere. She felt crazy, she was sure this company had something to do with the common political agenda between networks. Days went by, and Pax had scoured everything she could to find information on Cognito, Inc.

That’s when she heard a harsh knock at her front door. Paranoid, Pax took a baseball bat her former roommate had left behind and went to the rickety front door of her apartment. When looking through the peeping hole, she saw no one and opened the door slowly. As she was about to step out she felt her foot hit a box on the floor. She frowned and picked it up, eyeing it suspiciously and wondering what it was. That’s when the lid popped open, revealing a straw of sorts that pumped some sort of odorless air into her face. She saw double, and it wasn’t long before she stumbled back, passing out.

She woke up however much time later with the roar of a helicopter ringing in her ears. Pax couldn’t see anything, the distinct smell of fabric and the heat on her face clued her in that she had a bag over her head. Soon enough, she was being escorted through clean hallways (from what she could see of the floor), hearing strange sounds all around her, pop music, news riffs and all. The man holding her arm abruptly stopped, guiding her slightly and pushing her down into a chair, before pulling the bag off her head. Pax looked around in awe at the golden-plated desk and at the shoulder-padded woman sitting across from her.

“Well aren’t you the most annoying little meddler I’ve ever seen?” The woman said nonchalantly with a smirk.

“Excuse me?” Pax replied, frowning, but too distracted by the grandiosity of this woman’s office to be offended. It even led out to a news room? Did she get kidnapped by some sort of news outlet? The nameplate on the desk read Gigi Thompson.

“The name’s Gigi, it’s very nice to finally put a face to the username we’ve been seeing popping up over and over again,” Gigi continued, sounding slightly annoyed at the ordeal it was to find out just who Pax was. She stood up, circling around the desk to rest against the edge of it in front of Pax and looking at her curiously. “Why don’t you use any profile pictures? You don’t even have an Instagram account?”

“I uh... Don’t like… People… Knowing about me? I’m sorry, where are we?” Pax asked, looking up at Gigi.

“Oh where are my manners?” Gigi giggled before walking over to a wall of screens and pressing a button, making them all form the Cognito, Inc. logo. Pax’s blood ran cold.

“C-Cognito, Inc? W-what’s that?” Pax chuckled, a miserable attempt at trying to not sound like she was about to shit her pants.

“Oh save it, honey. You know who we are.” Gigi said, crossing her arms and looking at Pax incredulously. “And we were this close to having you killed.” She continued, lifting an eyebrow menacingly before her demeanor changed as she threw her hands up in a half shrug to accompany a mischievous smile that graced her face. “But I thought that instead of wasting all this potential, I could instead use it and offer you a job here - and before you refuse, I know you’re unemployed.”

Pax stared at her blankly, questions racing through her mind. She’s offering me a job? Why? If they wanted me dead, I’d be dead already for sure. What made her choose me? But all that came out of her mouth was: “Why did you have to kidnap me to offer me a goddamn job?”

Gigi lifted an eyebrow staring at her as if to ask if Pax was really that stupid. Of course, she would’ve never replied to a formal job interview; Pax would’ve been too afraid they would try to kill her for “knowing too much.”

Pax was a little resistant to this, still suspicious about Gigi's intentions. But after talking over the contract, the benefits, the pay, etc., it seemed like Cognito wasn't necessarily an evil force, they just were what they were. And now she was being offered to work here. It was tempting to say no, running home and telling the world she was correct. But who'd listen? Pax signed the contract.

It was after this day that Pax learned what “the news” truly were. Sure, you go to college and study Journalism, you learn about how journalists must strive to “be unbiased” and “focus on the facts.” However, it’s all a distraction. Every news cycle, engineered in one department in one company for the world to see. Memes, social media, dating apps, scandals, all of it was developed here. For the sole purpose of keeping people distracted from the New World Order. Of. Course.

[itsevanffs]

i enjoy ao3 far more than other platforms. it's far more thorough and fanfic friendly than most other platforms i've visited. because of its complex interface and highly detailed search system and all the volunteers working on making it an amazing place, i can be assured that what i type in will return what i want, and that different versions of tags, capitalised or not, all lead back to the same place. i enjoy it because the sheer effort it takes to learn ao3's layout means that there is a base line of quality and dedication in the work and its classification that other platforms generally don't have.

but i'd never deny that it took me several months to muster up the courage to create an account. that i was daunted by the two week waiting period between applying for an invite and receiving one. that i was confused by the small, complicated layout of ao3 and its odd names for things which, in retrospect, make total sense.

i will not deny that i created my account in 2016, forgot about it a few weeks later, and did not use it until the end of 2018 when i was forced to turn to ao3 once more because of a lack of fics in my fandom anywhere else. i will not deny that i couldn't figure out how to add chapters onto a fic, and that my first fanfic was a series filled with chapters posted as separate works that has since been deleted.

least of all will i deny that wattpad introduced me to fanfic as i know it today, and that i still go back and find gems there that can be found nowhere else; that deviantart, horrible as its algorithm is, has always been, got that very first fanfic of mine 8, perhaps 9k views over these years. which is a lot! most of my works these days still haven't reached that tally!

i dislike what wattpad turned into. deviantart has become horribly confusing with its modernisation and i'm not even that old - but i'd never deny that that's where i started. ao3 is impossible to find by itself, i believe - deviantart drew me to google plus, which drew me to wattpad, which drew me to ao3 - and we mustn't forget that without other platforms, a few (or a lot!) of us wouldn't be on ao3 in the first place.

sure, joke all you want about shitty wattpad fics made by 12 year old girls - but one of those "girls" used to be me, and i refuse to hide that.

Hot take: maybe if we stopped shaming people for reading fic on FFN and Wattpad, they'd continue reading on sites that they're comfortable with and know the culture of and can find the fics they want to read.

Scorching take: I love AO3, but the interface is not as easy as you think it is for a newcomer who is very used to the sites they're already using.

In summary: let people read the fic they want to read on the sites where they want to read it, and if they decide for themselves that AO3 seems like a site they want to learn how to use, point them to resources that will help them learn how to use it.

For example: if you're new to AO3, you might find it really useful to tap on the word About in the red bar at the top of the page and then choose FAQ from the dropdown. And if you're new to posting on AO3, tap on any blue question mark bubbles you see and they'll tell you what a thing means and what you should do with it.

[thatfilthyanimal]

I don't know if I should be contributing to this post because I really don't want to make it worse, and I'm half-asleep and salty, but as someone who's been a Megamind fandom contributor since the beginning (THE VEEERY BEGINNING /narrating monologue voice) I think that OP mentioning "those Megamind fandom people" seems to misunderstand that there are:

1) A good handful of people considering themselves "active" fandom members that chat together and post art and fic to this day and love to talk about the movie a lot with each other (ollo~! we have a discord!! It's actually active and everything, woah, amazing what a few months does, because the first time that post made rounds we really thought there weren't many of us around!)

and alternatively,

2) Thousands upon thousands of people using Megamind to shitpost like people used to do with Shrek (but probably actually do like the movie, like people do with Shrek, again)

There are a LOT of people who saw and loved the movie, but aren't interested in being in the fandom. At best, they maybe they looked at DeviantArt once or read a couple of fanfics on AO3, but they aren't interested beyond that. That's... really fucking normal. In any fanbase.

The truth is a LOT of people love this movie and have no interest in it beyond watching it casually and shitposting about it. And that's ok! We're in a global pandemic and we need to find laughs somewhere. But also, a lot of times they're right-- the subject matter of these posts really did happen in Megamind, and people are mad it got overlooked.

As someone who remembers the excuses Dreamworks Animation spat out in 2011 to a crushed and... oddly active Megamind fanbase that had their sequel pulled out from under them, and was denied a franchise and content for it moving forward because the movie "didn't do well" and "nobody liked it"-- fuck, let people fucking shitpost. I'm SO GLAD it's getting attention, now. Finally. Let people make the joke and be salty that there's still people out there that haven't seen a damn good movie that deserved to be noticed more than it was. They're right to point it out. It's a good movie. Tell people it's the content they want to see. Fuck it. Life is short, watch a good fucking movie and smile, life's way too short to attack a loving fanbase that's trying to enjoy scraps of fandom while continuing to love a movie Dreamworks stopped caring about way too soon.

"But Filthy!" I hear you start, "Filthy! The movie really didn't do well!" ah yes, because going up directly against Tangled: Disney's 50th movie, and a Harry Potter movie was a GREAT FUCKING MOVE, yes, we have also established in the last ten years that Katzenberg has made some REALLY AWFUL CHOICES for the company, and this was one of them. He expected Megamind to replace the Shrek franchise (deadass, look it up), which was wrapping up at the time. And he threw it up against two major competitors with the shittiest advertising ever (thanks for nothing, Paramount), and still had the garbanzos to call it a company failure despite the fact that it still held up REALLY well considering the competition!!

I know. I've been here 10 1/2 years watching this bullshit, as a fan.

But oh, Katzenberg Katzenberg Katzenberg. He couldn't just leave it alone with Dreamworks, he had to destroy it on the way out, taking his money and leaving like the biggest coward. Not only did he close one of the studios suddenly-- causing hundreds of employees to lose their dream jobs overnight, causing countless in-development films to be cancelled (Me and My Shadow, B.O.O., Mumbai Musical, and Croods 2 which was eventually brought back) he could have easily stepped up and kept those employees hired and living stable-- instead he decided to throw $75 MILLION DOLLARS to commission 3 more episodes of Breaking Bad. After firing hundreds of employees and nearly collapsing the entire studio with one bad call after another. Cancelling Megamind as a franchise was only the beginning of a continuous shitshow that Dreamworks is STILL FEELING TODAY.

(He got denied his 3 episodes by the way, it's bittersweet. Wonder what it feels like to not get more of a franchise you really love. Hm. Wouldn't know.)

What I'm getting at is, I've sat here long enough to see what's been happening and you know what? It's terrifying! Let the movie get some fucking attention and let people shitpost. Maybe Dreamworks will actually pick it back up, banking on the shitposting and the nostalgia factor, and maybe the company can recover from Katzenberg's awful choices he left them behind with. It's NOT us just wanting our movie-- I was loving getting 3 films a year from Dreamworks! Their films were really fucking good, sequels and all! The animation is phenomenal, the artists are talented as fuck, the storywriters know how to tell a fun fucking story, and Dreamworks does a lot of shit Disney has been too afraid to do-- they were refreshing! I don't want to see the company completely go under like Blue Sky, I want them to thrive! I want more movies they throw their all into! Dear lord don't let this fucking company collapse, unless you really love your Disney+ subscriptions and don't care about diversity in your animated films at all. I can't be you, but ok. Do you.

TL;DR I'm half asleep and probably shouldn't be posting this and have 10+ years of salt about this under my belt, and I'm encouraging the memes and shitposts cluttering the fandom tags, in hopes that it might make people laugh and buy Dreamworks the recovery they so desperately need right now.

Wait but the post didn't say "the megamind fandom" though? You're talking about "the megamind fandom getting hate for things that other people did" but no one said anything about the megamind fandom so how do you know it's not about "other people"

 Eh, the way it was worded sounds like they’re talking about the fandom. Maybe that wasn’t what was intended, but that’s how I saw it. 

They said “those Megamind people” and made a comparison to the Harry Potter fandom by saying we’re like the “harry potter read another book types.” Like, as if we’re so deep in Megamind and only Megamind that we need to branch out and watch other things.

I just... it irks me. Seems to me they’re jumping on the bandwagon of this post and it feels mean-spirited. (In a “God we get it, y’all like Megamind, now shut up ‘cause you’re being annoying af” kind of way. :/ ) This post already explains in detail the reasons why it’s a little upsetting.