#i will try to influence this poll with all my might because i WANT to draw a thing

[linipik]

Might as well try this: MAKE OPTION 1 WIN IN [PART 8] OF THE POLL

[vintagetvstars]

Claude Rains Vs. William Hopper

Propaganda

Claude Rains - (Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, Rawhide) - "The reason I got into Old Hollywood and started studying theatre and film! He's such a little cutie as well as a smoking hot, velvet voiced morsel of evil - he's that good and can play both so easily!..." text propaganda continued below the cut.

William Hopper - (Perry Mason) - "Why do I love him? The list abounds..." text propaganda continued below the cut.

Master Poll List | How to submit propaganda | What is vintage? (FAQ)

Additional propaganda below the cut

Claude Rains:

While he might be more famous for his movie roles(like Casablanca, The Invisible Man, Lawrence of Arabia, Now, Voyager, and Mr. Skeffington to name a few!), he was also a television star in his own right! He had lots of guest spots on various shows but in the tv-realm, he's probably the most well known for his work for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and was a frequent collaborator with Hitch himself, having the spotlight for five episodes! My favorite tv performance of his was playing Father Amion in the episode "The Horseplayer", where he plays the kindest priest who gets taken for a ride and it's so heartbreaking to see him in tears where he confesses that it's his fault the church's funds were used for less than better means (but it all works out in the end!). It's such an honest performance and it's a refreshing change from all his evil villians (but we love them anyway!) he'd done in the past. Another favorite performance of mine is his performance as Leonard Eldridge in the episode "The Door Without a Key", a seemingly amnesiac old man who makes a bond with a lost boy in a police station. They're adorable together and I found myself tearing up a little when they both confess how lonely they are in the world.

William Hopper -

William Hopper was a tall guy (6'3"!) but such a gentle sweetheart. He was in acting for the majority of his life (barring serving as a frogman in WWII and working as a car salesman post-war for a few years), but he really stepped into his own with his role as Private Detective Paul Drake in the Perry Mason TV Series from 1957-1966. William Hopper actually didn't really love the Hollywood scene, mostly because he grew up with it since he was a child. His mother was Hedda Hopper and she really wanted him to be an actor and became quite overbearing about it, but he was more of an introverted soul. He first started out in films in his early 20s, but William Hopper always felt like people were giving him jobs because of his mother's influence with her gossip column. HOWEVER, after the war and after William Hopper sold cars for a few years, he came back to acting but he said he was only going to come back if 1) he did it his way/gave himself to it and 2) his mother stayed out of his career so he could make it on his own. Those two things happened, and William Hopper made his own way.

His big major starring role in a television series was, without a doubt, Perry Mason. He was Private Detective Paul Drake. To take on that role, William Hopper personally went out and made friends with Private Detectives to try to bring their experiences to his role. William Hopper also was credited by Alan Alda for showing the acting world how to shine as an actor without demanding the spotlight all the time. Alda said: “William Hopper’s ability to be present in a scene without demanding the spotlight is an art form in itself. He showed us that one can shine without the blinding glare.” Which, I think, really was a big testament to William Hopper playing a private detective--- he was always commanding the series and making the moves and observations that led to finding the guilty person in a criminal case, but he was always doing so in a way that was true to the work of a private detective: hiding and working in plain sight.

Other fun facts about William Hopper that make him so lovable: he LOVED the beach and loved fishing and swimming. When he wasn't filming for Perry Mason (they would film 6 days a week for 1 episode during filming), William Hopper would go to the beach. According to an interview, William Hopper's personal wardrobe was mostly casual clothes: swim trunks, sandals, and sweatshirts. He took all his formal wear to the Perry Mason set and just kept it there to wear when he played Paul Drake. He said if he ever had to go to a formal occasion, he would just go drive to the Perry Mason set and pick out one of his outfits. But the formal wear he had was bold! He wore houndstooth jackets, various checked patterns, and herringbone. If he wasn't at the beach, he loved to go to baseball games. In school, he played sports: swimming, baseball, boxing, and basketball.

he's the guy on the far left - I know his face is hard to see here but I'm going for the Hot Vintage Man bare shoulders vibe:

I spoke before about how William Hopper made a lasting impact as an actor portraying Paul Drake and shining without demanding the spotlight, but he also made a lasting contribution to Paul Drake's character. Paul Drake was a character based on Erle Stanley Gardner's books, which were published between 1933-1973. When William Hopper got the role as Paul Drake in the Perry Mason TV show from 1957-1966, Gardner was still writing the books. When asked about playing Paul Drake, William Hopper said: "If they thought they were getting Paul Drake, they were mistaken. Because what they got was me, nobody else. I play him my way. Now I'm amused to read Gardner's new books. Paul Drake comes out like me."

He made such a lasting impression on Paul’s character on TV that even the author of the books started writing Paul like William Hopper's interpretation!

There's also an anecdote from the wardrobe supervisor on the set of Perry Mason who said William Hopper was a very kind man, a good guy, and a good actor. William Hopper's cast mate, Raymond Burr, once said that "William Hopper was even more precise, more good looking, more fun" in real life than what we, the viewers, got to see him on screen.

To add some more to Raymond Burr's point that William Hopper was "fun", he liked to play practical jokes with his castmates on Perry Mason. In an interview, William Hopper said "You might say there's never a serious moment except on camera." He and all his castmates on the set loved to play jokes with each other to make each other laugh. So he was just a fun guy to be around, apparently!

Also, in the final season of Perry Mason, William Hopper cut a tendon on his foot while filming and he wound up in a cast. They had to rewrite the final episodes so that William Hopper didn't have to do a lot of running around like he usually does. Well, in all those final episodes, you wouldn't even tell that William Hopper was in a cast and having to move around in crutches. And I realize that yeah, they rewrote the scripts to help, but William Hopper doesn't waiver once and doesn't let on about his injury. Plus, according to an interview, the cast attached a little horn to William Hopper's crutches and William Hopper would honk the horn when he was coming to let his cast mates know he was there. Which I just kind of think is sweet.

idk I feel like his hands are pretty beautiful here:

Also, I talked before about William Hopper struggling a bit in finding his own way in acting. It wasn't really until he got into TV shows and with Perry Mason that he felt like he found his place and enjoying acting. Before, William talked about being nervous in front of the camera, but it was working on a LIVE TV show with Claire Trevor when he said, "I was so scared I canceled. I swore I'd never act again as long as I lived. Then I thought, what the heck, they can't shoot me, and walked on the set. Something happened then. It was as if someone had surgically removed the nerves."

And when he talks about his role as Paul Drake, he said, "I'm very fond of him, and as long as Perry Mason is around on television defending various and sundry clients, Paul and I will be very happy to be around helping him."

So he really came into his own as Paul Drake, which I really love about William Hopper. To know he found his way and made something he felt proud of.

Also in terms of William Hopper being physically attractive, I mean, he was so incredible. He once said he was just a guy with premature grey hair and a non throbbing actor, but I personally think he's a heart throb. He had the most loveable smile, broad shoulders, a deep, sultry voice, amazing chest hair (lol), and like.. really absurdly beautiful hands?!? He was also really tall and strong but also by every account he was really gentle and sweet. Larger than life. Sometimes in the Perry Mason shows, William Hopper would swim and he has an incredible swim scene that rivals Mr. Darcy. He's in swim trunks and wins a swim race and comes dripping out of the pool to make anyone swoon. I just love him!

[animeomegas]

I feel like for every single sports festival, Endeavor would have to use his like idk influence? Over th school at the no. 2/no.1 hero to make sure Todoroki doesn't face off against his alpha so he doesn't just leave the stage and forfeit. I think even if he's a shit dad he likely knows his son to a degree and would make sure that didn't happen either ever or again if it happened before.

He wants to show off how strong his son is, like 'haha, this is my son who I bred to be perfect, look how strong he is, he's better than your kids' kind of way so Todoroki just not fighting at all because it was his alpha would not work for Endeavor in my opinion

(Did I got off the rails from the original poll? Yes, but I needed to share my thoughts)

Hmm, I don't actually know how much I agree with this. Firstly, I don't know if endeavour actually has that much power over UA. And secondly, you know that he wouldn't care if Todoroki was uninterested in fighting his alpha, he would just try to force him into the fight anyway. I don't know if, through his arrogance, he's even able to understand that Todoroki might refuse to fight.

I don't think it would be the end of the world though. I feel like Todoroki and his alpha would make an agreement to work together in the team challenge and maybe try a physical only fight if they both make it to the final round. While Todoroki is not happy to fight his alpha, I think he would be OK in a physical only fight, provided he didn't have to use his quirk. And hey, maybe they can pretend they are doing it to showcase their non quirk skills to potential employers!

So while I agree that Todoroki not fighting his alpha at all would not work for endeavour, I think endeavour would simply seek to force it rather than avoid the situation completely. But hey, that's just my headcanon!

[sillylotrpolls]

(Unnecessarily complicated reason for poll below poll)

So, a prominent character in the Silmarillion is Lúthien. She is the precious only daughter of a powerful elf king and a demi-goddess, and she's very beautiful and good at dancing and sings like a bird and is 100% Tolkien's insert character for his wife (awww). She is also called Tinúviel, which means Nightingale.

Later, when Aragorn first meets Arwen, he calls her Tinúviel in reference to a famous song about Lúthien's beauty and grace. Arwen is all, lol, fun fact, that's my great-great-grandma you're talking about, makes sense. (She kindly does not mention that Lúthien is also Aragorn's ancestor if you go back far enough.) So if you haven't read the Silm (sensible of you), you can just picture Arwen when answering this poll.

Now, hypothetically, someone might be trying to write a fanfiction in which Legolas is compared to Lúthien for assorted reasons (mostly because it's funny). But this potential author is not really up on birds, particularly song birds, and so they are uncertain what the best/funniest bird comparison for Legolas would be. This possible author might desire the wisdom of tumblr on the topic, but prefer to keep things hypothetical, because heaven forbid they commit to creating anything.

I assume you understand.

tl;dr If Gimli came upon Legolas in the woods and had to compare him to a bird, what would be the most appropriate bird for him to choose? Bonus points if Thranduil is highly offended or gratified by the choice.

PS: Any Tolkien scholars in the audience want to weigh in on whether Jirt was at all influenced by the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale The Nightingale? Since I have recently learned just how much of LotR is referential I keep wondering about these things.

[crabussy]

I'm not putting anything in the tags, turn on comments coward. Have you tried to use google lately or any other search engine? they censor a plethora of information and are known to feed narratives based on what certain corporate counterparts want. I would rather hear from a person, or even ai who has the toolset to officially attain information convey a specific point rather than provide some of the most mind numbing journalism articles to ever exist. Scholar is the only good part of google anymore unless you're checking the weather.

hi there! I'm a bit baffled by the tone of this, we're strangers and I don't understand why you felt it was okay to call me a coward over this, but I'm going to try and explain a few things to hopefully clear this up! I'm very sorry you felt upset at the wording of my poll.

first, I have comments off because people kept using my comments to make fun of me, or call me awful things. this was on posts that were apolitical in nature, too. I guess I'm pretty easy to bully. I'm just trying to reduce the number of upsetting comments I see about myself. my comments are off on all posts (unless you've been following me for over a week!). I'm sorry, I'd turn them on for this post if I could but the setting can only be applied across my entire blog. You can totally reblog and put your thoughts in the body of the post though! that way it doesn't get lost in the tags.

next, I realise I wasn't clear about what kind of information the poll was about. I was talking about questions like "what does 'myriad' mean?" or "what is the name of the fruit in this image?" or "are kiwi birds extinct?", all of which I've seen something similar being asked in the comments of posts. I wasn't talking about the more nuanced, complex, important information that needs a lot of explaining. I'm very sorry I wasn't more clear in my post, I'm going back to edit it and clarify after I've posted your ask!

Lastly, you do have a good point. search engines are notorious for picking and choosing information and are very prone to corporate interference. but please, in future, try not to assume the worst about people you don't know! I posted that poll for fun, out of curiosity, and apologised for the lack of nuance in the post. I was quite surprised and hurt at how unkind your wording was, when it didn't need to be at all. you could have conveyed the exact same information without calling me a coward for a choice I made. I understand that this subject is important to you and you might have felt like I was restricting your ability to share your thoughts, which could have influenced the tone you chose, but like I explained, it was for entirely unrelated reasons, to keep myself safe online. I know you might be used to people who do this kind of thing on purpose, or are intentionally abrasive towards you and others, and I'm really sorry if that's the case. It still hurts to hear someone call me names.

[marshallpupfan]

More Movie Thoughts Again...

It's been a few months since The Mighty Movie released to theaters. Currently, we know a third movie is on its way, and it's due to release in 2026. What we don't know, however, is... well, anything else about it. We still don't even know yet which pup it'll focus on, or if it even will at all. We know the year, just nothing else.

If the story does focus on a single pup again, much like The Movie and The Mighty Movie before it, then the question is... which one will they go with? If you ask the fans, the answer seems to be quite obvious. Just take a look at the above poll from the PAW Patrol Wiki.

And even this poll on Reddit, too. Rocky's the most popular on the PAW Patrol subreddit, yet Marshall still won by over twice the votes. It seems fans really, really want to see the spotted pup in the spotlight this time around... which may even lead to him finally getting some sort of backstory. Of course, what we want isn't always what we get, but it's possible the folks at Spin Master, Brunker, or whoever with influence might be aware of this.

As many of you know, despite my mixed feelings about the theatrical films, I am rooting for Marshall to helm the third movie. After season 7 and 9 of the TV series were so bad to him (season 8 wasn't exactly great to him at times, either), I really want to see something propel him back into the spotlight. Becoming the star of the next theatrical film will undoubtedly accomplish this, as even Skye has seen an increase of attention since The Mighty Movie hit theaters. Assuming the third movie is about him and it turns out good, I've no doubt the same will happen to Marshall, too. And, if we're lucky, the TV series will finally go back to using him more again, instead of calling someone with her helicopter to save a kid from a tree as her harness cable magically passes through a bunch of branches to do this, instead of calling the firefighter pup with his ladder like they should've.

However, I have some reservations here. I've talked in the past about how I feel the theatrical films haven't handled Marshall all that well, my "caused vs. because" argument with the way they portrayed his clumsiness, and the fact that he's rarely involved in comedic moments because of Brunker's obvious preference for Rubble. Even if Marshall's the focus on the plot, I don't know if these things will be any different.

This is just a theory, so it may be far from the truth, but... I have a bad feeling that Brunker may not like or care about Marshall. I hope I'm wrong, but due to the way he's portrayed in these theatrical films, the fact both movies continuously refuse to give him his elevator wipeout running gag, among other reasons, I just can't shake this belief. And the thing is, I've noticed over the years that when a writer doesn't like or care about a character, they often try to change them... drastically, at times. It's not uncommon at all, really. And if any of this is true, then I fear what this means when/if Brunker tries to write an entire film around the pup. It's possible he may act completely different, or portray his clumsiness as the result of some devastating event in his past. Marshall's a silly pup who always means well but sometimes trips over his own paws, but Brunker might try to change the meaning behind that. And should the film become popular and these newfound characteristics spill over into the TV series, well... I honestly dread the thought.

Then again, this might happen anyway, no matter who the focus is. You see, a few months ago, I was chatting with someone on the PAW Patrol Wiki who said their favorite pup is Skye. When The Mighty Movie got brought up, they admitted to me how they felt Skye was really out of character during it... not to mention, they were also quite disappointed to see the film ditch her unique Mighty tornado & wings, in favor of a cape and simply turning her into a Superman clone. The thing is, if Marshall, Rocky, Zuma, or whoever turns out to be the focus next, will the same happen to them, regardless of how Brunker feels about these characters? Did he dislike Skye, or did he just write her in a way he believed was good? Is that Skye fan in the minority? Am *I* in the minority with any of this?

...I don't know. Do you? Does anyone know?

As usual, all I can do is wait and hope for the best. Should Marshall be the focus, I really, really, really, hope that Brunker takes his time with understanding the character, learns the way he acts and behaves, and comes up with something that's both good and not out of character. I also hope that, should we get a backstory for Marshall, it's not another "and then they almost died" plot, just like Skye, Chase, and even Surly's backstory from Brunker's The Nut Job 2. I want Marshall's history to stand out and truly be something good, not just... more of the same we've already seen. And if Brunker does insist on changing the character, I hope it's nothing extreme. In all fairness, change isn't always a bad thing, when its done right.

As I often say... only time will tell.

[yandere-sins]

Poll Feedback Replies!

Results beneath the cut! Thanks to everyone responding, you are all so kind to leave such nice replies and I am glad you are enjoying the polls as much as I do!! ♥ I am very grateful to everyone reaching out and working on this together with me, thank you everyone and of course—if you have any more thoughts you are welcome to share them!

(I put similar suggestions together! And there might be a poll if you read through it all ;) I know you guys love them :P)

Thank you so much!! I am glad you are enjoying my writing and the weekly polls ♥

The more interactions with the yandere is a very good suggestion and I put it on my little reminder note to include more interactions in future polls! :D

Thank you for your response! More and faster replies are noted!

Although a good critic point, I do have to defend myself a little on it. I know I've not been the most active with replies, sometimes taking a week or two to catch up to them, but I do reply to every. single. comment. that I get. The problem as to why it takes so long is honestly just mental/physical exhaustion (as you know there's been a lot going on in my life and having a fulltime customer service job is taxing as well), so I usually wait until the polls are over and then go through all replies. I sincerely try and hope to be able to get back to at least replying to new comments every day, but I hope you guys can understand that interactions can be tricky and I'd hate not to have the mental capacities to really think about what people reasoned and just reply the same words over and over instead ^^'

Edit; you are still right and I'll catch up to them. I have been neglectful on them for a while.

However, as a sidenote, I don't go into stuff explicitely when I reblog the polls because think about it this way: You only see the poll when I reblog it and not when I post it for the first time. So you read the blurb, think of what you would do, and suddenly see my reply. Now you might change your thoughts and go for something else just because I made a good/bad point with my reply. I do sometimes give hints as to where the poll is at currently, but if I take a side that could inevitably influence people to not choose what they want ^^' So the half-time and last day announcements are staying vague on purpose to give everyone a chance to make a decision without being actively influenced unless they decide to check the comments.

I am very glad you guys are enjoying them so much!! Thank you for reaching out and giving me feedback!

What I will do for more clarity: I already put a note at the beginning of the blurb if the polls are multiple parts, but I think will do it like "Part 1 of 2 (or like 1/2 and 2/2)" so it will be obvious if it's finished or not. That is IF they are consecutive, week after week. However, if it's planned as a standalone, I might just continue to not mention any parts so you guys know it's just this one for now, and if I ever pick it up again, I'll just leave a note saying "Continuation of this post" before the blurb and link to the previous one. I hope that helps and lifts some of the confusion!

As for the writing a "conclusion" I am somewhat split... I always wanted to give the chance for everyone to use their own imagination and problem solving skills to think of the solution they lean towards. It's like a creative exercise that invokes moral values and mindful thoughts. And of course it's fun to see how and why others agree/disagree.

It would really take the magic away of the polls being genuinly without judgement (there being no right or wrong answer) but I do understand the curiosity about what happens next from a storyteller point of view. I do have a bit more background information that could be shared but is purposefully not mentioned because neither you, the protagonist nor you, the reader have that information available and need to make a decision based on the information you have (e.g. as the writer I knew what is in the last package the yandere wanted to send you). I need to know that information to make the story more convincing, you don't need it so you can make a real, genuine decision with the same amount of information that your yandere gives you.

There might be some disillusion if I take away the freedom from you guys to think about what comes next, and you might end up hating the conclusions that I came up with, especially if it interfers with your imagination and I'd hate to disappoint you all :( -> And just to add on, there are a lot of small things that could entirely change a decision for better or for worse. Like for the hiding poll, if the reader was small or tall that could influence the situation's outcome as you guys have proven with your replies! Thus not every outcome that I portrait might actually be an accurate or realistic one, rather one I thought of?

I could offer doing like a "monthly" review (or like every 4 to 5 polls or so) where I go through my ideas of what each choice does, but even though I have a writing blog I just don't think people would much care for me yapping, trying to go through every possibility I can think of... ^^' (I don't have that kind of confidence lol) But! I am not against it. I'll let you guys decide if this is really is something you want despite the danger of disillusion I spoke about before. To me, a lot more speaks against writing conclusions to the polls so I haven't done it until yet, but if there's a genuine interest in it, I will try my best to include it between requests!

@watch-out-for-them

Thank you for your reply! I am glad you are having a lot of fun with the polls! :D I'm afraid the not showing up is out of my hand, but if it helps: I post the polls on Sunday, the first reminder on Wednesday, and the last one on Saturday. I don't like promoting myself too much but there's still the possibility of turning on notifications if that is an option for you!! Still thank you for interacting and leaving feedback ♥

[ @lorkai / @furudolove / @kiwi-donut ]

Thank you for all the insights, praise, and love for the polls, I'm so glad you are here to enjoy them and participate!! I am especially glad to see a lot of you coming back for every poll and it's always fun to interact and read your thoughts!! ♥ I'm glad I get to have a chance to inspire you and reflect on your decisions, that is truly and honor that I am grateful to have!! ♥

[marty-parties]

Happy September 15th! Which, if you didn't know, is 'leave a comment day.' I could be wrong though, since my source is a poll i took on my other blog - either way, i've come up with a fun idea.

In honour of ‘leave a comment day’ i’ve made a list of all of my favourite fanfics/authors that I can think of atm, and I wanna leave a nice little note about them and their work! This isn’t in any particular order, tbh it’s mostly me going through my AO3 bookmarks and re-reading all of my fav fanfic, haha. 

I honestly had no idea 'leave a comment day’ was a thing, and if you didn’t either, show your favourite authors that you appreciate them! Anything from a heart emoji, or a key smash, or an insightful/heartfelt comment will do wonders in terms of showing/being appreciated.

A lot of these fics below have influenced me in some way, big or small, into how/what I write today. I guess I wanted to give thanks where I could. (It’s also just really sick to make a doc full of your favourite things,and I highly implore you to do it too, even if you don’t wanna post it. (That's totally fair, no pressure.) I keep going over in my mind what I like about each fic and ‘oh, this fic is different from that, but it’s still fantastic, oh and this fic, too,’ etc. it’s such a fun little snowball effect of positivity, i definitely recommend you do this if you have time and need a pick me up, haha.)

Little note, here, If you’ve seen that I’ve read your fic, but found you’re not on the list - it’s not that I don’t like you/or work! I probably very well did enjoy it! I found as I was making this list it was taking a lot of my free time. (Free time that i’d rather like to use writing or reading more, haha.) And, I feel like this list is already so wickedly long ‘cause I can't shut my mouth to save my life, to add more might be a little bit much to read all in one go. 😅

So, please don’t be upset if that’s the case! ily *mwah* 

Also, there’s a few nsfw fics mention at the end, so if you’re a minor, pls buzz off,  that content isn’t for you! I also recommend you check the links on some of these fics. I think I’ve included warnings where I think they’re due, but you know yourself better than i do. And, who knows, I might’ve accidentally missed a tag or two - So, please take care of yourself out there! 

You’ll notice i’ve either included a source for either the authors tumbr, or AO3. I originally was going to try and do both, but i lost steam. Each story is linked to their author, on some site, promise. 

Last thing, most of these fics are in the undertale fandom, tbh. It’s been my ride or die since highschool, so i’ve got a lot of love and things to say. You won’t find any frans or foncest here, i’m a reader insert girlie, simply put, and I don't care much for those tags on the fics i read. 

Quick legend here:

Complete = complete work

Ongoing = still updating / i think they’re still update

Incomplete = either hiatus, or just incomplete

So, without further ado- 

 Road Side Attraction (Ongoing, teen+ rating) and Dirty Laundry (Complete, teen+ rating)

By Popatochisp  (AO3) / popattochisp (Tumbr)

I’m going to be grouping together fics by author. Usually when I find one I really like, i really lurk around their tumblr/AO3 for others, haha.

–AND because I can’t think of one fic without the other. I find myself going back to read them both quite frequently, usually on rotation,  they’re my little bedtime stories i keep on repeat in my mind, lol. 

I mean, if you’re in the undertale fandom how can you not know about pop? For me, them (and luluwrites, among a few others i can’t remember rn,) –were really impactful to me growing up, as I think it was to a lot of people. (Tbh they’re still impactful, actually. I find myself going back even pretty often to read the same fics I read in high school.) They’re like the one piece of media you read in English class in high school that sticks with you throughout your adult life. (Looking at you, monkey’s paw.)

Pop has like 1,000 different au’s to choose from, all with fantastic and deep characterizations and lore.( I don’t know how they do it, i’m only writing a/b ONE skeleton rn, and i feel like a hamster on a wheel trying to get his characterization right.  I couldn’t imagine doing that for every single au they have. God damn.) 

I especially love Roadside Attraction, because of how easily i can relate to it? I’m deep in the sticks, a town more populated by livestock and people. When I read this, I can really put myself i MC’s shoes - b/c i’ve been there! (Hah, maybe not the dating skeletons part, granted, lol.) But it’s such a fantastic read, I love any and all media that has a vibe that it could take place in like a   rural Montana. (think scenes in Twilight. Tall spruce/pine trees, misty morning, the possibility of seeing bigfoot, that sorta thing.) 

And Dirty Laundry? Come on, dude. What a love letter to the swapfell universe, truly. If you haven't read it, you gotta. The world building, and the changing POV’s are so damn good, that every chapter feels crisp, and like you’ve got a really good inside scoop of each character. You can’t knock the characterization in this one, fellas. All the dynamics are so dead on - how Sans and Papyrus interact, how Sans and Alphys – dude, even how Sans and Toriel interact read so deeply in character. Everyone’s motives and ideas make sense to each character and the conflict that it  brings. Big fan. 10/10, will definitely read again and again. (There’s also a ‘Menswear addition, where the reader has he/him pronouns if that’s your cup of tea!) 

Bones Picked Clean (Incomplete, teen+ rating) and) Apéritifs (Ongoing, Mature rating)

By Skelezbian (tumblr) / luluwrites (on AO3)

Woof, where do I start?? I think Bones Picked Clean is another one of the first fics I remember being a really impactful piece of undertale fanwork that stuck with me. I know they’re not the one who created the whole ‘lodge’ scenario, (if you know, you know. Thank you @Tyrant_Tortoise, we’ll be seeing you next,) but they put a spin on it that is so interesting to see. The problems feel very realistic, like something that can easily happen in a house full of busy bodies with not enough communication. And, ohmygod the MC. My first love, truly. You get to see each set of skeleton brother’s, and watch how MC’s befriends them all. Granted, they have a track record of putting themselves in dangerous situations, for reasons revealed in the fic, but they’ve got a heart of gold, and a PHD in being a sweetheart.

The horrortale boys really shine here. I haven’t read much horrortale centric fanfics, but I really like the soft horrorale’ spin. The healing after the damage, the sunshine after the storm, watching the fauna overgrow, etc. I love watching characters grow when love is shown, and here, you can really see it here. I love domesticity, and using food as a love language– which is something this fic has in spades!

(I also love love swapfell characterization in this fic, chapter 13 does a REALLY good job of walking you through the mindspace of sf pap. But in terms of favourties, i’d have to say that would be Chapter 18. You get to see sf pap’s relationship with his brother!  You really see/understand their dynamic, and how they really act as brothers behind closed doors. The other reason it’s a favourite is the inherit domesticity! Maybe I’m a sucker for the normie, slice of life, but how MC and sans chit chat at the start of the chapter is so cute! )

Warning: mention of past cannibalism, past murder, past abuse? I think that’s it, maybe check the tags to be sure. They sound scary, but I promise it’s a very sweet story. 

Ohh, Apéritifs. First of all, what a clever name! I’m a sucker for word play, and this title alone really did it for me, haha. (if you don’t get it, please google ‘define Apéritifs’, and you’ll be just as jazzed as me.)  They’re three stand alone one-shots featuring a  different skeleton each chapter. I will say, I think chapter 3 is my fav. It’s actually heavily inspired me to make one of my one shots - it’s that good! I love the world building in it, as well. Really, you can’t go wrong. (Lulu really knows how to nail flirty dialogue, in very funny ways. ‘“so, you a fan of spare ribs, or just mine?”’ (ch. 3 – Apéritifs) KILLS ME, oh my god, what a funny flirty little one-liner. 

Skeleton Squatters and The LandLady (Incomplete, teen+ rating)

By Tyrant_Tortoise (AO3) tyranttortoise (Tumblr)

Man– SSLL walked so we all could run. The amount of ‘lodge’ type fanfic dynamic i’ve seen, BECAUSE of this fic is wild. I might be wrong in saying this, but I think they were the one who came up with the whole ‘lodge’ type scenario, like all the reverse harems with all the au’s. 

I haven’t read anything of theirs in a long time, but I wanna pay my respects where respects are due. Tyrant made one hell of an influential fanfic, enough so, that I’m pretty sure if I had a timeline of fandom evolution on undertale alone– I think there would be a noticeable difference in the before and after SSLL.  Which, is so sick!! To have influenced a whole fandom with a concept that we’re still seeing it years later? (I get that trends sorta tend to last longer in fandoms than they do irl, but isn’t that such a neat thing to think about?) 

I’m going to age myself (and maybe you, reading this a bit, but–) the first chapter was posted in 2017. 2017! Isn’t that nuts to think about? I was literally 17 at the time. No WONDER it stuck with me, my teenage brain was looking for all the  serotonin it could get from fandoms.  (wow. Things haven't changed all that much for me, haha. 

Skeleton Ex Machina (Incomplete, teen+ rating)

By Cryptid_jack (AO3)

Ohh, okay, for all the SSLL fans out there, you probably already know who cryptid_jack is. And if not, I'll gladly tell you!

They’ve made this cool ass AI AU (it’s a LOT cooler than it sounds, I promise!) in their words, ‘a fanfic of a fanfic’ that’s actually in Skeleton Squatters and The LandLady (see above.) I’d recommend reading SSLL to fully understand this - although, if you’re good at picking up context clues, or maybe don’t mind missing some context, I don’t necessarily think you’d have to, since jack does a really good job of showing the reader everything that’s going on. (although, i really  recommend you do.)

I think this au is so cool, it’s literally tagged as ‘Quarantine Sans’ (which, i’ll be the first to say, that maybe that name didn’t hold up too well, with recent 2020 events, an’ all that. Pandemic aside, it’s a cool name for an AU!) 

It’s also really fun to see two friends in the fandom interact with each other's works like this. Even reading the note at the start of the fic, you can just feel the camaraderie and care that went into paying each other's proper respects. 

Big big ups, hats off to proper manners and friendship!

All’s Fair In Love and (Prank) War (Incomplete, teen+ rating)

By torrikor (AO3)

Ohh, this is a short and sweet 2 chapter read. I don’t the author is going to circle back to it, but i suggest you read it anyways! the idea is so so good! In essence, MC and sf sans are roommates, and MC starts a prank war. I love love love their dynamic, their bickering is a real treat to read, that, coupled with their size difference? Sign me up!

My Favorite Thing (Complete, teen+ rating) and A Conversation Starter ( Complete, teen+ rating) 

By peachwhimzy (AO3) peachwhimzy-things (Tumblr)

I’m a slut for their characterization of sf pap here, oh my god. Both are so so good, and i know  i must sound like a broken record by saying I love how this author interpreted his character - but i can’t help it! So many people have good ideas and ways to showcase a character! Sue me.  

A Conversation Starter is another one that’s inspired me to write a little one-shot. It’s so fantastically written, sf Papyrus and MC are at a bus station, both the first human and monster either have met. The world building is subtle, but wonderfully done. MC is so damn cute in this, and so is Papyrus, who’s really just trying to keep the conversation going, lol. There’s a delightful slice of life aspect to this. 

Honestly, a lot of of Peach’s work feel very domestic, and sweet, and romantic. Sorta like i’m reading a studio Ghibli movie. Do yourself a favour and go check em out!

Late Night Shift Romance (Complete, teen+ rating)

By Inumaru12 (AO3)

The one fic on here that’s not a romance,how about that. (I guess that’s not technically true. There's possibly something budding, if you squint. I always read it as platonic friendship- it’s fanfic! Read it with whatever context you’d like!)

Burgerpants and MC are at the same convenient store late at night, and there’s a robbery. Friendship ensues. I love seeing the background character of undertale, and honestly, who doesn't relate to Burgerpants? Perpetually working shitty minimum wage jobs, trying to chase his dreams - that’s rough. I appreciate a character who can give a nod to class solidarity.. I think Inmuaru12 did so well writing his character, it feels like he was plucked out of the game himself, haha. 

My Dearly Detested Delivery Man, (Complete, teen+ rating) and Black Coffee (Complete, general audiences rating) 

By Little_old_lady (AO3)

Lol yet another set of swap fics, haha. (Yet another great example of different interpretations of the swapfell au!)

My Dearly Detested Delivery man is so  fun, I love an ‘enemies to friends to lovers’ type of fic. I love the dialogue, it’s so funny! Like almost sitcom-esk with how good the one liners are. I think my favourite thing about writing fanfic is the dialogue- but reading what other authors have cooked up is such a treat, too. I love seeing authors with a certain brand of wit/cleverness they think the character would have, and seeing their own comedy bleed through, too sometimes. Little_old_lady does a good job showing the reader what you can gleam from the characters with how they talk to each other, in a way that sets the tone for their relationship. (whether it’s platonic, romantic, etc.)  There’s so many ways you can show friendship, but I think the “passion” (lmao I don’t know what else to call it!)  that’s at the heart of any argument is what can create the difference between friends arguing, vs two people who could be more. (Better put, I think what I like about two characters arguing is the sorta obvious chemistry it can create.) 

Black Coffee does a good job about that too! I’ll be the first and last to say that I love any characters whose love language is ‘argue’ (lol even though irl I wouldn’t last long in any relationship like that, haha. ) I can be hit or miss with a soulmate au, but there’s another layer that I think undertale adds another level to in a soulmate au-since the game established that monsters and magic are real— that it almost feels a little more plausible of an au, than say, a soulmate AU of parks and rec? (no hate on the au or parks and rec, haha. I guess it just feels more “realistic” being that undertale is already a world made of magic, that magical soulmates, is one more step into weird that also makes sense?) I also love the bro-ship mc has with pap, in this one. Coming from someone who’s constantly worked retail/with customers one-on-one, somedays you want to go ape shit, so it’s nice to see an MC who can.

Half Your Age Plus Seven (Complete, teen+ rating) 

By KassyKins

Ohhh, what a little treat this was to read. Tragedy! Romance! Love-rivalry! (NOT a love triangle!) People just Trying to do their best, they’ve got it all! This is another MC i’m in love with. They know what they love, and what they’re passionate about, but when push comes to shove, they’ll choose their family over themselves every single time. I think it’s a very admirable trait to have, integrity, and the ability to self-sacrifice.  I think those two tropes/characteristics can really lead a story in so many interesting directions - weather it be an MC who’s too self-sacrificing, giving parts of themselves to everyone, leaving nothing for themselves, or an MC who’s pushing themselves through the ringer trying to do what they think is right according to their integrity, burning them up in the process.  In this particular case, it’s maybe a little bit of both, coupled with (sad) a slice of life meet cute, with a healthy dose of growing pains. 

There’s something about it that always hits extra hard to me, the ‘thrust into the lime light, or power, or a position they have no business being in. But, they’ve got people on the line, their people to take care of, so by god they’ll try.’ There’s something so tragic and poetic about it – but who knows, maybe I'm waxing poetic about the eldest daughter trope. 

This fic really nicely written, and there’s so many fun hijinks and shenanigans in there to make you chuckle. Featuring another MC who’s able to shout at their boss and get away with it- big ups from me, lets goooooo working class!

Fair warning, this is a notable age gap from MC and swapfell gold sans. It is talked about in the story as well. I personally don’t mind it too much, but if that’s a no-go from you, you’ve been warned. (Maybe just check the tags on this one, (spoilers!) I know someone gets pregnant later. But, I know that can freak some folks out, so, heads up.) 

There’s some smut mentioned, but it doesn’t go into detail about it, so i’ll leave it above the NSFW section. Just fair warning! (Maybe not a story for minors? I don’t know, read at your own discretion if you are?) 

For the smut mention, be warned that I couldn’t find any age in their bio, do with that what you will. 

And Now It’s Crystal Clear(Complete, teen+ rating)

By nighttimelights (AO3)

Oh, man. What another banger read. 

Fun fact- i read this in . . . highschool? But i forgot the name of the fic,and it took me FOREVER, im talking YEARS before I found it again. I actually gave up the hunt, and just found it again one day– what an utter joy that was for me to rediscover it. I felt like I ran into my highschool sweetheart at the grocery store after not thinking about them in years. 

It’s really cool concept on the whole ‘machine gaster’ situation. I respect someone so damn much who incorporates a bit of sci-sfi in their fics, I have no idea how to write it, but I love to read it/see it in media. So to see it, and understand it, and how it’s relevant to the plot is a real treat!

I also love the ending.  :)

Wish Bone (Ongoing, Explicit rating)

By timeofjuly

I could not, in good conscience make this list without including my bestie, the OG and probably the reason why I'm actually posting what I'm writing today. I really can’t sing their praises high enough – but for the sake of comment day, I sure can try, haha.

July really does a good job of creating a wicked atmosphere in her works. The stark difference between Wish Bone (a political romance drama) and Resisting the Currents (reverse harem, but the gf likes you too. It's linked in the nsfw section, please check it out if you can.) is so incredible – they’re really an author that can do both, haha. Even though both fics are so different, what they have in common is their ability to get you right in your feelings, in whichever way the story calls for. 

In Wishbone  – Flint (the MC) has a bad case of being a massive asshole, that’s verging on becoming chronic. Their paranoia has caused their head to permanently be a swivel, and they’ve developed a taste for their own brand of Justice (however malicious as it is.)  That sounds like the start of a vigilante story, but in all truth, Flint is a dick. Which, is another thing July is great at! Writing MC’s who are assholes! You love to hate them, you hate that you love them! 

This is a MC x sf Pap, and later X sf Sans as well, If you’re hoping for a sappy romance, you’ve come to the wrong place. This is a reluctant soulmate AU fic, a fantastic spin on the traditionally very romantic au, a meet ugly, sort of vibe. If you love arguing, political drama, fantastic world building, and a very, sad, broken MC – you’re going to love this. Hell, even if how I described it doesn’t sound appealing to you – I implore you to check it out anyways. July will absolutely knock you on your ass with her writing. By god, there’s themes, motifs and symbolism that I'm not smart enough to analyse, let alone talk about. Whether July intentionally put them there or not, I have no idea, but they’re there and it adds another layer of depth in a delightfully, painful soul crushing way. 

Go, see what I mean for yourself! 

Tbh, i feel like I could go on forever about what I love about their fics, and my little personal theories on them – but I feel like I already look pretty unhinged. For the sake of my ego, i’ve gotta move on. 

In terms of warnings, I think I sorta covered them? There's Plenty of anger, and hatred, ummm monster phobia? There might be some sorta nsfw stuff down the line, thus the rating, but as it stands now it’s smut free! Just a heads up, I suppose. 

 In Two weeks time and Red is my favorite color

By who_wants_a_muffin (AO3) 

My other current ongoing fav, in two weeks time! Another swapfell sans one, to the surprise of absolute of no one, haha. 

This MC is a dude! A man! Which is a refreshing change up, I don’t think there’s many many fics out there with a male leaning/male dominant MC’s. The characterization of MC is very good, 

is so so good, it’s and X sf sans, and he’s got the exact right amount of snark and sass to keep you coming back, haha. (Or, I guess in this case, he keeps coming back. MC works at the pool he frequents.) Their banter is really fun to read, bordering on bickering, really. They’re almost like a little old married couple, haha. Which is to say, you can really feel the chemistry they have even though they’re basically strangers. 

sf Papyrus is such a little shit in this one, i love it. He’s perpetually the youngest brother, and how Muffin writes him is so snarky and funny, and very endearing. 

The chapters are short and sweet, enough so that you can read it a few times in the same day and still enjoy it, even though his updating schedule is crazy fast! I don’t know how he does it, but they’re just motoring along, haha. I get excited whenever I get an email saying Muffin updated. It’s like a little treat to brighten your week.

I’ve been reading a bit of his other stuff, and he just gets it! Like the dynamic between MC and fell sans in Red in my favorite color, is just perfect. I love the soft!underfell au, and he does a really good job of capturing how underfell sans straddles the line between being a bad boy, and a boy that's not all that bad.

I also love the notes he writes, ‘Hello gays and other assorted sillies!’ (from Chapter 2 in Red in my favorite color,) Like COME ON, that’s so funny! 

– Undertale related 

Bonley Hearts Club (Demo available, Ongoing, teen+ rating) 

Bonely Hearts Club (tumblr) 

owl-bones (tumblr) is the Developer and Director and (self proclaimed! I’m not being mean!) Lead Nerd.  Here is a link to their cast, although it might not be fully updated. (It’s  \a big one, so I'm going to leave it as a link.) 

I don’t even know how to begin to explain my love for Bonely Hearts Club. It’s a fanmade game, made entirely of love, which you can tell, even before you play it. The sprites are so cute, and fantastic, and the writing is so in character and on point, do not get me started on the voice acting - which is also incredible. I’m not kidding, when I first played the demo, I immediately followed the voice actors on tumblr after, haha. 

This is the kinda piece of art that you just stand back and look at it, and just go ‘wow’. It’s such a big undertaking! I know very little about game development, but from what i vault remember from my comp sci class - is that is’s hard. Mad respect from me to Owl, and everyone a part of the team/process. 

This is off topic, but I wonder if Toby Fox has read any of these fics, or played the demo of this dating sim, like in the same way Alex Hursh has played a bit of Swooning Over Stans: A Grunkle Dating Sim. I’d pay serious money to have Toby play the dating sim demo. God, could you imagine the energy in that livestream? It would be goddamn electric.

[ Soul Redacted ] (Completed, teen rating) and The Great Noodle Jape (Completed, teen rating) 

By nighttimepixels (game jolt) nighttimepixels (tumblr) 

// active twitter lethalhoopla  

//active tumblr lethalhoopla

Good god, talk about a . . .what, triple, quadruple threat? There’s nothing nighttimepixels can’t do. They write, they make art, they’ve made two complete games, (and the beginning of another,) and they animate!! Like oh my god! Another love letter to the fandom, everything they do is so so good. 

[Soul Redacted] is a very cool rpg sidescroller explorer/mystery, and i’d say a touche of sci-fi in there, too. It has fantastic writing, and features Q! (from Cryptid_jack au, in Skeleton Squatters and The LandLady fromTyrant_Tortoise  fic! see above for all!) Truth be told, I got a little scared playing this. Granted, I played it at like 2 am in the dark - and I am a coward lol. I don’t think the average person will get scared, but fair warning anyways, haha. 

They’re not into the undertale fandom anymore, I don't think. Which is sad to hear, but also understandable. It’s not fun making art and other creations if you’ve lost that spark there. However, if you’re a mass effect fan, they’re making a bunch of art on their other bog. I personally really love their art style, so i’ll gladly keep checking back. Also, there’s so much undertale content on their blog that you’ll be good for a long while. And if not, you can always go back and look again! If you can’t experience it for the first time, the next best thing is to experience it again. 

Warning: I think there’s some flashing lights at some point? Maybe double check the tags on that one if that’s a concern for you. 

The Great Noodle Jape is so damn cute. As night put it, ‘a visnov style silly whodunit’, which I think it captures it perfectly. The writing is so fun, all the characters feel very well written/in character, and i love how they all interact with each other. As well, the sprites are so fantastic! Night has that kind of art style where you just know it's theirs without needing to confirm. 

No warnings that I could think of, other than you’ll be wishing for the experience of playing it for the first time once you’re done.

– non-Undertale related fics - 

Cult of the Lamb—

The Rehabilitation of Death 

By bamsara (AO3) / bamsara (Tumblr)

WOOF. I am an ‘happy ending angst’ lover, and a ‘energies to lovers slow burn,’ and this fic takes the cake on both regards. Truly, who could pine better than a god, who’s named literally ‘The One Who Waits’? What an aptly named character for one of the major troupes in the fic, haha.

But for all you freaks out there (lol me) who don’t mind horror some of the time, I recommend reading it! Even if you’re not into CoTL, the pining is so goddamn good! (Considering it’s about gods, they’ve been pining for hundreds of years without even knowing it–  the slowest of burns, like oh my GOD.) Bam also is known to post longer chapters- so if you like a read that lasts a couple days, PLEASE do yourself a favour and check it out. I don’t wanna spoil anything, but they’re getting to the part where the main couple is starting to be nice to each other, plus, the subplot B couple is starting to sorta shack up too. There are so many good, funny dynamics that are in this fic, that I don’t have enough words to properly explain them. 

They also make fantastic artwork and sketches for just about each scene in their fics - which for all you visual girlies out there (myself, haha.) I think you’d appreciate it! I wish I was that type of triple threat, but I think i’d burn out too quickly if I was also drawing scenes of my fics – which is why I think it’s so impressive when other authors/artists do it! 

 They do art streams pretty frequently, too, and they make stickers too! A true triple threat, 

Just, fair warning-  like Cult of the Lamb (the game the fic is based off,)  this fic mentions a lot about gore, and death, and mention of cults and religion. So if any of that is a turn off, or something you don’t like to read about, this might not be your cup of tea. 

Non-fanfic Undertale fandom related material– 

FNAF—

Solar Lunacy (Incomplete, Mature)

By BamSara

(I kept these two separate on the account they’re different fandoms, lol) 

I was very briefly into the FNAF fandom, I only read a handful of fics— but Solar Lunacy really stuck with me!

Robots with trauma! An overly curious MC! I think what I like most about this, is how driven mc is? Usually it gets them into trouble, haha, but I love that troupe where the MC really puts themselves through the wringer looking for answers. (I.e like ford and bill from gravity falls.)  

What’s not to love? For all you robot fans out there, it’s pretty sick! I’m sure if you dig deep enough on Bam’s tumblr you’ll find all their old DCA fanart, and draw parts from this fic. 

Fair warning! Scary robots, the regular tags of the fnaf fandom (past child abuse/past child murder), robots don’t understand boundaries, maybe check the tags on this one, just in case. 

Sleuth Jesters (Series!) (Complete, teen+ and mature ratings, depending on which fic in the series you’re reading.)

By naffeclipse (AO3)

This was the other FNAF fanfic that really stuck with me when I had the robot bug. (lol)  I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m not overly into the whole ‘mafia boss’ side of self-ships, but if I had to choose one to read for the rest of time –  it would definitely be this one. It’s like a detective noir, where mc is the vigilante who’s only law they follow is their grey moral code - but usually it’s for the good! So you can’t really feel to bad about that, haha. 

Tbh it’s almost hard to verbalise what I like about it, it’s one of those fics that give you a feeling you can’t name, and it’s so frustrating to have this unnamed feeling you can’t quite pinpoint! (PLEASE tell me some of ya’ll know what i’m talking about!)

I feel so tragically for the MC, if that makes sense? They’re constantly putting themselves in harm's way for answers, and for others.  They’re selfless, yet selfish, and they never let anyone too close, except for when they do. There’s some heavy themes and very toxic relationships, but there’s a happy ending! 

Ahh warning for a very possessive, toxic robot, and kidnapping in later fics - i suggest you read the tags just in case! Bam is really good at tagging triggers accordingly, 

Fair warning: blood and injury, very possessive character, toxic relationships (one sided), mention of injury, violence, kidnapping, guns, gunshot  wounds, shootouts, broken bone- probably some more. I recommend checking the tags on this one as well, just to be on the safe side. 

NSFW Below – Minors get out of here pls!

A quick mention, before I get into this–

I tried to check and make sure all the authors below are all well over 18, i’ve indicated which link has their age posted in their bio’s if you’d like to check for yourself. If I couldn’t find it, I made sure to be clear that I don't know. 

Just doing some light housekeeping, here. You should also check the tags on each fic for what kinda . . . stuff it has, lol. 

Play With Me (Incomplete, explicit rating) 

By grimrester (AO3) / grimrester  (tumblr/ age in bio here.) 

Oh my god. Oh my god! For all you queers on the ace/aromatic spectrum just like me, this is the fic for you!

I could easily go back and read this again and again - tbh I already do. It’s plot with porn, and then it turns into porn with plot, but emotional!  love the relationship between MC and Sans. There's something about their intimacy that’s so casual (maybe not the right word for what I mean,) but vulnerable, and realistic, but very enthusiastic and personal? I don’t think I even have the right words to properly and fully describe what all I like about this fic, but what I do know is that I like it a lot, haha. 

I like that it shows sex and intimacy in a different way. I know it’s pretty common for undertale smut to have some kind of ecto junk involved - this one doesn’t. I personally, like the creativity involved in thinking different ways a person can get off that isn’t just penetration. (Don’t get me wrong, that’s in here too, but that comes a little bit later.) 

I’m also s Big Fan of the sf sans interpretation here. It’s like a soft swapfell, one of my favourite version of him. I said it already, but there’s so many ways a person can go with his character, and I really really like the worldbuilding. It’s a nice subtle nod told through the characters. I love his relationship he has with Alphys, it all feels so incredibly in line with the character, even though he’s a swapfell version, he still does have some sort of friendship with her – even if to him it’s under a guise. To me, it’s one of those things that you can see the core traits that make him a sans, and that’s a hard needle to thread! Just an all around great character study. 

ALSO, I think I have a particular penchant for MC’s with oddly specific niche jobs?? In my heart of hearts, Pixy’s (the name of the arcade MC owns in Play with Me) is like right next door to Faunas (the name of the pot store my MC owns in Into The Weeds.) 

Warnings: i’m pretty sure this one is tagged accordingly on AO3, so i’m not going to tag it all here, just know there’s smut. 

Something Good (Ongoing, Mature) 

By skeletonlvr22 (AO3)

WARNING: No age in bio that I could find. This fic isn’t at the smut yet - but becuase of the 'eventual smut' tag, and for the sake of transparency, i’m letting you know. (I’m like 90% sure this person is an adult though, since there’s a tag thanking their husband for their help.) Do what you will with this info, you’ve been warned. 

This is another one of my current reading obsessions lately! 

I think i’m realizing I have a particular penchant for some of the lesser known au’s? (niche, I suppose?) Fellswap Gold Pap sets out on his own in only his trusty bus, to explore the surface above, away from the (over-) protective eyes of his brother. 

This is the escape fantasy of my dreams. A stray skeleton on the adventure of his lifetime, seeing the sights and the city lights. The romance portion in the later chapters is so damn cute too, it’s very much the ‘first love’, type of romance that’s very sweet and charming. (also, c’mon, who doesn't love a coming of age story?) Love love seeing a Fellswap Gold fic, and a Papyrus based one, too! People are so damn creative, I never would've ever thought of this plot for a fic, but now that I know it’s real, I love it!I I’m really not kidding when I say it’s prime escape fantasy material -  I think it would be the cats ass to have a van and travel across north america, thanks skeletonlv22 for letting me vicariously live through Pap in your fic. :) 

Warning: Only the ones i’ve given at the top! It’s a very cute story. I put it in the NSFW section b/c of the eventual smut, there’s none in it now – although, they certainly are starting to get flirty. 

Resisting the Currents (Ongoing, Explicit) 

By timeofjuly (AO3) timeofjuly (Tumblr) 

WARNING: No age in bio that I could find, but I’ve been chit-chatting with July for months now and i’m 99.99% sure they’re well above 18. It’s not my info to give out, and i’m trying to be transparent on my end, do with this info what you will! 

Edit: age confirmed in the tags!

This is easily another fav of mine for sure. 

Resisting the Currents is a reverse harem fic (with all the au’s!) but with a twist - the gf likes you too! It’s a refreshing take on the ‘reverse harem’ tag you see often in the undertale fandom - and holy shit, truly ‘only love can hurt like this.’ The relationship they have with the MC is so painful, verging on devastating. There’s love there! There is! But there’s also hurt, and a lot of it, the kind that doesn’t just go away, not on its own, anyway. I’m trying not to spoil too much, because I truly think you should read it for yourself. 

But, Oh My God, their MC? Holyshit- I have a(n aforementioned) weakness for impressionable MC’s, oftentimes, I end up loving them more than the love interest in the fics.  I can’t help it! The electrician is personable, relatable, and funny! They’re a lovable goofball with a rough past, with a history of doing the wrong things.They're recovering/recovered? (I’m not too sure which is the correct term, here,) drug addict, and they’ve come a long way! They’ve changed a lot, and I love love love to see that kind of realism in an MC. 

If you’re reading RtC (which you should be,) you can 100% see me going apeshit in the comments trying to figure out what the elections and Quinn’s deal is. (ESPECIALLY chapter 11!

(Sorry if they’re not coherent, at one point, those theories made sense in my head, but looking back on them, I think they’re more so like the crazed ramblings of a conspiracy theorist, haha.) 

This fic is in the NSFW section b/c it does have a chapter where two characters get it on, but i can’t say that’s what the whole story is about. I put it down here to be safe rather than sorry, haha. 

Ahh, fair warning, there is past drug mention, and past abuse child abuse I think? Plus, a bit of mention of religion and the negative effects that can have on a person. Read the tags just to be safe!

Shark Teeth (Complete, Mature rating)

By luluwrites (AO3) skelezbian (Tumblr)

Warning: No age in bio that I could find. If it makes you feel any better, they joined AO3 in 2012, while I joined in 2016 and i’m 24 currently. I’m not good at math, but I think we’re all in the clear here. But like always, do with this info what you will! 

I will say, this isn’t full on smut - it’s saucy, but I’m trying to keep anything suggestive, kinda together? 

Not to divulge myself too furiously here, but uh–There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about Shark teeth. C’mon. Y'all get it, right? It’s just a funny, saucy little number! A funny moment that happens between couples that we get to see. There’s so many different interpretations on the fellswaps, (I know i’ve said it a lot,) but Lulu’s just happens to be one of my favourites interpretations!! Sf Sans is a very precarious character, and I think Lulu does a good job showing that the swaps can be written in a multitude of ways, he doesn’t just have to be the dickhead all the time, lmao. They really do a good job showing how he shines, y’know?

Warning: teeth and/or biting? Not full on smut, or anything, but it is saucy. So, take that into consideration. 

The Fulfilling Ordeal of Being Known (Complete, explicit) 

By nighttimepixels (tumblr) / // active on twitter lethalhoopla (age mention in bio here) 

Ohhh, for all my sapphics out there – you’re going to love this. 

Blade (fem  horrortale sans, who’s apart of her ‘Lillytale’ au, a sapphic take on all the au’s,) and MC settling down for a nice night in, MC playing breath of the wild (BIG UPPS, great game, lol) while Blade plays some games of their own - hopefully you get the picture. 

Just some great lady-lovin’ smut! Size difference! If you love the pillow princess treatment, this is the fic for you.

Warnings: (Lesbians? Queers?) really going to town on each other, def NSFW. Check the tags before reading, it’s nothing Dead Dove, or anything - just want you to be aware. 

mothiepixie (tumblr / age in bio here)

mothiepixie (twitter, age in bio here too) 

No fic to tag, but their art? AHHHHH. They’re more active on twitter than tumblr since The Ban, but ohhh their art is very, very good. Very great if you like fictional hunky men, and beautiful shapely ladies. 

Warnings: tasteful (shameless) smut, you’ve been warned, lol

Woof. That was a lot of typing. If you made it this far, circle back to one of the recommendations above and get to reading!

[seventeenlovesthree]

I know you wrote, you have a ton of projects till the end of the year, but! I saw Ruki/Jeri in your poll and would you care share your two cents about them girls? Only if you have time. I loved them since Ruki was teaching Jeri to play the digimon card game 🥺 I think they are my fave f/f ship in digimon

First things first: You can ALWAYS drop messages in my ask box, I'm always happy and up to discuss and share my own meta about ships and characters!

While my personal favourite f/f ship in Digimon overall will always be Sora/Mimi, I can actually draw some parallels between their dynamics, particularly when it comes to the similarities between Sora and Ruki - I'll try to keep this as short as possible, but the main aspect here is: Both Sora and Ruki have incredible soft spots for Mimi and Juri respectively and thus break through the initial trope(s) you associate with them. You would not expect the more introverted tomboy (who start off actively rejecting typical femininity) to care so much, be so protective of and overall get along so well with the supposed girly-girl at first glance, would you? While Sora is having more of a big sister vibe going on towards the other/younger characters, it's less likely for someone like Ruki, who used to push everyone away and wasn't even seen interacting with girls prior to meeting Juri.

You would expect her to look down on "card game newbies" the same way she used to ridicule Takato and Jenrya for being "too soft" - luckily for Juri, Ruki had already started contemplating her approaches and view points and, probably for the first time ever, seemed to feel some kind of pride in being able to teach someone. It's interesting how she just... Immediately feels drawn to Juri, how softly she talks to and smiles at her and has all the patience in the world for her. Sometimes I feel like some scenes/moments didn't make it into the final product, because Ruki's softness increases a lot faster during the midpoint of the series (and it's really a shame because the more the cast grows, the less you see individual interactions between certain characters). Either way, looking at how she treats Juri, it's no surprise that, aside from mimicking Takato's card slash pose, Juri also copies Ruki's initial card holding pose. Juri is admiring Ruki greatly and through the course of the series, whenever possible, she does cling to her - whereas Ruki is there to protect and comfort her, but without EVER belittling her. She knows Juri isn't weak, but worries for her for very understandable reasons after the loss of Leomon.

Tamers overall has a very interesting framing theme when it comes to Ruki, her reltionship to her family (mostly influenced by female figures) and to Renamon - as mentioned, she is initially rejecting feminity due to a difficult relationship with her mother. Not only does she not want to be "like her" (a model obsessed with beauty and not having time for family anyway), but she's also obviously rebelling, lashing out due a sense of having to prove herself and displaying strength. We know she longs for the attention of her father and can assume that there is underlying trauma of feeling rejected as a daughter that causes her to bottle up. She appears incredibly detached and/or lashes out when others show her affection, which is why she is initially still tough towards all the boys around her. But she improves almost all her relationships upon accepting Renamon more and more as an equal partner and friend, culminating in their Matrix evolution to Sakuyamon, which definitely represents the beginning of Ruki being able to embrace her own sense of femininity. One might argue that there are also potentially romantic undertones in how her behaviour changes towards Takato and Ryo (which, as we know, is a typical trope in media to portray boyish girls becoming more feminine). But I'd really like to add that the first human character that brought out her gentle side was Juri. And thus, my verdict is - Ruki wouldn't even have gotten that far if it hadn't been for Juri contributing to her soft side coming to the surface. (Renamon still has the biggest impact here and despite being proof of Digimon having no gender, Renamon is still associated with the female gender and thus being another female influence.)

There is... A lot of wlw subtext here in my opinion (the RenaRuki subtext in particular is INSANE, if you think about it), but unfortunately, Digimon has never dared to cross that line officially. I do see the appeal in people shipping Ruki with the aforementioned Ryo and Takato (though I personally feel like the former is a little forced, disruptive of the group dynamics and also a bit too stereotypical - the latter is somewhat difficult when you see Juri as semi-official love interest for Takato, it makes the whole thing a little messy). But in my opinion, it would have been nice to at least show the girls being important to each other. Because they absolutely are, even if my memory on the final Tamers episodes is a bit rusty.

[itsbeenliketenyearsitsprettywild]

*deep breath* Okay. In that case, buckle the fuck up.

For all I know, there might be canon lore or word from the creator that entirely debunks this idea. If so, please feel free to tell me directly! I love discussion with other fans, and don't take it personally if a theory i back turns out to be incorrect!

(and honestly somewhere along the way I realized I DO NOT have the spell slots necessary to put my full thesis down, so sadly you're only getting the cliffnotes and some shitty visuals I made instead.) But before I get into it, I'd like to put a warning for those tempted to keep reading: This is the sort of pretentious plot twist spoiler that (depending on your tastes) might make the experience of MILGRAM a lot less fun for you just by knowing/considering it. As such, please use discretion before clicking on the read more. But! I don't think it'll spoil anything to state the basic premise.

The truth is deceptively simple: MILGRAM is a work of fiction set up so that us, the audience, get to influence the characters present in the narrative, thus directly influencing everything that happens, via the cast/crew reacting to our decisions according.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if you some of you think I'm joking or wondering how that in any way counts as a theory.

Part 1: A Cosmic Horror Story(ish) by Any Other Name

In which case, lemme shift the spotlight from the audience's perspective of Milgram to the character's experience of it:

While they don't realize it, the characters of MILGRAM are intentionally constructed beings, within an intentionally constructed universe. Which isn't to say that they, as characters, don't have thoughts and feelings. Their lives and experiences and crimes are just as real as everything else around them. But! Seeing as all of that is fictional, that's... debatable, at best.

They were all created (for the purpose of entertainment) by a force/entity that is basically all-powerful within their universe, but is almost entirely passive in nature. Or to put it another way: It's the cast/crew of MILGRAM that makes this whole narrative exist, but they're always gonna stay in the background of the story. The focus is always on the characters and how they deal with all this.

Past the force that created them, there is one other group of entities that exists outside the character's universe. It's these beings who actively engage with them, through means that go beyond the physical. ie; that us, the audience!! We vote, engage in theorycrafting, and talk about the characters to the point where oh shit they might be going a little insane from hearing us, actually.

Part 2: Other Helpful (and Very Shitty) Visual Aids, Without Context

Part 3: "Wait, so that means we shouldn't have been vot-" Lemme stop you there

With all this in mind, the conclusion most people would immediately come to would be "So this really was just the creators redoing the Milgram experiments, and our only ethical option is to not vote at all!"

Which, no.

Though we might largely have the most direct say in how things go down, the creators can still weigh in if we refuse to play by their rules.

For example, where you here when Haruka's 2nd Trial vote went down? Because, while I wasn't, I have seen the comments people posted during and after that time period.

That is to say, people were trying really hard to get him to a 50/50 tie stall, thus breaking the system - it was only right near the end that the poll hard shifted towards guilty.

Something similar (but a lot more shitposty) happened with Mikoto's first trial vote, too; apparently, the unspoken consensus was that everyone wanted Mikoto to be exactly 69% guilty (lol, never change folks). But, guess what? Right at the end - small shift towards innocent. Tragically ending The Meme Dream for everyone involved.

For all that we, the audience, are mostly in control of where things end up, the creators are more than willing to step in if we stop playing by their rules or don't take things seriously enough and shift votes one way or another depending.

Which means that all not voting does is put it in the creator's hands to decide - and, in that case, they could end up making the choice that you don't like.

So, for all it can feel icky for us voters to be C'thulu to the characters, depending on your outlook, trying to influence them can still be pretty important.

[secretnameofeverydeath]

nightmarish waking up in a country where i had to explain to a turkish friend last night what this all meant, seeing her type out: now there are two countries that do not want me.

i try looking for silver linings but i am not finding them today. yes of course the left-wing party is second biggest but it does not mean anything, especially as it's basically the same amount of votes - the leftist group of voters has not grown, and the price is that we have lost the one antiracist & anticolonial party that is actively pro-palestine and not homophobic.

even 'oh but young people would have voted differently' while that's true, is still not all that hopeful. young people would have voted more fascists and also conspiracy theorists into the government.

and then the media trying to portray these elections in a semi-neutral way, as if politics is all laws of nature, as if their framings and attention do not mean anything - what a surprise some parties do not get votes when these parties are not even invited to debates nor ever discussed in any serious way. what a surprise when polls are presented as if they just happen, as if presenting them will not inadvertently influence the voters and their strategies.

you know i am an angry person most days when it comes to politics. i argue and i rant and i go to protests and shout. but my anger stems from a belief in change, an optimism things can become better, a frustration we are not working towards better. it stems from a hopeful part of myself.

but today i am tired, and very sad. i did not want to get out of bed. asking myself what then did i expect. that's... that there is dangerous, you know. that's looking at politics as if it's some natural phenomenon we all take no part in. it's cynisism. slipping into resignation. laughing because at least i have a job, or something. you can roll your eyes while accepting a status quo, but then you're still accepting the status quo.

this party is against everything i believe in. and it's not just this party - it's three of the four biggest parties. it's the parties that might actually form a coalition. i will give myself today to grieve. tomorrow i will get up and look for a fight.

[kanerallels]

Re: homeschooling. There is ALOT of stigma, but I’ve heard the stigma is much higher in the USA than elsewhere, and this is an American site so all polls results are skewed to an American world view. So there’s that, what fears exist there that influence the vote? I’ll try to summarize. I’d be interested in a poll from everyone else. Also the points I’m gonna cover are just what I’ve heard over the years, and over the border as a Canadian myself, who only homeschooled for a few of my years, so it’s not iron clad or anything. Just some possibilities.

The stigmas come from the idea that it’s bad because there are, unfortunately, a lot of people who don’t do it right, or for the right reasons. The main objections are these kids are completely isolated socially, underprepared to function in the real world, and that they won’t get a proper education - either from ignorance or malice, or both. There may also be unconscious bias that the state (not the American sense of the word, but the institutional sense) knows best and how can parents know what to teach? Which probably feeds back into factors I don’t really have the qualifications to talk about but basically boil down to “if you educated them better they won’t be mindless minions for the capitalist/military/prison grind” - the state does not want that, so they purport the idea that it’s bad (yes that borders on conspiracy theory, not saying it’s true, saying I’ve heard this said). Never mind public education is a fairly new concept, historically speaking (and it is a good thing in many ways! Mandatory, free, basic education has eliminated illiteracy in many places for example. The concept started out with worthy goals, etc - have they strayed from them and why? Lack of care or just resources?)

Obviously, all of that is going to vary by who is doing it and why and if they have the time and resources and desire to do it properly.

Socially, you can absolutely create community elsewhere - when my mom was doing it with us, we went to the library every single week and met up with a bunch of other kids and planned social stuff and educational group trips to places like the science centre and the art and history museums. We mixed our book learning with practical skills - one person knew a sewing teacher, one person negotiated a discount for swim lessons, the library offered French lessons among its many other programs. And of course to supplement grade standard education lesson books, like math, spelling, etc, we were ALWAYS taking out books from the library, both fiction and non fiction. So there are absolutely ways to get a rounded education and a social life. I would say even more so now than when the concept was new for me 15-20 years ago.

But on the other hand, there are the horror stories, and success stories don’t circulate half so well. The people who isolate their kids to abuse them, don’t teach them anything, make them do chores all day beyond age appropriate responsibility or physical ability, etc. also the deliberate obfuscation of certain information or topics because of personal ideology, usually religious, because you know. Somehow education equates belief (sarcasm. Example: I learned people used to think the world was flat. Guess what? I don’t believe that).

These are just some random thoughts, feel free say it doesn’t make sense lol. I do believe if that’s what you want to do, and you have the love and time and ability and patience etc, and financial freedom for at least one parent to do it (someone’s gotta work unfortunately), then go for it. But do it right, and find as many resources as you can. Unfortunately there are people who go into it without preparation and for the wrong reasons and I can see why people believe kids need access to third parties somewhere in their lives, and school might as well be it. Like there’s very much merit and drawbacks on both sides. I think there’s kids who could come out from both systems with abysmal skills, and from both with stellar skills, (I’ve met both types), it’s just really gonna boil down to individual circumstances.

This is all really really interesting, thank you for the ask!! I knew some of this stuff but not all of it. And I don't think I knew you were homeschooled at one point, that's so cool!! (Oh and you're never gonna hear judgement about conspiracy theory sounding stuff from me lol)

[petra-creat0r]

addison lore? I cannot find any thing about their relationship or backstory or junk? Seems like a lots going on and I wanna know

OHOHOHOHOH THIS IS GONNA BE FUN!

Okay, the little bit I have got on them I put on their AddiName polls back when I was coming up with their names. So, let me go grab those real quick but we're gonna also get into some other stuff about them too. Banner (Blue), Cache (Orange), Click (Pink), Flash (Yellow)

Whenever I think about the Addisons, my head canons end up coming from the HotSpots (aka Chicago's friends who mirror them). This is only because I thought of the 'Spots first, and based them off any loose head canons I had of the canon Ads. My brain is weird, I admit this!

So, I've already mentioned the age order I see them in. Which, ironically, ended up being a complete coincidence that it also lined up with the HotSpots, though I can guess because I likely used the same method when figuring out age order, which was searching up "when did x advertising thing become a thing." Technically speaking, with that method I also should've had Spamton be the oldest (first spam email sent in 1978 while first ad banner was 1994) but I wanted him to be the youngest. But! Just to refresh, Banner is the oldest while Flash and Spam are the youngest! Cache is the second oldest and Click is right in the middle! However generally, they're all around the same age, and I don't see any of them being related.

I already mentioned some stuff about them as individuals/how their Addison types work, so lets focus a bit more on relationships! Which I only skimmed in the previous posts, mostly focusing on their feelings towards Spamton. (But also we're still gonna get into a bit more of the individuals because I feel it's a little necessary)

So! Starting with Banner, I've mentioned previously how Banner is often the most responsible and level headed of the group, and sees himself as some what of the older brother of the group/responsible for everyone else. Though, ironically, doesn't tend to be the one to clear up arguments, instead is often instigating them by arguing with Flash for slacking off or something. To Banner, Flash is like an annoying younger sibling who never listens to what he's supposed to do, and is just a bit more energetic than Banner would like. In the past, Banner often found it bothersome how much Flash would be a bad influence towards Spamton, with the two often doing reckless and stupid shit together and getting in trouble. You know that comic I posted earlier? Banner would believe it was mostly Flash's fault. (It wasn't. Spam was the one who caused the two to start getting chased.)

When it comes to Banner's relationship with Cache and Click? Eh, it's sorta so so. Banner often works with Cache as they both advertise fashion, though now I have the idea of Cache getting annoyed at Banner for either trying to eat some of Cache's work, or sell it as something edible. That may work for Banner's shoes and stuff, but Cache is very much of the mindset that her fashion is art, not food. As for Banner and Click, they don't really have that much of a relationship outside of work now a days but I have a sense that back before all the Big Shot drama stuff with Spam, they hung out. Likely talked over tea and stuff. As of right now, I don't imagine Banner really with anyone (If I'm being honest, the only Addisons I ship are Click and Spam, with maaaaaybe Cache and Flash being a thing at some point), but I do imagine Click teasing or getting on the Banner's back about relationships (which he probably does for a lot of people. I mean, Click's a pink addison! It's what they do!) ... Okay maybe now that I think about it, I may have some ideas for relationships with Banner, but they aren't within the main Addigroup.

Next up is Cache! The second oldest the one who takes their job seriously to a fault. Banner might be the most responsible, but Cache is the most hard working, to the point he over works himself. She didn't always, mostly because Flash would always find some way to ensure she didn't, though after Spam left... Well, you know. Asides from being a workaholic though, Cache is very fashionable and a bit eccentric. They always love trying out new things with their fashion lines and if you get them started on whatever they're working on, they likely will not stop, and will actually likely talk their way into making something for you. Now a days, I feel he doesn't like others modeling for him though, preferring to stick with his mannequins, but there was a time when Spamton was his favorite model/one of the only people she'd get to model her work.

Asides from that, I mentioned a bit of Cache and Flash's relationship previously, and the more that I think about it, the more I find them an adorable couple. If not currently, then definitely they were dating at some point. For the other Addison's though, I mentioned Banner and Cache's relationship. To this day, they refuse to ever dabble in any edible clothing, maybe out of respect for Banner, maybe out of annoyance for Banner continuing to try and eat her clothes. Likely the latter. (Idk why I'm latching onto that so much. Idk, just, no one talks about the Blue Addison in game with their edible shoe samples and telling you to try a bit of some clothes on a mannequin in Castle Town. It's very funny, it has potential.)

As for Cache and Click? I feel they have a bit of a rivalry? Like I think at times they're like the "I can't stand his fake ass. 10 minutes later me and the bestie" meme. Mostly though just... I wrote an interaction into a future chapter when we're more properly introduced to the Addisons, where Cache is just roasting Click while working on a design.

Anyways, speaking of Click! Let's talk about ol' Clicard. Click is the middle one and though he acts all nice and sweet with customers, the others know he's not as cut and dry as that. Click can honestly be a sassy little bitch and Banner, Cache and Flash are well of this. Click often finds herself being the mediator of arguments within the group (at least when she's not the one arguing) either just due to circumstance, or because there is a customer around and she's trying to save face. I find this incredibly ironic considering, hey, you know when Spamton became a Big Shot and the group kicked him out/sorta broke up? Yeah? Click instigated that. While none of them really liked Spamton's success, either being annoyed with how much he kept talking about it or being concerned about the phone, Click was absolutely bitter and jealous. He ended up calling Spam out on everything one day and fought broke out and Spamton left/was kicked out. To this day, none of them are over this, no matter how much Click defends that she feels nothing and has pushed everything down. For an Addison type attuned to emotions of customers, Click sure likes denying his own!

Speaking of denying feelings! I mentioned how Click will tease people about relationship stuff. She will do this with all of her friends, as well as give others pretty good relationship advice, however when it comes to Click's own relationships, yeah. Yeah he's terrible at that. This Addison does not know how to process her emotions. Like. Pretty much at all. This gets even more interesting when it comes to his feelings around Spamton. At the same time, bitter and jealous still from the Big Shot era, but also misses it, but also is kinda heart broken over everything, but also still has feelings for Spam. Just, one big ol mess of feelings. This makes when the Addisons and Spam finally reunite very interesting, but we won't get to that until Chapter 23. I'm still writing it.

What we will get to much, much sooner though is Chapter 12, set to release tomorrow morning. Where Chicago is going to meet the Addisons for the first time. I can't say much, but I just want to share this interesting tidbit from the Chapter which I find very interesting.

Yep. Just that.

Anyways, Click's relationships with the others. I've mentioned most the others already, but for Click and Flash? Click finds Flash to be an idiot. That's pretty much it.

Now last but not least, Flash! Second youngest and most energetic of the bunch! Back when Spamton was around, Flash was one of the closest to the littlest Addison, the two often getting into trouble, much to the other's dismay or annoyance. Now a days, Flash is just a little less energetic. Everything that happened hit them hard, and they're still trying to come to terms with it all like everyone else. Flash was the only one of the Addisons to ever go looking for Spamton after the eviction, though the fact he was never able to find his little buddy, led him into a bit of a depression. Cache pretty much being the only one to get them out of their slump and even back out advertising again.

As for Flash's relationship with Banner and Click? Flash finds a bit of enjoyment in annoying both of them, mostly Banner, but also he finds it funny when he can get Click mad. Most the time they're doing it in good fun, but there are also times when they don't know when to stop. Which can often cause problems.

[chiriwritesstuff]

Chiri’s Fic Updates (& whatnot) for 2024!

Hi guys!

Since we are now in the thick of 2024, I thought it was time to address a few things in regard to my works - I put out… 5 different series? In 2023 and added 3 in 2024. I wanted to touch base with you all in what I currently have planned for 2024. My thoughts are kinda all over the place but I'll try to make it make sense (lol).

Planned fics

'My Wife in IT' - The sequel to 'The Girl in IT' is set to start shortly after we conclude 'The Girl in IT'. It's inevitable that Joel and Sugar are to be married - it's listed (kinda) in Joel's list, and I thought it would be a good idea for Sugar to have a list of her own! I'm really excited to start planning it - I'm wondering if I should crowdsource Sugar's list with the readers as a thanks for all of the love and support that 'The Girl in IT' has received! I'll probably be posting a poll shortly!

'A Bounty Hunter Walks into a Cantina' (rough working title) is the Din Djarin equivalent to 'The Girl in IT' with a "Mr. & Mrs. Smith' twist - it's very early in development and I am debating if I should make it a Modern Din story over a Star Wars universe one.

Current Fics & Series

'The Girl in IT' - I am floored at the response that this little series got! I am 100% committed to see it through and finish. I have a rough timeline and chapter list - no more than 10 chapters (9 main chapters and 1 epilogue/teaser).

'Meet Me at the Farmers Market' - I think that I will still continue the series but it won't be updated as frequently. I had intended the series to only run for the holidays, so I tried to give Joel and Sunflower a resolution / happy ending before the year ended. I still have a few ficlets that I want to post to supplement the series - and will try to post them in the coming weeks.

'Call it Karma, Call it Fate' - Should be completed by the end of January.

On Hiatus (or slated to be canceled)

First and foremost, I have decided to put my earlier works - ‘Our Violent Hearts’ (Joel), and ‘The *** Diaries’ on indefinite hiatus. Honestly, if I could eradicate OVH from existence I would, only because I feel like my writing has gotten better and OVH was written and planned so poorly that I want to get rid of it, so if you notice it gone from my masterlist, this is why. Honestly, I had good intentions when I conceptualized it but my heart is just not in it to finish.

With ‘The *** Diaries’, I wanted to try something different, but it ended up being more work than what I was willing to put out, so for now, I have no intention to move forward with it.

‘The Impossible Man’ (Din) is on hiatus, but with one more chapter to go, I might just bite the bullet and finish it, but only when I have some time to do so. I hope to get it done by the end of the first quarter.

'A Woman Under The Influence' will also be going on a small hiatus - I love the concept of the story but didn't realize how daunting it is to write a story set in the Star Wars universe. There is a lot of research and planning that goes with it, and it can be quite overwhelming.

[littlelewdmable]

My Best Friend's A Monkey Faunus: Stark Differences 5

Alright. The results of poll 2 is to have Tai die 10-13 years before Volume 1. We'll just say it was 10 years before then for now, but that may change later.

Poll 3 had Qrow dying about a year before Volume 1.

Obviously we'll learn exactly how they bit the bullet in the story itself, which is to say I don't know yet.

But that leaves Yang and Zwei at 7 years old, and Ruby at 5, when Tai died. Which means they would all certainly have clear memories of him, but they wouldn't have received much, if any, training from him. So, Yang's fighting style won't be as heavily influenced by him and more by Qrow and Summer.

We'll see how that changes things.

Ruby should be close to the same though. She might be a little worse, but she really only lost out on about a year of training there, but with Summer around, that might make up for Qrow's absence a bit.

Again, we'll see.

------

For poll 4, Poly STRQ is the winner. So, the whole team banged except the twins. How fun.

That could also bring up some interesting questions of parentage, particularly of Zwei. But that will be for another day.

It also adds some tensions between Raven and Summer as former lovers. Because I doubt Summer is going to forgive Raven so easily.

------

Now that does leave the question of when did Raven come back?

I'm going to say that she left sometime between a year after Yang's birth and a few months after Ruby's birth, but I haven't made a definitive decision there yet.

Now, I want Raven's return to be fairly recent, so I'm limiting her return to the last 4 years.

I also want to give you two options for how Raven is going to act towards the rest of her "family"

Aunt Raven - Raven isn't trying to act like a mother. She's mostly off doing missions and getting the family some extra Lien.

She hasn't really made much progress in healing her relationship with Yang and Summer, but Zwei and Ruby are friendly enough towards her.

She's trying, but in a very Branwen way.

Mom Raven - She's trying to be some sort of mother figure to the kids, but really has no idea how to do so. Ruby and Zwei are trying, but they don't really see her as a mom or aunt.

Yang can barely stand to be around her, but at least Summer is giving her less dirty looks now, but it's going to take a lot to build that trust back up if it ever can be.

She's trying, and failing, to be more like Summer.

[onewomancitadel]

I think what people really mean by Twitter being 2015!Tumblr is that the age demographic of Tumblr has changed (based on polls, I think the age group with the biggest user size is early-mid twenties), a lot of shitstirrers left for Twitter in the Purge of 2018, a lot of guys who used Tumblr for p*rn also left in 2018 (seriously, when I interacted with a guy at uni once who wanted in my pants I mentioned Tumblr because I am socially inept and he was like, oh the website for p*rn? *smirk* and I was like no I use it for my Reylos... he was wearing a Star Wars t-shirt, it's a long story) and obviously in general anybody else who used it for that reason also left, but you know exactly what sort of demographic I'm talking about - far be it from me to unturn that stone, I understand it's a mixed issue - and then overall you've got the fact that Tumblr is slightly better than it was, but it's not perfect.

I do think platform culture influences the way people interact with each other, and there are definitely ways you can fit somebody's interaction patterns into a typology - but the style of detraction you might see in Reddit comments is exactly the stuff you see on Twitter and it is the thing you encounter on Tumblr. Because Tumblr allows you to run your own personal blog, though, you have much more control over your interaction style. If Reddit is a free debate space, Tumblr is curated by comparison.

But it's also just a human nature thing lol. There are plenty of teenagers who have growing up to do on here (I was one of them) and you see a lot more on platforms popular with teenagers (Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram) which changes the site culture. But I also think that teenagers need their own space to be edgy and get the angst out of the way. It's just much harder to do that when the platforms they're on also encourage putting your face, name, where you live etc. on it.

I find it a fascinating question because I don't think the Internet is wholly iredeemable and clearly we get some joy out of it - the things which concern me about the Internet have parts to do with social media and some not. I want to know what it is that makes Tumblr a pleasant site to use for hobbyist purposes. I can write longform posts, and consider topics which interest me, and curate my experience - by in large the the site has a slightly more mature userbase...

I also had on my mind recently how hard it is to write posts where you have people coming to you with the worst interpretation of what you've said. I think I am starting to accept again that I can't control that and people will read into what I'm saying because that's what they're looking for. That's something which still happens on Tumblr. It's a product of the Internet medium where it's very hard to clarify something you've said the way you could mid-conversation, and the fact that generally people are quite defensive. It feels like a combative space at times.

The real point I'm sort of trying to make is that like, part of what makes Tumblr a good platform is a consequence of its medium - it's a microblogging website - and part of it is a consequence of the userbase evolving. But I also think that loyal userbase is a consequence of what it offers in contrast to what others don't. Equally, issues with Tumblr aren't necessarily specific to platform, and I'd go so far as to venture that to be true of other social media websites. It's just very apparent that there are very bad decisions being made with them killing all user goodwill and reason to use them, but the myopic eye of short-term gains does not care for long-term growth and stability. It's a pretty sobering realisation to know that most of those guys up there think you're as dumb as a rock and will just take what you get. It's not some big conspiracy. They just think their site users are dumb. It's a pretty haunting and narrow view of humanity lol. There is no honour in it and yeah, it is actually nonsensical even from the view of a capitalist philosophy, because why would you willingly kill something with great brand and cultural foothold? Why would you abandon something that makes the platform what it is? This goes for Tumblr with its changes to the dashboard from Following (seeing things your followers post) to For You (algorithm).