#i think i owe it to 6 year old me to try dabbling in stop motion again now that I've learned to animate

[krawdad]

Ooh the camera app I got to replace the shitty built in camera has onion skin tools I could just do stop motion with this

[lastbuckshot]

oc list

so @underbree did a lot of asking abt my ocs so i’ve been typing up a (very small) synopsis of them for a few hrs (small bc there’re So Many)

if ur curious abt them or wanna know more abt a few pls feel free to ask me about them i love my kids

some notes:

fc = face claim

some fcs repeat bc I can’t leave well enough alone and some different looks from the same actor give off completely different vibes (I’m the guiltiest of this with cm punk lmao)

 sometimes my fandoms/obsessions and my fcs go hand in hand so when u see a bunch of actors from the same show that’s usually not a coincidence

speaking of fandoms, a lot of these ocs and fcs are years and years old (I’m talking like some of them are 6 years old) so a lot of them are gonna have fcs from ppl I used to fuck w/ heavy way back when but I don’t anymore, I just can’t bring myself to change the fc (like with all the cm punks)

you’d expect me to have a pj and a milo oc and I’d expect it too but I don’t, Freddie (@miloventisoylatte) has both and we collab like every day

all the assassins aren’t assassins for fun, and they’re not hitmen either; there’s an entire company/organization that they’re a part of, which doles out missions and payouts. they only really kill scummy people so think of it as a massive trained vigilante operative organization

The Oloros

 Zemorah (Zee; FC: Janelle Monae) – she’s probably my fave oc atm, I grouped her with her family but she’s also an assassin. she’s the seed that planted the whole family, bc she was a standalone oc first. she’s a bi girl, and she has a history of past relationship abuse, but she’s growing and recovering and actually engaged (to one of freddie’s ocs as a matter of fact; a big werewolf boi named Aaron who has Milo Ventimiglia as a FC)!!! she’s a bonefide flower girl sis loves flowers and gardening but she’s Not the one to play with. Very independent and self-sufficient bc she doesn’t see the point in having anyone take care of her when she can take care of herself and do it better. Prefers hand-to-hand combat to guns on missions. Frequently goes on missions with Liam (mentioned later), but is off from missions indefinitely because she’s with child (triplets!!!)

Halina (Hal; FC: Yetide Badaki) – the oldest of the oloro sisters (but not the oldest sibling). Tendaji’s twin sister. She’s reserved and on the quiet side compared to a lot of her family; she’s on almost the same plane as rashid. she can also be a workaholic, getting stuff done and making progress (on work or in life) is one of the most fulfilling things in the world for her

Malkia (Mal; FC: Danielle Brooks) – the youngest of the oloro sisters and she loves to give love. She has a big ol’ heart and a loud infectious laugh. If you wanna have a good time and feel good about yourself and come out feeling like a Rockstar you hang out with mal

Hodari (FC: Aldis Hodge) – one of the younger oloro brothers. he’s like, the class clown of the siblings. he’s always making fun of something or someone he’s goofy as hell

Rashid (FC: Mike Colter) – oldest child and oldest brother, probably the most stoic and “put together” sibling. married with kids and very, very, very protective of his family. a “you’d be better off fucking with him than fucking with his family” type

Kaivon (Kai; FC: Ricky Whittle) – second youngest brother, and adopted. bi, and a flirt (ofc he is). Someone you can ask to fuck you one time out of the gate and he’ll have no problem w/ doing it. He could talk a priest into becoming a satanist

Jamal (FC: Trevante Rhodes) – jamal is the youngest brother and youngest sibling and he’s such a sweet heart oh my god,,, he’s pan and he’s like a giant teddy bear he really just wants to make everyone he meets happy. truly a people pleaser and a “I’ll give someone in need the clothes off my back” type. Lover of cuddles

Tendaji (‘Daji; FC: Michael James Shaw) – Halina’s twin brother. ‘Daji is the sibling you get when you mix rashid’s protectiveness and hodari’s goofiness. He’ll make you laugh and loves to laugh but you Cannot cross him or his family he won’t let it happen

Shani (FC: Viola Davis) – the mom of this gaggle of kids. she’s a really sweet and loving mom and provider for her kids, so much so that she adopted one and pushed out 7

Andwele (FC: Lance Reddick) – dad of this gaggle of kids. Very stoic and gets a kick out of being overly stoic toward people he’s meeting for the first time and seeing how they react when rly deep down he loves a good time

  The Northcutts (Werecats)

 Alexander (Alex; CM Punk [this version]) – levi’s older brother. alex is a werecat, yes, as a northcutt, yes, but he’s also a demon (his dad was one). Ego the size of texas. Still exploring and discovering his sexuality, and isn’t completely comfortable with any labels, but he’s a lover of sex in general. So much so that he has 4 kids (he’s a single dad). there’s a good heart in there somewhere but he’s still a force of chaotic evil. Chaotic neutral on a good day. Chaotic good on a better one. But always chaotic

Levi (FC: Adam Levine) – alex’s younger brother. He’s the good brother. He’s not a demon, because he and alex have different dads. Lover of sushi (yes, because he’s a cat)

Grant (FC: Jake Gyllenhaal) – charlie’s older brother. He’s a really chilled out and laid back single dad of one, but his brother is a bad influence

Charles (Charlie; FC: Ryan Reynolds) – grant’s younger brother. Getting called Charles upsets him spiritually, please spare him the pain. One of the pettiest, dumbest, most extracurricular ocs. He’s an assassin and when jay (an oc I talk abt later) gets ready to give him his payouts (which can be huge lump sums of money, I’m telling you right now), he’ll tell jay he wants something stupid instead, like pocket lint or a finger nail clipping. Like, he doesn’t want any of the money, he’ll tell jay to donate it or give it to someone else or do whatever he wants with it, and just ask for a shoestring. It drives jay up the fucking wall

Jackson (Jax; FC: Chris Evans) – rebecca’s older brother. He’s in the same boat as alex with exploring his sexuality, figuring himself out. It’s summer, he’s got his hat on backwards, and he’s ready to fucking party. has dabbled in drugs and is a patron of the one night stand

Rebecca (FC: Megan Fox) – jax’s younger sister. bi. she used to be a party animal just like jax, until she had her first son. She’s cooled way down now, and she’s the mom everyone wants. She’s the mom that takes everyone to Disney and buys everyone souvenirs on a whim bc she just feels like it

Nadia (FC: Jessica Chastain) – tara’s older sister. mother of twins. Very loving, and the type of person you go to if you need life coaching.

Tara (FC: Amber Heard) – nadia’s younger sister. bi. she’s a mom with a very big, soft heart. Her instinct is to nurture everyone around her (not necessarily coach them like her sister does; just take care of them emotionally)

Anastasia (Annie; FC: Alicia Coppola) – alex’s and levi’s mom; bi, and the youngest sibling out of the matriarchs/patriarchs. Just like all the northcutt matriarchs and patriarchs, she’s a fun-loving parent. Teases her kids in as loving a way possible (like asking alex if he’s done slinging his junk around and impregnating the city)

Katrina (FC: Julianna Margulies) – charlie’s and grant’s mom; bi, and the oldest sibling out of the matriarchs/patriarchs. Very similar to annie, but her ambiance is different. If annie is a chill mom, katrina’s more of a cool mom.

Anthony (Ant; FC: Live Schreiber) – nadia’s and tara’s dad, and the second oldest of the matriarchs/patriarchs. Looks scary, but is actually only scary 49% of the time. Probably the most serious of the northcutt parents (which isn’t saying much, bc the whole family is doofy)

Logan (FC: Hugh Jackman) – jax’s and rebecca’s dad, and the second youngest of the matriarchs/patriarchs. Prankster and a jokester, and very close to annie

  The Assassins

 Aiden (FC: Richard Armitage) – eva’s fiancé and a lover of red wine. aiden was the start of a long line of assassins. He’s a father of one, with another on the way, with his fiancee. There’s some years old drama between him and ian, that ultimately ended in the death of his (aiden’s) daughter’s mother’s death, because of the assassination of the wrong person on ian’s part (it’s resulted in an inside joke about bad aim). He’s semi-retired now, in that he doesn’t go on missions himself much, but he still works with the company.

James (FC: Andrew Lincoln) – dani’s husband. aiden’s best friend. Father of two (one with dani, one from a previous marriage). Also semi-retired, in the same way as aiden. He’s got a big fucking mouth and almost everything he has is some type of joke or innuendo

Dominic (FC: Luke Evans) – jay’s older brother (half-brother, different dads). Pan. Loves to cook (entrees more than desserts), hopeless romantic, and a single father of one. Still takes assassin work often, usually sniping.

Ian (FC: Michael Fassbender) – mr. bad aim. Still carries a lot of guilt about what happened to aiden’s daughter’s mother (should he is up to viewer discretion), but he’s still very loving, and he’s been trying to make up for it for years (despite being told it’s a buried and forgiven issue). Doesn’t handle guns much on missions anymore; he’s more in charge of extraction now (whether that be via car, bus, motorcycle, heli, etc.)

Jacob (Jay; FC: Ian Bohen [usually this version]) – dominic’s younger brother (half-brother, different dads), and a father of two. Also loves to cook (desserts more than entrees), and used to work as an actual assassin, for a very short time, but stopped, because that part of the job wasn’t for him. Nowadays, he’s more like the accountant/money man in the company, giving everyone what they’re owed, determining how much, helping decide which jobs get what pay. The object of charlie’s endless torment

Liam (FC: Dan Stevens) – liam’s a werecat as well as an assassin, as WELL as a demon (on his mom’s side). he’s adopted (his adoptive parents and biological mom r mentioned later), which he found out relatively early in life, when his abilities started manifesting on accident. He was never mad about it, and didn’t take a particular interest in finding his real parents until recently (and luckily he’s found his mom; the deal with his dad hasn’t been completely settled yet). Sniper/generally most comfortable with guns as opposed to hand-to-hand. Zee’s frequent partner and mission husband (but not her real fiancé, even if they had a fling for a while). Gets clowned for eating baked beans for breakfast (especially by zee)

Danielle (Dani; FC: Danai Gurira) – james’s wife. A jack of all trades in the company, with her hand in accounting, assassinations, mission planning, and training. She thinks her husband is endearingly dumb (she doesn’t look down on him, she just knows he’s a dumbass), but she places a high value on how much he makes her laugh.

Evalyn (Eva; FC: Rutina Wesley) – aiden’s fiancée, and a doctor within the company. You could probably tell from her job she genuinely loves taking care of people, and enjoys the pressure. She can do surgeries and the like, but poison recognition and treatment (if possible) is her preferred practice.

  Werewolves

 Jonathan (Nate; CM Punk [this version]) – one of my first ocs, and honestly, a pure, good soul. He has a history of abuse (not from relationships like with zee; his abuse came from his father and his peers [I don’t mean school here, even though that’s true too]), and struggles a lot with depressive episodes, but he still has the biggest, warmest heart in the world. He knows forgiving isn’t for everyone, but it’s what makes him feel better, given some time and space. Christmas is his favorite holiday and he has a collection of santa hats that he makes his friends wear to get into the spirit. He’s still figuring out his own gender, sexuality, and romantic attraction, but he considers himself a bi ace often (he’s not sex repulsed and he’s had sex, but not often and it’s not important to him), and fluctuates between considering himself male and nonbinary (but he’s more comfortable with he/him pronouns in both cases)

David (FC: Ian Bohen [usually this version]) – cocky and full of himself and comes off as arrogant. He sort of is all of those things, sort of not. I’m just gonna say this honestly: thot. 5 kids, but all from the same mom. he’s not with her, not formally; they’re more like…….. kid partners? Mates? It’s a weird arrangement. But he a hoe

Ryan (FC: CM Punk [this version]) – one of nate’s past abusers. Repentant, very repentant, and nate’s forgiven him, but whether anyone else does (or should) is discretionary.

*Tom (FC: Tom Hiddleston) – (*name subject to change bc I don’t usually like fcs and ocs to have the same first name) the second of nate’s main abusers, alongside ryan. Has also repented and earned nate’s forgiveness, but again, whether anyone else can forgive him is discretionary.

  Demons and Fallen Angels

I’m gonna save some breath here: all the fallens are pansexual and panromantic, unless stated otherwise (god’s not included here)

 God (FC: Idris Elba) – okay, obviously god isn’t a fallen angel or a demon, but he’s still in this equation. Not much to say bc god is……… god.

Lucifer (Lucy; FC: Colin O’Donoghue) – yes, Thee lucifer, the fallen angel. Big ego, as you can imagine, and very, very bitter at god, not just for casting him out, but for keeping people he was close to before the fall from following him, including his girlfriend (and now wife) at the time, ariel. Extreme lover of red wine and makes his own in hell bc mortal wine isn’t strong enough or good enough for him. Father of twin daughters in the official sense, but has fathered literal devil spawns in the past So I Mean

Ariel (FC: Jennifer Morrison) – lucy’s wife and long time (millions/billions of years long) girlfriend. Did not follow lucifer in the fall, half because god convinced her not to, and half because she thought his betrayal of god was a betrayal of her, since it’d put their relationship at risk (whether she’s right or not is a matter of personal opinion). She’d visit lucy as an angel to talk to him, because she was upset that they were apart, but still missed him. Eventually, she made the decision to put her love for lucy over her angelhood and fell. She’s still an angel at heart, though.

Jonah (Ares; FC: Sean Maguire) – lucy’s best friend. Fell with him, and was his right hand man during the rebellion. He got his nickname from lucy, because he reminded him of the god of war. Despite lucy seeing them as equals (minus lucy being king, and ares not), ares has a tendency to refer to lucy as “my lord” and “king” (though he’s cut down recently). Honestly a workaholic, and loves being occupied (which in hell means a fair amount of soul torturing, but he also makes lucy’s wine)

Adam (FC: Josh Dallas) – another fallen angel. Didn’t fall with lucy, but fell well before ariel. If a frat boy were a fallen angel, they’d be adam.

Sabrina (FC: Rebecca Mader) – o shit bois, another fallen!!! Before lucy met/fell in love with ariel, sabrina was his main squeeze. she fell shortly after lucy and ares did, and she and lucy did some fooling around in the years before ariel fell. She and lucy are probably more alike than ariel and lucy as far as attitudes and mannerisms go (both of them are promiscuous [not a bad thing], sarcastic, and flirtatious), but doesn’t hold any (or much) ill will toward lucy or ariel.

Malachi (FC: Liam Garrigan) - yet another fallen!!! fell after lucifer, and stayed in hell, not causing trouble, for a little bit. then he started plotting to overthrow lucy, and eventually tried, by threatening to kill ariel if he didn’t give him the thrown. got punished with torture and stripped of the privileges being a fallen got him before. lucy’s pulled him out of punishment now tho. second chances and all that.

Paul (El Demonio, Victoria; CM Punk [this version]) – genderfluid/bigender (hence the two nicknames), and currently married to haedes with a daughter (biologically theirs) after some turbulent times of denial and teasing from both of them. Sarcastic and a little bit holier than thou (but so is haedes). Would lay down his life for any and all forms of red velvet.

Desmond (Haedes; Richard Armitage [mostly any version of RA with long(er) hair is Haedes]) – paul’s husband. A little arrogant, but not usually so much that you wanna punch him in the throat. Just about as arrogant as you’d expect a demon to be.

Joseph (Joe; FC: Joe Manganiello) – alex’s dad. Estranged from his son and alex’s mom both bc of the grimy shit he did. Not born a demon, and not possessed, but filled (literally, not figuratively) with demonic energy by a demon.

Athena (FC: Jill Wagner) – Liam’s biological mother (who he only met very recently; he does openly call her “mom”)

  Humans

 Violetta (Dee; FC: Ruth Negga) – calling her Violetta or Violet will probably get your shit pushed in so please leave her be. Bi. She has tulip o’hare’s accent (as opposed to ruth’s irish one), and part of a female biker “gang” (yes, she wears plenty of leather jackets). Loves teaching herself tinkering/handy type things, like taking apart and fixing computers, building computers, fixing cars, sewing, and fixing appliances. Really, she’ll pick up and learn just about anything if you give her the time.

Abaddon (Abby; FC: Jeffrey Dean Morgan) – no, not That Abaddon. Abby’s just a country boy with strong opinions on how peach cobbler should look, taste, and be served. Master griller. Father of two (co-custody).

Wade (FC: Wade Barrett/Stu Bennett) – my very first oc, so we’re talking like, 6 years. Which you think would mean I have a lot to say here, but I don’t!!!!!! his character’s been doing a lot of changing and evolving with my tastes and perceptions, with me trying to decide what’s too far and what’s not. and I might do an entire revamp. For now, I’ll leave it at: he has a really sketchy fucking past, but he’s doing better now.

Cassandra (Cassie; FC: Emma Thompson) – liam’s adoptive mother. A+ sense of humor. Jokes about liam and zee still being together.

Denton (FC: Hugh Laurie) – liam’s adoptive father. The more reserved between him and his wife, but he has an endearing dry/subtle humor that suits him.

Killian (FC: Matt Ryan [the welsh actor not the football player]) – I’d be lying if I said killian wasn’t very inspired by john Constantine lmao, bc he is. He is a demon hunter/exorcist/jack of all trades in the supernatural. He knows lucy, and lucy knows him, and there’s a petty war between them. Lucy isn’t killing him, killian isn’t actively trying to take down lucy, but they know each other exist, and killian brags to him about trapping and destroying all his demons.

[kookienomster3]

I Want The Headline (Pt. 3)

Written By: suga-of-daegu BTS Fanfiction Angst WARNING: MATURE CONTENT Mafia/Gang

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Raindrops steadily pounded against the roof and windows of the truck as the car sped deeper into the city. You were huddled in the back of the new men’s truck as they drove off to who-knows-where. The leader with the dimples, who had introduced himself as Namjoon, was behind the wheel, unlike Yoongi who had been chauffeured around. Beside him in the shotgun seat was Taehyung, and he had spent the entire ride staring at you. A smirk would cross his lips whenever your eyes would meet. “So…Y/N. ” he cooed, “How do you know Yoongi?” Namjoon chuckled, playfully raising his voice above Tae’s and the soft music playing from the radio,

“No, no! What did you do to him to make him use you as currency? Jipped him from a good time or something?” He asked, glancing at you in the rearview mirror. His brows furrowed, “I didn’t think he still dabbled in that kind of thing after, you know.” The last part he directed at Taehyung. Tae’s eyes scanned over your dress,

“That’s not what happened.” He theorized. “Did you see the way he looked at her old ring? She was a goddess to him, he wouldn’t trade his whore for her ring-”

“I’m not a whore!” You snapped bitterly, wrapping your arms around your knees. You were just finishing your sophomore year of college. You had a good future ahead of you. You had a job, there was a guy who was interested in you, a nice little apartment around the block from your brother. You were happy… Now, your brother was tied up in a warehouse somewhere by a man who had sold you for a ring. Tears of frustration started to cloud your vision as you dug your nails into your knees.

This was that man’s fault.

This was Yoongi’s doing.

Too tired to even cry, you just stared at your knees, “I’m not his whore…I don’t even know him.”

Namjoon looked back at you, honestly surprised. Yoongi was one of the only men he knew that honestly lived by equal trade. If he did something to someone, it was only because they did something to him first. You had to have done something to him to make him trade you off like that.“ Really? Then what were you doing with him?”

“His…Jimin..” You gulped,“ My brother, he sent me to on a vacation to Jeju…and I met this guy there.” Your voice hiccuped, “I thought he was a nice guy, I thought it was a coincidence that he was at all the tourist spots where I was… The next thing I know I’m waking up in a warehouse tied to a chair.” The car drove over a bump in the road before entering a tunnel. Dim yellow lights flickered violently through the windows, distorting the shadows along Tae’s face as he stared at you. Namjoon’s eyes were devoted to the road. “They took me to get my brother to listen to them. He..that man shot my brother in the foot for no reason; they beat him! He gave me away for a ring!”

The leader frowned softly. That didn’t sound like how Yoongi worked at all. Kidnapping you to get your brother to cooperate? What had your brother done that was severe enough for his punishment to drift over to you? Namjoon felt a headache coming on. He had prided himself on predicting Yoongi’s habits and the man’s habits had been pretty consistent for the past two years. An eye for an eye. If Yoongi was suddenly changing tactics, he had to be prepared. If he was gonna start taking two eyes for every of his one, Namjoon had to figure out some new countermeasures.

After all, the most dangerous kind of man is one you can’t predict.

Tae simply shrugged, “Well, if helps you any, the ring’s pretty important to him. Who is your brother?”

That phrase alone was enough to make your shoulders sag. Since when was a ring more valuable than a person’s life? “My brother’s name is Jin.. but why is a ring so important?”

The two men shared a look but didn’t comment immediately. Finally, Tae murmured, “The ring belonged to his fiancee, he was…he’d do anything for her. He’s killed dozens of people over her. But he’s also got this code; like an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.. he’d do anything for his organization, too. She was caught giving out secrets and intel to his rival group; several of his men were killed over it and he had to…” Taehyung’s eyes passed over you to the window. For a moment he just watched the city lights quickly pass by through the window, “Well, he killed her for it…” Tae blinked slowly, “I gotta hand it to his dedication… I mean..killing the girl I’ve slept beside for years even if she was selling me out? I don’t think I could do it.” He crossed his arms over his chest,“ Your brother’s been doing the same thing she was doing. I..I hope you two weren’t that close.”

A sense of dread hung heavy on your heart. Yoongi killed his own fiancee to keep his organization tightly knit. Your brother wasn’t that special to him to garner any special treatment. He was as good as dead. Your brows furrowed as you stared tensely at the back of the two men’s seats, “How..how did you know about his fiancee and my brother selling him out?”

Tae pulled out another lollipop from his pocket, popping it into his mouth. He leaned back in his seat, draping his arms behind his head, “Because the rival they were selling to was us.”

Jin immediately knew something was wrong the next morning when Yoongi and Jimin arrived alone. Hoseok, who had spent the night keeping watch over him, had sadly avoided Jin’s pleading gaze. He had been informed what was going on earlier. Jin tried looking around Yoongi and Jimin’s bodies in hopes of seeing you trailing behind them, but you were nowhere to be seen. “Please…” He whispered,“..My sister, where is she?” Yoongi silently shuffled over, stopping right before Jin. Pale hands produced a shiny silver ring from inside his coat pocket. His dark eyes stared down at Jin’s chin, unwilling to look him in the eye.

“Namjoon…offered to return this in exchange for her and I accepted.” He murmured softly, running his thumb along the smooth surface of the ring. He dryly chuckled,“ It keeps money in the organization, enough to cover the money you forfeited. Consider your debt gone and the least of your problems.” Upon hearing the news, Jin immediately threw up. Yoongi considered striking him as most of the vomit landed on his shoes, but thought against it. He had just lost his sister.

“She’s my little sister!” He screamed,“And you just gave her away to them?!” Jin had started to struggle in his seat, violently trying to get free, “You know exactly what they’re going to do to her!” His wild eyes shifted to Jimin, “What they did to Jimin’s girlfriend, and you just gave my baby sister to them!? She’s not like Jimin’s girlfriend! She doesn’t know how to survive like that! They’re going to eat her alive, you bastard!” His head dropped down as he cried, “She never did anything to you, and you just….oh god..”

Yoongi quietly stepped back, “I traded her…This wasn’t some abduction like with Jimin’s girl. It wasn’t revenge. I gave her to them. It was business…they won’t..they won’t hurt her. They know where the line is.”

“Like hell they do!” Jin spit out, “What did she do to you, huh?! What did a girl possibly do to you for you to sell her, Yoongi!?” Jin had managed to free one of his hands, but instead of swinging at Yoongi like everyone thought he would, he only wiped at his eyes. He doubled over and softly cried, “..Y/N…oppa’s so sorry, Y/N..”

Jimin quietly stepped forward, his eyes trained on Yoongi’s surprisingly blank face. “I’ll go..I’ll check up on her..?” It sounded more like a question than a statement. He felt like he at least owed you that. He had no qualms with leaving behind a person who had wronged him and his group, but you had done nothing to them. You were in fact, the most cooperative person he was ever ordered to abduct. You even offered him some of your food and water, for Pete’s sake, and he had left you in a cold alley in the hands of his rivals. The moment Tae’s hands had touched you, Jimin had felt on edge. Nevermind the inner turmoil brewing within him when you had pleaded for him and Yoongi not to leave you with them. He could still clearly see the fear on your face as he had shut the door on you and remembered how you had crumpled to the ground as the car pulled off.

He remembered the rage as Taehyung had smiled at you and petted your head as if he was some old friend.

Yoongi pocketed the ring, rubbing his nose briefly. A heavy sigh passed through his lips and he nudged Jin’s leg with his foot,“Answer everything honestly and maybe I won’t shoot your other foot.”

You were shoved into a room full of several other girls. The moment the door had opened, they all moved away from it to form a crowd by the barred windows. Tae led you in, large hands gripping your shoulders to guide you. “Evening ladies~” He sang, shifting his lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other. As you both approached the center of the room he released you, winking at the crowd of women,“I brought you all a friend. Let her know the rules, okay?”

And just like that, he was gone.

One woman stepped forward, a small booklet in her hands. Passing it on to you, she simply murmured, “Pick one and I’ll tell the man at the door.” You flipped through the booklet, confused by the pictures of men inside; it reminded you of your high school yearbook. It was full of people you didn’t know, but towards the back of the book, you had seen Taehyung and Namjoon’s photos along with a man named Jungkook.

“Jungkook.”

Somewhere from the back of the group, a girl screamed. The girl right in front of you, waiting to take your answer to the doorman, shook her head, “No, nononono, pick someone else. Anyone but Jungkook. Pick Taehyung, he’s erratic but nice if you listen to him.” The woman snatched the book from you, “You know what this is for, right!? You pick one and you’re his! Out of all these men, you pick the worst one of them all!” Her expression morphed into mortification when you still refused to change your answer, “You know all those people who these men killed are all killed by him! He’s the one who tortures and kills them and you choose him!? Are you trying to die? He’s burned people alive, taken their limbs, he’s Satan!”

By the terrified looks on all their faces, it seemed like choosing Jungkook was the wrong choice, but your brother had said to stay close to him. So that was what you were going to do. “Jungkook!” You screamed. You weren’t going to take the chance of one of the girls lying about your answer. The doorman popped his head in, eyes scanning for who was yelling. Once his gaze drifted over to you, you repeated, “I pick Jungkook-!” the women with the booklet slapped her hand over your mouth. Reflectively, you bit her struggling away from her tight grip, “Jungkook!” You screamed again at the dumbfounded man. It seemed he too, was surprised by your choice, “Am I speaking clearly?!” You screamed. “Jeon Jungkook, that’s who I choose!”

A new man appeared in the doorway and it instantly had all the women drawing back in fear. Even the woman with the booklet was pushed back against the wall. He stepped inside and it was only then that you noticed the blood-soaked white t-shirt he wore and the scent of iron that wafted off of him. His brows were raised in curiosity as he scanned the room of gaping women. Bile built up in the back of your throat as you dumbly noticed the blood-soaked baseball bat he was holding loosely in his left hand. “Was someone screaming for me?” He mused. Your mouth went dry.

“…I…I was..”

His wide eyes shifted down to you, “You?” Jungkook shifted the bat to his other hand, sticking out his blood covered hand for a handshake. He grinned happily,“I’m Jungkook, who are you?” You blankly stared at the offered limb, and he moved it closer, “It’s a handshake…have you heard of it?” A soft thud resounded and several girls screamed; he had dropped the bat. Jungkook paid them no mind and instead used his other hand to grasp yours, helping you to shake his hand. When he released you, you saw his bloody handprint left on your arm. “So what’s up?”

You felt your vision blurring, “I..I picked you..”

He only grinned wider.

[deniscollins]

The Fall of ‘America’s Money Answers Man’

In the investment industry, an affiliate commission is cash paid out for every new paying customer an expert helps deliver to invest in a company. Should an affiliate, who doesn’t know he is being paid by a Ponzi scheme, be held financially responsible to clients who lose their money when the Ponzi scheme goes bankrupt on its 8,400 elderly investors: (1) Yes, (2) No? Why? What ethical principles support your decision?  

Spin your radio dial, download a podcast or sit down at your next corporate gathering and you’ll have no trouble finding a self-styled financial guru to tell you what to do with your money.

What you may not know: Financial experts, even those with bulletproof credentials, may be trying to sell you something.

When David and Patricia Toshner of Fond du Lac, Wis., first heard Jordan Goodman discussing the Woodbridge Group of Companies on the radio, they didn’t know that he might also be a sales agent. They just trusted the man who called himself “America’s Money Answers Man.”

After all, Mr. Goodman was an 18-year veteran of Money magazine and the author of books with his smiling face on the cover. The radio station where they got their news pumped his honking, Rhode Island-accented voice into their home, promising 6 percent interest plus their cash back.

The Toshners put $510,000, much of it from an on-the-job accident settlement, into Woodbridge. For a few years, the checks arrived regularly, just as Mr. Goodman said they would.

But just over a year ago, the checks stopped. Soon after, the Securities and Exchange Commission declared that Woodbridge, which Mr. Goodman had described with glowing confidence, was a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme with thousands of victims.

And when Mr. Goodman was discussing Woodbridge on the radio, he was not merely dispensing financial advice, the commission said. He was one of the scheme’s leading sales agents, earning more than $2 million by steering investors into it. The S.E.C. said Mr. Goodman “in many instances misled investors to think he was not being paid transaction-based sales commissions.”

Mr. Goodman, 64, agreed in December to pay back what he had earned, plus more than $315,000 in interest and a $100,000 fine. He also accepted a lifetime ban from the securities industry, while neither admitting nor denying the S.E.C.’s charges.

His agreement with regulators carries a standard prohibition against declaring his innocence, and he declined to comment, on the advice of his lawyer. Before signing the agreement, he had said publicly that he had no idea that Woodbridge was not operating as it said it would when he was promoting it.

But a close examination of Mr. Goodman’s decades of work as a money guru reveals the many angles he worked. He made his living not just with books and speaking gigs, but as a paid ambassador for companies offering financial services.

The companies Mr. Goodman endorsed were a motley assortment, strange bedfellows for a man who made his bones at one of the country’s most respected financial publications. He had financial relationships with companies that promise to settle your debts for pennies on the dollar and allow you to borrow money using fine art and luxury handbags as collateral. And he dabbled in lending to borrowers via high-interest payday loans, then earned some more by channeling those who could be saved into nonprofit credit counseling.

These arrangements often made Mr. Goodman what is known as an affiliate, which enabled him to earn a commission for each new customer he helped those companies land. At other times, he took a flat fee to offer his endorsement.

Relationships like these are not illegal: Similar arrangements can be at play when people click a link that directs them to an item for sale on Amazon. And these deals are surprisingly common in the financial guru world.

But Mr. Goodman was particularly aggressive in pushing the companies that paid him and sometimes withheld crucial information from his followers when discussing the companies during his media appearances — conduct that, in the case of Woodbridge, particularly rankled the S.E.C.

A Personal Reckoning

When I heard about Mr. Goodman’s case, I took inventory of my memory. I had met him twice at conferences and appeared on his radio show in 2017 to promote a book I had written.

Nothing about him seemed out of sorts. Like most of us in the small world of personal finance, he seemed to be trying to help people and hustling hard to figure out a way to make a living at it.

But as I started looking into how he had gotten so many innocent people into this mess, it became clear that while the ending of his story was laid out in the S.E.C. charges, the beginning and middle were more muddled.

In the world of money experts who write or talk, where recurring subscription revenue is hard to come by and it’s hard to make money through old-fashioned advertising, there is no sin in pursuing alternative business models. Still, we all owe our readers and listeners a thorough explanation of how we and our employers make money.

So let me begin here: The New York Times owns Wirecutter, which earns fees when people read the site’s best-of reviews and click embedded links to make purchases. I am an unpaid member of the advisory board of Wirecutter Money, which publishes guides to picking the best credit cards and plans to publish more personal finance content as the site grows.

Wirecutter discloses and explains its affiliate relationships in many places on its site, and there are many differences between what I do for Wirecutter and what Mr. Goodman did.

So how much did people in Mr. Goodman’s audience know about how he made money? And what are the lines that public-facing money experts should never cross?

A Promising Start

When Mr. Goodman arrived at Money in 1979, the magazine’s parent company, Time Inc., was a dominant force in publishing, a temple of fact-checking rigor and high editorial standards. Money alumni who worked alongside Mr. Goodman at various points include the CNBC anchor Tyler Mathisen and Eric Schurenberg, who eventually edited the magazine.

Mr. Goodman was at Money for the better part of two decades and wrote about all aspects of investing, including fraud. In 1993, he wrote about a guru in trouble: A jury in Iowa had found Charles J. Givens Jr., an author of many books with his face on the cover, guilty of making fraudulent misrepresentations that caused a young widow to lose out on a large life insurance payout.

Before he left Money in 1997, Mr. Goodman appeared to be poised for a thriving solo career dispensing advice. He had helped write “Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms” for Barron’s Financial Guides, and he took a solo turn with “Everyone’s Money Book.”

And then came a heartfelt rallying cry to play defense so the bad guys couldn’t get you: “Reading Between the Lies: How to Detect Fraud and Avoid Becoming a Victim of Wall Street’s Next Scandal.”

Life After Money

Once you have the kind of specialized knowledge that you can acquire at a place like Money magazine, there are lots of ways to make a living.

You can be hired by a company to address employees, or attendees at a conference. Financial service firms may buy commercials on your radio show, or hire you to develop new services.

Then there are affiliate commissions: cash paid out for every new paying customer an expert helps deliver.

Nowadays, these arrangements are supposed to be transparent. The rise of influencer culture, in which celebrities and social media stars cut promotional deals in exchange for Instagram mentions, prompted the Federal Trade Commission to issue guidance on disclosures. “If there’s a connection between an endorser and the marketer that consumers would not expect and it would affect how consumers evaluate the endorsement, that connection should be disclosed,” it said.

Mr. Goodman seems to have been an early adopter in the affiliate world, and his website lists more than 20 “Carefully Selected Resources to Help Improve Your Personal Finances,” like picking the right credit card or settling health care debts.

But even other financial pros who make money from such relationships thought Mr. Goodman had kept unusual company.

“Often, it seemed like he was playing in alternative spaces that the vast majority of us aren’t playing in,” said Philip Taylor, who runs the site Part-Time Money and FinCon, an annual conference for financial advice experts. He said he had turned down an invitation from Mr. Goodman to do business with him and one of his affiliates.

One hint came in a book that Mr. Goodman wrote about a decade after leaving Money: “Fast Profits in Hard Times: 10 Secret Strategies to Make You Rich in an Up or Down Economy.”

The book was a sort of declaration of independence by Mr. Goodman, who described how leaving the magazine had freed him to explore a world of “secret investment strategies” — like buying tax liens and deeds on homes when others have fallen behind on their payments.

The book’s final chapter, “Profit by Doing Nothing: Passive Income Strategies,” suggests that readers get into payday lending — as lenders. The idea carried Mr. Goodman’s endorsement: He had signed on for a spell as president of a 4,800-person investment club that helped people get access to the industry.

Adjusting to Changing Times

Mr. Goodman’s involvement with payday lending began as the market for personal finance books had begun to decline.

“Personal finance is the sort of thing you can get online kind of everywhere,” said David Pugh, who spent 17 years at John Wiley & Sons, one of Mr. Goodman’s former publishers. “Consumers are just going to other sources, and publishers reacted even faster than the market and pulled out in a lot of areas like that. Sales really disappeared.”

Mr. Goodman turned to what was then an author’s last resort, self-publishing. But technology would also provide a new avenue to build his brand: podcasts.

He was a frequent guest on personal finance podcasts and started his own hybrid internet radio show/podcast, “The Money Answers Show.” Mr. Goodman promoted his affiliates aggressively: He appeared last year on “The White Coat Investor,” a podcast aimed at medical professionals, and mentioned at least five affiliates. He disclosed his relationships with four of them, leaving out his relationship with Life Insurance Settlements, which buys policies from customers who want to be rid of the premium payments.

Dr. James M. Dahle, the physician who hosts “The White Coat Investor,” said he had never before had a guest who mentioned so many affiliates so aggressively. He hasn’t since, either.

“It’s not even close,” he said.

Making the Pitch

But Mr. Goodman’s most powerful megaphone was talk radio.

He had long been a fixture on the airwaves, including at powerhouse stations like KOA in Denver, KMOX in St. Louis and WGN in Chicago — 50,000-watt broadcasters that can often be heard several states away.

Starting in 2014, according to the S.E.C., Mr. Goodman began touting the prospects of commercial mortgage bridge loans, in which everyday people would help property owners and developers with their short-term borrowing needs.

During one appearance on a KOA show in 2015, Mr. Goodman advised a caller that these products, which he called “very popular with KOA listeners,” would allow participants to earn 6 percent annual interest and get their money back a year later.

“There’s a way of getting 6 percent and not having to worry about capital loss,” he said. “It’s very safe.”

Mr. Goodman told listeners to visit a website, where sales agents he worked with would help people sign up with Woodbridge.

The loans were supposed to work like so: People handed over their money, and Woodbridge would find borrowers willing to pay between 11 and 15 percent for short-term loans. When those borrowers made their payments, between 5 percent and 8 percent would go back to the investors and the rest would stay with Woodbridge and its agents.

Mike Rosen, the host of the KOA show, said Mr. Goodman had not disclosed his financial interest in Woodbridge — a 1 percent commission on all money that came in through his endorsement.

And Mr. Goodman pushed Woodbridge hard. Mr. Rosen said he had once accused Mr. Goodman of hiring listeners to call in and ask about the loans, something Mr. Goodman denied.

The pitch was enough to convince even Mr. Rosen, who had been swindled before in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, to invest.

“Jordan has a history, he was credible, and he had sold a lot of copies of those books,” Mr. Rosen said. “He wasn’t someone who just fell off the turnip truck.”

Mr. Rosen withdrew his money from Woodbridge after 12 months without incident. He was one of the lucky ones.

In December 2017, the S.E.C. accused Woodbridge of running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 8,400 investors, many of them elderly. Money from new clients was being used to pay previous ones, the S.E.C. said.

Robert Shapiro, who ran Woodbridge, was borrowing its money to invest in real estate, including Sonny and Cher’s former estate, and pulled out $1.2 million to pay alimony and $3.1 million to charter private planes, regulators said. He was fined $100 million.

Mr. Goodman was charged a year after Mr. Shapiro. His radio recommendations were a key component of the accusations: Of 18 external sales agents charged in the scheme, he was the only one also charged under a particular statute for touting — violating a rule that prohibits communicating about a security if you haven’t disclosed your commercial interest in it.

Eric I. Bustillo, director of the S.E.C.’s regional office in Miami, said, “We’re dealing with senior investors, elderly investors and retail investors who are often vulnerable and perhaps not sophisticated and are easily influenced by individuals who basically purport to provide unbiased opinions.”

A Reckoning Revisited

So what lines did Mr. Goodman cross?

A few things seem obvious: The kind of lending that Mr. Goodman was luring people into was almost certainly too risky for many of those who would hear about it on a standard talk radio show. And failing to disclose his financial interest was unethical and legally risky.

But what about affiliate relationships themselves? Do they stain all they touch? And if not, how much disclosure is enough?

When I met with my bosses and The Times’s editor in charge of newsroom standards, we discussed Mr. Goodman’s saga and whether it was a mistake for me to keep advising Wirecutter Money. Because I do not earn money from Wirecutter, we do not believe it poses a conflict.

Still, I now disclose my Wirecutter role in the biography attached to everything I write. And while the Wirecutter guides contain copious disclosures, any time I write a column that links to one, it will include an additional heads-up to readers. Our weekly Your Money newsletter often contains a link to Wirecutter Money guides. Those also now have disclosures.

If Mr. Goodman’s case causes you to question other experts and their potential conflicts, well, good. Ask away. This stuff is too important not to.

Books and Bridges Burned

As for Mr. Goodman, he owes $2.7 million to the S.E.C., and is named in two lawsuits that could put him on the hook for more.

His business prospects aren’t exactly rosy. Kaplan Publishing, which oversees the Barron’s guide that Mr. Goodman co-wrote, is taking it out of print and incinerating the existing copies.

“We expect our authors to act ethically and lawfully,” said Maureen McMahon, Kaplan’s president and publisher.

One of Mr. Goodman’s more mainstream affiliates, the online loan marketplace Credible, has cut ties with him. So has Cambridge Credit Counseling, a nonprofit debt consolidation and financial counseling service.

“Our reputation is more important to us than a small relationship we have with a particular expert,” said the company’s chief executive, Christopher Viale.

One person is sticking by Mr. Goodman: Cathy Cagle, a consultant who helps him book podcasts and do other work.

“I don’t believe that he ever intended to do anything wrong, nor did he feel that he was doing anything wrong,” she said. “We tend to take the high road on almost every subject if we can.”

Victims in the scheme will get some fraction of their money back once the now-bankrupt Woodbridge sells its assets. In the meantime, the Toshners, the couple in Wisconsin who heard Mr. Goodman on the radio, have sued him. Among other things, they allege that he encouraged them to sell their home to have more money to send to Woodbridge.

“It was super safe and going to return 6 percent,” said the couple’s lawyer, Michael Schaalman. His clients would have been skeptical of an investment promising double-digit returns, but 6 percent didn’t seem suspiciously sky-high, he said.

“These were not greedy people,” Mr. Schaalman said.

Mr. Goodman’s lawyer has not yet filed a response. But Mr. Schaalman said that after the Toshners inquired with Mr. Goodman directly, Mr. Goodman did acknowledge that he stood to make some money if they made an investment. The details, however, were not clear, Mr. Schaalman added.

Last year, as Woodbridge was unraveling but before the S.E.C. caught up with him personally, he talked about the company on the radio. Don McDonald, a co-host of “Talking Real Money” on KOMO in Seattle, had Mr. Goodman on his show for the first time in years and confronted him about Woodbridge.

“I feel very bad that this was what happened, that the S.E.C. went after them in what I consider a witch hunt, basically,” Mr. Goodman told him.

Months later, Mr. McDonald was still baffled by it all.

“He is one of the smartest people in the financial business that I have ever spoken with,” he said. “He could not possibly be duped by an investment like this.”

But Mr. McDonald did not write off Mr. Goodman as evil — just vulnerable, as many people might be after watching less knowledgeable peers make money and wondering why they couldn’t get a piece of the action, too.

“You see all these stupid people making millions and millions of dollars,” he said. “I think he looked at these real estate deals and was willing to suspend disbelief.”

Mr. Goodman has written plenty over the years about the mind games we play with our money. His book about financial fraud offers sage advice that he might have done well to take himself: “The unending quest for easy answers or the inside track does not yield profits and never has.”